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Maguire was born in Santa Monica, California,
the son of Wendy (nee Brown), a secretary turned screenwriter and
producer, and Vincent Maguire, a construction worker and cook.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.
Maguire 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 US$100 to take a drama class instead, and Tobey agreed.
The nomadic nature of his school-age years began to take a toll on
Maguire emotionally, and finally, after yet another relocation to yet
another school, Maguire dropped out of his freshman year of high
school and never returned, deciding to focus himself on his blossoming
acting career. By 2000, Maguire had taken the GED to officially
graduate from high school, noting that during his high school days,
he'd reached a point where "I wasn't doing school. I was showing up,
but...not really giving myself. Maguire's
first appearance in was a feature film was in the 1989 movie The
Wizard. In that movie, he played a goon of Lucas Barton, one of three
competitors at a video game competition, 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 to help each other get
parts in their movies/TV shows/other projects. For example, both
auditioned for the same part in the 1990 TV series based on the 1989
comedy 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 movie This
Boy's Life (featuring Robert De Niro as the lead); 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 was steadily working but becoming caught up
in the hard-partying lifestyle of some of his fellow teen actors. In
1995, Maguire requested director Allan Moyle to release him from his
part in the movie Empire Records. Moyle agreed, and all of Tobey's
scenes were deleted from the final film.Maguire then sought help for
an underaged drinking problem from Alcoholics Anonymous; he has been
sober ever since.
As part of his recovery from alcohol and learning to deal with his
self-described "addictive and obsessive/compulsive nature", 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.
In Ride with the Devil (1999), Maguire gave a virtuoso performance as
Jakob Roedel, opposite Jewel Kilcher. Here he played the son of a
unionist German immigrant who joins his southern friends in the
Missouri riders, avenging the atrocities committed against Missourians
by Kansas Jayhawkers and redleggers.
Between the completion of principal photography for Spider-Man and the
film's 2002 release, Maguire took a role that featured his
youthful-sounding voice, a beagle puppy named Lou, in the 2001
children's movie Cats and Dogs.
Spider-man
In 2002, Maguire shot to superstardom as the web-slinging superhero
Spider-Man 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) and has provided the voice of Spider-Man in the
video game adaptions of the films.
Maguire's performance as Spider-Man initially earned him some glowing
reviews. For instance, Mark Caro of the Chicago Tribune felt that
"with his big, round, soulful eyes, Maguire always has been able to
convey a sense of wonder, and his instinct for understatement also
serves him well here". Towards the third part of the franchise the
actor experienced some backlash in the media. "For his part Mr.
Maguire needs to stop relying on those great big peepers of his:
simply widening your eyes to attract attention does not cut it when
you’re over 30", remarked Manohla Dargis of the New York Times in her
review of Spider-Man-3.
At the time of Spider-Man 3's release, Maguire had not yet signed on
for another sequel, but denied reports that he would not return for a
fourth movie, 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." In September 2008, The Sunday Times reported that
Maguire had signed a contract for USD$50M to reprise the role of Peter
Parker/Spider-Man in Spider-Man 4 and Spider-Man 5, with both films
shooting over a period of six months back-to-back in 2009. The
contract also contains provisions for Maguire to take time off in the
early mornings and late evenings during shooting to spend time with
his wife Jennifer and daughter Ruby, a precedent-setting provision
granted by Sony Pictures Chairman Amy Pascal, herself a mother.
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 producing. Maguire's production credits
include 25th Hour (2002), Whatever We Do (2003), and Seabiscuit
(2003), for which he served as executive producer.
As of November 2007, Warner Bros. has plans to fast-track a movie
based on 1980's anime series, Robotech. Maguire is producing the film
through his Maguire Entertainment banner and is eyeing the lead role
in what the studio plans on being a tentpole sci-fi franchise. "We are
very excited to bring 'Robotech' to the big screen", Maguire said.
"There is a rich mythology that will be a great foundation for a
sophisticated, smart and entertaining film...". The decision was said
to have been made due to the enormous success of the Transformers film
adaptation, which grossed $690 million during the summer of 2007.
Maguire is attached to produce Afterburn, a science fiction movie
based on the Red 4 comic book by Paul Ens and Scott Chitwood. Neal
Moritz's Original Films is also producing and Relativity is in talks
to board the post-apocalyptic project, whose story is set one year
after a solar flare burns half of Earth, leaving what life remains
mutated from radiation and nuclear fallout. Treasure hunters then go
back to the scorched portion of the planet to retrieve valuable
artifacts while facing rival hunters, mutants and pirates along the
way.
Maguire's company is also co-producing an adaptation of a mystery
novel by Isaac Adamson called Tokyo Suckerpunch with Sony Pictures.
The film, scheduled to be released in 2008, will star Tobey in the
role of American reporter Billy Chaka, who investigates the murder of
a Japanese friend in Tokyo. Comic book
references to Maguire
In Ultimate Spider-Man #54-59 (Hollywood), an unauthorized film is in
production about Spider-Man with Doctor Octopus as the main villain.
The film's male lead Tobey Maguire, Bruce Campbell, director Sam Raimi
and Marvel-movie head Avi Arad appear in cameo roles.
In Spider-Girl #82, Reilly Tyne/Darkdevil is described by Peter Parker
in the comic as looking "just like Tobey Maguire", a deliberate nod to
Maguire's involvement in the Spider-Man films.
Deadpool, who often breaks the fourth wall, recapped the events of the
ongoing Marvel Civil War in Cable & Deadpool #31, saying, "And the Boy
Scout branch made a big show of cooperating, by having Spider-Man
reveal his identity on national TV... as if we hadn't seen the movies
already and didn't know it was dreamy doe-eyed Tobey Maguire under the
mask!"
In Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #12 Spider-Man/Peter is quoted as
saying to the Principal "Well You Want Acting...Go Get Tobey Maguire",
a nod to him being played by Tobey in the movies. |
