Joined Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre (founded by Gary Sinise in 1974), working on more than 50 of their productions during the years

Appeared in production of Sam Shepard's "Curse of the Starving Class" at Chicago's Goodman Theatre

Stage directing debut, "The Rear Column," at the North Light Repertory Theatre, Evanston, Illinois

TV-movie debut, "Word of Honor" (CBS)

Off-Broadway debut in Steppenwolf production of "True West," directed by Sinise (who also co-starred)

Broadway debut, "Death of a Salesman," playing Biff to Dustin Hoffman's Willy Loman

Starred in TV adaptation of "True West" (aired on PBS' "American Playhouse")

Directed and designed sound for the revival of Lanford Wilson's "Balm in Gilead" at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago and subsequently off-Broadway

Made film debut as photojournalist in "The Killing Fields"

Earned Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his turn as a misnthropic blind man in Robert Benton's "Places in the Heart"

Reprised stage role of Biff in CBS TV adaptation of "Death of a Salesman," starring Hoffman; received Emmy Award

First starring role in a feature as journalist Nicholas Gage in Peter Yates' "Eleni"

Broadway directing debut, "Arms and the Man"; later assumed leading role, replacing Kevin Kline; production also featured then-wife Glenne Headly

Starred opposite Joan Allen in the Broadway production of "Burn This"

Played dual roles of a nerdy scientist and a lookalike android in Susan Seidelman's "Making Mr. Right"

Debut as executive producer of the film "The Accidental Tourist" (did not act in movie)

Offered an intriguing turn as the treacherous French aristocrat Valmont in "Dangerous Liaisons," helmed by Stephen Frears; his on-set romance with co-star Michelle Pfieffer led to end of his marriage to Glenne Headly

Teamed with director Bernardo Bertolucci for the vivdly atmospheric (but torturously slow) "The Sheltering Sky"

Returned to the New York stage as the bombastic war veteran of Shepard's "States of Shock"

Played Lennie to Sinise's George in remake of "Of Mice and Men," directed by Sinise; had first essayed the role in a Steppenwolf stage production many years earlier

Formed Smith-Malkovich Productions with Russell Smith

Received second Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination as demented assassin Mitch Leary in "In the Line of Fire"

Appeared as the sinister Kurtz in TNT movie presentation of "Heart of Darkness," directed by Nicolas Roeg

Adapted and directed the Steppenwolf production of Don DeLillo's "Libra," starring Laurie Metcalf and Alexis Arquette

Portrayed the profligate seducer Gilbert Osmond in "The Portrait of a Lady," adapted from the novel by Henry James

Reveled in his scene-chewing role of Cyrus 'The Virus' Grissom in "Con Air"

Formed Mr. Mudd, a production company, with producers Lianne Halfon and Russell Smith

Offered an over-the-top performance as a Russian mobster in "Rounders," scripted by David Levien and Brian Koppelman

Played John Malkovich, a fictionalized version of himself, in the witty and picaresque "Being John Malkovich"

Played Herman J Mankiewicz in HBO's "RKO 281," detailing the clash between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over the production and release of "Citizen Kane"

Staged "Hysteria" at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater Company

Portrayed film director F W Murnau in "Shadow of the Vampire," a fictionalized account of Murnau's filming of "Nosferatu," based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula"; screened at Cannes

Acted opposite Gerard Depardieu in a French televison adaptation of "Les Miserables"; English language version aired in USA on Fox Family Channel in 2001

Served as one of the producers of "Ghost World"

Made feature directorial debut with "Dancer Upstairs," a police thriller based on a novel by Nicholas Shakespeare

Had featured role in the A&E miniseries "Napoleon"; received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie

Co-starred in the comedy feature "Johnny English"

Starred as Comandante John Walesa in Manoel de Oliveira's "Um Filme Falado/A Talking Picture"

Cast in Terry Zwigoff's adaptation of Daniel Clowes' comic story "Art School Confidential"

Cast as King Galbatorix, a powerful Dragon Rider in "Eragon" a fantasy/adventure movie based on the novel of the same name

Portrayed Alan Conway in "Colour Me Kubrick," the true story of a man who posed as director Stanley Kubrick

Portrayed Austrian artist Gustav Klimt in Raoul Ruiz's "Klimt"

Portrayed Unferth in Robert Zemeckis' big-budget film version of "Beowulf"

Joined an ensemble cast for the Coen's brothers' "Burn After Reading"