Daniel Craig

Craig with producer Michael G. Wilson in June 2006

Craig appeared in his first screen role in 1992, playing an Afrikaner in The Power of One. He then appeared as Joe in the Royal National Theatre's production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America in November 1993. Also in 1993, Craig was featured in two episodes of the American television shows Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,[17] and British shows Heartbeat, Between the Lines, Drop the Dead Donkey and Sharpe's Eagle.[18][19] Craig was featured in the poorly received Disney film A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995).[20] In 1996, Craig starred in the BBC drama serial Our Friends in the North as the troubled George 'Geordie' Peacock. Appearing alongside Christopher Eccleston, Gina McKee and Mark Strong, Craig's part in the series is considered his breakthrough role.[21][22][23] In the same year, Craig guest starred in an episode of the HBO horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt and was featured in the BBC television film Saint-Ex.[24][25] Craig gave a lead performance in the Franco-German drama Obsession in 1997, about a love triangle between Craig's character and a couple.[26]

Craig appeared in three films in 1998: the independent drama Love and Rage,[27] the biographical drama Elizabeth, in which he played Jesuit priest John Ballard, who was executed for being involved in an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England in the Babington Plot,[28] and the BBC television film Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998), in which Craig played small-time thief George Dyer who becomes the lover and muse of painter Francis Bacon, who was portrayed by Derek Jacobi.[29] The following year, Craig starred in a television drama called Shockers: The Visitor and as Sergeant Telford Winter in the independent war film The Trench, which takes place in the confines of the trenches in the First World War during the 48 hours leading up to the Battle of the Somme.[30] Craig played a schizophrenic man who falls in with a woman (played Kelly Macdonald) after being discharged from psychiatric hospital in the drama Some Voices (2000).[31] Also in 2000, Craig co-starred alongside Toni Collette in the dark comedy Hotel Splendide and was featured in I Dreamed of Africa, based on the life of Kuki Gallmann (played by Kim Basinger).[32]

Craig played a "tomb raider" and the love interest of Angelina Jolie's character Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), based on the video game series Tomb Raider. He later admitted to have taken on the role in the poorly-reviewed yet commercially successful film only for the paycheque.[33] In 2001, Craig also starred in the four-part Channel 4 drama Sword of Honour, based on the trilogy of novels of the same.[34] Craig appeared in the anthology film Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002), starring in the segment "Addicted to the Stars", directed by Michael Radford.[35] His second release of 2002 was Sam Mendes' crime film Road to Perdition with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman as Irish mobster Connor Rooney, the son of the crime organisation's boss, played by Newman.[36] Craig portrayed German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg in the BBC television drama Copenhagen (2002), which depicts Heisenberg's involvement in the German nuclear weapon project during World War II.[37] On stage, Craig starred opposite Michael Gambon in the original production of Caryl Churchill's play A Number from September to November 2002 at the Royal Court Theatre.[38] Craig received a London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor nomination for his role as a man who is cloned twice by his father.[39] Craig starred as poet Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow as Sylvia Plath in the biographical film Sylvia (2003), which depicts the romance between the two poets.[40] In the same year, he appeared in The Mother as a man who engages in an affair with the much older mother (played by Anne Reid) of his lover and best friend.[41]

The crime thriller Layer Cake, directed by Matthew Vaughn, starred Craig as a London-based cocaine supplier known only as XXXX. Los Angeles Times writer praised Craig's "stunningly suave performance",[42] while Roger Ebert thought he was "fascinating" in the film.[43] Craig next starred as a man who becomes dangerously close with a stranger (played by Rhys Ifans) after witnessing a deadly accident together in Enduring Love (2004).[44] Craig appeared in three theatrical films in 2005, all of which were supporting roles. His first release of the year, was the thriller The Jacket starring Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley.[45] He then made a brief appearance in the Hungarian film Fateless as a United States Army Sergeant who takes a liking to a teenage boy who survives life in concentration camps.[46] Craig's third and final role of the year was a South African driver who is a part of a covert Israeli government assassination mission against eleven Palestinians allegedly involved in the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics. The film, Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg, starred Eric Bana as a member of the operation, a Mossad agent.[47] Also in 2005, Craig starred in the BBC television film Archangel – based on Robert Harris' eponymous novel – as an English academic who stumbles upon a notebook believed to have belonged to Joseph Stalin.[48]

Craig at the Quantum of Solace film premiere in New York in November 2008

In 2005, Craig was contacted by Eon Productions to portray James Bond. Initially, he was unsure about the role when first offered it and was resistant to the producers' overtures. "There was a period of trying to woo him" longtime Bond co-producer Barbara Broccoli later commented in 2012.[49] During this period, he sought advice from colleagues and friends, to whom "most of us said to him...'there is life after Bond'.".[50] He stated he "was aware of the challenges" of the Bond franchise, which he considered "a big machine that makes a lot of money". He aimed at bringing more "emotional depth" to the character.[22] Born in 1968, Craig is the first actor to portray James Bond to have been born after the Bond series started and after the death of Ian Fleming, the novels' writer. The casting choice caused significant controversy. Throughout the entire production period, internet campaigns expressed their dissatisfaction and threatened to boycott the film in protest.[51] The 5-foot-10-inch (178 cm) blond Craig was not considered by some protesters to fit the tall, dark-haired Bond portrayed by the previous Bond actors, to which viewers had apparently become accustomed.[52] Although the choice of Craig was controversial, numerous actors publicly voiced their support. Most notably four of the five actors who had previously portrayed Bond – Pierce Brosnan,[53] Timothy Dalton, Sean Connery and Roger Moore – called his casting a good decision. George Lazenby has since voiced his approval of Craig also.[54] Clive Owen, who had been linked to the role, also spoke in defence of Craig.[55]

The first film, Casino Royale, premiered on 14 November 2006, and grossed a total of US$594,239,066 worldwide, which made it the highest-grossing Bond film until the release of Skyfall.[56] After the film was released, Craig's performance garnered critical acclaim.[57] As production of Casino Royale reached its conclusion, producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced that pre-production work had already begun on the 22nd Bond film. After several months of speculation as to the release date, Wilson and Broccoli officially announced on 20 July 2006 that the follow-up film, Quantum of Solace,[58] was to be released on 7 November 2008, and that Craig would play Bond with an option for a third film.[59] On 25 October 2007, MGM CEO Harry Sloan revealed at the Forbes Meet II Conference that Craig had signed on to make four more Bond films, through to No Time to Die.[60] Craig lent his voice and likeness as James Bond for both the Wii game GoldenEye 007, an enhanced remake of the 1997 game for the Nintendo 64, and James Bond 007: Blood Stone, an original game for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, and Microsoft Windows.[61] In addition to Casino Royale, Craig also appeared in two more films in 2006: the drama Infamous as mass murderer Perry Edward Smith and as the voice of the lead character in the English-language version of the French animated film Renaissance.[62][63] In 2006, Craig was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[64]

Craig starred opposite Nicole Kidman in the science fiction horror film The Invasion in 2007, the fourth film adaptation of the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. The film was met with a negative reception from critics, with Roger Ebert believing it to be the worst adaptation of Finney's novel.[65] He portrayed Lord Asriel in The Golden Compass, the 2007 film adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel.[66] Eva Green, who played Bond girl Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, also starred in the film, although she did not appear in any scenes with Craig. In a stage version of the book, Asriel had previously been played by Timothy Dalton, one of Craig's predecessors in the role of James Bond. In March 2007, Craig made a cameo appearance as himself in a sketch with Catherine Tate who appeared in the guise of her character Elaine Figgis from The Catherine Tate Show. The sketch was made for the BBC Red Nose Day 2007 fundraising programme.[67] In 2008, Craig, along with Quantum of Solace, starred in the drama Flashbacks of a Fool alongside Emilia Fox, as a washed-up Hollywood actor who reflects upon his life and what might have been had he stayed in England, after the death of his childhood best friend. In his final release of 2008, the war film Defiance, Craig starred as Tuvia Bielski, the leader of the Bielski partisans, fighting in the forests of Belarus during World War II, saving 1,200 people.[68]

He co-starred with Hugh Jackman in a limited engagement of the drama A Steady Rain, on Broadway, which played from 10 September through 6 December 2009 at the Schoenfeld Theatre.[69] His performance received praise from the New York Times, with the reviewer writing "Mr. Craig, a highly reputable stage actor in London (“Angels in America,” “A Number”) before he became the screen's sixth James Bond, creates a more complete portrait as Joey."[70] In August 2010, Craig was cast as crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist in David Fincher's 2011 adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.[71] In 2011, he starred in Dream House, a psychological thriller directed by Jim Sheridan and co-starring Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts and Marton Csokas.[72] It garnered mostly negative reviews and low box office results. Craig co-starred with Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde in Cowboys & Aliens, an American science fiction Western film, based on Scott Mitchell Rosenberg's 2006 graphic novel of the same name.[73][74] Craig provided his voice to Steven Spielberg's animated film The Adventures of Tintin in 2011, playing the villainous pirate Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine and his ancestor Red Rackham in a dual role.[75]

