Between madness and genius: why villain roles made Willem Dafoe a screen legend (9 photos)

Willem Dafoe's striking appearance, inimitable facial expressions, piercing gaze, and signature crazed grin have long since become a cinematic phenomenon in their own right. Over the course of his long career, the actor has embodied dozens of unforgettable characters, playing both deranged villains and profoundly tragic characters with equal ease and conviction—from the iconic Green Goblin to the brilliant Vincent van Gogh. The actor's greatest paradox lies in the fact that behind his terrifying "antihero" exterior lies one of the most subtle, flexible, and versatile actors of his generation. It is his unique gift for portraying disturbing, contradictory, and frighteningly unpredictable characters that has earned Dafoe a place among the elite of world cinema.