Cary Elwes Biography

Ivan Simon Cary Elwes (born 26 October 1962) is an English actor and writer. He is best known for his roles as Westley in The Princess Bride, Robin Hood in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Fritz Arno Wagner in Shadow of the Vampire, Arnold in Georgia Rule and as Dr. Lawrence Gordon in Saw. His other noted roles include Glory, Kiss the Girls, Days of Thunder, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Hot Shots!, Twister, The Jungle Book, and Liar, Liar. He has also had recurring roles in television series such as The X-Files and Psych and Crackle's The Art of More. He currently appears as a series regular in Netflix's Granite Flats.

Early life

Ivan Simon Cary Elwes was born on 26 October 1962 in Westminster, London, the youngest of three sons of portrait painter Dominic Elwes and interior designer and socialite Tessa Kennedy. He is the brother of artist Damian Elwes and film producer Cassian Elwes. His stepfather, Elliott Kastner, was an American film producer. His paternal grandfather was painter Simon Elwes, whose own father was the diplomat and tenor Gervase Elwes (1866-1921). His other great-grandfathers include the diplomat Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell and industrialist Ivan Rikard Ivanovi?. Elwes has Croatian Jewish, English, Irish, Serbian, and Scottish ancestry. His Croatian and Serbian roots come from his maternal grandmother, Daka McLean, whose second husband, Billy McLean, was an operative for Special Operations Executive during World War II.

One of Elwes' ancestors is John Elwes, who is alleged in some sources to have been the inspiration for Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (1843). Elwes himself played five roles in the 2009 film adaptation of the novel. Through his maternal grandfather, Elwes is also related to Sir Alexander William "Blackie" Kennedy, one of the first photographers to document the archaeological site of Petra following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Elwes was brought up as a Roman Catholic and was an altar boy at Westminster Cathedral, although he did not attend denominational schools as most of the men on his father's side of the family had, including his father. His paternal relatives include such clerics as Dudley Charles Cary-Elwes (1868-1932), the Roman Catholic Bishop of Northampton, Abbott Columba Cary-Elwes (Ampleforth Abbey, Saint Louis Abbey), and Father Luke Cary-Elwes (Fort Augustus Abbey). He discussed this in an interview while he was filming the 2005 CBS television film Pope John Paul II, in which he played the young priest Karol Wojty?a.

Elwes' parents divorced when he was four years old, and in 1975, when Elwes was 12, his father committed suicide. For his education, Elwes attended Harrow School. He then attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. In 1981, he moved to the United States to study acting at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. While living there, Elwes studied acting at both the Actors Studio and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute under the tutelage of Al Pacino's mentor, Charlie Laughton (not to be confused with English actor Charles Laughton). As a teenager, he also worked as a production assistant on the films Absolution, Octopussy, and Superman, where he was assigned to Marlon Brando. When Elwes introduced himself to the famous actor, Brando insisted on calling him "Rocky" after Rocky Marciano.

Career

Film

Elwes made his acting debut in 1984 with Marek Kanievska's film Another Country loosely based on the English boarding school exploits of British spies, Burgess, Philby and MacLean, in which he played James Harcourt, a gay student. He went on to play Guilford Dudley in the British historical drama film Lady Jane, opposite Helena Bonham Carter. He was then cast as a stable boy turned swashbuckler Westley in Rob Reiner's fantasy-comedy The Princess Bride, based on the novel of the same name by William Goldman. It was a modest box office success, but received critical acclaim, earning a score of 96% on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. Since being released on home video and television, however, the film has become a cult classic.

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Elwes continued working steadily, varying between dramatic roles, as in the Oscar-winning Glory (1989), and comedic roles, as in Hot Shots! (1991). In 1993, he starred as Robin Hood in Mel Brooks's comedy, Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Elwes also appeared in such films as Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Crush, The Jungle Book (1994), Twister, Liar Liar, and Kiss the Girls. In 1999, he portrayed famed theatre and film producer John Houseman for Tim Robbins in his ensemble film based on Orson Welles's musical, Cradle Will Rock. And months after that he traveled to Luxembourg to work with John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe in Shadow of the Vampire. In 2001, he co-starred in Peter Bogdanovich's ensemble film The Cat's Meow portraying movie mogul Thomas Ince who died mysteriously while vacationing with William Randolph Hearst on his yacht.