Craig's statue in Madame Tussauds

The planned 19 April 2010 release of Craig's third Bond film (the 23rd overall in the series) was delayed, because of financial troubles with MGM;[76] the film, titled Skyfall, was eventually released on 23 October 2012, as part of the year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. No.[77] On 8 September 2012, Bond producers announced Craig had signed on for two future Bond films, meaning he would appear as 007 in at least five films, making him the third-longest-serving Bond after Roger Moore, who starred in seven Bond films, and Sean Connery who starred in six EON Bond films and one non-EON Bond film.[78] Craig hosted the American late-night live television sketch comedy Saturday Night Live on 6 October 2012. He appeared in a sketch about "forgotten" Bond women, including Diane Keaton, Penny Marshall, Jodie Foster, Ellen DeGeneres, Lea Michele, and Molly Ringwald.[79] He and his wife Weisz starred in a Broadway play titled Betrayal. It began performances in October 2013, and continued until January 2014.[80][81] Despite mixed reviews, it grossed $17.5 million, becoming the second highest earning Broadway play of 2013.[82] Craig's fourth Bond film, Spectre, began filming in December 2014 and was released on 26 October 2015.[78] His four Bond films released by Sony has earned a combined gross of $3.5 billion globally, after adjusting for inflation.[83]

Prior to the inaugural Invictus Games held in London in September 2014, Craig along with other entertainers and athletes read the poem "Invictus" in a promotional video.[84][85] He made an uncredited cameo appearance as a stormtrooper in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[86] Craig appeared in a modern production of William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello at the Off-Broadway New York Theatre Workshop throughout late 2016 and early 2017. The production starred David Oyelowo as the titular character and Craig as the main antagonist, Iago.[87] Diane Snyder of The Daily Telegraph praised his "chilling" portrayal of Iago in the play.[87] In 2017, Craig co-starred in Steven Soderbergh's comedy Logan Lucky, about two brothers who pull off a heist during a NASCAR race.[88] Craig starred alongside Halle Berry in the drama Kings set during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The film premiered in September 2017 and was distributed by The Orchard the following year; it was harshly reviewed by many film critics.[89] In April 2018, Craig told the Associated Press that his fifth Bond film No Time to Die would be his next project; the film was to be directed by Danny Boyle, but its release date was delayed after Boyle left the project due to creative differences. It was ultimately directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and is scheduled for release in November 2020.[90] In an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Craig confirmed that No Time to Die would be his last James Bond film.[91]

During the delay of No Time to Die, Craig starred in Rian Johnson's black comedy murder-mystery Knives Out,[92] as a detective investigating the sudden death of a family patriarch. The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival to critical acclaim, and was theatrically released that November.[93] On 7 March 2020 Craig hosted Saturday Night Live for a second time; originally he was meant to be hosting in anticipation of the release of the 25th Bond film "No Time To Die," but in the trailer/commercial that aired with 7 March 2020 SNL episode it was made clear that the opening of the film had been pushed back to Thanksgiving 2020 due to coronavirus concerns. Daniel Craig was the last host of a SNL live show before live shows ceased being filmed for the indefinite future due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.[94]

Craig has described his portrayal of Bond as an anti-hero: "The question I keep asking myself while playing the role is, 'Am I the good guy or just a bad guy who works for the good side?' Bond's role, after all, is that of an assassin when you come down to it. I have never played a role in which someone's dark side shouldn't be explored. I don't think it should be confusing by the end of the film, but during the film you should be questioning who he is."[95] Craig has stated that his own favourite previous Bond actor is Sean Connery, but says, "I'd never copy somebody else. I would never do an impression of anybody else or try and improve on what they did. That would be a pointless exercise for me." His own favourite Bond film is From Russia with Love.[96] On an episode of The South Bank Show, Connery divulged his thoughts on Craig's casting as Bond, whom he described as "fantastic, marvellous in the part". When told that Craig had taken particular note of his performances, Connery said that he was "flattered" and that Craig really gets the "danger element" to Bond's character.[97] Craig has remarked that Bond is "...actually a misogynist... A lot of women are drawn to him chiefly because he embodies a certain kind of danger and never sticks around for too long."[98]