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A good documentary lets you walk in someone else's shoes. And right now, we could all use a little more of that.
— Benicio Del Toro, host of True Stories: Life in the USA
About Benicio Del Toro
Benicio Del Toro has earned critical accolades throughout his career, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic as well as an Oscar nomination for his work in Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu’s 21 Grams. Del Toro will re-team with Soderbergh to star in the biography of Che Guevera. Benicio will next start production on The Wolf Man starring opposite Anthony Hopkins.
Del Toro was most recently seen in the film adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel Sin City, directed by Robert Rodriquez. His previous works include Peter Weir's Fearless, George Huang's Swimming with Sharks, Abel Ferrara's The Funeral, Guy Ritchie's Snatch, Sean Penn's The Indian Runner and The Pledge, Christopher McQuarrie's The Way of the Gun, William Friedkin's The Hunted and as Dr. Gonzo in Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Del Toro made his motion picture debut in John Glen's License to Kill opposite Timothy Dalton's James Bond and has earned critical acclaim for his performances ever since. In addition to winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, his performance also garnered a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA Awards, the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, as well as citations from the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Society of Film Critics and the Chicago Film Critics Association. His work in 21 Grams also earned Del Toro the Audience Award for Best Actor at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival. He earned Independent Spirit Awards for his performances as Fred Fenster in Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects and as Benny Dalmau in Julian Schnabel's Basquiat.
Born in Puerto Rico, Del Toro grew up in Pennsylvania. He attended the University of California at San Diego, where he appeared in numerous student productions, one of which led to his performing at a drama festival at the Lafayette Theater in New York. Del Toro studied at the Stella Adler Conservatory under the tutelage of Arthur Mendoza.
