Actors - Daniel Day-Lewis

Home > Listing Index > Actors > Daniel Day-Lewis

	Actors - Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April, 1957) is an Academy Award winning English/Irish actor.

After studying at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Daniel Day-Lewis performed in numerous stage plays and films that garnered him an Academy Award, two BAFTA awards, and four Golden Globe nominations. In midst of his career, he has become known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, starring in only four movies in the last ten years. He has also been acknowledged for his constant devotion to his roles and copious amounts of research he performs. Often times he will remain in character and keep certain accents he has on screen throughout the entire shooting schedule. Because of this he is often given the nickname of the "British De Niro" as a reference to Robert De Niro who is also known for his devotion to the famed technique, method acting.

Early life

Day-Lewis is the son of Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of England. His mother, who comes from a Jewish family, is actress Jill Balcon, daughter of Sir Michael Balcon, former head of Ealing Studios. Two years after his birth in London the Day-Lewis family moved to Croom's Hill, Greenwich where he grew up along with his older sister, Lydia Tamasin Day-Lewis, known as Tamasin, who'd later become a renowned documentary filmmaker and television chef. His father had frequent health problems, first being hospitalized when Daniel Day-Lewis was 8, and then followed with a series of heart attacks. Cecil Day-Lewis was already 53 years old at the time of his son's birth, and seemed to take little interest in his children at the time. Later, when Cecil Day-Lewis died, Daniel Day-Lewis felt unsettled about his lack of emotion. He later regretted not being more close to his father and wished he had felt more at the time of his death. Daniel Day-Lewis was 15 years old at the time.

Living in Greenwich, Day-Lewis naturally found himself among some tough South London kids. Being Jewish and posh, he was often bullied by local children his age. Very quickly, therefore, he mastered the local accent and mannerisms, and believes this to have been the first convincing role he played. Later in life, he was known to speak of himself as very much a disorderly character in his younger years, often in trouble for shoplifting and other illegal acts.

In 1968, Day-Lewis' parents found him to be too wild, and decided to instill discipline into him by sending him to a boarding school in Kent called Sevenoaks School. Though he detested the school, he was introduced to his two most prominent interests, woodworking and acting. He made his debut in Cry, The Beloved Country
wearing extensive makeup for his role as a little black boy.

While his disdain for the school grew, he did however make his film debut at the very young age of 14 in Sunday Bloody Sunday
where he played a child vandal in an uncredited role. He described the experience as "heaven" for getting paid £2 to vandalize expensive cars parked outside his local church. After this, having spent two years at Sevenoaks, Daniel was transferred to be with his sister at Bedales School in Petersfield.

Leaving Bedales in 1975, Day-Lewis' unruly attitude had faded away and he now had to make his career choice. He excelled onstage at the National Youth Theatre, but though he loved acting he found something "seedy" and "distasteful" about backstage life. Instead, he decided to become a cabinet-maker, applying for a five year apprenticeship. However, because of his lack of experience, he was not accepted.

Leaving the woodworking profession behind, he applied and was accepted at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where he spent three years studying Theatre and eventually performing at Bristol Old Vic itself. At one point he played understudy to Pete Postlethwaite, whom he would later play opposite in In the Name of the Father
.

Career

1980s

Eleven years after his film debut Day-Lewis would begin his professional film career in a bit part in Gandhi
(1982) as Colin, a street thug who bullies the title character, only to be immediately emasculated by his high strung mother. In 1984, he had a supporting role appearing as John Fryer, a cowardly First Mate in The Bounty
, followed by joining the Royal Shakespeare Company, performing as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. However he later grew to detest the character, often referring to him as a "wanker".

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Daniel Day-Lewis ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Daniel Day-Lewis; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay