Had a crown on a tooth knocked out while filming the first James Bond fight scene
Deliberated for many months before accepting the Bond role; was afraid of being typecast
His selection as Bond met with protests and a planned boycott of the movie by fans of former Bond star Pierce Brosnan; website craignotbond.com hosts a petition that has already garnered more than 15,000 signatures calling for Craig's replacement
Won London Film Critics Circle Awards 2005: British Actor of the Year (Enduring Love); British Independent Film Awards 2000: Best Actor (Some Voices); Edinburgh International Film Festival 1998: Pathe British Performance Award (Love is the Devil)
Best Known As: James Bond in the 2006 movie Casino Royale
Daniel Craig succeeded Pierce Brosnan as filmdom's new James Bond in the 2006 film Casino Royale. Craig's icy blue eyes and loutish good looks are reminiscent of Richard Burton, and he is known for a similar intensity on the screen. Craig's popularity as a leading man spread beyond his native England with the modest success of the 2004's Layer Cake (also with Sienna Miller). Prior to that he was known to TV audiences as the star of the BBC miniseries Our Friends in the North (1996), and to movie audiences as Paul Newman's son in the 2002 film Road to Perdition (with Tom Hanks and Jude Law), and as poet Ted Hughes in Sylvia (2003, starring Gwyneth Paltrow as author Sylvia Plath). Craig's other films include Some Voices (2000), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001, starring Angelina Jolie), Enduring Love (2004, with Samantha Morton), The Jacket (2005, with Adrien Brody) and Munich (2005, with Craig as a Mossad assassin).
Career Highlights: Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon, Casino Royale, Munich
First Major Screen Credit: Kiss and Tell (1996)
Biography
British actor Daniel Craig became known to audiences the world over when he was revealed as the new James Bond, slated to cement his role as the suave spy in 2006's Casino Royale. His status as an action star was quite sudden, and many were surprised at the announcement, thinking of him as an unknown. Ironically, the classically trained actor had put nearly 50 roles under his belt over the previous 15 years, from star-studded Hollywood features to highly respected independent ventures.
Before Craig was a working actor, much less a famous one, he didn't just want to be an actor, he wanted to be a good one. At the age of six he was appearing in school plays in Liverpool, at 14 he was acting on his high school stage in West Kirby, and by 16 he auditioned for and joined the National Youth Theater's troupe for their tours of Manchester, Spain, and Russia. He went on to toil through low-paying jobs as he repeatedly auditioned for the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama, determined to get in and undergo the classical training that would help him excel at his craft. Finally in 1988 at the age of 20, he was accepted and proceeded to study there for the next three years under the tutelage of Royal Shakespeare Company veteran Colin McCormack. After graduating in 1991, Craig had a whirlwind of activity to keep up with. In 1992 he began his career on screen, appearing in the film The Power of One. He also married Scottish actress Fiona Loudon, who gave birth to their daughter Ella that same year. He would appear in over ten films, TV movies, television shows, and failed pilots over the next two years, until his marriage to Louden came to an end in 1994. He got back in the game in 1995 with a role in the Disney film A Kid in King Arthur's Court, returning to England soon afterward to star in the acclaimed BBC2 miniseries Our Friends in the North and the four-part series Moll Flanders.
It seemed that the actor couldn't stay busy enough, working on several projects a year that ranged from highly respectable drama to trash TV horror. In 1997 he worked with German director Peter Sehr on Obsession where he met his future girlfriend, German actress Heike Makatsch. His first leading role in the U.K. came in 1998 with his portrayal of George Dyer, the intimate friend of painter Francis Bacon (played by Derek Jacobi) in John Maybury's Love Is the Devil. He was developing an impressive resumé and a great skill at taking on an entirely new persona with each new role. He would play a 19th century Irish refuge in Love & Rage, a young soldier in the WWI film The Trench, a framed Jesuit priest in the royal biopic Elizabeth (Starring Cate Blanchett), a Kenyan gamekeeper in the Kim Basinger film I Dreamed of Africa, and the manager of a run-down hotel and health-spa in the satirical comedy Hotel Splendide.
American audiences finally got a real taste of Craig's acting when he took a part in an action-packed summer blockbuster, 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Playing Angelina Jolie's present rival and former lover, Craig was so effective at his trademark immersion into his role that audiences hardly recognized him when he appeared the next year in The Road to Perdition as the spoiled son of an Al Capone-era mob boss, complete with a perfect American accent. His skill for blending so adeptly into his character and environment gave him the odd combination of being wildly praised but seldom recognized. He would appear in many more challenging and thought-provoking roles over the next few years, most notably as Ted Hughes, poet and husband to Sylvia Plath (Played by Gwyneth Paltrow) in the biopic Sylvia (2003). In 2004, he took British audiences on a thrill ride as a coke dealer without a name in Layer Cake, which became a sleeper hit in the U.S. as well. The following year found him playing significant roles in American films like The Jacket and Steven Spielberg's Munich.
