14 Utterly Odd Facts You Never Knew About Brendan Fraser
Vote up the most fascinating facts about Brendan Fraser that make you love him more.
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- Scrubs
- NBC
1He's An Accomplished Photographer
Fraser is an accomplished amateur photographer. During his stint as a guest performer on the sitcom Scrubs, Fraser's character carried an Instant Polaroid camera everywhere and constantly snapped photos.
The actor actually collects those old Polaroid cameras and admits to being a "wannabe camera geek" in his personal life. His photography can be viewed on his personal website.
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- The Affair
- Showtime
2His Fans Started A Change.org Petition On His Behalf
Fraser made a 2016 appearance on AOL Build Series to discuss his new role in Showtime's drama The Affair. Fans took notice, and the appearance went viral because the actor appeared so sad (he was grieving his mother, who had just died of cancer).
In response, they collectively organized a Change.org petition called "Bring Brendan Fraser Back Into Film/Television."
The petition read:
We are now calling on all networks to please consider Brendan for any upcoming shows/movies that are planned. Brendan is a much loved actor worldwide, people are shocked that he wasn't at least offered a smaller role in the new Mummy movie. Brendan has been in multiple interviews recently and has appeared to be very down and out, and us loyal fans feel like we are obliged to help him in any way possible. Please help us get Brendan back on his feet again, we miss him.
The petition was addressed to Netflix, HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Reed Hastings, in an effort to drum up interest in the actor's talent and hopefully secure him some future acting work.
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3He's The First American-Born Actor To Be Inducted Into Canada's Walk Of Fame
Brendan Fraser was born in Indianapolis, IN, in 1968. Both of his parents were Canadian-born. His father was a journalist and a foreign service officer for the Canadian Government of Tourism, so that meant that Brendan moved around a lot as a child, making stops in places like Eureka, CA, and abroad in the Netherlands.
Fraser carries both an American passport and a Canadian passport, which was enough to earn the actor a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in 2006. The honor made him the first American-born actor to ever receive a Canadian Star.
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- School Ties
- Paramount Pictures
The long-running reality series America's Most Wanted features reenactments of crimes portrayed by actors. Brendan Fraser got his first acting gig on the show, though the actor himself doesn't entirely recall the details of the role:
I was a victim on America’s Most Wanted. I got shot, but I made a phone call that saved my life. Wait - maybe I died! I can’t remember. But they did catch the guy who did it.
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- Gods and Monsters
- Lionsgate Films
You might not think of Brendan Fraser as a serious actor, especially with credits that include Airheads and George of the Jungle. But at least one very serious actor, Sir Ian McKellen, believes in Fraser's skills as a thespian.
The highly respected actor appeared with Fraser in the 1998 drama Gods and Monsters. He told the New York Times he'd underestimated his co-star's acting chops:
I didn't appreciate Brendan's performance while it was happening. I've talked to somebody who worked with Marilyn Monroe and he said the same of her. You could only see it through the camera or on the screen.
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Fraser's biggest role is arguably Rick O'Connell, the dashing protagonist of The Mummy - but he nearly choked to death filming the movie. During an early scene in the film, O'Connell is set for execution by hanging. However, the scene went horribly wrong. Fraser said of the experience, "They killed me for 18 seconds." He elaborated:
I was hanging from the noose standing on a board. Take one, and [the writer-director] said, “The noose doesn't match the stunt guys. Can we bring up the tension a little bit, and we'll have it." They did the take and the camera was on a spin that goes 180 degrees and it shows the prisoners shouting, and then comes down on me at the end of the noose. I figured, "I'll get oxygen and hold my breath," and I was up on my toes and something went wrong - and the next thing I knew, I was waking up.
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- The Mummy
- Universal Pictures
7He's An Acclaimed Stage Actor
In 2001, Fraser took to the London stage in a West End production of Tennessee Williams's play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Fraser played the role of Brick, a former professional football player turned alcoholic. The Encino Man actor joined castmates Ned Beatty and Frances O'Connor in the staging directed by Anthony Page.
