Bernal, Gael García (1978- )

Mexican actor. He first gained critical acclaim and a wide international audience for his role as a teenager caught in a love triangle with an older woman in the erotic film Y Tu Mamá También/And Your Mother Too (2001). He is also known for his characterization of Che Guevara in both the TV mini-series Fidel (2002) and the film The Motorcycle Diaries (2003).

His first major feature film was the thriller Amores perros/Love's a Bitch (2000), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Other films, which often involve themes of religion, guilt, and suffering, include the comedy Sin noticias de Dios/Without News from God (2001), and the dramas El Crimen del padre Amaro/The Crime of Father Amaro (2002), Cuba Libre/Dreaming of Julia (2003), La Mala Educación/Bad Education (2004), and The King (2005), and Babel (2006).

He was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and began acting in plays with his parents, actors Patricia Bernal and José Ángel García, as a child. He appeared on the soap opera El Abuelo y yo (1992) when he was 12. As a teenager he appeared in short films such as De tripas, corazón (1996), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Film, and El Ojo en la nuca (2000). He studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England, and is fluent in Spanish, English, French, and Italian.