82 Facts About Mickey Rourke

1.

Mickey Rourke received critical praise for his work in the Charles Bukowski biopic Barfly and the horror mystery Angel Heart.

2.

In 2005, Mickey Rourke made a comeback in mainstream Hollywood circles with a lead role in the neo-noir action thriller Sin City, for which he won awards from the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Irish Film and Television Awards, and the Online Film Critics Society.

3.

Mickey Rourke was raised Catholic and still practices his faith.

4.

Mickey Rourke's father left the family when Mickey was young.

5.

Mickey Rourke took up self-defense training at the Boys Club of Miami.

6.

At age 12, Mickey Rourke won his first boxing match as a 112-pound flyweight, fighting some of his early matches under the name Phil Mickey Rourke.

7.

Mickey Rourke continued his boxing training at the famed 5th Street Gym, in Miami Beach, Florida.

8.

In 1969, Mickey Rourke, then weighing 140 pounds, sparred with former World Welterweight Champion Luis Rodriguez.

9.

Mickey Rourke says he received a concussion from his sparring match with Rodriguez.

10.

At the 1971 Florida Golden Gloves, Mickey Rourke suffered another concussion in a boxing match.

11.

From 1964 to 1973, Mickey Rourke compiled an amateur boxing record of 27 wins and 3 defeats, which included a first-round knockout win over John Carver and decision victories over Ronnie Carter and Javier Villanueva.

12.

However, Mickey Rourke's interests were geared to boxing, and he never appeared in any other school productions.

13.

Mickey Rourke got the part and immediately became enamored with acting.

14.

Seacat motivated Mickey Rourke to find his father, from whom he was separated for more than twenty years.

15.

Mickey Rourke played Ritchie, Dennis Christopher's bullying and ill-fated co-worker in the 1980 slasher film Fade to Black.

16.

However, it was in 1981, with his portrayal of an arsonist in Body Heat, that Mickey Rourke first received significant attention, despite his modest time on screen.

17.

Soon thereafter, Mickey Rourke starred in Rumble Fish, Francis Ford Coppola's follow-up to The Outsiders.

18.

Mickey Rourke received critical praise for his work in Barfly as the alcoholic writer Henry Chinaski and in Year of the Dragon.

19.

Director Adrian Lyne said that had Mickey Rourke died after the release of Angel Heart, he would have become a bigger phenomenon than James Dean.

20.

In 1989 Mickey Rourke starred in the docudrama Francesco, portraying St Francis of Assisi.

21.

Mickey Rourke's acting career eventually became overshadowed by his personal life and career decisions.

22.

Mickey Rourke is very dangerous on the set because you never know what he is going to do.

23.

Mickey Rourke has allegedly turned down several roles in high-profile films, including 48 Hrs.

24.

Mickey Rourke was undefeated in eight fights, with six wins and two draws.

25.

Mickey Rourke fought internationally in countries including Spain, Japan, and Germany.

26.

Boxing promoters said that Mickey Rourke was too old to succeed against top-level fighters.

27.

On November 28,2014, Mickey Rourke briefly returned to the boxing ring and fought 29-year-old Elliot Seymour in Moscow, Russia.

28.

Mickey Rourke won the exhibition fight in the second round by TKO.

29.

Mickey Rourke has written several films under the name Sir Eddie Cook, including Bullet, in which he co-starred with Tupac Shakur.

30.

Mickey Rourke played a small part in the film Thursday, in which he plays a crooked cop.

31.

Mickey Rourke had a lead role in 1997's Double Team, which co-starred martial arts actor Jean-Claude Van Damme and former NBA player Dennis Rodman.

32.

Mickey Rourke ended the 1990s with the direct-to-video films Out in Fifty, Shades and television film Shergar, about the kidnapping of Epsom Derby-winning thoroughbred racehorse Shergar.

33.

Mickey Rourke has expressed his bitterness over that period of his career, stating that he came to consider himself a "has-been" and lived for a time in "a state of shame".

34.

In 2001, Mickey Rourke appeared as the villain in Enrique Iglesias's music video for "Hero", which featured Jennifer Love Hewitt.

35.

In 2005, Mickey Rourke made his comeback in mainstream Hollywood circles with a lead role as Marv in Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of Frank Miller's Sin City.

36.

Mickey Rourke received awards from the Chicago Film Critics Association, the IFTA, and the Online Film Critics Society, as well as Man of the Year from Total Film magazine that year.

37.

Mickey Rourke followed Sin City with a supporting role in Tony Scott's Domino alongside Keira Knightley, in which he played a bounty hunter.

38.

Mickey Rourke played the role of "The Blackbird" in an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Killshot, and appeared as Darrius Sayle in the adaptation of the Alex Rider novel Stormbreaker.

39.

Mickey Rourke appeared in a 40-page story by photographer Bryan Adams for Berlin's Zoo Magazine.

40.

Mickey Rourke's renewed interest in pursuing acting can be seen in his statement that "my best work is still ahead of me".

41.

Mickey Rourke had a role in the film version of The Informers, playing Peter, an amoral former studio security guard who plots to kidnap a small child.

