An actor (sometimes actress for female; see terminology) is a person who acts in a dramatic or comic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity.^[1] The ancient Greek word for an "actor," ὑποκριτής (hypokrites), means literally "one who interprets";^[2] in this sense, an actor is one who interprets a dramatic character.^[3]

Terminology[link]

After 1660, when women first appeared on stage, actor and actress were initially used interchangeably for female performers, but later, influenced by the French actrice, actress became the usual term. The etymology is a simple derivation from actor with ess added.^[4] The word actor refers to a person who acts regardless of gender, and this term "is increasingly preferred", while actress refers specifically to a female person who acts. Actress "remains in general use",^[4] although in a survey of a "wide cross-section of current British English", compiled in 2010, actor was almost twice as commonly found as actress.^[5] Within the profession, however, the re-adoption of the neutral term dates to the 1950s–60s, the post-war period when women's contribution to cultural life in general was being re-evaluated.^[6] Actress remains the common term used in major acting awards given to female recipients.^[7]

The gender-neutral term "player" was common in film in the early days of the Motion Picture Production Code with regards to the cinema of the United States, but is now generally deemed archaic. However, it remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a theatre group or company (such as the East West Players)^{[citation needed]}.

History[link]

Actors Jim Brochu and Steve Schalchlin performing in The Big Voice: God or Merman play.

The first recorded case of an actor performing took place in 534 BC (though the changes in calendar over the years make it hard to determine exactly) when the Greek performer Thespis stepped on to the stage at the Theatre Dionysus and became the first known person to speak words as a character in a play or story. Prior to Thespis' act, stories were only known to be told in song and dance and in third person narrative. In honour of Thespis, actors are commonly called Thespians. Theatrical legend to this day maintains that Thespis exists as a mischievous spirit, and disasters in the theatre are sometimes blamed on his ghostly intervention.

Actors were traditionally not people of high status, and in the Early Middle Ages travelling acting troupes were often viewed with distrust. In many parts of Europe, actors could not even receive a Christian burial, and traditional beliefs of the region and time period held that this left any actor forever condemned. However, this negative perception was largely reversed in the 19th and 20th centuries as acting has become an honoured and popular profession and art.^[8]

Techniques[link]

Method acting[link]

Method acting is a technique developed from the acting 'system' created in the early 20th century by Konstantin Stanislavski in his work at the Moscow Art Theatre and its studios. The Group Theatre first popularised the Method in the 1930s; it was subsequently advanced and developed in new directions by Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner, Uta Hagen, Lee Strasberg (at the Actors Studio in the 1940s and 50s), and others.^[9] In Stanislavski's system', the actor analyzes the character in order to play him or her with psychological realism and emotional authenticity. Using the Method, an actor may recall emotions or reactions from his or her own life and use them to identify with the character being portrayed.

Method actors are often characterized as immersing themselves so totally in their characters that they continue to portray them even off-stage or off-camera for the duration of the project. However, this is a popular misconception. While some actors do employ this approach, it is generally not taught as part of the Method. Stella Adler, who was a member of the Group Theatre, along with Strasberg, emphasised a different approach of using creative imagination.^[10]

Method acting offers a systematic form of actor training in which the actor's sensory, psychological, and emotional abilities are developed; it revolutionized theatre in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Presentational and representational acting[link]

Presentational acting refers to a relationship between actor and audience, whether by direct address or indirectly by specific use of language, looks, gestures or other signs indicating that the character or actor is aware of the audience's presence.^[11] (Shakespeare's use of punning and wordplay, for example, often has this function of indirect contact.)

In representational acting, "actors want to make us 'believe' they are the character; they pretend."^[11] The illusion of the fourth wall with the audience as voyeurs is striven for.^[12]

As opposite gender[link]

In the past, only men could become actors in some societies. In the ancient Greece and Rome^[13] and the medieval world, it was considered disgraceful for a woman to go on the stage, and this belief persisted until the 17th century, when in Venice it was broken. In the time of William Shakespeare, women's roles were generally played by men or boys.^[14]

When an eighteen-year Puritan prohibition of drama was lifted after the English Restoration of 1660, women began to appear on stage in England. Margaret Hughes is credited by some as the first professional actress on the English stage.^[15] This prohibition ended during the reign of Charles II in part due to the fact that he enjoyed watching actresses on stage.^[16] The first occurrence of the term actress was in 1700 according to the OED and is ascribed to Dryden.^[7]

In Japan, men (onnagata) took over the female roles in kabuki theatre when women were banned from performing on stage during the Edo period. This convention has continued to the present. However, some forms of Chinese drama have women playing all the roles.

