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Top 10 Amazing Facts about Gael García Bernal

Gael García Bernal is a Mexican actor and director known for his work in films. Gael portrayed women and men in taboo or unconventional relationships in his films. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico on November 30, 1978, Gael’s parents were also in the film industry.

Gael was cast in the film 2000 Amores Perros (Love’s a Bitch). In his role as a poor teenager, Gael begins dogfighting as a way to pay for his affair with his sister-in-law. This film received glowing tributes and launched his carrier. The Amores Perros film was nominated for the best foreign-language film in the Academy Award. Gael’s performance caught the attention of Alfonso Cuarón, an acclaimed Mexican director. Cuarón cast Gael in the 2001 film Y tu mamá también (‘And Your Mother Too’).

In the film, Gael stars as a co-lead. The film is a story about an older woman and two adolescent boys on a road trip. The outright depiction of the three primary characters’ sexual relationships created a lot of controversy among viewers.

Below are ten interesting facts about Gael Garcia Bernal.

1. Acting is the way of life in their family

Gael’s parents are also actors. Born to Patricia Bernal and José Angel García, his parents introduced him to the film industry at an early age.

His father was a director while his mother was an actress. From an early age, Gael’s parents involved him in theatrical productions.

Gael also starred in other films. These films include the 2009 social drama titled Mammoth, the 2009 film Limits of control by Jim Jarmusch, and the 2010 romantic comedy, Letters to Juliet.

Gael also starred in 2010 politically provocative También la Lluvia (Even the Rain). In this film, Gael plays the role of an overwhelmed movie director.

2. He dreamed of being a professional soccer player

Man juggling a soccer ball. Photo by Ruben Leija on

Gael had dreamed of being a professional soccer player. He also claims that had he pursued it, he would have been the best of all time.

3. His debut in the film industry was at the age of 11 years

Gael García Bernal at the Guadalajara Film Festival. Photo by Premio Guadalajara 020/

Gael made his debut in the film industry in 1989. He was 11 years at the time and he appeared in the ‘Teresa’, a Mexican telenovela.

Also starring in the telenovela was Salma Hayek. Seven years later, he was in a short film titled De trips, trips corazón which in English is ‘Take Courage’.

Gael has received several accolades for the various roles he portrayed in the films. He received the Best Actor award for the ‘Mozart in the Jungle television series at the Golden Globe Awards.

He also received the Gotham independent film award for Best Ensemble Performance in the film ‘Babel’, the Marcello Mastroianni Award for the film ‘Y Tu Mama Tambien’ and the San Deigo Film Critics Society Award for the film, ‘Babel’.

4. Gael and Diego Luna have been friends since they first acted together

Diego Luna at the Lucca Comics & Games. Photo by Niccolò Caranti/

Gael first met Diego Luna in 1992 when they co-starred in the telenovela ‘El Abuelo y Yo.’ They have remained friends ever since.

5. He took part in the Mexican uprising of 1994

Gael took part in the 1994 Chiapas uprising. This was one of many Spanish conflicts in which there was a conflict between the indigenous people and the Mexican government.

6. He attended the esteemed Central School of Speech and Drama

The Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Photo by Mike Quinn/

Gael attended the highly esteemed Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He was the first Mexican to attend the school.

Gael traveled to Europe when he was 17 years old. It was at this time that he won a scholarship to London’s Central School of Speech and Drama. While he was still a student, Gael traveled to Mexico and worked with a director known as Alejandro González Iñárritu.

7. In 2002 Gael was recognized as one of Spain’s most beautiful people

Gael García Bernal in an interview in May 2017. Photo by “Público de Cannes, el más difícil de todos los festivales”: Gael García Bernal/

Gael has received recognition from different sectors including magazines. In 2002, the June issue of ‘People en Español’ named Gael as one of the 25 most beautiful people.

8. He has a son and daughter who live in Buenos Aires with their mother

Actress Dolores Fonzi at the Miami Film Festival presentation for the movie Paulina Photo credits David Heischrek. Photo by https://www.flickr.com/photos/miamifilmfestival/25379476094/

For several years, Gael dated Dolores Fonzi an Argentine film and television actress. They broke up in 2014. Although it’s said they never got married, Gael and Fonzi have two children together.

Gael’s daughter is named Libertad and his son is Lázaro. Fonzi and her children live in Buenos Aires while Gael lives in Mexico City. Gael frequently visits his children in Buenos Aires.

9. He co-directed a film on the plight of Mexican immigrants

Amnesty International is one of the charity organizations that Gael supports. He also co-directed a short film titled ‘The Invisibles’. It was filmed on the journey and plight of Mexican immigrants.

Gael directed his first feature film in 2007. The film titled Deficit was followed a year later by his role in Blindness. Blindness is the adaptation of the novel Ensaio sobre a cegueira by José Saramago.

10. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film titled Amores Perros earned Gael international recognition

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, in Los Angeles in 2014. Photo by Bart Michiels/

Gael continued appearing on television and starred in the well-known Mozart in the Jungle. In the television series which ran from 2014 to 2018, Gael starred as a conductor in the comedy set in the classical music world.

In 2016, he won a Golden Globe Award for his performance. Later, he co-created and starred in Aquí en la Tierra, a political drama. He also appeared in Station Eleven, a postapocalyptic miniseries. In this series, he plays the role of a movie star who dies just before the world is ravaged by a pandemic.

The list of Gael’s films also includes A Little Bit of Heaven, a 2011 romance film. He also starred in the Loneliest Planet, an intimate thriller. The film is about a couple whose relationship is tested while they hike through the Caucasus. Alongside Will Ferrell, Gael later starred as a fearsome drug lord in the film Casa de mi padre (My Father’s House).

In the film, Gael is a real-life Chilean advertising consultant. The consultant works on a 1988 television campaign credited with influencing the outcome of a national referendum that ends Augusto Pinochet’s rule.

In the 2014 Rosewater film directed by comic Jon Stewart, Gael stars as Maziar Bahari, a journalist. In the film, the journalist is arrested in 2009 by Iranian officials after covering election protests. He is held for 118 days on espionage charges.