Unpredictable and famously reserved about his private life to the point of being secluded, actor Daniel Day-Lewis proved time and again his considerable onscreen talents in roles befitting the highly complex actor. Though often compared to fellow Brit Laurence Olivier, Day-Lewis instead took his cues from the raw, aggressive loners of 1970s American cinema, namely Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro, in adapting a Method-style of acting. After gaining notice with his performances in "My Beautiful Laundrette" (1985) and "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1988), Day-Lewis developed a reputation for fully delving into his characters, often to the point of making their experiences his own - like staying in a wheelchair all day and being spoon fed like the real-life Christy Brown, the Irish writer and painter with cerebral palsy, in "My Left Foot" (1989). While he may have learned to track animals to play a frontiersman in "Last of the Mohicans" (1993) and lived in a prison cell to play an accused IRA bomber in "In the Name of the Father" (1993), it was highly doubtful Day-Lewis turned into a savage murderer for his Oscar-nominated turn as Bill the Butcher in "Gangs of New York" (2002). Nonetheless, Day-Lewis' focus on craft was palpable onscreen - again evidenced in his acclaimed leading performance in "Lincoln" (2012) - earning him yet another Oscar and the respect of all actors for being one of the most deeply committed thespians of his generation. Famously conflicted about life as a thespian, Day-Lewis claimed that "Phantom Thread" (2017), his second film with "There Will Be Blood" (2007) director Paul Thomas Anderson, would be his last movie.Born on April 29, 1957 in London, England, Day-Lewis was raised in a middle-class literary home; his father, Cecil, was a writer and English Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972, and his mother, Jill Balcon, was an actress. Surprisingly, his parents sent him to public school in South London, rather than have their son educated at a posh academy. But Day-Lewis proved to be a rambunctious student, leading his parents to transfer him to Sevenoaks, a private school in Kent. His new surroundings made him miserable; he even went on a shoplifting spree in hopes of getting expelled, but to no avail. Instead, Day-Lewis begged his parents to let him join his sister, Tamasin, at Bedales, a progressive public school in neighboring Petersfield. Part of his dilemma with fitting in at private school came from his identifying with the working class, despite an educated middle class upbringing. He was intrigued by other kids whose fathers worked the shipping yards or ran shops. Despite his troubles, it was at this time that Day-Lewis was introduced to his two most prominent interests: carpentry and acting.Though he made his film debut with a tiny role in "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" (1971), an emotionally complex drama about an unorthodox love triangle, it would be a number of years before he graced the big screen with regularity. Meanwhile, prior to his death in 1972, his father had the happy opportunity to see his son play Florizel in a production of Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale." He soon died, leaving behind a lifetime of regret in Day-Lewis for not having had a close relationship with his father. In 1973, Day-Lewis joined the National Youth Theatre, but found the experience to be degrading and soon left. Meanwhile, his desire to be a craftsman led to applying for an apprenticeship with well-known cabinetmaker John Makepeace. At the same time, however, Day-Lewis applied to the Bristol Old Vic and was accepted. Though he chose to enter acting, he never lost his interest in craftsmanship, even if only translating the principles into building characters. Meanwhile at the Old Vic, he delivered noted performances in Nigel Williams' "Class Enemy," among others.Day-Lewis started his film career in earnest with a small part as a street bully in Richard Attenborough's historical epic "Gandhi" (1982). Afte
