Hugo Weaving

Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is a film and stage actor, as well as a voice actor.

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Biography

Early life

Weaving was born in Nigeria to English parents Anne, a tour guide, and Wallace Weaving, a seismologist.^[1] He spent his childhood in South Africa and then moved to the United Kingdom in his teens. While in England he attended the prestigious boarding school Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, commonly known in Bristol as QEH. He moved to Australia in 1976, where he attended Sydney's Knox Grammar School. Weaving later graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1981.

Career

Early on, Weaving took acting lessons from the voice actors of the M.A.S.K. Cartoon Series. Weaving's first major role was in the television series Bodyline in 1984, as the English captain, Douglas Jardine. Weaving appeared in the Australian miniseries The Dirtwater Dynasty in 1988 and starred opposite Nicole Kidman in the 1989 film Bangkok Hilton. In 1991, Weaving received the Australian Film Institute's award for "Best Actor" for his performance in the low-budget Proof. He also appeared as Sir John in the 1993 Yahoo Serious comedy, Reckless Kelly, a lampoon of the famous Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. However, Weaving first received attention overseas with the international hit Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in 1994. In 1998 Weaving received the award for "Best Actor" from the Montreal Film Festival for his performance in The Interview. He played Poseidon in the miniseries adaptation of The Odyssey. Weaving was also a voice actor in the cartoon film The Magic Pudding.

He earned further international attention with his performance as the enigmatic Agent Smith in the 1999 blockbuster hit The Matrix. Weaving later reprised the role of Smith in that film's 2003 sequels: The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

He also garnered much popular attention in the role of the half-elf Elrond in Peter Jackson's three-film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, released between 2001 and 2003. Weaving was the main actor in Andrew Kotatko's Everything Goes (2004). He also starred as a heroin addict in the 2005 Australian indie film Little Fish, opposite Cate Blanchett. He also played the title role as V in the 2006 film V for Vendetta, in which he was reunited with the Wachowski brothers, creators of The Matrix trilogy, who wrote the adapted screenplay. Actor James Purefoy was originally signed to play the role, but he pulled out six weeks into filming due to personal problems with wearing the Guy Fawkes mask throughout the entire film.^{[citation needed]} Weaving appeared in the majority of V for Vendetta, but Purefoy is shown in several scenes. The sections filmed with Purefoy were later voiced over by Weaving. Weaving also dubbed the voice for the UKs children series title role 'Dora the Explorer'; using his renowned falsetto voice he appears to be a small girl.

Weaving also reprised his role as Elrond for the video game, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II. He regularly appears in productions by the Sydney Theatre Company. In 2006, he worked with Cate Blanchett on a reprise of the STC production of Hedda Gabler in New York City. In a controversial move by director Michael Bay, Weaving was chosen as the voice of the Decepticon leader Megatron in the 2007 live-action film Transformers, rather than using the original voice created by the classic voice actor, Frank Welker.

Personal life

When he was 13 years old, Weaving was diagnosed with epilepsy.^[2] Due to the prospect of seizures, Weaving does not drive cars. He has never married and lives with his partner Katrina Greenwood. They have two children, Holly (b. 1993) and Harry (b. 1989).

A notable pescatarian, Weaving is also the primary ambassador for Australian animal rights organization Voiceless. Hugo attends events and promotes Voiceless in interviews. He also assists Voiceless in their judging of annual grant's recipients.

Filmography (partial)

• ...Maybe This Time (1980), as Student 2
• The City's Edge (1983), as Andy White
• "Bodyline" (1984), as Douglas Jardine
• For Love Alone (1986), as Johnathan Crow
• "Melba" (1987), as Charles Armstrong
• The Right Hand Man (1987), as Ned Devine
• Dadah Is Death (1988), as Geoffrey Chambers
• "The Dirtwater Dynasty" (1988), as Richard Eastwick
• "Bangkok Hilton" (1989), as Richard Carlisle
• ...Almost (1990), as Jake
• Proof (1991), as Martin
• Road to Alice (1992), as Morris
• Frauds (1993), as Jonathan Wheats
• Reckless Kelly (1993), as Sir John
• The Custodian (1993), as Det. Church
• "Seven Deadly Sins" (1993), as Lust
• Exile (1994), as Innes
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), as Anthony 'Tick' Belrose/Mitzi Del Bra
• What's Going On, Frank? (1994), as Strange Packer in Supermarket
• "Bordertown" (1995), as Kenneth Pearson
• Babe (1995) as the voice of Rex the Male Sheepdog
• "Naked: Stories of Men" - Episode "Coral Island" (1996) as Martin Furlong
• "The Bite" (1996), as Jack Shannon
• True Love and Chaos (1997) as Morris
• Halifax f.p: Isn't It Romantic (1997), as Det. Sgt. Tom Hurkos
• "Frontier" (1997), as Governor Arthur
• Babe: Pig in the City (1998), as the voice of Rex the Male Sheepdog
• Bedrooms and Hallways (1998) as Jeremy
• The Interview (1998), as Eddie Rodney Fleming
• The Kiss (1998), as Barry
• Strange Planet (1999), as Steven
• Little Echo Lost (1999), as Echo Man
• The Matrix (1999), as Agent Smith
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), as Elrond
• Russian Doll (2001), as Harvey
• The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (2001), as Rubicondo (Dentist)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), as Elrond
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) as Elrond
• The Matrix Reloaded (2003), as Agent Smith
• The Matrix Revolutions (2003), as Agent Smith
• After the Deluge (2003), as Martin Kirby
• Peaches (2004), as Alan
• Everything Goes (2004), as Ray
• Little Fish (2005), as Lionel Dawson
• Happy Feet (2006), as Noah (voice)
• V for Vendetta (2006), as V
• The Key Man (2007), as Vincent (post-production)
• The Tender Hook (2007), as McHeart (pre-production)
• Transformers (2007), Megatron (Voice)

Awards

• 2007 - The Constellation Awards, Best Male Performance in a 2006 Science Fiction Film, TV Movie, or Miniseries: V for Vendetta

References