Daniel Day Lewis
Childhood Of Celebrities : Daniel Day Lewis
Day-Lewis is the son of the late British Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. His mother, who comes from a Jewish family, is actress Jill Balcon, daughter of Sir Michael Balcon, former head of Ealing Studios. Two years after his birth in London, the Day-Lewis family moved to Croom’s Hill, Greenwich where Daniel grew up along with his older sister, Tamasin Day-Lewis, who later become a renowned documentary filmmaker and television chef. Cecil Day-Lewis was already 53 years old at the time of his son’s birth, and seemed to take little interest in his children. Following frequent health problems, he died when Daniel was 15. Daniel felt unsettled about his lack of emotion, and regretted not having been closer to his father.
Living in Greenwich, Day-Lewis naturally found himself among some tough South London kids and being Jewish and “posh”, he was often bullied. Very quickly, therefore, he mastered the local accent and mannerisms — which he believes to have been the first convincing performances he gave. Later in life, he was known to speak of himself as very much a disorderly character in his younger years, often in trouble for shoplifting and other petty illegalities.
In 1968, Day-Lewis’ parents, finding him to be “too wild”, sent him to Sevenoaks school in Kent, as a boarder. Though he detested the school, he was introduced to his two most prominent interests, woodworking and acting. He made his debut in Cry, The Beloved Country wearing extensive makeup for his role as a Black boy. While his disdain for the school grew, he made his film debut at the age of 14 in Sunday Bloody Sunday in which he played a vandal in an uncredited role. He described the experience as “heaven”, for getting paid £2 to vandalize expensive cars parked outside his local church. After two years at Sevenoaks, Daniel was transferred to the Bedales School in Petersfield.
Leaving Bedales in 1975, his unruly attitude had faded and he now had to make a career choice. Although he loved acting and had excelled onstage at the National Youth Theatre, he found something “seedy” about backstage life, and decided to become a cabinet-maker, applying for a five-year apprenticeship. However, because of a lack of experience, he was not accepted. He then applied (and was accepted) at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which he attended for three years, eventually performing at the Bristol Old Vic itself. (At one point he played understudy to Pete Postlethwaite, whom he would later play opposite in In the Name of the Father, and with whom he shares a brief scene in Last of the Mohicans when he is the arresting officer when Hawkeye is imprisoned for sedition ).
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