Film star Daniel Day-Lewis is born
The actor Daniel Day-Lewis famous for his intense Method acting and chameleon-like ability to disappear into character is born on this day in 1957 in London England.Day-Lewis father Cecil Day-Lewis was a British poet laureate his mother Jill Balcon was an actress and a daughter of the film producer Sir Michael Balcon.After dropping out of Englands public school system the younger Day-Lewis landed his first film role at the age of 13 in 1971s Sunday Bloody Sunday.He spent time studying at the Bristol Old Vic theater school and later performed with the company itself as well as with the venerable Royal Shakespeare Company.In his first film role as an adult Day-Lewis played a South African street thug in Gandhi (1982).
Three years later he broke out with prominent roles in two acclaimed films My Beautiful Laundrette and A Room With a View.For his two vastly different performances (as a working-class gay street punk and a priggish British gentleman respectively) Day-Lewis earned that years Best Supporting Actor honors from the New York Film Critics award.After making his debut as a leading man in The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) he was heaped with critical praise including an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in My Left Foot (1989) directed by Jim Sheridan.
Living up to his reputation as the consummate Method actor Day-Lewis reportedly spent months in a wheelchair in preparation for his portrayal of Christy Brown the author and activist suffering from cerebral palsy.After a three-year hiatus from filmmaking Day-Lewis returned as a romantic hero in the box-office success The Last of the Mohicans and in Martin Scorseses adaptation of Edith Whartons The Age of Innocence (both 1992).The following year he again basked in critical acclaim for his performance as an Irishman wrongly accused of terrorism in Sheridans In the Name of the Father (1993) which garnered him another Oscar nomination for Best Actor.Day-Lewis appeared only sporadically in films over the next several years including The Crucible (1996) adapted from the play by Arthur Miller.
While working on that film he met the playwrights daughter Rebecca Miller whom he would later marry.The couple has two sons Ronan and Cashel and Day-Lewis has another son Gabriel-Kane from his relationship with the actress Isabelle Adjani.After making The Boxer (1997) his third film with Sheridan Day-Lewis spent a period living in Italy as an apprentice to a cobbler.Martin Scorsese ultimately enticed him back to the screen to star in his big-budget historical epic Gangs of New York.
To portray the charismatic unhinged gang leader Bill the Butcher Day-Lewis reverted to his legendary intensity taking lessons from a real butcher and insisting on maintaining his characters accent even while off screen.When the long-awaited film was finally released in 2005 Day-Lewiss performance netted him another Oscar nod for Best Actor.Day-Lewis resurfaced after another two-year absence in The Ballad of Jack and Rose directed by Rebecca Miller.In 2007 his searing performance as the maniacally greedy oil baron Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood earned Day-Lewis his second Academy Award for Best Actora confirmation as if one was needed of his status as one of the most respected and acclaimed actors of his generation.
