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Brendan James Fraser (born December 3, 1968) is a Canadian-American film and stage actor. He is known for having starred in several major Hollywood films, including The Mummy film series, The Quiet American, Crash and George of the Jungle. This handsome, heavy-lidded leading man first made an impression with back-to-back leads in two 1992 features; as the transformed prehistoric titular "Encino Man" and as a brooding preppie who meets with anti-Semitism at boarding school. Both roles set the tenor for much of his future work wherein he was often cast as the outsider. Born in Indiana but raised in Europe and Canada, Brendan Fraser interned at Seattle's Intiman Theatre after college. He landed a one-line part in "Dogfight" (1991) and headed to L.A. to pursue a career. After winning raves for his co-starring turn as Martin Sheen's son in the telefilm "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" (NBC, 1991), Fraser was hand-picked by Sherry Lansing for the lead in "School Ties". For various reasons, though, film audiences first saw him as Link, the thawed Cro-Magnon-turned-Valley guy, in "Encino Man". He went on to a varied but steady career that included indies (i.e., "Twenty Bucks" 1993), comedies ("Airheads" 1994 and "The Scout" 1995) and several uncredited cameo appearances (notably the Pauley Shore vehicles "Son in Law" 1993 and "In the Army Now" 1994 and "Now and Then" 1995). Fraser proved his dramatic mettle with a strong turn as a backwoodsman who goes mad from unrequited love in "The Passion of Darkly Noon" (1995). 1997, however, proved to be the actor's year. He made a sweet and very human incarnation of the cartoon character in the Disney blockbuster "George of the Jungle". Fraser also shone in an award-winning portrayal of a street performer who falls for a grifter in "Still Breathing" and played a gay man whose sister discovers her unborn child may grow up to be homosexual in the uneven "Twilight of the Golds" (shown on Showtime before receiving a theatrical release). Fraser was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of Canadian-American parents Carol, a sales counselor, and Peter Fraser, a former journalist who worked as a foreign service officer for the Canadian Government Office of Tourism. His great-grandfather was a Royal Canadian Mountie. Fraser has three older brothers: Kevin, Regan, and Sean. His family moved often during his childhood, living in Eureka, California, Seattle, Ottawa, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Fraser attended the private boys' boarding school, Upper Canada College in Toronto. While on vacation in London, Fraser attended his first professional theatrical performance in at the West End. He graduated from Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts in 1990. He began acting at a small acting college in New York. He originally planned on attending graduate school in Texas but stopped in Hollywood on his way south and decided to stay in Los Angeles and work in movies. His surname is properly pronounced "Fray-zer", though some pronounce it "Frasier" (as in Kelsey Grammer's television character). The correct pronunciation of his surname is a running gag in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star in which he has a cameo. Fraser's first film role was a brief cameo in America's Most Wanted Reenactment (1985) he played friend to Rodney Mark Peterson, who was murdered. He has since garnered over 30 film credits. He had his first lead role in Encino Man (1992). That same year he played opposite Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris O'Donnell in School Ties (1992). In 1994 he co-starred alongside Adam Sandler in the comedy Airheads. He went onto play supporting roles starring alongside Viggo Mortensen and Ashley Judd in Philip Ridley's The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995), and Jennifer Beals in The Twilight of the Golds (1997). In 1997 he got his breakthrough role with the hit comedy film George of the Jungle. He went onto appear in several comedy films such as Blast from the Past (1999), Bedazzled (2000) and Monkeybone (2001). Fraser also played a dramatic role in Gods and Monsters (1998),[8] alongside Ian McKellen. The film was based on the life of the filmmaker James Whale (McKellen), who made the 1931 film Frankenstein. This film was written and directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) and was a story about the loss of creativity, ambiguous sexuality and unlikely bonds between a not-too-bright straight gardener and a gay, tortured and ailing filmmaker. His biggest commercial success came with the action adventure horror film The Mummy (1999) and its sequel The Mummy Returns (2001), both of which were hugely successful at the box office. He has starred in two films based on Jay Ward creations, George of the Jungle and Dudley Do-Right although he did not reprise his role in the former's sequel. In 2004 he appeared in the Academy Award-winning film Crash. He has also made guest appearances on the television shows Scrubs, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons. The busy actor continued his winning streak, first landing the role of a gardener befriended by film director James Whale (Ian McKellen) in "Gods and Monsters" (1998). Much of the film's success depended on the chemistry between the two actors and critics tended to focus more on McKellen's achievement overlooking Fraser's sterling work. Often cast as fish-out-of-water characters, he excelled as a 35-year old who was raised in a bomb shelter only to emerge in the late 90s to discover the world in "Blast From the Past" (1999). Again