Almost Famous

Background:

Starting out in television in the late 1990s, Patrick Fugit came to prominence starring as William Miller in Cameron Crowe's highly praised feature film “Almost Famous” (2000). The role brought the Utah native an Online Film Critics Society Award and nominations at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the MTV Movie Awards, the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards, the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards, the Teen Choice Awards and the Young Artist Awards. He was also handed a 2000 Golden Apple Award for Male Discovery of the Year and a 2001 Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor. Fugit has since acted in the films “Spun” (2002), “White Oleander” (2002), “Saved” (2004), “The Amateurs” (2005), “Wristcutters: A Love Story” (2006), “Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas” (2006), “The Good Life” (2007), “Horsemen” (2009) and “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant” (2009). His TV credits include “Touched by an Angel” (2 episodes, 1997 and 1998), “ER” (3 episodes, 2003) and “House M.D.” (1 episode, 2006).

Fugit also plays the guitar and can sing. He is in a band called Mushman with his best friend, actor David Fetzer.

Fuggy

Childhood and Family:

The son of Bruce Fugit (born in 1948), an electrical engineer, and Jan Fugit (born in 1953), a dance instructor, Patrick Raymond Fugit was born on October 27, 1982, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has two younger siblings named Jocelyn and Colin and is part Irish. His last name means “he flees” in Latin. In high school, Patrick was diagnosed with ADHD.

Patrick is a skateboarder, a sport he has practiced since age 15. Both he and his father are motorcycle riders and own several motorcycles. Patrick is friends with actress Olivia Wilde and director/producer Tao Ruspoli. Patrick is known by the nickname Fuggy.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

Career:

Patrick Fugit first acted in the seventh grader when he landed a role in a school production of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” (1995). Two years later, he made his TV debut in an episode of CBS' “Touched by an Angel.” He would return to the show to play Joey in a 1998 episode called “Only Connect.” It was also in 1998 that the aspiring young actor made his TV movie debut in the Fox horror film “Legion of Fire: Killer Ants,” playing Scott Blount. The cast also included Eric Lutes, Mitch Pileggi, Julia Campbell and Jeremy Foley. In 1999, he was directed by Shawn Levy in the TV film “Stray Dog.”

Entering the new millennium, Fugit enjoyed a big break when he landed the lead role of William Miller in the semi autobiographical film “Almost Famous” (2000), which was written and directed by Cameron Crowe. Although the film was not a major success at the box office, it earned positive reviews from critics and received four Academy Award nominations, which Crowe won one for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, and two Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical and Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Kate Hudson). For his performance as a young rock journalist, Fugit won an Online Film Critics Society for Best Ensemble Cast Performance, which he shared with costars Fairuza Balk, Billy Crudup, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Frances McDormand, Anna Paquin and Noah Taylor. He was also nominated for a Blockbuster Entertainment for Favorite Male - Newcomer, an MTV Movie for Breakthrough Male Performance, a Las Vegas Film Critics Society's Sierra Award for Best Male Newcomer, an Online Film Critics Society for Best Cinematic Debut/Breakthrough, and a Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, among other nominations.

After reprising his role of William Miller in an episode of “MADtv” (2001), Fugit received the notable supporting role of Frisbee on the comedy film “Spun” (2002), opposite Jason Schwartzman, Mickey Rourke, Brittany Murphy and John Leguizamo. He also costarred with Alison Lohman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robin Wright Penn and Renee Zellweger in the dramatic film “White Oleander” (2002), which was directed by Peter Kosminsky and adapted from the novel of the same name by Janet Fitch. In 2003, he played the recurring role of Sean Simmons in three episodes of the popular medical drama “ER.”

Fugit next worked with Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Eva Amurri, Martin Donovan and Mary-Louise Park in the dark comedy “Saved” (2004), directed and co-written by Brian Dannelly. This was followed by roles in the horror film “Dead Birds” (2004, opposite Henry Thomas) and the independent comedy “The Amateurs” (2005, with Jeff Bridges, Tim Blake Nelson, Joe Pantoliano, William Fichtner and Ted Danson). In 2006, Fugit starred in Goran Dukic's controversial independent film “Wristcutters: A Love Story” (as Zia) and Scott Lew's coming of age comedy “Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas” (as Bickford Shmeckler). He worked with Abraham Benrubi, Shannyn Sossamon, Shea Whigham, Leslie Bibb and Tom Waits in the first film and Olivia Wilde, Fran Kranz and John Cho in the latter. The same year, he also appeared as Jack Walters in an episode of “House M.D.”

Fugit portrayed Andrew in writer/director Steven Berra's movie “The Good Life.” The film also starred Zooey Deschanel, Bill Paxton, Harry Dean Stanton and Chris Klein. He revisited the big screen two years later when he was cast as Cory in the thriller movie “Horsemen” (2009), which was directed by Jonas Åkerlund and starred Dennis Quaid and Zhang Ziyi. He then portrayed Evra the Snake Boy in “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant” (2009), a film adaptation of the first three books of the book series “The Saga of Darren Shan” by author Darren Shan. The film received mixed reviews from critics. Costars of the movie included Chris Massoglia, John C. Reilly, Ken Watanabe, Josh Hutcherson, Ray Stevenson, Willem Dafoe and Salma Hayek.

Awards:

• Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA): Most Promising Actor, 2001

• Online Film Critics Society (OFCS): Best Ensemble Cast Performance, “Almost Famous,” 2001

• Golden Apple: Male Discovery of the Year, 2000