Share

Jude Law biography

1 photo

Quick Facts

  • NAME: Jude Law
  • OCCUPATION: Actor
  • BIRTH DATE: December 29, 1972 (Age: 40)
  • PLACE OF BIRTH: Lewisham, England
  • Full Name: David Jude Heyworth Law
  • ZODIAC SIGN: Capricorn

Best Known For

directed British actor Jude Law received an Academy Award nomination for his performance in Cold Mountain. He also played "Gigolo Joe" in Steven Spielberg's film A.I.


Videos see all videos

Quiz

Think you know about Biography?

Answer questions and see how you rank against other players.

Play Now
Jude Law - Full Episode watch more videos (1)

Synopsis

Jude Law was born December 29, 1972 in Lewisham, England. While his first several U.S. films were disappointing,

he earned an Academy Award nomination for his role in The Talented Mr. Ripley with Matt Damon in 1999. Law received another Oscar nod in 2004 for his work in Cold Mountain with Nicole Kidman. He also appeared in the Sherlock Holmes films with Robert Downey Jr. and Anna Karenina (2012).

Early Career

Actor. Born December 29, 1972, in Lewisham, London, England. Raised in South London by his parents, who were both schoolteachers, Law joined the National Youth Music Theatre at age 13, where he acted in such productions as Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. He left school at age 16 after winning a part as a teenage runaway on the British television soap opera Families. Over the next several years, Law won parts on stage, in a touring production of Pygmalion and The Fastest Clock in the Universe in London (both 1992), and on TV in both Britain and the U.S. (a 1990 episode of Sherlock Holmes during the PBS series Mystery!). In 1994, Law made his film debut, in the poorly received British film Shopping; the film also featured Law's future wife, Sadie Frost, an actress best known for her appearance in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

The classically handsome Law initially found a greater measure of success on stage than on screen. He starred in the London production of Les Parents Terribles in 1995, and became the only member of the cast who was invited to reprise his role in the hit Broadway version of the play, Indiscretions. Law earned a Tony Award nomination for Featured Actor for his starring role complete with a much-talked-about nude scene opposite Kathleen Turner, as a son involved in an incestuous relationship with his mother.

Disappointing Film Debut

By contrast, his first several U.S. films met with a less than warm reception, both critically and commercially. In 1997, he had important supporting roles in three major American films: in the futuristic thriller Gattaca, co-starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, he played a genetically-perfect man crippled in an accident; in both Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, directed by Clint Eastwood and co-starring Kevin Spacey and John Cusack, and Wilde, he played dangerously tempting objects of homosexual desire. Though all three films did mediocre business, Law received praise for his magnetic screen presence and, inevitably, his sultry good looks. Several more disappointments followed, including the little-seen I Love You, I Love You Not (1997), co-starring Claire Danes, Music From Another Room (1998), and The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998, released in the U.S. in 2000).

ADVERTISEMENT
9375342 9375342
profile id: 9375342
profile name: Jude Law
profile occupation:
related profile id: 9375342
related profile name: Jude Law
related profile occupation:
related profile img: /imported/images/Biography/Images/Profiles/L/Jude-Law-9375342-1-402.jpg
related profile URL: /people/jude-law-9375342
profile
pop
Your Connections

Sign in with Facebook to see how you and your friends are connected to famous icons.

specific profile connection
Your Friends' Connections
specific friend connection
Profile Connections
    Show More Connections
    Included In These Groups

    See all related groups


    ADVERTISEMENT

    Celebrity Connections

    Show More Connections
    Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us!