Cary Elwes
Cary Elwes | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ivan Simon Cary Elwes |
| Other names | Cary Elwes |
| Spouse | Lisa Marie Kurbikoff (2000 - present) 1 child |
Ivan Simon Cary Elwes (born October 26, 1962) is an English actor credited as Cary Elwes, known for his performances in Another Country, The Princess Bride, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Glory, and Saw.
Biography
Early life
Elwes was born in London. His advertising agent father Dominic Elwes and grandfather Simon Elwes were very well-known British portrait painters.[1] His father had moved in the circles of high society (and been friends with Lord Lucan and Lady Annabel Goldsmith to whom he was also related) before he committed suicide in 1975. His mother, interior designer and shipping heiress Tessa Kennedy, eloped with his father in 1958 at age 19 to great scandal. She is of Croatian and Anglo-Irish extraction. She has been married to Jewish-American Hollywood executive, Elliott Kastner, for many years, and they have a daughter, Milica Kastner.
Elwes descends from a devoutly Roman Catholic recusant family on his father's side (originally known as the "Cary-Elwes" family, but now many branches of the family are now simply known as "Elwes") which includes noted British monks and bishops, such as Abbott Columba Cary-Elwes, Archbishop Dudley Cary-Elwes and Father Luke Cary-Elwes. He himself was an altar boy at the Brompton Oratory. He is also said to be distantly related to Guilford Dudley, whom he played in the movie Lady Jane.
Elwes attended West Acre House at Harrow School in England, and Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, where he studied, among other acting-related subjects, German Expressionist Film.
Career
Elwes made an impressive acting debut in Mariek Kanievska's famous film Another Country (where he played James Harcourt, a young and sentimental gay boy from an Eton-esque traditional English boarding School), with Rupert Everett and Colin Firth. His first notable role was Guilford Dudley in the highly acclaimed British epic Lady Jane after being personally chosen by distinguished Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Trevor Nunn. After Elwes' success with this film, he turned down Trevor Nunn's offer to join the Royal Shakespeare Company in order to continue work in movies. His performance in Lady Jane led Director Rob Reiner to cast him in another leading role, this time as the stable boy turned hero Westley in the American comedy The Princess Bride, which required Elwes to do all of his own swordfighting and acrobatics. Elwes' breakthrough performance in The Princess Bride gained international acclaim and was his first major attempt at comedy. Prior to this film, he had no comedic experience, having only studied and worked in drama.
Elwes continued working steadily, varying between dramatic roles, as in the Academy Award-winning Glory, and comedic roles, as in Hot Shots!. He starred as the famous Robin Hood in Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights, parodying Errol Flynn and Kevin Costner in The Adventures of Robin Hood and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, respectively. ("Unlike other Robin Hoods," he quips in the film, taking aim directly at Costner and Flynn, "I can speak with an English accent!"). Elwes continued to appear in such popular movies as Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Crush, The Jungle Book, Twister, Liar Liar, Cradle Will Rock, The Cat's Meow and Kiss the Girls. He did not appear in another blockbuster until 2004 in the horror/thriller Saw. The same year he appeared in the Princess Bride-esque film Ella Enchanted, portraying the villain rather than the hero.
Elwes has also appeared on television. In 1998, he played Astronaut Michael Collins in the Golden Globe Award-winning HBO miniseries From the Earth To the Moon. In 1999, he guest starred as Dr. John York in the Ripper episode of the television series The Outer Limits. He earned two Golden Satellite Award nominations for his performances in the television films The Pentagon Wars and Uprising. He had a recurring role in the final season (2001-2002) of The X-Files as FBI Assistant Director Brad Follmer. Chris Carter, creator of the X-Files, wrote the character especially for him. In 2004, he received great praise with his portrayal of serial killer Ted Bundy in the A&E Network film The Riverman, which was based on the book The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer written by Robert D. Keppel. The Riverman became one of the highest rated original movies in the network’s history and garnered a prestigious BANFF Rockie Award nomination. In 2005 he again received critical acclaim, internationally, with his portrayal of the young, pre-Pope John Paul II in the CBS made-for-TV movie epic Pope John Paul II. This epic was highly successful not only in North America, but also in Europe, where it broke box office records in the late pope's native Poland and became the first film ever to break $1 million (GBP588,200) in three days.[2]
His voice-over works include the narrator in James Patterson's audio book The Jester[3] as well as characters in film and television animations such as Quest for Camelot, Hercules, Batman Beyond, and the English versions of the Japanese films Porco Rosso, Whisper of the Heart, and The Cat Returns. For the 2004 video game The Bard's Tale, he served as scriptwriter, improviser, and voice actor of the main character The Bard.
