Capable of delivering stunning performance and making fine film features, Kevin Michael Costner is surely one of few rare figures that manage to well maintain double profession as actor and director amid the competitive nature of Hollywood. Born as the third son of Bill and Sharon Costner on January 18, 1955 in Lynwood, California, he spent most of his early life just like any other kids of his peers in Orange County, California, going to Villa Park High School in Villa Park and being actively involved in sports. His interest in portraying characters began to grow when he took acting lessons five nights a week during his college years at California State University in Fullerton. From this point, the charming guy then came to a desire of becoming an actor, but he instead chose to work in a California marketing firm after obtained a degree in business administration and marketing.

Nevertheless, his mind changed when he met Richard Burton on a flight from Mexico and thus was convinced by the actor to pursue a career in acting. Subsequently headed for Los Angeles to find better opportunity, Kevin first only earned brief roles before finally landed a bigger part in "Stacy's Knights" (1983). His hope rose when Lawrence Kasdan included him in "The Big Chill" (1983) alongside high-profile stars, like Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum and William Hurt, but it instantly vanished as Kasdan suddenly concluded to delete his scene from the picture. Fortunately, the director later gave him a second opportunity to join his next film, "Silverado" (1985), which resulted very well and consequently brought his name to the surface.

With this growing status, Kevin certainly encountered wider access to more propitious film roles as seen in "The Untouchables" (1987), "No Way Out" (1987), "Bull Durham" (1988), and "Field of Dreams" (1989), all gained commercial success in the box-office. Already became a popular male screen star at that time, he decided to try his hand at directing and producing film afterwards, making also starring in "Dances with Wolves" (1990) based on a novel written by his friend, Michael Blake. Beyond his expectation, the picture brilliantly garnered a tremendous income of more than 424 million U.S. dollar worldwide while also received huge acclaim from both critics and audience, consequently boosted his career a couple notch higher.

Much to his delight, the attainment of "Dances with Wolves" went greater in the two following years for he was gloriously presented numerous prestigious film honors, notably seven Academy Awards which included the title of Best Director and Best Picture in 1991. Moved on to his next projects, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" (1991) and "The Bodyguard" (1992), Kevin wonderfully solidified his existence in Hollywood either as respected actor or producer when both movies scored above $120 million domestically. Intended to repeat his success on "Dances with Wolves," he boldly spent around 175 million U.S. dollar to make the science-fiction epic of "Waterworld" (1995) yet the result sadly did not come as expected.

Only managed to acquire profit about $89 million, far below what its predecessor had achieved, "Waterworld" therefore was considered by many as a major disappointment in the box-office. Although Kevin later bounced back with "Tin Cup" (1996) which led him to earn a nomination at the 1997 Golden Globe Awards, he really faced a gloomy period throughout the years 1997-2002 as most of his films were unable to obtain satisfying yield either critically or commercially. Among of these were "The Postman" (1997), "For Love of The Game" (1999), "3000 Miles to Graceland" (2001), and "Dragonfly" (2002), the former even cost him a loss of approximately 60 million U.S. dollar.

Trying to bring the light back to his dim star, Kevin subsequently poured his energy also skills to make another western flick entitled "Open Range" (2003) and this effort was quite a success when it gained moderate result during its run in domestic theaters. Next billed to appear in "The Upside of Anger" (2005), "Rumor Has It" (2005), "The Tortilla Curtain" (2006), and "The Guardian" (2006), he, after all, has accomplished in maintaining his career for over two decades. Concerning his love life, Kevin first married to his college sweetheart, Cindy Silva, in 1978 and later happily welcomed their children, Annie in 1985, Lily in 1987, and Joe in 1988. As the knot was broken in 1994, he then was spotted dating Bridget Rooney who gave him a son named Liam by 1996, but eventually gave his heart to Christine Baumgartner and married her on September 25, 2004. The pair welcomed their first child together, a boy named Cayden Wyatt Costner, on May 6, 2007.