50 facts about John Malkovich: known for his wish to maintain a private life

John Malkovich's 50 facts.

1. His middle name is Gavin.

2. He is not only an actor but also a director.

3. Has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures.

4. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award nominations.

5. He has also appeared in films such as Empire of the Sun, The Killing Fields, Con Air, Of Mice and Men, Rounders, Ripley's Game, Knockaround Guys, Being John Malkovich, Shadow of the Vampire, Burn After Reading, RED, Mulholland Falls, and Warm Bodies.

6. Produced films such as Ghost World, Juno, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

7. Malkovich was born in Christopher, Illinois.

8. His paternal grandparents were Croatian natives of Ozalj.

9. His mother was of English, French, German, and Scottish ancestry.

10. He grew up in Benton, Illinois, in a large house on South Main Street, where his next door neighbor was future Olympic and NBA basketball star and coach, Doug Collins.

11. His father, Daniel Leon Malkovich, was a state conservation director and publisher of Outdoor Illinois, a conservation magazine.

12. His mother, Joe Anne, owned the Benton Evening News, as well as Outdoor Illinois.

13. Malkovich has three younger sisters and an older brother.

14. During his high school years, he appeared in various plays and the musical Carousel.

15. He was also a member of a folk gospel group, singing in area churches and community events.

16. He was also was a member of a local summer theater/comedy project where he co-starred in Jean-Claude van Itallie's America Hurrah in 1972.

17. Upon graduating from high school, he entered Eastern Illinois University, and then transferred to Illinois State University, where he majored in theater.

18. In 1976, Malkovich, along with Joan Allen, Gary Sinise and Glenne Headly, became a charter member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.

19. He moved to New York City in 1980 to appear in a Steppenwolf production of the Sam Shepard play True West for which he won an Obie Award.

20. In early 1982, he appeared in A Streetcar Named Desire with Chicago's Wisdom Bridge Theatre.

21. Malkovich directed a Steppenwolf co-production, the 1984 revival of Lanford Wilson's Balm in Gilead, for which he received a second Obie Award and a Drama Desk Award.

22. His Broadway debut was as Biff in Death of a Salesman alongside Dustin Hoffman as Willy. Malkovich won an Emmy Award for this role when the play was adapted for television by CBS in 1985.

23. One of the actor's first film roles was as an extra alongside Allen, Terry Kinney, George Wendt and Laurie Metcalf in Robert Altman's 1978 film A Wedding.

24. He made his feature film debut in 1984 as Sally Field's blind boarder Mr. Will in Places in the Heart.

25. For his portrayal of Mr. Will, Malkovich received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

26. Malkovich became a star when he portrayed the sinister and sensual Valmont in the 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons, a film adaptation of the stage play Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Christopher Hampton, who in turn had adapted it from the 1782 novel of the same title by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. He later reprised this role for the music video of "Walking on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox.

27. In 1990, he recited, in Croatian, verses of the Croatian national anthem Lijepa naša domovino (Our Beautiful Homeland) in Nenad Bach's song "Can We Go Higher?".

28. In 1994, he was nominated for another Oscar, in the same category, for In the Line of Fire.

29. The Dancer Upstairs, Malkovich's directorial film debut, was released in 2002. In the same year he took the title role in Ripley's Game.

30. Other film roles include The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Beowulf, Eragon, The Man in the Iron Mask, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Changeling, Secretariat, RED and RED 2.

31. Malkovich has hosted three episodes of the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live.

32. In 1993 he was also the narrator for the film Alive.

33. In keeping with his renaissance-man image, he created his own fashion company, Mrs. Mudd, in 2002. The company released its John Malkovich menswear collection, "Uncle Kimono," in 2003, which was subsequently covered in international press,and its second clothing line, "Technobohemian," in 2010. Malkovich designed the outfits himself.

34. In 2008, Malkovich portrayed the story of Jack Unterweger in a performance for one actor, two sopranos, and period orchestra entitled Seduction and Despair, which premiered at Barnum Hall in Santa Monica, CA. A fully staged version of the production, entitled The Infernal Comedy premiered in Vienna in July 2009. The show has since been performed in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 throughout Europe, North America and South America.

35. Malkovich stars in his first video game role in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare alongside Bill Paxton, Jon Bernthal and Rose McGowan in the "Exo Zombies" mode.

36. In 2011, Malkovich directed Julian Sands in A Celebration of Harold Pinter in the Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

37. Malkovich appeared with Randall Park in the music video for Eminem single "Phenomenal".

38. Malkovich was married to actress Glenne Headly from 1982 to 1988. They divorced after Malkovich became involved witsh Michelle Pfeiffer on the set of Dangerous Liaisons.

39. He later met his long-term partner Nicoletta Peyran on the set of The Sheltering Sky, where she was the second assistant director, in 1989.

40. Malkovich and Peyran have two children, Amandine and Loewy.

41. Malkovich is fluent in French.

42. For nearly 10 years, lived and worked in a theater in Southern France.

43. He is also the co-owner of a restaurant called "Bica do Sapato", located in Lisbon, Portugal.

44. He has raised funds for the Steppenwolf Theater Company, his sole charity.

45. Malkovich stated in a 2011 interview that "I'm not a political person actually, and I don't have an ideology".

46. He also said that he had not voted since George McGovern lost his presidential run in 1972. However, according to actor William Hootkins, Malkovich is "so right-wing you have to wonder if he's kidding".

47. When asked in an interview with the Toronto Star whether it was necessary to have spiritual beliefs to portray a spiritual character, Malkovich said: "No, I'd say not... I'm an atheist. I wouldn't say I'm without spiritual belief particularly, or rather, specifically. Maybe I'm agnostic, but I'm not quite sure there's some great creator somehow controlling everything and giving us free will. I don't know; it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me."

48. On June 6, 2013, Malkovich saved a 77-year-old man's life after the man tripped in the streets of Toronto and slashed his throat on scaffolding as he fell. Malkovich applied pressure to the man's neck before the man was rushed to a hospital, where he received stitches. Malkovich left as soon as the man was safe in the hands of paramedics.

49. He is known for his wish to maintain a private life and often travels under different aliases.

50. Malkovich is known for his distinctive voice, which The Guardian describes as "a reedy, faintly orgasmic drawl". He also does not consider himself to be a method actor.