Born in Christopher, IL; educated at Illinois State University. Exceptional stage performer and director who helped found Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company before concentrating, since his 1984 film debut in THE KILLING FIELDS, on his screen career. Malkovich first won attention with his Obie®-winning performance in the Sam Shepard play True West and with his direction of Steppenwolf's 1984 revival of Lanford Wilson's Balm in Gilead. An unlikely leading man -- with his gaunt features, thinning hair, and lanky frame -- he entered film with memorable, quirky character roles: as the blind boarder, Mr. Will, in Robert Benton's PLACES IN THE HEART (1984); playing both a nerdy scientist and an android in Susan Seidelman's offbeat comedy, MAKING MR. RIGHT (1987). Malkovich then gained leading man status as the Vicomte de Valmont, the high priest of seduction, in the Stephen Frears/Christopher Hampton adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos's DANGEROUS LIAISONS (1988). Malkovich's ability to portray normality can easily reveal its darker side, as he displayed in Bernardo Bertolucci's THE SHELTERING SKY (1990). Here he played Port Moresby (a thinly veiled Paul Bowles), a self-exiled expatriate composer touring post-WW II Africa, searching for self-realization while trying to save his marriage. The next year Malkovich returned to the NY stage to star as the bombastic war veteran in Sam Shepard's States of Shock. In 1993 he again revealed his versatility, playing a cold-blooded assassin who taunts Clint Eastwood in Wolfgang Petersen's IN THE LINE OF FIRE. In what could have been a typical stock villain role, Malkovich brought to his part a sense of unpredictability and humor, making his antagonist all the more horrific, and garnered his second Oscar® nomination. In what might be the ultimate example of art imitating life, he played himself in the quirky 1999 hit BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. Other notable (non-nominated) credits include ELENI (1986), EMPIRE OF THE SUN (1987), QUEENS LOGIC (1991), SHADOWS AND FOG and OF MICE AND MEN (both 1992), MARY REILLY (1996 - as Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde), MULHOLLAND FALLS and THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY (both also 1996), CON AIR (1997), THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK, LES MISÉRABLES and ROUNDERS (all 1998), THE MESSENGER: THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC, RKO 281 and LADIES ROOM (all 1999), SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE (2000), HOTEL and KNOCKAROUND GUYS (both 2001), HIDEOUS MAN and RIPLEY'S GAME (both 2002), JOHNNY ENGLISH and UM FILME FALADO / A TALKING PICTURE (both 2003), THE LIBERTINE (2004), A HITCHHICKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY and COLOUR ME KUBRICK: A TRUE...ISH STORY (both 2005), ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, KLIMT, THE CALL and ERAGON (all 2006), DRUNKBOAT, GARDENS IN THE NIGHT, IN TRANZIT, BEOWULF and DISGRACE (all 2007), and THE MUTANT CHRONICLES, THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD, AFTERWARDS, BURN AFTER READING, THE CHANGELING and LOVE AND VIRTUE (all scheduled for 2008).  Nominated for Supporting Actor 1984: PLACES IN THE HEART  Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 1993: IN THE LINE OF FIRE 2 nominations