Biography

Early life

Gael García was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, to Patricia Bernal (an actress and former model) and José Ángel García (an actor and director). His stepfather is Sergio Yasbek, whom his mother married when he was young. He started acting at just a year old and spent most of his teen years starring in soap operas.

When he was 14, he taught literacy to indigenous peoples in Mexico, most often with the Huichol Indians. In his later teens he took part in peaceful demonstrations during the Chiapas uprising of 1994.

He can speak 4 languages, Spanish, English, French & Italian

Career

García Bernal was becoming a soap opera heartthrob, but at age 19, he left Mexico's television world to study acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, becoming the first person from Mexico to be accepted in the program, and take the journey. Subsequently, García Bernal has starred in some of Mexico's most celebrated recent films, beginning with Amores Perros (2000), then 2001's Y tu mamá también, and El crimen del Padre Amaro (2002). He has also done some theatre work, including a 2005 production of Bodas de Sangre, by Federico García Lorca, in the Almeida Theatre in London. However, it was his debut as a working-class street thug in the Oscar-nominated Amores Perros that first grabbed Hollywood's attention.

García Bernal also portrayed Argentine-born physician turned Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara twice, first in the 2002 TV miniseries Fidel and then, better known, in 2004's The Motorcycle Diaries, an adaptation of a journal a 23-year-old Guevara wrote about his travels across South America. García Bernal has worked for acclaimed directors like Pedro Almodóvar, Walter Salles, Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Michel Gondry, among others. He has recently taken on roles in English language films, including the Gondry-directed The Science of Sleep, the Alejandro González Iñárritu-directed Babel, and The King, for which he has earned rave reviews. He has been nominated for a BAFTA in 2005 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for The Motorcycle Diaries and, in 2006, was nominated for the Orange Rising Star award which acknowledges new talents in the acting industry.

Relationships

Gael García Bernal dated Natalie Portman for a year, after they met at the March 2003 Oscars. Just after that Bernal met an English woman when he was performing Blood Wedding in London whom he dated for a while. He reportedly dated Argentine actress Dolores Fonzi; the press created an untrue rumor they were marrying in July 2006.

Bernal and Portman got back together in 2006 and were photographed together by paparazzi in July in Argentina, where Gael was filming El Pasado. They were together in March in Toronto, and in London in October and November 2006, where Portman was working at the time.

Quotes

* "A person isn't born with the intelligence to be with someone special, you learn it, and you fail in the path of life, but you don't have to give up the chance to love."

* "The talent survives and remains while the beauty is diluted."

* "Changes occur that way. Suddenly the bricks fall into place in some sort of chaotic serenity."

* "I go with the flow. Whatever music you play for me, I'll dance."

* "I'm an actor. I don't need to abide by any ethnicity."

* "I was very involved. I helped with sending food, writing and reading about the situation, and demonstrating about it on the marches. It was great. I was young, and it was fun. And I've got to say, I met my first girlfriend – my first real girlfriend – there as well. It was a great place to meet girls!"- Gael discussing the Chiapas Uprising in Timeout; London

Selected filmography

Year Title Role Notes

2007 Déficit Director Also producing the movie

2007 Rudo y Cursi

2007 El Pasado Rímini

2006 Babel Santiago Oscar winner for Best Score, 7 total nominations including Best Picture

2006 The Science of Sleep Stéphane

2005 The King Elvis

2004 Bad Education Ángel/Juan/Zahara Goya nomination for Best Film

2004 The Motorcycle Diaries Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna Oscar winner for Best Song, nominee for Best Adapted Screenplay

2003 Dreaming of Julia Ricky Released as Cuban Blood in the US

2003 Dot the I Kit Winter Deauville winner for Audience Award

2002 I'm with Lucy Gabriel

2002 Fidel (film) Ernesto "Che" Guevara

2002 El Crimen del Padre Amaro Padre Amaro Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film

2001 Sin Noticias de Dios Davenport

2001 Vidas privadas Gustavo 'Gana' Bertolini

2001 Y tu mamá también Julio Zapata Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay

2000 Amores perros Octavio Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film