A wiry, pale, sharp-featured veteran of experimental theater, Willem Dafoe soared to stardom and earned an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor playing the Christ-like Sgt. Elias in the Academy Award-winning "Platoon" (1986). Prior to that performance, Dafoe used his menacing features and languid delivery to create an air of intensity for a succession of roles as toughs and villains. He made his feature debut as a poet-biker in Kathryn Bigelow's first feature, "The Loveless" (1981), an mannered film about the motorcycle mystique. Dafoe donned leather again as the vicious gang leader in
