Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Born Daniel Wroughton Craig - 2 March 1968 - Chester, England Occupation Actor Years active 1992–present Spouse(s) Fiona Loudon (1992–1994) |
Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English actor. His early film roles included The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert. He went on to star in his breakthrough performance Layer Cake, The Golden Compass and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
Craig is set to play boxer Martin Rogan in the film 'Journeyman' which is to be made in Belfast, although he has become a household name since he became the sixth actor to portray the fictional secret agent James Bond in the long-running Eon Productions film series. He made his début as the character in the 2006 film, Casino Royale to critical acclaim and was nominated for a BAFTA award. His most recent Bond film, the 22nd James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, was released in the UK on 31 October 2008 and in the North America on 14 November 2008. Daniel's mother was born in Berlin, Germany.
According to Men's Vogue, Craig is now the highest paid actor in Britain.
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Early life
Daniel began acting in school plays at the age of six. Craig moved to London when he was sixteen to join the National Youth Theatre after a brief stay at Caldy. His brother Harry attended Ellesmere College and is pursuing a career in Lighting and Technical Theatre. He played for Hoylake Rugby Club. He attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama at the Barbican and graduated in 1991 after three years of study under Colin McCormack.
Breakthrough: 1990s
Craig studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 1991, and appeared in several minor roles including Sharpe's Eagle and an episode of Boon, Drop The Dead Donkey in 1993. His first leading role on screen was as a co-star in the 1996 BBC Television serial Our Friends in the North. He continued his work with the BBC by starring in the 1997 Francis Bacon biopic Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon, portraying Bacon's jilted lover George Dyer. The year 1997 also saw the broadcast of a TV mystery drama, from the Minette Walters novel The Ice House, in which Craig played DS Andy McLoughlin. Craig had a small part as John Ballard in Elizabeth in 1998. It has been noted that Craig has a strong resemblance to the late South African thespian, Sid James – of the revered ‘Carry On…’ series.
Following an introduction to international audiences as Angelina Jolie's rival and love interest in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), he continued his career in the United States in Sam Mendes's movie Road to Perdition (2002), with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. Craig played Connor Rooney, the son of an Irish mob boss (played by Newman) and a conniving murderer who hides behind his mobster father's shadow. Other leading film roles include Sword of Honour (2001), The Mother (2003) with Anne Reid, Sylvia (2003) with Gwyneth Paltrow, Layer Cake (2004) with Sienna Miller, Enduring Love (2004) with Rhys Ifans, Steven Spielberg's Munich (2005), Infamous (2006), and The Golden Compass (2007).
James Bond (2005–present)
On 23 October 2005, Craig signed a five-film contract with EON Productions to portray James Bond. He stated that he "was aware of the challenges" of the James Bond franchise which he considers "a big machine" that "makes a lot of money". He aimed at bringing more "emotional depth" to the character. Being born in 1968, Craig is the first actor to portray James Bond to be born after the Bond series already started, and Ian Fleming, the novels' writer, had died.
The first film, Casino Royale, premièred on 14 November 2006, and grossed a total of US$594 million, which makes the film the highest grossing Bond film.
After the film was released, Craig's performance was highly acclaimed. Critic Paul Arendt of BBC Films, Kim Newman of Empire and Todd Carty of Variety all described Craig as the first actor to truly embody the original James Bond from Ian Fleming's novels: "ironic, brutal, and cold". He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor on January 2006, and won the Best Actor award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards on 2 February 2007, both firsts for an actor in the role of James Bond.
Craig describes his portrayal of Bond as an antihero: “The question I keep asking myself while playing the role is, ‘Am I the good guy or just a bad guy who works for the good side?’ Bond’s role, after all, is that of an assassin when you come down to it. I have never played a role in which someone’s dark side shouldn’t be explored. I don’t think it should be confusing by the end of the movie, but during the movie you should be questioning who he is.” Craig also states that his favourite previous Bond actor was Sean Connery, but says, "I'd never copy somebody else. I would never do an impression of anybody else or try and improve on what they did. That would be a pointless exercise for me".
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | The Power of One | Sgt. Botha, a.k.a. The Judge | |
| 1993 | Sharpe's Eagle | Lt. Berry | Television drama |
| 1995 | A Kid in King Arthur's Court | Master Kane | |
| 1996 | The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders | James "Jemmy" Seagrave | Television drama |
| Our Friends in the North | George "Geordie" Peacock | Television drama | |
| 1997 | Obsession – Besessene Seelen | John McHale | |
| 1997 | The Ice House | D.S. Andy McLoughlin | TV Mystery/Drama from the novel by Minette Walters |
| 1998 | Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon | George Dyer | |
| Love and Rage | James Lynchehaun | ||
| Elizabeth | John Ballard | ||
| 1999 | The Trench | Sgt. Telford Winter | |
| 2000 | Some Voices | Ray | |
| I Dreamed of Africa | Declan Fielding | ||
| 2001 | Lara Croft: Tomb Raider | Alex West | |
| Sword of Honour | Guy Crouchback | ||
| 2002 | Copenhagen | Werner Heisenberg | Television drama, stage adaptation |
| Ten Minutes Older: The Cello | Cecil | ||
| Road to Perdition | Connor Rooney | ||
| 2003 | Sylvia | Ted Hughes | |
| The Mother | Darren | ||
| 2004 | Layer Cake | XXXX | |
| Enduring Love | Joe | ||
| 2005 | Munich | Steve | |
| Archangel | Christopher Kelso | Television drama | |
| Fateless | American Soldier | ||
| The Jacket | Rudy Mackenzie | ||
| 2006 | Casino Royale | James Bond | |
| Renaissance | Barthélémy Karas | Voice role | |
| Infamous | Perry Smith | ||
| 2007 | The Golden Compass | Lord Asriel | |
| The Invasion | Ben Driscoll | ||
| 2008 | Flashbacks of a Fool | Joe Scot | |
| Quantum of Solace | James Bond | ||
| Defiance | Tuvia Bielski | ||
| 2009 | I, Lucifer | Lucifer | on hold |
| 2011 | Bond 23 | James Bond | announced |
| The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn | Red Rackham | filming |
References
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Craig Daniel Craig at wikipedia.org
External links
Daniel Craig at the Internet Movie Database
Daniel Craig biography and credits at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
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Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life Cast Lara Croft, Angelina Jolie - Alex West, Daniel Craig - Lord Richard Croft, Jon Voight - Manfred Powell, Iain Glen - Terry Sheridan, Gerard Butler - Kosa, Djimon Hounsou - Dr. Jonathan Reiss, Ciarán Hinds - Bryce, Noah Taylor - Hillary, Chris Barrie England - Cambodia - Italy - Russia - Greece - Kazakhstan - China - Kilimanjaro |