In 2004 Elwes starred in the horror-thriller Saw which, at a budget of a little over $1 million, grossed over $100 million worldwide. The same year he appeared in Ella Enchanted, this time as the villain, not the hero. He made an uncredited appearance as Sam Green, the man who introduced Andy Warhol to Edie Sedgwick, in the 2006 film Factory Girl. In 2007 he appeared in Garry Marshall's Georgia Rule opposite Jane Fonda.

In 2010 he returned to the Saw franchise in Saw 3D (2010), the seventh film in the series, as Dr. Lawrence Gordon. In 2011, he was selected by Ivan Reitman to star alongside Natalie Portman in No Strings Attached. That same year, Elwes and Garry Marshall teamed up again in the romantic comedy New Year's Eve.

In 2012 Elwes starred in the independent drama The Citizen. and the following year Elwes joined Selena Gomez for the comedy ensemble, Behaving Badly directed by Tim Garrick. In 2014 he starred in John Herzfeld's ensemble comedy Reach Me. In 2015 he completed four movies: the ensemble drama, Sugar Mountain directed by Richard Gray; and the dramas H8RZ, directed by Derrick Borte, We Don't Belong Here, opposite Anton Yelchin and Catherine Keener directed by Peer Pedersen, and Being Charlie which re-united Elwes with director Rob Reiner after twenty-eight years and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

In January 2016 Elwes completed portraying Andy Warhol opposite Kevin Spacey in The Billionaire Boys Club directed by James Cox. After allegation of sexual harassment committed by Spacey were confirmed, the producers have not stated whether or not the film will be released.

Television

Elwes made his first television appearance in 1996 as David Lookner on Seinfeld. Two years later he played astronaut Michael Collins in the Golden Globe Award-winning HBO miniseries From the Earth To the Moon. The following year Elwes was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for his portrayal of Colonel James Burton in The Pentagon Wars directed by Richard Benjamin. In 1999, he guest starred as Dr. John York in an episode of the television series The Outer Limits. Shortly afterward he received another Golden Satellite Award nomination for his work on the ensemble NBC Television movie Uprising opposite Jon Voight directed by Jon Avnet. Elwes had a recurring role in the final season (from 2001 to 2002) of Chris Carter's hit series The X-Files as FBI Assistant Director Brad Follmer.

In 2004 he portrayed serial killer Ted Bundy in the A&E Network film The Riverman, which became one of the highest rated original movies in the network's history and garnered a prestigious BANFF Rockie Award nomination. The following year, Elwes played the young Karol Wojty?a in the CBS television film Pope John Paul II, his second time working with Jon Voight. The TV film was highly successful not only in North America but also in Europe, where it broke box office records in the late pope's native Poland and became the first film ever to break $1 million (GBP588,200) in three days.

In 2007 he made a guest appearance on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Dependent" as a Mafia lawyer. In 2009, he played the role of Pierre Despereaux, an international art thief, in the fourth-season premiere of Psych. In 2010 he returned to Psych, reprising his role in the second half of the fifth season, again in the show's sixth season, and again in the show's eighth season premiere. In 2014 Elwes played Hugh Ashmeade, Director of the CIA, in the second season of the BYUtv series, Granite Flats.

In May 2015 Elwes was cast in Crackle's first streaming network series drama, The Art of More, which explores the cutthroat world of premium auction houses. Elwes plays Arthur Davenport, a shrewd and eccentric world-class collector of illegal art and antiquities. The series debuted on 19 November and has been picked up for a second season.

Voice-over work

Elwes' voice-over work includes the narrator in James Patterson's audiobook The Jester, as well as characters in film and television animations such as Quest for Camelot, Pinky and The Brain, Batman Beyond, and the English versions of the Studio Ghibli films, Porco Rosso, Whisper of the Heart and The Cat Returns. For the 2004 video game The Bard's Tale, he served as screenwriter, improviser, and voice actor of the main character The Bard. In 2009, Elwes reunited with Jason Alexander for the Indian film, Delhi Safari. The following year Elwes portrayed the part of Gremlin Gus in Disney's video game, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two. In 2014, he appeared in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey as the voice of scientists Edmond Halley and Robert Hooke.

