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Born: July 22, 1955
Hometown: Appleton, WI
Real Name: William Dafoe
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BIO & CREDITS:
*Credits May Not Be Complete
Willem Dafoe is an internationally acclaimed actor on the stage and screen, and continues to bring life to a surprising array of characters. .
Dafoe starred in Columbia Pictures' action-adventure blockbuster Spider-Man™ as Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin, rival to the web-spinning hero (Tobey Maguire). He most recently received kudos for his portrayal of John Carpenter opposite Greg Kinnear's Bob Crane in director Paul Schrader's Auto-Focus. The Sony Pictures Classics' release detailed the true-life sexual exploits of the "Hogan's Heroes" star and its tragic outcome. He also contributed his voice to the animated family film Finding Nemo.
Dafoe was nominated for an Academy Award®, a Golden Globe Award, a SAG Award, and won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his transformational performance as Max Shreck in Shadow of the Vampire. Dafoe's portrayal also received critical acclaim at the Cannes, Telluride, Toronto and Boston film festivals.
Over the years, Dafoe has worked with some of the most highly regarded directors of this generation. He portrayed 'Caravaggio' the thumb-less thief in Anthony Minghella's Academy Award®-winning drama The English Patient. He received his first Best Supporting Actor nomination in Oliver Stone's Oscar® winner for Best Picture Platoon, played the starring role in Martin Scorsese's controversial The Last Temptation of Christ, gave a memorable performance as low life 'Bobby Peru' in David Lynch's Wild at Heart, portrayed a civil rights activist in Alan Parker's Mississippi Burning, and starred in Wim Wender's multicultural Far Away, So Close.
On stage, Dafoe starred Off Broadway with Frances McDormand in "To You, The Birdie" and with Steve Buscemi in "North Atlantic" for the Wooster Group. Dafoe has been a member of the groundbreaking theater company for more than twenty years, helping to define a theatrical language that incorporates influences as diverse as vaudeville and Noh theater.