Age: 70
male
William James "Willem" Dafoe (born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, he is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor as well as nominations for four Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, four Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and five Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has frequently collaborated with filmmakers Paul Schrader, Abel Ferrara, Lars von Trier, Julian Schnabel, Wes Anderson, and Robert Eggers. Dafoe was a founding member of experimental theatre company The Wooster Group. He made his film debut with an uncredited role in Heaven's Gate (1980). Dafoe's early career includes credits for The Loveless (1982), Streets of Fire (1984), and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985). He earned his first Academy Award nomination for the war drama Platoon (1986), followed by nominations for his roles in Shadow of the Vampire (2000), The Florida Project (2017), and the Vincent van Gogh biopic At Eternity's Gate (2018). He also gained acclaim and wide recognition for his roles as Jesus Christ in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and as the supervillain Norman Osborn in the superhero film Spider-Man (2002), a role he reprised in its sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007), and the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). His other film appearance include roles in Mississippi Burning (1988), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Wild at Heart (1990), Light Sleeper (1992), Body of Evidence (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), The English Patient (1996), Affliction (1997), New Rose Hotel(1998), Existenz (1999), The Boondock Saints (1999), American Psycho (2000), Auto Focus (2002), Finding Nemo (2003), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Inside Man (2006), Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007), Antichrist (2009), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Nymphomaniac (2013), The Fault in Our Stars (2014), John Wick (2014), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Aquaman (2018), The Lighthouse (2019), Nightmare Alley (2021), Poor Things (2023), and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024).
Willem Dafoe
The Joker
for The Joker in Batman & Superman: World's Finest Trilogy
Suggested by noahpopejoy
In a trilogy of movies, we see the big lead up to Batman and Superman's first time meeting. In Batman's film, he's well into his years of fighting crime and more specifically, the Joker. During Joker's latest plan, Batman feels he needs help, so he calls in his old sidekick, Dick Grayson, and Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara Gordon, to help him fight the evil clown. In Superman's film, he finds himself battling Lex Luthor and trying to prove that he is selling weapons to terrorists. All the while learning about Batman and what he's like. These movies culminate in World's Finest when Bruce Wayne goes to Gotham City for a press tour for his latest book, "Orphaned Billionaire: How I Coped With Loss." The Joker follows closely behind him, intent on teaming up with Lex Luthor to defeat both Batman and Superman. With their alliance made, Batman and Superman, despite their strong disliking of each other, must team up to stop the mad clown and corrupt businessman. The end of the final movie in the trilogy foreshadows a future Justice League movie with Brainiac as the main villain.
