Edward Norton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Edward Norton
|
|
|---|---|
Norton in 2009
|
|
| Born |
Edward Harrison Norton
August 18, 1969 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
|
| Alma mater | Yale University (BA) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1993–present |
|
Works
|
Full list |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | James Rouse (grandfather) |
| Awards | Full list |
Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor. Known for his intense and nuanced performances, he is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and nominations for three Academy Awards.
Norton was drawn to theatrical productions at local venues as a child. After graduating from Yale College in 1991, he worked for a few months in Japan before moving to Manhattan to pursue an acting career. He gained immediate recognition and critical acclaim for his debut in Primal Fear (1996), which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination in the same category. His role as a redeemed neo-Nazi in American History X (1998) earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He also starred in the film Fight Club (1999), which garnered a cult following.
Norton established the production company Class 5 Films in 2003, and was director or producer of the films Keeping the Faith (2000), Down in the Valley (2005), and The Painted Veil (2006). He continued to receive critical acclaim for his acting roles in films such as The Score (2001), 25th Hour (2002), The Illusionist (2006), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). His biggest commercial successes have been Red Dragon (2002), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), The Incredible Hulk (2008), and The Bourne Legacy (2012). For his role in the black comedy Birdman (2014), Norton earned another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Norton has since directed and acted in the crime film Motherless Brooklyn (2019), and starred in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022).
Despite critical plaudits, Norton has gained notoriety for being difficult to work with, including incidents such as editing the final cuts and rewriting screenplays against the will of other producers. He is discreet about his personal life and has expressed no interest in being a celebrity. Besides acting and filmmaking, he is an environmental activist and social entrepreneur. He is a trustee of Enterprise Community Partners, a non-profit organization that advocates for affordable housing, and serves as president of the American branch of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. He is also the UN Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity. He is married to Canadian film producer Shauna Robertson, with whom he has a son. In March 2022, on the day of another sentencing of Russian opposition leader and political prisoner Alexei Navalny, Norton became the first celebrity sponsor of the international Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Contents
Early life
Edward Harrison Norton was born into a progressive Episcopalian family in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 18, 1969. He was raised in Columbia, Maryland. His father, Edward Mower Norton Jr., served in Vietnam as a Marine lieutenant before becoming an environmental lawyer and conservation advocate working in Asia and a federal prosecutor in the Carter administration. His mother, Lydia Robinson "Robin" Rouse, was an English teacher who died of a brain tumor in 1997. Norton's maternal grandfather, James Rouse, was the founder of real-estate developer The Rouse Company and co-founder of the real estate corporation Enterprise Community Partners. He has two younger siblings named Molly and James.
At age five, Norton saw the musical Cinderella with his parents at the Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts (CCTA), which ignited his interest in the theater. He enjoyed watching films with his father as a pre-teen, but later reflected that he was fascinated with the cinematography rather than the acting. Norton recalled that it was theater and not films that inspired him to act. He made his professional debut at the age of eight in the musical Annie Get Your Gun at his hometown's Toby's Dinner Theatre. At the CCTA, he acted in several theatrical productions directed by Toby Orenstein.
In 1984, Norton won the acting cup at Pasquaney, an annual summer camp for boys in Hebron, New Hampshire, where he later returned as a theater director. He subsequently immersed himself in films, naming Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro as two of his early inspirations because "the ones [he] liked were also the ones who made [him] think [he] could do it because they weren't the most handsome guys". He graduated from Wilde Lake High School in 1987. He attended Yale College, where he earned a BA in History. While there, he also studied Japanese, acted in university productions, and was a competitive rower. After graduating from Yale in 1991, conversant in Japanese, Norton worked not-for-profit as a representative for his grandfather's company Enterprise Community Partners in Osaka, Japan. He also trained in aikido and krav maga in both the U.S. and Japan.
