At the age of 29, in 2003, Adrien Brody became the youngest actor ever to win the Best Actor Academy Award, for his role in The Pianist. He won for his portrayal of Polish-Jewish pianist Wladislaw Szpilman who survived the Holocaust.
Brody was born in New York City on April 14, 1973, and was drawn to acting from a very young age. When he was twelve years old he began to perform as a magician at children's parties. Having studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the High School for the Performing Arts, he found his earliest work in off-Broadway productions, and made his television debut in 1998 with a PBS movie and a role as Mary Tyler Moore's son in the sitcom Annie McGuire. After making several moderately-successful films, Brody was included as one of the "Hot, Young, and Full of Fun" cover boys on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine.
Adrien Brody is a New York actor who is known to international audiences as the star of Roman Polanski's 2002 film, The Pianist. Brody started in small roles in the late 1980s and early '90s, finally gaining notice for his performance in Spike Lee's movie Summer of Sam (1999). He carried The Pianist in 2002 and won an Oscar for Best Actor; after his acceptance speech he startled TV viewers with an enthusiastic, impromptu kiss with that year's Best Actress winner, Halle Berry. His other films include The Thin Red Line (1998, with Nick Nolte), M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (2004, with Sigourney Weaver), Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong (2005) and Hollywoodland (2006, with Diane Lane).
Career Highlights: Summer of Sam, The Thin Red Line, Liberty Heights
First Major Screen Credit: Bullet (1995)
Biography
An actor who hovered far too long on the brink of stardom before getting his due recognition, Adrien Brody spent much of his early career falling victim to the slings and arrows of outrageous PR. Possessing undeniable talent and looks that recall both the wasted elegance of an Aubrey Beardsley illustration and a young and hungry Al Pacino, Brody spent much of the 1990s as a candidate for his generation's "next big thing." But despite roles in two high-profile movies -- Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line (1998) and Spike Lee's Summer of Sam (1999) -- and the publicity that accompanied them, it was not until Brody was cast as the lead in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002) that he won the recognition which had previously eluded him.
Born on April 14, 1973, in New York City, Brody was raised in Queens. The son of a schoolteacher and a celebrated photojournalist, he was drawn to acting from an early age. Brody's first taste of show business came when he was 12-years-old and performed as a magician at children's parties; with his mother's encouragement, he subsequently enrolled in acting classes, attending both the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the High School for the Performing Arts. He found his earliest work in off-Broadway productions, and made his television debut in 1998 with a PBS movie and a turn as Mary Tyler Moore's son in the comedienne's ill-fated sitcom Annie McGuire.
Following his professional debut, the actor returned to school and attended a year of college before being cast in Steven Soderbergh's 1993 Depression-era drama King of the Hill. The film, which cast Brody as its protagonist's delinquent mentor, met with wide critical acclaim and presented him with new opportunities. He won roles in several films, including 1994's Angels in the Outfield and 1997's The Last Time I Committed Suicide, a paean to the beat generation that co-starred Keanu Reeves, Gretchen Mol, and Claire Forlani.
That same year, Brody had lead parts in The Undertaker's Wedding and Six Ways to Sunday, two fairly obscure films that paved the way for both more high-profile work and a turn as one of Vanity Fair's "Hot, Young, and Full of Fun" cover boys. With the 1999 cover and principal roles in two highly anticipated films, The Thin Red Line and Summer of Sam, Brody seemed perfectly positioned to step into the limelight. Unfortunately, his scenes in the former ended up on the cutting room floor, victims of time constraints. But Brody's turn as a bisexual punk in the latter earned positive notices, and was hailed by numerous critics as one of the strongest points in Lee's flawed but compelling film.
Brody continued to do solid work in films like Barry Levinson's Liberty Heights (1999) and Ken Loach's Bread and Roses (2000), but it wasn't until he was cast as the eponymous protagonist of Roman Polanksi's The Pianist that critics -- and the Academy -- really took notice of his work. For his portrayal of the real-life Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish pianist struggling to survive the Holocaust in the Warsaw Ghetto, Brody invested himself mentally, emotionally, and physically in the role, and was rewarded for his dedication with numerous honors, including the French César and an Oscar that made him the youngest-ever recipient of the Best Actor award. Many observers felt the quality of his performance in the film was matched by that of his acceptance speech, given only days after the U.S. went to war with Iraq: after bestowing a long kiss on a very surprised Halle Berry, who presented him with the award, he went on to give a speech that managed to combine heartfelt gratitude with an eloquent plea for peace and goodwill. It was an accomplishment that brought much of the ceremony's audience to a standing ovation and ensured that although fame had eluded him in the past, Brody had finally and deservedly won his time in the limelight.
