William James "Willem" Dafoe (/dəˈfoʊ/də-FOH or /ˈdeɪfoʊ/ DAY-foh; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, 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, four Golden Globe Awards, four Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and five Screen Actors Guild 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 theatre company The Wooster Group.
He made his film debut with an uncredited role in Heaven's Gate (1980). Dafoe's early career includes credits for 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 nominations for his roles in Shadow of the Vampire (2000), The Florida Project (2017), and the Vincent van Gogh biopic At Eternity's Gate (2018). He also gained acclaim and wide recognition for his roles as Jesus Christ in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and as the supervillain Norman Osborn 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).
His other film appearance include roles in Mississippi Burning (1988), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Wild at Heart (1990), Light Sleeper (1992), Body of Evidence (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), The English Patient (1996), Affliction (1997), New Rose Hotel(1998), Existenz (1999), The Boondock Saints (1999), American Psycho (2000), Auto Focus (2002), Finding Nemo (2003), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Inside Man (2006), Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007), Antichrist (2009), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Nymphomaniac (2013), The Fault in Our Stars (2014), John Wick (2014), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Aquaman (2018), The Lighthouse (2019), Nightmare Alley (2021), Poor Things (2023), and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024).
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3.41
Popularity220
Credits6.6
Rating58.1M
Budget223M
RevenueActing
Primarily2025 The Man in My Basement as Anniston Bennett
2025 Tropico as Raymond Producer
2025 The Birthday Party as Marcos Timoleon
2025 Tenzing as Colonel John Hunt
2025 The Phoenician Scheme as Knave
2025 Wick Is Pain as (archive footage)
2025 The Souffleur
2025 Late Fame as Ed Saxberger
2025 American Nails
2025 The Legend of Ochi as Maxim
2025 Zero as (voice)
2025 Was Ist Kino ? as Self (Archive Footage)
2024 Nosferatu: An Inside Look as Self
2024 Jesus Goes to Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
2024 Nosferatu as Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz
2024 run 002
2024 Saturday Night as David Tebet
2024 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as Jackson
2024 Kinds of Kindness as Raymond / George / Omi
2024 Can Creativity Save the World? as Self
2024 Finally Dawn as Rufo Priori
2023 Poor Things as Godwin Baxter
2023 Interior (The Spectator) as Narrator
2023 Gonzo Girl as Walker Reade
2023 Pet Shop Days as Francis
2023 Asteroid City as Saltzburg Keitel
2023 Lynch/Oz as Bobby Peru (archive footage) (uncredited)
2023 The Wild One as Narrator (voice)
2023 Inside as Nemo
2022 Franco Battiato - La voce del padrone
2022 Creation of the Kingdom of Exodus as Self / Grand Duc
2022 Dead for a Dollar as Joe Cribbens
2022 7 Deaths of Maria Callas as Film Actor
2022 Il coraggio di essere Franco as Sé stesso
2022 Spider-Man: All Roads Lead to No Way Home as Self
