Daniel Day-Lewis

born on 29/4/1957 in London, England, United Kingdom

Daniel Day-Lewis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Daniel Day-Lewis
Born {{{birthdate}}}
Spouse(s) Rebecca Miller (since 1996)

Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English actor with British and Irish citizenship.[1][2][3][4][5] He is known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only five films since 1997,[6] with as many as five years between roles.[1]

His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989) and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007) won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for There Will Be Blood. His role as Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002) earned him the BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Day-Lewis, who grew up in London, is the son of the Irish-born Poet Laureate, Cecil Day-Lewis. He is a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles.[1] Often, he will remain completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedule of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health.[6]

Early life

Day-Lewis was born in London, the son of actress Jill Balcon and the Irish born Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. His mother was of Baltic Jewish descent, the daughter of Sir Michael Balcon, who was the former head of Ealing Studios.[7][8] Two years after his birth in London, the Day-Lewis family moved to Croom's Hill, Greenwich, where Daniel grew up along with his older sister, Tamasin Day-Lewis, who later became a documentary filmmaker and television chef. Cecil Day-Lewis was already 53 years old at the time of his son's birth, and seemed to take little interest in his children.[9]

Living in middle-class Greenwich, Day-Lewis found himself among tough South London kids and being Jewish and "posh", he was often bullied.[3] He mastered the local accent and mannerisms and credits that with being his first convincing performances.[3][10] Later in life, he was known to speak of himself as very much a disorderly character in his younger years, often in trouble for shoplifting and other petty crimes.[2][10]

In 1968, Day-Lewis's parents, finding him to be too wild, sent him to the independent Sevenoaks School in Kent, as a boarder.[2] Though he detested the school, he was introduced to his two most prominent interests, woodworking and acting. His disdain for the school grew, and after two years at Sevenoaks, he was transferred to another independent establishment, Bedales School in Petersfield, which his sister attended.[2] This transfer led to his film debut at the age of 14 in Sunday Bloody Sunday in which he played a vandal in an uncredited role. He described the experience as "heaven", for getting paid £2 to vandalize expensive cars parked outside his local church.[9]

Leaving Bedales in 1975, his unruly attitude had faded and he needed to make a career choice. Although he had excelled onstage at the National Youth Theatre, he decided to become a cabinet-maker, applying for a five-year apprenticeship. However, because of a lack of experience, he was not accepted.[2] He then applied (and was accepted) at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which he attended for three years, eventually performing at the Bristol Old Vic itself.[2] At one point he played understudy to Pete Postlethwaite, with whom he would later play opposite in In the Name of the Father, and with whom he shares a brief scene in Last of the Mohicans where Postlethwaite is a British officer.[11]

Career

1980s

During the early '80s, Day-Lewis worked in theatre and television including Frost in May (where he played an impotent man-child) and How Many Miles to Babylon? (as a World War I[12] officer torn between allegiances to Britain and Ireland) for the BBC. Eleven years after his film debut, Day-Lewis continued his film career with a small part in Gandhi (1982) as Colin, a street thug who bullies the title character, only to be immediately chastised by his high-strung mother. In late 1982 he had his big theatre break when he took over the lead in Another Country. The following year, he had a supporting role as the conflicted, but ultimately loyal first mate in The Bounty, after which he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream.[2]

Next he played a gay man in an interracial relationship in the film My Beautiful Laundrette. Day-Lewis gained further public notice with A Room with a View (1986), in which he portrayed an entirely different character: the effete upper-class fiancé of the main character (played by Helena Bonham Carter).[13]

In 1987, Day-Lewis assumed leading-man status by starring in Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, co-starring Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche, as a Czech doctor whose hyperactive and purely physical sex life is thrown into disarray when he allows himself to become emotionally involved with a woman. During the eight-month shoot he learned Czech and first began to refuse to break character on or off the set for the entire shooting schedule.[2]

Day-Lewis put his personal version of "method acting" into full use in 1989 with his performance as Christy Brown in Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot which won him numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. During filming, his eccentricities came to the fore, due to his refusal to break character.[2] Playing a severely paralyzed character on screen, off screen Day-Lewis had to be moved around the set in his wheelchair, and crew members would curse at having to lift him over camera and lighting wires, all so that he might gain insight into all aspects of Brown's life, including the embarrassments.[10] He broke two ribs during filming from assuming a hunched-over position in his wheelchair for so many weeks.[14]

Day-Lewis returned to the stage in 1989 to work with Richard Eyre, in Hamlet at the National Theatre, but collapsed in the middle of a scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father first appears to his son.[2] He began sobbing uncontrollably and refused to go back on stage;[15] he was replaced by Ian Charleson before a then-unknown Jeremy Northam finished what little was left of the production's run. One rumour following the incident was that Day-Lewis had seen the ghost of his own father, although the incident was officially attributed to exhaustion.[2][5] He confirmed on the British celebrity chat show Parkinson, that this rumour was true.[16] He has not appeared on stage since.[16]

