Benicio Del Toro

Career

- Del Toro began to surface in small television parts during the late 1980s, playing mostly thugs and drug dealers on programs like Miami Vice and the NBC miniseries, Drug Wars: The Camarena Story. He had a cameo in Madonna (entertainer) 1987 music video clip "La Isla Bonita" as a background character. Work in films followed, beginning with his debut in Big Top Pee-wee and in the James Bond film Licence to Kill, in which 21-year-old del Toro held the distinction of being the youngest actor ever to play a Bond villain. Although both films were considered box office disappointments, del Toro continued to appear in movies like The Indian Runner (1991), China Moon (1991), Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), Money for Nothing (film) (1993), Fearless (1993 film) (1993) and Swimming with Sharks (1994).
-
- His career gained momentum in 1995 with his breakout performance in The Usual Suspects, where he played the mumbling, wisecracking Fred Fenster. The role won him an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor and established him as a character actor. This led to more strong roles in independent and major studio films, including playing Gaspare in Abel Ferrara's The Funeral (1996 film) (1996) and winning a second consecutive Best Supporting Actor Independent Spirit Award for his work as Benny Dalmau in Basquiat (1996), directed by his friend, artist Julian Schnabel. Del Toro also shared the screen with Robert De Niro in the big budget thriller The Fan (1996 film), in which he played Juan Primo, a charismatic Puerto Rican baseball star.
-
- For Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film), the 1998 film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's famous book, he packed on more than 40 lbs. (about 18 kg) to play Dr. Gonzo (a.k.a. Oscar Zeta Acosta), Thompson's lawyer and drug-fiend cohort. The surrealistic film, directed by Terry Gilliam, has earned a cult film over the years. Returning from a two-year hiatus after Fear and Loathing, del Toro would gain a mainstream audience in 2000 with a string of performances in four high-profile films. First up was The Way of the Gun, a crime yarn that reunited him with The Usual Suspects screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, making his directorial debut. A few months later, he stood out among a first-rate ensemble cast in Steven Soderbergh Traffic (2000 movie), a complex dissection of the North American war on drugss. As Javier Rodriguez — a Mexican border cop struggling to remain
honest amid the corruption and deception of illegal drug trafficking — del Toro, who spoke most of his lines in Spanish, gave a performance that dominated the film and earned him his first Academy Awards for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

His praised work swept all of the major critics awards in 2001, as well as the Golden Globe, and the Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. In addition to the critical accolades, Traffic was also a success at the box office, bringing to del Toro real Hollywood clout for the first time in his career. While Traffic was still playing in theaters, two other del Toro films were released in late 2000/early 2001. He had a brief role as the diamond thief Franky Four Fingers in Guy Ritchie's hip caper comedy Snatch (film), and played a mental retardation Native Americans in the United States man in The Pledge (film), directed by his old friend Sean Penn.

Academy Award

In 2001, del Toro became the fourth Academy Awards winner whose winning role was a character who speaks predominantly in a foreign language (most of del Toro's dialogue in Traffic (film) is in Spanish). Sophia Loren, Robert De Niro, and Roberto Benigni are the other three (Marion Cotillard became the fifth winner of an Academy Award for a character who speaks in a foreign language). Del Toro is also the third Puerto Rico actor to win an Academy Awards. The other two were actors Jose Ferrer and Rita Moreno.

In 2004, Benicio del Toro was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar again, for his performance in the film 21 Grams.