In modern times, women sometimes play the roles of prepubescent boys. The stage role of Peter Pan, for example, is traditionally played by a woman, as are most principal boys in British pantomime. Opera has several "breeches roles" traditionally sung by women, usually mezzo-sopranos. Examples are Hansel in Hänsel und Gretel, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier.

Women in male roles are uncommon in film with the notable exceptions of the films The Year of Living Dangerously and I'm Not There. In the former film Linda Hunt played the pivotal role of Billy Kwan, for which she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In the latter film Cate Blanchett portrayed Jude Quinn, a representation of Bob Dylan in the sixties, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Women playing men in live theatre is particularly common in presentations of older plays, such as those of Shakespeare, that have large numbers of male characters in roles where the gender no longer matters in modern times.^{[citation needed]}

Having an actor dress as the opposite sex for comic effect is also a long-standing tradition in comic theatre and film. Most of Shakespeare's comedies include instances of overt cross-dressing, such as Francis Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream. The movie A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum stars Jack Gilford dressing as a young bride. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon famously posed as women to escape gangsters in the Billy Wilder film Some Like It Hot. Cross-dressing for comic effect was a frequently used device in most of the thirty Carry On films. Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams have each appeared in a hit comedy film (Tootsie and Mrs. Doubtfire, respectively) in which they played most scenes dressed as a woman.

Occasionally, the issue is further complicated, for example, by a woman playing a woman acting as a man pretending to be a woman, like Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria, or Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love. In It's Pat: The Movie, filmwatchers never learn the gender of the androgynous main characters Pat and Chris (played by Julia Sweeney and Dave Foley).

A few roles in modern films, plays and musicals are played by a member of the opposite sex (rather than a character cross-dressing), such as the character Edna Turnblad in Hairspray—played by Divine in the original film, Harvey Fierstein in the Broadway musical, and John Travolta in the 2007 movie musical. Linda Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously. Felicity Huffman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Bree Osbourne (a male-to-female transsexual) in Transamerica.

See also[link]

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Csapo, Eric, and William J. Slater. 1994. The Context of Ancient Drama. Ann Arbor: The U of Michigan P. ISBN 0-472-08275-2.
• Elam, Keir. 1980. The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama. New Accents Ser. London and New York: Methuen. ISBN 0-416-72060-9.
• Weimann, Robert. 1978. Shakespeare and the Popular Tradition in the Theater: Studies in the Social Dimension of Dramatic Form and Function. Ed. Robert Schwartz. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-3506-2.

Further reading[link]

• An Actor's Work by Constantin Stanislavski
• A Dream of Passion: The Development of the Method by Lee Strasberg (Plume Books, ISBN 0-452-26198-8, 1990)
• Sanford Meisner on Acting by Sanford Meisner (Vintage, ISBN 0-394-75059-4, 1987)
• Letters to a Young Actor by Robert Brustein (Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-00806-2, 2005).
• The Empty Space by Peter Brook
• The Technique of Acting by Stella Adler

External links[link]

Look up actor, actress, or player in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Actors' Equity Association (AEA): a union representing U. S. theatre actors and stage managers.
• American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA): a union representing U. S. television and radio actors and broadcasters (on-air journalists, etc.).
• British Actors' Equity: a trade union representing UK artists, including actors, singers, dancers, choreographers, stage managers, theatre directors and designers, variety and circus artists, television and radio presenters, walk-on and supporting artists, stunt performers and directors and theatre fight directors.
• Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance: an Australian/New Zealand trade union representing everyone in the media, entertainment, sports, and arts industries.
• Screen Actors Guild (SAG): a union representing U. S. film and TV actors.

