Jeff Bridges

He is one of four children: older brother Beau Bridges (born 1941), who is also an actor; a younger sister Lucinda; and a brother named Garrett, who died of sudden infant death syndrome in 1948.

His maternal grandfather was an immigrant from Liverpool, England.

Bridges and his siblings were raised in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles.

He shared a close relationship with his brother Beau, who acted as a surrogate father when their father was working.

Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor.

He is known for his leading man roles in film and television.

In a career spanning over seven decades he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award in addition to nominations for three BAFTA Awards and two Emmy Awards.

Bridges was born on December 4, 1949, in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges (1913–1998) and actress and writer Dorothy Bridges (née Simpson; 1915–2009).

Bridges made his first screen appearance in an uncredited role in The Company She Keeps (1951); the film was released shortly after his first birthday.

Born into a prominent acting family, Bridges appeared on the television series Sea Hunt (1958–1960) alongside his father Lloyd and brother Beau.

In his youth, Bridges and brother Beau made occasional appearances on their father's show Sea Hunt (1958–1961) and the CBS anthology series The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962–1963).

In 1965, he played a supporting role alongside his father in an episode of The Loner.

He graduated from University High School in 1967.

At age 17 he toured with his father in a stage production of Anniversary Waltz, and then moved to New York City, where he studied acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio.

He also served in the United States Coast Guard Reserve as a boatswain's mate from 1967 to 1975 in San Luis Obispo, California, with a terminal rating of Boatswain's Mate Second Class.

In 1969, he played Job Corps crew member Cal Baker in the Lassie TV series episode entitled "Success Story".

He made his feature film debut in the drama Halls of Anger (1970) followed by a string of leading roles in dramas.

He was Oscar-nominated for his roles in The Last Picture Show (1971), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Starman (1984), The Contender (2000), Hell or High Water (2016), and True Grit (2010).

In 1971, he played the lead role Mike in the TV movie In Search of America.

His first major role came in the 1971 film The Last Picture Show, for which he garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He next co-starred in the 1972 gritty boxing film Fat City, directed by John Huston.

In 1973, he starred as Junior Jackson in The Last American Hero, a film based on the true story of NASCAR driver Junior Johnson.

He was again nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance opposite Clint Eastwood in the 1974 film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.

As a leading man, he starred in the adventure film King Kong (1976); science fiction films Tron (1982) and K-PAX (2001); thrillers Jagged Edge (1985) and The Morning After (1986); and dramas The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), The Fisher King (1991) and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996).

In 1976, he starred as the protagonist Jack Prescott in the first remake of King Kong, opposite Jessica Lange.

This film was a commercial success, earning $90 million worldwide, more than triple its $23 million budget, and also winning an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Towards the end of the decade he acted in mystery Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978) opposite Farrah Fawcett, the satirical black comedy Winter Kills (1979) alongside John Huston, and the comedy-drama The American Success Company (1979).

In the 1980 he acted in Michael Cimino's large Western ensemble film Heaven's Gate acting opposite Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, and Isabelle Huppert.

The film was a public critical and commercial failure and was blamed for the downfall of the studio, United Artists.

Critic Roger Ebert praised the film describing it as "brilliant" and comparing it to The Empire Strikes Back (1981), writing, "This movie is machine to dazzle and delight us...[and] in a technical way maybe it's breaking ground for a generation of movies in which computer-generated universes will be the background for mind-generated stories about emotion-generated personalities".

In 1982, Bridges starred in one of his better-known roles in the science fiction film Tron, in which he played Kevin Flynn, a video game programmer.

Also in 1982 he voiced Prince Lir in the animated fantasy film The Last Unicorn alongside Alan Arkin, Mia Farrow, and Angela Lansbury and starred in the romantic comedy Kiss Me Goodbye directed by Robert Mulligan, acting alongside Sally Field.

In 1984, starred in the John Carpenter directed science fiction romance Starman playing an alien opposite Karen Allen.

For his performance he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

During this period he also performed in the neo-noir Against All Odds (1984) with James Woods and Rachel Ward, the thrillers Jagged Edge (1985) opposite Glenn Close and The Morning After (1986) with Jane Fonda, and the crime comedy Nadine (1987) alongside Kim Basinger.

In 1988 he portrayed automobile entrepreneur Preston Tucker in the Francis Ford Coppola directed biographical film Tucker: The Man and His Dream which earned positive reviews.

He also played Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski in the crime comedy film The Big Lebowski (1998), followed by several big-budget films: Seabiscuit (2003), Iron Man (2008), Tron: Legacy (2010), R.I.P.D. (2013), and Bad Times at the El Royale (2018).

He went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as an alcoholic singer in Crazy Heart (2009).

For his roles on television he earned Primetime Emmy Awards nominations for his performances in the HBO film A Dog Year (2009), and the Hulu series The Old Man (2022).

In 2019 he was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award.