Adrien Brody
| Adrien Brody | |||||||||||
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 Brody in New York City, September 2007 |
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| Born | April 14, 1973 Woodhaven, Queens, New York, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1988–present | ||||||||||
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Adrien Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. He received widespread recognition and subsequent acclaim when he was cast as the lead in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002). He is notable as the youngest actor ever to receive the Academy Award for Best Actor and the only American actor ever to win a Cesar Award.
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Biography
Early life
Brody was born in Woodhaven, Queens, New York, the son of Sylvia Plachy, a photojournalist, and Elliot Brody, a retired history professor and painter.[1] Brody's father is Jewish and Brody's mother was born in Budapest, Hungary to a Catholic father and Jewish mother.[2][3] As a child, Brody performed magic shows at children's birthday parties as "The Amazing Adrien".[4] Brody attended New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (famous as the inspiration for television's Fame). His parents enrolled him in acting classes to distance him from the dangerous kids with whom he associated.
In 1992, Brody was seriously hurt in a motorcycle accident in which he flew over a car and crashed head-first into a crosswalk. He spent months recuperating. An avid daredevil, he has broken his nose three times doing off-the-wall stunts. His nose was also broken once again during the filming of Summer of Sam.
Career
Taking acting classes as a youth, by age thirteen, he had done an off-Broadway play and a PBS-TV-movie. Brody hovered on the brink of stardom, receiving an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his role in the 1998 film Restaurant and later praise for his roles in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. He received widespread recognition when he was cast as the lead in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002). To prepare for the role, Brody withdrew for months, gave up his apartment and his car, learned how to play Chopin on the piano, and lost 29 lbs (13 kg). The role won him an Academy Award for Best Actor, making him, at 29, the youngest actor ever to win the award. He also won a César Award for his performance, becoming the only American actor to win one. Throughout his career, Brody has been compared to Al Pacino for his unique looks and method acting. He is also widely known for giving presenter Halle Berry a back-breaking kiss before accepting his Best Actor Oscar, and as the spokesman for fashion brand Ermenegildo Zegna.
Brody appeared on Saturday Night Live on May 10, 2003, his first TV work, but he was banned from the show after giving an improvised introduction while wearing faux dreadlocks for Jamaican reggae musical guest Sean Paul (the show's producer, Lorne Michaels, is notorious for hating unscripted performances). However, the unscripted intro remains in reruns of the episode. Other TV appearances include NBC's The Today Show and on MTV's Punk'd after being tricked by Ashton Kutcher.
After The Pianist Brody has appeared in four very different movies. He played Noah Percy, a mentally disabled young man in the movie The Village by M. Night Shyamalan, shell-shocked war veteran Jack Starks in The Jacket, writer Jack Driscoll in the 2005 King Kong remake, and father-to-be Peter Whitman in The Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson. King Kong was a box office success; it grossed $550 million worldwide and is Brody's most successful movie to date. He also played a detective in Hollywoodland. He has also appeared in Diet Coke commercials and Tori Amos' music video for "A Sorta Fairytale".
On January 5, 2006, Brody confirmed speculation that he indeed was interested and very willing to play the role of The Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight. However, Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. eventually decided to cast Heath Ledger as The Joker.[5] He was also in talks with Paramount to play Spock in J. J. Abrams Star Trek XI, but it ultimately went to Zachary Quinto.[6][7] Brody also starred as a con man named "Bloom" (no first name given) in Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom, which is slated to be released in late December, 2008.[8] Brody will star in Splice, a science fiction film directed by Vincenzo Natali that is slated for a 2009 release.
Personal life
Brody is currently dating Elsa Pataky.[9][10]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Home at Last | Billy | |
| 1989 | New York Stories | Mel | |
| 1991 | The Boy Who Cried Bitch | Eddie | |
| 1993 | King of the Hill | Lester Silverstone | |
| 1994 | Angels in the Outfield | Danny Hemmerling | |
| Jailbreakers | Skinny | ||
| 1996 | Nothing to Lose | Ray Diglovanni | aka Ten Benny |
| Solo | Dr. Bill Stewart, Solo's Designer | ||
| Bullet | Ruby | ||
| 1997 | The Last Time I Committed Suicide | Ben | |
| Six Ways to Sunday | Arnie Finklestein | ||
| 1998 | The Thin Red Line | Cpl. Fife | |
| The Undertaker's Wedding | Mario Bellini | ||
| Restaurant | Chris Calloway | Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male | |
| 1999 | Oxygen | Harry | |
| Liberty Heights | Van Kurtzman | ||
| Summer of Sam | Richie | ||
| 2000 | Bread and Roses | Sam Shapiro | |
| Harrison's Flowers | Kyle Morris | ||
| 2001 | The Affair of The Necklace | Count Nicolas De La Motte | |
| Love the Hard Way | Jack Grace | VFAA Award for Best Actor | |
| 2002 | Dummy | Steven | |
| The Pianist | Wladyslaw Szpilman | Academy Award for Best Actor Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor César Award for Best Actor National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - European Film Award for Best Actor Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated - Polish Academy Award for Best Actor |
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| 2003 | The Singing Detective | First Hood | |
| 2004 | The Village | Noah Percy | |
| 2005 | The Jacket | Jack Starks | |
| King Kong | Jack Driscoll | ||
| 2006 | Hollywoodland | Louis Simo | |
| 2007 | The Tehuacan Project | Narrator | |
| Manolete | Manuel Rodríguez Sánchez "Manolete" | ||
| The Darjeeling Limited | Peter Whitman | ||
| 2008 | The Brothers Bloom | Bloom | awaiting release |
| Cadillac Records | Leonard Chess | ||
| 2009 | Splice | Clive | post-production |
| Giallo | Inspector Enzo Lavia | post-production |
References
- ↑ "Adrien Brody Biography (1973-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-24.
- ↑ Meyers, William (2005-01-27). "Rescuing Beauty From History's Dark Corners", The New York Sun. Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
- ↑ "The prime of Adrien Brody", Guardian Unlimited (2006-11-12). Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
- ↑ The Village Voice
- ↑ "The Latest Batman movie news". Batman-on-film.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-24.
- ↑ Pascale, Anthony (2007-02-26). "Casting Rumor: Damon, Brody & Sinise for Kirk, Spock & McCoy". Trekmovie.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-24.
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ "Brick Writer and Director’s Latest Flick". Cinemafusion.com (2007-02-06). Retrieved on 2008-10-24.
- ↑ "Snap happy lovers Adrien and Elsa capture glitzy premiere". Hellomagazine.ca (2007-09-04). Retrieved on 2008-10-24.
- ↑ Messer, Lesley (2008-10-24). "Adrien Brody & Elsa Pataky's 'Private' Rings". People.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-24.
External links
- Adrien Brody at the Internet Movie Database
- Adrien Brody at Allmovie
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Denzel Washington for Training Day |
Academy Award for Best Actor 2002 for The Pianist |
Succeeded by Sean Penn for Mystic River |
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