Born Taidje Khan on Sakhalin Island (off the coast of Siberia), Russia. Took up acting after a serious accident curtailed his career as a circus acrobat. Brynner moved to America in 1940, failed a screen test at Universal in 1947 because he looked "too oriental" and gave the first of 4,625 performances as the King of Siam in The King and I in 1951. Trading on his unidentifiably exotic looks and somewhat imperious manner, Brynner played a succession of royals, secret agents and gunslingers, notably in ANASTASIA and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (both 1956), THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV and THE BUCCANEER (both 1958), THE SOUND AND THE FURY and SOLOMON AND SHEBA (both 1959), THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960), TARAS BULBA (1962), MORITURI (1965), RETURN OF THE SEVEN (1966), THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT (1969) and WESTWORLD (1973). His last on-camera film appearance was in CON LA RABBIA AGLI OCCHI / DEATH RAGE (1976).  Actor 1956: THE KING AND I 1 nomination, 1 Award