Ricardo Darin

Ricardo Alberto Darín (Buenos Aires, January 16, 1957) is an Argentine actor, film producer and film director, whose career began in the industry in the late 1960s and, Since then, he has acted in different roles. He is best known for his portrayal of con man Marcos in the 2000 film Nine Queens, and retired bailiff Benjamín Espósito in the Oscar-winning drama The Secret in His Eyes. (2009). He has appeared in more than forty films, including critical hits such as The Bride's Son, Luna de Avellaneda, The Aura, Carancho, A Chinese Tale, White Elephant, Thesis on a Homicide, The Secret in Their Eyes, Wild Tales and Argentina, 1985.

He starred in four films nominated for the Oscar, the highest award in the Anglo-Saxon commercial film industry. Recently the film Argentina, 1985 where he plays the prosecutor Strassera was nominated for an Oscar. His recognitions include twelve nominations for the Silver Condor and four for the Goya Award, which he won in 2015 for best actor, and the Silver Shell for best actor for his performance in the dramatic comedy Truman. On September 27, 2017, he received the Donostia award for his career at the San Sebastián Festival. He was the first Argentine to receive it.

Biography

Ricardo Darín comes from a family very close to the world of entertainment, since both parents, Ricardo Darín and Renée Roxana, were actors. His family is of Italian, Lebanese, and Syrian descent. His grandfather, the son of an Italian immigrant, once owned a theater. He has a younger sister named Alejandra Darín who is also an actress. His parents separated when Ricardo was twelve years old. His father died of cancer in 1989.

As for his training, he did his primary studies at the Mariano Moreno School in the town of Wilde. At the age of ten he debuted in theater with his parents, although he did not develop academic training in theater. At the age of sixteen he achieved stability within the world of Argentine television in programs such as & # 34; Alta Comedia & # 34; or "Retiro Station".

In 2006, the government of Spain granted him Spanish nationality by letter of nature that falls on foreigners who "appear in exceptional circumstances", in his case for his acting merits in Spanish-speaking cinema.

In 2022, the government of Uruguay granted him Uruguayan citizenship due to the prolonged stays he maintains in the country every year to spend the summer with his family, a clause contemplated as "neighborhood" by the National Constitution to access citizenship.

Family and relationships

In 1988 he married Florencia Bas with whom he had two children, Chino Darín, actor and producer, and Clara Darín, clothing designer.

When he was a young actor in his twenties, he was a partner of the actress Susana Giménez for nine years. When they ended their relationship, they maintained their friendship. During those years he also had a serious judicial problem, when he acquired a Nissan Pathfinder truck that entered the country with a special franchise for the disabled, later auctioned off by court order in 1991. The Chamber in Economic Criminal Court, made up of the judges of Chamber A of the Chamber, Nicanor Repetto and Edmundo Gendler, confirmed in 2002 the actor's acquittal because they considered that due to the passage of time the accusation had expired. But they were careful to clarify that the actor did not know that he was buying the truck irregularly.

Political positioning

Darín expressed his support for the Audiovisual Communication Services Law, although he questioned aspects of its implementation. In an interview with the C5N channel, he clarified: «I felt quite pulled from the editorial point of view. Not to mention used, which is a stronger term. I understand it although, sometimes, the big mistake is trying to understand", and continued: "The reality of the original note, I refer to the need to know the increase in assets of all officials of the Argentine Nation." In another interview, he added: "Every rude, vile and under-the-table attack against the presidential figure is not going to count on me."

Career

1980s: television success

Under the orders of Alberto Migré, one of the main Argentine soap opera directors, he achieved considerable popularity by being the protagonist in several of his productions. In the 1980s, and still with Migré, Darín definitively rose to fame as part of the "galancitos", a group of young actors who transferred television successes to the world of theater. The galancitos garner incredible fame and thousands of followers spread throughout Argentina, making each performance a complete success. In 1987 he starred in the telenovela Estrellita mia alongside Andrea Del Boca, and two years later he headed Rebelde , alongside Grecia Colmenares.

Far from remaining stuck in leading man roles, in the 90s he achieved his greatest triumph in the world of television as a comedian, sharing the bill with Luis Brandoni in the series "My brother-in-law", a version of a series from the 1970s, from 1993 to 1996.

1990s: cinematic success

Despite his constant work in the world of television, Darín never leaves the theater and continues to make works such as The Strange Couple (1984), Taxi (1985), Sugar (1986-1987), Rumors (1990), Something in common (1995) and Art (1997-1999). As a theater director, he debuted in 1990, with the play Pájaros in the nait , starring Adrián Suar, Diego Torres, Leonardo Sbaraglia, among others.

Discreetly enters the world of the big screen, appearing in films aimed, above all, at young audiences such as I was born on the riverbank, This is life, La rabona, The successes of love, The tent of the love, The Disco of Love or The Song of Buenos Aires. He attempts a change towards a record within the world of cinema and new films arrive, El desquite, Revancha de unfriend or La Rosales , but Darín's true success would take some time. more time to arrive.

Critics noticed Darín and praised him for his role in the film Lost for Lost, alongside Enrique Pinti directed by newcomer Alberto Lecchi. He later participated in The Lighthouse , by Eduardo Mignogna, and starred in The Same Love, the Same Rain by Juan José Campanella, his role being again worthy of praise.. But he achieved his definitive breakthrough with his role as Marcos, a small-time thief in an Argentina that is beginning to suffer economically, in the film Nine Queens. Darín shone in this film in which he co-starred with Gastón Pauls and finally achieved a significant name within the Argentine film industry.

