Adrien Brody is an American actor who started his mainstream acting career in 1988 with the TV film Home at Last. But, he got national attention with the release of 2002 film The Pianist when he won the “Academy Award for Best Actor” for the film. He was aged 29 at that time, making him the youngest actor ever to win such an award in the category. While young, he also used to perform magic shows for children.
Born Name
Adrien Nicholas Brody
Nick Name
- Adrien
- Byron Deidra (Credited for his role in Italian horror-thriller Giallo (2009) with an anagram of his name instead of his actual name)
Sun Sign
Aries
Born Place
Woodhaven, Queens, New York City, New York, United States
Residence
- Owns the Stone Barn Castle in Vienna, Upstate Central New York.
- Also owns a 50-acre estate in Cleveland, New York.
- Has another home in Los Angeles, Calfornia.
- Frequently travels to and resides in European countries.
Nationality
Education
Adrien studied at Louis Armstrong Middle School in Queens, NYC.
Adrien completed his high school education from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in Manhattan, NYC.
To refine his performing skills even further, Adrien attended summer camp at Long Lake Camp for the Arts in the heart of Adirondack Mountain range in Upstate New York.
For his Bachelor’s degree, at first, he enrolled at Stony Brook University, but it turned out to be too far to commute back and forth to NYC for auditions. Hence, he switched to Queens College for convenience.
He dropped out after studying one semester to relocate to Los Angeles in pursuit of a full time acting career.
Occupation
Actor, Producer
Family
- Father – Elliot Brody (Retired History Professor, Painter)
- Mother – Sylvia Plachy (Photographer, worked for The Village Voice, NYC based publication)
- Siblings – Adrien is the only child.
- Others – Ábrányi Lajos (Maternal Great-Great Grandfather) (Eminent Hungarian Painter), Willy Plachy (Maternal Grandfather)
Manager
- Lori Sale, Artist and Brand Management, Greater Los Angeles Area
- Paradigm Talent Agency, Beverly Hills, California
- Red Hawk Management
- Adéquat Agency, France
Build
Slim
Height
6 ft 1 in or 185 cm
Weight
73 kg or 161 lbs
Girlfriend / Spouse
- (2001) – Adrien had a brief relationship with former model and actress Monet at the beginning of his artistic career.
- DJ Sky Nellor (2002–2003) – His relationship with Australian model turned famous DJ Sky also did not last long. He even proclaimed not to date models after his hostile breakup with Sky but apparently forgot about his declaration when he was introduced to even more beautiful models in the future.
- (2003) – Adrien met Nicole on the night of the Academy Awards ceremony; the same event at which both actors won Oscars for their respective nominated roles. After exchanging numbers on the red carpet, they were spotted on a few dates in the forthcoming weeks by the paparazzi.
- (2003) – The actor was linked to actress Sharon Stone when the paparazzi speculated that Adrien was Sharon’s source of comfort after her then-husband, Phil Bronstein filed for divorce.
- Michelle Dupont (2003–2006) – Winning an Academy award turned a massive spotlight on Adrien’s life as he found unprecedented fame and attention. He kept himself grounded with a serious relationship with a music industry / management firm personal assistant, Michelle Dupont. Although she was not a mainstream actor, Michelle was a self-professed rock fanatic and had previously dated many rock stars, some of them being Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst, Jane’s Addiction’s Perry Farrell and guitarist . Though Adrien pledged absolute commitment to Michelle, an affair with British actress on location possibly caused the couple to drift apart.
- (2005) – Adrien and Kiera co-starred in The Jacket (2005) and fell for each other on the sets while filming the movie in Scotland. Keira had broken up with then model (later got known for 50 Shades franchise) and actor, . The couple lived in adjoining apartments and explored the nightlife of Glasgow together. But, Keira was still 19 years old at that time while Adrien was 31. Once filming was over, the couple was unable to sustain their relationship.
- (2006–2009) – The Oscar winner was the most vocal about his love for Spanish actress, Elsa among all his girlfriends. He met her for the first time at the house of his dialect coach, where Adrien was visiting to improve his Spanish while Elsa was taking lessons to improve her English. Spellbound by her beauty, Adrien asked Elsa if she would show him around Spain when he visited her home country to film Manolete (2008), a forthcoming project he was signed to appear in the lead. A lunch date in Spain eventually progressed into a relationship and the couple even got engaged. Adrien purchased the Stone Barn Castle as a birthday surprise for Elsa hoping to make it their permanent residence after marriage. With the castle as the background for an elaborate photoshoot, the couple shared their relationship story in Hello Canada. However, soon after, Elsa got cold feet. Not yet willing to settle down, she broke up with Adrien to date French actor, Olivier Martinez.
