
Willem Dafoe
Biography
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).
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Known For
Acting History
2026
Werwulf
2025Pet Shop Days as Francis
2025The Man in My Basement as Anniston Bennett
2025The Souffleur as Lucius
2025Late Fame as Ed Saxberger
2025The Birthday Party as Marcos Timoleon
2025Avrio Vrady as Dancing man
2025The Phoenician Scheme as Knave
2025Grande Envie as Count
2025The Legend of Ochi as Maxim
2025Zero as (voice)
2024Nosferatu: An Inside Look as Self
2024Nosferatu as Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz
2024Jesus Goes to Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
2024run 002
2024Saturday Night as David Tebet
2024Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as Jackson
2024Kinds of Kindness as Raymond / George / Omi
2024Can Creativity Save the World? as Self
2024Finally Dawn as Rufo Priori
2023Poor Things as Godwin Baxter
2023Interior (The Spectator) as Narrator
2023Willem Dafoe
2023Gonzo Girl as Walker Reade
2023Asteroid City as Saltzburg Keitel
2023The Wild One as Narrator (voice)
2023Inside as Nemo
2022Franco Battiato - La voce del padrone
2022Creation of the Kingdom of Exodus as Self / Grand Duc
2022Dead for a Dollar as Joe Cribbens
2022Stasera c’è Cattelan su Raidue as Self
2022Mostra, Venise as Self
20227 Deaths of Maria Callas as Film Actor
2022Il coraggio di essere Franco as Sé stesso
2022Spider-Man: All Roads Lead to No Way Home as Self
2022The Northman as Heimir the Fool
2022Finding Satoshi as Narrator
2022Robert Wilson: The Beauty of the Mysterious as Self
2021Spider-Man: No Way Home as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin
2021Nightmare Alley as Clem Hoatley
2021The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun as Albert 'the Abacus'
2021Why Are We (Not) Creative? as Self
2021The Card Counter as Gordo
2021River as Narrator
2021Maresco / Pasolini as Self
2021Zack Snyder's Justice League as Vulko
2020Wim Wenders - Von Filmen und Träumen as Self
2020Babenco: Tell Me When I Die as Self
2020Sportin' Life as Self
2020Wim Wenders, Desperado as Self
2020Siberia as Clint
2020Roy's World: Barry Gifford's Chicago
2020The Last Thing He Wanted as Richard McMahon
2020The Lighthouse: A Dark & Stormy Tale as Self
2020Tommaso as Tommaso
2019Togo as Leonhard Seppala
2019Vincent van Gogh Superstar as Vincent van Gogh (archive footage)
2019Motherless Brooklyn as Paul Randolph
2019The Lighthouse as Thomas Wake
2019Love, Antosha as Self
2019Manou the Swift as Manou's Father (voice)
2018Opus Zero as Paul
2018Aquaman as Nuidis Vulko
2018At Eternity's Gate as Vincent van Gogh
2018Brothers in Arms as Self
2018Friedkin Uncut as Self
2018Vox Lux as Narrator (voice)
2018Theatron. Romeo Castellucci
2018Under the Rainbow: Making The Florida Project as Self
2017Mountain as Narrator (voice)
2017Murder on the Orient Express as Gerhard Hardman
2017NHK WORLD PRIME as Self - Narrator (voice)
2017The Florida Project as Bobby
2017Piazza Vittorio as Himself
2017Death Note as Ryuk (voice)
2017What Happened to Monday as Terrence Settman
2017Ballad of a Righteous Merchant as Self
2017Julian Schnabel: A Private Portrait as Self
2017Sanctuary as Narrator
2016The Great Wall as Ballard
2016Dog Eat Dog as Mad Dog
2016Father as James Verdun
2016A Family Man as Ed Blackridge
2016Sculpt
2016Finding Dory as Gill (voice)
2016Nelson Algren Live as Role1 / Frankie Machine / Role2 / Blackie Cavanaugh
2016My Hindu Friend as Diego Fairman
2016Mind the Gap as Self
2015Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter as Self
2015Fukushima: A Nuclear Story as Narrator
2015The Making of A Most Wanted Man as Self
2015John Wick: Calling in the Cavalry as Self
2015Don't F*#% With John Wick as Self
2014Variety Studio: Actors on Actors as Self
2014John Wick as Marcus
2014Bad Country as Bud Carter
2014Pasolini as Pier Paolo Pasolini
2014SPYMASTER: John le Carré in Hamburg as (archive footage)
2014A Most Wanted Man as Tommy Brue
2014The Fault in Our Stars as Peter van Houten
2014The Grand Budapest Hotel as Jopling
2014Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self
2014The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as Self
2014Off Camera with Sam Jones as Self
2013The Benaki Museum as Narrator (voice)
2013Nymphomaniac: Vol. II as L
2013Out of the Furnace as John Petty
2013Love's Routine as Barry
2013The Smile Man as Willem
2013Saving Norman as Lionel Pembrooke
2013Odd Thomas as Wyatt Porter
2012Tomorrow You're Gone as The Buddha
2012Bob Wilson's Life & Death of Marina Abramovic as Self
20124:44 Last Day on Earth as Cisco
2012John Carter as Tars Tarkas
2011The Hunter as Martin David
2010Conan as Self
2010Miral as Eddie
2010A Woman as Max Oliver
2010My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done as Detective Hank Havenhurst
2010The Making of Daybreakers as Self
2010Into the Deep: America, Whaling & The World as Narrator
2010Daybreakers as Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac
2009The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day as Paul Smecker
2009Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant as Gavner Purl
2009Fantastic Mr. Fox as Rat (voice)
2009Farewell as Feeney
2009Antichrist as He
2008The Dust of Time as A
2008Adam Resurrected as Commandat Klein
2008Fireflies in the Garden as Charles Waechter
2007Wintergasten
2007To Each His Own Cinema as (segment "Occupations") (archive footage)
2007Cannes: All Access as Self
2007Voom Portraits as Self
2007Anamorph as Stan Aubray
2007The Procedure as Christopher
2007Go Go Tales as Ray Ruby
2007Spider-Man 3 as Green Goblin / Norman Osborn
2007Mr. Bean's Holiday as Carson Clay
2007The Graham Norton Show as Self
2007The Walker as Larry Lockner
2006Paris Je T'aime as Le cow-boy (Place des Victoires)
2006Inside Man as John Darius
2006American Dreamz as Chief of Staff
2005Ripley Under Ground as Neil Murchison
2005The Colbert Report
2005Before It Had a Name as Leslie
2005Manderlay as Grace's Father
2005This Is an Adventure as Self
2005Matthew Gray Gubler's Life Aquatic Intern Journal as Self
2005Jiminy Glick in Lalawood as Willem Dafoe (uncredited)
2005xXx: State of the Union as Gen. George Octavius Deckert
2005On the Set: 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou' as Self / Klaus D.
