Gael García Bernal

García Bernal was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, the son of Patricia Bernal, an actress and former model, and José Ángel García, an actor and director.{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_10_34/ai_n6338666 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729125250/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_10_34/ai_n6338666 |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 July 2013 |title=Gael García Bernal: he plays everybody's favorite revolutionary onscreen, but he's not just playacting, Interview }} His stepfather is Sergio Yazbek, whom his mother married when García Bernal was young.{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_10_34/ai_n6338666|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729125250/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_10_34/ai_n6338666|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 July 2013|title=Gael García Bernal: he plays everybody's favorite revolutionary onscreen, but he's not just playacting|first=Juliette|last=Binoche|date=November 2004|access-date=14 August 2007|work=Interview}} He started acting at just one year old and spent most of his teen years starring in telenovelas. García Bernal and frequent collaborator Diego Luna were friends from childhood in Mexico City.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/how-we-met-gael-garc-237-a-bernal-diego-luna-1799842.html|access-date=25 March 2021|title=How We Met: Gael Garcia Bernal & Diego Luna|website=Independent.co.uk|date=10 October 2009|archive-date=22 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622171049/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/how-we-met-gael-garc-237-a-bernal-diego-luna-1799842.html|url-status=live}}

When he was fourteen, García Bernal taught indigenous people in Mexico to read, often working with the Huichol people.{{cite web|url=http://www.thenitmustbetrue.com/garciabernal/garciabernal1.html|access-date=14 August 2007|title=Gael García Bernal|date=July 2004|publisher=Then It Must Be True|archive-date=28 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928055248/http://www.thenitmustbetrue.com/garciabernal/garciabernal1.html|url-status=live}} At the age of fifteen, he took part in peaceful demonstrations in support of the Zapatista uprising of 1994.{{cite web|url=http://www.timeout.com/film/news/1097.html |work=Time Out London |title=Gael García Bernal interview |first=Dave |last=Calhoun |date=25 April 2006 |access-date=14 August 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060525092305/http://www.timeout.com/film/news/1097.html |archive-date=25 May 2006 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slaYgTy2MPE|title=The Frost Interview – Gael Garcia Bernal: 'Being optimistic'|last=Al Jazeera English|date=5 October 2013|via=YouTube|access-date=22 March 2016|archive-date=19 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161219051011/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slaYgTy2MPE|url-status=live}}

He began studying philosophy at UNAM, Mexico's national university but, during a prolonged student strike, he decided to take a sabbatical to travel around Europe. He then moved to London, and became the first Mexican accepted to study at the Central School of Speech and Drama.{{cite web|url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/oct/16/guardianinterviewsatbfisouthbank|title=Gael Garcia Bernal|author=Guardian Staff|date=16 October 2006|work=The Guardian|access-date=11 December 2016|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161220203440/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/oct/16/guardianinterviewsatbfisouthbank|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3576228/Mexican-rave.html|title=Mexican rave|first=David|last=Gritten|date=19 April 2002|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=2 April 2018|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220072215/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3576228/Mexican-rave.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cssd.ac.uk/alumni/our-alumni/high-profile-alumni|title=Central School of Speech and Drama High Profile Alumni|work=cssd.ac.uk|access-date=3 March 2025|archive-date=6 May 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220506015319/https://www.cssd.ac.uk/alumni/our-alumni/high-profile-alumni|url-status=live}} Bernal also attended the European Graduate School toward a master's in media and communication.{{cite web | url=https://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/documentary-filmmaking-and-social-change | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212090930/https://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/documentary-filmmaking-and-social-change | archive-date=12 February 2017 | title=Documentary Filmmaking and Social Change | News }}

After García Bernal's success in soap operas, Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu offered García Bernal a part in his feature directorial debut, Amores perros (2000). The film won rave reviews, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.{{citation needed|date= November 2022}}

His next role was Alfonso Cuarón's Y tu mamá también (2001), which was a crossover success into American markets and gained him notice on the international stage, becoming the second-highest grossing Spanish language film in the United States.{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2002/11/interview-padre-padre-mexicos-native-son-gael-garcia-bernal-stars-in-the-controversial-the-crim-80124/|access-date=20 March 2021|title=INTERVIEW: Padre, Padre: Mexico's Native Son Gael Garcia Bernal Stars in the Controversial "The Crim|date=12 November 2002|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305081312/http://www.indiewire.com/article/interview_padre_padre_mexicos_native_son_gael_garcia_bernal_stars_in_the_co|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.cinematropical.com/cinema-tropical/all-time-top-grossing-spanish-language-films-in-the-us|access-date=20 March 2021|title=All-Time Top Grossing Spanish-Language Films in the U.S.|date=29 September 2013 |archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308042957/https://www.cinematropical.com/cinema-tropical/all-time-top-grossing-spanish-language-films-in-the-us|url-status=live}} The next year, García Bernal went on to portray Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara in the 2002 TV miniseries Fidel and the morally troubled Father Amaro in the Mexican box-office record-breaker El crimen del Padre Amaro (2002). García Bernal again portrayed Che Guevara in The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), an adaptation of a journal the 23-year-old Guevara wrote about his travels across South America. The film broke the box office record set 3 years prior by Y tu mamá también, and garnered Bernal a BAFTA nomination in 2005 for Best Performance by an Actor.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318462/awards|publisher=imdb|title=The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) Awards|access-date=2 March 2021|archive-date=21 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221032500/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318462/awards|url-status=live}}

