Willem Dafoe Talks of Acting Start

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” Willem Dafoe has a simple explanation for how he became an actor â€” he just wanted to stand out in a large family. <br><br>The seventh of eight children growing up in Appleton, Wis.,

Monday, December 4th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” Willem Dafoe has a simple explanation for how he became an actor â€” he just wanted to stand out in a large family.

The seventh of eight children growing up in Appleton, Wis., Dafoe said he developed a love for theatrics by acting up around his parents.

``You have to make your way, find your identity,'' Dafoe said in Sunday's Los Angeles Times. ``So you wisecrack. You're the joker. That's the way you get your attention.''

The actor, now best known for playing edgy heroes and psychotic villains, said he suddenly found people reinforcing his wisecracking behavior. That encouraged him to try his hand at acting.

``The impulse basically comes from a desire to act up ... get attention,'' he said.

The Academy Award nominee for ``Platoon'' now stars in ``Shadow of the Vampire,'' about a real monster hired to appear in the famed 1922 silent horror film ``Nosferatu.''