John Malkovich
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| John Malkovich | |
 John Malkovich at the Grimme Online Award 2005 at Schloss Bensberg. |
|
| Born | December 9, 1953 Christopher, Illinois |
| Notable roles | Biff Loman in Death of a Salesman Mr. Will in Places in the Heart Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons Mitch Leary in In the Line of Fire John Horatio Malkovich in Being John Malkovich |
John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor, producer and director.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
John Malkovich was born in Christopher, Illinois, to a Croatian father (originally from the region of Žumberak in central Croatia) who was a state conservation director and publisher of a conservation magazine, and Joe Anne, who owned the Benton Evening News in Benton, Illinois, as well as the Outdoor Illinois.[1] Because of his father's work, the Malkovich family is widely acknowledged as one of the founding families of the environmental movement in Illinois. By high school, he had transformed himself physically and was an athlete. He transferred to Illinois State University from Eastern Illinois University, with an interest in ecology, but he soon changed his major to theatre.
[edit] Career
Shortly after dropping out of college, Malkovich took on a series of odd jobs to make ends meet: school bus driver, house painter, office supply store employee, and landscaping. In 1976, Malkovich became a charter member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to New York City in 1983 and appeared in the play True West. He appeared on Broadway in Death of a Salesman with Dustin Hoffman, Arms and the Man and The Caretaker, both of which he also directed, and Burn This.
Malkovich won an Emmy Award for the television adaptation of Death of a Salesman. One of his first forays into film was as an extra alongside Terry Kinney, George Wendt, Joan Allen, and Laurie Metcalf in Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978).
He made his film debut in The Killing Fields in 1984, playing cameraman Al Rockoff, whose character traveled throughout Cambodia with Sam Waterston. That same year, his major role debut in Places in the Heart garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He got fame in 1988 playing the leading part of Valmont in Stephen Frears' adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' Dangerous Liaisons. In 1994, he was nominated for an Oscar in the same category for In the Line of Fire (1993). Malkovich also plays the main villain Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom in the movie Con Air. Though he played the title role in the Charlie Kaufman-penned Being John Malkovich, he is playing a slight variation of himself, as indicated by the character's middle name of "Horatio." Malkovich has a cameo in the movie Adaptation.—also written by Kaufman—appearing as himself during the filming of Being John Malkovich. The Dancer Upstairs, Malkovich's directorial debut, was released in 2002. He recently appeared in Art School Confidential (2006) as a pompous art professor. He will next appear with Tom Hanks and Colin Hanks in the drama The Great Buck Howard as a fading magician who takes a protege (Colin Hanks) under his wing, much to his father's (Tom Hanks) consternation.
Of the many people he has worked with, Malkovich is often associated with Gary Sinise, a fellow Steppenwolf alum. Also, Joan Allen was a fellow drama student at Eastern Illinois University whom Malkovich brought into Steppenwolf. He met actor John Mahoney in a Chicago acting class years later, and advised him to join Steppenwolf.
John Malkovich also has an interest in clothing design and sales, and is proprietor of UncleKimono.com, his website regarding fashion.
[edit] Personal life
Malkovich was married to actress Glenne Headly from 1982 to 1988. They divorced and Malkovich briefly dated Michelle Pfeiffer, co-star on Dangerous Liaisons. Malkovich has been based in France for many years but has recently announced he is ending his residency in that country. He currently resides in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Nicoletta Peyran, have two children, Amandine and Loewy.
On April 4, 2005, while speaking at Illinois State University, Malkovich was awarded a diploma in theatre. When attending the university as a student in the 1970s, he failed to take his last remaining graduation requirement, the U.S. Constitution test. This requirement was waived in order to award him the diploma.
[edit] Political views
Politically, Malkovich has described himself a libertarian.[2][3] Malkovich supports some of the policies of President George W. Bush[citation needed] and the war in Iraq[citation needed]. Malkovich is a supporter of the death penalty.[4] When the Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy was executed in 1994, Malkovich organised a champagne party for himself and his friends. Actor William Hootkins, who worked with Malkovich in BBC television's Rocket to the Moon, stated "In fact he's so right-wing you have to wonder if he's kidding."[5]
In the United Kingdom in 2002 at the Cambridge Union Society, when asked whom he would most like to "fight to the death," he replied that he would "rather just shoot" journalist Robert Fisk and British MP George Galloway.[6] Fisk reacted with outrage.[7]
When he was interviewed by The Observer, Malkovich elaborated on his comments: "I hate somebody who is supposed to be a Middle Eastern expert who thinks Jesus was born in Jerusalem. I hate what I consider his vile anti-semitism. This being said, I apologize to both Fisk and Galloway; they seem like good men... but if they make such a heinous mistake again, I will not hesitate to murder them brutally by way of the gallows."
Malkovich then added: "I'm a [Christopher] Hitchens fan myself. But no one has thinner skins than journalists, in my experience, and I come from a family of them. (His mother owns the Benton Evening News in Illinois; his brother edits it.) They can dish it out but they can't take it. But the reason I don't like the topic, why I don't really say anything about a whiner like Fisk, is it gives them more oxygen."[8]
[edit] Selected filmography
- Places in the Heart (1984)
- The Killing Fields (1984)
- Death of a Salesman (1985)
- Eleni (1985)
- Empire of the Sun (1987)
- The Glass Menagerie (1987)
- Making Mr. Right (1987)
- Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
- The Sheltering Sky (1990)
- Shadows and Fog (1991)
- Of Mice and Men (1992)
- Jennifer Eight (1992)
- In the Line of Fire (1993)
- Alive: The Miracle of the Andes (1993)
- Heart of Darkness (TV) (1994)
- The Portrait of a Lady (1996)
- Mary Reilly (1996)
- Con Air (1997)
- John Malkovich Presents The Terrorist (1998)
- The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
- Rounders (1998)
- Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
- Being John Malkovich (1999)
- Le Temps Retrouvé (1999)
- Ladies Room (1999)
- Les Misérables (miniseries) (2000)
- Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
- Knockaround Guys (2001)
- Adaptation. (2002)
- Ripley's Game (2002)
- Napoléon (miniseries) (2002)
- A Talking Picture (2003)
- Johnny English (2003)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
- Klimt (2005)
- The Libertine (2005)
- Colour Me Kubrick (2006)
- The Call (2006)
- Art School Confidential (2006)
- Eragon (2006)
- Drunkboat (2006)
- Beowulf (2007)
[edit] Director - filmography
- The Dancer Upstairs (2002)
- Hideous Man (2002)
[edit] Trivia
- Malkovich appeared in Annie Lennox's music video "Walking on Broken Glass" alongside Hugh Laurie.
- He is fluent in French.
- Appeared in two advertisement films: "Pilots" by IWC[9] and "The Call" by Pirelli[10].
[edit] Notes
- ^ John Malkovich. Yahoo! Movies.
- ^ Being John Malkovich. The Age (2003-04-26).
- ^ Praying (or not) for a little publicity. New York Daily News (2004-02-20).
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ MP stunned at actor's outburst. BBC News (2002-05-04).
- ^ [3]
- ^ Guardian.co.uk. Life and taxes.
- ^ https://www.iwc.com/technics/pilots/pilots-en.asp
- ^ http://www.pirellifilm.com/thefilm/thecallmovie/home.jsp
[edit] Resources
- "John Malkovich". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved Sep.16, 2004.
- The Ogre (2006)
[edit] External links
- John Malkovich at the Internet Movie Database
- John Malkovich at the Notable Names Database
- Fisk:Why does John Malkovich want to kill me?
- Profile: John Malkovich
- Life and taxes
- Finch and Partners (John's Management in the UK)
- Top Ten things that sound creepy when said by John Malkovich (David Letterman, 1999)
