Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (born February 19, 1967) is a Puerto Rican actor and producer. He acquired Spanish citizenship in 2011.
He won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for Traffic in 2000. Still, he was already praised by that time for his earlier performance as several secondary-yet-unmissable characters, like Fenster in The Usual Suspects and Dr Gonzo in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Filmography:
- Licence to Kill (1989) as Dario
- The Indian Runner (1991) as Miguel
- Golden Balls (1993) as Bob
- China Moon (1994) as Lamar Dickey
- Swimming with Sharks (1994) as Rex
- The Usual Suspects (1995) as Fenster
- Basquiat (1996) as Benny Dalmau
- The Fan (1996) as Juan Primo
- The Funeral (1996) as Gaspare
- Excess Baggage (1997) as Vincent
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) as Dr Gonzo
- Snatch. (2000) as Franky Four Fingers
- The Way of the Gun (2000) as Mr. Longbaugh
- Traffic (2000) as Javier Rodriguez y Rodriguez
- The Hunted (2003) as Aaron Hallam
- 21 Grams (2003) as Jack Jordan
- Sin City (2005) as Jackie Boy
- Che (2008) as Ernesto "Che" Guevara
- The Wolfman (2010) as Lawrence Talbot
- Savages (2012) as Lado
- Marvel Cinematic Universe as The Collector
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- What If...? (2021)
- Paradise Lost (2014) as Pablo Escobar
- Sicario (2015) as Alejandro
- Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017) as "DJ"
- Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) as Alejandro
- Escape at Dannemora as Richard Matt (2018)
- Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) as Swiper (yes, that Swiper)
- No Sudden Move (2021) as Ronald Russo
- The French Dispatch (2021) as Moses Rosenthaler
He provides examples of:
- Affably Evil: He plays a lot of less than trustworthy characters but generally gives them a lot of charisma, even if it's just a facade for some of them.
- Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: He's famous for the dark circles under his eyes, which he's had since his teenage years, and they get put to very good use when he plays a villain.
- Method Acting: He's been known to get rather intense when preparing for roles. Since many of his performances involved him playing unstable people there are many stories of casts and crews being nervous around him or giving him a wide berth because they were genuinely afraid for their own safety. Directors, on the other hand, like William Friedkin have expressed annoyance at his desire to give his characters detailed backstories because his constant brooding and questioning of the script inevitably leads to shooting delays while everyone waits for him to get ready.
- Production Posse: He's one of Steven Soderbergh's go to actors.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's 6'2, dark-haired and quite ruggedly handsome.
- What Could Have Been: He was originally the front-runner to play Darth Maul, but he opted out after rewrites drastically reduced the character's role in the film. He would eventually join the Star Wars universe 18 years later as "DJ" in The Last Jedi.
