Demián Bichir

Actor

• Born: August 1, 1963
• Place of Birth: Mexico City, Mexico

Contribution: Demián Bichir is an Academy Award–nominated actor best known for the films A Better Life (2011), Savages (2012), and The Hateful Eight (2015) and the television series Weeds (2008–10) and The Bridge (2013–14).

Background

The son of Alejandro Bichir, a theater director, and actress Maricruz Bichir, Demián Bichir was born in 1963 in Mexico City. He is the second of three brothers, all of whom have careers in theater or film. His youngest brother, Bruno, directs plays and acts, and his older brother, Odiseo, is a prominent actor in Mexico.

Bichir has said that he first wanted to become a professional soccer player but moved toward acting in his teens after his first role in a small play. Bichir got his first professional role in the Mexican soap operaRina, when he was fourteen.

Bichir relocated to the United States illegally at age twenty-one or twenty-two, hoping to break into film. He worked briefly at a restaurant to make ends meet while he auditioned for television and film roles and studied English. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which granted amnesty to those who had entered the United States illegally before 1982, allowed him to pursue a green card.

Career

Bichir’s first television role was on the Mexican soap opera Rina, as a child actor in 1977. Appearances on additional television series followed, and by the mid-1980s, Bichir was appearing in films. One of Bichir’s first appearances in American film was in the 1988 film The Penitent. Bichir continued traveling between Mexico City and Los Angeles during this time, attempting to find acting work in both countries.

In 1994, Bichir had a starring role in Hasta morir, released in the United States as ’Til Death, a dramatic film about the lives of poor children growing up in Mexico City. Bichir won an Ariel Award (often described as the Mexican version of the Academy Awards) for best actor for his performance. Following this performance, Bichir became one of the most famous leading men in Mexico. He also had a starring role in the 1999 film Sexo, pudor, y lágrimas, known in the United States as Sex, Shame, and Tears, a comedy about the lives of two young couples living in Mexico City. The film broke box-office records in Mexico, becoming one of the most successful films in the history of Mexican cinema.

In 2001, Bichir broke into American television with a role alongside actress Salma Hayek in the film In the Time of the Butterflies. At this point, American directors began to take notice of Bichir, though most of his offers continued to come from Mexico. Bichir’s major breakthrough in US film came in 2008 when he was cast to play the role of Fidel Castro in the two-part film Che.

In 2008, Bichir was cast to play a recurring character in the cable television series Weeds, appearing in twenty-seven episodes of the series between 2008 and 2010. Bichir played the corrupt mayor of Tijuana and the boss of a local drug cartel, gaining him significant exposure to American audiences.

In 2011, Bichir was cast in A Better Life, playing the part of Carlos Galindo, a gardener and illegal immigrant living in East Los Angeles and attempting to earn enough money to allow his son to live a fulfilling life in the United States. Examining the immigration issue from the viewpoint of an illegal alien, the complex film was a major critical success, and Bichir earned a 2012 Academy Award nomination for best actor in a leading role. Though he did not win the Academy Award, Bichir was only the second actor of Mexican descent to be nominated for a best-actor Oscar.

Afterward, Bichir began receiving offers to appear in a number of new films. In 2012, he had a costarring role in Savages. The film received mixed reviews, but Bichir was praised for his role as a complex villain in the Mexican drug cartel. In 2013, Bichir began starring in The Bridge, a television series about a string of murders occurring on a bridge between Mexico and the United States. Ultimately, FX canceled the series after its second season in 2014.

After having a prominent role in the ensemble Quentin Tarantino film The Hateful Eight in 2015, Bichir went on to appear in Lowriders, Good Kids, and 7:19 in 2016 alone. Also that year, he directed his first film, Un Cuento de Circo & a Love Song. In addition to starring in the film, he wrote the screenplay as well. Between 2017 and 2018, he played the character Lope in Alien: Covenant (2017) and costarred as a priest in the horror film The Nun (2018). Though he was then cast to play a lead role in the new ABC series Grand Hotel, it was canceled after its first season aired in 2019.

The actor kept busy throughout the 2020s. In 2020, he starred in the horror film The Grudge. During the same year, he starred in The Midnight Sky Land, a science-fiction film directed by and starring George Clooney. Bichir followed this with Chaos Walking (2021), a science-fiction film in which the characters live on an explored planet where everyone sees and hears one another's thoughts. Bichir also had a role in Godzilla vs. Kong (2021). In 2023, the actor starred in Chupa, in which he plays a grandfather living on a ranch who tries to connect with his grandson. Bichir directed and wrote A Circus Story & A Love Song (2024) starring Eva Longoria, Diane Kruger, and Jason Patric. During the same year, he starred in Without Blood, which was co-produced and directed by Angelina Jolie.

Impact

The Bichirs are one of the most famous acting families in Mexico, to the extent that the Mexican MTV Music Awards established an award for the “Best Bichir in a film.” With a string of critically acclaimed performances, Bichir has become a major player in American cinema as well. Bichir’s performances in A Better Life and in the series The Bridge have also given him an opportunity to comment on his feelings about immigration policy and reform in the United States. Bichir has said the United States needs to have a more open policy to immigrants and to concentrate on reforming policy to facilitate legal immigration rather than continuing to promote policies that constitute additional barriers to immigration.

Personal Life

Bichir lives in Los Angeles and divides his time between the United States and Mexico City. He was married to Mexican artist Lisset Gutierrez, whom he divorced in 2003. He has one child from a previous relationship. Bichir began a relationship with Canadian actor and model Stefanie Sherk around 2010; some sources indicated that they eventually married. Sherk died on April 20, 2019.

Bibliography

Bichir, Demián. “Demian Bichir: Oscar Nominee For A Better Life—Interview on Leading Mexico and His Move to the US.” By Katherine Corcoran. Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Feb. 2012. Web. 18 July 2013.

Bichir, Demián. “Interview: Demian Bichir Makes an Impression.” By Daniel Barna. Corduroy. Corduroy Magazine, 2012. Web. 21 July 2013.

Bichir, Demián. “Let the Oscar Buzz Begin: A Q&A with Demian Bichir.” By Mickey Rapkin. GQ. Conde Nast, 23 June 2011. Web. July 21, 2013.

Bichir, Demián. “Q&A: A Better Life Actor Demian Bichir in Gaining Twenty Pounds for His Role and Rubbing Elbows with Brangelina.” By Krista Smith. Vanity Fair. Condé Nast, 10 Feb. 2012. Web. 18 July 2013.

Braxton, George. "Demián Bichir Isn’t Just Lucky. Even Brad Pitt and George Clooney Can’t Do What He Can." Los Angeles Times, 29 Sept. 2022, www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-09-29/demian-bichir-a-better-life-movie-let-the-right-one-in-showtime-hateful-eight. Accessed 17 Sept. 2024.

Navarro, Juan Manuel. "Demián Bichir: 'I Am a Mexican Actor Looking for Space Anywhere in the World.'" Golden Globe Awards, 18 Nov. 2022, goldenglobes.com/articles/demian-bichir-i-am-mexican-actor-looking-space-anywhere-world/. Accessed 17 Sept. 2024.

Woodman, Tenley. “Demian Bichir Believes The Bridge Is a Step Toward Uncovering Truths.” Boston Herald. Boston Herald, 21 July 2013. Web. 21 July 2013.