Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis

Born: April 29, 1957
in Greenwich, London, England, UK
Daniel Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is a retired actor of British and Irish citizenship. Often described as one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema, he received numerous accolades throughout his career which spanned over four decades, including three Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.

The actor excelled on stage at the National Youth Theatre before being accepted at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which he attended for three years. Despite his traditional training at the Bristol Old Vic, he is considered a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. Protective of his private life, he rarely grants interviews, and makes very few public appearances.

Day-Lewis shifted between theatre and film for most of the early 1980s, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company and playing Romeo Montague in Romeo and Juliet and Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Playing the title role in Hamlet at the National Theatre in London in 1989, he left the stage midway through a performance after breaking down during a scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father appears before him—this was his last appearance on the stage. After supporting film roles in Gandhi (1982), and The Bounty (1984), he earned acclaim for his breakthrough performances in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), A Room with a View (1985), and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988).

He earned Academy Awards for his roles in My Left Foot (1989), There Will Be Blood (2007), and Lincoln (2012). His other Oscar-nominated roles were in In the Name of the Father (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), and Phantom Thread (2017). Other notable films include The Last of the Mohicans (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993), The Crucible (1996), and The Boxer (1997). He retired from acting from 1997 to 2000, taking up a new profession as an apprentice shoe-maker in Italy. Although he returned to acting, he announced his retirement again in 2017.

Movies for Daniel Day-Lewis...

