Daniel Craig Net Worth

Biography of Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig is a British actor who joined the ranks of the performers of the role of special agent James Bond in 2006 (“Casino Royale”). By that time, there were more than 40 roles in his filmography, and each of them became a milestone in Craig’s life and career: “Lara Croft. Tomb Raider”, “Munich”, “Sylvia”, “Cursed Path”.

Childhood and family

The future performer of the role of James Bond was born on March 2, 1968 in the typical English city of Chester. His mother Carol was an artist and taught fine arts at school. His father, a former sailor Timothy, worked as a steelworker at one of the local factories, but some time later he left this job and opened his Ring’o’Bells bar. When things went uphill, he opened a second pub – Boot Inn.

When Daniel was not even five years old, his parents separated. Mom got married a second time. The stepfather of James and his older sister Olivia was the famous British artist Max Blond. It is not surprising that the boy grew up in a creative atmosphere. In the new composition (in addition to the stepfather, Danny had an older half-brother Philip), the family moved to Liverpool, where Daniel spent most of his childhood.

In 1973, in one of his infrequent meetings with his father, Daniel went with him to the cinema to see Live and Let Die with Roger Moore – the first Bond film in his life. As Craig later admitted, this film took a special place in the heart of a boy who had not yet recovered from a divorce.

Carol has always loved the theatre, so she was overjoyed when her 6-year-old began to show interest in performing arts. She took him to plays at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre, and soon he made his debut in the school musical Oliver!

In high school, sports were added to the theater passion – an athletically built young man entered the school’s rugby team and showed some success.

In 1984 he auditioned for the National Youth Theatre, which was on tour in Manchester. The 16-year-old boy impressed everyone with his talent, and he was accepted. Daniel moved to London and soon his parents were cheering at the premiere of Troilus and Cressida, where their son played King Agamemnon. In his free time from rehearsals and performances, Craig worked as a waiter.

Together with the theater, he traveled half of Europe from Madrid to Moscow. At the same time, he was preparing for tests at the famous Guildhall, an art school at the Barbican. The first two attempts were unsuccessful, but in the end his perseverance paid off – in 1988 he joined the ranks of the students of the Guildhall. Ewan McGregor and Alistair McGowan were on the same course with him.

Actor career

In 1991, after three years of training under the tutelage of Royal Shakespeare star Colin McCormack, he received his long-awaited diploma. In 1992, he made his film debut (the film “The Power of Personality”). The play “Angels of America” staged in 1993, in which Craig played a homosexual Mormon, reached wild popularity.

He occasionally appeared on TV in the cast of mediocre series, until in 1996 he got a role in the serial drama Our Friends in the North, where he, along with Christopher Eccleston, Mark Strong and Gina McKee, lived the life of a typical Englishman for 30 years. years – from the 60s to the 90s.

The late 90s were remembered by the actor for many more interesting works. Among them are the series The Hunger (an anthology of film adaptations of writers of the past and present), which starred David Bowie, the detective thriller Ice House, where Craig’s character had to closely communicate with three lesbians, and the biographical drama about the artist Francis Bacon, Love – it’s the devil” with Derek Jacobi and Tilda Swinton, where Craig was to appear completely naked.

In 2001, after the premiere of Lara Croft. Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig was recognized by viewers around the world. A charismatic blonde with icy eyes appeared as Larf Croft’s rival, the plunderer Alex West.

In 2002, the actor appeared in the Oscar-winning thriller Road to Damnation with Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Jude Law. In 2004 – the main role of the drug dealer Four X in the action movie Matthew Vaughn’s “Layer Cake”, for which Craig was awarded the Audience Award of the European Film Academy.

New James Bond

A week after filming wrapped in Steven Spielberg’s Munich, Craig was offered the opportunity to become the sixth James Bond, joining film legends such as Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. The actor could not refuse a fateful opportunity. On October 14, 2005, he officially became James Bond from the 21st part of the James Bond movie “Casino Royale”, and the creators approved Eva Green for the role of the new James Bond girl.

Such an appointment literally split the cinematic community in half. Some believed that a talented Englishman would perfectly cope with this role. Others called such an appointment “a mockery of a beloved character.” The thing is that Daniel Craig became the shortest James Bond in the history of cinema, as well as the first 007 agent with blond hair. A new reason for heated discussions was the fact that it was in the new films of the franchise that the British superspy became much more brutal: he participated in fights more often and paid less attention to the fairer sex.

