Demián Bichir

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Demián Bichir at Comic-Con (2015)

Demián Bichir Nájera (born August 1, 1963 in Mexico City ) is a Mexican actor. In addition to his theater work, he has participated in over 60 film and television productions since the late 1970s, including both Spanish and English-language productions. He received an Oscar nomination in 2012 for his leading role in the feature film A Better Life .

biography

Theater and film work in Mexico

Demián Bichir was born as the son of the theater actress Maricruz Nájera and the theater director Alejandro Bichir and thus came into contact with acting at an early age. His brothers Bruno and Odiseo are also active as actors. According to his own statements, Bichir was already on the stage at the age of three and appeared in the television series Rina (1977) a year later . At the age of 13 he became a member of the Compañía Nacional de Teatro , the national theater company in Mexico City. Originally dreaming of a career as a professional soccer player, at the age of 14 he gave up in favor of working as an actor. Already at the age of 17 he was directed by the well-known director José Quintero with the leading role in the national theater production of Eugene O'Neill's O Wildnis! entrusted, which followed, among other things, further leading roles in Shakespeare and Chekhov plays. Parallel to his theater work, other roles followed in the early 1980s on Mexican and US television ( Choices of the Heart , 1983) and first appearances in the cinema. At the age of 22, Bichir briefly moved to New York , where he introduced himself to Lee Strasberg and received a small role in Cliff Osmond's feature film The Penitent (1988) with Raúl Juliá and Armand Assante . He earned his living as an assistant in a Mexican restaurant. In 1990, Bichir moved to Los Angeles , where he auditioned for four years without success before returning to Mexico.

Fame in Mexico brought Bichir roles in various telenovelas in the 1980s and 1990s . For the part of Gaspar in Carlos Carrera's black comedy La vida conyugal (1993) he was nominated for the Premio Ariel for the first time . Bichir won Mexico's most important film award a year later for his portrayal of the opportunistic Mauricio in Fernando Sariañas Hasta Morir - Until Death (1994). The social drama set on Mexico City's Randzonde is about two adolescent criminals who dream of a future together in Los Angeles. Bichir was to be nominated four more times for the Premio Ariel: as a retiring judge looking for his past love ( Luces de la noche , 1998), as an abandoned husband fighting the economic crisis ( Cilantro y perejil , 1998) , as a lover in the successful erotic relationship comedy Sexo, pudor y lágrimas (1999), based on the play of the same name by Antonio Serrano and as a priest and revolutionary Miguel Hidalgo in Serrano's period film Hidalgo - La historia jamás contada. (2010). In 2003, the popularity of Bichir and his two brothers Bruno and Odiseo was so great that the Mexican MTV Movie Awards launched a unique prize category called Mejor Bichir en una Película (German: "Best Bichir in a film"), the Demián Bichir for his portrayal of a seriously ill boxer in Agustín Díaz Yanes ' comedy Sin noticias de Dios with Victoria Abril and Penélope Cruz . In 2004 he took on the title role in the multi-part television series Zapata , in which he portrayed the eponymous leader of the Mexican Revolution , Emiliano Zapata .

Success in the USA and Oscar nomination

At the height of his success, Bichir left Mexico and tried again to pursue an acting career in the United States. Between 2008 and 2010 he played the mysterious Mexican politician and drug lord Esteban Reyes from Tijuana in 27 episodes of the award-winning television series Weeds - Little Deals Among Neighbors with Mary-Louise Parker . Bichir received praise from film critics for his portrait of Fidel Castro in Steven Soderbergh's Che - Revolución and Che - Guerrilla (both 2008) alongside eponymous Benicio del Toro . In the same year he also appeared in Robert Schenkkan's By the Waters of Babylon at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood, California . In it he took on the leading role of a Cuban writer who hired himself out as a simple gardener in exile in the USA. The Mexican actor's breakthrough as a film actor in the USA came in 2011 with the similar role of Carlos Galindo in Chris Weitz 's independent film A Better Life . Weitz, who became aware of Bichir after Che , entrusted him with the role of a Mexican living illegally in Los Angeles who hired himself out as a gardener and tried to keep his growing son (played by José Julián ) away from street crime. This role, which Bichir compared in dimension and depth to classic roles such as King Lear or Hamlet , earned him 2012 nominations for the Oscar , Screen Actors Guild Award and Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor . After Anthony Quinn , Katy Jurado , Salma Hayek and Adriana Barraza, he is only the fifth actor from Mexico to receive an Oscar nomination. Also in 2012, Bichir starred in Oliver Stone's drug thriller Savages and a year later starred in Robert Rodriguez's action film Machete Kills . A year later he took on the male lead alongside Diane Kruger in the American crime series The Bridge - America (2013), a remake of the Scandinavian series Die Brücke - Transit in den Tod , the plot of which moves to the border between the United States and Mexico has been.

