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Stephen King
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Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them suspense, crime, science-fiction, fantasy, and mystery. Though known primarily for his novels, he has written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in collections.
His debut, Carrie (1974), established him in horror. Different Seasons (1982), a collection of four novellas, was his first major departure from the genre. Among the films adapted from King's fiction are Carrie (1976), The Shining (1980), The Dead Zone and Christine (both 1983), Stand by Me (1986), Misery (1990), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Dolores Claiborne (1995), The Green Mile (1999), The Mist (2007), It (2017), and The Long Walk (2025). He has published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman and has co-written works with other authors, notably his friend Peter Straub and sons Joe Hill and Owen King. He has also written nonfiction, notably Danse Macabre (1981) and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000).
Among other awards, King has won the O. Henry Award for "The Man in the Black Suit" (1994) and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller for 11/22/63 (2011). He has also won honors for his overall contributions to literature, including the 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2007 Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the 2014 National Medal of Arts. Joyce Carol Oates called King "a brilliantly rooted, psychologically 'realistic' writer for whom the American scene has been a continuous source of inspiration, and American popular culture a vast cornucopia of possibilities."
Early life and education
King was born in Portland, Maine, on September 21, 1947. His father, Donald Edwin King, a traveling vacuum salesman after returning from World War II, was born in Indiana with the surname Pollock, changing it to King as an adult. King's mother was Nellie Ruth King (née Pillsbury). His parents were married in Scarborough, Maine, on July 23, 1939. They lived with Donald's family in Chicago before moving to Croton-on-Hudson, New York. King's parents returned to Maine towards the end of World War II, living in a modest house in Scarborough. He is of Scots-Irish descent.
When King was two, his father left the family. His mother raised him and his older brother David by herself, sometimes under great financial strain. They moved from Scarborough and depended on relatives in Chicago, Illinois; Croton-on-Hudson; West De Pere, Wisconsin; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Malden, Massachusetts; and Stratford, Connecticut. When King was 11, his family moved to Durham, Maine, where his mother cared for her parents until their deaths. After that, she became a caregiver in a local residential facility for the mentally challenged.
King says he started writing when he was "about six or seven, just copying panels out of comic books and then making up my own stories ... Film was also a major influence. I loved the movies from the start. So when I started to write, I had a tendency to write in images because that was all I knew at the time." Regarding his interest in horror, he says "my childhood was pretty ordinary, except from a very early age, I wanted to be scared. I just did." He recalls showing his mother a story he copied out of a comic book. She responded: "I bet you could do better. Write one of your own." He recalls "an immense feeling of possibility at the idea, as if I had been ushered into a vast building filled with closed doors and had been given the key to open any I liked." King was a voracious reader in his youth: "I read everything from Nancy Drew to Psycho. My favorite was The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson—I was 8 when I found that."
King's aunt Gert paid him a quarter for every story he produced; his surviving earliest works include "Jhonathan and the Witchs", which he wrote at the age of nine.
King asked a bookmobile driver, "Do you have any stories about how kids really are?" She gave him Lord of the Flies. It proved formative: "It was, so far as I can remember, the first book with hands—strong ones that reached out of the pages and seized me by the throat. It said to me, 'This is not just entertainment; it's life or death.'... To me, Lord of the Flies has always represented what novels are for, why they are indispensable." He attended Durham Elementary School and entered Lisbon High School in Lisbon Falls, Maine, in 1962. He contributed to Dave's Rag, the newspaper his brother printed with a mimeograph machine, and later sold stories to his friends. His first independently published story was "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber", serialized over four issues of the fanzine Comics Review in 1965. He was a sports reporter for Lisbon's Weekly Enterprise.
In 1966, King entered the University of Maine at Orono on a scholarship. While there, he wrote for the student newspaper, The Maine Campus, and found mentors in the professors Edward Holmes and Burton Hatlen. King participated in a writing workshop organized by Hatlen, where he fell in love with Tabitha Spruce. King graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, and his daughter Naomi Rachel was born that year. King and Spruce wed in 1971. King paid tribute to Hatlen: "Burt was the greatest English teacher I ever had. It was he who first showed me the way to the pool, which he called 'the language pool, the myth-pool, where we all go down to drink.' That was in 1968. I have trod the path that leads there often in the years since, and I can think of no better place to spend one's days; the water is still sweet, and the fish still swim."
Career
Beginnings
King sold his first professional short story, "The Glass Floor", to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. After graduating from the University of Maine, King earned a certificate to teach high school but was unable to find a teaching post immediately. He sold short stories to magazines like Cavalier. Many of these early stories were republished in Night Shift (1978). In 1971, King was hired as an English teacher at Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine. He continued to contribute short stories to magazines and worked on ideas for novels, including the anti-war novel Sword in the Darkness, still unpublished.
1970s: Carrie to The Dead Zone
King recalls the origin of his debut, Carrie: "Two unrelated ideas, adolescent cruelty and telekinesis, came together." It began as a short story intended for Cavalier; King tossed the first three pages in the trash but his wife, Tabitha, recovered them, saying she wanted to know what happened next. She told him: "You've got something here. I really think you do." He followed her advice and expanded it into a novel. Per The Guardian, Carrie "is the story of Carrie White, a high-school student with latent—and then, as the novel progresses, developing—telekinetic powers. It's brutal in places, affecting in others (Carrie's relationship with her almost hysterically religious mother being a particularly damaged one), and gory in even more." The New York Times noted that "King does more than tell a story. He is a schoolteacher himself, and he gets into Carrie's mind as well as into the minds of her classmates. He also knows a thing or two about symbolism — blood symbolism especially."
King was teaching Dracula to high school students and wondered what would happen if Old World vampires came to a small New England town. This was the germ of 'Salem's Lot, which King called "Peyton Place meets Dracula". King's mother died from uterine cancer around the time 'Salem's Lot was published. After his mother's death, King and his family moved to Boulder, Colorado. He paid a visit to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park which provided the basis for The Shining, about an alcoholic writer and his family taking care of a hotel for the winter.
King's family returned to Auburn, Maine in 1975, where he completed The Stand, an apocalyptic novel about a pandemic and its aftermath. King recalls that it was the novel that took him the longest to write, and that it was "also the one my longtime readers still seem to like the best". In 1977, the Kings, with the addition of Owen Philip, their third and youngest child, traveled briefly to England. They returned to Maine that fall, and King began teaching creative writing at the University of Maine. The courses he taught on horror provided the basis for his first nonfiction book, Danse Macabre. In 1979, he published The Dead Zone, about an ordinary man gifted with second sight. It was the first of his novels to take place in Castle Rock, Maine. King later reflected that with The Dead Zone, "I really hit my stride."
1980s: Different Seasons to The Dark Half
In 1982, King published Different Seasons, a collection of four novellas with a more serious dramatic bent than the horror fiction for which he had become famous. Alan Cheuse wrote "Each of the first three novellas has its hypnotic moments, and the last one is a horrifying little gem." Three of the four novellas were adapted as films: The Body as Stand by Me (1986); Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption as The Shawshank Redemption (1994); and Apt Pupil as the film of the same name (1998). The fourth, The Breathing Method, won the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction. King recalls "I got the best reviews in my life. And that was the first time that people thought, woah, this isn't really a horror thing."
King struggled with addiction throughout the decade and often wrote under the influence of cocaine and alcohol; he says he "barely remembers writing" Cujo. In 1983, he published Christine, "A love triangle involving 17-year-old misfit Arnie Cunningham, his new girlfriend and a haunted 1958 Plymouth Fury." Later that year, he published Pet Sematary, which he had written in the late 1970s, when his family was living near a highway that "used up a lot of animals" as a neighbor put it. His daughter's cat was killed, and they buried it in a pet cemetery built by the local children. King imagined a burial ground beyond it that could raise the dead, albeit imperfectly. He initially found it too disturbing to publish, but resurrected it to fulfill his contract with Doubleday.
In 1985, King published Skeleton Crew, a book of short fiction including "The Reach" and The Mist. He recalls: "I would be asked, 'What happened in your childhood that makes you want to write those terrible things?' I couldn't think of any real answer to that. And I thought to myself, 'Why don't you write a final exam on horror, and put in all the monsters that everyone was afraid of as a kid? Put in Frankenstein, the werewolf, the vampire, the mummy, the giant creatures that ate up New York in the old B movies. Put 'em all in there." These influences coalesced into It, about a shapeshifting monster that takes the form of its victims' fears and haunts the town of Derry, Maine. He said he thought he was done writing about monsters, and wanted to "bring on all the monsters one last time…and call it It." It won the August Derleth Award in 1987.
1987 was an unusually productive year for King. He published The Eyes of the Dragon, a high fantasy novel which he originally wrote for his daughter. He published Misery, about a popular writer who is injured in a car wreck and held captive by Annie Wilkes, his self-described "number-one fan". Misery shared the inaugural Bram Stoker Award with Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon. King says the novel was influenced by his experiences with addiction: "Annie was my drug problem, and she was my number-one fan. God, she never wanted to leave." He published The Tommyknockers, a science fiction novel filled, he says, with metaphors for addiction. After the book was published, King's wife staged an intervention, and he agreed to seek treatment for addiction. Two years later, he published The Dark Half, about an author whose literary alter-ego takes on a life of his own. In the author's note, King writes that "I am indebted to the late Richard Bachman."
1990s: Four Past Midnight to Hearts in Atlantis
In 1990, King published Four Past Midnight, a collection of four novellas with the common theme of time. In 1991, he published Needful Things, his first novel since achieving sobriety, billed as "The Last Castle Rock Story". In 1992, he published Gerald's Game and Dolores Claiborne, two novels about women loosely linked by a solar eclipse. The latter novel is narrated by the title character in an unbroken monolog; Mark Singer described it as "a morally riveting confession from the earthy mouth of a sixty-six-year-old Maine coastal-island native with a granite-hard life but not a grain of self-pity". King said he based the character of Claiborne on his mother.
In 1994, King's story "The Man in the Black Suit" was published in the Halloween issue of The New Yorker. The story went on to win the 1996 O. Henry Award. In 1996, King published The Green Mile, the story of a death row inmate, as a serial novel in six parts. It had the distinction of holding the first, fourth, tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, and fifteenth positions on the New York Times paperback-best-seller list at the same time. In 1998, he published Bag of Bones, his first book with Scribner, about a recently widowed novelist. Several reviewers said that it showed King's maturation as a writer; Charles de Lint wrote "He hasn't forsaken the spookiness and scares that have made him a brand name, but he uses them more judiciously now... The present-day King has far more insight into the human condition than did his younger self, and better yet, all the skills required to share it with us." Bag of Bones won the Bram Stoker and August Derleth Awards.
In 1999, he published The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, about a girl who gets lost in the woods and finds solace in listening to broadcasts of Boston Red Sox games, and Hearts in Atlantis, a book of linked novellas and short stories about coming of age in the 1960s. Later that year, King was hospitalized after being hit by a van. Reflecting on the incident, he said "it occurs to me that I have nearly been killed by a character out of one of my own novels. It's almost funny." He said his nurses were "told in no uncertain terms, don't make any Misery jokes".
2000s: On Writing to Under the Dome
In 2000, King published On Writing, a mix of memoir and style manual which The Wall Street Journal called "a one-of-a-kind classic". Later that year he published Riding the Bullet, "the world's first mass e-book, with more than 500,000 downloads". Inspired by its success, he began publishing an epistolary horror novel, The Plant, in online installments using the pay what you want method provided by Amazon.com's Honor System. He suggested readers pay $1 per installment, and said he'd only continue publishing if 75% of readers paid. When The Plant folded, the public assumed that King had abandoned the project because sales were unsuccessful, but King later said he had simply run out of stories. The unfinished novel is still available from King's official site, now free.
In 2002, King published From a Buick 8, a return to the territory of Christine. In 2005, he published the mystery The Colorado Kid for the Hard Case Crime imprint. In 2006, he published Cell, in which a mysterious signal broadcast over cell phones turns users into mindless killers. That same year, he published Lisey's Story, about the widow of a novelist. He calls it his favorite of his novels, because "I've always felt that marriage creates its own secret world, and only in a long marriage can two people at least approach real knowledge about each other. I wanted to write about that, and felt that I actually got close to what I really wanted to say." In 2007, King served as guest editor for the annual anthology The Best American Short Stories.
In 2008, King published Duma Key, his first novel set in Florida, and the collection Just After Sunset. In 2009, it was announced he would serve as a writer for Fangoria. King's novel Under the Dome was published later that year, and debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Bestseller List. Janet Maslin said of it, "Hard as this thing is to hoist, it's even harder to put down."
2010s: Full Dark, No Stars to The Institute
In 2010, King published Full Dark, No Stars, a collection of four novellas with the common theme of retribution. In 2011, he published 11/22/63, about a time portal leading to 1958, and an English teacher who travels through it to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. Errol Morris called it "one of the best time travel stories since H. G. Wells". In 2013, he published Joyland, his second book for Hard Case Crime. Later that year, he published Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining.
During his Chancellor's Speaker Series talk at University of Massachusetts Lowell on December 7, 2012, King said that he was writing a crime novel about a retired policeman being taunted by a murderer, with the working title Mr. Mercedes. In an interview with Parade, he confirmed that the novel was "more or less" completed. It was published in 2014 and won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. He returned to horror with Revival, which he called "a nasty, dark piece of work". King announced in June 2014 that Mr. Mercedes was part of a trilogy; the sequel, Finders Keepers, was published in 2015. The third book of the trilogy, End of Watch, was released in 2016. In 2018, he released The Outsider, which features the character Holly Gibney, and the novella Elevation. In 2019, he released The Institute.
2020s: If It Bleeds to present
In 2020, King released If It Bleeds, a collection of four novellas. In 2021, he published Later, his third book for Hard Case Crime. In 2022, King released the novel Fairy Tale. Holly, about Holly Gibney was released in September 2023. In November 2023, the short story collection You Like It Darker, featuring twelve stories (seven previously published and five unreleased) was published by Scribner in May 2024. The book debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times fiction best-seller list for the week ending May 25, 2024. King announced a novel named Never Flinch, featuring once again the character Holly Gibney, on November 18, 2024. The novel was released on May 27, 2025.
Pseudonyms
King published five short novels—Rage (1977), The Long Walk (1979), Roadwork (1981), The Running Man (1982) and Thinner (1984)—under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. He explains: "I did that because back in the early days of my career there was a feeling in the publishing business that one book a year was all the public would accept...eventually the public got wise to this because you can change your name but you can't really disguise your style." Bachman's surname is derived from the band Bachman–Turner Overdrive and his first name is a nod to Richard Stark, the pseudonym Donald E. Westlake used to publish his darker work. The Bachman books are grittier than King's usual fare; King called his alter-ego "Dark-toned, despairing...not a very nice guy." A Literary Guild member praised Thinner as "what Stephen King would write like if Stephen King could really write."
Bachman was exposed as King's pseudonym in 1985 by Steve Brown, a Washington, D.C. bookstore clerk who noticed stylistic similarities between King and Bachman and located publisher's records at the Library of Congress that named King as the author of Rage. King announced Bachman's death from "cancer of the pseudonym". King reflected that "Richard Bachman began his career not as a delusion but as a sheltered place where I could publish a few early books which I felt readers might like. Then he began to grow and come alive, as the creatures of a writer's imagination so frequently do... He took on his own reality, that's all, and when his cover was blown, he died." Originally, King planned Misery to be released under the pseudonym before his identity was discovered.
When Desperation (1996) was released, the companion novel The Regulators was published as a "discovered manuscript" by Bachman. In 2006, King announced that he had discovered another Bachman novel, Blaze, which was published the following year. The original manuscript had been held at the University of Maine for many years and had been covered by numerous King experts. King rewrote the original 1973 manuscript for its publication.
King has used other pseudonyms. In 1972, the short story "The Fifth Quarter" was published under the name John Swithen (a Carrie character) in Cavalier. Charlie the Choo-Choo: From the World of The Dark Tower was published in 2016 under the pseudonym Beryl Evans and illustrated by Ned Dameron. It is adapted from a fictional book central to the plot of King's The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands.
The Dark Tower
In the late 1970s, King began a series about a lone gunslinger, Roland, who pursues the "Man in Black" in an alternate universe that is a cross between J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth and the American Wild West as depicted by Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone in their spaghetti Westerns. The first story, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, was initially published in five installments in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction under the editorship of Edward L. Ferman, from 1977 to 1981. It grew into an eight-volume epic, The Dark Tower, published between 1978 and 2012.
Collaborations
Literature
King co-wrote two novels with Peter Straub, The Talisman (1984) and Black House (2001). Straub recalls that "We tried to make it as difficult as possible for readers to identify who wrote what. Eventually, we were able to successfully imitate each other's style... Steve threw in more commas or clauses, and I kind of made things more simple in sentence structure. And I tried to make things as vivid as I could because Steve is just fabulous at that, and also I tried to write more colloquially." Straub said the only person who could correctly identify who wrote which passages was a fellow author, Neil Gaiman.
King and the photographer f-stop Fitzgerald collaborated on the coffee table book Nightmares in the Sky: Gargoyles and Grotesques (1988). He produced an artist's book with designer Barbara Kruger, My Pretty Pony (1989), published in a limited edition of 250 by the Library Fellows of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Alfred A. Knopf released it in a general trade edition.
King co-wrote Throttle (2009) with his son Joe Hill. The novella is an homage to Richard Matheson's "Duel". Their second collaboration, In the Tall Grass (2012), was published in two parts in Esquire. King and his son Owen co-wrote Sleeping Beauties (2018), set in a West Virginia women's prison. King and Richard Chizmar co-wrote Gwendy's Button Box (2017). A sequel, Gwendy's Magic Feather (2019), was a solo effort by Chizmar. In 2022, King and Chizmar rejoined forces for Gwendy's Final Task.
Film and television
King made his screenwriting debut with George A. Romero's Creepshow (1982), a tribute to EC horror comics. In 1985, he wrote another horror anthology film, Cat's Eye. Rob Reiner, whose film Stand by Me (1986) is an adaptation of King's novella The Body, named his production company Castle Rock Entertainment after King's fictional town. Castle Rock Entertainment would produce other King adaptations, including Reiner's Misery (1990) and Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption (1994).
In 1986, King made his directorial debut with Maximum Overdrive, an adaptation of his story "Trucks". He recalls: "I was coked out of my mind all through its production, and really didn't know what I was doing." It was neither a critical nor a commercial success; King was nominated for a Golden Raspberry for Worst Director, but lost to Prince, for Under the Cherry Moon.
In the 1990s, King wrote several miniseries: Golden Years (1991), The Stand (1994), The Shining (1997) and Storm of the Century (1999). He wrote the miniseries Rose Red (2002); The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red (2001) was written by Ridley Pearson and published anonymously as a tie-in for the series. He also developed Kingdom Hospital (2004), based on Lars von Trier's The Kingdom.
Music and theater
King collaborated with Stan Winston and Mick Garris on the music video Michael Jackson's Ghosts (1996). He co-wrote the musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (2012) with T. Bone Burnett and John Mellencamp. A soundtrack album was released, featuring Taj Mahal, Elvis Costello and Rosanne Cash, among others.
Comics
In 1985, King wrote a few pages of the benefit X-Men comic book Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men. He wrote the introduction to Batman No. 400, an anniversary issue where he expressed his preference for the character over Superman. In 2010, DC Comics premiered American Vampire, a comic book series co-written by King and Scott Snyder and illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque. King wrote the backstory of the first American vampire, Skinner Sweet, in the first five-issues story arc.
Style, themes and influences
Style
In On Writing, King recalls:When, during the course of an interview for The New Yorker, I told the interviewer (Mark Singer) that I believed stories are found things, like fossils in the ground, he said that he didn't believe me. I replied that that was fine, as long as he believed that I believe it. And I do. Stories aren't souvenir tee-shirts or GameBoys. Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer's job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible. Sometimes the fossil you uncover is small, a seashell. Sometimes it's enormous, a Tyrannosaurus Rex with all those gigantic ribs and grinning teeth. Either way, short story or thousand-page whopper of a novel, the techniques of excavation remain basically the same.King often starts with a "what-if" scenario, asking what would happen if an alcoholic writer was stranded with his family in a haunted hotel (The Shining), or if one could see the outcome of future events (The Dead Zone), or if one could travel in time to alter the course of history (11/22/63). He writes that "The situation comes first. The characters—always flat and unfeatured, to begin with—come next. Once these things are fixed in my mind, I begin to narrate. I often have an idea of what the outcome may be, but I have never demanded a set of characters that they do things my way. On the contrary, I want them to do things their way. In some instances, the outcome is what I visualized. In most, however, it's something I never expected."
Joyce Carol Oates called King "both a storyteller and an inventor of startling images and metaphors, which linger long in the memory." An example of King's imagery is seen in The Body when the narrator recalls a childhood clubhouse with a tin roof and rusty screen door: "No matter what time of day you looked out that screen door, it looked like sunset... When it rained, being inside the club was like being inside a Jamaican steel drum." King writes that "The use of simile and other figurative language is one of the chief delights of fiction—reading it and writing it, as well. [...] By comparing two seemingly unrelated objects—a restaurant bar and a cave, a mirror and a mirage—we are sometimes able to see an old thing in a new and vivid way. Even if the result is mere clarity instead of beauty, I think writer and reader are participating together in a kind of miracle. Maybe that's drawing it a little strong, but yeah—it's what I believe."
Themes
When asked if fear was his main subject, King said "In every life you get to a point where you have to deal with something that's inexplicable to you, whether it's the doctor saying you have cancer or a prank phone call. So whether you talk about ghosts or vampires or Nazi war criminals living down the block, we're still talking about the same thing, which is an intrusion of the extraordinary into ordinary life and how we deal with it. What that shows about our character and our interactions with others and the society we live in interests me a lot more than monsters and vampires and ghouls and ghosts."
Joyce Carol Oates said that "Stephen King's characteristic subject is small-town American life, often set in fictitious Derry, Maine; tales of family life, marital life, the lives of children banded together by age, circumstance, and urgency, where parents prove oblivious or helpless. The human heart in conflict with itself—in the guise of the malevolent Other. The 'gothic' imagination magnifies the vicissitudes of 'real life' in order to bring it into a sharper and clearer focus." King's The Body is about coming of age, a theme he has returned to several times, for example in Joyland.
King often uses authors as characters, such as Ben Mears in 'Salem's Lot, Jack Torrance in The Shining, adult Bill Denbrough in It and Mike Noonan in Bag of Bones. He has extended this to breaking the fourth wall by including himself as a character in three novels of The Dark Tower. Among other things, this allows King to explore themes of authorship; George Stade writes that Misery "is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death" while The Dark Half "is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes."
Introducing King at the National Book Awards, Walter Mosley said "Stephen King once said that daily life is the frame that makes the picture. His commitment, as I see it, is to celebrate and empower the everyday man and woman as they buy aspirin and cope with cancer. He takes our daily lives and makes them into something heroic. He takes our world, validates our distrust of it and then helps us to see that there's a chance to transcend the muck. He tells us that even if we fail in our struggles, we are still worthy enough to pass on our energies in the survival of humanity." In his acceptance speech for the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, King said:"Frank Norris, the author of McTeague, said something like this: 'What should I care if they, i.e., the critics, single me out for sneers and laughter? I never truckled, I never lied. I told the truth.' And that's always been the bottom line for me. The story and the people in it may be make believe but I need to ask myself over and over if I've told the truth about the way real people would behave in a similar situation... We understand that fiction is a lie to begin with. To ignore the truth inside the lie is to sin against the craft, in general, and one's own work in particular."
Influences
In On Writing, King says "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all: read a lot and write a lot." He emphasizes the importance of good description, which "begins with clear seeing and ends with clear writing, the kind of writing that employs fresh images and simple vocabulary. I began learning my lessons in this regard by reading Chandler, Hammett, and Ross Macdonald; I gained perhaps even more respect for the power of compact, descriptive language from reading T. S. Eliot (those ragged claws scuttling across the ocean floor; those coffee spoons), and William Carlos Williams (white chickens, red wheelbarrow, the plums that were in the ice box, so sweet and so cold)."
King has called Richard Matheson "the author who influenced me most". Other influences include Ray Bradbury, Joseph Payne Brennan, James M. Cain, Jack Finney, Graham Greene, Elmore Leonard, John D. MacDonald, Don Robertson and Thomas Williams. He often pays homage to classic horror stories by retelling them in a modern context. He recalls that while writing 'Salem's Lot, "I decided I wanted to try to use the book partially as a form of literary homage (as Peter Straub had done in Ghost Story, working in the tradition of such 'classical' ghost story writers as Henry James, M. R. James, and Nathaniel Hawthorne). So my novel bears an intentional similarity to Bram Stoker's Dracula, and after a while it began to seem I was playing an interesting—to me, at least—game of literary racquet-ball: 'Salem's Lot itself was the ball and Dracula was the wall I kept hitting it against, watching to see how and where it could bounce, so I could hit it again. As a matter of fact, it took some pretty interesting bounces, and I ascribe this mostly to the fact that, while my ball existed in the twentieth century, the wall was very much a product of the nineteenth." Similarly, King's Revival is a modern riff on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. King dedicated it to "the people who built my house": Shelley, Stoker, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Donald Wandrei, Fritz Leiber, August Derleth, Shirley Jackson, Robert Bloch, Straub and Arthur Machen, "whose short novel The Great God Pan has haunted me all my life".
He provided an appreciation for The Golden Argosy, a collection of short stories featuring Cather, Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald and others: "I first found The Golden Argosy in a Lisbon Falls (Maine) bargain barn called the Jolly White Elephant, where it was on offer for $2.25. At that time I only had four dollars, and spending over half of it on one book, even a hardcover, was a tough decision. I've never regretted it... The Golden Argosy taught me more about good writing than all the writing classes I've ever taken. It was the best $2.25 I ever spent."
Reception and influence
Critical reception
King has been praised for his use of realistic detail. In A Century of Great Suspense Stories, editor Jeffery Deaver wrote that "While there were many good best-selling writers before him, King, more than anybody since John D. MacDonald, brought reality to genre novels. He has often remarked that 'Salem's Lot was 'Peyton Place meets Dracula'. And so it was. The rich characterization, the careful and caring social eye, the interplay of story line and character development announced that writers could take worn themes such as vampirism and make them fresh again. Before King, many popular writers found their efforts to make their books serious blue-penciled by their editors. 'Stuff like that gets in the way of the story,' they were told. Well, it's stuff like that that has made King so popular, and helped free the popular name from the shackles of simple genre writing. He is a master of masters." Daniel Mendelsohn, reviewing Bag of Bones, wrote that "Stephen King is so widely accepted as America's master of paranormal terrors that you can forget his real genius is for the everyday... This is a book about reanimation: the ghosts', of course, but also Mike's, his desire to re-embrace love and work after a long bereavement that King depicts with an eye for the kind of small but moving details that don't typically distinguish blockbuster horror novels."
Many critics argue that King has matured as a writer. In his analysis of post–World War II horror fiction, The Modern Weird Tale (2001), S. T. Joshi devotes a chapter to King's work. Joshi argues that King's best-known works are his worst, describing them as mostly bloated, illogical, maudlin and prone to deus ex machina endings. Despite these criticisms, Joshi argues that since Gerald's Game (1992), King has been tempering the worst of his writing faults, producing books that are leaner, more believable and generally better written.
In 2003, King was honored by the National Book Awards with a lifetime achievement award, the Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Some in the literary community expressed disapproval of the award: Richard E. Snyder, the former CEO of Simon & Schuster, described King's work as "non-literature" and critic Harold Bloom denounced the choice: "The decision to give the National Book Foundation's annual award for 'distinguished contribution' to Stephen King is extraordinary, another low in the shocking process of dumbing down our cultural life. I've described King in the past as a writer of penny dreadfuls, but perhaps even that is too kind. He shares nothing with Edgar Allan Poe. What he is is an immensely inadequate writer on a sentence-by-sentence, paragraph-by-paragraph, book-by-book basis."
King acknowledged the controversy in his acceptance speech: "There are some people who have spoken out passionately about giving me this medal. There are some people who think it's an extraordinarily bad idea. There have been some people who have spoken out who think it's an extraordinarily good idea. You know who you are and where you stand and most of you who are here tonight are on my side. I'm glad for that. But I want to say it doesn't matter in a sense which side you were on. The people who speak out, speak out because they are passionate about the book, about the word, about the page and, in that sense, we're all brothers and sisters. Give yourself a hand." Shirley Hazzard, whose novel The Great Fire was that year's National Book Award winner, responded by criticizing King; she later said that she had never read him.
Roger Ebert wrote that "A lot people were outraged when he was honored at the National Book Awards, as if a popular writer couldn't be taken seriously. But after finding that his book On Writing has more useful and observant things to say about the craft than any book since Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, I have gotten over my own snobbery. King has, after all, been responsible for the movies The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Dead Zone, Misery, Apt Pupil, Christine, Hearts in Atlantis, Stand By Me and Carrie... And we must not be ungrateful for Silver Bullet, which I awarded three stars because it was 'either the worst movie made from a Stephen King story, or the funniest', and you know which side of that I'm gonna come down on."
Appraisal by other authors
Cynthia Ozick said that, upon giving a reading with King, "It dawned on me as I listened to him that, never mind all the best sellers and all the stereotypes -- this man is a genuine, true-born writer, and that was a revelation. He is not Tom Clancy. He writes sentences, and he has a literary focus, and his writing is filled with literary history. It's not glib, it's not just contemporary chatter and it's not stupid -- that's a bad way to say that something's smart, but that's what I mean."
Joyce Carol Oates praised King's sense of place: "His fiction is famously saturated with the atmosphere of Maine; much of his mostly vividly imagined work—Salem's Lot, Dolores Claiborne, the elegantly composed story 'The Reach', for instance—is a poetic evocation of that landscape, its history and its inhabitants." Oates included the latter story in the second edition of The Oxford Book of American Short Stories.
Peter Straub compared King favorably to Charles Dickens: "Both are novelists of vast popularity and enormous bibliographies, both are beloved writers with a pronounced taste for the morbid and grotesque, both display a deep interest in the underclass." Straub included King's short story "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French" in the Library of America anthology American Fantastic Tales.
David Foster Wallace assigned Carrie and The Stand while teaching at Illinois State University. Wallace praised King's ear for dialogue: "He's one of the first people to talk about real Americans and how they live, to capture real American dialogue in all its, like, foulmouthed grandeur... He has a deadly ear for the way people speak... Students come to me and a lot of them have been led to believe that there's good stuff and bad stuff, literary books and popular books, stuff that's redemptive and commercial shit—with a sharp line drawn between the two categories. It's good to show them that there's a certain amount of blurring. Surface-wise, King's work is a bit televisual, but there's really a lot going on."
Influence
In an interview, Sherman Alexie recalls the influence of "Stephen King, who was always writing about underdogs, and bullied kids, and kids fighting back against overwhelming, often supernatural forces... The world aligned against them. As an Indian boy growing up on a reservation, I always identified with his protagonists. Stephen King, fighting the monsters."
Lauren Groff says that "I love Stephen King and I owe him more than I could ever express... I love his wild imagination and his vivid scenes, many of which populate my nightmares even decades after I last read the books they're in. But the greatest thing I gleaned most from reading Stephen King is his big-hearted glee, the way he treats writing with gratitude, the way he sees his job not as the source of anguish and pain many writers self-pityingly see it as, but rather as something he's over-the-moon delighted to be lucky enough to do. If I could steal one thing from King, and keep it close to my heart forever, it is his sense of almost-holy glee when it comes to writing."
The hero of Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao dreams of being "the Dominican Stephen King", and Díaz alludes to King's work several times throughout the novel. Colson Whitehead recalls that "The first big book I read was Night Shift by Stephen King, you know, a huge book of short stories. And so for many years I just wanted to write horror fiction." In a talk at Virginia Commonwealth University, Whitehead recalls that in college "I wanted to write the black Shining or the black Salem's Lot... Take any Stephen King title and put 'the black' in front of it. That's basically what I wanted to do."
Views and activism
King was raised Methodist, but lost his belief in organized religion while in high school. While not conventionally religious, he says he does believe in God.
King has supported several Democrats in presidential races. In 1984, King endorsed Gary Hart's presidential campaign. During the 2008 presidential election, King endorsed Barack Obama. In 2016, King was one of many writers who signed a letter condemning the candidacy of Donald Trump. In the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, King endorsed Elizabeth Warren's campaign. Warren eventually suspended her campaign, and King later endorsed Joe Biden's campaign in the 2020 general election. In July 2024, he called on Joe Biden to step down from the presidential race. King went on to endorse Kamala Harris.
On April 30, 2012, King published an article in The Daily Beast calling for rich Americans, including himself, to pay more taxes, citing it as "a practical necessity and moral imperative that those who have received much should be obligated to pay ... in the same proportion". King testified in an August 2022 case brought by the U.S. Justice Department to block a $2.2 billion merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster (two of the "Big Five" book publishers). The New York Times credited King's high-profile testimony, which was against his own publisher, with helping to convince presiding judge Florence Y. Pan with ultimately blocking the merger.
In April 2008, King spoke out against HB 1423, a bill pending in the Massachusetts state legislature that would restrict or ban the sale of violent video games to anyone under the age of 18. King argued that such laws allow legislators to ignore the economic divide between the rich and poor and the easy availability of guns, which he believed were the actual causes of violence. In 2013 King published an essay titled Guns, which discusses the gun debate in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. King called for gun owners to support a ban on automatic and semi-automatic weapons.
In June 2018, King called for the release of the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who was jailed in Russia. In July 2022, Stephen King appeared in a video call with the Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus who played the role of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the call Stephen King said "You can always find things about people to pull them down. Washington and Jefferson were slave owners—that doesn't mean they didn't do many good things to the United States of America. There are always people who have flaws, we are humans. On the whole, I think Bandera is a great man, and you're a great man, and Viva Ukraine!" However, King later realized that he was pranked and apologized on Twitter, noting that he was not the only victim and "other victims who fell for these guys include J. K. Rowling, Prince Harry, and Justin Trudeau".
In November 2023, King wrote on X that the United States has been providing aid and arms to Israel for decades.
Maine politics
King endorsed Shenna Bellows in the 2014 U.S. Senate election for the seat held by Republican Susan Collins. King publicly criticized Paul LePage during LePage's tenure as Governor of Maine, referring to him as one of The Three Stooges (with then-Florida Governor Rick Scott and then-Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker being the other two). He was critical of LePage for incorrectly suggesting in a 2015 radio address that King avoided paying Maine income taxes by living out of state for part of the year. The statement was later corrected by the governor's office, but no apology was issued. King said LePage was "full of the stuff that makes the grass grow green" and demanded that LePage "man up and apologize". LePage declined to apologize to King, stating, "I never said Stephen King did not pay income taxes. What I said was, Stephen King's not in Maine right now. That's what I said."
The attention garnered by the LePage criticism led to efforts to encourage King to run for Governor of Maine in 2018. King said he would not run or serve. King sent a tweet on June 30, 2015, calling LePage "a terrible embarrassment to the state I live in and love. If he won't govern, he should resign." He later clarified that he was not calling on LePage to resign, but to "go to work or go back home". On August 27, 2016, King called LePage "a bigot, a homophobe, and a racist".
Philanthropy
King subsidizes the National Poetry Foundation, which was directed by his professor and mentor Burton Hatlen, and has endowed scholarships named for another professor, Edward Holmes. Mark Singer also notes Bangor's "most monumental testament to King's philanthropy", the "Shawn T. Mansfield Baseball Complex, dedicated six years ago in memory of the son of a Little League coach and friend of King's who died at fourteen of cerebral palsy." King has stated that he donates approximately $4 million per year "to libraries, local fire departments that need updated lifesaving equipment (Jaws of Life tools are always a popular request), schools, and a scattering of organisations that underwrite the arts". The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, chaired by King and his wife, ranks sixth among Maine charities in terms of average annual giving, with over $2.8 million in grants per year, according to The Grantsmanship Center.
In 2002, King, Peter Straub, John Grisham and Pat Conroy organized the Wavedancer Benefit, a public reading to raise funds for the actor and audiobook reader Frank Muller, who had been injured in a motorcycle accident. Their reading was released as an audiobook. In November 2011, the STK Foundation donated $70,000 in matched funding via his radio station to help pay the heating bills for families in need in his hometown of Bangor, Maine, during the winter. In February 2021, King's Foundation donated $6,500 to help children from the Farwell Elementary School in Lewiston, Maine, to publish two novels on which they had been working over the course of several prior years, before being stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Maine.
Personal life
After meeting her while studying at the University of Maine, King married Tabitha Spruce on January 2, 1971. She is also a novelist and philanthropist. She has been supportive of him throughout his career, even rescuing his early manuscript of Carrie from the trash when he doubted himself. They own and divide their time between three houses: one in Bangor, Maine, one in Lovell, Maine, and for the winter a waterfront mansion located off the Gulf of Mexico in Sarasota, Florida. King's home in Bangor has been described as an unofficial tourist attraction, and as of 2019, the couple plan to convert it into a facility housing his archives and a writers' retreat.
The Kings have three children—two sons and a daughter, Naomi (born June 1, 1970), who is a Unitarian Universalist Church minister in Plantation, Florida, with her partner, Thandeka. Both of King's sons are also professional authors: Owen King (born February 21, 1977) published his first collection of stories, We're All in This Together: A Novella and Stories, in 2005. Joseph Hillström King (born June 4, 1972), who writes as Joe Hill, published his first collection of short stories, 20th Century Ghosts, in 2005.
King is a longtime fan of baseball, particularly the Boston Red Sox. In 1990, King published an essay about Owen's Little League team in The New Yorker. King and Stewart O'Nan coauthored Faithful, a chronicle of their correspondence about the historic 2004 Boston Red Sox season which culminated in the Sox winning the 2004 World Series. The game features in King's novellas The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) and Blockade Billy (2010).
Music, particularly rock, plays a role in much of King's work. On the BBC program Desert Island Discs, King's number one choice was Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row". On another BBC program, Paperback Writers, he made new selections, among them AC/DC's "Stiff Upper Lip", Danny & the Juniors's "At the Hop" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "It Came Out of the Sky". He played guitar for the Rock Bottom Remainders, a charity supergroup whose members included Amy Tan, Barbara Kingsolver, Dave Barry, Scott Turow, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount, Jr., Matt Groening, Greg Iles, Kathi Kamen Goldmark and other authors. They released an album, Stranger Than Fiction (1998), under Goldmark's label, Don't Quit Your Day Job Records. King and his band-mates coauthored Midlife Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America With Three Chords and an Attitude (1994) and the e-book Hard Listening: The Greatest Rock Band Ever (of Authors) Tells All (2013). King's favorite books about music are Greil Marcus's Mystery Train and Lipstick Traces and Chris Willman's Rednecks and Bluenecks.
King and his wife own the Zone Corporation, a radio station group established in 1983 to acquire WACZ in Bangor, which was renamed WZON. Two additional stations, WKIT-FM and WNSW in Brewer, were added in 1995; WNSW was quickly closed down. A third station, WDME-FM in Dover-Foxcroft (later renamed WZLO), was acquired in 2001. In December 2024, King announced that the stations would shut down at the end of the year. He cited his advancing age and financial losses from the stations as reasons for the closure. Ahead of the planned closure, King reached a deal to sell WKIT to two Bangor businessmen; WZON and WZLO remain slated for closure.
King remains a voracious reader. In J. Peder Zane's The Top Ten: Authors Pick Their Favorite Books, King chose The Golden Argosy, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Satanic Verses, McTeague, Lord of the Flies, Bleak House, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Raj Quartet, Light in August and Blood Meridian. In 2022, he provided another list of ten favorite books; Lord of the Flies, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Blood Meridian remained, and he added Ship of Fools, The Orphan Master's Son, Invisible Man, Watership Down, The Hair of Harold Roux, American Pastoral and The Lord of the Rings. He added, "Although Anthony Powell's novels should probably be on here, especially the sublimely titled Casanova's Chinese Restaurant and Books Do Furnish a Room. And Paul Scott's Raj Quartet. And at least six novels by Patricia Highsmith. And what about Patrick O'Brian? See how hard this is to do?"
When asked about his reading habits, King replied, "I'm sort of an omnivore, apt to go from the latest John Sandford to D. H. Lawrence to Cormac McCarthy." When asked what books we'd be surprised to find on his shelves, he answered "Poetry, maybe? I love Anne Sexton, Richard Wilbur, W. B. Yeats. The poetry I come back to again and again are the narrative poems of Stephen Dobyns." When asked which novel he comes back to, he named Thomas Williams's The Hair of Harold Roux. When asked who his favorite novelist is, he said "Probably Don Robertson, author of Paradise Falls, The Ideal, Genuine Man and the marvelously titled Miss Margaret Ridpath and the Dismantling of the Universe. What I appreciate most in novels and novelists is generosity, a complete baring of the heart and mind, and Robertson always did that. He also wrote the best single line I've ever read in a novel: Of a funeral he wrote, 'There were that day, o Lord, squadrons of birds.'"
Car accident and aftermath
On June 19, 1999, at about 4:30 pm, King was walking on the shoulder of Maine State Route 5, in Lovell, Maine. Driver Bryan Edwin Smith, distracted by an unrestrained dog moving in the back of his minivan, struck King, who landed in a depression in the ground about 14 feet (four meters) from the pavement of Route 5. Early reports at the time from Oxford County Sheriff deputy Matt Baker claimed King was hit from behind, and some witnesses said the driver was not speeding, reckless, or drinking.
Smith was later arrested and charged with driving to endanger and aggravated assault. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of driving to endanger and was sentenced to six months in county jail (suspended) and had his driving license suspended for a year. In his book On Writing, King states he was heading north, walking against the traffic. Shortly before the crash took place, a woman in a car, also northbound, passed King first followed by a light blue Dodge van. The van was looping from one side of the road to the other, and the woman told her passenger she hoped "that guy in the van doesn't hit him".
King was conscious enough to give the deputy phone numbers to contact his family but was in considerable pain. He was transported to Northern Cumberland Hospital in Bridgton and then flown by air ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center (CMMC) in Lewiston. His injuries—a collapsed right lung, multiple fractures of his right leg, scalp laceration and a broken hip—kept him at CMMC until July 9. His leg bones were so shattered that doctors initially considered amputating his leg but stabilized the bones in the leg with an external fixator. After five operations in 10 days and physical therapy, King resumed work on On Writing in July, though his hip was still shattered and he could sit for only about 40 minutes before the pain became unbearable.
King's wife got in touch with his lawyer to purchase Smith's van, reportedly to prevent it from appearing on eBay. He recalls: "When I was in the hospital, mostly unconscious; my wife got a lawyer who's just a friend of the family...And she got in touch with him and said, buy it so that somebody else doesn't buy it and decide to break it up and sell it on eBay, on the Internet. And so he did. And for about six months, I did have these, sort of, fantasies of smashing the van up. But my wife – I don't always listen to her the first time, but sooner or later, she usually gets through. And what she says makes more sense than what I had planned. And her thought was that the best thing to do would be to very quietly remove it from this plane of existence, which is what we did."
Other media appearances
In The Princess Bride, William Goldman writes that Stephen King is "doing the abridgment" of the fictional book Buttercup's Baby. King explains this is an inside joke from Goldman, "who's an old friend. He's done the screen adaptations for a number of my novels. He did Misery, Dreamcatcher and he also did Hearts in Atlantis, and although he's not credited, he worked on Dolores Claiborne as well, so Bill and I go back a long way. I admired his books before I ever met him and as a kind of return tip of the cap, he put me in that book The Princess Bride."
In 1988, the band Blue Öyster Cult recorded an updated version of its 1974 song "Astronomy"; the single released for radio play featured a narrative intro spoken by King. In 2012, King provided the narration for Shooter Jennings's album Black Ribbons. King was a contestant on Celebrity Jeopardy! in 1995 and 1998. He has made cameos in adaptations of his work, and appeared as the character Bachman on Sons of Anarchy; the name is a nod to his pseudonym Richard Bachman. He voiced himself in The Simpsons episode "Insane Clown Poppy", where he appears with fellow authors Amy Tan, John Updike and Tom Wolfe at a book fair. King tells Marge he is taking a break from horror to write a biography of Benjamin Franklin.
Awards and honors
Carrie was included on the New York Public Library's list of Books of the Century under the category "Pop Culture Mass & Entertainment". In 2008, On Writing was ranked 21st on Entertainment Weekly's list of "The New Classics: The 100 Best Reads from 1983 to 2008". It also made Time's list of the 100 greatest nonfiction books published since the magazine's founding in 1923. Gilbert Cruz wrote, "it's the most practical and unpretentious writer's manual around—as practical and unpretentious as its author, who, yes, just happens to be one of the world's most famous novelists."
11/22/63 (2011) was named one of the five best fiction books of the year in The New York Times: "Throughout his career, King has explored fresh ways to blend the ordinary and the supernatural. His new novel imagines a time portal in a Maine diner that lets an English teacher go back to 1958 in an effort to stop Lee Harvey Oswald and—rewardingly for readers—also allows King to reflect on questions of memory, fate and free will as he richly evokes midcentury America. The past guards its secrets, this novel reminds us, and the horror behind the quotidian is time itself."
Bibliography
Audiobooks
2000: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (read by Stephen King), Simon & Schuster Audio. ISBN 978-0-7435-0665-6.
2004: Salem's Lot (introduction), Simon & Schuster Audio. ISBN 978-0-7435-3696-7.
2005 (Audible: 2000): Bag of Bones (read by Stephen King). Simon & Schuster Audio. ISBN 978-0743551755.
2008: Needful Things (read by Stephen King), Highbridge Audio. ISBN 978-1598877540.
2012: The Wind Through The Keyhole – A Dark Tower Novel (read by Stephen King), Simon & Schuster Audio. ISBN 978-1-4423-4697-0.
2016: Desperation (read by Stephen King), Simon & Schuster Audio. ISBN 978-1508218661.
2018: Elevation (read by Stephen King), Simon & Schuster Audio. ISBN 978-1508260479.
Filmography
See also
Dollar Baby – $1 short story contract with Stephen King
Haven – Television series loosely based on King novel The Colorado Kid
Jerusalem's Lot (Stephen King)
List of adaptations of works by Stephen King
References
Further reading
Brooks, Justin (2008). Stephen King: A Primary Bibliography of the World's Most Popular Author. Cemetery Dance. ISBN 978-1-58767-153-1.
Collings, Michael R. (1985). The Many Facets of Stephen King. Starmont House. ISBN 0-930261-14-3.
Collings, Michael R.; Engebretson, David A. (1985). The Shorter Works of Stephen King. Starmont House. ISBN 0-930261-02-X.
Collings, Michael R. (1985). Stephen King as Richard Bachman. Starmont House. ISBN 0-930261-00-3.
Collings, Michael R. (1986). The Films of Stephen King. Starmont House. ISBN 0-930261-10-0.
Collings, Michael R. (1986). The Annotated Guide to Stephen King: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography of the Works of America's Premier Horror Writer. Starmont House. ISBN 0-930261-80-1.
Collings, Michael R. (1987). The Stephen King Phenomenon. Starmont House. ISBN 0-930261-12-7.
Collings, Michael R. (2003). Horror Plum'd: An International Stephen King Bibliography and Guide 1960–2000. Overlook Connection Press. ISBN 1-892950-45-6.
Collings, Michael R. (2008). Stephen King Is Richard Bachman. Overlook Connection Press. ISBN 978-1-892950-74-1.
Hoppenstand, Gary, ed. (2010). Stephen King. Salem Press. ISBN 978-1-58765-685-9.
Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher; Rich, Nathaniel (Fall 2006). "Stephen King, The Art of Fiction No. 189". The Paris Review. Fall 2006 (178).
Spignesi, Stephen (1991). The Complete Stephen King Encyclopedia. Contemporary Books. ISBN 978-0-8092-3818-7.
Spignesi, Stephen (1998). The Lost Work of Stephen King. Birch Lane Press. ISBN 978-1-55972-469-2.
Spignesi, Stephen (2001). The Essential Stephen King. Career Press. ISBN 978-1-56414-710-3.
Wood, Rocky; Rawsthorne, David; Blackburn, Norma. The Complete Guide to the Works of Stephen King. Kanrock Partners. ISBN 0-9750593-3-5.
Wood, Rocky (2006). Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished. Cemetery Dance. ISBN 1-58767-130-1.
Wood, Rocky; Brooks, Justin. The Stephen King Collector's Guide. Kanrock Partners. ISBN 978-0-9750593-5-7.
Wood, Rocky; Brooks, Justin (2008). Stephen King: The Non-Fiction. Cemetery Dance. ISBN 978-1-58767-160-9.
External links
Official website
Stephen King on Twitter
Stephen King on Bluesky
Stephen King at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Stephen King at IMDb
Appearances on C-SPAN
Working with the King – Shotsmag Ezine Interview with Philippa Pride, King's UK editor
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Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them suspense, crime, science-fiction, fantasy, and mystery. Though known primarily for his novels, he has written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in collections.
His debut, Carrie (1974), established him in horror. Different Seasons (1982), a collection of four novellas, was his first major departure from the genre. Among the films adapted from King's fiction are Carrie (1976), The Shining (1980), The Dead Zone and Christine (both 1983), Stand by Me (1986), Misery (1990), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Dolores Claiborne (1995), The Green Mile (1999), The Mist (2007), It (2017), and The Long Walk (2025). He has published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman and has co-written works with other authors, notably his friend Peter Straub and sons Joe Hill and Owen King. He has also written nonfiction, notably Danse Macabre (1981) and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000).
Among other awards, King has won the O. Henry Award for "The Man in the Black Suit" (1994) and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller for 11/22/63 (2011). He has also won honors for his overall contributions to literature, including the 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2007 Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the 2014 National Medal of Arts. Joyce Carol Oates called King "a brilliantly rooted, psychologically 'realistic' writer for whom the American scene has been a continuous source of inspiration, and American popular culture a vast cornucopia of possibilities."
Early life and education
King was born in Portland, Maine, on September 21, 1947. His father, Donald Edwin King, a traveling vacuum salesman after returning from World War II, was born in Indiana with the surname Pollock, changing it to King as an adult. King's mother was Nellie Ruth King (née Pillsbury). His parents were married in Scarborough, Maine, on July 23, 1939. They lived with Donald's family in Chicago before moving to Croton-on-Hudson, New York. King's parents returned to Maine towards the end of World War II, living in a modest house in Scarborough. He is of Scots-Irish descent.
When King was two, his father left the family. His mother raised him and his older brother David by herself, sometimes under great financial strain. They moved from Scarborough and depended on relatives in Chicago, Illinois; Croton-on-Hudson; West De Pere, Wisconsin; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Malden, Massachusetts; and Stratford, Connecticut. When King was 11, his family moved to Durham, Maine, where his mother cared for her parents until their deaths. After that, she became a caregiver in a local residential facility for the mentally challenged.
King says he started writing when he was "about six or seven, just copying panels out of comic books and then making up my own stories ... Film was also a major influence. I loved the movies from the start. So when I started to write, I had a tendency to write in images because that was all I knew at the time." Regarding his interest in horror, he says "my childhood was pretty ordinary, except from a very early age, I wanted to be scared. I just did." He recalls showing his mother a story he copied out of a comic book. She responded: "I bet you could do better. Write one of your own." He recalls "an immense feeling of possibility at the idea, as if I had been ushered into a vast building filled with closed doors and had been given the key to open any I liked." King was a voracious reader in his youth: "I read everything from Nancy Drew to Psycho. My favorite was The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson—I was 8 when I found that."
King's aunt Gert paid him a quarter for every story he produced; his surviving earliest works include "Jhonathan and the Witchs", which he wrote at the age of nine.
King asked a bookmobile driver, "Do you have any stories about how kids really are?" She gave him Lord of the Flies. It proved formative: "It was, so far as I can remember, the first book with hands—strong ones that reached out of the pages and seized me by the throat. It said to me, 'This is not just entertainment; it's life or death.'... To me, Lord of the Flies has always represented what novels are for, why they are indispensable." He attended Durham Elementary School and entered Lisbon High School in Lisbon Falls, Maine, in 1962. He contributed to Dave's Rag, the newspaper his brother printed with a mimeograph machine, and later sold stories to his friends. His first independently published story was "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber", serialized over four issues of the fanzine Comics Review in 1965. He was a sports reporter for Lisbon's Weekly Enterprise.
In 1966, King entered the University of Maine at Orono on a scholarship. While there, he wrote for the student newspaper, The Maine Campus, and found mentors in the professors Edward Holmes and Burton Hatlen. King participated in a writing workshop organized by Hatlen, where he fell in love with Tabitha Spruce. King graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, and his daughter Naomi Rachel was born that year. King and Spruce wed in 1971. King paid tribute to Hatlen: "Burt was the greatest English teacher I ever had. It was he who first showed me the way to the pool, which he called 'the language pool, the myth-pool, where we all go down to drink.' That was in 1968. I have trod the path that leads there often in the years since, and I can think of no better place to spend one's days; the water is still sweet, and the fish still swim."
Career
Beginnings
King sold his first professional short story, "The Glass Floor", to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. After graduating from the University of Maine, King earned a certificate to teach high school but was unable to find a teaching post immediately. He sold short stories to magazines like Cavalier. Many of these early stories were republished in Night Shift (1978). In 1971, King was hired as an English teacher at Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine. He continued to contribute short stories to magazines and worked on ideas for novels, including the anti-war novel Sword in the Darkness, still unpublished.
1970s: Carrie to The Dead Zone
King recalls the origin of his debut, Carrie: "Two unrelated ideas, adolescent cruelty and telekinesis, came together." It began as a short story intended for Cavalier; King tossed the first three pages in the trash but his wife, Tabitha, recovered them, saying she wanted to know what happened next. She told him: "You've got something here. I really think you do." He followed her advice and expanded it into a novel. Per The Guardian, Carrie "is the story of Carrie White, a high-school student with latent—and then, as the novel progresses, developing—telekinetic powers. It's brutal in places, affecting in others (Carrie's relationship with her almost hysterically religious mother being a particularly damaged one), and gory in even more." The New York Times noted that "King does more than tell a story. He is a schoolteacher himself, and he gets into Carrie's mind as well as into the minds of her classmates. He also knows a thing or two about symbolism — blood symbolism especially."
King was teaching Dracula to high school students and wondered what would happen if Old World vampires came to a small New England town. This was the germ of 'Salem's Lot, which King called "Peyton Place meets Dracula". King's mother died from uterine cancer around the time 'Salem's Lot was published. After his mother's death, King and his family moved to Boulder, Colorado. He paid a visit to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park which provided the basis for The Shining, about an alcoholic writer and his family taking care of a hotel for the winter.
King's family returned to Auburn, Maine in 1975, where he completed The Stand, an apocalyptic novel about a pandemic and its aftermath. King recalls that it was the novel that took him the longest to write, and that it was "also the one my longtime readers still seem to like the best". In 1977, the Kings, with the addition of Owen Philip, their third and youngest child, traveled briefly to England. They returned to Maine that fall, and King began teaching creative writing at the University of Maine. The courses he taught on horror provided the basis for his first nonfiction book, Danse Macabre. In 1979, he published The Dead Zone, about an ordinary man gifted with second sight. It was the first of his novels to take place in Castle Rock, Maine. King later reflected that with The Dead Zone, "I really hit my stride."
1980s: Different Seasons to The Dark Half
In 1982, King published Different Seasons, a collection of four novellas with a more serious dramatic bent than the horror fiction for which he had become famous. Alan Cheuse wrote "Each of the first three novellas has its hypnotic moments, and the last one is a horrifying little gem." Three of the four novellas were adapted as films: The Body as Stand by Me (1986); Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption as The Shawshank Redemption (1994); and Apt Pupil as the film of the same name (1998). The fourth, The Breathing Method, won the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction. King recalls "I got the best reviews in my life. And that was the first time that people thought, woah, this isn't really a horror thing."
King struggled with addiction throughout the decade and often wrote under the influence of cocaine and alcohol; he says he "barely remembers writing" Cujo. In 1983, he published Christine, "A love triangle involving 17-year-old misfit Arnie Cunningham, his new girlfriend and a haunted 1958 Plymouth Fury." Later that year, he published Pet Sematary, which he had written in the late 1970s, when his family was living near a highway that "used up a lot of animals" as a neighbor put it. His daughter's cat was killed, and they buried it in a pet cemetery built by the local children. King imagined a burial ground beyond it that could raise the dead, albeit imperfectly. He initially found it too disturbing to publish, but resurrected it to fulfill his contract with Doubleday.
In 1985, King published Skeleton Crew, a book of short fiction including "The Reach" and The Mist. He recalls: "I would be asked, 'What happened in your childhood that makes you want to write those terrible things?' I couldn't think of any real answer to that. And I thought to myself, 'Why don't you write a final exam on horror, and put in all the monsters that everyone was afraid of as a kid? Put in Frankenstein, the werewolf, the vampire, the mummy, the giant creatures that ate up New York in the old B movies. Put 'em all in there." These influences coalesced into It, about a shapeshifting monster that takes the form of its victims' fears and haunts the town of Derry, Maine. He said he thought he was done writing about monsters, and wanted to "bring on all the monsters one last time…and call it It." It won the August Derleth Award in 1987.
1987 was an unusually productive year for King. He published The Eyes of the Dragon, a high fantasy novel which he originally wrote for his daughter. He published Misery, about a popular writer who is injured in a car wreck and held captive by Annie Wilkes, his self-described "number-one fan". Misery shared the inaugural Bram Stoker Award with Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon. King says the novel was influenced by his experiences with addiction: "Annie was my drug problem, and she was my number-one fan. God, she never wanted to leave." He published The Tommyknockers, a science fiction novel filled, he says, with metaphors for addiction. After the book was published, King's wife staged an intervention, and he agreed to seek treatment for addiction. Two years later, he published The Dark Half, about an author whose literary alter-ego takes on a life of his own. In the author's note, King writes that "I am indebted to the late Richard Bachman."
1990s: Four Past Midnight to Hearts in Atlantis
In 1990, King published Four Past Midnight, a collection of four novellas with the common theme of time. In 1991, he published Needful Things, his first novel since achieving sobriety, billed as "The Last Castle Rock Story". In 1992, he published Gerald's Game and Dolores Claiborne, two novels about women loosely linked by a solar eclipse. The latter novel is narrated by the title character in an unbroken monolog; Mark Singer described it as "a morally riveting confession from the earthy mouth of a sixty-six-year-old Maine coastal-island native with a granite-hard life but not a grain of self-pity". King said he based the character of Claiborne on his mother.
In 1994, King's story "The Man in the Black Suit" was published in the Halloween issue of The New Yorker. The story went on to win the 1996 O. Henry Award. In 1996, King published The Green Mile, the story of a death row inmate, as a serial novel in six parts. It had the distinction of holding the first, fourth, tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, and fifteenth positions on the New York Times paperback-best-seller list at the same time. In 1998, he published Bag of Bones, his first book with Scribner, about a recently widowed novelist. Several reviewers said that it showed King's maturation as a writer; Charles de Lint wrote "He hasn't forsaken the spookiness and scares that have made him a brand name, but he uses them more judiciously now... The present-day King has far more insight into the human condition than did his younger self, and better yet, all the skills required to share it with us." Bag of Bones won the Bram Stoker and August Derleth Awards.
In 1999, he published The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, about a girl who gets lost in the woods and finds solace in listening to broadcasts of Boston Red Sox games, and Hearts in Atlantis, a book of linked novellas and short stories about coming of age in the 1960s. Later that year, King was hospitalized after being hit by a van. Reflecting on the incident, he said "it occurs to me that I have nearly been killed by a character out of one of my own novels. It's almost funny." He said his nurses were "told in no uncertain terms, don't make any Misery jokes".
2000s: On Writing to Under the Dome
In 2000, King published On Writing, a mix of memoir and style manual which The Wall Street Journal called "a one-of-a-kind classic". Later that year he published Riding the Bullet, "the world's first mass e-book, with more than 500,000 downloads". Inspired by its success, he began publishing an epistolary horror novel, The Plant, in online installments using the pay what you want method provided by Amazon.com's Honor System. He suggested readers pay $1 per installment, and said he'd only continue publishing if 75% of readers paid. When The Plant folded, the public assumed that King had abandoned the project because sales were unsuccessful, but King later said he had simply run out of stories. The unfinished novel is still available from King's official site, now free.
In 2002, King published From a Buick 8, a return to the territory of Christine. In 2005, he published the mystery The Colorado Kid for the Hard Case Crime imprint. In 2006, he published Cell, in which a mysterious signal broadcast over cell phones turns users into mindless killers. That same year, he published Lisey's Story, about the widow of a novelist. He calls it his favorite of his novels, because "I've always felt that marriage creates its own secret world, and only in a long marriage can two people at least approach real knowledge about each other. I wanted to write about that, and felt that I actually got close to what I really wanted to say." In 2007, King served as guest editor for the annual anthology The Best American Short Stories.
In 2008, King published Duma Key, his first novel set in Florida, and the collection Just After Sunset. In 2009, it was announced he would serve as a writer for Fangoria. King's novel Under the Dome was published later that year, and debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Bestseller List. Janet Maslin said of it, "Hard as this thing is to hoist, it's even harder to put down."
2010s: Full Dark, No Stars to The Institute
In 2010, King published Full Dark, No Stars, a collection of four novellas with the common theme of retribution. In 2011, he published 11/22/63, about a time portal leading to 1958, and an English teacher who travels through it to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. Errol Morris called it "one of the best time travel stories since H. G. Wells". In 2013, he published Joyland, his second book for Hard Case Crime. Later that year, he published Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining.
During his Chancellor's Speaker Series talk at University of Massachusetts Lowell on December 7, 2012, King said that he was writing a crime novel about a retired policeman being taunted by a murderer, with the working title Mr. Mercedes. In an interview with Parade, he confirmed that the novel was "more or less" completed. It was published in 2014 and won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. He returned to horror with Revival, which he called "a nasty, dark piece of work". King announced in June 2014 that Mr. Mercedes was part of a trilogy; the sequel, Finders Keepers, was published in 2015. The third book of the trilogy, End of Watch, was released in 2016. In 2018, he released The Outsider, which features the character Holly Gibney, and the novella Elevation. In 2019, he released The Institute.
2020s: If It Bleeds to present
In 2020, King released If It Bleeds, a collection of four novellas. In 2021, he published Later, his third book for Hard Case Crime. In 2022, King released the novel Fairy Tale. Holly, about Holly Gibney was released in September 2023. In November 2023, the short story collection You Like It Darker, featuring twelve stories (seven previously published and five unreleased) was published by Scribner in May 2024. The book debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times fiction best-seller list for the week ending May 25, 2024. King announced a novel named Never Flinch, featuring once again the character Holly Gibney, on November 18, 2024. The novel was released on May 27, 2025.
Pseudonyms
King published five short novels—Rage (1977), The Long Walk (1979), Roadwork (1981), The Running Man (1982) and Thinner (1984)—under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. He explains: "I did that because back in the early days of my career there was a feeling in the publishing business that one book a year was all the public would accept...eventually the public got wise to this because you can change your name but you can't really disguise your style." Bachman's surname is derived from the band Bachman–Turner Overdrive and his first name is a nod to Richard Stark, the pseudonym Donald E. Westlake used to publish his darker work. The Bachman books are grittier than King's usual fare; King called his alter-ego "Dark-toned, despairing...not a very nice guy." A Literary Guild member praised Thinner as "what Stephen King would write like if Stephen King could really write."
Bachman was exposed as King's pseudonym in 1985 by Steve Brown, a Washington, D.C. bookstore clerk who noticed stylistic similarities between King and Bachman and located publisher's records at the Library of Congress that named King as the author of Rage. King announced Bachman's death from "cancer of the pseudonym". King reflected that "Richard Bachman began his career not as a delusion but as a sheltered place where I could publish a few early books which I felt readers might like. Then he began to grow and come alive, as the creatures of a writer's imagination so frequently do... He took on his own reality, that's all, and when his cover was blown, he died." Originally, King planned Misery to be released under the pseudonym before his identity was discovered.
When Desperation (1996) was released, the companion novel The Regulators was published as a "discovered manuscript" by Bachman. In 2006, King announced that he had discovered another Bachman novel, Blaze, which was published the following year. The original manuscript had been held at the University of Maine for many years and had been covered by numerous King experts. King rewrote the original 1973 manuscript for its publication.
King has used other pseudonyms. In 1972, the short story "The Fifth Quarter" was published under the name John Swithen (a Carrie character) in Cavalier. Charlie the Choo-Choo: From the World of The Dark Tower was published in 2016 under the pseudonym Beryl Evans and illustrated by Ned Dameron. It is adapted from a fictional book central to the plot of King's The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands.
The Dark Tower
In the late 1970s, King began a series about a lone gunslinger, Roland, who pursues the "Man in Black" in an alternate universe that is a cross between J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth and the American Wild West as depicted by Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone in their spaghetti Westerns. The first story, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, was initially published in five installments in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction under the editorship of Edward L. Ferman, from 1977 to 1981. It grew into an eight-volume epic, The Dark Tower, published between 1978 and 2012.
Collaborations
Literature
King co-wrote two novels with Peter Straub, The Talisman (1984) and Black House (2001). Straub recalls that "We tried to make it as difficult as possible for readers to identify who wrote what. Eventually, we were able to successfully imitate each other's style... Steve threw in more commas or clauses, and I kind of made things more simple in sentence structure. And I tried to make things as vivid as I could because Steve is just fabulous at that, and also I tried to write more colloquially." Straub said the only person who could correctly identify who wrote which passages was a fellow author, Neil Gaiman.
King and the photographer f-stop Fitzgerald collaborated on the coffee table book Nightmares in the Sky: Gargoyles and Grotesques (1988). He produced an artist's book with designer Barbara Kruger, My Pretty Pony (1989), published in a limited edition of 250 by the Library Fellows of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Alfred A. Knopf released it in a general trade edition.
King co-wrote Throttle (2009) with his son Joe Hill. The novella is an homage to Richard Matheson's "Duel". Their second collaboration, In the Tall Grass (2012), was published in two parts in Esquire. King and his son Owen co-wrote Sleeping Beauties (2018), set in a West Virginia women's prison. King and Richard Chizmar co-wrote Gwendy's Button Box (2017). A sequel, Gwendy's Magic Feather (2019), was a solo effort by Chizmar. In 2022, King and Chizmar rejoined forces for Gwendy's Final Task.
Film and television
King made his screenwriting debut with George A. Romero's Creepshow (1982), a tribute to EC horror comics. In 1985, he wrote another horror anthology film, Cat's Eye. Rob Reiner, whose film Stand by Me (1986) is an adaptation of King's novella The Body, named his production company Castle Rock Entertainment after King's fictional town. Castle Rock Entertainment would produce other King adaptations, including Reiner's Misery (1990) and Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption (1994).
In 1986, King made his directorial debut with Maximum Overdrive, an adaptation of his story "Trucks". He recalls: "I was coked out of my mind all through its production, and really didn't know what I was doing." It was neither a critical nor a commercial success; King was nominated for a Golden Raspberry for Worst Director, but lost to Prince, for Under the Cherry Moon.
In the 1990s, King wrote several miniseries: Golden Years (1991), The Stand (1994), The Shining (1997) and Storm of the Century (1999). He wrote the miniseries Rose Red (2002); The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red (2001) was written by Ridley Pearson and published anonymously as a tie-in for the series. He also developed Kingdom Hospital (2004), based on Lars von Trier's The Kingdom.
Music and theater
King collaborated with Stan Winston and Mick Garris on the music video Michael Jackson's Ghosts (1996). He co-wrote the musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (2012) with T. Bone Burnett and John Mellencamp. A soundtrack album was released, featuring Taj Mahal, Elvis Costello and Rosanne Cash, among others.
Comics
In 1985, King wrote a few pages of the benefit X-Men comic book Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men. He wrote the introduction to Batman No. 400, an anniversary issue where he expressed his preference for the character over Superman. In 2010, DC Comics premiered American Vampire, a comic book series co-written by King and Scott Snyder and illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque. King wrote the backstory of the first American vampire, Skinner Sweet, in the first five-issues story arc.
Style, themes and influences
Style
In On Writing, King recalls:When, during the course of an interview for The New Yorker, I told the interviewer (Mark Singer) that I believed stories are found things, like fossils in the ground, he said that he didn't believe me. I replied that that was fine, as long as he believed that I believe it. And I do. Stories aren't souvenir tee-shirts or GameBoys. Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer's job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible. Sometimes the fossil you uncover is small, a seashell. Sometimes it's enormous, a Tyrannosaurus Rex with all those gigantic ribs and grinning teeth. Either way, short story or thousand-page whopper of a novel, the techniques of excavation remain basically the same.King often starts with a "what-if" scenario, asking what would happen if an alcoholic writer was stranded with his family in a haunted hotel (The Shining), or if one could see the outcome of future events (The Dead Zone), or if one could travel in time to alter the course of history (11/22/63). He writes that "The situation comes first. The characters—always flat and unfeatured, to begin with—come next. Once these things are fixed in my mind, I begin to narrate. I often have an idea of what the outcome may be, but I have never demanded a set of characters that they do things my way. On the contrary, I want them to do things their way. In some instances, the outcome is what I visualized. In most, however, it's something I never expected."
Joyce Carol Oates called King "both a storyteller and an inventor of startling images and metaphors, which linger long in the memory." An example of King's imagery is seen in The Body when the narrator recalls a childhood clubhouse with a tin roof and rusty screen door: "No matter what time of day you looked out that screen door, it looked like sunset... When it rained, being inside the club was like being inside a Jamaican steel drum." King writes that "The use of simile and other figurative language is one of the chief delights of fiction—reading it and writing it, as well. [...] By comparing two seemingly unrelated objects—a restaurant bar and a cave, a mirror and a mirage—we are sometimes able to see an old thing in a new and vivid way. Even if the result is mere clarity instead of beauty, I think writer and reader are participating together in a kind of miracle. Maybe that's drawing it a little strong, but yeah—it's what I believe."
Themes
When asked if fear was his main subject, King said "In every life you get to a point where you have to deal with something that's inexplicable to you, whether it's the doctor saying you have cancer or a prank phone call. So whether you talk about ghosts or vampires or Nazi war criminals living down the block, we're still talking about the same thing, which is an intrusion of the extraordinary into ordinary life and how we deal with it. What that shows about our character and our interactions with others and the society we live in interests me a lot more than monsters and vampires and ghouls and ghosts."
Joyce Carol Oates said that "Stephen King's characteristic subject is small-town American life, often set in fictitious Derry, Maine; tales of family life, marital life, the lives of children banded together by age, circumstance, and urgency, where parents prove oblivious or helpless. The human heart in conflict with itself—in the guise of the malevolent Other. The 'gothic' imagination magnifies the vicissitudes of 'real life' in order to bring it into a sharper and clearer focus." King's The Body is about coming of age, a theme he has returned to several times, for example in Joyland.
King often uses authors as characters, such as Ben Mears in 'Salem's Lot, Jack Torrance in The Shining, adult Bill Denbrough in It and Mike Noonan in Bag of Bones. He has extended this to breaking the fourth wall by including himself as a character in three novels of The Dark Tower. Among other things, this allows King to explore themes of authorship; George Stade writes that Misery "is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death" while The Dark Half "is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes."
Introducing King at the National Book Awards, Walter Mosley said "Stephen King once said that daily life is the frame that makes the picture. His commitment, as I see it, is to celebrate and empower the everyday man and woman as they buy aspirin and cope with cancer. He takes our daily lives and makes them into something heroic. He takes our world, validates our distrust of it and then helps us to see that there's a chance to transcend the muck. He tells us that even if we fail in our struggles, we are still worthy enough to pass on our energies in the survival of humanity." In his acceptance speech for the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, King said:"Frank Norris, the author of McTeague, said something like this: 'What should I care if they, i.e., the critics, single me out for sneers and laughter? I never truckled, I never lied. I told the truth.' And that's always been the bottom line for me. The story and the people in it may be make believe but I need to ask myself over and over if I've told the truth about the way real people would behave in a similar situation... We understand that fiction is a lie to begin with. To ignore the truth inside the lie is to sin against the craft, in general, and one's own work in particular."
Influences
In On Writing, King says "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all: read a lot and write a lot." He emphasizes the importance of good description, which "begins with clear seeing and ends with clear writing, the kind of writing that employs fresh images and simple vocabulary. I began learning my lessons in this regard by reading Chandler, Hammett, and Ross Macdonald; I gained perhaps even more respect for the power of compact, descriptive language from reading T. S. Eliot (those ragged claws scuttling across the ocean floor; those coffee spoons), and William Carlos Williams (white chickens, red wheelbarrow, the plums that were in the ice box, so sweet and so cold)."
King has called Richard Matheson "the author who influenced me most". Other influences include Ray Bradbury, Joseph Payne Brennan, James M. Cain, Jack Finney, Graham Greene, Elmore Leonard, John D. MacDonald, Don Robertson and Thomas Williams. He often pays homage to classic horror stories by retelling them in a modern context. He recalls that while writing 'Salem's Lot, "I decided I wanted to try to use the book partially as a form of literary homage (as Peter Straub had done in Ghost Story, working in the tradition of such 'classical' ghost story writers as Henry James, M. R. James, and Nathaniel Hawthorne). So my novel bears an intentional similarity to Bram Stoker's Dracula, and after a while it began to seem I was playing an interesting—to me, at least—game of literary racquet-ball: 'Salem's Lot itself was the ball and Dracula was the wall I kept hitting it against, watching to see how and where it could bounce, so I could hit it again. As a matter of fact, it took some pretty interesting bounces, and I ascribe this mostly to the fact that, while my ball existed in the twentieth century, the wall was very much a product of the nineteenth." Similarly, King's Revival is a modern riff on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. King dedicated it to "the people who built my house": Shelley, Stoker, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Donald Wandrei, Fritz Leiber, August Derleth, Shirley Jackson, Robert Bloch, Straub and Arthur Machen, "whose short novel The Great God Pan has haunted me all my life".
He provided an appreciation for The Golden Argosy, a collection of short stories featuring Cather, Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald and others: "I first found The Golden Argosy in a Lisbon Falls (Maine) bargain barn called the Jolly White Elephant, where it was on offer for $2.25. At that time I only had four dollars, and spending over half of it on one book, even a hardcover, was a tough decision. I've never regretted it... The Golden Argosy taught me more about good writing than all the writing classes I've ever taken. It was the best $2.25 I ever spent."
Reception and influence
Critical reception
King has been praised for his use of realistic detail. In A Century of Great Suspense Stories, editor Jeffery Deaver wrote that "While there were many good best-selling writers before him, King, more than anybody since John D. MacDonald, brought reality to genre novels. He has often remarked that 'Salem's Lot was 'Peyton Place meets Dracula'. And so it was. The rich characterization, the careful and caring social eye, the interplay of story line and character development announced that writers could take worn themes such as vampirism and make them fresh again. Before King, many popular writers found their efforts to make their books serious blue-penciled by their editors. 'Stuff like that gets in the way of the story,' they were told. Well, it's stuff like that that has made King so popular, and helped free the popular name from the shackles of simple genre writing. He is a master of masters." Daniel Mendelsohn, reviewing Bag of Bones, wrote that "Stephen King is so widely accepted as America's master of paranormal terrors that you can forget his real genius is for the everyday... This is a book about reanimation: the ghosts', of course, but also Mike's, his desire to re-embrace love and work after a long bereavement that King depicts with an eye for the kind of small but moving details that don't typically distinguish blockbuster horror novels."
Many critics argue that King has matured as a writer. In his analysis of post–World War II horror fiction, The Modern Weird Tale (2001), S. T. Joshi devotes a chapter to King's work. Joshi argues that King's best-known works are his worst, describing them as mostly bloated, illogical, maudlin and prone to deus ex machina endings. Despite these criticisms, Joshi argues that since Gerald's Game (1992), King has been tempering the worst of his writing faults, producing books that are leaner, more believable and generally better written.
In 2003, King was honored by the National Book Awards with a lifetime achievement award, the Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Some in the literary community expressed disapproval of the award: Richard E. Snyder, the former CEO of Simon & Schuster, described King's work as "non-literature" and critic Harold Bloom denounced the choice: "The decision to give the National Book Foundation's annual award for 'distinguished contribution' to Stephen King is extraordinary, another low in the shocking process of dumbing down our cultural life. I've described King in the past as a writer of penny dreadfuls, but perhaps even that is too kind. He shares nothing with Edgar Allan Poe. What he is is an immensely inadequate writer on a sentence-by-sentence, paragraph-by-paragraph, book-by-book basis."
King acknowledged the controversy in his acceptance speech: "There are some people who have spoken out passionately about giving me this medal. There are some people who think it's an extraordinarily bad idea. There have been some people who have spoken out who think it's an extraordinarily good idea. You know who you are and where you stand and most of you who are here tonight are on my side. I'm glad for that. But I want to say it doesn't matter in a sense which side you were on. The people who speak out, speak out because they are passionate about the book, about the word, about the page and, in that sense, we're all brothers and sisters. Give yourself a hand." Shirley Hazzard, whose novel The Great Fire was that year's National Book Award winner, responded by criticizing King; she later said that she had never read him.
Roger Ebert wrote that "A lot people were outraged when he was honored at the National Book Awards, as if a popular writer couldn't be taken seriously. But after finding that his book On Writing has more useful and observant things to say about the craft than any book since Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, I have gotten over my own snobbery. King has, after all, been responsible for the movies The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Dead Zone, Misery, Apt Pupil, Christine, Hearts in Atlantis, Stand By Me and Carrie... And we must not be ungrateful for Silver Bullet, which I awarded three stars because it was 'either the worst movie made from a Stephen King story, or the funniest', and you know which side of that I'm gonna come down on."
Appraisal by other authors
Cynthia Ozick said that, upon giving a reading with King, "It dawned on me as I listened to him that, never mind all the best sellers and all the stereotypes -- this man is a genuine, true-born writer, and that was a revelation. He is not Tom Clancy. He writes sentences, and he has a literary focus, and his writing is filled with literary history. It's not glib, it's not just contemporary chatter and it's not stupid -- that's a bad way to say that something's smart, but that's what I mean."
Joyce Carol Oates praised King's sense of place: "His fiction is famously saturated with the atmosphere of Maine; much of his mostly vividly imagined work—Salem's Lot, Dolores Claiborne, the elegantly composed story 'The Reach', for instance—is a poetic evocation of that landscape, its history and its inhabitants." Oates included the latter story in the second edition of The Oxford Book of American Short Stories.
Peter Straub compared King favorably to Charles Dickens: "Both are novelists of vast popularity and enormous bibliographies, both are beloved writers with a pronounced taste for the morbid and grotesque, both display a deep interest in the underclass." Straub included King's short story "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French" in the Library of America anthology American Fantastic Tales.
David Foster Wallace assigned Carrie and The Stand while teaching at Illinois State University. Wallace praised King's ear for dialogue: "He's one of the first people to talk about real Americans and how they live, to capture real American dialogue in all its, like, foulmouthed grandeur... He has a deadly ear for the way people speak... Students come to me and a lot of them have been led to believe that there's good stuff and bad stuff, literary books and popular books, stuff that's redemptive and commercial shit—with a sharp line drawn between the two categories. It's good to show them that there's a certain amount of blurring. Surface-wise, King's work is a bit televisual, but there's really a lot going on."
Influence
In an interview, Sherman Alexie recalls the influence of "Stephen King, who was always writing about underdogs, and bullied kids, and kids fighting back against overwhelming, often supernatural forces... The world aligned against them. As an Indian boy growing up on a reservation, I always identified with his protagonists. Stephen King, fighting the monsters."
Lauren Groff says that "I love Stephen King and I owe him more than I could ever express... I love his wild imagination and his vivid scenes, many of which populate my nightmares even decades after I last read the books they're in. But the greatest thing I gleaned most from reading Stephen King is his big-hearted glee, the way he treats writing with gratitude, the way he sees his job not as the source of anguish and pain many writers self-pityingly see it as, but rather as something he's over-the-moon delighted to be lucky enough to do. If I could steal one thing from King, and keep it close to my heart forever, it is his sense of almost-holy glee when it comes to writing."
The hero of Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao dreams of being "the Dominican Stephen King", and Díaz alludes to King's work several times throughout the novel. Colson Whitehead recalls that "The first big book I read was Night Shift by Stephen King, you know, a huge book of short stories. And so for many years I just wanted to write horror fiction." In a talk at Virginia Commonwealth University, Whitehead recalls that in college "I wanted to write the black Shining or the black Salem's Lot... Take any Stephen King title and put 'the black' in front of it. That's basically what I wanted to do."
Views and activism
King was raised Methodist, but lost his belief in organized religion while in high school. While not conventionally religious, he says he does believe in God.
King has supported several Democrats in presidential races. In 1984, King endorsed Gary Hart's presidential campaign. During the 2008 presidential election, King endorsed Barack Obama. In 2016, King was one of many writers who signed a letter condemning the candidacy of Donald Trump. In the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, King endorsed Elizabeth Warren's campaign. Warren eventually suspended her campaign, and King later endorsed Joe Biden's campaign in the 2020 general election. In July 2024, he called on Joe Biden to step down from the presidential race. King went on to endorse Kamala Harris.
On April 30, 2012, King published an article in The Daily Beast calling for rich Americans, including himself, to pay more taxes, citing it as "a practical necessity and moral imperative that those who have received much should be obligated to pay ... in the same proportion". King testified in an August 2022 case brought by the U.S. Justice Department to block a $2.2 billion merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster (two of the "Big Five" book publishers). The New York Times credited King's high-profile testimony, which was against his own publisher, with helping to convince presiding judge Florence Y. Pan with ultimately blocking the merger.
In April 2008, King spoke out against HB 1423, a bill pending in the Massachusetts state legislature that would restrict or ban the sale of violent video games to anyone under the age of 18. King argued that such laws allow legislators to ignore the economic divide between the rich and poor and the easy availability of guns, which he believed were the actual causes of violence. In 2013 King published an essay titled Guns, which discusses the gun debate in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. King called for gun owners to support a ban on automatic and semi-automatic weapons.
In June 2018, King called for the release of the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who was jailed in Russia. In July 2022, Stephen King appeared in a video call with the Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus who played the role of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the call Stephen King said "You can always find things about people to pull them down. Washington and Jefferson were slave owners—that doesn't mean they didn't do many good things to the United States of America. There are always people who have flaws, we are humans. On the whole, I think Bandera is a great man, and you're a great man, and Viva Ukraine!" However, King later realized that he was pranked and apologized on Twitter, noting that he was not the only victim and "other victims who fell for these guys include J. K. Rowling, Prince Harry, and Justin Trudeau".
In November 2023, King wrote on X that the United States has been providing aid and arms to Israel for decades.
Maine politics
King endorsed Shenna Bellows in the 2014 U.S. Senate election for the seat held by Republican Susan Collins. King publicly criticized Paul LePage during LePage's tenure as Governor of Maine, referring to him as one of The Three Stooges (with then-Florida Governor Rick Scott and then-Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker being the other two). He was critical of LePage for incorrectly suggesting in a 2015 radio address that King avoided paying Maine income taxes by living out of state for part of the year. The statement was later corrected by the governor's office, but no apology was issued. King said LePage was "full of the stuff that makes the grass grow green" and demanded that LePage "man up and apologize". LePage declined to apologize to King, stating, "I never said Stephen King did not pay income taxes. What I said was, Stephen King's not in Maine right now. That's what I said."
The attention garnered by the LePage criticism led to efforts to encourage King to run for Governor of Maine in 2018. King said he would not run or serve. King sent a tweet on June 30, 2015, calling LePage "a terrible embarrassment to the state I live in and love. If he won't govern, he should resign." He later clarified that he was not calling on LePage to resign, but to "go to work or go back home". On August 27, 2016, King called LePage "a bigot, a homophobe, and a racist".
Philanthropy
King subsidizes the National Poetry Foundation, which was directed by his professor and mentor Burton Hatlen, and has endowed scholarships named for another professor, Edward Holmes. Mark Singer also notes Bangor's "most monumental testament to King's philanthropy", the "Shawn T. Mansfield Baseball Complex, dedicated six years ago in memory of the son of a Little League coach and friend of King's who died at fourteen of cerebral palsy." King has stated that he donates approximately $4 million per year "to libraries, local fire departments that need updated lifesaving equipment (Jaws of Life tools are always a popular request), schools, and a scattering of organisations that underwrite the arts". The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, chaired by King and his wife, ranks sixth among Maine charities in terms of average annual giving, with over $2.8 million in grants per year, according to The Grantsmanship Center.
In 2002, King, Peter Straub, John Grisham and Pat Conroy organized the Wavedancer Benefit, a public reading to raise funds for the actor and audiobook reader Frank Muller, who had been injured in a motorcycle accident. Their reading was released as an audiobook. In November 2011, the STK Foundation donated $70,000 in matched funding via his radio station to help pay the heating bills for families in need in his hometown of Bangor, Maine, during the winter. In February 2021, King's Foundation donated $6,500 to help children from the Farwell Elementary School in Lewiston, Maine, to publish two novels on which they had been working over the course of several prior years, before being stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Maine.
Personal life
After meeting her while studying at the University of Maine, King married Tabitha Spruce on January 2, 1971. She is also a novelist and philanthropist. She has been supportive of him throughout his career, even rescuing his early manuscript of Carrie from the trash when he doubted himself. They own and divide their time between three houses: one in Bangor, Maine, one in Lovell, Maine, and for the winter a waterfront mansion located off the Gulf of Mexico in Sarasota, Florida. King's home in Bangor has been described as an unofficial tourist attraction, and as of 2019, the couple plan to convert it into a facility housing his archives and a writers' retreat.
The Kings have three children—two sons and a daughter, Naomi (born June 1, 1970), who is a Unitarian Universalist Church minister in Plantation, Florida, with her partner, Thandeka. Both of King's sons are also professional authors: Owen King (born February 21, 1977) published his first collection of stories, We're All in This Together: A Novella and Stories, in 2005. Joseph Hillström King (born June 4, 1972), who writes as Joe Hill, published his first collection of short stories, 20th Century Ghosts, in 2005.
King is a longtime fan of baseball, particularly the Boston Red Sox. In 1990, King published an essay about Owen's Little League team in The New Yorker. King and Stewart O'Nan coauthored Faithful, a chronicle of their correspondence about the historic 2004 Boston Red Sox season which culminated in the Sox winning the 2004 World Series. The game features in King's novellas The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) and Blockade Billy (2010).
Music, particularly rock, plays a role in much of King's work. On the BBC program Desert Island Discs, King's number one choice was Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row". On another BBC program, Paperback Writers, he made new selections, among them AC/DC's "Stiff Upper Lip", Danny & the Juniors's "At the Hop" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "It Came Out of the Sky". He played guitar for the Rock Bottom Remainders, a charity supergroup whose members included Amy Tan, Barbara Kingsolver, Dave Barry, Scott Turow, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount, Jr., Matt Groening, Greg Iles, Kathi Kamen Goldmark and other authors. They released an album, Stranger Than Fiction (1998), under Goldmark's label, Don't Quit Your Day Job Records. King and his band-mates coauthored Midlife Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America With Three Chords and an Attitude (1994) and the e-book Hard Listening: The Greatest Rock Band Ever (of Authors) Tells All (2013). King's favorite books about music are Greil Marcus's Mystery Train and Lipstick Traces and Chris Willman's Rednecks and Bluenecks.
King and his wife own the Zone Corporation, a radio station group established in 1983 to acquire WACZ in Bangor, which was renamed WZON. Two additional stations, WKIT-FM and WNSW in Brewer, were added in 1995; WNSW was quickly closed down. A third station, WDME-FM in Dover-Foxcroft (later renamed WZLO), was acquired in 2001. In December 2024, King announced that the stations would shut down at the end of the year. He cited his advancing age and financial losses from the stations as reasons for the closure. Ahead of the planned closure, King reached a deal to sell WKIT to two Bangor businessmen; WZON and WZLO remain slated for closure.
King remains a voracious reader. In J. Peder Zane's The Top Ten: Authors Pick Their Favorite Books, King chose The Golden Argosy, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Satanic Verses, McTeague, Lord of the Flies, Bleak House, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Raj Quartet, Light in August and Blood Meridian. In 2022, he provided another list of ten favorite books; Lord of the Flies, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Blood Meridian remained, and he added Ship of Fools, The Orphan Master's Son, Invisible Man, Watership Down, The Hair of Harold Roux, American Pastoral and The Lord of the Rings. He added, "Although Anthony Powell's novels should probably be on here, especially the sublimely titled Casanova's Chinese Restaurant and Books Do Furnish a Room. And Paul Scott's Raj Quartet. And at least six novels by Patricia Highsmith. And what about Patrick O'Brian? See how hard this is to do?"
When asked about his reading habits, King replied, "I'm sort of an omnivore, apt to go from the latest John Sandford to D. H. Lawrence to Cormac McCarthy." When asked what books we'd be surprised to find on his shelves, he answered "Poetry, maybe? I love Anne Sexton, Richard Wilbur, W. B. Yeats. The poetry I come back to again and again are the narrative poems of Stephen Dobyns." When asked which novel he comes back to, he named Thomas Williams's The Hair of Harold Roux. When asked who his favorite novelist is, he said "Probably Don Robertson, author of Paradise Falls, The Ideal, Genuine Man and the marvelously titled Miss Margaret Ridpath and the Dismantling of the Universe. What I appreciate most in novels and novelists is generosity, a complete baring of the heart and mind, and Robertson always did that. He also wrote the best single line I've ever read in a novel: Of a funeral he wrote, 'There were that day, o Lord, squadrons of birds.'"
Car accident and aftermath
On June 19, 1999, at about 4:30 pm, King was walking on the shoulder of Maine State Route 5, in Lovell, Maine. Driver Bryan Edwin Smith, distracted by an unrestrained dog moving in the back of his minivan, struck King, who landed in a depression in the ground about 14 feet (four meters) from the pavement of Route 5. Early reports at the time from Oxford County Sheriff deputy Matt Baker claimed King was hit from behind, and some witnesses said the driver was not speeding, reckless, or drinking.
Smith was later arrested and charged with driving to endanger and aggravated assault. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of driving to endanger and was sentenced to six months in county jail (suspended) and had his driving license suspended for a year. In his book On Writing, King states he was heading north, walking against the traffic. Shortly before the crash took place, a woman in a car, also northbound, passed King first followed by a light blue Dodge van. The van was looping from one side of the road to the other, and the woman told her passenger she hoped "that guy in the van doesn't hit him".
King was conscious enough to give the deputy phone numbers to contact his family but was in considerable pain. He was transported to Northern Cumberland Hospital in Bridgton and then flown by air ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center (CMMC) in Lewiston. His injuries—a collapsed right lung, multiple fractures of his right leg, scalp laceration and a broken hip—kept him at CMMC until July 9. His leg bones were so shattered that doctors initially considered amputating his leg but stabilized the bones in the leg with an external fixator. After five operations in 10 days and physical therapy, King resumed work on On Writing in July, though his hip was still shattered and he could sit for only about 40 minutes before the pain became unbearable.
King's wife got in touch with his lawyer to purchase Smith's van, reportedly to prevent it from appearing on eBay. He recalls: "When I was in the hospital, mostly unconscious; my wife got a lawyer who's just a friend of the family...And she got in touch with him and said, buy it so that somebody else doesn't buy it and decide to break it up and sell it on eBay, on the Internet. And so he did. And for about six months, I did have these, sort of, fantasies of smashing the van up. But my wife – I don't always listen to her the first time, but sooner or later, she usually gets through. And what she says makes more sense than what I had planned. And her thought was that the best thing to do would be to very quietly remove it from this plane of existence, which is what we did."
Other media appearances
In The Princess Bride, William Goldman writes that Stephen King is "doing the abridgment" of the fictional book Buttercup's Baby. King explains this is an inside joke from Goldman, "who's an old friend. He's done the screen adaptations for a number of my novels. He did Misery, Dreamcatcher and he also did Hearts in Atlantis, and although he's not credited, he worked on Dolores Claiborne as well, so Bill and I go back a long way. I admired his books before I ever met him and as a kind of return tip of the cap, he put me in that book The Princess Bride."
In 1988, the band Blue Öyster Cult recorded an updated version of its 1974 song "Astronomy"; the single released for radio play featured a narrative intro spoken by King. In 2012, King provided the narration for Shooter Jennings's album Black Ribbons. King was a contestant on Celebrity Jeopardy! in 1995 and 1998. He has made cameos in adaptations of his work, and appeared as the character Bachman on Sons of Anarchy; the name is a nod to his pseudonym Richard Bachman. He voiced himself in The Simpsons episode "Insane Clown Poppy", where he appears with fellow authors Amy Tan, John Updike and Tom Wolfe at a book fair. King tells Marge he is taking a break from horror to write a biography of Benjamin Franklin.
Awards and honors
Carrie was included on the New York Public Library's list of Books of the Century under the category "Pop Culture Mass & Entertainment". In 2008, On Writing was ranked 21st on Entertainment Weekly's list of "The New Classics: The 100 Best Reads from 1983 to 2008". It also made Time's list of the 100 greatest nonfiction books published since the magazine's founding in 1923. Gilbert Cruz wrote, "it's the most practical and unpretentious writer's manual around—as practical and unpretentious as its author, who, yes, just happens to be one of the world's most famous novelists."
11/22/63 (2011) was named one of the five best fiction books of the year in The New York Times: "Throughout his career, King has explored fresh ways to blend the ordinary and the supernatural. His new novel imagines a time portal in a Maine diner that lets an English teacher go back to 1958 in an effort to stop Lee Harvey Oswald and—rewardingly for readers—also allows King to reflect on questions of memory, fate and free will as he richly evokes midcentury America. The past guards its secrets, this novel reminds us, and the horror behind the quotidian is time itself."
Bibliography
Audiobooks
2000: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (read by Stephen King), Simon & Schuster Audio. ISBN 978-0-7435-0665-6.
2004: Salem's Lot (introduction), Simon & Schuster Audio. ISBN 978-0-7435-3696-7.
2005 (Audible: 2000): Bag of Bones (read by Stephen King). Simon & Schuster Audio. ISBN 978-0743551755.
2008: Needful Things (read by Stephen King), Highbridge Audio. ISBN 978-1598877540.
2012: The Wind Through The Keyhole – A Dark Tower Novel (read by Stephen King), Simon & Schuster Audio. ISBN 978-1-4423-4697-0.
2016: Desperation (read by Stephen King), Simon & Schuster Audio. ISBN 978-1508218661.
2018: Elevation (read by Stephen King), Simon & Schuster Audio. ISBN 978-1508260479.
Filmography
See also
Dollar Baby – $1 short story contract with Stephen King
Haven – Television series loosely based on King novel The Colorado Kid
Jerusalem's Lot (Stephen King)
List of adaptations of works by Stephen King
References
Further reading
Brooks, Justin (2008). Stephen King: A Primary Bibliography of the World's Most Popular Author. Cemetery Dance. ISBN 978-1-58767-153-1.
Collings, Michael R. (1985). The Many Facets of Stephen King. Starmont House. ISBN 0-930261-14-3.
Collings, Michael R.; Engebretson, David A. (1985). The Shorter Works of Stephen King. Starmont House. ISBN 0-930261-02-X.
Collings, Michael R. (1985). Stephen King as Richard Bachman. Starmont House. ISBN 0-930261-00-3.
Collings, Michael R. (1986). The Films of Stephen King. Starmont House. ISBN 0-930261-10-0.
Collings, Michael R. (1986). The Annotated Guide to Stephen King: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography of the Works of America's Premier Horror Writer. Starmont House. ISBN 0-930261-80-1.
Collings, Michael R. (1987). The Stephen King Phenomenon. Starmont House. ISBN 0-930261-12-7.
Collings, Michael R. (2003). Horror Plum'd: An International Stephen King Bibliography and Guide 1960–2000. Overlook Connection Press. ISBN 1-892950-45-6.
Collings, Michael R. (2008). Stephen King Is Richard Bachman. Overlook Connection Press. ISBN 978-1-892950-74-1.
Hoppenstand, Gary, ed. (2010). Stephen King. Salem Press. ISBN 978-1-58765-685-9.
Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher; Rich, Nathaniel (Fall 2006). "Stephen King, The Art of Fiction No. 189". The Paris Review. Fall 2006 (178).
Spignesi, Stephen (1991). The Complete Stephen King Encyclopedia. Contemporary Books. ISBN 978-0-8092-3818-7.
Spignesi, Stephen (1998). The Lost Work of Stephen King. Birch Lane Press. ISBN 978-1-55972-469-2.
Spignesi, Stephen (2001). The Essential Stephen King. Career Press. ISBN 978-1-56414-710-3.
Wood, Rocky; Rawsthorne, David; Blackburn, Norma. The Complete Guide to the Works of Stephen King. Kanrock Partners. ISBN 0-9750593-3-5.
Wood, Rocky (2006). Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished. Cemetery Dance. ISBN 1-58767-130-1.
Wood, Rocky; Brooks, Justin. The Stephen King Collector's Guide. Kanrock Partners. ISBN 978-0-9750593-5-7.
Wood, Rocky; Brooks, Justin (2008). Stephen King: The Non-Fiction. Cemetery Dance. ISBN 978-1-58767-160-9.
External links
Official website
Stephen King on Twitter
Stephen King on Bluesky
Stephen King at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Stephen King at IMDb
Appearances on C-SPAN
Working with the King – Shotsmag Ezine Interview with Philippa Pride, King's UK editor
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Confucius
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Confucius (孔子; pinyin: Kǒngzǐ; lit. 'Master Kong'; c. 551 – c. 479 BCE), born Kong Qiu (孔丘), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the philosophy and teachings of Confucius. His philosophical teachings, called Confucianism, emphasized personal and governmental morality, harmonious social relationships, righteousness, kindness, sincerity, and a ruler's responsibilities to lead by virtue.
Confucius considered himself a transmitter for the values of earlier periods which he claimed had been abandoned in his time. He advocated for filial piety, endorsing strong family loyalty, ancestor veneration, and the respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives. Confucius recommended a robust family unit as the cornerstone for an ideal government. He championed the Silver Rule, or a negative form of the Golden Rule, advising, "Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself."
The time of Confucius's life saw a rich diversity of thought, and was a formative period in China's intellectual history. His ideas gained in prominence during the Warring States period, but experienced setback immediately following the Qin conquest. Under Emperor Wu of Han, Confucius's ideas received official sanction, with affiliated works becoming mandatory readings for career paths leading to officialdom. During the Tang and Song dynasties, Confucianism developed into a system known in the West as Neo-Confucianism. In the 20th century, an intellectual movement emerged in Republican China that sought to apply Confucian ideology in a modern context, known as New Confucianism. From ancient dynasties to the modern era, Confucianism has integrated into the Chinese social fabric and way of life.
Traditionally, Confucius is credited with having authored or edited many of the ancient texts including all of the Five Classics. However, modern scholars exercise caution in attributing specific assertions to Confucius himself, for at least some of the texts and philosophy associated with him were of a more ancient origin. Aphorisms concerning his teachings were compiled in the Analects, but not until many years after his death.
Name
The name "Confucius" is a Latinized form of the Mandarin Chinese Kǒng Fūzǐ (孔夫子, "Master Kong") that was coined in the late 16th century by early Jesuit missionaries to China. Confucius's family name was Kong (孔, OC:*kʰˤoŋʔ) and his given name was Qiu (丘, OC:*[k]ʷʰə). His courtesy name, a capping (guan: 冠) given at his coming of age ceremony, and by which he would have been known to all but his older family members, was Zhongni (仲尼, OC:*N-truŋ-s nr[əj]), the "Zhòng" indicating that he was the second son in his family.
Life
Early life
It is thought that Confucius was born on 28 September 551 BCE, in Zou (陬, in modern Qufu, Shandong). The area was notionally controlled by the kings of Zhou but effectively independent under the local lords of Lu, who ruled from the nearby city of Qufu. His father Kong He (or Shuliang He) was an elderly commandant of the local Lu garrison. His ancestry traced back through the dukes of Song to the Shang dynasty which had preceded the Zhou. Traditional accounts of Confucius's life relate that Kong He's grandfather had migrated the family from Song to Lu. Not all modern scholars accept Confucius's descent from Song nobility.
Kong He died when Confucius was three years old, and Confucius was raised by his mother Yan Zhengzai (顏徵在) in poverty. His mother later died at less than 40 years of age. At age 19, he married Lady Qiguan (亓官氏), and a year later the couple had their first child, their son Kong Li (孔鯉). Qiguan and Confucius later had two daughters together, one of whom is thought to have died as a child and one was named Kong Jiao (孔姣).
Confucius was educated at schools for commoners, where he studied and learned the Six Arts.
Confucius was born into the class of shi (士), between the aristocracy and the common people. He is said to have worked in various government jobs during his early 20s, and as a bookkeeper and a caretaker of sheep and horses, using the proceeds to give his mother a proper burial. When his mother died, Confucius (aged 23) is said to have mourned for three years, as was the tradition.
Political career
In Confucius's time, the state of Lu was headed by a ruling ducal house. Under the duke were three aristocratic families, whose heads bore the title of viscount and held hereditary positions in the Lu bureaucracy. The Ji family held the position "Minister over the Masses", who was also the "Prime Minister"; the Meng family held the position "Minister of Works"; and the Shu family held the position "Minister of War". In the winter of 505 BC, Yang Hu—a retainer of the Ji family—rose up in rebellion and seized power from the Ji family. However, by the summer of 501 BC, the three hereditary families had succeeded in expelling Yang Hu from Lu. By then, Confucius had built up a considerable reputation through his teachings, while the families came to see the value of proper conduct and righteousness, so they could achieve loyalty to a legitimate government. Thus, that year (501 BC), Confucius came to be appointed to the minor position of governor of a town. Eventually, he rose to the position of Minister of Crime. The Xunzi says that once assuming the post, Confucius ordered the execution of Shaozheng Mao, another Lu state official and scholar whose lectures attracted the three thousand disciples several times except Yan Hui. Shaozheng Mao was accused of 'five crimes', each worth execution, including 'concealed evilness, stubborn abnormality, eloquent duplicity, erudition in bizarre facts and generosity to evildoers'.
Confucius desired to return the authority of the state to the duke by dismantling the fortifications of the city—strongholds belonging to the three families. This way, he could establish a centralized government. However, Confucius relied solely on diplomacy as he had no military authority himself. In 500 BC, Hou Fan—the governor of Hou—revolted against his lord of the Shu family. Although the Meng and Shu families unsuccessfully besieged Hou, a loyalist official rose up with the people of Hou and forced Hou Fan to flee to the state of Qi. The situation may have been in favor for Confucius as this likely made it possible for Confucius and his disciples to convince the aristocratic families to dismantle the fortifications of their cities. Eventually, after a year and a half, Confucius and his disciples succeeded in convincing the Shu family to raze the walls of Hou, the Ji family in razing the walls of Bi, and the Meng family in razing the walls of Cheng. First, the Shu family led an army towards their city Hou and tore down its walls in 498 BC.
Soon thereafter, Gongshan Furao, a retainer of the Ji family, revolted and took control of the forces at Bi. He immediately launched an attack and entered the capital Lu. Earlier, Gongshan had approached Confucius to join him, which Confucius considered as he wanted the opportunity to put his principles into practice but he gave up on the idea in the end. Confucius disapproved the use of a violent revolution by principle, even though the Ji family dominated the Lu state by force for generations and had exiled the previous duke. Creel states that, unlike the rebel Yang Hu before him, Gongshan may have sought to destroy the three hereditary families and restore the power of the duke. However, Dubs is of the view that Gongshan was encouraged by Viscount Ji Huan to invade the Lu capital in an attempt to avoid dismantling the Bi fortified walls. Whatever the situation may have been, Gongshan was considered an upright man who continued to defend the state of Lu, even after he was forced to flee.
During the revolt by Gongshan, Zhong You had managed to keep the duke and the three viscounts together at the court. Zhong You was one of the disciples of Confucius and Confucius had arranged for him to be given the position of governor by the Ji family. When Confucius heard of the raid, he requested that Viscount Ji Huan allow the duke and his court to retreat to a stronghold on his palace grounds. Thereafter, the heads of the three families and the duke retreated to the Ji's palace complex and ascended the Wuzi Terrace. Confucius ordered two officers to lead an assault against the rebels. At least one of the two officers was a retainer of the Ji family, but they were unable to refuse the orders while in the presence of the duke, viscounts, and court. The rebels were pursued and defeated at Gu. Immediately after the revolt was defeated, the Ji family razed the Bi city walls to the ground.
The attackers retreated after realizing that they would have to become rebels against the state and their lord. Through Confucius' actions, the Bi officials had inadvertently revolted against their own lord, thus forcing Viscount Ji Huan's hand in having to dismantle the walls of Bi—as it could have harbored such rebels—or confess to instigating the event by going against proper conduct and righteousness as an official. Dubs suggests that the incident brought to light Confucius' foresight, practical political ability, and insight into human character.
When it was time to dismantle the city walls of the Meng family, the governor was reluctant to have his city walls torn down and convinced the head of the Meng family not to do so. The Zuo Zhuan recalls that the governor advised against razing the walls to the ground as he said that it made Cheng vulnerable to Qi, and cause the destruction of the Meng family. Even though Viscount Meng Yi gave his word not to interfere with an attempt, he went back on his earlier promise to dismantle the walls.
Later in 498 BC, Duke Ding of Lu personally went with an army to lay siege to Cheng in an attempt to raze its walls to the ground, but he did not succeed. Thus, Confucius could not achieve the idealistic reforms that he wanted including restoration of the legitimate rule of the duke. He had made powerful enemies within the state, especially with Viscount Ji Huan, due to his successes so far. According to accounts in the Zuo Zhuan and the Records of the Grand Historian, Confucius departed his homeland in 497 BC after his support for the failed attempt of dismantling the fortified city walls of the powerful Ji, Meng, and Shu families. He left the state of Lu without resigning, remaining in self-exile and unable to return as long as Viscount Ji Huan was alive.
Exile
The Shiji stated that the neighboring Qi state was worried that Lu was becoming too powerful while Confucius was involved in the government of the Lu state. According to this account, Qi decided to sabotage Lu's reforms by sending 100 good horses and 80 beautiful dancing girls to the duke of Lu. The duke indulged himself in pleasure and did not attend to official duties for three days. Confucius was disappointed and resolved to leave Lu and seek better opportunities, yet to leave at once would expose the misbehavior of the duke and therefore bring public humiliation to the ruler Confucius was serving. Confucius therefore waited for the duke to make a lesser mistake. Soon after, the duke neglected to send to Confucius a portion of the sacrificial meat that was his due according to custom, and Confucius seized upon this pretext to leave both his post and the Lu state.
After Confucius's resignation, he travelled around the principality states of north-east and central China including Wey, Song, Zheng, Cao, Chu, Qi, Chen, and Cai (and a failed attempt to go to Jin). At the courts of these states, he expounded his political beliefs but did not see them implemented.
Return home
According to the Zuozhuan, Confucius returned home to his native Lu when he was 68, after he was invited to do so by Ji Kangzi, the chief minister of Lu. The Shiji depicts him spending his last years teaching 3000 pupils, with 72 or 77 accomplished disciples that mastered the Six Arts. Meanwhile, Confucius dedicated himself in transmitting the old wisdom by writing or editing the Five Classics.
During his return, Confucius sometimes acted as an advisor to several government officials in Lu, including Ji Kangzi, on matters including governance and crime.
Burdened by the loss of both his son and his favorite disciples, he died at the age of 71 or 72 from natural causes. Confucius was buried on the bank of the Sishui River, to the north of Qufu City in Shandong Province. Starting as a humble tomb, the cemetery of Confucius had been expanded by emperors since the Han Dynasty. To date, the Cemetery of Confucius (孔林) covers an area of 183 hectares with more than 100,000 graves of the Kong descendants, it is included in the World Heritage List for its cultural and architectural value.
Philosophy
In the Analects, Confucius presents himself as a "transmitter who invented nothing". He puts the greatest emphasis on the importance of study, and it is the Chinese character for study (學) that opens the text. Far from trying to build a systematic or formalist theory, he wanted his disciples to master and internalize older classics, so that they can capture the ancient wisdoms that promotes "harmony and order", to aid their self-cultivation to become a perfect man. For example, the Annals would allow them to relate the moral problems of the present to past political events; the Book of Odes reflects the "mood and concerns" of the commoners and their view on government; while the Book of Changes encompasses the key theory and practice of divination.
Although some Chinese people follow Confucianism in a religious manner, many argue that its values are secular and that it is less a religion than a secular morality. Proponents of religious Confucianism argue that despite the secular nature of Confucianism's teachings, it is based on a worldview that is religious. Confucius was considered more of a humanist than a spiritualist, his discussions on afterlife and views concerning Heaven remained indeterminate, and he is largely unconcerned with spiritual matters often considered essential to religious thought, such as the nature of souls.
Ethics
One of the deepest teachings of Confucius may have been the superiority of personal exemplification over explicit rules of behavior. His moral teachings emphasized self-cultivation, emulation of moral exemplars, and the attainment of skilled judgment rather than knowledge of rules. Confucian ethics may, therefore, be considered a type of virtue ethics. His teachings rarely rely on reasoned argument, and ethical ideals and methods are conveyed indirectly, through allusion, innuendo, and even tautology. His teachings require examination and context to be understood. A good example is found in this famous anecdote:
廄焚。子退朝，曰：傷人乎？不問馬。
When the stables were burnt down, on returning from court Confucius said, "Was anyone hurt?" He did not ask about the horses.
This remark was considered a strong manifestation of Confucius' advocacy in humanism.
One of his teachings was a variant of the Golden Rule, sometimes called the "Silver Rule" owing to its negative form:
子貢問曰：有一言而可以終身行之者乎？子曰：其恕乎！己所不欲、勿施於人。
Zi Gong [a disciple] asked: "Is there any one word that could guide a person throughout life?" The Master replied: "How about 'reciprocity'! Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself."
Often overlooked in Confucian ethics are the virtues to the self: sincerity and the cultivation of knowledge. Virtuous action towards others begins with virtuous and sincere thought, which begins with knowledge. A virtuous disposition without knowledge is susceptible to corruption, and virtuous action without sincerity is not true righteousness. For Confucius, learning about ancient rituals, practices, music, social institutions, and relationship norms is both essential and the starting point for becoming a junzi. By "learning," Confucius refers to moral cultivation that transforms a student into a superior man, rather than the mere accumulation of knowledge.
The Confucian theory of ethics as exemplified in lǐ (禮) is based on three important conceptual aspects of life: (a) ceremonies associated with sacrifice to ancestors and deities of various types, (b) social and political institutions, and (c) the etiquette of daily behavior. Some believed that lǐ originated from the heavens, but Confucius stressed the development of lǐ through the actions of sage leaders in human history. His discussions of lǐ seem to redefine the term to refer to all actions committed by a person to build the ideal society, rather than those conforming with canonical standards of ceremony.
In the early Confucian tradition, lǐ was doing the proper thing at the proper time; balancing between maintaining existing norms to perpetuate an ethical social fabric, and violating them in order to accomplish ethical good. Training in the lǐ of past sages, cultivates virtues in people that include ethical judgment about when lǐ must be adapted in light of situational contexts.
In Confucianism, the concept of li is closely related to yì (義), which is based upon the idea of reciprocity. Yì can be translated as righteousness, though it may mean what is ethically best to do in a certain context. The term contrasts with action done out of self-interest or profitableness (利). While pursuing one's own self-interest is not necessarily bad, one would be a better, more righteous person if one's life was based upon following a path designed to enhance the greater good. Thus an outcome of yì is doing the right thing for its own sake, without regarding the material gains.
Just as action according to lǐ should be adapted to conform to the aspiration of adhering to yì, so yì is linked to the core value of rén (仁). Rén consists of five basic virtues: seriousness, generosity, sincerity, diligence, and kindness. Rén is the virtue of perfectly fulfilling one's responsibilities toward others, most often translated as "benevolence", "humaneness", or "empathy"; translator Arthur Waley calls it "Goodness" (with a capital G), and other translations that have been put forth include "authoritativeness" and "selflessness". Confucius's moral system was based upon empathy and understanding others, rather than divinely ordained rules. To develop one's spontaneous responses of rén so that these could guide action intuitively was even better than living by the rules of yì. Confucius asserts that virtue is a mean between extremes. For example, the properly generous person gives the right amount – not too much and not too little.
Politics
Confucius's political thought is based upon his ethical thought. He argued that the best government is one that rules through "rites" (lǐ) and morality, and not by using incentives and coercion. He explained that this is one of the most important analects: "If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of the shame, and moreover will become good." (Analects 2.3, tr. Legge). This "sense of shame" is an internalization of duty. Confucianism prioritizes creating a harmonious society over the ruler's interests, opposes material incentives and harsh punishments, and downplays the role of institutions in guiding behavior as in Legalism, emphasizing moral virtues instead.
Confucius looked nostalgically upon earlier days, and urged the Chinese, particularly those with political power, to model themselves on earlier examples. In times of division, chaos, and endless wars between feudal states, he wanted to restore the Mandate of Heaven (天命) that could unify the "world" (天下, "all under Heaven") and bestow peace and prosperity on the people. Because his vision of personal and social perfections was framed as a revival of the ordered society of earlier times, Confucius is often considered a great proponent of conservatism, but a closer look at what he proposes often shows that he used (and perhaps twisted) past institutions and rites to push a new political agenda of his own: a revival of a unified royal state, whose rulers would succeed to power on the basis of their moral merits instead of lineage. These would be rulers devoted to the well-being of their people, striving to be a role model in virtue and ritual, and such a ruler would spread his own virtues to the people instead of imposing proper behavior with laws and edicts.
In discussing the relationship between a king and his subject (or a father and his son), he underlined the need to give due respect to superiors. This demanded that the subordinates must advise their superiors if the superiors are considered to be taking a course of action that is wrong. Confucius believed in ruling by example, if you lead correctly, orders by force or punishment are not necessary.
Music and poetry
Music was one of the six arts that students needed to master, together with archery, charioteering, mathematics, calligraphy, and a partner to music, the purpose of rituals. Confucius heavily promoted the use of music with rituals or the rites order. Unlike other philosophers around the world, Confucius viewed music and music theory beyond a mere art form or curriculum subject, and stated that it was intrinsically intertwined with rites in structuring man. "Music is that which moves man from the internal; rites are that which affects man
on the external. Music brings about harmony. Rites ensure obedience." To Confucius, music created the focus necessary to unite and harmonize man. Thus, music and rites together were more than beneficial but were to make people act in a manner compatible with heaven and earth. The scholar Li Zehou argued that Confucianism is based on the idea of rites. Rites serve as the starting point for each individual and that these sacred social functions allow each person's human nature to be harmonious with reality. Given this, Confucius believed that "music is the harmonization of heaven and earth; the rites is the order of heaven and earth." Therefore, the application of music in rites creates the order that makes it possible for society to prosper.
The Confucian approach to music was heavily inspired by the Shijing or Classic of Poetry and the Classic of Music, which was said to be the sixth Confucian classic until it was lost during the Han dynasty. The Classic of Poetry serves as one of the current Confucian classics and is a book on poetry that contains a diversified variety of poems as well as poems meant for folk songs. Confucius is traditionally ascribed with compiling these classics within his school. In the Analects, Confucius described the importance of poetry in the intellectual and moral development of an individual:
Confucians in later generations had conservative and mixed views on international musical influences encroaching on China, in particular those with varying styles that did not traditionally accompany rites, and some preached against sentimental tendencies from the Persians, the Greco-Bactrians, and the Mongols.
Legacy
Confucius's teachings were later turned into an elaborate set of rules and practices by his numerous disciples and followers, who organized his teachings into the Analects. Confucius's disciples and his only grandson, Zisi, continued his philosophical school after his death. These efforts spread Confucian ideals to students who then became officials in many of the royal courts in China, thereby giving Confucianism the first wide-scale test of its dogma.
Two of Confucius's most famous later followers emphasized radically different aspects of his teachings. In the centuries after his death, Mencius (孟子) and Xunzi (荀子) both composed important teachings elaborating in different ways on the fundamental ideas associated with Confucius. Mencius (4th century BC) articulated the innate goodness in human beings as a source of the ethical intuitions that guide people towards rén, yì, and lǐ, while Xunzi (3rd century BC) underscored the realistic and materialistic aspects of Confucian thought, stressing that morality was inculcated in society through tradition and in individuals through training. In time, their writings, together with the Analects and other core texts came to constitute the philosophical corpus of Confucianism.
Towards the end of the Warring States periods, Legalism gained momentum amid the intensified power struggle. Considered an "antithesis of Confucian thinking", Legalism held that humanity and righteousness were not sufficient in government, and that rulers should instead rely on statecrafts, punishments, vigorous administration of law, and warfare. Legalism seemed to "win out over the other school of political thoughts" in 221 BC when the Qin state conquered all of China and adopted legalism as its official doctrine. Li Si, Prime Minister of the Qin dynasty, convinced Qin Shi Huang to completely abolish feudal ranks and privileges of the Zhou dynasty, and to centralize power through the prefectures and county system.
It was not until the Han dynasty that Confucian teachings gained widespread prominence over other thinkers. Under Emperor Wu of Han, the works attributed to Confucius were made the official imperial philosophy and required reading for civil service examinations in 140 BC which was continued nearly unbroken until the end of the imperial China in 1912. As Mohism lost support by the time of the Han, the main philosophical contenders were Legalism, which Confucian thought somewhat absorbed, the teachings of Laozi, whose focus on more spiritual ideas kept it from direct conflict with Confucianism, and the new Buddhist religion, which gained acceptance during the Southern and Northern Dynasties era. Both Confucian ideas and Confucian-trained officials were relied upon in the Ming dynasty and even the Yuan dynasty, although the Mongol rulers somehow distrusted Confucian scholar-officials and excluded them from some of the top government positions.
During the Song dynasty, Confucianism was revitalized in a movement known as Neo-Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism was a revival of Confucianism that expanded on classical theories by incorporating metaphysics and new approaches to self-cultivation and enlightenment, influenced by Buddhism and Daoism. The most renowned scholar of this period was Zhu Xi. There are clear Buddhist and Daoist influences in the Neo-Confucian advocacy of "quiet sitting" (meditation) as a technique of self-cultivation that leads to transformative experiences of insight." In his life, Zhu Xi was largely ignored, but not long after his death, his ideas became the new orthodox view of what Confucian texts actually meant. Modern historians view Zhu Xi as having created something rather different and call his way of thinking Neo-Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism held sway in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam until the 19th century.
The works of Confucius were first translated into European languages by Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century during the late Ming dynasty. The first known effort was by Michele Ruggieri, who returned to Italy in 1588 and carried on his translations while residing in Salerno. Matteo Ricci started to report on the thoughts of Confucius, and a team of Jesuits—Prospero Intorcetta, Philippe Couplet, and two others—published a translation of several Confucian works and an overview of Chinese history in Paris in 1687. François Noël, after failing to persuade Clement XI that Chinese veneration of ancestors and Confucius did not constitute idolatry, completed the Confucian canon at Prague in 1711, with more scholarly treatments of the other works and the first translation of the collected works of Mencius. It is thought that such works had considerable importance on European thinkers of the period, particularly among the Deists and other philosophical groups of the Enlightenment who were interested by the integration of the system of morality of Confucius into Western civilization.
In the modern era Confucian movements, such as New Confucianism, still exist, but during the Cultural Revolution, Confucianism was frequently attacked by leading figures in the Chinese Communist Party. This was partially a continuation of the condemnations of Confucianism by intellectuals and activists in the early 20th century as a cause of the ethnocentric close-mindedness and refusal of the Qing dynasty to modernize that led to the tragedies that befell China in the 19th century.
Confucian teachings, values, and practices permeated and influenced East Asian countries—particularly Korea, Japan, and Vietnam—in areas such as education systems, civil service selection, and ethical and social relations.
Among Tibetans, Confucius is often worshipped as a holy king and master of magic, divination and astrology. Tibetan Buddhists see him as learning divination from the Buddha Manjushri (and that knowledge subsequently reaching Tibet through Princess Wencheng), while Bon practitioners see him as being a reincarnation of Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche, the legendary founder of Bon.
The Ahmadiyya believes Confucius was a Divine Prophet of God, as were Lao-Tzu and other eminent Chinese personages.
According to the Siddhar tradition of Tamil Nadu, Confucius is one of the 18 esteemed Siddhars of yore, and is better known as Kalangi Nathar or Kamalamuni. The Thyagaraja Temple in Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu is home to his Jeeva Samadhi.
In modern times, Asteroid 7853, "Confucius", was named after the Chinese thinker.
Teaching and Disciples
Confucius was regarded as the first teacher who advocated for public welfare and the spread of education in China. Confucius devoted his entire life, from a relatively young age, to teaching. He pioneered private education adopting a curriculum known as the Six Arts, aimed at making education accessible to all social classes, and believed in its power to cultivate character rather than merely vocational skills. Confucius not only made teaching his profession but also contributed to the development of a distinct class of professionals in ancient China—the gentlemen who were neither farmers, artisans, merchants, nor officials but instead dedicated themselves to teaching and potential government service.
Confucius began teaching after he turned 30, and taught more than 3,000 students in his life, about 70 of whom were considered outstanding. His disciples and the early Confucian community they formed became the most influential intellectual force in the Warring States period. The Han dynasty historian Sima Qian dedicated a chapter in his Records of the Grand Historian to the biographies of Confucius's disciples, accounting for the influence they exerted in their time and afterward. Sima Qian recorded the names of 77 disciples in his collective biography, while Kongzi Jiayu, another early source, records 76, not completely overlapping. The two sources together yield the names of 96 disciples. Twenty-two of them are mentioned in the Analects, while the Mencius records 24.
Confucius did not charge any tuition, and only requested a symbolic gift of a bundle of dried meat from any prospective student. According to his disciple Zigong, his master treated students like doctors treated patients and did not turn anybody away. Most of them came from Lu, Confucius's home state, with 43 recorded, but he accepted students from all over China, with six from the state of Wey (such as Zigong), three from Qin, two each from Chen and Qi, and one each from Cai, Chu, and Song. Confucius considered his students' personal background irrelevant, and accepted noblemen, commoners, and even former criminals such as Yan Zhuoju and Gongye Chang. His disciples from richer families would pay a sum commensurate with their wealth which was considered a ritual donation.
Confucius's favorite disciple was Yan Hui, most probably one of the most impoverished of them all. Sima Niu, in contrast to Yan Hui, was from a hereditary noble family hailing from the Song state. Under Confucius's teachings, the disciples became well learned in the principles and methods of government. He often engaged in discussion and debate with his students and gave high importance to their studies in history, poetry, and ritual. Confucius advocated loyalty to principle rather than to individual acumen, in which reform was to be achieved by persuasion rather than violence. Even though Confucius denounced them for their practices, the aristocracy was likely attracted to the idea of having trustworthy officials who were studied in morals as the circumstances of the time made it desirable. In fact, the disciple Zilu even died defending his ruler in Wey.
Yang Hu, who was a subordinate of the Ji family, had dominated the Lu government from 505 to 502 and even attempted a coup, which narrowly failed. As a likely consequence, it was after this that the first disciples of Confucius were appointed to government positions. A few of Confucius's disciples went on to attain official positions of some importance, some of which were arranged by Confucius. By the time Confucius was 50 years old, the Ji family had consolidated their power in the Lu state over the ruling ducal house. Even though the Ji family had practices with which Confucius disagreed and disapproved, they nonetheless gave Confucius's disciples many opportunities for employment. Confucius continued to remind his disciples to stay true to their principles and renounced those who did not, all the while being openly critical of the Ji family.
In the West
The influence of Confucius has been observed on multiple Western thinkers, including Niels Bohr, Benjamin Franklin, Allen Ginsberg, Thomas Jefferson, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Robert Cummings Neville, Alexander Pope, Ezra Pound, François Quesnay, Friedrich Schiller, Voltaire, and Christian Wolff.
Visual portraits
No contemporary painting or sculpture of Confucius survives, and it was only during the Han dynasty that he was portrayed visually. Carvings often depict his legendary meeting with Laozi. Since that time there have been many portraits of Confucius as the ideal philosopher. An early verbal portrayal of Confucius is found in the chapter "External Things" (外物; Wàiwù) of the book Zhuangzi (莊子; Zhuāngzǐ), finished in about 3rd BCE, long after Confucius's death. The oldest known portrait of Confucius has been unearthed in the tomb of the Han dynasty ruler Marquis of Haihun (died 59 BC). The picture was painted on the wooden frame to a polished bronze mirror.
In former times, it was customary to have a portrait in Confucius Temples; however, during the reign of Hongwu Emperor (Taizu) of the Ming dynasty, it was decided that the only proper portrait of Confucius should be in the temple in his home town, Qufu in Shandong. In other temples, Confucius is represented by a memorial tablet. In 2006, the China Confucius Foundation commissioned a standard portrait of Confucius based on the Tang dynasty portrait by Wu Daozi.
The South Wall Frieze in the courtroom of the Supreme Court of the United States depicts Confucius as a teacher of harmony, learning, and virtue.
Fictional portrayals
There have been two film adaptations of Confucius' life: the 1940 film Confucius starring Tang Huaiqiu, and the 2010 film Confucius starring Chow Yun-fat.
Confucius appears as a leader in Civilization VII, leading China.
Memorials
Throughout the imperial periods, Qufu, Confucius' birth place and burial site, remained a place of devotion and reverence. The Records of the Grand Historian records the first state sacrifice by Emperor Gaozu of Han at Confucius' tomb, followed by worship of ministers, dukes, and scholar politicians. From the Tang dynasty onward, temples honoring Confucius and Confucian sages were erected across the country by imperial decree. These temples have been used for ceremonies paying tribute to Confucius as the master of teachers, as well as the Confucian virtues that have shaped the Chinese civilization.
When the Communist regime take control of mainland China in 1949, this tradition was interrupted for at least three decades during the Maoist Era in the campaign purging the Four Olds, and the subsequent campaign denouncing Lin Biao and Confucius. The official stance of the Chinese Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution was that Confucius and Confucianism represented reactionary ideologies of the slave-owning aristocracy. All Confucian ceremonies and rites were therefore banned, and Confucius tomb attacked by the Red Guards. In the early 1980s, the anti-Confucius sentiments were over, and Confucius veneration was resumed with Communist officials in attendance. By the 21st century, Confucius' birthday in Qufu becomes a week long celebration attended by diplomats, scholars, and government representatives.
In Taiwan, where the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) strongly promoted Confucian beliefs in ethics and behavior, the tradition of the memorial ceremony of Confucius is supported by the government and has continued without interruption. In May 2025, Confucius' birthday - September 28 - previously designated as "Teacher' Day", was made a public holiday by legislation.
In South Korea, a grand-scale memorial ceremony called Seokjeon Daeje is held twice a year on Confucius's birthday and the anniversary of his death, at Confucian academies across the country and Sungkyunkwan in Seoul.
Descendants
Confucius's descendants were repeatedly identified and honored by successive imperial governments with titles of nobility and official posts. They were honored with the rank of a marquis 35 times since Gaozu of the Han dynasty, and they were promoted to the rank of duke 42 times from the Tang dynasty to the Qing dynasty. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang first bestowed the title of "Duke Wenxuan" on Kong Suizhi of the 35th generation. In 1055, Emperor Renzong of Song first bestowed the title of "Duke Yansheng" on Kong Zongyuan of the 46th generation.
During the Southern Song dynasty, the Duke Yansheng Kong Duanyou fled south with the Song Emperor to Quzhou in Zhejiang, while the newly established Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in the north appointed Kong Duanyou's brother Kong Duancao who remained in Qufu as Duke Yansheng. From that time up until the Yuan dynasty, there were two Duke Yanshengs, one in the north in Qufu and the other in the south at Quzhou. An invitation to come back to Qufu was extended to the southern Duke Yansheng Kong Zhu by the Yuan-dynasty Emperor Kublai Khan. The title was taken away from the southern branch after Kong Zhu rejected the invitation, so the northern branch of the family kept the title of Duke Yansheng. The southern branch remained in Quzhou where they live to this day. Confucius's descendants in Quzhou alone number 30,000. The Hanlin Academy rank of Wujing boshi 五經博士 was awarded to the southern branch at Quzhou by a Ming Emperor while the northern branch at Qufu held the title Duke Yansheng. The leader of the southern branch was 孔祥楷 Kong Xiangkai.
In 1351, during the reign of Emperor Toghon Temür of the Yuan dynasty, 54th-generation Kong Shao (孔昭) moved from China to Korea during the Goryeo dynasty, and was received courteously by Princess Noguk (the Mongolian-born queen consort of the future king Gongmin). After being naturalized as a subject of Goryeo, he changed the hanja of his name from "昭" to "紹" (both pronounced so in Korean), married a Korean woman and bore a son (Gong Yeo (Korean: 공여; Hanja: 孔帤), 1329–1397), therefore establishing the Changwon Gong clan (Korean: 창원 공씨; Hanja: 昌原 孔氏), whose ancestral seat was located in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. In 1794, during the reign of King Jeongjo, the clan then changed its name to Gokbu Gong clan (Korean: 곡부 공씨; Hanja: 曲阜 孔氏) in honor of Confucius's birthplace Qufu (Korean: 곡부; Hanja: 曲阜; RR: Gokbu).
Famous descendants include actors such as Gong Yoo (real name Gong Ji-cheol (공지철)) and Gong Hyo-jin (공효진); and artists such as male idol group B1A4 member Gongchan (real name Gong Chan-sik (공찬식)), singer-songwriter Minzy (real name Gong Min-ji (공민지)), as well as her great-aunt, traditional folk dancer Gong Ok-jin (공옥진).
Despite repeated dynastic change in China, the title of Duke Yansheng was bestowed upon successive generations of descendants until it was abolished by the Nationalist government in 1935. The last holder of the title, Kung Te-cheng of the 77th generation, was appointed Sacrificial Official to Confucius. Kung Te-cheng died in October 2008, and his son, Kung Wei-yi, the 78th lineal descendant, died in 1989. Kung Te-cheng's grandson, Kung Tsui-chang, the 79th lineal descendant, was born in 1975; his great-grandson, Kung Yu-jen, the 80th lineal descendant, was born in Taipei on 1 January 2006. Te-cheng's sister, Kong Demao, lives in mainland China and has written a book about her experiences growing up at the family estate in Qufu. Another sister, Kong Deqi, died as a young woman. Many descendants of Confucius still live in Qufu today.
A descendant of Confucius, H. H. Kung, was the Premier of the Republic of China. One of his sons, Kong Lingjie (孔令傑), married Debra Paget who gave birth to Gregory Kung (孔德基).
Confucius's family, the Kongs, have the longest recorded extant pedigree in the world today. The father-to-son family tree, now in its 83rd generation, has been recorded since the death of Confucius. According to the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee (CGCC), he has two million known and registered descendants, and there are an estimated three million in all. Of these, several tens of thousands live outside of China. In the 14th century, a Kong descendant went to Korea, where an estimated 34,000 descendants of Confucius live today. One of the main lineages fled from the Kong ancestral home in Qufu during the Chinese Civil War in the 1940s and eventually settled in Taiwan. There are also branches of the Kong family who have converted to Islam after marrying Muslim women, in Dachuan in Gansu province in the 1800s, and in 1715 in Xuanwei in Yunnan province. Many of the Muslim Confucius descendants are descended from the marriage of Ma Jiaga (馬甲尕), a Muslim woman, and Kong Yanrong (孔彥嶸), 59th generation descendant of Confucius in the year 1480, and are found among the Hui and Dongxiang peoples. The new genealogy includes the Muslims. Kong Dejun (孔德軍) is a prominent Islamic scholar and Arabist from Qinghai province and a 77th generation descendant of Confucius.
Because of the huge interest in the Confucius family tree, there was a project in China to test the DNA of known family members of the collateral branches in mainland China. Among other things, this would allow scientists to identify a common Y chromosome in male descendants of Confucius. If the descent were truly unbroken, father-to-son, since Confucius's lifetime, the males in the family would all have the same Y chromosome as their direct male ancestor, with slight mutations due to the passage of time. The aim of the genetic test was to help members of collateral branches in China who lost their genealogical records to prove their descent. However, in 2009, many of the collateral branches decided not to agree to DNA testing. Bryan Sykes, professor of genetics at Oxford University, understands this decision: "The Confucius family tree has an enormous cultural significance ... It's not just a scientific question." The DNA testing was originally proposed to add new members, many of whose family record books were lost during 20th century upheavals, to the Confucian family tree. The main branch of the family which fled to Taiwan was never involved in the proposed DNA test at all.
In 2013, a DNA test performed on multiple different families who claimed descent from Confucius found that they shared the same Y chromosome as reported by Fudan University.
The fifth and most recent edition of the Confucius genealogy was printed by the CGCC. It was unveiled in a ceremony at Qufu on 24 September 2009. Women are now included for the first time.
References
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
See Richey 2018 and Hutton 2019 for extensive bibliographies
External links
Csikszentmihalyi, Mark. "Confucius". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Fieser, James; Dowden, Bradley (eds.). "Confucius". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. ISSN 2161-0002. OCLC 37741658.
Confucius on In Our Time at the BBC
Multilingual web site on Confucius and the Analects
The Dao of Kongzi, introduction to the thought of Confucius.
Works by Confucius at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Confucius at the Internet Archive
Works by Confucius at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Confucian Analects (Project Gutenberg release of James Legge's Translation)
Core philosophical passages in the Analects of Confucius.
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Confucius (孔子; pinyin: Kǒngzǐ; lit. 'Master Kong'; c. 551 – c. 479 BCE), born Kong Qiu (孔丘), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the philosophy and teachings of Confucius. His philosophical teachings, called Confucianism, emphasized personal and governmental morality, harmonious social relationships, righteousness, kindness, sincerity, and a ruler's responsibilities to lead by virtue.
Confucius considered himself a transmitter for the values of earlier periods which he claimed had been abandoned in his time. He advocated for filial piety, endorsing strong family loyalty, ancestor veneration, and the respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives. Confucius recommended a robust family unit as the cornerstone for an ideal government. He championed the Silver Rule, or a negative form of the Golden Rule, advising, "Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself."
The time of Confucius's life saw a rich diversity of thought, and was a formative period in China's intellectual history. His ideas gained in prominence during the Warring States period, but experienced setback immediately following the Qin conquest. Under Emperor Wu of Han, Confucius's ideas received official sanction, with affiliated works becoming mandatory readings for career paths leading to officialdom. During the Tang and Song dynasties, Confucianism developed into a system known in the West as Neo-Confucianism. In the 20th century, an intellectual movement emerged in Republican China that sought to apply Confucian ideology in a modern context, known as New Confucianism. From ancient dynasties to the modern era, Confucianism has integrated into the Chinese social fabric and way of life.
Traditionally, Confucius is credited with having authored or edited many of the ancient texts including all of the Five Classics. However, modern scholars exercise caution in attributing specific assertions to Confucius himself, for at least some of the texts and philosophy associated with him were of a more ancient origin. Aphorisms concerning his teachings were compiled in the Analects, but not until many years after his death.
Name
The name "Confucius" is a Latinized form of the Mandarin Chinese Kǒng Fūzǐ (孔夫子, "Master Kong") that was coined in the late 16th century by early Jesuit missionaries to China. Confucius's family name was Kong (孔, OC:*kʰˤoŋʔ) and his given name was Qiu (丘, OC:*[k]ʷʰə). His courtesy name, a capping (guan: 冠) given at his coming of age ceremony, and by which he would have been known to all but his older family members, was Zhongni (仲尼, OC:*N-truŋ-s nr[əj]), the "Zhòng" indicating that he was the second son in his family.
Life
Early life
It is thought that Confucius was born on 28 September 551 BCE, in Zou (陬, in modern Qufu, Shandong). The area was notionally controlled by the kings of Zhou but effectively independent under the local lords of Lu, who ruled from the nearby city of Qufu. His father Kong He (or Shuliang He) was an elderly commandant of the local Lu garrison. His ancestry traced back through the dukes of Song to the Shang dynasty which had preceded the Zhou. Traditional accounts of Confucius's life relate that Kong He's grandfather had migrated the family from Song to Lu. Not all modern scholars accept Confucius's descent from Song nobility.
Kong He died when Confucius was three years old, and Confucius was raised by his mother Yan Zhengzai (顏徵在) in poverty. His mother later died at less than 40 years of age. At age 19, he married Lady Qiguan (亓官氏), and a year later the couple had their first child, their son Kong Li (孔鯉). Qiguan and Confucius later had two daughters together, one of whom is thought to have died as a child and one was named Kong Jiao (孔姣).
Confucius was educated at schools for commoners, where he studied and learned the Six Arts.
Confucius was born into the class of shi (士), between the aristocracy and the common people. He is said to have worked in various government jobs during his early 20s, and as a bookkeeper and a caretaker of sheep and horses, using the proceeds to give his mother a proper burial. When his mother died, Confucius (aged 23) is said to have mourned for three years, as was the tradition.
Political career
In Confucius's time, the state of Lu was headed by a ruling ducal house. Under the duke were three aristocratic families, whose heads bore the title of viscount and held hereditary positions in the Lu bureaucracy. The Ji family held the position "Minister over the Masses", who was also the "Prime Minister"; the Meng family held the position "Minister of Works"; and the Shu family held the position "Minister of War". In the winter of 505 BC, Yang Hu—a retainer of the Ji family—rose up in rebellion and seized power from the Ji family. However, by the summer of 501 BC, the three hereditary families had succeeded in expelling Yang Hu from Lu. By then, Confucius had built up a considerable reputation through his teachings, while the families came to see the value of proper conduct and righteousness, so they could achieve loyalty to a legitimate government. Thus, that year (501 BC), Confucius came to be appointed to the minor position of governor of a town. Eventually, he rose to the position of Minister of Crime. The Xunzi says that once assuming the post, Confucius ordered the execution of Shaozheng Mao, another Lu state official and scholar whose lectures attracted the three thousand disciples several times except Yan Hui. Shaozheng Mao was accused of 'five crimes', each worth execution, including 'concealed evilness, stubborn abnormality, eloquent duplicity, erudition in bizarre facts and generosity to evildoers'.
Confucius desired to return the authority of the state to the duke by dismantling the fortifications of the city—strongholds belonging to the three families. This way, he could establish a centralized government. However, Confucius relied solely on diplomacy as he had no military authority himself. In 500 BC, Hou Fan—the governor of Hou—revolted against his lord of the Shu family. Although the Meng and Shu families unsuccessfully besieged Hou, a loyalist official rose up with the people of Hou and forced Hou Fan to flee to the state of Qi. The situation may have been in favor for Confucius as this likely made it possible for Confucius and his disciples to convince the aristocratic families to dismantle the fortifications of their cities. Eventually, after a year and a half, Confucius and his disciples succeeded in convincing the Shu family to raze the walls of Hou, the Ji family in razing the walls of Bi, and the Meng family in razing the walls of Cheng. First, the Shu family led an army towards their city Hou and tore down its walls in 498 BC.
Soon thereafter, Gongshan Furao, a retainer of the Ji family, revolted and took control of the forces at Bi. He immediately launched an attack and entered the capital Lu. Earlier, Gongshan had approached Confucius to join him, which Confucius considered as he wanted the opportunity to put his principles into practice but he gave up on the idea in the end. Confucius disapproved the use of a violent revolution by principle, even though the Ji family dominated the Lu state by force for generations and had exiled the previous duke. Creel states that, unlike the rebel Yang Hu before him, Gongshan may have sought to destroy the three hereditary families and restore the power of the duke. However, Dubs is of the view that Gongshan was encouraged by Viscount Ji Huan to invade the Lu capital in an attempt to avoid dismantling the Bi fortified walls. Whatever the situation may have been, Gongshan was considered an upright man who continued to defend the state of Lu, even after he was forced to flee.
During the revolt by Gongshan, Zhong You had managed to keep the duke and the three viscounts together at the court. Zhong You was one of the disciples of Confucius and Confucius had arranged for him to be given the position of governor by the Ji family. When Confucius heard of the raid, he requested that Viscount Ji Huan allow the duke and his court to retreat to a stronghold on his palace grounds. Thereafter, the heads of the three families and the duke retreated to the Ji's palace complex and ascended the Wuzi Terrace. Confucius ordered two officers to lead an assault against the rebels. At least one of the two officers was a retainer of the Ji family, but they were unable to refuse the orders while in the presence of the duke, viscounts, and court. The rebels were pursued and defeated at Gu. Immediately after the revolt was defeated, the Ji family razed the Bi city walls to the ground.
The attackers retreated after realizing that they would have to become rebels against the state and their lord. Through Confucius' actions, the Bi officials had inadvertently revolted against their own lord, thus forcing Viscount Ji Huan's hand in having to dismantle the walls of Bi—as it could have harbored such rebels—or confess to instigating the event by going against proper conduct and righteousness as an official. Dubs suggests that the incident brought to light Confucius' foresight, practical political ability, and insight into human character.
When it was time to dismantle the city walls of the Meng family, the governor was reluctant to have his city walls torn down and convinced the head of the Meng family not to do so. The Zuo Zhuan recalls that the governor advised against razing the walls to the ground as he said that it made Cheng vulnerable to Qi, and cause the destruction of the Meng family. Even though Viscount Meng Yi gave his word not to interfere with an attempt, he went back on his earlier promise to dismantle the walls.
Later in 498 BC, Duke Ding of Lu personally went with an army to lay siege to Cheng in an attempt to raze its walls to the ground, but he did not succeed. Thus, Confucius could not achieve the idealistic reforms that he wanted including restoration of the legitimate rule of the duke. He had made powerful enemies within the state, especially with Viscount Ji Huan, due to his successes so far. According to accounts in the Zuo Zhuan and the Records of the Grand Historian, Confucius departed his homeland in 497 BC after his support for the failed attempt of dismantling the fortified city walls of the powerful Ji, Meng, and Shu families. He left the state of Lu without resigning, remaining in self-exile and unable to return as long as Viscount Ji Huan was alive.
Exile
The Shiji stated that the neighboring Qi state was worried that Lu was becoming too powerful while Confucius was involved in the government of the Lu state. According to this account, Qi decided to sabotage Lu's reforms by sending 100 good horses and 80 beautiful dancing girls to the duke of Lu. The duke indulged himself in pleasure and did not attend to official duties for three days. Confucius was disappointed and resolved to leave Lu and seek better opportunities, yet to leave at once would expose the misbehavior of the duke and therefore bring public humiliation to the ruler Confucius was serving. Confucius therefore waited for the duke to make a lesser mistake. Soon after, the duke neglected to send to Confucius a portion of the sacrificial meat that was his due according to custom, and Confucius seized upon this pretext to leave both his post and the Lu state.
After Confucius's resignation, he travelled around the principality states of north-east and central China including Wey, Song, Zheng, Cao, Chu, Qi, Chen, and Cai (and a failed attempt to go to Jin). At the courts of these states, he expounded his political beliefs but did not see them implemented.
Return home
According to the Zuozhuan, Confucius returned home to his native Lu when he was 68, after he was invited to do so by Ji Kangzi, the chief minister of Lu. The Shiji depicts him spending his last years teaching 3000 pupils, with 72 or 77 accomplished disciples that mastered the Six Arts. Meanwhile, Confucius dedicated himself in transmitting the old wisdom by writing or editing the Five Classics.
During his return, Confucius sometimes acted as an advisor to several government officials in Lu, including Ji Kangzi, on matters including governance and crime.
Burdened by the loss of both his son and his favorite disciples, he died at the age of 71 or 72 from natural causes. Confucius was buried on the bank of the Sishui River, to the north of Qufu City in Shandong Province. Starting as a humble tomb, the cemetery of Confucius had been expanded by emperors since the Han Dynasty. To date, the Cemetery of Confucius (孔林) covers an area of 183 hectares with more than 100,000 graves of the Kong descendants, it is included in the World Heritage List for its cultural and architectural value.
Philosophy
In the Analects, Confucius presents himself as a "transmitter who invented nothing". He puts the greatest emphasis on the importance of study, and it is the Chinese character for study (學) that opens the text. Far from trying to build a systematic or formalist theory, he wanted his disciples to master and internalize older classics, so that they can capture the ancient wisdoms that promotes "harmony and order", to aid their self-cultivation to become a perfect man. For example, the Annals would allow them to relate the moral problems of the present to past political events; the Book of Odes reflects the "mood and concerns" of the commoners and their view on government; while the Book of Changes encompasses the key theory and practice of divination.
Although some Chinese people follow Confucianism in a religious manner, many argue that its values are secular and that it is less a religion than a secular morality. Proponents of religious Confucianism argue that despite the secular nature of Confucianism's teachings, it is based on a worldview that is religious. Confucius was considered more of a humanist than a spiritualist, his discussions on afterlife and views concerning Heaven remained indeterminate, and he is largely unconcerned with spiritual matters often considered essential to religious thought, such as the nature of souls.
Ethics
One of the deepest teachings of Confucius may have been the superiority of personal exemplification over explicit rules of behavior. His moral teachings emphasized self-cultivation, emulation of moral exemplars, and the attainment of skilled judgment rather than knowledge of rules. Confucian ethics may, therefore, be considered a type of virtue ethics. His teachings rarely rely on reasoned argument, and ethical ideals and methods are conveyed indirectly, through allusion, innuendo, and even tautology. His teachings require examination and context to be understood. A good example is found in this famous anecdote:
廄焚。子退朝，曰：傷人乎？不問馬。
When the stables were burnt down, on returning from court Confucius said, "Was anyone hurt?" He did not ask about the horses.
This remark was considered a strong manifestation of Confucius' advocacy in humanism.
One of his teachings was a variant of the Golden Rule, sometimes called the "Silver Rule" owing to its negative form:
子貢問曰：有一言而可以終身行之者乎？子曰：其恕乎！己所不欲、勿施於人。
Zi Gong [a disciple] asked: "Is there any one word that could guide a person throughout life?" The Master replied: "How about 'reciprocity'! Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself."
Often overlooked in Confucian ethics are the virtues to the self: sincerity and the cultivation of knowledge. Virtuous action towards others begins with virtuous and sincere thought, which begins with knowledge. A virtuous disposition without knowledge is susceptible to corruption, and virtuous action without sincerity is not true righteousness. For Confucius, learning about ancient rituals, practices, music, social institutions, and relationship norms is both essential and the starting point for becoming a junzi. By "learning," Confucius refers to moral cultivation that transforms a student into a superior man, rather than the mere accumulation of knowledge.
The Confucian theory of ethics as exemplified in lǐ (禮) is based on three important conceptual aspects of life: (a) ceremonies associated with sacrifice to ancestors and deities of various types, (b) social and political institutions, and (c) the etiquette of daily behavior. Some believed that lǐ originated from the heavens, but Confucius stressed the development of lǐ through the actions of sage leaders in human history. His discussions of lǐ seem to redefine the term to refer to all actions committed by a person to build the ideal society, rather than those conforming with canonical standards of ceremony.
In the early Confucian tradition, lǐ was doing the proper thing at the proper time; balancing between maintaining existing norms to perpetuate an ethical social fabric, and violating them in order to accomplish ethical good. Training in the lǐ of past sages, cultivates virtues in people that include ethical judgment about when lǐ must be adapted in light of situational contexts.
In Confucianism, the concept of li is closely related to yì (義), which is based upon the idea of reciprocity. Yì can be translated as righteousness, though it may mean what is ethically best to do in a certain context. The term contrasts with action done out of self-interest or profitableness (利). While pursuing one's own self-interest is not necessarily bad, one would be a better, more righteous person if one's life was based upon following a path designed to enhance the greater good. Thus an outcome of yì is doing the right thing for its own sake, without regarding the material gains.
Just as action according to lǐ should be adapted to conform to the aspiration of adhering to yì, so yì is linked to the core value of rén (仁). Rén consists of five basic virtues: seriousness, generosity, sincerity, diligence, and kindness. Rén is the virtue of perfectly fulfilling one's responsibilities toward others, most often translated as "benevolence", "humaneness", or "empathy"; translator Arthur Waley calls it "Goodness" (with a capital G), and other translations that have been put forth include "authoritativeness" and "selflessness". Confucius's moral system was based upon empathy and understanding others, rather than divinely ordained rules. To develop one's spontaneous responses of rén so that these could guide action intuitively was even better than living by the rules of yì. Confucius asserts that virtue is a mean between extremes. For example, the properly generous person gives the right amount – not too much and not too little.
Politics
Confucius's political thought is based upon his ethical thought. He argued that the best government is one that rules through "rites" (lǐ) and morality, and not by using incentives and coercion. He explained that this is one of the most important analects: "If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of the shame, and moreover will become good." (Analects 2.3, tr. Legge). This "sense of shame" is an internalization of duty. Confucianism prioritizes creating a harmonious society over the ruler's interests, opposes material incentives and harsh punishments, and downplays the role of institutions in guiding behavior as in Legalism, emphasizing moral virtues instead.
Confucius looked nostalgically upon earlier days, and urged the Chinese, particularly those with political power, to model themselves on earlier examples. In times of division, chaos, and endless wars between feudal states, he wanted to restore the Mandate of Heaven (天命) that could unify the "world" (天下, "all under Heaven") and bestow peace and prosperity on the people. Because his vision of personal and social perfections was framed as a revival of the ordered society of earlier times, Confucius is often considered a great proponent of conservatism, but a closer look at what he proposes often shows that he used (and perhaps twisted) past institutions and rites to push a new political agenda of his own: a revival of a unified royal state, whose rulers would succeed to power on the basis of their moral merits instead of lineage. These would be rulers devoted to the well-being of their people, striving to be a role model in virtue and ritual, and such a ruler would spread his own virtues to the people instead of imposing proper behavior with laws and edicts.
In discussing the relationship between a king and his subject (or a father and his son), he underlined the need to give due respect to superiors. This demanded that the subordinates must advise their superiors if the superiors are considered to be taking a course of action that is wrong. Confucius believed in ruling by example, if you lead correctly, orders by force or punishment are not necessary.
Music and poetry
Music was one of the six arts that students needed to master, together with archery, charioteering, mathematics, calligraphy, and a partner to music, the purpose of rituals. Confucius heavily promoted the use of music with rituals or the rites order. Unlike other philosophers around the world, Confucius viewed music and music theory beyond a mere art form or curriculum subject, and stated that it was intrinsically intertwined with rites in structuring man. "Music is that which moves man from the internal; rites are that which affects man
on the external. Music brings about harmony. Rites ensure obedience." To Confucius, music created the focus necessary to unite and harmonize man. Thus, music and rites together were more than beneficial but were to make people act in a manner compatible with heaven and earth. The scholar Li Zehou argued that Confucianism is based on the idea of rites. Rites serve as the starting point for each individual and that these sacred social functions allow each person's human nature to be harmonious with reality. Given this, Confucius believed that "music is the harmonization of heaven and earth; the rites is the order of heaven and earth." Therefore, the application of music in rites creates the order that makes it possible for society to prosper.
The Confucian approach to music was heavily inspired by the Shijing or Classic of Poetry and the Classic of Music, which was said to be the sixth Confucian classic until it was lost during the Han dynasty. The Classic of Poetry serves as one of the current Confucian classics and is a book on poetry that contains a diversified variety of poems as well as poems meant for folk songs. Confucius is traditionally ascribed with compiling these classics within his school. In the Analects, Confucius described the importance of poetry in the intellectual and moral development of an individual:
Confucians in later generations had conservative and mixed views on international musical influences encroaching on China, in particular those with varying styles that did not traditionally accompany rites, and some preached against sentimental tendencies from the Persians, the Greco-Bactrians, and the Mongols.
Legacy
Confucius's teachings were later turned into an elaborate set of rules and practices by his numerous disciples and followers, who organized his teachings into the Analects. Confucius's disciples and his only grandson, Zisi, continued his philosophical school after his death. These efforts spread Confucian ideals to students who then became officials in many of the royal courts in China, thereby giving Confucianism the first wide-scale test of its dogma.
Two of Confucius's most famous later followers emphasized radically different aspects of his teachings. In the centuries after his death, Mencius (孟子) and Xunzi (荀子) both composed important teachings elaborating in different ways on the fundamental ideas associated with Confucius. Mencius (4th century BC) articulated the innate goodness in human beings as a source of the ethical intuitions that guide people towards rén, yì, and lǐ, while Xunzi (3rd century BC) underscored the realistic and materialistic aspects of Confucian thought, stressing that morality was inculcated in society through tradition and in individuals through training. In time, their writings, together with the Analects and other core texts came to constitute the philosophical corpus of Confucianism.
Towards the end of the Warring States periods, Legalism gained momentum amid the intensified power struggle. Considered an "antithesis of Confucian thinking", Legalism held that humanity and righteousness were not sufficient in government, and that rulers should instead rely on statecrafts, punishments, vigorous administration of law, and warfare. Legalism seemed to "win out over the other school of political thoughts" in 221 BC when the Qin state conquered all of China and adopted legalism as its official doctrine. Li Si, Prime Minister of the Qin dynasty, convinced Qin Shi Huang to completely abolish feudal ranks and privileges of the Zhou dynasty, and to centralize power through the prefectures and county system.
It was not until the Han dynasty that Confucian teachings gained widespread prominence over other thinkers. Under Emperor Wu of Han, the works attributed to Confucius were made the official imperial philosophy and required reading for civil service examinations in 140 BC which was continued nearly unbroken until the end of the imperial China in 1912. As Mohism lost support by the time of the Han, the main philosophical contenders were Legalism, which Confucian thought somewhat absorbed, the teachings of Laozi, whose focus on more spiritual ideas kept it from direct conflict with Confucianism, and the new Buddhist religion, which gained acceptance during the Southern and Northern Dynasties era. Both Confucian ideas and Confucian-trained officials were relied upon in the Ming dynasty and even the Yuan dynasty, although the Mongol rulers somehow distrusted Confucian scholar-officials and excluded them from some of the top government positions.
During the Song dynasty, Confucianism was revitalized in a movement known as Neo-Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism was a revival of Confucianism that expanded on classical theories by incorporating metaphysics and new approaches to self-cultivation and enlightenment, influenced by Buddhism and Daoism. The most renowned scholar of this period was Zhu Xi. There are clear Buddhist and Daoist influences in the Neo-Confucian advocacy of "quiet sitting" (meditation) as a technique of self-cultivation that leads to transformative experiences of insight." In his life, Zhu Xi was largely ignored, but not long after his death, his ideas became the new orthodox view of what Confucian texts actually meant. Modern historians view Zhu Xi as having created something rather different and call his way of thinking Neo-Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism held sway in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam until the 19th century.
The works of Confucius were first translated into European languages by Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century during the late Ming dynasty. The first known effort was by Michele Ruggieri, who returned to Italy in 1588 and carried on his translations while residing in Salerno. Matteo Ricci started to report on the thoughts of Confucius, and a team of Jesuits—Prospero Intorcetta, Philippe Couplet, and two others—published a translation of several Confucian works and an overview of Chinese history in Paris in 1687. François Noël, after failing to persuade Clement XI that Chinese veneration of ancestors and Confucius did not constitute idolatry, completed the Confucian canon at Prague in 1711, with more scholarly treatments of the other works and the first translation of the collected works of Mencius. It is thought that such works had considerable importance on European thinkers of the period, particularly among the Deists and other philosophical groups of the Enlightenment who were interested by the integration of the system of morality of Confucius into Western civilization.
In the modern era Confucian movements, such as New Confucianism, still exist, but during the Cultural Revolution, Confucianism was frequently attacked by leading figures in the Chinese Communist Party. This was partially a continuation of the condemnations of Confucianism by intellectuals and activists in the early 20th century as a cause of the ethnocentric close-mindedness and refusal of the Qing dynasty to modernize that led to the tragedies that befell China in the 19th century.
Confucian teachings, values, and practices permeated and influenced East Asian countries—particularly Korea, Japan, and Vietnam—in areas such as education systems, civil service selection, and ethical and social relations.
Among Tibetans, Confucius is often worshipped as a holy king and master of magic, divination and astrology. Tibetan Buddhists see him as learning divination from the Buddha Manjushri (and that knowledge subsequently reaching Tibet through Princess Wencheng), while Bon practitioners see him as being a reincarnation of Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche, the legendary founder of Bon.
The Ahmadiyya believes Confucius was a Divine Prophet of God, as were Lao-Tzu and other eminent Chinese personages.
According to the Siddhar tradition of Tamil Nadu, Confucius is one of the 18 esteemed Siddhars of yore, and is better known as Kalangi Nathar or Kamalamuni. The Thyagaraja Temple in Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu is home to his Jeeva Samadhi.
In modern times, Asteroid 7853, "Confucius", was named after the Chinese thinker.
Teaching and Disciples
Confucius was regarded as the first teacher who advocated for public welfare and the spread of education in China. Confucius devoted his entire life, from a relatively young age, to teaching. He pioneered private education adopting a curriculum known as the Six Arts, aimed at making education accessible to all social classes, and believed in its power to cultivate character rather than merely vocational skills. Confucius not only made teaching his profession but also contributed to the development of a distinct class of professionals in ancient China—the gentlemen who were neither farmers, artisans, merchants, nor officials but instead dedicated themselves to teaching and potential government service.
Confucius began teaching after he turned 30, and taught more than 3,000 students in his life, about 70 of whom were considered outstanding. His disciples and the early Confucian community they formed became the most influential intellectual force in the Warring States period. The Han dynasty historian Sima Qian dedicated a chapter in his Records of the Grand Historian to the biographies of Confucius's disciples, accounting for the influence they exerted in their time and afterward. Sima Qian recorded the names of 77 disciples in his collective biography, while Kongzi Jiayu, another early source, records 76, not completely overlapping. The two sources together yield the names of 96 disciples. Twenty-two of them are mentioned in the Analects, while the Mencius records 24.
Confucius did not charge any tuition, and only requested a symbolic gift of a bundle of dried meat from any prospective student. According to his disciple Zigong, his master treated students like doctors treated patients and did not turn anybody away. Most of them came from Lu, Confucius's home state, with 43 recorded, but he accepted students from all over China, with six from the state of Wey (such as Zigong), three from Qin, two each from Chen and Qi, and one each from Cai, Chu, and Song. Confucius considered his students' personal background irrelevant, and accepted noblemen, commoners, and even former criminals such as Yan Zhuoju and Gongye Chang. His disciples from richer families would pay a sum commensurate with their wealth which was considered a ritual donation.
Confucius's favorite disciple was Yan Hui, most probably one of the most impoverished of them all. Sima Niu, in contrast to Yan Hui, was from a hereditary noble family hailing from the Song state. Under Confucius's teachings, the disciples became well learned in the principles and methods of government. He often engaged in discussion and debate with his students and gave high importance to their studies in history, poetry, and ritual. Confucius advocated loyalty to principle rather than to individual acumen, in which reform was to be achieved by persuasion rather than violence. Even though Confucius denounced them for their practices, the aristocracy was likely attracted to the idea of having trustworthy officials who were studied in morals as the circumstances of the time made it desirable. In fact, the disciple Zilu even died defending his ruler in Wey.
Yang Hu, who was a subordinate of the Ji family, had dominated the Lu government from 505 to 502 and even attempted a coup, which narrowly failed. As a likely consequence, it was after this that the first disciples of Confucius were appointed to government positions. A few of Confucius's disciples went on to attain official positions of some importance, some of which were arranged by Confucius. By the time Confucius was 50 years old, the Ji family had consolidated their power in the Lu state over the ruling ducal house. Even though the Ji family had practices with which Confucius disagreed and disapproved, they nonetheless gave Confucius's disciples many opportunities for employment. Confucius continued to remind his disciples to stay true to their principles and renounced those who did not, all the while being openly critical of the Ji family.
In the West
The influence of Confucius has been observed on multiple Western thinkers, including Niels Bohr, Benjamin Franklin, Allen Ginsberg, Thomas Jefferson, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Robert Cummings Neville, Alexander Pope, Ezra Pound, François Quesnay, Friedrich Schiller, Voltaire, and Christian Wolff.
Visual portraits
No contemporary painting or sculpture of Confucius survives, and it was only during the Han dynasty that he was portrayed visually. Carvings often depict his legendary meeting with Laozi. Since that time there have been many portraits of Confucius as the ideal philosopher. An early verbal portrayal of Confucius is found in the chapter "External Things" (外物; Wàiwù) of the book Zhuangzi (莊子; Zhuāngzǐ), finished in about 3rd BCE, long after Confucius's death. The oldest known portrait of Confucius has been unearthed in the tomb of the Han dynasty ruler Marquis of Haihun (died 59 BC). The picture was painted on the wooden frame to a polished bronze mirror.
In former times, it was customary to have a portrait in Confucius Temples; however, during the reign of Hongwu Emperor (Taizu) of the Ming dynasty, it was decided that the only proper portrait of Confucius should be in the temple in his home town, Qufu in Shandong. In other temples, Confucius is represented by a memorial tablet. In 2006, the China Confucius Foundation commissioned a standard portrait of Confucius based on the Tang dynasty portrait by Wu Daozi.
The South Wall Frieze in the courtroom of the Supreme Court of the United States depicts Confucius as a teacher of harmony, learning, and virtue.
Fictional portrayals
There have been two film adaptations of Confucius' life: the 1940 film Confucius starring Tang Huaiqiu, and the 2010 film Confucius starring Chow Yun-fat.
Confucius appears as a leader in Civilization VII, leading China.
Memorials
Throughout the imperial periods, Qufu, Confucius' birth place and burial site, remained a place of devotion and reverence. The Records of the Grand Historian records the first state sacrifice by Emperor Gaozu of Han at Confucius' tomb, followed by worship of ministers, dukes, and scholar politicians. From the Tang dynasty onward, temples honoring Confucius and Confucian sages were erected across the country by imperial decree. These temples have been used for ceremonies paying tribute to Confucius as the master of teachers, as well as the Confucian virtues that have shaped the Chinese civilization.
When the Communist regime take control of mainland China in 1949, this tradition was interrupted for at least three decades during the Maoist Era in the campaign purging the Four Olds, and the subsequent campaign denouncing Lin Biao and Confucius. The official stance of the Chinese Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution was that Confucius and Confucianism represented reactionary ideologies of the slave-owning aristocracy. All Confucian ceremonies and rites were therefore banned, and Confucius tomb attacked by the Red Guards. In the early 1980s, the anti-Confucius sentiments were over, and Confucius veneration was resumed with Communist officials in attendance. By the 21st century, Confucius' birthday in Qufu becomes a week long celebration attended by diplomats, scholars, and government representatives.
In Taiwan, where the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) strongly promoted Confucian beliefs in ethics and behavior, the tradition of the memorial ceremony of Confucius is supported by the government and has continued without interruption. In May 2025, Confucius' birthday - September 28 - previously designated as "Teacher' Day", was made a public holiday by legislation.
In South Korea, a grand-scale memorial ceremony called Seokjeon Daeje is held twice a year on Confucius's birthday and the anniversary of his death, at Confucian academies across the country and Sungkyunkwan in Seoul.
Descendants
Confucius's descendants were repeatedly identified and honored by successive imperial governments with titles of nobility and official posts. They were honored with the rank of a marquis 35 times since Gaozu of the Han dynasty, and they were promoted to the rank of duke 42 times from the Tang dynasty to the Qing dynasty. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang first bestowed the title of "Duke Wenxuan" on Kong Suizhi of the 35th generation. In 1055, Emperor Renzong of Song first bestowed the title of "Duke Yansheng" on Kong Zongyuan of the 46th generation.
During the Southern Song dynasty, the Duke Yansheng Kong Duanyou fled south with the Song Emperor to Quzhou in Zhejiang, while the newly established Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in the north appointed Kong Duanyou's brother Kong Duancao who remained in Qufu as Duke Yansheng. From that time up until the Yuan dynasty, there were two Duke Yanshengs, one in the north in Qufu and the other in the south at Quzhou. An invitation to come back to Qufu was extended to the southern Duke Yansheng Kong Zhu by the Yuan-dynasty Emperor Kublai Khan. The title was taken away from the southern branch after Kong Zhu rejected the invitation, so the northern branch of the family kept the title of Duke Yansheng. The southern branch remained in Quzhou where they live to this day. Confucius's descendants in Quzhou alone number 30,000. The Hanlin Academy rank of Wujing boshi 五經博士 was awarded to the southern branch at Quzhou by a Ming Emperor while the northern branch at Qufu held the title Duke Yansheng. The leader of the southern branch was 孔祥楷 Kong Xiangkai.
In 1351, during the reign of Emperor Toghon Temür of the Yuan dynasty, 54th-generation Kong Shao (孔昭) moved from China to Korea during the Goryeo dynasty, and was received courteously by Princess Noguk (the Mongolian-born queen consort of the future king Gongmin). After being naturalized as a subject of Goryeo, he changed the hanja of his name from "昭" to "紹" (both pronounced so in Korean), married a Korean woman and bore a son (Gong Yeo (Korean: 공여; Hanja: 孔帤), 1329–1397), therefore establishing the Changwon Gong clan (Korean: 창원 공씨; Hanja: 昌原 孔氏), whose ancestral seat was located in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. In 1794, during the reign of King Jeongjo, the clan then changed its name to Gokbu Gong clan (Korean: 곡부 공씨; Hanja: 曲阜 孔氏) in honor of Confucius's birthplace Qufu (Korean: 곡부; Hanja: 曲阜; RR: Gokbu).
Famous descendants include actors such as Gong Yoo (real name Gong Ji-cheol (공지철)) and Gong Hyo-jin (공효진); and artists such as male idol group B1A4 member Gongchan (real name Gong Chan-sik (공찬식)), singer-songwriter Minzy (real name Gong Min-ji (공민지)), as well as her great-aunt, traditional folk dancer Gong Ok-jin (공옥진).
Despite repeated dynastic change in China, the title of Duke Yansheng was bestowed upon successive generations of descendants until it was abolished by the Nationalist government in 1935. The last holder of the title, Kung Te-cheng of the 77th generation, was appointed Sacrificial Official to Confucius. Kung Te-cheng died in October 2008, and his son, Kung Wei-yi, the 78th lineal descendant, died in 1989. Kung Te-cheng's grandson, Kung Tsui-chang, the 79th lineal descendant, was born in 1975; his great-grandson, Kung Yu-jen, the 80th lineal descendant, was born in Taipei on 1 January 2006. Te-cheng's sister, Kong Demao, lives in mainland China and has written a book about her experiences growing up at the family estate in Qufu. Another sister, Kong Deqi, died as a young woman. Many descendants of Confucius still live in Qufu today.
A descendant of Confucius, H. H. Kung, was the Premier of the Republic of China. One of his sons, Kong Lingjie (孔令傑), married Debra Paget who gave birth to Gregory Kung (孔德基).
Confucius's family, the Kongs, have the longest recorded extant pedigree in the world today. The father-to-son family tree, now in its 83rd generation, has been recorded since the death of Confucius. According to the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee (CGCC), he has two million known and registered descendants, and there are an estimated three million in all. Of these, several tens of thousands live outside of China. In the 14th century, a Kong descendant went to Korea, where an estimated 34,000 descendants of Confucius live today. One of the main lineages fled from the Kong ancestral home in Qufu during the Chinese Civil War in the 1940s and eventually settled in Taiwan. There are also branches of the Kong family who have converted to Islam after marrying Muslim women, in Dachuan in Gansu province in the 1800s, and in 1715 in Xuanwei in Yunnan province. Many of the Muslim Confucius descendants are descended from the marriage of Ma Jiaga (馬甲尕), a Muslim woman, and Kong Yanrong (孔彥嶸), 59th generation descendant of Confucius in the year 1480, and are found among the Hui and Dongxiang peoples. The new genealogy includes the Muslims. Kong Dejun (孔德軍) is a prominent Islamic scholar and Arabist from Qinghai province and a 77th generation descendant of Confucius.
Because of the huge interest in the Confucius family tree, there was a project in China to test the DNA of known family members of the collateral branches in mainland China. Among other things, this would allow scientists to identify a common Y chromosome in male descendants of Confucius. If the descent were truly unbroken, father-to-son, since Confucius's lifetime, the males in the family would all have the same Y chromosome as their direct male ancestor, with slight mutations due to the passage of time. The aim of the genetic test was to help members of collateral branches in China who lost their genealogical records to prove their descent. However, in 2009, many of the collateral branches decided not to agree to DNA testing. Bryan Sykes, professor of genetics at Oxford University, understands this decision: "The Confucius family tree has an enormous cultural significance ... It's not just a scientific question." The DNA testing was originally proposed to add new members, many of whose family record books were lost during 20th century upheavals, to the Confucian family tree. The main branch of the family which fled to Taiwan was never involved in the proposed DNA test at all.
In 2013, a DNA test performed on multiple different families who claimed descent from Confucius found that they shared the same Y chromosome as reported by Fudan University.
The fifth and most recent edition of the Confucius genealogy was printed by the CGCC. It was unveiled in a ceremony at Qufu on 24 September 2009. Women are now included for the first time.
References
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
See Richey 2018 and Hutton 2019 for extensive bibliographies
External links
Csikszentmihalyi, Mark. "Confucius". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Fieser, James; Dowden, Bradley (eds.). "Confucius". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. ISSN 2161-0002. OCLC 37741658.
Confucius on In Our Time at the BBC
Multilingual web site on Confucius and the Analects
The Dao of Kongzi, introduction to the thought of Confucius.
Works by Confucius at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Confucius at the Internet Archive
Works by Confucius at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Confucian Analects (Project Gutenberg release of James Legge's Translation)
Core philosophical passages in the Analects of Confucius.
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Bruce Lee
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Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong-American martial artist, actor, and filmmaker. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy which was formed from Lee's experiences in unarmed fighting and self-defense—as well as eclectic, Zen Buddhist and Taoist philosophies—as a new school of martial arts thought. With a film career spanning Hong Kong and the United States, Lee is regarded as the first global Chinese film star and one of the most influential martial artists in the history of cinema. Known for his roles in five feature-length martial arts films, Lee is credited with helping to popularize martial arts films in the 1970s and promoting Hong Kong action cinema.
Born in San Francisco and raised in British Hong Kong, Lee was introduced to the Hong Kong film industry as a child actor by his father Lee Hoi-chuen. His early martial arts experience included Wing Chun (trained under Ip Man), tai chi, boxing (winning a Hong Kong boxing tournament), and frequent street fighting (neighborhood and rooftop fights). In 1959, Lee moved to Seattle, where he enrolled at the University of Washington in 1961. It was during this time in the United States that he began considering making money by teaching martial arts, even though he aspired to have a career in acting. He opened his first martial arts school, operated out of his home in Seattle. After later adding a second school in Oakland, California, he once drew significant attention at the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships of California by making demonstrations and speaking. He subsequently moved to Los Angeles to teach, where his students included Chuck Norris, Sharon Tate, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
His roles in America, including playing Kato in The Green Hornet, introduced him to American audiences. After returning to Hong Kong in 1971, Lee landed his first leading role in The Big Boss, directed by Lo Wei. A year later he starred in Fist of Fury, in which he portrayed Chen Zhen, and The Way of the Dragon, directed and written by Lee. He went on to star in the American-Hong Kong co-production Enter the Dragon (1973) and The Game of Death (1978). His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films, all of which were commercially successful, elevated Hong Kong martial arts films to a new level of popularity and acclaim, sparking a surge of Western interest in Chinese martial arts. The direction and tone of his films, including their fight choreography and diversification, dramatically influenced and changed martial arts and martial arts films worldwide. With his influence, kung fu films began to displace the wuxia film genre—fights were choreographed more realistically, fantasy elements were discarded for real-world conflicts, and the characterisation of the male lead went from simply being a chivalrous hero to one that embodied the notion of masculinity.
Lee's career was cut short by his sudden death at age 32 from a brain edema, the causes of which remain a matter of dispute. Nevertheless, his films remained popular, gained a large cult following, and became widely imitated and exploited. He became an iconic figure known throughout the world, particularly among the Chinese, based upon his portrayal of Cantonese culture in his films, and among Asian Americans for defying Asian stereotypes in the United States. Since his death, Lee has continued to be a prominent influence on modern combat sports, including judo, karate, mixed martial arts, and boxing, as well as modern popular culture, including film, television, comics, animation, and video games. Time named Lee one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.
Early life
Bruce Lee's birth name was Lee Jun-fan.
His father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was a Cantonese opera singer based in Hong Kong. His mother Grace Ho was born in Shanghai. In December 1939, his parents traveled to California for an international opera tour in Chinatown, San Francisco. Bruce was born there on November 27, 1940. His birth in the U.S. allowed him to claim U.S. citizenship due to the United States' jus soli citizenship laws. When he was four months old (April 1941), the Lee family returned to Hong Kong. Soon after, the Lee family experienced unexpected hardships as Japan, amid World War II, launched a surprise attack on Hong Kong in December 1941 and ruled the city for the next four years.
The ethnicity of Bruce Lee's mother, Grace Ho, is contested. The traditional consensus is that Grace Ho's father was a German immigrant, and that her mother was Chinese, as attested by biographers Robert Clouse and Bruce Thomas. Bruce Lee's wife, Linda Lee Cadwell, wrote that Bruce Lee's grandfather was a German Catholic.
A new alternative theory argues that Grace Ho's father was actually the son of a Dutch Jew, Charles Maurice Bosman, and his Chinese concubine. Charles Russo has questioned this origin story entirely, suggesting that Grace Ho's father might have been Chinese or mixed-Chinese, and that her mother might have been English. Matthew Polly concedes that Grace Ho's paternal grandfather was a Dutch Jew, but likewise asserts that her mother was English.
However, according to Doug Palmer, the claim that Grace Ho had an English mother is only speculation. Palmer also notes that family records suggest that the Dutch-Jewish Bosman family had originated from Germany, which may account for the assumption that Grace Ho was part German.
Career and education
1940–1958: Early roles, schooling and martial arts initiation
Lee's father was a Cantonese opera star. As a result, Junior Lee was introduced to the world of cinema at a very young age and appeared in several films as a child. Lee had his first role as a baby who was carried onto the stage in the film Golden Gate Girl. He took his Chinese stage name as 李小龍, lit. "Lee the Little Dragon", for the fact that he was born in both the hour and the year of the Dragon by the Chinese zodiac.
At age seven, Lee began practicing tai chi together with his father. As a nine-year-old, he co-starred with his father in The Kid in 1950, which was based on a comic book character, "Kid Cheung", and was his first leading role. By the time he was 18, he had appeared in 20 films. After attending Tak Sun School (德信學校; several blocks from his home at 218 Nathan Road, Kowloon), Lee entered the primary school division of the Catholic La Salle College at age 12.
In the early 1950s, Lee's father became an opium addict. In 1956, due to poor academic performance (and possibly poor conduct), Lee was transferred to St. Francis Xavier's College. He was mentored by Brother Edward Muss, F.M.S., a Bavarian-born teacher and coach of the school boxing team.
In 1953, Lee's friend William Cheung introduced him to Ip Man. According to Cheung, Lee's European background on his mother's side led him to be rejected, initially, from learning Wing Chun kung fu under Ip Man because of the long-standing rule in the Chinese martial arts world not to teach foreigners. Cheung spoke on his behalf and Lee was accepted into the school and began training in Wing Chun with Ip Man. Ip tried to keep his students from fighting in the street gangs of Hong Kong by encouraging them to fight in organized competitions.
After a year of his training with Ip Man, most of the other students refused to train with Lee. They had learned of his mixed ancestry, and the Chinese were generally against teaching their martial arts techniques to non-Asians. Lee's sparring partner, Hawkins Cheung, states, "Probably fewer than six people in the whole Wing Chun clan were personally taught, or even partly taught, by Ip Man". However, Lee showed a keen interest in Wing Chun and continued to train privately with Ip Man, William Cheung, and Wong Shun-leung.
In 1958, Lee won the Hong Kong schools boxing tournament, knocking out the previous champion, Gary Elms, in the final. That year, Lee was also a cha-cha dancer, winning Hong Kong's Crown Colony Cha-Cha Championship.
1959–1964: Move to Seattle
In his late teens, Lee's street fights became more frequent and included beating the son of a feared triad family. In 1958, after students from a rival Choy Li Fut martial arts school challenged Lee's Wing Chun school, he engaged in a fight on a rooftop. In response to an unfair punch by another boy, he beat him so badly that one of his teeth was knocked out, leading to the boy's parents making a complaint to the police.
Lee's mother had to go to a police station and sign a document saying that she would take full responsibility for his actions if they released him into her custody. Though she did not mention the incident to her husband, she suggested that her son return to the United States to claim his U.S. citizenship at the age of 18. Lee's father agreed as Lee's college prospects were not very promising if he remained in Hong Kong.
The police detective came and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Lee, your son is really fighting bad in school. If he gets into just one more fight I might have to put him in jail".
In April 1959, Lee's parents decided to send him to the United States to stay with his older sister, Agnes Lee (李秋鳳), who was already living with family friends in San Francisco. After several months, he moved to Seattle in 1959 to continue his high school education, where he also worked for Ruby Chow as a live-in waiter at her restaurant. Chow's husband was a co-worker and friend of Lee's father. Lee's elder brother Peter Lee (李忠琛) joined him in Seattle for a short stay, before moving on to Minnesota to attend college.
In 1959, Lee started to teach martial arts. He called what he taught Jun Fan Gung Fu (literally Bruce Lee's Kung Fu). It was his approach to Wing Chun. Lee taught friends he met in Seattle, starting with Judo practitioner Jesse Glover, who continued to teach some of Lee's early techniques. Lee's early student group was the most racially diverse group of practitioners of Chinese martial arts until that time. During this time period, Lee invented his one-inch punch. He also became interested in boxing and the techniques of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson.
Taky Kimura became Lee's first assistant instructor and continued to teach his art and philosophy after Lee's death. Lee opened his first martial arts school, named the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, in Seattle.
Lee completed his high school education and received his diploma from Edison Technical School on Capitol Hill in Seattle.
In March 1961, Lee enrolled at the University of Washington. Despite what Lee himself and many others have stated, Lee's official major was drama rather than philosophy, according to a 1999 article in the university's alumni publication. In his junior year, he took two classes in psychology and two classes in philosophy; both of these became core interests for him for the rest of his life. He socialized with wealthy young people, but lived in relative poverty and worked as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant.
1964–1965: Oakland
Lee dropped out of university in early 1964 and moved to Oakland to live with James Yimm Lee. James Lee was twenty years senior to Lee and a well-known Chinese martial artist in the area. Together, they founded the second Jun Fan martial arts studio in Oakland. James Lee was responsible for introducing Lee to Ed Parker, an American martial artist. At the invitation of Parker, Lee appeared in the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships. He performed repetitions of two-finger push-ups, using the thumb and the index finger of one hand, with feet at approximately shoulder-width apart.
In the same Long Beach event, he also performed the "one-inch punch". Lee stood upright, his right foot forward with knees bent slightly, in front of a standing, stationary partner. Lee's right arm was partly extended and his right fist was approximately one inch (2.5 cm) away from the partner's chest. Without retracting his right arm, Lee then forcibly delivered the punch to volunteer Bob Baker while largely maintaining his posture. This sent Baker backward and falling into a chair placed behind Baker to prevent injury, though Baker's momentum caused him to fall to the floor. Baker recalled, "I told Bruce not to do this type of demonstration again. When he punched me that last time, I had to stay home from work because the pain in my chest was unbearable". It was at the 1964 championships that Lee first met Taekwondo master Jhoongoo Rhee. The two developed a friendship— a relationship from which they benefited as martial artists. Rhee taught Lee the side kick in detail, and Lee taught Rhee the "non-telegraphic" punch.
At the Long Beach event, he also publicly criticized a number of classical karate and kung fu styles and argued for modernizing martial arts. This was a highly controversial presentation that convinced some spectators, while offending others. Subsequently, he appeared at the Sun Sing Theatre to present his new approach to the Chinatown, Oakland, community. More traditional kung fu practitioners took Lee's claims as an open challenge.
In 1964, Lee had a controversial private match with Wong Jack-man. Jack Man was a direct student of Ma Kin Fung, known for his mastery of Xingyiquan, Northern Shaolin, and tai chi. According to Lee, the Chinese community issued an ultimatum to him to stop teaching non-Chinese people. When he refused to comply, he was challenged to a combat match with Wong. The arrangement was that if Lee lost, he would have to shut down his school, while if he won, he would be free to teach white people, or anyone else. Wong denied this, stating that he requested to fight Lee after Lee boasted during one of his demonstrations at a Chinatown theater that he could beat anyone in San Francisco, and that Wong himself did not discriminate against whites or other non-Chinese people. Lee commented, "That paper had all the names of the sifu from Chinatown, but they don't scare me". Individuals known to have witnessed the match include Cadwell, James Lee (Bruce Lee's associate, no relation), and William Chen, a teacher of tai chi.
