Ray Fisher | |
---|---|
Born | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | September 8, 1987
Alma mater | American Musical and Dramatic Academy |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 2007–present |
Ray Fisher (born September 8, 1987) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of the superhero Victor Stone / Cyborg in the DC Extended Universe media franchise, first appearing in a cameo in the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and then in a lead role in the films Justice League (2017) and its 2021 director's cut. In television, he played roles in the third season of the crime drama series True Detective and the limited series Women of the Movement . He made his Broadway debut in the 2022 revival of the play The Piano Lesson .
Fisher was born on September 8, 1987, in Baltimore, Maryland. [1] [2] He grew up in Lawnside, New Jersey, where he was raised by his mother and grandmother. [3] Fisher attended Haddon Heights High School. [4] He worked at the concession stand of the Cinemark theater in Somerdale during this time. [5] Fisher became involved in musical theatre through his high school English and history teachers. [6] His first stage performances were in productions of the musicals Into the Woods , How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying , and Guys and Dolls . [5] Fisher attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. [7]
In 2008, Fisher portrayed Dr. Marcus Blake in the musical Attorney for the Damned, which held performances at the off-off-Broadway Kraine Theater. [8] The following year, he acted in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in Madison, New Jersey at Drew University. [9] Fisher played a minor role in the 2010 McCarter Theatre Center production of Will Power's play Fetch Clay, Make Man . [10] He performed as part of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, where he starred in a production of the play To Kill a Mockingbird . [11] [12] He also performed in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's productions of the plays King Lear and Cymbeline . [11] Fisher portrayed boxer Muhammad Ali in the 2013 off-Broadway production of the play Fetch Clay, Make Man at the New York Theatre Workshop in New York City, gaining 20 pounds of muscle and going from 193 to 212 pounds. [13] To prepare for the role, he stated that he "had to lift—bench presses, curls, squats, calf raises" and "get used to a new body". [14]
Fisher had a cameo appearance as the superhero Victor Stone / Cyborg in the 2016 superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice . [15] The character was the first black superhero in the DC Extended Universe media franchise. [3] He reprised the role as part of an ensemble cast in Justice League (2017), [3] which generated lukewarm reviews and had an unsuccessful theatrical run. [16] In 2020, Fisher accused director Joss Whedon of "abusive" and "unprofessional" behavior while filming Justice League. [17] He also called DC Films executive Walter Hamada "the most dangerous kind of enabler" and stated that he "will not participate in any production associated with [Hamada]" in December 2020. [18] While he was slated to appear in the film The Flash , Fisher stated in January 2021 that he had been removed from the film due to Hamada's involvement. [19] He reprised the role of Cyborg in Zack Snyder's Justice League , the 2021 director's cut of Justice League. [20] Fisher participated in the filming of new footage for the cut in October 2020. [21] Reviewing the cut, Tom Jorgensen of IGN highlighted Fisher's nuanced and colorful portrayal and Alex Abad-Santos of Vox praised the "mix of rage and vulnerability" in his performance. [22] [23]
Fisher starred in the third season of the anthology crime drama series True Detective , which aired in 2019 on HBO. [24] He portrayed Gene Mobley, the husband of activist Mamie Till-Mobley, in the 2022 ABC limited series Women of the Movement . [25] That same year, he made his Broadway debut as Lymon in a revival of the play The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, [26] for which he received a nomination for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. [27] He is set to reprise the role in a film adaptation of the play. [28] Fisher played a warrior named Darrian Bloodaxe in the 2023 fantasy film Rebel Moon , reuniting with Zack Snyder, who directed the film, following working together on Justice League. [29] [30]
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | The Good, The Bad and The Confused | Patient | Short film | [31] |
2016 | Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | Victor Stone / Cyborg | Cameo | [15] |
2017 | Justice League | Victor Stone / Cyborg | [3] | |
2021 | Zack Snyder's Justice League | Victor Stone / Cyborg | Director's cut of Justice League | [20] |
2023 | Rebel Moon | Darrian Bloodaxe | [29] [30] | |
TBA | The Piano Lesson | Lymon | Filming | [28] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | The Astronaut Wives Club | Edward Dwight | Episode: "In the Blind" | [32] |
2019 | True Detective | Henry Hays | Main role; Season 3 | [24] |
2022 | Women of the Movement | Gene Mobley | Main role; 4 episodes | [25] |
Year | Title | Role | Locations | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | Attorney for the Damned | Marcus Blake | Kraine Theatre | [8] |
2009 | Macbeth | Macbeth | Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey | [9] |
2010 | Fetch Clay, Make Man | Brother Jacob X | McCarter Theatre | [10] |
2011 | To Kill a Mockingbird | Tom Robinson | Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey | [12] |
2012 | As You Like It | Jacques de Boys | Allen Elizabethan Theatre | [33] [34] |
2013 | King Lear | Duke of Burgundy | Thomas Theatre | [35] |
2013 | Cymbeline | Arvirargus | Allen Elizabethan Theatre | [36] |
2013 | Fetch Clay, Make Man | Muhammad Ali | New York Theatre Workshop | [13] |
2022 | The Piano Lesson | Lymon | Ethel Barrymore Theatre | [26] |
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2023 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play | The Piano Lesson | Nominated | [27] |
Joseph Hill Whedon is an American screenwriter, director, producer, comic book writer, and composer. He is the founder of Mutant Enemy Productions, co-founder of Bellwether Pictures, and is best known as the creator of several television series: the supernatural drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) and its spinoff Angel (1999–2004), the short-lived space Western Firefly (2002), the Internet musical miniseries Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008), the science fiction drama Dollhouse (2009–2010), the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020), and the science fiction drama The Nevers (2021).
