WILLEM DAFOE (John Carpenter), an internationally acclaimed actor on the stage and screen, Willem Dafoe continues to bring life a surprising array of characters with a string of projects due for release over the coming months.
Dafoe currently stars in Sam Raimi's live-action action-adventure, "Spider-Man" as Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin, rival to the iconic web-spinning hero (Tobey Maguire). The screenplay is by David Koepp and Scott Rosenberg.
Last year, Dafoe was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, SAG Award and received the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor for his transformational performance in "Shadow of the Vampire" as Max Shreck. Dafoe's portrayal has also received critical acclaim at last years' Cannes, Telluride, Toronto and Boston Film Festivals.
In addition, Dafoe completed a role as a drug lord in Robert Rodriguez's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," reprising his El Mariachi-Desperado role. Expected next year, the movie also stars Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Johnny Depp and Ruben Blades.
Prior to "Spider-Man," Dafoe completed work on Paul McGuigan's "The Reckoning." The film concerns a priest on the lamb who takes up with a traveling band of actors. Dafoe plays the leader of the troupe of thespians, who discover a murder and set about to solving it, by re-creating the crime in a play.
He also stars in Yurek Bogayevicz's "The Edges of the Lord," opposite Haley Joel Osment. The film is a WWII drama seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old Jewish boy who is hiding with a family of Catholic peasant farmers to escape the Nazis. Dafoe plays the role of the eccentric but understanding priest who guides the ravaged community's children through a series of humorous and tragic events that come to a shattering conclusion when faith collides with fear.
Dafoe was also seen starring in the romantic drama, "Pavilion of Women" on location in China. He was recently seen in Steve Buscemi's "Animal Factory" opposite Edward Furlong. Dafoe also appeared in "American Psycho," based on the controversial book by Brett Easton Ellis and in Troy Duffy's controversial "Boondock Saints."
Dafoe has made a name for himself working with some of the most critically acclaimed directors in the world: with his turn as 'Caravaggio' the thumb-less thief in Anthony Minghella's Academy Award winning drama, "The English Patient;" his Academy Award nominated performance as 'Sergeant Elias' in Oliver Stone's "Platoon;" his starring role in "The Last Temptation of Christ" for director Martin Scorcese; his memorable turn as low life 'Bobby Peru' for David Lynch in "Wild at Heart;" his performance in Wim Wender's multicultural "Far Away, So Close;" and his role as a civil rights activist in Alan Parker's "Mississippi Burning."
Other feature credits for Dafoe include: David Cronenberg's "Existenz," novelist Paul Auster's directorial debut, "Lulu On the Bridge," Abel Ferrara's "New Rose Hotel," Jan De Bont's "Speed 2: Cruise Control," Brian Gilbert's "Tom & Viv," Phillip Noyce's "Clear and Present Danger," Paul Schrader's "Affliction" and "Light Sleeper," Oliver Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July," William Friedkin's "To Live and Die in L.A.," Robert M. Young's "Triumph of the Spirit," Roger Donaldson's "White Sands," Uli Edel's "Body of Evidence" and Christopher Crowe's "Off Limits."
On stage, Dafoe recently starred Off Broadway with Frances McDormand in "To You, The Birdie" (currently on European Tour) and with Steve Buscemi in the October 2001 premiere of "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.
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