Joaquim de Almeida

Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida CvIH (born 15 March 1957) is a Portuguese-American actor.[1]

Joaquim de Almeida

Almeida at the 2011 Festival International du Film d'Amour de Mons
Born
Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida

(1957-03-15) 15 March 1957
NationalityPortuguese[1]
CitizenshipAmerican (2005-present)[1]
OccupationActor
Years active1982–present
Spouse(s)
  • Maria Cecília de Almeida
  • Maria Risques Pereira
Children2
Parents
  • João Baptista de Almeida (father)
  • Maria Sara Portugal (mother)

Almeida began his acting career in theatre during the 1980s, he started his film career appearing on the 1982 action film The Soldier, and later achieved recognition for playing Andrea Bonanno in the 1987 Italian film Good Morning, Babylon. He achieved international fame with his portrayals of Félix Cortez in the 1994 thriller Clear and Present Danger and Bucho in the 1995 action thriller Desperado. Several years later, he became popular for playing Ramon Salazar on the Fox thriller drama series 24, between 2003 and 2004, and Hernan Reyes in the 2011 film Fast Five.

Fluent in several languages, Almeida has worked in several countries in Europe and the Americas, in many film and stage productions, winning some international awards in films like Retrato de Família, Adão e Eva and O Xangô de Baker Street. His other well-known films include The Honorary Consul (1983), Only You (1994), La Cucaracha (1998), One Man's Hero (1999), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), Whore (2004), The Death and Life of Bobby Z (2007), Che: Part Two (2008), The Burning Plain (2008), and The Gilded Cage (2013).[2]

Early life and education

Almeida was born on 15 March 1957 in São Sebastião da Pedreira, Lisbon, Portugal, the son of João Baptista de Almeida and Maria Sara Portugal.[3] At the age of eighteen, after attending a theater course at the Lisbon Conservatory (School of Theatre and Cinema) for two years, he left Portugal to continue his studies after the Conservatory was temporarily closed following the 1974 democratic revolution. He spent a year in Vienna, moving again, in 1976, to New York City where he studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, a school for the performing arts.[3][4]

Career

1980s

After his beginning in theater, Almeida started his film career in 1982 appearing in The Soldier. His first significant role came in a 1983 film, The Honorary Consul. He made appearances in TV series such as Miami Vice,[5] but it was some years later that he made his breakthrough, appearing in the Good Morning, Babylon, a film directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani that opened the Cannes Film Festival in 1987. Being fluent in six languages, Almeida continued his acting career in several countries such as Portugal, England, Spain, France, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, and Germany, working in numerous films.[3][4]

1990s

In 1994, Almeida played Félix Cortez, a former colonel of Cuban military intelligence in the Tom Clancy thriller, Clear and Present Danger, co-starring Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe and Anne Archer. The film debuted at number one in the box office, earning a reported $20.5 million in the United States.[6]

Clear and Present Danger was a great success and was nominated for two Academy Awards.[7] Later in 1994, Almeida starred in the romantic comedy Only You, in which he plays a suave Italian businessman named Giovanni. According to The New York Times, the film director and producer Norman Jewison said: "I interviewed many actors for the role.... There was one Italian actor, fairly prominent, that I met in L.A. and again in New York and in Rome. And I wanted to meet several other Italian actors in Italy." When the production moved from Pittsburgh to Italy last fall, however, none of the country's actors seemed right for what Jewison called "the clichéd Italian gigolo, the guy that women from the Midwest always meet." After the interview with Almeida, Jewison recalled: "Howard Feuer, the casting director, said, 'Joaquim's not that tall. He's not that handsome. He's no Rossano Brazzi here.' I said, 'But listen to his voice.' There's a machoness. Especially when he lowers it, whispers, leans across the table and pours you another glass of wine. He can be extremely intimate with his voice."[8]

In 1995, Almeida appeared with Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek in the Robert Rodriguez's action thriller Desperado. This film is the sequel to Rodriguez's independent film El Mariachi and the second entry in the Mexico Trilogy. Joaquim de Almeida portrays the main villain Bucho, a wealthy but casually bloodthirsty drug kingpin, who rules a seedy Mexican border town.[9] Almeida replaced Raúl Juliá as Bucho, following Juliá's death in 1994. Desperado was screened out of competition at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.[10] He won a Portuguese Golden Globe for Best Actor in his next film, the 1995 Portuguese drama Adão e Eva (Adam and Eve),[11] where he played the main female character career rival Francisco.[12]