Career
1991–1994: Career beginnings
After five months in Japan, Norton moved to New York City, where he supported himself working odd jobs. He took six months researching different acting techniques, focusing on method acting. He later took lessons from acting coach Terry Schreiber after discovering he was looking for a Japanese translator to help direct a play in Tokyo. Norton described him as a great teacher who encouraged students to become "multilingual actors" with different techniques for versatile roles.
Norton also wrote scripts for plays at the Signature Theatre Company and starred in Off-Broadway theater. His performance in Brian Friel's Lovers brought him to the attention of playwright Edward Albee, whose one-act plays Norton enjoyed. In 1994, Norton auditioned for Albee's Finding the Sun but did not get the part. Albee found a new role for him instead and had Norton read for Fragments. The playwright was impressed with Norton's rehearsal performance and cast him for its world premiere. Albee remarked that Norton was a rare actor "who really knocked me out". Norton recalled that he was inspired by Al Pacino, who also began his career in theater while struggling to establish himself in New York.
1995–1999: Breakthrough
In 1995, casting agent Shirley Rich discovered Norton. He then rented a studio space near The Public Theater and presented his auditions of Shakespearean works to her. Impressed by his acting, she introduced Norton to the executives of the noir drama Primal Fear, an adaptation of William Diehl's 1993 novel. He was selected for the part over two thousand other prospects. Released in 1996, Primal Fear features Norton in the role of Aaron Stampler, an altar boy who is charged with the murder of a Roman Catholic archbishop and is defended by Martin Vail (Richard Gere). His performance was lauded by critics; the Chicago Sun-Times praised Norton's character as "completely convincing", while the San Francisco Chronicle dubbed the actor "the one to watch" after his compelling debut. Norton won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category for his role in the film. Norton starred in two other films released in 1996; he played Holden Spence in the musical Everyone Says I Love You and lawyer Alan Isaacman in the biographical drama The People vs. Larry Flynt.
In 1998, Norton starred alongside Matt Damon in Rounders, which follows two friends who urgently need cash and play poker to pay off a huge debt. The film and Norton's performance received a lukewarm response; Entertainment Weekly wrote that his acting "never really goes anywhere", while the Chicago Reader observed that his character was not good enough to make the film interesting. His role in the crime drama American History X, released later that year, earned him widespread acclaim. In it, Norton portrays Derek Vinyard, a reformed neo-Nazi, who abandons his preconceived ideology after three years in prison. During production, Norton was allegedly dissatisfied with director Tony Kaye's first screening. Consequently, he took over the editing (uncredited) and finished the final cut, which was 40 minutes longer than Kaye's version. The Chicago Tribune deemed his performance an immediate contender for an Oscar. Norton received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and won a Golden Satellite Award in the same category.
In the 1999 David Fincher-directed film Fight Club, Norton played an unnamed unreliable narrator who feels trapped in his white-collar job. The film is based on Chuck Palahniuk's 1996 novel. To prepare for the role, Norton took lessons in boxing, taekwondo and grappling. Fight Club premiered at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival. During promotion for the film, Norton explained that Fight Club examines the value conflicts of Generation X as the first generation raised on television, by probing "the despair and paralysis that people feel in the face of having inherited this value system out of advertising". While the film divided contemporary critics, Norton's role was widely applauded. Time magazine labeled him "excellent", and Variety magazine was impressed by his embracing a range of techniques needed for his character. For his performance, Norton was nominated for Best Actor by the Online Film Critics Society. Despite under-performing at the box office, Fight Club became a cult classic after its DVD release in 2000.
2000–2006: Continued success and filmmaking
In 2000, Norton made his directorial debut with the romantic comedy Keeping the Faith, starring as a priest named Brian Finn. The film received mixed critical reviews. The Dallas Morning News praised his acting and labeled the film "a smart directorial debut". Entertainment Weekly remarked that Norton's emergence as a director was decent, but criticized the plot because it "proposes heavy theological aims, then disavows any such thing". In 2001's heist film The Score, Norton plays Jack Teller, an ambitious young thief caught in an unlikely alliance with experienced thief Nick Wells (Robert De Niro) arranged by his long-time friend Max (Marlon Brando). The Score and Norton's performance was well received. The San Francisco Chronicle stated that despite starring with screen legends De Niro and Brando, Norton's acting "outdoes even that of Brando". The Los Angeles Times also lauded him as an "enormously gifted young actor" who pulled off the character successfully.