Willem Dafoe
Dafoe in September 2011
Born	William J. Dafoe (1955-07-22) July 22, 1955 (age 56) Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, voice actor
Years active	1980–present
Spouse	Giada Colagrande (2005–present)

Willem Dafoe (born July 22, 1955) is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group. He has had roles in a wide range of films, including Platoon, Affliction, Off Limits, Streets of Fire, To Live and Die in L.A., Born on the Fourth of July, The English Patient, The Last Temptation of Christ, Mississippi Burning, "The Life Aquatic" The Boondock Saints, Spider-Man, and The Aviator, and voice roles in Fantastic Mr. Fox and Finding Nemo.

Dafoe has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice. The first was for his role in Platoon in 1986 and the second time for his performance in Shadow of the Vampire in 2000.

Early life and career[link]

Dafoe was born William J. Dafoe^[1] in Appleton, Wisconsin. One of seven children of Muriel Isabel (née Sprissler)^[2] and Dr. William Alfred Dafoe,^[2][3] he recalled in 2009, "My five sisters raised me because my father was a surgeon, my mother was a nurse and they worked together, so I didn't see either of them much."^[4][5] In high school, he acquired the nickname Willem.^[6] His ancestry includes Irish, Scottish, German, and Canadian.^[2][7]

Dafoe studied drama at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, but left after a year-and-a-half to join the experimental theater company Theatre X in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before moving to New York City in 1976.^[6] There he apprenticed under Richard Schechner, director of the avant-garde theater troupe The Performance Group, and became romantically involved with the group's Elizabeth LeCompte, 11 years his senior and who, with her former romantic partner Spalding Gray and others, edged out Schechner and created the Wooster Group.^[6] Within a year Dafoe was part of the company.^[8]

Theater and film[link]

Hafsat Abiola, Dafoe and Bianca Jagger at the dropping knowledge's Table of Free Voices at Bebelplatz, Berlin, in September 2006

Dafoe, who would continue with the Wooster Group into the 2000s,^[9] began his film career in 1981, when he was cast in Heaven's Gate^[10] only to see his role removed from the film during editing.^[1] As Dafoe recalled of his first film experience, in which he played a cock fighter,

I worked for Jeff Bridges' character in the story. I was there for three months and I worked a lot. It was the kind of thing where you were hired to play an unscripted character and then they developed these smaller characters. I had scenes and everything and was really enjoying it and then one day we were doing a lighting setup for a long time; basically eight hours standing in place, and a woman told me a joke in my ear and I laughed at a moment of silence. Cimino turned around and said, 'Willem step out,' and that was that. I was the lamb for sacrifice."^[11]

In the mid-1980s he was cast by William Friedkin to star in To Live and Die In L.A., in which Dafoe portrays counterfeiter Rick Masters. A year later he starred as the leader of a motorcycle gang in The Loveless, and later played a similar role in Streets of Fire. He became "very conscious" that he might be typecast as a villain, saying in 1998,

...I really made a conscious effort to mix it up, not because in itself it's not the job of an actor to do all different things, but for me that's what I'm interested in. You've got to be careful because you've got to work with what you have, not just for vanity's sake, but I think the best part of being an actor sometimes is the opportunity to transform yourself superficially, and deeply. So, it's true in the beginning I started playing villains and I think that's pretty clear because if you don't conventionally look a certain way and you've got a certain kind of presence when you're young, then what's available to you is character roles and the best character roles when you're young tend to be villains. And, also, it's fun to be bad and the only problem is often villain roles are devices and they lack a certain depth. They're signs, they're signals and after a little while you want something to chew on and if you function in a film it's the same too often. I think what happens is you develop a language that distances you from a certain kind of flashpoint of inspiration and creativity and you may refine that and that may be your work, but I'm not so interested in that. I think the best work comes when you're unsure, when you're terrified, when you're off balance.^[7]

Dafoe would go on to gain his widest exposure to that time playing the compassionate Sergeant Elias in Oliver Stone's Platoon. He enjoyed the opportunity to play a heroic role, and said the film gave him a chance to display his versatility. "I think all characters live in you. You just frame them, give them circumstances, and that character will happen."^[12]