2022 The Northman as Heimir the Fool
2022 Finding Satoshi as Narrator
2022 Robert Wilson: The Beauty of the Mysterious as Self
2021 Spider-Man: No Way Home as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin
2021 Nightmare Alley as Clem Hoatley
2021 The French Dispatch as Albert 'the Abacus'
2021 Why Are We (Not) Creative? as Self
2021 The Card Counter as Gordo
2021 River as Narrator
2021 Maresco / Pasolini as Self
2021 Zack Snyder's Justice League as Vulko
2020 Babenco: Tell Me When I Die as Self Associate Producer
2020 Sportin' Life as Self
2020 Wim Wenders, Desperado as Self
2020 Siberia as Clint
2020 Roy's World: Barry Gifford's Chicago
2020 The Last Thing He Wanted as Richard McMahon
2020 The Lighthouse: A Dark & Stormy Tale as Self
2020 Tommaso as Tommaso
2019 Celebrating Marvel's Stan Lee as Self / Norman Osborn/ Green Goblin (archive footage)
2019 Togo as Leonhard Seppala
2019 Vincent van Gogh Superstar as Vincent van Gogh (archive footage)
2019 Motherless Brooklyn as Paul Randolph
2019 The Lighthouse as Thomas Wake
2019 Love, Antosha as Self
2019 Manou the Swift as Manou's Father (voice)
2018 Opus Zero as Paul
2018 Aquaman as Nuidis Vulko
2018 At Eternity's Gate as Vincent van Gogh
2018 Brothers in Arms as Self
2018 Friedkin Uncut as Self
2018 Vox Lux as Narrator (voice)
2018 The House That Jack Built Thanks
2018 Theatron. Romeo Castellucci
2018 Under the Rainbow: Making The Florida Project as Self
2017 Mountain as Narrator (voice)
2017 Murder on the Orient Express as Gerhard Hardman
2017 The Florida Project as Bobby
2017 Piazza Vittorio as Himself
2017 Death Note as Ryuk (voice)
2017 What Happened to Monday as Terrence Settman
2017 Ballad of a Righteous Merchant as Self
2017 Julian Schnabel: A Private Portrait as Self
2017 Sanctuary as Narrator
2016 The Great Wall as Ballard
2016 Dog Eat Dog as Mad Dog
2016 Father as James Verdun
2016 A Family Man as Ed Blackridge
2016 Sculpt
2016 Finding Dory as Gill (voice)
2016 Nelson Algren Live as Role1 / Frankie Machine / Role2 / Blackie Cavanaugh
2016 My Hindu Friend as Diego Fairman
2016 Mind the Gap as Self
2015 Fukushima: A Nuclear Story as Narrator
2015 The Making of A Most Wanted Man as Self
2015 John Wick: Calling in the Cavalry as Self
2015 Don't F*#% With John Wick as Self
2014 John Wick as Marcus
2014 Bad Country as Bud Carter
2014 Pasolini as Pier Paolo Pasolini
2014 SPYMASTER: John le Carré in Hamburg as (archive footage)
2014 A Most Wanted Man as Tommy Brue
2014 The Fault in Our Stars as Peter van Houten
2014 The Grand Budapest Hotel as Jopling
2013 The Benaki Museum as Narrator (voice)
2013 Nymphomaniac: Vol. I as L
2013 Nymphomaniac: Vol. II as L
2013 Out of the Furnace as John Petty
2013 Love's Routine as Barry
2013 The Smile Man as Willem
2013 Saving Norman as Lionel Pembrooke
2013 Odd Thomas as Wyatt Porter
2012 Tomorrow You're Gone as The Buddha
2012 Bob Wilson's Life & Death of Marina Abramovic as Self
2012 4:44 Last Day on Earth as Cisco
2012 John Carter as Tars Tarkas
2011 The Hunter as Martin David
2010 Miral as Eddie
2010 A Woman as Max Oliver
2010 My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done as Detective Hank Havenhurst
2010 The Making of Daybreakers as Self
2010 Into the Deep: America, Whaling & The World as Narrator
2010 Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy as Self (archive footage)
