Cary Elwes Age, Career and Famous Roles

Cary Elwes was born on October 26, 1962, which makes him 64 years old as of 2026. The English actor is forever linked to Westley, the farm boy turned pirate, in The Princess Bride.

Quick facts

Early life

Elwes was born in London into an artistic family. His father, Dominick Elwes, was a portrait painter, and his mother, Tessa Kennedy, worked as an interior designer. He attended Harrow School in England and later moved to the United States to study acting before landing his first film role.

Breakthrough

His first major screen role came in the early 1980s with Another Country, a British drama about a boarding school. He followed it with Lady Jane in 1986, playing the young Guildford Dudley opposite Helena Bonham Carter. In 1987 he starred in Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride, playing Westley opposite Robin Wright, with Mandy Patinkin, Andre the Giant and Billy Crystal in the supporting cast. The film did modest business on release and then became a beloved classic through home video and television, quoted constantly by fans (“As you wish” being the obvious favourite).

Career highlights

Elwes has built a varied career, with the following highlights:

• Glory (1989), a Civil War drama with Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington.
• Hot Shots! (1991), a Hollywood spoof of action films.
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), in which he played one of Lucy’s suitors.
• Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), Mel Brooks’s parody in which he played Robin Hood.
• Twister (1996) and Liar Liar (1997), in which he played a smooth antagonist.
• Saw (2004), in which he played Dr. Lawrence Gordon.
• Television roles including Psych and Stranger Things (as Mayor Kline).

More recently he has taken on both dramatic and comedic character parts and voice work, giving him a wide range.

The Saw role

For many younger viewers, Elwes is the doctor chained to a bathroom pipe in the low-budget horror hit Saw. It was a startling change from the charming swashbuckler people knew. The film launched a franchise and gave Elwes a second, very different fan base, and he has said he enjoyed the contrast between the two sets of fans.

Writing

In 2014 Elwes published As You Wish, a behind-the-scenes memoir of making The Princess Bride, written with Joe Layden. It includes contributions from the cast and director and reintroduced the film to a new audience. Among its best-known anecdotes is his account of breaking a toe in an all-terrain vehicle accident during production. The book is warm, funny and a good place to start for anyone curious about how the movie came together.

Range beyond the headline roles

Elwes has moved between prestige drama, broad comedy and horror more easily than most actors with such an iconic early part. He played a pivotal supporting role in the period drama The Cat’s Meow in 2001, appeared in the Mel Brooks parody that sent up his own swashbuckling image, and returned to a more serious register as an older character actor in later work. His arrival on Stranger Things in its second season, as the self-serving mayor of Hawkins, introduced him to yet another generation of viewers, many of whom came to The Princess Bride afterwards.

What fans ask

The most common questions are whether he really did his own sword fighting (a good deal of it, after training), whether the cast stayed close (the book and several reunions suggest they did) and whether there will ever be a sequel (not one that’s been announced). Those answers come from his own interviews and the book, not from rumour.

Personal life

Elwes married photographer Lisa Marie Kurbikoff in 1991. He has said in interviews that he is happy living a quieter life away from Hollywood glamour.

Frequently asked questions