Celebrity Details:
Choices was born February 19, 1967, in Santurce, Puerto Rico, to lawyer parents Gustavo and Fausta Sanchez. After his mother died when Del Toro was 9 years old, the family moved to Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Del Toro was sent off to boarding school in Pennsylvania when he was 13, as his father wanted him to get the high education that he expected from a future lawyer son -- but Del Toro had other plans.
He continued his studies at the University of California at San Diego, where he auditioned for a play. But the audition required that he be either a sophomore or a theater major. And with that, the college freshman switched out of business to theater.
Breaking the news to his father wasn't easy, as he hoped Benicio would follow in the family trade of law, or at least medicine, like his older brother Gustavo. Del Toro's father thought that there was no future in acting, but Benicio would prove him wrong. After the requisite bad roles, that is. Del Toro went to study at the Circle in the Square Acting School in New York, and won a scholarship to the renowned Stella Adler Acting Conservatory in Los Angeles. His training paid off... well at least later. He appeared on shows like Private Eye, Ohara and Miami Vice in 1987, and won the role of Duke the Dog-Faced Boy in 1988's Big Top Pee-Wee. He also appeared in the James Bond franchise, in the disappointing License To Kill.
Del Toro spent the next few years paying the bills by adding more movies to his resume, like The Indian Runner and China Moon in 1991; Christopher Columbus: The Discovery in 1992; 1993's Fearless (in which he started to become noticed); and 1994's Swimming with Sharks, with Kevin Spacey.
But it was in 1995 that Del Toro would turn heads everywhere and get people talking, when he co-starred with his previous co-star Spacey, in The Usual Suspects. Besides the surprising ending, the film had people talking about Del Toro's portrayal of Fred Fenster, a role for which he had to thin out his eyebrows and shave his hairline. He received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for the role. He received the same award for his role as Benny Dalmau in the biopic of author Basquait, a 1996 film which was praised on the independent circuit. His only compensation for the film was the award, as he agreed to appear in it for free as a favor to his good friend and first-time director, Julian Schnabel. After having worked with Christopher Walken in the latter, he moved on to Robert De Niro, his co-star for the ill-fated The Fan. He was also cast in 1996's The Funeral, co-starring with Mr. Walken once again.
In 1997, he was handpicked by Alicia Silverstone (the producer and star of the film Excess Baggage) to star as a man who kidnaps her, as the teen queen was so impressed with his The Usual Suspects role. In 1998, Del Toro co-starred with Johnny Depp in Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas, a role for which he had to gain 40 pounds. His gain turned out to be a loss though, as the far-out film was a disappointment. Apparently, he was one of the original choices for Before Night Falls, but he turned it down to star in his friend's film, Christopher McQuarrie's The Way of the Gun. But the disappointments would have been forgotten by 2000, when Del Toro became Hollywood's next big thing. He starred as the good-natured cop Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez in the powerhouse film, Traffic.
The role earned him a Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, as well as Best Supporting Actor awards from the New York Film Critics, the San Diego Film Critics, the Las Vegas Film Critics, and the National Society of Film Critics, among many more. His peers also honored him with an award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the SAG Awards. Del Toro was named one of 2001's Most Beautiful People by People Magazine. He rounded off the year with a role as Franky Four Fingers in Guy Ritchie's Snatch, with Brad Pitt, and appeared in Sean Penn's The Pledge in 2001.
Del Toro has also proved to be successful behind the camera as director, producer and screenwriter of 1995's Submission, which was screened at the Venice Film Festival that year. Although Del Toro is known for his sleepy, smoky eyes and slurred speech, he is truly a master of accents, as seen in his perfect Mexican accent in Traffic and his Yiddish accent in Snatch. With upcoming roles in The Hunted and The Assumption of the Virgin, Del Toro is likely to snatch some more well-earned celebrity and success. |
E! Online