Brendan Fraser is one of the main names to have won the Best Actor Oscar at the 2023 Academy Awards. The artist received the nomination for his performance in ‘The Whale’, a drama which marks the return of actor with big roles on the big screen.

His career has had many ups and downs, and until recently Fraser was hidden from the general public. Now, with his big comeback – already with an Oscar nomination – he tells splash who tries to manage the moment and a possible “impostor syndrome”, as if he has reached a position he does not deserve.

“I don’t want to be overconfident because I used to expect that at some point someone would say: you’re an impostor and you don’t belong here. Now I feel so, I belong here, and I want to be worthy of it.”

‘A Baleia’ is based on the play ‘The Whale’ and is directed by Darren Aronofsky, of ‘Black Swan’. The production explores the pains of a lonely man, Charlie (Fraser), a reclusive English teacher who lives with a severe food compulsion and must come to terms with the choices of the past and the fate that life has imposed on him.

The performance has already won Best Actor at this year’s Critics’ Choice Awards.

Due to personal issues, he walked away from major productions for almost ten years.

The beginning

Brendan James Fraser was born on December 3, 1968 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The son of Canadian parents, he moved several times during his childhood and adolescence, living in other cities in the United States, Italy and England. It was in London that he first became interested in acting.

Shortly after, he entered the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where he graduated in 1990 and quickly made his film debut in “‘The Money’ (1991).

He participated in a few comedy titles, but it was with “George, king of the forest” (1997) that he began to make himself known.

“The Mummy”

In 1999 he starred in “The Mummy” and played Rick O’Connell.

Adventure in Egypt was Brendan Fraser’s first blockbuster, and his participation in the franchise made him a true Hollywood star. The film grossed over US$400 million (about 2.07 billion reais) and produced two sequels: “The Mummy Returns” (2001) and “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” (2008).

Thereafter, he continued to work on hits such as: “Endiabrado” (2000), “Crash: No Limite” (2005) and “Coração de Inta: O Livro Mágico”.

In all of the sets he has participated in, the star has forgone the use of stunt doubles as much as possible. Those action scenes he starred in were marred by a few small mishaps and the stunts ended up causing physical damage to Fraser.

In 2008, after filming “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” the actor underwent the first of a series of surgeries. The procedures included interventions on his knees, vertebrae and even repair of his vocal cords, carried out and repeated over a period of almost ten years.

Autumn

As he struggled with his health, Fraser divorced actress Afton Smith in 2007. After the relationship ended, he acted in small roles.

Already in 2018, he revealed to GQ that in 2003, he claims to have been sexually assaulted by Philip Berk, former president of the Foreign Press Association – the organization responsible for the Golden Globes.

According to Fraser, Berk touched her body without her consent. “I felt like I had a lump in my throat. I thought I was going to cry. I felt like someone had put invisible ink on me,” he said. she declared.

turn around

Also in 2018, the actor was in the series “Condor”, “Titãs” and “Patrulha do Destino”, which helped him find the rhythm of the early 2000s.

In 2021, the announcement of her casting as the character of Vagalume, villain of the feature film ‘Batgirl’, moved social networks. Finally, Fraser was back in an up-and-coming comic book-based blockbuster. However, last August, the project was canceled by the new management of Warner Bros., even though it was already in the post-production phase.

It was then that the actor was invited to star in “The Whale”. According to Splash, it was from a trailer for “12 Hours to Dawn”, recorded in Brazil, that Aronofsky became interested in Brendan Fraser and wanted him in the role.

The drama was released during the 2022 Venice Film Festival and received a standing ovation from the audience for over six minutes.