William James Dafoe (born July 22, 1955 in Appleton, Wisconsin), known professionally as "Willem" Dafoe, is an Academy Award-nominated American film, stage, and voice actor, and a member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group.
He first got major attention in The '80s, appearing in a number of controversial, cult, and edgy films, including The Loveless, Streets of Fire, and To Live and Die in L.A.. His role as Sgt. Elias in Platoon would net him his first Oscar nomination.
His first major leading role was Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ, where even though he had not yet been established for playing villains, his unusual features were highly remarked upon. After watching Dafoe's performance in the film, Sergio Leone was heard to remark, "That's not the face of our Lord. It's the face of a psychopath." Critics, though, generally praised his performance, and Dafoe credits it for starting his interest in being a "director's actor", i.e. working with major auteurs and roles that interested him. It stands out in either case as one of the very few films where he plays the main lead, as the majority of his career after that has consisted of work as a character actor and supporting actor. He found himself typecast as villains, while occasionally doing character turns and in other cases appearing in small scene-stealing cameos (such as as the gas station attendant in eXistenZ).
He became obscure in The '90s, but returned to mainstream attention when he appeared in the highly successful Spider-Man, where he turned in a memorable performance as Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin. This was his first blockbuster role, and it made him a mainstream success and, for the first time, a household name. Since then, he's appeared in a number of more prominent performances, as well as finding himself in demand for voice-over work (while many note his unusual features, his voice is equally memorable and distinct). In 2013, he provided the voice and motion capture for Nathan Dawkins in the video game Beyond: Two Souls with Elliot Page. He also became part of Wes Anderson's stock company, starring in The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014 along with many other well-known and respected actors.
He has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor three times — for Platoon in 1986, for Shadow of the Vampire in 2000, and for The Florida Project in 2017. In 2019, he received his very first Best Actor nomination for portraying Vincent van Gogh in At Eternity's Gate.
His wife since 2005, Giada Colagrande, is an actress and film director in her own right.
Also, his name sounds like a frog talking to a parrot.
Selected works:
- Heaven's Gate (1980) — Willy (film debut)
- The Hitchhiker (1983 - 1987) — Jeffrey Huntnote
- Streets of Fire (1984) — Raven Shaddock
- To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) — Eric 'Rick' Masters
- Platoon (1986) — Sergeant Elias Gordon
- Off Limits (1988) — Sgt. 1st Class Buck McGriff
- The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) — Jesus Christ
- Mississippi Burning (1988) — FBI Agent Alan Ward
- Born on the Fourth of July (1989) — Charlie
- Cry-Baby (1990) — Hateful Guard
- Wild at Heart (1990) — Bobby Peru
- Flight of the Intruder (1991) — Lieutenant Commander Virgil 'Tiger' Cole
- Fishing with John (1991) — As Himself
- White Sands (1992) — Ray Dolezal
- Light Sleeper (1992) — John LeTour
- Body of Evidence (1993) — Frank Dulaney
- Clear and Present Danger (1994) — CIA Agent John Clark
- Basquiat — The Electrician
- The English Patient (1996) — David Caravaggio
- Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) — John Geiger
- Affliction (1997) — Rolfe Whitehouse
- The Simpsons (1997 - 2014) — The Commandant / Mr. Lassen
- eXistenZ (1999) — Gas
- The Boondock Saints (1999) — FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker
- American Psycho (2000) — Donald Kimball
- Shadow of the Vampire (2000) — Max Schreck
- Animal Factory (2000) — Earl Copen
- Pavilion of Women (2001) — Father Andre
- Spider-Man Trilogy and the Marvel Cinematic Universe — Norman Osborn / Green Goblin
- Spider-Man (2002)
- Spider-Man: The Movie (2002)
- Spider-Man 2 (2004)
- Spider-Man 3 (2007)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
- Spider-Man (2002)
- Auto Focus (2002)
- Globehunters: An Around The World In 80 Days Adventure (2002) — Hunter
- Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) — Armando Barillo
- Finding Nemo (2003) — Gill
- Finding Nemo (2003)
- Finding Dory (2016)
- Everything or Nothing (2003) — Nikolai Diavolo
- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) — Klaus Daimler
- The Aviator (2004) — Roland Sweet
- xXx: State of the Union (2005) — General George Deckert
- Manderlay (2005) — Mr. Mulligan
- Ripley Under Ground (2005) — Neil Murchison
- American Dreamz (2006) — Chief of Staff
- Inside Man (2006) — Captain John Darius
- Paris Je Taime (2006) — The Cowboy
- Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007) — Carson Clay
- Tales from Earthsea (2007) — Cob
- Anamorph (2007) — Stan Aubrey
- Antichrist (2009) — He / The Fox
- Daybreakers (2009) — Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) — Rat
- The Hunter (2011) — Martin David
- 4:44 Last Day on Earth (2012) — Cisco
- John Carter (2012) — Tars Tarkas
- Odd Thomas (2013) — Wyatt Porter
- Out of the Furnace (2013) — John Petty
- Nymphomaniac (2013) — L
- Beyond: Two Souls (2013) — Nathan Dawkins
- A Most Wanted Man (2014) — Tommy Brue
- The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) — J. G. Jopling
- The Fault in Our Stars (2014) — Peter Van Houten
- John Wick (2014) — Marcus
- Dog Eat Dog (2016) — John Aloysius "Mad Dog" McCain
- The Great Wall (2016) — Ballard
- The Florida Project (2017) — Bobby Hicks
- What Happened to Monday (2017) — Terrence Settman
- Death Note (2017) — Ryuk
- Murder on the Orient Express (2017) — Gerhard Hardman
- DC Extended Universe — Nuidis Vulko
- Aquaman (2018)
- Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) note
- Vox Lux (2018) — Narrator
- The Lighthouse (2019) — Thomas Wake
- Motherless Brooklyn (2019) — Paul Randolph
- Togo (2019) — Leonhard Seppala
- The French Dispatch (2021) — Albert the Abacus
- Twelve Minutes (2021) — Cop / Father
- The Card Counter (2021) — John Gordo
- Nightmare Alley (2021) — Clem Hoately
- The Northman (2022) — Heimir the Fool
- Dead For A Dollar (2022) — Joe Cribbins
- Poor Things — Dr. Godwin Baxter
- AND
- Inside (2023) — Nemo
- Asteroid City
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
- The Boy and the Heron (2023) — The Noble Pelican (voice; English dub)
- Nosferatu (2024) — Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz
Tropes associated with his works:
- Chewing the Scenery: Has a tendency to be over the top and hammy, specially for villainous parts. Special mention here goes to Dafoe's audiobook take on Stephen King's The Langoliers, where Dafoe chews scenery that doesn't even exist and, on more than one occasion, out-hams the miniseries.
