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Willem Dafoe (born July 22, 1955) is a versatile American actor. He is a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group.
Born William Dafoe Jr., in Appleton, Wisconsin, the seventh of eight children, he acquired the nickname "Willem" in childhood. He studied drama at the University of Wisconsin, 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 and became personal and professional collaborators. Their son, Jack, was born in 1982. Dafoe married Italian actress Giada Golagrande on March 25, 2005.
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, but his first breakthrough film role was as 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. He also played Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). 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 the Platoon and 2000 for the 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.
Dafoe also 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.
Dafoe is the only listed cast member for the Deus Ex movie, tentatively to be released in 2006.
Willem Dafoe Filmography
Actor
• XXX: State of the Union (2005)
• Ashtanga, NY (2004)
• The Aviator (2004)
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
• Overnight (2004)
• Rockets Redglare! (2004)
• The Clearing (2004)
• Spider-Man 2 (2004)
• The Reckoning (2004)
• Control (2004)
• Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• Auto Focus (2002)
• Spider-Man (2002)
• Bullfighter (2001)
• Edges Of The Lord (2001)
• Pavilion of Women (2001)
• Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
• Animal Factory (2000)
• American Psycho (2000)
• The Boondock Saints (2000)
• New Rose Hotel (1999)
• Existenz (1999)
• Lulu on the Bridge (1998)
• Affliction (1997)
• Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)
• The English Patient (1996)
• Basquiat (1996)
• Victory (1995)
• The Night and the Moment (1994)
• Tom & Viv (1994)
• Clear and Present Danger (1994)
• Faraway, So Close (1993)
• Body of Evidence (1993)
• Light Sleeper (1992)
• White Sands (1992)
• Flight of the Intruder (1991)
• Wild At Heart (1990)
• Cry Baby (1990)
• Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
• Triumph of the Spirit (1989)
• Mississippi Burning (1988)
• The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
• Off Limits (1988)
• Platoon (1986)
• To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
• Roadhouse 66 (1984)
• Streets of Fire (1984)
• The Loveless (1983)
Voice
• Finding Nemo (2003)
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