As a boy, Malkovich was reportedly heavy set. By high school, he had transformed himself physically and was a star athlete. He attended Illinois State University with an interest in ecology.

In 1976, Malkovich became a charter member of Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to New York City, New York in 1983 and appeared in the play True West. He appeared on Broadway with Dustin Hoffman in Death of a Salesman (1984). Malkovich won an Emmy Award for this role when the play became a television movie. He made his film debut in Places in the Heart (1984) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In 1994, he was nominated for an Oscar in the same category for In the Line of Fire (1993). Though he played the title role in the Charlie Kaufman-penned Being John Malkovich, he is playing a slight variation of himself, as indicated by the character's middle name of "Horatio". Malkovich has a cameo in the movie Adaptation.—also written by Kaufman—appearing as himself during the filming of Being John Malkovich. The Dancer Upstairs, Malkovich's directorial debut, was released in 2002.

Malkovich has been based in France for many years but has recently announced he is ending his residency in that country. He and his French girlfriend, Nicoletta Peyran, have two children, Amandine and Loewy.

Malkovich caused controversy in the United Kingdom in 2002 by announcing at the Cambridge Union Society his desire to shoot to death journalist Robert Fisk and politician George Galloway [1], both of whom are accused of sympathising with Islamic terrorists.

On April 4, 2005, while speaking at Illinois State University, Malkovich was awarded a diploma in Theatre. When attending the university as a student in the 1970's, he failed to take his last remaining graduation requirement, the U.S. Constitution test. This requirement was waived in order to award him the diploma.

Credit: en.wikipedia.org