Adrien Brody

Adrien Brody was born on April 14, 1973 in Woodhaven, Queens, New York, and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts.

Brody earned praise in The Thin Red Line and Spike Lee‘s Summer of Sam, but it wasn’t until the 2002’s Holocaust drama, The Pianist, that Brody gained international recognition. Under Roman Polanski‘s direction, Brody dropped a whopping 30 pounds and learned to play Chopin for his role as Wladyslaw Szpilman. In 2003, he became the youngest actor to ever win the Best Actor Academy Award for his role in The Pianist. He was 29.

Since his Oscar win, Brody has sought to play a wide variety of characters. He starred as a mentally disabled man in The Village with Joaquin Phoenix, a war veteran in The Jacket opposite Keira Knightley, and a rebellious scientist in Splice.

He reprised the role of Jack Driscoll in the 2005 remake of King Kong with Jack Black and Naomi Watts and starred with Beyonce in Cadillac Records.

More recently, he has played Salvador Dali in Midnight in Paris, Dmitri in The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Harry Houdini in the TV mini-series, Houdini.

In May 2009, Brody broke off his engagement to longtime girlfriend, actress Elsa Pataky. Recently he’s been linked to Lara Lieto.