One actor who has deserved much acknowledgment and fame and has had to
do without it on a number of occasions is Robert Sean Leonard, known by
most as Dr. James Wilson on
Dr. House (2004). But his career
has spanned a number of classic films, alongside such greats as
Daniel Day-Lewis,
Christian Bale,
Paul Newman, and
Denzel Washington.
Born Robert Lawrence Leonard in Westland, New Jersey, he attended first
Fordham University and then Columbia University. Afterwards he was
accepted into the Screen Actor's Guild, changing his middle name to
'Sean'. Leonard's first acting role was
My Two Loves (1986) where
he was cast in a small role. That same year he was also in
Manhattan Project - Der atomare Alptraum (1986).
The film is a suspense thriller starring
John Lithgow and is about a science
experiment taken too far.
Leonard continued on from these firsts and landed a role in
Bluffing It (1987) and then
acted in another teen comedy:
Liebe mit Biß (1987).
His next role is easily one of his most memorable. He took the second
billing in
Der Club der toten Dichter (1989)
opposite Robin Williams and
Ethan Hawke. His character of Neil Perry is
a young student whose passion for acting is smothered in fear of his
father's wrath and his parents' domination of his life. While
Robin Williams earned himself an
Oscar nomination, Leonard gave a truly Oscar-worthy performance.
The 20-year old actor was well on his way now, and he proceeded to act
in another Oscar-nominated film:
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990)
starring Paul Newman. Leonard
resumed the rebellious youth act from "Dead Poets" as he played one of
the children caught between their father's conservative ways and their
own ideas. Leonard followed up with the not-so successful
Familienchaos (1991). Two years
after that Leonard found massive success in three different films.
Firstly, he acted in Kenneth Branagh's
Viel Lärm um nichts (1993).
Pulling in 60 million on an 8 million dollar budget, it remains one of
the most successful films based off of a play by Shakespeare. Leonard
was surrounded by other talents apart in addition to Branagh, such as
Brian Blessed,
Kate Beckinsale,
Denzel Washington,
Michael Keaton, and
Emma Thompson. Leonard played the
character of Claudio and was sadly criticized by several critics for
his acting. However others such as
Roger Ebert defended the young lead whose
character is deceived into thinking his betrothed is unfaithful.
In the same year, Leonard took the lead in
Swing Kids (1993), which also starred
Christian Bale,
Frank Whaley,
Barbara Hershey and
Kenneth Branagh who, rather than upstage
Leonard, Bale and Whaley, refused any credit in the film. The film,
another success for Leonard, told the story of a group of friends in
the Hitler Youth attempting to hold onto something they love-- the
Lindy hop. Reviews were mixed, but the film has a faithful following to
this day.
Also that year Leonard took a smaller role in
Martin Scorsese's elaborate and artistic
film
Zeit der Unschuld (1993)
starring Daniel Day-Lewis,
Winona Ryder, and
Michelle Pfeiffer. The film is about
the aristocrat who must choose between two women and risk scandal. The
film earned Ryder an Oscar nomination and a win for Best Costume.
Leonard himself played the young son of Danny Archer and plays a
crucial role at the end of the film.
After these three great films Leonard's career slowed down. Despite
acting in three different films in 1996 (the
Oliver Stone-produced
Killer - Tagebuch eines Serienmörders (1995)
starring James Woods, the
light-hearted
The Boys Next Door (1996),
and the romantic
I Love You, I Love You Not (1996))
none were as successful as those he made in 1993. Leonard moved onwards
to act in (among other things)
Last Days of Disco - Nachts wird Geschichte gemacht (1998)
and the thriller
Kollisionskurs - Panik im Tower (1998) opposite
Kiefer Sutherland,
Henry Winkler, and
Bruce McGill.
Leonard's work changed as the new millennium began. He turned to
television as well as continuing film. He acted in the series
Outer Limits: Die unbekannte Dimension (1995) and
Wasteland (1999) as well as making
movies such as the dramatic film Tape (2001)
by Richard Linklater,
A Glimpse of Hell (2001)
opposite James Caan, and the box
office bomb Driven (2001) starring
Sylvester Stallone and
Burt Reynolds. After a few more
films Leonard was cast in the series that gave him much fame.
Dr. House (2004) is a drama
series about a cynical, antisocial, crippled doctor who is almost
always correct in his solutions to medical problems. Leonard, the first
actor to be cast in the series, plays the character of Dr. Wilson, the
only person that House considers a friend. Wilson is a much more humane
person than House, which leads to many debates between himself and
House, though he is plagued by his own problems. It is the best known
face that Leonard has ever portrayed in his career, and hopefully he
will take on other fantastic roles and obtain the honors he so richly
deserves.
