Gael García Bernal

Infobox actor

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birthplace = Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
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Gael García Bernal (IPA: /ga'el gaɾ'sia beɾ'nal/; born November 30, 1978) is a Mexican actor and director.

Biography

Early life

García Bernal was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, the son of Patricia Bernal, an actress and former model, and José Angel García, an actor and director. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_10_34/ai_n6338666 Gael Garcia Bernal: he plays everybody's favorite revolutionary onscreen, but he's not just playacting | Interview | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ] His stepfather is Sergio Yazbek, whom his mother married when García Bernal was young. [cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_10_34/ai_n6338666|title=Gael Garcia Bernal: he plays everybody's favorite revolutionary onscreen, but he's not just playacting|first=Juliette|last=Binoche|year=2004|month=November|accessdate=2007-08-14|publisher=Interview] He started acting at just a year old and spent most of his teen years starring in telenovelas. When he was fourteen, he taught literacy to indigenous peoples in Mexico, often with the Huichol Indians. [cite web|url=http://www.thenitmustbetrue.com/garciabernal/garciabernal1.html|accessdate=2007-08-14|title=Gael Garcia Bernal|year=2004|month=July|publisher=Then It Must Be True] In his later teens he took part in peaceful demonstrations during the Chiapas uprising of 1994.cite web|url=http://www.timeout.com/film/news/1097.html|publisher=Time Out London|title=Gael García Bernal interview|first=Dave|last=Calhoun|date=2006-04-25|accessdate=2007-08-14]

Career

García Bernal was becoming a soap opera heartthrob, but at age 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 in the program. Subsequently, García Bernal starred in some of Mexico's most celebrated recent films, beginning with "Amores Perros" (2000), then 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 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. [cite web|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/movies/14672037.htm|archivedate=2006-06-14|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060614044123/http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/movies/14672037.htm|title=Gael Garcia Bernal breaks barriers and tackles tough issues|publisher=New York Daily News|first=Rebecca|last=Louie|date=2006-05-26] 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. [cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1595499,00.html|title=Q&A with Gael Garcia Bernal|date=2007-03-02|first=Carolina A.|last=Miranda] [cite visual|url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=i2CaMkpl0iU|title=Gael García Bernal on Directing|accessdate=2007-08-14|date=2007-05-09] 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.'""Fall Movie Summer Preview, September: Blindness." "Entertainment Weekly", Iss. #1007/1008, August 22/29, 2008, pg.55.]

Personal life

García Bernal's parents participated in an annual clown competition which inspired Bernal as a young child to become the actor he is today.

García Bernal is "culturally Catholic" and "spiritually agnostic". [ [http://www2.indiewire.com/people/int_Bernal_Gael_021112.html INTERVIEW: Padre, Padre: Mexico's Native Son Gael Garcia Bernal Stars in the Controversial "The Crime of Father Amaro" ] ] He speaks fluent Spanish and English; and Portuguese, French and Italian to some degree. García Bernal studied at the Edron Academy in Mexico City. He plays football in the Adecmac soccer league. He is currently expecting a child with the Argentinian actress Dolores Fonzi, in December 2008. [El País, [http://www.elpais.com/articulo/gente/actor/mexicano/Gael/Garcia/Bernal/sera/padre/diciembre/elppgl/20080805elpepuage_1/Tes"El actor mexicano Gael García Bernal será padre en diciembre"] , 5 August 2008, accessed 5th August 2008]

He was raised by his mother and stepfather the photographer Sergio Yazbek.

Roles in Academy Award-nominated films

Gael Garcia Bernal has been in six Oscar-nominated films:

*"De tripas, corazon" - (Best Live-Action Short Film)
*"Amores Perros" - (Best Foreign Language Film, Mexico)
*"El Crimen del Padre Amaro" - (Best Foreign Language Film, Mexico)
*"Y Tu Mamá También" - (Best Original Screenplay)
*"The Motorcycle Diaries" - (Best Song, Best Adapted Screenplay)
*"Babel" - (Best Picture, Best Director, Best S. Actress, Best S. Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Score)

Quotes

*"The talent survives and remains while the beauty is diluted." [cite web|url=http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/g-guys/default.aspx?id=33231|title=G-Guys - Gael Garcia Bernal|publisher=Glamour (UK)|accessdate=2007-08-14]
*"Changes occur that way. Suddenly the bricks fall into place in some sort of chaotic serenity." [cite web|url=http://www.chicagofilm.com/interviews/bernal/default.asp|title=New Latin Revolution (Interviews - Gael Garcia Bernal)|accessdate=2007-08-14|first=Richard|last=Sharp|publisher=Chicago Film|year=2003]
*"I'm an actor. I don't need to abide by any ethnicity." [cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PCH/is_5_5/ai_n6332911|title=Gael: taking the reins of his career|publisher=Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino|first=Susan|last=Hornik|year=2004|month=October-November|accessdate=2007-08-14]
*"I was very involved. I helped with sending food, writing and reading about the situation, and demonstrating about it on the marches. It was great. I was young, and it was fun. And I've got to say, I met my first girlfriend – my first real girlfriend - there as well. It was a great place to meet girls!"- Gael on the Chiapas uprising

Filmography

References

External links

* [http://www.gaelfan.net Gael García Bernal Fan] (fansite)
*imdb name|id=0305558|name=Gael García Bernal