Hollywood actor Willem Dafoe has been named the artistic director of La Biennale di Venezia’s theatre department for 2025-2026 term, La Biennale chairman Pietrangelo Buttafuoco announced in a statement.

“It is an honour to announce the appointment of Willem Dafoe as the director of Biennale Teatro,” stated Buttafuoco, adding, “Theatre is in fact the original home of his lustrous career. One of the founders of the legendary Wooster Group in 1977, the perfect control of his body on stage has always stemmed from discipline, knowledge, passion and a profound awareness of theatre. I can’t wait, like everyone else, to be a spectator at the festival he will build as artistic director and – from his lectern as an absolute maestro – to watch the young men and women of the theatre college grow in their art”.

Dafoe, in a statement, said, “I realise that I am known as a film actor, but I was born in the theatre, the theatre trained me and galvanised me. I am a stage animal. I am an actor. Theatre taught me about art and life. The direction of my Theatre program will be charted by my personal development. A sort of exploration of the essence of the body”.

Established in 1934, Biennale Teatro has a rich history of leadership by prominent cultural and entertainment figures, including Renato Simoni, Luca Ronconi, Franco Quadri, Carmelo Bene, and Lluís Pasqual.

The American actor was last seen in Yorgos Lanthimos in Kinds of Kindness, also starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons.