Geoff Murphy (born 13 October 1938) is a New Zealand filmmaker best known for his work during the renaissance of New Zealand cinema that began in the last half of the 1970s.

He directed a string of big-budget Hollywood features during the 1990s, before returning to New Zealand as second unit director on all three movies of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. He has also worked as a scriptwriter, assistant director, special effects man, schoolteacher and trumpet player.

Early life[link]

Murphy grew up in Highbury, Wellington and attended St. Vincent de Paul School in Kelburn and St. Patrick's College, Wellington (1952–56), before training and working as a schoolteacher.

Blerta[link]

Murphy was a founding member of legendary 'hippy' musical and theatrical co-operative Blerta, which toured New Zealand and Australia performing multi-media shows in the early 1970s, and together made the feature film Wild Man. Many members of the group would work in Murphy's later films - in particular drummer, and founder, Bruno Lawrence.

Early films[link]

Murphy made his name with the classic road movie Goodbye Pork Pie (1981), one of the first New Zealand films to attract large-scale audiences in its home country. Murphy demonstrated his versatility and ability to attract mainstream audiences with the two films that followed: Māori western Utu (1983) and the last man on earth piece The Quiet Earth (1985), both starring Bruno Lawrence.[1]

Hollywood[link]

In the 1990s Murphy spent a number of years working in Hollywood directing big-budget movies such as Young Guns II, Freejack, and the Steven Seagal sequel Under Siege 2: Dark Territory; the latter being his most successful film at the box-office (grossing over US$100 million worldwide). However, none of the movies were successful with critics.

Return to New Zealand[link]

He returned to New Zealand and worked with Peter Jackson on each of The Lord of the Rings films; made a documentary film chronicling the Blerta phenomenon - and the critically panned thriller Spooked, featuring Cliff Curtis. More recently Murphy directed the New Zealand television comedy series "Welcome to Paradise"[2], worked on the remastered DVD release of Goodbye Pork Pie and was 2nd unit director on another Hollywood movie.

Filmography[link]

• 1977 Wild Man (75min)
• 1977 Dagg Day Afternoon (30min)
• 1981 Goodbye Pork Pie
• 1983 Utu
• 1985 The Quiet Earth
• 1988 Never Say Die
• 1989 Red King White Knight
• 1990 Young Guns II
• 1992 Freejack
• 1993 Blind Side (HBO)
• 1994 The Last Outlaw
• 1995 Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
• 1996 Don't Look Back
• 1997 Magnificent Seven - TV pilot
• 1997 Dante's Peak - 2nd Unit Director
• 1999 Fortress 2
• 2000 Race Against Time
• 2001 Blerta Revisited (documentary)
• 2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - 2nd Unit Director
• 2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - 2nd Unit Director
• 2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - 2nd Unit Director
• 2004 Spooked
• 2005 xXx: State of the Union - 2nd Unit Director
• 2009 Tales of Mystery and Imagination (film)

External links[link]

• Geoff Murphy at the Internet Movie Database

The Honourable Tony Burke MP, BA, LLB
Vice-President of the Executive Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 March 2012
Preceded by	Robert McClelland
Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 September 2010
Preceded by	Peter Garrett
Member of the Australian Parliament for Watson
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 October 2004
Preceded by	Leo McLeay
Personal details
Born	Anthony Stephen Burke (1969-11-04) 4 November 1969 (age 42) Sydney, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Alma mater	University of Sydney
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Catholic[1][2][3][4]
Website	TonyBurke.com.au

Anthony Stephen 'Tony' Burke (born (1969-11-04)4 November 1969) is an Australian politician representing the Labor Party, and the current Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (Australia). He first entered public office in 2003 as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. In October 2004 Burke moved from state to federal parliament on being elected to the federal seat of Watson, New South Wales.^[5]

Background[link]

Tony Burke was educated at Regina Coeli,^[6] then at St Patrick's College, Strathfield, where he was Vice-Captain,^[2] and the University of Sydney, where he graduated in arts and law.^[7] An accomplished debater, he was awarded the Martin Sorensen award for best speaker at the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships in 1995.^[2]

