Background

Ethnicity: Costner's father's heritage originates with German immigrants to North Carolina in the 1700s, and he also has English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry.

Kevin Michael Costner was born on January 18, 1955, in Lynwood, California, the United States, the third child of Bill Costner, a ditch digger and ultimately an electric line servicer for Southern California Edison, and Sharon Costner (née Tedrick), a welfare worker. His older brother, Dan, was born in 1950. A middle brother died at birth in 1953. His father's job required him to move regularly, which caused Kevin to feel like an Army kid, always the new kid at school, which led to him being a daydreamer. He has described spending his teenage years in various parts of California as his father's career progressed, as a period when he "lost a lot of confidence", having to make new friends often. As a teen, he sang in the Baptist church choir, wrote poetry, and took writing classes.

Education

Costner lived in Ventura, then in Visalia; he attended Mt. Whitney High School and moved to Orange County, where he graduated from Villa Park High School in 1973, but was not much inclined towards academics. At 18, he built his own canoe and paddled his way down the rivers that Lewis & Clark followed to the Pacific. Despite his present height, he was only 5'2" when he graduated high school. Nonetheless, he still managed to be a basketball, football and baseball star.

In 1973, Costner enrolled at California State University at Fullerton, where he majored in business. During that period, Kevin decided to take acting lessons five nights a week. He graduated with a business degree in 1978. While at CSUF, he became a brother in the Delta Chi Fraternity. He sometimes worked as a carpenter and also had a behind-the-scenes job as a gofer for Raleigh Studios for a time.

Career

Sometimes compared to such screen legends as Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart, actor Kevin Costner first came to fame in the 1980s. He had a keen interest in acting but upon his marriage to Cindy, he agreed to undertake a job as a marketing executive. But while returning from his honeymoon, he encountered Richard Burton on the plane who fueled his ambition to become an actor by advising him to drop everything else if he has to make a career in the movies. Thereafter, Costner gave up his marketing job and started taking acting lessons five nights a week, with the support of his wife. He did odd jobs to support his career and family, including as a truck driver, a Hollywood tour guide, and also piloted the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland.

Costner landed a role as a suicide victim in the 1983 ensemble drama The Big Chill with Glenn Close, Kevin Kline, William Hurt, Jeff Goldblum, and others. What looked like his first big break ended in disappointment when all of his scenes ended up on the cutting room floor. "I rehearsed for a month with the whole cast and shot for about a week. I knew when I was shooting it that if anything would be cut it would be my scenes," Costner later explained. But the film's director Lawrence Kasdan remembered Costner and later signed him for the 1985 western Silverado. The film, which also starred Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, and Danny Glover, proved to be a springboard to other opportunities in Hollywood.

In 1987, Costner's career really took off with two hit films. He starred with Sean Young in the popular thriller No Way Out and played the legendary crime fighter Eliot Ness in The Untouchables with Sean Connery. Untouchables director Brian De Palma praised Costner's work on the film, saying that "he can take those old Western lawman lines and make them real." Continuing his winning streak, Costner starred in the baseball romantic comedy Bull Durham with Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins the following year.

With 1989's Field of Dreams, Costner again won over audiences with his everyman appeal. He played a farmer who creates a baseball diamond on his land on the instruction of a voice he hears. The fantastical yet heartfelt film did well both critically and commercially. Costner, now an established box office star, got the green light to work on his directorial debut Dances with Wolves (1990). The movie was a labor of love with shooting stretching out over 18 months, 5 of which were spent on location in South Dakota. The film told the story of a Civil War soldier who befriends a tribe of Sioux Indians. Incredibly well-received, the movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Costner also won the Academy Award for Best Director.

Costner continued to enjoy box office success with the action-adventure tale Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and the romantic drama The Bodyguard (1992) with Whitney Houston. But Costner soon ran into a series of disappointments. While earning kudos from critics, his film with Clint Eastwood, A Perfect World (1993), failed to make much an impression on movie-goers. His turn as the famous western icon in Wyatt Earp (1994) received mixed reviews and did mediocre business at the box office.

Working as its star and producer, Costner faced a tremendous amount of challenges with the post-apocalyptic film Waterworld (1995). This futuristic tale of a nearly landless Earth had problems from the start. Filming largely took place on the open ocean on specially built platforms, one of which sank, but was recovered. The cast and crew also battled seasickness and the elements, which sometimes stopped or delayed the production. The movie, which also starred Dennis Hopper and Jeanne Tripplehorn, opened strong with a $21 million first weekend, but it soon lost steam with movie-goers. It also received a tepid reception from critics.

Undaunted, Costner worked on another futuristic epic The Postman (1997). He played the title character, a man who pretends to be a letter carrier in a post-Apocalyptic America fractured by nuclear war. His charade brings hope to an isolated community. Some called The Postman the worst film of the year, while others simply noted that it was "a misfire" and "way too long, too pretentious and too self-indulgent."

