Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody | |
|---|---|
 Brody at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Detachment | |
| Born | April 14, 1973 |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Film Awards | |
|---|---|
| Academy Awards | |
| 2002 | Best Actor |
Adrien Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor and film producer. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002), for which he became the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor at age 29. Brody is also the only American actor to receive the French César Award.
Early life
Brody was born in Woodhaven, Queens, New York, the son of Sylvia Plachy, a photojournalist, and Elliot Brody, a retired history professor and painter.[1] Brody's father is of Polish Jewish descent; Brody's mother – who was raised Catholic – was born in Budapest, Hungary, the daughter of a Catholic Hungarian aristocrat father and a Czech Jewish mother.[2][3][4] Brody was raised "without a strong connection" to Judaism or Catholicism.[5] As a child, he performed magic shows at children's birthday parties as "The Amazing Adrien".[6] He attended the I.S. 145 Joseph Pulitzer middle school and New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (famous as the inspiration for television's Fame). His parents enrolled him in acting classes to distance him from the dangerous children with whom he associated[citation needed]. He attended summer camp at Long Lake Camp for the Arts in the Adirondacks in upstate New York.[7] Brody attended the Stony Brook University before transferring to Queens College for a semester.
Career
Taking acting classes as a youth, by age thirteen, he appeared in an Off-Broadway play and a PBS television film.[8] Brody hovered on the brink of stardom, receiving an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his role in the 1998 film Restaurant and later praise for his roles in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. He received widespread recognition when he was cast as the lead in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002). To prepare for the role, Brody withdrew for months, gave up his apartment and his car, was left by his then-girlfriend,[8] learned how to play Chopin on the piano, and lost 29 lbs (13 kg). The role won him an Academy Award for Best Actor, making him, at 29, the youngest actor ever to win the award, and to date the only winner under the age of 30. He also won a César Award for his performance.
Brody appeared on Saturday Night Live on May 10, 2003, his first TV work, but he was banned from the show after giving an improvised introduction while wearing faux dreadlocks for Jamaican reggae musical guest Sean Paul (the show's producer, Lorne Michaels, is notorious for hating unscripted performances). However, the unscripted intro remains in reruns of the episode. Other TV appearances include NBC's The Today Show and on MTV's Punk'd after being tricked by Ashton Kutcher.
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After The Pianist Brody appeared in four very different films. In Dummy (released in 2003 but originally shot in 2000, just prior to his work in The Pianist) he portrayed Steven Schoichet, a socially awkward aspiring ventriloquist in pursuit of a love interest (his employment counsellor). He learned ventriloquism and puppetry for the role (under the tutelage of actor/ventriloquist Alan Semok) convincingly enough to perform all of the voice stunts and puppet manipulation live on set in real time, with no subsequent post dubbing. He played Noah Percy, a mentally disabled young man, in the film The Village, by M. Night Shyamalan, shell-shocked war veteran Jack Starks in The Jacket, writer Jack Driscoll in the 2005 King Kong remake, and father-to-be Peter Whitman in The Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson. King Kong was both a critical and box office success; it grossed $550 million worldwide and is Brody's most successful film to date in monetary terms. Additionally, Brody played a detective in Hollywoodland. He has also appeared in Diet Coke and Schweppes commercials as well as Tori Amos' music video for "A Sorta Fairytale".
On January 5, 2006, Brody confirmed speculation that he indeed was interested and very willing to play the role of The Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight. However, Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. decided instead to cast Heath Ledger in the role.[9] He was also in talks with Paramount to play Spock in J. J. Abrams Star Trek XI, but it ultimately went to Zachary Quinto.[10][11] Brody starred with Mark Ruffalo as gentleman con men in Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom, released in May 2009.[12] In 2010, he starred in Splice, a science fiction film written and directed by Vincenzo Natali. Originally a Sundance film, Splice was adopted by Dark Castle Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Most recently, he played the star role of Royce in Predators (a sequel to the original Predator), directed by Nimród Antal and produced by Robert Rodriguez.[13]
In 2011, Brody starred in a Stella Artois beer ad called "Crying Beans[Heinz]," that premiered right after half-time of the Super Bowl XLV as part of Stella's "She Is a Thing of Beauty” campaign.
On January 16, 2012, Adrien made his runway debut as a model for Prada Men Fall/Winter 2012 show.[14] Also in January, he was named ambassador for the Gillette Fusion ProGuide Styler which the company is scheduled to market the following month.[15]
Personal life
In 1992, Brody was seriously hurt in a motorcycle accident in which he flew over a car and crashed head-first into a crosswalk.[16] He spent months recuperating. He has broken his nose three times doing stunts; the most recent was during the filming of Summer of Sam.[17]
Filmography
References
- ^ "Adrien Brody Biography (1973–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
- ^ Leslie Camhi (18 March 2005). "An Autobiography in Pictures". The Jewish Daily Forward. New York City: forward.com. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Meyers, William (27 January 2005). "Rescuing Beauty From History's Dark Corners". The New York Sun. nysun.com. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Fox, Chloe (12 November 2006). "The prime of Adrien Brody". The Guardian. Manchester: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Waxman, Sharon (2 January 2003). "A Hunger Artist; Adrien Brody Gained Gravitas by Losing Weight To Play a Holocaust Survivor in 'The Pianist'". The Washington Post. washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Sylvia Plachy (31 December 2002). "My Son the Oscar Contender". The Village Voice. villagevoice.com. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "Long Lake Theater Camp". longlakecamp.com. 21 January 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ a b Dotson Rader (25 July 2004). "Adrien Brody: 'I Want To Succeed For The Right Reasons'". Parade. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Jett (7 January 2006). "BOF News Archives 45: Update on Sequel Rumors". Batman-on-film.com. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
- ^ Pascale, Anthony (February 26, 2007). "Casting Rumor: Damon, Brody & Sinise for Kirk, Spock & McCoy". Trekmovie.com. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
- ^ RutheStein (17 May 2009). "Adrien Brody tries comedy in 'Brothers Bloom'". San Francisco Chronicle. sfgate.com. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "Brick Writer and Director's Latest Flick". Cinemafusion.com. February 6, 2007. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
- ^ Borys Kit and Jay A. Fernandez (7 October 2009). "Adrien Brody to star in new take on "Predators"". Reuters. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "Adrien Brody: Prada runway model". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph.co.uk. 13 January 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Adam Tschorn (23 January 2012). "Gillette taps Benjamin, Brody and Bernal for ProGlide Styler ads". Los Angeles Times. LATimes.com. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Susan Carpenter (7 November 2007). "Adrien Brody's other passion". Los Angeles Times. LATimes.com. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "Adrien Brody". South African TV Authority. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
External links
- Adrien Brody at IMDb
- Adrien Brody at AllMovie
- 1973 births
- Actors from New York City
- American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni
- American child actors
- American film actors
- American voice actors
- Best Actor Academy Award winners
- César Award winners
- Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni
- American people of Czech-Jewish descent
- American people of Polish-Jewish descent
- American people of Hungarian descent
- American people of Polish descent
- Living people
- People from Queens