Brody followed up his triumph as The Village idiot in M. Night Shyamalan's allegorical film, and starred in the little-seen psychological thriller The Jacket. However, in 2005, Brody starred in Peter Jackson's gargantuan remake of King Kong. He returned to more independent films as a man attempting to unravel the mysterious death of George Reeves in Hollywoodland, and teamed with Todd Haynes in his unconventional Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Brody was born in Woodhaven, Queens, New York, the son of Sylvia Plachy, a photojournalist, and Elliot Brody, a retired history professor and painter.[1] Brody's father is of Polish-Jewish descent, and Brody's mother was born in Budapest, Hungary to a Catholic father and Jewish mother.[2][3] As a child, Brody performed magic shows at children's birthday parties as "The Amazing Adrien".[4] Brody attended New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (famous as the inspiration for television's Fame). His parents enrolled him in acting classes to distance him from the dangerous kids with whom he associated. He attended summer camp at Long Lake Camp for the Arts in the Adirondacks in upstate New York.
In 1992, Brody was seriously hurt in a motorcycle accident in which he flew over a car and crashed head-first into a crosswalk. He spent months recuperating. He has broken his nose three times doing stunts. His nose was broken once again during the filming of Summer of Sam.
Career
Taking acting classes as a youth, by age thirteen, he had done an off-Broadway play and a PBS-TV-movie. Brody hovered on the brink of stardom, receiving an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his role in the 1998 film Restaurant and later praise for his roles in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. He received widespread recognition when he was cast as the lead in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002). To prepare for the role, Brody withdrew for months, gave up his apartment and his car, learned how to play Chopin on the piano, and lost 29 lbs (13 kg). The role won him an Academy Award for Best Actor, making him, at 29, the youngest actor ever to win the award, and to date the only winner under the age of 30. He also won a César Award for his performance, becoming the only American actor to win one. Throughout his career, Brody has been compared to Al Pacino for his unique looks and method acting.[citation needed] He is also widely known for giving presenter Halle Berry a back-breaking kiss before accepting his Best Actor Oscar, and as the spokesman for fashion brand Ermenegildo Zegna.
Brody appeared on Saturday Night Live on May 10, 2003, his first TV work, but he was banned from the show after giving an improvised introduction while wearing faux dreadlocks for Jamaicanreggae musical guest Sean Paul (the show's producer, Lorne Michaels, is notorious for hating unscripted performances). However, the unscripted intro remains in reruns of the episode. Other TV appearances include NBC's The Today Show and on MTV's Punk'd after being tricked by Ashton Kutcher.
After The Pianist Brody appeared in four very different movies. He played Noah Percy, a mentally disabled young man, in the movie The Village, by M. Night Shyamalan, shell-shocked war veteran Jack Starks in The Jacket, writer Jack Driscoll in the 2005 King Kong remake, and father-to-be Peter Whitman in The Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson. King Kong was a box office success; it grossed $550 million worldwide and is Brody's most successful movie to date in monetary terms. He also played a detective in Hollywoodland. He has also appeared in Diet Coke commercials and Tori Amos' music video for "A Sorta Fairytale".
On January 5, 2006, Brody confirmed speculation that he indeed was interested and very willing to play the role of The Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight. However, Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. eventually decided to cast Heath Ledger as The Joker.[5] He was also in talks with Paramount to play Spock in J. J. AbramsStar Trek XI, but it ultimately went to Zachary Quinto.[6][7] Brody also starred as a con man named "Bloom" in Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom, released in May 2009.[8] Brody will star in Splice, a science fiction film directed by Vincenzo Natali that is slated for a 2009 release. He will also play the lead role of Royce in Predators which will be directed by Nimrod Antal and produced by Robert Rodriguez.[9]
Personal life
In May of 2009, Adrien Brody and Elsa Pataky ended their two-year relationship.
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