Hugo Weaving

Hugo Wallace Weaving (born April 4, 1960) is a Nigerian-born English-Australian film and stage actor best known for his roles as Agent Smith in the The Matrix and Elrond in The Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, as well as the title character of V for Vendetta.

Biography

Early life

Hugo Weaving was born in Nigeria to English parents Wallace and Anne. He spent his childhood in South Africa and then he 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 mini-series The Dirtwater Dynasty in 1988 and later 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 mini-series 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 the 2003 sequels to The Matrix, 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 junkie 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 were responsible for the adapted screenplay. Weaving's involvement in V for Vendetta was very last-minute. Actor James Purefoy was the original actor signed as V, but he pulled out six weeks into filming due to personal problems with wearing the Guy Fawkes mask throughout the entire film. Weaving's V is filmed in the majority of V for Vendetta, but Purefoy's V is shown in several of the movie's scenes. The sections filmed with Purefoy were later voiced over by Weaving.

Weaving also reprises his role vocally as Elrond for the video game, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II.

In addition to his career in film, Weaving has continued working as a stage actor, regularly appearing in productions by the Sydney Theater Company. In 2006 he is working with Cate Blanchett on a reprise of the STC production of Hedda Gabler to be restaged in New York City.

Personal life

When he was approximately 15 years old, Weaving was diagnosed with epilepsy[1]. His current partner is Katrina Greenwood, who is known as "Kat" to him. (1984-present).They have two children, Holly (b. 1993) and Harry (b. 1989)

Trivia

• Weaving fractured his hip while performing stunts for The Matrix Trilogy and had to have surgery for it, he recovered and ever since the injury he has been doubled by stunt-men more often.
• He doesn't own a wristwatch or a cell phone.
• Because of his epilepsy he made a decision early on not to drive and he has never owned a driver's license.
• He is a pesco Vegetarian (Vegetarian that eats fish meat but no other meat)
• Weaving appeared in a TV Commercial for Gatorade in 2003
• Appeared in a video for Alicia Bridges' "I Love the Nightlife" as his character from The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
• Attended the same high school as Australian actors Adam Garcia, Hugh Jackman, Andrew Johnston, Reg Livermore, writer Stuart Beattie and radio host John Laws.
• His theatrical credits include, Macbeth, The Cherry Orchard, The Perfectionist, Arcadia, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, Ring Around The Moon, Private Lives, and Hedda Gabler

Personal 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."
• "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 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 Tony Martin - just sitting opposite him every day, which is pretty much what we did because the film is essentially a dialog between two men."
• "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."
• "Alan Moore was writing about something which happened some time ago. It was a response to living in Thatcherite England... This is a response to the world in which we live today. So I think that the film and the graphic novel are two separate entities." On V for Vendetta

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), Character Unknown (pre-production)
• Transformers (2007), Megatron (Voice) (post-production)

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