Biography for
Guillermo del Toro

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Guillermo del Toro was born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico. Raised by his Catholic grandmother, del Toro developed an interest in filmmaking in his early teens. Later, he learned about makeup and effects from the legendary Dick Smith (The Exorcist (1973)) and worked on making his own short films. At the age of 21, del Toro executive produced his first feature, Dona Herlinda and Her Son (1986). Del Toro spent almost 10 years as a makeup supervisor, and formed his own company, Necropia in the early 1980s. He also produced and directed Mexican television programs at this time, and taught film.

del Toro got his first big break when Cronos (1993) won nine academy awards in Mexico, then went on to win the International Critics Week prize at Cannes. Following this success, del Toro made his first Hollywood film, Mimic (1997), starring Mira Sorvino.

del Toro had some unfortunate experiences working with a demanding Hollywood studio on Mimic (1997), and returned to Mexico to form his own production company, The Tequila Gang.

Next for del Toro, was Espinazo del diablo, El (2001), a Spanish Civil War ghost story. The film was hailed by critics and audiences alike, and del Toro decided to give Hollywood another try. In 2002, he directed the Wesley Snipes vampire sequel, Blade II (2002).

On a roll, Del Toro followed up Blade II (2002) with another successful comic-book inspired film, Hellboy (2004), starring one of Del Toro's favorite actors, Ron Perlman.

Married with children, del Toro lives in Los Angeles.

Trade Mark

Often uses insects or insect imagery.

Uses a lot of religious relics and artifacts. Always mentions Catholicism.

Archangels, symbols and other religious items.

Many of his films have major scenes based in underground areas such as subways systems (Mimic (1997), Hellboy (2004)), sewers (Blade II (2002)), or large basements (Espinazo del diablo, El (2001)).

Likes to use amber as a dominant color in his movies. This is especially noticeable in Blade II (2002) and Hellboy (2004).

Clockwork designs and motifs (for example, Kroenen's lair in Hellboy (2004) and the captain's obsession with his father's watch in Laberinto del fauno, El (2006) ).

Often casts Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, and Federico Luppi.

Frequently works with cinematographer Guillermo Navarro.

One or more of his protagonists are often strongly and pivotally influenced by their father figures.

Trivia

Became a vegetarian after seeing The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) but only for four years. Currently, he's no longer a vegetarian.

Turned down a chance to direct Blade: Trinity (2004), AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) to work on his dream project: Hellboy (2004).

Fought the film studios for almost seven years to get Ron Perlman for the title role in Hellboy (2004). The studio wanted a bigger name to ensure the success of the movie, but del Toro thought that Perlman was the perfect choice and wouldn't make the movie if he wasn't cast.

He is friends with fellow successful Mexican directors Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Has a photographic memory.

1997: His father was kidnapped in Mexico and held for seventy-two days until his ransom was paid.

In a January 2007 interview on the radio program "Fresh Air with Terry Gross," said that his strictly Catholic grandmother was a "Piper Laurie in Carrie (1976)" figure in his childhood. He told Gross that his grandmother would require him to mortify himself in self-punishment, in one case placing metal bottle caps into his shoes so that the soles of his feet were bloodied while walking to school. She also tried to exorcise him twice because of his persistent interest in fantasy and drawing monsters from his imagination.

His favorite movie monsters are Frankenstein's Monster and the Creature of the Black Lagoon.

In 2007, he was one of 10 Mexican Oscar-nominees. The others were Alejandro González Iñárritu, Guillermo Arriaga, Adriana Barraza, Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo Navarro, Emmanuel Lubezki, Eugenio Caballero, Pilar Revuelta and Fernando Cámara.

Lost 45 lbs. while making Laberinto del fauno, El (2006), which he admitted in the DVD's video prologue.

Turned down a chance to direct I Am Legend (2007), One Missed Call (2008), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2008) and Halo (2009) to work on Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008).

Turned down the chance to direct Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996).

States Mimic (1997) as the worst of his films and has disowned it, blaming constant interference from the producers as the reason for the poor result.

Dec. 2007 - Ranked #37 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood.

Was asked to direct End of Days (1999), but he turned it down.

His movie and comic book collection is so huge that he had to buy an extra home to accommodate it.

Is good friends with director Robert Rodriguez.

Personal Quotes

"When you have the intuition that there is something which is there, but out of the reach of your physical world, art and religion are the only means to get to it."

"Aside from being a perfect Hellboy, he is a gentleman, a friend to die for, a great actor and - for the ladies - he has the sexiest male voice this side of Barry White. What more can one ask for?" - On Ron Perlman, 2002

"I remember the worst experience of my life, even above the kidnapping of my father, was shooting Mimic (1997) [del Toro's first Hollywood feature, in 1997, which was severely compromised by producer interference]. Because what was happening to me and the movie was far more illogical than kidnapping, which is brutal, but at least there are rules. Now when I look at Mimic, what I see is the pain of a deeply flawed creature that could have been so beautiful."

"It would be a cliché to say that, because I am a Mexican, I see death in a certain way. But I have seen more than my share of corpses, certainly more than the average First World guy. I worked for months next to a morgue that I had to go through to get to work. I've seen people being shot; I've had guns put to my head; I've seen people burnt alive, stabbed, decapitated ... because Mexico is still a very violent place. So I do think that some of that element in my films comes from a Mexican sensibility."

The sign of a true friendship is when you can forgive success.

These shots are not eye-candy, they are, to me, eye-protein. - regarding Laberinto del fauno, El (2006)

My life is a suitcase. I am the traveling Mexican.

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