Where will we all be by 2013? Whatever about the state of our nation, there will be accolades as one of our own (almost) will be on the receiving end of international acclaim. According to Hollywood film studio Dreamworks, Wicklow native Daniel Day-Lewis is a sure bet for an Oscar in the title role of Lincoln, a forthcoming biopic on the US civil war president. Director Steven Spielberg declared his delight at finally working with the actor: "Daniel Day-Lewis would have always been counted as one of the greatest actors."

He has played a wide range of roles to date, from the gay punk in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) to his Oscar-winning turn as a driven oil baron in There Will Be Blood (2007), but the man himself is seen as a bit of an enigma; quiet, unreadable, dignified. This image is only enhanced by a reluctance to engage with the media. The very notion of explaining his work is something he says would sound "ponderous and self-important". Of which he is anything but, say those who have met him in person, who instead speak of an old-fashioned courtliness and integrity.

Wicklow is his refuge, always the place where he can have a hassle-free pint in a local Roundwood pub, or take a spin on one of his motorbikes on a quiet country road. "One of the reasons why this place suits me so well is because I'm allowed to go quietly about my business," he said on being given the Freedom of Wicklow last year. "When people say 'you're mad' here, it's a compliment." Wags have also paid him the compliment of nick-naming Dublin's tram system the 'Daniel Day' after him.

In politely excluding himself from the madness of a celebrity-obsessed world, it's the madness in his method – the sort of role preparation that puts Robert De Niro in the pantomime dame category – that earns him column inches instead. He insisted on staying in his wheelchair off set in his first Oscar-winning role as Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989). Then there was his self-inflicted sleep deprivation and diet of prison rations as Gerry Conlon in In the Name of the Father (1993). After sparring with him (and getting his nose broken) in helping him to prepare for his role in The Boxer (1997), Barry McGuigan said Day-Lewis could have taken up the sport professionally.

Acting wasn't even his first love: the London-born Day-Lewis initially planned a career as a cabinet-maker. Carpentry's loss was drama's gain, although he combined both for The Crucible (1996), helping build the 17th century Salem sets, and also meeting his wife, writer and director Rebecca Miller, there.

They have two sons, Ronan (12) and Cashel (8). He has another son, Gabriel (15), from a relationship with French actress Isabelle Adjani.

Family life for the past 16 years has been divided between homes in America and Annamoe, but his love for Ireland stretches back to childhood summer holidays spent here. (His father was Ballintubber-born poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis.)

"Life in England, by comparison, was a little colourless. Ireland was a place for the renewal of hope. I still see it like that."