John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an Emmy Award-winning, two-time Academy Award-nominated American actor, producer and director.

He’s 55!

Malkovich was born in Christopher, Illinois, and is of Croatian, German, and Scottish ancestry.

John Malkovich

He grew up in Benton, Illinois, in a large house on South Main Street. His father, Daniel Malkovich, was a state conservation director and publisher of Outdoor Illinois, a conservation magazine. His mother, Joanne, owned the “Benton Evening News” (a local newspaper in Benton), as well as Outdoor Illinois. He was an athlete in high school. He transferred to Illinois State University from Eastern Illinois University, where he only spent one semester with an interest in ecology, but he soon changed his major to Theatre.

In 1976, Malkovich became a charter member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to New York City, New York in 1983 and appeared in the play True West. He appeared on Broadway with Dustin Hoffman in Death of a Salesman (1984). Malkovich won an Emmy Award for this role when the play became a television movie.

One of his first forays into film was as an extra alongside Terry Kinney, George Wendt, Joan Allen, and Laurie Metcalf in Robert Altman’s A Wedding (1978). He made his film debut in Places in the Heart (1984) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In 1994, he was nominated for another Oscar in the same category for In the Line of Fire (1993).

Though he played the title role in the Charlie Kaufman-penned Being John Malkovich, he is playing a slight variation of himself, as indicated by the character’s middle name of “Horatio”. Malkovich has a cameo in the movie Adaptation.—also written by Kaufman—appearing as himself during the filming of Being John Malkovich. The Dancer Upstairs, Malkovich’s directorial debut, was released in 2002.

Love this man!

Personal Life:

Malkovich was married to actress Glenne Headly, from 1982 to 1988. They divorced and Malkovich briefly dated Michelle Pfeiffer, his co-star in Dangerous Liaisons. He later met his long-term partner Nicoletta Peyran on the set of The Sheltering Sky in 1989. They have two children; Amandine (born 1990) and Lowey (born 1992).

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