Ciarán Hinds is a Northern Irish actor from Belfast. Hinds is known for a range of screen and stage roles. He has starred in feature films including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Persuasion (1995), Oscar and Lucinda (1997), Road to Perdition (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), Munich (2005), Amazing Grace (2007), There Will Be Blood (2007), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Silence (2016), First Man (2018) and Belfast (2021). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the last of these.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a 2016 American superhero film based on the DC Comics characters Batman and Superman. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is a follow-up to the 2013 film Man of Steel and the second film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film was directed by Zack Snyder, written by Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer, and features an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman, alongside Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, and Gal Gadot. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is the first live-action film to feature Batman and Superman together, as well as the first live-action cinematic portrayal of Wonder Woman. In the film, criminal mastermind Lex Luthor manipulates Batman into a preemptive battle with Superman, who Luthor is obsessed with destroying.
Zachary Edward Snyder is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He made his feature film debut in 2004 with Dawn of the Dead, a remake of the 1978 horror film of the same name. Since then, he has directed or produced a number of comic book and superhero films, including 300 (2007) and Watchmen (2009), as well as the Superman film that started the DC Extended Universe, Man of Steel (2013), and its follow-ups, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), as well as the director's cut of Justice League that was later released in 2021. He also directed the computer-animated film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010), the psychological action film Sucker Punch (2011), the zombie heist film Army of the Dead (2021), and the space opera film Rebel Moon (2023).
The Justice League, also called the Justice League of America or JLA, is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Since their first appearance in The Brave and the Bold #28, various incarnations of the team have appeared in film, television, and video game adaptations.
The Batman franchise, based on the fictional superhero Batman who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, has seen the release of various films. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, the character first starred in two serial films in the 1940s: Batman and Batman and Robin. The character also appeared in the 1966 film Batman, which was a feature film adaptation of the 1960s Batman TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward, who also starred in the film. Toward the end of the 1980s, the Warner Bros. studio began producing a series of feature films starring Batman, beginning with the 1989 film Batman, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton. Burton and Keaton returned for the 1992 sequel Batman Returns, and in 1995, Joel Schumacher directed Batman Forever with Val Kilmer as Batman. Schumacher also directed the 1997 sequel Batman & Robin, which starred George Clooney. Batman & Robin was poorly received by both critics and fans, leading to the cancellation of Batman Unchained.
DC Comics's Superman franchise, based on the character of the same name created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in June 1938, has seen the release of various films since its inception. He debuted in cinemas in a series of animated shorts beginning in 1941, subsequently starring in two movie serials in 1948 and 1950. An independent studio, Lippert Pictures, released the first Superman feature film, Superman and the Mole Men, starring George Reeves, in 1951. In 1973, the film rights to the Superman character were purchased by Ilya Salkind, Alexander Salkind, and Pierre Spengler. After numerous scripts and years in development, Richard Donner was hired as their director, filming Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980) simultaneously. Donner had already shot eighty percent of Superman II with Christopher Reeve before it was decided to finish shooting the first film. The Salkinds fired Donner after Superman's release and commissioned Richard Lester as the director to finish Superman II. Lester also returned for Superman III (1983), and the Salkinds further produced the related 1984 spin-off Supergirl before selling the rights to Cannon Films, resulting in the poorly reviewed Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Ilya Salkind commissioned a fifth Superman script before Warner Bros. acquired the rights entirely in 1993.
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The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films and a television series produced by DC Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on characters that appear in American comic books published by DC Comics. The DCEU also includes comic books, short films, novels, and video games. Like the original DC Universe in comic books, the DCEU is established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.
