ACTOR · BORN 1969
Edward Norton
- Born
- 18 August 1969, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Known for
- Fight Club (1999), American Psycho (2000), Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), Motherless Brooklyn (2019)
46 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
Edward Norton (born 18 August 1969) is an actor best known for Fight Club, American Psycho and Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
Edward Norton over the years
46 Interesting Facts About Edward Norton
Interesting Facts (11)
- #001
His 5 favorite films are: 1. The Cruise (1998), 2. The King of Comedy (1982), 3. Tampopo (1985), 4. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), and 5. Ruggles of Red Gap (1935).
- #002
He played guitar with Courtney Love's band, Hole, in two gigs in Los Angeles in December 1998.
- #003
Did NOT attend the famed Yale Drama School, as reported in many news paper articles. He attended Yale merely as an undergraduate.
- #004
Did an uncredited rewrite of the script of Frida (2002).
- #005
Was attached at one point to star in Hart's War (2002) but walked away from the project and an $8 million salary. The role later went to Colin Farrell.
- #006
According to Yale's newspaper, he has wanted to play poet Dylan Thomas for a long time, but he feels that he is not physically right for the part.
- #007
Finding Your Roots (2012) revealed that Pocahontas and John Rolfe were two of his 12 x great-grandparents.
- #008
The theme song for Keeping the Faith (2000) - "Heart of Mine" by Peter Salett - was not written specifically for the film. Salett is a good friend of Edward's.
- #009
Like fellow film actors Peter Sarsgaard, Kimilee Bryant, and Jeanine Louise DeName, he studied at New York City's famous T. Schreiber Studio.
- #010
Former student of New York acting teacher, David Gideon.
- #011
Filming fight scenes is like dancing the tango: you need a partner who understands the angles and knows how to sell the punch without anyone getting hurt.
Production Story (6)
- #012
Got the role for Fight Club (1999) because director David Fincher enjoyed his performance in The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), which was the only film of the actor that he had seen.
- #013
Was attached at one point to star in Hart's War (2002) but walked away from the project and an $8 million salary. The role later went to Colin Farrell.
- #014
The theme song for Keeping the Faith (2000) - "Heart of Mine" by Peter Salett - was not written specifically for the film. Salett is a good friend of Edward's.
- #015
Was considered for the role of Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon (1999). Director Miloš Forman could not decide between him and Jim Carrey and left the decision up to the studio. The studio decided to go with Carrey.
- #016
Stuart Blumberg, Edward's friend from his Yale college days, wrote most of what was to become the basis for Keeping the Faith (2000). Edward starred, produced, and directed the romantic comedy, but he also assisted Stuart in writing the original story.
- #017
Turned down the role of Bruce Banner in Hulk (2003), but took the part in The Incredible Hulk (2008).
Behind the Scenes (6)
- #018
He and co-star Brad Pitt took soap-making classes during the filming of Fight Club (1999).
- #019
Filming fight scenes is like dancing the tango: you need a partner who understands the angles and knows how to sell the punch without anyone getting hurt.
- #020
His character Aaron Stampler in Primal Fear (1996), which was based on a book, did not have a stutter, but when he auditioned, he gave him one.
- #021
Studied with renowned Hollywood Gun Coach Thell Reed, who also taught Brad Pitt, [link=nm0000174, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Ben Foster, and Girard Swan.
- #022
His character, Worm, in Rounders (1998) was originally supposed to smoke but being avid non-smoker, he refused and the part rewritten as a non-smoker.
- #023
When Norton met with the director for Primal Fear (1996), he told them that he, like Aaron, came from eastern Kentucky. Norton even spoke with the twang (which he prepared by watching Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)).
Characters & Cast (1)
- #024
Specializes in characters with multiple personalities, be it as a mental defect or a disguise. He has played people with several identities in Primal Fear (1996), Fight Club (1999), The Score (2001), The Incredible Hulk (2008); and arguably in American History X (1998), in which his character turns 180° during the course of the story, and in Death to Smoochy (2002), in which he portrayed a professional actor and his character Smoochie the Rhino.
Career & Awards (6)
- #025
Credits legendary acting coach Terry Schreiber as being a major reason behind his success as an actor. The story was that Norton, who speaks Japanese, worked a deal with Schreiber to trade acting lessons for Norton teaching Schreiber Japanese. Schreiber was to direct a play in Japan at the time, and agreed to the deal. Norton studied with Schreiber for about three years in the early 90s in New York, and his career subsequently took off. Norton wrote the introduction to Schreiber's 2005 acting text "Acting: Advanced Techniques for the Actor, Director, and Teacher".
