John Malkovich
Highest Rated: 100% Which Way Home (2009)
Lowest Rated: 12% Jonah Hex (2010)
Birthday: Dec 9, 1953
Birthplace: Christopher, Illinois, USA
One of the leading actors of his generation and an important figure in world cinema, John Malkovich made the term "icy calm" his trademark. After winning acclaim for his characterization of the scheming Vicomte de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons, he became associated with a series of roles that, to put it plainly, essentially required him to be an evil bastard.The product of a large, highly intellectual family, Malkovich was born December 9, 1953, in Christopher, IL. Initially a portly youth, he underwent a self-imposed physical transformation, emerging as a star high school athlete. He went on to attend Eastern Illinois University, where he originally aspired to be a professional environmentalist. With his friend Gary Sinise, Malkovich helped co-found Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre in 1976. Seven years later, he won an Obie award when the Steppenwolf production of Sam Shepard's True West was brought to New York. He next appeared on Broadway with Dustin Hoffman in the 1984 revival of Death of a Salesman; when it was transformed into a television movie a year later, Malkovich won an Emmy for his efforts. While he was working on Broadway, he made his film debut, playing a blind transient in Places in the Heart (1984), which earned him an Oscar nomination. He also had a starring role in The Killing Fields the same year.Although certainly capable of projecting warmth and pathos, Malkovich became best-known for his ice-water-in-the-veins roles. In addition to praise for his performance in Dangerous Liaisons, Malkovich won recognition -- and Oscar and Golden Globe nominations -- for his portrayal of the chameleon-like political assassin in Wolfgang Peterson's In the Line of Fire (1993). Other sinister Malkovich characterizations include Kurtz in the 1994 TV-movie version of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the secretive Dr. Jekyll in Mary Reilly (1996), and Isabel Archer's dastardly husband in The Portrait of a Lady (1996). In 1999, Malkovich played what was undoubtedly his most unusual role -- himself -- in Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich. Both the subject of the film and one of its stars, he had the surreal duty of letting the film's other characters into his mind, something many audience members had no doubt been dreaming of doing for years. The film provided Malkovich's career with a sort of popular resurgence, and the following year found him essaying the role of a wild eyed F.W. Murnau in the dark horror comedy Shadow of the Vampire. The second feature by experimental filmmaker E. ELias Mehrige, Shadow of the Vampire took a magic realism approach to documenting the production of Murnau's legendary 1922 classic Nosferatu. In the years that followed Malkovich continued his trend of alternating roles in high-profile Hollywood fare with more artistically gratifying foreign films, and after turning up in the German miniseries Les Miserables (2000) and Je rentre a la maison Malkovich turned up opposite Vin Diesel in the box office flash Knockaround Guys (2001). In 2002 Malkovich picked up where Matt Damon left off in the thriller Ripley's Game before traveling back in time for the historical adventure drama Napoleon. After cracking up international audiences in Johnny English (2003), fans got to see Malkovich take on the role of a Stanley Kubrick imposter in the fact based Colour Me Kubrick. After a string of decidedly small films, Malkovich surfaced in 2005 in the sci-fi comedy blockbuster The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Based on the cult novel by Douglas Adams, the picture cast Malkovich as an alien guru and gave him a chance to flex some of his sillier chops. Subsequent roles in Art School Confidential, the Coen Brother's Burn After Reading, and Jonah Hex offered a bit of levity between performances in more serious-minded dramas like Disgrace and Secretariat, and on the heels of a memorable comic performance as an unhinged former assassin in the big budget action comedy Red, Malkovich could be spotted amidst an explosion

