A native of Lynnwood, California, KEVIN COSTNER’s (Charley Waite) love of Western movies first made itself apparent in 1985 when he starred in Lawrence Kasdan’s stylish gunslinger saga, Silverado. But it was 1990’s Dances with Wolves, which Costner produced, directed and starred in, that linked him indelibly with the genre. In addition to being a commercial success, Dances won seven Academy Awards® including Best Picture and Best Director. He next starred as the title character in Kasdan’s Wyatt Earp. Costner’s interest in America’s aboriginal peoples also resulted in a television documentary, 500 Nations, which chronicles the histories of Native Americans from the earliest signs of life on the continent to the 20th century and which Costner created and hosted. Costner also took on multiple roles with The Postman, which he produced, directed, and starred in; and earlier in Waterworld, as producer and star.
Costner has become associated with another great American tradition, baseball, having starred as Durham Bulls catcher Crash Davis in Bull Durham, as Billy Chapel in For Love of the Game, and as farmer Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams. Dreams featured Kinsella building a baseball diamond in his corn field for the ghost team of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other seven Chicago White Sox players banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series—and put “If you build it, they will come” into the lexicon of modern American proverbs. A natural athlete himself, Costner has also played a cyclist in American Flyers and a pro golfer in Tin Cup.
Originally a marketing student at California State University in Fullerton, from which he graduated in 1978, Costner quickly traded in marketing for acting, having dabbled in community theatre while at the university. In 1987, just five years after his first feature credit, Costner’s star potential was realized in two back to back films, The Untouchables with screen legend Sean Connery and the thriller No Way Out. Numerous other notable roles followed, including as New Orleans prosecutor Jim Garrison in Oliver Stone’s JFK, the legendary title role in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and as the widowed shipbuilder in Message in a Bottle. Most recently Costner starred in the critically acclaimed Thirteen Days, in 3000 Miles to Graceland, and in Dragonfly.
Costner’s place as one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars was firmly declared in 1999 when the American Film Institute included Costner in its documentary, AFI’s 100 Years...100 Stars.
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