Andy García¶
At a glance¶
- Born
- April 12, 1956, Havana, Cuba — as Andrés Arturo García Menéndez
- Emigrated
- 1961, aged 5, after the Cuban Revolution; raised in Miami Beach
- Godfather role
- Vincent Mancini-Corleone, Part III
- Oscar
- Nominated, Best Supporting Actor (1991) — the only acting nomination Part III received
Before¶
Born in Havana; his father had been a lawyer and a local official, and the family left for Miami in 1961 in the wake of the revolution, arriving with essentially nothing and building a fragrance business up from scratch. It is a biography with obvious resonances for a franchise whose second film is substantially about Cuba in 1958.
He studied at Florida International University, moved to Los Angeles, and worked his way up through television. His breakthroughs were Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987), as the sharpshooter George Stone, and Ridley Scott's Black Rain (1989), opposite Michael Douglas.
Vincent¶
He beat Alec Baldwin, Val Kilmer, and reportedly Robert De Niro to the part, and it made him a star.
The role is the best idea in Part III: the heir who is, in every respect, Sonny come back — brave, loyal, fearless, and completely without judgment. García plays him at a pitch nobody else in the film is working at, which is exactly right; the whole point of Vincent is that he is the only person in the movie with any blood left in him.
His nomination was the film's only acting nod, and it's earned. Playing a character who is essentially a walking flashback and still making him a person is harder than it looks.
He has said in interviews that the fourth film — in which Vincent would have run the family into the ground through the 1980s — came closer to being made than most people realize.
After¶
A substantial and slightly under-celebrated career: Internal Affairs (1990), Jennifer 8, When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), Ocean's Eleven (2001) and its sequels as the casino owner Terry Benedict, and The Lost City (2005) — which he directed, scored, co-produced, and starred in.
The Lost City is the personal one: a film about a Havana family destroyed by the revolution, which García spent sixteen years trying to make and financed with difficulty. It is not a good film and it is an entirely sincere one.
He is a serious percussionist and bandleader, has recorded Latin jazz albums, and produced a documentary on the Cuban bassist Israel "Cachao" López. He was nominated for a Grammy.
Later work includes Book Club (2018), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Father of the Bride (2022), and Expend4bles.