He also did some theatre work, during this time, including a 2005 production of Bodas de Sangre, by Federico García Lorca, in the Almeida Theatre in London.{{citation needed|date= November 2022}}

García Bernal has worked for acclaimed directors including González Iñárritu, Pedro Almodóvar, Walter Salles, Alfonso Cuarón, Michel Gondry, and Iciar Bollaín, among others. He has taken on roles in English-language films, including the Gondry-directed The Science of Sleep and The King, for which he earned rave reviews.{{cite web|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/movies/14672037.htm|archive-date=14 June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614044123/http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/movies/14672037.htm|title=Gael García Bernal breaks barriers and tackles tough issues|work=Daily News|location=New York|first=Rebecca|last=Louie|date=26 May 2006}}

García Bernal directed his first feature film, Déficit which was released in 2007.{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1595499,00.html|title=Q&A with Gael García Bernal|date=2 March 2007|first=Carolina A.|last=Miranda|magazine=Time|access-date=5 June 2007|archive-date=30 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070530064008/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1595499,00.html|url-status=dead}} He was cast in the 2008 film Blindness, an adaptation of the 1995 novel of the same name by José Saramago, winner of the Nobel Prize, about a society suffering an epidemic of blindness. As in the novel, the characters have only descriptions, no names or histories; while director Fernando Meirelles said some actors were intimidated by the concept of playing such characters, {{"'}}With Gael,' he said, 'I never think about the past. I just think what my character wants.{{'"}}"Fall Movie Summer Preview, September: Blindness". Entertainment Weekly, Iss. #1007/1008, 22/29 August 2008, pg.55. García Bernal again paired with Diego Luna in Rudo y Cursi directed by Carlos Cuarón.{{citation needed|date= November 2022}}

García Bernal and Diego Luna own Canana Films. The company recently joined with Golden Phoenix Productions to produce a number of television documentaries about the unsolved murders of more than 300 women in the border city of Ciudad Juarez.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}

In May 2010, García Bernal did a cameo appearance as himself playing Cristiano Ronaldo in Ronaldo: The Movie for the Nike advertisement, Write the Future.{{citation needed|date= November 2022}}

In 2010, he co-directed with Marc Siver four short films in collaboration with Amnesty International. The tetralogy, called "Los Invisibles", is about migrants from Central America in Mexico, their journey and risks, their hopes, and what they can contribute to Mexico, the US and the world. He directed the movies, did the interviews and also narrates the four short movies.{{cite web|title=Watch the Invisibles|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/watch-invisibles-2010-11-02|publisher=Amnesty International|date=8 November 2010|access-date=4 December 2016|archive-date=10 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210040537/http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/watch-invisibles-2010-11-02|url-status=live}} He starred in Even the Rain (2010), Spain's official entry for the 2011 Academy Awards.{{citation needed|date= November 2022}}

