Brendan Fraser Biography
Summary
"Brendan James Fraser" (born December 3, 1968) is a Canadian film and stage actor. He is known for having starred in several major Hollywood films, including "The Mummy", its two sequels, "The Quiet American", and "Crash".
Biography
Early life
Fraser was born in Indianapolis, the son of Canadian parents Shirley, a sales counsellor, and Peter Frazer, a former journalist who worked as a foreign service officer for the Canadian Government Office of Tourism. His great-grandfather was a Royal Canadian Mountie. He has three older brothers, Kevin, Regan, and Sean. His family moved often as a child, living in Eureka, California, Seattle, Ottawa, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Frazer attended his first professional theatrical performance in London's West End. He began acting at a small acting college in New York He originally planned on attending graduate school in Texas but stopped in Hollywood on his way south and decided to stay in Los Angeles and work in movies. His original name 'Frazer' was later changed to Fraser because his first agent believed the 'z' did not have the 'American boy' appeal.
Career
Fraser's first film role was a brief cameo in Nancy Savoca's "Dogfight" (1991) and he has since garnered over 30 film credits. He had his first lead role in "Encino Man" (1992). That same year he played opposite Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris O'Donnell in "School Ties" (1992). In 1994 he co-starred alongside Adam Sandler in the comedy "Airheads". He also played supporting roles such as starring alongside Viggo Mortensen and Ashley Judd in Philip Ridley's "The Passion of Darkly Noon" (1995), and Jennifer Beals in "The Twilight of the Golds" (1997). His breakout role was the title role in 1997's "George of the Jungle" where he played a fish out of the water character similar to his role in "Encino Man". After this he often played many fish out of water characters in films such as "Blast from the Past" (1999) and "Monkeybone" (2001).
Brendan also starred in "Gods and Monsters" (1998), a film where he displayed his dramatic chops with Ian McKellen. The film was based on the life of the filmmaker James Whale (McKellen) - who made "Frankenstein". This film was written and directed by Bill Condon ("Dreamgirls") and was a story about the loss of creativity, ambiguous sexuality and unlikely bonds between a not-too-bright straight gardener and a gay, tortured and ailing filmmaker. Lynn Redgrave plays a devoted housekeeper.
He demonstrated his ability to play an action hero role in the action adventure horror film "The Mummy" (1999) where he played adventurer Richard 'Rick' O'Connell who was modeled on Indiana Jones. He reprised the role in the sequel "The Mummy Returns" (2001). Both films were huge box office hits. In 2000 he starred in the comedy film "Bedazzled", a remake of the 1967 film of the same name. He has starred in two films based off of Jay Ward creations, "George of the Jungle" and "Dudley Do-Right" although he did not reprise his role in the former's sequel.
In 2004 he appeared in the Academy Award-winning film "Crash". He has also made guest appearances on the television shows "Scrubs", "King of the Hill", and "The Simpsons".
In March 2006, it was announced that he would be granted a star on Canada's Walk of Fame, the first American-born actor to receive the honor. However, as of 2006, he does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After a six year hiatus in the franchise, Fraser will return for the second sequel to "The Mummy" which is set to be released in 2008 and is titled "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor". Filming starts in Montreal on July 27th and the movie will also star Jet Li as
Emperor Han. The last Mummy film grossed over 200 million in the USA and over 400 million worldwide.
Fraser also starred in the West End production at the Lyric Theatre of Tennesee Williams's 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'. The show opened right after 9/11 on September 18, 2001. Anthony Page directed. Fraser and other cast members were asked if they wanted to delay the opening of the show due to the 9/11 attacks, but the cast and producers decided it would be best to open as scheduled. Others in the production included Ned Beatty as 'Big Daddy' and Frances O'Connor as Maggie the Cat. Gemma Jones, a British actress who also played the mother in "Bridget Jones' Diary", also played the part of Big Momma, and Abigail McKern (daughter of Leo McKern, who played Big Daddy in the original London production many years prior) and Clive Carter rounded out the cast. The show closed on January 12, 2002. Fraser garnered many excellent reviews.
Personal life
Fraser married Afton Smith on September 27, 1998, and they have three children, Griffin Arthur, Holden Fletcher, and Leland Francis. He speaks fluent French. Fraser is also an accomplished amateur photographer. Fraser resides in Los Angeles California, Tewksbury Township, in a two-story ranch-style house.. Fraser also serves on the Board of Directors for FilmAid International. He has a golden retriever named Brad.
Fraser loves instant photography and has used several Polaroids in movies and on tv shows, most notably on his guest roles on "Scrubs." In his first appearance he used a folding pack camera (possibly a Model 450); and on his second appearance he used a Holga with a Polaroid back, a Japanese-only model. The book "Collector's Guide to Instant Cameras" has a dedication to Fraser.
Fraser is fixated with the number '42', he has worn it as his jersey number in all his sports-related films.
His surname is properly pronounced 'Fray-zer', though some pronounce it 'Frasier' (as in Kelsey Grammer's television character). The correct pronunciation of his surname is a running gag in "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star" in which he has a cameo. Once during a Comedy Central promo, Fraser joked about the pronunciation of his last name by saying, 'Hi, I'm Brendan Fraser and you're watching Comedy Central. That's 'Fray-zer', not 'Frasier'. If you say, 'Frasier,' I know where you live'.
Audio book narration
"Dragon Rider" (2004)
"Inkspell" (2005)
External links
(http://www.brendanjfraser.com/ Not the official web site but a cool one!)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Brendan Fraser.
