Demián Bichir
Oscar nominee Demián Bichir at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Oscar Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, California, on Monday, February 6, 2012. Applauding him are Jean Dujardin, Michel Hazanavicius, Janet McTeer, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Glenn Close, and others at the 2012 Oscar Luncheon. (Photo: Greg Harbaugh / © A.M.P.A.S. Click on the Demián Bichir photo to enlarge it.)
Bichir is a Best Actor nominee for Chris Weitz’s A Better Life, in which he plays an undocumented Mexican immigrant eking out a living in Los Angeles. His competition for the 2012 Best Actor Academy Award consists of George Clooney for Alexander Payne’s family drama The Descendants, Brad Pitt for Bennett Miller’s baseball drama Moneyball, Gary Oldman for Tomas Alfredson’s spy drama Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Jean Dujardin for Michel Hazanavicius’ silent comedy-drama The Artist.
Dujardin was the Best Actor SAG Award winner. Clooney and Dujardin won Golden Globes for, respectively, Best Actor - Drama and Best Actor - Comedy or Musical. The Best Actor Oscar race seems to be between those two.
The Mexican-born Demián Bichir is a well-known stage, film, and television performer in his native country. Among Bichir’s film credits are Steven Soderbergh’s Che: Part One and Che: Part Two, as Fidel Castro; Juan Carlos Valdivia’s Mexican-Bolivian crime drama American Visa (2005); and Max McGuire’s Foreverland (2011), opposite Thomas Dekker, Juliette Lewis, and Max Thieriot.
Bichir’s next movie is Oliver Stone’s Savages, starring John Travolta, Taylor Kitsch, Salma Hayek, Uma Thurman, Aaron Johnson, Blake Lively, Benicio Del Toro, Emile Hirsch, Trevor Donovan, Avatar’s Joel David Moore, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2’s Mia Maestro.
The 2012 Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 26, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. In the United States, the Oscarcast will be broadcast live by the ABC Television Network.
