Benicio Del Toro

BENICIO MONSERRATE RAFAEL DEL TORO SANCHEZ







(Images : Traffic - Sin City - Snatch)



Né le 19 Février 1967 à Santurce (Porto Rico)

Benicio Del Toro abandonne ses études en économie à l'Université de San
Diego pour entamer une formation de comédien à la prestigieuse Square
Acting School de New York. Après de rapides apparitions dans plusieurs
séries, dont un épisode de Deux flics à Miami, et dans Big top Pee-wee
(1988), l'acteur incarne un homme de main aux prises avec James Bond
dans Permis de tuer (1989). A 21 ans, il devient ainsi le plus jeune
adversaire jamais opposé à l'agent 007. Dès lors, il enchaîne les
petits rôles dans des oeuvres s'éloignant de la grosse machinerie
hollywoodienne : The Indian runner (1991), la première réalisation de
Sean Penn qui fera de nouveau appel à lui, dix ans plus tard, pour The
Pledge, Etat second (1993) de Peter Weir, le corrosif Swimming with
sharks (1994) et Usual suspects (1995) de Bryan Singer qui le révèle au
grand public en gangster maniéré.



Hormis une participation au Fan (1997) de Tony Scott, Benicio Del Toro
reste fidèle au cinéma indépendant en s'illustrant dans Basquiat (1996)
de Julian Schnabel et Nos funérailles (id.) d'Abel Ferrara.
S'impliquant totalement dans ses rôles, il va jusqu'à prendre une
vingtaine de kilos pour interpréter le compagnon de route du
journaliste Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) dans le Las Vegas Parano (1998) de
Terry Gilliam. Faisant figure de Sean Penn latin, il aime à entourer sa
personnalité de mystère et à accepter des rôles peu "bavards" comme
ceux du gangster "dessoudé" Franky Four Fingers de Snatch (2000), du
kidnappeur dépassé par les événements de Way of the gun (id.) et du
soldat converti en tueur de Traqué (2003).



La consécration arrive en 2001 avec Traffic de Steven Soderbergh : sa
prestation de policier mexicain désabusé lui vaut l'Oscar et le Golden
Globe du Meilleur second rôle masculin, l'Ours d'argent du Meilleur
acteur au Festival de Berlin et une multitude d'autres récompenses.
Très convoité à Hollywood, Benicio Del Toro fait le choix de ne tourner
qu'avec parcimonie, portant son dévolu sur des projets originaux et
risqués - 21 grammes (2004) et Sin City (2005) - qui le cantonnent dans
des personnages de marginaux.



Vie personnelle et anecdotes



-> Est sortit avec Claire Forlani





Citations



"Before I was ever in high school, I had dark circles under my eyes.
The rumor was I was a junkie. I have dark circles under my eyes, deal
with it."



"My career went into the hole after Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
(1998). People might have seen what they saw on screen and
subconsciously, people in the business might have taken what they saw
literally. I think people thought, 'He got fat. He got weird. His
mumbling increased tenfold.' I was trying to do an interpretation of a
masterpiece of a book, and that's what the character was - an animal!"



"I like anything that's three-dimensional, anything I can believe in -even if it's fantastic, surreal or from another planet."



"I like to keep growing. I haven't gotten anywhere, as far as I'm concerned."



"I'd like to do completely different roles - a romantic lead, for
example. I'd like to be dressed up in a suit and get the girl at the
end of the movie."



"I see The Usual Suspects (1995) as the time where I was, quote
unquote, discovered. It took me six, seven years to get to that place.
And it was not easy. You're fighting with people who doubt you and your
choice of career. There are a lot of doubts - and you have to stay
focused with what you want. I never put a time limit on me being
successful or not. I just cared about the work as an actor. But it
wasn't easy because there were a lot of ups and downs. I don't know if
you know much about baseball, but baseball is the game of failure. You
deal with failure - strike, strike, strike - all the time. Acting is
like that. You have to have a very thick skin in a way - your hair is
too dark, you're too ugly for the part, your audition wasn't good."



