William Forsythe (born December 30 1949 in New York City) is an American dancer and choreographer resident in Dresden in Saxony. He is known internationally for his work with the Frankfurt Ballet and his reorientation of classical ballet.
Forsythe trained at the Joffrey Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre in New York City (taking additional classes with Maggie Black, Finis Jung, Jonathan Watts, Meredith Baylis, William Griffith, Leon Danelion, Mme. Periaslavic, Mme. Boskovitch, Nolan Dingman, Pat Wilde, and Christa Long). After, he studied at the Jacksonville University, Florida (where he studied George Balanchine's and Martha Graham's techniques). In 1971, he joined the Joffrey Ballet, but when invited by the Stuttgart Ballet three years later, he left the Joffrey and moved to Europe when he was twenty-three as a dancer, and later became Resident Choreographer of the Stuttgart Ballet. This position he held until 1981, when he began pursuing an independent career. He also created works for ballet companies in Munich, The Hague, London, Basel, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Paris, New York and San Francisco. He choreographed "France/Dance" for Rudolf Nureyev at the Paris Opera Ballet during his career as Resident Choreographer.
From 1984 to 2004, Forsythe was Director of the Frankfurt Ballet (Ballett Frankfurt), choreographing and arranging such seminal pieces such as "Artifact" (1984), "Impressing the Czar" (1988), "The Loss of Small Detail" (1991), "Endless House" (1999), and "Krammer/ Krammer" (2000). After its closure in 2004 he established, from the ashes of the Ballett Frankfurt, The Forsythe Company with the support of the states of Saxony and Hesse, the cities of Dresden and Frankfurt am Main, and private sponsors in a public-private co-operative venture. The Forsythe Company is based in Dresden and Frankfurt am Main and has a yearly residency at the Schiffbauhalle of the Schauspielhaus Zürich and also has an extensive international touring schedule.
William Forsythe (born June 7, 1955) is an American actor. He is frequently cast in "tough guy" roles such as criminals or law enforcement officers. He portrayed organized crime figure Sammy "The Bull" Gravano in the HBO motion picture Gotti, as well as Al Capone in the 1993 television series The Untouchables.
His most notable films include Once Upon a Time in America, Blue Streak, Raising Arizona, Extreme Prejudice, Big City Blues, "Direct Hit",Savage Dawn, Dead Bang, Out for Justice, Stone Cold, The Rock, The Devil's Rejects, First Time Felon, The Waterdance, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Gotti, Dick Tracy, Entourage, Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy, American Me, Rob Zombie's (2007 film) Halloween & We All Scream for Ice Cream (Masters of Horror episode). Presently he is filming the movie Stiletto which is set for release in 2008.
Forsythe is in the upcoming production of Unconditional by Brett C. Leonard at The Public Theater. It is being put up by Philip Seymour Hoffman's theater group, LAByrinth Theater Company. It will go up February 2008.
Studied acting at The Beverly Hills Playhouse.
Was in the alternate ending for Scary Movie 3 (2003) as Cindy's psychiatrist, but was left on the cutting room floor. (The scene is featured on the DVD.)
Began acting at age 10 and made his first acting appearance in the title role of "Julius Ceasar" in a school production at the same age.
Made his professional stage debut at age 16 in NYC.
Has co-starred with two former NFL players in their first starring roles. Brian Bosworth (I) in Stone Cold (1991) and Howie Long in Firestorm (1998).
Father of Rebecca Forsythe (b. September 1990)
