Adrien Brody

Spotlight

Thanks to a photojournalist mom, Adrien Brody became comfortable in front of the camera at an early age. He also displayed a love for the limelight early when he performed magic under the stage name The Amazing Adrien at neighborhood children’s birthday parties. His parents nurtured his artistic aspirations by sending him to acting lessons, summer camp for the arts and the Fame high school. He and his signature schnoz (broken three times doing stunts) quickly became a regular at arthouse theaters (New York Stories, Steven Soderbergh’s King Of The Hill, Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line, Natural Born Killers and Spike Lee’s Summer Of Sam) and even earned a Spirit Award nomination for his work in 1998’s Restaurant. But widespread recognition eluded him until he was cast as the lead in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, a 2002 role for which he learned to tickle the ivories, gave up his home and lost 29 pounds. His research and self-imposed suffering convinced Academy voters to award him with Best Actor, which he celebrated by spontaneously making out with Halle Berry on stage. He’s the youngest recipient in this category to date. He used his newfound notoriety to land the SNL hosting gig (He was subsequently banned for improvising his opening monologue.), bolster beloved indie projects like The Darjeeling Limited and The Jacket, star in bigger-budget films like The Village, King Kong and Predators, book commercial campaigns for Stella Artois beer and Gilette and strike a pose as a runway model for Prada.