2004The Aviator as Roland Sweet
2004The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou as Klaus Daimler
2004Control as Dr. Michael Copeland
2004Love, Death, Elvis & Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart
2004The Misbehavers as Self
2004Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate as Narrator (voice)
2004Kulturplatz as Self
2004The Clearing as Arnold Mack
2004Spider-Man 2 as Green Goblin / Norman Osborn
2004Behind the Scenes of 'Spider-Man' as Self
2004The Reckoning as Martin
2003Counterfeit World: Making 'To Live and Die in L.A.' as Self
2003Abel Ferrara: Not Guilty
2003Once Upon a Time in Mexico as Armando Barillo
2003Overnight as Self
2003Finding Nemo as Gill (voice)
2003Rockets Redglare! as Self
2002Globehunters: An Around the World in 80 Days Adventure as Hunter (voice)
2002Auto Focus as John Carpenter
2002The Spider-Man Story as Self
2002Spider-Man as Green Goblin / Norman Osborn
2002Spider-Mania as Self
2002Behind the Ultimate Spin: The Making of 'Spider-Man' as Self
2001Edges of the Lord as Priest
2001Pavilion of Women as Father Andre
2001A Tour of the Inferno: Revisiting 'Platoon' as Self
2000Animal Factory as Earl Copen
2000Bullfighter as Father Ramirez
2000Shadow of the Vampire as Max Schreck
2000American Psycho as Donald Kimball
1999eXistenZ as Gas
1999New Rose Hotel as X
1999The Boondock Saints as Paul Smecker
1999The Directors as Self
1999Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle as Narrator
1998Lulu on the Bridge as Dr. Van Horn
1998Affliction as Rolfe Whitehouse
1997The Wonderful World of Disney
1997Speed 2: Cruise Control as Geiger
1997Wrong Guys as Jack Straw
1996Victory as Axel Heyst
1996The English Patient as David Caravaggio
1996Basquiat as The Electrician
1996The Daily Show as Self
1995The Night and the Moment as Lo scrittore
1994The Kingdom as Grand Duc
1994Inside the Actors Studio as Self
1994Clear and Present Danger as John Clark
1994Tom & Viv as Tom Eliot
1993Faraway, So Close! as Emit Flesti
1993Brace Up! as Colonel Alexander Ignatyevich Vershinin
1993White Homeland Commando as Karl
1993Body of Evidence as Frank Dulaney
1993Rhyme 'Em to Death
1992Light Sleeper as John LeTour
1992White Sands as Deputy Sheriff Ray Dolezal
1992North on Evers
1991Fishing with John as Self
1991Flight of the Intruder as Lt. Cmdr. Virgil 'Tiger' Cole
1990Wild at Heart as Bobby Peru
1990Cry-Baby as Hateful Guard
1989Born on the Fourth of July as Charlie
1989The Simpsons as The Commandant / Jack Lassen (voice)
1989The Simpsons as Commandant (voice)
1989Triumph of the Spirit as Salamo Arouch
1988Mississippi Burning as Agent Alan Ward
1988Location Production Footage: The Last Temptation of the Christ as Self
1988The Last Temptation of Christ as Jesus
1988Off Limits as Buck McGriff
1987Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam as Elephant Grass (voice)
1986Platoon as Sergeant Elias Grodin
1985To Live and Die in L.A. as Rick Masters
1985O Panama
1984Roadhouse 66 as Johnny Harte
1984Streets of Fire as Raven Shaddock
1984New York Nights as Boyfriend
1984The Loveless as Vance
1984Atalanta Strategy as Immigration Staff
1983The Hitchhiker as Jeffrey Hunt
1983The Hunger as 2nd Phone Booth Youth
1980Heaven's Gate as Willy (uncredited)
1975Saturday Night Live as Self - Host
1975Saturday Night Live as Self - Cameo (uncredited)
1962The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as Self
1953The Oscars as Self
1953The Oscars as Self - Presenter
—A Christmas Carol as Ebenezer Scrooge
—Tropico as Raymond
—Tenzing as Colonel John Hunt
—The Sleeping Shepherd
—American Nails
—Cuddle as Dante








