Edgar Ramírez Bio: In His Own Words – Video Exclusive, News, Photos, Age

Edgar Ramírez is a Venezuelan actor, producer and activist. This Edgar Ramírez biography will let the actor tell his own story in his own words. The Latin entertainer made his debut in telenovelas in 2003 and has since gone on to star not only Latin American movies but in international films as well. He is known for his work in action movies and thrillers, as well as biopics, such as his role as Carlos the Jackal in the film/tv-series Carlos. 

Edgar Ramírez Bio: Age, Early Life, and Education

Ramírez was born on March 25 1977 (Edgar Ramírez age: 46) in San Cristóbal, Táchira, Venezuela. He comes from a military family, the son of officer Filiberto Ramírez and attorney Soday Arellan. As a result, his family relocated a lot during his youth, and he managed to pick up five different languages: Spanish, English, German, Italian and French, which he speaks fluently. He is an alumnus of Andrés Bello Catholic University, where he was initially interested in becoming a diplomat and majored in mass communications. While juggling journalism and politics-related extracurricular activities, he was also interested in the arts and helped direct the international promotions of the Viart Film Festival. It wasn’t until his time in college that he began to see his acting talents as something he could make a career out of.

Edgar Ramírez Bio: Early Career, Cosita Rica

The telenovela Cosita Rica was Ramírez’s first big exposure to Latin audiences, where he played the supporting character El Cacique. During his time on the series, he also acted in films Yotama Se Va Volando and Punto y Raya.

Edgar Ramírez Bio: Hollywood, ‘Carlos’

Edgar Ramírez’s first Hollywood role was with his character Choco in the film Domino, a corrupt bounty hunter.  He also acted in Vantage Point, another thriller, which contained a star-studded international cast.

One of Ramírez’s biggest roles has been as the titular character Carlos the Jackal, a Venezuelan revolutionary in the biopic Carlos, which has been screened both as a film and a mini-series. The film/ tv series went on to critical acclaim, claiming victories in both television and film categories in a variety of award shows. The film won him the 2010 César Award for Most Promising Actor. He was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie, and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, among others. Other films include The Bourne Ultimatum, The Girl on the Train, Joy, Zero Dark Thirty and Point Break.

His fourth biographical film was Hands of stones, where he portrayed famed Panamanian boxer  Roberto Durán. For Ramírez, developing his take on Duran relied less on research and more of on developing an intimate relationship with Durán. Portraying someone who is still alive gave him the opportunity to explore the nuances of his role. “It’s not that we sat down and we each interviewed them, we just spent time with them,” he told uInterview exclusively, “They would cook for us, actually. [Ana] would cook with Felicidad and we would sit down and eat and just share time with them and with the family. That’s how we were picking up all these layers, all these traits and little details to build the characters, and the same thing when I was training with Durån. Of course, there were certain techniques and things that he taught me, but it’s not that he sat down and said, ‘This is my life, this is our life,’ it was more organic than that. Which, actually, I think that it really informed and it’s in tune with the type of movie that it is.”

Despite success abroad, Ramírez has not forgotten his native country of Venezuela and its film industry. He has continued to entertain Latin audiences with films like Saluda Al Diablo De Mi Parte and Libertador.  

One of Ramírez’s more recent films is Gold, where he plays the role of Michael Acosta, a geologist who guides businessman Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey), in a search for gold in Indonesia. The movie was shot in multiple locations, including New York, and New Mexico, and on-site shoots in Indonesia. Ramirez recalled how difficult it was to get the perfect jungle shots. “We dealt with the most whimsical weather conditions while we were shooting in the jungle,” Ramirez told uInterview exclusively. “We had to get on our canoes and just go down the river and try to find new locations because every time we’d come to set, the water had risen 10 feet, 20 feet, 30 feet and we would lose all the locations on the sets that we had built on the day before. So that happened every day. So we came to set as disoriented as these characters were. So the struggle that we went through was very similar to the struggle that our characters went through to find gold.”

Despite the challenges in finding set locations and a dangerous encounter with a rock slide, Ramírez found the filming to be enjoyable and exciting, an experience heightened by his compatibility with his co-star McConaughey. “We had many moments. Matthew and I, there were moments where we had to stay in trailers in the jungle to make the hours and just to get into our characters,” he told uInterview exclusively. “So I remember having a glass of wine, just talking to Matthew in the middle of the jungle at night, with all the sounds of the jungle. It was really cool. It was one of those movies. It felt like we were doing a movie in the seventies. The Golden Era of American Cinema, it felt like all those old classic Hollywood films. And I feel very privileged. We had amazing moments.”

Recent Projects

The prolific actor has appeared in multiple films and television shows over the past few years, including the 2017 Netflix Original Bright, starring other actors like Will Smith and Joel Edgerton. He also co-starred with Penelope Cruz in Todd Solondz‘s in that year’s film Love Child, a dark comedy film about a neurotic boy who has an unhealthy obsession with his mother.

Since then, he appeared in the 2020 hit mystery series The Undoing which starred Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. He was also in the 2021 film Yes Day and in the 2023 film Florida Man.

Personal Life, Dating, and Charity Work

While Edgar Ramírez has kept his dating life personal, it’s been rumored that he dated actress and Zero Dark Thirty co-star Jennifer Chastain briefly. He also dated actress Ana de Armas, who plays his on-screen wife in the 2016 biopic Hands of Stones. The two were photographed sharing a kiss at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Ramírez is not reported to be dating anyone currently.

Ramirez has dedicated time and effort to various non-profit organizations. He supports Amnesty International’s campaign “No Dispares,” which is aimed at decreasing gun-related deaths and violence. He is also a Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Children’s Fund. In 2016 he gave back to the Los Angeles community by hosting a holiday event for Heal The Bay, which is dedicated to cleaning up Santa Monica Bay along with other beaches and natural landscapes in the area.