Early life

Dafoe was born in Appleton, Wisconsin. One of seven children of Muriel Isabel (née Sprissler) and Dr. William Alfred Dafoe, he recalled in 2009: "My five sisters raised me because my father was a surgeon, my mother was a nurse and they worked together, so I didn't see either of them much." In high school, he acquired the nickname Willem. His father's ancestry is French-Canadian, Swiss, and English, and his mother's ancestry is German, Irish, and Scottish.

He was once expelled from high school for shooting a pornographic film.

Dafoe studied drama at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but left after a year and a half to join the experimental theater company Theatre X in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before moving to New York City in 1976. There he apprenticed under Richard Schechner, director of the avant-garde theater troupe The Performance Group, where he met and became romantically involved with Elizabeth LeCompte, 11 years his senior. She, with her former romantic partner Spalding Gray and others, edged out Schechner and created the Wooster Group. Within a year Dafoe was part of the company.

Career

Dafoe, who would continue with the Wooster Group into the 2000s, began his film career in 1981, when he was cast in Heaven's Gate only to see his role removed from the film during editing. As Dafoe recalled of his first film experience, (in which he played a cockfighter):

I worked for Jeff Bridges' character in the story. I was there for three months and I worked a lot. It was the kind of thing where you were hired to play an unscripted character and then they developed these smaller characters. I had scenes and everything and was really enjoying it and then one day we were doing a lighting setup for a long time; basically eight hours standing in place, and a woman told me a joke in my ear and I laughed at a moment of silence. Cimino turned around and said, 'Willem step out,' and that was that. I was the lamb for sacrifice."

In 1982, he starred as the leader of a motorcycle gang in The Loveless, and then played a similar role in Streets of Fire (1984). In the mid-1980s, he was cast by William Friedkin to star in To Live and Die In L.A., in which Dafoe portrays counterfeiter Rick Masters. He became "very conscious" that he might be typecast as a villain, saying in 1998,

I really made a conscious effort to mix it up, not because in itself it's not the job of an actor to do all different things, but for me that's what I'm interested in. You've got to be careful because you've got to work with what you have, not just for vanity's sake, but I think the best part of being an actor sometimes is the opportunity to transform yourself superficially, and deeply. So, it's true in the beginning I started playing villains and I think that's pretty clear because if you don't conventionally look a certain way and you've got a certain kind of presence when you're young, then what's available to you is character roles and the best character roles when you're young tend to be villains. And, also, it's fun to be bad and the only problem is often villain roles are devices and they lack a certain depth. They're signs, they're signals and after a little while you want something to chew on and if you function in a film it's the same too often. I think what happens is you develop a language that distances you from a certain kind of flashpoint of inspiration and creativity and you may refine that and that may be your work, but I'm not so interested in that. I think the best work comes when you're unsure, when you're terrified, when you're off balance.

Dafoe would go on to gain his widest exposure up to that point playing the compassionate Sergeant Elias in Oliver Stone's Platoon. He enjoyed the opportunity to play a heroic role, and said the film gave him a chance to display his versatility. "I think all characters live in you. You just frame them, give them circumstances, and that character will happen."

In 1988, Dafoe starred in another film set during the Vietnam War, this time as CID Agent Buck McGriff in Off Limits. He has since become a popular character actor. He is often cast as unstable or villainous characters, such as the Green Goblin in Spider-Man and Barillo in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Before that, he was briefly considered for the role of the Joker by Tim Burton and Sam Hamm for 1989's Batman. Hamm recalls "We thought, 'Well, Willem Dafoe looks just like The Joker.'" The role eventually went to Jack Nicholson.

Dafoe starred in the erotic drama Body of Evidence with Madonna. In 1991, he portrayed a Manhattan drug dealer in the Paul Schrader film Light Sleeper. Dafoe played an eccentric FBI agent in The Boondock Saints (1999) and a private investigator in American Psycho (2000). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1986 for Platoon and 2000 for Shadow of the Vampire. He played a rare heroic film role when he provided the voice of Gill in the animated film Finding Nemo. Dafoe also played a heroic leading man in Triumph of the Spirit, playing a Greek Jew, Salamo Arouch, who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau through his prowess as a boxer. In 1998 he was the brother of Nick Nolte and son of James Coburn in another Schrader film, Affliction.

