Adrien Brody's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Annie McGuire Lenny McGuire

Main Movie Roles 2010 - Splice 2010 - Predators 2010 - The Experiment 2010 - High School 2009 - Giallo 2009 - Fantastic Mr. Fox 2008 - Cadillac Records 2008 - The Brothers Bloom 2007 - The Darjeeling Limited 2006 - Hollywoodland 2005 - The Jacket 2005 - King Kong 2004 - The Village 2003 - The Singing Detective 2002 - The Pianist 2002 - Dummy 2001 - The Affair of the Necklace 2000 - Bread and Roses 1999 - Summer of Sam 1999 - Oxygen 1999 - Liberty Heights 1998 - The Thin Red Line 1997 - The Last Time I Committed Suicide 1996 - Bullet 1996 - Solo 1994 - Natural Born Killers 1994 - Angels in the Outfield 1993 - King of the Hill 1989 - New York Stories

BIOGRAPHY:

The son of Hungarian-born photographer Sylvia Plachy and retired history professor Elliot Brody, Adrien Brody grew up an only child in the Woodhaven section of Queens, New York, where he accompanied his mother on assignments for the Village Voice. He credits her with making him feel comfortable in front of the camera. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts in New York.

Despite a strong performance in The Thin Red Line (1998), time constraints forced the director to edit out much of Adrien's part. In spite of his later work with Spike Lee and Barry Levinson (I), he never became the star many expected he would become until Roman Polanski called on him to play a celebrated Jewish pianist in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. He pulled off a brilliant performance in The Pianist (2002), drawing on the heritage and rare dialect of his Polish grandmother, as well as his father, who lost family members during the Holocaust, and his mother, who fled Communist Hungary as a child during the 1956 uprising against the Soviet Union.


TRIVIA:

• Has been compared to 'Robert De Niro' (qv) and 'Al Pacino' (qv) for his unconventional acting skills and unique looks.
• Was dressed by Zegna for the Academy Awards.
• Is the only American actor to win a César, the French equivalent to the Oscar.
• To prepare for his title role in _The Pianist (2002)_ (qv), he learned to play Chopin on the piano and shed 30 pounds off his already-thin frame. He cut himself off from his real life by giving up his car and apartment because he felt responsible to those Polish Jews who had suffered greatly and wanted to connect, to some small degree, with their hurt and despair.
• Shares a birthday with 'Sarah Michelle Gellar' (qv).
• Engaged to 'Elsa Pataky' (qv).
• Taking acting classes as a youth, by age 13 he had done an off-Broadway play and a PBS-TV movie.
• Grew up in the Woodhaven section of Queens in New York.