Edward Harrison Norton is one of the smartest and biggest figures in Hollywood, known as one of the best actors of his generation with enormous skills and a love of filmmaking. His performances in Primal Fear (1996), American History X (1998), and Birdman (2004) mark his career in the acting industry where he gathered multiple awards and nominations.
Recently, he was idolized by the younger crowd for his portrayal of a comic superhero for Marvel Comics. His films Keeping the Faith and Motherless Brooklyn prove that he can direct as well as act.
10 Raised By A Lawyer And Teacher
Edward Norton was born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 18, 1969, and grew up in Columbia, Maryland. His father, Edward Mower Norton, Jr. served as a marine lieutenant in Vietnam and later become a lawyer for the environmental and a prosecutor for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a director of the Nature Conservancy project in China.
His work made him an advocate for environmental conservation in Asia. Edward’s mother, Lydia Robinson, was a teacher who taught English in high school before she passed away from a brain tumor in 1997. His parents’ professions are transparent in how disciplined and idealistic an individual Edward is, making him a difficult person to work with.
9 An Athlete, Historian, Actor
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree major in History in 1991 at the University of Yale where he was a member of the University rowing team and also studied Japanese. During his college years, aside from participating in rowing competitions, he also took acting classes and participated in the University creations together with Ron Livingston and Paul Giamatti. However, while filming the movie The Painted Veil in 2006, Edward injured his back after the horse threw him into some rocks breaking three of his vertebrae. Dedicated enough, he admitted that he only went for proper treatment after he had finished filming. The accident had forced him to quit rowing.
8 A Non-Smoker For The Legalization Of Weed
Edward is not a fan of smoking cigarettes which was made apparent when he refused to smoke on his role in Rounders in 1998. Yet, a year after, he did smoke for his role in the film Fight Club. Despite his portrayal in the 1999 movie, Edward remains staunch in his belief against cigarettes. On March 14, 2014, he tweeted (@EdwardNorton), that if you know a person who smokes and wants to quit, send them to stopsmokingstartliving.com. He said that everyone he knows who went there has stopped smoking for good. Along with many others in Hollywood, he also advocates for the legalization of marijuana which he believes is just rational.
7 He Loves Comedy
Aside from the 2000 romantic-comedy film Keeping The Faith, which was directed by Edward, his love for comedy shines with his revealed favorite movies: (1) The King of Comedy (1982) – a comedy film about a passionate yet unsuccessful comedian, (2) Tampopo (1986) – a Japanese comedy film intertwining food and romantic love, (3) Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Wolf (1966) – a comedy-drama film about an aging academician couple who excessively consume alcohol that always leads to hurtful verbal battles, and (4) Ruggles of Red Gap (1935) – a classic comedy film about an English butler who is mistaken for wealthy retired English colonel and instantly makes him a celebrity in town.
6 He’s Multilingual
Aside from English, Edward also speaks Japanese fluently which he learned while attending Yale. After graduation, he went to work with his maternal grandfather as a consultant in James Rouse’s company in Osaka, Japan. He also speaks a little Spanish and is fluent in French.
He learned his Spanish while working on the movie Primal Fear. In his interview with Bennett Miller, he said that he had studied French forever but doesn’t get the opportunity to speak it. He says that he wishes he had studied Spanish instead.
5 Licensed Pilot
During the interview with James Cordon on one of the episodes for the Late Late Show, Edward shares about his flight training on how he acquired his private pilot license. He also mentioned his personal aircraft – Cessna 206. When he was asked by Cordon if he ever experienced a close call while in the air, he jokingly answered that, Pilots with interesting experiences don’t fly for very long and it’s better to be a boring pilot. It’s not like you get nine lives. He goes on to say that he landed in a riverbed once and that it was a little dizzy. It was supposed to be a landing strip but it turned out to be just a dry river bed.
4 Social Media Influencer
Edward used his social media platform to encourage charity fundraising. Together with three other colleagues, on the 19th of May 2010, they launched their website called CrowdRise.com which seeks to provide people online volunteering and sponsorship for their charities and causes. He got the idea after using Twitter to raise $1.2 million for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. People embraced and supported the idea and after three years, CrowdRise has more than ten thousand charities and raised around $100 -$150 million per year. In 2017, CrowdRise joined forces with GoFundMe – a person to person social fundraising platform where individuals can help other individuals.
3 A Critique Of Donald Trump
Last year, Edward released his second film – Motherless Brooklyn, 20 years after the first one. He first decided to make this film way back 1999 but with so many good projects offered to him, he barely found time to finish the writing and to gather the resources for financing and casting, which further delayed the appearance of this movie on the big screen. When he finished writing the film it was already Obama’s second term in his presidency, thus, he thought that the film would not be relevant anymore. But then Donald Trump was elected, which he calls “The Manchurian Candidate presidency” and it made the film relevant again.
2 Raised Funds For Syrian Refugees
In 2015 when the Human of New York Facebook page posted a photo series of a Syrian family whose home was ruined by missiles attached by a wholehearted message from Barack Obama who was the president at that time. Moved to tears and inspired by the story of resiliency amid tragedy, Edward launched a fundraising effort and raised more than $350,000 in one week. On his campaign, Edward used the picture of the Syrian man in the story, known only as the Scientist, who despite his loss and suffering, still passionately aims to positively contribute to humanity. Along with the photo, Edward called on Americans to welcome refugees and help them in their search for a new life.
1 Environmental Advocate
Inspired by the work of his father, Edward found environmental activism at an early age. In 2003, he developed the Solar Neighbors Program with the leading solar-panel producer BP to provide photovoltaic panels for low-income houses in Los Angeles. He also stars as a narrator on his eco-themed media project Strange Days on the Planet – a National Geographic Documentary series that explores globally occurring natural disasters. Also, he works as president for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust that works to preserve the landscape, biodiversity, and culture of West Africa. In 2010, he became the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity by the virtue of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