Dafoe at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

In 1988, Dafoe starred in another film set during the Vietnam War, this time as CID Agent Buck McGriff in Off Limits. He has since become a popular character actor. He is often cast as unstable or villainous characters, such as the Green Goblin in Spider-Man and Barillo in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Before that, he was briefly considered for the role of the Joker by Tim Burton and Sam Hamm for 1989's Batman. Hamm recalls "We thought, 'Well, Willem Dafoe looks just like The Joker.'" The role eventually went to Jack Nicholson.^[13]

He starred in the erotic drama Body of Evidence with Madonna. In 1991, Willem Dafoe portrayed a Manhattan drug dealer in the Paul Schrader film Light Sleeper. Dafoe played an eccentric FBI agent in The Boondock Saints (1999) and a private investigator in American Psycho (2000). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1986 for Platoon and 2000 for Shadow of the Vampire. He played a rare heroic film role when he provided the voice of Gill in the animated film Finding Nemo. Dafoe also played a heroic leading man in Triumph of the Spirit, playing a Greek Jew, Salamo Arouch, who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau through his prowess as a boxer. In 1998 he was the brother of Nick Nolte and son of James Coburn in another Schrader film, Affliction.

He worked briefly as a model in a 1990 Prada campaign.^{[citation needed]} In 2004, Dafoe lent his likeness and voice for the James Bond video game Everything or Nothing as the villain Nikolai Diavolo, and starred as NYPD detective Stan Aubray in the thriller Anamorph (2006).

In 2011, Dafoe began narrating a series of television commercials for the Greek yogurt company Fage.^[14][15] Additionally, the actor is featured in Jim Beam's "Bold Decisions" television ad campaign, which began airing April 2011.^[16]

Dafoe starred alongside Marina Abramović in the 2011 Manchester International Festival premiere of the play The Life and Death of Marina Abramović.^{[citation needed]}

Dafoe since 2010 voices the Birdseye polar bear mascot on UK TV commercials.^[17]

Personal life[link]

Dafoe met director Elizabeth LeCompte at The Performance Group and began a professional and personal relationship there and at its successor company, the Wooster Group. Their son, Jack, was born in 1982.^[18] The pair eventually split in 2004.^{[citation needed]} Dafoe married Italian actress, director and screenwriter Giada Colagrande on March 25, 2005, a year after the two had met in Rome at the premiere of one of her films. Dafoe said in 2010, "We were having lunch and I said: 'Do you want to get married tomorrow?'". They did so the following afternoon at a small ceremony with two friends as witnesses.^[18] The two worked together on the film Before It Had a Name.^[18] The couple divide their time among Colagrande's native Italy,^[9] New York City, and Los Angeles, California.^[18]

Dafoe said in 2008 he is no longer a vegetarian.^[19]

Dafoe's brother, Donald Dafoe, is a transplant surgeon and researcher.^[20]

Filmography[link]

Other awards and nominations[link]

Camerimage

• 2002: Won, "Special Award:For immense contribution to the art of film."

San Sebastian International Film Festival

• 2005: Won, Donostia Award

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Willem Dafoe

• Willem Dafoe at the Internet Movie Database
• Willem Dafoe at AllRovi
• Willem Dafoe Biography
• The Onion A.V. Club interview
• Oney, Steve (December 3, 1989). "FILM; Willem Dafoe, Looking for Characters With Possibility". The New York Times: p. 6. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/03/movies/film-willem-dafoe-looking-for-characters-with-possibility.html?ref=willemdafoe. 

Tim Roth
Tim Roth, 2009
Born	Simon Timothy Roth[1][2] (1961-05-14) 14 May 1961 (age 51) Dulwich, London, England
Occupation	Actor/Director
Years active	1982–present
Spouse	Niki Butler (1993-present)
Children	3 Sons

Simon Timothy "Tim" Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English film actor and director. He is best known for his roles in the films Made in Britain, Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the latter. He most recently starred as Cal Lightman in the TV series Lie to Me.