He was a founding director of Aticus Pty Ltd, an advocacy training business across Australia and Asia.^[7]

From 1997 until 2003, Burke worked as an organiser for the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association.^[8]

On 22 March 2003, he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council. He chaired the NSW State Development Committee, conducting inquiries into ports infrastructure, and science and its commercialisation.^[9] Burke resigned from the NSW state parliament on 24 June 2004 to campaign for the federal parliament division of Watson. He successfully gained the seat at the 2004 federal election.^[2]

Federal Parliament[link]

Burke was appointed as Shadow Minister for Small Business immediately after his election, and in June 2005 was promoted to Shadow Minister for Immigration. In December 2006 Kevin Rudd was elected leader and conducted a further reshuffle, expanding the portfolio to Immigration, Integration and Citizenship. On 29 November 2007, Burke was selected by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as the next Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and was sworn in on 3 December 2007.^[10]

On 2 April 2010, Kevin Rudd announced that Burke was the inaugural federal Minister for Population. The responsibilities of the office were to include planning the growth of the Australian population and coordinating provision of services to the increasing numbers of people living in Australia.^[11]

Following the 2010 Australian election, he was appointed Minister of the new portfolio of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.^[12][13] When Julia Gillard reshuffled her Cabinet in March 2012, following an ALP leadership spill, Burke was given the additional portfolio of Vice-President of the Executive Council.

Burke is the first Minister to use an iPad when answering questions during Question Time in the House of Representatives. Traditionally, ministers use notes on pieces of paper as an aide-mémoire in responding to questions at the dispatch box.^[14][15]

In early 2011 (after delaying his decision due to Gunns Limited coming to his department and asking for tougher environment standards to be imposed on their proposed pulp mill development)^[16][17][18] Burke gave final approval for the proposed pulp mill in the Tamar Valley to go ahead, subject to tougher environmental conditions requested by the company itself. Burke said that many of the demands made by environmental groups opposed to the development had been addressed.^[19][20]

See also[link]

• Rudd Ministry
• Second Gillard Ministry

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tony Burke's personal website
• Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPaC)
• Search or browse Hansard for Tony Burke at OpenAustralia.org
• Biography
• "The Honourable Tony Burke, Final Speech to the NSW Parliament". Government of New South Wales. http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20040623044. 
• "Mr Tony Burke MP, Member for Watson (NSW) First Speech To Federal Parliament". Government of Australia. 29 November 2004. http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/firstspeech.asp?id=dyw. 
• "Tony Burke's page". Australian Parliament website. http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/member.asp?id=DYW. 
• "Tony Burke's page". Australian Labor Party website. http://www.alp.org.au/people/nsw/burke_tony.php. 
• "Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry". Government of Australia. http://www.maff.gov.au. 

v t e Rudd Cabinet (2007–10) Prime Minister: Kevin Rudd Anthony Albanese • Chris Bowen • Tony Burke • Kim Carr • Stephen Conroy • Simon Crean • Chris Evans • John Faulkner • Martin Ferguson • Joel Fitzgibbon • Peter Garrett • Julia Gillard • Joe Ludwig • Jenny Macklin • Robert McClelland • Nicola Roxon • Stephen Smith • Wayne Swan • Lindsay Tanner • Penny Wong

v t e Gillard Ministry Cabinet • Gillard 1 • 2 Inner Ministry Prime Minister Julia Gillard (since 2010) Deputy PM Treasurer Wayne Swan (since 2010) Immigration Citizenship Chris Bowen (since 2010) Defence Stephen Smith (since 2010) Finance and Deregulation Penny Wong (since 2010) Trade Craig Emerson (since 2010) Regional, Local Arts Simon Crean (since 2010) Foreign Affairs Bob Carr (since 2012) Families Community Services Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin (since 2010) Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese (since 2010) Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Chris Evans (since 2011) School Education, Early Childhood and Youth Peter Garrett (since 2010) Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet (since 2010)• Attorney General Nicola Roxon (since 2011) Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Joe Ludwig (since 2010) Sustainability, Environment Water, Population and Communities Vice-President of the Executive Council (Since 2012) Tony Burke (since 2010) Resources and Energy Tourism Martin Ferguson (since 2010) Social Inclusion Mark Butler (since 2011) Health and Ageing Tanya Plibersek (since 2011) Outer ministry Sport Kate Lundy Others Warren Snowdon• Gary Gray • Jason Clare • Julie Collins List of Australian ministries