After this film, Costner's star power seemed to fade somewhat. He didn't help his reputation by getting into a very public dispute with Universal over edits made to his next film For the Love of Game (1998). But Costner showed critics that he still had what it takes to give an impressive performance with Thirteen Days (2000). He earned strong reviews for his work in this true-life drama about the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

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, however, hasn't turned his back on acting. He starred in the election comedy Swing Vote in 2008 and appeared in the 2010 drama The Company Men with Chris Cooper, Ben Affleck, and Tommy Lee Jones. In 2012, Costner tackled a juicy role on the small screen, starring in the History Channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys as Devil Anse Hatfield, the leader of a famous feuding family. His nemesis, Randall McCoy, was played by Bill Paxton. For his Hatfields & McCoys performance, Costner won an Emmy Award (best actor in a miniseries) in 2012. That same year, Costner was also among the many who were shocked by the death of Whitney Houston. The actor gave a moving eulogy at the funeral of his former co-star.

In everything he does, Costner seems to be listening to his own counsel, not following any typical Hollywood playbook. "You've got to blaze your own trail or you're just going to feed at the trough," he once explained. "Feeding at the trough can get you pretty fat. But I choose to go my own way."

In 2014, Costner appeared in the spy movie Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, as Thomas Harper, a mentor for the series' title character. The same year, he starred in the thriller 3 Days to Kill and the drama Draft Day and produced and starred in Black or White. Black or White premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and opened in the United States in 2015. In 2015, Costner played coach Jim White in the drama film McFarland, USA, about cross-country running. In 2016, he played the fictional character Al Harrison, a NASA Space Task Group supervisor, in Hidden Figures, and in 2017, he starred with Jessica Chastain in Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut film Molly's Game. In 2018, he has appeared in the television series Yellowstone, marking the first regular TV series role of his career.

Achievements

• 

  Kevin Costner was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on August 11, 2003. His other accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, one Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 1995, he was ranked 87 in Empire Magazine’s list of 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

    (Based on the CIA analyst created by espionage master Tom ...)

    2014
  • Molly's Game

    (Molly's Game is based on the true story of Molly Bloom, a...)

    2017
  • Black or White

    (Left to raise his beloved granddaughter, a grandfather fa...)

    2014
  • 3 Days to Kill

    (In this heart pounding action-thriller, Kevin Costner is ...)

    2014
  • The Man Who Saved The World

    (The Man Who Saved the World tells the gripping true story...)

    2014
  • Frances

    (Jessica Lange stars in her Oscar-nominated performance of...)

    1982
  • A Perfect World

    (Set in Texas, an escaped convict in the course of eluding...)

    1993
  • Hidden Figures

    (An incredible & inspiring untold true story about three w...)

    2016
  • American Flyers

    (American Flyers takes you on the road for exciting world-...)

    1985
  • Message in a Bottle

    (Kevin Costner as Garret and Robin Wright Penn as Theresa ...)

    1999
  • Rumor Has It

    (Sarah Huttinger, whose return home with her fiance convin...)

    2005
  • The Bodyguard

    (Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston stars in a romantic sus...)

    1992
  • Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice

    (From director Zack Snyder comes "Batman v Superman: Dawn ...)

    2016
  • Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves

    (Kevin Costner is the legendary swashbuckling hero of Engl...)

    1991
  • Draft Day

    (On the day of the NFL Draft, general manager Sonny Weaver...)

    2014
  • The New Daughter

    (Kevin Costner stars as a single father who moves his two ...)

    2009
  • Revenge

    (A young American (Kevin Costner) falls in love with an ol...)

    1990
  • The War

    (With the help of their friends, Stu (Wood) and Lidia Simm...)

    1994
  • Field of Dreams

    (An Iowa corn farmer, hearing voices, interprets them as a...)

    1989
  • JFK

    (An Academy Award-winning docudrama chronicling New Orlean...)

    1991
  • Waterworld

    (In this futuristic thriller, Earth is covered with water ...)

    1995
  • Bull Durham

    (Veteran minor-league catcher Crash Davis is assigned to t...)

    1988
  • 3000 Miles to Graceland

    (Posing as Elvis impersonators, five thieves enter the Riv...)

    2001
  • Thirteen Days

    (Kevin Costner stars in this inside look at how the Kenned...)

    2000
  • Stacy's Knights

    (Stacy (Andra Millian), a timid woman, is learning how to ...)

    1983
  • Silverado

    (Four unlikely heroes attempt to reclaim a helpless town f...)

    1985
  • Dances With Wolves

    (Kevin Costner's Oscar-winning Best Picture about a Civil ...)

    1990
  • Criminal

    (To stop an international terrorist, the memories and skil...)

