Says in interviews that he doesn't know how to drive.

Played rugby as a teen and was on the Spanish National team.

Ten years ago a stranger in a disco asked him his name. When Javier replied, the man punched him in the face for no apparent reason, breaking his nose.

Javier's original interest was in painting, and he studied at Madrid's Escuela de Artes y Officios. Eventually deciding he'd never be a talented painter, he drifted into a number of odd jobs, working as a bouncer, a writer, a construction worker and even a stripper.

To portray Reinaldo Arenas in "Before Night Falls", Javier not only learned Cuban-Spanish, but Cuban-accented English, and lost 30 pounds to better resemble the smaller-framed Arenas.

Javier, his mother, Pilar Bardem and his siblings, Mónica Bardem and Carlos Bardem often appear in each other's films.

Lives in Madrid.

Has four Goya Awards (the Spanish equivalent of the Oscar) - and has been nominated for three more!

To become Ramón Sampedro, a 55-year-old Spanish man who made headlines with a crusade to end his own life, Javier, aged 35, was on the set of "The Sea Inside" at the crack of dawn for a five-hour makeup session that produced the necessary aging.

Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005.

Shares birthday with Frédéric Chopin and David Niven.

Actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna list him as their favorite actor.

Very good friends with Penelope Cruz. The two are rumored to be dating.

Beat out Johnny Depp for the role of Florentino Ariza in "Love in the Time of Cholera".

Following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Spain in 2005, Bardem incited controversy when he stated that if he were gay, he would "get married tomorrow, just to fuck with the church".

In an interview he stated that he lost his virginity at the age of 19.