ORBITRA
Willem Dafoe

Acting

Willem Dafoe

Born Jul 22, 1955 · 71 years249 titles 223 movies · 26 TV
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IMDb

Biography

William James "Willem" Dafoe (/dəˈfoʊ/ də-FOH; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, he is the recipient of various accolades, including a Volpi Cup Award for Best Actor, with nominations for four Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and four Golden Globe Awards. He received an Honorary Golden Bear in 2018. Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, Dafoe made his film debut with an uncredited role in Heaven's Gate (1980). He is known for collaborating with both mainstream and auteur filmmakers, including Paul Schrader, Abel Ferrara, Sam Raimi, Yorgos Lanthimos, Lars von Trier, Julian Schnabel, Andrew Stanton, Wes Anderson, and Robert Eggers. He received Academy Award nominations for playing a compassionate army sergeant in the war drama Platoon (1986), Max Schreck in the mystery film Shadow of the Vampire (2000), a kindly motel manager in the coming-of-age film The Florida Project (2017), and Vincent van Gogh in the biopic At Eternity's Gate (2018). His other films credits include To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Wild at Heart (1990), The English Patient (1996), American Psycho (2000), Animal Factory (2000), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Antichrist (2009), The Hunter (2011), John Carter (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), John Wick (2014), The Lighthouse (2019), Togo (2019), Poor Things (2023), and Nosferatu (2024). Dafoe was a founding member of experimental theatre company The Wooster Group. He portrayed Norman Osborn in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy (2002–2007) and reprised the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). He has also voiced roles in the animated films Finding Nemo (2003), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), and The Boy and the Heron (2023). Description above from the Wikipedia article Willem Dafoe, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Also known as

William Dafoe, Jr. · William J. Dafoe · William James Dafoe

Born

Jul 22, 1955

Appleton, Wisconsin, USA

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Photos

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12 images

Roles across career

Titles counted once; a person can act and direct on the same film (roles merged).

248

Acting credits

0

Directing

1

Writing

5

Other crew

Most critically rated

Highest TMDB score (min 100 votes)

Most commercially successful

Highest TMDB vote count (attention / reach proxy; not box office)

Career timeline

By release / first air year · movie & TV merged

Orbit ↑

1953 1 title(s)

1962 1 title(s)

1975 1 title(s)

1980 1 title(s)

1983 2 title(s)

1984 5 title(s)

1985 2 title(s)

1986 1 title(s)

1987 1 title(s)

1988 4 title(s)

1989 3 title(s)

1990 2 title(s)

1991 2 title(s)

1992 4 title(s)

1993 5 title(s)

1994 4 title(s)

1995 1 title(s)

1996 4 title(s)

1997 3 title(s)

1998 2 title(s)

1999 5 title(s)

2000 4 title(s)

2001 3 title(s)

2002 6 title(s)

2003 6 title(s)

2004 11 title(s)

2005 9 title(s)

2006 3 title(s)

2007 10 title(s)

2008 4 title(s)

2009 5 title(s)

2010 7 title(s)

2011 1 title(s)

2012 4 title(s)

2013 7 title(s)

2014 11 title(s)

2015 6 title(s)

2016 9 title(s)

2017 10 title(s)

2018 9 title(s)

2019 6 title(s)

2020 9 title(s)

2021 8 title(s)

2022 11 title(s)

2023 7 title(s)

2024 9 title(s)

2025 7 title(s)

2026 6 title(s)

Undated 7 title(s)