His childhood was somewhat complicated, as he grew up in a humble and hard-working family. His father was a Spanish communist who had to emigrate to England to work as a driver and waiter. His mother, on the other hand, cleaned rooms in hotels and was Italian.
He grew up in Notting Hill, which at that time was a neighborhood dedicated almost exclusively to immigrants arriving from continental Europe.
His love for acting was born when he saw the movie “Spartacus”At the age of nine.
From that moment on, he dedicated his life to the arts, entering the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
His first appearance on the big screen was with the movie “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark”, In 1981, starring the legendary Harrison ford. Even so, he did not jump to stardom until he co-starred, along with Gary oldman, “Open your ears” in 1987.
The rest of the 1980s, Molina worked on a number of plays that reached Broadway, some with the Royal National Theater Company. One of the best known was “Fiddler on the Roof“ awarded with Tony Awards.
In 1991 he returned to the big screen in the movie “Not without my daughter“, In the role of Moody, and later appeared in “Maverick”(1994), as one of the villains who tried to stop Mel Gibson on his trip to the poker tournament.
He has also worked in science fiction films, such as the spectacular “Species: deadly species”From 1995, in which he played the wise doctor Stephan arden.
Towards the end of the decade he also worked in productions such as “Ana Karenina“Of 1997 and”Boogie nights”, Of the same year.
The new millennium saw him appearing in films like “Magnolia“,”Chocolat”, And even playing the role of the most famous detective in the novels of Christie Agatha: Hercules Poirot in the film for television “Murder on the Orient Express”.
In 2002, he played the role of Diego Rivera in the film “Frida” next to Salma Hayek.
In the 2004 starred “Spider man 2“, the second installment of the movie“Spider Man” of Marvel comics. This time he played the doctor Otto Octavius, which later became the Doctor Octopus who was trying to destroy Tobey Maguire.
In recent years, he has been seen in titles like “An education“(2009),”The pink panther 2“(2009),”Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time“(2010), or”The Sorcerer’s Apprentice“(2010). He is currently working on seven different film projects, in addition to playing Ricardo Morales placeholder image in the new series of the franchise “Law & Order“,”Law & Order: Los Angeles“.
In his personal life, he married the actress in 1985 Jill gascoine with whom he had no children, but both share those of their previous marriages: Rachel, Adam Y Sean. In November 2003 he became a grandfather for the first time, and once again in May 2006. Currently he has declared that he took American citizenship.