Cary Elwes

Overview

Born
October 26, 1962 · London, England, UK
Birth name
Ivan Simon Cary Elwes
Height
6′ (1.83 m)

Biography

Family

Spouse
Children
Parents
Relatives

Trademarks

Frequently plays American characters despite being British

Trivia

Having been a dramatic actor, he had never done a comedy prior to his acclaimed performance in The Princess Bride (1987).
He said after The Princess Bride (1987), he was getting lots of offers to act in several costume period pieces. He turned most of them down because he didn't want to be typecast, as he had already starred in period pieces, mostly as a romantic love interest, in the previous films Another Country (1984), Lady Jane (1986), and Maschenka (1987). In contrast, he later starred in several films as a villain, which include Leather Jackets (1991), Twister (1996), The Jungle Book (1994),Ella Enchanted (2004), The Riverman (2004) to name a few.
Was chosen for the part of Westley in The Princess Bride (1987) after Rob Reiner saw him in Lady Jane (1986). He spent weeks training in fencing with both his left hand and right hand while performing acrobatics.
Met his wife Lisa Marie in 1991 at a Malibu chili cook-off.
Is the ambassador for the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund with UNICEF. As ambassador, he traveled to Banda Aceh, Indonesia for the documentary "The Children of the Tsunami", which was filmed 90 days after the tsunami of December 2003 to document the damage and recovery efforts.

Quotes

"I take away something from every role. I'm still learning and that's what life is about." (People 2/6/95)
I like historical pieces. History was my favorite subject in school, it was the only subject I excelled in. I love the idea of history and the idea that we may have the opportunity to learn from our past mistakes.
On preparing his role as young Karol Wojtyla for Faith: Pope John Paul II (2005): "I was blessed enough to meet Pope John Paul when I was 22 years old in the Vatican; I had that privilege. My mother took me to visit him, and I remember distinctly his incredible charisma and personal charm and his warmth and compassion. You felt it immediately the minute you met him, and that spirit I came away with, having met the man, is something that I've been constantly working on to infuse the character with. My mother is a very devout Catholic. Her criticism will be the one I pay the most attention to."
(On making The Princess Bride (1987)) It was a wonderfully supportive set, and that's a great atmosphere for being creative. An atmosphere of fun, is an atmosphere where the mind is more likely to come up with great stuff.
(On first meeting André René Roussimoff) I met him at the read-through at the Dorchester Hotel in London. I saw his hand first, through the door. And there was a collective gasp from everyone in the room. The only people who had met him were Rob (Reiner) and [screenwriter] Bill Goldman. This huge smile came in, and everyone got up to meet him. He was huge in Japan, you know. They offered to fly him out there any time, because giants are considered lucky. People would run across the street just to touch him.