Michael Fassbender
"What I find really interesting is to try and mix it up, to push myself and try different things. I don't want to stay in my comfort zone.
I want to take risks and keep myself scared."—Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender is Cultured Badass: the man. That's pretty much all you need to know.
But to go into a little bit of unneeded depth, Michael Fassbender is an Irish actor with a background in theater who starred in the 2008 film Hunger about the 1981 Irish hunger strike. While the film had a fairly limited release, Fassbender's intense performance got a lot of praise.
He had a handful of other notable roles of the next two years, but things really took off in 2011. That year he played more coveted (and well-received) roles than many actors have in their entire career including Magneto, Carl Jung, and Mr. Rochester. He is known for his broodingly intense persona and dark charisma. While having a quick career turn is not uncommon for actors, few have been in so many high-profile roles so successfully. His career seems to be continuing strongly with roles in big films like Ridley Scott's Prometheus.
Selected Works:
- Hex (2004)
- Three Hundred (2007)
- Hunger (2008)
- Inglourious Basterds (2009)
- Centurion (2010)
- X Men First Class (2011)
- Shame (2011)
- Jane Eyre (2011)
- A Dangerous Method (2011)
- Haywire (2012)
- Prometheus (2012)
- Ascended Fanboy: When he was in High School, he put together a school play of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, a fact that came up when Fassbender was reading for a role in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.
- Black Gal on White Guy Drama: Fassbender has dated a string of black and/or racially mixed girlfriends, and has stated in interviews that he prefers darker women. A small but loud segment of his white female fanbase has reacted... poorly, to say the least.
- Doing It for the Art: For his role in Hunger Fassbender dropped about thirty pounds and obsessively rehearsed the lengthy scenes. In general, Fassbender is known for his desire to fully embody his characters.
- Even the Guys Want Him
Russell Brand: The last time I did an MTV awards show, I did end up marrying someone that was there. So tonight, I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled for my next wife...FASSBENDER!
- Mr. Fanservice :With his Irish accent, thick jaw, and penchant for suave but flawed characters Fassbender has quickly become one.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: In X Men First Class his character is a German Jew (which is very important to the plot), but his accent is pretty uniformly still Irish. Interestingly, his performance was considered so good, that this aspect is often noted, but rarely criticized.
- Redheaded Hero
- Romance on the Set: Dated actress Zoe Kravitz (Angel) while they were filming X-Men.
- And is now dating his Shame costar Nicole Beharie.
- Star-Making Role: Hunger brought him to worldwide attention but it was X-Men that really solidified his star status.
- Tall, Dark and Handsome