Michael Fassbender – the 'dashing gentleman' of the silver screen.

Although he rose to fame later than his contemporaries, his versatile acting and masculine charm have made this actor of German and Irish descent a hot name in Hollywood.

Michael Fassbender is a rare gem in world cinema. At 38 years old and with only 10 years of acting experience, the actor has already left an indelible mark on fans. Director Steve McQueen likened Michael Fassbender to a "chameleon" because of his versatile acting abilities. Whether he's cast as a soldier surrounded by enemy forces, a sex addict, a disillusioned mutant, or a brutal slave owner, the actor knows how to make each character his own.

Actor Michael Fassbender.

A new "Marlon Brando"

The actor, born in 1977, has a German father and a Northern Irish mother. He was born in his father's homeland and began living in his mother's homeland from the age of two. At 19, Fassbender began studying at the Drama Centre London and worked as a bartender and mail carrier to make ends meet. Before turning 300, most of Fassbender's roles were on stage or television. His most notable work at that time was the classic war television series Band of Brothers, produced by Steven Spielberg.

While his debut film, 300, saw Fassbender overshadowed by Gerrard Butler and hundreds of other shirtless, muscular actors, just two years later he achieved a breakthrough. In Steve McQueen's 2008 film, *The Hunger*, Fassbender played Bobby Sands, a prisoner who used hunger strike as a form of resistance. To resemble Sands in real life while fasting, Fassbender followed a strict diet of only 600 calories a day. As a result, he lost 14 kg and his performance garnered acclaim at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

Michael Fassbender lost 14 kg to achieve his emaciated physique in the movie "Hunger".

The reason Michael Fassbender is compared to Daniel Day-Lewis, Marlon Brando, and others is because of the meticulous investment and dedication he puts into each role. Like his famous predecessors, Fassbender always tries to immerse himself in the character so that he can think, act, and feel like them. Just as Brandon didn't shy away from controversially explicit scenes in Last Tango in Paris (1972), his successor Fassbender bravely showed off his entire body in Shame (2011).

In Shame, Michael Fassbender plays an upper-class man with sex addiction. The actor personally visited treatment centers to talk to people suffering from nymphomania and even read the script up to 350 times. As a result, Shame was considered one of the best films of 2011, with glowing reviews for Fassbender. He received nominations for "Best Actor" at the BAFTA and Golden Globe awards, but surprisingly missed out on the Oscars that year. This angered McQueen, who called it a scandal: "America only likes happy endings and is afraid to touch on the topic of sex."

In the third project of the McQueen-Fassbender duo, 12 Years a Slave (2013), the actor took on another challenging role: the brutal slave owner Edwin Epps. In this film about slavery, Edwin Epps represents the worst and most evil aspects of a dark chapter in American history. Epps takes pleasure in exploiting Black slaves, and the viewer's heart aches every time he whips the emaciated body of Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o later won an Oscar for this role).

From the moment he received the script, Fassbender pleaded with Steve McQueen to join the project because "I believed I could make the character of Epps convincing." He immersed himself so deeply in the character that during the scenes of beating and raping the slaves, he fainted in front of the entire film crew. This outstanding performance earned Fassbender his first and only Oscar nomination to date.

Michael Fassbender once exposed his entire body while playing a sex addict in the film "Shame".

Not only did Fassbender immerse himself in the character, but he also possessed an extraordinary level of diligence. His co-star in Steve Jobs (2015), Kate Winslet, exclaimed, "I've never seen an actor as hardworking as him in my life. Michael is unbelievably professional. His script had 182 pages of dialogue, but he was the only one who could read his lines without holding the script in his hand."

The actor has bad luck at the box office.

Michael Fassbender's acting career isn't solely tied to projects by director Steve McQueen. When collaborating with Quentin Tarantino in Inglorious Basterds (2009), his character, Lieutenant Archie, captivated many with his rugged, gentlemanly demeanor, even when facing death. In the independent film Frank, his character even wears a mask for over 90% of the film's duration, yet still manages to convey the character's psychological and emotional development.

Fassbender's portrayal of a young Magneto in the films X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past also garnered significant attention. Through Fassbender's performance, audiences understood the autocratic and resolute leadership of Magneto's Brotherhood—as portrayed by Ian McKellen in the original X-Men series. While Patrick Stewart (who played the older Professor X) praised James McAvoy (who played the young Professor X), Ian McKellen went even further after seeing Fassbender play Magneto: "I want to marry him."

The German-born actor became widely known after playing a young Magneto in the "X-Men" film series.

To date, the two X-Men films remain the most commercially successful in Michael Fassbender's career. Despite his acting talent and passion, the star hasn't yet become a name that can draw audiences to theaters in droves. The box office failures of Jonah Hex, Haywire, The Counselor, and more recently, Steve Jobs and Macbeth, have undoubtedly disappointed Fassbender's loyal fans. They hope that this jinx will be broken in 2016 with the two highly anticipated blockbusters, X-Men: Apocalypse and Assassin's Creed.

Michael Fassbender is a potential Oscar contender for next year's acting season with his roles in Steve Jobs and Macbeth. Although neither film was a box office hit, no one can deny Fassbender's acting ability, as he has consistently received high praise from critics.

According to VNE