John Malkovich biography, net worth, young, height, wife, age, awards 2025

John Malkovich's biography

One of Hollywood's most enigmatic figures, John Malkovich has crafted countless unforgettable characters. The actor himself says it comes effortlessly to him – all he has to do is channel his inner energy and shape it as needed. John doesn't believe in Stanislavski's system and prefers improvising on set. What's more, he'd never accept a role that doesn't deeply interest him. His net worth is about $25 million.

Childhood

John Gavin Malkovich was born on December 9, 1953, in Illinois. He is of Serbian descent. John's father, Daniel Malkovich, was an environmentalist and worked as a conservation director and his mother was a production editor at a publishing house.

After graduating from high school Malkovich entered Eastern Illinois University, where he studied biology. However, he became quite fond of theater and created a university troop together with his friends.

In university John got sucked into theater

After earning his biology degree, John decided to stay in Chicago. Together with fellow actors who, like him, had no formal drama training, Malkovich produced over 50 plays, taking on roles as both actor and director. He could be seen in various Chicago and New York stages for the next couple of years.

Beginning of the acting career

In 1982, Malkovich received an Obie Award (given annually to off-Broadway theater artists) for his performance in True West. Two years later he was invited to one of the Broadway theaters, where he performed in Death of a Salesman alongside already famous at the time Dustin Hoffman.

That same year, John, who had just turned 30, was offered a role in the drama Places in the Heart, which became his film debut. The starring roles of the film, which is set in the time of the Great Depression, were played by Ed Harris and Sally Field. The young and still widely unknown actor was cast in a supporting role and was nominated for his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Following such a successful debut, Malkovich was literally showered with offers. Casting directors sensed endless creative energy in this tall, awkward, balding man with a heavy lower jaw and short turned-up nose – energy that could transform any mediocre film into a masterpiece.

Within a few years, John Malkovich appeared in a biographical drama film The Killing Fields where he had a chance to work with Sam Waterston and Julian Sands, and a Greek Civil war drama Eleni alongside Kate Nelligan.

John Malkovich in a film adaptation of the memoir Eleni

In a science-fiction romantic comedy Making Mr. Right John portrayed two characters at once – a scientist and the Ulysses android. Ann Magnuson played Malkovich's characters' love interest.

Recognition

Two John Malkovich films released in 1987 instantly gained cult status. The Glass Menagerie, adapting Tennessee Williams' celebrated memory play, is considered one of the finest stage-to-screen translations ever made. The film was directed by Paul Newman and starred Joanne Woodward and Karen Allen. John Malkovich's portrayal of Tom Wingfield remains unmatched.

Steven Spielberg's epic war drama Empire of the Sun follows young Jamie, a wealthy American boy who becomes a prisoner of war in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. Twelve-year-old Christian Bale played Jamie, while Malkovich portrayed an American expatriate turned scavenger, stealing food supplies against the backdrop of Hiroshima's mushroom cloud. Though this heartbreaking war film told through a child's eyes never earned major awards recognition, it struck a powerful chord with American audiences and generated significant cultural impact.

John Malkovich Hates The Sound Of His Own Voice

The charm of evil

In the historical romantic drama Dangerous Liaisons, John Malkovich played Vicomte de Valmont, who meets his end in a duel with Danceny, portrayed by Keanu Reeves. Malkovich perfectly embodied this conflicted character—both cynical and romantic, ultimately choosing death over a life without love and hope. The stellar cast also featured Glenn Close alongside a young Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman.

Glenn Close and John Malkovich in Dangerous Liaisons

Malkovich appeared in 12 feature-length films from 1990 through 2000, the majority of which are considered to be instant classics.

By late 1990, The Sheltering Sky—a drama directed by none other than Bernardo Bertolucci—hit theaters. John played a rich man, cynical and satiated with his own prosperity. While American audiences struggled to connect with the film's deeper themes, European viewers—ever drawn to existential questions—embraced the drama with far greater enthusiasm.

In the period drama based on John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Malkovich played Lenny, a farmer whose mental disability masks tremendous physical strength—making him unexpectedly dangerous.

Malkovich delivered another standout performance in the horror film Mary Reilly, playing dual roles as the brilliant Dr. Jekyll and his repulsive alter ego, Edward Hyde. Julia Roberts was cast as his maid, who discovers Malkovich's character secret.

Malkovich then starred in The Ogre, a French-German drama dedicated to the memory of director Louis Malle. He played Abel, a man falsely accused of assaulting a young girl. Punished for his alleged crime, he's sent to the front lines, where he's captured and becomes an assistant to Chief Forester Göring. Abel dutifully follows orders, bringing children to the hunting lodge believing he's protecting them—unaware he's actually recruiting them for the Nazi cause.

In 1997, Malkovich appeared in the action thriller Con Air as Cyrus, a criminal mastermind imprisoned in a supermax facility. He orchestrates a prison riot and hijacks a transport plane. Critics agreed that Malkovich's deadly, wickedly intelligent Cyrus stole every scene. Though some argued that Steve Buscemi's unhinged yet oddly angelic serial killer Garland gave him a run for his money. The good guys were played by Nicolas Cage and John Cusack.

Best roles

John Malkovich's name rarely appears first when the credits roll, but his name became the title of a film that achieved cult status. The fantasy comedy-drama Being John Malkovich follows a puppeteer who finds a portal that leads into Malkovich's mind, where you can see his every thought and even partially control him.

