Jeremy Davies

With his slight build and boyishly handsome features, American actor Jeremy Davies followed in the footsteps of Anthony Perkins and Keir Dullea with his portrayal of sensitive young men in a string of movies in the 1990s and 2000s, including “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) and “CQ” (2002). Like Perkins, his characters occasionally showed a strain of instability behind their innocent facades, most notably as the stir-crazy astronaut Snow in Steven Soderbergh’s remake of “Solaris” (2002) and in a startling turn as Charles Manson in an updated TV version of “Helter Skelter” (2004).

Born Jeremy Boring in Traverse City, MI, on Oct. 8, 1969, Davies was one of four siblings born to children’s author Mel Boring. His parents separated when he was young, leaving Davies to relocate to Kansas City, MO with his mother until the mid-1970s, when she passed away due to lupus. Davies then crossed the country to live with his father and stepmother in Santa Barbara, CA, before moving back to the Midwest in 1986, where he completed high school.

Davies, however, returned to California to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena. Having been bitten by the acting bug, he began landing small roles on television in the early nineties, including a pair of episodes of “The Wonder Years” (ABC, 1988-1993) and a small role in a made-for-cable thriller called “Guncrazy” (1992), starring Drew Barrymore, with whom he was later romantically connected. The following year, Davies earned a great deal of attention – and notoriety – for a high-energy performance in a Subaru ad, in which he compared the car to punk rock for its ability to buck long-standing trends. Though pilloried by pop culture writers, Davies caught the attention of casting agents across Hollywood, and was soon courted for edgy, independent fare.

His “breakthrough” feature came in 1994 with David O. Russell’s dark comedy “Spanking the Monkey,” in which he played a confused young man who is drawn into an incestuous relationship by his manipulative mother. Davies’ fearless performance in this complicated role earned him critical praise, as well as a 1994 nomination for an Independent Spirit Award. The film also ushered him into major motion pictures like “Nell” (1994), with Jodie Foster, and “Twister” (1996), as a nervous tornado photographer on Helen Hunt’s storm-chasing team.

Davies returned to independent features twice in 1997 – once as a tormented young man in “The Locusts,” and later, as a shy serviceman struggling with his emotions in the underrated 1950s-set drama, “Going All The Way.” The following year, Davies made an impression on moviegoers as a terrified linguist recruited by Tom Hanks to rescue a missing GI in Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan.” Davies was honored along with his “Ryan” castmates with a 1999 Screen Actors Guild nomination, as well as took home a Best Supporting Actor award from the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award.

However, Davies kept his distance from mainstream projects after “Ryan,” preferring to delve into independent features which offered layered characters, if little opportunity for widespread appeal. He was top-billed in “The Florentine” (1999), an examination of life in a small-town waterhole that was produced by Francis Ford Coppola, and played the nervous soldier once again in Antonia Bird’s offbeat horror-drama “Ravenous” (1999), about a Civil War-era investigation into cannibalism at a remote outpost. He was the lead in Wim Wenders’ typically complex “The Million Dollar Hotel” (2000) about a naïve young man who falls for a femme fatale (Milla Jovovich, whom Davies also dated) and falls afoul of a tough cop (Mel Gibson). Davies also made an impression as an Austrian refugee championed by Kristin Scott Thomas in Phillip Haas’ “Up at the Villa” (2000), and as a young American filmmaker overwhelmed by both the French science fiction film he has been hired to direct, and the alluring star of the film (Angela Lindvall), in Roman Coppola’s visually delightful “CQ” (2001).

Davies captured a Satellite Award nomination for his role as conflicted college acting student Jedidiah Schultz in the HBO adaptation of “The Laramie Project” (2002). This was followed by no less than four films, including “Secretary,” as the confused boyfriend of new S&M convert Maggie Gyllenhaal, and the disappointing George Clooney sci-fi thriller, “Solaris.” Davies gave a believably compelling performance as hillbilly cult leader Charles Manson in a respectable TV remake of “Helter Skelter” (2004) before collaborating with maverick director Lars von Trier on his controversial experimental film “Dogville” (2003) and its sequel, 2005’s “Manderlay.” Not one to shy from difficult projects, he then moved on to an even more challenging project – tempestuous director Werner Herzog’s “Rescue Dawn” (2007), for which he dropped significant weight to play a Vietnam War POW. As if his slate was not full enough, in August of 2007, ABC announced that Davies would be joining the cast of its juggernaut hit series “Lost” (2004- ) in 2008, though few details about his role on the program were given at the time. Regardless, his role on the immensely popular series promised to bring the actor a whole new level of fame that he had yet to achieve on the small screen.