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Kevin Costner

Kevin CostnerAKA Kevin Michael Costner

Born: 18-Jan-1955
Birthplace: Lynwood, CA

Gender: Male
Religion: Baptist
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor, Film Director, Film/TV Producer
Party Affiliation: Democratic

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Dances with Wolves

Kevin Costner is a lanky, likably laconic movie star, best known for action hits like The Untouchables and The Guardian and colossal flops like Waterworld and The Postman. He won two Oscars as director and producer of the epic western Dances With Wolves.

As a boy, Costner sang in his church choir, wrote poetry, and yearned to be an actor, but his high school did not offer drama classes or stage plays. His father was a ditch-digger who urged his son to get a good education and a better job, so Costner went to college and majored in business, but took acting lessons in the evenings. At 19, he lucked into a small role in Sizzle Beach U.S.A., a soft-core farce that was not even released until 1986, when Costner's name made it suddenly marketable.

Meanwhile, Costner got his degree and took an office job, while occasionally acting at a local playhouse. Returning from a vacation in Mexico, Costner met actor Richard Burton on a plane flight and cajoled the superstar for advice. Burton told him he would never make it as an actor unless he dropped everything else to pursue acting. Costner has said that his wife was furious when he came home and announced he was quitting his steady day job to become a professional actor.

They resettled in Los Angeles, where Costner auditioned for everything but was hired for nothing. He worked as a truck-driver, a Hollywood tour guide, and piloted the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland, where his wife wandered the grounds as Snow White. He was an extra in Ron Howard's Night Shift, and he was the dead friend in the coffin whose funeral propelled the plot in The Big Chill, but Costner's face was not even seen on screen. His breakthrough was a supporting role as Kevin Kline's endearingly goofy brother in the wild western Silverado, and he solidified his star status as Elliot Ness in The Untouchables with Sean Connery and Robert De Niro.

Among his many hits and bombs, Costner has made three movies about baseball, playing the washed-up minor-leaguer in Bull Durham with Susan Sarandon, the farmer whose corn field spawns the ultimate fantasy league in Field of Dreams, and a veteran pitcher having a pretty good day on the mound in For the Love of the Game. He also played a paunchy, retired ballplayer in The Upside of Anger with Joan Allen.

His first marriage ended, reportedly, due to Costner's serial philandering. His ex-wife walked away with $80-million, one of the largest settlements in Hollywood's long history of divorce.

In 2004, Costner honeymooned in Scotland with his second wife, model Christine Baumgartner. During his stay, a masseuse at the hotel was fired after telling her employer that while massaging Costner, he had removed the towel covering his midsection and masturbated. The woman complained to local labor authorities that her firing had been unfair, and she was awarded an undisclosed settlement, while the hotel kept Costner's name out of the papers for two years. The allegations were disclosed by the London Daily Mail in 2006, with the legal reminder that the masseuse's allegations were only allegations.

Father: Bill Costner (ditch-digger)
Mother: Sharon Rae (Tedrick) Costner (welfare worker)
Brother: Daniel Craig Costner (b. 1950)
Brother: Mark Douglas Costner (d. 1953 at birth)
Wife: Cindy Silva (college sweetheart, m. 1978, div. 1994, two daughters, one son)
Daughter: Annie Costner (b. 15-Apr-1984)
Daughter: Lily Costner (b. 4-Aug-1986)
Son: Joe Costner (b. 31-Jan-1988)
Girlfriend: Mira Sorvino (actress, dated mid-1990s)
Girlfriend: Elle Macpherson (model, dated mid-1990s)
Girlfriend: Bridget Rooney (heiress, granddaughter of Art Rooney, dated 1995-96, one son)
Son: Liam Rooney (b. 1996)
Girlfriend: Naomi Campbell (model, dated mid-1990s)
Girlfriend: Courteney Cox (actress, dated mid-1990s)
Wife: Christine Baumgartner (model, dated 2000-04, m. 25-Sep-2004, one son)
Son: Cayden Wyatt Costner (b. 5-May-2007 with Baumgartner)

    High School: Mt. Whitney High School, Visalia, CA
    High School: Villa Park High School, Villa Park, CA (1973)
    University: BA Business & Marketing, California State University Fullerton (1978)

    Disneyland
    Endorsement of Apple Lisa Computer
    Caribou Club
    Gore 2000
    John Kerry for President
    Delta Chi Fraternity
    Oscar for Best Director 1991 for Dances with Wolves
    Golden Globe 1991 for Dances with Wolves
    Hollywood Walk of Fame 11-Aug-2003 at 6355 Hollywood Blvd.
    Appendectomy Oct-2002
    German Ancestry
    Irish Ancestry
    Risk Factors: Appendicitis

    FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
    Open Range (11-Aug-2003)
    The Postman (25-Dec-1997)
    Dances with Wolves (4-Nov-1990)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Mr. Brooks (31-May-2007)
    The Guardian (28-Sep-2006)
    Rumor Has It... (22-Dec-2005)
    The Upside of Anger (11-Mar-2005)
    Open Range (11-Aug-2003)
    Dragonfly (18-Feb-2002)
    3000 Miles to Graceland (20-Feb-2001)
    Thirteen Days (16-Dec-2000)
    Play It to the Bone (25-Dec-1999)
    For Love of the Game (15-Sep-1999)
    Message in a Bottle (12-Feb-1999)
    The Postman (25-Dec-1997)
    Tin Cup (16-Aug-1996)
    Waterworld (28-Jul-1995)
    The War (4-Nov-1994)
    Wyatt Earp (24-Jun-1994)
    A Perfect World (24-Nov-1993)
    The Bodyguard (25-Nov-1992)
    JFK (20-Dec-1991)
    Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (14-Jun-1991)
    Dances with Wolves (4-Nov-1990)
    Revenge (16-Feb-1990)
    Field of Dreams (21-Apr-1989)
    Bull Durham (15-Jun-1988)
    No Way Out (14-Aug-1987)
    The Untouchables (3-Jun-1987)
    Sizzle Beach, USA (1986)
    American Flyers (16-Aug-1985)
    Silverado (10-Jul-1985)
    Fandango (25-Jan-1985)
    Testament (9-Mar-1984)
    The Gunrunner (1984)
    Table for Five (1983)
    Night Shift (30-Jul-1982)

Official Website:
http://www.kevincostner.com/


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