Andy Garcia is a critically acclaimed Cuban-born American actor best known for his roles in the films The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables When a Man Loves a Woman, and in the Ocean's film series.
The son of Amelie Menendez, an English teacher, and Rene Garcia Nu?ez, an attorney in Cuba. His family moved to Miami, Florida when he was five years old after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. Andy Garcia was strictly raised Catholic and attended the Miami Beach Senior High School, where he was a member of the basketball varsity team.
Andy Garcia began acting at Florida International University but soon left the academe to pursue his acting career in Hollywood. Filmmaker Brian de Palma liked his performance in the 1986 film 8 Million Ways to Die and chose him as cast the following year, in the crime drama film The Untouchables. Andy Garcia played George Stone, an Italian-American police trainee chosen by Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) to be part of the team who shall stop Al Capone’s (Robert De Niro) gang from spreading crime in the city. His performance in the film made him one of the most sought after actor in Hollywood.
In 1989, Garcia played Vincent Corleone in the Francis Ford Coppola film The Godfather: Part III. Vincent is the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone played by James Caan in The Godfather: Part II. The role earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and further made him an internationally acclaimed actor. In 1994, Garcia starred in the romantic drama film When a Man Loves a Woman together with Meg Ryan, Tina Majorino, Mae Whitman, Ellen Burstyn and Lauren Tom.
In 2001, Garcia portrayed Terry Benedict, the ruthless Las Vegas hotel and casino mogul in the star studded film Ocean’s Eleven, together with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts and Bernie Mac. He later reprised the role for the film’s second installment Ocean’s Twelve in 2004, and in its third installment Ocean’s Thirteen in 2007.