Sir Daniel Day-Lewis is an English retired actor and the son of Cecil Day-Lewis and Jill Balcon. Daniel Michael Day-Lewis is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis and his second wife, Jill Balcon.
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His father, who was born in the Irish town of Ballintubbert, County Laois, and was of Protestant Anglo-Irish descent, moved to England when he was two years old and was named Poet Laureate in 1968.
His mother was Jewish, and her Jewish ancestors came to England in the late 1800s from Latvia and Poland. Sir Michael Balcon, Day-Lewis’ maternal grandfather, became the head of Ealing Studios, assisting in the development of the new British film industry.
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Daniel Day-Lewis’s father Cecil Day-Lewis was a poet who also wrote mystery stories as Nicholas Blake. During WWII, Day-Lewis worked as a publications editor for the British government’s Ministry of Information and also served in the Musbury branch of the British Home Guard.
His mother Jill Angela Balcon was a British actress. Her work in film, television, radio, and theatre was well-known. In 1947, she made her film debut in Nicholas Nickleby.
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