Interesting facts about Jeff Bridges

jeff bridges

Jeff Bridges s an American actor, singer, and producer.

His full name is Jeffrey Leon Bridges.

Bridges was born on December 4, 1949 in Los Angeles, California.

His father, Lloyd Bridges was an actor while his mother Dorothy Bridges (née Simpson) was actress and writer.

His older brother is actor Beau Bridges, he also has a younger sister, Lucinda, who is an artist and another brother Garrett, who died of sudden infant death syndrome in 1948.

His ancestry is English, and smaller amounts of Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), Irish, Swiss-German, and German.

Bridges and his siblings were raised in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles.

He made his first big-screen appearance at the age of almost two year in The Company She Keeps (1951).

In his youth, Bridges and brother Beau made occasional appearances on their father’s show Sea Hunt and The Lloyd Bridges Show.

After graduating from University High School in Los Angeles, he served in the Coast Guard reserves and later moved to New York City to study acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio.

jeff bridges young

His first major role came in the 1971 film The Last Picture Show, for which he garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. This part set the tone for the types of roles Jeff would acquaint himself with his fans — rambling, reckless, rascally and usually unpredictable.

In 1972, Bridges appeared in critically acclaimed neo-noir boxing film Fat City and in the western Bad Company.

In 1973, he starred as redneck stock car racer in The Last American Hero and as young student anarchist in The Iceman Cometh.

Bridges was nominated again for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actorr for his performance opposite Clint Eastwood in the 1974 film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.

thunderbolt and lightfoot

In 1975, he starred as aimless cattle rustler in Rancho Deluxe and as low-level western writer who wants to be a real-life cowboy in Hearts of the West.

In 1976, Bridges starred as the protagonist Jack Prescott in the first remake of King Kong, opposite Jessica Lange.

In 1979, he appeared as brother of an assassinated President who pursues leads to the crime in Winter Kills.

One of his better-known roles was in the 1982 science fiction film Tron, in which he played Kevin Flynn, a video game programmer.

tron

Also in 1982 he starred in the romantic comedy Kiss Me Goodbye.

For his leading role as an alien who takes on the appearance of a woman’s dead husband in Starman (1984), he earned his third Academy Award nomination.

He was also acclaimed for his roles in the thriller Against All Odds (1984), the crime drama Jagged Edge (1985) and in the biographical comedy-drama Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988).

In 1989, he appeared with his brother, Beau Bridges, and Michelle Pfeiffer in the romantic comedy-drama musical The Fabulous Baker Boys.

Bridges began the 1990s with Texasville, the desultory sequel to The Last Picture Show.

In The Fisher King (1991) Bridges played a bitter radio show host who embarks on a mystical journey to help a homeless man (played by Robin Williams).

In 1992 Bridges starred in the crime drama romance American Heart, a film which also marked his first producing credit.

His role in the drama Fearless (1993) is thought by some critics to be one of his best performances.

In 1994, he starred as Lt. Jimmy Dove in the action film Blown Away, opposite Tommy Lee Jones and Forest Whitaker.

In 1998, he starred as what is arguably his most famous role, The Dude, in the Coen brothers’ film The Big Lebowski.

the big lebowski

In 2000, he received his fourth Academy Award nomination, for his role in The Contender.

Though K-PAX (2001) fared badly in theaters, Jeff’s performance as Kevin Spacey‘s character’s psychiatrist was solid, as was his role of a soft-spoken kidnapping victim in director Dominique Forma’s Scenes of the Crime (2001).

Seabiscuit (2003) catapulted Bridges back into Hollywood’s spotlight, as did Tod Wiliams’ Door in the Floor (2004), based on John Irving’s novel A Widow for One Year.

In 2008, Bridges landed the role of the bad guy in the box-office blockbuster Iron Man.

At age 60, he capped his rewarding career by winning the elusive Oscar, plus the Golden Globe and Screen Actor Guild awards (among many others), for his down-and-out country singer Bad Blake in Crazy Heart (2009).

crazy heart

In 2009 Bridges starred with George Clooney in The Men Who Stare at Goats, a comedy that centres on a secret U.S. Army unit trained to use psychic powers.

Bridges next starred in TRON: Legacy (2010), reprising one of his more famous roles, and received another Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his role in the Western remake True Grit (2010).

Bridges starred in the action comedy R.I.P.D. (2013) as a veteran of a supernatural police force.

In 2014, he co-produced and starred in an adaptation of the Lois Lowry science fiction drama The Giver (2014).

In 2016, Bridges appeared in the film Hell or High Water, for which he received his seventh Academy Award nomination.

hell or high water

He then appeared in the biographical action drama Only the Brave (2017).

Jeff Bridges has an estimated net worth of $70 million.

Bridges married Susan Geston in 1977. They have three daughters: Isabelle Annie (born 1981), Jessica Lily “Jessie” (born 1983), Haley Roselouise (born 1985)

He met his wife, Susan Bridges, in 1975 while filming Rancho Deluxe (1975) – she was working as a maid on a dude ranch.

It was during the filming of The Iceman Cometh (1973) that he decided to focus solely on acting, and make it his profession. Up until then, he has said that he “just enjoyed the ride”.

Referring to his career as an actor and his passion for music, Bridges says, “I dug what an actor did, but it took me a while to feel it, to truly appreciate the craft and the preparation. Plus, I was still playing music a lot, and I guess I had a hard time choosing: was I an actor or a musician, or could I be both?”

Bridges has studied Buddhism. He meditates for half an hour before beginning work on a film set.

Between takes, he shoots still photographs as a hobby.

He enjoys cigars, and smokes a couple every day.