    2016
  • Untouchables

    (Federal Agent Elliot Ness sets out to take out Al Capone;...)

    1987
  • Upside Of Anger

    (A sharp-witted suburban wife is left to raise her four he...)

    2005
  • Yellowstone

    (Kevin Costner stars as John Dutton, patriarch of a Montan...)

    2019
  • Tin Cup

    (If a golfing instructor would've played it safe, he would...)

    1996
  • The Guardian

    (Action-packed drama that takes you inside the never-befor...)

    2006
  • For Love of the Game

    (Kevin Costner and Kelly Preston star in this heartwarming...)

    1999
  • Dragonfly

    (A grief-stricken doctor mourning his wife's death believe...)

    2002
  • Shadows Run Black

    (A detective investigates a series of killings committed b...)

    1984
  • Swing Vote

    (In a remarkable turn-of-events, the result of the preside...)

    2008
  • The Company Men

    (Three men must redefine their lives when they go from liv...)

    2010
  • Wyatt Earp

    (A man becomes a myth in this thrilling journey of romance...)

    1994
  • The Postman

    (Kevin Costner directs and stars in this action-filled epi...)

    1997
  • Testament

    (Testament is the dramatic story of a family's survival in...)

    1983
  • Mr. Brooks

    (Successful businessman, generous philanthropist, loving f...)

    2007
  • Play It To The Bone

    (Two worn-out, over-the-hill prizefighters jump at one las...)

    1999
  • No Way Out

    (A taut suspense thriller set within the protected inner-r...)

    1987
  • Man of Steel

    (A young boy learns he has extraordinary powers and is not...)

    2013
  • McFarland, USA

    (Kevin Costner stars in a heartwarming celebration of the ...)

    2015
  • Open Range

    (Four men defend their way of life in the Old West.)

    2003
  • Table for Five

    (After his ex-wife dies in a tragic car crash, J.P. Tannen...)

    1983
  • Fandango

    (College is over, real-life can start. The Groovers, five ...)

    1985

Religion

Kevin Costner grew up in a family who were devoted Baptists, and like many other performers, he sang in his church choir. When speaking at Whitney Houston’s funeral, he said that his earliest memories were from church and that between him and his Bodyguard co-star, the church was their private bond.

As an adult, Costner still seems to be a Christian, but with some serious agnostic leanings. He says that he wants to believe in a higher power and an afterlife, but he just can’t be sure: "I have a faith in God, and it’s always tested. And I’m weak, you know. I wish I knew, and I wanna know... I feel like I’m always on the wrong side of hope. But the intellectual goes, 'Man, are you nuts? There’s nothin’ after this. I don’t wanna go through life like that."

Politics

Early in his life, Costner was a Republican. He was a supporter and good friend of Ronald Reagan, frequently playing golf with the former President. He later grew disillusioned with the direction of the party, eventually switching his affiliation in the early 1990s. Since 1992, Costner has financially supported a variety of Democratic politicians, including Al Gore and Tom Daschle, but also made contributions to Republican Phil Gramm as late as 1995. He said publicly in 2008 that he has no ambition to run for political office, adding "I've lived quite a colorful life".

In the final days before the 2008 election, Costner campaigned for Barack Obama, visiting various places in Colorado, where he has a home. In his speech, Costner stated the need for young voters to get to the polls, early and with enthusiasm. "We were going to change the world and we haven't", Costner said at a Colorado State University rally. "My generation didn't get it done, and we need you to help us".

In October 2014, Costner sent a tribute to British troops serving around the world thanking them for their work.

Views

Costner serves on an honorary board for the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. In spring 2011, he recorded two radio spots for the museum that were aired on Kansas City Royals Radio Network.

Costner is deeply committed to environmental causes. After the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, Costner acquired a company that manufactured a machine that is designed to help clean up oil spills. It finally came in handy for the Gulf oil disaster in 2010, but he felt BP’s delayed use of the machines didn’t allow them to be used to their full potential. He said his purchase of the company was fueled by his desire to do something good with his wealth.

Quotations: "Real heroes are men who fall and fail and are flawed, but win out in the end because they've stayed true to their ideals and beliefs and commitments."

"I registered as a Republican when I was twenty-one. My parents were Republicans. But as I've gotten older I've questioned my whole conservative background... I think you should be fair about how you treat people."

"I'm a hunter, I hunt but I think there should be gun laws. I think there should be a lot of gun laws. I don't want to lose my shotgun but there's a real good reason why I use my shotgun. It came from my grandpa. His cheek was on it. My dad's cheek was on it and I go out and hunt with my dogs. My gun's an heirloom to me and my son, one day, when I'm gone, is gonna know, "Your dad hunted with that." But even though with the connection that I have to my gun, can I look at the NRA and say, "I think you're out of line?". I can say that."

