One of the most honored actors of his generation, Peter O'Toole was recently given an Honorary Oscar for a movie career that spans four-and-a-half decades and has included seven Academy Award nominations.

Born in Ireland and raised in Yorkshire, England, O'Toole began his professional life as a journalist but soon discovered a love for the theatre, which led to his stage debut at age 17. Following a two-year stint as a radioman in the Royal Navy, he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, where among his fellow classmates were future acting stars Albert Finney, Alan Bates, and Tom Courtenay.

O'Toole spent two years onstage at the Bristol Old Vic. Following, he made his London West End stage debut in The Long and The Short and The Tall for which he won the Evening Standard Best Actor Award. Peter then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where he made his acclaimed performance as "Shylock" in The Merchant of Venice.

O'Toole made his film debut in Nicholas Ray's The Savage Innocents, released in 1959. In 1962, O'Toole was chosen to play T.E. Lawrence in the David Lean epic Lawrence of Arabia. The part made O'Toole an international superstar. He followed this triumph with Beckett (1964) and Lord Jim (1965). O'Toole received Oscar nominations for his work in Lawrence and Beckett. He was also nominated for The Lion in Winter, Goodbye Mr. Chips, The Ruling Class, The Stunt Man and My Favorite Year. Other career highlights include Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, Murphy's War, Man of La Mancha and the mini-series Masada, which earned him his first Emmy nomination. He won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in the made for TV movie Joan of Arc.

The actor recently appeared in Stephen Fry's Bright Young Things and received an Emmy nomination for his role as Hindenberg in the Emmy-winning mini-series Hitler: The Rise of Evil.

O'Toole's next project will be Romeo and Me co-starring Janet McTeer, which he will begin shooting in early July.