Daniel Day Lewis Biography

Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. Day-Lewis, who grew up in London, is the son of actress Jill Balcon and Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. Despite his training in the classical presentational acting style at the Bristol Old Vic, he is a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. Often, he will remain completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedule of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health. He is known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only five films since 1998, with as many as five years between roles.

He is the only actor to have won the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, winning for his portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989), Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007), and as Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln (2012). He also won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and the Screen Actors' Guild Award for his role as Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002). Most recently, he won his fourth BAFTA Award for Best Actor, the Golden Globe for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for his role as Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln.