Kurt Russell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Russell

Kurt Russell is among the few American actors to make the successful transition from child star to successful adult actor. As a youth, Russell aspired to follow the footsteps of his father, Bing Russell, who, in addition to being a big league baseball player, was also an actor (he was perhaps best known for his role as the sheriff on the TV Western Bonanza).

He began acting by the age of six with a regular role in the TV series Sugarfoot and by the time he was 12, had the lead in the TV show The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. He starred opposite Fred MacMurray in the hit Disney film Follow Me Boys! (1966) as the tough kid Whitey and in Disney's The One and Only, Genuine Original Family Band (1968), but he gave that all up to try and make it, as his father had, in big league baseball. When an injury put an end to that career, he came back to the movies.

He made a string of Disney feature comedies such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1970), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972) and The Strongest Man in the World playing a squeaky clean teenager named Dexter Riley, but when he got the opportunity to play a sniper in the TV movie The Deadly Tower (1975), Russell jumped at the chance to show his range. He next took on the role of a young man raised by Native Americans in the 1976 TV western The Quest, but running in the same slot as Charlie's Angels, his new series didn't last long before it was cancelled. It was his 1979 performance as Elvis in a made-for-TV movie that established him a star to watch. He married his co-star, Season Hubley that same year and they had a son together. A short time later he made a place for himself on Hollywood's A-list of movie stars with his starring performance in John Carpenter's Escape From New York. A stalwart in the Hollywood food chain ever since, Russell's paycheck keeps rising along with his popularity. For StarGate (1994) he earned a cool $7 million, $10 million for Escape From L.A. (1996) and $20 million for soldier (1998).

He's been involved with Goldie Hawn since 1983 when the two filmed Swing Shift (1984) (although they'd met years earlier when Kurt had a starring role in The One and Only, Genuine Original Family Band and Goldie had a bit part as a "giggly girl"). He divorced his wife in 1984 and has been with Hawn ever since.

Russell currently lives in Vancouver, where he and Hawn moved so their son, Wyatt (b.1986), could pursue his dream to become a professional hockey player.

FILMOGRAPHY

Grindhouse (2007)

Poseidon (2006)

Dreamer (2005)

Sky High (2005)

Miracle (2004)

Dark Blue (2002)

Interstate 60 (2002)

Vanilla Sky (2001)

3000 Miles To Graceland (2001)

Soldier (1998)

Breakdown (1997)

Escape from L.A. (1996)

Executive Decision (1996)

Stargate (1994)

Tombstone (1993)

Captain Ron (1992)

Unlawful Entry (1992)

Backdraft (1991)

Tango & Cash (1989)

Winter People (1989)

Tequila Sunrise (1988)

Overboard (1987)

The Best of Times (1986)

Big Trouble In Little China (1986)

The Mean Season (1985)

Swing Shift (1984)

Silkwood (1983)

The Thing (1982)

Escape from New York (1981)

The Fox and the Hound (1981) (voice)

Used Cars (1980)

Strongest Man in the World (1975)

Superdad (1974)

Charley and the Angel (1973)

Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972)

The Barefoot Executive (1971)

Fools' Parade (1971)

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1970)

Guns in the Heather (1968)

The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968)

The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968)

Follow Me, Boys! (1966)

Mosby's Marauders (1966)

Guns of Diablo (1964)

It Happened at the World's Fair (1963)