Tobey Maguire

Tobey Maguire

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Birth name: Tobias Vincent Maguire
Date of birth: 27 June 1975
Place of birth: Santa Monica, California, USA
Nickname: Tobey
Height: 5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
Spouse: Jennifer Meyer (3 September 2007 – present) 1 child

Famous Quote: “Every actor has to establish a presence that not only fits the overall needs of the story but allows him to interact with other actors in a credible and meaningful way. Every actor wants to work under conditions and with material that enables them to create and use their craft.”

Contact Address and Autograph: Addresses and fan mail information

Tobey Maguire
c/o Maguire Entertainment
9220 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90069, USA 

Biography:  Tobias Vincent “Tobey” Maguire (born June 27, 1975) is an American actor. He began his career in the 1990s, and has since become best known for his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Spider-Man films. After years of playing quirky adolescents and eclectic youths, actor Tobey Maguire exploded onto the A-List and established himself as an international box office star when he landed the role of a certain web-slinging super-hero. 

As the star of director Sam Raimi’s comic book blockbuster “Spider-Man” (2002) and its subsequent sequels, Maguire cut an impressive figure in his red-and-blue costume, while perfectly personifying the gangly awkwardness of Spidey’s alter ego, Peter Parker. In addition to acting, Maguire also branched out into producing – most notably the Spike Lee thriller “25th Hour” (2002) and “Seabiscuit” (2003), for which he served as both executive producer and star.

Maguire was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Wendy (née Brown), a secretary turned screenwriter and producer, and Vincent Maguire, a construction worker and cook. His parents were 18 and 20 years old, and unmarried, at the time of his birth; the two married and subsequently divorced when Maguire was two. Maguire spent much of his childhood moving from town to town, living with each parent and other family members. During his childhood, Maguire entertained the idea of becoming a chef and to that end wanted to enroll in a Home Economics class as a sixth grader. His mother offered him US$100 to take a drama class instead, and Tobey agreed.

The nomadic nature of his school-age years began to take a toll on Maguire emotionally, and finally, after yet another relocation to yet another school, Maguire dropped out of his freshman year of high school and never returned, deciding to focus himself on his blossoming acting career. By 2000, Maguire had taken the GED to officially graduate from high school, noting that during his high school days, he’d reached a point where “I wasn’t doing school. I was showing up, but…not really giving myself.”

The product of a turbulent childhood, future actor Tobias Vincent Maguire was born on June 27, 1975 in Santa Monica, CA. The offspring of unwed parents, Maguire moved frequently as a child, living with various familial permutations of his parents, grandparents and aunts. This fractured childhood may have contributed to the young actor’s drive and unique presence, evincing at once mature clarity and childlike vulnerability in his performances. After his mother, Wendy, offered him $100 to take drama instead of home economics as a school elective, Maguire – encouraged by a neighbor who was an entertainment manager – studied acting and soon landed TV commercial work.

Maguire’s first major gig was in the short-lived sitcom,”Great Scott!” (Fox, 1992-93). In it, Maguire played Scott Melrod, an adolescent with an active fantasy life. A refreshingly original offering, “Great Scott!” was critically lauded, but failed to find an audience. Despite smart writing and Maguire’s engaging performance, the show was canceled after only six episodes. Following the demise of “Scott,” Maguire stayed busy with other television projects. His particularly impressive turn in the made-for TV drama “Spoils of War” (ABC, 1984) led to more television work, including “A Child’s Cry for Help” (NBC, 1994) and the fact-based drama, “Seduced by Madness: The Diana Borchardt Story” (NBC, 1996).

Maguire’s first appearance in a feature film was in the 1989 movie The Wizard. In that movie, he played a goon of Lucas Barton, one of three competitors at a video game competition, and had no lines. Maguire initially worked as a child actor in the early 1990s, often playing roles much younger than his chronological age; as late as 2002, Maguire was still playing teenagers while in his mid-20s. He appeared in a variety of commercials and TV and movie roles, working opposite such stars as Chuck Norris (Walker, Texas Ranger), Roseanne Barr (Roseanne), and Tracey Ullman (Tracey Takes On…). Eventually, Maguire was cast as the lead in the FOX TV series Great Scott, which was cancelled 5 weeks later.

