(born January 18 , 1955 ) is an Oscar winning American Film Actor and Director who has often produced his own films. During his career Costner's films have grossed over $1.3 billion dollars.
Costner was born in Lynwood, California , the youngest of the three sons of William Costner (an electrician of German and 1/4 Native American descent) and Sharon Tedrick (of Irish descent). He spent his teenage years and pre-actor adulthood in Orange County, California , attending Mt. Whitney High School in the baseball town of Visalia, California , graduating from Villa Park High School in Villa Park, California in 1973 , and earning a B.A. in business from California State University, Fullerton in 1978 , where he was a member of the Delta Chi Fraternity . He became interested in acting while still in college, and began taking acting lessons five nights a week. Costner later worked briefly with a California marketing firm, after a chance encounter with Actor Richard Burton , who struck up a conversation with him. Burton had advised the young man that if he wanted to pursue acting, he should give everything up completely and go after it with both hands. Costner married a Portuguese-American by the name of Cindy Silva. With his wife behind him, Costner worked on fishing boats and as a truck driver, and gave tours of stars' Hollywood homes to support the two while he made the audition rounds.
Costner's most popular success was the epic '''', which he directed and starred in, has been an immense critical success as a Revisionist Western .
- Costner married a Portuguese-American by the name of Cindy Silva in 1978 . With his wife behind him, Costner worked on fishing boats and as a truck driver, and gave tours of stars' Hollywood homes to support the two while he made the audition rounds
- Costner has three children with Cindy: Annie (born in 1984 ), Lilly (born in 1986 ) and Joe (born in 1988 ). Lily is currently attending college. All three of his children with Cindy were educated in part at the Chandler School in Pasadena, California
- Kevin and Cindy divorced in 1994 after 16 years of Marriage
- Dated ABC 's '' Good Morning America '' host Joan Lunden
- Costner has an illegitimate son, Liam (born in 1996 ), with Bridget Rooney , a woman he had a brief relationship with following his divorce from Cindy. Only through blood tests was it revealed that Costner was Liam's father
- On September 25 , 2004 , after ten years of being single, Costner married his girlfriend of four years, German-American Christine Baumgartner
- On April 24th 2006, it was revealed that Costner was the mystery celebrity involved in a controversial court case in a hotel at the St Andrews golf course, Scotland ; owned by his friend Herbert Kohler, Jr. . While on his honeymoon in 2004, a hotel employee complained that Coster had performed a lewd sex act while she was attempting to massage him. When she informed the hotel management, she was dismissed. The woman, who remains unnamed, settled out of court with the hotel. She claimed she was driven out of her job after Costner's lewd behaviour.
- Costner was cast in the hit '' The Big Chill '' ( 1983 ). He filmed several scenes which were planned as flashbacks, but they never made it to the final cut. He was the friend who committed Suicide , the event around which the plot of the movie revolves. All that is seen of him are his slashed wrists as the Mortician dresses his Corpse in the movie's opening scenes. Costner was a friend of director Lawrence Kasdan , who later promised the actor a role in a future project, which became '' Silverado '' and became a breakout role for Costner. In return Costner helped to get Kasdan's 1975 script for the '' The Bodyguard '' produced.
- Costner's height is 6'1". According to Costner, he stood only 5'2" after graduating high school.
- Turned down the role of the U.S. President in '' Air Force One '' ( 1997 ); the role went to Harrison Ford .
- Appeared in a commercial for the Apple Lisa in 1983.
- Costner was registered as a Republican until the 1996 election, when he changed his registration to Independent . He supported Democratic candidates in the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections.
- Costner sparked controversy in October 2004 when he allegedly performed an act of masturbation in front of a massuese while on honeymoon at the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews. Subsequently the massuese recieved a settlement from the hotel, which she says fired her after she reported the incident. {Link without Title}
- Costner plays regularly in charity golf tournaments, including the annual BMW Pro-Am held each April in Greenville County, South Carolina.
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