Willem Dafoe Biography

Willem Dafoe (born July 22, 1955) is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group. He has had roles in a wide range of films, including Platoon, Affliction, Off Limits, Streets of Fire, To Live and Die in L.A., Born on the Fourth of July, The English Patient, The Last Temptation of Christ, Mississippi Burning, Mr. Bean's Holiday, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Boondock Saints, Spider-Man, and The Aviator, and voice roles in Fantastic Mr. Fox and Finding Nemo.

Dafoe has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice - for Platoon in 1986 and for Shadow of the Vampire in 2000.

On September 6, 2013, it was announced that he will be playing the role of Peter Van Houten in film adaptation of The Fault In Our Stars.

Early life and career

Dafoe was born William J. Dafoe in Appleton, Wisconsin. One of seven children of Muriel Isabel (née Sprissler) and Dr. William Alfred Dafoe, he recalled in 2009, "My five sisters raised me because my father was a surgeon, my mother was a nurse and they worked together, so I didn't see either of them much." In high school, he acquired the nickname Willem. His ancestry includes English, Irish, Scottish, German, Swiss, and French. Dafoe studied drama at the University of Wisconsin"Milwaukee, but left after a year and a half to join the experimental theater company Theatre X in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before moving to New York City in 1976. There he apprenticed under Richard Schechner, director of the avant-garde theater troupe The Performance Group, and became romantically involved with the group's Elizabeth LeCompte, 11 years his senior and who, with her former romantic partner Spalding Gray and others, edged out Schechner and created the Wooster Group. Within a year Dafoe was part of the company.

Theater and film

Dafoe, who would continue with the Wooster Group into the 2000s, began his film career in 1981, when he was cast in Heaven's Gate only to see his role removed from the film during editing. As Dafoe recalled of his first film experience, in which he played a cockfighter, </ref>}}

In the mid-1980s, he was cast by William Friedkin to star in To Live and Die In L.A., in which Dafoe portrays counterfeiter Rick Masters. A year later he starred as the leader of a motorcycle gang in The Loveless, having played a similar role in Streets of Fire. He became "very conscious" that he might be typecast as a villain, saying in 1998, </ref>}}

Dafoe would go on to gain his widest exposure to that time playing the compassionate Sergeant Elias in Oliver Stone's Platoon. He enjoyed the opportunity to play a heroic role, and said the film gave him a chance to display his versatility. "I think all characters live in you. You just frame them, give them circumstances, and that character will happen."

In 1988, Dafoe starred in another film set during the Vietnam War, this time as CID Agent Buck McGriff in Off Limits. He has since become a popular character actor. He is often cast as unstable or villainous characters, such as the Green Goblin in Spider-Man and Barillo in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Before that, he was briefly considered for the role of the Joker by Tim Burton and Sam Hamm for 1989's Batman. Hamm recalls "We thought, 'Well, Willem Dafoe looks just like The Joker.'" The role eventually went to Jack Nicholson.

He starred in the erotic drama Body of Evidence with Madonna. In 1991, Willem Dafoe portrayed a Manhattan drug dealer in the Paul Schrader film Light Sleeper. Dafoe played an eccentric FBI agent in The Boondock Saints (1999) and a private investigator in American Psycho (2000). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1986 for Platoon and 2000 for Shadow of the Vampire. He played a rare heroic film role when he provided the voice of Gill in the animated film Finding Nemo. Dafoe also played a heroic leading man in Triumph of the Spirit, playing a Greek Jew, Salamo Arouch, who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau through his prowess as a boxer. In 1998 he was the brother of Nick Nolte and son of James Coburn in another Schrader film, Affliction.

He worked briefly as a model in a 1990 Prada campaign. In 2004, Dafoe lent his likeness and voice for the James Bond video game Everything or Nothing as the villain Nikolai Diavolo, and starred as NYPD detective Stan Aubray in the thriller Anamorph (2006).

In 2011, Dafoe began narrating a series of television commercials for the Greek yogurt company Fage. Additionally, the actor is featured in Jim Beam's "Bold Decisions" television ad campaign, which began airing April 2011.

Dafoe starred alongside Marina Abramovi"? in the 2011 Manchester International Festival premiere of the play The Life and Death of Marina Abramovi"?, and will play the role again in the 2013 Luminato Festival North American premiere of the play The Life and Death of Marina Abramovi"?. He also appears at TimesTalks Luminato.

Since 2010, Dafoe voiced Clarence the Birdseye polar bear mascot on the company's television commercials in the United Kingdom.

Dafoe also starred in three short films for Hanneke Schutte, with Saving Norman winning the Jameson First Shot competition.

Personal life

Dafoe met director Elizabeth LeCompte at The Performance Group and began a professional and personal relationship there and at its successor company, the Wooster Group. Their son, Jack, was born in 1982. The pair eventually split in 2004. Dafoe married Italian actress, director and screenwriter Giada Colagrande on March 25, 2005, a year after the two had met in Rome at the premiere of one of her films. Dafoe said in 2010, "We were having lunch and I said: 'Do you want to get married tomorrow?'". They did so the following afternoon at a small ceremony with two friends as witnesses. The two worked together on the film Before It Had a Name. The couple divide their time between Rome, New York City, and Los Angeles, California. He has dual Italian and American citizenship.

Dafoe said in 2008 he is no longer a vegetarian.