The 2017 film Justice League had a troubled production history, undergoing major changes before and during production, including a change in directors. This resulted in the theatrical release being markedly different from its conception in pre-production and principal photography.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is the 2021 director's cut of the 2017 American superhero film Justice League, the fifth film set within the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) based on the team of the same name appearing in DC Comics publications. It is intended to match director Zack Snyder's original vision for the film, prior to his departure from the production and subsequent studio interference. The film follows Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Aquaman, The Flash, and Superman as they form an alliance to stop the extradimensional New God Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons from conquering Earth for his overlord Darkseid.
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Diana of Themyscira, also known by her civilian name Diana Prince or her superhero title Wonder Woman, is a fictional character in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), based on the DC Comics character of the same name created by William Moulton Marston and H. G. Peter. First appearing in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, she is portrayed by Gal Gadot and later plays a major role in the films Wonder Woman,Justice League, and Wonder Woman 1984, along with cameo appearances in Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash. She has become one of the central characters in the DCEU. Gadot's performance as Wonder Woman, the first of the character in live-action cinema, has received critical praise.
Bruce Wayne, also known by his superhero vigilante alias the Batman, is a fictional character in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), based on the DC Comics character of the same name. The character was portrayed by Ben Affleck in Zack Snyder's 2016 superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the 2017 film Justice League, Suicide Squad (2016), and The Flash (2023). Fans nicknamed this iteration of the character "Batfleck", a portmanteau of "Batman" and "Affleck". In the films' universe, Bruce had already been active as Batman for twenty years before the emergence of Superman, and despite being initially at odds with him to the point of paranoia and anger, Batman comes to appreciate the former, starting the Justice League in his honor after Superman's sacrifice to stop Doomsday. The Justice League, under Wayne's leadership, fights to prevent Steppenwolf from collecting the three Mother Boxes and destroying Earth alongside his master Darkseid, eventually resurrecting Superman to aid in their collective efforts.
Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen, also known as The Flash, is a fictional character in the DC Extended Universe. Based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name, he is portrayed by American actor Ezra Miller. Originally appearing in a minor role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, Barry had a prominent role in the film Justice League, its director's cut, and in his titular film. Miller also reprised the role in cameo capacity in other DC Comics media such as the Arrowverse event series Crisis on Infinite Earths and in the HBO Max series Peacemaker. The DC Extended Universe marks the first time The Flash has been portrayed in live-action film.
Ray Porter is an American actor and audiobook narrator who is most widely known for portraying the DC Comics villain Darkseid in Zack Snyder's Justice League.
Victor Stone, also known as Cyborg, is a fictional character in the DC Extended Universe. Based on the character of the same name appearing in publications from DC Comics, he is portrayed by Ray Fisher. Originally appearing as a cameo in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Stone had a prominent role in the film Justice League. Cyborg's role in the latter film was subject to controversy as his backstory was heavily trimmed down in the theatrical release, in addition to sparking a conflict between Fisher, Joss Whedon, who had replaced Zack Snyder as director during post-production, and subsequently DC Films. Nonetheless, the character also appeared in Snyder's director's cut of Justice League (2021) with his original arc restored.
Steppenwolf is a fictional character in the DC Extended Universe film series, based on the supervillain of the same name from DC Comics and portrayed by actor Ciarán Hinds. First appearing in the Ultimate edition of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as a hologram, the character makes his first live-action appearance in the theatrical release of the film Justice League. Steppenwolf is a demonic warlord from the planet Apokolips aiming to conquer Earth and its inhabitants. During the film's troubled production, the character was heavily redesigned by Joss Whedon, who had taken over directorial duties for Zack Snyder. This iteration of the character received negative reviews and was criticized as underwhelming and generic. Snyder's director's cut of the film depicts Steppenwolf as originally envisioned, with this portrayal of the character receiving praise for depth in characterization, more visual appeal, and a sympathetic motivation.
The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) media franchise has experienced a turbulent history since its inception in 2013, characterized by highly publicized clashes between studio executives and talent, constantly changing approaches to worldbuilding, and repeated changes in management. Warner Bros. Pictures originally announced plans for a shared universe of live-action films based on the DC Comics, starting with the release of Man of Steel (2013), with director Zack Snyder set to spearhead the franchise. Following the negative reception to Snyder's follow-up film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Warner Bros. created DC Films, a new division led by Geoff Johns and Jon Berg tasked with overseeing development of the DCEU. DC Films attempted to correct the course of the franchise, culminating in the troubled production and disastrous release of the crossover film Justice League (2017), which significantly deviated from Snyder's original vision.
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