2010 Daybreakers as Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac
2009 The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day as Paul Smecker
2009 Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant as Gavner Purl
2009 Fantastic Mr. Fox as Rat (voice)
2009 Farewell as Feeney
2009 Antichrist as He
2008 The Dust of Time as A
2008 Adam Resurrected as Commandat Klein
2008 Fireflies in the Garden as Charles Waechter
2007 To Each His Own Cinema as (segment "Occupations") (archive footage)
2007 Cannes: All Access as Self
2007 Voom Portraits as Self
2007 Anamorph as Stan Aubray
2007 The Procedure as Christopher
2007 Go Go Tales as Ray Ruby
2007 Spider-Man 3 as Green Goblin / Norman Osborn
2007 Mr. Bean's Holiday as Carson Clay
2007 The Walker as Larry Lockner
2006 Paris Je T'aime as Le cow-boy (Place des Victoires)
2006 Inside Man as John Darius
2006 American Dreamz as Chief of Staff
2005 Ripley Under Ground as Neil Murchison
2005 Before It Had a Name as Leslie Screenplay
2005 Manderlay as Grace's Father
2005 This Is an Adventure as Self
2005 Matthew Gray Gubler's Life Aquatic Intern Journal as Self
2005 Jiminy Glick in Lalawood as Willem Dafoe (uncredited)
2005 xXx: State of the Union as Gen. George Octavius Deckert
2005 On the Set: 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou' as Self / Klaus D.
2004 The Aviator as Roland Sweet
2004 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou as Klaus Daimler
2004 Control as Dr. Michael Copeland
2004 Love, Death, Elvis & Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart
2004 The Misbehavers as Self
2004 Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate as Narrator (voice)
2004 The Clearing as Arnold Mack
2004 Spider-Man 2 as Green Goblin / Norman Osborn
2004 Behind the Scenes of 'Spider-Man' as Self
2004 The Reckoning as Martin
2003 Counterfeit World: Making 'To Live and Die in L.A.' as Self
2003 Once Upon a Time in Mexico as Armando Barillo
2003 Overnight as Self
2003 Finding Nemo as Gill (voice)
2003 Rockets Redglare! as Self
2002 Globehunters: An Around the World in 80 Days Adventure as Hunter (voice)
2002 Auto Focus as John Carpenter
2002 The Spider-Man Story as Self
2002 Spider-Man as Green Goblin / Norman Osborn
2002 Spider-Mania as Self
2002 Behind the Ultimate Spin: The Making of 'Spider-Man' as Self
2001 Edges of the Lord as Priest
2001 Pavilion of Women as Father Andre
2001 A Tour of the Inferno: Revisiting 'Platoon' as Self
2000 Animal Factory as Earl Copen
2000 Bullfighter as Father Ramirez
2000 Shadow of the Vampire as Max Schreck
2000 American Psycho as Donald Kimball
1999 eXistenZ as Gas
1999 New Rose Hotel as X Co-Producer
1999 The Boondock Saints as Paul Smecker
1999 Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle as Narrator
1998 Lulu on the Bridge as Dr. Van Horn
1998 Abel/Asia as Self (archival footage)
1997 Affliction as Rolfe Whitehouse
1997 Speed 2: Cruise Control as Geiger
1997 Wrong Guys as Jack Straw
1996 Victory as Axel Heyst
1996 The English Patient as David Caravaggio
1996 Basquiat as The Electrician
1995 The Night and the Moment as Lo scrittore
1994 Clear and Present Danger as John Clark
1994 Tom & Viv as Tom Eliot
1993 Faraway, So Close! as Emit Flesti
1993 Brace Up! as Colonel Alexander Ignatyevich Vershinin
1993 White Homeland Commando as Karl
1993 Body of Evidence as Frank Dulaney
1993 Rhyme 'Em to Death
1992 Light Sleeper as John LeTour
1992 White Sands as Deputy Sheriff Ray Dolezal
1992 North on Evers
1991 Flight of the Intruder as Lt. Cmdr. Virgil 'Tiger' Cole
1990 Wild at Heart as Bobby Peru
1990 Cry-Baby as Hateful Guard
1989 Born on the Fourth of July as Charlie
1989 Triumph of the Spirit as Salamo Arouch
1988 Mississippi Burning as Agent Alan Ward
1988 Location Production Footage: The Last Temptation of the Christ as Self
1988 The Last Temptation of Christ as Jesus
1988 Off Limits as Buck McGriff
1987 Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam as Elephant Grass (voice)
1986 Platoon as Sergeant Elias Grodin
1985 To Live and Die in L.A. as Rick Masters
1985 O Panama
1984 Roadhouse 66 as Johnny Harte
1984 Streets of Fire as Raven Shaddock
1984 New York Nights as Boyfriend
1984 The Loveless as Vance
1984 Atalanta Strategy as Immigration Staff
1983 The Hunger as 2nd Phone Booth Youth
1980 Heaven's Gate as Willy (uncredited)
6.66 Science Fiction 11
6.64 War 8
6.62 Documentary 48
6.50 Adventure 21
6.47 Comedy 29
6.42 Action 33
6.36 Mystery 14
6.36 Family 8
6.26 Fantasy 15
6.22 Drama 89
6.22 Thriller 45
6.17 Crime 28
6.15 Horror 9
6.07 Romance 14
6.05 History 3
6.01 Animation 5
5.67 Music 3
5.20 Western 3
1.00 TV Movie 1