Mickey Rourke
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Philip Andre Rourke Jr. (born September 16, 1956 in Schenectady, New York) is an iconic American actor. He grew up in the tough neighborhoods of Liberty City in Miami. Upon leaving, he would go on to study at the legendary Lee Strasberg Institute.
Rourke's film debut was a small role in Steven Spielberg's 1941, but his memorable portayal of an arsonist in Body Heat garnered significant attention, despite his modest time onscreen.
During the early 1980's, Rourke's career blossomed, with performances in Diner, Rumble Fish, and perhaps most notably The Pope of Greenwich Village alongside his good friend Eric Roberts.
Rourke became one of the decade's leading men, and arguably the major sex symbol of his acting generation, a title no doubt fueled by his role alongside Kim Basinger in the controversial box-office hit 9½ Weeks. He attained mass critical acclaim for his work in Barfly and the hauntingly dark Angel Heart. At the time, he also performed with musician David Bowie on the Never Let Me Down album, and wrote his first screenplay, Homeboy, a boxing tale in which he also starred. His other big role in 1991 was in the action film Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man as Harley Davidson.
Unfortunately, Rourke's promising acting career eventually became overshadowed by the demands of his personal life as well as his eccentric career decisions. He became a professional boxer in 1991, and won the majority of his fights against minor opponents and never achieved national prominence in the sport. The next year he retired from boxing, and segued back into acting with brief but memorable turns in John Grisham's The Rainmaker, Vincent Gallo's Buffalo '66, and Jonas Åkerlund's Spun.
Since gradually working his way back into full-time acting, Rourke has expressed his newfound dedication to the craft. An avid dog lover, he can be seen alongside his canine companion in "Once Upon a Time in Mexico", the capper to the El Mariachi trilogy. Rourke has also proved recently memorable in Tony Scott's Man on Fire.
Rourke can be seen in theaters in the lead role of Marv in Robert Rodriguez's Sin City and also in Tony Scott's Domino.
External links
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- Rourke's Rotten Tomatoes Page (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/p/mickey_rourke/)
- Sin City Trailer and Clips (http://www.themoviebox.net/movies/2005/STUVWXYZ/SinCity/trailer.php)de:Mickey Rourke