Jim Caviezel Biography

Summary

"James Patrick Caviezel, Jr." (; born September 26, 1968) is an American film actor, sometimes credited as "Jim Caviezel". He is known for the roles of Jesus in the 2004 film "The Passion of the Christ", Bobby Jones in "Bobby Jones: A Stroke of Genius", Edmond Dantès in "The Count of Monte Cristo", Catch in "Angel Eyes" and Private Witt in "The Thin Red Line".

Early life

Caviezel was born in Mount Vernon, Washington, the son of Margaret, a housewife, and James Patrick Caviezel, Sr., a chiropractor. He has a younger brother, Timothy, and sisters Ann, Amy, and Erin, and was raised in a tight-knit Roman Catholic family in Conway (Skagit County), Washington. Caviezel's surname is of Romansh origin; his father is of Slovak (maternal) and Swiss (paternal) descent, while his mother's ancestry is Irish. He attended Mount Vernon High School for two years and then moved to Seattle and lived with family friends in order to play basketball at the Catholic O'Dea High School. The following spring, he transferred from O'Dea to another Catholic school, John F. Kennedy Memorial High in Burien. There he starred on the basketball team and graduated in 1987. Following high school, Caviezel enrolled at Bellevue Community College where the 6 ft 3 in athlete also played college basketball. A foot injury in his second year, however, put an end to his hopes of a basketball career in the NBA. He later transferred to the University of Washington where he turned his focus to acting and became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

Career

Caviezel made an appearance on the TV show of Murder She Wrote early in his career. He appears as Darryl Harding in the episode of 'Film Flam' which aired on February 19, 1995.

After appearances in "Wyatt Earp" and "G.I. Jane", Caviezel scored a breakthrough performance in Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line". He played Black John, a Missouri bushwhacker, in Ang Lee's "Ride With The Devil" (1999), a film budgeted and intended as a summer blockbuster, which fell flat at the box office. He was originally cast to play Cyclops/Scott Summers in "X-Men" (2000) but dropped out because of a scheduling conflict with his other film, "Frequency".

Caviezel starred in such mainstream Hollywood films as "Angel Eyes", "Pay It Forward" and "The Count of Monte Cristo" (2002). In 2001, he played the lead in "Madison", a film that tells the story of the hydro races in Madison, Indiana. Caviezel's character pilots Miss Madison to victory, recounting the 1971 event. The film did not appear in theatres until 2005. In addition, his work in "High Crimes" (2002) was highly praised by critics.

In 2002, he played a pivotal role in the film "I Am David" from the Danish novel known by both "David" and "North to Freedom", written by Ann Holm.

In 2004, Caviezel portrayed Jesus Christ in the Mel Gibson film "The Passion of the Christ". During filming he was struck by lightning, accidentally whipped, dislocated his shoulder and bruised his eye.

In 2004, he expressed interest in playing the role of Superman/Clark Kent for 2006's "Superman Returns", mentioning that he would dedicate his performance to Christopher Reeve. Ultimately, he was passed over by director Bryan Singer, who felt that Caviezel was too well known after starring in "The Passion of the Christ". The part went to newcomer Brandon Routh instead.

Caviezel plays a lead role in "Unknown," an IFC Films project distributed by the Weinstein Company. Caviezel also has a role in Tony Scott's 2006 action film, "Déjà Vu" opposite Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer. He also played the lead role, Kainin, in the 2008 film "Outlander".

Caviezel provides the voice of Jesus on the Thomas Nelson Inc.-produced New Testament audio dramatization "The Word of Promise", released in the fall of 2007.

He is currently shooting "Long Weekend" co-starring Claudia Karvan as directed by Jamie Blanks at Wilsons Promontory, mainland Australia's southern most tip.

In 2009, Caviezel was French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam in 'The Stoning of Soraya M.', a drama set in 1986 Iran about the execution of a young mother. The film, produced by Stephen McEveety, also stars Oscar nominated, Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo. When asked about how his own Christian faith was impacted by this tragic story, Caviezel says, '...you don't have to go any further than the gospels to figure out what the right thing to do is, whether you should be more concerned helping someone regardless of their religion or where they're from.'

Alongside Ian McKellen, Caviezel starred in a remake of the British science fiction TV show, "The Prisoner", which aired in November 2009.

Caviezel is co starring in the film "Blown", a London espionage thriller with Samuel L. Jackson.

Personal life

Caviezel is a devout Catholic and has been a featured public speaker at religious venues since the release of "The Passion". On March 19, 2005 he was the main speaker at the first Catholic Men's Conference in Boston. Caviezel stated that he chose to speak at the conference only because he liked Boston Archbishop, Seán Patrick O'Malley. His wife Kerri Browitt Caviezel, also a devout Roman Catholic, is a teacher and an accomplished flautist. The two are active in their Conejo Valley, California parish. Kerri supports a charity for single mothers and also volunteers with their church's Detention Ministry at a camp for incarcerated youth in Malibu, California.

In 2006, Caviezel enrolled in at least one class at University of Notre Dame. He was not enrolled as a full-time degree seeking student.

In 2007, he and his wife adopted Bo, a baby Chinese boy with a brain tumor; the Caviezels have also adopted a second child with a brain tumor, a young girl, from the Guangzhou region of China.

On July 17, 2009 Caviezel was involved in a motorcycle accident about 14 miles southeast of Leavenworth, Washington in which someone threw a bicycle in his path. Suffering cuts and bruises, Caviezel was taken to Cascade Medical Center in Leavenworth; Caviezel was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

Public politics

On October 24, 2006, Caviezel was featured (along with Patricia Heaton, Kurt Warner, and Mike Sweeney) in an advertisement opposing embryonic stem-cell research. Caviezel began the advertisement by saying 'Le-bar nash be-neshak', Aramaic for 'You betray the Son of Man with a kiss,' a reference to Judas's betraying Christ and a phrase used in the Greek version of the Gospel of Luke. The line, however, did not include a translation into English. Caviezel closed the commercial with the line, 'You know now. Don't do it,' referring to the voting in favor of the amendment.

The advertisement was a response to a commercial, featuring Michael J. Fox, in favor of embryonic stem cell research.

Caviezel donated $2,100 in 2006 to the unsuccessful campaign to re-elect US Senator Rick Santorum.