'''William "Willem" Dafoe Jr.''' (born July 22, 1955) is a versatile, award-winning and Oscar-nominated American film and stage actor. He is a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group.

Biography

William Dafoe has Italian/Irish/German/Puerto Rican ancestry. Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, the seventh of eight children, he acquired the nickname "Willem" in childhood. After graduating from Appleton East High School, he studied drama at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but left before graduation in order to join the newly formed avant-garde group Theatre X. After touring with Theatre X for four years in the United States and Europe, he moved to New York City and joined the Performance Group, where he met director Elizabeth LeCompte. LeCompte and Dafoe left the Performance Group together became professional collaborators, and began a relationship. Their son, Jack, was born in 1982.
Dafoe married Italian actress Giada Colagrande on March 25, 2005.

Career

Dafoe's film career began in 1981, when he was cast in ''Heaven's Gate'', but his role was removed from the film during editing. A year later he starred as the leader of a motorcycle gang in ''The Loveless'' (and later played a similar role in ''Streets of Fire''), but his first breakthrough film role was as the compassionate Sergeant Elias in ''Platoon'' (1986). He has since become a popular character actor; due to his harsh facial features, he is often typecast as unstable or villainous characters, most recently the Green Goblin in the ''Spider-Man'' movies. Before that, he was briefly considered for the role of The Joker by Tim Burton and Sam Hamm for the Batman film in 1989. Hamm recalls "We thought, 'Well, Willem Dafoe looks just like The Joker.'" The role ended up going to Jack Nicholson http://www.batmanmovieonline.com/behindthescenes/articles/samhamm.htm
He also played Jesus in ''The Last Temptation of Christ'' (1988), which moved Sergio Leone to exclaim, "This is the face of a murderer, not of Our Lord!" He once remarked "To this day, I can't believe I was so brazen to think I could pull off the Jesus role," though Dafoe received acclaim despite the controversy surrounding the film.

Twice he has played peculiar detectives, once in ''The Boondock Saints'' (1999), and again in ''American Psycho'' (2000). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1986 for ''Platoon'' and 2000 for ''Shadow of the Vampire''. After ''Spider-Man'', Dafoe had a rare opportunity to play a heroic film role when he provided the voice of Gill in the animated movie ''Finding Nemo''.

He worked briefly as a model in a 1990 Prada campaign.

In 2004, Dafoe lent his likeness and voice for the highly successful James Bond video game ''Everything or Nothing'' as villain Nikolai Diavolo.

Filmography

* ''Ratatouille'' (2007) .... Ratatouille's Dad (voice)
* ''The Walker'' (2007)
* ''Anamorph'' (2007) .... Stan Aubray
* ''French Bean'' (2007)
* ''Inside Man'' (2006) .... Captain Darius
* ''American Dreamz'' (2006) .... Vice President Sutter
* ''Before it Had a Name'' (2005) .... Leslie (also co-writer/written and directed by Colagrande)
* ''Manderlay'' (2005) .... Grace's father
* ''XXX: State of the Union'' (2005) .... George Deckert
* ''The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'' (2004) .... Klaus Daimler
* ''Mr. Ripley's Return'' (2004) .... Murchison
* ''The Aviator'' (2004) .... Roland Sweet
* ''The Clearing'' (2004) .... Arnold Mack
* ''Control'' (2004 Direct-to-video movie) .... Michael Copeland
* ''Once Upon a Time in Mexico'' (2003) .... Barillo
* ''Finding Nemo'' (2003) .... Gill (voice)
* ''Auto Focus'' (2002) .... John Carpenter
* ''Spider-Man'' (2002) .... Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin
* ''Bullfighter'' .... Father Ramirez
* ''The Reckoning'' .... Martin
* ''Edges of the Lord'' .... Priest
* ''Pavilion of Women'' .... Father Andre
* ''Shadow of the Vampire'' (2000) .... Max Schreck
* ''Animal Factory'' .... Earl Copen
* ''American Psycho'' (2000) .... Donald Kimball
* ''The Boondock Saints'' (1999) .... FBI Agent Paul Smecker
* ''eXistenZ'' (1999) .... Gas
* ''New Rose Hotel'' (1998) .... X
* ''Lulu on the Bridge'' .... Dr. Van Horn
* ''Affliction'' (1997) .... Rolfe Whitehouse
* ''Speed 2: Cruise Control'' (1997) .... John Geiger
* ''The English Patient (film)'' (1996).... Caravaggio
* ''Basquiat'' (1996) .... The Electrician
* ''Victory'' .... Axel Heyst
* ''The Night and the Moment'' (1995) .... The Writer
* ''Tom & Viv'' (1994) .... Thomas Stearns Eliot
* ''Clear and Present Danger'' (1994) .... John Clark
* ''In weiter Ferne, so nah!'' .... Emit Flesti
* ''Body of Evidence'' (1993) .... Frank Dulaney
* ''Light Sleeper'' (1993) .... John LeTour
* ''White Sands'' (1992) .... Deputy Sheriff Ray Dolezal
* ''Flight of the Intruder'' .... Lt. Cmdr. Virgil 'Tiger' Cole
* ''Wild at Heart'' (1990) .... Bobby Peru
* ''Cry Baby'' (1990) .... Hateful Guard at Maryland Training School for Boys
* ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989) .... Charlie - Villa Dulce
* ''Triumph of the Spirit'' .... Salamo Arouch
* ''Mississippi Burning'' (1988) .... Agent Ward
* ''The Last Temptation of Christ'' (1988) .... Jesus
* ''Arrive Alive'' (unfinished) (1988)
* ''Off Limits'' .... Sfc. Buck McGriff, CID
* ''Platoon'' (1986) .... Sgt. Elias Grodin
* ''To Live and Die in L.A.'' (1985) .... Eric 'Rick' Masters
* ''Roadhouse 66'' .... Johnny Harte
* ''Streets of Fire'' (1984) .... Raven Shaddock, Bombers Leader
* ''New York Nights'' (1984) .... Boyfriend
* ''The Hunger'' (1983) .... 2nd Phone Booth Youth
* ''The Loveless'' (1982) .... Vance
* ''Heaven's Gate'' (1980) .... Extra

Trivia

* His birth name is William Dafoe. He changed it to "Willem" so people wouldn't call him "Billy."

External links

* Willem Dafoe Biography
* Profile and Gossips
* Interview with Willem Dafoe

Biography courtesy of the brilliant Wikipedia!