Post by Kaz ~;~ on Mar 2, 2011 3:12:42 GMT -5
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Born Jeffrey Leon Bridges
December 4, 1949 (age 61)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Actor, singer, producer, composer
Years active 1950–present
Spouse Susan Geston (1977–present; 3 children)
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor and musician.
He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 82nd Academy Awards for his role as "Bad Blake" in the 2009 movie Crazy Heart.
He has been called “the most natural and least self-conscious screen actor that has ever lived” by critic Pauline Kael. He embodies traits far beyond brilliance as an actor. He is an exceptional musician, a photographer, an occasional vintner and a storyteller. He hails from an illustrious Hollywood family, working as a child with his father Lloyd Bridges and brother Beau on television’s Sea Hunt. His casual, easy-going air has endeared him to audiences for almost 40 years, starting with 1971's The Last Picture Show. Some of his other best known movies are cult Sci-fi movie Tron, Fearless, Iron Man, Contender, TheThe Contender, Starman, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Jagged Edge, Fisher King, TheThe Fisher King, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Seabiscuit, Tron: Legacy and the cult Coen Brothers classic The Big Lebowski. He earned his sixth Academy Award nomination & fourth Golden Globe for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in 2010's True Grit.
==============================
Early life::
Jeffrey Leon Bridges was born in Los Angeles, California December 4, 1949. He was born into a showbiz family, the son of actress and writer Dorothy Bridges (née Simpson) and actor Lloyd Bridges. His older brother Beau Bridges is also an actor. He has two other siblings, a younger sister called Lucinda and a brother called Garrett. Garrett died of sudden infant death syndrome in 1948. Growing up, Bridges shared a close relationship with his brother Beau, who acted as a surrogate father when their father was working. Bridges and his siblings were raised in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles. He attended Palisades Charter High School in Los Angeles. At age 14, Jeff toured with his father in a stage production of Anniversary Waltz.
"Unlike his father, he was very supportive of all his kids getting involved in movies and acting in general. Not because he wanted to live vicariously through them, but because he dug it so much. He loved what he did and wanted to turn his kids onto it. He thought it was a great way of meeting people, being creative, and traveling around the world and doing what you love to do." - On his fathers desire for him to become an actor
After graduating high school, Bridges journeyed to New York where he studied acting at the famed Herbert Berghof Studio. Before becoming an actor he served in the U.S. Coast Guard in the late 1960s, and as a reservist in the early 1970s to avoid being sent to Vietnam
----------------------------
Film career::
Bridges at the premiere of The Men Who Stare at Goats, during the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.Jeff Bridges made his first screen appearance at the tender age of four months, playing Jane Greer's infant son in The Company She Keeps in 1950. In his youth, Bridges and Beau made occasional appearances on their father's show Sea Hunt (1958–1961) and the CBS anthology series, The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962–1963). His first major role came in the 1971 movie The Last Picture Show, for which he garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated again for the same award for his performance opposite Clint Eastwood in the 1974 film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. In 1976, he starred as the protagonist Jack Prescott in the first remake of King Kong, opposite Jessica Lange. This film was a huge commercial success, earning $90 million worldwide, more than triple its $23 million budget, and also winning an Academy Award for special effects.
One of his better known roles was in the 1982 science-fiction cult classic Tron, in which he played Kevin Flynn, a video game programmer (a role he reprised in late 2010 with the sequel Tron: Legacy). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1984 for playing the alien in Starman. He was also acclaimed for his roles in the thriller Against All Odds and the crime drama Jagged Edge. His role in Fearless is recognized by some critics to be one of his best performances. One critic dubbed it a masterpiece; Pauline Kael wrote that he "may be the most natural and least self-conscious screen actor that has ever lived". In 1998 starred as what is arguably his most famous role, "The Dude" in the Coen Brothers' cult-classic film The Big Lebowski. He has stated in the past that he relates to "The Dude" more than any of his other roles.
In 2000, he received his fourth Academy Award nomination for his role in The Contender. He also starred in the 2005 Terry Gilliam movie Tideland, his second with the director (the first being 1991's The Fisher King). He shaved his trademark mane of hair to play the role of Obadiah Stane in the 2008 Marvel comic book adaptation Iron Man. In July 2008, at the San Diego Comic-Con International, he appeared in a teaser for TRON: Legacy, shot as concept footage for director Joseph Kosinski; this developed into a full 3D feature release in 2010.
