Interesting facts about Kevin Costner

kevin costner

Kevin Costner is an American actor, director, producer, and musician.

His full name is Kevin Michael Costner.

Costner was born on January 18, 1955, in Lynwood, California.

He is the youngest of three boys, the middle of whom died at birth.

His father, William Costner, was an electrician and later utilities executive at Southern California Edison while his mother, Sharon Rae (née Tedrick), was a welfare worker.

Costner has English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, German, and Swiss-German ancestry. He has also stated that he has Cherokee roots, but it is not clear if this ancestry has been documented.

As a teen, he sang in the Baptist church choir, wrote poetry, and took writing classes.

At 18, he built his own canoe and paddled his way down the rivers that Lewis & Clark followed to the Pacific.

Costner attended California State University in Fullerton, where he studied marketing and finance. During college, he developed an interest in acting.

kevin costner young

Costner initially took a marketing job in Orange County. Everything changed when he accidentally met Richard Burton on a flight from Mexico. Burton advised him to go completely after acting if that is what he wanted. He quit his job and moved to Hollywood soon after.

He drove a truck, worked on a deep sea fishing boat, and gave bus tours to stars’ homes before finally making his own way into the films

Costner made his film debut in the film Sizzle Beach, U.S.A. (known originally as Hot Malibu Summer). Although it was actually filmed in the winter of 1978–79, the film was not released until 1981 and re-released in 1986.

Costner appeared in a commercial for the Apple Lisa and Table for Five in 1983, and, the same year, had a small role in the nuclear holocaust film Testament.

Costner’s scenes were famously cut from The Big Chill (1983), the motion picture that provided the breakthrough for several other young actors, but its director, Lawrence Kasdan, later cast Costner in the western Silverado (1985).

Full-blown movie star status for Costner arrived in 1987, when he starred as federal agent Eliot Ness in The Untouchables and in the leading role of the thriller No Way Out.

His further success in the baseball movies Bull Durham (1988) and Field of Dreams (1989) made him a popular leading man, and he formed his own production company in 1989.

In 1990, Costner produced, directed, and acted in another hit, Dances with Wolves, about an American Civil War soldier who assimilates into a Sioux community. The film won the Academy Award for best picture, and Costner won the best director award.

dances with wolves

Costner followed this with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991); the Oliver Stone-directed JFK (1991); The Bodyguard (1992); and Clint Eastwood’s A Perfect World (1993); all of which provided box office or critical acclaim.

His turn as the famous western icon in Wyatt Earp (1994) received mixed reviews and did mediocre business at the box office.

The War, also made in 1994, seemed to gain little attention.

In 1995, Costner starred and produced the post-apocalyptic science fiction action film Waterworld. Although no exact date was given in the film itself, it has been suggested that it takes place in 2500.

waterworld

In 1997, he starred, produced and direct the epic post-apocalyptic adventure film The Postman. The Postman “won” five Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Actor and Worst Director for Costner.

In 1998, Costner appeared is the sport drama For the Love of Game.

In 1999, he starred in the romantic drama in Message in a Bottle with Robin Wright, based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks.

His career revived somewhat in 2000 with Thirteen Days, in which he portrayed Kenneth O’Donnell, a top adviser to John F. Kennedy. Costner earned strong reviews for his work in this true-life drama about the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

In 2001, Costner appeared as a member of a group of Elvis impersonating casino bandits in 3000 Miles to Graceland.

His next effort was a more sentimental supernatural drama lamenting lost love, Dragonfly (2002).

The western Open Range, which he directed and starred in, received critical acclaim in 2003, and was a surprise success commercially.

He received some of his best reviews for his supporting role as retired professional baseball player Denny Davies in The Upside of Anger (2005).

the upside of anger

After that, Costner starred in The Guardian (2006) and in Mr. Brooks (2007), in which he portrayed a serial killer.

In 2008, Costner starred and produced the comedy-drama Swing Vote.

In 2010, he appeared in The Company Men alongside Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and received good reviews.

Costner played the head of the Hatfield family in the television miniseries Hatfields & McCoys (2012); for his performance he won an Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award.

Hatfields & McCoys

In 2014, Costner appeared in the spy movie Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, as Thomas Harper, a mentor for the series’ title character. he same year, he starred in the thriller 3 Days to Kill and the drama Draft Day and produced and starred in Black or White.

In 2015, Costner played coach Jim White in the drama film McFarland, USA, about cross-country running.

In 2016, he played the fictional character of Al Harrison, NASA Space Task Group supervisor, in Hidden Figures. In the same year he portrayed a psychopathic death-row inmate — who has a dead CIA agent’s consciousness transferred to his brain — in the thriller Criminal.

In 2017, Costner starred with Jessica Chastain in Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut film Molly’s Game.

His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and one Emmy Award.

Kevin Costner has an estimated net worth of $150 million.

kevin-costner-2

In 1975, while studying in college, he started dating fellow student Cindy Silva, whom he married in 1978. They have three children: Anne “Annie” Clayton (born 1984), Lily McCall (born 1986), and Joseph “Joe” Tedrick (born 1988). The couple divorced in 1994 after 16 years of marriage.

He has a son, Liam Timothy Costner (born 1996), with Bridget Rooney, with whom he had a brief relationship following his divorce.

In 2004, Costner married his girlfriend of four years, model and handbag designer Christine Baumgartner. They have three children: Cayden (born 2007), Hayes (born 2009) and Grace (born 2010).

In April 2006, he spent $28.5 million on an oceanfront 17-acre ranch in Santa Barbara County, California. He and wife, Christine Baumgartner, are raising horses on their new ranch.

In 2005, Costner turned to one of his other passions—music. He started working with a band called Modern West. They released their first album Untold Truths in 2008. Since then, Costner had put out two more recordings, 2010’s Turn It On and 2011’s From Where I Stand. He and his band have toured several times in recent years.

Costner was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on August 11, 2003.

Costner has two films on the American Film Institute’s 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time. They are Dances with Wolves (1990) at #59 and Field of Dreams (1989) at #28.

Sioux nation gave Costner a tract of land after making Dances with Wolves (1990). Costner built a golf course on that land.

For his entire career, he has purposely avoided doing sequels to his films. So far, he is one of the few blockbuster stars to never come back for a sequel.

He is a supporter of the Arsenal Football Club (UK). In 2003, he was working in London and decided to go to a game, only to find out Arsenal were playing away from home, so he booked a private helicopter to take him to the match 260 kilometers (160 miles) away.