Early life[link]

Roth was born in London, England, the son of Ann, a painter and teacher, and Ernie, a Fleet Street journalist, painter and, until the 1970s, a member of the British Communist Party.^[3][4][5] Roth's father was born under the surname "Smith" in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, to a British immigrant family of Irish descent; he changed his surname to "Roth" in the 1940s, "partly through solidarity with the victims of the Holocaust, partly because the British were far from welcome in some of the countries to which his job took him".^[2][5][6]

Roth attended the Strand School in Tulse Hill. As a young man, he wanted to be a sculptor and studied at London's Camberwell College of Art.^[7]

Career[link]

Roth made his acting debut at the age of 21 playing a white power skinhead in a TV film titled Made in Britain. Roth played an East End character in King of the Ghetto which was made by the BBC. This four-part drama was shown in 1986 on national television, based on a novel by Farukh Dhondy. Partly set in Brick Lane, the drama caused a sensation among the public, especially amongst the Bengali community.^{[citation needed]} In contrast to his Made in Britain role, Roth then played a desperately shy and introverted character in the 1984 Mike Leigh film, Meantime. In 1985, he appeared in the television film Murder with Mirrors opposite Bette Davis, John Mills and Helen Hayes and in 1984, Roth played an apprentice hitman in Stephen Frears' The Hit with Terence Stamp and John Hurt, earning an "Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer". With that recognition, he appeared in several other films during the end of the decade. In 1989, he had a memorable supporting role as the buffoonish lackey Mitchell in Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. In 1990, Roth began to enjoy international attention with starring roles as Vincent van Gogh in Robert Altman's Vincent & Theo and as Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. Roth and other young British actors who were becoming established film actors such as Bruce Payne, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Paul McGann were dubbed the Brit Pack,^[8] a nickname based on the Brat Pack of the United States.

Roth impressed director Quentin Tarantino and was cast as Mr. Orange in his 1992 ensemble piece Reservoir Dogs. This film paved the way for more work in Hollywood. In 1994, Tarantino cast him again as a robber in the acclaimed Pulp Fiction. They worked again in the 1995 film Four Rooms, where Roth played the extremely physically animated role of Ted the Bellhop. Roth was very successful playing viciously evil English nobleman Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy opposite Liam Neeson; for this role he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe nomination and won a BAFTA.

In 1996, he went a different way, starring with Drew Barrymore in Woody Allen's musical comedy Everyone Says I Love You. He also starred as Danny Boodman T.D. Lemon 1900 (or just "1900") in The Legend of 1900, and in the same year co-starred with Tupac Shakur in the drama Gridlock'd. He made a critically acclaimed debut as a director in 1999 with The War Zone, a film version of Alexander Stuart's novel. In 2001, he portrayed General Thade in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. Roth was the original choice for the role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series, but he turned it down for the Planet of the Apes job.^[9] He was also considered for the part of Hannibal Lecter in the 2001 film Hannibal before Anthony Hopkins returned to reclaim the role. Roth appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth and Michael Haneke's Funny Games, then starred opposite Edward Norton in The Incredible Hulk as Emil Blonsky.

From 2009 to 2011, he starred in a series on Fox called Lie To Me. He played Dr. Cal Lightman, an expert on body language who assists local and federal law organisations in the investigations of crimes. His character was based on Dr. Paul Ekman, notable psychologist and expert on body language and facial expressions.^[10]

In 2010, Roth appeared on the cover to Manic Street Preachers' 2010 studio album, Postcards From A Young Man.

In 2012, Roth was announced as the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.^[11]

Personal life[link]

Roth has a son, Jack, born to Lori Baker in 1984.^[12] He married Nikki Butler in 1993 and they have two sons, Timothy Hunter (b. 1995) and Michael Cormac (b. 1996). Roth is a supporter of the Green Party of England and Wales.^[13]

Filmography[link]

As actor[link]

As director[link]

• The War Zone (1999)

Awards[link]

• People's Choice Awards 2011 – Favourite TV Crime Fighter (Lie to Me)^[14]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Officially Unofficial Tim Roth Web Page
• Tim Roth at the Internet Movie Database
• Tim Roth at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Allmovie entry for Tim Roth
• Audio Interview w/ Rafferty/Mills Connection Podcast (2009)

Mickey Rourke
Rourke at the 2009 premiere of City Island
Born	Philip Andre Rourke, Jr. (1952-09-16) September 16, 1952 (age 59) Schenectady, New York
Other names	Sir Eddie Cook
Occupation	Actor, professional boxer, screenwriter, music supervisor
Years active	Actor (1979–present) Boxer (1991–1994)

Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. (born September 16, 1952)^[1] is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films.