Dafoe's brother, Donald Dafoe, is a transplant surgeon and researcher.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	Heaven's Gate		Uncredited
1982	'	Vance
1983	'	2nd Phone Booth Youth
1984	Roadhouse 66	Johnny Harte
1984	New York Nights	Boyfriend
1984	Streets of Fire	Raven Shaddock
1985	To Live and Die in L.A.	Erick "Rick" Masters
1986	Platoon	Sergeant Elias	Nominated"?Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated"?Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
1988	Off Limits	Buck McGriff
1988	'	Jesus
1988	Mississippi Burning	Agent Alan Ward
1989	Triumph of the Spirit	Salamo Arouch
1989	Born on the Fourth of July	Charlie " Villa Dulce
1990	Cry-Baby	Guard	Cameo
1990	Wild at Heart	Bobby Peru	Nominated"?Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
1991	Flight of the Intruder	Lt. Cmdr. Virgil "Tiger" Cole
1992	White Sands	Deputy Sheriff Ray Dolezal
1992	Light Sleeper	John LeTour	Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor
1993	Body of Evidence	Frank Dulaney	Nominated"?Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor
1993	Faraway, So Close!	Emit Flesti
1994	Tom & Viv	Tom Eliot
1994	Clear and Present Danger	John Clark
1995	Victory	Axel Heyst
1995	'	The Writer
1996	Basquiat	The Electrician
1996	'	David Caravaggio	Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1997	Speed 2: Cruise Control	John Geiger	Nominated"?Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor
1997	Affliction	Rolfe Whitehouse
1998	Lulu on the Bridge	Dr. Van Horn
1998	New Rose Hotel	X
1999	eXistenZ	Gas
1999	'	Agent Paul Smecker
2000	American Psycho	Det. Donald Kimball
2000	Animal Factory	Earl Copen
2000	Shadow of the Vampire	Max Schreck	Fantasporto's International Fantasy Film Award for Best Actor Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival's President Award for Outstanding Creative Performance Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor " Motion Picture Comedy or Musical Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor Sitges Film Festival's Gran Angular Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated"?Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated"?Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated"?Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor (3rd place) Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated"?New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor (2nd place) Nominated"?Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated"?San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor (2nd place) Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
2000	Bullfighter	Father Ramirez
2001	Pavilion of Women	Father Andre
2001	Edges of the Lord	Priest
2002	Spider-Man	Green Goblin/Norman Osborn	Nominated"?Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated"?MTV Movie Award for Best Villain Nominated"?MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (with Tobey Maguire)
2002	Auto Focus	John Henry Carpenter	Nominated"?Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated"?Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated"?New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor (3rd place)
2002	Journey on Rio	Julio, Imaginary Friend	Voice
2003	Finding Nemo	Gill	Voice
2003	'	Martin
2003	Once Upon a Time in Mexico	Armando Barillo
2003	Camel Cricket City	Camel Cricket	Voice Short film
2004	'	Arnold Mack
2004	Spider-Man 2	Green Goblin/Norman Osborn	Cameo
2004	'	Klaus Daimler	Nominated"?Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Ensemble Cast (2nd place) Nominated"?Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2004	Control	Dr. Michael Copeland	Direct-to-video
2004	'	Roland Sweet
2005	xXx: State of the Union	General George Deckert
2005	Manderlay	Grace's Father
2005	Before It Had a Name	Leslie	The Black Widow in the United States
2005	Ripley Under Ground	Neil Murchison
2006	American Dreamz	Chief of Staff
2006	Inside Man	Capt. John Darius
2006	Tales from Earthsea	Cob	Voice " English version
2006	Paris, je t'aime	The Cowboy	Segment: "Place des Victoires"
2007	'	Senator Larry Lockner
2007	Mr. Bean's Holiday	Carson Clay
2007	Spider-Man 3	Green Goblin/Norman Osborn	Credited cameo/ Villain; also uncredited extra
2007	Go Go Tales	Ray Ruby
2007	Anamorph	Det. Stan Aubrey
2008	Fireflies in the Garden	Charles Waechter
2008	Adam Resurrected	Commandant Klein
2008	'	A
2009	Antichrist	He	Bodil Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated"?Robert Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
2009	Fantastic Mr. Fox	Rat	Voice
2009	Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant	Gavner Purl
2009	'	Paul Smecker	Cameo
2009	Daybreakers	Elvis
2009	My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?	Detective Havenhurst
2009	'	Feeney
2010	Miral	Eddie
2011	'	Martin David	Nominated"?AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
2011	4:44 Last Day on Earth	Cisco
2012	John Carter	Tars Tarkas	Performance capture
2013	Odd Thomas	Wyatt Porter
2013	A Most Wanted Man	Tommy Brue	Post-production
2013	Out of the Furnace	John Prtty	Post-production
2013	Whiskey Bay	Bud Carter	Post-production
2013	Nymphomaniac	TBA	Post-production
2014	The Grand Budapest Hotel	TBA	Filming
2014	The Fault in Our Stars	Peter Van Houten	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	'	Jeffrey Hunt	"Ghostwriter"
1991	Fishing With John	Himself	Segment: "Ice Fishing in Northern Maine"
1997	'	The Commandant	Voice "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson"
2007	Family Guy	Himself	Voice and likeness Lois Kills Stewie

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Spider-Man	Green Goblin / Norman Osborn
2004	James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing	Nikolai Diavolo	Both voice and likeness
2013	Beyond: Two Souls	Nathan Dawkins	Both voice and likeness

Other awards and nominations

Camerimage

• 2002: Won, "Special Award:For immense contribution to the art of film."

San Sebastian International Film Festival

• 2005: Won, Donostia Award

Stockholm International Film Festival

• 2012: Won, Stockholm Achievement Award