Carlos Bardem

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Carlos Encinas Bardem was born in Madrid on 7 March 1963.^[4][5] He is the son of actress Pilar Bardem and the elder brother of actors Mónica and Javier Bardem. He earned a licentiate degree in history from the Autonomous University of Madrid and a diploma in foreign relations.^[2][1] He made his feature film debut in Not Love, Just Frenzy (1996),^[1] co-helmed by his cousin Miguel Bardem.^[6] A year later, he played a part in Álex de la Iglesia's film Perdita Durango, which starred his brother Javier.^[6]

In 1999, Bardem published his first novel, Muertes ejemplares, which was followed by Buziana o el peso del alma (2002).^[5]

He won an Actors and Actresses Union Award for Best New Actor for his performance in the Spanish-Mexican co-production La zona (2007).^[7][8]

His portrayal of Apache in Cell 211 (2009) earned him a nomination for the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[9]

In 2010, he began a relationship with Cecilia Gessa.^[10]

Bardem adapted alongside Santiago Zannou his own novel about the genesis of violence Alacrán enamorado to screen.^[11] He also featured in the film, titled Scorpion in Love (2013), as a boxing coach, and won nominations to the Goya both for Best Adapted Screenplay and for Best Supporting Performance.^[12][9] He described his character as "a deeply human and therefore imperfect character, who lives in permanent defeat, but who finds reasons to get up".^[12] He portrayed evangelical pastor and charlatan Elías in Mexican thriller González: falsos profetas (2013), receiving a nomination for the Ariel Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[13][14] In 2015, he appeared in Manolo Caro's comedy Elvira I Will Give You My Life But I'm Using It playing Gustavo, the husband of Cecilia Suárez's lead character Elvira.^[15] Continuing his work in Mexico, he played a football agent in comedy-drama series Club de Cuervos,^[16] which debuted on Netflix in 2015.

Bardem played the part of Benedicto, a mentor of the Order of Assassins, in the action film Assassin's Creed (2016).^[17]

In 2018, he starred in Colombian crime film Pickpockets in the role of Chucho, a mentor of young pickpockets.^[18]

In 2019, Bardem published his sixth novel, Mongo blanco (Plaza & Janés), which deals with 19th-century slave trader Pedro Blanco.^[19][20] Bardem reported that the novel's main theme "is evil, evil as a consequence of the evil exercise of power and extreme inequality".^[20]

Bardem played the villainous Count Flaín of León, an antagonist to Ruy Díaz de Vivar, in the Prime Video series El Cid, set in 11th-century Iberia.^[21]

He featured as the authoritarian father of Bob Pop [es] in the former's autofictional series Queer You Are (2021), in a role in which Bardem's face is not displayed onscreen.^[22] Resuming collaboration with Álex de la Iglesia, he played a "narco-satanic" cardinal in the HBO series 30 Coins.^[23]

His 2023 novel Badaq (Plaza & Janés) is a moral fable and criticism of the Spanish empire dealing with the plight of an Indonesian female rhinoceros captured in the island of Pawu and taken to Madrid in the 16th century.^[24]

Bardem is committed to left-wing positions.^[25] He has sided in favour of the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people and has criticised the inaction of the Spanish political class in the matter since 1975.^[26][27] In the buildup to the 2011 Spanish general election, he lent public support to the electoral list of United Left.^[28]

In July 2025, Bardem signed a letter to the Government of Spain along with over 1,200 professionals demanding an immediate and comprehensive embargo of arms and defense material on Israel by means of a Royal Decree-Law, personally adding that "culture that does not denounce is collaborationist, culture must always be rebellious and critical”.^[29]

Film

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1996	Más que amor, frenesí (Not Love, Just Frenzy)	Miguel
1997	Perdita Durango (Dance with the Devil)	Reggie San Pedro		[30]
1998	Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley (Torrente, the Dumb Arm of the Law)	Cayetano
	Resultado final	Obrero
2000	Código natural
	La gran vida	Matón discoteca 1
2001	Juego de Luna (Luna's Game)	Reyes		[31]
2002	Bestiario	Demetrio
2004	Cien maneras de acabar con el amor	Carlos
	El último negocio	Javier	Short film
2005	Princesas (Princesses)	Portero discoteca
	El desenlace	Rosendo
2006	Por dinero negro	Rolf	Short film
	La bicicleta (The Bicycle)	Antonio		[32]
	Alatriste	Alguacil
	Goya's Ghosts	French Colonel
2007	La zona	Gerardo
	La señal	Siracusa
2008	Che: Part Two	Moisés Guevara [es]
	Solo quiero caminar	Ramón
2009	El Niño Pez	Comisario Pulido
	Celda 211 (Cell 211)	Apache
	Malamuerte	Dorado
2010	Entrelobos	Ceferino
2011	Días de gracia	Victima X
	Americano	Luis
	10 pelis	Carlos
	Transgression	Carlos
2013	Alacrán enamorado (Scorpion in Love)	Carlomonte	Also screenwriter	[1]
	Diamantes negros	Ramón
	González: falsos profetas	Pastor Elías
	Violet	Solomon
2014	Anime nere	Miguel
	Escobar: Paradise Lost	Drago
	Elvira, te daría mi vida pero la estoy usando (Elvira I Will Give You My Life But I'm Using It)	Gustavo		[15]
2015	Oliver's Deal	Rubén Caravedo
2016	Renko	Adán Rutz
	Assassin's Creed	Benedicto		[17]
2018	Pickpockets: Maestros del robo (Pickpockets)	Chucho		[18]
	Loca Olivia	Hombre Misterioso
	Alegría, tristeza (Happy Sad)	Pedro López		[33]
2019	A pesar de todo (Despite Everything)	Pablo
	Adiós (Bye)	Santacana
2022	Centauro	Boro		[34]
2025	Tabula rasa			[35]
	Papeles (Papers)	Raúl Fassano
2026	In the Grey †			[36]
TBA	Dragn †			[37]

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Television

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1998	Hermanas	Karlos	Recurring role (season 2); 3 episodes
1999	El comisario	Juanma Cañizares	Episode: "Muerto por error"
2009–10	Hay alguien ahí	Justo	Recurring role (seasons 1–2); 17 episodes
2015	Cuéntame	El Chino	Episode: "El último minuto de nuestra vida"
2015–19	Club de Cuervos	Eliseo Canales
2016	La embajada	Paco Cadenas	Recurring role (season 1); 11 episodes
2017	The Son	Pedro García	Recurring role (season 1); 10 episodes
	La zona	Krusty	Recurring role (season 1); 4 episodes
2017–18	Traición	Julián Casas	Recurring role (season 1); 9 episodes
2018	El Señor de los Cielos	Chivo Ahumada	Main role. Season 6)	[38]
2020	El Cid	El conde Flaín	Main supporting role; 5 chapters
2021	Maricón perdido (Queer You Are)	Padre		[39]
	Madres. Amor y vida	Hector	Main cast. Introduced in season 3	[40]
2023	The Chosen One	Father Cruz		[41]
	30 monedas (30 Coins)	Cardenal de la Cruz		[42]

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