Motion capture work

In 2009 Elwes joined the cast of Robert Zemeckis's motion capture adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol portraying five roles. That same year he was chosen by Steven Spielberg to appear in his motion capture adaptation of Belgian artist Herg's popular comic strip The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

Theatre

In 2003 Elwes portrayed Kerry Max Cook in the off-Broadway play The Exonerated in New York, directed by Bob Balaban (18-23 March 2003).

Literature

In October 2014 Touchstone (Simon & Schuster) published Elwes' memoir of the making of The Princess Bride, entitled As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride, which Elwes co-wrote with Joe Layden. The book featured never-before-told stories, exclusive behind-the-scenes photographs, and interviews with co-stars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Fred Savage and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner. The book debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Other projects

On 13 December 2012, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Elwes would be making his directorial debut in an independent film about the life of Kit Lambert, manager of the iconic rock group The Who, working with a script by Pat Gilbert, an editor of the British music magazine Mojo. The film is based on interviews and recordings with Lambert made by journalist Jon Lindsay, and is being produced by Orian Williams.

In 2014, Elwes co-wrote the screenplay for a film entitled Elvis & Nixon, about the pair's famous meeting at the White House in 1970. The film, which starred Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey, was bought by Amazon as their first theatrical feature and was released on 22 April 2016.

Legal issues

In August 2005, Elwes filed a lawsuit against Evolution Entertainment, his management firm and producer of Saw. Elwes said he was promised a minimum of one percent of the producers' net profits of the film and did not receive the full amount. The case was settled out of court. In 2010 he reprised his role in Saw 3D.