Wong and William Chen stated that the fight lasted an unusually long 20–25 minutes. Wong claims that although he had originally expected a serious but polite bout, Lee aggressively attacked him with the intent to kill. When Wong presented the traditional handshake, Lee appeared to accept the greeting, but instead, Lee allegedly thrust his hand as a spear aimed at Wong's eyes. Forced to defend his life, Wong asserted that he refrained from striking Lee with killing force when the opportunity presented itself because it could have earned him a prison sentence, but used illegal cufflings under his sleeves. According to Michael Dorgan's 1980 book Bruce Lee's Toughest Fight, the fight ended due to Lee's "unusually winded" condition, as opposed to a decisive blow by either fighter.
However, according to Bruce Lee, Linda Lee Cadwell, and James Yimm Lee, the fight lasted a mere three minutes with a decisive victory for Lee. In Cadwell's account, "The fight ensued, it was a no-holds-barred fight, it took three minutes. Bruce got this guy down to the ground and said 'Do you give up?' and the man said he gave up." A couple of weeks after the bout, Lee gave an interview claiming that he had defeated an unnamed challenger, which Wong says was an obvious reference to him.
In response, Wong published his account of the fight in the Pacific Weekly, a Chinese-language newspaper in San Francisco, with an invitation to a public rematch if Lee was not satisfied with the account. Lee did not respond to the invitation despite his reputation for violently responding to every provocation. There were no further public announcements by either, though Lee continued to teach non-Chinese people. Lee was unhappy with the outcome of the fight, and the experience led him to pursue further innovations in his personal style of martial arts.
Lee had abandoned thoughts of a film career in favor of pursuing martial arts. However, a martial arts exhibition in Long Beach in 1964 eventually led to the invitation by television producer William Dozier for an audition for a role in the pilot for "Number One Son" about Lee Chan, the son of Charlie Chan. The show never materialized, but Dozier saw potential in Lee.
1966–1970: American roles and creating Jeet Kune Do
From 1966 to 1967, Lee played the role of Kato alongside the title character played by Van Williams in the TV series produced and narrated by William Dozier titled The Green Hornet, based on the radio show by the same name. The show ran for one season (26 episodes) from September 1966 to March 1967. Lee and Williams also appeared as their characters in three crossover episodes of Batman, another William Dozier-produced television series.
The Green Hornet introduced the adult Bruce Lee to an American audience and became the first popular American show presenting Asian-style martial arts. The show's director wanted Lee to fight in the typical American style using fists and punches. As a professional martial artist, Lee refused, insisting that he should fight in the style of his expertise. At first, Lee moved so fast that his movements could not be caught on film, so he had to slow them down. The American martial arts community promoted the TV show and viewed Lee as their first mainstream star.
During the show's production, Lee became friends with Gene LeBell, who worked as a stuntman in the show. The two trained together and exchanged martial arts knowledge from their respective specialties. After the show was canceled in 1967, Lee wrote to Dozier thanking him for starting "my career in show business".
After filming one season of The Green Hornet, Lee found himself out of work and opened the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Chinatown, Los Angeles. The controversial match with Wong Jack-man influenced Lee's philosophy about martial arts. Lee concluded that the fight had lasted too long and that he had failed to live up to his potential using his Wing Chun techniques. He took the view that traditional martial arts techniques were too rigid and formalized to be practical in scenarios of chaotic street fighting. Lee decided to develop a system with an emphasis on "practicality, flexibility, speed, and efficiency". He started to use different methods of training such as weight training for strength, running for endurance, stretching for flexibility, and many others which he constantly adapted, including fencing and basic boxing techniques.
Jeet Kune Do originated in 1967. The name means "way of the intercepting fist" in Cantonese. This was a new hybrid system that took footwork from boxing, kicks from kung fu, and technique from fencing. Lee emphasized what he called "the style of no style". This consisted of getting rid of the formalized approach which Lee claimed was indicative of traditional styles. Lee felt that even the system he now called Jun Fan Gung Fu was too restrictive, and it eventually evolved into a philosophy and martial art he would come to call Jeet Kune Do or the Way of the Intercepting Fist. It is a term he would later regret, because Jeet Kune Do implied specific parameters that styles connote, whereas the idea of his martial art was to exist outside of parameters and limitations.
At the time, two of Lee's martial arts students were Hollywood script writer Stirling Silliphant and actor James Coburn. In 1969, the three worked on a script for a film titled The Silent Flute, and they went together on a location hunt to India. The project was not realized at the time, but the 1978 film Circle of Iron, starring David Carradine, was based on the same plot. In 2010, producer Paul Maslansky was reported to have planned and received funding for a film based on the original script for The Silent Flute.
In 1969, Lee made a brief appearance in the Silliphant-penned film Marlowe, where he played a hoodlum hired to intimidate private detective Philip Marlowe, played by James Garner, who uses his martial arts abilities to commit acts of vandalization to intimidate Marlowe. The same year, he was credited as the karate advisor in The Wrecking Crew, the fourth installment of the Matt Helm comedy spy-fi film starring Dean Martin. Also that year, Lee acted in one episode of Here Come the Brides and Blondie.
In 1970, Lee was responsible for producing the fight choreography of A Walk in the Spring Rain, starring Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn, again written by Silliphant.
1971–1973: Hong Kong films, stardom, and Hollywood breakthrough
In 1971, Lee appeared in four episodes of the television series Longstreet, written by Silliphant. Lee played Li Tsung, the martial arts instructor of the title character Mike Longstreet, played by James Franciscus, and important aspects of his martial arts philosophy were written into the script. According to statements made by Lee, and also by Linda Lee Cadwell after Lee's death, Lee pitched a television series of his own in 1971, tentatively titled The Warrior, discussions of which were confirmed by Warner Bros. During a December 9, 1971, television interview on The Pierre Berton Show, Lee stated that both Paramount and Warner Bros. wanted him "to be in a modernized type of a thing and that they think the Western idea is out, whereas I want to do the Western".
According to Cadwell, Lee's concept was retooled and renamed Kung Fu, but Warner Bros. gave Lee no credit. Warner Bros. states that they had for some time been developing an identical concept, created by two writers and producers, Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander in 1969, as stated too by Lee's biographer Matthew Polly. According to these sources, the reason Lee was not cast was because he had a thick accent, but Fred Weintraub attributes that to his ethnicity.
The role of the Shaolin monk in the Kung Fu was eventually awarded to then-non-martial artist David Carradine. In an interview with The Pierre Berton Show, Lee stated he understood Warner Bros.' attitudes towards casting in the series: "They think that business-wise it is a risk. I don't blame them. If the situation were reversed, and an American star were to come to Hong Kong, and I was the man with the money, I would have my own concerns as to whether the acceptance would be there".
Producer Fred Weintraub had advised Lee to return to Hong Kong and make a feature film that he could showcase to executives in Hollywood. Not happy with his supporting roles in the US, Lee returned to Hong Kong. Unaware that The Green Hornet had been played to success in Hong Kong and was unofficially referred to as "The Kato Show", he was surprised to be recognized as the star of the show. After negotiating with both Shaw Brothers Studio and Golden Harvest, Lee signed a film contract to star in two films produced by Golden Harvest.
Lee played his first leading role in The Big Boss (1971), which proved to be an enormous box-office success across Asia and catapulted him to instant stardom in Hong Kong. He followed up with Fist of Fury (1972), which broke the box office records set previously by The Big Boss, with film critic Blake Howard writing that Lee was "cresting the wave of international super-stardom." Having finished his initial two-year contract, Lee negotiated a new deal with Golden Harvest. Lee later formed his own company, Concord Production Inc., with Chow. For his third film, The Way of the Dragon (1972), he was given complete control of the film's production as the writer, director, star, and choreographer of the fight scenes. In 1964, at a demonstration in Long Beach, California, Lee met karate champion Chuck Norris. In The Way of the Dragon Lee introduced Norris to moviegoers as his opponent. Their showdown has been characterized as "one of the best fight scenes in martial arts and film history". Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon grossed an estimated US$100 million and US$130 million worldwide, respectively.
From August to October 1972, Lee began work on his fourth Golden Harvest film, Game of Death. He began filming some scenes, including his fight sequence with 7 ft 2 in (218 cm) American basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a former student. Production stopped in November 1972 when Warner Bros. offered Lee the opportunity to star in Enter the Dragon, the first film to be produced jointly by Concord, Golden Harvest, and Warner Bros. Filming began in Hong Kong in February 1973 and was completed in April 1973.
One month into the filming, another production company, Starseas Motion Pictures, promoted Lee as a leading actor in Fist of Unicorn, although he had merely agreed to choreograph the fight sequences in the film as a favor to his long-time friend Unicorn Chan. Lee planned to sue the production company but retained his friendship with Chan. However, only a few months after the completion of Enter the Dragon, and six days before its July 26, 1973, release, Lee died.
Enter the Dragon went on to become one of the year's highest-grossing films and cemented Lee as a martial arts legend. It was made for US$850,000 in 1973, the equivalent of $4 million adjusted for inflation as of 2007. Enter the Dragon is estimated to have grossed over $400 million worldwide, the equivalent of over $2 billion adjusted for inflation as of 2022. The film sparked a brief fad in martial arts, epitomized in songs such as "Kung Fu Fighting" and some TV shows.
1978–present: Posthumous work
Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon, together with Golden Harvest, revived Lee's unfinished film Game of Death. Lee had shot over 100 minutes of footage, including outtakes, for Game of Death before shooting was stopped to allow him to work on Enter the Dragon. In addition to Abdul-Jabbar, George Lazenby, Hapkido master Ji Han-jae, and another of Lee's students, Dan Inosanto, appeared in the film, which culminated in Lee's character, Hai Tien, clad in a yellow tracksuit taking on a series of different challengers on each floor as they make their way through a five-level pagoda.
In a controversial move, Robert Clouse finished the film using a Lee look-alike (Kim Tai Chung, with Yuen Biao as a stunt double) and archive footage of Lee from his other films with a new storyline and cast. It was released in 1978. The cobbled-together film contained only fifteen minutes of actual footage of Lee. The unused footage Lee had filmed was recovered 22 years later and included in the documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.
In 1972, after the success of The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, a third film was planned by Raymond Chow at Golden Harvest to be directed by Lo Wei, titled Yellow-Faced Tiger. However, at the time, Lee decided to direct and produce his script for Way of the Dragon instead. Although Lee had formed a production company with Raymond Chow, a period film was also planned from September–November 1973 with the competing Shaw Brothers Studio, to be directed by either Chor Yuen or Cheng Kang, and written by Yi Kang and Chang Cheh, titled The Seven Sons of the Jade Dragon.
In 2015, Perfect Storm Entertainment and Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, announced that the series The Warrior would be produced and would air on Cinemax. Filmmaker Justin Lin was chosen to direct the series. Production began in October 2017, in Cape Town, South Africa. In April 2019, Cinemax renewed the series for a second season. The series ended after three seasons, in 2023.
In March 2021, it was announced that producer Jason Kothari had acquired the rights to The Silent Flute "to become a miniseries, which would have John Fusco as a screenwriter and executive producer.
Unproduced works
Lee had also worked on several scripts himself. A tape containing a recording of Lee narrating the basic storyline to a film tentatively titled Southern Fist/Northern Leg exists, showing some similarities with the canned script for The Silent Flute (Circle of Iron). Another script had the title Green Bamboo Warrior, set in San Francisco, planned to co-star Bolo Yeung and to be produced by Andrew Vajna. Photoshoot costume tests were organized for some of these planned film projects.
Martial arts and fitness
Lee's films are known for popularising the side kick, roundhouse kick, grappling, spinning heel kick, armbar, weapons such as the nunchaku, and his distinctive kiai. Lee was also known for popularising the one-inch punch and the two-finger push-up.
Striking
Lee's first introduction to martial arts was through his father, from whom he learned the fundamentals of Wu-style tai chi. In his teens, Lee became involved in Hong Kong gang conflicts, which led to frequent street fights. The largest influence on Lee's martial arts development was his study of Wing Chun. Lee was 16 years old under the Wing Chun teacher Ip Man, between late 1956 and 1957, after losing to rival gang members.
Ip's regular classes generally consisted of form practice, chi sao (sticking hands) drills, wooden dummy techniques, and free sparring. There was no set pattern for the classes. Other Chinese martial arts styles Lee trained in were Northern Praying Mantis, Southern Praying Mantis, Eagle Claw, Tan Tui, Law Hon, Mizongyi, Wa K'ung, Monkey, Southern Dragon, Fujian White Crane, Choy Li Fut, Hung Gar, Choy Gar, Fut Gar, Mok Gar, Yau Kung Moon, Li Gar, and Lau Gar. Martial arts expert Donn F. Draeger regarded Lee as worthy of a Kyokushin 6th dan by the standards of the 1970s.
Lee was trained in boxing, between 1956 and 1958, by Brother Edward, coach of the St. Francis Xavier's College boxing team. Lee went on to win the Hong Kong Schools boxing tournament in 1958 while scoring knockdowns against the previous champion Gary Elms in the final. After moving to the United States, Lee was heavily influenced by heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, whose footwork he studied and incorporated into his style in the 1960s.
Lee demonstrated his Jeet Kune Do martial arts at the Long Beach International Karate Championships in 1964 and 1968, with the latter having higher-quality video footage available. Lee is seen demonstrating quick eye strikes before his opponent can block and demonstrating the one-inch punch on several volunteers. He demonstrates chi sao drills while blindfolded against an opponent, probing for weaknesses in his opponent while scoring with punches and takedowns. Lee then participates in a full-contact sparring bout against an opponent, with both wearing leather headgear.
Lee is seen implementing his Jeet Kune Do concept of economical motion, using Ali-inspired footwork to keep out of range while counter-attacking with backfists and straight punches. He halts attacks with stop-hit side kicks and quickly executes several sweeps and head kicks. The opponent repeatedly attempts to attack Lee but is never able to connect with a clean hit. He once managed to come close with a spin kick, but Lee counters it. The footage was reviewed by Black Belt magazine in 1995, concluding that "the action is as fast and furious as anything in Lee's films."
It was at the 1964 championships that Lee first met taekwondo master Jhoongoo Rhee. While Rhee taught Lee the side kick in detail, Lee taught Rhee the "non-telegraphic" punch. Rhee learned what he calls the "accupunch" from Lee and incorporated it into American taekwondo. The "accupunch" is a rapid fast punch that is very difficult to block, based on human reaction time—"the idea is to finish the execution of the punch before the opponent can complete the brain-to-wrist communication."
Lee commonly used the oblique kick, made popular much later in mixed martial arts. It is called the jeet tek, "stop kick" or "intercepting kick", in Jeet Kune Do.
Grappling
Lee favored cross-training between different fighting styles, and had a particular interest in grappling. Lee trained with several judo practitioners in Seattle and California, among them Fred Sato, Jesse Glover, Taky Kimura, Hayward Nishioka, and Wally Jay, as well as Gene LeBell. Many of his first students were proficient in judo and other arts, and he learned as much as he taught. After befriending LeBell on the set of The Green Hornet, Lee offered to teach him striking arts in exchange for being taught grappling techniques. LeBell had been taught catch wrestling by prestigious grapplers Lou Thesz and Ed Lewis, and notable techniques of both judo and catch wrestling can be seen in Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do. He also learned grappling moves from hapkido master Ji Han-jae.
According to Glover, Lee only found judo ineffective at the action of getting hold of the opponent. In their first training together, Glover showed Lee an osoto gari, which Lee considered not a bad technique, but he disliked that Glover had needed to hold onto Lee. While in Seattle, Lee developed anti-grappling techniques against opponents trying to tackle him or take him to the ground. Glover recalled Lee "definitely would not go to the ground if he had the opportunity to get you standing up." Nonetheless, Lee expressed to LeBell a wish to integrate judo into his fighting style. He incorporated the osoto gari into Jeet Kune Do, among other throws, armlocks and chokeholds from judo.
Although Lee opined that grappling was of little use in action choreography because it was not visually distinctive, he showcased grappling moves in his films, such as Way of the Dragon, where his character finishes his opponent Chuck Norris with a neck hold inspired by LeBell, and Enter the Dragon, whose prolog features Lee submitting his opponent Sammo Hung with an armbar. Game of Death also features Lee and Han-jae exchanging grappling moves, as well as Lee using wrestling against the character played by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Lee was also influenced by the training routine of The Great Gama, an Indian/Pakistani pehlwani wrestling champion known for his grappling strength. Lee incorporated Gama's exercises into his training routine.
Street fighting
Another major influence on Lee was Hong Kong's street fighting culture in the form of rooftop fights. In the mid-20th century, soaring crime in Hong Kong, combined with limited Hong Kong Police manpower, led to many young Hongkongers learning martial arts for self-defense. Around the 1960s, there were about 400 martial arts schools in Hong Kong, teaching their distinctive styles of martial arts. In Hong Kong's street fighting culture, there emerged a rooftop fight scene in the 1950s and 1960s, where gangs from rival martial arts schools challenged each other to bare-knuckle fights on Hong Kong's rooftops, to avoid crackdowns by British colonial authorities. Lee frequently participated in these Hong Kong rooftop fights. He combined different techniques from different martial arts schools into his own hybrid martial arts style.
When Lee returned to Hong Kong in the early 1970s, his reputation as "the fastest fist in the east" routinely led to locals challenging him to street fights. He sometimes accepted these challenges and engaged in street fights, which led to some criticism from the press portraying him as violent at the time.
Fitness
At 172 cm (5 ft 8 in) and weighing 64 kg (141 lb), Lee was renowned for his physical fitness and vigor, achieved by using a dedicated fitness regimen to become as strong as possible. After his match with Wong Jack-man in 1965, Lee changed his approach toward martial arts training. Lee felt that many martial artists of his time did not spend enough time on physical conditioning. Lee included all elements of total fitness—muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility. He used traditional bodybuilding techniques to build some muscle mass, though not overdone, as that could decrease speed or flexibility. At the same time, concerning balance, Lee maintained that mental and spiritual preparation are fundamental to the success of physical training in martial arts skills. In Tao of Jeet Kune Do he wrote:
Training is one of the most neglected phases of athletics. Too much time is given to the development of skill and too little to the development of the individual for participation. ... JKD, ultimately is not a matter of petty techniques but of highly developed spirituality and physique.
According to Linda Lee Cadwell, soon after he moved to the United States, Lee started to take nutrition seriously and developed an interest in health foods, high-protein drinks, and vitamin and mineral supplements. He later concluded that achieving a high-performance body was akin to maintaining the engine of a high-performance automobile. Allegorically, as one could not keep a car running on low-octane fuels, one could not sustain one's body with a steady diet of junk food, and with "the wrong fuel", one's body would perform sluggishly or sloppily.
Lee avoided baked goods and refined flour, describing them as providing empty calories that did nothing for his body. He was known for being a fan of Asian cuisine for its variety and often ate meals with a combination of vegetables, rice, and fish. Lee had a dislike for dairy products and as a result, used powdered milk in his diet.
Dan Inosanto recalls Lee practiced meditation as the first action on his schedule.
Artistry
Philosophy
While best known as a martial artist, Lee studied drama and Asian and Western philosophy, starting while a student at the University of Washington. He was well-read and had an extensive library dominated by martial arts subjects and philosophical texts. His books on martial arts and fighting philosophy are known for their philosophical assertions, both inside and outside of martial arts circles. His eclectic philosophy often mirrored his fighting beliefs, though he was quick to say that his martial arts were solely a metaphor for such teachings.
He believed that any knowledge ultimately led to self-knowledge. He said that his chosen method of self-expression was martial arts. His influences include Taoism and Buddhism. Lee's philosophy was very much in opposition to the conservative worldview advocated by Confucianism. John Little states that Lee was an atheist. When asked in 1972 about his religious affiliation, he replied, "None whatsoever". When asked if he believed in God, he said, "To be perfectly frank, I really do not."
In his notebooks, Lee cited and commented on passages from Plato, David Hume, René Descartes, and Thomas Aquinas, from Western philosophy, and Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu, Miyamoto Musashi, and Alan Watts from Eastern thought. He was particularly interested in the Indian mystic Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Poetry
Aside from martial arts and philosophy, which focus on the physical aspect and self-consciousness for truths and principles, Lee also wrote poetry that reflected his emotions and a stage in his life collectively. Many forms of art remain concordant with the artist creating them. Lee's principle of self-expression was applied to his poetry as well. His daughter Shannon Lee said, "He did write poetry; he was really the consummate artist."
His poetic works were originally handwritten on paper, then later on edited and published, with John Little being the major author (editor), for Bruce Lee's works. Linda Lee Cadwell (Bruce Lee's wife) shared her husband's notes, poems, and experiences with followers. She mentioned, "Lee's poems are, by American standards, rather dark—reflecting the deeper, less exposed recesses of the human psyche".
Most of Bruce Lee's poems are categorized as anti-poetry or fall into a paradox. The mood in his poems shows the side of the man that can be compared with other poets such as Robert Frost, one of many well-known poets expressing himself with dark poetic works. The paradox taken from the Yin and Yang symbol in martial arts was also integrated into his poetry. His martial arts and philosophy contribute a great part to his poetry. The free verse form of Lee's poetry reflects his quote "Be formless ... shapeless, like water."
Personal life
Names
Lee's Cantonese birth name was Lee Jun-fan (李振藩). The name homophonically means "return again", and was given to Lee by his mother, who felt he would return to the United States once he came of age. Because of his mother's superstitious nature, she had originally named him Sai-fon (細鳳), which is a feminine name meaning "small phoenix". The English name "Bruce" is thought to have been given by the hospital's attending physician, Dr. Mary Glover.
Lee had three other Chinese names: Lee Yuen-cham (李源鑫), a family/clan name; Lee Yuen-kam (李元鑒), which he used as a student name while he was attending La Salle College, and his Chinese screen name Lee Siu-lung (李小龍; Siu-lung means "little dragon"). Lee's given name Jun-fan was originally written in Chinese as 震藩; however, the Jun (震) Chinese character was identical to part of his grandfather's name, Lee Jun-biu (李震彪). Hence, the Chinese character for Jun in Lee's name was changed to the homonym 振 instead, to avoid naming taboo in Chinese tradition.
Family
Lee's father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was one of the leading Cantonese opera and film actors at the time and was embarking on a year-long opera tour with his family on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. Lee Hoi-chuen had been touring the United States for many years and performing in numerous Chinese communities there.
Although many of his peers decided to stay in the US, Lee Hoi-chuen returned to Hong Kong after Bruce's birth. Within months, Hong Kong was invaded and the Lees lived for three years and eight months under Japanese occupation. After the war ended, Lee Hoi-chuen resumed his acting career and became a more popular actor during Hong Kong's rebuilding years.
Lee's mother, Grace Ho, was from one of the wealthiest and most powerful clans in Hong Kong, the Ho-tungs. She was the half-niece of Sir Robert Ho-tung, the Eurasian patriarch of the clan. As such, the young Bruce Lee grew up in an affluent and privileged environment. Despite the advantage of his family's status, the neighborhood in which Lee grew up became overcrowded, dangerous, and full of gang rivalries due to an influx of refugees fleeing communist China for Hong Kong, at that time a British Crown Colony.
Grace Ho is reported as either the adopted or biological daughter of Ho Kom-tong (Ho Gumtong, 何甘棠) and the half-niece of Sir Robert Ho-tung, both notable Hong Kong businessmen and philanthropists. Bruce was the fourth of five children: Phoebe Lee (李秋源), Agnes Lee (李秋鳳), Peter Lee, and Robert Lee.
Grace's parentage remains unclear. Linda Lee, in her 1989 biography The Bruce Lee Story, suggests that Grace had a German father and was a Catholic. Bruce Thomas, in his 1994 biography Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit, suggests that Grace had a Chinese mother and a German father. Lee's relative Eric Peter Ho, in his 2010 book Tracing My Children's Lineage, suggests that Grace was born in Shanghai to a Eurasian woman named Cheung King-sin. Eric Peter Ho said that Grace Lee was the daughter of a mixed-race Shanghainese woman and her father was Ho Kom Tong. Grace Lee herself reported that her mother was English and her father was Chinese. Fredda Dudley Balling said Grace Lee was three-quarters Chinese and one-quarter British.
In the 2018 biography Bruce Lee: A Life, Matthew Polly identifies Lee's maternal grandfather as Ho Kom-tong, who had often been reported as his adoptive grandfather. Ho Kom-tong's father, Charles Maurice Bosman, was a Dutch Jewish businessman from Rotterdam. He moved to Hong Kong with the Dutch East India Company and served as the Dutch consul to Hong Kong at one time. He had a Chinese concubine named Sze Tai with whom he had six children, including Ho Kom Tong. Bosman subsequently abandoned his family and immigrated to California. Ho Kom Tong became a wealthy businessman with a wife, 13 concubines, and a British mistress who gave birth to Grace Ho.
His younger brother Robert Lee Jun-fai is a musician and singer; he performed in the Hong Kong group The Thunderbirds. A few singles were sung mostly or all in English. Also released was Lee singing a duet with Irene Ryder. Lee Jun-fai lived with Lee in Los Angeles in the United States and stayed. After Lee's death, Lee Jun-fai released an album and a single by the same name dedicated to Lee called "The Ballad of Bruce Lee".
While studying at the University of Washington he met his future wife Linda Emery, a fellow student studying to become a teacher. As relations between people of different races were still banned in many US states, they married in secret in August 1964. Lee had two children with Linda: Brandon (1965–1993) and Shannon Lee (born 1969). Upon's Lee passing in 1973, she continued to promote Bruce Lee's martial art Jeet Kune Do. She wrote the 1975 book Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew, on which the 1993 feature film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was based. In 1989, she wrote the book The Bruce Lee Story. She retired in 2001 from the family estate.
Lee died when his son Brandon was eight years old. While alive, Lee taught Brandon martial arts and would invite him to visit sets. This gave Brandon the desire to act and he went on to study the craft. As a young adult, Brandon Lee found some success acting in action-oriented pictures such as Legacy of Rage (1986), Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), and Rapid Fire (1992). In 1993, at the age of 28, Brandon Lee died after being accidentally shot by a prop gun on the set of The Crow.
Lee died when his daughter Shannon was four. In her youth she studied Jeet Kune Do under Richard Bustillo, one of her father's students; however, her serious studies did not begin until the late 1990s. To train for parts in action movies, she studied Jeet Kune Do with Ted Wong.
Friends, students, and contemporaries
Lee's brother Robert with his friends Taky Kimura, Dan Inosanto, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, and Peter Chin were his pallbearers. Coburn was a martial arts student and a friend of Lee. Coburn worked with Lee and Stirling Silliphant on developing The Silent Flute. Upon Lee's early death, at his funeral, Coburn gave a eulogy. Regarding McQueen, Lee made no secret that he wanted everything McQueen had and would stop at nothing to get it. Inosanto and Kimura were friends and disciples of Lee. Inosanto would go on to train Lee's son Brandon. Kimura continued to teach Lee's craft in Seattle. According to Lee's wife, Chin was a lifelong family friend and a student of Lee.
James Yimm Lee (no relation) was one of Lee's three personally certified 3rd rank instructors and co-founded the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Oakland where he taught Jun Fan Gung Fu in Lee's absence. James was responsible for introducing Lee to Ed Parker, the organizer of the Long Beach International Karate Championships, where Lee was first introduced to the martial arts community. Hollywood couple Roman Polański and Sharon Tate studied martial arts with Lee. Polański flew Lee to Switzerland to train him. Tate studied with Lee in preparation for her role in The Wrecking Crew. After Tate was murdered by the Manson Family, Polański initially suspected Lee.
Screenwriter Stirling Silliphant was a martial arts student and a friend of Lee. Silliphant worked with Lee and James Coburn on developing The Silent Flute. Lee acted and provided his martial arts expertise in several projects penned by Silliphant, the first in Marlowe (1969) where Lee plays Winslow Wong a hoodlum well-versed in martial arts. Lee also did fight choreographies for the film A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970) and played Li Tsung, a Jeet Kune Do instructor who teaches the main character in the television show Longstreet (1971). Elements of his martial arts philosophy were included in the script for the latter.
Basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar studied martial arts and developed a friendship with Lee. Actor and karate champion Chuck Norris was a friend and training partner of Lee's. After Lee's death, Norris said he kept in touch with Lee's family. Judoka and professional wrestler Gene LeBell became a friend of Lee on the set of The Green Hornet. They trained together and exchanged their knowledge of martial arts.
Taiwanese actress Betty Ting immediately came under media's spotlight after it was revealed that Bruce Lee was found unconscious at her flat before his death. At her testimony Ting said she was asked by producer Raymond Chow, who in turn was told by Lee's family, not to disclose that Lee was at her apartment, which contributed to the misinformation that Lee died at his own house. Ting later said Lee fell in love with her and the two shared a close relation. Her constant presence by Lee's side earned the affectionate nickname of "Little Dragon Girl" (or Bruce's Girl).
Drug use
In July 2021 a private collection of over 40 handwritten letters Lee made to fellow Fist of Fury actor Robert "Bob" Baker was sold for $462,500 at Heritage Auctions. These letters were written from 1967 to 1973 and included requests by Lee for Baker to mail him cocaine, pain killers, psilocybin and other drugs for his personal use. Doctor Poon Wai-ming in Hong Kong said cocaine could have caused his collapse in May 1973, two months before his death.
Death
On May 10, 1973, Lee collapsed during an automated dialogue replacement session for Enter the Dragon at Orange Sky Golden Harvest Film Studio in Hong Kong. Because he was having epileptic seizures and headaches, he was rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, where doctors diagnosed cerebral edema. He had a high fever and was completely unconscious without any signs of breathing. They were able to reduce the swelling through the administration of mannitol. A brain scan in the United States after this diagnosed Bruce Lee with convulsive disorder.
On July 20, 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong planning to have dinner with actor George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda and testimony at Lee's coroner's court, Lee met producer Raymond Chow at 2 p.m. at home to discuss the making of the film Game of Death. They worked until 4 p.m. and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague Betty Ting arriving at around 5. The three then went over the script at Ting's home. At around 7 Lee, having a headache, took a pill of painkiller from Ting and took a nap. Chow left around an hour later to attend a dinner meeting with Lazenby, which Lee was expected to join later.
When Lee did not arrive at the dinner, Chow came to the apartment at around 9.45 p.m., but he was unable to wake Lee up. Chu Poh-hwye, a private doctor of Ting, was summoned at 10, as Lee's doctor was unreachable, and spent ten minutes attempting to revive Lee, who by then no longer had any vital signs, before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee was declared dead on arrival at the age of 32.
Lee was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Seattle. Pallbearers at Lee's funeral on July 25, 1973, included Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin, and Lee's brother Robert.
Possible causes of death
Donald Teare, a senior British pathologist recommended by Scotland Yard who had overseen over 1,000 autopsies, was assigned to perform an autopsy on Lee. His conclusion was "death by misadventure" caused by cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the combination medication Equagesic. According to autopsy reports, Lee's brain had swollen from 1,400 to 1,575 grams, a 12.5% increase. Lee had taken Equagesic on the day of his death, which contained both aspirin and the sedative meprobamate, although he had taken it many times before. The Coroner's Court unanimously returned a "death by misadventure" verdict.
Lee's iconic status and untimely death fed many rumors and theories. These included murder involving the triads and a supposed curse on him and his family. Tabloids and magazines in Hong Kong publicised multiple conspiracy theories on Lee's death for viewership.
Although there was initial speculation that cannabis found in Lee's stomach may have contributed to his death, Teare said it would "be both 'irresponsible and irrational' to say that [cannabis] might have triggered either the events of Bruce's collapse on May 10 or his death on July 20". Dr. R. R. Lycette, the clinical pathologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, reported at the coroner hearing that the death could not have been caused by cannabis. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology of the United States concluded that they were unable to attribute Lee's death to cannabis intoxication.
In a 2018 biography, author Matthew Polly consulted with medical experts and theorized that the cerebral edema that killed Lee had been caused by over-exertion and heat stroke; heat stroke was not considered at the time because it was then a poorly understood condition. Furthermore, Lee had his underarm sweat glands removed in late 1972, in the apparent belief that underarm sweat was unphotogenic on film. Polly further theorized that this caused Lee's body to overheat while practicing in hot temperatures on May 10 and July 20, 1973, resulting in heat stroke that in turn exacerbated the cerebral edema that led to his death.
In an article in the December 2022 issue of Clinical Kidney Journal, a team of researchers examined the various theories regarding Lee's cause of death, and concluded that his fatal cerebral edema was brought on by hyponatremia, an insufficient concentration of sodium in the blood. The authors noted that several risk factors predisposed Lee to hyponatremia, including excessive water intake, insufficient solute intake, alcohol consumption, and use or overuse of multiple drugs which impair the ability of the kidneys to excrete excess fluids. Lee's symptoms before his death were also found to closely match known cases of fatal hyponatremia.
In July 2025, the Hong Kong TVB program "Ctrl+F The Truth" concluded that Lee died of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, based on opinions from medical experts, after other causes of death including cerebral edema caused by aspirin allergy, which was suspected by the court, were considered unlikely. It was presumed that a lack of professional knowledge or attempts to protect Lee's legacy hid the true cause of his death at the time.
Legacy and cultural impact
Lee is considered by some commentators and martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time, and a pop culture icon of the 20th century, who bridged the gap between East and West. Time named Lee one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.
A number of biography books have been written about Lee. A biography had sold more than 4 million copies by 1988.
Action films
Lee was largely responsible for launching the "kung fu craze" of the 1970s. He initially introduced kung fu to the West with American television shows such as The Green Hornet and Kung Fu, before the "kung fu craze" began with the dominance of Hong Kong martial arts films in 1973. Lee's success inspired a wave of Western martial arts films and television shows throughout the 1970s–1990s (launching the careers of Western martial arts stars such as Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris), as well as the more general integration of Asian martial arts into Western action films and television shows during the 1980s–1990s.
Enter the Dragon has been cited as one of the most influential action films of all time. Sascha Matuszak of Vice said Enter the Dragon "is referenced in all manner of media, the plot line and characters continue to influence storytellers today, and the impact was particularly felt in the revolutionizing way the film portrayed African-Americans, Asians and traditional martial arts." Kuan-Hsing Chen and Beng Huat Chua cited fight scenes in Lee's films such as Enter the Dragon as being influential for the way they pitched "an elemental story of good against evil in such a spectacle-saturated way".
A number of action filmmakers around the world have cited Bruce Lee as a formative influence on their careers, including Hong Kong action film directors such as Jackie Chan and John Woo, and Hollywood filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and Brett Ratner.
Martial arts and combat sports
Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that was founded by Lee, is sometimes credited with paving the way for the combat sport mixed martial arts (MMA). The concept of mixed martial arts was popularized in the West by Bruce Lee via his system of Jeet Kune Do. Lee believed that "the best fighter is not a Boxer, Karate or Judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt to any style, to be formless, to adopt an individual's own style and not following the system of styles."
In 2004, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) founder Dana White called Lee the "father of mixed martial arts" and stated: "If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought, and many of the things he wrote, he said the perfect style was no style. You take a little something from everything. You take the good things from every different discipline, use what works, and you throw the rest away".
Lee was largely responsible for many people's decisions to take up martial arts. These include numerous fighters in combat sports who were inspired by Lee; boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard said he perfected his jab by watching Lee, boxing champion Manny Pacquiao compared his fighting style to Lee, and UFC champion Conor McGregor has compared himself to Lee and said that he believes Lee would have been a champion in the UFC if he were to compete in the present day.
Lee inspired the foundation of American full-contact kickboxing tournaments by Joe Lewis and Benny Urquidez in the 1970s. American taekwondo pioneer Jhoon Goo Rhee learned from Lee what he calls the "accupunch", which he incorporated into American taekwondo. Rhee later coached heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali and taught him the "accupunch", which Ali used to knockout Richard Dunn in 1975. According to heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, "everyone wanted to be Bruce Lee" in the 1970s.
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion and Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones cited Lee as inspiration, with Jones known for frequently using the oblique kick to the knee, a technique that was popularized by Lee. Former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva has also cited Lee as an inspiration. Numerous other UFC fighters have cited Lee as their inspiration, with several referring to him as a "godfather" or "grandfather" of MMA.
Racial barriers and stereotypes
Lee is credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films. He defied Asian stereotypes, such as the emasculated Asian male stereotype. His friend Amy Sanbo recalls that, "In a time when so many Asians were trying to convince themselves they were white, Bruce was so proud to be Chinese he was busting with it." In contrast to earlier stereotypes which depicted Asian men as emasculated, childlike, coolies, or domestic servants, Lee demonstrated that Asian men could be "tough, strong and sexy" according to University of Michigan lecturer Hye Seung Chung. In turn, Lee's popularity inspired a new Asian stereotype, the martial artist.
In North America, his films initially played largely to black, Asian and Hispanic audiences. Within black communities, Lee's popularity was second only to heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali in the 1970s. As Lee broke through to the mainstream, he became a rare non-white movie star in a Hollywood industry dominated by white actors at the time. According to rapper LL Cool J, Lee's films were the first time many non-white American children such as himself had seen a non-white action hero on the big screen in the 1970s.
Popular culture
Numerous entertainment and sports figures around the world have cited Lee as a major influence on their work, including martial arts actors such as Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen, actor-bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor-comedians such as Eddie Murphy and Eddie Griffin, actresses such as Olivia Munn and Dianne Doan, musicians such as Steve Aoki and Rohan Marley, rappers such as LL Cool J and Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA, bands such as Gorillaz, comedians such as W. Kamau Bell and Margaret Cho, basketball players Stephen Curry and Jamal Murray, skaters Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi, and American footballer Kyler Murray, among others.
Bruce Lee influenced several comic book writers, notably Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee, who considered Bruce Lee to be a superhero without a costume. Shortly after his death, Lee inspired the Marvel characters Shang-Chi (debuted 1973) and Iron Fist (debuted 1974) as well as the comic book series The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu (debuted 1974). According to Stan Lee, any character that has been a martial artist since then owes their origin to Bruce Lee in some form.
Bruce Lee was a formative influence on the development of breakdancing in the 1970s. Early breakdancing pioneers such as the Rock Steady Crew drew inspiration from kung fu moves, as performed by Lee, inspiring dance moves such as the windmill among other breaking moves.
In India, Lee films had an influence on Hindi masala films. After the success of Lee films such as Enter the Dragon in India, Deewaar (1975) and later Hindi films incorporated fight scenes inspired by 1970s Hong Kong martial arts films up until the 1990s. According to Indian film star Aamir Khan, when he was a child, "almost every house had a poster of Bruce Lee" in 1970s Bombay.
In Japan, the manga and anime franchises Fist of the North Star (1983–1988) and Dragon Ball (1984–1995) were inspired by Lee films such as Enter the Dragon. In turn, Fist of the North Star and especially Dragon Ball are credited with setting the trends for popular shōnen manga and anime from the 1980s onwards. Spike Spiegel, the protagonist from the 1998 anime Cowboy Bebop, is seen practicing Jeet Kune Do and quotes Lee.
Bruce Lee films such as Game of Death and Enter the Dragon were the foundation for video game genres such as beat 'em up action games and fighting games. The first beat 'em up game, Kung-Fu Master (1984), was based on Lee's Game of Death. The Street Fighter video game franchise (1987 debut) was inspired by Enter the Dragon, with the gameplay centered around an international fighting tournament, and each character having a unique combination of ethnicity, nationality and fighting style; Street Fighter went on to set the template for all fighting games that followed. Since then, nearly every major fighting game franchise has had a character based on Bruce Lee. In April 2014, Lee was named a featured character in the combat sports video game EA Sports UFC, and is playable in multiple weight classes.
In France, the Yamakasi cited the martial arts philosophy of Bruce Lee as an influence on their development of the parkour discipline in the 1990s, along with the acrobatics of Jackie Chan. The Yamakasi considered Lee to be the "unofficial president" of their group.
The Legend of Bruce Lee (2008), a Chinese television drama series based on the life of Bruce Lee, has been watched by over 400 million viewers in China, making it the most-watched Chinese television drama series of all time, as of 2017.
In November 2022, it was announced that Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee was directing a biopic on Bruce Lee. Ang Lee's son Mason Lee was cast to star in the movie, while Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, is set to produce the film.
In 2024, there was a proposal made to erect a statue of Bruce Lee in San Francisco. Lee's daughter is in favor of erecting it stating, "the Bay Area is a very rich and vital part of our legacy."
Bruce Lee appears in Hitman: World of Assassination in September 2025. Lee is reinvented as an agent in the game, assassinating opponents during a martial arts competition. The player's goal is to prevent enemies from getting in the way.
Tributes
Underworld pay tribute to Bruce Lee in their song Bruce Lee from their 1999 album Beaucoup Fish, a blend of rock, techno, and guitar riffs. According to DAFT FM, the lyrics can be interpreted as encouraging the idea of self-actualization and individuals to be true to themselves, thus paying tribute to Lee's philosophy of empowering oneself and living life to the fullest.
Commercials
Though Bruce Lee did not appear in commercials during his lifetime, his likeness and image has since appeared in hundreds of commercials around the world. Nokia launched an Internet-based campaign in 2008 with staged "documentary-looking" footage of Bruce Lee playing ping-pong with his nunchaku and also igniting matches as they are thrown toward him. The videos went viral on YouTube, creating confusion as some people believed them to be authentic footage.
Honors
Awards
1972: Golden Horse Awards Special Technical Award
1972: Fist of Fury Special Jury Award
1994: Hong Kong Film Award for Lifetime Achievement
1999: Named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century
2004: Star of the Century Award
2013: The Asian Awards Founders Award
Statues
Statue of Bruce Lee (Los Angeles): unveiled June 15, 2013, Chinatown Central Plaza, Los Angeles, California
Statue of Bruce Lee (Hong Kong): 2.5 m (8.2 ft) bronze statue of Lee was unveiled on November 27, 2005, on what would have been his 65th birthday.
Statue of Bruce Lee (Mostar): The day before the Hong Kong statue was dedicated, the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina unveiled its own 1.68 m (5.5 ft) bronze statue; supporters of the statue cited Lee as a unifying symbol against the ethnic divisions in the country, which had culminated in the 1992–95 Bosnian War.
Places
A theme park dedicated to Lee was built in Jun'an, Guangdong. Mainland Chinese only started watching Bruce Lee films in the 1980s, when videos of classic movies like Fist of Fury became available.
On January 6, 2009, it was announced that Lee's Hong Kong home (41 Cumberland Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong) would be preserved and transformed into a tourist site by Yu Pang-lin. Yu died in 2015 and this plan did not materialize. In 2018, Yu's grandson, Pang Chi-ping, said: "We will convert the mansion into a centre for Chinese studies next year, which provides courses like Mandarin and Chinese music for children."
Filmography
Books
Chinese Gung-Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense (Bruce Lee's first book) – 1963
Tao of Jeet Kune Do (Published posthumously) – 1973
Bruce Lee's Fighting Method (Published posthumously) – 1978
See also
Bruce Lee (comics)
Bruce Lee Library – Books written by or about Bruce Lee
Bruceploitation – Exploitation film subgenre
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story – 1993 film by Rob Cohen
List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – Bruce Lee at 6933 Hollywood Blvd
Media about Bruce Lee
The Legend of Bruce Lee – Chinese television series
Notes
References
Works cited
Further reading
External links
Bruce Lee Foundation
Bruce Lee at the Hong Kong Movie Database
Bruce Lee at IMDb
Bruce Lee discography at Discogs
William Dozier papers at the American Heritage Center
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Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong-American martial artist, actor, and filmmaker. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy which was formed from Lee's experiences in unarmed fighting and self-defense—as well as eclectic, Zen Buddhist and Taoist philosophies—as a new school of martial arts thought. With a film career spanning Hong Kong and the United States, Lee is regarded as the first global Chinese film star and one of the most influential martial artists in the history of cinema. Known for his roles in five feature-length martial arts films, Lee is credited with helping to popularize martial arts films in the 1970s and promoting Hong Kong action cinema.
Born in San Francisco and raised in British Hong Kong, Lee was introduced to the Hong Kong film industry as a child actor by his father Lee Hoi-chuen. His early martial arts experience included Wing Chun (trained under Ip Man), tai chi, boxing (winning a Hong Kong boxing tournament), and frequent street fighting (neighborhood and rooftop fights). In 1959, Lee moved to Seattle, where he enrolled at the University of Washington in 1961. It was during this time in the United States that he began considering making money by teaching martial arts, even though he aspired to have a career in acting. He opened his first martial arts school, operated out of his home in Seattle. After later adding a second school in Oakland, California, he once drew significant attention at the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships of California by making demonstrations and speaking. He subsequently moved to Los Angeles to teach, where his students included Chuck Norris, Sharon Tate, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
His roles in America, including playing Kato in The Green Hornet, introduced him to American audiences. After returning to Hong Kong in 1971, Lee landed his first leading role in The Big Boss, directed by Lo Wei. A year later he starred in Fist of Fury, in which he portrayed Chen Zhen, and The Way of the Dragon, directed and written by Lee. He went on to star in the American-Hong Kong co-production Enter the Dragon (1973) and The Game of Death (1978). His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films, all of which were commercially successful, elevated Hong Kong martial arts films to a new level of popularity and acclaim, sparking a surge of Western interest in Chinese martial arts. The direction and tone of his films, including their fight choreography and diversification, dramatically influenced and changed martial arts and martial arts films worldwide. With his influence, kung fu films began to displace the wuxia film genre—fights were choreographed more realistically, fantasy elements were discarded for real-world conflicts, and the characterisation of the male lead went from simply being a chivalrous hero to one that embodied the notion of masculinity.
Lee's career was cut short by his sudden death at age 32 from a brain edema, the causes of which remain a matter of dispute. Nevertheless, his films remained popular, gained a large cult following, and became widely imitated and exploited. He became an iconic figure known throughout the world, particularly among the Chinese, based upon his portrayal of Cantonese culture in his films, and among Asian Americans for defying Asian stereotypes in the United States. Since his death, Lee has continued to be a prominent influence on modern combat sports, including judo, karate, mixed martial arts, and boxing, as well as modern popular culture, including film, television, comics, animation, and video games. Time named Lee one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.
Early life
Bruce Lee's birth name was Lee Jun-fan.
His father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was a Cantonese opera singer based in Hong Kong. His mother Grace Ho was born in Shanghai. In December 1939, his parents traveled to California for an international opera tour in Chinatown, San Francisco. Bruce was born there on November 27, 1940. His birth in the U.S. allowed him to claim U.S. citizenship due to the United States' jus soli citizenship laws. When he was four months old (April 1941), the Lee family returned to Hong Kong. Soon after, the Lee family experienced unexpected hardships as Japan, amid World War II, launched a surprise attack on Hong Kong in December 1941 and ruled the city for the next four years.
The ethnicity of Bruce Lee's mother, Grace Ho, is contested. The traditional consensus is that Grace Ho's father was a German immigrant, and that her mother was Chinese, as attested by biographers Robert Clouse and Bruce Thomas. Bruce Lee's wife, Linda Lee Cadwell, wrote that Bruce Lee's grandfather was a German Catholic.
A new alternative theory argues that Grace Ho's father was actually the son of a Dutch Jew, Charles Maurice Bosman, and his Chinese concubine. Charles Russo has questioned this origin story entirely, suggesting that Grace Ho's father might have been Chinese or mixed-Chinese, and that her mother might have been English. Matthew Polly concedes that Grace Ho's paternal grandfather was a Dutch Jew, but likewise asserts that her mother was English.
However, according to Doug Palmer, the claim that Grace Ho had an English mother is only speculation. Palmer also notes that family records suggest that the Dutch-Jewish Bosman family had originated from Germany, which may account for the assumption that Grace Ho was part German.
Career and education
1940–1958: Early roles, schooling and martial arts initiation
Lee's father was a Cantonese opera star. As a result, Junior Lee was introduced to the world of cinema at a very young age and appeared in several films as a child. Lee had his first role as a baby who was carried onto the stage in the film Golden Gate Girl. He took his Chinese stage name as 李小龍, lit. "Lee the Little Dragon", for the fact that he was born in both the hour and the year of the Dragon by the Chinese zodiac.
At age seven, Lee began practicing tai chi together with his father. As a nine-year-old, he co-starred with his father in The Kid in 1950, which was based on a comic book character, "Kid Cheung", and was his first leading role. By the time he was 18, he had appeared in 20 films. After attending Tak Sun School (德信學校; several blocks from his home at 218 Nathan Road, Kowloon), Lee entered the primary school division of the Catholic La Salle College at age 12.
In the early 1950s, Lee's father became an opium addict. In 1956, due to poor academic performance (and possibly poor conduct), Lee was transferred to St. Francis Xavier's College. He was mentored by Brother Edward Muss, F.M.S., a Bavarian-born teacher and coach of the school boxing team.
In 1953, Lee's friend William Cheung introduced him to Ip Man. According to Cheung, Lee's European background on his mother's side led him to be rejected, initially, from learning Wing Chun kung fu under Ip Man because of the long-standing rule in the Chinese martial arts world not to teach foreigners. Cheung spoke on his behalf and Lee was accepted into the school and began training in Wing Chun with Ip Man. Ip tried to keep his students from fighting in the street gangs of Hong Kong by encouraging them to fight in organized competitions.
After a year of his training with Ip Man, most of the other students refused to train with Lee. They had learned of his mixed ancestry, and the Chinese were generally against teaching their martial arts techniques to non-Asians. Lee's sparring partner, Hawkins Cheung, states, "Probably fewer than six people in the whole Wing Chun clan were personally taught, or even partly taught, by Ip Man". However, Lee showed a keen interest in Wing Chun and continued to train privately with Ip Man, William Cheung, and Wong Shun-leung.
In 1958, Lee won the Hong Kong schools boxing tournament, knocking out the previous champion, Gary Elms, in the final. That year, Lee was also a cha-cha dancer, winning Hong Kong's Crown Colony Cha-Cha Championship.
1959–1964: Move to Seattle
In his late teens, Lee's street fights became more frequent and included beating the son of a feared triad family. In 1958, after students from a rival Choy Li Fut martial arts school challenged Lee's Wing Chun school, he engaged in a fight on a rooftop. In response to an unfair punch by another boy, he beat him so badly that one of his teeth was knocked out, leading to the boy's parents making a complaint to the police.
Lee's mother had to go to a police station and sign a document saying that she would take full responsibility for his actions if they released him into her custody. Though she did not mention the incident to her husband, she suggested that her son return to the United States to claim his U.S. citizenship at the age of 18. Lee's father agreed as Lee's college prospects were not very promising if he remained in Hong Kong.
The police detective came and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Lee, your son is really fighting bad in school. If he gets into just one more fight I might have to put him in jail".
In April 1959, Lee's parents decided to send him to the United States to stay with his older sister, Agnes Lee (李秋鳳), who was already living with family friends in San Francisco. After several months, he moved to Seattle in 1959 to continue his high school education, where he also worked for Ruby Chow as a live-in waiter at her restaurant. Chow's husband was a co-worker and friend of Lee's father. Lee's elder brother Peter Lee (李忠琛) joined him in Seattle for a short stay, before moving on to Minnesota to attend college.
In 1959, Lee started to teach martial arts. He called what he taught Jun Fan Gung Fu (literally Bruce Lee's Kung Fu). It was his approach to Wing Chun. Lee taught friends he met in Seattle, starting with Judo practitioner Jesse Glover, who continued to teach some of Lee's early techniques. Lee's early student group was the most racially diverse group of practitioners of Chinese martial arts until that time. During this time period, Lee invented his one-inch punch. He also became interested in boxing and the techniques of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson.
Taky Kimura became Lee's first assistant instructor and continued to teach his art and philosophy after Lee's death. Lee opened his first martial arts school, named the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, in Seattle.
Lee completed his high school education and received his diploma from Edison Technical School on Capitol Hill in Seattle.
In March 1961, Lee enrolled at the University of Washington. Despite what Lee himself and many others have stated, Lee's official major was drama rather than philosophy, according to a 1999 article in the university's alumni publication. In his junior year, he took two classes in psychology and two classes in philosophy; both of these became core interests for him for the rest of his life. He socialized with wealthy young people, but lived in relative poverty and worked as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant.
1964–1965: Oakland
Lee dropped out of university in early 1964 and moved to Oakland to live with James Yimm Lee. James Lee was twenty years senior to Lee and a well-known Chinese martial artist in the area. Together, they founded the second Jun Fan martial arts studio in Oakland. James Lee was responsible for introducing Lee to Ed Parker, an American martial artist. At the invitation of Parker, Lee appeared in the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships. He performed repetitions of two-finger push-ups, using the thumb and the index finger of one hand, with feet at approximately shoulder-width apart.
In the same Long Beach event, he also performed the "one-inch punch". Lee stood upright, his right foot forward with knees bent slightly, in front of a standing, stationary partner. Lee's right arm was partly extended and his right fist was approximately one inch (2.5 cm) away from the partner's chest. Without retracting his right arm, Lee then forcibly delivered the punch to volunteer Bob Baker while largely maintaining his posture. This sent Baker backward and falling into a chair placed behind Baker to prevent injury, though Baker's momentum caused him to fall to the floor. Baker recalled, "I told Bruce not to do this type of demonstration again. When he punched me that last time, I had to stay home from work because the pain in my chest was unbearable". It was at the 1964 championships that Lee first met Taekwondo master Jhoongoo Rhee. The two developed a friendship— a relationship from which they benefited as martial artists. Rhee taught Lee the side kick in detail, and Lee taught Rhee the "non-telegraphic" punch.
At the Long Beach event, he also publicly criticized a number of classical karate and kung fu styles and argued for modernizing martial arts. This was a highly controversial presentation that convinced some spectators, while offending others. Subsequently, he appeared at the Sun Sing Theatre to present his new approach to the Chinatown, Oakland, community. More traditional kung fu practitioners took Lee's claims as an open challenge.
In 1964, Lee had a controversial private match with Wong Jack-man. Jack Man was a direct student of Ma Kin Fung, known for his mastery of Xingyiquan, Northern Shaolin, and tai chi. According to Lee, the Chinese community issued an ultimatum to him to stop teaching non-Chinese people. When he refused to comply, he was challenged to a combat match with Wong. The arrangement was that if Lee lost, he would have to shut down his school, while if he won, he would be free to teach white people, or anyone else. Wong denied this, stating that he requested to fight Lee after Lee boasted during one of his demonstrations at a Chinatown theater that he could beat anyone in San Francisco, and that Wong himself did not discriminate against whites or other non-Chinese people. Lee commented, "That paper had all the names of the sifu from Chinatown, but they don't scare me". Individuals known to have witnessed the match include Cadwell, James Lee (Bruce Lee's associate, no relation), and William Chen, a teacher of tai chi.
Wong and William Chen stated that the fight lasted an unusually long 20–25 minutes. Wong claims that although he had originally expected a serious but polite bout, Lee aggressively attacked him with the intent to kill. When Wong presented the traditional handshake, Lee appeared to accept the greeting, but instead, Lee allegedly thrust his hand as a spear aimed at Wong's eyes. Forced to defend his life, Wong asserted that he refrained from striking Lee with killing force when the opportunity presented itself because it could have earned him a prison sentence, but used illegal cufflings under his sleeves. According to Michael Dorgan's 1980 book Bruce Lee's Toughest Fight, the fight ended due to Lee's "unusually winded" condition, as opposed to a decisive blow by either fighter.
However, according to Bruce Lee, Linda Lee Cadwell, and James Yimm Lee, the fight lasted a mere three minutes with a decisive victory for Lee. In Cadwell's account, "The fight ensued, it was a no-holds-barred fight, it took three minutes. Bruce got this guy down to the ground and said 'Do you give up?' and the man said he gave up." A couple of weeks after the bout, Lee gave an interview claiming that he had defeated an unnamed challenger, which Wong says was an obvious reference to him.
In response, Wong published his account of the fight in the Pacific Weekly, a Chinese-language newspaper in San Francisco, with an invitation to a public rematch if Lee was not satisfied with the account. Lee did not respond to the invitation despite his reputation for violently responding to every provocation. There were no further public announcements by either, though Lee continued to teach non-Chinese people. Lee was unhappy with the outcome of the fight, and the experience led him to pursue further innovations in his personal style of martial arts.
Lee had abandoned thoughts of a film career in favor of pursuing martial arts. However, a martial arts exhibition in Long Beach in 1964 eventually led to the invitation by television producer William Dozier for an audition for a role in the pilot for "Number One Son" about Lee Chan, the son of Charlie Chan. The show never materialized, but Dozier saw potential in Lee.
1966–1970: American roles and creating Jeet Kune Do
From 1966 to 1967, Lee played the role of Kato alongside the title character played by Van Williams in the TV series produced and narrated by William Dozier titled The Green Hornet, based on the radio show by the same name. The show ran for one season (26 episodes) from September 1966 to March 1967. Lee and Williams also appeared as their characters in three crossover episodes of Batman, another William Dozier-produced television series.
The Green Hornet introduced the adult Bruce Lee to an American audience and became the first popular American show presenting Asian-style martial arts. The show's director wanted Lee to fight in the typical American style using fists and punches. As a professional martial artist, Lee refused, insisting that he should fight in the style of his expertise. At first, Lee moved so fast that his movements could not be caught on film, so he had to slow them down. The American martial arts community promoted the TV show and viewed Lee as their first mainstream star.
During the show's production, Lee became friends with Gene LeBell, who worked as a stuntman in the show. The two trained together and exchanged martial arts knowledge from their respective specialties. After the show was canceled in 1967, Lee wrote to Dozier thanking him for starting "my career in show business".
After filming one season of The Green Hornet, Lee found himself out of work and opened the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Chinatown, Los Angeles. The controversial match with Wong Jack-man influenced Lee's philosophy about martial arts. Lee concluded that the fight had lasted too long and that he had failed to live up to his potential using his Wing Chun techniques. He took the view that traditional martial arts techniques were too rigid and formalized to be practical in scenarios of chaotic street fighting. Lee decided to develop a system with an emphasis on "practicality, flexibility, speed, and efficiency". He started to use different methods of training such as weight training for strength, running for endurance, stretching for flexibility, and many others which he constantly adapted, including fencing and basic boxing techniques.
Jeet Kune Do originated in 1967. The name means "way of the intercepting fist" in Cantonese. This was a new hybrid system that took footwork from boxing, kicks from kung fu, and technique from fencing. Lee emphasized what he called "the style of no style". This consisted of getting rid of the formalized approach which Lee claimed was indicative of traditional styles. Lee felt that even the system he now called Jun Fan Gung Fu was too restrictive, and it eventually evolved into a philosophy and martial art he would come to call Jeet Kune Do or the Way of the Intercepting Fist. It is a term he would later regret, because Jeet Kune Do implied specific parameters that styles connote, whereas the idea of his martial art was to exist outside of parameters and limitations.
At the time, two of Lee's martial arts students were Hollywood script writer Stirling Silliphant and actor James Coburn. In 1969, the three worked on a script for a film titled The Silent Flute, and they went together on a location hunt to India. The project was not realized at the time, but the 1978 film Circle of Iron, starring David Carradine, was based on the same plot. In 2010, producer Paul Maslansky was reported to have planned and received funding for a film based on the original script for The Silent Flute.
In 1969, Lee made a brief appearance in the Silliphant-penned film Marlowe, where he played a hoodlum hired to intimidate private detective Philip Marlowe, played by James Garner, who uses his martial arts abilities to commit acts of vandalization to intimidate Marlowe. The same year, he was credited as the karate advisor in The Wrecking Crew, the fourth installment of the Matt Helm comedy spy-fi film starring Dean Martin. Also that year, Lee acted in one episode of Here Come the Brides and Blondie.
In 1970, Lee was responsible for producing the fight choreography of A Walk in the Spring Rain, starring Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn, again written by Silliphant.
1971–1973: Hong Kong films, stardom, and Hollywood breakthrough
In 1971, Lee appeared in four episodes of the television series Longstreet, written by Silliphant. Lee played Li Tsung, the martial arts instructor of the title character Mike Longstreet, played by James Franciscus, and important aspects of his martial arts philosophy were written into the script. According to statements made by Lee, and also by Linda Lee Cadwell after Lee's death, Lee pitched a television series of his own in 1971, tentatively titled The Warrior, discussions of which were confirmed by Warner Bros. During a December 9, 1971, television interview on The Pierre Berton Show, Lee stated that both Paramount and Warner Bros. wanted him "to be in a modernized type of a thing and that they think the Western idea is out, whereas I want to do the Western".
According to Cadwell, Lee's concept was retooled and renamed Kung Fu, but Warner Bros. gave Lee no credit. Warner Bros. states that they had for some time been developing an identical concept, created by two writers and producers, Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander in 1969, as stated too by Lee's biographer Matthew Polly. According to these sources, the reason Lee was not cast was because he had a thick accent, but Fred Weintraub attributes that to his ethnicity.
The role of the Shaolin monk in the Kung Fu was eventually awarded to then-non-martial artist David Carradine. In an interview with The Pierre Berton Show, Lee stated he understood Warner Bros.' attitudes towards casting in the series: "They think that business-wise it is a risk. I don't blame them. If the situation were reversed, and an American star were to come to Hong Kong, and I was the man with the money, I would have my own concerns as to whether the acceptance would be there".
Producer Fred Weintraub had advised Lee to return to Hong Kong and make a feature film that he could showcase to executives in Hollywood. Not happy with his supporting roles in the US, Lee returned to Hong Kong. Unaware that The Green Hornet had been played to success in Hong Kong and was unofficially referred to as "The Kato Show", he was surprised to be recognized as the star of the show. After negotiating with both Shaw Brothers Studio and Golden Harvest, Lee signed a film contract to star in two films produced by Golden Harvest.
Lee played his first leading role in The Big Boss (1971), which proved to be an enormous box-office success across Asia and catapulted him to instant stardom in Hong Kong. He followed up with Fist of Fury (1972), which broke the box office records set previously by The Big Boss, with film critic Blake Howard writing that Lee was "cresting the wave of international super-stardom." Having finished his initial two-year contract, Lee negotiated a new deal with Golden Harvest. Lee later formed his own company, Concord Production Inc., with Chow. For his third film, The Way of the Dragon (1972), he was given complete control of the film's production as the writer, director, star, and choreographer of the fight scenes. In 1964, at a demonstration in Long Beach, California, Lee met karate champion Chuck Norris. In The Way of the Dragon Lee introduced Norris to moviegoers as his opponent. Their showdown has been characterized as "one of the best fight scenes in martial arts and film history". Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon grossed an estimated US$100 million and US$130 million worldwide, respectively.
From August to October 1972, Lee began work on his fourth Golden Harvest film, Game of Death. He began filming some scenes, including his fight sequence with 7 ft 2 in (218 cm) American basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a former student. Production stopped in November 1972 when Warner Bros. offered Lee the opportunity to star in Enter the Dragon, the first film to be produced jointly by Concord, Golden Harvest, and Warner Bros. Filming began in Hong Kong in February 1973 and was completed in April 1973.
One month into the filming, another production company, Starseas Motion Pictures, promoted Lee as a leading actor in Fist of Unicorn, although he had merely agreed to choreograph the fight sequences in the film as a favor to his long-time friend Unicorn Chan. Lee planned to sue the production company but retained his friendship with Chan. However, only a few months after the completion of Enter the Dragon, and six days before its July 26, 1973, release, Lee died.
Enter the Dragon went on to become one of the year's highest-grossing films and cemented Lee as a martial arts legend. It was made for US$850,000 in 1973, the equivalent of $4 million adjusted for inflation as of 2007. Enter the Dragon is estimated to have grossed over $400 million worldwide, the equivalent of over $2 billion adjusted for inflation as of 2022. The film sparked a brief fad in martial arts, epitomized in songs such as "Kung Fu Fighting" and some TV shows.
1978–present: Posthumous work
Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon, together with Golden Harvest, revived Lee's unfinished film Game of Death. Lee had shot over 100 minutes of footage, including outtakes, for Game of Death before shooting was stopped to allow him to work on Enter the Dragon. In addition to Abdul-Jabbar, George Lazenby, Hapkido master Ji Han-jae, and another of Lee's students, Dan Inosanto, appeared in the film, which culminated in Lee's character, Hai Tien, clad in a yellow tracksuit taking on a series of different challengers on each floor as they make their way through a five-level pagoda.
In a controversial move, Robert Clouse finished the film using a Lee look-alike (Kim Tai Chung, with Yuen Biao as a stunt double) and archive footage of Lee from his other films with a new storyline and cast. It was released in 1978. The cobbled-together film contained only fifteen minutes of actual footage of Lee. The unused footage Lee had filmed was recovered 22 years later and included in the documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.
In 1972, after the success of The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, a third film was planned by Raymond Chow at Golden Harvest to be directed by Lo Wei, titled Yellow-Faced Tiger. However, at the time, Lee decided to direct and produce his script for Way of the Dragon instead. Although Lee had formed a production company with Raymond Chow, a period film was also planned from September–November 1973 with the competing Shaw Brothers Studio, to be directed by either Chor Yuen or Cheng Kang, and written by Yi Kang and Chang Cheh, titled The Seven Sons of the Jade Dragon.
In 2015, Perfect Storm Entertainment and Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, announced that the series The Warrior would be produced and would air on Cinemax. Filmmaker Justin Lin was chosen to direct the series. Production began in October 2017, in Cape Town, South Africa. In April 2019, Cinemax renewed the series for a second season. The series ended after three seasons, in 2023.
In March 2021, it was announced that producer Jason Kothari had acquired the rights to The Silent Flute "to become a miniseries, which would have John Fusco as a screenwriter and executive producer.
Unproduced works
Lee had also worked on several scripts himself. A tape containing a recording of Lee narrating the basic storyline to a film tentatively titled Southern Fist/Northern Leg exists, showing some similarities with the canned script for The Silent Flute (Circle of Iron). Another script had the title Green Bamboo Warrior, set in San Francisco, planned to co-star Bolo Yeung and to be produced by Andrew Vajna. Photoshoot costume tests were organized for some of these planned film projects.
Martial arts and fitness
Lee's films are known for popularising the side kick, roundhouse kick, grappling, spinning heel kick, armbar, weapons such as the nunchaku, and his distinctive kiai. Lee was also known for popularising the one-inch punch and the two-finger push-up.
Striking
Lee's first introduction to martial arts was through his father, from whom he learned the fundamentals of Wu-style tai chi. In his teens, Lee became involved in Hong Kong gang conflicts, which led to frequent street fights. The largest influence on Lee's martial arts development was his study of Wing Chun. Lee was 16 years old under the Wing Chun teacher Ip Man, between late 1956 and 1957, after losing to rival gang members.
Ip's regular classes generally consisted of form practice, chi sao (sticking hands) drills, wooden dummy techniques, and free sparring. There was no set pattern for the classes. Other Chinese martial arts styles Lee trained in were Northern Praying Mantis, Southern Praying Mantis, Eagle Claw, Tan Tui, Law Hon, Mizongyi, Wa K'ung, Monkey, Southern Dragon, Fujian White Crane, Choy Li Fut, Hung Gar, Choy Gar, Fut Gar, Mok Gar, Yau Kung Moon, Li Gar, and Lau Gar. Martial arts expert Donn F. Draeger regarded Lee as worthy of a Kyokushin 6th dan by the standards of the 1970s.
Lee was trained in boxing, between 1956 and 1958, by Brother Edward, coach of the St. Francis Xavier's College boxing team. Lee went on to win the Hong Kong Schools boxing tournament in 1958 while scoring knockdowns against the previous champion Gary Elms in the final. After moving to the United States, Lee was heavily influenced by heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, whose footwork he studied and incorporated into his style in the 1960s.
Lee demonstrated his Jeet Kune Do martial arts at the Long Beach International Karate Championships in 1964 and 1968, with the latter having higher-quality video footage available. Lee is seen demonstrating quick eye strikes before his opponent can block and demonstrating the one-inch punch on several volunteers. He demonstrates chi sao drills while blindfolded against an opponent, probing for weaknesses in his opponent while scoring with punches and takedowns. Lee then participates in a full-contact sparring bout against an opponent, with both wearing leather headgear.
Lee is seen implementing his Jeet Kune Do concept of economical motion, using Ali-inspired footwork to keep out of range while counter-attacking with backfists and straight punches. He halts attacks with stop-hit side kicks and quickly executes several sweeps and head kicks. The opponent repeatedly attempts to attack Lee but is never able to connect with a clean hit. He once managed to come close with a spin kick, but Lee counters it. The footage was reviewed by Black Belt magazine in 1995, concluding that "the action is as fast and furious as anything in Lee's films."
It was at the 1964 championships that Lee first met taekwondo master Jhoongoo Rhee. While Rhee taught Lee the side kick in detail, Lee taught Rhee the "non-telegraphic" punch. Rhee learned what he calls the "accupunch" from Lee and incorporated it into American taekwondo. The "accupunch" is a rapid fast punch that is very difficult to block, based on human reaction time—"the idea is to finish the execution of the punch before the opponent can complete the brain-to-wrist communication."
Lee commonly used the oblique kick, made popular much later in mixed martial arts. It is called the jeet tek, "stop kick" or "intercepting kick", in Jeet Kune Do.
Grappling
Lee favored cross-training between different fighting styles, and had a particular interest in grappling. Lee trained with several judo practitioners in Seattle and California, among them Fred Sato, Jesse Glover, Taky Kimura, Hayward Nishioka, and Wally Jay, as well as Gene LeBell. Many of his first students were proficient in judo and other arts, and he learned as much as he taught. After befriending LeBell on the set of The Green Hornet, Lee offered to teach him striking arts in exchange for being taught grappling techniques. LeBell had been taught catch wrestling by prestigious grapplers Lou Thesz and Ed Lewis, and notable techniques of both judo and catch wrestling can be seen in Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do. He also learned grappling moves from hapkido master Ji Han-jae.
According to Glover, Lee only found judo ineffective at the action of getting hold of the opponent. In their first training together, Glover showed Lee an osoto gari, which Lee considered not a bad technique, but he disliked that Glover had needed to hold onto Lee. While in Seattle, Lee developed anti-grappling techniques against opponents trying to tackle him or take him to the ground. Glover recalled Lee "definitely would not go to the ground if he had the opportunity to get you standing up." Nonetheless, Lee expressed to LeBell a wish to integrate judo into his fighting style. He incorporated the osoto gari into Jeet Kune Do, among other throws, armlocks and chokeholds from judo.
Although Lee opined that grappling was of little use in action choreography because it was not visually distinctive, he showcased grappling moves in his films, such as Way of the Dragon, where his character finishes his opponent Chuck Norris with a neck hold inspired by LeBell, and Enter the Dragon, whose prolog features Lee submitting his opponent Sammo Hung with an armbar. Game of Death also features Lee and Han-jae exchanging grappling moves, as well as Lee using wrestling against the character played by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Lee was also influenced by the training routine of The Great Gama, an Indian/Pakistani pehlwani wrestling champion known for his grappling strength. Lee incorporated Gama's exercises into his training routine.
Street fighting
Another major influence on Lee was Hong Kong's street fighting culture in the form of rooftop fights. In the mid-20th century, soaring crime in Hong Kong, combined with limited Hong Kong Police manpower, led to many young Hongkongers learning martial arts for self-defense. Around the 1960s, there were about 400 martial arts schools in Hong Kong, teaching their distinctive styles of martial arts. In Hong Kong's street fighting culture, there emerged a rooftop fight scene in the 1950s and 1960s, where gangs from rival martial arts schools challenged each other to bare-knuckle fights on Hong Kong's rooftops, to avoid crackdowns by British colonial authorities. Lee frequently participated in these Hong Kong rooftop fights. He combined different techniques from different martial arts schools into his own hybrid martial arts style.
When Lee returned to Hong Kong in the early 1970s, his reputation as "the fastest fist in the east" routinely led to locals challenging him to street fights. He sometimes accepted these challenges and engaged in street fights, which led to some criticism from the press portraying him as violent at the time.
Fitness
At 172 cm (5 ft 8 in) and weighing 64 kg (141 lb), Lee was renowned for his physical fitness and vigor, achieved by using a dedicated fitness regimen to become as strong as possible. After his match with Wong Jack-man in 1965, Lee changed his approach toward martial arts training. Lee felt that many martial artists of his time did not spend enough time on physical conditioning. Lee included all elements of total fitness—muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility. He used traditional bodybuilding techniques to build some muscle mass, though not overdone, as that could decrease speed or flexibility. At the same time, concerning balance, Lee maintained that mental and spiritual preparation are fundamental to the success of physical training in martial arts skills. In Tao of Jeet Kune Do he wrote:
Training is one of the most neglected phases of athletics. Too much time is given to the development of skill and too little to the development of the individual for participation. ... JKD, ultimately is not a matter of petty techniques but of highly developed spirituality and physique.
According to Linda Lee Cadwell, soon after he moved to the United States, Lee started to take nutrition seriously and developed an interest in health foods, high-protein drinks, and vitamin and mineral supplements. He later concluded that achieving a high-performance body was akin to maintaining the engine of a high-performance automobile. Allegorically, as one could not keep a car running on low-octane fuels, one could not sustain one's body with a steady diet of junk food, and with "the wrong fuel", one's body would perform sluggishly or sloppily.
Lee avoided baked goods and refined flour, describing them as providing empty calories that did nothing for his body. He was known for being a fan of Asian cuisine for its variety and often ate meals with a combination of vegetables, rice, and fish. Lee had a dislike for dairy products and as a result, used powdered milk in his diet.
Dan Inosanto recalls Lee practiced meditation as the first action on his schedule.
Artistry
Philosophy
While best known as a martial artist, Lee studied drama and Asian and Western philosophy, starting while a student at the University of Washington. He was well-read and had an extensive library dominated by martial arts subjects and philosophical texts. His books on martial arts and fighting philosophy are known for their philosophical assertions, both inside and outside of martial arts circles. His eclectic philosophy often mirrored his fighting beliefs, though he was quick to say that his martial arts were solely a metaphor for such teachings.
He believed that any knowledge ultimately led to self-knowledge. He said that his chosen method of self-expression was martial arts. His influences include Taoism and Buddhism. Lee's philosophy was very much in opposition to the conservative worldview advocated by Confucianism. John Little states that Lee was an atheist. When asked in 1972 about his religious affiliation, he replied, "None whatsoever". When asked if he believed in God, he said, "To be perfectly frank, I really do not."
In his notebooks, Lee cited and commented on passages from Plato, David Hume, René Descartes, and Thomas Aquinas, from Western philosophy, and Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu, Miyamoto Musashi, and Alan Watts from Eastern thought. He was particularly interested in the Indian mystic Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Poetry
Aside from martial arts and philosophy, which focus on the physical aspect and self-consciousness for truths and principles, Lee also wrote poetry that reflected his emotions and a stage in his life collectively. Many forms of art remain concordant with the artist creating them. Lee's principle of self-expression was applied to his poetry as well. His daughter Shannon Lee said, "He did write poetry; he was really the consummate artist."
His poetic works were originally handwritten on paper, then later on edited and published, with John Little being the major author (editor), for Bruce Lee's works. Linda Lee Cadwell (Bruce Lee's wife) shared her husband's notes, poems, and experiences with followers. She mentioned, "Lee's poems are, by American standards, rather dark—reflecting the deeper, less exposed recesses of the human psyche".
Most of Bruce Lee's poems are categorized as anti-poetry or fall into a paradox. The mood in his poems shows the side of the man that can be compared with other poets such as Robert Frost, one of many well-known poets expressing himself with dark poetic works. The paradox taken from the Yin and Yang symbol in martial arts was also integrated into his poetry. His martial arts and philosophy contribute a great part to his poetry. The free verse form of Lee's poetry reflects his quote "Be formless ... shapeless, like water."
Personal life
Names
Lee's Cantonese birth name was Lee Jun-fan (李振藩). The name homophonically means "return again", and was given to Lee by his mother, who felt he would return to the United States once he came of age. Because of his mother's superstitious nature, she had originally named him Sai-fon (細鳳), which is a feminine name meaning "small phoenix". The English name "Bruce" is thought to have been given by the hospital's attending physician, Dr. Mary Glover.
Lee had three other Chinese names: Lee Yuen-cham (李源鑫), a family/clan name; Lee Yuen-kam (李元鑒), which he used as a student name while he was attending La Salle College, and his Chinese screen name Lee Siu-lung (李小龍; Siu-lung means "little dragon"). Lee's given name Jun-fan was originally written in Chinese as 震藩; however, the Jun (震) Chinese character was identical to part of his grandfather's name, Lee Jun-biu (李震彪). Hence, the Chinese character for Jun in Lee's name was changed to the homonym 振 instead, to avoid naming taboo in Chinese tradition.
Family
Lee's father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was one of the leading Cantonese opera and film actors at the time and was embarking on a year-long opera tour with his family on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. Lee Hoi-chuen had been touring the United States for many years and performing in numerous Chinese communities there.
Although many of his peers decided to stay in the US, Lee Hoi-chuen returned to Hong Kong after Bruce's birth. Within months, Hong Kong was invaded and the Lees lived for three years and eight months under Japanese occupation. After the war ended, Lee Hoi-chuen resumed his acting career and became a more popular actor during Hong Kong's rebuilding years.
Lee's mother, Grace Ho, was from one of the wealthiest and most powerful clans in Hong Kong, the Ho-tungs. She was the half-niece of Sir Robert Ho-tung, the Eurasian patriarch of the clan. As such, the young Bruce Lee grew up in an affluent and privileged environment. Despite the advantage of his family's status, the neighborhood in which Lee grew up became overcrowded, dangerous, and full of gang rivalries due to an influx of refugees fleeing communist China for Hong Kong, at that time a British Crown Colony.
Grace Ho is reported as either the adopted or biological daughter of Ho Kom-tong (Ho Gumtong, 何甘棠) and the half-niece of Sir Robert Ho-tung, both notable Hong Kong businessmen and philanthropists. Bruce was the fourth of five children: Phoebe Lee (李秋源), Agnes Lee (李秋鳳), Peter Lee, and Robert Lee.
Grace's parentage remains unclear. Linda Lee, in her 1989 biography The Bruce Lee Story, suggests that Grace had a German father and was a Catholic. Bruce Thomas, in his 1994 biography Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit, suggests that Grace had a Chinese mother and a German father. Lee's relative Eric Peter Ho, in his 2010 book Tracing My Children's Lineage, suggests that Grace was born in Shanghai to a Eurasian woman named Cheung King-sin. Eric Peter Ho said that Grace Lee was the daughter of a mixed-race Shanghainese woman and her father was Ho Kom Tong. Grace Lee herself reported that her mother was English and her father was Chinese. Fredda Dudley Balling said Grace Lee was three-quarters Chinese and one-quarter British.
In the 2018 biography Bruce Lee: A Life, Matthew Polly identifies Lee's maternal grandfather as Ho Kom-tong, who had often been reported as his adoptive grandfather. Ho Kom-tong's father, Charles Maurice Bosman, was a Dutch Jewish businessman from Rotterdam. He moved to Hong Kong with the Dutch East India Company and served as the Dutch consul to Hong Kong at one time. He had a Chinese concubine named Sze Tai with whom he had six children, including Ho Kom Tong. Bosman subsequently abandoned his family and immigrated to California. Ho Kom Tong became a wealthy businessman with a wife, 13 concubines, and a British mistress who gave birth to Grace Ho.
His younger brother Robert Lee Jun-fai is a musician and singer; he performed in the Hong Kong group The Thunderbirds. A few singles were sung mostly or all in English. Also released was Lee singing a duet with Irene Ryder. Lee Jun-fai lived with Lee in Los Angeles in the United States and stayed. After Lee's death, Lee Jun-fai released an album and a single by the same name dedicated to Lee called "The Ballad of Bruce Lee".
While studying at the University of Washington he met his future wife Linda Emery, a fellow student studying to become a teacher. As relations between people of different races were still banned in many US states, they married in secret in August 1964. Lee had two children with Linda: Brandon (1965–1993) and Shannon Lee (born 1969). Upon's Lee passing in 1973, she continued to promote Bruce Lee's martial art Jeet Kune Do. She wrote the 1975 book Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew, on which the 1993 feature film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was based. In 1989, she wrote the book The Bruce Lee Story. She retired in 2001 from the family estate.
Lee died when his son Brandon was eight years old. While alive, Lee taught Brandon martial arts and would invite him to visit sets. This gave Brandon the desire to act and he went on to study the craft. As a young adult, Brandon Lee found some success acting in action-oriented pictures such as Legacy of Rage (1986), Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), and Rapid Fire (1992). In 1993, at the age of 28, Brandon Lee died after being accidentally shot by a prop gun on the set of The Crow.
Lee died when his daughter Shannon was four. In her youth she studied Jeet Kune Do under Richard Bustillo, one of her father's students; however, her serious studies did not begin until the late 1990s. To train for parts in action movies, she studied Jeet Kune Do with Ted Wong.
Friends, students, and contemporaries
Lee's brother Robert with his friends Taky Kimura, Dan Inosanto, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, and Peter Chin were his pallbearers. Coburn was a martial arts student and a friend of Lee. Coburn worked with Lee and Stirling Silliphant on developing The Silent Flute. Upon Lee's early death, at his funeral, Coburn gave a eulogy. Regarding McQueen, Lee made no secret that he wanted everything McQueen had and would stop at nothing to get it. Inosanto and Kimura were friends and disciples of Lee. Inosanto would go on to train Lee's son Brandon. Kimura continued to teach Lee's craft in Seattle. According to Lee's wife, Chin was a lifelong family friend and a student of Lee.
James Yimm Lee (no relation) was one of Lee's three personally certified 3rd rank instructors and co-founded the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Oakland where he taught Jun Fan Gung Fu in Lee's absence. James was responsible for introducing Lee to Ed Parker, the organizer of the Long Beach International Karate Championships, where Lee was first introduced to the martial arts community. Hollywood couple Roman Polański and Sharon Tate studied martial arts with Lee. Polański flew Lee to Switzerland to train him. Tate studied with Lee in preparation for her role in The Wrecking Crew. After Tate was murdered by the Manson Family, Polański initially suspected Lee.
Screenwriter Stirling Silliphant was a martial arts student and a friend of Lee. Silliphant worked with Lee and James Coburn on developing The Silent Flute. Lee acted and provided his martial arts expertise in several projects penned by Silliphant, the first in Marlowe (1969) where Lee plays Winslow Wong a hoodlum well-versed in martial arts. Lee also did fight choreographies for the film A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970) and played Li Tsung, a Jeet Kune Do instructor who teaches the main character in the television show Longstreet (1971). Elements of his martial arts philosophy were included in the script for the latter.
Basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar studied martial arts and developed a friendship with Lee. Actor and karate champion Chuck Norris was a friend and training partner of Lee's. After Lee's death, Norris said he kept in touch with Lee's family. Judoka and professional wrestler Gene LeBell became a friend of Lee on the set of The Green Hornet. They trained together and exchanged their knowledge of martial arts.
Taiwanese actress Betty Ting immediately came under media's spotlight after it was revealed that Bruce Lee was found unconscious at her flat before his death. At her testimony Ting said she was asked by producer Raymond Chow, who in turn was told by Lee's family, not to disclose that Lee was at her apartment, which contributed to the misinformation that Lee died at his own house. Ting later said Lee fell in love with her and the two shared a close relation. Her constant presence by Lee's side earned the affectionate nickname of "Little Dragon Girl" (or Bruce's Girl).
Drug use
In July 2021 a private collection of over 40 handwritten letters Lee made to fellow Fist of Fury actor Robert "Bob" Baker was sold for $462,500 at Heritage Auctions. These letters were written from 1967 to 1973 and included requests by Lee for Baker to mail him cocaine, pain killers, psilocybin and other drugs for his personal use. Doctor Poon Wai-ming in Hong Kong said cocaine could have caused his collapse in May 1973, two months before his death.
Death
On May 10, 1973, Lee collapsed during an automated dialogue replacement session for Enter the Dragon at Orange Sky Golden Harvest Film Studio in Hong Kong. Because he was having epileptic seizures and headaches, he was rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, where doctors diagnosed cerebral edema. He had a high fever and was completely unconscious without any signs of breathing. They were able to reduce the swelling through the administration of mannitol. A brain scan in the United States after this diagnosed Bruce Lee with convulsive disorder.
On July 20, 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong planning to have dinner with actor George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda and testimony at Lee's coroner's court, Lee met producer Raymond Chow at 2 p.m. at home to discuss the making of the film Game of Death. They worked until 4 p.m. and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague Betty Ting arriving at around 5. The three then went over the script at Ting's home. At around 7 Lee, having a headache, took a pill of painkiller from Ting and took a nap. Chow left around an hour later to attend a dinner meeting with Lazenby, which Lee was expected to join later.
When Lee did not arrive at the dinner, Chow came to the apartment at around 9.45 p.m., but he was unable to wake Lee up. Chu Poh-hwye, a private doctor of Ting, was summoned at 10, as Lee's doctor was unreachable, and spent ten minutes attempting to revive Lee, who by then no longer had any vital signs, before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee was declared dead on arrival at the age of 32.
Lee was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Seattle. Pallbearers at Lee's funeral on July 25, 1973, included Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin, and Lee's brother Robert.
Possible causes of death
Donald Teare, a senior British pathologist recommended by Scotland Yard who had overseen over 1,000 autopsies, was assigned to perform an autopsy on Lee. His conclusion was "death by misadventure" caused by cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the combination medication Equagesic. According to autopsy reports, Lee's brain had swollen from 1,400 to 1,575 grams, a 12.5% increase. Lee had taken Equagesic on the day of his death, which contained both aspirin and the sedative meprobamate, although he had taken it many times before. The Coroner's Court unanimously returned a "death by misadventure" verdict.
Lee's iconic status and untimely death fed many rumors and theories. These included murder involving the triads and a supposed curse on him and his family. Tabloids and magazines in Hong Kong publicised multiple conspiracy theories on Lee's death for viewership.
Although there was initial speculation that cannabis found in Lee's stomach may have contributed to his death, Teare said it would "be both 'irresponsible and irrational' to say that [cannabis] might have triggered either the events of Bruce's collapse on May 10 or his death on July 20". Dr. R. R. Lycette, the clinical pathologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, reported at the coroner hearing that the death could not have been caused by cannabis. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology of the United States concluded that they were unable to attribute Lee's death to cannabis intoxication.
In a 2018 biography, author Matthew Polly consulted with medical experts and theorized that the cerebral edema that killed Lee had been caused by over-exertion and heat stroke; heat stroke was not considered at the time because it was then a poorly understood condition. Furthermore, Lee had his underarm sweat glands removed in late 1972, in the apparent belief that underarm sweat was unphotogenic on film. Polly further theorized that this caused Lee's body to overheat while practicing in hot temperatures on May 10 and July 20, 1973, resulting in heat stroke that in turn exacerbated the cerebral edema that led to his death.
In an article in the December 2022 issue of Clinical Kidney Journal, a team of researchers examined the various theories regarding Lee's cause of death, and concluded that his fatal cerebral edema was brought on by hyponatremia, an insufficient concentration of sodium in the blood. The authors noted that several risk factors predisposed Lee to hyponatremia, including excessive water intake, insufficient solute intake, alcohol consumption, and use or overuse of multiple drugs which impair the ability of the kidneys to excrete excess fluids. Lee's symptoms before his death were also found to closely match known cases of fatal hyponatremia.
In July 2025, the Hong Kong TVB program "Ctrl+F The Truth" concluded that Lee died of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, based on opinions from medical experts, after other causes of death including cerebral edema caused by aspirin allergy, which was suspected by the court, were considered unlikely. It was presumed that a lack of professional knowledge or attempts to protect Lee's legacy hid the true cause of his death at the time.
Legacy and cultural impact
Lee is considered by some commentators and martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time, and a pop culture icon of the 20th century, who bridged the gap between East and West. Time named Lee one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.
A number of biography books have been written about Lee. A biography had sold more than 4 million copies by 1988.
Action films
Lee was largely responsible for launching the "kung fu craze" of the 1970s. He initially introduced kung fu to the West with American television shows such as The Green Hornet and Kung Fu, before the "kung fu craze" began with the dominance of Hong Kong martial arts films in 1973. Lee's success inspired a wave of Western martial arts films and television shows throughout the 1970s–1990s (launching the careers of Western martial arts stars such as Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris), as well as the more general integration of Asian martial arts into Western action films and television shows during the 1980s–1990s.
Enter the Dragon has been cited as one of the most influential action films of all time. Sascha Matuszak of Vice said Enter the Dragon "is referenced in all manner of media, the plot line and characters continue to influence storytellers today, and the impact was particularly felt in the revolutionizing way the film portrayed African-Americans, Asians and traditional martial arts." Kuan-Hsing Chen and Beng Huat Chua cited fight scenes in Lee's films such as Enter the Dragon as being influential for the way they pitched "an elemental story of good against evil in such a spectacle-saturated way".
A number of action filmmakers around the world have cited Bruce Lee as a formative influence on their careers, including Hong Kong action film directors such as Jackie Chan and John Woo, and Hollywood filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and Brett Ratner.
Martial arts and combat sports
Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that was founded by Lee, is sometimes credited with paving the way for the combat sport mixed martial arts (MMA). The concept of mixed martial arts was popularized in the West by Bruce Lee via his system of Jeet Kune Do. Lee believed that "the best fighter is not a Boxer, Karate or Judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt to any style, to be formless, to adopt an individual's own style and not following the system of styles."
In 2004, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) founder Dana White called Lee the "father of mixed martial arts" and stated: "If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought, and many of the things he wrote, he said the perfect style was no style. You take a little something from everything. You take the good things from every different discipline, use what works, and you throw the rest away".
Lee was largely responsible for many people's decisions to take up martial arts. These include numerous fighters in combat sports who were inspired by Lee; boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard said he perfected his jab by watching Lee, boxing champion Manny Pacquiao compared his fighting style to Lee, and UFC champion Conor McGregor has compared himself to Lee and said that he believes Lee would have been a champion in the UFC if he were to compete in the present day.
Lee inspired the foundation of American full-contact kickboxing tournaments by Joe Lewis and Benny Urquidez in the 1970s. American taekwondo pioneer Jhoon Goo Rhee learned from Lee what he calls the "accupunch", which he incorporated into American taekwondo. Rhee later coached heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali and taught him the "accupunch", which Ali used to knockout Richard Dunn in 1975. According to heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, "everyone wanted to be Bruce Lee" in the 1970s.
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion and Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones cited Lee as inspiration, with Jones known for frequently using the oblique kick to the knee, a technique that was popularized by Lee. Former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva has also cited Lee as an inspiration. Numerous other UFC fighters have cited Lee as their inspiration, with several referring to him as a "godfather" or "grandfather" of MMA.
Racial barriers and stereotypes
Lee is credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films. He defied Asian stereotypes, such as the emasculated Asian male stereotype. His friend Amy Sanbo recalls that, "In a time when so many Asians were trying to convince themselves they were white, Bruce was so proud to be Chinese he was busting with it." In contrast to earlier stereotypes which depicted Asian men as emasculated, childlike, coolies, or domestic servants, Lee demonstrated that Asian men could be "tough, strong and sexy" according to University of Michigan lecturer Hye Seung Chung. In turn, Lee's popularity inspired a new Asian stereotype, the martial artist.
In North America, his films initially played largely to black, Asian and Hispanic audiences. Within black communities, Lee's popularity was second only to heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali in the 1970s. As Lee broke through to the mainstream, he became a rare non-white movie star in a Hollywood industry dominated by white actors at the time. According to rapper LL Cool J, Lee's films were the first time many non-white American children such as himself had seen a non-white action hero on the big screen in the 1970s.
Popular culture
Numerous entertainment and sports figures around the world have cited Lee as a major influence on their work, including martial arts actors such as Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen, actor-bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor-comedians such as Eddie Murphy and Eddie Griffin, actresses such as Olivia Munn and Dianne Doan, musicians such as Steve Aoki and Rohan Marley, rappers such as LL Cool J and Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA, bands such as Gorillaz, comedians such as W. Kamau Bell and Margaret Cho, basketball players Stephen Curry and Jamal Murray, skaters Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi, and American footballer Kyler Murray, among others.
Bruce Lee influenced several comic book writers, notably Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee, who considered Bruce Lee to be a superhero without a costume. Shortly after his death, Lee inspired the Marvel characters Shang-Chi (debuted 1973) and Iron Fist (debuted 1974) as well as the comic book series The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu (debuted 1974). According to Stan Lee, any character that has been a martial artist since then owes their origin to Bruce Lee in some form.
Bruce Lee was a formative influence on the development of breakdancing in the 1970s. Early breakdancing pioneers such as the Rock Steady Crew drew inspiration from kung fu moves, as performed by Lee, inspiring dance moves such as the windmill among other breaking moves.
In India, Lee films had an influence on Hindi masala films. After the success of Lee films such as Enter the Dragon in India, Deewaar (1975) and later Hindi films incorporated fight scenes inspired by 1970s Hong Kong martial arts films up until the 1990s. According to Indian film star Aamir Khan, when he was a child, "almost every house had a poster of Bruce Lee" in 1970s Bombay.
In Japan, the manga and anime franchises Fist of the North Star (1983–1988) and Dragon Ball (1984–1995) were inspired by Lee films such as Enter the Dragon. In turn, Fist of the North Star and especially Dragon Ball are credited with setting the trends for popular shōnen manga and anime from the 1980s onwards. Spike Spiegel, the protagonist from the 1998 anime Cowboy Bebop, is seen practicing Jeet Kune Do and quotes Lee.
Bruce Lee films such as Game of Death and Enter the Dragon were the foundation for video game genres such as beat 'em up action games and fighting games. The first beat 'em up game, Kung-Fu Master (1984), was based on Lee's Game of Death. The Street Fighter video game franchise (1987 debut) was inspired by Enter the Dragon, with the gameplay centered around an international fighting tournament, and each character having a unique combination of ethnicity, nationality and fighting style; Street Fighter went on to set the template for all fighting games that followed. Since then, nearly every major fighting game franchise has had a character based on Bruce Lee. In April 2014, Lee was named a featured character in the combat sports video game EA Sports UFC, and is playable in multiple weight classes.
In France, the Yamakasi cited the martial arts philosophy of Bruce Lee as an influence on their development of the parkour discipline in the 1990s, along with the acrobatics of Jackie Chan. The Yamakasi considered Lee to be the "unofficial president" of their group.
The Legend of Bruce Lee (2008), a Chinese television drama series based on the life of Bruce Lee, has been watched by over 400 million viewers in China, making it the most-watched Chinese television drama series of all time, as of 2017.
In November 2022, it was announced that Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee was directing a biopic on Bruce Lee. Ang Lee's son Mason Lee was cast to star in the movie, while Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, is set to produce the film.
In 2024, there was a proposal made to erect a statue of Bruce Lee in San Francisco. Lee's daughter is in favor of erecting it stating, "the Bay Area is a very rich and vital part of our legacy."
Bruce Lee appears in Hitman: World of Assassination in September 2025. Lee is reinvented as an agent in the game, assassinating opponents during a martial arts competition. The player's goal is to prevent enemies from getting in the way.
Tributes
Underworld pay tribute to Bruce Lee in their song Bruce Lee from their 1999 album Beaucoup Fish, a blend of rock, techno, and guitar riffs. According to DAFT FM, the lyrics can be interpreted as encouraging the idea of self-actualization and individuals to be true to themselves, thus paying tribute to Lee's philosophy of empowering oneself and living life to the fullest.
Commercials
Though Bruce Lee did not appear in commercials during his lifetime, his likeness and image has since appeared in hundreds of commercials around the world. Nokia launched an Internet-based campaign in 2008 with staged "documentary-looking" footage of Bruce Lee playing ping-pong with his nunchaku and also igniting matches as they are thrown toward him. The videos went viral on YouTube, creating confusion as some people believed them to be authentic footage.
Honors
Awards
1972: Golden Horse Awards Special Technical Award
1972: Fist of Fury Special Jury Award
1994: Hong Kong Film Award for Lifetime Achievement
1999: Named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century
2004: Star of the Century Award
2013: The Asian Awards Founders Award
Statues
Statue of Bruce Lee (Los Angeles): unveiled June 15, 2013, Chinatown Central Plaza, Los Angeles, California
Statue of Bruce Lee (Hong Kong): 2.5 m (8.2 ft) bronze statue of Lee was unveiled on November 27, 2005, on what would have been his 65th birthday.
Statue of Bruce Lee (Mostar): The day before the Hong Kong statue was dedicated, the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina unveiled its own 1.68 m (5.5 ft) bronze statue; supporters of the statue cited Lee as a unifying symbol against the ethnic divisions in the country, which had culminated in the 1992–95 Bosnian War.
Places
A theme park dedicated to Lee was built in Jun'an, Guangdong. Mainland Chinese only started watching Bruce Lee films in the 1980s, when videos of classic movies like Fist of Fury became available.
On January 6, 2009, it was announced that Lee's Hong Kong home (41 Cumberland Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong) would be preserved and transformed into a tourist site by Yu Pang-lin. Yu died in 2015 and this plan did not materialize. In 2018, Yu's grandson, Pang Chi-ping, said: "We will convert the mansion into a centre for Chinese studies next year, which provides courses like Mandarin and Chinese music for children."
Filmography
Books
Chinese Gung-Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense (Bruce Lee's first book) – 1963
Tao of Jeet Kune Do (Published posthumously) – 1973
Bruce Lee's Fighting Method (Published posthumously) – 1978
See also
Bruce Lee (comics)
Bruce Lee Library – Books written by or about Bruce Lee
Bruceploitation – Exploitation film subgenre
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story – 1993 film by Rob Cohen
List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – Bruce Lee at 6933 Hollywood Blvd
Media about Bruce Lee
The Legend of Bruce Lee – Chinese television series
Notes
References
Works cited
Further reading
External links
Bruce Lee Foundation
Bruce Lee at the Hong Kong Movie Database
Bruce Lee at IMDb
Bruce Lee discography at Discogs
William Dozier papers at the American Heritage Center
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Warren Edward Buffett ( BUFF-it; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is one of the best-known investors in America. According to Forbes, as of May 2025, Buffett's estimated net worth stood at US$160.2 billion, making him the fifth-richest individual in the world.
Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska. The son of U.S. congressman and businessman Howard Buffett, he developed an interest in business and investing during his youth. He entered the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before graduating from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln at 20. He went on to graduate from Columbia Business School, where he molded his investment philosophy around the concept of value investing pioneered by Benjamin Graham. He attended New York Institute of Finance to focus on his economics background and soon pursued a business career.
He later began various business ventures and investment partnerships, including one with Graham. He created Buffett Partnership Ltd. in 1956 and his investment firm eventually acquired a textile manufacturing firm, Berkshire Hathaway, assuming its name to create a diversified holding company. Buffett emerged as the company's chairman and majority shareholder in 1970. In 1978, fellow investor and long-time business associate Charlie Munger joined Buffett as vice-chairman.
Since 1970, Buffett has presided as the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, one of America's foremost holding companies and world's leading corporate conglomerates. He has been referred to as the "Oracle" or "Sage" of Omaha by global media as a result of having accumulated a massive fortune derived from his business and investment success. He is noted for his adherence to the principles of value investing, and his frugality despite his wealth. Buffett has pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Gates Foundation. He founded the Giving Pledge in 2010 with Bill Gates, whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes. At Berkshire Hathaway's investor conference on May 3, 2025, Buffett requested that the board appoint Greg Abel to succeed him as the company's chief executive officer by the year's end, whilst remaining chairman.
Early life and education
Buffett was born on August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska, as the second of three children and the only son of Leila (née Stahl) and Congressman Howard Buffett. He began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School. In 1942, his father was elected to the first of four terms in the United States Congress, and after moving with his family to Washington, D.C., Warren finished elementary school, attended Alice Deal Junior High School and graduated from what was then Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947, where his senior yearbook picture reads: "likes math; a future stockbroker". After finishing high school and finding success with his side entrepreneurial and investment ventures, Buffett wanted to skip college to go directly into business but was overruled by his father.
Buffett showcased an interest in business and investing at a young age. He was inspired by a book he borrowed from the Omaha public library at age seven, One Thousand Ways to Make $1000. Much of Buffett's early childhood years were enlivened with entrepreneurial ventures. In one of his first business ventures, Buffett sold chewing gum, Coca-Cola, and weekly magazines door to door. He worked in his grandfather's grocery store. While still in high school, he made money delivering newspapers, selling golf balls and stamps, and detailing cars, among other means. On his first income tax return in 1944, Buffett took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle and watch on his paper route. In 1945, as a high school sophomore, Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine, which they placed in the local barber shop. Within months, they owned several machines in three different barber shops across Omaha. They later sold the business to a war veteran for $1,200.
Buffett's interest in the stock market and investing dated back to his schoolboy days spent in the customers' lounge of a regional stock brokerage near his father's own brokerage office. His father took interest in cultivating and educating the young Warren's curiosity surrounding the subject of business and investing, even at one point taking him to visit the New York Stock Exchange when he was 10. At 11, he bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred for himself, and three for his sister Doris Buffett (who also became a philanthropist). At 15, Warren made more than $175 monthly delivering Washington Post newspapers. In high school, he invested in a business owned by his father and bought a 40-acre farm worked by a tenant farmer. He bought the land when he was 14 years old with $1,200 of his savings. By the time he finished college, Buffett had amassed $9,800 in savings (about $130,000 today).
In 1947, Buffett matriculated at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He would have preferred to focus on his business ventures, but enrolled due to pressure from his father. Warren studied there for two years and joined the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He then transferred to the University of Nebraska where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with major in Investment Management in 1951. After being rejected by Harvard Business School in the spring of 1950, Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School of Columbia University upon learning that Benjamin Graham taught there. He earned a Master of Science in economics from Columbia in 1951. After graduating, Buffett attended the New York Institute of Finance.
The basic ideas of investing are to look at stocks as business, use the market's fluctuations to your advantage, and seek a margin of safety. That's what Ben Graham taught us. A hundred years from now they will still be the cornerstones of investing.
Business career
Early business career
Buffett worked from 1951 to 1954 at his father's firm, Buffett-Falk & Co., as an investment salesman; from 1954 to 1956 at Graham-Newman Corp. as a securities analyst; from 1956 to 1969 at several investment partnerships as the general partner; and from 1970 as chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
In 1951, Buffett discovered that Graham was on the board of GEICO insurance. Taking a train to Washington, D.C., on a Saturday, he knocked on the door of GEICO's headquarters until a janitor admitted him. There he met Lorimer Davidson, GEICO's vice president, and the two discussed the insurance business for hours, and Buffett made his first purchase of GEICO stock. Davidson would eventually become Buffett's lifelong friend and a lasting influence, and would later recall that he found Buffett to be an "extraordinary man" after only fifteen minutes. Buffett wanted to work on Wall Street but both his father and Ben Graham urged him not to. He offered to work for Graham for free, but Graham refused.
Buffett returned to Omaha and worked as a stockbroker while taking a Dale Carnegie public speaking course. Using what he learned, he felt confident enough to teach an "Investment Principles" night class at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The average age of his students was more than twice his own. During this time he also purchased a Sinclair gas station as a side investment but it was unsuccessful.
In 1954, Buffett accepted a job at Benjamin Graham's partnership. His starting salary was $12,000 a year (about $141,000 today). There he worked closely with Walter Schloss. Graham was adamant that stock picks should provide a wide margin of safety after weighing the trade-off between their price and their intrinsic value. In 1956, Benjamin Graham retired and closed his partnership. At this time Buffett, who had amassed personal savings over $174,000 (about $2.01 million today), decided to return to Omaha, where he would quickly start a series of investment partnerships.
In 1957, Buffett operated three investment partnerships. By 1959, the total had grown to six partnerships. That summer, Buffett was introduced to his future partner Charlie Munger during a business luncheon at The Omaha Club. In 1961, Buffett revealed that 35% of the partnership's assets were invested in the Sanborn Map Company. He explained that Sanborn stock sold for only $45 per share in 1958, but the company's investment portfolio was worth $65 per share. This meant that Sanborn's map business was being valued at "minus $20". Buffett eventually purchased 23% of the company's outstanding shares as an activist investor, obtaining a seat for himself on the board of directors, and allied with other dissatisfied shareholders to control 44% of the shares. To avoid a proxy fight, the board offered to repurchase shares at fair value, paying with a portion of its investment portfolio. 77% of the outstanding shares were turned in. Buffett had reaped a 50 percent return on investment in just two years.
Assuming Berkshire
In 1962, Buffett became a millionaire with the success of his partnerships, which by then had grown to 11 entities and held nearly $7.2 million, of which more than $1,025,000 (equivalent to $10,650,000 in 2024) belonged to Buffett. At the start of the year, he merged the various partnerships into the single entity Buffett Partnership, Ltd., which would be his primary investment vehicle for the remainder of the decade. Buffett invested in and eventually took control of a textile manufacturing company, Berkshire Hathaway. He began buying shares in Berkshire from Seabury Stanton, the owner, who quit due to policy disagreements with the new majority shareholder. Buffett's partnerships began purchasing shares at $7.60 per share. In 1965, when Buffett's partnerships began purchasing Berkshire aggressively, they paid $14.86 per share while the company had working capital of $19 per share. This did not include the value of fixed assets (factory and equipment). Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway at a board meeting and named a new president, Ken Chace, to run the company. In 1966, Buffett closed the partnership to new money. He later claimed that the textile business had been his worst trade. He then moved the business into the insurance sector, and, in 1985, the last of the mills that had been the core business of Berkshire Hathaway was sold.
In a second letter, Buffett announced his first investment in a private business — Hochschild, Kohn and Co, a privately owned Baltimore department store. In 1967, Berkshire paid out its first and only dividend of 10 cents. In 1969, Buffett liquidated the partnership and transferred their assets to his partners including shares of Berkshire Hathaway. He lived solely on his salary of $50,000 per year and his outside investment income.
In 1973, Berkshire began to acquire stock in the Washington Post Company. Buffett became close friends with Katharine Graham, who controlled the company and its flagship newspaper and joined its board. In 1974, the SEC opened a formal investigation into Buffett and Berkshire's acquisition of Wesco Financial, due to possible conflict of interest. No charges were brought. In 1977, Berkshire indirectly purchased the Buffalo Evening News for $32.5 million. Antitrust charges started, instigated by its rival, the Buffalo Courier-Express. Both papers lost money until the Courier-Express folded in 1982.
In 1979, Berkshire began to acquire stock in ABC. Capital Cities announced a $3.5 billion purchase of ABC on March 18, 1985, surprising the media industry, as ABC was four times bigger than Capital Cities at the time. Buffett helped finance the deal in return for a 25% stake in the combined company. The newly merged company, known as Capital Cities/ABC (or CapCities/ABC), was forced to sell some stations due to Federal Communications Commission ownership rules. The two companies also owned several radio stations in the same markets.
In 1987, Berkshire Hathaway purchased a 12% stake in Salomon Inc., making it the largest shareholder and Buffett a director. In 1990, a scandal involving John Gutfreund (former CEO of Salomon Brothers) surfaced. A rogue trader, Paul Mozer, was submitting bids in excess of what was allowed by Treasury rules. When this was brought to Gutfreund's attention, he did not immediately suspend the rogue trader. Gutfreund left the company in August 1991. Buffett became chairman of Salomon until the crisis passed. In 1988, Buffett began buying The Coca-Cola Company stock, eventually purchasing up to 7% of the company for $1.02 billion. It would turn out to be one of Berkshire's most lucrative investments and one which it still holds.
As a billionaire
In 1998 Buffett acquired General Re (Gen Re) as a subsidiary in a deal that presented difficulties — according to the Rational Walk investment website, "underwriting standards proved to be inadequate", while a "problematic derivatives book" was resolved after numerous years and a significant loss. Gen Re later provided reinsurance after Buffett became involved with Maurice R. Greenberg at AIG in 2002.
During a 2005 investigation of an accounting fraud case involving AIG, Gen Re executives became implicated. On March 15, 2005, the AIG board forced Greenberg to resign from his post as chairman and CEO after New York state regulators claimed that AIG had engaged in questionable transactions and improper accounting. On February 9, 2006, AIG agreed to pay a $1.6 billion fine. In 2010, the U.S. government agreed to a $92 million settlement with Gen Re, allowing the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary to avoid prosecution in the AIG case. Gen Re also made a commitment to implement "corporate governance concessions", which required Berkshire Hathaway's chief financial officer to attend General Re's audit committee meetings and mandated the appointment of an independent director.
In 2002, Buffett entered in $11 billion worth of forward contracts to deliver U.S. dollars against other currencies. By April 2006, his total gain on these contracts was over $2 billion. Buffett announced in June 2006 that he would gradually give away 85% of his Berkshire holdings to five foundations in annual gifts of stock, starting in July 2006—the largest contribution going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2007, in a letter to shareholders, Buffett announced that he was looking for a younger successor, or perhaps successors, to run his investment business.
2007–08 financial crisis
Buffett ran into criticism during the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 and 2008, part of the Great Recession starting in 2007, that he had allocated capital too early resulting in suboptimal deals. "Buy American. I am." he wrote for an opinion piece published in the New York Times in 2008. Buffett called the downturn in the financial sector that started in 2007 "poetic justice". Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway suffered a 77% drop in earnings during Q3 2008 and several of his later deals suffered large mark-to-market losses.
On September 23, 2008, Berkshire Hathaway acquired 10 percent of perpetual preferred stock of Goldman Sachs. Some of Buffett's put options (European exercise at expiry only) that he wrote (sold) were running at around $6.73 billion mark-to-market losses as of late 2008. The scale of the potential loss prompted the SEC to demand that Berkshire produce, "a more robust disclosure" of factors used to value the contracts. Buffett also helped Dow Chemical pay for its $18.8 billion takeover of Rohm & Haas. He thus became the single largest shareholder in the enlarged group with his Berkshire Hathaway, which provided $3 billion, underlining his instrumental role during the crisis in debt and equity markets.
In 2008, Buffett became the richest person in the world, garnering a total net worth estimated at $62 billion by Forbes and at $58 billion by Yahoo, dethroning Bill Gates, who had been number one on the Forbes list for 13 consecutive years. In 2009, Gates regained the top position on the Forbes list, with Buffett shifted to second place. Both of the men's values dropped, to $40 billion and $37 billion respectively—according to Forbes, Buffett lost $25 billion over a 12-month period during 2008/2009.
In October 2008, the media reported that Buffett had agreed to buy General Electric (GE) preferred stock. The operation included special incentives: he received an option to buy three billion shares of GE stock, at $22.25, over the five years following the agreement, and Buffett also received a 10% dividend (callable within three years). In February 2009, Buffett sold some Procter & Gamble Co. and Johnson & Johnson shares from his personal portfolio. In addition to suggestions of mistiming, the wisdom in keeping some of Berkshire's major holdings, including The Coca-Cola Company, which in 1998 peaked at $86, raised questions. Buffett discussed the difficulties of knowing when to sell in the company's 2004 annual report:
That may seem easy to do when one looks through an always-clean, rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, however, it's the windshield through which investors must peer, and that glass is invariably fogged.
In March 2009, Buffett said in a cable television interview that the economy had "fallen off a cliff ... Not only has the economy slowed down a lot, but people have really changed their habits like I haven't seen". Additionally, Buffett feared that inflation levels that occurred in the 1970s—which led to years of painful stagflation—might re-emerge.
A capitalized Berkshire
In 2009, Buffett invested $2.6 billion as a part of Swiss Re's campaign to raise equity capital. Berkshire Hathaway already owned a 3% stake, with rights to own more than 20%. Also in 2009, Buffett acquired Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. for $34 billion in cash and stock. Alice Schroeder, author of Snowball, said that a key reason for the purchase was to diversify Berkshire Hathaway from the financial industry. Measured by market capitalization in the Financial Times Global 500, Berkshire Hathaway was the eighteenth largest corporation in the world as of June 2009.
In 2009, Buffett divested his failed investment in ConocoPhillips, saying to his Berkshire investors,
I bought a large amount of ConocoPhillips stock when oil and gas prices were near their peak. I in no way anticipated the dramatic fall in energy prices that occurred in the last half of the year. I still believe the odds are good that oil sells far higher in the future than the current $40–$50 price. But so far I have been dead wrong. Even if prices should rise, moreover, the terrible timing of my purchase has cost Berkshire several billion dollars.
The merger with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) closed upon BNSF shareholder approval during Q1 of 2010. This deal was valued at approximately $44 billion (with $10 billion of outstanding BNSF debt) and represented an increase of the previously existing stake of 22%.
In June 2010, Buffett defended the credit-rating agencies for their role in the U.S. financial crisis, claiming:
Very, very few people could appreciate the bubble. That's the nature of bubbles—they're mass delusions.
On March 18, 2011, Goldman Sachs was given Federal Reserve approval to buy back Berkshire's preferred stock in Goldman. Buffett had been reluctant to give up the stock, which averaged $1.4 million in dividends per day, saying:
I'm going to be the Osama bin Laden of capitalism. I'm on my way to an unknown destination in Asia where I'm going to look for a cave. If the U.S. Armed forces can't find Osama bin Laden in 10 years, let Goldman Sachs try to find me.
In November 2011, it was announced that over the course of the previous eight months, Buffett had bought 64 million shares of International Business Machine Corp (IBM) stock, worth around $11 billion. This unanticipated investment raised his stake in the company to around 5.5 percent—the largest stake in IBM alongside that of State Street Global Advisors. Buffett had said on numerous prior occasions that he would not invest in technology because he did not fully understand it, so the move came as a surprise to many investors and observers. During the interview, in which he revealed the investment to the public, Buffett stated that he was impressed by the company's ability to retain corporate clients and said, "I don't know of any large company that really has been as specific on what they intend to do and how they intend to do it as IBM".
In May 2012, Buffett's acquisition of Media General, consisting of 63 newspapers in the south-eastern U.S., was announced. The company was the second news print purchase made by Buffett in one year. Interim publisher James W. Hopson announced on July 18, 2013, that the Press of Atlantic City would be sold to Buffett's BH Media Group by ABARTA, a private holding company based in Pittsburgh, U.S. At the Berkshire shareholders meeting in May 2013, Buffett explained that he did not expect to "move the needle" at Berkshire with newspaper acquisitions, but he anticipates an annual return of 10 percent. The Press of Atlantic City became Berkshire's 30th daily newspaper, following other purchases such as Virginia, U.S.' Roanoke Times and The Tulsa World in Oklahoma, U.S.
During a presentation to Georgetown University students in Washington, D.C., in late September 2013, Buffett compared the U.S. Federal Reserve to a hedge fund and stated that the bank is generating "$80 billion or $90 billion a year probably" in revenue for the U.S. government. Buffett also advocated further on the issue of wealth equality in society:
We have learned to turn out lots of goods and services, but we haven't learned as well how to have everybody share in the bounty. The obligation of a society as prosperous as ours is to figure out how nobody gets left too far behind.
After the difficulties of the economic crisis, Buffett managed to bring its company back to its pre-recession standards: in Q2 2014, Berkshire Hathaway made $6.4 billion in net profit, the most it had ever made in a three-month period. On August 14, 2014, the price of Berkshire Hathaway's shares hit $200,000 a share for the first time, capitalizing the company at $328 billion. While Buffett had given away much of his stock to charities by this time, he still held 321,000 shares worth $64.2 billion. On August 20, 2014, Berkshire Hathaway was fined $896,000 for failing to report as required the December 9, 2013 purchase of shares in USG Corporation.
A 2023 ProPublica article based on a leak of confidential IRS data alleged that Buffett had made equity trades in his personal portfolio involving companies that Berkshire Hathaway bought or sold during the same quarter or the quarter before, raising concerns about conflicts of interest. On three dates between 2009 and 2012, Buffett sold shares of Johnson and Johnson, Walmart, and Wells Fargo, with the sales totaling $80 million in value. Although Buffett has not commented, Berkshire Hathaway's Vice Chairman Charlie Munger dismissed the allegations, saying "I don’t think there’s the slightest chance that Warren Buffett is doing something that is deeply evil to make money for himself."
At Berkshire Hathaway's investor conference on May 3, 2025, Buffett requested that the board appoint Greg Abel to succeed him as CEO of the company by the end of the year. On May 5, 2025, the company announced the appointment of Abel as president and CEO, effective January 1, 2026, with Buffett remaining chairman.
Investment philosophy
Buffett's writings include his annual reports and various articles. Buffett is recognized by communicators as a great story-teller, as evidenced by his annual letters to shareholders. He has warned about the pernicious effects of inflation:
The arithmetic makes it plain that inflation is a far more devastating tax than anything that has been enacted by our legislatures. The inflation tax has a fantastic ability to simply consume capital. It makes no difference to a widow with her savings in a 5 percent passbook account whether she pays 100 percent income tax on her interest income during a period of zero inflation, or pays no income taxes during years of 5 percent inflation.
In his article, "The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville", Buffett rebutted the academic efficient-market hypothesis, that beating the S&P 500 was "pure chance", by highlighting the results achieved by a number of students of the Graham and Dodd value investing school of thought. In addition to himself, Buffett named Walter J. Schloss, Tom Knapp, Ed Anderson (Tweedy, Browne LLC), William J. Ruane (Sequoia Fund), Charlie Munger (Buffett's partner at Berkshire), Rick Guerin (Pacific Partners Ltd.), and Stan Perlmeter (Perlmeter Investments). In his November 1999 Fortune article, he warned of investors' unrealistic expectations:
Let me summarize what I've been saying about the stock market: I think it's very hard to come up with a persuasive case that equities will over the next 17 years perform anything like—anything like—they've performed in the past 17. If I had to pick the most probable return, from appreciation and dividends combined, that investors in aggregate—repeat, aggregate—would earn in a world of constant interest rates, 2% inflation, and those ever hurtful frictional costs, it would be 6%!
Index funds vis-à-vis active management
Buffett has been a supporter of index funds for people who are either not interested in managing their own money or do not have the time. Buffett is skeptical that active management can outperform the market in the long run, and has advised both individual and institutional investors to move their money to low-cost index funds that track broad, diversified stock market indices. Buffett said in one of his letters to shareholders that "when trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it will usually be the managers who reap outsized profits, not the clients". In 2007, Buffett made a bet with numerous managers that a simple S&P 500 index fund will outperform hedge funds that charge exorbitant fees. By 2017, the index fund was outperforming every hedge fund that made the bet against Buffett.
Using investment banks
Buffet has a long-standing aversion to using the services of investment banks via Berkshire Hathaway. This dynamic was also reported in Barron's, Insider, and Seeking Alpha, among others.
Personal life
In 1949, Buffett developed a crush on a young woman whose boyfriend had a ukulele. In an attempt to compete, he bought one of the instruments and has been playing it ever since. Though the attempt to capture her attention was unsuccessful, his music interest became a key part of his becoming a part of Susan Thompson's life, and led to their marriage. Buffett often plays the instrument at stockholder meetings and other opportunities. His love of the instrument led to the commissioning of two custom Dairy Queen ukuleles by Dave Talsma, one of which was auctioned for charity.
In 1952, Buffett married Susan at Dundee Presbyterian Church. The following year, they had their first child, Susan Alice. She was followed by Howard (b. 1954) and Peter (b. 1958). The couple began living separately in 1977, although they remained married until Susan's death in July 2004. Their only daughter Susan lives in Omaha, is a national board member of Girls, Inc., and does charitable work through the Susan A. Buffett Foundation.
In 2006, on his 76th birthday, Buffett married his longtime companion, Astrid Menks, who was then 60 years old—she had lived with him since his wife's departure to San Francisco in 1977. Susan had arranged for the two to meet before she left Omaha to pursue her singing career. All three were close and Christmas cards to friends were signed "Warren, Susie and Astrid". Susan briefly discussed this relationship in an interview on the Charlie Rose Show shortly before her death, in a rare glimpse into Buffett's personal life.
Buffett disowned his son Peter's adopted daughter, Nicole, in 2006 after she participated in the Jamie Johnson documentary The One Percent about the growing economic inequality between the wealthy and the average citizen in the United States. Although his first wife referred to Nicole as one of her "adored grandchildren", Buffett wrote Nicole a letter stating, "I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin". By 2022, Buffett and she had reconciled.
His 2006 annual salary was about $100,000, which is small compared to senior executive remuneration in comparable companies. In 2008, he earned a total compensation of $175,000, which included a base salary of just $100,000. In 1958, Buffett purchased a five-bedroom stucco house in Omaha, where he still lives, for US$31,500 (equivalent to $352,658 in 2024). He also owned a vacation home in Laguna Beach, California, which he purchased for $150,000 in 1971. He sold it for $7.5 million in 2018. In 1989, after spending nearly $6.7 million of Berkshire's funds on a private jet, Buffett named it "The Indefensible", later renamed "The Indispensable". This act was at odds with his past condemnation of extravagant spending by other CEOs. Buffett sold the jet prior to mid-1999, and has since usually flown with Berkshire's flight services businesses.
Buffett is an avid bridge player, which he plays with Gates and champion player Sharon Osberg; he is said to spend 12 hours a week playing the game. In 2006, he sponsored a bridge match for the Buffett Cup. Modeled on the Ryder Cup in golf—held immediately before it in the same city—the teams are chosen by invitation, with a female team and five male teams provided by each country.
He is a dedicated, lifelong follower of Nebraska football, and attends as many games as his schedule permits. He supported the hire of Bo Pelini, following the 2007 season, stating, "It was getting kind of desperate around here". He watched the 2009 game against Oklahoma from the Nebraska sideline, after being named an honorary assistant coach. Buffett was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2009. Buffett worked with Christopher Webber on an animated series called "Secret Millionaires Club" with chief Andy Heyward of DiC Entertainment. The series features Buffett and Munger and teaches children healthy financial habits.
Buffett was raised as a Presbyterian, but has since described himself as agnostic. In December 2006, it was reported that Buffett did not carry a mobile phone, did not have a computer at his desk, and drove his own automobile, a Cadillac DTS. In contrast to that, at the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting, he stated he uses Google as his preferred search engine. In 2013 he had an old Nokia flip phone and had sent one email in his entire life. In February 2020, Buffett revealed in a CNBC interview that he had traded in his flip phone for an iPhone 11. Buffett reads five newspapers every day, beginning with the Omaha World Herald, which his company acquired in 2011.
Buffett's speeches are known for mixing business discussions with humor. Each year, Buffett presides over Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting in the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska, an event drawing over 20,000 visitors from both the United States and abroad, giving it the nickname "Woodstock of Capitalism". Berkshire's annual reports and letters to shareholders, prepared by Buffett, frequently receive coverage by the financial media. Buffett's writings are known for containing quotations from sources as varied as the Bible and Mae West, as well as advice in a folksy, Midwestern style and numerous jokes.
In April 2017, Buffett (an avid Coca-Cola drinker and shareholder in the company) agreed to have his likeness placed on Cherry Coke products in China. Buffett was not compensated for this advertisement. Buffett is very distantly related to the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama. Buffett was a longtime friend of singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett until Jimmy's death in September 2023, and they would often refer to one another as "Uncle Warren" and "Cousin Jimmy". The two took a DNA test which revealed no relation.
Health
Buffett is a teetotaler. On April 11, 2012, Buffett was diagnosed with stage I prostate cancer during a routine test. He announced he would begin two months of daily radiation treatment from mid-July. In a letter to shareholders, Buffett said he felt "great—as if I were in my normal excellent health—and my energy level is 100 percent". On September 15, 2012, Buffett announced that he had completed the full 44-day radiation treatment cycle, saying "it's a great day for me" and "I am so glad to say that's over".
Wealth
In 2008, Buffett was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of approximately $62 billion. In 2009, after donating billions of dollars to charity, he was ranked as the second richest man in the United States with a net worth of $37 billion with only Bill Gates ranked higher than Buffett. His net worth had risen to $58.5 billion as of September 2013.
In 1999, Buffett was named the Top Money Manager of the Twentieth Century in a survey by the Carson Group, ahead of Peter Lynch and John Templeton. In 2007, he was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in the world. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Buffett, along with Bill Gates, was named the most influential global thinker in Foreign Policy's 2010 report.
Buffett has written several times of his belief that, in a market economy, the rich earn outsized rewards for their talents. His children will not inherit a significant proportion of his wealth. He once commented, "I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing".
Philantropy
Buffett had long stated his intention to give away his fortune to charity, and in June 2006, he announced a new plan to give 83% of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). He pledged about the equivalent of 10 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (worth approximately $30.7 billion as of June 23, 2006), making it the largest charitable donation in history, and Buffett one of the leaders of philanthrocapitalism. The foundation will receive 5% of the total each July, beginning in 2006. The pledge is conditional upon three requirements:
Bill or Melinda Gates must be alive and active in BMGF
BMGF must continue to qualify as a charity
Each year BMGF must give away an amount equal to the prior year's Berkshire gift plus the additional 5% of net assets as required of all US foundations
Buffett joined the Gates Foundation's board, but did not plan to be actively involved in the foundation's investments. Buffett announced his resignation as a trustee of the Gates Foundation on June 23, 2021. This represented a significant shift from Buffett's previous statements, to the effect that most of his fortune would pass to his Buffett Foundation. The bulk of the estate of his wife, valued at $2.6 billion, went there when she died in 2004. He also pledged $50 million to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, in Washington, where he began serving as an adviser in 2002.
In 2006, he auctioned his 2001 Lincoln Town Car on eBay to raise money for Girls, Inc. In 2007, he auctioned a luncheon with himself that raised a final bid of $650,100 for the Glide Foundation. Later auctions raised $2.1 million, $1.7 million and $3.5 million. The winners traditionally dine with Buffett at New York's Smith and Wollensky steak house. The restaurant donates at least $10,000 to Glide each year to host the meal.
In 2009, Ralph Nader wrote the book Only the Super Rich Can Save Us, a novel about "a movement of billionaires led by Warren Buffett and featuring, among others, Ted Turner, George Soros and Barry Diller, who use their fortunes to clean up America". On C-SPAN BookTV, Nader said Buffett invited him to breakfast after the book came out and was "quite intrigued by the book". He also told Nader of his plan to get "billionaires all over the world to donate 50% of their estate to charity or good works". On December 9, 2010, Buffett, Bill Gates, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed a promise they called the "Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge", in which they promise to donate to charity at least half of their wealth, and invite other wealthy people to follow suit. In 2018, after making almost $3.4 billion donations, Buffett was ranked 3rd in the Forbes' List of Billionaires 2018.
Buffett continues to help fund and support his family's individual foundations which include Susan Buffett's Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Susan Alice Buffett's Sherwood Foundation, Howard Graham Buffett's Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and Peter Buffett's NoVo Foundation. Warren Buffett was also supportive of his sister Doris Buffett's Letters Foundation and Learning By Giving Foundation.
In November 2022, Buffett made a donation of $750 million in Berkshire Hathaway shares to four charitable foundations run by his children. 1.5 million Class B shares of his conglomerate to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after his first wife. He also transferred 300,000 Class B shares each to three funds managed by his children: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation. As of 2023, Buffett has given over $50 billion to charitable causes.
In June 2025, Buffett donated $6 billion in Berkshire Hathaway shares to five charitable foundations. A majority of shares were donated to the Gates Foundation with the rest received by four other charitable foundations run by their children. As of June 2025, Buffett had donated over $60 billion to charitable causes.
Political and public policy views
In addition to political contributions over the years, Buffett endorsed and made campaign contributions to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. On July 2, 2008, Buffett attended a $28,500 per plate fundraiser for Obama's campaign in Chicago. Buffett intimated that John McCain's views on social justice were so far from his own that McCain would need a "lobotomy" for Buffett to change his endorsement. During the second 2008 U.S. presidential debate, McCain and Obama, after being asked first by presidential debate mediator Tom Brokaw, both mentioned Buffett as a possible future Secretary of the Treasury. Later, in the third and final presidential debate, Obama mentioned Buffett as a potential economic advisor. Buffett was also a financial advisor to Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger during the 2003 California gubernatorial election.
On December 16, 2015, Buffett endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for president. On August 1, 2016, Buffett challenged Donald Trump to release his tax returns. On October 10, 2016, after a reference to him in the second presidential debate, Buffett released his own tax return. He said he had paid $1.85 million in federal income taxes in 2015 on an adjusted gross income of $11.6 million, meaning he had an effective federal income tax rate of around 16 percent. Buffett also said he had made more than $2.8 billion worth of donations last year. In response to Trump saying he was unable to release his tax information due to being under audit, Buffett said, "I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump—at least he would have no legal problem." Buffett has said he would judge President Donald Trump by his results on national safety, economic growth and economic participation when deciding if he would vote for him in the 2020 presidential election.
Health care
Buffett described the health care reform under President Barack Obama as insufficient to deal with the costs of health care in the U.S., though he supports its aim of expanding health insurance coverage. Buffett compared health care costs to a tapeworm, saying that they compromise US economic competitiveness by increasing manufacturing costs. Buffett said in 2010 that it was not sustainable for the U.S. to devote 17% of its GDP to healthcare expenditure, noting that many other nations spent a much smaller proportion of their GDP on health expenditures, with better healthcare outcomes. Buffett said, "If you want the very best, I mean if you want to spend a million dollars to prolong your life 3 months in a coma or something then the US is probably the best", but he also said that other countries spend much less and receive much more in health care value (visits, hospital beds, doctors and nurses per capita).
Buffett faults the incentives in the United States medical industry, that payers reimburse doctors for procedures (fee-for-service) leading to unnecessary care (overutilization), instead of paying for results. He cited Atul Gawande's 2009 article in the New Yorker as a useful consideration of U.S. health care, with its documentation of unwarranted variation in Medicare expenditures between McAllen, Texas and El Paso, Texas. Buffett raised the problem of lobbying by the medical industry, saying that they are very focused on maintaining their income.
Curbing population growth
Buffett has expressed concerns about unchecked population growth. In 2009, he met with several other billionaires to discuss healthcare, education and slowing population growth. Called "The Good Club" by an insider, the billionaires had given away $45 billion to philanthropic causes and included Oprah Winfrey, Michael Bloomberg and David Rockefeller, Jr. The meeting has drawn criticism from some right-wing blogs, with some believing the group to be a part of a secret sterilization society. Buffett is a long-time supporter of family planning. The Buffett Foundation has given over $1.5 billion to abortion research to include $427 million to Planned Parenthood.
Taxes
Buffett stated that he only paid 19% of his income for 2006 ($48.1 million) in total federal taxes (due to their source as dividends and capital gains) while his employees paid 33% of theirs, despite making much less money. Regarding how little he pays in taxes compared to his employees, he said, "How can this be fair? How can this be right? There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning." After Donald Trump accused him of taking "massive deductions", Buffett countered, "I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward."
Buffett favors the inheritance tax, saying that repealing it would be like "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics". In 2007, Buffett testified before the Senate and urged them to preserve the estate tax so as to avoid a plutocracy. Some critics argued that Buffett (through Berkshire Hathaway) has a personal interest in the continuation of the estate tax, since Berkshire Hathaway benefited from the estate tax in past business dealings and had developed and marketed insurance policies to protect policy holders against future estate tax payments. Buffett believes government should not be in the business of gambling, or legalizing casinos, calling it a tax on ignorance.
Dollar and gold
The trade deficit induced Buffett to enter the foreign currency market for the first time in 2002. He substantially reduced his stake in 2005 as changing interest rates increased the costs of holding currency contracts. Buffett remained bearish on the dollar, stating that he was looking to acquire companies with substantial foreign revenues. Buffett has been critical of gold as an investment, with his critique being based primarily on its non-productive nature. In a 1998 address at Harvard, Buffett said:
It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.
In 1977, about stocks, gold, farmland and inflation, he stated:
Stocks are probably still the best of all the poor alternatives in an era of inflation—at least they are if you buy in at appropriate prices.
He has made a number of remarks about gold.
China
Buffett invested in PetroChina Company Limited and in a rare move, posted a commentary on Berkshire Hathaway's website stating why he would not divest over its connection with the Sudanese civil war that caused Harvard to divest. He sold this stake soon afterwards, sparing him the billions of dollars he would have lost had he held on to the company in the midst of the steep drop in oil prices beginning in the summer of 2008. In October 2008, Buffett invested $230 million for 10% of battery maker BYD Company (SEHK: 1211), which also operates an electric automobile manufacturing subsidiary. In less than one year, the investment reaped over 500% return.
Tobacco
During the RJR Nabisco, Inc., hostile takeover fight in 1987, Buffett was quoted as telling John Gutfreund:
I'll tell you why I like the cigarette business. It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It's addictive. And there's fantastic brand loyalty.
Speaking at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s 1994 annual meeting, Buffett said investments in tobacco are:
fraught with questions that relate to societal attitudes and those of the present administration. I would not like to have a significant percentage of my net worth invested in tobacco businesses. The economy of the business may be fine, but that doesn't mean it has a bright future.
Coal
In 2007, Buffett's PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of his MidAmerican Energy Company, canceled six proposed coal-fired power plants. These included Utah's Intermountain Power Project Unit 3, Jim Bridger Unit 5, and four proposed plants previously included in PacifiCorp's Integrated Resource Plan. The cancellations came in the wake of pressure from regulators and citizen groups.
Renewable energy
Native American tribes and salmon fishermen sought to win support from Buffett for a proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River owned by PacifiCorp which is a Berkshire Hathaway company. David Sokol responded on Buffett's behalf, stating that the FERC would decide the question.
Expensing of stock options
He has been a strong proponent of stock option expensing on corporate income statements. At the 2004 annual meeting, he lambasted a bill before the United States Congress that would consider only some company-issued stock options compensation as an expense, likening the bill to one that was almost passed by the Indiana House of Representatives to change the value of Pi from 3.14159 to 3.2 through legislative fiat.
When a company gives something of value to its employees in return for their services, it is clearly a compensation expense. And if expenses don't belong in the earnings statement, where in the world do they belong?
High technology
In May 2012, Buffett said he had avoided buying stock in high-technology companies such as Facebook and Google due to them being complex and difficult to understand on top of their concomitant complications from being hard to confidently estimate their future value. He also stated that initial public offering's (IPO) of new stock issues are almost always bad investments. Buffett has advised investors to look for companies that will have good value in ten years.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies
In an interview with CNBC in January 2018, Buffett said the recent craze over Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would not end well, adding that "when it happens or how or anything else, I don't know;" and later that year calling it, "rat poison squared." But he also said he would not take a short position on bitcoin futures.
COVID-19 pandemic
In a June 2021 interview with CNBC, Buffet said that the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased economic inequality and bemoaned that most people are unaware that "hundreds of thousands or millions" of small businesses have been negatively impacted. He also stated that the markets and the economy will likely be unpredictable well into the post-pandemic recovery period, even with the Biden administration and the United States Federal Reserve having a plan in place. He said the unpredictability and the effects of COVID-19 are far from over.
Film and television
Aside from countless television appearances on various news programs (Adam Smith's Money World in 1985 reportedly being the first), Buffett has appeared in numerous films and TV programs, both documentary, and fiction. Some film and television cameos he has made include Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), The Office (U.S.), All My Children, and Entourage (2015). He has been a guest 10 times on Charlie Rose, and was the subject of the HBO documentary feature Becoming Warren Buffett (2017) and the BBC production The World's Greatest Money Maker (2009).
Bibliography
Books about Buffett
In October 2008, USA Today reported at least 47 books were in print with Buffett's name in the title. The article quoted the CEO of Borders Books, George Jones, as saying that the only other living persons named in as many book titles were U.S. presidents, world political figures and the Dalai Lama. Buffett said that his own personal favorite is a collection of his essays called The Essays of Warren Buffett, which he described as "a coherent rearrangement of ideas from my annual report letters".
Books or publications by Buffett:
The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Warren Buffett and Lawrence A. Cunningham, The Cunningham Group; revised edition (April 11, 2001). ISBN 978-0-9664461-1-1.
The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition, Warren E. Buffett and Lawrence A. Cunningham, The Cunningham Group; 2nd edition (April 14, 2008). ISBN 978-0-9664461-2-8.
Some best-selling, or otherwise notable, books about Buffett:
Carol J. Loomis, Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything, 1966–2012: A Fortune Magazine Book.
Preston Pysh, Warren Buffett's Three Favorite Books (an interactive book that references Buffett's Books for online videos).
Roger Lowenstein, Buffett, Making of an American Capitalist.
Robert Hagstrom, The Warren Buffett Way.
Alice Schroeder, The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (written with Buffett's cooperation).
Mary Buffett and David Clark, Buffettology and four subsequent books (combined sales of more than 1.5 million copies).
Janet Lowe, Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor.
John Train, The Midas Touch: The Strategies That Have Made Warren Buffett 'America's Preeminent Investor'.
Andrew Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett (the longest of the books about Buffett, with 330 chapters, 1,874 pages and 1,400 photos, weighing 10.2 pounds).
Robert P. Miles (2004). Warren Buffett Wealth: Principles and Practical Methods Used by the World's Greatest Investor. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-46511-9.
John P. Reese, "The Guru Investor: How to Beat the Market Using History's Best Investment Strategies" (includes step-by-step stock-picking method based on Buffett's approach).
Tavakoli, Janet M. (January 6, 2009). Dear Mr. Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1,269 Miles from Wall Street. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-44273-9.
Janjigian, Vahan (May 1, 2008). Even Buffett Isn't Perfect: What You Can--and Can't--Learn from the World's Greatest Investor. Penguin. ISBN 9781440631474.
See also
Buffett indicator – Aggregate stock market valuation metric
References
Further reading
Schwartz, Mattathias (January 2010). "The Church of Warren Buffett". Harper's. Vol. 320, no. 1916. pp. 27–35. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
Rojas, Claudio R. (2014). "An Indeterminate Theory of Canadian Corporate Law". University of British Columbia Law Review. 47 (1): 59–128 ("The author's perspective on Berkshire Hathaway's investment philosophy was informed by discussions with Warren Buffett in Omaha, Nebraska": pp. 59, 122–124). SSRN 2391775.
External links
Berkshire Hathaway official website
The Buffett
Buffett Partnership Letters
Forbes Profile
"Warren Buffett's Letters to Shareholders". Berkshire Hathaway.
Berkshire Hathaway SEC 13F Filings
Appearances on C-SPAN
Warren Buffett on Charlie Rose
Warren Buffett collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Warren Buffett collected news and commentary at The Guardian
Stempel, Jonathan (February 12, 2008). "FACTBOX: Warren Buffett at a glance". Reuters.
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Warren Edward Buffett ( BUFF-it; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is one of the best-known investors in America. According to Forbes, as of May 2025, Buffett's estimated net worth stood at US$160.2 billion, making him the fifth-richest individual in the world.
Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska. The son of U.S. congressman and businessman Howard Buffett, he developed an interest in business and investing during his youth. He entered the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before graduating from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln at 20. He went on to graduate from Columbia Business School, where he molded his investment philosophy around the concept of value investing pioneered by Benjamin Graham. He attended New York Institute of Finance to focus on his economics background and soon pursued a business career.
He later began various business ventures and investment partnerships, including one with Graham. He created Buffett Partnership Ltd. in 1956 and his investment firm eventually acquired a textile manufacturing firm, Berkshire Hathaway, assuming its name to create a diversified holding company. Buffett emerged as the company's chairman and majority shareholder in 1970. In 1978, fellow investor and long-time business associate Charlie Munger joined Buffett as vice-chairman.
Since 1970, Buffett has presided as the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, one of America's foremost holding companies and world's leading corporate conglomerates. He has been referred to as the "Oracle" or "Sage" of Omaha by global media as a result of having accumulated a massive fortune derived from his business and investment success. He is noted for his adherence to the principles of value investing, and his frugality despite his wealth. Buffett has pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Gates Foundation. He founded the Giving Pledge in 2010 with Bill Gates, whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes. At Berkshire Hathaway's investor conference on May 3, 2025, Buffett requested that the board appoint Greg Abel to succeed him as the company's chief executive officer by the year's end, whilst remaining chairman.
Early life and education
Buffett was born on August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska, as the second of three children and the only son of Leila (née Stahl) and Congressman Howard Buffett. He began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School. In 1942, his father was elected to the first of four terms in the United States Congress, and after moving with his family to Washington, D.C., Warren finished elementary school, attended Alice Deal Junior High School and graduated from what was then Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947, where his senior yearbook picture reads: "likes math; a future stockbroker". After finishing high school and finding success with his side entrepreneurial and investment ventures, Buffett wanted to skip college to go directly into business but was overruled by his father.
Buffett showcased an interest in business and investing at a young age. He was inspired by a book he borrowed from the Omaha public library at age seven, One Thousand Ways to Make $1000. Much of Buffett's early childhood years were enlivened with entrepreneurial ventures. In one of his first business ventures, Buffett sold chewing gum, Coca-Cola, and weekly magazines door to door. He worked in his grandfather's grocery store. While still in high school, he made money delivering newspapers, selling golf balls and stamps, and detailing cars, among other means. On his first income tax return in 1944, Buffett took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle and watch on his paper route. In 1945, as a high school sophomore, Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine, which they placed in the local barber shop. Within months, they owned several machines in three different barber shops across Omaha. They later sold the business to a war veteran for $1,200.
Buffett's interest in the stock market and investing dated back to his schoolboy days spent in the customers' lounge of a regional stock brokerage near his father's own brokerage office. His father took interest in cultivating and educating the young Warren's curiosity surrounding the subject of business and investing, even at one point taking him to visit the New York Stock Exchange when he was 10. At 11, he bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred for himself, and three for his sister Doris Buffett (who also became a philanthropist). At 15, Warren made more than $175 monthly delivering Washington Post newspapers. In high school, he invested in a business owned by his father and bought a 40-acre farm worked by a tenant farmer. He bought the land when he was 14 years old with $1,200 of his savings. By the time he finished college, Buffett had amassed $9,800 in savings (about $130,000 today).
In 1947, Buffett matriculated at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He would have preferred to focus on his business ventures, but enrolled due to pressure from his father. Warren studied there for two years and joined the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He then transferred to the University of Nebraska where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with major in Investment Management in 1951. After being rejected by Harvard Business School in the spring of 1950, Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School of Columbia University upon learning that Benjamin Graham taught there. He earned a Master of Science in economics from Columbia in 1951. After graduating, Buffett attended the New York Institute of Finance.
The basic ideas of investing are to look at stocks as business, use the market's fluctuations to your advantage, and seek a margin of safety. That's what Ben Graham taught us. A hundred years from now they will still be the cornerstones of investing.
Business career
Early business career
Buffett worked from 1951 to 1954 at his father's firm, Buffett-Falk & Co., as an investment salesman; from 1954 to 1956 at Graham-Newman Corp. as a securities analyst; from 1956 to 1969 at several investment partnerships as the general partner; and from 1970 as chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
In 1951, Buffett discovered that Graham was on the board of GEICO insurance. Taking a train to Washington, D.C., on a Saturday, he knocked on the door of GEICO's headquarters until a janitor admitted him. There he met Lorimer Davidson, GEICO's vice president, and the two discussed the insurance business for hours, and Buffett made his first purchase of GEICO stock. Davidson would eventually become Buffett's lifelong friend and a lasting influence, and would later recall that he found Buffett to be an "extraordinary man" after only fifteen minutes. Buffett wanted to work on Wall Street but both his father and Ben Graham urged him not to. He offered to work for Graham for free, but Graham refused.
Buffett returned to Omaha and worked as a stockbroker while taking a Dale Carnegie public speaking course. Using what he learned, he felt confident enough to teach an "Investment Principles" night class at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The average age of his students was more than twice his own. During this time he also purchased a Sinclair gas station as a side investment but it was unsuccessful.
In 1954, Buffett accepted a job at Benjamin Graham's partnership. His starting salary was $12,000 a year (about $141,000 today). There he worked closely with Walter Schloss. Graham was adamant that stock picks should provide a wide margin of safety after weighing the trade-off between their price and their intrinsic value. In 1956, Benjamin Graham retired and closed his partnership. At this time Buffett, who had amassed personal savings over $174,000 (about $2.01 million today), decided to return to Omaha, where he would quickly start a series of investment partnerships.
In 1957, Buffett operated three investment partnerships. By 1959, the total had grown to six partnerships. That summer, Buffett was introduced to his future partner Charlie Munger during a business luncheon at The Omaha Club. In 1961, Buffett revealed that 35% of the partnership's assets were invested in the Sanborn Map Company. He explained that Sanborn stock sold for only $45 per share in 1958, but the company's investment portfolio was worth $65 per share. This meant that Sanborn's map business was being valued at "minus $20". Buffett eventually purchased 23% of the company's outstanding shares as an activist investor, obtaining a seat for himself on the board of directors, and allied with other dissatisfied shareholders to control 44% of the shares. To avoid a proxy fight, the board offered to repurchase shares at fair value, paying with a portion of its investment portfolio. 77% of the outstanding shares were turned in. Buffett had reaped a 50 percent return on investment in just two years.
Assuming Berkshire
In 1962, Buffett became a millionaire with the success of his partnerships, which by then had grown to 11 entities and held nearly $7.2 million, of which more than $1,025,000 (equivalent to $10,650,000 in 2024) belonged to Buffett. At the start of the year, he merged the various partnerships into the single entity Buffett Partnership, Ltd., which would be his primary investment vehicle for the remainder of the decade. Buffett invested in and eventually took control of a textile manufacturing company, Berkshire Hathaway. He began buying shares in Berkshire from Seabury Stanton, the owner, who quit due to policy disagreements with the new majority shareholder. Buffett's partnerships began purchasing shares at $7.60 per share. In 1965, when Buffett's partnerships began purchasing Berkshire aggressively, they paid $14.86 per share while the company had working capital of $19 per share. This did not include the value of fixed assets (factory and equipment). Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway at a board meeting and named a new president, Ken Chace, to run the company. In 1966, Buffett closed the partnership to new money. He later claimed that the textile business had been his worst trade. He then moved the business into the insurance sector, and, in 1985, the last of the mills that had been the core business of Berkshire Hathaway was sold.
In a second letter, Buffett announced his first investment in a private business — Hochschild, Kohn and Co, a privately owned Baltimore department store. In 1967, Berkshire paid out its first and only dividend of 10 cents. In 1969, Buffett liquidated the partnership and transferred their assets to his partners including shares of Berkshire Hathaway. He lived solely on his salary of $50,000 per year and his outside investment income.
In 1973, Berkshire began to acquire stock in the Washington Post Company. Buffett became close friends with Katharine Graham, who controlled the company and its flagship newspaper and joined its board. In 1974, the SEC opened a formal investigation into Buffett and Berkshire's acquisition of Wesco Financial, due to possible conflict of interest. No charges were brought. In 1977, Berkshire indirectly purchased the Buffalo Evening News for $32.5 million. Antitrust charges started, instigated by its rival, the Buffalo Courier-Express. Both papers lost money until the Courier-Express folded in 1982.
In 1979, Berkshire began to acquire stock in ABC. Capital Cities announced a $3.5 billion purchase of ABC on March 18, 1985, surprising the media industry, as ABC was four times bigger than Capital Cities at the time. Buffett helped finance the deal in return for a 25% stake in the combined company. The newly merged company, known as Capital Cities/ABC (or CapCities/ABC), was forced to sell some stations due to Federal Communications Commission ownership rules. The two companies also owned several radio stations in the same markets.
In 1987, Berkshire Hathaway purchased a 12% stake in Salomon Inc., making it the largest shareholder and Buffett a director. In 1990, a scandal involving John Gutfreund (former CEO of Salomon Brothers) surfaced. A rogue trader, Paul Mozer, was submitting bids in excess of what was allowed by Treasury rules. When this was brought to Gutfreund's attention, he did not immediately suspend the rogue trader. Gutfreund left the company in August 1991. Buffett became chairman of Salomon until the crisis passed. In 1988, Buffett began buying The Coca-Cola Company stock, eventually purchasing up to 7% of the company for $1.02 billion. It would turn out to be one of Berkshire's most lucrative investments and one which it still holds.
As a billionaire
In 1998 Buffett acquired General Re (Gen Re) as a subsidiary in a deal that presented difficulties — according to the Rational Walk investment website, "underwriting standards proved to be inadequate", while a "problematic derivatives book" was resolved after numerous years and a significant loss. Gen Re later provided reinsurance after Buffett became involved with Maurice R. Greenberg at AIG in 2002.
During a 2005 investigation of an accounting fraud case involving AIG, Gen Re executives became implicated. On March 15, 2005, the AIG board forced Greenberg to resign from his post as chairman and CEO after New York state regulators claimed that AIG had engaged in questionable transactions and improper accounting. On February 9, 2006, AIG agreed to pay a $1.6 billion fine. In 2010, the U.S. government agreed to a $92 million settlement with Gen Re, allowing the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary to avoid prosecution in the AIG case. Gen Re also made a commitment to implement "corporate governance concessions", which required Berkshire Hathaway's chief financial officer to attend General Re's audit committee meetings and mandated the appointment of an independent director.
In 2002, Buffett entered in $11 billion worth of forward contracts to deliver U.S. dollars against other currencies. By April 2006, his total gain on these contracts was over $2 billion. Buffett announced in June 2006 that he would gradually give away 85% of his Berkshire holdings to five foundations in annual gifts of stock, starting in July 2006—the largest contribution going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2007, in a letter to shareholders, Buffett announced that he was looking for a younger successor, or perhaps successors, to run his investment business.
2007–08 financial crisis
Buffett ran into criticism during the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 and 2008, part of the Great Recession starting in 2007, that he had allocated capital too early resulting in suboptimal deals. "Buy American. I am." he wrote for an opinion piece published in the New York Times in 2008. Buffett called the downturn in the financial sector that started in 2007 "poetic justice". Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway suffered a 77% drop in earnings during Q3 2008 and several of his later deals suffered large mark-to-market losses.
On September 23, 2008, Berkshire Hathaway acquired 10 percent of perpetual preferred stock of Goldman Sachs. Some of Buffett's put options (European exercise at expiry only) that he wrote (sold) were running at around $6.73 billion mark-to-market losses as of late 2008. The scale of the potential loss prompted the SEC to demand that Berkshire produce, "a more robust disclosure" of factors used to value the contracts. Buffett also helped Dow Chemical pay for its $18.8 billion takeover of Rohm & Haas. He thus became the single largest shareholder in the enlarged group with his Berkshire Hathaway, which provided $3 billion, underlining his instrumental role during the crisis in debt and equity markets.
In 2008, Buffett became the richest person in the world, garnering a total net worth estimated at $62 billion by Forbes and at $58 billion by Yahoo, dethroning Bill Gates, who had been number one on the Forbes list for 13 consecutive years. In 2009, Gates regained the top position on the Forbes list, with Buffett shifted to second place. Both of the men's values dropped, to $40 billion and $37 billion respectively—according to Forbes, Buffett lost $25 billion over a 12-month period during 2008/2009.
In October 2008, the media reported that Buffett had agreed to buy General Electric (GE) preferred stock. The operation included special incentives: he received an option to buy three billion shares of GE stock, at $22.25, over the five years following the agreement, and Buffett also received a 10% dividend (callable within three years). In February 2009, Buffett sold some Procter & Gamble Co. and Johnson & Johnson shares from his personal portfolio. In addition to suggestions of mistiming, the wisdom in keeping some of Berkshire's major holdings, including The Coca-Cola Company, which in 1998 peaked at $86, raised questions. Buffett discussed the difficulties of knowing when to sell in the company's 2004 annual report:
That may seem easy to do when one looks through an always-clean, rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, however, it's the windshield through which investors must peer, and that glass is invariably fogged.
In March 2009, Buffett said in a cable television interview that the economy had "fallen off a cliff ... Not only has the economy slowed down a lot, but people have really changed their habits like I haven't seen". Additionally, Buffett feared that inflation levels that occurred in the 1970s—which led to years of painful stagflation—might re-emerge.
A capitalized Berkshire
In 2009, Buffett invested $2.6 billion as a part of Swiss Re's campaign to raise equity capital. Berkshire Hathaway already owned a 3% stake, with rights to own more than 20%. Also in 2009, Buffett acquired Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. for $34 billion in cash and stock. Alice Schroeder, author of Snowball, said that a key reason for the purchase was to diversify Berkshire Hathaway from the financial industry. Measured by market capitalization in the Financial Times Global 500, Berkshire Hathaway was the eighteenth largest corporation in the world as of June 2009.
In 2009, Buffett divested his failed investment in ConocoPhillips, saying to his Berkshire investors,
I bought a large amount of ConocoPhillips stock when oil and gas prices were near their peak. I in no way anticipated the dramatic fall in energy prices that occurred in the last half of the year. I still believe the odds are good that oil sells far higher in the future than the current $40–$50 price. But so far I have been dead wrong. Even if prices should rise, moreover, the terrible timing of my purchase has cost Berkshire several billion dollars.
The merger with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) closed upon BNSF shareholder approval during Q1 of 2010. This deal was valued at approximately $44 billion (with $10 billion of outstanding BNSF debt) and represented an increase of the previously existing stake of 22%.
In June 2010, Buffett defended the credit-rating agencies for their role in the U.S. financial crisis, claiming:
Very, very few people could appreciate the bubble. That's the nature of bubbles—they're mass delusions.
On March 18, 2011, Goldman Sachs was given Federal Reserve approval to buy back Berkshire's preferred stock in Goldman. Buffett had been reluctant to give up the stock, which averaged $1.4 million in dividends per day, saying:
I'm going to be the Osama bin Laden of capitalism. I'm on my way to an unknown destination in Asia where I'm going to look for a cave. If the U.S. Armed forces can't find Osama bin Laden in 10 years, let Goldman Sachs try to find me.
In November 2011, it was announced that over the course of the previous eight months, Buffett had bought 64 million shares of International Business Machine Corp (IBM) stock, worth around $11 billion. This unanticipated investment raised his stake in the company to around 5.5 percent—the largest stake in IBM alongside that of State Street Global Advisors. Buffett had said on numerous prior occasions that he would not invest in technology because he did not fully understand it, so the move came as a surprise to many investors and observers. During the interview, in which he revealed the investment to the public, Buffett stated that he was impressed by the company's ability to retain corporate clients and said, "I don't know of any large company that really has been as specific on what they intend to do and how they intend to do it as IBM".
In May 2012, Buffett's acquisition of Media General, consisting of 63 newspapers in the south-eastern U.S., was announced. The company was the second news print purchase made by Buffett in one year. Interim publisher James W. Hopson announced on July 18, 2013, that the Press of Atlantic City would be sold to Buffett's BH Media Group by ABARTA, a private holding company based in Pittsburgh, U.S. At the Berkshire shareholders meeting in May 2013, Buffett explained that he did not expect to "move the needle" at Berkshire with newspaper acquisitions, but he anticipates an annual return of 10 percent. The Press of Atlantic City became Berkshire's 30th daily newspaper, following other purchases such as Virginia, U.S.' Roanoke Times and The Tulsa World in Oklahoma, U.S.
During a presentation to Georgetown University students in Washington, D.C., in late September 2013, Buffett compared the U.S. Federal Reserve to a hedge fund and stated that the bank is generating "$80 billion or $90 billion a year probably" in revenue for the U.S. government. Buffett also advocated further on the issue of wealth equality in society:
We have learned to turn out lots of goods and services, but we haven't learned as well how to have everybody share in the bounty. The obligation of a society as prosperous as ours is to figure out how nobody gets left too far behind.
After the difficulties of the economic crisis, Buffett managed to bring its company back to its pre-recession standards: in Q2 2014, Berkshire Hathaway made $6.4 billion in net profit, the most it had ever made in a three-month period. On August 14, 2014, the price of Berkshire Hathaway's shares hit $200,000 a share for the first time, capitalizing the company at $328 billion. While Buffett had given away much of his stock to charities by this time, he still held 321,000 shares worth $64.2 billion. On August 20, 2014, Berkshire Hathaway was fined $896,000 for failing to report as required the December 9, 2013 purchase of shares in USG Corporation.
A 2023 ProPublica article based on a leak of confidential IRS data alleged that Buffett had made equity trades in his personal portfolio involving companies that Berkshire Hathaway bought or sold during the same quarter or the quarter before, raising concerns about conflicts of interest. On three dates between 2009 and 2012, Buffett sold shares of Johnson and Johnson, Walmart, and Wells Fargo, with the sales totaling $80 million in value. Although Buffett has not commented, Berkshire Hathaway's Vice Chairman Charlie Munger dismissed the allegations, saying "I don’t think there’s the slightest chance that Warren Buffett is doing something that is deeply evil to make money for himself."
At Berkshire Hathaway's investor conference on May 3, 2025, Buffett requested that the board appoint Greg Abel to succeed him as CEO of the company by the end of the year. On May 5, 2025, the company announced the appointment of Abel as president and CEO, effective January 1, 2026, with Buffett remaining chairman.
Investment philosophy
Buffett's writings include his annual reports and various articles. Buffett is recognized by communicators as a great story-teller, as evidenced by his annual letters to shareholders. He has warned about the pernicious effects of inflation:
The arithmetic makes it plain that inflation is a far more devastating tax than anything that has been enacted by our legislatures. The inflation tax has a fantastic ability to simply consume capital. It makes no difference to a widow with her savings in a 5 percent passbook account whether she pays 100 percent income tax on her interest income during a period of zero inflation, or pays no income taxes during years of 5 percent inflation.
In his article, "The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville", Buffett rebutted the academic efficient-market hypothesis, that beating the S&P 500 was "pure chance", by highlighting the results achieved by a number of students of the Graham and Dodd value investing school of thought. In addition to himself, Buffett named Walter J. Schloss, Tom Knapp, Ed Anderson (Tweedy, Browne LLC), William J. Ruane (Sequoia Fund), Charlie Munger (Buffett's partner at Berkshire), Rick Guerin (Pacific Partners Ltd.), and Stan Perlmeter (Perlmeter Investments). In his November 1999 Fortune article, he warned of investors' unrealistic expectations:
Let me summarize what I've been saying about the stock market: I think it's very hard to come up with a persuasive case that equities will over the next 17 years perform anything like—anything like—they've performed in the past 17. If I had to pick the most probable return, from appreciation and dividends combined, that investors in aggregate—repeat, aggregate—would earn in a world of constant interest rates, 2% inflation, and those ever hurtful frictional costs, it would be 6%!
Index funds vis-à-vis active management
Buffett has been a supporter of index funds for people who are either not interested in managing their own money or do not have the time. Buffett is skeptical that active management can outperform the market in the long run, and has advised both individual and institutional investors to move their money to low-cost index funds that track broad, diversified stock market indices. Buffett said in one of his letters to shareholders that "when trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it will usually be the managers who reap outsized profits, not the clients". In 2007, Buffett made a bet with numerous managers that a simple S&P 500 index fund will outperform hedge funds that charge exorbitant fees. By 2017, the index fund was outperforming every hedge fund that made the bet against Buffett.
Using investment banks
Buffet has a long-standing aversion to using the services of investment banks via Berkshire Hathaway. This dynamic was also reported in Barron's, Insider, and Seeking Alpha, among others.
Personal life
In 1949, Buffett developed a crush on a young woman whose boyfriend had a ukulele. In an attempt to compete, he bought one of the instruments and has been playing it ever since. Though the attempt to capture her attention was unsuccessful, his music interest became a key part of his becoming a part of Susan Thompson's life, and led to their marriage. Buffett often plays the instrument at stockholder meetings and other opportunities. His love of the instrument led to the commissioning of two custom Dairy Queen ukuleles by Dave Talsma, one of which was auctioned for charity.
In 1952, Buffett married Susan at Dundee Presbyterian Church. The following year, they had their first child, Susan Alice. She was followed by Howard (b. 1954) and Peter (b. 1958). The couple began living separately in 1977, although they remained married until Susan's death in July 2004. Their only daughter Susan lives in Omaha, is a national board member of Girls, Inc., and does charitable work through the Susan A. Buffett Foundation.
In 2006, on his 76th birthday, Buffett married his longtime companion, Astrid Menks, who was then 60 years old—she had lived with him since his wife's departure to San Francisco in 1977. Susan had arranged for the two to meet before she left Omaha to pursue her singing career. All three were close and Christmas cards to friends were signed "Warren, Susie and Astrid". Susan briefly discussed this relationship in an interview on the Charlie Rose Show shortly before her death, in a rare glimpse into Buffett's personal life.
Buffett disowned his son Peter's adopted daughter, Nicole, in 2006 after she participated in the Jamie Johnson documentary The One Percent about the growing economic inequality between the wealthy and the average citizen in the United States. Although his first wife referred to Nicole as one of her "adored grandchildren", Buffett wrote Nicole a letter stating, "I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin". By 2022, Buffett and she had reconciled.
His 2006 annual salary was about $100,000, which is small compared to senior executive remuneration in comparable companies. In 2008, he earned a total compensation of $175,000, which included a base salary of just $100,000. In 1958, Buffett purchased a five-bedroom stucco house in Omaha, where he still lives, for US$31,500 (equivalent to $352,658 in 2024). He also owned a vacation home in Laguna Beach, California, which he purchased for $150,000 in 1971. He sold it for $7.5 million in 2018. In 1989, after spending nearly $6.7 million of Berkshire's funds on a private jet, Buffett named it "The Indefensible", later renamed "The Indispensable". This act was at odds with his past condemnation of extravagant spending by other CEOs. Buffett sold the jet prior to mid-1999, and has since usually flown with Berkshire's flight services businesses.
Buffett is an avid bridge player, which he plays with Gates and champion player Sharon Osberg; he is said to spend 12 hours a week playing the game. In 2006, he sponsored a bridge match for the Buffett Cup. Modeled on the Ryder Cup in golf—held immediately before it in the same city—the teams are chosen by invitation, with a female team and five male teams provided by each country.
He is a dedicated, lifelong follower of Nebraska football, and attends as many games as his schedule permits. He supported the hire of Bo Pelini, following the 2007 season, stating, "It was getting kind of desperate around here". He watched the 2009 game against Oklahoma from the Nebraska sideline, after being named an honorary assistant coach. Buffett was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2009. Buffett worked with Christopher Webber on an animated series called "Secret Millionaires Club" with chief Andy Heyward of DiC Entertainment. The series features Buffett and Munger and teaches children healthy financial habits.
Buffett was raised as a Presbyterian, but has since described himself as agnostic. In December 2006, it was reported that Buffett did not carry a mobile phone, did not have a computer at his desk, and drove his own automobile, a Cadillac DTS. In contrast to that, at the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting, he stated he uses Google as his preferred search engine. In 2013 he had an old Nokia flip phone and had sent one email in his entire life. In February 2020, Buffett revealed in a CNBC interview that he had traded in his flip phone for an iPhone 11. Buffett reads five newspapers every day, beginning with the Omaha World Herald, which his company acquired in 2011.
Buffett's speeches are known for mixing business discussions with humor. Each year, Buffett presides over Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting in the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska, an event drawing over 20,000 visitors from both the United States and abroad, giving it the nickname "Woodstock of Capitalism". Berkshire's annual reports and letters to shareholders, prepared by Buffett, frequently receive coverage by the financial media. Buffett's writings are known for containing quotations from sources as varied as the Bible and Mae West, as well as advice in a folksy, Midwestern style and numerous jokes.
In April 2017, Buffett (an avid Coca-Cola drinker and shareholder in the company) agreed to have his likeness placed on Cherry Coke products in China. Buffett was not compensated for this advertisement. Buffett is very distantly related to the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama. Buffett was a longtime friend of singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett until Jimmy's death in September 2023, and they would often refer to one another as "Uncle Warren" and "Cousin Jimmy". The two took a DNA test which revealed no relation.
Health
Buffett is a teetotaler. On April 11, 2012, Buffett was diagnosed with stage I prostate cancer during a routine test. He announced he would begin two months of daily radiation treatment from mid-July. In a letter to shareholders, Buffett said he felt "great—as if I were in my normal excellent health—and my energy level is 100 percent". On September 15, 2012, Buffett announced that he had completed the full 44-day radiation treatment cycle, saying "it's a great day for me" and "I am so glad to say that's over".
Wealth
In 2008, Buffett was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of approximately $62 billion. In 2009, after donating billions of dollars to charity, he was ranked as the second richest man in the United States with a net worth of $37 billion with only Bill Gates ranked higher than Buffett. His net worth had risen to $58.5 billion as of September 2013.
In 1999, Buffett was named the Top Money Manager of the Twentieth Century in a survey by the Carson Group, ahead of Peter Lynch and John Templeton. In 2007, he was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in the world. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Buffett, along with Bill Gates, was named the most influential global thinker in Foreign Policy's 2010 report.
Buffett has written several times of his belief that, in a market economy, the rich earn outsized rewards for their talents. His children will not inherit a significant proportion of his wealth. He once commented, "I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing".
Philantropy
Buffett had long stated his intention to give away his fortune to charity, and in June 2006, he announced a new plan to give 83% of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). He pledged about the equivalent of 10 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (worth approximately $30.7 billion as of June 23, 2006), making it the largest charitable donation in history, and Buffett one of the leaders of philanthrocapitalism. The foundation will receive 5% of the total each July, beginning in 2006. The pledge is conditional upon three requirements:
Bill or Melinda Gates must be alive and active in BMGF
BMGF must continue to qualify as a charity
Each year BMGF must give away an amount equal to the prior year's Berkshire gift plus the additional 5% of net assets as required of all US foundations
Buffett joined the Gates Foundation's board, but did not plan to be actively involved in the foundation's investments. Buffett announced his resignation as a trustee of the Gates Foundation on June 23, 2021. This represented a significant shift from Buffett's previous statements, to the effect that most of his fortune would pass to his Buffett Foundation. The bulk of the estate of his wife, valued at $2.6 billion, went there when she died in 2004. He also pledged $50 million to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, in Washington, where he began serving as an adviser in 2002.
In 2006, he auctioned his 2001 Lincoln Town Car on eBay to raise money for Girls, Inc. In 2007, he auctioned a luncheon with himself that raised a final bid of $650,100 for the Glide Foundation. Later auctions raised $2.1 million, $1.7 million and $3.5 million. The winners traditionally dine with Buffett at New York's Smith and Wollensky steak house. The restaurant donates at least $10,000 to Glide each year to host the meal.
In 2009, Ralph Nader wrote the book Only the Super Rich Can Save Us, a novel about "a movement of billionaires led by Warren Buffett and featuring, among others, Ted Turner, George Soros and Barry Diller, who use their fortunes to clean up America". On C-SPAN BookTV, Nader said Buffett invited him to breakfast after the book came out and was "quite intrigued by the book". He also told Nader of his plan to get "billionaires all over the world to donate 50% of their estate to charity or good works". On December 9, 2010, Buffett, Bill Gates, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed a promise they called the "Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge", in which they promise to donate to charity at least half of their wealth, and invite other wealthy people to follow suit. In 2018, after making almost $3.4 billion donations, Buffett was ranked 3rd in the Forbes' List of Billionaires 2018.
Buffett continues to help fund and support his family's individual foundations which include Susan Buffett's Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Susan Alice Buffett's Sherwood Foundation, Howard Graham Buffett's Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and Peter Buffett's NoVo Foundation. Warren Buffett was also supportive of his sister Doris Buffett's Letters Foundation and Learning By Giving Foundation.
In November 2022, Buffett made a donation of $750 million in Berkshire Hathaway shares to four charitable foundations run by his children. 1.5 million Class B shares of his conglomerate to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after his first wife. He also transferred 300,000 Class B shares each to three funds managed by his children: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation. As of 2023, Buffett has given over $50 billion to charitable causes.
In June 2025, Buffett donated $6 billion in Berkshire Hathaway shares to five charitable foundations. A majority of shares were donated to the Gates Foundation with the rest received by four other charitable foundations run by their children. As of June 2025, Buffett had donated over $60 billion to charitable causes.
Political and public policy views
In addition to political contributions over the years, Buffett endorsed and made campaign contributions to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. On July 2, 2008, Buffett attended a $28,500 per plate fundraiser for Obama's campaign in Chicago. Buffett intimated that John McCain's views on social justice were so far from his own that McCain would need a "lobotomy" for Buffett to change his endorsement. During the second 2008 U.S. presidential debate, McCain and Obama, after being asked first by presidential debate mediator Tom Brokaw, both mentioned Buffett as a possible future Secretary of the Treasury. Later, in the third and final presidential debate, Obama mentioned Buffett as a potential economic advisor. Buffett was also a financial advisor to Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger during the 2003 California gubernatorial election.
On December 16, 2015, Buffett endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for president. On August 1, 2016, Buffett challenged Donald Trump to release his tax returns. On October 10, 2016, after a reference to him in the second presidential debate, Buffett released his own tax return. He said he had paid $1.85 million in federal income taxes in 2015 on an adjusted gross income of $11.6 million, meaning he had an effective federal income tax rate of around 16 percent. Buffett also said he had made more than $2.8 billion worth of donations last year. In response to Trump saying he was unable to release his tax information due to being under audit, Buffett said, "I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump—at least he would have no legal problem." Buffett has said he would judge President Donald Trump by his results on national safety, economic growth and economic participation when deciding if he would vote for him in the 2020 presidential election.
Health care
Buffett described the health care reform under President Barack Obama as insufficient to deal with the costs of health care in the U.S., though he supports its aim of expanding health insurance coverage. Buffett compared health care costs to a tapeworm, saying that they compromise US economic competitiveness by increasing manufacturing costs. Buffett said in 2010 that it was not sustainable for the U.S. to devote 17% of its GDP to healthcare expenditure, noting that many other nations spent a much smaller proportion of their GDP on health expenditures, with better healthcare outcomes. Buffett said, "If you want the very best, I mean if you want to spend a million dollars to prolong your life 3 months in a coma or something then the US is probably the best", but he also said that other countries spend much less and receive much more in health care value (visits, hospital beds, doctors and nurses per capita).
Buffett faults the incentives in the United States medical industry, that payers reimburse doctors for procedures (fee-for-service) leading to unnecessary care (overutilization), instead of paying for results. He cited Atul Gawande's 2009 article in the New Yorker as a useful consideration of U.S. health care, with its documentation of unwarranted variation in Medicare expenditures between McAllen, Texas and El Paso, Texas. Buffett raised the problem of lobbying by the medical industry, saying that they are very focused on maintaining their income.
Curbing population growth
Buffett has expressed concerns about unchecked population growth. In 2009, he met with several other billionaires to discuss healthcare, education and slowing population growth. Called "The Good Club" by an insider, the billionaires had given away $45 billion to philanthropic causes and included Oprah Winfrey, Michael Bloomberg and David Rockefeller, Jr. The meeting has drawn criticism from some right-wing blogs, with some believing the group to be a part of a secret sterilization society. Buffett is a long-time supporter of family planning. The Buffett Foundation has given over $1.5 billion to abortion research to include $427 million to Planned Parenthood.
Taxes
Buffett stated that he only paid 19% of his income for 2006 ($48.1 million) in total federal taxes (due to their source as dividends and capital gains) while his employees paid 33% of theirs, despite making much less money. Regarding how little he pays in taxes compared to his employees, he said, "How can this be fair? How can this be right? There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning." After Donald Trump accused him of taking "massive deductions", Buffett countered, "I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward."
Buffett favors the inheritance tax, saying that repealing it would be like "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics". In 2007, Buffett testified before the Senate and urged them to preserve the estate tax so as to avoid a plutocracy. Some critics argued that Buffett (through Berkshire Hathaway) has a personal interest in the continuation of the estate tax, since Berkshire Hathaway benefited from the estate tax in past business dealings and had developed and marketed insurance policies to protect policy holders against future estate tax payments. Buffett believes government should not be in the business of gambling, or legalizing casinos, calling it a tax on ignorance.
Dollar and gold
The trade deficit induced Buffett to enter the foreign currency market for the first time in 2002. He substantially reduced his stake in 2005 as changing interest rates increased the costs of holding currency contracts. Buffett remained bearish on the dollar, stating that he was looking to acquire companies with substantial foreign revenues. Buffett has been critical of gold as an investment, with his critique being based primarily on its non-productive nature. In a 1998 address at Harvard, Buffett said:
It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.
In 1977, about stocks, gold, farmland and inflation, he stated:
Stocks are probably still the best of all the poor alternatives in an era of inflation—at least they are if you buy in at appropriate prices.
He has made a number of remarks about gold.
China
Buffett invested in PetroChina Company Limited and in a rare move, posted a commentary on Berkshire Hathaway's website stating why he would not divest over its connection with the Sudanese civil war that caused Harvard to divest. He sold this stake soon afterwards, sparing him the billions of dollars he would have lost had he held on to the company in the midst of the steep drop in oil prices beginning in the summer of 2008. In October 2008, Buffett invested $230 million for 10% of battery maker BYD Company (SEHK: 1211), which also operates an electric automobile manufacturing subsidiary. In less than one year, the investment reaped over 500% return.
Tobacco
During the RJR Nabisco, Inc., hostile takeover fight in 1987, Buffett was quoted as telling John Gutfreund:
I'll tell you why I like the cigarette business. It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It's addictive. And there's fantastic brand loyalty.
Speaking at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s 1994 annual meeting, Buffett said investments in tobacco are:
fraught with questions that relate to societal attitudes and those of the present administration. I would not like to have a significant percentage of my net worth invested in tobacco businesses. The economy of the business may be fine, but that doesn't mean it has a bright future.
Coal
In 2007, Buffett's PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of his MidAmerican Energy Company, canceled six proposed coal-fired power plants. These included Utah's Intermountain Power Project Unit 3, Jim Bridger Unit 5, and four proposed plants previously included in PacifiCorp's Integrated Resource Plan. The cancellations came in the wake of pressure from regulators and citizen groups.
Renewable energy
Native American tribes and salmon fishermen sought to win support from Buffett for a proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River owned by PacifiCorp which is a Berkshire Hathaway company. David Sokol responded on Buffett's behalf, stating that the FERC would decide the question.
Expensing of stock options
He has been a strong proponent of stock option expensing on corporate income statements. At the 2004 annual meeting, he lambasted a bill before the United States Congress that would consider only some company-issued stock options compensation as an expense, likening the bill to one that was almost passed by the Indiana House of Representatives to change the value of Pi from 3.14159 to 3.2 through legislative fiat.
When a company gives something of value to its employees in return for their services, it is clearly a compensation expense. And if expenses don't belong in the earnings statement, where in the world do they belong?
High technology
In May 2012, Buffett said he had avoided buying stock in high-technology companies such as Facebook and Google due to them being complex and difficult to understand on top of their concomitant complications from being hard to confidently estimate their future value. He also stated that initial public offering's (IPO) of new stock issues are almost always bad investments. Buffett has advised investors to look for companies that will have good value in ten years.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies
In an interview with CNBC in January 2018, Buffett said the recent craze over Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would not end well, adding that "when it happens or how or anything else, I don't know;" and later that year calling it, "rat poison squared." But he also said he would not take a short position on bitcoin futures.
COVID-19 pandemic
In a June 2021 interview with CNBC, Buffet said that the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased economic inequality and bemoaned that most people are unaware that "hundreds of thousands or millions" of small businesses have been negatively impacted. He also stated that the markets and the economy will likely be unpredictable well into the post-pandemic recovery period, even with the Biden administration and the United States Federal Reserve having a plan in place. He said the unpredictability and the effects of COVID-19 are far from over.
Film and television
Aside from countless television appearances on various news programs (Adam Smith's Money World in 1985 reportedly being the first), Buffett has appeared in numerous films and TV programs, both documentary, and fiction. Some film and television cameos he has made include Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), The Office (U.S.), All My Children, and Entourage (2015). He has been a guest 10 times on Charlie Rose, and was the subject of the HBO documentary feature Becoming Warren Buffett (2017) and the BBC production The World's Greatest Money Maker (2009).
Bibliography
Books about Buffett
In October 2008, USA Today reported at least 47 books were in print with Buffett's name in the title. The article quoted the CEO of Borders Books, George Jones, as saying that the only other living persons named in as many book titles were U.S. presidents, world political figures and the Dalai Lama. Buffett said that his own personal favorite is a collection of his essays called The Essays of Warren Buffett, which he described as "a coherent rearrangement of ideas from my annual report letters".
Books or publications by Buffett:
The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Warren Buffett and Lawrence A. Cunningham, The Cunningham Group; revised edition (April 11, 2001). ISBN 978-0-9664461-1-1.
The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition, Warren E. Buffett and Lawrence A. Cunningham, The Cunningham Group; 2nd edition (April 14, 2008). ISBN 978-0-9664461-2-8.
Some best-selling, or otherwise notable, books about Buffett:
Carol J. Loomis, Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything, 1966–2012: A Fortune Magazine Book.
Preston Pysh, Warren Buffett's Three Favorite Books (an interactive book that references Buffett's Books for online videos).
Roger Lowenstein, Buffett, Making of an American Capitalist.
Robert Hagstrom, The Warren Buffett Way.
Alice Schroeder, The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (written with Buffett's cooperation).
Mary Buffett and David Clark, Buffettology and four subsequent books (combined sales of more than 1.5 million copies).
Janet Lowe, Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor.
John Train, The Midas Touch: The Strategies That Have Made Warren Buffett 'America's Preeminent Investor'.
Andrew Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett (the longest of the books about Buffett, with 330 chapters, 1,874 pages and 1,400 photos, weighing 10.2 pounds).
Robert P. Miles (2004). Warren Buffett Wealth: Principles and Practical Methods Used by the World's Greatest Investor. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-46511-9.
John P. Reese, "The Guru Investor: How to Beat the Market Using History's Best Investment Strategies" (includes step-by-step stock-picking method based on Buffett's approach).
Tavakoli, Janet M. (January 6, 2009). Dear Mr. Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1,269 Miles from Wall Street. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-44273-9.
Janjigian, Vahan (May 1, 2008). Even Buffett Isn't Perfect: What You Can--and Can't--Learn from the World's Greatest Investor. Penguin. ISBN 9781440631474.
See also
Buffett indicator – Aggregate stock market valuation metric
References
Further reading
Schwartz, Mattathias (January 2010). "The Church of Warren Buffett". Harper's. Vol. 320, no. 1916. pp. 27–35. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
Rojas, Claudio R. (2014). "An Indeterminate Theory of Canadian Corporate Law". University of British Columbia Law Review. 47 (1): 59–128 ("The author's perspective on Berkshire Hathaway's investment philosophy was informed by discussions with Warren Buffett in Omaha, Nebraska": pp. 59, 122–124). SSRN 2391775.
External links
Berkshire Hathaway official website
The Buffett
Buffett Partnership Letters
Forbes Profile
"Warren Buffett's Letters to Shareholders". Berkshire Hathaway.
Berkshire Hathaway SEC 13F Filings
Appearances on C-SPAN
Warren Buffett on Charlie Rose
Warren Buffett collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Warren Buffett collected news and commentary at The Guardian
Stempel, Jonathan (February 12, 2008). "FACTBOX: Warren Buffett at a glance". Reuters.
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Christina Aguilera
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Christina María Aguilera ( AG-il-AIR-ə, Spanish: [kɾisˈtina maˈɾi.a aɣiˈleɾa]; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Recognized as an influential figure in music and having received widespread public interest, she is noted for her four-octave vocal range extending into the whistle register, artistic reinventions, and incorporating controversial themes into her music. Referred to as the "Voice of a Generation", she was also named a Disney Legend, in recognition of her contributions to the Walt Disney Company.
After appearing on The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1993–1994), Aguilera recorded the theme song, "Reflection", for the animated film Mulan (1998) and signed a record deal with RCA Records. She rose to fame in 1999 with her self-titled debut album, which topped the US Billboard 200 and garnered three US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come on Over Baby (All I Want is You)". Seeking a departure from her teen idol image, Aguilera took on a more provocative image on Stripped (2002), one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. After another old-school-inspired musical reinvention, she released her second number-one album in the US, Back to Basics (2006). Throughout these periods, she amassed various worldwide hits, including "Lady Marmalade", "Dirrty", "Beautiful" and "Ain't No Other Man".
During the early 2010s, Aguilera featured on a string of worldwide top ten songs, including "Moves like Jagger", "Feel This Moment" and "Say Something"; the first of these topped the Hot 100, making her one of the few artists to peak over three decades. She also starred in the film Burlesque (2010) and contributed to its soundtrack, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination. Her concurrent ventures included a role in the television series Nashville (2015); roles in the films The Emoji Movie (2017) and Zoe (2018); becoming an ambassador for the World Food Programme (WFP); co-founding the company Playground; and serving as a coach on the reality competition show The Voice (2011–2016).
Aguilera is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 100 million records sold worldwide. She has been named one of the most successful artists of the 2000s by Billboard and was listed among the greatest singers of all time by Rolling Stone. Aguilera has been regarded as one of the most influential Latin artists in the entertainment industry, having helped shape the "Latin explosion" in the early 2000s. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, two Latin Grammy Awards, six ALMA Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, a Billboard Music Award, a Guinness World Record, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Early life
Christina María Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980, in Ocean Breeze, New York, at Staten Island University Hospital, to Shelly Loraine (née Fidler) and Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera. Her father is an Ecuadorian emigrant from Guayaquil while her mother has German, Irish, Welsh, and Dutch ancestry. Fausto Aguilera was a United States Army sergeant, and Shelly Loraine was a violinist in the American Youth Symphony before becoming a Spanish translator.