Daniel Day-Lewis: The Hollywood Genius
Title: Daniel Day-Lewis: The Hollywood Genius
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 10, 2021
Type: Movie
He is the only actor in the history of cinema to have won three Oscars. Known for the dramatic intensity of his roles – which are as striking as they are diverse (aristocrat, petty thug, outcast or criminal) – for directors such as Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg.
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Phantom Thread
Title: Phantom Thread
Character: Reynolds Woodcock
Released: December 25, 2017
Type: Movie
In 1950s London, renowned British dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock comes across Alma, a young, strong-willed woman, who soon becomes ever present in his life as his muse and lover.
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Spielberg
Title: Spielberg
Character: Self
Released: October 5, 2017
Type: Movie
A documentary on the life and career of one of the most influential film directors of all time, Steven Spielberg.
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And the Oscar Goes To...
Title: And the Oscar Goes To...
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: February 1, 2014
Type: Movie
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.
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Lincoln: An American Journey
Title: Lincoln: An American Journey
Character: Self
Released: January 16, 2013
Type: Movie
Documentary on the making of Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" (2012).
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Lincoln
Title: Lincoln
Character: Abraham Lincoln
Released: November 9, 2012
Type: Movie
The revealing story of the 16th US President's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.
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Access to the Danger Zone
Title: Access to the Danger Zone
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: June 1, 2012
Type: Movie
Directed by Peter Casaer and narrated by Daniel Day-Lewis, this documentary provides a harrowing look at the challenges of delivering humanitarian aid in armed conflicts. “Access to the Danger Zone” explores the strategies that Doctors Without Borders has employed to save lives in the world’s worst war zones, including Afghanistan, Somalia, and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo—strategies that are tested each and every day. Interviews with key experts from Doctors Without Borders, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the United Nations are accompanied by dramatic footage shot in these countries in 2011 and 2012.
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A Man's Story
Title: A Man's Story
Character: Self
Released: October 8, 2011
Type: Movie
Documentary about British fashion designer Ozwald Boateng.
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Making The Last of the Mohicans
Title: Making The Last of the Mohicans
Character: Self
Released: October 3, 2010
Type: Movie
Interviews with the cast and crew of the 1992 Michael Mann film.
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Nine
Title: Nine
Character: Guido Contini
Released: December 3, 2009
Type: Movie
Arrogant, self-centered movie director Guido Contini finds himself struggling to find meaning, purpose, and a script for his latest film endeavor. With only a week left before shooting begins, he desperately searches for answers and inspiration from his wife, his mistress, his muse, and his mother.
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There Will Be Blood
Title: There Will Be Blood
Character: Daniel Plainview
Released: December 26, 2007
Type: Movie
Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.
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The Ballad of Jack and Rose
Title: The Ballad of Jack and Rose
Character: Jack Slavin
Released: February 25, 2005
Type: Movie
Jack Slavin is an environmentalist with a heart condition who lives with his daughter, Rose, on an isolated island. While Jack fights against developers who wish to build in the area, he also craves more contact with other people. When he invites his girlfriend, Kathleen, and her sons, Rodney and Thaddius, to move in, Rose is upset. The complicated family dynamics makes things difficult for everyone in the house.
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Abby Singer
Title: Abby Singer
Character: Daniel Day-Lewis (uncredited)
Released: October 28, 2003
Type: Movie
Chronicles the life of Curtis Clemins, who is torn between the love of his life and accomplishing his dream. When hitting rock bottom during the Sundance Film Festival, Clemins' calls upon his old college chum, Kevin Prouse, giving the now drunken acting instructor in the throes of a divorce, the only clue that will salvage Clemins' rapidly deteriorating life.
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Uncovering the Real Gangs of New York
Title: Uncovering the Real Gangs of New York
Character: Self
Released: June 30, 2003
Type: Movie
This brief look at mid nineteenth century New York City, a period of mass immigration, street gangs, political corruption, and the worst civilian insurrection in the country's history, lends insight into the inspiration for Martin Scorsese's new movie, Gangs of New York.
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Gangs of New York
Title: Gangs of New York
Character: William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting
Released: December 14, 2002
Type: Movie
In 1863, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points of America to seek vengeance against the psychotic gangland kingpin, Bill the Butcher, who murdered his father years earlier. With an eager pickpocket by his side and a whole new army, Vallon fights his way to seek vengeance on the Butcher and restore peace in the area.
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Forever Ealing
Title: Forever Ealing
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: December 5, 2002
Type: Movie
This is a history of the England's Ealing Film Studios, from its beginnings in 1902. It follows the studio's successes through the 1930's, World War II dramas, the well-known 'Ealing comedies' with Alec Guinness, and the BBC's television productions
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The Boxer
Title: The Boxer
Character: Danny Flynn
Released: December 31, 1997
Type: Movie
Nineteen-year-old Danny Flynn is imprisoned for his involvement with the I.R.A. in Belfast. He leaves behind his family and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Maggie Hamill. Fourteen years later, Danny is released from prison and returns to his old working class neighborhood to resume his life as a boxer.
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The Crucible
Title: The Crucible
Character: John Proctor
Released: November 27, 1996
Type: Movie
A Salem resident attempts to frame her ex-lover's wife for being a witch in the middle of the 1692 witchcraft trials.
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In the Name of the Father
Title: In the Name of the Father
Character: Gerry Conlon
Released: December 12, 1993
Type: Movie
A small time thief from Belfast, Gerry Conlon, is falsely implicated in the IRA bombing of a pub that kills several people while he is in London. He and his four friends are coerced by British police into confessing their guilt. Gerry's father and other relatives in London are also implicated in the crime. He spends fifteen years in prison with his father trying to prove his innocence.
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The Age of Innocence
Title: The Age of Innocence
Character: Newland Archer
Released: September 10, 1993
Type: Movie
In 19th century New York high society, a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.
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Innocence and Experience: The Making of 'The Age of Innocence'
Title: Innocence and Experience: The Making of 'The Age of Innocence'
Character: Self
Released: September 1, 1993
Type: Movie
A documentary about the making of director Martin Scorsese's 1993 film adaptation of Edith Wharton's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Age of Innocence. It features a conversation between Scorsese and the star of the film, Daniel Day Lewis, as well as rare behind-the-scenes footage.
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The Last of the Mohicans
Title: The Last of the Mohicans
Character: Hawkeye
Released: August 26, 1992
Type: Movie
In war-torn colonial America, in the midst of a bloody battle between British, the French and Native American allies, the aristocratic daughter of a British Colonel and her party are captured by a group of Huron warriors. Fortunately, a group of three Mohican trappers comes to their rescue.
