2004’s Sexiest Man Alive

Background:

"Face it; I didn't become famous until I took my clothes off." Jude Law

British actor Jude Law first caught attention on Broadway with his Tony-nominated performance in the play "Indiscretions" (1995). He soon switched to motion pictures and earned Academy Award nominations for acting in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and Cold Mountain (2003). Other films include A. I. Artificial Intelligence, Enemy at the Gates (both in 2001), Road to Perdition (2002), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Alfie, Closer, I Heart Huckabees, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and The Aviator (all in 2004). Law will soon be seen in the upcoming films All the King's Men and Breaking and Entering.

"I would never know how to sell myself as a sex symbol. That's not how I'm programmed." Jude Law

The 5' 11" tall, handsome, sexy actor, who was on People (USA) magazine's “50 Most Beautiful” lists in 2000 and 2004, was named as People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" in 2004. On a more personal note, after his divorce with actress Sadie Frost in 2003, Law became engaged to actress Sienna Miller (actress; born on December 28, 1982) on December 25, 2004. However, Law ad Miller recently broke up following his affair with Daisy Wright, Law’s children’s nanny.

In a public apology, Law said, "I want to publicly apologize to Sienna and our respective families for the pain that I have caused. There is no defense for my actions, which I sincerely regret, and I ask that you respect our privacy at this very difficult time."
A friend of actor Ewan McGregor, Jude Law recently was photographed naked, while trying to put on his bathing suit at his mother’s home in Vaudelnay, France, and the pictures immediately began streaming up the Internet.

"I have no problems with nudity. My friend Ewan [McGregor] and I are starkers in most of our films." Jude Law


David Jude

Childhood and Family:

The son of former teacher parents Peter Law and Maggie Law (now run a theater company in France), David Jude Law was born on December 29, 1972, in Lewisham, London, England. He has an older sister, Natasha Law, who is a photographer. Jude Law attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He left school at age 16 after winning a role on the British television soap opera “Families.”

"I never thought I had to forge a family, but it felt the most natural thing that ever happened to me; meeting someone and becoming a father." Jude Law

On the set of Shopping (1994), Jude law met actress Sadie Frost (born on June 19, 1967) and they were married on September 2, 1997. The couple has three kids: sons Rudy Law (born on September 10, 2002, at a North London hospital), Rafferty Law (born in 1996) and daughter Iris Law (born on October 25, 2000, in California). Jude also has a stepson, Finley Kemp (born 1990; mother: Sadie Frost; father: Gary Kemp). In August 2003, Law and Frost announced their separation and later divorced on October 29, 2003.

Jude Law is a vegetarian and supporter of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in London, UK. He is also a partner in the production company Natural Nylon.


Cold Mountain

Career:

"You go to the National with your parents and think: 'I'd love to be here.' And then suddenly you are. It's a dream come true." Jude Law

12-year-old Jude Law signed up with the National Youth Music Theater and played the lead in their play "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." In 1989, Law debuted on television in a British musical version of Beatrix Potter's kid story, John Michael Phillips-directed The Tailor of Gloucester (starring Ian Holm), produced for Thames Television. He followed it up with a TV series debut role as Nathan Thompson, a teenage runaway, in the British weekly soap opera "Families" (1990-1993).
He also made his first appearance on US TV on an episode of "Sherlock Holmes," which was aired on the PBS series "Mystery."
On stage, Law toured Italy in a production of "Pygmalion" and made a London stage debut in "The Fastest Clock in the Universe" (both in 1992). After appearing in the British TV movie The Marshal (with Alfred Molina), Law got his first film acting role in Phil O'Shea's 16-minute movie The Crane (1994, with Lee Ross). He then was cast opposite future-wife Sadie Frost in writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson's poorly received British sci-fi action Shopping (1994). He also returned on stage to portray the original role of Michael in the London production of Cocteau's "Les Parents Terribles" and play the titular character of Euripedes' "Ion" on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In 1995, Law hit Broadway with the play "Indiscretions" (reproduction of "Le Parents Terribles"), which earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play. On his role on the acclaimed play, Law described, "Well, I had to do a nude scene [in the play Indiscretions], and you're on stage naked, but you get over it. You do whatever you have to do. But the first night, my character is just getting out of the bath and the rest of the crew had poured in freezing cold water."