Due to Fausto's military service, Aguilera's family moved frequently. She lived in Grasmere, New York before moving to New Jersey and Texas. In 1983, they moved to Japan and lived in Sagamihara for at least two years. During her youth in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, Aguilera attended North Allegheny Intermediate High School before leaving there to be homeschooled to avoid bullying she experienced at school.
In 1986, the family returned to the United States, and settled in Pennsylvania, where they welcomed her younger sister, Rachel, in 1986. Aguilera has spoken out about her father's physically and emotionally abusive behavior. She noted that this is what made her turn to music, noting that, "growing up in an unstable environment and whatnot, music was my only real escape". In 1987, Shelly filed to divorce Fausto and moved with Aguilera and Rachel to her mother's home in Rochester, a suburb of Pittsburgh. She later married James Kearns and had a son with him named Michael. In 2012, following decades of estrangement, Aguilera expressed interest in reconciling with her biological father.
Aguilera moving to her grandmother's home allowed her to explore her grandmother's records, which featured mostly soul and blues singers and increased her interest in music. She also began to practice singing in public and competing in talent contests. Following numerous contests, she earned a reputation in her neighborhood as the "little girl with a big voice" and received widespread attention from local television and radio programs.
In 1990, she performed the popular song "A Sunday Kind of Love" on the reality competition show Star Search, but was eliminated during the semi-final round. Aguilera was eventually invited to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, Pittsburgh Steelers football, and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games, and at the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals.
Career
1993–1998: Career beginnings
In 1991, Aguilera auditioned for the television series The All New Mickey Mouse Club (MMC), which aired on the Disney Channel. She ran against 400 candidates, and while she made the shortlist, she was ultimately rejected for not meeting the minimum age requirement. One year later, in 1992, Aguilera received a call from one of the show's producers asking if she was still interested in becoming a "Mouseketeer". She once again competed for a spot (this time, against 15,000 candidates) and was selected to join the variety program the following year. Her fellow cast members included Ryan Gosling, Keri Russell, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and JC Chasez. During the show recordings—which included Aguilera performing musical numbers and comedy sketches—she moved with her family to Orlando, Florida. In 1995, it was reported the series would not return for a new season.
Aiming to begin a music career, Aguilera moved to Japan in 1997. She was selected to record a duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi, with whom she performed in concert shows around the country. Their song, "All I Wanna Do", was released as a single but failed to reach commercial success. In June 1997, Aguilera went on to Romania to represent the United States in a singers contest during the Golden Stag Festival, failing to win over the audience.
Seeking a recording contract, Aguilera recorded numerous demo tapes directed to record labels, including Walt Disney Records, for which she sent a cover of "Run to You" by Whitney Houston. She eventually was chosen to record "Reflection", the theme song from the animated film Mulan (1998), which reached number 15 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Following the attention she received with "Reflection", Aguilera caught the ear of Ron Fair, the A&R executive from RCA Records, who consequently signed Aguilera to the label. In late 1998, she began to record her debut studio album, for which producers reportedly invested over $1 million worth of writers, producers and vocal lessons.
1999–2001: Christina Aguilera, Mi Reflejo, and My Kind of Christmas
In May 1999, Aguilera released "Genie in a Bottle", the lead single off her long-awaited debut album, which topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks and became the second best-selling single of 1999. The song became an international success, increasing Aguilera's popularity worldwide, topping the charts in over 20 countries. The single also attracted the attention of conservatives including celebrities such as Debbie Gibson that spoke out against its lyrical content, and was eventually considered "too provocative" to be sung by a teen idol. Due to the criticism, Radio Disney replaced the song with a censored version. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Aguilera's self-titled debut album, Christina Aguilera, was released on August 24, 1999, to critical praise, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200. It catapulted Aguilera into fame globally and sold over ten million copies in its first year. It was later certified eight times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and it has sold over 17 million copies worldwide. Originally, Aguilera's desire was to create material inspired by R&B and soul, but the label opted for a more teen pop production due the genre's high financial return in the late 1990s. At the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, Aguilera won the Best New Artist category for which Time credited the award for "[helping] certify her credentials as a real singer".
After the album's release, "What a Girl Wants", topped the Hot 100 and is recognized as the first new number one entry on the chart for the 2000s decade. The song was also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. This was followed with "I Turn to You" which reached number 3, and "Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" which became Aguilera's third number one song and achieved worldwide success. She also released a cover of "The Christmas Song" in November 1999, which peaked at number 18 and became the second-highest charting position of the song after the original in 1944.
In January 2000, Aguilera performed at the Super Bowl XXXIV halftime show alongside Enrique Iglesias, Phil Collins and Toni Braxton. In May, she embarked on her debut concert tour, Christina Aguilera in Concert, which toured North America, Latin America, Europe, and Japan until February 2001. Her success continued to rise with the release of her second studio album, Mi Reflejo, in September 2000 which topped both the Billboard Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums for nineteen consecutive weeks. The album featured Spanish-language versions of several songs from her debut album along with new songs, and had Latin pop themes. Three singles were release for the album including the Spanish version of "Come on Over Baby (All I Want is You)" titled "Ven Conmigo (Solamente Tú)", "Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti" and "Falsas Esperanzas". The latter two were performed at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. The album went on to be the best-selling Latin pop album of 2000 and was later certified six times Latin platinum by the RIAA. Mi Reflejo also reached the platinum stats in Argentina, Mexico, and Spain. At the 2nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards, the album won Best Female Pop Vocal Album.
In October 2000, Aguilera also released her third studio album, My Kind of Christmas, her first Christmas album, which reached number one on the US Top Holiday Albums chart. The album received generally polarized reviews at the time but has since gone on to retrospectively receive praise. Aguilera starred in a holiday special, My Reflection, which aired on December 3, 2000, on ABC. Aguilera's commercial success saw her being named the 2000 Top Female Pop Act by Billboard. The same year, she also filed a fiduciary duty against manager Steve Kurtz for "improper, undue, and inappropriate influence over her professional activities". She eventually hired Irving Azoff to manage her career, aiming for control of her career and image.
On January 16, 2001, Aguilera featured on Ricky Martin's "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely", which topped charts internationally and peaked at number 13 on the Hot 100, becoming her fifth top-20 hit in the US. She was also listed as one of the most successful artists on the Billboard 200, Hot 100, and Mainstream Top 40 charts—for which the latter she was ranked among the greatest of all time. The song was ranked at number 65 on VH1's "100 Greatest Love Songs", and was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. In April of that year, Aguilera featured alongside Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink on "Lady Marmalade" from the soundtrack for the film, Moulin Rouge! (2001). The song received positive reviews and topped the Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks, becoming Aguilera's fourth number one. The song also won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year.
In August 2001, Warlock Records released Just Be Free, a demo album recorded by Aguilera between 1994 and 1995 while she was looking for a recording deal following the end of The All New Mickey Mouse Club (MMC). She filed a suit against the label and the album's producers, aiming to stop the release of the album; however, both parties came to a confidential settlement to release the album, in which Aguilera lent out her name, likeness, and image for an unspecified amount of damages.
2002–2004: New image with Stripped
With a new management, Aguilera started moving away from her teen pop niche and began working on a new project. She cultivated a new image by adopting the alter ego Xtina, dyeing her hair black, and sporting several tattoos and body piercings. Aguilera's new persona was widely criticized by media outlets. In September 2002, she released the controversial song, "Dirrty", which garnered mixed reviews and peaked as number 48 on Billboard Hot 100. The song's accompanying music video generated controversy for depicting overtly sexual fetishes, and attracted the attention of conservative organizations and moralists who sought to have the video banned on MTV. The video also sparked protests in Thailand and was eventually banned on the country's local television. "Dirrty" topped the charts in the UK and Ireland, and has gone on to become a cult classic.
Aguilera's fourth studio album, Stripped, followed with a release on October 22, 2002. She also executive produced and co-wrote the majority of the songs. Upon release, the album received generally mixed reviews but found commercial success and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, and eventually was certified five times platinum by the RIAA. In the UK, Stripped sold over two million copies and became the second highest-selling album by an American female artists in the 2000s. Since then, it was reported the album sold 12 million copies globally.
The album's second single, "Beautiful", was released to widespread acclaim for its empowering lyrics about embracing inner beauty, also becoming a LGBT anthem. The song reached number two on the Hot 100 and topped the chart in various international countries, including the UK, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. It also reached number one on the US Adult Contemporary chart and the US Dance Club Songs chart. At the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, the single won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. This was followed with the singles — "Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down" and "The Voice Within".
In June 2003, Aguilera co-headlined The Justified & Stripped Tour alongside Justin Timberlake. The joint tour visited North America solely, attracting an audience of 546,483 and grossed over $31.8 million. It ranked sixteenth on Billboard's list of Top 25 Tours of 2003. Later that year, she also embarked on The Stripped Tour in Europe, Asia, and Australia. Her performances at the Wembley Arena were taped, broadcast on WB Network and eventually sold as a video album under the name Stripped Live in the U.K. In early 2004, it was reported that she would return to North America to perform a second leg of her tour but was eventually canceled due to a vocal cord injury.
In August 2003, at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Aguilera opened the show singing "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood" alongside Britney Spears. Halfway through the performance, she was joined by Madonna whom they both kissed, consequently making the performance highly publicized. Various media outlets retrospectively considered it one of the "most iconic" VMAs performances of all time. In 2008, MTV listed the performance as the number-one opening moment in the history of MTV Video Music Awards, while Blender magazine cited it as one of the twenty-five sexiest music moments on television history. In November of that year, Aguilera hosted the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards. She received widespread media attention for dressing up as a nun and being undressed to reveal her underclothes while performing the slutdrop dance style. She was later named Top Female Pop Act of 2003 by Billboard.
In August 2004, Aguilera recorded a cover of "Car Wash" alongside rapper Missy Elliott for the soundtrack of the DreamWorks Animation film Shark Tale. She also voiced a Rastafarian jellyfish in the film. That September, Aguilera was featured on "Tilt Ya Head Back" with rapper Nelly. The songs respectively reached number 63 and 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.
2005–2008: Back to Basics
In early 2005, Aguilera embraced a new image inspired by Old Hollywood figures, debuting burlesque-style curly blonde hair and makeup. Her new persona was eventually adopted to promote her subsequent music project. In March 2006, Aguilera released a duet with Andrea Bocelli, "Somos Novios (It's Impossible)", and performed the song together at the Sanremo Music Festival. She also featured on "A Song for You" by Herbie Hancock which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
In June 2006, Aguilera released "Ain't No Other Man" as her then-forthcoming fifth studio album's lead single, which received critical acclaim and was praised by music critics. Critics compared her vocals on the songs to older singers such as Etta James and Aretha Franklin. The song achieved commercial success, peaked at number six on Billboard Hot 100 and has sold 1.7 million digital copies in the US The single eventually earned her the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Aguilera's fifth studio album, Back to Basics, was released as a double album in August 2006. The album was inspired by 1920s–1950s music and was described as a "throwback with elements of old-school [music] combined with a modern-day twist". The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, marking Aguilera's second number-one album on the chart. It also debuted atop the charts in numerous countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK. The album received positive reviews and was nominated a Best Pop Vocal Album at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards. The album was later certified double platinum by the RIAA, and sold over 5 million units worldwide. "Hurt" and "Candyman" were released as singles following the album's release and reached the top ten on various international charts, and peaked top-thirty on Hot 100.
In November 2006, Aguilera performed "Steppin' Out with My Baby" at NBC's Tony Bennett: An American Classic special as a duet alongside Tony Bennett. The duo performed the song on Saturday Night Live and at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards. Their live performance was nominated a Grammy Award at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. Their version was officially recorded in 2012 for Bennett's Viva Duets. That same month, Aguilera also featured on rapper Diddy's song "Tell Me" which topped the UK R&B Singles chart and number eight in the UK.
At the end of November 2006 until October 2008, Aguilera embarked on the Back to Basics Tour which visited North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. The tour received positive reviews and was divided into acts inspired by juke joints and the circus. Rolling Stone highlighted its "numerous sets and costumes changes" emphasizing Aguilera's "evolution from bubblegum starlet to dirrty vixen to her current incarnation as retro-styled soul siren". With earnings around 48.1 million, the tour was the highest-grossing concert tour by a female in 2007. Additionally, the performances at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre were taped, broadcast on VH1 and sold as a video album under the title Back to Basics: Live and Down Under.
In February 2007, Aguilera performed "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, which received widespread praise and has been noted as one of the best Grammy performances of all time. Her performance has been voted as the 3rd Most Memorable Grammy Performance of all time, as presented in the 2007 CBS television special My Night at the Grammys. That same month she performed at the halftime show for the 2007 NBA All-Star Game.
In April 2008, Aguilera appeared in Martin Scorsese's documentary, Shine a Light (which chronicled a two-day concert by the Rolling Stones at the Beacon Theatre), where she performed "Live with Me" with Mick Jagger. In September, she released "Keeps Gettin' Better" set to feature on her first then-upcoming greatest hits album of the same name. The song received mixed reviews and debuted at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, making it her highest debut on the chart at the time, and has since sold 1.156 million digital copies in the US. She performed the song live at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards alongside a medley. Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits was released in November 2008 to positive reviews, debuting at number nine on Billboard 200 and was later certified gold by the RIAA. The compilation added two original songs (its title track and "Dynamite") and also featured remakes of "Genie in a Bottle" and "Beautiful". By late 2008, Aguilera stated that she had begun working on a new album.
2009–2011: Bionic, Burlesque and The Voice
In 2009, at the end of the 2000s, Aguilera was named the twentieth best "Artist of the Decade" by Billboard, and was nominated for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Act Ever. At the end of 2009, Aguilera stated that her then-forthcoming sixth studio album originally titled Light & Darkness would be released in March 2010. However, by February 2010, Aguilera stated that the album would be retitled and released in June. In April 2010, Aguilera released the lead single, "Not Myself Tonight" which peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. She performed the song live on The Oprah Winfrey Show. This was followed by the album's second single, "Woohoo" featuring rapper Nicki Minaj.
Aguilera released her sixth studio album, Bionic, on June 6, 2010, which debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, and topped the European and the UK charts. The album was inspired by electronic music, and was described by her as a project "about the future" noting that it was inspired by her son who motivated her to "want to play and have fun". The album received generally mixed reviews by critics, with Kitty Empire of The Observer calling it "very strong, but only in parts". It was later certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and sold approximately over one million copies globally. "You Lost Me" and "I Hate Boys" were released as singles in the following month of June. A tour was planned for the album, but was postponed and later cancelled due to prior commitments.
Aguilera landed her first starring role as a waitress turned burlesque performer in the Steven Antin film Burlesque, released in theaters in November 2010. She received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame the same week in which the film premiered. While the film received generally mixed reviews from critics, Aguilera's portrayal of the main character garnered positive reviews, and the film grossed US$90 million in the box office. The film also received a nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 68th Golden Globe Awards.
In addition to starring in the film, Aguilera recorded eight tracks for the film's accompanying soundtrack, while Cher performed the remaining two. The soundtrack reached number 18 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the RIAA. Her song "Bound to You" received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 68th Golden Globe Awards while the album itself was nominated for the Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. Aguilera performed "Express" on the finale of the seventh series of The X Factor UK which received criticism for its raunchy content.
In April 2011, Aguilera became a coach on reality competition show The Voice, which aired on NBC. Aguilera later returned to its second, third, fifth, eighth, and tenth season. For the show's first season, Aguilera's duet of her song "Beautiful" with her finalist, Beverly McClellan, debuted at number 74 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with first-week sales of 42,000 downloads on iTunes. A year later, for the second season, Aguilera's duet of "The Prayer" with her contestant, Chris Mann, also reached 85 on the chart.
In 2011, she featured on the song "Moves like Jagger" by Maroon 5. They first performed the song during their time on The Voice and also performed it at the 2011 American Music Awards. The song received positive reviews and topped the Hot 100 for four non-consecutive weeks, making Aguilera the fourth female artist to top the chart over three decades (1990s, 2000s, and 2010s). The song was also nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. In July 2021, the song was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
2012–2015: Lotus and other projects
During the third season of The Voice in September 2012, Aguilera debuted "Your Body" as the lead single from her then-upcoming seventh studio album. The song received critical acclaim and reached number one on the US Dance Club Song chart and 34 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album, titled Lotus, followed in November 2012, in which Aguilera described the record as a "rebirth" of herself after the personal struggles she overcame. Reviewers found the album generic and conventional, as opposed to Aguilera's previous experimental ventures. Lotus peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200 and has sold 303,000 copies in the US as of 2019. "Just a Fool" with Blake Shelton was released as the album's second single and received positive reviews. The two performed the song live on The Voice and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
On February 22, 2013, Aguilera featured on rapper Pitbull's "Feel This Moment", which became the first of various international top-ten singles she would achieve that year, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming Aguilera's tenth top-ten song, and was later certified platinum by the RIAA. The song garnered positive reviews and was performed at the 2012 American Music Awards, 2013 Kids' Choice Awards, The Voice and 2013 Billboard Music Awards. In May 2013, Aguilera appeared on Alejandro Fernández's cover of Miguel Gallardo's 1976 "Hoy Tengo Ganas de Ti" which received critical acclaim and earned them a diamond certification in Mexico.
On November 4, 2013, Aguilera featured on a duet version of "Say Something" with A Great Big World. The song became an instant success receiving universal acclaim from critics who praised Aguilera's stripped back vocals. The song became Aguilera's second top-tenth hit on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at number 4 and also became the second time she achieved multiple top-ten songs in a calendar year since 2000. They performed the song live on the fifth season of The Voice and 2013 American Music Awards. The song earned them various awards including a six-time platinum certification from the RIAA and won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. In October of that year, Aguilera also lent her vocals to the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire with the song "We Remain". She performed the song live with her contestant Jacquie Lee on The Voice.
On January 1, 2014, Aguilera featured on the remix for "Do What U Want" by Lady Gaga to replace the original version with R. Kelly after his sexual abuse allegations. The two performed the song on the fifth season of The Voice. In May of that year, she performed a medley of hits at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and performed at the 2014 KIIS FM Wango Tango concert. In November, Aguilera performed at the Breakthrough Prize Award ceremony.
In February 2015, Aguilera opened the 2015 NBA All-Star Game alongside The Rockettes and Nas with a New York-themed medley. In April, Aguilera starred in the third season of the musical drama series Nashville, which aired on ABC. She also contributed to the series' soundtrack with "The Real Thing" and "Shotgun" — with the latter reaching number twenty-eight on Hot Country Songs chart. She also performed at the 50th Academy of Country Music Awards alongside the Rascal Flatts.
2016–2020: Liberation and The Xperience
In May 2016, Aguilera exited The Voice following its tenth season, which she won with her contestant Alisan Porter. On the season finale, she performed "I Have Nothing" and "Dangerous Woman"; the latter with Ariana Grande. A month later, Aguilera released the song "Change", in which she dedicated to the victims of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. The ballad received positive reviews and debuted at number five on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. In August 2016, Aguilera recorded a disco song titled "Telepathy" featuring Nile Rodgers for the soundtrack of a Netflix original series, The Get Down (2016). Her vocals were praised by critics and the song reached number one on the Dance Club Songs chart.
In January 2017, Aguilera performed "Stormy Weather" on the ABC television special Taking the Stage: African American Music and Stories That Changed America. In July, she voiced a video-game dancer in The Emoji Movie (2017), with the film also featuring her song "Feel This Moment". She also lent her vocals to the Served Like a Girl documentary film for a song titled "America". In November, Aguilera performed a tribute to Whitney Houston at the 2017 American Music Awards. The tribute received polarized views from fans and critics who praised her vocals but criticized why she was selected over a black artist.
In March 2018, Aguilera announced the completion of her then-upcoming eighth studio album alongside a Paper Magazine cover which received media coverage. Aguilera released her eighth studio album Liberation on June 15, 2018, to favorable reviews. The album had been in the works since the summer of 2015 and incorporated R&B and hip-hop elements. Liberation debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming Aguilera's seventh US top-ten album. The album was promoted with multiple singles, including the preceding lead single, "Accelerate" featuring Ty Dolla Sign and 2 Chainz, which became Aguilera's tenth number one song on the US Billboard Dance Songs Chart. Two other singles from the album, "Fall in Line" (with Demi Lovato) and "Like I Do", were nominated at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Rap/Sung Performance respectively.
To further promote Liberation, Aguilera embarked on her first tour in 10 years, The Liberation Tour, which ran from September to November 2018 in the US. The tour received positive reviews from critics who praised Aguilera's vocals and stage presence. Billboard named the tour one of the best 2018 live shows, and it was ranked at 132 on Pollstar's 2018 Year-End Top 200 North American Tours chart with a total gross of $8.7 million with an attendance of 77,854. She also starred in the romantic science fiction Zoe, which premiered at the Tribeca Film festival and was released in July of that year. At the end of 2018, Aguilera performed a medley of her songs on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.
In May 2019, Aguilera began headlining her first concert residency, Christina Aguilera: The Xperience, a 25-date show at the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas which concluded in March 2020. In between the residency, from July to December 2019, Aguilera also embarked on The X Tour, which served as the international counterpart to The Liberation Tour, running throughout Europe and Latin America.
In October 2019, Aguilera released the song "Haunted Heart" from the soundtrack of the animated film, The Addams Family, and her second collaboration with A Great Big World, "Fall on Me", followed a month later. The former received critical acclaim from critics, was nominated for Best Original Song in an Animated Film at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards and topped the US Kid Digital Song Sales chart.
In early 2020, Aguilera recorded two songs for Disney's live action remake of Mulan (2020): "Loyal Brave True" – released in March 2020 as a promotional single to positive reviews, eventually being shortlisted as one of the fifteen potential nominees for the Academy Award for Best Original Song – and a re-recording of "Reflection", released in August. That year, she appeared on the ABC television special, The Disney Family Singalong and its follow-up, where she performed "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and "Remember Me" respectively. In November of that year, Aguilera signed a new management deal with Roc Nation.
2021–present: Aguilera and Voltaire residency
In July 2021, Aguilera performed two sold-out shows at the Hollywood Bowl with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She also recorded "The Addams Family Theme", which was featured on The Addams Family 2 soundtrack. In October, she performed "Reflection", "When You Wish Upon a Star" and "Loyal Brave True" for ABC's Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary special. On December 7, 2021, Aguilera was honored with the People's Music Icon honorific award at the 47th People's Choice Awards.
Aguilera released her ninth studio album, titled Aguilera, originally as a double album on May 31, 2022. The album paid tribute to different genres of Latin music, and consisted of three separately released parts: La Fuerza, La Tormenta, and La Luz. The full album was released in its complete form on September 30, 2022. The album was preceded with the singles "Pa Mis Muchachas", "Somos Nada", "Santo" and followed with "Suéltame" and "No Es Que Te Extrañe". Aguilera received widespread critical acclaim from music critics upon release, and was placed on several year-end lists by publications such as Billboard and the Houston Chronicle. The album was promoted through the EU / UK Summer Series promotional tour, which consisted of five festival shows throughout Europe and three arena concerts in the United Kingdom. The promotional tour received critical praise.
Aguilera and its songs received seven nominations at the 23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards with the album winning for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. The album also received another two nominations for Best Latin Pop Album and Best Immersive Audio Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. "No Es Que Te Extrañe" was also nominated for Record of the Year at the 24th Annual Latin Grammy Awards.
On June 11, 2022, Aguilera headlined the Los Angeles Pride festival with guests Mýa, Kim Petras and Paris Hilton. The use of a strap-on dildo during the set was the subject of polarized reception. In October 2022, Stripped was reissued for its 20-year anniversary, featuring "I Will Be" (the b-side to "Dirrty") and Benny Benassi's remix of "Beautiful". A new music video for "Beautiful" was also released. On November 10, 2022, Time Studios announced a partnership with Roc Nation to produce an upcoming documentary about Aguilera.
On September 22, 2023, Aguilera released "Learning to Fly" as a part of the soundtrack for PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie. The same month she performed at the EuroPride concert in Malta. At the end of the month, it was reported that Aguilera would executive produce a stage adaptation of Burlesque which eventually made its debut in 2024, and its West End debut in July 2025. In December 2023, Aguilera began her second residency, Christina Aguilera at Voltaire, at The Venetian Las Vegas which ran until August 2024. In May 2024, it was reported that Aguilera had parted ways with RCA and signed with 5020 Records, a label distributed by Sony Music Latin.
In September 2024, Aguilera announced a "Spotify Anniversaries" performance for the 25th anniversary of her debut album. The performances were released on both YouTube as a recording, and Spotify as an extended play on September 23, while featuring appearances from Machine Gun Kelly and Sabrina Carpenter. In December, the EP was named one of the best albums of the year by HuffPost. In 2025, Aguilera headlined the September 2025 Portola Music Festival. A month later, Deadline reported that she is set to star in a theatrical concert film under the working title Christina Aguilera: Christmas in Paris directed by Sam Wrench, in support of the 25th anniversary of her Christmas album.
Artistry
Influences
Aguilera has named Etta James as a "role model", and said "At Last" made a major impression on her. She later stated, "I'll still be as raunchy as I wanna be, and I'll have [Etta]'s memory to back me up. She's what I want to be someday". As a young girl, The Sound of Music (1959) and its lead actress, Julie Andrews, became her early references to sing and perform, in addition to broadening her interest on Broadway. Aguilera's other major influences include Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. She has also cited rock bands as an influence, specifically the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, and Radiohead.
Aguilera was also influenced by Latin music. She later recalled singing her first songs in Spanish during childhood, saying: "I grew up hearing [Spanish] being spoken in my household [and] hearing a lot of Julio Iglesias on the record player". Some of her other inspirations in Latin music include Chavela Vargas, Vicente Fernández, and younger artists such Rosalía. As a performer, Aguilera credits Madonna and Janet Jackson as major inspirations for being "positive female artists [who] aren't afraid to take chances, be daring, experimental and sexy". Cher also encouraged her to be a performer and "a woman who has the guts to do [everything]".
Aguilera's childhood visits to records stores moulded her taste and led to an appreciation for blues and soul music, which she called "music that really had heart". Her music has also paid homage to many artists from this genre, including Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone, and Otis Redding. Her album Back to Basics (2006) features inspirations of musicians from the early 20th century. As she later commented: "I was just so drawn to that [kind of music] ... [It] has so much pain, so much beauty of raw emotion and passion". Her other influences in the genre was added for Liberation (2018), including Michael Jackson in "Maria" and Janis Joplin in "Sick of Sittin'".
Outside of the music industry, Aguilera was inspired by actresses from the Old Hollywood. She later stated, "I'm fascinated with the golden age of film. I wanted to capture the authenticity of the glam era", after which she cited examples such as Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo, Veronica Lake, and the pin-up models. Her "Tilt Ya Head Back" music video also recreated Monroe's signature look, while the video for "Your Body" includes a reference to Lucille Ball. The video for "Ain't No Other Man" presented Aguilera under the alter ego Baby Jane, which was inspired by Bette Davis's character in psychological horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). Her other inspirations mostly came from art works, including those by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Banksy.
Voice
Critics have described Aguilera as a soprano, possessing a four-octave vocal range. She is also able to perform the whistle register. Maura Johnston, a journalist with Slate, called Aguilera's voice "an instrument that despite its ability to leap octaves has a low-end grounding similar to that possessed by opera singers". The Boston Globe columnist Joan Anderman highlighted her vocal versatility: "[She] is a real singer ... blessed with the sort of breathtaking elasticity, golden tones, and sheer power that separate the divas from the dabblers". In addition to sustain high notes, Aguilera is recognized for making use of the melismatic technique. Jon Pareles from The New York Times emphasized that "she can aim a note as directly as a missile or turn its trajectory into an aerobatic spiral of leaping, quivering, and scalloping melismas". Ron Fair—A&R executive from RCA Records—was impressed by her "perfect intonation", and concluded: "She's got the pipes to be the next Barbra Streisand or Céline Dion".
Aguilera's singing technique also yielded comparisons to other singers. Journalist David Browne suggested that, alongside Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, she "forms the team of the main proponents" of the melismatic technique. Richard Harrington from The Washington Post also noticed similarities with both artists: "She has a genuinely powerful voice that's evoked comparisons [to them], though it for the most part avoids those singers' ornamental mannerisms". The New Yorker columnist Sasha Frere-Jones also credited the technique by making her become "a serious singer without needing to reincarnate the Sarah Vaughan". Songwriter Steve Kipner praises Aguilera's vocal dexterity, including her ability to "internalize[d] all the riffs from Chaka Khan". Los Angeles Times music critic Ann Powers wrote that she possesses a "voice purely powerful as that of Etta James [...] and she's moving toward the expressiveness of Gladys Knight, if not Aretha Franklin". Powers also associated her vocal ability with Donna Summer when she performs records influenced by rhythm and blues. Minneapolis Star Tribune noted that "She has the best voice of the bunch — big, rich, soulful."
However, Aguilera has also been criticized for the frequent use of melisma, as well as for her style of singing live during concerts. HuffPost columnist John Eskow called her "the main proponent of oversouling". Eskow praised Aguilera's voice as a "great instrument", though complained she did not "seem to know when to stop" with the use of "gratuitous and confected melisma". Lucy Davies, music critic from BBC Music, raved about her "stunning voice", but offered that "she could be more varied, simply by cutting out some of the 'ye-e-eeeh, woah' in her songs". Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Chris Willman credits Aguilera's singing style as an influence of Mariah Carey, noting "her slightly nasal tone that really only becomes obvious when she's overselling a song". Alexa Tietjen from VH1 acknowledged that Aguilera "does tend to take it to the extreme at times [...] but her vocal prowess is what's gotten her so far. Love them or hate them, the riffs are a part of who she is as performer".
Musical style
Aguilera's discography is generally categorized as pop, contemporary R&B, soul, and hip-hop. According to critics, she has also experimented with other musical genres in her works. In a 2008 interview, she explained that she is "always inspired by new things" in music and enjoys "experimenting with [her] voice". Alexis Petridis from The Guardian considered the "boldness in [continually] reinventing" her music as "one of her most impressive facets" as an artist. Initially established as a bubblegum pop singer, she mixed teen pop and dance-pop on her first records, Christina Aguilera (1999) and Mi Reflejo (2000), with the latter also taking inspiration from numerous genres in Latin music.
Moving away from the teen niche, Aguilera's post-2000 material mainly incorporated R&B and hip-hop. Listed as an executive producer on Stripped (2002), she mixed both genres with Latin pop, rock, neo-soul, gospel, among others, while Back to Basics (2006) was described as a "throwback with elements of old-school genres combined with a modern-day twist [and] hard-hitting beats". She continued merging R&B with other musical styles on Burlesque (2010), as well on Liberation (2018), which also features hip-hop, soul and blues elements.
The show tune "Lady Marmalade" is noted as Aguilera's first musical transformation, which RCA Records initially felt was "too urban". Despite the renewal in her repertoire, Aguilera continued producing power ballads—which became a signature in her discography—in between her uptempo material. Kelefa Sanneh, music critic from The New York Times, observed the continuous modification in her music, in addition to highlighting her "decision to snub some of the big-name producers on whom pop stars often rely". Her sonically drastic ventures include the subversive "galactic pop" on Bionic (2010), electropop club on Lotus (2012), and Mexican ranchera numbers on Aguilera (2022).
Cultural status
Throughout her career, Aguilera has been called a pop icon, a gay icon, a triple threat entertainer, and a fashion icon. She has been ranked among the greatest singers of all time and referred to as the "Voice of a Generation". She has been labeled a "diva" for her stardom and persona, garnering polarized views, and various comparisons to Mariah Carey. She has attracted criticism for wearing revealing clothes, and has been called a sex symbol. Aguilera has also been noted for her closely affiliation with The Walt Disney Company, being honoured as a Disney Legend in 2019.
She has often received media attention for her reinventions. In the early 2000s, Aguilera rose to fame as a teen idol with her bubblegum pop eponymous debut album. Various images she took on included a provocative image following the release of her single "Dirrty", an old Hollywood image, and a futuristic look. She was later ranked as one of the most successful artists of the 2000s decade by Billboard. In the 2010s, Aguilera saw moderate success with her music while spending six seasons as a coach on The Voice. Aguilera's personal struggles were often highlighted in the media. She saw a musical comeback with Liberation (2018).
Throughout her career, Aguilera has faced media attention for her physical appearances with some journalists noting that she has often received body shaming critical comments. She was named one of the artists who revived teen pop in the late 1990s. Aguilera has also been a significant figure in helping reshape the "Latin explosion" in the late 1990s and contributed to the Latin pop boom in American music with her album Mi Reflejo (2000), which went on to become the best-selling Latin pop album of all time. She has also been noted for honouring her Ecuadorian roots throughout her career.
She has heavily incorporated controversial themes in her music. Various themes include feminism, sexuality, defending the sex-positive movement, domestic violence, among others. Gerrick D. Kennedy writing for the Los Angeles Times opined that Aguilera "tackled subject matters her contemporaries were shying away from" which made her stand out amongst her peers in the early 2000s. The impact of her videography, particularly the music videos for "Dirrty" and "Beautiful", has also been analyzed by music critics. Subsequently, Aguilera has influenced and inspired several acts and artists in industries worldwide.
Achievements
Aguilera has accumulated numerous awards and honorary accolades throughout her career. At the age of 19, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, becoming one of the youngest artists to receive the award. Aguilera received four other trophies from twenty nominations by The Recording Academy. She is also a recipient of two Latin Grammy Awards, three Billboard Latin Music Awards—including the Spirit of Hope Award—, two MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), two People's Choice Awards—including the inaugural Music Icon Award—, three World Music Awards, and one Guinness World Record. Aguilera is also one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 100 million records sold worldwide. Among other honors, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010 "recognition of her achievements in the recording industry". Billboard ranked her at number 20 on its 2025 "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list.
Other activities
Business ventures and wealth
As a businesswoman, Aguilera has been selling her own products and investing in multiple companies. In 2008, she became co-owner of LAX nightclub at the Luxor Las Vegas alongside DJ AM. In 2015, she founded the MX Productions & Investments in partnership with fiancée Matthew Rutler, for which they was included in the investors' group of Pinterest, DraftKings, Lyft and MasterClass enterprises. Aguilera also joined the ownership group of Angel City FC, a National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) expansion team, and sexual wellness brand Playground. In March 2015, Aguilera and Rutler signed a deal with Lions Gate Entertainment to developed both scripted and unscripted projects which eventually was acquired by ABC Family and Spike TV networks. In 2022, she was named chief culture officer of The Fun Wine Company.
In 2007, Aguilera signed a long-term deal with Procter & Gamble (P&G) and created the Christina Aguilera Fragrances, which has been sold in North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe. In addition to scents, the brand manufactures body lotions, body sprays, and deodorants whose products was ranked among the United Kingdom best-sellers in 2007, 2009 and 2010. In January 2016, the line was reported to sold over $80 million. Her fragrances also received numerous accolades, including at the Duftstars Awards and FiFi Awards. During São Paulo Fashion Week in 2011, Aguilera debuted her first clothes line which was mostly sold in Brazilian department stores C&A. In partnership with American Greetings, she featured in customized birthday video cards which was sold online in 2021 and eventually won a Clio Awards.
During her career, Aguilera has been involved in marketing initiatives and endorsed numerous brands including Sears, Levi's, Skechers, Mercedes-Benz, Virgin Mobile, Orange UK, Sony Ericsson, Oreo, SweeTarts, Just Eat, Lieferando, Menulog, Merz Aesthetics, and Grindr. In 2001, she starred in a series of television advertising to Coca-Cola, which was aired in Latin America and the United States. Media outlets reported the deal signed by Aguilera to be worth up to £50 million. Aguilera also shot a global scale advertising campaign alongside South Korean singer Rain to promote Pepsi during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Other Aguilera's endorses included a clothing line by Versace in 2003, and a collection of sterling silver pieces designed by Stephen Webster in 2008. On June 28, 2004, she received £200,000 to open the summer sale at the London's department store Harrods. In 2008, Aguilera was paid $1.5 million to submit pictures of her first child to People, becoming the ninth most expensive celebrity baby photograph ever taken.
In 2000, Aguilera was among the biggest moneymakers in the music business with over £65 million earned with album sales, merchandising and licensing deals according to VH1. In January 2008, she was ranked 19th on Forbes' list of Top-Earning Women in Music of 2007 with earnings of $20 million. The previous year, she was also included on their list of richest women in entertainment industry, with an estimated net worth of $60 million. In August 2022, Aguilera's net worth was reported to be $160 million.
Philanthropy and activism
Referred to as a humanitarian, Aguilera has done philanthropic works during her career. In 2003, she visited the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh and provided a donation over $200,000 in support for victims of domestic violence. In addition to starred in television advertisings on the Lifetime network calling for the end of violence against women in 2007, she partnered with Verizon in a campaign to awareness about violence domestic in 2015. She later destined proceeds from the Christina Aguilera: The Xperience (2019–2020) residency to The Shade Tree, a women and children's center in Las Vegas, Nevada. In October 2019, Aguilera efforts against domestic violence earned her the Bonnie Polley Community Hero Award.
In 2009, Aguilera became the global spokesperson for the World Food Program, a branch of the United Nations (UN). She visited countries with high rates of malnutrions, including Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti and Rwanda. As of 2013, it was reported she helped raise over $148 million to the organization and other hunger relief agencies in 45 countries. Aguilera's efforts eventually earned her the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards and George McGovern Leadership Awards—which she received in the White House from the former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Her other philanthropy initiatives included donations of her wedding gifts to charities in support of families affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and concerts to urges donations to the American Red Cross due Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
In 2010, Aguilera auctioned tickets to her concerts through Christie's, earmarking the proceeds to non-profit environmental organizations, including Conservation International and the Natural Resources Defense Council. In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she auctioned off a Chrysler 300 and destined proceeds to support disaster victims and their families. Additionally, Aguilera appeared on the Hope for Haiti Now telethon, whose donations directly benefited Oxfam America, Partners In Health, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and UNICEF. She also was praised by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for signed an open letter destined to Government of South Korea appealing to the ban of consumption of dogs and cats, and for using fake fox fur in concerts costumes.
As a LGBT rights activist, Aguilera was lauded for calling out myths around HIV/AIDS, in addition to raising awareness about the virus and raising funds for the Mac AIDS Fund and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In 2008, she advocated for same-sex marriage and spoke out against Proposition 8. During an interview with MTV News, she stated "Why would you put so much money behind something [aimed at] stopping people from loving each other? I just don't understand it". In June 2016, Aguilera released single "Change", which was aimed to raise proceeds to the victim's families and survivors of the Orlando nightclub shooting. During The X Tour (2019), Aguilera visited Russia and "blessed" a gay marriage proposal in the backstage, contrary to the country's laws against "gay propaganda".
Personal life
From 2000 to September 2001, Aguilera dated dancer Jorge Santos, whom she met whilst filming one of her music videos. She began dating music executive Jordan Bratman in late 2002. They got engaged in February 2005. On November 19, 2005, they married on an estate in Napa County, California, holding a private traditional Jewish ceremony. They have a son, Max Liron Bratman, born in 2008. In September 2010, the couple had separated and she filed for divorce in October 2010, which was finalized in April 2011 and included joint custody of their son.
In November 2010, Aguilera began dating production assistant Matthew Rutler, whom she met while filming the musical Burlesque. Aguilera was arrested for public intoxication in March 2011, while Rutler was booked for driving under the influence. However, the charges were dropped against Rutler the following month. In 2014, they became engaged on Valentine's Day. Later that year, Aguilera gave birth to their daughter, Summer Rain Rutler.
After being raised Catholic, she learned about Judaism in the mid-2000s. In 2022, she opened up about depression and anxiety, stating "I experienced a lot of trauma in my childhood [...] I've definitely had struggles in the past with depression and anxiety. It's a constant battle to overcome a mind that is anxious, a mind that is always second-guessing". Aguilera has also been sharing about insecurity and struggling with body image early in her career.
In 2007, Aguilera purchased a Mediterranean-style mansion in Beverly Hills for $11.5 million, which she sold for $13.5 million in March 2013. Shortly afterwards, she acquired a house in the Mulholland Estates' private enclave, at the Santa Monica Mountains, for $10 million and currently resides with her family.
Discography
Studio albums
Christina Aguilera (1999)
Mi Reflejo (2000)
My Kind of Christmas (2000)
Stripped (2002)
Back to Basics (2006)
Bionic (2010)
Lotus (2012)
Liberation (2018)
Aguilera (2022)
Filmography
Burlesque (2010)
The Emoji Movie (2017)
Zoe (2018)
Theater
Burlesque (2024); producer, co-composer and lyricist
Tours and residencies
See also
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of best-selling music artists
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
List of highest paid American television stars
References
Sources
Further reading
Scott, Kieran (2001). I Was a Mousketeer!. Disney Press. ISBN 978-0-7868-4470-8.
External links
Official website
Christina Aguilera at AllMusic
Christina Aguilera discography at Discogs
Christina Aguilera at IMDb
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Christina María Aguilera ( AG-il-AIR-ə, Spanish: [kɾisˈtina maˈɾi.a aɣiˈleɾa]; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Recognized as an influential figure in music and having received widespread public interest, she is noted for her four-octave vocal range extending into the whistle register, artistic reinventions, and incorporating controversial themes into her music. Referred to as the "Voice of a Generation", she was also named a Disney Legend, in recognition of her contributions to the Walt Disney Company.
After appearing on The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1993–1994), Aguilera recorded the theme song, "Reflection", for the animated film Mulan (1998) and signed a record deal with RCA Records. She rose to fame in 1999 with her self-titled debut album, which topped the US Billboard 200 and garnered three US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come on Over Baby (All I Want is You)". Seeking a departure from her teen idol image, Aguilera took on a more provocative image on Stripped (2002), one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. After another old-school-inspired musical reinvention, she released her second number-one album in the US, Back to Basics (2006). Throughout these periods, she amassed various worldwide hits, including "Lady Marmalade", "Dirrty", "Beautiful" and "Ain't No Other Man".
During the early 2010s, Aguilera featured on a string of worldwide top ten songs, including "Moves like Jagger", "Feel This Moment" and "Say Something"; the first of these topped the Hot 100, making her one of the few artists to peak over three decades. She also starred in the film Burlesque (2010) and contributed to its soundtrack, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination. Her concurrent ventures included a role in the television series Nashville (2015); roles in the films The Emoji Movie (2017) and Zoe (2018); becoming an ambassador for the World Food Programme (WFP); co-founding the company Playground; and serving as a coach on the reality competition show The Voice (2011–2016).
Aguilera is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 100 million records sold worldwide. She has been named one of the most successful artists of the 2000s by Billboard and was listed among the greatest singers of all time by Rolling Stone. Aguilera has been regarded as one of the most influential Latin artists in the entertainment industry, having helped shape the "Latin explosion" in the early 2000s. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, two Latin Grammy Awards, six ALMA Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, a Billboard Music Award, a Guinness World Record, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Early life
Christina María Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980, in Ocean Breeze, New York, at Staten Island University Hospital, to Shelly Loraine (née Fidler) and Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera. Her father is an Ecuadorian emigrant from Guayaquil while her mother has German, Irish, Welsh, and Dutch ancestry. Fausto Aguilera was a United States Army sergeant, and Shelly Loraine was a violinist in the American Youth Symphony before becoming a Spanish translator.
Due to Fausto's military service, Aguilera's family moved frequently. She lived in Grasmere, New York before moving to New Jersey and Texas. In 1983, they moved to Japan and lived in Sagamihara for at least two years. During her youth in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, Aguilera attended North Allegheny Intermediate High School before leaving there to be homeschooled to avoid bullying she experienced at school.
In 1986, the family returned to the United States, and settled in Pennsylvania, where they welcomed her younger sister, Rachel, in 1986. Aguilera has spoken out about her father's physically and emotionally abusive behavior. She noted that this is what made her turn to music, noting that, "growing up in an unstable environment and whatnot, music was my only real escape". In 1987, Shelly filed to divorce Fausto and moved with Aguilera and Rachel to her mother's home in Rochester, a suburb of Pittsburgh. She later married James Kearns and had a son with him named Michael. In 2012, following decades of estrangement, Aguilera expressed interest in reconciling with her biological father.
Aguilera moving to her grandmother's home allowed her to explore her grandmother's records, which featured mostly soul and blues singers and increased her interest in music. She also began to practice singing in public and competing in talent contests. Following numerous contests, she earned a reputation in her neighborhood as the "little girl with a big voice" and received widespread attention from local television and radio programs.
In 1990, she performed the popular song "A Sunday Kind of Love" on the reality competition show Star Search, but was eliminated during the semi-final round. Aguilera was eventually invited to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, Pittsburgh Steelers football, and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games, and at the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals.
Career
1993–1998: Career beginnings
In 1991, Aguilera auditioned for the television series The All New Mickey Mouse Club (MMC), which aired on the Disney Channel. She ran against 400 candidates, and while she made the shortlist, she was ultimately rejected for not meeting the minimum age requirement. One year later, in 1992, Aguilera received a call from one of the show's producers asking if she was still interested in becoming a "Mouseketeer". She once again competed for a spot (this time, against 15,000 candidates) and was selected to join the variety program the following year. Her fellow cast members included Ryan Gosling, Keri Russell, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and JC Chasez. During the show recordings—which included Aguilera performing musical numbers and comedy sketches—she moved with her family to Orlando, Florida. In 1995, it was reported the series would not return for a new season.
Aiming to begin a music career, Aguilera moved to Japan in 1997. She was selected to record a duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi, with whom she performed in concert shows around the country. Their song, "All I Wanna Do", was released as a single but failed to reach commercial success. In June 1997, Aguilera went on to Romania to represent the United States in a singers contest during the Golden Stag Festival, failing to win over the audience.
Seeking a recording contract, Aguilera recorded numerous demo tapes directed to record labels, including Walt Disney Records, for which she sent a cover of "Run to You" by Whitney Houston. She eventually was chosen to record "Reflection", the theme song from the animated film Mulan (1998), which reached number 15 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Following the attention she received with "Reflection", Aguilera caught the ear of Ron Fair, the A&R executive from RCA Records, who consequently signed Aguilera to the label. In late 1998, she began to record her debut studio album, for which producers reportedly invested over $1 million worth of writers, producers and vocal lessons.
1999–2001: Christina Aguilera, Mi Reflejo, and My Kind of Christmas
In May 1999, Aguilera released "Genie in a Bottle", the lead single off her long-awaited debut album, which topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks and became the second best-selling single of 1999. The song became an international success, increasing Aguilera's popularity worldwide, topping the charts in over 20 countries. The single also attracted the attention of conservatives including celebrities such as Debbie Gibson that spoke out against its lyrical content, and was eventually considered "too provocative" to be sung by a teen idol. Due to the criticism, Radio Disney replaced the song with a censored version. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Aguilera's self-titled debut album, Christina Aguilera, was released on August 24, 1999, to critical praise, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200. It catapulted Aguilera into fame globally and sold over ten million copies in its first year. It was later certified eight times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and it has sold over 17 million copies worldwide. Originally, Aguilera's desire was to create material inspired by R&B and soul, but the label opted for a more teen pop production due the genre's high financial return in the late 1990s. At the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, Aguilera won the Best New Artist category for which Time credited the award for "[helping] certify her credentials as a real singer".
After the album's release, "What a Girl Wants", topped the Hot 100 and is recognized as the first new number one entry on the chart for the 2000s decade. The song was also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. This was followed with "I Turn to You" which reached number 3, and "Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" which became Aguilera's third number one song and achieved worldwide success. She also released a cover of "The Christmas Song" in November 1999, which peaked at number 18 and became the second-highest charting position of the song after the original in 1944.
In January 2000, Aguilera performed at the Super Bowl XXXIV halftime show alongside Enrique Iglesias, Phil Collins and Toni Braxton. In May, she embarked on her debut concert tour, Christina Aguilera in Concert, which toured North America, Latin America, Europe, and Japan until February 2001. Her success continued to rise with the release of her second studio album, Mi Reflejo, in September 2000 which topped both the Billboard Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums for nineteen consecutive weeks. The album featured Spanish-language versions of several songs from her debut album along with new songs, and had Latin pop themes. Three singles were release for the album including the Spanish version of "Come on Over Baby (All I Want is You)" titled "Ven Conmigo (Solamente Tú)", "Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti" and "Falsas Esperanzas". The latter two were performed at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. The album went on to be the best-selling Latin pop album of 2000 and was later certified six times Latin platinum by the RIAA. Mi Reflejo also reached the platinum stats in Argentina, Mexico, and Spain. At the 2nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards, the album won Best Female Pop Vocal Album.
In October 2000, Aguilera also released her third studio album, My Kind of Christmas, her first Christmas album, which reached number one on the US Top Holiday Albums chart. The album received generally polarized reviews at the time but has since gone on to retrospectively receive praise. Aguilera starred in a holiday special, My Reflection, which aired on December 3, 2000, on ABC. Aguilera's commercial success saw her being named the 2000 Top Female Pop Act by Billboard. The same year, she also filed a fiduciary duty against manager Steve Kurtz for "improper, undue, and inappropriate influence over her professional activities". She eventually hired Irving Azoff to manage her career, aiming for control of her career and image.
On January 16, 2001, Aguilera featured on Ricky Martin's "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely", which topped charts internationally and peaked at number 13 on the Hot 100, becoming her fifth top-20 hit in the US. She was also listed as one of the most successful artists on the Billboard 200, Hot 100, and Mainstream Top 40 charts—for which the latter she was ranked among the greatest of all time. The song was ranked at number 65 on VH1's "100 Greatest Love Songs", and was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. In April of that year, Aguilera featured alongside Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink on "Lady Marmalade" from the soundtrack for the film, Moulin Rouge! (2001). The song received positive reviews and topped the Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks, becoming Aguilera's fourth number one. The song also won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year.
In August 2001, Warlock Records released Just Be Free, a demo album recorded by Aguilera between 1994 and 1995 while she was looking for a recording deal following the end of The All New Mickey Mouse Club (MMC). She filed a suit against the label and the album's producers, aiming to stop the release of the album; however, both parties came to a confidential settlement to release the album, in which Aguilera lent out her name, likeness, and image for an unspecified amount of damages.
2002–2004: New image with Stripped
With a new management, Aguilera started moving away from her teen pop niche and began working on a new project. She cultivated a new image by adopting the alter ego Xtina, dyeing her hair black, and sporting several tattoos and body piercings. Aguilera's new persona was widely criticized by media outlets. In September 2002, she released the controversial song, "Dirrty", which garnered mixed reviews and peaked as number 48 on Billboard Hot 100. The song's accompanying music video generated controversy for depicting overtly sexual fetishes, and attracted the attention of conservative organizations and moralists who sought to have the video banned on MTV. The video also sparked protests in Thailand and was eventually banned on the country's local television. "Dirrty" topped the charts in the UK and Ireland, and has gone on to become a cult classic.
Aguilera's fourth studio album, Stripped, followed with a release on October 22, 2002. She also executive produced and co-wrote the majority of the songs. Upon release, the album received generally mixed reviews but found commercial success and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, and eventually was certified five times platinum by the RIAA. In the UK, Stripped sold over two million copies and became the second highest-selling album by an American female artists in the 2000s. Since then, it was reported the album sold 12 million copies globally.
The album's second single, "Beautiful", was released to widespread acclaim for its empowering lyrics about embracing inner beauty, also becoming a LGBT anthem. The song reached number two on the Hot 100 and topped the chart in various international countries, including the UK, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. It also reached number one on the US Adult Contemporary chart and the US Dance Club Songs chart. At the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, the single won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. This was followed with the singles — "Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down" and "The Voice Within".
In June 2003, Aguilera co-headlined The Justified & Stripped Tour alongside Justin Timberlake. The joint tour visited North America solely, attracting an audience of 546,483 and grossed over $31.8 million. It ranked sixteenth on Billboard's list of Top 25 Tours of 2003. Later that year, she also embarked on The Stripped Tour in Europe, Asia, and Australia. Her performances at the Wembley Arena were taped, broadcast on WB Network and eventually sold as a video album under the name Stripped Live in the U.K. In early 2004, it was reported that she would return to North America to perform a second leg of her tour but was eventually canceled due to a vocal cord injury.
In August 2003, at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Aguilera opened the show singing "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood" alongside Britney Spears. Halfway through the performance, she was joined by Madonna whom they both kissed, consequently making the performance highly publicized. Various media outlets retrospectively considered it one of the "most iconic" VMAs performances of all time. In 2008, MTV listed the performance as the number-one opening moment in the history of MTV Video Music Awards, while Blender magazine cited it as one of the twenty-five sexiest music moments on television history. In November of that year, Aguilera hosted the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards. She received widespread media attention for dressing up as a nun and being undressed to reveal her underclothes while performing the slutdrop dance style. She was later named Top Female Pop Act of 2003 by Billboard.
In August 2004, Aguilera recorded a cover of "Car Wash" alongside rapper Missy Elliott for the soundtrack of the DreamWorks Animation film Shark Tale. She also voiced a Rastafarian jellyfish in the film. That September, Aguilera was featured on "Tilt Ya Head Back" with rapper Nelly. The songs respectively reached number 63 and 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.
2005–2008: Back to Basics
In early 2005, Aguilera embraced a new image inspired by Old Hollywood figures, debuting burlesque-style curly blonde hair and makeup. Her new persona was eventually adopted to promote her subsequent music project. In March 2006, Aguilera released a duet with Andrea Bocelli, "Somos Novios (It's Impossible)", and performed the song together at the Sanremo Music Festival. She also featured on "A Song for You" by Herbie Hancock which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
In June 2006, Aguilera released "Ain't No Other Man" as her then-forthcoming fifth studio album's lead single, which received critical acclaim and was praised by music critics. Critics compared her vocals on the songs to older singers such as Etta James and Aretha Franklin. The song achieved commercial success, peaked at number six on Billboard Hot 100 and has sold 1.7 million digital copies in the US The single eventually earned her the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Aguilera's fifth studio album, Back to Basics, was released as a double album in August 2006. The album was inspired by 1920s–1950s music and was described as a "throwback with elements of old-school [music] combined with a modern-day twist". The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, marking Aguilera's second number-one album on the chart. It also debuted atop the charts in numerous countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK. The album received positive reviews and was nominated a Best Pop Vocal Album at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards. The album was later certified double platinum by the RIAA, and sold over 5 million units worldwide. "Hurt" and "Candyman" were released as singles following the album's release and reached the top ten on various international charts, and peaked top-thirty on Hot 100.
In November 2006, Aguilera performed "Steppin' Out with My Baby" at NBC's Tony Bennett: An American Classic special as a duet alongside Tony Bennett. The duo performed the song on Saturday Night Live and at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards. Their live performance was nominated a Grammy Award at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. Their version was officially recorded in 2012 for Bennett's Viva Duets. That same month, Aguilera also featured on rapper Diddy's song "Tell Me" which topped the UK R&B Singles chart and number eight in the UK.
At the end of November 2006 until October 2008, Aguilera embarked on the Back to Basics Tour which visited North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. The tour received positive reviews and was divided into acts inspired by juke joints and the circus. Rolling Stone highlighted its "numerous sets and costumes changes" emphasizing Aguilera's "evolution from bubblegum starlet to dirrty vixen to her current incarnation as retro-styled soul siren". With earnings around 48.1 million, the tour was the highest-grossing concert tour by a female in 2007. Additionally, the performances at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre were taped, broadcast on VH1 and sold as a video album under the title Back to Basics: Live and Down Under.
In February 2007, Aguilera performed "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, which received widespread praise and has been noted as one of the best Grammy performances of all time. Her performance has been voted as the 3rd Most Memorable Grammy Performance of all time, as presented in the 2007 CBS television special My Night at the Grammys. That same month she performed at the halftime show for the 2007 NBA All-Star Game.
In April 2008, Aguilera appeared in Martin Scorsese's documentary, Shine a Light (which chronicled a two-day concert by the Rolling Stones at the Beacon Theatre), where she performed "Live with Me" with Mick Jagger. In September, she released "Keeps Gettin' Better" set to feature on her first then-upcoming greatest hits album of the same name. The song received mixed reviews and debuted at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, making it her highest debut on the chart at the time, and has since sold 1.156 million digital copies in the US. She performed the song live at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards alongside a medley. Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits was released in November 2008 to positive reviews, debuting at number nine on Billboard 200 and was later certified gold by the RIAA. The compilation added two original songs (its title track and "Dynamite") and also featured remakes of "Genie in a Bottle" and "Beautiful". By late 2008, Aguilera stated that she had begun working on a new album.
2009–2011: Bionic, Burlesque and The Voice
In 2009, at the end of the 2000s, Aguilera was named the twentieth best "Artist of the Decade" by Billboard, and was nominated for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Act Ever. At the end of 2009, Aguilera stated that her then-forthcoming sixth studio album originally titled Light & Darkness would be released in March 2010. However, by February 2010, Aguilera stated that the album would be retitled and released in June. In April 2010, Aguilera released the lead single, "Not Myself Tonight" which peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. She performed the song live on The Oprah Winfrey Show. This was followed by the album's second single, "Woohoo" featuring rapper Nicki Minaj.
Aguilera released her sixth studio album, Bionic, on June 6, 2010, which debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, and topped the European and the UK charts. The album was inspired by electronic music, and was described by her as a project "about the future" noting that it was inspired by her son who motivated her to "want to play and have fun". The album received generally mixed reviews by critics, with Kitty Empire of The Observer calling it "very strong, but only in parts". It was later certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and sold approximately over one million copies globally. "You Lost Me" and "I Hate Boys" were released as singles in the following month of June. A tour was planned for the album, but was postponed and later cancelled due to prior commitments.
Aguilera landed her first starring role as a waitress turned burlesque performer in the Steven Antin film Burlesque, released in theaters in November 2010. She received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame the same week in which the film premiered. While the film received generally mixed reviews from critics, Aguilera's portrayal of the main character garnered positive reviews, and the film grossed US$90 million in the box office. The film also received a nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 68th Golden Globe Awards.
In addition to starring in the film, Aguilera recorded eight tracks for the film's accompanying soundtrack, while Cher performed the remaining two. The soundtrack reached number 18 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the RIAA. Her song "Bound to You" received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 68th Golden Globe Awards while the album itself was nominated for the Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. Aguilera performed "Express" on the finale of the seventh series of The X Factor UK which received criticism for its raunchy content.
In April 2011, Aguilera became a coach on reality competition show The Voice, which aired on NBC. Aguilera later returned to its second, third, fifth, eighth, and tenth season. For the show's first season, Aguilera's duet of her song "Beautiful" with her finalist, Beverly McClellan, debuted at number 74 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with first-week sales of 42,000 downloads on iTunes. A year later, for the second season, Aguilera's duet of "The Prayer" with her contestant, Chris Mann, also reached 85 on the chart.
In 2011, she featured on the song "Moves like Jagger" by Maroon 5. They first performed the song during their time on The Voice and also performed it at the 2011 American Music Awards. The song received positive reviews and topped the Hot 100 for four non-consecutive weeks, making Aguilera the fourth female artist to top the chart over three decades (1990s, 2000s, and 2010s). The song was also nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. In July 2021, the song was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
2012–2015: Lotus and other projects
During the third season of The Voice in September 2012, Aguilera debuted "Your Body" as the lead single from her then-upcoming seventh studio album. The song received critical acclaim and reached number one on the US Dance Club Song chart and 34 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album, titled Lotus, followed in November 2012, in which Aguilera described the record as a "rebirth" of herself after the personal struggles she overcame. Reviewers found the album generic and conventional, as opposed to Aguilera's previous experimental ventures. Lotus peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200 and has sold 303,000 copies in the US as of 2019. "Just a Fool" with Blake Shelton was released as the album's second single and received positive reviews. The two performed the song live on The Voice and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
On February 22, 2013, Aguilera featured on rapper Pitbull's "Feel This Moment", which became the first of various international top-ten singles she would achieve that year, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming Aguilera's tenth top-ten song, and was later certified platinum by the RIAA. The song garnered positive reviews and was performed at the 2012 American Music Awards, 2013 Kids' Choice Awards, The Voice and 2013 Billboard Music Awards. In May 2013, Aguilera appeared on Alejandro Fernández's cover of Miguel Gallardo's 1976 "Hoy Tengo Ganas de Ti" which received critical acclaim and earned them a diamond certification in Mexico.
On November 4, 2013, Aguilera featured on a duet version of "Say Something" with A Great Big World. The song became an instant success receiving universal acclaim from critics who praised Aguilera's stripped back vocals. The song became Aguilera's second top-tenth hit on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at number 4 and also became the second time she achieved multiple top-ten songs in a calendar year since 2000. They performed the song live on the fifth season of The Voice and 2013 American Music Awards. The song earned them various awards including a six-time platinum certification from the RIAA and won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. In October of that year, Aguilera also lent her vocals to the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire with the song "We Remain". She performed the song live with her contestant Jacquie Lee on The Voice.
On January 1, 2014, Aguilera featured on the remix for "Do What U Want" by Lady Gaga to replace the original version with R. Kelly after his sexual abuse allegations. The two performed the song on the fifth season of The Voice. In May of that year, she performed a medley of hits at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and performed at the 2014 KIIS FM Wango Tango concert. In November, Aguilera performed at the Breakthrough Prize Award ceremony.
In February 2015, Aguilera opened the 2015 NBA All-Star Game alongside The Rockettes and Nas with a New York-themed medley. In April, Aguilera starred in the third season of the musical drama series Nashville, which aired on ABC. She also contributed to the series' soundtrack with "The Real Thing" and "Shotgun" — with the latter reaching number twenty-eight on Hot Country Songs chart. She also performed at the 50th Academy of Country Music Awards alongside the Rascal Flatts.
2016–2020: Liberation and The Xperience
In May 2016, Aguilera exited The Voice following its tenth season, which she won with her contestant Alisan Porter. On the season finale, she performed "I Have Nothing" and "Dangerous Woman"; the latter with Ariana Grande. A month later, Aguilera released the song "Change", in which she dedicated to the victims of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. The ballad received positive reviews and debuted at number five on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. In August 2016, Aguilera recorded a disco song titled "Telepathy" featuring Nile Rodgers for the soundtrack of a Netflix original series, The Get Down (2016). Her vocals were praised by critics and the song reached number one on the Dance Club Songs chart.
In January 2017, Aguilera performed "Stormy Weather" on the ABC television special Taking the Stage: African American Music and Stories That Changed America. In July, she voiced a video-game dancer in The Emoji Movie (2017), with the film also featuring her song "Feel This Moment". She also lent her vocals to the Served Like a Girl documentary film for a song titled "America". In November, Aguilera performed a tribute to Whitney Houston at the 2017 American Music Awards. The tribute received polarized views from fans and critics who praised her vocals but criticized why she was selected over a black artist.
In March 2018, Aguilera announced the completion of her then-upcoming eighth studio album alongside a Paper Magazine cover which received media coverage. Aguilera released her eighth studio album Liberation on June 15, 2018, to favorable reviews. The album had been in the works since the summer of 2015 and incorporated R&B and hip-hop elements. Liberation debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming Aguilera's seventh US top-ten album. The album was promoted with multiple singles, including the preceding lead single, "Accelerate" featuring Ty Dolla Sign and 2 Chainz, which became Aguilera's tenth number one song on the US Billboard Dance Songs Chart. Two other singles from the album, "Fall in Line" (with Demi Lovato) and "Like I Do", were nominated at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Rap/Sung Performance respectively.
To further promote Liberation, Aguilera embarked on her first tour in 10 years, The Liberation Tour, which ran from September to November 2018 in the US. The tour received positive reviews from critics who praised Aguilera's vocals and stage presence. Billboard named the tour one of the best 2018 live shows, and it was ranked at 132 on Pollstar's 2018 Year-End Top 200 North American Tours chart with a total gross of $8.7 million with an attendance of 77,854. She also starred in the romantic science fiction Zoe, which premiered at the Tribeca Film festival and was released in July of that year. At the end of 2018, Aguilera performed a medley of her songs on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.
In May 2019, Aguilera began headlining her first concert residency, Christina Aguilera: The Xperience, a 25-date show at the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas which concluded in March 2020. In between the residency, from July to December 2019, Aguilera also embarked on The X Tour, which served as the international counterpart to The Liberation Tour, running throughout Europe and Latin America.
In October 2019, Aguilera released the song "Haunted Heart" from the soundtrack of the animated film, The Addams Family, and her second collaboration with A Great Big World, "Fall on Me", followed a month later. The former received critical acclaim from critics, was nominated for Best Original Song in an Animated Film at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards and topped the US Kid Digital Song Sales chart.
In early 2020, Aguilera recorded two songs for Disney's live action remake of Mulan (2020): "Loyal Brave True" – released in March 2020 as a promotional single to positive reviews, eventually being shortlisted as one of the fifteen potential nominees for the Academy Award for Best Original Song – and a re-recording of "Reflection", released in August. That year, she appeared on the ABC television special, The Disney Family Singalong and its follow-up, where she performed "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and "Remember Me" respectively. In November of that year, Aguilera signed a new management deal with Roc Nation.
2021–present: Aguilera and Voltaire residency
In July 2021, Aguilera performed two sold-out shows at the Hollywood Bowl with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She also recorded "The Addams Family Theme", which was featured on The Addams Family 2 soundtrack. In October, she performed "Reflection", "When You Wish Upon a Star" and "Loyal Brave True" for ABC's Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary special. On December 7, 2021, Aguilera was honored with the People's Music Icon honorific award at the 47th People's Choice Awards.
Aguilera released her ninth studio album, titled Aguilera, originally as a double album on May 31, 2022. The album paid tribute to different genres of Latin music, and consisted of three separately released parts: La Fuerza, La Tormenta, and La Luz. The full album was released in its complete form on September 30, 2022. The album was preceded with the singles "Pa Mis Muchachas", "Somos Nada", "Santo" and followed with "Suéltame" and "No Es Que Te Extrañe". Aguilera received widespread critical acclaim from music critics upon release, and was placed on several year-end lists by publications such as Billboard and the Houston Chronicle. The album was promoted through the EU / UK Summer Series promotional tour, which consisted of five festival shows throughout Europe and three arena concerts in the United Kingdom. The promotional tour received critical praise.
Aguilera and its songs received seven nominations at the 23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards with the album winning for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. The album also received another two nominations for Best Latin Pop Album and Best Immersive Audio Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. "No Es Que Te Extrañe" was also nominated for Record of the Year at the 24th Annual Latin Grammy Awards.
On June 11, 2022, Aguilera headlined the Los Angeles Pride festival with guests Mýa, Kim Petras and Paris Hilton. The use of a strap-on dildo during the set was the subject of polarized reception. In October 2022, Stripped was reissued for its 20-year anniversary, featuring "I Will Be" (the b-side to "Dirrty") and Benny Benassi's remix of "Beautiful". A new music video for "Beautiful" was also released. On November 10, 2022, Time Studios announced a partnership with Roc Nation to produce an upcoming documentary about Aguilera.
On September 22, 2023, Aguilera released "Learning to Fly" as a part of the soundtrack for PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie. The same month she performed at the EuroPride concert in Malta. At the end of the month, it was reported that Aguilera would executive produce a stage adaptation of Burlesque which eventually made its debut in 2024, and its West End debut in July 2025. In December 2023, Aguilera began her second residency, Christina Aguilera at Voltaire, at The Venetian Las Vegas which ran until August 2024. In May 2024, it was reported that Aguilera had parted ways with RCA and signed with 5020 Records, a label distributed by Sony Music Latin.
In September 2024, Aguilera announced a "Spotify Anniversaries" performance for the 25th anniversary of her debut album. The performances were released on both YouTube as a recording, and Spotify as an extended play on September 23, while featuring appearances from Machine Gun Kelly and Sabrina Carpenter. In December, the EP was named one of the best albums of the year by HuffPost. In 2025, Aguilera headlined the September 2025 Portola Music Festival. A month later, Deadline reported that she is set to star in a theatrical concert film under the working title Christina Aguilera: Christmas in Paris directed by Sam Wrench, in support of the 25th anniversary of her Christmas album.
Artistry
Influences
Aguilera has named Etta James as a "role model", and said "At Last" made a major impression on her. She later stated, "I'll still be as raunchy as I wanna be, and I'll have [Etta]'s memory to back me up. She's what I want to be someday". As a young girl, The Sound of Music (1959) and its lead actress, Julie Andrews, became her early references to sing and perform, in addition to broadening her interest on Broadway. Aguilera's other major influences include Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. She has also cited rock bands as an influence, specifically the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, and Radiohead.
Aguilera was also influenced by Latin music. She later recalled singing her first songs in Spanish during childhood, saying: "I grew up hearing [Spanish] being spoken in my household [and] hearing a lot of Julio Iglesias on the record player". Some of her other inspirations in Latin music include Chavela Vargas, Vicente Fernández, and younger artists such Rosalía. As a performer, Aguilera credits Madonna and Janet Jackson as major inspirations for being "positive female artists [who] aren't afraid to take chances, be daring, experimental and sexy". Cher also encouraged her to be a performer and "a woman who has the guts to do [everything]".
Aguilera's childhood visits to records stores moulded her taste and led to an appreciation for blues and soul music, which she called "music that really had heart". Her music has also paid homage to many artists from this genre, including Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone, and Otis Redding. Her album Back to Basics (2006) features inspirations of musicians from the early 20th century. As she later commented: "I was just so drawn to that [kind of music] ... [It] has so much pain, so much beauty of raw emotion and passion". Her other influences in the genre was added for Liberation (2018), including Michael Jackson in "Maria" and Janis Joplin in "Sick of Sittin'".
Outside of the music industry, Aguilera was inspired by actresses from the Old Hollywood. She later stated, "I'm fascinated with the golden age of film. I wanted to capture the authenticity of the glam era", after which she cited examples such as Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo, Veronica Lake, and the pin-up models. Her "Tilt Ya Head Back" music video also recreated Monroe's signature look, while the video for "Your Body" includes a reference to Lucille Ball. The video for "Ain't No Other Man" presented Aguilera under the alter ego Baby Jane, which was inspired by Bette Davis's character in psychological horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). Her other inspirations mostly came from art works, including those by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Banksy.
Voice
Critics have described Aguilera as a soprano, possessing a four-octave vocal range. She is also able to perform the whistle register. Maura Johnston, a journalist with Slate, called Aguilera's voice "an instrument that despite its ability to leap octaves has a low-end grounding similar to that possessed by opera singers". The Boston Globe columnist Joan Anderman highlighted her vocal versatility: "[She] is a real singer ... blessed with the sort of breathtaking elasticity, golden tones, and sheer power that separate the divas from the dabblers". In addition to sustain high notes, Aguilera is recognized for making use of the melismatic technique. Jon Pareles from The New York Times emphasized that "she can aim a note as directly as a missile or turn its trajectory into an aerobatic spiral of leaping, quivering, and scalloping melismas". Ron Fair—A&R executive from RCA Records—was impressed by her "perfect intonation", and concluded: "She's got the pipes to be the next Barbra Streisand or Céline Dion".
Aguilera's singing technique also yielded comparisons to other singers. Journalist David Browne suggested that, alongside Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, she "forms the team of the main proponents" of the melismatic technique. Richard Harrington from The Washington Post also noticed similarities with both artists: "She has a genuinely powerful voice that's evoked comparisons [to them], though it for the most part avoids those singers' ornamental mannerisms". The New Yorker columnist Sasha Frere-Jones also credited the technique by making her become "a serious singer without needing to reincarnate the Sarah Vaughan". Songwriter Steve Kipner praises Aguilera's vocal dexterity, including her ability to "internalize[d] all the riffs from Chaka Khan". Los Angeles Times music critic Ann Powers wrote that she possesses a "voice purely powerful as that of Etta James [...] and she's moving toward the expressiveness of Gladys Knight, if not Aretha Franklin". Powers also associated her vocal ability with Donna Summer when she performs records influenced by rhythm and blues. Minneapolis Star Tribune noted that "She has the best voice of the bunch — big, rich, soulful."
However, Aguilera has also been criticized for the frequent use of melisma, as well as for her style of singing live during concerts. HuffPost columnist John Eskow called her "the main proponent of oversouling". Eskow praised Aguilera's voice as a "great instrument", though complained she did not "seem to know when to stop" with the use of "gratuitous and confected melisma". Lucy Davies, music critic from BBC Music, raved about her "stunning voice", but offered that "she could be more varied, simply by cutting out some of the 'ye-e-eeeh, woah' in her songs". Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Chris Willman credits Aguilera's singing style as an influence of Mariah Carey, noting "her slightly nasal tone that really only becomes obvious when she's overselling a song". Alexa Tietjen from VH1 acknowledged that Aguilera "does tend to take it to the extreme at times [...] but her vocal prowess is what's gotten her so far. Love them or hate them, the riffs are a part of who she is as performer".
Musical style
Aguilera's discography is generally categorized as pop, contemporary R&B, soul, and hip-hop. According to critics, she has also experimented with other musical genres in her works. In a 2008 interview, she explained that she is "always inspired by new things" in music and enjoys "experimenting with [her] voice". Alexis Petridis from The Guardian considered the "boldness in [continually] reinventing" her music as "one of her most impressive facets" as an artist. Initially established as a bubblegum pop singer, she mixed teen pop and dance-pop on her first records, Christina Aguilera (1999) and Mi Reflejo (2000), with the latter also taking inspiration from numerous genres in Latin music.
Moving away from the teen niche, Aguilera's post-2000 material mainly incorporated R&B and hip-hop. Listed as an executive producer on Stripped (2002), she mixed both genres with Latin pop, rock, neo-soul, gospel, among others, while Back to Basics (2006) was described as a "throwback with elements of old-school genres combined with a modern-day twist [and] hard-hitting beats". She continued merging R&B with other musical styles on Burlesque (2010), as well on Liberation (2018), which also features hip-hop, soul and blues elements.
The show tune "Lady Marmalade" is noted as Aguilera's first musical transformation, which RCA Records initially felt was "too urban". Despite the renewal in her repertoire, Aguilera continued producing power ballads—which became a signature in her discography—in between her uptempo material. Kelefa Sanneh, music critic from The New York Times, observed the continuous modification in her music, in addition to highlighting her "decision to snub some of the big-name producers on whom pop stars often rely". Her sonically drastic ventures include the subversive "galactic pop" on Bionic (2010), electropop club on Lotus (2012), and Mexican ranchera numbers on Aguilera (2022).
Cultural status
Throughout her career, Aguilera has been called a pop icon, a gay icon, a triple threat entertainer, and a fashion icon. She has been ranked among the greatest singers of all time and referred to as the "Voice of a Generation". She has been labeled a "diva" for her stardom and persona, garnering polarized views, and various comparisons to Mariah Carey. She has attracted criticism for wearing revealing clothes, and has been called a sex symbol. Aguilera has also been noted for her closely affiliation with The Walt Disney Company, being honoured as a Disney Legend in 2019.
She has often received media attention for her reinventions. In the early 2000s, Aguilera rose to fame as a teen idol with her bubblegum pop eponymous debut album. Various images she took on included a provocative image following the release of her single "Dirrty", an old Hollywood image, and a futuristic look. She was later ranked as one of the most successful artists of the 2000s decade by Billboard. In the 2010s, Aguilera saw moderate success with her music while spending six seasons as a coach on The Voice. Aguilera's personal struggles were often highlighted in the media. She saw a musical comeback with Liberation (2018).
Throughout her career, Aguilera has faced media attention for her physical appearances with some journalists noting that she has often received body shaming critical comments. She was named one of the artists who revived teen pop in the late 1990s. Aguilera has also been a significant figure in helping reshape the "Latin explosion" in the late 1990s and contributed to the Latin pop boom in American music with her album Mi Reflejo (2000), which went on to become the best-selling Latin pop album of all time. She has also been noted for honouring her Ecuadorian roots throughout her career.
She has heavily incorporated controversial themes in her music. Various themes include feminism, sexuality, defending the sex-positive movement, domestic violence, among others. Gerrick D. Kennedy writing for the Los Angeles Times opined that Aguilera "tackled subject matters her contemporaries were shying away from" which made her stand out amongst her peers in the early 2000s. The impact of her videography, particularly the music videos for "Dirrty" and "Beautiful", has also been analyzed by music critics. Subsequently, Aguilera has influenced and inspired several acts and artists in industries worldwide.
Achievements
Aguilera has accumulated numerous awards and honorary accolades throughout her career. At the age of 19, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, becoming one of the youngest artists to receive the award. Aguilera received four other trophies from twenty nominations by The Recording Academy. She is also a recipient of two Latin Grammy Awards, three Billboard Latin Music Awards—including the Spirit of Hope Award—, two MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), two People's Choice Awards—including the inaugural Music Icon Award—, three World Music Awards, and one Guinness World Record. Aguilera is also one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 100 million records sold worldwide. Among other honors, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010 "recognition of her achievements in the recording industry". Billboard ranked her at number 20 on its 2025 "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list.
Other activities
Business ventures and wealth
As a businesswoman, Aguilera has been selling her own products and investing in multiple companies. In 2008, she became co-owner of LAX nightclub at the Luxor Las Vegas alongside DJ AM. In 2015, she founded the MX Productions & Investments in partnership with fiancée Matthew Rutler, for which they was included in the investors' group of Pinterest, DraftKings, Lyft and MasterClass enterprises. Aguilera also joined the ownership group of Angel City FC, a National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) expansion team, and sexual wellness brand Playground. In March 2015, Aguilera and Rutler signed a deal with Lions Gate Entertainment to developed both scripted and unscripted projects which eventually was acquired by ABC Family and Spike TV networks. In 2022, she was named chief culture officer of The Fun Wine Company.
In 2007, Aguilera signed a long-term deal with Procter & Gamble (P&G) and created the Christina Aguilera Fragrances, which has been sold in North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe. In addition to scents, the brand manufactures body lotions, body sprays, and deodorants whose products was ranked among the United Kingdom best-sellers in 2007, 2009 and 2010. In January 2016, the line was reported to sold over $80 million. Her fragrances also received numerous accolades, including at the Duftstars Awards and FiFi Awards. During São Paulo Fashion Week in 2011, Aguilera debuted her first clothes line which was mostly sold in Brazilian department stores C&A. In partnership with American Greetings, she featured in customized birthday video cards which was sold online in 2021 and eventually won a Clio Awards.
During her career, Aguilera has been involved in marketing initiatives and endorsed numerous brands including Sears, Levi's, Skechers, Mercedes-Benz, Virgin Mobile, Orange UK, Sony Ericsson, Oreo, SweeTarts, Just Eat, Lieferando, Menulog, Merz Aesthetics, and Grindr. In 2001, she starred in a series of television advertising to Coca-Cola, which was aired in Latin America and the United States. Media outlets reported the deal signed by Aguilera to be worth up to £50 million. Aguilera also shot a global scale advertising campaign alongside South Korean singer Rain to promote Pepsi during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Other Aguilera's endorses included a clothing line by Versace in 2003, and a collection of sterling silver pieces designed by Stephen Webster in 2008. On June 28, 2004, she received £200,000 to open the summer sale at the London's department store Harrods. In 2008, Aguilera was paid $1.5 million to submit pictures of her first child to People, becoming the ninth most expensive celebrity baby photograph ever taken.
In 2000, Aguilera was among the biggest moneymakers in the music business with over £65 million earned with album sales, merchandising and licensing deals according to VH1. In January 2008, she was ranked 19th on Forbes' list of Top-Earning Women in Music of 2007 with earnings of $20 million. The previous year, she was also included on their list of richest women in entertainment industry, with an estimated net worth of $60 million. In August 2022, Aguilera's net worth was reported to be $160 million.
Philanthropy and activism
Referred to as a humanitarian, Aguilera has done philanthropic works during her career. In 2003, she visited the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh and provided a donation over $200,000 in support for victims of domestic violence. In addition to starred in television advertisings on the Lifetime network calling for the end of violence against women in 2007, she partnered with Verizon in a campaign to awareness about violence domestic in 2015. She later destined proceeds from the Christina Aguilera: The Xperience (2019–2020) residency to The Shade Tree, a women and children's center in Las Vegas, Nevada. In October 2019, Aguilera efforts against domestic violence earned her the Bonnie Polley Community Hero Award.
In 2009, Aguilera became the global spokesperson for the World Food Program, a branch of the United Nations (UN). She visited countries with high rates of malnutrions, including Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti and Rwanda. As of 2013, it was reported she helped raise over $148 million to the organization and other hunger relief agencies in 45 countries. Aguilera's efforts eventually earned her the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards and George McGovern Leadership Awards—which she received in the White House from the former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Her other philanthropy initiatives included donations of her wedding gifts to charities in support of families affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and concerts to urges donations to the American Red Cross due Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
In 2010, Aguilera auctioned tickets to her concerts through Christie's, earmarking the proceeds to non-profit environmental organizations, including Conservation International and the Natural Resources Defense Council. In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she auctioned off a Chrysler 300 and destined proceeds to support disaster victims and their families. Additionally, Aguilera appeared on the Hope for Haiti Now telethon, whose donations directly benefited Oxfam America, Partners In Health, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and UNICEF. She also was praised by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for signed an open letter destined to Government of South Korea appealing to the ban of consumption of dogs and cats, and for using fake fox fur in concerts costumes.
As a LGBT rights activist, Aguilera was lauded for calling out myths around HIV/AIDS, in addition to raising awareness about the virus and raising funds for the Mac AIDS Fund and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In 2008, she advocated for same-sex marriage and spoke out against Proposition 8. During an interview with MTV News, she stated "Why would you put so much money behind something [aimed at] stopping people from loving each other? I just don't understand it". In June 2016, Aguilera released single "Change", which was aimed to raise proceeds to the victim's families and survivors of the Orlando nightclub shooting. During The X Tour (2019), Aguilera visited Russia and "blessed" a gay marriage proposal in the backstage, contrary to the country's laws against "gay propaganda".
Personal life
From 2000 to September 2001, Aguilera dated dancer Jorge Santos, whom she met whilst filming one of her music videos. She began dating music executive Jordan Bratman in late 2002. They got engaged in February 2005. On November 19, 2005, they married on an estate in Napa County, California, holding a private traditional Jewish ceremony. They have a son, Max Liron Bratman, born in 2008. In September 2010, the couple had separated and she filed for divorce in October 2010, which was finalized in April 2011 and included joint custody of their son.
In November 2010, Aguilera began dating production assistant Matthew Rutler, whom she met while filming the musical Burlesque. Aguilera was arrested for public intoxication in March 2011, while Rutler was booked for driving under the influence. However, the charges were dropped against Rutler the following month. In 2014, they became engaged on Valentine's Day. Later that year, Aguilera gave birth to their daughter, Summer Rain Rutler.
After being raised Catholic, she learned about Judaism in the mid-2000s. In 2022, she opened up about depression and anxiety, stating "I experienced a lot of trauma in my childhood [...] I've definitely had struggles in the past with depression and anxiety. It's a constant battle to overcome a mind that is anxious, a mind that is always second-guessing". Aguilera has also been sharing about insecurity and struggling with body image early in her career.
In 2007, Aguilera purchased a Mediterranean-style mansion in Beverly Hills for $11.5 million, which she sold for $13.5 million in March 2013. Shortly afterwards, she acquired a house in the Mulholland Estates' private enclave, at the Santa Monica Mountains, for $10 million and currently resides with her family.
Discography
Studio albums
Christina Aguilera (1999)
Mi Reflejo (2000)
My Kind of Christmas (2000)
Stripped (2002)
Back to Basics (2006)
Bionic (2010)
Lotus (2012)
Liberation (2018)
Aguilera (2022)
Filmography
Burlesque (2010)
The Emoji Movie (2017)
Zoe (2018)
Theater
Burlesque (2024); producer, co-composer and lyricist
Tours and residencies
See also
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of best-selling music artists
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
List of highest paid American television stars
References
Sources
Further reading
Scott, Kieran (2001). I Was a Mousketeer!. Disney Press. ISBN 978-0-7868-4470-8.
External links
Official website
Christina Aguilera at AllMusic
Christina Aguilera discography at Discogs
Christina Aguilera at IMDb
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Cindy Crawford
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Cynthia Ann Crawford (born February 20, 1966) is an American model. During the 1980s and 1990s, she was among the most popular supermodels and a ubiquitous presence on magazine covers and runways, as well as fashion campaigns. She subsequently expanded into acting and business ventures.
Early life
Crawford was born in DeKalb, Illinois, on February 20, 1966, the daughter of Daniel Kenneth Crawford and Jennifer Sue Crawford-Moluf (née Walker). She has two sisters, Chris and Danielle, and a brother, Jeffery, who died of childhood leukemia at age 3.
On social media, she stated that her family had been in the United States for generations and that her ancestry is mostly German, English and French. She is a descendant of English Puritan settler Thomas Trowbridge, who helped establish the Congregational Church in New Haven. She was raised in the Congregationalist faith and found it "incredible" that religious values "trickled down" to her family. According to official census records, Crawford's paternal great-grandfather David Crawford was of Scottish ancestry from Northern Ireland who settled in Wisconsin. Appearing in an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? in 2013, she discovered that her ancestors included European nobility and that she is descended from Charlemagne.
In her sophomore year at high school, she received a call from a local clothing store regarding modeling work, only to discover it was a prank by two of her classmates. However, the following year, another store hired a number of high school girls, including Crawford, to work for them (including a fashion shoot). In her junior year, local photographer Roger Legel, whose duties included photographing a different college girl to be that week's coed in the DeKalb Nite Weekly, asked to take her picture for the publication; the result was Crawford's first cover. The photo and positive feedback she received were enough to convince her to take up modeling. Initially, she worked with a small agency, which was sold to Elite Model Management shortly after she signed. In 1983, she entered Elite's Look of the Year contest at 17 and made the national finals.
Crawford graduated from DeKalb High School in 1984 as valedictorian. She earned an academic scholarship to study chemical engineering at Northwestern University, which she attended for only one quarter before dropping out to pursue a full-time modeling career. After working for photographer Victor Skrebneski in Chicago, she moved to New York City in 1986 and signed with the Elite New York modeling agency.
Career
In 1987, Crawford appeared in the opening credits of the Michael J. Fox film The Secret of My Success. Three years later, she was featured alongside top models Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz and Naomi Campbell on the cover of the January 1990 edition of British Vogue. Crawford and the other four models subsequently appeared in the video for George Michael's hit "Freedom! '90" later that year. Subsequently, Crawford played the lost love of Jon Bon Jovi in the 1994 video for his version of "Please Come Home For Christmas", "John Taylor" in the 2011 video for Duran Duran's "Girl Panic" (featuring supermodels as the band, including Naomi Campbell as Simon Le Bon), and Headmistress in the 2015 video for Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" as part of a cast including Jessica Alba, Selena Gomez, and fellow models Lily Aldridge, Cara Delevingne, Gigi Hadid, Martha Hunt and Karlie Kloss.
She was frequently featured on the cover of multiple fashion and lifestyle magazines, including Vogue, W, People, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Cosmopolitan, and Allure. A partial count in 1998 totalled over 500 appearances. Crawford has walked the runway shows for Chanel, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Christian Dior, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Roberto Cavalli, Michael Kors, Thierry Mugler, Todd Oldham, DKNY and Valentino. Crawford also appeared in many fashion campaigns during her career, including those for Versace, Calvin Klein, Escada, David Yurman, Oscar De La Renta, Balmain, Hermes, Ellen Tracy, Valentino, Bally, Liz Claiborne, Hervé Leger, Halston, Anne Klein, Isaac Mizrahi, Blumarine, Guess, Ink, Gap and Revlon. She has also worked for Omega, Maybelline, Clairol, Pepsi, and Chilean retail stores Ripley (partner of Macy's).
In July 1988, she posed nude for Playboy magazine in a shoot by photographer Herb Ritts. In October 1998, Crawford returned to the pages of Playboy for a second nude pictorial, again taken by Ritts. She was ranked number 5 on Playboy's list of the 100 sexiest stars of the 20th century. A 1997 Shape magazine survey of 4,000 picked her as the second (after Demi Moore) most beautiful woman in the world. In 2002, Crawford was named one of the 50 most beautiful people by People magazine. In her forties, she claimed No. 26 in the 2006 Hot 100 issue of Maxim magazine. She was named No. 3 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s and was named one of the "100 Hottest Women of All-Time" by Men's Health.
The red Versace dress she wore to the 63rd Academy Awards in 1991 had a major influence on fashion, and many copies and fakes of the dress were produced. In 1992, Crawford—through GoodTimes Home Video and her company Crawdaddy Productions—made an exercise video with Radu Teodorescu named Cindy Crawford: Shape Your Body; although criticised by some for being unsafe, it was hugely successful and led to two equally lucrative followups, Cindy Crawford: The Next Challenge in 1993 (again with Radu) and Cindy Crawford: A New Dimension in 2000; the latter, made with fitness expert Kathy Kaehler and produced not long after Crawford gave birth to her first child, was aimed at new mothers getting back into shape. In 2001, Crawford also made a shorter fitness video aimed at children, Mini-Muscles with Cindy Crawford and the Fit-wits, an animated production featuring the voices of Crawford (who also appears at the beginning in live action), Radu and Kobe Bryant.
The inaugural issue of George, a short lived political magazine in the 1990s, featured Crawford dressed like George Washington on the cover. In 2005, the American Society of Magazine Editors listed it as the 22nd best magazine cover of the last 40 years.
Crawford has also been on TV and in films. From 1989 to 1995, Crawford was host and executive producer of MTV's House of Style. In the early 1990s, Crawford starred in the Pepsi and Pepsi Stuff advertising. In 1992, she appeared in Pepsi's Super Bowl commercial, aired during Super Bowl XXVI. In 2016, Pepsi released a remake of the commercial, also featuring Crawford. In 1995, Crawford broke into movies as the female lead in the movie Fair Game. Her performance was panned by critics—Leonard Maltin commented "In her acting debut, supermodel Crawford makes a good jogger." The film was also a financial failure, with expenses of $50 million and $11 million takings at the box office. In 2001, she costarred as part of an ensemble cast in The Simian Line. Again the film was not successful or critically acclaimed, but Crawford's acting was not criticized. She has had many lesser roles guest starring on TV and as supporting roles, often playing herself. For example, in 2000, she was one of the celebrities (along with Victoria Silvstedt, Anna Falchi and Megan Gale) playing themselves in the Italian comedy Body Guards – Guardie del corpo. In the 1990s, Carol Shaw, her make-up artist, named a lipstick color after Crawford as a part of the Lorac Cosmetics lip-wear line.
In the late 1990s, she made a number of appearances in magician David Copperfield's stage shows, standing in for her fellow supermodel Claudia Schiffer as Copperfield's guest assistant. During these appearances, she took part in a number of different illusions including being levitated, guillotined, and sawn in half in Copperfield's Clearly Impossible illusion. On a number of occasions, she joined Copperfield and Schiffer in a performance of the Double Sawing illusion in which both women were sawn in half and then reassembled with their lower halves swapped.
After modeling
Crawford quit full-time modeling in 2000 and now appears only occasionally in fashion magazines. In 2005, Crawford created a line of beauty products with Jean-Louis Sebagh called Meaningful Beauty for Guthy-Renker. Crawford has stated that she regularly receives certain cosmetic procedures, including Botox and vitamin injections. She first saw a plastic surgeon at the age of 29.
In 2005, Crawford launched a new line of furniture under the "Cindy Crawford Home Collection" name. The collection is manufactured by HM Richards Inc. She assisted in the creation of the line by consulting on the features, colors, or styles that fit the needs of families or reflected her own tastes. She also has a furniture line with Rooms to Go, Raymour & Flanigan and launched a home goods line with J. C. Penney in late 2009.
In 2009, Crawford was one of many celebrities to be photographed by Deborah Anderson for the coffee table book Room 23, produced by philanthropist Diana Jenkins. In addition to appearing in the book, Crawford was the cover model and wrote the dedication. Becoming, a book about Crawford's life and career co-written by Crawford and Katherine O'Leary, was published in September 2015.
Crawford appeared on the US version of Lipsync Battle reenacting her performance in the bathtub from the George Michael music for "Freedom! '90", performed by actor Zachary Quinto.
Crawford and her daughter Kaia appeared together on the cover of the April 2016 issue of Vogue Paris. In 2016, she became a spokesperson for Acqua Minerale San Benedetto in Italy. In September 2017, Crawford, along with models Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen and Carla Bruni, closed the Versace spring/summer 2018 fashion show, which was an homage to the late Gianni Versace.
In January 2019, Crawford, along with her husband Rande Gerber, Michael Meldman, Jeff Shell and Jay Sures announced they would purchase the Hollywood deli Nate 'n Al to keep its doors open after three generations of family ownership.
Crawford was featured in a four-part Apple TV+ docuseries titled The Super Models, which premiered on September 20, 2023. The series also featured Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista and was directed by Roger Ross Williams and Larissa Bills.
Personal life
Crawford was married to actor Richard Gere from 1991 until their divorce in 1995. She married businessman and former model Rande Gerber on May 29, 1998. They have two children, son Presley Walker Gerber (born 1999) and daughter Kaia Jordan Gerber (born 2001).
In August 2021, the couple sold their home in Trousdale Estates, Beverly Hills, for a reported $13.5 million.
Style and appearance
Crawford is 5 feet 9+1⁄2 inches (1.77 m) tall with brown hair and eyes. Her measurements are 34–25.5–36. Her trademark is a mole (or "beauty mark") above her upper lip. She is so closely associated with this physical feature that she appeared in an Australian advertising campaign for flavoured milk featuring a TV commercial wherein she "licked off" her own mole. Her resemblance to model Gia Carangi led her to being known as "Baby Gia".
Advocacy and charity work
When Crawford was 10 years old, her three-year-old brother Jeff—whom she continues to praise as "the fourth most influential person in [her] life"—died of leukemia. Since becoming a model, Crawford has made childhood leukemia a focal point of her charity work, donating proceeds of her calendars to medical research. Crawford has been a long-time supporter of the pediatric oncology program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where Jeff was treated, stating that she believes he received the best care possible. She is also an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
In 2007, she became an official supporter of the Ronald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, called the Friends of RMHC. Crawford is on the honorary committee of the California Wildlife Center.
In 2021, Cindy Crawford recreated her iconic Pepsi ad with photographer David Yarrow to help raise funds for the American family Children's Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin where her brother, Jeff, was treated for leukemia.
Political endorsements
In 2008, Crawford endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States. Despite reports, Crawford denied endorsing Mitt Romney for the 2012 election.
Filmography
Films
Videos
Fitness videos
Music videos
Television
References
Works cited
Crawford, Cindy; O'Leary, Katherine (September 29, 2015). Becoming By Cindy Crawford: By Cindy Crawford with Katherine O' Leary. Rizzoli. ISBN 978-0-8478-4619-1.
External links
Official website
Cindy Crawford on the Internet Archive
Cindy Crawford at Fashion Model Directory
Cindy Crawford at IMDb
Cindy Crawford on Instagram
Cindy Crawford on Facebook
Crawford at the Music Television (House of Style)
Playboy Interview: Cindy Crawford
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Cynthia Ann Crawford (born February 20, 1966) is an American model. During the 1980s and 1990s, she was among the most popular supermodels and a ubiquitous presence on magazine covers and runways, as well as fashion campaigns. She subsequently expanded into acting and business ventures.
Early life
Crawford was born in DeKalb, Illinois, on February 20, 1966, the daughter of Daniel Kenneth Crawford and Jennifer Sue Crawford-Moluf (née Walker). She has two sisters, Chris and Danielle, and a brother, Jeffery, who died of childhood leukemia at age 3.
On social media, she stated that her family had been in the United States for generations and that her ancestry is mostly German, English and French. She is a descendant of English Puritan settler Thomas Trowbridge, who helped establish the Congregational Church in New Haven. She was raised in the Congregationalist faith and found it "incredible" that religious values "trickled down" to her family. According to official census records, Crawford's paternal great-grandfather David Crawford was of Scottish ancestry from Northern Ireland who settled in Wisconsin. Appearing in an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? in 2013, she discovered that her ancestors included European nobility and that she is descended from Charlemagne.
In her sophomore year at high school, she received a call from a local clothing store regarding modeling work, only to discover it was a prank by two of her classmates. However, the following year, another store hired a number of high school girls, including Crawford, to work for them (including a fashion shoot). In her junior year, local photographer Roger Legel, whose duties included photographing a different college girl to be that week's coed in the DeKalb Nite Weekly, asked to take her picture for the publication; the result was Crawford's first cover. The photo and positive feedback she received were enough to convince her to take up modeling. Initially, she worked with a small agency, which was sold to Elite Model Management shortly after she signed. In 1983, she entered Elite's Look of the Year contest at 17 and made the national finals.
Crawford graduated from DeKalb High School in 1984 as valedictorian. She earned an academic scholarship to study chemical engineering at Northwestern University, which she attended for only one quarter before dropping out to pursue a full-time modeling career. After working for photographer Victor Skrebneski in Chicago, she moved to New York City in 1986 and signed with the Elite New York modeling agency.
Career
In 1987, Crawford appeared in the opening credits of the Michael J. Fox film The Secret of My Success. Three years later, she was featured alongside top models Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz and Naomi Campbell on the cover of the January 1990 edition of British Vogue. Crawford and the other four models subsequently appeared in the video for George Michael's hit "Freedom! '90" later that year. Subsequently, Crawford played the lost love of Jon Bon Jovi in the 1994 video for his version of "Please Come Home For Christmas", "John Taylor" in the 2011 video for Duran Duran's "Girl Panic" (featuring supermodels as the band, including Naomi Campbell as Simon Le Bon), and Headmistress in the 2015 video for Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" as part of a cast including Jessica Alba, Selena Gomez, and fellow models Lily Aldridge, Cara Delevingne, Gigi Hadid, Martha Hunt and Karlie Kloss.
She was frequently featured on the cover of multiple fashion and lifestyle magazines, including Vogue, W, People, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Cosmopolitan, and Allure. A partial count in 1998 totalled over 500 appearances. Crawford has walked the runway shows for Chanel, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Christian Dior, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Roberto Cavalli, Michael Kors, Thierry Mugler, Todd Oldham, DKNY and Valentino. Crawford also appeared in many fashion campaigns during her career, including those for Versace, Calvin Klein, Escada, David Yurman, Oscar De La Renta, Balmain, Hermes, Ellen Tracy, Valentino, Bally, Liz Claiborne, Hervé Leger, Halston, Anne Klein, Isaac Mizrahi, Blumarine, Guess, Ink, Gap and Revlon. She has also worked for Omega, Maybelline, Clairol, Pepsi, and Chilean retail stores Ripley (partner of Macy's).
In July 1988, she posed nude for Playboy magazine in a shoot by photographer Herb Ritts. In October 1998, Crawford returned to the pages of Playboy for a second nude pictorial, again taken by Ritts. She was ranked number 5 on Playboy's list of the 100 sexiest stars of the 20th century. A 1997 Shape magazine survey of 4,000 picked her as the second (after Demi Moore) most beautiful woman in the world. In 2002, Crawford was named one of the 50 most beautiful people by People magazine. In her forties, she claimed No. 26 in the 2006 Hot 100 issue of Maxim magazine. She was named No. 3 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s and was named one of the "100 Hottest Women of All-Time" by Men's Health.
The red Versace dress she wore to the 63rd Academy Awards in 1991 had a major influence on fashion, and many copies and fakes of the dress were produced. In 1992, Crawford—through GoodTimes Home Video and her company Crawdaddy Productions—made an exercise video with Radu Teodorescu named Cindy Crawford: Shape Your Body; although criticised by some for being unsafe, it was hugely successful and led to two equally lucrative followups, Cindy Crawford: The Next Challenge in 1993 (again with Radu) and Cindy Crawford: A New Dimension in 2000; the latter, made with fitness expert Kathy Kaehler and produced not long after Crawford gave birth to her first child, was aimed at new mothers getting back into shape. In 2001, Crawford also made a shorter fitness video aimed at children, Mini-Muscles with Cindy Crawford and the Fit-wits, an animated production featuring the voices of Crawford (who also appears at the beginning in live action), Radu and Kobe Bryant.
The inaugural issue of George, a short lived political magazine in the 1990s, featured Crawford dressed like George Washington on the cover. In 2005, the American Society of Magazine Editors listed it as the 22nd best magazine cover of the last 40 years.
Crawford has also been on TV and in films. From 1989 to 1995, Crawford was host and executive producer of MTV's House of Style. In the early 1990s, Crawford starred in the Pepsi and Pepsi Stuff advertising. In 1992, she appeared in Pepsi's Super Bowl commercial, aired during Super Bowl XXVI. In 2016, Pepsi released a remake of the commercial, also featuring Crawford. In 1995, Crawford broke into movies as the female lead in the movie Fair Game. Her performance was panned by critics—Leonard Maltin commented "In her acting debut, supermodel Crawford makes a good jogger." The film was also a financial failure, with expenses of $50 million and $11 million takings at the box office. In 2001, she costarred as part of an ensemble cast in The Simian Line. Again the film was not successful or critically acclaimed, but Crawford's acting was not criticized. She has had many lesser roles guest starring on TV and as supporting roles, often playing herself. For example, in 2000, she was one of the celebrities (along with Victoria Silvstedt, Anna Falchi and Megan Gale) playing themselves in the Italian comedy Body Guards – Guardie del corpo. In the 1990s, Carol Shaw, her make-up artist, named a lipstick color after Crawford as a part of the Lorac Cosmetics lip-wear line.
In the late 1990s, she made a number of appearances in magician David Copperfield's stage shows, standing in for her fellow supermodel Claudia Schiffer as Copperfield's guest assistant. During these appearances, she took part in a number of different illusions including being levitated, guillotined, and sawn in half in Copperfield's Clearly Impossible illusion. On a number of occasions, she joined Copperfield and Schiffer in a performance of the Double Sawing illusion in which both women were sawn in half and then reassembled with their lower halves swapped.
After modeling
Crawford quit full-time modeling in 2000 and now appears only occasionally in fashion magazines. In 2005, Crawford created a line of beauty products with Jean-Louis Sebagh called Meaningful Beauty for Guthy-Renker. Crawford has stated that she regularly receives certain cosmetic procedures, including Botox and vitamin injections. She first saw a plastic surgeon at the age of 29.
In 2005, Crawford launched a new line of furniture under the "Cindy Crawford Home Collection" name. The collection is manufactured by HM Richards Inc. She assisted in the creation of the line by consulting on the features, colors, or styles that fit the needs of families or reflected her own tastes. She also has a furniture line with Rooms to Go, Raymour & Flanigan and launched a home goods line with J. C. Penney in late 2009.
In 2009, Crawford was one of many celebrities to be photographed by Deborah Anderson for the coffee table book Room 23, produced by philanthropist Diana Jenkins. In addition to appearing in the book, Crawford was the cover model and wrote the dedication. Becoming, a book about Crawford's life and career co-written by Crawford and Katherine O'Leary, was published in September 2015.
Crawford appeared on the US version of Lipsync Battle reenacting her performance in the bathtub from the George Michael music for "Freedom! '90", performed by actor Zachary Quinto.
Crawford and her daughter Kaia appeared together on the cover of the April 2016 issue of Vogue Paris. In 2016, she became a spokesperson for Acqua Minerale San Benedetto in Italy. In September 2017, Crawford, along with models Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen and Carla Bruni, closed the Versace spring/summer 2018 fashion show, which was an homage to the late Gianni Versace.
In January 2019, Crawford, along with her husband Rande Gerber, Michael Meldman, Jeff Shell and Jay Sures announced they would purchase the Hollywood deli Nate 'n Al to keep its doors open after three generations of family ownership.
Crawford was featured in a four-part Apple TV+ docuseries titled The Super Models, which premiered on September 20, 2023. The series also featured Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista and was directed by Roger Ross Williams and Larissa Bills.
Personal life
Crawford was married to actor Richard Gere from 1991 until their divorce in 1995. She married businessman and former model Rande Gerber on May 29, 1998. They have two children, son Presley Walker Gerber (born 1999) and daughter Kaia Jordan Gerber (born 2001).
In August 2021, the couple sold their home in Trousdale Estates, Beverly Hills, for a reported $13.5 million.
Style and appearance
Crawford is 5 feet 9+1⁄2 inches (1.77 m) tall with brown hair and eyes. Her measurements are 34–25.5–36. Her trademark is a mole (or "beauty mark") above her upper lip. She is so closely associated with this physical feature that she appeared in an Australian advertising campaign for flavoured milk featuring a TV commercial wherein she "licked off" her own mole. Her resemblance to model Gia Carangi led her to being known as "Baby Gia".
Advocacy and charity work
When Crawford was 10 years old, her three-year-old brother Jeff—whom she continues to praise as "the fourth most influential person in [her] life"—died of leukemia. Since becoming a model, Crawford has made childhood leukemia a focal point of her charity work, donating proceeds of her calendars to medical research. Crawford has been a long-time supporter of the pediatric oncology program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where Jeff was treated, stating that she believes he received the best care possible. She is also an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
In 2007, she became an official supporter of the Ronald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, called the Friends of RMHC. Crawford is on the honorary committee of the California Wildlife Center.
In 2021, Cindy Crawford recreated her iconic Pepsi ad with photographer David Yarrow to help raise funds for the American family Children's Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin where her brother, Jeff, was treated for leukemia.
Political endorsements
In 2008, Crawford endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States. Despite reports, Crawford denied endorsing Mitt Romney for the 2012 election.
Filmography
Films
Videos
Fitness videos
Music videos
Television
References
Works cited
Crawford, Cindy; O'Leary, Katherine (September 29, 2015). Becoming By Cindy Crawford: By Cindy Crawford with Katherine O' Leary. Rizzoli. ISBN 978-0-8478-4619-1.
External links
Official website
Cindy Crawford on the Internet Archive
Cindy Crawford at Fashion Model Directory
Cindy Crawford at IMDb
Cindy Crawford on Instagram
Cindy Crawford on Facebook
Crawford at the Music Television (House of Style)
Playboy Interview: Cindy Crawford
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Marie Osmond
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Olive Marie Osmond (born October 13, 1959) is an American singer, actress, television personality, author, and businesswoman. She is known for her girl-next-door image and her decades-long career in many different areas. Her musical career, primarily focused on country music, included a large number of chart singles with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Her 1973 cover of "Paper Roses," released when she was 14, made her the youngest female act with a number-one country single. Between 1985 and 1986, she also had number-one country singles with "Meet Me in Montana," "There's No Stopping Your Heart," and "You're Still New to Me." As a television personality, she has been a host of Donny & Marie (alongside brother Donny Osmond) and on The Talk. Her acting career includes appearances in television films and Broadway musicals; she has also written several books and helped found the Children's Miracle Network.
The eighth of nine children in the Osmond family, she made her television debut on The Andy Williams Show. At age 13, she established a career as a country recording artist. She began recording alongside her brother Donny, leading to the creation of their own syndicated variety show, which aired through 1979. In the early 1980s, the Osmond family lost most of its fortune, and Marie performed alongside her siblings. She also attempted to launch an acting career, experimenting with the variety show Marie. She then refocused her attention on the country genre and signed a contract with Capitol Records in 1985. Between 1985 and 1990, she had three number-one singles and released several albums, including There's No Stopping Your Heart (1985).
In the 1990s, Osmond established her own collection of dolls, which the QVC network sold. She made her Broadway debut in The King and I in 1994. Between 1998 and 2000, she reunited professionally with Donny for the network talk show Donny & Marie. During this period, she publicly spoke about her struggles with postpartum depression, later the focus of her book Behind the Smile: My Journey Out of Postpartum Depression. In 2004, she hosted her own radio series, entitled Marie & Friends and, in 2007, appeared in a season of Dancing with the Stars.
She and Donny reunited their act between 2008 and 2019 for a residency at the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas. The show later produced an album of their duets in 2009. In 2010, she returned with the solo studio album I Can Do This. In 2016, her country album Music Is Medicine followed and then, in 2021, came her classical album, Unexpected. Osmond also co-hosted The Talk between 2019 and 2020. And she appeared in several Lifetime television films, such as The Christmas Edition in 2020.
Childhood
Olive Marie Osmond was born October 13, 1959, in Ogden, Utah, her father's 42nd birthday. She was the eighth of nine children (and only daughter) born to Olive May and George Virl Osmond. Her brothers are Virl, Tom, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny and Jimmy Osmond. She was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Virl and Tom were both born deaf. Her remaining brothers began performing from an early age as a barbershop quartet and eventually found success on The Andy Williams Show in the 1960s. Her brothers' success prompted the family to move to Los Angeles. In 1964, when Marie was four years old, she made her first televised appearance on The Andy Williams Show.
Most of Marie's childhood was spent at home with her mother, along with Virl, Tom, Donny, and Jimmy. Marie was closest to Donny during their childhood, and the pair often played together. "Donny and I were rambunctious playmates, who never gave our mother a moment to rest," Osmond recounted in her book Behind the Smile: My Journey Out of Postpartum Depression. She also accompanied her brothers to concerts in her early childhood, often helping organize stage equipment and wardrobes. When the family was home, they spent much of their free time singing and harmonizing with each other. "I never knew a day of my childhood life where music wasn't being played, practiced, written, or sung," she recalled in 2009.
Music career
1973–1979: Teenage country music success and collaborations with Donny
By 1970, her brothers had formed their own group, The Osmonds. During this period, they rose to commercial stardom with a series of successful pop singles. It was then suggested that Marie could have her own music career. She chose to market herself as a country music artist, explaining that it was the only genre that allowed women to have a family and career. As a preteen, she recorded a demo tape, singing Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors." Subsequently, Don Ovens of MGM Records heard it; impressed by her singing, he signed her to a solo recording contract with the label's Nashville division.
Ovens convinced country artist Sonny James to produce her first recording session. In June 1973, Osmond and her mother flew to Nashville, Tennessee where she recorded nine previously-memorized songs. Among the tracks was "Paper Roses," which would be released as her debut single in August 1973. The song later reached the number-one spot on both the US country songs chart and the Canadian country tracks chart. The song also crossed over to the US Hot 100, peaking at number five and went to number two in the United Kingdom. Osmond's debut studio album was released in September 1973 and topped the US country albums chart. At 14 years old, she became the youngest female country artist whose debut single hit number one in the US.
In 1974, Osmond's next solo single "In My Little Corner of the World" became a top-40 US country single. Then, in 1975, her "Who's Sorry Now" became a top-40 pop single in the US and Canada. Two corresponding studio albums, named after Osmond's follow-up singles, rose to the US country chart in 1974 and 1975, respectively.
By the early 1970s, Donny had established his own recording career, apart from his brothers' group. In 1974, he was in the studio recording the song "I'm Leaving It All Up to You," but was having difficulty hitting its high notes. After Marie came in to sing harmony, the song began to launch the siblings' collaborative recording career. With both receiving credit, the track reached number four on the US Hot 100, while reaching the top five in Canada, The Netherlands, Ireland, and the UK. An album of the same name sold over 500,000 copies in the US and produced another international top-ten single, "Morning Side of the Mountain." As a duo, Donny and Marie had five more US top 40 singles through 1978: "Deep Purple," "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration," and "On the Shelf."
From 1976 to 1979, the siblings hosted their own network variety show called Donny & Marie. The duo released three more studio albums with MGM during the show's run: Featuring Songs from Their Television Show (1976), New Season (1976), and Winning Combination. Both of their 1976 studio albums certified as gold in the US after each had sold 500,000 copies. In 1977, Rick Hall produced Marie's next solo album, entitled This Is the Way That I Feel. Unlike her previous releases, it was collection of pop songs. Released on Polydor Records, This Is the Way That I Feel peaked at number 152 in the US and its title track reached number 39 on the US Hot 100.
1985–1995: Country music comeback in adulthood
Osmond returned to country music in the 1980s. She was signed to Capitol Records by Nashville label-head Jim Foglesong. Foglesong paired her with Dan Seals to record the duet "Meet Me in Montana". Released as a single in 1985, it became Osmond's second number one single on the US country chart, and reached number 19 on Canada's country chart. Additionally, the song won the Vocal Duo of the Year accolade at the Country Music Association Awards. "Meet Me in Montana" was included on Osmond's first Capitol album There's No Stopping Your Heart (1985). The album was praised by critics who found her well-suited to singing country pop material. The disc's title track was chosen as the album's second single and ultimately became her first solo single since "Paper Roses" to reach number one on the US and Canadian country charts. Its third single "Read My Lips" reached the US and Canadian country top five in 1986.
In 1986, Osmond was nominated by the Academy of Country Music for Top Female Vocalist and by the Grammy Awards for her duet with Dan Seals. Osmond, her husband and children then moved to Nashville to further her country career. Along with her four children, Osmond traveled the United States on a tour bus doing hundreds of shows a year. "It was a pretty good life, as long as you didn't mind scraping cow pie off your shoes once in a while," she later wrote in her 2009 memoir.
Capitol released Osmond's next album in August 1986 I Only Wanted You. The disc was her second produced with Paul Worley in Nashville. Billboard praised its country pop production calling it "glowing". Along with her previous project, I Only Wanted You made the top 20 of the US country albums chart. The album featured a duet with Paul Davis called "You're Still New to Me". Although Davis had pitched her the song, it was Osmond's idea to record it as a duet with him. Released as a single, the Osmond-Davis duet topped the US and Canadian country charts in 1986. The album's title track was spawned as the disc's second single and reached the top 20 on both nation's country charts in 1987.
In July 1988, Osmond's next Capitol studio album All in Love was released. The disc's production was described by critics as "excessively sweet" and "slick". It reached the top 30 of the US country albums chart. Its three singles reached positions outside the US and Canadian country top 40: "Without a Trace", "Sweet Life" (another duet with Paul Davis) and "I'm in Love and He's in Dallas". Her final Capitol studio album was 1989's Steppin' Stone, which reached the US country albums top 70. Critics took notice of the album's traditional country production compared to her previous projects. Similar to her previous release, all three of its singles (the title track, "Slowly But Surely", "Let Me Be the First") failed to peak in positions inside the US and Canadian country top 40.
In 1990, Curb Records released Osmond's first compilation of greatest hits under the title The Best of Marie Osmond. The album contained some new recordings, one of which was the single "Like a Hurricane". It reached number 57 on the US country songs chart in 1990. Another new track was a re-recording of "Paper Roses", which Osmond remade due to the copyright challenges with including the original. Osmond brought in the song's original producer (Sonny James) and several of the original studio musicians to re-make the track. In 1995, Osmond returned to the US country charts with the new Curb single "What Kind of Man (Walks on a Woman)". Two previews of songs from an anticipated album were included in the single's release. However, Osmond ultimately chose to make a career change finding it challenging to balance family life with touring.
2008–present: Las Vegas residency and return to music
Following Marie's success on Dancing With the Stars, she reunited with Donny for a week of shows at the MGM Grand Las Vegas in July 2008. That led to a six-week run at the Flamingo Las Vegas, which ultimately turned into an 11-year residency through November 2019. The show had a total of 1730 performances, the most of any singing act in Las Vegas history. The Flamingo Showroom was renamed the Donny & Marie Showroom from 2013 to 2019. The duo earned three of the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Best of Las Vegas Awards in 2012 including "Best Show", "Best All-Around Performer" (Donny & Marie), and "Best Singer". The Vegas show moved to Caesars Atlantic City for two weeks in August 2014. A new studio album by the duo titled Donny & Marie was released by MPCA in May 2011. It featured both covers and new material. The album reached the top 30 in the US and number 41 in the UK.
As solo artist, Osmond's first studio album in nearly 20 years was released in 2007 titled Magic of Christmas. It was followed by I Can Do This in 2010, which featured hymns and spiritual material. It reached number 71 in the US. Following this, Osmond decided that she no longer wanted to record music. However, an instinctual revelation prompted her to return to it. "There was this voice saying ‘Marie, you should never let age define your music'," she told Sounds Like Nashville. In 2016, Osmond released her tenth studio album Music Is Medicine. It was her first studio album of country music since 1989's Steppin' Stone. Produced by Jason Deere, the project featured collaborations with Olivia Newton-John, Sisqo and Marty Ro (of Diamond Rio). Music Is Medicine reached number ten on the US country chart, becoming Osmond's first solo album since Paper Roses to make the top ten list. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated the album three out of five stars and concluded, "Despite the ambitious cast of characters, it's music that's meant to soothe and comfort old friends, and it certainly succeeds in that regard."
In 2021, Osmond's next studio album was released titled Unexpected. The project was a collection of operatic and traditional pop music. Although fearful about recording an album of material outside her comfort zone, Osmond decided to "not be afraid of a new door opening". The album featured the Prague Symphony Orchestra and included a cover of "Nessun Dorma", a song she had been performing on stage for years. Other tracks included show tunes like "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" and "On My Own". Upon its release, Unexpected peaked at number six on the US classical albums chart and number one on the US classical crossover albums chart.
Voice and musical style
Osmond has a soprano vocal range. This was not discovered until she performed on Broadway in the 1990s and a vocal coach believed she could sing higher than she was aware of. Osmond's music has been classified in the genres of country pop, pop, classical and opera. In describing her wide range of musical styles, The Blade wrote, "To hear Marie Osmond’s voice is to hear more than a half century of American pop culture history." In describing the country pop era of her career, writers Robert K. Oermann and Mary A. Bufwack wrote, "Like the other country-pop crossover queens of her era, Marie had a patriotic, high-energy fashion conscious concert act that matched her upbeat pop-flavored tunes." When explaining her own musical styles, Osmond said, "Yes, I’m country; that’s what I chose to be, but it was very easy for me to sing pop because my brothers did. But as I have grown and I did Broadway and all different kinds of things, I fell in love with that style."
Acting, radio, and television career
1976–1986: Donny & Marie and television breakthrough
In 1976, programmer Fred Silverman offered Donny and Marie their own television variety series after seeing them perform on The Mike Douglas Show. The resulting show titled Donny & Marie aired on ABC beginning the same year. It was produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. The show brought in an estimated 14 million viewers. On the program, the sibling duo sang and performed comedy sketches. The duo performed together, separately and with guest performers. Notably, the show also featured the Osmond brothers. The pair became known for one of the show's songs which featured the line, "I'm a little bit country and I'm a little bit rock and roll".
The Donny & Marie show was considered by writers to showcase the siblings' "squeaky clean" and "family friendly" image. The siblings often worked 18-hour days learning scripts, changing into costumes and practicing choreography. Marie continued her schooling and was tutored on-set for three hours daily while also being expected to complete chores while she was home. Weighing 110 pounds, Marie was told by a producer to lose ten pounds or "the entire show would be canceled". Following the statement, her weight dropped to 93 pounds and she struggled to stay awake during rehearsals. Osmond continued to perform on the show, citing her responsibility to her family and her audience. Donny and & Marie was later re-titled to The Osmond Family Hour and was canceled in May 1979.
In 1978, Donny and Marie debuted in their first feature film titled Goin' Coconuts. The film told the story of two siblings who are put in the center of criminal activity between two gangs while at a concert in Hawaii. The film was considered a commercial failure at the box office when it was released in 1978. Later that year, Marie appeared in the ABC television film The Gift of Love, which was based on the O. Henry story The Gift of the Magi. The film told the story of a newlywed couple and starred opposite Timothy Bottoms.
In the late 1970s, Marie was considered for the role of Sandy in the film version of Grease, later explaining that the original character was "not a nice girl" and "a lot edgier". In 1978, Osmond starred in a sitcom pilot titled Marie. Although originally made for ABC, it did not make the new season schedule. Between 1980 and 1981, Osmond briefly had her own variety show titled Marie. In the early 1980s, Osmond made acting appearances in more television films including I Married Wyatt Earp and Rooster. In 1984, she voiced the role of The Nursery Magic Fairy/Velveteen Rabbit in The Velveteen Rabbit. In 1982, she played her mother Olive in the television movie Side by Side: The True Story of the Osmond Family. She then hosted the television program Ripley's Believe It or Not! in 1985.
1994–2009: Broadway and return to television
Osmond focused her attention towards her recording career in the 1980s. She returned to acting in the 1990s when her touring schedule allowed her less time with her children. "I knew that I never wanted to have to choose between a child who needed me and a concert performance ever again. It was all the motivation I needed to make a life and a career change," she wrote in 2009. Manager Karl Engemann arranged for Osmond to meet with the creators of a new touring production of The Sound of Music. The creators gave her more freedom to balance her family life and her career. Ultimately, she agreed to the lead role of Maria von Trapp. She worked alongside vocal coach Barbara Smith Davis to retrain her voice for the role. Between 1994 and 1995, she toured in the show's traveling production throughout the United States. Variety praised her performance, commenting, "Forget the misleadingly sappy posters: she is a more interesting Maria than that." In 1997, Osmond starred as Anna Leonowens in The King and I. It was her debut performance on New York's Broadway stage. The Los Angeles Times found Osmond's to be an "adequate Anna" but found "she falters in important ways". Meanwhile Variety praised her vocal performance, writing, "Osmond's soprano has developed into a fine instrument".
In the middle 1990s, Osmond returned to television. In 1995, she starred as Julia Wallace in the ABC sitcom Maybe This Time. Osmond played a divorced mother who was also balancing an entertainment career. The show also featured Betty White who played the role of her mother. After 18 episodes, the show was cancelled in February 1996. She was then approached by Dick Clark to re-launch the original Donny & Marie television program as a talk show. Although hesitant to work with her brother again, she ultimately agreed. Along with her husband and children, she moved to Los Angeles and she began filming the program. In September 1998, Donny & Marie was launched on daytime television. "Donny and Marie Osmond don’t seem much different from their days as the clean-cut teenage siblings on the ‘70s ABC musical-variety series, 'Donny and Marie'," wrote Susan King of the Los Angeles Times. The duo taped one-hour programs six times a week, with six segments in each program. After two seasons, the talk show was canceled due to "poor ratings".
In 1999, Donny and Marie co-hosted the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. From co-hosting, she became the first female host to announce the winner of the pageant. In 2004, Osmond hosted a five-hour radio show on the weekdays titled Marie and Friends. The show included conversations with guests and played current adult contemporary music. Primarily the show was geared towards women, with Osmond commenting, "I'm looking forward to healthy adult conversation with women my own age!" The show was aired in the mid-western and western United States, primarily in Utah, Idaho, Washington state and California.
In 2006, Osmond was cast as a judge on the Simon Cowell-created television competition Celebrity Duets. The show paired non-singing celebrities with professional musicians for duet performances. "Marie Osmond acting as a cogent adviser is about the most impressive element in 'Celebrity Duets'," wrote Phil Gallo of Variety. The same year it was reported by Entertainment Tonight magazine that she would join the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful soap opera but scheduling conflicts prevented this from happening at the time.
In August 2007, Osmond was cast on Dancing with the Stars alongside Jane Seymour and Wayne Newton. The ballroom dancing program paired celebrities with professional dancers for weekly live competitions. In her 2009 autobiography, Osmond wrote that she "didn't know how to dance" and at one point had to "crawl up the stairs" to her bedroom because her muscles were so sore following rehearsals. Two months into the show, she began experiencing breathing difficulties and fainted on air during an episode. She was medically evaluated and was reportedly "fine" following the collapse. She continued performing on the show until being eliminated in November 2007. She ultimately placed in third. In 2009, Osmond was given the opportunity to host her own talk show but due to economic challenges in the US at the time, the show was not aired.
2010–present: Marie, The Talk and further television roles
The Donny and Marie duo produced a holiday musical called Donny & Marie – A Broadway Christmas, which was originally scheduled to play on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre from December 9–19, 2010. The show was then extended through December 30, 2010, and again to January 2, 2011.
In the early 2010s, Emmy Awards producer David McKenzie re-approached Osmond about hosting her own talk show. She agreed and in 2012, it was announced that she would have her own talk show on the Hallmark Channel titled Marie. The program replaced The Martha Stewart Show which ran during the same time of the day. Osmond's program featured guests who discussed social issues and provided lifestyle advice. Specifically, the talk show featured Osmond performing, along with specific advice on cooking and fashion. The show debuted in late 2012 featuring Betty White as her first guest. "She’s nothing but a cordial host, as if she was speaking and entertaining her guests – and her viewers – in the intimacy of her own home," wrote Media Village. In 2013, Hallmark cancelled the show after one season of being aired, stating that the channel already had too many talk show offerings. A proposal to air the talk show on another network was in the works.
After leaving the Hallmark Channel, Osmond became a regular fill-in co-host on the CBS daytime show The Talk. She guest-hosted for a total of 40 times. She was then approached by the head of CBS daytime television to become an official co-host. In 2019, Osmond was announced as the official replacement for Sara Gilbert on The Talk, co-hosting alongside Sheryl Underwood, Carrie Ann Inaba, Sharon Osbourne and Eve. "I am thrilled to now call this my day job," she told People magazine. In September 2020, Osmond departed the show after one season, citing a focus on family and other television opportunities. Osmond left at the same time that producer John Redmann departed the show and it was announced that the pair would collaborate in other television opportunities.
Following her departure, Osmond acted in several television films. In 2019, she played Cassie, a Nashville singer, in the Lifetime film The Road Home for Christmas. Her co-stars included Rob Mayes and Marla Sokoloff. In 2020, she co-starred in a second Lifetime television film with Carly Hughes called The Christmas Edition. In 2021, Osmond co-starred in a third Lifetime television film titled A Fiancé for Christmas, which told the story of a single woman who makes a fake wedding registry and ultimately finds love in unexpected places. The Digital Journal praised Osmond's performance as the character of Margaret, calling her "fabulous". The same year, Osmond appeared on an episode of Fantasy Island as Shaye Fury, a fictional country singer. In 2023, she made an appearance on the show The Bold and the Beautiful.
Business career
Children's Miracle Network
Osmond was inspired to help sick children after watching how her deaf siblings struggled learning to speak and communicate. Her parents also encouraged her to help support individuals in need. "My parents strongly believed that philanthropy was not only something we could do in our spare time but something that was to be part of our weekly schedule," she recalled. In 1981, Osmond and her brothers were hosting actor John Schneider at their home. Both Schneider and Osmond had a passion for helping sick children. The result was the pair co-founding the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. The organization provides funds to sick children and their donations are given to hospitals across the country. Since its creation, the organization has been said to have raised $7 billion dollars for children. Osmond has collaborated and met with hundreds of families since its creation and is part of the program's annual broadcast to raise funds. "I’m grateful that Children’s Miracle Network has given families access to financial and emotional support, technology, and the best research available, so they don’t have to figure it out on their own the way my mother did," she wrote in 2009.
Doll business
Osmond and her mother started collecting dolls as a young child. In each city her family would tour in, they would purchase a doll as a souvenir. During her free time, Osmond started sculpting her own dolls in adulthood. Ultimately, it turned into a business in 1990 titled Marie Osmond Fine Porcelain Dolls. Osmond's dolls were also sold at Wal-Mart retailers starting at $29. Other dolls were sold in prices between $65 and $2000. She also debuted her doll collection on the QVC network during this period. Among her most notable was the Olive May doll, based on her own mother. The doll later set a collectible record on QVC, selling three million dolls in less than 15 minutes. A total of 40 dolls in six different series comprised the original porcelain collection. They were titled: Victoriana Collection, Classic Reproductions, Children of the World, Children of All Ages and Miracle Children (in reference to Children's Miracle Network). In 2001, Osmond claimed that she had designed an estimated 550 different dolls. According to her official website, Osmond is now "retired" from the doll-making industry.
Nutrisystem
In the 2000s, Osmond had gained roughly 40 pounds (18 kg). When her mother suffered a stroke, she told her daughter, "Marie, don't do what I did. Take care of yourself." In 2007, she chose to make a change to her lifestyle and physical wellness after her children became increasingly worried about her weight. "If I didn't feel a sense of urgency to do something for myself, I need to do it for my own children," she wrote in her autobiography. The same year, Osmond found the Nutrisystem program and she lost a total of 50 pounds (23 kg). She reportedly went from being a size 14 to a size four. Osmond then became a spokesperson for the brand shortly after losing the weight. On Nutrisystems's official website, Osmond is listed under their category labeled "success stories" where she explains her journey with the program. She has since created a program through the company called "Complete 50" for women age 50 and older.
Writing career
Osmond is the author of four books, three of which have made The New York Times Best Seller list. Her first was 2001's Behind the Smile: My Journey Out of Postpartum Depression. It was co-written with Marcia Wilkie and Osmond's physician Dr. Judith Moore. The book described how Osmond suffered from postpartum depression following the birth of her child in the late 1990s. Her hope was that giving voice to postpartum depression would inspire other women take action of their own mental health. Ability magazine positively remarked that the book "candidly discloses her experience" with postpartum depression. The book made Osmond the first celebrity to speak openly about postpartum depression.
Osmond and Marcia Wilkie then co-authored a second book in 2009 titled Might as Well Laugh About It Now. The memoir discussed highlights and memories from her life. "I really wanted to put some things down that were really meaningful to me. It’s really about attitude ... you can either let life get you down or you can laugh about it," she told the San Diego Union-Tribune. Along with positive memories, Osmond also described some challenging points in her life. Deseret News called the book both "funny" and "moving". "The book is easy to read and is written in a conversational tone that makes the reader feel as though Osmond is a friend retelling stories from her life instead of a distant celebrity," highlighted Emiley Morgan.
Osmond wrote two books in the 2010s decade. In 2010, she penned a book of handcrafted project designs called Marie Osmond's Heartfelt Giving: Sew and Quilt for Family and Friends, (Martingale & Company). The "how-to" book gave step-by-step instructions of crafts people can make using a sewing machine. In 2013, Osmond's third book was released titled The Key Is Love. The book consisted of anecdotes from her personal life, many of which circled back to her own mother. Osmond notably talked about her son's death in the book.
Public image
Along with her siblings, Osmond's public image has been described as being "squeaky clean". She has also been described as the "girl next door". When describing her image, the News & Record wrote, "Maybe Marie Osmond needs to get in a brawl in a cool L.A. club, snatch up a Sharon Stone-type film role or start hanging out with Madonna in Miami." The Washington Post explained that the Osmond family were "squeaky-clean Mormons who, by all accounts, never indulged in the better-known temptations of showbiz." At one point, she was offered $5 million to appear in Playboy magazine. But she declined, later saying, "I could have used [the money]. I wouldn't want to see my mom like that, and I really wanted to be a mom." In describing her own public image, Osmond commented, "Those people [reviewers] probably still see a naive little girl in their minds. I have to laugh at people like that because you cannot grow up in the business and not see everything and then some. The reviewers can stay back in that time, but I'm moving forward."
Personal life
Relationships, marriages, and children
Osmond was briefly engaged to acting student Jeff Crayton in May 1979. However, they broke their engagement two months later. She also dated singer Andy Gibb around the same time. In 1981, she briefly dated John Schneider.
Osmond has been married three times, including twice to the same spouse. In 1982, she wed her first husband, Stephen Lyle Craig, then a basketball player for Brigham Young University. Their first child, Stephen James Craig, was born in 1983. The couple divorced in 1985. "Steve and I had made several attempts to go back and make our very young marriage work, but it failed. I was being scrutinized in the tabloids and the paparazzi seemed to show up wherever I went. I was emotionally exhausted," she wrote in her autobiography. In 1986, she married record producer Brian Blosil in a private ceremony with her family in attendance. Osmond was drawn to Blosil's "dry sense of humor" after meeting him at a family party. Osmond and Blosil had seven children, five of whom were adopted. Their two biological children are Rachael and Matthew. Their five adopted children are Jessica, Michael, Brandon, Brianna, and Abigail. After 21 years of marriage, the couple divorced in 2007. Both parties released a joint statement stating that neither one assigned fault for the divorce.
Following her second divorce, Osmond said she "never wanted to be married again". Despite this, she and her former husband Steve Craig reunited after their son arranged a meeting. They rekindled their relationship and secretly dated for two years before revealing it publicly. "I didn't want anybody to get hurt, you know if it didn't work out. And gosh, it just worked out," Osmond said. The couple remarried on May 4, 2011, in a private ceremony at the Las Vegas Mormon Temple with the bride wearing her dress from their original wedding in 1982. A few months later, the newly remarried couple attended their son's wedding. "The thing about a second marriage is that you realize things you thought were so important aren't. I love being with my husband. He is the sweetest man I know. He lives to serve and really listens to people's needs," she told People magazine.
Osmond's daughter, Jessica, is lesbian. In an interview, Osmond commented, "I know how I love my children and I know God loves all of his children as a father. I pray for everyone to use their lives to be happy and feel accomplished. That is what this life is for."
In March 2020, Osmond stated that she will leave her fortune to charity upon her death, stating that it would be a disservice to her children to leave the money to them, and noting that they need to make their own money.
Personal setbacks and challenges
In 1976, Karl Engemann began managing the recording careers of Donny, Marie, Jimmy, and the Osmond Brothers group. He was appointed personal manager at various career stages of all the Osmond children three years later, and eventually only of Marie. In December 2009, Marie parted company with Karl Engemann. Osmond and her law firm wrote that Engemann made "repeated defamatory and derogatory comments to third parties, multiple breaches of fiduciary duties, entering into unauthorized commitments, seeking to obtain monies outside the purview of the management agreement and other violations of his obligations."
In 1999, Osmond publicly spoke about her battle with postpartum depression after giving birth to her son Matthew. She spoke in detail about her challenges in her 2001 book Behind the Smile. In the book, she explained that it felt "much darker" than the baby blues and that she was "fading away minute by minute". Osmond started experiencing panic attacks, fatigue, neck pain (which resulted in a hospital visit) and suicidal ideations. In one instance, she drove miles up California's Pacific Coast Highway leaving her children in the care of two nannies, who did not know where she was going. She then received a call from her husband, who convinced her to pull off the highway and check into a hotel. She then began receiving natural healing treatments through physician Dr. Judith Moore. Osmond found that both medication and therapeutic mind-body work ultimately lifted her depression. After discussing postpartum depression on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Osmond said that she received "thousands of emails and handwritten letters" from people about their own struggles with the disorder.
Osmond also revealed in her 2001 book that she had been sexually abused in her youth, though she did not publicly disclose the identity of her abuser. She believed that the abuse later led to her struggles with postpartum depression. "In my life, the normally positive quality of putting others first resulted in long-term negative effects because it was out of balance," she wrote. She later revealed that her childhood abuse also resulted in developing body dysmorphia.
In August 2006, several U.S. tabloids suggested that she had attempted suicide. Her publicity team denied it, claiming she had suffered an adverse reaction to a medication she was taking.
On February 26, 2010, Osmond's adopted son Michael died by suicide, jumping off an eighth-floor balcony. He reportedly battled depression and addiction, and had been in rehabilitation at the age of 12. He was also bullied from a young age. Osmond wrote in her 2013 book The Key Is Love that he had been "emotionally down" in the weeks prior to his suicide. Osmond later revealed that she had missed a phone call from her son shortly before his death because she was onstage in Las Vegas. An autopsy found no drugs in his system. Osmond returned to work two weeks following her son's death. "The stage is my safe place. It doesn't scare me like it scares people. And I knew if I didn't get back onstage I may never get back onstage."
Discography
Filmography
Films
Hugo the Hippo (1975)
The Gift of Love (1978)
Goin' Coconuts (1978)
The Velveteen Rabbit (1984)
Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night (1998)
O Christmas Tree (1999)
Books
Behind the Smile: My Journey Out of Postpartum Depression (2001) (with Marcia Wilkie and Dr. Judith Moore)
Might as Well Laugh About It Now (2009) (with Marcia Wilkie)
Marie Osmond's Heartfelt Giving: Sew and Quilt for Family and Friends (2010)
The Key Is Love: My Mother's Wisdom, A Daughter's Gratitude (2013) (with Marcia Wilkie)
Awards and nominations
Marie Osmond has received several awards and nominations, notably from the Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, Grammy Awards and Daytime Emmy Awards.
References
Footnotes
Books
External links
Marie Osmond Official website
Marie Osmond at IMDb
Marie Osmond at the Internet Broadway Database
Marie Osmond Getting Divorced – People magazine, March 30, 2007
BBC News, Marie Osmond sings Paper Roses for Kilmarnock fans, 1 February 2013
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Olive Marie Osmond (born October 13, 1959) is an American singer, actress, television personality, author, and businesswoman. She is known for her girl-next-door image and her decades-long career in many different areas. Her musical career, primarily focused on country music, included a large number of chart singles with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Her 1973 cover of "Paper Roses," released when she was 14, made her the youngest female act with a number-one country single. Between 1985 and 1986, she also had number-one country singles with "Meet Me in Montana," "There's No Stopping Your Heart," and "You're Still New to Me." As a television personality, she has been a host of Donny & Marie (alongside brother Donny Osmond) and on The Talk. Her acting career includes appearances in television films and Broadway musicals; she has also written several books and helped found the Children's Miracle Network.
The eighth of nine children in the Osmond family, she made her television debut on The Andy Williams Show. At age 13, she established a career as a country recording artist. She began recording alongside her brother Donny, leading to the creation of their own syndicated variety show, which aired through 1979. In the early 1980s, the Osmond family lost most of its fortune, and Marie performed alongside her siblings. She also attempted to launch an acting career, experimenting with the variety show Marie. She then refocused her attention on the country genre and signed a contract with Capitol Records in 1985. Between 1985 and 1990, she had three number-one singles and released several albums, including There's No Stopping Your Heart (1985).
In the 1990s, Osmond established her own collection of dolls, which the QVC network sold. She made her Broadway debut in The King and I in 1994. Between 1998 and 2000, she reunited professionally with Donny for the network talk show Donny & Marie. During this period, she publicly spoke about her struggles with postpartum depression, later the focus of her book Behind the Smile: My Journey Out of Postpartum Depression. In 2004, she hosted her own radio series, entitled Marie & Friends and, in 2007, appeared in a season of Dancing with the Stars.
She and Donny reunited their act between 2008 and 2019 for a residency at the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas. The show later produced an album of their duets in 2009. In 2010, she returned with the solo studio album I Can Do This. In 2016, her country album Music Is Medicine followed and then, in 2021, came her classical album, Unexpected. Osmond also co-hosted The Talk between 2019 and 2020. And she appeared in several Lifetime television films, such as The Christmas Edition in 2020.
Childhood
Olive Marie Osmond was born October 13, 1959, in Ogden, Utah, her father's 42nd birthday. She was the eighth of nine children (and only daughter) born to Olive May and George Virl Osmond. Her brothers are Virl, Tom, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny and Jimmy Osmond. She was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Virl and Tom were both born deaf. Her remaining brothers began performing from an early age as a barbershop quartet and eventually found success on The Andy Williams Show in the 1960s. Her brothers' success prompted the family to move to Los Angeles. In 1964, when Marie was four years old, she made her first televised appearance on The Andy Williams Show.
Most of Marie's childhood was spent at home with her mother, along with Virl, Tom, Donny, and Jimmy. Marie was closest to Donny during their childhood, and the pair often played together. "Donny and I were rambunctious playmates, who never gave our mother a moment to rest," Osmond recounted in her book Behind the Smile: My Journey Out of Postpartum Depression. She also accompanied her brothers to concerts in her early childhood, often helping organize stage equipment and wardrobes. When the family was home, they spent much of their free time singing and harmonizing with each other. "I never knew a day of my childhood life where music wasn't being played, practiced, written, or sung," she recalled in 2009.
Music career
1973–1979: Teenage country music success and collaborations with Donny
By 1970, her brothers had formed their own group, The Osmonds. During this period, they rose to commercial stardom with a series of successful pop singles. It was then suggested that Marie could have her own music career. She chose to market herself as a country music artist, explaining that it was the only genre that allowed women to have a family and career. As a preteen, she recorded a demo tape, singing Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors." Subsequently, Don Ovens of MGM Records heard it; impressed by her singing, he signed her to a solo recording contract with the label's Nashville division.
Ovens convinced country artist Sonny James to produce her first recording session. In June 1973, Osmond and her mother flew to Nashville, Tennessee where she recorded nine previously-memorized songs. Among the tracks was "Paper Roses," which would be released as her debut single in August 1973. The song later reached the number-one spot on both the US country songs chart and the Canadian country tracks chart. The song also crossed over to the US Hot 100, peaking at number five and went to number two in the United Kingdom. Osmond's debut studio album was released in September 1973 and topped the US country albums chart. At 14 years old, she became the youngest female country artist whose debut single hit number one in the US.
In 1974, Osmond's next solo single "In My Little Corner of the World" became a top-40 US country single. Then, in 1975, her "Who's Sorry Now" became a top-40 pop single in the US and Canada. Two corresponding studio albums, named after Osmond's follow-up singles, rose to the US country chart in 1974 and 1975, respectively.
By the early 1970s, Donny had established his own recording career, apart from his brothers' group. In 1974, he was in the studio recording the song "I'm Leaving It All Up to You," but was having difficulty hitting its high notes. After Marie came in to sing harmony, the song began to launch the siblings' collaborative recording career. With both receiving credit, the track reached number four on the US Hot 100, while reaching the top five in Canada, The Netherlands, Ireland, and the UK. An album of the same name sold over 500,000 copies in the US and produced another international top-ten single, "Morning Side of the Mountain." As a duo, Donny and Marie had five more US top 40 singles through 1978: "Deep Purple," "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration," and "On the Shelf."
From 1976 to 1979, the siblings hosted their own network variety show called Donny & Marie. The duo released three more studio albums with MGM during the show's run: Featuring Songs from Their Television Show (1976), New Season (1976), and Winning Combination. Both of their 1976 studio albums certified as gold in the US after each had sold 500,000 copies. In 1977, Rick Hall produced Marie's next solo album, entitled This Is the Way That I Feel. Unlike her previous releases, it was collection of pop songs. Released on Polydor Records, This Is the Way That I Feel peaked at number 152 in the US and its title track reached number 39 on the US Hot 100.
1985–1995: Country music comeback in adulthood
Osmond returned to country music in the 1980s. She was signed to Capitol Records by Nashville label-head Jim Foglesong. Foglesong paired her with Dan Seals to record the duet "Meet Me in Montana". Released as a single in 1985, it became Osmond's second number one single on the US country chart, and reached number 19 on Canada's country chart. Additionally, the song won the Vocal Duo of the Year accolade at the Country Music Association Awards. "Meet Me in Montana" was included on Osmond's first Capitol album There's No Stopping Your Heart (1985). The album was praised by critics who found her well-suited to singing country pop material. The disc's title track was chosen as the album's second single and ultimately became her first solo single since "Paper Roses" to reach number one on the US and Canadian country charts. Its third single "Read My Lips" reached the US and Canadian country top five in 1986.
In 1986, Osmond was nominated by the Academy of Country Music for Top Female Vocalist and by the Grammy Awards for her duet with Dan Seals. Osmond, her husband and children then moved to Nashville to further her country career. Along with her four children, Osmond traveled the United States on a tour bus doing hundreds of shows a year. "It was a pretty good life, as long as you didn't mind scraping cow pie off your shoes once in a while," she later wrote in her 2009 memoir.
Capitol released Osmond's next album in August 1986 I Only Wanted You. The disc was her second produced with Paul Worley in Nashville. Billboard praised its country pop production calling it "glowing". Along with her previous project, I Only Wanted You made the top 20 of the US country albums chart. The album featured a duet with Paul Davis called "You're Still New to Me". Although Davis had pitched her the song, it was Osmond's idea to record it as a duet with him. Released as a single, the Osmond-Davis duet topped the US and Canadian country charts in 1986. The album's title track was spawned as the disc's second single and reached the top 20 on both nation's country charts in 1987.
In July 1988, Osmond's next Capitol studio album All in Love was released. The disc's production was described by critics as "excessively sweet" and "slick". It reached the top 30 of the US country albums chart. Its three singles reached positions outside the US and Canadian country top 40: "Without a Trace", "Sweet Life" (another duet with Paul Davis) and "I'm in Love and He's in Dallas". Her final Capitol studio album was 1989's Steppin' Stone, which reached the US country albums top 70. Critics took notice of the album's traditional country production compared to her previous projects. Similar to her previous release, all three of its singles (the title track, "Slowly But Surely", "Let Me Be the First") failed to peak in positions inside the US and Canadian country top 40.
In 1990, Curb Records released Osmond's first compilation of greatest hits under the title The Best of Marie Osmond. The album contained some new recordings, one of which was the single "Like a Hurricane". It reached number 57 on the US country songs chart in 1990. Another new track was a re-recording of "Paper Roses", which Osmond remade due to the copyright challenges with including the original. Osmond brought in the song's original producer (Sonny James) and several of the original studio musicians to re-make the track. In 1995, Osmond returned to the US country charts with the new Curb single "What Kind of Man (Walks on a Woman)". Two previews of songs from an anticipated album were included in the single's release. However, Osmond ultimately chose to make a career change finding it challenging to balance family life with touring.
2008–present: Las Vegas residency and return to music
Following Marie's success on Dancing With the Stars, she reunited with Donny for a week of shows at the MGM Grand Las Vegas in July 2008. That led to a six-week run at the Flamingo Las Vegas, which ultimately turned into an 11-year residency through November 2019. The show had a total of 1730 performances, the most of any singing act in Las Vegas history. The Flamingo Showroom was renamed the Donny & Marie Showroom from 2013 to 2019. The duo earned three of the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Best of Las Vegas Awards in 2012 including "Best Show", "Best All-Around Performer" (Donny & Marie), and "Best Singer". The Vegas show moved to Caesars Atlantic City for two weeks in August 2014. A new studio album by the duo titled Donny & Marie was released by MPCA in May 2011. It featured both covers and new material. The album reached the top 30 in the US and number 41 in the UK.
As solo artist, Osmond's first studio album in nearly 20 years was released in 2007 titled Magic of Christmas. It was followed by I Can Do This in 2010, which featured hymns and spiritual material. It reached number 71 in the US. Following this, Osmond decided that she no longer wanted to record music. However, an instinctual revelation prompted her to return to it. "There was this voice saying ‘Marie, you should never let age define your music'," she told Sounds Like Nashville. In 2016, Osmond released her tenth studio album Music Is Medicine. It was her first studio album of country music since 1989's Steppin' Stone. Produced by Jason Deere, the project featured collaborations with Olivia Newton-John, Sisqo and Marty Ro (of Diamond Rio). Music Is Medicine reached number ten on the US country chart, becoming Osmond's first solo album since Paper Roses to make the top ten list. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated the album three out of five stars and concluded, "Despite the ambitious cast of characters, it's music that's meant to soothe and comfort old friends, and it certainly succeeds in that regard."
In 2021, Osmond's next studio album was released titled Unexpected. The project was a collection of operatic and traditional pop music. Although fearful about recording an album of material outside her comfort zone, Osmond decided to "not be afraid of a new door opening". The album featured the Prague Symphony Orchestra and included a cover of "Nessun Dorma", a song she had been performing on stage for years. Other tracks included show tunes like "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" and "On My Own". Upon its release, Unexpected peaked at number six on the US classical albums chart and number one on the US classical crossover albums chart.
Voice and musical style
Osmond has a soprano vocal range. This was not discovered until she performed on Broadway in the 1990s and a vocal coach believed she could sing higher than she was aware of. Osmond's music has been classified in the genres of country pop, pop, classical and opera. In describing her wide range of musical styles, The Blade wrote, "To hear Marie Osmond’s voice is to hear more than a half century of American pop culture history." In describing the country pop era of her career, writers Robert K. Oermann and Mary A. Bufwack wrote, "Like the other country-pop crossover queens of her era, Marie had a patriotic, high-energy fashion conscious concert act that matched her upbeat pop-flavored tunes." When explaining her own musical styles, Osmond said, "Yes, I’m country; that’s what I chose to be, but it was very easy for me to sing pop because my brothers did. But as I have grown and I did Broadway and all different kinds of things, I fell in love with that style."
Acting, radio, and television career
1976–1986: Donny & Marie and television breakthrough
In 1976, programmer Fred Silverman offered Donny and Marie their own television variety series after seeing them perform on The Mike Douglas Show. The resulting show titled Donny & Marie aired on ABC beginning the same year. It was produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. The show brought in an estimated 14 million viewers. On the program, the sibling duo sang and performed comedy sketches. The duo performed together, separately and with guest performers. Notably, the show also featured the Osmond brothers. The pair became known for one of the show's songs which featured the line, "I'm a little bit country and I'm a little bit rock and roll".
The Donny & Marie show was considered by writers to showcase the siblings' "squeaky clean" and "family friendly" image. The siblings often worked 18-hour days learning scripts, changing into costumes and practicing choreography. Marie continued her schooling and was tutored on-set for three hours daily while also being expected to complete chores while she was home. Weighing 110 pounds, Marie was told by a producer to lose ten pounds or "the entire show would be canceled". Following the statement, her weight dropped to 93 pounds and she struggled to stay awake during rehearsals. Osmond continued to perform on the show, citing her responsibility to her family and her audience. Donny and & Marie was later re-titled to The Osmond Family Hour and was canceled in May 1979.
In 1978, Donny and Marie debuted in their first feature film titled Goin' Coconuts. The film told the story of two siblings who are put in the center of criminal activity between two gangs while at a concert in Hawaii. The film was considered a commercial failure at the box office when it was released in 1978. Later that year, Marie appeared in the ABC television film The Gift of Love, which was based on the O. Henry story The Gift of the Magi. The film told the story of a newlywed couple and starred opposite Timothy Bottoms.
In the late 1970s, Marie was considered for the role of Sandy in the film version of Grease, later explaining that the original character was "not a nice girl" and "a lot edgier". In 1978, Osmond starred in a sitcom pilot titled Marie. Although originally made for ABC, it did not make the new season schedule. Between 1980 and 1981, Osmond briefly had her own variety show titled Marie. In the early 1980s, Osmond made acting appearances in more television films including I Married Wyatt Earp and Rooster. In 1984, she voiced the role of The Nursery Magic Fairy/Velveteen Rabbit in The Velveteen Rabbit. In 1982, she played her mother Olive in the television movie Side by Side: The True Story of the Osmond Family. She then hosted the television program Ripley's Believe It or Not! in 1985.
1994–2009: Broadway and return to television
Osmond focused her attention towards her recording career in the 1980s. She returned to acting in the 1990s when her touring schedule allowed her less time with her children. "I knew that I never wanted to have to choose between a child who needed me and a concert performance ever again. It was all the motivation I needed to make a life and a career change," she wrote in 2009. Manager Karl Engemann arranged for Osmond to meet with the creators of a new touring production of The Sound of Music. The creators gave her more freedom to balance her family life and her career. Ultimately, she agreed to the lead role of Maria von Trapp. She worked alongside vocal coach Barbara Smith Davis to retrain her voice for the role. Between 1994 and 1995, she toured in the show's traveling production throughout the United States. Variety praised her performance, commenting, "Forget the misleadingly sappy posters: she is a more interesting Maria than that." In 1997, Osmond starred as Anna Leonowens in The King and I. It was her debut performance on New York's Broadway stage. The Los Angeles Times found Osmond's to be an "adequate Anna" but found "she falters in important ways". Meanwhile Variety praised her vocal performance, writing, "Osmond's soprano has developed into a fine instrument".
In the middle 1990s, Osmond returned to television. In 1995, she starred as Julia Wallace in the ABC sitcom Maybe This Time. Osmond played a divorced mother who was also balancing an entertainment career. The show also featured Betty White who played the role of her mother. After 18 episodes, the show was cancelled in February 1996. She was then approached by Dick Clark to re-launch the original Donny & Marie television program as a talk show. Although hesitant to work with her brother again, she ultimately agreed. Along with her husband and children, she moved to Los Angeles and she began filming the program. In September 1998, Donny & Marie was launched on daytime television. "Donny and Marie Osmond don’t seem much different from their days as the clean-cut teenage siblings on the ‘70s ABC musical-variety series, 'Donny and Marie'," wrote Susan King of the Los Angeles Times. The duo taped one-hour programs six times a week, with six segments in each program. After two seasons, the talk show was canceled due to "poor ratings".
In 1999, Donny and Marie co-hosted the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. From co-hosting, she became the first female host to announce the winner of the pageant. In 2004, Osmond hosted a five-hour radio show on the weekdays titled Marie and Friends. The show included conversations with guests and played current adult contemporary music. Primarily the show was geared towards women, with Osmond commenting, "I'm looking forward to healthy adult conversation with women my own age!" The show was aired in the mid-western and western United States, primarily in Utah, Idaho, Washington state and California.
In 2006, Osmond was cast as a judge on the Simon Cowell-created television competition Celebrity Duets. The show paired non-singing celebrities with professional musicians for duet performances. "Marie Osmond acting as a cogent adviser is about the most impressive element in 'Celebrity Duets'," wrote Phil Gallo of Variety. The same year it was reported by Entertainment Tonight magazine that she would join the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful soap opera but scheduling conflicts prevented this from happening at the time.
In August 2007, Osmond was cast on Dancing with the Stars alongside Jane Seymour and Wayne Newton. The ballroom dancing program paired celebrities with professional dancers for weekly live competitions. In her 2009 autobiography, Osmond wrote that she "didn't know how to dance" and at one point had to "crawl up the stairs" to her bedroom because her muscles were so sore following rehearsals. Two months into the show, she began experiencing breathing difficulties and fainted on air during an episode. She was medically evaluated and was reportedly "fine" following the collapse. She continued performing on the show until being eliminated in November 2007. She ultimately placed in third. In 2009, Osmond was given the opportunity to host her own talk show but due to economic challenges in the US at the time, the show was not aired.
2010–present: Marie, The Talk and further television roles
The Donny and Marie duo produced a holiday musical called Donny & Marie – A Broadway Christmas, which was originally scheduled to play on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre from December 9–19, 2010. The show was then extended through December 30, 2010, and again to January 2, 2011.
In the early 2010s, Emmy Awards producer David McKenzie re-approached Osmond about hosting her own talk show. She agreed and in 2012, it was announced that she would have her own talk show on the Hallmark Channel titled Marie. The program replaced The Martha Stewart Show which ran during the same time of the day. Osmond's program featured guests who discussed social issues and provided lifestyle advice. Specifically, the talk show featured Osmond performing, along with specific advice on cooking and fashion. The show debuted in late 2012 featuring Betty White as her first guest. "She’s nothing but a cordial host, as if she was speaking and entertaining her guests – and her viewers – in the intimacy of her own home," wrote Media Village. In 2013, Hallmark cancelled the show after one season of being aired, stating that the channel already had too many talk show offerings. A proposal to air the talk show on another network was in the works.
After leaving the Hallmark Channel, Osmond became a regular fill-in co-host on the CBS daytime show The Talk. She guest-hosted for a total of 40 times. She was then approached by the head of CBS daytime television to become an official co-host. In 2019, Osmond was announced as the official replacement for Sara Gilbert on The Talk, co-hosting alongside Sheryl Underwood, Carrie Ann Inaba, Sharon Osbourne and Eve. "I am thrilled to now call this my day job," she told People magazine. In September 2020, Osmond departed the show after one season, citing a focus on family and other television opportunities. Osmond left at the same time that producer John Redmann departed the show and it was announced that the pair would collaborate in other television opportunities.
Following her departure, Osmond acted in several television films. In 2019, she played Cassie, a Nashville singer, in the Lifetime film The Road Home for Christmas. Her co-stars included Rob Mayes and Marla Sokoloff. In 2020, she co-starred in a second Lifetime television film with Carly Hughes called The Christmas Edition. In 2021, Osmond co-starred in a third Lifetime television film titled A Fiancé for Christmas, which told the story of a single woman who makes a fake wedding registry and ultimately finds love in unexpected places. The Digital Journal praised Osmond's performance as the character of Margaret, calling her "fabulous". The same year, Osmond appeared on an episode of Fantasy Island as Shaye Fury, a fictional country singer. In 2023, she made an appearance on the show The Bold and the Beautiful.
Business career
Children's Miracle Network
Osmond was inspired to help sick children after watching how her deaf siblings struggled learning to speak and communicate. Her parents also encouraged her to help support individuals in need. "My parents strongly believed that philanthropy was not only something we could do in our spare time but something that was to be part of our weekly schedule," she recalled. In 1981, Osmond and her brothers were hosting actor John Schneider at their home. Both Schneider and Osmond had a passion for helping sick children. The result was the pair co-founding the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. The organization provides funds to sick children and their donations are given to hospitals across the country. Since its creation, the organization has been said to have raised $7 billion dollars for children. Osmond has collaborated and met with hundreds of families since its creation and is part of the program's annual broadcast to raise funds. "I’m grateful that Children’s Miracle Network has given families access to financial and emotional support, technology, and the best research available, so they don’t have to figure it out on their own the way my mother did," she wrote in 2009.
Doll business
Osmond and her mother started collecting dolls as a young child. In each city her family would tour in, they would purchase a doll as a souvenir. During her free time, Osmond started sculpting her own dolls in adulthood. Ultimately, it turned into a business in 1990 titled Marie Osmond Fine Porcelain Dolls. Osmond's dolls were also sold at Wal-Mart retailers starting at $29. Other dolls were sold in prices between $65 and $2000. She also debuted her doll collection on the QVC network during this period. Among her most notable was the Olive May doll, based on her own mother. The doll later set a collectible record on QVC, selling three million dolls in less than 15 minutes. A total of 40 dolls in six different series comprised the original porcelain collection. They were titled: Victoriana Collection, Classic Reproductions, Children of the World, Children of All Ages and Miracle Children (in reference to Children's Miracle Network). In 2001, Osmond claimed that she had designed an estimated 550 different dolls. According to her official website, Osmond is now "retired" from the doll-making industry.
Nutrisystem
In the 2000s, Osmond had gained roughly 40 pounds (18 kg). When her mother suffered a stroke, she told her daughter, "Marie, don't do what I did. Take care of yourself." In 2007, she chose to make a change to her lifestyle and physical wellness after her children became increasingly worried about her weight. "If I didn't feel a sense of urgency to do something for myself, I need to do it for my own children," she wrote in her autobiography. The same year, Osmond found the Nutrisystem program and she lost a total of 50 pounds (23 kg). She reportedly went from being a size 14 to a size four. Osmond then became a spokesperson for the brand shortly after losing the weight. On Nutrisystems's official website, Osmond is listed under their category labeled "success stories" where she explains her journey with the program. She has since created a program through the company called "Complete 50" for women age 50 and older.
Writing career
Osmond is the author of four books, three of which have made The New York Times Best Seller list. Her first was 2001's Behind the Smile: My Journey Out of Postpartum Depression. It was co-written with Marcia Wilkie and Osmond's physician Dr. Judith Moore. The book described how Osmond suffered from postpartum depression following the birth of her child in the late 1990s. Her hope was that giving voice to postpartum depression would inspire other women take action of their own mental health. Ability magazine positively remarked that the book "candidly discloses her experience" with postpartum depression. The book made Osmond the first celebrity to speak openly about postpartum depression.
Osmond and Marcia Wilkie then co-authored a second book in 2009 titled Might as Well Laugh About It Now. The memoir discussed highlights and memories from her life. "I really wanted to put some things down that were really meaningful to me. It’s really about attitude ... you can either let life get you down or you can laugh about it," she told the San Diego Union-Tribune. Along with positive memories, Osmond also described some challenging points in her life. Deseret News called the book both "funny" and "moving". "The book is easy to read and is written in a conversational tone that makes the reader feel as though Osmond is a friend retelling stories from her life instead of a distant celebrity," highlighted Emiley Morgan.
Osmond wrote two books in the 2010s decade. In 2010, she penned a book of handcrafted project designs called Marie Osmond's Heartfelt Giving: Sew and Quilt for Family and Friends, (Martingale & Company). The "how-to" book gave step-by-step instructions of crafts people can make using a sewing machine. In 2013, Osmond's third book was released titled The Key Is Love. The book consisted of anecdotes from her personal life, many of which circled back to her own mother. Osmond notably talked about her son's death in the book.
Public image
Along with her siblings, Osmond's public image has been described as being "squeaky clean". She has also been described as the "girl next door". When describing her image, the News & Record wrote, "Maybe Marie Osmond needs to get in a brawl in a cool L.A. club, snatch up a Sharon Stone-type film role or start hanging out with Madonna in Miami." The Washington Post explained that the Osmond family were "squeaky-clean Mormons who, by all accounts, never indulged in the better-known temptations of showbiz." At one point, she was offered $5 million to appear in Playboy magazine. But she declined, later saying, "I could have used [the money]. I wouldn't want to see my mom like that, and I really wanted to be a mom." In describing her own public image, Osmond commented, "Those people [reviewers] probably still see a naive little girl in their minds. I have to laugh at people like that because you cannot grow up in the business and not see everything and then some. The reviewers can stay back in that time, but I'm moving forward."
Personal life
Relationships, marriages, and children
Osmond was briefly engaged to acting student Jeff Crayton in May 1979. However, they broke their engagement two months later. She also dated singer Andy Gibb around the same time. In 1981, she briefly dated John Schneider.
Osmond has been married three times, including twice to the same spouse. In 1982, she wed her first husband, Stephen Lyle Craig, then a basketball player for Brigham Young University. Their first child, Stephen James Craig, was born in 1983. The couple divorced in 1985. "Steve and I had made several attempts to go back and make our very young marriage work, but it failed. I was being scrutinized in the tabloids and the paparazzi seemed to show up wherever I went. I was emotionally exhausted," she wrote in her autobiography. In 1986, she married record producer Brian Blosil in a private ceremony with her family in attendance. Osmond was drawn to Blosil's "dry sense of humor" after meeting him at a family party. Osmond and Blosil had seven children, five of whom were adopted. Their two biological children are Rachael and Matthew. Their five adopted children are Jessica, Michael, Brandon, Brianna, and Abigail. After 21 years of marriage, the couple divorced in 2007. Both parties released a joint statement stating that neither one assigned fault for the divorce.
Following her second divorce, Osmond said she "never wanted to be married again". Despite this, she and her former husband Steve Craig reunited after their son arranged a meeting. They rekindled their relationship and secretly dated for two years before revealing it publicly. "I didn't want anybody to get hurt, you know if it didn't work out. And gosh, it just worked out," Osmond said. The couple remarried on May 4, 2011, in a private ceremony at the Las Vegas Mormon Temple with the bride wearing her dress from their original wedding in 1982. A few months later, the newly remarried couple attended their son's wedding. "The thing about a second marriage is that you realize things you thought were so important aren't. I love being with my husband. He is the sweetest man I know. He lives to serve and really listens to people's needs," she told People magazine.
Osmond's daughter, Jessica, is lesbian. In an interview, Osmond commented, "I know how I love my children and I know God loves all of his children as a father. I pray for everyone to use their lives to be happy and feel accomplished. That is what this life is for."
In March 2020, Osmond stated that she will leave her fortune to charity upon her death, stating that it would be a disservice to her children to leave the money to them, and noting that they need to make their own money.
Personal setbacks and challenges
In 1976, Karl Engemann began managing the recording careers of Donny, Marie, Jimmy, and the Osmond Brothers group. He was appointed personal manager at various career stages of all the Osmond children three years later, and eventually only of Marie. In December 2009, Marie parted company with Karl Engemann. Osmond and her law firm wrote that Engemann made "repeated defamatory and derogatory comments to third parties, multiple breaches of fiduciary duties, entering into unauthorized commitments, seeking to obtain monies outside the purview of the management agreement and other violations of his obligations."
In 1999, Osmond publicly spoke about her battle with postpartum depression after giving birth to her son Matthew. She spoke in detail about her challenges in her 2001 book Behind the Smile. In the book, she explained that it felt "much darker" than the baby blues and that she was "fading away minute by minute". Osmond started experiencing panic attacks, fatigue, neck pain (which resulted in a hospital visit) and suicidal ideations. In one instance, she drove miles up California's Pacific Coast Highway leaving her children in the care of two nannies, who did not know where she was going. She then received a call from her husband, who convinced her to pull off the highway and check into a hotel. She then began receiving natural healing treatments through physician Dr. Judith Moore. Osmond found that both medication and therapeutic mind-body work ultimately lifted her depression. After discussing postpartum depression on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Osmond said that she received "thousands of emails and handwritten letters" from people about their own struggles with the disorder.
Osmond also revealed in her 2001 book that she had been sexually abused in her youth, though she did not publicly disclose the identity of her abuser. She believed that the abuse later led to her struggles with postpartum depression. "In my life, the normally positive quality of putting others first resulted in long-term negative effects because it was out of balance," she wrote. She later revealed that her childhood abuse also resulted in developing body dysmorphia.
In August 2006, several U.S. tabloids suggested that she had attempted suicide. Her publicity team denied it, claiming she had suffered an adverse reaction to a medication she was taking.
On February 26, 2010, Osmond's adopted son Michael died by suicide, jumping off an eighth-floor balcony. He reportedly battled depression and addiction, and had been in rehabilitation at the age of 12. He was also bullied from a young age. Osmond wrote in her 2013 book The Key Is Love that he had been "emotionally down" in the weeks prior to his suicide. Osmond later revealed that she had missed a phone call from her son shortly before his death because she was onstage in Las Vegas. An autopsy found no drugs in his system. Osmond returned to work two weeks following her son's death. "The stage is my safe place. It doesn't scare me like it scares people. And I knew if I didn't get back onstage I may never get back onstage."
Discography
Filmography
Films
Hugo the Hippo (1975)
The Gift of Love (1978)
Goin' Coconuts (1978)
The Velveteen Rabbit (1984)
Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night (1998)
O Christmas Tree (1999)
Books
Behind the Smile: My Journey Out of Postpartum Depression (2001) (with Marcia Wilkie and Dr. Judith Moore)
Might as Well Laugh About It Now (2009) (with Marcia Wilkie)
Marie Osmond's Heartfelt Giving: Sew and Quilt for Family and Friends (2010)
The Key Is Love: My Mother's Wisdom, A Daughter's Gratitude (2013) (with Marcia Wilkie)
Awards and nominations
Marie Osmond has received several awards and nominations, notably from the Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, Grammy Awards and Daytime Emmy Awards.
References
Footnotes
Books
External links
Marie Osmond Official website
Marie Osmond at IMDb
Marie Osmond at the Internet Broadway Database
Marie Osmond Getting Divorced – People magazine, March 30, 2007
BBC News, Marie Osmond sings Paper Roses for Kilmarnock fans, 1 February 2013
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Paris Hilton
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Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, and socialite. Born in New York City, she is a great-granddaughter of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton. She first attracted tabloid attention in the late 1990s for her presence in New York City's social scene, ventured into fashion modeling in 2000, and was proclaimed "New York's leading It Girl" in 2001. The reality television series The Simple Life (2003–2007), in which she co-starred with her friend Nicole Richie, and a leaked 2003 sex tape with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, later released as 1 Night in Paris (2004), catapulted her to global fame.
Hilton's media ventures have included the reality television series Paris Hilton's My New BFF (2008–2009), The World According to Paris (2011), Hollywood Love Story (2018), Cooking with Paris (2021), and Paris in Love (2021–2023); the documentaries Paris, Not France (2008), The American Meme (2018), and This Is Paris (2020); the books Confessions of an Heiress (2004), Your Heiress Diary (2005), and Paris: The Memoir (2023); as well as the podcast I am Paris (2021–present). She has pursued acting in the films House of Wax (2005) and Repo! the Genetic Opera (2008), and singing with a line of standalone singles and the studio albums Paris (2006) and Infinite Icon (2024). She has also performed as a disc jockey since 2012.
A polarizing and ubiquitous public figure, Hilton is said to have influenced the revival of the "famous for being famous" phenomenon throughout the 2000s. Critics indeed suggest that she exemplifies the celebutante—a household name through inherited wealth and lavish lifestyle. Forbes included her in its Celebrity 100 in 2004, 2005, and 2006, and ranked her as the most "overexposed" celebrity in 2006 and 2008. Hilton has parlayed her media fame into numerous business endeavors. Under her company, she has produced content for broadcast media, launched a variety of product lines, and opened several boutiques worldwide, as well as an urban beach club in the Philippines. Her perfume line alone has brought in over US$2.5 billion in revenue, as of 2020.
Early life
Hilton was born on February 17, 1981, in New York City to Richard Hilton, a businessman, and Kathy Hilton, a socialite and former child actress. She is the oldest of four children, one of them being Nicky Hilton, and two brothers, Barron and Conrad. On their father's side, the four are great-grandchildren of Conrad Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels, and grandchildren of Barron Hilton. Their maternal aunts are television personalities Kim and Kyle Richards. The siblings have Norwegian, German, Italian, English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. The family followed the Catholic faith.
Hilton moved frequently in her youth, living in Beverly Hills, the Hamptons, and a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. Her relatives have described her as "very much a tomboy" who dreamed about becoming a veterinarian. Her mother recalled her saving money to buy monkeys, snakes, and goats, and once leaving "the snake out the cage [...] at the Waldorf". Hilton was raised in a very "sheltered, conservative" atmosphere; her parents were particularly strict, and she was not allowed to date, wear make-up, or certain types of clothes, or go to school dances. Her mother enrolled her in etiquette classes with the idea of introducing her as a debutante, which Hilton was at first reluctant to do, as she did not find it to be "real" or "natural". She described it as "very proper, very prim, almost like a Stepford wife". The family's social circle included figures such as Lionel Richie, Donald Trump, and Michael Jackson.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Hilton attended the Buckley School and St. Paul the Apostle School, finishing elementary school in 1995. Her first year of high school (1995–96) was spent at the Marywood-Palm Valley school in Rancho Mirage, California. In 1996, Hilton and her family left California for New York City, and she joined the Dwight School. At 15, she attended classes at Professional Children's School. She skated and played ice hockey while in high school.
In New York City, Hilton had a rebellious youth, regularly skipping classes and sneaking out to parties. On this period, Kathy remarked: "Let's put it this way—it got very out of control and I was scared for her. And my husband was very scared for her. And, you know, those nightclubs go on all night." Her parents eventually sent her, then 16, to a series of boarding schools for emotionally troubled teens, including Provo Canyon School, where Hilton says that she was mentally, physically, and sexually abused by the staff. In her documentary This Is Paris, Hilton and other former students from Provo Canyon School recall the abuses they faced, including solitary confinement, forced medication, restraint, battery, and strangulation. She attended Provo for 11 months and was released in early 1999, around the time she turned 18. She then attended the Dwight School before dropping out a few months later. "She knew no one at [Dwight]", said her mother in an interview, while a classmate described her as "sort of more sophisticated. She was different from everybody else". She later earned a GED certification.
Career
Social scene and modeling (1996–2002)
With mother Kathy and sister Nicky, Hilton modeled as a child at charity events, graced the May 4, 1988, cover of the weekly magazine Beverly Hills 213, and made an uncredited appearance in the fantasy film Wishman (1992).
After relocating to NYC in 1996, Hilton developed a reputation as a socialite through appearances at nightclubs and high-profile events. She has recalled getting offers to show up in nightclubs as young as 16, when she obtained a counterfeited identity document to gain access to events. Her antics and late-night persona soon started attracting the spotlight from local tabloids. After becoming familiar with Paris and Nicky's social circle, Jason Binn, publisher of Hamptons magazine, stated: "They're little stars. They've become names. To them, it's like a job. I believe they wake up every morning and say, 'O.K., where am I supposed to be tonight?'."
That lifestyle conflicted with her family's conservative background and proved too "rebellious" for the young Paris, whose parents sent her to a series of boarding schools until she turned 18. Hilton resumed public appearances shortly afterwards and attended the NYC premiere of Cruel Intentions in March 1999 with Nicky. A New Yorker profile by Bob Morris, published in October that year, described her and her sister as "the littlest socialites in town [...] Without even a smile, they can breeze past the velvet ropes at Moomba or get a seat at Le Bilboquet". Businessman George J. Maloof Jr., for instance, flew Hilton in his private jet and paid her to attend the Palms Casino Resort opening in Las Vegas in November 2001.
Inspired by designers Patricia Field and Betsey Johnson, Hilton decided to pursue modeling, signing with Donald Trump's agency, T Management, at age 19. She modeled for Catherine Malandrino and Marc Bouwer, and posed alongside Nicky for David LaChapelle in a shoot that was featured in the September 2000 issue of Vanity Fair. On her persona, LaChapelle stated: "Paris had a charisma back then that you couldn't take your eyes off. She would giggle and laugh and be effervescent and take up a room". By 2001, Hilton had become "one of the biggest stars, off and on the catwalk", at New York Fashion Week, graced an advertising campaign for Italian label Iceberg, and appeared on magazines such as Vogue and FHM.
In addition to modeling, Hilton ventured into screen acting, playing an ill-fated character in the independent teen thriller Sweetie Pie (2000), and filming a cameo appearance as herself in the comedy Zoolander (2001), with Ben Stiller. In 2002, she appeared in Vincent Gallo's "Honey Bunny" video, played a "strung-out supermodel" in the five-minute short QIK2JDG, and starred as a socialite in the straight-to-DVD horror film Nine Lives.
International stardom (2003–2007)
Hilton's breakout came in 2003, when she starred with her childhood friend and socialite counterpart Nicole Richie in the Fox reality series The Simple Life, in which they lived for a month with a family in the rural community of Altus, Arkansas. The show was initially pitched to both Paris and Nicky Hilton. Paris was convinced to come on board; however, Nicky, being somewhat shy to the limelight at the time, opted out. The series premiered on December 2, 2003, shortly after the leak of Hilton's sex tape, and was a ratings success. Its first episode attracted 13 million viewers, increasing Fox's adult 18–49 rating by 79 percent. The high viewership was attributed to the exposure Hilton received for the homemade tape, while she became known for her onscreen dumb blonde persona.
By 2004, Hilton had taken on a number of supporting and guest-starring roles in feature films and scripted television series such as Raising Helen and The O.C., signed on to appear in a series of advertisement campaigns for Guess, released an autobiography co-written by Merle Ginsberg, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose, which was seventh on The New York Times Best Seller list, and introduced a lifestyle brand (with a purse collection for the Japanese label Samantha Thavasa, a jewelry line sold on Amazon.com, as well as a perfume line in collaboration with Parlux Fragrances). Originally planned for a limited release, high demand for her first fragrance choked supplies but led to increased availability by December 2004. Its introduction was followed by a 47-percent increase in Parlux sales, primarily of the Hilton-branded perfume. After this success, Parlux has released numerous perfumes under her name, including fragrances for men.
In February 2005, Hilton hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, with Keane as the musical guest, and in May, the slasher film House of Wax—her first major film role—was released in theaters, to mixed reviews. Writing for View London, Matthew Turner remarked that Hilton "does better than you might expect", while TV Guide called her "talentless". Her role earned her the Teen Choice Award for Best Scream, the 2005 Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress, and a nomination for Best Frightened Performance at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards. House of Wax grossed over US$70 million worldwide. In May 2005, Carl's Jr. aired a television advertisement, promoting its Spicy Burger product, which featured Hilton in a provocative swimsuit soaping up a Bentley automobile. By November 2005, she had published her second book, Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All to Me.
The Simple Life was canceled by Fox in 2005 after three seasons following a dispute between Hilton and Richie. Neither Richie nor Hilton spoke publicly about their split, although it was speculated that they fell out after Richie showed one of Hilton's homemade sex tapes to a group of their friends. They reconciled in October 2006. After The Simple Life was cancelled, other networks (NBC, The WB, VH1 and MTV) were interested in obtaining the rights for new seasons of the show. On November 28, 2005, E! announced that it had picked up The Simple Life, ordering the production of a fourth season and obtaining the rights to repeat the first three seasons. Shooting for the new season began on February 27, 2006. The fourth-season premiere of the show was a ratings success for its new network.
Hilton released her self-titled debut album, Paris, on August 22, 2006. The album reached number six on the Billboard 200, and sold over 600,000 copies worldwide. Its lead single, "Stars Are Blind", found global success. It was played on more than 125 pop stations in the United States, and reached the top ten in 17 countries. Critical reception was generally mixed, but AllMusic called the album "more fun than anything released by Britney Spears or Jessica Simpson".
In 2006, Hilton top-billed as vain, dumb blonde characters in the comedy films Bottoms Up and National Lampoon's Pledge This!, both of which received DVD releases in North America. Australia's Urban Cinefile described Bottoms Up as a "crass, low-brow comedy" with "little merit" except for "some Paris Hilton curiosity value". She reportedly snubbed the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Pledge This! to protest the addition of several nude scenes, which resulted in Worldwide Entertainment Group suing Hilton in August 2008, at the Miami District Court, alleging that she did not fulfill her contractual agreement to provide "reasonable promotion and publicity" for the film, despite receiving a US$1 million fee for the role. Hilton licensed her name to Gameloft for their 2006 mobile video game Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest.
The Simple Life finished its run with its fifth season, which debuted on May 28, 2007, and ended on August 5, 2007. That year, Hilton introduced her DreamCatchers line of hair extensions with Hair Tech International, signed a licensing agreement with Antebi for a signature footwear line (Paris Hilton Footwear, featuring stilettos, platforms, flats, wedges and a sports collection), and launched a line of tops, dresses, coats and jeans at the Kitson Boutique in Los Angeles. She also posed nude (covered with gold paint) to promote "Rich Prosecco", a canned version of the Italian sparkling wine, traveling to Germany to appear in advertisements for the wine, and modeled for 2 B Free.
Screen and business ventures (2008–2011)
The romantic comedy The Hottie and the Nottie (2008), in which Hilton starred, was a critical and commercial failure. She appeared in the My Name Is Earl episode "I Won't Die with a Little Help from My Friends". A documentary about Hilton, Paris, Not France, was screened at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. The gothic rock musical Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) featured Hilton as Amber Sweet, the surgery and painkiller-addicted daughter of a biotech magnate. After screening at San Diego Comic-Con, the film received a limited release. Horror.com described it as "by far Hilton's best role", but Jam! Movies called her a "hopeless twit as an actress". At the 29th Razzie Awards, she won as Worst Actress for The Hottie and the Nottie and as Worst Supporting Actress for Repo!.
Hilton starred in an MTV reality series, Paris Hilton's My New BFF, about her search for a new best friend, which premiered on September 30, 2008. The series was a hit and topped all other cable shows in its time slot. That year, she also appeared in two viral Funny or Die videos, Paris Hilton Responds to McCain and Paris Hilton Gets Presidential with Martin Sheen, and, inspired by her love for dogs, created a canine apparel line, Little Lily by Paris Hilton.
As a result of the American version's success, Paris Hilton's British Best Friend debuted on ITV2 in England on January 29, 2009, the second season of Paris Hilton's My New BFF premiered on June 2, and Paris Hilton's Dubai BFF was internationally broadcast on MTV in April 2011. She guest-starred in the fifth episode of Supernatural's fifth season, which aired on October 8, 2009. In 2009, Hilton also released a sunglasses line and a range of hair products that included shampoos, conditioners and vitamins. She won the Female Celebrity Fragrance of the Year Award at the 2009 Fifi Awards.
In February 2010, Hilton participated in an advertising campaign for the Brazilian beer Devassa Bem Loura, whose slogan roughly translates into English as "very blonde bitch". As part of the campaign, she rode the brewery's float in the Rio Carnival. The critically acclaimed documentary Teenage Paparazzo, in which Hilton appeared, aired on HBO on September 27. She had her first voice-over role in the ABC made-for-television film The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation. The film aired on November 28, 2010 and attracted a respectable 2.611 million viewership. That year, Hilton launched a footwear line in Las Vegas and her motorcycle racing team in Spain. Her driver, Maverick Viñales, won the final race and finished third overall in the 2011 125cc Grand Prix motorcycle racing championship.
On June 1, 2011, Hilton returned to reality television in Oxygen's The World According to Paris. Focused on her daily life, the series bought in lackluster ratings amid a controversial promotional campaign, which was attributed to her then-fading popularity in North America. Alessandra Stanley, for The New York Times, described her as an "attractive woman with proven talent for marketing and self-promotion, though as a reality heroine she seems a little passé [...] it's hard to see how she can recapture the kind of audience she enjoyed in her heyday—even by streaming her premiere live on Facebook".
In 2011, Hilton modeled for Triton during Brazil Fashion Week and for Andre Tan during Ukraine Fashion Week, and continued her endorsement and retail endeavors, introducing a mobile application, which became available for iPhone and iPod touch, and footwear collections in Mexico City and Istanbul. Beginning in 2011, Hilton opened several boutiques selling her products in Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India, Philippines, Malaysia, Peru, Colombia, and Chile.
Deejaying and singing (2012–2019)
On June 28, 2012, at Brazil's Pop Music Festival, Hilton made her debut as a DJ, which attracted negative responses from DJs Deadmau5, Samantha Ronson, and Afrojack. In 2012, she received US$1 million to star in a music video for Korean singer Kim Jang-hoon and US$2 million to appear alongside Arda Turan in a commercial for Turkish fashion label DeFacto, modeled for designers Shane and Falguni Peacock at India Fashion Week, and launched a line of sunglasses in Shanghai.
