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 Having made over one hundred films in his legendary career, Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and daring to some of the most iconic films of our time. His artistic curiosity in exploring the human condition leads him to projects all over the world, large and small, Hollywood films as well as Independent cinema.In 1979, he was given a role in Michael's Cimino's Heaven's Gate, from which he was fired. Since then, he has collaborated with directors who represent a virtual encyclopedia of modern cinema: James Wan, Robert Eggers, Sean Baker, Kenneth Branagh, Kathryn Bigelow, Sam Raimi, Alan Parker, Walter Hill, Mary Harron, Wim Wenders, Anton Corbijn, Zhang Yimou, Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Oliver Stone, William Friedkin, Werner Herzog, Lars Von Trier, Abel Ferrara, Spike Lee, David Cronenberg, Paul Schrader, Anthony Minghella, Theo Angelopoulos, Robert Rodriguez, Phillip Noyce, Hector Babenco, John Milius, Paul Weitz, The Spierig Brothers, Andrew Stanton, Josh Boone, Dee Rees and Julian Schnabel.Dafoe has been recognized with four Academy Award nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Platoon, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Shadow Of The Vampire, for which he also received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Florida Project, for which he also received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations, and most recently, Best Leading Actor for At Eternity's Gate, for which he also received a Golden Globe nomination. Among his other nominations and awards, he has received two Los Angeles Film Critics Awards, a New York Film Critics Circle Award, a National Board of Review Award, two Independent Spirit Awards, Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup, as well as a Berlinale Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement.Willem was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, to Muriel Isabel (Sprissler), a nurse, and William Alfred Dafoe, a surgeon. He is of mostly German, Irish, Scottish, and English descent. He and his wife, director Giada Colagrande, have made three films together: Padre, A Woman, and Before It Had A Name.His natural adventurousness is evident in roles as diverse as Marcus, the elite assassin who is mentor to Keanu Reeves in the neo-noir John Wick; in his voice work as Gil the Moorish Idol in Finding Nemo and Ryuk the Death God in Death Note; as Paul Smecker, the obsessed FBI agent in the cult classic The Boondock Saints; and as real life hero Leonhard Seppala, who led the 1925 Alaskan dog sled diphtheria serum run in Ericson Core's Togo. That adventurous spirit continues with upcoming films including Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch, Abel Ferrara's Siberia, and Paul Schrader's The Card Counter.Dafoe is one of the founding members of The Wooster Group, the New York based experimental theatre collective. He created and performed in all of the group's work from 1977 thru 2005, both in the U.S. and internationally. Since then, he worked with Richard Foreman in Idiot Savant at The Public Theatre (NYC), with Robert Wilson on two international productions: The Life & Death of Marina Abramovic and The Old Woman opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov and developed a new theatre piece, directed by Romeo Castellucci, based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil. He recently completed work on Marina Abramovic's opera 7 Deaths of Maria Callas.
Bio:
Having made over one hundred films in his legendary career, Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and daring to some of the most iconic films of our time. His artistic curiosity in exploring the human condition leads him to projects all over the world, large and small, Hollywood films as well as Independent cinema.In 1979, he was given a role in Michael's Cimino's Heaven's Gate, from which he was fired. Since then, he has collaborated with directors who represent a virtual encyclopedia of modern cinema: James Wan, Robert Eggers, Sean Baker, Kenneth Branagh, Kathryn Bigelow, Sam Raimi, Alan Parker, Walter Hill, Mary Harron, Wim Wenders, Anton Corbijn, Zhang Yimou, Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Oliver Stone, William Friedkin, Werner Herzog, Lars Von Trier, Abel Ferrara, Spike Lee, David Cronenberg, Paul Schrader, Anthony Minghella, Theo Angelopoulos, Robert Rodriguez, Phillip Noyce, Hector Babenco, John Milius, Paul Weitz, The Spierig Brothers, Andrew Stanton, Josh Boone, Dee Rees and Julian Schnabel.Dafoe has been recognized with four Academy Award nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Platoon, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Shadow Of The Vampire, for which he also received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Florida Project, for which he also received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations, and most recently, Best Leading Actor for At Eternity's Gate, for which he also received a Golden Globe nomination. Among his other nominations and awards, he has received two Los Angeles Film Critics Awards, a New York Film Critics Circle Award, a National Board of Review Award, two Independent Spirit Awards, Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup, as well as a Berlinale Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement.Willem