"I think you have to look at screenwriting as an art form because it's not all that easy to do. Not all that many people can do it. So you have to go out and find the material or develop it from scratch, and I'm one of the handful of people who actually spend his own money on developing and producing projects I like."

"I'm really aware of my disappointments, what movies I didn't like when I was done. I'm not so sure they line up with public or critical disappointments. But if I have to reduce my life to the box office, I can see what the up-and-down thing is. Popularity now is a cultural achievement. If you can be popular, you actually can make a living out of being popular. It's not my way. Other actors might have made "Bull Durham 2","Tin Cup 2","Dances 2" and "Bodyguard 2". But I don't think repeating yourself is very good."

Personality

Several of Costner's films have included a baseball theme: Chasing Dreams, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, For Love of the Game, and The Upside of Anger, in three of which his character is a pro baseball player and one a former pro baseball player.

Costner has a home in Austin, Texas, and sometimes appears at Texas Longhorns baseball practices and games. He was a close friend of former Longhorns baseball coach Augie Garrido from Garrido's days coaching at Cal State Fullerton, Costner's alma mater. He cast Garrido to play the role of the Yankee manager in For Love of the Game. He tries to attend every College World Series game that CSUF Titans plays in Omaha, Nebraska. Costner walked-on for a try-out, but did not make the team early in his time at the university.

Costner was a partial owner of the Zion, Illinois-based Lake County Fielders independent baseball team in the North American League. The Fielders name was an homage to Field of Dreams, with the logo showing a ballplayer standing amid a field of corn.

Costner was named ceremonial Grand Marshal of the NASCAR Cup Series' Auto Club 500 which took place on February 25, 2007, at the California Speedway. In 2008, he worked with the NASCAR Media Group and CMT Films to help produce the NASCAR Documentary The Ride of Their Lives which would be released in 2009. Costner would be the narrator for that documentary. Also in 2009, he was named the spokesman for NASCAR Day which took place on 15 May. The next day, 16 May, he and his country music band would perform in the infield of Charlotte Motor Speedway as well as participate as a judge in the 2nd annual Victory Challenge before the 25th Running of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

In April 2006, Costner 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.

Costner 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 160 miles away.

Costner has played at the celebrity golf tournament Pebble Beach, California, every year starting from 1996.

For his entire career, Costner 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.

In 1986, Costner refused a role in “Platoon”, as he felt that it portrayed American soldiers negatively. Also, his older brother was a Vietnam veteran, and he didn’t want to insult him.

Physical Characteristics: Kevin Costner has an athletic build, a height of 6 ft 1 in or 185.5 cm, and a weight of 80 kg or 176.5 lbs. Costner has grey eyes and blonde hair. Due to advancing age, gray hair strands are visible on his head. He is a fan of yoga. He likes strength exercises with light dumbbells. He runs in the morning from time to time. Kevin Costner avoids junk food. He doesn’t drink alcohol and prefers fresh juice instead of it. That’s why he remains healthy, strong and successful even in his quite a solid age.

Interests

• horses

• Politicians

  Barack Obama, Bill Clinton

• Sport & Clubs

  baseball, golf, soccer, racing, Arsenal Football Club, New York Knicks

• Athletes

  Augie Garrido

• Music & Bands

  country, country rock, Carole King, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton

Connections

While in college, Costner started dating fellow student Cindy Silva in March 1975, and in their subsequent marriage three years later they had three children: Anne "Annie" Clayton (born April 15, 1984), Lily McCall (born August 4, 1986), and Joseph "Joe" Tedrick (born January 31, 1988). The couple divorced in 1994 after 16 years of marriage. He has a son, Liam Timothy Costner (born November 15, 1996), with Bridget Rooney, with whom he had a brief relationship following his divorce, and then dated Birgit Cunningham. In 1996, he lived with supermodel Elle Macpherson.

On September 25, 2004, Costner married his girlfriend of four years, model and handbag designer Christine Baumgartner, at his ranch in Aspen, Colorado. Their first child, Cayden, was born on 6 May 2007 in Los Angeles. Their second son, Hayes, was born on February 12, 2009. Their third child, a daughter named Grace, was born on June 2, 2010.

Father:

Bill Costner

Mother:

Sharon Rae Tedrick Costner

Spouse:

Christine Baumgartner

colleague:

Octavia Spencer

ex-wife:

Cindy Silva

In 2007, Costner's divorce from wife Cindy Silva was listed as the 5th most expensive celebrity divorce, with a settlement of around $80 million.

Brother:

Dan Costner

Daughter:

Annie Costner

Daughter:

Lily Costner

Son:

Joe Costner

Son:

Liam Rooney

Son:

Cayden Wyatt Costner

Son:

Hayes Logan Costner

Daughter:

Grace Avery Costner

colleague:

Kevin Bacon

colleague:

Danny Glover

References

• Kevin Costner
  1994