Daniel Day-Lewis

In 2012's "Lincoln," Daniel Day-Lewis plays the beloved president as he fights to pass the Thirteenth Amendment banning slavery. Sally Field plays First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln.

Day-Lewis and his niece, Charissa Shearer, attend the EE British Academy Film Awards at The Royal Opera House in London on Feb. 10, 2013.

Day-Lewis took home the Golden Globe for best actor in a motion picture for his role in "Lincoln" on Jan. 13, 2013.

Day-Lewis played film director Guido Contini in the 2009 musical "Nine."

Day-Lewis poses with Fergie, Kate Hudson, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman and Dame Judi Dench at the New York premiere of "Nine" on Dec. 15, 2009.

Dillon Freasier and Day-Lewis in the 2007 film, "There Will Be Blood." Day-Lewis won the best actor Oscar for his role as a gold miner-turned-oilman in the early 1900s.

Day-Lewis holds his "There Will Be Blood" Oscar on Feb. 24, 2008.

Day-Lewis and wife Rebecca Miller walk the red carpet at the 2008 Oscars. Miller is the daughter of famed playwright Arthur Miller, and the couple met when Day-Lewis was acting in Miller's "The Crucible."

Day-Lewis accepts the best actor award for "There Will Be Blood" at the Critics' Choice Awards on Jan. 7, 2008.

Day-Lewis and Miller arrive at the New York premiere of "There Will Be Blood" on Dec. 10, 2007.

Day-Lewis and Catherine Keener star in the 2005 drama, "The Ballad of Jack and Rose."

Day-Lewis attends a press conference for "The Ballad Of Jack & Rose" on Feb. 15, 2005, in Berlin.

IN 1997, Day-Lewis starred in "The Boxer" as an IRA member and boxer who tries to go straight after he's released from prison. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for the role.

Day-Lewis and Joan Allen in a scene from 1996's "The Crucible."

IN 1993, Day-Lewis starred in "In the Name of the Father," based on the autobiography of Gerry Conlon, an Irishman who was convicted of an English pub bombing in 1974, but saw his conviction reversed after years in jail.

Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder starred in 1993's "The Age of Innocence," an adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel.

Day-Lewis starred as Hawkeye in 1992's "The Last of the Mohicans."

Day-Lewis played Christy Brown, an Irishman born with cerebral palsy who could only control his left foot, in the 1989 drama "My Left Foot." The role won him his first best actor Oscar.

Day-Lewis hoists his "My Left Foot" Oscar.

Juliette Binoche and Day-Lewis star in 1988's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," the adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel. It's often ranked among cinema's top love stories.

Gordon Warnecke and Day-Lewis star in 1985's "My Beautiful Laundrette."

In 1968, Day-Lewis was just 10 when his father, Cecil, was named Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom. Here Daniel and Cecil are seen with Daniel's sister Tamasin, 14, and his mother, actress Jill Balcon. Cecil Day-Lewis died just four years later, of pancreatic cancer, at age 68.