In 2010, Bridges won the Academy Award for Best Actor, Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for his role as Bad Blake in the film Crazy Heart. (Bridges is one of the oldest actors ever to win an Academy Award; he was also one of the youngest actors ever to be nominated. In 2010, he won his Oscar for Crazy Heart at the age of 60; in 1972, he was nominated for The Last Picture Show at age 22.)
He received his sixth Academy Award nomination for his role in True Grit, a collaboration with the Coen brothers in which he starred alongside Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, and Hailee Steinfeld. Both the film, and Bridges' performance as Rooster Cogburn, were critically praised. Bridges lost to Colin Firth, whom he had beaten for the Oscar in the same category the previous year.
----------------------------
Other work::
Bridges had been an amateur photographer since high school, and began taking photographs on movie sets during Starman, at the suggestion of co-star Karen Allen. He has published many of these photographs online and in the 2003 Pictures: Photographs by Jeff Bridges.
Bridges is also a cartoonist. Some of his "doodles" have appeared in films including K-PAX and The Door in the Floor. Bridges narrated the documentary Lost in La Mancha (2002), about the "unmaking" of a Terry Gilliam retelling of Don Quixote, tentatively titled The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which would have starred Johnny Depp as Sancho Panza and Jean Rochefort as the quixotic hero. Bridges also narrated the documentaries Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West (2002, IMAX), Raising the Mammoth (2000, TV), and The Heroes of Rock and Roll (1979, TV). He also voiced the character Big Z in the animated picture Surf's Up.
Bridges has performed TV commercial voice-over work as well, including Hyundai's 2007 "Think About It" advertisement campaign as well as the Duracell advertisements in the "Trusted Everywhere" campaign.
On January 15, 2010 Bridges performed the song "I Don't Know" from Crazy Heart on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. In the film The Contender, in which he co-starred, Bridges recorded a version of Johnny Cash's standard "Ring of Fire" with Kim Carnes that played over the pivotal opening credits.
In February 2010, he was among the nearly 80 musicians to sing on the charity-single remake of We Are the World.
On December 18, 2010, Bridges hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live; he had hosted the show before in 1983 with his brother, Beau. With the December 18, 2010 episode, Bridges beat Sigourney Weaver's record for longest gap between hosting appearances on SNL (Weaver had a 24-year gap between her first time hosting in 1986 and her second time hosting in 2010, while Bridges had a 27-year gap between his first appearance in 1983 and his most recent one, also in 2010).
------------------------------
Personal life::
Bridges married Susan Geston in 1977. They met on the movie shoot of Rancho Deluxe, which was filmed on a ranch where Geston was working as a maid.
They have three daughters: Isabelle Annie (born August 6, 1981), Jessica Lily "Jessie" (born June 14, 1983), and Hayley Roselouise (born October 17, 1985). Bridges is also a known cannabis user; in an interview, he admitted to giving up smoking marijuana during the filming of The Big Lebowski, but says he has not "permanently kicked the habit." He is also a keen amateur photographer and painter.
He has a reputation for being one of the most likeable men in hollywood. His Last Picture Show director Peter Bogdanovich has said of Bridges - "I've never, ever heard of him pulling a star turn or showing any ego. He was an absolute pleasure to work with". And his Big Lebowski co-star John Goodman said "It's like watching a diamond cutter, When you look at the diamond, you don't think of the work, you just notice there's no flaws". And The New Yorker summed him up very simply as "the best actor alive".
He describes himself as being "Extremely laid back". It was only during the filming of Iceman Cometh, TheThe Iceman Cometh that he decided to focus solely on acting, and make it his profession. Up until then, he'd been "all about drugs, sex and meditation". He has said, playing opposite such heavyweights as Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin and Frederic March, was where he first took acting absolutely seriously.
Bridges has studied Buddhism. He meditates for half an hour before beginning work on a film set.
--------------------------------
Humanitarian efforts::
In 1984, Bridges and other entertainment industry leaders founded the End Hunger Network, which has a long record of innovative and impactful initiatives aimed at encouraging, stimulating and supporting action to end childhood hunger. He embraces President Obama's initiative to End Childhood Hunger by 2015. He has teamed up with the Zen Peacemakers who operate a non-traditional soup kitchen that builds a cross-class community and provides food and wellness offerings with dignity.[20] In November 2010, Bridges became spokesman for the No Kid Hungry Campaign of the organization Share our Strength. Its goal is to present and undertake a state-by-state strategy to end childhood hunger in the United States by 2015.
