Personal Info
Known For:
Acting
Birthday:
August 13, 1926
Place of Birth:
Birán, Cuba
Social Media
Fidel Castro
Biography
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President from 1976 to 2008. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and state socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.
Born in Birán, Oriente, the son of a wealthy Spanish farmer, Castro adopted leftist and anti-imperialist ideas while studying law at the University of Havana. After participating in rebellions against right-wing governments in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, he planned the overthrow of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, launching a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953. After a year's imprisonment, Castro traveled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group, the 26th of July Movement, with his brother Raúl Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Returning to Cuba, Castro took a key role in the Cuban Revolution by leading the Movement in a guerrilla war against Batista's forces from the Sierra Maestra. After Batista's overthrow in 1959, Castro assumed military and political power as Cuba's Prime Minister. The United States came to oppose Castro's government and unsuccessfully attempted to remove him by assassination, economic blockade, and counter-revolution, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. Countering these threats, Castro aligned with the Soviet Union and allowed the Soviets to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, resulting in the Cuban Missile Crisis – a defining incident of the Cold War – in 1962.
Adopting a Marxist–Leninist model of development, Castro converted Cuba into a one-party, socialist state under Communist Party rule, the first in the Western Hemisphere. Policies introducing central economic planning and expanding healthcare and education were accompanied by state control of the press and the suppression of internal dissent. Abroad, Castro supported anti-imperialist revolutionary groups, backing the establishment of Marxist governments in Chile, Nicaragua, and Grenada, as well as sending troops to aid allies in the Yom Kippur, Ogaden, and Angolan Civil War. These actions, coupled with Castro's leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1979 to 1983 and Cuba's medical internationalism, increased Cuba's profile on the world stage. Following the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, Castro led Cuba through the economic downturn of the "Special Period", embracing environmentalist and anti-globalization ideas. In the 2000s, Castro forged alliances in the Latin American "pink tide" – namely with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela – and formed the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas. In 2006, Castro transferred his responsibilities to Vice President Raúl Castro, who was elected to the presidency by the National Assembly in 2008. Description above from the Wikipedia article Fidel Castro, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat | Self (archive footage) |
| 2024 | The Queen and the Prime Ministers | Self (archive) |
| 2023 | The Padilla Affair | Self (archive footage) |
| 2023 | Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist | Self (archive footage) |
| 2022 | Rat Pack | Self (archive footage) |
| 2022 | The Boys from Brazil: Rise of the Bolsonaros | Self (archive footage) |
| 2022 | Andança: Os Encontros e as Memórias de Beth Carvalho | Self (archive footage) |
| 2021 | Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) | Self (archive footage) |
| 2021 | A History of an Assignment | Self (archive footage) |
| 2021 | Becoming Cousteau | Self (archive footage) |
| 2020 | 537 Votes | Self (archive footage) |
| 2020 | I Am Jackie O | Self (archive footage) |
| 2020 | Wasp Network | Self (archive footage) |
| 2019 | Laboratory Greece | Self (archive footage) |
| 2019 | Chop Chop Chang: Operation C.H.I.M.P | Self (archive footage) |
| 2019 | Amérique latine, l'année de tous les dangers | Self (archive footage) |
| 2019 | ReMastered: Massacre at the Stadium | Self (archive footage) |
| 2018 | Karl Marx und seine Erben | Self (archive footage) |
| 2018 | Another Day of Life | Himself (archive footage) |
| 2018 | Cuba, un aller et un retour | Himself (archive footage) |
| 2018 | Chavismo: The Plague of the 21st Century | Self (archive footage) |
| 2017 | Nobody | Himself |
| 2017 | Two Meetings and a Funeral | |
| 2017 | Cuba and the Cameraman | Self |
| 2017 | Angola: The War | Himself - President of Cuba (archive footage) |
| 2017 | Elián | himself |
| 2017 | El Che | Self (archive footage) |
| 2016 | Historien ska frikänna mig | Self |
| 2016 | Franco and Fidel: A Strange Friendship | Himself |
| 2016 | Fidel Castro: America's Nemesis | Himself (Archive Footage) |
| 2016 | Assassinating Franco | Self |
| 2015 | Laissez-faire | Self (archive footage) |
| 2015 | Celia - la más hermosa flor | |
| 2015 | Castro: The World's Most Watched Man | Himself (archive footage) |
| 2013 | Lee Harvey Oswald: 48 Hours to Live | Self (archive footage) |
| 2012 | The Man Who Saved the World | Self (archive footage) |
| 2012 | The Mayor | |
| 2012 | The Day That Lasted 21 Years | Self (archive footage) |
| 2012 | Castro in Winter | Self |
| 2012 | Ethel | Self (archive footage) |
