What's Next For Édgar Ramírez? Meet The Venezuelan Actor Taking Hollywood By Storm

Playing the revolutionary Ciro Redondo Garcia in Steven Soderbergh's Che skyrocketed Édgar Ramírez to fame. Since then, the actor has played criminal Carlos the Jackal in Olivier Assaya's titular miniseries (for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination), Bodhi in the remake of 1991 favourite Point Break, the supportive ex-husband of Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, and starred as Gianni Versace in the TV series American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, which brought him his second Golden Globe nomination.

In addition to his on-screen career, the 43-year-old Venezuelan actor is also a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador, and has committed himself to Amnesty International as well as to fighting for gender equality, promoting the #heforshe movement. Below, L'Officiel speaks with Ramírez about his career.

How did you become an actor?

I was a journalist. I've always liked cinema, but I didn't grow up dreaming of acting. In the last year of university, though, I participated in an experimental film by a friend, which ended up winning a festival — among the judges there was a Mexican professor, the then-unknown Guillermo Arriaga, who asked me to take part in a film he was writing. I said no, only to find out two years later that the film in question was Amores Perros by Alejandro González Iñárritu, which was a sensation at Cannes and won the Grand Prix. It was the film that put Latin cinema on the global map.

What have been the key roles in your career?

Obviously, Carlos. 2010 was the beginning of the era of high-quality television series, which allow you to explore a character in a more complete way than a film. Then, Hands of Stone, where I had to transform into a boxer [ed. note: the legendary Roberto Durán]. I can be very emotional and very rational at the same time, so playing a man totally dominated by his emotions was a challenge.

It was interesting to explore a disruptor like Gianni Versace and the intertwining of his family relationships, especially in the relationship with his sister [Donatella Versace], made up of loyalty, love and devotion. I discovered Gianni through the eyes of Donatella and Penélope Cruz, who played her. I am also very attached to a film I made with Juliette Binoche, À coeur ouvert. It tells the story of a married couple, where [I played] an alcoholic. It's a relationship of codependency that explores the nature of love.

How do you choose a movie?

The director is fundamental. If he doesn't have a precise, strong point of view, the film doesn't work, because the art of storytelling comes from a place of emotional urgency that you have to rationally resolve. Of course, the story is also important, even if sometimes I just choose to have fun with action movies.

Which directors have you worked with best? And who do you dream of working with?

With [Olivier] Assayas there is a very special relationship, a real telepathy. I would like to work with Paolo Sorrentino and with David Fincher, Wong Kar Wai, Michel Franco (who just won the Silver Lion in Venice with Nuevo Orden), Alfonso Cuarón... Many, many others.

What can we look forward to seing you in next?

At the end of October, The Undoing, an HBO series (ed. note: written by David E. Kelley of Big Little Lies) begins, directed by Susanne Bier, in which I play a detective alongside Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. It's a drama for adults, like the great thrillers of the '80s and '90s, with a strong erotic charge, in an atypical way for an American project. It's an investigation of a betrayal that demonstrates the power of manipulation and of jealousy. It's also about human contradictions — all the characters are contradictory. 

Next year, 355 will be released, a spy story with Jessica Chastain [ed. note: and Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong'o, Penélope Cruz and Fan Bing Bing], as well as the comedy Yes Day with Jennifer Garner,  and Jungle Cruise by Disney with Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson.

I'll also be shooting Losing Clementine with Jessica Chastain, which is directed by Lucia Puenzo. Jessica plays a bipolar character who is determined to commit suicide but who wants to fix a few things first, including the relationship with her ex-husband, played by me.

Besides film, you are particularly committed to gender equality.

The #heforshe campaign was created to combat gender stereotypes — it is not just for women. We need to change the cultural paradigm that celebrates toxic masculinity and pushes men to unload violence on their partners, instead of learning to manage their emotions. The speech I gave on this four years ago at the United Nations was the proudest moment of my life.

What do you do when you are not working?

I read, I train, I try to meditate. I don't have an extraordinary life, but I do have an extraordinary job. I like having coffee with friends — I believe that conversation is an art form. When I arrive in a city I don't know, I get advice on where to stop for a coffee, and I can spend hours sitting there reading or people watching. I am a coffee addict — in Venezuela, the Italian community is so strong that there is a Gaia espresso machine even in the smallest bar in the most remote village.

Are you interested in fashion?

I like fashion because I like history, and fashion is an expression of time. In 50 years, it will be enough to look at our clothes to understand what society was like. I don't think fashion is a superficial phenomenon, but rather a form of anthropology.