Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis
Day-Lewis in New York, 2007
Born	Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (1957-04-29) 29 April 1957 Greenwich, London, England, UK
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1971–present
Spouse(s)	Rebecca Miller (1996–present)
Partner(s)	Isabelle Adjani (1989–1994)

Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is a British actor with dual British and Irish citizenship. He is known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only five films since 1997, with as many as five years between roles.

His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989) and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007) won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for There Will Be Blood. His role as Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002) earned him the BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Day-Lewis, who grew up in London, is the son of the Irish-born Poet Laureate, Cecil Day-Lewis. He is a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. Often, he will remain completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedule of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health.

Early life

Day-Lewis was born in London, the son of actress Jill Balcon and the Irish-born Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. His mother was of Baltic Jewish descent, the daughter of Sir Michael Balcon, who was the former head of Ealing Studios. Two years after his birth in London, the Day-Lewis family moved to Croom's Hill, Greenwich, where Daniel grew up along with his older sister, Tamasin Day-Lewis, who later became a documentary filmmaker and television chef. Cecil Day-Lewis was already 53 years old at the time of his son's birth, and seemed to take little interest in his children.

Living in middle-class Greenwich, Day-Lewis found himself among tough South London kids, and, being Jewish and "posh," he was often bullied. He mastered the local accent and mannerisms and credits that with being his first convincing performances. Later in life, he was known to speak of himself as very much a disorderly character in his younger years, often in trouble for shoplifting and other petty crimes.

In 1968, Day-Lewis's parents, finding him to be too wild, sent him to the independent Sevenoaks School in Kent, as a boarder. Though he detested the school, he was introduced to his two most prominent interests, woodworking and acting. His disdain for the school grew, and after two years at Sevenoaks, he was transferred to another independent establishment, Bedales School in Petersfield, which his sister attended. This transfer led to his film debut at the age of 14 in Sunday Bloody Sunday in which he played a vandal in an uncredited role. He described the experience as "heaven", for getting paid £2 to vandalize expensive cars parked outside his local church.

Leaving Bedales in 1975, his unruly attitude had faded and he needed to make a career choice. Although he had excelled onstage at the National Youth Theatre, he decided to become a cabinet-maker, applying for a five-year apprenticeship. However, because of a lack of experience, he was not accepted. He then applied (and was accepted) at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which he attended for three years, eventually performing at the Bristol Old Vic itself. At one point he played understudy to Pete Postlethwaite, with whom he would later play opposite in In the Name of the Father, and with whom he shares a brief scene in Last of the Mohicans where Postlethwaite is a British officer.

Career

1980s

During the early '80s, Day-Lewis worked in theatre and television including Frost in May (where he played an impotent man-child) and How Many Miles to Babylon? (as a World War I officer torn between allegiances to Britain and Ireland) for the BBC. Eleven years after his film debut, Day-Lewis continued his film career with a small part in Gandhi (1982) as Colin, a street thug who bullies the title character, only to be immediately chastised by his high-strung mother. In late 1982 he had his big theatre break when he took over the lead in Another Country. The following year, he had a supporting role as the conflicted, but ultimately loyal first mate in The Bounty, after which he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Next he played a gay man in an interracial relationship in the film My Beautiful Laundrette. Day-Lewis gained further public notice with A Room with a View (1986), in which he portrayed an entirely different character: Cecil Vyse, the effete upper-class fiancé of the main character (played by Helena Bonham Carter).

In 1987, Day-Lewis assumed leading-man status by starring in Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, co-starring Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche, as a Czech doctor whose hyperactive and purely physical sex life is thrown into disarray when he allows himself to become emotionally involved with a woman. During the eight-month shoot he learned Czech and first began to refuse to break character on or off the set for the entire shooting schedule.

Day-Lewis put his personal version of " method acting" into full use in 1989 with his performance as Christy Brown in Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot which won him numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. During filming, his eccentricities came to the fore, due to his refusal to break character. Playing a severely paralyzed character on screen, off screen Day-Lewis had to be moved around the set in his wheelchair, and crew members would curse at having to lift him over camera and lighting wires, all so that he might gain insight into all aspects of Brown's life, including the embarrassments. He broke two ribs during filming from assuming a hunched-over position in his wheelchair for so many weeks.

Day-Lewis returned to the stage in 1989 to work with Richard Eyre, in Hamlet at the National Theatre, but collapsed in the middle of a scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father first appears to his son. He began sobbing uncontrollably and refused to go back on stage; he was replaced by Ian Charleson before a then-unknown Jeremy Northam finished what little was left of the production's run. Although the incident was officially attributed to exhaustion, one rumour following the incident was that Day-Lewis had seen the ghost of his own father. He confirmed on the British celebrity chat show Parkinson, that this rumour was true. He has not appeared on stage since.

1990s

In 1992, three years after his Oscar win, The Last of the Mohicans was released. Day-Lewis's character research for this film was well-publicized; he reportedly underwent rigorous weight training and learned to live off the land and forest where his character lived, camping, hunting and fishing. He even carried a long rifle at all times during filming in order to remain in character and learned how to skin animals.

He returned to work with Jim Sheridan on In the Name of the Father, in which he played Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four who were wrongfully convicted of a bombing carried out by the Provisional IRA. He lost a substantial amount of weight for the part, kept his Northern Irish accent on and off the set for the entire shooting schedule, and spent stretches of time in a prison cell. He also insisted that crew members throw cold water at him and verbally abuse him. The film earned him his second Academy Award nomination, his third BAFTA nomination, and his second Golden Globe nomination.