42.

In 2008, Mickey Rourke played the lead in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, winner of the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, about washed-up professional wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson.

43.

Mickey Rourke spoke on personal concern and hesitance of being in a film about wrestling, for he perceived it as being "pre-arranged and pre-choreographed".

44.

Mickey Rourke trained under former WWE wrestler Afa the Wild Samoan for the part, and has received a BAFTA award, a Golden Globe award, an Independent Spirit Award, and an Oscar nomination as Best Actor.

45.

Mickey Rourke lost the Oscar to Sean Penn, while Penn did acknowledge Mickey Rourke in his acceptance speech.

46.

Mickey Rourke has written or co-written six scripts: Homeboy, The Last Ride, Bullet, Killer Moon, Penance and the latest, Pain.

47.

In early 2009, Mickey Rourke developed a small feud with WWE wrestler Chris Jericho, as part of a storyline.

48.

The storyline climaxed at WrestleMania XXV, when Mickey Rourke knocked out Jericho with a left hook after Jericho won his match against Jimmy Snuka, Ricky Steamboat, and Roddy Piper, with Ric Flair in their corner.

49.

In 2009 Mickey Rourke starred in John Rich's music video for Shuttin' Detroit Down alongside Kris Kristofferson.

50.

In 2010, Mickey Rourke played the role of the main villain Whiplash in the film Iron Man 2.

51.

Mickey Rourke had a minor role as Tool in Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables.

52.

In 2020, Rourke competed on season four of The Masked Singer as "Gremlin" and sang "Stand by Me" by Ben E King.

53.

Mickey Rourke provided the mid-song rap on the David Bowie song "Shining Star " on his album Never Let Me Down.

54.

Mickey Rourke made his stage debut in a revival of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge.

55.

Mickey Rourke lent his voice to the video games Driv3r as Charles Jericho and True Crime: New York City as Terrence "Terry" Higgins, which was his fifth and last work with actor Christopher Walken.

56.

Mickey Rourke appeared in a Japanese TV commercial for Suntory Reserve and a commercial for Daihatsu and Lark cigarettes.

57.

Mickey Rourke's portrayal of Marcinko was a source of humorous praise from a few critics.

58.

Mickey Rourke appeared as a gangster in the music video for "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias.

59.

In 2014, Dutt announced he was producing and writing a novelization inspired by an undeveloped script for a movie that Mickey Rourke wrote titled Wild Horses which was eventually released in Fall 2015.

60.

Mickey Rourke has dated several celebrities, including Terry Farrell and Sasha Volkova.

61.

Mickey Rourke has been married twice and does not have children.

62.

In 1994, Mickey Rourke was arrested on suspicion of spousal abuse.

63.

Otis and writer Hugo Schwyzer co-wrote Beauty, Disrupted: A Memoir, an autobiography that detailed Otis' marriage to Mickey Rourke that was published in October 2011 by HarperCollins.

64.

In November 2007, Mickey Rourke was arrested again, this time on DUI charges in Miami Beach.

65.

Mickey Rourke has been described as a "real good Catholic" by friend Tom Sizemore.

66.

From 2009 to 2015, Mickey Rourke was in a relationship with Ukrainian-born German model Anastassija Makarenko.

67.

Mickey Rourke stated during an interview with Piers Morgan on July 12,2022, he has been single for the past 7 years.

68.

In 2023, it was revealed that Mickey Rourke had begun training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

69.

In June 2006, Rourke publicly gave his support to US President George W Bush and the Iraq War.

70.

In January 2009, Mickey Rourke expressed admiration for Bush in an interview with GQ magazine.

71.

Mickey Rourke expressed his astonishment that Islamic fundamentalists were allowed to continue their activities in the UK after the 7 July 2005 London bombings.

72.

In 2015, Mickey Rourke expressed his support for Ben Carson for the Republican presidential nomination.

73.

Mickey Rourke denounced Republican frontrunner Donald Trump as a "bully".

74.

Mickey Rourke revealed that he has had a personal vendetta against Trump after an incident in which Trump sued both him and Tupac Shakur in the 1990s.

75.

Mickey Rourke has since been very vocal in his criticisms of Trump's presidency, referring to him as a "Garbage Can" president.

76.

In 2022, Mickey Rourke claimed that Trump had sent Secret Service to visit him as a result of his comments about the former president.

77.

In July 2020, Mickey Rourke expressed support for Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election on his Instagram account, encouraging him to "Go get his fat ass Joe @joebiden" regarding his challenge against Trump.

78.

Mickey Rourke is well known as a pet lover, particularly fond of small-breed dogs.

79.

Beau Jack died in 2002, although Mickey Rourke reportedly gave him 45 minutes of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

80.

Mickey Rourke has had as many as seven dogs at one time, back in 2005.

81.

Jaws originally was named "Little Mickey Rourke" and was originally slated to be euthanized.

82.

At the time of his Golden Globes tribute to his pets, Mickey Rourke owned five chihuahuas: Loki, Jaws, Ruby Baby, La Negra and Bella Loca.