entertainment | January 23, 2026

Willem Dafoe Net Worth, Age, Height, Bio, Birthday, Wiki!

Explore Willem Dafoe net worth, age, height, bio, birthday, wiki, and salary! In this article, we will discover how old is Willem Dafoe? Who is Willem Dafoe dating now & how much money does Willem Dafoe have?

Willem Dafoe Biography

Willem Dafoe is one of the most popular and richest Movie Actor who was born on July 22, 1955 in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States. Actor, who gained fame for his quirky characters as the Green Goblin in The Boondock Saints, Wild at Heart as well as The Hunter. His character in the role of Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin in the 2002 film Spider-Man earned him an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Villain.

He was featured in the movie Body Of Evidence with He appeared in the film Body Of Evidence with Madonna..

William James “Willem” Dafoe (born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is known for his distinct gravelly voice, and has received multiple accolades, including nominations for four Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. He has frequently collaborated with filmmakers Paul Schrader, Abel Ferrara, Lars von Trier, and Wes Anderson.

In 1977, Dafoe began a relationship with director Elizabeth LeCompte. Their son, Jack, was born in 1982. They separated in 2004 and were never married because “to her, marriage represented ownership”.

He said his parents raised him by five sisters due to the fact that his parents were busy working at the hospital. He arranged for a spontaneous marriage to the actress He claimed that he was raised by his five sisters because his parents were too busy working in the hospital. He spontaneously married actress Giada Colagrande in 2005 after meeting her in Rome a year earlier. He has a son named Jack. in 2005, after having met her in Rome just a year before. His son is called Jack.

NameWillem Dafoe
First NameWillem
Last NameDafoe
OccupationMovie Actor
BirthdayJuly 22
Birth Year1955
Place of BirthAppleton
Home TownWisconsin
Birth CountryUnited States
Birth SignCancer
Full/Birth Name
FatherNot Available
MotherNot Available
SiblingsNot Available
SpouseGiada Colagrande
Children(s)Jack Dafoe

Ethnicity, religion & political views

Many peoples want to know what is Willem Dafoe ethnicity, nationality, Ancestry & Race? Let's check it out! As per public resource, IMDb & Wikipedia, Willem Dafoe's ethnicity is Not Known. We will update Willem Dafoe's religion & political views in this article. Please check the article again after few days.

Dafoe was an early member of experimental theater company The Wooster Group, where he acted in several productions. He made his film debut in Heaven’s Gate (1980), but was fired during production. He had his first leading role in the outlaw biker film The Loveless (1982) and then played the main antagonist in Streets of Fire (1984) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985). He received his first Academy Award nomination for his role as Sergeant Elias Gordon in Oliver Stone’s war film Platoon (1986). In 1988, Dafoe played Jesus in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ and starred in Mississippi Burning, both of which were controversial. Following small roles in Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Wild at Heart (1990), he began a six-film collaboration with director Paul Schrader with the drama Light Sleeper (1992). He starred in the critically panned erotic thriller Body of Evidence (1993) and then co-starred in Clear and Present Danger (1994), The English Patient (1996), Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), and The Boondock Saints (1999).

Willem Dafoe Net Worth

Willem Dafoe is one of the richest Movie Actor from United States. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Willem Dafoe's net worth $40 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

He left his studies at the University of Wisconsin to join the company of a theatre. After the move into New York City, he began to date Elizabeth LeCompte.

He was a character on the film The Aviator and provided his voice over for his voice in the Pixar movie Finding Nemo.

William James Dafoe was born in Appleton, Wisconsin. One of eight children of Muriel Isabel (née Sprissler) and Dr. William Alfred Dafoe (1917–2014), he recalled in 2009: “My five sisters raised me because my father was a surgeon, my mother was a nurse and they worked together, so I didn’t see either of them much.” His brother, Donald Dafoe, is a transplant surgeon and researcher. He has English, French, German, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. His surname is of French origin. In high school, he acquired the nickname Willem, which is the Dutch version of the name William. During an interview he explained that about half of the Dafoe family puts the emphasis on the first syllable of their surname, and the other half on the second. Only after becoming an actor, he took the second interpretation as his stage name.

Net Worth$40 Million
SalaryUnder Review
Source of IncomeMovie Actor
CarsNot Available
HouseLiving in own house.