After appearing in the music video for Rich Gang's song "Tapout" (2013), alongside Lil Wayne, Christina Milian and Nicki Minaj, it was announced that Hilton had signed with Cash Money Records. Under the label, she released three standalone singles—"Good Time" (2013), featuring rapper Lil Wayne, "Come Alive" (2014), and High Off My Love" (2015), featuring Birdman—to moderate commercial success. "Good Time" and "High Off My Love" reached the top 20 and top 5 on the US Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs and Dance Club Songs charts, respectively.
During August 2013, Hilton was a DJ at Amnesia's weekly "Foam and Diamonds" parties on Ibiza. The positive reaction from critics and audiences led to her contract's renewal for the subsequent four years. In November, Hilton won the Best Breakthrough DJ award at the NRJ DJ Awards. In 2013, Hilton appeared in four episodes of the Danish version of Paradise Hotel, for which she was paid US$300,000, and briefly played herself in Sofia Coppola's film The Bling Ring. In addition to appearing in the film, she loaned Coppola her house for two weeks of shooting.
In January 2014, Hilton became a resident DJ at Harrah's Atlantic City's "The Pool After Dark". In March, she unveiled her first real estate project, the Paris Beach Club, in collaboration with Century Properties Group, Inc., at the Azure Urban Resort Residences in Parañaque, the Philippines. In July, she made a cameo appearance in another Carl's Jr. commercial, paying homage to the one in which she starred in 2005. To further her career as a DJ, Hilton embarked on a summer and fall tour consisting of 13 shows in Spain, France, Portugal, South Korea, Colombia and New Jersey. By November 2014, Hilton was the highest-paid female DJ and won as Best Female DJ at the NJR DJ Awards. In December, she performed as a DJ at W Hotel's Art Basel parties in Miami.
In March 2015, Animoca Brands, a mobile game developer from Hong Kong, announced that they had secured a license from Hilton to use her name and likeness to produce mobile games and themes. In June, she performed at Summerfest in Milwaukee in front of 50,000 concert-goers. An online campaign to get her thrown off the bill achieved over 7,000 votes. In 2016, Hilton teamed up with Lidl for a hair care collection.
Between 2017 and 2019, Hilton appeared in the music videos for "Senza Pagare" by Fedez, "Sorry Not Sorry" by Demi Lovato, "I Don't Want It at All" by Kim Petras, "Lil One" by Young Thug and Birdman, and "Flowers" by Gabi DeMartino. During the same period, she frequently served as a runway model for Christian Cowan and The Blonds during New York Fashion Week, and for Philipp Plein during Milan Fashion Week. For April Fools' Day 2017, she starred in a SodaStream's advertisement campaign, promoting NanoDrop, a fictitious sparkling-water product. In June 2017, she launched footwear and home decor lines in Mexico City.
In 2018, Hilton was described as "the centerpiece" of two projects about social media and various personalities' online presence. The documentary The American Meme premiered on Netflix in December 2018, after screening at the Tribeca Film Festival. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 93 rating based on 28 reviews. It was written and directed by Bert Marcus, and she was one of the executive producers. She also hosted Hollywood Love Story, a six-episode series that aired on Viceland. That year, Hilton modeled Kanye West's Yeezy Season 6 collection, and released "I Need You" as a digital download on Valentine's Day, which peaked at number 32 on the Dance Club Songs Billboard chart, and launched a 70-piece collection with Boohoo.com, her skincare line, a five-nail polishes line with Nail and Bone, as well as a clothing collection in Mexico.
In 2019, Hilton modeled for Philipp Plein's Plein Sport campaign, was a special guest in the twelfth episode of Germany's Next Topmodel's 14th cycle, and collaborated with Belgian production duo Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike on "B.F.A. (Best Friend's Ass)", and with vocalist MATTN on "Lone Wolves". "B.F.A" peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart, and at number 25 on Belgium's Ultratop chart, while "Lone Wolves" peaked at 59 on Ultratop. In July 2019, she performed as a DJ in Tomorrowland.
Resurgence (2020–present)
This Is Paris (2020), a YouTube Originals documentary directed by Alexandra Dean, focuses on her personal and professional trajectory. In the film, Hilton revealed her experiences with emotional, verbal and physical abuse while attending a series of boarding schools as a teenager. Unprepared to disclose that information, she trusted Dean's approach and found the process of filming to be a healing space for her. She served as a producer but did not have artistic authority over the production. It received over 16 million views in its first month of release and was deemed a successful "rebranding" of her image.
Between 2020 and 2024, Hilton appeared in advertisement campaigns for Skims, Valentino, Lanvin, Uber Eats, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Klarna, Marc Jacobs, Taco Bell, Grey Goose, NBCUniversal's coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics, MSCHF–Crocs' Big Yellow Boots, Living Proof, and WOW Vegas. With Klarna, she opened a pop-up store which ran from February 23 to 24, 2023 in Los Angeles.
In 2020, Hilton served as a guest judge in the premiere episode of James Charles's YouTube series Instant Influencer, produced and starred in Ramez Silyan's short film Sorry, modeled at Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 2, and released a merchandise collection, as well as a single with Lodato, "I Blame You". In 2021, Hilton, who founded Paris Hilton Entertainment in 2006, renamed the company 11:11 Media. That year, she created London Audio, in partnership with iHeartMedia, and Slivington Manor Entertainment, with an overall deal at Warner Bros. Unscripted Television.
Her podcast I am Paris debuted on February 22, 2021, offering personal content and conversations with her family, friends, and other celebrities. It served as the flagship of several programs produced by Hilton's company, London Audio, and iHeartMedia. The other podcasts were Trapped in Treatment (2022–2023), hosted by Caroline Cole and Rebecca Mellinger, and History of the World's Greatest Nightclubs (2023), hosted by Ultra Naté.
Beginning in 2021, Hilton launched several NFT collections, including one with designer Blake Kathryn, which raked in US$1.5 million. She introduced ParisWorld on Roblox in 2021 and on The Sandbox in 2022. On June 8, 2022, it was announced that she had created a fund for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to support the acquisition of digital art by female artists. She also became an investor in a number of wellness and digital-orientated companies.
Netflix released Cooking with Paris on August 4, 2021. It was a six-part reality series which she hosted and co-produced. It received lukewarm reviews from critics, who considered it a "fun but pointless" production, and briefly entered Netflix's daily Top 10 rankings. Her next reality series, Peacock's Paris in Love (2021–present), soon followed, premiering on November 11, the day she married Carter Reum. For both Cooking with Paris and Paris in Love, Hilton won the Best Reality Return at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards.
In 2022, Hilton released a tracksuits line, a sunglasses collection with Quay Australia, and a housewares collection on Amazon. She voiced herself in four episodes of the YouTube animated web series Rainbow High, and modeled for Versace at Milan Fashion Week. That year, she performed "Stars Are Blind", alongside Christina Aguilera and Mya, at the Los Angeles Pride festival, as well as with Miley Cyrus and Sia, on NBC's Miley's New Year's Eve Party.
On December 30, 2022, Hilton released an updated version of the song, "Stars Are Blind (Paris' Version)", exclusively to Amazon Music, which was followed by another version featuring vocals by Kim Petras on June 2, 2023. She featured in Petras' single "All She Wants", from her sophomore studio album Problématique (2023).
Hilton played the host of a reality dating series in the horror film Alone At Night, which was released on January 20, 2023, by Vertical Entertainment. Her third book, Paris: The Memoir, was published on March 14, 2023, by Harper Collins. She described it as a continuation of "this whole path of self-discovery" that started with her 2020 documentary. It debuted at number three on the New York Times Best Sellers list, in the combined print and e-book nonfiction section, selling 13,640 print copies. By October 2023, the book had sold 46,637 print copies in the United States.
Hilton launched Parisland on The Sandbox in February 2023, and Slivingland on Roblox in August 2023. By February 2024, Slivingland had been visited by over 3.4 million users and reportedly "drove a staggering US$60 million in earned media ad equivalency" on Roblox. In 2023, she held her first concert at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, recorded the single "Hot One", collaborated with Steve Aoki on "Lighter", modeled for Mugler at Paris Fashion Week, released a cookware collection with Walmart, and performed as a disc jockey at Tomorrowland.
Activism
As a public figure, Hilton has been a guest at fundraising events, children's hospitals, and orphanages. She has been involved with the Starlight Children's Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and is listed on the "First Families" of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, which means she has donated US$100,000 or more to the hospital. In 2008, a room at the hospital was named in her honor, and for her charitable efforts, Starlight and the American Humane Association have awarded Hilton the 2011 Heart of Gold Award, and the 2014 National Humanitarian Award, respectively.
In 2011, Hilton supported the LGBT rights organization NOH8, and participated at the American Red Cross run to benefit relief effort in Japan, hosted by actor Josh Duhamel in Santa Monica, CA. In 2015, she raised US$100,000 for children with disabilities in Ibiza. In 2017, she donated 50 of her personal items to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the Starlight Children's Foundation, and visited San Gregorio Atlapulco, Mexico, where she handed out food and clothes to the affected families following the 2017 Central Mexico earthquake, donated merchandise and a sum of US$350,000 to help rebuild seven homes that were affected.
In October 2018, Hilton hosted Rock The Runway, an event benefitting Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and The Sasha Project LA. 20 percent of the proceeds from her 2018 five-nail polishes line with Nail and Bone goes to Animal Haven, a New York-based non-profit rescue group. In June 2019, Hilton was part of the annual, all-female Cash & Rocket auto rally, which took place across Europe and raised money for Sumbandila, The Helen Bamber Foundation and Dream for Future Africa Foundation.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hilton performed a DJ set at the virtual music festival #TrillerFest, to drive donations for No Kid Hungry and Music Cares, and a portion of the proceeds from her merchandise collection went to Frontline Foods and local restaurants feeding frontline workers.
The release of the documentary This is Paris (2020), in which Hilton spoke about the abuse she endured as a teen in a series of boarding schools such as Provo Canyon School, prompted an increase of interest on #BreakingCodeSilence, a viral movement organized by people who were sent in their youth to a "network of privately owned, powerfully punitive, and often wilderness-based therapy programs, residential treatment centers, therapeutic boarding schools, group homes, boot camps, and faith-based academies". On October 9, 2020, she held a rally outside Provo Canyon School in Utah in protest of alleged abuse and programs for troubled teens.
On February 8, 2021, Hilton appeared before the Utah State Legislature to testify on behalf of a proposed measure that would require more government oversight of youth residential treatment centers and require them to document when they use restraints. During her testimony, Hilton said that she had been emotionally and physically abused during her 11-month stay at Provo Canyon School when she was 17. She accused staffers at Provo School of beating her, subjecting her to strip searches, force-feeding her medication, watching her shower, and sending her to solitary confinement without clothes as punishment. On March 2, the Utah Legislature approved the bill, known as SB127. On October 20, Hilton held a press conference at the United States Capitol, with lawmakers Ro Khanna and Jeff Merkley, to advocate for the introduction of the Accountability for Congregate Care Act, which would establish a bill of rights with protections for children in such facilities. In 2022, she appeared before the United States House Committee on Ways and Means to testify on behalf of measures to improve child welfare in the United States.
In 2023, Hilton joined both Democratic and Republican members of Congress in backing the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, which aims to "provide greater oversight and data transparency for institutional youth treatment programs and will help identify and prevent institutional child abuse". The bipartisan bill passed both chambers of Congress during the last months of the 118th United States Congress and was signed into law by President Joe Biden.
Public image
Reception
A particularly polarizing figure since rising to fame, Hilton has often been the subject of harsh criticism. Writing for The New York Times in 2003, John Leland opined: "In a ravenous celebrity culture, Ms. Hilton's rise shows how far celebrity itself has been devalued".
A 2006 poll conducted by the Associated Press and AOL concluded that Hilton was the second-Worst Celebrity Role Model, behind Britney Spears. According to a June 2007 Gallup poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans (63%) felt very unsympathetic toward her, and a November 2007 online survey of children conducted by E-Poll Market Research ranked her among the most unfriendly celebrities among children. The 2007 Guinness World Records named her the world's "most overrated celebrity", and Forbes ranked her as the most "overexposed" in 2006 and 2008. The latter stated in 2008 that "65% of the U.S. population would use the term 'overexposed' to describe Hilton [...] To put that in perspective, most celebrities average between 3% and 7% on the E-Poll celebrity index during the peak of their careers". In the Forbes list, she also ranked second, fifth and eight in 2007, 2012, and 2014 respectively. A 2011 Ipsos poll concluded that she was the most unpopular celebrity with Americans (with 60 percent of respondents viewing her unfavorably).
Despite the noticeable public disapproval, Hilton was among the most popular searches on various search engines (such as Google, AOL and Lycos) between 2004 and 2008. In 2004, she was named one of the "10 Most Fascinating People", according to Barbara Walters' annual primetime special ("Paris' Most Shocking Moments"). Forbes included her in its Celebrity 100, which ranks the highest-paid celebrities, in 2004, 2005, and 2006. She ranked 59th, 23rd, 34th, and 35th in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women poll in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2012, respectively, and was 20th and 38th, respectively, on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list in 2005 and 2006. She has been included among the "50 Most Popular Women on the Web" by Google in 2010, the "100 Hottest Women of All Time" by Men's Health in 2011, the "50 Most Influential People in the NFT Industry" by Fortune in 2021, and the "40 Most Powerful Women on Reality TV" by Variety in 2023.
Persona
The nature and extent of her fame is often questioned by critics, as she is not considered an artist nor performer. Blair Soden of ABC News noted: "She's made a lot of money with a hodgepodge of traditional celebrity revenue. But what she's best at is being Paris Hilton". Writers indeed suggest that Hilton epitomizes the celebutante: a celebrity for no particularly identifiable reason other than inherited wealth and lavish lifestyle. Cait Munro of Refinery29 asserted: "Paris Hilton is an icon not just of the 2000s, but of a certain widely held image of what inherited wealth, undeserved fame, and American excess looks like".
Much of her image has centered on her "party girl-heiress archetype" as well as her blonde hair and the stereotypes associated with it, especially stupidity, naïveté, sexual availability and artificiality. The development of that character stemmed from the initial success of The Simple Life and her desire to embody "the ultimate brand based on [...] the right everything for a formula that far exceeded anybody else at that time", according to Jason Moore, her former manager. He stated: "She was the ultimate package that corporate America would want to make for itself as a marketing tool, but it was already made for them. They say to be a famous person, people want to be you or [sleep with you], and she encompassed both of those".
Fashion and language are two contributing factors to Hilton's star image. Known for her long bleached blonde hair, valley girl accent, and use of blue colored contact lenses over her naturally brown eyes, she developed her personal aesthetic through mainly pink attire, Juicy Couture tracksuits, rhinestones, trucker hats, oversized sunglasses, and the "accessory dog". She mimed "high-fashion poses learned from drag queens" and created what was described as the "Paris talk". For instance, she often uses one-liners and a breathy, childish voice in television shows and interviews. Among the designer accessories she was regularly seen with was the Dior Saddle bag, which gained popularity in the early 2000s and was frequently cited as an It bag, with Hilton among the public figures credited with its rise in popularity.
Her dim-witted blonde persona, a carefully crafted act, found significant credence among the general public, which she has described as an obstacle in her career. She once remarked: "People assume before they meet me that I'm a really ditzy dumb blonde. That's the one thing that kind of annoys me sometimes. They just think because of the reality show that's who I really am. But that was just a character that I created. I didn't realize what a huge success [it would be...] With everything that's happening, though, with my business, I think people can understand that you couldn't possibly get this far being a dumb blonde".
Catchphrases
"That's hot", "loves it" and "sliving" are Hilton's catchphrases. All three are registered as trademarks for products, like clothing apparel, electronic devices, and alcoholic beverages.
On September 6, 2007, Hilton filed an injunction lawsuit against Hallmark Cards Inc., titled Hilton v. Hallmark Cards, in U.S. District Court over the unlawful use of her picture and catchphrase "That's hot" on a greeting card. The card is titled "Paris's First Day as a Waitress" with a photograph of Hilton's face on a cartoon of a waitress serving a plate of food, with a dialogue bubble saying "Don't touch that, it's hot" (which had a registered trademark on February 13, 2007). Hilton's attorney Brent Blakely said that the infringement damages would be based on profits from the greeting cards. Julie O'Dell said that Hallmark used the card as parody, protected under fair use law. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reviewed the case and "denied Hallmark's motion to dismiss". Hilton and Hallmark Cards Inc. later settled out of court.
Media presence
A subject of press and public attention due to her extravagant Hollywood lifestyle, Hilton's media exploits started in the late 1990s, when she became a fixture in NYC's late-night circuit. A combination of what has been described as "vulgar Trump-era exhibitionism and Girls Gone Wild antics" led publications such as Hamptons, The New Yorker, and particularly The New York Post, to often feature Hilton in their social columns.
After her pictorial by David LaChapelle and September 2000 article for Vanity Fair, Hilton was hailed as "New York's leading It Girl", whose fame was beginning to "extend beyond the [local] tabloids", by The Guardian in February 2001. The scandal involving her sex tape, which arose shortly before the December 2003 premiere of The Simple Life, ultimately catapulted her into global fame and made her an overnight subject of media frenzy, paparazzi attention and public scrutiny. The sudden and unusual interest on her life led Entertainment Weekly to write that, "[w]e in the media have become Paris-ites". Similarly, CNN.com described her presence as a "staple of the daily news cycles" that became "impossible to escape". In an effort to "rehabilite her public image" and "capitalise" on the increased curiosity following the release of her sex tape, Hilton started to promote herself through different forms of mass media such as advertising, publishing and broadcasting.
Throughout the 2000s, a decade widely associated with her heyday, Hilton's media ubiquity fed the then-booming online gossip industry and cemented her "It Girl" status. The exposure nurtured an "ambivalent" but symbiotic relationship between Hilton and the press, from which both parties benefited. On different occasions, she has complained about the way she was treated by the media in her twenties, particularly about their narrative on her and constant presence in her proximity, whereas at other times she sought their attention and hand information to reporters herself. Moreover, she regularly planned public occurrences, described as "pseudo-events", with the purpose of being photographed and reported on.
Sheeraz Hasan, who founded Hollywood.TV and briefly served as her media consultant, stated: "I built the foundation of one of the biggest paparazzi companies in the world on the back of Paris Hilton. I had over 100 guys in Los Angeles [...] all of them making a living off" Hilton. Emerging media outlets often received criticism for having a personality cult around figures such as Hilton, but TMZ founder Harvey Levin attributed their coverage on her to how it helped draw a high viewership to the website. Perez Hilton, on his part, purports to have befriended Hilton, who became the source of his stage name and frequent subject of his posts. It has been noted, for example, that he rarely reports on stories or rumors casting her in a negative or unflattering light, and that, unlike most gossip blogs, he often acknowledges and praises her positive achievements. In August 2006, YouTube promoted her eponymous debut album as part of its first targeted advertising launch.
The media's over-saturation on Hilton had reached a peak in 2007 amid her much-publicized legal problems. She became the fifth most heavily covered story of the week of June 4 in North America. According to Pew Research Center, roughly a third of Americans (34%) followed news about Hilton very or fairly closely, with public interest in her surpassing that in the 2008 presidential campaign, The G8 summit, and talks between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin. As a response, the Associated Press attempted to not mention her for the week of February 19, 2007, Mika Brzezinski refused to read a report about Hilton's release from jail on the June 26, 2007, broadcast of Morning Joe, and Us Weekly published its first "100% Paris-Free" issue on June 29, 2007.
Despite the institution of a reporting ban on Hilton, Forbes ranked her as the most "overexposed" celebrity a second time in 2008. A television campaign ad by the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign, in which McCain compared Barack Obama to celebrities such as Hilton and Britney Spears, prompted a direct response from her through a Funny or Die video entitled Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad, which was viewed by more than seven million people in two days and received worldwide press coverage as well as written and verbal responses from both campaigns.
By December 2009, Hilton's presence in mass media had reportedly started to wane and become less noteworthy. That month, CNN.com published a story asking, "Why has Paris Hilton disappeared?", in which her absence from daily news circles was attributed to an over-saturated public and a new collective interest on other celebrities. In subsequent years, she remained in the media spotlight, albeit was noted to have "somewhat receded from view".
Hilton developed an online and social media presence and, as of 2021, reached over 60 million users across her social platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. In March 2012, an experiment conducted by The Next Web concluded that Hilton generated less traffic than actor Charlie Sheen on Twitter, but she has trended on the platform on several occasions. In 2020, according to a Deadline report, there were over 257 million views on videos mentioning her name on social media and her catchphrase "That's Hot" resulted in more than 4.8 billion impressions on TikTok. TikTok videos tagged with her name had collectively received more than 2 billion views, as of 2022. To date, her YouTube channel has accumulated over 250 million views.
Throughout her career, Hilton has graced the covers of numerous international magazines, including US' Ocean Drive, FHM, Maxim, Elle, Nylon, Variety, and Paper; UK's Elle, Es Magazine and Gay Times; France and Turkey's Vogue; Spain's Vanity Fair; and New Zealand's Remix. She interviewed singer Kim Petras for the Summer 2018 issue of Paper as well as rapper Saweetie for the Summer 2021 issue of Wonderland. She wrote a profile on Britney Spears for the 2021 Time 100 listicle.
Impact
Cultural influence
It has been said that Hilton's rise to fame, coinciding with society's increased fixation on celebrity and the internet becoming a more accessible medium, facilitated the insurgency of an unprecedented type of celebrity—which was initially promoted by reality television and has since intensified with the posterior growth of social media—whose displays of its private life became an unusual focus of public interest, and therefore, their own source of income.
In 2018, Lili Anolik, of Vanity Fair, observed that Hilton "instinctively grasped that the great cultural contribution of the movies was movie stars", and further said that since "anybody with a phone was now a potential cineaste" and "true movie stars require[d] raw presence, not refined acting skills", she needed "only ever perform herself, or, rather, 'herself'[:] a gorgeous blonde ditz, the modern-day Monroe". In 2020, Los Angeles Times' editor Lindzi Scharf regarded her as "the woman who will likely go down in history for putting the 'i' in influencer". GQ's Carrie Battan had previously called her "the figure who set off Hollywood 2.0's Big Bang, the effects of which continue to radiate through the industry today. Hilton, the one who made it possible to be famous for doing nothing, was so sought-after in the [...] 2000s that you couldn't get her to walk to her mailbox without giving her a check". Bert Marcus, the director of the documentary The American Meme (2018), echoed that sentiment, remarking that she "paved the way for creating a brand and a celebrity out of being herself and she turned it into a phenomenon," while Instagram celebrity and entrepreneur The Fat Jew, who was one of the subjects in the aforementioned documentary, credited her for "inventing the way the world thinks about influence".
Hilton made part of the early-2000s popularization of reality television into mainstream pop culture. Vice, in a 2015 profile, noted that after The Simple Life premiered in 2003, "cable channels began programming reality television shows. MTV's second golden age consisted of The Hills; Andy Cohen reinvented Bravo with a repertoire of The Real Housewives, and TLC started teaching Americans about Dance Moms and Honey Boo Boo". Dazed once considered that every "[reality] star who cashes in after the series by collaborating with brands is essentially selling a sort of post-Hilton aspirational glamour". The Kardashian family, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, Tila Tequila, Danielle Staub, Alexa Chung, Brittny Gastineau, and Snooki are some of the personalities who are said to have followed in her footsteps. Kim Kardashian acknowledged Hilton for "giving" her a career, while Tana Mongeau stated that the media personality "paved the way for me. A girl like me who is literally famous for nothing—Paris Hilton taught us how to make that a business, you know what I mean".
Hilton's influence on fashion, tabloid journalism, and Hollywood throughout the 2000s led her to be considered an American pop culture icon. The height of her fame contributed to the growth of what The New York Times described as a "misogynist" and intrusive celebrity culture, monopolized by tabloids and paparazzi. For instance, a paparazzi photograph of her, at that time, could range from US$8,000 to US$1 million, celebrity-focused newspapers and media agencies (e.g. TMZ and Hollywood.TV) attributed part of their large viewership to their coverage on Hilton, and a network of gossip blogs such as PerezHilton.com emerged after she rose to fame. The clothing style that defined her image in her heyday—tracksuits, rhinestones, trucker hats and "the accessory dog"—became a popular fashion trend and helped popularize brands such as Juicy Couture and Von Dutch. The Julien Macdonald dress Hilton wore for her 21st birthday has been recreated numerous times, while a 2011 report from The Kennel Club associated her with "the upsurge of popularity" in "so-called handbag dogs". People magazine wrote in a March 2017 article: "For millennials, Paris Hilton has always been and will always be a living legend. The socialite has come to perfectly define not only the millennial fashion aesthetic, but also a bygone era of celebrity where social media was nonexistent, as were stylists, and getting papped while partying was simply de rigueur" (to get "papped" is to be followed and photographed by paparazzi).
Hilton has been discussed by journalists and scholars interested in the role of celebrities and their influence through the media. Feminist theorist Camille Paglia described her as a "groundbreaking" figure in Hollywood, while in her book The Bling Ring, an account on the group of thieves who robbed Hilton's house, Nancy Jo Sales positioned her as a "celebrity symbol of how destructive individualism ruled the 2000s". Jej Perfekcyjność, a Polish sociologist and queer activist, created and organised a yearly event known as International Paris Hilton Day, which took place in Warsaw since 2006, on the first Sunday of May. However, the celebration was cancelled in 2010, following a plane crash near Smolensk, and was permanently discontinued in 2013, due to controversial comments made by Hilton the previous year. On August 29, 2006, the mayor of Las Vegas proclaimed the day "Paris Hilton Day" and gave Hilton a key to the city. Her quote, "Dress cute wherever you go; life is too short to blend in", was added to The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations in September 2009.
In popular culture
Hilton has had two popular television characters loosely based on her real-life persona: London Tipton from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005–2008) and Caroline Channing in 2 Broke Girls (2011–2017). The World of Warcraft massively multiplayer online role-playing game has featured a character named Haris Pilton, labeled a "socialite", since the release of The Burning Crusade expansion on January 15, 2007. She is the source for the name of the celebrity gossip blog PerezHilton.com.
Hilton has been parodied in the music videos for Pink's "Stupid Girls" (2006), and Falling in Reverse's "I'm Not a Vampire" (2011), the South Park episode "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset" (2004), The Simpsons episode "Homerazzi" (2007), and the Hollywood films White Chicks (2004), Date Movie (2006), Epic Movie (2007), and Meet the Spartans (2008). She has been dramatised in the television film Paparazzi Princess: The Paris Hilton Story (2008), by Amber Hay, who had spoofed Hilton in a viral 2007 YouTube video titled "Paris in Jail", and in the Lifetime biographical drama Britney Ever After (2017), by Jillian Walchuck. In the second, ninth and thirteenth seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race, she has been portrayed by Raven, Trinity the Tuck and Gottmik respectively. Comedians Breven Angaelica Warren (E! mock television series) and Maya Rudolph (SNL), and television personalities Tyra Banks (The Tyra Banks Show) and Matt Lauer (The Today Show) are among the figures who have spoofed Hilton's public persona.
In 2005, Madame Tussauds unveiled Hilton's wax figure to coincide with the release of House of Wax. In 2006, she became a target of the street artist Banksy, when 500 copies of her album in 48 record shops across the United Kingdom were replaced with his own alternative version. His rework of the album featured remixes produced by himself and Danger Mouse. The track list contained satire song titles such as "Why Am I Famous?", "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?". He also changed the cover sleeve and booklet to display pictures of the singer topless. In 2017, she was one of the subjects of an art exhibit called "Nicole Richie's 2007 Memorial Day BBQ", which was unveiled at Brooklyn's THNK 1994 Museum. In The Good Place episode "The Brainy Bunch" (2018), an American-themed restaurant includes a wall art featuring an alternative Mount Rushmore formed by Hilton, David Hasselhoff, Judge Judy, and Hulk Hogan. She has also been a subject of other media depictions such as print biographies, documentaries and television specials.
Personal life
Throughout Hilton's adulthood, numerous aspects of her personal life—particularly, her uninhibited and extravagant jet set lifestyle, her extensive list of friendships, relationships and romantic associations with other high-profile figures, heavy partying, and reported instances of inappropriate behavior—have drawn a large amount of media attention and public disapproval.
Hilton is known for her love of small dogs, and has had a female Chihuahua named Tinkerbell among many other pets. Hilton was frequently seen carrying Tinkerbell (dubbed an "accessory dog") at social events and functions, and in all five seasons of television reality show The Simple Life. In April 2015, it was reported that Tinkerbell had died at age 14. In one of her properties, Hilton had a 300-square-foot house with air conditioning, heating, and designer furniture built for her pets at an estimated cost of US$325,000.
Hilton resides in Beverly Hills, and owns a house in Mulholland Estates, an oceanfront property in Malibu, as well as a penthouse in Manhattan. On January 8, 2025, Hilton reported her home in Malibu had been destroyed by the Palisades Fire.
Relationships and family
In 2000, a then-19-year-old Hilton drew attention from tabloids when she and Leonardo DiCaprio were seen together on the NYC late-night circuit. That led to one of her first magazine profiles, with Vanity Fair, in which she denied that they were involved. She dated actor Edward Furlong in 2000, and poker player Rick Salomon, with whom she filmed her sex tape, in 2001. She was engaged to fashion model Jason Shaw from 2002 to 2003. They have reportedly remained friends since their split. She had a seven-month relationship with singer Nick Carter in 2004; Carter opened up about their relationship in his 2013 autobiography. "Paris was the worst person in the world for me to hook up with," he wrote. "[She] fed my worst impulses as far as partying."
Hilton started dating Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis in December 2004, and they became engaged seven months later. In November 2005, they called the wedding off. She next had a relationship with another Greek heir, Stavros Niarchos, whom she dated on and off between December 2005 and March 2007. Hilton dated Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden from February until November 2008. An on-and-off relationship with The Hills star Doug Reinhardt followed, but they broke up definitively in April 2010, when she became concerned that he was using her to further his career. She next had a one-year relationship with Las Vegas nightclub owner Cy Waits. She dated Spanish model River Viiperi between 2012 and 2014, and businessman Thomas Gross between 2015 and 2016. Actor Chris Zylka proposed to her in January 2018, during a vacation in Aspen, after one year of dating. They called off their engagement in November 2018.
In December 2019, Hilton started a relationship with businessman Carter Reum. After becoming engaged on February 13, 2021, Hilton and Reum were married in Los Angeles on November 11. They have a son and a daughter born via surrogacy in January and November 2023, respectively.
Sex tape
In 2003, a sex tape featuring Hilton and then-boyfriend Rick Salomon was leaked onto the Internet shortly before the premiere of The Simple Life. Salomon filed a lawsuit against the company that distributed the tape, and against the Hilton family, whom he accused of tarnishing his reputation by suggesting that he had exploited Hilton. Hilton later sued the company that released the tape, Kahatani Ltd., for US$30 million for violation of privacy and emotional distress.
Under the title 1 Night in Paris, Salomon began distributing the tape himself in April 2004 through the adult film company Red Light District Video. In July 2004, Salomon dropped his lawsuit against the Hilton family after Paris Hilton's privacy lawsuit was thrown out of court. Salomon and Red Light District Video agreed to pay Hilton US$400,000 plus a percentage of the tape's sale profit. In 2013, Hilton claimed she never made money off her sex tape: "[I] never made a dollar. I make enough money in nice ways. My fragrance [line] makes enough, I don't need to worry about that."
Legal issues
On September 7, 2006, Hilton was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, with a blood alcohol content of 0.08%. In November 2006, Hilton's driver's license was suspended, and on January 22, 2007, she pleaded no contest to a reckless driving charge. Her sentence was 36 months' probation and fines totaling about US$1,500. On February 27, 2007, she was stopped for driving with a suspended license, and she signed an agreement that she was not permitted to drive. The next month, she was caught driving 70 mph in a 35 mph zone without headlights at night with a suspended license. Prosecutors in the office of the Los Angeles City Attorney charged that these infractions and her failure to enroll in a court-ordered alcohol-education program violated her probation. On May 4, 2007, Hilton was sentenced by Judge Michael T. Sauer to 45 days in jail for the probation violation. She planned to appeal the sentence, supporting an online petition (created on May 5 by Joshua Morales) asking California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for a pardon. Hilton changed lawyers and dropped her plans to appeal.
Hilton was required to begin her jail term on June 5, 2007, and entered the Century Regional Detention Facility (a women's prison in Lynwood, California) after attending the 2007 MTV Movie Awards on June 3, 2007. On June 7, 2007, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Lee Baca signed an order resentencing Hilton to 40 days of home confinement with an electronic monitoring device due to an unspecified medical condition. Baca said, "My message to those who don't like celebrities is that punishing celebrities more than the average American is not justice." He added, "The special treatment, in a sense, appears to be because of her celebrity status ... She got more time in jail." Judge Michael Sauer summoned her to reappear in court the following morning (June 8), since her original sentence specified imprisonment: "No work furlough. No work release. No electronic monitoring." At the hearing, Sauer declined a briefing in chambers by Hilton's attorney on her medical condition and sent her back to jail to serve the original 45-day sentence. When she heard the decision, Hilton shouted "It's not right!" Screaming, she asked to hug her mother. Hilton was moved to the medical wing of the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, and returned to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood on June 13. Hilton was released from jail on Tuesday, June 26, 2007.
Hilton was influenced by minister Marty Angelo in jail, referring to a "new beginning" in an interview with talk-show host Larry King on June 28, 2007 (two days after her release) and quoting from Angelo's autobiography (Once Life Matters: A New Beginning). On June 9, Angelo unsuccessfully petitioned Sauer to let him serve the remainder of Hilton's sentence if the judge would release her to an alternative treatment program. Hilton told King during the interview that she had taken Adderall for ADHD since childhood.
On July 2, 2010, Hilton was accused of smoking marijuana at the 2010 FIFA World Cup game between Brazil and the Netherlands. Although she was escorted from the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium by local police, the case was later dismissed. Her publicist, Dawn Miller, said: "I can confirm that the incident was a complete misunderstanding and it was actually another person in the group who did it". Two weeks later, Hilton was detained and released after she was caught with cannabis at Corsica's Figari Sud-Corse Airport.
On August 27, 2010, Hilton was arrested by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of cocaine possession in Las Vegas and her boyfriend, Cy Waits, was charged with driving under the influence. Hilton and Waits were booked into the Clark County jail, where Hilton was kept handcuffed on a booking room bench, fingerprinted, photographed and released on her own recognizance. Hilton's defense initially claimed that the handbag (containing 0.8 g of cocaine) was not hers. She later claimed personal items (including cash and credit cards) from the bag, acknowledging that it was hers. To avoid a felony conviction, Hilton pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors on September 17, 2010. Under the terms of the plea bargain she was sentenced to one year of probation, 200 hours of community service, a US$2,000 fine and the completion of a drug-abuse treatment program on September 20. Clark County District Attorney David Roger said, "If she was arrested for anything besides a minor traffic violation she will spend a year in jail. There will be no discussion. The court will have no discretion."
On September 21, 2010, on their way to a Tokyo press conference to promote fashion and fragrance lines, Hilton and her sister Nicky were stopped by immigration officers at Narita Airport because of Hilton's drug-possession conviction the previous day. Under Japan's strict drug laws, travelers convicted of a drug crime are usually denied entry into the country. Airport officials questioned Hilton "for hours", and she and Nicky were detained overnight at the airport hotel. On September 22, Japanese authorities denied Hilton entry, and she was deported back to the United States. Other stops on their Asian promotional tour were canceled due to Indonesia and Malaysia's anti-drug laws.
Bling Ring
Between 2008 and 2009, Hilton's house was burgled several times by the Bling Ring, a group of fashion-motivated thieves. She was the group's first and main celebrity target, with a majority of the stolen property belonging to her. They reportedly burgled Hilton's residence seven times. It was not until nearly US$2 million were stolen in jewellery, clothing, cash, and other items from Hilton that she made a report. She allowed Sofia Coppola to shoot some scenes for The Bling Ring (2013) at her house.
Stalking and other incidents
On January 22, 2007, her private life became public on ParisExposed.com, a website with images of personal documents, video and other material allegedly obtained when the contents of a storage locker rented by Hilton were auctioned in lieu of a US$208 payment. The website, which charged for online access to the material, had 1.2 million visitors in just over 40 hours. Among its contents were medications, diaries, photographs, contracts, love letters and a video shot by Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild, in which Hilton repeats racist and homophobic slurs. Hilton obtained a temporary injunction against ParisExposed.com which shut down the website.
In August 2010, Nathan Lee Parada was arrested after security men spotted him wielding two knives outside Hilton's house. He was found guilty on one felony count of attempted first-degree residential burglary and was sentenced to two years in state prison. In October 2010, James Rainford bicycled past guards at the entrance to her gated community, went to her house, and began pounding on her door. He was arrested and earned three years' probation, along with a restraining order from Hilton. In April 2011, Rainford was arrested a second time for attacking her boyfriend Cy Waits outside Van Nuys Superior Court, where Hilton was headed to testify against Nathan Lee Parada, and he was arrested again in July outside her Malibu, California, beach house. He was charged with two felony stalking counts and three misdemeanor counts of disobeying a court order, but a judge found him to be "mentally incompetent to stand trial" and he was sent to a state mental hospital.
On September 20, 2012, an audio of what was perceived as homophobic comments made by Hilton, leaked onto the Internet. Following the backlash caused, she issued an apology through GLAAD.
In November 2013, an "obsessed fan", flew a plane over Malibu with two banners, one of which read, "Can't Get Paris Whitney Hilton Out of My Mind." The other read, "Mr. & Mrs. Hilton, may I court your daughter Paris?". The same person reportedly posed as a flower deliveryman to gain access to her gated community, where he left her a classic Cadillac, in 2015. In October 2014, Lukas Redanz, a man who was completely covered with tattoos of Hilton and appeared to be "extremely drunk", was arrested after he reportedly went to her gated community "to see her". In December 2014, Hilton filed a report with the Los Angeles Police Department after receiving anti-Semitic messages on social media from a man who believed she was Jewish; he threatened to rape and kill her.
Between 2015 and 2017, Hilton was the target of an identity theft scheme by Paytsar Bkhchadzhyan, a woman who used Hilton's credit cards to book a party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel worth around $53,000. She also pretended to be Hilton in emails to her employees, convincing them to transfer $106,000 to her account, and hacked her sister Nicky and father Rick Hilton in an attempt to gain passwords to various other accounts. She also stole nude photos of Hilton from her iCloud account. Bkhchadzhyan was arrested in 2017 for bank fraud conspiracy, and was later sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution.
Wealth
According to Forbes, Hilton earned about US$2 million between 2003 and 2004, US$6.5 million between 2004 and 2005, US$7 million between 2005 and 2006, and US$8 million between 2008 and 2009. By 2011, CNN.com reported Hilton's annual earnings to be over US$10 million.
In December 2007, Hilton's grandfather Barron Hilton pledged 97 percent of his estate (the Hilton family fortune) to a charitable organization founded by her great-grandfather Conrad Hilton: the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. As a result, his grandchildren's inheritance was reduced. An immediate pledge of US$1.2 billion (proceeds from the sale of Hilton Hotels Corporation) was made, with a further US$1.1 billion due after his death. Barron cited the actions of his father, Conrad Hilton, as the motivation for his pledge. Conrad had also left the majority of his estate to the foundation, and Barron contested his father's will to regain a sizable amount of Hilton company stock in a settlement.
Much of Hilton's wealth comes from numerous endorsements, as well as her retail business, which includes numerous product lines and stores, and has generated sales of over US$4 billion. Her regular fees for both DJing and personal appearances in parties and events have been reported to be between US$250,000 and US$1 million. In 2009, for instance, Hilton, 50 Cent and Lenny Kravitz received US$4 million for the 51st-birthday party of Ed Hardy founder Christian Audigier, and in 2014, she earned US$2.7 million for four nights' work—US$347,000 an hour—as part of her two-month residence in Ibiza.
Works
Discography
Paris (2006)
Infinite Icon (2024)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official website
Paris Hilton at IMDb
Paris Hilton at Fashion Model Directory
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Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, and socialite. Born in New York City, she is a great-granddaughter of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton. She first attracted tabloid attention in the late 1990s for her presence in New York City's social scene, ventured into fashion modeling in 2000, and was proclaimed "New York's leading It Girl" in 2001. The reality television series The Simple Life (2003–2007), in which she co-starred with her friend Nicole Richie, and a leaked 2003 sex tape with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, later released as 1 Night in Paris (2004), catapulted her to global fame.
Hilton's media ventures have included the reality television series Paris Hilton's My New BFF (2008–2009), The World According to Paris (2011), Hollywood Love Story (2018), Cooking with Paris (2021), and Paris in Love (2021–2023); the documentaries Paris, Not France (2008), The American Meme (2018), and This Is Paris (2020); the books Confessions of an Heiress (2004), Your Heiress Diary (2005), and Paris: The Memoir (2023); as well as the podcast I am Paris (2021–present). She has pursued acting in the films House of Wax (2005) and Repo! the Genetic Opera (2008), and singing with a line of standalone singles and the studio albums Paris (2006) and Infinite Icon (2024). She has also performed as a disc jockey since 2012.
A polarizing and ubiquitous public figure, Hilton is said to have influenced the revival of the "famous for being famous" phenomenon throughout the 2000s. Critics indeed suggest that she exemplifies the celebutante—a household name through inherited wealth and lavish lifestyle. Forbes included her in its Celebrity 100 in 2004, 2005, and 2006, and ranked her as the most "overexposed" celebrity in 2006 and 2008. Hilton has parlayed her media fame into numerous business endeavors. Under her company, she has produced content for broadcast media, launched a variety of product lines, and opened several boutiques worldwide, as well as an urban beach club in the Philippines. Her perfume line alone has brought in over US$2.5 billion in revenue, as of 2020.
Early life
Hilton was born on February 17, 1981, in New York City to Richard Hilton, a businessman, and Kathy Hilton, a socialite and former child actress. She is the oldest of four children, one of them being Nicky Hilton, and two brothers, Barron and Conrad. On their father's side, the four are great-grandchildren of Conrad Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels, and grandchildren of Barron Hilton. Their maternal aunts are television personalities Kim and Kyle Richards. The siblings have Norwegian, German, Italian, English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. The family followed the Catholic faith.
Hilton moved frequently in her youth, living in Beverly Hills, the Hamptons, and a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. Her relatives have described her as "very much a tomboy" who dreamed about becoming a veterinarian. Her mother recalled her saving money to buy monkeys, snakes, and goats, and once leaving "the snake out the cage [...] at the Waldorf". Hilton was raised in a very "sheltered, conservative" atmosphere; her parents were particularly strict, and she was not allowed to date, wear make-up, or certain types of clothes, or go to school dances. Her mother enrolled her in etiquette classes with the idea of introducing her as a debutante, which Hilton was at first reluctant to do, as she did not find it to be "real" or "natural". She described it as "very proper, very prim, almost like a Stepford wife". The family's social circle included figures such as Lionel Richie, Donald Trump, and Michael Jackson.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Hilton attended the Buckley School and St. Paul the Apostle School, finishing elementary school in 1995. Her first year of high school (1995–96) was spent at the Marywood-Palm Valley school in Rancho Mirage, California. In 1996, Hilton and her family left California for New York City, and she joined the Dwight School. At 15, she attended classes at Professional Children's School. She skated and played ice hockey while in high school.
In New York City, Hilton had a rebellious youth, regularly skipping classes and sneaking out to parties. On this period, Kathy remarked: "Let's put it this way—it got very out of control and I was scared for her. And my husband was very scared for her. And, you know, those nightclubs go on all night." Her parents eventually sent her, then 16, to a series of boarding schools for emotionally troubled teens, including Provo Canyon School, where Hilton says that she was mentally, physically, and sexually abused by the staff. In her documentary This Is Paris, Hilton and other former students from Provo Canyon School recall the abuses they faced, including solitary confinement, forced medication, restraint, battery, and strangulation. She attended Provo for 11 months and was released in early 1999, around the time she turned 18. She then attended the Dwight School before dropping out a few months later. "She knew no one at [Dwight]", said her mother in an interview, while a classmate described her as "sort of more sophisticated. She was different from everybody else". She later earned a GED certification.
Career
Social scene and modeling (1996–2002)
With mother Kathy and sister Nicky, Hilton modeled as a child at charity events, graced the May 4, 1988, cover of the weekly magazine Beverly Hills 213, and made an uncredited appearance in the fantasy film Wishman (1992).
After relocating to NYC in 1996, Hilton developed a reputation as a socialite through appearances at nightclubs and high-profile events. She has recalled getting offers to show up in nightclubs as young as 16, when she obtained a counterfeited identity document to gain access to events. Her antics and late-night persona soon started attracting the spotlight from local tabloids. After becoming familiar with Paris and Nicky's social circle, Jason Binn, publisher of Hamptons magazine, stated: "They're little stars. They've become names. To them, it's like a job. I believe they wake up every morning and say, 'O.K., where am I supposed to be tonight?'."
That lifestyle conflicted with her family's conservative background and proved too "rebellious" for the young Paris, whose parents sent her to a series of boarding schools until she turned 18. Hilton resumed public appearances shortly afterwards and attended the NYC premiere of Cruel Intentions in March 1999 with Nicky. A New Yorker profile by Bob Morris, published in October that year, described her and her sister as "the littlest socialites in town [...] Without even a smile, they can breeze past the velvet ropes at Moomba or get a seat at Le Bilboquet". Businessman George J. Maloof Jr., for instance, flew Hilton in his private jet and paid her to attend the Palms Casino Resort opening in Las Vegas in November 2001.
Inspired by designers Patricia Field and Betsey Johnson, Hilton decided to pursue modeling, signing with Donald Trump's agency, T Management, at age 19. She modeled for Catherine Malandrino and Marc Bouwer, and posed alongside Nicky for David LaChapelle in a shoot that was featured in the September 2000 issue of Vanity Fair. On her persona, LaChapelle stated: "Paris had a charisma back then that you couldn't take your eyes off. She would giggle and laugh and be effervescent and take up a room". By 2001, Hilton had become "one of the biggest stars, off and on the catwalk", at New York Fashion Week, graced an advertising campaign for Italian label Iceberg, and appeared on magazines such as Vogue and FHM.
In addition to modeling, Hilton ventured into screen acting, playing an ill-fated character in the independent teen thriller Sweetie Pie (2000), and filming a cameo appearance as herself in the comedy Zoolander (2001), with Ben Stiller. In 2002, she appeared in Vincent Gallo's "Honey Bunny" video, played a "strung-out supermodel" in the five-minute short QIK2JDG, and starred as a socialite in the straight-to-DVD horror film Nine Lives.
International stardom (2003–2007)
Hilton's breakout came in 2003, when she starred with her childhood friend and socialite counterpart Nicole Richie in the Fox reality series The Simple Life, in which they lived for a month with a family in the rural community of Altus, Arkansas. The show was initially pitched to both Paris and Nicky Hilton. Paris was convinced to come on board; however, Nicky, being somewhat shy to the limelight at the time, opted out. The series premiered on December 2, 2003, shortly after the leak of Hilton's sex tape, and was a ratings success. Its first episode attracted 13 million viewers, increasing Fox's adult 18–49 rating by 79 percent. The high viewership was attributed to the exposure Hilton received for the homemade tape, while she became known for her onscreen dumb blonde persona.
By 2004, Hilton had taken on a number of supporting and guest-starring roles in feature films and scripted television series such as Raising Helen and The O.C., signed on to appear in a series of advertisement campaigns for Guess, released an autobiography co-written by Merle Ginsberg, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose, which was seventh on The New York Times Best Seller list, and introduced a lifestyle brand (with a purse collection for the Japanese label Samantha Thavasa, a jewelry line sold on Amazon.com, as well as a perfume line in collaboration with Parlux Fragrances). Originally planned for a limited release, high demand for her first fragrance choked supplies but led to increased availability by December 2004. Its introduction was followed by a 47-percent increase in Parlux sales, primarily of the Hilton-branded perfume. After this success, Parlux has released numerous perfumes under her name, including fragrances for men.
In February 2005, Hilton hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, with Keane as the musical guest, and in May, the slasher film House of Wax—her first major film role—was released in theaters, to mixed reviews. Writing for View London, Matthew Turner remarked that Hilton "does better than you might expect", while TV Guide called her "talentless". Her role earned her the Teen Choice Award for Best Scream, the 2005 Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress, and a nomination for Best Frightened Performance at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards. House of Wax grossed over US$70 million worldwide. In May 2005, Carl's Jr. aired a television advertisement, promoting its Spicy Burger product, which featured Hilton in a provocative swimsuit soaping up a Bentley automobile. By November 2005, she had published her second book, Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All to Me.
The Simple Life was canceled by Fox in 2005 after three seasons following a dispute between Hilton and Richie. Neither Richie nor Hilton spoke publicly about their split, although it was speculated that they fell out after Richie showed one of Hilton's homemade sex tapes to a group of their friends. They reconciled in October 2006. After The Simple Life was cancelled, other networks (NBC, The WB, VH1 and MTV) were interested in obtaining the rights for new seasons of the show. On November 28, 2005, E! announced that it had picked up The Simple Life, ordering the production of a fourth season and obtaining the rights to repeat the first three seasons. Shooting for the new season began on February 27, 2006. The fourth-season premiere of the show was a ratings success for its new network.
Hilton released her self-titled debut album, Paris, on August 22, 2006. The album reached number six on the Billboard 200, and sold over 600,000 copies worldwide. Its lead single, "Stars Are Blind", found global success. It was played on more than 125 pop stations in the United States, and reached the top ten in 17 countries. Critical reception was generally mixed, but AllMusic called the album "more fun than anything released by Britney Spears or Jessica Simpson".
In 2006, Hilton top-billed as vain, dumb blonde characters in the comedy films Bottoms Up and National Lampoon's Pledge This!, both of which received DVD releases in North America. Australia's Urban Cinefile described Bottoms Up as a "crass, low-brow comedy" with "little merit" except for "some Paris Hilton curiosity value". She reportedly snubbed the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Pledge This! to protest the addition of several nude scenes, which resulted in Worldwide Entertainment Group suing Hilton in August 2008, at the Miami District Court, alleging that she did not fulfill her contractual agreement to provide "reasonable promotion and publicity" for the film, despite receiving a US$1 million fee for the role. Hilton licensed her name to Gameloft for their 2006 mobile video game Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest.
The Simple Life finished its run with its fifth season, which debuted on May 28, 2007, and ended on August 5, 2007. That year, Hilton introduced her DreamCatchers line of hair extensions with Hair Tech International, signed a licensing agreement with Antebi for a signature footwear line (Paris Hilton Footwear, featuring stilettos, platforms, flats, wedges and a sports collection), and launched a line of tops, dresses, coats and jeans at the Kitson Boutique in Los Angeles. She also posed nude (covered with gold paint) to promote "Rich Prosecco", a canned version of the Italian sparkling wine, traveling to Germany to appear in advertisements for the wine, and modeled for 2 B Free.
Screen and business ventures (2008–2011)
The romantic comedy The Hottie and the Nottie (2008), in which Hilton starred, was a critical and commercial failure. She appeared in the My Name Is Earl episode "I Won't Die with a Little Help from My Friends". A documentary about Hilton, Paris, Not France, was screened at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. The gothic rock musical Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) featured Hilton as Amber Sweet, the surgery and painkiller-addicted daughter of a biotech magnate. After screening at San Diego Comic-Con, the film received a limited release. Horror.com described it as "by far Hilton's best role", but Jam! Movies called her a "hopeless twit as an actress". At the 29th Razzie Awards, she won as Worst Actress for The Hottie and the Nottie and as Worst Supporting Actress for Repo!.
Hilton starred in an MTV reality series, Paris Hilton's My New BFF, about her search for a new best friend, which premiered on September 30, 2008. The series was a hit and topped all other cable shows in its time slot. That year, she also appeared in two viral Funny or Die videos, Paris Hilton Responds to McCain and Paris Hilton Gets Presidential with Martin Sheen, and, inspired by her love for dogs, created a canine apparel line, Little Lily by Paris Hilton.
As a result of the American version's success, Paris Hilton's British Best Friend debuted on ITV2 in England on January 29, 2009, the second season of Paris Hilton's My New BFF premiered on June 2, and Paris Hilton's Dubai BFF was internationally broadcast on MTV in April 2011. She guest-starred in the fifth episode of Supernatural's fifth season, which aired on October 8, 2009. In 2009, Hilton also released a sunglasses line and a range of hair products that included shampoos, conditioners and vitamins. She won the Female Celebrity Fragrance of the Year Award at the 2009 Fifi Awards.
In February 2010, Hilton participated in an advertising campaign for the Brazilian beer Devassa Bem Loura, whose slogan roughly translates into English as "very blonde bitch". As part of the campaign, she rode the brewery's float in the Rio Carnival. The critically acclaimed documentary Teenage Paparazzo, in which Hilton appeared, aired on HBO on September 27. She had her first voice-over role in the ABC made-for-television film The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation. The film aired on November 28, 2010 and attracted a respectable 2.611 million viewership. That year, Hilton launched a footwear line in Las Vegas and her motorcycle racing team in Spain. Her driver, Maverick Viñales, won the final race and finished third overall in the 2011 125cc Grand Prix motorcycle racing championship.
On June 1, 2011, Hilton returned to reality television in Oxygen's The World According to Paris. Focused on her daily life, the series bought in lackluster ratings amid a controversial promotional campaign, which was attributed to her then-fading popularity in North America. Alessandra Stanley, for The New York Times, described her as an "attractive woman with proven talent for marketing and self-promotion, though as a reality heroine she seems a little passé [...] it's hard to see how she can recapture the kind of audience she enjoyed in her heyday—even by streaming her premiere live on Facebook".
In 2011, Hilton modeled for Triton during Brazil Fashion Week and for Andre Tan during Ukraine Fashion Week, and continued her endorsement and retail endeavors, introducing a mobile application, which became available for iPhone and iPod touch, and footwear collections in Mexico City and Istanbul. Beginning in 2011, Hilton opened several boutiques selling her products in Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India, Philippines, Malaysia, Peru, Colombia, and Chile.
Deejaying and singing (2012–2019)
On June 28, 2012, at Brazil's Pop Music Festival, Hilton made her debut as a DJ, which attracted negative responses from DJs Deadmau5, Samantha Ronson, and Afrojack. In 2012, she received US$1 million to star in a music video for Korean singer Kim Jang-hoon and US$2 million to appear alongside Arda Turan in a commercial for Turkish fashion label DeFacto, modeled for designers Shane and Falguni Peacock at India Fashion Week, and launched a line of sunglasses in Shanghai.
After appearing in the music video for Rich Gang's song "Tapout" (2013), alongside Lil Wayne, Christina Milian and Nicki Minaj, it was announced that Hilton had signed with Cash Money Records. Under the label, she released three standalone singles—"Good Time" (2013), featuring rapper Lil Wayne, "Come Alive" (2014), and High Off My Love" (2015), featuring Birdman—to moderate commercial success. "Good Time" and "High Off My Love" reached the top 20 and top 5 on the US Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs and Dance Club Songs charts, respectively.
During August 2013, Hilton was a DJ at Amnesia's weekly "Foam and Diamonds" parties on Ibiza. The positive reaction from critics and audiences led to her contract's renewal for the subsequent four years. In November, Hilton won the Best Breakthrough DJ award at the NRJ DJ Awards. In 2013, Hilton appeared in four episodes of the Danish version of Paradise Hotel, for which she was paid US$300,000, and briefly played herself in Sofia Coppola's film The Bling Ring. In addition to appearing in the film, she loaned Coppola her house for two weeks of shooting.
In January 2014, Hilton became a resident DJ at Harrah's Atlantic City's "The Pool After Dark". In March, she unveiled her first real estate project, the Paris Beach Club, in collaboration with Century Properties Group, Inc., at the Azure Urban Resort Residences in Parañaque, the Philippines. In July, she made a cameo appearance in another Carl's Jr. commercial, paying homage to the one in which she starred in 2005. To further her career as a DJ, Hilton embarked on a summer and fall tour consisting of 13 shows in Spain, France, Portugal, South Korea, Colombia and New Jersey. By November 2014, Hilton was the highest-paid female DJ and won as Best Female DJ at the NJR DJ Awards. In December, she performed as a DJ at W Hotel's Art Basel parties in Miami.
In March 2015, Animoca Brands, a mobile game developer from Hong Kong, announced that they had secured a license from Hilton to use her name and likeness to produce mobile games and themes. In June, she performed at Summerfest in Milwaukee in front of 50,000 concert-goers. An online campaign to get her thrown off the bill achieved over 7,000 votes. In 2016, Hilton teamed up with Lidl for a hair care collection.
Between 2017 and 2019, Hilton appeared in the music videos for "Senza Pagare" by Fedez, "Sorry Not Sorry" by Demi Lovato, "I Don't Want It at All" by Kim Petras, "Lil One" by Young Thug and Birdman, and "Flowers" by Gabi DeMartino. During the same period, she frequently served as a runway model for Christian Cowan and The Blonds during New York Fashion Week, and for Philipp Plein during Milan Fashion Week. For April Fools' Day 2017, she starred in a SodaStream's advertisement campaign, promoting NanoDrop, a fictitious sparkling-water product. In June 2017, she launched footwear and home decor lines in Mexico City.
In 2018, Hilton was described as "the centerpiece" of two projects about social media and various personalities' online presence. The documentary The American Meme premiered on Netflix in December 2018, after screening at the Tribeca Film Festival. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 93 rating based on 28 reviews. It was written and directed by Bert Marcus, and she was one of the executive producers. She also hosted Hollywood Love Story, a six-episode series that aired on Viceland. That year, Hilton modeled Kanye West's Yeezy Season 6 collection, and released "I Need You" as a digital download on Valentine's Day, which peaked at number 32 on the Dance Club Songs Billboard chart, and launched a 70-piece collection with Boohoo.com, her skincare line, a five-nail polishes line with Nail and Bone, as well as a clothing collection in Mexico.
In 2019, Hilton modeled for Philipp Plein's Plein Sport campaign, was a special guest in the twelfth episode of Germany's Next Topmodel's 14th cycle, and collaborated with Belgian production duo Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike on "B.F.A. (Best Friend's Ass)", and with vocalist MATTN on "Lone Wolves". "B.F.A" peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart, and at number 25 on Belgium's Ultratop chart, while "Lone Wolves" peaked at 59 on Ultratop. In July 2019, she performed as a DJ in Tomorrowland.
Resurgence (2020–present)
This Is Paris (2020), a YouTube Originals documentary directed by Alexandra Dean, focuses on her personal and professional trajectory. In the film, Hilton revealed her experiences with emotional, verbal and physical abuse while attending a series of boarding schools as a teenager. Unprepared to disclose that information, she trusted Dean's approach and found the process of filming to be a healing space for her. She served as a producer but did not have artistic authority over the production. It received over 16 million views in its first month of release and was deemed a successful "rebranding" of her image.
Between 2020 and 2024, Hilton appeared in advertisement campaigns for Skims, Valentino, Lanvin, Uber Eats, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Klarna, Marc Jacobs, Taco Bell, Grey Goose, NBCUniversal's coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics, MSCHF–Crocs' Big Yellow Boots, Living Proof, and WOW Vegas. With Klarna, she opened a pop-up store which ran from February 23 to 24, 2023 in Los Angeles.
In 2020, Hilton served as a guest judge in the premiere episode of James Charles's YouTube series Instant Influencer, produced and starred in Ramez Silyan's short film Sorry, modeled at Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 2, and released a merchandise collection, as well as a single with Lodato, "I Blame You". In 2021, Hilton, who founded Paris Hilton Entertainment in 2006, renamed the company 11:11 Media. That year, she created London Audio, in partnership with iHeartMedia, and Slivington Manor Entertainment, with an overall deal at Warner Bros. Unscripted Television.
Her podcast I am Paris debuted on February 22, 2021, offering personal content and conversations with her family, friends, and other celebrities. It served as the flagship of several programs produced by Hilton's company, London Audio, and iHeartMedia. The other podcasts were Trapped in Treatment (2022–2023), hosted by Caroline Cole and Rebecca Mellinger, and History of the World's Greatest Nightclubs (2023), hosted by Ultra Naté.
Beginning in 2021, Hilton launched several NFT collections, including one with designer Blake Kathryn, which raked in US$1.5 million. She introduced ParisWorld on Roblox in 2021 and on The Sandbox in 2022. On June 8, 2022, it was announced that she had created a fund for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to support the acquisition of digital art by female artists. She also became an investor in a number of wellness and digital-orientated companies.
Netflix released Cooking with Paris on August 4, 2021. It was a six-part reality series which she hosted and co-produced. It received lukewarm reviews from critics, who considered it a "fun but pointless" production, and briefly entered Netflix's daily Top 10 rankings. Her next reality series, Peacock's Paris in Love (2021–present), soon followed, premiering on November 11, the day she married Carter Reum. For both Cooking with Paris and Paris in Love, Hilton won the Best Reality Return at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards.
In 2022, Hilton released a tracksuits line, a sunglasses collection with Quay Australia, and a housewares collection on Amazon. She voiced herself in four episodes of the YouTube animated web series Rainbow High, and modeled for Versace at Milan Fashion Week. That year, she performed "Stars Are Blind", alongside Christina Aguilera and Mya, at the Los Angeles Pride festival, as well as with Miley Cyrus and Sia, on NBC's Miley's New Year's Eve Party.
On December 30, 2022, Hilton released an updated version of the song, "Stars Are Blind (Paris' Version)", exclusively to Amazon Music, which was followed by another version featuring vocals by Kim Petras on June 2, 2023. She featured in Petras' single "All She Wants", from her sophomore studio album Problématique (2023).
Hilton played the host of a reality dating series in the horror film Alone At Night, which was released on January 20, 2023, by Vertical Entertainment. Her third book, Paris: The Memoir, was published on March 14, 2023, by Harper Collins. She described it as a continuation of "this whole path of self-discovery" that started with her 2020 documentary. It debuted at number three on the New York Times Best Sellers list, in the combined print and e-book nonfiction section, selling 13,640 print copies. By October 2023, the book had sold 46,637 print copies in the United States.
Hilton launched Parisland on The Sandbox in February 2023, and Slivingland on Roblox in August 2023. By February 2024, Slivingland had been visited by over 3.4 million users and reportedly "drove a staggering US$60 million in earned media ad equivalency" on Roblox. In 2023, she held her first concert at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, recorded the single "Hot One", collaborated with Steve Aoki on "Lighter", modeled for Mugler at Paris Fashion Week, released a cookware collection with Walmart, and performed as a disc jockey at Tomorrowland.
Activism
As a public figure, Hilton has been a guest at fundraising events, children's hospitals, and orphanages. She has been involved with the Starlight Children's Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and is listed on the "First Families" of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, which means she has donated US$100,000 or more to the hospital. In 2008, a room at the hospital was named in her honor, and for her charitable efforts, Starlight and the American Humane Association have awarded Hilton the 2011 Heart of Gold Award, and the 2014 National Humanitarian Award, respectively.
In 2011, Hilton supported the LGBT rights organization NOH8, and participated at the American Red Cross run to benefit relief effort in Japan, hosted by actor Josh Duhamel in Santa Monica, CA. In 2015, she raised US$100,000 for children with disabilities in Ibiza. In 2017, she donated 50 of her personal items to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the Starlight Children's Foundation, and visited San Gregorio Atlapulco, Mexico, where she handed out food and clothes to the affected families following the 2017 Central Mexico earthquake, donated merchandise and a sum of US$350,000 to help rebuild seven homes that were affected.
In October 2018, Hilton hosted Rock The Runway, an event benefitting Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and The Sasha Project LA. 20 percent of the proceeds from her 2018 five-nail polishes line with Nail and Bone goes to Animal Haven, a New York-based non-profit rescue group. In June 2019, Hilton was part of the annual, all-female Cash & Rocket auto rally, which took place across Europe and raised money for Sumbandila, The Helen Bamber Foundation and Dream for Future Africa Foundation.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hilton performed a DJ set at the virtual music festival #TrillerFest, to drive donations for No Kid Hungry and Music Cares, and a portion of the proceeds from her merchandise collection went to Frontline Foods and local restaurants feeding frontline workers.
The release of the documentary This is Paris (2020), in which Hilton spoke about the abuse she endured as a teen in a series of boarding schools such as Provo Canyon School, prompted an increase of interest on #BreakingCodeSilence, a viral movement organized by people who were sent in their youth to a "network of privately owned, powerfully punitive, and often wilderness-based therapy programs, residential treatment centers, therapeutic boarding schools, group homes, boot camps, and faith-based academies". On October 9, 2020, she held a rally outside Provo Canyon School in Utah in protest of alleged abuse and programs for troubled teens.
On February 8, 2021, Hilton appeared before the Utah State Legislature to testify on behalf of a proposed measure that would require more government oversight of youth residential treatment centers and require them to document when they use restraints. During her testimony, Hilton said that she had been emotionally and physically abused during her 11-month stay at Provo Canyon School when she was 17. She accused staffers at Provo School of beating her, subjecting her to strip searches, force-feeding her medication, watching her shower, and sending her to solitary confinement without clothes as punishment. On March 2, the Utah Legislature approved the bill, known as SB127. On October 20, Hilton held a press conference at the United States Capitol, with lawmakers Ro Khanna and Jeff Merkley, to advocate for the introduction of the Accountability for Congregate Care Act, which would establish a bill of rights with protections for children in such facilities. In 2022, she appeared before the United States House Committee on Ways and Means to testify on behalf of measures to improve child welfare in the United States.
In 2023, Hilton joined both Democratic and Republican members of Congress in backing the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, which aims to "provide greater oversight and data transparency for institutional youth treatment programs and will help identify and prevent institutional child abuse". The bipartisan bill passed both chambers of Congress during the last months of the 118th United States Congress and was signed into law by President Joe Biden.
Public image
Reception
A particularly polarizing figure since rising to fame, Hilton has often been the subject of harsh criticism. Writing for The New York Times in 2003, John Leland opined: "In a ravenous celebrity culture, Ms. Hilton's rise shows how far celebrity itself has been devalued".
A 2006 poll conducted by the Associated Press and AOL concluded that Hilton was the second-Worst Celebrity Role Model, behind Britney Spears. According to a June 2007 Gallup poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans (63%) felt very unsympathetic toward her, and a November 2007 online survey of children conducted by E-Poll Market Research ranked her among the most unfriendly celebrities among children. The 2007 Guinness World Records named her the world's "most overrated celebrity", and Forbes ranked her as the most "overexposed" in 2006 and 2008. The latter stated in 2008 that "65% of the U.S. population would use the term 'overexposed' to describe Hilton [...] To put that in perspective, most celebrities average between 3% and 7% on the E-Poll celebrity index during the peak of their careers". In the Forbes list, she also ranked second, fifth and eight in 2007, 2012, and 2014 respectively. A 2011 Ipsos poll concluded that she was the most unpopular celebrity with Americans (with 60 percent of respondents viewing her unfavorably).
Despite the noticeable public disapproval, Hilton was among the most popular searches on various search engines (such as Google, AOL and Lycos) between 2004 and 2008. In 2004, she was named one of the "10 Most Fascinating People", according to Barbara Walters' annual primetime special ("Paris' Most Shocking Moments"). Forbes included her in its Celebrity 100, which ranks the highest-paid celebrities, in 2004, 2005, and 2006. She ranked 59th, 23rd, 34th, and 35th in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women poll in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2012, respectively, and was 20th and 38th, respectively, on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list in 2005 and 2006. She has been included among the "50 Most Popular Women on the Web" by Google in 2010, the "100 Hottest Women of All Time" by Men's Health in 2011, the "50 Most Influential People in the NFT Industry" by Fortune in 2021, and the "40 Most Powerful Women on Reality TV" by Variety in 2023.
Persona
The nature and extent of her fame is often questioned by critics, as she is not considered an artist nor performer. Blair Soden of ABC News noted: "She's made a lot of money with a hodgepodge of traditional celebrity revenue. But what she's best at is being Paris Hilton". Writers indeed suggest that Hilton epitomizes the celebutante: a celebrity for no particularly identifiable reason other than inherited wealth and lavish lifestyle. Cait Munro of Refinery29 asserted: "Paris Hilton is an icon not just of the 2000s, but of a certain widely held image of what inherited wealth, undeserved fame, and American excess looks like".
Much of her image has centered on her "party girl-heiress archetype" as well as her blonde hair and the stereotypes associated with it, especially stupidity, naïveté, sexual availability and artificiality. The development of that character stemmed from the initial success of The Simple Life and her desire to embody "the ultimate brand based on [...] the right everything for a formula that far exceeded anybody else at that time", according to Jason Moore, her former manager. He stated: "She was the ultimate package that corporate America would want to make for itself as a marketing tool, but it was already made for them. They say to be a famous person, people want to be you or [sleep with you], and she encompassed both of those".
Fashion and language are two contributing factors to Hilton's star image. Known for her long bleached blonde hair, valley girl accent, and use of blue colored contact lenses over her naturally brown eyes, she developed her personal aesthetic through mainly pink attire, Juicy Couture tracksuits, rhinestones, trucker hats, oversized sunglasses, and the "accessory dog". She mimed "high-fashion poses learned from drag queens" and created what was described as the "Paris talk". For instance, she often uses one-liners and a breathy, childish voice in television shows and interviews. Among the designer accessories she was regularly seen with was the Dior Saddle bag, which gained popularity in the early 2000s and was frequently cited as an It bag, with Hilton among the public figures credited with its rise in popularity.
Her dim-witted blonde persona, a carefully crafted act, found significant credence among the general public, which she has described as an obstacle in her career. She once remarked: "People assume before they meet me that I'm a really ditzy dumb blonde. That's the one thing that kind of annoys me sometimes. They just think because of the reality show that's who I really am. But that was just a character that I created. I didn't realize what a huge success [it would be...] With everything that's happening, though, with my business, I think people can understand that you couldn't possibly get this far being a dumb blonde".
Catchphrases
"That's hot", "loves it" and "sliving" are Hilton's catchphrases. All three are registered as trademarks for products, like clothing apparel, electronic devices, and alcoholic beverages.
On September 6, 2007, Hilton filed an injunction lawsuit against Hallmark Cards Inc., titled Hilton v. Hallmark Cards, in U.S. District Court over the unlawful use of her picture and catchphrase "That's hot" on a greeting card. The card is titled "Paris's First Day as a Waitress" with a photograph of Hilton's face on a cartoon of a waitress serving a plate of food, with a dialogue bubble saying "Don't touch that, it's hot" (which had a registered trademark on February 13, 2007). Hilton's attorney Brent Blakely said that the infringement damages would be based on profits from the greeting cards. Julie O'Dell said that Hallmark used the card as parody, protected under fair use law. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reviewed the case and "denied Hallmark's motion to dismiss". Hilton and Hallmark Cards Inc. later settled out of court.
Media presence
A subject of press and public attention due to her extravagant Hollywood lifestyle, Hilton's media exploits started in the late 1990s, when she became a fixture in NYC's late-night circuit. A combination of what has been described as "vulgar Trump-era exhibitionism and Girls Gone Wild antics" led publications such as Hamptons, The New Yorker, and particularly The New York Post, to often feature Hilton in their social columns.
After her pictorial by David LaChapelle and September 2000 article for Vanity Fair, Hilton was hailed as "New York's leading It Girl", whose fame was beginning to "extend beyond the [local] tabloids", by The Guardian in February 2001. The scandal involving her sex tape, which arose shortly before the December 2003 premiere of The Simple Life, ultimately catapulted her into global fame and made her an overnight subject of media frenzy, paparazzi attention and public scrutiny. The sudden and unusual interest on her life led Entertainment Weekly to write that, "[w]e in the media have become Paris-ites". Similarly, CNN.com described her presence as a "staple of the daily news cycles" that became "impossible to escape". In an effort to "rehabilite her public image" and "capitalise" on the increased curiosity following the release of her sex tape, Hilton started to promote herself through different forms of mass media such as advertising, publishing and broadcasting.
Throughout the 2000s, a decade widely associated with her heyday, Hilton's media ubiquity fed the then-booming online gossip industry and cemented her "It Girl" status. The exposure nurtured an "ambivalent" but symbiotic relationship between Hilton and the press, from which both parties benefited. On different occasions, she has complained about the way she was treated by the media in her twenties, particularly about their narrative on her and constant presence in her proximity, whereas at other times she sought their attention and hand information to reporters herself. Moreover, she regularly planned public occurrences, described as "pseudo-events", with the purpose of being photographed and reported on.
Sheeraz Hasan, who founded Hollywood.TV and briefly served as her media consultant, stated: "I built the foundation of one of the biggest paparazzi companies in the world on the back of Paris Hilton. I had over 100 guys in Los Angeles [...] all of them making a living off" Hilton. Emerging media outlets often received criticism for having a personality cult around figures such as Hilton, but TMZ founder Harvey Levin attributed their coverage on her to how it helped draw a high viewership to the website. Perez Hilton, on his part, purports to have befriended Hilton, who became the source of his stage name and frequent subject of his posts. It has been noted, for example, that he rarely reports on stories or rumors casting her in a negative or unflattering light, and that, unlike most gossip blogs, he often acknowledges and praises her positive achievements. In August 2006, YouTube promoted her eponymous debut album as part of its first targeted advertising launch.
The media's over-saturation on Hilton had reached a peak in 2007 amid her much-publicized legal problems. She became the fifth most heavily covered story of the week of June 4 in North America. According to Pew Research Center, roughly a third of Americans (34%) followed news about Hilton very or fairly closely, with public interest in her surpassing that in the 2008 presidential campaign, The G8 summit, and talks between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin. As a response, the Associated Press attempted to not mention her for the week of February 19, 2007, Mika Brzezinski refused to read a report about Hilton's release from jail on the June 26, 2007, broadcast of Morning Joe, and Us Weekly published its first "100% Paris-Free" issue on June 29, 2007.
Despite the institution of a reporting ban on Hilton, Forbes ranked her as the most "overexposed" celebrity a second time in 2008. A television campaign ad by the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign, in which McCain compared Barack Obama to celebrities such as Hilton and Britney Spears, prompted a direct response from her through a Funny or Die video entitled Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad, which was viewed by more than seven million people in two days and received worldwide press coverage as well as written and verbal responses from both campaigns.
By December 2009, Hilton's presence in mass media had reportedly started to wane and become less noteworthy. That month, CNN.com published a story asking, "Why has Paris Hilton disappeared?", in which her absence from daily news circles was attributed to an over-saturated public and a new collective interest on other celebrities. In subsequent years, she remained in the media spotlight, albeit was noted to have "somewhat receded from view".
Hilton developed an online and social media presence and, as of 2021, reached over 60 million users across her social platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. In March 2012, an experiment conducted by The Next Web concluded that Hilton generated less traffic than actor Charlie Sheen on Twitter, but she has trended on the platform on several occasions. In 2020, according to a Deadline report, there were over 257 million views on videos mentioning her name on social media and her catchphrase "That's Hot" resulted in more than 4.8 billion impressions on TikTok. TikTok videos tagged with her name had collectively received more than 2 billion views, as of 2022. To date, her YouTube channel has accumulated over 250 million views.
Throughout her career, Hilton has graced the covers of numerous international magazines, including US' Ocean Drive, FHM, Maxim, Elle, Nylon, Variety, and Paper; UK's Elle, Es Magazine and Gay Times; France and Turkey's Vogue; Spain's Vanity Fair; and New Zealand's Remix. She interviewed singer Kim Petras for the Summer 2018 issue of Paper as well as rapper Saweetie for the Summer 2021 issue of Wonderland. She wrote a profile on Britney Spears for the 2021 Time 100 listicle.
Impact
Cultural influence
It has been said that Hilton's rise to fame, coinciding with society's increased fixation on celebrity and the internet becoming a more accessible medium, facilitated the insurgency of an unprecedented type of celebrity—which was initially promoted by reality television and has since intensified with the posterior growth of social media—whose displays of its private life became an unusual focus of public interest, and therefore, their own source of income.
In 2018, Lili Anolik, of Vanity Fair, observed that Hilton "instinctively grasped that the great cultural contribution of the movies was movie stars", and further said that since "anybody with a phone was now a potential cineaste" and "true movie stars require[d] raw presence, not refined acting skills", she needed "only ever perform herself, or, rather, 'herself'[:] a gorgeous blonde ditz, the modern-day Monroe". In 2020, Los Angeles Times' editor Lindzi Scharf regarded her as "the woman who will likely go down in history for putting the 'i' in influencer". GQ's Carrie Battan had previously called her "the figure who set off Hollywood 2.0's Big Bang, the effects of which continue to radiate through the industry today. Hilton, the one who made it possible to be famous for doing nothing, was so sought-after in the [...] 2000s that you couldn't get her to walk to her mailbox without giving her a check". Bert Marcus, the director of the documentary The American Meme (2018), echoed that sentiment, remarking that she "paved the way for creating a brand and a celebrity out of being herself and she turned it into a phenomenon," while Instagram celebrity and entrepreneur The Fat Jew, who was one of the subjects in the aforementioned documentary, credited her for "inventing the way the world thinks about influence".
Hilton made part of the early-2000s popularization of reality television into mainstream pop culture. Vice, in a 2015 profile, noted that after The Simple Life premiered in 2003, "cable channels began programming reality television shows. MTV's second golden age consisted of The Hills; Andy Cohen reinvented Bravo with a repertoire of The Real Housewives, and TLC started teaching Americans about Dance Moms and Honey Boo Boo". Dazed once considered that every "[reality] star who cashes in after the series by collaborating with brands is essentially selling a sort of post-Hilton aspirational glamour". The Kardashian family, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, Tila Tequila, Danielle Staub, Alexa Chung, Brittny Gastineau, and Snooki are some of the personalities who are said to have followed in her footsteps. Kim Kardashian acknowledged Hilton for "giving" her a career, while Tana Mongeau stated that the media personality "paved the way for me. A girl like me who is literally famous for nothing—Paris Hilton taught us how to make that a business, you know what I mean".
Hilton's influence on fashion, tabloid journalism, and Hollywood throughout the 2000s led her to be considered an American pop culture icon. The height of her fame contributed to the growth of what The New York Times described as a "misogynist" and intrusive celebrity culture, monopolized by tabloids and paparazzi. For instance, a paparazzi photograph of her, at that time, could range from US$8,000 to US$1 million, celebrity-focused newspapers and media agencies (e.g. TMZ and Hollywood.TV) attributed part of their large viewership to their coverage on Hilton, and a network of gossip blogs such as PerezHilton.com emerged after she rose to fame. The clothing style that defined her image in her heyday—tracksuits, rhinestones, trucker hats and "the accessory dog"—became a popular fashion trend and helped popularize brands such as Juicy Couture and Von Dutch. The Julien Macdonald dress Hilton wore for her 21st birthday has been recreated numerous times, while a 2011 report from The Kennel Club associated her with "the upsurge of popularity" in "so-called handbag dogs". People magazine wrote in a March 2017 article: "For millennials, Paris Hilton has always been and will always be a living legend. The socialite has come to perfectly define not only the millennial fashion aesthetic, but also a bygone era of celebrity where social media was nonexistent, as were stylists, and getting papped while partying was simply de rigueur" (to get "papped" is to be followed and photographed by paparazzi).
Hilton has been discussed by journalists and scholars interested in the role of celebrities and their influence through the media. Feminist theorist Camille Paglia described her as a "groundbreaking" figure in Hollywood, while in her book The Bling Ring, an account on the group of thieves who robbed Hilton's house, Nancy Jo Sales positioned her as a "celebrity symbol of how destructive individualism ruled the 2000s". Jej Perfekcyjność, a Polish sociologist and queer activist, created and organised a yearly event known as International Paris Hilton Day, which took place in Warsaw since 2006, on the first Sunday of May. However, the celebration was cancelled in 2010, following a plane crash near Smolensk, and was permanently discontinued in 2013, due to controversial comments made by Hilton the previous year. On August 29, 2006, the mayor of Las Vegas proclaimed the day "Paris Hilton Day" and gave Hilton a key to the city. Her quote, "Dress cute wherever you go; life is too short to blend in", was added to The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations in September 2009.
In popular culture
Hilton has had two popular television characters loosely based on her real-life persona: London Tipton from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005–2008) and Caroline Channing in 2 Broke Girls (2011–2017). The World of Warcraft massively multiplayer online role-playing game has featured a character named Haris Pilton, labeled a "socialite", since the release of The Burning Crusade expansion on January 15, 2007. She is the source for the name of the celebrity gossip blog PerezHilton.com.
Hilton has been parodied in the music videos for Pink's "Stupid Girls" (2006), and Falling in Reverse's "I'm Not a Vampire" (2011), the South Park episode "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset" (2004), The Simpsons episode "Homerazzi" (2007), and the Hollywood films White Chicks (2004), Date Movie (2006), Epic Movie (2007), and Meet the Spartans (2008). She has been dramatised in the television film Paparazzi Princess: The Paris Hilton Story (2008), by Amber Hay, who had spoofed Hilton in a viral 2007 YouTube video titled "Paris in Jail", and in the Lifetime biographical drama Britney Ever After (2017), by Jillian Walchuck. In the second, ninth and thirteenth seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race, she has been portrayed by Raven, Trinity the Tuck and Gottmik respectively. Comedians Breven Angaelica Warren (E! mock television series) and Maya Rudolph (SNL), and television personalities Tyra Banks (The Tyra Banks Show) and Matt Lauer (The Today Show) are among the figures who have spoofed Hilton's public persona.
In 2005, Madame Tussauds unveiled Hilton's wax figure to coincide with the release of House of Wax. In 2006, she became a target of the street artist Banksy, when 500 copies of her album in 48 record shops across the United Kingdom were replaced with his own alternative version. His rework of the album featured remixes produced by himself and Danger Mouse. The track list contained satire song titles such as "Why Am I Famous?", "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?". He also changed the cover sleeve and booklet to display pictures of the singer topless. In 2017, she was one of the subjects of an art exhibit called "Nicole Richie's 2007 Memorial Day BBQ", which was unveiled at Brooklyn's THNK 1994 Museum. In The Good Place episode "The Brainy Bunch" (2018), an American-themed restaurant includes a wall art featuring an alternative Mount Rushmore formed by Hilton, David Hasselhoff, Judge Judy, and Hulk Hogan. She has also been a subject of other media depictions such as print biographies, documentaries and television specials.
Personal life
Throughout Hilton's adulthood, numerous aspects of her personal life—particularly, her uninhibited and extravagant jet set lifestyle, her extensive list of friendships, relationships and romantic associations with other high-profile figures, heavy partying, and reported instances of inappropriate behavior—have drawn a large amount of media attention and public disapproval.
Hilton is known for her love of small dogs, and has had a female Chihuahua named Tinkerbell among many other pets. Hilton was frequently seen carrying Tinkerbell (dubbed an "accessory dog") at social events and functions, and in all five seasons of television reality show The Simple Life. In April 2015, it was reported that Tinkerbell had died at age 14. In one of her properties, Hilton had a 300-square-foot house with air conditioning, heating, and designer furniture built for her pets at an estimated cost of US$325,000.
Hilton resides in Beverly Hills, and owns a house in Mulholland Estates, an oceanfront property in Malibu, as well as a penthouse in Manhattan. On January 8, 2025, Hilton reported her home in Malibu had been destroyed by the Palisades Fire.
Relationships and family
In 2000, a then-19-year-old Hilton drew attention from tabloids when she and Leonardo DiCaprio were seen together on the NYC late-night circuit. That led to one of her first magazine profiles, with Vanity Fair, in which she denied that they were involved. She dated actor Edward Furlong in 2000, and poker player Rick Salomon, with whom she filmed her sex tape, in 2001. She was engaged to fashion model Jason Shaw from 2002 to 2003. They have reportedly remained friends since their split. She had a seven-month relationship with singer Nick Carter in 2004; Carter opened up about their relationship in his 2013 autobiography. "Paris was the worst person in the world for me to hook up with," he wrote. "[She] fed my worst impulses as far as partying."
Hilton started dating Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis in December 2004, and they became engaged seven months later. In November 2005, they called the wedding off. She next had a relationship with another Greek heir, Stavros Niarchos, whom she dated on and off between December 2005 and March 2007. Hilton dated Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden from February until November 2008. An on-and-off relationship with The Hills star Doug Reinhardt followed, but they broke up definitively in April 2010, when she became concerned that he was using her to further his career. She next had a one-year relationship with Las Vegas nightclub owner Cy Waits. She dated Spanish model River Viiperi between 2012 and 2014, and businessman Thomas Gross between 2015 and 2016. Actor Chris Zylka proposed to her in January 2018, during a vacation in Aspen, after one year of dating. They called off their engagement in November 2018.
In December 2019, Hilton started a relationship with businessman Carter Reum. After becoming engaged on February 13, 2021, Hilton and Reum were married in Los Angeles on November 11. They have a son and a daughter born via surrogacy in January and November 2023, respectively.
Sex tape
In 2003, a sex tape featuring Hilton and then-boyfriend Rick Salomon was leaked onto the Internet shortly before the premiere of The Simple Life. Salomon filed a lawsuit against the company that distributed the tape, and against the Hilton family, whom he accused of tarnishing his reputation by suggesting that he had exploited Hilton. Hilton later sued the company that released the tape, Kahatani Ltd., for US$30 million for violation of privacy and emotional distress.
Under the title 1 Night in Paris, Salomon began distributing the tape himself in April 2004 through the adult film company Red Light District Video. In July 2004, Salomon dropped his lawsuit against the Hilton family after Paris Hilton's privacy lawsuit was thrown out of court. Salomon and Red Light District Video agreed to pay Hilton US$400,000 plus a percentage of the tape's sale profit. In 2013, Hilton claimed she never made money off her sex tape: "[I] never made a dollar. I make enough money in nice ways. My fragrance [line] makes enough, I don't need to worry about that."
Legal issues
On September 7, 2006, Hilton was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, with a blood alcohol content of 0.08%. In November 2006, Hilton's driver's license was suspended, and on January 22, 2007, she pleaded no contest to a reckless driving charge. Her sentence was 36 months' probation and fines totaling about US$1,500. On February 27, 2007, she was stopped for driving with a suspended license, and she signed an agreement that she was not permitted to drive. The next month, she was caught driving 70 mph in a 35 mph zone without headlights at night with a suspended license. Prosecutors in the office of the Los Angeles City Attorney charged that these infractions and her failure to enroll in a court-ordered alcohol-education program violated her probation. On May 4, 2007, Hilton was sentenced by Judge Michael T. Sauer to 45 days in jail for the probation violation. She planned to appeal the sentence, supporting an online petition (created on May 5 by Joshua Morales) asking California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for a pardon. Hilton changed lawyers and dropped her plans to appeal.
Hilton was required to begin her jail term on June 5, 2007, and entered the Century Regional Detention Facility (a women's prison in Lynwood, California) after attending the 2007 MTV Movie Awards on June 3, 2007. On June 7, 2007, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Lee Baca signed an order resentencing Hilton to 40 days of home confinement with an electronic monitoring device due to an unspecified medical condition. Baca said, "My message to those who don't like celebrities is that punishing celebrities more than the average American is not justice." He added, "The special treatment, in a sense, appears to be because of her celebrity status ... She got more time in jail." Judge Michael Sauer summoned her to reappear in court the following morning (June 8), since her original sentence specified imprisonment: "No work furlough. No work release. No electronic monitoring." At the hearing, Sauer declined a briefing in chambers by Hilton's attorney on her medical condition and sent her back to jail to serve the original 45-day sentence. When she heard the decision, Hilton shouted "It's not right!" Screaming, she asked to hug her mother. Hilton was moved to the medical wing of the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, and returned to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood on June 13. Hilton was released from jail on Tuesday, June 26, 2007.
Hilton was influenced by minister Marty Angelo in jail, referring to a "new beginning" in an interview with talk-show host Larry King on June 28, 2007 (two days after her release) and quoting from Angelo's autobiography (Once Life Matters: A New Beginning). On June 9, Angelo unsuccessfully petitioned Sauer to let him serve the remainder of Hilton's sentence if the judge would release her to an alternative treatment program. Hilton told King during the interview that she had taken Adderall for ADHD since childhood.
On July 2, 2010, Hilton was accused of smoking marijuana at the 2010 FIFA World Cup game between Brazil and the Netherlands. Although she was escorted from the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium by local police, the case was later dismissed. Her publicist, Dawn Miller, said: "I can confirm that the incident was a complete misunderstanding and it was actually another person in the group who did it". Two weeks later, Hilton was detained and released after she was caught with cannabis at Corsica's Figari Sud-Corse Airport.
On August 27, 2010, Hilton was arrested by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of cocaine possession in Las Vegas and her boyfriend, Cy Waits, was charged with driving under the influence. Hilton and Waits were booked into the Clark County jail, where Hilton was kept handcuffed on a booking room bench, fingerprinted, photographed and released on her own recognizance. Hilton's defense initially claimed that the handbag (containing 0.8 g of cocaine) was not hers. She later claimed personal items (including cash and credit cards) from the bag, acknowledging that it was hers. To avoid a felony conviction, Hilton pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors on September 17, 2010. Under the terms of the plea bargain she was sentenced to one year of probation, 200 hours of community service, a US$2,000 fine and the completion of a drug-abuse treatment program on September 20. Clark County District Attorney David Roger said, "If she was arrested for anything besides a minor traffic violation she will spend a year in jail. There will be no discussion. The court will have no discretion."
On September 21, 2010, on their way to a Tokyo press conference to promote fashion and fragrance lines, Hilton and her sister Nicky were stopped by immigration officers at Narita Airport because of Hilton's drug-possession conviction the previous day. Under Japan's strict drug laws, travelers convicted of a drug crime are usually denied entry into the country. Airport officials questioned Hilton "for hours", and she and Nicky were detained overnight at the airport hotel. On September 22, Japanese authorities denied Hilton entry, and she was deported back to the United States. Other stops on their Asian promotional tour were canceled due to Indonesia and Malaysia's anti-drug laws.
Bling Ring
Between 2008 and 2009, Hilton's house was burgled several times by the Bling Ring, a group of fashion-motivated thieves. She was the group's first and main celebrity target, with a majority of the stolen property belonging to her. They reportedly burgled Hilton's residence seven times. It was not until nearly US$2 million were stolen in jewellery, clothing, cash, and other items from Hilton that she made a report. She allowed Sofia Coppola to shoot some scenes for The Bling Ring (2013) at her house.
Stalking and other incidents
On January 22, 2007, her private life became public on ParisExposed.com, a website with images of personal documents, video and other material allegedly obtained when the contents of a storage locker rented by Hilton were auctioned in lieu of a US$208 payment. The website, which charged for online access to the material, had 1.2 million visitors in just over 40 hours. Among its contents were medications, diaries, photographs, contracts, love letters and a video shot by Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild, in which Hilton repeats racist and homophobic slurs. Hilton obtained a temporary injunction against ParisExposed.com which shut down the website.
In August 2010, Nathan Lee Parada was arrested after security men spotted him wielding two knives outside Hilton's house. He was found guilty on one felony count of attempted first-degree residential burglary and was sentenced to two years in state prison. In October 2010, James Rainford bicycled past guards at the entrance to her gated community, went to her house, and began pounding on her door. He was arrested and earned three years' probation, along with a restraining order from Hilton. In April 2011, Rainford was arrested a second time for attacking her boyfriend Cy Waits outside Van Nuys Superior Court, where Hilton was headed to testify against Nathan Lee Parada, and he was arrested again in July outside her Malibu, California, beach house. He was charged with two felony stalking counts and three misdemeanor counts of disobeying a court order, but a judge found him to be "mentally incompetent to stand trial" and he was sent to a state mental hospital.
On September 20, 2012, an audio of what was perceived as homophobic comments made by Hilton, leaked onto the Internet. Following the backlash caused, she issued an apology through GLAAD.
In November 2013, an "obsessed fan", flew a plane over Malibu with two banners, one of which read, "Can't Get Paris Whitney Hilton Out of My Mind." The other read, "Mr. & Mrs. Hilton, may I court your daughter Paris?". The same person reportedly posed as a flower deliveryman to gain access to her gated community, where he left her a classic Cadillac, in 2015. In October 2014, Lukas Redanz, a man who was completely covered with tattoos of Hilton and appeared to be "extremely drunk", was arrested after he reportedly went to her gated community "to see her". In December 2014, Hilton filed a report with the Los Angeles Police Department after receiving anti-Semitic messages on social media from a man who believed she was Jewish; he threatened to rape and kill her.
Between 2015 and 2017, Hilton was the target of an identity theft scheme by Paytsar Bkhchadzhyan, a woman who used Hilton's credit cards to book a party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel worth around $53,000. She also pretended to be Hilton in emails to her employees, convincing them to transfer $106,000 to her account, and hacked her sister Nicky and father Rick Hilton in an attempt to gain passwords to various other accounts. She also stole nude photos of Hilton from her iCloud account. Bkhchadzhyan was arrested in 2017 for bank fraud conspiracy, and was later sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution.
Wealth
According to Forbes, Hilton earned about US$2 million between 2003 and 2004, US$6.5 million between 2004 and 2005, US$7 million between 2005 and 2006, and US$8 million between 2008 and 2009. By 2011, CNN.com reported Hilton's annual earnings to be over US$10 million.
In December 2007, Hilton's grandfather Barron Hilton pledged 97 percent of his estate (the Hilton family fortune) to a charitable organization founded by her great-grandfather Conrad Hilton: the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. As a result, his grandchildren's inheritance was reduced. An immediate pledge of US$1.2 billion (proceeds from the sale of Hilton Hotels Corporation) was made, with a further US$1.1 billion due after his death. Barron cited the actions of his father, Conrad Hilton, as the motivation for his pledge. Conrad had also left the majority of his estate to the foundation, and Barron contested his father's will to regain a sizable amount of Hilton company stock in a settlement.
Much of Hilton's wealth comes from numerous endorsements, as well as her retail business, which includes numerous product lines and stores, and has generated sales of over US$4 billion. Her regular fees for both DJing and personal appearances in parties and events have been reported to be between US$250,000 and US$1 million. In 2009, for instance, Hilton, 50 Cent and Lenny Kravitz received US$4 million for the 51st-birthday party of Ed Hardy founder Christian Audigier, and in 2014, she earned US$2.7 million for four nights' work—US$347,000 an hour—as part of her two-month residence in Ibiza.
Works
Discography
Paris (2006)
Infinite Icon (2024)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official website
Paris Hilton at IMDb
Paris Hilton at Fashion Model Directory
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Justin Bieber
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Justin Drew Bieber ( BEE-bər; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is known for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by Scooter Braun in 2008 and brought to the U.S. by Usher, both of whom formed RBMG Records to sign Bieber in October of that year. His debut extended play, My World (2009), was met with international recognition and established him as a teen idol.
Bieber rose to mainstream fame with his debut album, My World 2.0 (2010), which topped the US Billboard 200 — making him the youngest solo male to do so in 47 years. Its lead single, "Baby" (featuring Ludacris), became one of the best selling singles in the U.S. His second album, Under the Mistletoe (2011), became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut atop chart. Bieber explored dance-pop on his third album, Believe (2012); its acoustic re-release made him the first artist in Billboard history to have five US number-one albums by the age of 18.
Bieber explored EDM with his 2015 single "Where Are Ü Now", which won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording. This influenced his fourth album, Purpose (2015), which yielded the singles "Love Yourself", "Sorry", and "What Do You Mean?" — all three peaked the Billboard Hot 100, and simultaneously entered the top three spots on the UK singles chart — making him the first musical act to do so in the chart's history. Two of his 2017 guest appearances — on DJ Khaled's "I'm the One" and Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" — peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100, making him the first artist to replace himself atop chart with different songs in two consecutive weeks; the latter won him a Latin Grammy Award.
His fifth and sixth albums, Changes (2020) and Justice (2021), both topped the Billboard 200; the latter included his seventh US-number one single "Peaches" and made him break Elvis Presley's 1965 record for the youngest solo act to have eight US number-one albums. Also in 2021, he released his eighth US number-one single, "Stay" (with the Kid Laroi). Bieber's seventh album and its reissue, Swag and Swag II, were released in 2025.
Bieber is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 150 million units sold worldwide and five diamond certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His accolades include two Grammy Awards, one Latin Grammy Award, eight Juno Awards, two Brit Awards, 26 Billboard Music Awards, 18 American Music Awards, and 22 MTV Europe Music Awards (the most wins for any artist). Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2011, and Forbes' listed him among the top ten most powerful celebrities from 2011 to 2013. Billboard ranked him the eighth-greatest pop star of the 21st century.
Early life
Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario, and was raised in Stratford. His parents Jeremy Jack Bieber and Pattie Mallette were both 18 when Bieber was born and split up not long after his birth. Pattie worked a series of low-paying office jobs, raising Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing. Mallette's mother Diane and stepfather Bruce helped her raise Bieber. Bieber has maintained contact with his father. Bieber's ancestry includes French, Irish, English, Scottish and German.
Bieber has three younger half-siblings; the four have the same father, Jeremy Bieber. Jeremy Bieber and his ex-girlfriend, Erin Wagner, who broke up in 2014 after seven years together, have two children, daughter Jazmyn and son Jaxon. Jeremy married his girlfriend Chelsey in February 2018, and they have a daughter named Bay. Bieber also has a stepsister named Allie, the daughter of his stepmother.
Bieber attended two French-language immersion elementary schools in Stratford, Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School and Bedford Public School. In grades 7 and 8, he attended Stratford Northwestern. Former teacher, Kim Booker often recalled fond memories of Bieber as her student, and is featured in several interviews. He attended Stratford's St. Michael Catholic Secondary School, and graduated in 2012 with a 4.0 GPA.
Growing up, he learned to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet. In early 2007, aged 12, Bieber performed Ne-Yo's "So Sick" for a local singing competition in Stratford, in which he placed second. Mallette posted a video of the performance on YouTube for their family and friends to see. She continued to upload videos of Bieber singing covers of various R&B songs, and Bieber's popularity on the site grew. In the same year, Bieber busked shows in front of the Avon Theatre steps with a rented guitar during tourism season.
Career
2007–2009: Career beginnings and My World
While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def Recordings, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 YouTube videos by accident, where he was covering Ne-Yo's "So Sick". Impressed, Braun tracked down Bieber's school, the theatre Bieber was performing at, and finally contacted his mother Mallette, who was initially reluctant because of Braun's Judaism. She remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label!", and, "God, you don't want this Jewish kid to be Justin's man, do you?" However, church elders convinced her to let Bieber go with Braun. At age 13, Bieber went to Atlanta, Georgia, with Braun to record demo tapes. Bieber began singing for Usher one week later. Bieber soon signed with Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher. Justin Timberlake was reportedly also in the running to sign Bieber but lost the bidding war to Usher, partly due to the idea that two associated singers of the same name would confuse the market.
Usher then sought assistance in finding a label home for the artist from then manager Chris Hicks, who helped engineer an audition with his contact L.A. Reid of the Island Def Jam Music Group. Reid signed Bieber to Island Records in October 2008 (resulting in a joint venture between RBMG and Island Records) and appointed Hicks as executive vice-president of Def Jam, where he could manage Bieber's career at the label. Bieber then moved to Atlanta with his mother to pursue further work with Braun and Usher. Braun became Bieber's manager in 2008.
Bieber's first single, "One Time", was released to radio while Bieber was still recording his debut album. The song reached number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100 during its first week of release in July 2009, and peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. During fall 2009, it had success in international markets. The song was certified platinum in Canada and the US and gold in Australia and New Zealand. His first release, an extended play titled My World, was released on November 17, 2009. The album's second single, "One Less Lonely Girl", and two promotional singles, "Love Me" and "Favorite Girl", were released exclusively on the iTunes Store and charted within the top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100. As a result, he became the first solo artist to have four singles chart in the top 40 of the Hot 100 before the release of a debut album.
"One Less Lonely Girl" was later also released to radio and peaked within the top 20 in Canada and the US, and was certified gold in the latter. Following the release of My World, Bieber became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100. My World was eventually certified platinum in the US and double platinum in both Canada and the United Kingdom. To promote the album, Bieber performed on several live shows such as mtvU's VMA 09 Tour, European program The Dome, YTV's The Next Star, The Today Show, The Wendy Williams Show, Lopez Tonight, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, It's On with Alexa Chung, Good Morning America, Chelsea Lately, and BET's 106 & Park. Bieber also guest starred in an episode of True Jackson, VP in late 2009. Bieber performed Ron Miller and Bryan Wells's "Someday at Christmas" for US president Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House for Christmas in Washington, which aired on December 20, 2009, on US television broadcaster TNT.
2010–2011: My World 2.0, Never Say Never, and Under the Mistletoe
Bieber was a presenter at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010. He was invited to be a vocalist for the remake of the charity single "We Are the World" for its 25th anniversary to benefit Haiti after the earthquake. Bieber sings the opening line, which was sung by Lionel Richie in the original version. On March 12, 2010, a version of K'naan's "Wavin' Flag", recorded by a collective of Canadian musicians known as Young Artists for Haiti, was released. Bieber is featured in the song, performing the closing lines.
In January 2010, "Baby" was released from his debut album, My World 2.0. The song featured Ludacris, and became an international hit. It charted at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaked at number three on the Canadian Hot 100 and reached the top ten in several international markets. Promo singles, "Never Let You Go" and "U Smile", were top 30 hits on the US Hot 100, and top 20 hits in Canada. The album has received generally favourable reviews. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, making Bieber the youngest solo male act to top the chart since Stevie Wonder in 1963. My World 2.0 also debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, Irish Albums Chart, Australian Albums Chart, and the New Zealand Albums Chart and reached the top 10 of fifteen other countries.
To promote the album, Bieber appeared on live programs including The View, the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards, Nightline, Late Show with David Letterman, The Dome and 106 & Park. Sean Kingston appeared on the album's next single, "Eenie Meenie". The song reached the top ten in the UK and Australia, and the top 20 of most other markets. The following single from My World 2.0, "Somebody to Love", was released in April 2010, and a remix was released featuring Bieber's mentor Usher. On June 23, Bieber went on his first official headlining tour, the My World Tour, to promote My World and My World 2.0. In May 2010, Bieber featured in rapper Soulja Boy's song "Rich Girl". In July, it was reported that Bieber was the most searched-for celebrity on the Internet. That same month, his video for "Baby" surpassed Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" (2009) as the most viewed, and most disliked, YouTube video at the time. In September, it was reported that Bieber accounted for 3% of traffic on Twitter, according to an employee of the social-networking site.
On My World 2.0, Bieber's voice was noted to be deeper than it was in his debut EP, due to puberty. In April 2010, the singer remarked regarding his vocals: "It cracks. Like every teenage boy, I'm dealing with it and I have the best vocal coach in the world ... Some of the notes I hit on "Baby" I can't hit any more. We have to lower the key when I sing live." Bieber guest-starred in the season premiere of the CBS American crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which aired on September 23, 2010. He played a "troubled teen who is faced with a difficult decision regarding his only brother", who is also a serial bomber. Bieber was also in a subsequent episode of the series, which aired on February 17, 2011, in which his character is killed. Bieber performed a medley of his singles "U Smile", "Baby", and "Somebody to Love", and briefly played the drums, at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. Bieber announced in October 2010 that he would be releasing an acoustic album, called My Worlds Acoustic. It was released on November 26, 2010, in the United States and featured acoustic versions of songs from his previous albums, and accompanied the release of a new song titled "Pray". In October 2010, Bieber released his first book, Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story, an autobiography with text from Bieber and photographs from Robert Caplin.
A 3-D part-biopic, part-concert film starring Bieber entitled Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, was released on February 11, 2011, directed by Step Up 3D director Jon M. Chu. It topped the box office with an estimated gross of $12.4 million on its opening day from 3,105 theatres. It grossed $30.3 million for the weekend and was narrowly beaten by the romantic comedy Just Go with It, which grossed $31 million. Never Say Never reportedly exceeded industry expectations, nearly matching the $31.1 million grossed by Miley Cyrus's 2008 3-D concert film, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, which holds the record for the top debut for a music-documentary. Never Say Never grossed a total of $99,034,125 worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing concert or performance film at the global box office. The film is accompanied by his second remix album, Never Say Never – The Remixes, released February 14, 2011, and features remixes of songs from his debut album, with guest appearances from Miley Cyrus, Chris Brown, and Kanye West, among others. Bieber was a participating player in the 2011 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, held on February 18, 2011, and was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP), scoring eight points (3–11 FG) with two rebounds and four assists. In June 2011, an album track from Never Say Never titled "That Should Be Me" (featuring Rascal Flatts), won him his first award in country music for Collaborative Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards. Time magazine named Bieber one of the 100 most influential people in the world on their annual list. In June 2011, Bieber was ranked No. 2 on the Forbes list of Best-Paid Celebrities under 30. He is the youngest star, and 1 of 7 musicians on the list, having raked in $53 million in a 12-month period. The same month, his collaborative single "Next to You" with American singer Chris Brown was released. The unfinished video for that song was leaked online on June 6, and the official video was released on June 17.
On November 1, 2011, Bieber released the Christmas-themed Under the Mistletoe, his second studio album. It became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and sold 210,000 copies in its first week of release. On November 19, 2021, the album was listed among the Greatest of All Time Top Holiday Albums chart by Billboard. The first single from the album, "Mistletoe", peaked at number one on the US Billboard Holiday 100 and Holiday Digital Songs charts. Bieber released "All I Want for Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!)" as the second single from the album, which is a re-recorded version of Mariah Carey's original single, "All I Want for Christmas Is You", with Carey providing vocals on the track. Billboard listed the album and its singles, among the greatest Holiday albums and songs of all time, respectively.
2012–2014: Believe, Journals, and other appearances
In late 2011, Bieber began recording his third studio album, titled Believe. The following week, Bieber appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to announce that the first single would be called "Boyfriend", and was released on March 26, 2012. The song debuted at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, selling a total of 521,000 digital units, the second-highest-ever debut digital sales week. Bill Werde of Billboard noted that it failed to debut at number one because the digital download of the track was available only through the iTunes Store, "restricting the buying option for those [who] do not frequent the Apple retail store". "Boyfriend" became Bieber's first single ever to reach the top position on the Canadian Hot 100 by debuting at number one and staying on for one week. Bieber was featured on American hip-hop group Far East Movement's song "Live My Life", from their fourth studio album, Dirty Bass, in February 2012. The song emerged online five days before its scheduled release date and peaked within the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100. The first promotional single from the album, "Die in Your Arms", was released on May 29, 2012, and the second promotional single, "All Around the World" (featuring American rapper Ludacris), followed the next week. The second single from Believe, "As Long as You Love Me" (featuring Big Sean), was released on June 11, 2012. It peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100.
His third studio album, Believe, was released on June 19, 2012, by Island Records. The album marked a musical departure from the teen pop sound of his previous releases, and incorporated elements of dance-pop and R&B genres. Intent on developing a more "mature" sound, Bieber collaborated with a wide range of urban producers for the release as well as some long-time collaborators, including Darkchild, Hit-Boy, Diplo, and Max Martin. Entertainment Weekly praised Bieber's musical shift, calling the album both a "reinvention and a reintroduction". Rolling Stone noted the deeper voice and more "intense" beats found on the album, although it lampooned one of his euphemisms for newfound sexual maturity ("If you spread your wings, you can fly away with me"). Believe debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming his fourth number-one album. The album sold 57,000 copies in its first week in Canada, debuting atop the Canadian Albums Chart. In September 2012, Bieber was featured on "Beautiful", a song from Carly Rae Jepsen's second studio album, Kiss. In October 2012, the third single from Believe, "Beauty and a Beat" (featuring Nicki Minaj), was released. The music video held the record for the most video views in 24 hours when it was released, with 10.6 million views.
The Believe Tour, which further promoted the album, began in September 2012 in Glendale, Arizona. On December 14, 2012, Bieber appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he announced plans to release an acoustic album titled Believe Acoustic, which was released on January 29, 2013. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making Bieber the first artist in history to have five number-one albums in the US before turning 19.
Bieber returned to Saturday Night Live as the host and musical guest on the February 9, 2013, episode. His appearance was panned by critics and cast members, including Kate McKinnon, who said Bieber was not comfortable with his hosting duties, and Bill Hader, who said he did not enjoy the presence of Bieber or his entourage. Hader added that in his eight years on the television program, Bieber was the only host who lived up to his reputation.
On March 7, 2013, Bieber fainted backstage at London's O2 Arena after complaining of breathing problems throughout his concert performance and was taken to the hospital. Bieber cancelled his second Lisbon, Portugal concert at the Pavilhão Atlântico, which was to be held on March 12, because of low ticket sales. The concert held in the same venue on March 11 did go on as scheduled. In mid-August 2013, a remixed duet version of Michael Jackson's previously unreleased song "Slave to the Rhythm", featuring Bieber, leaked online. In response to criticism over this remix, the Michael Jackson Estate stated that it had not authorized the release of this recording, and has since made attempts to remove the song from as many web sites and YouTube channels as possible. Later, a song titled "Twerk" by rapper Lil Twist, featuring Bieber as well as Miley Cyrus, also leaked. In September, Bieber was featured in Maejor Ali's song "Lolly" with rapper Juicy J. A music video for "Melodies", the debut single of American singer Madison Beer, was released in the same month featuring Bieber in a cameo appearance.
On October 3, 2013, Bieber announced that he would release a new song every Monday for 10 weeks as a lead-up to the film Justin Bieber's Believe, which entered production in May 2012 and was released on December 25, 2013. The film is a follow-up to Bieber's first theatrical film Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, with Jon M. Chu returning as director. The first song of Music Mondays, "Heartbreaker", was released on October 7. The second song, "All That Matters", was released on October 14, followed by "Hold Tight" on October 21, "Recovery" on October 28, "Bad Day" on November 4, and "All Bad" on November 11. The seventh song, "PYD" (featuring R. Kelly), was released on November 18; it was followed by "Roller Coaster" on November 25, and "Change Me" on December 2. The final song, "Confident" (featuring Chance the Rapper), was released on December 9, 2013. That same day, it was announced that all 10 tracks would be featured on the compilation album Journals, which would also feature five additional unreleased songs, a music video for "All That Matters", and a trailer for Believe. Journals was only available for purchase via iTunes for a limited time: from December 23, 2013, to January 9, 2014. The titles of the five new additional songs are: "One Life", "Backpack" (featuring Lil Wayne), "What's Hatnin'" (featuring Future), "Swap It Out", and "Memphis" (featuring Big Sean and Diplo). Bieber released a song titled "Home to Mama" (featuring Cody Simpson) in November 2014. The same month, Bieber topped Forbes magazine's Forbes 30 Under 30 annual ranking, which lists the highest-earning celebrities under 30 for that year.
Because of the disbanding of Universal Music's division, The Island Def Jam Music Group, in April 2014, Bieber and a number of artists were subsequently transferred to another Universal Music-related division, Def Jam Recordings, causing Bieber to no longer be signed to Island Records.
2015–2017: Purpose
In February 2015, Bieber released "Where Are Ü Now", a collaboration with Jack Ü. The song peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. It earned Bieber his career-first Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. In March 2015, Bieber made an appearance in the music video for Carly Rae Jepsen's single "I Really Like You". In March 2015, Bieber was the featured roastee in Comedy Central's annual roast special, and was a contestant on the reality competition series Lip Sync Battle. Bieber filmed an episode for the Fox TV reality series Knock Knock Live, and aired before the show was cancelled after two episodes.
On August 28, 2015, Bieber released a new single titled "What Do You Mean?" as the lead single from his fourth studio album, Purpose. The song is a blend of teen pop, electronic dance music and acoustic R&B. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became Bieber's first number-one single in the country. He set a Guinness World Record by becoming the youngest solo male artist to debut at the top of the Hot 100. It also broke the record for the fastest song to reach number one on US iTunes, reaching the top spot in under 5 minutes. On September 4, 2015, Bieber was co-featured alongside Young Thug on the album track "Maria I'm Drunk", from Travis Scott's debut studio album, Rodeo. On October 23, 2015, Bieber released the album's second single, titled "Sorry", which debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. After eight non-consecutive weeks at number two, on the week charting January 23, 2016, "Sorry" climbed to the top of the chart and became Bieber's second number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100.
The third single from Purpose, "Love Yourself" also peaked at number one in the US, making Bieber the first male artist in almost a decade to have three number-ones from an album since Justin Timberlake, who did it previously with his second studio album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, in 2006–07. He also became the first solo artist to chart three solo songs in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, and the first as a lead act since the Beatles in 1964. "Love Yourself" topped Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 chart in 2016, followed by "Sorry" at number two, and made Bieber only the third artist in history to hold the top-two positions of the Billboard Year-End Hot 100, after the Beatles in 1964 and Usher in 2004. An album track on Purpose, "Company", was announced as the fourth single on March 8, 2016. On February 12, 2016, Bieber's first four albums were released on vinyl for the first time.
Purpose was released on November 13, 2015, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming Bieber's sixth album to debut at the top of that chart. It was the fourth best-selling album of 2015 with worldwide sales of 3.1 million copies. As of June 2016, it had sold 4.5 million copies globally. On November 11, 2015, Bieber announced that he would embark on the Purpose World Tour. The worldwide concert tour started in Seattle, Washington, on March 9, 2016.
On January 8, 2016, Bieber made UK chart history by becoming the first artist to occupy the entire top three of the UK Singles Chart. He achieved this feat as "Love Yourself", "Sorry" and "What Do You Mean?" charted at positions 1, 2 and 3 simultaneously. On May 13, 2016, he was co-featured alongside Towkio on the album track "Juke Jam", from Chance the Rapper's third mixtape Coloring Book. On July 22, 2016, Bieber released a new single with EDM trio Major Lazer and Danish singer MØ titled "Cold Water". It debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Bieber's third number-two debut on the ranking, passing Mariah Carey's record to become the artist with the most number-two debuts in the US at the time. In August 2016, Bieber was featured on French DJ DJ Snake's single "Let Me Love You". The song peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. Bieber was also featured on American rapper Post Malone's single "Deja Vu", which later appeared as the fourth single from the latter's debut studio album, Stoney, in September 2016. Bieber then appeared in the documentary Bodyguards: Secret Lives from the Watchtower (2016). At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, Purpose was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, whereas "Love Yourself" received nominations for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance respectively.
2017–2019: Collaborations
On January 28, 2017, Bieber starred in the 2017 NHL Celebrity All-Star Game as a participating player, coached by Wayne Gretzky. On April 17, 2017, Puerto Rican singers Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee released a remix for their song "Despacito" featuring Bieber. It was the first song by Bieber in which he sings in Spanish. The remix became a worldwide success and broke major chart records around the world. The song reached number one in the US and joined "Macarena" (1996) as the only English/Spanish songs to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It tied the then-record for the most weeks at number one in Billboard Hot 100 history. The song spent a record 56 weeks at number one on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart and broke the then-record for most weeks at number one on the Digital Songs Sales chart. The remix is the most viewed song of all time on the crowdsourced media knowledge base Genius, with 23.3 million views. The song earned Bieber his first career Latin Grammy. As of September 2021, "Despacito" holds the number-one position on the Greatest of All Time Hot Latin Songs chart and number-five on the Greatest of All Time Songs of the Summer chart by Billboard.
Bieber, along with rappers Quavo, Chance the Rapper, and Lil Wayne, provided vocals on DJ Khaled's single "I'm the One", released on April 28, 2017. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Bieber's second number-one debut and his fourth song to top the chart. One week later, "Despacito" topped the charts in the US, which became his fifth number-one single and made Bieber the first artist in history to notch new No. 1s in back-to-back weeks. "I'm the One" also reached number one on Billboard's Hot Rap Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. On June 9, 2017, French DJ David Guetta released "2U", in which Bieber was featured. The first music video for "2U" features Victoria's Secret models lip synching to the song. On July 24, 2017, Bieber cancelled the remaining dates of the Purpose World Tour due to "unforeseen circumstances". According to Pollstar, the tour had a total gross of $257 million and 2.8 million in attendance in 162 shows, becoming one of the highest-grossing concert tours of both 2016 and 2017.
On August 17, 2017, Bieber released the single "Friends" with American record producer and songwriter BloodPop. Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter contributed as songwriters, having previously worked with him on "Sorry" in 2015. At the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, "Despacito" received three nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance respectively. Bieber did not attend the show to perform the nominated song, claiming that he would not make any award show appearances until his next album was finished. Bieber was a participating player in the 2018 NBA Celebrity All-Star Game, marking his second appearance at the event. In July 2018, Bieber reunited with DJ Khaled in "No Brainer", co-featuring again with Chance the Rapper and Quavo. The single peaked in the top five of the Hot 100 and reached number one on Billboard's Hot R&B Songs chart. He was also featured in the accompanying music video.
On April 21, 2019, Bieber delivered a surprise performance at the 2019 Coachella music festival, marking his first live performance in two years, and teased his return to music with a new album. On May 10, 2019, British singer Ed Sheeran and Bieber released the single "I Don't Care", from Sheeran's album No.6 Collaborations Project. The pair had previously collaborated, with Sheeran co-writing Bieber's 2015 song "Love Yourself", and 2016 song "Cold Water" with Major Lazer. "I Don't Care" became a worldwide hit, reaching number-one in 26 countries, while peaking at number two in the United States. Bieber later featured on a remix of Billie Eilish's breakthrough single "Bad Guy", which was released on July 11. On October 4, 2019, Bieber and country music duo Dan + Shay released the song "10,000 Hours", which peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. It became the highest-charting non-holiday country song in the history of the Billboard Streaming Songs chart and spent 21 weeks at number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. As a result, Bieber became the first act in history to reach number one on seven multi-metric charts: Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Hot Latin Songs, Hot R&B Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and Hot Rap Songs. It earned Bieber his second Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. On October 14, 2019, Bieber became the youngest solo male artist to spend 200 cumulative weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
2020–2022: Changes and Justice
On December 24, 2019, Bieber announced he would be releasing his fifth studio album and embarking on his fourth concert tour in 2020. The album's first single, "Yummy", was released on January 3, 2020. It debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. On December 31, 2019, Bieber released a trailer announcing his 10-part YouTube Originals docu-series Justin Bieber: Seasons, which focused on an array of themes: his life post-hiatus from music, marriage, preparation for new music, and battle against Lyme disease. The docu-series amassed 32.6 million views within its first week, breaking the record for the most-viewed premiere in its first week of all YouTube Originals. Appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on January 28, 2020, Bieber confirmed the release date of his fifth studio album, Changes, to be February 14. He released a promotional single for the album, "Get Me" featuring Kehlani. On February 7, 2020, Bieber released "Intentions", as the second single from the album. The song peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. Changes was released on February 14, debuting at number one on the UK and US Billboard 200 charts, making Bieber the youngest solo artist to have seven number-one albums in the US. On May 8, 2020, American singer Ariana Grande and Bieber released the single "Stuck with U", to help raise funds for the first responders of the COVID-19 pandemic. The song debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his sixth number-one single in the US. On September 4, 2020, Bieber played a starring role in the music video for DJ Khaled's single "Popstar".
On September 18, 2020, Bieber released "Holy" featuring Chance the Rapper as the first single from his upcoming sixth studio album; it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. On October 15, 2020, he released the album's second single "Lonely" in collaboration with Benny Blanco, which peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. On November 6, 2020, Bieber and J Balvin were featured on a remix of 24kGoldn's single "Mood". On November 20, 2020, Shawn Mendes and Bieber released "Monster"; it peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. On January 1, 2021, Bieber released the third single "Anyone", which peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. On February 14, 2021, Bieber performed "Journals Live" in collaboration with TikTok, which marked the first live performance of his 2013 album Journals; it was the first long-form concert event on the platform and broke the record for the most-viewed single-artist livestream in the platform's history. On February 26, 2021, Bieber announced his sixth studio album would be titled Justice. On March 5, 2021, he released the album's fourth single, "Hold On", which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. On March 19, 2021, Bieber released Justice and its fifth single, "Peaches". The album was met with generally positive reviews and received 8 nominations at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming Bieber's eighth number-one project, while "Peaches" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his seventh number-one single, respectively. As a result, Bieber became the youngest solo artist to attain eight US number-one albums, breaking a 56-year-old record held by Elvis Presley, and the first solo male artist to simultaneously debut a song and an album at number one in the US. He also became the first male act to have his first six studio albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200.
On Easter 2021, Bieber surprise-released Freedom, a gospel-inspired EP consisting of six songs. On May 10, 2021, Bieber was featured on the single "Let It Go" by DJ Khaled and starred in the accompanying music video. On July 9, 2021, Bieber released a collaboration with the Kid Laroi titled "Stay". The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in its fourth week, becoming his eighth number-one single in the US. "Stay" also became his 100th career entry on the chart, making him the then-youngest solo artist to chart 100 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. "Stay" was the most-streamed song globally on Apple Music in 2022. On July 24, 2021, Bieber headlined the "Freedom Experience" show at the SoFi Stadium. On August 13, 2021, Bieber released a remix to Nigerian singer Wizkid's song "Essence", which peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. A week later, he released a collaboration with Skrillex and Don Toliver titled "Don't Go". On September 4, 2021, Bieber headlined the 2021 Made in America Festival at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. On October 8, 2021, Bieber released the documentary film Justin Bieber: Our World, showcasing his preparation for his 2020 "New Year's Eve Live". On October 29, 2021, he released "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", a cover of Brenda Lee's holiday classic. On November 15, 2021, Bieber announced the international dates of his upcoming fourth concert tour, the Justice World Tour. On December 5, 2021, Bieber was the headlining performer at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
On January 1, 2022, Bieber set the then-record for the most monthly listeners on Spotify, with a peak of 94.7 million listeners, later surpassed by The Weeknd. On March 28, 2022, the sixth single from Justice, "Ghost", peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, marking his 20th career top-five hit on the chart. The single reached number one on Billboard's Pop Songs chart, making Bieber the first solo male artist to attain 10 number-one singles in the chart's history. On March 30, 2022, Bieber was featured on the single "Up at Night" by Kehlani. On April 15, 2022, Bieber delivered a surprise performance with Daniel Caesar at the 2022 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. On April 29, 2022, Bieber released "Honest" featuring Don Toliver and an accompanying music video directed by Cole Bennett. On August 27, 2022, Bieber released "Beautiful Love" as an exclusive single for the battle royale game Garena Free Fire.
2023–present: Hiatus, Swag and Swag II
In January 2023, Bieber sold his music publishing rights and recording catalogue shares, up to the end of 2021, to Hipgnosis Songs Fund—a sale valued at over $200 million. Bieber was reportedly offered to be a headlining performer at Coachella 2023, but declined to focus on his seventh studio album. On February 24, 2023, Don Toliver released the single "Private Landing" with Bieber co-featured alongside Future. He joined Toliver on stage at the 2023 Rolling Loud festival to deliver a surprise performance of the song. On September 15, 2023, Bieber released an acoustic version of the single "Snooze" by SZA and starred in its music video as the latter's love interest.
In April 2025, NetEase Cloud Music named Bieber as the most streamed European/American artist in the platform's 12-year history with more than 11.9 billion streams. On July 10, 2025, Bieber released his seventh studio album titled Swag shortly after teasing an upcoming project through billboards in Iceland, earlier that same day. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 163,000 equivalent album units earned in the US in its opening week. The album's lead single "Daisies" debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and became his 27th top ten single in the US, tying Janet Jackson for the tenth-most in history. On September 4, Bieber announced his album Swag II would be released the next day.
Artistry
Influences
Bieber has cited Chris Brown, Craig David, Michael Jackson, the Beatles, Boyz II Men, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Tupac, Usher and Kanye West as his musical inspirations. In 2012, Bieber said, "music is music, and I'm definitely influenced by Michael Jackson and Boyz II Men and people who were black artists—that's what I like." Believe was influenced by Timberlake, for which Bieber was trying to "create a new sound that people aren't really used to hearing ... like when Timberlake did FutureSex/LoveSounds: It was a new sound... acoustic guitar over hard drums." In 2019, Bieber called Chris Brown the "best entertainer of all time".
Musical style
Bieber incorporates a variety of genres in his music, focusing mainly on pop, R&B, and occasionally dance-pop or EDM. In 2010, Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone asserted that the content of his music was "offering a gentle introduction to the mysteries and heartaches of adolescence: songs flushed with romance but notably free of sex itself". During the initial years of his career, his musical style was noted for being aimed to a more teen pop and "bubblegum-ish" direction.
In January 2012, Bieber told V magazine: "I want to do it at my own pace. I don't want to start singing about things like sex, drugs and swearing. I'm into love, and maybe I'll get more into making love when I'm older. But I want to be someone who is respected by everybody." But since then, Bieber gradually altered his artistry, with Peter Gicas of E! Online describing "PYD" as "sexed-up", while In Touch Weekly magazine said that his song with Maejor Ali and Juicy J "Lolly" might make his fans a bit uncomfortable because of its lyrics that refer to oral sex. In 2015 Bieber released the EDM-fuelled album Purpose, where he collaborated with Skrillex, and explored serious themes such as "life experiences", through "feel-good music".
Voice
Bieber initially sang with a boy soprano voice, before his voice broke, as was evidenced during the debut performance of "Pray" at the 2010 American Music Awards. Sean Michaels of The Guardian described puberty as "the biggest threat to his career" at the time. Jody Rosen commented that Bieber sings with "swing and rhythmic dexterity" on his debut album, noting his tone to be "nasal". Bieber started to receive voice coaching from Jan Smith in 2008.
As an adult singer, Bieber's voice type is tenor, with a vocal range spanning from the baritone A2 to the high tenor F5. In a review of his Purpose album, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph complimented his "soft, supple and seductive singing". Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian also praised Bieber's "affectedly breathy voice", noting that "the voice soon palls, but the songs are often interesting." Reviewing his 2021 album, Justice, Pitchfork commented: "Bieber is not a powerhouse vocalist, but he is a compelling one, casually dropping in a stray yodel here, a Mariah Carey–indebted set of runs there. His voice has a palatable smoothness; he's mastered push-and-pull dynamics, and he swings effortlessly from a placid chest voice to a zephyr of a falsetto."
Achievements
Throughout his career, Bieber has sold an estimated 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
In 2011, Bieber was honoured with a star in front of Avon Theater in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, where he used to busk when he was younger. On November 23, 2012, Bieber was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the former Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. He was one of 60,000 Canadians to receive the Diamond Jubilee medal that year. In 2013, Bieber received a Diamond award from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for his single "Baby", which at the time became the highest-certified digital single of all time. Bieber is credited with five Diamond certifications from the RIAA. Bieber has won two Grammy Awards out of 23 nominations, one Latin Grammy Award, eight Juno Awards, two Brit Awards, 26 Billboard Music Awards, 18 American Music Awards, 22 MTV Europe Music Awards (the most wins for any artist), 23 Teen Choice Awards (the most wins for a male individual), eight iHeartRadio Music Awards, and six MTV Video Music Awards. At age 19, Bieber received the Milestone Award at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards in recognition for breaking boundaries with his creativity and contribution to the musical landscape. As of 2024, all of Bieber's studio projects are certified Platinum or higher by the RIAA and have received numerous accolades.
Following the release of his fourth studio album, Purpose, Bieber set major milestones globally. He became the first artist, since Elvis Presley in 2005, to replace his own song as number one on the UK Singles Chart. He is the first artist in history to occupy the entire top three of the UK Singles Chart. He achieved this feat as "Love Yourself", "Sorry" and "What Do You Mean?" charted at positions 1, 2 and 3 simultaneously. The singles also peaked at number one in the US, making Bieber the first male artist since Justin Timberlake in 2007 to have three number-ones from an album. He also became the first solo artist to chart three solo songs in the top five of the US Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, and the first as a lead act since the Beatles in 1964. "Love Yourself" topped Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 Chart in 2016, followed by "Sorry" at number two, and made Bieber only the third artist in history to hold the top-two positions of the Billboard Year-End Hot 100, after the Beatles in 1964 and Usher in 2004. As of 2024, Bieber has set 35 Guinness World Records in his career, including eight that were achieved from the success of his album Purpose. These records included the most streamed track on Spotify in one week, the most streamed album on Spotify in one week, the most simultaneous tracks on the US Billboard Hot 100, and the most simultaneous new entries on the US Billboard Hot 100 by a solo artist, among others.
Bieber has attained success on official charts globally, including the US Billboard charts where he has set numerous records: he is the first artist in history to chart new number-one singles in consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100; he is the youngest (21) male soloist to debut at number one on the Hot 100; he is the youngest (25) male soloist to spend 200 cumulative weeks in the top 10 of the Hot 100; he is the youngest (27) solo artist to have eight number-one albums on the Billboard 200, a record held by Elvis Presley since 1965; he is the first male soloist to simultaneously debut a song and an album at number one in the US; he is the first male soloist to spend 59 consecutive weeks in the top 10 of the Hot 100; he is the first artist to reach number one on seven multi-metric Billboard charts: Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Hot Latin Songs, Hot R&B Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and Hot Rap Songs; he is the solo artist with the most cumulative weeks at number one (163) on the Billboard Social 50 chart. Additionally, he is the artist with the most number-one debuts (10, tied with Drake), most number-one singles (13, tied with Drake), and the most cumulative weeks at number one (56) on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100. Bieber's hit single "Despacito" has spent the most weeks at number one (56) on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart and is ranked as the magazine's greatest Latin song of all time. He was named the number one artist on Billboard's Social 50 chart for the 2010s and ranked as the magazine's greatest pop star of 2016. He was also named Billboard's top male artist for 2016 and ranked seventh on the magazine's Top Artists chart for the 2010s. In 2021, Billboard ranked him as the 55th greatest artist of all time and the 38th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time, respectively.
Cultural status
Legacy
Bieber has been credited for reinventing pop stardom for over a decade and has been referred to as the "Prince of Pop" and the "King of Teen Pop" by contemporary journalists. Highlighting his longevity, he was awarded the MTV Award for Best New Artist in 2010 and the MTV Award for Artist of the Year in 2021. Rolling Stone India referred to him as the "biggest popstar of our age", "one of the most captivating artists of the century" and "one of the world's most successful artists of all time". Bieber is often described as a pop icon, or simply an icon. In a 2011 article comparing the cultural significance of Bieber to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Orlando Sentinel said that, "Out of all the cultural icons who influence and inspire today's society, Justin Bieber is without a doubt one of the most prominent." He is generally credited as an important figure in bridging music and social media, which rose to prominence in the late 2000s; Variety dubbed him "a once-in-a-generation superstar who charted a swift and stunning rise from precocious YouTube talent to global phenomenon."
In an article titled "How Justin Bieber revolutionised careers in the music industry" by The Guardian, Tom Fazakerley says:
Social media has transformed the way people, brands and musicians communicate. The likes of Myspace and even more so YouTube, have enabled budding artists to put their music out to a massive audience at the click of a finger. This has taken down the barriers to the music industry and reshaped the career path for budding artists ... Nowadays you can be your own artist, producer and promoter-and if you do this well, like Justin Bieber, you can really make it.
At age 15, following the release of his 2009 singles "One Time" and "One Less Lonely Girl", Bieber's immediate popularity led him to appear on the likes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Wendy Williams Show and Good Morning America. He had achieved a global fandom who came to be known as Beliebers and his popularity was labelled "Bieber Fever", with fan frenzies taking place in Liverpool, Barcelona and Paris, among other territories. Bieber's intense fandom was considered to be reminiscent of "Beatlemania", and his signature wings hairstyle at the time also drew comparisons to the Beatles' mop top hairstyle. Bieber's adoration from teenage girls was also likened to those of Frank Sinatra in the 1940s and Elvis Presley in the 1950s.
Bieber maintained his global popularity during his transition to adulthood, achieving increased artistic recognition and credit in the process. In respect to Bieber's success as a teenager to a young adult, Variety said that Bieber is arguably the first mega pop star to come of age entirely in the social media era and also called him an "Internet icon". The Conversation's Jo Adetunji said that Bieber is "one of the most successful pop singers of recent years". Regarding his EDM-driven album Purpose (2015), which reached "beyond the moment and trends" of that period according to Adetunji, the writer argued that Bieber should be considered a serious creative artist. Adetunji compared the album to Madonna's Ray of Light (1998), Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill (1995) and Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006). In an article about Bieber, Hugh McIntyre of Forbes stated, "You may love him, you may hate him, but no matter how you feel about him, nobody can argue that Justin Bieber hasn't conquered the pop world ... The Grammy winner can turn essentially any track into a smash, and nobody can sell a single like he can these days." Also calling Bieber "an unstoppable force in music", McIntyre lauded Bieber for achieving success in various genres, including R&B, electronic dance, hip hop and Latin.
Bieber and his work have influenced various recording artists including Shawn Mendes, Why Don't We, Johnny Orlando, and Niall Horan. Singers Dua Lipa and Charlie Puth have stated that they were influenced by the discovery of Bieber on YouTube which inspired them to achieve the same.
Public image
Usher commented that while he and Bieber were both signed at the same age, "I had the chance to ramp up my success, where this has happened to Bieber abruptly". As a result, when he was younger, Usher, Braun, Bieber's bodyguard, and other adults surrounding Bieber constantly coached him on handling fame and his public image. After signing Bieber, Usher appointed one of his former assistants, Ryan Good, to be Bieber's road manager and stylist. Good, once nicknamed Bieber's "swagger coach", created a "streetwise look" for the singer which consisted of baseball caps, hoodies, dog chains, and flashy sneakers. Amy Kaufman of The Los Angeles Times comments, "Though a product of a middle-class suburban upbringing in Stratford, Ontario, Bieber's manner of dress and speech ('Wassup man, how you doin'?' or 'It's like, you know, whateva' ') suggest he's mimicking his favorite rappers." In 2013, Bieber said he was "very influenced by black culture", but he neither thought "of it as black or white" nor tried to "act or pose in a certain way". To him, it was "a lifestyle-like a suaveness or a swag".
Bieber was often featured in teen magazines such as Tiger Beat, and has been labelled a "teen heartthrob". In 2010, he was frequently criticized for looking and sounding younger than his age, and the following year for an androgynous appearance, which had been commonly noted in the media, including his appearance on the cover of LOVE magazine's androgyny issue in 2011. His signature wings hairstyle at the time brought much attention in particular. His teen-pop music, image (especially as a heartthrob to girls), and the media attention he receives have additionally been criticized. He has been a target of Internet bloggers and message board posters, especially users of the Internet message board 4chan and of YouTube. Nick Collins of The Daily Telegraph said that "Bieber's character appears to strike a particularly sour note with his Internet critics" who have questioned his manner of speech, among other things.
In 2013 and 2014, Bieber's teen heart-throb and clean-cut image was drastically affected due to his involvement in several controversial events. During this period, he abandoned his pet monkey in Germany, vomited onstage, was videoed while urinating in a bucket, cursed at a photograph of Bill Clinton, wore a gas mask in public, allegedly spat on fans (although this was later debunked), was involved in an explicit image with a stripper, and allegedly assaulted his bodyguard and a limo driver. Bieber's uncle, Brad Bieber, said that his troublesome behaviour was caused by his break-up with Selena Gomez. In its March 2014 edition, Rolling Stone put Bieber on its cover alongside the title "Bad Boy". The same year, Bieber adopted the pseudonym "Bizzle". During the "Bizzle" phase, Bieber donned a quiff and often wore thick gold chains and baseball caps.
In his early 20s, following the release of Purpose, Bieber's public image changed in a more positive light. He donned bleached blond hair and often wore rock-branded t-shirts—including Marilyn Manson and Kurt Cobain t-shirts—flannel shirts, denim jackets, and ripped jeans. He also wore kilts, a trend of 1990s fashion, on several occasions. Vogue remarked that his fashion during this period was reminiscent of grunge fashion during the 1990s. After his marriage in 2018, Bieber's persona continued to change. As his fan base got older and he got married, he transitioned away from the teenage heart-throb image, taking on a more mature personality and a more soft-spoken style of speech. In an interview with Vogue in February 2019, Bieber said that he would "laugh at his past self".
Wax statues of Bieber with the hairstyle from his early career are on display at the Madame Tussauds wax museums in New York City, London, and Amsterdam. In 2018, "Steps to Stardom", an exhibit on Bieber's early career, opened in his hometown of Stratford, Ontario at the Stratford Perth Museum, offering a collection of mementos from his formative years and rise to international stardom. The items on display include a professional drum kit he owned as a younger child, his Grammy Award, microphones, his Stratford Warriors hockey jacket, and personal letters, including one from Michelle Obama. Bieber made a number of visits to the museum. "Steps to Stardom" was originally scheduled to close in October 2018 but the board of the museum extended its stay for at least another year after the exhibit broke attendance records set by its Anne Frank House exhibit in 2015.
At age 17, and within just two years of his professional music career, Bieber was named amongst the Time 100 world's most influential people list and was ranked number 2 on the Forbes Highest-Paid Celebrities Under 30 list. He went on to be included on the Forbes annual list five more times; in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. He was also included on Forbes' list of the top ten most powerful celebrities in 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Bieber's early fanbase developed on YouTube and predated the release of his debut album My World. According to Jan Hoffman of The New York Times, part of Bieber's appeal stems from his YouTube channel. The Chicago Tribune noted that Bieber's fanbase, "Beliebers", was among the top words of 2010. Long before the release of My World in November 2009, his YouTube videos attracted millions of views. Braun recognized the appeal. Before flying him to Atlanta, Braun wanted to "build him up more on YouTube first" and had Bieber record more home videos for the channel. "I said: 'Justin, sing like there's no one in the room. But let's not use expensive cameras.' We'll give it to kids, let them do the work, so that they feel like it's theirs", recalled Braun. Bieber continues to upload videos to the same channel and has opened a Twitter account, from which he interacts with fans regularly. In January 2013, Bieber surpassed Lady Gaga as the most-followed person on Twitter for the first time and held the record for 11 months.
As of 2024, Bieber is the fourth-most-followed user on Twitter and the most-followed musician on the platform, with over 110.3 million followers. His YouTube channel is currently the most viewed music channel for an individual on the platform, having attracted over 32 billion views. With over 73 million subscribers, he remains the most subscribed solo artist on YouTube and held the overall record for six years. 11 music videos by Bieber have surpassed over 1 billion views on YouTube (second most of all-time), his most recent being "Beauty and a Beat". The music video for Bieber's song "Baby" is among the most liked videos on YouTube, having received over 24 million likes since its upload in 2010. Bieber was frequently a trending topic on Twitter when the feature first launched, as his fans frequently discussed him on the network, and was named the top-trending star on Twitter in 2010.
Business interests
In 2010, Bieber signed a deal with Proactiv. In the same year, Bieber partnered with Nicole by OPI to launch a nail polish line "The One Less Lonely Girl Collection", which sold exclusively in Walmart. Bieber's nail polish line sold one million bottles less than two months after its release. Bieber endorsed Adidas, beside Derrick Rose and Venus Williams, in 2012. He became the new "face" and "body" of Calvin Klein in early 2015. Entertainment Tonight reported that Bieber had used MYO-X, a dietary supplement, in preparation for the photo shoot. In June 2015, Bieber teamed up with StarShop, a new shopping app launched by Kevin Harrington. Bieber has been credited with boosting the careers of other singers such as Carly Rae Jepsen and Madison Beer when he tweeted about them.
Bieber has released four fragrances. He launched his debut fragrance, Someday, in 2011; it grossed more than three million US dollars in sales, at Macy's, in just under three weeks, which industry experts regard as a successful celebrity-led launch. On the heels of that 2011 best-seller, he launched his second fragrance, Girlfriend, in June 2012. His third fragrance, The Key, was launched in July 2013, and his latest fragrance, Justin Bieber Collector's Edition, launched in 2014.
In January 2019, Bieber launched his own clothing line called "Drew House", consisting of a wide range of products. Most products feature the brand's defining symbol of a simple yellow smiley-face logo with the text "drew" written across the front. Bieber trademarked the name for his company in February 2018. In September 2019, after a year-long collaboration with Schmidt's Naturals CEO, Michael Cammarata, Bieber released his deodorant line, "Here + Now", designed for sensitive skin. In October 2020, Bieber collaborated with Crocs on a limited edition of the brand's renowned clogs called "Crocs x Justin Bieber". The design draws on Crocs' classic clog range with inputs of purple and yellow, inspired by Bieber's personal clothing brand, Drew House. The limited edition clogs sold at select Crocs and partner e-commerce channels, Drew House's website, and Crocs retail stores in China and South Korea.
In fall 2021, Bieber collaborated with Tim Hortons to launch a specialty version of Timbits known as "timbiebs". CNN credited the promotion's role in contributing to an increase in Tim Hortons' sales by 10.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021. On February 7, 2022, Bieber starred in Balenciaga's first 2022 campaign alongside Kim Kardashian and Isabelle Huppert. In April 2022, Italian brand Vespa revealed its collaboration with a new limited edition of its famed scooter curated by Bieber. The "JUSTIN BIEBER X VESPA" is modelled on a Piaggio Sprint base – available in 50, 100 and 100cc guise. In May 2022, Bieber and Tim Hortons partnered once again in a new collaboration called the "Biebs Brew", a French vanilla cold brew, which was available in North American stores beginning June 6, 2022.
In December 2022, Bieber launched a clean water technology company called "Generosity" that aims to provide sustainable drinking water by reducing the usage of single-serve plastic. Alongside Micah Cravalho, he showcased 150 water fountains at the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar. Generosity fountains dispense refillable alkaline water after connecting to a water source, and are expected to be commercially available at major venues and homes in 2023.
Personal life
In 2020, it was reported Bieber owned a $26 million home in Beverly Hills, California, as well as a lakeside home in Ontario. As Bieber resides in the United States, he is reported to possess a non-immigrant O-1 visa for working status based on "extraordinary ability or achievement" in an artistic field. Bieber has said he is not interested in obtaining U.S. citizenship, and has praised Canada as being "the best country in the world", citing its mostly government-funded health care system as a model example. However, in September 2018, TMZ reported that Bieber had begun the process of becoming a United States citizen, following his marriage to Hailey Baldwin.
Health
Bieber has struggled with mental health issues, particularly depression and anxiety, at various points during his career. He has generally been open about these issues. In his American YouTube docu-series Seasons (2020), the singer opened up about his struggles with addiction, with frequent consumption of the recreational drug lean, pills such as MDMA, and hallucinogenic mushrooms in the early stages of his career.
In January 2020, Bieber announced on his Instagram that he had been diagnosed with Lyme disease. He also revealed that he had infectious mononucleosis, which affected his neurological and overall health.
In February 2022, it was reported that Bieber had tested positive for COVID-19, two days after embarking on his fourth concert tour, the Justice World Tour. In June of the same year, Bieber announced that he had been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome type 2 and that half of his face was paralyzed. He cancelled and postponed concerts and appearances due to the condition, but returned to live performances in late July. In September, two days after the first concert in Latin America as part of the Rock in Rio festival, it was announced that all remaining dates of the tour would be suspended due to Bieber prioritizing his health. In a statement shared on social media, the singer said that "After getting off stage, the exhaustion overtook me and I realized that I need to make my health the priority right now. So I'm going to take a break from touring for the time being. I'm going to be OK, but I need time to rest and get better."
Relationships
Bieber's father, Jeremy, is a former carpenter and pro-am mixed martial artist. In March 2014, Rolling Stone characterized Jeremy as having "split with Justin's mom when Justin was a toddler, and wasn't always around afterward. But he has, as of late, accepted a place of honor in his superstar son's entourage".
From 2008 to 2009, Bieber was in a relationship with Caitlin Beadles; the two remained friends, and Beadles attended Bieber's wedding. From December 2010 to March 2018, Bieber was in an on-again, off-again relationship with singer and actress Selena Gomez. In an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Bieber stated that some of his songs including "Sorry", "Mark My Words", and "What Do You Mean?" are about his relationship with Gomez. From August to December 2016, he was linked to model Sofia Richie.
Bieber became engaged to model and longtime friend Hailey Baldwin on July 7, 2018. They had briefly dated from December 2015 to January 2016, before reconciling in June 2018. Bieber and Baldwin reportedly obtained a marriage license in September 2018, leading to reports that they had a civil marriage. On September 14, 2018, Baldwin said on Twitter that she and Bieber had not yet married, but deleted the tweet afterward. On November 23, 2018, Bieber stated he was married to Baldwin. Bieber and Baldwin had an official ceremony in Bluffton, South Carolina, on September 30, 2019. On May 9, 2024, Bieber announced through an Instagram post that he and Baldwin were expecting their first child. On August 23, 2024, they welcomed a boy, Jack Blues Bieber.
Religious beliefs
Bieber has described himself as a faithful Christian, said he communicates with God via prayer, and that "He's the reason I'm here". He reflected his faith in a music video with Brandon Burke, titled "#iPledge", in which he talks about God's forgiveness. Bieber was baptized on January 9, 2014, by Pentecostal pastor Carl Lentz of Hillsong Church, New York, after a born again experience. He has described Lentz as a good friend. In 2021, he announced that he had become a member of Churchome, an evangelical church. On July 24, 2021, Bieber led worship with Gospel singers Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes during the "Freedom Experience" at SoFi Stadium. The trio sang "The Blessing".
When asked how he wants to raise his children, Bieber replied, "I'm a Jesus follower. When you accept Jesus, you walk with the Holy Spirit. I just want to be led by the Holy Spirit." Many of Bieber's tattoos have religious significance including the medium-sized cross on his chest and a tiny cross under his eye. Bieber also covered up the "Son of God" text tattooed on his abdomen with a large design that features two angels, gothic arches, a skeleton, and a serpent.
Opinions
Regarding sexual abstinence, Bieber told music magazine Rolling Stone in 2011, "I don't think you should have sex with anyone unless you love them." He added that he does not "believe in abortion", and that it is "like killing a baby". When asked about the case of abortion with regard to rape, he said, "I guess I haven't been in that position, so I wouldn't be able to judge that." In 2022, amidst Roe v. Wade being overturned, both Bieber and his wife expressed disapproval, with Bieber posting on his Instagram story stating "For what it's worth, I think women should have the choice what to do with their own bodies." His view on sexual orientation is quoted as "everyone's own decision", and he has contributed to the It Gets Better Project, a non-profit group aiming to prevent suicide among LGBT youth. Bieber also opposed the Trump administration family separation policy, calling for Donald Trump to "also let those kids out of cages" in 2019.
In 2011, Bieber was among the list of content creators opposing Bill S.978, also known as the Commercial Felony Streaming Act, which would have made unauthorized streaming a felony instead of a misdemeanor. He stated that the bill's sponsor, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, "needs to be locked up, put away in cuffs!" While the bill did not ultimately pass, it was later reintroduced by Senator Thom Tillis as the Protecting Lawful Streaming Act, and was signed into law by then-President Donald Trump in December 2020 as part of the omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
Philanthropy
Bieber supports Pencils of Promise, a charity founded by Adam Braun, the younger brother of Bieber's manager. The organization builds schools in developing countries, and Bieber became manager for the organization's campaign in Guatemala. He serves as a celebrity spokesman for the organization by running ads for the charity and its campaign "Schools4All". He promises to visit schools that donate the most funds to the organization. He takes part in the charity's fund-raising galas and donates parts of the proceeds from his concerts and Someday line of fragrances, and various merchandising to the charity. In 2010, Bieber supported a campaign for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) by urging fans to adopt abandoned pets from shelters. Bieber donated his hair to Ellen DeGeneres during his appearance in her talkshow The Ellen DeGeneres Show in March 2011. His hair sold on eBay for more than $40,000 and the proceeds benefited the animal rescue charity, The Gentle Barn. Following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011, Bieber donated proceeds from his concerts in Japan to Japanese Red Cross in May 2011. In December 2011, Bieber donated $100,000 to Whitney Elementary School in Las Vegas to provide students from low income families. Bieber supported Charity: Water which is a nonprofit that brings potable drinking water to people in developing countries. On his birthday in 2011 and 2012, he launched his campaign to urge his followers to donate on Twitter. Bieber was named top charitable celeb of 2011 by American news aggregator and blog HuffPost.
In 2013, Bieber launched his online #GiveBackPhilippines campaign for helping the victims of Typhoon Haiyan and travelled to the Philippines after raising $3 million. His work in the country earned him a star on the Philippine Walk of Fame. He also supports Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and Alzheimer's Association. In September 2017, Bieber donated $25,000 to the American Red Cross to help people in Texas after the severe destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey.
On February 7, 2020, Bieber donated $100,000 to Julie Coker, a 22-year-old fan who works in mental health awareness. Coker revealed that her own past struggles with mental health motivated her to work for mental health. She praised Bieber by saying, "[Bieber] has a big following, so if he has a good message about mental health, hopefully everybody else . . . will want to start thinking about mental health in a different way."
In February 2020, Bieber made a donation to Beijing Chunmiao Children Aid Foundation in China to support COVID-19 relief. Bieber and Ariana Grande collaborated on the single "Stuck With U", released in May 2020 as the first of series of singles coordinated by Scooter Braun, who is also Bieber's manager, to support the COVID-19 pandemic. All net proceeds from the song went to the First Responders Children's Foundation to fund grants and scholarships for children of first responders and health care workers who worked on the front lines during the pandemic. By August 2021, the single had raised over $3,500,000. In September 2020, Bieber and Chance the Rapper announced that they've partnered with Cash App and will donate $250,000 to fans who are struggling during the pandemic.
In March 2021, Bieber visited the California State Prison in Los Angeles County along with his wife Hailey and pastor Judah Smith at the invitation of Scott Budnick. Bieber met with inmates involved in The Urban Ministry Institute and expressed support for Budnick's Anti-Recidivism Coalition. During the visit, Bieber committed to provide buses to transport relatives of the inmates who have been unable to see them due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California. Bieber described his visit to the prison as a "life-changing experience that I will never forget".
Legal issues and controversies
Bieber had several run-ins with the law around the world before his first arrest in 2014, including when he was accused of reckless driving in his neighbourhood in 2012, charged in Brazil with vandalism in 2013, and was ordered to appear in Argentina within 60 days by a Buenos Aires court to give testimony on an alleged assault on a photographer on November 9, 2013. In April 2013, Bieber was criticized for writing a message in the guestbook at the Anne Frank House that read, "Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber." After the message was posted on the museum's Facebook page, Bieber received widespread criticism on social media for perceived insensitivity and narcissism. The Anne Frank House defended Bieber, stating, "He's 19. It's a crazy life he's living, he didn't mean bad ... He was very interested in the story of Anne Frank and stayed for over an hour. We hope that his visit will inspire his fans to learn more about her life and hopefully read the diary."
On January 23, 2014, Bieber was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida, together with singer Khalil, on suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI), driving with an over-six-month-expired licence, and resisting arrest without violence. Police said that Bieber told authorities he had consumed alcohol, smoked marijuana, and taken prescription drugs. He was released from these charges on a $2,500 bond. A toxicology report revealed that Bieber had THC (a principal constituent of cannabis) and the anti-anxiety medication Xanax in his system at the time of his arrest. In January 2021, he reflected on this event, describing it as "not [his] finest hour" and encouraging fans to "let the forgiveness of Jesus take over and watch your life blossom into all that God has designed you to be." On August 13, 2014, the January DUI case was settled with a plea bargain; Bieber pleaded guilty to resisting an officer without violence and a lesser charge of driving without due care and attention. He was fined US$500 and sentenced to attend a 12-hour anger management course and a program that teaches the impact of drunken driving on victims. As part of the plea bargain, he made a US$50,000 contribution to Our Kids, a local children's charity.
Following Bieber's arrest on the DUI charge, more than 270,000 people petitioned the White House seeking to have him deported from the United States. Although the number of signatures received was sufficient to require a response under published White House guidelines, the Obama administration declined substantive comment on the petition. Immigration Law expert Harlan York noted that the likelihood of Bieber being deported was extremely slim. York stated, "About a decade ago, the Supreme Court ruled that driving under the influence, typically, is not a basis to deport someone."
In June 2014, a video emerged of a 15-year-old Bieber telling a joke about black people, which used the word "nigger" multiple times. In the same month, a second video showed a 15-year-old Bieber giggling as he sings his song "One Less Lonely Girl", but parodying the main lyric as "One less lonely nigger", and stating that if he were to kill one, he would be "part of the KKK". He apologized the day the latter was released: "Facing my mistakes from years ago has been one of the hardest things I've ever dealt with."
One of his neighbours in Calabasas, California, accused Bieber of throwing eggs at his home on January 9, 2014, and causing thousands of dollars of damage. On July 9, 2014, Bieber was charged with one misdemeanour count of vandalism in California for throwing eggs at his Calabasas neighbour's home in January. Police earlier claimed that they had video footage of him high-fiving friends after the eggs were thrown. He pled no contest to the charge. Since then, he has permanently moved to Beverly Hills, California. On September 1, 2014, Bieber was arrested and charged with assault and dangerous driving near his hometown of Stratford, Ontario, after a collision between a minivan and Bieber's all-terrain vehicle on August 29. Ontario police said that he then "engaged in a physical altercation" with an occupant of the minivan. He was released shortly and his lawyer blamed the incident on "the unwelcome presence of paparazzi".
In July 2017, the Chinese government banned Bieber from performing in China. A Chinese Bieber fan contacted the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture requesting the reason for the ban. The Bureau released a statement, explaining "Justin Bieber is a gifted singer, but he is also a controversial young foreign singer", and "In order to maintain order in the Chinese market and purify the Chinese performance environment, it is not suitable to bring in badly behaved entertainers." In 2021, Chinese streaming sites Youku, iQIYI, and Tencent Video removed Bieber's scenes in Friends: The Reunion donning Ross Geller's "Spudnik" costume. However, his albums Changes (2020) and Justice (2021) have been officially released in China, with Bieber seen promoting both albums on Chinese music platforms.
Discography
Studio albums
Filmography
Tours
My World Tour (2010–2011)
Believe Tour (2012–2013)
Purpose World Tour (2016–2017)
Justice World Tour (2022)
The Swag Tour (2026)
See also
List of best-selling music artists
List of highest-certified music artists in the United States
List of best-selling singles in the United States
List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones
UK Singles Chart records and statistics
List of Canadian Grammy Award winners and nominees
Forbes Celebrity 100
List of Spotify streaming records
List of most-streamed artists on Spotify
List of most-subscribed YouTube channels
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
List of most-followed Twitter accounts
References
Further reading
External links
Official website
Justin Bieber on the Internet Archive
Justin Bieber at AllMusic
Justin Bieber at IMDb
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Justin Drew Bieber ( BEE-bər; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is known for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by Scooter Braun in 2008 and brought to the U.S. by Usher, both of whom formed RBMG Records to sign Bieber in October of that year. His debut extended play, My World (2009), was met with international recognition and established him as a teen idol.
Bieber rose to mainstream fame with his debut album, My World 2.0 (2010), which topped the US Billboard 200 — making him the youngest solo male to do so in 47 years. Its lead single, "Baby" (featuring Ludacris), became one of the best selling singles in the U.S. His second album, Under the Mistletoe (2011), became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut atop chart. Bieber explored dance-pop on his third album, Believe (2012); its acoustic re-release made him the first artist in Billboard history to have five US number-one albums by the age of 18.
Bieber explored EDM with his 2015 single "Where Are Ü Now", which won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording. This influenced his fourth album, Purpose (2015), which yielded the singles "Love Yourself", "Sorry", and "What Do You Mean?" — all three peaked the Billboard Hot 100, and simultaneously entered the top three spots on the UK singles chart — making him the first musical act to do so in the chart's history. Two of his 2017 guest appearances — on DJ Khaled's "I'm the One" and Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" — peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100, making him the first artist to replace himself atop chart with different songs in two consecutive weeks; the latter won him a Latin Grammy Award.
His fifth and sixth albums, Changes (2020) and Justice (2021), both topped the Billboard 200; the latter included his seventh US-number one single "Peaches" and made him break Elvis Presley's 1965 record for the youngest solo act to have eight US number-one albums. Also in 2021, he released his eighth US number-one single, "Stay" (with the Kid Laroi). Bieber's seventh album and its reissue, Swag and Swag II, were released in 2025.
Bieber is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 150 million units sold worldwide and five diamond certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His accolades include two Grammy Awards, one Latin Grammy Award, eight Juno Awards, two Brit Awards, 26 Billboard Music Awards, 18 American Music Awards, and 22 MTV Europe Music Awards (the most wins for any artist). Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2011, and Forbes' listed him among the top ten most powerful celebrities from 2011 to 2013. Billboard ranked him the eighth-greatest pop star of the 21st century.
Early life
Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario, and was raised in Stratford. His parents Jeremy Jack Bieber and Pattie Mallette were both 18 when Bieber was born and split up not long after his birth. Pattie worked a series of low-paying office jobs, raising Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing. Mallette's mother Diane and stepfather Bruce helped her raise Bieber. Bieber has maintained contact with his father. Bieber's ancestry includes French, Irish, English, Scottish and German.
Bieber has three younger half-siblings; the four have the same father, Jeremy Bieber. Jeremy Bieber and his ex-girlfriend, Erin Wagner, who broke up in 2014 after seven years together, have two children, daughter Jazmyn and son Jaxon. Jeremy married his girlfriend Chelsey in February 2018, and they have a daughter named Bay. Bieber also has a stepsister named Allie, the daughter of his stepmother.
Bieber attended two French-language immersion elementary schools in Stratford, Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School and Bedford Public School. In grades 7 and 8, he attended Stratford Northwestern. Former teacher, Kim Booker often recalled fond memories of Bieber as her student, and is featured in several interviews. He attended Stratford's St. Michael Catholic Secondary School, and graduated in 2012 with a 4.0 GPA.
Growing up, he learned to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet. In early 2007, aged 12, Bieber performed Ne-Yo's "So Sick" for a local singing competition in Stratford, in which he placed second. Mallette posted a video of the performance on YouTube for their family and friends to see. She continued to upload videos of Bieber singing covers of various R&B songs, and Bieber's popularity on the site grew. In the same year, Bieber busked shows in front of the Avon Theatre steps with a rented guitar during tourism season.
Career
2007–2009: Career beginnings and My World
While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def Recordings, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 YouTube videos by accident, where he was covering Ne-Yo's "So Sick". Impressed, Braun tracked down Bieber's school, the theatre Bieber was performing at, and finally contacted his mother Mallette, who was initially reluctant because of Braun's Judaism. She remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label!", and, "God, you don't want this Jewish kid to be Justin's man, do you?" However, church elders convinced her to let Bieber go with Braun. At age 13, Bieber went to Atlanta, Georgia, with Braun to record demo tapes. Bieber began singing for Usher one week later. Bieber soon signed with Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher. Justin Timberlake was reportedly also in the running to sign Bieber but lost the bidding war to Usher, partly due to the idea that two associated singers of the same name would confuse the market.
Usher then sought assistance in finding a label home for the artist from then manager Chris Hicks, who helped engineer an audition with his contact L.A. Reid of the Island Def Jam Music Group. Reid signed Bieber to Island Records in October 2008 (resulting in a joint venture between RBMG and Island Records) and appointed Hicks as executive vice-president of Def Jam, where he could manage Bieber's career at the label. Bieber then moved to Atlanta with his mother to pursue further work with Braun and Usher. Braun became Bieber's manager in 2008.
Bieber's first single, "One Time", was released to radio while Bieber was still recording his debut album. The song reached number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100 during its first week of release in July 2009, and peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. During fall 2009, it had success in international markets. The song was certified platinum in Canada and the US and gold in Australia and New Zealand. His first release, an extended play titled My World, was released on November 17, 2009. The album's second single, "One Less Lonely Girl", and two promotional singles, "Love Me" and "Favorite Girl", were released exclusively on the iTunes Store and charted within the top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100. As a result, he became the first solo artist to have four singles chart in the top 40 of the Hot 100 before the release of a debut album.
"One Less Lonely Girl" was later also released to radio and peaked within the top 20 in Canada and the US, and was certified gold in the latter. Following the release of My World, Bieber became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100. My World was eventually certified platinum in the US and double platinum in both Canada and the United Kingdom. To promote the album, Bieber performed on several live shows such as mtvU's VMA 09 Tour, European program The Dome, YTV's The Next Star, The Today Show, The Wendy Williams Show, Lopez Tonight, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, It's On with Alexa Chung, Good Morning America, Chelsea Lately, and BET's 106 & Park. Bieber also guest starred in an episode of True Jackson, VP in late 2009. Bieber performed Ron Miller and Bryan Wells's "Someday at Christmas" for US president Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House for Christmas in Washington, which aired on December 20, 2009, on US television broadcaster TNT.
2010–2011: My World 2.0, Never Say Never, and Under the Mistletoe
Bieber was a presenter at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010. He was invited to be a vocalist for the remake of the charity single "We Are the World" for its 25th anniversary to benefit Haiti after the earthquake. Bieber sings the opening line, which was sung by Lionel Richie in the original version. On March 12, 2010, a version of K'naan's "Wavin' Flag", recorded by a collective of Canadian musicians known as Young Artists for Haiti, was released. Bieber is featured in the song, performing the closing lines.
In January 2010, "Baby" was released from his debut album, My World 2.0. The song featured Ludacris, and became an international hit. It charted at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaked at number three on the Canadian Hot 100 and reached the top ten in several international markets. Promo singles, "Never Let You Go" and "U Smile", were top 30 hits on the US Hot 100, and top 20 hits in Canada. The album has received generally favourable reviews. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, making Bieber the youngest solo male act to top the chart since Stevie Wonder in 1963. My World 2.0 also debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, Irish Albums Chart, Australian Albums Chart, and the New Zealand Albums Chart and reached the top 10 of fifteen other countries.
To promote the album, Bieber appeared on live programs including The View, the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards, Nightline, Late Show with David Letterman, The Dome and 106 & Park. Sean Kingston appeared on the album's next single, "Eenie Meenie". The song reached the top ten in the UK and Australia, and the top 20 of most other markets. The following single from My World 2.0, "Somebody to Love", was released in April 2010, and a remix was released featuring Bieber's mentor Usher. On June 23, Bieber went on his first official headlining tour, the My World Tour, to promote My World and My World 2.0. In May 2010, Bieber featured in rapper Soulja Boy's song "Rich Girl". In July, it was reported that Bieber was the most searched-for celebrity on the Internet. That same month, his video for "Baby" surpassed Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" (2009) as the most viewed, and most disliked, YouTube video at the time. In September, it was reported that Bieber accounted for 3% of traffic on Twitter, according to an employee of the social-networking site.
On My World 2.0, Bieber's voice was noted to be deeper than it was in his debut EP, due to puberty. In April 2010, the singer remarked regarding his vocals: "It cracks. Like every teenage boy, I'm dealing with it and I have the best vocal coach in the world ... Some of the notes I hit on "Baby" I can't hit any more. We have to lower the key when I sing live." Bieber guest-starred in the season premiere of the CBS American crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which aired on September 23, 2010. He played a "troubled teen who is faced with a difficult decision regarding his only brother", who is also a serial bomber. Bieber was also in a subsequent episode of the series, which aired on February 17, 2011, in which his character is killed. Bieber performed a medley of his singles "U Smile", "Baby", and "Somebody to Love", and briefly played the drums, at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. Bieber announced in October 2010 that he would be releasing an acoustic album, called My Worlds Acoustic. It was released on November 26, 2010, in the United States and featured acoustic versions of songs from his previous albums, and accompanied the release of a new song titled "Pray". In October 2010, Bieber released his first book, Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story, an autobiography with text from Bieber and photographs from Robert Caplin.
A 3-D part-biopic, part-concert film starring Bieber entitled Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, was released on February 11, 2011, directed by Step Up 3D director Jon M. Chu. It topped the box office with an estimated gross of $12.4 million on its opening day from 3,105 theatres. It grossed $30.3 million for the weekend and was narrowly beaten by the romantic comedy Just Go with It, which grossed $31 million. Never Say Never reportedly exceeded industry expectations, nearly matching the $31.1 million grossed by Miley Cyrus's 2008 3-D concert film, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, which holds the record for the top debut for a music-documentary. Never Say Never grossed a total of $99,034,125 worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing concert or performance film at the global box office. The film is accompanied by his second remix album, Never Say Never – The Remixes, released February 14, 2011, and features remixes of songs from his debut album, with guest appearances from Miley Cyrus, Chris Brown, and Kanye West, among others. Bieber was a participating player in the 2011 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, held on February 18, 2011, and was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP), scoring eight points (3–11 FG) with two rebounds and four assists. In June 2011, an album track from Never Say Never titled "That Should Be Me" (featuring Rascal Flatts), won him his first award in country music for Collaborative Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards. Time magazine named Bieber one of the 100 most influential people in the world on their annual list. In June 2011, Bieber was ranked No. 2 on the Forbes list of Best-Paid Celebrities under 30. He is the youngest star, and 1 of 7 musicians on the list, having raked in $53 million in a 12-month period. The same month, his collaborative single "Next to You" with American singer Chris Brown was released. The unfinished video for that song was leaked online on June 6, and the official video was released on June 17.
On November 1, 2011, Bieber released the Christmas-themed Under the Mistletoe, his second studio album. It became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and sold 210,000 copies in its first week of release. On November 19, 2021, the album was listed among the Greatest of All Time Top Holiday Albums chart by Billboard. The first single from the album, "Mistletoe", peaked at number one on the US Billboard Holiday 100 and Holiday Digital Songs charts. Bieber released "All I Want for Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!)" as the second single from the album, which is a re-recorded version of Mariah Carey's original single, "All I Want for Christmas Is You", with Carey providing vocals on the track. Billboard listed the album and its singles, among the greatest Holiday albums and songs of all time, respectively.
2012–2014: Believe, Journals, and other appearances
In late 2011, Bieber began recording his third studio album, titled Believe. The following week, Bieber appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to announce that the first single would be called "Boyfriend", and was released on March 26, 2012. The song debuted at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, selling a total of 521,000 digital units, the second-highest-ever debut digital sales week. Bill Werde of Billboard noted that it failed to debut at number one because the digital download of the track was available only through the iTunes Store, "restricting the buying option for those [who] do not frequent the Apple retail store". "Boyfriend" became Bieber's first single ever to reach the top position on the Canadian Hot 100 by debuting at number one and staying on for one week. Bieber was featured on American hip-hop group Far East Movement's song "Live My Life", from their fourth studio album, Dirty Bass, in February 2012. The song emerged online five days before its scheduled release date and peaked within the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100. The first promotional single from the album, "Die in Your Arms", was released on May 29, 2012, and the second promotional single, "All Around the World" (featuring American rapper Ludacris), followed the next week. The second single from Believe, "As Long as You Love Me" (featuring Big Sean), was released on June 11, 2012. It peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100.
His third studio album, Believe, was released on June 19, 2012, by Island Records. The album marked a musical departure from the teen pop sound of his previous releases, and incorporated elements of dance-pop and R&B genres. Intent on developing a more "mature" sound, Bieber collaborated with a wide range of urban producers for the release as well as some long-time collaborators, including Darkchild, Hit-Boy, Diplo, and Max Martin. Entertainment Weekly praised Bieber's musical shift, calling the album both a "reinvention and a reintroduction". Rolling Stone noted the deeper voice and more "intense" beats found on the album, although it lampooned one of his euphemisms for newfound sexual maturity ("If you spread your wings, you can fly away with me"). Believe debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming his fourth number-one album. The album sold 57,000 copies in its first week in Canada, debuting atop the Canadian Albums Chart. In September 2012, Bieber was featured on "Beautiful", a song from Carly Rae Jepsen's second studio album, Kiss. In October 2012, the third single from Believe, "Beauty and a Beat" (featuring Nicki Minaj), was released. The music video held the record for the most video views in 24 hours when it was released, with 10.6 million views.
The Believe Tour, which further promoted the album, began in September 2012 in Glendale, Arizona. On December 14, 2012, Bieber appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he announced plans to release an acoustic album titled Believe Acoustic, which was released on January 29, 2013. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making Bieber the first artist in history to have five number-one albums in the US before turning 19.
Bieber returned to Saturday Night Live as the host and musical guest on the February 9, 2013, episode. His appearance was panned by critics and cast members, including Kate McKinnon, who said Bieber was not comfortable with his hosting duties, and Bill Hader, who said he did not enjoy the presence of Bieber or his entourage. Hader added that in his eight years on the television program, Bieber was the only host who lived up to his reputation.
On March 7, 2013, Bieber fainted backstage at London's O2 Arena after complaining of breathing problems throughout his concert performance and was taken to the hospital. Bieber cancelled his second Lisbon, Portugal concert at the Pavilhão Atlântico, which was to be held on March 12, because of low ticket sales. The concert held in the same venue on March 11 did go on as scheduled. In mid-August 2013, a remixed duet version of Michael Jackson's previously unreleased song "Slave to the Rhythm", featuring Bieber, leaked online. In response to criticism over this remix, the Michael Jackson Estate stated that it had not authorized the release of this recording, and has since made attempts to remove the song from as many web sites and YouTube channels as possible. Later, a song titled "Twerk" by rapper Lil Twist, featuring Bieber as well as Miley Cyrus, also leaked. In September, Bieber was featured in Maejor Ali's song "Lolly" with rapper Juicy J. A music video for "Melodies", the debut single of American singer Madison Beer, was released in the same month featuring Bieber in a cameo appearance.
On October 3, 2013, Bieber announced that he would release a new song every Monday for 10 weeks as a lead-up to the film Justin Bieber's Believe, which entered production in May 2012 and was released on December 25, 2013. The film is a follow-up to Bieber's first theatrical film Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, with Jon M. Chu returning as director. The first song of Music Mondays, "Heartbreaker", was released on October 7. The second song, "All That Matters", was released on October 14, followed by "Hold Tight" on October 21, "Recovery" on October 28, "Bad Day" on November 4, and "All Bad" on November 11. The seventh song, "PYD" (featuring R. Kelly), was released on November 18; it was followed by "Roller Coaster" on November 25, and "Change Me" on December 2. The final song, "Confident" (featuring Chance the Rapper), was released on December 9, 2013. That same day, it was announced that all 10 tracks would be featured on the compilation album Journals, which would also feature five additional unreleased songs, a music video for "All That Matters", and a trailer for Believe. Journals was only available for purchase via iTunes for a limited time: from December 23, 2013, to January 9, 2014. The titles of the five new additional songs are: "One Life", "Backpack" (featuring Lil Wayne), "What's Hatnin'" (featuring Future), "Swap It Out", and "Memphis" (featuring Big Sean and Diplo). Bieber released a song titled "Home to Mama" (featuring Cody Simpson) in November 2014. The same month, Bieber topped Forbes magazine's Forbes 30 Under 30 annual ranking, which lists the highest-earning celebrities under 30 for that year.
Because of the disbanding of Universal Music's division, The Island Def Jam Music Group, in April 2014, Bieber and a number of artists were subsequently transferred to another Universal Music-related division, Def Jam Recordings, causing Bieber to no longer be signed to Island Records.
2015–2017: Purpose
In February 2015, Bieber released "Where Are Ü Now", a collaboration with Jack Ü. The song peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. It earned Bieber his career-first Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. In March 2015, Bieber made an appearance in the music video for Carly Rae Jepsen's single "I Really Like You". In March 2015, Bieber was the featured roastee in Comedy Central's annual roast special, and was a contestant on the reality competition series Lip Sync Battle. Bieber filmed an episode for the Fox TV reality series Knock Knock Live, and aired before the show was cancelled after two episodes.
On August 28, 2015, Bieber released a new single titled "What Do You Mean?" as the lead single from his fourth studio album, Purpose. The song is a blend of teen pop, electronic dance music and acoustic R&B. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became Bieber's first number-one single in the country. He set a Guinness World Record by becoming the youngest solo male artist to debut at the top of the Hot 100. It also broke the record for the fastest song to reach number one on US iTunes, reaching the top spot in under 5 minutes. On September 4, 2015, Bieber was co-featured alongside Young Thug on the album track "Maria I'm Drunk", from Travis Scott's debut studio album, Rodeo. On October 23, 2015, Bieber released the album's second single, titled "Sorry", which debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. After eight non-consecutive weeks at number two, on the week charting January 23, 2016, "Sorry" climbed to the top of the chart and became Bieber's second number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100.
The third single from Purpose, "Love Yourself" also peaked at number one in the US, making Bieber the first male artist in almost a decade to have three number-ones from an album since Justin Timberlake, who did it previously with his second studio album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, in 2006–07. He also became the first solo artist to chart three solo songs in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, and the first as a lead act since the Beatles in 1964. "Love Yourself" topped Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 chart in 2016, followed by "Sorry" at number two, and made Bieber only the third artist in history to hold the top-two positions of the Billboard Year-End Hot 100, after the Beatles in 1964 and Usher in 2004. An album track on Purpose, "Company", was announced as the fourth single on March 8, 2016. On February 12, 2016, Bieber's first four albums were released on vinyl for the first time.
Purpose was released on November 13, 2015, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming Bieber's sixth album to debut at the top of that chart. It was the fourth best-selling album of 2015 with worldwide sales of 3.1 million copies. As of June 2016, it had sold 4.5 million copies globally. On November 11, 2015, Bieber announced that he would embark on the Purpose World Tour. The worldwide concert tour started in Seattle, Washington, on March 9, 2016.
On January 8, 2016, Bieber made UK chart history by becoming the first artist to occupy the entire top three of the UK Singles Chart. He achieved this feat as "Love Yourself", "Sorry" and "What Do You Mean?" charted at positions 1, 2 and 3 simultaneously. On May 13, 2016, he was co-featured alongside Towkio on the album track "Juke Jam", from Chance the Rapper's third mixtape Coloring Book. On July 22, 2016, Bieber released a new single with EDM trio Major Lazer and Danish singer MØ titled "Cold Water". It debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Bieber's third number-two debut on the ranking, passing Mariah Carey's record to become the artist with the most number-two debuts in the US at the time. In August 2016, Bieber was featured on French DJ DJ Snake's single "Let Me Love You". The song peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. Bieber was also featured on American rapper Post Malone's single "Deja Vu", which later appeared as the fourth single from the latter's debut studio album, Stoney, in September 2016. Bieber then appeared in the documentary Bodyguards: Secret Lives from the Watchtower (2016). At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, Purpose was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, whereas "Love Yourself" received nominations for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance respectively.
2017–2019: Collaborations
On January 28, 2017, Bieber starred in the 2017 NHL Celebrity All-Star Game as a participating player, coached by Wayne Gretzky. On April 17, 2017, Puerto Rican singers Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee released a remix for their song "Despacito" featuring Bieber. It was the first song by Bieber in which he sings in Spanish. The remix became a worldwide success and broke major chart records around the world. The song reached number one in the US and joined "Macarena" (1996) as the only English/Spanish songs to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It tied the then-record for the most weeks at number one in Billboard Hot 100 history. The song spent a record 56 weeks at number one on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart and broke the then-record for most weeks at number one on the Digital Songs Sales chart. The remix is the most viewed song of all time on the crowdsourced media knowledge base Genius, with 23.3 million views. The song earned Bieber his first career Latin Grammy. As of September 2021, "Despacito" holds the number-one position on the Greatest of All Time Hot Latin Songs chart and number-five on the Greatest of All Time Songs of the Summer chart by Billboard.
Bieber, along with rappers Quavo, Chance the Rapper, and Lil Wayne, provided vocals on DJ Khaled's single "I'm the One", released on April 28, 2017. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Bieber's second number-one debut and his fourth song to top the chart. One week later, "Despacito" topped the charts in the US, which became his fifth number-one single and made Bieber the first artist in history to notch new No. 1s in back-to-back weeks. "I'm the One" also reached number one on Billboard's Hot Rap Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. On June 9, 2017, French DJ David Guetta released "2U", in which Bieber was featured. The first music video for "2U" features Victoria's Secret models lip synching to the song. On July 24, 2017, Bieber cancelled the remaining dates of the Purpose World Tour due to "unforeseen circumstances". According to Pollstar, the tour had a total gross of $257 million and 2.8 million in attendance in 162 shows, becoming one of the highest-grossing concert tours of both 2016 and 2017.
On August 17, 2017, Bieber released the single "Friends" with American record producer and songwriter BloodPop. Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter contributed as songwriters, having previously worked with him on "Sorry" in 2015. At the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, "Despacito" received three nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance respectively. Bieber did not attend the show to perform the nominated song, claiming that he would not make any award show appearances until his next album was finished. Bieber was a participating player in the 2018 NBA Celebrity All-Star Game, marking his second appearance at the event. In July 2018, Bieber reunited with DJ Khaled in "No Brainer", co-featuring again with Chance the Rapper and Quavo. The single peaked in the top five of the Hot 100 and reached number one on Billboard's Hot R&B Songs chart. He was also featured in the accompanying music video.
On April 21, 2019, Bieber delivered a surprise performance at the 2019 Coachella music festival, marking his first live performance in two years, and teased his return to music with a new album. On May 10, 2019, British singer Ed Sheeran and Bieber released the single "I Don't Care", from Sheeran's album No.6 Collaborations Project. The pair had previously collaborated, with Sheeran co-writing Bieber's 2015 song "Love Yourself", and 2016 song "Cold Water" with Major Lazer. "I Don't Care" became a worldwide hit, reaching number-one in 26 countries, while peaking at number two in the United States. Bieber later featured on a remix of Billie Eilish's breakthrough single "Bad Guy", which was released on July 11. On October 4, 2019, Bieber and country music duo Dan + Shay released the song "10,000 Hours", which peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. It became the highest-charting non-holiday country song in the history of the Billboard Streaming Songs chart and spent 21 weeks at number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. As a result, Bieber became the first act in history to reach number one on seven multi-metric charts: Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Hot Latin Songs, Hot R&B Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and Hot Rap Songs. It earned Bieber his second Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. On October 14, 2019, Bieber became the youngest solo male artist to spend 200 cumulative weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
2020–2022: Changes and Justice
On December 24, 2019, Bieber announced he would be releasing his fifth studio album and embarking on his fourth concert tour in 2020. The album's first single, "Yummy", was released on January 3, 2020. It debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. On December 31, 2019, Bieber released a trailer announcing his 10-part YouTube Originals docu-series Justin Bieber: Seasons, which focused on an array of themes: his life post-hiatus from music, marriage, preparation for new music, and battle against Lyme disease. The docu-series amassed 32.6 million views within its first week, breaking the record for the most-viewed premiere in its first week of all YouTube Originals. Appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on January 28, 2020, Bieber confirmed the release date of his fifth studio album, Changes, to be February 14. He released a promotional single for the album, "Get Me" featuring Kehlani. On February 7, 2020, Bieber released "Intentions", as the second single from the album. The song peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. Changes was released on February 14, debuting at number one on the UK and US Billboard 200 charts, making Bieber the youngest solo artist to have seven number-one albums in the US. On May 8, 2020, American singer Ariana Grande and Bieber released the single "Stuck with U", to help raise funds for the first responders of the COVID-19 pandemic. The song debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his sixth number-one single in the US. On September 4, 2020, Bieber played a starring role in the music video for DJ Khaled's single "Popstar".
On September 18, 2020, Bieber released "Holy" featuring Chance the Rapper as the first single from his upcoming sixth studio album; it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. On October 15, 2020, he released the album's second single "Lonely" in collaboration with Benny Blanco, which peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. On November 6, 2020, Bieber and J Balvin were featured on a remix of 24kGoldn's single "Mood". On November 20, 2020, Shawn Mendes and Bieber released "Monster"; it peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. On January 1, 2021, Bieber released the third single "Anyone", which peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. On February 14, 2021, Bieber performed "Journals Live" in collaboration with TikTok, which marked the first live performance of his 2013 album Journals; it was the first long-form concert event on the platform and broke the record for the most-viewed single-artist livestream in the platform's history. On February 26, 2021, Bieber announced his sixth studio album would be titled Justice. On March 5, 2021, he released the album's fourth single, "Hold On", which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. On March 19, 2021, Bieber released Justice and its fifth single, "Peaches". The album was met with generally positive reviews and received 8 nominations at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming Bieber's eighth number-one project, while "Peaches" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his seventh number-one single, respectively. As a result, Bieber became the youngest solo artist to attain eight US number-one albums, breaking a 56-year-old record held by Elvis Presley, and the first solo male artist to simultaneously debut a song and an album at number one in the US. He also became the first male act to have his first six studio albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200.
