Benicio Del Toro

Benicio Del Toro (born February 19, 1967, San Germán or Santurce, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican-born actor who emerged in the 1990s as a compelling character actor with a flair for oddball roles.

While sources are divided as to where Del Toro was born, it is agreed that he spent his early childhood in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He was nine years old when his mother died, and a few years later his father moved the family to rural Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school, Del Toro entered the University of California, San Diego, intending to major in business. However, he enrolled in an acting class that convinced him to change course. He moved to New York City and studied at the Circle in the Square Theatre School before receiving a scholarship to the Stella Adler Academy of Acting & Theatre in Los Angeles.

Del Toro began his career in 1987 with guest parts on such television shows as Miami Vice and Private Eye. He made his film debut in the improbable role of Duke the Dog-Faced Boy in Big Top Pee-wee (1988). He played a henchman of the villain in the James Bond movie Licence to Kill (1989) and earned favourable reviews for his portrayal of a Mexican drug lord in the fact-based TV miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story (1990). Del Toro appeared in such movies as Money for Nothing (1993) and China Moon (1994) before his breakthrough role as the unintelligible Fenster in the crime drama The Usual Suspects (1995).

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Del Toro portrayed a close friend of the title character in the biopic Basquiat (1996), about Jean-Michel Basquiat and directed by Julian Schnabel; costarred with Alicia Silverstone in the forgettable comedy Excess Baggage (1997); gained 40 pounds (18 kg) to portray Dr. Gonzo in Terry Gilliam’s film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998); and played Franky Four Fingers in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch (2000). Del Toro’s performance as a conflicted Mexican police officer in Steven Soderbergh’s acclaimed film Traffic (2000) earned him a Silver Bear for best actor at the Berlin International Film Festival as well as a BAFTA award, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award for best supporting actor. He was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of a religious fanatic and former drug addict in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 21 Grams (2003). Del Toro took the part of Che Guevara in Soderbergh’s two-part biopic Che (2008), for which he won the best actor award at the Cannes film festival.

Del Toro’s films of the 2010s included Savages (2012), Sicario (2015), and Sicario 2: Soldado (2018). He also appeared in such blockbusters as Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Del Toro then portrayed one of a pair of inmates who plan a breakout from a maximum-security prison with the help of an employee in Escape at Dannemora (2018), a miniseries based on true events. He later voiced the character of a sneaky fox in the family film Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019). In 2021 he reteamed with Soderbergh on the drama No Sudden Move (2021), starring with Don Cheadle as a small-time criminal in 1950s Detroit. That year he also appeared in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, playing an unstable artist who finds his muse while in prison.