Willem Dafoe

Biography

William James "Willem" Dafoe (/dəˈfoʊ/də-FOH or /ˈdeɪfoʊ/ DAY-foh; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, he is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor as well as nominations for four Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, four Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and five Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has frequently collaborated with filmmakers Paul Schrader, Abel Ferrara, Lars von Trier, Julian Schnabel, Wes Anderson, and Robert Eggers. Dafoe was a founding member of experimental theatre company The Wooster Group. He made his film debut with an uncredited role in Heaven's Gate (1980). Dafoe's early career includes credits for The Loveless (1982), Streets of Fire (1984), and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985). He earned his first Academy Award nomination for the war drama Platoon (1986), followed by nominations for his roles in Shadow of the Vampire (2000), The Florida Project (2017), and the Vincent van Gogh biopic At Eternity's Gate (2018). He also gained acclaim and wide recognition for his roles as Jesus Christ in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and as the supervillain Norman Osborn in the superhero film Spider-Man (2002), a role he reprised in its sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007), and the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). His other film appearance include roles in Mississippi Burning (1988), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Wild at Heart (1990), Light Sleeper (1992), Body of Evidence (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), The English Patient (1996), Affliction (1997), New Rose Hotel(1998), Existenz (1999), The Boondock Saints (1999), American Psycho (2000), Auto Focus (2002), Finding Nemo (2003), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Inside Man (2006), Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007), Antichrist (2009), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Nymphomaniac (2013), The Fault in Our Stars (2014), John Wick (2014), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Aquaman (2018), The Lighthouse (2019), Nightmare Alley (2021), Poor Things (2023), and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024). Description above from the Wikipedia article Willem Dafoe, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Gill (voice)

Finding Nemo

John Darius

Inside Man

David Caravaggio

The English Patient

Klaus Daimler

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Bobby Peru

Wild at Heart

The Electrician

Basquiat

Green Goblin / Norman Osborn

Spider-Man

Green Goblin / Norman Osborn

Spider-Man 3

Green Goblin / Norman Osborn

Spider-Man 2

Carson Clay

Mr. Bean's Holiday

Donald Kimball

American Psycho

Armando Barillo

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

(archive footage)

SPYMASTER: John le Carré in Hamburg

Frank Dulaney

Body of Evidence

Agent Alan Ward

Mississippi Burning

Geiger

Speed 2: Cruise Control

Francis

Pet Shop Days

Le cow-boy (Place des Victoires)

Paris, je t'aime

Rat (voice)

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Gas

eXistenZ

Grace's Father

Manderlay

Charlie

Born on the Fourth of July

Arnold Mack

The Clearing

Emit Flesti

In weiter Ferne, so nah!

Willy (uncredited)

Heaven's Gate

Max Schreck

Shadow of the Vampire

Jesus

The Last Temptation of Christ

Saltzburg Keitel

Asteroid City

Paul Smecker

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

X

New Rose Hotel

Gen. George Octavius Deckert

xXx: State of the Union

Charles Waechter

Fireflies in the Garden

Paul Smecker

The Boondock Saints

2nd Phone Booth Youth

The Hunger

Gavner Purl

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

Rolfe Whitehouse

Affliction

Hateful Guard

Cry-Baby

Chief of Staff

American Dreamz

Martin

The Reckoning

John Clark

Clear and Present Danger

Earl Copen

Animal Factory

Larry Lockner

The Walker

Dr. Michael Copeland

Control

Rick Masters

To Live and Die in L.A.

Maxim

The Legend of Ochi

Feeney

L'Affaire Farewell

John Carpenter

Auto Focus

Stan Aubray

Anamorph

John LeTour

Light Sleeper

Vance

The Loveless

Raven Shaddock

Streets of Fire

Elephant Grass (voice)

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam

Detective Hank Havenhurst

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done

Father Ramirez

Bullfighter

Buck McGriff

Off Limits

Eddie

Miral

Axel Heyst

Victory

Neil Murchison

Ripley Under Ground

He

Antichrist

Tom Eliot

Tom & Viv

Priest

Edges of the Lord

Commandat Klein

Adam Resurrected

Tars Tarkas

John Carter

Lt. Cmdr. Virgil 'Tiger' Cole

Flight of the Intruder

Deputy Sheriff Ray Dolezal

White Sands

Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac

Daybreakers

Jackson

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Self / Norman Osborn/ Green Goblin (archive footage)

Celebrating Marvel's Stan Lee

Self

Brothers in Arms

Leslie

Before It Had a Name

A

Η Σκόνη του Χρόνου

Ray Ruby

Go Go Tales

Father Andre

Pavilion of Women

Martin David

The Hunter

Narrator

Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle

Cisco

4:44 Last Day on Earth

Jopling

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Buddha

Tomorrow You're Gone

Johnny Harte

Roadhouse 66

Max Oliver

A Woman

Nemo

Inside

Tommy Brue

A Most Wanted Man

Lo scrittore

La notte e il momento

John Petty

Out of the Furnace

Narrator (voice)

The Wild One

Self

John Wick: Calling in the Cavalry

Self

Don't F*#% With John Wick

Self

Why Are We (Not) Creative?

Lionel Pembrooke

Saving Norman

Barry

Love's Routine

Willem

The Smile Man

Self

Matthew Gray Gubler's Life Aquatic Intern Journal

Sé stesso

Il coraggio di essere Franco

Self

Spider-Man: All Roads Lead to No Way Home

Wyatt Porter

Odd Thomas

Peter van Houten

The Fault in Our Stars

Self

Rockets Redglare!

