Early life
Fraser was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of Canadian parents. His mother, Carol Mary (née Genereux), was a sales counselor, and his father, Peter Fraser, was a former journalist who worked as a Canadian foreign service officer for the Government Office of Tourism. His maternal uncle, George Genereux, was the only Canadian to win a gold medal in the 1952 Summer Olympics Fraser has three older brothers: Kevin, Regan, and Sean. His surname is properly pronounced /ˈfreɪzər/, not /ˈfreɪʒər/.The correct pronunciation of his surname is a running gag in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, in which his character's surname is pronounced /frɛrəˈʒʊər/. His ancestry includes Irish, Scottish, German, Czech, and French Canadian.His family moved often during his childhood, living in Eureka, California, Seattle, Ottawa, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Fraser attended the private boys' boarding school,Upper Canada College, in Toronto. While on vacation in London, Fraser attended his first professional theatrical performance at the West End. He graduated from Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts in 1990. He began acting at a small acting college in New York. He originally planned on attending graduate school in Texas but stopped in Hollywood on his way south and decided to stay in Los Angeles and work in movie productions.
Career
Fraser's first film role was a brief cameo in an America's Most Wanted reenactment (1988), playing a friend of murder victim Rodney Mark Peterson. He has since appeared in over 30 films. He had his first lead role in Encino Man (1992). That same year, he starred opposite Matt Damon and Chris O'Donnell in School Ties. In 1994, he co-starred alongside Steve Buscemi and Adam Sandler in the comedy Airheads along with playing Steve Nebraska in the movie The Scout and Montgomery "Monty" Kessler in With Honors. He went on to play supporting roles such as starring alongside Viggo Mortensen and Ashley Judd in Philip Ridley's The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995) and Jennifer Beals in The Twilight of the Golds (1997).He got his breakthrough role with the hit comedy film George of the Jungle (1997). He went on to appear in several comedy films such as Blast from the Past (1999), Bedazzled (2000) and Monkeybone (2001). He has starred in two films based on Jay Ward creations, George of the Jungle and Dudley Do-Right although he did not reprise his role in the former's sequel.
Fraser also played dramatic roles in Gods and Monsters (1998), alongside Ian McKellen and The Quiet American (2002) alongside Michael Caine. Gods and Monsters was based on the life of the filmmaker James Whale (McKellen), who made the 1931 film Frankenstein. This film was written and directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) and was a story about the loss of creativity, ambiguous sexuality and unlikely bonds between a heterosexual gardener (played by Fraser) and a homosexual, tortured and ailing filmmaker.
His biggest commercial success came with the action adventure film (co-starring Rachel Weisz) The Mummy (1999) and its sequel The Mummy Returns (2001), both of which were hugely successful at the box office. In 2004, he appeared in the Academy Award-winning film Crash. He has also made guest appearances on the television shows Scrubs, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons.
In March 2006, he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, the first American-born actor to receive the honor. However, as of 2008, he does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After a six year hiatus in the franchise, Fraser returned for the second sequel to The Mummy released in August 2008 and titled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Filming started in Montreal on July 27, 2007 and also starred Jet Li as Emperor Han. His other releases in 2008 were the 3D film adaptation of Jules Verne's A Journey to the Center of the Earth and the fantasy film Inkheart (chosen personally for the lead role by the novel's author Cornelia Funke). In 2010 he starred in the drama Extraordinary Measures alongside Harrison Ford.
Fraser also starred as "Brick" in the West End production of Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in September, 2001, directed by Anthony Page. Castmates included Ned Beatty, Frances O'Connor, and Gemma Jones. The show closed on January 12, 2002, with Fraser garnering many excellent reviews.
Fraser recently starred in a Broadway production of Elling, but the play closed after 9 performances due to lackluster reviews.
After appearing in the critically panned Furry Vengeance in 2010, Fraser moved from being represented by William Morris Endeavor to the Creative Artists Agency.
He is currently starring in Whole Lotta Sole directed by Terry George and is set to play William Tell in The Legend of William Tell:3D, which will be directed by Eric Brevig.
Personal life
Fraser met actress Afton Smith while attending a barbecue at Winona Ryder's house on July 4, 1993, after his arrival in Los Angeles. Fraser married Smith on September 27, 1998, and they have three sons: Griffin Arthur Fraser born September 17, 2002, Holden Fletcher Fraser, born August 16, 2004, and Leland Francis Fraser, born May 2, 2006. On December 27, 2007, Fraser's publicist announced the couple had decided to divorce. He currently resides in Kent, Connecticut.Fraser speaks fluent French, and serves on the Board of Directors for FilmAid International. He is an accomplished amateur photographer, and has used several Polaroids in movies and on TV shows, most notably on his guest roles on Scrubs. In his first appearance he used a folding pack camera; and on his second appearance he used a Holga with a Polaroid back, a Japanese-only model. The book "Collector's Guide to Instant Cameras" has a dedication to Fraser.