Kevin Michael Costner was born on January 18, 1955, in Lynwood, California. The son of a welfare worker and an electrician, Kevin Costner was a popular kid who enthusiastically participated in a variety of sports — though his decision to take piano lessons and sing in his church’s choir also indicated a keen interest in music. It wasn’t until he enrolled in California State University’s business program that Kevin Costner first discovered his innate passion for acting, and although he landed a marketing job immediately upon his graduation, he nevertheless spent five nights a week studying performance at a nearby acting school.
After quitting his job and taking on bit parts in forgettable movies such as 1982’s Chasing Dreams and 1983’s Table for Five, Kevin Costner made his starring debut with 1984’s box office flop The Gunrunner, which, though a critical and financial failure, proved that he had the charisma and natural talent required to carry a major motion picture. The following year, Kevin Costner lived up to his promise by taking on a central role in the popular coming-of-age comedy Fandango, and cemented his fame with a supporting part in the blockbuster western Silverado (in which he worked alongside familiar faces like Kevin Kline and Danny Glover).
Kevin Costner in dances with wolves
In the years following, Kevin Costner kicked off an almost unprecedented run of globally successful box office bonanzas that assured his place within Hollywood’s A-list, as the actor appeared in, among others, 1987’s The Untouchables, 1988’s Bull Durham and 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He even stepped behind the camera in 1990 with the epic western Dances with Wolves, which, in addition to being his most profitable effort to date, eventually earned the actor-turned-filmmaker an Oscar for Best Director over prestigious nominees like Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.
After working opposite Whitney Houston in the celebrated 1992 romance The Bodyguard, Kevin Costner appeared in a succession of poorly received endeavors that culminated with the epically unsuccessful action/adventure Waterworld. The movie, released in 1995, seemed to spell the end of Kevin Costner’s cinematic career, with his second directorial effort, 1997’s The Postman, only exacerbating the backlash that had enveloped the struggling performer.
Kevin Costner in open range
He nevertheless worked consistently over the next several years, appearing in movies as varied as 1999’s Robin Wright Penn weeper Message in a Bottle, 2000’s Cuban-missile-crisis drama Thirteen Days and the 2001 Elvis-centric actioner 3000 Miles to Graceland. It wasn’t until he directed and starred in the critically acclaimed 2003 western Open Range that Kevin Costner finally began to earn back the respect he had lost over the years, with his follow-up turn as an alcoholic former baseball player in 2005’s The Upside of Anger winning the actor some of the best reviews of his career. Kevin Costner has since established himself as an inventive and downright prolific character actor, as he’s shunned the traditional leading-man parts of his past in favor of roles of a markedly off-kilter nature (including his stint as a serial killer in 2007’s Mr. Brooks and an apathetic schlub in 2008’s Swing Vote).
Buying cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?
