John Malkovich

John Malkovich Headshot

Actor • Producer • Fashion Designer

Birth Name: John Gavin Malkovich

Birth Date: December 9, 1953

Age: 70 years old

Birth Place: Christopher, Illinois

American actor, director, producer, and fashion designer John Malkovich always walked to the beat of his own highly idiosyncratic artistic drum. With his low, sonorous whisper of a voice juxtaposed with his towering frame, he first rose to prominence in the world of theatre, before becoming one of the most prolific and acclaimed film actors of the modern era, seamlessly moving between art house faire and splashy blockbusters, playing everything from a lecherous French count to a Depression-era simpleton, to, well, himself.

Born on December 9, 1953 in Christoper, IL, Malkovich was the second child born to Daniel Leon Malkovich, a state conservation director and publisher of Outdoor Illinois (a conservation-themed magazine), and Joe Anne Choisser, a media magnate who owned Outdoor Illinois and the Benton Evening News. Malkovich first became interested in acting while attending Benton Consolidated High School, where he acted and sang in school plays. He was also well-known in his community as a member of the local folk gospel group, and would often sing at church services and community events.

After a brief stint at Eastern Illinois University, Malkovich transferred to Illinois State University, where he studied theater. After graduating in 1976, Malkovich was selected to become a charter member of Chicago's illustrious Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Fellow members that year included Joan Allen, Gary Sinise, and Malkovich's future wife, Glenne Headly. Malkovich made his film debut in 1978 with a brief appearance as an extra in Robert Altman's ensemble comedy "A Wedding" (1978).

In 1980, Steppenwolf began staging a production of Sam Shepard's legendary play "True West" in New York City, with Malkovich and Gary Sinise (who also served as director) in the lead roles. When the production debuted in 1982, it was a smash hit, and Malkovich won an Obie Award for Best Lead Actor in a Play. The show ended up running for two years, but by then, Malkovich had moved on to his next project, directing the Steppenwolf production of Lanford Wilson's "Balm of Gilead." This time, Malkovich won both an Obie AND a Drama Desk Award for his efforts.

That same year, Malkovich made his Broadway debut playing Biff alongside Dustin Hoffman's Willy Lomax in a revival of "Death of a Salesman." He also somehow found time to co-star in both the Cambodian war drama "The Killing Fields" (1984), and the Depression-era drama "Places of the Heart" (1984), in which he played a blind boarder named Mr. Will. For the latter performance, Malkovich was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The following year, CBS decided to turn the Broadway production of "Death of a Salesman" (CBS, 1985) into a made-for-TV movie.

Malkovich reprised the role of Biff for the film, and won an Emmy for his performance. Having been recognized as a force to be reckoned with in the acting arena, Malkovich next worked with Steven Spielberg on the WWII drama "Empire of the Sun" (1987), was directed by Paul Newman in a film version of Tennessee Williams' classic play "The Glass Menagerie" (1987), and starred in Susan Seidelman's bizarre sci-fi romantic comedy "Making Mr. Right" (1987).

For his next role, Malkovich wowed critics and audiences by embodying Valmont, the erotically charged and deeply conniving French lord in Stephen Frears's Oscar nominated period piece "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988). Though the film was a success, sadly life ended up imitating art: when Malkovich's wife, Glenne Headly, found out that he was having an affair with his co-star, Michelle Pfeiffer, she filed for divorce. As it turns out, the romance between Malkovich and Pfeiffer was also short-lived.

While filming Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Sheltering Sky" (1990), Malkovich ended up falling for the assistant director, Nicoletta Peyran. Though they never officially married, the two ended up having two children together, and remain a couple to this day. After working with Woody Allen on the stylish drama "Shadows and Fog" (1990), Malkovich reunited with his old Steppenwolf buddy Gary Sinise for a film adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic novel "Of Mice and Men" (1992), with Malkovich playing the simpleton Lenny to Sinise's world-weary George.

