Javier Bardem is an accomplished actor with four Oscar nominations to his name, including one win for No Country for Old Men, but he couldn’t make it more than one day as an exotic dancer.
On Wednesday’s episode of Ellen, the 53-year-old actor said that when he was 20, he “stepped out” out of a friend’s fiancée’s cake before heading to a nearby club. “I did my routine again on the disco dance floor, and the owner of the disco said, ‘Will you do that every Friday?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, of course!’ because I was drunk,” Bardem explained. The club hired him, and the following Friday, he showed up… with his mom and sister.
“I was so nervous, I called my mom and my sister to accompany me to my striptease number,” he continued. “There was nobody — I think there were, like, three people there? And it was very embarrassing, but I did it! I’m a performer, and I have my work.”
In case you were wondering (I know you were), Bardem wore “a tuxedo that I would open” and danced to “You Can Leave Your Hat On” by Joe Cocker. That one Fridat night was the beginning and end of Bardem’s stripping career, which is just as well. Imagine trying to slip a $20 into this guy’s G-string.
You can watch his Ellen interview above.
(Via People)