Michael Douglas

Michael Douglas
Name	Michael Douglas
Caption	Douglas in 2018
Birth date	25 September 1944
Birth place	New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, producer
Years active	1966–present
Spouse	Diandra Luker (1977–2000), Catherine Zeta-Jones (2000–present)
Children	3, including Cameron Douglas
Father	Kirk Douglas
Mother	Diana Dill
Alma mater	University of California, Santa Barbara

Michael Douglas is an American actor and film producer who has been a major figure in Hollywood for over five decades. The son of legendary actor Kirk Douglas and actress Diana Dill, he first gained major recognition as a producer for the acclaimed film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. He later achieved global stardom as an actor in a string of commercially successful and critically praised films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including Romancing the Stone, Fatal Attraction, and Wall Street, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Early life and education

Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, he is the first child of Kirk Douglas and his first wife, actress Diana Dill. His parents divorced when he was six, and he was primarily raised by his mother in Connecticut, though he spent summers with his father in California. He attended The Eaglebrook School in Massachusetts and later Choate Rosemary Hall. Initially showing little interest in acting, Douglas studied drama at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968. He further honed his craft at the American Place Theatre in New York City under the guidance of Wynn Handman.

Acting career

Douglas began his on-screen career with a role in the CBS television series The Streets of San Francisco, starring alongside veteran actor Karl Malden. His film breakthrough came with the thriller The China Syndrome, which eerily preceded the real-life incident at Three Mile Island. He solidified his status as a leading man with the adventure-romance Romancing the Stone, which he also produced. This success was followed by the blockbuster psychological thriller Fatal Attraction with Glenn Close and the financial drama Wall Street, where his portrayal of ruthless corporate raider Gordon Gekko became iconic. Later career highlights include starring in ''Basic Instinct'' opposite Sharon Stone, David Fincher's thriller The Game, and a comedic turn in Wonder Boys. He later portrayed Liberace in the HBO film Behind the Candelabra, earning critical acclaim, and joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Hank Pym in Ant-Man and its sequels.

Film production

Through his company Bryna Productions, later renamed Further Films, Douglas established himself as a powerful producer. His first major production, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, adapted from the novel by Ken Kesey and starring Jack Nicholson, achieved a historic sweep of the top five Academy Awards. He continued to produce many of his own starring vehicles, including Romancing the Stone, The Jewel of the Nile, and The Ghost and the Darkness. His production work extended to socially conscious projects like The China Syndrome and the HBO film And the Band Played On, which addressed the early years of the AIDS epidemic.

Personal life

Douglas was married to diplomat's daughter Diandra Luker from 1977 until their divorce in 2000; they have one son, Cameron Douglas. In 2000, he married Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones at the Plaza Hotel in New York City; they have two children, Dylan Douglas and Carys Zeta Douglas. His family has faced public challenges, including his son Cameron's legal troubles and incarceration, and his own battle with tongue cancer, which he announced was caused by the human papillomavirus. He is a longtime supporter of the United Nations and serves as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, focusing on nuclear disarmament.

Awards and recognition

Douglas is one of the few individuals to have won Academy Awards for both acting and producing. He won the Academy Award for Best Picture for producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Wall Street. He has also received multiple Golden Globe Awards, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, and a Primetime Emmy Award for his performance in Behind the Candelabra. In 2009, he was honored with the AFI Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.

Filmography

A selective list of his notable works includes *The China Syndrome (1979), *Romancing the Stone (1984), *Fatal Attraction (1987), *Wall Street (1987), *Basic Instinct (1992), *Falling Down (1993), *The American President (1995), *The Game (1997), *Traffic (2000), *Wonder Boys (2000), *Behind the Candelabra (2013), and *Ant-Man (2015).

Category:American film producers Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Picture Academy Award winners