exhibiting a sweetness and gentleness that have become his hallmark, Fraser proved a perfect foil as a modern-day Adam to Alicia Silverstone's more knowing Eve. The actor appeared in his most commerically successful role yet when he starred as Rick O'Connell, a dashing, heroic Indiana Jones-like figure who discovers an Egyptian tomb unleashing "The Mummy" (1999) in Universal's update of its enduring property by writer-director Stephen Sommers; Fraser also returned for the 2001 "The Mummy Returns" (2001). And following his "George of the Jungle" triumph, he appeared as another Jay Ward cartoon character (and in an homage to his forbearers) as the live-action embodiment of the square-jawed Royal Canadian Mountie "Dudley Do-Right" (1999), which was not as successful commercially or creatively. But the actor demonstrated his affinity for outrageous, cartoonish comedy and antics again and yet again when appeared in director Harold Ramis' remake of the 1967 British comedy "Bedazzled" (2000)--with Fraser playing a dweeb who's granted seven wishes by a hellaciously tempting Satan (Elizabeth Hurley) to snag the girl of his dreams--and in "Monkeybone" (2001) as a comatose cartoonist trapped in the wild world of his underground comic book creation and must vie with his own mischeivous alter ego, the cartoon simian Monkeybone. Fraser returned to kind of dramatic fare that had earlier revealed his acting depths in 2001, when he starred as Brick in the well-received London stage production of "Cat on Hot Tin Roof" opposite Ned Beatty and his "Bedazzled" co-star Frances O'Connor, and again on screen when he co-starred with Michael Caine in the 1950s-era drama based on the novel by Graham Greene, "The Quiet American" (2002). Working from a tale set against the fall of French Colonial Vietnam, director Phillip Noyce crafted an involving mix of espionage and complex emotion, casting Fraser as the seemingly idealistic American aid worker Alden Pyle, who becomes entangled in a love triangle between a cynical British journalist (Caine) and his young Vietnamese mistress Phuong (Hai Yen). Ably playing a character who is not exactly what he seems to be, Fraser held his own in his scenes with the always-magnetic Caine and reminded audiences of his range beyond FX-features. However, old loves die hard, and Fraser lept headfirst into another cartoon-centric role when he took on the part of security guard DJ Drake, the human leading man opposite Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and the rest of the Warner Brothers stable of characters in "Looney Tunes: Back In Action" (2003). While the film had energy aplenty and Fraser--who also provided the voice of the Tasmanian Devil--was an old pro when it came to working alongside animated co-stars, it lacked the uproarious humor and subversive edge of the old cartoons that inspired it. Returning to more serious fare, the actor next joined the A-list acting ensemble of the racially charged, multi-plot drama "Crash" (2005) for a brief turn as a high-powered Los Angeles District Attorney whose carjacking by a pair of black men looms as a political and very personal liability. In addition to acting, Fraser demonstarted a talent behind the camera as well when he put on his first gallery showing of his photographs--largely taken on the sets of many of his films--in Los Angeles in 2003. In March 2006 he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, the first American-born actor to receive the honor. However, as of 2006, he does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After a six year hiatus in the franchise, Fraser will return for the second sequel to The Mummy which is set to be released in August 2008 and is titled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Filming started in Montreal on July 27, 2007 and the movie will also star Jet Li as Emperor Han. The last Mummy film grossed over $200 million in the USA and over $400 million worldwide. Fraser also starred in the West End production at the Lyric Theatre of Tennessee Williams's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". The show opened right after 9/11 on September 18, 2001. Anthony Page directed. Fraser and other cast members were asked if they wanted to delay the opening of the show due to the 9/11 attacks, but the cast and producers decided it would be best to open as scheduled. Others in the production included Ned Beatty as "Big Daddy", Frances O'Connor, Australian star of Cashmere Mafia, as Maggie the Cat and Gemma Jones, a British actress who played the mother in Bridget Jones' Diary, played the part of Big Momma. Abigail McKern (daughter of Leo McKern, who played Big Daddy in the original London production many years prior) and Clive Carter rounded out the cast. The show closed on January 12, 2002. Fraser garnered many excellent reviews Fraser met Afton Smith while attending a barbecue at Winona Ryder's house after his arrival in Los Angeles. Fraser married Smith on September 27, 1998, and they have three sons: Griffin Arthur, Holden Fletcher, and Leland Francis. On December 27, 2007, Fraser's publicist announced the couple had decided to divorce. He is fluent in French. Fraser also serves on the Board of Directors for FilmAid International. Fraser is also an accomplished amateur photographer.He has used several Polaroids in movies and on TV shows, most notably on his guest roles on Scrubs. In his first appearance he used a folding pack camera (possibly a Model 450); and on his second appearance he used a Holga with a Polaroid back, a Japanese-only model. The book "Collector's Guide to Instant Cameras" has a dedication to Fraser. |
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