How Willem Dafoe became the internet's favorite cult actor

He had a premature sex education - Dafoe told The Guardian his five sisters taught him about sex at the age of six. "My sisters were the horniest little girls. They would tell me stuff that, when I was small, I didn't want to hear." He said that after he relayed the information to his friends, they beat him up "because they found it so disgusting."

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He was once fired for giggling - Dafoe had a minor part in the 1980 film 'Heaven's Gate,' considered the first major Hollywood flop. He explained that a woman had whispered a joke to him in a moment of silence. "[Director Michael] Cimino turned around and said, 'Willem step out,' and that was that. I was the lamb for sacrifice."

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Method acting - For his Australian flick 'The Hunter,' Dafoe learned bushcraft, including how to skin a wallaby. He told The Guardian that he was only given one chance on screen, and that because the animal had been dead for a while the gastric juices might explode on him. Luckily, he pulled it off.

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Method acting - Dafoe also learned to paint in order to play Vincent van Gogh in the biopic 'At Eternity's Gate.' He said learning the craft was the only way to truly "inhabit" the artist.

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In addition to working on over 100 films... - In his personal life, he married Giada Colagrande, an Italian film director and actress, in 2005. He proposed over lunch one day, and the next day they were married.

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Surrounded by filmmakers - He and Colagrande live in Rome, next-door to Abel Ferrara who directed the Dafoe-starring biopic 'Pasolini' and the drama 'Tommaso.'

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Acting is life to him - "I don't think about my work, so much as I think about my life,” he told Dazed, “I measure my life by the plays and films I've done. That's how I remember my life, and my life's always been entwined with my personal life, too."

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On getting older - Speaking to Another Man, Dafoe said, "As I get older, my attitude gets much more fluid and easy. It doesn't mean less passionate, it just means I'm happy not to protect an idea of who I am. I'm really deeply interested in being transformed, much more than I was when I was young."

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He never followed his dreams - While he says he's always been ambitious, he's never made plans because he never had a formal dream. "In fact, I distrust dreams. All this stuff about following your dream and realizing your dream… it doesn't sound good to me."

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He contends he's not as mad as his characters - Dafoe has a reputation as a mad villain in Hollywood, but he just enjoys playing characters very different from himself. He told The Telegraph, "What I'm always looking for is the character who can allow me to lose myself ... So naturally I gravitate towards things that are very far from me."

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He's very bendy - Dafoe is a fan of Ashtanga yoga, and has said that it informs his performance as it helps practice equanimity, concentration, and he learns how to better direct his mind.

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About his teeth - A reporter at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival asked him if he'd ever considered getting his teeth fixed, and Dafoe said no, and that he figured "they were my teeth, and they looked fine to me."

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He calls it like he sees it - After 'Antichrist' was booed at Cannes, Dafoe told The New York Times that the environment is a hothouse for scandal. "You see who holds the cards and what plays, what doesn't play. Where the idiots are, where the thoughtful people are. And for the most part the idiots win. But that's okay."

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He's not intimidating - When the Huffington Post asked him, "If you and Nic Cage ever actually got together and wanted to do a heist, what would you go for?" Dafoe responded, "I don't think that's gonna happen. Deep down we're two big sissies."

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He's a crier - In an essay called 'What I Know About Women,' Dafoe wrote, "I gravitate towards women, I identify with them. And I do cry very easily, more and more as I get older."

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On acting alongside David Bowie and Madonna - "We're all making things," he told Dazed. "It's the emphasis. The tools we're using are slightly different. Actors use themselves as material. Musicians certainly use their inner selves as material, but aren't necessarily presenting who they are in such an obvious way."

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His acting technique - Dafoe has revealed that he curiously starts every role at zero. "Some people really respond to the idea of nailing it or executing it to perfection… but I'm much better trying to find something than I am knowing something and executing and explaining it."

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He was nominated for two Razzies - In 1997, Dafoe was nominated as Worst Supporting Actor for 'Speed 2: Cruise Control,' and in 1994 for 'Body of Evidence.' Madonna, his co-star in the latter, ended up winning.

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He's made some weird decisions - Dafoe voiced a cartoon polar bear in ads for a frozen food company, surprisingly late into his presumably lucrative career—but he doesn't want to talk about it. "This is the last thing I want to talk about," he icily told an Independent reporter.

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He's a true artist - Dafoe is not the luxurious type, and said he favors people who are more interested in what they do than how much they make. "What's sexy to them is their work, not their houses and their pools and all that kind of thing," he told the Independent.

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The man loves mystery - Reflecting on his acting career, Dafoe told Dazed, "The longer I do this, the more interested I am in the nature of performing, because it's still filled with mystery for me. It's always different. It's always dynamic. It's filled with all kinds of problem-solving questions and adventure."

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He's worked with some of the greatest auteurs - Lars von Trier, David Lynch, William Friedkin, Dee Rees, Kathryn Bigelow, Martin Scorsese, David Cronenberg, Paul Schrader, Oliver Stone, John Waters, Spike Lee, and Werner Herzog are just a few.

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He's a Wed Anderson regular - Dafoe has appeared in many films by director Wes Anderson over the years, from 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' in 2014 to 2023's 'Asteroid City.'

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Keep an eye on him -

He may not have landed his Oscar yet, but one thing's for sure, Willem Dafoe is not going anywhere.

Sources: (Boston Phoenix) (The Guardian) (SFGATE) (The Straits Times) (Dazed) (Another Man) (IndieWire) (The Telegraph) (The New York Times) (HuffPost) (The Independent)

How Willem Dafoe became the internet's favorite cult actor

The renowned character actor turns 68 on July 22

21/07/23 | StarsInsider

CELEBRITY Retrospective

Willem Dafoe is arguably one of Hollywood's most recognizable faces, with that sharp nose and defiantly crooked smile, but he somehow manages to completely disappear into his characters every time he's on screen, and he's been on screen a lot. Over the course of his over 40-year career, Dafoe has taken on more than 100 roles.

He has embodied an incredible range of personalities, from Jesus in Martin Scorsese's ‘The Last Temptation of Christ,’ to the Green Goblin in ‘Spider-Man,’ to predator Bobby Peru in David Lynch’s 'Wild at Heart.' He's conquered a range of cinema, from experimental art house films to superhero franchises, and acted alongside Hollywood's elite, not to mention the likes of David Bowie and Madonna.

So without further ado, click through to get reacquainted with one of Hollywood's most talented stars, and find out how the combination of his trademark look, surprisingly twisted past, and genuine passion for his craft have elevated him to a cult classic.