"I just let the work speak for itself. An actor is not afraid to take risks; to put on different hats; to be a good guy, a bad guy, a victim, an abuser. There are all kinds of people in the world, and playing them is what acting is all about." ~ Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon Biography:
While Kevin Bacon may not be the kind of sexy celebrity that can lead a movie, he is enough of an artistic bright star to have inspired the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game, whose creators guaranteed that anyone in Hollywood in the past fifteen years could be linked to the multitalented actor in six strokes or less. With the support of his parents, he moved to New York City at age seventeen and became the youngest novice at Circle in the Square, starting on a stage career that would see him win an OBIE before the age of twenty-five and perform on Broadway opposite Sean Penn in "The Slab Boys" (1983). He made his movie debut with a small part in "National Lampoon's Animal House" (1978) and appeared in five other films before getting his first major break as the mystified rich kid with a drinking problem in Barry Levinson's directorial debut "Diner" (1982).
The lively blond actor shot into the leading man category as the dancing rebel in "Footloose" with Sarah Jessica Parker (1984), an oddly popular "Flashdance" makeover, and promptly set about sabotaging his career with his loathing for the teen idol success the picture had earned him. Starring in somewhat dull movies like "Quicksilver" (1986) and "Whitewater Summer" (1987) lowered his status considerably, and a pairing with director John Hughes as the worried yuppie dad in the fashionable comedy "She's Having a Baby" (1988) also failed to impress at the box office.By the time he had played a cold blooded murderer in "Criminal Law" (1988), then played the young filmmaker in the underrated satire "The Big Picture" with Jennifer Jason Leigh (1989), his career was in total crisis mode, made worse by the death of his mother and the sudden sense of responsibility from the birth of his first child.After beginning the decade unfavorably with "Flatliners" (1990) with Kiefer Sutherland and Julia Roberts, and "Tremors" (1990) as well as "He Said, She Said" with Sharon Stone (1991), he refashioned himself during the 1990's, looking for character parts in more big budget and high profile projects. He did a great job as the smiling gay hustler in Oliver Stone's "JFK" next to Kevin Costner (1991), and looked rock solid as the Marine attorney in Rob Reiner's "A Few Good Men" along side a heavy hitting celebrity cast in 1992. The movie "The Air Up There" (1994) reinforced the fact that his name alone was not enough to carry a movie, but he returned to the winner's circle by intimidating Meryl Streep and her family in "The River Wild" also starring Benjamin Bratt as the ranger in 1994, Streep's performance sold the movie while Kevin gave it its edge. Christian Slater drove the box-office profits of the historical courtroom drama "Murder in the First" (1995), but it was Kevin giving the outstanding performance that made the movie a smash hit, digging deep into an Alcazar inmate whose depression-era theft of five dollars had landed him in jail in the first place. That same year, he also brought a rich interest to his role as Jack Swigert, one of the crew of Ron Howard's "Apollo 13"working with Hollywood uber icon Tom Hanks.
He made his directorial debut with the character drama "Losing Chase" (1996), a movie starring his wife Kyra Sedgwick, which got a theatrical boost after its premiere on Showtime. The actor picked up his first credit as executive producer for the movie "Wild Things" (1998) and received his first musical song credit ("Medium Rare") for "Telling Lies in America" with Brad Renfro and Calista Flockhart (1997), in which he also starred as a self-righteous disc jockey taking bribes.
The Bacon Brothers 
"The Bacon Brothers", the band he had formed with his older brother Michael, also put out their first album ("Forosoco") that year. Continuing in the musical frame of mind, he sang on the ABC television special "Happy Birthday Elizabeth - A Celebration of Life" (1997), honoring Elizabeth Taylor, and shared credit for the music of the film "Solo Shuttle" (1998) and saw the "Bacon Brothers" put out their second album, "Getting There" (1999), as well as playing their first major New York City live concert at the revered Town Hall in 2000.
  
  
Next was the thriller "Sleepers" (1997) starring Robert De Niro, and "Picture Perfect" (1997) starring Jennifer Aniston, about a woman working on a career at Mercer Advertising, but is passed up for promotion because she is "not stable enough". He then was hired and cast in a role in the drama "Digging To China" (1998) featuring Evan Rachel Wood, about 11-year-old Harriet, who dreams of leaving her home, where she doesn't feel she's needed by her mother and sister any more. Next was the comedy thriller "Wild Things" (1998), with Matt Dillon, about a high school guidance counselor who is framed for raping two of his students. The actor next gave a brilliant performance as a working man who takes a perilously long time to fully realize his newly attained psychic powers in David Koepp's supernatural thriller "Stir of Echoes" (1998). Released after "The Sixth Sense" (1998), which also showcased a young boy who sees dead people, this little seen movie stayed in the blockbuster's shadow.Later that year, the actor turned meaner as a scientist who uses himself as a test subject with a drug that could turn mammals invisible in "Hollow Man". Next was the family drama "My Dog Skip" (2000) with Frankie Muniz and Luke Wilson, about a shy young boy who grows up in 1940s Mississippi with the help of his beloved dog Skip. And in 2002, he and Courtney Love played professional kidnappers in the action movie "Trapped," which also co-starred Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend.He was next hired in one of his best roles to date when he appeared in director Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" (2003), playing police detective Sean Devine, a homicide investigator who is bogged down by the murder of the daughter of one of his childhood friends. He followed up with an even more difficult role in "The Woodsman" with Benjamin Bratt (2004), playing a convicted pedophile who returns to his hometown to begin a new life after thirteen years in prison.
Shifting gears considerably, the now hot celebrity enjoyed a scene stealing supporting role as an flamboyant, first rate hair stylist in the "Barbershop" adaptation of "Beauty Shop" appearing with Alicia Silverstone (2005), about a hairstylist who opens up a beauty shop full of employees and customers more interested in talking gossip than getting a hair cut. In his next project, he co-starred with Colin Firth in director Atom Egoyan's calculating and mysterious "Where the Truth Lies" (2005) as Lanny Morris, the creepy half of a 1950's superstar comedy team caught up in the unexplained murder of a gorgeous blonde who turns up naked and dead in the bathtub of their New Jersey hotel room. Next was the romantic comedy " Loverboy" (2005), about a neglected daughter who becomes a possessive mother in an emotional journey into the heart and mind of a woman who loved too much.The year 2007 started off with the romantic crime drama "The Air I Breathe" (2007), a drama based on an ancient Chinese proverb that breaks life down into four emotional cornerstones. Kevin then was cast in a darker role in the action thriller "Death Sentence" (2007) about a good-natured executive with a perfect life, until one gruesome night he witnesses something that changes him forever. Transformed by grief, he eventually comes to the disturbing supposition that no risk is too great when protecting his family. A starring role in the drama "Rails & Ties" (2007) showed a more kindhearted side of Bacon, in the film about a deadly collision between a train and a car that leads to an unlikely relationship between the train engineer and a young boy who escapes the carnage. He then had a role in the sad drama "Saving Angelo" (2007), a heartwarming story of a boy who discovers an abandoned dog left for dead on the side of the road who he ultimately brings back to life.
The year 2008 began with the political drama "Frost/Nixon" (2008), a dramatic retelling of the Watergate television interviews between British talk show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon. The actor then appeared in the television war drama "Taking Chance" (2008), based on real life events of Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, an unpaid military escort officer who accompanies the body of 19-year-old Marine Chance Phelps back to his hometown of Dubois, Wyoming. To wrap up the year, the actor took a role in the peculiar, multi-part film project " New York, I Love You" (2008), an anthology film joining several love stories set in one of the most loved cities of the world, New York. |
