Willem Dafoe Biography

In 1979, Willem Dafoe was given a small role in Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (1980) from which he was fired. His first feature role came shortly after in Kathryn Bigelow's The Loveless (1982). From there, he went on to perform in over 70 films - in Hollywood (Spider-Man (2002), The English Patient (1996), Finding Nemo (2003), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), Clear and Present Danger (1994), White Sands (1992), Mississippi Burning (1988), Streets of Fire (1984) and in independent cinema in the U.S. (The Clearing (2004), Animal Factory (2000), Basquiat (1996), The Boondock Saints (1999), American Psycho (2000)) and abroad (Lars von Trier's Manderlay (2005), Ho Yim's Pavilion of Women (2001), Yurek Bogayevicz's Edges of the Lord (2001), Wenders' Faraway, So Close! (1993) (aka 'Faraway So Close!) and Brian Gilbert's Tom & Viv (1994)).He has chosen projects for diversity of roles and opportunities to work with strong directors. He has worked in the films of Wes Anderson (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)), Martin Scorsese (The Aviator (2004), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)), Paul Schrader (Auto Focus (2002), Affliction (1997), Light Sleeper (1992)), David Cronenberg (eXistenZ (1999)), Abel Ferrara (New Rose Hotel (1998)), David Lynch (Wild at Heart (1990)), William Friedkin (To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)) and Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Platoon (1986)).He was nominated twice for the Academy Award (Platoon (1986) and Shadow of the Vampire (2000)) and once for the Golden Globe. Among other nominations and awards, he received an LA Film Critics Award and an Independent Spirit Award.Recent projects include Mr. Bean's Vacation (2007), Henry Miller's Anamorph (2007), Paul Schrader's The Walker (2007) and Adam Resurrected (2008), Theodoros Angelopoulos' The Dust of Time (2008) (aka 'The Dust of Time'), Abel Ferrara's Go Go Tales (2007), Spike Lee's Inside Man (2006), Paul Weitz's American Dreamz (2006) and Giada Colagrande's Before It Had a Name (2005) (which was co-written by Mr. Dafoe) and the Nobuhiro Suwa segment of Paris, je t'aime (2006).Other upcoming films include Andrew Stanton's John Carter of Mars (2012), Lars von Trier's Antichrist (2009), Fireflies in the Garden (2008) opposite Julia Roberts, Julian Schnabel's Miral (2010), Werner Herzog's My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009), Christian Carion's Farewell (2004), Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Giada Colagrande's A Woman (2010), Paul Weitz's The Vampire's Assistant (2000) and the Lionsgate film Daybreakers (2009) co-starring with Ethan Hawke.Dafoe is one of the founding members of 'The Wooster Group', the New York-based experimental theatre collective. He has created and performed in the group's work since 1977, both in the U.S. and internationally.