Jeff is a work in progress will be updated
Born Jeffrey Leon Bridges
December 4, 1949 (age 61)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Actor, singer, producer, composer
Years active 1950–present
Spouse Susan Geston (1977–present; 3 children)
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor and musician.
He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 82nd Academy Awards for his role as "Bad Blake" in the 2009 movie Crazy Heart.
He has been called “the most natural and least self-conscious screen actor that has ever lived” by critic Pauline Kael. He embodies traits far beyond brilliance as an actor. He is an exceptional musician, a photographer, an occasional vintner and a storyteller. He hails from an illustrious Hollywood family, working as a child with his father Lloyd Bridges and brother Beau on television’s Sea Hunt. His casual, easy-going air has endeared him to audiences for almost 40 years, starting with 1971's The Last Picture Show. Some of his other best known movies are cult Sci-fi movie Tron, Fearless, Iron Man, Contender, TheThe Contender, Starman, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Jagged Edge, Fisher King, TheThe Fisher King, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Seabiscuit, Tron: Legacy and the cult Coen Brothers classic The Big Lebowski. He earned his sixth Academy Award nomination & fourth Golden Globe for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in 2010's True Grit.
==============================
Early life::
Jeffrey Leon Bridges was born in Los Angeles, California December 4, 1949. He was born into a showbiz family, the son of actress and writer Dorothy Bridges (née Simpson) and actor Lloyd Bridges. His older brother Beau Bridges is also an actor. He has two other siblings, a younger sister called Lucinda and a brother called Garrett. Garrett died of sudden infant death syndrome in 1948. Growing up, Bridges shared a close relationship with his brother Beau, who acted as a surrogate father when their father was working. Bridges and his siblings were raised in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles. He attended Palisades Charter High School in Los Angeles. At age 14, Jeff toured with his father in a stage production of Anniversary Waltz.
"Unlike his father, he was very supportive of all his kids getting involved in movies and acting in general. Not because he wanted to live vicariously through them, but because he dug it so much. He loved what he did and wanted to turn his kids onto it. He thought it was a great way of meeting people, being creative, and traveling around the world and doing what you love to do." - On his fathers desire for him to become an actor
After graduating high school, Bridges journeyed to New York where he studied acting at the famed Herbert Berghof Studio. Before becoming an actor he served in the U.S. Coast Guard in the late 1960s, and as a reservist in the early 1970s to avoid being sent to Vietnam
----------------------------
Film career::
Bridges at the premiere of The Men Who Stare at Goats, during the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.Jeff Bridges made his first screen appearance at the tender age of four months, playing Jane Greer's infant son in The Company She Keeps in 1950. In his youth, Bridges and Beau made occasional appearances on their father's show Sea Hunt (1958–1961) and the CBS anthology series, The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962–1963). His first major role came in the 1971 movie The Last Picture Show, for which he garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated again for the same award for his performance opposite Clint Eastwood in the 1974 film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. In 1976, he starred as the protagonist Jack Prescott in the first remake of King Kong, opposite Jessica Lange. This film was a huge commercial success, earning $90 million worldwide, more than triple its $23 million budget, and also winning an Academy Award for special effects.
One of his better known roles was in the 1982 science-fiction cult classic Tron, in which he played Kevin Flynn, a video game programmer (a role he reprised in late 2010 with the sequel Tron: Legacy). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1984 for playing the alien in Starman. He was also acclaimed for his roles in the thriller Against All Odds and the crime drama Jagged Edge. His role in Fearless is recognized by some critics to be one of his best performances. One critic dubbed it a masterpiece; Pauline Kael wrote that he "may be the most natural and least self-conscious screen actor that has ever lived". In 1998 starred as what is arguably his most famous role, "The Dude" in the Coen Brothers' cult-classic film The Big Lebowski. He has stated in the past that he relates to "The Dude" more than any of his other roles.
In 2000, he received his fourth Academy Award nomination for his role in The Contender. He also starred in the 2005 Terry Gilliam movie Tideland, his second with the director (the first being 1991's The Fisher King). He shaved his trademark mane of hair to play the role of Obadiah Stane in the 2008 Marvel comic book adaptation Iron Man. In July 2008, at the San Diego Comic-Con International, he appeared in a teaser for TRON: Legacy, shot as concept footage for director Joseph Kosinski; this developed into a full 3D feature release in 2010.
