From our favorite westerns to our favorite baseball films and more,
Kevin Costner has starred on-screen for decades now. But how did he become the
Hollywood star he is today? What led up to his big Oscar win? Keep watching to find out.
Kevin Costner attended several different schools as a teenager,
and as a result, he always felt like a bit of an outcast.
Repeatedly forced to start over with a new set of teachers and peers, he struggled
to find his social circle and identify his own strengths. Costner told Rolling Stone,
"Along the way, I kind of lost what my own real identity was. [...] Like, 'Well,
who am I? Just some guy who goes to a new school and, god, wants to just have a couple of friends?"
But growing up, he always had a strong interest in the arts. His parents were rather strict,
so he did his best to stay out of trouble, and he excelled at a few different hobbies. Costner
enjoyed writing poetry in his spare time. He also sang in a Baptist choir. While some actors knew
that they wanted to be in front of the camera at a young age, Costner didn't have that clear vision
of his future just yet. However, he definitely had a creative streak that was always evident.
Growing up, Kevin Costner always did have a love for the movies. Granted, he had no
idea that he would be starring in films of his own one day, but he often found himself getting
lost in the great ones. There were a few movies that made a particularly profound impact on him.
Costner has stated that the classic film How the West Was Won formed his childhood. He also
sought out other Western films. He loved Red River and The Searchers, both of which are
considered two of John Wayne's best films. He always felt a connection to this time period
in American history, and it influenced his choice of acting roles as his career got off the ground.
This includes the types of projects he was inclined to select as he rose in Hollywood, and he
would acquire the type of clout it takes to make major movies happen through sheer force of will.
After graduating from high school, Costner began studying business at California State University,
Fullerton. But as the years went on, he still felt like he wasn't connecting with the people
around him, and he eventually realized that business wasn't his true calling after all.
Costner recalled while speaking with Rolling Stone,
"As I approached my senior year, I had a real talk with myself about what I wanted to do
and whether I just wanted to please other people [...] And it was at that
moment that I actually said to myself, 'I'm interested in storytelling.'"
Looking back, Costner described the way the moment he realized he wanted to be an artist,
regardless of what anyone else thought, was very liberating. He continued,
"If you want to look at a high point in my life, it wasn't a movie [...] It was that internal
talk I had with myself, where I said [...] 'I am going to go where my heart wants to go.'"
Although Kevin Costner eventually decided what path he wanted to take,
he still felt that he needed some encouragement. After all,
pursuing an acting career is a major risk, and he worried about whether or
not he really had what it took to succeed in Hollywood. But a chance encounter with Academy
Award-winning actor Richard Burton gave Costner the confidence he needed to go after his dreams.
Costner and his wife were catching a flight home on their way back from their honeymoon
when the newlyweds noticed that Burton was also seated on their plane. Costner was nervous to
approach the actor to ask for his advice, but he decided to go for it anyway, and he was
relieved when Burton was supportive of Costner's ambitions. Costner told Yahoo! Entertainment,
"I desperately wanted to talk to him [...] The conversation never really expanded other than
there was a gentleness and a kindness and looking at me saying, 'I think you should try this.'"
This was just what Costner needed to hear, and after receiving this bit of affirmation,
he finally felt confident that he could make a living as an actor.
Like many aspiring actors, Kevin Costner wasn't exactly rolling in dough during the
early days of his career. When he had that pivotal conversation on the plane with Richard Burton,
he was working in marketing. As he invested more and more time into his acting career,
he took on odd jobs to pay the bills while going on auditions.
He had absolutely no connections in the entertainment industry,
so he genuinely started from the bottom. He had to learn how to navigate the business all on his own.
Costner was getting his career off the ground before everyone had a cell phone in their pocket,
and he admitted that he had a very unusual living arrangement and a very unique way of learning
whether or not he'd landed a gig. Costner said in an interview with The Independent,
"When I decided that I was going to be an actor, no one gave me a chance. I certainly didn't know
how it worked [...] I used to drive my truck in every day to La Brea and Sunset and park
by a phone booth and just go to sleep in my truck because I didn't know what else to do."
"And the good Lord willing, things will work out."
Eventually, Kevin Costner began landing some small roles in movies. He technically made his
professional acting debut in the indie film Sizzle Beach, U.S.A., also known as Malibu
Hot Summer. He played the owner of a horse stable in Malibu who has a fling with a summer tourist,
but the film wasn't released until well after it was initially shot. Therefore,
his bit part as a frat boy in Night Shift could probably count as his first on-screen appearance.
Of course, his unnamed character doesn't exactly play a huge role in the film, but at this stage
of Costner's career, he was grateful for any opportunity to get in front of the camera.
In 1982, Costner also made a brief, uncredited appearance in the film Frances.
Sure, he wasn't a household name just yet, but in the early 1980s,
Costner was finally starting to get his foot in the door and make some connections.
