Rise to Fame
He spent his first years in Hollywood waiting tables and losing auditions. When Brian De Palma cast him in The Untouchables (1987) as the sharpshooter George Stone, it wasn't a lead, but it got him in front of the right rooms. That exposure put him in the running for The Godfather Part III (1990), where he reportedly beat out Val Kilmer, Alec Baldwin, and even Robert De Niro for the role of Vincent Mancini. An Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor followed. The table-waiting days were over.
In the Spotlight
The Ocean's Eleven trilogy (2001-2007) locked him in as the smooth, unreadable casino villain Terry Benedict, which suited the era but narrowed the range. The more revealing development is Diamond, a contemporary noir in production now with Brendan Fraser, Bill Murray, and Dustin Hoffman. He's been building it for close to 15 years. Getting that cast to finally commit is a different kind of credential.
Side Notes
He was born with a conjoined twin on his shoulder, surgically removed at birth. His family fled Cuba after the Bay of Pigs in 1961, settled in Miami, and his brother built a fragrance business from scratch that grew into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. Garcia plays Cuban percussion, piano, and harmonica. He won both a Grammy and a Latin Grammy in 2005 for producing Cuban musician Cachao's album. The guy nominated for playing the most dangerous man in the Corleone family turns out to have a Grammy for Latin jazz.