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Daniel Day-Lewis

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Biography

Recent Role:
Himself on The Academy Awards
Gender:
Male
Born:
4-29-1957
Birthplace:
London, England, UK
Birth Name:
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis
AKA:
Daniel Day Lewis
Daniel is an actor whose on-screen intensity is rivaled only by his off-screen intensity, he is one of the most acclaimed and least understood performers of his generation.



The stories surrounding his complete immersion in his roles are legendary, from his insistence on remaining in a wheelchair between takes for My Left Foot to his refusal to accept manufactured cigarettes in favor of rolling his own, 18th-century while filming The Last of the Mohicans.

Daniel's highly cerebral approach to his work may emanate in part from





… More his background. Born in London on April 29, 1957, he was the son of Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis and actress Jill Balcon. The influence of the cinema was particularly strong on his mother's side: she was the daughter of Sir Michael Balcon, the one-time head of Ealing Studios. Educated at various public schools, Daniel took an early interest in acting. After dropping out of school at the age of thirteen, he managed to get a small part in John Schlesinger's Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971).



Following his debut, he decided to focus on his theatrical training, which he received at the Bristol Old Vic. He acted with that theatre and with the Royal Shakespeare Company for the rest of the decade, and in 1982 he made his second film appearance, playing a street thug in Gandhi.



It was in 1986 that Daniel first stepped into the realm of international acclaim. Two films which featured him in prominent roles, My Beautiful Laundrette and A Room With a View, opened on the same day in New York. A gay street punk in the former and an insufferable Edwardian prig in the latter, Daniel astonished critics and audiences with his chameleon-like versatility. The New York Film Critics Circle took particular note of his talent, naming him the year's Best Supporting Actor for his work in both films. It was only a matter of time before Daniel achieved leading man status, and two years later he did just that in Philip Kaufman's adaptation of Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The acclaim the actor received for his portrayal of a philandering Czech surgeon paled in comparison to that surrounding his performance as the cerebral palsy-stricken author and artist Christy Brown in Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot (1989). Daniel won American and British Academy Awards as Best Actor for his work, sealing a reputation as one of the most engaging leading men of his generation.



A subsequent return to the stage in Richard Eyre's National Theatre production of Hamlet ended abruptly when Daniel walked off the stage one night, mid-performance, due to "nervous exhaustion." He took a hiatus from film until 1992, when he reappeared, toned up and oiled down, to star in Last of the Mohicans. The film was a success, and it went some way towards giving Daniel a reputation as an unconventional sex symbol.



The following year, he returned to the other side of the Atlantic to star in Sheridan's In the Name of the Father, playing an Irish man wrongfully convicted of taking part in an IRA bombing. Best Actor Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nominations followed suit for his powerful performance. That same year, Daniel versatility was again on display, as he starred as a turn-of-the-century New York society man in Martin Scorsese's lavish adaptation of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence.



Daniel's screen appearances subsequently took on a more sporadic quality, and it was not until 1996 that he was again visible to film audiences. That year, he starred in Nicholas Hytner's adaptation of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. His portrayal of the tragically adulterous John Proctor netted strong reviews, as did his work in the following year's The Boxer, his third collaboration with Sheridan. Starring as a former boxer trying to make a new life for himself after being imprisoned for fourteen years for his work with the IRA, Daniel turned in another powerful performance. Although the film received mixed reviews, the actor earned a Golden Globe nomination for his work.

Subsequently forsaking film work for the simple life of a cobbler in Italy, Daniel was reportedly drawn out of his self imposed exile through the efforts of producer Harvey Weinstein, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former collaborator Scorsese. Lured to New York and back into the hustle and bustle of the film industry, it seemed that Scorsese had finally found an actor capable of the focused yet unhinged intensity that Gangs of New York's Bill the Butcher demanded. Once again submerging himself so much in the character that the lines of reality and fantasy would become blurred (rumors persisted that he would speak with his film accent even while off-screen in addition to taking lessons by a genuine butcher), Daniel's decidedly methodic approach to creating convincing screen characters would ultimately pay off as many cited his Oscar nominated performance as one of the most convincing of the talented actor's career.



Daniel's next project was of a lower profile, The Ballad of Jack and Rose which was written and directed by his wife, Rebecca Miller. His next film however would return him to critical acclaim. There Will Be Blood was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and once again Daniel was noted for his intense performance for which he was honored with a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

Daniel currently resides in undisclosed location with his wife, Rebecca Miller, and their two children.

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  •  
    10 Perfect
    Is there anything this magnificent actor can't do? I don't think so! hide show

    Whenever you hear the name Daniel Day-Lewis, it immediately conjurs up some of the finest screen performances but an actor ever seen. Who among those of us who have seen it could possibly forget his riveting portrayal of Cerebral Palsy sufferer, Christie Brown in 'My Left Foot', for which he won a much-deserved academy award. And if anybody could have delivered a better John Proctor in 'The Crucible, I'd like to know who it would be because Daniel was amazing and brought both of these real life characters to the screen in such a way as to make his performances truly unforgettable.

    Add to that roles like "The Age of Innocence" and you get an idea of just how versatile he is. Any role is well within his tremendous capabilities and any of his films are worth the time to just sit back and watch. If you haven't, you should, you won't be disappointed.

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    Lady_Lancaster Added Feb 7, 2011 All my reviews
  •  
    10 Perfect
    Daniel Day Lewis is one of the greatest actors of all time. hide show

    One of the best actors working in film today. I remember seeing him in a small role in Gandhi. Then after each subsequent film I became more and more impressed with his believability and ability to transform. His performance in In the Name of the Father remains my favorite performance of all time. The scene between him and his father when they find themselves in the same cell is incredible. It's amazing to see that the actor in this film is the same person as the actor in My Left Foot, another mind blowing performance. His latest, There Will Be Blood, is another example of the transformational powers that he has as an actor.

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    mrjsse Added Jan 16, 2009 All my reviews
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    9 Superb
    empty hide show

    Daniel Day-Lewis is a true actor. You really believe that he got into acting because he loves it for what it is. You'll never see him in any tabloids and you won't hear any gossip about him. In his roles, you sense more realism than many other actor's who are considered more talented than he. Of all of his roles in all of his movies, my favorite has to be "Gangs of New York."

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    amauriel Added Feb 20, 2007 All my reviews
  •  
    10 Perfect
    Forget Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe ... hide show

    If you want to watch a genuinely talented modern actor, then pick up a movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis. The man is a true thespian. Mind you, I don't get some of his method acting habits, but you never should question pure genius.

    Daniel is one of only a handful of actors that could truly stand up with the greats such as Olivier or Guinness. He immerses himself into a role to the point where you can't tell where the character begins and Daniel ends.

    I know this will sound silly, but I sometimes think that this brooding, dark, and incredibly sexy guy could even make a dog food commercial interesting enough to win an Oscar. lolol

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    xGowronx Added Jan 24, 2006 All my reviews
 

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