Tobey Maguire

Tobias Vincent Maguire (born June 27, 1975) is an American actor and film producer. He is best known for playing the title character from Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), a role he later reprised in '' Spider-Man: No Way Home'' (2021).

He started his career in supporting roles in the films ''This Boy's Life'' (1993), ''The Ice Storm'' (both 1997), and ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'' (1998). His leading roles include '' Pleasantville'' (1998), '' Ride with the Devil'' (1999), ''The Cider House Rules'' (1999), ''Wonder Boys'' (2000), ''Seabiscuit'' (2003), ''The Good German'' (2006), ''Brothers'' (2009), ''The Great Gatsby'' (2013), and ''Pawn Sacrifice'' (2014).

He has received two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture for ''Cider House Rules'' (1999) and ''Seabiscut'' (2003) as well as a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for ''Brothers'' (2009). Maguire established his own production company in 2012 called Material Pictures, and co-produced ''Good People'' (2012), and ''Pawn Sacrifice'' (2014).

Early life and family

Tobias Vincent Maguire was born on June 27, 1975, in Santa Monica, California, to Wendy Brown and Vincent Maguire. His parents separated when he was two years old, and Maguire spent much of his childhood living with various family members.

During his childhood, Maguire entertained the idea of becoming a chef and wanted to enroll in a home economics class as a sixth grader. His mother offered him $100 to take a drama class instead, and he agreed. The transient nature of his school years began to take a toll on Maguire emotionally, and after another relocation for his freshman year, he dropped out of high school and did not return. Instead, he pursued an acting career. By 2000, he had obtained his General Educational Development, noting that during his school days, "I was not doing school; I was showing up, but... not really giving myself."Tobey Maguire – bold in sticking to the subtle, low-key roles
, published March 10, 2000; retrieved May 14, 2007.

Acting career

1989–1995: Early career

Maguire's first appearance in a feature film was in 1989's ''The Wizard''. He plays one of Lucas Barton's goons (one of three competitors at a video game competition) and had no lines. He worked as a child actor in the early 1990s, often playing roles much younger than his chronological age, and as late as 2002 he was still playing teenagers while in his mid-20s. He appeared in a variety of commercials and TV and movie roles, working opposite such actors as Chuck Norris (''Walker, Texas Ranger''), Roseanne Barr (''Roseanne''), and Tracey Ullman ('' Tracey Takes On...''). Eventually, he was cast as the lead in the FOX TV series ''Great Scott!'', which was canceled nine weeks later.

During many of his auditions, Maguire found himself auditioning for roles opposite another rising actor, Leonardo DiCaprio. The pair quickly became friends and made an informal pact to help each other get parts in their movies/TV shows/other projects. For example, both auditioned for the same part in the 1990 TV series based on the 1989 comedy '' Parenthood''. DiCaprio was cast, and Maguire later got a guest role at least partly on DiCaprio's recommendation. The same scenario played itself out during casting for the 1993 movie ''This Boy's Life'' (featuring Robert De Niro as the lead); DiCaprio got the main teen role of character Tobias "Toby" Wolff and Maguire got a part as one of his friends.

1995–2002: Acclaim

By the mid-1990s, he was working steadily but was also becoming involved in the hard-partying lifestyle of some of his fellow young actors. In 1995, he requested director Allan Moyle to release him from his part in the movie ''Empire Records''. Moyle agreed, and all of Maguire's scenes were deleted from the final film. Maguire then sought help for a drinking problem from Alcoholics Anonymous; he has been sober ever since.

As part of his recovery from alcoholism and learning to deal with his self-described "addictive and compulsive nature", Maguire changed his career path slightly to obtain roles where he and DiCaprio would not always be in competition for the same part, and the move paid off when given the role of Paul Hood, a teenage boarding school student whose narration anchors the action, in Ang Lee's 1997 film, ''The Ice Storm

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases