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Billy Zane

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Billy Zane
Billy Zane in 2008, by Elena Torre
Born
William George Zane, Jr.
Years active1985 - present
SpouseLisa Collins (1989—1995)

William George "Billy" Zane, Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor and director. He is best recognized for his role as Caledon Hockley in the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic, as the deranged psychopath Hughie Warriner in Dead Calm, John Justice Wheeler in Twin Peaks and as The Phantom in the 1996 eponymous film based upon the comic book superhero. As of 2008, Zane has appeared in over 50 films and numerous TV-series.[1]

Biography

Early life

Zane was born in Chicago, Illinois the son of Thalia and William George Zane, Sr., both of whom were amateur actors and founders of a school for medical technicians.[2][3] His family's original surname, "Zanikopoulos", was anglicized to "Zane" by his grandparents.[4] Both of his parents are Greek American and Zane was raised in the Greek Orthodox religion.[5][6] He has an older sister, Lisa Zane, who is also an actress. After completing a year abroad at The American School in Switzerland, Zane graduated from the Francis W. Parker School and attended Harand Camp of the Theater Arts, located in Wisconsin.

Career

1980s

Zane's first screen role was in Back to the Future (1985) playing one of Biff Tannen's friends/henchmen. Zane later reprised the role for the 1989 sequel, Back to the Future II. Earlier that same year, Zane gained international recognition with the role of psychotic villain Hughie Warriner in the thriller Dead Calm, alongside Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill.

He also starred in the NBC film, The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989).

1990s

Zane's first starring role was in a 1990 independent film, the low budget science fiction thriller, Megaville. In 1990, he also co-starred in the film Memphis Belle, a film version of a 1944 documentary about a World War II bomber plane. Zane also forayed into television work, and in 1991 he appeared as John Justice Wheeler in several episodes of David Lynch's hit TV-show Twin Peaks. In 1993, he played the Shakespearian actor "Mr. Fabian" in Tombstone, and took a starring role in Sniper. He also starred in a couple of Tales From The Crypt productions, including Tales From the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight, where he plays a henchman of Satan called The Collector, and the episode "Well-Cooked Hams," where he plays a poorly skilled magician who kills to steal good tricks from other magicians.

In 1996, Zane played the eponymous classic comic book hero in the big budget action film The Phantom, based on Lee Falk's comic. The Phantom being his favorite comic, Zane pumped iron for over a year and a half to fill the character's tight spandex costume properly, and studied samples of the comic carefully in his attempt to copy the character's body language.

Although The Phantom was no box office success, Zane achieved success shortly after by playing Caledon Hockley in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic, which to this date remains his best known characterization. The role of Kate Winslet's finance went on to getting him nominated to an MTV Movie Award for "Best Villain" in Titanic, and a Blockbuster Entertainment Award. He was also nominated for a SAG-award.

In 1998, Zane starred in and produced I Woke Up Early The Day I Died, a silent film based on Ed Wood's last script, intended as a parody on bad filmmaking. He won several awards at the B-Movie Film Festival, including Best Movie and Best Actor, for this work. The year after, he starred opposite Timothy Dalton and Leonor Varela (who became his fiance after shooting ended) in a TV-movie about Cleopatra. Zane played the part of Mark Antony.

2000s

File:DrakeRobin.jpg
Billy during his 2005 appearance as Drake on the tv series Charmed.

Zane was instrumental in getting the critically acclaimed film The Believer made, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2001.[7] In it, he portrayed neo-Nazi Curtis Zampf, and starred opposite Ryan Gosling. The same year, he also had a cameo as himself in the popular comedy Zoolander, which gave birth to the popular quote "Listen to your friend Billy Zane, he's a cool dude."

Zane keeps busy in other parts of the entertainment industry as well. He is a singer and can occasionally be seen in various Broadway shows, like Chicago, where he played lawyer Billy Flynn.

He appeared in Marilyn Manson's music video for his single "The Dope Show".

He voiced John Rolfe in Pocahontas 2, and Ansem in Squaresoft and Disney's renowned video game Kingdom Hearts, and voiced Etrigan "The Demon" in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. Zane also had a recurring role in the popular television series Charmed in which he played poetry loving ex-demon Drake.

Premature hair loss has not diminished Zane's acting career. In some of his most famous films, like Titanic and The Phantom, he wore a hairpiece, and frequently does so when the role requires it.