Norton appeared in four films released in 2002. He played kids show host Sheldon Mopes, who quickly rises to fame for his character "Smoochy the Rhino", in the black comedy Death to Smoochy. It received negative critical feedback for its plot. He also portrayed Nelson Rockefeller in the biopic film Frida, which depicts the life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek). Norton rewrote the script several times without credit, focusing on the historical context and adding some humor while retaining Kahlo's real-life crude personality. The final screenplay, with Norton's contribution, received positive reviews from critics as well as admiration from the film's co-stars including Hayek and Alfred Molina. In the horror film Red Dragon, Norton starred as retired FBI profiler Will Graham. During production, Norton and director Brett Ratner argued frequently over the script. "He likes to challenge the director. It's all about intellectual debate," Ratner told The Times in 2003. "... Edward's instinct is going to be, 'I have to take over this film.' He's going to try to rescue the film. That's both a blessing and a curse." Despite mixed reviews, Red Dragon was Norton's most profitable venture in 2002, grossing over $200 million. Norton also co-produced and featured in 25th Hour, a film about post-9/11 New York City.
Paramount Pictures forced Norton to star in the heist film The Italian Job (2003), threatening to sue him for violating a three-film contract he had signed; the studio had previously distributed 1996's Primal Fear and 2001's The Score. Norton, accordingly, refused to promote the film's release. His performance was well received by critics, with The New Yorker calling him "intelligent and incisive ... one of those rare actors who hold the audience's attention with everything they say". Rolling Stone praised his character as "perversely magnetic" despite giving the film a negative review. During this time, Norton co-founded a production company, Class 5 Films, with Yale classmate Stuart Blumberg and film producer Bill Migliore. Norton was cast as Baldwin IV, the leper king of Jerusalem, in 2005's epic historical film Kingdom of Heaven. Reviewers criticized the film's lack of depth, despite the spectacular cinematography. Jack Moore described Norton's performance in Kingdom of Heaven as "phenomenal", and "so far removed from anything that he has ever done that we see the true complexities of his talent". It grossed over $211 million worldwide. Norton's next lead role was in the neo-western film Down in the Valley (2005), playing a delusional man who purports to be a cowboy. While the film was criticized for its narrative, Norton received plaudits for his acting.
Norton had two major film roles in 2006, starring as Eisenheim the magician in The Illusionist and bacteriologist Walter Fane in The Painted Veil. Set in 19th-century Austria-Hungary, The Illusionist was loosely based on novelist Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist" and received generally positive critical reviews. The San Francisco Chronicle dubbed the film "rich and elegant". The Houston Chronicle similarly lauded the film for its vibrant plot and described Norton's performance as "mysterious and understated". Norton co-produced The Painted Veil, in which he starred with Naomi Watts, who portrayed his character's unfaithful wife. Like his previous venture, The Painted Veil garnered positive feedback from reviewers. The Guardian applauded the film as "faultless" and "powerful" as well as Norton's "genuinely affecting" performance. Entertainment Weekly appreciated that Norton's production effort did not affect his conventionally compelling acting.
2012–present: Birdman and beyond
Norton had two lead film roles in 2012. He starred as scoutmaster Randy Ward in charge of finding his missing camper in the coming-of-age film Moonrise Kingdom, directed by Wes Anderson. The film was acclaimed by critics and grossed over $68 million. His other lead role was in the action thriller The Bourne Legacy, the fourth installment in the Bourne series. In the film, Norton portrayed retired Air Force colonel Eric Byer, who decides to terminate an illegal operation after it is exposed to the FBI and kill everyone involved. The Bourne Legacy received lukewarm reviews but has been Norton's highest-grossing venture so far, earning over $276 million worldwide. Norton also produced the comedy-drama Thanks for Sharing (2012) under his company Class 5 Films. This production venture received a mixed response. The Guardian panned the film as "smug and humourless," while The Washington Post called it "surprisingly wise, funny and affecting".
