Guy Pearce Biography
Summary
"Guy Edward Pearce" (born October 5, 1967) is an English-born Australian actor.
Biography
Early life
Guy Pearce was born in Ely, England. His father was a New Zealand pilot who died when Pearce was 9, and his mother was an English schoolteacher. He moved to Geelong, Australia when he was 3 years old. He attended The Geelong College. From ages 16 to 22, he was a competitive amateur bodybuilder, culminating in a Mr. Natural Victoria title.
Career
Pearce has always been interested in performing, and he excelled at mimicking accents. He starred in several plays when he was young, and graduated to television when he was cast in the Australian soap opera "Neighbours" in 1985, playing the role of Mike Young for several years. Pearce also found roles in other television series such as "Home and Away" (1988) and "Snowy River: The McGregor Saga" (1993).
The director/producer/writer Frank Howson cast Pearce in his first three movies, which established him as an actor of substance and helped elevate him above his possible soapy-star type-casting. Howson also paid for Pearce to go to the Cannes Film Festival in 1991 for the premiere of the Howson-directed "Hunting". With the accompanying Howson-funded publicity campaign, this brought Pearce to the attention of the international film industry. His first major film breakthrough came shortly after, with his role as a drag queen in "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" in 1994. Since then, he has appeared in several US productions including "L.A. Confidential", "Ravenous", "Rules of Engagement", "Memento", and the big budget flops "The Count of Monte Cristo", and "The Time Machine". However, he continues to act in Australian theatre productions as well as Australian films, such as "The Hard Word" (2002) and the critically lauded "The Proposition" (2005). Pearce recently portrayed pop artist Andy Warhol in the much derided film "Factory Girl". He will portray Harry Houdini in the upcoming film "Death Defying Acts."
Personal life
He currently lives in Middle Park, Victoria Australia.
Filmography
"Heaven Tonight" (1990)
"Hunting" (1991)
"The Man from Snowy River the McGregor Saga" (1993)
"The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (1994)
"Flynn" (1996)
"Dating the Enemy" (1996)
"L.A. Confidential" (1997)
"Woundings" (1998)
"A Slipping-Down Life" (1999)
"Ravenous" (1999)
"Memento" (2000)
"Rules of Engagement" (2000)
"Till Human Voices Wake Us" (2002)
"The Hard Word" (2002)
"The Time Machine" (2002)
"The Count of Monte Cristo" (2002)
"Two Brothers" (2004)
"The Proposition" (2005)
"Factory Girl" (2006)
"Before I Fall to Pieces", Razorlight, music video (2006)
"First Snow" (2007)
"Death Defying Acts" (2007) (completed)
"The Hurt Locker" (2008) (post-production)
"Winged Creatures" (2008) (post-production)
"Traitor" (2008) (filming)
Trivia
In both "Neighbours" and "Memento", Pearce's character suffers a head injury that results in a change of demeanour.
Pearce is a long-time supporter of the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (... more) .
He turned down the title role in "Daredevil".
Appeared in Australian band Silverchair's video for 'Across the Night'.
Appeared in Razorlight's video for 'Before I Fall to Pieces'.
Appeared in an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, as Dr. John Werck.
Was a member of GSODA Junior Players between 1980 and 1984 in Geelong, Australia.
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Guy Pearce.
