Michael Fassbender is an Irish actor who was born in Heidelberg, Germany, to a German father, Josef, and an Irish mother, Adele (originally from Larne, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland). Michael was raised in the town of Killarney, Co. Kerry, in south-west Ireland, where his family moved to when he was two years old. His parents ran a restaurant (his father is a chef).Fassbender is based in London, England, and became known in the U.S. after his role in the Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009). In 2011, Fassbender debuted as the Marvel antihero Magneto in the prequel X-Men: First Class (2011); he would go on to share the role with Ian McKellen in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). Also in 2011, Fassbender’s performance as a sex addict in Shame (2011) received critical acclaim. He won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards. In 2013, his role as slave owner Edwin Epps in slavery epic 12 Years a Slave (2013) was similarly praised, earning him his first Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. 12 Years a Slave marked Fassbender’s third collaboration with Steve McQueen, who also directed Hunger and Shame. In 2013, Fassbender appeared in another Ridley Scott film, The Counselor (2013). In 2015, he portrayed Steve Jobs (2015) in the Danny Boyle-directed biopic of the same name, and played Macbeth (2015) in Justin Kurzel’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play. For the former, he has received Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG nominations for Best Actor. As well as acting, Fassbender produced the 2015 western Slow West (2015), which he also starred in.
Michael Fassbender
Movies
The Killer
A man solitary and cold, methodical and unencumbered by scruples or regrets, the killer waits in the shadows, watching for his next target. And yet the longer he waits, the more he thinks he’s losing his mind, if not his cool. A brutal, bloody and stylish noir story of a…
Fun Facts
[director] came on board
Quotes
You know, I spent a lot of time out of work. Now I'm trying to make hay while the sun is shining.
[on creating his character David in Prometheus (2012) with Ridley Scott] We took inspiration from David Bowie and some of his looks as well. I liked the idea of having a feminine quality to him for sure.
[on his preparation for Hunger (2008)] I felt really focused, really centred, really strong. Hungry all the time, obviously.
We live in this society where nowadays if I want something, I take it, I eat it - it's so easy and readily available. When you take all that away, you actually become more appreciative of the things around you. I don't want to do it again, but there is a level where it humbles you in a good way.
[on portraying hunger-striker Bobby Sands in Hunger (2008)] I lost about 14 kilos and weighed 59 kilos by the end. It was the only way we could do it and make it convincing.
[on why he dropped out of the Drama Center] In drama school, they don't think of movies as a pure form like theater, and it's films that I love most. There's an intimacy in movies - I wanted to have the same impact on others that movies had on me.
[on picking roles] I'm just following my gut instinct.
[on Quentin Tarantino] You know the man eats, breathes, lives film. You could bring up the most obscure movie, like some fuckin' Swedish film from 1963 or whatever and he'll know it. It's quite staggering, actually, he is an encyclopedia of knowledge.
For me, Daniel Day-Lewis is in a league of his own. I think that he's amazing. And he's always been a benchmark of excellence.
[2011, on what attracted him to Jane Eyre (2011)] It's a classic, and the reason people keep doing it is because there are so many things that seem to still resonate with audiences today. They like to disappear in that world. I did it because my mother and my sister are really big fans of the book, and I wanted to see what they would think of the "Rochester"" that I would bring to the table. That's the first reason I wanted to do it. And then when Cary Joji Fukunaga