Photos

View All Photos

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

CREDIT
55% Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile Edward Cowart — 2019
63% Velvet Buzzsaw Piers — 2019
63% Bird Box Douglas — 2018
22% Mile 22 Bishop — 2018
17% Supercon Sid Newberry — 2018
59% Bullet Head Actor — 2017
29% The Wilde Wedding Laurence Darling — 2017
25% Unlocked Bob Hunter — 2017
83% Deepwater Horizon Vidrine $73.1M 2016
53% Demolition Executive Producer Producer $1.7M 2016
35% Cut Bank Sheriff Vogel — 2015
73% Penguins Of Madagascar Dr. Octavius Brine $70.8M 2014
38% Cesar Chavez Bogdanovich Senior Executive Producer $5.6M 2014
No Score Yet Casanova Variations Actor — 2014
44% Red 2 Marvin Boggs $53.3M 2013
81% Warm Bodies Grigio $65.1M 2013
93% Abel Executive Producer — 2013
No Score Yet Educazione siberiana Nonno Kuzja — 2013
No Score Yet Deadly Code Actor — 2013
No Score Yet Lines of Wellington Wellington — 2013
No Score Yet Deadly Code Actor — 2013
86% The Perks of Being a Wallflower Producer $15M 2012
93% Side by Side John Malkovich $29.1K 2012
23% Drunkboat Producer Mort Gleason — 2012
No Score Yet Noseland Actor — 2012
80% Young Adult Executive Producer $16.3M 2011
35% Transformers: Dark of the Moon Bruce $352.4M 2011
No Score Yet Saturday Night Actor — 2010
71% Red Marvin Boggs $89M 2010
63% Secretariat Lucien Laurin $59.7M 2010
12% Jonah Hex Quentin Turnbull $10.6M 2010
No Score Yet Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer Actor — 2010
72% The Great Buck Howard Buck Howard $0.7M 2009
100% Which Way Home Executive Producer — 2009
No Score Yet Bloody Mondays & Strawberry Pies Narrator — 2009
54% Gardens of the Night Michael — 2008
61% Changeling Rev. Gustav Briegleb $35.8M 2008
No Score Yet Afterwards (Et après) Doctor Kay — 2008
83% Disgrace Professor David Lurie — 2008
78% Burn After Reading Osbourne Cox $60.4M 2008
18% Mutant Chronicles Constantine — 2008
94% Juno Executive Producer Producer $143.4M 2007
71% Beowulf Unferth $82.3M 2007
50% Color Me Kubrick Alan Conway $37.7K 2007
16% Eragon King Galbatorix $75.1M 2006
36% Art School Confidential Producer Professor Sandiford $3.2M 2006
33% The Libertine King Charles II Producer $4.8M 2006
No Score Yet FLY: Words Remembered Actor — 2006
25% Kill the Poor Producer — 2006
No Score Yet In Tranzit Pavlov — 2006
60% The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Humma Kavula $51.1M 2005
32% Klimt Gustav Klimt — 2005
76% A Talking Picture (Um Filme Falado) Comandante John Walesa — 2004
81% How to Draw a Bunny Executive Producer — 2004
41% Hotel Omar Johnson — 2003
33% Johnny English Pascal Sauvage $28M 2003
92% Ripley's Game Tom Ripley — 2003
91% Adaptation Himself (uncredited) $22.2M 2002
21% Knockaround Guys Teddy Deserve $11.6M 2002
64% The Dancer Upstairs Abimael Guzman Director Producer $2.5M 2002
No Score Yet Savage Souls (Les Âmes fortes) M. Numance — 2002
No Score Yet Napoleon Talleyrand — 2002
92% Ghost World Producer $4.7M 2001
96% I'm Going Home John Crawford — 2001
No Score Yet Les Miserables Actor — 2001
82% Shadow of the Vampire F.W. Murnau $7.6M 2000
93% RKO 281 Herman Mankiewicz — 1999
30% The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Charles VII — 1999
93% Being John Malkovich Himself — 1999
89% Der Unhold (The Ogre) Abel Tiffauges — 1999
No Score Yet Ladies Room Roberto — 1999
70% Time Regained Baron de Charlus — 1999
65% Rounders KGB — 1998
33% The Man in the Iron Mask Athos — 1998
55% Con Air Cyrus Grissom — 1997
No Score Yet Great Performances Actor — 1997
45% The Portrait of a Lady Gilbert Osmond — 1996
30% Mulholland Falls Timms — 1996
26% Mary Reilly Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde — 1996
38% The Convent (O Convento) Michael Padovic — 1995
67% Beyond the Clouds The Director — 1995
50% Cannes Man Actor — 1995
40% Heart of Darkness Kurtz — 1994
96% In the Line of Fire Mitch Leary — 1993
62% Alive older Carlitos Páez — 1993
38% We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story Actor — 1993
37% Jennifer 8 St. Anne — 1992
97% Of Mice and Men Lenny — 1992
50% Shadows and Fog Clown — 1992
77% The Object of Beauty Jake — 1991
38% Queens Logic Eliot — 1991
50% The Sheltering Sky Port Moresby — 1990
80% The Accidental Tourist Producer — 1988
60% Miles from Home Barry Maxwell — 1988
93% Dangerous Liaisons Vicomte De Valmont — 1988
75% Empire of the Sun Basie — 1987
70% The Glass Menagerie Tom Wingfield — 1987
46% Making Mr. Right Dr. Jeff Peters/Ulysses — 1987
No Score Yet Santabear's Highflying Adventure Actor — 1987
No Score Yet American Playhouse Lee — 1986
No Score Yet Rocket to the Moon Ben Stark — 1986
No Score Yet Private Conversations: On the Set of 'Death of a Salesman' Actor — 1985
100% Death of a Salesman Biff Loman — 1985
100% Eleni Nicholas Gage — 1985
93% The Killing Fields Al Rockoff — 1984
96% Places in the Heart Mr. Will — 1984
No Score Yet Word of Honor Actor — 1981
No Score Yet American Dream Actor — 1981
70% A Wedding Wedding Guest — 1978

TV

CREDIT
89% Billions
2016
Grigor Andolov
  • 2019
72% The ABC Murders
2018
Hercule Poirot
  • 2019
No Score Yet Late Night With Seth Meyers
2014
Guest
  • 2017
No Score Yet CBS This Morning
2012
Guest
  • 2016
No Score Yet Colbert Report
2005-2014
Guest
  • 2014
59% Crossbones
2014
Edward "Blackbeard" Teach
  • 2014
No Score Yet Conan
2010
Guest
  • 2013
No Score Yet The Tonight Show With Jay Leno
1992-2014
Guest
  • 2013
No Score Yet The View
1997
Guest
  • 2013
No Score Yet The Graham Norton Show
2007
Guest
  • 2013
  • 2008
  • 2007
No Score Yet Saturday Night Live
1975
Host Guest
  • 2008
  • 1993
  • 1989
No Score Yet The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
1999-2015
Guest
  • 2006
No Score Yet Napoleón
2003
Talleyrand Charles Talleyrand
  • 2003
No Score Yet American Playhouse
1982-1996
Lee Dr. Ben Stark
  • 1986
  • 1984
No Score Yet Great Performances
2000
No Score Yet The New Pope

QUOTES FROM John Malkovich CHARACTERS