In 2014, Norton played in two Academy Award-winning films, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). He collaborated again with director Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel, which featured an ensemble cast and won four Academy Awards. In the black comedy Birdman, Norton played Broadway method actor Mike Shiner, who is talented but hard to work with. The film, as well as Norton's performance, was well received by critics. The Los Angeles Times lauded him for successfully portraying the volatility of the character, and Newsday complimented his "truly moving" poetic delivery. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and earned Norton his third Academy nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Besides acting, Norton announced in February 2014 that he would direct Motherless Brooklyn, a crime drama based on the acclaimed 1999 novel by Jonathan Lethem. Norton had wanted to work on the project since 1999 but did not begin until Brett Ratner, director of 2002's Red Dragon, joined in to help production. Released in 2019, the film received mixed reviews. Toronto Star's Peter Howell praised Norton's direction, but thought the film was complex and too long.
Norton had voice-acting roles in the animated features Sausage Party (2016) and The Guardian Brothers—the English-dubbed version of the Chinese animated film Little Door Gods (2017). He played Whit Yardsham, an estranged friend and business partner of Howard Inlet (Will Smith) in the 2016 drama Collateral Beauty. The film was panned by critics for its incoherent screenplay. Norton worked again with director Anderson for the 2018 stop motion film Isle of Dogs, in which he voiced Rex, a member of a pack of five dogs. In 2022, Norton portrayed New York tech billionaire Miles Bron in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Personal life
Relationships
Since coming to fame in the mid-1990s, Norton has opted not to discuss his personal life in public, saying that he "believes that excessive media coverage can distract him from fulfilling his role as an actor". Following the release of The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), tabloids spread rumors that Norton and his onscreen co-star Courtney Love were dating. Norton insisted that he was not romantically involved with Love, and the two were only friends and colleagues. Nevertheless, appearing on an episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Love stated they had dated for four years. It was in addition to her references in a 2006 interview to their past relationship. She said that Norton had been a "mediator" and "communicator" between her and her daughter Frances Bean Cobain, calling him a "force of good".
After Norton had ended his relationship with Love in 1999, he started dating Salma Hayek, with whom he later appeared in the 2002 biopic Frida. Norton absented himself from the premiere of The Italian Job, in which he starred, to attend the premiere of The Maldonado Miracle, Hayek's directorial debut. The two broke up in 2003. Hayek still remains friends with Norton. In 2011, Norton proposed to Canadian film producer Shauna Robertson after dating for six years. The pair married in 2012, and welcomed their son in 2013.
Ancestry
Norton appeared on the PBS genealogy series Finding Your Roots in January 2023, where it was confirmed that Pocahontas was his 12th great-grandmother. Norton, whose family had known of possible relation to Pocahontas and her husband John Rolfe for years, replied to the findings: "It makes you realize what a small piece of the human story you are".
Norton expressed discomfort upon learning his ancestors owned a family of slaves: "The short answer is these things are uncomfortable, and you should be uncomfortable with them. Everybody should be uncomfortable with it. It's not a judgement on you and your own life, but it's a judgement on the history of this country. It needs to be acknowledged first and foremost, and then it needs to be contended with. When you go away from census counts and you personalise things, you're talking about, possibly, a husband and wife with five girls – and these girls are slaves. Born into slavery. ... When you read 'slave aged eight,' you just want to die."
Norton also learned he is a distant cousin of fellow actor Julia Roberts.