One way or another, the film “Casino Royale” was a great success at the worldwide box office. After that, the number of stinging arrows fired at Craig decreased significantly. However, to this day, Daniel Craig retains the status of the most controversial James Bond in the history of the famous franchise.

Over the following years, several notable films featuring Daniel appeared on the screens: The Golden Compass, Notorious, Cowboys vs. Aliens, Challenge, Dreamhouse, as well as the American film adaptation of the legendary book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Rooney Mara.

In 2008, the actor again reincarnated as James Bond, appearing as an English superspy in the film Quantum of Solace. Craig’s fee for this film was almost 2.5 times higher than his profit from the first part of the updated franchise and amounted to an impressive $ 7.2 million, despite the fact that critics about the film were no longer so warm. By the way, this time the Bond girl was played by our compatriot Olga Kurylenko.

In 2012, Craig again set a kind of record, having received an amount of $ 20 million (taking into account various bonuses) for shooting in the film “007: Skyfall”, which has not been received by any of the Bond actors for one film. In total, the picture collected more than 1.1 billion (!) Dollars at the worldwide box office.

Skyfall rehabilitated the franchise in the eyes of the audience, but, unfortunately, the next film – 2015’s Spectrum – was distinguished only by the soundtrack (“Writing’s On The Wall” by Sam Smith) and the explosion scene, recognized as the largest in the history of cinema. Despite numerous rumors about the search for a new candidate for the role of Bond, in the summer of 2017 Daniel Craig confirmed that he would star in at least one more part of the Bond film, which was originally scheduled to premiere on November 8, 2019, but took place only two years later.

In September 2017, he appeared in the action comedy Logan’s Luck, playing explosives specialist Joe Bang, who is part of a team of genius burglars. Along with him, Channing Tatum, Adam Driver and Katie Holmes starred in the film.

Another worthy project with the participation of Daniel Craig is a comedy detective in the spirit of Agatha Christie Knives Out (2019). Craig’s character is Benoit Blanc, a private investigator hired by an anonymous person to investigate the murder of a popular detective writer. In the course of a conversation with members of his extravagant family, Blair realizes that everyone had a motive for the murder, without exception.

Daniel Craig’s personal life

For a long time there were rumors about Daniel Craig’s unconventional orientation, which he denied over and over again. Was there a reason?

In 1992, barely graduating from the Guildhall, he tied the knot with Scottish actress Fiona Lowdon, who gave him a daughter, Ella. In 1994, the couple separated, but maintained a warm relationship for the sake of their daughter. Daniel has always taken an equal part in Ella’s upbringing.

In 1996, Daniel Craig’s new novel became known. This time, the German actress Heike Makatsch became his life partner. This novel lasted for eight whole years, however, in the end, it also fell apart.

In June 2011, 007 secretly married actress Rachel Weisz (The Mummy, The Bourne Evolution). It is noteworthy that this romance began after two celebrities played a married couple in the film Dreamhouse. For the sake of the actor, Rachel left her first husband, director Darren Aronofsky. The couple are raising two children together – Daniel’s daughter Ella and Rachel’s son from Henry’s first marriage.

So, Daniel Craig is happily married, but why do rumors continue to circulate in the press about his homosexuality? In 2010, the actor was “caught red-handed” inside the Roosterfish gay club. He came there with a muscular young handsome man, and, according to eyewitnesses, the couple had fun: they drank cocktails, danced and even kissed. However, neither video nor photographs were provided by eyewitnesses.

However, in the spring of 2018, the actor put an end to these rumors – actress Rachel Weisz became pregnant from him. On September 1, the stars became the parents of a charming daughter.

Daniel Craig now

In the fall of 2024, the 25th part of the Bond movie No Time to Die finally hit the big screens. The premiere of the film was postponed for two years: the replacement of the director (Danny Boyle quarreled with the producers, and Cary Joji Fukunaga came in his place), Craig’s leg injury, the coronavirus pandemic that struck like a bolt from the blue. The film was pursued by a series of failures, but the high ratings of the audience and critics more than compensated for everything. This is Daniel Craig’s last appearance as James Bond.

Shortly before the premiere, Craig was awarded the rank of commander of the British Navy – the same as James Bond had in the book. The actor is not upset about the end of this chapter in his life – the story of his bond, as Daniel dreamed, ended well, and he has many interesting projects ahead of him. So, two more parts of the detective “Knives Out” are planned, in which Benoit Blanc will certainly show miracles of logical thinking.

Rumor has it that he will return to the role of Blomkvist in the new part of Lisbeth Salander’s story “The Girl Who Played with Fire”

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