  Is 37-year-old British actor Daniel Craig the next James Bond?
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With the rumours that the great 007 search is over, that blue-eyed, blond Englishman Daniel Craig is the new James Bond, the most frequent question movie fans are asking today is: "Who the hell is this guy?"
Funny thing is, you probably do know him -- but you just don't know it.
Born in Chester, Chesire, England, and raised in Loverpool, the 37-year-old Craig is the son of a bar manager father and an art teacher mother (his parents are divorced, as is Craig). And he is already a familiar face with a decent resume and a reputation for playing tough, edgy guys with compassionate or at least intelligent cores. In his 1992 big-screen debut, The Power Of One, Craig played a thuggish Afrikaner cop.
Like many actors in his middle-fame category, Craig has struggled to make it to Hollywood's "A" list. He has been a support player in big movies, such as his assassin in Elizabeth, his villain in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and his critical role as the son of Paul Newman in The Road To Perdition. As a leading man, however, Craig has been the marquee name only in smaller movies, off-beat fare such as Sylvia and Enduring Love.
The British crime thriller Layer Cake turned out to be his breakout title. He played his cocaine dealer with a suave cool and put himself in the running with 36 other candidates to replace Pierce Brosnan as Bond.
Layer Cake also links him with English actress Sienna Miller. She played his sexually dynamic gal Tammy in the movie. Off-screen, they became friends, but she ended up engaged to Craig's buddy, Jude Law.
When Law was caught philandering recently, Miller and Craig shared a public dinner. There are accusations that the liaison turned into a revenge fling, even though Craig has had a long-time German girlfriend, model-actress Heike Makatsch. Yesterday, the on-again, off-again Miller-Law engagement was off-again, probably for good, as is the Craig-Law friendship. No word on Makatsch.
The Bond people must think that the scandal can only raise the profile of their new sexy secret agent. A note of caution: Craig was announced as the winner of the 007 sweepstakes by British newspapers. Similar reports in the past have said the same thing about Clive Owen -- to Owen's shock -- as well as about other candidates. Those reports turned out to be wrong. And yesterday, a Columbia Pictures spokesman denied reports that the studio choice is final: "Columbia Pictures has not confirmed that Daniel Craig will be the next James Bond."
Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson are expected to make the official announcement this week.
If it is Craig, which seems to be the case, he will be the sixth official 007. His debut, set to start filming in January, will be Casino Royale, but it will be serious this time, unlike the 1967 spoof.
If things get weird on Bond, expect Craig to speak his mind. He left home at 16 to train at the National Youth theatre in London, waiting tables to earn his keep. Immersed in the raw end of British theatre, he once said of the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company that it needed "a great f---ing boot up the arse."
He also told The Sunday Times in 1999 that fame is tricky: "There may be a buzz generated about you, but you can't start soaking that in because you'll get stuffed. Things change very quickly in this business."
Things are changing very quickly again.
His film work
Englishman Daniel Craig made his small-screen debut in 1992 as Schiller in The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones: Daredevils Of The Desert. But it took him another nine years to make any real impact, outside of local British fame in the TV series Our Friends In The North and a TV version of Moll Flanders.
Here are his five biggest roles to date:
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) Craig efficiently and effectively plays the villainous Alex West, Angelina Jolie's virile and brainy near-nemesis in the race for the treasure.
Road To Perdition (2002) Craig plays Connor Rooney, venal son to Paul Newman's aging gangster boss. Jealous of the influence wielded by Tom Hanks, Craig is a weasel whose treachery sets an elaborate revenge plot in motion. One of his co-stars? Jude Law.
Sylvia (2003) Craig plays Ted Hughes, poet hubby to the tortured, suicidal Sylvia Plath of The Bell Jar fame. Gwyneth Paltrow starred.
Enduring Love (2004) Craig plays Joe to Rhys Ifans' Jed in a quirky drama. After these two strangers meet, Jed stalks Joe and threatens to ruin his life.
Layer Cake (2004) Craig plays a cocaine dealer XXXX, who, despite being flush, postpones retirement, in part out of lust for a sexy schemer played by Sienna Miller -- Law's future/former fiancee.
Spielberg's 'Munich' up next
Craig is also destined to make a major impact in Steven Spielberg's hotly anticipated next film, the just-wrapped Munich (a tentative title). It is the story of how Israel's Mossad agents track down Palestinian terrorists in the wake of the 1972 Munich Olympics. Craig co-stars with Eric Bana and Geoffrey Rush.
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