Following a brief appearance in the horror film The Hunger (1983), Dafoe again played the leader of a biker gang in Walter Hill’s 1984 action film Streets of Fire. His character in the film served as the main antagonist, who captures the ex-girlfriend of a mercenary, played by Diane Lane and Michael Paré, respectively. Janet Maslin of The New York Times felt there were no great performances in the film, but praised Dafoe’s “perfectly villainous” face. Dafoe starred alongside Judge Reinhold in Roadhouse 66 (1985) as a pair of yuppies who become stranded in a town on U.S. Route 66. Later in 1985, Dafoe starred with William Petersen and John Pankow in William Friedkin’s thriller To Live and Die in L.A., in which Dafoe portrays a counterfeiter named Rick Masters who is being tracked by two Secret Service agents. Film critic Roger Ebert commended his “strong” performance in the film.

Dafoe’s sole film release of 1986 was Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War film Platoon, gaining him his widest exposure up to that point for playing the compassionate Sergeant Elias Gordon. He enjoyed the opportunity to play a heroic role and said the film gave him a chance to display his versatility, saying “I think all characters live in you. You just frame them, give them circumstances, and that character will happen.” Principal photography for the film took place in the Philippines and required Dafoe to undergo boot camp training. Los Angeles Times writer Sheila Benson praised his performance and found it to be “particularly fine” to see Dafoe play “something other than a psychopath”. At the 59th Academy Awards, Dafoe was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but the statuette was awarded to Michael Caine at the ceremony. Dafoe provided his voice to the documentary Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (1987) and, in 1988, Dafoe starred in another film set during the Vietnam War, this time as Criminal Investigation Command Agent Buck McGriff in the action thriller Off Limits. His second release of 1988 was Martin Scorsese’s epic drama The Last Temptation of Christ, in which Dafoe portrayed Jesus. The film was adapted from the novel of the same name and depicts his struggle with various forms of temptation throughout his life. Like the novel, the film attracted controversy for departing from the biblical portrayal of Jesus and was branded as being blasphemous. Dafoe’s performance in the film was widely praised, however, with Janet Maslin opining that Dafoe brought a “gleaming intensity” to the role.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

Willem Dafoe height 5 ft 9 in Willem weight Not Known & body measurements will update soon.

Height5 ft 9 in
WeightNot Known
Body MeasurementsUnder Review
Eye ColorNot Available
Hair ColorNot Available
Feet/Shoe SizeNot Available

Dafoe began his film career in 1979, when he was cast in a supporting role in Michael Cimino’s epic Western film Heaven’s Gate. Dafoe was only present for the first three months of an eight-month shoot. His role, that of a cockfighter who works for Jeff Bridges’ character, was removed from a majority of the film during editing but was visible during a cockfight scene. Dafoe did not receive a credit for his work on the film. In 1982, Dafoe starred as the leader of an outlaw motorcycle club in the drama The Loveless, his first role as a leading man. The film was co-directed by Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery and paid homage to 1953 film The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando in a similar role.

Dafoe made a cameo appearance in John Waters’ musical comedy Cry-Baby (1990) as a prison guard who gives a brief lecture on values to the title character, who is played by Johnny Depp. Rita Kempley of The Washington Post found the scene to be one of the film’s highlights. In the same year, Dafoe co-starred in David Lynch’s crime film Wild at Heart with Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. Dafoe played a criminal who engages in a robbery with Cage’s character before demonstrating his dark side. He wore fake, corroded teeth and grew a pencil moustache that bore resemblance to his previous collaborator, John Waters. Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman felt the role proved Dafoe as a “master of leering, fish-faced villainy”. In 1991, Dafoe starred with Danny Glover and Brad Johnson in the action film Flight of the Intruder. The film follows a pair of United States Navy pilots, played by Dafoe and Johnson, who scheme and participate in an unauthorized air strike on Hanoi. Directed by John Millius, the film received negative reviews. He was due to star opposite Joan Cusack in the comedy Arrive Alive in 1991, but the film was cancelled during production. Dafoe had two lead roles in 1992. The first to be released, White Sands, saw Dafoe a play small-town sheriff who impersonates a dead man after finding his dead body and a suitcase containing $500,000 in order to solve the case, resulting in an FBI investigation. In his next starring role, Paul Schrader’s drama Light Sleeper, Dafoe played John LeTour, a lonely, insomniac, New Yorker working as a delivery man for a drug supplier, who is played by Susan Sarandon. Roger Ebert praised Dafoe’s “gifted” portrayal of LeTour and Owen Gleiberman opined that “even when the film doesn’t gel, one is held by Willem Dafoe’s grimly compelling performance.”

