(SBS Entertainment News reporter Kang Kyung-yoon)


At the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, USA, where the 95th Academy Awards were held on the 13th (Korean time), the audience applauded so loudly that their palms were hot when they heard the award speech of Best Actor winner actor Brendan Frazier (54). It included not only an appreciation for Brendan Fraser's performance in the movie "The Whale," but also a reverence for the actor who rose to this position on his own at the bottom of his life.

Brendan Fraser won two Academy Awards, including Best Actor and Best Costume. From his first Academy Award nomination to an award after more than 30 years of acting, Brendan Fraser's life as an actor has been more cinematic than cinematic.

Brendan Fraser is a Canadian-born American actor who emerged as a symbol of a handsome actor in his 20s with his mysterious blue eyes and firm body. He gained attention with his debut 1991 TV film "My Old School," and the following year, in 1992, the low-budget comedy "Primitive Teenager" in which he starred hit the so-called jackpot, and Brendan Fraser rose to starring roles with little obscurity.

The film that made him an international star was the movie "The Mummy" trilogy. Brendan Fraser made a splash in "The Mummy" as a generous explorer. More than 20 years have already passed since the release of the movie "The Mummy", but there are still many domestic fans who remember Brendan Fraser's brilliant appearance in "The Mummy".


For the next 20 years, Brendan Fraser's life on and off camera was a shadow itself. Brand Fraser suffered a long period of stagnation, including multiple surgeries for knee and spinal injuries sustained during filming. The star who once cheered movie fans around the world has been in a supporting role or lead role for about nine years without starring in a blockbuster.

The crisis in the actor's life also devastated the life of the human Brendan Fraser. Brendan Fraser filed for divorce from his spouse around 2009, when the court ordered him to pay $50,000 per month in alimony for 10 years. When news broke that Brendan Fraser, who had a ruined acting career, had even been hit with an alimony bomb due to his divorce, some media outlets described him as a symbol of "pity" and "desperation", which became a big meme on the internet. The photo of Brandon Fraser staring into the camera with bloodshot eyes has become the subject of ridicule from netizens.

Brendan Fraser's crisis didn't end there. With the death of his mother, whom he relied on the most, he was depressed and emotionally unstable, raising a son with autism. In 2016, his condition deteriorated to the point that he couldn't look at the camera and was interviewed, so it seemed that his acting career would no longer be easy.

The case of the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which organizes the Golden Globes, who claimed to have been the victim of same-sex sexual harassment, was blacklisted from the film industry and lost the opportunity to appear.

Having experienced the bottom of his career as an actor, it was director Darren Aronofsky who reached out. Director Aronofsky happened to see a trailer for a movie he starred in and suggested him play Charlie in "The Whale." Charlie was a super-obese man who lost all hope of life after the death of his same-sex partner. It was the opposite of the image that Brandon Fraser was loved by the public.

Brandon Fraser, who transformed into Charlie, a 270kg ultra-obese patient with special makeup and an increased amount, delicately expressed not only the look in his eyes but also the sound of his breathing. The seeming portrayal of Brandon Fraser's life into the character of Charlie touched the hearts of many filmmakers, and Fraser won the Achievement Award at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, the 28th Critics' Choice Awards for Best Actor, the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actor, and the Academy Awards for Best Actor.


It was the perfect resurrection of the handsome actor of the old age, who seemed to have finished everything. Brendan Fraser's tearful acceptance speech at the Academy Awards is even more poignant.

"Only whales can swim to the depths. I got into the film industry 30 years ago and it wasn't easy. There are things I couldn't do at the time. So I want to thank you for this recognition. It wouldn't have been possible without our actors. It's like diving into the ocean and the air is floating above the water."