On Easter 2021, Bieber surprise-released Freedom, a gospel-inspired EP consisting of six songs. On May 10, 2021, Bieber was featured on the single "Let It Go" by DJ Khaled and starred in the accompanying music video. On July 9, 2021, Bieber released a collaboration with the Kid Laroi titled "Stay". The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in its fourth week, becoming his eighth number-one single in the US. "Stay" also became his 100th career entry on the chart, making him the then-youngest solo artist to chart 100 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. "Stay" was the most-streamed song globally on Apple Music in 2022. On July 24, 2021, Bieber headlined the "Freedom Experience" show at the SoFi Stadium. On August 13, 2021, Bieber released a remix to Nigerian singer Wizkid's song "Essence", which peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. A week later, he released a collaboration with Skrillex and Don Toliver titled "Don't Go". On September 4, 2021, Bieber headlined the 2021 Made in America Festival at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. On October 8, 2021, Bieber released the documentary film Justin Bieber: Our World, showcasing his preparation for his 2020 "New Year's Eve Live". On October 29, 2021, he released "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", a cover of Brenda Lee's holiday classic. On November 15, 2021, Bieber announced the international dates of his upcoming fourth concert tour, the Justice World Tour. On December 5, 2021, Bieber was the headlining performer at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
On January 1, 2022, Bieber set the then-record for the most monthly listeners on Spotify, with a peak of 94.7 million listeners, later surpassed by The Weeknd. On March 28, 2022, the sixth single from Justice, "Ghost", peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, marking his 20th career top-five hit on the chart. The single reached number one on Billboard's Pop Songs chart, making Bieber the first solo male artist to attain 10 number-one singles in the chart's history. On March 30, 2022, Bieber was featured on the single "Up at Night" by Kehlani. On April 15, 2022, Bieber delivered a surprise performance with Daniel Caesar at the 2022 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. On April 29, 2022, Bieber released "Honest" featuring Don Toliver and an accompanying music video directed by Cole Bennett. On August 27, 2022, Bieber released "Beautiful Love" as an exclusive single for the battle royale game Garena Free Fire.
2023–present: Hiatus, Swag and Swag II
In January 2023, Bieber sold his music publishing rights and recording catalogue shares, up to the end of 2021, to Hipgnosis Songs Fund—a sale valued at over $200 million. Bieber was reportedly offered to be a headlining performer at Coachella 2023, but declined to focus on his seventh studio album. On February 24, 2023, Don Toliver released the single "Private Landing" with Bieber co-featured alongside Future. He joined Toliver on stage at the 2023 Rolling Loud festival to deliver a surprise performance of the song. On September 15, 2023, Bieber released an acoustic version of the single "Snooze" by SZA and starred in its music video as the latter's love interest.
In April 2025, NetEase Cloud Music named Bieber as the most streamed European/American artist in the platform's 12-year history with more than 11.9 billion streams. On July 10, 2025, Bieber released his seventh studio album titled Swag shortly after teasing an upcoming project through billboards in Iceland, earlier that same day. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 163,000 equivalent album units earned in the US in its opening week. The album's lead single "Daisies" debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and became his 27th top ten single in the US, tying Janet Jackson for the tenth-most in history. On September 4, Bieber announced his album Swag II would be released the next day.
Artistry
Influences
Bieber has cited Chris Brown, Craig David, Michael Jackson, the Beatles, Boyz II Men, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Tupac, Usher and Kanye West as his musical inspirations. In 2012, Bieber said, "music is music, and I'm definitely influenced by Michael Jackson and Boyz II Men and people who were black artists—that's what I like." Believe was influenced by Timberlake, for which Bieber was trying to "create a new sound that people aren't really used to hearing ... like when Timberlake did FutureSex/LoveSounds: It was a new sound... acoustic guitar over hard drums." In 2019, Bieber called Chris Brown the "best entertainer of all time".
Musical style
Bieber incorporates a variety of genres in his music, focusing mainly on pop, R&B, and occasionally dance-pop or EDM. In 2010, Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone asserted that the content of his music was "offering a gentle introduction to the mysteries and heartaches of adolescence: songs flushed with romance but notably free of sex itself". During the initial years of his career, his musical style was noted for being aimed to a more teen pop and "bubblegum-ish" direction.
In January 2012, Bieber told V magazine: "I want to do it at my own pace. I don't want to start singing about things like sex, drugs and swearing. I'm into love, and maybe I'll get more into making love when I'm older. But I want to be someone who is respected by everybody." But since then, Bieber gradually altered his artistry, with Peter Gicas of E! Online describing "PYD" as "sexed-up", while In Touch Weekly magazine said that his song with Maejor Ali and Juicy J "Lolly" might make his fans a bit uncomfortable because of its lyrics that refer to oral sex. In 2015 Bieber released the EDM-fuelled album Purpose, where he collaborated with Skrillex, and explored serious themes such as "life experiences", through "feel-good music".
Voice
Bieber initially sang with a boy soprano voice, before his voice broke, as was evidenced during the debut performance of "Pray" at the 2010 American Music Awards. Sean Michaels of The Guardian described puberty as "the biggest threat to his career" at the time. Jody Rosen commented that Bieber sings with "swing and rhythmic dexterity" on his debut album, noting his tone to be "nasal". Bieber started to receive voice coaching from Jan Smith in 2008.
As an adult singer, Bieber's voice type is tenor, with a vocal range spanning from the baritone A2 to the high tenor F5. In a review of his Purpose album, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph complimented his "soft, supple and seductive singing". Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian also praised Bieber's "affectedly breathy voice", noting that "the voice soon palls, but the songs are often interesting." Reviewing his 2021 album, Justice, Pitchfork commented: "Bieber is not a powerhouse vocalist, but he is a compelling one, casually dropping in a stray yodel here, a Mariah Carey–indebted set of runs there. His voice has a palatable smoothness; he's mastered push-and-pull dynamics, and he swings effortlessly from a placid chest voice to a zephyr of a falsetto."
Achievements
Throughout his career, Bieber has sold an estimated 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
In 2011, Bieber was honoured with a star in front of Avon Theater in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, where he used to busk when he was younger. On November 23, 2012, Bieber was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the former Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. He was one of 60,000 Canadians to receive the Diamond Jubilee medal that year. In 2013, Bieber received a Diamond award from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for his single "Baby", which at the time became the highest-certified digital single of all time. Bieber is credited with five Diamond certifications from the RIAA. Bieber has won two Grammy Awards out of 23 nominations, one Latin Grammy Award, eight Juno Awards, two Brit Awards, 26 Billboard Music Awards, 18 American Music Awards, 22 MTV Europe Music Awards (the most wins for any artist), 23 Teen Choice Awards (the most wins for a male individual), eight iHeartRadio Music Awards, and six MTV Video Music Awards. At age 19, Bieber received the Milestone Award at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards in recognition for breaking boundaries with his creativity and contribution to the musical landscape. As of 2024, all of Bieber's studio projects are certified Platinum or higher by the RIAA and have received numerous accolades.
Following the release of his fourth studio album, Purpose, Bieber set major milestones globally. He became the first artist, since Elvis Presley in 2005, to replace his own song as number one on the UK Singles Chart. He is the first artist in history to occupy the entire top three of the UK Singles Chart. He achieved this feat as "Love Yourself", "Sorry" and "What Do You Mean?" charted at positions 1, 2 and 3 simultaneously. The singles also peaked at number one in the US, making Bieber the first male artist since Justin Timberlake in 2007 to have three number-ones from an album. He also became the first solo artist to chart three solo songs in the top five of the US Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, and the first as a lead act since the Beatles in 1964. "Love Yourself" topped Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 Chart in 2016, followed by "Sorry" at number two, and made Bieber only the third artist in history to hold the top-two positions of the Billboard Year-End Hot 100, after the Beatles in 1964 and Usher in 2004. As of 2024, Bieber has set 35 Guinness World Records in his career, including eight that were achieved from the success of his album Purpose. These records included the most streamed track on Spotify in one week, the most streamed album on Spotify in one week, the most simultaneous tracks on the US Billboard Hot 100, and the most simultaneous new entries on the US Billboard Hot 100 by a solo artist, among others.
Bieber has attained success on official charts globally, including the US Billboard charts where he has set numerous records: he is the first artist in history to chart new number-one singles in consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100; he is the youngest (21) male soloist to debut at number one on the Hot 100; he is the youngest (25) male soloist to spend 200 cumulative weeks in the top 10 of the Hot 100; he is the youngest (27) solo artist to have eight number-one albums on the Billboard 200, a record held by Elvis Presley since 1965; he is the first male soloist to simultaneously debut a song and an album at number one in the US; he is the first male soloist to spend 59 consecutive weeks in the top 10 of the Hot 100; he is the first artist to reach number one on seven multi-metric Billboard charts: Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Hot Latin Songs, Hot R&B Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and Hot Rap Songs; he is the solo artist with the most cumulative weeks at number one (163) on the Billboard Social 50 chart. Additionally, he is the artist with the most number-one debuts (10, tied with Drake), most number-one singles (13, tied with Drake), and the most cumulative weeks at number one (56) on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100. Bieber's hit single "Despacito" has spent the most weeks at number one (56) on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart and is ranked as the magazine's greatest Latin song of all time. He was named the number one artist on Billboard's Social 50 chart for the 2010s and ranked as the magazine's greatest pop star of 2016. He was also named Billboard's top male artist for 2016 and ranked seventh on the magazine's Top Artists chart for the 2010s. In 2021, Billboard ranked him as the 55th greatest artist of all time and the 38th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time, respectively.
Cultural status
Legacy
Bieber has been credited for reinventing pop stardom for over a decade and has been referred to as the "Prince of Pop" and the "King of Teen Pop" by contemporary journalists. Highlighting his longevity, he was awarded the MTV Award for Best New Artist in 2010 and the MTV Award for Artist of the Year in 2021. Rolling Stone India referred to him as the "biggest popstar of our age", "one of the most captivating artists of the century" and "one of the world's most successful artists of all time". Bieber is often described as a pop icon, or simply an icon. In a 2011 article comparing the cultural significance of Bieber to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Orlando Sentinel said that, "Out of all the cultural icons who influence and inspire today's society, Justin Bieber is without a doubt one of the most prominent." He is generally credited as an important figure in bridging music and social media, which rose to prominence in the late 2000s; Variety dubbed him "a once-in-a-generation superstar who charted a swift and stunning rise from precocious YouTube talent to global phenomenon."
In an article titled "How Justin Bieber revolutionised careers in the music industry" by The Guardian, Tom Fazakerley says:
Social media has transformed the way people, brands and musicians communicate. The likes of Myspace and even more so YouTube, have enabled budding artists to put their music out to a massive audience at the click of a finger. This has taken down the barriers to the music industry and reshaped the career path for budding artists ... Nowadays you can be your own artist, producer and promoter-and if you do this well, like Justin Bieber, you can really make it.
At age 15, following the release of his 2009 singles "One Time" and "One Less Lonely Girl", Bieber's immediate popularity led him to appear on the likes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Wendy Williams Show and Good Morning America. He had achieved a global fandom who came to be known as Beliebers and his popularity was labelled "Bieber Fever", with fan frenzies taking place in Liverpool, Barcelona and Paris, among other territories. Bieber's intense fandom was considered to be reminiscent of "Beatlemania", and his signature wings hairstyle at the time also drew comparisons to the Beatles' mop top hairstyle. Bieber's adoration from teenage girls was also likened to those of Frank Sinatra in the 1940s and Elvis Presley in the 1950s.
Bieber maintained his global popularity during his transition to adulthood, achieving increased artistic recognition and credit in the process. In respect to Bieber's success as a teenager to a young adult, Variety said that Bieber is arguably the first mega pop star to come of age entirely in the social media era and also called him an "Internet icon". The Conversation's Jo Adetunji said that Bieber is "one of the most successful pop singers of recent years". Regarding his EDM-driven album Purpose (2015), which reached "beyond the moment and trends" of that period according to Adetunji, the writer argued that Bieber should be considered a serious creative artist. Adetunji compared the album to Madonna's Ray of Light (1998), Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill (1995) and Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006). In an article about Bieber, Hugh McIntyre of Forbes stated, "You may love him, you may hate him, but no matter how you feel about him, nobody can argue that Justin Bieber hasn't conquered the pop world ... The Grammy winner can turn essentially any track into a smash, and nobody can sell a single like he can these days." Also calling Bieber "an unstoppable force in music", McIntyre lauded Bieber for achieving success in various genres, including R&B, electronic dance, hip hop and Latin.
Bieber and his work have influenced various recording artists including Shawn Mendes, Why Don't We, Johnny Orlando, and Niall Horan. Singers Dua Lipa and Charlie Puth have stated that they were influenced by the discovery of Bieber on YouTube which inspired them to achieve the same.
Public image
Usher commented that while he and Bieber were both signed at the same age, "I had the chance to ramp up my success, where this has happened to Bieber abruptly". As a result, when he was younger, Usher, Braun, Bieber's bodyguard, and other adults surrounding Bieber constantly coached him on handling fame and his public image. After signing Bieber, Usher appointed one of his former assistants, Ryan Good, to be Bieber's road manager and stylist. Good, once nicknamed Bieber's "swagger coach", created a "streetwise look" for the singer which consisted of baseball caps, hoodies, dog chains, and flashy sneakers. Amy Kaufman of The Los Angeles Times comments, "Though a product of a middle-class suburban upbringing in Stratford, Ontario, Bieber's manner of dress and speech ('Wassup man, how you doin'?' or 'It's like, you know, whateva' ') suggest he's mimicking his favorite rappers." In 2013, Bieber said he was "very influenced by black culture", but he neither thought "of it as black or white" nor tried to "act or pose in a certain way". To him, it was "a lifestyle-like a suaveness or a swag".
Bieber was often featured in teen magazines such as Tiger Beat, and has been labelled a "teen heartthrob". In 2010, he was frequently criticized for looking and sounding younger than his age, and the following year for an androgynous appearance, which had been commonly noted in the media, including his appearance on the cover of LOVE magazine's androgyny issue in 2011. His signature wings hairstyle at the time brought much attention in particular. His teen-pop music, image (especially as a heartthrob to girls), and the media attention he receives have additionally been criticized. He has been a target of Internet bloggers and message board posters, especially users of the Internet message board 4chan and of YouTube. Nick Collins of The Daily Telegraph said that "Bieber's character appears to strike a particularly sour note with his Internet critics" who have questioned his manner of speech, among other things.
In 2013 and 2014, Bieber's teen heart-throb and clean-cut image was drastically affected due to his involvement in several controversial events. During this period, he abandoned his pet monkey in Germany, vomited onstage, was videoed while urinating in a bucket, cursed at a photograph of Bill Clinton, wore a gas mask in public, allegedly spat on fans (although this was later debunked), was involved in an explicit image with a stripper, and allegedly assaulted his bodyguard and a limo driver. Bieber's uncle, Brad Bieber, said that his troublesome behaviour was caused by his break-up with Selena Gomez. In its March 2014 edition, Rolling Stone put Bieber on its cover alongside the title "Bad Boy". The same year, Bieber adopted the pseudonym "Bizzle". During the "Bizzle" phase, Bieber donned a quiff and often wore thick gold chains and baseball caps.
In his early 20s, following the release of Purpose, Bieber's public image changed in a more positive light. He donned bleached blond hair and often wore rock-branded t-shirts—including Marilyn Manson and Kurt Cobain t-shirts—flannel shirts, denim jackets, and ripped jeans. He also wore kilts, a trend of 1990s fashion, on several occasions. Vogue remarked that his fashion during this period was reminiscent of grunge fashion during the 1990s. After his marriage in 2018, Bieber's persona continued to change. As his fan base got older and he got married, he transitioned away from the teenage heart-throb image, taking on a more mature personality and a more soft-spoken style of speech. In an interview with Vogue in February 2019, Bieber said that he would "laugh at his past self".
Wax statues of Bieber with the hairstyle from his early career are on display at the Madame Tussauds wax museums in New York City, London, and Amsterdam. In 2018, "Steps to Stardom", an exhibit on Bieber's early career, opened in his hometown of Stratford, Ontario at the Stratford Perth Museum, offering a collection of mementos from his formative years and rise to international stardom. The items on display include a professional drum kit he owned as a younger child, his Grammy Award, microphones, his Stratford Warriors hockey jacket, and personal letters, including one from Michelle Obama. Bieber made a number of visits to the museum. "Steps to Stardom" was originally scheduled to close in October 2018 but the board of the museum extended its stay for at least another year after the exhibit broke attendance records set by its Anne Frank House exhibit in 2015.
At age 17, and within just two years of his professional music career, Bieber was named amongst the Time 100 world's most influential people list and was ranked number 2 on the Forbes Highest-Paid Celebrities Under 30 list. He went on to be included on the Forbes annual list five more times; in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. He was also included on Forbes' list of the top ten most powerful celebrities in 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Bieber's early fanbase developed on YouTube and predated the release of his debut album My World. According to Jan Hoffman of The New York Times, part of Bieber's appeal stems from his YouTube channel. The Chicago Tribune noted that Bieber's fanbase, "Beliebers", was among the top words of 2010. Long before the release of My World in November 2009, his YouTube videos attracted millions of views. Braun recognized the appeal. Before flying him to Atlanta, Braun wanted to "build him up more on YouTube first" and had Bieber record more home videos for the channel. "I said: 'Justin, sing like there's no one in the room. But let's not use expensive cameras.' We'll give it to kids, let them do the work, so that they feel like it's theirs", recalled Braun. Bieber continues to upload videos to the same channel and has opened a Twitter account, from which he interacts with fans regularly. In January 2013, Bieber surpassed Lady Gaga as the most-followed person on Twitter for the first time and held the record for 11 months.
As of 2024, Bieber is the fourth-most-followed user on Twitter and the most-followed musician on the platform, with over 110.3 million followers. His YouTube channel is currently the most viewed music channel for an individual on the platform, having attracted over 32 billion views. With over 73 million subscribers, he remains the most subscribed solo artist on YouTube and held the overall record for six years. 11 music videos by Bieber have surpassed over 1 billion views on YouTube (second most of all-time), his most recent being "Beauty and a Beat". The music video for Bieber's song "Baby" is among the most liked videos on YouTube, having received over 24 million likes since its upload in 2010. Bieber was frequently a trending topic on Twitter when the feature first launched, as his fans frequently discussed him on the network, and was named the top-trending star on Twitter in 2010.
Business interests
In 2010, Bieber signed a deal with Proactiv. In the same year, Bieber partnered with Nicole by OPI to launch a nail polish line "The One Less Lonely Girl Collection", which sold exclusively in Walmart. Bieber's nail polish line sold one million bottles less than two months after its release. Bieber endorsed Adidas, beside Derrick Rose and Venus Williams, in 2012. He became the new "face" and "body" of Calvin Klein in early 2015. Entertainment Tonight reported that Bieber had used MYO-X, a dietary supplement, in preparation for the photo shoot. In June 2015, Bieber teamed up with StarShop, a new shopping app launched by Kevin Harrington. Bieber has been credited with boosting the careers of other singers such as Carly Rae Jepsen and Madison Beer when he tweeted about them.
Bieber has released four fragrances. He launched his debut fragrance, Someday, in 2011; it grossed more than three million US dollars in sales, at Macy's, in just under three weeks, which industry experts regard as a successful celebrity-led launch. On the heels of that 2011 best-seller, he launched his second fragrance, Girlfriend, in June 2012. His third fragrance, The Key, was launched in July 2013, and his latest fragrance, Justin Bieber Collector's Edition, launched in 2014.
In January 2019, Bieber launched his own clothing line called "Drew House", consisting of a wide range of products. Most products feature the brand's defining symbol of a simple yellow smiley-face logo with the text "drew" written across the front. Bieber trademarked the name for his company in February 2018. In September 2019, after a year-long collaboration with Schmidt's Naturals CEO, Michael Cammarata, Bieber released his deodorant line, "Here + Now", designed for sensitive skin. In October 2020, Bieber collaborated with Crocs on a limited edition of the brand's renowned clogs called "Crocs x Justin Bieber". The design draws on Crocs' classic clog range with inputs of purple and yellow, inspired by Bieber's personal clothing brand, Drew House. The limited edition clogs sold at select Crocs and partner e-commerce channels, Drew House's website, and Crocs retail stores in China and South Korea.
In fall 2021, Bieber collaborated with Tim Hortons to launch a specialty version of Timbits known as "timbiebs". CNN credited the promotion's role in contributing to an increase in Tim Hortons' sales by 10.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021. On February 7, 2022, Bieber starred in Balenciaga's first 2022 campaign alongside Kim Kardashian and Isabelle Huppert. In April 2022, Italian brand Vespa revealed its collaboration with a new limited edition of its famed scooter curated by Bieber. The "JUSTIN BIEBER X VESPA" is modelled on a Piaggio Sprint base – available in 50, 100 and 100cc guise. In May 2022, Bieber and Tim Hortons partnered once again in a new collaboration called the "Biebs Brew", a French vanilla cold brew, which was available in North American stores beginning June 6, 2022.
In December 2022, Bieber launched a clean water technology company called "Generosity" that aims to provide sustainable drinking water by reducing the usage of single-serve plastic. Alongside Micah Cravalho, he showcased 150 water fountains at the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar. Generosity fountains dispense refillable alkaline water after connecting to a water source, and are expected to be commercially available at major venues and homes in 2023.
Personal life
In 2020, it was reported Bieber owned a $26 million home in Beverly Hills, California, as well as a lakeside home in Ontario. As Bieber resides in the United States, he is reported to possess a non-immigrant O-1 visa for working status based on "extraordinary ability or achievement" in an artistic field. Bieber has said he is not interested in obtaining U.S. citizenship, and has praised Canada as being "the best country in the world", citing its mostly government-funded health care system as a model example. However, in September 2018, TMZ reported that Bieber had begun the process of becoming a United States citizen, following his marriage to Hailey Baldwin.
Health
Bieber has struggled with mental health issues, particularly depression and anxiety, at various points during his career. He has generally been open about these issues. In his American YouTube docu-series Seasons (2020), the singer opened up about his struggles with addiction, with frequent consumption of the recreational drug lean, pills such as MDMA, and hallucinogenic mushrooms in the early stages of his career.
In January 2020, Bieber announced on his Instagram that he had been diagnosed with Lyme disease. He also revealed that he had infectious mononucleosis, which affected his neurological and overall health.
In February 2022, it was reported that Bieber had tested positive for COVID-19, two days after embarking on his fourth concert tour, the Justice World Tour. In June of the same year, Bieber announced that he had been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome type 2 and that half of his face was paralyzed. He cancelled and postponed concerts and appearances due to the condition, but returned to live performances in late July. In September, two days after the first concert in Latin America as part of the Rock in Rio festival, it was announced that all remaining dates of the tour would be suspended due to Bieber prioritizing his health. In a statement shared on social media, the singer said that "After getting off stage, the exhaustion overtook me and I realized that I need to make my health the priority right now. So I'm going to take a break from touring for the time being. I'm going to be OK, but I need time to rest and get better."
Relationships
Bieber's father, Jeremy, is a former carpenter and pro-am mixed martial artist. In March 2014, Rolling Stone characterized Jeremy as having "split with Justin's mom when Justin was a toddler, and wasn't always around afterward. But he has, as of late, accepted a place of honor in his superstar son's entourage".
From 2008 to 2009, Bieber was in a relationship with Caitlin Beadles; the two remained friends, and Beadles attended Bieber's wedding. From December 2010 to March 2018, Bieber was in an on-again, off-again relationship with singer and actress Selena Gomez. In an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Bieber stated that some of his songs including "Sorry", "Mark My Words", and "What Do You Mean?" are about his relationship with Gomez. From August to December 2016, he was linked to model Sofia Richie.
Bieber became engaged to model and longtime friend Hailey Baldwin on July 7, 2018. They had briefly dated from December 2015 to January 2016, before reconciling in June 2018. Bieber and Baldwin reportedly obtained a marriage license in September 2018, leading to reports that they had a civil marriage. On September 14, 2018, Baldwin said on Twitter that she and Bieber had not yet married, but deleted the tweet afterward. On November 23, 2018, Bieber stated he was married to Baldwin. Bieber and Baldwin had an official ceremony in Bluffton, South Carolina, on September 30, 2019. On May 9, 2024, Bieber announced through an Instagram post that he and Baldwin were expecting their first child. On August 23, 2024, they welcomed a boy, Jack Blues Bieber.
Religious beliefs
Bieber has described himself as a faithful Christian, said he communicates with God via prayer, and that "He's the reason I'm here". He reflected his faith in a music video with Brandon Burke, titled "#iPledge", in which he talks about God's forgiveness. Bieber was baptized on January 9, 2014, by Pentecostal pastor Carl Lentz of Hillsong Church, New York, after a born again experience. He has described Lentz as a good friend. In 2021, he announced that he had become a member of Churchome, an evangelical church. On July 24, 2021, Bieber led worship with Gospel singers Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes during the "Freedom Experience" at SoFi Stadium. The trio sang "The Blessing".
When asked how he wants to raise his children, Bieber replied, "I'm a Jesus follower. When you accept Jesus, you walk with the Holy Spirit. I just want to be led by the Holy Spirit." Many of Bieber's tattoos have religious significance including the medium-sized cross on his chest and a tiny cross under his eye. Bieber also covered up the "Son of God" text tattooed on his abdomen with a large design that features two angels, gothic arches, a skeleton, and a serpent.
Opinions
Regarding sexual abstinence, Bieber told music magazine Rolling Stone in 2011, "I don't think you should have sex with anyone unless you love them." He added that he does not "believe in abortion", and that it is "like killing a baby". When asked about the case of abortion with regard to rape, he said, "I guess I haven't been in that position, so I wouldn't be able to judge that." In 2022, amidst Roe v. Wade being overturned, both Bieber and his wife expressed disapproval, with Bieber posting on his Instagram story stating "For what it's worth, I think women should have the choice what to do with their own bodies." His view on sexual orientation is quoted as "everyone's own decision", and he has contributed to the It Gets Better Project, a non-profit group aiming to prevent suicide among LGBT youth. Bieber also opposed the Trump administration family separation policy, calling for Donald Trump to "also let those kids out of cages" in 2019.
In 2011, Bieber was among the list of content creators opposing Bill S.978, also known as the Commercial Felony Streaming Act, which would have made unauthorized streaming a felony instead of a misdemeanor. He stated that the bill's sponsor, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, "needs to be locked up, put away in cuffs!" While the bill did not ultimately pass, it was later reintroduced by Senator Thom Tillis as the Protecting Lawful Streaming Act, and was signed into law by then-President Donald Trump in December 2020 as part of the omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
Philanthropy
Bieber supports Pencils of Promise, a charity founded by Adam Braun, the younger brother of Bieber's manager. The organization builds schools in developing countries, and Bieber became manager for the organization's campaign in Guatemala. He serves as a celebrity spokesman for the organization by running ads for the charity and its campaign "Schools4All". He promises to visit schools that donate the most funds to the organization. He takes part in the charity's fund-raising galas and donates parts of the proceeds from his concerts and Someday line of fragrances, and various merchandising to the charity. In 2010, Bieber supported a campaign for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) by urging fans to adopt abandoned pets from shelters. Bieber donated his hair to Ellen DeGeneres during his appearance in her talkshow The Ellen DeGeneres Show in March 2011. His hair sold on eBay for more than $40,000 and the proceeds benefited the animal rescue charity, The Gentle Barn. Following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011, Bieber donated proceeds from his concerts in Japan to Japanese Red Cross in May 2011. In December 2011, Bieber donated $100,000 to Whitney Elementary School in Las Vegas to provide students from low income families. Bieber supported Charity: Water which is a nonprofit that brings potable drinking water to people in developing countries. On his birthday in 2011 and 2012, he launched his campaign to urge his followers to donate on Twitter. Bieber was named top charitable celeb of 2011 by American news aggregator and blog HuffPost.
In 2013, Bieber launched his online #GiveBackPhilippines campaign for helping the victims of Typhoon Haiyan and travelled to the Philippines after raising $3 million. His work in the country earned him a star on the Philippine Walk of Fame. He also supports Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and Alzheimer's Association. In September 2017, Bieber donated $25,000 to the American Red Cross to help people in Texas after the severe destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey.
On February 7, 2020, Bieber donated $100,000 to Julie Coker, a 22-year-old fan who works in mental health awareness. Coker revealed that her own past struggles with mental health motivated her to work for mental health. She praised Bieber by saying, "[Bieber] has a big following, so if he has a good message about mental health, hopefully everybody else . . . will want to start thinking about mental health in a different way."
In February 2020, Bieber made a donation to Beijing Chunmiao Children Aid Foundation in China to support COVID-19 relief. Bieber and Ariana Grande collaborated on the single "Stuck With U", released in May 2020 as the first of series of singles coordinated by Scooter Braun, who is also Bieber's manager, to support the COVID-19 pandemic. All net proceeds from the song went to the First Responders Children's Foundation to fund grants and scholarships for children of first responders and health care workers who worked on the front lines during the pandemic. By August 2021, the single had raised over $3,500,000. In September 2020, Bieber and Chance the Rapper announced that they've partnered with Cash App and will donate $250,000 to fans who are struggling during the pandemic.
In March 2021, Bieber visited the California State Prison in Los Angeles County along with his wife Hailey and pastor Judah Smith at the invitation of Scott Budnick. Bieber met with inmates involved in The Urban Ministry Institute and expressed support for Budnick's Anti-Recidivism Coalition. During the visit, Bieber committed to provide buses to transport relatives of the inmates who have been unable to see them due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California. Bieber described his visit to the prison as a "life-changing experience that I will never forget".
Legal issues and controversies
Bieber had several run-ins with the law around the world before his first arrest in 2014, including when he was accused of reckless driving in his neighbourhood in 2012, charged in Brazil with vandalism in 2013, and was ordered to appear in Argentina within 60 days by a Buenos Aires court to give testimony on an alleged assault on a photographer on November 9, 2013. In April 2013, Bieber was criticized for writing a message in the guestbook at the Anne Frank House that read, "Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber." After the message was posted on the museum's Facebook page, Bieber received widespread criticism on social media for perceived insensitivity and narcissism. The Anne Frank House defended Bieber, stating, "He's 19. It's a crazy life he's living, he didn't mean bad ... He was very interested in the story of Anne Frank and stayed for over an hour. We hope that his visit will inspire his fans to learn more about her life and hopefully read the diary."
On January 23, 2014, Bieber was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida, together with singer Khalil, on suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI), driving with an over-six-month-expired licence, and resisting arrest without violence. Police said that Bieber told authorities he had consumed alcohol, smoked marijuana, and taken prescription drugs. He was released from these charges on a $2,500 bond. A toxicology report revealed that Bieber had THC (a principal constituent of cannabis) and the anti-anxiety medication Xanax in his system at the time of his arrest. In January 2021, he reflected on this event, describing it as "not [his] finest hour" and encouraging fans to "let the forgiveness of Jesus take over and watch your life blossom into all that God has designed you to be." On August 13, 2014, the January DUI case was settled with a plea bargain; Bieber pleaded guilty to resisting an officer without violence and a lesser charge of driving without due care and attention. He was fined US$500 and sentenced to attend a 12-hour anger management course and a program that teaches the impact of drunken driving on victims. As part of the plea bargain, he made a US$50,000 contribution to Our Kids, a local children's charity.
Following Bieber's arrest on the DUI charge, more than 270,000 people petitioned the White House seeking to have him deported from the United States. Although the number of signatures received was sufficient to require a response under published White House guidelines, the Obama administration declined substantive comment on the petition. Immigration Law expert Harlan York noted that the likelihood of Bieber being deported was extremely slim. York stated, "About a decade ago, the Supreme Court ruled that driving under the influence, typically, is not a basis to deport someone."
In June 2014, a video emerged of a 15-year-old Bieber telling a joke about black people, which used the word "nigger" multiple times. In the same month, a second video showed a 15-year-old Bieber giggling as he sings his song "One Less Lonely Girl", but parodying the main lyric as "One less lonely nigger", and stating that if he were to kill one, he would be "part of the KKK". He apologized the day the latter was released: "Facing my mistakes from years ago has been one of the hardest things I've ever dealt with."
One of his neighbours in Calabasas, California, accused Bieber of throwing eggs at his home on January 9, 2014, and causing thousands of dollars of damage. On July 9, 2014, Bieber was charged with one misdemeanour count of vandalism in California for throwing eggs at his Calabasas neighbour's home in January. Police earlier claimed that they had video footage of him high-fiving friends after the eggs were thrown. He pled no contest to the charge. Since then, he has permanently moved to Beverly Hills, California. On September 1, 2014, Bieber was arrested and charged with assault and dangerous driving near his hometown of Stratford, Ontario, after a collision between a minivan and Bieber's all-terrain vehicle on August 29. Ontario police said that he then "engaged in a physical altercation" with an occupant of the minivan. He was released shortly and his lawyer blamed the incident on "the unwelcome presence of paparazzi".
In July 2017, the Chinese government banned Bieber from performing in China. A Chinese Bieber fan contacted the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture requesting the reason for the ban. The Bureau released a statement, explaining "Justin Bieber is a gifted singer, but he is also a controversial young foreign singer", and "In order to maintain order in the Chinese market and purify the Chinese performance environment, it is not suitable to bring in badly behaved entertainers." In 2021, Chinese streaming sites Youku, iQIYI, and Tencent Video removed Bieber's scenes in Friends: The Reunion donning Ross Geller's "Spudnik" costume. However, his albums Changes (2020) and Justice (2021) have been officially released in China, with Bieber seen promoting both albums on Chinese music platforms.
Discography
Studio albums
Filmography
Tours
My World Tour (2010–2011)
Believe Tour (2012–2013)
Purpose World Tour (2016–2017)
Justice World Tour (2022)
The Swag Tour (2026)
See also
List of best-selling music artists
List of highest-certified music artists in the United States
List of best-selling singles in the United States
List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones
UK Singles Chart records and statistics
List of Canadian Grammy Award winners and nominees
Forbes Celebrity 100
List of Spotify streaming records
List of most-streamed artists on Spotify
List of most-subscribed YouTube channels
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
List of most-followed Twitter accounts
References
Further reading
External links
Official website
Justin Bieber on the Internet Archive
Justin Bieber at AllMusic
Justin Bieber at IMDb
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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984), is a member of the British royal family. As the younger son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, he is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne.
Educated at Wetherby School, Ludgrove School, and Eton College, Harry completed army officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was commissioned as a cornet into the Blues and Royals and served briefly with his older brother, William. Harry was twice deployed on active duty to Afghanistan; first in 2007–2008 for ten weeks in Helmand Province, and then for twenty weeks in 2012–2013 with the Army Air Corps.
Inspired by the Warrior Games in the United States, Harry launched the Invictus Games in 2014 as founding patron and remains involved. Two years later, alongside his brother William and sister-in-law Catherine, Harry jointly initiated the mental health awareness campaign "Heads Together".
In 2018 Harry was made Duke of Sussex prior to his wedding to American actress Meghan Markle. They have two children: Archie and Lilibet. Harry and Meghan stepped down as working royals in January 2020, moved to Meghan's native Southern California, and launched Archewell Inc., a Beverly Hills-based mix of for-profit and not-for-profit business organisations. In March 2021, Harry sat for Oprah with Meghan and Harry, a much-publicised American television interview with his wife and Oprah Winfrey. The couple filmed Harry & Meghan, a Netflix docuseries, which was released in December 2022. In 2023, Harry released his memoir, Spare.
Early life
Harry was born in the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, on 15 September 1984 at 4:20 pm as the second child of Charles, Prince of Wales (later King Charles III), and his first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, during the reign of his paternal grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. He was christened Henry Charles Albert David on 21 December 1984 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, by Robert Runcie, the then archbishop of Canterbury. Growing up, he was referred to as "Harry" by family, friends, and the public, and was nicknamed "Harold" by his brother. Harry and his elder brother, William, were raised at Kensington Palace in London, and Highgrove House in Gloucestershire. Diana wanted her sons to have a broader range of experiences and a better understanding of ordinary life than previous royal children. She took them to venues that ranged from Walt Disney World and McDonald's to AIDS clinics and homeless shelters. Harry began accompanying his parents on official visits at an early age; his first overseas tour was with his parents to Italy in 1985. He also travelled with his family to Canada in 1991 and 1998.
Harry's parents divorced in 1996. His mother died in a car crash in Paris the following year while he and William were staying with their father at Balmoral Castle. Their father informed them about their mother's death. At his mother's funeral, Harry, then aged 12, accompanied his father, brother, paternal grandfather Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and maternal uncle Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, in walking behind the funeral cortège from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey. Harry and his brother William inherited the "bulk" of the £12.9 million left by their mother on their respective 30th birthdays, a figure that had grown since her 1997 death to £10 million each in 2014. In 2014 Harry and William inherited their mother's wedding dress along with many of her other personal possessions, including dresses, diamond tiaras, jewels, letters, and paintings. The brothers also received the original lyrics and score of "Candle in the Wind", by Bernie Taupin and Elton John, as performed by John at Diana's funeral. In 2002 The Times reported that Harry would also share with his brother a disbursement of £4.9 million from trust funds established by their great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, on their respective 21st birthdays and would share a disbursement of £8 million upon their respective 40th birthdays. It was reported that Harry would inherit the bulk of the money left by the Queen Mother for the two brothers, as William is set to ascend to the throne, which will bring him additional financial benefits.
Education
Like his father and brother, Harry was educated at private schools. He started at London's Jane Mynors' nursery school and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School. Following this, he attended Ludgrove School in Berkshire. After passing entrance exams, he was admitted to Eton College. The decision to place Harry at Eton went against the past practice of the Mountbatten-Windsors to send children to Gordonstoun, which his grandfather, father, two uncles, and two cousins had attended. It did, however, see Harry follow in his elder brother's footsteps and the Spencer family's, as both his mother's father and her brother attended Eton. As was the case with his brother, the royal family and the tabloid press agreed Harry would be allowed to study free from intrusion in exchange for occasional photograph opportunities in what became known as the "pressure cooker agreement".
In June 2003, Harry completed his education at Eton with two A-Levels, achieving a grade B in art and D in geography, having decided to drop history of art after AS level. He has been described as "a top tier athlete", having played competitive polo and rugby union. One of his former teachers, Sarah Forsyth, has asserted that he was a "weak student" and that staff at Eton conspired to help him cheat on examinations. Both Eton and Harry denied the claims. While a tribunal made no ruling on the cheating claim, it "accepted the prince had received help in preparing his A-level 'expressive' project, which he needed to pass to secure his place at Sandhurst." Harry also joined the Combined Cadet Force while studying at Eton and was made cadet officer in his final year, leading the corps' annual parade at the Eton tattoo.
After school, Harry took a gap year, during which he spent time in Australia working as a jackaroo on a cattle station, and participating in the Young England vs Young Australia Polo Test match. He also travelled to Lesotho, where he worked with orphaned children and produced the documentary film The Forgotten Kingdom: Prince Harry in Lesotho.
Military career
Sandhurst; Blues and Royals; deployment to Afghanistan
Harry passed the Regular Commissions Board (RCB) in September 2004 and entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 8 May 2005, where he was known as Officer Cadet Wales, and joined Alamein Company. His entry into the academy had to be delayed for 4 months as he recovered from an injury to his left knee. In April 2006, Harry completed his officer training and was commissioned as a Cornet (second lieutenant) in the Blues and Royals, a regiment of the Household Cavalry in the British Army. On 13 April 2008, when he reached two years' seniority, Harry was promoted to lieutenant.
In 2006 it was announced that Harry's unit was scheduled to be deployed in Iraq the following year. A public debate ensued as to whether he should serve there. In April 2006, the Ministry of Defence announced that Harry would be shielded from the front line if his unit was sent to war, with a spokeswoman stating that he was expected to "undertake the fullest range of deployments", but his role needed to be monitored as "his overt presence might attract additional attention" that would put him or those he commanded at risk. Defence Secretary John Reid said that he should be allowed to serve on the front line of battle zones. Harry agreed saying, "If they said 'no, you can't go front line' then I wouldn't drag my sorry ass through Sandhurst and I wouldn't be where I am now." Harry completed the Troop Leaders' Course in October 2006 and rejoined his regiment in Windsor, where he was put in charge of a troop of 11 soldiers and four Scimitar reconnaissance vehicles. The Ministry of Defence and Clarence House made a joint announcement on 22 February 2007 that Harry would be deployed with his regiment to Iraq, as part of the 1st Mechanised Brigade of the 3rd Mechanised Division – a move supported by Harry, who had stated that he would leave the army if he was told to remain in safety while his regiment went to war.
The head of the British army at the time, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said on 30 April 2007 that he had personally decided that Harry would serve with his unit in Iraq as a troop commander, and Harry was scheduled for deployment in May or June 2007 to patrol the Maysan Governorate. By 16 May, however, Dannatt announced that Harry would not serve in Iraq; concerns included Harry being a high-value target (as several threats by various groups had already been made against him) and the dangers the soldiers around him would face should any attempt be made on his life or if he were captured. Clarence House made public Harry's disappointment with the decision, though he said he would abide by it.
In the summer of 2007 Harry was trained as a joint terminal attack controller at RAF Leeming. In early June 2007, it was reported that Harry had arrived in Canada to train alongside soldiers of the Canadian Forces and British Army, at CFB Suffield near Medicine Hat, Alberta. It was said that this was in preparation for a tour of duty in Afghanistan, where Canadian and British forces were participating in the NATO-led Afghan War. This was confirmed in February of the following year when the British Ministry of Defence revealed that Harry had been secretly deployed as a joint terminal attack controller to Helmand Province in Afghanistan for the previous ten weeks. The revelation came after the media – notably, German newspaper Bild and Australian magazine New Idea – breached the blackout placed over the information by the Canadian and British authorities. He was immediately pulled out due to the fear that the media coverage would put his security and the security of fellow soldiers at risk. It was later reported that Harry helped Gurkha troops repel an attack from Taliban insurgents, and performed patrol duty in hostile areas while in Afghanistan.
Harry's tour made him the first member of the British royal family to serve in a war zone since his uncle Prince Andrew, who flew helicopters during the Falklands War. For Harry's service, his aunt Princess Anne presented him with an Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan at the Combermere Barracks in May 2008.
Army Air Corps and second deployment to Afghanistan
In October 2008, it was announced that Harry would follow his brother, father and uncle in learning to fly military helicopters. Harry attended the Defence Helicopter Flying School at RAF Shawbury, where he joined his brother. He initially failed his pilot's theory test in February 2009. Prince Charles presented him with his flying brevet (wings) on 7 May 2010 at a ceremony at the Army Air Corps Base (AAC), Middle Wallop. Harry was awarded his Apache Flying Badge on 14 April 2011. On 16 April 2011, it was announced that Harry had been promoted to captain. In June 2011, Clarence House announced that Harry would be available for deployment in current operations in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot. The final decision rested with the Ministry of Defence's senior commanders, including principally the Chief of the Defence Staff in consultation with the wishes of Harry, the Prince of Wales, and the Queen. In October, he was transferred to a US military base in California to complete his helicopter gunship training. This final phase included live-fire training and "environmental and judgment training" at naval and air force facilities in California and Arizona. In the same month, it was reported that Harry was top of his class in extensive training undertaken at the Naval Air Facility, El Centro, California. While training in Southern California, he spent time in San Diego. In November 2011, Harry returned to England. He went to Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk, in the east of England, to complete his training to fly Apache helicopters.
On 7 September 2012, Harry arrived at Camp Bastion in southern Afghanistan as part of the 100-strong 662 Squadron, 3 Regiment, Army Air Corps, to begin a four-month combat tour as a co-pilot and gunner for an Apache helicopter. On 10 September, within days of arriving in Afghanistan, it was reported that the Taliban had threatened his life. On 18 September 2012, it was reported that Harry had been moved to a safe location after an attack by the Taliban on Camp Bastion that killed two US marines. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond stated that "additional security arrangements" were put in place, for Harry could be a potential target, but added that he would face "the same risk as any other Apache pilot" while in combat. In files obtained on the incident, Major General Gregg A. Sturdevant was quoted as saying "The night of the attack, he slept through the entire thing. We didn't do anything special for him. He came and went, and you never would have known he was there" and "the only thing special we did for him was we had a place identified as a safe house in case the base came under attack." On 21 January 2013, it was announced that Harry was returning from a 20-week deployment in Afghanistan. On 8 July 2013, the Ministry of Defence announced that Harry had successfully qualified as an Apache aircraft commander. Harry compared operating the Apache's weapons systems in Afghanistan to playing video games.
Harry later revealed in his 2023 memoir Spare that he flew on six missions that resulted in him killing 25 Taliban members, writing that he felt he was trained to not view them as "people" but instead as "chess pieces" that had been taken off the board. He added that "It's not a number that gave me any satisfaction. But neither was it a number that made me feel ashamed." Following the publishing of Harry's claims, Pen Farthing, a British former Royal Marines commando and founder of the Nowzad Dogs charity, was evacuated from Kabul on 6 January 2023 to avoid "potential reprisal attacks on ex-forces people". Harry's revelations prompted backlash from both Taliban members and British politicians and military figures.
HQ London District and Invictus Games
On 17 January 2014, the Ministry of Defence announced that Harry had completed his attachment to 3 Regiment Army Air Corps, and would take up a staff officer role, SO3 (Defence Engagement) in HQ London District. His responsibilities would include helping to coordinate significant projects and commemorative events involving the Army in London. He was based at Horse Guards in central London.
On 6 March 2014, Harry launched Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style sporting event for injured servicemen and women, which was held on 10–14 September 2014. Harry met British hopefuls for the Invictus Games at Tedworth House in Wiltshire for the start of the selection process on 29 April 2014. On 15 May 2014, Harry attended a ticket sale launch for Invictus Games at BT Tower, from where he tweeted on the Invictus Games' official Twitter account as the president of the Games. To promote the Games, he was interviewed by BBC Radio 2's Chris Evans along with two Invictus Games hopefuls. He said: "[The Invictus Games] is basically my full-time job at the moment, making sure that we pull this off." The show aired on 31 July 2014. Harry later wrote an article in The Sunday Times about his experiences in Afghanistan: how they had inspired him to help injured personnel and how, after the trip to the Warrior Games, he had vowed to create the Invictus Games. Harry and officials attended the British Armed Forces Team announcement for Invictus Games at Potters Field Park in August 2014. As president of the Invictus Games, he attended all events related to the Games from 8 to 14 September 2014.
In January 2015, it was reported that Harry would take on a new role in supporting wounded service personnel by working alongside members of the London District's Personal Recovery Unit for the MOD's Defence Recovery Capability scheme to ensure that wounded personnel have adequate recovery plans. The palace confirmed weeks later that the scheme was established in partnership with Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion. In late January 2015, Harry visited The Battle Back Centre set up by the Royal British Legion, and Fisher House UK at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. A partnership between Help for Heroes, the Fisher House Foundation and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) Charity created the Centre. Fisher House Foundation is one of the Invictus Games' sponsors. In February and March 2015, Harry visited Phoenix House in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, a recovery centre run by Help for Heroes. He also visited Merville Barracks in Colchester, where Chavasse VC House Personnel Recovery Centre is located, run by Help for Heroes in partnership with the Ministry of Defence and Royal British Legion.
Secondment to Australian Defence Force
On 17 March 2015, Kensington Palace announced that Harry would leave the Armed Forces in June. Before then, he would spend four weeks throughout April and May at army barracks in Darwin, Perth and Sydney whilst seconded to the Australian Defence Force (ADF). After leaving the Army, while considering his future, he would return to work in a voluntary capacity with the Ministry of Defence, supporting Case Officers in the Ministry's Recovery Capability Programme. He would be working with both those who administer and receive physical and mental care within the London District area.
On 6 April 2015, Harry reported for duty to Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin at the Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra, Australia. Harry flew to Darwin later that day to begin his month-long secondment to the ADF's 1st Brigade. His visit included detachments to NORFORCE as well as to an aviation unit. While in Perth, he trained with Special Air Service Regiment (SASR), participating in the SASR selection course, including a fitness test and a physical training session with SASR selection candidates. He also joined SASR members in Perth for live-fire shooting exercises with numerous Special Forces weapons at a variety of ranges. Harry completed an insertion training exercise using a rigid-hull inflatable boat. In Sydney, he undertook urban operations training with the 2nd Commando Regiment. Training activities included remotely detonating an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and rappelling from a building. He also spent time flying over Sydney as co-pilot of an Army Black Hawk helicopter and participated in counter-terrorism training in Sydney Harbour with Royal Australian Navy clearance divers.
Harry's attachment with the ADF ended on 8 May 2015, and on 19 June 2015 he resigned his short service commission.
Post-military service
In 2021, Harry described his 10 years (2005–2015) in the army as "the happiest times in my life". Since leaving the army, he has been closely involved with the armed forces through the Invictus Games, honorary military appointments and other official engagements. On 19 December 2017, he succeeded his grandfather Prince Philip as the Captain General Royal Marines. In May 2018, he was promoted to the substantive ranks of Lieutenant Commander of the Royal Navy, Major of the British Army and Squadron Leader of the Royal Air Force.
On 18 January 2020, Buckingham Palace announced that an agreement had been reached for Harry "to step back from Royal duties, including official military appointments". In February 2021, the Palace confirmed that the Duke would give up his position as Captain General Royal Marines and hand back all the other honorary military appointments.
Personal life
Bachelorhood
Chelsy Davy, the daughter of Zimbabwean South Africa-based businessman Charles Davy, was referred to as Harry's girlfriend in an interview conducted for his 21st birthday, and Harry said he "would love to tell everyone how amazing she is but once I start talking about that, I have left myself open.... There is truth and there is lies and unfortunately I cannot get the truth across." Davy was present when Harry received his Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan and also attended his graduation ceremony when he received his flying wings from his father. In early 2009, it was reported the pair had parted ways after a relationship that had lasted for five years.
In his 2023 memoir, Harry states that months after breaking up with Davy he was introduced to Caroline Flack, whom he described as "funny", "sweet", and "cool". The two saw each other for a while before press intrusion "tainted" their relationship "irredeemably" according to Harry. Flack had discussed the relationship in her own autobiography as well.
In May 2012, Harry's cousin Princess Eugenie introduced him to Cressida Bonas, an actress and model who is the granddaughter of Edward Curzon, 6th Earl Howe. On 30 April 2014, it was reported that the couple had parted amicably.
Marriage and family
In mid-2016, Harry began a relationship with American actress Meghan Markle. According to the couple, they first connected with each other via Instagram, though they have also said that they were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend in July 2016. On 8 November, eight days after the relationship was made public by the press, Harry directed his communications secretary to release a statement on his behalf to express personal concern about pejorative and false comments made about his girlfriend by mainstream media and internet trolls. In September 2017, Harry and Markle first appeared together in public at the Invictus Games in Toronto. Their engagement was announced on 27 November 2017 by Harry's father. The announcement prompted generally positive comments about having a mixed-race person as a member of the royal family, especially in regard to Commonwealth countries with populations of blended or native ancestry. On the morning of the wedding, Queen Elizabeth II conferred the title of Duke of Sussex upon Harry; Markle became Duchess of Sussex through her marriage to him later that day. The marriage ceremony was held at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on 19 May 2018. The couple later revealed in the 2021 television interview Oprah with Meghan and Harry that, three days prior to the ceremony, they had privately exchanged vows in their garden, in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. However, this earlier exchange of vows was not an official religious or legally recognised marriage.
The Duke and Duchess initially lived at Nottingham Cottage in London, in the grounds of Kensington Palace. In May 2018, it was reported that they had signed a two-year lease on WestfieldLarge, located on the Great Tew Estate in the Cotswolds. They gave up the lease after photos of the house and its interior were published by a paparazzi agency. The couple considered settling at the 21-room Apartment 1 within Kensington Palace, but moved to Frogmore Cottage in the Home Park of Windsor Castle which Queen Elizabeth II had recently gifted to them instead. The Crown Estate refurbished the cottage at a cost of £2.4 million, paid out of the Sovereign Grant, with the Duke later reimbursing expenses beyond restoration and ordinary maintenance, a part of which was offset against rental payments that were due at the time. On 6 May 2019, the Duke and Duchess's son, Archie, was born. Their office was moved to Buckingham Palace and officially closed on 31 March 2020 when the Sussexes ceased "undertaking official engagements in support of the Queen". After some months in Canada and the United States, the couple bought a house in June 2020 on the former estate of Riven Rock in Montecito, California. The next month, the Duchess suffered a miscarriage. On 4 June 2021, their daughter, Lilibet, was born. The Duke and Duchess have owned a Labrador named Pula, and two Beagles named Guy and Mamma Mia.
In 2017, Harry stated that he had "five or six" godchildren, some of whom later attended his wedding.
Health
In May 1988, Harry underwent a surgery for a minor hernia. In November 2000, he broke his thumb while playing football at Eton and underwent a minor operation. In his memoir, Spare, Harry admits that he took cocaine at the age of 17. In 2002, it was reported that, with Charles's encouragement, Harry had paid a visit to a drug rehabilitation unit to talk to drug addicts after it had emerged that he had been smoking cannabis and drinking at his father's Highgrove House and at a local pub in the summer of 2001. He adds in his memoir that he smoked cannabis at Eton and in Kensington Palace gardens, but he later told a court that "he never smoked in [his] father's house". In the memoir, he also detailed taking magic mushrooms at a party at Courteney Cox's house in January 2016.
In 2017 and during an appearance on Bryony Gordon's podcast Mad World, Harry acknowledged that with the support of his brother he had sought counselling years after his mother's death. He added that he had struggled with aggression, had suffered from anxiety during royal engagements, and had been "very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions". He later added that he had taken up boxing as a way of coping with mental stress and "letting out aggression". In other interviews he stated that besides therapy he took alcohol to cope and used experimental drugs recreationally, including "psychedelics, Ayahuasca, psilocybin, mushrooms." He also stated that what he experienced after his mother's death "was very much" post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In his mental-health television documentary, The Me You Can't See, which premiered in 2021, he added that he had undergone four years of therapy to address his mental health issues, having been encouraged to do so by his future wife after they had started dating. He also mentioned that he had suffered from "panic attacks [and] severe anxiety" in his late 20s and that the heavy load of official visits and functions had eventually "led to burnout". In an episode of Armchair Expert, Harry attributed his mental health issues to the ineffective parenting style of previous generations and to the "genetic pain and suffering" passed down in his family, adding that he believed his issues stemmed from "the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered". In his 2023 memoir, Harry described himself as an agoraphobe.
Political views
In September 2020, Harry and his wife released a video addressing American voters to "reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity" in the 2020 United States presidential election, which was seen by some as an implicit endorsement of Joe Biden. Harry was the subject of a prank by the Russian comedy duo Vovan and Lexus, who posed as climate activist Greta Thunberg and her father during two phone calls on New Year's Eve and 22 January 2020. During the conversations, Harry described his decision to leave the monarchy as "not easy" and criticised Donald Trump's stance on climate change and his support of the coal industry.
In May 2021, Harry was a guest on Dax Shepard and Monica Padman's podcast Armchair Expert during which he talked about the freedom of speech and laws related to it in the United States, stating "I've got so much I want to say about the First Amendment as I sort of understand it, but it is bonkers." He added that it was "a huge subject and one which [he didn't] understand", emphasising that one could "capitalise or exploit what's not said rather than uphold what is said." The comments were met by backlash from conservative Americans and Britons, prompting figures such as Ted Cruz, Dan Crenshaw, Nigel Farage, Candace Owens, Jack Posobiec, and Laura Ingraham to criticise him publicly.
In November 2021, in a panel at Wired's Re:Wired Conference, Harry claimed that a day before the January 6 United States Capitol attack he emailed Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, and 'warned' of potential civil unrest, but had not received a response. In the same month, Conservative politician and MP Johnny Mercer, who was leading the efforts to waive visa fees for foreign-born UK veterans and their families, announced in the Commons that the Duke of Sussex was supportive of their proposal and viewed it as "morally right" and not as "a political intervention".
In June 2022, in an interview with Jessica Yellin for Vogue, Meghan described Harry's reaction to the Supreme Court of the United States's decision that abortion is not a protected constitutional right as "guttural". Harry later condemned the decision as "rolling back of constitutional rights" in his address to the United Nations on Mandela Day in July 2022. Associate justice of the Supreme Court Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority decision for the case, criticised foreign figures including Harry for their comments on "American law" during a speech.
In June 2023, Harry broke royal protocol by criticising the UK government in his witness statement to a court. He argued that both the British press and the government were "at rock bottom" and instead of scrutinising the government the press got "into bed with them so they can ensure the status quo".
Drug use and U.S. visa application
In March 2023, the Heritage Foundation (HF) sent a dossier on Harry's drug use to different government entities, asking whether he had admitted to past drug use on his U.S. visa application. The following month, they filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) demanding his immigration records.
In March 2024, the U.S. government was ordered to hand over Harry's visa application details to a D.C. court. The move followed an initial failed freedom of information request that was asked for by the HF from DHS a year earlier. In September 2024, the case brought forward by the HF was closed due to the filing of two sealed orders and a sealed "memorandum opinion". The HF subsequently filed a request to "vacate" the ruling and release confidential correspondence between the judge and DHS. Judge Carl Nichols ordered for the redacted versions of the court documents to be released by 18 March 2025. 82 pages across seven exhibits that were heavily redacted and did not include the visa application itself were released, though his immigration status was withheld and it was not revealed whether he disclosed his drug use on his visa application. Immigration officials argued in the case that HF could "not point to any evidence of government misconduct" while Harry's team stated that he was "truthful" and the documents suggested that he did not receive preferential treatment.
In February 2025, new U.S. President Donald Trump ruled out deporting Harry from the US, telling the New York Post: "I'll leave him alone."
Public life
At the age of 21, Harry was appointed a Counsellor of State and began his duties in that capacity. The Queen granted Harry and William their own royal household on 6 January 2009. Previously, William and Harry's affairs had been handled by their father's office at Clarence House in central London. The new household released a statement announcing they had established their own office at nearby St James's Palace to look after their public, military and charitable activities. In March 2012, Harry led an official visit to Belize as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. He continued to the Bahamas and Jamaica, where the Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller, was considering initiating a process of turning Jamaica into a republic. He then visited Brazil to attend the GREAT Campaign. Harry also played tambourine and took part in the music video for the song "Sing", which was released in May 2012 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee.
Between 9 and 15 May 2013, he made an official visit to the United States. The tour promoted the rehabilitation of injured American and UK troops, publicised his own charities and supported British interests. It included engagements in Washington, DC, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. He met survivors of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey. In October 2013, he undertook his first official tour of Australia, attending the International Fleet Review at Sydney Harbour. He also paid a visit to the Australian SAS HQ in Perth. In May 2014, he visited Estonia and Italy. In Estonia, he visited Freedom Square in the capital Tallinn to honour fallen Estonian soldiers. He also attended a reception at the Estonian Parliament and a NATO military exercise. In Italy, Harry attended commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the Monte Cassino battles, in which Polish, Commonwealth and British troops fought. He opened the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on 6 November 2014, a task usually performed by Prince Philip.
Before reporting for duty to the Australian Defence Force (ADF), Harry visited the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on 6 April 2015. He made a farewell walkabout at the Sydney Opera House on 7 May 2015 and visited Macquarie University Hospital. He joined his father in Turkey to attend commemorations of the centenary of the Gallipoli Campaign in April 2015. In October 2015, Harry carried out a day of engagements in the US. He launched the Invictus Games Orlando 2016 with First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Jill Biden at Fort Belvoir. He later attended an Invictus Games board meeting and a reception to celebrate the launch at the British Ambassador's Residence. Harry, as patron of Sentebale, travelled to Lesotho to attend the opening of the Mamohato Children's Centre in November 2015. From 30 November to 3 December 2015, he made an official visit to South Africa. He visited Cape Town, where he presented the insignia of the Order of the Companions of Honour to the Archbishop on behalf of the Queen. Harry also played the Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup, at Val de Vie Estate in Cape Town, fundraising for Sentebale. He visited Nepal 19–23 March 2016. He stayed until the end of March 2016 to help rebuild a secondary school with Team Rubicon UK, and visited a Hydropower Project in Central Nepal.
In April 2018, he was appointed Commonwealth youth ambassador, a position which he held until March 2020. Also in that month, Harry became a patron of Walk of America, a campaign which brings together a number of veterans who will take part in a 1,000-mile expedition across the US in mid-2018. The Prince was appointed the president of The Queen's Commonwealth Trust, which focuses on projects involving children and welfare of prisoners, in April. Periodically, online QCT chat sessions were conducted and uploaded to YouTube for general public viewing. He remained the charity's president until February 2021. In July 2018, Harry travelled to Dublin, Ireland, alongside his wife Meghan, which marked their first overseas visit as a couple. In October 2018, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex travelled to Sydney, for the 2018 Invictus Games. This formed part of a Pacific tour that included Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand.
Harry identifies as a feminist. During their visit to Morocco in February 2019, the Duke and Duchess focused on projects centred on "women's empowerment, girls' education, inclusivity and encouragement of social entrepreneurship". As part of establishing a separate office from that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2019, the Duke and Duchess created an Instagram social media account, which broke the record for the fastest account at the time to reach a million followers. During his trip to Angola in 2019, the Duke visited the Born Free to Shine project in Luanda, an initiative by First Lady Ana Dias Lourenço which aims to "prevent HIV transmission from mothers to babies" through education, medical testing and treatment. He also met HIV+ youth and teenagers during his visit. During his visit to the Luengue-Luiana National Park, the Duke unveiled an initiative by the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy to help with protecting "an ancient elephant migration route" by providing safe passage for them in the forest. In September and October 2019, a Southern African tour included Malawi, Angola, South Africa and Botswana. Because infant son Archie travelled with the Sussexes, this was "their first official tour as a family". Harry completed 1,190 engagements between 2006 and 2019.
Stepping back and subsequent public appearances
In January 2020, the Duke and Duchess announced that they were stepping back from their role as senior members of the royal family, and would balance their time between the United Kingdom and North America. A statement released by the Palace confirmed that the Duke and Duchess were to become financially independent and cease to represent the Queen. At the time of the announcement of Harry and Meghan's decision to "step back" as senior members of the royal family in 2020, 95% of the couple's income derived from the £2.3 million given to them annually by Harry's father, Charles, as part of his income from the Duchy of Cornwall. The couple retain their HRH stylings but are not permitted to use them. The formal role of the Duke and Duchess was subject to a twelve-month review period, ending in March 2021. In March 2020, Harry attended the opening of the Silverstone Experience in Silverstone Circuit together with racing driver Lewis Hamilton. Harry's appearance at the museum was his final solo engagement as a senior royal. He and Meghan attended the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on 9 March 2020, which was their last engagement as a couple before they officially stepped down on 31 March. Harry's personal wealth was estimated at £30 million by The Daily Telegraph in 2020. Two years later, they made their first official appearance in the UK in June 2022 while attending the Platinum Jubilee National Service of Thanksgiving.
The Sussexes visited the UK and Germany in September 2022 for a number of charity events in Manchester and Düsseldorf. On 8 September 2022, while Harry and Meghan were in London preparing to attend a charity event, Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and they remained in the United Kingdom for her funeral.
Harry and Meghan visited Nigeria in May 2024 to honour the work of the Invictus Games. According to CNN, their trip focused on "sports rehabilitation, mental health, and women's empowerment".
Publicly funded police security
Harry faced difficulties with obtaining and maintaining publicly funded security, both in Canada and the United Kingdom, after he and Meghan announced their self-demotion within the royal family. While the couple resided on Vancouver Island, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation launched a petition calling for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to cease providing security to the Sussexes. The Government of Canada announced RCMP security would not be provided after March 2020 when the couple's status changed. A similar petition circulated in the UK in mid-March 2020. The backlash in the two countries led President Donald Trump to preemptively assert that the United States would not pay either; though, the couple never intended to ask for it while in the US.
In January 2022, it was reported that Harry had been in a legal fight since September 2021 over the Home Office's refusal to allow him to pay for police protection. He had made the offer to pay during the Sandringham Summit and "self-evidently believed" that it would be passed on to the government. Following the first court hearing of the case by the High Court, it was revealed that Harry had 'exceptional status' and the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC) still determined his personal protective security on a case-by-case basis. After receiving applications by the Duke and the Home Office to keep parts of the case private, the High Court ruled in March 2022 that some parts of it would remain confidential. Mr Justice Swift also reacted to the Duke's legal team sending a copy of the ruling to someone who was not a lawyer, describing it as "entirely unacceptable". In July 2022, Mr Justice Swift granted permission for part of Harry's claim to proceed for a judicial review.
Harry filed a lawsuit against the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police in August 2022, challenging the decision by RAVEC from January 2022 which stated that State security could not be made available to private individuals even if they wished to pay for it themselves. In February 2023, a High Court judge ruled that the second case should be thrown out; however, the decision was later appealed by Harry's legal team. He lost the legal challenge in May 2023, meaning that he will not be allowed to make private payments for police protection. In June 2023, a Freedom of Information request revealed that Harry's legal fight with the Home Office had cost £502,236, with £492,000 covered by the state and the remaining £10,000 covered by Harry. In February 2024, the High Court ruled against Harry in his case against the Home Office and upheld the decision by RAVEC, stating that there had been no unlawfulness in the decision-making process for his security arrangements. In April 2024, he lost an initial attempt to appeal against the ruling. Despite his lawyers' attempts to have him pay no more than 50% of the Home Office's legal costs of defending his challenge, the judge held him liable for 90% of the costs. It was also revealed that during the proceedings Harry had leaked information via email to "a partner of Schillings" and to Johnny Mercer, for which he apologised to the court. In May 2024, he was given permission by the Court of Appeal to challenge the High Court's decision. His appeal was rejected by three senior judges in May 2025 and he was likely to be held liable for the UK government's legal fees.
Civilian career and investments
In summer 2019, before announcing their decision to step back in January 2020, Harry and his wife were involved in talks with Jeffrey Katzenberg, the founder of the now-defunct streaming platform Quibi, over a possible role in the service without gaining personal profits, but they eventually decided against joining the project. In September 2019, it was reported that the couple had hired New York-based PR firm Sunshine Sachs, which represented them until 2022. The couple has also been associated with Adam Lilling's Plus Capital, a venture capital fund designed to connect early stage companies with influencers and investors. Between 2019 and 2020, Harry and Meghan contributed to the book Finding Freedom through a third-party source. Despite initially denying their involvement with the book, their contributions to the book became apparent during Meghan's court case against Associated Newspapers who were trying to use the book in their defense.
In June 2020, they signed with the Harry Walker Agency, owned by media company Endeavor, to conduct paid public speaking engagements. In September 2020, the Sussexes signed a five-year private commercial deal with Netflix. In December 2020, the Duke and Duchess signed a multi-year deal with Spotify to produce and host their own programs through their audio producing company, Archewell Audio. A holiday special was released by the couple on the service in December 2020. In June 2023, Spotify announced they would not proceed with the deal, cancelling Archetypes which had run for a single season of 12 episodes. Harry & Meghan, a docuseries about the Sussexes, was produced by Netflix and the couple's Archewell Productions and premiered on 8 December 2022. It is directed by Liz Garbus. The series received mixed reviews. In April 2024, it was announced that Archewell Productions is working with Netflix to produce two new shows – on lifestyle and on polo – for the streaming platform. The Polo docuseries was released in December 2024 and was a critical and commercial disappointment. In August 2025, Archewell Productions renewed its partnership with Netflix under a multi-year first-look deal, which included plans for other documentary and scripted projects.
In March 2021, San Francisco-based mental health start-up BetterUp, a company that helps people get in contact with coaches or counsellors, said that Harry would become its first chief impact officer. In the same month, Harry was appointed as a commissioner for the Aspen Institute's Commission on Information Disorder to carry out a six-month study on the state of misinformation and disinformation in the United States. The study was published in November 2021 as a report with 15 recommendations. In the following month, in his capacity as BetterUp's chief impact officer, Harry was interviewed by Fast Company, stating that the recent trend of people leaving their jobs (known as the Great Resignation) was something that needed to be celebrated, though his remarks were criticised for coming from a position of privilege. In April 2022, reports emerged of criticism by the company's coaches over the new metrics placed for evaluating their services and over the opacity surrounding Harry's actual role in the firm.
In April 2019, it was announced that Harry was working as co-creator and executive producer on a documentary series about mental health together with Oprah Winfrey, which was initially set to air in 2020 on Apple TV+. It was later announced that the series, titled The Me You Can't See, would be released on 21 May 2021. In the following month, UCAS reported an increase in the percentage of students declaring mental health issues on their university applications, citing self-help books and Harry's statements on his struggles with "panic attacks and anxiety" as contributing factors. In October 2021, Harry and Meghan announced their partnership with Ethic, a sustainable investment firm based in New York City, which also manages the couple's investments. According to state filings from Delaware, where the couple's Archewell foundation is registered, Harry and Meghan incorporated 11 companies and a trust beginning in early 2020 which include Orinoco Publishing LLC and Peca Publishing LLC to hold the rights for their books as well as Cobblestone Lane LLC and IPHW LLC which are holders of their foundation's logos.
In July 2021, it was announced that Harry was set to publish his memoir Spare via Penguin Random House, with Harry reportedly earning an advance of at least $20 million. Spare was ghostwritten by novelist J. R. Moehringer. The memoir is reportedly the first of a four-book publishing deal that is set to include a second book by Harry and a wellness guide by Meghan. Spare was officially published on 10 January 2023 in 16 languages, and it has since become the UK's fastest selling non-fiction book with 400,000 confirmed sales in all formats on publication day. Harry announced that $1.5 million of the proceeds from the memoir were pledged to the charity Sentebale, while £300,000 would be given to WellChild.
Charity work
Humanitarian and environmental activities
Harry has granted his patronage to organisations including WellChild, Dolen Cymru, MapAction and the London Marathon Charitable Trust; he stepped down from MapAction in 2019 and the London Marathon Charitable Trust in 2021. In 2007 he and William organised the Concert for Diana, in memory of their mother, which benefited the charities and patronages of Diana, William, and Harry. In October 2008, Harry and his brother embarked on the 1,000 mile eight-day Enduro Africa motorbike ride across South Africa to raise money for Sentebale, UNICEF and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. In September 2009, William and Harry set up The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry to enable them to take forward their charitable ambitions. Harry left the charity in June 2019.
After taking part in an unfinished trip to the North Pole with Walking With The Wounded in 2011, Harry joined the charity's 200-mile expedition to the South Pole in Antarctica during December 2013, accompanying twelve injured servicemen and women from the UK, the US and the Commonwealth. As patron of Walk of Britain, he walked with the team on 30 September and 20 October 2015. To raise awareness for HIV testing, Harry took a test live on the royal family Facebook page on 14 July 2016. He later attended the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, on 21 July 2016. On World AIDS Day, Harry and Rihanna helped publicise HIV testing by taking the test themselves. Since 2016 Harry has been working with Terrence Higgins Trust to raise awareness about HIV and sexual health. In November 2019, to mark the National HIV Testing Week, the Duke interviewed HIV+ Rugby player Gareth Thomas on behalf of the trust.
In December 2017, Harry guest edited BBC Radio 4's Today programme, conducting interviews with his father, then Prince of Wales, former US president Barack Obama, and others on issues such as youth violence, the Armed Forces, mental health, the Commonwealth, conservation and the environment. Harry was officially appointed the new president of African Parks (a conservation NGO) on 27 December 2017, a position which he held until 2023 when he was appointed a member of its board of directors. He had previously spent three weeks in Malawi with African Parks where he joined a team of volunteers and professionals to carry out one of the largest elephant translocations in history. The effort to repopulate areas decimated due to poaching and habitat loss moved 500 elephants from Liwonde and Majete National Parks to Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve. Harry had previously helped with relocating rhinos in the Okavango Delta and later became patron of the Rhino Conservation Botswana. Accusations of abuse by the charity surfaced publicly in 2022 and 2024, when reports claimed that rangers managed by African Parks had been torturing, beating, raping, and forcibly displacing members of the indigenous Baka community.
In July 2018, the Elton John AIDS Foundation announced that the Duke of Sussex and British singer Elton John were about to launch a global coalition called MenStar that would focus "on treating HIV infections in men". In May 2019, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex together with Harry's brother and sister-in-law launched Shout, the UK's first 24/7 text messaging service for those who suffer from mental issues. In September 2019, the Duke launched Travalyst during his visit to the Netherlands after two years of development. The initiative is set "to encourage sustainable practices in the travel industry" and "tackle climate change and environmental damage", in collaboration with a number of companies, including Tripadvisor, Booking.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Visa Inc. The organisation later announced a partnership with Google in 2021. In October 2019, along with other members of the royal family, Harry voiced a Public Health England announcement, for the "Every Mind Matters" mental health program.
In February 2020, Harry recorded a new version of the song "Unbroken" with Jon Bon Jovi. The new version features backing vocals from members of the Invictus Choir. The song was released on 27 March 2020, the proceeds of which were donated to the Invictus Games Foundation. In April 2020, Harry launched a new initiative named HeadFIT, a platform designed to provide mental support for members of the armed forces. The initiative was developed mutually by the Royal Foundation's Heads Together campaign, the Ministry of Defence, and King's College London. In June 2020, the Duke and Duchess backed the Stop Hate for Profit campaign and encouraged CEOs of different companies to join the movement.
In April 2021, Harry and Meghan were announced as campaign chairs for Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World, an event organised by Global Citizen to increase access to COVID-19 vaccinations. They also announced their support for a vaccine equity fundraiser initiated by the same organisation, and penned an open letter to the pharmaceutical industry CEOs urging them to address the vaccine equity crisis. Later that month, he narrated "Hope Starts Here", a special video rereleased by African Parks to mark the Earth Day in which he urged organisations and communities to preserve biodiversity and paid tribute to his grandfather Prince Philip for his efforts as a conservationist. He helped with the establishment of Peak State, a mental fitness programme aimed at providing tools and resources for managing mental health, to which he publicly lent his support in May 2021.
Like his mother, Harry has worked with the HALO Trust, an organisation that removes debris—particularly landmines—left behind by war. He had previously visited a minefield in Mozambique with the charity and spent two days learning about their work and mine-clearing techniques. In 2013 he was named as patron of the charity's 25th Anniversary Appeal. In April 2017, he hosted the Landmine Free 2025 reception at Kensington Palace, during which the UK government announced an increase in its financial support for de-mining efforts. In September 2019, he walked through a de-mining site in Angola, the same country visited by his mother 22 years earlier. In June 2021, after ten members of the trust were killed by an armed group at a mine clearance camp in Afghanistan, Harry issued a statement saying the attack "was nothing less than an act of barbarism".
In September 2021, together with First Lady Jill Biden, he hosted a virtual event for the Warrior Games, which were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2021, he spoke against oil drilling in the Okavango River in an op-ed for The Washington Post. In the same month and ahead of the 2021 G20 Rome summit, Harry and his wife penned an open letter together with the Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom, asking the G20 leaders to expedite efforts for the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. In March 2022, they were among more than a hundred people who signed an open letter published by the People's Vaccine Alliance, asking for free global access to COVID-19 vaccines and calling out the UK, EU and Switzerland for opposing a waiver that would allow vaccine intellectual property protections to be lifted. In April 2022 and in a video featuring Rhys Darby and Dave Fane on Māori Television, Harry launched an eco-travel campaign through his non-profit Travalyst, encouraging people to travel sustainably. In November 2023, he was named global ambassador for Scotty's Little Soldiers, one of the seven charities which he and his wife had invited people to support in lieu of giving them wedding presents.
In September 2025, Harry announced that he had personally donated £1.1 million to BBC Children in Need in December 2024, describing it as a "significant investment" in grassroots organisations in Nottingham supporting young people affected by violence.
Sport
Harry has enjoyed playing sports, such as competitive polo, skiing, and motocross. Like his brother and father, he has participated in polo matches to raise money for charitable causes. Harry is also a keen Rugby football fan and supported England's bid to host rugby union's 2015 Rugby World Cup, and presented the trophy at rugby league's 2019 Challenge Cup finals. In 2004 Harry trained as a Rugby Development Officer for the Rugby Football Union and coached students in schools to encourage them to learn the sport. He, along with former rugby player Brian Moore, both argued that in response to Black Lives Matter, the song "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" should no longer be sung in rugby context. Between December 2016 and February 2021, he was patron of both the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Rugby Football League (RFL), Rugby League's governing body in England. He had served as the RFU's vice-royal patron since 2010, supporting the Queen as patron.
In 2012 Harry launched Coach Core alongside his brother and sister-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The program was set up following the 2012 Olympics and provides apprenticeship opportunities for people who desire to pursue a career as a professional coach. In January 2017, Harry visited the Running Charity and its partner Depaul UK to highlight the role of sport in helping homeless and vulnerable people. In June 2019, the Duke was present at the launch of Made by Sport, a charity coalition set to raise money to boost sport in disadvantaged communities. In his statement, he lent his support to the charity by arguing that its role in bringing sport into the life of disadvantaged people would save "hundreds of millions of pounds" towards treating the issues among young people.
Sussex Royal and Archewell
In June 2019, it was announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would split from The Royal Foundation and establish their own charity foundation by the end of 2019. Nevertheless, the couple would collaborate with Harry's brother and his wife on mutual projects, such as the mental health initiative Heads Together. In July 2019, Harry and Meghan's new charity was registered in England and Wales under the title "Sussex Royal The Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex". It was confirmed on 21 February 2020 that "Sussex Royal" would not be used as a brand name for the couple following their withdrawal from public life. Sussex Royal Foundation was renamed "MWX Foundation" on 5 August 2020 and dissolved the same day.
In March 2021, it was reported that the Charity Commission for England and Wales was conducting a review of the Sussex Royal organisation in a "regulatory and compliance case" regarding its conduct under charity law during dissolution. Representatives for the couple claimed that Sussex Royal was "managed by a board of trustees" and that "suggestion of mismanagement" directed exclusively at the Duke and Duchess would be incorrect. The commission later concluded that the foundation did not act unlawfully, but criticised the board of directors for expending a "substantial proportion of funds" to setting up and closing the charity.
In April 2020, Meghan and Harry confirmed their new foundation (in lieu of Sussex Royal) would be called "Archewell". The name stems from the Greek word "arche", which means "source of action"; the same word that inspired the name of their son. Archewell was registered in the United States. Its website was officially launched in October 2020.
Sentebale
In 2006 Harry visited Mants'ase Children's Home near Mohale's Hoek in Lesotho, which he had first toured in 2004, and alongside Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, he launched Sentebale: The Princes' Fund for Lesotho, a charity to assist children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. In March 2025, Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho resigned from their roles as patrons of Sentebale following a dispute between the charity's trustees and the chair of the board, Sophie Chandauka. Chandauka reported the charity to the Charity Commission due to what she described as "poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir – and the coverup that ensued". Chandauka later accused Harry of "harassment and bullying at scale" by authorising "the release of a damaging piece of news to the outside world", adding that his "toxic" brand was "the number one risk" for the organisation. There were also allegations that through his contacts Harry had asked Chandauka to issue a statement in support of his wife following an awkward interaction between the two women during a polo match in Miami, and had later demanded that she "explain herself" in a note that was described as "unpleasant" in tone and reportedly used "imperious" language. In August 2025 the Charity Commission announced it found no evidence of "widespread or systemic bullying or harassment, including misogyny or misogynoir" or "over-reach" by either Chandauka or Harry but acknowledged a "strong perception of ill treatment felt by a number of parties" and stated that deciding on specific allegations of bullying was outside the purview of its regulatory authority. It also criticised all sides for allowing the conflict "to play out publicly" and cited poor internal governance and a "failure to resolve disputes internally" as factors that impacted the charity's reputation.
Public image
In his youth, Harry earned a reputation for being rebellious, leading the tabloid press to label him a "wild child". At the age of 17, he was seen smoking cannabis, drinking underage with friends, and clashing physically with paparazzi outside nightclubs. In early 2005, he was photographed at a "Colonial and Native"-themed birthday party in Wiltshire wearing a Nazi German Afrika Korps uniform with a swastika armband. His choice sparked a backlash from the media, politicians, and religious figures. Clarence House later issued a public statement in which Harry apologised for his behaviour. In an interview for his 21st birthday he stated that it "was a very stupid thing to do and I've learnt my lesson".
In January 2005, in response to an inquiry about his Zimbabwean girlfriend Chelsy Davy, Harry responded "She's not black or anything, you know". In January 2009, the British tabloid, the News of the World, revealed a video made by Harry three years earlier in which he referred to a Pakistani fellow officer cadet as "our little Paki friend" and called a soldier wearing a camouflage hood a "raghead". These terms were described by the Leader of the Opposition at the time David Cameron as "unacceptable", and by The Daily Telegraph as "racist". A British Muslim youth organisation called Harry a "thug". Further extracts showed him telling a comrade "I love you" before giving him a kiss on the cheek and licking his face, and asking another whether he felt gay, queer, or on the side. Clarence House immediately issued an apology from Harry, who stated that no malice was intended in his remarks. Subsequently, it was reported that the military had instructed Harry to attend a diversity course. In the same year, British stand-up comedian Stephen K. Amos alleged that after a stand-up show for Charles's 60th birthday celebrations in November 2008 Harry had commented on his performance by saying, "You don't sound like a black chap", though he hoped that the remarks were made in jest.
In October 2007, a video from Harry's trip to Namibia with his friends surfaced, which showed him snorting vodka and licking a male friend's nipples. While on holiday in Las Vegas in August 2012, Harry and an unknown young woman were photographed naked in a Wynn Las Vegas hotel room, reportedly during a game of strip billiards. The pictures were leaked by American celebrity website TMZ on 21 August 2012, and reported worldwide by mainstream media on 22 August 2012. The photographs were shown by the American media, but British media were reluctant to publish them. Royal aides suggested Clarence House would contact the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) if British publications used the pictures. St James's Palace confirmed that Harry was in the photographs, saying that he was essentially a victim whose privacy had been invaded and contacted the PCC upon hearing that a number of British newspapers were considering publishing the photographs. On 24 August 2012, The Sun newspaper published the photographs. At a 2014 event in England, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins was slapped by Harry after he had told him "I can't wake up, so tired", with Harry subsequently stating "You awake now?" Hawkins added "I got slapped in the face by the prince. That's OK really, if you think about it. But in the moment, I was like, 'You fucking slapped me, dude.'"
In December 2021, reports emerged about Harry's meetings with Saudi businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, whose receipt of a CBE became the subject of an investigation by the Scottish Charity Regulator. Mahfouz had met Harry in 2013 and 2014 and donated £50,000 to his charity Sentebale and £10,000 to Walking With The Wounded, of which Harry is patron. The Sunday Times claimed that the meetings with Harry opened the way for Mahfouz to get access to the Prince of Wales. Harry referred to the incident as the "CBE scandal" in December 2021 and stated that he severed ties with Mahfouz in 2015 after expressing "growing concerns" about his motives, though aides from his father's household denied having any discussions with him regarding Mahfouz. A spokesperson for Sentebale defended the meetings and added that there was not any impropriety regarding the donations.
In March 2024, Harry was named in a lawsuit against P. Diddy who was facing allegations of sexual trafficking. He was mentioned as a well-known celebrity associate of Combs, whom he would use among other famous figures to draw guests to his parties.
Public opinion
In view of their environmental activism, Harry and Meghan were criticised in August 2019 for reportedly taking four private jet journeys in 11 days, including one to Elton John's home in Nice, France. The criticism was in line with the reactions the royal family faced in June 2019, after it was revealed that they "had doubled [their] carbon footprint from business travel". Harry received backlash again in August 2021 and 2022 for taking a two-hour flight on private jets between California and Aspen, Colorado, to participate in an annual charity polo tournament. In June 2022 and on their way to California after the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, Harry and Meghan boarded a private jet that was estimated to have emitted "ten times more carbon than flying commercial".
After his marriage, Harry's popularity skyrocketed above all the other royals as he was deemed likable by 77 per cent of respondents in a poll of 3,600 Britons conducted by statistics and polling company YouGov. However, his popularity fell after stepping back from royal duties, and it plummeted after the release of his controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey, his Netflix docuseries, and his memoir. In December 2022, Harry was found to be the third most disliked member of the British royal family by YouGov, preceded by his uncle Prince Andrew and his wife Meghan. Writing for The New York Times, Sarah Lyall noted that following the release of his memoir Harry and his wife lost support within segments of the American public and press. It has been suggested by critics that this fall from public esteem is due to Harry and Meghan's frequent attempts to achieve ongoing relevancy, and their perceived hypocrisy and selfishness. Harry and Meghan's exit from the royal family was satirized in a 2023 episode of South Park.
In 2018 and 2021, Harry was selected as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine. In 2019, the magazine named Harry and his wife as among the 25 Most Influential People on the Internet. In 2021, the couple was featured on one of the magazine's seven worldwide Time 100 covers. In 2023, People named him as one of the "25 Most Intriguing People of the Year". In the same year, James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter named Harry and Meghan among the Hollywood losers of 2023.
Following Harry and Meghan's trip to Nigeria in May 2024, Lucia Stein of the ABC argued that the couple could have been used by the royal family, and added that "perhaps how helpful they would have been" had an agreement on a "hybrid working model" been achieved. Media editor, Tina Brown commented in relation to the visit, they are "enormously appealing to the public, and very good at [public engagement]." In the same year Harry's role as founder of Travalyst was recognised in the second edition of the Time 100 Climate list which ranked the most influential climate action leaders.
In January 2025, Justine Bateman called the behavior of Harry and Meghan "repulsive" for showing up at a food bank during the Southern California wildfires in the Pacific Palisades, a section of Los Angeles. Bateman stated that Harry and his wife were not "politicians" and were only after a "photo op", calling them "disaster tourists". Harry and Meghan's appearance in the area drew mixed reactions from segments of the media and public figures.
Privacy and the media
Legal issues and incidents
Associated Newspapers
In January 2020, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) sided with the Mail on Sunday over a dispute between the Duke and the newspaper regarding an Instagram photo involving Harry in which, according to the newspaper, elephants were in fact "tranquilised" and "tethered" during a relocating process. The IPSO rejected Harry's claim that the paper's description was "inaccurate" or "misleading".
In December 2020, Harry's legal team sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) for publishing a story in the Mail on Sunday claiming his working relationship with the Royal Marines had suffered post-royal departure. The newspaper subsequently accepted the claims were false and issued an apology. The prince's lawyer said the "substantial damages" paid by the publisher would be donated to the Invictus Games Foundation.
In February 2022, Harry filed a libel suit in the High Court against ANL for a Mail on Sunday article which alleged he was trying to keep his legal battle against the Home Office to restore his police protection secret from the public through requesting a confidentiality order on the case and that he offered to pay for police protection only after filing a lawsuit against the government. In June 2022, Mr Justice Nicklin ruled that parts of the article were potentially defamatory, though Nicklin rejected claims by Harry's lawyers that the article portrayed him as a liar. Harry attempted to have the publisher's defence thrown out, but the judge rejected his motion in December 2023 and decided that the case should proceed to trial. He later ordered Harry to pay Mail on Sunday £48,447 in legal costs. Harry withdrew the libel claim in January 2024 and became liable for the publisher's £250,000 legal costs.
In October 2022, the Duke of Sussex joined Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Sadie Frost, and Elizabeth Hurley in launching a legal action against ANL for their alleged "abhorrent criminal activity", which was said to involve listening to and recording people's phone calls and daily activities, obtaining sensitive information and medical records, and accessing bank accounts and financial transactions. In a statement, ANL described the allegations as "preposterous smears", and Gavin Burrows, the private investigator whose alleged 2021 statement was used as a key element in the case, said that the statement was not signed by him and was "a cut and paste from my evidence" of other publishers targeting individuals. In November 2023, Mr Justice Nicklin ruled that the case brought by Harry and the other claimants could proceed but unpublished material provided to the Leveson Inquiry was inadmissible as proof in this case.
News Group and Mirror Group newspapers
In October 2019, it was announced that Harry had sued the Daily Mirror, The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World "in relation to alleged phone-hacking". Former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman had previously stated that he had hacked Harry's phone on nine occasions. Andy Coulson, the editor of the News of the World, apologised to Harry and his brother for invading their privacy, accepting "ultimate responsibility" for the actions of Goodman. In his lawsuit, Harry sought damages in excess of £200,000 from the publisher of the News of the World and The Sun and alleged an earlier agreement between News Group Newspapers (NGN) and the royal family which would see he and William not take legal action in return for an apology had not been honoured. Both brothers brought a claim privately through their mutual attorneys, but Harry decided to pursue his case separately with a new solicitor in 2019. In July 2023, the judge ruled that part of Harry's case involving allegations of illegal information gathering would go to trial but his phone-hacking claims were dismissed for being made too late. In May 2024, Mr Justice Fancourt refused Harry the permission to include claims against Rupert Murdoch, expand his case's scope back to 1994 and 1995 to cover allegations involving his mother or to add new allegations from 2016 involving his then-girlfriend Meghan. In October 2024, the judge announced that the two sides should either settle or go to trial in January 2025 and refused to let Harry's team include allegations that bugs were placed in rooms and cars, and trackers placed on vehicles as "no particulars whatsoever of such allegations" were provided. In January 2025, the two parties settled with NGN paying more than £10 million in pay outs and legal fees in the settlements involving both Harry and former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson. NGN made a "full and unequivocal apology" for "serious intrusion" by The Sun between 1996 and 2011, for "phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators instructed by them at the News of the World" and the intrusion into the life of his mother, and admitted "incidents of unlawful activity" were carried out by private investigators working for the newspaper, but "not by journalists". The BBC reported on the "scrapped case", highlighting NGN's statement which said that the settlement agreement "drew a line under the past" and that they rejected the claims that would have been made in court about a corporate cover-up.
Lawyers for the Mirror denied accessing Harry's voicemail messages and other allegations, but admitted to instructing "private investigators to unlawfully obtain private information" about Harry on a single occasion that involved him visiting Chinawhite. In January 2023, a High Court judge ruled that Harry's lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) as well as other similar lawsuits against the publisher would go to trial in May 2023. At the beginning of trial, MGN apologised for one instance of unlawful information gathering against Harry and added that his legal challenge "warrants compensation". In June 2023, Harry testified in the court case accusing former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan of horrific personal attacks and claimed that his phone had been hacked dating back to when he was still at Eton. His appearance marked the first time a member of the royal family had been cross-examined in court since Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, appeared as a witness in court in 1891. In December 2023, the High Court ruled in favour of Harry for 15 of the 33 sample stories used in his claims of phone hacking against MGN and awarded him £140,600 of the £440,000 he sought in damages. Mr Justice Fancourt concluded Piers Morgan and other editors knew about the phone hacking at their publications and were involved in it. Harry through his lawyer David Sherborne called the ruling "vindicating and affirming" and urged the authorities to further investigate and prosecute the company. An additional 115 articles from Harry's claim might have been the focus of two further trials, but in February 2024 he settled his claim with MGN. The publisher agreed to cover Harry's legal costs and pay damages reported to be in the region of £300,000.
Other cases
In October 2013, Jo Brand appeared on Have I Got News for You and while talking about Prince George's christening she said: "George's godparents include Hugh van Cutsem ... I presume that's a nickname as in Hugh van cuts 'em and Harry then snorts 'em." Representatives of Kensington Palace contacted the BBC after the programme aired, pointing out the error and the implications of the joke. The BBC wrote to Kensington Palace apologising for the "factual inaccuracy" as George's godfather was William van Cutsem, but it did not apologise for the comment itself as it was part of the show's "irreverent humor".
In February 2014, a judge sentenced the convicted criminal Ashraf Islam to three years in prison, as he had plotted to murder Harry and had given it "considerable thought" due to his belief that Harry had "a moral guilt" since he was in the army. In June 2019, two members of the neo-Nazi group Sonnenkrieg Division were jailed for eighteen months and four years, respectively, for sharing propaganda posters among which was one that labelled Harry as a "race traitor" with a gun pointed at his head.
In May 2019, Splash News issued a formal apology to the Sussexes for sending photographers to their Cotswolds residence, which put their privacy at risk. The agency also agreed to pay damages and legal costs associated with the case. In December 2019, PA Media retracted the publishing of a Christmas card photograph of Harry, Meghan, and their son Archie. The agency said that the photo was retracted because they had been advised that the photograph was "not representative of the Christmas card sent by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex". In January 2020, lawyers issued a legal warning to the press after paparazzi photographs were published in the media. In March 2020, the couple took Splash UK to court after the Duchess and their son were photographed without permission during a "private family outing" while staying in Canada. The case was settled later that year with Splash UK agreeing to no longer take unauthorised photos of the family. In April 2020, the Duke and Duchess announced that they would no longer cooperate with the Daily Mail, the Sun, the Mirror and the Express. They won an apology in October that year from American news agency X17 for taking photographs of their son at their home using drones.
In June 2020, it was reported that Harry's lawyers had issued a 'letter before action', threatening to sue the Sun and Dan Wootton, based on the allegations that they had paid money to associates of palace officials to secure their stories. It was alleged that the Sun had made two payments amounting to £4,000 to the partner of a royal official in relation to stories published in June and July 2019 which detailed the nannying and god-parenting arrangements for Harry and Meghan's son Archie. News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun, emphasised that they had done nothing "unlawful" in sourcing the stories and no illegal payments were made. Wootton's lawyers denied that any payments were made unlawfully to a public official or a proxy and described the claims as "a smear campaign by unknown bad actors." Wootton has been credited with breaking the story about Megxit and Harry and Meghan's initial plans for moving to Canada in the Sun on 8 January 2020, which prompted the couple to issue an announcement within hours, confirming their plans for stepping back from their royal duties. Sources close to the couple later spoke to The New York Times, stating that they "felt forced to disclose their plans prematurely" as they learned about the Sun's intentions to publish the story. Wootton disputed the claim as "They released the statement after we had published the story and had so much notice."
A September 2020 article by The Times claiming an Invictus Games fundraiser had been cancelled due to its affiliation with a competitor of Netflix, Harry's business partner, became the subject of a legal complaint issued by the Duke. In January 2022, the couple mutually filed a legal complaint against The Times for an article reporting on Archewell raising less than $50,000 in 2020.
Despite the palace congratulating the Duke and Duchess on the birth of their daughter Lilibet in June 2021, a few days later the BBC reported that Harry and Meghan had not sought the permission of the Queen before naming their daughter with her personal family nickname. Lawyers for the couple subsequently accused the BBC of defamation and sent letters out to various media organisations saying the report was false and defamatory, and the allegations should not be repeated as Harry had spoken to the Queen before announcing their daughter's name.
In January 2024, two neo-Nazis, Christopher Gibbons and Tyrone Patten-Walsh, were given prison sentences between 8 and 11 years for terrorism, which included calling for the deaths of Harry and his son Archie on their podcast.
Interviews
Harry and his wife were interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in a television special for CBS, broadcast on 7 March 2021. Meghan spoke about marriage, motherhood, and the pressures of public life. Harry joined her later, and the pair talked about the initial difficulties associated with their move to the United States in 2020 and their plans for the future. During the interview, Harry criticised his father's parenting style, mentioned his father did not answer his calls and had cut him off financially, and he had no relationship with his brother. There was a wide and polarised reaction to the interview.
In April 2022, Harry sat down for an interview with Today's Hoda Kotb during the Invictus Games, during which he claimed that he had visited his grandmother the Queen earlier to make sure that she was "protected and got the right people around her." In January 2023 and ahead of the release of his memoir Spare, Harry sat down for a series of interviews, including an interview by Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes, another one by Tom Bradby titled Harry: The Interview on ITV1, and a third interview by Michael Strahan on Good Morning America, titled Prince Harry: In His Own Words. In the interview with Bradby, Harry said that he "would like to get my father back, I would like to have my brother back". Referring to the press as "the devil", he also alleged that "certain members" of his family were "in the bed" with them to "rehabilitate their image".
In a live-streamed interview in March 2023, physician Gabor Maté suggested publicly that Harry could be suffering from PTSD, ADD, anxiety, and depression based on his conversation with him and having read his autobiography Spare.
In May 2025, Harry was interviewed by Nada Tawfik of the BBC, during which he reflected on his loss of taxpayer-funded security and his ongoing estrangement from his family. Writing for The Guardian, Stephen Bates stated that Harry's "megaphone diplomacy isn't working" and "his private security needs are probably not near the top of anybody's priorities".
On Twitter and other platforms
In October 2021, Twitter analytics service Bot Sentinel alleged that 83 accounts with a combined number of 187,631 followers were responsible for approximately 70% of the negative content posted about Harry and Meghan. The report prompted an investigation by Twitter. Twitter stated that it found no evidence of "widespread coordination" between the accounts, and said that it had taken action against users who violated Twitter's conduct policy. Bot Sentinel released three more reports in the following months. In January 2022, the BBC named Harry and Meghan among people whose photos and videos were used in fake instant profits advertisements and bitcoin-related investment schemes.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
Harry was originally styled "His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales". He used Wales as his surname for military purposes and was known as "Captain Harry Wales" in such contexts.
On the morning of his wedding, Elizabeth II granted him the Dukedom of Sussex, the Earldom of Dumbarton and Barony of Kilkeel. He thus became known as "His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex". He uses the earldom in Scotland and the barony in Northern Ireland.
On 18 January 2020, Buckingham Palace announced that, following their decision to step back from royal duties, from 31 March 2020 the Duke and Duchess would not use their Royal Highness styles in practice or publicly. They are still referred to as "His/Her Royal Highness" in legal and private settings.
While on his gap year in Lesotho in 2003, Harry was given the nickname Mohale (transl. 'the warrior'), a name that belonged to the younger brother of Moshoeshoe I.
Military ranks
United Kingdom
8 May 2005: Officer cadet, The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
13 April 2006: Cornet (Second Lieutenant), The Blues and Royals
13 April 2008: Lieutenant, The Blues and Royals
16 April 2011: Captain, The Blues and Royals
14 May 2018: Lieutenant Commander, Royal Navy
14 May 2018: Major, Army
14 May 2018: Squadron Leader, Royal Air Force
Honours
6 February 2002: Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
5 May 2008: Recipient of the Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan
6 February 2012: Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
4 June 2015: Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO)
6 February 2022: Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal
Foreign
12 July 2017: Order of Isabella the Catholic
Wear of orders, decorations, and medals
The ribbons worn regularly by Harry in undress uniform are as follows:
Appointments
13 October 2018 – 19 February 2021: Personal Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty The Queen (ADC)
Fellowships
6 March 2012 – present: Honorary Fellow of the University of the West Indies
Former honorary military appointments
United Kingdom
8 August 2006 – 19 February 2021: Commodore-in-Chief of Small Ships and Diving
3 October 2008 – 19 February 2021: Honorary Air Commandant of RAF Honington
19 December 2017 – 19 February 2021: Captain General Royal Marines
The honorary military appointments above were returned to Elizabeth II in February 2021.
Canada
10 November 2009 – present: Honorary Canadian Ranger
Awards
In December 2010, the German charity Ein Herz für Kinder ("A Heart for Children") awarded him its Golden Heart Award, in recognition of his "charitable and humanitarian efforts". On 7 May 2012, the Atlantic Council awarded him its Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership Award. In August 2018, the Royal Canadian Legion granted him the 2018 Founders Award for his role in founding the Invictus Games. In October 2018, he was presented with the RSA Badge in Gold, the organisation's highest honour, for his work with injured veterans. In July 2021, Harry and Meghan were among people who were selected by UK-based charity Population Matters to receive the Change Champions Award for their decision to have only two children and help with maintaining a smaller and more sustainable population. In February 2022, Harry and Meghan were selected to receive the NAACP's President's Award for their work on causes related to social justice and equity. In October 2022, the couple were named as Ripple of Hope Award laureates for their work on racial justice, mental health, and other social initiatives through their foundation Archewell. Harry was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation in January 2024. He received the Pat Tillman Award for Service during the 2024 ESPY Awards ceremony, recognising his service in the British Armed Forces and work with the Invictus Games, despite Tillman's mother believing that the award should have gone to "more fitting" recipients. In October 2025, he and his wife received the Humanitarians of the Year award at Project Healthy Minds' annual gala in New York City in recognition of their commitment to mental health support.
Arms
Ancestry
Agnatically, Harry is a member of the House of Glücksburg, a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg, one of Europe's oldest royal houses. Harry's paternal grandmother, Elizabeth II, issued letters patent on 8 February 1960 declaring his father to be a member of the House of Windsor.
Ancestors on Harry's father's side include most of the royal families of Europe, and on his mother's side, the earls Spencer—a cadet branch of the Spencer family descended from the earls of Sunderland; the senior branch are now also dukes of Marlborough; the Barons Fermoy; and more anciently from Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton; and Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond—two illegitimate sons of King Charles II.
Harry and his brother William descend matrilineally from Eliza Kewark (18th-century), who is variously described in contemporary documents as "a dark-skinned native woman", "an Armenian woman from Bombay", and "Mrs. Forbesian". Genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner assumed Kewark was Armenian. In June 2013, BritainsDNA announced that genealogical DNA tests on two of Harry and William's distant matrilineal cousins confirm Kewark was matrilineally of Indian descent.
Filmography
Bibliography
Books
"Foreword", in: Connaughton, Chris (2021). Hospital by the Hill. Archived from the original on 20 March 2021.
Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex (2023). Spare. Random House. ISBN 978-0-593-59380-6. OCLC 1356405890.
Authored articles and letters
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (2019). "I have always loved wild places". African Parks. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020.
Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex (6 August 2020). "Social media is dividing us. Together, we can redesign it". Fast Company. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020.
Prince Harry; Reinhold Mangundu (14 October 2021). "Protect the Okavango River Basin from corporate drilling". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 14 October 2021.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex; Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (29 October 2021). "Meeting the COVID-19 vaccine commitments". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021.
Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex (1 December 2021). "Letter from Prince Harry to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Ms Winnie Byanyima on World AIDS Day". UNAIDS. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021.
Prince Harry; Chris Coons; Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe (15 December 2022). "The Future of Conservation Is Taking Shape in Africa". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022.
Footnotes
References
Further reading
Bower, Tom (2022). Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors. London: Blink Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78870-503-5.
Campbell, Lady Colin (2020). Meghan and Harry: The Real Story. London: Dynasty Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-64313-675-2.
Lacey, Robert (2020). Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult. London: William Collins. ISBN 978-0-00-840852-7.
Levin, Angela (2018). Harry: Conversations with the Prince. London: John Blake. ISBN 978-1-78946-002-5.
Scobie, Omid; Durand, Carolyn (2020). Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Royal Family. London: Dey Street Books. ISBN 978-0-06-304610-8.
External links
Official website
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the official website of the British royal family
The Duke of Sussex at the website of the Government of Canada
Portraits of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex at the National Portrait Gallery, London
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex at IMDb
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984), is a member of the British royal family. As the younger son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, he is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne.
Educated at Wetherby School, Ludgrove School, and Eton College, Harry completed army officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was commissioned as a cornet into the Blues and Royals and served briefly with his older brother, William. Harry was twice deployed on active duty to Afghanistan; first in 2007–2008 for ten weeks in Helmand Province, and then for twenty weeks in 2012–2013 with the Army Air Corps.
Inspired by the Warrior Games in the United States, Harry launched the Invictus Games in 2014 as founding patron and remains involved. Two years later, alongside his brother William and sister-in-law Catherine, Harry jointly initiated the mental health awareness campaign "Heads Together".
In 2018 Harry was made Duke of Sussex prior to his wedding to American actress Meghan Markle. They have two children: Archie and Lilibet. Harry and Meghan stepped down as working royals in January 2020, moved to Meghan's native Southern California, and launched Archewell Inc., a Beverly Hills-based mix of for-profit and not-for-profit business organisations. In March 2021, Harry sat for Oprah with Meghan and Harry, a much-publicised American television interview with his wife and Oprah Winfrey. The couple filmed Harry & Meghan, a Netflix docuseries, which was released in December 2022. In 2023, Harry released his memoir, Spare.
Early life
Harry was born in the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, on 15 September 1984 at 4:20 pm as the second child of Charles, Prince of Wales (later King Charles III), and his first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, during the reign of his paternal grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. He was christened Henry Charles Albert David on 21 December 1984 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, by Robert Runcie, the then archbishop of Canterbury. Growing up, he was referred to as "Harry" by family, friends, and the public, and was nicknamed "Harold" by his brother. Harry and his elder brother, William, were raised at Kensington Palace in London, and Highgrove House in Gloucestershire. Diana wanted her sons to have a broader range of experiences and a better understanding of ordinary life than previous royal children. She took them to venues that ranged from Walt Disney World and McDonald's to AIDS clinics and homeless shelters. Harry began accompanying his parents on official visits at an early age; his first overseas tour was with his parents to Italy in 1985. He also travelled with his family to Canada in 1991 and 1998.
Harry's parents divorced in 1996. His mother died in a car crash in Paris the following year while he and William were staying with their father at Balmoral Castle. Their father informed them about their mother's death. At his mother's funeral, Harry, then aged 12, accompanied his father, brother, paternal grandfather Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and maternal uncle Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, in walking behind the funeral cortège from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey. Harry and his brother William inherited the "bulk" of the £12.9 million left by their mother on their respective 30th birthdays, a figure that had grown since her 1997 death to £10 million each in 2014. In 2014 Harry and William inherited their mother's wedding dress along with many of her other personal possessions, including dresses, diamond tiaras, jewels, letters, and paintings. The brothers also received the original lyrics and score of "Candle in the Wind", by Bernie Taupin and Elton John, as performed by John at Diana's funeral. In 2002 The Times reported that Harry would also share with his brother a disbursement of £4.9 million from trust funds established by their great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, on their respective 21st birthdays and would share a disbursement of £8 million upon their respective 40th birthdays. It was reported that Harry would inherit the bulk of the money left by the Queen Mother for the two brothers, as William is set to ascend to the throne, which will bring him additional financial benefits.
Education
Like his father and brother, Harry was educated at private schools. He started at London's Jane Mynors' nursery school and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School. Following this, he attended Ludgrove School in Berkshire. After passing entrance exams, he was admitted to Eton College. The decision to place Harry at Eton went against the past practice of the Mountbatten-Windsors to send children to Gordonstoun, which his grandfather, father, two uncles, and two cousins had attended. It did, however, see Harry follow in his elder brother's footsteps and the Spencer family's, as both his mother's father and her brother attended Eton. As was the case with his brother, the royal family and the tabloid press agreed Harry would be allowed to study free from intrusion in exchange for occasional photograph opportunities in what became known as the "pressure cooker agreement".
In June 2003, Harry completed his education at Eton with two A-Levels, achieving a grade B in art and D in geography, having decided to drop history of art after AS level. He has been described as "a top tier athlete", having played competitive polo and rugby union. One of his former teachers, Sarah Forsyth, has asserted that he was a "weak student" and that staff at Eton conspired to help him cheat on examinations. Both Eton and Harry denied the claims. While a tribunal made no ruling on the cheating claim, it "accepted the prince had received help in preparing his A-level 'expressive' project, which he needed to pass to secure his place at Sandhurst." Harry also joined the Combined Cadet Force while studying at Eton and was made cadet officer in his final year, leading the corps' annual parade at the Eton tattoo.
After school, Harry took a gap year, during which he spent time in Australia working as a jackaroo on a cattle station, and participating in the Young England vs Young Australia Polo Test match. He also travelled to Lesotho, where he worked with orphaned children and produced the documentary film The Forgotten Kingdom: Prince Harry in Lesotho.
Military career
Sandhurst; Blues and Royals; deployment to Afghanistan
Harry passed the Regular Commissions Board (RCB) in September 2004 and entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 8 May 2005, where he was known as Officer Cadet Wales, and joined Alamein Company. His entry into the academy had to be delayed for 4 months as he recovered from an injury to his left knee. In April 2006, Harry completed his officer training and was commissioned as a Cornet (second lieutenant) in the Blues and Royals, a regiment of the Household Cavalry in the British Army. On 13 April 2008, when he reached two years' seniority, Harry was promoted to lieutenant.
In 2006 it was announced that Harry's unit was scheduled to be deployed in Iraq the following year. A public debate ensued as to whether he should serve there. In April 2006, the Ministry of Defence announced that Harry would be shielded from the front line if his unit was sent to war, with a spokeswoman stating that he was expected to "undertake the fullest range of deployments", but his role needed to be monitored as "his overt presence might attract additional attention" that would put him or those he commanded at risk. Defence Secretary John Reid said that he should be allowed to serve on the front line of battle zones. Harry agreed saying, "If they said 'no, you can't go front line' then I wouldn't drag my sorry ass through Sandhurst and I wouldn't be where I am now." Harry completed the Troop Leaders' Course in October 2006 and rejoined his regiment in Windsor, where he was put in charge of a troop of 11 soldiers and four Scimitar reconnaissance vehicles. The Ministry of Defence and Clarence House made a joint announcement on 22 February 2007 that Harry would be deployed with his regiment to Iraq, as part of the 1st Mechanised Brigade of the 3rd Mechanised Division – a move supported by Harry, who had stated that he would leave the army if he was told to remain in safety while his regiment went to war.
The head of the British army at the time, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said on 30 April 2007 that he had personally decided that Harry would serve with his unit in Iraq as a troop commander, and Harry was scheduled for deployment in May or June 2007 to patrol the Maysan Governorate. By 16 May, however, Dannatt announced that Harry would not serve in Iraq; concerns included Harry being a high-value target (as several threats by various groups had already been made against him) and the dangers the soldiers around him would face should any attempt be made on his life or if he were captured. Clarence House made public Harry's disappointment with the decision, though he said he would abide by it.
In the summer of 2007 Harry was trained as a joint terminal attack controller at RAF Leeming. In early June 2007, it was reported that Harry had arrived in Canada to train alongside soldiers of the Canadian Forces and British Army, at CFB Suffield near Medicine Hat, Alberta. It was said that this was in preparation for a tour of duty in Afghanistan, where Canadian and British forces were participating in the NATO-led Afghan War. This was confirmed in February of the following year when the British Ministry of Defence revealed that Harry had been secretly deployed as a joint terminal attack controller to Helmand Province in Afghanistan for the previous ten weeks. The revelation came after the media – notably, German newspaper Bild and Australian magazine New Idea – breached the blackout placed over the information by the Canadian and British authorities. He was immediately pulled out due to the fear that the media coverage would put his security and the security of fellow soldiers at risk. It was later reported that Harry helped Gurkha troops repel an attack from Taliban insurgents, and performed patrol duty in hostile areas while in Afghanistan.
Harry's tour made him the first member of the British royal family to serve in a war zone since his uncle Prince Andrew, who flew helicopters during the Falklands War. For Harry's service, his aunt Princess Anne presented him with an Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan at the Combermere Barracks in May 2008.
Army Air Corps and second deployment to Afghanistan
In October 2008, it was announced that Harry would follow his brother, father and uncle in learning to fly military helicopters. Harry attended the Defence Helicopter Flying School at RAF Shawbury, where he joined his brother. He initially failed his pilot's theory test in February 2009. Prince Charles presented him with his flying brevet (wings) on 7 May 2010 at a ceremony at the Army Air Corps Base (AAC), Middle Wallop. Harry was awarded his Apache Flying Badge on 14 April 2011. On 16 April 2011, it was announced that Harry had been promoted to captain. In June 2011, Clarence House announced that Harry would be available for deployment in current operations in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot. The final decision rested with the Ministry of Defence's senior commanders, including principally the Chief of the Defence Staff in consultation with the wishes of Harry, the Prince of Wales, and the Queen. In October, he was transferred to a US military base in California to complete his helicopter gunship training. This final phase included live-fire training and "environmental and judgment training" at naval and air force facilities in California and Arizona. In the same month, it was reported that Harry was top of his class in extensive training undertaken at the Naval Air Facility, El Centro, California. While training in Southern California, he spent time in San Diego. In November 2011, Harry returned to England. He went to Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk, in the east of England, to complete his training to fly Apache helicopters.
On 7 September 2012, Harry arrived at Camp Bastion in southern Afghanistan as part of the 100-strong 662 Squadron, 3 Regiment, Army Air Corps, to begin a four-month combat tour as a co-pilot and gunner for an Apache helicopter. On 10 September, within days of arriving in Afghanistan, it was reported that the Taliban had threatened his life. On 18 September 2012, it was reported that Harry had been moved to a safe location after an attack by the Taliban on Camp Bastion that killed two US marines. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond stated that "additional security arrangements" were put in place, for Harry could be a potential target, but added that he would face "the same risk as any other Apache pilot" while in combat. In files obtained on the incident, Major General Gregg A. Sturdevant was quoted as saying "The night of the attack, he slept through the entire thing. We didn't do anything special for him. He came and went, and you never would have known he was there" and "the only thing special we did for him was we had a place identified as a safe house in case the base came under attack." On 21 January 2013, it was announced that Harry was returning from a 20-week deployment in Afghanistan. On 8 July 2013, the Ministry of Defence announced that Harry had successfully qualified as an Apache aircraft commander. Harry compared operating the Apache's weapons systems in Afghanistan to playing video games.
Harry later revealed in his 2023 memoir Spare that he flew on six missions that resulted in him killing 25 Taliban members, writing that he felt he was trained to not view them as "people" but instead as "chess pieces" that had been taken off the board. He added that "It's not a number that gave me any satisfaction. But neither was it a number that made me feel ashamed." Following the publishing of Harry's claims, Pen Farthing, a British former Royal Marines commando and founder of the Nowzad Dogs charity, was evacuated from Kabul on 6 January 2023 to avoid "potential reprisal attacks on ex-forces people". Harry's revelations prompted backlash from both Taliban members and British politicians and military figures.
HQ London District and Invictus Games
On 17 January 2014, the Ministry of Defence announced that Harry had completed his attachment to 3 Regiment Army Air Corps, and would take up a staff officer role, SO3 (Defence Engagement) in HQ London District. His responsibilities would include helping to coordinate significant projects and commemorative events involving the Army in London. He was based at Horse Guards in central London.
On 6 March 2014, Harry launched Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style sporting event for injured servicemen and women, which was held on 10–14 September 2014. Harry met British hopefuls for the Invictus Games at Tedworth House in Wiltshire for the start of the selection process on 29 April 2014. On 15 May 2014, Harry attended a ticket sale launch for Invictus Games at BT Tower, from where he tweeted on the Invictus Games' official Twitter account as the president of the Games. To promote the Games, he was interviewed by BBC Radio 2's Chris Evans along with two Invictus Games hopefuls. He said: "[The Invictus Games] is basically my full-time job at the moment, making sure that we pull this off." The show aired on 31 July 2014. Harry later wrote an article in The Sunday Times about his experiences in Afghanistan: how they had inspired him to help injured personnel and how, after the trip to the Warrior Games, he had vowed to create the Invictus Games. Harry and officials attended the British Armed Forces Team announcement for Invictus Games at Potters Field Park in August 2014. As president of the Invictus Games, he attended all events related to the Games from 8 to 14 September 2014.
In January 2015, it was reported that Harry would take on a new role in supporting wounded service personnel by working alongside members of the London District's Personal Recovery Unit for the MOD's Defence Recovery Capability scheme to ensure that wounded personnel have adequate recovery plans. The palace confirmed weeks later that the scheme was established in partnership with Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion. In late January 2015, Harry visited The Battle Back Centre set up by the Royal British Legion, and Fisher House UK at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. A partnership between Help for Heroes, the Fisher House Foundation and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) Charity created the Centre. Fisher House Foundation is one of the Invictus Games' sponsors. In February and March 2015, Harry visited Phoenix House in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, a recovery centre run by Help for Heroes. He also visited Merville Barracks in Colchester, where Chavasse VC House Personnel Recovery Centre is located, run by Help for Heroes in partnership with the Ministry of Defence and Royal British Legion.
Secondment to Australian Defence Force
On 17 March 2015, Kensington Palace announced that Harry would leave the Armed Forces in June. Before then, he would spend four weeks throughout April and May at army barracks in Darwin, Perth and Sydney whilst seconded to the Australian Defence Force (ADF). After leaving the Army, while considering his future, he would return to work in a voluntary capacity with the Ministry of Defence, supporting Case Officers in the Ministry's Recovery Capability Programme. He would be working with both those who administer and receive physical and mental care within the London District area.
On 6 April 2015, Harry reported for duty to Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin at the Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra, Australia. Harry flew to Darwin later that day to begin his month-long secondment to the ADF's 1st Brigade. His visit included detachments to NORFORCE as well as to an aviation unit. While in Perth, he trained with Special Air Service Regiment (SASR), participating in the SASR selection course, including a fitness test and a physical training session with SASR selection candidates. He also joined SASR members in Perth for live-fire shooting exercises with numerous Special Forces weapons at a variety of ranges. Harry completed an insertion training exercise using a rigid-hull inflatable boat. In Sydney, he undertook urban operations training with the 2nd Commando Regiment. Training activities included remotely detonating an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and rappelling from a building. He also spent time flying over Sydney as co-pilot of an Army Black Hawk helicopter and participated in counter-terrorism training in Sydney Harbour with Royal Australian Navy clearance divers.
Harry's attachment with the ADF ended on 8 May 2015, and on 19 June 2015 he resigned his short service commission.
Post-military service
In 2021, Harry described his 10 years (2005–2015) in the army as "the happiest times in my life". Since leaving the army, he has been closely involved with the armed forces through the Invictus Games, honorary military appointments and other official engagements. On 19 December 2017, he succeeded his grandfather Prince Philip as the Captain General Royal Marines. In May 2018, he was promoted to the substantive ranks of Lieutenant Commander of the Royal Navy, Major of the British Army and Squadron Leader of the Royal Air Force.
On 18 January 2020, Buckingham Palace announced that an agreement had been reached for Harry "to step back from Royal duties, including official military appointments". In February 2021, the Palace confirmed that the Duke would give up his position as Captain General Royal Marines and hand back all the other honorary military appointments.
Personal life
Bachelorhood
Chelsy Davy, the daughter of Zimbabwean South Africa-based businessman Charles Davy, was referred to as Harry's girlfriend in an interview conducted for his 21st birthday, and Harry said he "would love to tell everyone how amazing she is but once I start talking about that, I have left myself open.... There is truth and there is lies and unfortunately I cannot get the truth across." Davy was present when Harry received his Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan and also attended his graduation ceremony when he received his flying wings from his father. In early 2009, it was reported the pair had parted ways after a relationship that had lasted for five years.
In his 2023 memoir, Harry states that months after breaking up with Davy he was introduced to Caroline Flack, whom he described as "funny", "sweet", and "cool". The two saw each other for a while before press intrusion "tainted" their relationship "irredeemably" according to Harry. Flack had discussed the relationship in her own autobiography as well.
In May 2012, Harry's cousin Princess Eugenie introduced him to Cressida Bonas, an actress and model who is the granddaughter of Edward Curzon, 6th Earl Howe. On 30 April 2014, it was reported that the couple had parted amicably.
Marriage and family
In mid-2016, Harry began a relationship with American actress Meghan Markle. According to the couple, they first connected with each other via Instagram, though they have also said that they were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend in July 2016. On 8 November, eight days after the relationship was made public by the press, Harry directed his communications secretary to release a statement on his behalf to express personal concern about pejorative and false comments made about his girlfriend by mainstream media and internet trolls. In September 2017, Harry and Markle first appeared together in public at the Invictus Games in Toronto. Their engagement was announced on 27 November 2017 by Harry's father. The announcement prompted generally positive comments about having a mixed-race person as a member of the royal family, especially in regard to Commonwealth countries with populations of blended or native ancestry. On the morning of the wedding, Queen Elizabeth II conferred the title of Duke of Sussex upon Harry; Markle became Duchess of Sussex through her marriage to him later that day. The marriage ceremony was held at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on 19 May 2018. The couple later revealed in the 2021 television interview Oprah with Meghan and Harry that, three days prior to the ceremony, they had privately exchanged vows in their garden, in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. However, this earlier exchange of vows was not an official religious or legally recognised marriage.
The Duke and Duchess initially lived at Nottingham Cottage in London, in the grounds of Kensington Palace. In May 2018, it was reported that they had signed a two-year lease on WestfieldLarge, located on the Great Tew Estate in the Cotswolds. They gave up the lease after photos of the house and its interior were published by a paparazzi agency. The couple considered settling at the 21-room Apartment 1 within Kensington Palace, but moved to Frogmore Cottage in the Home Park of Windsor Castle which Queen Elizabeth II had recently gifted to them instead. The Crown Estate refurbished the cottage at a cost of £2.4 million, paid out of the Sovereign Grant, with the Duke later reimbursing expenses beyond restoration and ordinary maintenance, a part of which was offset against rental payments that were due at the time. On 6 May 2019, the Duke and Duchess's son, Archie, was born. Their office was moved to Buckingham Palace and officially closed on 31 March 2020 when the Sussexes ceased "undertaking official engagements in support of the Queen". After some months in Canada and the United States, the couple bought a house in June 2020 on the former estate of Riven Rock in Montecito, California. The next month, the Duchess suffered a miscarriage. On 4 June 2021, their daughter, Lilibet, was born. The Duke and Duchess have owned a Labrador named Pula, and two Beagles named Guy and Mamma Mia.
In 2017, Harry stated that he had "five or six" godchildren, some of whom later attended his wedding.
Health
In May 1988, Harry underwent a surgery for a minor hernia. In November 2000, he broke his thumb while playing football at Eton and underwent a minor operation. In his memoir, Spare, Harry admits that he took cocaine at the age of 17. In 2002, it was reported that, with Charles's encouragement, Harry had paid a visit to a drug rehabilitation unit to talk to drug addicts after it had emerged that he had been smoking cannabis and drinking at his father's Highgrove House and at a local pub in the summer of 2001. He adds in his memoir that he smoked cannabis at Eton and in Kensington Palace gardens, but he later told a court that "he never smoked in [his] father's house". In the memoir, he also detailed taking magic mushrooms at a party at Courteney Cox's house in January 2016.
In 2017 and during an appearance on Bryony Gordon's podcast Mad World, Harry acknowledged that with the support of his brother he had sought counselling years after his mother's death. He added that he had struggled with aggression, had suffered from anxiety during royal engagements, and had been "very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions". He later added that he had taken up boxing as a way of coping with mental stress and "letting out aggression". In other interviews he stated that besides therapy he took alcohol to cope and used experimental drugs recreationally, including "psychedelics, Ayahuasca, psilocybin, mushrooms." He also stated that what he experienced after his mother's death "was very much" post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In his mental-health television documentary, The Me You Can't See, which premiered in 2021, he added that he had undergone four years of therapy to address his mental health issues, having been encouraged to do so by his future wife after they had started dating. He also mentioned that he had suffered from "panic attacks [and] severe anxiety" in his late 20s and that the heavy load of official visits and functions had eventually "led to burnout". In an episode of Armchair Expert, Harry attributed his mental health issues to the ineffective parenting style of previous generations and to the "genetic pain and suffering" passed down in his family, adding that he believed his issues stemmed from "the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered". In his 2023 memoir, Harry described himself as an agoraphobe.
Political views
In September 2020, Harry and his wife released a video addressing American voters to "reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity" in the 2020 United States presidential election, which was seen by some as an implicit endorsement of Joe Biden. Harry was the subject of a prank by the Russian comedy duo Vovan and Lexus, who posed as climate activist Greta Thunberg and her father during two phone calls on New Year's Eve and 22 January 2020. During the conversations, Harry described his decision to leave the monarchy as "not easy" and criticised Donald Trump's stance on climate change and his support of the coal industry.
In May 2021, Harry was a guest on Dax Shepard and Monica Padman's podcast Armchair Expert during which he talked about the freedom of speech and laws related to it in the United States, stating "I've got so much I want to say about the First Amendment as I sort of understand it, but it is bonkers." He added that it was "a huge subject and one which [he didn't] understand", emphasising that one could "capitalise or exploit what's not said rather than uphold what is said." The comments were met by backlash from conservative Americans and Britons, prompting figures such as Ted Cruz, Dan Crenshaw, Nigel Farage, Candace Owens, Jack Posobiec, and Laura Ingraham to criticise him publicly.
In November 2021, in a panel at Wired's Re:Wired Conference, Harry claimed that a day before the January 6 United States Capitol attack he emailed Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, and 'warned' of potential civil unrest, but had not received a response. In the same month, Conservative politician and MP Johnny Mercer, who was leading the efforts to waive visa fees for foreign-born UK veterans and their families, announced in the Commons that the Duke of Sussex was supportive of their proposal and viewed it as "morally right" and not as "a political intervention".
In June 2022, in an interview with Jessica Yellin for Vogue, Meghan described Harry's reaction to the Supreme Court of the United States's decision that abortion is not a protected constitutional right as "guttural". Harry later condemned the decision as "rolling back of constitutional rights" in his address to the United Nations on Mandela Day in July 2022. Associate justice of the Supreme Court Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority decision for the case, criticised foreign figures including Harry for their comments on "American law" during a speech.
In June 2023, Harry broke royal protocol by criticising the UK government in his witness statement to a court. He argued that both the British press and the government were "at rock bottom" and instead of scrutinising the government the press got "into bed with them so they can ensure the status quo".
Drug use and U.S. visa application
In March 2023, the Heritage Foundation (HF) sent a dossier on Harry's drug use to different government entities, asking whether he had admitted to past drug use on his U.S. visa application. The following month, they filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) demanding his immigration records.
In March 2024, the U.S. government was ordered to hand over Harry's visa application details to a D.C. court. The move followed an initial failed freedom of information request that was asked for by the HF from DHS a year earlier. In September 2024, the case brought forward by the HF was closed due to the filing of two sealed orders and a sealed "memorandum opinion". The HF subsequently filed a request to "vacate" the ruling and release confidential correspondence between the judge and DHS. Judge Carl Nichols ordered for the redacted versions of the court documents to be released by 18 March 2025. 82 pages across seven exhibits that were heavily redacted and did not include the visa application itself were released, though his immigration status was withheld and it was not revealed whether he disclosed his drug use on his visa application. Immigration officials argued in the case that HF could "not point to any evidence of government misconduct" while Harry's team stated that he was "truthful" and the documents suggested that he did not receive preferential treatment.
In February 2025, new U.S. President Donald Trump ruled out deporting Harry from the US, telling the New York Post: "I'll leave him alone."
Public life
At the age of 21, Harry was appointed a Counsellor of State and began his duties in that capacity. The Queen granted Harry and William their own royal household on 6 January 2009. Previously, William and Harry's affairs had been handled by their father's office at Clarence House in central London. The new household released a statement announcing they had established their own office at nearby St James's Palace to look after their public, military and charitable activities. In March 2012, Harry led an official visit to Belize as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. He continued to the Bahamas and Jamaica, where the Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller, was considering initiating a process of turning Jamaica into a republic. He then visited Brazil to attend the GREAT Campaign. Harry also played tambourine and took part in the music video for the song "Sing", which was released in May 2012 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee.
Between 9 and 15 May 2013, he made an official visit to the United States. The tour promoted the rehabilitation of injured American and UK troops, publicised his own charities and supported British interests. It included engagements in Washington, DC, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. He met survivors of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey. In October 2013, he undertook his first official tour of Australia, attending the International Fleet Review at Sydney Harbour. He also paid a visit to the Australian SAS HQ in Perth. In May 2014, he visited Estonia and Italy. In Estonia, he visited Freedom Square in the capital Tallinn to honour fallen Estonian soldiers. He also attended a reception at the Estonian Parliament and a NATO military exercise. In Italy, Harry attended commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the Monte Cassino battles, in which Polish, Commonwealth and British troops fought. He opened the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on 6 November 2014, a task usually performed by Prince Philip.
Before reporting for duty to the Australian Defence Force (ADF), Harry visited the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on 6 April 2015. He made a farewell walkabout at the Sydney Opera House on 7 May 2015 and visited Macquarie University Hospital. He joined his father in Turkey to attend commemorations of the centenary of the Gallipoli Campaign in April 2015. In October 2015, Harry carried out a day of engagements in the US. He launched the Invictus Games Orlando 2016 with First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Jill Biden at Fort Belvoir. He later attended an Invictus Games board meeting and a reception to celebrate the launch at the British Ambassador's Residence. Harry, as patron of Sentebale, travelled to Lesotho to attend the opening of the Mamohato Children's Centre in November 2015. From 30 November to 3 December 2015, he made an official visit to South Africa. He visited Cape Town, where he presented the insignia of the Order of the Companions of Honour to the Archbishop on behalf of the Queen. Harry also played the Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup, at Val de Vie Estate in Cape Town, fundraising for Sentebale. He visited Nepal 19–23 March 2016. He stayed until the end of March 2016 to help rebuild a secondary school with Team Rubicon UK, and visited a Hydropower Project in Central Nepal.
In April 2018, he was appointed Commonwealth youth ambassador, a position which he held until March 2020. Also in that month, Harry became a patron of Walk of America, a campaign which brings together a number of veterans who will take part in a 1,000-mile expedition across the US in mid-2018. The Prince was appointed the president of The Queen's Commonwealth Trust, which focuses on projects involving children and welfare of prisoners, in April. Periodically, online QCT chat sessions were conducted and uploaded to YouTube for general public viewing. He remained the charity's president until February 2021. In July 2018, Harry travelled to Dublin, Ireland, alongside his wife Meghan, which marked their first overseas visit as a couple. In October 2018, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex travelled to Sydney, for the 2018 Invictus Games. This formed part of a Pacific tour that included Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand.
Harry identifies as a feminist. During their visit to Morocco in February 2019, the Duke and Duchess focused on projects centred on "women's empowerment, girls' education, inclusivity and encouragement of social entrepreneurship". As part of establishing a separate office from that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2019, the Duke and Duchess created an Instagram social media account, which broke the record for the fastest account at the time to reach a million followers. During his trip to Angola in 2019, the Duke visited the Born Free to Shine project in Luanda, an initiative by First Lady Ana Dias Lourenço which aims to "prevent HIV transmission from mothers to babies" through education, medical testing and treatment. He also met HIV+ youth and teenagers during his visit. During his visit to the Luengue-Luiana National Park, the Duke unveiled an initiative by the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy to help with protecting "an ancient elephant migration route" by providing safe passage for them in the forest. In September and October 2019, a Southern African tour included Malawi, Angola, South Africa and Botswana. Because infant son Archie travelled with the Sussexes, this was "their first official tour as a family". Harry completed 1,190 engagements between 2006 and 2019.
Stepping back and subsequent public appearances
In January 2020, the Duke and Duchess announced that they were stepping back from their role as senior members of the royal family, and would balance their time between the United Kingdom and North America. A statement released by the Palace confirmed that the Duke and Duchess were to become financially independent and cease to represent the Queen. At the time of the announcement of Harry and Meghan's decision to "step back" as senior members of the royal family in 2020, 95% of the couple's income derived from the £2.3 million given to them annually by Harry's father, Charles, as part of his income from the Duchy of Cornwall. The couple retain their HRH stylings but are not permitted to use them. The formal role of the Duke and Duchess was subject to a twelve-month review period, ending in March 2021. In March 2020, Harry attended the opening of the Silverstone Experience in Silverstone Circuit together with racing driver Lewis Hamilton. Harry's appearance at the museum was his final solo engagement as a senior royal. He and Meghan attended the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on 9 March 2020, which was their last engagement as a couple before they officially stepped down on 31 March. Harry's personal wealth was estimated at £30 million by The Daily Telegraph in 2020. Two years later, they made their first official appearance in the UK in June 2022 while attending the Platinum Jubilee National Service of Thanksgiving.
The Sussexes visited the UK and Germany in September 2022 for a number of charity events in Manchester and Düsseldorf. On 8 September 2022, while Harry and Meghan were in London preparing to attend a charity event, Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and they remained in the United Kingdom for her funeral.
Harry and Meghan visited Nigeria in May 2024 to honour the work of the Invictus Games. According to CNN, their trip focused on "sports rehabilitation, mental health, and women's empowerment".
Publicly funded police security
Harry faced difficulties with obtaining and maintaining publicly funded security, both in Canada and the United Kingdom, after he and Meghan announced their self-demotion within the royal family. While the couple resided on Vancouver Island, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation launched a petition calling for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to cease providing security to the Sussexes. The Government of Canada announced RCMP security would not be provided after March 2020 when the couple's status changed. A similar petition circulated in the UK in mid-March 2020. The backlash in the two countries led President Donald Trump to preemptively assert that the United States would not pay either; though, the couple never intended to ask for it while in the US.
In January 2022, it was reported that Harry had been in a legal fight since September 2021 over the Home Office's refusal to allow him to pay for police protection. He had made the offer to pay during the Sandringham Summit and "self-evidently believed" that it would be passed on to the government. Following the first court hearing of the case by the High Court, it was revealed that Harry had 'exceptional status' and the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC) still determined his personal protective security on a case-by-case basis. After receiving applications by the Duke and the Home Office to keep parts of the case private, the High Court ruled in March 2022 that some parts of it would remain confidential. Mr Justice Swift also reacted to the Duke's legal team sending a copy of the ruling to someone who was not a lawyer, describing it as "entirely unacceptable". In July 2022, Mr Justice Swift granted permission for part of Harry's claim to proceed for a judicial review.
Harry filed a lawsuit against the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police in August 2022, challenging the decision by RAVEC from January 2022 which stated that State security could not be made available to private individuals even if they wished to pay for it themselves. In February 2023, a High Court judge ruled that the second case should be thrown out; however, the decision was later appealed by Harry's legal team. He lost the legal challenge in May 2023, meaning that he will not be allowed to make private payments for police protection. In June 2023, a Freedom of Information request revealed that Harry's legal fight with the Home Office had cost £502,236, with £492,000 covered by the state and the remaining £10,000 covered by Harry. In February 2024, the High Court ruled against Harry in his case against the Home Office and upheld the decision by RAVEC, stating that there had been no unlawfulness in the decision-making process for his security arrangements. In April 2024, he lost an initial attempt to appeal against the ruling. Despite his lawyers' attempts to have him pay no more than 50% of the Home Office's legal costs of defending his challenge, the judge held him liable for 90% of the costs. It was also revealed that during the proceedings Harry had leaked information via email to "a partner of Schillings" and to Johnny Mercer, for which he apologised to the court. In May 2024, he was given permission by the Court of Appeal to challenge the High Court's decision. His appeal was rejected by three senior judges in May 2025 and he was likely to be held liable for the UK government's legal fees.
Civilian career and investments
In summer 2019, before announcing their decision to step back in January 2020, Harry and his wife were involved in talks with Jeffrey Katzenberg, the founder of the now-defunct streaming platform Quibi, over a possible role in the service without gaining personal profits, but they eventually decided against joining the project. In September 2019, it was reported that the couple had hired New York-based PR firm Sunshine Sachs, which represented them until 2022. The couple has also been associated with Adam Lilling's Plus Capital, a venture capital fund designed to connect early stage companies with influencers and investors. Between 2019 and 2020, Harry and Meghan contributed to the book Finding Freedom through a third-party source. Despite initially denying their involvement with the book, their contributions to the book became apparent during Meghan's court case against Associated Newspapers who were trying to use the book in their defense.
In June 2020, they signed with the Harry Walker Agency, owned by media company Endeavor, to conduct paid public speaking engagements. In September 2020, the Sussexes signed a five-year private commercial deal with Netflix. In December 2020, the Duke and Duchess signed a multi-year deal with Spotify to produce and host their own programs through their audio producing company, Archewell Audio. A holiday special was released by the couple on the service in December 2020. In June 2023, Spotify announced they would not proceed with the deal, cancelling Archetypes which had run for a single season of 12 episodes. Harry & Meghan, a docuseries about the Sussexes, was produced by Netflix and the couple's Archewell Productions and premiered on 8 December 2022. It is directed by Liz Garbus. The series received mixed reviews. In April 2024, it was announced that Archewell Productions is working with Netflix to produce two new shows – on lifestyle and on polo – for the streaming platform. The Polo docuseries was released in December 2024 and was a critical and commercial disappointment. In August 2025, Archewell Productions renewed its partnership with Netflix under a multi-year first-look deal, which included plans for other documentary and scripted projects.
In March 2021, San Francisco-based mental health start-up BetterUp, a company that helps people get in contact with coaches or counsellors, said that Harry would become its first chief impact officer. In the same month, Harry was appointed as a commissioner for the Aspen Institute's Commission on Information Disorder to carry out a six-month study on the state of misinformation and disinformation in the United States. The study was published in November 2021 as a report with 15 recommendations. In the following month, in his capacity as BetterUp's chief impact officer, Harry was interviewed by Fast Company, stating that the recent trend of people leaving their jobs (known as the Great Resignation) was something that needed to be celebrated, though his remarks were criticised for coming from a position of privilege. In April 2022, reports emerged of criticism by the company's coaches over the new metrics placed for evaluating their services and over the opacity surrounding Harry's actual role in the firm.
In April 2019, it was announced that Harry was working as co-creator and executive producer on a documentary series about mental health together with Oprah Winfrey, which was initially set to air in 2020 on Apple TV+. It was later announced that the series, titled The Me You Can't See, would be released on 21 May 2021. In the following month, UCAS reported an increase in the percentage of students declaring mental health issues on their university applications, citing self-help books and Harry's statements on his struggles with "panic attacks and anxiety" as contributing factors. In October 2021, Harry and Meghan announced their partnership with Ethic, a sustainable investment firm based in New York City, which also manages the couple's investments. According to state filings from Delaware, where the couple's Archewell foundation is registered, Harry and Meghan incorporated 11 companies and a trust beginning in early 2020 which include Orinoco Publishing LLC and Peca Publishing LLC to hold the rights for their books as well as Cobblestone Lane LLC and IPHW LLC which are holders of their foundation's logos.
In July 2021, it was announced that Harry was set to publish his memoir Spare via Penguin Random House, with Harry reportedly earning an advance of at least $20 million. Spare was ghostwritten by novelist J. R. Moehringer. The memoir is reportedly the first of a four-book publishing deal that is set to include a second book by Harry and a wellness guide by Meghan. Spare was officially published on 10 January 2023 in 16 languages, and it has since become the UK's fastest selling non-fiction book with 400,000 confirmed sales in all formats on publication day. Harry announced that $1.5 million of the proceeds from the memoir were pledged to the charity Sentebale, while £300,000 would be given to WellChild.
Charity work
Humanitarian and environmental activities
Harry has granted his patronage to organisations including WellChild, Dolen Cymru, MapAction and the London Marathon Charitable Trust; he stepped down from MapAction in 2019 and the London Marathon Charitable Trust in 2021. In 2007 he and William organised the Concert for Diana, in memory of their mother, which benefited the charities and patronages of Diana, William, and Harry. In October 2008, Harry and his brother embarked on the 1,000 mile eight-day Enduro Africa motorbike ride across South Africa to raise money for Sentebale, UNICEF and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. In September 2009, William and Harry set up The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry to enable them to take forward their charitable ambitions. Harry left the charity in June 2019.
After taking part in an unfinished trip to the North Pole with Walking With The Wounded in 2011, Harry joined the charity's 200-mile expedition to the South Pole in Antarctica during December 2013, accompanying twelve injured servicemen and women from the UK, the US and the Commonwealth. As patron of Walk of Britain, he walked with the team on 30 September and 20 October 2015. To raise awareness for HIV testing, Harry took a test live on the royal family Facebook page on 14 July 2016. He later attended the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, on 21 July 2016. On World AIDS Day, Harry and Rihanna helped publicise HIV testing by taking the test themselves. Since 2016 Harry has been working with Terrence Higgins Trust to raise awareness about HIV and sexual health. In November 2019, to mark the National HIV Testing Week, the Duke interviewed HIV+ Rugby player Gareth Thomas on behalf of the trust.
In December 2017, Harry guest edited BBC Radio 4's Today programme, conducting interviews with his father, then Prince of Wales, former US president Barack Obama, and others on issues such as youth violence, the Armed Forces, mental health, the Commonwealth, conservation and the environment. Harry was officially appointed the new president of African Parks (a conservation NGO) on 27 December 2017, a position which he held until 2023 when he was appointed a member of its board of directors. He had previously spent three weeks in Malawi with African Parks where he joined a team of volunteers and professionals to carry out one of the largest elephant translocations in history. The effort to repopulate areas decimated due to poaching and habitat loss moved 500 elephants from Liwonde and Majete National Parks to Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve. Harry had previously helped with relocating rhinos in the Okavango Delta and later became patron of the Rhino Conservation Botswana. Accusations of abuse by the charity surfaced publicly in 2022 and 2024, when reports claimed that rangers managed by African Parks had been torturing, beating, raping, and forcibly displacing members of the indigenous Baka community.
In July 2018, the Elton John AIDS Foundation announced that the Duke of Sussex and British singer Elton John were about to launch a global coalition called MenStar that would focus "on treating HIV infections in men". In May 2019, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex together with Harry's brother and sister-in-law launched Shout, the UK's first 24/7 text messaging service for those who suffer from mental issues. In September 2019, the Duke launched Travalyst during his visit to the Netherlands after two years of development. The initiative is set "to encourage sustainable practices in the travel industry" and "tackle climate change and environmental damage", in collaboration with a number of companies, including Tripadvisor, Booking.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Visa Inc. The organisation later announced a partnership with Google in 2021. In October 2019, along with other members of the royal family, Harry voiced a Public Health England announcement, for the "Every Mind Matters" mental health program.
In February 2020, Harry recorded a new version of the song "Unbroken" with Jon Bon Jovi. The new version features backing vocals from members of the Invictus Choir. The song was released on 27 March 2020, the proceeds of which were donated to the Invictus Games Foundation. In April 2020, Harry launched a new initiative named HeadFIT, a platform designed to provide mental support for members of the armed forces. The initiative was developed mutually by the Royal Foundation's Heads Together campaign, the Ministry of Defence, and King's College London. In June 2020, the Duke and Duchess backed the Stop Hate for Profit campaign and encouraged CEOs of different companies to join the movement.
In April 2021, Harry and Meghan were announced as campaign chairs for Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World, an event organised by Global Citizen to increase access to COVID-19 vaccinations. They also announced their support for a vaccine equity fundraiser initiated by the same organisation, and penned an open letter to the pharmaceutical industry CEOs urging them to address the vaccine equity crisis. Later that month, he narrated "Hope Starts Here", a special video rereleased by African Parks to mark the Earth Day in which he urged organisations and communities to preserve biodiversity and paid tribute to his grandfather Prince Philip for his efforts as a conservationist. He helped with the establishment of Peak State, a mental fitness programme aimed at providing tools and resources for managing mental health, to which he publicly lent his support in May 2021.
Like his mother, Harry has worked with the HALO Trust, an organisation that removes debris—particularly landmines—left behind by war. He had previously visited a minefield in Mozambique with the charity and spent two days learning about their work and mine-clearing techniques. In 2013 he was named as patron of the charity's 25th Anniversary Appeal. In April 2017, he hosted the Landmine Free 2025 reception at Kensington Palace, during which the UK government announced an increase in its financial support for de-mining efforts. In September 2019, he walked through a de-mining site in Angola, the same country visited by his mother 22 years earlier. In June 2021, after ten members of the trust were killed by an armed group at a mine clearance camp in Afghanistan, Harry issued a statement saying the attack "was nothing less than an act of barbarism".
In September 2021, together with First Lady Jill Biden, he hosted a virtual event for the Warrior Games, which were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2021, he spoke against oil drilling in the Okavango River in an op-ed for The Washington Post. In the same month and ahead of the 2021 G20 Rome summit, Harry and his wife penned an open letter together with the Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom, asking the G20 leaders to expedite efforts for the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. In March 2022, they were among more than a hundred people who signed an open letter published by the People's Vaccine Alliance, asking for free global access to COVID-19 vaccines and calling out the UK, EU and Switzerland for opposing a waiver that would allow vaccine intellectual property protections to be lifted. In April 2022 and in a video featuring Rhys Darby and Dave Fane on Māori Television, Harry launched an eco-travel campaign through his non-profit Travalyst, encouraging people to travel sustainably. In November 2023, he was named global ambassador for Scotty's Little Soldiers, one of the seven charities which he and his wife had invited people to support in lieu of giving them wedding presents.
In September 2025, Harry announced that he had personally donated £1.1 million to BBC Children in Need in December 2024, describing it as a "significant investment" in grassroots organisations in Nottingham supporting young people affected by violence.
Sport
Harry has enjoyed playing sports, such as competitive polo, skiing, and motocross. Like his brother and father, he has participated in polo matches to raise money for charitable causes. Harry is also a keen Rugby football fan and supported England's bid to host rugby union's 2015 Rugby World Cup, and presented the trophy at rugby league's 2019 Challenge Cup finals. In 2004 Harry trained as a Rugby Development Officer for the Rugby Football Union and coached students in schools to encourage them to learn the sport. He, along with former rugby player Brian Moore, both argued that in response to Black Lives Matter, the song "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" should no longer be sung in rugby context. Between December 2016 and February 2021, he was patron of both the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Rugby Football League (RFL), Rugby League's governing body in England. He had served as the RFU's vice-royal patron since 2010, supporting the Queen as patron.
In 2012 Harry launched Coach Core alongside his brother and sister-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The program was set up following the 2012 Olympics and provides apprenticeship opportunities for people who desire to pursue a career as a professional coach. In January 2017, Harry visited the Running Charity and its partner Depaul UK to highlight the role of sport in helping homeless and vulnerable people. In June 2019, the Duke was present at the launch of Made by Sport, a charity coalition set to raise money to boost sport in disadvantaged communities. In his statement, he lent his support to the charity by arguing that its role in bringing sport into the life of disadvantaged people would save "hundreds of millions of pounds" towards treating the issues among young people.
Sussex Royal and Archewell
In June 2019, it was announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would split from The Royal Foundation and establish their own charity foundation by the end of 2019. Nevertheless, the couple would collaborate with Harry's brother and his wife on mutual projects, such as the mental health initiative Heads Together. In July 2019, Harry and Meghan's new charity was registered in England and Wales under the title "Sussex Royal The Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex". It was confirmed on 21 February 2020 that "Sussex Royal" would not be used as a brand name for the couple following their withdrawal from public life. Sussex Royal Foundation was renamed "MWX Foundation" on 5 August 2020 and dissolved the same day.
In March 2021, it was reported that the Charity Commission for England and Wales was conducting a review of the Sussex Royal organisation in a "regulatory and compliance case" regarding its conduct under charity law during dissolution. Representatives for the couple claimed that Sussex Royal was "managed by a board of trustees" and that "suggestion of mismanagement" directed exclusively at the Duke and Duchess would be incorrect. The commission later concluded that the foundation did not act unlawfully, but criticised the board of directors for expending a "substantial proportion of funds" to setting up and closing the charity.
In April 2020, Meghan and Harry confirmed their new foundation (in lieu of Sussex Royal) would be called "Archewell". The name stems from the Greek word "arche", which means "source of action"; the same word that inspired the name of their son. Archewell was registered in the United States. Its website was officially launched in October 2020.
Sentebale
In 2006 Harry visited Mants'ase Children's Home near Mohale's Hoek in Lesotho, which he had first toured in 2004, and alongside Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, he launched Sentebale: The Princes' Fund for Lesotho, a charity to assist children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. In March 2025, Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho resigned from their roles as patrons of Sentebale following a dispute between the charity's trustees and the chair of the board, Sophie Chandauka. Chandauka reported the charity to the Charity Commission due to what she described as "poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir – and the coverup that ensued". Chandauka later accused Harry of "harassment and bullying at scale" by authorising "the release of a damaging piece of news to the outside world", adding that his "toxic" brand was "the number one risk" for the organisation. There were also allegations that through his contacts Harry had asked Chandauka to issue a statement in support of his wife following an awkward interaction between the two women during a polo match in Miami, and had later demanded that she "explain herself" in a note that was described as "unpleasant" in tone and reportedly used "imperious" language. In August 2025 the Charity Commission announced it found no evidence of "widespread or systemic bullying or harassment, including misogyny or misogynoir" or "over-reach" by either Chandauka or Harry but acknowledged a "strong perception of ill treatment felt by a number of parties" and stated that deciding on specific allegations of bullying was outside the purview of its regulatory authority. It also criticised all sides for allowing the conflict "to play out publicly" and cited poor internal governance and a "failure to resolve disputes internally" as factors that impacted the charity's reputation.
Public image
In his youth, Harry earned a reputation for being rebellious, leading the tabloid press to label him a "wild child". At the age of 17, he was seen smoking cannabis, drinking underage with friends, and clashing physically with paparazzi outside nightclubs. In early 2005, he was photographed at a "Colonial and Native"-themed birthday party in Wiltshire wearing a Nazi German Afrika Korps uniform with a swastika armband. His choice sparked a backlash from the media, politicians, and religious figures. Clarence House later issued a public statement in which Harry apologised for his behaviour. In an interview for his 21st birthday he stated that it "was a very stupid thing to do and I've learnt my lesson".
In January 2005, in response to an inquiry about his Zimbabwean girlfriend Chelsy Davy, Harry responded "She's not black or anything, you know". In January 2009, the British tabloid, the News of the World, revealed a video made by Harry three years earlier in which he referred to a Pakistani fellow officer cadet as "our little Paki friend" and called a soldier wearing a camouflage hood a "raghead". These terms were described by the Leader of the Opposition at the time David Cameron as "unacceptable", and by The Daily Telegraph as "racist". A British Muslim youth organisation called Harry a "thug". Further extracts showed him telling a comrade "I love you" before giving him a kiss on the cheek and licking his face, and asking another whether he felt gay, queer, or on the side. Clarence House immediately issued an apology from Harry, who stated that no malice was intended in his remarks. Subsequently, it was reported that the military had instructed Harry to attend a diversity course. In the same year, British stand-up comedian Stephen K. Amos alleged that after a stand-up show for Charles's 60th birthday celebrations in November 2008 Harry had commented on his performance by saying, "You don't sound like a black chap", though he hoped that the remarks were made in jest.
In October 2007, a video from Harry's trip to Namibia with his friends surfaced, which showed him snorting vodka and licking a male friend's nipples. While on holiday in Las Vegas in August 2012, Harry and an unknown young woman were photographed naked in a Wynn Las Vegas hotel room, reportedly during a game of strip billiards. The pictures were leaked by American celebrity website TMZ on 21 August 2012, and reported worldwide by mainstream media on 22 August 2012. The photographs were shown by the American media, but British media were reluctant to publish them. Royal aides suggested Clarence House would contact the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) if British publications used the pictures. St James's Palace confirmed that Harry was in the photographs, saying that he was essentially a victim whose privacy had been invaded and contacted the PCC upon hearing that a number of British newspapers were considering publishing the photographs. On 24 August 2012, The Sun newspaper published the photographs. At a 2014 event in England, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins was slapped by Harry after he had told him "I can't wake up, so tired", with Harry subsequently stating "You awake now?" Hawkins added "I got slapped in the face by the prince. That's OK really, if you think about it. But in the moment, I was like, 'You fucking slapped me, dude.'"
In December 2021, reports emerged about Harry's meetings with Saudi businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, whose receipt of a CBE became the subject of an investigation by the Scottish Charity Regulator. Mahfouz had met Harry in 2013 and 2014 and donated £50,000 to his charity Sentebale and £10,000 to Walking With The Wounded, of which Harry is patron. The Sunday Times claimed that the meetings with Harry opened the way for Mahfouz to get access to the Prince of Wales. Harry referred to the incident as the "CBE scandal" in December 2021 and stated that he severed ties with Mahfouz in 2015 after expressing "growing concerns" about his motives, though aides from his father's household denied having any discussions with him regarding Mahfouz. A spokesperson for Sentebale defended the meetings and added that there was not any impropriety regarding the donations.
In March 2024, Harry was named in a lawsuit against P. Diddy who was facing allegations of sexual trafficking. He was mentioned as a well-known celebrity associate of Combs, whom he would use among other famous figures to draw guests to his parties.
Public opinion
In view of their environmental activism, Harry and Meghan were criticised in August 2019 for reportedly taking four private jet journeys in 11 days, including one to Elton John's home in Nice, France. The criticism was in line with the reactions the royal family faced in June 2019, after it was revealed that they "had doubled [their] carbon footprint from business travel". Harry received backlash again in August 2021 and 2022 for taking a two-hour flight on private jets between California and Aspen, Colorado, to participate in an annual charity polo tournament. In June 2022 and on their way to California after the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, Harry and Meghan boarded a private jet that was estimated to have emitted "ten times more carbon than flying commercial".
After his marriage, Harry's popularity skyrocketed above all the other royals as he was deemed likable by 77 per cent of respondents in a poll of 3,600 Britons conducted by statistics and polling company YouGov. However, his popularity fell after stepping back from royal duties, and it plummeted after the release of his controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey, his Netflix docuseries, and his memoir. In December 2022, Harry was found to be the third most disliked member of the British royal family by YouGov, preceded by his uncle Prince Andrew and his wife Meghan. Writing for The New York Times, Sarah Lyall noted that following the release of his memoir Harry and his wife lost support within segments of the American public and press. It has been suggested by critics that this fall from public esteem is due to Harry and Meghan's frequent attempts to achieve ongoing relevancy, and their perceived hypocrisy and selfishness. Harry and Meghan's exit from the royal family was satirized in a 2023 episode of South Park.
In 2018 and 2021, Harry was selected as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine. In 2019, the magazine named Harry and his wife as among the 25 Most Influential People on the Internet. In 2021, the couple was featured on one of the magazine's seven worldwide Time 100 covers. In 2023, People named him as one of the "25 Most Intriguing People of the Year". In the same year, James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter named Harry and Meghan among the Hollywood losers of 2023.
Following Harry and Meghan's trip to Nigeria in May 2024, Lucia Stein of the ABC argued that the couple could have been used by the royal family, and added that "perhaps how helpful they would have been" had an agreement on a "hybrid working model" been achieved. Media editor, Tina Brown commented in relation to the visit, they are "enormously appealing to the public, and very good at [public engagement]." In the same year Harry's role as founder of Travalyst was recognised in the second edition of the Time 100 Climate list which ranked the most influential climate action leaders.
In January 2025, Justine Bateman called the behavior of Harry and Meghan "repulsive" for showing up at a food bank during the Southern California wildfires in the Pacific Palisades, a section of Los Angeles. Bateman stated that Harry and his wife were not "politicians" and were only after a "photo op", calling them "disaster tourists". Harry and Meghan's appearance in the area drew mixed reactions from segments of the media and public figures.
Privacy and the media
Legal issues and incidents
Associated Newspapers
In January 2020, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) sided with the Mail on Sunday over a dispute between the Duke and the newspaper regarding an Instagram photo involving Harry in which, according to the newspaper, elephants were in fact "tranquilised" and "tethered" during a relocating process. The IPSO rejected Harry's claim that the paper's description was "inaccurate" or "misleading".
In December 2020, Harry's legal team sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) for publishing a story in the Mail on Sunday claiming his working relationship with the Royal Marines had suffered post-royal departure. The newspaper subsequently accepted the claims were false and issued an apology. The prince's lawyer said the "substantial damages" paid by the publisher would be donated to the Invictus Games Foundation.
In February 2022, Harry filed a libel suit in the High Court against ANL for a Mail on Sunday article which alleged he was trying to keep his legal battle against the Home Office to restore his police protection secret from the public through requesting a confidentiality order on the case and that he offered to pay for police protection only after filing a lawsuit against the government. In June 2022, Mr Justice Nicklin ruled that parts of the article were potentially defamatory, though Nicklin rejected claims by Harry's lawyers that the article portrayed him as a liar. Harry attempted to have the publisher's defence thrown out, but the judge rejected his motion in December 2023 and decided that the case should proceed to trial. He later ordered Harry to pay Mail on Sunday £48,447 in legal costs. Harry withdrew the libel claim in January 2024 and became liable for the publisher's £250,000 legal costs.
In October 2022, the Duke of Sussex joined Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Sadie Frost, and Elizabeth Hurley in launching a legal action against ANL for their alleged "abhorrent criminal activity", which was said to involve listening to and recording people's phone calls and daily activities, obtaining sensitive information and medical records, and accessing bank accounts and financial transactions. In a statement, ANL described the allegations as "preposterous smears", and Gavin Burrows, the private investigator whose alleged 2021 statement was used as a key element in the case, said that the statement was not signed by him and was "a cut and paste from my evidence" of other publishers targeting individuals. In November 2023, Mr Justice Nicklin ruled that the case brought by Harry and the other claimants could proceed but unpublished material provided to the Leveson Inquiry was inadmissible as proof in this case.
News Group and Mirror Group newspapers
In October 2019, it was announced that Harry had sued the Daily Mirror, The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World "in relation to alleged phone-hacking". Former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman had previously stated that he had hacked Harry's phone on nine occasions. Andy Coulson, the editor of the News of the World, apologised to Harry and his brother for invading their privacy, accepting "ultimate responsibility" for the actions of Goodman. In his lawsuit, Harry sought damages in excess of £200,000 from the publisher of the News of the World and The Sun and alleged an earlier agreement between News Group Newspapers (NGN) and the royal family which would see he and William not take legal action in return for an apology had not been honoured. Both brothers brought a claim privately through their mutual attorneys, but Harry decided to pursue his case separately with a new solicitor in 2019. In July 2023, the judge ruled that part of Harry's case involving allegations of illegal information gathering would go to trial but his phone-hacking claims were dismissed for being made too late. In May 2024, Mr Justice Fancourt refused Harry the permission to include claims against Rupert Murdoch, expand his case's scope back to 1994 and 1995 to cover allegations involving his mother or to add new allegations from 2016 involving his then-girlfriend Meghan. In October 2024, the judge announced that the two sides should either settle or go to trial in January 2025 and refused to let Harry's team include allegations that bugs were placed in rooms and cars, and trackers placed on vehicles as "no particulars whatsoever of such allegations" were provided. In January 2025, the two parties settled with NGN paying more than £10 million in pay outs and legal fees in the settlements involving both Harry and former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson. NGN made a "full and unequivocal apology" for "serious intrusion" by The Sun between 1996 and 2011, for "phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators instructed by them at the News of the World" and the intrusion into the life of his mother, and admitted "incidents of unlawful activity" were carried out by private investigators working for the newspaper, but "not by journalists". The BBC reported on the "scrapped case", highlighting NGN's statement which said that the settlement agreement "drew a line under the past" and that they rejected the claims that would have been made in court about a corporate cover-up.
Lawyers for the Mirror denied accessing Harry's voicemail messages and other allegations, but admitted to instructing "private investigators to unlawfully obtain private information" about Harry on a single occasion that involved him visiting Chinawhite. In January 2023, a High Court judge ruled that Harry's lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) as well as other similar lawsuits against the publisher would go to trial in May 2023. At the beginning of trial, MGN apologised for one instance of unlawful information gathering against Harry and added that his legal challenge "warrants compensation". In June 2023, Harry testified in the court case accusing former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan of horrific personal attacks and claimed that his phone had been hacked dating back to when he was still at Eton. His appearance marked the first time a member of the royal family had been cross-examined in court since Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, appeared as a witness in court in 1891. In December 2023, the High Court ruled in favour of Harry for 15 of the 33 sample stories used in his claims of phone hacking against MGN and awarded him £140,600 of the £440,000 he sought in damages. Mr Justice Fancourt concluded Piers Morgan and other editors knew about the phone hacking at their publications and were involved in it. Harry through his lawyer David Sherborne called the ruling "vindicating and affirming" and urged the authorities to further investigate and prosecute the company. An additional 115 articles from Harry's claim might have been the focus of two further trials, but in February 2024 he settled his claim with MGN. The publisher agreed to cover Harry's legal costs and pay damages reported to be in the region of £300,000.
Other cases
In October 2013, Jo Brand appeared on Have I Got News for You and while talking about Prince George's christening she said: "George's godparents include Hugh van Cutsem ... I presume that's a nickname as in Hugh van cuts 'em and Harry then snorts 'em." Representatives of Kensington Palace contacted the BBC after the programme aired, pointing out the error and the implications of the joke. The BBC wrote to Kensington Palace apologising for the "factual inaccuracy" as George's godfather was William van Cutsem, but it did not apologise for the comment itself as it was part of the show's "irreverent humor".
In February 2014, a judge sentenced the convicted criminal Ashraf Islam to three years in prison, as he had plotted to murder Harry and had given it "considerable thought" due to his belief that Harry had "a moral guilt" since he was in the army. In June 2019, two members of the neo-Nazi group Sonnenkrieg Division were jailed for eighteen months and four years, respectively, for sharing propaganda posters among which was one that labelled Harry as a "race traitor" with a gun pointed at his head.
In May 2019, Splash News issued a formal apology to the Sussexes for sending photographers to their Cotswolds residence, which put their privacy at risk. The agency also agreed to pay damages and legal costs associated with the case. In December 2019, PA Media retracted the publishing of a Christmas card photograph of Harry, Meghan, and their son Archie. The agency said that the photo was retracted because they had been advised that the photograph was "not representative of the Christmas card sent by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex". In January 2020, lawyers issued a legal warning to the press after paparazzi photographs were published in the media. In March 2020, the couple took Splash UK to court after the Duchess and their son were photographed without permission during a "private family outing" while staying in Canada. The case was settled later that year with Splash UK agreeing to no longer take unauthorised photos of the family. In April 2020, the Duke and Duchess announced that they would no longer cooperate with the Daily Mail, the Sun, the Mirror and the Express. They won an apology in October that year from American news agency X17 for taking photographs of their son at their home using drones.
In June 2020, it was reported that Harry's lawyers had issued a 'letter before action', threatening to sue the Sun and Dan Wootton, based on the allegations that they had paid money to associates of palace officials to secure their stories. It was alleged that the Sun had made two payments amounting to £4,000 to the partner of a royal official in relation to stories published in June and July 2019 which detailed the nannying and god-parenting arrangements for Harry and Meghan's son Archie. News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun, emphasised that they had done nothing "unlawful" in sourcing the stories and no illegal payments were made. Wootton's lawyers denied that any payments were made unlawfully to a public official or a proxy and described the claims as "a smear campaign by unknown bad actors." Wootton has been credited with breaking the story about Megxit and Harry and Meghan's initial plans for moving to Canada in the Sun on 8 January 2020, which prompted the couple to issue an announcement within hours, confirming their plans for stepping back from their royal duties. Sources close to the couple later spoke to The New York Times, stating that they "felt forced to disclose their plans prematurely" as they learned about the Sun's intentions to publish the story. Wootton disputed the claim as "They released the statement after we had published the story and had so much notice."
A September 2020 article by The Times claiming an Invictus Games fundraiser had been cancelled due to its affiliation with a competitor of Netflix, Harry's business partner, became the subject of a legal complaint issued by the Duke. In January 2022, the couple mutually filed a legal complaint against The Times for an article reporting on Archewell raising less than $50,000 in 2020.
Despite the palace congratulating the Duke and Duchess on the birth of their daughter Lilibet in June 2021, a few days later the BBC reported that Harry and Meghan had not sought the permission of the Queen before naming their daughter with her personal family nickname. Lawyers for the couple subsequently accused the BBC of defamation and sent letters out to various media organisations saying the report was false and defamatory, and the allegations should not be repeated as Harry had spoken to the Queen before announcing their daughter's name.
In January 2024, two neo-Nazis, Christopher Gibbons and Tyrone Patten-Walsh, were given prison sentences between 8 and 11 years for terrorism, which included calling for the deaths of Harry and his son Archie on their podcast.
Interviews
Harry and his wife were interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in a television special for CBS, broadcast on 7 March 2021. Meghan spoke about marriage, motherhood, and the pressures of public life. Harry joined her later, and the pair talked about the initial difficulties associated with their move to the United States in 2020 and their plans for the future. During the interview, Harry criticised his father's parenting style, mentioned his father did not answer his calls and had cut him off financially, and he had no relationship with his brother. There was a wide and polarised reaction to the interview.
In April 2022, Harry sat down for an interview with Today's Hoda Kotb during the Invictus Games, during which he claimed that he had visited his grandmother the Queen earlier to make sure that she was "protected and got the right people around her." In January 2023 and ahead of the release of his memoir Spare, Harry sat down for a series of interviews, including an interview by Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes, another one by Tom Bradby titled Harry: The Interview on ITV1, and a third interview by Michael Strahan on Good Morning America, titled Prince Harry: In His Own Words. In the interview with Bradby, Harry said that he "would like to get my father back, I would like to have my brother back". Referring to the press as "the devil", he also alleged that "certain members" of his family were "in the bed" with them to "rehabilitate their image".
In a live-streamed interview in March 2023, physician Gabor Maté suggested publicly that Harry could be suffering from PTSD, ADD, anxiety, and depression based on his conversation with him and having read his autobiography Spare.
In May 2025, Harry was interviewed by Nada Tawfik of the BBC, during which he reflected on his loss of taxpayer-funded security and his ongoing estrangement from his family. Writing for The Guardian, Stephen Bates stated that Harry's "megaphone diplomacy isn't working" and "his private security needs are probably not near the top of anybody's priorities".
On Twitter and other platforms
In October 2021, Twitter analytics service Bot Sentinel alleged that 83 accounts with a combined number of 187,631 followers were responsible for approximately 70% of the negative content posted about Harry and Meghan. The report prompted an investigation by Twitter. Twitter stated that it found no evidence of "widespread coordination" between the accounts, and said that it had taken action against users who violated Twitter's conduct policy. Bot Sentinel released three more reports in the following months. In January 2022, the BBC named Harry and Meghan among people whose photos and videos were used in fake instant profits advertisements and bitcoin-related investment schemes.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
Harry was originally styled "His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales". He used Wales as his surname for military purposes and was known as "Captain Harry Wales" in such contexts.
On the morning of his wedding, Elizabeth II granted him the Dukedom of Sussex, the Earldom of Dumbarton and Barony of Kilkeel. He thus became known as "His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex". He uses the earldom in Scotland and the barony in Northern Ireland.
On 18 January 2020, Buckingham Palace announced that, following their decision to step back from royal duties, from 31 March 2020 the Duke and Duchess would not use their Royal Highness styles in practice or publicly. They are still referred to as "His/Her Royal Highness" in legal and private settings.
While on his gap year in Lesotho in 2003, Harry was given the nickname Mohale (transl. 'the warrior'), a name that belonged to the younger brother of Moshoeshoe I.
Military ranks
United Kingdom
8 May 2005: Officer cadet, The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
13 April 2006: Cornet (Second Lieutenant), The Blues and Royals
13 April 2008: Lieutenant, The Blues and Royals
16 April 2011: Captain, The Blues and Royals
14 May 2018: Lieutenant Commander, Royal Navy
14 May 2018: Major, Army
14 May 2018: Squadron Leader, Royal Air Force
Honours
6 February 2002: Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
5 May 2008: Recipient of the Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan
6 February 2012: Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
4 June 2015: Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO)
6 February 2022: Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal
Foreign
12 July 2017: Order of Isabella the Catholic
Wear of orders, decorations, and medals
The ribbons worn regularly by Harry in undress uniform are as follows:
Appointments
13 October 2018 – 19 February 2021: Personal Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty The Queen (ADC)
Fellowships
6 March 2012 – present: Honorary Fellow of the University of the West Indies
Former honorary military appointments
United Kingdom
8 August 2006 – 19 February 2021: Commodore-in-Chief of Small Ships and Diving
3 October 2008 – 19 February 2021: Honorary Air Commandant of RAF Honington
19 December 2017 – 19 February 2021: Captain General Royal Marines
The honorary military appointments above were returned to Elizabeth II in February 2021.
Canada
10 November 2009 – present: Honorary Canadian Ranger
Awards
In December 2010, the German charity Ein Herz für Kinder ("A Heart for Children") awarded him its Golden Heart Award, in recognition of his "charitable and humanitarian efforts". On 7 May 2012, the Atlantic Council awarded him its Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership Award. In August 2018, the Royal Canadian Legion granted him the 2018 Founders Award for his role in founding the Invictus Games. In October 2018, he was presented with the RSA Badge in Gold, the organisation's highest honour, for his work with injured veterans. In July 2021, Harry and Meghan were among people who were selected by UK-based charity Population Matters to receive the Change Champions Award for their decision to have only two children and help with maintaining a smaller and more sustainable population. In February 2022, Harry and Meghan were selected to receive the NAACP's President's Award for their work on causes related to social justice and equity. In October 2022, the couple were named as Ripple of Hope Award laureates for their work on racial justice, mental health, and other social initiatives through their foundation Archewell. Harry was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation in January 2024. He received the Pat Tillman Award for Service during the 2024 ESPY Awards ceremony, recognising his service in the British Armed Forces and work with the Invictus Games, despite Tillman's mother believing that the award should have gone to "more fitting" recipients. In October 2025, he and his wife received the Humanitarians of the Year award at Project Healthy Minds' annual gala in New York City in recognition of their commitment to mental health support.
Arms
Ancestry
Agnatically, Harry is a member of the House of Glücksburg, a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg, one of Europe's oldest royal houses. Harry's paternal grandmother, Elizabeth II, issued letters patent on 8 February 1960 declaring his father to be a member of the House of Windsor.
Ancestors on Harry's father's side include most of the royal families of Europe, and on his mother's side, the earls Spencer—a cadet branch of the Spencer family descended from the earls of Sunderland; the senior branch are now also dukes of Marlborough; the Barons Fermoy; and more anciently from Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton; and Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond—two illegitimate sons of King Charles II.
Harry and his brother William descend matrilineally from Eliza Kewark (18th-century), who is variously described in contemporary documents as "a dark-skinned native woman", "an Armenian woman from Bombay", and "Mrs. Forbesian". Genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner assumed Kewark was Armenian. In June 2013, BritainsDNA announced that genealogical DNA tests on two of Harry and William's distant matrilineal cousins confirm Kewark was matrilineally of Indian descent.
Filmography
Bibliography
Books
"Foreword", in: Connaughton, Chris (2021). Hospital by the Hill. Archived from the original on 20 March 2021.
Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex (2023). Spare. Random House. ISBN 978-0-593-59380-6. OCLC 1356405890.
Authored articles and letters
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (2019). "I have always loved wild places". African Parks. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020.
Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex (6 August 2020). "Social media is dividing us. Together, we can redesign it". Fast Company. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020.
Prince Harry; Reinhold Mangundu (14 October 2021). "Protect the Okavango River Basin from corporate drilling". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 14 October 2021.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex; Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (29 October 2021). "Meeting the COVID-19 vaccine commitments". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021.
Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex (1 December 2021). "Letter from Prince Harry to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Ms Winnie Byanyima on World AIDS Day". UNAIDS. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021.
Prince Harry; Chris Coons; Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe (15 December 2022). "The Future of Conservation Is Taking Shape in Africa". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022.
Footnotes
References
Further reading
Bower, Tom (2022). Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors. London: Blink Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78870-503-5.
Campbell, Lady Colin (2020). Meghan and Harry: The Real Story. London: Dynasty Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-64313-675-2.
Lacey, Robert (2020). Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult. London: William Collins. ISBN 978-0-00-840852-7.
Levin, Angela (2018). Harry: Conversations with the Prince. London: John Blake. ISBN 978-1-78946-002-5.
Scobie, Omid; Durand, Carolyn (2020). Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Royal Family. London: Dey Street Books. ISBN 978-0-06-304610-8.
External links
Official website
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the official website of the British royal family
The Duke of Sussex at the website of the Government of Canada
Portraits of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex at the National Portrait Gallery, London
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex at IMDb
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Miley Cyrus
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Miley Ray Cyrus ( MY-lee SY-rəs, born Destiny Hope Cyrus; November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. An influential figure in popular music, Cyrus is known for her evolving artistry and image reinventions. A daughter of singer Billy Ray Cyrus, she was an established child star before developing a successful entertainment career as an adult. Cyrus emerged as a teen idol as Miley Stewart in the Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana (2006–2011), growing a profitable franchise and achieving two number-one soundtracks on the Billboard charts.
Cyrus's solo career started with the US number-one pop rock albums Meet Miley Cyrus (2007) and Breakout (2008). The single "Party in the U.S.A." from her EP The Time of Our Lives (2009) became a best-seller, certified 14-times platinum in the US. She aimed for a mature image with her dance-pop album Can't Be Tamed (2010), which received mixed reviews. Cyrus signed to RCA Records, transitioning to hip hop and R&B with Bangerz (2013), her fifth chart-topping album, featuring "We Can't Stop" and her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one "Wrecking Ball". She explored various genres on her albums Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz (2015), Younger Now (2017), and Plastic Hearts (2020). After signing with Columbia Records, she released her eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation (2023), led by the internationally successful "Flowers", her second US number-one, winning two Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year. Her ninth studio album, Something Beautiful (2025), is a visual album and a musical film.
As an actress, Cyrus starred in the films Bolt (2008), Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009), The Last Song (2010), LOL (2012), and So Undercover (2013). On television, she was the subject of the documentary Miley: The Movement (2013), led the miniseries Crisis in Six Scenes (2017), served as a coach on two seasons of The Voice (2016–2017), and starred in the "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too" episode of Black Mirror (2019). She also hosted the holiday special Miley's New Year's Eve Party (2021–2022).
Cyrus has received various accolades, including three Grammy Awards, one Brit Award, five Billboard Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, and eight Guinness World Records. She was named a Disney Legend, in recognition for her contributions to The Walt Disney Company. Cyrus was ranked the ninth-greatest Billboard 200 female artist, and among the greatest pop stars of the 21st century by Billboard, and is the eighth-highest-certified female digital singles artist by the RIAA. She has featured in listicles such as the Time 100 (2008 and 2014), Forbes Celebrity 100 (2010 and 2015), and 30 Under 30 (2014 and 2021). Outside of entertainment, Cyrus founded the non-profit Happy Hippie Foundation in 2014, which focuses on the LGBTQ community and youth homelessness, and was supported by the web video series Backyard Sessions (2012–2023).
Early life and career beginnings
Destiny Hope Cyrus was born on November 23, 1992, in Franklin, Tennessee, to Leticia "Tish" Jean Cyrus (née Finley) and country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. She was born with supraventricular tachycardia, a condition causing an abnormal resting heart rate. Her birth name, Destiny Hope, expressed her parents' belief that she would accomplish great things. Her parents nicknamed her "Smiley", which they later shortened to "Miley", because she often smiled as an infant. In 2008, she legally changed her name to Miley Ray Cyrus; her middle name honors her grandfather, Democratic politician Ronald Ray Cyrus, who was from Kentucky. Cyrus's godmother is singer-songwriter Dolly Parton.
Against the advice of her father's record company, Cyrus's parents secretly married on December 28, 1993, a year after her birth. They had two more children, son Braison and daughter Noah. From a previous relationship, her mother has two other children, Brandi and Trace. Her father's first child, Christopher Cody, was born in April 1992 and grew up separately with his mother, waitress Kristin Luckey, in South Carolina.
All of Cyrus's maternal siblings are established entertainers. Trace is a vocalist and guitarist for the electronic pop band Metro Station. Noah is an actress and, along with Braison, models, sings, and is a songwriter. Brandi was formerly a musician for the indie rock band Frank + Derol and is a professional DJ. The Cyrus farmhouse is located on 500 acres of land outside Nashville.
Cyrus attended Heritage Elementary School in Williamson County while she and her family lived in Thompson's Station, Tennessee. When she was cast in Hannah Montana, the family moved to Los Angeles and she attended Options for Youth Charter Schools studying with a private tutor on set. Raised as a Christian, she was baptized in a Southern Baptist church before moving to Hollywood in 2005. She attended church regularly while growing up and wore a purity ring. In 2001, when Cyrus was eight, she and her family moved to Toronto, Canada, while her father filmed the television series Doc. After Billy Ray Cyrus took her to see a 2001 Mirvish production of Mamma Mia! at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Miley Cyrus grabbed his arm and told him, "This is what I want to do, daddy. I want to be an actress." She began to take singing and acting lessons at the Armstrong Acting Studio in Toronto.
Cyrus's first acting role was as Kylie in her father's television series Doc. In 2003, she received credit under her birth name for her role as "Young Ruthie" in Tim Burton's Big Fish. During this period she auditioned with Taylor Lautner for the feature film The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. Although she was one of two finalists for the role, she chose to appear in Hannah Montana instead. Her mother took on the role of Miley's manager and worked to acquire a team to build her daughter's career. Cyrus signed with Mitchell Gossett, director of the youth division at Cunningham Escott Slevin Doherty. Gossett is often credited with "discovering" Cyrus and played a key role in her auditioning for Hannah Montana. She later signed with Jason Morey of Morey Management Group to handle her music career; Dolly Parton steered her to him. She hired her father's finance manager as part of her team.
Career
2006–2009: Hannah Montana and early musical releases
Cyrus auditioned for the Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana when she was thirteen years old. She auditioned for the role of Miley Stewart's best friend, but was called to audition for Miley Stewart instead seeing her comical performance. Despite being denied the part at first because she was "too small and too young" for the role, she was later cast as the lead because of her singing and goofy acting abilities. The series premiered in March 2006 to the largest audience for a Disney Channel program and quickly ranked among the highest-rated series on basic cable. The success of the series led to Cyrus' being labeled a "teen idol". She toured with the Cheetah Girls as Hannah Montana in September 2006 and performed songs from the show's first season. Walt Disney Records released a soundtrack credited to Cyrus's character in October of that year. The record was both a critical and commercial success, topping the Billboard 200 chart in the United States; it went on to sell over three million copies worldwide. With the release of the soundtrack, Cyrus became the first act within the Walt Disney Company to have deals in television, film, consumer products, and music.
Cyrus signed a four-album deal with Hollywood Records to distribute her non-Hannah Montana soundtrack music. She released the two-disc album Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus in June 2007. The first disc was credited as the second soundtrack by "Hannah Montana", while the second disc served as Cyrus's debut studio album. The album became her second to reach the top of the Billboard 200, and has sold over three million copies. Months after the release of the project, "See You Again" (2007) was released as the lead single from the album. The song was a commercial success, and has sold over two million copies in the United States since its release. She collaborated with her father on the single "Ready, Set, Don't Go" (2007). Next Cyrus embarked on her highly successful Best of Both Worlds Tour (2007–08) to promote its release. Ticketmaster officials commented that "there [hadn't] been a demand of this level or intensity since The Beatles or Elvis." The tour's success led to the theatrical release of the 3D concert film Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert (2008). While initially intended to be a limited release, the film's success led to a longer run.
Cyrus and friend Mandy Jiroux began posting videos on YouTube in February 2008, referring to the clips as "The Miley and Mandy Show"; the videos garnered a large online following. In April 2008, several pictures of Cyrus in her underwear and swimsuit were leaked online by a teenager who hacked her Gmail account. Further controversy erupted when it was reported that the then-15-year-old Cyrus had posed topless during a photo shoot by Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair. The New York Times subsequently clarified that although the shot left the impression that Cyrus was bare-breasted, she was wrapped in a bed sheet and was not topless.
Cyrus went on to release her second studio album, Breakout (2008), in June of that year. The album earned the highest first-week sales of her career thus far and became her third to top the Billboard 200. Cyrus later starred with John Travolta in the animated film Bolt (2008), her debut as a film actress; she also co-wrote the song "I Thought I Lost You" (2008) for the film, which she sings as a duet with Travolta. The film was both a critical and commercial success and earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song.
In March 2009, Cyrus released "The Climb" (2009) as a single from the soundtrack to Hannah Montana: The Movie. It was met with a warm critical and commercial reaction, becoming a crossover hit in both pop and country music formats. The soundtrack, which features the single, went on to become Cyrus's fourth entry to top the Billboard 200; at age 16, she became the youngest artist in history to have four number-one albums on the chart. She released her fourth soundtrack as Hannah Montana in July 2009, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. Cyrus later launched her first fashion line, Miley Cyrus and Max Azria, through Walmart. It was promoted by the release of "Party in the U.S.A." (2009) and the EP The Time of Our Lives (2009). Cyrus said the record was "a transitioning album [...] really to introduce people to what I want my next record to sound like and with time I will be able to do that a little more". "Party in the U.S.A." became one of Cyrus's most successful singles to date and is considered to be one of her signature songs. She embarked on her first world tour, the Wonder World Tour (2009) which was a critical and commercial success. On December 7, 2009, Cyrus performed for Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the British royal family at the Royal Variety Performance in Blackpool, Lancashire. Billboard ranked her as the fourth best-selling female music artist of 2009.
2010–2012: New image with Can't Be Tamed and focus on acting
Hoping to foster a more mature image, Cyrus starred in the film The Last Song (2010), based on the Nicholas Sparks novel. It was met with negative critical reviews but was a box office hit. Cyrus further attempted to shift her image with the release of her third studio album, Can't Be Tamed (2010). The album featured a more dance-oriented sound than her prior releases and stirred a considerable amount of controversy over its lyrical content and Cyrus's live performances. It sold 106,000 copies in its first week of release and became her first studio album not to top the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Cyrus released her final soundtrack as Hannah Montana that October; it was seen as a commercial failure due to its low position on the charts compared to her previous albums.
Cyrus was the subject of further controversy when a video posted online in December 2010 showed her, then aged eighteen, smoking salvia with a bong. 2010 ended with her ranking at number thirteen on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. She embarked on her worldwide Gypsy Heart Tour in April 2011 which had no North American dates; she cited her various controversial moments as the reason, claiming that she only wanted to travel where she felt "the most love". Following the release of Can't Be Tamed, Cyrus officially parted ways with Hollywood Records. With her obligations to Hannah Montana fulfilled, Cyrus announced her plans to take a hiatus from music so she could focus on her acting career. She confirmed she would not be going to college.