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]

2000s[link]

In 2001, he appeared as the villain in Enrique Iglesias's music video for "Hero," which also featured Jennifer Love Hewitt. In 2002, Rourke took the role of The Cook in Jonas Åkerlund's Spun, teaming up once again with Eric Roberts. His first collaborations with directors Robert Rodriguez and Tony Scott in Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Man on Fire, were for smaller roles. Nonetheless, these directors subsequently decided to cast Rourke in lead roles in their next films.

In 2005, Rourke made his comeback in mainstream Hollywood circles with a lead role (Marv) in Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of Frank Miller's Sin City. Rourke received awards from the Chicago Film Critics Association, the IFTA and the Online Film Critics Society, as well as "Man of the Year" from Total Film magazine that year. Rourke followed Sin City with a supporting role in Tony Scott's Domino alongside Keira Knightley, in which he played a bounty hunter.

Rourke played the role of "The Blackbird" in an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Killshot, and appeared as Darrius Sayle in the adaptation of the Alex Rider novel Stormbreaker.

Rourke at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.

In addition, in 2004, Rourke provided the voice for "Jericho" in the third installment of the Driver video game series. Rourke also recently appeared in a 40-page story by photographer Bryan Adams for Berlin's Zoo Magazine. In an article about Rourke's return to steady acting roles, entitled "Mickey Rourke Rising",^[32] Christopher Heard stated that actors/musicians Tupac Shakur, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn and Brad Pitt have "...animated praise for Rourke and his work." During a roundtable session of Oscar-nominated actors held by Newsweek, Brad Pitt cited Rourke as one of his early acting heroes along with Sean Penn and Gary Oldman.^[33]

Despite having withdrawn from acting at various points, and having made films that he now sees as a creative "sell-out" (the action film Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man), Rourke has stated that "...all that I have been through...[has] made me a better, more interesting actor." Rourke's renewed interest in pursuing acting can be seen in his statement that "... my best work is still ahead of me."^[34]

Rourke had a role in the film version of The Informers, playing Peter, an amoral former studio security guard who plots to kidnap a small child.

In 2008, Rourke played the lead in The Wrestler, winner of the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, about washed-up professional wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson. Regarding first reading the screenplay, he stated that he originally "didn't care for it."

He also spoke on personal concern and hesitance of being in a film about wrestling, for he perceived it as being "pre-arranged and pre-choreographed." However, as he trained for the film, he developed an appreciation and respect for what real-life pro wrestlers do to prepare for the ring:

He trained under former WWE wrestler Afa the Wild Samoan for the part, and has received a British Academy (BAFTA) award, a Golden Globe award, an Independent Spirit Award, and an Oscar nomination as Best Actor. Rourke was pessimistic about his chances to win the Oscar, as he had burned many bridges in Hollywood as a result of his past behavior.^[22] Rourke lost the Oscar to Sean Penn, while Penn did acknowledge Rourke in his acceptance speech.

Rourke has written or co-written six scripts: Homeboy, The Last Ride, Bullet, Killer Moon, Penance and the latest, Pain. Of these, the first three were produced as films between 1988 and 1996.

Rourke with Ric Flair at WrestleMania XXV.

In early 2009, Rourke developed a small feud with WWE Superstar Chris Jericho, as part of a storyline. The storyline climaxed at WrestleMania XXV, when Rourke knocked out Jericho with a left hook after Jericho won his match against Jimmy Snuka, Ricky Steamboat, and Roddy Piper, with Ric Flair in their corner.