He worked briefly as a model in a 1990 Prada campaign. In 2004, Dafoe lent his likeness and voice for the James Bond video game Everything or Nothing as the villain Nikolai Diavolo, and starred as NYPD detective Stan Aubray in the thriller Anamorph (2006).

From 2002-2007, he played the villain Green Goblin in the Spider-Man trilogy.

In 2007 he was also a member of the jury of the 57th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 2011, Dafoe began narrating a series of television commercials for the Greek yogurt company Fage. Additionally, the actor is featured in Jim Beam's "Bold Decisions" television ad campaign, which began airing April 2011.

Dafoe starred alongside Marina Abramović in the 2011 Manchester International Festival premiere of the play The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, and will play the role again in the 2013 Luminato Festival North American premiere of the play The Life and Death of Marina Abramović. He also appears at TimesTalks Luminato.

Since 2010, Dafoe voiced Clarence the Birdseye polar bear mascot on the company's television commercials in the United Kingdom.

Dafoe appeared as the devil in the Mercedes-Benz CLA 2013 Super Bowl ad in which Usher and Kate Upton also appear.

Dafoe also starred in three short films for Hanneke Schutte, with Saving Norman winning the Jameson First Shot competition.

Dafoe played fictional author Peter Van Houten in the film adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars (2014). In April 2014, he was announced as a member of the main competition jury at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Personal life

Dafoe met director Elizabeth LeCompte at The Performance Group, and the two began a professional and personal relationship there and at its successor company, the Wooster Group. Their son, Jack, was born in 1982.

Dafoe married Italian actress, director, and screenwriter Giada Colagrande on March 25, 2005, a year after the two had met in Rome at the premiere of one of her films. Dafoe said in 2010, "We were having lunch and I said: 'Do you want to get married tomorrow?'" They did so the following afternoon at a small ceremony with two friends as witnesses. The two worked together on the film Before It Had a Name. The couple divide their time between Rome, New York City, and Los Angeles. He now holds both Italian and American citizenship.

