Benicio del Toro

Benicio del Toro plays Richard Matt in Escape at Dannemora, alongside Paul Dano as David Sweat and Patricia Arquette as Tilly Mitchell. Matt's confidence with other people gives del Toro a particularly useful part in this story of prison routine, frustrated lives and an ambitious escape plan. His watchfulness can make an apparently casual conversation feel calculated.

His film career includes The Usual Suspects, Traffic, 21 Grams and Sicario. He won the supporting-actor Oscar for Traffic and the best-actor prize at Cannes for his portrayal of Che Guevara in Steven Soderbergh's Che. In Sicario he plays Alejandro, a role he returned to in Sicario: Day of the Soldado.

Dannemora gives him the space of a limited series to develop a central character rather than a supporting presence. Directed by Ben Stiller, it pairs his outward assurance with Dano's more concentrated manner and Arquette's restless, unhappy Tilly. The portrait here shows him as Matt, in the plain prison clothing of that role.