Daniel Day-Lewis

Biography

Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English actor. Often described as one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema, he is best known for intense method acting, portrayed with eccentric characters in auteurs' films. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a record three Academy Awards for Best Actor, as well as four BAFTAs, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globes. In 2014, Day-Lewis received a knighthood for services to drama. Born and raised in London, Day-Lewis excelled on stage at the National Youth Theatre before being accepted at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which he attended for three years. Despite his traditional training at the Bristol Old Vic, he is considered a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. Protective of his private life, he rarely grants interviews and makes very few public appearances. Day-Lewis shifted between theatre and film for most of the early 1980s, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company and playing Romeo Montague in Romeo and Juliet and Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Playing the title role in Hamlet at the National Theatre in London in 1989, he left the stage midway through a performance after breaking down during a scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father appears before him—this was his last appearance on the stage. After supporting film roles in Gandhi (1982) and The Bounty (1984), he earned acclaim for his breakthrough performances in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), A Room with a View (1985), and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988). He earned three Academy Awards for Best Actor for his roles as Christy Brown in My Left Foot(1989), oil tycoon Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007), and Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln (2012). He was Oscar-nominated for In the Name of the Father (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), and Phantom Thread (2017). Other notable films include The Last of the Mohicans (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993), The Crucible (1996), and The Boxer (1997). He retired from acting twice, from 1997 to 2000, when he took up a new profession as an apprentice shoe-maker in Italy, and from 2017 to 2024. In 2025, he starred in and co-wrote Anemone, directed by his son Ronan. Description above from the Wikipedia article Daniel Day-Lewis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Most Known For

BBC Play of the Month

as Gordon Whitehouse

The Oscars

as Self

Playhouse

as Alex

Anemone

as Ray Stoker

Lincoln

as Abraham Lincoln

There Will Be Blood

as Daniel Plainview

Gangs of New York

as Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting

The Last of the Mohicans

as Hawkeye

Shoestring

as DJ

Phantom Thread

as Reynolds Woodcock

Mr. Scorsese

as Self

Gandhi

as Colin

Forever Ealing

as Narrator (voice)

Nine

as Guido Contini

In the Name of the Father

as Gerry Conlon

My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown

as Christy Brown

A Room with a View

as Cecil Vyse

The Age of Innocence

as Newland Archer

The Bounty

as John Fryer

Sunday Bloody Sunday

as Child Vandal (uncredited)