Andy Garcia Actor - Date of Birth 12 April 1956, Havana, Cuba

Birth Name Andrés Arturo García Menéndez

Height 5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Bio (1) One of Hollywood's most private and guarded leading men, Andy Garcia has created a few iconic characters while at the same time staying true to his acting roots and personal projects.

Garcia was born on April 12, 1956, in Havana, Cuba, to Amelie Menéndez, a teacher of English, and René García Núñez, an attorney and avocado farmer. Garcia's family was relatively affluent. However, when he was two years old, Fidel Castro came to power, and the family fled to Miami Beach. Forced to work menial jobs for a while, the family started a fragrance company that was eventually worth more than a million dollars. He attended Natilus Junior High School and later at Miami Beach Senior High School. Andy was a popular student in school, a good basketball player and good-looking. He dreamed of playing professional baseball. In his senior year, though, he contracted mononucleosis and hepatitis, and unable to play sports, he turned his attention to acting.

He studied acting with Jay W. Jensen. Jensen was a South Florida legend, counting among his numerous students, Brett Ratner, Roy Firestone, Mickey Rourke, and Luther Campbell. Following his positive high school experiences in acting, he continued his drama studies at Florida International University.

Soon, he was headed out to Hollywood. His first break came as a gang member on the very first episode of the popular TV series Hill Street Blues (1981). His role as a cocaine kingpin in 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) put him on the radar of Brian De Palma, who was casting for his gangster classic The Untouchables (1987). At first, he envisioned Garcia as Al Capone's sadistic henchman Frank Nitti, but fearing typecasting as a gangster, Garcia campaigned for the role of "George Stone", the Italian cop who gets accepted into Eliot Ness' famous band of lawmen. Garcia's next notable role came in Black Rain (1989) by acclaimed director Ridley Scott, as the partner of police detective Michael Douglas. He then co-starred with Richard Gere in Internal Affairs (1990), directed by Mike Figgis. In 1989, Francis Ford Coppola was casting for the highly anticipated third installment of his "Godfather" films. The Godfather: Part III (1990) included one of the most sought-after roles in decades, the hot-headed son of "Sonny Corleone" and mob protégé of "Michael Corloene", "Vincent Mancini". A plum role for any young rising star, the role was campaigned for by a host of actors. Val Kilmer, Alec Baldwin, Vincent Spano, Charlie Sheen, and even Robert De Niro (who wanted the role changed to accommodate his age) were all beaten out by the up-and-coming Garcia. His performance was Oscar-nominated as Best Supporting Actor, and secured him international stardom and a place in cinematic history. Now a leading man, he starred in such films as Jennifer 8 (1992) and Hero (1992). He won raves for his role as the husband of Meg Ryan in When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) and gave another charismatic gangster turn in Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995). He then returned in Night Falls on Manhattan (1996), directed by Sidney Lumet, as well as portraying legendary mobster Lucky Luciano in Hoodlum (1997). In perhaps his most mainstream role, he portrayed a cop in the action film Desperate Measures (1998). Garcia then starred in a few lower-profile projects that didn't do much for his career, but things turned around in 2001, with the first of many projects being his role as a cold casino owner in Ocean's Eleven (2001), directed by Steven Soderbergh. Seeing his removal from Cuba as involuntary, Garcia is proud of his heritage which influences his life and work. One such case is his portrayal of renowned Cuban trumpet player Arturo Sandoval in For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000). He is an extremely private man, and strong believer in old-fashioned chivalry. Married to his wife, Maria Victoria, since 1982, the couple has three daughters. One of the most talented leading men around, Garcia has had a unique career of staying true to his own ideals and thoughts on acting. While some would have used some of the momentum he has acquired at different points in his career to get rich off lightweight projects, Garcia has stayed true to stories and films that aspire to something more. But with a presence and style that never seem old, a respect from directors and film buffs, alike, Andy Garcia will be remembered for a long time in film history.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Brian Stewart and Chase Rosenberg

Marivi Lorido Garcia (24 September 1982 - present) (4 children)

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#65).

Family emigrated to the US in 1961.

Father of three girls and one boy.

Was born as a conjoined twin. His twin was no bigger than a tennis ball and was surgically removed. All that remains is a scar on his shoulder.

Refuses to do nude scenes. He once walked out of a audition when asked to remove his shirt.

Gained weight when his wife was pregnant with three of their children.

Children: Dominik García-Lorido, Daniella Garcia, Alessandra Garcia-Lorido and Andrés Garcia-Lorido.

Fact: Owns 25 conga drums, collects hats, and wears a beret in the winter.

Son, Andrés Garcia-Lorido, was born Monday, January 28, 2002 in Los Angeles, tipping the scales at 7 pounds, 13 ounces.

His daughter, Alessandra Garcia-Lorido was born on June 20, 1991 in Los Angeles, California.

Is said to be very protective of his family's privacy.

Daughter, Daniella Garcia, was born on January 3, 1988.

Left Cuba at 5.

Filmed scenes as LouAnne's (Michelle Pfeiffer) love interest in Dangerous Minds (1995), but they were cut from the final print.

Son of Rene Garcia (attorney who died in 1993) and Amelie Garcia (English teacher).

Daughter Dominik García-Lorido born in 1984.

Has an older brother named Rene Garcia.