was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, to Muriel Isabel (Sprissler), a nurse, and William Alfred Dafoe, a surgeon. He is of mostly German, Irish, Scottish, and English descent. He and his wife, director Giada Colagrande, have made three films together: Padre, A Woman, and Before It Had A Name.His natural adventurousness is evident in roles as diverse as Marcus, the elite assassin who is mentor to Keanu Reeves in the neo-noir John Wick; in his voice work as Gil the Moorish Idol in Finding Nemo and Ryuk the Death God in Death Note; as Paul Smecker, the obsessed FBI agent in the cult classic The Boondock Saints; and as real life hero Leonhard Seppala, who led the 1925 Alaskan dog sled diphtheria serum run in Ericson Core's Togo. That adventurous spirit continues with upcoming films including Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch, Abel Ferrara's Siberia, and Paul Schrader's The Card Counter.Dafoe is one of the founding members of The Wooster Group, the New York based experimental theatre collective. He created and performed in all of the group's work from 1977 thru 2005, both in the U.S. and internationally. Since then, he worked with Richard Foreman in Idiot Savant at The Public Theatre (NYC), with Robert Wilson on two international productions: The Life & Death of Marina Abramovic and The Old Woman opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov and developed a new theatre piece, directed by Romeo Castellucci, based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil. He recently completed work on Marina Abramovic's opera 7 Deaths of Maria Callas.
Tivia:
He was a candidate for the role of the Joker in Batman (1989), which went to Jack Nicholson.Says he feels like he has missed out on more conventional roles because he's perceived as an eccentric actor in dark little films, kind of the boy-next-door type - if you lived next door to a mausoleum.He was delirious for 24 hours after coming down with yellow fever on the set of Platoon (1986).He did most of his own stunts on the glider in Spider-Man (2002). So when you see the Green Goblin moving around on it, when it's not CG, then it's Willem pretty much the whole time.As of 2014, has appeared in six films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Platoon (1986), Mississippi Burning (1988), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), The English Patient (1996), The Aviator (2004) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Of those, Platoon (1986) and The English Patient (1996) are winners in the category.Is the second youngest of eight siblings. He has five sisters, named Diane Fredrickson, Jane Lambie, Nancy Christiansen, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, and Sarah Holbrook, and two brothers, named Richard and Donald. Brother, Donald Dafoe, is an accomplished transplant surgeon.The only actor to ever be nominated for an Oscar for playing a vampire, for his role as Max Schrek in Shadow of the Vampire (2000).His first name, William, is shared with his father. He did not want to be called William Jr. or Billy, and among various nicknames since childhood, was Willem, which he liked, and has kept this name ever since.Provided his voice on Lou Reed's album "The Raven" (2003). On it, he performs a rewritten and reworked, spoken-word version of Edgar Allan Poe's poetry.Named one of "The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century" by the New York Times (November 25, 2020).Divides his time between Rome, New York City and Los Angeles with his Italian wife Giada.While doing a blocking run-through on Wild at Heart (1990) (for the scene in which Dafoe's character threatens to rape Laura Dern's character), Dafoe playfully sang his lines. Director David Lynch loved this, and wanted Dafoe to actually sing his lines in the scene, when they shot it. However, the idea did not actually go through.He was under consideration for Dennis Hopper's role (Frank Booth) in Blue Velvet (1986).Built sets and acted with experimental Milwaukee, Wisconsin group Theatre X, before moving to New York in 1977, where he worked with the Wooster Group at the Performing Garage.Quite possibly has the most on-screen deaths of any mainstream actor. His death scenes include Platoon (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), eXistenZ (1999), Shadow of the Vampire (2000), Spider-Man (2002), and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), among others.He sticks to an all-organic, vegan diet except for the rare occasion when he indulges in a fried lake perch sandwich.Has English, French, German, Irish, Northern Irish, Scottish and Swiss-French ancestry. Many of his antecedents resided in Canada.Childhood celebrity crush was sex symbol Raquel Welch.He received an Honorary Doctorate from the Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio.Has a son with Elizabeth LeCompte: Jack Dafoe (born 1982).John Malkovich, Nicolas Cage, and Dafoe were all approached to play the Green Goblin in Spider-Man (2002). Dafoe and Malkovich starred in Shadow of the Vampire (2000) together, while Cage produced the film. Dafoe ended up getting the Spider-Man role.Was involved for decades (from 1977) with theater director and actress Elizabeth LeCompte, who was also a member and director of the Wooster Group. He later married Italian writer/director Giada Colagrande in 2005.Visited the Sarajevo International Film Festival together with Steve Buscemi in 2000.He was offered the role of Senator Ethan Roark in Sin City (2005), which went to Powers Boothe.Has worked with seven directors who have won a Best Director Oscar: Michael Cimino, Kathryn Bigelow, William Friedkin, Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese, Anthony Minghella and Guillermo del Toro.Attended and graduated from Appleton East High School in Appleton, Wisconsin.Attended Einstein Junior High School in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he was known as "Billy".Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival in 2007.To date, he has shot 18 films in Europe. (2007)Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 67th Cannes International Film Festival in 2014.As a 12-year old, he attended the 1967 NFL Championship Game between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers, better known as the Ice Bowl, one of the most famous games in pro football history.He has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Platoon (1986).The longest he has gone without an Academy Award nomination is the 17 years between Shadow of the Vampire (2000) and The Florida Project (2017).Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. He was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Supporting Actor category for his performance in the film xXx: State of the Union (2005) However, he failed to receive a nomination (Had he gotten the nomination, it would have been his third overall. He was previously nominated for Worst Supporting Actor at the 1998 Razzie Awards for his role in Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), and for Worst Actor at the 1994 Razzie Awards for his performance in Body of Evidence (1992).).His passion is experimental theatre. He co founded The Wooster Group in Manhattan.Moved to New York in 1977 and soon after founded the Wooster Group which has toured America and the world,.Long time practitioner of Ashtanga yoga.Speaks fluent Italian.Michael Caimino fired him from Heaven's Gate because he laughed at a crew member's joke on set.Born at 7:30 PM (CST).He received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.Worked with an experimental theatre group in Milwaukee while at college. |
| Name: |
Willem Dafoe |
Type: |
Actor,Producer,Writer (IMDB) |
| Area: |
All World |
Platform: |
IMDB |
| Category: |
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Business scope: |
Actor,Producer,Writer |
| Products for sale: |
Actor,Producer,Writer |
| Model rank: |
94 |
| Last update: |
2024-07-01 03:03:47 |
| Height: |
5' 8?' (1.74 m) |
| Biography: |
Having made over one hundred films in his legendary career, Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and daring to some of the most iconic films of our time. His artistic curiosity in exploring the human cond |
| Trivia: |
He was a candidate for the role of the Joker in Batman (1989), which went to Jack Nicholson.Says he feels like he has missed out on more conventional roles because he's perceived as an eccentric actor in dark little films, kind of the boy-next-door type - if you lived next door to a mausoleum.He was delirious for 24 hours after coming down with yellow fever on the set of Platoon (1986).He did most of his own stunts on the glider in Spider-Man (2002). So when you see the Green Goblin moving around on it, when it's not CG, then it's Willem pretty much the whole time.As of 2014, has appeared in six films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Platoon (1986), Mississippi Burning (1988), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), The English Patient (1996), The Aviator (2004) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Of those, Platoon (1986) and The English Patient (1996) are winners in the category.Is the second youngest of eight siblings. He has five sisters, named Diane Fredrickson, Jane Lambie, Nancy Christiansen, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, and Sarah Holbrook, and two brothers, named Richard and Donald. Brother, Donald Dafoe, is an accomplished transplant surgeon.The only actor to ever be nominated for an Oscar for playing a vampire, for his role as Max Schrek in Shadow of the Vampire (2000).His first name, William, is shared with his father. He did not want to be called William Jr. or Billy, and among various nicknames since childhood, was Willem, which he liked, and has kept this name ever since.Provided his voice on Lou Reed's album "The Raven" (2003). On it, he performs a rewritten and reworked, spoken-word version of Edgar Allan Poe's poetry.Named one of "The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century" by the New York Times (November 25, 2020).Divides his time between Rome, New York City and Los Angeles with his Italian wife Giada.While doing a blocking run-through on Wild at Heart (1990) (for the scene in which Dafoe's character threatens to rape Laura Dern's character), Dafoe playfully sang his lines. Director David Lynch loved this, and wanted Dafoe to actually sing his lines in the scene, when they shot it. However, the idea did not actually go through.He was under consideration for Dennis Hopper's role (Frank Booth) in Blue Velvet (1986).Built sets and acted with experimental Milwaukee, Wisconsin group Theatre X, before moving to New York in 1977, where