Paul Bettany

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Paul Bettany
Bettany at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International
Born	27 May 1971 (1971-05-27) (age 38) Shepherd's Bush, London, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1994–present
Spouse(s)	Jennifer Connelly (2003-present)

Paul Bettany (born 27 May 1971) is an English actor who has starred as a wide range of characters in several diverse film genres. He has been nominated for BAFTA- and Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as numerous critics and film circle awards.

Early life

Bettany was born in Shepherd's Bush, London, the son of Anne (née Kettle), a stage singer, theatre teacher, stage manager, and Thane Bettany, a dancer, actor and drama teacher.^[1] He has an older sister, Sarah, and had a younger brother (now deceased), Matthew. While Thane taught at the all-girls boarding school Queenswood School in Hertfordshire, the family lived on the campus.^[2] Matthew Bettany died after a fall at Queenswood when he was eight years old. Soon after, Paul left home and went to live on his own in London and his parents later divorced. He lived in a small flat and earned money by playing his guitar in the streets as a busker. After two years, he found a new job in a home for the elderly.

Career

When Bettany was 19, he decided to be an actor, and he pursued that career with determination, studying at the Drama Centre London in Chalk Farm. He made his stage debut in Stephen Daldry's acclaimed West End revival of An Inspector Calls at the Aldwych Theatre, playing the part of Eric Birling. He also appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar (for which he received a Charleson Award nomination). When Bettany was 21 he appeared in a BBC production of Oliver Twist, as Bill Sikes.

After appearing in the finale of Sean Bean's series Sharpe as HRH The Prince of Orange at the Battle of Waterloo, he made his film debut with a small part in Bent, a Holocaust drama which also featured Clive Owen, Jude Law, and Ian McKellen. He continued doing work in stage and television, these included Joe Penhall's Love and Understanding, which played at London's Flatbush Theatre and then ran in Connecticut. His roles in the television productions Killer Net and Coming Home, during which he met and dated Emily Mortimer.^{[citation needed]} He did his last theatre work in One More Wasted Year and Stranger's House at the Royal Court Theatre.

Bettany had become addicted to cocaine along the way. His drug problem reached its height during the filming of the miniseries David Copperfield. After this he started to turn his back on drugs. He filmed several more movies, including his first leading role in Gangster No. 1. The British Independent Film Awards nominated him for Best Actor, and the London Film Critics' Circle nominated him for British Newcomer of the Year.

Back in Hollywood, writer/director Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) was planning a new film called The Sin Eater (also known as The Order). He was impressed by Bettany's audition tape, though Bettany eventually decided to film A Knight's Tale instead. The studio executives were not impressed, but Helgeland was determined to cast him, even writing the part of Chaucer for him. A Knight's Tale would be Bettany's first big Hollywood production, and most American audiences would have their first look at Paul Bettany when he walked onscreen muddy and naked. "My buttocks entered the American market before I did," Paul joked on the movie's DVD commentary track.

He received critical acclaim for A Knight's Tale, including winning the London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Supporting Actor. After the movie wrapped, Helgeland, determined that Hollywood should recognize Bettany's talent, showed the audition tape to many of his peers, including Ron Howard, who promptly cast Bettany in A Beautiful Mind.

It was on that set that Bettany would befriend Russell Crowe and meet his future wife, Jennifer Connelly. Both were already in relationships, so they remained only friends for about a year. After both were single, they began dating. After A Beautiful Mind, Bettany was offered the role of the brutal serial killer "The Tooth Fairy" in Red Dragon, opposite Edward Norton and Anthony Hopkins. He turned down the role in favor of accepting a part with Stellan Skarsgård and Nicole Kidman in controversial director Lars von Trier's Dogville.

Bettany's next major project saw him starring alongside Russell Crowe in Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. His portrayal of surgeon and naturalist Stephen Maturin brought in more critical acclaim, including a BAFTA nomination, British Actor of the Year (London Film Critics' Circle), and Best Actor (Evening Standard).

On June 28, 2004, Bettany and thirteen other actors were included in the 2004 invitation to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[3]

Dogville and The Reckoning were released in limited cinemas in 2004. In September of that year, Bettany made his leading-man debut in Wimbledon, a romantic comedy with Kirsten Dunst. Reviews for the movie were somewhat lukewarm, but every critic had praise for Bettany's performance^{[citation needed]}. The film's cast would also introduce him to Jon Favreau, playing his manager, a relationship that would return when Favreau cast him as the voice of Jarvis in Iron Man. In spring 2005, Bettany went to Vancouver to film Firewall, a thriller starring Harrison Ford and Virginia Madsen, directed by Richard Loncraine (Wimbledon). He spent the autumn of 2005 filming The Da Vinci Code, based on Dan Brown's bestselling novel and starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou. In the film he plays an Opus Dei monk called Silas. However, he was recently quoted in the Sun “I was brought up a Catholic. I'm lapsed. From the age of three I was with nuns. Now I'm an atheist.”

In 2007, Bettany went to London to star in There For Me, written by his friends Dan Fredenburgh and Doraly Rosen.^[4] In 2008, he appeared in the New Line Cinema family fantasy Inkheart, playing the part of a fire-eater named Dustfinger.^[5]

Personal life

On New Year's Day 2003, Bettany married Jennifer Connelly in a ceremony attended by a small circle of friends and family. He moved to Brooklyn, New York, with Connelly and her son Kai. The couple's own son, Stellan (named for actor Stellan Skarsgård) was born on 5 August 2003. Stellan's godfather is the actor Charlie Condou.

Paul is an atheist.^[6]

Filmography

References

External links

• Paul Bettany at the Internet Movie Database
• Paul Bettany biography and credits at the British Film Institute's Screenonline