Tobey Maguire is well known globally for his role as the wall-crawling, web-slinging super-hero icon Spider-man (and his alter-ego Peter Parker).  He's also recognized for his gritty turn as real-life jockey Red Pollard, famed rider of the depression-era race horse Seabiscuit in the Oscar nominated film of the same name.  But long before becoming a household name donning red and blue tights or maroon and white jockey silks, Maguire was turning heads as an accomplished thespian specializing in the portrayal of thoughtfully introspective young men.

The warm, golden glow of Oscar first illuminated Mr. Maguire's face as well as planted his name into the film industry's consciousness when a short made-for-TV movie directed by Griffin Dunne entitled Duke of Groove landed a "Short Film" Academy Award nomination in 1996.  Maguire dominated the screen time holding his own with veteran film thesps Kate Capshaw and Keifer Sutherland.  He also attracted the discriminating eye of director Ang Lee, who cast Maguire in his 70s period dysfunctional family drama, The Ice Storm, for which Maguire solicited notice for his engaging performance for morally perceptive teen Paul Hood.  

For his first lead role in a theatrically released film, Maguire inhabited the skin of teenage twin David Wagner aka Bud Parker as he returned to the peaceful days of yesteryear in the color conscious, black and white TV adventure Pleasantville .  Mr. Maguire's most memorable roles pre-dating his comic icon status included the wide-eyed, idealistic orphan Homer Wells in the Oscar nominated film The Cider House Rules and  the deviously innocent literary progeny, James Leer in Wonder Boys.  Sandwiched between there was the poorly marketed thus little seen Ang Lee Civil War drama, Ride with the Devil.  In the film Maguire delivers an underappreciated, highly nuanced performance as a Confederate Missouri bushwacker Jacob "Dutchie" Roedel.

Prior to making his indelible mark on the local cineplex's canvas, Mr. Maguire paid his dues on the small screen, playing bit part guest roles here and there for a variety of television series including Walker Texas Ranger, Roseanne, Eerie, Indiana, and Blossom among others. He got his fair share of screen time in several made-for-television movies.  In 1992 he landed the lead role of Scott Melrod in the short-lived FOX television series comedy Great Scott!! about a teen with an active imagination who liked to escape away to his own fantasy world. Though garnering praise among critics, the series failed to attract viewers and was canceled after only airing six of nine episodes shot.   Even with the demise of the series, Maguire was a long way from his days doing commercial bits for Doritos and McDonalds and already intent on beating his own path to Hollywood stardom.

Maguire has wet his feet in a producers role, establishing his own production development company, Maguire Entertainment.  An Executive Producer on Seabiscuit, Maguire also had a hand in producing the critically lauded Spike Lee film 25th Hour starring Edward Norton, which Maguire had originally intended to star in until other filming obligations prevented such.  As part of his Spider-man contract, Maguire received first-look rights to develop and produce projects for Sony Pictures Entertainment. 

UPCOMING AND IN DEVELOPMENT:

Maguire will next be seen in a cameo appearance in the Ben Stiller dramedy Tropic Thunder which releases on August 17, 2008.  Earlier this year, Maguire wrapped filming on the Jim Sheridan directed remake of Brothers co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman.  Based on Susanne Bier's 2004 Danish-language film, story centers on a man (Maguire) who is sent to fight in Afghanistan while his black-sheep brother (Gyllenhaal) cares for his wife (Portman) and child.  The screenplay was done by David Benioff and has a tentative release date of December 4, 2008.

Variety announced in late July 2008 that Maguire is collaborating for a third time with Seabiscuit director Gary Ross to star in The Crusaders, a drama about the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case that rendered segregation in schools illegal.  The role of Jack Greenberg would feature Maguire as a young legal greenhorn who spearheads the cause with the help of NAACP Legal Defense Fund head (not yet Supreme Court Justice) Thurgood Marshall.  Danny Strong (Recount) has been tapped to pen the script.  The film will be produced by Bob Cooper with Ross and Maguire serving as executive producers through Ross's Universal-based Larger Than Life Prods.  

