Mickey Rourke: Age, Biography and Wiki
Mickey Rourke, born Philip Andre Rourke Jr., was raised in a Catholic household in Schenectady, New York. After his father left the family when Mickey was six, his mother remarried and moved the family to South Florida. Rourke graduated from high school in Miami in 1971. He began his career in Hollywood during the 1980s with notable roles in "Diner" (1982), "Rumble Fish" (1983), "9½ Weeks" (1986), and "Angel Heart" (1987).
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 16 September 1952 |
| Age | 72 Years |
| Birth Place | Schenectady, New York, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Virgo |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Mickey Rourke's physical appearance has been a notable aspect of his persona, with his tough, rugged look often contributing to his roles. However, specific measurements like height and weight are not widely detailed in recent sources.
In April 2025, Rourke entered the British version of Celebrity Big Brother to appear as a housemate on its twenty-fourth season. In his first live appearance, he was criticized for an on-air physical action towards the show's co-host AJ Odudu, grabbing her by the waist and making her 'clearly uncomfortable', with some viewers wanting him to be taken off the show. On the third episode of the series, Rourke made openly homophobic and disparaging remarks towards housemate JoJo Siwa, and was subsequently given a formal warning by the show for his conduct. On April 12, it was announced that Rourke had been removed from the house, due to "inappropriate language and instances of unacceptable behaviour", this time toward housemates Ella Wise (unwanted sexual remark) and Chris Hughes (aggressive verbal confrontation). As of April 2025, Rourke is planning to sue ITV after only receiving £50,000 of his agreed £500,000 fee.
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Dating & Relationship status
Details about Mickey Rourke's current relationship status are not extensively covered in recent media. He has been known for his intense personal life, which has sometimes overshadowed his professional career.
Philip Andre Rourke Jr. He has Irish and French ancestry. He was raised Catholic and still practices his faith. His father left the family when Rourke was around 6. After his parents divorced, his mother married Eugene Addis, a Miami Beach police officer with five sons, and moved Rourke and two younger siblings to South Florida. Rourke has mentioned his stepfather was physically abusive to both him and his mother. There, he graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School in 1971.
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".
Rourke has dated several celebrities, including Terry Farrell and Sasha Volkova. He has been married twice and does not have children. In 1981, he married Debra Feuer, whom he met on the set of TV movie Hardcase and who co-starred with him in Homeboy (1988) as his love interest. The marriage ended in 1989, with Rourke subsequently commenting that making the film 9½ Weeks "was not particularly considerate to my wife's needs." The two have remained good friends, according to an interview Feuer gave in 2009.
In numerous TV and print interviews, he attributes his comeback after 14 years to his agent David A. Unger, weekly meetings with a psychiatrist, "Steve", and a Catholic priest, Father Peter Colapietro. Rourke had been described as a "real good Catholic" by late friend Tom Sizemore.
From 2009 to 2015, Rourke was in a relationship with Ukrainian-born German model Anastassija Makarenko. Rourke stated during an interview with Piers Morgan on July 12, 2022, he has been single for the past 7 years. In 2023, it was revealed that Rourke had begun training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
His first little dog was reportedly a gift from his second wife. Though Rourke's dogs are generally referred to as "chihuahuas", some are not purebred. Loki, his most-publicized dog whom he described as "the love of my life", was a chihuahua-terrier mix. So reliant was Rourke on Loki's companionship, he spent US$5,400 to have her flown to England while he was on the set of the film Stormbreaker.
Rourke gave his dogs credit during his Golden Globe Best Actor acceptance speech January 11, 2009: "I'd like to thank all my dogs. The ones that are here, the ones that aren't here anymore because sometimes when a man's alone, that's all you got is your dog. And they've meant the world to me." The day of the 2009 Golden Globes, he told Barbara Walters that "I sort of self-destructed and everything came out about 14 years ago or so ... the wife had left, the career was over, the money was not an ounce. The dogs were there when no one else was there." Asked by Walters if he had considered suicide, he responded:"Yeah, I didn't want to be here, but I didn't want to kill myself. I just wanted to push a button and disappear.... I think I hadn't left the house for four or five months, and I was sitting in the closet, sleeping in the closet for some reason, and I was in a bad place, and I just remember I was thinking, 'Oh, man, if I do this,' [and] then I looked at my dog, Beau Jack, and he made a sound, like a little almost human sound. I don't have kids, the dogs became everything to me. The dog was looking at me going, 'Who's going to take care of me?'"
| Parents | |
| Husband | Debra Feuer (m. 1981-1989) Carré Otis (m. 1992-1998) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Mickey Rourke's net worth is estimated to be approximately $5 million. His earnings come from a successful acting career, a brief stint in professional boxing, and endorsement deals.
In May 1989, Rourke revealed that he donated most of his £1.5 million earnings from starring in Francesco to support Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) member Joe Doherty's campaign to receive political asylum in the United States. Doherty was wanted by the British government for his role in the killing of Grenadier Guards officer Herbert Westmacott. After being arrested in the U.S. in 1983, Doherty's campaign became a cause célèbre as he fought an ultimately unsuccessful nine-year legal battle against being extradited. Rourke's donation was criticized by victims of IRA bombing attacks in England. Doherty was eventually deported to Northern Ireland and imprisoned, but was subsequently released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Career, Business and Investments
Rourke's acting career has been marked by both highs and lows. In the early 1990s, his career took a downturn due to personal issues and poor role choices, leading him to pursue professional boxing temporarily. However, his iconic performance in "The Wrestler" (2008) sparked a comeback, earning him numerous awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe and BAFTA. He also appeared in "Iron Man 2" (2010) and "The Expendables" (2010).
