JAVIER BARDEM - BARDEM'S STRIPPING PAST

Spanish actor JAVIER BARDEM has a secret past - he once worked as a male stripper.

The BEFORE NIGHT FALLS star, 35, only spent two days taking his clothes off for lusty women because he was short on cash.

Bardem recalls, "I was a stripper for a weekend. I was, like, 20 years old.

"They wanted to hire me because they saw me doing this thing at a party, and I needed money, so I said, 'Why not?'

"Stripping is harder than acting.

"I said, 'This is not for me.' You have to be really confident about the way you look. We actors are always hiding ourselves behind characters. When you are doing that thing, you aren't hiding, you're exposing."