section_path: Acting career/Early roles
section_name: Early roles
paragraph_text: Early roles
  
  In 1971, as a senior at Miami Beach Senior High School, Rourke had a small acting role in the Jay W. Jensen –directed school play The Serpent. However, Rourke's interests were geared to boxing, and he never appeared in any other school productions. Soon after he temporarily gave up boxing, a friend at the University of Miami told Rourke about a play he was directing, Deathwatch, and how the man playing the role of Green Eyes had quit. Rourke got the part and immediately became enamored with acting. Borrowing $400 from his sister, he moved to New York, working an assortment of odd jobs while studying with Actors Studio alumni Walter Lott and Sandra Seacat. It was under the latter's tutelage, Rourke later recalled, that "everything started to click." Seacat motivated Rourke to find his father, from whom he was separated for more than twenty years.
  
  During his appearance on Inside the Actors Studio, after the release of The Wrestler, host James Lipton disclosed that Rourke had been selected to the Actors Studio in his first audition, which Elia Kazan is reported to have said was the "best audition in thirty years".
  
  Appearing primarily in television films during the late 1970s, Rourke made his feature film debut with a small role in Steven Spielberg 's 1941 (1979). He played Ritchie, Dennis Christopher 's bullying and ill-fated co-worker in the 1980 slasher film Fade to Black. However, it was in 1981, with his portrayal of an arsonist in Body Heat, that Rourke first received significant attention, despite his modest time on screen. The following year, he drew further critical accolades for his portrayal as the suave compulsive gambler "Boogie" Sheftell in Barry Levinson 's Diner, in which Rourke co-starred, alongside Paul Reiser, Daniel Stern, Steve Guttenberg, Tim Daly and Kevin Bacon; the National Society of Film Critics named him Best Supporting Actor that year. Soon thereafter, Rourke starred in Rumble Fish, Francis Ford Coppola 's follow-up to The Outsiders.
  
  Rourke's performance in the film The Pope of Greenwich Village alongside Daryl Hannah and Eric Roberts also caught the attention of critics, although the film was not financially successful. In the mid-1980s, Rourke earned himself additional leading roles. His role opposite Kim Basinger in the erotic drama 9½ Weeks helped him gain sex symbol status. He received critical praise for his work in Barbet Schroeder 's Barfly as the alcoholic writer Henry Chinaski (the literary alter ego of Charles Bukowski), co-starring Faye Dunaway, and in Year of the Dragon, written by Oliver Stone.
  
  In 1987, Rourke appeared in Angel Heart. The film was nominated for several awards. It was seen as controversial by some, owing to a sex scene involving Cosby Show cast member Lisa Bonet, who won an award for her part in the film. Although some of Rourke's work was viewed as controversial in the US, he was well received by European, and especially French audiences, who loved the "rumpled, slightly dirty, sordid... rebel persona" that he projected in Year of the Dragon, 9½ Weeks, Angel Heart, and Desperate Hours. Director Adrian Lyne said that had Rourke died after the release of Angel Heart, he would have become a bigger phenomenon than James Dean.
  
  In 1987, Rourke performed with David Bowie on the Never Let Me Down album. Rourke provided the mid-song rap on the song "Shining Star (Makin' My Love)". Around the same time, he also wrote his first screenplay, Homeboy, a boxing tale in which he starred. In 1989, Rourke starred in the docudrama Francesco, portraying St. Francis of Assisi. This was followed by Wild Orchid, another critically panned film, which gained him a nomination for a Razzie award (also for Desperate Hours). In 1991, he starred in the box office bomb Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man as Harley Davidson, a biker whose best friend, Marlboro, was played by Don Johnson. In his last role before departing for the boxing ring, Rourke played an arms dealer chased by Willem Dafoe and Samuel L. Jackson in White Sands, a film noir that reviewers found stylish but incoherent.
  
  Rourke's acting career eventually became overshadowed by his personal life and career decisions. Directors such as Alan Parker found it difficult to work with him. Parker stated that "working with Mickey is a nightmare. He is very dangerous on the set because you never know what he is going to do." In a documentary on the special edition DVD of Tombstone, actor Michael Biehn, who plays the part of Johnny Ringo, mentions that his role was first offered to Rourke. Rourke has allegedly turned down several roles in high-profile films, including 48 Hrs., Platoon, Highlander, Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop, The Untouchables, Rain Man, The Silence of the Lambs, Pulp Fiction, and Death Proof.
  
