Daniel Day-Lewis’ Kids Thought He Worked Construction Growing Up

We know Daniel Day-Lewis takes his acting career seriously, but we didn’t know he takes it so seriously that he kept it a secret from his children while they were growing up.

The respected and lauded method actor admitted to using his Oscar-winning talents on his own children while they were growing up, convincing them that he was a construction worker, reports MSN.

Day-Lewis is up for his third Oscar next month for his portrayal of President Abraham Lincoln, and is otherwise an intensely private individual. He even quit acting in the 90s to become a cobbler before his triumphant return with 2002’s Gangs of New York.

His Hollywood career was a huge mystery to his own sons, with his second child Ronan believing that his father worked in construction. Day-Lewis tells Britain’s Daily Mirror, “They didn’t even know what I was doing until a couple of years ago.”

“In fact, my 14-year-old boy was asked what I did and he said, ‘I think he’s in construction.’ That’s how much they know!”

Day-Lewis is father of two boys with his wife Rebecca Miller, Ronan and Cashel. He also fathered a son named Gabriel with his ex-girlfriend, French actress Isabelle Adjani.

In the interview, Day-Lewis also said that he believes the role of Abraham Lincoln, which he undertook for Steven Spielberg’s 2012 biopic Lincoln, should have gone to an American.

“I was very aware of the responsibility involved as I didn’t want to be the person who desecrated the memory of the most loved president America has ever known. … It seemed like an outlandish idea to take someone who grew up in southeast London and make him President of the United States. … I’m not an American citizen so I don’t have the right to be president.”

Did you see Lincoln? What did you think of Daniel Day-Lewis’ portrayal of our beloved president?