He has also performed in the Bob Balaban-directed off-Broadway dramatic stage play The Exonerated in New York during the March 18-23, 2003 week run.
In August 2005, he filed a lawsuit against his management firm and the producers of Saw. He alleged that he was promised "a minimum of one percent of the producers' net profits" and did not receive the full amount as promised.[4]
Elwes has volunteered as an actor with the Young Storytellers Program.
He made an uncredited appearance as Lester Persky — the man who introduced Andy Warhol to Edie Sedgwick — in the 2006 film Factory Girl. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Personal life
Elwes and Lisa Marie Kurbikoff met in 1991 at a Malibu chili cook-off. He became engaged to Kurbikoff in 1997 in Paris and they wed in 2000. Elwes has two brothers, Cassian and Damian, and a half-sister Milica, who are all involved in the entertainment industry.
Kurbikoff gave birth to the couple's daughter, Dominique, born on April 24, 2007 at 10:41 p.m. at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She weighed 7 lbs., 2 oz.[5]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Yesterday's Hero | Disco Dancer | |
| 1983 | The Day After | First Air Force Officer | Uncredited; TV |
| 1984 | Oxford Blues | Lionel | |
| Another Country | James Harcourt | ||
| 1985 | The Bride | Captain Josef Schoden | |
| 1986 | Lady Jane | Guilford Dudley | |
| 1987 | Maschenka | Ganin | |
| The Princess Bride | Westley | ||
| 1988 | Never on Tuesday | Tow Truck Driver | Uncredited |
| 1989 | Glory | Major Cabot Forbes | |
| 1990 | Days of Thunder | Russ Wheeler | |
| 1991 | Hot Shots! | Lieutenant Kent Gregory | |
| 1992 | Bram Stoker's Dracula | Lord Arthur Holmwood | |
| Porco Rosso | Curtis | Voice (English dub) | |
| Leather Jackets | Dobbs | ||
| 1993 | Robin Hood: Men in Tights | Robin Hood | |
| The Crush | Nick Eliot | ||
| 1994 | The Jungle Book | Captain William Boone | |
| The Chase | Steve Horsegroovy | ||
| 1995 | Whisper of the Heart | The Baron | Voice (English dub) |
| 1996 | Twister | Dr. Jonas Miller | |
| 1997 | Kiss the Girls | Detective Nick Ruskin/Casanova | |
| The Informant | Lieutenant David Ferris | ||
| Liar Liar | Jerry | ||
| 1998 | Quest for Camelot | Garrett | Voice |
| The Pentagon Wars | Lieutenant Colonel James Burton | ||
| 1999 | Cradle Will Rock | John Houseman | |
| 2000 | Shadow of the Vampire | Fritz Arno "Firtzy" Wagner | |
| Race Against Time | Burke | TV | |
| 2001 | Uprising | Dr. Fritz Hippler | |
| The Cat's Meow | Thomas H. Ince | ||
| 2002 | The Cat Returns | The Baron | Voice (English dub) |
| Wish You Were Dead | Mac "Macbeth" Wilson | ||
| Comic Book Villains | Carter | ||
| 2004 | The Riverman | Ted Bundy | TV |
| Saw | Dr. Lawrence Gordon | ||
| Ella Enchanted | Sir Edgar | ||
| American Crime | Albert Bodine | ||
| The Bard's Tale | The Bard | Video Game Voice | |
| 2005 | Pope John Paul II | Young Karol Wojtyla | TV |
| Edison | Reigert | aka Edison Force | |
| Neo Ned | Dr. Magnuson | ||
| 2006 | |||
| Sakura: Blue-Eyed Samurai | In post-production | ||
| Haskett's Chance | TV | ||
| Pucked | Norman | aka National Lampoon's Pucked aka National Lampoon's The Trouble with Frank | |
| Walk the Talk | Erik | ||
| 2007 | Georgia Rule | Arnold | Released |
| The Alphabet Killer | Kenneth Shine | In post-production |
References
- ^ Cary Elwes Biography (1962-)
- ^ "Pope Picture Breaks Box Office Records". contactmusic.com. 3 September2006.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "The Jester". ISBN 1-58621-535-3. Hachette Audio, Abridged edition. 1 March2003.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Saw lawsuit". theage.com.au. 20 August2005.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ http://people.aol.com/people/article/0,26334,1549247,00.html
External links
- Cary Elwes at IMDb
- Template:Voice actor
- Elwes's wife: Lisa Marie Kurbikoff at IMDb
- His ancestry [1]