[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/johnmalkovich.jpg]]

->''"I have driven school buses, sold egg rolls and painted houses, and I have often wondered what my life would have been like if I hadn't gone into acting. Mind you, it's a great life, going around pretending you're other people and getting paid ridiculous sums of money for it."''

John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward-nominated American actor of Croatian, English, Scottish, French, and German descent.

He is known for playing creepy psychopaths extremely well, and has made his fame in films such as ''Film/TheKillingFields'', ''Film/EmpireOfTheSun'', ''Literature/DangerousLiaisons'', ''Film/ConAir'', ''Film/InTheLineOfFire'', and ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich''. A master of the CreepyMonotone, and can either be quietly understated or be a LargeHam of astronomical proportions. He also appeared in a cameo in ''Film/{{Adaptation}}'' [[MindScrew during the filming of]] ''Being John Malkovich''.

He has now branched into the small screen, having played the infamous pirate Blackbeard in NBC's ''Series/{{Crossbones}}'', the recurring role of Grigor Andolov in Showtime's ''Series/{{Billions}}'', Franchise/HerculePoirot in the BBC's ''Series/TheABCMurders'', a [[UsefulNotes/ThePope Pope]] opposite Creator/JudeLaw in HBO's ''Series/TheNewPope'', and a hapless NASA scientist in Netflix's ''Series/SpaceForce''. He is also the owner of a fairly popular restaurant in Lisbon, Portugal. And also appeared in the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMwJtMJLXE0 SPICY]] by [[Music/TwoNEOne CL]].

Malkovich lost most of his life savings by investing in Bernie Madoff's fraudulent Ponzi scheme in 2008, and has said that since that time [[MoneyDearBoy he's become both more prolific and much less selective about the quality of the films that he agreed to appear in]].

[[folder:Filmography]]
* ''Film/TheKillingFields'' (1984) -- Al Rockoff
* ''Film/PlacesInTheHeart'' (1984) -- Mr. Will
* ''Theatre/DeathOfASalesman'' (1985 TV) -- Biff Loman
* ''Film/EmpireOfTheSun'' (1987) -- Basie
* ''Theatre/TheGlassMenagerie'' (1987 TV) -- Tom
* ''Literature/DangerousLiaisons'' (1988) -- Vicomte de Valmont
* ''Film/OfMiceAndMen'' (1992) -- Lennie Small
* ''Film/ShadowsAndFog'' (1992) -- Paul the clown
* ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'' (1993) -- Kurtz
* ''Film/{{Alive}}'' (1993) -- Old Carlitos
* ''Film/InTheLineOfFire'' (1993) -- Mitch Leary
* ''Film/ConAir'' (1997) -- Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom
* ''Film/TheManInTheIronMask'' (1998) -- Athos
* ''Film/{{Rounders}}'' (1998) -- Teddy KGB
* ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'' (1999) -- John Horatio Malkovich
* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'' (1999) -- [[UsefulNotes/LetatCestMoi King Charles VII of France]]
* ''[[Series/LesMiserables2000 Les Misérables]]'' (2000) -- Javert
* ''Film/ShadowOfTheVampire'' (2000) -- Creator/FriedrichWilhelmMurnau
* ''Film/KnockaroundGuys'' (2001) -- Teddy Deserve
* ''Film/RipleysGame'' (2002) -- Tom Ripley
* ''Film/{{Adaptation}}'' (2002) -- Himself [[note]]''[[Film/BeingJohnMalkovich as himself]]''[[/note]]
* ''[[Series/Napoleon2002 Napoléon]]'' (2002) -- Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand
* ''Film/JohnnyEnglish'' (2003) -- Pascal Sauvage
* ''Film/{{The Libertine|2004}}'' (2004) -- King Charles II of England
* ''[[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' (2005) -- Humma Kavula
* ''Film/ColourMeKubrick'' (2005) -- Alan Conway
* ''Film/{{Eragon}}'' (2006) -- Galbatorix
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Beowulf|2007}}'' (2007) -- Unferth
* ''Film/{{Changeling}}'' (2008) -- Rev. Gustav Briegleb
* ''Film/BurnAfterReading'' (2008) -- Osborne Cox
* ''Film/{{Jonah Hex|2010}}'' (2010) -- Quentin Turnbull
* ''Film/{{Red|2010}}'' (2010) -- Marvin Boggs
* ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' (2011) -- Bruce Brazos
* ''Film/Red2'' (2013) -- Marvin Boggs
* ''Film/CesarChavez'' (2014) -- Bogdanovich Senior
* ''Casanova Variations'' (2014) -- Creator/GiacomoCasanova
* ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar'' (2015) -- [[CelebrityVoiceActor Dave the Octopus]]
* ''100 Years'' (filmed in 2015, to be released in 2115) [[note]]A film directed by Creator/RobertRodriguez that is not supposed to be watched until 100 years have passed, mirroring the 100 years it takes to create the final blend of the Louis XIII French cognac brand, which sponsored the thing.[[/note]]
* ''Film/DeepwaterHorizon'' (2016) -- Don Vidrine
* ''Film/BirdBox'' (2018) -- Douglas
* ''Film/Mile22'' (2018) -- James Bishop / "Mother"
* ''Film/VelvetBuzzsaw'' (2019) -- Piers
* ''Literature/TheABCMurders'' (2019) -- Literature/HerculePoirot
* ''Film/ExtremelyWickedShockinglyEvilAndVile'' (2019) -- Judge Edward D. Cowart
* ''Series/HomeMovieThePrincessBride'' (2020) -- The Clergyman
* ''Series/TheNewPope'' (2020) -- Sir John Brannox / Pope John Paul III
* ''Film/{{Ava}}'' (2020) -- Duke
* ''Film/MrBlakeAtYourService'' (2023) -- Andrew Blake
* ''Series/{{Ripley}}'' (2024) -- Reeves Minot
[[/folder]]
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!! Tropes found in his works:

