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Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis was born in London, England, the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis (aka Nicholas Blake) (Poet Laureate of England) and his second wife, Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon, an important figure in the history of British cinema, head of the famous Ealing Studios. His older sister, Tamasin Day-Lewis, is a documentary filmmaker. Daniel was educated at Sevenoaks School in Kent, which he despised, and the more progressive Bedales in Petersfield, which he adored. He studied acting at the Bristol Old Vic School. Daniel made his film debut in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), but then acted on stage with the Bristol Old Vic and Royal Shakespeare Companies and did not appear on screen again until 1982, when he landed his first adult role, a bit part in Gandhi (1982). He also appeared on British TV that year in "Frost in May" (1982) and How Many Miles to Babylon? (1982) (TV). Notable theatrical performances include Another Country (1982-83), Dracula (1984), and The Futurists (1986).

His first major supporting role in a feature film was in The Bounty (1984), quickly followed by My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) and A Room With A View (1985). The latter two films opened in New York on the same day, offering audiences and critics evidence of his remarkable range and establishing him as a major talent. The New York Film Critics named him Best Supporting Actor for those performances. In 1986, he appeared on stage in Richard Eyre's The Futurists and on television in Eyre's production of "Screen Two: The Insurance Man (#2.7)" (1986). He also had a small role in a British/French film, Nanou (1986). In 1987 he assumed leading-man status in Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness Of Being (1988), followed by a comedic role in the unsuccessful Stars and Bars (1988). His brilliant performance as "Christy Brown" in Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot (1989) won him numerous awards, including The Academy Award for best actor.

He returned to the stage to work again with Eyre, as Hamlet at the National Theater, but was forced to leave the production close to the end of its run because of exhaustion, and has not appeared on stage since. He took a hiatus from film as well until 1992, when he starred in The Last Of The Mohicans (1992), a film that met with mixed reviews but was a great success at the box office. He worked with American director Martin Scorsese in The Age of Innocence (1993) in 1994. Subsequently, he teamed again with Jim Sheridan to star in In The Name Of The Father (1993), a critically acclaimed performance that earned him another Academy Award nomination. His next project was in the role of John Proctor in father-in-law Arthur Miller's play The Crucible (1996), directed by Nicholas Hytner.

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Daniel Day-Lewis - news / articles


  • Daniel Day-Lewis stages his own empty chair speech - 8 November 2012
    -Daniel Day-Lewis provided a little light entertainment at the 2012 BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards by staging his own version of Clint Eastwood's famous empty chair speech as he accepted a top honour on Wednesday night (07Nov12).-The There Will Be Blood star was presented with


  • Liam Neeson backed Daniel Day-Lewis as his Lincoln replacement - 26 October 2012
    -Liam Neeson gave Daniel Day-Lewis his full support after the Oscar winner signed on as the Irish actor's replacement for Steven Spielberg's historical epic Lincoln.-The My Left Foot star insists he would never have even considered portraying Abraham Lincoln in the movie


  • Top 10 Daniel Day-Lewis - 25 August 2010
    -Daniel Day-Lewis may have got a lucky break, landing a bit-part in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi back in 1982. Since then, however, he has really proved his worth, taking on audacious projects and always delivering. He's picked up two Oscars along the way, but we pay our

Daniel Day-Lewis - what members say


  • My Beautiful Laundrette
  • My Beautiful Laundrette review by from SHEFFIELD
    Rated - 5.0 stars 27 October 2004
    ...it. It's also a completely unexpected love story, that is profoundly beautiful. Daniel Day-Lewis and Gorden Warnecke are both fantastic as the two leads and have real chemistry...   Read customer review
  • My Left Foot
  • My Left Foot review by A customer from Wiltshire
    Rated - 5.0 stars One of the greatest films of all time 18 May 2006
    ...ceptional performance that will leave you gobsmacked at the sheer brilliance of Daniel Day-Lewis and a delightful performance by 'his mother' Branda Fricker (winning them both ...   Read customer review
  • The Boxer
  • The Boxer review by younglochinvar from North Wales
    Rated - 5.0 stars Knock out! 18 September 2007
    ...A wonderful cast is headed by Daniel Day-Lewis in one of the best films relating to the 'troubles' in Northern Ireland. ...   Read customer review

