Film: Gangs of New York
Wins for role: British Academy of Film and Television (best actor); New York Film Critics Circle; Los Angeles Film Critics Association (tied with Jack Nicholson); Seattle Film Critics; Broadcast Film Critics Association (also tied with Jack Nicholson); Chicago Film Critics Association
Oscar wins/nominations:
Won Best Actor, My Left Foot (1989)
Nominated Best Actor, In the Name of the Father (1993)
Character Bio: Day-Lewis plays the malevolent Bill “The Butcher” Cutting, a tough-as-nails gang leader in the mean streets of 1860s New York. Nicknamed The Butcher not only for his handy skills at carving up the best of meats but also for the iron hand he uses in controlling the Five Points, an area in lower Manhattan. His anti-immigration sentiments fuel battles between his gang of Native Americans and New York’s Irish community, who pour into the Five Points by the thousands. Bill meets his match in Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young Irishman hell bent on avenging his father’s death at The Butcher’s hands.
