Oscar Isaac

Overview

Born
March 9, 1979 · Guatemala City, Guatemala
Birth name
Oscar Isaac Hernandez
Height
5′ 8½″ (1.74 m)

Mini Bio

Family

Spouse
Children
Parents

Trivia

He was expelled from private grade school Westminster Christian due to various pranks and instances of misbehavior such as setting off a fire extinguisher in a gym and defacing a mural to make other kids laugh.
Is a musician and singer, playing guitar. In high school he played in punk bands and later became lead singer of his own band, the Blinking Underdogs.
He was born in Guatemala, to a Guatemalan mother, María Eugenia Estrada Nicolle, and a Cuban father, Oscar Gonzalo Hernández-Cano. Oscar's maternal grandfather was of French origin.
Is friends with fellow Juilliard alumna, Academy Award-nominated actress Jessica Chastain.
Studied acting at Juilliard, graduating in 2006.

Quotes

[on modeling his title character in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) persona] For the character I thought a lot about the comedy of resilience. Buster Keaton was someone that came to mind. He had quite an impassive face with a melancholic stare on it. All of these crazy things could be happening - he could be falling in love or a building could be falling on him, but it was all internalized.
[on working with the Coen brothers] It was the best experience of my life. They're so generous - not only with their time, but with stories about these people that they've worked with and artists they admire. It was an incredible, joyous process - even though it's quite heavy material. They're very pragmatic. They don't put any impositions on you or come in with any kind of idea in particular that they want you to do. There's room to play.
[on being cast as Llewyn Davis] It was the role of a lifetime, and I just really talked myself into the world of the movie, of 1960s Greenwich Village, New York - the pre-Dylan, great folk scene that was happening and into this character who's both wanting desperately to succeed, and also desperately to fail. And then, on top of of everything the character is, I was learning that repertoire of music, which I wasn't familiar with.. I'd say I definitely found the character through the music. I think that's the window into his soul, his only connection with the people outside.
[re immediate impact of being tapped for "Davis" film] On a practical level, as soon as Joel and Ethan [Coen] cast me, the doors opened up for more parts...Basically the next day [my agent said] we got these offers now. Now you're bona fide, kid.
[re 1960s Greenwich Village music scene]People hated each other. In Washington Square Park, it was amazing because there was all this music, but the drummers hated the bluegrass guys, who hated the folk guys who hated the jazz guys [fighting] over their square inches.