Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner is an American film actor, director and producer. One of Costner's most successful films was Dances with Wolves (1990), which won seven Academy Awards, including (Best Picture and Best Director).
Costner's biggest success was the epic Dances with Wolves (1990). He directed and starred in the film and served as one of two producers. The film was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won seven, including two for him personally (Best Picture and Best Director). Costner followed this with Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (1991), the Oliver Stone-directed JFK (1991), The Bodyguard (1992), and Clint Eastwood's A Perfect World, (1993), all of which provided huge box office takings or critical acclaim.
He then took the title role in the biopic Wyatt Earp (1994), directed by established collaborator Lawrence Kasdan, which fizzled at the summer 1994 box office. The science fiction epics Waterworld (1995) and The Postman (1997), the latter of which Costner also directed, were both initially considered major disappointments at the box office. However, Waterworld grossed $264 million worldwide from a $175 million budget, despite generally poor reviews and The Postman is now looked upon as a prescient pro-government political piece. Costner then starred in the comedic film Tin Cup (1996), before developing the film Air Force One. He was set to play the lead role in the film, but ultimately decided to concentrate on finishing The Postman instead. He personally offered the project to Harrison Ford.
Costner's career revived somewhat in 2000 with Thirteen Days. Open Range, in which he directed and starred, received high critical acclaim in 2003 as a Revisionist Western, though it was only a minor success commercially. Costner starred in The Guardian and in Mr. Brooks, where he portrayed a serial killer. Costner was honored on September 6, 2006, when his hand and foot prints were set in concrete in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre along side other actors and entertainers.
Several of Costner's films have included a baseball theme. They include Chasing Dreams, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, and For Love of the Game. (In The Upside of Anger, his character is a former baseball professional.) Costner has a love for baseball and has stated he loves to play baseball even more than he loves watching it. He plays regularly in celebrity golf tournaments, including the annual BMW Pro-Am held each April in Greenville County, South Carolina.
Costner owns 93.5% of the "Midnight Star" casino in Deadwood, South Dakota. The casino, its sports bar "Diamond Lil's", and its restaurant "Jake's" are all named after characters and locations from the movie Silverado; and the facility contains posters, costumes, and other memorabilia from Costner's films. In July 2004, Costner fired Francis and Carla Caneva, who managed the Midnight Star. A judge subsequently order Costner to pay $6.1 million to buy out the Caneva's as his business partners. In October 2006, Costner asked the South Dakota Supreme Court to re-examine the ruling, as an accountant hired by the actor had determined the market value of the casino at $3.1m, to dissolve the partnership.
Costner is a fan of the London football team Arsenal F.C. While filming Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, he was given the opportunity to attend a game and has followed the team ever since. Costner was named ceremonial Grand Marshall of the Auto550 club, at the February 25, 2007 Nascar Nextel Cup event at the California Speedway.
Costner has a home in Austin, Texas and sometimes appears at University of Texas Longhorn baseball practices and games. Costner is a close friend to Longhorns baseball coach Augie Garrido,from Garrido's days coaching at Cal State Fullerton where Costner attended. He cast Garrido to play the role of "Yankee Manager" in his film For Love of the Game. He is also known to attend every College World Series game that Cal State Fullerton plays in Omaha.