(March 1, 1969– ): Marvelous Academy Award–winning Spanish actor who portrayed Raoul Silva, cyberterrorist and SPECTRE operative, in Skyfall.
A native of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain, Bardem made his credited motion picture debut as Jimmy in director Bigas Luna’s The Ages of Lulu (1990). A decade later, he made his English language debut as Reinaldo Arenas in director Julian Schnabel’s biographical drama Before Night Falls (2000), a role for which he received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role (he lost to Russell Crowe in Gladiator). He was the first Spanish actor to receive an Oscar nomination, and in 2007 he was the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar, scoring his Best Supporting Actor trophy for his role as crazed killer Anton Chigurh in the Coen brothers’ crime drama No Country for Old Men, which also won Best Picture. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Biutiful (2010), losing to Colin Firth in The King’s Speech.