BENICIO DEL TORO

BIRTHDATE: February 19, 1967 BIRTHPLACE: Santurce, Puerto Rico MARITAL STATUS: ???? WHY HE DESERVES HIS BIG BREAK: It's all in the versatility, baby.  Despite his distinctive sleepy eyed stare, Benicio Del Toro always manages to look completely different in every movie, even pulling a DeNiro and gaining somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 pounds to play Hunter S. Thompson's drug-addled lawyer "Dr. Gonzo" in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Born in Puerto Rico, Del Toro was appearing in guest spots on Miami Vice at the tender age of 19.  Believe it or not, his first feature film role was Duke the Dog-Faced Boy in Big Top Pee-Wee, but he was demonstrating his versatility early by playing a vicious Bond villain in License to Kill just one year later. Del Toro had small roles in such critically acclaimed films as The Indian Runner, Money for Nothing, and Fearless, but it was his performance as Fred Fenster in 1995's The Usual Suspects that really exercised his unique talents.  6'4" tall Del Toro towered over his co-stars Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Spacey, and concocted an indecipherable, unidentifiable accent for his character that was impossible to imitate and equally impossible to forget.  He won an Independent Spirit Award for his performance. Though Del Toro has made some, well, interesting film choices (let's not bring up Christopher Columbus: the Discovery or Excess Baggage), his contributions to making independent film a force to be contended with are countless, including Swimming With Sharks, Basquiat, The Funeral, and the previously mentioned Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  Sadly, one of Del Toro's most recent release, The Way of the Gun,flopped at the box office, but that's most likely because his co-star was Ryan Phillippe, who is most definitely NOT a That Guy.

FILMOGRAPHY Films highlighted in yellow present Benicio at his best The Hunted (2002)--Aaron Hallam The Pledge (2001)--Toby Jay Wadenah Traffic (2000)--Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez The Way of the Gun (2000)--Longbaugh Snatch (2000)--Franky Four Fingers Bread and Roses (2000)--Himself Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)--Oscar Zeta "Dr. Gonzo" Acosta Excess Baggage (1997)--Vincent Roche Cannes Man (1996)--Himself Joyride (1996)--Detective Lopez The Funeral (1996)--Gaspare Spoglia The Fan (1996)--Juan Primo Basquiat (1996)--Benny Dalmau The Usual Suspects (1995)--Fred Fenster Swimming with Sharks (1994)--Rex Fearless (1993)--Manny Rodrigo Money for Nothing (1993)--Dino Palladino Huevos de oro (1993)--Bob, the friend from Miami Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992)--Alvaro Harana The Indian Runner (1991)--Miguel China Moon (1991)--Lamar Dickey Drug Wars: The Camarena Story (TV movie--1990)--Caro Quintero License to Kill (1989)--Dario Big Top Pee-wee (1988)--Duke the Dog-Faced Boy NOTE: I will give a dollar to anyone who can get me a picture or screenshot of Benicio in his Duke the Dog-Faced Boy costume!

OTHER BENICIO DEL TORO WEBSITES Benicio has had an official website since 1996, so we've included that as well as a an unofficial one THE BENICIO DEL TORO ZONE THE U4 BENICIO DEL TORO WEBPAGE

The Usual Suspects

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

The Fan

License to Kill

CONGRATULATIONS TO BENICIO DEL TORO ON HIS BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR WIN FOR TRAFFIC!! Does this mean he no longer qualifies as a THAT GUY?