Daniel Day-Lewis - filmography


  • Lincoln (2012)
    Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis,  Sally Field,  David Strathairn
    Director: Steven Spielberg
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    Steven Spielberg's Academy Award-winning political biopic stars Daniel Day-Lewis as America's 16th president Abraham Lincoln. The film focuses on the last few months of Lincoln's life, which not only saw the ending of slavery despite dogged opposition from many inside Lincoln's own cabinet, but ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 65% from 329 members
    Due for release on 9th August 2013
  • Lincoln - Blu-ray (2012)
    Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis,  Sally Field,  David Strathairn
    Director: Steven Spielberg
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    Steven Spielberg's Academy Award-winning political biopic stars Daniel Day-Lewis as America's 16th president Abraham Lincoln. The film focuses on the last few months of Lincoln's life, which not only saw the ending of slavery despite dogged opposition from many inside Lincoln's own cabinet, but ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 69% from 84 members
    Due for release on 9th August 2013
  • A Man's Story on DVD (2010)
    Starring: Giorgio Armani,  Wolfgang Puck,  Laurence Fishburne
    Director: Varon Bonicos
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Varon Bonicos directs this documentary about fashion designer Ozwald Boateng. The first black tailor to open a shop on London's Savile Row, as well as the youngest, Boateng soon became world famous for his trademark colourful suits. The film follows Boateng from the late 1990s, a low point in his ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 62% from 78 members
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  • Nine on DVD (2009)
    Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis,  Marion Cotillard,  Nicole Kidman
    Director: Rob Marshall
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Famous film director Guido Contini struggles to find harmony in his professional and personal lives, as he engages in dramatic relationships with his wife, his mistress, his muse, his agent, and his mother.
    2 stars out of 5 42% from 18,042 members
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  • Nine - Blu-ray (2009)
    Starring: Sophia Loren,  Stacy Ferguson,  Judi Dench
    Director: Rob Marshall
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Rob Marshall directs this big-budget musical based on the classic Fellini film 8 1/2. Set in early 1960s Venice, the film follows famous film director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) as he struggles to complete his latest project on the eve of his 40th birthday. Meanwhile, he must also juggle the ..read more »
    2 stars out of 5 42% from 938 members
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  • There Will Be Blood - Blu-ray (2007)
    Starring: Dillon Freasier,  Russell Harvard,  Ciarán Hinds
    Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
    Academy Award-winning drama starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) is a down-and-out silver miner who transforms himself into a rich oil tycoon. When he learns of a small oil-rich town in California, he moves there with his adopted son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier). Using his son to ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 67% from 11,804 members
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  • Ballad Of Jack And Rose on DVD (2005)
    Starring: Ryan McDonald,  Catherine Keener,  Jason Lee
    Director: Rebecca Miller
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Drama starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Jack (Day-Lewis) lives on the site of his abandoned island commune with his 16-year-old daughter Rose (Camilla Belle). Jack has sheltered Rose from the influences of the outside world, but now Rose's emerging womanhood poses troubling questions about the days ahead. ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 56% from 3,084 members
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  • Gangs Of New York on DVD (2002)
    Starring: Liam Neeson,  John C. Reilly,  Brendan Gleeson
    Director: Martin Scorsese
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    In 1860's lower Manhattan, the Five Points section is a dark, teeming corner of the city known for vice and chaos. Into this frontier of lawlessness arrives the young Irish American, Amsterdam Vallon. Amsterdam is the orphaned son of the slain Priest Vallon--once chief warrior of the Dead Rabbits ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 62% from 45,504 members
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  • The Boxer on DVD (1997)
    Starring: Emily Watson,  Brian Cox,  Gerard McSorley
    Director: Jim Sheridan
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) directed this drama about a Belfast boxer, filmed with Dublin locations substituting for Belfast. Released after his 14-year prison sentence for IRA activities, 32-year-old Danny Flynn (Daniel Day-Lewis) returns to his old neighborhood and sees former-flame ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 67% from 1,966 member
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  • The Crucible on DVD (1996)
    Starring: Winona Ryder,  Paul Scofield,  Daniel Day-Lewis
    Director: Nicholas Hytner
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Salem, Massachusetts, 1692. Perched on the edge of a continent is a community dedicated to the service of God. A gang of teenage girls, stifled by the crushing piety of their elders, dance naked in the woods. One girl, Abigail Williams -- her innocence lost in the bed of John Proctor, a married ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 66% from 4,337 members
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  • The Age of Innocence on DVD (1993)
    Starring: Alec McC,  Winona Ryder,  Michael Gough
    Director: Martin Scorsese
    Certificate: Certificate: U
    Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Edith Wharton's scathing account of the tribal customs of the 19th century New York elite. Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is betrothed to the demure May Welland (Winona Ryder), a sensible girl who befits his respectable social position. But when May's cousin, the ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 59% from 5,684 members