These minor roles weren't especially impressive, but he was making some progress.
In Silverado, Costner played Jake, an exuberant gunslinger and one member
of a group of misfit cowboys who end up chasing their fortunes to the town of Silverado. However,
if they want to strike it rich, they'll have to settle their scores with a corrupt rancher and the
local sheriff. Silverado is the kind of Western movie that Costner loved to watch as a child,
and it earned positive reviews from critics and brought Costner more publicity.
In a review for The Moving Picture Show, critic Joe Leydon wrote,
"Costner, a relative newcomer, gives an ingratiating performance that
should mark him for bigger and better things."
Costner's working relationship with Silverado's director, Lawrence Kasdan,
who also wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark,
opened up doors for him in Hollywood. In fact, 1985 turned out to be a big year for Costner.
After the release of Silverado, he went on to appear in the film
Fandango, and he was also on an episode of Steven Spielberg's TV series Amazing Stories.
A couple of years after Silverado's release,
Costner took his career to new heights with a starring role as Eliot Ness in the
gangster thriller The Untouchables. Costner agreed to take on the role of the real-life
Prohibition agent because he was drawn to the strength of the screenplay, citing it as one of
screenwriter David Mamet's best scripts. He was also offered the biggest paycheck of his life,
as he was able to negotiate with Paramount for a $1 million salary for the film.
The Untouchables co-starred the legendary Sean Connery and Robert De Niro,
and Costner's instincts about the adventurous crime drama
proved correct. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, and critics noted his
skillful performance. A critic for the Orlando Sentinel named Jay Boyar wrote in a review,
"The Untouchables could be the breakthrough movie for Kevin Costner,
a folksy, Gary Cooperish actor who holds center stage as Eliot Ness."
"Never stop fighting till the fight is done!"
In 1987, Costner starred as Navy lieutenant Tom Farrell in the crime drama No Way Out,
which finally established him as a true leading man. In this neo-noir thriller, Farrell has an
affair with a young woman named Susan Atwell, played by Sean Young, who later turns up dead.
Farrell knows that his superior, Defense Secretary David Brice, also had a fling with Susan,
which complicates the mystery. Farrell is put in charge of figuring out who committed the crime,
but as more clues are revealed, he worries that he might somehow be implicated.
Starring in No Way Out was a landmark moment for Costner's career. He wasn't just the big
name of the moment. He'd proven that he could command the lead in a serious, gripping film,
and he was well on his way to becoming one of Hollywood's A-listers.
Although The Untouchables was received well by critics, No Way Out earned even higher praise,
particularly in regards to Costner's role. In fact, Roger Ebert said of his performance,
“[It’s] a lot more interesting and complex than his work in The Untouchables."
Of course, while we'll definitely defend Costner's performance in the gangster flick,
there's no denying the actor was improving with each film.
Early in his career, Kevin Costner had already appeared in the baseball movie Chasing Dreams.
But in the late 1980s, his starring roles in the successful films Bull Durham and Field of Dreams
created an enduring association between the actor and the sport of baseball. Later, he also took
on roles as a baseball player in two other films, For the Love of the Game and The Upside of Anger.
As you've probably guessed, Costner does have a personal love for baseball, and he's always been
a huge fan of the sport. In fact, he owns a ranch in Aspen, where he enjoys bringing
his friends and family together to play the national pastime. Costner told The Denver Post,
"I built a real baseball diamond there, and I have a lot of friends come out and play [...] I
have friends connected to NCAA baseball teams, so they come on out to the field."
Costner has shared that he enjoyed playing baseball with his dad growing up, and his father
definitely influenced his passion for the sport.
Kevin Costner saw the most important achievement of his career with Dances with Wolves,
an epic Western that he directed and starred in. In this 1990 drama,
Costner played Union Army lieutenant John J. Dunbar, who's sent to a remote outpost
of the American frontier and begins living with a Lakota tribe. He decides
to leave his previous life behind to become a part of the tribe, but when other Union
soldiers arrive with plans for their land, he finds himself in a dangerous position.
Critics lauded the film for revitalizing the Western genre without resorting to cliches.
Brian D. Johnson wrote in a review for MacLean's,
"While violating almost every Hollywood taboo, Costner has restored some of its most cherished
traditions [...] He has created an adventure with hot-blooded action,
breathtaking scenery and a noble theme — a spectacle with the sort
of wide-screen grandeur that has become almost extinct."
Funny enough, Costner said that he originally didn't want to be in the director's chair,
but no one else seemed to understand the script the way he did. Costner told The New York Times,
"I never had a burning desire to direct [...] But everyone I showed the script to knew what
the film didn't need, what should be cut. But I knew this was a three-hour film."
Dances with Wolves ended up solidifying Costner's career
and earning 12 Academy Award nominations and seven wins. Costner was awarded Best Director.
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