Oscar Isaac
☼ Born on 9 December 1979, in Guatemala City, Guatemala
Biography
Oscar Isaac was born Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada in Guatemala, to a Guatemalan mother, María Eugenia, and a Cuban father, Oscar Gonzalo Hernández-Cano, a pulmonologist. Oscar was raised in Miami, Florida. Before he became an actor, he played lead guitar and sang vocals in his band the Blinking Underdogs. He graduated from the Juilliard School in 2005.
Isaac's first major film role was Joseph in the film The Nativity Story (2006). He also had a small role in All About the Benjamins (2002) and the Ché Guevara biopic Guerrilla (2011). In addition to movie appearances, he made an appearance in the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001). He also had a part in the movies The Life Before Her Eyes (2007); Body of Lies (2008), alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe; Agora (2009), alongside Rachel Weisz; and the Australian film Balibo (2009), where he played José Ramos-Horta, former president of East Timor, set amid the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975; Isaac won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role.
In 2013, Oscar starred in the Coen Brothers' folk music-themed comedy-drama, Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination. He subsequently starred in the crime drama A Most Violent Year (2014) and the science fiction thriller Ex Machina (2014), and appeared in the Star Wars films Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017
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), as X-wing pilot Poe Dameron, and the ninth X-Men film, X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), as the mutant supervillain Apocalypse. He has also headlined the HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero (2015), as politician Nick Wasicsko in 2015, which earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film.
He has two sons with his wife, Danish director Elvira Lind. He is also long-time friends with Triple Frontier (2019) co-star Pedro Pascal.
In the role of actor
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (05/06/2023)
Miles Morales discovers a society of Spider-Men whose job is to protect the multiverse in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. It has been sixteen months since Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) became the Spider-Man of Brooklyn on Earth-1610 and he has been missing the multiversal Spider-Men he befriended, particularly Gwen Stacey (Hailee Steinfeld) and Peter B. Parker […]
Dune: Part One (24/10/2021)
A new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel hits the big screen with Dune: Part One. In 10191 A.G., Duke Leto I (Oscar Isaac) of House Atreides is assigned by the Emperor to the desert planet of Arrakis to takeover harvesting of the precious substance melange, also known as “spice.” Leto’s son Paul (Timothée […]
The Addams Family 2 (01/10/2021)
The kooky and creepy family goes on a cross-country vacation in The Addams Family 2. Wednesday Addams (Chloë Grace Moretz) wins big her school’s science fair, receiving praise from its holographic benefactor Cyrus Strange (Bill Hader), but she is embarrassed by the presence of her parents Gomez (Oscar Isaac) and Morticia (Charlize Theron) and her […]
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (20/12/2019)
The Resistance makes its last stand against the First Order in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. As the war between the Resistance and the First Order rages on, it is discovered that the long thought deceased Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) has returned and has been secretly controlling the First Order from the Sith homeworld […]
Annihilation (23/02/2018)
A team of scientists investigate an environmental phenomena know as “The Shimmer” in Annihilation. After being MIA for nearly a year, biologist Lena (Natalie Portman) is shocked by the sudden return of her soldier husband Kane (Oscar Isaac), who quickly falls gravely ill. Lena is taken to a government facility where psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason […]
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (16/12/2017)
Note: Every effort will be made to avoid major SPOILERS, but please be advised that certain aspects of the plot will be revealed in this review. The First Order strikes back against the Resistance in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. As the First Order lead by Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), […]
X-Men: Apocalypse (29/05/2016)
The X-Men face their greatest foe in X-Men: Apocalypse. En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac) is the world’s first mutant, who was worshiped as a god in ancient Egypt, before he was betrayed and entombed for thousands of years. Upon awakening in 1983, En Sabah Nur decides to destroy the world and remake it in his own image. […]
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (19/12/2015)
Warning: Those wanting to avoid specific plot details are best advised NOT to proceed further. The Star Wars saga continues with Episode VII The Force Awakens. It has been 30 years since the defeat of the Galactic Empire. Out of its ashes arisen the First Order headed by Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), who commands dark Force user Kylo Ren […]
Ex Machina (06/05/2015)
A computer programmer is assigned to test an artificial intelligent being in Ex Machina. Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is programmer working for the world’s largest search engine Bluebook. Caleb wins a company lottery and is flown to the isolated home of Bluebook’s CEO Nathan (Oscar Isaac). Nathan has developed an artificial intelligent robot named Ava (Alicia […]
A Most Violent Year (30/01/2015)
Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain star in this drama about the struggles of a man trying to project his business. New York City, 1981 is considered to be one of the most dangerous years in the city’s history. Abel Morales (Isaac) is businessman, who runs the “Standard Heating Oil” company with his wife Anna (Jessica […]
Life Itself (12/07/2014)
From Academy Award-nominated director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) comes this tribute to the life and career of film critic Robert Ebert. Framed around excerpts from Ebert’s autobiography of the same name, narrated by sound-alike voice actor Stephen Stanton, Life Itself covers Ebert’s entire career from his early days as a critic for the Chicago Sun […]
Inside Llewyn Davis (30/12/2013)
From directors Joel and Ethan Coen comes this musical drama about a folk singer named Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac), who struggles to find success in Greenwich Village scene of 1961. Practically homeless, Llewyn resorts to crashing on his friend’s couches, while he watches the greater musical success of his friends Jim (Justin Timberlake) and Jean […]
Drive (26/09/2011)
Drive is an action/crime/drama that seems to be hearkening back to crime thrillers of the 1980s, with a little of Martin Scorsese‘s Taxi Driver thrown in for good measure. The film stars Ryan Gosling as a nameless stunt driver/mechanic, who moonlights as a getaway driver for robberies. He takes one such job to help out the husband of his […]
Sucker Punch (26/03/2011)
After getting known for his remake of Dawn of the Dead and adaptations of the graphic novels 300 and Watchmen, Zach Snyder comes out with his first original story (which still looks like it could have come from a graphic novel). The film has a (literally) layered story about a young woman, nicknamed Babydoll, who is (somewhat […]
Robin Hood (16/05/2010)
Ridley Scott’s new film version of Robin Hood received fairly poor reviews from most critics. However, I feel that it might have fared better if it didn’t have the stigma of being attached to the classic story. Let it be said that this is not the traditional Robin Hood story that has been told in […]