Triple Oscar winner, actor Daniel Day-Lewis Quits
Acting
Three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis, widely considered one of the
preeminent actors of his generation, is retiring from acting, Variety has learned.
The 60-year-old star, who has played presidents, writers, and gang
leaders in a career that has spanned four decades, has one final film awaiting
release, an untitled drama set in the world of high fashion. It is scheduled to
hit theaters on December 25, 2017 and reunites him with Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed Day-Lewis to
a best actor Oscar in 2007’s “There Will Be Blood.” Day-Lewis intends to
help promote the movie, according to a person familiar with his plans.
He did not give a reason for his retirement. In a statement, Day-Lewis’
spokeswoman, Leslee Dart, confirmed the news: “Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer
be working as an actor. He is immensely grateful to all of his
collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private
decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further
comment on this subject. ”
Day-Lewis is the performer to ever win three best actor Oscars, for the title
role in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” his turn as a rapacious oil man in
“There Will Be Blood,” and his performance as writer and artist Christy Brown
in “My Left Foot.” He earned two other Academy Award nominations for “Gangs of
New York” and “In the Name of the Father.”
Day-Lewis has been praised for his shape-shifting acting and
versatility. He is known for going to extreme lengths for his performances,
frequently remaining in character off-screen. He has also starred in musicals
(“Nine”), adventure epics (“The Last of the Mohicans“),
and period dramas (“The Age of Innocence”).
The method master once
learned Czech to play a philandering doctor in “The Unbearable Lightness of
Being,” listened to Eminem records to channel rage in “Gangs of New York,” and
confined himself to a wheelchair for “My Left Foot” to play Brown, who had cerebral
palsy.
Day-Lewis, who is the son of poet Cecil Day-Lewis and English actress
Jill Balcon, made his screen debut at the age of 14 in a bit part in 1971’s
“Sunday, Bloody Sunday.” He first gained attention on the stage and on
television before dazzling critics in 1985 with the one-two punch of “My
Beautiful Laundrette” and “A Room With a View,” convincingly playing a street
tough and an upper class Edwardian.
Although he has remained in high demand, Day-Lewis is also known as
being highly selective, often waiting years between projects. In the late ’90s
and early aughts he appeared to give up acting for a while, reportedly working
as a cobbler before Martin Scorsese convinced him to return to the screen
for “Gangs of New York.”
Day-Lewis has three children and is married to writer and director
Rebecca Miller.
