Adrien Brody is up for his second Academy Award for his critically-acclaimed performance in The Brutalist, though he’s looking back on one of his earliest roles.

The 51-year-old actor became a household name after winning his first Oscar for portraying Wladyslaw Szpilman in the 2002 drama The Pianist.

Six years before that, Brody revealed in a new interview with Variety that he believes his true breakthrough role was playing Ruby Stein alongside Tupac Shakur in the 1996 crime drama Bullet. 

Brody only had a handful of roles to his name like Mel in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1989 film New York Stories, Lester in Steven Soderbergh’s 1991 film King of the Hill and Danny Hemmerling in 1994’s Angels in the Outfield before landing Bullet.

The actor played Ruby, the younger graffiti artist brother of Mickey Rourke’s тιтle character – Butch ‘Bullet’ Stein – as they must deal with a vengeful drug kingpin dubbed Tank, played by Shakur.

Brody raved, ‘Working with ’Pac was amazing. He was incredibly focused. We hung out a lot when we did the movie. 

Adrien Brody is up for his second Academy Award for his critically-acclaimed performance in The Brutalist, though he’s looking back on one of his earliest roles

Six years before that, Brody revealed in a new interview with Variety that he believes his true breakthrough role was playing Ruby Stein alongside Tupac Shakur in the 1996 crime drama Bullet

‘We spent a lot of time together, and he became quite close with Mickey. And Mickey really took me under his wing at that time,’ Brody added.

Since Ruby was a graffiti artist, Brody and Shakur would go out clubbing and then literally paint the town, with a phrase Tupac fans would become quite familiar with.

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‘He had a big rap career, but he was not “Tupac” yet. He didn’t even have “Thug Life” tattooed on his chest yet,’ Brody said.

‘We were writing graffiti together, and he was writing “Thug Life.” I didn’t know what he was referencing,’ Brody said.

The film was sH๏τ in 1994, though it wouldn’t be released in theaters until October 1996… just one month after Tupac was killed in September 1996 at just 25.

Brody continued working in Six Ways to Sunday, The Thin Red Line, Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam, Harrison’s Flowers and The Affair of the Necklace before becoming the youngest to win Best Actor for The Pianist at just 29.

Still, he reflects that his reps would share that casting agents and executives thought he’d never be a ‘leading man.’

‘I’ve had to prove that the leading man can be unusual and unique and not typically handsome,’ he said, adding, ‘But oftentimes, somewhat nondescript-looking choices are easier. Safer.’ 

‘We spent a lot of time together, and he became quite close with Mickey. And Mickey really took me under his wing at that time,’ Brody added

Since Ruby was a graffiti artist, Brody and Shakur would go out clubbing and then literally paint the town, with a phrase Tupac fans would become quite familiar with

The film was sH๏τ in 1994, though it wouldn’t be released in theaters until October 1996… just one month after Tupac was killed in September 1996 at just 25

 ‘I’ve had to prove that the leading man can be unusual and unique and not typically handsome,’ he said, adding, ‘But oftentimes, somewhat nondescript-looking choices are easier. Safer’

The actor’s director in The Brutalist, Brady Corbet, adds ‘The first week for us was by far the most challenging.’

‘I think it really brought Adrien and I very, very close together. We were very much in a lockstep because we were immediately thrown into the thick of it,’ he said.

‘Facing those sorts of conflicts together can be very, very bonding,’ the director added.

The Brutalist is up for 10 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Brody’s second Best Actor nomination.