Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born April 29, 1957)
is an Academy Award winning English/Irish actor. Although
born in London, England he holds an Irish passport
as his father was Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of
England. His mother is actress Jill Balcon, daughter
of Sir Michael Balcon, former head of Ealing Studios.
He is married to actress and director Rebecca Miller,
daughter of playwright Arthur Miller.After studying
at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Daniel Day-Lewis
performed in numerous stage plays and films that garnered
him an Academy Award, two BAFTA awards, and four Golden
Globe nominations. In midst of his career, he has
become known as one of the most selective actors in
the film industry, starring in only four movies in
the last ten years. He has also been acknowledged
for his constant devotion to his roles and copious
amounts of research he performs, often remaining in
character and keeping certain accents he has on screen
throughout the entire shooting schedule. Because of
this he is often given the nickname of the "British
De Niro" as a reference to Robert De Niro who
is also known for his devotion through the famed technique,
method acting
Early life
Two years after his birth in London the Day-Lewis
family moved to Croom's Hill, Greenwich where he grew
up along with his older sister, Lydia Tamasin Day-Lewis,
known as Tamasin, who'd later become a renowned documentary
filmmaker and television chef. His father was plagued
with health problems, first being hospitalized when
Daniel Day-Lewis was 8, and then following with a
series of heart attacks. Cecil Day-Lewis was already
53 years old at the time of his son's birth, and seemed
to take little interest in his children at the time.Later,
when Cecil Day-Lewis died, Daniel felt eerily empty
of emotion. He later regretted not being more close
to his father and wished he had felt more at the time
of his death. Daniel was 15.
Living in Greenwich, he naturally
found himself among some tough South London kids.
Being Irish, Jewish and posh, he was often bullied
by local children his age. Very quickly, therefore,
he mastered the local accent and mannerisms, and believes
this to have been the first convincing role he played.
Later in life, he was known to speak of himself as
very much a disorderly character in his younger years,
often in trouble for shoplifting and other illegal
actsIn 1968, his parents found him to be too wild,
and decided to instill discipline into him by sending
him to a boarding school in Kent called Sevenoaks
School.
Though he despised the school, he
was introduced to two interests that have never left
him, woodworking and acting. He made his debut in
Cry, The Beloved Country wearing extensive makeup
for his role as a little black boy. While his disdain
for the school grew, he did however make his film
debut at the very young age of 14 in Sunday Bloody
Sunday where he played a child vandal in an uncredited
role. After this, having spent two years at Sevenoaks,
Daniel was transferred to be with his sister at Bedales
School in Petersfield.
His acting continued along with his
unruly behavior. In 1973, while suffering from migraines,
Day-Lewis was prescribed painkillers. He enjoyed the
drugs so much he upped the dose to a drastic degree,
eventually beginning to hallucinate. Believing him
to be an addict, the authorities locked him in a room
with a nurse's supervision to go "cold turkey".
Later, he claimed that it took one of his finest performances
- as a sane and sober man - to achieve releaseLeaving
Bedales in 1975, Day-Lewis' attitude had faded away
and he now had to make his career choice. He excelled
onstage at the National Youth Theatre, but though
he loved acting he found something "seedy"
and "distasteful" about backstage life.
Instead, he decided to become a cabinet-maker, applying
for a five year apprenticeship. However, his lack
of experience saw him turned down.
Leaving the woodworking profession
behind, he applied and was accepted at Bristol Old
Vic Theatre School, where he spent three years studying
Theatre and eventually performing at Bristol Old Vic
itself
Career
Eleven years after his film debut he would enter the
film business seriously in a bit part featured in
Gandhi (1982) as Colin a street thug who bullies the
title character, only to be immediately emasculated
by his high strung mother. In 1984, he had a supporting
role appearing as John Fryer, the sulky, skulking,
cowardly First Mate in The Bounty, followed by joining
the Royal Shakespeare Company, performing as Romeo
in Romeo and Juliet however he later grew to detest
the character, often referring to him as a "wanker".
Later he was featured on stage as
"The Count" in the stage-play of Dracula.
He appeared with his hair dyed completely blond in
a throwback to Nosferatu, he later let his hair grow
out to give a frosted punk-like look when he played
half of a gay biracial couple in My Beautiful Laundrette.
He gained public notice when this role was released
simultaneously with a completely different character
in A Room with a View in 1986, where he played a snobbish,
clumsy upper-class twit. In 1987 he assumed leading
man status in Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness
of Being co-starring Juliette Binoche which was nominated
for two Oscars and won four other awards and five
nominations.
At Bristol Old Vic, Day-Lewis developed
his own personal version of "method acting",
an acting technique that focuses on drawing on the
actor's own personal experiences, memories and emotions
in order to replicate them inside of a character.