In 2010, Bridges won the Academy Award for Best Actor, Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for his role as Bad Blake in the film Crazy Heart. (Bridges is one of the oldest actors ever to win an Academy Award; he was also one of the youngest actors ever to be nominated. In 2010, he won his Oscar for Crazy Heart at the age of 60; in 1972, he was nominated for The Last Picture Show at age 22.)
He received his sixth Academy Award nomination for his role in True Grit, a collaboration with the Coen brothers in which he starred alongside Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, and Hailee Steinfeld. Both the film, and Bridges' performance as Rooster Cogburn, were critically praised. Bridges lost to Colin Firth, whom he had beaten for the Oscar in the same category the previous year.
----------------------------
Other work::
Bridges had been an amateur photographer since high school, and began taking photographs on movie sets during Starman, at the suggestion of co-star Karen Allen. He has published many of these photographs online and in the 2003 Pictures: Photographs by Jeff Bridges.
Bridges is also a cartoonist. Some of his "doodles" have appeared in films including K-PAX and The Door in the Floor. Bridges narrated the documentary Lost in La Mancha (2002), about the "unmaking" of a Terry Gilliam retelling of Don Quixote, tentatively titled The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which would have starred Johnny Depp as Sancho Panza and Jean Rochefort as the quixotic hero. Bridges also narrated the documentaries Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West (2002, IMAX), Raising the Mammoth (2000, TV), and The Heroes of Rock and Roll (1979, TV). He also voiced the character Big Z in the animated picture Surf's Up.
Bridges has performed TV commercial voice-over work as well, including Hyundai's 2007 "Think About It" advertisement campaign as well as the Duracell advertisements in the "Trusted Everywhere" campaign.
On January 15, 2010 Bridges performed the song "I Don't Know" from Crazy Heart on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. In the film The Contender, in which he co-starred, Bridges recorded a version of Johnny Cash's standard "Ring of Fire" with Kim Carnes that played over the pivotal opening credits.
In February 2010, he was among the nearly 80 musicians to sing on the charity-single remake of We Are the World.
On December 18, 2010, Bridges hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live; he had hosted the show before in 1983 with his brother, Beau. With the December 18, 2010 episode, Bridges beat Sigourney Weaver's record for longest gap between hosting appearances on SNL (Weaver had a 24-year gap between her first time hosting in 1986 and her second time hosting in 2010, while Bridges had a 27-year gap between his first appearance in 1983 and his most recent one, also in 2010).
------------------------------
Personal life::
Bridges married Susan Geston in 1977. They met on the movie shoot of Rancho Deluxe, which was filmed on a ranch where Geston was working as a maid.
They have three daughters: Isabelle Annie (born August 6, 1981), Jessica Lily "Jessie" (born June 14, 1983), and Hayley Roselouise (born October 17, 1985). Bridges is also a known cannabis user; in an interview, he admitted to giving up smoking marijuana during the filming of The Big Lebowski, but says he has not "permanently kicked the habit." He is also a keen amateur photographer and painter.
He has a reputation for being one of the most likeable men in hollywood. His Last Picture Show director Peter Bogdanovich has said of Bridges - "I've never, ever heard of him pulling a star turn or showing any ego. He was an absolute pleasure to work with". And his Big Lebowski co-star John Goodman said "It's like watching a diamond cutter, When you look at the diamond, you don't think of the work, you just notice there's no flaws". And The New Yorker summed him up very simply as "the best actor alive".
He describes himself as being "Extremely laid back". It was only during the filming of Iceman Cometh, TheThe Iceman Cometh that he decided to focus solely on acting, and make it his profession. Up until then, he'd been "all about drugs, sex and meditation". He has said, playing opposite such heavyweights as Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin and Frederic March, was where he first took acting absolutely seriously.
Bridges has studied Buddhism. He meditates for half an hour before beginning work on a film set.
--------------------------------
Humanitarian efforts::
In 1984, Bridges and other entertainment industry leaders founded the End Hunger Network, which has a long record of innovative and impactful initiatives aimed at encouraging, stimulating and supporting action to end childhood hunger. He embraces President Obama's initiative to End Childhood Hunger by 2015. He has teamed up with the Zen Peacemakers who operate a non-traditional soup kitchen that builds a cross-class community and provides food and wellness offerings with dignity.[20] In November 2010, Bridges became spokesman for the No Kid Hungry Campaign of the organization Share our Strength. Its goal is to present and undertake a state-by-state strategy to end childhood hunger in the United States by 2015.
Jeff is a work in progress will be updated