Joaquim de Almeida

Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida is a Portuguese actor born on March 15, 1957. Known for his extensive work across international cinema and television, he has performed in productions throughout Europe and the Americas. He achieved prominent global recognition through notable roles in feature films and thrillers such as Clear and Present Danger, Desperado, and Fast Five, as well as the television drama series 24.

Born in Lisbon, Portugal, to parents João Baptista de Almeida and Maria Sara Portugal, de Almeida began his dramatic education locally. At age eighteen, after two years at the Lisbon Conservatory, he left the country following the temporary closure of the school after the 1974 democratic revolution. He lived in Vienna for a year before moving to New York City in 1976, where he studied performing arts at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

Following early stage performances, de Almeida made his screen debut in the 1982 film The Soldier. He subsequently appeared in The Honorary Consul in 1983 and made television appearances on shows such as Miami Vice. His major breakthrough occurred in the 1987 Italian feature Good Morning, Babylon, which opened the Cannes Film Festival. Fluent in six languages, his language skills enabled him to work across many nations, including France, Italy, Spain, England, Germany, Argentina, and Brazil.

During the 1990s, de Almeida took on several prominent international projects. He portrayed former intelligence officer Félix Cortez in the 1994 box-office hit Clear and Present Danger and appeared in the romantic comedy Only You later that year. In 1995, he played the main antagonist Bucho in Robert Rodriguez's action thriller Desperado. His lead role in the 1995 Portuguese drama Adão e Eva earned him a Portuguese Golden Globe for Best Actor. He rounded out the decade with appearances in the miniseries Nostromo and the features Elles and La Cucaracha.

In the 2000s, de Almeida played Sherlock Holmes in the 2001 Brazilian comedy O Xangô de Baker Street, winning another Portuguese Golden Globe. He appeared as a NATO naval commander in the 2001 war drama Behind Enemy Lines, and played drug cartel leader Ramon Salazar on the thriller series 24 from 2003 to 2004. His subsequent projects during the decade included the films Yo Puta, El corazón de la tierra, La Cucina, Che: Part Two, and The Burning Plain, as well as voice work as Bane in the animated series The Batman.

De Almeida portrayed antagonist Hernan Reyes in the 2011 action film Fast Five, a role he reprised in 2023's Fast X. His other film credits from this period include The Gilded Cage, Our Brand is Crisis, The Hitman's Bodyguard, and Downsizing. Beginning in 2016, he starred as Don Epifanio Vargas in the crime series Queen of the South, earning Imagen Award nominations for Best Actor in 2017 and 2018.