Is the first Spanish actor ever to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Says in interviews that he doesn't know how to drive.
Played rugby as a teen and was on the Spanish National team.
Originally wanted to be a painter.
Ten years ago a stranger in a disco asked him his name. When Javier replied, the man punched him in the face for no apparent reason, breaking his nose.
Javier's original interest was in painting, and he studied at Madrid's Escuela de Artes y Officios. Eventually deciding he'd never be a talented painter, he drifted into a number of odd jobs, working as a bouncer, a writer, a construction worker and even a stripper.
To portray Reinaldo Arenas, Javier not only learned Cuban-Spanish,but Cuban-accented English, and lost 30 pounds to better resemble the smaller-framed Arenas.
Javier, his mother, Pilar Bardem and his siblings, M髇ica Bardem and Carlos Bardem often appear in each other's films.
Lives in Madrid with his long-time girlfriend, Cristina. [2003]
Has four Goya Awards (the Spanish equivalent of the Oscar).
To become Ram髇 Sampedro, a 55-year-old Spanish man who made headlines with a crusade to end his own life, Javier, aged 35, was on the set of "The Sea Inside" at the crack of dawn for a five-hour makeup session that produced the necessary aging.
Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005
Spanish citizen.
Shares birthday with Fr閐閞ic Chopin and David Niven.
Javier Bardem Detailed Biography
Javier 脕ngel Encinas Bardem (born March 1, 1969) is a Spanish actor. Born in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, he is the latest in a long line of a family which has been making movies since the earliest days of Spanish movie making: son of Pilar Bardem, niece of Juan Antonio Bardem... His film debut was at the age of 6, and he appeared in several television series before turning to painting and, eventually, athletics. He was a member of the Spanish national rugby team.
In 1992 appeared in Jam贸n, Jam贸n, an international hit movie. But his role in that film as a sexy stud made him afraid that he would be typecast, and he deliberately decided to avoid such roles later. Eventually he would land his breakthrough performance role in in Before Night Falls in 2000, as homosexual Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role, the first Spaniard to be so honored.
Bardem also made a brief appearance in Michael Mann's crime drama Collateral, which starred Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx.
In 2004, he won the Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his role in The Sea Inside, a film about the true-life suicide of Ram贸n Sampedro. Future roles include an appearance in Steven Soderbergh's upcoming biopic Che (2006), as well as a starring role as Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar in Joe Carnahan's Killing Pablo. He is also slated to appear in the Coen Brother's No Country for Old Men.
Academy Awards
2001 - nominated Best Actor in a Leading Role - Before Night Falls
Donostia-San Sebasti谩n International Film Festival
1994 - won Silver Seashell Best Actor - D铆as contados and El Detective y la muerte
European Film Awards
2004 - won Best Actor - Mar adentro
2002 - nominated Best Actor - Mondays In The Sun
1998 - nominated Best Actor - Carne tr茅mula
Golden Globes
2005 - nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama - Mar adentro
2001 - nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama - Before Night Falls
Goya Awards
2005 - won Mejor Actor Principal - Best Lead Actor - Mar adentro
2003 - won Mejor Actor Principal - Best Lead Actor - Los lunes al sol (Mondays In The Sun)
1998 - nominated Mejor Actor Principal - Best Lead Actor - Carne tr茅mula
1996 - won Mejor Actor Principal - Best Lead Actor - Boca a boca
1995 - won Mejor Actor de reparto - Best Supporting Actor - D铆as contados
1994 - nominated Mejor Actor Principal - Best Lead Actor - Huevos de oro
1993 - nominated Mejor Actor Principal - Best Lead Actor - Jam贸n, jam贸n
Independent Spirit Awards
2001 - won Best Male Lead - Before Night Falls
Venice Film Festival
2004 - won Volpi Cup Best Actor - Mar adentro
2000 - won Volpi Cup Best Actor - Before Night Falls
Following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Spain in 2005, Bardem incited controversy when he stated that if he were gay, he would "get married tomorrow, just to fuck over the church" (ma帽ana mismo, s贸lo para joder a la Iglesia). Bardem has always been wary of Hollywood, preferring instead to make films in his native Spain or elsewhere.
