Everything about Kevin Costner totally explained
Kevin Michael Costner (born
January 18,
1955) is a American film
actor,
producer and
Academy Award-winning
director. He is well-known for his role as
Lt. John J. Dunbar in the film
Dances with Wolves (1990), which won seven Academy Awards, including
Best Picture and
Best Director.
Biography
Early life
Costner was born in
Compton, California, the youngest of the three sons (the middle of whom died at birth) of Sharon Rae (
née Tedrick), a
welfare worker, and William Costner, an electrician and later utilities executive. He has
German,
Irish and
Cherokee ancestry (his
Oklahoma-born paternal grandfather was half Cherokee). Costner was raised
Baptist. He attended elementary school at McKevette School in
Santa Paula, California, Cabrillo Jr. High School and
Buena High in
Ventura, California. A poor student, Costner enjoyed sports in spite of his slight stature, and took piano lessons, wrote poetry and sang in the First Baptist Choir. Costner was a friend of director
Lawrence Kasdan, who promised the actor a role in a future project. That became 1985's
Silverado and a breakout role for Costner. He also starred that year in the smaller films
Fandango and
American Flyers.
Full-blown movie star status for Costner arrived in 1987 when he starred as Eliot Ness in
The Untouchables and in the leading role of the thriller
No Way Out. He solidified his A-list status in the baseball-themed films
Bull Durham and
Field of Dreams.
Costner's greatest success came with the epic
Dances with Wolves (1990). He directed and starred in the film and served as one of its producers. The film was nominated for 12
Academy Awards and won seven, including two for him personally (
Best Picture and
Best Director).
He followed this with (1991), the
Oliver Stone-directed
JFK (1991),
The Bodyguard (1992) and Clint Eastwood's
A Perfect World (1993), all of which provided huge box office or critical acclaim.
He then took the title role in the biopic
Wyatt Earp (1994), directed by Kasdan. It fizzled at the summer 1994 box office. The
science fiction epics
Waterworld (1995) and
The Postman (1997), the latter of which Costner also directed, also were both major commercial disappointments.
Costner then starred in the golf comedy
Tin Cup (1996) for
Ron Shelton, who had previously directed him in "Bull Durham." The actor developed the film
Air Force One and was set to play the lead role of the President, but ultimately decided to concentrate on finishing
The Postman instead. He personally offered the project to
Harrison Ford.
His career revived somewhat in 2000 with
Thirteen Days, in which he portrayed a top adviser to
John F. Kennedy. The western
Open Range, which he directed and starred in, received critical acclaim in 2003, though it was only a minor success commercially.
After that, Costner starred in
The Guardian and in
Mr. Brooks, in which he portrayed a serial killer. Costner was honored on
September 6,
2006 when his hand and foot prints were set in concrete in front of
Grauman's Chinese Theatre alongside those of other celebrated actors and entertainers.
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 horseback 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,
For Love of the Game and
The Upside of Anger, in which his character is a former pro baseball player. The actor plays regularly in celebrity golf tournaments, including the PGA Tour's annual pro-am at Pebble Beach, California and the BMW Pro-Am held each April in Greenville County, South Carolina.
Costner owns 93.5% of the
"Midnight Star" casino in
Deadwood, South Dakota. The casino, its sports bar "Diamond Lil's" and its restaurant "Jake's" are 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 $6.1 million 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 determined the market value of the casino to be $3.1 million.
Costner is a fan of the
London football team
Arsenal F.C. While filming, he was given the opportunity to attend a game and has followed the team ever since. The actor was named ceremonial Grand Marshall of the Auto550 club for the
February 25,
2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup auto race event at the
California Speedway.
He has a home in Austin, Texas and sometimes appears at University of Texas baseball practices and games. Costner is a close friend to Longhorns baseball coach Augie Garrido, from Garrido's days coaching at Cal State Fullerton, the actor's alma mater. He cast Garrido to play the role of "Yankee Manager" in his film
For Love of the Game. He tries to attend every College World Series game that Cal State Fullerton plays in
Omaha, Nebraska.
He is also the singer of "Kevin Costner and Modern West," a rock/country band which he founded with the encouragement of his wife Christine. He began a worldwide tour with the band in October 2007, which included shows in
Istanbul and
Rome.
Controversy
On
24 April,
2006, it was revealed that Costner was the mystery celebrity involved in a controversial case at a hotel at the
St Andrews golf course,
Scotland, owned by his friend
Herbert Kohler, Jr. While on his honeymoon in October 2004, a hotel employee complained that Costner had performed a
lewd act while she was attempting to
massage him. She informed the hotel management but wasn't dismissed until the following August.
Costner's former girlfriend Birgit Cunningham was one of his friends who denied the allegations. However, when the case reached a Scottish
employment tribunal, the tribunal chairman agreed to the release of the actor's name as it formed a basis for both parties' cases. The woman, who remains unnamed, settled out of court with the hotel under a tight confidentiality agreement.
Filmography
Further Information
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