Michael Fassbender (born 2 April 1977) is an actor and racing driver of German-Irish ancestry. He has received several awards and nominations, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, and two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. Fassbender made his feature film debut in the mythological battle epic 300 as a Spartan warrior (2007). Previously, he appeared in a variety of theatrical performances and starred in television shows such as HBO's Band of Brothers (2001) and Sky One's fantasy drama Hex (2004â05). He originally gained notoriety for his portrayal of IRA volunteer Bobby Sands in Hunger (2008), for which he received a British Independent Film Award nomination. Following that, he starred in the independent film Fish Tank (2009), as a Royal Marines lieutenant in Inglourious Basterds (2009), as Edward Rochester in the 2011 film adaptation of Jane Eyre, as Carl Jung in A Dangerous Method (2011), as David 8, the sentient android in Ridley Scott's Prometheus (2012) and its sequel, Alien: Covenant (2017), and as an eccentric musician in the musical comedy-drama Frank (2014).
Success in the mainstream
Fassbender starred as Stelios, a teenage Spartan warrior, in Zack Snyder's epic action picture 300 in 2006. The picture was a box office smash. [22] Fassbender followed a 600-calorie-a-day diet in preparation for his portrayal as Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoner Bobby Sands in Steve McQueen's 2008 film Hunger, weighing 125 pounds (57 kg) as Sands. [23] Considered his breakout performance,[24][25] it garnered him the British Independent Film Award. [26] He featured in two films a year after his breakthrough at the Cannes Film Festival with Hunger. The first was Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, in which he portrayed Lieutenant Archie Hicox, a British officer. Andrea Arnold directed the other picture, Fish Tank. Both films gained critical praise, as did Fassbender's performance in them. [awkward phrasing]
He shed 33 pounds in 2008 on a diet of berries, almonds, and sardines. This was in recognition of his contribution in Hunger. He is proficient in both English and German, his native tongue being English. Michael chose to pursue acting at the age of 17 while performing in a school play. Sources
Fassbender made his Marvel Comics debut as Magneto in X-Men: First Class in 2011, and repeated the character alongside Ian McKellen in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). Additionally, in 2011, Fassbender's portrayal of a sex addict in Shame garnered him the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival and Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. In 2013, his portrayal of slave master Edwin Epps in the slavery epic 12 Years a Slave earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Fassbender starred in another Ridley Scott picture, The Counselor, in 2013. He starred as Steve Jobs in Danny Boyle's biography Steve Jobs (2015) and as Macbeth in Justin Kurzel's version of William Shakespeare's tragedy in 2015. He was nominated for an Academy Award, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and a SAG award for the former. In 2015, he produced and performed in the western Slow West. Fassbender is married to Alicia Vikander, an actress.
