| Billy Zane |
Billy Zane in 2008, by Elena Torre |
| Born |
William George Zane, Jr.
February 24, 1966 (1966-02-24) (age 43)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Other name(s) |
Bill Zane, |
| Occupation |
Actor/Director |
| Years active |
1985–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Lisa Collins (1989–1995) |
William George "Billy" Zane, Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor and director. He is best recognized for his role as Caledon Hockley in the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic, as the deranged psychopath Hughie Warriner in Dead Calm, John Justice Wheeler in Twin Peaks, as The Phantom in the 1996 eponymous film based upon the comic book superhero, and as Ansem, Xehanort's heartless, the main antagonist of the Kingdom Hearts series. As of 2008, Zane has appeared in over 50 films and numerous TV-series.1
Biography
Early life
Zane was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Thalia and William George Zane, Sr., both of whom were amateur actors and founders of a school for medical technicians.23 His family's original surname, "Zanikopolous", was anglicized to "Zane" by his grandparents.4 Both of his parents are of Greek descent.56 He has an older sister Lisa Zane, who is also an actress.
After completing a year abroad at the American School in Switzerland, Zane graduated from the Francis W. Parker School and attended Harand Camp of the Theater Arts, located in Wisconsin.
Career
1980s
Zane's first screen role was in Back to the Future (1985) playing one of Biff Tannen's friends/henchmen. Zane later reprised the role for the 1989 sequel, Back to the Future II. Earlier that same year, Zane gained international recognition with the role of psychotic villain Hughie Warriner in the thriller Dead Calm, alongside Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill.
He also starred in the NBC film, The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989).
1990s
Zane's first starring role was in a 1990 independent film, the low budget science fiction thriller, Megaville. In 1990, he also co-starred in the film Memphis Belle, a film version of a 1944 documentary about a World War II bomber plane, as the bombardier. Zane also forayed into television work, and in 1991 he appeared as John Justice Wheeler in several episodes of David Lynch's hit TV-show Twin Peaks. In 1993, he played the Shakespearian actor "Mr. Fabian" in Tombstone, and took a starring role in Sniper. He also starred in a couple of Tales From The Crypt productions, including Tales From the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight, where he plays a henchman of Satan called The Collector, and the episode "Well-Cooked Hams," where he plays a poorly skilled magician who kills to steal good tricks from other magicians.
In 1996, Zane played the eponymous classic comic book hero in the big budget action film The Phantom, based on Lee Falk's comic. The Phantom being his favorite comic, Zane pumped iron for over a year and a half to fill the character's tight spandex costume properly, and studied samples of the comic carefully in his attempt to copy the character's body language.
Although The Phantom was no box office success, Zane achieved success shortly after by playing the millionare misanthrope Caledon Hockley in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic, which to this date remains his best known characterization. This role as Kate Winslet's fiance earned him an MTV Movie Award nomination for "Best Villain" and a Blockbuster Entertainment Award. He was also nominated for a SAG award.
In 1998, Zane starred in and produced I Woke Up Early The Day I Died, a silent film based on Ed Wood's last script, intended as a parody on bad filmmaking. He won several awards at the B-Movie Film Festival, including Best Movie and Best Actor, for this work. The year after, he starred opposite Timothy Dalton, Bruce Payne, Sean Pertwee and Leonor Varela (who became his fiance after shooting ended) in a TV-movie about Cleopatra. Zane played the part of Mark Antony.
2000s
Zane was instrumental in getting the critically acclaimed film The Believer made, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2001.7 In it, he portrayed neo-Nazi Curtis Zampf, and starred opposite Ryan Gosling. The same year, he also had a cameo as himself in the popular comedy Zoolander, which gave birth to the popular quote "Listen to your friend Billy Zane, he's a cool dude."
Zane keeps busy in other parts of the entertainment industry as well. He is a singer and can occasionally be seen in various Broadway shows, like Chicago, where he played lawyer Billy Flynn.
He appeared in Marilyn Manson's music video for his single "The Dope Show".
He voiced John Rolfe in Pocahontas 2, and Xehanort in Squaresoft and Disney's videogame Kingdom Hearts, and voiced Etrigan The Demon in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. Zane also had a recurring role in the television series Charmed in which he played poetry loving ex-demon Drake.
Billy Zane appeared in the 2006 Turkish film, Valley of the Wolves Iraq, (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak in Turkish), part of the Kurtlar Vadisi franchise. The film tells the story of the U.S. Army run amok in Iraq, and by listening to Billy Zane is brought into check by a brave Turkish hero. Zane plays Sam William Marshall, a cruel and inhumane U.S. soldier who is the main antagonist in the film; mixed martial artist Tito Ortiz plays a fellow soldier, and Gary Busey plays an American Army doctor who harvests fresh organs from tortured Iraqi prisoners to sell to rich people around the world. The movie is the most expensive Turkish film ever and obtained one of the highest box office returns in the history of the Turkish cinema.