He followed this up with a deliciously villainous turn as a madman trying to assassinate the president in the action thriller "In the Line of Fire" (1994), a scenery chewing role which earned him his second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. After reuniting with Stephen Frears for the flop Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde adaptation "Mary Reilly" (1996), Malkovich enjoyed another villainous, scenery-chewing performance, this time as Cyrus the Virus, a super villain who hijacks a plane full of convicts, with only heroic southerner Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) prepared to stop him, in the silly yet enjoyable summer tentpole "Con Air" (1997).

For his next part, Malkovich took on perhaps one of the strangest roles of his career: himself. In "Being John Malkovich" (1999), a fictionalized version of the titular actor finds himself in an existential quandary when an aspiring puppeteer (John Cusack) working a corporate drone job uncovers a porthole into Malkovich's head in his office, setting off a bizarre love triangle between the puppeteer, his hippie granola wife (Cameron Diaz), and his fiendishly sexy coworker (Catherine Keener). Written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by music video auteur Spike Jonze, the film was an indie smash, nominated for multiple Oscars, and ensured that passerby on the street would be screaming "Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich!" at our subject for the rest of time.

On a creative roll, Malkovich next played legendary silent filmmaker F.W. Murnau to Willem Dafoe's bloodsucking Max Shreck in "Shadow of the Vampire" (2000), a fictionalized look at the making of "Nosferatu" (1922), before taking on his directorial debut, the dark thriller "The Dancer Upstairs" (2002), starring Javier Bardem. Malkovich then took a hard turn into sci-fi, playing Humma Kavula in the long-awaited film adaptation of Douglas Adams' classic novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (2005), and then veering over to dark comedy, playing a pompous, often drunk CIA analyst who finds himself entangled in a hare-brained extortion scheme in the Coen Brothers highly divisive "Burn After Reading" (2008).

He clearly had a good time playing a senile former spy in the action comedy "RED" (2010), so much so that he returned for the sequel, "RED 2" (2013), but not before playing around with some giant robots in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (2011). After taking a supporting role as a mild-mannered man trying to survive a very convoluted apocalyptic event in the surprise Netflix horror hit "Bird Box" (2018), Malkovich could most recently be seen playing legendary detective Hercule Poirot in a miniseries adaptation of Agatha Christie's "The A.B.C. Murders" (BBC, 2019), as well as in another Netflix horror offering, "Velvet Buzzsaw" (2019), this time set in the art world of Los Angeles.

Credits

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Actor
Movie
2025

Breaking Rachmaninoff

Self
Show
2024

The New LookStream

Actor
Lucien Lelong
Series
2024
60%

Seneca

Actor
Seneca
Movie
2023

Fool's ParadiseStream

Actor
Ed Cote
Movie
2023
18%

One RangerStream

Actor
Movie
2023
25%

Complètement cramé

Actor
Andrew Blake
Movie
2023

Roberto Bolle: Danza con me

Guest
Show
2022

Shattered

Actor
Ronald
Movie
2022

Shattered

Producer
Movie
2022

Chariot

Actor
Dr. Karn
Movie
2022

White ElephantStream

Actor
Movie
2022
22%

Mindcage

Actor
The Artist
Movie
2022

Savage Salvation

Actor
Peter
Movie
2022

Ten Year Old TomStream

Voice
Series
2021
100%

The SurvivalistStream

Actor
Aaron
Movie
2021

Rogue Hostage

Actor
Sam Nelson
Movie
2021

Space ForceStream

Actor
Dr. Adrian Mallory
Series
2020
59%

The New PopeStream

Actor
Giovanni Paolo III
Series
2020
90%

Arkansas

Actor
Bright
Movie
2020

Ava

Actor
Duke
Movie
2020

Last Call

Actor
Dr. Felton
Movie
2020

The Music Critic

Narrator
Movie
2020

Matchday

Narrator
Show
2019

The New Pope: Extras

Actor
Show
2019

Today With Hoda & Jenna

Guest
Show
2019

Velvet Buzzsaw

Actor
Piers
Movie
2019

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Actor
Judge Edward D. Cowart
Movie
2019

