|
Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is a two-time Academy
Award-winning American film actor and director who has often produced his own
films.
 Early life
Costner was born in Lynwood, California, the youngest of the three sons (the middle
son died at childbirth) of William Costner, an electrician and laterly utilities
executive, and Sharon Rae Tedrick, a welfare worker. He has German, Irish and
Cherokee ancestry. Costner attended elementary school at McKevette School in Santa
Paula, California. A poor student, Costner enjoyed sports in spite of his small
stature, and took piano lessons, wrote poetry and even sang in the First Baptist
Choir.
Spending his teenage years in various parts of California as his fathers career
progressed, the family lived in Orange County, then in Visalia (Tulare County)
attending Mt. Whitney High School, and finally graduated from Villa Park High
School in Villa Park, California in 1973. He went on to earn a B.A. in business
from California State University, Fullerton in 1978, where he was a member and
President of the Delta Chi Fraternity and met Portuguese-American Cindy Silva.
Post
graduation
Costner became interested in acting while still in college, and on graduation
married Cindy. The couple honeymooned in Puerto Vallarta, and on the return plane
journey had a chance encounter with actor and fellow passenger Richard Burton, who
struck up a conversation with him. Burton advised the young man that if he wanted
to pursue acting, he should give everything up completely and go after it with both
hands.
Having agreed to undertake a job as a marketing executive on return, with the
support of his wife Costner began taking acting lessons five nights a week - his
marketing job lasted 30 days. He took work which allowed him to develop his acting
skills via tuition, including working on fishing boats, as a truck driver, and
giving tours of stars' Hollywood homes to support the couple while he also made the
audition rounds.
Career
Costner made his film debut in the 1974 film, Sizzle Beach, U.S.A., at age 19,
although the film was not released until 1986. Costner then appeared in a
commercial for the Apple Lisa in 1983. He was cast in the hit The Big Chill (1983).
He filmed several scenes which were planned as flashbacks, but they never made it
to the final cut. He was the friend who committed suicide, the event around which
the plot of the movie revolves. All that is seen of him are his slashed wrists as
the mortician dresses his corpse in the movie's opening scenes. Costner was a
friend of director Lawrence Kasdan, who later promised the actor a role in a future
project, which became the 1985 film Silverado and became a breakout role for
Costner. In return, Costner helped to get Kasdan's 1975 script for the The
Bodyguard produced.
Costner's most popular success was the epic Dances with Wolves (1990). He directed
and starred in the film and served as one of two producers. The film was nominated
for twelve Academy Awards and won seven, including two for him personally (Best
Picture and Best Director). Costner followed this with Robin Hood: Prince Of
Thieves (1991), the Oliver Stone-directed JFK (1991) and The Bodyguard (1992), all
of which provided huge box office takings or critical acclaim. Some of his
subsequent film efforts have been criticized for being too long and overly serious,
and for squandering financial resources. Costner has included his family members in
several of his films, including Dances with Wolves (his children Annie, Lily and
Joe), Tin Cup (his son Joe and his own parents), For Love of the Game (childhood
home movies) and The Postman (again featuring his children Annie, Lily and
Joe).
He also took the title role in the biopic Wyatt Earp (1994), directed by
established collaborator Lawrence Kasdan, which fizzled at the summer 1994 box
office. The science fiction epics Waterworld (1995) and The Postman (1998), the
latter of which Costner also directed, were both initially considered major
disappointments at the box office. However, Waterworld grossed $264 million
worldwide from a $175 million budget, despite generally poor reviews. Costner
developed the film Air Force One and was set to play the lead role, but ultimately
decided to concentrate on finishing The Postman instead. He personally offered the
project to Harrison Ford. Costner tried his hand at singing in The Postman,
recording a duet with Contemporary Christian music and pop music artist Amy Grant
for the end credits. The song is titled "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice".