1990s

In 1992, three years after his Oscar win, The Last of the Mohicans was released. Day-Lewis's character research for this film was well-publicized; he reportedly underwent rigorous weight training and learned to live off the land and forest where his character lived, camping, hunting and fishing.[2] He even carried a long rifle at all times during filming in order to remain in character and learned how to skin animals.[2][17]

He returned to work with Jim Sheridan on In the Name of the Father, in which he played Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four who were wrongfully convicted of a bombing carried out by the Provisional IRA. He lost a substantial amount of weight for the part, kept his Northern Irish accent on and off the set for the entire shooting schedule, and spent stretches of time in a prison cell.[17] He also insisted that crew members throw cold water at him and verbally abuse him.[17] The film earned him his second Academy Award nomination, his third BAFTA nomination, and his second Golden Globe nomination.

Day-Lewis returned in 1993, playing Newland Archer in Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel The Age of Innocence, opposite Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer. To prepare for the film, set in America's Gilded Age, he wore 1870s-period aristocratic clothing around New York City for two months, including top hat, cane and cape during colder periods.[18]

In 1996, Day-Lewis starred in a film version of The Crucible, the play by Arthur Miller, again opposite Winona Ryder. He followed that with Jim Sheridan's The Boxer as a former boxer and IRA member recently released from prison. His preparation included training with former boxing world champion Barry McGuigan.[19]

Following The Boxer, Day-Lewis took a leave of absence from acting by putting himself into "semi-retirement" and returning to his old passion of woodworking.[19] He moved to Florence, Italy, where he became intrigued by the craft of shoemaking, eventually apprenticing as a shoemaker.[2] For a time his exact whereabouts and actions were not made publicly known.[20] Day-Lewis has declined to discuss this period of his life, stating that "it was a period of my life that I had a right to without any intervention of that kind."[4]

2000s

After a five-year absence from filming, Day-Lewis returned to act in multiple Academy Award-nominated films such as Gangs of New York, a film directed by Martin Scorsese (with whom he had worked on The Age of Innocence) and produced by Harvey Weinstein. In his role as the villain gang leader "Bill the Butcher", he starred along with Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Bill's young protegé. He began his lengthy, self-disciplined process by taking lessons as an apprentice butcher, and while filming, he was never out of character between takes (including keeping his character's New York accent).[2] At one point during filming, having been diagnosed with pneumonia, he refused to wear a warmer coat or to take treatment because it was not in keeping with the period; however, he was eventually persuaded to seek medical treatment.[21] His performance in Gangs of New York earned him his third Academy Award nomination and won him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

After Gangs of New York, Day-Lewis's wife, director Rebecca Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur Miller), offered him the lead role in her film The Ballad of Jack and Rose, in which he played a dying man with regrets over how his life had evolved and over how he had raised his teenage daughter. During filming he arranged to live separately from his wife in order to achieve the "isolation" needed to focus on his own character's reality.[9] The film received mixed reviews.[22]

In 2007, Day-Lewis appeared in director Paul Thomas Anderson's loose adaptation of the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!, titled There Will Be Blood.[23] Day-Lewis received the Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture (which he dedicated to Heath Ledger, saying that he was inspired by Ledger's acting and calling the actor's performance in Brokeback Mountain "unique, perfect."[24][25]) and a variety of film critics circle awards for the role.

In 2009, Day-Lewis starred in Rob Marshall's musical adaptation Nine as film director Guido Contini.[26] The film received mixed reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 38% fresh rating, but cited Day-Lewis's performance as "always worthwhile."[27] Day-Lewis was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role, as well as sharing nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast and the Satellite Award for Best Cast Motion Picture with the rest of the cast members.

Personal life

Day-Lewis rarely talks publicly about his personal life. He had a relationship with French actress Isabelle Adjani, which lasted six years and eventually ended after a split and reconciliation.[2][15] Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis was born in 1995 in New York, months after the relationship between the two actors had ended.[15]

In 1996, while working on the film version of the stage-play The Crucible, he visited the home of playwright Arthur Miller where he was introduced to the writer's daughter, Rebecca Miller. They married later that year. The couple have two sons, Ronan Cal Day-Lewis (born 14 June 1998) and Cashel Blake Day-Lewis (born in May 2002) and divide their time between their homes in the U.S. and Ireland.[9] Day-Lewis currently holds dual British and Irish citizenship,[28][29] He became an Irish citizen in 1993.[30] On July 15 2010 he received an honorary doctorate in letters from the University of Bristol, in part because of his attendance at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in his youth.[31]