Back in September 2007 there were several announcements of Maguire Entertainment's involvement with a number of projects in development stages.  Warner Bros. Pictures picked up the rights to bring anime classic Robotech, which featured giant robots known as mechas, to the big screen.  Maguire Entertainment is reportedly co-producing with Drew Crevello through his Supercool Hollywood BigTime Productions. In June 2008, Lawrence Kasdan (Return of the Jedi, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Big Chill) signed on to write the screenplay.  Announced as well was a romantic comedy action story, Tokyo Suckerpunch, based on an Isaac Adamson novel with screenplay by Ed Solomon was slated as a Maguire potential starring vehicle as columnist Billy Chaka, who travels to fictional modern-day Tokyo in pursuit of his next big story and stumbles into a murder mystery.   Maguire is slated to produce with Red Wagon Entertainment's Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher. Also grabbing headlines was a family dramedy titled Everything Changes, a Peter Hedges directed big-screen adaptation of Jonathan Tropper's bestselling novel, with screenplay by Dan Futterman.  Wendy Finerman and Maguire Entertainment will produce for Columbia Pictures.   Also in M.E.'s tentative mix is Hot Plastic, based on the novel by Peter Craig.  Maguire will reportedly produce with Radar Pictures and Ted Tally for Focus Features with Craig adapting his own book about a father/son con team who just happen to fall for the same woman. 

In late March / early April 2008 came the announcement of three new potentials for possible Maguire screentime, Robert Tannen's dramatic dark thriller titled Hungry Rabbit Jumps by Endgame Entertainment; Red 5 Comics onscreen adaptation of Afterburn, a sci-fi adventure set against the backdrop of a postapocalyptic Earth, partially destroyed by a massive solar flare, leaving what life remains mutated from radiation and fallout. The story revolves around a group of treasure hunters who for the right price extract such objects as the Mona Lisa, the Rosetta Stone and the Crown Jewels while facing rival hunters, mutants and pirates along the way.; and lastly, Maguire Entertainment and Warner Independent picked up the rights to adapt a book yet to be sprouting from an "Atlantic Monthly" article "Marry Him! The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough" by NPR commentator Lori Gottlieb, a 40-year-old single mother who conceived by way of sperm donation, and facing single parenthood resorts to "settling" for less than Mr. Perfect.

In May 2008, it was announced that Mark Ross was no longer going to be overseeing development at Maguire Entertainment , leaving the shingle to serve as VP of CBS Films.  The impact of Ross' departure on all projects currently in development at M.E. is yet unknown.

Fledgling/Erroneously Announced Projects

In early 2007, Maguire Entertainment, in partnership with Nash Entertainment, pursued rights to adapt the life story of web entrepreneur/philanthropist Gerald Fraller, who in his battle with depression decided to sell his soul on the internet.  Visit www.winmysoul.com  for more information.  There are no current updates as to the status of this project.

It was prematurely announced that Maguire was set to star in The Quiet Type, a story of a mute young man pursuing his dream of conducting an orchestra.  While on the press circuit promoting Spider-Man 3, Maguire clarified in a BBC radio interview that he is not involved with this project.

Following is a listing of Maguire's acting/producing credits.  

ACTING CREDITS - FEATURE FILMS

ACTING CREDITS - TELEVISION

PRODUCTION CREDITS

CONTENT CREDITS

Text written by InsomniacFreak (MisterMaguire.com webmaster).

Credit and thanks go to Variety.com and IMDB.com from which the above filmography listing data was compiled by InsomniacFreak.

Credit and much appreciation goes to the following Tobey Maguire fan-operated websites - Tobey Maguire Sur La Toile, Tobeyonline.com, The Amazing Tobey Maguire, and Tobey Time for the use of imagery for this page.