Cyrus hosted the March 5, 2011, episode of Saturday Night Live where she poked fun at her recent controversies. That November it was announced that Cyrus would be the voice of Mavis in the animated film Hotel Transylvania; however by February 2012 she was dropped from the project and replaced with Selena Gomez. At the time Cyrus said her reason for leaving the movie was wanting to work on her music; later it was revealed the real reason behind her exit was because she bought her then-boyfriend Liam Hemsworth a birthday cake shaped like a penis and licked it. She made an appearance on the MTV television series Punk'd with Kelly Osbourne and Khloé Kardashian. Cyrus starred alongside Demi Moore in the independent film LOL (2012). The film had a limited release; it was a critical and commercial failure. She starred in the comedy film So Undercover playing the role of an undercover FBI agent at a college sorority.
Cyrus released a string of live performances known as the Backyard Sessions on YouTube during the spring and summer of 2012; the performances were of classic songs she personally liked. She collaborated with producers Rock Mafia on their song "Morning Sun" (2012), which was made available for free download online. She had previously appeared in the music video for their debut single, "The Big Bang" (2010). Cyrus later provided guest vocals on "Decisions" (2012) by Borgore. Both Cyrus and Hemsworth appeared in the song's music video. She went on to guest star as Missi in two episodes of the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men. Cyrus drew significant media attention when she cut her traditionally long, brown hair in favor of a blonde, pixie cut; she commented that she had "never felt more [herself] in [her] whole life" and that "it really changed [her] life."
2013–2015: Bangerz and Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz
In 2013, Cyrus hired Larry Rudolph to be her manager, best known for previously representing Britney Spears. It was confirmed that Cyrus had signed with RCA Records for her future releases. She worked with producers such as Pharrell Williams and Mike Will Made-It on her fourth studio album, resulting in a hip hop-influenced sound. She collaborated with numerous hip hop artists releases and appeared on the Snoop Lion song "Ashtrays and Heartbreaks" (2013), released as the lead single from his twelfth studio album, Reincarnated. She collaborated with will.i.am on the song "Fall Down" (2013), released as a promotional single that same month. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number fifty-eight, marking her first appearance on the chart since "Can't Be Tamed" (2010). She provided guest vocals on the Lil Twist song "Twerk", which also featured vocals by Justin Bieber. The song was unreleased for unknown reasons but leaked online. On May 23, 2013, it was confirmed that Cyrus would be featured on the Mike Will Made It single "23", with Wiz Khalifa and Juicy J. The single went on to peak at number eleven on the Hot 100, and had sold over one million copies worldwide as of 2013.
Cyrus released her new single "We Can't Stop" on June 3. Touted as her comeback single, it became a worldwide commercial success, topping charts in territories such as the United Kingdom. The song's music video set the Vevo record for most views within twenty-four hours of release and became the first to reach 100 million views on the site. Cyrus performed with Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, a performance that resulted in widespread media attention and public scrutiny. Her simulated sex acts with a foam finger were described as "disturbing" and the whole performance as "cringe-worthy". Cyrus released "Wrecking Ball" (2013) as the second single from Bangerz on the same day as the VMAs. The accompanying music video, which showed her swinging naked on a wrecking ball, was viewed over nineteen million times within 24 hours of its release, and drew criticism from some for allegedly objectifying Cyrus, including fellow singer Sinéad O’Connor, who said that "you will obscure your talent by allowing yourself to be pimped, whether it's the music business or yourself doing the pimping". Despite this, the single became Cyrus's first to top the Hot 100 in the US, and maintained the number-one spot for three weeks. It sold over two million copies.
On October 2, 2013, MTV aired the documentary Miley: The Movement, that chronicled the recording of her fourth studio album Bangerz, which was released on October 4. The album was a commercial success, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 270,000 copies. On October 5, Cyrus hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time. On November 5, Cyrus featured on rapper Future's "Real and True" with Mr. Hudson; an accompanying music video premiered five days later on November 10, 2013. In late 2013 she was declared Artist of the Year by MTV.
On January 29, 2014, she played an acoustic concert show on MTV Unplugged, performing songs from Bangerz featuring a guest appearance by Madonna. It became the highest-rated MTV Unplugged in the past decade, with over 1.7 million streams. Cyrus was also featured in the Marc Jacobs Spring 2014 campaign along with Natalie Westling and Esmerelda Seay Reynolds. She launched her controversial Bangerz Tour (2014) that year, which was positively received by critics. Two months into her tour, Cyrus's Alaskan Klee Kai was found mauled to death at her home after fighting with a coyote. Two weeks later, Cyrus suffered an allergic reaction to the antibiotic cephalexin, prescribed to treat a sinus infection, resulting in her hospitalization in Kansas City. Though she rescheduled some of her US tour dates, she resumed the tour two weeks later, beginning with the European leg.
While collaborating with the Flaming Lips on their remake of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, With a Little Help from My Fwends, Cyrus began working with Wayne Coyne on her fifth studio album. She said that she was taking her time to focus on the music, and that the album would not be released until she felt it was ready. Coyne compared his collaborative material with Cyrus to the catalogs of Pink Floyd and Portishead and described their sound as being "a slightly wiser, sadder, more true version" of Cyrus's pop music output. Cyrus also worked on the films The Night Before (2015) and A Very Murray Christmas (2015) during this period; both roles were cameos.
Reports began to surface in 2015 that Cyrus was working on two albums simultaneously, one of which she hoped to release at no charge. This was confirmed by her manager who claimed she was willing to end her contract with RCA Records if they refused to let her release a free album. Cyrus was the host of the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, making her its first openly pansexual host, and gave a surprise performance of a new song "Dooo It!" (2015) during the show's finale. Immediately following the performance, Cyrus announced that her fifth studio album, Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz (2015), was available for free streaming on SoundCloud. The album was written and produced primarily by Cyrus, and has been called experimental and psychedelic, with elements of psychedelic pop, psychedelic rock, and alternative pop.
2016–2017: The Voice and Younger Now
In 2015, following the release of her fifth studio album, Cyrus resumed working on her sixth studio effort. She was a key advisor during the tenth season of the reality singing competition The Voice. In March 2016, Cyrus had signed on as a coach for the eleventh season of The Voice as a replacement for Gwen Stefani; Cyrus became the youngest coach to appear in any incarnation of the series. In September 2016, Cyrus co-starred in Crisis in Six Scenes, a television series Woody Allen created for Amazon Studios. She played a radical activist who causes chaos in a conservative 1960s household while hiding from the police. On September 17, 2016, she appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and covered Bob Dylan's "Baby, I'm In the Mood for You". Cyrus also had an uncredited voice cameo as Mainframe in the superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, released in May 2017.
On May 11, 2017, Cyrus released "Malibu" as the lead single from her sixth album. The single debuted at No. 64 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 10 on the chart on its second week. On June 9, Cyrus released "Inspired" after performing the song at the One Love Manchester benefit concert. It served as a promotional single from the album. On August 8, Cyrus announced that her sixth studio album would be titled Younger Now and would be released on September 29, 2017. The album's title track was released as the second single from the album on August 18 and debuted and peaked at No. 79 on the Billboard Hot 100. On August 27, Cyrus performed the track at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. On September 15, she performed "Malibu", "Younger Now", "See You Again", "Party in the U.S.A." and a cover of the Roberta Flack hit "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (written by Ewan McColl) for the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge. On October 2, as part of her one-week regular musical appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Cyrus sang her 2009 hit single "The Climb" for the first time since 2011 alongside a cover of "No Freedom" by Dido to honor the victims of the Las Vegas shooting. The former song has since been performed at multiple charity events, protests, and marches, including at the March For Our Lives demonstrations in Washington, D.C. That same year, Cyrus returned as a coach in the thirteenth season of The Voice after taking a one-season hiatus. On October 5, 2017, Cyrus confirmed that she would not be returning to The Voice for season fourteen. On October 30, 2017, Cyrus revealed she would not release any further singles from Younger Now, nor would she tour for it.
2018–2019: She Is Coming and Black Mirror
Before the release of Younger Now in September 2017, Cyrus expressed she was "already two songs deep on the next [album]". Producers attached to her seventh studio album included previous collaborator Mike Will Made It and new collaborators Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt. Her first collaboration with Ronson, "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" from his 2019 album Late Night Feelings, was released on November 29, 2018, to great commercial reception, especially in Europe, where it peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart as well as in Ireland and topped the charts in several Eastern European countries including Hungary or Croatia.
During the first quarter of 2019, Cyrus became quite notable for her cover songs. Having already taken part in MusiCares Person of the Year in 2018 celebrating Fleetwood Mac, she returned the year after to honor the career of her godmother Dolly Parton by performing "Islands in the Stream" alongside Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes, with who she also performed "In My Blood" a couple days later at the 61st Grammy Awards. Cyrus's other covers include her version of Ariana Grande's "No Tears Left to Cry" for BBC Radio's Live Lounge, her participation at the Chris Cornell tribute concert I Am The Highway, where she sang "As Hope & Promise Fade" as well as her cover record of Elton John's "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", included in the tribute album Revamp: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin. Cyrus also honored John at the I'm Still Standing: A Grammy Salute to Elton John tribute concert in 2018, where she covered "The Bitch Is Back".
On May 31, 2019, Cyrus tweeted that her seventh studio album would be titled She Is Miley Cyrus and would comprise three six-song EPs, which would be released before the full-length album: She Is Coming on May 31, She Is Here in the summer, and She Is Everything in the fall. She Is Coming, which also included vocal collaborations with RuPaul, Swae Lee, Mike Will Made It and Ghostface Killah, debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 with 36,000 album-equivalent units, while the lead single "Mother's Daughter" entered at number 54 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The Wuki remix of "Mother's Daughter" received a nomination for Best Remixed Recording at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards while the original music video won two MTV Video Music Awards. Cyrus promoted the EP with a summer European tour that visited A-list festivals like Glastonbury and Primavera Sound.
Cyrus starred in "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too", an episode of the Netflix sci-fi series Black Mirror, which was filmed in South Africa in November 2018. It was released on Netflix on June 5, 2019. In the episode, she played fictional pop star Ashley O and voiced her AI doll extension, Ashley Too. The plot was compared to Britney Spears's conservatorship and the Free Britney movement, which Cyrus has been an advocate for. The music video for the song "On a Roll" from the episode was released on June 13; the song itself and the B-side "Right Where I Belong" were released to digital platforms the next day.
On June 27, it was revealed that Cyrus had collaborated with Ariana Grande and Lana Del Rey on "Don't Call Me Angel", the lead single of the soundtrack to the 2019 film Charlie's Angels. It was released on September 13, 2019. In August 2019, Cyrus released "Slide Away", her first song since announcing her separation from then-husband Hemsworth. The song hinted at their breakup and contained lyrics such as "Move on, we're not 17, I'm not who I used to be". A music video was released in September 2019 that contained further references, including a ten of hearts playing card at the bottom of a pool to represent the end of her decade-long relationship with Hemsworth.
2020–2022: Plastic Hearts and television projects
On August 14, 2020, Cyrus released the lead single from her seventh studio album, "Midnight Sky" and confirmed the cancellation of the EPs She Is Here and She Is Everything due to major recent changes in her life that did not fit the essence of the project, including her divorce from Hemsworth, and the burning of the couple's house during the Woolsey Fire in California. "Midnight Sky" became her highest-charting solo single since "Malibu" in 2017, peaking at number 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Internationally, in the United Kingdom the song has thus far peaked at number five on the UK Singles Chart. The track was later mashed up with Stevie Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen".
In October, Cyrus had a third Backyard Session on MTV and announced via Instagram that her seventh studio album Plastic Hearts would be released on November 27, 2020. It was previously intended to be called She Is Miley Cyrus, completing the EP series once finalized. The album was released to positive reviews from critics and performed well, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200, with 60,000 units, becoming her twelfth top ten entry on the chart. With that entry, Cyrus broke the record for attaining the most US Billboard 200 top-five albums in the 21st century by a female music artist. Plastic Hearts marked a step of Cyrus into rock and glam rock music and spawned two other singles: "Prisoner" featuring English singer Dua Lipa and "Angels like You", which peaked at 8 and 66 respectively in the United Kingdom. The album also included vocal collaborations with Billy Idol and Joan Jett. Due to popular demand and social media virality, Cyrus included the live covers of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" and The Cranberries' "Zombie".
Cyrus won a 2020 Webby Special Achievement Award. In February 2021, Cyrus performed at the first TikTok Tailgate show in Tampa, for 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers. It served as a pre-show before Super Bowl LV. It aired on TikTok and CBS. The performance was featured in the music video for "Angels like You". In March 2021, Cyrus departed RCA and signed with Columbia Records, a sister label of RCA under the Sony Music umbrella. That same month Cyrus embraced her days as Hannah Montana and wrote an open letter to the character on social media for the show's 15th anniversary, despite all statements that her days as Montana gave Cyrus an identity crisis. Rumors about a possible revival of the show have been around ever since. On April 23, 2021, The Kid Laroi released a remix of his single "Without You" featuring Cyrus, her first release under Columbia Records. On April 3, 2021, Cyrus performed at the NCAA March Madness Final Four in Indianapolis with the frontline health care workers in the audience.
In May 2021, Cyrus signed an overall deal with NBCUniversal, including a first-look deal with her studio Hopetown Entertainment, as part of which she would develop projects for the company's outlets and star in three specials; with the first project off the deal being the Stand By You Pride concert special, which was released the following month on Peacock. In June, Cyrus released a studio cover version of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters", which was included in The Metallica Blacklist, a tribute album to the band's homonymous record, featuring renditions recorded by various artists and released in conjunction to the original album's 30th anniversary. The track also features Elton John on the piano, Yo-Yo Ma and Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith. The singer initially teased a Metallica cover album in October 2020 and had already performed the track live during her set at Glastonbury.
To promote Plastic Hearts, Cyrus teased a concert tour around the album's release. The tour was postponed due to the pandemic but Cyrus was able to headline several music festivals in the country during summer 2021, including Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, and Music Midtown. Later that year, she revealed she would tour South America for the first time in seven years in early 2022. The second special off her deal with NBCUniversal was Miley's New Year's Eve Party, which Cyrus co-hosted from Miami with Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson and also co-executive produced under her production company Hopetown Entertainment, featuring performances by Cyrus, 24kGoldn, Anitta, Billie Joe Armstrong, Brandi Carlile, Jack Harlow, Kitty Cash, and Saweetie.
In February 2022, Cyrus embarked on her music festival concert tour, Attention Tour, in support of Plastic Hearts, which took place in North, South, and Central America. This marked her first tour to South America since her Gypsy Heart Tour in 2011. The tour concluded on March 26, 2022. On April 1, 2022, Cyrus released her third live album, Attention: Miley Live. Most of the album was recorded during her concert as part of the Super Bowl Music Fest at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 12, 2022, with the set list including songs from her albums Plastic Hearts, Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, Bangerz, The Time of Our Lives, Breakout, and Meet Miley Cyrus, along with multiple cover songs. The album also includes two unreleased tracks—"Attention" and "You". She said the album was "curated by the fans for the fans". Emily Swingle of Clash gave acclaim to Cyrus's versatile vocals, saying her "voice is truly a force to be reckoned with, seamlessly fitting whatever genre she chooses to tackle. From the playful, country-hip-hop banger that is '4x4', to rap-heavy '23', to the bluesy, rich cover of Janis Joplin's 'Maybe', it seems like Cyrus can fit into just about any genre she gets her paws on." By the end of that month, Cyrus released the deluxe version of the album, which includes six additional songs including a mashup of "Mother's Daughter" and "Boys Don't Cry" featuring Anitta, that are mostly part of her time at the Lollapalooza festival in Brazil and other shows in Latin America; she commented on the addition of her single "Angels Like You" at her concert in Colombia in gratitude due to the song reaching the number one spot on iTunes in that country and because her fans sang the song all night outside the hotel where she was staying in Bogotá. The following month, NBC announced that Miley's New Year's Eve Party had been renewed for a second iteration set to be aired on New Year's Eve 2022–23. In August 2022, it was announced that Cyrus was set to star in a Christmas television film Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas, produced by Dolly Parton for NBC.
2023–present: Endless Summer Vacation and Something Beautiful
In late 2022, Cyrus and her longtime collaborator Mike Will Made It teased new music to be released in 2023. Days later, during the second edition of Miley's New Year's Eve Party, the singer's next lead single, "Flowers", was announced. It was released on January 13, 2023, and debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Global 200, and Global Excl. US charts. With thirteen weeks each atop the Global 200 and Global Excl. US charts, it became the longest-running leader on the former chart, at the time. Topping the Hot 100 for eight non-consecutive weeks, it was Cyrus's second US number-one single—her first in a decade, since "Wrecking Ball" (2013)—and her longest-running chart-topper. "Flowers" became a global success, reaching number one in 37 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK. It was 2023's most-streamed and most-downloaded song across various platforms in numerous countries, and the most-consumed song on US radio. On Spotify, the single became the fastest track to surpass 100 million and 1 billion plays (7 and 112 days), at the time. Due to 57 weeks atop the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, it became the longest-running number one song on any Billboard airplay chart in history. It also earned the most cumulative weeks atop all Billboard airplay charts (106 weeks) of all time. "Flowers" topped the year-end charts in various regions, and ranked as the second best-performing song of the year on the year-end Hot 100 chart of 2023. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), it was the best-selling song in 2023 globally. A demo version of the track was made available in March 2023. "Flowers" was certified seven-times platinum by the RIAA in March 2025.
Cyrus's eighth studio album, Endless Summer Vacation, was released on March 10, 2023. Her first studio effort with Columbia Records, she described the record as "[her] love letter to LA", which reflects upon physical and mental growth she experienced during production. Cyrus decided to primarily focus on songcraft, before handling production, on the album—a pop and dance-pop record. It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, earning 119,000 album-equivalent units. "River", the second single off the record, was released on March 13, 2023, and reached number 32 on the US Hot 100. "Jaded", which peaked at number 56, became the third single in April 2023. Endless Summer Vacation was the 19th best-selling album globally in 2023, according to the IFPI.
A documentary concert special—as part of Cyrus's Backyard Sessions series—titled Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), premiered on Disney+ on March 10, accompanying the album's release. Executive produced by Cyrus, it features her performing songs from the album, and her 2009 single "The Climb", with an appearance by Rufus Wainwright. In June, she voiced Van, a nihilistic female creature, in the second season of the Netflix adult animated sitcom Human Resources. An updated version of Cyrus's Disney+ special, titled Endless Summer Vacation: Continued (Backyard Sessions), premiered on ABC on August 24, 2023. The day after, Cyrus released the single "Used to Be Young", which was included in the digital reissue of Endless Summer Vacation and debuted at number eight in the US. On October 20, Dolly Parton released a rock re-recording of Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" featuring her as a guest vocalist, as the final single off her studio album Rockstar (2023). Billboard ranked Cyrus as the ninth-best-selling musician of 2023.
At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, Cyrus received six nominations, including Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Endless Summer Vacation, and won Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for "Flowers"—her first set of wins. She appeared in a cameo role as Tiffany Plastercaster—inspired by Cynthia Plaster Caster—in the Ethan Coen-directed comedy road film Drive-Away Dolls, released in February 2024. Cyrus then featured on "Doctor (Work It Out)" by Pharrell Williams, an outtake from her fourth album Bangerz (2013). Leaked online in 2017, the track was reworked and re-recorded before being released on March 1, 2024. Cyrus was then featured on the duet "II Most Wanted" from Beyoncé's album Cowboy Carter. It was released as the album's third single in April 2024, and reached the top ten in the US, the UK, and on the Global 200. "II Most Wanted" won Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, marking Cyrus's third career-win. In May 2024, as one of 16 acts featured on the Talking Heads tribute album Everyone's Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense, Cyrus provided a synth-driven dance-pop rendition of the band's "Psycho Killer". She co-wrote and recorded "Beautiful That Way" for the soundtrack album to the Gia Coppola-directed The Last Showgirl, released as a promotional single on December 9. It won Best Original Song in an Independent Film at the 15th Hollywood Music in Media Awards, and was nominated for Best Original Song at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards and Best Song at the 30th Critics' Choice Awards. In February 2025, Cyrus performed covers of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Nothing Compares 2 U" with Brittany Howard, and "Flowers" on SNL50: The Homecoming Concert and Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special.
Her ninth studio album, Something Beautiful, was released on May 30, 2025. Cyrus described it as "hypnotic" and "an attempt to medicate somewhat of a sick culture through music". The album is a progressive pop record centered around themes of "healing". It was preceded by the lead single "End of the World" on April 3; and the promotional singles "Prelude" and the title track in March, and "More to Lose" and "Walk of Fame" (featuring Brittany Howard) in May. Something Beautiful received generally positive reviews from music critics, with many considering it one of Cyrus's most ambitious and introspective records to date. Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield described the album as "Cyrus aiming higher than ever" while Nick Levine of NME called it "a fully realized artistic statement". The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 with 44,000 units, marking Cyrus's 11th top-five and 15th top-ten album. Elsewhere, it reached number three in the UK and number four in Australia. A musical film of the same name, written and directed by Cyrus, Jacob Bixenman, and Brendan Walter premiered on June 6, 2025 during the Tribeca Festival and was theatrically released—for one night only—by Columbia Records and Sony Music Vision on June 12 in North America, and on June 27 internationally, as a visual companion to the record. Billboard called the visual album a "one of a kind pop opera"; it was made available on Disney+ and Hulu in July 2025.
Artistry
Musical style and influence
Miley Cyrus has been described mainly as a pop singer who has also developed a rock style. Her music has also spanned many other different genres including teen pop, country, hip hop, and psychedelic. Cyrus has cited Elvis Presley as her biggest inspiration. She has also cited artists such as Madonna, Lana Del Rey, Dolly Parton, Timbaland, Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Joan Jett, Lil Kim, Shania Twain, Hanson, OneRepublic, and Britney Spears as influences. Since the beginning of her music career, Cyrus has been described as being predominantly a pop artist. Her Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus debut studio effort was characterized as sounding similar to her releases as "Hannah Montana" featuring a pop-rock and bubblegum pop sound. Cyrus hoped that the release of Breakout (2008) would help distance her from this sound; the record featured Cyrus experimenting with various genres. Cyrus co-wrote eight songs for the album and was quoted as saying: "I just hope this record showcases that, more than anything, I'm a [song]writer." The songs on her early releases feature lyrics on the topics of love and relationships.
Cyrus possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range, although her vocals were once described as alto with a "Nashville twang" in both her spoken and singing voice. Her voice has a distinctive raspy sound to it, similar in vein to that of Pink and Amy Winehouse. On "Party in the U.S.A." (2009), her vocals feature belter refrains, while those on the song "Obsessed" (2009) are described as "husky". Releases such as "The Climb" (2009) and "These Four Walls" (2008) feature elements of country music and showcase Cyrus's "twangy vocals". Cyrus experimented with an electropop sound on "Fly on the Wall" (2008), a genre that she would explore further with the release of Can't Be Tamed (2010), her third studio album. It was initially intended to feature rock elements prior to its completion, and Cyrus claimed after its release that it could be her final pop album. The album's songs speak of Cyrus's desire to achieve freedom in both her personal and professional life. She began working on Bangerz (2013) during a musical hiatus, and described the record as having a "dirty south feel" prior to its release. Critics noted the use of hip hop and synthpop on the album. The album's songs are placed in chronological order telling the story of her failed relationship with Liam Hemsworth. Cyrus described Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz (2015) as "a little psychedelic, but still in that pop world". For her rock-influenced album, Plastic Hearts, Cyrus cited Britney Spears and Metallica as major influences. Inspired by pop and dance-pop, Endless Summer Vacation (2023) "feels like a recap of her career's 15-plus years, with Cyrus breezing through genres with the ease of a well-seasoned tourist". Cyrus related its overall concept to her affection for Los Angeles.
Stage performances
Pre-2023
Cyrus's controversial musical performances have received significant media attention, including on her Bangerz Tour (2014) and Milky Milky Milk Tour (2015). Her performance of "Party in the U.S.A." at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards sparked a "national uproar" because of her outfit and perceived pole dancing. She faced similar controversy over her performance of "Can't Be Tamed" (2010) on Britain's Got Talent, where the singer pretended to kiss one of her female backup dancers onstage; she defended the performance, arguing that she did nothing wrong.
Cyrus became the subject of media and public scrutiny following her performance of "We Can't Stop" (2013) and "Blurred Lines" (2013) with Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. Clad in a flesh-colored latex two-piece, she touched Thicke's crotch area with a giant foam finger and twerked against his crotch. The performance resulted in a media frenzy; one reviewer likened the performance to a "bad acid trip", while another described it as a "trainwreck in the classic sense of the word as the audience reaction seemed to be a mix of confusion, dismay and horror in a cocktail of embarrassment". Cyrus entered the stage of her Bangerz Tour by sliding down a slide in the shape of a tongue, and draw media attention during the tour for her unique outfits and racy performances.
2023–present
In March 2023, Cyrus launched Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), a Disney+ concert special where she performed eight tracks from Endless Summer Vacation (including "Flowers", "River", "Jaded") and a rendition of "The Climb" from her Hannah Montana era. An updated version aired on ABC in August 2023, coinciding with her single "Used to Be Young".
Miley marked her 31st birthday with a show at Chateau Marmont in L.A., debuting "Flowers" live and covering Journey's "Faithfully", as well as "Used to Be Young" and "Jingle Bells".
At the 66th Grammy's, she delivered a performance of "Flowers", modifying lyrics live to celebrate her wins—"I just won my first Grammy!".
At the Gucci Summer Celebration in 2024, she performed a "slowed-down" version of "Flowers" during a private celebration—again at Chateau Marmont.
In May 2025, she hosted a TikTok listening party at Chateau Marmont, described as a surprise intimate set for ~100 fans, featuring new tracks from Something Beautiful ("End of the World", "Easy Lover", "More to Lose") and a live debut of "The Climb".
On May 22–23, Cyrus appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! for a live TV debut of "More to Lose", with stripped‑down instrumentation.
On May 30, she appeared unannounced on the album release ball at the 3 Dollar Bill Club on Brooklyn, where she performed "Easy Lover". On June 2, she sang "More to Lose", "Easy Lover" and "Flowers" during the surprise performance at Bemelmans Bar in the Carlyle Hotel in New York City. On June 4, she held an album signing along with the live performance at the Rough Trade shop in New York. On the same day, she appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On the next day her interview on the Every Single Album podcast was released.
Public image
In the early years of her career, Cyrus had a generally wholesome image as a teen idol. Her fame increased dramatically in the wake of the Vanity Fair photo scandal in 2008, and it was reported that photographs of Cyrus could be sold to photo agencies for up to $2,000 per photo. In subsequent years, her image continued to shift dramatically from her teen idol status. In 2008, Donny Osmond wrote of Cyrus's imminent transition to adulthood: "Miley will have to face adulthood... As she does, she'll want to change her image, and that change will be met with adversity." The release of her 2010 album Can't Be Tamed saw Cyrus officially attempting to distance herself from her teenage persona by releasing controversial music videos for her songs "Can't Be Tamed" and "Who Owns My Heart". Her behavior throughout 2013 and 2014 sparked a substantial amount of controversy, although her godmother Dolly Parton said "...the girl can write. The girl can sing. The girl is smart. And she doesn't have to be so drastic. But I will respect her choices. I did it my way, so why can't she do it her way?" Liel Leibovitz at Tablet noted in 2013: "Talking to the website Hunger, the singer argued that those adults who deem her gyrations too sultry and her music too saccharine were simply too ancient—and Jewish—to get it. 'With magazines, with movies, it's always weird when things are targeted for young people yet they're driven by people that are like 40 years too old', Cyrus opined. And one group stands out in [her] mind as deserving of most of the blame: 'It can't be like this 70-year-old Jewish man that doesn’t leave his desk all day, telling me what the clubs want to hear.'"
Cyrus was ranked number 17 on Forbes's list of the most powerful celebrities in 2014; the magazine notes that "The last time she made our list was when she was still rolling in Hannah Montana money. Now the pop singer is all grown up and courting controversy at every turn." In August 2014, her life was documented in a comic book titled Fame: Miley Cyrus; it begins with her controversial 2013 MTV Video Music Awards performance and covers her Disney fame as well as exploring her childhood in Tennessee. The comic book was written by Michael L. Frizell, drawn by Juan Luis Rincón, and is available in both print and digital formats. In September 2010, Cyrus placed tenth on Billboard's first-ever edition of its 21 Under 21 listicle; she was ranked twenty-first in 2011 and eighteenth in 2012. In 2013, Maxim listed Cyrus as number one on their annual Hot 100 list. Cyrus was chosen by Time magazine as one of the finalists for Person of the Year in November 2013; she came in third place with 16.3% of the staff vote. In March 2014, Skidmore College in New York began to offer a special topics sociology course entitled "The Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender and Media" which was "using Miley as a lens through which to explore sociological thinking about identity, entertainment, media and fame". In 2015, Cyrus was listed as one of the nine runners-up for The Advocate's Person of the Year. In March 2024, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of International Women's Day, Cyrus was one of a number of celebrities who had their likeness turned into Bratz doll.
Personal life
Cyrus resides in Hidden Hills, California, and also owns a $5.8 million home in her hometown of Franklin. She was raised as a Christian and identified herself as such during her childhood and early adult life, but she included references to Tibetan Buddhism in her 2015 song "Milky Milky Milk" and is also influenced by Hindu beliefs.
Since 2019, she has been a vocally childfree person.
Sexuality and gender
Cyrus came out to her mother at age 14 and has said: "I never want to label myself! I am ready to love anyone that loves me for who I am! I am open." In June 2015, Time magazine reported that she identified as gender fluid. She said she "doesn't relate to being boy or girl, and I don't have to have my partner relate to boy or girl", adding that she is "literally open to every single thing that is consenting and doesn't involve an animal and everyone is of age".
Cyrus is a supporter of the LGBT community. Her 2010 song "My Heart Beats for Love" was written for one of her gay friends, and she has since said London is her favorite place to perform due to its extensive gay scene. Cyrus has an equals sign tattooed on her ring finger in support of same-sex marriage. After her 2018 marriage to Liam Hemsworth, Cyrus went on record to say she still identified as queer. In 2014, she founded the Happy Hippie Foundation, which works to "fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable populations".
Veganism
Cyrus became a vegan and stopped eating animal products in 2014. In 2020, she said on The Joe Rogan Experience that she had to switch to a pescatarian diet after suffering from omega-3 deficiency: "I've been a vegan for a very long time and I had to introduce fish and omegas into my life because my brain wasn't functioning properly." Cyrus said she cried when eating her first fish after her vegan diet, saying "I cried for the fish ... it really hurts me to eat fish." Her decision to quit being vegan sparked backlash from people in the vegan and vegetarian community, who accused Cyrus of "spreading misinformation about omega-3" and "abandoning her vegan diet".
Cannabis use
Cyrus has been open about her recreational use of cannabis. She told Rolling Stone in 2013 that it was "the best drug on earth" and called it, along with MDMA, a "happy drug". While accepting the Best Video Award at the 2013 MTV Europe Music Awards, Cyrus appeared to smoke a joint onstage; this was removed from the delayed broadcast of the show in the United States. In a 2014 interview with W magazine, Cyrus said "I love weed" and "I just love getting stoned." In a 2017 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, she said she had quit cannabis before the press tour for Younger Now so she could be "super clear" when discussing the record. In May 2018, she told Jimmy Kimmel: "I also think it's the most magical, amazing... it's my first and true love. It's just not for me right now at this time in my life, but I'm sure there will be a day I will happily indulge." During a December 2018 interview with Andy Cohen, she credited her mother for reintroducing her to cannabis. In 2019, Cyrus sent "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" collaborator Mark Ronson a cannabis bouquet from Lowell Herb Co as a tongue-in-cheek Valentine's Day gift. She invested in the company in August.
Before and shortly after vocal cord surgery in November 2019, Cyrus said she had abstained from cannabis and alcohol.
Relationships
Cyrus has said that she dated singer-actor Nick Jonas from June 2006 to December 2007, claiming they were "in love" and began dating soon after they first met. Their relationship attracted considerable media attention. Cyrus was in a nine-month relationship with model Justin Gaston from 2008 to 2009. In 2009, while filming The Last Song, she began an on-again, off-again relationship with her co-star Liam Hemsworth. They were first engaged from May 2012 to September 2013. She has also dated actor Patrick Schwarzenegger (2014–2015) and model Stella Maxwell (2015).
Cyrus and Hemsworth rekindled their relationship in March 2016, and got engaged again that October. In November 2018, their home burned down in the Woolsey Fire in California. On December 23, Cyrus and Hemsworth married in a private ceremony at their home in Nashville. She said her marriage redefined "what it looks like for someone that's a queer person like me to be in a hetero relationship" while "still very sexually attracted to women". Cyrus said the ceremony was "kind of out of character for me" because they had "worn rings forever [and] definitely didn't need it in any way". She believed the loss of their home to be the catalyst for the wedding, saying "the timing felt right" and that "no one is promised the next day, or the next, so I try to be 'in the now' as much as possible". On August 10, 2019, Cyrus announced their separation; on August 21, Hemsworth filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences". Their divorce was finalized on January 28, 2020.
After announcing her separation from Hemsworth, Cyrus dated Kaitlynn Carter from August to September 2019. In October 2019, Cyrus began dating Australian singer Cody Simpson, a longtime friend. In August 2020, Cyrus announced that she and Simpson had split up. Her announcement coincided with the release of her single "Midnight Sky", which was inspired by her breakups with Hemsworth, Carter, and Simpson. In 2021, Cyrus began dating American musician Maxx Morando, who worked as a producer on her 2023 album Endless Summer Vacation.
Philanthropy
Throughout her career Cyrus has sung on several charity singles such as: "Just Stand Up!", "Send It On", "Everybody Hurts" and "We Are the World 25 for Haiti". She is an avid supporter of the City of Hope National Medical Center in California, having attended benefit concerts in 2008, 2009 and 2012. In 2008 and 2009, during her Best of Both Worlds and Wonder World Tours, for every concert ticket sold, she donated one dollar to the organization. Cyrus celebrated her 16th birthday at Disneyland by delivering a US$1 million donation from Disney to Youth Service America. In July 2009, Cyrus performed at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation's 20th annual Time for Heroes celebrity picnic and donated several items including autographed merchandise, and a script from Hannah Montana for the Ronald McDonald House Auction.
Cyrus has supported charities including the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, United Service Organizations, Youth Service America and Music for Relief. In January 2010, Cyrus posted the final video to her mileymandy YouTube Account. In the video, Cyrus promoted support for To Write Love on Her Arms, and the next day appeared in a promotional video for the film with Joaquin Phoenix, and Liv Tyler. In February 2010, she donated several items, including the dress she wore to the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, and two tickets to the Hollywood premiere of her film The Last Song, to raise money for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In April 2010, Cyrus, working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, performed for and met with 29 children at The Grove at Farmers Market in Los Angeles, California. Cyrus continued to support The Make-A-Wish Foundation, and met with at least 150 children.
In January 2011, Cyrus met an ailing fan with spina bifida with the charity Kids Wish Network. In April 2011, she appeared in a commercial for the American Red Cross asking people to pledge $10 to help those affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. That same year, Hilary Duff presented Cyrus with the first-ever Global Action Youth Leadership Award at the first Annual Global Action Awards Gala for her support of Blessings in a Backpack, an organization that works to feed hungry children in schools, and her personal Get Ur Good On campaign with the Youth Services of America. Cyrus stated: "I want (kids) to do something they love. Not something that seems like a chore because someone tells them that's the right thing to do or what their parents want or what's important to people around them, but what's in their heart." In December 2011, she appeared in a commercial for the charity J/P Haitian Relief Organization, and teamed up with her elder brother Trace Cyrus to design a limited-edition T-shirt and hoodie for charity. All proceeds from the sale of these items went to her charity, Get Ur Good On, which supports education for under-privileged children. That month, she performed "The Climb" at the CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
In 2012, Cyrus released a cover version of Bob Dylan's "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" with Johnzo West for the charity Amnesty International as a part of the album Chimes of Freedom. She also appeared in a commercial for the Rock the Vote campaign, which encouraged young people to make their voices heard by voting in the 2012 federal election. For her 20th birthday, activists at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) adopted a pig called Nora in her name. Cyrus also supports 39 well-known charities, including Make-a-Wish Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, To Write Love on Her Arms, NOH8 Campaign, Love Is Louder Than the Pressure to Be Perfect and The Jed Foundation. In 2013, Cyrus was named the fourteenth-most-charitable celebrity of the year by Do Something. She also appeared with Justin Bieber and Pitbull in a television special entitled The Real Change Project: Artists for Education. On August 28, 2014, Miley appeared alongside Justin Timberlake at an HIV/AIDS charity event in the White House.
At the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, Cyrus won Video of the Year for her song Wrecking Ball. Instead of accepting the award herself, she invited a 22-year-old homeless man by the name of Jesse to collect it on her behalf; she had met him at My Friend's Place, an organization that helps homeless youth find shelter, work, health care, and education. His acceptance speech urged musicians to learn more about youth homelessness in Los Angeles through Cyrus's Facebook page. Cyrus then launched a Prizeo campaign to raise funds for the charity; those who made donations were entered into a sweepstake for a chance to meet Cyrus on her Bangerz Tour in Rio de Janeiro that September. In early 2015, Cyrus teamed up with MAC Cosmetics to launch her own branded Viva Glam lipstick, with proceeds to the Mac AIDS Fund.
In June 2017, Cyrus performed at One Love Manchester, a televised benefit concert organized by Ariana Grande following the Manchester Arena bombing on her concert two weeks earlier. During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in August 2017, Cyrus said that she would donate $500,000 to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. In August 2019, she performed at the Sunny Hill Festival in Kosovo, a festival to raise funds to help people with financial difficulties there, created by Dua Lipa and her father. In September 2019, Cyrus met with another fan through the Make-A-Wish Foundation at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cyrus and her boyfriend Cody Simpson donated 120 tacos to healthcare workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. That same month, she partnered again with MAC Cosmetics's annual Viva Glam campaign to donate $10 million toward 250 local organizations nationwide heavily impacted by the pandemic.
Cyrus showed support for the Black Lives Matter movement by sharing links and resources on social media, donning a Black Lives Matter face mask, and attending protests following the murder of George Floyd.
Happy Hippie Foundation
Cyrus is the founder of the Happy Hippie Foundation, which works to "fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBTQ youth, and other vulnerable populations". From 2014 to 2016 the foundation served nearly 1,500 homeless youth in Los Angeles, reached more than 25,000 LGBTQ youth and their families with resources about gender, and provided social services to transgender individuals, youth in conflict zones, and people affected by crises. Happy Hippie encourages Cyrus's fans to support causes including gender equality, LGBTQ rights and mental health through awareness campaigns and fundraising. Leading up to the 2020 presidential election, Happy Hippie encouraged its Instagram followers to seek out VoteRiders for assistance ensuring that gender identity would not affect their right to vote.
On June 15, 2015, Cyrus launched the campaign #InstaPride in collaboration with Instagram. The campaign features a series of portraits starring transgender and gender-expansive people, which were posted to her Instagram feed with the hashtags "#HappyHippiePresents" and "#InstaPride". It stated that it was aimed at encouraging diversity and tolerance by showing these people in a positive light as examples for others who might be struggling to figure themselves out, and as a reference point for people who didn't know personally anyone in that situation. Cyrus was behind the camera for the entire photoshoot, and interviewed her 14 subjects to share their personal stories. She said she wanted to bring attention to and celebrate people who would not normally find themselves being the stars of a photoshoot or portrayed on the cover of a magazine.
Following the loss of Miley and Hemsworth's Malibu home from the Woolsey Fire, the community and they launched the Malibu Foundation for relief efforts following the 2018 California wildfires, Miley's Happy Hippie Foundation donating $500,000 to the Malibu Foundation.
In 2024 Cyrus announced that the foundation would be renamed as Miley Cyrus Foundation.
Cultural impact and status
Cyrus's early success as a teen idol and the face of Disney Channel's billion-dollar franchise Hannah Montana played an important role in shaping the 2000s teen pop culture, earning her the honorific nickname of "Teen Queen". Bickford stated Hannah Montana adopted a business model of combining celebrity acts with film, television, and popular music for a pre-adolescent audience. He called the series "genre-defining" and likened this model to 1990s teen pop artists such as Britney Spears and NSYNC, who were also marketed to children. Morgan Genevieve Blue of Feminist Media Studies stated the series' primary female characters, Miley and her alter ego Hannah, are positioned as post-feminist subjects in a way their representation is confined to notions of femininity and consumerism. The Times journalist Craig McLean named Cyrus the "world's biggest-ever teenage star".
During the Best of Both Worlds Tour, tickets were sold out in minutes and stadiums were completely filled making it the highest-grossing concert tour for a new act in 2007 and 2008. According to Billboard boxscore, the Best of Both Worlds Tour had a total attendance of approximately one million people and grossed over US$54 million, earning Cyrus the award for Breakthrough Act at the 2008 Billboard Touring Awards. In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked Cyrus as one of the top 25 teen idol breakout moments of the rock era, which Andy Greene wrote: "Miley's rise was meteoric. Tickets to her 2007 Best of Both Worlds tour sold out faster than any tour in memory ... It seemed like she was poised to become a more stable version of Britney Spears – especially after singles 'The Climb' and 'Party In The USA'". Due to her popularity, Paul McCartney compared their success to that of the Beatles in an interview during his tour in 2011. In this regard, he commented: "I think when they have new sensations, like Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber, teenagers identify with them, in the same way that the boys identified with The Beatles, [...] when you have thousands of teenagers feeling the same, they become elated because they have this love for something in common, whether it is The Beatles, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, or whatever."
Over the years, Cyrus's song "Party in the U.S.A." gained popularity in American culture on holidays and historic events. The song has re-entered the charts every Independence Day since its release. Following the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, a resurgence in popularity of the music video occurred. The official YouTube video was flooded with comments regarding the death of bin Laden and it was immediately deemed a celebratory anthem for the event. In 2013, an online petition on the White House's "We the People" petitions website was urging then-president Barack Obama to change the U.S. national anthem from "The Star-Spangled Banner" to "Party in the U.S.A." Following the 2020 presidential election, as major news outlets announced Democratic nominee Joe Biden the winner of the presidential race, on November 7, 2020, supporters in New York City started singing "Party in the U.S.A." at Times Square.
Cyrus's album Bangerz (2013), along with its promotional events, is considered to be one of the most controversial moments in the 2010s wider popular culture and established Cyrus among the decade's most controversial figures. Glamour writer Mickey Woods likened the promotional "era" for the album to those of Britney Spears's and Christina Aguilera's third and fourth studio albums Britney (2001) and Stripped (2002), respectively, adding that Cyrus's record "will probably be retrospectively deemed iconic, maybe even classic". Billboard listed Bangerz as one of the greatest and most influential albums of the 2010s noting that "with this pivotal album release, Cyrus took control of her public persona, surprising less with her provocative antics than with her constant artistic evolution". The album was ranked number 230 on Rolling Stone's "250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century". Bangerz is considered a trendsetter in "weaving together urban and pop influences, what's most revered now is what it represented then" according to Lyndsey Havens. Patrick Ryan of USA Today commented that Cyrus's collaborations with Mike Will Made It on the album contributed to his new-found prominence, stating that Mike Will Made It's position as an executive producer has helped him "[jump] to the forefront as an interesting character [...] in an era where a lot of producers have fallen behind the scenes again". Vice described Cyrus as "the most punk rock musician out there" and that she was "spinning circles around every single pop star who [was] trying to be edgy" at the time. MTV named Cyrus their Best Artist of 2013, and James Montgomery of MTV News elaborated on the network's decision that Cyrus "[declared] her independence and [dominated] the pop-culture landscape", adding that "she schooled—and shocked—us all in 2013, and did so on her own terms." Billboard staff called Cyrus the "Most Talked About Pop Star" of 2013, and also recognized the controversial evolution of her career as the "Top Music Moment" of the year, elaborating that she was a "maelstrom that expanded and grazed nearly every aspect of pop culture in 2013". The publication also ranked "We Can't Stop" as the best song of 2013 for being "one of the bolder musical choices in recent memory", and as one of the songs that defined the 2010s decade. The song's music video and Cyrus's controversial 2013 VMAs performance with Robin Thicke were declared as the 27th greatest music video and one of the most "defining" pop culture moments of the 2010s.
In 2015, Rebecca Nicholson from The Guardian published an article calling Cyrus the Madonna of her generation, saying that "she's a Disney survivor with a fluid approach to gender identity. And, like the old three-chord punks, she gives really good quote". According to Nicholson, Cyrus takes "the 90s Madonna approach to public sexuality: it's deliberately provocative, and crucially, it is not being served up for male consumption." Likewise, she defends Cyrus's controversial rebellion, highlighting that behind the character there is a human, talented and strong person who manages to connect with the public, just like the "Queen of Pop". In November of the same year, Vulture ranked Cyrus number one on its "Disney and Nickelodeon Stars Gone Pop" listicle, writing that "no post-millennium child star [had] grown up as wildly, rapidly, or successfully as [Cyrus]" at the time. Appearing at number eight on the 2021 revision of the ranking, the publication named her as one of the few child stars with a successful music career as an adult, calling her "the archetype for Disney 2.0 stars" who "picked up the child-star trap of getting pigeonholed and set it on fire". Billboard cataloged the singer as one of the "Greatest of All Time Billboard 200 Artists", occupying position thirty-one; she was on the ninth rank among female artists. In 2017, the aforementioned magazine also published an article naming the singer a "Queer Superhero" for her philanthropic fight for the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019, Billboard ranked her 62nd on its "Greatest of All Time Artists" chart, and 55th on the 2010s decade-end chart of Top Artists, signifying the most successful acts of the decade.
Due to her continual artistic reinventions, sonic and stylistic evolution, and versatility, Cyrus has been nicknamed the "Pop Chameleon" by media and various publications. She has also been considered a pop icon by several publications, with the BBC calling her "the ultimate 21st century pop star". In 2023, The Hollywood Reporter named Cyrus as one of its "Platinum Players" in music. Billboard included Cyrus in its "Greatest Pop Stars of 2023" listicle, naming her the "Comeback Artist of the Year". The magazine called her 2023 single "Flowers" the "biggest chart smash of her career" and noted that it "re-established [Cyrus] as one of pop's foremost hitmakers". In 2024, at age 31, Cyrus became the youngest recipient of the Disney Legends award, for her outstanding contributions to the Walt Disney Company. That year, she was ranked number 15 on Billboard's "Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century"; the magazine wrote that Cyrus has "endured as one of the century's most significant pop stars—because no matter what style she's trying out, at the end of the day, she's always still just being Miley". In 2025, Billboard ranked her twenty-first on its "Top Artists of the 21st Century" list, and ninth on its "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list. Artists that have cited Cyrus or her work as inspiration or an influence include Chappell Roan, JoJo Siwa, Lea Michele, Lil Nas X, and Troye Sivan.
Discography
Filmography
Tours
Headlining
Best of Both Worlds Tour (2007–2008)
Wonder World Tour (2009)
Gypsy Heart Tour (2011)
Bangerz Tour (2014)
Promotional
Milky Milky Milk Tour (2015)
Attention Tour (2022)
Opening act
The Cheetah Girls – The Party's Just Begun Tour (2006–2007)
Recognition
Throughout her career, Cyrus has received several awards and nominations. In 2009, at only 16 years old, she received her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song with the song "I Thought I Lost You" featuring John Travolta for the movie Bolt and in 2025 she was nominated in the same category with the song "Beautiful That Way" for the movie The Last Showgirl. She also won the MTV Movie Award for Best Song From A Movie with her song "The Climb" in 2009. She received 16 nominations at the World Music Awards in 2014 and 50 Teen Choice Award nominations from 2006 to 2014, making her the most nominated person in the history of the Teen Choice Awards. In 2024, she won her first two Grammy Awards at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards and by 2025 she has accumulated 9 nominations.
See also
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
Notes
Explanatory footnotes
Citations
Further reading
Cyrus, Miley & Liftin, Hilary (2009). Miles to Go. New York: Disney-Hyperion Books. ISBN 978-1-4231-1992-0. OCLC 244417637. Miles to Go at Google Books.
External links
Official website
Miley Cyrus at AllMusic
Miley Cyrus discography at Discogs
Miley Cyrus at IMDb
Miley Cyrus discography at MusicBrainz
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Miley Ray Cyrus ( MY-lee SY-rəs, born Destiny Hope Cyrus; November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. An influential figure in popular music, Cyrus is known for her evolving artistry and image reinventions. A daughter of singer Billy Ray Cyrus, she was an established child star before developing a successful entertainment career as an adult. Cyrus emerged as a teen idol as Miley Stewart in the Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana (2006–2011), growing a profitable franchise and achieving two number-one soundtracks on the Billboard charts.
Cyrus's solo career started with the US number-one pop rock albums Meet Miley Cyrus (2007) and Breakout (2008). The single "Party in the U.S.A." from her EP The Time of Our Lives (2009) became a best-seller, certified 14-times platinum in the US. She aimed for a mature image with her dance-pop album Can't Be Tamed (2010), which received mixed reviews. Cyrus signed to RCA Records, transitioning to hip hop and R&B with Bangerz (2013), her fifth chart-topping album, featuring "We Can't Stop" and her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one "Wrecking Ball". She explored various genres on her albums Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz (2015), Younger Now (2017), and Plastic Hearts (2020). After signing with Columbia Records, she released her eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation (2023), led by the internationally successful "Flowers", her second US number-one, winning two Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year. Her ninth studio album, Something Beautiful (2025), is a visual album and a musical film.
As an actress, Cyrus starred in the films Bolt (2008), Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009), The Last Song (2010), LOL (2012), and So Undercover (2013). On television, she was the subject of the documentary Miley: The Movement (2013), led the miniseries Crisis in Six Scenes (2017), served as a coach on two seasons of The Voice (2016–2017), and starred in the "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too" episode of Black Mirror (2019). She also hosted the holiday special Miley's New Year's Eve Party (2021–2022).
Cyrus has received various accolades, including three Grammy Awards, one Brit Award, five Billboard Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, and eight Guinness World Records. She was named a Disney Legend, in recognition for her contributions to The Walt Disney Company. Cyrus was ranked the ninth-greatest Billboard 200 female artist, and among the greatest pop stars of the 21st century by Billboard, and is the eighth-highest-certified female digital singles artist by the RIAA. She has featured in listicles such as the Time 100 (2008 and 2014), Forbes Celebrity 100 (2010 and 2015), and 30 Under 30 (2014 and 2021). Outside of entertainment, Cyrus founded the non-profit Happy Hippie Foundation in 2014, which focuses on the LGBTQ community and youth homelessness, and was supported by the web video series Backyard Sessions (2012–2023).
Early life and career beginnings
Destiny Hope Cyrus was born on November 23, 1992, in Franklin, Tennessee, to Leticia "Tish" Jean Cyrus (née Finley) and country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. She was born with supraventricular tachycardia, a condition causing an abnormal resting heart rate. Her birth name, Destiny Hope, expressed her parents' belief that she would accomplish great things. Her parents nicknamed her "Smiley", which they later shortened to "Miley", because she often smiled as an infant. In 2008, she legally changed her name to Miley Ray Cyrus; her middle name honors her grandfather, Democratic politician Ronald Ray Cyrus, who was from Kentucky. Cyrus's godmother is singer-songwriter Dolly Parton.
Against the advice of her father's record company, Cyrus's parents secretly married on December 28, 1993, a year after her birth. They had two more children, son Braison and daughter Noah. From a previous relationship, her mother has two other children, Brandi and Trace. Her father's first child, Christopher Cody, was born in April 1992 and grew up separately with his mother, waitress Kristin Luckey, in South Carolina.
All of Cyrus's maternal siblings are established entertainers. Trace is a vocalist and guitarist for the electronic pop band Metro Station. Noah is an actress and, along with Braison, models, sings, and is a songwriter. Brandi was formerly a musician for the indie rock band Frank + Derol and is a professional DJ. The Cyrus farmhouse is located on 500 acres of land outside Nashville.
Cyrus attended Heritage Elementary School in Williamson County while she and her family lived in Thompson's Station, Tennessee. When she was cast in Hannah Montana, the family moved to Los Angeles and she attended Options for Youth Charter Schools studying with a private tutor on set. Raised as a Christian, she was baptized in a Southern Baptist church before moving to Hollywood in 2005. She attended church regularly while growing up and wore a purity ring. In 2001, when Cyrus was eight, she and her family moved to Toronto, Canada, while her father filmed the television series Doc. After Billy Ray Cyrus took her to see a 2001 Mirvish production of Mamma Mia! at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Miley Cyrus grabbed his arm and told him, "This is what I want to do, daddy. I want to be an actress." She began to take singing and acting lessons at the Armstrong Acting Studio in Toronto.
Cyrus's first acting role was as Kylie in her father's television series Doc. In 2003, she received credit under her birth name for her role as "Young Ruthie" in Tim Burton's Big Fish. During this period she auditioned with Taylor Lautner for the feature film The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. Although she was one of two finalists for the role, she chose to appear in Hannah Montana instead. Her mother took on the role of Miley's manager and worked to acquire a team to build her daughter's career. Cyrus signed with Mitchell Gossett, director of the youth division at Cunningham Escott Slevin Doherty. Gossett is often credited with "discovering" Cyrus and played a key role in her auditioning for Hannah Montana. She later signed with Jason Morey of Morey Management Group to handle her music career; Dolly Parton steered her to him. She hired her father's finance manager as part of her team.
Career
2006–2009: Hannah Montana and early musical releases
Cyrus auditioned for the Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana when she was thirteen years old. She auditioned for the role of Miley Stewart's best friend, but was called to audition for Miley Stewart instead seeing her comical performance. Despite being denied the part at first because she was "too small and too young" for the role, she was later cast as the lead because of her singing and goofy acting abilities. The series premiered in March 2006 to the largest audience for a Disney Channel program and quickly ranked among the highest-rated series on basic cable. The success of the series led to Cyrus' being labeled a "teen idol". She toured with the Cheetah Girls as Hannah Montana in September 2006 and performed songs from the show's first season. Walt Disney Records released a soundtrack credited to Cyrus's character in October of that year. The record was both a critical and commercial success, topping the Billboard 200 chart in the United States; it went on to sell over three million copies worldwide. With the release of the soundtrack, Cyrus became the first act within the Walt Disney Company to have deals in television, film, consumer products, and music.
Cyrus signed a four-album deal with Hollywood Records to distribute her non-Hannah Montana soundtrack music. She released the two-disc album Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus in June 2007. The first disc was credited as the second soundtrack by "Hannah Montana", while the second disc served as Cyrus's debut studio album. The album became her second to reach the top of the Billboard 200, and has sold over three million copies. Months after the release of the project, "See You Again" (2007) was released as the lead single from the album. The song was a commercial success, and has sold over two million copies in the United States since its release. She collaborated with her father on the single "Ready, Set, Don't Go" (2007). Next Cyrus embarked on her highly successful Best of Both Worlds Tour (2007–08) to promote its release. Ticketmaster officials commented that "there [hadn't] been a demand of this level or intensity since The Beatles or Elvis." The tour's success led to the theatrical release of the 3D concert film Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert (2008). While initially intended to be a limited release, the film's success led to a longer run.
Cyrus and friend Mandy Jiroux began posting videos on YouTube in February 2008, referring to the clips as "The Miley and Mandy Show"; the videos garnered a large online following. In April 2008, several pictures of Cyrus in her underwear and swimsuit were leaked online by a teenager who hacked her Gmail account. Further controversy erupted when it was reported that the then-15-year-old Cyrus had posed topless during a photo shoot by Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair. The New York Times subsequently clarified that although the shot left the impression that Cyrus was bare-breasted, she was wrapped in a bed sheet and was not topless.
Cyrus went on to release her second studio album, Breakout (2008), in June of that year. The album earned the highest first-week sales of her career thus far and became her third to top the Billboard 200. Cyrus later starred with John Travolta in the animated film Bolt (2008), her debut as a film actress; she also co-wrote the song "I Thought I Lost You" (2008) for the film, which she sings as a duet with Travolta. The film was both a critical and commercial success and earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song.
In March 2009, Cyrus released "The Climb" (2009) as a single from the soundtrack to Hannah Montana: The Movie. It was met with a warm critical and commercial reaction, becoming a crossover hit in both pop and country music formats. The soundtrack, which features the single, went on to become Cyrus's fourth entry to top the Billboard 200; at age 16, she became the youngest artist in history to have four number-one albums on the chart. She released her fourth soundtrack as Hannah Montana in July 2009, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. Cyrus later launched her first fashion line, Miley Cyrus and Max Azria, through Walmart. It was promoted by the release of "Party in the U.S.A." (2009) and the EP The Time of Our Lives (2009). Cyrus said the record was "a transitioning album [...] really to introduce people to what I want my next record to sound like and with time I will be able to do that a little more". "Party in the U.S.A." became one of Cyrus's most successful singles to date and is considered to be one of her signature songs. She embarked on her first world tour, the Wonder World Tour (2009) which was a critical and commercial success. On December 7, 2009, Cyrus performed for Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the British royal family at the Royal Variety Performance in Blackpool, Lancashire. Billboard ranked her as the fourth best-selling female music artist of 2009.
2010–2012: New image with Can't Be Tamed and focus on acting
Hoping to foster a more mature image, Cyrus starred in the film The Last Song (2010), based on the Nicholas Sparks novel. It was met with negative critical reviews but was a box office hit. Cyrus further attempted to shift her image with the release of her third studio album, Can't Be Tamed (2010). The album featured a more dance-oriented sound than her prior releases and stirred a considerable amount of controversy over its lyrical content and Cyrus's live performances. It sold 106,000 copies in its first week of release and became her first studio album not to top the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Cyrus released her final soundtrack as Hannah Montana that October; it was seen as a commercial failure due to its low position on the charts compared to her previous albums.
Cyrus was the subject of further controversy when a video posted online in December 2010 showed her, then aged eighteen, smoking salvia with a bong. 2010 ended with her ranking at number thirteen on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. She embarked on her worldwide Gypsy Heart Tour in April 2011 which had no North American dates; she cited her various controversial moments as the reason, claiming that she only wanted to travel where she felt "the most love". Following the release of Can't Be Tamed, Cyrus officially parted ways with Hollywood Records. With her obligations to Hannah Montana fulfilled, Cyrus announced her plans to take a hiatus from music so she could focus on her acting career. She confirmed she would not be going to college.
Cyrus hosted the March 5, 2011, episode of Saturday Night Live where she poked fun at her recent controversies. That November it was announced that Cyrus would be the voice of Mavis in the animated film Hotel Transylvania; however by February 2012 she was dropped from the project and replaced with Selena Gomez. At the time Cyrus said her reason for leaving the movie was wanting to work on her music; later it was revealed the real reason behind her exit was because she bought her then-boyfriend Liam Hemsworth a birthday cake shaped like a penis and licked it. She made an appearance on the MTV television series Punk'd with Kelly Osbourne and Khloé Kardashian. Cyrus starred alongside Demi Moore in the independent film LOL (2012). The film had a limited release; it was a critical and commercial failure. She starred in the comedy film So Undercover playing the role of an undercover FBI agent at a college sorority.
Cyrus released a string of live performances known as the Backyard Sessions on YouTube during the spring and summer of 2012; the performances were of classic songs she personally liked. She collaborated with producers Rock Mafia on their song "Morning Sun" (2012), which was made available for free download online. She had previously appeared in the music video for their debut single, "The Big Bang" (2010). Cyrus later provided guest vocals on "Decisions" (2012) by Borgore. Both Cyrus and Hemsworth appeared in the song's music video. She went on to guest star as Missi in two episodes of the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men. Cyrus drew significant media attention when she cut her traditionally long, brown hair in favor of a blonde, pixie cut; she commented that she had "never felt more [herself] in [her] whole life" and that "it really changed [her] life."
2013–2015: Bangerz and Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz
In 2013, Cyrus hired Larry Rudolph to be her manager, best known for previously representing Britney Spears. It was confirmed that Cyrus had signed with RCA Records for her future releases. She worked with producers such as Pharrell Williams and Mike Will Made-It on her fourth studio album, resulting in a hip hop-influenced sound. She collaborated with numerous hip hop artists releases and appeared on the Snoop Lion song "Ashtrays and Heartbreaks" (2013), released as the lead single from his twelfth studio album, Reincarnated. She collaborated with will.i.am on the song "Fall Down" (2013), released as a promotional single that same month. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number fifty-eight, marking her first appearance on the chart since "Can't Be Tamed" (2010). She provided guest vocals on the Lil Twist song "Twerk", which also featured vocals by Justin Bieber. The song was unreleased for unknown reasons but leaked online. On May 23, 2013, it was confirmed that Cyrus would be featured on the Mike Will Made It single "23", with Wiz Khalifa and Juicy J. The single went on to peak at number eleven on the Hot 100, and had sold over one million copies worldwide as of 2013.
Cyrus released her new single "We Can't Stop" on June 3. Touted as her comeback single, it became a worldwide commercial success, topping charts in territories such as the United Kingdom. The song's music video set the Vevo record for most views within twenty-four hours of release and became the first to reach 100 million views on the site. Cyrus performed with Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, a performance that resulted in widespread media attention and public scrutiny. Her simulated sex acts with a foam finger were described as "disturbing" and the whole performance as "cringe-worthy". Cyrus released "Wrecking Ball" (2013) as the second single from Bangerz on the same day as the VMAs. The accompanying music video, which showed her swinging naked on a wrecking ball, was viewed over nineteen million times within 24 hours of its release, and drew criticism from some for allegedly objectifying Cyrus, including fellow singer Sinéad O’Connor, who said that "you will obscure your talent by allowing yourself to be pimped, whether it's the music business or yourself doing the pimping". Despite this, the single became Cyrus's first to top the Hot 100 in the US, and maintained the number-one spot for three weeks. It sold over two million copies.
On October 2, 2013, MTV aired the documentary Miley: The Movement, that chronicled the recording of her fourth studio album Bangerz, which was released on October 4. The album was a commercial success, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 270,000 copies. On October 5, Cyrus hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time. On November 5, Cyrus featured on rapper Future's "Real and True" with Mr. Hudson; an accompanying music video premiered five days later on November 10, 2013. In late 2013 she was declared Artist of the Year by MTV.
On January 29, 2014, she played an acoustic concert show on MTV Unplugged, performing songs from Bangerz featuring a guest appearance by Madonna. It became the highest-rated MTV Unplugged in the past decade, with over 1.7 million streams. Cyrus was also featured in the Marc Jacobs Spring 2014 campaign along with Natalie Westling and Esmerelda Seay Reynolds. She launched her controversial Bangerz Tour (2014) that year, which was positively received by critics. Two months into her tour, Cyrus's Alaskan Klee Kai was found mauled to death at her home after fighting with a coyote. Two weeks later, Cyrus suffered an allergic reaction to the antibiotic cephalexin, prescribed to treat a sinus infection, resulting in her hospitalization in Kansas City. Though she rescheduled some of her US tour dates, she resumed the tour two weeks later, beginning with the European leg.
While collaborating with the Flaming Lips on their remake of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, With a Little Help from My Fwends, Cyrus began working with Wayne Coyne on her fifth studio album. She said that she was taking her time to focus on the music, and that the album would not be released until she felt it was ready. Coyne compared his collaborative material with Cyrus to the catalogs of Pink Floyd and Portishead and described their sound as being "a slightly wiser, sadder, more true version" of Cyrus's pop music output. Cyrus also worked on the films The Night Before (2015) and A Very Murray Christmas (2015) during this period; both roles were cameos.
Reports began to surface in 2015 that Cyrus was working on two albums simultaneously, one of which she hoped to release at no charge. This was confirmed by her manager who claimed she was willing to end her contract with RCA Records if they refused to let her release a free album. Cyrus was the host of the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, making her its first openly pansexual host, and gave a surprise performance of a new song "Dooo It!" (2015) during the show's finale. Immediately following the performance, Cyrus announced that her fifth studio album, Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz (2015), was available for free streaming on SoundCloud. The album was written and produced primarily by Cyrus, and has been called experimental and psychedelic, with elements of psychedelic pop, psychedelic rock, and alternative pop.
2016–2017: The Voice and Younger Now
In 2015, following the release of her fifth studio album, Cyrus resumed working on her sixth studio effort. She was a key advisor during the tenth season of the reality singing competition The Voice. In March 2016, Cyrus had signed on as a coach for the eleventh season of The Voice as a replacement for Gwen Stefani; Cyrus became the youngest coach to appear in any incarnation of the series. In September 2016, Cyrus co-starred in Crisis in Six Scenes, a television series Woody Allen created for Amazon Studios. She played a radical activist who causes chaos in a conservative 1960s household while hiding from the police. On September 17, 2016, she appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and covered Bob Dylan's "Baby, I'm In the Mood for You". Cyrus also had an uncredited voice cameo as Mainframe in the superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, released in May 2017.
On May 11, 2017, Cyrus released "Malibu" as the lead single from her sixth album. The single debuted at No. 64 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 10 on the chart on its second week. On June 9, Cyrus released "Inspired" after performing the song at the One Love Manchester benefit concert. It served as a promotional single from the album. On August 8, Cyrus announced that her sixth studio album would be titled Younger Now and would be released on September 29, 2017. The album's title track was released as the second single from the album on August 18 and debuted and peaked at No. 79 on the Billboard Hot 100. On August 27, Cyrus performed the track at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. On September 15, she performed "Malibu", "Younger Now", "See You Again", "Party in the U.S.A." and a cover of the Roberta Flack hit "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (written by Ewan McColl) for the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge. On October 2, as part of her one-week regular musical appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Cyrus sang her 2009 hit single "The Climb" for the first time since 2011 alongside a cover of "No Freedom" by Dido to honor the victims of the Las Vegas shooting. The former song has since been performed at multiple charity events, protests, and marches, including at the March For Our Lives demonstrations in Washington, D.C. That same year, Cyrus returned as a coach in the thirteenth season of The Voice after taking a one-season hiatus. On October 5, 2017, Cyrus confirmed that she would not be returning to The Voice for season fourteen. On October 30, 2017, Cyrus revealed she would not release any further singles from Younger Now, nor would she tour for it.
2018–2019: She Is Coming and Black Mirror
Before the release of Younger Now in September 2017, Cyrus expressed she was "already two songs deep on the next [album]". Producers attached to her seventh studio album included previous collaborator Mike Will Made It and new collaborators Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt. Her first collaboration with Ronson, "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" from his 2019 album Late Night Feelings, was released on November 29, 2018, to great commercial reception, especially in Europe, where it peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart as well as in Ireland and topped the charts in several Eastern European countries including Hungary or Croatia.
During the first quarter of 2019, Cyrus became quite notable for her cover songs. Having already taken part in MusiCares Person of the Year in 2018 celebrating Fleetwood Mac, she returned the year after to honor the career of her godmother Dolly Parton by performing "Islands in the Stream" alongside Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes, with who she also performed "In My Blood" a couple days later at the 61st Grammy Awards. Cyrus's other covers include her version of Ariana Grande's "No Tears Left to Cry" for BBC Radio's Live Lounge, her participation at the Chris Cornell tribute concert I Am The Highway, where she sang "As Hope & Promise Fade" as well as her cover record of Elton John's "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", included in the tribute album Revamp: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin. Cyrus also honored John at the I'm Still Standing: A Grammy Salute to Elton John tribute concert in 2018, where she covered "The Bitch Is Back".
On May 31, 2019, Cyrus tweeted that her seventh studio album would be titled She Is Miley Cyrus and would comprise three six-song EPs, which would be released before the full-length album: She Is Coming on May 31, She Is Here in the summer, and She Is Everything in the fall. She Is Coming, which also included vocal collaborations with RuPaul, Swae Lee, Mike Will Made It and Ghostface Killah, debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 with 36,000 album-equivalent units, while the lead single "Mother's Daughter" entered at number 54 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The Wuki remix of "Mother's Daughter" received a nomination for Best Remixed Recording at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards while the original music video won two MTV Video Music Awards. Cyrus promoted the EP with a summer European tour that visited A-list festivals like Glastonbury and Primavera Sound.
Cyrus starred in "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too", an episode of the Netflix sci-fi series Black Mirror, which was filmed in South Africa in November 2018. It was released on Netflix on June 5, 2019. In the episode, she played fictional pop star Ashley O and voiced her AI doll extension, Ashley Too. The plot was compared to Britney Spears's conservatorship and the Free Britney movement, which Cyrus has been an advocate for. The music video for the song "On a Roll" from the episode was released on June 13; the song itself and the B-side "Right Where I Belong" were released to digital platforms the next day.
On June 27, it was revealed that Cyrus had collaborated with Ariana Grande and Lana Del Rey on "Don't Call Me Angel", the lead single of the soundtrack to the 2019 film Charlie's Angels. It was released on September 13, 2019. In August 2019, Cyrus released "Slide Away", her first song since announcing her separation from then-husband Hemsworth. The song hinted at their breakup and contained lyrics such as "Move on, we're not 17, I'm not who I used to be". A music video was released in September 2019 that contained further references, including a ten of hearts playing card at the bottom of a pool to represent the end of her decade-long relationship with Hemsworth.
2020–2022: Plastic Hearts and television projects
On August 14, 2020, Cyrus released the lead single from her seventh studio album, "Midnight Sky" and confirmed the cancellation of the EPs She Is Here and She Is Everything due to major recent changes in her life that did not fit the essence of the project, including her divorce from Hemsworth, and the burning of the couple's house during the Woolsey Fire in California. "Midnight Sky" became her highest-charting solo single since "Malibu" in 2017, peaking at number 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Internationally, in the United Kingdom the song has thus far peaked at number five on the UK Singles Chart. The track was later mashed up with Stevie Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen".
In October, Cyrus had a third Backyard Session on MTV and announced via Instagram that her seventh studio album Plastic Hearts would be released on November 27, 2020. It was previously intended to be called She Is Miley Cyrus, completing the EP series once finalized. The album was released to positive reviews from critics and performed well, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200, with 60,000 units, becoming her twelfth top ten entry on the chart. With that entry, Cyrus broke the record for attaining the most US Billboard 200 top-five albums in the 21st century by a female music artist. Plastic Hearts marked a step of Cyrus into rock and glam rock music and spawned two other singles: "Prisoner" featuring English singer Dua Lipa and "Angels like You", which peaked at 8 and 66 respectively in the United Kingdom. The album also included vocal collaborations with Billy Idol and Joan Jett. Due to popular demand and social media virality, Cyrus included the live covers of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" and The Cranberries' "Zombie".
Cyrus won a 2020 Webby Special Achievement Award. In February 2021, Cyrus performed at the first TikTok Tailgate show in Tampa, for 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers. It served as a pre-show before Super Bowl LV. It aired on TikTok and CBS. The performance was featured in the music video for "Angels like You". In March 2021, Cyrus departed RCA and signed with Columbia Records, a sister label of RCA under the Sony Music umbrella. That same month Cyrus embraced her days as Hannah Montana and wrote an open letter to the character on social media for the show's 15th anniversary, despite all statements that her days as Montana gave Cyrus an identity crisis. Rumors about a possible revival of the show have been around ever since. On April 23, 2021, The Kid Laroi released a remix of his single "Without You" featuring Cyrus, her first release under Columbia Records. On April 3, 2021, Cyrus performed at the NCAA March Madness Final Four in Indianapolis with the frontline health care workers in the audience.
In May 2021, Cyrus signed an overall deal with NBCUniversal, including a first-look deal with her studio Hopetown Entertainment, as part of which she would develop projects for the company's outlets and star in three specials; with the first project off the deal being the Stand By You Pride concert special, which was released the following month on Peacock. In June, Cyrus released a studio cover version of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters", which was included in The Metallica Blacklist, a tribute album to the band's homonymous record, featuring renditions recorded by various artists and released in conjunction to the original album's 30th anniversary. The track also features Elton John on the piano, Yo-Yo Ma and Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith. The singer initially teased a Metallica cover album in October 2020 and had already performed the track live during her set at Glastonbury.
To promote Plastic Hearts, Cyrus teased a concert tour around the album's release. The tour was postponed due to the pandemic but Cyrus was able to headline several music festivals in the country during summer 2021, including Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, and Music Midtown. Later that year, she revealed she would tour South America for the first time in seven years in early 2022. The second special off her deal with NBCUniversal was Miley's New Year's Eve Party, which Cyrus co-hosted from Miami with Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson and also co-executive produced under her production company Hopetown Entertainment, featuring performances by Cyrus, 24kGoldn, Anitta, Billie Joe Armstrong, Brandi Carlile, Jack Harlow, Kitty Cash, and Saweetie.
In February 2022, Cyrus embarked on her music festival concert tour, Attention Tour, in support of Plastic Hearts, which took place in North, South, and Central America. This marked her first tour to South America since her Gypsy Heart Tour in 2011. The tour concluded on March 26, 2022. On April 1, 2022, Cyrus released her third live album, Attention: Miley Live. Most of the album was recorded during her concert as part of the Super Bowl Music Fest at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 12, 2022, with the set list including songs from her albums Plastic Hearts, Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, Bangerz, The Time of Our Lives, Breakout, and Meet Miley Cyrus, along with multiple cover songs. The album also includes two unreleased tracks—"Attention" and "You". She said the album was "curated by the fans for the fans". Emily Swingle of Clash gave acclaim to Cyrus's versatile vocals, saying her "voice is truly a force to be reckoned with, seamlessly fitting whatever genre she chooses to tackle. From the playful, country-hip-hop banger that is '4x4', to rap-heavy '23', to the bluesy, rich cover of Janis Joplin's 'Maybe', it seems like Cyrus can fit into just about any genre she gets her paws on." By the end of that month, Cyrus released the deluxe version of the album, which includes six additional songs including a mashup of "Mother's Daughter" and "Boys Don't Cry" featuring Anitta, that are mostly part of her time at the Lollapalooza festival in Brazil and other shows in Latin America; she commented on the addition of her single "Angels Like You" at her concert in Colombia in gratitude due to the song reaching the number one spot on iTunes in that country and because her fans sang the song all night outside the hotel where she was staying in Bogotá. The following month, NBC announced that Miley's New Year's Eve Party had been renewed for a second iteration set to be aired on New Year's Eve 2022–23. In August 2022, it was announced that Cyrus was set to star in a Christmas television film Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas, produced by Dolly Parton for NBC.
2023–present: Endless Summer Vacation and Something Beautiful
In late 2022, Cyrus and her longtime collaborator Mike Will Made It teased new music to be released in 2023. Days later, during the second edition of Miley's New Year's Eve Party, the singer's next lead single, "Flowers", was announced. It was released on January 13, 2023, and debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Global 200, and Global Excl. US charts. With thirteen weeks each atop the Global 200 and Global Excl. US charts, it became the longest-running leader on the former chart, at the time. Topping the Hot 100 for eight non-consecutive weeks, it was Cyrus's second US number-one single—her first in a decade, since "Wrecking Ball" (2013)—and her longest-running chart-topper. "Flowers" became a global success, reaching number one in 37 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK. It was 2023's most-streamed and most-downloaded song across various platforms in numerous countries, and the most-consumed song on US radio. On Spotify, the single became the fastest track to surpass 100 million and 1 billion plays (7 and 112 days), at the time. Due to 57 weeks atop the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, it became the longest-running number one song on any Billboard airplay chart in history. It also earned the most cumulative weeks atop all Billboard airplay charts (106 weeks) of all time. "Flowers" topped the year-end charts in various regions, and ranked as the second best-performing song of the year on the year-end Hot 100 chart of 2023. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), it was the best-selling song in 2023 globally. A demo version of the track was made available in March 2023. "Flowers" was certified seven-times platinum by the RIAA in March 2025.
Cyrus's eighth studio album, Endless Summer Vacation, was released on March 10, 2023. Her first studio effort with Columbia Records, she described the record as "[her] love letter to LA", which reflects upon physical and mental growth she experienced during production. Cyrus decided to primarily focus on songcraft, before handling production, on the album—a pop and dance-pop record. It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, earning 119,000 album-equivalent units. "River", the second single off the record, was released on March 13, 2023, and reached number 32 on the US Hot 100. "Jaded", which peaked at number 56, became the third single in April 2023. Endless Summer Vacation was the 19th best-selling album globally in 2023, according to the IFPI.
A documentary concert special—as part of Cyrus's Backyard Sessions series—titled Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), premiered on Disney+ on March 10, accompanying the album's release. Executive produced by Cyrus, it features her performing songs from the album, and her 2009 single "The Climb", with an appearance by Rufus Wainwright. In June, she voiced Van, a nihilistic female creature, in the second season of the Netflix adult animated sitcom Human Resources. An updated version of Cyrus's Disney+ special, titled Endless Summer Vacation: Continued (Backyard Sessions), premiered on ABC on August 24, 2023. The day after, Cyrus released the single "Used to Be Young", which was included in the digital reissue of Endless Summer Vacation and debuted at number eight in the US. On October 20, Dolly Parton released a rock re-recording of Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" featuring her as a guest vocalist, as the final single off her studio album Rockstar (2023). Billboard ranked Cyrus as the ninth-best-selling musician of 2023.
At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, Cyrus received six nominations, including Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Endless Summer Vacation, and won Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for "Flowers"—her first set of wins. She appeared in a cameo role as Tiffany Plastercaster—inspired by Cynthia Plaster Caster—in the Ethan Coen-directed comedy road film Drive-Away Dolls, released in February 2024. Cyrus then featured on "Doctor (Work It Out)" by Pharrell Williams, an outtake from her fourth album Bangerz (2013). Leaked online in 2017, the track was reworked and re-recorded before being released on March 1, 2024. Cyrus was then featured on the duet "II Most Wanted" from Beyoncé's album Cowboy Carter. It was released as the album's third single in April 2024, and reached the top ten in the US, the UK, and on the Global 200. "II Most Wanted" won Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, marking Cyrus's third career-win. In May 2024, as one of 16 acts featured on the Talking Heads tribute album Everyone's Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense, Cyrus provided a synth-driven dance-pop rendition of the band's "Psycho Killer". She co-wrote and recorded "Beautiful That Way" for the soundtrack album to the Gia Coppola-directed The Last Showgirl, released as a promotional single on December 9. It won Best Original Song in an Independent Film at the 15th Hollywood Music in Media Awards, and was nominated for Best Original Song at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards and Best Song at the 30th Critics' Choice Awards. In February 2025, Cyrus performed covers of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Nothing Compares 2 U" with Brittany Howard, and "Flowers" on SNL50: The Homecoming Concert and Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special.
Her ninth studio album, Something Beautiful, was released on May 30, 2025. Cyrus described it as "hypnotic" and "an attempt to medicate somewhat of a sick culture through music". The album is a progressive pop record centered around themes of "healing". It was preceded by the lead single "End of the World" on April 3; and the promotional singles "Prelude" and the title track in March, and "More to Lose" and "Walk of Fame" (featuring Brittany Howard) in May. Something Beautiful received generally positive reviews from music critics, with many considering it one of Cyrus's most ambitious and introspective records to date. Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield described the album as "Cyrus aiming higher than ever" while Nick Levine of NME called it "a fully realized artistic statement". The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 with 44,000 units, marking Cyrus's 11th top-five and 15th top-ten album. Elsewhere, it reached number three in the UK and number four in Australia. A musical film of the same name, written and directed by Cyrus, Jacob Bixenman, and Brendan Walter premiered on June 6, 2025 during the Tribeca Festival and was theatrically released—for one night only—by Columbia Records and Sony Music Vision on June 12 in North America, and on June 27 internationally, as a visual companion to the record. Billboard called the visual album a "one of a kind pop opera"; it was made available on Disney+ and Hulu in July 2025.
Artistry
Musical style and influence
Miley Cyrus has been described mainly as a pop singer who has also developed a rock style. Her music has also spanned many other different genres including teen pop, country, hip hop, and psychedelic. Cyrus has cited Elvis Presley as her biggest inspiration. She has also cited artists such as Madonna, Lana Del Rey, Dolly Parton, Timbaland, Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Joan Jett, Lil Kim, Shania Twain, Hanson, OneRepublic, and Britney Spears as influences. Since the beginning of her music career, Cyrus has been described as being predominantly a pop artist. Her Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus debut studio effort was characterized as sounding similar to her releases as "Hannah Montana" featuring a pop-rock and bubblegum pop sound. Cyrus hoped that the release of Breakout (2008) would help distance her from this sound; the record featured Cyrus experimenting with various genres. Cyrus co-wrote eight songs for the album and was quoted as saying: "I just hope this record showcases that, more than anything, I'm a [song]writer." The songs on her early releases feature lyrics on the topics of love and relationships.
Cyrus possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range, although her vocals were once described as alto with a "Nashville twang" in both her spoken and singing voice. Her voice has a distinctive raspy sound to it, similar in vein to that of Pink and Amy Winehouse. On "Party in the U.S.A." (2009), her vocals feature belter refrains, while those on the song "Obsessed" (2009) are described as "husky". Releases such as "The Climb" (2009) and "These Four Walls" (2008) feature elements of country music and showcase Cyrus's "twangy vocals". Cyrus experimented with an electropop sound on "Fly on the Wall" (2008), a genre that she would explore further with the release of Can't Be Tamed (2010), her third studio album. It was initially intended to feature rock elements prior to its completion, and Cyrus claimed after its release that it could be her final pop album. The album's songs speak of Cyrus's desire to achieve freedom in both her personal and professional life. She began working on Bangerz (2013) during a musical hiatus, and described the record as having a "dirty south feel" prior to its release. Critics noted the use of hip hop and synthpop on the album. The album's songs are placed in chronological order telling the story of her failed relationship with Liam Hemsworth. Cyrus described Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz (2015) as "a little psychedelic, but still in that pop world". For her rock-influenced album, Plastic Hearts, Cyrus cited Britney Spears and Metallica as major influences. Inspired by pop and dance-pop, Endless Summer Vacation (2023) "feels like a recap of her career's 15-plus years, with Cyrus breezing through genres with the ease of a well-seasoned tourist". Cyrus related its overall concept to her affection for Los Angeles.
Stage performances
Pre-2023
Cyrus's controversial musical performances have received significant media attention, including on her Bangerz Tour (2014) and Milky Milky Milk Tour (2015). Her performance of "Party in the U.S.A." at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards sparked a "national uproar" because of her outfit and perceived pole dancing. She faced similar controversy over her performance of "Can't Be Tamed" (2010) on Britain's Got Talent, where the singer pretended to kiss one of her female backup dancers onstage; she defended the performance, arguing that she did nothing wrong.
Cyrus became the subject of media and public scrutiny following her performance of "We Can't Stop" (2013) and "Blurred Lines" (2013) with Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. Clad in a flesh-colored latex two-piece, she touched Thicke's crotch area with a giant foam finger and twerked against his crotch. The performance resulted in a media frenzy; one reviewer likened the performance to a "bad acid trip", while another described it as a "trainwreck in the classic sense of the word as the audience reaction seemed to be a mix of confusion, dismay and horror in a cocktail of embarrassment". Cyrus entered the stage of her Bangerz Tour by sliding down a slide in the shape of a tongue, and draw media attention during the tour for her unique outfits and racy performances.
2023–present
In March 2023, Cyrus launched Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), a Disney+ concert special where she performed eight tracks from Endless Summer Vacation (including "Flowers", "River", "Jaded") and a rendition of "The Climb" from her Hannah Montana era. An updated version aired on ABC in August 2023, coinciding with her single "Used to Be Young".
Miley marked her 31st birthday with a show at Chateau Marmont in L.A., debuting "Flowers" live and covering Journey's "Faithfully", as well as "Used to Be Young" and "Jingle Bells".
At the 66th Grammy's, she delivered a performance of "Flowers", modifying lyrics live to celebrate her wins—"I just won my first Grammy!".
At the Gucci Summer Celebration in 2024, she performed a "slowed-down" version of "Flowers" during a private celebration—again at Chateau Marmont.
In May 2025, she hosted a TikTok listening party at Chateau Marmont, described as a surprise intimate set for ~100 fans, featuring new tracks from Something Beautiful ("End of the World", "Easy Lover", "More to Lose") and a live debut of "The Climb".
On May 22–23, Cyrus appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! for a live TV debut of "More to Lose", with stripped‑down instrumentation.
On May 30, she appeared unannounced on the album release ball at the 3 Dollar Bill Club on Brooklyn, where she performed "Easy Lover". On June 2, she sang "More to Lose", "Easy Lover" and "Flowers" during the surprise performance at Bemelmans Bar in the Carlyle Hotel in New York City. On June 4, she held an album signing along with the live performance at the Rough Trade shop in New York. On the same day, she appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On the next day her interview on the Every Single Album podcast was released.
Public image
In the early years of her career, Cyrus had a generally wholesome image as a teen idol. Her fame increased dramatically in the wake of the Vanity Fair photo scandal in 2008, and it was reported that photographs of Cyrus could be sold to photo agencies for up to $2,000 per photo. In subsequent years, her image continued to shift dramatically from her teen idol status. In 2008, Donny Osmond wrote of Cyrus's imminent transition to adulthood: "Miley will have to face adulthood... As she does, she'll want to change her image, and that change will be met with adversity." The release of her 2010 album Can't Be Tamed saw Cyrus officially attempting to distance herself from her teenage persona by releasing controversial music videos for her songs "Can't Be Tamed" and "Who Owns My Heart". Her behavior throughout 2013 and 2014 sparked a substantial amount of controversy, although her godmother Dolly Parton said "...the girl can write. The girl can sing. The girl is smart. And she doesn't have to be so drastic. But I will respect her choices. I did it my way, so why can't she do it her way?" Liel Leibovitz at Tablet noted in 2013: "Talking to the website Hunger, the singer argued that those adults who deem her gyrations too sultry and her music too saccharine were simply too ancient—and Jewish—to get it. 'With magazines, with movies, it's always weird when things are targeted for young people yet they're driven by people that are like 40 years too old', Cyrus opined. And one group stands out in [her] mind as deserving of most of the blame: 'It can't be like this 70-year-old Jewish man that doesn’t leave his desk all day, telling me what the clubs want to hear.'"
Cyrus was ranked number 17 on Forbes's list of the most powerful celebrities in 2014; the magazine notes that "The last time she made our list was when she was still rolling in Hannah Montana money. Now the pop singer is all grown up and courting controversy at every turn." In August 2014, her life was documented in a comic book titled Fame: Miley Cyrus; it begins with her controversial 2013 MTV Video Music Awards performance and covers her Disney fame as well as exploring her childhood in Tennessee. The comic book was written by Michael L. Frizell, drawn by Juan Luis Rincón, and is available in both print and digital formats. In September 2010, Cyrus placed tenth on Billboard's first-ever edition of its 21 Under 21 listicle; she was ranked twenty-first in 2011 and eighteenth in 2012. In 2013, Maxim listed Cyrus as number one on their annual Hot 100 list. Cyrus was chosen by Time magazine as one of the finalists for Person of the Year in November 2013; she came in third place with 16.3% of the staff vote. In March 2014, Skidmore College in New York began to offer a special topics sociology course entitled "The Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender and Media" which was "using Miley as a lens through which to explore sociological thinking about identity, entertainment, media and fame". In 2015, Cyrus was listed as one of the nine runners-up for The Advocate's Person of the Year. In March 2024, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of International Women's Day, Cyrus was one of a number of celebrities who had their likeness turned into Bratz doll.
Personal life
Cyrus resides in Hidden Hills, California, and also owns a $5.8 million home in her hometown of Franklin. She was raised as a Christian and identified herself as such during her childhood and early adult life, but she included references to Tibetan Buddhism in her 2015 song "Milky Milky Milk" and is also influenced by Hindu beliefs.
Since 2019, she has been a vocally childfree person.
Sexuality and gender
Cyrus came out to her mother at age 14 and has said: "I never want to label myself! I am ready to love anyone that loves me for who I am! I am open." In June 2015, Time magazine reported that she identified as gender fluid. She said she "doesn't relate to being boy or girl, and I don't have to have my partner relate to boy or girl", adding that she is "literally open to every single thing that is consenting and doesn't involve an animal and everyone is of age".
Cyrus is a supporter of the LGBT community. Her 2010 song "My Heart Beats for Love" was written for one of her gay friends, and she has since said London is her favorite place to perform due to its extensive gay scene. Cyrus has an equals sign tattooed on her ring finger in support of same-sex marriage. After her 2018 marriage to Liam Hemsworth, Cyrus went on record to say she still identified as queer. In 2014, she founded the Happy Hippie Foundation, which works to "fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable populations".
Veganism
Cyrus became a vegan and stopped eating animal products in 2014. In 2020, she said on The Joe Rogan Experience that she had to switch to a pescatarian diet after suffering from omega-3 deficiency: "I've been a vegan for a very long time and I had to introduce fish and omegas into my life because my brain wasn't functioning properly." Cyrus said she cried when eating her first fish after her vegan diet, saying "I cried for the fish ... it really hurts me to eat fish." Her decision to quit being vegan sparked backlash from people in the vegan and vegetarian community, who accused Cyrus of "spreading misinformation about omega-3" and "abandoning her vegan diet".
Cannabis use
Cyrus has been open about her recreational use of cannabis. She told Rolling Stone in 2013 that it was "the best drug on earth" and called it, along with MDMA, a "happy drug". While accepting the Best Video Award at the 2013 MTV Europe Music Awards, Cyrus appeared to smoke a joint onstage; this was removed from the delayed broadcast of the show in the United States. In a 2014 interview with W magazine, Cyrus said "I love weed" and "I just love getting stoned." In a 2017 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, she said she had quit cannabis before the press tour for Younger Now so she could be "super clear" when discussing the record. In May 2018, she told Jimmy Kimmel: "I also think it's the most magical, amazing... it's my first and true love. It's just not for me right now at this time in my life, but I'm sure there will be a day I will happily indulge." During a December 2018 interview with Andy Cohen, she credited her mother for reintroducing her to cannabis. In 2019, Cyrus sent "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" collaborator Mark Ronson a cannabis bouquet from Lowell Herb Co as a tongue-in-cheek Valentine's Day gift. She invested in the company in August.
Before and shortly after vocal cord surgery in November 2019, Cyrus said she had abstained from cannabis and alcohol.
Relationships
Cyrus has said that she dated singer-actor Nick Jonas from June 2006 to December 2007, claiming they were "in love" and began dating soon after they first met. Their relationship attracted considerable media attention. Cyrus was in a nine-month relationship with model Justin Gaston from 2008 to 2009. In 2009, while filming The Last Song, she began an on-again, off-again relationship with her co-star Liam Hemsworth. They were first engaged from May 2012 to September 2013. She has also dated actor Patrick Schwarzenegger (2014–2015) and model Stella Maxwell (2015).
Cyrus and Hemsworth rekindled their relationship in March 2016, and got engaged again that October. In November 2018, their home burned down in the Woolsey Fire in California. On December 23, Cyrus and Hemsworth married in a private ceremony at their home in Nashville. She said her marriage redefined "what it looks like for someone that's a queer person like me to be in a hetero relationship" while "still very sexually attracted to women". Cyrus said the ceremony was "kind of out of character for me" because they had "worn rings forever [and] definitely didn't need it in any way". She believed the loss of their home to be the catalyst for the wedding, saying "the timing felt right" and that "no one is promised the next day, or the next, so I try to be 'in the now' as much as possible". On August 10, 2019, Cyrus announced their separation; on August 21, Hemsworth filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences". Their divorce was finalized on January 28, 2020.
After announcing her separation from Hemsworth, Cyrus dated Kaitlynn Carter from August to September 2019. In October 2019, Cyrus began dating Australian singer Cody Simpson, a longtime friend. In August 2020, Cyrus announced that she and Simpson had split up. Her announcement coincided with the release of her single "Midnight Sky", which was inspired by her breakups with Hemsworth, Carter, and Simpson. In 2021, Cyrus began dating American musician Maxx Morando, who worked as a producer on her 2023 album Endless Summer Vacation.
Philanthropy
Throughout her career Cyrus has sung on several charity singles such as: "Just Stand Up!", "Send It On", "Everybody Hurts" and "We Are the World 25 for Haiti". She is an avid supporter of the City of Hope National Medical Center in California, having attended benefit concerts in 2008, 2009 and 2012. In 2008 and 2009, during her Best of Both Worlds and Wonder World Tours, for every concert ticket sold, she donated one dollar to the organization. Cyrus celebrated her 16th birthday at Disneyland by delivering a US$1 million donation from Disney to Youth Service America. In July 2009, Cyrus performed at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation's 20th annual Time for Heroes celebrity picnic and donated several items including autographed merchandise, and a script from Hannah Montana for the Ronald McDonald House Auction.
Cyrus has supported charities including the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, United Service Organizations, Youth Service America and Music for Relief. In January 2010, Cyrus posted the final video to her mileymandy YouTube Account. In the video, Cyrus promoted support for To Write Love on Her Arms, and the next day appeared in a promotional video for the film with Joaquin Phoenix, and Liv Tyler. In February 2010, she donated several items, including the dress she wore to the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, and two tickets to the Hollywood premiere of her film The Last Song, to raise money for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In April 2010, Cyrus, working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, performed for and met with 29 children at The Grove at Farmers Market in Los Angeles, California. Cyrus continued to support The Make-A-Wish Foundation, and met with at least 150 children.
In January 2011, Cyrus met an ailing fan with spina bifida with the charity Kids Wish Network. In April 2011, she appeared in a commercial for the American Red Cross asking people to pledge $10 to help those affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. That same year, Hilary Duff presented Cyrus with the first-ever Global Action Youth Leadership Award at the first Annual Global Action Awards Gala for her support of Blessings in a Backpack, an organization that works to feed hungry children in schools, and her personal Get Ur Good On campaign with the Youth Services of America. Cyrus stated: "I want (kids) to do something they love. Not something that seems like a chore because someone tells them that's the right thing to do or what their parents want or what's important to people around them, but what's in their heart." In December 2011, she appeared in a commercial for the charity J/P Haitian Relief Organization, and teamed up with her elder brother Trace Cyrus to design a limited-edition T-shirt and hoodie for charity. All proceeds from the sale of these items went to her charity, Get Ur Good On, which supports education for under-privileged children. That month, she performed "The Climb" at the CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
In 2012, Cyrus released a cover version of Bob Dylan's "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" with Johnzo West for the charity Amnesty International as a part of the album Chimes of Freedom. She also appeared in a commercial for the Rock the Vote campaign, which encouraged young people to make their voices heard by voting in the 2012 federal election. For her 20th birthday, activists at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) adopted a pig called Nora in her name. Cyrus also supports 39 well-known charities, including Make-a-Wish Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, To Write Love on Her Arms, NOH8 Campaign, Love Is Louder Than the Pressure to Be Perfect and The Jed Foundation. In 2013, Cyrus was named the fourteenth-most-charitable celebrity of the year by Do Something. She also appeared with Justin Bieber and Pitbull in a television special entitled The Real Change Project: Artists for Education. On August 28, 2014, Miley appeared alongside Justin Timberlake at an HIV/AIDS charity event in the White House.
At the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, Cyrus won Video of the Year for her song Wrecking Ball. Instead of accepting the award herself, she invited a 22-year-old homeless man by the name of Jesse to collect it on her behalf; she had met him at My Friend's Place, an organization that helps homeless youth find shelter, work, health care, and education. His acceptance speech urged musicians to learn more about youth homelessness in Los Angeles through Cyrus's Facebook page. Cyrus then launched a Prizeo campaign to raise funds for the charity; those who made donations were entered into a sweepstake for a chance to meet Cyrus on her Bangerz Tour in Rio de Janeiro that September. In early 2015, Cyrus teamed up with MAC Cosmetics to launch her own branded Viva Glam lipstick, with proceeds to the Mac AIDS Fund.
In June 2017, Cyrus performed at One Love Manchester, a televised benefit concert organized by Ariana Grande following the Manchester Arena bombing on her concert two weeks earlier. During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in August 2017, Cyrus said that she would donate $500,000 to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. In August 2019, she performed at the Sunny Hill Festival in Kosovo, a festival to raise funds to help people with financial difficulties there, created by Dua Lipa and her father. In September 2019, Cyrus met with another fan through the Make-A-Wish Foundation at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cyrus and her boyfriend Cody Simpson donated 120 tacos to healthcare workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. That same month, she partnered again with MAC Cosmetics's annual Viva Glam campaign to donate $10 million toward 250 local organizations nationwide heavily impacted by the pandemic.
Cyrus showed support for the Black Lives Matter movement by sharing links and resources on social media, donning a Black Lives Matter face mask, and attending protests following the murder of George Floyd.
Happy Hippie Foundation
Cyrus is the founder of the Happy Hippie Foundation, which works to "fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBTQ youth, and other vulnerable populations". From 2014 to 2016 the foundation served nearly 1,500 homeless youth in Los Angeles, reached more than 25,000 LGBTQ youth and their families with resources about gender, and provided social services to transgender individuals, youth in conflict zones, and people affected by crises. Happy Hippie encourages Cyrus's fans to support causes including gender equality, LGBTQ rights and mental health through awareness campaigns and fundraising. Leading up to the 2020 presidential election, Happy Hippie encouraged its Instagram followers to seek out VoteRiders for assistance ensuring that gender identity would not affect their right to vote.
On June 15, 2015, Cyrus launched the campaign #InstaPride in collaboration with Instagram. The campaign features a series of portraits starring transgender and gender-expansive people, which were posted to her Instagram feed with the hashtags "#HappyHippiePresents" and "#InstaPride". It stated that it was aimed at encouraging diversity and tolerance by showing these people in a positive light as examples for others who might be struggling to figure themselves out, and as a reference point for people who didn't know personally anyone in that situation. Cyrus was behind the camera for the entire photoshoot, and interviewed her 14 subjects to share their personal stories. She said she wanted to bring attention to and celebrate people who would not normally find themselves being the stars of a photoshoot or portrayed on the cover of a magazine.
Following the loss of Miley and Hemsworth's Malibu home from the Woolsey Fire, the community and they launched the Malibu Foundation for relief efforts following the 2018 California wildfires, Miley's Happy Hippie Foundation donating $500,000 to the Malibu Foundation.
In 2024 Cyrus announced that the foundation would be renamed as Miley Cyrus Foundation.
Cultural impact and status
Cyrus's early success as a teen idol and the face of Disney Channel's billion-dollar franchise Hannah Montana played an important role in shaping the 2000s teen pop culture, earning her the honorific nickname of "Teen Queen". Bickford stated Hannah Montana adopted a business model of combining celebrity acts with film, television, and popular music for a pre-adolescent audience. He called the series "genre-defining" and likened this model to 1990s teen pop artists such as Britney Spears and NSYNC, who were also marketed to children. Morgan Genevieve Blue of Feminist Media Studies stated the series' primary female characters, Miley and her alter ego Hannah, are positioned as post-feminist subjects in a way their representation is confined to notions of femininity and consumerism. The Times journalist Craig McLean named Cyrus the "world's biggest-ever teenage star".
During the Best of Both Worlds Tour, tickets were sold out in minutes and stadiums were completely filled making it the highest-grossing concert tour for a new act in 2007 and 2008. According to Billboard boxscore, the Best of Both Worlds Tour had a total attendance of approximately one million people and grossed over US$54 million, earning Cyrus the award for Breakthrough Act at the 2008 Billboard Touring Awards. In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked Cyrus as one of the top 25 teen idol breakout moments of the rock era, which Andy Greene wrote: "Miley's rise was meteoric. Tickets to her 2007 Best of Both Worlds tour sold out faster than any tour in memory ... It seemed like she was poised to become a more stable version of Britney Spears – especially after singles 'The Climb' and 'Party In The USA'". Due to her popularity, Paul McCartney compared their success to that of the Beatles in an interview during his tour in 2011. In this regard, he commented: "I think when they have new sensations, like Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber, teenagers identify with them, in the same way that the boys identified with The Beatles, [...] when you have thousands of teenagers feeling the same, they become elated because they have this love for something in common, whether it is The Beatles, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, or whatever."
Over the years, Cyrus's song "Party in the U.S.A." gained popularity in American culture on holidays and historic events. The song has re-entered the charts every Independence Day since its release. Following the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, a resurgence in popularity of the music video occurred. The official YouTube video was flooded with comments regarding the death of bin Laden and it was immediately deemed a celebratory anthem for the event. In 2013, an online petition on the White House's "We the People" petitions website was urging then-president Barack Obama to change the U.S. national anthem from "The Star-Spangled Banner" to "Party in the U.S.A." Following the 2020 presidential election, as major news outlets announced Democratic nominee Joe Biden the winner of the presidential race, on November 7, 2020, supporters in New York City started singing "Party in the U.S.A." at Times Square.
Cyrus's album Bangerz (2013), along with its promotional events, is considered to be one of the most controversial moments in the 2010s wider popular culture and established Cyrus among the decade's most controversial figures. Glamour writer Mickey Woods likened the promotional "era" for the album to those of Britney Spears's and Christina Aguilera's third and fourth studio albums Britney (2001) and Stripped (2002), respectively, adding that Cyrus's record "will probably be retrospectively deemed iconic, maybe even classic". Billboard listed Bangerz as one of the greatest and most influential albums of the 2010s noting that "with this pivotal album release, Cyrus took control of her public persona, surprising less with her provocative antics than with her constant artistic evolution". The album was ranked number 230 on Rolling Stone's "250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century". Bangerz is considered a trendsetter in "weaving together urban and pop influences, what's most revered now is what it represented then" according to Lyndsey Havens. Patrick Ryan of USA Today commented that Cyrus's collaborations with Mike Will Made It on the album contributed to his new-found prominence, stating that Mike Will Made It's position as an executive producer has helped him "[jump] to the forefront as an interesting character [...] in an era where a lot of producers have fallen behind the scenes again". Vice described Cyrus as "the most punk rock musician out there" and that she was "spinning circles around every single pop star who [was] trying to be edgy" at the time. MTV named Cyrus their Best Artist of 2013, and James Montgomery of MTV News elaborated on the network's decision that Cyrus "[declared] her independence and [dominated] the pop-culture landscape", adding that "she schooled—and shocked—us all in 2013, and did so on her own terms." Billboard staff called Cyrus the "Most Talked About Pop Star" of 2013, and also recognized the controversial evolution of her career as the "Top Music Moment" of the year, elaborating that she was a "maelstrom that expanded and grazed nearly every aspect of pop culture in 2013". The publication also ranked "We Can't Stop" as the best song of 2013 for being "one of the bolder musical choices in recent memory", and as one of the songs that defined the 2010s decade. The song's music video and Cyrus's controversial 2013 VMAs performance with Robin Thicke were declared as the 27th greatest music video and one of the most "defining" pop culture moments of the 2010s.
In 2015, Rebecca Nicholson from The Guardian published an article calling Cyrus the Madonna of her generation, saying that "she's a Disney survivor with a fluid approach to gender identity. And, like the old three-chord punks, she gives really good quote". According to Nicholson, Cyrus takes "the 90s Madonna approach to public sexuality: it's deliberately provocative, and crucially, it is not being served up for male consumption." Likewise, she defends Cyrus's controversial rebellion, highlighting that behind the character there is a human, talented and strong person who manages to connect with the public, just like the "Queen of Pop". In November of the same year, Vulture ranked Cyrus number one on its "Disney and Nickelodeon Stars Gone Pop" listicle, writing that "no post-millennium child star [had] grown up as wildly, rapidly, or successfully as [Cyrus]" at the time. Appearing at number eight on the 2021 revision of the ranking, the publication named her as one of the few child stars with a successful music career as an adult, calling her "the archetype for Disney 2.0 stars" who "picked up the child-star trap of getting pigeonholed and set it on fire". Billboard cataloged the singer as one of the "Greatest of All Time Billboard 200 Artists", occupying position thirty-one; she was on the ninth rank among female artists. In 2017, the aforementioned magazine also published an article naming the singer a "Queer Superhero" for her philanthropic fight for the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019, Billboard ranked her 62nd on its "Greatest of All Time Artists" chart, and 55th on the 2010s decade-end chart of Top Artists, signifying the most successful acts of the decade.
Due to her continual artistic reinventions, sonic and stylistic evolution, and versatility, Cyrus has been nicknamed the "Pop Chameleon" by media and various publications. She has also been considered a pop icon by several publications, with the BBC calling her "the ultimate 21st century pop star". In 2023, The Hollywood Reporter named Cyrus as one of its "Platinum Players" in music. Billboard included Cyrus in its "Greatest Pop Stars of 2023" listicle, naming her the "Comeback Artist of the Year". The magazine called her 2023 single "Flowers" the "biggest chart smash of her career" and noted that it "re-established [Cyrus] as one of pop's foremost hitmakers". In 2024, at age 31, Cyrus became the youngest recipient of the Disney Legends award, for her outstanding contributions to the Walt Disney Company. That year, she was ranked number 15 on Billboard's "Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century"; the magazine wrote that Cyrus has "endured as one of the century's most significant pop stars—because no matter what style she's trying out, at the end of the day, she's always still just being Miley". In 2025, Billboard ranked her twenty-first on its "Top Artists of the 21st Century" list, and ninth on its "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list. Artists that have cited Cyrus or her work as inspiration or an influence include Chappell Roan, JoJo Siwa, Lea Michele, Lil Nas X, and Troye Sivan.
Discography
Filmography
Tours
Headlining
Best of Both Worlds Tour (2007–2008)
Wonder World Tour (2009)
Gypsy Heart Tour (2011)
Bangerz Tour (2014)
Promotional
Milky Milky Milk Tour (2015)
Attention Tour (2022)
Opening act
The Cheetah Girls – The Party's Just Begun Tour (2006–2007)
Recognition
Throughout her career, Cyrus has received several awards and nominations. In 2009, at only 16 years old, she received her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song with the song "I Thought I Lost You" featuring John Travolta for the movie Bolt and in 2025 she was nominated in the same category with the song "Beautiful That Way" for the movie The Last Showgirl. She also won the MTV Movie Award for Best Song From A Movie with her song "The Climb" in 2009. She received 16 nominations at the World Music Awards in 2014 and 50 Teen Choice Award nominations from 2006 to 2014, making her the most nominated person in the history of the Teen Choice Awards. In 2024, she won her first two Grammy Awards at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards and by 2025 she has accumulated 9 nominations.
See also
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
Notes
Explanatory footnotes
Citations
Further reading
Cyrus, Miley & Liftin, Hilary (2009). Miles to Go. New York: Disney-Hyperion Books. ISBN 978-1-4231-1992-0. OCLC 244417637. Miles to Go at Google Books.
External links
Official website
Miley Cyrus at AllMusic
Miley Cyrus discography at Discogs
Miley Cyrus at IMDb
Miley Cyrus discography at MusicBrainz
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Genghis Khan
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Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; c. 1162 – August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongol tribes, he launched a series of military campaigns, conquering large parts of China and Central Asia.
Born between 1155 and 1167 and given the name Temüjin, he was the eldest child of Yesugei, a Mongol chieftain of the Borjigin clan, and his wife Hö'elün. When Temüjin was eight, his father died and his family was abandoned by its tribe. Reduced to near-poverty, Temüjin killed his older half-brother to secure his familial position. His charismatic personality helped to attract his first followers and to form alliances with two prominent steppe leaders named Jamukha and Toghrul; they worked together to retrieve Temüjin's newlywed wife Börte, who had been kidnapped by raiders. As his reputation grew, his relationship with Jamukha deteriorated into open warfare. Temüjin was badly defeated in c. 1187, and may have spent the following years as a subject of the Jin dynasty; upon reemerging in 1196, he swiftly began gaining power. Toghrul came to view Temüjin as a threat and launched a surprise attack on him in 1203. Temüjin regrouped and overpowered Toghrul; after defeating the Naiman tribe and executing Jamukha, he was left as the sole ruler on the Mongolian steppe.
Temüjin formally adopted the title "Genghis Khan", the meaning of which is uncertain, at an assembly in 1206. Carrying out reforms designed to ensure long-term stability, he transformed the Mongols' tribal structure into an integrated meritocracy dedicated to the service of the ruling family. After thwarting a coup attempt from a powerful shaman, Genghis began to consolidate his power. In 1209, he led a large-scale raid into the neighbouring Western Xia, who agreed to Mongol terms the following year. He then launched a campaign against the Jin dynasty, which lasted for four years and ended in 1215 with the capture of the Jin capital Zhongdu. His general Jebe annexed the Central Asian state of Qara Khitai in 1218. Genghis was provoked to invade the Khwarazmian Empire the following year by the execution of his envoys; the campaign toppled the Khwarazmian state and devastated the regions of Transoxiana and Khorasan, while Jebe and his colleague Subutai led an expedition that reached Georgia and Kievan Rus'. In 1227, Genghis died while subduing the rebellious Western Xia; following a two-year interregnum, his third son and heir Ögedei acceded to the throne in 1229.
Genghis Khan remains a controversial figure. He was generous and intensely loyal to his followers, but ruthless towards his enemies. He welcomed advice from diverse sources in his quest for world domination, for which he believed the shamanic supreme deity Tengri had destined him. The Mongol army under Genghis killed millions of people, yet his conquests also facilitated unprecedented commercial and cultural exchange over a vast geographical area. He is remembered as a backwards, savage tyrant in Russia and the Arab world, while recent Western scholarship has begun to reassess its previous view of him as a barbarian warlord. He was posthumously deified in Mongolia; modern Mongolians recognise him as the founding father of their nation.
Name and title
There is no universal romanisation system used for Mongolian; as a result, modern spellings of Mongolian names vary greatly and may result in considerably different pronunciations from the original. The honorific most commonly rendered as "Genghis" ultimately derives from the Mongolian ᠴᠢᠩᠭᠢᠰ, which may be romanised as Činggis. This was adapted into Chinese as 成吉思 Chéngjísī, and into Persian as چنگیز Čəngīz. As Arabic lacks a sound similar to [tʃ], represented in the Mongolian and Persian romanisations by ⟨č⟩, writers transcribed the name as J̌ingiz, while Syriac authors used Šīngīz.
In addition to "Genghis", introduced into English during the 18th century based on a misreading of Persian sources, modern English spellings include "Chinggis", "Chingis", "Jinghis", and "Jengiz". His birth name "Temüjin" (ᠲᠡᠮᠦᠵᠢᠨ; 鐵木真 Tiěmùzhēn) is sometimes also spelled "Temuchin" in English.
When Genghis's grandson Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty in 1271, he bestowed the temple name Taizu (太祖, meaning 'Supreme Progenitor') and the posthumous name Shengwu Huangdi (聖武皇帝, meaning 'Holy-Martial Emperor') upon his grandfather. Kublai's great-grandson Külüg Khan later expanded this title into Fatian Qiyun Shengwu Huangdi (法天啟運聖武皇帝, meaning 'Interpreter of the Heavenly Law, Initiator of the Good Fortune, Holy-Martial Emperor').
Sources
As the sources are written in more than a dozen languages from across Eurasia, modern historians have found it difficult to compile information on the life of Genghis Khan. All accounts of his adolescence and rise to power derive from two Mongolian-language sources—the Secret History of the Mongols, and the Altan Debter (Golden Book). The latter, now lost, served as inspiration for two Chinese chronicles—the 14th-century History of Yuan and the Shengwu qinzheng lu (Campaigns of Genghis Khan). The History of Yuan, while poorly edited, provides a large amount of detail on individual campaigns and people; the Shengwu is more disciplined in its chronology, but does not criticise Genghis and occasionally contains errors.
The Secret History survived through being transliterated into Chinese characters during the 14th and 15th centuries. Its historicity has been disputed: the 20th-century sinologist Arthur Waley considered it a literary work with no historiographical value, but more recent historians have given it much more credence. Although it is clear that its chronology is suspect and that some passages were removed or modified for better narration, the Secret History is valued highly because the anonymous author is often critical of Genghis Khan: in addition to presenting him as indecisive and as having a phobia of dogs, the Secret History also recounts taboo events such as his fratricide and the possibility of his son Jochi's illegitimacy.
Multiple chronicles in Persian have also survived, which display a mix of positive and negative attitudes towards Genghis Khan and the Mongols. Both Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani and Ata-Malik Juvayni completed their respective histories in 1260. Juzjani was an eyewitness to the brutality of the Mongol conquests, and the hostility of his chronicle reflects his experiences. His contemporary Juvayni, who had travelled twice to Mongolia and attained a high position in the administration of a Mongol successor state, was more sympathetic; his account is the most reliable for Genghis Khan's western campaigns. The most important Persian source is the Jami' al-tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles) compiled by Rashid al-Din on the order of Genghis's descendant Ghazan in the early 14th century. Ghazan allowed Rashid privileged access to both confidential Mongol sources such as the Altan Debter and to experts on the Mongol oral tradition, including Kublai Khan's ambassador Bolad Chingsang. As he was writing an official chronicle, Rashid censored inconvenient or taboo details.
There are many other contemporary histories which include additional information on Genghis Khan and the Mongols, although their neutrality and reliability are often suspect. Additional Chinese sources include the chronicles of the dynasties conquered by the Mongols, and the Song diplomat Zhao Hong, who visited the Mongols in 1221. Arabic sources include a contemporary biography of the Khwarazmian prince Jalal al-Din by his companion al-Nasawi. There are also several later Christian chronicles, including the Georgian Chronicles, and works by European travellers such as Carpini and Marco Polo.
Early life
Birth and childhood
The year of Temüjin's birth is disputed, as historians favour different dates: 1155, 1162 or 1167. Some traditions place his birth in the Year of the Pig, which was either 1155 or 1167. While a dating to 1155 is supported by the writings of both Zhao Hong and Rashid al-Din, other major sources such as the History of Yuan and the Shengwu favour the year 1162. The 1167 dating, favoured by the sinologist Paul Pelliot, is derived from a minor source—a text of the Yuan artist Yang Weizhen—but is more compatible with the events of Genghis Khan's life than a 1155 placement, which implies that he did not have children until after the age of thirty and continued actively campaigning into his seventh decade. 1162 is the date accepted by most historians; the historian Paul Ratchnevsky noted that Temüjin himself may not have known the truth. The location of Temüjin's birth, which the Secret History records as Delüün Boldog on the Onon River, is similarly debated: it has been placed at either Dadal in Khentii Province or in southern Agin-Buryat Okrug, Russia.
Temüjin was born into the Borjigin clan of the Mongol tribe to Yesügei, a chieftain who claimed descent from the legendary warlord Bodonchar Munkhag, and his principal wife Hö'elün, originally of the Olkhonud clan, whom Yesügei had abducted from her Merkit bridegroom Chiledu. The origin of his birth name is contested: the earliest traditions hold that his father had just returned from a successful campaign against the Tatars with a captive named Temüchin-uge, after whom he named the newborn in celebration of his victory, while later traditions highlight the root temür (meaning 'iron') and connect to theories that "Temüjin" means 'blacksmith'.
Several legends surround Temüjin's birth. The most prominent is that he was born clutching a blood clot in his hand, a motif in Asian folklore indicating the child would be a warrior. Others claimed that Hö'elün was impregnated by a ray of light which announced the child's destiny, a legend which echoed that of the mythical Borjigin ancestor Alan Gua. Yesügei and Hö'elün had three younger sons after Temüjin: Qasar, Hachiun, and Temüge, as well as one daughter, Temülün. Temüjin also had two half-brothers, Behter and Belgutei, from Yesügei's secondary wife Sochigel, whose identity is uncertain. The siblings grew up at Yesugei's main camp on the banks of the Onon, where they learned how to ride a horse and shoot a bow.
When Temüjin was eight years old, his father decided to betroth him to a suitable girl. Yesügei took his heir to the pastures of Hö'elün's prestigious Onggirat tribe, which had intermarried with the Mongols on many previous occasions. There, he arranged a betrothal between Temüjin and Börte, the daughter of an Onggirat chieftain named Dei Sechen. As the betrothal meant Yesügei would gain a powerful ally and as Börte commanded a high bride price, Dei Sechen held the stronger negotiating position, and demanded that Temüjin remain in his household to work off his future debt. Accepting this condition, Yesügei requested a meal from a band of Tatars he encountered while riding homewards alone, relying on the steppe tradition of hospitality to strangers. However, the Tatars recognised their old enemy and slipped poison into his food. Yesügei gradually sickened but managed to return home; close to death, he requested a trusted retainer called Münglig to retrieve Temüjin from the Onggirat. He died soon after.
Adolescence
Yesügei's death shattered the unity of his people, which included members of the Borjigin, Tayichiud, and other clans. As Temüjin was not yet ten and Behter around two years older, neither was considered experienced enough to rule. The Tayichiud faction excluded Hö'elün from the ancestor worship ceremonies which followed a ruler's death and soon abandoned her camp. The Secret History relates that the entire Borjigin clan followed, despite Hö'elün's attempts to shame them into staying by appealing to their honour. Rashid al-Din and the Shengwu however imply that Yesügei's brothers stood by the widow. It is possible that Hö'elün may have refused to join in levirate marriage with one, resulting in later tensions, or that the author of the Secret History dramatised the situation. All the sources agree that most of Yesügei's people renounced his family in favour of the Tayichiuds and that Hö'elün's family were reduced to a much harsher life. Taking up a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, they collected roots and nuts, hunted for small animals, and caught fish.
Tensions developed as the children grew older. Both Temüjin and Behter had claims to be their father's heir: although Temüjin was the child of Yesügei's chief wife, Behter was at least two years his senior. There was even the possibility that, as permitted under levirate law, Behter could marry Hö'elün upon attaining his majority and become Temüjin's stepfather. As the friction, exacerbated by frequent disputes over the division of hunting spoils, intensified, Temüjin and his younger brother Qasar ambushed and killed Behter. This taboo act was omitted from the official chronicles but not from the Secret History, which recounts that Hö'elün angrily reprimanded her sons. Behter's younger full-brother Belgutei did not seek vengeance, and became one of Temüjin's highest-ranking followers alongside Qasar. Around this time, Temüjin developed a close friendship with Jamukha, another boy of aristocratic descent; the Secret History notes that they exchanged knucklebones and arrows as gifts and swore the anda pact—the traditional oath of Mongol blood brothers–at eleven.
As the family lacked allies, Temüjin was taken prisoner on multiple occasions. Captured by the Tayichiuds, he escaped during a feast and hid first in the Onon and then in the tent of Sorkan-Shira, a man who had seen him in the river and not raised the alarm. Sorkan-Shira sheltered Temüjin for three days at great personal risk before helping him to escape. Temüjin was assisted on another occasion by Bo'orchu, an adolescent who aided him in retrieving stolen horses. Soon afterwards, Bo'orchu joined Temüjin's camp as his first nökor ('personal companion'; pl. nökod). These incidents, related by the Secret History, are indicative of the emphasis its author put on Genghis' personal charisma.
Rise to power
Early campaigns
Temüjin returned to Dei Sechen to marry Börte when he reached the age of majority at fifteen. Delighted to see the son-in-law he feared had died, Dei Sechen consented to the marriage and accompanied the newlyweds back to Temüjin's camp; his wife Čotan presented Hö'elün with an expensive sable cloak. Seeking a patron, Temüjin chose to regift the cloak to Toghrul, khan (ruler) of the Kerait tribe, who had fought alongside Yesügei and sworn the anda pact with him. Toghrul ruled a vast territory in central Mongolia but distrusted many of his followers. In need of loyal replacements, he was delighted with the valuable gift and welcomed Temüjin into his protection. The two grew close, and Temüjin began to build a following, as nökod such as Jelme entered into his service. Temüjin and Börte had their first child, a daughter named Qojin, around this time.
Soon afterwards, seeking revenge for Yesügei's abduction of Hö'elün, around 300 Merkits raided Temüjin's camp. While Temüjin and his brothers were able to hide on Burkhan Khaldun mountain, Börte and Sochigel were abducted. In accordance with levirate law, Börte was given in marriage to the younger brother of the now-deceased Chiledu. Temüjin appealed for aid from Toghrul and his childhood anda Jamukha, who had risen to become chief of the Jadaran tribe. Both chiefs were willing to field armies of 20,000 warriors, and with Jamukha in command, the campaign was soon won. A now-pregnant Börte was recovered successfully and soon gave birth to a son, Jochi; although Temüjin raised him as his own, questions over his true paternity followed Jochi throughout his life. This is narrated in the Secret History and contrasts with Rashid al-Din's account, which protects the family's reputation by removing any hint of illegitimacy. Over the next decade and a half, Temüjin and Börte had three more sons (Chagatai, Ögedei, and Tolui) and four more daughters (Checheyigen, Alaqa, Tümelün, and Al-Altan).
The followers of Temüjin and Jamukha camped together for a year and a half, during which their leaders reforged their anda pact and slept together under one blanket, according to the Secret History. The source presents this period as close friends bonding, but Ratchnevsky questioned if Temüjin actually entered into Jamukha's service in return for the assistance with the Merkits. Tensions arose and the two leaders parted, ostensibly on account of a cryptic remark made by Jamukha on the subject of camping; in any case, Temüjin followed the advice of Hö'elün and Börte and began to build an independent following. The major tribal rulers remained with Jamukha, but forty-one leaders gave their support to Temüjin along with many commoners: these included Subutai and others of the Uriankhai, the Barulas, the Olkhonuds, and many more. Many were attracted by Temüjin's reputation as a fair and generous lord who could offer better lives, while his shamans prophesied that heaven had allocated him a great destiny.
Temüjin was soon acclaimed by his close followers as khan of the Mongols. Toghrul was pleased at his vassal's elevation but Jamukha was resentful. Tensions escalated into open hostility, and in around 1187 the two leaders clashed in battle at Dalan Baljut: the two forces were evenly matched but Temüjin suffered a clear defeat. Later chroniclers including Rashid al-Din instead state that he was victorious but their accounts contradict themselves and each other.
Modern historians such as Ratchnevsky and Timothy May consider it very likely that Temüjin spent a large portion of the decade following the clash at Dalan Baljut as a servant of the Jurchen Jin dynasty in North China. Zhao Hong recorded that the future Genghis Khan spent several years as a slave of the Jin. Formerly seen as an expression of nationalistic arrogance, the statement is now thought to be based in fact, especially as no other source convincingly explains Temüjin's activities between Dalan Baljut and c. 1195. Taking refuge across the border was a common practice both for disaffected steppe leaders and disgraced Chinese officials. Temüjin's reemergence having retained significant power indicates that he probably profited in the service of the Jin. As he later overthrew that state, such an episode, detrimental to Mongol prestige, was omitted from all their sources. Zhao Hong was bound by no such taboos.
Defeating rivals
The sources do not agree on the events of Temüjin's return to the steppe. In early summer 1196, he participated in a joint campaign with the Jin against the Tatars, who had begun to act contrary to Jin interests. As a reward, the Jin awarded him the honorific cha-ut kuri, the meaning of which probably approximated "commander of hundreds" in Jurchen. At around the same time, he assisted Toghrul with reclaiming the lordship of the Kereit, which had been usurped by one of Toghrul's relatives with the support of the powerful Naiman tribe. The actions of 1196 fundamentally changed Temüjin's position in the steppe—although nominally still Toghrul's vassal, he was de facto an equal ally.
Jamukha behaved cruelly following his victory at Dalan Baljut—he allegedly boiled seventy prisoners alive and humiliated the corpses of leaders who had opposed him. A number of disaffected followers, including Yesügei's follower Münglig and his sons, defected to Temüjin as a consequence; they were also probably attracted by his newfound wealth. Temüjin subdued the disobedient Jurkin tribe that had previously offended him at a feast and refused to participate in the Tatar campaign. After executing their leaders, he had Belgutei symbolically break a leading Jurkin's back in a staged wrestling match in retribution. This latter incident, which contravened Mongol customs of justice, was only noted by the author of the Secret History, who openly disapproved. These events occurred c. 1197.
During the following years, Temüjin and Toghrul campaigned against the Merkits, the Naimans, and the Tatars; sometimes separately and sometimes together. In around 1201, a collection of dissatisfied tribes including the Onggirat, the Tayichiud, and the Tatars swore to break the domination of the Borjigin-Kereit alliance, electing Jamukha as their leader and gurkhan (lit. '"khan of the tribes"'). After some initial successes, Temüjin and Toghrul routed this loose confederation at Yedi Qunan, and Jamukha was forced to beg for Toghrul's clemency. Desiring complete supremacy in eastern Mongolia, Temüjin defeated first the Tayichiud and then, in 1202, the Tatars; after both campaigns, he executed the clan leaders and took the remaining warriors into his service. These included Sorkan-Shira, who had come to his aid previously, and a young warrior named Jebe, who, by killing Temüjin's horse and refusing to hide that fact, had displayed martial ability and personal courage.
The absorption of the Tatars left three military powers in the steppe: the Naimans in the west, the Mongols in the east, and the Kereit in between. Seeking to cement his position, Temüjin proposed that his son Jochi marry one of Toghrul's daughters. Led by Toghrul's son Senggum, the Kereit elite believed the proposal to be an attempt to gain control over their tribe, while the doubts over Jochi's parentage would have offended them further. In addition, Jamukha drew attention to the threat Temüjin posed to the traditional steppe aristocracy by his habit of promoting commoners to high positions, which subverted social norms. Yielding eventually to these demands, Toghrul attempted to lure his vassal into an ambush, but his plans were overheard by two herdsmen. Temüjin was able to gather some of his forces, but was soundly defeated at the Battle of Qalaqaljid Sands.
Retreating southeast to Baljuna, an unidentified lake or river, Temüjin waited for his scattered forces to regroup: Bo'orchu had lost his horse and was forced to flee on foot, while Temüjin's badly wounded son Ögedei had been transported and tended to by Borokhula, a leading warrior. Temüjin called in every possible ally and swore a famous oath of loyalty, later known as the Baljuna Covenant, to his faithful followers, which subsequently granted them great prestige. The oath-takers of Baljuna were a very heterogeneous group—men from nine different tribes who included Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists, united only by loyalty to Temüjin and to each other. This group became a model for the later empire, termed a "proto-government of a proto-nation" by historian John Man. The Baljuna Covenant was omitted from the Secret History—as the group was predominantly non-Mongol, the author presumably wished to downplay the role of other tribes.
A ruse de guerre involving Qasar allowed the Mongols to ambush the Kereit at the Jej'er Heights; though the ensuing battle still lasted three days, it ended in a decisive victory for Temüjin. Toghrul and Senggum were both forced to flee, and while the latter escaped to Tibet, Toghrul was killed by a Naiman who did not recognise him. Temüjin sealed his victory by absorbing the Kereit elite into his own tribe: he took the princess Ibaqa as a wife, and married her sister Sorghaghtani and niece Doquz to his youngest son Tolui. The ranks of the Naimans had swelled due to the arrival of Jamukha and others defeated by the Mongols, and they prepared for war. Temüjin was informed of these events by Alaqush, the sympathetic ruler of the Ongud tribe. In May 1204, at the Battle of Chakirmaut in the Altai Mountains, the Naimans were decisively defeated: their leader Tayang Khan was killed, and his son Kuchlug was forced to flee west. The Merkits were decimated later that year, while Jamukha, who had abandoned the Naimans at Chakirmaut, was betrayed to Temüjin by companions who were executed for their lack of loyalty. According to the Secret History, Jamukha convinced his childhood anda to execute him honourably; other accounts state that he was killed by dismemberment.
Early reign: reforms and Chinese campaigns (1206–1215)
Kurultai of 1206 and reforms
Now sole ruler of the steppe, Temüjin held a large assembly called a kurultai at the source of the Onon River in 1206. Here, he formally adopted the title "Genghis Khan", the etymology and meaning of which have been much debated. Some commentators hold that the title had no meaning, simply representing Temüjin's eschewal of the traditional gurkhan title, which had been accorded to Jamukha and was thus of lesser worth. Another theory suggests that the word "Genghis" bears connotations of strength, firmness, hardness, or righteousness. A third hypothesis proposes that the title is related to the Turkic tängiz ('ocean'), the title "Genghis Khan" would mean "master of the ocean", and as the ocean was believed to surround the earth, the title thus ultimately implied "Universal Ruler".
Genghis Khan then began a "social revolution", in May's words. As traditional tribal systems had primarily evolved to benefit small clans and families, they were unsuitable as the foundations for larger states and had been the downfall of previous steppe confederations. Genghis thus began a series of administrative reforms designed to suppress the power of tribal affiliations and to replace them with unconditional loyalty to the khan and the ruling family. As most of the traditional tribal leaders had been killed during his rise to power, Genghis was able to reconstruct the Mongol social hierarchy in his favour. The highest tier was occupied solely by his and his brothers' families, who became known as the altan uruq (lit. 'Golden Family') or chaghan yasun (lit. 'white bone'); underneath them came the qara yasun (lit. 'black bone'; sometimes qarachu), composed of the surviving pre-empire aristocracy and the most important of the new families.
To break any concept of tribal loyalty, Mongol society was reorganised into a military decimal system. Every man between the age of fifteen and seventy was conscripted into a minqan (pl. minkad), a unit of a thousand soldiers, which was further subdivided into units of hundreds (jaghun, pl. jaghat) and tens (arban, pl. arbat). The units also encompassed each man's household, meaning that each military minqan was supported by a minqan of households in what May has termed "a military–industrial complex". Each minqan operated as both a political and social unit, while the warriors of defeated tribes were dispersed to different minqad to make it difficult for them to rebel as a single body. This was intended to ensure the disappearance of old tribal identities, replacing them with loyalty to the "Great Mongol State", and to commanders who had gained their rank through merit and loyalty to the khan. This particular reform proved extremely effective—even after the division of the Mongol Empire, fragmentation never happened along tribal lines. Instead, the descendants of Genghis continued to reign unchallenged, in some cases until as late as the 1700s, and even powerful non-imperial dynasts such as Timur and Edigu were compelled to rule from behind a puppet ruler of his lineage.
Genghis's senior nökod were appointed to the highest ranks and received the greatest honours. Bo'orchu and Muqali were each given ten thousand men to lead as commanders of the right and left wings of the army respectively. The other nökod were each given commands of one of the ninety-five minkad. In a display of Genghis' meritocratic ideals, many of these men were born to low social status: Ratchnevsky cited Jelme and Subutai, the sons of blacksmiths, in addition to a carpenter, a shepherd, and even the two herdsmen who had warned Temüjin of Toghrul's plans in 1203. As a special privilege, Genghis allowed certain loyal commanders to retain the tribal identities of their units. Alaqush of the Ongud was allowed to retain five thousand warriors of his tribe because his son had entered into an alliance pact with Genghis, marrying his daughter Alaqa.
A key tool which underpinned these reforms was the expansion of the keshig ('bodyguard'). After Temüjin defeated Toghrul in 1203, he had appropriated this Kereit institution in a minor form, but at the 1206 kurultai its numbers were greatly expanded, from 1,150 to 10,000 men. The keshig was not only the khan's bodyguard, but his household staff, a military academy, and the centre of governmental administration. All the warriors in this elite corps were brothers or sons of military commanders and were essentially hostages. The members of the keshig nevertheless received special privileges and direct access to the khan, whom they served and who in return evaluated their capabilities and their potential to govern or command. Commanders such as Subutai, Chormaqan, and Baiju all started out in the keshig, before being given command of their own force.
Consolidation of power (1206–1210)
From 1204 to 1209, Genghis Khan was predominantly focused on consolidating and maintaining his new nation. He faced a challenge from the shaman Kokechu, whose father Münglig had been allowed to marry Hö'elün after he defected to Temüjin. Kokechu, who had proclaimed Temüjin as Genghis Khan and taken the Tengrist title "Teb Tenggeri" (lit. "Wholly Heavenly") on account of his sorcery, was very influential among the Mongol commoners and sought to divide the imperial family. Genghis's brother Qasar was the first of Kokechu's targets—always distrusted by his brother, Qasar was humiliated and almost imprisoned on false charges before Hö'elün intervened by publicly reprimanding Genghis. Nevertheless, Kokechu's power steadily increased, and he publicly shamed Temüge, Genghis's youngest brother, when he attempted to intervene. Börte saw that Kokechu was a threat to Genghis's power and warned her husband, who still superstitiously revered the shaman but now recognised the political threat he posed. Genghis allowed Temüge to arrange Kokechu's death, and then usurped the shaman's position as the Mongols' highest spiritual authority.
During these years, the Mongols imposed their control on surrounding areas. Genghis dispatched Jochi northwards in 1207 to subjugate the Hoi-yin Irgen, a collection of tribes on the edge of the Siberian taiga. Having secured a marriage alliance with the Oirats and defeated the Yenisei Kyrgyz, he took control of the region's trade in grain and furs, as well as its gold mines. Mongol armies also rode westwards, defeating the Naiman-Merkit alliance on the River Irtysh in late 1208. Their khan was killed and Kuchlug fled into Central Asia. Led by Barchuk, the Uyghurs freed themselves from the suzerainty of the Qara Khitai and pledged themselves to Genghis in 1211 as the first sedentary society to submit to the Mongols.
The Mongols had started raiding the border settlements of the Tangut-led Western Xia kingdom in 1205, ostensibly in retaliation for allowing Senggum, Toghrul's son, refuge. More prosaic explanations include rejuvenating the depleted Mongol economy with an influx of fresh goods and livestock, or simply subjugating a semi-hostile state to protect the nascent Mongol nation. Most Xia troops were stationed along the southern and eastern borders of the kingdom to guard against attacks from the Song and Jin dynasties respectively, while its northern border relied only on the Gobi desert for protection. After a raid in 1207 sacked the Xia fortress of Wulahai, Genghis decided to personally lead a full-scale invasion in 1209.
Wulahai was captured again in May and the Mongols advanced on the capital Zhongxing (modern-day Yinchuan) but suffered a reverse against a Xia army. After a two-month stalemate, Genghis broke the deadlock with a feigned retreat; the Xia forces were deceived out of their defensive positions and overpowered. Although Zhongxing was now mostly undefended, the Mongols lacked any siege equipment better than crude battering rams and were unable to progress the siege. The Xia requested aid from the Jin, but Emperor Zhangzong rejected the plea. Genghis's attempt to redirect the Yellow River into the city with a dam initially worked, but the poorly constructed earthworks broke—possibly breached by the Xia—in January 1210 and the Mongol camp was flooded, forcing them to retreat. A peace treaty was soon formalised: the Xia emperor Xiangzong submitted and handed over tribute, including his daughter Chaka, in exchange for the Mongol withdrawal.
Campaign against the Jin (1211–1215)
Wanyan Yongji usurped the Jin throne in 1209. He had previously served on the steppe frontier and Genghis greatly disliked him. When asked to submit and pay the annual tribute to Yongji in 1210, Genghis instead mocked the emperor, spat, and rode away from the Jin envoy—a challenge that meant war. Despite the possibility of being outnumbered eight-to-one by 600,000 Jin soldiers, Genghis had prepared to invade the Jin since learning in 1206 that the state was wracked by internal instabilities. Genghis had two aims: to take vengeance for past wrongs committed by the Jin, foremost among which was the death of Ambaghai Khan in the mid-12th century, and to win the vast amounts of plunder his troops and vassals expected.
After calling for a kurultai in March 1211, Genghis launched his invasion of Jin China in May, reaching the outer ring of Jin defences the following month. These border fortifications were guarded by Alaqush's Ongud, who allowed the Mongols to pass without difficulty. The three-pronged chevauchée aimed both to plunder and burn a vast area of Jin territory to deprive them of supplies and popular legitimacy, and to secure the mountain passes which allowed access to the North China Plain. The Jin lost numerous towns and were hindered by a series of defections, the most prominent of which led directly to Muqali's victory at the Battle of Huan'erzhui in autumn 1211. The campaign was halted in 1212 when Genghis was wounded by an arrow during the unsuccessful siege of Xijing (modern Datong). Following this failure, Genghis set up a corps of siege engineers, which recruited 500 Jin experts over the next two years.
The defences of Juyong Pass had been strongly reinforced by the time the conflict resumed in 1213, but a Mongol detachment led by Jebe managed to infiltrate the pass and surprise the elite Jin defenders, opening the road to the Jin capital Zhongdu (modern-day Beijing). The Jin administration began to disintegrate: after the Khitans, a tribe subject to the Jin, entered open rebellion, Hushahu, the commander of the forces at Xijing, abandoned his post and staged a coup in Zhongdu, killing Yongji and installing his own puppet ruler, Xuanzong. This governmental breakdown was fortunate for Genghis's forces; emboldened by their victories, they had seriously overreached and lost the initiative. Unable to do more than camp before Zhongdu's fortifications while his army suffered from an epidemic and famine—they resorted to cannibalism according to Carpini, who may have been exaggerating—Genghis opened peace negotiations despite his commanders' militance. He secured tribute, including 3,000 horses, 500 slaves, a Jin princess, and massive amounts of gold and silk, before lifting the siege and setting off homewards in May 1214.
As the northern Jin lands had been ravaged by plague and war, Xuanzong moved the capital and imperial court 600 kilometres (370 mi) southwards to Kaifeng. Interpreting this as an attempt to regroup in the south and then restart the war, Genghis concluded the terms of the peace treaty had been broken. He immediately prepared to return and capture Zhongdu. According to Christopher Atwood, it was only at this juncture that Genghis decided to fully conquer northern China. Muqali captured numerous towns in Liaodong during winter 1214–15, and although the inhabitants of Zhongdu surrendered to Genghis on 31 May 1215, the city was sacked. When Genghis returned to Mongolia in early 1216, Muqali was left in command in China. He waged a brutal but effective campaign against the unstable Jin regime until his death in 1223.
Later reign: western expansion and return to China (1216–1227)
Defeating rebellions and Qara Khitai (1216–1218)
In 1207, Genghis had appointed a man named Qorchi as governor of the subdued Hoi-yin Irgen tribes in Siberia. Appointed not for his talents but for prior services rendered, Qorchi's tendency to abduct women as concubines for his harem caused the tribes to rebel and take him prisoner in early 1216. The following year, they ambushed and killed Boroqul, one of Genghis's highest-ranking nökod. The khan was livid at the loss of his close friend and prepared to lead a retaliatory campaign; eventually dissuaded from this course, he dispatched his eldest son Jochi and a Dörbet commander. They managed to surprise and defeat the rebels, securing control over this economically important region.
Kuchlug, the Naiman prince who had been defeated in 1204, had usurped the throne of the Central Asian Qara Khitai dynasty between 1211 and 1213. He was a greedy and arbitrary ruler who probably earned the enmity of the native Islamic populace whom he attempted to forcibly convert to Buddhism. Genghis reckoned that Kuchlug could be a threat to his empire, and Jebe was sent with an army of 20,000 cavalry to the city of Kashgar; he undermined Kuchlug's rule by emphasising the Mongol policies of religious tolerance and gained the loyalty of the local elite. Kuchlug was forced to flee southwards to the Pamir Mountains, but was captured by local hunters. Jebe had him beheaded and paraded his corpse through Qara Khitai, proclaiming the end of religious persecution in the region.
Invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire (1219–1221)
Genghis had now attained complete control of the eastern portion of the Silk Road, and his territory bordered that of the Khwarazmian Empire, which ruled over much of Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan. Merchants from both sides were eager to restart trading, which had halted during Kuchlug's rule; the Khwarazmian ruler Muhammad II dispatched an envoy shortly after the Mongol capture of Zhongdu, while Genghis instructed his merchants to obtain the high-quality textiles and steel of Central and Western Asia. Many members of the altan uruq invested in one particular caravan of 450 merchants which set off to Khwarazmia in 1218 with a large quantity of wares. Inalchuq, the governor of the Khwarazmian border town of Otrar, decided to massacre the merchants on grounds of espionage and seize the goods; Muhammad had grown suspicious of Genghis's intentions and either supported Inalchuq or turned a blind eye. A Mongol ambassador was sent with two companions to avert war, but Muhammad killed him and humiliated his companions. The killing of an envoy infuriated Genghis, who resolved to leave Muqali with a small force in North China and invade Khwarazmia with most of his army.
Muhammad's empire was large but disunited: he ruled alongside his mother Terken Khatun in what the historian Peter Golden terms "an uneasy diarchy", while the Khwarazmian nobility and populace were discontented with his warring and the centralisation of government. For these reasons and others he declined to meet the Mongols in the field, instead garrisoning his unruly troops in his major cities. This allowed the lightly armoured, highly mobile Mongol armies uncontested superiority outside city walls. Otrar was besieged in autumn 1219—the siege dragged on for five months, but in February 1220 the city fell and Inalchuq was executed. Genghis had meanwhile divided his forces. Leaving his sons Chagatai and Ögedei to besiege the city, he had sent Jochi northwards down the Syr Darya river and another force southwards into central Transoxiana, while he and Tolui took the main Mongol army across the Kyzylkum Desert, surprising the garrison of Bukhara in a pincer movement.
Bukhara's citadel was captured in February 1220 and Genghis moved against Muhammad's residence Samarkand, which fell the following month. Bewildered by the speed of the Mongol conquests, Muhammad fled from Balkh, closely followed by Jebe and Subutai; the two generals pursued the Khwarazmshah until he died from dysentery on a Caspian Sea island in winter 1220–21, having nominated his eldest son Jalal al-Din as his successor. Jebe and Subutai then set out on a 7,500-kilometre (4,700 mi)-expedition around the Caspian Sea. Later called the Great Raid, this lasted four years and saw the Mongols come into contact with Europe for the first time. Meanwhile, the Khwarazmian capital of Gurganj was being besieged by Genghis's three eldest sons. The long siege ended in spring 1221 amid brutal urban conflict. Jalal al-Din moved southwards to Afghanistan, gathering forces on the way and defeating a Mongol unit under the command of Shigi Qutuqu, Genghis's adopted son, in the Battle of Parwan. Jalal was weakened by arguments among his commanders, and after losing decisively at the Battle of the Indus in November 1221, he was compelled to escape across the Indus river into India.
Genghis's youngest son Tolui was concurrently conducting a brutal campaign in the regions of Khorasan. Every city that resisted was destroyed—Nishapur, Merv and Herat, three of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world, were all annihilated. This campaign established Genghis's lasting image as a ruthless, inhumane conqueror. Contemporary Persian historians placed the death toll from the three sieges alone at over 5.7 million—a number regarded as grossly exaggerated by modern scholars. Nevertheless, even a total death toll of 1.25 million for the entire campaign, as estimated by John Man, would have been a demographic catastrophe.
Return to China and final campaign (1222–1227)
Genghis abruptly halted his Central Asian campaigns in 1221. Initially aiming to return via India, Genghis realised that the heat and humidity of the South Asian climate impeded his army's skills, while the omens were additionally unfavourable. Although the Mongols spent much of 1222 repeatedly overcoming rebellions in Khorasan, they withdrew completely from the region to avoid overextending themselves, setting their new frontier on the Amu Darya river. During his lengthy return journey, Genghis prepared a new administrative division which would govern the conquered territories, appointing darughachi (commissioners, lit. "those who press the seal") and basqaq (local officials) to manage the region back to normalcy. He also summoned and spoke with the Taoist patriarch Changchun in the Hindu Kush. The khan listened attentively to Changchun's teachings and granted his followers numerous privileges, including tax exemptions and authority over all monks throughout the empire—a grant which the Taoists later used to try to gain superiority over Buddhism.
The usual reason given for the halting of the campaign is that the Western Xia, having declined to provide auxiliaries for the 1219 invasion, had additionally disobeyed Muqali in his campaign against the remaining Jin in Shaanxi. May has disputed this, arguing that the Xia fought in concert with Muqali until his death in 1223, when, frustrated by Mongol control and sensing an opportunity with Genghis campaigning in Central Asia, they ceased fighting. In either case, Genghis initially attempted to resolve the situation diplomatically, but when the Xia elite failed to come to an agreement on the hostages they were to send to the Mongols, he lost patience.
Returning to Mongolia in early 1225, Genghis spent the year in preparation for a campaign against them. This began in the first months of 1226 with the capture of Khara-Khoto on the Xia's western border. The invasion proceeded apace. Genghis ordered that the cities of the Gansu Corridor be sacked one by one, granting clemency only to a few. Having crossed the Yellow River in autumn, the Mongols besieged present-day Lingwu, located just 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of the Xia capital Zhongxing, in November. On 4 December, Genghis decisively defeated a Xia relief army; the khan left the siege of the capital to his generals and moved southwards with Subutai to plunder and secure Jin territories.
Death and aftermath
Genghis fell from his horse while hunting in the winter of 1226–27 and became increasingly ill during the following months. This slowed the siege of Zhongxing's progress, as his sons and commanders urged him to end the campaign and return to Mongolia to recover, arguing that the Xia would still be there another year. Incensed by insults from Xia's leading commander, Genghis insisted that the siege be continued. He died on either 18 or 25 August 1227, but his death was kept a closely guarded secret and Zhongxing, unaware, fell the following month. The city was put to the sword and its population was treated with extreme savagery—the Xia civilization was essentially extinguished in what Man described as a "very successful ethnocide". The exact nature of the khan's death has been the subject of intense speculation. Rashid al-Din and the History of Yuan mention he suffered from an illness—possibly malaria, typhus, or bubonic plague. Marco Polo claimed that he was shot by an arrow during a siege, while Carpini reported that Genghis was struck by lightning. Legends sprang up around the event—the most famous recounts how the beautiful Gurbelchin, formerly the Xia emperor's wife, injured Genghis's genitals with a dagger during sex.
After his death, Genghis was transported back to Mongolia and buried on or near the sacred Burkhan Khaldun peak in the Khentii Mountains, on a site he had chosen years before. Specific details of the funeral procession and burial were not made public knowledge; the mountain, declared ikh khorig (lit. "Great Taboo"; i.e. prohibited zone), was out of bounds to all but its Uriankhai guard. When Ögedei acceded to the throne in 1229, the grave was honoured with three days of offerings and the sacrifice of thirty maidens. Ratchnevsky theorised that the Mongols, who had no knowledge of embalming techniques, may have buried the khan in the Ordos to avoid his body decomposing in the summer heat while en route to Mongolia; Atwood rejects this hypothesis.
Succession
The tribes of the Mongol steppe had no fixed succession system, but often defaulted to some form of ultimogeniture—succession of the youngest son—because he would have had the least time to gain a following for himself and needed the help of his father's inheritance. However, this type of inheritance applied only to property, not to titles.
The Secret History records that Genghis chose his successor while preparing for the Khwarazmian campaigns in 1219; Rashid al-Din, on the other hand, states that the decision came before Genghis's final campaign against the Xia. Regardless of the date, there were five possible candidates: Genghis's four sons and his youngest brother Temüge, who had the weakest claim and who was never seriously considered. Even though there was a strong possibility Jochi was illegitimate, Genghis was not particularly concerned by this; nevertheless, he and Jochi became increasingly estranged over time, due to Jochi's preoccupation with his own appanage. After the siege of Gurganj, where he only reluctantly participated in besieging the wealthy city that would become part of his territory, he failed to give Genghis the normal share of the booty, which exacerbated the tensions. Genghis was angered by Jochi's refusal to return to him in 1223, and was considering sending Ögedei and Chagatai to bring him to heel when news came that Jochi had died from an illness.
Chagatai's attitude towards Jochi's possible succession—he had termed his elder brother "a Merkit bastard" and had brawled with him in front of their father—led Genghis to view him as uncompromising, arrogant, and narrow-minded, despite his great knowledge of Mongol legal customs. His elimination left Ögedei and Tolui as the two primary candidates. Tolui was unquestionably superior in military terms—his campaign in Khorasan had broken the Khwarazmian Empire, while his elder brother was far less able as a commander. Ögedei was also known to drink excessively even by Mongol standards—it eventually caused his death in 1241. However, he possessed talents all his brothers lacked—he was generous and generally well-liked. Aware of his own lack of military skill, he was able to trust his capable subordinates, and unlike his elder brothers, compromise on issues; he was also more likely to preserve Mongol traditions than Tolui, whose wife Sorghaghtani, herself a Nestorian Christian, was a patron of many religions including Islam. Ögedei was thus recognised as the heir to the Mongol throne.
Serving as regent after Genghis's death, Tolui established a precedent for the customary traditions after a khan's death. These included the halting of all military offensives involving Mongol troops, the establishment of a lengthy mourning period overseen by the regent, and the holding of a kurultai which would nominate successors and select them. For Tolui, this presented an opportunity. He was still a viable candidate for succession and had the support of the family of Jochi. Any general kurultai, attended by the commanders Genghis had promoted and honoured, would however observe their former ruler's desires without question and appoint Ögedei as ruler. It has been suggested that Tolui's reluctance to hold the kurultai was driven by the knowledge of the threat it posed to his ambitions. In the end, Tolui had to be persuaded by the advisor Yelü Chucai to hold the kurultai; in 1229, it crowned Ögedei as khan, with Tolui in attendance.
Family
Börte, whom Temüjin married c. 1178, remained his senior wife. She gave birth to four sons and five daughters, who all became influential figures in the empire. Genghis granted Börte's sons lands and property through the Mongol appanage system, while he secured marriage alliances by marrying her daughters to important families. Her children were:
Qojin, a daughter born c. 1179, who later married Butu of the Ikires, one of Temüjin's earliest and closest supporters and the widower of Temülün.
Jochi, a son born c. 1182 after Börte's kidnapping, whose paternity was thus suspect even though Temüjin accepted his legitimacy. Jochi predeceased Genghis; his appanage, along the Irtysh river and extending into Siberia, evolved into the Golden Horde.
Chagatai, a son born c. 1184; his appanage was the former Qara Khitai territories surrounding Almaligh in Turkestan, which became the Chagatai Khanate.
Ögedei, a son born c. 1186, who received lands in Dzungaria and who succeeded his father as ruler of the empire.
Checheyigen, a daughter born c. 1188, whose marriage to Törelchi secured the loyalty of the Oirats to the north.
Alaqa, a daughter born c. 1190, who married several members of the Ongud tribe between 1207 and 1225.
Tümelün, a daughter born c. 1192, who married Chigu of the Onggirat tribe.
Tolui, a son born c. 1193, who received lands near the Altai Mountains as an appanage; two of his sons, Möngke and Kublai, later ruled the empire, while another, Hulagu, founded the Ilkhanate.
Al-Altan, a daughter born c. 1196, married the powerful Uighur ruler Barchuk. Shortly after the accession of Güyük Khan in the 1240s, she was tried and executed on charges that were later suppressed.
After Börte's final childbirth, Temüjin began to acquire a number of junior wives through conquest. These wives had all previously been princesses or queens, and Temüjin married them to demonstrate his political ascendancy. They included the Kereit princess Ibaqa; the Tatar sisters Yesugen and Yesui; Qulan, a Merkit; Gürbesu, the queen of the Naiman Tayang Khan; and two Chinese princesses, Chaqa and Qiguo, of the Western Xia and Jin dynasties respectively. The children of these junior wives were always subservient to those of Börte, with daughters married off to seal lesser alliances and sons, such as Qulan's child Kölgen, never a candidate for succession.
Character and achievements
No eyewitness description or contemporaneous depiction of Genghis Khan survives. The Persian chronicler Juzjani and the Song diplomat Zhao Hong provide the two earliest descriptions. Both recorded that he was tall and strong with a powerful stature. Zhao wrote that Genghis had a broad brow and long beard while Juzjani commented on his cat's eyes and lack of grey hair. The Secret History records that Börte's father remarked on his "flashing eyes and lively face" when meeting him.
Atwood has suggested that many of Genghis Khan's values, especially the emphasis he placed on an orderly society, derive from his turbulent youth. He valued loyalty above all and mutual fidelity became a cornerstone of his new nation. Genghis did not find it difficult to gain the allegiance of others: he was superbly charismatic even as a youth, as shown by the number of people who left existing social roles behind to join him. Although his trust was hard to earn, if he felt loyalty was assured, he granted his total confidence in return. Recognised for his generosity towards his followers, Genghis unhesitatingly rewarded previous assistance. The nökod most honoured at the 1206 kurultai were those who had accompanied him since the beginning, and those who had sworn the Baljuna Covenant with him at his lowest point. He took responsibility for the families of nökod killed in battle or who otherwise fell on hard times by raising a tax to provide them with clothing and sustenance.
The principal source of steppe wealth was post-battle plunder, of which a leader would normally claim a large share; Genghis eschewed this custom, choosing instead to divide booty equally between himself and all his men. Disliking any form of luxury, he extolled the simple life of the nomad in a letter to Changchun, and objected to being addressed with obsequious flattery. He encouraged his companions to address him informally, give him advice, and criticise his mistakes. Genghis's openness to criticism and willingness to learn saw him seeking the knowledge of family members, companions, neighbouring states, and enemies. He sought and gained knowledge of sophisticated weaponry from China and the Muslim world, appropriated the Uyghur alphabet with the help of the captured scribe Tata-tonga, and employed numerous specialists across legal, commercial, and administrative fields. He also understood the need for a smooth succession and modern historians agree he showed good judgement in choosing his heir.
Although he is today renowned for his military conquests, very little is known about Genghis's personal generalship. His skills were more suited to identifying potential commanders. His institution of a meritocratic command structure gave the Mongol army military superiority, even though it was not technologically or tactically innovative. The army that Genghis created was characterised by its draconian discipline, its ability to gather and use military intelligence efficiently, a mastery of psychological warfare, and a willingness to be utterly ruthless. Genghis thoroughly enjoyed exacting vengeance on his enemies—the concept lay at the heart of achi qari'ulqu (lit. '"good for good, evil for evil"'), the steppe code of justice. In exceptional circumstances, such as when Muhammad of Khwarazm executed his envoys, the need for vengeance overrode all other considerations.
Genghis came to believe the supreme deity Tengri had ordained a great destiny for him. Initially, the bounds of this ambition were limited only to Mongolia, but as success followed success and the reach of the Mongol nation expanded, he and his followers came to believe he was embodied with suu (lit. ''divine grace''). Believing that he had an intimate connection with Heaven, anyone who did not recognise his right to world power was treated as an enemy. This viewpoint allowed Genghis to rationalise any hypocritical or duplicitous moments on his own part, such as killing his anda Jamukha or killing nökod who wavered in their loyalties.
Legacy and historical assessment
Genghis Khan left a vast and controversial legacy. His unification of the Mongol tribes and his foundation of the largest contiguous state in world history "permanently alter[ed] the worldview of European, Islamic, [and] East Asian civilizations", according to Atwood. His conquests enabled the creation of Eurasian trading systems unprecedented in their scale, which brought wealth and security to the tribes. Although he very likely did not codify the written body of laws known as the Great Yasa, he did reorganise the legal system and establish a powerful judicial authority under Shigi Qutuqu.
On the other hand, his conquests were ruthless and brutal. The prosperous civilizations of China, Central Asia, and Persia were devastated by the Mongol assaults, and underwent multi-generational trauma and suffering as a result. Perhaps Genghis's greatest failing was his inability to create a working succession system—his division of his empire into appanages, meant to ensure stability, actually did the reverse, as local and state-wide interests diverged and the empire began splitting into the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate, and the Yuan dynasty in the late 1200s. In the mid-1990s, the Washington Post acclaimed Genghis Khan as the "man of the millennium" who "embodied the half-civilized, half-savage duality of the human race". This complex image has remained prevalent in modern scholarship, with historians emphasising both Genghis Khan's positive and negative contributions.
Mongolia
For many centuries, Genghis was remembered in Mongolia as a religious figure, not a political one. After Altan Khan converted to Tibetan Buddhism in the late 1500s, Genghis was deified and given a central role in the Mongolian religious tradition. As a deity, Genghis drew upon Buddhist, shamanistic, and folk traditions: for example, he was defined as a new incarnation of a chakravartin (idealised ruler) like Ashoka, or of Vajrapani, the martial bodhisattva; he was connected genealogically to the Buddha and to ancient Buddhist kings; he was invoked during weddings and festivals; and he took a large role in ancestor veneration rituals. He also became the focus point of a sleeping hero legend, which says he will return to help the Mongol people in a time of great need. His cult was centred at the naiman chagan ordon (lit. '"Eight White Yurts"'), today a mausoleum in Inner Mongolia, China.
In the 19th and early 20th century, Genghis began to be viewed as the national hero of the Mongolian people. Foreign powers recognised this: during its occupation of Inner Mongolia, Imperial Japan funded the construction of a temple to Genghis, while both the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party used the memory of Genghis to woo potential allies in the Chinese Civil War. This attitude was maintained during World War II, when the Soviet-aligned Mongolian People's Republic promoted Genghis to build patriotic zeal against invaders; however, as he was a non-Russian hero who could serve as an anticommunist figurehead, this attitude swiftly changed after the war's end. According to May, Genghis "was condemned as a feudal and reactionary lord [who] exploited the people." His cult was repressed, the alphabet he chose was replaced with the Cyrillic script, and celebrations planned for the 800th anniversary of his birth in 1962 were cancelled and denigrated after loud Soviet complaints. Because Chinese historians were largely more favourable towards him than their Soviet circumstances, Genghis played a minor role in the Sino-Soviet split.
The arrival of the policies of glasnost and perestroika in the 1980s paved the way for official rehabilitation. Less than two years after the 1990 revolution, Lenin Avenue in the capital Ulaanbaatar was renamed Chinggis Khan Avenue. Since then, Mongolia has named Chinggis Khaan International Airport and erected a large statue in Sükhbaatar Square (which was itself renamed after Genghis between 2013 and 2016). His visage appears on items ranging from postage stamps and high-value banknotes to brands of alcohol and toilet paper. In 2006, the Mongolian parliament officially discussed the trivialization of his name through excessive advertising.
Modern Mongolians tend to downplay Genghis's military conquests in favour of his political and civil legacy—they view the destructive campaigns as "a product of their time", in the words of the historian Michal Biran, and secondary to his other contributions to Mongolian and world history. His policies—such his use of the kurultai, his establishment of the rule of law through an independent judiciary, and human rights—are seen as the foundations that allowed the creation of the modern, democratic Mongolian state. Viewed as someone who brought peace and knowledge rather than war and destruction, Genghis Khan is idealised for making Mongolia the centre of international culture for a period. He is generally recognised as the founding father of Mongolia.
Elsewhere
The historical and modern Muslim world has associated Genghis Khan with a myriad of ideologies and beliefs. Its first instinct, as Islamic thought had never previously envisioned being ruled by a non-Muslim power, was to view Genghis as the herald of the approaching Judgement Day. Over time, as the world failed to end and as his descendants began converting to Islam, Muslims began to see Genghis as an instrument of God's will who was destined to strengthen the Muslim world by cleansing its innate corruption.
In post-Mongol Asia, Genghis was also a source of political legitimacy, because his descendants had been recognised as the only ones entitled to reign. As a result, aspiring potentates not descended from him had to justify their rule, either by nominating puppet rulers of Genghis's dynasty, or by stressing their own connections to him. Most notably, the great conqueror Timur, who established his own empire in Central Asia, did both: he was obliged to pay homage to Genghis's descendants Soyurgatmish and Sultan Mahmud, and his propaganda campaigns vastly exaggerated the prominence of his ancestor Qarachar Noyan, one of Genghis's lesser commanders, depicting him as Genghis's blood relative and second-in-command. He also married at least two of Genghis's descendants. Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire in India, in turn derived his authority through his descent from both Timur and Genghis. Until the eighteenth century in Central Asia, Genghis was considered the progenitor of the social order, and was second only to the prophet Muhammad in legal authority.
With the rise of Arab nationalism in the nineteenth century, the Arab world began to view Genghis increasingly negatively. Today, he is perceived as the ultimate "accursed enemy", a "barbarian savage who began the demolition of civilization which culminated in [the Siege of Baghdad in 1258]" by his grandson Hulegu. Similarly, Genghis is viewed extremely negatively in Russia, where historians have consistently portrayed the rule of the Golden Horde—the "Tatar Yoke"—as backwards, destructive, inimical to all progress, and the reason for all of Russia's flaws. His treatment in modern Central Asia and Turkey is more ambivalent: his position as a non-Muslim means other national traditions and heroes, such as Timur and the Seljuks, are viewed more highly.
Under the Yuan dynasty in China, Genghis was revered as the nation's creator, and he remained in this position even after the foundation of the Ming dynasty in 1368. Although the late Ming somewhat disavowed his memory, the positive viewpoint was restored under the Manchu Qing dynasty (1644–1911), who positioned themselves as his heirs. The rise of 20th-century Chinese nationalism initially caused the denigration of Genghis as a traumatic occupier, but he was later resurrected as a useful political symbol on a variety of issues. Modern Chinese historiography has generally viewed Genghis positively and he has been portrayed as a Chinese hero. In contemporary Japan, he is most known for the legend that he was originally Minamoto no Yoshitsune, a samurai and tragic hero who was forced to commit seppuku in 1189.
The Western world, never directly affected by Genghis, has viewed him in shifting and contrasting ways. During the 14th century, as shown by the works of Marco Polo and Geoffrey Chaucer, he was seen as a just and wise ruler, but during the eighteenth century he came to embody the Enlightenment stereotype of a tyrannical Oriental despot, and by the twentieth century he represented a prototypical barbarian warlord. In recent decades, Western scholarship has become increasingly nuanced, viewing Genghis as a more complex individual.
References
Notes
Citations
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Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; c. 1162 – August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongol tribes, he launched a series of military campaigns, conquering large parts of China and Central Asia.
Born between 1155 and 1167 and given the name Temüjin, he was the eldest child of Yesugei, a Mongol chieftain of the Borjigin clan, and his wife Hö'elün. When Temüjin was eight, his father died and his family was abandoned by its tribe. Reduced to near-poverty, Temüjin killed his older half-brother to secure his familial position. His charismatic personality helped to attract his first followers and to form alliances with two prominent steppe leaders named Jamukha and Toghrul; they worked together to retrieve Temüjin's newlywed wife Börte, who had been kidnapped by raiders. As his reputation grew, his relationship with Jamukha deteriorated into open warfare. Temüjin was badly defeated in c. 1187, and may have spent the following years as a subject of the Jin dynasty; upon reemerging in 1196, he swiftly began gaining power. Toghrul came to view Temüjin as a threat and launched a surprise attack on him in 1203. Temüjin regrouped and overpowered Toghrul; after defeating the Naiman tribe and executing Jamukha, he was left as the sole ruler on the Mongolian steppe.
Temüjin formally adopted the title "Genghis Khan", the meaning of which is uncertain, at an assembly in 1206. Carrying out reforms designed to ensure long-term stability, he transformed the Mongols' tribal structure into an integrated meritocracy dedicated to the service of the ruling family. After thwarting a coup attempt from a powerful shaman, Genghis began to consolidate his power. In 1209, he led a large-scale raid into the neighbouring Western Xia, who agreed to Mongol terms the following year. He then launched a campaign against the Jin dynasty, which lasted for four years and ended in 1215 with the capture of the Jin capital Zhongdu. His general Jebe annexed the Central Asian state of Qara Khitai in 1218. Genghis was provoked to invade the Khwarazmian Empire the following year by the execution of his envoys; the campaign toppled the Khwarazmian state and devastated the regions of Transoxiana and Khorasan, while Jebe and his colleague Subutai led an expedition that reached Georgia and Kievan Rus'. In 1227, Genghis died while subduing the rebellious Western Xia; following a two-year interregnum, his third son and heir Ögedei acceded to the throne in 1229.
Genghis Khan remains a controversial figure. He was generous and intensely loyal to his followers, but ruthless towards his enemies. He welcomed advice from diverse sources in his quest for world domination, for which he believed the shamanic supreme deity Tengri had destined him. The Mongol army under Genghis killed millions of people, yet his conquests also facilitated unprecedented commercial and cultural exchange over a vast geographical area. He is remembered as a backwards, savage tyrant in Russia and the Arab world, while recent Western scholarship has begun to reassess its previous view of him as a barbarian warlord. He was posthumously deified in Mongolia; modern Mongolians recognise him as the founding father of their nation.
Name and title
There is no universal romanisation system used for Mongolian; as a result, modern spellings of Mongolian names vary greatly and may result in considerably different pronunciations from the original. The honorific most commonly rendered as "Genghis" ultimately derives from the Mongolian ᠴᠢᠩᠭᠢᠰ, which may be romanised as Činggis. This was adapted into Chinese as 成吉思 Chéngjísī, and into Persian as چنگیز Čəngīz. As Arabic lacks a sound similar to [tʃ], represented in the Mongolian and Persian romanisations by ⟨č⟩, writers transcribed the name as J̌ingiz, while Syriac authors used Šīngīz.
In addition to "Genghis", introduced into English during the 18th century based on a misreading of Persian sources, modern English spellings include "Chinggis", "Chingis", "Jinghis", and "Jengiz". His birth name "Temüjin" (ᠲᠡᠮᠦᠵᠢᠨ; 鐵木真 Tiěmùzhēn) is sometimes also spelled "Temuchin" in English.
When Genghis's grandson Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty in 1271, he bestowed the temple name Taizu (太祖, meaning 'Supreme Progenitor') and the posthumous name Shengwu Huangdi (聖武皇帝, meaning 'Holy-Martial Emperor') upon his grandfather. Kublai's great-grandson Külüg Khan later expanded this title into Fatian Qiyun Shengwu Huangdi (法天啟運聖武皇帝, meaning 'Interpreter of the Heavenly Law, Initiator of the Good Fortune, Holy-Martial Emperor').
Sources
As the sources are written in more than a dozen languages from across Eurasia, modern historians have found it difficult to compile information on the life of Genghis Khan. All accounts of his adolescence and rise to power derive from two Mongolian-language sources—the Secret History of the Mongols, and the Altan Debter (Golden Book). The latter, now lost, served as inspiration for two Chinese chronicles—the 14th-century History of Yuan and the Shengwu qinzheng lu (Campaigns of Genghis Khan). The History of Yuan, while poorly edited, provides a large amount of detail on individual campaigns and people; the Shengwu is more disciplined in its chronology, but does not criticise Genghis and occasionally contains errors.
The Secret History survived through being transliterated into Chinese characters during the 14th and 15th centuries. Its historicity has been disputed: the 20th-century sinologist Arthur Waley considered it a literary work with no historiographical value, but more recent historians have given it much more credence. Although it is clear that its chronology is suspect and that some passages were removed or modified for better narration, the Secret History is valued highly because the anonymous author is often critical of Genghis Khan: in addition to presenting him as indecisive and as having a phobia of dogs, the Secret History also recounts taboo events such as his fratricide and the possibility of his son Jochi's illegitimacy.
Multiple chronicles in Persian have also survived, which display a mix of positive and negative attitudes towards Genghis Khan and the Mongols. Both Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani and Ata-Malik Juvayni completed their respective histories in 1260. Juzjani was an eyewitness to the brutality of the Mongol conquests, and the hostility of his chronicle reflects his experiences. His contemporary Juvayni, who had travelled twice to Mongolia and attained a high position in the administration of a Mongol successor state, was more sympathetic; his account is the most reliable for Genghis Khan's western campaigns. The most important Persian source is the Jami' al-tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles) compiled by Rashid al-Din on the order of Genghis's descendant Ghazan in the early 14th century. Ghazan allowed Rashid privileged access to both confidential Mongol sources such as the Altan Debter and to experts on the Mongol oral tradition, including Kublai Khan's ambassador Bolad Chingsang. As he was writing an official chronicle, Rashid censored inconvenient or taboo details.
There are many other contemporary histories which include additional information on Genghis Khan and the Mongols, although their neutrality and reliability are often suspect. Additional Chinese sources include the chronicles of the dynasties conquered by the Mongols, and the Song diplomat Zhao Hong, who visited the Mongols in 1221. Arabic sources include a contemporary biography of the Khwarazmian prince Jalal al-Din by his companion al-Nasawi. There are also several later Christian chronicles, including the Georgian Chronicles, and works by European travellers such as Carpini and Marco Polo.
Early life
Birth and childhood
The year of Temüjin's birth is disputed, as historians favour different dates: 1155, 1162 or 1167. Some traditions place his birth in the Year of the Pig, which was either 1155 or 1167. While a dating to 1155 is supported by the writings of both Zhao Hong and Rashid al-Din, other major sources such as the History of Yuan and the Shengwu favour the year 1162. The 1167 dating, favoured by the sinologist Paul Pelliot, is derived from a minor source—a text of the Yuan artist Yang Weizhen—but is more compatible with the events of Genghis Khan's life than a 1155 placement, which implies that he did not have children until after the age of thirty and continued actively campaigning into his seventh decade. 1162 is the date accepted by most historians; the historian Paul Ratchnevsky noted that Temüjin himself may not have known the truth. The location of Temüjin's birth, which the Secret History records as Delüün Boldog on the Onon River, is similarly debated: it has been placed at either Dadal in Khentii Province or in southern Agin-Buryat Okrug, Russia.
Temüjin was born into the Borjigin clan of the Mongol tribe to Yesügei, a chieftain who claimed descent from the legendary warlord Bodonchar Munkhag, and his principal wife Hö'elün, originally of the Olkhonud clan, whom Yesügei had abducted from her Merkit bridegroom Chiledu. The origin of his birth name is contested: the earliest traditions hold that his father had just returned from a successful campaign against the Tatars with a captive named Temüchin-uge, after whom he named the newborn in celebration of his victory, while later traditions highlight the root temür (meaning 'iron') and connect to theories that "Temüjin" means 'blacksmith'.
Several legends surround Temüjin's birth. The most prominent is that he was born clutching a blood clot in his hand, a motif in Asian folklore indicating the child would be a warrior. Others claimed that Hö'elün was impregnated by a ray of light which announced the child's destiny, a legend which echoed that of the mythical Borjigin ancestor Alan Gua. Yesügei and Hö'elün had three younger sons after Temüjin: Qasar, Hachiun, and Temüge, as well as one daughter, Temülün. Temüjin also had two half-brothers, Behter and Belgutei, from Yesügei's secondary wife Sochigel, whose identity is uncertain. The siblings grew up at Yesugei's main camp on the banks of the Onon, where they learned how to ride a horse and shoot a bow.
When Temüjin was eight years old, his father decided to betroth him to a suitable girl. Yesügei took his heir to the pastures of Hö'elün's prestigious Onggirat tribe, which had intermarried with the Mongols on many previous occasions. There, he arranged a betrothal between Temüjin and Börte, the daughter of an Onggirat chieftain named Dei Sechen. As the betrothal meant Yesügei would gain a powerful ally and as Börte commanded a high bride price, Dei Sechen held the stronger negotiating position, and demanded that Temüjin remain in his household to work off his future debt. Accepting this condition, Yesügei requested a meal from a band of Tatars he encountered while riding homewards alone, relying on the steppe tradition of hospitality to strangers. However, the Tatars recognised their old enemy and slipped poison into his food. Yesügei gradually sickened but managed to return home; close to death, he requested a trusted retainer called Münglig to retrieve Temüjin from the Onggirat. He died soon after.
Adolescence
Yesügei's death shattered the unity of his people, which included members of the Borjigin, Tayichiud, and other clans. As Temüjin was not yet ten and Behter around two years older, neither was considered experienced enough to rule. The Tayichiud faction excluded Hö'elün from the ancestor worship ceremonies which followed a ruler's death and soon abandoned her camp. The Secret History relates that the entire Borjigin clan followed, despite Hö'elün's attempts to shame them into staying by appealing to their honour. Rashid al-Din and the Shengwu however imply that Yesügei's brothers stood by the widow. It is possible that Hö'elün may have refused to join in levirate marriage with one, resulting in later tensions, or that the author of the Secret History dramatised the situation. All the sources agree that most of Yesügei's people renounced his family in favour of the Tayichiuds and that Hö'elün's family were reduced to a much harsher life. Taking up a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, they collected roots and nuts, hunted for small animals, and caught fish.
Tensions developed as the children grew older. Both Temüjin and Behter had claims to be their father's heir: although Temüjin was the child of Yesügei's chief wife, Behter was at least two years his senior. There was even the possibility that, as permitted under levirate law, Behter could marry Hö'elün upon attaining his majority and become Temüjin's stepfather. As the friction, exacerbated by frequent disputes over the division of hunting spoils, intensified, Temüjin and his younger brother Qasar ambushed and killed Behter. This taboo act was omitted from the official chronicles but not from the Secret History, which recounts that Hö'elün angrily reprimanded her sons. Behter's younger full-brother Belgutei did not seek vengeance, and became one of Temüjin's highest-ranking followers alongside Qasar. Around this time, Temüjin developed a close friendship with Jamukha, another boy of aristocratic descent; the Secret History notes that they exchanged knucklebones and arrows as gifts and swore the anda pact—the traditional oath of Mongol blood brothers–at eleven.
As the family lacked allies, Temüjin was taken prisoner on multiple occasions. Captured by the Tayichiuds, he escaped during a feast and hid first in the Onon and then in the tent of Sorkan-Shira, a man who had seen him in the river and not raised the alarm. Sorkan-Shira sheltered Temüjin for three days at great personal risk before helping him to escape. Temüjin was assisted on another occasion by Bo'orchu, an adolescent who aided him in retrieving stolen horses. Soon afterwards, Bo'orchu joined Temüjin's camp as his first nökor ('personal companion'; pl. nökod). These incidents, related by the Secret History, are indicative of the emphasis its author put on Genghis' personal charisma.
Rise to power
Early campaigns
Temüjin returned to Dei Sechen to marry Börte when he reached the age of majority at fifteen. Delighted to see the son-in-law he feared had died, Dei Sechen consented to the marriage and accompanied the newlyweds back to Temüjin's camp; his wife Čotan presented Hö'elün with an expensive sable cloak. Seeking a patron, Temüjin chose to regift the cloak to Toghrul, khan (ruler) of the Kerait tribe, who had fought alongside Yesügei and sworn the anda pact with him. Toghrul ruled a vast territory in central Mongolia but distrusted many of his followers. In need of loyal replacements, he was delighted with the valuable gift and welcomed Temüjin into his protection. The two grew close, and Temüjin began to build a following, as nökod such as Jelme entered into his service. Temüjin and Börte had their first child, a daughter named Qojin, around this time.
Soon afterwards, seeking revenge for Yesügei's abduction of Hö'elün, around 300 Merkits raided Temüjin's camp. While Temüjin and his brothers were able to hide on Burkhan Khaldun mountain, Börte and Sochigel were abducted. In accordance with levirate law, Börte was given in marriage to the younger brother of the now-deceased Chiledu. Temüjin appealed for aid from Toghrul and his childhood anda Jamukha, who had risen to become chief of the Jadaran tribe. Both chiefs were willing to field armies of 20,000 warriors, and with Jamukha in command, the campaign was soon won. A now-pregnant Börte was recovered successfully and soon gave birth to a son, Jochi; although Temüjin raised him as his own, questions over his true paternity followed Jochi throughout his life. This is narrated in the Secret History and contrasts with Rashid al-Din's account, which protects the family's reputation by removing any hint of illegitimacy. Over the next decade and a half, Temüjin and Börte had three more sons (Chagatai, Ögedei, and Tolui) and four more daughters (Checheyigen, Alaqa, Tümelün, and Al-Altan).
The followers of Temüjin and Jamukha camped together for a year and a half, during which their leaders reforged their anda pact and slept together under one blanket, according to the Secret History. The source presents this period as close friends bonding, but Ratchnevsky questioned if Temüjin actually entered into Jamukha's service in return for the assistance with the Merkits. Tensions arose and the two leaders parted, ostensibly on account of a cryptic remark made by Jamukha on the subject of camping; in any case, Temüjin followed the advice of Hö'elün and Börte and began to build an independent following. The major tribal rulers remained with Jamukha, but forty-one leaders gave their support to Temüjin along with many commoners: these included Subutai and others of the Uriankhai, the Barulas, the Olkhonuds, and many more. Many were attracted by Temüjin's reputation as a fair and generous lord who could offer better lives, while his shamans prophesied that heaven had allocated him a great destiny.
Temüjin was soon acclaimed by his close followers as khan of the Mongols. Toghrul was pleased at his vassal's elevation but Jamukha was resentful. Tensions escalated into open hostility, and in around 1187 the two leaders clashed in battle at Dalan Baljut: the two forces were evenly matched but Temüjin suffered a clear defeat. Later chroniclers including Rashid al-Din instead state that he was victorious but their accounts contradict themselves and each other.
Modern historians such as Ratchnevsky and Timothy May consider it very likely that Temüjin spent a large portion of the decade following the clash at Dalan Baljut as a servant of the Jurchen Jin dynasty in North China. Zhao Hong recorded that the future Genghis Khan spent several years as a slave of the Jin. Formerly seen as an expression of nationalistic arrogance, the statement is now thought to be based in fact, especially as no other source convincingly explains Temüjin's activities between Dalan Baljut and c. 1195. Taking refuge across the border was a common practice both for disaffected steppe leaders and disgraced Chinese officials. Temüjin's reemergence having retained significant power indicates that he probably profited in the service of the Jin. As he later overthrew that state, such an episode, detrimental to Mongol prestige, was omitted from all their sources. Zhao Hong was bound by no such taboos.
Defeating rivals
The sources do not agree on the events of Temüjin's return to the steppe. In early summer 1196, he participated in a joint campaign with the Jin against the Tatars, who had begun to act contrary to Jin interests. As a reward, the Jin awarded him the honorific cha-ut kuri, the meaning of which probably approximated "commander of hundreds" in Jurchen. At around the same time, he assisted Toghrul with reclaiming the lordship of the Kereit, which had been usurped by one of Toghrul's relatives with the support of the powerful Naiman tribe. The actions of 1196 fundamentally changed Temüjin's position in the steppe—although nominally still Toghrul's vassal, he was de facto an equal ally.
Jamukha behaved cruelly following his victory at Dalan Baljut—he allegedly boiled seventy prisoners alive and humiliated the corpses of leaders who had opposed him. A number of disaffected followers, including Yesügei's follower Münglig and his sons, defected to Temüjin as a consequence; they were also probably attracted by his newfound wealth. Temüjin subdued the disobedient Jurkin tribe that had previously offended him at a feast and refused to participate in the Tatar campaign. After executing their leaders, he had Belgutei symbolically break a leading Jurkin's back in a staged wrestling match in retribution. This latter incident, which contravened Mongol customs of justice, was only noted by the author of the Secret History, who openly disapproved. These events occurred c. 1197.
During the following years, Temüjin and Toghrul campaigned against the Merkits, the Naimans, and the Tatars; sometimes separately and sometimes together. In around 1201, a collection of dissatisfied tribes including the Onggirat, the Tayichiud, and the Tatars swore to break the domination of the Borjigin-Kereit alliance, electing Jamukha as their leader and gurkhan (lit. '"khan of the tribes"'). After some initial successes, Temüjin and Toghrul routed this loose confederation at Yedi Qunan, and Jamukha was forced to beg for Toghrul's clemency. Desiring complete supremacy in eastern Mongolia, Temüjin defeated first the Tayichiud and then, in 1202, the Tatars; after both campaigns, he executed the clan leaders and took the remaining warriors into his service. These included Sorkan-Shira, who had come to his aid previously, and a young warrior named Jebe, who, by killing Temüjin's horse and refusing to hide that fact, had displayed martial ability and personal courage.
The absorption of the Tatars left three military powers in the steppe: the Naimans in the west, the Mongols in the east, and the Kereit in between. Seeking to cement his position, Temüjin proposed that his son Jochi marry one of Toghrul's daughters. Led by Toghrul's son Senggum, the Kereit elite believed the proposal to be an attempt to gain control over their tribe, while the doubts over Jochi's parentage would have offended them further. In addition, Jamukha drew attention to the threat Temüjin posed to the traditional steppe aristocracy by his habit of promoting commoners to high positions, which subverted social norms. Yielding eventually to these demands, Toghrul attempted to lure his vassal into an ambush, but his plans were overheard by two herdsmen. Temüjin was able to gather some of his forces, but was soundly defeated at the Battle of Qalaqaljid Sands.
Retreating southeast to Baljuna, an unidentified lake or river, Temüjin waited for his scattered forces to regroup: Bo'orchu had lost his horse and was forced to flee on foot, while Temüjin's badly wounded son Ögedei had been transported and tended to by Borokhula, a leading warrior. Temüjin called in every possible ally and swore a famous oath of loyalty, later known as the Baljuna Covenant, to his faithful followers, which subsequently granted them great prestige. The oath-takers of Baljuna were a very heterogeneous group—men from nine different tribes who included Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists, united only by loyalty to Temüjin and to each other. This group became a model for the later empire, termed a "proto-government of a proto-nation" by historian John Man. The Baljuna Covenant was omitted from the Secret History—as the group was predominantly non-Mongol, the author presumably wished to downplay the role of other tribes.
