William James "Willem" Dafoe (born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Known for his diverse roles in film, he is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor as well as nominations for four Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and four Golden Globe Awards. He has frequently collaborated with filmmakers Paul Schrader, Abel Ferrara, Lars von Trier, Julian Schnabel, Wes Anderson, and Robert Eggers.
Dafoe was a founding member of experimental theater company The Wooster Group. He made his film debut in Heaven's Gate (1980), but was fired during production and was uncredited despite one of his scenes making it into the final cut of the film.Dafoe's early roles include in The Loveless (1982), Streets of Fire (1984), and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985). He earned his first Academy Award nomination for the war drama Platoon (1986) followed by Shadow of the Vampire (2000), the indie-drama The Florida Project (2017), and the biopic At Eternity's Gate (2018).
He earned acclaim for his roles as Jesus Christ in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and FBI agent Alan Ward in Mississippi Burning (1988). His other notable roles include in Clear and Present Danger (1994), The English Patient (1996), American Psycho (2000), Finding Nemo (2003), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Antichrist (2009), The Fault in Our Stars (2014), John Wick (2014), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), The Lighthouse (2019), The French Dispatch (2021), Nightmare Alley (2021), The Northman (2022), and Poor Things (2023).
Dafoe gained wider attention for his role as the supervillain Norman Osborn / Green Goblin in the superhero film Spider-Man (2002), a role he reprised in its sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007), and the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). He also portrayed Nuidis Vulko in the DC Extended Universe film Aquaman (2018) and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021).