In 2009, Rourke starred in John Rich's music video for Shuttin' Detroit Down alongside Kris Kristofferson.

In 2009, Rourke voiced protagonist U.S. Navy SEAL Dick Marcinko in the video game Rogue Warrior. The game received very poor reviews from critics.

In 2010, Rourke played the role of the main villain Whiplash in the film Iron Man 2, in an interview with Rip It Up Magazine he revealed that he prepared for the role by visiting Russian jail inmates.^[37] He also had a supporting role playing 'Tool' in Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables.

Just before the end of the year, he confirmed on a British TV talk show that he would play Gareth Thomas in an upcoming film about the Welsh rugby star who came out as gay the previous year.^[38] As of February 2011, he had begun research on the film, but noted, "We're not going to make this movie until we've done all the proper research. We need to do our homework and I need to train for from nine to eleven months."^[39]

In 2011, Rourke was cast in the film Java Heat as an American citizen shadowing terrorists group in Java, Indonesia. The film will be released in 2013.^[40]

Personal life[link]

Rourke has dated several celebrities, including Terry Farrell and Sasha Volkova. He has been married twice. In 1981, he married Debra Feuer, whom he met on the set of Hardcase (1981) and who co-starred with him in Homeboy (1988) as his love interest. The marriage ended in 1989, with Rourke subsequently commenting that making the film 9½ Weeks "was not particularly considerate to my wife's needs."^[41] The two have remained good friends, according to an interview Feuer gave in 2009.^[42]

Andy García and Rourke at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.

Wild Orchid co-star Carré Otis was briefly a cause célèbre following the release of the film owing to rumors that she and then-lover Rourke filmed an unsimulated sex scene. Otis married Rourke on June 26, 1992. In 1994, Rourke was arrested for spousal abuse. The charges were later dropped. The couple reconciled and also starred together in Exit in Red, but their marriage ended in December 1998. In November 2007, Rourke was arrested again, this time on DUI charges in Miami Beach.^[43]

In numerous TV and print interviews, he attributes his comeback after fourteen years to his agent David A. Unger,^[44][45] weekly meetings with a psychiatrist, "Steve," and a Catholic priest he identified as "Father Pete."^{[citation needed]}

Since 2009, Rourke has been dating the Russian model Anastassija Makarenko. In mid-2011, he bought an apartment in Wiesbaden, Germany which is close to his girlfriend's parents' place of residence.^[46]

Rourke is also a motorcycle enthusiast and uses motorcycles in some of his films.^{[citation needed]}

Dogs[link]

In addition to his faith and his psychiatric treatment, Rourke has publicly attributed his comeback to his dogs. He is well known as a pet lover, particularly fond of small-breed dogs. A spay/neuter advocate, Rourke participated in a protest outside of a pet shop in 2007^[47] and has done a public service announcement for PETA.^[48]

His first little dog was reportedly a gift from his second wife.^[47] Though Rourke's dogs are generally referred to as "chihuahuas," some are not pure-bred. Loki, his most-publicized dog whom he described as "the love of my life,"^[47] was a chihuahua-terrier mix.^[49][50] So reliant was Rourke on Loki's companionship, he spent US$5,400 to have her flown to England while he was on the set of the film Stormbreaker.^[50]

Rourke gave his dogs credit during his Golden Globe Best Actor acceptance speech January 11, 2009: "I'd like to thank all my dogs. The ones that are here, the ones that aren't here anymore because sometimes when a man's alone, that's all you got is your dog. And they've meant the world to me."^[51] The day of the 2009 Golden Globes show, he told Barbara Walters that "I sort of self-destructed and everything came out about fourteen years ago or so ... the wife had left, the career was over, the money was not an ounce. The dogs were there when no one else was there." Asked by Walters if he had considered suicide, he responded:

