Gael García Bernal
| Gael García Bernal | |
|---|---|
 García Bernal at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival |
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| Born | November 30, 1978 Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico |
| Occupation | Actor, director |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Spouse(s) | Dolores Fonzi (2009-present) |
Gael García Bernal (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡaˈel garˈsía beɾˈnal]; born November 30, 1978) is a Mexican film actor and director.
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Early life [edit]
García Bernal was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, the son of Patricia Bernal, an actress and former model, and José Ángel García, an actor and director.[1] His stepfather is Sergio Yazbek, whom his mother married when García Bernal was young.[2] He started acting at just a year old and spent most of his teen years starring in telenovelas. Gael studied the International Baccalaureate, with chemistry being his favorite subject.[citation needed] When he was fourteen, he taught indigenous peoples in Mexico to read, often working with the Huichol Indians.[3] In his later teens, he took part in peaceful demonstrations during the Chiapas uprising of 1994.[4]
Career [edit]
García Bernal was becoming a soap opera heartthrob, but at age of 19, he left Mexico's television world to study acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, becoming the first person from Mexico to be accepted into the program. In the brief period beforehand, he had begun to study philosophy at UNAM, Mexico's national university, before a strike closed the college and he then left for London. Describing his time in London as 'life forming', he considered acting merely an 'odd job profession' until the Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu offered him a part in Amores Perros. Subsequently, García Bernal starred in some of Mexico's most celebrated recent films, including 2001's Y tu mamá también, and El crimen del Padre Amaro (2002). He has also done some theatre work, including a 2005 production of Bodas de Sangre, by Federico García Lorca, in the Almeida Theatre in London. His debut as a working-class dreamer in the Oscar-nominated Amores Perros, however, was what first grabbed Hollywood's attention.
García Bernal also portrayed Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara twice, first in the 2002 TV miniseries Fidel and then, better known, in 2004's The Motorcycle Diaries, an adaptation of a journal a 23-year-old Guevara wrote about his travels across South America. García Bernal has worked for acclaimed directors including Pedro Almodóvar, Walter Salles, Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Michel Gondry, among others. He recently took on roles in English language films, including the Gondry-directed The Science of Sleep, the Alejandro González Iñárritu-directed Babel, and The King, for which he earned rave reviews.[5] He has been nominated for a BAFTA in 2005 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for The Motorcycle Diaries and, in 2006, was nominated for the Orange Rising Star award which acknowledges new talents in the acting industry.
García Bernal also directed his first feature film, Déficit, which was released in 2007.[6][7] García Bernal is also featured on the 2007 Devendra Banhart album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, contributing vocals on the first track entitled "Cristobal." Bernal was cast for the 2008 film Blindness, an adaptation of the 1995 novel of the same name by José Saramago about a society suffering an epidemic of blindness. Like in the novel, the characters have only descriptions, no names or histories; while director Fernando Meirelles said some actors were intimidated by the concept of playing such characters, "With Gael, he said, 'I never think about the past. I just think what my character wants.'"[8] García Bernal starred in Rudo y Cursi with Diego Luna, directed by Carlos Cuarón.
García Bernal and Diego Luna own Canana Productions. The company recently joined with Golden Phoenix Productions to jointly produce a number of television documentaries about the unsolved murders of more than 300 women in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas.
In May 2010, García Bernal did a cameo appearance as himself, playing Cristiano Ronaldo in Ronaldo: The Movie for Nike advertisement "Write The Future".