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Eversmile New Jersey
Title: Eversmile New Jersey
Character: Dr. Fergus O'Connell
Released: September 11, 1989
Type: Movie
Traveling dentist O'Connell traverses South America on his motorcycle for the 'Eversmile' foundation of New Jersey, in a fight not only against cavities, but also against fear, ignorance, indifference - and established antediluvian dentists. During a stop at a lonesome garage he meets Estella, who is supposed to marry a few days later. However she'd rather come with him - to meet a former boyfriend in another town, she says. Expecting problems, he refuses to take her, but she tricks him into it and then tries hard to convince him of her qualities and let her stay with him.
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My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown
Title: My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown
Character: Christy Brown
Released: April 7, 1989
Type: Movie
No one expects much from Christy Brown, a boy with cerebral palsy born into a working-class Irish family. Though Christy is a spastic quadriplegic and essentially paralyzed, a miraculous event occurs when, at the age of 5, he demonstrates control of his left foot by using chalk to scrawl a word on the floor. With the help of his steely mother — and no shortage of grit and determination — Christy overcomes his infirmity to become a painter, poet and author.
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Stars & Bars
Title: Stars & Bars
Character: Henderson Dores
Released: March 18, 1988
Type: Movie
A British art expert leaves New York to buy a long-lost Renoir from a Georgia eccentric.
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The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Title: The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Character: Tomas
Released: February 5, 1988
Type: Movie
Successful surgeon Tomas leaves Prague for an operation, meets a young photographer named Tereza, and brings her back with him. Tereza is surprised to learn that Tomas is already having an affair with the bohemian Sabina, but when the Soviet invasion occurs, all three flee to Switzerland. Sabina begins an affair, Tom continues womanizing, and Tereza, disgusted, returns to Czechoslovakia. Realizing his mistake, Tomas decides to chase after her.
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Nanou
Title: Nanou
Character: Max
Released: February 27, 1987
Type: Movie
A young British photography student travelling in France meets up with a free thinking, working-class French man, a dramatic change of pace from her staid British boyfriend. (TCM)
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A Room with a View
Title: A Room with a View
Character: Cecil Vyse
Released: March 7, 1986
Type: Movie
When Lucy Honeychurch and chaperon Charlotte Bartlett find themselves in Florence with rooms without views, fellow guests Mr Emerson and son George step in to remedy the situation. Meeting the Emersons could change Lucy's life forever but, once back in England, how will her experiences in Tuscany affect her marriage plans?
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The Insurance Man
Title: The Insurance Man
Character: Kafka
Released: February 22, 1986
Type: Movie
Franz, a young man, works in a dye factory in Prague. One day he notices a skin-rash, like eczema, growing on his hands. All attempts to treat it with ointment fail, and the rash gradually spreads over his body. After complaining to the management he is laid off work; his relationship with his fiancee is affected. In an attempt to get compensation from his former employers he goes to insurance firm Assicurazion Generali, where he encounters an enigmatic clerk called Kafka.
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My Beautiful Laundrette
Title: My Beautiful Laundrette
Character: Johnny Burfoot
Released: November 16, 1985
Type: Movie
A Pakistani Briton renovates a rundown laundrette with his male lover while dealing with drama within his family, the local Pakistani community, and a persistent mob of skinheads.
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Title: My Brother Jonathan
Character: Jonathan Dakers
Released: August 12, 1985
Type: TV
My Brother Jonathan is a 1985 BBC five part mini-series that relates the story of an idealistic doctor, Jonathan Dakkers, in the coal country of England during the period around WW1 and a love triangle.
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The Bounty
Title: The Bounty
Character: John Fryer
Released: May 4, 1984
Type: Movie
The familiar story of Lieutenant Bligh, whose cruelty leads to a mutiny on his ship. This version follows both the efforts of Fletcher Christian to get his men beyond the reach of British retribution, and the epic voyage of Lieutenant Bligh to get his loyalists safely to East Timor in a tiny lifeboat.
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Dangerous Corner
Title: Dangerous Corner
Character: Gordon Whitehouse
Released: May 22, 1983
Type: Movie
An unexpected suicide prompts much speculation about honesty and theft.
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Gandhi
Title: Gandhi
Character: Colin
Released: December 1, 1982
Type: Movie
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.
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How Many Miles to Babylon?
Title: How Many Miles to Babylon?
Character: Alex Moore
Released: February 26, 1982
Type: Movie
Wealthy Alexander Moore and working-class Jerry Crowe are childhood friends and in 1914 find themselves in the same Army unit - Alex as an officer and Jerry as a private. They still remain close, however, until Jerry is court-martialed for desertion, and Alex is put in charge of the firing squad.
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Artemis '81
Title: Artemis '81
Character: Library Student
Released: December 29, 1981
Type: Movie
Paranormal novelist Gideon Harlax is drawn into a battle between the forces of good, represented by alien angel Helith, and the forces of evil, represented by Helith's evil brother Asrael. Ranging from Oxford to Denmark, a North Sea ferry to an alien planet, Harlax unwittingly becomes part of an ancient plot that may result in the destruction of Earth...
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Title: Shoestring
Released: September 30, 1979
Type: TV
Shoestring was a BBC television show set in Bristol. It featured a private detective with his own show on Radio West, the local radio station. The programme ran between 30 September 1979 and 21 December 1980, in two series with 21 one hour-long episodes. Star Trevor Eve decided not to return to the role after two series, as he wanted to diversify into theatre roles, so the same production team changed the format to be based in Jersey and created Bergerac, also about a detective returning to work after a bad period in his life.
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Title: Shoestring
Character: DJ
Released: September 30, 1979
Type: TV
Shoestring was a BBC television show set in Bristol. It featured a private detective with his own show on Radio West, the local radio station. The programme ran between 30 September 1979 and 21 December 1980, in two series with 21 one hour-long episodes. Star Trevor Eve decided not to return to the role after two series, as he wanted to diversify into theatre roles, so the same production team changed the format to be based in Jersey and created Bergerac, also about a detective returning to work after a bad period in his life.
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Sunday Bloody Sunday
Title: Sunday Bloody Sunday
Character: Child Vandal (uncredited)
Released: July 1, 1971
Type: Movie
Recently divorced career woman Alex Greville begins a romantic relationship with glamorous mod artist Bob Elkin, fully aware that he's also intimately involved with middle-aged doctor Daniel Hirsh. For both Alex and Daniel, the younger man represents a break with their repressive pasts, and though both know that Bob is seeing both of them, neither is willing to let go of the youth and vitality he brings to their otherwise stable lives.
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Title: BBC Play of the Month
Character: Gordon Whitehouse
Released: October 19, 1965
Type: TV
Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983; the producer most associated with the Play of the Month was Cedric Messina. Some of the 121 episodes are missing from the archives, having been junked in the 1960s and 1970s. Unless stated otherwise, the indication that the play is "lost" is taken from the lostshows.com website page as of 25 May 2013.
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Title: The Oscars
Character: Self
Released: March 19, 1953
Type: TV
An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.