Javier Bardem’s short-lived career as a stripper: “It was a disaster”
Hollywood is one of the most challenging industries in the world to break into (unless you’ve got some nepotistic connections), and even some of the most acclaimed actors have found themselves struggling to get a foot through the door. It seems that no matter how talented you are, it can be hard to compete with others and find a way to stand out among countless fellow auditionees – you often just have to hope for the best.
Javier Bardem has been nominated for four Oscars, winning one for No Country For Old Men, and is widely considered a fantastic star of many movies, from Spanish-language films and indies to Hollywood blockbusters. Yet, he found himself struggling at the start of his career, and he wondered if he should even continue to try and fulfil his dreams of being a performer.
In fact, Bardem found himself trying out a slightly different kind of performance during the early years of his career – stripping. It might not have been his ticket into Hollywood, but it certainly prepared him for the often intense and humiliating aspects of acting – although it seems as though he won’t be signing onto the Magic Mike franchise anytime soon.
When he was 20 years old, Bardem “stepp[ed] out of a friend’s fiancé’s cake” while at a club, which impressed the owner of the venue so much that he was asked to return. Telling the story on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Bardem revealed that “I did my routine again on the disco dance floor, and the owner of the disco said, ‘Will you do that every Friday?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, of course!’ because I was drunk.”
However, while most of us brush off those drunken promises, Bardem actually went back and attempted to launch his career as a male stripper. Unfortunately, he soon realised that he definitely wanted to act, not strip. “I was so nervous, I called my mom and my sister to accompany me to my striptease number. There was nobody – I think there were, like, three people there? And it was very embarrassing, but I did it! I’m a performer, and I have my work.”
It seems as though Bardem’s memory of the night is one that he can’t shake because it’s not the first time he’s reflected on his stripping performance in an interview. Talking to Marie Claire, he once called the incident “a disaster,” adding, “And you know who was there watching? My mum and my sister! It was kind of a thing – you go there and dance, they pay you some money. It wasn’t like a Full Monty thing. I think I have a good relation with my family, thank God! We are very tight!”
The actor has since gone on to much bigger things than stripping in a seedy club, such as playing the terrifying villain Anton Chigurh in the Coen brothers’ No Country For Old Men. It’s hard to imagine the antagonist cutting his teeth in a strip club, but Bardem really is worlds apart from his character.
