Sam Rockwell
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Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968 in Daly City, California) is an American actor who has received consistently strong critical acclaim for his work in more than forty films, including Box of Moon Light, Galaxy Quest, The Green Mile, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Rockwell, born to two actors who divorced when he was five years old,[1] was raised by his father, Pete, in San Francisco while his mother, Penny, stayed behind in New York (he spent his summer vacations with her.) Rockwell had what The New York Times described in 1998 as a "footloose upbringing," and, at age 10, made his brief stage debut playing Humphrey Bogart in an East Village improv comedy sketch starring his mother.[2] The ensuing applause provided a memorable rush that helped fuel his desire to become an actor when he got older.
He attended School of the Arts High School (San Francisco) and dropped out before graduation. He later received his high school diploma after his parents enrolled him in the somewhat controversial Outward Bound-style alternative high school called Urban Pioneers because, as Rockwell explained, "I just wanted to get stoned, flirt with girls, go to parties."[3] The school, the actor said, "had a reputation as a place stoners went because it was easy to graduate," but the program ended up helping him regain an interest in performing. After appearing in an independent film during his senior year, he graduated and moved to New York to pursue an acting career.[4]
[edit] Early films
After his first film role in 1989's Clownhouse (produced by Francis Ford Coppola's production company) which he filmed when based in San Francisco, he moved to New York at age 18 and trained at the William Esper Studios. His career slowly gathered momentum in the early 90s when he alternated between small-screen guest spots in TV shows like The Equalizer, NYPD Blue and Law & Order and small roles in films such as Last Exit to Brooklyn and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He also appeared as the title character in the comedy cult classic[citation needed] "The Search for One-Eyed Jimmy". During this time Rockwell worked in restaurants as a busboy and delivered burritos by bicycle.[5] At one point, Rockwell even worked as a private detective's assistant. "I tailed a chick who was having an affair and took pictures of her at this motel," he told Rolling Stone in 2002. "It was pretty sleazy." A well-paying Miller beer commercial in 1994 finally freed the actor from restaurant drudgery and allowed him to pursue acting full-time. Still, financial constraints plagued him for many more years and money has been a recurring topic in interviews; he once alluded to being evicted from an apartment in the late 90's.[citation needed]
His career continued on an upward momentum and the turning point in Rockwell's career was Tom DiCillo's 1996 film Box of Moon Light, playing an eccentric man-child who dresses like Davy Crockett and lives in an isolated mobile home. The ensuing acclaim put him front and center with casting agents and new-found fans alike, with Rockwell himself acknowledging that "That film was definitely a turning point....I was sort of put on some independent film map after 10 years in New York."[4]
He also won strong reviews for the 1997 film Lawn Dogs, where he played a working-class lawn mower who befriends a wealthy 10-year-old girl (played by Mischa Barton) in an upper-class gated community in Kentucky; Rockwell's impressive performance won him Best Actor honors at both the Montreal World Film Festival and the Catalonian International Film Festival. In 1999, Rockwell played the psychotic killer and villain, William " Wild Bill" Wharton, opposite Tom Hanks in the Stephen King prison drama The Green Mile. At the time of the film's shooting, Rockwell explained why he was attracted to playing such unlikable characters. He said, "I like that dark stuff. I think heroes should be flawed. There's a bit of self-loathing in there, and a bit of anger....But after this, I've really got to play some lawyers, or a British aristocrat, or they'll put a label on me."[1]
After strong appearances as a bumbling actor in 1999's sci-fi satire Galaxy Quest and as gregarious villain Eric Knox in Charlie's Angels (2000), Rockwell won the biggest leading role of his career to date: the troubled and controversial The Gong Show host Chuck Barris in actor George Clooney's 2002 directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Starring alongside established Hollywood stars like Drew Barrymore and Julia Roberts, Rockwell earned the lion's share of critics' praise.
[edit] Recent work
Since then he has also received positive notices for his somewhat comedic role opposite Nicolas Cage in Ridley Scott's Matchstick Men (2003), with Entertainment Weekly singling out "Sam Rockwell, who seems destined by a kind of excessive interestingness to forever be a colorful sidekick."[6] The actor received somewhat more mixed reviews as Zaphod Beeblebrox in the 2005 film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Some hardcore HG2G fans and critics from numerous media outlets felt Rockwell's portrayal of Zaphod was a little too over-the-top and too "George W. Bush".[citation needed]
In addition to big-budget feature films, Rockwell also keeps his feet firmly planted in the indie film world with projects such as The F Word and he recently played a very randy, Halloween-costume-clad Batman in a short, Robin's Big Date, opposite Justin Long as Robin.
Theater continues to be important to Rockwell; since 1992 the actor has been a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company, where Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz are Co-Artistic Directors. In 2005, Hoffman directed him in Stephen Adly Guirgis' hit play, The Last Days of Judas Icariot. This past August, Rockwell work-shopped an upcoming LAByrinth production, North of Mason-Dixon, scheduled to debut in London, UK in 2007 and then premiere in New York City later the same year. Other plays in which Rockwell performed are: Dumb Waiter (2001), Zoo Story (2001), Hot L Baltimore (2000), Goosepimples (1998), Unidentified Human Remains, Face Divided, Orphans, Dessert at Waffle House, and The Largest Elizabeth.
[edit] Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford | Charley Ford | |
| 2005 | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Zaphod Beeblebrox | |
| 2003 | Matchstick Men | Frank Mercer | |
| 2002 | Confessions of a Dangerous Mind | Chuck Barris | |
| Welcome to Collinwood | Pero | ||
| 2001 | Heist | Jimmy Silk | |
| Made | Hotel Clerk | ||
| 2000 | Charlie's Angels | Eric Knox | |
| 1999 | Galaxy Quest | Guy Fleegman | |
| The Green Mile | 'Wild Bill' Wharton | ||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Francis Flute | ||
| 1998 | Celebrity | Darrow's Entourage | |
| Safe Men | Sam | ||
| 1997 | Lawn Dogs | Trent | |
| 1996 | Box of Moon Light | The Kid, aka Bucky | |
| Basquiat | Thug | ||
| 1990 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Head Thug | |
| 1989 | Clownhouse | Randy |
[edit] References
- ^ a b Sam Rockwell; One-Man Gallery of Rogues, Crooks and Oddballs. by Laura Winters, The New York Times. (1998-09-13). Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
- ^ “Sam Rockwell,” by Miranda Spencer. Biography, Jan. 2003.
- ^ Today's Buzz Stories: Rockwell turned around. CNN.com Showbuzz. (2002-12-23). Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
- ^ a b AT THE MOVIES; A Career Picks Up. by Bernard Weinraub, The New York Times. (1998-01-23). Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
- ^ “Sam Rockwell,” by M.B. Rolling Stone, 10/3/02.
- ^ Movie Review: Matchstick Men. by Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly. (2003-09-10). Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Sam Rockwell at the Internet Movie Database
- LAByrinth Theater Company http://www.labtheater.org/