During the 1980s, Rourke starred in Diner, Rumble Fish, and the erotic drama 9½ Weeks, and received critical praise for his work in Barfly and Angel Heart. In 1991, Rourke, who had trained as a boxer in his early years, left acting and became a professional boxer for a period.^[2] He had supporting roles in several later films, including The Rainmaker, Buffalo '66, The Pledge, Get Carter, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Man on Fire.

In 2005, Rourke made his comeback in mainstream Hollywood circles with a lead role in Sin City, for which he won awards from the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Irish Film and Television Awards and the Online Film Critics Society. In the 2008 film The Wrestler, Rourke portrayed a past-his-prime wrestler, and received a 2009 Golden Globe award, a BAFTA award, and a nomination for an Academy Award.^[3]

In 2010, he appeared in the blockbusters Iron Man 2 and The Expendables.

Early life[link]

Philip Andre Rourke, Jr., was born in Schenectady, New York,^[1] to a family of Irish and French descent.^[4] He was raised Roman Catholic and still practices his faith.^[5][6][7] His father, Philip Andre Rourke, Sr., an amateur body builder, left the family when Mickey was six years old.^[8] After his parents divorced, his mother, Annette,^[9] married Eugene Addis, a Miami Beach police officer with five sons, and moved Rourke, his younger brother (Joey), and their sister (Patricia) to south Florida. There, he graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School in 1971.^[10]

Amateur Boxing[link]

During his teenage years, Rourke focused his attention mainly on sports. He took up self-defense training at the Boys Club of Miami.^{[citation needed]} It was there that he learned boxing skills and decided on an amateur career.

At age 12, Rourke won his first boxing match as a 112-pound flyweight,^[11] fighting some of his early matches under the name Phil Rourke. He continued his boxing training at the famed 5th Street Gym, in Miami Beach, Florida, where Muhammad Ali began his career. In 1969, Rourke, then weighing 140 lbs. (63.5 kg),^{[citation needed]} sparred with former World Welterweight Champion Luis Rodríguez. Rodriguez was the number one-rated middleweight boxer in the world and was training for his match with world champion Nino Benvenuti. Rourke boxed Rodriguez and claims to have received a concussion in this sparring match.^[12]

At the 1971 Florida Golden Gloves, Rourke suffered another concussion in a boxing match. After being told by doctors to take a year off and rest, Rourke temporarily retired from the ring.

From 1964 to 1972, Rourke compiled an amateur boxing record of 27 wins (17 by knockout) and 3 defeats, which included first round knock out wins over Sherman Bergman, John Carver, and Ronald Robinson,^[11] and decision victories over Ron Carter, Charles Gathers, Joe Riles, and Javier Villanueva.^[11]

[edit] Amateur Boxing Record^[11][13]

Mickey Rourke's amateur boxing record was 27 (wins) and 3 (losses), as mentioned on "Mickey Rourke on Inside the Actors Studio hosted by James Lipton" season 15, episode 12, original airdate 2009-08-31.

Amateur Boxing record
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	13-0-0	Deon Harris	KO	1	1972 Aug 27	Liberty City, Florida, USA
Win	12-0-0	Sherman Bergman	KO	1	1972 Aug 20	Miami, Florida, USA	Rourke climbs off canvas to win in 31 seconds.
Win	11-0-0	John"Two Dice"Carver	KO	1 ():39)	1972 May 7	Miami, FloridaUSA	Rourke scores 39 second knockout.
Win	10-0-0	Ron"22nd Street"Robinson	KO	1 (0:18)	1972 Feb 15	Miami, Florida, USA	Rourke wins in 18 seconds.
Win	9-0-0	Leroy Harrington	KO	1	1971 Jul 04	Miami, Florida, USA	Rourke wins in 15 seconds.
Win	8-0-0	Paul Malsoh	KO	1 ():29)	1970 Jun 22	Miami, FloridaUSA	Rourke scores 29 second knockout.
Win	7-0-0	Kenny Jacobs	KO	1 (0:14)	1970 Jun 15	Miami Beach, Florida, USA	Rourke wins in 14 seconds.
Win	6-0-0	Joe Riles	PTS	3 ()	1964 Aug 26	Miami, Florida, USA
Win	5-0-0	Charles Gathers	PTS	3	1964 Aug 12	Miami, Florida
Win	4-0-0	Ronnie Carter	PTS	3	1965 Jun 16	Miami, Florida, USA
Win	3–0-0	Javier Villanueva	PTS	3 (3)	1964	Miami, Florida, USA
Win	2-0-0	Jesus"KoKo"Carranza	PTS	3		Miami, Florida, USA
Win	1–0-0	Roger Hough	PTS	3 (3)	1964 July	Miami, Florida, USA

