"I like being like a chameleon who transforms himself with each role."
Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada (born March 9, 1979), better known by his professional name Oscar Isaac, is a Guatemalan-American actor and musician.
Born in Guatemala, Oscar's family eventually moved to Florida, where he started a band called Blinking Underdogs. He later attended Julliard, where he met close friend and A Most Violent Year/Scenes from a Marriage (2021) costar Jessica Chastain.
His first major film role was playing Joseph in The Nativity Story, which led to supporting roles in movies such as Robin Hood, Body of Lies, and Drive (2011). His lead role in The Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis brought him to further prominence, which he then parlayed into landing a prominent role as Poe Dameron in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, first appearing in 2015's The Force Awakens. In addition to other major franchise fare (X-Men: Apocalypse, Dune (2021), Moon Knight (2022)) and other action works, Isaac also has a penchant for lower-key, more psychological dramas, such as Scenes from a Marriage (2021) and The Card Counter.
Selected filmography:
- The Nativity Story (2006) as Joseph
- The Life Before Her Eyes (2007) as Marcus
- Body of Lies (2008) as Bassam
- Agora (2009) as Orestes
- Balibo (2009) as José Ramos-Horta
- Robin Hood (2010) as Prince John
- Sucker Punch (2011) as Blue Jones
- W.E. (2011) as Evgeni
- Drive (2011) as Standard Gabriel
- Revenge for Jolly! (2012) as Cecil
- The Bourne Legacy (2012) as Number 3
- Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) as Llewyn Davis
- A Most Violent Year (2014) as Abel Morales
- Ex Machina (2015) as Nathan Bateman
- Mojave (2015) as Jack
- Star Wars as Poe Dameron
- Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
- Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)
- Resistance (2018, voice)
- Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
- Show Me a Hero (2015) as Nick Wasicsko
- X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) as En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse
- The Promise (2016) as Michael
- Suburbicon (2017) as Bud Cooper
- Annihilation (2018) as Kane
- Operation Finale (2018) as Peter Malkin
- Spider-Man: Spider-Verse (2018 — present) as Miguel O'Hara / Spider-Man 2099 (voice)
- Triple Frontier (2019) as Santiago "Pope" Gomez
- The Addams Family (2019) as Gomez Addams (voice)
- The Addams Family 2 (2021)
- The Letter Room (2020) (short film) as Richard
- Scenes from a Marriage as Jonathan
- The Card Counter (2021) as William Tell
- Dune (2021) as Duke Leto Atreides I
- Marvel Cinematic Universe (2022 — present) as Steven Grant / Marc Spector / Moon Knight / Mr. Knight
- Moon Knight (2022)
- Case 63 (2022) as Peter Roiter
He provides examples of:
- Ascended Fancast: He was a popular fan choice for the role of Gomez Addams, especially after rocking a similar look in Sucker Punch. He eventually got to voice the character in animation in The Addams Family (2019).
- The Cast Show Off: He will occasionally get an opportunity to show off his impressive singing skills. The extended version of Sucker Punch has him doing a fantastic cover of "Love Is The Drug".
- Celebrity Resemblance: In this interview
promoting Triple Frontier, Isaac comments that people often compare him to David Krumholtz. Isaac's co-star and friend Pedro Pascal also compares Sam the Eagle to Isaac, who responds by asking if his Big Ol' Eyebrows reminded Pascal of Sam. - Creator Backlash:
- He didn't enjoy his time on X-Men: Apocalypse, with him being especially frustrated with how his character's costume prevented him from being able to properly move or even adjust his head to face his fellow actors.
- Isaac hasn't shied away from expressing disappointment that Disney vetoed the idea of letting him play Poe Dameron as gay or bisexual in the Sequel Trilogy.
- Large Ham: When he needs to, he can devour scenery like there's no tomorrow.
- Making Use of the Twin: Not quite a twin, but his younger brother Mike Hernandez played Isaac's body double in Moon Knight whenever the title hero's split personalities were both onscreen together.
- Mr. Fanservice: He's often given shirtless scenes. X-Men: Apocalypse introduces him in nothing but a loincloth.
- Plays Great Ethnics: Isaac is Latino, specifically Guatemalan-Cuban, but ethnically ambiguous enough in appearance to play a wide variety of backgrounds. He's played Polish (Show Me A Hero), Middle Eastern Jewish (The Nativity Story), Egyptian (X-Men: Apocalypse), Armenian (The Promise), and American Jewish but passing as English some of the time (Moon Knight (2022)) among other ethnicities including white. He mentions this during his Saturday Night Live hosting stint:Isaac: I'm half Guatemalan and half Cuban, or, as casting directors call that, "ethnically ambiguous". According to them, I can play anything from a pharaoh to Timothée Chalamet's daddy.
- Promoted Fanboy: He was a huge fan of the X-Men growing up and got to play the title villain in X-Men: Apocalypse.
- Scully Box: He has had to use one on occasion as he's about 5'9" and often acts alongside taller actors, especially when playing Apocalypse.
- Shipper on Set: Throughout the making of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Isaac has made it clear he supports Poe/Finn, and in interviews clearly seems dejected this angle was not explored.
- Star-Making Role: Inside Llewyn Davis was his breakthrough, and then The Force Awakens gave him a major boost.
