Paul Bettany
 | This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (September 2009) |
Paul Bettany | |
|---|---|
 Bettany at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International | |
| Born | 27 May 1971 Shepherd's Bush, London, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 (Stellan and Agnes Lark) |
Paul Bettany (born 27 May 1971) is an English actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including A Knight's Tale, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code. He has been nominated for various awards for his work, including BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Early life
Bettany was born in Shepherd's Bush, London, the son of Anne (née Kettle), a stage singer, theatre teacher, and stage manager, and Thane Bettany, a dancer, actor, and drama teacher.[1] He has an older sister, Sarah, and had a younger brother, Matthew. Bettany was raised Roman Catholic.[2][3] While his father taught at the all-girls boarding school Queenswood School in Hertfordshire, the family lived on the campus.[4] His brother Matthew died after a fall at Queenswood. Soon after, Bettany left home and went to live on his own in London and his parents later divorced. He lived in a small flat and earned money by playing his guitar in the streets as a busker. After two years, he found a new job in a home for the elderly.
Career
When Bettany was 19, he decided to be an actor, and he pursued that career with determination, studying at the Drama Centre London in Chalk Farm. He made his stage debut in Stephen Daldry's acclaimed West End revival of An Inspector Calls at the Aldwych Theatre, playing the part of Eric Birling. He also appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar (for which he received a Charleson Award nomination). When Bettany was 21 he appeared in a BBC production of Oliver Twist, as Bill Sikes.
After appearing in the finale of Sean Bean's series Sharpe as HRH The Prince of Orange at the Battle of Waterloo, he made his film debut with a small part in Bent, a Holocaust drama which also featured Clive Owen, Jude Law, and Ian McKellen. He continued doing work in stage and television, these included Joe Penhall's Love and Understanding, which played at London's Bush Theatre and then ran in Connecticut. He had roles in the television productions Killer Net and Coming Home, during which he met and dated Emily Mortimer. He did his last theatre work in One More Wasted Year and Stranger's House at the Royal Court Theatre.
He filmed several more movies, including his first leading role in Gangster No. 1. The British Independent Film Awards nominated him for Best Actor, and the London Film Critics' Circle nominated him for British Newcomer of the Year.
Back in Hollywood, writer/director Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) was planning a new film called The Sin Eater (also known as The Order). He was impressed by Bettany's audition tape, though Bettany eventually decided to film A Knight's Tale instead. The studio executives were not impressed, but Helgeland was determined to cast him, even writing the part of Chaucer for him. A Knight's Tale would be Bettany's first big Hollywood production, and most American audiences would have their first look at Paul Bettany.
He received critical acclaim for A Knight's Tale, including winning the London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Supporting Actor. After the movie wrapped, Helgeland, determined that Hollywood should recognise Bettany's talent, showed the audition tape to many of his peers, including Ron Howard, who promptly cast Bettany in A Beautiful Mind.
After A Beautiful Mind, Bettany was offered the role of serial killer Francis Dolarhyde in Red Dragon, opposite Edward Norton and Anthony Hopkins. He turned down the role in favour of accepting a part with Stellan Skarsgård and Nicole Kidman in controversial director Lars von Trier's Dogville.
Bettany's next major project saw him starring again alongside Russell Crowe in Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. His portrayal of surgeon and naturalist Stephen Maturin brought in more critical acclaim, including a BAFTA nomination, British Actor of the Year (London Film Critics' Circle), and Best Actor (Evening Standard).
On 28 June 2004, Bettany and 13 other actors were included in the 2004 invitation to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[5]
Dogville and The Reckoning were released in limited cinemas in 2004. In September of that year, Bettany made his leading-man debut in Wimbledon, a romantic comedy with Kirsten Dunst. The film's cast would also introduce him to Jon Favreau, playing his manager, a relationship that would return when Favreau cast him as the voice of Jarvis in Iron Man. In spring 2005, Bettany went to Vancouver to film Firewall, a thriller starring Harrison Ford and Virginia Madsen, which reunited him with Wimbledon director Richard Loncraine. He spent the autumn of 2005 filming The Da Vinci Code, based on Dan Brown's best-selling novel and starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou. In the film, he played an Opus Dei monk named Silas.
In 2007, Bettany went to London to star in There For Me, written by his friends Dan Fredenburgh and Doraly Rosen.[6] In 2008, he appeared in the New Line Cinema family fantasy Inkheart, playing the part of a fire-eater named Dustfinger.[7] In 2010, Bettany appeared alongside Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in The Tourist and portrayed the archangel Michael in Legion, a movie based on God's vengeance against humanity. Bettany also starred in the 2011 films Priest and Margin Call.
Bettany was considered for the role of Inspector Javert in Tom Hooper's 2012 film adaptation of Les Miserables but failed to get the role to American Gangster star Russell Crowe.
Personal life
On New Year's Day 2003, Bettany married actress Jennifer Connelly in a ceremony in Scotland attended by a small circle of friends and family; they met while starring together in A Beautiful Mind and began dating in 2002. He moved to Brooklyn, New York, with Connelly and her son Kai. The couple's own son, Stellan (named after actor Stellan Skarsgård) was born on 5 August 2003. Stellan's godfather is the actor Charlie Condou. The couple welcomed their second child together, a daughter named Agnes Lark, on 31 May 2011.[8]
Bettany, who was raised Catholic,[9] is now an atheist.[10]
Filmography
References
- ^ "Paul Bettany biography site". Tiscali.co.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
- ^ Barton, Laura (12 May 2006). "When albino monks attack". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
Bettany was himself raised as a Catholic,...
- ^ Carnevale, Rob (2006-09). "Paul Bettany The Da Vinci Code". BBC. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
I was born a Catholic and now I'm a lapsed Catholic.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Julie McCaffery (16 May 2006). "Tragedy, Drugs and a Dad Who Wanted to Have a Sex Change Op". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 14 Jan. 2008.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Academy Invites 127 to Membership[dead link]
- ^ "Film Stars Come To Hanwell". Ealingtimes.co.uk. 12 July 2007. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
- ^ "Paul Bettany joins the fantasy INKHEART". Cinescape.com. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
- ^ "Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany Welcome Daughter Agnes Lark". People. 8 June 2011.
- ^ http://www.indielondon.co.uk/Film-Review/the-da-vinci-code-paul-bettany-interview
- ^ Adam Rutherford (12 February 2009). "Paul Bettany: Playing Darwin with Creation". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 7 September 2009.
External links
- Use dmy dates from June 2011
- 1971 births
- Actors from London
- Alumni of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
- Alumni of the Drama Centre London
- British actors
- British buskers
- British film actors
- British stage actors
- British atheists
- Living people
- People from Harlesden
- Royal Shakespeare Company members