John Malkovich

John Malkovich (born 9.12.1953)

John Malkovich is an American stage and film actor, as well as a director and producer. He has appeared in more than 70 movies throughout his career.

John Malkovich: Childhood

John Malkovich was born in Christopher, Illinois and grew up in Benton, Illinois. His father worked in conservation and published the conservation magazine Outdoor Illinois. His mother owned the local newspaper, Benton Evening News.

At school, Malkovich excelled at both sports and acting at Benton High School, where he appeared in a number of plays, such as Carousel. Whilst at school, Malkovich also performed as a member of a folk rock trip, as well as organizing a summer theatre project in 1972. After graduating from high school, John Malkovich first attended Eastern Illinois University, then transferred to Illinois State University, where he graduated with a major in theatre.

John Malkovich: Acting Career

Along with Joan Allen, Gary Sinise and Glenne Headly, John Malkovich became a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, in 1976. In 1980, Malkovich then moved to New York, where the company performed a version of Sam Shepard's True West. He won an Obie award for his performance. This was soon followed by his Broadway debut, in Death of a Salesman, alongside Dustin Hoffman. When the play was adapted for TV in 1985, Malkovich won an Emmy award for his role.

One of Malkovich's earliest films was the 1978 movie A Wedding. Directed by Robert Altman, the film also starred Terry Kinney, Laurie Metcalf George Wendt. In 1984, though, he appeared in his first major feature film, playing Sally Field's blind lodger in Places in the Heart. For his performance, he received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

John Malkovich went on to work steadily throughout the 1980s, in respected films such as The Killing Fields (which featured a soundtrack by Mike Oldfield), Empire of the Sun (directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Christian Bale and Miranda Richardson), The Glass Menagerie (an adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play, starring Joanne Woodward and Karen Allen) and 1988's Dangerous Liaisons. The latter film featured Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer and Malkovich reprised his role in the film for the music video to Annie Lennox's Walking on Broken Glass.

In 1992, Malkovich starred in the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, alongside his early accomplice, Gary Sinise. Two years later, he was nominated for his next Academy Award, for his role in In the Line of Fire. This was followed by an unusual role, playing a variation of himself in Charlie Kaufman's art-house flick, Being John Malkovich. The film also starred John Cusack and Cameron Diaz. Malkovich worked with Kaufman once more in Adaptation, with Nicolas Cage.

John Malkovich continued to pursue more unusual roles and films, including The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Beowulf (a semi-animated movie featuring Ray Winstone, Angelina Jolie and Robin Wright Penn) and Burn After Reading, a Coen Brothers comedy starring Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton. Malkovich also appeared in Changeling with Angelina Jolie and Jeffrey Donovan: directed by Clint Eastwood.

Known for his aptitude for comedy, John Malkovich has hosted three episodes of Saturday Night Live. The second time, in 1993, was with Billy Joel as his musical guest. The third time that he presented the show, it featured appearances from Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Molly Sims and Justin Timberlake.

John Malkovich: Personal Life

Between 1982 and 1988, Malkovich was married to Glenne Headly, though the marriage was ended after he became involved with Michelle Pfeiffer. Malkovich met his long-term girlfriend, Nicoletta Peyran on the set of The Sheltering Sky. The couple have two children together, Amandine and Loewy.

In 2008, it was revealed that John Malkovich was one of many people that lost millions of dollars to Bernard Madoff's fraudulent enterprise.