Edward Norton: Biography, Career, Personal Life

2024 Author: Mabel Warren | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 16:20

From childhood, he surprised everyone with his serious approach to acting, adding his brilliant ideas to the role he played. For many years he studied and worked wherever his parents wanted. But his heart asked for the scene and he decided to give himself completely to the actors and he managed to become an American actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, cameraman and editor, philanthropist, three-time Oscar nominee. This is a brilliant man Edward Norton.

Childhood and family

Edward Norton was born on August 18, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, but grew up in Columbia, Maryland, USA. Edward's father was a lawyer for the National Trust for Historic Landmarks. Mother worked as an English teacher. Norton's mother died in March 1997 of cancer. The Norton family had three children and Edward was the oldest of them. Developer grandfather James Rose (passed away in 1996), known for his contributions to the city of Columbia, Maryland and for helping develop Baltimore's inner harbor and Quincy's Boston Market. But Edward's grandfather became more famous as the “inventor” of supermarkets, an architect. At five years old he became interested in theater and soon fell in love with acting when he watched the play “If I were a princess.” At that moment he could not take his eyes off the “magic of the theater, the stage struck him outright. He also went with his nanny to a rehearsal of the musical production of the fairy tale "Cinderella". And this inspired him and Edward began studying at the Oriental Columbia School of Performing Arts. When Norton was eight years old, he made his first stage debut in a school production. The boy surprised the teachers of the drama club with his serious approach to acting, sometimes baffling them with tricky questions about his character's over-idea or an interesting interpretation of the role played. For Norton, the stage became the very place where he could be himself, could freely express the accumulated heart. For him, theatrical life was more real than his mother's balanced breakfasts and father's lectures on the need for classical education.

Study and work

After graduating from Wild Lake School in 1985, Edward Norton, at the behest of his parents, entered Yale University. For the next five years, the prestigious educational institution became a hard labor for the guy, the salvation from which were productions at the Yale Drama School, where he actively improved his acting. After receiving a bachelor's degree in history, Edward, again succumbing to the influence of his parents, went to the city of Osaka (Japan) to work in the company of his grandfather, Enterprise Fondation. Thanks to his hard work, he grew to a member of the board of directors, however, after returning to the United States, Norton could no longer pretend. Once he simply did not go to work. The father was very upset by the act of his son, but Edward said the following: “I understand, but soon you will forgive me. Betraying oneself is scarier. "In 1994, Edward Norton decided to devote himself entirely to his acting career and passed a minute audition with the famous playwright Edward Albee and got a role in the play" Fragment "- and this is how his creative activity began at the Signature Theater in New York. …

Actor career

Soon in Hollywood were auditions of young actors for a role in a new film with Richard Gere "Primal Fear". Edward Norton, along with 2,100 applicants, passed the audition and was selected for the role of the accused Aaron Stampler. The film was released in 1996. This is an action-packed film directed by Gregory Hoblit based on the book of the same name by William Deal. Among the films released in 1996, "Primal Fear" remained among the top 30 distribution leaders. The film entered the top ten grossing in the first half of the film season. It was Edward Norton's brilliant film debut. The role in this film immediately made Edward Norton famous. Edward Norton is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He receives a Golden Globe Award for his role in this film.

Since then, Edward Norton has been nominated for an Oscar more than once, including in 1998 for Best Actor for his role in American Story X. And in 1999, after participating in the film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel "Fight Club", where Norton acted as the narrator of Tyler Durden, world fame came to him.

Thanks to such a successful film debut, Edward was invited to shoot films at once, which also became successful for him. This is Woody Allen's film Everybody Says I Love You and Milos Forman's drama The People vs. Larry Flynt. Thanks to such successful roles at the beginning of his acting career, Edward Norton is recognized by many critics as the best supporting actor. Of course, after that, his acting career in cinema began to develop successfully.

In 1998, Norton starred as Lester "The Worm" Murphy alongside Matt Damon in the film Schuller.

In the same year, Edward Norton starred in the film "American History X". American filmmaker Tony Kay's drama about modern neo-Nazis failed at the box office, but Edward Norton's performance in this film received the most flattering reviews. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his leading role. Even more success came to Edward Norton in 1999, after the actor, along with Brad Pitt, played the main roles in the film "Fight Club". The director of the film, David Fincher, appreciated Norton's acting work in the film People vs. Larry Flynt, so he decided to invite Edward to one of the main roles in Fight Club. Thanks to a successful acting career, Edward Norton decided to try himself as a director as well. In 2000, the American romantic comedy film Keeping the Faith was released, in which Edward Norton played one of the main roles. This film was Edward Norton's directorial debut. In addition to him, the main roles were played by Ben Stiller, Jenna Elfman, minor - Anne Bancroft and Milos Forman. The film was well received by film critics. A year later, Edward starred in the crime film "Buggy" with such stars as Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando. 2002 was the most fruitful year in his career. This year, the actor starred in 4 tapes - he played a cameo role in Frida, starred with Robin Williams in the comedy Kill the Smuchies, and also starred in Red Dragon and The 25th Hour. His performance in the 2006 film directed by Neil Berger, based on the 2006 novel The Illusionist by Stephen Millhauser, once again earned critical acclaim and received a San Diego Film Critics Award. In 2008, Edward starred as Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk. In 2014, Edward starred as a Broadway actor in the comedy Birdman. His work has received many awards and high marks from the world film press. The film was nominated for nine Oscars and won four. Despite the fact that all the leading actors of the film - Michael Keaton, Edward Norton and Emma Stone - were nominated, "Birdman" did not take any "acting" "Oscars". Together with producer Bill Migliore and writer Stuart Bloomberg, Edward Norton created the company " Class 5 Films ". In May 2015, the comic" Fight Club 2 "appeared, a sequel to the book, the adaptation of which brought Norton popularity. Immediately after the presentation of the novel, rumors appeared that a film continuation would be released. According to press reports, Brad Pitt persuaded Palahniuk to give permission for the film adaptation. According to the plot of the comic, a lot of time has passed after the first part, the main character managed to acquire a wife and children, which means that the age of the actors will not interfere with the embodiment of already familiar characters on the screens. But there is no confirmed information about a possible film yet. In 2016, Norton starred in the drama "Phantom Beauty." Now Edward continues to work in the acting field, but there are no announced feature films with his participation for 2017 yet. In 2018 he released the comedy cartoon "Isle of Dogs" with Edward's voice acting.

Personal life

Norton had few romances in his personal life. He dated Kurt Cobain's ex-wife Courtney Love and toured with her as a session guitarist. He then had a long-term relationship with actress Salma Hayek and Drew Barrymore.

Norton recently proposed to his longtime sweetheart, film producer Sean Robertson. Shauna gave her consent to Edward in India, where they spent their holidays. The couple got married in 2012. In March 2013, the couple had a son, Atlas.