Early acting roles[link]

In 1971, as a senior at Miami Beach Senior High School, Rourke had a small acting role in the Jay W. Jensen-directed school play, The Serpent.^[14] However, Rourke's interests were geared to boxing, and he never appeared in any other school productions. Soon after he temporarily gave up boxing, a friend at the University of Miami told Rourke about a play he was directing, Deathwatch, and how the man playing the role of Green Eyes had quit. Rourke got the part and immediately became enamored with acting. Borrowing 400 dollars from his sister, he went to New York to take private lessons with an acting teacher from the Actors Studio, Sandra Seacat. It is she who actually motivated Rourke to go and find his father, whom he had been separated from for more than 20 years and had no idea as to what or whom he was looking for. During his visit as a guest to the Actors' Studio, after the release of The Wrestler (2008 film), while Rourke was talking to James Lipton, Lipton disclosed the fact that Rourke had been selected to the Actor's Studio in his first audition, which Elia Kazan is reported to have said that it was the "best audition in 30 years". Similarly, later director Adrian Lyne would go on to say that had Mickey died after the release of Angel Heart, he would have become a bigger phenomenon than James Dean.^[12]

Rourke's film debut was a small role in Steven Spielberg's film 1941. However, it was his portrayal of an arsonist in Body Heat that received significant attention, despite his modest time on screen. He mostly appeared in television films in his early career. During the early 1980s, Rourke starred in Diner, alongside Paul Reiser, Daniel Stern, Steve Guttenberg, Tim Daly and Kevin Bacon, and yet again drew further critical notices for his portrayal as the suave compulsive gambler "Boogie" Sheftell; The National Society of Film Critics named him "Best Supporting Actor" that year. Soon thereafter, Rourke starred in Rumble Fish, Francis Ford Coppola's follow-up to The Outsiders.

Rourke's performance in the film The Pope of Greenwich Village alongside Daryl Hannah and Eric Roberts also caught the attention of critics, although the film was not financially successful. In the mid-1980s, Rourke earned himself additional leading roles. His role alongside Kim Basinger in the erotic drama 9½ Weeks helped him gain "sex symbol" status.^[15] He received critical praise for his work in Barfly as the alcoholic writer Henry Chinaski (the literary alter ego of Charles Bukowski) and in Year of the Dragon. In 1987, Rourke appeared in Angel Heart. The film was nominated for several awards. It was seen as controversial by some owing to a sex scene involving Cosby Show cast member Lisa Bonet, who won an award for her part in the film.^[16] Although some of Rourke's work was viewed as controversial in the U.S., he was well-received by European, and especially French, audiences, who loved the "rumpled, slightly dirty, sordid ... rebel persona"^[17] that he projected in Year of the Dragon, 9½ Weeks, Angel Heart, and Desperate Hours.

In the late 1980s, Rourke performed with David Bowie on the Never Let Me Down album. Around the same time he also wrote his first screenplay, Homeboy, a boxing tale in which he starred. In 1989, Rourke starred in the docu-drama Francesco, portraying St. Francis of Assisi. This was followed by Wild Orchid, another critically panned film, which gained him a nomination for a Razzie award (also for Desperate Hours). In 1991, he starred in the box office bomb Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man as Harley Davidson, a biker whose best friend, Marlboro, was played by Don Johnson. In his last role before departing for the boxing ring, Rourke played an arms dealer chased by Willem Dafoe and Samuel Jackson in White Sands, a film noir which reviewers found to be stylish but incoherent.^[18][19]

Rourke's acting career eventually became overshadowed by his personal life and career decisions. Directors such as Alan Parker found it difficult to work with him. Parker stated that "working with Mickey is a nightmare. He is very dangerous on the set because you never know what he is going to do."^[17] In a documentary on the special edition DVD of Tombstone, actor Michael Biehn, who plays the part of Johnny Ringo, mentions that his role was first offered to Rourke.^[20]

