Jude Law: From Gattaca to Sherlock Holmes

Jude Law: From Gattaca to Sherlock Holmes This British heartthrob has regularly been cast as the perfect man. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’re taking a look at the career of Jude Law. David Jude Heyworth Law was born on December 29th, 1972 in South East London. He was the second child of two schoolteachers, and his parents name him in part after the Beatles’ song “Hey Jude.” Law finally began his career in the arts when he enrolled in the National Youth Music Theatre. By age 17, Law dropped out of school to play a stable boy in the TV movie “The Tailor of Gloucester.” He also took on a regular role in the daytime British soap “Families.” Afterward, Law landed his first major film role in the 1994 British feature “Shopping,” where he met co-star and future wife, Sadie Frost. Meanwhile, he began a successful stage career that took him across London, and stateside to Broadway. He earned enormous praise both locally and abroad, and achieved much recognition for his role as Lord Alfred Douglas in “Wilde,” which was a bio-pic centered on the life of Irish writer and poet Oscar Wilde. Following this, the budding star played Jerome Morrow in the futuristic sci-fi film “Gattaca.” The film centered on the themes of genetic discrimination and prejudice, and in it Law played a genetically superior human who sells his identity after a car crash costs him the use of his legs. He then travelled within a virtual world in David Cronenberg’s science fiction film “eXistenZ.” In late 1999, Law suddenly skyrocketed to mainstream recognition as a result of playing Dickie Greenleaf, opposite Matt Damon in “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” The role even earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Law then took parts in several other blockbusters. He portrayed a sniper taking on German forces in the war film “Enemy at the Gates,” a prostitute robot called Gigolo Joe in Steven Spielberg’s “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” and a civil war fighter in “Cold Mountain.” Unfortunately, around the same time, his wife and the mother of his three children filed for divorce. Soon after, the star began a stormy relationship with his co-star Sienna Miller, and in 2004 was voted Sexiest Man Alive by People Magazine. The Brit also decided to lend his star power to various charity events. In addition to raising money for the Young Vic Theatre, he supported UNICEF, Make Poverty History, and the Wave Trauma Center. Despite the busy schedule, Law somehow managed to continue appearing in a slew of Hollywood projects. These ventures included the lead role in the pulp adventure “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,” a spot opposite Cameron Diaz in the romantic comedy “The Holiday” and he even found time to narrate the fantasy film “Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.” In 2004, he played a bed-hopping pleasure-seeker in “Alfie,” and this role mirrored his off-screen reputation around this time. After 2009, Law appeared in “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” played the part of Dr. Watson in “Sherlock Holmes” and became a re-claimer of artificial organs in “Repo Men.” In 2011, Law tackled a viral outbreak as a freelance journalist in “Contagion,” returned to co-star in the Sherlock Holmes sequel “A Game of Shadows,” and even played the Boogeyman in Dreamworks’ “Rise of the Guardians.” With his charm and talent for playing flawed characters, Jude Law has avoided being typecast to a particular genre, and continues to dazzle audiences with a wide array of film roles.