He was born Alfredo Molina[3] in the Paddington district of London. His parents were both immigrants: his Spanish father —from Murcia— was a waiter who had parachuted into France with SOE before D-Day, and his Italian mother worked as a cleaner.[4][5][6][7]
Molina grew up in a working-class district in Notting Hill[8] that was inhabited by many other immigrant families.[2] He attended Cardinal Manning secondary modern Roman Catholic school there.[2] He decided to become an actor after seeing Spartacus at the age of nine, and attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama,[9] as well as auditioning for and becoming a member of the National Youth Theatre.[10] Molina admitted in May 2024 that his father was disappointed in him for pursuing a career in acting.[11][12]
At the age of 21, he changed his name to Alfred, at the urging of his first agent.[13]
Career
1978–1989: Early work
Molina appeared with Leonard Rossiter in the sitcom The Losers (1978).[14] He made his film debut with a minor role alongside Harrison Ford in Steven Spielberg's adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) as Indiana Jones' ill-fated but traitorous guide, Satipo, during its iconic opening sequence. Molina stated in an interview in 2013 that he owes his stage and film career to the Indiana Jones series. "I'm very, very proud of that, I have to admit I didn't think at the time, 'Oh, this is going to go down in movie history.' I'd never been in front of a camera before," Molina said about his short but memorable appearance in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He recalled getting the job as a "gift from God" and said, "I've publicly thanked Steven many, many times. That job saved my bacon, in more ways than one." About his now-famous line in the film, Molina stated that "I've never had a problem with people coming up to me about it. They'll shout that line to me, 'Throw me the idol, I'll throw you the whip!' I'm delighted that people still remember it."[15]
In the early 1990s, Molina was a ubiquitous presence on British television, with his highest profile role being the lead in the first two series of El C.I.D.. He appeared in the critically acclaimed films such as Mike Newell's costume drama Enchanted April (1992), Richard Donner's western comedy Maverick (1994), and Jim Jarmusch's western Dead Man (1995). Subsequent film roles include the drama Not Without My Daughter (1991), the science fiction horror film Species (1995), the broad comedy Dudley Do-Right (1999). With a midwestern American accent, Molina starred alongside Betty White in the US television series Ladies Man, which ran from 1999 to 2001.[17] In 1993 he appeared in the BBC miniseries adaptation of A Year in Provence, playing the annoying Tony, along with John Thaw and Lindsay Duncan.[18] In 1995, Molina starred with Marisa Tomei in The Perez Family, playing Cuban refugees who pretend to be married so they can more easily stay in America.[19] Marjorie Baumgarten praised Molina as attaining "the right mixture of gentle honor and baffled stupefaction" to portray his character,[20] although Peter Rainer of Los Angeles Times called Molina "so intensely sodden that he's like a great big scowling dark cloud."[21] Molina has worked twice with Paul Thomas Anderson, first in Boogie Nights (1997) and then in Magnolia (1999).[22]
Molina has three Lego Minifigures modelled after him, namely Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2, and Spider-Man: No Way Home, Satipo from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Sheik Amar from Prince of Persia.[31] In July 2010, it was announced that Molina had joined the cast of Law & Order: LA as Deputy District Attorney Morales.[32] He previously guest-starred in a two-part crossover in 2005 in two other Law & Order franchise shows, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Trial by Jury.[33]
Molina is a patron of the performing arts group Theatretrain. He is also a longtime member of the Los Angeles theatre company The New American Theatre, formerly known as Circus Theatricals, where he often teaches Shakespeare and Scene Study along with the company's artistic director Jack Stehlin.[34] In 2017 he portrayed film director Robert Aldrich in Ryan Murphy's FX limited series Feud: Bette & Joan. The series revolved around the filming of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? in 1962 and the relationship between actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford played by Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange respectively. Molina received critical praise for the film as well as awards attention received nominations from the Primetime Emmy Awards, and Golden Globe Awards for his performance.
2020–present
In 2020, Molina appeared in David Oyelowo's drama The Water Man, and Emerald Fennell's black comedy thriller Promising Young Woman. On 8 December 2020, it was announced that he would be returning as Doctor Octopus for Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), set to premiere on 17 December 2021.[35] Molina later confirmed that he would actually be reprising his role as the Spider-Man 2 incarnation of Doctor Octopus in No Way Home, retconning his character's apparent death at the end of the former film. He was digitally de-aged to his 2004 self.[36] On 2 September 2021, it was announced that Alfred Molina was set to star in Amazon Prime police drama series Three Pines, which comes from The Crown producer Left Bank Pictures. Molina plays Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec, the lead character from Louise Penny's book series (including Still Life, the first entry of the unnamed series), he also serves as executive producer for the show.[37] The trailer came out in October 2022[38] and the show premiered in December 2022. It was cancelled after one season.
Molina has a daughter, Rachel, from a previous relationship.[2]
In 1986, Molina married actress Jill Gascoine in Tower Hamlets, London.[41] They remained married until her death on 28 April 2020 in Los Angeles from Alzheimer's disease.[42] In November 2019, director Jennifer Lee confirmed that she was in a relationship with Molina, the two having worked together in Frozen 2 (2019), and they later married in August 2021.[1][43]
Molina resides in Los Angeles, California. In 2004, he became a U.S. citizen.[44] He is fluent in English, Italian, Spanish and French.[45][46] In 2017, he moved to La Cañada Flintridge.[47]
Molina is an advocate for people with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). He donates towards AIDS research, participates in the Los Angeles AIDS Walk and appeared as himself in a documentary produced by Joseph Kibler[48] (who has been HIV+ and paraplegic since his birth, c. 1989) about Kibler's life titled Walk On, first screened in 2013.[49][50]
When playing the role of Sayyed Bozorg Mahmoody in Not Without My Daughter, Molina was once physically assaulted on his way to a rehearsal by a man who mistook him for the real Mahmoody.[51]
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadae"Alfred Molina (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 8 November 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
