The 50 Greatest Actors Alive: No. 40 Javier Bardem

Every week through the remainder of 2014, Yahoo Movies is counting down Hollywood's 50 very best working actors and actresses. Come back to Yahoo Movies every Thursday to see who makes the cut.

Greatest Actor Alive (No. 40): Javier Bardem

Age: 45

Stating the Case: Javier Bardem's filmography is a treasure trove. Most of us know he started out in Spanish cinema, but did you know he's been acting since he was a child and that he comes from a long line of filmmakers and thespians? Acting really is in his blood. And it shows onscreen. Bardem can be an eccentric, ice-cold killer in one film ("No Country for Old Men") and an affable playboy in the next ("Vicky Christina Barcelona"). He not only morphs from role to role with ostensible ease, but he also has a knack for bringing something truly original to his characters — awkward psycho killer hairstyles and all.

Breakthrough Role: Before we get into his crossover to the U.S., Bardem first got major notoriety in his homeland for "Jamón, Jamón" in 1992. In the film, he plays a Casanova-for-hire, paid by a snobbish mother to distract a lower class woman from marrying her son. The best part about it? That low class lady was none other than Bardem's future wife Penélope Cruz. Of course, it would take them a few respective unsuccessful relationships and 18 more years to tie the knot and have kids. But judging from the "Jamón Jamón" DVD cover alone, we should have guessed way sooner that these two were meant to be… inseparable.

The Best of the Best:

5. "The Sea Inside" (2004): Bardem proved he can move audiences while confined to a hospital bed. Biopics were his thing when he started making movies for U.S. audiences. In "The Sea Inside" he plays real-life Spaniard Ramón Sampedro, who fought for the right to die on his own terms and practice euthanasia.

4. "Before Night Falls" (2000): Marking his seismic breakthrough into the U.S., Bardem first took the movie festival circuit by storm for his role as the rebellious Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, whose open homosexuality gets him in trouble with Castro's regime. The film also stars Johnny Depp in a memorable role as a transvestite and earned Bardem his first Oscar nomination.

3. "Skyfall" (2012): By now, Bardem is a big deal. A really big deal. Who else could go toe-to-toe with Daniel Craig's 007 as the mysterious, evil blond Bond nemesis Silva. The best moment: When Bardem delivers an epic speech, telling a story about cannibalistic rats while sharing his vile schemes with Bond.

2. "Biutiful" (2010): Bardem got his third Oscar nomination for playing a streetwise father of two, scraping by in Barcelona. His life is already pretty complicated, compensating for a mentally incompetent, estranged wife who lacks mothering skills. Things go from bad to devastating when he's diagnosed with a terminal illness.

1. "No Country for Old Men" (2007): With unusual hair and an even more unusual weapon — a captive bolt pistol — Bardem managed to make a funny combination on the outside absolutely terrifying on the inside.

The BIGGEST Hit: That's easy — it's "Skyfall," the most successful Bond movie of all-time with bragging rights to $1.1 billion — with a "b" — in global grosses.

With Honors: Bardem has enough acting statuettes, plaques, and certificates to fill a large bathtub to the brim. He is the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar — in the the Best Supporting Actor category for "No Country" in 2008 — and won a Golden Globe Award that same year. Counting awards he's gotten at festivals like Cannes, his BAFTA Award, and honors from critics and other groups, Bardem has an estimated 83 trophies for his work. And yes, he got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012, too.

Trademark: His hair. Bardem has done a lot of strange things to his mane for his many onscreen metamorphoses. He's gone blond, bald, spiky, parted down the middle with some curling-iron action on the bangs, and then there's that killer bob cut the Coen Brothers made him get for "No Country." He's still living that one down.

Best Fan Tribute:

(Full disclosure: The infographic originates from a journalist at TheWeek.com — who is clearly a Bardem fan.)

Most Underappreciated Achievement: Bardem had a small but important role as a priest in Terrence Malick's dreamy 2012 film about love and loss in "To the Wonder." We know he can be deeply bad, and in this it was refreshing to see him as deeply good.

Catchphrase:

Nobody's Perfect: What worked for "No Country" did not work for "The Counselor." Both films were based on written works by Cormac McCarthy — the latter being the decorated writer's first-ever movie screenplay. Bardem, as the above infographic reflects, had crazy hair and personas in both films. But crazy hair, crazy personas, and even a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist does not a great film make. There are no safe bets in Hollywood.

Moonlighting: A student of the school of rock, Bardem says he learned English by listening to the hard rock of AC/DC. "I love heavy metal music. That's why I know how to curse!" he said in 2011.

And for His Next Act: Details around Bardem's role in the action-thriller "The Gunman," due out this year, are sparse. But we do know it's about spy games gone awry and that an impressive group of actors are in it: Sean Penn, Idris Elba, Ray Winstone, and, of course, our man Bardem.

Who Else Has Made 'Greatest Actors Alive' List So Far:

#50 Brad Pitt | #49 Sigourney Weaver | #48 Joaquin Phoenix | #47 Paul Giamatti | #46 Forest Whitaker | #45 Matthew McConaughey | #44 Viola Davis | #43 Michael Douglas | #42 Jodie Foster | #41 Ben Kingsley

What qualifies actors for a slot on Yahoo Movies' running list of the 50 Greatest Actors Alive? First, we limited the pool to actors who are still currently working. Other factors taken into consideration: Pure skill in the craft; their ability to disappear underneath the skin of the characters they portray; versatility and the range of their roles; ratio of strong performances to weak ones; quality of films acted in; strength of recent work; awards and accolades from peers.

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