• Upcoming
• Trailers

click image for larger view

See "Tobey Maguire" Posters

Tobey Maguire

Born 1975-06-27 in Santa Monica, California
An Actor

Discuss Tobey Maguire here...

In Brief:

Tobias Vincent Maguire (born June 27, 1975) is an American actor. He began his career in the 1990s, and has since become known for his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Spider-Man film series.

---

Bio:

Maguire was born in Santa Monica, California. His father, Vincent Maguire, was a construction worker and a cook. His mother, Wendy Brown, is a secretary turned screenwriter and producer. His parents were 18 and 20 years old, and unmarried, at the time of his birth; the two married and subsequently divorced when Maguire was two, and he spent much of his childhood moving from town to town, living with each parent and other family members. During his childhood, Maguire entertained the idea of becoming a chef and to that end wanted to enroll in a Home Economics class as a sixth grader. His mother offered him $100 USD to take a drama class instead, and Tobey agreed.

Maguire's first acting job was in the 1989 movie The Wizard, where he played a goon at a video arcade and had no lines. Maguire initially worked as a child actor in the early 1990s, often playing roles much younger than his chronological age; as late as 2002, Maguire was still playing teenagers while in his mid-20s. He appeared in a variety of commercials and TV and movie roles, working opposite such stars as Chuck Norris (Walker, Texas Ranger), Roseanne Barr (Roseanne), and Tracey Ullman (Tracey Takes On...). Eventually, Maguire was cast as the lead in the FOX TV series Great Scott, which was cancelled 5 weeks later.

During many of his auditions, Maguire found himself competing opposite another rising child star actor, Leonardo DiCaprio. The pair struck up a fast friendship and made an informal pact for each to help get the other one a part in their movies/TV shows/other projects. For example, both auditioned for the same part in the 1990 TV series Parenthood; DiCaprio got the part, and Maguire later got a guest role at least partially due to DiCaprio's recommendation. The same scenario played itself out during casting for the 1993 Robert DeNiro movie This Boy's Life; DiCaprio got the main teen role (ironically, the character was named "Toby") and Maguire got a part as one of Toby's friends.

By the mid 1990s, Maguire changed his career path slightly in order to obtain roles where he and DiCaprio would not always be in competition for the same part, and the move paid off when he got the role of Paul Hood, a teenage boarding school student whose narration anchors the action in Ang Lee's 1997 film, The Ice Storm. This soon led to a variety of lead roles where he played a thoughtful boy coming of age, in films such as Pleasantville, The Cider House Rules, and Wonder Boys. He also played off his youthful-sounding voice in the 2001 children's movie Cats and Dogs, playing a beagle puppy named Lou.

In 2002, Maguire shot to superstardom in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, based on the popular Marvel comic book series. He reprised the part in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). In Spider-Man 3, he concurs with a general concensus that the film covers a lot of ground. Maquire said: “When I read the script, I was really excited about the different direction we were going with Peter Parker and the other characters and storylines. We are covering a lot of new ground here ... while maintaining the continuity of the characters.”

Though Maguire has not signed on for another sequel, the actor has denied reports that he will not return, stating, "I feel like the stories all deserve to be told, and, you know, if... the whole team wants to get back together, and we feel like we can make a good movie that's worth making, then I'm up for it."

Maguire solidified his stardom in 2003 with a leading role as the jockey John M. "Red" Pollard in the acclaimed film Seabiscuit, about the famous United States' racehorse Seabiscuit. In 2006, Maguire starred in his first villainous role as Corporal Patrick Tully in Steven Soderbergh's The Good German based on the Joseph Kanon novel of the same name opposite George Clooney and Cate Blanchett.

Maguire has also moved into another realm of filmmaking, producing. Maguire's production credits include 25th Hour (2002), Whatever We Do (2003), and Seabiscuit (2003), for which he served as executive producer.

Maguire has been engaged to Jennifer Meyer, daughter of Universal Studios executive Ron Meyer, since April 2006; the pair first began dating in 2003. They have a daughter named Ruby Sweetheart Maguire (born November 10, 2006). Ruby's middle name comes from a childhood nickname of Meyer's given to her by her grandmother, who died a few months before Ruby's birth.

Maguire is a vegetarian, though at times he goes off a strict vegetarian diet to either increase or decrease weight for movie roles. In an article for Premiere Magazine, Sam Raimi confirmed the long-standing rumor that Maguire and his Spider-Man co-star Kirsten Dunst had "a thing" going on during the 2001 shooting of the first film. As Raimi explained for the article, "I'm so dumb, because I met with them for dinner one night during the shooting to talk about the next day's scenes. And I go, 'Okay, well, that's it for the meeting.' And then I ask Kirsten, 'Can I drive you home?' And they look at each other and she goes, 'No, no, I'm going to play a game of Touch 10 with Tobey.' I don't know, it was some game. I thought, 'That's weird. She's got to work tomorrow.'"

In 2004, Maguire took up tournament poker. He has finished in the money in several events and has been tutored by poker professional Daniel Negreanu. Maguire can be seen on ESPN's coverage of the 2005 and 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event Championship.

---

Filmography:

• The Wizard (1989)
• This Boy's Life (1993)
• Healer (1994)
• Revenge of the Red Baron (1994)
• Empire Records (1995) (Scene Deleted)
• Joyride (1996)
• The Ice Storm (1997)
• Deconstructing Harry (1997)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
• Pleasantville (1998)
• Ride with the Devil (1999)
• The Cider House Rules (1999)
• Wonder Boys (2000)
• Don's Plum (2001)
• Cats and Dogs (2001)
• Spider-Man (2002)
• Seabuscuit (2003)
• Spider-Man 2 (2004)
• The Good German (2006)
• Spider-Man 3 (2007)
• Quiet Type (2007)
• Cats & Dogs 2: Tinkles' Revenge (2007)
• Tokyo Suckerpunch (2008)

---