Zane's debut as a director was Big Kiss, a light-hearted romantic comedy about two journalists, who follow Billy Zane's advice, involved in a diamond caper in which he also starred. Although released in Sweden in 2004, the date of a wider distribution remains uncertain. In January 2006, he made his debut on the London stage in Arthur Allan Seidelman's production of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks by Richard Alfieri, a two-hander in which he co-starred with Claire Bloom.
Zane has lined up several projects, including horror-comedy The Mad, ; 4Chosen (together with Laurence Fishburne); Alien Agent; Don Juan; and his second directorial effort, Uptown, about a man who starts a theater company for the mentally ill. Memory, a psychological thriller where Zane stars opposite Ann-Margret and Dennis Hopper, will be released in 2007. Zane is also set to star in a biopic on singer Mario Lanza, and opposite his fiancee Kelly Brook in family-comedy Fishtales.8 In 2007, he signed on to star in World War II drama The Hessen Affair, to be directed by Paul Breuls.9
Zane is set to star as Deputy D.A. Brian Clark opposite Teri Polo in ABC's new TV-series Finnegan in 2008.10
In 2009, he will take over Timothy Olyphant's role as Christina Applegate's ex-boyfriend on Samantha Who?; Olyphant will depart because of scheduling conflicts with his role in Damages. 11
He also has several upcoming films currently in post-production, including Blue Seduction and Magic Man.12
It has been reported that Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu is to star in her first Hollywood film and that Billy Zane will be her leading man. 13
Personal life
Zane married actress Lisa Collins in 1989. The couple divorced in 1995. He was also engaged for a time to Chilean actress Leonor Varela, his costar in the 1999 television movie Cleopatra, where he played Marcus Antonius. In 2001, he met Emma Howard on the set of The Diamond of Jeru. They dated for three years. Zane was engaged to marry British model turned actress Kelly Brook whom he met when starring with her in the movie Survival Island, also known as Three.14 They split in April 2008, but got back together again shortly after. Their relationship ended in August 2008. Recently, Zane was spotted strolling around Los Angeles with a young lady. She was later identified as known Graphic Designer, Karen Crow. The two have been spotted together in the Hollywood area on numerous occasions.
His leisure interests include riding, painting, swimming, photography, frisbees, taking nature walks, cycling, and collecting cars.citation needed He has described his movie heroes to be Sean Connery, Gene Kelly, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.citation needed
In 1999, Zane participated in the first Gumball 3000 rally, driving a 1964 Aston Martin DB5. He was featured in the music video, Epiphany, by Staind. Zane executive-produced a CD made by bluesman Tim O'Connor. The album includes three songs from Dead Calm, where Zane had one of the lead roles.
Filmography
Actor
Director
Television
- Brotherhood of Justice (1986) (TV) .... Les
- Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8 (1987) (TV) .... Police Officer
- 21 Jump Street (1987) (TV) .... Matthew Goldblatt
- Murder, She Wrote: A Very Good Year for Murder (1988) (TV) .... Tony Gambini
- Police Story: Monster Manor (1988) (TV) .... Officer Don Varney
- The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989) (TV) .... Kenneth Bianchi
- Twin Peaks (1991) (TV) .... John Justice Wheeler
- Lake Consequence (1993) (TV) .... Billy
- Tales From the Crypt:Well-Cooked Ham (1993) (TV)... Miles
- Running Delilah (1994) (TV) .... Paul
- The New Batman Adventures (1998) (TV) .... Etrigan the Demon
- Cleopatra (1999) (TV) .... Marc Antony
- Hendrix (2000) (TV) .... Michael Jeffrey
- Sole Survivor (2000) (mini) TV Series .... Joe Carpenter
- Invincible (2001/I) (TV) .... Os
- The Diamond of Jeru (2001) (TV) .... Mike Kardec
- Bet Your Life (2004) (TV) .... Joseph
- Charmed (2005) (TV) .... Drake
- Samantha Who? (2009) .... Winston Funk16
Other
References
External links
Hey Billy? Call me, mkay?&link=http://www.youtube.com/v/jZc1cUqroHI&fs=1&hl=en&source=uds&autoplay=1&thumb=http://2.gvt0.com/vi/jZc1cUqroHI/default.jpg&celebrity=Billy Zane&videoType=YouTube)
