Actors - Mickey Rourke

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	Actors - Mickey Rourke

Mickey Rourke was born Philip Andre Rourke Jr. on September 16, 1956 in Schenectady, New York, although some sources cite 1950 and 1953 as possible years of his birth. He is a colorful American actor and former boxer.

Life and career

Rourke, born to an Irish Catholic family, grew up in the neighborhoods of heavily African-American Liberty City in Miami.

He has a younger sister (Patty), a younger half-brother (Joey), and six step-siblings, the result of his parents' divorce and his mother's remarriage.

After attending Miami Beach Senior High School, he would go on to study at the Lee Strasberg Institute (where veteran method actors such as Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken studied).

Rourke's film debut was a small role in Steven Spielberg's unsuccessful film 1941
, but his portayal of an arsonist in Body Heat
garnered significant attention, despite his modest time onscreen.

During the early 1980s, Rourke's career blossomed. In 1982 he starred in the cult classic Diner
, also starring Paul Reiser, Daniel Stern, Steve Guttenberg and Kevin Bacon. The film was directed by Barry Levinson (Rain Man), and almost all of the principal actors went on to larger careers - most notably Rourke.

Soon after, Rourke starred in the Francis Ford Coppola's follow-up to The Outsiders in the coming-of-age tale, Rumble Fish
. Playing the older and enigmatic brother of Matt Dillon, he was praised as a standout in a film featuring such talents as Dennis Hopper, Diane Lane, Nicolas Cage, Chris Penn, Laurence Fishburne and Tom Waits.

One of Rourke's most well-praised performances came in the film The Pope of Greenwich Village
alongside Eric Roberts (brother of Julia) and Darryl Hannah.

While a box-office flop during its initial release, the film has become somewhat of a minor cult hit, with actor Johnny Depp calling it "perfect cinema", and even getting a recent mention on HBO's Entourage as being the lead character's favorite movie. Rourke has always credited the film as being his own personal favorite, while both Hannah and Roberts often cite it as highlights of their careers.

In the mid-80s, Rourke became one of the decade's leading men, and arguably the major sex symbol of his acting generation, a title no doubt fueled by his role alongside Kim Basinger in the controversial box-office hit 9½ Weeks
.

He attained mass critical acclaim for his work in Barfly as the alcoholic writer Charles Bukowski, and in the Oliver Stone-penned Year of the Dragon.

But many critics consider his finest film of the latter end of the 1980s to be the controversial Angel Heart, Alan Parker's film, which became controversial for its explicit sex scene involving Cosby Show cast member Lisa Bonet.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Mickey Rourke ]

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Actors - Mickey Rourke

Life and career

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