Bardem married actressPenélope Cruz in 2010 and together they have two children. In January 2018, Bardem became the ambassador ofGreenpeace for the protection ofAntarctica.[1]
Bardem was born on 1 March 1969 inLas Palmas de Gran Canaria, in theCanary Islands, Spain. His mother,Pilar Bardem (1939–2021), was an actress, and his father, José Carlos Encinas Doussinague (1931–1995), was the son of a cattle rancher from theprovince of Salamanca.[2] According to Pilar's memoirs, José had a "capricious and violent will," and shot up the front door. He changed jobs more than 10 times, leading to evictions and the children going hungry. The two separated shortly after Javier's birth.[3][4] His mother raised him and his elder siblings,Carlos andMónica, alone (another sibling died shortly after birth), both of whom have also pursued an acting career. His father died of leukemia in 1995.[2][5]
On his mother’s side, Bardem comes from a long line of filmmakers and actors dating back to the earliest days of Spanish cinema. He is a grandson of actorsRafael Bardem andMatilde Muñoz Sampedro (sister of actressesMercedes andGuadalupe),[6] and a nephew of screenwriter and directorJuan Antonio Bardem.[7] On the latter's side, he is a cousin of filmmakerMiguel Bardem.[8] His uncle Juan Antonio was imprisoned by theFranco regime for hisanti-fascist films.[5] Bardem was brought up in the Roman Catholic faith by his grandmother.[9][10]
As a child, he spent time at theatres and on film sets.[5] In 1974, he made his first television appearance, inFernando Fernán Gómez's television seriesEl pícaro [es] (The Scoundrel).[11][5][12] He also playedrugby for the junior Spanish National Team.[13][14] Though he grew up in a family full of actors, Bardem did not see himself going into the family business, and painting was his preferred medium.[15] He went on to study painting for four years at Madrid'sEscuela de Artes y oficios.[13][16] In need of money, he took acting jobs to support his painting but felt he was a bad painter and eventually abandoned it as a career.[15]
In 1989, for the Spanish comedy showEl Día Por Delante (The Day Ahead), he had to wear aSuperman costume for a comedic sketch, a job that made him question whether he wanted to be an actor at all.[17] Bardem also worked as a stripper (for one day) during his struggling acting career.[18]
Bardem came to notice in a small role in his first major motion picture,The Ages of Lulu, when he was 21, in which he appeared along with his mother,Pilar Bardem. He also appeared in minor roles inAmo tu cama rica andHigh Heels.[19]Bigas Luna, the director ofLulu, was sufficiently impressed to give him the leading male role in his next film,Jamón Jamón in 1992, in which Bardem played a would-beunderwear model andbullfighter. The film, which also starred his eventual wifePenélope Cruz, was a major international success.[13] Bardem featured inSancho Gracia'sHuidos,[19] and starred in Bigas Luna's next filmGolden Balls (1993).
Bardem's talent did not go unnoticed in theEnglish-speaking world. In 1997,John Malkovich was the first to approach him, then a 27-year-old, for a role in English, but the Spanish actor turned down the offer because his English was still poor.[14][20] His first English-speaking role came that same year, in with directorÁlex de la Iglesia'sPerdita Durango, playing asantería-practicing bank robber.
