Brendan Fraser is an American-Canadian actor known for filming blockbusters, comedies and dramas.
Fraser (born December 3, 1968), the youngest of four sons, was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Canadian parents Carol Mary and Peter Fraser. His mother was a marketing manager and his father was a former journalist who worked as a Canadian foreign affairs officer for the Government Agency of Tourism. He has three older brothers: Kevin, Regan and Sean. He has Irish, Scottish, German, Czech and French-Canadian ancestry. He graduated from Cornish College of Arts in Seattle in 1990. He started acting in a small college theater in New York. He planned to study for a Master of Fine Arts in acting at Southern Methodist University, but stopped in Hollywood along the way and decided to stay there to work in film.
Career
1990s
In 1991, Fraser made his film debut as a sailor heading to Vietnam in Dogfight. He got his first acting role in the 1992 comedy Encino Man where he played a cool modern day caveman who is uncool in the present day. The film was a moderate success at the box office. That same year, he challenged his school affiliation with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris O’Donnell as Jewish stars facing the anti-Semitism embedded in the private prep school community.
In 1994, he played Steve Nebraska in The Scout and Montgomery “Monty” Kessler in With Honors and worked with Adam Sandler and Steve Buscemi in Airheads. All three of them were box office. He starred in films such as Philip Ridley’s The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995) and The Twilight of the Golds (1997) which did not do well at the box office. He also had a small role in the movie Now and Then (1995).
He had his first box office success in the 1997 comedy George of the Jungle, based on the cartoon series of the same name created by Jay Ward.
He received critical acclaim for his dramatic role in 1998’s Gods and Monsters, based on the life of James Whale (Ian McKellen), who directed Frankenstein. The film was written and directed by Bill Condon, and follows the loss of creativity, unrequited sexuality and the relationship between a gay gardener (played by Fraser) and a gay man. , an actor suffering from illness (played by McKellen).
His biggest commercial breakthrough came when he played Rick O’Connell in the fantasy drama The Mummy (1999) and its sequel The Mummy Returns (2001).
Among the hits, he also starred in box office bombs Dudley Do-Right (1999) (based on another Jay Ward animated series) and Monkeybone (2001); Although he had moderate success in the 1999 romantic comedy Blast from the Past and the 2000 fantasy film Bedazzled, a remake of the 1967 British film of the same name. He is lending his voice to the new Big Bug Man movie starring Marlon Brando.
2000s
In 2002, he starred opposite Michael Caine in the popular political drama The Quiet American. The following year, he starred in the animated film Looney Tunes: Back in Action as the lead character, DJ Drake (he also voiced the Tasmanian Devil). In 2004, he appeared as part of the cast in the Oscar-winning film Crash.
He has made guest appearances on the television shows Scrubs, King of the Mountains and The Simpsons. In March 2006, he was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame, the first American-born actor to receive this honor. However, as of 2022 there is no star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After a six-year hiatus from the franchise, Fraser returned for the second installment of The Mummy which was released in August 2008 and was titled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Filming began in Montreal on July 27, 2007, and the film stars Jet Li as Emperor Han. In the same year, he starred in the 3D film adaptation of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth and in the fantasy film Inkheart (which was personally chosen by novelist Cornelia Funke for the lead role).
Fraser starred as “Brick” in the West End production of Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tub in September 2001, directed by Anthony Page. The cast includes Ned Beatty, Frances O’Connor and Gemma Jones. The show ended on January 12, 2002, with Fraser receiving many positive reviews. In 2010, Fraser starred in the Broadway production of Elling, but the play was canceled after one week, due to poor reviews. After appearing in the critically-acclaimed Furry Vengeance in 2010, Fraser went on to represent William Morris Endeavor to The Creative Industry. In 2010 he starred in Whole Lotta Sole directed by Terry George and in 2011 he was set to play William Tell in The Legend of William Tell: 3D, directed by Eric Brevig, with whom Fraser also worked in Journey to the Center of The earth. Footage was shot, and in late 2011 Fraser sued producer Todd Moyer for back wages. Moyer later claimed responsibility for the attack, which Fraser dismissed as a desperate attempt to avoid paying him. In 2013, he played an Elvis Presley impersonator in the all-black Pawn Shop Chronicles.
