| Jim Caviezel | |
|---|---|
Caviezel in 2009 |
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| Born | James Patrick Caviezel, Jr. September 26, 1968 Mount Vernon, Washington, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Spouse | Kerri Browitt (1996-present) 3 children |
James Patrick "Jim" Caviezel, Jr. /kəˈviːzəl/; (born September 26, 1968) is an American film actor. He is known for playing Jesus Christ in the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, Bobby Jones in Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, Detective John Sullivan in Frequency, Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo, Catch in Angel Eyes, Carroll Oerstadt in Déjà Vu and Private Witt in The Thin Red Line. He currently stars on the CBS crime thriller Person of Interest as John Reese.
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Caviezel was born in Mount Vernon, Washington. His mother, Margaret (née Lavery), is a homemaker, and his father, James Patrick Caviezel, Sr., is a chiropractor.[1][2] He has a younger brother, Timothy, and three sisters, Ann, Amy, and Erin, and was raised in a tight-knit Roman Catholic[3][4] family in Conway, Washington. His surname is of Romansh origin; his father is of Slovak (maternal) and Swiss (paternal) descent, while his mother is of Irish descent.[5][6]
He attended Mount Vernon High School for two years and then moved to Seattle and lived with family friends in order to play basketball at O'Dea High School, a Catholic high school. The following spring, he transferred from O'Dea to another Catholic school, John F. Kennedy Memorial High in Burien, where he played basketball, graduating in 1987. Following high school, Caviezel enrolled at Bellevue Community College, where the 6'2" athlete played college basketball. A foot injury in his second year put an end to his hopes of a basketball career in the NBA. He transferred to the University of Washington where he turned his focus to acting and became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
Caviezel has appeared in episodes of Murder, She Wrote and The Wonder Years in his early career. After appearing in Wyatt Earp and G.I. Jane, Caviezel had a breakthrough performance in Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, based on World War II. He played Black John, a Missouri bushwhacker, in Ang Lee's Ride with the Devil (1999), a film budgeted and intended as a summer blockbuster, but fell flat at the box office. He was originally cast to play Cyclops/Scott Summers in X-Men (2000) but dropped out because of a scheduling conflict with the film, Frequency.
Caviezel starred in such mainstream Hollywood films as Angel Eyes, Pay It Forward and The Count of Monte Cristo (2002). In 2001, he played the lead in Madison, a film that tells the story of hydroplane racing in Madison, Indiana. The film did not appear in theaters until 2005. In addition, his work in High Crimes (2002) was highly praised by critics. In 2002, he played a pivotal role in the film I Am David from the Danish novel known as both David and North to Freedom, written by Ann Holm.
In 2004, Caviezel portrayed Jesus Christ in the Mel Gibson film The Passion of the Christ. During filming he was struck by lightning, accidentally scourged, dislocated his shoulder, suffered a lung infection, pneumonia, and hypothermia. [7] Prior to filming, Gibson warned Caviezel that playing Jesus could hurt his acting career. In 2011 Caviezel admitted that good roles had been hard to come by ever since.[8][9]
Caviezel played a leading role in Unknown, an IFC Films project. Caviezel played the main antagonist in Tony Scott's 2006 action film, Déjà Vu. He played "Kainin" in Outlander (2008).
Caviezel provides the voice of Jesus on the Thomas Nelson Inc.-produced New Testament audio dramatization The Word of Promise,[10] released in the fall of 2007.[11] In 2008, he starred in Long Weekend, co-starring Claudia Karvan and directed by Jamie Blanks at Wilsons Promontory.
In 2009, Caviezel played French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam in The Stoning of Soraya M., a drama set in 1986 Iran about the execution of a young mother. The film, produced by Stephen McEveety, also stars Oscar-nominated Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo. When asked about how his Roman Catholic faith was affected by this story, Caviezel says, "...you don't have to go any further than the gospels to figure out what the right thing to do is, whether you should be more concerned helping someone regardless of their religion or where they’re from."[12]
Alongside Ian McKellen, Caviezel starred in a remake of the British science fiction TV show, The Prisoner, which aired in November 2009.[13][14]
Alongside Michael Emerson and Taraji P. Henson, Caviezel stars in Person of Interest, created by J.J. Abrams and Jonah Nolan. The show was officially picked up by CBS on May 13, 2011.
Caviezel is a devout Roman Catholic[15] and has been a featured public speaker at religious venues since the release of The Passion. On March 19, 2005 he was the main speaker at the first Catholic Men's Conference in Boston.
In 2006, Caviezel enrolled in at least one class at University of Notre Dame, but not as a full-time student.[16]
On October 24, 2006, Caviezel was featured (along with Patricia Heaton, Kurt Warner, and Mike Sweeney) in an advertisement opposing embryonic stem-cell research. Caviezel began the advertisement by saying "Le-bar nash be-neshak", Aramaic for "You betray the Son of Man with a kiss", a reference to Judas's betraying Christ and a phrase used in the Greek version of the Gospel of Luke.[17][18] The line, however, did not include a translation into English. Caviezel closed the commercial with the line, "You know now. Don't do it.". This was in reference to voting in favor of the amendment. The advertisement was a response to a commercial featuring Michael J. Fox, in favor of embryonic stem cell research.
Caviezel donated $2,100 to the campaign to re-elect U.S. Senator Rick Santorum in 2006; Santorum, a staunch abortion opponent, lost, however.[19]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | My Own Private Idaho | Airline Clerk | |
| 1992 | The Wonder Years | Bobby Riddle | Episode: "Hero" |
| Diggstown | Billy Hargrove | ||
| 1994 | Wyatt Earp | Warren Earp | |
| 1995 | Children of the Dust | Dexter | TV movie |
| 1996 | Ed | Dizzy Anderson | |
| The Rock | F/A-18 Pilot | ||
| 1997 | G.I. Jane | 'Slov' Slovnik | |
| 1998 | The Thin Red Line | Private Witt | |
| 1999 | Ride with the Devil | Black John | |
| 2000 | Frequency | John Sullivan | |
| Pay It Forward | Jerry | ||
| Madison | Jim McCormick | ||
| 2001 | Angel Eyes | Steven 'Catch' Lambert | |
| 2002 | The Count of Monte Cristo | Edmond Dantes | |
| High Crimes | Tom Kubik | ||
| 2003 | Highwaymen | James 'Rennie' Cray | |
| I Am David | Johannes | Won (shared) CAMIE Award | |
| 2004 | The Passion of the Christ | Jesus Christ | Won MovieGuide Grace Award |
| The Final Cut | Fletcher | ||
| Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius | Bobby Jones | ||
| 2006 | Unknown | Jean Jacket | |
| Déjà Vu | Carroll Oerstadt | ||
| 2008 | Outlander | Kainan | |
| The Stoning of Soraya M. | Freidoune | ||
| Nature's Grave | Peter | ||
| 2009 | The Prisoner | Michael/Six | TV mini-series |
| 2011 | Transit | Nate | |
| Savannah | Ward Allen | ||
| Person of Interest | John Reese | TV series |