In 1997 he appeared in the miniseries Nostromo and starred in the Luís Galvão Teles' drama Elles (Women).[13] The following year, he co-starred with Eric Roberts in the Jack Perez thriller La Cucaracha (1998). The film premiered at the Austin Film Festival where it won the Feature Film Award.[14]

2000s

In 2001, Almeida starred in the Brazilian comedy O Xangô de Baker Street, where he plays the legendary British detective Sherlock Holmes. The film is based in a book written in 1995 by the Brazilian author Jô Soares about a case involving Sherlock Holmes and is his loyal friend Doctor Watson, who are called by the Brazilian Emperor Pedro II, to find the thief of a priceless Stradivarius owned by his lover. Due to Almeida's good representation of the character, he won another Portuguese Golden Globe for best actor, his third, and was nominated for Cinema Brazil Grand Prize award for best actor.[15] In 2001, he had a supporting role in the war film Behind Enemy Lines as Admiral Juan Miguel Piquet, the commander of NATO's naval forces, starring alongside Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman. The film, based on the Mrkonjić Grad incident, is centered on the story of an American naval flight officer, played by Owen Wilson, who was shot down over Bosnia, who ends up uncovering a massacre during the Bosnian conflict.

In 2004, he starred with Daryl Hannah and Denise Richards in Yo Puta, a gritty docu-style prostitution tale,[16] based on a bestselling book by Spaniard Isabel Pisano, that tracks the slow descent of a girl, into the sex business, which is interspersed with interviews with real-life prostitutes.[17]

That same year, he joined the cast of 24 as Ramon Salazar, the ruthless leader of a drug cartel who is put into—and later broken out of—prison by Jack Bauer. In 2007, Joaquim de Almeida limns a brutal foreman named Baxter, in the Antonio Cuadri's El corazón de la tierra, a heady romance with a social conscience.[18]

Later that year, he turned his attention towards romantic drama La Cucina, a film about several mostly separated storylines in which couples, friends and associates meet for a night of cooking and befriending. He portrayed a Spanish born photo journalist named Michael.[19]

In 2008, he starred in the Che: Part Two, a biographical film about an Argentine doctor-turned-international revolutionary named Ernesto Guevara. Almeida played President René Barrientos, a former Bolivian politician who served as his country's Vice President in 1964 and as its President from 1964–69.

Later that year he appeared in The Burning Plain as local man named Nick Martinez, starring alongside Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. He also provided his voice for the animated show The Batman as the voice of the villain Bane, and reprised his role in all of his appearances in the show except one in which Ron Perlman voices the character for one line.

2010s

On 16 July 2010, Almeida was confirmed to be taking on the role of antagonist Hernan Reyes in the 2011 action film Fast Five directed by Justin Lin and co-starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson.[20]

The film took $3.8 million in receipts during launch midnight showings marking the best ever opening for a Universal title and The Fast and The Furious franchise.[21] Fast Five became the highest-grossing film of 2011 for 15 days before being replaced on 30 May 2011.[22]

Between 2013 and 2020, Almeida has starred in The Gilded Cage, Our Brand is Crisis, The Hitman's Bodyguard, and Downsizing.

Since 2016, Almeida has had a starring role as drug kingpin Don Epifanio Vargas on the USA Network crime drama Queen of the South, opposite Alice Braga. The show is currently in its 5th season.

Selected filmography

Films

Year Title Role Notes
1983 The Honorary Consul Leon Movie nominated for two BAFTA Film Awards.
1987 Good Morning, Babylon Andrea Bonanno Movie presented in 1987 Cannes Film Festival.
1990 Sandino Augusto César Sandino
1994 Clear and Present Danger Col. Felix Cortez Movie nominated for two Academy Awards.
Only You Giovanni
1995 O Xangô de Baker Street Sherlock Holmes
Desperado Bucho (Cesar) Movie presented in 1995 Cannes Film Festival.
Sostiene Pereira Manuel
2001 Behind Enemy Lines Admiral Juan Miguel Piquet
2003 Il Fuggiasco Lolo
2006 The Celestine Prophecy Father Sanchez
2008 The Burning Plain Nick Martinez
Che René Barrientos
2011 Fast Five Hernan Reyes
2013 The Gilded Cage José Ribeiro "People's Choice Award" at the 26th European Film Awards.
2014 Of Mind and Music Dr. Alvaro Cruz
2015 Our Brand is Crisis Pedro Castillo
2016 A Date with Miss Fortune Jose
2017 The Hitman's Bodyguard Assistant Director Jean Foucher
2018 Downsizing Dr. Oswaldo Pereira

Television series

Year Title Role Notes
1996–1997 Nostromo Col. Sotillo
1999 Camino de Santiago Gonzalo Leyva
2003–2004 24 Ramon Salazar
2005 Wanted Captain Manuel Valenza
2012 The Mentalist Gabriel Porchetto
2013 Bones Raphael Valenza
2016–present Queen of the South Don Epifanio Vargas
2017 Training Day Menjivar
2020 Warrior Nun Cardinal Duretti

Personal life

Almeida has two children, a son Lourenço Gonçalves Baptista de Almeida from Cecília Gonçalves (born 1993) and a daughter Ana de Tavares Risques Baptista de Almeida, with his partner Maria Risques Pereira.

