Celebrity Online NewsOnline Celebrity Gossip and News

Paul Bettany extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Paul Bettany
Born	27 May 1971 (1971-05-27) (age 38) Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK
Occupation	Actor
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.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 5 References 6 External links

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 had residence on the campus²

Matthew Bettany died after a fall at Queenswood when he was only eight years old, which left the family grief-stricken. Soon after, Paul left home and went to live on his own in London, while 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 London Drama Centre 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. 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 Critics Circle nominated him for British Newcomer of the Year.

Back in Hollywood, Oscar-winning 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 Critics Circle Award for 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. Finally both 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 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. 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 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.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1997	Bent	Captain
	Sharpe´s Waterloo	Prince William of Orange	Television movie-series
1998	Coming Home	Edward Carey-Lewis	Television movie
	Killer Net	Joe Hunter	Television mini-series
	The Land Girls	Philip
1999	Every Woman Knows a Secret	Rob	Television mini-series
	After the Rain	Steph
2000	Kiss Kiss (Bang Bang)	Jimmy
	The Suicide Club	Shaw
	David Copperfield	James Steerforth	Television movie
	Dead Babies	Quentin
	Gangster No. 1	Young Gangster	Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Actor Nominated — London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Newcomer of the Year
2001	A Knight's Tale	Geoffrey Chaucer	London Film Critics' Circle Award for Supporting Actor of the Year Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Performer
	A Beautiful Mind	Charles Herman	Nominated — London Film Critics' Circle Award for Supporting Actor of the Year Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture
2002	Euston Road	"Y"	Short film
	The Heart of Me	Rickie	Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor also for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
2003	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World	Dr. Stephen Maturin	Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor also for The Heart of Me London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actor of the Year Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated — BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor
	The Reckoning	Nicholas
	Dogville	Tom Edison
2004	Wimbledon	Peter Colt	Nominated — Empire Award for Best British Actor Jordan Awards — Best Actor
2006	Firewall	Bill Cox
	The Da Vinci Code	Silas
2008	Iron Man	JARVIS	voice only
	The Secret Life of Bees	T. Ray Owens	Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble
	Inkheart	Dustfinger
	Broken Lines	Chester
2009	The Young Victoria	Lord Melbourne
	Creation	Charles Darwin	post-production
2010	Legion	Michael	post-production
	Iron Man II	JARVIS	filming (voice only)
	Priest	Ivan Isaacs	pre-production

References

External links

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