| 2012 | 7 Days in Havana | Self (segment "Diary of a Beginner") (archive footage) |
| 2012 | Året var 1962 | Self (archive footage) |
| 2012 | Palme | |
| 2011 | Memories of Overdevelopment | Self (archive footage) |
| 2011 | Santiago Files | Self (archive footage) |
| 2011 | El día más largo | |
| 2010 | CUBA: Defending Socialism, Resisting Imperialism | Himself |
| 2010 | Memória Cubana | Self (archive footage) |
| 2010 | The Kennedy Detail | Self (archive footage) |
| 2010 | Being Fidel Castro | Himself (archive footage) |
| 2010 | The Inconclusive Independence | Self (archive footage) |
| 2009 | Did the Mob Kill JFK? | Self (archive footage) |
| 2009 | South of the Border | Self (archive footage) |
| 2008 | La Rabbia di Pasolini | Self (archive footage) |
| 2008 | Året var 1958 | Self (archive footage) |
| 2007 | Lejos de la isla | Himself (archive footage) |
| 2007 | Un Giorno con Fidel | Himself |
| 2007 | RFK Must Die: The Assassination of Bobby Kennedy | Self (archive footage) |
| 2007 | Tasmanian Devil: The Fast and Furious Life of Errol Flynn | Self (archive footage) |
| 2007 | Oswald's Ghost | Self (archive footage) |
| 2007 | The War on Democracy | Self (archive footage) |
| 2006 | 638 Ways to Kill Castro | Self (archive footage) |
| 2006 | Looking for Fidel | Himself |
| 2006 | Cuba, el valor de una utopía | Himself |
| 2005 | The Adventures of Errol Flynn | Self (archive footage) |
| 2005 | I Am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth | |
| 2004 | Looking for Fidel | Self |
| 2004 | Salvador Allende | Self (archive footage) |
| 2004 | Fidel Castro: Life for the Revolution | Self |
| 2003 | Comandante | Self |
| 2003 | The Fog of War | Self (archive footage) |
| 2003 | Che Guevara - Hasta La Victoria Siempre | |
| 2003 | Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers | Self |
| 2003 | Jack Paar: Smart Television | Self |
| 2002 | Cuban Rafters | Self (archive footage) |
| 2002 | Naqoyqatsi | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| 2002 | Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film | Self (uncredited archive footage) |
| 2001 | The Cuban Game | Himself (footage) |
| 2001 | Dear Fidel: Marita's Story | Self (archive footage) |
| 2000 | Kubánske otázniky | archívne zábery |
| 1999 | The Secret KGB JFK Assassination Files | Self (archive footage) |
| 1996 | Soviet Union: The Rise and Fall - Part 2 | Self (archive footage) |
| 1995 | Ernesto Che Guevara - Uomo, Compagno, Amico | |
| 1993 | 8A | Self |
| 1993 | Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy | Self (archive footage) |
| 1991 | JFK | Self (archive footage) |
| 1991 | Portrait of Castro's Cuba | Himself |
| 1990 | Cuba 30 Anni Dopo | Himself |
| 1988 | The Uncompromising Revolution | Self |
| 1988 | American Expose: Who Murdered JFK? | Self (archive footage) |
| 1987 | Fidel Racconta il Che | Himself |
| 1987 | The CIA's War Against Cuba | |
| 1987 | Brascuba | Self (archive footage) |
| 1986 | Chile: A Genral Record | |
| 1986 | Cuba: In the Shadow of Doubt | |
| 1984 | Anxiety. Thoughts of an Old Man | Self (archive footage) |
| 1984 | Improper Conduct | Self - Politician (archive footage) |
| 1980 | The Necessary War | Himself |
| 1980 | On Company Business | Self - Prime Minister of Cuba (archive footage) |
| 1979 | Mission Mind Control | Self (archive footage) |
| 1977 | CBS Reports: The CIA's Secret Army | Self |
| 1977 | My Brother, Fidel | Self |
| 1977 | A Grin Without a Cat | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| 1975 | Waiting for Fidel | Self |
| 1974 | The Society of the Spectacle | Self (archive footage) |
| 1974 | General Idi Amin Dada | Himself (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| 1974 | Cuba and Fidel | Self |
| 1973 | And Heaven Was Taken by Storm | Self |
| 1973 | Chile, el gran desafío | Self |
| 1973 | Venceremos, solidaridad | Self (archive footage) |
| 1972 | Compromiso con Chile | |
| 1972 | El Diálogo de América | Él mismo |
| 1972 | I Am a Son of America | Él mismo |
| 1972 | The Exploitation of Man by Man | Self |
| 1972 | The First Year | Self |
| 1971 | Fidel | Self |
| 1971 | Cuba: Battle of the 10,000,000 | |
| 1969 | Topaz | Self (archive footage) |
| 1968 | The Hour of the Furnaces | Self (archive footage) |
| 1967 | Far from Vietnam | Self (segment "Fidel Castro") |
| 1963 | Hello Cubans | Self (uncredited) |
| 1962 | Muerte al invasor | Self (archive footage) |
| 1961 | ¡Cuba Sí! | Self - Cuban Politician (uncredited) |
| 1961 | Island Ablazed | Self |
| 1960 | Yanki No! | Self |
| 1960 | General Assembly | Fidel Castro |
| 1959 | Cuban Rebel Girls | Self (uncredited) |
| Fidel Castro no Rio de Janeiro, 1959 | ||
| Revolution's Daughter | Self (archive footage) |
| Year | TV Show | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | The Century of Icons | Self (archive footage) |
| 2021 | Spycraft | Self |
| 2021 | How to Become a Tyrant | Self (archive footage) |
| 2019 | Cuba, la révolution et le monde | |
| 2018 | Explained | Self (archive footage) |
| 2018 | Bobby Kennedy for President | Self (archive footage) |
| 2018 | Minnesota Experience | Self (archive footage) |
| 2015 | Guerilleros | Self (archive footage) |
| 2011 | Mentiras verdaderas | Self (archive footage) |
| 2010 | La Case du siècle | Self (archive footage) |
| 1999 | Faith of the Century: A History of Communism | Self (archive footage) |
| 1984 | Informe especial | Self (archive footage) |