Kirk Cameron

Kirk Thomas Cameron (born October 12, 1970) is an American actor, evangelist, and television host.

Cameron made several other television and film appearances through the 1980s and 1990s, including the films Like Father Like Son (1987) and Listen to Me (1989).

Cameron subsequently became a teen heartthrob in the late 1980s, while appearing on the covers of several teen magazines, including Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, 16 and others.

At the time, he was making $50,000 a week.

He was also in a 60-second Pepsi commercial during Super Bowl XXIV.

He first gained fame as a teen actor playing Mike Seaver on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains (1985–1992), a role for which he was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards.

He became famous in 1985 after being cast as Mike Seaver in the ABC television sitcom Growing Pains.

In the series, Mike would eventually have a girlfriend named Kate MacDonald, played by Chelsea Noble, Cameron's future wife.

Cameron went on to star in many films, including 1987's Like Father Like Son (a body-switch comedy with Dudley Moore), which was a box office success.

However, he went to some classes at Chatsworth High School during production breaks and graduated with honors in their class of 1988.

Cameron began acting at age nine, and his first job was in an advertisement for a breakfast cereal.

His first starring role was at age 13, in the television series Two Marriages.

At this age, he appeared in several television shows and films.

Cameron also guest-starred in the 1988 Full House episode "Just One of the Guys", in which he played the cousin of D.J. Tanner, the role played by Cameron's sister, Candace.

His next theatrical film, 1989's Listen to Me, performed poorly at the box office.

When Growing Pains ended in 1992, Cameron went on to star in The WB sitcom Kirk which premiered in 1995 and ended two years later.

In Kirk, Cameron played Kirk Hartman, a 24-year-old who has to raise his siblings.

Cameron and Noble also worked together on Kirk.

In the 2000s, he portrayed Cameron "Buck" Williams in the Left Behind film series and Caleb Holt in the drama film Fireproof (2008).

Cameron mostly left mainstream film and television, though a decade after Growing Pains ended, he starred in a television reunion film, The Growing Pains Movie, in 2000, and another one, Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers, in 2004.

Cameron reunited with the cast of Growing Pains for a CNN Larry King Live interview which aired on February 7, 2006, in conjunction with the Warner Bros. release of the complete first season of Growing Pains on DVD.

Aside from this, Cameron has often worked in Christian-themed productions, among them the post-Rapture films Left Behind: The Movie, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, and Left Behind: World at War, in which he plays Cameron "Buck" Williams.

Cameron's wife Noble also starred in the film series, playing Hattie Durham.

Cameron has worked with Cloud Ten Pictures, a company which produces Christian-themed films, and has starred in several of their films, including The Miracle of the Cards.

He also appeared in the 2008 drama film, Fireproof, which was produced by Sherwood Pictures.

The film was created on a budget of $500,000, with Cameron as the lead actor, portraying Captain Caleb Holt.

Though it was a low-budget film, the film grossed $33,415,129 and was a box office success.

It was the highest grossing independent film of 2008.

In 2012, Cameron was the narrator and host of the documentary film Monumental: In Search of America's National Treasure.

On its opening day, March 27, 2012, Monumental grossed $28,340.

The film stayed in theaters until May 20, 2012, grossing a total of $1.23 million.

In 2013, Cameron announced he would be the host of the film Unstoppable slated to premiere September 24, 2013.

His 2014 film, Saving Christmas, was panned by critics and made the IMDb Bottom 100 List within one month of its theatrical release.

He has produced films since then, including Lifemark (2022), which was commercially successful.

In 2022, he wrote a faith-based children's book, As You Grow, published by Brave Books, which he read at libraries the following year, during a successful nationwide book tour.

Cameron is an Evangelical Christian who partners with Ray Comfort in the evangelistic ministry The Way of the Master and co-founded The Firefly Foundation with his wife, actress Chelsea Noble.

Cameron was born in Panorama City, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.

His parents are Barbara (née Bausmith) and Robert Cameron, a retired schoolteacher.

He has three sisters: Bridgette, Melissa, and actress Candace, who portrayed D.J. Tanner on the television sitcom Full House.

Cameron attended school on the set of Growing Pains, instead of a public or private school having many other students.