During his teenage years, Rourke focused his attention mainly on sports. He took up self-defense training at the Boys Club of Miami. It was there that he learned boxing skills and decided on an amateur career.
In 1991, Rourke decided that he "had to go back to boxing" because he felt that he "was self-destructing ... [and] had no respect for [himself as] an actor". Rourke was undefeated in eight fights, with six wins (four by knockout) and two draws. He fought internationally in countries including Spain, Japan, and Germany. During his boxing career, Rourke suffered a number of injuries, including a broken nose, toe, and ribs, a split tongue, and a compressed cheekbone. He also suffered from short-term memory loss.
His trainer during most of his boxing career was Hells Angels member, actor, and celebrity bodyguard Chuck Zito. Freddie Roach also trained Rourke for seven fights. Rourke's entrance song into the ring was often Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine" (to which reference is made in his film The Wrestler, in which Rourke's character enters his final match of the film to the song playing over the loudspeakers). Boxing promoters said that Rourke was too old to succeed against top-level fighters. Indeed, Rourke himself admits that entering the ring was a sort of personal test: "[I] just wanted to give it a shot, test myself that way physically, while I still had time." Rourke's boxing career resulted in a notable physical change in the 1990s, as his face needed reconstructive surgery to mend his injuries.
While Rourke was also selected for a significant role in Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, his part ended up on the cutting room floor. Rourke also played a small part in the film Thursday, in which he plays a crooked cop. He also 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. It was Rourke's first over-the-top action film role, in which he played the lead villain. During that same year, he filmed Another 9½ Weeks, a sequel to 9½ Weeks, which received only limited distribution. He 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. 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".
Rourke has been the subject of two extensive biographies on his life and career Stand Alone: The Films of Mickey Rourke and Hollywood Outlaw: The Life of Mickey Rourke both were written by British author Saurav Dutt. In 2014, Dutt announced he was producing and writing a novelization inspired by an undeveloped script for a movie that Rourke wrote titled Wild Horses which was eventually released in Fall 2015.
Social Network
Mickey Rourke is not particularly active on major social media platforms, reflecting his preference for maintaining a somewhat private life.
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 addition, in 2004, Rourke provided the voice for "Jericho" in the third installment of the Driver video game series. Rourke also appeared in a 40-page story by photographer Bryan Adams for Berlin's Zoo Magazine. In an article about Rourke's return to steady acting roles, entitled "Mickey Rourke Rising", Christopher Heard stated that actors Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, and Brad Pitt gave "animated praise for Rourke and his work". During a roundtable session of Oscar-nominated actors held by Newsweek, Brad Pitt cited Rourke as one of his early acting heroes along with Sean Penn and Gary Oldman.
In August 2014, Rourke came under scrutiny for purchasing and wearing a T-shirt bearing the likeness of Russian President Vladimir Putin at a time when most of the Western world was criticizing and sanctioning Russia due to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. When questioned by the press, Rourke explained: "If I didn't like him, I wouldn't buy the T-shirt, believe me. I met him a couple of times and he was a real gentleman. A very cool, regular guy. Looked me right in the eye. Good guy." However, Rourke has since denounced Putin for his role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has urged him to end the conflict.
In July 2020, 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" and showing disapproval for Trump. In August, he expressed support for Kamala Harris following her nomination for vice president in the 2020 United States presidential election following previous approval of her earlier in July. In October, Rourke voted for Biden and Harris, which he said was the first time he had ever voted.
Education
Mickey Rourke graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School in 1971. He then pursued a career in acting, which became his primary focus.
With a career spanning decades and a mix of acting and boxing, Mickey Rourke remains a fascinating figure in Hollywood, known for his resilience and distinctive roles.
Just before the end of the year, he confirmed on a British TV talk show that he would play Gareth Thomas in an upcoming film about the Welsh rugby star who came out as gay the previous year. As of February 2011, he began research on the film, but noted, "We're not going to make this movie until we've done all the proper research. We need to do our homework and I need to train for from nine to eleven months." In 2011, Rourke was cast in the film Java Heat as an American citizen shadowing terrorist groups in Java, Indonesia. The film was released in 2013. In 2014, he reprised his Marv role from Sin City in the sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.
Rourke made his stage debut in a revival of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge. He lent his voice to the video games Driv3r (2004) as Charles Jericho and True Crime: New York City (2005) as Terrence "Terry" Higgins, which was his fifth and last work with actor Christopher Walken. He also appeared in a Japanese TV commercial for Suntory Reserve (early '90s) and a commercial for Daihatsu and Lark cigarettes. In 2009, Rourke voiced the character of Dick Marcinko for the biographical video game Rogue Warrior, which was released on December 1, 2009. Rourke's portrayal of Marcinko was a source of humorous praise from a few critics (although many others criticized Rourke's role to the same degree that they did every other aspect of the game).
