Madonna’s Leading Men: Clive Owen
Here’s a brand new chapter of “Madonna’s Leading Men“, a showcase of the actors who co-starred in Madonna’s movies and videos, presented by MadonnaTribe combining a biography profile of one of Madonna’s Leading Men in the news page, and a related discussion about him in Tribers!, the Off-Topic section of MadonnaTribe’s Community Forum. Two weeks ago we talked about Goran Visnjic, her partner in The Power of Good-Bye video. Today let’s have a look at the man who’s described as the British “overnight sensation”: Clive Owen.
Madonna fans know Clive as the man who gave the Lady the ride of her life in the Guy Ritchie directed short film “Star” from BMW Film’s series “The Hire“. Since then, Clive has continued his career, playing in major theatre acts and appearing in acclaimed movies such as “Croupier“, “Gosford Park“, “Beyond Borders“, “King Arthur” and the upcoming “Sin City“. Winner of the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture in Mike Nichol’s “Closer“, Clive was nominated for the same role at this year’s Academy Awards.
Clive was born in 1964 near Coventry, England. Forth of four brothers and initially a top stream student at school – Clive often said that, for some unknown reason, he always wanted to act.. Bitten badly by the bug, he couldn’t concentrate on anything else, and when he first announced in class that he wanted to act, his teacher encouraged all the other kids to laugh at him. But Clive’s steely intensity you can feel when he’s on the screen is part of his character in everyday’s life and helped him keeping at it and getting where he now is.
After graduation, Clive appeared in several different productions on the big picture and on TV. Playing in “Chancer” lead him into stardom but Clive hated the constant attention of the tabloids and gained a reputation as a “difficult” actor. He was aware of the danger he was in: threatened with typecasting, he decided to bail out. His career kept spreading between movies, theatre and TV, everytime gaining better reviews and bigger international aknowledgment.
When Mike Nichols choose Clive for “Closer“, he asked to swap roles and played the supporting role of Larry instead of the lead character he used to play on stage in 1997 . This brought to him his first Golden Globe and a nomination at the Oscars.
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Based on a biography by Dominic Wills, Tiscali Entertainment