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Para ver esta página en español, oprima aquí. Puerto Rico Profile: Benicio Del ToroJanuary 26, 2001
Just last month, Benicio Del Toro was a fairly marginal figure in Hollywood, an actor with exceptional talent and integrity but not very much name recognition or box office clout. While generally recognized as a fine character actor by those who had seen him in films like The Usual Suspects and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, he had never managed to break into the ranks of stardom. In the space of a few weeks, however, all that has changed. Del Toro, a 33-year-old native of Santurce, PR, may indeed be poised to enter the pantheon of great Puerto Rican actors. On Sunday, January 21, Benicio Del Toro won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for his role in the movie Traffic. That film, which was released at the end of December, 2000, has drawn considerable praise from critics and audiences alike. A kaleidoscopic exploration of the drug trade between Mexico and the United States, Traffic features some of the best known and most respected talents in Hollywood. But more than director Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich) or stars Michael Douglas or Catherine Zeta-Jones, the excitement and acclaim surrounding Traffic has focused on Del Toro and his character Javier Rodríguez Rodríguez, a Mexican border policeman walking the thin line between right and wrong. "You want to own [your character], because if you own it, you’re going to help the film, help the other actors, help yourself," Del Toro said recently. He so thoroughly inhabits the role of Rodríguez, which he performs almost entirely in Spanish, that the character — with all his moral qualms and foibles — comes to life on the screen. In the process, he shatters the tired Hollywood stereotype of Mexican police officers as corrupt, we-don’t-need-no-stinking-badges profiteers. Looking back at Del Toro’s movie career, which has spanned thirteen years and over twenty films, the depth and humanity of his performance in Traffic is less surprising than the fact that success has eluded him for so long. Besides a memorable turn in The Usual Suspects (1995), in which he stole his four scenes as Fred Fenster by delivering his lines in an incomprehensible mumble, Del Toro has been virtually unknown to mainstream audiences. That anonymity has not, however, been completely accidental. Benicio Del Toro is a pure actor who approaches his job as a craft, even when the roles he takes don’t translate into fame and fortune. In fact, his commitment to artistic integrity dates back to the beginning of his acting career. Del Toro discovered his calling as an actor at the University of California at San Diego. A business major, he was preparing to become a lawyer, following in the footsteps of both his father and late mother. As a freshman, however, he was cast in a campus theatrical production, and university policy required that he change his major to drama in order to appear in the play. Soon after, he dropped out of college to study acting at the Circle in the Square in New York City. After struggling in New York, Del Toro returned to Southern California to live with his older brother, then a medical student at UCLA. In Los Angeles, Benicio won a scholarship to attend the prestigious Stella Adler Academy of Acting. Stella Adler, who is considered by some the country’s foremost acting instructor, once said that "theatre — acting, creating, and interpreting — means total involvement, the totality of heart, mind, and spirit." "If I’m going to play someone, I’ll play it to the bone," Benicio Del Toro has said. After several years of absorbing Adler’s philosophy, he became a highly disciplined actor dedicated to the careful study of his characters. As a result, with the exception of small parts in a handful of big budget Hollywood movies, he has spent much more time working on smaller, independent features. These films, the best of which include The Usual Suspects, Basquiat, The Funeral, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, have given Del Toro the opportunity to shape his characters and expand as an actor. In the case of Fear and Loathing, in which he played a Samoan attorney, that expansion was physical; he gained 45 pounds in nine weeks for the role, eating "chairs, tables, buildings, and bridges. But what really pushed the balance was donuts." After years of these fairly low-profile roles, Benicio Del Toro has quite suddenly entered the limelight. In addition to Traffic, he appears in two films that were both released last week, just days before he won the Golden Globe. In the British action-comedy Snatch, Del Toro plays an orthodox Jewish jewel thief named Frankie Four Fingers; and in The Pledge, which stars Jack Nicholson and was directed by Sean Penn, Del Toro is a mentally-retarded American Indian who is falsely accused of a terrible crime. Referring to the latter film, at least one critic called Del Toro "unrecognizable," which is a compliment for a character actor. With all the attention Benicio Del Toro has been receiving, however, it may soon be hard for him not to be recognized. According to a recent interview, however, he seems to be keeping his fame in the proper perspective. "I get recognized, for the most part, for the right reasons," he told USA Today. "For the work. Not because someone saw my picture in the post office." Moreover, despite the sudden success, Del Toro remains the consummate professional devoted to his craft. "The satisfaction about acting is getting to those moments where you’re well-prepared, and you’re able to elevate it to a place that you never thought you could get to," he has said. Nothing could prepare him, however, for winning the Golden Globe Award. Dissatisfied with his performance, he said after the ceremony that he wished he could repeat his acceptance speech. "I wish I could do Take 2," he said. On the night when the Oscars are announced, Benicio Del Toro might indeed get that second chance.
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José Ferrer, Rita Moreno, Raul Julia, and ... Benicio Del Toro?