Oscar-winning, Golden Globe-nominated actor Adrien Brody celebrates his 50th birthday on April 14. The New York City-born actor and producer started his career at age 13 when he appeared in an off-Broadway play, the same year that he landed his first theatrical role in Woody Allen’s New York Stories. In 1996, he performed with Tupac Shakur and Mickey Rourke in Bullet, and two years later, he earned an Independent Spirit nomination for the film Restaurant. His performance caught the eye of Spike Lee, who cast him in Summer of Sam, followed by Terrence Malick, who cast him in the highly acclaimed drama The Thin Red Line. Brody’s life would change dramatically when Roman Polanski fought for him to star in his movie, The Pianist, which earned Brody an Academy Award for Best Actor and a Golden Globe nomination in the same category. It was an historic Oscar win, given that at 29 years old, he was the youngest actor to win in that category.

He grew up in a creative environment. His mother was a photojournalist, and his father was a professor and painter. His younger brother, Josh, is a filmmaker. Their father is of Polish-Jewish descent and his mother of Hungarian-Jewish origins, though he was raised Catholic. Brody has stated he has no strong connection to either religion.

A prolific actor, his other films include The Village (2004), The Jacket (2004), King Kong (2005), Hollywoodland (2006), Predators (2010), and Midnight in Paris (2011); and his relationship with acclaimed Golden Globe-winning director Wes Anderson has led to a collaboration in five films: The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), The French Dispatch (2021), and the soon to be released Asteroid City. More recently, he appeared last year in the Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde in the role of Arthur Miller, opposite Ana de Armas, who earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role as Monroe.

On the small screen, he starred in Houdini, in the titular role for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He was in the fourth season of the BBC series Peaky Blinders (2017), he starred in 10 episodes of Chapplewaite (2021) as well as having a role in Succession (2021), for which he earned a Primetime Emmy Award nod for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Last year he portrayed Pat Riley in the first season of the HBO sports drama series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.

As a producer, he has worked on several films, including Detachment, and Manhattan Night.

An animal rights activist, he enjoys playing piano and guitar in his spare time.