Kevin Bacon

Kevin Bacon (born 8.7.1958)

Kevin Bacon is an American actor. Amongst his best-known films are Footloose, Flatliners and Mystic River.

Kevin Bacon: Childhood

Kevin Bacon is the oldest of six children. He was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by his mother, Ruth and his father Edmund. Ruth was a teacher at elementary school and Edmund was an architect.

At the age of 16, Kevin Bacon attended the Pennsylvania Governors School for the Arts, which was a state-funded five-week arts course. It was this course that ignited Bacon's passion for acting.

Kevin Bacon: Career

Kevin Bacon left home at the age of 17, in order to develop his career in theatre in New York. He appeared in a production at the Circle in the Square Theatre School.

His film debut came in 1978 when he appeared in John Landis' frat-house comedy Animal House, alongside John Belushi, Donald Sutherland and Tim Matheson. Although the film has become something of a cult comedy hit, it did not lead to instant fame for Kevin Bacon as he had hoped.

Instead, he returned to theatre work (including Getting Out and Flux) as well as small TV roles, in soap operas such as Search For Tomorrow, which also featured a number of other would-be stars, such as Viggo Mortenson, Kevin Kline and Angela Bassett. Kevin Bacon also featured in The Guiding Light, an award-winning daytime TV drama.

In 1982, Kevin Bacon starred in Forty Deuce and won an Obie award for his performance. Shortly after this, he made his debut on Broadway, in Slab Boys. The show also starred Sean Penn and Val Kilmer, both of whom were relative unknowns at the time. That same year, he also starred in Barry Levinson's Diner, which co-starred Steve Guttenberg, Mickey Rourke and Ellen Barkin. Kevin Bacon played the role of Timothy Fenwick and his performance was noted by critics and audiences alike.

Bacon's next performance would bolster his profile even further: in 1984, he starred in Footloose, opposite Lori Singer, Diane West and John Lithgow. The film was compared to The James Dean classic Rebel Without a Cause and Kevin Bacon's performance earned him an appearance on the cover of People magazine.

Following the success of Footloose, Kevin Bacon struggled to shake off the on-screen image and found himself typecast. In an attempt to rebel against the typecasting, the late 1980s became something of a career slump for him. In 1988, Kevin Bacon starred in the John Hughes comedy She's Having A Baby opposite Elizabeth McGovern. The next year, he starred in another comedy, The Big Picture, which also featured Teri Hatcher and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

1990 saw Kevin Bacon starring in Tremors, a comic horror that also starred Fred Ward and Reba McEntire. That same year, he also starred in Joel Schumachers' Flatliners. This would become one of the most popular films of the 1990s, featuring an all-star cast, including Keifer Sutherland, Julia Roberts and William Baldwin. Bacon then went on to star opposite Elizabeth Perkins in He Said, She Said, in 1991.

Bacon's next major film release came when he played the role of William O'Keefe in Oliver Stone's JFK, as part of a heavyweight cast featuring Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, John Candy, Tommy Lee Jones and Joe Pesci. The quality of his work continued when he starred in A Few Good Men with Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore.

Kevin Bacon was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role opposite Meryl Streep in River Wild in 1994. He then starred with Gary Oldman and Christian Slater in Murder in the First and earned himself the 1995 Broadcast Film Critic's Association Award. He also starred in Apollo 13 that year, with Tom Hanks and Bill Paxton.

1996 saw Bacon starring in Sleepers with Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Brad Pitt. In 1998, Bacon played a supporting role in Wild Things (starring Nicolas Cage), of which he was also executive producer. He then went on to star in Stir of Echoes and Hollow Man (with Josh Brolin and Elisabeth Shue).

In 2004, Bacon starred in The Woodsman, another acclaimed film for him. In 2009, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in the HBO film Taking Chance.

Kevin Bacon: Personal Life

Kevin Bacon married the actress Kyra Sedgewick in 1988. They have two children, Travis (b.1989) and Sosie (b.1992)

Kevin Bacon also has a band, with his brother Michael. The band is called The Bacon Brothers and they have released five albums.