Aidan Quinn Biography

Date of Birth
8 March 1959, Rockford, Illinois, USA

Birth Name
Aidan T. Quinn

Height
5' 11½" (1.82 m)

Spouse
Elizabeth Bracco (1 September 1987 - present) 2 children

Trivia

Was Paramount's choice to play Jesus Christ in their production of The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) before a storm of controversy forced them to cancel their plans for the movie. Soon after, Universal picked up the movie with Willem Dafoe playing Christ.

Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1986" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 38.

Brother of Declan Quinn, Marian Quinn and Paul Quinn.

Daughters, with Elizabeth Bracco, Ava (b. 1989) and Mia (b. 1998).

After portraying Paul McCartney in a television movie, the two met by chance while staying at the same hotel and became real life friends.

Brother-in-law of actress Lorraine Bracco.

Uncle of Margaux Guerard and Stella Keitel.

Father of Ava Eileen Quinn who played the baby "David" in her father's movie "Avalon" (1990).

He auditioned at least twice for the Coen Bros. without being hired, so from then on, he said he refuses their audition requests.

Graduated from Rockford West High School in Rockford, Illinois.

Graduated from the prestigous DePaul University / Goodman Theater B.F.A. acting program.

Greatly known for his work in theatre throughout Chicago, most notably at the Goodman Theater and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where his credits include "Death of A Salesman" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

Member of the world renowned Goodman Theater Acting Company in Chicago, Illinois.

Personal Quotes

I like the level of fame that I have. You get nice tables in restaurants sometimes, but fame isn't something that I find comfortable.

I think my being such a nomad let me into acting. I was always having to create a new image whenever we moved.

"I was on this remote island a thousand miles off the coast of Kenya. The island didn't have electricity, but some people had generators, and I went to someone's house and there was a video of Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) playing. I think it was the only frigging television on the whole island. That was very bizarre".

I'm not a city kind of guy. I'm happiest when I'm tromping through the woods. That's why I don't live in Los Angeles. Being physically away from Hollywood probably loses me a few jobs, but the best ones seek me out.

There was one moment in high school where I thought, "Maybe I'll take an acting class." And I walked in and saw all the quote unquote theatre people and I went, "Oh God," and walked out. But later, when I was 19, I actually took an acting class and I was very much smitten with it.

"Well, when I first got sent the script to The Assignment (1997), I thought, 'Why don't they offer this to Andy Garcia?' And it turned out they did. I said, 'Oh, OK'. I had a little bit of a question of 'How the hell am I gonna be believable?' Or 'Will it be that much of a question in the audience's mind that I'm supposed to be Venezuelan?' So, we went with the brown contacts for Carlos and darkened my skin, worked with a good dialogue coach. And then when I heard Andy Garcia was playing an Irish cop in Sidney Lumet's movie [Night Falls on Manhattan (1996)], I stopped worrying about it. But that's one of the great things about being an actor. We get to play dress up. And that's what this movie was for me. Wigs, beards, mustaches, dialogues. Intrigue. It was a tremendous amount of hard work, but fun work for me".

(On filming Songcatcher in North Carolina) It was fantastic. I would play my guitar on the porch every night after work. I'd have a couple of glasses of wine, a cigar and sing a few songs. I loved it. I get a yearning in my bones for places I lived and worked, like Ireland, the Amazon jungle and now North Carolina. These places are imprinted on your psyche forever.

Source: imdb.com