William Dafoe is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, who has received receiving nominations for four Academy Awards.
Let’s find out more about the actor!
- He was a candidate for the role of the Joker in Batman (1989), which went to Jack Nicholson.
- Says he feels like he has missed out on more conventional roles because he’s perceived as an eccentric actor in dark little films, kind of the boy-next-door type – if you lived next door to a mausoleum.
- He was delirious for 24 hours after coming down with yellow fever on the set of Platoon (1986).
- He did most of his own stunts on the glider in Spider-Man (2002).
- So when you see the Green Goblin moving around on it, when it’s not CG, then it’s Willem pretty much the whole time.
- As of 2014, has appeared in six films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.
- Is the second youngest of eight siblings. He has five sisters, named Diane Fredrickson, Jane Lambie, Nancy Christiansen, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, and Sarah Holbrook, and two brothers, named Richard and Donald. Brother, Donald Dafoe, is an accomplished transplant surgeon.
- The only actor to ever be nominated for an Oscar for playing a vampire, for his role as Max Schrek in Shadow of the Vampire (2000).
- His first name, William, is shared with his father.
- He did not want to be called William Jr. or Billy, and among various nicknames since childhood, was Willem, which he liked, and has kept this name ever since.
- Provided his voice on Lou Reed’s album “The Raven” (2003). On it, he performs a rewritten and reworked, spoken-word version of Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry.
- Named one of “The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century” by the New York Times (November 25, 2020).
- Divides his time between Rome, New York City and Los Angeles with his Italian wife Giada.
- While doing a blocking run-through on Wild at heart (1990) (for the scene in which Dafoe’s character threatens to rape Laura Dern’s character), Dafoe playfully sang his lines. Director David Lynch loved this, and wanted Dafoe to actually sing his lines in the scene, when they shot it. However, the idea did not actually go through.
- He was under consideration for Dennis Hopper’s role (Frank Booth) in Blue Velvet (1986).
- Built sets and acted with experimental Milwaukee, Wisconsin group Theatre X, before moving to New York in 1977, where he worked with the Wooster Group at the Performing Garage.
- Quite possibly has the most on-screen deaths of any mainstream actor. His death scenes include Platoon (1986), The Last Temptation (1988), Speed 2: Κρουαζιέρα με τον κίνδυνο (1997), eXistenZ (1999), Στη σκιά του βρυκόλακα (2000), Spider-Man (2002), and Once Upon A Time in Mexico (2003), among others.
- He sticks to an all-organic, vegan diet except for the rare occasion when he indulges in a fried lake perch sandwich.
- Has English, French, German, Irish, Northern Irish, Scottish and Swiss-French ancestry. Many of his antecedents resided in Canada.
- Childhood celebrity crush was sex symbol Raquel Welch.
- He received an Honorary Doctorate from the Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio.
- Has a son with Elizabeth LeCompte: Jack Dafoe (born 1982).
- John Malkovich, Nicolas Cage, and Dafoe were all approached to play the Green Goblin in Spider-Man (2002). Dafoe and Malkovich starred in Shadow of the vampire σκιά του βρυκόλακα (2000) together, while Cage produced the film. Dafoe ended up getting the Spider-Man role.
- Was involved for decades (from 1977) with theater director and actress Elizabeth LeCompte, who was also a member and director of the Wooster Group. He later married Italian writer/director Giada Colagrande in 2005.
- Visited the Sarajevo International Film Festival together with Steve Buscemi in 2000.
- He was offered the role of Senator Ethan Roark in Sin City (2005), which went to Powers Boothe.
- Has worked with seven directors who have won a Best Director Oscar: Michael Cimino, Kathryn Bigelow, William Friedkin, Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese, Anthony Minghella and Guillermo del Toro.
- Attended and graduated from Appleton East High School in Appleton, Wisconsin.
- Attended Einstein Junior High School in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he was known as “Billy”.
- Member of the ‘Official Competition’ jury at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival in 2007.
- To date, he has shot 18 films in Europe. (2007)
- Member of the ‘Official Competition’ jury at the 67th Cannes International Film Festival in 2014.
- As a 12-year old, he attended the 1967 NFL Championship Game between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers, better known as the Ice Bowl, one of the most famous games in pro football history.
- He has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant: Platoon (1986).
- The longest he has gone without an Academy Award nomination is the 17 years between Shadow of the Vampire (2000) and The Florida Project (2017).
- Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. He was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Supporting Actor category for his performance in the film xXx: Ο απόλυτος πράκτορας 2 (2005)
- However, he failed to receive a nomination (Had he gotten the nomination, it would have been his third overall. He was previously nominated for Worst Supporting Actor at the 1998 Razzie Awards for his role in Speed 2 (1997), and for Worst Actor at the 1994 Razzie Awards for his performance in Body of Evidence (1992).).
- His passion is experimental theatre. He co founded The Wooster Group in Manhattan.
- Moved to New York in 1977 and soon after founded the Wooster Group which has toured America and the world,.
- Long time practitioner of Ashtanga yoga.
- Speaks fluent Italian.
- Michael Caimino fired him from Heaven’s Gate because he laughed at a crew member’s joke on set.
- Born at 7:30 PM (CST).
- He received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
- Worked with an experimental theatre group in Milwaukee while at college.
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