Guy Pearce
Biography
Life Story
Guy Edward Pearce was born 5 October, 1967 in Cambridgeshire, England, UK to Margaret Anne and Stuart Graham Pearce. His father was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to English and Scottish parents, while Guy's mother is English. Pearce and his family initially traveled to Australia for two years, after his father was offered the position of Chief test pilot for the Australian Government. Guy was just 3-years-old. After deciding to stay in Australia and settling in the Victorian city of Geelong, Guy's father was killed 5 years later in an aircraft test flight, leaving Guy's mother, a schoolteacher, to care for him and his older sister, Tracy.
Having little interest in subjects at school like math or science, Guy favored art, drama and music. He joined local theatre groups at a young age and appeared in such productions as "The King and I", "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The Wizard of Oz". In 1985, just two days after his final high school exam, Guy started a four-year stint as "Mike Young" on the popular Aussie soap Neighbours (1985). At age 20, Guy appeared in his first film, Heaven Tonight (1990), then, after a string of appearances in film, television and on the stage, he won the role of an outrageous drag queen in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994).
Most recently, he has amazed film critics and audiences, alike, with his magnificent performances in L.A. Confidential (1997), Memento (2000), The Proposition (2005), Factory Girl (2006), The Hurt Locker (2008), The King's Speech (2010) and the HBO mini-series, Mildred Pierce (2011). Next to acting, Guy has had a life-long passion for music and songwriting.
Guy likes to keep his private life very private. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, which is also where he married his childhood sweetheart, Kate Mestitz in March 1997.
Family
Trivia
Was ranked #17 in E's Most Sexiest Men in Entertainment 2002.
Was ranked #20 in E's Most Sexiest Men in Entertainment 2003.
Growing up in regional Victorian town Geelong; he now resides in Melbourne, Australia.
Turned down the title role in Daredevil (2003).
During the filming of Factory Girl (2006), he became good friends with co-star Sienna Miller.
Father was a test pilot who died in a crash in 1976.
Has an older sister.
His eldest sister, Tracy, has Cornelia de Lange syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects both intellectual and physical development.
Was considered for the part of Henri Ducard/Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins (2005). However, he was considered too young for the part and Liam Neeson was cast instead.
For his role in Prometheus (2012), he was required to sit in a make-up chair for five hours. The make-up and prosthetics would then take one hour to remove.
His favorite movie is The Elephant Man (1980).
As of 2014, has appeared in three films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: L.A. Confidential (1997), The Hurt Locker (2008) and The King's Speech (2010). The latter two are winners in the category.
(March 19, 2016) Announced that he and his girlfriend Carice van Houten are expecting their first child together in August 2016.
Personal Quotes
You meet these people who are confident all the time. They annoy me. And I wonder if it's because I'm envious or if it's because they're shallow.
Well, if you'd like to get technical, I'm English, and Russell's from New Zealand. [when asked about the studio's reluctance to hire "two Australians" for roles in American period piece L.A. Confidential (1997)]
I always look at films as real stories with real people in real situations. That's why I struggle with the whole notion of calling someone the 'good guy' or the 'bad guy,' because I think we all have potential to do good things and all have the potential to do bad things.
A lot of people are going to hate me for saying this, but one of my least favorite kinds of music, or the kind of music that I feel I've so got out of my system, is musicals music.
I love being at home in Melbourne, reading scripts, doing the gardening and running around after my wife.
I don't want to be a celebrity. The little amount that I've had in the past - it was fun going into it. But once you realize you're in, you realize you don't actually want to be in it anymore.
I don't act because I'm some supremely confident being. I don't want to be that guy. There are leading men who tell producers, 'I do my thing. Do you want me or not in your movie?' I still see acting as getting into character.
[2007, on his music] I don't want to make music to get into the pop charts and make a career out of it. I just want to play music with other people. Sometimes I record it. I think there is a value in recording it in the same way that you might write a diary. Writing a diary does not mean that you want to publish it. If this is my diary, I'm not sure that I want it to be read. And anyway, I think there is an automatic disdain for somebody who is too ambitious. People think as an actor you are gifted and don't have any troubles in life. You are lucky to be doing this thing where all you have to do is go around telling lies and you get to kiss beautiful women. So how dare you want to be able to do this other thing. I am not interested in releasing music to a skeptical audience.