A ruse de guerre involving Qasar allowed the Mongols to ambush the Kereit at the Jej'er Heights; though the ensuing battle still lasted three days, it ended in a decisive victory for Temüjin. Toghrul and Senggum were both forced to flee, and while the latter escaped to Tibet, Toghrul was killed by a Naiman who did not recognise him. Temüjin sealed his victory by absorbing the Kereit elite into his own tribe: he took the princess Ibaqa as a wife, and married her sister Sorghaghtani and niece Doquz to his youngest son Tolui. The ranks of the Naimans had swelled due to the arrival of Jamukha and others defeated by the Mongols, and they prepared for war. Temüjin was informed of these events by Alaqush, the sympathetic ruler of the Ongud tribe. In May 1204, at the Battle of Chakirmaut in the Altai Mountains, the Naimans were decisively defeated: their leader Tayang Khan was killed, and his son Kuchlug was forced to flee west. The Merkits were decimated later that year, while Jamukha, who had abandoned the Naimans at Chakirmaut, was betrayed to Temüjin by companions who were executed for their lack of loyalty. According to the Secret History, Jamukha convinced his childhood anda to execute him honourably; other accounts state that he was killed by dismemberment.
Early reign: reforms and Chinese campaigns (1206–1215)
Kurultai of 1206 and reforms
Now sole ruler of the steppe, Temüjin held a large assembly called a kurultai at the source of the Onon River in 1206. Here, he formally adopted the title "Genghis Khan", the etymology and meaning of which have been much debated. Some commentators hold that the title had no meaning, simply representing Temüjin's eschewal of the traditional gurkhan title, which had been accorded to Jamukha and was thus of lesser worth. Another theory suggests that the word "Genghis" bears connotations of strength, firmness, hardness, or righteousness. A third hypothesis proposes that the title is related to the Turkic tängiz ('ocean'), the title "Genghis Khan" would mean "master of the ocean", and as the ocean was believed to surround the earth, the title thus ultimately implied "Universal Ruler".
Genghis Khan then began a "social revolution", in May's words. As traditional tribal systems had primarily evolved to benefit small clans and families, they were unsuitable as the foundations for larger states and had been the downfall of previous steppe confederations. Genghis thus began a series of administrative reforms designed to suppress the power of tribal affiliations and to replace them with unconditional loyalty to the khan and the ruling family. As most of the traditional tribal leaders had been killed during his rise to power, Genghis was able to reconstruct the Mongol social hierarchy in his favour. The highest tier was occupied solely by his and his brothers' families, who became known as the altan uruq (lit. 'Golden Family') or chaghan yasun (lit. 'white bone'); underneath them came the qara yasun (lit. 'black bone'; sometimes qarachu), composed of the surviving pre-empire aristocracy and the most important of the new families.
To break any concept of tribal loyalty, Mongol society was reorganised into a military decimal system. Every man between the age of fifteen and seventy was conscripted into a minqan (pl. minkad), a unit of a thousand soldiers, which was further subdivided into units of hundreds (jaghun, pl. jaghat) and tens (arban, pl. arbat). The units also encompassed each man's household, meaning that each military minqan was supported by a minqan of households in what May has termed "a military–industrial complex". Each minqan operated as both a political and social unit, while the warriors of defeated tribes were dispersed to different minqad to make it difficult for them to rebel as a single body. This was intended to ensure the disappearance of old tribal identities, replacing them with loyalty to the "Great Mongol State", and to commanders who had gained their rank through merit and loyalty to the khan. This particular reform proved extremely effective—even after the division of the Mongol Empire, fragmentation never happened along tribal lines. Instead, the descendants of Genghis continued to reign unchallenged, in some cases until as late as the 1700s, and even powerful non-imperial dynasts such as Timur and Edigu were compelled to rule from behind a puppet ruler of his lineage.
Genghis's senior nökod were appointed to the highest ranks and received the greatest honours. Bo'orchu and Muqali were each given ten thousand men to lead as commanders of the right and left wings of the army respectively. The other nökod were each given commands of one of the ninety-five minkad. In a display of Genghis' meritocratic ideals, many of these men were born to low social status: Ratchnevsky cited Jelme and Subutai, the sons of blacksmiths, in addition to a carpenter, a shepherd, and even the two herdsmen who had warned Temüjin of Toghrul's plans in 1203. As a special privilege, Genghis allowed certain loyal commanders to retain the tribal identities of their units. Alaqush of the Ongud was allowed to retain five thousand warriors of his tribe because his son had entered into an alliance pact with Genghis, marrying his daughter Alaqa.
A key tool which underpinned these reforms was the expansion of the keshig ('bodyguard'). After Temüjin defeated Toghrul in 1203, he had appropriated this Kereit institution in a minor form, but at the 1206 kurultai its numbers were greatly expanded, from 1,150 to 10,000 men. The keshig was not only the khan's bodyguard, but his household staff, a military academy, and the centre of governmental administration. All the warriors in this elite corps were brothers or sons of military commanders and were essentially hostages. The members of the keshig nevertheless received special privileges and direct access to the khan, whom they served and who in return evaluated their capabilities and their potential to govern or command. Commanders such as Subutai, Chormaqan, and Baiju all started out in the keshig, before being given command of their own force.
Consolidation of power (1206–1210)
From 1204 to 1209, Genghis Khan was predominantly focused on consolidating and maintaining his new nation. He faced a challenge from the shaman Kokechu, whose father Münglig had been allowed to marry Hö'elün after he defected to Temüjin. Kokechu, who had proclaimed Temüjin as Genghis Khan and taken the Tengrist title "Teb Tenggeri" (lit. "Wholly Heavenly") on account of his sorcery, was very influential among the Mongol commoners and sought to divide the imperial family. Genghis's brother Qasar was the first of Kokechu's targets—always distrusted by his brother, Qasar was humiliated and almost imprisoned on false charges before Hö'elün intervened by publicly reprimanding Genghis. Nevertheless, Kokechu's power steadily increased, and he publicly shamed Temüge, Genghis's youngest brother, when he attempted to intervene. Börte saw that Kokechu was a threat to Genghis's power and warned her husband, who still superstitiously revered the shaman but now recognised the political threat he posed. Genghis allowed Temüge to arrange Kokechu's death, and then usurped the shaman's position as the Mongols' highest spiritual authority.
During these years, the Mongols imposed their control on surrounding areas. Genghis dispatched Jochi northwards in 1207 to subjugate the Hoi-yin Irgen, a collection of tribes on the edge of the Siberian taiga. Having secured a marriage alliance with the Oirats and defeated the Yenisei Kyrgyz, he took control of the region's trade in grain and furs, as well as its gold mines. Mongol armies also rode westwards, defeating the Naiman-Merkit alliance on the River Irtysh in late 1208. Their khan was killed and Kuchlug fled into Central Asia. Led by Barchuk, the Uyghurs freed themselves from the suzerainty of the Qara Khitai and pledged themselves to Genghis in 1211 as the first sedentary society to submit to the Mongols.
The Mongols had started raiding the border settlements of the Tangut-led Western Xia kingdom in 1205, ostensibly in retaliation for allowing Senggum, Toghrul's son, refuge. More prosaic explanations include rejuvenating the depleted Mongol economy with an influx of fresh goods and livestock, or simply subjugating a semi-hostile state to protect the nascent Mongol nation. Most Xia troops were stationed along the southern and eastern borders of the kingdom to guard against attacks from the Song and Jin dynasties respectively, while its northern border relied only on the Gobi desert for protection. After a raid in 1207 sacked the Xia fortress of Wulahai, Genghis decided to personally lead a full-scale invasion in 1209.
Wulahai was captured again in May and the Mongols advanced on the capital Zhongxing (modern-day Yinchuan) but suffered a reverse against a Xia army. After a two-month stalemate, Genghis broke the deadlock with a feigned retreat; the Xia forces were deceived out of their defensive positions and overpowered. Although Zhongxing was now mostly undefended, the Mongols lacked any siege equipment better than crude battering rams and were unable to progress the siege. The Xia requested aid from the Jin, but Emperor Zhangzong rejected the plea. Genghis's attempt to redirect the Yellow River into the city with a dam initially worked, but the poorly constructed earthworks broke—possibly breached by the Xia—in January 1210 and the Mongol camp was flooded, forcing them to retreat. A peace treaty was soon formalised: the Xia emperor Xiangzong submitted and handed over tribute, including his daughter Chaka, in exchange for the Mongol withdrawal.
Campaign against the Jin (1211–1215)
Wanyan Yongji usurped the Jin throne in 1209. He had previously served on the steppe frontier and Genghis greatly disliked him. When asked to submit and pay the annual tribute to Yongji in 1210, Genghis instead mocked the emperor, spat, and rode away from the Jin envoy—a challenge that meant war. Despite the possibility of being outnumbered eight-to-one by 600,000 Jin soldiers, Genghis had prepared to invade the Jin since learning in 1206 that the state was wracked by internal instabilities. Genghis had two aims: to take vengeance for past wrongs committed by the Jin, foremost among which was the death of Ambaghai Khan in the mid-12th century, and to win the vast amounts of plunder his troops and vassals expected.
After calling for a kurultai in March 1211, Genghis launched his invasion of Jin China in May, reaching the outer ring of Jin defences the following month. These border fortifications were guarded by Alaqush's Ongud, who allowed the Mongols to pass without difficulty. The three-pronged chevauchée aimed both to plunder and burn a vast area of Jin territory to deprive them of supplies and popular legitimacy, and to secure the mountain passes which allowed access to the North China Plain. The Jin lost numerous towns and were hindered by a series of defections, the most prominent of which led directly to Muqali's victory at the Battle of Huan'erzhui in autumn 1211. The campaign was halted in 1212 when Genghis was wounded by an arrow during the unsuccessful siege of Xijing (modern Datong). Following this failure, Genghis set up a corps of siege engineers, which recruited 500 Jin experts over the next two years.
The defences of Juyong Pass had been strongly reinforced by the time the conflict resumed in 1213, but a Mongol detachment led by Jebe managed to infiltrate the pass and surprise the elite Jin defenders, opening the road to the Jin capital Zhongdu (modern-day Beijing). The Jin administration began to disintegrate: after the Khitans, a tribe subject to the Jin, entered open rebellion, Hushahu, the commander of the forces at Xijing, abandoned his post and staged a coup in Zhongdu, killing Yongji and installing his own puppet ruler, Xuanzong. This governmental breakdown was fortunate for Genghis's forces; emboldened by their victories, they had seriously overreached and lost the initiative. Unable to do more than camp before Zhongdu's fortifications while his army suffered from an epidemic and famine—they resorted to cannibalism according to Carpini, who may have been exaggerating—Genghis opened peace negotiations despite his commanders' militance. He secured tribute, including 3,000 horses, 500 slaves, a Jin princess, and massive amounts of gold and silk, before lifting the siege and setting off homewards in May 1214.
As the northern Jin lands had been ravaged by plague and war, Xuanzong moved the capital and imperial court 600 kilometres (370 mi) southwards to Kaifeng. Interpreting this as an attempt to regroup in the south and then restart the war, Genghis concluded the terms of the peace treaty had been broken. He immediately prepared to return and capture Zhongdu. According to Christopher Atwood, it was only at this juncture that Genghis decided to fully conquer northern China. Muqali captured numerous towns in Liaodong during winter 1214–15, and although the inhabitants of Zhongdu surrendered to Genghis on 31 May 1215, the city was sacked. When Genghis returned to Mongolia in early 1216, Muqali was left in command in China. He waged a brutal but effective campaign against the unstable Jin regime until his death in 1223.
Later reign: western expansion and return to China (1216–1227)
Defeating rebellions and Qara Khitai (1216–1218)
In 1207, Genghis had appointed a man named Qorchi as governor of the subdued Hoi-yin Irgen tribes in Siberia. Appointed not for his talents but for prior services rendered, Qorchi's tendency to abduct women as concubines for his harem caused the tribes to rebel and take him prisoner in early 1216. The following year, they ambushed and killed Boroqul, one of Genghis's highest-ranking nökod. The khan was livid at the loss of his close friend and prepared to lead a retaliatory campaign; eventually dissuaded from this course, he dispatched his eldest son Jochi and a Dörbet commander. They managed to surprise and defeat the rebels, securing control over this economically important region.
Kuchlug, the Naiman prince who had been defeated in 1204, had usurped the throne of the Central Asian Qara Khitai dynasty between 1211 and 1213. He was a greedy and arbitrary ruler who probably earned the enmity of the native Islamic populace whom he attempted to forcibly convert to Buddhism. Genghis reckoned that Kuchlug could be a threat to his empire, and Jebe was sent with an army of 20,000 cavalry to the city of Kashgar; he undermined Kuchlug's rule by emphasising the Mongol policies of religious tolerance and gained the loyalty of the local elite. Kuchlug was forced to flee southwards to the Pamir Mountains, but was captured by local hunters. Jebe had him beheaded and paraded his corpse through Qara Khitai, proclaiming the end of religious persecution in the region.
Invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire (1219–1221)
Genghis had now attained complete control of the eastern portion of the Silk Road, and his territory bordered that of the Khwarazmian Empire, which ruled over much of Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan. Merchants from both sides were eager to restart trading, which had halted during Kuchlug's rule; the Khwarazmian ruler Muhammad II dispatched an envoy shortly after the Mongol capture of Zhongdu, while Genghis instructed his merchants to obtain the high-quality textiles and steel of Central and Western Asia. Many members of the altan uruq invested in one particular caravan of 450 merchants which set off to Khwarazmia in 1218 with a large quantity of wares. Inalchuq, the governor of the Khwarazmian border town of Otrar, decided to massacre the merchants on grounds of espionage and seize the goods; Muhammad had grown suspicious of Genghis's intentions and either supported Inalchuq or turned a blind eye. A Mongol ambassador was sent with two companions to avert war, but Muhammad killed him and humiliated his companions. The killing of an envoy infuriated Genghis, who resolved to leave Muqali with a small force in North China and invade Khwarazmia with most of his army.
Muhammad's empire was large but disunited: he ruled alongside his mother Terken Khatun in what the historian Peter Golden terms "an uneasy diarchy", while the Khwarazmian nobility and populace were discontented with his warring and the centralisation of government. For these reasons and others he declined to meet the Mongols in the field, instead garrisoning his unruly troops in his major cities. This allowed the lightly armoured, highly mobile Mongol armies uncontested superiority outside city walls. Otrar was besieged in autumn 1219—the siege dragged on for five months, but in February 1220 the city fell and Inalchuq was executed. Genghis had meanwhile divided his forces. Leaving his sons Chagatai and Ögedei to besiege the city, he had sent Jochi northwards down the Syr Darya river and another force southwards into central Transoxiana, while he and Tolui took the main Mongol army across the Kyzylkum Desert, surprising the garrison of Bukhara in a pincer movement.
Bukhara's citadel was captured in February 1220 and Genghis moved against Muhammad's residence Samarkand, which fell the following month. Bewildered by the speed of the Mongol conquests, Muhammad fled from Balkh, closely followed by Jebe and Subutai; the two generals pursued the Khwarazmshah until he died from dysentery on a Caspian Sea island in winter 1220–21, having nominated his eldest son Jalal al-Din as his successor. Jebe and Subutai then set out on a 7,500-kilometre (4,700 mi)-expedition around the Caspian Sea. Later called the Great Raid, this lasted four years and saw the Mongols come into contact with Europe for the first time. Meanwhile, the Khwarazmian capital of Gurganj was being besieged by Genghis's three eldest sons. The long siege ended in spring 1221 amid brutal urban conflict. Jalal al-Din moved southwards to Afghanistan, gathering forces on the way and defeating a Mongol unit under the command of Shigi Qutuqu, Genghis's adopted son, in the Battle of Parwan. Jalal was weakened by arguments among his commanders, and after losing decisively at the Battle of the Indus in November 1221, he was compelled to escape across the Indus river into India.
Genghis's youngest son Tolui was concurrently conducting a brutal campaign in the regions of Khorasan. Every city that resisted was destroyed—Nishapur, Merv and Herat, three of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world, were all annihilated. This campaign established Genghis's lasting image as a ruthless, inhumane conqueror. Contemporary Persian historians placed the death toll from the three sieges alone at over 5.7 million—a number regarded as grossly exaggerated by modern scholars. Nevertheless, even a total death toll of 1.25 million for the entire campaign, as estimated by John Man, would have been a demographic catastrophe.
Return to China and final campaign (1222–1227)
Genghis abruptly halted his Central Asian campaigns in 1221. Initially aiming to return via India, Genghis realised that the heat and humidity of the South Asian climate impeded his army's skills, while the omens were additionally unfavourable. Although the Mongols spent much of 1222 repeatedly overcoming rebellions in Khorasan, they withdrew completely from the region to avoid overextending themselves, setting their new frontier on the Amu Darya river. During his lengthy return journey, Genghis prepared a new administrative division which would govern the conquered territories, appointing darughachi (commissioners, lit. "those who press the seal") and basqaq (local officials) to manage the region back to normalcy. He also summoned and spoke with the Taoist patriarch Changchun in the Hindu Kush. The khan listened attentively to Changchun's teachings and granted his followers numerous privileges, including tax exemptions and authority over all monks throughout the empire—a grant which the Taoists later used to try to gain superiority over Buddhism.
The usual reason given for the halting of the campaign is that the Western Xia, having declined to provide auxiliaries for the 1219 invasion, had additionally disobeyed Muqali in his campaign against the remaining Jin in Shaanxi. May has disputed this, arguing that the Xia fought in concert with Muqali until his death in 1223, when, frustrated by Mongol control and sensing an opportunity with Genghis campaigning in Central Asia, they ceased fighting. In either case, Genghis initially attempted to resolve the situation diplomatically, but when the Xia elite failed to come to an agreement on the hostages they were to send to the Mongols, he lost patience.
Returning to Mongolia in early 1225, Genghis spent the year in preparation for a campaign against them. This began in the first months of 1226 with the capture of Khara-Khoto on the Xia's western border. The invasion proceeded apace. Genghis ordered that the cities of the Gansu Corridor be sacked one by one, granting clemency only to a few. Having crossed the Yellow River in autumn, the Mongols besieged present-day Lingwu, located just 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of the Xia capital Zhongxing, in November. On 4 December, Genghis decisively defeated a Xia relief army; the khan left the siege of the capital to his generals and moved southwards with Subutai to plunder and secure Jin territories.
Death and aftermath
Genghis fell from his horse while hunting in the winter of 1226–27 and became increasingly ill during the following months. This slowed the siege of Zhongxing's progress, as his sons and commanders urged him to end the campaign and return to Mongolia to recover, arguing that the Xia would still be there another year. Incensed by insults from Xia's leading commander, Genghis insisted that the siege be continued. He died on either 18 or 25 August 1227, but his death was kept a closely guarded secret and Zhongxing, unaware, fell the following month. The city was put to the sword and its population was treated with extreme savagery—the Xia civilization was essentially extinguished in what Man described as a "very successful ethnocide". The exact nature of the khan's death has been the subject of intense speculation. Rashid al-Din and the History of Yuan mention he suffered from an illness—possibly malaria, typhus, or bubonic plague. Marco Polo claimed that he was shot by an arrow during a siege, while Carpini reported that Genghis was struck by lightning. Legends sprang up around the event—the most famous recounts how the beautiful Gurbelchin, formerly the Xia emperor's wife, injured Genghis's genitals with a dagger during sex.
After his death, Genghis was transported back to Mongolia and buried on or near the sacred Burkhan Khaldun peak in the Khentii Mountains, on a site he had chosen years before. Specific details of the funeral procession and burial were not made public knowledge; the mountain, declared ikh khorig (lit. "Great Taboo"; i.e. prohibited zone), was out of bounds to all but its Uriankhai guard. When Ögedei acceded to the throne in 1229, the grave was honoured with three days of offerings and the sacrifice of thirty maidens. Ratchnevsky theorised that the Mongols, who had no knowledge of embalming techniques, may have buried the khan in the Ordos to avoid his body decomposing in the summer heat while en route to Mongolia; Atwood rejects this hypothesis.
Succession
The tribes of the Mongol steppe had no fixed succession system, but often defaulted to some form of ultimogeniture—succession of the youngest son—because he would have had the least time to gain a following for himself and needed the help of his father's inheritance. However, this type of inheritance applied only to property, not to titles.
The Secret History records that Genghis chose his successor while preparing for the Khwarazmian campaigns in 1219; Rashid al-Din, on the other hand, states that the decision came before Genghis's final campaign against the Xia. Regardless of the date, there were five possible candidates: Genghis's four sons and his youngest brother Temüge, who had the weakest claim and who was never seriously considered. Even though there was a strong possibility Jochi was illegitimate, Genghis was not particularly concerned by this; nevertheless, he and Jochi became increasingly estranged over time, due to Jochi's preoccupation with his own appanage. After the siege of Gurganj, where he only reluctantly participated in besieging the wealthy city that would become part of his territory, he failed to give Genghis the normal share of the booty, which exacerbated the tensions. Genghis was angered by Jochi's refusal to return to him in 1223, and was considering sending Ögedei and Chagatai to bring him to heel when news came that Jochi had died from an illness.
Chagatai's attitude towards Jochi's possible succession—he had termed his elder brother "a Merkit bastard" and had brawled with him in front of their father—led Genghis to view him as uncompromising, arrogant, and narrow-minded, despite his great knowledge of Mongol legal customs. His elimination left Ögedei and Tolui as the two primary candidates. Tolui was unquestionably superior in military terms—his campaign in Khorasan had broken the Khwarazmian Empire, while his elder brother was far less able as a commander. Ögedei was also known to drink excessively even by Mongol standards—it eventually caused his death in 1241. However, he possessed talents all his brothers lacked—he was generous and generally well-liked. Aware of his own lack of military skill, he was able to trust his capable subordinates, and unlike his elder brothers, compromise on issues; he was also more likely to preserve Mongol traditions than Tolui, whose wife Sorghaghtani, herself a Nestorian Christian, was a patron of many religions including Islam. Ögedei was thus recognised as the heir to the Mongol throne.
Serving as regent after Genghis's death, Tolui established a precedent for the customary traditions after a khan's death. These included the halting of all military offensives involving Mongol troops, the establishment of a lengthy mourning period overseen by the regent, and the holding of a kurultai which would nominate successors and select them. For Tolui, this presented an opportunity. He was still a viable candidate for succession and had the support of the family of Jochi. Any general kurultai, attended by the commanders Genghis had promoted and honoured, would however observe their former ruler's desires without question and appoint Ögedei as ruler. It has been suggested that Tolui's reluctance to hold the kurultai was driven by the knowledge of the threat it posed to his ambitions. In the end, Tolui had to be persuaded by the advisor Yelü Chucai to hold the kurultai; in 1229, it crowned Ögedei as khan, with Tolui in attendance.
Family
Börte, whom Temüjin married c. 1178, remained his senior wife. She gave birth to four sons and five daughters, who all became influential figures in the empire. Genghis granted Börte's sons lands and property through the Mongol appanage system, while he secured marriage alliances by marrying her daughters to important families. Her children were:
Qojin, a daughter born c. 1179, who later married Butu of the Ikires, one of Temüjin's earliest and closest supporters and the widower of Temülün.
Jochi, a son born c. 1182 after Börte's kidnapping, whose paternity was thus suspect even though Temüjin accepted his legitimacy. Jochi predeceased Genghis; his appanage, along the Irtysh river and extending into Siberia, evolved into the Golden Horde.
Chagatai, a son born c. 1184; his appanage was the former Qara Khitai territories surrounding Almaligh in Turkestan, which became the Chagatai Khanate.
Ögedei, a son born c. 1186, who received lands in Dzungaria and who succeeded his father as ruler of the empire.
Checheyigen, a daughter born c. 1188, whose marriage to Törelchi secured the loyalty of the Oirats to the north.
Alaqa, a daughter born c. 1190, who married several members of the Ongud tribe between 1207 and 1225.
Tümelün, a daughter born c. 1192, who married Chigu of the Onggirat tribe.
Tolui, a son born c. 1193, who received lands near the Altai Mountains as an appanage; two of his sons, Möngke and Kublai, later ruled the empire, while another, Hulagu, founded the Ilkhanate.
Al-Altan, a daughter born c. 1196, married the powerful Uighur ruler Barchuk. Shortly after the accession of Güyük Khan in the 1240s, she was tried and executed on charges that were later suppressed.
After Börte's final childbirth, Temüjin began to acquire a number of junior wives through conquest. These wives had all previously been princesses or queens, and Temüjin married them to demonstrate his political ascendancy. They included the Kereit princess Ibaqa; the Tatar sisters Yesugen and Yesui; Qulan, a Merkit; Gürbesu, the queen of the Naiman Tayang Khan; and two Chinese princesses, Chaqa and Qiguo, of the Western Xia and Jin dynasties respectively. The children of these junior wives were always subservient to those of Börte, with daughters married off to seal lesser alliances and sons, such as Qulan's child Kölgen, never a candidate for succession.
Character and achievements
No eyewitness description or contemporaneous depiction of Genghis Khan survives. The Persian chronicler Juzjani and the Song diplomat Zhao Hong provide the two earliest descriptions. Both recorded that he was tall and strong with a powerful stature. Zhao wrote that Genghis had a broad brow and long beard while Juzjani commented on his cat's eyes and lack of grey hair. The Secret History records that Börte's father remarked on his "flashing eyes and lively face" when meeting him.
Atwood has suggested that many of Genghis Khan's values, especially the emphasis he placed on an orderly society, derive from his turbulent youth. He valued loyalty above all and mutual fidelity became a cornerstone of his new nation. Genghis did not find it difficult to gain the allegiance of others: he was superbly charismatic even as a youth, as shown by the number of people who left existing social roles behind to join him. Although his trust was hard to earn, if he felt loyalty was assured, he granted his total confidence in return. Recognised for his generosity towards his followers, Genghis unhesitatingly rewarded previous assistance. The nökod most honoured at the 1206 kurultai were those who had accompanied him since the beginning, and those who had sworn the Baljuna Covenant with him at his lowest point. He took responsibility for the families of nökod killed in battle or who otherwise fell on hard times by raising a tax to provide them with clothing and sustenance.
The principal source of steppe wealth was post-battle plunder, of which a leader would normally claim a large share; Genghis eschewed this custom, choosing instead to divide booty equally between himself and all his men. Disliking any form of luxury, he extolled the simple life of the nomad in a letter to Changchun, and objected to being addressed with obsequious flattery. He encouraged his companions to address him informally, give him advice, and criticise his mistakes. Genghis's openness to criticism and willingness to learn saw him seeking the knowledge of family members, companions, neighbouring states, and enemies. He sought and gained knowledge of sophisticated weaponry from China and the Muslim world, appropriated the Uyghur alphabet with the help of the captured scribe Tata-tonga, and employed numerous specialists across legal, commercial, and administrative fields. He also understood the need for a smooth succession and modern historians agree he showed good judgement in choosing his heir.
Although he is today renowned for his military conquests, very little is known about Genghis's personal generalship. His skills were more suited to identifying potential commanders. His institution of a meritocratic command structure gave the Mongol army military superiority, even though it was not technologically or tactically innovative. The army that Genghis created was characterised by its draconian discipline, its ability to gather and use military intelligence efficiently, a mastery of psychological warfare, and a willingness to be utterly ruthless. Genghis thoroughly enjoyed exacting vengeance on his enemies—the concept lay at the heart of achi qari'ulqu (lit. '"good for good, evil for evil"'), the steppe code of justice. In exceptional circumstances, such as when Muhammad of Khwarazm executed his envoys, the need for vengeance overrode all other considerations.
Genghis came to believe the supreme deity Tengri had ordained a great destiny for him. Initially, the bounds of this ambition were limited only to Mongolia, but as success followed success and the reach of the Mongol nation expanded, he and his followers came to believe he was embodied with suu (lit. ''divine grace''). Believing that he had an intimate connection with Heaven, anyone who did not recognise his right to world power was treated as an enemy. This viewpoint allowed Genghis to rationalise any hypocritical or duplicitous moments on his own part, such as killing his anda Jamukha or killing nökod who wavered in their loyalties.
Legacy and historical assessment
Genghis Khan left a vast and controversial legacy. His unification of the Mongol tribes and his foundation of the largest contiguous state in world history "permanently alter[ed] the worldview of European, Islamic, [and] East Asian civilizations", according to Atwood. His conquests enabled the creation of Eurasian trading systems unprecedented in their scale, which brought wealth and security to the tribes. Although he very likely did not codify the written body of laws known as the Great Yasa, he did reorganise the legal system and establish a powerful judicial authority under Shigi Qutuqu.
On the other hand, his conquests were ruthless and brutal. The prosperous civilizations of China, Central Asia, and Persia were devastated by the Mongol assaults, and underwent multi-generational trauma and suffering as a result. Perhaps Genghis's greatest failing was his inability to create a working succession system—his division of his empire into appanages, meant to ensure stability, actually did the reverse, as local and state-wide interests diverged and the empire began splitting into the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate, and the Yuan dynasty in the late 1200s. In the mid-1990s, the Washington Post acclaimed Genghis Khan as the "man of the millennium" who "embodied the half-civilized, half-savage duality of the human race". This complex image has remained prevalent in modern scholarship, with historians emphasising both Genghis Khan's positive and negative contributions.
Mongolia
For many centuries, Genghis was remembered in Mongolia as a religious figure, not a political one. After Altan Khan converted to Tibetan Buddhism in the late 1500s, Genghis was deified and given a central role in the Mongolian religious tradition. As a deity, Genghis drew upon Buddhist, shamanistic, and folk traditions: for example, he was defined as a new incarnation of a chakravartin (idealised ruler) like Ashoka, or of Vajrapani, the martial bodhisattva; he was connected genealogically to the Buddha and to ancient Buddhist kings; he was invoked during weddings and festivals; and he took a large role in ancestor veneration rituals. He also became the focus point of a sleeping hero legend, which says he will return to help the Mongol people in a time of great need. His cult was centred at the naiman chagan ordon (lit. '"Eight White Yurts"'), today a mausoleum in Inner Mongolia, China.
In the 19th and early 20th century, Genghis began to be viewed as the national hero of the Mongolian people. Foreign powers recognised this: during its occupation of Inner Mongolia, Imperial Japan funded the construction of a temple to Genghis, while both the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party used the memory of Genghis to woo potential allies in the Chinese Civil War. This attitude was maintained during World War II, when the Soviet-aligned Mongolian People's Republic promoted Genghis to build patriotic zeal against invaders; however, as he was a non-Russian hero who could serve as an anticommunist figurehead, this attitude swiftly changed after the war's end. According to May, Genghis "was condemned as a feudal and reactionary lord [who] exploited the people." His cult was repressed, the alphabet he chose was replaced with the Cyrillic script, and celebrations planned for the 800th anniversary of his birth in 1962 were cancelled and denigrated after loud Soviet complaints. Because Chinese historians were largely more favourable towards him than their Soviet circumstances, Genghis played a minor role in the Sino-Soviet split.
The arrival of the policies of glasnost and perestroika in the 1980s paved the way for official rehabilitation. Less than two years after the 1990 revolution, Lenin Avenue in the capital Ulaanbaatar was renamed Chinggis Khan Avenue. Since then, Mongolia has named Chinggis Khaan International Airport and erected a large statue in Sükhbaatar Square (which was itself renamed after Genghis between 2013 and 2016). His visage appears on items ranging from postage stamps and high-value banknotes to brands of alcohol and toilet paper. In 2006, the Mongolian parliament officially discussed the trivialization of his name through excessive advertising.
Modern Mongolians tend to downplay Genghis's military conquests in favour of his political and civil legacy—they view the destructive campaigns as "a product of their time", in the words of the historian Michal Biran, and secondary to his other contributions to Mongolian and world history. His policies—such his use of the kurultai, his establishment of the rule of law through an independent judiciary, and human rights—are seen as the foundations that allowed the creation of the modern, democratic Mongolian state. Viewed as someone who brought peace and knowledge rather than war and destruction, Genghis Khan is idealised for making Mongolia the centre of international culture for a period. He is generally recognised as the founding father of Mongolia.
Elsewhere
The historical and modern Muslim world has associated Genghis Khan with a myriad of ideologies and beliefs. Its first instinct, as Islamic thought had never previously envisioned being ruled by a non-Muslim power, was to view Genghis as the herald of the approaching Judgement Day. Over time, as the world failed to end and as his descendants began converting to Islam, Muslims began to see Genghis as an instrument of God's will who was destined to strengthen the Muslim world by cleansing its innate corruption.
In post-Mongol Asia, Genghis was also a source of political legitimacy, because his descendants had been recognised as the only ones entitled to reign. As a result, aspiring potentates not descended from him had to justify their rule, either by nominating puppet rulers of Genghis's dynasty, or by stressing their own connections to him. Most notably, the great conqueror Timur, who established his own empire in Central Asia, did both: he was obliged to pay homage to Genghis's descendants Soyurgatmish and Sultan Mahmud, and his propaganda campaigns vastly exaggerated the prominence of his ancestor Qarachar Noyan, one of Genghis's lesser commanders, depicting him as Genghis's blood relative and second-in-command. He also married at least two of Genghis's descendants. Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire in India, in turn derived his authority through his descent from both Timur and Genghis. Until the eighteenth century in Central Asia, Genghis was considered the progenitor of the social order, and was second only to the prophet Muhammad in legal authority.
With the rise of Arab nationalism in the nineteenth century, the Arab world began to view Genghis increasingly negatively. Today, he is perceived as the ultimate "accursed enemy", a "barbarian savage who began the demolition of civilization which culminated in [the Siege of Baghdad in 1258]" by his grandson Hulegu. Similarly, Genghis is viewed extremely negatively in Russia, where historians have consistently portrayed the rule of the Golden Horde—the "Tatar Yoke"—as backwards, destructive, inimical to all progress, and the reason for all of Russia's flaws. His treatment in modern Central Asia and Turkey is more ambivalent: his position as a non-Muslim means other national traditions and heroes, such as Timur and the Seljuks, are viewed more highly.
Under the Yuan dynasty in China, Genghis was revered as the nation's creator, and he remained in this position even after the foundation of the Ming dynasty in 1368. Although the late Ming somewhat disavowed his memory, the positive viewpoint was restored under the Manchu Qing dynasty (1644–1911), who positioned themselves as his heirs. The rise of 20th-century Chinese nationalism initially caused the denigration of Genghis as a traumatic occupier, but he was later resurrected as a useful political symbol on a variety of issues. Modern Chinese historiography has generally viewed Genghis positively and he has been portrayed as a Chinese hero. In contemporary Japan, he is most known for the legend that he was originally Minamoto no Yoshitsune, a samurai and tragic hero who was forced to commit seppuku in 1189.
The Western world, never directly affected by Genghis, has viewed him in shifting and contrasting ways. During the 14th century, as shown by the works of Marco Polo and Geoffrey Chaucer, he was seen as a just and wise ruler, but during the eighteenth century he came to embody the Enlightenment stereotype of a tyrannical Oriental despot, and by the twentieth century he represented a prototypical barbarian warlord. In recent decades, Western scholarship has become increasingly nuanced, viewing Genghis as a more complex individual.
References
Notes
Citations
=== Bibliography ===
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Liza Minnelli
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Liza May Minnelli ( LY-zə; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and four Tony Awards. She is one of the few performers awarded a non-competitive EGOT having received two honorary Grammy Awards. Minnelli is a Knight of the French Legion of Honour.
Minnelli's parents were actress and singer Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli. After moving to New York City in 1961, she began her career as a musical theatre actress, nightclub performer, and traditional pop artist. She made her professional stage debut in the Off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward (1963). She became known for her collaborations with John Kander and Fred Ebb, and later won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her roles in the Broadway musicals Flora the Red Menace (1965) and The Act (1978). She was Tony-nominated for The Rink (1984). She won Special Tony Awards for Liza at the Winter Garden (1974) and Liza at the Palace! (2009).
On film, she had her breakthrough performance in the drama film The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She later received the award playing Sally Bowles in the musical film Cabaret (1972), which brought her to international prominence. She starred in a string of films such as Lucky Lady (1975), New York, New York (1977), Arthur (1981), Rent-a-Cop (1988), and Stepping Out (1991). On television, she had a career resurgence as a recurring guest star on the sitcom Arrested Development (2003–2013).
Her concert performances at Carnegie Hall in 1979 and 1987 and at Radio City Music Hall in 1991 and 1992 are recognized among her most successful. From 1988 to 1990, she toured with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. in Frank, Liza & Sammy: The Ultimate Event. Minnelli is known for her renditions of American standards and is known for her signature songs which include ("New York, New York", "Cabaret", and "Maybe This Time"). Throughout her later years, she has suffered serious health problems and avoided huge concerts in favor of small retrospective performances. Her life was profiled in the 2024 documentary, Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story.
Early life
Minnelli was born on March 12, 1946, at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Hollywood. She is the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli. Her parents named her after Ira Gershwin's song "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)". Minnelli has a half-sister, Lorna, and half-brother, Joey, from Garland's marriage to Sid Luft. She has another half-sister, Christiane Nina Minnelli (nicknamed Tina Nina), from her father's second marriage. Minnelli's godparents were Kay Thompson and Ira Gershwin.
Minnelli's first performing experience on film was at age three, appearing in the final scene of the musical In the Good Old Summertime (1949); the film stars Garland and Van Johnson. In 1961, she moved to New York City, attending High School of Performing Arts and later, Chadwick School.
Career
Theatre
During 1961, Minnelli was an apprentice at the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis, Massachusetts. She appeared in the chorus of Flower Drum Song and played the part of Muriel in Take Me Along. She began performing professionally at the age of 17 in 1963 in an Off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward, for which she received the Theatre World Award, and also toured in The Fantasticks, opposite Elliott Gould.
The next year, her mother invited her to perform with her in concert at the London Palladium. Both concerts were recorded and released as an album. Minnelli attended Scarsdale High School for one year, starring in a production of The Diary of Anne Frank that then went to Israel on tour. She turned to Broadway at 19, and won her first Tony Award as a leading actress for Flora the Red Menace. It was the first time that she worked with the musical pair John Kander and Fred Ebb.
Music
Minnelli began as a nightclub singer as an adolescent, making her professional nightclub debut at the age of 19 at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. That same year she began appearing in other clubs and on stage in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and New York City. Her success as a live performer led her to record several albums for Capitol Records: Liza! Liza! (1964), It Amazes Me (1965), and There Is a Time (1966). In her early years, she recorded traditional pop standards as well as show tunes from various musicals in which she starred. Because of this fact, William Ruhlmann named her "Barbra Streisand's little sister". The Capitol albums Liza! Liza!, It Amazes Me, and There Is a Time were reissued on the two-CD compilation The Capitol Years in 2001, in their entirety.
From 1968 to the 1970s, Minnelli also recorded her albums Liza Minnelli (1968), Come Saturday Morning and New Feelin' (both 1970) for A&M Records. In 1973, Minnelli sang back up with Ronnie Spector for Alice Cooper's song "Teenage Lament '74" from the album Muscle of Love (1973). She released her solo albums The Singer (1973) and Tropical Nights (1977) on Columbia Records.
In 1989, Minnelli collaborated with the Pet Shop Boys on Results, an electronic dance-style album. The release hit the top 10 in the UK and charted in the U.S., spawning four singles: "Losing My Mind"; "Don't Drop Bombs"; "So Sorry, I Said"; and "Love Pains". Later that year, she performed "Losing My Mind" live at the Grammy Awards ceremony before receiving a Grammy Legend Award (the first Grammy Legend Awards were issued in 1990 to Minnelli, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Smokey Robinson, and Willie Nelson). With this award, she became one of only 16 people—a list that includes composer Richard Rodgers, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbra Streisand, and John Gielgud and others—to win an Emmy, Grammy, Tony Award and Academy Award.
In April 1992, Minnelli appeared at the tribute concert for her late friend Freddie Mercury, performing "We Are the Champions" with the surviving members of the rock band Queen at Wembley Stadium in London. In 1996, Minnelli released a studio album titled Gently. It was a recording of jazz standards and included contemporary songs such as the cover of Does He Love You which she performed as a duet with Donna Summer. This album brought her a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance.
In 2006, Minnelli appeared on My Chemical Romance's album The Black Parade, providing backing vocals and singing a solo part with Gerard Way on the track "Mama". Minnelli was nominated in 2009 for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her studio recording Liza's at the Palace...!, based on her hit Broadway show. Minnelli released an album on the Decca Records label titled Confessions on September 21, 2010.
Film
Minnelli's first appearance on film is as the baby in the final shot of her mother's film In the Good Old Summertime (1949). Her first credited film role was as the love interest in Charlie Bubbles (1967), Albert Finney's only film as director and star, although four years earlier, she did voiceover work for the animated film Journey Back to Oz, a sequel to The Wizard of Oz. Minnelli was the voice of Dorothy (a character played in the earlier film by her mother, Judy Garland) in what would have been her first credited film role had it been released in 1964 as planned—the Filmation production was delayed, eventually being released in the UK during 1972.
Minnelli appeared in The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), Alan J. Pakula's first feature film as Director, as Pookie Adams, a needy, eccentric teenager. Her performance was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She played another eccentric character in Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970), directed by Otto Preminger. A nude scene in that film, filmed in a Massachusetts cemetery, resulted in a misdemeanor complaint by family of those buried there, and a "Liza Minnelli Bill" was introduced the following year to penalise filming in Massachusetts cemeteries without permission.
Minnelli appeared in her best-known film role, Sally Bowles, in the film version of Cabaret (1972). She said that one of the things she did to prepare was to study photographs of actresses Louise Glaum and Louise Brooks and the dark-haired women of the era in which the film is set. Minnelli won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance, along with a Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award, and also Sant Jordi Award and David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress.
Following the success of Cabaret, Bob Fosse and Minnelli teamed for Liza with a "Z", a concert for television that aired twice, then was not seen again until a 2005 restoration.
Minnelli appeared in three expensive flops in three years, with Variety suggesting by 1978 that she was the number-one choice for box office poison. First was Lucky Lady (1975), then she worked with her father in A Matter of Time (1976), co-starring Ingrid Bergman and then New York, New York (1977), which gave Minnelli her best known signature song. She sometimes performed duets on stage with Frank Sinatra, who recorded a cover version (for his Trilogy: Past Present Future album).
Minnelli made fewer film appearances from then on, but her next film, Arthur (1981), where she starred as Dudley Moore's love interest, was a big hit. She returned to film for Rent-A-Cop and Arthur 2: On the Rocks (both 1988) and Stepping Out (1991), a musical comedy drama. She later appeared in The Oh in Ohio in 2006, which received only a limited release in theatres.
Television
During the 1950s, Minnelli appeared as a child guest on Art Linkletter's show and sang and danced with Gene Kelly on his first television special in 1959. She was a guest star in one episode of Ben Casey and was a frequent guest on chat shows of the day, including making numerous appearances on shows hosted by Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Joe Franklin, Dinah Shore and Johnny Carson. During the 1960s, she made several guest appearances on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In as well as other variety shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Hollywood Palace, and The Judy Garland Show.
In 1964, Minnelli appeared as Minnie in her first television dramatic role in the episode "Nightingale for Sale" on Craig Stevens's short-lived series Mr. Broadway. In 1965, she starred in the television special, The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood. A soundtrack was released to coincide with the specials. In 1970, she headlined her first television special, entitled Liza, with guest stars Anthony Newley, and Randy Newman. In 1972, she starred in the Bob Fosse-directed Liza with a Z.
In 1980, she made two television specials, Goldie and Liza Together, with Goldie Hawn, and An Evening with Liza Minnelli. In 1984, she made a guest appearance as Princess Alecia in 'The Princess and the Pea' episode of Faerie Tale Theatre. In 1985, she starred in a made-for-TV movie, A Time to Live, and in 1988, she appeared in Sam Found Out: A Triple Play.
In December 1992, American Public Television aired Liza Minnelli Live from Radio City Music Hall produced by Phil Ramone and Chris Giordano. The show received six Emmy nominations and won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics, awarded to Fred Ebb and John Kander. This was followed by appearances in two more made-for-TV movies: Parallel Lives, and The West Side Waltz, in 1994 and 1995, respectively.
Much later in her career, Minnelli made appearances on shows such as a recurring role on Arrested Development and guest spots on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Drop Dead Diva, and Smash. In the UK, she appeared on the Ruby Wax, Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross shows, and in October 2006, participated in a comedy skit on Charlotte Church's show and was featured on Michael Parkinson's show.
In November 2009, American Public Television aired Liza's at the Palace, taped from September 30 to October 1, 2009, in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand's Hollywood Theatre. The executive producers of the taping, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, were previously involved with the 2005 rerelease of 1972's Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning Liza with a Z.
Later career
Minnelli returned to Broadway in 1997, taking over the title role in the musical Victor/Victoria, replacing Julie Andrews. In his review, New York Times critic Ben Brantley wrote "her every stage appearance is perceived as a victory of show-business stamina over psychic frailty. She asks for love so nakedly and earnestly, it seems downright vicious not to respond."
After a serious case of viral encephalitis in 2000, doctors predicted that Minnelli would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair and perhaps not be able to speak again. However, taking vocal and dance lessons daily (especially with Sam Harris, Luigi Faccuito, Ron Lewis, and Angela Bacari), she managed to recover. She appeared on a September 19, 2001, episode of The Rosie O'Donnell Show, notable because it was Rosie's first show back following the September 11 attacks. Despite having had vocal surgery shortly before, she sang her signature song, "New York, New York", and received an enthusiastic ovation. She also returned to the stage in 2001 when asked by long-time friend Michael Jackson to perform at Madison Square Garden in New York City where she sang "Never Never Land" and the televised "You Are Not Alone" at the Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special concert produced by future husband David Gest. Minnelli told reporters: "I am stable as a table."
Gest was so impressed with Minnelli's stamina and ability to stun audiences that he produced her in Liza's Back in Spring 2002, performing to rave reviews in London and New York City. The tour featured a tribute to her mother: after years of declining fans' pleas for her to sing Garland's signature song "Over the Rainbow", she concluded Act 1 with the final refrain of her mother's anthem to an instant ovation.
From 2003 through 2005, she appeared as a recurring character on the Emmy Award-winning TV sitcom Arrested Development as Lucille Austero (also known as "Lucille 2"), the lover of both the sexually and socially awkward Buster Bluth and Buster's brother Gob. Minnelli appeared in the role for the show's fourth season in 2013.
On December 14, 2004, Minnelli made her first appearance in the UK after a long absence, performing as a special guest at the annual Royal Variety Performance. The performance was presented by the BBC, and was attended by Charles, Prince of Wales. It was staged at the London Coliseum, celebrating both its centenary year and the theatre's re-opening after an extensive four-year restoration.
In 2005, Minnelli made her first film appearance in more than 15 years, in The Oh in Ohio.
In September 2006, Minnelli made a guest appearance on the long-running drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent in "Masquerade", a Halloween-themed episode, broadcast on October 31, 2006.
Minnelli also completed guest vocals on My Chemical Romance's 2006 concept album The Black Parade, portraying "Mother War", a dark conception of the main character's mother in the song "Mama".
In 2007, it was announced that Minnelli was working on an album in tribute to Kay Thompson. This turned into Minnelli's return to Broadway in a new solo concert at the Palace Theatre titled Liza's at The Palace...!, which ran from December 3, 2008, through January 4, 2009. In her second act, she performed a series of numbers created by Thompson.
Minnelli was a character in the Australian musical The Boy from Oz (a biography of her first husband, Peter Allen) starring Hugh Jackman. In the show's Broadway production, she was portrayed by Stephanie J. Block. In October 2009, Minnelli toured Australia and appeared on Australian Idol as a mentor and guest judge. Minnelli made a cameo appearance in the May 2010 release of Sex and the City 2, in which she covered Beyoncé's hit "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and Cole Porter's "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye". She made a starring appearance in December 2010 in The Apprentice.
Also in 2010, Minnelli released an album of a number of American standards "unplugged" with long-time collaborator Billy Stritch, showing a sultrier and softer, more interpretive side to her artistry. The songs are said to have been recorded several years prior and later released as the album Confessions.
On June 14, 2012, Minnelli headlined at Hampton Court Palace Festival. On May 9, 2014, Minnelli had a guest appearance on Cher's Dressed to Kill Tour in Brooklyn, performing "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" with Cyndi Lauper and Rosie O'Donnell.
In 2024, Minnelli announced her plans to release her memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, on March 10, 2026.
Personal life
Minnelli had long suffered from alcoholism and had been addicted to prescription drugs, originating from a Valium prescription after her mother died. Her use of recreational drugs in the 1970s was noted by Andy Warhol, who in a 1978 diary entry recalled Minnelli arriving at Halston's house and imploring the host to "Give me every drug you've got." Along with Warhol and Bianca Jagger, Minnelli made frequent appearances at New York City nightclubs during the late 1970s, including Studio 54. Minnelli left her 1984 musical The Rink to enter the Betty Ford Clinic.
Of the many physical ailments that Minnelli has, as a result of her long and demanding career as a dancer, one is inherited. She has lived and performed with scoliosis since her youth, and actually developed unique and signature dance moves and techniques because of the pain:
"I found out that because of the scoliosis, if I lean back one way it hurts. The only reason I do anything like I do is because it’s the only way I can do it without hurting! Literally. It’s really funny. It is so weird ... I’ve got two false hips, a wired-up knee, scoliosis, which I’ve always had, and three crushed disks, but I feel great. I dance every day.”
Minnelli is an Episcopalian.
Minnelli's friendships have included the singer Adam Ant, whom she advised on what to wear when he was presented to Queen Elizabeth II after the 1981 Royal Variety Performance at which his band Adam and the Ants performed. Ant in turn namechecked Minnelli in the track "Crackpot History and the Right To Lie" on his 1982 solo album Friend or Foe.
During an Australian visit in 1964, Minnelli and her then-boyfriend Peter Allen were invited to the opening of the Compass Centre in Bankstown, Sydney. They were awarded the titles of King and Queen of the Compass Centre.
Marriages and relationships
Minnelli has married and divorced four times. Her first marriage was to entertainer Peter Allen on March 3, 1967. Australian-born Allen was Judy Garland's protégé in the mid-1960s. Minnelli and Allen agreed to a trial separation on April 9, 1970. Their divorce was finalized on July 24, 1974. Minnelli told The Advocate editor-in-chief Judy Wieder in September 1996, "I married Peter, and he didn't tell me he was gay. Everyone knew but me. And I found out ... well, let me put it this way: I'll never surprise anybody coming home as long as I live. I call first!"
After her separation from Allen, Minnelli was engaged to actor Desi Arnaz Jr and comic actor Peter Sellers.
Minnelli married Jack Haley Jr., a producer and director, on September 15, 1974. His father, Jack Haley, was Minnelli's mother's co-star in The Wizard of Oz who played the Tin Man. They divorced in April 1979.
Minnelli was married to Mark Gero, a sculptor and stage manager, from December 4, 1979, until their divorce in January 1992.
Minnelli was married to David Gest, a concert promoter, from March 16, 2002, until their separation in July 2003 and divorce in April 2007. The wedding boasted over 1200 guests at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, with Michael Jackson as the best man, Elizabeth Taylor as the matron of honor, and a bridal party that included Mia Farrow, Gina Lollobrigida, Petula Clark, Mya, and Janet Leigh among others. Gest was reportedly gay, as was her first husband. In a 2003 lawsuit, Gest alleged that Minnelli beat him in alcohol-induced rages during their marriage. Minnelli denied the accusations, claiming Gest was simply after her money. The suit was dismissed in September 2006 for lack of triable issue of fact.
She also had relationships with Rock Brynner (son of Yul Brynner), Mikhail Baryshnikov, Billy Stritch, and film director Martin Scorsese. Her close friendship with French pop singer Charles Aznavour was described by Aznavour as "more than friends and less than lovers."
Minnelli has no children despite numerous attempts; one pregnancy left her with a hiatal hernia as a result of the medical steps taken to try to save the baby.
Philanthropy
Throughout her lifetime, Minnelli has served on various charities and causes. She served on the board of directors of The Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) for 20 years, a nonprofit educational organization that introduces parents to the field of child brain development. In a 2006 interview with Randy Rice at Broadwayworld.com, Minnelli said that she was the person who told Elizabeth Taylor about HIV/AIDS while talking about their mutual friend Rock Hudson. She has also dedicated much time to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, which was co-founded by Taylor.
In 2007, she stated in an interview with Palm Springs Life: "AmfAR is important to me because I've lost so many friends that I knew [to AIDS]". In 1994, she recorded the Kander & Ebb tune "The Day After That" and donated the proceeds to AIDS research. The same year, she performed the song in front of thousands in Central Park at the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
Discography
Studio albums
Liza! Liza! (1964)
It Amazes Me (1965)
There Is a Time (1966)
Liza Minnelli (1968)
Come Saturday Morning (1969)
New Feelin' (1970)
The Singer (1973)
Tropical Nights (1977)
Results (1989)
Gently (1996)
Confessions (2010)
Credits
Film
Television
Theatre
Awards and nominations
In 1991, for her contribution to live performance, Minnelli was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. She was made a Knight of the French Legion of Honour. She also received an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Grammy Award, and three Tony Awards.
See also
List of persons who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards
References
Further reading
Leigh, Wendy (1993), Liza: Born a Star. E.P. Dutton
Mair, George (1996), Under the Rainbow: The Real Liza Minnelli. Carol Publishing
Schechter, Scott (2004), The Liza Minnelli Scrapbook. Kensington Books/Citadel Press
Spada, James (1983), Judy and Liza. Doubleday
External links
Liza Minnelli at IMDb
Liza Minnelli at the American Film Institute Catalog
Liza Minnelli at the Internet Broadway Database
Liza Minnelli at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
Liza Minnelli at the TCM Movie Database
Liza Minnelli at Playbill Vault
Liza Minnelli interview with KVUE-TV in 1988 about Arthur 2: On the Rocks from Texas Archive of the Moving Image
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Liza May Minnelli ( LY-zə; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and four Tony Awards. She is one of the few performers awarded a non-competitive EGOT having received two honorary Grammy Awards. Minnelli is a Knight of the French Legion of Honour.
Minnelli's parents were actress and singer Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli. After moving to New York City in 1961, she began her career as a musical theatre actress, nightclub performer, and traditional pop artist. She made her professional stage debut in the Off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward (1963). She became known for her collaborations with John Kander and Fred Ebb, and later won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her roles in the Broadway musicals Flora the Red Menace (1965) and The Act (1978). She was Tony-nominated for The Rink (1984). She won Special Tony Awards for Liza at the Winter Garden (1974) and Liza at the Palace! (2009).
On film, she had her breakthrough performance in the drama film The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She later received the award playing Sally Bowles in the musical film Cabaret (1972), which brought her to international prominence. She starred in a string of films such as Lucky Lady (1975), New York, New York (1977), Arthur (1981), Rent-a-Cop (1988), and Stepping Out (1991). On television, she had a career resurgence as a recurring guest star on the sitcom Arrested Development (2003–2013).
Her concert performances at Carnegie Hall in 1979 and 1987 and at Radio City Music Hall in 1991 and 1992 are recognized among her most successful. From 1988 to 1990, she toured with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. in Frank, Liza & Sammy: The Ultimate Event. Minnelli is known for her renditions of American standards and is known for her signature songs which include ("New York, New York", "Cabaret", and "Maybe This Time"). Throughout her later years, she has suffered serious health problems and avoided huge concerts in favor of small retrospective performances. Her life was profiled in the 2024 documentary, Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story.
Early life
Minnelli was born on March 12, 1946, at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Hollywood. She is the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli. Her parents named her after Ira Gershwin's song "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)". Minnelli has a half-sister, Lorna, and half-brother, Joey, from Garland's marriage to Sid Luft. She has another half-sister, Christiane Nina Minnelli (nicknamed Tina Nina), from her father's second marriage. Minnelli's godparents were Kay Thompson and Ira Gershwin.
Minnelli's first performing experience on film was at age three, appearing in the final scene of the musical In the Good Old Summertime (1949); the film stars Garland and Van Johnson. In 1961, she moved to New York City, attending High School of Performing Arts and later, Chadwick School.
Career
Theatre
During 1961, Minnelli was an apprentice at the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis, Massachusetts. She appeared in the chorus of Flower Drum Song and played the part of Muriel in Take Me Along. She began performing professionally at the age of 17 in 1963 in an Off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward, for which she received the Theatre World Award, and also toured in The Fantasticks, opposite Elliott Gould.
The next year, her mother invited her to perform with her in concert at the London Palladium. Both concerts were recorded and released as an album. Minnelli attended Scarsdale High School for one year, starring in a production of The Diary of Anne Frank that then went to Israel on tour. She turned to Broadway at 19, and won her first Tony Award as a leading actress for Flora the Red Menace. It was the first time that she worked with the musical pair John Kander and Fred Ebb.
Music
Minnelli began as a nightclub singer as an adolescent, making her professional nightclub debut at the age of 19 at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. That same year she began appearing in other clubs and on stage in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and New York City. Her success as a live performer led her to record several albums for Capitol Records: Liza! Liza! (1964), It Amazes Me (1965), and There Is a Time (1966). In her early years, she recorded traditional pop standards as well as show tunes from various musicals in which she starred. Because of this fact, William Ruhlmann named her "Barbra Streisand's little sister". The Capitol albums Liza! Liza!, It Amazes Me, and There Is a Time were reissued on the two-CD compilation The Capitol Years in 2001, in their entirety.
From 1968 to the 1970s, Minnelli also recorded her albums Liza Minnelli (1968), Come Saturday Morning and New Feelin' (both 1970) for A&M Records. In 1973, Minnelli sang back up with Ronnie Spector for Alice Cooper's song "Teenage Lament '74" from the album Muscle of Love (1973). She released her solo albums The Singer (1973) and Tropical Nights (1977) on Columbia Records.
In 1989, Minnelli collaborated with the Pet Shop Boys on Results, an electronic dance-style album. The release hit the top 10 in the UK and charted in the U.S., spawning four singles: "Losing My Mind"; "Don't Drop Bombs"; "So Sorry, I Said"; and "Love Pains". Later that year, she performed "Losing My Mind" live at the Grammy Awards ceremony before receiving a Grammy Legend Award (the first Grammy Legend Awards were issued in 1990 to Minnelli, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Smokey Robinson, and Willie Nelson). With this award, she became one of only 16 people—a list that includes composer Richard Rodgers, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbra Streisand, and John Gielgud and others—to win an Emmy, Grammy, Tony Award and Academy Award.
In April 1992, Minnelli appeared at the tribute concert for her late friend Freddie Mercury, performing "We Are the Champions" with the surviving members of the rock band Queen at Wembley Stadium in London. In 1996, Minnelli released a studio album titled Gently. It was a recording of jazz standards and included contemporary songs such as the cover of Does He Love You which she performed as a duet with Donna Summer. This album brought her a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance.
In 2006, Minnelli appeared on My Chemical Romance's album The Black Parade, providing backing vocals and singing a solo part with Gerard Way on the track "Mama". Minnelli was nominated in 2009 for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her studio recording Liza's at the Palace...!, based on her hit Broadway show. Minnelli released an album on the Decca Records label titled Confessions on September 21, 2010.
Film
Minnelli's first appearance on film is as the baby in the final shot of her mother's film In the Good Old Summertime (1949). Her first credited film role was as the love interest in Charlie Bubbles (1967), Albert Finney's only film as director and star, although four years earlier, she did voiceover work for the animated film Journey Back to Oz, a sequel to The Wizard of Oz. Minnelli was the voice of Dorothy (a character played in the earlier film by her mother, Judy Garland) in what would have been her first credited film role had it been released in 1964 as planned—the Filmation production was delayed, eventually being released in the UK during 1972.
Minnelli appeared in The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), Alan J. Pakula's first feature film as Director, as Pookie Adams, a needy, eccentric teenager. Her performance was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She played another eccentric character in Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970), directed by Otto Preminger. A nude scene in that film, filmed in a Massachusetts cemetery, resulted in a misdemeanor complaint by family of those buried there, and a "Liza Minnelli Bill" was introduced the following year to penalise filming in Massachusetts cemeteries without permission.
Minnelli appeared in her best-known film role, Sally Bowles, in the film version of Cabaret (1972). She said that one of the things she did to prepare was to study photographs of actresses Louise Glaum and Louise Brooks and the dark-haired women of the era in which the film is set. Minnelli won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance, along with a Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award, and also Sant Jordi Award and David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress.
Following the success of Cabaret, Bob Fosse and Minnelli teamed for Liza with a "Z", a concert for television that aired twice, then was not seen again until a 2005 restoration.
Minnelli appeared in three expensive flops in three years, with Variety suggesting by 1978 that she was the number-one choice for box office poison. First was Lucky Lady (1975), then she worked with her father in A Matter of Time (1976), co-starring Ingrid Bergman and then New York, New York (1977), which gave Minnelli her best known signature song. She sometimes performed duets on stage with Frank Sinatra, who recorded a cover version (for his Trilogy: Past Present Future album).
Minnelli made fewer film appearances from then on, but her next film, Arthur (1981), where she starred as Dudley Moore's love interest, was a big hit. She returned to film for Rent-A-Cop and Arthur 2: On the Rocks (both 1988) and Stepping Out (1991), a musical comedy drama. She later appeared in The Oh in Ohio in 2006, which received only a limited release in theatres.
Television
During the 1950s, Minnelli appeared as a child guest on Art Linkletter's show and sang and danced with Gene Kelly on his first television special in 1959. She was a guest star in one episode of Ben Casey and was a frequent guest on chat shows of the day, including making numerous appearances on shows hosted by Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Joe Franklin, Dinah Shore and Johnny Carson. During the 1960s, she made several guest appearances on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In as well as other variety shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Hollywood Palace, and The Judy Garland Show.
In 1964, Minnelli appeared as Minnie in her first television dramatic role in the episode "Nightingale for Sale" on Craig Stevens's short-lived series Mr. Broadway. In 1965, she starred in the television special, The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood. A soundtrack was released to coincide with the specials. In 1970, she headlined her first television special, entitled Liza, with guest stars Anthony Newley, and Randy Newman. In 1972, she starred in the Bob Fosse-directed Liza with a Z.
In 1980, she made two television specials, Goldie and Liza Together, with Goldie Hawn, and An Evening with Liza Minnelli. In 1984, she made a guest appearance as Princess Alecia in 'The Princess and the Pea' episode of Faerie Tale Theatre. In 1985, she starred in a made-for-TV movie, A Time to Live, and in 1988, she appeared in Sam Found Out: A Triple Play.
In December 1992, American Public Television aired Liza Minnelli Live from Radio City Music Hall produced by Phil Ramone and Chris Giordano. The show received six Emmy nominations and won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics, awarded to Fred Ebb and John Kander. This was followed by appearances in two more made-for-TV movies: Parallel Lives, and The West Side Waltz, in 1994 and 1995, respectively.
Much later in her career, Minnelli made appearances on shows such as a recurring role on Arrested Development and guest spots on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Drop Dead Diva, and Smash. In the UK, she appeared on the Ruby Wax, Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross shows, and in October 2006, participated in a comedy skit on Charlotte Church's show and was featured on Michael Parkinson's show.
In November 2009, American Public Television aired Liza's at the Palace, taped from September 30 to October 1, 2009, in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand's Hollywood Theatre. The executive producers of the taping, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, were previously involved with the 2005 rerelease of 1972's Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning Liza with a Z.
Later career
Minnelli returned to Broadway in 1997, taking over the title role in the musical Victor/Victoria, replacing Julie Andrews. In his review, New York Times critic Ben Brantley wrote "her every stage appearance is perceived as a victory of show-business stamina over psychic frailty. She asks for love so nakedly and earnestly, it seems downright vicious not to respond."
After a serious case of viral encephalitis in 2000, doctors predicted that Minnelli would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair and perhaps not be able to speak again. However, taking vocal and dance lessons daily (especially with Sam Harris, Luigi Faccuito, Ron Lewis, and Angela Bacari), she managed to recover. She appeared on a September 19, 2001, episode of The Rosie O'Donnell Show, notable because it was Rosie's first show back following the September 11 attacks. Despite having had vocal surgery shortly before, she sang her signature song, "New York, New York", and received an enthusiastic ovation. She also returned to the stage in 2001 when asked by long-time friend Michael Jackson to perform at Madison Square Garden in New York City where she sang "Never Never Land" and the televised "You Are Not Alone" at the Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special concert produced by future husband David Gest. Minnelli told reporters: "I am stable as a table."
Gest was so impressed with Minnelli's stamina and ability to stun audiences that he produced her in Liza's Back in Spring 2002, performing to rave reviews in London and New York City. The tour featured a tribute to her mother: after years of declining fans' pleas for her to sing Garland's signature song "Over the Rainbow", she concluded Act 1 with the final refrain of her mother's anthem to an instant ovation.
From 2003 through 2005, she appeared as a recurring character on the Emmy Award-winning TV sitcom Arrested Development as Lucille Austero (also known as "Lucille 2"), the lover of both the sexually and socially awkward Buster Bluth and Buster's brother Gob. Minnelli appeared in the role for the show's fourth season in 2013.
On December 14, 2004, Minnelli made her first appearance in the UK after a long absence, performing as a special guest at the annual Royal Variety Performance. The performance was presented by the BBC, and was attended by Charles, Prince of Wales. It was staged at the London Coliseum, celebrating both its centenary year and the theatre's re-opening after an extensive four-year restoration.
In 2005, Minnelli made her first film appearance in more than 15 years, in The Oh in Ohio.
In September 2006, Minnelli made a guest appearance on the long-running drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent in "Masquerade", a Halloween-themed episode, broadcast on October 31, 2006.
Minnelli also completed guest vocals on My Chemical Romance's 2006 concept album The Black Parade, portraying "Mother War", a dark conception of the main character's mother in the song "Mama".
In 2007, it was announced that Minnelli was working on an album in tribute to Kay Thompson. This turned into Minnelli's return to Broadway in a new solo concert at the Palace Theatre titled Liza's at The Palace...!, which ran from December 3, 2008, through January 4, 2009. In her second act, she performed a series of numbers created by Thompson.
Minnelli was a character in the Australian musical The Boy from Oz (a biography of her first husband, Peter Allen) starring Hugh Jackman. In the show's Broadway production, she was portrayed by Stephanie J. Block. In October 2009, Minnelli toured Australia and appeared on Australian Idol as a mentor and guest judge. Minnelli made a cameo appearance in the May 2010 release of Sex and the City 2, in which she covered Beyoncé's hit "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and Cole Porter's "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye". She made a starring appearance in December 2010 in The Apprentice.
Also in 2010, Minnelli released an album of a number of American standards "unplugged" with long-time collaborator Billy Stritch, showing a sultrier and softer, more interpretive side to her artistry. The songs are said to have been recorded several years prior and later released as the album Confessions.
On June 14, 2012, Minnelli headlined at Hampton Court Palace Festival. On May 9, 2014, Minnelli had a guest appearance on Cher's Dressed to Kill Tour in Brooklyn, performing "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" with Cyndi Lauper and Rosie O'Donnell.
In 2024, Minnelli announced her plans to release her memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, on March 10, 2026.
Personal life
Minnelli had long suffered from alcoholism and had been addicted to prescription drugs, originating from a Valium prescription after her mother died. Her use of recreational drugs in the 1970s was noted by Andy Warhol, who in a 1978 diary entry recalled Minnelli arriving at Halston's house and imploring the host to "Give me every drug you've got." Along with Warhol and Bianca Jagger, Minnelli made frequent appearances at New York City nightclubs during the late 1970s, including Studio 54. Minnelli left her 1984 musical The Rink to enter the Betty Ford Clinic.
Of the many physical ailments that Minnelli has, as a result of her long and demanding career as a dancer, one is inherited. She has lived and performed with scoliosis since her youth, and actually developed unique and signature dance moves and techniques because of the pain:
"I found out that because of the scoliosis, if I lean back one way it hurts. The only reason I do anything like I do is because it’s the only way I can do it without hurting! Literally. It’s really funny. It is so weird ... I’ve got two false hips, a wired-up knee, scoliosis, which I’ve always had, and three crushed disks, but I feel great. I dance every day.”
Minnelli is an Episcopalian.
Minnelli's friendships have included the singer Adam Ant, whom she advised on what to wear when he was presented to Queen Elizabeth II after the 1981 Royal Variety Performance at which his band Adam and the Ants performed. Ant in turn namechecked Minnelli in the track "Crackpot History and the Right To Lie" on his 1982 solo album Friend or Foe.
During an Australian visit in 1964, Minnelli and her then-boyfriend Peter Allen were invited to the opening of the Compass Centre in Bankstown, Sydney. They were awarded the titles of King and Queen of the Compass Centre.
Marriages and relationships
Minnelli has married and divorced four times. Her first marriage was to entertainer Peter Allen on March 3, 1967. Australian-born Allen was Judy Garland's protégé in the mid-1960s. Minnelli and Allen agreed to a trial separation on April 9, 1970. Their divorce was finalized on July 24, 1974. Minnelli told The Advocate editor-in-chief Judy Wieder in September 1996, "I married Peter, and he didn't tell me he was gay. Everyone knew but me. And I found out ... well, let me put it this way: I'll never surprise anybody coming home as long as I live. I call first!"
After her separation from Allen, Minnelli was engaged to actor Desi Arnaz Jr and comic actor Peter Sellers.
Minnelli married Jack Haley Jr., a producer and director, on September 15, 1974. His father, Jack Haley, was Minnelli's mother's co-star in The Wizard of Oz who played the Tin Man. They divorced in April 1979.
Minnelli was married to Mark Gero, a sculptor and stage manager, from December 4, 1979, until their divorce in January 1992.
Minnelli was married to David Gest, a concert promoter, from March 16, 2002, until their separation in July 2003 and divorce in April 2007. The wedding boasted over 1200 guests at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, with Michael Jackson as the best man, Elizabeth Taylor as the matron of honor, and a bridal party that included Mia Farrow, Gina Lollobrigida, Petula Clark, Mya, and Janet Leigh among others. Gest was reportedly gay, as was her first husband. In a 2003 lawsuit, Gest alleged that Minnelli beat him in alcohol-induced rages during their marriage. Minnelli denied the accusations, claiming Gest was simply after her money. The suit was dismissed in September 2006 for lack of triable issue of fact.
She also had relationships with Rock Brynner (son of Yul Brynner), Mikhail Baryshnikov, Billy Stritch, and film director Martin Scorsese. Her close friendship with French pop singer Charles Aznavour was described by Aznavour as "more than friends and less than lovers."
Minnelli has no children despite numerous attempts; one pregnancy left her with a hiatal hernia as a result of the medical steps taken to try to save the baby.
Philanthropy
Throughout her lifetime, Minnelli has served on various charities and causes. She served on the board of directors of The Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) for 20 years, a nonprofit educational organization that introduces parents to the field of child brain development. In a 2006 interview with Randy Rice at Broadwayworld.com, Minnelli said that she was the person who told Elizabeth Taylor about HIV/AIDS while talking about their mutual friend Rock Hudson. She has also dedicated much time to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, which was co-founded by Taylor.
In 2007, she stated in an interview with Palm Springs Life: "AmfAR is important to me because I've lost so many friends that I knew [to AIDS]". In 1994, she recorded the Kander & Ebb tune "The Day After That" and donated the proceeds to AIDS research. The same year, she performed the song in front of thousands in Central Park at the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
Discography
Studio albums
Liza! Liza! (1964)
It Amazes Me (1965)
There Is a Time (1966)
Liza Minnelli (1968)
Come Saturday Morning (1969)
New Feelin' (1970)
The Singer (1973)
Tropical Nights (1977)
Results (1989)
Gently (1996)
Confessions (2010)
Credits
Film
Television
Theatre
Awards and nominations
In 1991, for her contribution to live performance, Minnelli was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. She was made a Knight of the French Legion of Honour. She also received an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Grammy Award, and three Tony Awards.
See also
List of persons who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards
References
Further reading
Leigh, Wendy (1993), Liza: Born a Star. E.P. Dutton
Mair, George (1996), Under the Rainbow: The Real Liza Minnelli. Carol Publishing
Schechter, Scott (2004), The Liza Minnelli Scrapbook. Kensington Books/Citadel Press
Spada, James (1983), Judy and Liza. Doubleday
External links
Liza Minnelli at IMDb
Liza Minnelli at the American Film Institute Catalog
Liza Minnelli at the Internet Broadway Database
Liza Minnelli at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
Liza Minnelli at the TCM Movie Database
Liza Minnelli at Playbill Vault
Liza Minnelli interview with KVUE-TV in 1988 about Arthur 2: On the Rocks from Texas Archive of the Moving Image
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Taylor Swift
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Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. An influential figure in popular culture, she is known for her autobiographical songwriting and artistic reinventions. Swift is the highest-grossing live music artist, the wealthiest female musician, and one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Swift signed with Big Machine Records in 2005 and debuted as a country singer with the albums Taylor Swift (2006) and Fearless (2008). The singles "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Love Story", and "You Belong with Me" found crossover success on country and pop radio formats. Speak Now (2010) expanded her country pop sound with rock influences, and Red (2012) featured a pop-friendly production. Swift recalibrated her artistic identity from country to pop with the synth-pop album 1989 (2014); ensuing media scrutiny inspired the hip-hop-imbued Reputation (2017). Through the 2010s, she accumulated the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", "Bad Blood", and "Look What You Made Me Do".
Shifting to Republic Records in 2018, Swift released the eclectic pop album Lover (2019) and re-recorded four of the first six albums due to a dispute with Big Machine. She ventured into indie folk with the 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, and successively broke sales records with the pop albums Midnights (2022), The Tortured Poets Department (2024), and The Life of a Showgirl (2025). The singles "Cardigan", "Willow", "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)", "Anti-Hero", "Cruel Summer", "Is It Over Now?", "Fortnight", and "The Fate of Ophelia" topped the Billboard Hot 100. Her Eras Tour (2023–2024) is the first concert tour ever to earn a billion-dollar revenue, and its associated film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023), became the highest-grossing concert film in history.
Swift is the only artist to have been named the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year five times. A record eight of her albums have each sold over a million copies first-week in the US. Publications such as Rolling Stone and Billboard have ranked Swift among the greatest artists of all time. She is the first individual from the arts to be named Time Person of the Year (2023). Her accolades include 14 Grammy Awards—including a record four Album of the Year wins—and a Primetime Emmy Award. Swift is the most-awarded artist of the American Music Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, and the MTV Video Music Awards. A subject of extensive media coverage, she has a global fanbase known as Swifties.
Life and career
Early life
Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She is named after the singer-songwriter James Taylor; her parents chose a unisex name, hoping it would help her succeed in business. Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, was a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch, and her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift (née Finlay), worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Swift's younger brother, Austin, is an actor. The siblings are of Scottish, English, and German descent, with distant Italian and Irish ancestry. Their maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer whose singing in church became one of Swift's earliest memories of music.
During childhood, Swift spent her holiday seasons on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania, and summers at her family's vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, where she occasionally performed acoustic songs at a local coffee shop. Raised Christian, she attended preschool and kindergarten at a Montessori school run by the Bernardine Sisters of St. Francis before transferring to the Wyndcroft School in Pottstown. When her family moved to Wyomissing, she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. At age nine, she aspired to a career in musical theater, performing at local festivals and in Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions, and traveling regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons. After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, she changed her goal and became determined to pursue a country music career in Nashville, Tennessee.
At the age of 11, Swift traveled to Nashville with her mother to visit record labels and submit demo tapes of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers. She was rejected by all the labels, which led her to focus on songwriting. She started learning the guitar at the age of 12 with the help of a computer repairman and local musician who assisted Swift with writing an original song. In 2003, she and her parents started working with the talent manager Dan Dymtrow. With his help, Swift modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch, had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD, and was given an artist development deal from RCA Records at 13. To help Swift break into the country music scene, her father transferred to Merrill Lynch's Nashville office when she was 14 years old, and the family relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee. Swift attended Hendersonville High School for two years before transferring to Aaron Academy, which offered homeschooling.
2004–2008: Career beginnings and Taylor Swift
Swift signed to Sony/ATV Tree Music Publishing in 2004; at 14, she became the youngest signee in the publishing company's history. In Nashville, she worked with experienced Music Row songwriters, including Liz Rose. Rose and Swift would write songs every Tuesday afternoon after school. After one year on the development deal, she left RCA Records, who decided to keep her in development until she turned 18. Swift made this decision because she wanted to release the songs immediately, to make sure that they still resonated with her teenage experiences.
Swift organized a showcase concert at Bluebird Cafe on November 3, 2004; among the attendees were Scott Borchetta, a music executive who was planning to establish an independent record label, Big Machine Records. She signed a recording contract with Big Machine two weeks after the concert, on the condition that her albums would be written by herself; her father purchased a three-percent stake in the company. The contract was finalized by July 2005, when Swift ended the working relationship with Dymtrow. She spent four months near the end of 2005 recording her debut album, Taylor Swift, with the producer Nathan Chapman.
Swift's debut single, "Tim McGraw", was released in June 2006. She and her mother spent mid-2006 sending promotional copies of the song to country radio stations across the US. Taylor Swift was released on October 24, 2006. On the US Billboard 200 chart, the album peaked at number five and spent 157 weeks—the longest chart run by an album in the 2000s. With Taylor Swift, she became the first female country music artist to write or co-write every track on a platinum-certified debut album. The album was promoted by a six-month radio tour and Swift's opening for other country artists, including Rascal Flatts in 2006, and George Strait, Brad Paisley, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in 2007. She opened for Rascal Flatts again in 2008, when she dated the singer Joe Jonas.
Taylor Swift was supported by four more singles in 2007 and 2008: "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn", and "Should've Said No". "Our Song" and "Should've Said No" reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart; with the former single, Swift became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one country single. "Teardrops on My Guitar" was Swift's breakthrough single on mainstream radio and charts, reaching the top 10 of the Pop Songs, Adult Pop Songs, and Adult Contemporary charts. Her next releases were the Christmas extended play (EP) The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in October 2007, and the Walmart-exclusive EP Beautiful Eyes in July 2008. Swift became the youngest person to be awarded with Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist of the Year in 2007.
2008–2010: Fearless
Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released on November 11, 2008, in North America, and in March 2009 in other markets. Fearless spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard 200, becoming her first chart topper and the longest-running number-one female country album; it was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US. The album's lead single, "Love Story", became the first country song to top the Pop Songs chart, and its third single, "You Belong with Me", was the first country song to top Billboard's all-genre Radio Songs chart; both reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaked atop the Hot Country Songs chart. Three other singles—"White Horse", "Fifteen", "Fearless"—all reached the top 10 of Hot Country Songs. In 2009, Swift opened for Keith Urban's tour and embarked on her first headlining tour, the Fearless Tour.
Fearless became the most-awarded country album of all time. It won the three highest awards for a country album: Album of the Year by both the Country Music Association Awards and Academy of Country Music Awards in 2009, and Best Country Album by the Grammy Awards in 2010. At the Grammys, it also won Album of the Year, and "White Horse" won Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Also in 2009, Swift was named Artist of the Year by both the American Music Awards and Billboard, and Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association Awards, becoming the youngest person to win the honor. "You Belong with Me" won Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her acceptance speech was interrupted by the rapper Kanye West, an incident that became known as "Kanyegate" and turned into the subject of controversy and widespread media coverage.
Swift collaborated with other musicians in 2009. She featured on "Half of My Heart" by John Mayer, with whom she was romantically linked later that year. She wrote "Best Days of Your Life" for Kellie Pickler, co-wrote and featured on Boys Like Girls' "Two Is Better Than One, and wrote and recorded "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier" for the soundtrack of Hannah Montana: The Movie, in which she had a cameo appearance. She had her acting debut in the 2010 rom-com Valentine's Day and wrote "Today Was a Fairytale" for its soundtrack. "Today Was a Fairytale" reached number one on the Canadian Hot 100. While shooting Valentine's Day in October 2009, Swift dated co-star Taylor Lautner. On television, she made her debut as a rebellious teenager in a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode and hosted and performed as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live; she was the first host to write their own opening monologue.
2010–2014: Speak Now and Red
Swift wrote her third studio album, Speak Now, entirely by herself. Released on October 25, 2010, Speak Now expands on the country pop sound of Fearless and incorporates strong rock music influences. Speak Now debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with over one million first-week copies sold, registering the highest single-week tally for a female country artist. Five of its singles—"Mine", "Back to December", "Mean", "Sparks Fly", and "Ours"—charted in the top three of Hot Country Songs; "Sparks Fly" and "Ours" reached number one. "Mine" peaked at number three and was the highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100.
Swift embarked on the Speak Now World Tour from February 2011 to March 2012. In 2011, Swift was honored as Woman of the Year by Billboard, Entertainer of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards, and Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. She again won Entertainment of the Year by the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2012. At the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, "Mean" won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. After Speak Now's release, Swift dated the actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
On October 22, 2012, Swift released her fourth studio album, Red, which featured collaborations with Chapman and new producers including Max Martin, Shellback, Dan Wilson, Jeff Bhasker, Dann Huff, and Butch Walker. Conceived as a record that expanded beyond Swift's country pop releases, Red incorporates eclectic styles of pop and rock such as Britrock, dubstep, and dance-pop, leading to a critical debate over Swift's status as a country musician. The album opened at number one on the Billboard 200 with 1.21 million sales, becoming the fastest-selling country album in US history. It was Swift's first number-one album in the UK. During promotion of Red, Swift was romantically involved with the political heir Conor Kennedy, and subsequently the singer Harry Styles.
The two most successful singles from Red, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble", peaked at numbers one and two on the Billboard Hot 100. Both of them also reached the top five on the UK singles chart, and the former was Swift's first chart topper in the US. Two other singles, "Begin Again" and "Red", peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100; while two others, "Everything Has Changed" and "22", reached the top 10 on the UK singles chart. The Red Tour ran from March 2013 to June 2014 and became the highest-grossing country tour with revenue of $150.2 million upon completion. Swift was named Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards in 2013.
Swift wrote and recorded two songs for the soundtrack album to the 2012 dystopian film The Hunger Games: "Eyes Open" and "Safe & Sound". The latter, which was co-written with the Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett, won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media in 2013. She wrote and recorded "Sweeter than Fiction" for the soundtrack to the 2013 biographical film One Chance, and featured as a guest vocalist on B.o.B's 2012 single "Both of Us" and Tim McGraw's 2013 single "Highway Don't Care". Her acting roles included a voice acting role in the 2012 animated film The Lorax, a cameo in a 2013 episode of the sitcom New Girl, and a supporting role in the 2014 dystopian film The Giver.
2014–2018: 1989 and Reputation
Swift relocated from Nashville to New York City in March 2014 and transformed her image from country to pop with her fifth studio album, 1989. She produced 1989 with Martin, Shellback, Chapman, and new collaborators Jack Antonoff, Imogen Heap, Ryan Tedder, and Ali Payami. Rooted in 1980s synth-pop, 1989 incorporates upbeat dance and electronic arrangements of synthesizers, drum machines, and processed vocals. Released on October 27, 2014, the album spent 11 weeks at number one and one year in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. It has sold 14 million copies worldwide, becoming Swift's best-selling album.
Three of 1989's singles—"Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood"—reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100; the first two made Swift the first woman to replace herself at the top spot. Two other singles—"Style" and "Wildest Dreams"—peaked at numbers six and five, making 1989 the first album by Swift to have five consecutive top-10 singles on the Hot 100. The 1989 World Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2015 with $250 million in revenue. She was named Billboard's Woman of the Year and received the inaugural Dick Clark Award for Excellence at the American Music Awards in 2014, and "Bad Blood" won Video of the Year and Best Collaboration at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in 2016, 1989 made Swift the first woman to win Album of the Year twice; it also won Best Pop Vocal Album, and "Bad Blood" won Best Music Video.
During promotion of 1989, Swift publicly opposed free music streaming services. She published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in July 2014 to stress the importance of albums as a creative medium for artists, and, in November, removed her discography from ad-supported, free streaming platforms such as Spotify. Big Machine kept her music only on paid, subscription-required platforms. In a June 2015 open letter, Swift criticized Apple Music for not offering royalties to artists during its free three-month trial period and threatened to withdraw her music from the platform, which prompted Apple Inc. to announce that it would pay artists during the free trial period. Big Machine returned Swift's catalog to Spotify and other free streaming platforms in June 2017.
Swift dated the DJ Calvin Harris from March 2015 to June 2016. They co-wrote the EDM single "This Is What You Came For", which featured vocals from Rihanna; Swift was initially credited under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg. "Better Man", the 2016 single which Swift wrote for the country vocal group Little Big Town, won the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year. She recorded "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" with Zayn Malik for the soundtrack to the 2017 film Fifty Shades Darker; the song became the highest-charting single from the Fifty Shades franchise on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number two.
In April 2016, Kanye West released the single "Famous", in which he references Swift in the line, "I made that bitch famous." Swift criticized West and said she never consented to the lyric, but West claimed that he had received her approval, and his then-wife, Kim Kardashian, released video clips of Swift and West discussing the song amicably over the phone. Although the clips were proven to be purposefully edited, the controversy made Swift a subject of an online "cancel" movement, where her critics denounced her as a fake and calculating "snake". In late 2016, after briefly dating the actor Tom Hiddleston, Swift began a six-year relationship with the actor Joe Alwyn and underwent a hiatus.
In August 2017, Swift countersued and won a case against David Mueller, a former radio jockey for KYGO-FM, who sued her for damages from loss of employment. Four years earlier, she informed Mueller's employer that he had sexually assaulted her by groping her at an event. The public controversies influenced Swift's sixth studio album, Reputation, which explores themes of fame, drama, and finding love amidst the tumultuous affairs. A primarily electropop album, its maximalist production experiments with urban styles of hip-hop and R&B. Released on November 10, 2017, Reputation opened atop the Billboard 200 with 1.21 million US sales and also reached number one in Australia, Canada, and the UK.
Reputation's lead single, "Look What You Made Me Do", topped the Billboard Hot 100 with the highest sales and streaming week of 2017, and was Swift's first UK number-one single. The singles "...Ready for It?", "End Game", and "Delicate" were released to pop radio, all of which reached the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2018, Swift featured on Sugarland's "Babe", surpassed Whitney Houston as the most-awarded female musician at the American Music Awards, and embarked on the Reputation Stadium Tour, which grossed $345.7 million worldwide.
2018–2021: Lover, Folklore, and Evermore
In November 2018, Swift signed a record deal with Universal Music Group, which promoted her albums under Republic Records' imprint. The contract included a provision for Swift to maintain ownership of her masters. In addition, in the event that Universal sold any part of its stake in Spotify, it agreed to distribute a non-recoupable portion of the proceeds among its artists.
Swift's first album with Republic Records and seventh overall, Lover, was released on August 23, 2019. She produced the album with Antonoff, Louis Bell, Frank Dukes, and Joel Little. Lover peaked atop the charts of such countries as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and the US, and was the global best-selling album by a solo artist of 2019. Three of its singles—"Me!", "You Need to Calm Down", and "Lover"—were released in 2019 and peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. "The Man" was released in 2020 and reached the top 30, and "Cruel Summer" became a resurgent success in 2023, reaching number one.
In 2019, Swift was honored as Artist of the Decade by the American Music Awards and Woman of the Decade by Billboard, and became the first female artist to win Video of the Year for a self-directed video with "You Need to Calm Down" at the MTV Video Music Awards. During promotion of Lover, Swift became embroiled in a public dispute with the talent manager Scooter Braun after he purchased Big Machine Records, including the masters of her albums under the label. Swift said that Big Machine would allow her to acquire the masters only if she exchanged one new album for each older one under a new contract, which she refused to sign. In November 2020, Swift began re-recording her back catalog, which would enable her to control the licensing of her songs for commercial use.
In February 2020, Swift signed a global publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group after her 16-year contract with Sony/ATV expired. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Swift surprise-released two "sister albums" that she recorded and produced with Antonoff and Aaron Dessner: Folklore on July 24, and Evermore on December 11. Joe Alwyn co-wrote and co-produced several songs under the pseudonym William Bowery. Both albums incorporate muted, atmospheric indie folk and indie rock sounds with orchestrations; each was supported by three singles catering to US pop, country, and triple A radio formats. The singles were "Cardigan", "Betty", and "Exile" from Folklore, and "Willow", "No Body, No Crime", and "Coney Island" from Evermore. Folklore and "Cardigan" made Swift the first artist to debut a number-one album and a number-one song in the same week in the US; she achieved the feat again with Evermore and "Willow".
Swift won Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards in 2020 and Album of the Year for Folklore at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021, becoming the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year three times. She played Bombalurina in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats (2019), for which she co-wrote and recorded the original song "Beautiful Ghosts". The documentary Miss Americana, which chronicled parts of Swift's life and career, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews.
2021–2023: Re-recordings and Midnights
Swift released two re-recorded albums in 2021: Fearless (Taylor's Version) in April and Red (Taylor's Version) in November. Both peaked atop the Billboard 200, and the former was the first re-recorded album to do so. The latter helped Swift surpass Shania Twain as the female musician with the most weeks at number one on the Top Country Albums chart. The song "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)" from Red (Taylor's Version) became the longest song in history to top the Billboard Hot 100.
Swift's tenth studio album, Midnights, was released on October 21, 2022. The album features a minimalist electropop and synth-pop sound, with elements of hip-hop, R&B, and electronica. Midnights was Swift's fifth album to open atop the Billboard 200 chart with US first-week sales of one million. Its tracks, led by the single "Anti-Hero", made her the first artist to occupy the entire top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 the same week. The album peaked atop the charts of at least 14 other countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Sweden. Two other singles, "Lavender Haze" and "Karma", both peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2023, Swift released two re-recorded albums: Speak Now (Taylor's Version) in July and 1989 (Taylor's Version) in October. The former made Swift the woman with the most number-one albums (12) in Billboard 200 history, surpassing Barbra Streisand, and the latter was her sixth album to sell one million US first-week copies. The single "Is It Over Now?" from 1989 (Taylor's Version) peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Swift featured on Big Red Machine's "Renegade" and "Birch" (2021), Haim's "Gasoline" (2021), Ed Sheeran's "The Joker and the Queen" (2022), and the National's "The Alcott" (2023). She wrote and recorded "Carolina" for the soundtrack of the 2022 mystery film Where the Crawdads Sing, and had a supporting role in the 2022 period comedy film Amsterdam.
In 2022, Swift won Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards and Video of the Year for All Too Well: The Short Film, her self-directed short film that accompanies "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" at the MTV Video Music Awards; All Too Well also won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video. The following year, she again won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year with "Anti-Hero", became the first musician to rank at number one on Billboard's year-end top artists list in three different decades (2009, 2015 and 2023), and had five out of the 10 best-selling albums of the year in the US, a record since Luminate began tracking US music sales in 1991. At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in 2024, Midnights made Swift the first artist to win Album of the Year four times; it also won Best Pop Vocal Album.
2023–present: The Eras Tour, The Tortured Poets Department, and The Life of a Showgirl
In March 2023, Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, which she conceived as a tribute to her entire discography. The tour spanned five continents through December 2024. It exerted a global cultural, economic, and political impact and culminated in an unprecedented height of popularity for Swift, resulting in a phenomenon that the media dubbed "Swiftmania". The Eras Tour became the first tour to gross $1 billion in revenue and the highest-grossing tour in history, with $2 billion in total revenue. Its concert film grossed $250 million to become the highest-grossing of its kind, and its photobook sold nearly a million copies in its first week in the US. The tour inspired Swift's eleventh and twelfth studio albums, The Tortured Poets Department (2024) and The Life of a Showgirl (2025).
During the run of the Eras Tour, there were controversies surrounding Ticketmaster's monopoly that led to political scrutiny in the US, venue mismanagement that led to a death in Brazil, and Singapore's exclusivity deal that led to political tension in Southeast Asia. In January 2024, AI-generated pornographic images portraying Swift were posted to Twitter and spread to other social media platforms, spurring criticism and demands for legal reform. In July 2024, three children were killed in a stabbing attack at a Swift-themed workshop in Southport, England, leading to civil unrest in the UK. The following month, the Vienna concerts were canceled following the arrest of suspects who planned a terrorist attack.
The Tortured Poets Department was released on April 19, 2024. It became the first album to accumulate one billion streams on Spotify within one week and topped charts of various countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK. In the US, The Tortured Poets Department debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 2.6 million first-week units and stayed at number one for 17 weeks, becoming Swift's longest-running number-one album. The album was the global best-seller of 2024, with 5.6 million pure copies sold. Its songs made her the first artist to monopolize the top 14 of the Billboard Hot 100 the same week; the lead single, "Fortnight", peaked atop the chart, while the second single, "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart", peaked at number three. On May 30, 2025, Swift finalized the purchase of the masters to her first six original studio albums from Shamrock Holdings, which had acquired them from Braun in 2020.
Swift began dating the football player Travis Kelce in 2023, with the media dubbing them a "supercouple". They became engaged in August 2025. She introduced her next album, The Life of a Showgirl, on his podcast New Heights that month. It was released on October 3, 2025, accompanied by the promotional film Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, which topped the US box office and grossed over $50 million worldwide. In the US, The Life of a Showgirl debuted atop the Billboard 200 with four million first-week units—3.4 million of which were pure sales—breaking the records for the biggest debut week and the biggest sales week for any album. It became the first album to have all of its songs monopolize the Billboard Hot 100's top spots, with the lead single, "The Fate of Ophelia", topping the chart.
Artistry
Musical styles
With continuous musical reinventions, Swift was described as a musical "chameleon" by publications such as Time and the BBC. Her discography spans styles of pop, country, folk, and rock, with elements of R&B, hip-hop, and indie pop. She self-identified as a country musician with her first four studio albums, from Taylor Swift to Red. Her influences were female country artists of the 1990s such as Shania Twain, Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, the Dixie Chicks, and Keith Urban's country crossover sound with elements of rock, pop, and blues. The albums feature a country pop sound defined by instruments such as six-string banjo, mandolin, fiddle, a slight twang in Swift's vocals, and pop-rock melodies; Speak Now draws on rock styles of the 1970s and 1980s such as pop rock, pop-punk, and arena rock. Some critics argued that country was an indicator of Swift's songwriting rather than musical style and accused her of causing mainstream country to stray away from its roots.
After the critical debate around Red's eclectic pop, rock, and electronic styles, Swift chose 1980s synth-pop as a defining sound of her recalibrated pop artistry and image, inspired by the music of Phil Collins, Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel, and Madonna. 1989, the first album in this direction, incorporates electronic arrangements consisting of dense synthesizers and drum machines. Swift expanded on the electronic production on her next albums. Reputation consists of hip-hop, R&B, and EDM influences; maximalist arrangements of heavy bass and manipulated vocals; and an emphasis on rhythm. Lover incorporates eclectic sounds from country, pop-punk, and folk rock. Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department both have a minimalist synth-pop sound characterized by analog synthesizers, sustained bass notes, and simple drum machine patterns; while The Life of a Showgirl incorporates pop and soft rock. When Swift embraced a pop identity, rockist critics regarded it as an erosion of her country songwriting authenticity, but others considered it necessary for her artistic evolution and defended her as a pioneer of poptimism.
Her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, described by some critics as "alternative", explore indie folk and rock styles. They incorporate a subtle, stripped-back soundscape with orchestrations, muted synthesizers, and drum pads. Evermore experiments with varied song structures, asymmetric time signatures, and diverse instruments. Critics deemed the indie styles a mature representation of Swift's singer-songwriter status and credited her with popularizing "alternative" music, although there were disagreements on this description.
Voice
Swift possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range, but she mostly sings in her alto range. Her pitch, dialect and accent have undergone many changes throughout her career. Reviews of her early country albums criticized her vocals as weak and strained compared to those of other female country singers. Defenders of Swift appreciated that she refrained from correcting her pitch with Auto-Tune and how she prioritized intimacy and emotionality to communicate the messages of her songs with her audience, a style that critics have described as conversational. According to the critic Ann Powers, this singing style is demonstrated through Swift's attention to detail to convey an exact feeling—"the subtle adjustment of words and phrases to suggest moods like doubt, hope, and intimacy".
On Red and 1989, Swift's vocals are processed with electronic effects such as synthesizer tweaking, looping, and multitracking, to accompany the pop production. Her voice on Reputation and Midnights incorporates hip-hop and R&B influences that result in a near-rap delivery which emphasizes rhythm and cadence over melody. She uses her lower register vocals extensively in Folklore and both her lower and upper registers in Evermore; the musicologist Alyssa Barca described her timbre in the upper register as "breathy and bright" and the lower register as "full and dark".
Reception of Swift's vocals has been more positive since the release of Folklore. The critic Amanda Petrusich commented in 2023 that her singing became richer with stronger clarity and tone, even in live performances. Rolling Stone ranked her 102nd on their 2023 list "200 Greatest Singers of All Time"; the magazine argued that her breathy timbre allows for a broad range of delivery and commented: "A decade ago, including her on this list would have been a controversial move, but recent releases like Folklore, Evermore, and Midnights officially settled the argument." For Powers, Swift's versatile vocals are a result of her evolving artistry, combining "subtle interpolations of hip-hop's cadences and country crooners' relaxed timbre".
Songwriting
Swift's fascination with songwriting began in her childhood; she credited her mother with igniting early interests by helping her prepare for class presentations, and would make up lyrics to Disney soundtrack songs once she had run out of words singing them. In her early career, her influences were the country musicians Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and Dolly Parton; and the 1990s female singer-songwriters Melissa Etheridge, Sarah McLachlan, and Alanis Morissette. In later interviews, she listed Joni Mitchell and Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy as additional influences; and Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, and Kris Kristofferson as career role models for their evolving and consistent songwriting outputs.
Swift considers herself a songwriter first and foremost. She divides her lyrics into three types: "quill lyrics", songs rooted in antiquated poeticism; "fountain pen lyrics", based on modern and vivid storylines; and "glitter gel pen lyrics", which are lively and frivolous. Using songwriting to cope with personal experiences, her songs are largely autobiographical and feature narratives that mostly revolve around love and romantic relationships. She would start writing by identifying an emotion she wanted to convey, and the story and melody would follow. Where Taylor Swift and Fearless are rooted in adolescent feelings and detail optimistic romance inspired by fairy tales, Speak Now reflects her young adulthood with newfound wisdom on real-life heartbreak. Red explores the tumult of an intense breakup, and 1989 reflects on failed relationships with a wistful perspective; both albums incorporate lyrics that hint at sex, reflecting her personal growth. Swift described Lover as a "love letter to love", inspired by her realization of "love that was very real".
As her career progressed, Swift wrote about self-perception and confrontation against her critics, influenced by fame, sexism, and scrutiny on her personal life by the press. This was first exhibited in Speak Now, which set the precedent for the frantic media speculations on the subjects of Swift's songs, specifically concerning her dating history; Swift considers this practice sexist. Reputation both tackles the public controversies that tarnished her wholesome image and addresses a blossoming romance with intimacy and vulnerability; its extensive references to sex and alcohol set it apart from the youthful innocence that had informed Swift's past albums. The nocturnal ruminations addressed in Midnights encompass regrets and fantasies, informed by Swift's self-awareness of her fame. The Tortured Poets Department was conceived amidst her heightened fame brought by the Eras Tour and intensely publicized love life during 2023. It explores heartbreak and other themes to extremes: erotic desires, forbidden love, and escaping from the public spotlight.
On Folklore and Evermore, Swift was inspired by escapism and romanticism to explore fictional narratives, deviating from the autobiographical songwriting that had characterized her artistry. She imposed her emotions onto imagined characters and story arcs, inspired by authors and poets of romantic and modernist literature like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, and Emily Dickinson; the last of whom was a distant cousin of Swift. The characters of Folklore and Evermore construct their narratives based on fragments of memory, symbolizing the nature of folktales and oral traditions that pass through time.
Swift considers her songwriting "confessional", and academics have connected her style to that of confessional poetry, in that her songs reference personal events and publicize internal feelings to her audience. Critical reception of her songwriting has been largely positive, and her melodic compositions have been highlighted for optimizing the verse-chorus form with memorable bridges. Several scholars have credited her with taking the confessional singer-songwriter tradition to new heights, and she has been variedly described by journalists as a "poet laureate"—of puberty, of romance, and of her generation. Some critics have dismissed her "confessional" style as material for tabloid gossip. Objection to the perceived poetic value of her songs, mostly from rockist critics, views her as a pop star using literary subtexts as a commercial ploy, with metaphors that are at times imprecise or self-indulgent.
Scholars have attributed criticisms of Swift's songwriting to sexism. The musicologist Travis Stimeling argued that whereas Swift's autobiographical authenticity conforms to country and rock standards, her detractors, mostly male, view her lyrical depictions of a young woman's experiences as trivial and unworthy of serious merit. According to the English-language academic Ryan Hibbett, this gendered criticism bars Swift from receiving full artistic credentials as does Bob Dylan, whose reliance on romantic themes and occasional literary imprecisions are not as harshly criticized. In the view of the literary critic Stephanie Burt, although Swift's writing is not poetry in its traditional sense, it is proficient at "placing inventive, evocative language into pop melodies designed to be sung".
Performances and stage
Swift's concerts are equipped with elaborate settings, incorporating elements from Broadway theatre and high tech. She does not rely on elaborate choreography and instead emphasizes connecting emotionally with her audience through storytelling and vocal delivery. Since 2007, she has toured with the same live band. She plays four instruments live: guitar (including electric, acoustic six-string, and twelve-string), six-string banjo, piano, and ukulele.
Critics have praised her stage presence, stamina, and ability to bring forth an intimate atmosphere for her audience, even in stadium settings. Sasha Frere-Jones, in a 2008 article for The New Yorker, hailed her as a "preternaturally skilled" entertainer who exerted professionalism with a vibrant energy. In Time's 2023 Person of the Year piece, Sam Lansky wrote: "Swift is many things onstage—vulnerable and triumphant, playful and sad—but the intimacy of her songcraft is front and center."
Videos and filmmaking
Swift emphasizes visuals as a key creative component of her music. She established her production company, Taylor Swift Productions, in 2008. Her directorial debut was the music video for "Mine", co-directed with Roman White, in 2010; and she developed the concept and treatment for "Mean" in 2011. For the music videos of the 1989 and Reputation singles, she had an extensive collaboration with the director Joseph Kahn on eight videos; among them, she produced "Bad Blood", which won Best Music Video at the Grammy Awards in 2016. She worked with American Express for the "Blank Space" music video (which Kahn directed) and served as executive producer for the interactive app AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Program in 2015.
As of May 2025, Swift has directed 13 of her music videos. Her first solo directorial role was for "The Man", which made her the first female artist to win the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction. All Too Well: The Short Film marked her filmmaking debut, and it made her the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Best Music Video as a solo director. In June 2023, Swift was invited to the Academy of Motion Pictures. She has cited Joseph Kahn, Chloé Zhao, Greta Gerwig, Nora Ephron, Guillermo del Toro, John Cassavetes, and Noah Baumbach as filmmaking influences.
Achievements
Swift has won 14 Grammy Awards (including four Album of the Year wins—the most by an artist), 12 Country Music Association Awards, 8 Academy of Country Music Awards, 2 Brit Awards, and an Emmy Award. She is the most-awarded artist of the American Music Awards (40 wins), Billboard Music Awards (49), and MTV Video Music Awards (30, tied with Beyoncé). Swift is the first woman and second artist overall (after Garth Brooks) to be honored with the Pinnacle Award by the Country Music Association Awards, in 2013, and the first woman to receive the Global Icon Award by the Brit Awards, in 2021. At the 64th BMI Pop Awards in 2016, Swift became the first female songwriter to be honored with an award named after its recipient, the Taylor Swift Award. She is the youngest person to be featured on Rolling Stone's 2015 list "The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time", received the Songwriter Icon Award from the National Music Publishers' Association in 2021, and was named the Songwriter-Artist of the Decade by the Nashville Songwriters Association International in 2022.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry honored her as the Global Recording Artist of the Year five times (2014, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024), more than any other artist. She is the most-streamed artist on Spotify as of February 2024, and the highest-grossing touring act of all time, with cumulative revenue at $3.12 billion as of December 2024. Her chart records include the most number-one albums in the UK and Ireland for a female artist in the 21st century; the first artist to occupy the top five of the Australian albums chart, doing so twice, and the top 10 of the Australian singles chart; the most entries, most simultaneous entries, and most number-one entries for a soloist on the Billboard Global 200; and the first artist to spend 100 weeks atop the Billboard Artist 100.
In the US, Swift has sold 116.7 million album units, including 54 million pure sales, as of May 2025. She is the solo artist with the most weeks at number one on the Billboard 200; the female artist with the most number-one albums on the Billboard 200 (14) and most number-one debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 (7, tied with Ariana Grande); the artist with the most number-one songs on Pop Airplay; the first artist to chart five albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200; and the first woman to have both an album (Fearless) and a song ("Shake It Off") receive Diamond certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Billboard ranked her at number eight on its list "Greatest of All Time Artists" (2019), number two on "Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century" (2024), and number one on "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" and "Top Artists of the 21st Century" (both 2025).
Swift has appeared in power listings. In 2024, she became the first solo artist, and second overall (after Beyoncé and Jay-Z), to top Billboard's annual Power 100 ranking of the top music industry executives. Time included her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2010, 2015, and 2019. She was one of the "Silence Breakers" that the magazine spotlighted as Person of the Year in 2017 for speaking up about sexual assault. In 2023, she became the first person to be recognized as Time's Person of the Year for "achievement in the arts" and the first woman to appear on a Person of the Year cover more than once. She received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from New York University and served as its commencement speaker on May 18, 2022.
Public image
Swift is an enduring figure of 21st-century popular culture. Her career trajectory from a country singer-songwriter to a pop star in the 2000s and 2010s was the subject of extensive commentary. Deemed "America's Sweetheart" in her early career, she was described in the press as a "media darling" with a girl next door's polite demeanor and open-hearted conversations. Swift displayed a feminine image but refrained from the "aggressively sexualized feminist pop" of her contemporaries, leading publications to comment that her sex appeal was modest, subtle, and sophisticated. The adolescent themes of Swift's music contributed to her status as a teen idol, although several feminist authors took issue with her songs about romantic relationships as narrow-minded and detrimental to girls and women, who made up the majority of her fanbase known as Swifties.
Upon recalibrating her artistry to pop music, Swift has identified as a feminist and achieved a pop icon status. In 2013, the author Jody Rosen labelled Swift the "Queen of Pop", citing her popularity that defied traditional boundaries between "genres, eras, demographics, paradigms, trends". Her feminist public image garnered varying reactions from the public, including praise that regarded her success in a male-dominated music industry as an inspiration for girls and women, and criticism that dismissed her feminist adoption as superficial and self-interested.
The 2016 dispute with Kanye West bolstered the narrative by her detractors that she was a calculating and manipulative woman despite her sweetheart image, and deepened their feud that has resonated in their respective careers. Her artistic reinventions in the 2020s turned her into an acclaimed singer-songwriter. Buoyed by her enduring pop stardom, she has been recognized as a rare phenomenon that combines the pop star and singer-songwriter archetypes with unprecedented success. Swift is a known triskaidekaphile, known for using the number 13 in her various works.
Legacy
Swift is one of the few artists who consistently sells millions of albums throughout two decades of artistic reinventions despite the industry decline of record sales after the album era had ended. In this regard, academics and journalists have described her as "the last pop superstar" and "the last great rock star" of the 21st century. Her commercial strategies to bolster sales of albums and concert tickets have earned her a reputation as a savvy businesswoman. The economist Alan Krueger described Swift as an "economic genius". Strategies such as enhanced material for physical album variants and easter egg usage in her works became indicative of music marketing trends.
Swift's success in country music has been credited with popularizing country beyond the US and introducing the genre to adolescent women, a previously ignored demographic. The critic Kelefa Sanneh dubbed Swift the biggest country star since Garth Brooks, "and maybe since before him, too". Her guitar performances resulted in increasing sales of guitars to women, which the media dubbed the "Taylor Swift factor". Her transition from country to pop has been credited as the catalyst for poptimism, and her songwriting and musical transitions have been credited with influencing a new generation of artists. According to Billboard, Swift is one of the few artists who could achieve chart success, critical acclaim, and fan support at the same time, and she has the ability to popularize any sound in mainstream music.
Swift's enduring popularity, particularly to female audiences, contributed to her status as a representation of millennials, or more broadly, her generation's zeitgeist. Her fandom of Swifties has been described by journalists and academics as one of the most loyal and dedicated. In the views of Time's Cady Lang, she maintained her superstardom by her "savvy manipulation of both the industry and [her] personal brand". According to the popular-culture scholars Mary Fogarty and Gina Arnold, Swift is arguably the singular artist "whose story encapsulates many of the urgent conflicts in early twenty-first-century American culture". In a 2024 article for The New York Times, Joe Coscarelli wrote that her lasting popularity provoked debates that compared her not only to contemporaries like Drake or Beyoncé, but also to veteran artists like the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Elton John, or Madonna.
Swift's advocacy for artists' rights and re-recording projects have contributed to industry-wide discourses and reforms. Her artistry and career maneuvers have been the subject of various university courses in literary, cultural, and sociopolitical contexts. According to the popular culture scholars Sarai Brinker, Kate Galloway, and Elizabeth Scala, Swift's legacy has been both embraced and critiqued by different affiliations—feminist and queer communities, far-right groups, and religious organizations, and studied by experts in various fields—musicology, literature, sociology, media theory, linguistics, and culture studies.
Wealth and other activities
Through her management company, TAS Rights Management, LLC, Swift has filed over 300 trademark applications in the US and holds more than 400 registrations worldwide, as of August 2025. Her filings include her name "Taylor Swift", her fanbase name "Swifties", album cover art and titles, tour names, lyrics, slogans, and her cats' names. Swift was listed by Forbes as the world's highest-paid musician in 2016 and 2019, the highest-paid female musician of the 2010s decade, and the highest-paid female musician of 2021 and 2022.
By October 2023, as reported by both Forbes and Bloomberg L.P., Swift achieved her billionaire status. She was recognized as the first billionaire "primarily based on her songs and performances", with the majority of her fortune coming from royalties and touring. As of June 2025, her estimated net worth by Forbes stands at $1.6 billion, making her the richest female musician in the world. Her real estate portfolio, estimated by Forbes at $110 million as of 2025, consists of residential properties in Nashville, New York City, Los Angeles (Samuel Goldwyn Estate), and Rhode Island (High Watch).
Swift's private jet use has drawn scrutiny for its carbon emissions. In 2023, a spokesperson for Swift stated that she had purchased more than double the required carbon credits to offset all tour travel and personal flights. In December 2023, Swift's lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to the American programmer Jack Sweeney over tracking her private jet, alleging stalking and safety risks. Media outlets have reported that the information posted by Sweeney is a synthesis of publicly available data. In February 2024, it was reported that Swift had sold one of her two private jets.
Endorsements and partnerships
Swift's album rollouts normally consist of multimedia promotional activities that encompass corporate tie-ins and product endorsements. Target is a long-standing business partner with Swift, offering exclusive physical albums and merchandise. In 2008–2011, her albums and tours were promoted with self-designed dolls with Jakks Pacific, fragrances with Elizabeth Arden, clothes with L.E.I., and holiday cards with American Greetings. Her partnership deals included makeup products for CoverGirl and Cyber-shot cameras for Sony Electronics. In 2012–2015, she had tie-ins with Starbucks, Keds, Subway, Diet Coke, Walgreens, Walmart, and Papa John's.
In 2014, New York City named Swift its official tourism ambassador. She had an exclusive streaming deal with Apple Music in 2015, signed a multi-year deal with AT&T in 2016, and partnered with United Parcel Service to distribute her albums in 2017. In 2019, she signed a multi-year deal with Capital One and launched a clothing line with Stella McCartney. She became the first global ambassador for Record Store Day in 2022.
Social activism
Swift avoided discussing politics in her early career. In an interview with Time in 2012, she said that she kept herself as educated as possible but did not want to influence other people with her political opinions. Due to her apolitical stance, she was appropriated by the alt-right movement in the US, which sparked controversy. She did express support for President Barack Obama in 2008: "I've never seen this country so happy about a political decision in my entire time of being alive."
Since 2018, Swift has been public about her political views and abandoned her once apolitical stance. She publicly endorsed two Democratic politicians for the 2018 US midterm election, which resulted in headlines about how she finally dissociated herself from the alt-right and conservatives. In interviews, she attributed her political reluctance in the past to the 2003 Dixie Chicks controversy, which left a lasting impact on country musicians at large and female country musicians in particular. She has openly criticized President Donald Trump. In 2020, Swift urged her fans to check their voter registration ahead of elections, which resulted in 65,000 people registering to vote within one day of her post, and endorsed the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 US presidential election. For the 2024 election, she once again endorsed the Democratic ticket of Harris and Tim Walz.
A pro-choice feminist, Swift is a founding signatory of the Time's Up movement against sexual harassment, and she criticized the US Supreme Court's decision to end federal abortion rights in 2022. A supporter of LGBTQ rights, she has donated to the LGBT organizations Tennessee Equality Project and GLAAD. In 2019, she called for the passing of the Equality Act and performed during WorldPride NYC 2019 at the Stonewall Inn, a gay rights monument. Swift has spoken up against white supremacy, racism, and police brutality in the US. She has supported the March for Our Lives movement and gun control reform in the US, donated to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Black Lives Matter movement, called for the removal of Confederate monuments in Tennessee, and advocated for Juneteenth to become a national holiday.
Swift's political engagements have been met with mixed reception: they have provoked further public discussions on political issues and empowered Swifties, but critics have questioned whether her political alignments were strategic in her career. While some publications have argued that Swift's stardom had a significant impact on political involvements in the US, others have viewed her influence as sizable but overstated. According to the popular-culture scholar Simone Driessen, her political impact reached beyond the US to Australia and Europe.
Philanthropy
Swift ranked first on DoSomething's 2015 "Gone Good" list, having received the Star of Compassion from the Tennessee Disaster Services and the Big Help Award from the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for her "dedication to helping others" and "inspiring others through action". Especially early in her career, Swift donated to various relief funds following natural disasters. In 2009, she donated $100,000 to the Red Cross to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. The same year, she performed at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, which raised money for those impacted by bushfires and flooding. In 2011, Swift used a dress rehearsal of her Speak Now tour as a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the US, raising more than $750,000. In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, she donated $500,000. In 2009, Swift sang at the BBC's Children in Need concert and raised £13,000 for the cause. In 2016, she donated $1 million to Louisiana flood relief efforts and $100,000 to the Dolly Parton Fire Fund. Swift donated to food banks after Hurricane Harvey struck Houston in 2017. Swift donated $1 million for Tennessee tornado relief in 2020 and again in 2023, as well as $5 million toward the relief efforts after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in 2024.
Swift has also donated to cancer research. As the recipient of the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year in 2011, Swift donated $25,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Tennessee. In 2012, she participated in the Stand Up to Cancer telethon, performing the charity single "Ronan", which she wrote in memory of a four-year-old boy who died of neuroblastoma. She has also donated $100,000 to the V Foundation for Cancer Research and $50,000 to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She has made donations to her fans several times for their medical or academic expenses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift donated to the World Health Organization and Feeding America and supported independent record stores. Swift performed "Soon You'll Get Better" on the One World: Together At Home television special, a benefit concert curated by Lady Gaga for Global Citizen to raise funds for the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
She is a supporter of the arts. A benefactor of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Swift has donated $75,000 to Hendersonville High School to help refurbish the school auditorium, $4 million to build a new education center at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, and $100,000 to the Nashville Symphony. In 2012, Swift partnered with Chegg for Good to donate $10,000 to the music departments of six US colleges.
She has also provided one-off donations. In 2007, she partnered with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police to launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has donated items to several charities for auction, including the UNICEF Tap Project and MusiCares. Swift has also encouraged young people to volunteer in their local communities as part of Global Youth Service Day. Also a promoter of children's literacy, she has donated money and books to schools around the country. In 2018 and 2021, Swift donated to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Swift donated to fellow singer-songwriter Kesha to help with her legal battles against Dr. Luke and to actress Mariska Hargitay's Joyful Heart Foundation.
During the Eras Tour, Swift donated to food banks in Florida, Arizona, and Las Vegas; she also employed local businesses throughout the tour and gave $197 million in bonus payments to her entire crew. In February 2024, she donated $100,000 to the family of a woman who died in a shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl parade. In December 2024, a week before Christmas, Swift donated $250,000 to Operation Breakthrough. The funds were directed to workforce development, childcare, and early learning programs.
Discography
Filmography
Tours
Fearless Tour (2009–2010)
Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012)
The Red Tour (2013–2014)
The 1989 World Tour (2015)
Reputation Stadium Tour (2018)
The Eras Tour (2023–2024)
See also
List of American Grammy Award winners and nominees
List of highest-certified music artists in the United States
References
Cited literature
External links
Official website
Taylor Swift at AllMusic
Taylor Swift discography at Discogs
Taylor Swift at IMDb
Taylor Swift discography at MusicBrainz
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Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. An influential figure in popular culture, she is known for her autobiographical songwriting and artistic reinventions. Swift is the highest-grossing live music artist, the wealthiest female musician, and one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Swift signed with Big Machine Records in 2005 and debuted as a country singer with the albums Taylor Swift (2006) and Fearless (2008). The singles "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Love Story", and "You Belong with Me" found crossover success on country and pop radio formats. Speak Now (2010) expanded her country pop sound with rock influences, and Red (2012) featured a pop-friendly production. Swift recalibrated her artistic identity from country to pop with the synth-pop album 1989 (2014); ensuing media scrutiny inspired the hip-hop-imbued Reputation (2017). Through the 2010s, she accumulated the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", "Bad Blood", and "Look What You Made Me Do".
Shifting to Republic Records in 2018, Swift released the eclectic pop album Lover (2019) and re-recorded four of the first six albums due to a dispute with Big Machine. She ventured into indie folk with the 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, and successively broke sales records with the pop albums Midnights (2022), The Tortured Poets Department (2024), and The Life of a Showgirl (2025). The singles "Cardigan", "Willow", "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)", "Anti-Hero", "Cruel Summer", "Is It Over Now?", "Fortnight", and "The Fate of Ophelia" topped the Billboard Hot 100. Her Eras Tour (2023–2024) is the first concert tour ever to earn a billion-dollar revenue, and its associated film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023), became the highest-grossing concert film in history.
Swift is the only artist to have been named the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year five times. A record eight of her albums have each sold over a million copies first-week in the US. Publications such as Rolling Stone and Billboard have ranked Swift among the greatest artists of all time. She is the first individual from the arts to be named Time Person of the Year (2023). Her accolades include 14 Grammy Awards—including a record four Album of the Year wins—and a Primetime Emmy Award. Swift is the most-awarded artist of the American Music Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, and the MTV Video Music Awards. A subject of extensive media coverage, she has a global fanbase known as Swifties.
Life and career
Early life
Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She is named after the singer-songwriter James Taylor; her parents chose a unisex name, hoping it would help her succeed in business. Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, was a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch, and her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift (née Finlay), worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Swift's younger brother, Austin, is an actor. The siblings are of Scottish, English, and German descent, with distant Italian and Irish ancestry. Their maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer whose singing in church became one of Swift's earliest memories of music.
During childhood, Swift spent her holiday seasons on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania, and summers at her family's vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, where she occasionally performed acoustic songs at a local coffee shop. Raised Christian, she attended preschool and kindergarten at a Montessori school run by the Bernardine Sisters of St. Francis before transferring to the Wyndcroft School in Pottstown. When her family moved to Wyomissing, she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. At age nine, she aspired to a career in musical theater, performing at local festivals and in Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions, and traveling regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons. After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, she changed her goal and became determined to pursue a country music career in Nashville, Tennessee.
At the age of 11, Swift traveled to Nashville with her mother to visit record labels and submit demo tapes of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers. She was rejected by all the labels, which led her to focus on songwriting. She started learning the guitar at the age of 12 with the help of a computer repairman and local musician who assisted Swift with writing an original song. In 2003, she and her parents started working with the talent manager Dan Dymtrow. With his help, Swift modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch, had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD, and was given an artist development deal from RCA Records at 13. To help Swift break into the country music scene, her father transferred to Merrill Lynch's Nashville office when she was 14 years old, and the family relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee. Swift attended Hendersonville High School for two years before transferring to Aaron Academy, which offered homeschooling.
2004–2008: Career beginnings and Taylor Swift
Swift signed to Sony/ATV Tree Music Publishing in 2004; at 14, she became the youngest signee in the publishing company's history. In Nashville, she worked with experienced Music Row songwriters, including Liz Rose. Rose and Swift would write songs every Tuesday afternoon after school. After one year on the development deal, she left RCA Records, who decided to keep her in development until she turned 18. Swift made this decision because she wanted to release the songs immediately, to make sure that they still resonated with her teenage experiences.
Swift organized a showcase concert at Bluebird Cafe on November 3, 2004; among the attendees were Scott Borchetta, a music executive who was planning to establish an independent record label, Big Machine Records. She signed a recording contract with Big Machine two weeks after the concert, on the condition that her albums would be written by herself; her father purchased a three-percent stake in the company. The contract was finalized by July 2005, when Swift ended the working relationship with Dymtrow. She spent four months near the end of 2005 recording her debut album, Taylor Swift, with the producer Nathan Chapman.
Swift's debut single, "Tim McGraw", was released in June 2006. She and her mother spent mid-2006 sending promotional copies of the song to country radio stations across the US. Taylor Swift was released on October 24, 2006. On the US Billboard 200 chart, the album peaked at number five and spent 157 weeks—the longest chart run by an album in the 2000s. With Taylor Swift, she became the first female country music artist to write or co-write every track on a platinum-certified debut album. The album was promoted by a six-month radio tour and Swift's opening for other country artists, including Rascal Flatts in 2006, and George Strait, Brad Paisley, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in 2007. She opened for Rascal Flatts again in 2008, when she dated the singer Joe Jonas.
Taylor Swift was supported by four more singles in 2007 and 2008: "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn", and "Should've Said No". "Our Song" and "Should've Said No" reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart; with the former single, Swift became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one country single. "Teardrops on My Guitar" was Swift's breakthrough single on mainstream radio and charts, reaching the top 10 of the Pop Songs, Adult Pop Songs, and Adult Contemporary charts. Her next releases were the Christmas extended play (EP) The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in October 2007, and the Walmart-exclusive EP Beautiful Eyes in July 2008. Swift became the youngest person to be awarded with Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist of the Year in 2007.
2008–2010: Fearless
Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released on November 11, 2008, in North America, and in March 2009 in other markets. Fearless spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard 200, becoming her first chart topper and the longest-running number-one female country album; it was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US. The album's lead single, "Love Story", became the first country song to top the Pop Songs chart, and its third single, "You Belong with Me", was the first country song to top Billboard's all-genre Radio Songs chart; both reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaked atop the Hot Country Songs chart. Three other singles—"White Horse", "Fifteen", "Fearless"—all reached the top 10 of Hot Country Songs. In 2009, Swift opened for Keith Urban's tour and embarked on her first headlining tour, the Fearless Tour.
Fearless became the most-awarded country album of all time. It won the three highest awards for a country album: Album of the Year by both the Country Music Association Awards and Academy of Country Music Awards in 2009, and Best Country Album by the Grammy Awards in 2010. At the Grammys, it also won Album of the Year, and "White Horse" won Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Also in 2009, Swift was named Artist of the Year by both the American Music Awards and Billboard, and Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association Awards, becoming the youngest person to win the honor. "You Belong with Me" won Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her acceptance speech was interrupted by the rapper Kanye West, an incident that became known as "Kanyegate" and turned into the subject of controversy and widespread media coverage.
Swift collaborated with other musicians in 2009. She featured on "Half of My Heart" by John Mayer, with whom she was romantically linked later that year. She wrote "Best Days of Your Life" for Kellie Pickler, co-wrote and featured on Boys Like Girls' "Two Is Better Than One, and wrote and recorded "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier" for the soundtrack of Hannah Montana: The Movie, in which she had a cameo appearance. She had her acting debut in the 2010 rom-com Valentine's Day and wrote "Today Was a Fairytale" for its soundtrack. "Today Was a Fairytale" reached number one on the Canadian Hot 100. While shooting Valentine's Day in October 2009, Swift dated co-star Taylor Lautner. On television, she made her debut as a rebellious teenager in a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode and hosted and performed as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live; she was the first host to write their own opening monologue.
2010–2014: Speak Now and Red
Swift wrote her third studio album, Speak Now, entirely by herself. Released on October 25, 2010, Speak Now expands on the country pop sound of Fearless and incorporates strong rock music influences. Speak Now debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with over one million first-week copies sold, registering the highest single-week tally for a female country artist. Five of its singles—"Mine", "Back to December", "Mean", "Sparks Fly", and "Ours"—charted in the top three of Hot Country Songs; "Sparks Fly" and "Ours" reached number one. "Mine" peaked at number three and was the highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100.
Swift embarked on the Speak Now World Tour from February 2011 to March 2012. In 2011, Swift was honored as Woman of the Year by Billboard, Entertainer of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards, and Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. She again won Entertainment of the Year by the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2012. At the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, "Mean" won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. After Speak Now's release, Swift dated the actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
On October 22, 2012, Swift released her fourth studio album, Red, which featured collaborations with Chapman and new producers including Max Martin, Shellback, Dan Wilson, Jeff Bhasker, Dann Huff, and Butch Walker. Conceived as a record that expanded beyond Swift's country pop releases, Red incorporates eclectic styles of pop and rock such as Britrock, dubstep, and dance-pop, leading to a critical debate over Swift's status as a country musician. The album opened at number one on the Billboard 200 with 1.21 million sales, becoming the fastest-selling country album in US history. It was Swift's first number-one album in the UK. During promotion of Red, Swift was romantically involved with the political heir Conor Kennedy, and subsequently the singer Harry Styles.
The two most successful singles from Red, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble", peaked at numbers one and two on the Billboard Hot 100. Both of them also reached the top five on the UK singles chart, and the former was Swift's first chart topper in the US. Two other singles, "Begin Again" and "Red", peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100; while two others, "Everything Has Changed" and "22", reached the top 10 on the UK singles chart. The Red Tour ran from March 2013 to June 2014 and became the highest-grossing country tour with revenue of $150.2 million upon completion. Swift was named Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards in 2013.
Swift wrote and recorded two songs for the soundtrack album to the 2012 dystopian film The Hunger Games: "Eyes Open" and "Safe & Sound". The latter, which was co-written with the Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett, won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media in 2013. She wrote and recorded "Sweeter than Fiction" for the soundtrack to the 2013 biographical film One Chance, and featured as a guest vocalist on B.o.B's 2012 single "Both of Us" and Tim McGraw's 2013 single "Highway Don't Care". Her acting roles included a voice acting role in the 2012 animated film The Lorax, a cameo in a 2013 episode of the sitcom New Girl, and a supporting role in the 2014 dystopian film The Giver.
2014–2018: 1989 and Reputation
Swift relocated from Nashville to New York City in March 2014 and transformed her image from country to pop with her fifth studio album, 1989. She produced 1989 with Martin, Shellback, Chapman, and new collaborators Jack Antonoff, Imogen Heap, Ryan Tedder, and Ali Payami. Rooted in 1980s synth-pop, 1989 incorporates upbeat dance and electronic arrangements of synthesizers, drum machines, and processed vocals. Released on October 27, 2014, the album spent 11 weeks at number one and one year in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. It has sold 14 million copies worldwide, becoming Swift's best-selling album.
Three of 1989's singles—"Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood"—reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100; the first two made Swift the first woman to replace herself at the top spot. Two other singles—"Style" and "Wildest Dreams"—peaked at numbers six and five, making 1989 the first album by Swift to have five consecutive top-10 singles on the Hot 100. The 1989 World Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2015 with $250 million in revenue. She was named Billboard's Woman of the Year and received the inaugural Dick Clark Award for Excellence at the American Music Awards in 2014, and "Bad Blood" won Video of the Year and Best Collaboration at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in 2016, 1989 made Swift the first woman to win Album of the Year twice; it also won Best Pop Vocal Album, and "Bad Blood" won Best Music Video.
During promotion of 1989, Swift publicly opposed free music streaming services. She published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in July 2014 to stress the importance of albums as a creative medium for artists, and, in November, removed her discography from ad-supported, free streaming platforms such as Spotify. Big Machine kept her music only on paid, subscription-required platforms. In a June 2015 open letter, Swift criticized Apple Music for not offering royalties to artists during its free three-month trial period and threatened to withdraw her music from the platform, which prompted Apple Inc. to announce that it would pay artists during the free trial period. Big Machine returned Swift's catalog to Spotify and other free streaming platforms in June 2017.
Swift dated the DJ Calvin Harris from March 2015 to June 2016. They co-wrote the EDM single "This Is What You Came For", which featured vocals from Rihanna; Swift was initially credited under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg. "Better Man", the 2016 single which Swift wrote for the country vocal group Little Big Town, won the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year. She recorded "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" with Zayn Malik for the soundtrack to the 2017 film Fifty Shades Darker; the song became the highest-charting single from the Fifty Shades franchise on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number two.
In April 2016, Kanye West released the single "Famous", in which he references Swift in the line, "I made that bitch famous." Swift criticized West and said she never consented to the lyric, but West claimed that he had received her approval, and his then-wife, Kim Kardashian, released video clips of Swift and West discussing the song amicably over the phone. Although the clips were proven to be purposefully edited, the controversy made Swift a subject of an online "cancel" movement, where her critics denounced her as a fake and calculating "snake". In late 2016, after briefly dating the actor Tom Hiddleston, Swift began a six-year relationship with the actor Joe Alwyn and underwent a hiatus.
In August 2017, Swift countersued and won a case against David Mueller, a former radio jockey for KYGO-FM, who sued her for damages from loss of employment. Four years earlier, she informed Mueller's employer that he had sexually assaulted her by groping her at an event. The public controversies influenced Swift's sixth studio album, Reputation, which explores themes of fame, drama, and finding love amidst the tumultuous affairs. A primarily electropop album, its maximalist production experiments with urban styles of hip-hop and R&B. Released on November 10, 2017, Reputation opened atop the Billboard 200 with 1.21 million US sales and also reached number one in Australia, Canada, and the UK.
Reputation's lead single, "Look What You Made Me Do", topped the Billboard Hot 100 with the highest sales and streaming week of 2017, and was Swift's first UK number-one single. The singles "...Ready for It?", "End Game", and "Delicate" were released to pop radio, all of which reached the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2018, Swift featured on Sugarland's "Babe", surpassed Whitney Houston as the most-awarded female musician at the American Music Awards, and embarked on the Reputation Stadium Tour, which grossed $345.7 million worldwide.
2018–2021: Lover, Folklore, and Evermore
In November 2018, Swift signed a record deal with Universal Music Group, which promoted her albums under Republic Records' imprint. The contract included a provision for Swift to maintain ownership of her masters. In addition, in the event that Universal sold any part of its stake in Spotify, it agreed to distribute a non-recoupable portion of the proceeds among its artists.
Swift's first album with Republic Records and seventh overall, Lover, was released on August 23, 2019. She produced the album with Antonoff, Louis Bell, Frank Dukes, and Joel Little. Lover peaked atop the charts of such countries as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and the US, and was the global best-selling album by a solo artist of 2019. Three of its singles—"Me!", "You Need to Calm Down", and "Lover"—were released in 2019 and peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. "The Man" was released in 2020 and reached the top 30, and "Cruel Summer" became a resurgent success in 2023, reaching number one.
In 2019, Swift was honored as Artist of the Decade by the American Music Awards and Woman of the Decade by Billboard, and became the first female artist to win Video of the Year for a self-directed video with "You Need to Calm Down" at the MTV Video Music Awards. During promotion of Lover, Swift became embroiled in a public dispute with the talent manager Scooter Braun after he purchased Big Machine Records, including the masters of her albums under the label. Swift said that Big Machine would allow her to acquire the masters only if she exchanged one new album for each older one under a new contract, which she refused to sign. In November 2020, Swift began re-recording her back catalog, which would enable her to control the licensing of her songs for commercial use.
In February 2020, Swift signed a global publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group after her 16-year contract with Sony/ATV expired. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Swift surprise-released two "sister albums" that she recorded and produced with Antonoff and Aaron Dessner: Folklore on July 24, and Evermore on December 11. Joe Alwyn co-wrote and co-produced several songs under the pseudonym William Bowery. Both albums incorporate muted, atmospheric indie folk and indie rock sounds with orchestrations; each was supported by three singles catering to US pop, country, and triple A radio formats. The singles were "Cardigan", "Betty", and "Exile" from Folklore, and "Willow", "No Body, No Crime", and "Coney Island" from Evermore. Folklore and "Cardigan" made Swift the first artist to debut a number-one album and a number-one song in the same week in the US; she achieved the feat again with Evermore and "Willow".
Swift won Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards in 2020 and Album of the Year for Folklore at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021, becoming the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year three times. She played Bombalurina in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats (2019), for which she co-wrote and recorded the original song "Beautiful Ghosts". The documentary Miss Americana, which chronicled parts of Swift's life and career, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews.
2021–2023: Re-recordings and Midnights
Swift released two re-recorded albums in 2021: Fearless (Taylor's Version) in April and Red (Taylor's Version) in November. Both peaked atop the Billboard 200, and the former was the first re-recorded album to do so. The latter helped Swift surpass Shania Twain as the female musician with the most weeks at number one on the Top Country Albums chart. The song "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)" from Red (Taylor's Version) became the longest song in history to top the Billboard Hot 100.
Swift's tenth studio album, Midnights, was released on October 21, 2022. The album features a minimalist electropop and synth-pop sound, with elements of hip-hop, R&B, and electronica. Midnights was Swift's fifth album to open atop the Billboard 200 chart with US first-week sales of one million. Its tracks, led by the single "Anti-Hero", made her the first artist to occupy the entire top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 the same week. The album peaked atop the charts of at least 14 other countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Sweden. Two other singles, "Lavender Haze" and "Karma", both peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2023, Swift released two re-recorded albums: Speak Now (Taylor's Version) in July and 1989 (Taylor's Version) in October. The former made Swift the woman with the most number-one albums (12) in Billboard 200 history, surpassing Barbra Streisand, and the latter was her sixth album to sell one million US first-week copies. The single "Is It Over Now?" from 1989 (Taylor's Version) peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Swift featured on Big Red Machine's "Renegade" and "Birch" (2021), Haim's "Gasoline" (2021), Ed Sheeran's "The Joker and the Queen" (2022), and the National's "The Alcott" (2023). She wrote and recorded "Carolina" for the soundtrack of the 2022 mystery film Where the Crawdads Sing, and had a supporting role in the 2022 period comedy film Amsterdam.
In 2022, Swift won Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards and Video of the Year for All Too Well: The Short Film, her self-directed short film that accompanies "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" at the MTV Video Music Awards; All Too Well also won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video. The following year, she again won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year with "Anti-Hero", became the first musician to rank at number one on Billboard's year-end top artists list in three different decades (2009, 2015 and 2023), and had five out of the 10 best-selling albums of the year in the US, a record since Luminate began tracking US music sales in 1991. At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in 2024, Midnights made Swift the first artist to win Album of the Year four times; it also won Best Pop Vocal Album.
2023–present: The Eras Tour, The Tortured Poets Department, and The Life of a Showgirl
In March 2023, Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, which she conceived as a tribute to her entire discography. The tour spanned five continents through December 2024. It exerted a global cultural, economic, and political impact and culminated in an unprecedented height of popularity for Swift, resulting in a phenomenon that the media dubbed "Swiftmania". The Eras Tour became the first tour to gross $1 billion in revenue and the highest-grossing tour in history, with $2 billion in total revenue. Its concert film grossed $250 million to become the highest-grossing of its kind, and its photobook sold nearly a million copies in its first week in the US. The tour inspired Swift's eleventh and twelfth studio albums, The Tortured Poets Department (2024) and The Life of a Showgirl (2025).
During the run of the Eras Tour, there were controversies surrounding Ticketmaster's monopoly that led to political scrutiny in the US, venue mismanagement that led to a death in Brazil, and Singapore's exclusivity deal that led to political tension in Southeast Asia. In January 2024, AI-generated pornographic images portraying Swift were posted to Twitter and spread to other social media platforms, spurring criticism and demands for legal reform. In July 2024, three children were killed in a stabbing attack at a Swift-themed workshop in Southport, England, leading to civil unrest in the UK. The following month, the Vienna concerts were canceled following the arrest of suspects who planned a terrorist attack.
The Tortured Poets Department was released on April 19, 2024. It became the first album to accumulate one billion streams on Spotify within one week and topped charts of various countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK. In the US, The Tortured Poets Department debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 2.6 million first-week units and stayed at number one for 17 weeks, becoming Swift's longest-running number-one album. The album was the global best-seller of 2024, with 5.6 million pure copies sold. Its songs made her the first artist to monopolize the top 14 of the Billboard Hot 100 the same week; the lead single, "Fortnight", peaked atop the chart, while the second single, "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart", peaked at number three. On May 30, 2025, Swift finalized the purchase of the masters to her first six original studio albums from Shamrock Holdings, which had acquired them from Braun in 2020.
Swift began dating the football player Travis Kelce in 2023, with the media dubbing them a "supercouple". They became engaged in August 2025. She introduced her next album, The Life of a Showgirl, on his podcast New Heights that month. It was released on October 3, 2025, accompanied by the promotional film Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, which topped the US box office and grossed over $50 million worldwide. In the US, The Life of a Showgirl debuted atop the Billboard 200 with four million first-week units—3.4 million of which were pure sales—breaking the records for the biggest debut week and the biggest sales week for any album. It became the first album to have all of its songs monopolize the Billboard Hot 100's top spots, with the lead single, "The Fate of Ophelia", topping the chart.
Artistry
Musical styles
With continuous musical reinventions, Swift was described as a musical "chameleon" by publications such as Time and the BBC. Her discography spans styles of pop, country, folk, and rock, with elements of R&B, hip-hop, and indie pop. She self-identified as a country musician with her first four studio albums, from Taylor Swift to Red. Her influences were female country artists of the 1990s such as Shania Twain, Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, the Dixie Chicks, and Keith Urban's country crossover sound with elements of rock, pop, and blues. The albums feature a country pop sound defined by instruments such as six-string banjo, mandolin, fiddle, a slight twang in Swift's vocals, and pop-rock melodies; Speak Now draws on rock styles of the 1970s and 1980s such as pop rock, pop-punk, and arena rock. Some critics argued that country was an indicator of Swift's songwriting rather than musical style and accused her of causing mainstream country to stray away from its roots.
After the critical debate around Red's eclectic pop, rock, and electronic styles, Swift chose 1980s synth-pop as a defining sound of her recalibrated pop artistry and image, inspired by the music of Phil Collins, Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel, and Madonna. 1989, the first album in this direction, incorporates electronic arrangements consisting of dense synthesizers and drum machines. Swift expanded on the electronic production on her next albums. Reputation consists of hip-hop, R&B, and EDM influences; maximalist arrangements of heavy bass and manipulated vocals; and an emphasis on rhythm. Lover incorporates eclectic sounds from country, pop-punk, and folk rock. Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department both have a minimalist synth-pop sound characterized by analog synthesizers, sustained bass notes, and simple drum machine patterns; while The Life of a Showgirl incorporates pop and soft rock. When Swift embraced a pop identity, rockist critics regarded it as an erosion of her country songwriting authenticity, but others considered it necessary for her artistic evolution and defended her as a pioneer of poptimism.
Her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, described by some critics as "alternative", explore indie folk and rock styles. They incorporate a subtle, stripped-back soundscape with orchestrations, muted synthesizers, and drum pads. Evermore experiments with varied song structures, asymmetric time signatures, and diverse instruments. Critics deemed the indie styles a mature representation of Swift's singer-songwriter status and credited her with popularizing "alternative" music, although there were disagreements on this description.
Voice
Swift possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range, but she mostly sings in her alto range. Her pitch, dialect and accent have undergone many changes throughout her career. Reviews of her early country albums criticized her vocals as weak and strained compared to those of other female country singers. Defenders of Swift appreciated that she refrained from correcting her pitch with Auto-Tune and how she prioritized intimacy and emotionality to communicate the messages of her songs with her audience, a style that critics have described as conversational. According to the critic Ann Powers, this singing style is demonstrated through Swift's attention to detail to convey an exact feeling—"the subtle adjustment of words and phrases to suggest moods like doubt, hope, and intimacy".
On Red and 1989, Swift's vocals are processed with electronic effects such as synthesizer tweaking, looping, and multitracking, to accompany the pop production. Her voice on Reputation and Midnights incorporates hip-hop and R&B influences that result in a near-rap delivery which emphasizes rhythm and cadence over melody. She uses her lower register vocals extensively in Folklore and both her lower and upper registers in Evermore; the musicologist Alyssa Barca described her timbre in the upper register as "breathy and bright" and the lower register as "full and dark".
Reception of Swift's vocals has been more positive since the release of Folklore. The critic Amanda Petrusich commented in 2023 that her singing became richer with stronger clarity and tone, even in live performances. Rolling Stone ranked her 102nd on their 2023 list "200 Greatest Singers of All Time"; the magazine argued that her breathy timbre allows for a broad range of delivery and commented: "A decade ago, including her on this list would have been a controversial move, but recent releases like Folklore, Evermore, and Midnights officially settled the argument." For Powers, Swift's versatile vocals are a result of her evolving artistry, combining "subtle interpolations of hip-hop's cadences and country crooners' relaxed timbre".
Songwriting
Swift's fascination with songwriting began in her childhood; she credited her mother with igniting early interests by helping her prepare for class presentations, and would make up lyrics to Disney soundtrack songs once she had run out of words singing them. In her early career, her influences were the country musicians Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and Dolly Parton; and the 1990s female singer-songwriters Melissa Etheridge, Sarah McLachlan, and Alanis Morissette. In later interviews, she listed Joni Mitchell and Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy as additional influences; and Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, and Kris Kristofferson as career role models for their evolving and consistent songwriting outputs.
Swift considers herself a songwriter first and foremost. She divides her lyrics into three types: "quill lyrics", songs rooted in antiquated poeticism; "fountain pen lyrics", based on modern and vivid storylines; and "glitter gel pen lyrics", which are lively and frivolous. Using songwriting to cope with personal experiences, her songs are largely autobiographical and feature narratives that mostly revolve around love and romantic relationships. She would start writing by identifying an emotion she wanted to convey, and the story and melody would follow. Where Taylor Swift and Fearless are rooted in adolescent feelings and detail optimistic romance inspired by fairy tales, Speak Now reflects her young adulthood with newfound wisdom on real-life heartbreak. Red explores the tumult of an intense breakup, and 1989 reflects on failed relationships with a wistful perspective; both albums incorporate lyrics that hint at sex, reflecting her personal growth. Swift described Lover as a "love letter to love", inspired by her realization of "love that was very real".
As her career progressed, Swift wrote about self-perception and confrontation against her critics, influenced by fame, sexism, and scrutiny on her personal life by the press. This was first exhibited in Speak Now, which set the precedent for the frantic media speculations on the subjects of Swift's songs, specifically concerning her dating history; Swift considers this practice sexist. Reputation both tackles the public controversies that tarnished her wholesome image and addresses a blossoming romance with intimacy and vulnerability; its extensive references to sex and alcohol set it apart from the youthful innocence that had informed Swift's past albums. The nocturnal ruminations addressed in Midnights encompass regrets and fantasies, informed by Swift's self-awareness of her fame. The Tortured Poets Department was conceived amidst her heightened fame brought by the Eras Tour and intensely publicized love life during 2023. It explores heartbreak and other themes to extremes: erotic desires, forbidden love, and escaping from the public spotlight.
On Folklore and Evermore, Swift was inspired by escapism and romanticism to explore fictional narratives, deviating from the autobiographical songwriting that had characterized her artistry. She imposed her emotions onto imagined characters and story arcs, inspired by authors and poets of romantic and modernist literature like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, and Emily Dickinson; the last of whom was a distant cousin of Swift. The characters of Folklore and Evermore construct their narratives based on fragments of memory, symbolizing the nature of folktales and oral traditions that pass through time.
Swift considers her songwriting "confessional", and academics have connected her style to that of confessional poetry, in that her songs reference personal events and publicize internal feelings to her audience. Critical reception of her songwriting has been largely positive, and her melodic compositions have been highlighted for optimizing the verse-chorus form with memorable bridges. Several scholars have credited her with taking the confessional singer-songwriter tradition to new heights, and she has been variedly described by journalists as a "poet laureate"—of puberty, of romance, and of her generation. Some critics have dismissed her "confessional" style as material for tabloid gossip. Objection to the perceived poetic value of her songs, mostly from rockist critics, views her as a pop star using literary subtexts as a commercial ploy, with metaphors that are at times imprecise or self-indulgent.
Scholars have attributed criticisms of Swift's songwriting to sexism. The musicologist Travis Stimeling argued that whereas Swift's autobiographical authenticity conforms to country and rock standards, her detractors, mostly male, view her lyrical depictions of a young woman's experiences as trivial and unworthy of serious merit. According to the English-language academic Ryan Hibbett, this gendered criticism bars Swift from receiving full artistic credentials as does Bob Dylan, whose reliance on romantic themes and occasional literary imprecisions are not as harshly criticized. In the view of the literary critic Stephanie Burt, although Swift's writing is not poetry in its traditional sense, it is proficient at "placing inventive, evocative language into pop melodies designed to be sung".
Performances and stage
Swift's concerts are equipped with elaborate settings, incorporating elements from Broadway theatre and high tech. She does not rely on elaborate choreography and instead emphasizes connecting emotionally with her audience through storytelling and vocal delivery. Since 2007, she has toured with the same live band. She plays four instruments live: guitar (including electric, acoustic six-string, and twelve-string), six-string banjo, piano, and ukulele.
Critics have praised her stage presence, stamina, and ability to bring forth an intimate atmosphere for her audience, even in stadium settings. Sasha Frere-Jones, in a 2008 article for The New Yorker, hailed her as a "preternaturally skilled" entertainer who exerted professionalism with a vibrant energy. In Time's 2023 Person of the Year piece, Sam Lansky wrote: "Swift is many things onstage—vulnerable and triumphant, playful and sad—but the intimacy of her songcraft is front and center."
Videos and filmmaking
Swift emphasizes visuals as a key creative component of her music. She established her production company, Taylor Swift Productions, in 2008. Her directorial debut was the music video for "Mine", co-directed with Roman White, in 2010; and she developed the concept and treatment for "Mean" in 2011. For the music videos of the 1989 and Reputation singles, she had an extensive collaboration with the director Joseph Kahn on eight videos; among them, she produced "Bad Blood", which won Best Music Video at the Grammy Awards in 2016. She worked with American Express for the "Blank Space" music video (which Kahn directed) and served as executive producer for the interactive app AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Program in 2015.
As of May 2025, Swift has directed 13 of her music videos. Her first solo directorial role was for "The Man", which made her the first female artist to win the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction. All Too Well: The Short Film marked her filmmaking debut, and it made her the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Best Music Video as a solo director. In June 2023, Swift was invited to the Academy of Motion Pictures. She has cited Joseph Kahn, Chloé Zhao, Greta Gerwig, Nora Ephron, Guillermo del Toro, John Cassavetes, and Noah Baumbach as filmmaking influences.
Achievements
Swift has won 14 Grammy Awards (including four Album of the Year wins—the most by an artist), 12 Country Music Association Awards, 8 Academy of Country Music Awards, 2 Brit Awards, and an Emmy Award. She is the most-awarded artist of the American Music Awards (40 wins), Billboard Music Awards (49), and MTV Video Music Awards (30, tied with Beyoncé). Swift is the first woman and second artist overall (after Garth Brooks) to be honored with the Pinnacle Award by the Country Music Association Awards, in 2013, and the first woman to receive the Global Icon Award by the Brit Awards, in 2021. At the 64th BMI Pop Awards in 2016, Swift became the first female songwriter to be honored with an award named after its recipient, the Taylor Swift Award. She is the youngest person to be featured on Rolling Stone's 2015 list "The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time", received the Songwriter Icon Award from the National Music Publishers' Association in 2021, and was named the Songwriter-Artist of the Decade by the Nashville Songwriters Association International in 2022.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry honored her as the Global Recording Artist of the Year five times (2014, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024), more than any other artist. She is the most-streamed artist on Spotify as of February 2024, and the highest-grossing touring act of all time, with cumulative revenue at $3.12 billion as of December 2024. Her chart records include the most number-one albums in the UK and Ireland for a female artist in the 21st century; the first artist to occupy the top five of the Australian albums chart, doing so twice, and the top 10 of the Australian singles chart; the most entries, most simultaneous entries, and most number-one entries for a soloist on the Billboard Global 200; and the first artist to spend 100 weeks atop the Billboard Artist 100.
In the US, Swift has sold 116.7 million album units, including 54 million pure sales, as of May 2025. She is the solo artist with the most weeks at number one on the Billboard 200; the female artist with the most number-one albums on the Billboard 200 (14) and most number-one debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 (7, tied with Ariana Grande); the artist with the most number-one songs on Pop Airplay; the first artist to chart five albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200; and the first woman to have both an album (Fearless) and a song ("Shake It Off") receive Diamond certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Billboard ranked her at number eight on its list "Greatest of All Time Artists" (2019), number two on "Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century" (2024), and number one on "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" and "Top Artists of the 21st Century" (both 2025).
Swift has appeared in power listings. In 2024, she became the first solo artist, and second overall (after Beyoncé and Jay-Z), to top Billboard's annual Power 100 ranking of the top music industry executives. Time included her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2010, 2015, and 2019. She was one of the "Silence Breakers" that the magazine spotlighted as Person of the Year in 2017 for speaking up about sexual assault. In 2023, she became the first person to be recognized as Time's Person of the Year for "achievement in the arts" and the first woman to appear on a Person of the Year cover more than once. She received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from New York University and served as its commencement speaker on May 18, 2022.
Public image
Swift is an enduring figure of 21st-century popular culture. Her career trajectory from a country singer-songwriter to a pop star in the 2000s and 2010s was the subject of extensive commentary. Deemed "America's Sweetheart" in her early career, she was described in the press as a "media darling" with a girl next door's polite demeanor and open-hearted conversations. Swift displayed a feminine image but refrained from the "aggressively sexualized feminist pop" of her contemporaries, leading publications to comment that her sex appeal was modest, subtle, and sophisticated. The adolescent themes of Swift's music contributed to her status as a teen idol, although several feminist authors took issue with her songs about romantic relationships as narrow-minded and detrimental to girls and women, who made up the majority of her fanbase known as Swifties.
Upon recalibrating her artistry to pop music, Swift has identified as a feminist and achieved a pop icon status. In 2013, the author Jody Rosen labelled Swift the "Queen of Pop", citing her popularity that defied traditional boundaries between "genres, eras, demographics, paradigms, trends". Her feminist public image garnered varying reactions from the public, including praise that regarded her success in a male-dominated music industry as an inspiration for girls and women, and criticism that dismissed her feminist adoption as superficial and self-interested.
The 2016 dispute with Kanye West bolstered the narrative by her detractors that she was a calculating and manipulative woman despite her sweetheart image, and deepened their feud that has resonated in their respective careers. Her artistic reinventions in the 2020s turned her into an acclaimed singer-songwriter. Buoyed by her enduring pop stardom, she has been recognized as a rare phenomenon that combines the pop star and singer-songwriter archetypes with unprecedented success. Swift is a known triskaidekaphile, known for using the number 13 in her various works.
Legacy
Swift is one of the few artists who consistently sells millions of albums throughout two decades of artistic reinventions despite the industry decline of record sales after the album era had ended. In this regard, academics and journalists have described her as "the last pop superstar" and "the last great rock star" of the 21st century. Her commercial strategies to bolster sales of albums and concert tickets have earned her a reputation as a savvy businesswoman. The economist Alan Krueger described Swift as an "economic genius". Strategies such as enhanced material for physical album variants and easter egg usage in her works became indicative of music marketing trends.
Swift's success in country music has been credited with popularizing country beyond the US and introducing the genre to adolescent women, a previously ignored demographic. The critic Kelefa Sanneh dubbed Swift the biggest country star since Garth Brooks, "and maybe since before him, too". Her guitar performances resulted in increasing sales of guitars to women, which the media dubbed the "Taylor Swift factor". Her transition from country to pop has been credited as the catalyst for poptimism, and her songwriting and musical transitions have been credited with influencing a new generation of artists. According to Billboard, Swift is one of the few artists who could achieve chart success, critical acclaim, and fan support at the same time, and she has the ability to popularize any sound in mainstream music.
Swift's enduring popularity, particularly to female audiences, contributed to her status as a representation of millennials, or more broadly, her generation's zeitgeist. Her fandom of Swifties has been described by journalists and academics as one of the most loyal and dedicated. In the views of Time's Cady Lang, she maintained her superstardom by her "savvy manipulation of both the industry and [her] personal brand". According to the popular-culture scholars Mary Fogarty and Gina Arnold, Swift is arguably the singular artist "whose story encapsulates many of the urgent conflicts in early twenty-first-century American culture". In a 2024 article for The New York Times, Joe Coscarelli wrote that her lasting popularity provoked debates that compared her not only to contemporaries like Drake or Beyoncé, but also to veteran artists like the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Elton John, or Madonna.
Swift's advocacy for artists' rights and re-recording projects have contributed to industry-wide discourses and reforms. Her artistry and career maneuvers have been the subject of various university courses in literary, cultural, and sociopolitical contexts. According to the popular culture scholars Sarai Brinker, Kate Galloway, and Elizabeth Scala, Swift's legacy has been both embraced and critiqued by different affiliations—feminist and queer communities, far-right groups, and religious organizations, and studied by experts in various fields—musicology, literature, sociology, media theory, linguistics, and culture studies.
Wealth and other activities
Through her management company, TAS Rights Management, LLC, Swift has filed over 300 trademark applications in the US and holds more than 400 registrations worldwide, as of August 2025. Her filings include her name "Taylor Swift", her fanbase name "Swifties", album cover art and titles, tour names, lyrics, slogans, and her cats' names. Swift was listed by Forbes as the world's highest-paid musician in 2016 and 2019, the highest-paid female musician of the 2010s decade, and the highest-paid female musician of 2021 and 2022.
By October 2023, as reported by both Forbes and Bloomberg L.P., Swift achieved her billionaire status. She was recognized as the first billionaire "primarily based on her songs and performances", with the majority of her fortune coming from royalties and touring. As of June 2025, her estimated net worth by Forbes stands at $1.6 billion, making her the richest female musician in the world. Her real estate portfolio, estimated by Forbes at $110 million as of 2025, consists of residential properties in Nashville, New York City, Los Angeles (Samuel Goldwyn Estate), and Rhode Island (High Watch).
Swift's private jet use has drawn scrutiny for its carbon emissions. In 2023, a spokesperson for Swift stated that she had purchased more than double the required carbon credits to offset all tour travel and personal flights. In December 2023, Swift's lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to the American programmer Jack Sweeney over tracking her private jet, alleging stalking and safety risks. Media outlets have reported that the information posted by Sweeney is a synthesis of publicly available data. In February 2024, it was reported that Swift had sold one of her two private jets.
Endorsements and partnerships
Swift's album rollouts normally consist of multimedia promotional activities that encompass corporate tie-ins and product endorsements. Target is a long-standing business partner with Swift, offering exclusive physical albums and merchandise. In 2008–2011, her albums and tours were promoted with self-designed dolls with Jakks Pacific, fragrances with Elizabeth Arden, clothes with L.E.I., and holiday cards with American Greetings. Her partnership deals included makeup products for CoverGirl and Cyber-shot cameras for Sony Electronics. In 2012–2015, she had tie-ins with Starbucks, Keds, Subway, Diet Coke, Walgreens, Walmart, and Papa John's.
In 2014, New York City named Swift its official tourism ambassador. She had an exclusive streaming deal with Apple Music in 2015, signed a multi-year deal with AT&T in 2016, and partnered with United Parcel Service to distribute her albums in 2017. In 2019, she signed a multi-year deal with Capital One and launched a clothing line with Stella McCartney. She became the first global ambassador for Record Store Day in 2022.
Social activism
Swift avoided discussing politics in her early career. In an interview with Time in 2012, she said that she kept herself as educated as possible but did not want to influence other people with her political opinions. Due to her apolitical stance, she was appropriated by the alt-right movement in the US, which sparked controversy. She did express support for President Barack Obama in 2008: "I've never seen this country so happy about a political decision in my entire time of being alive."
Since 2018, Swift has been public about her political views and abandoned her once apolitical stance. She publicly endorsed two Democratic politicians for the 2018 US midterm election, which resulted in headlines about how she finally dissociated herself from the alt-right and conservatives. In interviews, she attributed her political reluctance in the past to the 2003 Dixie Chicks controversy, which left a lasting impact on country musicians at large and female country musicians in particular. She has openly criticized President Donald Trump. In 2020, Swift urged her fans to check their voter registration ahead of elections, which resulted in 65,000 people registering to vote within one day of her post, and endorsed the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 US presidential election. For the 2024 election, she once again endorsed the Democratic ticket of Harris and Tim Walz.
A pro-choice feminist, Swift is a founding signatory of the Time's Up movement against sexual harassment, and she criticized the US Supreme Court's decision to end federal abortion rights in 2022. A supporter of LGBTQ rights, she has donated to the LGBT organizations Tennessee Equality Project and GLAAD. In 2019, she called for the passing of the Equality Act and performed during WorldPride NYC 2019 at the Stonewall Inn, a gay rights monument. Swift has spoken up against white supremacy, racism, and police brutality in the US. She has supported the March for Our Lives movement and gun control reform in the US, donated to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Black Lives Matter movement, called for the removal of Confederate monuments in Tennessee, and advocated for Juneteenth to become a national holiday.
Swift's political engagements have been met with mixed reception: they have provoked further public discussions on political issues and empowered Swifties, but critics have questioned whether her political alignments were strategic in her career. While some publications have argued that Swift's stardom had a significant impact on political involvements in the US, others have viewed her influence as sizable but overstated. According to the popular-culture scholar Simone Driessen, her political impact reached beyond the US to Australia and Europe.
Philanthropy
Swift ranked first on DoSomething's 2015 "Gone Good" list, having received the Star of Compassion from the Tennessee Disaster Services and the Big Help Award from the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for her "dedication to helping others" and "inspiring others through action". Especially early in her career, Swift donated to various relief funds following natural disasters. In 2009, she donated $100,000 to the Red Cross to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. The same year, she performed at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, which raised money for those impacted by bushfires and flooding. In 2011, Swift used a dress rehearsal of her Speak Now tour as a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the US, raising more than $750,000. In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, she donated $500,000. In 2009, Swift sang at the BBC's Children in Need concert and raised £13,000 for the cause. In 2016, she donated $1 million to Louisiana flood relief efforts and $100,000 to the Dolly Parton Fire Fund. Swift donated to food banks after Hurricane Harvey struck Houston in 2017. Swift donated $1 million for Tennessee tornado relief in 2020 and again in 2023, as well as $5 million toward the relief efforts after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in 2024.
Swift has also donated to cancer research. As the recipient of the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year in 2011, Swift donated $25,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Tennessee. In 2012, she participated in the Stand Up to Cancer telethon, performing the charity single "Ronan", which she wrote in memory of a four-year-old boy who died of neuroblastoma. She has also donated $100,000 to the V Foundation for Cancer Research and $50,000 to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She has made donations to her fans several times for their medical or academic expenses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift donated to the World Health Organization and Feeding America and supported independent record stores. Swift performed "Soon You'll Get Better" on the One World: Together At Home television special, a benefit concert curated by Lady Gaga for Global Citizen to raise funds for the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
She is a supporter of the arts. A benefactor of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Swift has donated $75,000 to Hendersonville High School to help refurbish the school auditorium, $4 million to build a new education center at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, and $100,000 to the Nashville Symphony. In 2012, Swift partnered with Chegg for Good to donate $10,000 to the music departments of six US colleges.
She has also provided one-off donations. In 2007, she partnered with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police to launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has donated items to several charities for auction, including the UNICEF Tap Project and MusiCares. Swift has also encouraged young people to volunteer in their local communities as part of Global Youth Service Day. Also a promoter of children's literacy, she has donated money and books to schools around the country. In 2018 and 2021, Swift donated to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Swift donated to fellow singer-songwriter Kesha to help with her legal battles against Dr. Luke and to actress Mariska Hargitay's Joyful Heart Foundation.
During the Eras Tour, Swift donated to food banks in Florida, Arizona, and Las Vegas; she also employed local businesses throughout the tour and gave $197 million in bonus payments to her entire crew. In February 2024, she donated $100,000 to the family of a woman who died in a shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl parade. In December 2024, a week before Christmas, Swift donated $250,000 to Operation Breakthrough. The funds were directed to workforce development, childcare, and early learning programs.
Discography
Filmography
Tours
Fearless Tour (2009–2010)
Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012)
The Red Tour (2013–2014)
The 1989 World Tour (2015)
Reputation Stadium Tour (2018)
The Eras Tour (2023–2024)
See also
List of American Grammy Award winners and nominees
List of highest-certified music artists in the United States
References
Cited literature
External links
Official website
Taylor Swift at AllMusic
Taylor Swift discography at Discogs
Taylor Swift at IMDb
Taylor Swift discography at MusicBrainz
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Mark Cuban
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Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American businessman and television personality. He is the former principal owner and current minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and co-owner of 2929 Entertainment. From 2012 to 2025, he was also one of the main "sharks" on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank. As of May 2025, Forbes has estimated his net worth to be US$6 billion.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cuban was involved in ventures from a young age, from selling garbage bags to running newspapers during a strike. He graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and embarked on a diverse business career that included founding MicroSolutions and Broadcast.com, both of which he sold at substantial profits. Cuban's investments span various industries, from technology and media to sports and entertainment. He has been a prominent figure in the NBA, known for his active involvement with the Mavericks (with which he won the 2011 NBA Championship as owner) and disputes with the league's management. In his side ventures, Cuban has been involved in philanthropy, political commentary, and reality television.
Early life and education
Cuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 31, 1958. His father, Norton Cuban, was an automobile upholsterer. Cuban described his mother, Shirley (née Feldman), as someone with "a different job or different career goal every other week."
Cuban is Jewish, and grew up in Mt. Lebanon, an affluent suburb of Pittsburgh, in a working-class family. His paternal grandfather changed the surname from "Chabenisky" to "Cuban" after his family emigrated from Russian Empire (Modern territory of Ukraine) through Ellis Island. His maternal grandfather was a Bessarabian Jewish immigrant and his maternal grandmother was from Lithuania.
Cuban first ventured into business at age of 12. He sold garbage bags to pay for a pair of expensive sneakers. A few years later, he earned money by selling stamps and coins. At age 16, Cuban took advantage of a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette strike by running newspapers from Cleveland to Pittsburgh.
Instead of completing his senior year of high school, he enrolled as a full-time student at the University of Pittsburgh, where he became a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. After one year at the University of Pittsburgh, Cuban transferred to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he graduated from the Kelley School of Business in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in management. He chose Indiana's Kelley School of Business without even visiting the campus because it "had the least expensive tuition of all the business schools on the top 10 list". He had various business ventures during college, including a bar, disco lessons, and a chain letter.
After graduating, Cuban returned to Pittsburgh and took a job with Mellon Bank, where he immersed himself in the study of machines and networking.
Business career
On July 7, 1982, Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas, where he first found a job as a bartender for a Greenville Avenue bar called Elan and then as a salesperson for Your Business Software, one of the earliest PC software retailers in Dallas. He was fired less than a year later, after meeting with a client to procure new business instead of opening the store.
Cuban co-founded MicroSolutions with support from his previous customers at Your Business Software. Initially, MicroSolutions operated as a systems integrator and software reseller. The company was an early proponent of technologies such as Carbon Copy, Lotus Notes, and CompuServe. One of the company's largest clients was Perot Systems. The company grew to more than $30 million in revenue, and in 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions to CompuServe—then a subsidiary of H&R Block—for $6 million
(over $14.7 million today). He made approximately $2 million after taxes on the deal.
Audionet and Broadcast.com
In 1995, Cuban and fellow Indiana University alumnus Todd Wagner joined Audionet (founded in 1989 by Chris Jaeb, who retained 10% of the company), combining their mutual interest in Indiana Hoosier college basketball and webcasting. With a single server and an ISDN line, Audionet became Broadcast.com in 1998. By 1999, Broadcast.com had grown to 330 employees and $13.5 million in revenue for the second quarter. In 1999, Broadcast.com helped launch the first live-streamed Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. That year, during the dot com boom, Broadcast.com was acquired by Yahoo! for $5.7 billion in Yahoo! stock.
Yahoo!'s costly purchase of Broadcast.com is now regarded as one of the worst internet acquisitions of all time. Broadcast.com and Yahoo!'s other broadcasting services were discontinued within a few years after the acquisition. Cuban has repeatedly described himself as very lucky to have sold the company before the dot-com bubble burst. However, he also emphasized that he hedged against the Yahoo! shares he received from the sale and would have lost most of his fortune if he had not done so.
Cuban continues to work with Wagner in another venture, 2929 Entertainment, which provides vertically integrated production and distribution of films and video.
On September 24, 2003, the firm purchased Landmark Theatres, a chain of 58 arthouse movie theaters. The company is also responsible for the updated version of the TV show Star Search, which was broadcast on CBS. 2929 Entertainment released Bubble, a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh, in 2006.
Investments in startups
Cuban has also assisted ventures in the social software and distributed networking industries. He was an owner of IceRocket, a search engine that scours the blogosphere for content.
In 2005, Cuban invested $1.7 million in file-sharing company Red Swoosh, co-founded by Travis Kalanick, providing much-needed capital to the company after the early 2000s recession. Red Swoosh was acquired by Akamai for $19 million in 2007. Kalanick later approached Cuban in 2009 to invest in his next venture Uber at a $10 million valuation. Cuban proposed a $5 million valuation, but never heard back from Kalanick.
He was also an investor in Weblogs, Inc., which was acquired by AOL.
In 2005, Cuban invested in Brondell Inc., a San Francisco startup making a high-tech toilet seat called a Swash that works like a bidet but mounts on a standard toilet. "People tend to approach technology the same way, whether it's in front of them, or behind them", Cuban joked. He also invested in Goowy Media Inc., a San Diego Internet software startup. In April 2006, Sirius Satellite Radio announced that Cuban would host his own weekly radio talk show, Mark Cuban's Radio Maverick. However, the show has not materialized.
In July 2006, Cuban financed Sharesleuth.com, a website created by former St. Louis Post-Dispatch investigative reporter Christopher Carey to uncover fraud and misinformation in publicly traded companies. Experimenting with a new business model for making online journalism financially viable, Cuban disclosed that he would take positions in the shares of companies mentioned in Sharesleuth.com in advance of publication. Business and legal analysts questioned the appropriateness of shorting a stock before making public pronouncements which are likely to result in losses in that stock's value. Cuban insisted that the practice is legal in view of full disclosure.
In April 2007, Cuban partnered with Mascot Books to publish his first children's book, Let's Go, Mavs!. In November 2011, he wrote a 30,000-word e-book (60 to 120 pages), How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It, which he described as "a way to get motivated".
In October 2008, Cuban started Bailoutsleuth.com as a grassroots, online portal for oversight over the U.S. government's $700 billion "bailout" of financial institutions. It no longer exists as a website.
In September 2010, Cuban provided an undisclosed amount of venture capital to store-front analytics company Motionloft. According to the company's CEO Jon Mills, he cold-emailed Cuban on a whim with the business proposition and said Cuban quickly responded that he would like to hear more. Mills credited that sentence for launching the company. In November 2013, several investors questioned Cuban about Mills' representation of a pending acquisition of Motionloft. Cuban denied an acquisition was in place. Mills was terminated as CEO of Motionloft by stockholders on December 1, 2013, and in February 2014 was arrested by the FBI and charged with wire fraud; it was alleged that Mills misrepresented to investors that Motionloft was going to be acquired by Cisco. Cuban has gone on record to state that the technology, which at least in part is meant to serve the commercial real estate industry, is "game changing" for tenants.
In 2019, Cuban, Ashton Kutcher, Steve Watts and Watts' wife Angela acquired a 50% stake in Veldskoen Shoes' United States business. In 2021, Cuban, Pantera Capital, BlockTower, Hashed, Cadenza Ventures (backed by 100x Group), CMS and QCP Capital backed a layer-2 decentralized exchange protocol, Injective Protocol and their CEO Eric Chen. Also in late 2021, Cuban purchased the entire town of Mustang, Texas, a 77-acre town in Navarro County. He told the Dallas Morning News that a friend needed to sell it, and "I don't know what if anything I will do with it."
Shark Tank
Cuban has been a "shark" investor on the ABC reality program Shark Tank since season two in 2011.
As of May 2015, he has invested in 85 deals across 111 Shark Tank episodes, for a total of $19.9 million. In 2022, Cuban stated that his portfolio of Shark Tank investments had made a net loss, saying "I've gotten beat".
The actual numbers may vary because the investment happens after the handshake deal on live television and after due diligence is performed to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in the pitch room. For instance, Hy-Conn, a manufacturer of fire hose adapters, after agreeing to a deal of $1.25 million for 100% of the company with Cuban, did not go through with the deal.
Cuban's top three deals, all with at least $1 million invested, are Ten Thirty One Productions, Rugged Maniac Obstacle Race, and BeatBox Beverages.
Since Cuban joined the show in 2011, the ratings for Shark Tank have increased, and also during his tenure, the show has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Structured Reality Program (from 2014 to 2017). Before the category came into existence it won the award for outstanding reality program for two consecutive seasons (2012 to 2013), all of these awards came after he joined. Cuban was the richest of all Sharks to appear on the show, until Michael Rubin and Todd Graves came onto the show in seasons 15 and 16 respectively. He announced in November 2023 that the show's 16th season would be his last.
Magnolia Pictures
Cuban owns film distributor Magnolia Pictures. Through Magnolia, he financed Redacted, a fictional dramatization based on the 2006 Mahmudiyah killings, written and directed by Brian De Palma. In September 2007, Cuban, in his capacity as owner of Magnolia Pictures, removed disturbing photographs from the concluding moments of the film Redacted, citing copyrights/permissions issues.
In April 2011, Cuban put Magnolia Pictures and Landmark Theatres up for sale, but said, "If we don't get the price and premium we want, we are happy to continue to make money from the properties."
Cryptocurrency
Cuban has invested in the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, as well as accepting the particular cryptocurrency as a method of payment for Dallas Mavericks merchandise and tickets since at least early 2021. After being asked by CNBC for his thoughts on the payment method, Cuban responded, "It's a medium that can be used for the acquisition of goods and services. The community for doge is the strongest when it comes to using it as a medium of exchange."
After Voyager Digital, a cryptocurrency lender, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022, Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks were named in a class-action lawsuit that alleged that Voyager Digital was a Ponzi scheme the following month due to Cuban's promotion of Voyager and Voyager's sponsorship with the team. In February 2022, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a lawsuit against Bitconnect that the Securities Act of 1933 extends to targeted solicitation using social media.
In September 2023, Cuban's MetaMask cryptocurrency wallet was drained by scammers. As a result, he had lost about $870,000 worth of tokens.
Cost Plus Drugs
In January 2022, Cuban launched Cost Plus Drugs, with the aim of lowering generic drug prices for end consumers in the U.S. Cuban started the company after receiving an email from a radiologist named Alex Oshmyansky, who pitched the idea of an online-based pharmacy. He often refers to Cost Plus Drugs as a critique and disruptor of the US healthcare system, including offering transparent, direct-to-consumer pricing and reducing the role of pharmacy benefit managers.
Sports businesses
Dallas Mavericks
On January 4, 2000, Cuban purchased a majority stake in the NBA's Dallas Mavericks for $285 million from H. Ross Perot Jr.
In the 20 years before Cuban bought the team, the Mavericks won only 40% of their games and had a playoff record of 21–32. In the 10 years following, the team won 69% of their regular season games and reached the playoffs in each of those seasons except for one. The Mavericks' playoff record with Cuban is 49–57, including their first trip to the NBA Finals in 2006, where they lost to the Miami Heat.
NBA team owners historically play more passive roles and watch basketball games from skyboxes; Cuban, however, sits alongside fans while donning team jerseys. Cuban travels in his private airplane—a Gulfstream V—to attend road games.
In May 2010, H. Ross Perot Jr., who retained 5% ownership, filed a lawsuit against Cuban, alleging the franchise was insolvent or in imminent danger of insolvency. In June 2010, Cuban responded in a court filing maintaining Perot is wrongly seeking money to offset some $100 million in losses on the Victory Park real estate development. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2011, due in part to Cuban asserting proper management of the team due to its recent victory in the 2011 NBA Finals. In 2014, the 5th Circuit Court affirmed that decision on appeal. Following his initial defeat, Perot attempted to shut out Mavericks fans from use of the parking lots he controlled near the American Airlines Center.
In January 2018, Cuban announced the Mavericks would be accepting Bitcoin as payment for tickets in the following season. On March 4, 2021, Cuban announced the Mavericks would begin accepting Dogecoin as payment for both merchandise as well as tickets to games.
In early 2021, he decided to stop playing the National Anthem at Dallas Mavericks games in order to "respect those whose believed the anthem did not represent them." He also supported the movement as far back as late 2020. The NBA responded by requiring every team to play it, citing it as their "long-standing policy". Cuban did not complain, and ended up playing the anthem.
On November 28, 2023, The Dallas Morning News reported that Cuban was in the process of selling his share in the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson. On December 27, 2023, the NBA approved the sale of a controlling interest of 73% in the Dallas Mavericks to Adelson and Sivan and Patrick Dumont. Cuban has said he earned an estimated $3.5 billion from the sale.
Major League Baseball
Cuban has repeatedly expressed interest in owning a Major League Baseball franchise and has unsuccessfully attempted to purchase at least three franchises. In 2008, he submitted an initial bid of $1.3 billion to buy the Chicago Cubs and was invited to participate in a second round of bidding along with several other potential ownership groups. Cuban was not selected to participate in the final bidding process in January 2009. In August 2010, Cuban actively bid to buy the Texas Rangers with Jeffrey L. Beck. Cuban stopped bids after 1 a.m., having placed bids totaling almost $600 million. He had outbid a competing ownership group led by ex-pitcher and Rangers executive Nolan Ryan, but lost the deal before the Rangers played the San Francisco Giants in the 2010 World Series.
In January 2012, Cuban placed an initial bid for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but was eliminated before the second round of bidding. Cuban felt that the value of the Dodgers' TV rights deal drove the price of the franchise too high. He had previously said that he would not be interested in buying the franchise at $1 billion, telling the Los Angeles Times in November 2011 "I don't think the Dodgers franchise is worth twice what the Rangers are worth." However, as the bidding process drew near many speculated that the sale would surpass $1.5 billion, with Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reporting on Twitter that at least one bid in the $1–1.5 billion range was placed in the initial round of the bidding process. Ultimately, the Dodgers sold for $2.15 billion to Guggenheim Baseball Management.
Cuban also previously expressed interest in becoming a minority owner of the New York Mets after owner Fred Wilpon announced in 2011 that he was planning to sell up to a 25% stake in the team.
Cuban has wanted to purchase his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates, but was rebuffed by then owner Kevin McClatchy in 2005.
Other sports businesses
In 2005, Cuban expressed interest in buying the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. In 2006, Cuban joined an investment group along with Dan Marino, Kevin Millevoi, Andy Murstein, and Walnut Capital principals Gregg Perelman and Todd Reidbord to attempt to acquire the Penguins. The franchise ultimately rejected the group's bid when team owners Mario Lemieux and Ronald Burkle took the team off the market.
At WWE's Survivor Series in 2003, Cuban was involved in a staged altercation with Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff and Raw wrestler Randy Orton. On December 7, 2009, Cuban acted as the guest host of Raw, getting revenge on Orton when he was the guest referee in Orton's match against Kofi Kingston, giving Kingston a fast count victory. He then announced that Orton would face Kingston at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. At the end of the show, Cuban was slammed through a table by the number one contender for the WWE Championship, Sheamus.
On September 12, 2007, Cuban said that he was in talks with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to create a mixed martial arts company that would compete with UFC. He is now a bondholder of Zuffa, which was formerly UFC's parent company.
Cuban followed up his intentions by organizing "HDNet Fights", a mixed martial arts promotion which airs exclusively on HDNet and premiered on October 13, 2007, with a card headlined by a fight between Erik Paulson and Jeff Ford as well as fights featuring veterans Drew Fickett and Justin Eilers.
Since 2009, Cuban has been a panelist at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
In April 2010, Cuban loaned the newly formed United Football League (UFL) $5 million. He did not own a franchise, and he was not involved in day-to-day operations of the league nor of any of its teams. In January 2011, he filed a federal lawsuit against the UFL for their failure to repay the loan by the October 6, 2010, deadline.
In June 2015, Cuban invested in the esports betting platform Unikrn.
In February 2016, Cuban purchased a principal ownership stake in the Professional Futsal League.
Political activity
Cuban is an admirer of author Ayn Rand. About Rand's novel The Fountainhead, he said that it "was incredibly motivating to me. It encouraged me to think as an individual, take risks to reach my goals, and responsibility for my successes and failures. I loved it." His political views have leaned toward libertarianism. He held a position on the centrist Unity08 political organization's advisory council. Despite leaning towards libertarianism, Cuban posted an entry on his blog claiming paying more taxes to be the most patriotic thing someone can do.
In 1996, Cuban donated $6,000 to Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. In 2002, Cuban donated $1,000 to Democratic California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.
On February 8, 2008, Cuban voiced his support for the draft Bloomberg movement attempting to convince New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run in the U.S. presidential election of 2008 on his blog. Cuban concluded a post lamenting the current state of U.S. politics: "Are you listening, Mayor Bloomberg? For less than the cost of opening a tent pole movie, you can change the status quo." He eventually voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 election.
In November 2012, in response to Donald Trump offering President Obama $5 million to a charity of President Obama's choosing if he released passport applications and college transcripts to the public, Cuban offered Trump $1 million to a charity of Trump's choosing if Trump shaved his head.
On December 19, 2012, Cuban donated $250,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation to support its work on patent reform. Part of his donation funded a new title for EFF's staff attorney Julie Samuels: The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents.
At the Code/Media conference in February 2015, Cuban said of net neutrality that "having [the FCC] overseeing the Internet scares the shit out of me".
Cuban formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for president at a July 30, 2016, rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During that campaign stop, Cuban said of Republican nominee Donald Trump, "You know what we call a person like that in Pittsburgh? A jagoff ... Is there any bigger jagoff in the world than Donald Trump?"
On November 22, 2016, Cuban met with the then President-elect Trump's key advisor Steve Bannon. In October 2024, Cuban said on the All-In Podcast that Trump had reached out to him for a position during his administration.
During an appearance on an episode of Hannity in May 2020, Cuban voiced his support for former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
On February 2, 2021, Cuban joined Reddit's WallStreetBets "Ask Me Anything" forum with millions of members and fielded user questions related to the GameStop short squeeze. In the AMA session, Cuban publicly called the trust of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission into question as well as the capabilities of zero commission brokerage firms, like Robinhood, that restricted retail traders from purchasing GameStop shares and other shorted stocks which he said crippled demand. Cuban's advice to Reddit users was to hold GameStop shares if they could afford it in anticipation of additional short sales by Wall Street firms, but ultimately acknowledged that the odds were stacked against them and to use it as a learning experience. He offered insight into his trading technique suggesting that traders know why they are buying something and to "HODL" (hold on for dear life) until they learn that something has changed. Cuban noted a need for policy change to better support retail traders, credited the WallStreetBets community for leading the charge, and expressed optimism about blockchain trading as a more efficient, transparent and trustworthy form of trading for retail traders in the future.
Prior to the 2024 presidential election, Mark Cuban endorsed Kamala Harris for president, describing her as the only candidate in "founder mode"—a term used to describe hands-on business leaders. Alongside LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Cuban launched "Business Leaders for Harris", a group of executives supporting Harris for president. The group included Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, former Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault and Box CEO Aaron Levie. Cuban also expressed interest in serving as the head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) if Harris were elected and offered himself for the position. He declined to be vetted as Harris's running mate.
In October 2024, Cuban joined Kamala Harris on the campaign trail for the 2024 election, first making an appearance alongside her in Wisconsin on October 17. At his first appearance he mainly spoke about Donald Trump's tariff policies, warning that they will drive up prices and "ruin Christmas". Adding onto this he compared the former president to the Grinch, stating "Donald Trump is the Grinch that wants to steal your Christmas. The Grinch doesn't understand how tariffs work... The Grinch is the one that's going to be putting these small business out of business."
Fallen Patriot Fund
Cuban started the Fallen Patriot Fund to help families of U.S. military personnel killed or injured during the Iraq War, personally matching the first $1 million in contributions with funds from the Mark Cuban Foundation, which is run by his brother Brian Cuban.
