John Malkovich

Info

Full Name: John Gavin Malkovich
Date of birth: December 9, 1953 (72 years old)
Location: Christopher, Illinois
Country: USA
Height: 1,83m

John Malkovich has been active for 42 years, participating in 63 movies that average a 6.2/10 score.

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Tráiler en VOSE de 'Harry Potter' T1

Biography

He is the only actor with a film named after him and a premise so absurd that only he could have led it: climbing inside his own head. That velvety voice, that gaze somewhere between languid and wicked, and that knack for always seeming the smartest person in the room have made John Malkovich one of the most singular performers in contemporary cinema. Born in Christopher, Illinois, on 9 December 1953, of Croatian descent, he is far more than an actor: he is a cultural icon in his own right.

From an Illinois barn to Steppenwolf

Before the fame he was a Midwestern kid who studied theatre at Illinois State University. There, in 1976, he co-founded with Gary Sinise the legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, a troupe born in a basement that would revolutionise American theatre and produce dozens of great actors.

The stage gave him his first triumphs: he won an Obie Award in 1980 for 'True West' and made his Broadway debut in the 'Death of a Salesman' revival he also took to television, a role that won him an Emmy. Theatre never quite let him go; across the decades he has returned to the boards again and again, both acting and directing, even staging opera in Europe. That demanding, committed stage training explains the assurance with which he would later move through any register.

Valmont, two Oscars and the leap to the screen

His film debut could hardly have been more promising: the tender blind man of 'Places in the Heart' (1984) earned him his first Academy Award nomination. Steven Spielberg recruited him at once for 'Empire of the Sun' (1987), but it was his libertine Vicomte de Valmont in 'Dangerous Liaisons' (1988), seducing and betraying Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer, that anointed him a master of ambiguity.

Villainy suited him perfectly. He made Clint Eastwood sweat as the presidential assassin of 'In the Line of Fire' (1993), which brought his second Oscar nomination, and became the terror of 'Con Air' (1997) alongside Nicolas Cage. On television, meanwhile, he played an imposing Orson Welles in the TV film 'RKO 281' (1999), about the turbulent making of 'Citizen Kane'. He still found time to play an Andes crash survivor in 'Alive' (1993), the villain of 'The Man in the Iron Mask' (1998), the mentor of 'Rounders' (1998), the detective of 'Mulholland Falls' (1996) and the aristocrat of 'The Portrait of a Lady' (1996).

'Being John Malkovich', the impossible role

In 1999 came the film that made him a postmodern legend: 'Being John Malkovich', the delirium of Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman about a tunnel that lets you literally climb inside his head. By agreeing to mock himself as a fictional, egomaniacal version, he made one of the bravest, most chameleonic gestures in recent film history.

He worked with Kaufman again on 'Adaptation' (2002) and played an unnerving Murnau, the director who may have filmed with a real vampire, in 'Shadow of the Vampire' (2000), one of his most acclaimed turns. His standing as an auteur's actor has never stopped growing: he was the thief of 'Burn After Reading' (2009), the Coen brothers' comedy, and the tormented professor of 'Disgrace' (2008), adapted from Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee. He also embodied the painter Gustav Klimt in 'Klimt' (2006) and lent his unmistakable voice to the villain of 'Eragon' (2006) and the wicked Humma Kavula of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (2005).

A luxury character actor for every genre

Few actors have moved so naturally between arthouse and pure entertainment. He was the sardonic spy of 'Johnny English' (2003), the unstoppable retiree of the 'RED' (2010) saga and its sequel with Bruce Willis, the arch-enemy of 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' (2011), the cowboy of 'Jonah Hex' (2010) and even voiced the villain of 'The Penguins of Madagascar' (2014). No register was beyond him.

His endless filmography also holds the drama of 'Changeling' (2008), by Clint Eastwood, the romantic zombie of 'Warm Bodies' (2013), the art critic of 'Velvet Buzzsaw' (2019), the thriller 'Bird Box' (2018), the Ted Bundy biopic 'Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile' (2019) and the oil disaster of 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016). He did not even turn up his nose at the daftness of 'Zoolander 2' (2016).

In 2002 he made his directorial debut with the political thriller 'The Dancer Upstairs', confirming that his curiosity knew no bounds. He has also designed clothes, produced films and lent his face to countless campaigns, always with that air of a European dandy that sets him apart.

Ripley, the lost Marvel role and a whirlwind at seventy

Far from slowing down, his latest years brim with startling energy. On television he was the behind-the-scenes pope of 'The New Pope' (2020), by Paolo Sorrentino, appeared in 'Billions' and delivered a delicious cameo as the fixer Reeves Minot in 'Ripley' (2024), the acclaimed Netflix series with Andrew Scott.

On film he led A24's horror 'Opus' (2025), playing a pop star resurfacing after decades in hiding, opposite Ayo Edebiri. He also had a role in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' as the villain Red Ghost, but his scenes ended up on the cutting room floor, a wry twist of fate for the man famed for being invisible, whose scenes the director admitted it had been heartbreaking to leave out. He also took on the challenge of embodying Seneca in the experimental 'Seneca' (2023), and ahead lie 'In the Hand of Dante' (2025) and 'Wild Horse Nine' (2026). At this rate his filmography is closing in on two hundred titles.

An American in France

His private life has been as discreet as his career has been intense. He was married to the actress Glenne Headly, a Steppenwolf colleague, between 1982 and 1988, and since 1989 he has shared his life with the Italian director Nicoletta Peyran, whom he met on the set of The Sheltering Sky. The couple have two children, Amandine and Loewy, and for years lived in France, where Malkovich became a Francophile American who speaks the language fluently, before settling in Massachusetts as well. Away from the spotlight, he tends his garden and his wine with the same meticulous passion he brings to his characters.

A confessed lover of fashion, he even launched his own clothing label, and his fascination with art and music has drawn him to projects as unusual as touring theatre shows about serial killers backed by a live orchestra. Past seventy, he keeps filming tirelessly, taking on parts large and tiny with the same elegance, as if each were a fresh game. Perhaps that is his secret: for John Malkovich, acting has never stopped being the most fun in the world. And who could ever climb inside a head like that?