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Daniel Day-Lewis
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Birthplace: London, England, UK
An actor whose on-screen intensity is rivalled only
by his off-screen intensity, Daniel Day-Lewis 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
style, while filming The Last of the Mohicans.
Day-Lewis' highly cerebral approach to his work may emanate in part from 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, Day-Lewis 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 Day-Lewis 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, Day-Lewis 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 Day-Lewis 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). Day-Lewis 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 Day-Lewis 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 Day-Lewis 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, Day-Lewis' 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.
Day-Lewis' 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, Day-Lewis 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, Day-Lewis 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 the role of the villain in Gangs of New York 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), Day-Lewis' decidedly methodic approach
to creating convincing screen characters would ultimately pay off as many
cited his performance one of the most convincing of the talented actor's
career. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide
Gangs of New York (2002) .... William
'Bill the Butcher' Cutting
Forever Ealing (2002) (TV)(voice) .... Narrator
Boxer, The (1997) .... Danny Flynn
Crucible, The (1996) .... John Proctor
In the Name of the Father (1993) .... Gerry Conlon
Age of Innocence, The (1993) .... Newland Archer
Last of the Mohicans, The (1992) .... Hawkeye/Nathaniel "Natty"
Bumpo
63rd Annual Academy Awards, The (1991) (TV)(uncredited) .... Himself
My Left Foot (1989) .... Christy Brown
... aka My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown (1989)
Eversmile, New Jersey (1989) .... Dr. Fergus O'Connell
... aka Eterna sonrisa de New Jersey (1989) (Argentina)
Stars and Bars (1988) .... Henderson Dores
... aka Englishman In New York (1988) (USA)
Unbearable Lightness of Being, The (1988) .... Tomas
Nanou (1986) .... Max
Room with a View, A (1986) .... Cecil Vyse
Insurance Man, The (1986) (TV) .... Mr. Kafka
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)(as Daniel Day Lewis) .... Johnny
My Brother Jonathan (1985) (TV) .... Jonathan Dakers
Bounty, The (1984) .... John Fryer
Making of 'The Bounty', The (1984) (TV) .... Himself
How Many Miles to Babylon? (1982) .... Alex
Gandhi (1982) .... Colin
Frost in May (1982) (TV) .... Archie Hughes-Forret
Artemis 81 (1981) (TV) .... Exhibitioner
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)(uncredited) .... Child vandal
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