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Jude Law

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Jude Law
File:JudeLaw2.jpgLaw at the 2001 Berlinale
(photo by Michael Weiner)
BornDavid Jude Heyworth Law
Height5 ft 9 in / 1.75 m

David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an Academy Award nominated English actor, who is known as Jude Law.

Biography

Early life

Law was born in Lewisham, South London, England to teachers, Peter and Maggie Law. His sister Natasha Law is a well regarded illustrator and artist. He was educated at John Ball Primary School in Blackheath and Alleyn's School in Dulwich. He started acting with the National Youth Music Theatre at the age of 12 and, at 17, he dropped out of school completely. He trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. which he later dropped out of.

Career

Law's first major stage role was as Foxtrot Darling, the sexually ambiguous and manipulative teenager in Philip Ridley's The Fastest Clock In The Universe. Law went on to appear as Michael in the West End production of Indiscretions, an imaginative re-working of Jean Cocteau's tragicomedy Les Parents Terribles directed by Sean Mathias, a role he subsequently played on Broadway opposite Kathleen Turner, Roger Rees and Cynthia Nixon. After minor roles in British television, including a two year stint in the Granada TV soap opera Families, Law had his breakthrough with the British ram-raiding drama Shopping which also featured his future wife Sadie Frost. He shot to fame in Britain upon the release of Wilde, in which he played Lord Alfred Douglas, the glamorous lover of Stephen Fry's Oscar Wilde.

File:Talented Mr Ripley3.jpg
Law and Matt Damon, stars of The Talented Mr. Ripley at the 2000 Berlinale (photo by Michael Weiner)

Law subsequently moved to Hollywood; his performances include Gattaca, as a frustrated Olympic medalist bound by a wheelchair, in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil as an ill-fated lover of Kevin Spacey's character, in Road to Perdition as a sadistic hitman in a critically-praised performance. He has been nominated for an Academy Award twice; once as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Talented Mr. Ripley in 2000, and then again as Best Actor in a Leading Role for Cold Mountain in early 2003.

Law's career suffered a major decline during 2004. The remake of Alfie was a box-office flop, earning only about half of its estimated $60 million budget, and was voted one of the worst remakes of all time by subscribers to Screen Select. Writing in the Daily Mail in 2005 Laura Benjamin contended that though Law had been effective in supporting roles, his appeal was too limited to carry a film all on his own.

Other films of his in 2004, such as Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow also flopped. I ♥ Huckabees, which flopped at the box office, did obtain modest critical "indie" praise. Law was famously the butt of a joke by Chris Rock at the 2005 Academy Awards, which preceded Law's departure from the Creative Artists Agency. At the awards ceremony, Sean Penn, who had worked with Law rebuked Rock, but was notably one of Law's few supporters that night.

Law has sometimes chosen to hide his classical looks in unglamorous roles such as the evil, balding hitman in Road to Perdition.

Law is a fan of the seminal graphic novel Watchmen, by Alan Moore, so much so he has a tattoo of the Rorschach character. He has maintained an interest in being involved in a feature film production of the series, especially if it were directed by Darren Aronofsky. He has said that he would most likely play the character Ozymandias. This could be because he was, at one point, courted to play either Batman or Superman in Batman Begins, Batman vs. Superman, and/or Superman Returns, but he is said to have regretted it when he was not selected for the role.

In addition, he was asked by Superman Returns director Bryan Singer to play General Zod, but the character was eliminated from the script. However, recent news suggests Law will play General Zod in the Superman Returns prequel.

Personal life

Law married Sadie Frost on September 2, 1997. They have three children together: son Rafferty (born October 6, 1996), daughter Iris (born October 25, 2000) and son Rudy (born September 10, 2002). For a time Frost and Law were central to the so called 'Primrose Hill set' of young British actors. Afterwards, Law was in a relationship with the actress Sienna Miller.

Miscellaneous

  • In the novel Saint by author Ted Dekker, the main antagonist, known as Englishman, thought that he looked like Jude Law.
  • The term "the Jude Laws" is used by British hairdressers when talking about hair recession above the temples.

Filmography

Films

Television


External links

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