Professional Boxing Career[link]

In 1991, Rourke decided that he "had to go back to boxing" because he felt that he "was self-destructing ... (and) had no respect for (himself as) an actor."^[2] Rourke was undefeated in eight fights, with six wins (four by knockout) and two draws. He fought internationally in countries including Spain, Japan and Germany.^[21]

During his boxing career, Rourke suffered a number of injuries, including a broken nose, toe, ribs, a split tongue, and a compressed cheekbone.^[22] He also suffered from short term memory loss.^[23]

His trainer during most of his boxing career was Hells Angels member, actor and celebrity bodyguard Chuck Zito.^[24] Freddie Roach also trained Rourke for seven fights.^[25] Rourke's entrance song into the ring was often Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine."^[26]

Boxing promoters said that Rourke was too old to succeed against top-level fighters. Indeed, Rourke himself admits that entering the ring was a sort of personal test: "[I] just wanted to give it a shot, test myself that way physically, while I still had time."^[27] In 1995, Rourke retired from boxing and returned to acting.

Rourke's boxing career resulted in a notable physical change in the 1990s, as his face needed reconstructive surgery to mend his injuries. His face was later called "appallingly disfigured."^[28] In 2009, the actor told The Daily Mail that he had gone to "the wrong guy" for his surgery, and that his plastic surgeon had left his features "a mess."^[22]

Professional Boxing Record
6 Wins (4 knockouts, 2 decisions), 0 Losses, 2 Draws[29]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Draw	6-0-2	Sean Gibbons	MD	4	September 8, 1994	Davie, Florida, USA
Win	6-0-1	Thomas McCoy	TKO	3 (4)	November 20, 1993	Hamburg, Germany
Win	5-0-1	Bubba Stotts	TKO	3 (4)	July 24, 1993	Joplin, Missouri, USA
Win	4-0-1	Tom Bentley	KO	1 (4)	March 30, 1993	Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Win	3-0-1	Terry Jesmer	PTS	4	December 12, 1992	Oviedo, Spain
Draw	2-0-1	Francisco Harris	MD	4	April 25, 1992	Miami Beach, Florida, USA	Scoring was 38-39 for Harris, 38-38 and 38-38.
Win	2–0	Darrell Miller	KO	1 (4), 2:14	June 23, 1991	Tokyo, Japan
Win	1–0	Steve Powell	UD	4	May 23, 1991	Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA	In his professional boxing debut, Rourke jabbed and uppercut, but he also danced, clowned and taunted the crowd throughout the fight. The boxers were constantly in clinches, two of which sent Powell through the ropes. Rourke managed to land several solid rights, particularly in the final two rounds. Scoring was 38-37, 38-37 and 39-37.

1990s: Return To Acting[link]

In the early 1990s, Rourke was offered and declined the role of Butch Coolidge, which later became Bruce Willis' role in Pulp Fiction.^[30] After his retirement from boxing, Rourke did accept supporting roles in several 1990s films, including Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of John Grisham's The Rainmaker, Vincent Gallo's Buffalo '66, Steve Buscemi's Animal Factory, Sean Penn's The Pledge and Sylvester Stallone's remake of Get Carter. Rourke also has written several films under the name "Sir Eddie Cook", including Bullet, in which he co-starred with close friend Tupac Shakur.^[31]

While Rourke was also selected for a significant role in Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line; his part ended up on the editing room floor. Rourke also played a small part in the film Thursday, in which he plays a crooked cop. He also had a lead role in 1997's Double Team, which co-starred martial arts actor Jean-Claude Van Damme. It was Rourke's first over-the-top action film role, in which he played the lead villain. During that same year, he filmed Another 9½ Weeks, a sequel to 9½ Weeks, which only received limited distribution. He ended the 1990s with the direct-to-video films Out in Fifty, Shades and television film Shergar, about the kidnapping of Epsom Derby-winning thoroughbred racehorse Shergar. Rourke has expressed his bitterness over that period of his career, stating that he came to consider himself a "has-been" and lived for a time in "a state of shame."^[28]