Terry Benedict in Ocean's 11: The Casino Owner Played by Andy Garcia

Terry Benedict is the Las Vegas casino owner at the center of Ocean's Eleven (2001), directed by Steven Soderbergh, and Andy Garcia plays him in all three films of the Soderbergh trilogy. Andy Garcia is billed third in Ocean's Eleven. Benedict is also dating Tess, Danny Ocean's former wife, which gives the robbery a personal edge as well as a financial one.

Terry Benedict owns three Las Vegas casinos that share one vault, and in Ocean's Eleven that vault holds its most cash on the night of a big boxing match. The films treat the three casinos as one operation, and Danny Ocean's whole plan is built around that single vault. Terry Benedict is a fictional character.

For the wider cast, see the ocean's eleven characters page and the ocean's eleven cast list.

Benedict's arc runs from victim to creditor to reluctant business partner. In Ocean's Eleven, Danny Ocean's crew builds a replica of the vault to rehearse, and Linus Caldwell, the pickpocket, gets close to Benedict while the others prepare the equipment and disguises. On the night of the boxing match they knock out power across the city with a device that creates an electromagnetic pulse. Crew members disguised as a SWAT team walk into the vault, while Benedict's security staff watch a looped recording and believe the vault is still guarded.

Benedict works out that Danny is behind the theft and has him arrested for violating parole. The crew had already swapped the cash out, though, so searching them gets Benedict nothing.

In Ocean's Twelve, he turns hunter. Benedict finds all eleven members of the crew and demands the stolen money back, with interest, in two weeks. That deadline pushes the crew to Europe, where their first plans fall apart and the Night Fox, the thief François Toulour, stays a step ahead. Toulour loses a bet to Danny and pays the debt, and Reuben Tishkoff delivers the money and promises Benedict that no more jobs will be pulled against his casinos.

In Ocean's Thirteen, the old rival becomes a source of cash. When the crew's drilling equipment fails, they turn to Benedict, and Benedict funds the plan in exchange for Willy Bank's diamonds. He secretly hires a thief to grab them first, but the diamonds turn out to be a decoy, because Danny foresaw the double cross.

Benedict's most important connection is Danny Ocean, the man who plans the vault robbery, and the pair share history through Tess, Danny's former wife. Benedict is dating Tess Ocean when Ocean's Eleven opens, so Danny is targeting the new partner of the woman he wants back as well as a rich man's vault.

Rusty Ryan, Danny's old partner, helps assemble the team of specialists that Benedict never sees coming. Linus Caldwell, the pickpocket, is the member of the crew who gets closest to Benedict himself. Reuben Tishkoff, the retired casino owner, backs Danny in the first film, and in Ocean's Twelve he is the one who delivers the repayment and promises Benedict no more jobs against his casinos.

In Ocean's Twelve, Benedict's relationship to the crew changes from target to creditor, since he is the one who finds them and sets the clock. In Ocean's Thirteen, Benedict funds the crew's plan against Willy Bank in exchange for Bank's diamonds. For profiles of the people on the other side of the table, see Danny Ocean, Rusty Ryan, Linus Caldwell and Reuben Tishkoff.

Terry Benedict survives the trilogy: he is alive at the end of Ocean's Thirteen, his last appearance, and keeps his casinos. At the end of Ocean's Eleven he is left with no proof against the crew and no cash, and Danny is later let out and picked up by Rusty and Tess.

Ocean's Twelve ends with Benedict repaid, since Toulour pays the debt and Reuben delivers the money with a promise of no more heists against his casinos. In Ocean's Thirteen, Danny gives Benedict's share of the take to charity in Benedict's name, so he is publicly credited with a large donation he never meant to make. His name ends up on a good deed he did not choose.

The best Terry Benedict moment is the looped vault recording in Ocean's Eleven, where his security staff watch a calm vault while the money is carried out. In my opinion it is the cleanest piece of misdirection in the trilogy, and it works only because Benedict trusts his own cameras.

The scene also shows how the 2001 film differs from the 1960 original, directed by Lewis Milestone. There the crew robs five casinos at once on New Year's Eve and escapes the blackout with the cash, but the money is lost when Bergdorf's widow has his body cremated with it inside. Soderbergh's version, made on an $85 million budget and running 116 minutes, gives the heist a single owner to fool, and Benedict's confidence in his surveillance is the weak point. That focus helped the film earn about $451 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.

Second, I would pick the two week demand in Ocean's Twelve. It turns the original victim into the engine of the sequel, and it gives the crew a ticking clock without needing a new villain. The sequel, also directed by Soderbergh, grossed about $363 million worldwide on a $110 million budget, and Benedict's deadline is what sends the crew to Europe and into the Night Fox's bet.

Third is the charity twist in Ocean's Thirteen. Benedict hires a thief to grab Bank's diamonds, gets a decoy, and then has his share donated under his own name, so the double cross lands on him twice. Compared with Ocean's Eleven, where he is the target, and Ocean's Twelve, where he is the creditor, this is the one film where he is the crew's financier, and Danny still gets the better of him.

If you are watching for the first time, start with the ocean's eleven movies in order guide so his three appearances land in sequence.