Javier Bardem
Javier Bardem
Javier Ángel Encinas Bardemis a Spanish actor from the Canary Islands. He is best known for his role in the 2007 film No Country for Old Men, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor portraying the psychopathic assassin Anton Chigurh. He has also received critical acclaim for roles in films such as Jamón, jamón, Carne trémula, Boca a boca, Los Lunes al sol, Mar adentro, and Skyfall, for which he received both a BAFTA and a...
NationalitySpanish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth1 March 1969
CityLas Palmas, Spain
CountrySpain
I think the most difficult love begins with one's self. How you treat yourself is something you bring to your relationships.
As an actor, you can't judge. A great actress from Spain said, "We, the actors, are lawyers of the characters we play. We have to defend them, no matter what."
I'm a huge fan of the director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and his work, and I knew he was going to be an amazing actor's director, based on the performances that I saw in his movies.
When you're working with the best, it helps you to be good because then you are focusing on what you have to do.
I'm not the kind of actor that gets crazy with [directors'] names, what draws me toward a project is the material itself.
I wanted to become a painter for a while. I think it was because I was lazy.
I'm getting so old - it's more uncomfortable to do those scenes now than when I was 20. I mean, I don't have a big problem with nudity on screen. But usually the days when you do those naked love scenes are the weirdest ones on set. Everyone is uncomfortable. You're like, 'Hi. How are you?' Then the next minute you're with an actress who you don't know and you're pretending to make love to her in front of all the crew. The acting challenge is pretending things are OK.
The earliest memories I have from my childhood are of my mum getting ready to go on stage. I must have been about five and I would watch her vomiting backstage on opening night, and then the next minute she became Isabella, the Queen of Spain. At the time I remember thinking, 'What kind of schizophrenic job is this?' Now it all makes sense.
I hate violence. When I hold a gun, I feel death in my hands, but it's fun to pretend in the movies.
Many people out there don't have a choice, in choosing their friends and the people they're being manipulated by.
But I remember the moment when my father died. I wasn't a very committed Catholic beforehand, but when that happened it suddenly all felt so obvious: I now believe religion is our attempt to find an explanation, for us to feel more protected.
Awards were made in Hollywood, in whatever the time it was created. They're to promote each other's movies. You give me an award, I give you an award and people will believe that we are great movies and they'll go to see them. It's still the same.
[That night] I was sitting by Jack Nicholson with my long list of thanks, and I said, `I'm so nervous. I don't know what to say if I go up there.' He said, `Don't get emotional, drop the names, and dedicate it to your mother.'
Everybody in Spain is sick of me. But in America, there's curiosity about the new kid on the block who doesn't speak English very well. The attention makes me feel vulnerable, which is something I hadn't felt in a while. But I like it.