* BaldOfEvil: He's bald and plays a lot of evil bastards. He even said going bald allowed him to go from playing brooding lovers and generic leading men to more interesting villain and character actor roles.
* CreepyMonotone: One of his trademarks is to make pretty much any line of dialogue sound terrifying by saying it in a slow, drawling and nearly robotic manner.
* CunningLinguist: He's fluent in French due to having lived in France for years, although he still has a distinctive American accent. It's best seen in the original version of ''Film/MrBlakeAtYourService'', where he has no SameLanguageDub.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most of his characters are very witty, although usually in a very insulting way, and are masters at withering insults.
* FakeNationality: Numerous examples:
** FakeBrit in ''Film/MaryReilly'', ''Film/ColourMeKubrick'', ''{{Series/Crossbones}}'', ''Series/TheNewPope'' and ''Film/MrBlakeAtYourService''.
** FakeRussian in ''{{Film/Rounders}}'' and ''{{Series/Billions}}''.
** He has played Frenchmen in ''Film/DangerousLiaisons'', ''Film/TheManInTheIronMask'', ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'', ''[[Series/LesMiserables2000 Les Misérables]]'', ''[[Series/Napoleon2002 Napoléon]]'', and ''Film/JohnnyEnglish''.
** He starred as Creator/AgathaChristie's iconic Belgian sleuth Franchise/HerculePoirot in ''Series/TheABCMurders''.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Many of his villains are exceptionally polite and definitely not to be trusted.
* GrumpyOldMan: Throughout the 2000s and 2010s he's played a lot of cantankerous, bitter old men. It's often a shock for people used to these roles to see what a laid back, introspective person he is off-camera.
* {{Jerkass}}: No one plays condescending, irritable, egotistical or just plain unpleasant men like Malkovich.
* LargeHam: When the situation calls for it, he can bring the ham in spectacular fashion.
* ProductionPosse: He was directed four times by experimental Chilean filmmaker Raoul Ruiz.
* RenaissanceMan: Accomplished in acting, directing, fashion design, and business ownership.
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