Demián Bichir married the Mexican singer Lisset in spring 2001, from whom he separated again in spring 2003. He is the father of a daughter (* May 2011), whose mother he met while filming El sueño de Iván (2011) in Spain. From 2011 until her death at the age of 37, he was married to the Canadian actress and model Stefanie Sherk. Bichir lives in Los Angeles .

Filmography (selection)

Awards

  • 1994: Nomination for the Premio Ariel for La vida conyugal (Category: Best Small Actor)
  • 1995: Premio Ariel for Hasta Morir - Until death (Best Actor)
  • 1997: Nominations for the Premio Ariel for Cilantro y perejil (Best Actor) and Luces de la noche (Best Supporting Actor)
  • 2000: Nomination for the Premio Ariel for Sexo, pudor y lágrimas (Best Actor)
  • 2003: Mexican MTV Movie Award for Sin noticias de Dios and nomination for Ciudades oscuras (each as "Best Bichir" in a film)
  • 2009: Nomination for the ALMA Award for Weeds - Small Deals Among Neighbors (Best Actor in a Series - Comedy)
  • 2009: Nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Weeds - Small Deals Among Neighbors (together with the acting ensemble )
  • 2011: Nomination for the ALMA Award for A Better Life (Most Popular Cinema Actor)
  • 2011: Nomination for the Premio Ariel for Hidalgo - La historia jamás contada. (Best Actor)
  • 2012: Nomination for the Black Reel Award for A Better Life (Best Actor)
  • 2012: Nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for A Better Life (Best Actor)
  • 2012: Virtuoso Award from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for A Better Life
  • 2012: Nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for A Better Life (Best Actor)
  • 2012: Oscar nomination for A Better Life ( Best Actor )

Web links

Commons : Demián Bichir  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ruiz, Paula: Apuesta a personajes . In: El Norte , July 6, 2008, No. 25414, p. 14.
  2. ↑ Bronner, Sasha: Q&A: Demián Bichir of A Better Life Thought He Might Have to Play “a Vampire Gardener” at vanityfair.com, June 23, 2011 (accessed January 24, 2012).
  3. ↑ Margolies, Dany: Demián Bichir Shares Personal Ties to 'A Better Life' at backstage.com, December 22, 2011.
  4. ↑ a b Crossing borders, Demian Bichir takes on the world . In: The Daily News of Los Angeles , November 2, 2008, p. L1.
  5. ↑ Moskowitz, Shaina: Exclusive interview with Demián Bichir, star of 'Weeds' at examiner.com, October 12, 2010 (accessed January 25, 2012).
  6. ^ A b Johnson, Reed: SAG Awards: Demian Bichir on his surprise nomination at latimesblogs.latimes.com, December 14, 2011 (accessed January 24, 2012).
  7. ↑ a b Let the Oscar Buzz Begin: A Q&A with Demián Bichir at gq.com, June 23, 2011 (accessed January 24, 2012).
  8. ↑ a b Kuczynski, Alex: The Devil and Demian Bichir . In: The New York Times , Aug 21, 2011, Women's Fashion Magazine, p. 220.
  9. ^ Schneider, Christoph: Che Guevara lived for the revolution and fame . In: Tages-Anzeiger , March 25, 2009, p. 41ges.
  10. ↑ A doctor turns into a warrior . In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten , June 10, 2009, p. 22.
  11. ↑ Sneider, Jeff: Demian Bichir lines up pair of projects  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at variety.com, May 2, 2012 (accessed May 3, 2012).@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.variety.com  
  12. ↑ León, Angélica de: Intentará anular su boda religiosa . In: El Norte , February 4, 2005, No. 24169, p. 14.
  13. ^ Estrada, Nora Alicia: En campaña para el Óscar . In: El Norte , September 13, 2011, p. 6.
  14. ↑ Lee, Yip Wai: Life after Oscar nomination: Mexican actor Demian Bichir plays a detective in gritty television crime series The Bridge . In: The Straits Times , July 25, 2013, LIFE! (accessed via LexisNexis Economy ).
  15. ↑ https://www.t-online.de/unterhaltung/stars/id_85639136/stefanie-sherk-37-hollywood-schauspielerin-ist-tot-ursache-nicht-known.html t-online: "Actress Stefanie Sherk dies with 37 years "
personal data
SURNAME Bichir, Demián
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mexican actor
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Mexico City , Mexico