García Bernal narrated Human Planet for Hispanic audiences, which premiered on Discovery en Español on 25 April 2011 and aired on Discovery Channel in Latin America on 12 May.{{cite web|url=http://realscreen.com/2011/04/13/garcia-bernal-to-voice-hispanic-planet/|title=Gael García Bernal to voice Hispanic "Planet"|last=Benzine|first=Adam|date=13 April 2011|publisher=realscreen|access-date=19 April 2011|archive-date=6 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606141518/http://realscreen.com/2011/04/13/garcia-bernal-to-voice-hispanic-planet/|url-status=live}} For the third time García Bernal appeared with Diego Luna in the American Spanish-language comedy film Casa de mi padre, opposite Will Ferrell, where he played a feared drug lord.{{cite web|url=http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/04/will_ferrell_spanish_trailer.html|title=Will Ferrell's Spanish-Language Movie: ¿Qué?|last=Buchanan|first=Kyle|date=14 April 2011|work=New York|access-date=19 April 2011|archive-date=18 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110418193300/http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/04/will_ferrell_spanish_trailer.html|url-status=live}} García Bernal's next projects included a film adaptation of José Agustín's Ciudades Desiertas and the Jon Stewart directorial biopic Rosewater,{{cite web|title=Gael Garcia Bernal Starring in Rosewater|url=http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=37627|work=Empire|first=James|last=White|date=22 May 2013|access-date=20 June 2013|archive-date=16 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116065707/http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=37627|url-status=live}} in which he portrayed Maziar Bahari to widespread critical acclaim. He was set to star in the 20th Century Fox reboot Zorro film called Zorro Reborn. The script is by Glen Gers, Lee Shipman, and Brian McGeevy.{{cite news|last=Sneider|first=Jeff|title=Garcia Bernal to mark Fox's 'Zorro Reborn'|url=https://variety.com/2012/film/news/garcia-bernal-to-mark-fox-s-zorro-reborn-1118050418/|newspaper=Variety|date=16 February 2012|access-date=7 December 2017|archive-date=1 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001014841/http://variety.com/2012/film/news/garcia-bernal-to-mark-fox-s-zorro-reborn-1118050418/|url-status=live}}

In April 2014, he was announced as a member of the main competition jury at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/article/60563.html |title=The Jury of the 67th Festival de Cannes |access-date=28 April 2014 |work=Cannes |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160907022742/http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/article/60563.html |archive-date=7 September 2016 |url-status=dead }}

In June 2014, he began production as the star of the dramatic comedy Zoom, directed by Pedro Morelli.{{citation needed|date= November 2022}}

In 2014, he was cast in the lead role of Rodrigo de Souza in the Amazon Studios comedy-drama television series Mozart in the Jungle. His performance in the show was met with rave reviews, earning him a Golden Globe Award in 2016.{{citation needed|date= November 2022}}

In 2016, he starred in two movies that were submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Desierto (Mexico) and Neruda (Chile).{{citation needed|date= November 2022}}

In 2017, he was announced as a member of the U.S. Dramatic Jury at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. That same year, he provided the voice of Héctor, an undead trickster and one of the main protagonists of the Pixar animated film Coco.{{citation needed|date= November 2022}}

García Bernal founded The Ambulante Documentary Film Festival,{{cite web|url=http://www.ambulante.com.mx/|title=Ambulante A.C.|date=1 June 2012|publisher=Ambulante A.C.|access-date=1 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531185030/http://www.ambulante.com.mx/|archive-date=31 May 2012|url-status=dead}} which works to bring documentary films to places where they are rarely shown, and helped to create the Amnesty International Short Documentary Series Los Invisibles.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/09/15/140500178/crossing-mexico-a-journey-of-grave-perils|title=Crossing Mexico: A Journey Of Grave Perils|date=15 September 2012|publisher=NPR|access-date=1 June 2012|archive-date=2 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702150748/https://www.npr.org/2011/09/15/140500178/crossing-mexico-a-journey-of-grave-perils|url-status=live}} For this work, he was awarded the Washington Office on Latin America's Human Rights Award in 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.wola.org/wola_human_rights_award |title=WOLA's Human Rights Awards |date=20 September 2011 |publisher=Washington Office on Latin America |access-date=1 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406160241/http://www.wola.org/wola_human_rights_award |archive-date=6 April 2012 }}

In October 2019, García Bernal and Diego Luna announced they were joining the Creative Advisory Board for TV and Film development company EXILE Content along with Adam Grant.{{cite web |last1=Ramos |first1=Dino-Ray |title=Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal Join Exile's Creative Advisory Board With Chair Adam Grant |url=https://deadline.com/2019/10/diego-luna-gael-garcia-bernal-exile-creative-advisory-board-adam-grant-elizabeth-chai-vasarhelyi-serena-mccalla-1202750778/ |website=Deadline |date=2 October 2019 |publisher=PMC |access-date=19 February 2020 |archive-date=4 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004024405/https://deadline.com/2019/10/diego-luna-gael-garcia-bernal-exile-creative-advisory-board-adam-grant-elizabeth-chai-vasarhelyi-serena-mccalla-1202750778/ |url-status=live }}

In 2021, García Bernal starred in the M. Night Shyamalan thriller Old.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2020/07/gael-garcia-bernal-m-night-shyamalan-movie-cast-1202989221/|title=Gael García Bernal Joins M. Night Shyamalan's Next Film|date=21 July 2020|first=Justin|last=Kroll|website=Deadline Hollywood|url-status=live|access-date=2 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730225119/https://deadline.com/2020/07/gael-garcia-bernal-m-night-shyamalan-movie-cast-1202989221/|archive-date=30 July 2021}} In November 2021, Bernal was cast in the Disney+ special Werewolf by Night by Marvel Studios, based on the comics character of the same name.{{cite web |last1=Gonzalez |first1=Umberto |title=Gael García Bernal to Star in Marvel's Werewolf-Focused Disney+ Halloween Special (Exclusive) |url=https://www.thewrap.com/gael-garcia-bernal-marvel-halloween-special/ |website=The Wrap |date=4 November 2021 |publisher= |access-date=4 November 2021 |archive-date=4 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104163742/https://www.thewrap.com/gael-garcia-bernal-marvel-halloween-special/ |url-status=live }}

In 2024, he starred alongside close friend and frequent collaborator Diego Luna in the Hulu original miniseries La Máquina as the eponymous character.

