Willem Dafoe is an American actor whose estimated net worth is $30 million. William John Dafoe was born in Appleton, Wisconsin (USA), on July 22nd, 1955. He was the sixth of eight children of Dr. William Alfred Dafoe, surgeon, and his wife Muriel Isabel Sprissler, a nurse from Boston. His name at birth was Willem Dafoe, but later he changed it legally to Willem Dafoe, so anyone would not call him “Billy.” He studied drama at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Then he was part of the avant-garde group called Theater X.
Career.
After touring with Theater X and Emil Aguilera for four years in the United States and Europe, he moved to New York City, and joined the Performance Group. His film career began in 1980, in The Gate of Heaven, although his role was eliminated during the editing of the film.
In the mid-1980s, he was selected by William Friedkin to star in To Live and Die in L.A., where Dafoe plays the forger Rick Masters. A year later, he played the leader of a motorcycle gang in The Loveless (and later played a similar role in Streets of Fire), but, the role that consecrated him as an actor was the compassionate sergeant Elias in Platoon (1986), film for which he received his first Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.
After Platoon.
In 1988, Dafoe starred in another film set during the Vietnam War, this time as agent Buck McGriff in Off Limits. Since then he has become a popular “rude actor”. He has often been chosen to play unstable, or villain characters, such as the Green Goblin in the Spider-Man movie series.
Prior to this, he was considered by Tim Burton and Sam Hamm to play The Joker in Batman (1989). The director and screenwriter thought that Defoe was physically like the Joker, but the role eventually went to Jack Nicholson.
The Last Temptation of Christ
In 1988, he portrayed Jesus of Nazareth in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, receiving critical acclaim despite the religious controversy generated by the film. In the following years, he participated in blockbuster films such as Born on July 4 (1989), Wild Heart (1990) and The English Patient (1996).
In 1991, Dafoe portrayed a Manhattan drug dealer in Light Sleeper, a film well received by critics and followers. In 1992, he participated with Madonna in an erotic drama, Body of Evidence. He played an eccentric FBI agent in The Boondock Saints (1999) and a private investigator in American Psycho (2000).
In 2000, he was again nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for The Shadow of the Vampire, for which he underwent long makeup sessions to play Max Schreck, starring actor in the horror film classic Nosferatu by F.W. Murnau.
Personal life.
Dafoe met director Elizabeth LeCompte at the Performance Group. LeCompte and Dafoe formed part of the Performance Group restructuring. They became professional collaborators, as well as founding members of The Wooster Group. and began a relationship. In 1982 the couple had a son, Jack. In 2004 they separated
