Best Known As: Dr. Manhattan in the film version of Watchmen
Billy Crudup is a darkly handsome stage and film actor known for taking serious-minded roles on stage and a variety of roles on screen. He gained notice as the rebellious brother Jacey in Inventing the Abbots (1997, with Liv Tyler) and then played Oregon running legend Steve Prefontaine in Robert Towne's 1998 film Without Limits. On stage he appeared in the 1997 Broadway production of Chekhov's Three Sisters, was nominated for a Tony for The Pillowman (2005) and won a Tony award in 2007 for his performance in The Coast of Utopia. He made a splash on the big screen in 2001, starring with Kate Hudson in the rock 'n roll nostalgia flick Almost Famous and got critical raves for playing a man playing a woman in Stage Beauty (2005), but it was the 2009 film version of Alan Moore's Watchmen (2009, with Malin Akerman) that gave Crudup a broader moviegoing audience.
Career Highlights: Princess Mononoke, Jesus' Son, Waking the Dead
First Major Screen Credit: Grind (1996)
Biography
Initially known for his work on the stage, Billy Crudup emerged in the late '90s as a young actor of considerable talent, gracing the screen in an increasing number of films. Tall, lean, and possessing one of the best-defined jaws in the Western Hemisphere,Crudup was born on Long Island, NY, on July 8, 1968. Raised in Florida and Texas, he earned an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and then received a Master's degree from New York University.
Crudup first won audience attention and critical acclaim in his role as an amorous tutor in the widely praised New York production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. His performance netted him both an Outer Critics Circle Outstanding Newcomer Award and a Theater World Award. He followed this success with a lead in the stage production of Bus Stop, winning similarly excellent reviews for his performance. He made his film debut in 1996 with a small part in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You, and the same year he got a more sizable part among the all-star cast of Sleepers. Acting alongside Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, and Minnie Driver, Crudup received some recognition for his portrayal of a troubled survivor of childhood abuse. This recognition was amplified the following year, when he starred with Joaquin Phoenix in Inventing the Abbotts, a small film that cast him as an amorous, destructive ladies' man. That same year, he starred with Woody Harrelson in Stephen Frears' critically maligned The Hi-Lo Country (1998), and he won kudos for his performance as runner Steve Prefontaine in Without Limits. Critics praised both his physical resemblance to the late athlete and his ability to portray him with a vivid blend of arrogance, pathos, and sympathy.
In 1999, Crudup could be seen starring in Jesus' Son, an independent film that had its premiere at that year's Telluride Film Festival. While he received high marks from critics for his lead role in the adapatation of the acclaimed Denis Johnson book, Crudup wouldn't have his mainstream breakthrough until the following year. Cast by Cameron Crowe in a role originally intended for Sleepers costar Brad Pitt, Crudup was a hit with audiences and critics alike in the ode to 70s-era rock-and-roll Almost Famous, a film that allowed him to flex his abilities as both a dramatic and comedic actor while cementing his status as a bonafide sex-symbol.
Though his star was clearly on the rise, Crudup opted to avoid overexposure by taking roles in the independent films World Traveler and Charlotte Grey. However, it wouldn't be long before he graced the sceens of multiplexes again. In late 2003, Crudup played the straight foil to a delightfully eccentric Albert Finney in Tim Burton's Big Fish. The film was a hit at the box-office and declared by many to be Burton's best film in years. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Crudup was born in Manhasset, New York, the grandson of Billy Gaither, a well-known Florida trial lawyer.[1][2] His parents divorced during his childhood, and later remarried, before divorcing a second time.[3] Crudup has two brothers: Tommy, an executive producer, and Brooks, also a producer. He left New York with his family when he was about eight years old, first living in Texas, then in Florida. He graduated from Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1986.
Crudup began acting in such films as 1996's Sleepers and 1997's Inventing the Abbotts. While he has appeared in many films, he regularly returns to the stage. His first role in an animated feature was in 1999's English release of Princess Mononoke, in which he starred as Ashitaka. He then played Russell Hammond, the lead guitarist of the fictional band Stillwater in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000). He has also been the voice of MasterCard "Priceless" commercials in the U.S. since 1997, making his first appearance in an ad in 2005. In 2006's The Good Shepherd, he played British spy Arch Cummings, a stand-in for Kim Philby. He also appeared as Zartan in the Ballad of G.I. Joe video on funnyordie.com
From 1996 to November 2003, Crudup dated actress Mary-Louise Parker, with whom he had a son, William Atticus Parker, born on January 7, 2004. Crudup left Parker while she was seven months pregnant for his Stage Beauty co-star Claire Danes. In 2004, Danes and Crudup confirmed that they were dating, but denied the press reports that they were together at the time of Crudup's split with Parker. In December 2006, the couple split.
