Hollywood star Brendan Fraser is celebrating his 56th birthday today (December 3). The actor, who went off the grid in the late 2000s, witnessed a career rebirth with the release of The Whale in 2022. The film had a record-breaking debut at the box office, received several minutes-long standing ovations at multiple film festivals and finally got Brendan his first-ever Best Actor award at the 2023 Oscars. The milestone came after the actor went public about the hardships he faced during his career, including being sexually assaulted. The new era of Brendan in Hollywood was termed as his renaissance, also known as “Brenaissance”, by his fans. From his abrupt sabbatical to his achievements so far, here's everything to know about Brendan Fraser's career and comeback.
Brendan began his Hollywood career in 1991 with Dogfight. The following year, the actor landed his first leading film role in Encino Man. The 1997 comedy George of the Jungle was Brendan's first significant box office hit. After which, he was cast as Rick O'Connell in 1999's The Mummy. The movie was a commercial success and even got two more sequels, both featuring the original actor.
In the early 2000s, Brendan Fraser maintained his success streak with films like Bedazzled, Looney Tunes: Back in Action and the Oscar-winning film Crash. In 2007, the actor announced divorce from his wife Afton Smith after nine years of marriage. Around the same time, Brendan was undergoing multiple surgeries as the effects of doing his own stunts for years started taking a toll on his body. This was the period during which Brendan slowly started stepping away from the spotlight, reported People.
In 2018, Brendan Fraser revealed the reason behind his unexpected hiatus from films. The actor revealed in an interview with GQ that he was sexually assaulted by Philip Berk, the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (the non-profit organization that votes for the Golden Globe Awards) in 2003. While he never admitted the incident to anyone at that time, Brendan believed that the HFPA had blacklisted him following the incident. "I don't know if this curried disfavour with the group, with the HFPA. But the silence was deafening," he said, sharing that he was rarely ever invited back to the Globes after 2003.
Brendan Fraser started booking television parts in 2018. His most notable performance was voicing Robotman on DC Universe's Titans, which he later repeated on Max's Doom Patrol. The era of his comeback was termed as"Brenaissance" on TikTok as many fans expressed their enthusiasm at Fraser's return to the spotlight.
Branden Fraser's first major film role since 2013 came with Darren Aronofsky's The Whale, which was announced in January 2021. It debuted at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2022, and the actor was moved to tears by the six-minute standing ovation. Branden was also awarded the Tribute Award at the Toronto International Film Festival gala for the movie.
The Whale was screened at the London Film Festival and was given a five-minute standing ovation. In December 2022, the film had a limited release in Los Angeles and New York City and became director Darren Aronofsky's best box office opening since his 2010 film Black Swan.
Brendan Fraser was nominated at the 2023 Golden Globes in the best actor category but refused to attend the award ceremony due to his dark past with the HFPA and its former president Philip Berk.
In the same year, Brendan was nominated in the best actor in a leading role category for The Whale at the Oscars and won against Austin Butler for Elvis, Colin Farrell for The Banshees of Inisherin, Paul Mescal for Aftersun and Bill Nighy for Living. This marked his first-ever Academy Award and the perfect topper to the much-deserved “Brenaissance”.
Looking forward to the future, Brendan Fraser recently featured in the crime comedy Brothers. Next, the actor will be seen in Rental Family alongside Brendan Mari Yamamoto, Takehiro Hira and Akira Emoto. He also has British historical drama Pressure in the line-up, featuring Andrew Scott and Kerry Condon.