During many of his auditions, Maguire found himself competing opposite another rising child star actor, Leonardo DiCaprio. The pair struck up a fast friendship and made an informal pact to help each other get parts in their movies/TV shows/other projects. For example, both auditioned for the same part in the 1990 TV series based on the 1989 comedyParenthood; DiCaprio got the part, and Maguire later got a guest role at least partially due to DiCaprio’s recommendation. The same scenario played itself out during casting for the 1993 movie This Boy’s Life (featuring Robert De Niro as the lead); DiCaprio got the main teen role (ironically, the character was named “Toby”) and Maguire got a part as one of Toby’s friends.

By the mid 1990s, Maguire was steadily working but becoming caught up in the hard-partying lifestyle of some of his fellow teen actors. In 1995, Maguire requested director Allan Moyle to release him from his part in the movie Empire Records. Moyle agreed, and all of Tobey’s scenes were deleted from the final film. Maguire then sought help for an underaged drinking problem from Alcoholics Anonymous; he has been sober ever since.

It would be on the big screen, however, where Maguire would truly make his mark, making his film debut in “This Boy’s Life” (1993), the adaptation of Tobias Wolff’s seminal coming-of-age memoir. Cast in the supporting role of Chuck Bolger, a childhood friend of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character of Toby, Maguire not only impressed critics – he more importantly forged a lifelong off-screen friendship with co-star DiCaprio. More impressive was Maguire’s turn in Griffin Dunne’s 1995 Oscar-nominated short, “The Duke of Groove.” In it, Maguire deftly played a self-conscious teenage boy attending a pop icon-populated party with his mother, during which the two learn truths about themselves and each other.

Unfortunately, after a promising start, Maguire hit a rough patch in the mid-1990’s – a career downturn which culminated in the loss of a leading role he had desperately wanted in the cult hit “Empire Records” (1995). After a botched audition dissuaded director Allan Moyle – one of Maguire’s greatest supporters – from hiring him, Maguire was so disappointed, he briefly considered quitting acting altogether. After some intense soul-searching, however, Maguire fortunately decided to give it another go. As it turned out, the young actor’s choice proved to be the correct one – as his career was about to turn a major corner.

Starting in 1997, his choice of projects began to reflect a more serious approach toward his career. The first of these redefining roles was Paul Hood, the conflicted, but clear-headed adolescent narrator in director Ang Lee’s “The Ice Storm” (1997) – a remarkably acted, highly unsettling drama set in 1970’s upper-middle class suburbia. “The Ice Storm” featured an all-star ensemble cast, including Joan Allen, Kevin Kline, and Sigourney Weaver. Undaunted by this assemblage of heavy-hitters, the 22-year-old Maguire nevertheless held his own, infusing the role of Paul with an affecting mixture of cynicism and unspoiled innocence.

Having proved his mettle with “The Ice Storm,” Maguire caught the attention of filmmaker Woody Allen, who cast him in a small part in his next comedy, “Deconstructing Harry” (1997). The following year, Maguire landed his first starring role in “Pleasantville” (1998), a fable about a thoughtful modern-day teen obsessed with 1950’s sitcoms. The subtly-moving film was a perfect match for Maguire, who turned in a characteristically understated, but powerful, performance alongside veterans William H. Macy, Joan Allen and Jeff Daniels. In 1999, Maguire re-teamed with Ang Lee for the director’s epic Civil War drama, “Ride with the Devil,” co-starring Skeet Ulrich and Jeffrey Wright. Cast as Confederate-sympathizer Jake Roedel, Maguire’s talent for drawing out the vulnerability in his characters added much to the film, and lent a palpable humanity to a type of figure that was often vilified in modern history.

The year 1999 would also mark the release of “The Cider House Rules,” director Lasse Hallstrom’s film adaptation of John Irving’s novel. The story of a young orphan raised by an idealistic abortionist, Maguire’s nuanced turn as the sensitive but upstanding Homer Wells was applauded by critics and served as the anchor for the film. Maguire’s on-screen chemistry with his older co-star, Michael Caine paved the way for his next project, “Wonder Boys” (2000), in which he played a college student protégé to a frustrated middle-aged writer-mentor played by Michael Douglas. Based on author Michael Chabon’s best-selling book and directed by Oscar nominated director Curtis Hanson, “Wonder Boys” earned strong reviews, but underperformed at the box office. Despite the disappointing failure of “Wonder Boys,” Maguire’s career was heating up. With a full slate of work in production and an apparently levelheaded attitude towards stardom, the talented Maguire emerged as an actor to watch.

