Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig’s biography

Daniel Craig is a British actor, who reinforced the ranks of the performers of the role of special agent James Bond in 2006 (Casino Royale). By that time, in his filmography, there were more than 40 roles, and each of them became a definite milestone in Craig’s life and career: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Munich, Sylvia, Road to Perdition.

Actor Daniel Craig ‒ the sixth James Bond

Childhood and family

The future performer of James Bond’s role was born on March 2, 1968, in the typical English city of Chester. His mother, Carol, was an artist; she taught art at school. His father, the former sailor Timothy, worked as a steelworker at one of the local factories, but some time later he left this occupation and opened his own bar Ring O’ Bells. When things went uphill, he opened the second pub ‒ The Boot Inn.

Daniel Craig in childhood

Daniel was not even five years old when his parents parted. His mother married the second time. The famous British artist Max Blond became James’ and his elder sister Olivia’s stepfather. No wonder that the boy grew up in a creative atmosphere. In the new composition (in addition to his stepfather, Danny had the eldest half-brother Philip), the family moved to Liverpool, where Daniel spent most of his childhood.

In 1973, during one of the infrequent meetings with his father, Daniel together with him went to the cinema to watch the film Live and Let Die with Roger Moore ‒ the first Bond series film in his life. Craig later admitted that this film took a special place in the heart of a boy who had not yet recovered from the divorce of his parents.

Daniel Craig’s school photo

Carol always liked the theater, so she was inexpressibly happy when her 6-year-old son began to show interest in dramatic art. She took him to the productions of the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, and soon he himself debuted in the school musical called Oliver!.

In high school, sports were added to the passion for the theatre — an athletic built young man joined the rugby school team and showed certain success.

Incidentally, even now Craig can boast of his perfect body

In 1984, he went to be tested to the troupe of the National Youth Theater, which arrived on tour to Manchester. The 16-year-old boy amazed everyone with his talent, and he was admitted. Daniel moved to London, and soon his parents applauded happily at the premiere of Troilus and Cressida, in which their son played king Agamemnon’s part. In his spare time from rehearsals and performances, Craig earned on the side as a waiter.

Young Daniel Craig

He traveled together with the theatre half of Europe from Madrid to Moscow. At the same time, he was preparing for tests at the famous Guildhall, School of Art in the Barbican. The first two attempts were unsuccessful, but in the end, his persistence was rewarded ‒ in 1988, he reinforced the ranks of Guildhall students. Ewan McGregor and Alistair McGowan studied with him in the same year and on the same course.

Acting career

In 1991, after three years of study under the mentorship of Colin McCormack, the star of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, he received a long-awaited diploma. In 1992, he made his debut in the cinema (the film The Power of One). The performance Angels in America, staged in 1993, in which Craig played as homosexual Mormon, reached wild popularity.

In his youth Daniel Craig wore long hair

From time to time he appeared on television in the cast of medium-class serials until in 1996 he got a role in the drama serial Our Friends in the North, where he, along with Christopher Eccleston, Mark Strong, and Gina McKee, lived as a typical Englishman for 30 years ‒ from the 60s to 90s.

In the photo: Daniel Craig and Mark Strong (photo session for the serial Our Friends in the North

The actor remembered the late 90s for many more interesting works. Among them is the television series The Hunger (a film adaptation anthology of writers of the past and the present), starring David Bowie, detective thriller The Ice House, in which Craig’s character had to work closely with three lesbians, as well as a biographical drama called Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon about the artist Francis Bacon starring Derek Jacobi and Tilda Swinton, where Craig had to play completely naked.

Shots from the film Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon

In 2001, after the premiere of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie in the lead role, Daniel Craig became known among the viewers around the world. The charismatic blond with icy eyes appeared as Lara Croft’s rival, the raider Alex West.

Lara Croft: Daniel Craig as Alex West

In 2002, the actor appeared in the Oscar-winning thriller Road to Perdition together with Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Jude Law. In 2004 there was a lead role as the drug dealer XXXX in Matthew Vaughn's action film Layer Cake, for which Craig was awarded the Young Audience Award of the European Film Academy.

Daniel Craig ‒ the new James Bond

One week after the completion of shooting in Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg, Craig was offered to become the sixth James Bond, standing in one row with such cinema legends as Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton. The actor could not refuse the fateful opportunity. On October 14, 2005, he officially became James Bond from the 21st part of Bond film series called Casino Royale, and the filmmakers approved Eva Green for the role of James Bond’s new girlfriend.