2000s: international recognition

After the great success of Nine Queens Ricardo had a small, but effective, role in 2001 again under the orders of Mignogna in the film The Escape. That same year he starred in The Bride's Son , alongside actors Norma Aleandro and Héctor Alterio. The film was another huge box office and critical success, leading it to be nominated for "Best Foreign Language Film" at the 2002 edition of the Oscars. For his career during 1991 to 2000, Ricardo won the Konex Platinum Award in 2001 for the best Film Actor of that decade.

He starred in the film comedy Samy and I, alongside Angie Cepeda, in 2002. The following year he directed the drama Kamchatka with Cecilia Roth, a film shortlisted for the award Oscar for best foreign language film.

In 2004 he starred alongside Mercedes Morán in Luna de Avellaneda trying to rescue his parents' social and sports club. In 2005 in The Aura she played the role of a taxidermist with a photographic memory involved in a predicament of which she did not want to be part. For the latter he won the Cóndor de Plata and Clarín awards for best actor.

In 2006, along with Juan José Campanella, he was granted Spanish nationality by letter of nature, a special concession from the Kingdom of Spain to people of particular merit. That same year he starred in the Spanish film The education of fairieswith Bebe and Irène Jacob.

In 2007 he participated in the film XXY, which shows him as the complex father of a fifteen-year-old hermaphrodite teenager. The same year, he starred in and made his debut as a director with The Signal, continuing the project left halfway by Eduardo Mignogna after his death.

In 2009, together with Soledad Villamil and Guillermo Francella, he was the protagonist of El secreto de sus ojos, a dramatic film by Juan José Campanella, which won the Oscar for best non-English language film in the 82nd broadcast of the Academy Awards. The film became the second highest grossing film in the history of Argentine cinema. For his portrayal of Benjamín Espósito, Ricardo won the Silver Condor award for best actor, and his first nomination for the Goya award, in the same category. He was also awarded best male performance at the Havana Film Festival.

The same year he acted in Spain in the film El baile de la Victoria, being nominated again for the Goya award, this time as best supporting actor.

2010s decade: recent works

In 2010, Carancho was released, a film in which he starred alongside Martina Gusmán under the direction of Pablo Trapero, playing an unscrupulous lawyer. He also worked again with Susana Giménez starring in a series of Frávega commercials.

In 2011, together with Muriel Santa Ana and Ignacio Huang, he headed A Chinese Story, a comedy film directed by Sebastián Borensztein, with great box office success a few days after its premiere. The same year he received the Konex Platinum Award for Best Film Actor and the Konex Brillante Award for the Greatest Figure in Argentine Entertainment of the decade 2001-2010.

In 2012 he starred in Elefante blanco, again with Martina Gusmán. The following year he starred in the box office hits Tesis sobre un homicide and Séptimo.

In 2013 he returned to the theater as the protagonist, for two consecutive years, of the play Scenes of conjugal life, alongside Valeria Bertuccelli. In 2015 she again headed the theater piece in Mar del Plata with Érica Rivas. He won the Estrella de Mar award for best actor in a dramatic comedy, for his performance in said work.

In 2014 he starred in the highest-grossing film in the history of Argentine cinema so far: Wild Tales, along with Leonardo Sbaraglia, Oscar Martínez, Érica Rivas, Rita Cortese, Darío Grandinetti and Julieta Zylberberg. This being his third film nominated for an Oscar, for his performance he was nominated for the Goya Award in Spain for the third time in his career, as best actor.

He returned to the cinema, in 2015, as the protagonist of Truman, filmed in Spain and Canada and directed by the Catalan Cesc Gay. He received the Silver Shell for it. at the San Sebastián Festival, and the Goya for best actor.

In December 2016, the Government of Spain awarded him the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts. That same year, director Quentin Tarantino considered Darín one of his favorite Spanish-speaking actors, defining him as the "Al Pacino of Argentina."

In 2017, Darín received the Donostia Award at the 65th edition of the San Sebastián International Film Festival, within the framework of the presentation of the film La cordillera. The most important honorary award of the Zinemaldia recognizes the career of the Argentine performer, who has worked with filmmakers such as Adolfo Aristarain, Juan José Campanella, Fabián Bielinsky, Fernando Trueba, Pablo Trapero, Cesc Gay or Santiago Mitre.

In 2022, Darín stars alongside Peter Lanzani in the film ''Argentina, 1985'' this film was named ''Best Non-English Language Film'' at the Golden Globes awards.

Jobs

Film and television

Theatre

• 1982 - See you tomorrow, if God wants
• 1984 - The strange couple
• 1985 - Taxi
• 1986/1987 - Sugar
• 1990 - Rumors
• 1991 - I need a tenor.
• 1994/1995 - Pizzaman
• 1995/1996 - Something in common
• 1998/2004 - Art
• 2003 - The mother of... (voice on off)
• 2005/06 - Art (in Spain)
• 2008/ 2010 - Art
• 2010/2011 - A Chinese tale
• 2013 to 2019 - Scenes of conjugal life

Discography

• 1979: "From two" - MICROFON ARGENTINA S.A.

Awards and nominations

Reflection on money

In the 2000s he had the opportunity to participate in the film Man on Fire with Denzel Washington. But after the fatigue of living and working for several months in Spain and his dissatisfaction with the role offered, she rejected the offer after much insistence from the director. This anecdote was told by Ricardo himself in a television program hosted by Alejandro Fantino, who after learning that Ricardo had rejected the proposal said to him: "Do you know the money you could have won?". To which Ricardo told him that he did not need money to live well, claiming: "I take two hot showers a day."