Tony Montana

Did You Know?

• Pacino worked with boxer Roberto Durán to help inspire the character, who had 'a certain lion in him'.
• Meryl Streep's immigrant character in Sophie's Choice (1982) influenced Pacino's portrayal of Tony Montana.
• Tony's last name was inspired by then-NFL quarterback Joe Montana, Oliver Stone's favorite player.

Fictional character biography

Tony arrived in Miami in May 1980 as part of the Mariel boatlift, one of 125,000 Cubans making the journey. He told U.S. officials he was a political prisoner and claimed his American father entitled him to a green card, but the request was refused because of a trident-shaped tattoo on his right hand, a mark that identified him as a prison assassin. Along with his friend Manny Ribera, Tony was sent to a refugee camp for Cuban immigrants without green cards.

After a month, Frank Lopez, the head of a Miami drug cartel, offered to secure green cards if Tony killed Emilio Rebenga, a former Cuban official. Tony stabbed Rebenga in the stomach, killing him, and earned his green card. Tony and Manny then started working in the cocaine trade. After a drug deal went bad and one of their crew was dismembered, Lopez hired them both, and Tony developed an interest in Frank’s girlfriend, Elvira Hancock.

Three months later, Tony visited his mother, Georgina, and his younger sister, Gina, neither of whom had seen him in five years. Gina was thrilled, but Mama was not, knowing about Tony’s criminal life. When Tony gave her $1,000, she asked who he had killed for the money and what he did for a living. Tony said he worked for an anti-Castro movement and received political contributions, but Mama saw through the lie, refused the money, and ordered him out.

Tony left, but Gina ran after him. He secretly gave her the $1,000, telling her not to tell Mama, only to use a little for groceries or bills. Manny, waiting in the car, was attracted to Gina, but Tony warned him to stay away.

Video games

The 2006 video game Scarface: The World Is Yours serves as an alternate continuation of the film, where Tony kills the Skull and flees his mansion before Sosa’s men and police arrive. André Sogliuzzo provides Tony’s voice because Al Pacino believed his own voice had changed too much since the movie. Tony also appears in the 2006 title Scarface: Money. Power. Respect. In 2016, he became a playable character called “Scarface” in Payday 2 through the Scarface Character Pack, again voiced by Sogliuzzo. A separate add-on, the Scarface Heist Pack, features a heist at Tony’s Miami mansion. In 2020, due to a legal agreement with Universal Pictures, new players could no longer buy the Scarface Character Pack, though the Heist Pack remains available for purchase.