Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor,
musician,
producer, and
director. He has been nominated for three
BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards, won two
Academy Awards and a
Golden Globe Award. Costner's roles include Lt. John J. Dunbar in the film
Dances with Wolves,
Jim Garrison in
JFK, Ray Kinsella in
Field of Dreams, and
Eliot Ness in
The Untouchables.
Early life
Costner was born in
Lynwood, California, the youngest of the three sons (the middle of whom died at birth) of Sharon Rae (
née Tedrick), a
welfare worker, and William Costner, an
electrician and later
utilities executive.
[Todd Keith, Kevin Costner: The Unauthorized Biography, Ikonprint Publishers: Southwark, London (1991)][Adherents.com's Guide to Movies] He has
German,
Irish and
Cherokee ancestry (his
Oklahoma-born paternal grandfather was half Cherokee).
[Pursuing The Dream Time Magazine Jun. 26, 1989] Costner was raised
Baptist.
He attended Cabrillo Jr. High School and
Buena High in
Ventura, California. A poor student, Costner enjoyed sports in spite of his slight stature and took piano lessons, wrote poetry and sang in the First Baptist Choir.
