James Caviezel

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Portrait of Jim Caviezel
Jim Caviezel (2013)

James "Jim" Patrick Caviezel Jr. (born September 26, 1968 in Mount Vernon , Washington ) is an American actor , who is best known for his role as John Reese in the television series Person of Interest and for his portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth known in the Passion of Christ .

Life

Caviezel's grandfather comes from Pruastg near Lumbrein in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland . Caviezel grew up in his native Mount Vernon, Washington state. His parents Jim and Maggie Caviezel - both strictly Roman Catholics - attended Holy Mass every Sunday with their five children. James "Jim" Caviezel Sr. is a chiropractor with his own practice in Mount Vernon. James Caviezel has four siblings.

Caviezel was enthusiastic about religion early on, but also about sport, especially basketball. In 1984 Caviezel attended Mount Vernon High School , moved to O'Dea High School after two years, and soon moved in with family friends. That same spring he went to Burien Kennedy High School in Seattle to play for the school basketball team there, and was named Mr. Prettiest Eyes there .

In 1987 , the left-hander Caviezel enrolled at Bellevue Community College , later became a member of the Sigma Chi student fraternity and was also accepted into the college's basketball team there. A foot injury ended his basketball career in the sophomore year and the dream of one day playing in the American professional basketball league . Since then, Caviezel shifted his interests to acting and later moved to the University of Washington . He also became a huge fan of the Minnesota Vikings , a club that belongs to the American Football Professional League (NFL) . In 1990, the year after his mini-role in My Private Idaho , he moved to Los Angeles to a professor's house at the University of Southern California and waited at a beach restaurant between college lectures .

Caviezel is considered very religious. He repeatedly supported candidates of the Republican Party in election campaigns , such as Rick Santorum, who is known for his Christian fundamentalist views . In 2006, Caviezel caused a sensation when he spoke out against stem cell research in an election campaign spot and made a cryptic Aramaic utterance that was translated as "You are deceiving the Son of Man with a kiss". This has been widely interpreted to mean that Caviezel accuses the proponents of stem cell research for deceiving God's creation with their research under the pretense of philanthropic attitudes.

Film career

In 1990 Caviezel got his first role as the Italian ticket seller in the independent film My Private Idaho , when he told the casting that he was an Italian just immigrated. Also in the early 1990s, Caviezel took part in a casting for the television series Melrose Place because he thought it would make him better known in Hollywood. The casting director, however, found that he would not quite fit into the series, and never gave her agent instructs Caviezel back to a casting invite because it to them a little "strange" ( strange ) worked.

After minor supporting roles in The Rock and The Jane Files , he surprisingly got the lead role in Terrence Malick's war epic The Thin Line (1998), which was particularly noteworthy because numerous established Hollywood stars played supporting roles in the film. After this breakthrough, Caviezel was cast in various well-known Hollywood productions, such as Ang Lee's Ride with the Devil , Gregory Hoblits Frequency alongside Dennis Quaid and in 2001 on the recommendation of Jennifer Lopez in Angel Eyes . In 2002 he played Edmond Dantes in the film adaptation of Monte Cristo , for which he received numerous positive reviews. In 2003 he starred alongside Robin Williams in The Final Cut .

In 2004 he took on the role of Jesus of Nazareth in Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ . Caviezel, a recognized admirer of Mel Gibson, said of Mel Gibson in an interview with the San Diego Union Tribune in May 2004 : “Working with Mel is like waltzing with a tropical cyclone. He's a great person and also a gifted artist ” . The highly controversial film project and Caviezel's high level of identification with it subsequently had a negative impact on his career. The actor, who was previously in great demand, received significantly fewer role offers. Caviezel later claimed to have suspected this but accepted it.

Subsequent projects worth mentioning included Déjà Vu - Wettlauf gegen die Zeit (2006), in which Caviezel played a supporting role, and the fantasy film Outlander (2008), which, however, was only featured in a few cinemas in the USA and made a financial one Flop. In 2009 Caviezel took part in the television production The Prisoner , and from 2011 he played the lead role of former CIA Special Activities Division operator John Reese in the series Person of Interest for six years .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : James Caviezel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Jesus' words used vs. stem-cell initiative. In: Washington Times online. The Washington Times, October 25, 2006, accessed April 11, 2016 .
  2. Jim Caviezel 'Rejected By My Own Industry' For 'Passion Of The Christ'. In: Huffpost Entertainment. The Huffington Post, May 2, 2011, accessed April 11, 2016 .