His niece is Jackie Garcia. She was the fiancée of slain Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor at the time of his death.

Turned down the role of "Detective Mac Taylor" (The character played by Gary Sinise) on the popular CBS crime drama CSI: NY (2004).

Longtime friend of actor Mickey Rourke. Has said that Rourke was his high school baseball coach.

Good friends with George Lopez.

Currently lives in Toluca Lake, California with his wife and children. [December 2004]

Garcia has worked with all 3 actors who played Bruce Wayne/Batman in the Burton/Schumacher 'Batman' films. He and Michael Keaton appeared in "Desperate Measures" (1998). He and Val Kilmer appeared in "5 Days of War" (2011). He and George Clooney appeared in "Ocean's Eleven" (2001), "Ocean's Twelve" (2004), and "Ocean's Thirteen" (2007).

Personal Quotes (8)

You are defined by who you are, by your choices in life, in all regards, not just in doing movies.

Freedom is not negotiable.

They say a lot of women would like to see me naked, but there's not a lens long enough for that.

I never applied to go back to Cuba. They did invite me to the Havana Film Festival, but I am opposed to the regime in Cuba. I'd have liked to go back every day of my life. But in honor of all the people who have died and suffered under that regime, I'm not able to make that leap.

I'm an exile. My father had the courage to leave with his wife, his mother and three children under twelve. It took more courage to leave, to sacrifice everything for freedom, than to stay.

I spent seven years without working, so if they're making cop movies, I'll play cops. I got two kids to bring up.

Jennifer 8 (1992) is a movie that was reduced by 20 minutes and they took the heart out of the picture. They took three or four scenes of the interrogation out between me and John Malkovich. The script was originally called A Policeman's Story, and in the end, there was no policeman's story! It was a movie about him dealing with demons, and finding light and a muse in this blind girl. And there was an alcoholic struggle in the script which is not in the movie. It was a better film at 2 hours and 20 minutes long instead of 2 hours. There were electrifying moments between my character and Malkovich, and that interrogation was precluded by an all-night alcoholic binge by my character. When they come to arrest me, I was naked, with my pants down, in complete emotional shambles. But they cut that out and diminished the whole film. My character was in a very pitiful situation, and had begun to drink again because of the death of his partner. So when you cut to me sitting in the interrogation room all cleaned up, it's a front. So consequently it's a totally different movie. It's a thriller, and it works as a thriller, but that's all it is. How do you deeply care about people if you don't give the audience a chance to care about them or to understand them? That was my argument. So that was painful on many fronts, that whole process, for everybody concerned, really.

In the beginning of my career I was offered every psycho role out there. After 8 Million Ways to Die (1986), it was like they couldn't imagine anyone else playing a drug lord.

Andrés Arturo García-Menéndez born on April 12th, 1956, actor Andy Garcia was five-years-old when he fled with his family from his native Cuba to Miami, where Garcia's father, a former lawyer, established a successful cosmetics business upon becoming an American citizen. Following his graduation from Florida International University, Garcia moved to L.A. and performed briefly as a standup comic, working as a furniture expediter and waiter when jobs were scarce. While his TV debut was a small role in the 1981 pilot of Hill Street Blues, Garcia did not have to travel far from his adopted hometown for his film bow, Blue Skies Again (1983), which was shot on location in Florida. (Also making her first screen appearance in this forgettable baseball comedy was actress Mimi Rogers).

It was not until he was cast as a drug kingpin in Hal Ashby's 8 Million Ways to Die (1985) that Garcia's career really took off. After turning in strong roles in both The Untouchables (1987) and Stand and Deliver (1988), he achieved an additional degree of stardom when he was cast as Michael Corleone's hot-headed nephew in The Godfather Part III (1990), a role for which he earned Best Supporting Actor Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. The range of Garcia's talents was impressive enough for screenwriter Henry Bean to write the script for the 1990 police-corruption drama Internal Affairs with the actor specifically in mind. But after several years of on-the-edge characters, Garcia softened his screen image as the too-good-to-be-true husband of an alcoholic (Meg Ryan) in When a Man Loves a Woman (1994).

Garcia's career waned a bit during the second half of the '90s, and the actor concentrated some of his energies on starring in various made-for-TV movies and such Spanish-made films as Death in Granada (1997). Although Garcia found his place in American cinema -- indeed, he was one of the few Latino stars to successfully cross over into Hollywood films -- his deep connection and loyalty to his Cuban heritage was illustrated by his involvement in projects that reflect that sentiment. He has produced and directed a tribute to Cuban mambo artist Cachoao entitled Cachoao: Like His Rhythm There Is No Other, and, at one time, he planned to direct and star in a film adaptation of The Lost City, an epic novel of revolution and exile by Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante.

Garcia worked alongside George Clooney and Brad Pitt for 2001’s Ocean’s 11, in which he portrayed the unscrupulous owner of a casino, and appeared in the film’s sequels Ocean’s 12 (2004) and Ocean’s 13 (2007). He joined the cast of The Pink Panter 2 in 2009, and took a lead role in the historical drama Greater Glory (2012), which follows a group of Mexican patriots devoted to defending future generations from tyranny.

A devoted family man, Garcia lives outside of the spotlight with his wife Maria Victoria (also a Cuban immigrant) and their three daughters.

Biography by Hal Erickson [-]