- (2010) – Next, Adrien started dating Mad Men actress, January Jones in early 2010 but tried really hard to maintain a low profile. By June 2010, the paparazzi often spotted January leaving Adrien’s home late at night and their hunch about their budding romance was further confirmed by Adrien’s friends. The couple confirmed their relationship status in July 2010 but broke up soon after due to undisclosed reasons.
- Paige Hathaway (2011) – Adrien briefly dated Paige Hathaway before she discovered weight training and blew up on social media as the present day fitness model.
- (2011) – Tabloids reported that Jennifer Aniston had a brief affair with Adrien Brody before she moved on with actor .
- Lara Lieto (2012–Present) – Adrien was introduced to Russian Model, Lara by a mutual friend at the Cannes Film Festival and they became an inseparable couple ever since. Lara whose real name is Larisa Tyaka was born in Moscow to a Moldavian father and Ossetian mother. She moved to Monaco to pursue a career in modeling. Owing to her relationship with Adrien, Lara relocated to the United States of America and since 2012, her appearance has undergone many changes, the most noticeable being the abnormal thickness of her lips due to lip fillers.
Race / Ethnicity
White
He has Polish, Hungarian and Czechoslovakian ancestry.
Adrien’s dad is Polish Jewish while his mom predominantly is a Hungarian Catholic who further had a Jewish Czech mother.
Hair Color
Black
Eye Color
Hazel
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
- A very prominent, elongated nose (throughout the 1990s, Adrien broke his nose 3 times at various movie sets while performing his own stunts)
- Very thin, almost gaunt face and body
- Prominent worry lines on forehead
- Very thin, straight lips
- Slight hunch in posture
Brand Endorsements
The following are some of the most high profile brands promoted by Adrien during his long acting career –
- Pepsi commercial with (early 1990s)
- Zegna Clothes Print Ad (2003)
- Diet Coke Commercial (2004)
- Schweppes tonic water commercial in Spanish (2007)
- Stella Artois Super Bowl Commercial (2011)
- Gilette Fusion ProGlide Styler, Master Your Style commercial (2012)
- Made his runway debut for Prada Men’s Fall / Winter 2012 collection
- Brand ambassador of Bvlgari watches (2013)
- Commercial for ADS Securities, an Abu Dhabi based trading firm (2016)
- Cast in a 4-minute short film directed by Wes Anderson for H&M’s Holiday Marketing campaign.
- Featured in an Italian commercial promoting the Fiat 500 Riva. He was also a part of the 4 minutes extended video tribute that celebrated the 60th Anniversary of the Fiat 500. (1957-2017).
Religion
Adrien was raised in an interfaith family with exposure to both Christianity and Judaism. It is not known his personal beliefs resonate with which faith.
Best Known For
- Playing the role of Władysław Szpilman in The Pianist (2002) for which he became the youngest actor ever in the history of Academy Awards to win an Oscar in the Best Actor category at the age of 29. Previously the record was held by Richard Dreyfuss who won it at the age of 30 in 1977.
- Commercially King Kong (2005) remains his most successful film that made $550.5 million worldwide.
First Film
Adrien was cast in an American anthology film at the age of 16 called New York Stories (1989).
First TV Show
Two episode guest role as Lenny McGuire in a TV series called Annie McGuire (1988).
Personal Trainer
- Adrien is reputed to be an intensely committed method actor and transforms himself physically to suit the demands of any movie role.
- His natural physical disposition is of a lean, slightly underweight body type.
- He starved himself to lose 30 pounds in 6 weeks for The Pianist (2002).
- To further add to his feeling of despair and hopelessness, Adrien sold his car, cut off all phones, broke up with his girlfriend and moved to Europe for 6 months to live in isolation.
- Director Roman Polanski made Adrien practice the piano for 4 hours every day which became his only source of comfort while living on a severely restricted diet.
- His everyday meals comprised of a consumption of only a small portion of protein from whole foods. He ate the following meals to drop down to 130 lbs of body weight.
- Breakfast – Two boiled eggs with a cup of green tea
- Lunch – A small portion of chicken
- Dinner – Steamed vegetables with a small piece of fish / chicken
- Contrarily, to play the role of Royce in Predators (2010), Adrien gained 25 pounds of muscle (11.5 kg) while retaining 6% body fat which is the heaviest or the biggest size, the actor has ever been.
- During the initial period, the actor took help of two strength coaches to list supplements that aid the anabolic process and create a training program, he could follow on his own.