Despite being identified as "Lowjack" in the transcription above, the dog in the anecdote was apparently Beau Jack, who sired two of Rourke's later pets, Loki and her littermate Chocolate.^[53] Beau Jack died in 2002, though Rourke gave him 45 minutes of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.^[50][54] Chocolate was the subject of a children's book, Chocolate at the Four Seasons, about his temporary stay with producer Bonnie Timmerman.^[55] Chocolate returned to Rourke and died in 2006.^[55] In addition to those dogs and several other past pets, Rourke currently owns a chihuahua named Jaws who appeared with him in his 2009 PETA ad, as well as in the film "Man on Fire."^[48] He has had as many as seven dogs at one time, back in 2005.^[54] At the time of his Golden Globes tribute to his pets, Rourke owned five chihuahuas: Loki, Jaws, Ruby Baby, La Negra and Bella Loca.^[50] About a month later, on February 18, 2009, Loki died in Rourke's arms at the age of 18.^[56]

Filmography[link]

Career Awards[link]

Critical Acclaim[link]

Only two films of Mickey Rourke’s are in the IMDb Top 250. Sin City is #85 and The Wrestler is #78. According to Rotten Tomatoes, Mickey’s most “fresh” film is The Wrestler and most "rotten" film is Wild Orchid.

Rotten Tomatoes[link]

Mickey Rourke films which rated as "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes.

Metacritic[link]

Mickey Rourke films which rate "fresh" on Metacritic.

Previous collaborations[link]

During his career, Rourke worked with directors including Steven Spielberg, Lawrence Kasdan, Francis Ford Coppola, Barry Levinson, Stuart Rosenberg, Nicolas Roeg, Michael Cimino, Adrian Lyne, Alan Parker, Mike Hodges, Barbet Schroeder, Walter Hill, Tsui Hark, Jonas Åkerlund, Wong Kar-wai, Tony Scott, Robert Rodriguez and John Madden, as well as actors-turned-directors Sean Penn, Vincent Gallo and Steve Buscemi. Rourke also starred in the films which also stars popular actors including Kim Basinger, Jean Claude Van Damme, Helena Bonham Carter, Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, Tupac Shakur, Bruce Willis, Benicio del Toro, Alicia Silverstone, Anthony Hopkins, Jack Nicholson, Willem Dafoe, Johnny Depp, Denzel Washington, Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Robert De Niro and so on. Rourke worked with actor Christopher Walken 5 times. They starred together in the films Heaven's Gate, Homeboy, Man on Fire, Domino and voice acting in video game True Crime: New York City (2005).

Christopher Walken stated to the Film Comment on August, 1992 that destiny to make Homeboy with Mickey Rourke:

Other works[link]

Mickey Rourke made his stage debut in a revival of Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge. Rourke also lent his voice to the video games Driv3r (2004) as Jericho and True Crime: New York City (2005) as Terrence "Terry" Higgins, which was the his fifth and last work with actor Christopher Walken. He also appeared in a Japanese TV commercial for Suntory Reserve (early 90s) and a commercial for Daihatsu and Lark (cigarette). More recently, in 2009, Rourke voiced the character of Dick Marcinko for the biographical video game Rogue Warrior, which was released on December 1, 2009.^[58] Ironically, Rourke's portrayal of Marcinko was a source of humorous praise from a few critics (although many others criticized Rourke's role to the same degree that they did every other aspect of the game).

Rourke starred in a music video, "Hero." He played a gangster in this Enrique Iglesias music video. Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt also made an appearance in this clip. Rourke also provided the mid-song rap on the David Bowie song "Shining Star (Makin' My Love)" on his album Never Let Me Down (1987).

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mickey Rourke

• Mickey Rourke at the Internet Movie Database
• Mickey Rourke at Rotten Tomatoes
• Professional boxing record for Mickey Rourke from BoxRec
• Ebert, Roger (1987-02-10). "A day on location with Rourke's "Barfly"". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19870210/PEOPLE/812229998. 
• Pierce, Rabin, and Tobias, Leonard, Nathan, and Scott (2009-02-20). "Primer: Mickey Rourke". The Onion A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/primer-mickey-rourke,24108/. 
• Dialogus.net
• "Mickey Rourke". Charlie Rose. New York: WNET. http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/6562. Retrieved 2011-11-26. 