As part of his recovery from alcohol and learning to deal with his self-described “addictive and obsessive compulsive nature”, Maguire changed his career path slightly in order to obtain roles where he and DiCaprio would not always be in competition for the same part, and the move paid off when he got the role of Paul Hood, a teenage boarding school student whose narration anchors the action in Ang Lee’s 1997 film, The Ice Storm. This soon led to a variety of lead roles where he played a thoughtful boy coming of age, in films such as Pleasantville, The Cider House Rules, and Wonder Boys.

In Ride with the Devil (1999), Maguire gave a virtuoso performance as Jakob Roedel, opposite Jewel Kilcher. Here he played the son of a unionist German immigrant who joins his southern friends in the Missouri riders, avenging the atrocities committed against Missourians by Kansas Jayhawkers and redleggers. Though it gained little notice at the time, this film represents the best treatment ever of this part of American history. Between the completion of principal photography for Spider-Man and the film’s 2002 release, Maguire took a role that featured his youthful-sounding voice, a beagle puppy named Lou, in the 2001 children’s movie Cats and Dogs.

In 2002, Maguire shot to superstardom as the web-slinging superhero Spider-Man in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, based on the popular Marvel comic book series. He reprised the part in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).

Maguire’s performance as Spider-Man initially earned him some glowing reviews. For instance, Mark Caro of the Chicago Tribune felt that “with his big, round, soulful eyes, Maguire always has been able to convey a sense of wonder, and his instinct for understatement also serves him well here”. Towards the third part of the franchise the actor experienced some backlash in the media. “For his part Mr. Maguire needs to stop relying on those great big peepers of his: simply widening your eyes to attract attention does not cut it when you’re over 30″, remarked Manohla Dargis of the New York Times in her review of Spider-Man-3.

Though Maguire has not yet signed on for another sequel, the actor has denied reports that he will not return, stating, “I feel like the stories all deserve to be told, and, you know, if… the whole team wants to get back together, and we feel like we can make a good movie that’s worth making, then I’m up for it.”

It was not until Maguire landed the highly coveted lead role in the Sam Raimi-directed “Spider-Man” (2002), however, that his career ascended to the next level. Based on the popular Marvel Comics character created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, “Spider-Man” was a phenomenal success and resurrected the then-flagging live action super-hero genre. Maguire’s winning performance as both the nerdy Peter Parker and his confident alter ego, Spider-Man, helped catapult the heretofore respected, but media shy actor onto the Hollywood A-list. Soon, his every activity – from his Hollywood party-crawling with pal DiCaprio to his rumored romance with leading lady Kirstin Dunst –made tabloid headlines.

After his career-making success with “Spider-Man,” Maguire re-teamed with his “Pleasantville” writer-director Gary Ross for the adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling nonfiction tome, “Seabiscuit” (2003). The story of a long shot racehorse and his feisty jockey, “Seabiscuit” was both a critical and financial success. Maguire, in particular, won raves for bringing a compelling combination of anger, frustration and sensitivity to his role as Red Pollard, the once-orphaned jockey who rode Seabiscuit to victory. After completing that film, Maguire reported that he was suffering from chronic lower back pain – reports that, combined with some behind-the-scenes maneuvering by his management team, almost lost him his most lucrative role in the sequel “Spider-Man 2″ (2004). 

Maguire solidified his stardom in 2003 with a leading role as the jockey John M. “Red” Pollard in the acclaimed film Seabiscuit, about the famous United States’ racehorse Seabiscuit. In 2006, Maguire starred in his first villainous role as Corporal Patrick Tully in Steven Soderbergh’s The Good German based on the Joseph Kanon novel of the same name opposite George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. Maguire has also moved into producing. Maguire’s production credits include 25th Hour (2002), Whatever We Do (2003), and Seabiscuit (2003), for which he served as executive producer.

In 2007, Maguire suited up once again – presumably, for the last time – as everyone’s favorite web-slinger in “Spider-Man 3” (2007). Easily the most expensive and ambitious installment to date, “Spider-Man 3” reunited Maguire with co-stars Kirsten Dunst, Rosemary Harris and James Franco for one final adventure. Along for the ride this time out, were Oscar nominee Thomas Haden Church as the villainous Sandman and Topher Grace as Spidey’s alien nemesis, Venom. 