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1971 Sunday Bloody Sunday Child vandal (uncredited)
1982 Gandhi Colin - South African Street Thug
1984 The Bounty John Fryer
1985 My Beautiful Laundrette Johnny National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor also for A Room with a View
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor also for A Room with a View
A Room with a View Cecil Vyse National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor also for My Beautiful Laundrette
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor also for My Beautiful Laundrette
1986 Nanou Max
1988 The Unbearable Lightness of Being Tomas
Stars and Bars Henderson Dores
1989 Eversmile, New Jersey Dr. Fergus O'Connell
My Left Foot Christy Brown Academy Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Montreal World Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Montreal World Film Festival - Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention shared with Jim Sheridan
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated European Film Award for Best Actor
Nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1992 The Last of the Mohicans Hawkeye (Nathaniel Poe) Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
Nominated BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1993 The Age of Innocence Newland Archer
In the Name of the Father Gerry Conlon Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Nominated Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1996 The Crucible John Proctor
1997 The Boxer Danny Flynn Nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2002 Gangs of New York Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor tied with Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor tied with Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Russian Guild of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Actor
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Satellite Award for Best Actor Motion Picture Drama tied with Michael Caine for The Quiet American
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
Seattle Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Nominated Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
2005 The Ballad of Jack and Rose Jack Slavin Marrakech International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2007 There Will Be Blood Daniel Plainview Academy Award for Best Actor
Austin Film Critics Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Irish Film Award for Best Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Palm Springs International Film Festival - Desert Palm Achievement Award
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated Saturn Award for Best Actor
2009 Nine Guido Contini Satellite Award for Best Cast Motion Picture
Nominated Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble

See also

  • List of people on stamps of Ireland

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Parker, Emily. "Sojourner in Other Men's Souls". The Wall Street Journal. 23 January 2008.
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 Wills, Dominic, "Daniel Day-Lewis Biography" Tiscali UK Retrieved 25 February 2006
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Corliss, Richard and Carrie Ross Welch. "Dashing Daniel" Time, European Edition, 21 March 1994
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Day Lewis, Daniel: Gangs Of New York" UrbanCinefile.com.au Accessed 11 October 2008
  5. 5.0 5.1 "Daniel Day-Lewis Q&A" TimeOut.com, 20 March 2006
  6. 6.0 6.1 Herschberg, Lynn. "The New Frontier's Man" New York Times Magazine, 11 November 2007
  7. Day-Lewis gets Oscar nod for new film, Kent News, 17 December 2007. URL accessed on 9 January 2008.
  8. Pearlman, Cindy, Day-Lewis isn't suffering: 'It's a joy', Chicago Sun-Times, 30 December 2007. URL accessed on 9 January 2008.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Segal, David. "Daniel Day-Lewis, Behaving Totally In Character" The Washington Post, 31 March 2005
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Jenkins, Garry. Daniel Day-Lewis: The Fires Within St. Martin's Press, 1994, ASIN B000R9II4O
  11. Wolf, , FILM; Pete Postlethwaite Turns a Prison Stint Into Oscar Material first=Matt, The New York Times, 1994-03-13. URL accessed on 2009-01-06.
  12. Daniel Day-Lewis at the Internet Movie Database
  13. Daniel Day-Lewis. The Oscar Site. Retrieved on 2009-01-06.
  14. An Inspirational Journey: The Making of My Left Foot DVD, Miramax Films, 2005
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 Scott, Paul, The VERY strange life of reclusive superstar Daniel Day-Lewis, The Daily Mail, 2008-01-19. URL accessed on 2010-01-07.
  16. 16.0 16.1 Parkinson. 25 March 2006.
  17. 17.0 17.1 17.2 Daniel Day-Lewis. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved on 2010-01-07.
  18. Daniel Day-Lewis. Hello!. Retrieved on 2010-01-07.
  19. 19.0 19.1 Daniel Day-Lewis. AskMen. Retrieved on 2010-01-07.
  20. New York Times Biography New York Times, Retrieved 27 February 2006
  21. Daniel Day-Lewis aims for perfection. The Daily Telegraph (2008-02-22). Retrieved on 2010-01-01.
  22. "The Ballad of Jack and Rose" RottenTomatoes.com, Accessed 12 October 2008
  23. Fleming, Michael and Ian Mohr, There Will Be Blood announcement Variety, Retrieved 25 February 2006
  24. Diluna, Amy, Daniel Day-Lewis Honors Heath Ledger during Screen Actors Guild Awards, New York Daily News, 2008-01-27. URL accessed on 2008-02-16.
  25. Elsworth, Catherine, Daniel Day Lewis, Julie Christie win at Screen Actors Guild Awards, The Daily Telegraph, 2008-01-28. URL accessed on 2009-12-03.
  26. "Daniel Day-Lewis Signed for Nine Film" broadwayworld.com, 1 June 2008
  27. Nine (2009). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2009-01-06.
  28. Devlin, Martina. "Daniel, old chap, sure you're one of our own" Independent.ie 24 January 2008
  29. "Day-Lewis heads UK Oscars charge." BBC 22 January 2008
  30. "Daniel Day-Lewis." RottenTomatoes.com, Accessed 12 October 2008
  31. University of Bristol

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Daniel Day-Lewis

  • Daniel Day-Lewis at the Internet Movie Database
  • LA Weekly interview with Lewis, 19 December 2007
  • Extensive Biography at Tiscali UK
  • Peter Stanford, The enigma of Day-Lewis, The Observer, 13 January 2008
This page was last modified 08.09.2010 19:39:37

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