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  • The Last Of The Mohicans on DVD (1992)
    Starring: Maurice Roeves,  Pete Postlethwaite,  Wes Studi
    Director: Michael Mann
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    In mid-18th century America, woodsman Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis) lives amongst British colonists in New York state, but shares the cultural values of his adopted Mohican father, Chingachgook (Russell Means). At the height of the French-Indian war, Hawkeye is asked to lead two British sisters, Cora ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 72% from 13,445 members
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  • My Left Foot on DVD (1989)
    Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis,  Brenda Fricker
    Director: Jim Sheridan
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Watch now: Unavailable
    An alternative to the general run of triumph over the odds biopics, My Left Foot is the true story of Irish cerebral palsy victim Christy Brown. Paralyzed from birth, Brown (played by Hugh O'Conor as child and Daniel Day-Lewis as an adult) is written off as retarded and helpless. But Christy's ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 74% from 12,136 members
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  • Eversmile New Jersey on DVD (1989)
    Starring: Mirjana Jokovic,  Daniel Day-Lewis
    Director: Carlos Sorin
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Daniel Day Lewis lays a travelling dentist who crusades through Patagonia on a mission to improve anyone whose teeth is causing problems. On his travels, he picks up a lady who becomes his admirer, much to his irritation when he finds out. However, she is a precocious teeth puller, and this winning ..read more »
    2 stars out of 5 43% from 119 members
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  • My Left Foot - Blu-ray (1989)
    Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis,  Brenda Fricker
    Director: Jim Sheridan
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Watch now: Unavailable
    An alternative to the general run of triumph over the odds biopics, My Left Foot is the true story of Irish cerebral palsy victim Christy Brown. Paralyzed from birth, Brown (played by Hugh O'Conor as child and Daniel Day-Lewis as an adult) is written off as retarded and helpless. But Christy's ..read more »
    5 stars out of 5 96% from 3 members
    Due for release on 27th May 2013
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  • Stars and Bars (1988)
    Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis,  Harry Dean Stanton,  Kent Broadhurst
    Director: Pat O'Connor
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Henderson Dores (Daniel-Day Lewis) is a very proper British art expert sent to rural Georgia by his boss to purchase a painting by Renoir. The present owner, hill-billy Loomis Gage (Harry Dean Stanton), claims he bought the painting for $500 in France in 1946. Dores offers $10 million, but Gage's ..read more »
    2 stars out of 5 40% from 3 members
    Currently unavailable
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  • A Room With A View - Blu-ray (1985)
    Starring: ,  ,  
    Director: James Ivory
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Merchant-Ivory adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel. At the turn of the century, Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter) has her passions stirred by young George Emerson (Julian Sands) while on holiday in Italy. On her return to Surrey she tries to put George behind her, but becomes increasingly ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 69% from 102 members
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  • A Room With A View on DVD (1985)
    Starring: ,  ,  
    Director: James Ivory
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by E.M. Forster, A Room with a View is a shining example of Merchant-Ivory's ability to achieve maximum quality and opulence at minimum cost. Set during the Edwardian Era, the film stars Helena Bonham Carter as Lucy Honeychurch, who like all proper ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 70% from 9,034 members
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  • The Bounty on DVD (1984)
    Starring: Liam Neeson,  Anthony Hopkins,  Bernard Hill
    Director: Roger Donaldson
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    A revisionist remake of the famous maritime story. Captain William Bligh (Anthony Hopkins) is in charge of the Bounty as it endures a long and harrowing voyage across the South Seas. When the ship reaches Tahiti, and the crew go to shore in search of breadfruit, they soon become used to the island ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 63% from 2,667 members
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  • Artemis '81 on DVD (1981)
    Starring: Ingrid Pitt,  Hywel Bennett,  Roland Curram
    Director: Alastair Reid
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    1980s sci-fi drama from the BBC starring Hywel Bennett as paranormal novelist Gideon Harlax, who is drawn into a battle between the forces of good, represented by alien angel Helith (Sting), and the forces of evil, represented by Helith's evil brother Asrael (Roland Curram). Ranging from Oxford to ..read more »
    2 stars out of 5 42% from 199 members
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Daniel Day-Lewis facts

5 most recent films

Lincoln - 3.5 stars
Lincoln - Blu-ray - 3.5 stars
A Man's Story - 3.0 stars
Nine - 2.0 stars
Nine - Blu-ray - 2.0 stars

5 highest-rated films

The Last Of The Mohicans - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars
In The Name Of The Father - 4.0 stars
Alan Bennett At The BBC - 4.0 stars
My Left Foot - 3.5 stars
The Last Of The Mohicans - 3.5 stars

5 lowest-rated films

In the Name of the Father - Blu-ray - 3 stars
Stars and Bars - 2.0 stars
My Left Foot - Blu-ray - 5.0 stars
Artemis '81 - 2.0 stars
Nine - Blu-ray - 2.0 stars

Most frequent co-stars

Liam Neeson - 5 times - show films
John C. Reilly - 4 times - show films
David Hemmings - 4 times - show films
Judi Dench - 4 times - show films
Henry Thomas - 4 times - show films

Most frequent directors

Stephen Frears - 6 times - show films
Jim Sheridan - 6 times - show films
Martin Scorsese - 5 times - show films
Richard Eyre - 5 times - show films
John Schlesinger - 5 times - show films