Andy Garcia was born Andres Arturo Garcia - Menaendez on April 12, 1956, in Havana, Cuba. He had an unusual growth on his shoulder. It turned out to be a twin that hadn't fully developed. Garcia says that "they just snipped it off, apparently." When he was 5, Garcia, his father, a lawyer, mother, an English teacher, and elder brother fled to Miami Beach, USA when Castro came to power in Cuba.

The family endured many hardships in the early years. They spoke little English and his parents struggled in menial jobs, a far cry from the relative affluence they enjoyed in Cuba. His father was a hardworking and determined man. He eventually built a multi-million-dollar fragrance import company from scratch.

Garcia's good looks and athletic ability made him a popular student in high school. In his senior year he endured a bout of mononucleosis and hepatitis. This kept him bedridden and forced him to sit out a promising basketball season. During this time he caught a different kind of bug. The acting bug. Garcia recalls, "From then on, acting was like a hunger in the pit of my stomach."

After graduation he enrolled in theater classes at Florida International University and spent several years performing in regional theater productions before moving to Los Angeles in the late 70's where he held a variety of jobs. Then he landed a part in an episode of Hill Street Blues and in The Mean Season in 1985.

It wasn't until he landed the role of a cocaine kingpin in 8 Million Ways To Die that his career took off. He was offered the part of heavy Frank Nizzi in The Untouchables, by director Brian De Palma, but turned it down for fear of being typecast. He then persuaded De Palma to cast him as the earnest F.B.I agent instead. Next he stared in Internal Affairs, and went on to earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as the illegitimate nephew of Don Corleone in The Godfather Part 111.

He is an actor of great integrity and has resisted roles that may have brought him mega-star status, insisting that quality is his main concern. He has appeared in Jennifer 8, Hero, When a Man Loves a Woman, Thing To Do in Denver When You're Dead and Night Falls on Manhattan to name a few.

His lifestyle is an uncommon one in the bright lights and big city of Los Angeles. He relishes time with his wife, Maria, of 8 years and their three daughters, Dominik, Daniella, and Alessandra. Garcia has said "My kids are on my mind all the time when I'm looking at scripts. They're always going to relate to me as a father on the screen, even when they're older. There's a responsibility (there)."

More times than not, the result has been critical acclaim, through box office success has often eluded Garcia. Fortunately this actor doesn't measure his achievements in terms of ticket sales. "In a lot of cases, the fact that I'm in a movie at all is success enough for me," he jokes. "I'm blessed that people still want to hire me and pay me really good money to do this. I certainly have no complaints. There are tougher ways to make a living, that's for sure."