John Malkovich

John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor (theater and film), producer and director.

Biography

Early life

John Malkovich was born in Christopher, Illinois to Daniel Malkovich, a state conservation director and publisher of a conservation magazine, and Joe Anne, who owned the Benton Evening News in Benton, Illinois, as well as the Outdoor Illinois. Because of his father's work, the Malkovich family is widely acknowledged as one of the founding families of the environmental movement in Illinois. As a boy, Malkovich was reportedly overweight. By high school, he had transformed himself physically and was a star athlete. He transferred to Illinois State University from Eastern Illinois University, with an interest in ecology, but he soon changed his major to theater. Malkovich would fake drowning at near-by lake Evergreen as what one can only assume was practice for drama classes. One of his professors later said that he would never have a career as an actor.

Career

Shortly after dropping out of college, Malkovich took on a series of odd jobs to make ends meet: school bus driver, house painter, office supply store employee, and landscaping. In 1976, Malkovich became a charter member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to New York City in 1983 and appeared in the play True West. He appeared on Broadway with Dustin Hoffman in Death of a Salesman (1984). Malkovich won an Emmy Award for this role when the play became a television movie. One of his first forays into film was as an extra alongside Terry Kinney, George Wendt, Joan Allen, and Laurie Metcalf in Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978).

He made his film debut in Places in the Heart (1984) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In 1994, he was nominated for an Oscar in the same category for In the Line of Fire (1993). Malkovich also plays the main villain Cyrus "The Virus" Grisam in the movie "Con Air." Though he played the title role in the Charlie Kaufman-penned Being John Malkovich, he is playing a slight variation of himself, as indicated by the character's middle name of "Horatio". Malkovich has a cameo in the movie Adaptation.—also written by Kaufman—appearing as himself during the filming of Being John Malkovich. The Dancer Upstairs, Malkovich's directorial debut, was released in 2002. He recently appeared in Art School Confidential (2006) as a pompous art professor.

Of the many people he has worked with, Malkovich is often associated with Gary Sinise, a fellow Steppenwolf alum. Also, Joan Allen was a fellow drama student at Eastern Illinois University whom Malkovich brought into Steppenwolf. He met actor John Mahoney in a Chicago acting class years later, and advised him to join Steppenwolf.

Personal life

Malkovich was previously married to actress Glenne Headly from 1982 to 1988. They divorced and Malkovich briefly dated Michelle Pfeiffer, co-star on Dangerous Liaisons. Malkovich has been based in France for many years but has recently announced he is ending his residency in that country. He currently resides in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He and his French wife, Nicoletta Peyran, have two children, Amandine and Loewy.

On April 4,2005, while speaking at Illinois State University, Malkovich was awarded a diploma in Theatre. When attending the university as a student in the 1970s, he failed to take his last remaining graduation requirement, the U.S. Constitution test. This requirement was waived in order to award him the diploma.

Politics

Politically, Malkovich has described himself a libertarian, but he is known to be staunchly neoconservative title = Being John Malkovich publisher = The Age date = 2003-04-26 url = http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/25/1050777404749.html}}. In 2003, an opinion article in The Sunday Telegraph claimed that Malkovich holds deeply conservative political views, perhaps with support for the neoconservative policies of the Bush administration.

Neoconservative, pro-war, death penalty enthusiast

"'Malkovich, unlike most on the artier fringes of his profession, is a convinced Right-winger. In fact he's so Right-wing,' says the London-based actor William Hootkins, who worked with Malkovich in BBC television's Rocket to the Moon, 'you have to wonder if he's kidding.' Well, he's not. And Malkovich doesn't care who knows it. Solidly pro-war, he is also particularly keen on the death penalty, and when the Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy was executed in 1994, Malkovich invited all his pals round for a champagne party."^*

Hatred of Robert Fisk

Malkovich caused controversy in the United Kingdom in 2002 at the Cambridge Union Society; when asked whom he would most like to "fight to the death," he replied that he would rather just shoot journalist Robert Fisk and British MP George Galloway. Malkovich did not explain his reasons for choosing Fisk and Galloway other than to say that Galloway does not tell the truth. When he was interviewed by The Observer, Malkovich elaborated on his homicidal fantasies admitting that they were politically motivated.

Malkovich stated, "I hate somebody who is supposed to be a Middle Eastern expert who thinks Jesus was born in Jerusalem. I hate what I consider his vile anti-semitism." and, ''"I'm a Hitchens fan myself. But no one has thinner skins than journalists, in my experience, and I come from a family of them ^*

Selected filmography

Beowulf (2007)
Drunkboat (2006) (filming)
Eragon (2006) (filming)
Art School Confidential (2006)
The Call (2006)
Colour Me Kubrick (2006)
The Libertine (2005)
Klimt (2005)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Johnny English (2003)
Ripley's Game (2002)
Adaptation. (2002)
Knockaround Guys (2001)
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Les Misérables (miniseries) (2000)
Ladies Room (1999)
Le Temps Retrouvé (1999)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
Rounders (1998)
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
John Malkovich Presents The Terrorist (1998)
Con Air (1997)
Mary Reilly (1996)
Heart of Darkness (TV) (1994)
The Miracle of the Andes (1993)
In the Line of Fire (1993)
Jennifer Eight (1992)
Of Mice and Men (1992)
Shadows and Fog (1991)
The Sheltering Sky (1990)
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Making Mr. Right (1987)
The Glass Menagerie (1987)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Death of a Salesman (1985)
The Killing Fields (1984)
Places in the Heart (1984)

Director - filmography

The Dancer Upstairs (2002)
Hideous Man (2002)

Resources

"John Malkovich". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved Sep.16, 2004.
The Ogre (2006)

References

External links

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