Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has won numerous awards throughout his six-decade career, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and three British Academy Film Awards. Brando was also active in many causes, most notably the civil rights movement and various Native American movements. Having studied with Stella Adler in the 1940s, he is credited with being one of the first actors to bring the Stanislavski system of acting and method acting, derived from the Stanislavsky System, to mainstream audiences.

He initially received acclaim and his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for reprising the role of Stanley Kowalski in the 1951 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire, a role he originated successfully on Broadway. He received further praise, receiving his first Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, for his performance as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront, and his portrayal of rebel motorcycle gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One proved to be an enduring image in popular culture. . Brando received Academy Award nominations for his role as Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata! (1952); Mark Antony in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1953 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar; and Air Force Major Lloyd Grover in Sayonara (1957), an adaptation of James A. Michener's 1954 novel.

The 1960s saw a commercial and critical downturn in Brando's career. He directed and starred in the western One-Eyed Jacks, a critical and commercial failure, and subsequently had a series of notable box office flops, beginning with Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). After ten years of underachievement, he agreed to a screen test as Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972). He got the role and subsequently won a second Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award in a performance that critics consider among his greatest works. He declined the Oscar due to alleged mistreatment and misrepresentation of Native Americans by Hollywood. The Godfather was one of the most commercially successful films of all time, and along with his Oscar-nominated performance in Last Tango in Paris (1972), Brando re-established himself as a major box office star.

After a hiatus in the early 1970s, Brando was generally content with being a highly paid actor in supporting roles, such as Jor-El in Superman (1978), as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979), and Adam Stiefel in The Formula. (1980), before taking a nine-year break from cinema. According to Guinness World Records, Brando earned a record $3.7 million ($16 million in inflation-adjusted dollars) and 11.75% of gross profits for 13 days of work on Superman.

Brando is ranked by the American Film Institute as the fourth greatest movie star among male movie stars who first appeared on screen in 1950 or earlier. He was one of only six actors named in 1999 by Time magazine to its list of the 100 Most Important People. Of the century. In this list, Time magazine also named Brando "Actor of the Century."