Dafoe said in 2008 that he is no longer a vegetarian. His brother, Donald Dafoe, is a transplant surgeon and researcher.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	Heaven's Gate	Willy	Uncredited
1982	The Loveless	Vance
1983	The Hunger	1st Phone Booth Youth
1984	New York Nights	Boyfriend
1984	Streets of Fire	Raven Shaddock
1985	Roadhouse 66	Johnny Harte
1985	To Live and Die in L.A.	Erick "Rick" Masters
1986	Platoon	Sergeant Elias	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
1988	Off Limits	Buck McGriff
1988	The Last Temptation of Christ	Jesus
1988	Mississippi Burning	Agent Alan Ward
1989	Triumph of the Spirit	Salamo Arouch
1989	Born on the Fourth of July	Charlie
1990	Cry-Baby	Guard	Cameo
1990	Wild at Heart	Bobby Peru	Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
1991	Flight of the Intruder	Lt. Cmdr. Virgil "Tiger" Cole
1992	Light Sleeper	John LeTour	Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor
1992	White Sands	Deputy Sheriff Ray Dolezal
1993	Body of Evidence	Frank Dulaney
1993	Faraway, So Close!	Emit Flesti
1994	Tom & Viv	T. S. Eliot
1994	Clear and Present Danger	John Clark
1994	The Night and the Moment	The Writer
1995	Victory	Axel Heyst
1996	Basquiat	The Electrician
1996	The English Patient	David Caravaggio	Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1997	Speed 2: Cruise Control	John Geiger
1997	Affliction	Rolfe Whitehouse
1998	Lulu on the Bridge	Dr. Van Horn
1998	New Rose Hotel	X
1999	eXistenZ	Gas
1999	The Boondock Saints	Agent Paul Smecker
2000	American Psycho	Donald Kimball
2000	Animal Factory	Earl Copen
2000	Shadow of the Vampire	Max Schreck	Fantasporto's International Fantasy Film Award for Best Actor Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival's President Award for Outstanding Creative Performance Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Comedy or Musical Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor Sitges Film Festival's Gran Angular Award for Best Actor Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
2000	Bullfighter	Father Ramirez
2001	Pavilion of Women	Father Andre
2001	Edges of the Lord	Priest
2002	Spider-Man	Norman Osborn / Green Goblin	New York Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
2002	Auto Focus	John Henry Carpenter	Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
2003	Finding Nemo	Gill (voice)
2003	Once Upon a Time in Mexico	Armando Barillo
2003	The Reckoning	Martin
2004	The Clearing	Arnold Mack
2004	Spider-Man 2	Norman Osborn / Green Goblin
2004	The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou	Klaus Daimler	Nominated - Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Ensemble Cast Nominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2004	Control	Dr. Michael Copeland
2004	The Aviator	Roland Sweet
2005	xXx: State of the Union	General George Deckert
2005	Manderlay	Grace's Father
2005	Before It Had a Name	Leslie
2005	Ripley Under Ground	Neil Murchison
2006	American Dreamz	Chief of Staff
2006	Inside Man	Captain John Darius
2006	Paris, je t'aime	The Cowboy	Segment: "Place des Victoires"
2007	The Walker	Larry Lockner
2007	Mr. Bean's Holiday	Carson Clay
2007	Spider-Man 3	Norman Osborn / Green Goblin
2007	Go Go Tales	Ray Ruby
2007	Anamorph	Stan Aubrey
2008	Fireflies in the Garden	Charles Waechter
2008	Adam Resurrected	Commandant Klein
2008	The Dust of Time	A
2009	Antichrist	He	Bodil Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated - Robert Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
2009	Affaire Farewell	Feeney
2009	My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?	Detective Havenhurst
2009	Daybreakers	Elvis
2009	Fantastic Mr. Fox	Rat (voice)
2009	The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day	Paul Smecker	Uncredited cameo
2009	Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant	Gavner Purl
2010	Tales from Earthsea	Cob (voice)	English dub
2010	Miral	Eddie
2010	A Woman	Max Oliver
2011	4:44 Last Day on Earth	Cisco
2011	The Hunter	Martin David	Nominated - AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
2012	John Carter	Tars Tarkas (voice)
2012	Tomorrow You're Gone	The Buddha
2013	Odd Thomas	Wyatt Porter
2013	Out of the Furnace	John Petty
2013	Nymphomaniac	L
2014	A Most Wanted Man	Tommy Brue
2014	The Grand Budapest Hotel	J.G. Jopling
2014	Bad Country	Bud Carter
2014	The Fault in Our Stars	Peter Van Houten
2014	Pasolini	Pier Paolo Pasolini
2014	John Wick	Marcus
2015	My Hindu Friend	Diego Fairman
2016	Finding Dory	Gill (voice)	Post-production
2016	The Headhunter's Calling		Filming
2016	Dog Eat Dog	Mad Dog	Post-production
2016	The Great Wall		Filming
2017	Justice League Part One		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	The Hitchhiker	Jeffrey Hunt	Episode: "Ghostwriter"
1991	Fishing With John	Himself	Segment: "Ice Fishing in Northern Maine"
1997; 2014	The Simpsons	The Commandant / Mr. Lassen (voices)	Episodes: "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" and "Blazed and Confused"
2010	American Experience	Narrator (voice)	Episode: "Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World"

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2004	James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing	Nikolai Diavolo
2013	Beyond: Two Souls	Nathan Dawkins

Other awards and nominations

Camerimage

• 2002: Won, "Special Award:For immense contribution to the art of film."

San Sebastian International Film Festival

• 2005: Won, Donostia Award

Stockholm International Film Festival

• 2012: Won, Stockholm Achievement Award

VGX (award show)

• 2013: Nominated, Best Voice Actor

[ Source: Wikipedia ]