He put his method into full action in 1989 with his
performance as Christy Brown in Jim Sheridan's My
Left Foot won him numerous awards, including the Academy
Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
While filming the award winning film,
Day-Lewis' eccentricities came to an all-time high,
mostly for the fact that he almost always refused
to break character. He had to be wheeled through the
set in his wheelchair, he had to be helped with his
food, crew members would curse him for having to carry
him in the chair over camera and lighting wires in
order to gain insight into what he believed to be
all aspects of Christy Brown's life, including all
of the embarrassments. On one visit from his English
agent, Day-Lewis again refused to come out of character
as Christy Brown, and his frustrated agent took off.
He also broke two ribs during filming from assuming
the hunched-over position in his wheelchair for weeks
of filming.
He returned to the stage to work with
Richard Eyre, as Hamlet at the National Theater, but
collapsed in the middle of a scene where the ghost
of Hamlet's father first appears to his sons. He began
sobbing uncontrollably and refused to go back on stage.
His understudy was called and was eventually asked
to finish what little was left of the production's
run. The rumor that circled following the incident
was that Day-Lewis saw his own father's ghost in the
scene. Day-Lewis has never commented on this rumor.
The incident was officially attributed to exhaustion.
He has not appeared on stage since.
Three years after his jump to Oscar status, The Last
of the Mohicans was released in 1992, Day-Lewis' research
was well-published when he underwent rigorous weight
training and learned to live off the land and forest
where his character supposedly lived, camped out,
hunting and fishing. He carried his character's musket
with him at all times in order to remain in character,
it has however been denied by several crewmembers
that he actually slept with the musket as well.
While the film carried him to new
heights of stardom, Day-Lewis still preferred to operate
within his own set parameters, preferring smaller
films such as The Age of Innocence co-starring Michelle
Pfeiffer and directed by Martin Scorsese. Ultimately
leading him back to Jim Sheridan to work on In the
Name of the Father as a wrongfully accused convict
wrapped up in a conspiracy inside the British government.
After losing a substantial amount of weight, he kept
Northern Irish accent on and off the set for the entire
shooting schedule and also spent much time living
in a prison cell, as well as making the crew members
throw water and verbal abuse at him. The film earned
him his second Academy Award nomination, his third
BAFTA nomination, and his second Golden Globe nomination.
In 1996, He starred in a film version
of The Crucible based on the play by Arthur Miller
and co-starring Winona Ryder. He followed the role
in 1997 with another return to Jim Sheridan with The
Boxer as a former boxer and Irish Republican Army
terrorist who has recently released from prison. His
preparation included training for six months with
former boxing world champion Barry McGuigan.
Personal life
Because of his privacy, and general lack of words
for explaining his process of method acting, Day-Lewis
rarely speaks publicly about his personal life. He
had what he would later described as "the most
on-off relationship in the world." with French
actress Isabelle Adjani. The strained relationship
that spanned six years eventually climaxed when Adjani
notified Day-Lewis, reportedly by fax, that she was
pregnant. Day-Lewis later replied, also by fax, that
their relationship was over. Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis
was born in 1995, months after the relationship ended.
In 1996 while working on the film
version of the stage-play The Crucible, he was visiting
the home of playwright Arthur Miller where he was
introduced to the writer's daughter, Rebecca Miller.
They would soon fall in love and were married only
two weeks before the film's release. They have two
children, first Ronan Cal Day-Lewis (born June, 14
1998), second Cashel Blake Day-Lewis (born May 2002).
They reportedly split their time between their homes
in the US and in Ireland.
Selected filmography
2006 There Will Be Blood
2005 The Ballad of Jack and Rose Jack Slavin
2002 Gangs of New York Bill "The Butcher"
Cutting Oscar Nominee - Best Actor in a Leading Role
1997 The Boxer Danny Flynn
1996 The Crucible John Proctor
1993 In the Name of the Father Gerry Conlon Oscar
Nominee - Best Actor in a Leading Role
1993 The Age of Innocence Newland Archer
1992 The Last of the Mohicans Hawkeye (Nathaniel Poe)
1989 My Left Foot Christy Brown Oscar Winner - Best
Actor in a Leading Role
1989 Eversmile, New Jersey Dr. Fergus O'Connell
1988 Stars and Bars Henderson Dores
1988 The Unbearable Lightness of Being Tomas
1985 A Room with a View Cecil Vyse
1985 My Beautiful Laundrette Johnny
1985 My Brother Jonathon (TV) Jonathan Dakers
1984 The Bounty John Fryer
1982 Gandhi Colin, South African street tough
1982 Frost in May (TV) Archie Hughes-Forret
1982 How Many Miles to Babylon? Alex
1971 Sunday Bloody Sunday Child vandal uncredited
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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