Michael Fassbender (born 2 April 1977) is an Irish-German actor. He is known for having played Lt. Archie Hicox in the war film Inglourious Basterds (2009), directed by Quentin Tarantino; and Magneto in the superhero film X-Men: First Class (2011). His other credits include the fantasy action film 300 (2007); the drama film Fish Tank (2009); the romantic drama film Jane Eyre (2011); the historical film A Dangerous Method (2011), directed by David Cronenberg, in which he plays psychologist Carl Jung; as well as the biographical film Hunger (2008) and the drama film Shame (2011), both directed by Steve McQueen. For his role in Shame, he won the Volpi Cup best-actor award at the 68th Venice International Film Festival held in August 2011. Fassbender stars in the upcoming science fiction film, Prometheus, directed by Ridley Scott, scheduled for release in June 2012. Early life and education Fassbender was born in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany (now Germany). His mother, Adele, is Irish and a native of Larne, County Antrim, and his father, Josef Fassbender, is German. According to Fassbender's "family lore", his mother is the great-great-niece of Michael Collins, an Irish leader during the War of Independence. When he was two years old, his parents moved to Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, where they ran West End House, a restaurant where his father worked as a chef. Fassbender was brought up as a Roman Catholic and served as an altar boy. He attended St. Brendan's, Killarney (The Sem) and the Drama Centre in North London. Early work Fassbender first played the part of Burton "Pat" Christenson in Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg's award-winning television miniseries Band of Brothers. He played the character of Azazeal in both series of Hex on Sky One and he also starred as the main character in the music video for the song "Blind Pilots", by the British band The Cooper Temple Clause. In the video, he plays the part of a man on a stag night with his friends, only to slowly transform into a goat due to wearing a cowbell necklace. Fassbender played the part of Jonathan Harker in a ten-part radio serialization of Dracula produced by BBC Northern Ireland and broadcast in the Book at Bedtime series between 24 November and 5 December 2003. He was also seen in early 2004 in a Guinness television commercial, The Quarrel, playing a man who swims across the ocean from Ireland to apologize personally to his brother in New York. During the 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Fassbender played Michael Collins in Allegiance, a play by Mary Kenny based on the meeting between Winston Churchill and Collins, of whom Fassbender's mother is a great-niece. In addition, he produced, directed and starred in the stage version of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, along with his production company. He appeared in Angel (UK title: The Real Life of Angel Deverell), about the rise and fall of an eccentric young British writer (played by Romola Garai) in the early 20th century. Fassbender plays her love interest and average painter Esmé. The drama – the first English-language effort by French director François Ozon and based on the novel by Elizabeth Taylor – was premiered on 17 February 2007 at the Berlin International Film Festival and on 14 March 2007 in Paris. He then made a brief appearance in Wedding Belles as Barney, speaking with a Scottish accent. Mainstream success Fassbender first broke into American mainstream consciousness with a memorable role as Stelios in the 2006 film 300 directed by Zack Snyder. In preparation for his role as Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoner Bobby Sands in Steve McQueen's 2008 film Hunger, Fassbender underwent a crash diet that restricted him to 600 calories a day. He received the British Independent Film Award for his performance. One year after his success at the Cannes Film Festival with Hunger, he appeared in two films. First was Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, in which he played the British officer Lieutenant Archie Hicox. The other film was Fish Tank directed by Andrea Arnold. Both were critically acclaimed and Fassbender's work in them also well received. Starting a period when his "star status has risen exponentially" according to one observer, in 2010, Fassbender appeared in Jonah Hex and filmed Haywire, (previously titled Knockout). He also portrayed Quintus Dias in Neil Marshall's war-thriller-drama film Centurion, and was cast as 'Richard Wirth' in the Joel Schumacher film Blood Creek alongside Dominic Purcell. The story centers on a West Virginia man who comes to terms with his moral qualms and helps his brother wipe out a family that had been protecting a Nazi occultist and who had kept his brother captive for him to feed off for years. Fassbender played Edward Rochester in the 2011 film Jane Eyre, featuring Mia Wasikowska in the title role, with Cary Fukunaga directing. Fassbender portrayed Magneto in the superhero blockbuster X-Men: First Class, the prequel to X-Men. Set in 1962, it focused on the friendship between Charles Xavier (played by James McAvoy) and Magneto and the origin of their groups, the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants. The film was released on 3 June 2011 to general acclaim and financial success and promoted Fassbender to being more of a popular movie star. In 2011, Fassbender starred in A Dangerous Method by director David Cronenberg, playing Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist Carl Jung. The film premiered at the 2011 Venice Film Festival. He also starred in Shame, as a man in his thirties struggling with his sex addiction. Shame reunited him with director Steve McQueen, and premiered at the 2011 Venice Film Festival, where Fassbender won a Volpi Cup best actor award for his portrayal of Brandon. Fassbender was a serious contender for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, but he was not nominated, and according to various sources his full-frontal nudity and depiction of sexual encounters inspired voters "to fantasize, and not actually vote." Fassbender achieved critical acclaim for his performance in Shame and received nominations for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. In early 2012, he appeared in Haywire, by Steven Soderbergh, an international action/thriller film. Future projects In 2012, Fassbender will star in Prometheus, directed by Ridley Scott, and co-starring Noomi Rapace. He will play an android named David in the film, scheduled for release on 8 June 2012. Due to a schedule conflict, Fassbender had to pull out of negotiations to work with Oscar-winning director, Danny Boyle, in his new film, Trance. Fassbender signed to star in actor Brendan Gleeson's directorial debut of At Swim-Two-Birds, a film adaptation of Irish author Flann O'Brien's novel. He will also team up for a third time with McQueen to co-star in a yet-to-be-determined role, with Chiwetel Ejiofor, portraying Solomon Northup, in Twelve Years A Slave. Together with a screenwriter Ronan Bennett, Fassbender formed a production company Finn McCool Films. Fassbender and Bennett are currently developing a film about the Irish mythological hero Cú Chulainn. Fassbender also signed to play a title role in The Counselor, a film directed by Ridley Scott and based on the Cormac McCarthy script. In 2013, Fassbender is set to take on the role of Harry Flashman in a film adaptation of the books by George MacDonald Fraser. Personal life Shifting between British films and American films, Fassbender resides in London, England, while making career-related visits to Los Angeles, California. He speaks conversational German, though he has stated that he needed to brush up a bit on his spoken German before filming Inglourious Basterds, as it was a bit rusty. He has also expressed interest in performing in a German-language film or theater production one day.