Valley of the Gods

Actor
Wes Tauros
Movie
2019

The ABC MurdersStream

Actor
Hercule Poirot
Miniseries
2018
71%

Le vie dell'amicizia 2018

Actor
Show
2018

Naismith 50

Narrator
Show
2018

Supercon

Actor
Sid Newberry
Movie
2018

Casanovagen

Actor
Movie
2018

Mile 22

Actor
Bishop
Movie
2018

Bird BoxStream

Actor
Douglas
Movie
2018
64%

John Malkovich: Just Call Me God

Actor
Satur Diman Cha the Dictator
Show
2017

Unlocked

Actor
Bob Hunter
Movie
2017

The Wilde Wedding

Actor
Laurence
Movie
2017

I Love You, Daddy

Actor
Leslie
Movie
2017

Bullet HeadStream

Actor
Walker
Movie
2017
61%

Pro ljubov'. Tol'ko dlya vzroslyh

Actor
Lecturer
Movie
2017

Deepwater HorizonStream

Actor
Donald Vidrine
Movie
2016
82%

DemolitionStream

Executive Producer
Movie
2015
54%

La Comédie infernale

Actor
Show
2014

Séance inédite

Actor
Général Wellington
Show
2014

Crossbones

Actor
Edward "Blackbeard" Teach
Show
2014

Crossbones: Extras

Actor
Show
2014

Late Night With Seth MeyersStream

Guest
Talk
2014

Cesar ChavezStream

Actor
Bogdanovitch
Movie
2014
39%

Cesar ChavezStream

Executive Producer
Movie
2014
39%

Penguins of MadagascarStream

Voice
Dr. Octavius Brine/Dave
Movie
2014
74%

Cut Bank

Actor
Sheriff Vogel
Movie
2014

Casanova Variations

Actor
Giacomo
Movie
2014

Le paradoxe de John Malkovich

Actor
Movie
2014

Les lignes de Wellington

Actor
Général Wellington
Show
2013

Siberian Education

Actor
Nonno Kuzja
Movie
2013

Warm BodiesStream

Actor
Gen. Grigio
Movie
2013
81%

Red 2Stream

Actor
Marvin
Movie
2013
44%

100 Years of Hollywood

Guest
Show
2012

Live! With Kelly and Michael

Guest
Talk
2012

Noseland

Self
Movie
2012

The Perks of Being a WallflowerStream

Producer
Movie
2012
85%

Lines of Wellington

Actor
General Wellington
Movie
2012

Q With Jian Ghomeshi

Guest
Show
2011

Transformers: Dark of the MoonStream

Actor
Bruce Brazos
Movie
2011
35%

Young AdultStream

Executive Producer
Movie
2011
80%

ConanStream

Guest
Talk
2010

Jonah Hex

Actor
Quentin Turnbull
Movie
2010

Saturday Night

Actor
Movie
2010

SecretariatStream

Actor
Lucien Laurin
Movie
2010
64%

RedStream

Actor
Marvin Boggs
Movie
2010
72%

Drunkboat

Actor
Mort
Movie
2010

ES.TV

Guest
Show
2009

Which Way Home

Executive Producer
Movie
2009

Burn After ReadingStream

Actor
Osborne Cox
Movie
2008
78%

ChangelingStream

Actor
Rev. Gustav Briegleb
Movie
2008
62%

Afterwards

Actor
Garrett Goodrich
Movie
2008

Mutant Chronicles

Actor
Constantine
Movie
2008

The Great Buck Howard

Actor
Buck Howard
Movie
2008

Disgrace

Actor
David Lurie
Movie
2008

Bloody Mondays & Strawberry Pies

Narrator
Movie
2008

In Tranzit

Actor
Pavlov
Movie
2008

The Graham Norton ShowStream

Guest
Talk
2007

The Graham Norton ShowStream

Guest Star
Talk
2007

BeowulfStream

Voice
Unferth
Movie
2007
71%

JunoStream

Producer
Movie
2007
94%

Gardens of the Night

Actor
Michael
Movie
2007

Playing the Salesman

Guest
Show
2006

Art School Confidential

Actor
Professor Sandford
Movie
2006

Art School Confidential