Marcus

John Wick

L

Nymphomaniac: Vol. II

Narrator

Finding Satoshi

Bud Carter

Bad Country

Roland Sweet

The Aviator

Walker Reade

Gonzo Girl

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pasolini

Godwin Baxter

Poor Things

Rufo Priori

Finalmente l'alba

Vincent van Gogh (archive footage)

Vincent van Gogh Superstar

Christopher

The Procedure

Karl

White Homeland Commando

Raymond / George / Omi

Kinds of Kindness

Anniston Bennett

The Man in My Basement

Salamo Arouch

Triumph of the Spirit

Ballard

The Great Wall

Self

The Misbehavers

American Nails

Franco Battiato - La voce del padrone

Self

Robert Wilson – Die Schönheit des Geheimnisvollen

Self / Grand Duc

Skabelsen af Riget Exodus

Self

The Making of A Most Wanted Man

David Tebet

Saturday Night

Diego Fairman

Meu Amigo Hindu

Mad Dog

Dog Eat Dog

Ed Blackridge

A Family Man

Ed Saxberger

Late Fame

Colonel John Hunt

Tenzing

Narrator

Into the Deep: America, Whaling & The World

Boyfriend

New York Nights

Self

Mind the Gap

Hunter (voice)

Globehunters: An Around the World in 80 Days Adventure

Narrator

A Nuclear Story

Gill (voice)

Finding Dory

Ryuk (voice)

Death Note

Raymond

Tropico

Bobby

The Florida Project

Terrence Settman

What Happened to Monday

Nuidis Vulko

Aquaman

Gerhard Hardman

Murder on the Orient Express

Marcos Timoleon

The Birthday Party

Narrator

Interior (The Spectator)

Dr. Van Horn

Lulu on the Bridge

Clint

Siberia

Self

Julian Schnabel: A Private Portrait

Narrator (voice)

Mountain

James Verdun

Padre

Self

This Is an Adventure

Vincent van Gogh

At Eternity's Gate

Paul

Opus Zero

Willem Dafoe (uncredited)

Jiminy Glick in Lalawood

Self

A Tour of the Inferno: Revisiting 'Platoon'

Sergeant Elias Grodin

Platoon

Thomas Wake

The Lighthouse

Paul Randolph

Motherless Brooklyn

O Panama

Manou's Father (voice)

Manou the Swift

Richard McMahon

The Last Thing He Wanted

Self

Counterfeit World: Making 'To Live and Die in L.A.'

Self

Bienvenue à Cannes

Narrator (voice)

Vox Lux

Himself

Piazza Vittorio

Role1 / Frankie Machine / Role2 / Blackie Cavanaugh

Nelson Algren Live

Abel Ferrara: Not Guilty

Tommaso

Tommaso

Albert 'the Abacus'

The French Dispatch

Self

Voom Portraits

Self

Love, Antosha

Self / Klaus D.

On the Set: 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'

Colonel Alexander Ignatyevich Vershinin

Brace Up!

Self

Ballad of a Righteous Merchant

Leonhard Seppala

Togo

Self

Under the Rainbow: Making The Florida Project

Self

Babenco - Alguém Tem que Ouvir o Coração e Dizer: Parou

Clem Hoatley

Nightmare Alley

Narrator (voice)

Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate

Self

The Making of Daybreakers

Roy's World: Barry Gifford's Chicago

North on Evers

Gordo

The Card Counter

Immigration Staff

Atalanta Strategy

Heimir the Fool

The Northman

Self (archival footage)

Abel/Asia

Self

Bob Wilson's Life & Death of Marina Abramovic

Rhyme 'Em to Death

Self

Friedkin Uncut

Theatron. Romeo Castellucci

Self

Overnight

Self

Wim Wenders, Desperado

Self

Sportin' Life

Narrator (voice)

The Benaki Museum

Film Actor

7 Deaths of Maria Callas

Self

The Lighthouse: A Dark & Stormy Tale

Self

Location Production Footage: The Last Temptation of the Christ

Vulko

Zack Snyder's Justice League

Self

Behind the Ultimate Spin: The Making of 'Spider-Man'

Narrator

Sanctuary

Self

Spider-Mania

Self

Maresco / Pasolini

(segment "Occupations") (archive footage)

Chacun son cinema ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumiere s'eteint et que le film commence

Joe Cribbens

Dead for a Dollar

Narrator

River

Self (archive footage)

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

Norman Osborn / Green Goblin

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Self

The Spider-Man Story

run 002

Sculpt

Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz

Nosferatu

Self (archive footage)

Jesus Goes to Hollywood

Self

Nosferatu: An Inside Look

The Sleeping Shepherd

The Souffleur

Love, Death, Elvis & Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart

Jack Straw

Wrong Guys

Self

Behind the Scenes of 'Spider-Man'

(voice)

Zero

Bobby Peru (archive footage) (uncredited)

Lynch/Oz

L

Nymphomaniac: Vol. I

Self (Archive Footage)

Was Ist Kino ?

The Phoenician Scheme

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

217

Gender

Male

Birthday

1955-07-22

Place of Birth

Appleton, Wisconsin, USA

Also Known As

Willem DeFoe