Who is Willem Dafoe Dating?

According to our records, Willem Dafoe married to Giada Colagrande . As of December 1, 2023, Willem Dafoe’s is not dating anyone.

Relationships Record: We have no records of past relationships for Willem Dafoe. You may help us to build the dating records for Willem Dafoe!

In his final release of 1988, Dafoe starred opposite Gene Hackman in the crime thriller Mississippi Burning as a pair of FBI agents investigating the disappearance of three civil rights workers in fictional Jessup County, Mississippi during the civil rights movement. Variety magazine praised Dafoe’s performance, writing, “Dafoe gives a disciplined and noteworthy portrayal of Ward”, although they felt it was Hackman “who steals the picture”. As with The Last Temptation of Christ, the film became embroiled in controversy, this time by African-American activists who criticized its fictionalization of events. Dafoe was briefly considered for the role of the super-villain the Joker in the Tim Burton-directed superhero film Batman (1989), as screenwriter Sam Hamm noticed physical similarities, but was never offered the part that eventually went to Jack Nicholson. Dafoe starred in the drama Triumph of the Spirit in 1989 as Jewish Greek boxer Salamo Arouch, an Auschwitz concentration camp inmate who was forced to fight other internees to death for the Nazi officers’ entertainment. It was filmed on location at Auschwitz, the first major film to do so. While the film was negatively received, Dafoe’s performance was lauded by some critics; Peter Travers of Rolling Stone felt he gave a “disciplined performance” and Janet Maslin thought he was “harrowingly good”. Dafoe reunited with Platoon director Oliver Stone for a small appearance in the biographical war drama Born on the Fourth of July (1989). Dafoe played a paraplegic, wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran who befriends the film’s subject Ron Kovic (played by Tom Cruise), another paraplegic veteran.

Facts & Trivia

Willem Ranked on the list of most popular Movie Actor. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in United States. Willem Dafoe celebrates birthday on July 22 of every year.

Dafoe next starred in the erotic thriller Body of Evidence (1993) with Madonna. The story concerns a lawyer, played by Dafoe, who engages in a sadomasochistic sexual relationship with the woman he is representing in a murder case. The film was panned by critics and performed poorly at the box office, with some audience members laughing during the sex scenes. In his review of the film, Vincent Canby felt that Dafoe lacked sensuality in the role. Later in 1993, Dafoe appeared in a supporting role as Emit Flesti (an anagram of Time Itself) in the German fantasy film Faraway, So Close!, directed by Wim Wenders. Dafoe then co-starred in the spy thriller Clear and Present Danger (1994), an adaptation of the Tom Clancy novel of the name starring Harrison Ford as CIA operative Jack Ryan. Dafoe played John Clark, a CIA agent conducting a covert operation against a drug cartel in Colombia with Jack Ryan. Dafoe portrayed the poet T. S. Eliot in the drama Tom & Viv (also in 1994), which tells the story of Eliot and his first wife, Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, who was played by Miranda Richardson. The film was met with a mixed reception from critics, although Caryn James of The New York Times felt that Dafoe’s “stunningly sharp, sympathetic portrait raises the film above a script that is full of serious holes and stilted dialogue”. In 1995, he played an 18th-century writer in the period drama The Night and the Moment.

What is Willem Dafoe's accent?

“I can still speak Wisconsin,” said Dafoe. The actor made his debut as SNL host and spoke in what he considered his “Wisconsin accent” during his monologue.

Why did Willem Dafoe change his name?

“When I was a kid, I was always seeking a nickname.” A friend of his came up with a solution, calling him Willem. Dafoe says the nickname was really just a lazy pronunciation of his actual name, but the subtle shift was good enough for him. The new name stuck. So when he became an actor, it was too late to go back.

What is Willem Dafoe famous for?

He gained prominence for his role in To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), in which he played a counterfeiter attempting to elude capture by the police. Perhaps his best-known role was as Sgt. Elias Grodin in Oliver Stone’s Platoon (1986), which earned Dafoe his first Academy Award nomination.

What is Willem Dafoe's nationality?

Nationality

What is a pirate accent?

The classic “pirate dialect,” in fact, is not Irish, but rather a crude imitation of the slightly similar West Country English (the dialects of Southwest England)*.

You may read full biography about Willem Dafoe from Wikipedia.