Jr., William Dafoe
Willem Dafoe is one of the founding members of The Wooster Group, the New York based experimental theatre collective. He has created and performed in the group's work since 1977, both in the U.S. and internationally. In 1979 after being seen in the theatre, he was given a small role in Michael Cimino's "The Heaven's Gate (1980)" from which he was fired. His first feature role ...  show all 

Jr., William Dafoe
Willem Dafoe is one of the founding members of The Wooster Group, the New York based experimental theatre collective. He has created and performed in the group's work since 1977, both in the U.S. and internationally. In 1979 after being seen in the theatre, he was given a small role in Michael Cimino's "The Heaven's Gate (1980)" from which he was fired. His first feature role came shortly after in Kathryn Bigelow's "Loveless (1982)". From there, while continuing his work with the Wooster Group, he went on to perform in over 50 films - in Hollywood ("The Spider-Man (2002)", "English Patient (1996)", "The Clear and Present Danger (1994)", "White Sands (1992)", "Mississippi Burning (1988)", "Streets of Fire (1984)") and in independent cinema in the U.S. ("Clearing (2004)", "The Animal Factory (2000)", "Basquiat (1996)", "Boondock Saints (1999)", "The American Psycho (2000)") and abroad (Lars von Trier's "Manderlay (2005)", Yim Ho's "Pavilion of Women (2001)", Yurek Bogayevicz's "Edges of the Lord (2001)", Wim Wender's "In weiter Ferne, so nah! (1993)", and Brian Gilbert's "Tom & Viv (1994)"). He has chosen projects for diversity of roles and opportunities to work with strong directors. He has worked in the films of Wes Anderson "Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)", Martin Scorsese "The Aviator (2004)", "The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)", Paul Schrader "Auto Focus (2002)", "Affliction (1997)", "Light Sleeper (1992)", David Cronenberg "eXistenZ (1999)", Abel Ferrara "New Rose Hotel (1998)", David Lynch "Wild at Heart (1990)", William Friedkin "To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)", and Oliver Stone "Born on the Fourth of July (1989)", "Platoon (1986)". He was nominated twice for the Academy Award ("Platoon (1986)" and "Shadow of the Vampire (2000)") and once for the Golden Globe. Among other nominations and awards he received an LA Film Critics Award and an Independent Spirit Award. His upcoming projects include Spike Lee's _Inside Man (2006)_ , Paul Weitz's "American Dreamz (2006)", the Nobuhiro Suwa segment of "Paris, je t'aime (2006)" and Giada Colagrande's "Before It Had a Name (2005)". Written with Giada Colagrande, "Before It Had a Name (2005)" is his first screenplay.
While doing a blocking run-through on "Wild at Heart (1990)" (for the scene in which Dafoe's character threatens to rape Laura Dern's character), Dafoe playfully sang his lines. Director David Lynch loved this, and wanted Dafoe to actually sing his lines in the scene, when they shot it. The idea did not actually go through, however.
  hide