Biografie

Was expelled from Northridge (CA) Military Academy for throwing a tire at a classmate.

In February 2001, he appears twice in Total Film's (U.K) '10 Greatest Villains of All Time' poll. His "John Doe", from Sieben (1995), reached #10, while his character in Die üblichen Verdächtigen (1995) was voted #5.

His mother was his date for the Academy Awards the night he won.

Burned his sister's treehouse down when they were children. This caused his parents to opt for military school, which he promptly left for Chatsworth High School.

In May 1999, he was voted greatest actor of the decade by Empire magazine.

[on winning the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in American Beauty (1999))] This has definitely been the highlight of my day.

[on American Beauty (1999)] I read the screenplay and nearly fell out of bed. I thought I better meet him quick before someone else read it.

[on assumptions by women that he is gay (NOTE: In 2017 he admitted that he was gay after years of unconfirmed speculation)] For them it's a challenge. They want to be the one to turn me around. I let them.

My idea of credibility is primarily self-imposed and it all relates to the thing that I've been interested in as an actor and a director, which is what are you WILLING to live with as a human being? And there's things I'm just not willing to live with--and I won't. And if it means that I stop and find something else in life that interests me or challenges me, so be it.

The less you know about me, the easier it is to convince you that I am that character on screen. It allows an audience to come into a movie theatre and believe I am that person.