Bernal, Gael Garcia

Bernal, Gael Garcia
▪ 2008

born Oct. 30, 1978, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mex.

      In 2007 Mexican heartthrob movie star Gael García Bernal moved behind the camera to direct his first feature film, Déficit, which premiered at the Cannes international film festival. This effort was just the latest accomplishment of the multifaceted actor, producer, and political activist, who was known for pushing artistic boundaries.

      Bernal's parents (his mother was an actress and his father a director) involved him in theatrical productions at an early age. He was cast in a Mexican soap opera at age 12 and transitioned to the big screen four years later in the short film De tripas, corazón (1996). When he was 17, Bernal left Mexico to travel to Europe and won a scholarship to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. In the middle of his studies, he returned to Mexico to film Amores perros (2000) with director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Bernal's performance as a poor teenager who turns to dogfighting to finance an affair with his sister-in-law won rave reviews and launched his career. He received best actor awards at the Chicago International Film Festival and at Mexico's Ariel Awards. Amores perros was nominated for a best foreign film Oscar and brought Bernal to the attention of another acclaimed Mexican director, Alfonso Cuaron, who cast the young actor as a colead (along with Maribel Verdú and Bernal's childhood friend Diego Luna) in the coming-of-age film Y tu mamá también (2001). The movie, which followed two adolescent boys and an older woman on a road trip through Mexico, caused a stir with its frank depiction of the sexual relationship between the three primary characters.

      However controversial his part in Y tu mamá también might have seemed, Bernal pushed the envelope even further with his next major role: a priest who falls in love with and impregnates a 16-year-old girl in El crimen del padre Amaro (2002). The film smashed box-office records in Mexico and was nominated for a best foreign film Oscar, but Bernal's risqué turn led to threats of excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church. The protests did little to affect Bernal, who called himself “culturally Catholic, but spiritually agnostic,” and he continued to take on challenging and potentially contentious roles, such as a young Che Guevara (Diarios de motocicleta; 2004), a sexually abused altar boy (La mala educación; 2004), and a murderous and incestuous loner (The King; 2005). His turn in the eclectic comedy La Science des rêves (2006) showed that Bernal was as adept at exploring the lighter side of human nature as he was the dark.

Adam Augustyn

▪ 2004

      Although he first made his name in a spate of coming-of-age films, 25-year-old Mexican actor Gael García Bernal truly arrived in 2003 with three new films—Dot the I, an English-language film set in London; Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries), about the Cuban Revolution; and La mala educación (Bad Education), directed by Pedro Almodóvar. In his most successful film to date, Y tu mamá también (2001; And Your Mother Too), Bernal played an aimless privileged youth who sets off on a summer road trip with his best friend and a woman who is fleeing a failing marriage. The woman's forthright intimacy with the two friends sets them against each other, threatening the freewheeling fraternity they initially shared. The genuine chemistry between the two male characters was aided in part by the fact that actors Bernal and Diego Luna were longtime offscreen friends who had appeared together at age 12 in the television soap opera, El abuelo y yo.

      Bernal's breakthrough role was in the gritty 2000 release Amores perros. Constructed as something of a triptych, Bernal starred in the first third of the movie as an impoverished angry teen blinded by love for his brother's pregnant wife. The following year he rose on the strength of Y tu mamá también, which was a runaway hit in Mexico and Guatemala and on the international festival and art-house film circuit. The movie enjoyed the highest-grossing opening in Mexico film history. In 2002 he repeated his box-office success, appearing as the title character in El crimen del Padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro). The motion picture, based on the 19th-century story by Portuguese novelist José Maria Eça de Queirós of a hypocritical priest who takes up with an overly devoted parishioner, raised many eyebrows in predominantly Roman Catholic Mexico but also filled many theatre seats. Those two hits added sex appeal to Bernal's glowing marquee, and the visage of the stringy-haired youth with the soulful good looks made it onto People en Español magazine's list of “25 Most Beautiful People” as well as onto posters adorning the walls of his young fans.

      Bernal was born on Oct. 30, 1978, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, into an acting family. As a boy he appeared in theatrical productions with his parents, and following his preteen stint in El abuelo y yo, he moved to London at age 17 to study acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Afterward he appeared in a series of plays and short films. He portrayed Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara in the TV miniseries Fidel in 2002, a role he thereafter reprised in Diarios de motocicleta.

Tom Michael

* * *

▪ Mexican actor and director
born Oct. 30, 1978, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mex.

      Mexican actor and director who became known for his work in films that portrayed men and women in taboo or nonconformist relationships.

      Bernal's parents—his mother was an actress and his father a director—involved him in theatrical productions at an early age. In 1989 he was cast in a Mexican soap opera, and in 1996 he appeared in the short film De tripas, corazón (“Take Courage”). When he was 17, Bernal traveled to Europe and won a scholarship to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. In the middle of his studies, he returned to Mexico to film Amores perros (2000; “Love's a Bitch”) with director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Bernal's performance as a poor teenager who turns to dogfighting to finance an affair with his sister-in-law won rave reviews and launched his career. Amores perros was nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign film and brought Bernal to the attention of another acclaimed Mexican director, Alfonso Cuarón, who cast the young actor as a colead in the coming-of-age film Y tu mamá también (2001; “And Your Mother Too”). The movie, which followed two adolescent boys and an older woman on a road trip through Mexico, aroused controversy with its frank depiction of the sexual relationship between the three primary characters.

      Bernal's next major role came in El crimen del padre Amaro (2002; The Crime of Padre Amaro), in which he played a priest who falls in love with and impregnates a 16-year-old girl. The film garnered record box-office sales in Mexico and was nominated for a best foreign film Academy Award, but Bernal's risqué turn led to threats of excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church. The protests did little to affect Bernal, who called himself “culturally Catholic, but spiritually agnostic,” and he continued to take on challenging and potentially contentious roles, such as a young Che Guevara (Guevara, Che) in Diarios de motocicleta (2004; The Motorcycle Diaries), a sexually abused altar boy in La mala educación (2004; Bad Education), and a murderous and incestuous loner in The King (2005). His turn in the eclectic comedy La Science des rêves (2006; The Science of Sleep) showed that Bernal was also adept at exploring the lighter side of human nature.

      In 2007 Bernal directed his first feature film, Déficit (“Deficit”), and the following year he starred in Blindness (2008)—a film adaptation of José Saramago (Saramago, José)'s novel Ensaio sobre a cegueira (1995; Blindness)—in which residents of a city suffer from an epidemic of instant blindness.

Adam Augustyn
 

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Universalium. 2010.

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