He was awarded a Knighthood of the Order of Prince Henry in 1992 for his contributions to the arts.

Almeida is fluent in six languages; Portuguese (his mother tongue), English, French, Italian, Spanish and German.

In 2005, he became a naturalized US citizen.

Awards and nominations

YearCeremonyAwardFilm/TV ShowResult
1994Cairo International Film FestivalCairo International Film Festival Award for Best ActorRetrato de FamíliaWon
1995Portuguese Golden GlobesGolden Globe for Best ActorAdão e EvaWon
1997Portuguese Golden GlobesGolden Globe for Best ActorSostiene PereiraNominated
1998Portuguese Golden GlobesGolden Globe for Best ActorTentaçãoWon
2000Portuguese Golden GlobesGolden Globe for Best ActorInfernoNominated
2002Cinema Brazil Grand PrizeCinema Brazil Grand Prize for Best ActorO Xangô de Baker StreetNominated
Portuguese Golden GlobesGolden Globe for Best ActorWon
2004Festival Cinema de BadajozCareer Award[23]Won
2005Screen Actors Guild AwardsOutstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series24Nominated
2006Portuguese Golden GlobesGolden Globe for Best ActorUm Tiro no EscuroNominated
2008Avanca Film FestivalAvanca Film Festival Award for Best ActorÓscar. Una pasión surrealistaWon
2009Festival de Cine Iberoamericano de HuelvaPrize of the City of HuelvaWon

References

  1. "Joaquim de Almeida naturalizou-se norte-americano" [Joaquim de Almeida became a naturalized American citizen] (in Portuguese). Público. 27 October 2005. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
  2. Joaquim de Almeida at IMDb
  3. "Biography for Joaquim de Almeida". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
  4. "Biografia – Joaquim de Almeida" [Biography – Joaquim de Almeida] (in Portuguese). Sapo.pt. 27 October 2009. Archived from the original on 20 December 2010. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
  5. "Bought and Paid for". Miami Vice. Season 2. Episode 9. 29 November 1985. NBC.
  6. Fox, David (8 August 1994). "A 'Clear' Triumph at Box Office: Movies: The Harrison Ford thriller seizes the No. 1 spot with estimated ticket receipts of more than $20 million". Los Angeles Times.
  7. "Awards for Clear and Present Danger". IMDB. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
  8. Lee, Linda (2 October 1994). "Charm the Ladies, Kill the Drug Lord". The New York Times.
  9. Maslin, Janet (25 August 1995). "Desperado (1995)". The New York Times.
  10. "Details: Desperado". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
  11. "Golden Globes, Portugal (1995)". IMDb. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  12. Fountain, Rovi. "Adao E Eva". New York Times. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  13. Holden, Stephen (29 October 1999). "Women (1998)". New York Times.
  14. "Austin Film Writers' Fest A Go Under Construction". AllBusiness.com. 5 October 1998.
  15. "Awards for The Xango from Baker Street". IMDB. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  16. Rooney, David (25 February 2003). "Richards, Sheen keen on scurrying 'Scary 3'". Variety.com.
  17. Hopewell, John (10 November 2003). "Gaga over 'Whore'". Variety.com.
  18. Hopewell, John (12 February 2006). "Spain's 'Heart of Earth' digs Guillory". Variety.com.
  19. Buchanan, Rovi (13 July 2017). "La Cucina (2008)". The New York Times.
  20. Siegel, Tatiana (16 July 2010). "'Fast and the Furious' adds to cast". Variety.
  21. Gray, Brandon (28 April 2011). "Forecast: 'Fast Five' Fever". Box Office Mojo.
  22. Gray, Brandon (31 May 2011). "Around-the-World Roundup: 'Pirates' Booty Grows, 'Hangover,' 'Panda' Sequels Open Strongly". Box Office Mojo.
  23. "Biografia – Joaquim de Almeida" [Biography – Joaquim de Almeida] (in Portuguese). entretenimento.pt.msn.com. 27 December 2010. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2011.

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