John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor, producer, and director. Over the last 25 years, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award nominations. He has also appeared in critically acclaimed films such as The Killing Fields, Dangerous Liaisons, Being John Malkovich and Changeling.

Early life

Malkovich was born in Christopher, Illinois, and is primarily of Croatian ancestry. He grew up in Benton, Illinois, in a large house on South Main Street. His father, Daniel Malkovich, was a state conservation director and publisher of Outdoor Illinois, a conservation magazine. His mother, Joe Ann, owned the Benton Evening News (a local newspaper in Benton, Il.), as well as Outdoor Illinois. Because of his father's work, the Malkovich family is widely acknowledged as one of the founding families of the environmental movement in Illinois. Malkovich was a popular student, and was both an actor and athlete at Benton High School. He appeared in plays and the musical, Carousel. He was also a member of a folk/rock musical trio, and was an organizer and member of a local summer theater project in 1972, where he starred in Jean-Claude Van Itallie's America Hurrah. Upon graduation from high school, he entered Eastern Illinois University, and then transferred to Illinois State University, where he majored in theatre.