**Adrien Brody** (born in New York in 1973) is an American actor. He is best known for his intense performance as Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's film *The Pianist* (2002), a role that earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, making him the youngest in history to receive such recognition.

His career is studded with complex and often melancholic roles. His most notable films also include Peter Jackson's *King Kong* (2005), Wes Anderson's *The Darjeeling Limited* (2007) and *The Grand Budapest Hotel* (2014), and Woody Allen's *Midnight in Paris* (2011).

Brody is praised for his versatility and his ability to embody introspective or eccentric characters, often leveraging his lean physique and penetrating gaze to lend depth and vulnerability to his cinematic portrayals.