- Chronically Killed Actor: He dies a lot on-screen. His death scenes include Platoon, The Last Temptation of Christ, Speed 2: Cruise Control, eXistenZ, Shadow of the Vampire, Spider-Man, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Beyond: Two Souls, John Wick, and The Great Wall, among others. He also plays real-life film-maker Pier Paolo Pasolini in a 2014 biopic, a man famous for being brutally murdered. Ironic in that the character he plays in the Death Note movie, Ryuk, is a shinigami who kills people whose names are written in his Death Note. And just as ironically, Spider-Man: No Way Home saves his Green Goblin from death transplanting him into the MCU. Even more ironic: The overall plot of that movie was to spare Osborn from his death in Spider-Man and redeem him, and Spider-Man succeeds.
- While his character survives the events of Aquaman, the sequel reveals him to have died at some point prior to the start of the film.
- Cool Old Guy: In his later years, he's been playing more roles like this when not playing villains.
- Evil Sounds Deep: He's probably one of the reasons why this trope is so common.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: He has a very distinctive, gravelly voice that's almost instantly recognizable and useful for whenever he plays a villain.
- Large Ham: Make no mistake, Willem Dafoe is some premium New York ham. Examples include Spider-Man and his audiobook of The Langoliers, but The Lighthouse is easily Dafoe's most impressive venture into insane porkiness. Going back to an early role, in Streets of Fire it's very clear that he knows exactly what type of movie he's in, and dials up the ham as much as the movie required. Ironically, Dafoe is a pescatarian in Real Life.
- Lean and Mean: His noticeably slender frame adds an extra degree of intimidation to the villainous characters he plays.
- Playing Against Type:
- His heroic and comedic roles in Platoon, Mississippi Burning, The Last Temptation of Christ, Clear and Present Danger, Inside Man, Mr. Bean's Holiday, Finding Nemo, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
- As Vulko, the mentor of Aquaman.
- His work as Bobby in The Florida Project allowed him a chance to play a character of great warmth, displaying a fatherly affection towards several of the child characters.
- Production Posse: Has made four films with Abel Ferrara, who he considers his favorite director to work with. Unfortunately, as he laments, none of them ever got wide release in the states. He also collaborates often with Lars von Trier, Paul Schrader, and Wes Anderson.
- Slasher Smile: Has a pretty good one, as shown in Speed 2: Cruise Control, to the point "Weird Al" Yankovic and Honest Trailers made sure to point out the Green Goblin looked scarier without
his mask. - Steven Ulysses Perhero: His last name "Dafoe": he's a well-known actor for villainous characters ("the foe").
- This Is My Name on Foreign: He goes by the Dutch derivative of his birth given name, which originated as a nickname in high school because he didn't like being called "Billy".
- Typecasting: Either as a villain or a Reasonable Authority Figure. And in more indie/art films, he takes more roles that could fall into the Anti-Hero / Byronic Hero with Grey-and-Gray Morality categories. What is very certain though, is that most of his characters carry a large amount of snark.
- Villainous Cheekbones: Sports a very striking pair.
- What Could Have Been:
- Was under consideration for Dennis Hopper's role (Frank Booth) in Blue Velvet.
- Was a candidate for the role of The Joker in Batman (1989). Ever since then, he's become one of (if not the) most popular potential candidate for a future Joker role.
- Was signed on to play the villain for a sequel to ‘’Treasure Planet’’ before the film’s underperformance at the box office caused those plans to be scrapped. The cancellation call came in thirty minutes before his first recording session.
- Was offered the role of Senator Roark in Sin City.
- Wanted to remake the film Onibaba and had the rights for a while. But Dafoe had troubles trying to remake it due to the time period the movie was made.
