Edward Norton is an accomplished actor and director. Born on 18 August, 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts, Norton has an interesting lineage. His mother, Robin, was an English teacher, while his father, Edward James Norton, Sr. was an environmental lawyer. His father was also a federal prosecutor during the Carter administration. The famous architect and developer, James W. Rouse, is Edward Norton’s maternal grandfather. His grandfather was involved with projects like Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, Boston’s Faneuil Hall and Boston’s Quincy Market. James W. Rouse also founded the Enterprise Foundation which is involved in providing homes to low income families. He also developed Columbia, Maryland, where Norton was raised.
Norton had an inclination towards acting from an early age. To hone his acting skills, he studied at the Orenstein’s Columbia School for Theatrical Arts. He made his debut on stage when he was just eight years old in the production Annie Get Your Gun. With his brother he attended Pasquaney, a camp in Hebron New Hampshire, from 1981 to 1985 and won the acting cup. In later years, Norton worked as a theatre director at the camp. He graduated from Wilde Lake High School in 1987 and went to study at Yale University. There he studied Astronomy, Japanese and majored in History. Norton also participated in number of theatrical productions at the university. He graduated from Yale in 1991 and went on to work at his grandfather’s Enterprise Foundation in Japan. After working in Japan for some time, he moved to the New York office. It was when he moved to New York that he decided to take up a movie career.
Initially, Norton faced a series of hardships. He had to work as waiter, proofreader and as an assistant to directors, until he was picked to star in Edward Albee’s Fragments. He then joined the Signature Theatre Company and worked on a series of stage productions. Norton moved on to the big screen with the movie Primal Fear which was released in 1996. For his role he was nominated for an Academy Award and went on to win the Golden Globe Award for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In the same year, he appeared in movies such as The People vs. Larry Flynt and Everyone Says I Love You. Movies like American History X (1998) and Fight Club (1999) helped further Norton’s popularity in Hollywood. He has since acted in a number of films including Keeping the Faith (2000), Red Dragon (2002), The Italian Job (2003), The Illusionist (2006), and The Painted Veil (2006). Norton also produced and directed Keeping the Faith, and produced Down in the Valley and The Painted Veil.
Edward Norton is actively involved with many social causes and is on the Board of Trustees of the Enterprise Foundation.
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