EDWARD NORTON
Date Of Birth: August 18, 1969
Edward Norton is the eldest of three children born to
a lawyer father and a teacher mother. He first began acting at the age of five and
attended a school for theatrical arts in the Baltimore area. Following undergraduate studies at
Yale, he worked at the Enterprise Foundation in Japan, an organization founded by his
grandfather that develops low-income housing. After moving back to the States he did
the auditioning rounds while working as a waiter before being cast in the world premiere
production of Eward Albee's stage play, Fragments. It wasn't long after that when
Hollywood came calling.
"I tend to look at a part and wonder if 10 other young men can do it," Norton says. "I look
for something I can bring a particular take to. But I don't like to talk about it."
This Yale University history major from Columbia, Maryland, doesn't have to. Talk about
it, that is. He lets his acting do the talking for him. And it spoke volumes in his debut
screen performance when he stole the movie Primal Fear (1996) out from under Richard Gere's
nose. Although the movie as a whole wasn't very well-received, Edward Norton was
stunning as the psychopathic killer who gets away with murder. He even got an Oscar
nomination for his efforts. Suddenly Norton was a hot commodity.
But Norton doesn't want you to know more than he's willing to let you in on. "Every
little thing that people know about you as a person impedes your ability to achieve that
kind of terrific suspension of disbelief that happens when an audience goes with an actor
and character he's playing. Anybody can ask me anything, but I firmly believe I have the
right to answer or not."
Norton has since gone on to star in several notable films like Rounders (1998), Keeping the Faith (2000), The Italian Job (2003), the lead role of Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk (2008), and most recently, Scout Master Ward in Moonrise Kingdom (2012).
Norton has been linked romantically to Courtney Love and Salma Hayek. An anti-smoking advocate, Norton refuses to smoke in his films.
Filmography:
Moonrise Kingdom(2012)
Stone(2010)
Leaves of Grass(2009)
The Invention of Lying(2009)
Motherless Brooklyn (2008)
Pride and Glory(2008)
Motherless Brooklyn (2008)
The Incredible Hulk(2008)
Pride and Glory(2007)
The Painted Veil(2006)
The Illusionist(2006)
Down in the Valley(2005)
Kingdom of Heaven(2005)
The Italian Job(2003)
The 25th Hour (2002)
Red Dragon(2002)
Frida (2002)
Death to Smoochy(2001)
Hart's War (2001)
The Score (2001)
Keeping the Faith(2000)
Fight Club(1999)
American History X(1998)
Rounders(1998)
The People Vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
Primal Fear (1996)
Everyone Says I Love You (1996)