Hugo Weaving filmography and biography

Date of birth: 4 April 1960, Austin, Nigeria

Hugo Weaving biography

Hugo Wallace Weaving was born on April 4, 1960 in Nigeria. The middle sibling of three, Hugo has an older brother Simon and a younger sister Anna who both also currently live and work in Australia. During his early childhood, the Weaving family spent most of their time traveling between Nigeria, Great Britain, and Australia. This was due to the cross-country demands of his father's job in the computer industry. Later, during his teens, Hugo spent three years in England in the seventies attending Queen Elizabeth's Hospital School in Bristol. There, he showed early promise in theater productions and also excelled at history, achieving an A in his O-level examination. He arrived permanently in Australia in 1976 and finished his education at Knox Grammar School, Sydney. He graduated from NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art), a college well-known for other alumni such as Mel Gibson (I) and Geoffrey Rush, in 1981. Since then, Hugo has had a steadily successful career in the film, television, and theater industries. However, he has illustrated that, as renowned as he is known for his film work, he feels most at home on stage and continually performs in Australian theater productions, usually with the Sydney Theater Company. With his success has also come extensive recognition. He has won numerous awards, including two Australian Film Institute Awards (AFI) for Best Actor in a Leading Role and three total nominations. The AFI is the Australian equivalent of an Academy Award, and Hugo won for his performances in Proof and The Interview. He was also nominated for his performance in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. He garnered the Best Acting prize for The Interview at the Montreal Film Festival in 1998 in addition to his AFI Award and, that same year, won the Australian Star of the Year. More recently, roles in films such as The Matrix trilogy as Agent Smith and The Lord of the Rings trilogy as Lord Elrond have considerably raised his international profile. His famous and irreplaceable role in The Matrix movies have made him one of the greatest sci-fi villains of the Twenty-first Century. With each new film, television, or theatrical role, Hugo continues to surpass his audience's expectations and remains one of the most versatile performers working today. He resides in Australia and has two children with partner Katrina Greenwood. Though Hugo and Katrina have never married, they've been a committed couple for over 25 years; while Hugo was quoted as saying marriage "petrified" him in the 1990s, by middle of the following decade he said he no longer felt that way, and that he and Katrina have toyed with the idea of marrying "when we're really old".

Hugo Weaving trivia

- A graduate of the NIDA.
- His parents and baby Hugo left Nigeria before he was one year old.
- Children with Greenwood: Harry (b. 1989) and Holly (b. 1993).
- His father worked in the computer industry and moved around a lot. Hugo spent his childhood in South Africa and England before finally settling in Australia.
- Sister Anna-Jane Weaving had a brief singing career in Paris in the mid-80s.
- Nominated for the 2005 Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play for his performance in "Hedda Gabler."
- Attended the same high school as Australian actors Adam Garcia, Hugh Jackman, Andrew Johnston (VII), Reg Livermore, writer Stuart Beattie (I) and radio host John Laws (I).
- Attended the private junior school The Downs School, Wraxall, outside Bristol, whilst living in the UK, which was also briefly attended by Orlando Bloom.
- Weaving fractured his hip doing a stunt while in training for The Matrix. He recovered and the fight scenes in the production were shifted to the end of the filming. Since Keanu Reeves had suffered a neck injury at around the same time, the delay worked well for both actors. While both actors required stunt doubles on The Matrix and its two sequels, they both trained for months in advance of each production and did a lot of the fight choreography themselves.
- He has suffered from epileptic seizures since he was 13. Because of this, he made the decision early on not to drive and he has never had a driver's license. In a 2006 interview, Weaving noted he hasn't suffered a seizure in years, but is still reluctant to get a driver's license because "I'm so used to not driving, I'm scared of what I'd do".
- He is a pesco Vegetarians - Pesco vegetarians eat fish but no other meat.
- Partner of Katrina Greenwood (1984-present).
- He opened Belgrade Film Festival - FEST in 1997.
- Uncle of Morgan and Samara Weaving.
- Brother of Simon Weaving.
- Is nine years older than Cate Blanchett but plays her son-in-law in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Hugo Weaving quotes

- "I was on top of Keanu Reeves, he was on his back and I was on my trunk, and I was breathing down his neck for hours and hours. It was... very erotic." (on filming The Matrix Reloaded)
- "I do love working in Australia. Generally, the budgets are smaller, the crews are smaller and generally you work at a fast pace. That gives you energy. At the end of the day, you've worked a lot but you don't feel tired. On the big ones, you sit around a lot. That really saps your energy."
- "I think I said something like The Interview was the most fulfilling experience from an acting point of view. And it definitely was. That was a combination of working with a director who was very open and very prepared, and ... working with [co-star] Tony Martin (II) - just sitting opposite him every day, which is pretty much what we did because the film is essentially a dialog between two men."
- "You're certainly pushed into selling yourself as a commodity in order to sell the product. I will engage in the selling of the film. But I will try not to engage in the selling of the image, because I find that it's easier to go on and make another film, because the next character is actually obstructed if your image is bigger than it. So the longer you keep the mask on, metaphorically and physically, the better."
- "I'm 'of the world'. There was a time when I thought, 'Oh, I must go back to England. I feel English.' Then I went and the longer I was away, the more Australian I felt. Now, I've come back here and I don't feel entirely Australian. But I certainly feel like this is my country. This is where I live and this is where I want to work."
- One of the first things that made me want to be an actor was listening to Prokofiev's 'Romeo and Juliet'. I was intensely moved by it. I think I was about nine - I went to see the ballet. That's what made me interested in Shakespeare.

Hugo Weaving filmography