Off screen, along with Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Sadie Frost and others, Law formed the production company Natural Nylon. He was then seen opposite Claire Danes in Billy Hopkins' adaptation of Wendy Kesselman's stage play, I Love You, I Love You Not (1996, released in 1997). He subsequently landed significant roles as a paralyzed man who sells his DNA, in writer-director Andrew Niccol's Gattaca (with Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman) and as the son of the Marquess of Queensbury, rebellious young Lord Alfred Douglas, in Brian Gilbert's unconventional biopic, adopted from the best-selling biography by Richard Ellman, Wilde (starring Stephen Fry, released in the USA in 1998).

Famed filmmaker Clint Eastwood later cast Law as murder victim Billy Carl Hanson in the screen version of John Berendt’s international best-selling novel, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (starring John Cusack and Kevin Spacey) and writer-director Charlie Peters handed him the lead role of Danny in the romantic comedy Music From Another Room (with Jennifer Tilly, Gretchen Mol and Martha Plimpton). Next, Law portrayed a dead actor named Jude in Dominic Anciano and Ray Burdis' Final Cut (1998, released in 2004, with Ray Winstone and then-wife Sadie Frost) and starred as multi-talented, handsome, womanizer vampire Steven Grlscz in Po-Chih Leong's romantic thriller The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998, released in 2000).

The rest of the 1990s, Law became Jennifer Jason Leigh’s novice security guard in writer-director David Cronenberg's sci-fi movie eXistenZ and made his directional debut in the British true-story based TV movie Tube Tales (screened at the London Film Festival before its debut on British Sky Broadcasting in November 1999), for the segment "A Bird in the Hand." He also went back on stage and performed in "Tis Pity She's a Whore."

An Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor arrived in 1999, thanks to the portrayal of Dickie Greenleaf, a rich and spoiled millionaire playboy. Law played the acclaimed role in Anthony Minghella's adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, alongside stars Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett. On winning the Oscar-nominated role, Law recalled, "I told Anthony that if I play Dickie Greenleaf, I want to eat in the best restaurants and drink the best wines every night because he would".

Law entered the new millennium with the starring role of celebrated Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev, opposite Ed Harris and Joseph Fiennes, in Jean-Jacques Annaud's WWII drama Enemy at the Gates. On working in the film, Law explained, "Yeah, I got blown up, cut up. I remember, actually, when I had to go the Ripley premiere which was happening at that time, I arrived with this huge gash in my head; very cool, really."

In Steven Spielberg's highly-praised film Artificial Intelligence: AI, Law played Gigolo Joe, opposite star Haley Joel Osment. After performing on stage in a London production of "Doctor Faustus," Law joined Tom Hanks and Paul Newman in Sam Mendes' crime drama film Road to Perdition, playing unscrupulous photographer and hitman Harlen Maguire. He also nabbed a second Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actor, for brightly portraying wounded confederate soldier Inman in Cold Mountain (2003). The war drama film is helmed by Academy Award-winning director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley) and based on Charles Frazier's best-selling Civil War novel of the same name. It also stars Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger.

2004 watched Law star as Jason Schwartzman's coworker and Naomi Watts' boyfriend in David O. Russell's ensemble comedy I Heart Huckabees and play the title role of ace aviator Sky Captain in writer-director Kerry Conran's sci-fi movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (with Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie). He also portrayed Alfie, a womanizing British playboy in New York City, in Charles Shyer's remake of Bill Naughton's play with the same name, and teamed with Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen, playing four strangers, in Mike Nichols' adaptation of Patrick Marber's play, the romantic drama Closer.

Renowned director Martin Scorsese cast Law to play Errol Flynn in his Academy Award-nominated biopic Aviator (starring Leonardo DiCaprio). Brad Silberling then asked Law to lend his voice to character Lemony Snicket in his adaptation of Daniel Handler's books, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (starring Jim Carrey). Soon, Law will costar with Sean Penn in Steven Zaillian's drama film, inspired by Robert Penn Warren's novel, All the King's Men, and will appear in writer-director Anthony Minghella's Breaking and Entering.

"I honestly have no interest in celebrity whatsoever. If anything, I always cringe at it because it takes away from what I am, which is an actor who wants to be better and do better things." Jude Law


Awards:

- ShoWest Award: Male Star of the Year, 2004
- Blockbuster Entertainment: Favorite Supporting Actor - Suspense, The Talented Mr. Ripley, 2000
- British Academy: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, The Talented Mr. Ripley, 2000
- Santa Fe Film Critics Circle: Best Supporting Actor, The Talented Mr. Ripley, 2000
- BAFTA: Best Supporting Actor, The Talented Mr. Ripley, 2000
- London Evening Standard: Most Promising Newcomer, Wilde, 1997
- Theatre World Award: “Indiscretions,” 1995