Before The Oscars: Javier Bardem

How did this year’s Academy Award nominees begin their acting careers? Find out in The Daily Actor’s “Before The Oscars” special feature.

Javier Bardem

Nominated for “Best Actor In A Leading Role”

Film: Biutiful

Role: Uxbal, a criminal in Barcelona’s underworld who must confront the consequences of the life he has chosen.

How he got started: Born and raised in Spain, Javier Bardem comes from a long line of notable filmmakers and actors who have been working since the earliest days of Spanish cinema. He is the grandson of actors Rafael Bardem and Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, and the nephew of screenwriter and director Juan Antonio Bardem.  Bardem began acting when he was 6 1/2 years old and appeared in the film El Pícaro. He appeared in over 2 dozen films in Spain before making his international breakthrough in the movie Before Night Falls. This role earned him an Oscar nomination and he became the first Spaniard to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Other notable films: Jamón, jamón, Before Night Falls (Academy Award nomination), No Country for Old Men (Academy Award winner for “Best Actor in a Leading Role”) and The Sea Inside

The 83rd Academy Awards airs on February 27 at 8pm. For a list of nominees, click here.