  In 1971, as a senior at Miami Beach Senior High School, Rourke had a small acting role in the Jay W. Jensen –directed school play The Serpent. However, Rourke's interests were geared to boxing, and he never appeared in any other school productions. Soon after he temporarily gave up boxing, a friend at the University of Miami told Rourke about a play he was directing, Deathwatch, and how the man playing the role of Green Eyes had quit. Rourke got the part and immediately became enamored with acting. Borrowing $400 from his sister, he moved to New York, working an assortment of odd jobs while studying with Actors Studio alumni Walter Lott and Sandra Seacat. It was under the latter's tutelage, Rourke later recalled, that "everything started to click." Seacat motivated Rourke to find his father, from whom he was separated for more than twenty years.
  
  During his appearance on Inside the Actors Studio, after the release of The Wrestler, host James Lipton disclosed that Rourke had been selected to the Actors Studio in his first audition, which Elia Kazan is reported to have said was the "best audition in thirty years".
  
  Appearing primarily in television films during the late 1970s, Rourke made his feature film debut with a small role in Steven Spielberg 's 1941 (1979). He played Ritchie, Dennis Christopher 's bullying and ill-fated co-worker in the 1980 slasher film Fade to Black. However, it was in 1981, with his portrayal of an arsonist in Body Heat, that Rourke first received significant attention, despite his modest time on screen. The following year, he drew further critical accolades for his portrayal as the suave compulsive gambler "Boogie" Sheftell in Barry Levinson 's Diner, in which Rourke co-starred, alongside Paul Reiser, Daniel Stern, Steve Guttenberg, Tim Daly and Kevin Bacon; the National Society of Film Critics named him Best Supporting Actor that year. Soon thereafter, Rourke starred in Rumble Fish, Francis Ford Coppola 's follow-up to The Outsiders.
  
  Rourke's performance in the film The Pope of Greenwich Village alongside Daryl Hannah and Eric Roberts also caught the attention of critics, although the film was not financially successful. In the mid-1980s, Rourke earned himself additional leading roles. His role opposite Kim Basinger in the erotic drama 9½ Weeks helped him gain sex symbol status. He received critical praise for his work in Barbet Schroeder 's Barfly as the alcoholic writer Henry Chinaski (the literary alter ego of Charles Bukowski), co-starring Faye Dunaway, and in Year of the Dragon, written by Oliver Stone.
  
  In 1987, Rourke appeared in Angel Heart. The film was nominated for several awards. It was seen as controversial by some, owing to a sex scene involving Cosby Show cast member Lisa Bonet, who won an award for her part in the film. Although some of Rourke's work was viewed as controversial in the US, he was well received by European, and especially French audiences, who loved the "rumpled, slightly dirty, sordid... rebel persona" that he projected in Year of the Dragon, 9½ Weeks, Angel Heart, and Desperate Hours. Director Adrian Lyne said that had Rourke died after the release of Angel Heart, he would have become a bigger phenomenon than James Dean.
  
  In 1987, Rourke performed with David Bowie on the Never Let Me Down album. Rourke provided the mid-song rap on the song "Shining Star (Makin' My Love)". Around the same time, he also wrote his first screenplay, Homeboy, a boxing tale in which he starred. In 1989, Rourke starred in the docudrama Francesco, portraying St. Francis of Assisi. This was followed by Wild Orchid, another critically panned film, which gained him a nomination for a Razzie award (also for Desperate Hours). In 1991, he starred in the box office bomb Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man as Harley Davidson, a biker whose best friend, Marlboro, was played by Don Johnson. In his last role before departing for the boxing ring, Rourke played an arms dealer chased by Willem Dafoe and Samuel L. Jackson in White Sands, a film noir that reviewers found stylish but incoherent.
  
  Rourke's acting career eventually became overshadowed by his personal life and career decisions. Directors such as Alan Parker found it difficult to work with him. Parker stated that "working with Mickey is a nightmare. He is very dangerous on the set because you never know what he is going to do." In a documentary on the special edition DVD of Tombstone, actor Michael Biehn, who plays the part of Johnny Ringo, mentions that his role was first offered to Rourke. Rourke has allegedly turned down several roles in high-profile films, including 48 Hrs., Platoon, Highlander, Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop, The Untouchables, Rain Man, The Silence of the Lambs, Pulp Fiction, and Death Proof.