The script that would mark his debut in the franchise would be Casino Royale, the only of author Ian Flemming's original James Bond books to have never been adapted into a screenplay for the film franchise, as its rights were purchased in 1967 to make a spoof of the film series rather than a real Bond movie. The choice of Craig for such a famous and well loved character had some audiences scratching their heads, but those who'd taken a look at the actor's long and impressive filmography were ready to see him take on the job.
While the news that Craig would be downing shaken martinis as the silver screen's most enduring super spy, the hype would sadly overshadow the fact that the veteran actor continued to take risks on the big screen with such efforts as Renaissance, a visually stunning sci fi thriller that was somewhat remniscent of director Robert Rodriguez's acclaimed 2005 action entry Sin City. Before Casino Royale's release in late 2006, Craig would appear as the killer Perry Smith in the "other Capote movie," Infamous. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
Craig was born in Chester, England, UK, the son of Timothy John Wroughton Craig, who served as a Midshipman in the Merchant Navy and worked
in various occupations when he came ashore; and Olivia Williams Craig, an art teacher.
In early 2007, Craig expressed an interest in being a part of the Star Trek
franchise, professing his love of the series to the World Entertainment News Network and a desire to have a "stint in the TV show
or a film. It's been a secret ambition of mine for years."[6] On 16 March2007, Craig made a
cameo appearance as himself in a sketch with Catherine
Tate who appeared in the guise of her character Elaine Figgis
from The Catherine Tate Show. The sketch was made for the
BBCRed Nose Day2007
fundraising programme.[7]
Craig is rumoured to be in talks with local New Zealand director Thomas McKenzie, to star in his low budget film, Summer
Paradise. American star, Tom Cruise, is also connected with the project.
James Bond (2005–present)
As early as February 2005, Craig had been named in the media as a possible James Bond.
On 6 April2005, Craig was reported to have been signed by
EON Productions as part of a three-film contract worth £15 million
($29,696,972),[8] however this news was later debunked by
the BBC,[9] who contacted EON
for an official report. According to Craig, MGM offered him the role but the
Broccoli family never got in touch with him.[citation needed].
Finally, on 23 October2005, Craig signed a three-film
contract, with the first, Casino Royale, released on 14 November2006. Craig is the first actor to step into the role who was born
after the first Bond film, Dr. No, was released. Craig is also the first Bond to be
hired after the death of Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli in 1996.
Craig's hiring as James Bond was controversial among some fans and critics, with some vocal fans threatening a boycott of the
film[10] and going so far as to set up a website[11][12] because, unlike all his predecessors, Craig is blond and of average height. Media coverage of the
controversy resulted in numerous actors publicly voicing their support of Craig. Most notably, four of the five previous actors
who portrayed Bond—Timothy Dalton, Sean Connery,
Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan—called his casting a
good decision. Clive Owen, who had been linked to the role, also spoke in defense of Craig,
as did co-star Judi Dench.[13]
In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Brosnan was asked, "What do you
think of the new James Bond, Daniel Craig, and will you be watching Casino Royale?" He replied, "I'm looking forward to it
like we're all looking forward to it. Daniel Craig is a great actor, and he's going to do a fantastic job".[14]
After the film was released, Craig's realistic and more humane portrayal of Bond, as well as his well-regarded acting
abilities, received wide praise. Casino Royale received a "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an average score of 7.8/10. Of 193 reviews, 94% were positive. Several critics have
said that Craig is the most believable and charismatic Bond since Sean Connery.[15] Craig was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actor on January 2006, and won the Best Actor award at the
Evening Standard British Film Awards on 2 February2007, both firsts for an actor in the role of James Bond.
A widely circulated report on several news channels and newspapers claimed that Craig had lost two teeth filming a fight
scene; Craig later said it was just a crown that had come loose. Producer
Barbara Broccoli also denied other rumors in an interview with Variety.
As production of Casino Royale reached its conclusion, producers Michael G.
Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced that pre-production work had already begun
on the 22nd Bond film. After several months of speculation as to the release date, Wilson and Broccoli officially announced on
20 July2006 that the currently un-named follow-up film, known
only as Bond 22, will be released on 7 November2008 and that Craig has been signed to play Bond, with an option for a third film.[16]
As of 2006, Casino Royale became #5 best-selling Bond film of all time; however, with recent DVD and box office sales,
Casino Royale has shot up to the #2 best-selling Bond film of all time as of 2007. In
2007, Craig was invited to join the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[17][18]
Personal life
Craig was previously married to British actress Fiona Loudon. They had one child together,
Ella, who was born in 1992.[19] He was rumored to be having an affair with Sienna
Miller.[20][21]
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- Daniel Craig 