Dermot Mulroney (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor.

Early life[link]

Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia. His mother, Ellen, was a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and his father, Michael Mulroney, was a law professor (and amateur racecar driver) at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa.^[1][2] He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor, Kieran (who is also an actor), and Sean. Moira formerly worked in the Philadelphia DA's office as an assistant district attorney^[3] and later at WXPN, an FM radio station in Philadelphia, but now works elsewhere in the non-profit industry.^[4] Some of Mulroney's ancestors immigrated from County Donegal and County Mayo in Ireland during the Irish Potato Famine; he is of mostly Irish descent, with more distant German ancestry.^[5] Mulroney attended Maury Elementary School and played cello in school and city youth orchestras, as well as acting in children's community theater. Mulroney attended the Interlochen Arts Camp as a cellist. He later attended T. C. Williams High School (grad. 1981), the high school portrayed in Remember the Titans, as well as Northwestern University (grad. 1985) in Evanston, Illinois, where he was a member of the fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta.

Career[link]

Most of his lead performances have been in romantic comedy films. Mulroney has appeared in many movies, including as the male lead in My Best Friend's Wedding alongside Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz. He is probably best known for his western roles as either an outlaw or gunman. Mulroney co-starred in the 1988 western Young Guns, for which he is possibly best known, in which he played "Dirty Steve" alongside Emilio Estevez, and in 1994 he starred alongside Mickey Rourke in The Last Outlaw, which has since become a cult classic among western genre fans. Mulroney also played the love interest of Madeleine Stowe in the western Bad Girls. He first gained critical acclaim in the film Longtime Companion, portraying a young man with HIV during the early days of the outbreak of the virus, who becomes the first of his group of friends to succumb to the disease. He was also in the ensemble film The Family Stone starring Sarah Jessica Parker. In 2005, he played a "date-for-hire" character alongside Debra Messing in The Wedding Date. Also in the movie "Abduction" as Martin Price.

Mulroney played Gavin Mitchell on the TV series, Friends. His character dated Rachel for one episode but they broke up when it became too complicated between them because of Ross. In 1993, he wrote the song "Someone Else's Used Guitar" for Peter Bogdanovich's The Thing Called Love. Mulroney also had a cameo in the Joaquin Phoenix directed video "Tired of Being Sorry" for Balthazar Getty's band Ringside. Mulroney also is credited as a song performer on the movie and for four other tunes, as well as acting in the movie. In 2007, Mulroney voiced Green Lantern Hal Jordan in the animated series The Batman in the season 5 episode "Ring Toss". He occasionally reads stories on the WBEZ Chicago Public Radio radio. In 2012, Mulroney plays the love interest of Zooey Deschanel, Russell, in the Fox series New Girl.

Personal life[link]

Mulroney married actress Catherine Keener in 1990 after they met in 1987 when filming Survival Quest. The couple separated in May 2005 and filed for divorce June 11, 2007, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was final on December 19, 2007.^[6] They have a son named Clyde Keener Mulroney (born June 21, 1999). Mulroney is an accomplished cellist, and in 2005 appeared alongside Boyd Tinsley for Alanis Morissette's show at the House of Blues in Hollywood. He played cello in the song "Place Your Hand" from Melissa Etheridge's 1992 album Never Enough, on the EP for Rain Phoenix's band papercranes, and on the score to Mission: Impossible III (2006) and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.^[7] . Mulroney (cello and mandolin) and his brother Kieran (violin and accordion) were both members of the punk-folk band Low and Sweet Orchestra which included members of The Pogues and The Circle Jerks. He is now a member of Cranky George, together with his brother and James Fearnley of the Pogues.
In January of 2005 he began dating Tharita Catulle. They became engaged in December of 2007 and were married January 1, 2008. Their first child was born in April of 2008 and their second July of 2009. They have two girls.

Filmography[link]