Biography
A male model-turned-actor, Norman Reedus is almost as recognizable from his hipster, late-'90s print ads for Prada clothes as for his collection of movie psychos. After leaving home at a young age, Reedus lived in London and Japan before landing in California. Supporting himself with various jobs, including fixing motorcycles, Reedus finally got his acting break in 1997. After a bit part in the
Mira Sorvino horror film
Mimic, Reedus captured critical attention as a creepy hitman in the independent black comedy
Six Ways to Sunday. Playing off the sharply scruffy good looks that simultaneously made him the male face for ultra-fashionable clothing designer Prada, Reedus again took a walk on the wild side as a mysterious stranger in the indie
Dark Harbor (1998) and as a prisoner in
Joel Schumacher's reviled snuff film thriller
8MM (1999). Lead roles in the independent cop movie
Boondock Saints (2000), opposite
Willem Dafoe, and in the teensploitation movie
Gossip (2000), as a malevolent college student, subsequently landed Reedus on Vanity Fair's April 1999 cover featuring young stars to watch.
Gossip's poor reception, as well as the low profile of
Boondock Saints and Reedus' other indie films -- including
I'm Losing You (1999) and
Preston Tylk (2000) -- did not make good on the Vanity Fair promise. And although Reedus followed up with three more films with similarly dismal returns, his re-teaming with
Mimic director
Guillermo del Toro found Reedus back in blockbuster territory with his turn as a vampire hunter's technical assistant in
Blade II (2002). Reedus has a son with Danish supermodel/companion
Helena Christensen. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide