Joaquim de Almeida is a Portuguese film, television, and stage actor. His career has spanned over four decades and he has worked in several films, television series, and stage productions in several countries. He is fluent in several other languages including his native Portuguese.
Almeida came into prominence in the 1980s with performances on stage and in films. However, he achieved international recognition in the 1990s by appearing in films alongside performers such as Antonio Banderas, Willem Dafoe, Salma Hayek, and Harrison Ford. He has received recognition and awards both in his home Portugal and internationally for his performances over the years. This article provides an overview of the life and career of Joaquim de Almeida.
The Early Life of Joaquim De Almeida
Joaquim de Almeida was born on 15 March 1957 in Lisbon, the capital and largest city of Portugal. Both his parents were pharmacists and he was the sixth of eight children in the family. He spent the first 18 years of his life in Lisbon and attended the Lisbon Theater and Film School. However, the film school has to be closed temporarily as a result of political unrest brought on by the 1974 democratic revolution in Portugal. Following the school’s closure, Almeida left Portugal in 1975 to continue his studies abroad.
He lived in Vienna, Austria for a year and supported himself by working in various jobs including gardening as well as at the Künstlerhaus-Theater, an arthouse in Vienna. He moved again in 1976 to New York, where he enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, an acting school founded by Lee Strasberg. While at the school, he studied under acting coaches such as Nicholas Ray, Stella Adler, and Strasberg himself while working as a bartender.
How Did Joaquim De Almeida Career Start?
Almeida’s career began with roles in stage productions in New York such as Blood Wedding by Federico García Lorca, What Would Jeanne Moreau Do, The Count of Mount Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, and several Shakespeare productions. He also appeared in soap operas. His film debut came in 1982 when he appeared in The Soldier, an American Cold War action-thriller film.
His first important film role came in 1983 when he starred alongside Michael Caine and Richard Gere in The Honorary Consul. Following this, he went on to make appearances in television series such as Miami Vice. Almeida’s breakthrough role came in 1987 with Good Morning, Babylon, an Italian film written and directed by the Taviani brothers. The film was screened at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival and was a critical and financial success in Italy. It brought Almeida into the international light.
What Are His Major Career Achievements?
Over the course of his career, as a result of being fluent in a variety of languages, Almeida has delivered top performances in several films in several countries. His breakout role in the United States came in 1994 when he played Félix Cortez in the action thriller, Clear and Present Danger. The film introduced him to Western audiences, earning over $20 million on its opening weekend in the United States.
In 1995, he appeared alongside Antonio Banderas, Danny Trejo, Salma Hayek, and Steve Buscemi in the cult classic action film Desperado. That same year, he won the Portuguese Golden Globe award for Best Actor for his performance in the Portuguese drama Adão e Eva. He won the award again in 2002 for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in A Samba for Sherlock, a 2001 Brazilian-Portuguese film.
In 2004, Almeida joined the cast of the iconic action drama television series, 24. He portrayed Ramon Salazar, a drug cartel head who is broken out of prison by Jack Bauer. As a member of the cast, he received a nomination at the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Joaquim De Almeida’s Personal Life?
Not much is known about the personal life of Joaquim de Almeida. He has been married three times. He got married for the first time in 1976 to Andrea Nemetz, a Hungarian classical pianist he met in Vienna. His second marriage was in 1979 to Anne Rogoshan, a ballerina he met while in New York. His third marriage was in 1992 to Maria Cecília Gonçalves, a Portuguese designer with whom he has one son.
As previously mentioned, Almeida is fluent in several languages. In addition to his native Portuguese, he speaks English, French, Italian, Spanish, and German. He also has American citizenship, which he obtained in October 2005.