- To get jacked, the actor gave up having sugar / desserts, alcohol, and sex.
- While filming, Adrien trained at an MMA gym called BJ Penn’s in Hilo, Hawaii.
- He performed first thing in the morning, spent the day filming the movie and ended the routine with a swim in the ocean.
- Since Adrien had no time to bulk-up and went straight to get the shredded appearance, he performed hundreds of push-ups a day (apart from his morning workout) to look pumped in every scene.
- As expected, the actor did not live in a hotel throughout filming. He lived in isolation on a private estate adjoining the shooting location of the tropical rainforest and spent his nights going through survival manuals, military & meditation books and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.
- Once filming for Predators wrapped, Adrien visited India, fell ill and lost 7 kg of that hard earned muscle.
- In his everyday life, the actor likes to run, hike, do yoga, and focus more on his flexibility, supplemented with occasional sets of push-ups for strength.
- He switches between a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian diet after a period of time and claims to eat a lot despite his lean appearance.
- He usually does not hire a personal trainer or a nutritionist and lives by common sense and instinct to stay fit.
- In 2013, Adrien trained under the supervision of former marine turned celebrity personal trainer, Aaron Williamson and in 2016, through an post, Adrien implied their association was still strong.
Adrien Brody Favorite Things
- Clothing Brands – Gucci, Armani, Nike
- Clothing – Bonds Grey Hoodie, Dolce and Gabbana motorcycle jacket
- Shoes – Steve Madden Black combat boots
- Cap – King Kong Baseball cap
- Movie – The Godfather (1972)
- Genre of Music – Hip hop
Source – , , ,
Adrien Brody Facts
- His childhood aspiration was to become a magician. Inspired by the American-Hungarian illusionist, Harry Houdini, Adrien performed at various children’s birthday parties as The Amazing Adrien when he was about 11 years old.
- Inspired by hip-hop music, the actor briefly took up B-boying in his teens.
- He grew up in a working-class neighborhood which witnessed a lot of gang violence. Adrien’s mother made him join acting classes to keep him out of trouble.
- In his late teens, Adrien often got into local drag racing and used to buy and repair muscle cars such as Mustang Mach 1, Dodge Charger, and Dodge Challenger to sell them at a profit.
- After a few years, he developed a fascination for vintage cars. Some of his prized possessions include a Z06 Corvette and a mist-green ’55 Cadillac.
- Adrien shared that he became comfortable in front of the camera at a very early age since he was a frequent subject of his mother’s photography and often accompanied her to designated professional assignments in the field.
- Adrien was furious when he broke his nose for the third time on the sets of Summer of Sam (1999) which is the main cause of his big, elongated nose. Although he got it functionally fixed, he refused to opt for cosmetic surgery to reduce the size back to normal.
- The actor is not prone to feeling emotionally low and hence, was surprised to experience depression for nearly a year after wrapping up The Pianist.
- He is an avid painter and frequently puts up an exhibition of his artwork. Adrien is particularly drawn towards marine themes to create contemporary, modern art.
- Adrien was in his NYC home during the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001. As soon as he heard the news on TV, he rushed to the location to inspect the gravity of the disaster with his mother and her assistant and captured the tragedy on camera.
- He is a close friend of Italian actress Asia Argento and Puerto Rican actor .
- Esquire Magazine labeled him as the Best Dressed Man in America in 2004.
- He was featured in a music video of (2002) by Tori Amos.
- Adrien and are the only actors who have won an Oscar and a César for the same performance.
- He was very keen on performing the role of the Joker in Dark Knight (2008) that he lost to and the role of Spock in Star Trek XI (2009) which eventually went to .
- He got his first expensive watch, a gold Bulgari Rettangolo, for the Oscar event in 2003.
- The actor took by surprise when he grabbed her in a back-bending embrace and kissed her after she announced him as the Academy Award Winner (2003) in Best Actor category. Adrien admitted that stunt marked by triumph was inspired by a picture of his parents locked in a similar embrace.
- In 2003, Adrien was a first time Oscar nominee pitted against four former Oscar winners. He is the only actor to have won an award in such a situation.
- Follow him on and .
Featured Image by Georges Biard / / CC BY-SA 3.0
Facts of Adrien Brody
- full nameAdrien Brody
- Date of Birth April 14, 1973
- Age 51 years 4 months
- Horoscope Aries
- Lucky Number 11
- Lucky Stone Diamond
- Lucky Color Red
- Best Match for Marriage Leo
- weight73 kg
- height6 ft 1 in