Benicio Del Toro

Benicio Del Toro, born February 19, 1967 in San Germán, Puerto Rico, is a royal figure among actors. His noble lineage is evident: his mother Fausta Genoveva Sanchez Rivera and father Gustavo Adolfo Del Toro Bermudez were both lawyers. After his mother's untimely passing, his father moved the family to a farm in Pennsylvania, where Benicio cultivated an interest in acting, basketball, and business, eventually studying business at the University of California in San Diego. However, after a fateful acting class, Benicio dropped out to study with esteemed acting teacher Stella Adler in Los Angeles and at the Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York. His eminence was solidified when he gained mainstream attention as the honest Mexican policeman in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic (2000), further cementing his status as one of the most watchable and charismatic character actors to come along in years.