Bardem, Javier

(1969- )

   During his first 10 years as a film actor, Bardem's body was displayed fetishistically, almost obsessively, by film directors, who used him to convey quintessential Spanish fleshly masculinity. Instances of this from his early films include his uncouth bullfighter and underwear model in Jamón jamón (Bigas Luna, 1992), a lover holding a shoe with his penis (in El amante bilingüe / The Bilingual Lover, Vicente Aranda, 1993), the well-endowed protagonist of Huevos de oro (Golden Balls, Bigas Luna, 1993), the rent-boy specializing in fisting in Las edades de Lulú (The Ages of Lulu, Bigas Luna, 1990), and, most iconically, his naked detective coming out of the sea, Ursula Andress-like, in El detective y la muerte (The Detective and Death, Gonzalo Suárez, 1994). So much emphasis was put into his muscular physique that it was difficult to realize that there was more to Bardem than testosterone. His early roles contrast with the those of the second half of his career, which present a more complex portrayal of Spanish machismo and its flawed core.

   Javier Bardem was born into a show business family: his mother is actress Pilar Bardem and his uncle was acclaimed director Juan Antonio Bardem. With such credentials, he was almost fated to become a performer. In his early roles physicality was his most remarkable quality. However, his ability to submerge himself into his characters made him one of the most versatile actors in Spanish film history. One early sign of this was his supporting role as a drug addict in Imanol Uribe's Días contados (Running Out of Time, 1994), but other great roles followed from the mid-1990s. Bardem also showed an aptness for comedy in Boca a Boca (Mouth to Mouth, Manuel Gómez Pereira, 1995), where he played a slightly nerdy unemployed actor who takes up a job for an erotic hotline. Later, he was excellent as the bitter paraplegic policeman in Carne Trémula / Live Flesh (Pedro Almodóvar, 1996; a performance that suggested depths of frustration in the impotent macho) and the laid-back homo-sexual doctor in Segunda piel (Second Skin, Gerardo Vera, 1999). At this point, he was called for a number of international projects. He gave a straightforward, honest performance as Cuban dissident Reynaldo Arenas in Before Night Falls (Julian Schnabel, 2000, an Oscar-nominated turn), and played a tough drug dealer in Michael Mann's Collateral (2004).

   By the late 1990s, he was one of the undisputed stars in Spanish cinema. His role as unemployed Santa in Fernando León de Aranoa's Los lunes al sol (Mondays in the Sun, 2002) was followed by a contrasting performance, both searing and witty, as the quad-riplegic who wishes to die in Alejandro Amenábar's Mar adentro / The Sea Inside (2004). His turn as the murderer in the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men (2007) earned him almost every presti-gious acting prize in the world, including an Academy Award as best supporting actor, and consolidated his reputation as one of the most in-demand international stars.

   Historical Dictionary of Spanish Cinema by Alberto Mira