Kevin Costner Biography

Kevin Costner is an actor and director known for playing upright heroes in big-budget epics. He was a hit as heroic G-man Eliot Ness in The Untouchables (1987, with Sean Connery) and followed that with two popular baseball movies: Bull Durham (1988, with Susan Sarandon) and Field of Dreams (1989, with Burt Lancaster). Costner gained enough clout to direct and star in his own movie: the western Dances With Wolves (1990) was a smash hit, winning the Best Picture Oscar and the Best Director Oscar for Costner. His 1995 movie Waterworld was a famous big-budget flop, but he bounced back the next year as a golfer in the romantic comedy Tin Cup (1996). His other films have included The Bodyguard (1992, with Whitney Houston), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991, as Robin Hood), the Elvis-friendly crime adventure 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001),  the 2005 film The Upside of Anger (with Joan Allen), the electoral comedy Swing Vote (2008) and the economic drama The Company Men (2010). Costner’s starring role in the 2012 mini-series Hatfields & McCoys earned him an Emmy Award that year.