Steven Bauer

Early life

Born Esteban Ernesto Echevarría Samson in Havana, Cuba, the son of Lillian Samson Agostini, a schoolteacher, and Esteban Echevarría, a pilot who worked for Cubana Airlines. Bauer's maternal grandfather was a Jewish refugee from Germany, and Bauer's maternal grandmother was a Cuban of partial Italian ancestry. His stage surname comes from his maternal great-grandmother. Bauer's parents fled from Cuba to Miami, Florida, on July 4, 1960, following Fidel Castro's Revolution. He graduated from Miami Coral Park High School in 1974. Originally intending to become a musician, Bauer turned to acting while attending Miami-Dade Community College, but then transferred to the University of Miami, where he studied in its Department of Theater Arts and performed at its Jerry Herman Ring Theatre where he became friends with actor Ray Liotta.

Acting career

Bauer's first substantial role was in the PBS bilingual sitcom ¿Qué Pasa, USA?, playing the teenage son of a Cuban exile family in Miami, from 1977 to 1979. He also appeared in the 1980 TV miniseries From Here to Eternity. He was credited in these and a few other early projects as Rocky Echevarría. In 1981, Bauer starred in the television movie She's in the Army Now, where he met his first wife, actress Melanie Griffith. They both moved to New York City and stayed at Ray Liotta's apartment, while Liotta moved to Los Angeles and stayed at theirs. Both Bauer and Griffith studied under famed acting teacher Stella Adler, and he appeared in several off-Broadway productions. During this time he briefly adopted the stage name Rocky Echevarria, before settling on "Steven Bauer".

Bauer was given the role of Manny Ribera, the part played by George Raft in the original 1932 version, in the 1983 movie Scarface, even though (like Raft) he was a relatively unknown actor at the time. The producers of Scarface were convinced that he was right for the role based on his strong audition, as well as his authentic Cuban background. His performance drew a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1986 he had two other important roles. The first was as Det. Frank Sigliano in the Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines cop comedy Running Scared. The second was as an Israeli soldier named Avner in the Canadian CTV television movie Sword of Gideon, which tells the story of Mossad agents hunting down terrorists in the aftermath of the 1972 Munich massacre. The Sword of Gideon script was the basis for Steven Spielberg's later film Munich, which follows the same storyline and borrows heavily from the Sword of Gideon story and script. In 1990 Bauer played the role of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in the television miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story alongside Benicio Del Toro and Craig T. Nelson. That same year, Bauer took over the series lead of the television show Wiseguy from Ken Wahl for the fourth and final season, playing US Attorney Michael Santana after Wahl's character disappears.

Since then, Bauer has made his career primarily, though not exclusively, in action films and crime dramas on both the big and small screens, including such motion pictures as Primal Fear and Traffic. He also made an appearance in the video game spin-off Scarface: The World Is Yours, playing drug dealer The Sandman. In 2007 he appeared on an episode of Burn Notice. In 2011, Bauer appeared on the show Breaking Bad playing Mexican drug lord Don Eladio. He stars with Julianne Michelle in the feature film Awakened, a supernatural thriller touching on Life After Death, a Supernova Media motion picture. He currently appears as ex-Mossad agent turned private investigator "Avi" in the Showtime series Ray Donovan. Bauer currently has reprised his role as Mexican drug lord Don Eladio on TV AMC's "Better Call Saul".

Personal life

Bauer married actress Melanie Griffith. The couple had a son, Alexander Bauer, on August 22, 1985, before divorcing in 1989. That same year he married Ingrid Anderson, with whom he had another son, Dylan, born in 1990. His second marriage ended in divorce in 1991. A year later, he married his third wife, Christiana Boney, but the couple eventually divorced. On December 18, 2012, Bauer was arrested in the Miami, Florida, area, accused of driving with a suspended license. In October of 2016, Bauer checked himself into rehab for alcohol addiction.

Awards and nominations