Scarface is considered one of the greatest gangster movies ever made and for a good reason. It not only has beautiful action sequences but it also has a classic rise and fall story. And even though Miami gangster, Tony Montana (Al Pacino), bosses the proceedings, there are several other solid characters too.
Fans of the Brian De Palma project might be wondering what the cast has done recently. Since the movie came out close to 40 years ago, fans might have a difficult time recognizing the actors in their most recent appearances. However, it’s great to hear that the majority have continued acting or have gone on to have successful careers.
Steven Bauer – Breaking Bad Universe (2008 – Present)
In Scarface, Bauer portrays Manny Ray, a childhood friend of Tony Montana who emigrates with him to Miami from Cuba. He then becomes Tony’s right-hand man when the gangster morphs into the biggest drug lord in the city.
Fans might recognize Bauer as Don Eladio, the head of the Juarez Cartel in Breaking Bad and its spinoff Better Call Saul. While Manny is a reckless and hedonistic gangster who is content with taking orders, Don Eladio is portrayed as a composed boss of bosses. Nonetheless, both are formidable characters with Don Eladio particularly being one of Breaking Bad‘s best villains.
Michelle Pfeiffer – Ant-Man And The Wasp (2018)
Pfeiffer stars in the movie as Elvira, the mistress of Tony Montana’s first boss Frank Lopez. Tony quickly falls in love with her and courts her, making her his wife. However, their marriage falls apart.
In Ant-Man And The Wasp, Pfeiffer portrays Janet van Dyne, the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who once went by the codename, The Wasp, before passing the mantle to her daughter, Hope van Dyne. Pfeiffer got typecast a lot earlier in her career as “the love interest” but she got to demonstrate her range in the superhero genre. She also gave what was arguably the best performance in Batman Returns where she portrayed Selina Kyle, aka, Catwoman.
F. Murray Abraham – Homeland (2012 – 2018)
Abraham plays Frank Lopez’s right-hand man, Omar Suarez, in Scarface. He is ultimately outed as an undercover law enforcement officer, a revelation that gets him hanged from a helicopter by Sosa’s men.
In the Showtime espionage series, Abraham plays Dar Adal, a special ops CIA agent who leads a secret group within the agency known as “The Group.” There is a huge difference in personalities between the two characters. Suarez is naive and cowardly while Dar Adal is pragmatic and discreet, with no sense of morality. The major similarity is that both characters are government agents whose loyalties lie elsewhere.
Mark Margolis – Breaking Bad Universe (2008 – Present)
Mark plays Alberto, aka, The Shadow, in the classic movie. He is one of the two trusted henchmen of Bolivian drug lord Alejandro Sosa, the other being The Skull. His death at the hands of Tony is what causes the bad blood between the Miami kingpin and Sosa.
Margolis also appears in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul as the high-ranking Juarez Cartel member Hector Salamanca. There is plenty to admire about Margolis’ character, from the way he takes down Gus Fring in what is one of the most shocking moments in Breaking Bad to the way he intimidates just about everyone in the prequel series.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio – The Punisher (2017 – 2019)
Mastrantonio is Tony’s sister, Gina, in the Brian De Palma movie. He is overprotective towards her, to the extent that he chooses to kill his friend Manny when he finds out he has been dating her.
Since then, Mastrantonio has had a major role in the Netflix series The Punisher as Marion James, the Deputy Director of the CIA. While her arcs in the movie only revolved around Tony and Manny, she gets to be at the center of the proceedings in the Marvel series. James is also a bolder character as a figure of authority compared to Gina, who had to be bossed around by her brother.
Robert Loggia – The Sopranos (1999 – 2007)
Loggia is Frank Lopez, a drug lord who gives Tony and Manny their first gig in the Miami underworld. He then hires the two as enforcers but Tony overthrows and then kills him.
Fans who have kept up with most gangster productions might recognize Loggia’s face in The Sopranos where he portrays the recently paroled capo Feech La Manna. Interestingly, both of Loggia characters are tough gangsters but they suffer similar fates in that they are hated by their own associates who end up betraying them. Lopez gets toppled by Tony while Feech gets set up and sent back to prison by his fellow members of the DiMeo crime family.
Harris Yulin – Ozark (2018 – Present)
Yulin’s Detective Bernstein is one of the least intelligent characters in Scarface. He decides to shake down Tony, threatening him with jail time if he doesn’t pay him, but this only gets him killed. The dirty cop briefly works with Frank Lopez too.
A highly experienced actor, Yulin has had over 100 roles in his 5-decade career. His face is recognizable in Ozark where he plays Buddy, an old man who sells his house to the Byrdes when they move to the Missouri Ozarks to launder money for a drug cartel. He chooses to stay in the basement, becoming a great friend to their son Jonah. Yulin’s character in the drama series is much more likable. He is not only humble but a good fighter too, despite his age.
Míriam Colón – Better Call Saul (2015 – Present)
Colón is best remembered from Scarface as Mama Montana, Tony’s mother who disapproves of his criminal career. She, however, seeks Tony’s help when Gina disappears. But giving him her last known address turns out to be a mistake since Tony ends up killing Manny.
The actor is also in Better Call Saul as Abuelita Salamanca, the mother of Hector and the grandmother of Tuco. The sleazy lawyer Jimmy McGill tries to con her together with the help of two teenage skaters, but her grandson Tuco shows up to make them pay. Colón is a talented actor and the National Medal of Arts honor she received from President Obama is proof of that. Her appearances go as far back as the popular ’50s show Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Richard Belzer – Law & Order: SVU (1999 – 2016)
Belzer appears a number of times in the movie as the M.C. of the Babylon Club, where Tony Montana likes to party. He is caught in the shooting too when Lopez makes an assassination attempt on Tony.
Belzer has also played one of TV’s most iconic characters, the nerdy Detective John Munch in Law & Order: SVU. Proof of how iconic the character is can be seen from the fact that Munch has had cameos in 10 different shows that aren’t canon to the procedural police series. At the moment, Belzer has retired from acting.
Al Pacino – The Irishman (2011 – 2017)
Tony Montana is undoubtedly one of Al Pacino’s best-ever roles and in the ’80s gangster flick, his character rises from a Cuban immigrant to Miami’s biggest drug lord. Regrettably, his arrogance sees him fall out with the dangerous associate, the Bolivian drug lord Alejandro Sosa, who sends a hit squad to his compound.
Al Pacino has kept it going and among his most recent roles is that of union leader Jimmy Hoffa in the critically acclaimed Martin Scorcese mob movie. Just like Tony Montana, Hoffa also falls out with dangerous people, resulting in him getting whacked. His character here is also more into office politics than violence.
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