Molina made a memorable screen debut as the treacherous guide in the opening sequence of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), covered by tarantulas and then properly skewered for his betrayal of Indiana Jones. As Kenneth Halliwell, the lover of playwright Joe Orton in "Prick Up Your Ears" (1987), he was a wonderfully wobbly vengeful, abandoned spouse, his amusing side adding balance to the character's torment, although some who knew the real Halliwell abhorred the casting of the bearish Molina, whereas Gary Oldman (with whom he had also worked in Mike Leigh's "Meantime" 1983) bore a haunting resemblance to the murdered Orton. Perfectly flummoxed as the upper class husband lacking joie de vivre in "Enchanted April", he then played the painter Titorelli, the only character capable of pleasure, in David Jones's stultifying adaptation of Kafka's "The Trial" (both 1991). "Maverick" (1994), his second collaboration with Richard Donner, who had previously directed him in "Ladyhawke" (1985), fulfilled his childhood dream of acting in a Western. "Boogie Nights" (1997), on the other hand, gave him a meaty but pivotal role as a crazed coke dealer.

Despite his many film opportunities, Molina never stayed away from the stage for long. He returned to the RSC to give a much-praised performance as Petruchio in "Taming of the Shrew" (1985) and earned an Olivier nomination for his work in the British production of David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow". In his Broadway debut as the good-natured Yvan in Yasmina Reza's "Art" (1998), which teamed him with Alan Alda and Victor Garber, Molina got a chance to demonstrate his virtuosity in a long rambling speech, its printed text covering more than two pages of solid type. This actor's actor who manages to be different in each new role has grown increasingly busy since relocating to Los Angeles in 1993. In addition to his role as Levin in Bernard Rose's adaptation of "Anna Karenina" (1997), he acted in Woody Allen's "Celebrity", Stanley Tucci's "The Impostors" and Jonathan Gems' "The Treat" (all 1998). He also found time that same year to appear in the Showtime movie "Rescuers: Stories of Courage--Two Couples.”

In 2002, Molina co-starred in the independent bio-pic feature "Frida," an otherwise standard docudrama on the life of Frida Kahlo which won the actor rave reviews for his portrayal of the hedonistic Mexican artist Diego Rivera (Molina added several pounds to his already beefy frame to capture the artist's well-known girth). He was also cast as a washed-up writer who is sought out by his estranged daughter in the dismal, quickly canceled CBS television series "Bram and Alice" (2002). Molina would go on to play a terminal Sarah Polley's father in the poignant drama "My Life Without Me" (2003), and a physician among ten seeming strangers drawn by mysterious forces to a hotel during a violent storm in the thriller "Identity" (2003). But 2004 would truly be a banner year for the actor: not only did he appear in one of the most appreciated sequences in writer-director Jim Jarmusch's vignette-minded "Coffee and Cigarettes" in an improvised segment that Molina and fellow actor Steve Coogan helped refine; the actor was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Actor in a musical for his much-heralded performance in "Fiddler On the Roof;" and he was cast as the super-villainous, multi-armed role of Dr. Otto Octavius a.k.a. the evil Dr. Octopus in the highly anticipated sequel "Spider-Man 2.”

Molina was next set to appear in one of the most controversial and anticipated movies to have come along in decades, “The Da Vinci Code” (2006), directed by Ron Howard from Dan Brown’s mega-blockbuster book. He played Bishop Aringarosa, chief foil to a famed symbologist (Tom Hanks) who’s called to the Louvre Museum where a curator has been murdered, leaving behind a trail of mysterious symbols and clues that lead to a secret society that has spent the past 2000 years guarding a secret that could destroy the very foundations of society if it were revealed.