His other well-known films include The Honorary Consul (1983), Only You (1994), La Cucaracha (1998), One Man's Hero (1999), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), Whore (2004), The Death and Life of Bobby Z (2007), Che: Part Two (2008), The Burning Plain (2008), and The Gilded Cage (2013).

Being fluent in six languages, de Almeida continued his acting career in several countries such as Portugal, England, Spain, France, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, and Germany, working in numerous films.

[4] In 1994, de Almeida played Félix Cortez, a former colonel of Cuban military intelligence in the Tom Clancy thriller, Clear and Present Danger, co-starring Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe and Anne Archer.

Joaquim de Almeida portrays the main villain Bucho, a wealthy but casually bloodthirsty drug kingpin, who rules a seedy Mexican border town.

The film is based on a book written in 1995 by celebrated Brazilian author/actor/entrepreneur Jô Soares about a case involving Sherlock Holmes and his loyal friend Doctor Watson, who are invited to Brazil by its Emperor, Pedro II, to find the thief of a priceless Stradivarius owned by his lover.

[citation needed] In 2001, he had a supporting role in the war film Behind Enemy Lines as Admiral Juan Miguel Piquet, the commander of NATO's naval forces, starring alongside Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman.

The film, based on the Mrkonjić Grad incident, is centered on the story of an American naval flight officer, played by Owen Wilson, who was shot down over Bosnia, who ends up uncovering a massacre during the Bosnian conflict.

[15] Later in 2004, de Almeida portrayed a Spanish-born photo journalist named Michael in the romantic drama La Cucina, a film about several mostly separated storylines in which couples, friends and associates meet for a night of cooking and befriending.

[citation needed] Later that year, de Almeida appeared in The Burning Plain as local man named Nick Martinez, starring alongside Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger.

[citation needed] On 16 July 2010, de Almeida was confirmed for the role of main antagonist Hernan Reyes in the 2011 action film Fast Five directed by Justin Lin and co-starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson.

Beginning in 2016, de Almeida starred for two seasons as the drug kingpin Don Epifanio Vargas in the USA Network crime drama Queen of the South, opposite Alice Braga.