Toby Maguire

Tobey Maguire (born 27.6.1975)

Tobey Maguire is an American actor, possibly best known for his lead role in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films.

Tobey Maguire: Childhood

Tobey Maguire was born in Santa Monica, California, to Wendy Brown and Vincent Maguire. Wendy is a screenwriter and producer and Vincent is a construction worker and a cook. His parents divorced when Tobey was two years old.

Tobey was moved around a lot as a child and dropped out of high school before graduating. He later completed his GED in 2000.

Tobey Maguire: Acting Career

Tobey Maguire's debut film appearance was in the 1989 film The Wizard, though he had no speaking lines in the film. During the 1990s, Maguire ended up playing a number of roles in which the character was significantly younger than his own age. After taking on a number of television roles and advertisement opportunities, appearing alongside the likes of Roseanne Barr, Tracey Ullman and Chuck Norris, Maguire landed a lead role in Great Scott, a TV series on the Fox Network. Unfortunately for Maguire, the series was shelved after just five weeks.

Tobey Maguire found himself in a number of the same auditions attended by Leonardo DiCaprio. The pair of young actors became good friends and vowed to help each other to find work. When DiCaprio got a role in Parenthood that they had both auditioned for, he recommended Maguire for a guest role on the show. Similarly, in This Boy's Life, DiCaprio was given the lead role and Maguire had a smaller role as one of his character's friends.

Tobey Maguire was originally in the film Empire Records which stars Liv Tyler and Renée Zellweger but asked the director, Allan Moyle, to be released from his contract and for all of his scenes to be cut out. He later attended Alcoholics Anonymous to seek help for his underage drink problem. Maguire has remained sober ever since.

Following his recovery, Tobey Maguire chose to steer his career path away from that of DiCaprio's, so that they would no longer always go for the same parts. In 1997, Maguire narrated Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, which starred Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver.

His role in The Ice Storm led to a number of 'coming of age' style roles, in films such as Pleasantville (with Reese Witherspoon and William H. Macy), The Cider House Rules (with Michael Caine and Charlize Theron) and Wonder Boys (with Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr., Frances McDormand and Katie Holmes).

In 1999, Tobey Maguire gave an acclaimed performance in Ride With the Devil, alongside the actress Jewel Kilcher, who is better known as the singer, Jewel.

Tobey Maguire's biggest break came when he was cast in the lead role, playing Peter Parker and Spider-Man in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. The films also starred Kirsten Dunst as Maguire's love interest.

Following the success of Spider-Man, Maguire went on to star in Seabiscuit, the critically acclaimed film about the racehorse of the same name. Seabiscuit was the third film for which Tobey Maguire was given a production credit; the previous two being 2002's 25th Hour and 2003's Whatever We Do. Seabiscuit also starred Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper.

Seabiscuit was followed by a role in The Good German, directed by Steven Soderbergh and also starring Cate Blanchett and George Clooney.

In 2008, Tobey Maguire had a cameo role in Ben Stiller's comedy Tropic Thunder, which starred Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr.

Tobey Maguire: Childhood

Tobey Maguire married his long-term girlfriend, Jennifer Meyer in September 2007. The wedding took place in Kona, Hawaii. The couple have a daughter, Ruby Sweetheart Maguire (b. 2006). Their second child is due in Spring 2009.