After starring in about two dozen films in his native country, he gained international recognition inJulian Schnabel'sBefore Night Falls in 2000, portrayingCuban poetReinaldo Arenas.[13] He received praise from his idolAl Pacino; the message Pacino left on Bardem's answering machine was something he considers one of the most beautiful gifts he has ever received.[5] For that role, he received a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Actor, the first for a Spaniard. Immediately after, he turned down the role of Danny Witwer inMinority Report which eventually went toColin Farrell.[21] Instead, in 2002, Bardem starred in Malkovich's directorial debut,The Dancer Upstairs. Malkovich originally had Bardem in mind for the role of the detective's assistant, but the movie's time trying to find financing gave Bardem time to learn English and take on the lead role of the detective. "I will always be grateful to him because he really gave me my very first chance to work in English", Bardem has said of Malkovich.[14][20]
Bardem's rendition of Chigurh's trademark quote, "What business is it of yours where I'm from, friendo?" (in response to the convenience store owner's query, "Y'all gettin' any rain up your way?"),[24] was named Top HollyWORDIE of 2007 in the annual survey by theGlobal Language Monitor.[25] Chigurh was named No. 26 inEntertainment Weekly magazine's 2008 "50 Most Vile Villains in Movie History" list.[26] Bardem's life's work was honored at the 2007Gotham Awards, produced byIndependent Feature Project. In 2014, Belgian psychiatry professor Samuel Leistedt and 10 associates watched 400 movies over the course of three years and identified 126 psychopathic characters: Bardem's rendition of Chigurh was voted the most realistic psychopath.[27][28][29]
Bardem received the 2,484th star of theHollywood Walk of Fame on 8 November 2012. The star is located outside theEl Capitan Theatre.[41] With his movieSons of the Clouds: The Last Colony (2012),[42] he demonstrated the suffering of theSahrawi people inrefugee camps.[43] He publicly denounced the UN as unwilling to definitively resolve the human crisis there.[44]
In 2007, Bardem began datingPenélope Cruz, his co-star inVicky Cristina Barcelona. Bardem and Cruz have maintained a low public profile,[73] refusing to discuss their personal lives.[15] The couple married in July 2010 inThe Bahamas.[74] They have two children: a son, named Leo Encinas Cruz, born on 23 January 2011,[75] in Los Angeles; and a daughter, named Luna Encinas Cruz, born on 22 July 2013, in Madrid.[76]
In September 2018, at theToronto Film Festival premiere ofEverybody Knows Bardem toldIkon London Magazine about acting together with his spouse: "I find it very easy. In a sense that we play what we are supposed to play and then we go back to our daily life which is way more interesting than any fiction. And it is real."[77]
Bardem's native language is Spanish, and he is also fluent in English. He is a fan ofheavy metal music, and credits the bandAC/DC for helping him learn to speak English, in some respects.[15] He is also a fan ofPearl Jam.[78] Bardem does not drive, only getting behind the wheel for film roles,[13][79] and he refers to himself as a "worker" or "entertainer", not an actor.[79] In 2024, he stated that he still saw himself as "the son of Pilar", adding that he did not want "to be anything else".[68]
Although Bardem was raised as aCatholic, he is nowagnostic.[80][81] He expressed his support of gay marriagein Spain. Bardem emphasized that whileego drives acting, it should not interfere with filmmaking.[82] He later said that although he does not believe strongly in thesupernatural, he does not deny it. "We are just this little tiny spot in the whole universe, so of course there must be other things, other people, other creatures, other lives and other dimensions. Sure, I believe in it". In the same interview, Bardem stated that he thinks science and belief "should go together".[83]
Despite the villainous characters he has played throughout his acting career, Bardem has a self-confessed "hatred" of violence that stems from a fight in a nightclub in his early 20s that left him with a broken nose.[84]
Long committed to the plight of theSahrawi people, Bardem served as spokesperson of the platform 'All with the Sahara', that collected signatures to ask the Spanish government to "lead the search for a peaceful and just solution to a conflict that affects us directly".[86] Bardem produced and narrated the documentary filmSons of the Clouds about life in theSahrawi refugee camps.[87] In July 2025, Bardem voiced concern about the shooting ofThe Odyssey inDakhla,Western Sahara, denouncing that "for 50 years, Morocco has occupied Western Sahara, expelling the Sahrawi people from their cities. Dakhla is one of them, converted by the Moroccan occupiers into a tourist destination and now a film set, always with the aim of erasing the Sahrawi identity of the city".[88] He likewise appeared as a signatory in a manifesto promoted byFiSahara against the shooting of the film in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara.[89]
In November 2019, during the March for Climate in Madrid, Bardem gave a speech on stage where he called both the mayor of MadridJosé Luis Martínez-Almeida and the US presidentDonald Trump "stupid". He later apologized, declaring that "the insult illegitimizes any speech and conversation."[92]
During the2014 Gaza War, Bardem and Cruz signed an open letter denouncing Israel's actions during the conflict asgenocide.[93] In September 2024, Bardem criticized Israel'smilitary operations in theGaza Strip and the "unconditional support" of Israel by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany,[94] saying that "Israel's extreme right-wing nationalist government is not at all representative of the Jewish community or Israeli society."[95] In May 2025, Bardem signed a letter criticizing the film industry's "passivity" before the ongoingGaza genocide.[96] In June 2025, Bardem toldThe View that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza with the "back-up of the United States" and the "silence of Europe".[97] During the77th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, he briefly stated toE! that he denounces thegenocide in Gaza while wearing aPalestinian keffiyeh before concluding the interview with a "Free Palestine" chant.[98] He is a signatory of theFilm Workers for Palestine boycott pledge that was published in September 2025.[99]
^Rodriguez, Rene (17 December 2000)."Javier Bardem Comes Across".The New York Times.Archived from the original on 18 October 2009. Retrieved12 October 2007.
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