The biography of a popular actor. Who is it ?

The biography of a popular actor. Who is it ?

Postby ioannis.nano » Wed Oct 07, 2009 6:29 pm

He really named Thomas Jeffrey and he was born in 1956 in California. He is an American actor, producer, writer and director. He worked in television before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several roles. He stared in Philadelphia, in saving Private Ryan, in Green mile and in Castaway. He studied theater at Chabot College in California and after two years transferred to California State University. He won the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his performance as Proteus in Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, one of the few times he played a villain.
In Philadelphia, he played a gay lawyer with AIDS who sues his firm for discrimination. He lost thirty-five pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role. In a review for People, Leah Rozen stated "Above all, credit for Philadelphia's success belongs to him, who makes sure that he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." He won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia. During his acceptance speech he revealed that his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and former classmate John Gilkerson, two people with whom he was close, were gay. The revelation inspired the 1997 film In & Out, starring Kevin Kline as an English Literature teacher who is outed by a former student in a similar way.
He followed Philadelphia with the 1994 summer hit Forrest Gump, and stated: "When I read the script for Gump, I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... some hope for their lot and their position in life... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. I still do." He won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Forrest Gump, becoming only the second actor to have accomplished the feat of winning consecutive Best Actor Oscars. (Spencer Tracy was the first, winning in 1937-38. He and Tracy were the same age at the time they received their Academy Awards: 37 for the first and 38 for the second.)
He's next project reunited him with Ron Howard in the 1995 movie Apollo 13, in which he played astronaut and commander James Lovell. Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. The movie also earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning two. The same year, he starred in the animated blockbuster Toy Story as the voice of the toy Sheriff Woody.
He turned to directing with his 1996 movie That Thing You Do! about a 1960’s pop group, also playing the role of a music producer. He and producer Gary Goetzman went on to create Playtone, a record and film Production Company named for the record company in the film.
He executive produced, co-wrote, and co-directed the HBO docudrama From the Earth to the Moon. The twelve-part series chronicles the space program from its inception, through the familiar flights of Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell, to the personal feelings surrounding the reality of moon landings. The Emmy Award-winning project was, at US$68 million, one of the most expensive ventures taken for television. His next project was no less expensive.
For Saving Private Ryan he teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make a film about D-Day, the landing at Omaha Beach, and a quest through war-torn France to bring back a soldier who has a ticket home. It earned the praise and respect of the film community, critics, and the general public; it was labeled one of the finest war films ever made, earning Spielberg his second Academy Award for direction and to him a Best Actor nomination. Later in 1998, he re-teamed with his Sleepless in Seattle co-star Meg Ryan for another romantic comedy, You've Got Mail, a remake of 1940's The Shop Around the Corner, which starred James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan.
In 1999, he starred in an adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Green Mile. He also returned as the voice of Woody in Toy Story 2. The following year he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy nomination for his portrayal of a marooned FedEx systems analyst in Robert Zemeckis's Cast Away. In 2001, he helped direct and produce the acclaimed HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. He also appeared in the September 11 television special America: A Tribute to Heroes and the documentary Rescued From the Closet.
Next he teamed up with American Beauty director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins's and Richard Piers Rayner's graphic novel Road to Perdition, in which he played an anti-hero role as a hitman on the run with his son. That same year, he collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit crime comedy Catch Me if You Can, based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. The same year, he and wife Rita Wilson produced the hit movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In August 2007, he along with co-producers Rita Wilson and Gary Goetzman, and writer and star Nia Vardalos, initiated a legal action against the production company Gold Circle Films for their share of profits from the movie. At the age of 45, he became the youngest ever recipient of the American Film Institutes's Life Achievement Award on June 12, 2002.
He was absent from the screen in 2003; in 2004, he appeared in three films: The Coen Brothers' The Ladykillers, another Spielberg helmed film, The Terminal, and The Polar Express, a family film from Robert Zemeckis. In a USA Weekend interview, he talked about how he chooses projects: "[Since] A League of Their Own, it can't be just another movie for me. It has to get me going somehow.... There has to be some all-encompassing desire or feeling about wanting to do that particular movie. I'd like to assume that I'm willing to go down any avenue in order to do it right". In August 2005, he was voted in as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
He next starred in the highly anticipated film The Da Vinci Code, based on the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. The film was released May 19, 2006 in the US and grossed over US$750 million worldwide. In Ken Burns's 2007 documentary The War, he did voice work, reading excerpts from World War II-era columns by Al McIntosh. In 2006, he topped a 1,500-strong list of 'most trusted celebrities' compiled by Forbes magazine. He next appeared in a cameo role as himself in The Simpsons Movie, in which he appears in an advertisement claiming that the US government has lost its credibility and is hence buying some of his. He also makes an appearance in the credits, stating that he wishes to be left alone when he is out in public. Later in 2006, he produced the British film Starter for Ten, a comedy based on working class students attempting to win University Challenge.
In 2007, he starred in Mike Nichols' film Charlie Wilson's War (written by acclaimed screenwriter Aaron Sorkin) in which he plays Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson. The film opened on December 21, 2007 and he received a Golden Globe nomination for his acting.
In a play on the expression "art imitating life", he played an on screen dad to a young man who chooses to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician (John Malkovich) in 2008's The Great Buck Howard. His character was less than thrilled about his son's career decision.
His next endeavor, released on May 15, 2009, was a film adaptation of Angels & Demons, Dan Brown's prequel to The Da Vinci Code. Its April 11, 2007 announcement revealed that he would reprise his role as Robert Langdon, and that he would reportedly receive the highest salary ever for an actor which is between $30–35 million plus an estimated 10-15% percentage of the movie's revenue. The following day he made his 10th appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live doing an impersonation of himself for the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.
He is producer of the Spike Jonze film Where The Wild Things Are, based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak.
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