Day-Lewis returned in 1993, playing Newland Archer in Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel The Age of Innocence, opposite Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer. To prepare for the film, set in America's Gilded Age, he wore 1870s-period aristocratic clothing around New York City for two months, including top hat, cane and cape during colder periods.

In 1996, Day-Lewis starred in a film version of The Crucible, the play by Arthur Miller, again opposite Winona Ryder. He followed that with Jim Sheridan's The Boxer as a former boxer and IRA member recently released from prison. His preparation included training with former boxing world champion Barry McGuigan.

Following The Boxer, Day-Lewis took a leave of absence from acting by putting himself into "semi-retirement" and returning to his old passion of woodworking. He moved to Florence, Italy, where he became intrigued by the craft of shoemaking, eventually apprenticing as a shoemaker. For a time his exact whereabouts and actions were not made publicly known. Day-Lewis has declined to discuss this period of his life, stating that "it was a period of my life that I had a right to without any intervention of that kind."

2000s

After a five-year absence from filming, Day-Lewis returned to act in multiple Academy Award-nominated films such as Gangs of New York, a film directed by Martin Scorsese (with whom he had worked on The Age of Innocence) and produced by Harvey Weinstein. In his role as the villain gang leader "Bill the Butcher", he starred along with Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Bill's young protegé. He began his lengthy, self-disciplined process by taking lessons as an apprentice butcher, and while filming, he was never out of character between takes (including keeping his character's New York accent). At one point during filming, having been diagnosed with pneumonia, he refused to wear a warmer coat or to take treatment because it was not in keeping with the period; however, he was eventually persuaded to seek medical treatment. His performance in Gangs of New York earned him his third Academy Award nomination and won him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

After Gangs of New York, Day-Lewis's wife, director Rebecca Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur Miller), offered him the lead role in her film The Ballad of Jack and Rose, in which he played a dying man with regrets over how his life had evolved and over how he had raised his teenage daughter. During filming he arranged to live separately from his wife in order to achieve the "isolation" needed to focus on his own character's reality. The film received mixed reviews.

In 2007, Day-Lewis appeared in director Paul Thomas Anderson's loose adaptation of the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!, titled There Will Be Blood. Day-Lewis received the Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture (which he dedicated to Heath Ledger, saying that he was inspired by Ledger's acting and calling the actor's performance in Brokeback Mountain "unique, perfect"), and a variety of film critics circle awards for the role.

In 2009, Day-Lewis starred in Rob Marshall's musical adaptation Nine as film director Guido Contini. Day-Lewis was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role, as well as sharing nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast and the Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture with the rest of the cast members.

In November 2010, it was announced that Day-Lewis was cast in the main role in Steven Spielberg's upcoming biographical film about Abraham Lincoln.

Personal life

Day-Lewis rarely talks publicly about his personal life. He had a relationship with French actress Isabelle Adjani, which lasted six years and eventually ended after a split and reconciliation. Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis was born in 1995 in New York, months after the relationship between the two actors had ended.

In 1996, while working on the film version of the stage-play The Crucible, he visited the home of playwright Arthur Miller where he was introduced to the writer's daughter, Rebecca Miller. They married later that year. The couple have two sons, Ronan Cal Day-Lewis (born 14 June 1998) and Cashel Blake Day-Lewis (born in May 2002) and divide their time between their homes in the U.S. and Ireland. Day-Lewis currently holds dual British and Irish citizenship, He became an Irish citizen in 1993. He is a supporter of Millwall Football Club. On 15 July 2010, he received an honorary doctorate in letters from the University of Bristol, in part because of his attendance at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in his youth.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1971	Sunday Bloody Sunday	Child vandal	(uncredited)
1982	Gandhi	Colin - South African Street Thug
1984	The Bounty	John Fryer
1985	My Beautiful Laundrette	Johnny	National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor also for A Room with a View New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor also for A Room with a View
	A Room with a View	Cecil Vyse	National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor also for My Beautiful Laundrette New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor also for My Beautiful Laundrette
1988	The Unbearable Lightness of Being	Tomas
	Stars and Bars	Henderson Dores
1989	Eversmile, New Jersey	Dr. Fergus O'Connell
	My Left Foot	Christy Brown	Academy Award for Best Actor BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Montreal World Film Festival Award for Best Actor Montreal World Film Festival - Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention shared with Jim Sheridan National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated — European Film Award for Best Actor Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1992	The Last of the Mohicans	Hawkeye (Nathaniel Poe)	Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1993	The Age of Innocence	Newland Archer
	In the Name of the Father	Gerry Conlon	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1996	The Crucible	John Proctor
1997	The Boxer	Danny Flynn	Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2002	Gangs of New York	Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor tied with Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor tied with Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Russian Guild of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Actor San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama tied with Michael Caine for The Quiet American Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture Seattle Film Critics Award for Best Actor Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actor Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Villain Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
2005	The Ballad of Jack and Rose	Jack Slavin	Marrakech International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2007	There Will Be Blood	Daniel Plainview	Academy Award for Best Actor Austin Film Critics Award for Best Actor BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Irish Film Award for Best Actor Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Palm Springs International Film Festival - Desert Palm Achievement Award Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actor Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
2009	Nine	Guido Contini	Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble
2012	Lincoln	Abraham Lincoln