Daniel Craig and Eva Green starred together in Casino Royale

Such an appointment literally split the cinematographic community into two parts. Some believed that the talented Englishman would perfectly cope with this role. Others called this appointment derision over their favorite character. The point is that Daniel Craig became the shortest James Bond in cinema history, as well as the first spy 007 with blond hair. The new reason for hot discussions was the fact that it was in the new films of the franchise that the British super spy became much more brutal: he more often participated in fights and paid less attention to the weaker sex. Anyway, the film Casino Royale was a great success at the world box office. After this, the number of arrows shot at Craig significantly decreased. However, even today Daniel Craig retains the status of the most controversial James Bond in the history of the famous franchise.

A worthy substitute for Timothy Dalton

Over the following years, several remarkable films starring Daniel appeared on the screens: The Golden Compass, Infamous, Cowboys & Aliens, Defiance, Dream House, as well as the American screen adaptation of the legendary book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with beautiful Swedish woman Noomi Rapace.

Casino Royale - Trailer

In 2008, the actor again turned into James Bond, appearing as an English super spy in the movie Quantum of Solace. Craig’s fee for this film exceeded his earnings from the first part of the updated franchise almost 2.5 times and amounted impressive $ 7.2 million, despite the fact that critics’ reviews about the film were no longer so warm. For example, this time Bond’s girlfriend was Olga Kurilenko.

In 2012, Craig again set a kind of record, receiving an amount of $ 20 million (including various bonuses) for starring in the film Skyfall, which none of the Bond series actors had ever received for one film. And in total, the film has earned more than $ 1.1 billion (!) at the worldwide box office.

Shot from the film Skyfall

Skyfall rehabilitated the franchise in the eyes of the audience, but, unfortunately, the next film ‒ Spectre released in 2015, differing only in the soundtrack (Writing’s On The Wall by Sam Smith) and the explosion scene, which was recognized as the largest in the history of cinema.

In spite of numerous rumors about a search for a new candidate for the role of Bond, in the summer of 2017, Daniel Craig confirmed that he would participate in at least one more part of Bond film series, the premiere of which is scheduled for November 8, 2019. The budget of the picture is already known ‒ 25 million dollars.

Daniel Craig in the film Logan Lucky

In September 2017, he appeared in the comedy action movie called Logan Lucky, playing as explosions expert Joe Bang, who joined the team of brilliant burglars. Channing Tatum, Adam Driver and Katie Holmes starred together with him in the film.

Daniel Craig’s personal life

For a long time, there were rumors about Daniel Craig's unconventional sexual orientation, which he denied time after time. But was there a reason?

Daniel Craig furiously denies rumors that he is gay

In 1992, having just graduated from Guildhall he married Scottish actress Fiona Loudon, who presented him a daughter Ella. In 1994, the couple parted, but kept warm relations for the sake of their daughter. Daniel has always taken an equal part in bringing up Ella.

Daniel Craig with his daughter

In 1996, it became known about Daniel Craig’s new love-affair. This time, his life partner became German actress Heike Makatsch. This love-affair lasted for eight whole years, but in the end, it broke up too.

Daniel Craig’s second wife ‒ German Heike Makatsch

In June of 2011, spy 007 secretly married the actress Rachel Weisz (The Mummy, The Bourne Legacy). It is rather noteworthy that this love-affair began after two celebrities played a married couple in the film Dreams House. For the actor’s sake Rachel left her first spouse, the film director Darren Aronofsky. The couple together brings up two children ‒ Daniel’s daughter Ella and Rachel’s son from her first marriage, Henry.

Now Daniel Craig is married to Rachel Weisz

So, Daniel Craig is happily married. But why does the press continue to spread rumors about his homosexuality? In 2010, the actor was caught red-handed inside the gay club Roosterfish. He came there with a muscular young handsome man, and, according to eyewitnesses, the couple had fun: they drank cocktails, danced, and even kissed each other. However, eyewitnesses provided neither video nor photos.

But in the spring of 2018, the actor put an end to these rumors ‒ the actress Rachel Weisz became pregnant from him. On September 1, the stars became the parents of a charming daughter.

Daniel Craig is a caring father

Daniel Craig now

In 2019, the long-awaited premiere of Knives Out, in which Daniel played Benoit Blanc, took place at the Toronto International Film Festival. His filming partners were Chris Evans and Ana De Armas. In 2020, Daniel Craig will again delight fans with the role of James Bond in 25 films from the epic. "No Time to Die" will premiere at the end of the year - it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.