In 2010, he co-directed with Marc Siver four short films in collaboration with Amnesty International. This tetralogy is called "Los Invisibles" about migrants from Central America in Mexico, their journey, the violence imposed, their hopes and what they can contribute to Mexico, the US and the World. He directed the movie, did the interviews and also is the narrator of this four short movies that can be freely seen on the Amnesty Website or on YouTube.[citation needed]
García Bernal narrated Human Planet for Hispanic audiences, which premiered on Discovery en Español on April 25, 2011 and aired on Discovery Channel in Latin America on May 12.[9] For the third time Gael appeared with Diego Luna in the American Spanish-language comedy film Casa de Mi Padre opposite Will Ferrell where he played a feared drug lord.[10] Gael's next projects include starring with Robert De Niro and Usher in Hands of Stone, and alongside Daniel Day Lewis in Martin Scorsese's Silence.[11]
20th Century Fox is working on a reboot Zorro film called Zorro Reborn with García Bernal in the title role with a script by Glen Gers, Lee Shipman, and Brian McGeevy.[12]
Personal life [edit]
García Bernal speaks fluent Spanish and English; and Portuguese, French and Italian to some degree.
Gael García Bernal has been with his wife, Argentinian actress Dolores Fonzi, since 2008. They met on the set of "Vidas privadas", in 2001 and married in 2009. On Thursday January 8, 2009, his son Lázaro was born in Madrid, Spain.[13][14] Their daughter Libertad was born on April 4, 2011 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[15]
Gael García Bernal helped to create the organization and film festival Ambulante A.C.[16] which works to bring documentary films to places where they are rarely shown, and helped to create the Amnesty International Short Documentary Series Los Invisibles.[17] For this work, he was awarded the Washington Office on Latin America's prestigious Human Rights Award in 2011.[18]
He has described himself as "culturally Catholic but spiritually Agnostic".[19]
Awards [edit]
In 2008, Gael García Bernal was honored with the Excellence in Acting Award at the Provincetown International Film Festival. And at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Film Festival, Gael García Bernal won the award for Best Actor.[20]
Filmography [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ "Gael García Bernal: he plays everybody's favorite revolutionary onscreen, but he's not just playacting Interview". Archived from the original on October 27, 2007. Text " Find Articles at BNET.com" ignored (help)
- ^ Binoche, Juliette (November 2004). "Gael García Bernal: he plays everybody's favorite revolutionary onscreen, but he's not just playacting". Interview. Archived from the original on October 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ "Gael García Bernal". Then It Must Be True. July 2004. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ Calhoun, Dave (2006-04-25). "Gael García Bernal interview". Time Out London. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ Louie, Rebecca (2006-05-26). "Gael García Bernal breaks barriers and tackles tough issues". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 2006-06-14.
- ^ Miranda, Carolina A. (2007-03-02). "Q&A with Gael García Bernal". Time.
- ^ Gael García Bernal on Directing. youtube.com. 2007-05-09. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ "Fall Movie Summer Preview, September: Blindness." Entertainment Weekly, Iss. #1007/1008, August 22/29, 2008, pg.55.
- ^ Benzine, Adam (13 April 2011). "Gael García Bernal to voice Hispanic "Planet"". realscreen. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ^ Buchanan, Kyle (14 April 2011). "Will Ferrell’s Spanish-Language Movie: ¿Qué?". New York Magazine. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ^ New York Post http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/movies/news/n58608.htm
|url=missing title (help). - ^ García Bernal to mark Fox's 'Zorro Reborn'| Variety
- ^ El País, El actor mexicano Gael García Bernal será padre en diciembre, 5 August 2008, accessed 5th August 2008
- ^ Gael García Bernal and Dolores Fonzi Welcome a Son Celebrity Baby Blog, January 9, 2009
- ^ "Hija de Gael García nacio en Buenos Aires". noticiaaldia.com. 10 April 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ^ "Ambulante A.C.". Ambulante A.C. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
- ^ "Crossing Mexico: A Journey Of Grave Perils". NPR. 15 September 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
- ^ "WOLA's Human Rights Awards". Washington Office on Latin America. 20 September 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
- ^ Scholz, Pablo O. (2003). "El cine es para viajar y hacer amigos". El Universal (Caracas) (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "2012 Awards". Abu Dhabi Film Festival. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gael García Bernal |
External links [edit]
- Gael García Bernal on Twitter (Spanish)
- Gael García Bernal at the Internet Movie Database
- El ojo en la nuca - (Short film on YouTube)
- Gael García Bernal interview for Rudo & Cursi By Alastair Smart, Telegraph, July 8, 2009
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