In 2016, Fraser replaced Ray Liotta in the Bollywood thriller Line of Descent. Fraser joined the recurring cast of the television series The Affair during season 3 where he portrayed the ruthless prison guard Gunther. He described the Getty family fixer James Fletcher Chace in the FX Trust series anthology series, which began on March 25, 2018. Fraser portrayed Clifford \”Cliff” Steele / Robotman in the TV series Titans, starring Jake Michaels in a physical way showing Robotman. He reprized the role in the spin-off series Doom Patrol, where he voices the character that appears as Steele in flashbacks; Riley Shanahan – replacing Jake Michaels on Titans – portrays Robotman. This trend led many books to call his sudden comeback “Brenaissance”.
In September 2020, Fraser was cast as mobster Doug Jones in Steven Soderbergh’s period crime drama No Sudden Move, which will be released in 2021. In January 2021, Fraser was announced as the lead in Darren Aronofsky’s film The Whale. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2022. Fraser’s performance was widely praised and the film received a six-minute tribute at the festival and later won the Best Actor Oscar.
In August of the same year, Fraser was announced to be part of Martin Scorsese’s next film, Killers of the Flower Moon, as well as Max Barbakow’s comedy, Brothers. In October 2021, Fraser was cast as the villainous Firefly in the superhero movie Batgirl, set in the DC Extended Universe; The film’s August 2022 release was canceled after a change in Warner Bros. studio needs.
Personal Life
Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles, Fraser met actress Afton Smith while visiting the ranch at Winona Ryder’s home on July 4, 1993. They married on September 27, 1998 and had two sons. three: Griffin Arthur Fraser (b. 2002), Holden Fletcher. Fraser (b. 2004) and Leland Francis Fraser (b. 2006). In a 2018 interview with GQ, Fraser revealed that his eldest son, Griffin, is on the autism spectrum.
After selling their home in Beverly Hills, California in April 2007 for $3 million, Fraser’s publicist announced in December 2007 that the couple had decided to divorce. Fraser was ordered to pay child support of $50,000 per month for ten years or until Smith remarries, whichever comes first, in addition to monthly payments of $25,000 in child support. In early 2011, Fraser petitioned the court for a reduction in his child support payments, saying he could not afford to make $600,000 a year; He did not pay child support. In late 2011, Smith accused Fraser of fraud by concealing financial assets and failing to disclose film contracts for a special series on Fury. In 2014, the court ruled against Fraser’s request for reduced child support and against Smith’s allegations of fraud. Both parents are known to be very involved in their sons’ lives.
As of February 2018, Fraser lives in Bedford, New York.
Fraser speaks French and sits on the board of FilmAid International. He is an accomplished amateur photographer and has used many live cameras in movies and TV shows, including his guest role on Scrubs. In his first appearance, he used a pack of Polaroid film, and in his second appearance, he used a Holga with a Polaroid back, typical of the Japanese. The Collector’s Guide to Instant Cameras is dedicated to Fraser. He is also a good shooter.
The physical demands of the stunts and movements Fraser performed in his acting and comedy roles eventually required him to undergo multiple surgeries over the course of seven years, including a knee replacement, laminectomy, and foot surgery.
In 2018, Fraser said that Philip Berk, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), a non-profit organization that supports the Golden Globe Awards, sexually assaulted her at a 2003 luncheon. The alleged assault, his subsequent divorce and the death of his mother sent Fraser into a depression which, along with his health problems, led to a career break.
Many newspapers and media outlets described Fraser as a Hollywood blackmailer because of his allegations against Berk, which Berk denied. In a 2018 GQ article where Fraser first made the allegations public, he said, “the phone stops ringing at work and you start to wonder why. There are many reasons, but is [this event] one of them? I think so.” In contrast, Fraser also explained during his 2019 appearance on the radio show Sway in the Morning, “I don’t think the HFPA has much power.” In 2022 Fraser told GQ that if he receives a nomination from the HFPA for his latest film The Whale, he “will not attend” due to his “history” with the organization.
