Everyone loves a good comeback story, especially when the person making the comeback is well-liked. Enter Brendan Fraser. The actor, who first hit the big screen 30 years ago, is an early awards season favorite this year for his performance in THE WHALE, the new drama from acclaimed filmmaker Darren Aronofsky.
The performance earned Fraser a six-minute standing ovation following the film’s premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and inspired headlines about the actor’s remarkable return to mainstream Hollywood—even if he never actually left.
Ahead, we’ll take a look back at Fraser’s rise to fame, his blockbuster run as a leading man in THE MUMMY movies, and his exciting upcoming roles in THE WHALE and a new Martin Scorsese movie.
Blast From The Past
Born in Indiana to Canadian parents, Brendan Fraser was just 22 years old when he made his big screen debut in the 1991 war drama DOGFIGHT. Fraser became an overnight sensation the following year with leading roles in two very different movies: The now-cult comedy classic ENCINO MAN, opposite Sean Astin and Pauly Shore, and the high school drama SCHOOL TIES, with Chris O’Donnell and Matt Damon.
Over the next several years, Fraser landed supporting roles in a handful of modest dramas and comedies, including AIRHEADS with Adam Sandler and Steve Buscemi, and a memorable (though uncredited) cameo in NOW & THEN—which became something of an instant classic among mid-90s adolescents.
Fraser capped off the decade with a trio of diverse roles that would set the stage for the next phase of his career. In 1997, he starred in the hit live-action reboot of GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE. The following year, Fraser earned praise for his performance opposite Ian McKellen in GODS AND MONSTERS, a partly fictionalized biopic about the life of FRANKENSTEIN filmmaker James Whale. And in 1998, Fraser teamed up with CLUELESS star Alicia Silverstone for the delightful rom-com BLAST FROM THE PAST.
A Lovable Leading Man
By 1999, Fraser had proven his leading man status and was ready to take on the challenge of headlining a blockbuster. That year, Fraser starred in THE MUMMY, an action-packed fantasy-horror movie that kickstarted a franchise (and Dwayne Johnson’s career). Fraser played Rick O’Connell, an adventurous Indiana Jones type who teams up with a librarian (Rachel Weisz) to defeat the evil mummy they accidentally summoned back from death.
THE MUMMY was followed by a pair of sequels, and Fraser’s stardom continued apace over the next decade with roles in a wide range of feature films, from family fare like JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH to the Oscar-winning drama CRASH. In the late 2000s, Fraser’s career entered a transition period that saw him appearing in smaller indie films and lending his voice to animated features.
Fraser didn’t appear in a feature film between 2014 and 2019, which might explain why it seemed like he retreated from the spotlight. In reality, Fraser took his talents to the small screen with roles in critically-acclaimed series like "Texas Rising" and Showtime’s "The Affair.".
The Whale And Beyond
Fraser’s big comeback started right where we left him—on the small screen. Recently, Fraser has been quietly earning excellent reviews for his work on TV. He had a leading role in FX’s "Trust" (about the Getty kidnapping case in 1973) and then as Cliff Steele/Robotman in DC’s "Doom Patrol." We don't know who could bring humanity to a goofy cyborg superhero quite as Fraser did in the latter.
In a 2018 interview, the actor himself attributed the down-shift in his career throughout the 2000s and 2010s to a series of events in his personal life, which included surgeries to address injuries sustained from years of performing stunts in action and comedy movies.
Whatever the reason for his departure, he was a welcome addition to the cast of Steven Soderbergh’s 2021 crime thriller NO SUDDEN MOVE. That film was merely a precursor for even bigger things to come.
In this fall’s THE WHALE, Fraser takes on his most challenging role yet as Charlie, an English professor whose struggles with grief, identity, and weight have contributed to a life of increasing isolation. Though the prosthetics and makeup required for Fraser to play a 600-pound man (the correct medical term for his size is Class III Obesity, or severe obesity) have inspired some questions about the ethics of casting a smaller actor to play a person in a much larger body, Fraser has generated universal acclaim for his empathetic portrayal of Charlie.
The early awards season buzz for THE WHALE is just the beginning of what seems to be a larger comeback narrative: Next year, Fraser is starring in KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, the new crime drama that reunites legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese with Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s the actor’s first film with Scorsese, and hopefully just one of many more Brendan Fraser films to come.
THE WHALE opens on December 9
All images courtesy of A24.