User:Shran/Benicio del Toro

Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez, better known simply as Benicio del Toro, is a Puerto Rican actor and film director who has been offered the role of the villain in the upcoming sequel to. He is known for his Academy Award-winning performance in the 2000 film Traffic, for which he also won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award. Other films for which he is known include The Usual Suspects (1995), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Snatch. (2000), Sin City (2005), Che (2008), and The Wolfman (2010).

Early life
Del Toro was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico and attended a Roman Catholic school in Miramar. His mother died of hepatitis when he was nine years old; three years later, he moved with his father and brother to Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, where he enrolled in Mercersburg Academy. After graduating, he briefly pursued a degree in business at the University of California, San Diego, but soon dropped out to study acting in Los Angeles and New York City.

1987–1994
Del Toro made his screen acting debut in 1987, appearing in an episode of the CBS series Shell Game with Vincent Schiavelli. Later that year, he appeared in an episode of Miami Vice directed by Richard Compton and was seen on Private Eye with William Sadler. He broke into films with the role of Duke the Dog-Faced Boy in 1988's Big Top Pee-wee (also featuring Kevin Peter Hall, Albert Henderson, Jay Robinson, and Kenneth Tobey). He followed this with the role of Dario in the sixteenth James Bond movie, 1989's Licence to Kill (with Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Anthony Zerbe).

In the 1990 TV mini-series Drug Wars: The Camarena Story, del Toro played a supporting role along with Rosalind Chao, Miguel Ferrer and Tony Plana. Over the next few years, del Toro appeared in such films as Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992; composed by Cliff Eidelman), Fearless (1993; with John de Lancie, Steven Culp and Eric Menyuk), and Swimming with Sharks (1994; co-starring Michelle Forbes). He also appeared on the horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt in the 1994 episode "The Bribe," along with Terry O'Quinn and Max Grodénchik.

1995–2000
Del Toro's breakthrough role was that of Fred Fenster in the acclaimed 1995 crime film The Usual Suspects, directed by Bryan Singer. For his performance in this film, del Toro was given an Independent Spirit Award as Best Supporting Male. He also shared a National Board of Review Award with eight of his co-stars for Best Acting by an Ensemble. The following year, he had a supporting role in the biographical film Basquiat, which earned him another Independent Spirit Award.

In the 1998 cult favorite Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, based on the book of the same name by gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, del Toro portrayed psychotic Samoan attorney "Dr. Gonzo." (Also appearing in this film were Larry Cedar, Jenette Goldstein, Gregory Itzin and Richard Riehle). Another well-known role for del Toro followed in 2000 when he played jewel thief Franky "Four Fingers" in Guy Ritchie's acclaimed, darkly comic crime thriller Snatch.

Perhaps del Toro's best-known role to date is that of police officer Javier Rodriguez in the acclaimed 2000 film Traffic. His performance in this film earned him numerous awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award, and, of course, the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In addition, del Toro and his Traffic co-stars – including fellow Star Trek movie veterans Clifton Collins, Jr. and Miguel Ferrer – won the award for "Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture" from the Screen Actors Guild.


 * More to come...