Daniel Day-Lewis may not work much, but it’s hard to deny that he is one of the greatest actors of his generation – maybe even the best. From the rousing gravitas of “Last of the Mohicans” to the powerhouse physicality of “There Will Be Blood,” Day-Lewis’s performances are truly one of a kind, resulting from his careful selection of roles, meticulous Method preparation, and balls-to-the-wall devotion.
Day-Lewis was born to Irish Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis and actress Jill Balcon. Cecil died when Daniel was 15, a devastating experience for the young actor due to their somewhat strained relationship. He began acting while in boarding school in Kent, and credits as his first performance learning the local accent of the South London bullies who picked on him when he was very young. His other love was woodworking, and he decided on acting as a career only after being rejected from a five-year cabinet-making apprenticeship. In lieu of cabinetry, he entered the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which ultimately led to a few small screen roles in the early 80s (“Gandhi” among them) and a starring turn as Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet” for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
1985 proved to be a banner year for the 28 year-old actor, as he starred in both “My Beautiful Laundrette” and James Ivory’s “A Room with a View,” two starkly different films that earned major critical success and showcased Day-Lewis’s enormous range and prodigious, almost freakish talent. He was elevated to leading man status in 1988 with Philip Kaufman’s lush adaptation of Milan Kundera’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” starring with Lena Olin and a radiant Juliette Binoche, who was already a major star in France in the 80s. Next came the two worst films of his career – “Stars and Bars” and “Eversmile, New Jersey” – and then “My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown.” The touching film won Day-Lewis an Oscar for Best Actor, and remains one of the most beloved films of the 80s.
Day-Lewis’s films in the 90s are now legendary: “The Last of the Mohicans,” “The Age of Innocence,” “In the Name of the Father,” “The Crucible,” and “The Boxer.” The greatest stories behind these films are Day-Lewis’s often bizarre, always sincere Method approach. For “My Left Foot,” Day-Lewis never went out of character during filming, which was an interesting problem for the crew as the character had cerebral palsy and only the use of his left foot. He had to be carried around the set in his wheelchair. For “Mohicans,” he learned to live off the land, carried a rifle everywhere, and was trained in hunting and skinning. He encouraged crew members on “In the Name of the Father” to throw things and verbally abuse him – this was outside of stretches in a prison cell Day-Lewis underwent to internalize the character’s humiliation.
Day-Lewis returned to the screen with 2002’s “Gangs of New York,” which reunited him with “Age of Innocence” director Martin Scorsese. The actor had been off the map for five years, living in Florence and learning shoemaking. Since “Gangs” he has appeared in his wife Rebecca Miller’s “The Ballad of Jack and Rose” with Camilla Belle, and 2007’s “There Will Be Blood.” Directed by virtuoso wunderkind Paul Thomas Anderson, “Blood” has earned Day-Lewis his fourth Oscar nomination. Day-Lewis will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the most versatile and commanding performers of all time.