Michael Fassbender

Born in Germany, to a German father and an Irish mother, and was raised in Ireland.

Currently resides in London, England in the same flat that he has owned since he was in his late 20s.

He went on a diet of berries, nuts and sardines for his role in Hunger for which he lost 33 pounds.

First language is English and second is German.

Has formed his own production company known as Peanut Productions.

He appeared in the music video "Blind Pilots" by the British rock band The Cooper Temple Clause.

The actors second name - Fassbender (a variant of Fassbinder) - is the German for "cooper", a binder or repairer of casks and barrels.

Has an older sister: Catherine Fassbender, who is a neuropsychologist.

Was the runner-up choice for the role of Doug Quaid in Total Recall , but Colin Farrell was cast instead.

Good friends with Steve McQueen.

He was listed in Time Outs "100 Most Influential People of 2012" and is a member of the Hospital Club.

Shifting between British films and American films, he resides in London, England where he has lived for the last 15 years, while making career-related visits to Los Angeles, California.

He speaks German, though he has stated that he needed to brush up a little on his spoken German before filming Inglourious Basterds , as it was a little rusty. He has also expressed interest in performing in a German-language film or theatre production one day.

Is a huge fan of MotoGP and Formula 1 and has attended several races. On "Top Gear" , he stated that he was a huge fan of Michael Schumacher and he met him at the British Grand Prix. And on the red carpet of the BAFTAs in 2012, he said that he is a huge fan of Ayrton Senna , who was his introduction to Formula 1.

Ranked #8 on Empire Online list of the "100 Sexiest Movie Stars" in 2013.

Has played ancient world warriors twice with Dominic West : 300 and Centurion .

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 12 Years a Slave , directed by Steve McQueen , making it their third collaboration together, after Hunger , and Shame .

Is close friends with X-Men co-star James McAvoy.

Discovered he wanted to be an actor at seventeen when he participated in a school play.

Despite achieving worldwide fame and success, he still lives in the same modest flat in the Hackney area of London that he had when he was a struggling actor.

Attended the Drama Centre London but dropped out. One of his classmates at the time was Tom Hardy. Hardy stated that Fassbender was the best actor in the school. Both appeared in "Band of Brothers" .

Has two roles in common with Ian McKellen : (1) McKellen played Macbeth in A Performance of Macbeth while Fassbender played him in Macbeth and McKellen played Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto in X-Men , X2 , X-Men: The Last Stand , The Wolverine and X-Men: Days of Future Past while Fassbender played him in X: First Class , X-Men: Days of Future Past and "The Gifted" .

To play the younger version of Ian McKellen s Magneto in X: First Class , he started studying McKellens films because the two actors had never met before, they only had their first meeting at the 2013 Comic-Con.

Was mentioned in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) .

Somewhat at odds with his role as Steve Jobs , Michael himself admits to still preferring his years-old iPhone 4 with a cracked screen over upgrading to a newer model.

Introduced alongside his Macbeth co-star, Marion Cotillard , a Banksy painting donated by Leonardo DiCaprio for the amfAR Gala charity auction in Cannes, where it fetched $1 million [May 21, 2015].

During the press conference of Macbeth at the Cannes Film Festival, he stated that his co-star Marion Cotillard , is the best actress in the business [May 23, 2015].

Was set to play author Thomas Wolfe in Genius , but dropped out and was replaced by Jude Law.

During the press conference of Macbeth at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, he stated that Akira Kurosawa s Kumonosu-j is his favorite Macbeth adaptation.

Was cast for the role of the vampire Adam in Only Lovers Left Alive , but dropped out and was replaced by Tom Hiddleston.

In 2009, he and Paddy Considine almost co-starred in Rupert Wyatt s WWI film "Birdsong", an adaptation of Sebastian Faulks novel of the same name, but the project fell apart. They could finally work together in Macbeth .

Was cast for the role of Franck in Danny Boyle s Trance (2013/I) , but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Vincent Cassel replaced him. Years later, he worked with Boyle in Steve Jobs .

Has starred in two films released in 2015 in which he played the title character: Macbeth and Steve Jobs .

Has appeared in four movies with Sean Harris : Wedding Belles , Prometheus , Macbeth and Trespass Against Us .

Has played a Holocaust survivor and victim of the Nazis in X: First Class , X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse , a British soldier undercover as a Nazi officer in Inglourious Basterds and a Nazi in Town Creek .

Michael is only the fifth actor to have received more than one Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor since the their inception in 1975. The other four actors are Robert De Niro , Jack Nicholson , Robert Duvall and Daniel Day-Lewis.

Is in a relationship with Alicia Vikander. They met while filming The Light Between Oceans in 2014. Producer Harvey Weinstein introduced them as "the new talented couple" at a party during the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Was in a relationship with actress, Nicole Beharie from 2012 until January 2013. They worked together on Shame .

Has played two roles previously played by Orson Welles : Rochester in Jane Eyre and the title role in Macbeth . Welles previously played the same roles in Jane Eyre and Macbeth .

Filmed Assassins Creed , The Snowman and Alien: Covenant (in that specific order) one after each other, without breaks between films, between August 2015 and July 2016. He admitted that he needed a break after all these films.

Has a scar on his left ankle after James McAvoy crashed a golf cart the two were driving in and he sustained an injury on his left leg.

Has said that Joel Schumacher , who directed him in Town Creek , as one of his favorite directors.

He had a bit part in Woody Allen s film Cassandras Dream but this was deleted.

Despite playing Tech genius and icon Steve Jobs , he had admitted that he is very technophobic in real life and avoids it when he can.

He became friends with Val Kilmer after working with him on Song to Song and The Snowman . He was invited on to the set when Kilmer had a guest appearance on the show Lifes Too Short.

His first film audition was for the role of Rafe Cawley in Pearl Harbor . The role later went to Ben Affleck.

[on his preparation for Hunger (2008) ] I felt really focused,really centred, really strong. Hungry all the time, obviously.

[on portraying hunger-striker Bobby Sands in Hunger (2008) ] I,lost about 14 kilos and weighed 59 kilos by the end. It was the only,way we could do it and make it convincing.

. . . but you keep a realism, put AC/DC on, get over it, keep positive.

But you also have to hint at a few human characteristics, as if he,might have something like a soul.

They kept turning the volume down, so it was like Unplugged, but with,electric guitars. That was the one and only gig I ever played.

I like characters that are flawed because we all are. People are,complicated. Our behavior towards one another is strange. So I like,opportunities to investigate that.

[on how society validated the brutalizing slave system] I think that was,part and parcel of the day. How many people are holding the Bible up,with one hand and trying to launch a missile with the other? I almost,think religion and pain go hand-in-hand sometimes, and that was sort of,the way to just keep everyone in check, another way of keeping people,suppressed and controlled.

The great thing about doing independent films is that they move fast,and I like that. I like the speed, and having to be on your toes. . . The,little films need the big films to do well because they are dependent,on getting that money. Frank (2014/II) gets made because I do,something like X: First Class (2011) or,Prometheus (2012/I) .

I quite enjoy the lines on my forehead because they show my life. That’s my history and I like to see that in other people. Like this wrinkle is due to some girl who broke my heart. I don’t want to escape it in any way.

I just went off for two months traveling around Europe on a motorcycle and pretty much turned my phone off. I did 5,000 miles with my dad. We went through Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Italy. . . and then I did Spain and France by myself. .