Édgar Filiberto Ramírez Arellano (, born 25 March 1977) is a Venezuelan actor.
After studying communications at the Andrés Bello Catholic University, Ramírez worked in media and considered becoming a diplomat. When filmmaker Guillermo Arriaga praised a short film he had done, he decided to pursue his performing hobby as a career.
Ramírez played a CIA assassin in the action-thriller film The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). His portrayal of Carlos the Jackal in the 2010 biopic television miniseries Carlos won him the César Award for Most Promising Actor, and nominations for a Golden Globe and Emmy Award for Best Actor. He then played a CIA operative in the film Zero Dark Thirty (2012), and boxer Roberto Durán in the biographical sports film Hands of Stone (2016).
Ramírez received several accolades for his portrayal of Gianni Versace in the 2018 miniseries The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. In 2020, he had a recurring role in the HBO miniseries The Undoing. In 2022, Ramírez was part of the Un Certain Regard jury at the Cannes Film Festival.
Early life Ramírez was born in San Cristóbal, Táchira, Venezuela, the son of Soday Arellano, an attorney, and Filiberto Ramírez, a military officer. He has a sister named Natalyhttp://www.rctvintl.com/eng/ date=December 2005 and a niece and nephew named Enrique and Maria Camilla. Part of his childhood was spent traveling in different countries; he speaks Spanish, English, French, Italian and German fluently.
Ramírez graduated in 1999 from the Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas with a degree in mass communication, minoring in audiovisual communications, although he intended to pursue international relations. While in college he worked as an emerging journalist, reporting on politics. Later, he became executive director of Dale al Voto, a Venezuelan foundation. He and his team created campaigns for radio, television and movie theaters. However, he was always attracted to the performing arts and while in college was involved with the arts. Ramírez was in charge of international promotions of the Viart Film Festival. "I'll be lying if I told you I dreamed about becoming an actor as a kid. But I wasn't in any different to the world of performing arts. I was always very attracted to it. I just never thought about it as a career." Ramírez passed it up, as he was in the middle of his thesis and was to attend Harvard National Model UN that year as a delegate from his school. Ramírez then decided to pursue his acting interests.
Acting career Ramirez's first recognition as an actor was the successful soap opera Cosita rica, for Venevisión which aired from September 2003 to August 2004, lasting 270 episodes. In 2005, he made his major motion-picture début playing Choco, Domino Harvey's love interest in the film Domino directed by Tony Scott.
This would be followed by Cyrano Fernandez, with Ramírez in the title role, and then Vantage Point, directed by Pete Travis. In the latter high-budgeted Sony Pictures political thriller, Ramírez joined an all-star international cast including Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, William Hurt, Forest Whitaker, Eduardo Noriega, and Ayelet Zurer. Ramírez plays Javier, an ex-special forces soldier forced to kidnap the American President in order to get his brother back.
Ramírez has since appeared in several other productions. Among those are the first part of the two film bundle Che by Steven Soderbergh, where he played the role of Ciro Redondo (a Cuban revolutionary who fought with Ché Guevara), La Hora Cero (The Magic Hour), a short film directed by Guillermo Arriaga; Plan B, directed by Alejandro García Wiederman (Venezuela); Yotama se va volando (Yotama Flies Away), directed by Luis Armando Roche (Venezuela-France); Punto y raya (Step Forward), directed by Elia K. Schneider (Venezuela-Spain-Chile-Uruguay), submitted by Venezuela for Oscar consideration for 2004 Best Foreign Film, in which he played Colombian soldier Pedro.
In 2007, he played the role of Paz, a Blackbriar assassin, in The Bourne Ultimatum; in its source novel The Bourne Ultimatum, the villain is Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, a.k.a. Carlos the Jackal. Ramírez went on to play the role of the actual Carlos in the 2010 French-German limited series Carlos. At the French César Awards 2011, he was awarded, for the film version of the TV series, the César Award for Most Promising Actor. Ramírez has also given his voice to language learning education, guest-starring on the audio CD supplement to the Fluenz Spanish 1 DVD software.
