Brendan Fraser, star of “The Mummy” & “Inkheart”, signing copies of Inkheart
- 1/14/09 7:00 PM at Borders Books – Columbus Circle. New York, NY.
Brendan James Fraser (born December 3, 1968) is a Canadian-American actor of stage and screen. He is known for having starred in several major Hollywood films, including The Mummy film series, The Quiet American, Crash, George of the Jungle and Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Early life
Fraser was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of Canadian parents Carol, a sales counselor, and Peter Fraser, a former journalist who worked as a Canadian foreign service officer for the Government Office of Tourism. Fraser has three older brothers: Kevin, Regan, and Sean. His family moved often during his childhood, living in Eureka, California, Seattle, Ottawa, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Fraser attended the private boys’ boarding school, Upper Canada College, in Toronto. While on vacation in London, Fraser attended his first professional theatrical performance in at the West End. He graduated from Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts in 1990. He began acting at a small acting college in New York. He originally planned on attending graduate school in Texas but stopped in Hollywood on his way south and decided to stay in Los Angeles and work in movies.
His surname is properly pronounced “Fray-zer,” though some pronounce it “Frasier” (as in Kelsey Grammer’s television character). The correct pronunciation of his surname is a running gag in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star in which he has a cameo.
Career
Fraser’s first film role was a brief cameo in an America’s Most Wanted Reenactment (1988) he played friend to Rodney Mark Peterson, who was murdered. He has since garnered over 30 film credits. He had his first lead role in Encino Man (1992). That same year he played opposite Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris O’Donnell in School Ties (1992). In 1994, he co-starred alongside Adam Sandler in the comedy Airheads. He went onto play supporting roles starring alongside Viggo Mortensen and Ashley Judd in Philip Ridley’s The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995), and Jennifer Beals in The Twilight of the Golds (1997). In 1997, he got his breakthrough role with the hit comedy film George of the Jungle (1997). He went on to appear in several comedy films such as Blast from the Past (1999), Bedazzled (2000) and Monkeybone (2001).
Fraser also played a dramatic role in Gods and Monsters (1998), alongside Ian McKellen. The film was based on the life of the filmmaker James Whale (McKellen), who made the 1931 film Frankenstein. This film was written and directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) and was a story about the loss of creativity, ambiguous sexuality and unlikely bonds between a heterosexual gardener and a gay, tortured and ailing filmmaker.
His biggest commercial success came with the action adventure horror film (co-starring Rachel Weisz) The Mummy (1999) and its sequel The Mummy Returns (2001), both of which were hugely successful at the box office. He has starred in two films based on Jay Ward creations, George of the Jungle and Dudley Do-Right although he did not reprise his role in the former’s sequel.
In 2004, he appeared in the Academy Award-winning film Crash. He has also made guest appearances on the television shows Scrubs, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons.
In March 2006, he was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame, the first American-born actor to receive the honor. However, as of 2006, he does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After a six year hiatus in the franchise, Fraser returned for the second sequel to The Mummy released in August 2008 and titled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Filming started in Montreal on July 27, 2007 and the movie also starred Jet Li as Emperor Han. The last Mummy film grossed over $100 million in the USA and over $400 million worldwide.
Fraser also starred as “Brick” in the West End production of Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in September, 2001, directed by Anthony Page. Castmates included Ned Beatty, Frances O’Connor, and Gemma Jones. The show closed on January 12, 2002, with Fraser garnering many excellent reviews.
book signing source: http://www.geocities.com/leecoke/
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