The hero of our story today will be Javier Bardem, who can safely be called one of the most successful actors of Spanish descent, who made a dizzying career in Hollywood. He is a laureate of many prestigious film awards, including the Oscars and Golden Globes. The creative path of the famous Spaniard, as well as his personal life, will be discussed further.
Javier Bardem: biography
The future Hollywood star and conqueror of thousands of women's hearts was born on March 1, 1969 in the city of Las Palmas, located on one of the Canary Islands in Spain. With a great deal of confidence, we can say that Javier was destined to become an actor. This conclusion suggests itself in connection with the fact that almost his entire family was in contact with cinema. So, his grandfather and grandmother, Rafael Bardem and Matilla Munoz Sampedro, as well as his mother Pilar, were very successful actors in their homeland. In their footsteps went the brother and sister of Javier - Carlos and Monica. The uncle of the future Hollywood celebrity, whose name was Juan Antonio Bardem, is also associated with the world of cinema: he was a very famous director and stood out for his communist views and love for Cuba and Russia. Only Javier’s father, who had Cuban roots, was a businessman: he worked in the environmental field.
When the boy was two years old, his parents divorced, and he moved with his mother, brother and sister to live in Madrid. At the age of six, Javier first appeared in a film called the Dodger. After that, while studying at school, the boy took part in several more films, but they did not receive much fame.
Youth
Javier Bardem (the filmography of the actor in the future will be replenished with successful film works that will bring him the Oscar and other prestigious awards) grew up a very versatile boy. He devoted a lot of time to sports: he was a member of the national rugby team and was involved in weightlifting. He also entered the art-industrial school, where he seriously studied painting. In addition, Javier realized himself in an acting role, touring throughout the country as a member of an independent theater group.
Javier Bardem: filmography, the beginning of a film career
The young actor got his first really big role in the film "The Ages of Lilu", directed by Bigas Moon in 1990. By the way, the mother of Javier took part in the work on this picture. The director really liked the game of 20-year-old Bardem, and he offered him a role in his next project - a black comedy called "Love, Sex and Ham." Javier’s work in this film appealed to both the audience and critics, and brought him popularity and several film awards at once. Roles in subsequent films, such as “Between the Legs”, “Golden Eggs”, “Mouth to Mouth”, “Ecstasy”, represented the actor in the form of a kind of brutal and rude Spanish macho. However, Javier Bardem, whose half - naked photo the crowds of fans kept as the apple of his eye, avoided the temptation to forever remain a sex symbol. He continued to work on improving his skills, looking for an opportunity to realize himself in a new serious role.
Career continuation
In 1994, Bardem starred in the role of a Basque terrorist in a film called “A Few Days,” directed by Imanol Uribe. For this work, he was awarded the first Goya Prize as the best supporting actor. A couple of years later, he starred in the film "Face to Face", where his hero was an unemployed actor who was drawn into a cunning conspiracy. This work brought Bardem a second "Goya", but already for playing the main role.
We can say that the awards literally rained down on Javier, which cannot but speak of his bright talent. So, in 1997 he again became a laureate of the Goya Prize, this time for his role in the film Living Flesh directed by Perdro Almodovar. And just a year later, at the Berlin Festival, Bardem was recognized as the best European actor for his work in the film “Perdita Durango”.
However, Javier has not yet managed to get rid of the image of a charming and sexy seducer who so successfully created him, which made him a first-rate star in Spain. Bardem was increasingly weighed by this role. A truly radical step of the actor on the way to changing his image was the role in the 1998 film called "Second Skin". In the picture, Javier played a homosexual who took away from the family a respectable heterosexual.
2000s
At the dawn of the new millennium, Bardem played perhaps the key role in his career in the film Until Night Comes directed by Julian Schnabel. And the hero of Javier was Reynaldo Arenas - a Cuban dissident and poet who had a non-traditional sexual orientation and died of AIDS at the age of 47 years. For this role, Bardem received the most prestigious awards: the Volpi Cup of the International Film Festival in Venice and the Golden Globe. The actor was also nominated for the prestigious Oscar.
Javier Bardem, whose filmography was relentlessly replenished with new magnificent works, in 2002 brilliantly played in the film “The Dancer at the Top of the Stairs”, which became the debut directorial work of John Malkovich. Then followed by participation in the film "Mondays in the Sun."
Another truly successful role was his work in the film “The Sea Inside,” in which he played a paralyzed man fighting for his right to euthanasia. Both the film itself and the acting game of Bardem have earned many prizes, awards and nominations.
Last works
In 2006, Javier played another very significant role - the priest Lorenzo in the film "Ghosts of Goya." Then followed the magnificent work of the actor in the crime drama "The Old Men Can't Be Here" directed by Ethan Cohen, which was released in 2007. For this role, Bardem was awarded two prestigious awards - the Oscars and Golden Globes.
In 2010, the actor was busy in two films at once: Beautyful and Eat, Pray, Love (in the latter he played in tandem with the brilliant Julia Roberts). The first of them brought the actor a prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It should be noted that all films with Javier Bardem left a significant mark in the history of cinema, in connection with which they were almost invariably accompanied by any prizes and awards.
Over the next few years, Javier delighted the audience with magnificent roles in such films as “007: Skyfall”, “By a Miracle”, “Scorpion in Love”, “Counselor”. In 2014, it is expected to enter the big screens of a new film with Bardem in the title role under the name “Shooter”.
Personal life
In 2010, Javier Bardem married the Hollywood star Penelope Cruz, who, by the way, is Spanish, that is, his compatriot. The actors were familiar with each other for a long time, nevertheless remaining just good friends. Romantic feelings between celebrities arose during the joint work on the film "Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona". Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz got married in a romantic setting in the Bahamas. The actors are happy in marriage and raise two children: the son of Leonardo Ensinas (2011) and the daughter Luna Ensinas (2013).
Interesting Facts
The success of the actor can be judged by the fact that 40 awards played by him today account for 69 awards and bonuses!
Javier Bardem is the second after the illustrious Antonio Banderas Spaniard, who made a dizzying career in Hollywood.
About 20 years ago, the actor was attacked by hooligans and beat him. Since then, Javier has decided to seriously engage in boxing, in order to repel ill-wishers, if necessary.