Daniel Craig

***Daniel Wroughton Craig*** CMG (March 2, 1968, Chester, Cheshire, England) is an English-American actor who gained international fame playing the secret agent James Bond in the film series, beginning with Casino Royale (2006) and in four further instalments, up to No Time to Die (2021).

After training at the National Youth Theatre in London and graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1991, Craig began his career on stage. He made his film debut in the drama The Power of One (1992) and the family film A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995), with his breakthrough role coming in the drama serial Our Friends in the North (1996). He gained prominence for his supporting roles in films such as Elizabeth (1998), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Road to Perdition (2002), Layer Cake (2004), and Munich (2005).

In 2006, he played James Bond in Casino Royale, a reboot of the Bond franchise which was favourably received by critics and earned Craig a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. His non-Bond appearances since then include roles in the fantasy film The Golden Compass (2007), the drama Defiance (2008), the science fiction Western Cowboys & Aliens (2011), the mystery thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), and the heist film Logan Lucky (2017). For his performance as Detective Benoit Blanc in the murder mystery comedy films Knives Out (2019), and Glass Onion (2022), he received two Golden Globe Award nominations.

In 2011, he made his Broadway debut in the revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal opposite his wife, the actress Rachel Weisz. In 2016, he starred in the New York Theatre Workshop production of Othello. In 2022, he returned to Broadway in the title role of Macbeth with Ruth Negga.

Daniel Wroughton Craig was born in Chester, Cheshire on 2 March 1968, the son of an art teacher, Carol Olivia (née Williams), and Timothy John Wroughton Craig (1943–2020), a midshipman in the Merchant Navy and steel erector. His father later became the landlord of two Cheshire pubs: the Ring o' Bells in Frodsham and the Boot Inn in Tarporley. Craig has an older sister named Lea (born 1965). He is of part Welsh and distant French descent, counting the French Huguenot minister Daniel Chamier and Sir William Burnaby, 1st Baronet among his ancestors. His middle name, Wroughton, comes from his great-great-grandmother, Grace Matilda Wroughton.

When Craig's parents divorced in 1972, he and his sister moved to the Wirral Peninsula with their mother, where he attended primary school in Hoylake as well as school in Frodsham. He attended Hilbre High School in West Kirby. Upon leaving there at the age of 16, he attended Calday Grange Grammar School as a sixth form student. He played rugby union for Hoylake RFC.

Craig began acting in school plays at the age of six, making his debut in the Frodsham Primary School production of Oliver! He became interested in serious acting by attending Liverpool's Everyman Theatre with his mother. At the age of 14 in 1982, he played roles in Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella at Hilbre High School. In 1984, he was accepted into the National Youth Theatre and moved to London, where he worked part-time in restaurants to finance his education. His parents watched his stage debut as Agamemnon in Troilus And Cressida. He performed with the National Youth Theatre on tours to Valencia and Moscow under the leadership of director Edward Wilson. He entered the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1988, and graduated in 1991 after a three-year course under the tutelage of Colin McCormack, an actor from the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Craig appeared in his first screen role in 1992, playing an Afrikaner in The Power of One. Having played minor roles in the miniseries Anglo-Saxon Attitudes and the shows Covington Cross and Boon, he appeared in November 1993 as Joe in the Royal National Theatre's production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America. Also in 1993, Craig was featured in two episodes of the American television shows Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and British shows Heartbeat, Between the Lines, Drop the Dead Donkey and Sharpe's Eagle. In 1994, Craig appeared in The Rover, a filmed stage production and Les Grandes Horizontales, a stage production at the National Theatre Studio, where he first met Rachel Weisz, who would become his second wife. Craig was featured in the poorly received Disney film A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995). In 1996, Craig starred in the BBC drama serial Our Friends in the North as the troubled George 'Geordie' Peacock. Appearing alongside Christopher Eccleston, Gina McKee and Mark Strong, Craig's part in the series is considered his breakthrough role.

Craig played a schizophrenic man who falls in love with a woman (played by Kelly Macdonald) after being discharged from psychiatric hospital in the drama Some Voices (2000). Also in 2000, Craig co-starred alongside Toni Collette in the dark comedy Hotel Splendide and was featured in I Dreamed of Africa, based on the life of Kuki Gallmann (played by Kim Basinger). Craig played the love interest of Angelina Jolie's character Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), based on the video game series Tomb Raider. He later admitted to having taken on the role in the poorly-reviewed yet commercially successful film only for the paycheque. In 2001, Craig also starred in the four-part Channel 4 drama Sword of Honour, based on the trilogy of novels of the same. Craig appeared in the anthology film Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002), starring in the segment "Addicted to the Stars", directed by Michael Radford.

In 2005, Craig was contacted by Eon Productions to portray James Bond. Initially, he was unsure about the role and was resistant to the producers' overtures. "There was a period of trying to woo him" longtime Bond co-producer Barbara Broccoli later commented in 2012. During this period, he sought advice from colleagues and friends, of whom "most of us said to him...'there is life after Bond'.". He stated he "was aware of the challenges" of the Bond franchise, which he considered "a big machine that makes a lot of money". He aimed at bringing more "emotional depth" to the character. Born in 1968, Craig is the first actor to portray James Bond to have been born after the Bond series started and after the death of Ian Fleming, the novels' writer.

The first film, Casino Royale, premiered on 14 November 2006, and grossed US$594,239,066 worldwide, which made it the highest-grossing Bond film until the release of Skyfall. After the film was released, Craig's performance garnered critical acclaim. Craig lent his voice and likeness as James Bond for both the Wii game GoldenEye 007, an enhanced remake of the 1997 game for the Nintendo 64, and James Bond 007: Blood Stone. In addition to Casino Royale, Craig also appeared in two more films in 2006: the drama Infamous as mass murderer Perry Edward Smith and as the voice of the lead character in the English-language version of the French animated film Renaissance. In 2006, Craig was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Prior to the inaugural Invictus Games held in London in September 2014, Craig along with other entertainers and athletes read the poem "Invictus" in a promotional video. He made an uncredited cameo appearance as a stormtrooper in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Craig appeared in a modern production of William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello at the Off-Broadway New York Theatre Workshop throughout late 2016 and early 2017. The production starred David Oyelowo as the titular character and Craig as the main antagonist, Iago. Diane Snyder of The Daily Telegraph praised his "chilling" portrayal of Iago in the play. In 2017, Craig co-starred in Steven Soderbergh's comedy Logan Lucky, about two brothers who pull off a heist during a NASCAR race. Craig starred alongside Halle Berry in the drama Kings set during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The film premiered in September 2017 and was distributed by the Orchard the following year; it was harshly reviewed by many film critics.