Producer
Movie
2006

Eragon

Actor
King Galbatorix
Movie
2006

Klimt

Actor
Movie
2006

The Colbert Report

Guest
Talk
2005

Made in Hollywood

Guest
Series
2005

The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson

Guest
Talk
2005

The Libertine

Actor
King Charles II
Movie
2005

The Libertine

Producer
Movie
2005

Color Me Kubrick

Actor
Alan Conway
Movie
2005

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyStream

Actor
Humma Kavula
Movie
2005
60%

Les Misérables

Actor
Show
2003

Kill the Poor

Producer
Movie
2003

Johnny English

Actor
Pascal Sauvage
Movie
2003

A Talking Picture

Actor
Comandante John Walesa
Movie
2003

Napoléon

Actor
Charles Talleyrand
Show
2002

Napoléon

Actor
Charles Talleyrand
Show
2002

Ripley's Game

Actor
Tom Ripley
Movie
2002

The Dancer Upstairs

Director
Movie
2002

The Dancer Upstairs

Producer
Movie
2002

How to Draw a Bunny

Executive Producer
Movie
2002

Ghost WorldStream

Producer
Movie
2001
93%

Knockaround Guys

Actor
Teddy Deserve
Movie
2001

I'm Going Home

Actor
John Crawford
Movie
2001

Savage Souls

Actor
Monsieur Numance
Movie
2001

Les Misérables

Actor
Show
2000

Shadow of the VampireStream

Actor
F.W. Murnau
Movie
2000
82%

The Daily Show With Jon StewartStream

Guest
Talk
1999

Marcel Proust's Time Regained

Actor
Le Baron de Charlus
Movie
1999

Being John MalkovichStream

Actor
John Horatio Malkovich
Movie
1999
94%

RKO 281

Actor
Herman Mankiewicz
Movie
1999

Ladies Room

Actor
Roberto
Movie
1999

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc

Actor
Charles VII
Movie
1999

Time Regained

Actor
Le Baron de Charlus
Movie
1999

Kickin' It: With Byron Allen

Guest
Show
1998

The Man in the Iron Mask

Actor
Athos
Movie
1998

Čovjek sa željeznom maskom

Actor
Movie
1998

The Man in the Iron MaskStream

Actor
Athos
Movie
1998
32%

RoundersStream

Actor
Teddy KGB
Movie
1998
64%

The View

Guest
Talk
1997

Con AirStream

Actor
Cyrus 'The Virus' Grissom
Movie
1997
58%

Mary ReillyStream

Actor
Dr. Henry Jekyll/Mr. Edward Hyde
Movie
1996
26%

Mulholland FallsStream

Actor
General Thomas Timms
Movie
1996
31%

The Ogre

Actor
Abel Tiffauges
Movie
1996

The Portrait of a Lady

Actor
Gilbert Osmond
Movie
1996
46%

Le Couvent

Actor
Michael
Movie
1995

Beyond the Clouds

Actor
The Director
Movie
1995

The Convent

Actor
Michael
Movie
1995

Heart of Darkness

Actor
Kurtz
Movie
1994

Late Show With David Letterman

Guest
Talk
1993

In the Line of FireStream

Actor
Mitch Leary
Movie
1993
96%

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno

Guest
Talk
1992

Shadows and Fog

Actor
Clown
Movie
1992

Of Mice and MenStream

Actor
Lennie Small
Movie
1992
97%

Jennifer 8Stream

Actor
St. Anne
Movie
1992
38%

Charlie RoseStream

Guest
Talk
1991

Queens Logic

Actor
Eliot
Movie
1991

The Object of Beauty

Actor
Jake
Movie
1991

The Sheltering SkyStream

Actor
Port Moresby
Movie
1990
45%

Miles From Home

Actor
Barry Maxwell
Movie
1988

Dangerous LiaisonsStream

Actor
Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont
Movie
1988
94%

Empire of the SunStream

Actor
Basie
Movie
1987
78%

Making Mr. Right

Actor
Dr.Jeff Peters/Ulysses
Movie
1987

The Glass Menagerie

Actor
Tom Wingfield
Movie
1987

Eleni

Actor
Nicholas `'Nick'` Gage
Movie
1985

Death of A SalesmanStream

Actor
Biff
Movie
1985
100%

Private Conversations

Actor
Movie
1985

Places in the HeartStream

Actor
Mr. Will
Movie
1984
89%

The Killing FieldsStream

Actor
Alan "Al" Rockoff
Movie
1984
93%

Word of Honor

Actor
Gary
Movie
1980

Saturday Night LiveStream

Host
Series
1975

Canada AM

Guest
Show
1972

Today

Guest
News
1952

News aboutJohn Malkovich

The cast of 'The New Look' at TCA 2024
Exclusive

‘The New Look’: Juliette Binoche, Ben Mendelsohn & Team Explain Their Characters (VIDEO)

Maisie Williams and Juliette Binoche for 'The New Look'

‘The New Look’: Maisie Williams, Juliette Binoche & More of the Cast Strike a Pose in Our TCA Studio (PHOTOS)

'The New Look' key art

‘The New Look’: See the Cast of the Apple TV+ Series vs. Their Real-Life Counterparts

Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley in Ripley

Andrew Scott is Talented Career Criminal Tom Ripley in First Teaser for Netflix’s ‘Ripley’

Ben Mendelsohn as Christian Dior in 'The New Look'

‘The New Look’: See Ben Mendelsohn & Juliette Binoche as Christian Dior and Coco Chanel (PHOTOS)

'Space Force,' Season 2, Netflix - Tawny Newsome as Angela Ali, Diana Silvers as Erin Naird, Don Lake as Brad Gregory, Steve Carell as General Mark Naird, Ben Schwartz as F. Tony Scarapiducci, John Malkovich as Dr. Adrian Mallory, Jimmy O. Yang as Dr. Chan Kaifang

‘Space Force’ Crew Faces New Challenges in Season 2 Trailer (VIDEO)

The Cast of Space Force

‘Space Force’: First Look at Season 2, Plus Find Out When It Premieres (PHOTOS)

Space Force
Preview

Meet the Cast of Characters on Netflix’s New Comedy ‘Space Force’ (VIDEO)

Steve Carell as General Mark Naird in Season 1 of Space Force on Netflix
Review

Roush Review: ‘Space Force’ Flies High With Satirical Bravado

Space Force Season 1 Netflix

‘Space Force’: Steve Carell Is a General in Over His Head in Netflix’s First Look (VIDEO)

Pope 6
Preview

John Malkovich Talks Donning Papal Robes for ‘The New Pope’

Pope 6

John Malkovich Joins the Returning Jude Law in HBO’s ‘The New Pope’ (PHOTOS)

The new pope

‘The New Pope’ Has Arrived in First Teaser for ‘The Young Pope’ Follow-Up (VIDEO)

the abc murders clip cover 2
Exclusive

‘The ABC Murders’ Sneak Peek: Hercule Poirot’s Identity Come Into Question (VIDEO)

THE ABC MURDERS
Review

Roush Review: ‘The ABC Murders’ Feels Like a Post-Dickens ‘True Detective’

ABC Murders
Q&A

‘The ABC Murders’: John Malkovich on Playing a Unique Version of Agatha Christie’s Detective

The ABC Murders - John Malkovich
Preview

How John Malkovich Stacks Up Against Past Poirots in Agatha Christie’s ‘The ABC Murders’

the young pope

‘The New Pope’: First Look at Jude Law & John Malkovich in the Sequel Series (PHOTO)