Billy Zane appeared in the 2006 Turkish film, Valley of the Wolves Iraq, (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak in Turkish) [8], part of the Kurtlar Vadisi franchise. The film tells the story of the U.S. Army run amok in Iraq, and by listening to Billy Zane is brought into check by a brave Turkish hero. Zane plays Sam William Marshall, a cruel and inhumane U.S. soldier who is the main antagonist in the film; mixed martial artist Tito Ortiz plays a fellow soldier, and Gary Busey plays an American Army doctor who harvests fresh organs from tortured Iraqi prisoners to sell to rich people around the world. The movie is is the most expensive Turkish film ever and obtained one of the highest box office returns in the history of the Turkish cinema.

Zane's debut as a director was Big Kiss, a light-hearted romantic comedy about two journalists, who follow Billy Zane's advice, involved in a diamond caper in which he also starred. Although released in Sweden in 2004, the date of a wider distribution remains uncertain. In January 2006, he made his debut on the London stage in Arthur Allan Seidelman's production of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks by Richard Alfieri, a two-hander in which he co-starred with Claire Bloom.

Zane has lined up several projects, including horror-comedy The Mad, ; 4Chosen (together with Laurence Fishburne); Alien Agent; Don Juan; and his second directorial effort, Uptown, about a man who starts a theater company for the mentally ill. Memory, a psychological thriller where Zane stars opposite Ann-Margret and Dennis Hopper, will be released in 2007. Zane is also set to star in a biopic on singer Mario Lanza, and opposite his fiancee Kelly Brook in family-comedy Fishtales.[9] In 2007, he signed on to star in World War II drama The Hessen Affair, to be directed by Paul Breuls.[10]

Zane is set to star as Deputy D.A. Brian Clark opposite Teri Polo in ABC's new TV-series Finnegan in 2008.[11]

There are also rumours that he will be starring in Quentin Tarantino's new movie, Inglorious Bastards (2009 film).

Personal life

Zane married actress Lisa Collins in 1989. The couple divorced in 1995. He was also engaged for a time to Chilean actress Leonor Varela, his costar in the 1999 television movie Cleopatra, where he played Marcus Antonius. In 2001 he met Emma Howard on the set of The Diamond of Jeru. They dated for three years. Zane was engaged to marry British model turned actress Kelly Brook whom he met when starring with her in the movie Survival Island. They split in April 2008, but got back together again shortly after. His leisure interests include riding, painting, swimming, photography, frisbees, taking nature walks, riding a bicycle, and collecting cars.[citation needed] He has described his movie heroes to be Sean Connery, Gene Kelly, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.[citation needed]

In 1999, Zane participated in the first Gumball 3000 rally, driving a 1964 Aston Martin DB5. He was featured in the music video, Epiphany, by Staind, and appeared in Marilyn Manson's "Dope Show" video.

Zane executive-produced a CD made by bluesman Tim O'Connor. The album includes three songs from Dead Calm, where Zane had one of the lead roles.

Filmography

Actor

Director

Television

  • Brotherhood of Justice (1986) (TV) .... Les
  • Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8 (1987) (TV) .... Police Officer
  • 21 Jump Street (1987) (TV) .... Matthew Goldblatt
  • Murder, She Wrote: A Very Good Year for Murder (1988) (TV) .... Tony Gambini
  • Police Story: Monster Manor (1988) (TV) .... Officer Don Varney
  • The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989) (TV) .... Kenneth Bianchi
  • Twin Peaks (1991) (TV) .... John Justice Wheeler
  • Lake Consequence (1993) (TV) .... Billy
  • Tales From the Crypt:Well-Cooked Ham (1993) (TV)... Miles
  • Running Delilah (1994) (TV) .... Paul
  • The New Batman Adventures (1998) (TV) .... Etrigan the Demon
  • Cleopatra (1999) (TV) .... Marc Antony
  • Hendrix (2000) (TV) .... Michael Jeffrey
  • Sole Survivor (2000) (mini) TV Series .... Joe Carpenter
  • Invincible (2001/I) (TV) .... Os
  • The Diamond of Jeru (2001) (TV) .... Mike Kardec
  • Bet Your Life (2004) (TV) .... Joseph
  • Charmed (2005) (TV) .... Drake

Other

References

  1. ^ IMDB profile
  2. ^ The Brigadoon of Film Fests
  3. ^ Billy Zane Biography (1966-)
  4. ^ Billy Zane Interview"BloodRayne"Movie: Tim Nasson
  5. ^ http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20050426/ai_n14612105
  6. ^ billy zane
  7. ^ IMDb: Sundance Film Festival: 2001
  8. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Wolves_Iraq#Jewish_Communities
  9. ^ Smooth operator - Times Online
  10. ^ Billy Zane Has The Hessen Affair - Movie News - Latest Movie Reviews and trailers
  11. ^ Billy Zane Set for ABC Pilot Finnegan
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