Billy Zane has since appeared in numerous films and television series, notably playing the main antagonist Caledon Hockley in the epic romance disaster film Titanic, for which he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.
30 Facts About Billy Zane
2.
Billy Zane played the recurring role of John Justice Wheeler in the second season of the TV series Twin Peaks, and provided the voice of Ansem in the video game Kingdom Hearts.
3.
Billy Zane was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Thalia and William George Billy Zane Sr.
4.
Billy Zane's parents are both of Greek descent, and his family's original surname, "Zanetakos", was anglicized to "Zane" by his parents, who raised him in the Greek Orthodox faith.
5.
Billy Zane has an older sister, Lisa Zane, who is an actress and singer.
6.
Billy Zane appeared in an episode of Matlock entitled "The Nurse".
7.
Billy Zane starred in the NBC film The Case of the Hillside Stranglers, and Adam Sandler's "no budget" debut Going Overboard which was not released to a wider audience until 1996.
8.
Billy Zane's first starring role was in a 1990 independent film, the low budget science fiction thriller Megaville.
9.
Billy Zane forayed into television work, and in 1991 he appeared as John Justice Wheeler in several episodes of David Lynch's hit TV-show Twin Peaks.
10.
In 1992 Billy Zane co-starred alongside Tilda Swinton in the film adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando.
11.
Billy Zane starred in a couple of Tales from the Crypt productions, including Tales From the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight, where he played a henchman of Satan called The Collector, and the episode "Well-Cooked Hams", where he played a poorly skilled magician who killed to steal good tricks from other magicians.
12.
In 1996, Billy Zane played the eponymous classic comic book hero in the big budget action film The Phantom, based on Lee Falk's comic.
13.
Billy Zane played the snobbish millionaire misanthrope Caledon Hockley in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic.
14.
Billy Zane won several awards at the B-Movie Film Festival, including Best Movie and Best Actor, for this work.
15.
Billy Zane was instrumental in realizing the critically acclaimed film The Believer, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival in 2001.
16.
Billy Zane had a recurring role in the television series Charmed in which he played poetry-loving ex-demon Drake.
17.
Billy Zane provided the voice of Ansem, the main antagonist of the 2002 video game Kingdom Hearts, opposite Haley Joel Osment.
18.
Billy Zane's performance was kept for the Kingdom Hearts Final Mix remaster in Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix.
19.
In 2006, Billy Zane starred in Arthur Allan Seidelman's West End production of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks as an acerbic gay dance instructor opposite Claire Bloom.
20.
Billy Zane plays Sam William Marshall, a cruel US soldier who is the main antagonist in the film.
21.
Billy Zane is a principal at RadioactiveGiant, a film and television production and distribution company.
22.
Billy Zane appeared in an episode of Community, season 6's "Advanced Safety Features".
23.
Billy Zane was featured in two episodes of The Boys portraying a fictional version of himself who made a movie with Popclaw and attended a comic convention with Tara Reid.
24.
In season 3, Billy Zane appeared as himself portraying Alastair Adana in the Vought film Not Without My Dolphin'.
25.
Billy Zane was married to actress Lisa Collins from 1989 until 1995.
26.
Billy Zane was engaged for a time to Chilean actress Leonor Varela, his co-star in the television film Cleopatra.
27.
Billy Zane was later engaged to marry British model-turned-actress Kelly Brook, whom he met when they co-starred in the movie Survival Island, known as Three.
28.
Billy Zane dated Croatian model Jasmina Hdagha in 2010, but they broke up later that year.
29.
In 1999, Billy Zane participated in the first Gumball 3000 rally, driving a 1964 Aston Martin DB5.
30.
Billy Zane executive-produced a CD by bluesman Tim O'Connor that includes three songs from Dead Calm, in which Billy Zane had one of the lead roles.