Jude Law

Beginnings... Jude Law was born on December 29, 1972 in London, England to parents Peter and Maggie. With one older sister Natasha, Jude's parents decided to name him after the famous Beatles song, "Hey Jude". Though his mother also enjoyed the Thomas Hardy novel, Jude The Obscure.

At the early age of 12, Jude began acting with The National Youth Music Theatre in various productions and festivals. He made his first television appearance in a musical of Beatrix Potter's, "The Tail of Gloucester". By 17, Jude decided to drop out of school and join the cast of the UK soap "Families" in 1990. His acting career was only just starting. In a few short years, Jude would make his way to the London stage, Broadway and the silver screens of Hollywood. Lighting the stage... Jude toured Italy in 1992 in the stage production of "Pygmalion". His London stage debut was in "The Fastest Clock in the Universe". The play was awarded Best New Play of 1992 by Time Out Theatre Awards. In 1993, Jude starred in "The Snow Orchid" at the Gate Theatre. He next starred in "Live Like Pigs" at the Royal Court Theatre. Jude also starred in a production of "Death of a Salesman" at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Then in 1994, came the Jean Cocteau play "Les Parents Terribles", which caused a sensation. Jude was nominated for the Olivier Award for "Outstanding Newcomer". But was most memorable for having a brief nude scene exiting a bathtub on stage. He reprised his role on Broadway in 1995, where the play was renamed "Indiscretions". Jude received a Tony nomination for "Outstanding Supporting Actor". Jude also received a nomination for the Ian Charleston Award as "Best Young Classical Actor" for his performances in "Indiscretions" and in Euripedes' "Ion", which was performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Hitting the big screen... After playing parts UK television shows like "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Marshal", Jude made his film debut in 1992 as the lead in The Crane, a short film made for the British Film Institute. In 1994, Jude made Shopping, playing one of the leads. The much anticipated British film was a critical and box office dud.

But Jude bounced back with parts in the films Gattaca, I Love You, I Love You Not, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Wilde and Music From Another Room. While gaining critical notices, none of these films hit fire at the box office. Is Jude concerned with becoming a huge Hollywood star? Hardly. Finding good roles, developing his acting skills and making quality films has driven Jude towards becoming an actor Hollywood soon noticed.

Continuing his taste for challenging roles, Jude next starred in David Cronenberg's eXistenZ with Jennifer Jason Leigh and took the role of playing himself in the improvisational film Final Cut which also starred his wife, actress Sadie Frost. And then came his role as Dickie Greenleaf in the Anthony Minghella directed suspense drama The Talented Mr. Ripley, for which he recieved Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor. The media started touting Jude as the "next big thing" in Hollywood. The rest of the world finally caught up to the theatre world, Britian and Jude's legion of fans, who already knew Jude was more then just the next big thing. Jude is the real deal, not just a beautiful face, but a stunning actor with amazing range.

Jude carried the war epic Enemy at the Gates, which turned into a modest box office hit around the world, garnering mixed reviews but continuing to propel Jude into the spotlight. Steven Spielberg's AI is the highest profile project Jude has tackled so far. The Road to Perdition is yet another example of Jude taking on a challenging role of a hitman that matches him with the likes of Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. Jude is well on his way to establishing himself as one of the most versatile actors of his generation.

Personal... Jude met his wife while filming Shopping in 1994. They live in London with their son Rafferty, daugther Iris, Sadie's son Finley from a previous marriage, and their several pets which include a tortoise. They are strict vegetarians.

Jude has two tattoos. One is of a Rorschach butterfly that resembles his initials on his right arm. The other is on his innner left arm. It's a lyric from the Beatles song "Sexy Sadie": "You came along to turn on everyone, sexy Sadie."

Together, Jude and Sadie, along with friends and fellow actors Sean Pertwee, Jonny Lee Miller and Ewan McGregor, started their own film production company, Natural Nylon. The idea behind Natural Nylon was to take active roles in developing innovative film projects that might not otherwise get made. Jude is currently developing a project about Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare that he hopes to star in with Johnny Depp. There is also a biopic on Brian Epstein in the works. Jude has started to dabble in even more behind the scenes work with his directing debut of the short film "A Bird in the Hand" for the UK Sky TV production Tube Tales which aired in 1999.