Who is Demián Bichir?

When Academy Award nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) announced the list of nominees for the 84th edition of the film industry’s most coveted award in Beverly Hills earlier this week there were a few surprises indeed; but one name amongst the Actor in a Leading Role hopefuls left many wondering: “Just who the hell is Demián Bichir?”

Mexico will be tuned in when the Academy Awards ceremony is televised live come February 26. Amongst the five actors nominated for their Performance in a Leading Role, in the company of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman and Frenchman Jean Dujardin, is Mexican actor Demián Bichir for his performance in Chris Weitz’s small drama A Better Life.

“I'm overwhelmed for having my name among those incredible actors. This could have never happened if Chris Weitz had not been the head of this film. He is my brother and I thank him deeply,” Bichir said in a statement.

The only Mexican thesp to have ever won an Oscar was Anthony Quinn, who won twice in the Supporting Actor category for his performances in Viva Zapata!, from 1952 and Lust for Life, from 1956.

In A Better Life, Bichir plays Carlos Galindo, a humble illegal migrant living in Los Angeles. His character is an undocumented gardener to the rich who struggles to raise his teenage son who flirts with crime and gang life.

When Bichir first arrived in New York, he, too, was an undocumented worker in the country and worked in a restaurant making guacamole. Today, the actor - who has now become a US citizen - hopes his Oscar nod will help open people’s eyes to the millions of illegal migrants striving for a better life in America.

"The main hope is that more people will see the movie and learn about the 11 million undocumented people in the United States, who are invisible to Americans… Hopefully more and more people will jump into iTunes and Netflix to see our film. That will be the biggest reward we could get," said Bichir in a statement.

The 48-year-old was born into a family of actors and is well known in his native Mexico for local feature films and his work in TV. International audiences might remember the actor as Fidel Castro in Steven Soderbergh’s Che or as the drug lord Esteban in the hit TV series Weeds.