Danny Huston
Danny Huston is a versatile American actor and director, born in 1962 in Rome to renowned filmmaker John Huston and actress Zoe Sallis. Growing up amid the film industry in Italy and Ireland, Huston developed an early passion for the arts, initially pursuing painting before shifting focus to directing and acting. His career began in the mid-1970s with small acting roles, but he found more substantial recognition in the late 1990s and 2000s, appearing in critically acclaimed films such as "21 Grams" and "The Aviator."
Huston is particularly noted for his ability to portray complex and often villainous characters, earning acclaim for roles in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "The Constant Gardener," and the HBO series "Magic City," which garnered him a Golden Globe nomination. In addition to acting, he has also directed films, with his most recent project being "The Last Photograph" in 2017. Throughout his career, Huston has navigated personal and professional challenges, including a difficult transition from directing to acting and the impact of family tragedies. His body of work spans various genres, showcasing his adaptability and deep connection to storytelling in film and television.
Subject Terms
Danny Huston
Actor
- Born: May 14, 1962
- Birthplace: Rome, Italy
Contribution: Danny Huston is an actor and director best known for his roles in The Constant Gardener (2004), The Aviator (2004), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and the television series Magic City (2012–13).
Background
Danny Huston was born in 1962 in Rome where his father, Academy Award–winning director John Huston, was shooting the film The Bible: In the Beginning. His mother is actor Zoe Sallis. Huston grew up living in both Italy and Ireland. Later he relocated to London where he studied film and directing.
As a child, Huston spent a considerable amount of time on his father’s movie sets and travelled extensively. In his teenage years, he considered becoming a professional artist and developed his skill as a painter before centering on a career in directing.
Career
Huston’s first acting job was a bit-part in the 1975 action film The Human Factor, starring George Kennedy. In 1985 he followed in his father’s footsteps and directed a documentary on the making of the film Santa Claus, and then in 1987 he directed the made-for-television movie Mister Corbett’s Ghost. The following year, Huston, with the help of his father and half sister Anjelica Huston, directed Mr. North, which was based on the autobiographical Thornton Wilder novel Theophilus North. It was a big-budget film with an all-star cast but was a critical failure, and Huston had difficulty finding meaningful projects afterward. He directed a few films in the early-to-mid 1990s, and then he began accepting small acting roles.
In 1995, Huston played an unnamed bartender in the Nicholas Cage film Leaving Las Vegas, and although the part was small, it drew the attention of critics. He then played a supporting role in the 1997 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, starring actress Sophie Marceau. Additional small roles in films like Spanish Fly (1998) and Rockin’ Good Times (1999) followed.
During the 2000s, Huston began to gradually find more roles in high-profile films. He played the character of Michael in the 2003 hit 21 Grams and a supporting role in the popular 2004 film The Aviator, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett. In 2005, Huston played a lead villain in the thriller The Constant Gardener, alongside Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz.
Also in 2005, Huston worked with Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, and John Hurt to deliver a critically acclaimed performance in the western drama The Proposition. Following small but notable roles in films such as Children of Men (2006), Huston starred in the 2006 film Fade to Black, in which he played a fictitious Orson Welles who is caught up in controversy and political turmoil.
Huston became known for his ability to play sinister, villainous characters and was increasingly tapped for these roles. In 2007 he played Marlow in the vampire thriller 30 Days of Night. He was then cast as the infamous Colonel Stryker in the 2009 blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and the following year he played the nefarious Jack Bennett in the Mel Gibson action thriller Edge of Darkness.
Huston was not always cast as ominous characters, however. In 2008 he played the role of American icon Samuel Adams in the HBO miniseries John Adams, appearing in three episodes of the seven-part series, and in 2010 he was cast as the Greek god Poseidon in the remake of Clash of the Titans, a role he reprised in the 2012 sequel, Wrath of the Titans. Also in 2012, Huston played alongside Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren in the biographical drama Hitchcock.
Huston would return to television, and to portraying menacing characters, in 2012 when he was cast as gangster Ben Diamond in the Starz original series Magic City. The series received positive reviews and Huston won critical acclaim and received a 2013 Golden Globe nomination for his performance as the threatening mob boss.
Huston continued to take on a number of roles for television and film during the 2010s. These included his turn as hospital director Dr. Douglas Greathouse in the television drama Masters of Sex (2014); the Axeman and Massimo Dolcefino on the award-winning anthology series American Horror Story (2014–15); Engle in the film Pressure (2015); Nick Waingrow on Paranoid (2016); Ludendorff in Wonder Woman (2017), starring Gal Gadot in the title role; Dan Jenkins on Yellowstone (2018–19); Wade Jennings in Angel Has Fallen (2019); and Laird on Succession (2019).
Huston returned to directing with the independent film The Last Photograph (2017). He also starred in the film as Tom Hammond, a father who desperately searches for a stolen photograph of his son, who died in the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 explosion over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Impact
Huston has followed an atypical path to success in Hollywood, beginning as a director buoyed by family connections. His initial lack of success stalled his directing career and left his future in Hollywood uncertain. It wasn’t until Huston had played several small but memorable roles that his talent was recognized and he became known as a character actor adept at portraying complex villains with sympathetic traits that audiences could related and respond to.
Personal Life
Huston married actress Virginia Madsen in 1989. They divorced in 1992, and he later married English model Katie Jane Evans in 2001 with whom he had a daughter, Stella. Huston and Evans were in the midst of divorce proceedings in 2008 when Evans committed suicide.
Principal Works
Film
Mr. North, 1988
Becoming Colette, 1991
Leaving Las Vegas, 1995
Die Eisprinzessin, 1996
The Maddening, 1996
The Aviator, 2004
The Proposition, 2005
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, 2008
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 2009
Edge of Darkness, 2010
Clash of the Titans, 2010
Wrath of the Titans, 2012
Hitchcock, 2012
Tigers, 2014
Big Eyes, 2014
Pressure, 2015
Frankenstein, 2015
Newness, 2017
Wonder Woman, 2017
The Last Photograph, 2017
IO, 2019
Angel Has Fallen, 2019
No One Left Behind, 2019
Television
Mister Corbett’s Ghost, 1987
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, 2004
John Adams, 2008
Magic City, 2012–13
Masters of Sex, 2014
American Horror Story, 2014–15
Paranoid, 2016
Yellowstone, 2018–19
Succession, 2019
Doc Martin, 2019
Bibliography
Carr, Jay. “Having Noah for a Father: To His Son Danny, John Huston Was Indeed Larger than Life.” Boston Globe 31 July 1988: 81. Print.
“Danny Huston.” New York Times. New York Times Co., 2010. Web. 11 July 2013.
Harris, Will. “Danny Huston on Playing Villains, Nick Cave, and More.” AV Club. Onion, 12 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 July 2013.
“Name of the Father.” Scotsman. Johnston Publishing, n.d. Web. 3 Sept. 2013.
Patterson, John. “How Danny Huston Accidentally Became a Star.” Guardian UK. Guardian News and Media, 25 Feb. 2010. Web. 11 July 2013.
Prigge, Matt. “Danny Huston Is Very Good at Playing Bad in ‘Magic City.’” Metro. Metro Media, 16 June 2013. Web. 12 July 2013.
Van Syckle, Katie. “Q&A: Danny Huston on the Mob Mentality of ‘Magic City.’” Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 14 June, 2013. Web. 11 July 2013.