Edward Norton

Some say that true artistic genius cannot be learned but is an inherent trait in an individual. That is why Mozart composed - and it may also be why, at age 8, Edward Norton was already asking his drama teacher what his motivation was in certain scenes. Norton has been likened to a young Dustin Hoffman or De Niro, and he seems to live up to such praise with each film.

Although Norton is rather guarded when it comes to his personal life (he says that he wants his work to judged on his own merits, not clouded by celebrity expectations), he has been willing to talk about his life. Edward was born in Columbia, Maryland on August 18th, 1969 to a lawyer father and a teacher mother. He is the eldest of three children.

From the age of 5 onward, Edward knew he wanted to be an actor. He attended theater schools throughout his life, and eventually managed to find work on stage in New York as a member of the Signature players, who produced the works of playwright and director Edward Albee. A Yale graduate, Edward also spent some time overseas in Japan working for a foundation founded by his architect grandfather, The Enterprise Foundation. The organization was dedicated to developing low-income housing for the poor.

Around the time when Edward was appearing in Edward Albee's Fragments in Hollywood, they were looking for a young actor to star opposite Richard Gere in a new courtroom thriller, Primal Fear. The role was offered to Leonardo DiCaprio (in pre-Titanic anonymity) but he turned it down. Gere was on the verge of walking away from the project, fed up with the wait for a young star to be found, when Edward Norton auditioned and won the role coveted by over 2000 hopefuls.

Before the film was even released, his test screenings for the part were causing a Hollywood sensation, and he was soon offered roles in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You and The People vs. Larry Flynt. Edward was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar for his supporting performance in Primal Fear. When the latter two films came out, they only confirmed to audiences what an impressive young man Edward Norton was. He dated Larry Flynt co-star Courtney Love for a time, and she describes him as a class act.

Norton was again nominated for an Academy Award in 1999, this time for his starring work as a reformed white supremacist skinhead in American History X. Such acclaim and prestige is truly impressive for an actor so young. Norton is very rapidly outdistancing other actors in his age group to become the greatest actor of his generation.

Courtesy MovieThing.com Biographies