Willem Dafoe
| Willem Dafoe | |
|---|---|
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Dafoe at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival in 2014
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| Born |
William J. Dafoe July 22, 1955 Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Elizabeth LeCompte (m. 1977; div. 2004) Giada Colagrande (m. 2005) |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Donald Dafoe (brother) |
William J. "Willem" Dafoe (born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. A member of the experimental theatre company the Wooster Group, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his roles as Elias in Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986) and Max Schreck in the comedy-horror film Shadow of the Vampire (2000). His other film appearances include The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The English Patient (1996), American Psycho (2000) and the Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007). He has also had voice roles in Finding Nemo (2003) and its sequel (2016), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and the forthcoming adaptation of Death Note (2017).
Dafoe was born in Appleton, Wisconsin. One of seven children of Muriel Isabel (née Sprissler) and Dr. William Alfred Dafoe, he recalled in 2009: "My five sisters raised me because my father was a surgeon, my mother was a nurse and they worked together, so I didn't see either of them much." In high school, he acquired the nickname Willem. His father's ancestry is French-Canadian, Swiss and English, and his mother's ancestry is German, Irish and Scottish.
He was once expelled from high school for shooting a pornographic film.
Dafoe studied drama at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, but left after a year and a half to join the experimental theater company Theatre X in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before moving to New York in 1976. There he apprenticed under Richard Schechner, director of the avant-garde theater troupe The Performance Group, where he met and became romantically involved with Elizabeth LeCompte, 11 years his senior. She, with her former romantic partner Spalding Gray and others, edged out Schechner and created the Wooster Group. Within a year Dafoe was part of the company.
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