Personal life

Elwes met photographer Lisa Marie Kurbikoff in 1991 at a chili cook-off in Malibu, California, and they became engaged in 1997. They married in 2000 and have one daughter together.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Yesterday's Hero	Disco Dancer
1984	Another Country	James Harcourt
	Oxford Blues	Lionel
1985	The Bride	Capt. Josef Schoden
1986	Lady Jane	Guilford Dudley
1987	Maschenka	Lev Glebovich Ganin
	The Princess Bride	Westley / Dread Pirate Roberts
1988	Never on Tuesday	Tow Truck Driver	Uncredited
1989	Glory	Maj. Cabot Forbes
1990	Days of Thunder	Russ Wheeler
1991	Hot Shots!	Lt. Kent Gregory
1992	Bram Stoker's Dracula	Lord Arthur Holmwood
	Leather Jackets	Dobbs	Also associate producer
1993	Robin Hood: Men in Tights	Robin Hood
	The Crush	Nick Eliot
1994	The Jungle Book	Capt. William Boone
	The Chase	Steve Horsegroovy
	Felidae	Francis	Voice; English dub
1996	Twister	Dr. Jonas Miller
1997	Kiss the Girls	Det. Nick Ruskin	Nominated - Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Best Supporting ActoDet
	The Informant	Lt. David Ferris
	Liar Liar	Jerry
1998	Quest for Camelot	Garrett	Voice
1998	The Pentagon Wars	Col. James G. Burton
1999	Cradle Will Rock	John Houseman
2000	Shadow of the Vampire	Fritz Arno "Fritzy" Wagner
2001	The Cat's Meow	Thomas H. Ince
2002	Wish You Were Dead	Mac "Macbeth" Wilson
	Comic Book Villains	Carter	Also co-producer
2003	Porco Rosso	Donald Curtis	Voice; English dub
2004	Saw	Dr. Lawrence Gordon	Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Frightened Performance
	Ella Enchanted	Sir Edgar
	The Riverman	Ted Bundy
	American Crime	Albert Bodine
2005	Edison Force	District Attorney Jack Reigert
	Neo Ned	Dr. Magnuson
	National Lampoon's Pucked	Norman
	The Cat Returns	Baron Humbert von Gikkingen	Voice; English dub
2006	Factory Girl	Sam Green	Uncredited
	Whisper of the Heart	Baron Humbert von Gikkingen	Voice; English dub
2007	Walk the Talk	Erik	Also executive producer
	Georgia Rule	Arnold
2008	The Alphabet Killer	Capt. Kenneth Shine
2009	A Christmas Carol	Various characters	Voice and motion-capture
2010	Psych 9	Dr. Clement
	Flying Lessons	Steven Jennings
	As Good as Dead	Ethan Belfrage
	Little Murder	Barry Fitzgerald
	Saw 3D	Dr. Lawrence Gordon
2011	No Strings Attached	Dr. Steven Metzner
	Delhi Safari	Bee Commander / Sultan	Voice
	The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn	Seaplane Pilot
	New Year's Eve	Stan's Doctor
	The Story of Luke	Uncle Paul
	Camilla Dickinson	Rafferty Dickinson
	Hellgate	Jeff Mathews
2012	The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure	Bobby Wobbly
	The Citizen	Earl Miller
2013	Hansel & Gretel Get Baked	Meter Man
	Behaving Badly	Joseph Stevens
	Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox	Orin / Arthur Curry / Aquaman / Emperor Aquaman	Voice
2014	Reach Me	Kersey
2015	A Mouse Tale	Sir Thaddeus	Voice
	H8RZ	Principal Donato
	Being Charlie	David Mills
	A Haunting in Cawdor	Lawrence O'Neil
2016	Sugar Mountain	Jim Huxley
	Elvis & Nixon		Writer and producer
	Indiscretion	Jake
	The Elephant Kingdom	Rock	Voice
	The Queen of Spain	Gary Jones
2017	We Don't Belong Here	Frank Harper
2018	Billionaire Boys Club	Andy Warhol	Post-production
	The Gettysburg Address	Capt. John P. Jones	Voice; post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Seinfeld	David Lookner	Episode: "The Wait Out"
1998	The Pentagon Wars	Lt. Col. James Burton	Television film
1998	From the Earth to the Moon	Michael Collins	3 episodes
1998	Pinky and the Brain	Director / Hamlet (voices)	Episodes: "Melancholy Brain" and "Whatever Happened to Baby Brain"
1998	Hercules	Paris of Troy (voice)	Episode: "Hercules and the Trojan War"
1999	The Outer Limits	Dr. John York	Episode: "Ripper"
1999	Batman Beyond	Paxton Powers (voice)	Episode: "Ascension"
2000	Race Against Time	Burke	Television film
2001	Night Visions	Gerald	Episode: "Quiet Please"
2001	Uprising	Dr. Fritz Hippler	Television film
2001-2002	The X-Files	FBI Assistant Director Brad Follmer	6 episodes
2004	The Riverman	Ted Bundy	Television film
2005	Pope John Paul II	Young Karol Wojtyla	2 episodes
2006	Haskett's Chance	Mark Haskett / Chris Dalness	Television film
2007	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Sidney Truex	Episode: "Dependent"
2009-2014	Psych	Pierre Despereaux	4 episodes
2011	Wonder Woman	Henry Detmer	Pilot
2012	Leverage	Scott Roemer	Episode: "The (Very) Big Bird Job"
2012	Perception	British Intelligence Officer	Episode: "Cipher"
2013	The Anna Nicole Story	E. Pierce Marshall	Television film
2014	Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey	Edmond Halley / Robert Hooke (voices)	Episode: "When Knowledge Conquered Fear"
2014	Granite Flats	Hugh Ashmead	4 episodes
2014-2016	Family Guy	Various voices	6 episodes
2015-2016	The Art of More	Arthur Davenport	20 episodes
2015-2016	Sofia the First	Prince Roderick / Basil (voices)	Episodes: "The Secret Library" and "The Tale of the Noble Knight"
2016-2017	Life in Pieces	Professor Sinclair Wilde	4 episodes
2017	Workaholics	Fox	Episode: "The Most Dangerless Game"
2018	Andr the Giant	Himself	HBO documentary

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Publisher
2004	The Bard's Tale	The Bard (voice)	inXile Entertainment
2012	Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two	Gremlin Gus (voice)	Disney Interactive Studios

Books