Off-screen work
Environmental and humanitarian activism
.jpg)
Norton's father is an environmental lawyer and conservationist; Norton is an environmentalist. He narrated the four-part National Geographic documentary Strange Days on Planet Earth (2005), which examines earth system science. He is an advocate for renewable energy, specifically solar energy. After rising to stardom, Norton bought a solar energy-powered home in Los Angeles and switched to a hybrid car. In 2003, he collaborated with oil company BP to develop the Solar Neighbors program, which aimed to install photovoltaic panels on rooftops of households in Los Angeles. The initiative was welcomed by many of Norton's fellow celebrities, notably Salma Hayek, Brad Pitt, Danny DeVito, Alicia Silverstone and Robin Williams.
Norton is a supporter of the African Wildlife Foundation and its "Say No" campaign which raises awareness and fights against illegal poaching of elephants and rhinoceroses for ivory and horn. He is the president of the American branch of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. The organization aims to preserve the ecosystems and biodiversity of East Africa through conservation which directly benefits the local Maasai communities. To raise money for the trust, Norton fielded a team of thirty runners for the New York City Marathon on November 1, 2009; the team included himself, three Maasai tribesmen, and fellow celebrity musician Alanis Morissette. He raised over $1.2 million for the Trust after completing his run.
After the successful fundraising for the Maasai Conservation, Norton launched an online fundraising platform called Crowdrise in May 2010. The website uses a social-networking framework to help raise funds for charity. In July 2010, the then-Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) named Norton the Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity and a spokesperson for the Convention on Biological Diversity. At his designation ceremony, Norton said that biodiversity is an issue that "transcends national boundaries", with people "having lost sight" of the need for environmental protection. As part of his job as a UN Ambassador, Norton has embarked on trips to Africa and participated in programs organized by UN bodies including the Development and Environment Programmes. He also played soccer (football) for Soccer Aid in May 2012; the event raised over £4.9 million for UNICEF to assist children worldwide.
Political views and social causes
Norton has served as a member of the board of trustees of Enterprise Community Partners, a non-profit developer of affordable housing founded by his grandparents, since 1998. The company has invested $9 billion in equity capital, pre-development lending, mortgage financing, and house building for low-income Americans. In 2008, Norton initiated the company's plan to embark on green affordable housing. This originated with his concerns over environmental issues and sustainable development in addition to housing problems. He attributed his involvement in community building to his upbringing in Columbia, Maryland, which is a planned city built in the 1960s and home to a diverse population.
Norton believes celebrities should "participate quietly" in discussions on politics and social issues as, "Having a public forum tends to make people offer too casual a commentary". During the 2004 presidential election, Norton urged college students to vote against the Republican nominee George W. Bush, further criticizing his plans to cut college financing and his support of tax breaks for the rich. He also made speeches to encourage voters to support Democratic nominee John Kerry. Norton was a supporter of Democrat Eliot Spitzer, former New York governor.
During the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, Norton supported but did not actively campaign for the Democratic nominee Barack Obama, saying that "it's much more interesting to encourage people to engage than to suggest that people should model themselves on me and my views". He produced the 2009 documentary By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, which chronicles Obama's political activities from 2006 to his 2008 election victory. Norton spoke highly of Obama, crediting him as "a perfect framework" to explore contemporary U.S. politics. He produced a campaign video for Obama's 2012 presidential race with Bennett Miller; the video featured voters from diverse economic and racial backgrounds. He also expressed "grave concerns" over the Trump administration's position regarding climate change. In 2020 Norton donated $8,400 to Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign.
Awards
According to the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Norton's most critically acclaimed films are Primal Fear (1996), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), American History X (1998), Fight Club (1999), The Score (2001), Frida (2002), 25th Hour (2002), The Illusionist (2006), The Painted Veil (2006), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Birdman (2014), Sausage Party (2016) and Isle of Dogs (2018). His biggest commercial successes are Red Dragon (2002), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), The Incredible Hulk (2008), and The Bourne Legacy (2012), all of which grossed over $200 million worldwide.
Norton has been nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for Primal Fear and Birdman, and Best Actor for American History X. He also has two Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor for Primal Fear and Birdman, winning for the former.
See also
In Spanish: Edward Norton para niños