Ramírez appeared in the Clash of the Titans (2010) sequel, Wrath of the Titans (2012), playing Ares, the God of War. In 2012, he played Larry in the Kathryn Bigelow film Zero Dark Thirty. He played Bodhi in the 2015 remake of Point Break. In 2016, he played Dr. Kamal Abdic in the film The Girl on the Train.
In 2017, Ramírez played Gianni Versace in the second season of the anthology series American Crime Story. In 2019, Ramírez joined the cast of the spy thriller film The 355, which was released in 2022 and reunited him with ACS co-star Penélope Cruz.
Philanthropy Ramírez supports the campaign "No Dispares" (Don't Shoot), by Amnesty International, the international human-rights organization. The campaign's purpose is to eliminate the number of injuries and deaths caused by the irresponsible use of guns.
Ramírez was also part of "5 Senses in Action", an organization which benefits children with special needs. On 13 July 2008, he took part in an outdoor activity that stimulated sensory experience through gestures, playing and singing for congenitally deaf and/or blind children.
Personal life On 18 November 2016, Hollywood Reporter interviewed Ramírez about his stolen watches. Thieves broke into Ramírez's apartment in Caracas and stole his watch collection including a Chanel J12 Chromatic titanium ceramic watch; a Cartier Santos; a TAG Heuer Aquaracer, a Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph. Other watches in his collection are the Cartier Drive; a Montblanc "Homage to Nicolas Rieussec"; and the Harmony and Patrimony timepieces, both by Vacheron Constantin all worth about $150,000.
Filmography Film
Year Film Role Notes Ref. 2003 Yotama se va volando Manuel Zozaya 2004 Punto y Raya Pedro 2005 Atenea y Afrodita Boyfriend Short film Domino Choco 2006 El Don Alvaro Elipsis Sebastián Castillo 2007 Paz 2008 Che Ciro Redondo García Cyrano Fernandez Cyrano Vantage Point Javier 2010 Carlos Carlos the Jackal César Award for Most Promising ActorNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television FilmNominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Actor of the YearRunner-Up—Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a MovieNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television MovieMonte-Carlo Television Festival—Best Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie 2011 Saluda al Diablo de mi Parte Ángel 2012 Wrath of the Titans Ares An Open Heart Javier Zero Dark Thirty Larry 2013 The Counselor The Priest 2014 The Libertador Simón Bolívar Deliver Us from Evil Mendoza 2015 Joy Tony Miranne Point Break "Bodhi" 2016 Hands of Stone Roberto "Hands of Stone" Durán The Girl on the Train Dr. Kamal Abdic Gold Michael Acosta 2017 Bright Kandomere 2018 Furlough Kevin Rivera La quietud Vincent 2019 Wasp Network René Gonzalez 2020 Resistance Sigmund The Last Days of American Crime Graham Bricke 2021 Yes Day Carlos Torres Jungle Cruise Aguirre 2022 The 355 Luis Rojas 2024 Emilia Pérez Gustavo Brun Borderlands Atlas 2025 It Would Be Night in Caracas TBA 2026 Next Life Diego Post-production Baton TBA Post-production TBA Place to Be TBA Post-production
Television Year Title Role NotesRef. 2003 Cosita Rica Cacique Chacón 4 episodes 2005 Ser bonita no basta Leonardo Episode: "#1.1" 2018 The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story Gianni Versace 6 episodesSatellite Award for Best Cast – Television SeriesNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television FilmNominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or MovieNominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film 2020 The Undoing Detective Joe Mendoza Miniseries2023 Florida Man Mike Valentine Miniseries Wolf Like Me Anton 2 Episodes Dr. Death Paolo Macchiarini Lead role, season 2
Music videos Year Song title Album ArtistRef.2017 "Desencuentro" Residente Residente "Mis Ilusiones" San Luis SanLuis
See also Notable AFS exchange students
References
External links
Club fans website