Alfonso Arau was born on January 11, 1932, in Mexico City. He is known as both an actor and director for films both in Mexico and the USA. He is most known for the direction of Mexico’s 1992, magic realism film, Like Water for Chocolate based on a book written by his then-wife, novelist Laura Esquivel. The film became the highest-grossing foreign-language film ever released in the United States at the time and was Mexico’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 65th Academy Awards. Like Water for Chocolate received 10 Arieles (the equivalent to the Oscars).
Arau’s first film appearance in his native Mexico was in 1954 as an uncredited dancer. By 1973, he acted in and directed the humorous political critique film Calzónzin Inspector, aimed squarely at the then Mexican ruling party, the PRI.
By the 60’s he was already one of the very first “crossovers” talents working in U.S. big-budget films both as an actor as well as a director. He was cast in Sam Peckinpah’s classic western The Wild Bunch; He starred alongside Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone and played “El Guapo” in Three Amigos starring alongside Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short.
In 1995 he directed Keanu Reeves and Anthony Quinn the 20th Century Fox film A Walk in the Clouds, and in 2003 he directed A Painted House, a TV film adapted from John Grisham’s novel.
In December 2004, the Santa Fe Film Festival honored Arau for his work in cinema. He recently did the voice of Papa Julio in Disney’s Coco and has two projects in development.
Featured Photo: Subject Courtesy
— Latin Heat New Service