Kevin Costner biography

The film told the story of a Civil War soldier who befriends a tribe of Sioux Indians. Incredibly well received,

the movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Costner also won for the Academy Award for Best Director.

Costner continued to enjoy box office success with the action adventure tale Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and the romantic drama The Bodyguard (1992) with Whitney Houston. But Costner soon ran into a series of disappointments. While earning kudos from critics, his film with Clint Eastwood, A Perfect World (1993), failed to make much an impression on movie-goers. His turn as the famous western icon in Wyatt Earp (1994) received mixed reviews and did mediocre business at the box office.

Working as its star and producer, Costner faced a tremendous challenge with Waterworld (1995). This futuristic tale of a nearly landless Earth had problems from the start. Filming largely took place on the open ocean on specially built platforms, one of which sank and have been recovered. Cast and crew also battled seasickness and the elements, which sometimes stopped or delayed the production. The movie, which also starred Dennis Hopper and Jeanne Tripplehorn, opened strong with a $21 million first weekend, but it soon lost steam with movie-goers. It also received a tepid reception from critics.

Undaunted, Costner worked on another futuristic epic The Postman (1997).He played the title character, a man who pretends to a letter carrier in a post-Apocalyptic America fractured by nuclear war. His charade brings hope to an isolated community. Some called The Postman the worst film of the year, while others simply noted that it was "a misfire" and "way too long, too pretentious and too self-indulgent."

After this film, Costner's star power seemed to fade somewhat. He didn't help his reputation by getting into a very public dispute with Universal over edits made to his next film For the Love of Game (1998). But Costner showed critics that he still had what it takes to give an impressive performance with Thirteen Days (2000). He earned strong reviews for his work in this true-life drama about the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Recent Projects

In 2005, Costner turned to one of his other passions—music. He started working with a band called Modern West. They released their first album Untold Truths in 2008. Since then, Costner had put out two more recordings, 2010's Turn It On and 2011's From Where I Stand. He and his band have toured several times in recent years.

Costner, however, hasn't turned his back on acting. He starred in the election comedy Swing Vote in 2008, and appeared in the 2010 drama The Company Men with Chris Cooper, Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones. In 2012, Costner tackled a juicy role on the small screen, starring in the History Channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys as Devil Anse Hatfield, the leader of a famous feuding family. His nemesis, Randall McCoy, was played by Bill Paxton. For his Hatfields & McCoys performance, Costner won an Emmy Award (best actor in a miniseries) in 2012.