Brendan Fraser
Brendan James Fraser (/ˈfreɪzər/ FRAY-zər;[1][2] born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor. Fraser had his breakthrough in 1992 with the comedy Encino Man and the drama School Ties. He gained further prominence for his starring roles in the comedies With Honors (1994) and George of the Jungle (1997) and emerged as a star playing Rick O'Connell in The Mummy trilogy (1999–2008). He took on dramatic roles in Gods and Monsters (1998), The Quiet American (2002), and Crash (2004), and further fantasy roles in Bedazzled (2000) and Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008).
Not to be confused with Brandon Frazier.
Brendan Fraser
- Canada
- United States
Actor
1990–present
3
George Genereux (uncle)
Fraser's film work slowed from the late 2000s to mid-2010s due to the poor box office performances, and various health and personal problems, including the fallout from a sexual assault committed against him in 2003 by Philip Berk, the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.[3][4] Fraser branched into television with roles in the Showtime drama The Affair (2016–2017),[5][6] the FX series Trust (2018),[7] and the Max series Doom Patrol (2019–2023).[8] His film career was revitalized by roles in Steven Soderbergh's No Sudden Move (2021) and Darren Aronofsky's The Whale (2022). Fraser's starring role as an obese gay man in the latter earned him critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, becoming the first Canadian to win this category.[9]
Early life and education[edit]
Fraser was born on December 3, 1968,[10] in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Canadian parents Carol Mary (née Généreux; 1937–2016) and Peter Fraser. He is the youngest of their four sons.[11] His mother was a sales counselor, and his father was a former journalist who worked as a Canadian foreign service officer for the Government Office of Tourism.[12][13] His maternal uncle, George Genereux, was the only Canadian to win a gold medal in the 1952 Summer Olympics, at the Olympic Trap.[14] Fraser's three older brothers are Kevin, Regan, and Sean.[15] They have Irish, Scottish, German, Czech, and French-Canadian ancestry.[16] He holds dual Canadian and American citizenship.[17]
Fraser's family moved often during his childhood, living in Eureka, California; Seattle, Washington; Ottawa, Ontario; the Netherlands; and Switzerland. He attended Upper Canada College,[18] a private boarding school in Toronto. While on vacation in London, England, in the 1970s, he attended his first professional theatre show, Oliver!, in the West End, which began his interest in acting.[19][20][21]
Fraser graduated from Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts in 1990.[13][22] He began acting at a small acting college in New York City. Fraser planned on studying toward a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Southern Methodist University, but stopped in Hollywood on the way and decided to remain there to work in film.[23]
Philanthropy[edit]
Since 2018, Fraser has been a celebrity judge[76][77] on the Dancing Stars of Greenwich annual charity gala which raises money for the non-profit organization Abilis, a local charity which supports more than 800 individuals and their families with disabilities in Fairfield County, Connecticut. His former wife, Afton Smith, also takes part in the dance competition.[78][77] In 2022, Smith and Fraser received the Heart of Abilis Award for their support and fundraising work for the charity.[79]