Bichir played Fidel Castro in Steven Soderbergh's biopic film Che. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in A Better Life. He starred in the FX series The Bridge. In Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, he played Bob, a mysterious Mexican. His directorial debut film, Un Cuento de Circo & A Love Song, premiered at the Morelia International Film Festival. Bichir starred in Alien: Covenant, the second prequel film for the Alien series. He starred in The Conjuring spin-off film, The Nun and joined the cast for Doug Liman's 2019 film adaptation Chaos Walking, based on Patrick Ness' trilogy novels. In March 2018, Bichir joined the cast for the television film Grand Hotel, based on the Spanish television series of the same name.