HE WILL FLIP YOU FOR REAL

In the mould of Anthony Quinn, Ben Gazzara and Humphrey Bogart before him, Benicio del Toro is the inheritor of the Great American Actor title Justine Smith

In a decades-spanning career, Benicio del Toro has been lustful, ridiculous, calculating and charming, playing small men capable of great things and revolutionaries prone to weakness.

It’s not a stretch to suggest that – in the mould of Anthony Quinn, Ben Gazzara and Humphrey Bogart before him – del Toro is the inheritor of the title of Great American Actor. What other actor currently working can so deftly shift between character actor and leading man, with no performance so small that it isn’t worth giving his everything?

Whether he’s playing a drug lord or a lawyer specializing in marine law, he manages to channel the spontaneity of reality. After a supporting role in the first film, he will step into the lead in Sicario: Day of the Soldado. In anticipation of the film’s release this weekend, let’s take a look at 15 of his best performances.