[1] Considered one of the greatest and most acclaimed movie stars of his country, he played several parts in TV series for several years where he became popular as a young leading actor.

During the 1980s, while still collaborating with Migré, Darín was acclaimed as one of the galancitos (Spanish for "charmers"), a group of young actors that adapted popular TV programs into theater productions.

He switched to comedy in the early 1990s, which led to his greatest television success co-starring in the remake of the 1970s TV show Mi cuñado (1993–1996), alongside Luis Brandoni.

Despite his success on television, Darín never left theater and continued to perform in productions such as La extraña pareja (a Spanish adaptation of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple) (1984), Taxi (1985), Sugar (1986–1987), Rumores (1990), Algo en común (1995) and Art (1997–1999).

[7] That same year, he starred in the Spanish film The Education of Fairies (La educación de las hadas), alongside Bebe and Irène Jacob.

In 2009 he starred with Soledad Villamil and Guillermo Francella in The Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos), a film by Juan José Campanella.

Also in 2009 he appeared in the Spanish film El baile de la Victoria,[8] which earned him a nomination for the Goya Award, this time as Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

[12] In 2013 he returned to the theater and starred in the play Escenas de la vida conyugal (a Spanish adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage), alongside Valeria Bertuccelli.

In 2014 he starred in Wild Tales (Relatos salvajes), the biggest box-office hit in Argentine cinema history, along with Leonardo Sbaraglia, Oscar Martínez, Érica Rivas, Rita Cortese, Darío Grandinetti and Julieta Zylberberg.

In 2015 he starred in Cesc Gay's Truman,[14] which earned him a Concha de Plata award for Best Actor at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

[20] Darín rejected the opportunity to play a drug trafficker in the Denzel Washington film Man on Fire, as he disapproved of Hollywood's negative stereotyping of Latin Americans.