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'Willem Dafoe' (born July 22, 1955) is an Academy Award-nominated American film and stage actor and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group. He is best known for his roles in ''The Last Temptation of Christ'' (1988), ''Platoon'' (1986) and the ''Spider-Man'' films (2002-2007).

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Filmography

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Dafoe, the seventh of eight children, was born 'William Dafoe' in Appleton, Wisconsin, to Muriel Isabel (Sprissler), a nurse and Boston native, and Dr. William Alfred Dafoe, a surgeon.^[1] His paternal grandfather was from Ontario, Canada.^[2] He acquired the nickname "Willeam" in childhood. His birth name is William Dafoe; he changed it to "Willem" (Dutch for "William") so people wouldn't call him "Billy". After graduating from Appleton East High School, he studied drama at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but left before graduation in order to join the newly formed avant-garde group Theatre X.

Career

After touring with Theatre X for four years in the United States and Europe, he moved to New York City and joined the Performance Group. Dafoe's film career began in 1981, when he was cast in ''Heaven's Gate'', but his role was removed from the film during editing. A year later he starred as the leader of a motorcycle gang in ''The Loveless'' (and later played a similar role in ''Streets of Fire''), but his first breakthrough film role was as the compassionate Sergeant Elias in ''Platoon'' (1986). He has since become a popular character actor; due to his harsh facial features, he is often typecast as unstable or villainous characters, such as the psychotic Green Goblin in the ''Spider-Man film series'' 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 the Batman film in 1989. Hamm recalls "We thought, 'Well, Willem Dafoe looks just like The Joker.'" The role ended up going to Jack Nicholson.^[3] He also played Jesus in ''The Last Temptation of Christ'' (1988). He once remarked "To this day, I can't believe I was so brazen to think I could pull off the Jesus role," though Dafoe received acclaim despite the controversy surrounding the film.
He starred in the erotic drama ''Body of Evidence'' with Madonna. In this film, he appeared totally nude, as well as giving Madonna cunnilingus in a famous scene in a carpark. Dafoe played peculiar detectives in ''The Boondock Saints'' (1999) and 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''. After ''Spider-Man'', Dafoe had a rare opportunity to play a heroic film role when he provided the voice of Gill in the animated movie ''Finding Nemo''.
He worked briefly as a model in a 1990 Prada campaign. In 2004, Dafoe lent his likeness and voice for the highly successful James Bond video game ''Everything or Nothing'' as villain Nikolai Diavolo. In 2006, he played NYPD detective Stan Aubray on the hunt for a serial killer, the lead in New York-set thriller ''Anamorph'', opposite Scott Speedman and Peter Stormare. In his most recent film he stars alongside Rowan Atkinson in the sequel to 1997's ''Bean'', ''Mr. Bean's Holiday'' which was released worldwide 30th March 2007.

Personal life

Dafoe met director Elizabeth LeCompte at the Performance Group. LeCompte and Dafoe were part of the restructuring of The Performance Group and became professional collaborators and founding members of The Wooster Group, and began a relationship. Their son, Jack, was born in 1982. Dafoe married Italian director and actress Giada Colagrande on March 25, 2005.

Filmography

★ ''Heaven's Gate'' (1980) .... Extra

★ ''The Loveless'' (1982) .... Vance

★ ''The Hunger'' (1983) .... 2nd Phone Booth Youth

★ ''New York Nights'' (1984) .... Boyfriend

★ ''Streets of Fire'' (1984) .... Raven Shaddock, Bombers Leader

★ ''Roadhouse 66'' (1984) .... Johnny Harte

★ ''To Live and Die in L.A.'' (1985) .... Eric 'Rick' Masters

★ ''Platoon'' (1986) .... Sgt. Elias Grodin

★ ''Off Limits'' (1988) .... Sfc. Buck McGriff, CID

★ ''Arrive Alive'' (unfinished) (1988)

★ ''The Last Temptation of Christ'' (1988) .... Jesus

★ ''Mississippi Burning'' (1988) .... Agent Ward

★ ''Triumph of the Spirit'' .... Salamo Arouch

★ ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989) .... Charlie - Villa Dulce

★ ''Cry Baby'' (1990) .... Hateful Guard at Maryland Training School for Boys

★ ''Wild at Heart'' (1990) .... Bobby Peru

★ ''Flight of the Intruder'' .... Lt. Cmdr. Virgil 'Tiger' Cole

★ ''White Sands'' (1992) .... Deputy Sheriff Ray Dolezal

★ ''Light Sleeper'' (1993) .... John LeTour

★ ''Body of Evidence'' (1993) .... Frank Dulaney

★ ''In weiter Ferne, so nah!'' (1993) .... Emit Flesti

★ ''Clear and Present Danger'' (1994) .... John Clark

★ ''Tom & Viv'' (1994) .... Thomas Stearns Eliot

★ ''The Night and the Moment'' (1995) .... The Writer

★ ''Victory'' .... Axel Heyst

★ ''Basquiat'' (1996) .... The Electrician

★ ''The English Patient (film)'' (1996).... Caravaggio

★ '' (1997) .... John Geiger

★ ''Affliction'' (1997) .... Rolfe Whitehouse

★ ''Lulu on the Bridge'' .... Dr. Van Horn

★ ''New Rose Hotel'' (1998) .... X

★ ''eXistenZ'' (1999) .... Gas

★ ''The Boondock Saints'' (1999) .... FBI Agent Paul Smecker

★ ''American Psycho'' (2000) .... Donald Kimball

★ ''Animal Factory'' .... Earl Copen

★ ''Shadow of the Vampire'' (2000) .... Max Schreck

★ ''Pavilion of Women'' .... Father Andre

★ ''Edges of the Lord'' (2000) .... Priest

★ ''Bullfighter'' .... Father Ramirez

★ ''Spider-Man'' (2002) .... Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin

★ ''Auto Focus'' (2002) .... John Carpenter

★ ''Finding Nemo'' (2003) .... Gill (voice)

★ ''The Reckoning'' (2003) .... Martin

★ ''Once Upon a Time in Mexico'' (2003) .... Barillo

★ ''Control'' (2004 Direct-to-video movie) .... Michael Copeland

★ ''The Clearing'' (2004) .... Arnold Mack

★ ''The Aviator'' (2004) .... Roland Sweet

★ ''Spider-Man 2'' (2004) .... Norman Osborn

★ ''Mr. Ripley's Return'' (2004) .... Murchison

★ ''The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'' (2004) .... Klaus Daimler

★ '' (2005) .... George Deckert

★ ''Manderlay'' (2005) .... Grace's father

★ ''Before it Had a Name'' (2005) .... Leslie (also co-writer/written and directed by Colagrande)

★ ''American Dreamz'' (2006) .... Vice President Sutter

★ ''Inside Man'' (2006) .... Captain Darius

★ ''Mr. Bean's Holiday'' (2007) .... Carson Clay

★ ''Paris, je t'aime'' (2007) .... Cowboy

★ ''Spider-Man 3'' (2007) ... Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin

★ ''Anamorph'' (2007) .... Stan Aubray

★ ''The Walker'' (2007)

References

1. http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/willem_dafoe_biog.html
2. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/celeb/dafoe.htm
3. http://www.batmanmovieonline.com/behindthescenes/articles/samhamm.htm

External links

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★ Willem Dafoe Biography

★ Profile and Gossips

★ Interview with Willem Dafoe