Trailer for Being John Malkovich

Malkovich doesn't play his authentic self, but rather the caricatured version people see him as. No one else in Hollywood could pull this off quite like John. The role of the lucky puppeteer was given to John Cusack, while Cameron Diaz portrayed his wife. Critics called it a movie about acting—only in reverse.

Malkovich appeared in a French television series Les Misérables, where he played a police inspector Javert, pursuing Jean Valjean and his adopted daughter Cosette. The series featured an all-star cast: Gérard Depardieu portrayed a former convict, Virginie Ledoyen played Cosette, while Asia Argento, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Christian Clavier appeared in supporting roles.

Trailer for Les Misérables

In 2002, Liliana Cavani—director of the notorious erotic psychological drama The Night Porter—cast Malkovich as Tom Ripley in the thriller Ripley's Game without an audition. Malkovich perfectly captured the criminal's dangerous charm and charisma, his callous disregard for others and couldn't-care-less attitude.

In 2006, the actor was offered the role of Gustav Klimt in an art-house biographical film about a symbolist painter, who was ahead of his time and only gained recognition after his death. The film portrayed him as a nonconformist genius who refused to play by society's rules. The cast included Saffron Burrows and Sandra Ceccarelli.

Malkovich was surprisingly cast against type, playing a decent character rather than his usual villain in the mystery crime drama The Changeling, the plot of which revolves around a mother trying to prove that she's raising someone else's son. John played Reverend Briegleb, one of the few people who believed Angelina Jolie's character and helped her escape from a psychiatric ward.

Trailer for The Changeling

Joel and Ethan Coen noticed Malkovich's explosive temper and his signature ability to switch from completely relaxed to enraged within seconds, so they created a series of hilarious scenes built around this trait in their black comedy Burn After Reading. Malkovich played a former CIA analyst, Osbourne Cox, who recorded his memoir on a CD that unfortunately gets stolen. The film also stars Tilda Swinton, George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

The role of aging university professor David Lurie in the drama Disgrace is considered one of John Malkovich's career-best performances and one of the most challenging for audiences to understand. The film raises more questions than it answers as Lurie faces an impossible choice. When he makes his decision based on what he believes is right, he realizes the person closest to him—his daughter—will never understand.

According to Zoomboola.com, between 2010 and 2015, Malkovich appeared in the supernatural western action film Jonah Hex, where he tried to create an army of the dead and seize power, and in action comedies RED and RED 2, where he portrayed a former CIA agent forced to go back to his old days, alongside Bruce Willis, Brian Cox and Morgan Freeman.

Trailer (2010) for Jonah Hex

Malkovich also did a voice-over for Dr. Octavius Brine in a 3D computer-animated comedy Penguins of Madagascar. In 2016, the actor appeared in a disaster film Deepwater Horizon, where he partnered up with Mark Wahlberg.

The most memorable movies of 2017, starring John, are a crime thriller Bullet Head, where he co-starred with Adrien Brody and Antonio Banderas, a romantic comedy The Wilde Wedding, where Malkovich appeared alongside Glenn Close, and a British thriller film Unlocked, where the actor portrayed the CIA Europe Division Chief.

John Malkovich's personal life

In 1982, John married fellow actress Glenne Headly. The couple stayed together for six years until John got involved with Michelle Pfeiffer while filming Dangerous Liaisons.

While working on his next project, The Sheltering Sky, he fell in love with French production crew member Nicoletta Peyran and married her in 1990. The couple has two kids together – daughter Amandine (born in 1990) and son Loewy (born in 1992). The family lived in Southern France for a while until they decided to move to Cambridge in 2003 due to more lenient tax policies.

The actor is known to be a very private person and was never one to talk openly about his struggles, but it's a well-known fact that he tried to get a handle on his explosive temper with the help of specialists. However, all efforts were in vain and John decided to find his inner peace through crafts. He loves to paint, crochet, and embroider. In the early 2000s, Malkovich turned his hobby into a multimillion-dollar business when he created his own fashion line.

John Malkovich Now

John Malkovich remains active in films and continues to be a sought-after actor. In 2019, two films were released featuring his work. In the thriller "Velvet Buzzsaw," he played Pierce and co-starred with Jake Gyllenhaal. In the same year, "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile" premiered with Zac Efron in the title role, where John played a judge.

Velvet Buzzsaw: Trailer

In 2020, John appeared on The New Pope opposite Jude Law, as well as on the Netflix comedy series Space Force. The crime thriller "Ava" and the thriller "Arkansas" are also expected to premiere, both featuring Malkovich.

Linda Mendez

Wow, as I remember watching «Les Misérables» with his participation. Awesome movie and actors there.

2021-04-22 12:31:21
Ricardo Carter

«The Killing Fields» is an unreal war drama with Malkovich. I advise everyone!

2021-04-16 10:09:58
Theresa Young

With actor Malkovich, I like the film «Dangerous Liaisons». He starred in the book, and there Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves appeared!

2021-03-14 10:32:36
Samuel Sullivan

And I kept wondering why John had such an interesting surname. It turns out that he has Serbian roots. Was curious to know :)

2021-03-08 10:49:41
Jayden Cody Lopez

I agree with the opinion of John Malkovich, if you do not like the role, then he does not take on it. This can be applied to many areas of life.

2021-02-19 11:28:54

Photos: John Malkovich