Fraser earned rave reviews for his portrayal of Brick. In Lizzie Loveridge's review in A Curtain Up, she wrote,
Brendan Fraser does not just give a good performance, he is remarkable. He gets progressively more stupefied as he uses alcohol to cut the pain and detach himself from the memory of his best friend, his family, his wife and the issue of the inheritance. In the first act, as we see him tanned and athletic we can understand Maggie's desire not just to provide Big Daddy with an heir but to share his bed.
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In 2022's The Whale, Fraser plays a severely obese individual. To achieve a believably lifelike look, Fraser's body was completely transformed with makeup and prosthetics.
At times, this called for body suit elements that weighed upwards of three-hundred pounds. Fraser described the suit as “beautiful and arresting.” Wearing it, however, was “cumbersome.”
Fraser likened the torso piece to “a straight jacket with sleeves that went on, airbrushed by hand, to look identical as would human skin.”
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- Line of Descent
- ZEE5
9He's Coming Back To Hollywood And Bollywood
After Fraser played against type as a trouble-making prison guard in The Affair, audiences seem to be remembering his former star power. He also appeared as a villainous, ex-pat gun runner in the Bollywood mafia indie Line of Descent (formerly titled The Field).
He is also set to star in the semi-autobiographical film Behind the Curtain of Night, a story about reincarnation and what may happen after a person dies.
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10He Claims He Was Groped By A Former HFPA President
Brendan Fraser shared a painful story with GQ in an interview published in February 2018. In 2003, he was invited to a luncheon hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the group that hosts the Golden Globes. There, Fraser ran into Philip Berk, the HFPA's former president.
According to Fraser, Berk grabbed his backside and groped him between the legs. Berk claimed he merely pinched him as a joke. Shocked, Fraser asked for a formal apology.
After the incident, Fraser said he was rarely invited back to the Golden Globes, and wondered if the HFPA edged him out deliberately.
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- Blast from the Past
- New Line Cinema
11He's Fluent In French
The actor speaks French fluently. He used his language skills for the romantic comedy Blast from the Past, where he starred opposite Alicia Silverstone.
You can watch a clip of Fraser taking a French-speaking interviewer's questions during this press event in Montreal.
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- Blast from the Past
- New Line Cinema
12He Pled 'Poverty' To Avoid Alimony Payments
In 2013, Brendan Fraser's ex-wife, Afton Smith, took the actor to court, arguing that he was being disingenuous in his claims that he needed to reduce her spousal support payments.
Afton - who had been receiving $50,000 a month in payments from the actor - claimed that the actor was lying about his need to reduce the payments because of a lack of gainful employment. She believed his $25 million net worth was more than enough to cover the costs initially agreed to in their divorce settlement.
At the time, Fraser pled “poverty” because he was no longer earning the big paychecks he made at the height of his fame. A severe back injury, among other life circumstances, had made his $300,000 per year child support difficult to cover.
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- Mrs. Winterbourne
- TriStar Pictures
13He Admits To Being Boring
Fraser may play a lot of goofy, hyperactive characters on the big screen, but the actor says he lives a pretty boring life. He was in the tabloids following his divorce and for the subsequent fallout. However, Fraser has more or less been able to stay out of the Hollywood scandal reports.
During a 2008 interview with The Guardian, Fraser admits,
I'm very boring... People don't like me, they like the movies. Me personally? Yawn. You do a movie, Hollywood loves you for a while. They love you, they love you, they love you until - oh, they love someone else now.
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- Journey to the Center of the Earth
- New Line Cinema
14He Passed On A Huge Comeback
After a string of box office flops that included Blast from the Past (1999), Dudley Do-Right (1999), and Monkeybone (2001), Fraser had a chance to make a comeback in the movie biz with the potential new franchise Journey to the Center of the Earth. However, the first film's director, Eric Brevig, was unavailable for the sequel. Out of loyalty to Brevig, Fraser refused to sign onto Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012).
It turns out the studio did not mind moving on without Fraser either. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was brought in to take Brendan's place, and the family-friendly sequel wound up being a big hit.
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