1980s After his early work in theater, de Almeida started his film career in 1982 appearing in
The Soldier. His first significant role came in a 1983 film,
The Honorary Consul. He made appearances in television series such as
Miami Vice, and made his breakthrough four years later when he appeared in
Good Morning, Babylon, a film directed by
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani that opened the
Cannes Film Festival in 1987. Being fluent in six languages, de Almeida continued his acting career in several countries such as Portugal, England, Spain, France, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, and Germany, working in numerous films. Later in 1994, de Almeida starred in the romantic comedy
Only You, in which he played a suave Italian businessman named Giovanni. According to
The New York Times, the film director and producer
Norman Jewison said: "I interviewed many actors for the role.... There was one Italian actor, fairly prominent, that I met in L.A. and again in New York and in Rome. And I wanted to meet several other Italian actors in Italy." When the production moved from
Pittsburgh to Italy last fall, however, none of the country's actors seemed right for what Jewison called "the clichéd Italian gigolo, the guy that women from the Midwest always meet." After the interview with de Almeida, Jewison recalled: "Howard Feuer, the casting director, said, 'Joaquim's not that tall. He's not that handsome. He's no Rossano Brazzi here.' I said, 'But listen to his voice.' There's a machoness. Especially when he lowers it, whispers, leans across the table and pours you another glass of wine. He can be extremely intimate with his voice." In 1995, de Almeida appeared with
Antonio Banderas and
Salma Hayek in the
Robert Rodriguez's
action thriller Desperado. This film is the
sequel to Rodriguez's independent film
El Mariachi and the second entry in the
Mexico Trilogy. Joaquim de Almeida portrays the main villain Bucho, a wealthy but casually bloodthirsty drug kingpin, who rules a seedy Mexican border town. De Almeida replaced
Raúl Juliá as Bucho, following Juliá's death in 1994.
Desperado was screened out of competition at the
1995 Cannes Film Festival. He won a
Portuguese Golden Globe for Best Actor in his next film, the 1995 Portuguese
drama Adão e Eva (
Adam and Eve), where he played the main female character career rival Francisco. In 1997 he appeared in the miniseries
Nostromo and starred in the Luís Galvão Teles' drama
Elles (
Women). The following year, he co-starred with
Eric Roberts in the Jack Perez thriller
La Cucaracha (1998). The film premiered at the
Austin Film Festival where it won the Feature Film Award.
2000s In 2001, de Almeida starred in the Brazilian comedy
O Xangô de Baker Street, where he plays the legendary British detective
Sherlock Holmes. The film is based on a book written in 1995 by celebrated Brazilian author/actor/entrepreneur
Jô Soares about a case involving Sherlock Holmes and his loyal friend
Doctor Watson, who are invited to Brazil by its Emperor,
Pedro II, to find the thief of a priceless Stradivarius owned by his lover. De Almeida's outstanding portrayal of the iconic fictional character earned him another Portuguese Golden Globe for best actor, his third, and was nominated for Cinema Brazil Grand Prize award for best actor. In 2001, he had a supporting role in the
war film Behind Enemy Lines as Admiral Juan Miguel Piquet, the commander of
NATO's naval forces, starring alongside
Owen Wilson and
Gene Hackman. The film, based on the shootdown of
Scott O'Grady, is centered on the story of an American naval flight officer, played by Owen Wilson, who was shot down over Bosnia, who ends up uncovering a massacre during the
Bosnian War. In 2004, he starred with
Daryl Hannah and
Denise Richards in
Yo Puta, a gritty docu-style prostitution tale — in which interviews with real-life prostitutes are interspersed – that is based on a bestselling book by Spaniard
Isabel Pisano that tracks the slow descent of a girl into the sex business. That same year, he joined the cast of
24 as Ramon Salazar, the ruthless leader of a drug cartel who is put into—and later broken out of—prison by
Jack Bauer. In 2007, Joaquim de Almeida limns a brutal foreman named Baxter, in the Antonio Cuadri's
El corazón de la tierra, a heady romance with a social conscience. Later in 2004, de Almeida portrayed a Spanish-born photo journalist named Michael in the
romantic drama La Cucina, a film about several mostly separated storylines in which couples, friends and associates meet for a night of cooking and befriending. In 2008, he starred in
Che: Part Two, a
biographical film about the Argentine doctor-turned-international revolutionary
Ernesto Guevara. De Almeida played
President René Barrientos, a former Bolivian politician who served as his country's
Vice President in 1964 and as its
President from 1964 to 1969. Later that year, de Almeida appeared in
The Burning Plain as local man named Nick Martinez, starring alongside
Charlize Theron and
Kim Basinger. He also provided his voice for the animated show
The Batman as the voice of the villain
Bane, and reprised his role in all of his appearances in the show except one in which
Ron Perlman voices the character for one line.
2010s On 16 July 2010, de Almeida was confirmed for the role of main antagonist
Hernan Reyes in the 2011
action film Fast Five directed by
Justin Lin and co-starring
Vin Diesel,
Paul Walker and
Dwayne Johnson. The film took $3.8 million in receipts during launch midnight showings marking the best ever opening for a
Universal title and
Fast & Furious franchise.
Fast Five became the highest-grossing film of 2011 for 15 days before being replaced on 30 May 2011. Between 2013 and 2020, de Almeida starred in ''
The Gilded Cage,
Our Brand is Crisis,
The Hitman's Bodyguard,
and Downsizing.'' Beginning in 2016, de Almeida starred for two seasons as the drug kingpin Don Epifanio Vargas in the
USA Network crime drama
Queen of the South, opposite
Alice Braga. He garnered Imagen Awards nominations as Best Actor in both 2017 and 2018 for his portrayal of Don Epifanio, and after the character was killed by Braga's character in the last episode of Season Two, Almeida also appeared during Season Three. The show wrapped up its 5th season in 2021. ==Selected filmography==