Alfonso Arau

Alfonso Arau is a Mexican filmmaker and actor whose career in Mexican and Hollywood productions has lasted more than four decades. Born in Mexico City, he made many appearances as a character actor and gained wider recognition with Like Water for Chocolate, released in 1992 and adapted from Laura Esquivel's novel. His screen roles include Captain Herrera in Sam Peckinpah's western The Wild Bunch (1969), El Guapo in Three Amigos (1986), a shady businessman in Used Cars (1980), and a smuggler in Romancing the Stone (1984). In 1973 he acted in and directed Calzónzin Inspector, a political satire drawn from a Mexican comic. A five-time Ariel Award winner, he received Best Director for Like Water for Chocolate and was a BAFTA nominee. Later films include A Walk in the Clouds (1995) and Picking Up the Pieces (2000), followed by The Magnificent Ambersons (2002), and then Zapata: El sueño del héroe (2004). He directed The Trick in the Sheet in 2010.