- #026
On his return to New York, it took less than two years of waiting tables before the young thespian to capture the eye of Edward Albee, one of the most celebrated playwrights of the 20th century. Albee was working with the Signature Theater Company on a new production of Fragments. One audition and Norton landed the role, as well as a slot in Signature's repertory company. He currently serves on its board of directors.
- #027
Played "The Captain" in a VH1 Captain & Tennille Behind the Music skit on Saturday Night Live (1975) with Drew Barrymore. The show aired the night before the 1999 Oscars, at which he was a nominee for American History X (1998). Barrymore accompanied Edward to the Oscars.
- #028
As a struggling young actor in New York, Edward studied with the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mark Ruffalo, and Bobby Cannavale.
- #029
Producers of American Psycho (2000) wanted him to play Patrick Bateman.
- #030
There was a character named Ed Norton, played by Art Carney, in The Honeymooners (1955).
Life & Family (16)
- #031
While a precocious 8-year-old actor, he asked a surprised director of a play, "What is my objective here?" The director was startled by his interest in acting.
- #032
He and Rounders (1998) co-star Matt Damon competed in the World Series of Poker at Las Vegas on May 1998 with the movie studio Miramax paying the $10,000 per person entrance fee.
- #033
Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Maryland, from which Edward graduated in 1987, built a new auditorium for the performing arts several years ago. He revisited his alma mater and gave a lecture on the day of the dedication. It is named after Edward's grandfather, James Wilson Rouse.
- #034
In July 1998, after a New Yorker jibe in a review of a documentary about Courtney Love, Norton sent the magazine a frameable letter. Norton's missive was in response to Endless Love, a piece by Daphne Merkin centering on Nick Broomfield's controversial documentary Kurt & Courtney (1998). The film, filled with speculation that Love's husband Kurt Cobain's death was murder rather than suicide, features a litany of Love-haters anxious to air their grievances. The magazine's coverage of Broomfield's film "along with Merkin's thoughtful contributions" didn't sit well with Norton.
- #035
After he graduated, he worked in Osaka, Japan, consulting for his grandfather's company, Enterprise Foundation. He also appeared in an ESL textbook, "Only in America", used by Nova, a major Japanese-language school.
- #036
His babysitter, Betsy True, went on to perform as Cosette in a Broadway version of Les Miserables. She was the one who originally piqued Edward's interest in acting, taking him to see his first play, If I Were A Princess, at age six.
- #037
Holds benefit screenings of his films mostly at The Senator Theatre in Baltimore, MD to benefit some charities that includes the Living Classroooms Foundation and the St. Frances Academy Robin Norton Scholarship Fund in honor of his late mother.
- #038
College buddies with Ron Livingston and Paul Giamatti at Yale University.
- #039
His grandfather, James Rouse, is credited with being the inventor of the modern shopping mall, and designed the planned community of Columbia, Maryland, where Edward was raised.
- #040
He treasures his private life and being able to live a normal life, and cannot imagine not being able to take the New York subway if he gets too famous.
- #041
Is an active member of Friends of The High Line, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and reuse of the High Line - a 1.5 mile elevated railway that runs along the West Side of Manhattan. Norton appears in a video made by Good Mag about the conversion of the old rail line into a multi-use trail.
- #042
He worked as a waiter, a proofreader, and a director's assistant to try to get his foot in the door in New York City. He applied to be a New York City cab driver, but he was rejected for the license because he didn't meet the age requirement.
- #043
Speaks some Japanese, which helped when he briefly worked for his grandfather's company, The Enterprise Foundation. He was assigned to the Osaka, Japan branch until he quit the desk-job grind at his grandfather's suggestion and decided to try to break into acting in New York.
- #044
As a response to the events of September 11th and the increasing conflict in the Middle East, he contributed to establish the Middle East Peacemakers Fund at Yale University.
- #045
After he graduated, he worked in Osaka, Japan, consulting for his grandfather's company, Enterprise Foundation, which works to create decent, affordable housing for low-income families.
- #046
In 2012 he made a video for the campaign of President Barack Obama.
Related pages
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil — Edward Norton comes up in the facts on that page
- Michael Kenneth Williams — Edward Norton comes up in the facts on that page
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Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
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