Costner's career revived somewhat in 2000 with Thirteen Days. Open Range, which he
directed and starred in, received high critical acclaim in 2003 as a Revisionist
Western, though it was only a minor success commercially. In 2006, he branched into
the music field, performing free concerts for charity. A June 2006 concert netted
almost $100,000 for four Shreveport, Louisiana charities. Costner stars in The
Guardian, which also stars Ashton Kutcher and was released September 29, 2006. He
also stars in the upcoming Mr. Brooks, where he will play a serial killer. Mr
Brooks also stars William Hurt, and is planned for release in June 2007. Costner
was honored on September 6, 2006, when his hand and foot prints were set in the
concrete in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre along side other great actors and
entertainers.
Costner's band has been named 'ModernWest'. They play many concerts for fun and
charity.
Personal
life
While in college, Costner was a member of Delta Chi fraternity, where he met
another Greek student, Cindy Silva. They started dating in March 1975, and their
marriage produced three children: Annie (born in 1984), Lily (born in 1986), and
Joe (born in 1988). Lily is currently attending Wesleyan University. Joe is a
freshman at The University of Colorado, and Annie graduated from Brown University
in 2006. All three children were educated in part at the Chandler School in
Pasadena, California. Kevin and Cindy divorced in 1994 after 16 years of marriage.
He also has a son, Liam (born in 1996), with Bridget Rooney, with whom he had a
brief relationship following his divorce. Only through blood tests was it revealed
that Costner was Liam's father.
On September 25, 2004, after 10 years of being single, Costner married his
girlfriend of four years, the German model and handbag designer Christine
Baumgartner, at his ranch in Aspen, Colorado. Guests, including Oprah Winfrey,
Oliver Stone, and Bruce Willis, were treated to activities including horse riding
and baseball during the weekend festivities. Costner took his new bride for a canoe
ride on a lake following the ceremony. The couple honeymooned in Scotland. Their
first child, Cayden Wyatt Costner, was born on May 6, 2007 at 10:30 P.M. at a Los
Angeles hospital. He weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz.
Costner was registered as a Republican until the 1996 election, when he changed his
registration to Independent. He supported Democratic candidates in the 1992, 1996,
2000, and 2004 Presidential elections; however, he still prefers to be known as a
"conservative".
Several of Costner's films have included a baseball theme. They include Chasing
Dreams, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, and For Love of the Game. (In The Upside of
Anger, his character is a former baseball professional.) Costner has a love for
baseball and has stated he loves to play baseball even more than he loves watching
it. He plays regularly in celebrity golf tournaments, including the annual BMW
Pro-Am held each April in Greenville County, South Carolina.
Costner owns 93.5% of the "Midnight Star" casino in Deadwood, SD. The casino, its
sports bar "Diamond Lil's", and its restaurant "Jake's" are all named after
characters and locations from the movie ''Silverado"; and the facility contains
posters, costumes, and other memorabilia from Costner's films. In July 2004,
Costner fired Francis and Carla Caneva, who managed the "Midnight Star". A judge
subsequently order Costner to pay $6.1m to buy out the Caneva's as his business
partners. In October 2006, Costner asked the South Dakota Supreme Court to
re-examine the ruling, as an accountant hired by the actor had determine the market
value of the casino at $3.1m, to dissolve the partnership .
Costner is a fan of the London Football team Arsenal F.C. While filming Robin Hood:
Prince of Thieves, he was given the opportunity to attend a game and has followed
it ever since. Costner was named ceremonial Grand Marshall of the Auto550 club, at
the February 25, 2007 Nascar Nextel Cup event at the California Speedway.
His home in Montecito, California, near Santa Barbara, is his primary
residence.
Costner also has a home in Austin, Texas and sometimes appears at University of
Texas Longhorn baseball practices and games. Costner is a close friend to Longhorns
baseball coach Augie Garrido from Garrido's days coaching at Cal State Fullerton
(where Costner attended), and even cast Garrido to play the role of "Yankee
Manager" in his film "For Love of the Game".
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
|
.png "usa")
Kevin
Costner - Generator - Biography
