Willem Dafoe

Born in Appleton, Wis., on July 22, 1955, Willem Dafoe majored in theatre arts at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. After a series of smaller parts in films such as The Hunger (1983) and Streets of Fire (1984), Dafoe received high praise for his work in To Live and Die in L.A., Platoon, The Last Temptation of Christ and Mississippi Burning. Platoon (1986) earned him his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Since then, he's made a career of playing darker characters in movies such as Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Wild at Heart (1990), Light Sleeper (1992), Clear and Present Danger (1994) and The English Patient (1996).

Dafoe earned his second Best Supporting Actor nomination playing actor Max Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire (2000). He later played the villainous Green Goblin in his most commercially successful film, Spider-Man (2002).

Filmography