he worked with the Wooster Group at the Performing Garage.Quite possibly has the most on-screen deaths of any mainstream actor. His death scenes include Platoon (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), eXistenZ (1999), Shadow of the Vampire (2000), Spider-Man (2002), and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), among others.He sticks to an all-organic, vegan diet except for the rare occasion when he indulges in a fried lake perch sandwich.Has English, French, German, Irish, Northern Irish, Scottish and Swiss-French ancestry. Many of his antecedents resided in Canada.Childhood celebrity crush was sex symbol Raquel Welch.He received an Honorary Doctorate from the Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio.Has a son with Elizabeth LeCompte: Jack Dafoe (born 1982).John Malkovich, Nicolas Cage, and Dafoe were all approached to play the Green Goblin in Spider-Man (2002). Dafoe and Malkovich starred in Shadow of the Vampire (2000) together, while Cage produced the film. Dafoe ended up getting the Spider-Man role.Was involved for decades (from 1977) with theater director and actress Elizabeth LeCompte, who was also a member and director of the Wooster Group. He later married Italian writer/director Giada Colagrande in 2005.Visited the Sarajevo International Film Festival together with Steve Buscemi in 2000.He was offered the role of Senator Ethan Roark in Sin City (2005), which went to Powers Boothe.Has worked with seven directors who have won a Best Director Oscar: Michael Cimino, Kathryn Bigelow, William Friedkin, Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese, Anthony Minghella and Guillermo del Toro.Attended and graduated from Appleton East High School in Appleton, Wisconsin.Attended Einstein Junior High School in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he was known as "Billy".Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival in 2007.To date, he has shot 18 films in Europe. (2007)Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 67th Cannes International Film Festival in 2014.As a 12-year old, he attended the 1967 NFL Championship Game between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers, better known as the Ice Bowl, one of the most famous games in pro football history.He has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Platoon (1986).The longest he has gone without an Academy Award nomination is the 17 years between Shadow of the Vampire (2000) and The Florida Project (2017).Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. He was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Supporting Actor category for his performance in the film xXx: State of the Union (2005) However, he failed to receive a nomination (Had he gotten the nomination, it would have been his third overall. He was previously nominated for Worst Supporting Actor at the 1998 Razzie Awards for his role in Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), and for Worst Actor at the 1994 Razzie Awards for his performance in Body of Evidence (1992).).His passion is experimental theatre. He co founded The Wooster Group in Manhattan.Moved to New York in 1977 and soon after founded the Wooster Group which has toured America and the world,.Long time practitioner of Ashtanga yoga.Speaks fluent Italian.Michael Caimino fired him from Heaven's Gate because he laughed at a crew member's joke on set.Born at 7:30 PM (CST).He received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.Worked with an experimental theatre group in Milwaukee while at college. |
| Trademarks: |
Low-key, yet gravelly voice
Psychotic unstable characters
Characters that often meet a grim fate
Prominent cheekbones and serpentine smile
Deeply lined face that can be contorted to frightening effect |
| Quotes: |
[on his role in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)]: "To this day, I can't believe I was so brazen to think I could pull off the Jesus role."
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I don't think people want to see me as a regular guy, besides, I'm a regular guy in real life. I guess I just want to be reckless in my work.
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Casting people feel that they have to get someone who looks a certain way, and I think that the jury is still out whether people find me attractive or not.
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I wish to Christ I could make up a really great lie. Sometimes, after an interview, I say to myself, 'Man, you were so honest - can't you have some fun? Can't you do some really down and dirty lying?' But the puritan in me thinks that if I tell a lie, I'll be punished.
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Weirdness is not my game. I'm just a square boy from Wisconsin. |
| Job title: |
Actor,Producer,Writer |
| Others works: |
Print ads: Modeled for the Prada fashion catalog.
(1998) TV commercial (voice-over): Buick Century.
(1999) TV commercial (voice-over): Qwest internet service provider.
(1999) TV commercial (voiceover): Salomon Smith Barney stockbrokers.
(2/02) Stage: |
| Spouse: |
Giada Colagrande (March 25, 2005 - present) |
| Children: |
Jack |
| Parents: |
Muriel Sprissler Dafoe
William Alfred Dafoe |
| Relatives: |
Barbara Dafoe Whitehead (Sibling)
Samuel Dafoe (Niece or Nephew) |
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