As of November 2007, Warner Bros. has plans to fast-track a movie based on 1980′s anime series, Robotech. Maguire is producing the film through his Maguire Entertainment banner and is eyeing the lead role of Rick Hunter in what the studio plans on being a tentpole sci-fi franchise. “We are very excited to bring ‘Robotech’ to the big screen”, Maguire said. “There is a rich mythology that will be a great foundation for a sophisticated, smart and entertaining film…”. The decision was said to have been made due to the enormous success of the Transformers film adaptation, which grossed $690 million dollars during the summer of 2007.

Maguire is attached to produce Afterburn, a science fiction movie based on the Red 4 comic book by Paul Ens and Scott Chitwood. Neal Moritz’s Original Films is also producing & Relativity is in talks to board the post-apocalyptic project, whose story is set one year after a solar flare burns half of Earth, leaving what life remains mutated from radiation & nuclear fallout. Treasure hunters then go back to the scorched portion of the planet to retrieve valuable artifacts while facing rival hunters, mutants & pirates along the way.

Maguire’s company is also co-producing an adaptation of a mystery novel by Isaac Adamson called Tokyo Suckerpunch with Sony Pictures. The film, scheduled to be released in 2008, will star Tobey in the role of american reporter Billy Chaka, who investigates the murder of a Japanese friend in Tokyo.

Maguire married his long-time relationship partner, jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer, on September 3, 2007, in Kona, Hawaii. The couple first met in 2003 while Maguire was shooting the movie Seabiscuit at Universal Studios and became engaged in April 2006. They have a daughter named Ruby Sweetheart Maguire (born November 10, 2006). Ruby’s middle name comes from a childhood nickname of Meyer’s given to her by her grandmother, who died a few months before Ruby’s birth.

Maguire has been a vegetarian for over 14 years and is working toward a vegan diet, though he makes vegetarian changes in his diet to either gain or lose weight for movie roles, like dramatically decreasing his calorie intake for Seabiscuit followed by a rapid increase to regain the weight for Spider-Man 2. On the subject of vegetarianism, Maguire notes that “I’m close to being a vegan, but I’m not one, technically. I don’t eat eggs, or nearly any dairy–no cheese or milk. I do eat honey, and a piece of milk chocolate here and there. It’s never really been that hard for me. I’ve never had any desire to eat meat. In fact, when I was a kid I would have a really difficult time eating meat at all. It had to be the perfect bite, with no fat or gristle or bone or anything like that. I don’t judge people who eat meat–that’s not for me to say–but the whole thing just sort of bums me out.”

In an article for Premiere Magazine, Sam Raimi confirmed the long-standing rumor that Maguire and his Spider-Man co-star Kirsten Dunst had “a thing” going on during the 2001 shooting of the first film. As Raimi explained for the article, “I’m so dumb, because I met with them for dinner one night during the shooting to talk about the next day’s scenes. And I go, ‘Okay, well, that’s it for the meeting.’ And then I ask Kirsten, ‘Can I drive you home?’ And they look at each other and she goes, ‘No, no, I’m going to play a game of Touch 10 with Tobey.’ I don’t know, it was some game. I thought, ‘That’s weird. She’s got to work tomorrow.’”

In 2004, Maguire took up tournament poker. He has finished in the money in several events and has been tutored by poker professional Daniel Negreanu. Maguire can be seen on ESPN’s coverage of the 2005 and 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event Championship. Moreover, professional poker player Phil Hellmuth said during the June 28, 2007 episode of Poker After Dark that Tobey has won $10 million by playing poker in Hollywood. Maguire played in the 2007 World Series of Poker. He survived days 1a, 2a and 3 but was eliminated in 292nd place on the fourth day, taking $39,445 in prize money. He actually ended up sitting next to another celebrity, Sully Erna, the singer of Godsmack.

Maguire loves playing basketball; he often plays pick-up games with friends (as described by author James Crotty of the alternative online travel site Monk.Com) and organizes a weekly game on Saturdays when he’s both in Los Angeles and not filming a movie that day. He also enjoys watching basketball games, especially the Los Angeles Lakers, and can often be seen with wife Jennifer Meyer at courtside for Laker home games. As a baby gift, comedienne Ellen DeGeneres gave Maguire a special basketball motif stroller with Lexan dome to protect Ruby from errant basketballs so that the new family could enjoy the Lakers together.

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