Julian Sands stands Tall, blonde, and statuesque British actor Julian Sands is equally fit appearing in elegant historical dramas as he is in cult movies and horror films. A native of Yorkshire, he has a fine bone structure, striking blonde hair, and an eloquent speaking voice. Sands studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and joined the Forum Theatre Company. He made his film debut in Derek_Jarman's Broken English but stayed working in the theater until his breakthrough film performance as photographer Jon Swain in Roland Joffé's The_Killing_Fields. He paid his dues with some routine U.K. films (Oxford_Blues, After_Darkness) until he landed the role of free-spirited George Emerson in the Merchant-Ivory production A Room With a View. He entered the realm of sexualized horror films as poet Percy Shelley in Ken_Russell's Gothic. This role seemed to lead straightaway to his title role in Warlock, followed by Warlock:_The_Armageddon. Briefly returning to historical costume dramas to portray composer Franz_Liszt in James_Lapine's lavish Impromptu, Sands was back to creepy, sexual thrillers like Mary_Lambert's Siesta and David_Cronenberg's Naked_Lunch. He also found time to play a few doctors in the Cyndi_Lauper movie Vibes and in Steven_Spielberg's Arachnophobia. After playing the sexually submissive surgeon in the critically dismissed drama Boxing_Helena, he made a quick recovery in Paul_Schrader's made-for-TV detective film Witch_Hunt. Back in the U.K., he formed a close working relationship with director Mike_Figgis and found roles in The_Browning_Version, Leaving_Las_Vegas, One_Night_Stand, The Loss of Sexual Innocence, Timecode, and Hotel. Meanwhile, he made a few films in Italy, most notably as the Phantom in Dario_Argento's The Phantom of the Opera. In 2002, he was cast in the epic miniseries Rose_Red and Napoleon. Not one to shy away from middle-brow genres, Sands can be also seen as the bad guy in the Jackie_Chan movie The_Medallion and as the voice of Valmont on the Jackie Chan Adventures animated series. Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide                                 RETURN