"I do get more recognized now. If I go to dinner, people look at me
more now and whisper. But as an actor I would be no one without the
people who come and see me. So it would be ridiculous for it to bother
me. It just bothers me when I'm intoxicated."



"My goal as an actor has always been to reach a level where I can find
a lot of interesting work, and I think I'm at that point now. The Oscar
has given me a lot of recognition, but I think Traffic (2000) alone
would have done a lot for me. It's the kind of role you die for because
a lot of people are going to focus on your work. It gives you a very
high profile."



"I used to play basketball and I was pretty competitive, but I was
never a bad loser. I never got angry. For me it was always about doing
my best and devoting myself to a challenge. Sometimes that will cut it,
other times it won't. But I'm someone who remains faithful to my
dreams. That's how I looked at acting, even though I knew it would be
tough going at first. I didn't think about the money, I've always lived
simply. I just need my books and I can get by."



"I like to take things very slowly. When you start to become a movie
star it's easy to believe that you are Superman. That can fool you.
That's why I prefer not to pay much attention to fame. The truth is
that I don't give it much thought. I don't suffer. I don't hang my
photographs on the wall. Without realizing it, you can enter a vicious
circle and think that you really are a superhero. That's the moment
when you get yourself in real trouble."



"It's funny, but when I arrived in California to start college I was
much more interested in becoming a surfer and cruise along in life from
one beach to the next. I didn't plan out any huge career for myself.
Now that I see that I have this career and it's worked out for me, it
still feels like I'm surfing, only that it's on a different level. I
feel very free and that's all that I've ever wanted out of life. "



Filmographie:



The Wolf Man (Prochainement) Larry Talbot



Guerilla (Prochainement), de Steven Soderbergh - Ernesto Che Guevara -



Where the wild things are (Prochainement), de Spike Jonze



The Argentine (Prochainement), de Steven Soderbergh - Ernesto Che Guevara -



In Search of Ted Demme (Prochainement) - Lui-même -



Things We Lost in the Fire (2008), de Susanne Bier



The Wolfman (2007), de Mark Romanek



Sin City (2005), de Robert Rodriguez - Jackie Boy -



21 grammes (2004), de Alejandro González Inárritu - Jack Jordan -



Traqué (2003), de William Friedkin - Aaron Hallam -



The Pledge (2001), de Sean Penn Toby - Jay Wadenah -



Traffic (2001), de Steven Soderbergh - Javier Rodriguez -



Way of the Gun (2000), de Christopher McQuarrie- Longbaugh -



Snatch (2000), de Guy Ritchie - Franky Four Fingers -



Las Vegas parano (1998), de Terry Gilliam - Oscar Zeta Acosta, 'Dr. Gonzo' -



Excess baggage (1998), de Marco Brambilla - Vincent Roche -



Le Fan (1997), de Tony Scott - Juan Primo -



Basquiat (1997), de Julian Schnabel - Benny Dalmau -



Nos funérailles (1996), de Abel Ferrara - Gaspare -



Swimming with sharks (1995), de George Huang - Rex -



The Usual suspects (1995), de Bryan Singer - Fred Fenster -



Lune rouge (1995), de John Bayley - Lamar Dickey -



Etat second (1994), de Peter Weir - Manny Rodrigo -



Money for nothing (1993), de Ramon Menendez - Dino Palladino -



Christopher Columbus : the discovery (1992), de John Glen - Alvaro Harana -



The Indian runner (1991), de Sean Penn - Miguel -



Permis de tuer (1989), de John Glen - Dario -



Big top Pee-wee (1988), de Randal Kleiser - Duke le chien -







Quelques awards et nominations:



A gagné un oscar dans la catégorie meilleur acteur secondaire pour le
film "Traffic" en 2000. Il a gagné encore 26 awards et 11 nominations .