García Bernal and Argentine actress Dolores Fonzi met on the set of Private Lives in 2001.{{cite web|url=http://www.elle.com/pop-culture/celebrities/gael-garcia-bernal-interview/|title=Gael Garcia Bernal: The Intellectual Woman's Hearththrob|date=17 September 2014|work=Elle|access-date=19 September 2014|archive-date=19 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140919060111/http://www.elle.com/pop-culture/celebrities/gael-garcia-bernal-interview|url-status=live}} On 8 January 2009 their son was born in Madrid, Spain.El País, [http://www.elpais.com/articulo/gente/actor/mexicano/Gael/Garcia/Bernal/sera/padre/diciembre/elppgl/20080805elpepuage_1/Tes El actor mexicano Gael García Bernal será padre en diciembre] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200409163125/https://elpais.com/elpais/2008/08/05/actualidad/1217918929_850215.html |date=9 April 2020 }}, 5 August 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2008[http://celebrity-babies.com/2009/01/09/gael-garcia-bernal-and-dolores-fonzi-welcome-a-son/ Gael García Bernal and Dolores Fonzi Welcome a Son]{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Celebrity Baby Blog, 9 January 2009 Their daughter was born on 4 April 2011 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.{{cite web|url=http://noticiaaldia.com/2011/04/hija-de-gael-garcia-bernal-libertadnacio-el-lunes-en-buenos-aires/ |title=Hija de Gael García nacio en Buenos Aires |date=10 April 2011 |publisher=noticiaaldia.com |access-date=19 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823104546/http://noticiaaldia.com/2011/04/hija-de-gael-garcia-bernal-libertadnacio-el-lunes-en-buenos-aires/ |archive-date=23 August 2011 }} He divides his time between Buenos Aires and Mexico City.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/dec/30/gael-garcia-bernal-donald-trump-mexicans-hate-discourse-mozart-in-jungle|title=Gael García Bernal: 'Donald Trump calls Mexicans rapists and drug dealers. It's hate discourse'|first=Sophie|last=Heawood|date=30 December 2015|work=The Guardian|access-date=11 December 2016|archive-date=10 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161210161133/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/dec/30/gael-garcia-bernal-donald-trump-mexicans-hate-discourse-mozart-in-jungle|url-status=live}}

He has been in a relationship with Mexican journalist Fernanda Aragonés since 2019. They had a child on 30 September 2021.{{Cite web|url=https://www.quien.com/espectaculos/2021/10/01/gael-garcia-fernanda-aragones-ya-nacio-bebe|title = ¡Ya nació el bebé de Gael García y Fernanda Aragonés!|date = October 2021}}

He has described himself as "culturally Catholic but spiritually agnostic".{{cite news|last=Scholz|first=Pablo O.|title=El cine es para viajar y hacer amigos|url=http://www.eluniversal.com/estampas/anteriores/020203/encuentros.shtml|access-date=3 February 2013|newspaper=El Universal|year=2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111206032648/http://www.eluniversal.com/estampas/anteriores/020203/encuentros.shtml|archive-date=6 December 2011|url-status=live|language=es}}

{{BLP unreferenced section|date= November 2022}}

File:Gael_García_Bernal_(Guadalajara_Film_Festival) (cropped).jpg]]

Ariel Award

BAFTA Awards

Cannes Film Festival

Golden Globe Awards

Goya Awards

Other honors

{{Notelist}}

• Cinema of Mexico

{{reflist}}

{{commons}}

• {{twitter|GaelGarciaB|Gael Garcia Bernal}} {{in lang|es}}
• {{IMDb name|305558}}
• [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/5756762/Gael-Garcia-Bernal-interview-for-Rudo-and-Cursi.html Gael García Bernal interview for Rudo & Cursi] By Alastair Smart, Daily Telegraph, 8 July 2009
• [http://www.vallartadaily.com/film-starring-mexicos-garcia-bernal-to-be-screened-at-cannes/ 2014 Cannes Film Festival Screening]

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Category:1978 births

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Gael

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