Benicio Del Toro on One Battle After Another and Latino Representation

Twenty-four years after winning his Oscar for “Traffic,” Benicio Del Toro is back in the awards conversation with a performance that reminds us why he’s one of the most compelling actors of his generation.

In Paul Thomas Anderson’s “ One Battle After Another ,” Del Toro plays Sensei, a character whose quiet dignity and unwavering optimism provide the film’s emotional anchor amid chaos and uncertainty.

When Anderson called, the answer was simple. “It’s PTA,” Del Toro says matter-of-factly. “He calls any actor on the planet, and they’re going to say, ‘Yeah, what do you got? Whatever, I’ll do it.'” The prospect of working alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn only sweetened the deal.

However, what truly informed Del Toro’s performance was the research. The production visited facili