Speculation of a presidential run
In September 2015, Cuban stated in an interview that running for president was "a fun idea to toss around", and that, if he was running in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, he "could beat both Trump and Clinton". This was interpreted by many media outlets as indication that Cuban was considering running, but he clarified soon afterward that he had no intention to do so.
In October 2015, Cuban posted on Twitter, "Maybe I'll run for Speaker of the House." At the time, there was no clear front-runner to replace the outgoing John Boehner (the Speaker of the House does not have to be a member of Congress).
Cuban told Meet the Press in May 2016 that he would be open to being Clinton's running mate in the election, though he would seek to alter some of her positions in order to do so. In the same interview, the self-described "fiercely independent" Cuban also said that he would consider running as Republican nominee Trump's running mate after having a meeting with Trump about Trump's positions on the issues and suggesting solutions. Cuban also described Trump as "that friend that you just shake your head at. He's that guy who'd get drunk and fall over all the time, or just says dumb shit all the time, but he's your friend." On July 21, 2016, Cuban appeared on a live segment on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert entitled "Gloves Off: Mark Cuban Edition" in which he mocked Trump, including referencing the Trump companies' multiple bankruptcies, the failed Trump University program, and questioning the size of Trump's actual net worth.
In a September 2016 interview with NPR, Cuban effectively positioned himself to support Clinton. He posited that the best strategy to beat Trump was to attack his insecurities, especially that of his intellect. He also added that Trump is the least qualified to be president and is not informed about policies.
In September 2016, during a post-presidential debate interview, Cuban criticized Trump's characterization that paying the minimum required taxes 'is smart' and criticized Trump for not paying back into the system that allowed him to amass such wealth.
In October 2017, Cuban said that he would "definitely" run for president if he was single. Later that month, Cuban said that if he ran for president in 2020, it would be as a Republican, and described himself as "socially a centrist ... but very fiscally conservative". It had also been speculated that he could have challenged president Donald Trump in 2020 as a Democrat. However, in a March 2019 interview with the New York Daily News, Cuban stated that he was "strongly considering running" for president as an independent candidate. In May 2019, Cuban said: "It would take the perfect storm for me to do it. There's some things that could open the door, but I'm not projecting or predicting it right now."
In a June 2020 interview with CNN and former Obama advisor David Axelrod, Cuban revealed that he had seriously considered running for president that year as an independent candidate. He went so far as to commission a national poll, which, according to Cuban, showed he would only receive 25 percent of the vote in a hypothetical matchup with President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Cuban also said that the poll showed his candidacy would have pulled votes from both Trump and Biden.
Legal issues
NBA fines
Cuban's ownership has been the source of extensive media attention and controversy involving league policies.
Cuban has been fined by the NBA at least $1.665 million across 13 incidents, primarily for critical statements about the league and its referees. In a June 30, 2006, interview, Mavericks player Dirk Nowitzki said about Cuban:
He's got to learn how to control himself as well as the players do. We can't lose our temper all the time on the court or off the court, and I think he's got to learn that, too. He's got to improve in that area and not yell at the officials the whole game. I don't think that helps us ... He sits right there by our bench. I think it's a bit much. But we all told him this before. It's nothing new. The game starts, and he's already yelling at them. So he needs to know how to control himself a little.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Cuban said that he matches NBA fines with charitable donations of equal amounts. In a nationally publicized incident in 2002, he criticized the league's manager of officials, Ed T. Rush, saying that he "wouldn't be able to manage a Dairy Queen." Dairy Queen management took offense to Cuban's comments and invited him to manage a Dairy Queen restaurant for a day. Cuban accepted the company's invitation and worked for a day at a Dairy Queen in Coppell, Texas, where fans lined up in the street to get a Blizzard from the owner of the Mavericks.
During the 2005–06 NBA season, Cuban started a booing campaign when former Mavericks player Michael Finley returned to play against the Mavericks as a member of the San Antonio Spurs. In a playoff series between the Mavericks and Spurs, Cuban cursed Spurs forward Bruce Bowen and was fined $25,000 by the NBA for rushing onto the court and criticizing NBA officials. After the 2006 NBA Finals, Cuban was fined $250,000 by the NBA for repeated misconduct following the Mavericks' loss to the Miami Heat in Game Five of the 2006 NBA Finals.
In February 2007, Cuban publicly criticized NBA Finals MVP Dwyane Wade and declared that he would get fined if he made any comments about what he thought really happened in the 2006 NBA Finals.
On January 16, 2009, the league fined Cuban $25,000 for yelling at Denver Nuggets player J. R. Smith at the end of the first half on a Mavericks-at-Nuggets game played on January 13. Cuban was apparently offended that Smith had thrown an elbow that barely missed Mavericks forward Antoine Wright. Cuban offered to match the fine with a donation to a charity of Smith's choosing. Cuban stated that if he doesn't hear from Smith, then he will donate the money to the NHL Players' Association Goals and Dreams Fund in the names of Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore. In May 2009, Cuban made a reference to the Denver Nuggets being "thugs" after a loss to the Nuggets in game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals. The statement was geared towards the Nuggets and their fans. As he passed Kenyon Martin's mother, who was seated near Cuban as he left the arena, he pointed at her and said, "that includes your son." This controversial comment revisited media attention on Cuban yet again. Cuban issued an apology the next day referencing the poor treatment of away fans in arenas around the league. The league issued a statement stating that they would not fine him.
On May 22, 2010, Cuban was fined $100,000 for comments he made during a television interview about trying to sign LeBron James.
Despite his history, he was notably silent during the Mavericks' 2011 championship playoff run.
Despite Cuban's history with David Stern, he believed the NBA Commissioner would leave a lasting legacy "of a focus on growth and recognizing that the NBA is in the entertainment business and that it's a global product, not just a local product. Whatever platforms that took us to, he was ready to go. He wasn't protective at all. He was wide open. I think that was great."
On January 18, 2014, Cuban was once again fined $100,000 for confronting referees and using inappropriate language toward them. As with previous fines, Cuban confirmed that he would match the fine with a donation to charity, however, with the condition that he reaches two million followers on his Twitter account. Cuban also jokingly commented that he could not let Stern leave without a proper farewell.
On February 21, 2018, Cuban was fined $600,000 by the NBA for stating that the Dallas Mavericks should "tank for the rest of the season." Commissioner Adam Silver stated that the fine was "for public statements detrimental to the NBA."
On March 6, 2020, Cuban was fined $500,000 by the NBA for "public criticism and detrimental conduct regarding NBA officiating", according to the league.
SEC insider trading allegation
On November 17, 2008, it was reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil suit against Cuban relating to alleged insider trading in the shares of Mamma.com, now known as Copernic. A stock dilution occurred shortly after a trade in June 2004, giving hints of inside knowledge at the time of the trade, and Cuban allegedly was saved from a loss of $750,000. The SEC stated that Cuban ordered the sale of his holdings in Mamma.com after he had been confidentially approached by the company to participate in a transaction likely to dilute shares of current shareholders. Cuban disputed the charges, saying he had not agreed to keep the information secret. On his blog, Cuban contended the allegations were false and that the investigation was "a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion". DealBook, a section of The New York Times, reported through an anonymous source that Cuban believed the investigation was motivated by an SEC employee having taken offense to his interest in possibly distributing the film Loose Change.
In July 2009, the U.S. District Court dismissed the charges against Cuban, and the SEC appealed. In September 2010, an appeals court said that the district court had erred and that further proceedings would be necessary to address the merits of the suit.
A federal jury in Texas found in favor of Cuban on October 16, 2013. The nine-member jury issued the verdict after deliberating 3 hours and 35 minutes.
In March 2014, Cuban was on air at CNBC criticizing high-frequency trading (HFT). Those against HFT, such as Cuban, believe the technology is equivalent to automated insider trading.
Sexual harassment allegation
In a March 6, 2018, article, Willamette Week reported on an alleged April 2011 incident between Cuban and a female patron of a Portland, Oregon bar called the Barrel Room. The woman told Portland police that Cuban sexually groped her while she posed for pictures with him. She submitted seven photographs, two of which Portland Police Detective Brendan McGuire referred to as "significant". Cuban denied the allegations, and his attorney provided the results of a polygraph test taken by Cuban and written statements from two medical doctors stating that the actions described were anatomically improbable. The Portland District Attorney's office declined to prosecute, citing a lack of concrete evidence to support the claim and the woman's preference not to proceed with charges, and concluding that "no crime can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt". The NBA announced on March 8, 2018, that it was reviewing the matter.
Personal life
Cuban has two brothers, Brian and Jeff.
In September 2002, Cuban married Tiffany Stewart in a private ceremony in Barbados. They have two daughters, born in 2003 and 2006, and a son born in 2009. They live in a 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m2) mansion in the Preston Hollow area of Dallas, Texas.
Cuban is a vegetarian. He is a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Philanthropy
In 2003, Cuban founded the Fallen Patriot Fund to help families of U.S. military personnel killed or injured during the Iraq War.
In June 2015, Cuban made a $5 million donation to Indiana University Bloomington for the "Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology", which was built inside Assembly Hall, the school's basketball arena.
In 2020, Cuban picked up homeless former NBA player Delonte West from a gas station in Dallas. He paid for a hotel room for West along with his treatment at a drug rehabilitation center.
Awards and honors
The Guinness Book of Records credits Cuban with the "largest single e-commerce transaction" after purchasing a Gulfstream V jet for $40 million over the internet in October 1999.
In 2024, Cuban was included in the Time 100 Most Influential People 2024.
Business
1998 Kelley School of Business Alumni Award – Distinguished Entrepreneur: 1998
2011 D Magazine CEO of the Year
2020/2021 Texas Business Hall of Fame
Media
2011 Outstanding Team ESPY Award as owner of the Dallas Mavericks
NBA
2011 NBA Champion as owner of the Dallas Mavericks
Filmography
Film
Television
Bibliography
How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It. Diversion Publishing. 2011. ISBN 978-1626810914
Let's Go, Mavs!. Mascot Books. 2007. ISBN 978-1932888720
See also
List of celebrities by net worth
References
External links
Blog
Appearances on C-SPAN
Mark Cuban at IMDb
Mark Cuban collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Mark Cuban collected news and commentary at The Guardian
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Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American businessman and television personality. He is the former principal owner and current minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and co-owner of 2929 Entertainment. From 2012 to 2025, he was also one of the main "sharks" on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank. As of May 2025, Forbes has estimated his net worth to be US$6 billion.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cuban was involved in ventures from a young age, from selling garbage bags to running newspapers during a strike. He graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and embarked on a diverse business career that included founding MicroSolutions and Broadcast.com, both of which he sold at substantial profits. Cuban's investments span various industries, from technology and media to sports and entertainment. He has been a prominent figure in the NBA, known for his active involvement with the Mavericks (with which he won the 2011 NBA Championship as owner) and disputes with the league's management. In his side ventures, Cuban has been involved in philanthropy, political commentary, and reality television.
Early life and education
Cuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 31, 1958. His father, Norton Cuban, was an automobile upholsterer. Cuban described his mother, Shirley (née Feldman), as someone with "a different job or different career goal every other week."
Cuban is Jewish, and grew up in Mt. Lebanon, an affluent suburb of Pittsburgh, in a working-class family. His paternal grandfather changed the surname from "Chabenisky" to "Cuban" after his family emigrated from Russian Empire (Modern territory of Ukraine) through Ellis Island. His maternal grandfather was a Bessarabian Jewish immigrant and his maternal grandmother was from Lithuania.
Cuban first ventured into business at age of 12. He sold garbage bags to pay for a pair of expensive sneakers. A few years later, he earned money by selling stamps and coins. At age 16, Cuban took advantage of a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette strike by running newspapers from Cleveland to Pittsburgh.
Instead of completing his senior year of high school, he enrolled as a full-time student at the University of Pittsburgh, where he became a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. After one year at the University of Pittsburgh, Cuban transferred to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he graduated from the Kelley School of Business in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in management. He chose Indiana's Kelley School of Business without even visiting the campus because it "had the least expensive tuition of all the business schools on the top 10 list". He had various business ventures during college, including a bar, disco lessons, and a chain letter.
After graduating, Cuban returned to Pittsburgh and took a job with Mellon Bank, where he immersed himself in the study of machines and networking.
Business career
On July 7, 1982, Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas, where he first found a job as a bartender for a Greenville Avenue bar called Elan and then as a salesperson for Your Business Software, one of the earliest PC software retailers in Dallas. He was fired less than a year later, after meeting with a client to procure new business instead of opening the store.
Cuban co-founded MicroSolutions with support from his previous customers at Your Business Software. Initially, MicroSolutions operated as a systems integrator and software reseller. The company was an early proponent of technologies such as Carbon Copy, Lotus Notes, and CompuServe. One of the company's largest clients was Perot Systems. The company grew to more than $30 million in revenue, and in 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions to CompuServe—then a subsidiary of H&R Block—for $6 million
(over $14.7 million today). He made approximately $2 million after taxes on the deal.
Audionet and Broadcast.com
In 1995, Cuban and fellow Indiana University alumnus Todd Wagner joined Audionet (founded in 1989 by Chris Jaeb, who retained 10% of the company), combining their mutual interest in Indiana Hoosier college basketball and webcasting. With a single server and an ISDN line, Audionet became Broadcast.com in 1998. By 1999, Broadcast.com had grown to 330 employees and $13.5 million in revenue for the second quarter. In 1999, Broadcast.com helped launch the first live-streamed Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. That year, during the dot com boom, Broadcast.com was acquired by Yahoo! for $5.7 billion in Yahoo! stock.
Yahoo!'s costly purchase of Broadcast.com is now regarded as one of the worst internet acquisitions of all time. Broadcast.com and Yahoo!'s other broadcasting services were discontinued within a few years after the acquisition. Cuban has repeatedly described himself as very lucky to have sold the company before the dot-com bubble burst. However, he also emphasized that he hedged against the Yahoo! shares he received from the sale and would have lost most of his fortune if he had not done so.
Cuban continues to work with Wagner in another venture, 2929 Entertainment, which provides vertically integrated production and distribution of films and video.
On September 24, 2003, the firm purchased Landmark Theatres, a chain of 58 arthouse movie theaters. The company is also responsible for the updated version of the TV show Star Search, which was broadcast on CBS. 2929 Entertainment released Bubble, a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh, in 2006.
Investments in startups
Cuban has also assisted ventures in the social software and distributed networking industries. He was an owner of IceRocket, a search engine that scours the blogosphere for content.
In 2005, Cuban invested $1.7 million in file-sharing company Red Swoosh, co-founded by Travis Kalanick, providing much-needed capital to the company after the early 2000s recession. Red Swoosh was acquired by Akamai for $19 million in 2007. Kalanick later approached Cuban in 2009 to invest in his next venture Uber at a $10 million valuation. Cuban proposed a $5 million valuation, but never heard back from Kalanick.
He was also an investor in Weblogs, Inc., which was acquired by AOL.
In 2005, Cuban invested in Brondell Inc., a San Francisco startup making a high-tech toilet seat called a Swash that works like a bidet but mounts on a standard toilet. "People tend to approach technology the same way, whether it's in front of them, or behind them", Cuban joked. He also invested in Goowy Media Inc., a San Diego Internet software startup. In April 2006, Sirius Satellite Radio announced that Cuban would host his own weekly radio talk show, Mark Cuban's Radio Maverick. However, the show has not materialized.
In July 2006, Cuban financed Sharesleuth.com, a website created by former St. Louis Post-Dispatch investigative reporter Christopher Carey to uncover fraud and misinformation in publicly traded companies. Experimenting with a new business model for making online journalism financially viable, Cuban disclosed that he would take positions in the shares of companies mentioned in Sharesleuth.com in advance of publication. Business and legal analysts questioned the appropriateness of shorting a stock before making public pronouncements which are likely to result in losses in that stock's value. Cuban insisted that the practice is legal in view of full disclosure.
In April 2007, Cuban partnered with Mascot Books to publish his first children's book, Let's Go, Mavs!. In November 2011, he wrote a 30,000-word e-book (60 to 120 pages), How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It, which he described as "a way to get motivated".
In October 2008, Cuban started Bailoutsleuth.com as a grassroots, online portal for oversight over the U.S. government's $700 billion "bailout" of financial institutions. It no longer exists as a website.
In September 2010, Cuban provided an undisclosed amount of venture capital to store-front analytics company Motionloft. According to the company's CEO Jon Mills, he cold-emailed Cuban on a whim with the business proposition and said Cuban quickly responded that he would like to hear more. Mills credited that sentence for launching the company. In November 2013, several investors questioned Cuban about Mills' representation of a pending acquisition of Motionloft. Cuban denied an acquisition was in place. Mills was terminated as CEO of Motionloft by stockholders on December 1, 2013, and in February 2014 was arrested by the FBI and charged with wire fraud; it was alleged that Mills misrepresented to investors that Motionloft was going to be acquired by Cisco. Cuban has gone on record to state that the technology, which at least in part is meant to serve the commercial real estate industry, is "game changing" for tenants.
In 2019, Cuban, Ashton Kutcher, Steve Watts and Watts' wife Angela acquired a 50% stake in Veldskoen Shoes' United States business. In 2021, Cuban, Pantera Capital, BlockTower, Hashed, Cadenza Ventures (backed by 100x Group), CMS and QCP Capital backed a layer-2 decentralized exchange protocol, Injective Protocol and their CEO Eric Chen. Also in late 2021, Cuban purchased the entire town of Mustang, Texas, a 77-acre town in Navarro County. He told the Dallas Morning News that a friend needed to sell it, and "I don't know what if anything I will do with it."
Shark Tank
Cuban has been a "shark" investor on the ABC reality program Shark Tank since season two in 2011.
As of May 2015, he has invested in 85 deals across 111 Shark Tank episodes, for a total of $19.9 million. In 2022, Cuban stated that his portfolio of Shark Tank investments had made a net loss, saying "I've gotten beat".
The actual numbers may vary because the investment happens after the handshake deal on live television and after due diligence is performed to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in the pitch room. For instance, Hy-Conn, a manufacturer of fire hose adapters, after agreeing to a deal of $1.25 million for 100% of the company with Cuban, did not go through with the deal.
Cuban's top three deals, all with at least $1 million invested, are Ten Thirty One Productions, Rugged Maniac Obstacle Race, and BeatBox Beverages.
Since Cuban joined the show in 2011, the ratings for Shark Tank have increased, and also during his tenure, the show has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Structured Reality Program (from 2014 to 2017). Before the category came into existence it won the award for outstanding reality program for two consecutive seasons (2012 to 2013), all of these awards came after he joined. Cuban was the richest of all Sharks to appear on the show, until Michael Rubin and Todd Graves came onto the show in seasons 15 and 16 respectively. He announced in November 2023 that the show's 16th season would be his last.
Magnolia Pictures
Cuban owns film distributor Magnolia Pictures. Through Magnolia, he financed Redacted, a fictional dramatization based on the 2006 Mahmudiyah killings, written and directed by Brian De Palma. In September 2007, Cuban, in his capacity as owner of Magnolia Pictures, removed disturbing photographs from the concluding moments of the film Redacted, citing copyrights/permissions issues.
In April 2011, Cuban put Magnolia Pictures and Landmark Theatres up for sale, but said, "If we don't get the price and premium we want, we are happy to continue to make money from the properties."
Cryptocurrency
Cuban has invested in the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, as well as accepting the particular cryptocurrency as a method of payment for Dallas Mavericks merchandise and tickets since at least early 2021. After being asked by CNBC for his thoughts on the payment method, Cuban responded, "It's a medium that can be used for the acquisition of goods and services. The community for doge is the strongest when it comes to using it as a medium of exchange."
After Voyager Digital, a cryptocurrency lender, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022, Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks were named in a class-action lawsuit that alleged that Voyager Digital was a Ponzi scheme the following month due to Cuban's promotion of Voyager and Voyager's sponsorship with the team. In February 2022, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a lawsuit against Bitconnect that the Securities Act of 1933 extends to targeted solicitation using social media.
In September 2023, Cuban's MetaMask cryptocurrency wallet was drained by scammers. As a result, he had lost about $870,000 worth of tokens.
Cost Plus Drugs
In January 2022, Cuban launched Cost Plus Drugs, with the aim of lowering generic drug prices for end consumers in the U.S. Cuban started the company after receiving an email from a radiologist named Alex Oshmyansky, who pitched the idea of an online-based pharmacy. He often refers to Cost Plus Drugs as a critique and disruptor of the US healthcare system, including offering transparent, direct-to-consumer pricing and reducing the role of pharmacy benefit managers.
Sports businesses
Dallas Mavericks
On January 4, 2000, Cuban purchased a majority stake in the NBA's Dallas Mavericks for $285 million from H. Ross Perot Jr.
In the 20 years before Cuban bought the team, the Mavericks won only 40% of their games and had a playoff record of 21–32. In the 10 years following, the team won 69% of their regular season games and reached the playoffs in each of those seasons except for one. The Mavericks' playoff record with Cuban is 49–57, including their first trip to the NBA Finals in 2006, where they lost to the Miami Heat.
NBA team owners historically play more passive roles and watch basketball games from skyboxes; Cuban, however, sits alongside fans while donning team jerseys. Cuban travels in his private airplane—a Gulfstream V—to attend road games.
In May 2010, H. Ross Perot Jr., who retained 5% ownership, filed a lawsuit against Cuban, alleging the franchise was insolvent or in imminent danger of insolvency. In June 2010, Cuban responded in a court filing maintaining Perot is wrongly seeking money to offset some $100 million in losses on the Victory Park real estate development. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2011, due in part to Cuban asserting proper management of the team due to its recent victory in the 2011 NBA Finals. In 2014, the 5th Circuit Court affirmed that decision on appeal. Following his initial defeat, Perot attempted to shut out Mavericks fans from use of the parking lots he controlled near the American Airlines Center.
In January 2018, Cuban announced the Mavericks would be accepting Bitcoin as payment for tickets in the following season. On March 4, 2021, Cuban announced the Mavericks would begin accepting Dogecoin as payment for both merchandise as well as tickets to games.
In early 2021, he decided to stop playing the National Anthem at Dallas Mavericks games in order to "respect those whose believed the anthem did not represent them." He also supported the movement as far back as late 2020. The NBA responded by requiring every team to play it, citing it as their "long-standing policy". Cuban did not complain, and ended up playing the anthem.
On November 28, 2023, The Dallas Morning News reported that Cuban was in the process of selling his share in the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson. On December 27, 2023, the NBA approved the sale of a controlling interest of 73% in the Dallas Mavericks to Adelson and Sivan and Patrick Dumont. Cuban has said he earned an estimated $3.5 billion from the sale.
Major League Baseball
Cuban has repeatedly expressed interest in owning a Major League Baseball franchise and has unsuccessfully attempted to purchase at least three franchises. In 2008, he submitted an initial bid of $1.3 billion to buy the Chicago Cubs and was invited to participate in a second round of bidding along with several other potential ownership groups. Cuban was not selected to participate in the final bidding process in January 2009. In August 2010, Cuban actively bid to buy the Texas Rangers with Jeffrey L. Beck. Cuban stopped bids after 1 a.m., having placed bids totaling almost $600 million. He had outbid a competing ownership group led by ex-pitcher and Rangers executive Nolan Ryan, but lost the deal before the Rangers played the San Francisco Giants in the 2010 World Series.
In January 2012, Cuban placed an initial bid for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but was eliminated before the second round of bidding. Cuban felt that the value of the Dodgers' TV rights deal drove the price of the franchise too high. He had previously said that he would not be interested in buying the franchise at $1 billion, telling the Los Angeles Times in November 2011 "I don't think the Dodgers franchise is worth twice what the Rangers are worth." However, as the bidding process drew near many speculated that the sale would surpass $1.5 billion, with Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reporting on Twitter that at least one bid in the $1–1.5 billion range was placed in the initial round of the bidding process. Ultimately, the Dodgers sold for $2.15 billion to Guggenheim Baseball Management.
Cuban also previously expressed interest in becoming a minority owner of the New York Mets after owner Fred Wilpon announced in 2011 that he was planning to sell up to a 25% stake in the team.
Cuban has wanted to purchase his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates, but was rebuffed by then owner Kevin McClatchy in 2005.
Other sports businesses
In 2005, Cuban expressed interest in buying the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. In 2006, Cuban joined an investment group along with Dan Marino, Kevin Millevoi, Andy Murstein, and Walnut Capital principals Gregg Perelman and Todd Reidbord to attempt to acquire the Penguins. The franchise ultimately rejected the group's bid when team owners Mario Lemieux and Ronald Burkle took the team off the market.
At WWE's Survivor Series in 2003, Cuban was involved in a staged altercation with Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff and Raw wrestler Randy Orton. On December 7, 2009, Cuban acted as the guest host of Raw, getting revenge on Orton when he was the guest referee in Orton's match against Kofi Kingston, giving Kingston a fast count victory. He then announced that Orton would face Kingston at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. At the end of the show, Cuban was slammed through a table by the number one contender for the WWE Championship, Sheamus.
On September 12, 2007, Cuban said that he was in talks with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to create a mixed martial arts company that would compete with UFC. He is now a bondholder of Zuffa, which was formerly UFC's parent company.
Cuban followed up his intentions by organizing "HDNet Fights", a mixed martial arts promotion which airs exclusively on HDNet and premiered on October 13, 2007, with a card headlined by a fight between Erik Paulson and Jeff Ford as well as fights featuring veterans Drew Fickett and Justin Eilers.
Since 2009, Cuban has been a panelist at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
In April 2010, Cuban loaned the newly formed United Football League (UFL) $5 million. He did not own a franchise, and he was not involved in day-to-day operations of the league nor of any of its teams. In January 2011, he filed a federal lawsuit against the UFL for their failure to repay the loan by the October 6, 2010, deadline.
In June 2015, Cuban invested in the esports betting platform Unikrn.
In February 2016, Cuban purchased a principal ownership stake in the Professional Futsal League.
Political activity
Cuban is an admirer of author Ayn Rand. About Rand's novel The Fountainhead, he said that it "was incredibly motivating to me. It encouraged me to think as an individual, take risks to reach my goals, and responsibility for my successes and failures. I loved it." His political views have leaned toward libertarianism. He held a position on the centrist Unity08 political organization's advisory council. Despite leaning towards libertarianism, Cuban posted an entry on his blog claiming paying more taxes to be the most patriotic thing someone can do.
In 1996, Cuban donated $6,000 to Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. In 2002, Cuban donated $1,000 to Democratic California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.
On February 8, 2008, Cuban voiced his support for the draft Bloomberg movement attempting to convince New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run in the U.S. presidential election of 2008 on his blog. Cuban concluded a post lamenting the current state of U.S. politics: "Are you listening, Mayor Bloomberg? For less than the cost of opening a tent pole movie, you can change the status quo." He eventually voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 election.
In November 2012, in response to Donald Trump offering President Obama $5 million to a charity of President Obama's choosing if he released passport applications and college transcripts to the public, Cuban offered Trump $1 million to a charity of Trump's choosing if Trump shaved his head.
On December 19, 2012, Cuban donated $250,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation to support its work on patent reform. Part of his donation funded a new title for EFF's staff attorney Julie Samuels: The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents.
At the Code/Media conference in February 2015, Cuban said of net neutrality that "having [the FCC] overseeing the Internet scares the shit out of me".
Cuban formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for president at a July 30, 2016, rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During that campaign stop, Cuban said of Republican nominee Donald Trump, "You know what we call a person like that in Pittsburgh? A jagoff ... Is there any bigger jagoff in the world than Donald Trump?"
On November 22, 2016, Cuban met with the then President-elect Trump's key advisor Steve Bannon. In October 2024, Cuban said on the All-In Podcast that Trump had reached out to him for a position during his administration.
During an appearance on an episode of Hannity in May 2020, Cuban voiced his support for former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
On February 2, 2021, Cuban joined Reddit's WallStreetBets "Ask Me Anything" forum with millions of members and fielded user questions related to the GameStop short squeeze. In the AMA session, Cuban publicly called the trust of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission into question as well as the capabilities of zero commission brokerage firms, like Robinhood, that restricted retail traders from purchasing GameStop shares and other shorted stocks which he said crippled demand. Cuban's advice to Reddit users was to hold GameStop shares if they could afford it in anticipation of additional short sales by Wall Street firms, but ultimately acknowledged that the odds were stacked against them and to use it as a learning experience. He offered insight into his trading technique suggesting that traders know why they are buying something and to "HODL" (hold on for dear life) until they learn that something has changed. Cuban noted a need for policy change to better support retail traders, credited the WallStreetBets community for leading the charge, and expressed optimism about blockchain trading as a more efficient, transparent and trustworthy form of trading for retail traders in the future.
Prior to the 2024 presidential election, Mark Cuban endorsed Kamala Harris for president, describing her as the only candidate in "founder mode"—a term used to describe hands-on business leaders. Alongside LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Cuban launched "Business Leaders for Harris", a group of executives supporting Harris for president. The group included Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, former Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault and Box CEO Aaron Levie. Cuban also expressed interest in serving as the head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) if Harris were elected and offered himself for the position. He declined to be vetted as Harris's running mate.
In October 2024, Cuban joined Kamala Harris on the campaign trail for the 2024 election, first making an appearance alongside her in Wisconsin on October 17. At his first appearance he mainly spoke about Donald Trump's tariff policies, warning that they will drive up prices and "ruin Christmas". Adding onto this he compared the former president to the Grinch, stating "Donald Trump is the Grinch that wants to steal your Christmas. The Grinch doesn't understand how tariffs work... The Grinch is the one that's going to be putting these small business out of business."
Fallen Patriot Fund
Cuban started the Fallen Patriot Fund to help families of U.S. military personnel killed or injured during the Iraq War, personally matching the first $1 million in contributions with funds from the Mark Cuban Foundation, which is run by his brother Brian Cuban.
Speculation of a presidential run
In September 2015, Cuban stated in an interview that running for president was "a fun idea to toss around", and that, if he was running in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, he "could beat both Trump and Clinton". This was interpreted by many media outlets as indication that Cuban was considering running, but he clarified soon afterward that he had no intention to do so.
In October 2015, Cuban posted on Twitter, "Maybe I'll run for Speaker of the House." At the time, there was no clear front-runner to replace the outgoing John Boehner (the Speaker of the House does not have to be a member of Congress).
Cuban told Meet the Press in May 2016 that he would be open to being Clinton's running mate in the election, though he would seek to alter some of her positions in order to do so. In the same interview, the self-described "fiercely independent" Cuban also said that he would consider running as Republican nominee Trump's running mate after having a meeting with Trump about Trump's positions on the issues and suggesting solutions. Cuban also described Trump as "that friend that you just shake your head at. He's that guy who'd get drunk and fall over all the time, or just says dumb shit all the time, but he's your friend." On July 21, 2016, Cuban appeared on a live segment on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert entitled "Gloves Off: Mark Cuban Edition" in which he mocked Trump, including referencing the Trump companies' multiple bankruptcies, the failed Trump University program, and questioning the size of Trump's actual net worth.
In a September 2016 interview with NPR, Cuban effectively positioned himself to support Clinton. He posited that the best strategy to beat Trump was to attack his insecurities, especially that of his intellect. He also added that Trump is the least qualified to be president and is not informed about policies.
In September 2016, during a post-presidential debate interview, Cuban criticized Trump's characterization that paying the minimum required taxes 'is smart' and criticized Trump for not paying back into the system that allowed him to amass such wealth.
In October 2017, Cuban said that he would "definitely" run for president if he was single. Later that month, Cuban said that if he ran for president in 2020, it would be as a Republican, and described himself as "socially a centrist ... but very fiscally conservative". It had also been speculated that he could have challenged president Donald Trump in 2020 as a Democrat. However, in a March 2019 interview with the New York Daily News, Cuban stated that he was "strongly considering running" for president as an independent candidate. In May 2019, Cuban said: "It would take the perfect storm for me to do it. There's some things that could open the door, but I'm not projecting or predicting it right now."
In a June 2020 interview with CNN and former Obama advisor David Axelrod, Cuban revealed that he had seriously considered running for president that year as an independent candidate. He went so far as to commission a national poll, which, according to Cuban, showed he would only receive 25 percent of the vote in a hypothetical matchup with President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Cuban also said that the poll showed his candidacy would have pulled votes from both Trump and Biden.
Legal issues
NBA fines
Cuban's ownership has been the source of extensive media attention and controversy involving league policies.
Cuban has been fined by the NBA at least $1.665 million across 13 incidents, primarily for critical statements about the league and its referees. In a June 30, 2006, interview, Mavericks player Dirk Nowitzki said about Cuban:
He's got to learn how to control himself as well as the players do. We can't lose our temper all the time on the court or off the court, and I think he's got to learn that, too. He's got to improve in that area and not yell at the officials the whole game. I don't think that helps us ... He sits right there by our bench. I think it's a bit much. But we all told him this before. It's nothing new. The game starts, and he's already yelling at them. So he needs to know how to control himself a little.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Cuban said that he matches NBA fines with charitable donations of equal amounts. In a nationally publicized incident in 2002, he criticized the league's manager of officials, Ed T. Rush, saying that he "wouldn't be able to manage a Dairy Queen." Dairy Queen management took offense to Cuban's comments and invited him to manage a Dairy Queen restaurant for a day. Cuban accepted the company's invitation and worked for a day at a Dairy Queen in Coppell, Texas, where fans lined up in the street to get a Blizzard from the owner of the Mavericks.
During the 2005–06 NBA season, Cuban started a booing campaign when former Mavericks player Michael Finley returned to play against the Mavericks as a member of the San Antonio Spurs. In a playoff series between the Mavericks and Spurs, Cuban cursed Spurs forward Bruce Bowen and was fined $25,000 by the NBA for rushing onto the court and criticizing NBA officials. After the 2006 NBA Finals, Cuban was fined $250,000 by the NBA for repeated misconduct following the Mavericks' loss to the Miami Heat in Game Five of the 2006 NBA Finals.
In February 2007, Cuban publicly criticized NBA Finals MVP Dwyane Wade and declared that he would get fined if he made any comments about what he thought really happened in the 2006 NBA Finals.
On January 16, 2009, the league fined Cuban $25,000 for yelling at Denver Nuggets player J. R. Smith at the end of the first half on a Mavericks-at-Nuggets game played on January 13. Cuban was apparently offended that Smith had thrown an elbow that barely missed Mavericks forward Antoine Wright. Cuban offered to match the fine with a donation to a charity of Smith's choosing. Cuban stated that if he doesn't hear from Smith, then he will donate the money to the NHL Players' Association Goals and Dreams Fund in the names of Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore. In May 2009, Cuban made a reference to the Denver Nuggets being "thugs" after a loss to the Nuggets in game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals. The statement was geared towards the Nuggets and their fans. As he passed Kenyon Martin's mother, who was seated near Cuban as he left the arena, he pointed at her and said, "that includes your son." This controversial comment revisited media attention on Cuban yet again. Cuban issued an apology the next day referencing the poor treatment of away fans in arenas around the league. The league issued a statement stating that they would not fine him.
On May 22, 2010, Cuban was fined $100,000 for comments he made during a television interview about trying to sign LeBron James.
Despite his history, he was notably silent during the Mavericks' 2011 championship playoff run.
Despite Cuban's history with David Stern, he believed the NBA Commissioner would leave a lasting legacy "of a focus on growth and recognizing that the NBA is in the entertainment business and that it's a global product, not just a local product. Whatever platforms that took us to, he was ready to go. He wasn't protective at all. He was wide open. I think that was great."
On January 18, 2014, Cuban was once again fined $100,000 for confronting referees and using inappropriate language toward them. As with previous fines, Cuban confirmed that he would match the fine with a donation to charity, however, with the condition that he reaches two million followers on his Twitter account. Cuban also jokingly commented that he could not let Stern leave without a proper farewell.
On February 21, 2018, Cuban was fined $600,000 by the NBA for stating that the Dallas Mavericks should "tank for the rest of the season." Commissioner Adam Silver stated that the fine was "for public statements detrimental to the NBA."
On March 6, 2020, Cuban was fined $500,000 by the NBA for "public criticism and detrimental conduct regarding NBA officiating", according to the league.
SEC insider trading allegation
On November 17, 2008, it was reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil suit against Cuban relating to alleged insider trading in the shares of Mamma.com, now known as Copernic. A stock dilution occurred shortly after a trade in June 2004, giving hints of inside knowledge at the time of the trade, and Cuban allegedly was saved from a loss of $750,000. The SEC stated that Cuban ordered the sale of his holdings in Mamma.com after he had been confidentially approached by the company to participate in a transaction likely to dilute shares of current shareholders. Cuban disputed the charges, saying he had not agreed to keep the information secret. On his blog, Cuban contended the allegations were false and that the investigation was "a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion". DealBook, a section of The New York Times, reported through an anonymous source that Cuban believed the investigation was motivated by an SEC employee having taken offense to his interest in possibly distributing the film Loose Change.
In July 2009, the U.S. District Court dismissed the charges against Cuban, and the SEC appealed. In September 2010, an appeals court said that the district court had erred and that further proceedings would be necessary to address the merits of the suit.
A federal jury in Texas found in favor of Cuban on October 16, 2013. The nine-member jury issued the verdict after deliberating 3 hours and 35 minutes.
In March 2014, Cuban was on air at CNBC criticizing high-frequency trading (HFT). Those against HFT, such as Cuban, believe the technology is equivalent to automated insider trading.
Sexual harassment allegation
In a March 6, 2018, article, Willamette Week reported on an alleged April 2011 incident between Cuban and a female patron of a Portland, Oregon bar called the Barrel Room. The woman told Portland police that Cuban sexually groped her while she posed for pictures with him. She submitted seven photographs, two of which Portland Police Detective Brendan McGuire referred to as "significant". Cuban denied the allegations, and his attorney provided the results of a polygraph test taken by Cuban and written statements from two medical doctors stating that the actions described were anatomically improbable. The Portland District Attorney's office declined to prosecute, citing a lack of concrete evidence to support the claim and the woman's preference not to proceed with charges, and concluding that "no crime can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt". The NBA announced on March 8, 2018, that it was reviewing the matter.
Personal life
Cuban has two brothers, Brian and Jeff.
In September 2002, Cuban married Tiffany Stewart in a private ceremony in Barbados. They have two daughters, born in 2003 and 2006, and a son born in 2009. They live in a 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m2) mansion in the Preston Hollow area of Dallas, Texas.
Cuban is a vegetarian. He is a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Philanthropy
In 2003, Cuban founded the Fallen Patriot Fund to help families of U.S. military personnel killed or injured during the Iraq War.
In June 2015, Cuban made a $5 million donation to Indiana University Bloomington for the "Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology", which was built inside Assembly Hall, the school's basketball arena.
In 2020, Cuban picked up homeless former NBA player Delonte West from a gas station in Dallas. He paid for a hotel room for West along with his treatment at a drug rehabilitation center.
Awards and honors
The Guinness Book of Records credits Cuban with the "largest single e-commerce transaction" after purchasing a Gulfstream V jet for $40 million over the internet in October 1999.
In 2024, Cuban was included in the Time 100 Most Influential People 2024.
Business
1998 Kelley School of Business Alumni Award – Distinguished Entrepreneur: 1998
2011 D Magazine CEO of the Year
2020/2021 Texas Business Hall of Fame
Media
2011 Outstanding Team ESPY Award as owner of the Dallas Mavericks
NBA
2011 NBA Champion as owner of the Dallas Mavericks
Filmography
Film
Television
Bibliography
How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It. Diversion Publishing. 2011. ISBN 978-1626810914
Let's Go, Mavs!. Mascot Books. 2007. ISBN 978-1932888720
See also
List of celebrities by net worth
References
External links
Blog
Appearances on C-SPAN
Mark Cuban at IMDb
Mark Cuban collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Mark Cuban collected news and commentary at The Guardian
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Rhea Perlman
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Rhea Jo Perlman (first name pronounced , RAY ; born March 31, 1948) is an American actress and author. She is well-known for playing head waitress Carla Tortelli in the sitcom Cheers (1982–1993). Over the course of eleven seasons, Perlman was nominated for ten Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress, winning four, and was nominated for a record six Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series. She has also appeared in films, including Canadian Bacon (1995), Matilda (1996), The Sessions (2012), Poms (2019), and Barbie (2023). In 2025, she had a guest role in the second season of the crime mystery series Poker Face.
Early life
Perlman was born on March 31, 1948, in Coney Island, Brooklyn, to Philip Perlman, a Polish Jewish immigrant who was a manager at a doll parts factory and Adele, a bookkeeper. She grew up in nearby Bensonhurst in a Jewish family with additional roots in Russia. She has a sister, Heide, who is a television writer, story editor, and producer who worked on Cheers, Frasier and The Tracey Ullman Show. In the mid-1980s, Perlman's parents moved to Los Angeles, and her father became an extra on Cheers. His character became known by his real name, Phil, and he managed to get a few lines over the years as he appeared in more than 30 episodes. He created a second career as a character actor, appearing in several films and television shows, including Throw Momma from the Train, Hoffa, and Frasier.
Perlman studied drama at Hunter College in New York, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968.
Film director Randall Miller is Perlman's cousin.
Career
Career beginnings
Perlman began her acting career with a small role as an attendant in the off-off-Broadway play Dracula Sabbat, which ran from September 1970 to June 1971. In 1972, she played a bit role in the film Hot Dogs for Gauguin. That same year she appeared in Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective's production of Up – An Uppity Revue, along with her future husband, Danny DeVito.
One of her first notable parts was a recurring role on the television show Taxi as Zena, the sweet girlfriend of Louie De Palma (played by DeVito). Following that, she had a role in a small play portraying a much tougher character. Producers Glen and Les Charles saw her in that play, which led to her landing the role as wisecracking barmaid Carla Tortelli on their sitcom Cheers in 1982.
Cheers
The series struggled with ratings in its first season, but by the time it ended in 1993, it was one of the most popular and successful shows of all time, winning 20 Emmy awards out of 95 nominations.
Perlman won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy four times: in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1989. Over her 11 seasons on Cheers, she was nominated for an Emmy every year but 1992, becoming the Cheers star to have the most wins and nominations. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress six times, more than anyone else in that category. In 2011, NBC named Carla Tortelli as one of the greatest TV characters of all time.
In 1986, Perlman starred in an episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories titled "The Wedding Ring," which also starred DeVito as her character's husband.
Motion pictures
In the 1990s, Perlman starred in several TV movies and motion pictures. In 1992, she starred in the made-for-TV-movie, To Grandmother's House We Go opposite Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen, playing the wife of Jerry Van Dyke's character; the couple kidnapped the Olsen Twins' characters, hoping to cash in on ransom before Christmas. Other TV films in which she starred included the dramas A Place to Be Loved and In Spite of Love. Perlman's motion picture roles included There Goes The Neighborhood (1992), Canadian Bacon (1995), Carpool (1996), Sunset Park (1996), and Matilda (1996). She had a cameo in the film 10 Items Or Less (2006), and also starred in the 2007 independent film Love Comes Lately.
In 1994, Perlman voiced 9-Eye in The Timekeeper, a Circle-Vision show at the Magic Kingdom in Tomorrowland. She later starred in the 1996 sitcom Pearl as the title character and was featured on the 2001 TV drama Kate Brasher. Among her notable guest appearances was on the fourth-season premiere of Becker, which starred Cheers co-star Ted Danson. Perlman also appeared in a 2000 television film How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale, in which she impersonated Jackie Kennedy. She also portrayed a therapist called Dr. Parella in the 2000 film Secret Cutting, which follows the story of a young girl named Dawn who self-injures. In 2007, Perlman appeared as Bertha in the West End of London in the comedy Boeing Boeing. In 2008, she starred in the Hallmark Channel original movie, The Christmas Choir, and appeared in Beethoven's Big Break in 2008 as Patricia Benji. In 2009, she appeared as Tanya's mother on the series Hung for Home Box Office Networks. In 2011, Perlman had a guest appearance as Mittens in one episode of Wilfred.
In 2009, Perlman and her daughter Lucy DeVito starred in the off-Broadway play Love, Loss, and What I Wore, adapted by Nora and Delia Ephron, at the Westside Theatre. From 2014 to 2017, she starred in a recurring role on The Mindy Project as Danny's mother, Annette Castellano.
In 2023, Perlman earned critical praise for playing Barbie creator Ruth Handler in Greta Gerwig's film Barbie.
Writing
Perlman is the author of the illustrated children's book series Otto Undercover, whose six books to date (as of the middle of May 2012) are Born to Drive, Canyon Catastrophe, Water Balloon Doom, Toxic Taffy Takeover, The Brink of Ex-stink-tion, and Brain Freeze.
Personal life
Perlman met Danny DeVito on January 17, 1971, when she went to see a friend in the single performance of the play The Shrinking Bride, which also featured DeVito. They moved in together two weeks after meeting and married on January 28, 1982. They have three children: Lucy Chet DeVito, Grace Fan DeVito, and Jacob Daniel DeVito. Perlman, who is Jewish, and DeVito, who was raised Catholic, raised their children celebrating the major holidays of both religions but did not give their children any religious identity. Perlman told the Los Angeles Times in 1998: We do all the holidays to keep the traditions and the culture going, but I truly don't have a great feeling about any particular organized religion, and I don't think it's right to impose one on my kids. I feel like I'm bringing them up to be good people, and that's what it's about. In addition to their three children, the couple have two grandchildren.
The family resided in Beverly Hills, California, and they owned a vacation home in Interlaken, New Jersey that they frequented to get away from Los Angeles. Throughout their relationship, Perlman and DeVito have acted alongside each other several times, including in the TV show Taxi and the feature film Matilda.
Perlman and DeVito separated in October 2012. However, in March 2013, it was reported that they had reconciled. The couple later separated again for a second time in March 2017 on amicable terms. Although the two no longer live together, Perlman said she has no intention of divorcing DeVito. In 2019, Perlman told interviewer Andy Cohen that she and DeVito have become closer friends after their separation than they were in their final years as a couple.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
Rhea Perlman at IMDb
Rhea Perlman at the Internet Broadway Database
Rhea Perlman at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
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Rhea Jo Perlman (first name pronounced , RAY ; born March 31, 1948) is an American actress and author. She is well-known for playing head waitress Carla Tortelli in the sitcom Cheers (1982–1993). Over the course of eleven seasons, Perlman was nominated for ten Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress, winning four, and was nominated for a record six Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series. She has also appeared in films, including Canadian Bacon (1995), Matilda (1996), The Sessions (2012), Poms (2019), and Barbie (2023). In 2025, she had a guest role in the second season of the crime mystery series Poker Face.
Early life
Perlman was born on March 31, 1948, in Coney Island, Brooklyn, to Philip Perlman, a Polish Jewish immigrant who was a manager at a doll parts factory and Adele, a bookkeeper. She grew up in nearby Bensonhurst in a Jewish family with additional roots in Russia. She has a sister, Heide, who is a television writer, story editor, and producer who worked on Cheers, Frasier and The Tracey Ullman Show. In the mid-1980s, Perlman's parents moved to Los Angeles, and her father became an extra on Cheers. His character became known by his real name, Phil, and he managed to get a few lines over the years as he appeared in more than 30 episodes. He created a second career as a character actor, appearing in several films and television shows, including Throw Momma from the Train, Hoffa, and Frasier.
Perlman studied drama at Hunter College in New York, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968.
Film director Randall Miller is Perlman's cousin.
Career
Career beginnings
Perlman began her acting career with a small role as an attendant in the off-off-Broadway play Dracula Sabbat, which ran from September 1970 to June 1971. In 1972, she played a bit role in the film Hot Dogs for Gauguin. That same year she appeared in Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective's production of Up – An Uppity Revue, along with her future husband, Danny DeVito.
One of her first notable parts was a recurring role on the television show Taxi as Zena, the sweet girlfriend of Louie De Palma (played by DeVito). Following that, she had a role in a small play portraying a much tougher character. Producers Glen and Les Charles saw her in that play, which led to her landing the role as wisecracking barmaid Carla Tortelli on their sitcom Cheers in 1982.
Cheers
The series struggled with ratings in its first season, but by the time it ended in 1993, it was one of the most popular and successful shows of all time, winning 20 Emmy awards out of 95 nominations.
Perlman won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy four times: in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1989. Over her 11 seasons on Cheers, she was nominated for an Emmy every year but 1992, becoming the Cheers star to have the most wins and nominations. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress six times, more than anyone else in that category. In 2011, NBC named Carla Tortelli as one of the greatest TV characters of all time.
In 1986, Perlman starred in an episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories titled "The Wedding Ring," which also starred DeVito as her character's husband.
Motion pictures
In the 1990s, Perlman starred in several TV movies and motion pictures. In 1992, she starred in the made-for-TV-movie, To Grandmother's House We Go opposite Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen, playing the wife of Jerry Van Dyke's character; the couple kidnapped the Olsen Twins' characters, hoping to cash in on ransom before Christmas. Other TV films in which she starred included the dramas A Place to Be Loved and In Spite of Love. Perlman's motion picture roles included There Goes The Neighborhood (1992), Canadian Bacon (1995), Carpool (1996), Sunset Park (1996), and Matilda (1996). She had a cameo in the film 10 Items Or Less (2006), and also starred in the 2007 independent film Love Comes Lately.
In 1994, Perlman voiced 9-Eye in The Timekeeper, a Circle-Vision show at the Magic Kingdom in Tomorrowland. She later starred in the 1996 sitcom Pearl as the title character and was featured on the 2001 TV drama Kate Brasher. Among her notable guest appearances was on the fourth-season premiere of Becker, which starred Cheers co-star Ted Danson. Perlman also appeared in a 2000 television film How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale, in which she impersonated Jackie Kennedy. She also portrayed a therapist called Dr. Parella in the 2000 film Secret Cutting, which follows the story of a young girl named Dawn who self-injures. In 2007, Perlman appeared as Bertha in the West End of London in the comedy Boeing Boeing. In 2008, she starred in the Hallmark Channel original movie, The Christmas Choir, and appeared in Beethoven's Big Break in 2008 as Patricia Benji. In 2009, she appeared as Tanya's mother on the series Hung for Home Box Office Networks. In 2011, Perlman had a guest appearance as Mittens in one episode of Wilfred.
In 2009, Perlman and her daughter Lucy DeVito starred in the off-Broadway play Love, Loss, and What I Wore, adapted by Nora and Delia Ephron, at the Westside Theatre. From 2014 to 2017, she starred in a recurring role on The Mindy Project as Danny's mother, Annette Castellano.
In 2023, Perlman earned critical praise for playing Barbie creator Ruth Handler in Greta Gerwig's film Barbie.
Writing
Perlman is the author of the illustrated children's book series Otto Undercover, whose six books to date (as of the middle of May 2012) are Born to Drive, Canyon Catastrophe, Water Balloon Doom, Toxic Taffy Takeover, The Brink of Ex-stink-tion, and Brain Freeze.
Personal life
Perlman met Danny DeVito on January 17, 1971, when she went to see a friend in the single performance of the play The Shrinking Bride, which also featured DeVito. They moved in together two weeks after meeting and married on January 28, 1982. They have three children: Lucy Chet DeVito, Grace Fan DeVito, and Jacob Daniel DeVito. Perlman, who is Jewish, and DeVito, who was raised Catholic, raised their children celebrating the major holidays of both religions but did not give their children any religious identity. Perlman told the Los Angeles Times in 1998: We do all the holidays to keep the traditions and the culture going, but I truly don't have a great feeling about any particular organized religion, and I don't think it's right to impose one on my kids. I feel like I'm bringing them up to be good people, and that's what it's about. In addition to their three children, the couple have two grandchildren.
The family resided in Beverly Hills, California, and they owned a vacation home in Interlaken, New Jersey that they frequented to get away from Los Angeles. Throughout their relationship, Perlman and DeVito have acted alongside each other several times, including in the TV show Taxi and the feature film Matilda.
Perlman and DeVito separated in October 2012. However, in March 2013, it was reported that they had reconciled. The couple later separated again for a second time in March 2017 on amicable terms. Although the two no longer live together, Perlman said she has no intention of divorcing DeVito. In 2019, Perlman told interviewer Andy Cohen that she and DeVito have become closer friends after their separation than they were in their final years as a couple.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
Rhea Perlman at IMDb
Rhea Perlman at the Internet Broadway Database
Rhea Perlman at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
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Mark Hamill
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Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He starred as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise, and has voiced the Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992.
Through the 1980s, Hamill distinguished himself from his role in Star Wars by pursuing a theatre career on Broadway, starring in productions of The Elephant Man, Amadeus and The Nerd. His other live-action film and television roles include Kenneth W. Dantley Jr. in Corvette Summer (1978), Private Griff in The Big Red One (1980), Crow in Sushi Girl (2012), Ted Mitchum in Brigsby Bear (2017), and Arthur Pym in the Netflix miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher (2023). He received critical acclaim for his work in
The Life of Chuck (2024)
as Albie Krantz.
Hamill has also had a prolific career as a voice actor. Aside from Joker, his roles include the Hobgoblin in Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1995–1998), Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–2008), Mr. Salacia and Senator Stampingston in Metalocalypse (2006–2013, 2023), Skips in Regular Show (2010–2017), and Chucky in Child's Play (2019).
Early life
Mark Richard Hamill was born on September 25, 1951, in Oakland, California. His father, William Thomas Hamill, was a U.S. Navy Captain. He is one of seven children, with two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. His father has English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry and his mother was of half Swedish and half English descent. Hamill has described his father as a staunch Roman Catholic, and "Nixon Republican". Hamill has stated that he had a troubled relationship with his father who could not understand his childhood obsession with movies and comic books, seeing them as frivolous things that he should outgrow.
His father's changes of station and attendant family moves led to the Hamill children switching schools often. During his elementary years, he attended Walsingham Academy in Williamsburg, Virginia, and Edgar Allan Poe Middle School in Annandale, Virginia. At age 11, he moved to the 5900 block of Castleton Drive in San Diego, California, where he attended Hale Junior High School. During his first year at James Madison High School in San Diego, his family moved back to Virginia, and Hamill attended Annandale High School. By his junior year, his father was stationed in Japan, where Hamill attended and was a member of the Drama Club at Nile C. Kinnick High School, from which he graduated in 1969. He later enrolled at Los Angeles City College, majoring in drama.
Career
Beginnings
Hamill's early career included a recurring role on the soap opera General Hospital, and a starring role on the short-lived sitcom The Texas Wheelers. He portrayed the oldest son, David, in the pilot episode of Eight Is Enough, though the role was later performed by Grant Goodeve. He also had guest appearances on The Bill Cosby Show, The Partridge Family, Room 222 and One Day at a Time. He appeared in multiple television films such as The City and Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic.
Star Wars
1977–1983: Original trilogy
Robert Englund was auditioning for a role in Apocalypse Now when he walked across the hall to where auditions were taking place for George Lucas's Star Wars. After watching the auditions for a while, he realized that Hamill, his friend, would be perfect for the role of Luke Skywalker. He suggested to Hamill that he audition for the role; as it turned out, Hamill's agent had already set up the audition that gave him the role. During his screen test, Hamill presumed that he was playing a sidekick to Harrison Ford's Han Solo and was unsure whether or not the film was supposed to be a comedy.
Released in May 1977, Star Wars was an enormous, unexpected success and had a huge effect on the film industry. Hamill went on to appear in the less-than-successful Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978, and later starred in the successful film sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. During the time between the first two films, Hamill was involved in a serious car accident, fracturing his nose and left cheekbone. False rumors spread that his face had required plastic surgery. For his part in both of the sequels, Hamill was honored with the Saturn Award for Best Actor, given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. In 1980, he made a guest appearance on The Muppet Show, both as himself and as Luke Skywalker in the episode The Stars of Star Wars. The episode also starred Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and R2-D2, who joined Luke on a search for Chewbacca.
Hamill reprised the role of Luke Skywalker for the radio dramatizations of both Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. For the Return of the Jedi radio drama, the role was played by a different actor.
Editions of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (which influenced Lucas as he was developing the films) issued after the release of Star Wars in 1977 used the image of Hamill as Luke Skywalker on the cover.
Hamill has appeared in several documentaries, including The Making of Star Wars and Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy. He also narrated the 1983 documentary From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga.
2014–2025: Return to the Star Wars franchise
Hamill returned to the Star Wars universe in 2014, when he voiced the ancient Sith Lord Darth Bane in the last episode of season 6 of the animated series The Clone Wars. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance.
Following its acquisition of Lucasfilm, The Walt Disney Company released more Star Wars films, starting with The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015. Initially, both Disney and Hamill were coy about whether Hamill would be a cast member. It was reported that Hamill had been assigned a nutritionist and personal trainer ahead of production. In September 2013, Hamill's friend Robert Englund confirmed that "they've got Mark in the gym because Mark's coming back as Luke Skywalker." In 2014, it was announced that Hamill would reprise his role in The Force Awakens. Despite having top billing, Hamill only appears briefly at the end of the film (with no dialogue) in a cliffhanger set-up for the sequel. The film received positive reviews, was the highest grossing film of 2015, grossed $2.07 billion worldwide and became the third-highest grossing film at the time of its release.
Hamill played Skywalker again in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, released on December 15, 2017. Hamill was initially critical of his own role in the film, stating that he and director Rian Johnson had "a fundamental difference" regarding Skywalker's characterization. Hamill later expressed regret for having made those statements, calling the film an "all-time great". He played Skywalker again in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the last instalment of the nine part Skywalker saga.
Hamill also had voice cameos as Dobbu Scay in The Last Jedi, Boolio in The Rise of Skywalker, and EV-9D9 in the fifth episode of The Mandalorian. He had similar cameos in The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and Solo: A Star Wars Story in undisclosed roles, for which he was credited as "William M. Patrick" and "Patrick Williams".
Hamill was digitally de-aged to reprise his role as Skywalker in the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian and the sixth chapter of the spin-off series The Book of Boba Fett. He also appeared in Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian. In 2021, Hamill praised the prequel trilogy for having "their own identity".
Hamill voiced the animator in the Star Wars webisode of How NOT to Draw and reprised his role in Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy.
Hamill attended several conventions as part of Star Wars Celebration as a guest.
In an interview in May 2025, Hamill said that he would not portray Luke Skywalker again saying, “I had my time. I’m appreciative of that, but I really think they should focus on the future and all the new characters.” Despite this, it was announced in August 2025 that he would make a guest appearance in LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy: Pieces of the Past.
Other work
After the success of Star Wars, Hamill found that audiences identified him very closely with Luke Skywalker. He became a teen idol, appearing on the cover of teen magazines such as Tiger Beat. He attempted to avoid being typecast by appearing in the 1978 film Corvette Summer and the better-known 1980 World War II film The Big Red One. He also appeared in The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (1981) and Britannia Hospital (1982). Further distancing himself from his early blockbuster role, Hamill started acting on Broadway, starring in plays such as The Elephant Man (1979), Amadeus (1983), Harrigan 'N Hart (1985, for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination), Room Service (1986) and The Nerd (1987–88). When Amadeus was adapted for film in 1984, Hamill auditioned to reprise his role as Mozart, but lost the part to Tom Hulce. A studio executive told the producers of the film, "I don't want Luke Skywalker in this film". The film director, Milos Forman told Hamill that, "No one is believing that the Luke Skywalker is the Mozart." Hamill also made television appearances—in a 1986 episode of Amazing Stories and a 1987 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
After a six-year hiatus from film, Hamill returned to the big screen in the 1989 science-fiction film Slipstream. He continued to star in films throughout the 1990s, including Midnight Ride and The Guyver in 1991, the 1995 remake of Village of the Damned, and the 1998 Swedish action film Hamilton. Hamill appeared in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) as the supervillain Cocknocker, a role that is a parody both of himself and of roles he played in the past.
His television work includes a guest appearance as the Trickster on two episodes of The Flash (1990), cameo appearances on MADtv as the estranged father of Ms. Swan, and an appearance on Saturday Night Live, in which he played himself being sold in a Star Wars-themed home shopping sale. He appeared in single episodes of 3rd Rock from the Sun (1997), and Just Shoot Me! (1998), in two episodes of seaQuest DSV (1995) as Tobias LeConte, and in the episode "Mind over Matter" of the series The Outer Limits (1995).
When the Wing Commander series of computer games started using full motion video cut scenes, Hamill was cast as the series protagonist, Colonel Christopher Blair, a role he played in Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom and Wing Commander: Prophecy. In the 1999 Wing Commander film, Blair was played by Freddie Prinze Jr., although Hamill had a voice cameo. Hamill appears in Squadron 42—the single-player campaign from the Star Citizen computer-game universe—as Lieutenant Commander Steve "Old Man" Colton.
In 2003, Hamill starred in the two-hander play Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks as the acerbic dance instructor Michael Minetti. He played opposite Rue McClanahan for the season at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, and opposite Polly Bergen when the production moved to Broadway.
Hamill also directed and starred in the 2004 direct-to-DVD film Comic Book: The Movie. Having been a comic-book fan who attended science-fiction and comics conventions before becoming famous, Hamill said his character was based on an exaggerated version of himself. He and his crew shot most of the "mockumentary" film during the 2002 San Diego Comic-Con and enlisted Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, Bruce Campbell and Hugh Hefner in small roles. The movie won an award for Best Live-Action DVD Premiere Movie at the 2005 DVD Exclusive Awards.
In 2011, Hamill appeared as a villain in the fifth season of the NBC series Chuck. He appeared in the television series Criminal Minds—in the last two episodes of season eight—as John Curtis (also known as "The Replicator"), a serial killer who stalks the BAU team throughout the show's eighth season. He also made a guest appearance alongside George Takei in the season one finale of the ABC sitcom The Neighbors as Commandant Bill.
Hamill starred in the 2011 Hungarian film Thelomeris, a project on which he also served as a creative consultant. Thelomeris was the first mainstream science-fiction film to be produced in Hungary. The following year, Hamill starred in two more live-action films: the British horror film Airborne and the independent film Sushi Girl. Airborne was received negatively by critics and audiences. Hamill said the dark tone of Sushi Girl pulled him out of his comfort zone, but he was grateful that it did.
In 2014, Hamill appeared in the film Kingsman: The Secret Service as James Arnold, a professor from Imperial College London and an expert on climate change. He also reprised his role as the Trickster in The CW's 2014 live-action series The Flash, appearing in the seventeenth episode of the first season, the ninth episode of the second season, and the ninth episode of the third season. Hamill starred in the 2018 film Con Man, an independent film about the life of famous con man Barry Minkow. Hamill played Minkow's father, Robert Minkow.
Hamill appeared in the second season of the historical-fiction drama series Knightfall, which premiered in 2019. He portrayed Master Talus, a veteran Templar who trains the initiates at the Chartres Temple. In April 2022, it was announced that Hamill would make an appearance on the revival of the series The Kids in the Hall, which was set to be released on Amazon Prime Video the following month, on May 13.
Voice acting
General work
Hamill first performed voice acting work in the early 1970s, voicing the character Corey Anders on the Saturday morning cartoon Jeannie by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He later played Sean in the Ralph Bakshi film Wizards, which was released just three months before Star Wars in 1977. The voice role he is most known for is Batman's archenemy the Joker, the success of which has led him to portray a wide variety of characters in television, film, anime, and video games (mostly similar super-villains).
Hamill was the voice of The Hobgoblin in the 1990s Spider-Man animated series; his other Marvel superhero genre roles include the Gargoyle in the animated series The Incredible Hulk, Maximus in Fantastic Four, Klaw in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and multiple characters in Ultimate Spider-Man. Hamill voiced Solomon Grundy and Trickster in the DC Animated Universe series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, and played the murderous gangster Tony Zucco in The Batman, an animated series unrelated to the various series in the DC animated universe. He voiced Spectre in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and provided the voice of archvillain Kavaxas in the fifth and final season of 2012's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Non-comic-related television roles include the deranged shock jock anchorman Dr. Jak in Phantom 2040; Principal John Smith in the Totally Spies episode "Soul Collector"; Christopher "Maverick" Blair in Wing Commander Academy; the Walter Lantz character Buzz Buzzard in The New Woody Woodpecker Show; the flamboyant robot Lawrance "Larry" 3000 in Time Squad; the pirate Captain Stickybeard in Codename: Kids Next Door; Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Skeleton King in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!; multiple roles in Metalocalypse; and the groundskeeper Skips in Regular Show. He also voiced himself in two episodes of the Disney animated series Pepper Ann.
Hamill guest-starred as himself in The Simpsons episode "Mayored to the Mob". On the accompanying audio commentary, he said he was a fan of the show since its 1987 debut on The Tracey Ullman Show, and that it was a personal thrill to work with Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson. He has also guest-starred in Family Guy, and was a recurring voice actor on Seth Green's Robot Chicken.
In addition to television voice acting, Hamill has starred in multiple animated films. His roles include The Captain of the Guard in Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists; the biblical figure Judah in Joseph: King of Dreams; the evil wolf Niju in Balto II: Wolf Quest; and Chanukah Zombie in Futurama: Bender's Big Score. He also voiced Colonel Muska in the second English-language version of Castle in the Sky, and the Mayor of Pejite in the dubbed English version of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, both directed by Hayao Miyazaki and distributed by Disney. Hamill also provided the voice of the Granduncle in the English-language dub of Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron (2023).
Hamill's video game voice roles include Detective Mosely in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers and Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned; Assistant Director Wilson in Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix; Adrian Ripburger in the LucasArts game Full Throttle; Wolverine in X2: Wolverine's Revenge (the game which accompanied the film X2); Goro Majima in Yakuza; Malefor The Dark Master in The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon; The Watcher in Darksiders; and Master Eraqus in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts III. Tetsuya Nomura, creator of Kingdom Hearts, describes himself as a fan of Hamill's work. There is also another character, Master Xehanort, originally voiced by Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame. Nomura stated that they wanted both Hamill and Nimoy for the roles, as the two characters are rivals, referencing the rivalry between fans of Star Wars and Star Trek. After Nimoy died, he was replaced by Rutger Hauer for Kingdom Hearts III, who, in turn, was replaced by Christopher Lloyd following his death for the Re Mind DLC; Lloyd had also appeared in Star Trek as Commander Kruge. Hamill narrated Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, the title of which referenced the 1980 war film he starred in. He also appeared in two installments of the Crash Bandicoot series.
Hamill is credited as the narrator in Ancient Voices (1999), a docuseries on archaeology and ancient history co-produced by the BBC and The Learning Channel, and published by Time Life as a DVD series. He also narrated the Medal of Honor and Silver Star citations of Tibor Rubin, Ralph E. Pomeroy, John Finnigan and Mitchell Red Cloud Jr. for the 2013 Korean War documentary Finnigan's War (directed by Conor Timmis).
Hamill voiced the character Todd Wainio in World War Z, a critically acclaimed audiobook based on Max Brooks' novel of the same name. He provided voices for the entire cast of the 1983 audiobook version of Pinocchio, and voiced the characters of the book series The Spiderwick Chronicles Volumes I–III, by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi.
In 2007, Hamill voiced Elder Orin in the film Battle for Terra. He narrated the 2017 science-fiction TV series Dimension 404. In 2019, Hamill voiced Chucky in the Child's Play film remake, as well as the Skeksis scientist skekTek in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, a ten-part Netflix prequel series to the 1982 Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal. In 2021, Hamill voiced the tailor Art Rosenbaum in the animated adaptation of Robert Kirkman's Invincible series, and Skeletor in Masters of the Universe: Revelation. He is also set to reprise the role for the follow-up to Revelation, Masters of the Universe: Revolution.
In-character as Luke Skywalker, Hamill voices the English versions of the Ukrainian air raid warning app. The alerts are not only performed in Skywalker's cadence but, after the alert is over, he signs off with "May the Force be with you". Hamill has raised funds for the Ukrainian war relief effort by signing Star Wars-themed posters to be raffled off.
At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, it was announced that Hamill would replace Brian Doyle-Murray as the voice of The Flying Dutchman in The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. Hamill previously voiced The Moth in the SpongeBob SquarePants season 5 episode "Night Light".
The Joker
Hamill's role as the Joker began in the 1992 series Batman: The Animated Series and continued to many later spin-off series, video games and films. In the DC Animated Universe, Hamill voiced the Joker in fourteen episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, three episodes of Superman: The Animated Series, five episodes of The New Batman Adventures, five episodes of Justice League, and an episode of Static Shock. He also voiced the Joker in the 1993 theatrical film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and the 2000 direct-to-video film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
The short-lived The WB live-action series Birds of Prey, based on the comic book of the same title, featured a flashback sequence in which the Joker shoots Barbara Gordon and paralyzes her. This sequence featured Hamill voicing Joker, dubbed over actor/stuntman Roger Stoneburner whose facial structure more resembled the character. He also voiced the character in a few segments in Robot Chicken.
Hamill voiced the Joker alongside his Batman: The Animated Series co-star Kevin Conroy as Batman and Jason Hillhouse as Dick Grayson in a feature of a storyboard scene included in the 2005 Special Edition DVD of Tim Burton's 1989 film Batman. This scene depicted the origin of Robin, which was not filmed because the producers felt it was out-of-place with the rest of the film.
Hamill has said that he has voiced the Joker for toys and amusement park rides. Although these jobs did not pay particularly well, he enjoyed even these small roles and admitted being protective of the character, preferring not to let "others sleep in my sleeping bag"; he also self-identifies as a "real comic book nerd".
Hamill has portrayed the Joker in a few Batman based video games, beginning with 2001's Batman: Vengeance, the Sega CD version of The Adventures of Batman & Robin (which was later used to create a "lost" episode of the animated series) and in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Hamill again reprised the role in the Arkham sequel, Batman: Arkham City. In May 2010, Hamill declared to IGN that his role in Arkham City would be his last as the Joker. Some months later, with the announcement of Arkham City, he clarified his statements in the interview by saying, via his Twitter account, "Only said Arkham Asylum would be hard to top, not that I was quitting." On October 19, 2011, shortly after the release of the game, Hamill announced his retirement on his Twitter account, saying "Hello/Goodbye Joker! I've enjoyed every minute behind the wheel of the Clown Prince's crazy car – I'm going to miss him more than I can say!!". In June 2012, WB Games released the expansion pack titled "The Last Laugh" for the video game DC Universe Online, featuring Hamill as the Joker. In 2015, Hamill yet again returned as the Joker in Batman: Arkham Knight with the character recurring through the game as a hallucination.
During a 2011 Comic-Con, when asked about Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning portrayal of the character in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, Hamill claimed that it was the most original performance that he had ever seen since Anthony Hopkins' Oscar-winning portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.
Hamill has commented that if there would ever be an animated version of Batman: The Killing Joke, he would gladly voice the Joker again, encouraging fans to campaign for said adaptation. On July 17, 2015, Hamill tweeted that he had his fingers crossed in hopes that he would be contacted to reprise his role as the Joker in the animated adaptation. On July 27, Collider reported that Hamill would voice the Joker in the film. The film was released in theaters for a two-day limited time. It was released on Digital HD on July 27, 2016. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 2.
Hamill reprised the Joker for the animated series Justice League Action. He also reprised the Trickster for the series, as well as voicing Swamp Thing. In the animated short "Missing the Mark", Hamill voices a fictionalized version of himself, who appears alongside all three of his other characters. Hamill once again voiced Joker in Lego DC Super-Villains, replacing voice actor Christopher Corey Smith.
Hamill has been nominated for two Annie Awards for his portrayal of the character, for an Interactive Achievement Award, for a Spike Video Game Award, and has won a British Academy Games Award for Best Performer.
In January 2023, Hamill revealed in an interview that he would no longer voice the Joker following Kevin Conroy's death in 2022, stating that "Without Kevin there, there doesn't seem to be a Batman for me." In 2024, Hamill voiced the Joker in the crossover fighting game MultiVersus and the film Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths (both of which Conroy recorded dialogue as Batman before his death).
Writing
Hamill is the co-writer of The Black Pearl, a comic book miniseries published by Dark Horse Comics. He wrote an introduction to the Trade Paperback Batman: Riddler Two-Face which reprints various stories involving the Riddler and Two-Face to tie in with Batman Forever. He has also written several stories for Simpsons Comics, including "Catastrophe in Substitute Springfields!", which parodies DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths and also references several other classic comics.
Personal life
On January 11, 1977, before shooting one of his scenes in Star Wars, Hamill was in a car accident in which he fractured his nose and left cheekbone. As a result, a double was used for the landspeeder pickup shots.
Hamill was also an early fan of David Letterman, having occasionally appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, as well as taping every episode and keeping a journal documenting the show. After encountering writer Chris Elliott, Hamill was asked for assistance in helping determine the 1,000th Viewer Mail that Letterman had answered. His practice continued to Letterman's new show on CBS, but eventually stopped.
In January 2025, Hamill and his wife evacuated their home in Malibu, California due to the Palisades Fire. Hamill later moved to a rented house in Los Feliz.
Relationships and family
According to a 1981 profile in People, Hamill's "first serious love" was actress Anne Wyndham, cast as his sister on General Hospital, with whom he had an offscreen relationship. He would later describe experiencing seasons of on-set awkwardness while working with her after their relationship ended. In a 2017 interview, he attributed his long, happy marriage to a non-actor to learning, through his relationship with Wyndham, the dangers of being in a relationship with a fellow actor.
On December 17, 1978, Hamill married dental hygienist Marilou York in a private civil ceremony. They have three children: Nathan Elias, Griffin Tobias, and Chelsea Elizabeth. Nathan was born during the production of The Empire Strikes Back and had a cameo appearance as one of the Royal Guards of Naboo in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Chelsea made a photographic appearance as an infant Axel Walker in the 1990 television series The Flash; the same photograph was used in the 2014 series. All three have cameos as Resistance soldiers in The Last Jedi. In addition to his three children, Hamill has a granddaughter, Autumn, through his oldest son Nathan.
Political views
Hamill is an outspoken advocate of the Democratic Party and has supported its candidates. In 2005, Hamill stated that "it gives me a cold shiver down my spine" to have Luke Skywalker be compared to George W. Bush. Prior to the 2008 presidential election, Hamill urged students at Point Park University to vote for Barack Obama, describing him as "a once in a lifetime candidate". Prior to the 2012 presidential election, he referred to Mitt Romney as a "snake oil salesman". He endorsed P.G. Sittenfeld in the 2016 Ohio Senate election. He has also criticized the tweets of Donald Trump by reading them out in his Joker voice. Hamill met with President Joe Biden at the White House in May 2024 and endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
During the 2022 Brazilian general election, Hamill expressed support for Workers' Party candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
In March 2023, Hamill stated his support for Ukraine in its defense against the Russian invasion of Ukraine calling it a "fairy tale about good versus evil". As a further show of support Hamill lent his voice to the app Air Alert, that warns about Russian air attacks against Ukraine.
In October 2023, Hamill, along with over 700 other Hollywood professionals, signed an open letter condemning the Palestinian militant group Hamas, demanding the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, and expressing support for Israel in the Gaza war. In April 2024, Hamill said he "fully support[ed]" Gaza and Palestine while still condemning Hamas.
During the 2024 London mayoral election, Hamill expressed support for Labour Party politician Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London, describing him as "a driving force in cleaning up London’s air" and sharing his love for London as a city he spent years living in.
Philanthropy
On September 29, 2022, Hamill became an ambassador of the United24 fundraising platform, which raises funds to support Ukraine in the war against Russia. On March 25, 2023, a drawing was held for posters signed by Mark Hamill; it raised more than $300,000 for RQ-35 Heidrun reconnaissance drones.
Written works
Forewords
Hamill, Mark (2003). Foreword. Animation on DVD: The Ultimate Guide. By Mangels, Andy. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-880656-68-6.
Comics
Awards and nominations
See also
Asteroid 110026 Hamill
Notes
References
Print sources
External links
Mark Hamill at IMDb
Mark Hamill at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
Mark Hamill at the Internet Broadway Database
Mark Hamill at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
Mark Hamill at the TCM Movie Database
Mark Hamill on Twitter
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Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He starred as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise, and has voiced the Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992.
Through the 1980s, Hamill distinguished himself from his role in Star Wars by pursuing a theatre career on Broadway, starring in productions of The Elephant Man, Amadeus and The Nerd. His other live-action film and television roles include Kenneth W. Dantley Jr. in Corvette Summer (1978), Private Griff in The Big Red One (1980), Crow in Sushi Girl (2012), Ted Mitchum in Brigsby Bear (2017), and Arthur Pym in the Netflix miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher (2023). He received critical acclaim for his work in
The Life of Chuck (2024)
as Albie Krantz.
Hamill has also had a prolific career as a voice actor. Aside from Joker, his roles include the Hobgoblin in Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1995–1998), Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–2008), Mr. Salacia and Senator Stampingston in Metalocalypse (2006–2013, 2023), Skips in Regular Show (2010–2017), and Chucky in Child's Play (2019).
Early life
Mark Richard Hamill was born on September 25, 1951, in Oakland, California. His father, William Thomas Hamill, was a U.S. Navy Captain. He is one of seven children, with two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. His father has English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry and his mother was of half Swedish and half English descent. Hamill has described his father as a staunch Roman Catholic, and "Nixon Republican". Hamill has stated that he had a troubled relationship with his father who could not understand his childhood obsession with movies and comic books, seeing them as frivolous things that he should outgrow.
His father's changes of station and attendant family moves led to the Hamill children switching schools often. During his elementary years, he attended Walsingham Academy in Williamsburg, Virginia, and Edgar Allan Poe Middle School in Annandale, Virginia. At age 11, he moved to the 5900 block of Castleton Drive in San Diego, California, where he attended Hale Junior High School. During his first year at James Madison High School in San Diego, his family moved back to Virginia, and Hamill attended Annandale High School. By his junior year, his father was stationed in Japan, where Hamill attended and was a member of the Drama Club at Nile C. Kinnick High School, from which he graduated in 1969. He later enrolled at Los Angeles City College, majoring in drama.
Career
Beginnings
Hamill's early career included a recurring role on the soap opera General Hospital, and a starring role on the short-lived sitcom The Texas Wheelers. He portrayed the oldest son, David, in the pilot episode of Eight Is Enough, though the role was later performed by Grant Goodeve. He also had guest appearances on The Bill Cosby Show, The Partridge Family, Room 222 and One Day at a Time. He appeared in multiple television films such as The City and Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic.
Star Wars
1977–1983: Original trilogy
Robert Englund was auditioning for a role in Apocalypse Now when he walked across the hall to where auditions were taking place for George Lucas's Star Wars. After watching the auditions for a while, he realized that Hamill, his friend, would be perfect for the role of Luke Skywalker. He suggested to Hamill that he audition for the role; as it turned out, Hamill's agent had already set up the audition that gave him the role. During his screen test, Hamill presumed that he was playing a sidekick to Harrison Ford's Han Solo and was unsure whether or not the film was supposed to be a comedy.
Released in May 1977, Star Wars was an enormous, unexpected success and had a huge effect on the film industry. Hamill went on to appear in the less-than-successful Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978, and later starred in the successful film sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. During the time between the first two films, Hamill was involved in a serious car accident, fracturing his nose and left cheekbone. False rumors spread that his face had required plastic surgery. For his part in both of the sequels, Hamill was honored with the Saturn Award for Best Actor, given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. In 1980, he made a guest appearance on The Muppet Show, both as himself and as Luke Skywalker in the episode The Stars of Star Wars. The episode also starred Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and R2-D2, who joined Luke on a search for Chewbacca.
Hamill reprised the role of Luke Skywalker for the radio dramatizations of both Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. For the Return of the Jedi radio drama, the role was played by a different actor.
Editions of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (which influenced Lucas as he was developing the films) issued after the release of Star Wars in 1977 used the image of Hamill as Luke Skywalker on the cover.
Hamill has appeared in several documentaries, including The Making of Star Wars and Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy. He also narrated the 1983 documentary From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga.
2014–2025: Return to the Star Wars franchise
Hamill returned to the Star Wars universe in 2014, when he voiced the ancient Sith Lord Darth Bane in the last episode of season 6 of the animated series The Clone Wars. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance.
Following its acquisition of Lucasfilm, The Walt Disney Company released more Star Wars films, starting with The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015. Initially, both Disney and Hamill were coy about whether Hamill would be a cast member. It was reported that Hamill had been assigned a nutritionist and personal trainer ahead of production. In September 2013, Hamill's friend Robert Englund confirmed that "they've got Mark in the gym because Mark's coming back as Luke Skywalker." In 2014, it was announced that Hamill would reprise his role in The Force Awakens. Despite having top billing, Hamill only appears briefly at the end of the film (with no dialogue) in a cliffhanger set-up for the sequel. The film received positive reviews, was the highest grossing film of 2015, grossed $2.07 billion worldwide and became the third-highest grossing film at the time of its release.
Hamill played Skywalker again in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, released on December 15, 2017. Hamill was initially critical of his own role in the film, stating that he and director Rian Johnson had "a fundamental difference" regarding Skywalker's characterization. Hamill later expressed regret for having made those statements, calling the film an "all-time great". He played Skywalker again in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the last instalment of the nine part Skywalker saga.
Hamill also had voice cameos as Dobbu Scay in The Last Jedi, Boolio in The Rise of Skywalker, and EV-9D9 in the fifth episode of The Mandalorian. He had similar cameos in The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and Solo: A Star Wars Story in undisclosed roles, for which he was credited as "William M. Patrick" and "Patrick Williams".
Hamill was digitally de-aged to reprise his role as Skywalker in the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian and the sixth chapter of the spin-off series The Book of Boba Fett. He also appeared in Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian. In 2021, Hamill praised the prequel trilogy for having "their own identity".
Hamill voiced the animator in the Star Wars webisode of How NOT to Draw and reprised his role in Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy.
Hamill attended several conventions as part of Star Wars Celebration as a guest.
In an interview in May 2025, Hamill said that he would not portray Luke Skywalker again saying, “I had my time. I’m appreciative of that, but I really think they should focus on the future and all the new characters.” Despite this, it was announced in August 2025 that he would make a guest appearance in LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy: Pieces of the Past.
Other work
After the success of Star Wars, Hamill found that audiences identified him very closely with Luke Skywalker. He became a teen idol, appearing on the cover of teen magazines such as Tiger Beat. He attempted to avoid being typecast by appearing in the 1978 film Corvette Summer and the better-known 1980 World War II film The Big Red One. He also appeared in The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (1981) and Britannia Hospital (1982). Further distancing himself from his early blockbuster role, Hamill started acting on Broadway, starring in plays such as The Elephant Man (1979), Amadeus (1983), Harrigan 'N Hart (1985, for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination), Room Service (1986) and The Nerd (1987–88). When Amadeus was adapted for film in 1984, Hamill auditioned to reprise his role as Mozart, but lost the part to Tom Hulce. A studio executive told the producers of the film, "I don't want Luke Skywalker in this film". The film director, Milos Forman told Hamill that, "No one is believing that the Luke Skywalker is the Mozart." Hamill also made television appearances—in a 1986 episode of Amazing Stories and a 1987 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
After a six-year hiatus from film, Hamill returned to the big screen in the 1989 science-fiction film Slipstream. He continued to star in films throughout the 1990s, including Midnight Ride and The Guyver in 1991, the 1995 remake of Village of the Damned, and the 1998 Swedish action film Hamilton. Hamill appeared in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) as the supervillain Cocknocker, a role that is a parody both of himself and of roles he played in the past.
His television work includes a guest appearance as the Trickster on two episodes of The Flash (1990), cameo appearances on MADtv as the estranged father of Ms. Swan, and an appearance on Saturday Night Live, in which he played himself being sold in a Star Wars-themed home shopping sale. He appeared in single episodes of 3rd Rock from the Sun (1997), and Just Shoot Me! (1998), in two episodes of seaQuest DSV (1995) as Tobias LeConte, and in the episode "Mind over Matter" of the series The Outer Limits (1995).
When the Wing Commander series of computer games started using full motion video cut scenes, Hamill was cast as the series protagonist, Colonel Christopher Blair, a role he played in Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom and Wing Commander: Prophecy. In the 1999 Wing Commander film, Blair was played by Freddie Prinze Jr., although Hamill had a voice cameo. Hamill appears in Squadron 42—the single-player campaign from the Star Citizen computer-game universe—as Lieutenant Commander Steve "Old Man" Colton.
In 2003, Hamill starred in the two-hander play Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks as the acerbic dance instructor Michael Minetti. He played opposite Rue McClanahan for the season at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, and opposite Polly Bergen when the production moved to Broadway.
Hamill also directed and starred in the 2004 direct-to-DVD film Comic Book: The Movie. Having been a comic-book fan who attended science-fiction and comics conventions before becoming famous, Hamill said his character was based on an exaggerated version of himself. He and his crew shot most of the "mockumentary" film during the 2002 San Diego Comic-Con and enlisted Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, Bruce Campbell and Hugh Hefner in small roles. The movie won an award for Best Live-Action DVD Premiere Movie at the 2005 DVD Exclusive Awards.
In 2011, Hamill appeared as a villain in the fifth season of the NBC series Chuck. He appeared in the television series Criminal Minds—in the last two episodes of season eight—as John Curtis (also known as "The Replicator"), a serial killer who stalks the BAU team throughout the show's eighth season. He also made a guest appearance alongside George Takei in the season one finale of the ABC sitcom The Neighbors as Commandant Bill.
Hamill starred in the 2011 Hungarian film Thelomeris, a project on which he also served as a creative consultant. Thelomeris was the first mainstream science-fiction film to be produced in Hungary. The following year, Hamill starred in two more live-action films: the British horror film Airborne and the independent film Sushi Girl. Airborne was received negatively by critics and audiences. Hamill said the dark tone of Sushi Girl pulled him out of his comfort zone, but he was grateful that it did.
In 2014, Hamill appeared in the film Kingsman: The Secret Service as James Arnold, a professor from Imperial College London and an expert on climate change. He also reprised his role as the Trickster in The CW's 2014 live-action series The Flash, appearing in the seventeenth episode of the first season, the ninth episode of the second season, and the ninth episode of the third season. Hamill starred in the 2018 film Con Man, an independent film about the life of famous con man Barry Minkow. Hamill played Minkow's father, Robert Minkow.
Hamill appeared in the second season of the historical-fiction drama series Knightfall, which premiered in 2019. He portrayed Master Talus, a veteran Templar who trains the initiates at the Chartres Temple. In April 2022, it was announced that Hamill would make an appearance on the revival of the series The Kids in the Hall, which was set to be released on Amazon Prime Video the following month, on May 13.
Voice acting
General work
Hamill first performed voice acting work in the early 1970s, voicing the character Corey Anders on the Saturday morning cartoon Jeannie by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He later played Sean in the Ralph Bakshi film Wizards, which was released just three months before Star Wars in 1977. The voice role he is most known for is Batman's archenemy the Joker, the success of which has led him to portray a wide variety of characters in television, film, anime, and video games (mostly similar super-villains).
Hamill was the voice of The Hobgoblin in the 1990s Spider-Man animated series; his other Marvel superhero genre roles include the Gargoyle in the animated series The Incredible Hulk, Maximus in Fantastic Four, Klaw in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and multiple characters in Ultimate Spider-Man. Hamill voiced Solomon Grundy and Trickster in the DC Animated Universe series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, and played the murderous gangster Tony Zucco in The Batman, an animated series unrelated to the various series in the DC animated universe. He voiced Spectre in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and provided the voice of archvillain Kavaxas in the fifth and final season of 2012's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Non-comic-related television roles include the deranged shock jock anchorman Dr. Jak in Phantom 2040; Principal John Smith in the Totally Spies episode "Soul Collector"; Christopher "Maverick" Blair in Wing Commander Academy; the Walter Lantz character Buzz Buzzard in The New Woody Woodpecker Show; the flamboyant robot Lawrance "Larry" 3000 in Time Squad; the pirate Captain Stickybeard in Codename: Kids Next Door; Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Skeleton King in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!; multiple roles in Metalocalypse; and the groundskeeper Skips in Regular Show. He also voiced himself in two episodes of the Disney animated series Pepper Ann.
Hamill guest-starred as himself in The Simpsons episode "Mayored to the Mob". On the accompanying audio commentary, he said he was a fan of the show since its 1987 debut on The Tracey Ullman Show, and that it was a personal thrill to work with Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson. He has also guest-starred in Family Guy, and was a recurring voice actor on Seth Green's Robot Chicken.
In addition to television voice acting, Hamill has starred in multiple animated films. His roles include The Captain of the Guard in Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists; the biblical figure Judah in Joseph: King of Dreams; the evil wolf Niju in Balto II: Wolf Quest; and Chanukah Zombie in Futurama: Bender's Big Score. He also voiced Colonel Muska in the second English-language version of Castle in the Sky, and the Mayor of Pejite in the dubbed English version of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, both directed by Hayao Miyazaki and distributed by Disney. Hamill also provided the voice of the Granduncle in the English-language dub of Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron (2023).
Hamill's video game voice roles include Detective Mosely in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers and Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned; Assistant Director Wilson in Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix; Adrian Ripburger in the LucasArts game Full Throttle; Wolverine in X2: Wolverine's Revenge (the game which accompanied the film X2); Goro Majima in Yakuza; Malefor The Dark Master in The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon; The Watcher in Darksiders; and Master Eraqus in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts III. Tetsuya Nomura, creator of Kingdom Hearts, describes himself as a fan of Hamill's work. There is also another character, Master Xehanort, originally voiced by Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame. Nomura stated that they wanted both Hamill and Nimoy for the roles, as the two characters are rivals, referencing the rivalry between fans of Star Wars and Star Trek. After Nimoy died, he was replaced by Rutger Hauer for Kingdom Hearts III, who, in turn, was replaced by Christopher Lloyd following his death for the Re Mind DLC; Lloyd had also appeared in Star Trek as Commander Kruge. Hamill narrated Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, the title of which referenced the 1980 war film he starred in. He also appeared in two installments of the Crash Bandicoot series.
Hamill is credited as the narrator in Ancient Voices (1999), a docuseries on archaeology and ancient history co-produced by the BBC and The Learning Channel, and published by Time Life as a DVD series. He also narrated the Medal of Honor and Silver Star citations of Tibor Rubin, Ralph E. Pomeroy, John Finnigan and Mitchell Red Cloud Jr. for the 2013 Korean War documentary Finnigan's War (directed by Conor Timmis).
Hamill voiced the character Todd Wainio in World War Z, a critically acclaimed audiobook based on Max Brooks' novel of the same name. He provided voices for the entire cast of the 1983 audiobook version of Pinocchio, and voiced the characters of the book series The Spiderwick Chronicles Volumes I–III, by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi.
In 2007, Hamill voiced Elder Orin in the film Battle for Terra. He narrated the 2017 science-fiction TV series Dimension 404. In 2019, Hamill voiced Chucky in the Child's Play film remake, as well as the Skeksis scientist skekTek in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, a ten-part Netflix prequel series to the 1982 Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal. In 2021, Hamill voiced the tailor Art Rosenbaum in the animated adaptation of Robert Kirkman's Invincible series, and Skeletor in Masters of the Universe: Revelation. He is also set to reprise the role for the follow-up to Revelation, Masters of the Universe: Revolution.
In-character as Luke Skywalker, Hamill voices the English versions of the Ukrainian air raid warning app. The alerts are not only performed in Skywalker's cadence but, after the alert is over, he signs off with "May the Force be with you". Hamill has raised funds for the Ukrainian war relief effort by signing Star Wars-themed posters to be raffled off.
At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, it was announced that Hamill would replace Brian Doyle-Murray as the voice of The Flying Dutchman in The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. Hamill previously voiced The Moth in the SpongeBob SquarePants season 5 episode "Night Light".
The Joker
Hamill's role as the Joker began in the 1992 series Batman: The Animated Series and continued to many later spin-off series, video games and films. In the DC Animated Universe, Hamill voiced the Joker in fourteen episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, three episodes of Superman: The Animated Series, five episodes of The New Batman Adventures, five episodes of Justice League, and an episode of Static Shock. He also voiced the Joker in the 1993 theatrical film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and the 2000 direct-to-video film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
The short-lived The WB live-action series Birds of Prey, based on the comic book of the same title, featured a flashback sequence in which the Joker shoots Barbara Gordon and paralyzes her. This sequence featured Hamill voicing Joker, dubbed over actor/stuntman Roger Stoneburner whose facial structure more resembled the character. He also voiced the character in a few segments in Robot Chicken.
Hamill voiced the Joker alongside his Batman: The Animated Series co-star Kevin Conroy as Batman and Jason Hillhouse as Dick Grayson in a feature of a storyboard scene included in the 2005 Special Edition DVD of Tim Burton's 1989 film Batman. This scene depicted the origin of Robin, which was not filmed because the producers felt it was out-of-place with the rest of the film.
Hamill has said that he has voiced the Joker for toys and amusement park rides. Although these jobs did not pay particularly well, he enjoyed even these small roles and admitted being protective of the character, preferring not to let "others sleep in my sleeping bag"; he also self-identifies as a "real comic book nerd".
Hamill has portrayed the Joker in a few Batman based video games, beginning with 2001's Batman: Vengeance, the Sega CD version of The Adventures of Batman & Robin (which was later used to create a "lost" episode of the animated series) and in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Hamill again reprised the role in the Arkham sequel, Batman: Arkham City. In May 2010, Hamill declared to IGN that his role in Arkham City would be his last as the Joker. Some months later, with the announcement of Arkham City, he clarified his statements in the interview by saying, via his Twitter account, "Only said Arkham Asylum would be hard to top, not that I was quitting." On October 19, 2011, shortly after the release of the game, Hamill announced his retirement on his Twitter account, saying "Hello/Goodbye Joker! I've enjoyed every minute behind the wheel of the Clown Prince's crazy car – I'm going to miss him more than I can say!!". In June 2012, WB Games released the expansion pack titled "The Last Laugh" for the video game DC Universe Online, featuring Hamill as the Joker. In 2015, Hamill yet again returned as the Joker in Batman: Arkham Knight with the character recurring through the game as a hallucination.
During a 2011 Comic-Con, when asked about Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning portrayal of the character in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, Hamill claimed that it was the most original performance that he had ever seen since Anthony Hopkins' Oscar-winning portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.
Hamill has commented that if there would ever be an animated version of Batman: The Killing Joke, he would gladly voice the Joker again, encouraging fans to campaign for said adaptation. On July 17, 2015, Hamill tweeted that he had his fingers crossed in hopes that he would be contacted to reprise his role as the Joker in the animated adaptation. On July 27, Collider reported that Hamill would voice the Joker in the film. The film was released in theaters for a two-day limited time. It was released on Digital HD on July 27, 2016. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 2.
Hamill reprised the Joker for the animated series Justice League Action. He also reprised the Trickster for the series, as well as voicing Swamp Thing. In the animated short "Missing the Mark", Hamill voices a fictionalized version of himself, who appears alongside all three of his other characters. Hamill once again voiced Joker in Lego DC Super-Villains, replacing voice actor Christopher Corey Smith.
Hamill has been nominated for two Annie Awards for his portrayal of the character, for an Interactive Achievement Award, for a Spike Video Game Award, and has won a British Academy Games Award for Best Performer.
In January 2023, Hamill revealed in an interview that he would no longer voice the Joker following Kevin Conroy's death in 2022, stating that "Without Kevin there, there doesn't seem to be a Batman for me." In 2024, Hamill voiced the Joker in the crossover fighting game MultiVersus and the film Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths (both of which Conroy recorded dialogue as Batman before his death).
Writing
Hamill is the co-writer of The Black Pearl, a comic book miniseries published by Dark Horse Comics. He wrote an introduction to the Trade Paperback Batman: Riddler Two-Face which reprints various stories involving the Riddler and Two-Face to tie in with Batman Forever. He has also written several stories for Simpsons Comics, including "Catastrophe in Substitute Springfields!", which parodies DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths and also references several other classic comics.
Personal life
On January 11, 1977, before shooting one of his scenes in Star Wars, Hamill was in a car accident in which he fractured his nose and left cheekbone. As a result, a double was used for the landspeeder pickup shots.
Hamill was also an early fan of David Letterman, having occasionally appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, as well as taping every episode and keeping a journal documenting the show. After encountering writer Chris Elliott, Hamill was asked for assistance in helping determine the 1,000th Viewer Mail that Letterman had answered. His practice continued to Letterman's new show on CBS, but eventually stopped.
In January 2025, Hamill and his wife evacuated their home in Malibu, California due to the Palisades Fire. Hamill later moved to a rented house in Los Feliz.
Relationships and family
According to a 1981 profile in People, Hamill's "first serious love" was actress Anne Wyndham, cast as his sister on General Hospital, with whom he had an offscreen relationship. He would later describe experiencing seasons of on-set awkwardness while working with her after their relationship ended. In a 2017 interview, he attributed his long, happy marriage to a non-actor to learning, through his relationship with Wyndham, the dangers of being in a relationship with a fellow actor.
On December 17, 1978, Hamill married dental hygienist Marilou York in a private civil ceremony. They have three children: Nathan Elias, Griffin Tobias, and Chelsea Elizabeth. Nathan was born during the production of The Empire Strikes Back and had a cameo appearance as one of the Royal Guards of Naboo in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Chelsea made a photographic appearance as an infant Axel Walker in the 1990 television series The Flash; the same photograph was used in the 2014 series. All three have cameos as Resistance soldiers in The Last Jedi. In addition to his three children, Hamill has a granddaughter, Autumn, through his oldest son Nathan.
Political views
Hamill is an outspoken advocate of the Democratic Party and has supported its candidates. In 2005, Hamill stated that "it gives me a cold shiver down my spine" to have Luke Skywalker be compared to George W. Bush. Prior to the 2008 presidential election, Hamill urged students at Point Park University to vote for Barack Obama, describing him as "a once in a lifetime candidate". Prior to the 2012 presidential election, he referred to Mitt Romney as a "snake oil salesman". He endorsed P.G. Sittenfeld in the 2016 Ohio Senate election. He has also criticized the tweets of Donald Trump by reading them out in his Joker voice. Hamill met with President Joe Biden at the White House in May 2024 and endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
During the 2022 Brazilian general election, Hamill expressed support for Workers' Party candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
In March 2023, Hamill stated his support for Ukraine in its defense against the Russian invasion of Ukraine calling it a "fairy tale about good versus evil". As a further show of support Hamill lent his voice to the app Air Alert, that warns about Russian air attacks against Ukraine.
In October 2023, Hamill, along with over 700 other Hollywood professionals, signed an open letter condemning the Palestinian militant group Hamas, demanding the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, and expressing support for Israel in the Gaza war. In April 2024, Hamill said he "fully support[ed]" Gaza and Palestine while still condemning Hamas.
During the 2024 London mayoral election, Hamill expressed support for Labour Party politician Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London, describing him as "a driving force in cleaning up London’s air" and sharing his love for London as a city he spent years living in.
Philanthropy
On September 29, 2022, Hamill became an ambassador of the United24 fundraising platform, which raises funds to support Ukraine in the war against Russia. On March 25, 2023, a drawing was held for posters signed by Mark Hamill; it raised more than $300,000 for RQ-35 Heidrun reconnaissance drones.
Written works
Forewords
Hamill, Mark (2003). Foreword. Animation on DVD: The Ultimate Guide. By Mangels, Andy. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-880656-68-6.
Comics
Awards and nominations
See also
Asteroid 110026 Hamill
Notes
References
Print sources
External links
Mark Hamill at IMDb
Mark Hamill at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
Mark Hamill at the Internet Broadway Database
Mark Hamill at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
Mark Hamill at the TCM Movie Database
Mark Hamill on Twitter
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John D. Rockefeller
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John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest persons in modern history. Rockefeller was born into a large family in Upstate New York who moved several times before eventually settling in Cleveland, Ohio. He became an assistant bookkeeper at age 16 and went into several business partnerships beginning at age 20, concentrating his business on oil refining. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897 and remained its largest shareholder. In his retirement, he focused his energy and wealth on philanthropy, especially regarding education, medicine, higher education, and modernizing the Southern United States.
Rockefeller's wealth grew substantially as kerosene and gasoline became increasingly important commodities, eventually making him the richest person in the United States. By 1900, Standard Oil controlled about 90% of the nation's oil production. The company lowered production costs and expanded oil distribution through corporate and technological innovations, but it also benefited from a legal environment that enabled consolidation. Critics argue that regulatory capture played a role in facilitating its monopoly power–a view reinforced by Rockefeller's reputed remark, "Competition is a sin."
Rockefeller's company and business practices came under criticism, particularly in the writings of author Ida Tarbell. The Supreme Court ruled in 1911 that Standard Oil must be dismantled for violation of federal antitrust laws. It was broken up into 34 separate entities, which included companies that became ExxonMobil, Chevron Corporation, and others—some of which remain among the largest companies by revenue worldwide. Consequently, Rockefeller became the country's first billionaire, with a fortune worth nearly 2% of the national economy. His personal wealth was estimated in 1913 at $900 million, which was almost 3% of the US gross domestic product (GDP) of $39.1 billion that year.
Rockefeller spent much of the last 40 years of his life in retirement at Kykuit, his estate in Westchester County, New York, defining the structure of modern philanthropy, along with other key industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie. His fortune was used chiefly to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy through the creation of foundations that supported medicine, education, and scientific research. His foundations pioneered developments in medical research and were instrumental in the near-eradication of hookworm in the American South, and yellow fever in the United States. He and Carnegie gave form and impetus through their charities to the work of Abraham Flexner, who in his essay "Medical Education in America" emphatically endowed empiricism as the basis for the US medical system of the 20th century.
Rockefeller was the founder of the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University, and funded the establishment of Central Philippine University in the Philippines. He was a devout mainline Baptist Christian and supported many church-based institutions. He adhered to total abstinence from alcohol and tobacco throughout his life. For advice, he relied closely on his wife, Laura Spelman Rockefeller; they had four daughters and a son together. He was a faithful congregant of the Erie Street Baptist Mission Church, taught Sunday school, and served as a trustee, clerk, and occasional janitor. Religion was a guiding force throughout his life, and he believed it to be the source of his success. Rockefeller was also considered a supporter of capitalism based on a perspective of social Darwinism, and he was quoted often as saying, "The growth of a large business is merely a survival of the fittest."
Early life
Rockefeller was the second of six children born in Richford, New York, to con artist William A. Rockefeller Sr. and Eliza Davison. Rockefeller had an elder sister named Lucy and four younger siblings: William Jr., Mary, and fraternal twins Franklin (Frank) and Frances. His father was of English and German descent, while his mother was of Ulster Scot descent. One source says that some ancestors were Huguenots, the Roquefeuille family, who fled to Germany from France during the reign of Louis XIV and a period of religious persecution. By the time their descendants immigrated to North America, their name had taken German form. William Sr. worked first as a lumberman and then a traveling salesman. He claimed to be a "botanic physician" who sold elixirs, and was described by locals as "Big Bill" and "Devil Bill." Unshackled by conventional morality, he led a vagabond existence and returned to his family infrequently. Throughout his life, Bill was notorious for conducting schemes. In between the births of Lucy and John, Bill and his mistress and housekeeper Nancy Brown had a daughter named Clorinda, who died young. Between John and William Jr.'s births, Bill and Nancy had another daughter, named Cornelia.
Eliza was a homemaker and a devout Baptist who struggled to maintain a semblance of stability at home, as Bill was frequently gone for extended periods. She also put up with his philandering and his double life, which included bigamy. He permanently abandoned his family around 1855 and lived with second wife, Margaret L. Allen.
Eliza was thrifty by nature and by necessity, and she taught her son that "willful waste makes woeful want". She taught John how to save and track money, and the importance of it. John did his share of the regular household chores and earned extra money raising turkeys, selling potatoes and candy, and eventually lending small sums of money to neighbors. He followed his father's advice to "trade dishes for platters" and always get the better part of any deal. Bill once bragged, "I cheat my boys every chance I get. I want to make 'em sharp." However, his mother was more influential in John's upbringing and beyond, while he distanced himself further and further from his father as his life progressed. He later stated, "From the beginning, I was trained to work, to save, and to give."
When he was a boy, his family moved to Moravia, New York, and to Owego, New York, in 1851, where he attended Owego Academy. In 1853, his family moved to Strongsville, Ohio, and he attended Cleveland's Central High School, the first high school in Cleveland and the first free public high school west of the Alleghenies. Then he took a ten-week business course at Folsom's Commercial College, where he studied bookkeeping. Rockefeller was a well-behaved, serious, and studious boy despite his father's absences and frequent family moves. His contemporaries described him as reserved, earnest, religious, methodical, and discreet. He was an excellent debater and expressed himself precisely. He also had a deep love of music and dreamed of it as a possible career.
Pre-Standard Oil career
As a bookkeeper
In September 1855, when Rockefeller was sixteen, he got his first job as an assistant bookkeeper working for a small produce commission firm in Cleveland called Hewitt & Tuttle. He worked long hours and delighted, as he later recalled, in "all the methods and systems of the office." He was particularly adept at calculating transportation costs, which served him well later in his career. Much of Rockefeller's duties involved negotiating with barge canal owners, ship captains, and freight agents. In these negotiations, he learned that posted transportation rates that were believed to be fixed could be altered depending on conditions and timing of freight and through the use of rebates to preferred shippers. Rockefeller was also given the duties of collecting debts when Hewitt instructed him to do so. Instead of using his father's method of presence to collect debts, Rockefeller relied on a persistent pestering approach. Rockefeller received $16 a month for his three-month apprenticeship. During his first year, he received $31 a month, which was increased to $50 a month. His final year provided him $58 a month.
As a youth, Rockefeller reportedly said that his two great ambitions were to make $100,000 (equivalent to $3.37 million in 2024 dollars) and to live 100 years.
Business partnership and Civil War service
In 1859, Rockefeller went into the produce commission business with two partners, Maurice B. Clark and George W. Gardner, under Clark, Gardner & Company, and they raised $4,000 ($139,985 in 2024 dollars) in capital. Clark initiated the idea of the partnership and offered $2,000 towards the goal. Rockefeller had only $800 saved up at the time and so borrowed $1,000 from his father, "Big Bill" Rockefeller, at 10 percent interest. This loan by Bill to John, nearly $40,000 in today's money, was pivotal in John's start in his career, allowing him to build his own wealth beyond his meager pay as an employee. In their first and second years of business, Clark, Gardner & Rockefeller netted $4,400 (on nearly half a million dollars in business) and $17,000 worth of profit, respectively, and their profits soared with the outbreak of the American Civil War when the Union Army called for massive amounts of food and supplies. During the second year of the war, Gardner withdrew from the business, and the firm became Clark & Rockefeller.
When the Civil War was nearing a close and with the prospect of those war-time profits ending, Clark & Rockefeller looked toward the refining of crude oil. While his brother Frank fought in the Civil War, Rockefeller tended his business. He gave some money to the Union cause, as did many rich Northerners who avoided combat. "I wanted to go in the army and do my part," Rockefeller said. "But it was simply out of the question. There was no one to take my place. We were in a new business, and if I had not stayed it must have stopped—and with so many dependent on it."
Rockefeller was opposed to slavery but never joined the abolitionist cause. He voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and supported the new Republican Party. During the Civil War, military consumption of oil drove the price up from $.35 a barrel in 1862 to as high as $13.75. This created an oil-drilling glut, with thousands of speculators attempting to make their fortunes. Most failed, but those who struck oil did not even need to be efficient. They would blow holes in the ground and gather up the oil as they could, often leading to creeks and rivers flowing with wasted oil in the place of water.
A market existed for the refined oil in the form of kerosene. Coal had previously been used to extract kerosene, but its tedious extraction process and high price prevented broad use. Even with the high costs of freight transportation and a government levy during the Civil War (the government levied a tax of twenty cents a gallon on refined oil), profits on the refined product were large. The price of the refined oil in 1863 was around $13 a barrel, with a profit margin of around $5 to $8 a barrel. The capital expenditures for a refinery at that time were small – around $1,000 to $1,500 and requiring only a few men to operate. In this environment of a wasteful boom, the partners switched from foodstuffs to oil, building an oil refinery in 1863 in "The Flats", then Cleveland's burgeoning industrial area. The refinery was directly owned by Andrews, Clark & Company, which was composed of Clark & Rockefeller, chemist Samuel Andrews, and M. B. Clark's two brothers. The commercial oil business was then in its infancy. Whale oil had become too expensive for the masses, and a cheaper, general-purpose lighting fuel was needed.
While other refineries would keep the 60% of oil product that became kerosene, but dump the other 40% in rivers and massive sludge piles, Rockefeller used the gasoline to fuel the refinery, and sold the rest as lubricating oil, petroleum jelly and paraffin wax, and other by-products. Tar was used for paving, naphtha shipped to gas plants. Likewise, Rockefeller's refineries hired their own plumbers, cutting the cost of pipe-laying in half. Barrels that cost $2.50 each ended up only $0.96 when Rockefeller bought the wood and had them built for himself. In February 1865, in what was later described by oil industry historian Daniel Yergin as a "critical" action, Rockefeller bought out the Clark brothers for $72,500 (equivalent to $1 million in 2024 dollars) at auction and established the firm of Rockefeller & Andrews. Rockefeller said, "It was the day that determined my career." He was well-positioned to take advantage of postwar prosperity and the great expansion westward fostered by the growth of railroads and an oil-fueled economy. He borrowed heavily, reinvested profits, adapted rapidly to changing markets, and fielded observers to track the quickly expanding industry.
Beginning in the oil business
In 1866, William Rockefeller Jr., John's brother, built another refinery in Cleveland and brought John into the partnership. In 1867, Henry Morrison Flagler became a partner, and the firm of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was established. By 1868, with Rockefeller continuing practices of borrowing and reinvesting profits, controlling costs, and using refineries' waste, the company owned two Cleveland refineries and a marketing subsidiary in New York; it was the largest oil refinery in the world. Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was the predecessor of the Standard Oil Company.
Standard Oil
Founding and early growth
By 1865 Cleveland was one of the five main refining centers in the U.S. (besides Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, upstate New York, and the region in northwestern Pennsylvania where most of the oil originated). By 1869 there was triple the kerosene refining capacity than needed to supply the market, and the capacity remained in excess for many years.
On January 10, 1870, Rockefeller abolished the partnership of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler, co-founding Standard Oil of Ohio. Continuing to apply his work ethic and efficiency, Rockefeller quickly expanded the company to be the most profitable refiner in Ohio. Likewise, it became one of the largest shippers of oil and kerosene in the country. The railroads competed fiercely for traffic and, in an attempt to create a cartel to control freight rates, formed the South Improvement Company offering special deals to bulk customers like Standard Oil, outside the main oil centers. The cartel offered preferential treatment as a high-volume shipper, which included not just steep discounts/rebates of up to 50% for their product but rebates for the shipment of competing products.
Part of this scheme was the announcement of sharply increased freight charges. This touched off a firestorm of protest from independent oil well owners, including boycotts and vandalism, which led to the discovery of Standard Oil's part in the deal. A major New York refiner, Charles Pratt and Company, headed by Charles Pratt and Henry H. Rogers, led the opposition to this plan, and railroads soon backed off. Pennsylvania revoked the cartel's charter, and non-preferential rates were restored for the time being. While competitors may have been unhappy, Rockefeller's efforts did bring American consumers cheaper kerosene and other oil by-products. Before 1870, oil light was only for the wealthy, provided by expensive whale oil. During the next decade, kerosene became commonly available to the working and middle classes.
Undeterred, though vilified for the first time by the press, Rockefeller continued with his self-reinforcing cycle of buying the least efficient competing refiners, improving the efficiency of his operations, pressing for discounts on oil shipments, undercutting his competition, making secret deals, raising investment pools, and buying rivals out. In less than four months in 1872, in what was later known as "The Cleveland Conquest" or "The Cleveland Massacre", Standard Oil absorbed 22 of its 26 Cleveland competitors. Eventually, even his former antagonists, Pratt and Rogers, saw the futility of continuing to compete against Standard Oil; in 1874, they made a secret agreement with Rockefeller to be acquired.
Pratt and Rogers became Rockefeller's partners. Rogers, in particular, became one of Rockefeller's key men in the formation of the Standard Oil Trust. Pratt's son, Charles Millard Pratt, became secretary of Standard Oil. For many of his competitors, Rockefeller had merely to show them his books so they could see what they were up against and then make them a decent offer. If they refused his offer, he told them he would run them into bankruptcy and then cheaply buy up their assets at auction. However, he did not intend to eliminate competition entirely. In fact, his partner Pratt said of that accusation "Competitors we must have ... If we absorb them, it surely will bring up another."
Instead of wanting to eliminate them, Rockefeller saw himself as the industry's savior, "an angel of mercy" absorbing the weak and making the industry as a whole stronger, more efficient, and more competitive. Standard was growing horizontally and vertically. It added its own pipelines, tank cars, and home delivery network. It kept oil prices low to stave off competitors, made its products affordable to the average household, and, to increase market penetration, sometimes sold below cost. It developed over 300 oil-based products from tar to paint to petroleum jelly to chewing gum. By the end of the 1870s, Standard was refining over 90% of the oil in the U.S. Rockefeller had already become a millionaire ($1 million is equivalent to $33 million in 2024 dollars).
He instinctively realized that orderliness would only proceed from centralized control of large aggregations of plant and capital, with the one aim of an orderly flow of products from the producer to the consumer. That orderly, economic, efficient flow is what we now, many years later, call 'vertical integration'. I do not know whether Mr. Rockefeller ever used the word 'integration'. I only know he conceived the idea.
In 1877, Standard clashed with Thomas A. Scott, the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Standard's chief hauler. Rockefeller envisioned pipelines as an alternative transport system for oil and began a campaign to build and acquire them. The railroad, seeing Standard's incursion into the transportation and pipeline fields, struck back and formed a subsidiary to buy and build oil refineries and pipelines.
Standard countered, held back its shipments, and, with the help of other railroads, started a price war that dramatically reduced freight payments and caused labor unrest. Rockefeller prevailed and the railroad sold its oil interests to Standard. In the aftermath of that battle, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania indicted Rockefeller in 1879 on charges of monopolizing the oil trade, starting an avalanche of similar court proceedings in other states and making a national issue of Standard Oil's business practices. Rockefeller was under great strain during the 1870s and 1880s when he was carrying out his plan of consolidation and integration and being attacked by the press. He complained that he could not stay asleep most nights. Rockefeller later commented:
All the fortune that I have made has not served to compensate me for the anxiety of that period.
Monopoly
Although it always had hundreds of competitors, Standard Oil gradually gained dominance of oil refining and sales as market share in the United States through horizontal integration, ending up with about 90% of the US market. In the kerosene industry, the company replaced the old distribution system with its own vertical system. It supplied kerosene by tank cars that brought the fuel to local markets, and tank wagons then delivered to retail customers, thus bypassing the existing network of wholesale jobbers. Despite improving the quality and availability of kerosene products while greatly reducing their cost to the public (the price of kerosene dropped by nearly 80% over the life of the company), Standard Oil's business practices created intense controversy. Standard's most potent weapons against competitors were underselling, differential pricing, and secret transportation rebates.
The firm was attacked by journalists and politicians throughout its existence, in part for these monopolistic methods, giving momentum to the antitrust movement. In 1879, the New York State Legislature's Hepburn Committee investigations into "alleged abuses" committed by the railroads uncovered the fact that Standard Oil was receiving substantial freight rebates on all of the oil it was transporting by railroad—and was crushing Standard's competitors thereby. By 1880, according to the New York World, Standard Oil was "the most cruel, impudent, pitiless, and grasping monopoly that ever fastened upon a country". To critics, Rockefeller replied, "In a business so large as ours ... some things are likely to be done which we cannot approve. We correct them as soon as they come to our knowledge."
At that time, many legislatures had made it difficult to incorporate in one state and operate in another. As a result, Rockefeller and his associates owned dozens of separate corporations, each of which operated in just one state; the management of the whole enterprise was rather unwieldy. In 1882, Rockefeller's lawyers created an innovative form of corporation to centralize their holdings, giving birth to the Standard Oil Trust. The "trust" was a corporation of corporations, and the entity's size and wealth drew much attention. Nine trustees, including Rockefeller, ran the 41 companies in the trust. The public and the press were immediately suspicious of this new legal entity, and other businesses seized upon the idea and emulated it, further inflaming public sentiment. Standard Oil had gained an aura of invincibility, always prevailing against competitors, critics, and political enemies. It had become the richest, biggest, most feared business in the world, seemingly immune to the boom and bust of the business cycle, consistently making profits year after year.
The company's vast American empire included 20,000 domestic wells, 4,000 miles of pipeline, 5,000 tank cars, and over 100,000 employees. Its share of world oil refining topped out above 90% but slowly dropped to about 80% for the rest of the century. Despite the formation of the trust and its perceived immunity from all competition, by the 1880s Standard Oil had passed its peak of power over the world oil market. Rockefeller finally gave up his dream of controlling all the world's oil refining; he admitted later, "We realized that public sentiment would be against us if we actually refined all the oil." Over time, foreign competition and new finds abroad eroded his dominance. In the early 1880s, Rockefeller created one of his most important innovations. Rather than try to influence the price of crude oil directly, Standard Oil had been exercising indirect control by altering oil storage charges to suit market conditions. Rockefeller then ordered the issuance of certificates against oil stored in its pipelines. These certificates became traded by speculators, thus creating the first oil-futures market which effectively set spot market prices from then on. The National Petroleum Exchange opened in Manhattan in late 1882 to facilitate the trading of oil futures.
Although 85% of world crude production was still coming from Pennsylvania in the 1880s, oil from wells drilled in Russia and Asia began to reach the world market. Robert Nobel had established his own refining enterprise in the abundant and cheaper Russian oil fields, including the region's first pipeline and the world's first oil tanker. The Paris Rothschilds jumped into the fray providing financing. Additional fields were discovered in Burma and Java. Even more critical, the invention of the light bulb gradually began to erode the dominance of kerosene for illumination. Standard Oil adapted by developing a European presence, expanding into natural gas production in the U.S., and then producing gasoline for automobiles, which until then had been considered a waste product.
Standard Oil moved its headquarters to New York City at 26 Broadway, and Rockefeller became a central figure in the city's business community. He bought a residence in 1884 on 54th Street near the mansions of other magnates such as William Henry Vanderbilt. Despite personal threats and constant pleas for charity, Rockefeller took the new elevated train to his downtown office daily. In 1887, Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission which was tasked with enforcing equal rates for all railroad freight, but by then Standard depended more on pipeline transport. More threatening to Standard's power was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, originally used to control unions, but later central to the breakup of the Standard Oil trust. Ohio was especially vigorous in applying its state antitrust laws, and finally forced a separation of Standard Oil of Ohio from the rest of the company in 1892, the first step in the dissolution of the trust.
In the 1890s, Rockefeller expanded into iron ore and ore transportation, forcing a collision with steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, and their competition became a major subject of the newspapers and cartoonists. He went on a massive buying spree acquiring leases for crude oil production in Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia, as the original Pennsylvania oil fields began to play out. Amid the frenetic expansion, Rockefeller began to think of retirement. The daily management of the trust was turned over to John Dustin Archbold and Rockefeller bought a new estate, Pocantico Hills, north of New York City, turning more time to leisure activities including the new sports of bicycling and golf.
Upon his ascent to the presidency, Theodore Roosevelt initiated dozens of suits under the Sherman Antitrust Act and coaxed reforms out of Congress. In 1901, U.S. Steel, then controlled by J. Pierpont Morgan, having bought Andrew Carnegie's steel assets, offered to buy Standard's iron interests as well. A deal brokered by Henry Clay Frick exchanged Standard's iron interests for U.S. Steel stock and gave Rockefeller and his son membership on the company's board of directors. In full retirement at age 63, Rockefeller earned over $58 million (~$1.7 billion in 2024) in investments in 1902.
One of the most effective attacks on Rockefeller and his firm was the 1904 publication of The History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida Tarbell, a leading muckraker. She documented the company's espionage, price wars, heavy-handed marketing tactics, and courtroom evasions. Although her work prompted a huge backlash against the company, Tarbell stated she was surprised at its magnitude. "I never had an animus against their size and wealth, never objected to their corporate form. I was willing that they should combine and grow as big and wealthy as they could, but only by legitimate means. But they had never played fair, and that ruined their greatness for me." Tarbell's father had been driven out of the oil business during the "South Improvement Company" affair.
Rockefeller called her "Miss Tarbarrel" in private but held back in public saying only, "not a word about that misguided woman." He began a publicity campaign to put his company and himself in a better light. Though he had long maintained a policy of active silence with the press, he decided to make himself more accessible and responded with conciliatory comments such as "capital and labor are both wild forces which require intelligent legislation to hold them in restriction." He wrote and published his memoirs beginning in 1908. Critics found his writing to be sanitized and disingenuous and thought that statements such as "the underlying, essential element of success in business are to follow the established laws of high-class dealing" seemed to be at odds with his true business methods.
Rockefeller and his son continued to consolidate their oil interests as best they could until New Jersey, in 1909, changed its incorporation laws to effectively allow a re-creation of the trust in the form of a single holding company. Rockefeller retained his nominal title as president until 1911 and he kept his stock. At last in 1911, the Supreme Court of the United States found Standard Oil Company of New Jersey in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. By then the trust still had a 70% market share of the refined oil market but only 14% of the U.S. crude oil supply. The court ruled that the trust originated in illegal monopoly practices and ordered it to be broken up into 34 new companies. These included, among many others, Continental Oil, which became Conoco, now part of ConocoPhillips; Standard of Indiana, which became Amoco, now part of BP; Standard of California, which became Chevron; Standard of New Jersey, which became Esso (and later, Exxon), now part of ExxonMobil; Standard of New York, which became Mobil, now part of ExxonMobil; and Standard of Ohio, which became Sohio, now part of BP. Pennzoil and Chevron have remained separate companies.
Rockefeller, who had rarely sold shares, held over 25% of Standard's stock at the time of the breakup. He and all of the other stockholders received proportionate shares in each of the 34 companies. In the aftermath, Rockefeller's control over the oil industry was somewhat reduced, but over the next 10 years the breakup proved immensely profitable for him. The companies' combined net worth rose fivefold and Rockefeller's personal wealth jumped to $900 million.
Colorado Fuel and Iron
In 1902, facing cash flow problems, John Cleveland Osgood turned to George Jay Gould, a principal stockholder of the Denver and Rio Grande, for a loan. Gould, via Frederick Taylor Gates, Rockefeller's financial adviser, brought John D. Rockefeller in to help finance the loan. Analysis of the company's operations by John D. Rockefeller Jr. showed a need for substantially more funds which were provided in exchange for acquisition of CF&I's subsidiaries such as the Colorado and Wyoming Railway Company, the Crystal River Railroad Company, and possibly the Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron Company. Control was passed from the Iowa Group to Gould and Rockefeller interests in 1903 with Gould in control and Rockefeller and Gates representing a minority interests. Osgood left the company in 1904 and devoted his efforts to operating competing coal and coke operations.
Personal life
Family
Against long-circulating speculations that his family has French roots, genealogists proved the German origin of Rockefeller and traced them to the early 17th century. Johann Peter Rockenfeller (baptized September 27, 1682, in the Protestant church of Rengsdorf) immigrated in 1723 from Altwied (today a district of Neuwied, Rhineland-Palatinate) with three children to North America. He settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania.
The name Rockenfeller refers to the now-abandoned village of Rockenfeld in the district of Neuwied.
Marriage
In 1864, Rockefeller married Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman (1839–1915), daughter of Harvey Buell Spelman and Lucy Henry. They had four daughters and one son together. He said later, "Her judgment was always better than mine. Without her keen advice, I would be a poor man." Laura and John were known to have a lifestyle that, minus the mansion, lacked opulence often rejecting extravagant items.
Elizabeth "Bessie" Rockefeller (August 23, 1866 – November 14, 1906)
Alice Rockefeller (July 14, 1869 – August 20, 1870)
Alta Rockefeller (April 12, 1871 – June 21, 1962)
Edith Rockefeller (August 31, 1872 – August 25, 1932)
John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960)
The Rockefeller wealth, distributed as it was through a system of foundations and trusts, continued to fund family philanthropic, commercial, and, eventually, political aspirations throughout the 20th century. John Jr.'s youngest son David Rockefeller was a leading New York banker, serving for over 20 years as CEO of Chase Manhattan (now part of JPMorgan Chase). Second son Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was Republican governor of New York and the 41st Vice President of the United States. Fourth son Winthrop Rockefeller served as Republican Governor of Arkansas. Grandchildren Abigail Aldrich "Abby" Rockefeller and John Davison Rockefeller III became philanthropists. Grandson Laurance Spelman Rockefeller became a conservationist. Great-grandson John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV served from 1985 until 2015 as a Democratic Senator from West Virginia after serving as governor of West Virginia, and another Winthrop Paul Rockefeller served as lieutenant governor of Arkansas for a decade.
Religious views
John D. Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York, then part of the Burned-over district, a New York state region that became the site of an evangelical revival known as the Second Great Awakening. It drew masses to various Protestant churches—especially Baptist ones—and urged believers to follow such ideals as hard work, prayer, and good deeds to build "the Kingdom of God on Earth." Early in his life, he regularly went with his siblings and mother Eliza to the local Baptist church—the Erie Street Baptist Church (later the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church)—an independent Baptist church that eventually associated with the Northern Baptist Convention (1907–1950; now part of the modern American Baptist Churches USA).
His mother was deeply religious and disciplined, and had a major influence on him in religious matters. During church service, his mother would urge him to contribute his few pennies to the congregation. Rockefeller associated the church with charity. A Baptist preacher once encouraged him to "make as much money as he could, and then give away as much as he could". Later in his life, Rockefeller recalled: "It was at this moment, that the financial plan of my life was formed". Money making was considered by him a "God-given gift".
A devout Northern Baptist, Rockefeller would read the Bible daily, attend prayer meetings twice a week and led his own Bible study with his wife. Burton Folsom Jr. has noted:
[H]e sometimes gave tens of thousands of dollars to Christian groups, while, at the same time, he was trying to borrow over a million dollars to expand his business. His philosophy of giving was founded upon biblical principles. He truly believed in the biblical principle found in Luke 6:38, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
Rockefeller would support Baptist missionary activity, fund universities, and deeply engage in religious activities at his Cleveland, Ohio, church. While traveling the South, he would donate large sums of money to churches belonging to the Southern Baptist Convention, various Black churches, and other Christian denominations. He paid toward the freedom of two slaves and donated to a Roman Catholic orphanage. As he grew rich, his donations became more generous, especially to his church in Cleveland. Believed to be obsolescent, the church was demolished in 1925, and replaced with a new building.
Philanthropy
Rockefeller's charitable giving began with his first job as a clerk at age 16, when he gave six percent of his earnings to charity, as recorded in his personal ledger. By the time he was twenty, his charity exceeded ten percent of his income. Much of his giving was church-related. His church was later affiliated with the Northern Baptist Convention, which formed from American Baptists in the North with ties to their historic missions to establish schools and colleges for freedmen in the South after the American Civil War. Rockefeller attended Baptist churches every Sunday; when traveling he would often attend services at African-American Baptist congregations, leaving a substantial donation. As Rockefeller's wealth grew, so did his giving, primarily to educational and public health causes, but also for basic science and the arts. He was advised primarily by Frederick Taylor Gates after 1891, and, after 1897, also by his son.
Rockefeller believed in the Efficiency Movement, arguing that: "To help an inefficient, ill-located, unnecessary school is a waste ... it is highly probable that enough money has been squandered on unwise educational projects to have built up a national system of higher education adequate to our needs, if the money had been properly directed to that end."
Rockefeller and his advisers invented the conditional grant, which required the recipient to "root the institution in the affections of as many people as possible who, as contributors, become personally concerned, and thereafter may be counted on to give to the institution their watchful interest and cooperation".
In 1884, Rockefeller provided major funding for Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary in Atlanta for African-American women. His wife, Laura Spelman Rockefeller, was dedicated to civil rights and equality for women. John and Laura donated money and supported the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary whose mission was in line with their faith based beliefs. Spelman College, the all-women historically Black college in Atlanta was named after Laura's family was heavily supported by Rockefeller. The Spelman family, Rockefeller's in-laws, were ardent abolitionists before the Civil War and were dedicated to supporting the underground railroad. Rockefeller was impressed by the vision of the school and paid off the school's debt. The oldest existing building on Spelman's campus, Rockefeller Hall, is named after him. Rockefeller also gave considerable donations to Denison University and other Baptist colleges.
Rockefeller gave $80 million (~$2.47 billion in 2024) to the University of Chicago under William Rainey Harper, turning a small Baptist college into a world-class institution by 1900. He would describe the University of Chicago as "the best investment I ever made." He also gave a grant to the American Baptist Missionaries foreign mission board, the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society in establishing Central Philippine University, the first Baptist and second American university in Asia, in 1905 in the heavily Catholic Philippines.
Rockefeller's General Education Board, founded in 1903, was established to promote education at all levels everywhere in the country. In keeping with the historic missions of the Baptists, it was especially active in supporting black schools in the South. Rockefeller also provided financial support to such established eastern institutions as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley and Vassar.
On Gates' advice, Rockefeller became one of the first great benefactors of medical science. In 1901, he founded the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York City. It changed its name to Rockefeller University in 1965, after expanding its mission to include graduate education. It claims a connection to 23 Nobel laureates. He founded the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission in 1909, an organization that eventually eradicated the hookworm disease, which had long plagued rural areas of the American South. His General Education Board made a dramatic impact by funding the recommendations of the Flexner Report of 1910. The study, an excerpt of which was published in The Atlantic, had been undertaken by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Rockefeller created the Rockefeller Foundation in 1913 to continue and expand the scope of the work of the Sanitary Commission, which was closed in 1915. He gave $182 million to the foundation, which focused on public health, medical training, and the arts. It endowed Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, the first of its kind. It also built the Peking Union Medical College in China into a notable institution. The foundation helped in World War I war relief, and it employed William Lyon Mackenzie King of Canada to study industrial relations.
In the 1920s, the Rockefeller Foundation funded a hookworm eradication campaign through the International Health Division. This campaign used a combination of politics and science, along with collaboration between healthcare workers and government officials to accomplish its goals.
Rockefeller's fourth main philanthropy, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Foundation, was created in 1918. Through this, he supported work in the social studies; this was later absorbed into the Rockefeller Foundation. In total Rockefeller donated about $530 million.
Rockefeller became well known in his later life for the practice of giving dimes to adults and nickels to children wherever he went. He even gave dimes as a playful gesture to wealthy men, such as tire mogul Harvey Firestone.
Rockefeller supported the passage of the 18th Amendment, which banned alcohol in the United States. He wrote in a letter to Nicholas Murray Butler on June 6, 1932, that neither Rockefeller nor his parents or his father's father and mother's mother drank alcohol. In the same letter, Rockefeller writes that he has "always stood for whatever measure seemed at the time to give promise of promoting temperance." He believed that measure to be prohibition, as he and his father donated $350,000 to "all branches of the Anti-Saloon League, Federal and State." But by 1932, Rockefeller felt disillusioned by prohibition because of its failure to discourage drinking and alcoholism. He supported the incorporation of repealing the 18th amendment into the Republican party platform.
Florida home
Henry Morrison Flagler, one of the co-founders of Standard Oil along with Rockefeller, bought the Ormond Hotel in 1890, located in Ormond Beach, Florida, two years after it opened. Flagler expanded it to accommodate 600 guests and the hotel soon became one in a series of Gilded Age hotels catering to passengers aboard Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway. One of Flagler's guests at the Ormond Hotel was his former business partner John D. Rockefeller, who first stayed at the hotel in 1914.
Rockefeller liked the Ormond Beach area so much that after four seasons at the hotel, he bought an estate in Ormond Beach called The Casements in 1918. Rockefeller was seventy-eight years old when he moved into the Casements. He became known in the area for his elaborate Christmas parties, his love of golf, and for handing out dimes to his neighbors or visitors. During a golf game with Harvey Firestone, the tire magnate made such a good shot that Rockefeller decided he deserved a dime and handed one to his somewhat embarrassed guest.
In 1923, Rockefeller was interviewed by early 20th century American woman writer and a member of the Newspaper Enterprise Association staff, Josephine Van De Grift. Nationwide newspapers sent Van De Grift to spend a week with Rockefeller candidly asking humble questions, taking strolls together, asking about golf, church, and day-to-day life, while staying across the street from him at the Ormond Hotel. She later recounts how readers were only interested in his pocketbook and not about his thoughts on golf or religion. The Casements would be Rockefeller's winter home during the latter part of his life.
Sold by his heirs in 1939, it was purchased by the city in 1974 and now serves as a cultural center and is the community's best-known historical structure.
Illnesses and death
In his 50s, Rockefeller suffered from moderate depression and digestive troubles; during a stressful period in the 1890s he developed alopecia, the loss of some or all body hair.
By 1901 he began wearing toupées and by 1902, his mustache disappeared. His hair never grew back, but other health complaints subsided as he lightened his workload.
Rockefeller died of arteriosclerosis on May 23, 1937, less than two months shy of his 98th birthday, at "The Casements", his home in Ormond Beach, Florida. He was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.
Legacy
Rockefeller had a long and controversial career in the oil industry followed by a long career in philanthropy. His image is an amalgam of all of these experiences and the many ways he was viewed by his contemporaries. These contemporaries include his former competitors, many of whom were driven to ruin, but many others of whom sold out at a profit (or a profitable stake in Standard Oil, as Rockefeller often offered his shares as payment for a business), and quite a few of whom became very wealthy as managers as well as owners in Standard Oil. They include politicians and writers, some of whom served Rockefeller's interests, and some of whom built their careers by fighting Rockefeller and the "robber barons".
Biographer Allan Nevins, answering Rockefeller's enemies, concluded:
The rise of the Standard Oil men to great wealth was not from poverty. It was not meteor-like, but accomplished over a quarter of a century by courageous venturing in a field so risky that most large capitalists avoided it, by arduous labors, and by more sagacious and farsighted planning than had been applied to any other American industry. The oil fortunes of 1894 were not larger than steel fortunes, banking fortunes, and railroad fortunes made in similar periods. But it is the assertion that the Standard magnates gained their wealth by appropriating "the property of others" that most challenges our attention. We have abundant evidence that Rockefeller's consistent policy was to offer fair terms to competitors and to buy them out, for cash, stock, or both, at fair appraisals; we have the statement of one impartial historian that Rockefeller was decidedly "more humane toward competitors" than Carnegie; we have the conclusion of another that his wealth was "the least tainted of all the great fortunes of his day."
Hostile critics often portrayed Rockefeller as a villain with a suite of bad traits—ruthless, unscrupulous and greedy—and as a bully who connived his cruel path to dominance. Economic historian Robert Whaples warns against ignoring the secrets of his business success:
[R]elentless cost cutting and efficiency improvements, boldness in betting on the long-term prospects of the industry while others were willing to take quick profits, and impressive abilities to spot and reward talent, delegate tasks, and manage a growing empire.
Biographer Ron Chernow wrote of Rockefeller:
What makes him problematic—and why he continues to inspire ambivalent reactions—is that his good side was every bit as good as his bad side was bad. Seldom has history produced such a contradictory figure.
Wealth
Rockefeller is largely remembered simply for the raw size of his wealth. In 1902, an audit showed Rockefeller was worth about $200 million—compared to the total national GDP of $24 billion then.
His wealth continued to grow significantly (in line with U.S. economic growth) as the demand for gasoline soared, eventually reaching about $900 million on the eve of the First World War, including significant interests in banking, shipping, mining, railroads, and other industries. His personal wealth was 900 million in 1913 worth 23.5 billion dollars adjusted for inflation in 2020. According to his New York Times obituary, "it was estimated after Mr. Rockefeller retired from business that he had accumulated close to $1,500,000,000 out of the earnings of the Standard Oil trust and out of his other investments. This was probably the greatest amount of wealth that any private citizen had ever been able to accumulate by his own efforts." By the time of his death in 1937, Rockefeller's remaining fortune, largely tied up in permanent family trusts, was estimated at $1.4 billion, while the total national GDP was $92 billion. According to some methods of wealth calculation, Rockefeller's net worth over the last decades of his life would easily place him as the wealthiest known person in recent history. As a percentage of the United States' GDP, no other American fortune—including those of Bill Gates or Sam Walton—would even come close.
Rockefeller, aged 86, wrote the following words to sum up his life:
See also
Allegheny Transportation Company
Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway
Ivy Lee
List of German Americans
Rockefeller's Mesabi Range Interests
Works
Random reminiscences of men and events (1933)
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
Sources and further reading
External links
Works by John D. Rockefeller at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about John D. Rockefeller at the Internet Archive
Works by John D. Rockefeller at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
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John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest persons in modern history. Rockefeller was born into a large family in Upstate New York who moved several times before eventually settling in Cleveland, Ohio. He became an assistant bookkeeper at age 16 and went into several business partnerships beginning at age 20, concentrating his business on oil refining. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897 and remained its largest shareholder. In his retirement, he focused his energy and wealth on philanthropy, especially regarding education, medicine, higher education, and modernizing the Southern United States.
Rockefeller's wealth grew substantially as kerosene and gasoline became increasingly important commodities, eventually making him the richest person in the United States. By 1900, Standard Oil controlled about 90% of the nation's oil production. The company lowered production costs and expanded oil distribution through corporate and technological innovations, but it also benefited from a legal environment that enabled consolidation. Critics argue that regulatory capture played a role in facilitating its monopoly power–a view reinforced by Rockefeller's reputed remark, "Competition is a sin."
Rockefeller's company and business practices came under criticism, particularly in the writings of author Ida Tarbell. The Supreme Court ruled in 1911 that Standard Oil must be dismantled for violation of federal antitrust laws. It was broken up into 34 separate entities, which included companies that became ExxonMobil, Chevron Corporation, and others—some of which remain among the largest companies by revenue worldwide. Consequently, Rockefeller became the country's first billionaire, with a fortune worth nearly 2% of the national economy. His personal wealth was estimated in 1913 at $900 million, which was almost 3% of the US gross domestic product (GDP) of $39.1 billion that year.
Rockefeller spent much of the last 40 years of his life in retirement at Kykuit, his estate in Westchester County, New York, defining the structure of modern philanthropy, along with other key industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie. His fortune was used chiefly to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy through the creation of foundations that supported medicine, education, and scientific research. His foundations pioneered developments in medical research and were instrumental in the near-eradication of hookworm in the American South, and yellow fever in the United States. He and Carnegie gave form and impetus through their charities to the work of Abraham Flexner, who in his essay "Medical Education in America" emphatically endowed empiricism as the basis for the US medical system of the 20th century.
Rockefeller was the founder of the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University, and funded the establishment of Central Philippine University in the Philippines. He was a devout mainline Baptist Christian and supported many church-based institutions. He adhered to total abstinence from alcohol and tobacco throughout his life. For advice, he relied closely on his wife, Laura Spelman Rockefeller; they had four daughters and a son together. He was a faithful congregant of the Erie Street Baptist Mission Church, taught Sunday school, and served as a trustee, clerk, and occasional janitor. Religion was a guiding force throughout his life, and he believed it to be the source of his success. Rockefeller was also considered a supporter of capitalism based on a perspective of social Darwinism, and he was quoted often as saying, "The growth of a large business is merely a survival of the fittest."
Early life
Rockefeller was the second of six children born in Richford, New York, to con artist William A. Rockefeller Sr. and Eliza Davison. Rockefeller had an elder sister named Lucy and four younger siblings: William Jr., Mary, and fraternal twins Franklin (Frank) and Frances. His father was of English and German descent, while his mother was of Ulster Scot descent. One source says that some ancestors were Huguenots, the Roquefeuille family, who fled to Germany from France during the reign of Louis XIV and a period of religious persecution. By the time their descendants immigrated to North America, their name had taken German form. William Sr. worked first as a lumberman and then a traveling salesman. He claimed to be a "botanic physician" who sold elixirs, and was described by locals as "Big Bill" and "Devil Bill." Unshackled by conventional morality, he led a vagabond existence and returned to his family infrequently. Throughout his life, Bill was notorious for conducting schemes. In between the births of Lucy and John, Bill and his mistress and housekeeper Nancy Brown had a daughter named Clorinda, who died young. Between John and William Jr.'s births, Bill and Nancy had another daughter, named Cornelia.
Eliza was a homemaker and a devout Baptist who struggled to maintain a semblance of stability at home, as Bill was frequently gone for extended periods. She also put up with his philandering and his double life, which included bigamy. He permanently abandoned his family around 1855 and lived with second wife, Margaret L. Allen.
Eliza was thrifty by nature and by necessity, and she taught her son that "willful waste makes woeful want". She taught John how to save and track money, and the importance of it. John did his share of the regular household chores and earned extra money raising turkeys, selling potatoes and candy, and eventually lending small sums of money to neighbors. He followed his father's advice to "trade dishes for platters" and always get the better part of any deal. Bill once bragged, "I cheat my boys every chance I get. I want to make 'em sharp." However, his mother was more influential in John's upbringing and beyond, while he distanced himself further and further from his father as his life progressed. He later stated, "From the beginning, I was trained to work, to save, and to give."
When he was a boy, his family moved to Moravia, New York, and to Owego, New York, in 1851, where he attended Owego Academy. In 1853, his family moved to Strongsville, Ohio, and he attended Cleveland's Central High School, the first high school in Cleveland and the first free public high school west of the Alleghenies. Then he took a ten-week business course at Folsom's Commercial College, where he studied bookkeeping. Rockefeller was a well-behaved, serious, and studious boy despite his father's absences and frequent family moves. His contemporaries described him as reserved, earnest, religious, methodical, and discreet. He was an excellent debater and expressed himself precisely. He also had a deep love of music and dreamed of it as a possible career.
Pre-Standard Oil career
As a bookkeeper
In September 1855, when Rockefeller was sixteen, he got his first job as an assistant bookkeeper working for a small produce commission firm in Cleveland called Hewitt & Tuttle. He worked long hours and delighted, as he later recalled, in "all the methods and systems of the office." He was particularly adept at calculating transportation costs, which served him well later in his career. Much of Rockefeller's duties involved negotiating with barge canal owners, ship captains, and freight agents. In these negotiations, he learned that posted transportation rates that were believed to be fixed could be altered depending on conditions and timing of freight and through the use of rebates to preferred shippers. Rockefeller was also given the duties of collecting debts when Hewitt instructed him to do so. Instead of using his father's method of presence to collect debts, Rockefeller relied on a persistent pestering approach. Rockefeller received $16 a month for his three-month apprenticeship. During his first year, he received $31 a month, which was increased to $50 a month. His final year provided him $58 a month.
As a youth, Rockefeller reportedly said that his two great ambitions were to make $100,000 (equivalent to $3.37 million in 2024 dollars) and to live 100 years.
Business partnership and Civil War service
In 1859, Rockefeller went into the produce commission business with two partners, Maurice B. Clark and George W. Gardner, under Clark, Gardner & Company, and they raised $4,000 ($139,985 in 2024 dollars) in capital. Clark initiated the idea of the partnership and offered $2,000 towards the goal. Rockefeller had only $800 saved up at the time and so borrowed $1,000 from his father, "Big Bill" Rockefeller, at 10 percent interest. This loan by Bill to John, nearly $40,000 in today's money, was pivotal in John's start in his career, allowing him to build his own wealth beyond his meager pay as an employee. In their first and second years of business, Clark, Gardner & Rockefeller netted $4,400 (on nearly half a million dollars in business) and $17,000 worth of profit, respectively, and their profits soared with the outbreak of the American Civil War when the Union Army called for massive amounts of food and supplies. During the second year of the war, Gardner withdrew from the business, and the firm became Clark & Rockefeller.
When the Civil War was nearing a close and with the prospect of those war-time profits ending, Clark & Rockefeller looked toward the refining of crude oil. While his brother Frank fought in the Civil War, Rockefeller tended his business. He gave some money to the Union cause, as did many rich Northerners who avoided combat. "I wanted to go in the army and do my part," Rockefeller said. "But it was simply out of the question. There was no one to take my place. We were in a new business, and if I had not stayed it must have stopped—and with so many dependent on it."
Rockefeller was opposed to slavery but never joined the abolitionist cause. He voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and supported the new Republican Party. During the Civil War, military consumption of oil drove the price up from $.35 a barrel in 1862 to as high as $13.75. This created an oil-drilling glut, with thousands of speculators attempting to make their fortunes. Most failed, but those who struck oil did not even need to be efficient. They would blow holes in the ground and gather up the oil as they could, often leading to creeks and rivers flowing with wasted oil in the place of water.
A market existed for the refined oil in the form of kerosene. Coal had previously been used to extract kerosene, but its tedious extraction process and high price prevented broad use. Even with the high costs of freight transportation and a government levy during the Civil War (the government levied a tax of twenty cents a gallon on refined oil), profits on the refined product were large. The price of the refined oil in 1863 was around $13 a barrel, with a profit margin of around $5 to $8 a barrel. The capital expenditures for a refinery at that time were small – around $1,000 to $1,500 and requiring only a few men to operate. In this environment of a wasteful boom, the partners switched from foodstuffs to oil, building an oil refinery in 1863 in "The Flats", then Cleveland's burgeoning industrial area. The refinery was directly owned by Andrews, Clark & Company, which was composed of Clark & Rockefeller, chemist Samuel Andrews, and M. B. Clark's two brothers. The commercial oil business was then in its infancy. Whale oil had become too expensive for the masses, and a cheaper, general-purpose lighting fuel was needed.
While other refineries would keep the 60% of oil product that became kerosene, but dump the other 40% in rivers and massive sludge piles, Rockefeller used the gasoline to fuel the refinery, and sold the rest as lubricating oil, petroleum jelly and paraffin wax, and other by-products. Tar was used for paving, naphtha shipped to gas plants. Likewise, Rockefeller's refineries hired their own plumbers, cutting the cost of pipe-laying in half. Barrels that cost $2.50 each ended up only $0.96 when Rockefeller bought the wood and had them built for himself. In February 1865, in what was later described by oil industry historian Daniel Yergin as a "critical" action, Rockefeller bought out the Clark brothers for $72,500 (equivalent to $1 million in 2024 dollars) at auction and established the firm of Rockefeller & Andrews. Rockefeller said, "It was the day that determined my career." He was well-positioned to take advantage of postwar prosperity and the great expansion westward fostered by the growth of railroads and an oil-fueled economy. He borrowed heavily, reinvested profits, adapted rapidly to changing markets, and fielded observers to track the quickly expanding industry.
Beginning in the oil business
In 1866, William Rockefeller Jr., John's brother, built another refinery in Cleveland and brought John into the partnership. In 1867, Henry Morrison Flagler became a partner, and the firm of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was established. By 1868, with Rockefeller continuing practices of borrowing and reinvesting profits, controlling costs, and using refineries' waste, the company owned two Cleveland refineries and a marketing subsidiary in New York; it was the largest oil refinery in the world. Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was the predecessor of the Standard Oil Company.
Standard Oil
Founding and early growth
By 1865 Cleveland was one of the five main refining centers in the U.S. (besides Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, upstate New York, and the region in northwestern Pennsylvania where most of the oil originated). By 1869 there was triple the kerosene refining capacity than needed to supply the market, and the capacity remained in excess for many years.
On January 10, 1870, Rockefeller abolished the partnership of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler, co-founding Standard Oil of Ohio. Continuing to apply his work ethic and efficiency, Rockefeller quickly expanded the company to be the most profitable refiner in Ohio. Likewise, it became one of the largest shippers of oil and kerosene in the country. The railroads competed fiercely for traffic and, in an attempt to create a cartel to control freight rates, formed the South Improvement Company offering special deals to bulk customers like Standard Oil, outside the main oil centers. The cartel offered preferential treatment as a high-volume shipper, which included not just steep discounts/rebates of up to 50% for their product but rebates for the shipment of competing products.
Part of this scheme was the announcement of sharply increased freight charges. This touched off a firestorm of protest from independent oil well owners, including boycotts and vandalism, which led to the discovery of Standard Oil's part in the deal. A major New York refiner, Charles Pratt and Company, headed by Charles Pratt and Henry H. Rogers, led the opposition to this plan, and railroads soon backed off. Pennsylvania revoked the cartel's charter, and non-preferential rates were restored for the time being. While competitors may have been unhappy, Rockefeller's efforts did bring American consumers cheaper kerosene and other oil by-products. Before 1870, oil light was only for the wealthy, provided by expensive whale oil. During the next decade, kerosene became commonly available to the working and middle classes.
Undeterred, though vilified for the first time by the press, Rockefeller continued with his self-reinforcing cycle of buying the least efficient competing refiners, improving the efficiency of his operations, pressing for discounts on oil shipments, undercutting his competition, making secret deals, raising investment pools, and buying rivals out. In less than four months in 1872, in what was later known as "The Cleveland Conquest" or "The Cleveland Massacre", Standard Oil absorbed 22 of its 26 Cleveland competitors. Eventually, even his former antagonists, Pratt and Rogers, saw the futility of continuing to compete against Standard Oil; in 1874, they made a secret agreement with Rockefeller to be acquired.
Pratt and Rogers became Rockefeller's partners. Rogers, in particular, became one of Rockefeller's key men in the formation of the Standard Oil Trust. Pratt's son, Charles Millard Pratt, became secretary of Standard Oil. For many of his competitors, Rockefeller had merely to show them his books so they could see what they were up against and then make them a decent offer. If they refused his offer, he told them he would run them into bankruptcy and then cheaply buy up their assets at auction. However, he did not intend to eliminate competition entirely. In fact, his partner Pratt said of that accusation "Competitors we must have ... If we absorb them, it surely will bring up another."
Instead of wanting to eliminate them, Rockefeller saw himself as the industry's savior, "an angel of mercy" absorbing the weak and making the industry as a whole stronger, more efficient, and more competitive. Standard was growing horizontally and vertically. It added its own pipelines, tank cars, and home delivery network. It kept oil prices low to stave off competitors, made its products affordable to the average household, and, to increase market penetration, sometimes sold below cost. It developed over 300 oil-based products from tar to paint to petroleum jelly to chewing gum. By the end of the 1870s, Standard was refining over 90% of the oil in the U.S. Rockefeller had already become a millionaire ($1 million is equivalent to $33 million in 2024 dollars).
He instinctively realized that orderliness would only proceed from centralized control of large aggregations of plant and capital, with the one aim of an orderly flow of products from the producer to the consumer. That orderly, economic, efficient flow is what we now, many years later, call 'vertical integration'. I do not know whether Mr. Rockefeller ever used the word 'integration'. I only know he conceived the idea.
In 1877, Standard clashed with Thomas A. Scott, the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Standard's chief hauler. Rockefeller envisioned pipelines as an alternative transport system for oil and began a campaign to build and acquire them. The railroad, seeing Standard's incursion into the transportation and pipeline fields, struck back and formed a subsidiary to buy and build oil refineries and pipelines.
Standard countered, held back its shipments, and, with the help of other railroads, started a price war that dramatically reduced freight payments and caused labor unrest. Rockefeller prevailed and the railroad sold its oil interests to Standard. In the aftermath of that battle, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania indicted Rockefeller in 1879 on charges of monopolizing the oil trade, starting an avalanche of similar court proceedings in other states and making a national issue of Standard Oil's business practices. Rockefeller was under great strain during the 1870s and 1880s when he was carrying out his plan of consolidation and integration and being attacked by the press. He complained that he could not stay asleep most nights. Rockefeller later commented:
All the fortune that I have made has not served to compensate me for the anxiety of that period.
Monopoly
Although it always had hundreds of competitors, Standard Oil gradually gained dominance of oil refining and sales as market share in the United States through horizontal integration, ending up with about 90% of the US market. In the kerosene industry, the company replaced the old distribution system with its own vertical system. It supplied kerosene by tank cars that brought the fuel to local markets, and tank wagons then delivered to retail customers, thus bypassing the existing network of wholesale jobbers. Despite improving the quality and availability of kerosene products while greatly reducing their cost to the public (the price of kerosene dropped by nearly 80% over the life of the company), Standard Oil's business practices created intense controversy. Standard's most potent weapons against competitors were underselling, differential pricing, and secret transportation rebates.
The firm was attacked by journalists and politicians throughout its existence, in part for these monopolistic methods, giving momentum to the antitrust movement. In 1879, the New York State Legislature's Hepburn Committee investigations into "alleged abuses" committed by the railroads uncovered the fact that Standard Oil was receiving substantial freight rebates on all of the oil it was transporting by railroad—and was crushing Standard's competitors thereby. By 1880, according to the New York World, Standard Oil was "the most cruel, impudent, pitiless, and grasping monopoly that ever fastened upon a country". To critics, Rockefeller replied, "In a business so large as ours ... some things are likely to be done which we cannot approve. We correct them as soon as they come to our knowledge."
At that time, many legislatures had made it difficult to incorporate in one state and operate in another. As a result, Rockefeller and his associates owned dozens of separate corporations, each of which operated in just one state; the management of the whole enterprise was rather unwieldy. In 1882, Rockefeller's lawyers created an innovative form of corporation to centralize their holdings, giving birth to the Standard Oil Trust. The "trust" was a corporation of corporations, and the entity's size and wealth drew much attention. Nine trustees, including Rockefeller, ran the 41 companies in the trust. The public and the press were immediately suspicious of this new legal entity, and other businesses seized upon the idea and emulated it, further inflaming public sentiment. Standard Oil had gained an aura of invincibility, always prevailing against competitors, critics, and political enemies. It had become the richest, biggest, most feared business in the world, seemingly immune to the boom and bust of the business cycle, consistently making profits year after year.
The company's vast American empire included 20,000 domestic wells, 4,000 miles of pipeline, 5,000 tank cars, and over 100,000 employees. Its share of world oil refining topped out above 90% but slowly dropped to about 80% for the rest of the century. Despite the formation of the trust and its perceived immunity from all competition, by the 1880s Standard Oil had passed its peak of power over the world oil market. Rockefeller finally gave up his dream of controlling all the world's oil refining; he admitted later, "We realized that public sentiment would be against us if we actually refined all the oil." Over time, foreign competition and new finds abroad eroded his dominance. In the early 1880s, Rockefeller created one of his most important innovations. Rather than try to influence the price of crude oil directly, Standard Oil had been exercising indirect control by altering oil storage charges to suit market conditions. Rockefeller then ordered the issuance of certificates against oil stored in its pipelines. These certificates became traded by speculators, thus creating the first oil-futures market which effectively set spot market prices from then on. The National Petroleum Exchange opened in Manhattan in late 1882 to facilitate the trading of oil futures.
Although 85% of world crude production was still coming from Pennsylvania in the 1880s, oil from wells drilled in Russia and Asia began to reach the world market. Robert Nobel had established his own refining enterprise in the abundant and cheaper Russian oil fields, including the region's first pipeline and the world's first oil tanker. The Paris Rothschilds jumped into the fray providing financing. Additional fields were discovered in Burma and Java. Even more critical, the invention of the light bulb gradually began to erode the dominance of kerosene for illumination. Standard Oil adapted by developing a European presence, expanding into natural gas production in the U.S., and then producing gasoline for automobiles, which until then had been considered a waste product.
Standard Oil moved its headquarters to New York City at 26 Broadway, and Rockefeller became a central figure in the city's business community. He bought a residence in 1884 on 54th Street near the mansions of other magnates such as William Henry Vanderbilt. Despite personal threats and constant pleas for charity, Rockefeller took the new elevated train to his downtown office daily. In 1887, Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission which was tasked with enforcing equal rates for all railroad freight, but by then Standard depended more on pipeline transport. More threatening to Standard's power was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, originally used to control unions, but later central to the breakup of the Standard Oil trust. Ohio was especially vigorous in applying its state antitrust laws, and finally forced a separation of Standard Oil of Ohio from the rest of the company in 1892, the first step in the dissolution of the trust.
In the 1890s, Rockefeller expanded into iron ore and ore transportation, forcing a collision with steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, and their competition became a major subject of the newspapers and cartoonists. He went on a massive buying spree acquiring leases for crude oil production in Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia, as the original Pennsylvania oil fields began to play out. Amid the frenetic expansion, Rockefeller began to think of retirement. The daily management of the trust was turned over to John Dustin Archbold and Rockefeller bought a new estate, Pocantico Hills, north of New York City, turning more time to leisure activities including the new sports of bicycling and golf.
Upon his ascent to the presidency, Theodore Roosevelt initiated dozens of suits under the Sherman Antitrust Act and coaxed reforms out of Congress. In 1901, U.S. Steel, then controlled by J. Pierpont Morgan, having bought Andrew Carnegie's steel assets, offered to buy Standard's iron interests as well. A deal brokered by Henry Clay Frick exchanged Standard's iron interests for U.S. Steel stock and gave Rockefeller and his son membership on the company's board of directors. In full retirement at age 63, Rockefeller earned over $58 million (~$1.7 billion in 2024) in investments in 1902.
One of the most effective attacks on Rockefeller and his firm was the 1904 publication of The History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida Tarbell, a leading muckraker. She documented the company's espionage, price wars, heavy-handed marketing tactics, and courtroom evasions. Although her work prompted a huge backlash against the company, Tarbell stated she was surprised at its magnitude. "I never had an animus against their size and wealth, never objected to their corporate form. I was willing that they should combine and grow as big and wealthy as they could, but only by legitimate means. But they had never played fair, and that ruined their greatness for me." Tarbell's father had been driven out of the oil business during the "South Improvement Company" affair.
Rockefeller called her "Miss Tarbarrel" in private but held back in public saying only, "not a word about that misguided woman." He began a publicity campaign to put his company and himself in a better light. Though he had long maintained a policy of active silence with the press, he decided to make himself more accessible and responded with conciliatory comments such as "capital and labor are both wild forces which require intelligent legislation to hold them in restriction." He wrote and published his memoirs beginning in 1908. Critics found his writing to be sanitized and disingenuous and thought that statements such as "the underlying, essential element of success in business are to follow the established laws of high-class dealing" seemed to be at odds with his true business methods.
Rockefeller and his son continued to consolidate their oil interests as best they could until New Jersey, in 1909, changed its incorporation laws to effectively allow a re-creation of the trust in the form of a single holding company. Rockefeller retained his nominal title as president until 1911 and he kept his stock. At last in 1911, the Supreme Court of the United States found Standard Oil Company of New Jersey in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. By then the trust still had a 70% market share of the refined oil market but only 14% of the U.S. crude oil supply. The court ruled that the trust originated in illegal monopoly practices and ordered it to be broken up into 34 new companies. These included, among many others, Continental Oil, which became Conoco, now part of ConocoPhillips; Standard of Indiana, which became Amoco, now part of BP; Standard of California, which became Chevron; Standard of New Jersey, which became Esso (and later, Exxon), now part of ExxonMobil; Standard of New York, which became Mobil, now part of ExxonMobil; and Standard of Ohio, which became Sohio, now part of BP. Pennzoil and Chevron have remained separate companies.
Rockefeller, who had rarely sold shares, held over 25% of Standard's stock at the time of the breakup. He and all of the other stockholders received proportionate shares in each of the 34 companies. In the aftermath, Rockefeller's control over the oil industry was somewhat reduced, but over the next 10 years the breakup proved immensely profitable for him. The companies' combined net worth rose fivefold and Rockefeller's personal wealth jumped to $900 million.
Colorado Fuel and Iron
In 1902, facing cash flow problems, John Cleveland Osgood turned to George Jay Gould, a principal stockholder of the Denver and Rio Grande, for a loan. Gould, via Frederick Taylor Gates, Rockefeller's financial adviser, brought John D. Rockefeller in to help finance the loan. Analysis of the company's operations by John D. Rockefeller Jr. showed a need for substantially more funds which were provided in exchange for acquisition of CF&I's subsidiaries such as the Colorado and Wyoming Railway Company, the Crystal River Railroad Company, and possibly the Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron Company. Control was passed from the Iowa Group to Gould and Rockefeller interests in 1903 with Gould in control and Rockefeller and Gates representing a minority interests. Osgood left the company in 1904 and devoted his efforts to operating competing coal and coke operations.
Personal life
Family
Against long-circulating speculations that his family has French roots, genealogists proved the German origin of Rockefeller and traced them to the early 17th century. Johann Peter Rockenfeller (baptized September 27, 1682, in the Protestant church of Rengsdorf) immigrated in 1723 from Altwied (today a district of Neuwied, Rhineland-Palatinate) with three children to North America. He settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania.
The name Rockenfeller refers to the now-abandoned village of Rockenfeld in the district of Neuwied.
Marriage
In 1864, Rockefeller married Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman (1839–1915), daughter of Harvey Buell Spelman and Lucy Henry. They had four daughters and one son together. He said later, "Her judgment was always better than mine. Without her keen advice, I would be a poor man." Laura and John were known to have a lifestyle that, minus the mansion, lacked opulence often rejecting extravagant items.
Elizabeth "Bessie" Rockefeller (August 23, 1866 – November 14, 1906)
Alice Rockefeller (July 14, 1869 – August 20, 1870)
Alta Rockefeller (April 12, 1871 – June 21, 1962)
Edith Rockefeller (August 31, 1872 – August 25, 1932)
John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960)
The Rockefeller wealth, distributed as it was through a system of foundations and trusts, continued to fund family philanthropic, commercial, and, eventually, political aspirations throughout the 20th century. John Jr.'s youngest son David Rockefeller was a leading New York banker, serving for over 20 years as CEO of Chase Manhattan (now part of JPMorgan Chase). Second son Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was Republican governor of New York and the 41st Vice President of the United States. Fourth son Winthrop Rockefeller served as Republican Governor of Arkansas. Grandchildren Abigail Aldrich "Abby" Rockefeller and John Davison Rockefeller III became philanthropists. Grandson Laurance Spelman Rockefeller became a conservationist. Great-grandson John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV served from 1985 until 2015 as a Democratic Senator from West Virginia after serving as governor of West Virginia, and another Winthrop Paul Rockefeller served as lieutenant governor of Arkansas for a decade.
Religious views
John D. Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York, then part of the Burned-over district, a New York state region that became the site of an evangelical revival known as the Second Great Awakening. It drew masses to various Protestant churches—especially Baptist ones—and urged believers to follow such ideals as hard work, prayer, and good deeds to build "the Kingdom of God on Earth." Early in his life, he regularly went with his siblings and mother Eliza to the local Baptist church—the Erie Street Baptist Church (later the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church)—an independent Baptist church that eventually associated with the Northern Baptist Convention (1907–1950; now part of the modern American Baptist Churches USA).
His mother was deeply religious and disciplined, and had a major influence on him in religious matters. During church service, his mother would urge him to contribute his few pennies to the congregation. Rockefeller associated the church with charity. A Baptist preacher once encouraged him to "make as much money as he could, and then give away as much as he could". Later in his life, Rockefeller recalled: "It was at this moment, that the financial plan of my life was formed". Money making was considered by him a "God-given gift".
A devout Northern Baptist, Rockefeller would read the Bible daily, attend prayer meetings twice a week and led his own Bible study with his wife. Burton Folsom Jr. has noted:
[H]e sometimes gave tens of thousands of dollars to Christian groups, while, at the same time, he was trying to borrow over a million dollars to expand his business. His philosophy of giving was founded upon biblical principles. He truly believed in the biblical principle found in Luke 6:38, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
Rockefeller would support Baptist missionary activity, fund universities, and deeply engage in religious activities at his Cleveland, Ohio, church. While traveling the South, he would donate large sums of money to churches belonging to the Southern Baptist Convention, various Black churches, and other Christian denominations. He paid toward the freedom of two slaves and donated to a Roman Catholic orphanage. As he grew rich, his donations became more generous, especially to his church in Cleveland. Believed to be obsolescent, the church was demolished in 1925, and replaced with a new building.
Philanthropy
Rockefeller's charitable giving began with his first job as a clerk at age 16, when he gave six percent of his earnings to charity, as recorded in his personal ledger. By the time he was twenty, his charity exceeded ten percent of his income. Much of his giving was church-related. His church was later affiliated with the Northern Baptist Convention, which formed from American Baptists in the North with ties to their historic missions to establish schools and colleges for freedmen in the South after the American Civil War. Rockefeller attended Baptist churches every Sunday; when traveling he would often attend services at African-American Baptist congregations, leaving a substantial donation. As Rockefeller's wealth grew, so did his giving, primarily to educational and public health causes, but also for basic science and the arts. He was advised primarily by Frederick Taylor Gates after 1891, and, after 1897, also by his son.
Rockefeller believed in the Efficiency Movement, arguing that: "To help an inefficient, ill-located, unnecessary school is a waste ... it is highly probable that enough money has been squandered on unwise educational projects to have built up a national system of higher education adequate to our needs, if the money had been properly directed to that end."
Rockefeller and his advisers invented the conditional grant, which required the recipient to "root the institution in the affections of as many people as possible who, as contributors, become personally concerned, and thereafter may be counted on to give to the institution their watchful interest and cooperation".
In 1884, Rockefeller provided major funding for Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary in Atlanta for African-American women. His wife, Laura Spelman Rockefeller, was dedicated to civil rights and equality for women. John and Laura donated money and supported the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary whose mission was in line with their faith based beliefs. Spelman College, the all-women historically Black college in Atlanta was named after Laura's family was heavily supported by Rockefeller. The Spelman family, Rockefeller's in-laws, were ardent abolitionists before the Civil War and were dedicated to supporting the underground railroad. Rockefeller was impressed by the vision of the school and paid off the school's debt. The oldest existing building on Spelman's campus, Rockefeller Hall, is named after him. Rockefeller also gave considerable donations to Denison University and other Baptist colleges.
Rockefeller gave $80 million (~$2.47 billion in 2024) to the University of Chicago under William Rainey Harper, turning a small Baptist college into a world-class institution by 1900. He would describe the University of Chicago as "the best investment I ever made." He also gave a grant to the American Baptist Missionaries foreign mission board, the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society in establishing Central Philippine University, the first Baptist and second American university in Asia, in 1905 in the heavily Catholic Philippines.
Rockefeller's General Education Board, founded in 1903, was established to promote education at all levels everywhere in the country. In keeping with the historic missions of the Baptists, it was especially active in supporting black schools in the South. Rockefeller also provided financial support to such established eastern institutions as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley and Vassar.
On Gates' advice, Rockefeller became one of the first great benefactors of medical science. In 1901, he founded the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York City. It changed its name to Rockefeller University in 1965, after expanding its mission to include graduate education. It claims a connection to 23 Nobel laureates. He founded the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission in 1909, an organization that eventually eradicated the hookworm disease, which had long plagued rural areas of the American South. His General Education Board made a dramatic impact by funding the recommendations of the Flexner Report of 1910. The study, an excerpt of which was published in The Atlantic, had been undertaken by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Rockefeller created the Rockefeller Foundation in 1913 to continue and expand the scope of the work of the Sanitary Commission, which was closed in 1915. He gave $182 million to the foundation, which focused on public health, medical training, and the arts. It endowed Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, the first of its kind. It also built the Peking Union Medical College in China into a notable institution. The foundation helped in World War I war relief, and it employed William Lyon Mackenzie King of Canada to study industrial relations.
In the 1920s, the Rockefeller Foundation funded a hookworm eradication campaign through the International Health Division. This campaign used a combination of politics and science, along with collaboration between healthcare workers and government officials to accomplish its goals.
Rockefeller's fourth main philanthropy, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Foundation, was created in 1918. Through this, he supported work in the social studies; this was later absorbed into the Rockefeller Foundation. In total Rockefeller donated about $530 million.
Rockefeller became well known in his later life for the practice of giving dimes to adults and nickels to children wherever he went. He even gave dimes as a playful gesture to wealthy men, such as tire mogul Harvey Firestone.
Rockefeller supported the passage of the 18th Amendment, which banned alcohol in the United States. He wrote in a letter to Nicholas Murray Butler on June 6, 1932, that neither Rockefeller nor his parents or his father's father and mother's mother drank alcohol. In the same letter, Rockefeller writes that he has "always stood for whatever measure seemed at the time to give promise of promoting temperance." He believed that measure to be prohibition, as he and his father donated $350,000 to "all branches of the Anti-Saloon League, Federal and State." But by 1932, Rockefeller felt disillusioned by prohibition because of its failure to discourage drinking and alcoholism. He supported the incorporation of repealing the 18th amendment into the Republican party platform.
Florida home
Henry Morrison Flagler, one of the co-founders of Standard Oil along with Rockefeller, bought the Ormond Hotel in 1890, located in Ormond Beach, Florida, two years after it opened. Flagler expanded it to accommodate 600 guests and the hotel soon became one in a series of Gilded Age hotels catering to passengers aboard Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway. One of Flagler's guests at the Ormond Hotel was his former business partner John D. Rockefeller, who first stayed at the hotel in 1914.
Rockefeller liked the Ormond Beach area so much that after four seasons at the hotel, he bought an estate in Ormond Beach called The Casements in 1918. Rockefeller was seventy-eight years old when he moved into the Casements. He became known in the area for his elaborate Christmas parties, his love of golf, and for handing out dimes to his neighbors or visitors. During a golf game with Harvey Firestone, the tire magnate made such a good shot that Rockefeller decided he deserved a dime and handed one to his somewhat embarrassed guest.
In 1923, Rockefeller was interviewed by early 20th century American woman writer and a member of the Newspaper Enterprise Association staff, Josephine Van De Grift. Nationwide newspapers sent Van De Grift to spend a week with Rockefeller candidly asking humble questions, taking strolls together, asking about golf, church, and day-to-day life, while staying across the street from him at the Ormond Hotel. She later recounts how readers were only interested in his pocketbook and not about his thoughts on golf or religion. The Casements would be Rockefeller's winter home during the latter part of his life.
Sold by his heirs in 1939, it was purchased by the city in 1974 and now serves as a cultural center and is the community's best-known historical structure.
Illnesses and death
In his 50s, Rockefeller suffered from moderate depression and digestive troubles; during a stressful period in the 1890s he developed alopecia, the loss of some or all body hair.
By 1901 he began wearing toupées and by 1902, his mustache disappeared. His hair never grew back, but other health complaints subsided as he lightened his workload.
Rockefeller died of arteriosclerosis on May 23, 1937, less than two months shy of his 98th birthday, at "The Casements", his home in Ormond Beach, Florida. He was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.
Legacy
Rockefeller had a long and controversial career in the oil industry followed by a long career in philanthropy. His image is an amalgam of all of these experiences and the many ways he was viewed by his contemporaries. These contemporaries include his former competitors, many of whom were driven to ruin, but many others of whom sold out at a profit (or a profitable stake in Standard Oil, as Rockefeller often offered his shares as payment for a business), and quite a few of whom became very wealthy as managers as well as owners in Standard Oil. They include politicians and writers, some of whom served Rockefeller's interests, and some of whom built their careers by fighting Rockefeller and the "robber barons".
Biographer Allan Nevins, answering Rockefeller's enemies, concluded:
The rise of the Standard Oil men to great wealth was not from poverty. It was not meteor-like, but accomplished over a quarter of a century by courageous venturing in a field so risky that most large capitalists avoided it, by arduous labors, and by more sagacious and farsighted planning than had been applied to any other American industry. The oil fortunes of 1894 were not larger than steel fortunes, banking fortunes, and railroad fortunes made in similar periods. But it is the assertion that the Standard magnates gained their wealth by appropriating "the property of others" that most challenges our attention. We have abundant evidence that Rockefeller's consistent policy was to offer fair terms to competitors and to buy them out, for cash, stock, or both, at fair appraisals; we have the statement of one impartial historian that Rockefeller was decidedly "more humane toward competitors" than Carnegie; we have the conclusion of another that his wealth was "the least tainted of all the great fortunes of his day."
Hostile critics often portrayed Rockefeller as a villain with a suite of bad traits—ruthless, unscrupulous and greedy—and as a bully who connived his cruel path to dominance. Economic historian Robert Whaples warns against ignoring the secrets of his business success:
[R]elentless cost cutting and efficiency improvements, boldness in betting on the long-term prospects of the industry while others were willing to take quick profits, and impressive abilities to spot and reward talent, delegate tasks, and manage a growing empire.
Biographer Ron Chernow wrote of Rockefeller:
What makes him problematic—and why he continues to inspire ambivalent reactions—is that his good side was every bit as good as his bad side was bad. Seldom has history produced such a contradictory figure.
Wealth
Rockefeller is largely remembered simply for the raw size of his wealth. In 1902, an audit showed Rockefeller was worth about $200 million—compared to the total national GDP of $24 billion then.
His wealth continued to grow significantly (in line with U.S. economic growth) as the demand for gasoline soared, eventually reaching about $900 million on the eve of the First World War, including significant interests in banking, shipping, mining, railroads, and other industries. His personal wealth was 900 million in 1913 worth 23.5 billion dollars adjusted for inflation in 2020. According to his New York Times obituary, "it was estimated after Mr. Rockefeller retired from business that he had accumulated close to $1,500,000,000 out of the earnings of the Standard Oil trust and out of his other investments. This was probably the greatest amount of wealth that any private citizen had ever been able to accumulate by his own efforts." By the time of his death in 1937, Rockefeller's remaining fortune, largely tied up in permanent family trusts, was estimated at $1.4 billion, while the total national GDP was $92 billion. According to some methods of wealth calculation, Rockefeller's net worth over the last decades of his life would easily place him as the wealthiest known person in recent history. As a percentage of the United States' GDP, no other American fortune—including those of Bill Gates or Sam Walton—would even come close.
Rockefeller, aged 86, wrote the following words to sum up his life:
See also
Allegheny Transportation Company
Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway
Ivy Lee
List of German Americans
Rockefeller's Mesabi Range Interests
Works
Random reminiscences of men and events (1933)
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
Sources and further reading
External links
Works by John D. Rockefeller at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about John D. Rockefeller at the Internet Archive
Works by John D. Rockefeller at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
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Alanis Morissette
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Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ə-LAN-iss MORR-iss-ET; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actress. Regarded as the "queen of alt-rock angst", she became a cultural phenomenon for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting. She has sold more than 60 million records worldwide. Her accolades include a Brit Award, seven Grammy Awards, fourteen Juno Awards, and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award.
Morissette began her music career in Canada in the early 1990s with two dance-pop albums, Alanis (1991) and Now Is the Time (1992). After relocating to Los Angeles, she released the alternative rock album Jagged Little Pill (1995), which became one of the best-selling albums of all time and has appeared on several all-time lists. She won five Grammy Awards for the record including Album of the Year, becoming the youngest winner of the category at the time. She continued this success with her next album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998), which saw her adapt an experimental sound and was highly anticipated. That same year, her single "Uninvited" for City of Angels won two Grammy Awards and was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
Beginning in 2002, Morissette took on further creative control and production duties as the sole producer of her fifth album, Under Rug Swept, which won her the Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Award. Her 2005 song "Wunderkind" for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe netted her a second nomination for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song. She has continued her career with the albums So-Called Chaos (2004), Flavors of Entanglement (2008), Havoc and Bright Lights (2012), Such Pretty Forks in the Road (2020), and The Storm Before the Calm (2022).
Morissette holds the record for the most number ones on the weekly Billboard Alternative Songs chart among female soloists, group leaders, or duo members. Her first three internationally released studio albums topped the Billboard 200 albums chart, and her next four albums peaked within the top 20. Her singles "You Oughta Know", "Hand in My Pocket", "Ironic", "You Learn", "Head Over Feet", "Uninvited", "Thank U", and "Hands Clean", reached top 40 in major charts around the world. VH1 ranked her the 53rd-greatest woman in rock and roll. In 2005, she was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
Early life and education
Morissette was born on June 1, 1974, at Riverside Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Georgia Mary Ann (née Feuerstein) and Alan Richard Morissette. Her elder brother, Chad (born 1971), is an entrepreneur, and her twin brother, Wade (12 minutes elder), is a musician. Alan is of French and Irish descent, while Georgia, who fled Hungary during the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, has Jewish ancestry. Morissette has described her ethnicity as "a quarter Jewish". On a 2024 episode of Finding Your Roots, she stated that Alan and Georgia had never told their children about the family's Jewish ancestry, which she did not discover until her late 20s.
In 1977, the family moved to Lahr, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany, and Alan and Georgia started working as teachers at the local base of Canadian Air Command. They returned to Ottawa in 1980, and Morissette started taking dance lessons the next year. She had a Catholic upbringing. Morissette attended Holy Family Catholic School for elementary school and Immaculata High School for seventh and eighth grades; she appeared on five episodes of the children's television sketch comedy series You Can't Do That on Television (1986) while attending the former. She then attended and graduated from Glebe Collegiate Institute.
Career
1986–1993: Alanis and Now Is The Time
Morissette is known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting. She recorded her first demo called "Fate Stay with Me", produced by Lindsay Thomas Morgan at Marigold Studios in Toronto, and engineered by Rich Dodson of Canadian classic rock band The Stampeders. A second demo tape was recorded on cassette in August 1989 and sent to Geffen Records, but the tape has never been heard as it was stolen, among other records, in a burglary of the label's headquarters in October 1989.
In 1991, MCA Records Canada released Morissette's debut album, Alanis, in Canada only. She co-wrote every track on the album with its producer, Leslie Howe. The dance-pop album went platinum, and its first single, "Too Hot", reached the top 20 on the RPM singles chart. Subsequent singles "Walk Away" and "Feel Your Love" reached the top 40. Morissette's popularity, style of music and appearance, particularly that of her hair, led her to become known as the Debbie Gibson of Canada; comparisons to Tiffany were also common. During the same period, she was a concert opening act for rapper Vanilla Ice. She was nominated for three 1992 Juno Awards: Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year (which she won), Single of the Year and Best Dance Recording (both for "Too Hot").
In 1992, Morrisette released her second album, Now Is the Time, a ballad-driven record that featured less glitzy production than Alanis and contained more thoughtful lyrics. She wrote the songs with its producer, Leslie Howe, and Serge Côté. She said of the album, "People could go, 'Boo, hiss, hiss, this girl's like another Tiffany or whatever.' But the way I look at it... people will like your next album if it's a kick-ass one." As with Alanis, Now Is the Time was released only in Canada and produced three top 40 singles—"An Emotion Away", the minor adult contemporary hit "No Apologies" as well as "(Change Is) Never a Waste of Time". The industry considered it a commercial failure since it sold only a little more than half the copies of her first album. With her two-album deal with MCA Records Canada complete, Morissette was left without a major label contract.
1994–1999: Jagged Little Pill and Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
In 1993, Morissette's publisher Leeds Levy at MCA Music Publishing introduced her to the manager Scott Welch. Welch told HitQuarters he was impressed by her "spectacular" voice, her character and her lyrics. At the time she was still living with her parents. Together they decided it would be best for her career to move to Toronto and start writing with other people. After graduating from high school, Morissette moved from Ottawa to Toronto. Her publisher funded part of her development and she spent her time there composing and rehearsing with a number of other musicians, looking to find a songwriting partner for her next album. Although a number of songs came out of these sessions, none would make an album cut and no lasting partnerships were formed.
After Morissette moved to Los Angeles, she met the producer and songwriter Glen Ballard, who believed in her talent enough to let her use his studio. They wrote songs together, with him supporting her sound rather than trying to shape or mold it to his own tastes. In her newfound freeness of creative spirit, they wrote and recorded Morissette's first internationally released album, Jagged Little Pill, and in 1995 she signed a deal with Maverick Records. According to Welch, every other label they approached declined to sign her.
Maverick Records released Jagged Little Pill internationally in June 1995. It was expected only to sell enough for Morissette to make a follow-up, but the situation improved quickly when KROQ-FM, an influential Los Angeles modern rock radio station, began playing "You Oughta Know", the first single, featuring Flea and Dave Navarro from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The song instantly garnered attention for its scathing, explicit lyrics, and a subsequent music video went into heavy rotation on MTV and MuchMusic. In a 2008 interview, Dave Coulier said he was the ex-boyfriend who inspired "You Oughta Know"; in the 2021 documentary Jagged, Morissette denied it is about him. In a 2019 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Morissette mentioned that multiple people have taken credit for being the inspiration behind her song "You Oughta Know". She stated, "I just think: If you're going to take credit for a song where I'm singing about someone being a douche or an asshole, you might not want to say, 'Hey! That's me!'" She described the song as being written out of "devastation", reflecting a range of emotions that women often feel but are told to suppress, such as anger and sadness.
After the success of "You Oughta Know", the album's other hits helped send Jagged Little Pill to the top of the charts. "All I Really Want" and "Hand in My Pocket" followed, and the fourth U.S. single, "Ironic", became Morissette's biggest hit. "You Learn" and "Head over Feet", the fifth and sixth singles, kept Jagged Little Pill (1995) in the top 20 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for more than a year. Jagged Little Pill sold more than 16 million copies in the U.S.; it sold 33 million worldwide, making it the second biggest-selling album by a female artist (behind Shania Twain's Come On Over).
Morissette's popularity grew significantly in Canada, where the album was certified twelve times platinum and produced four RPM chart-toppers: "Hand in My Pocket", "Ironic", "You Learn", and "Head over Feet". The album was also a bestseller in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Morissette's success with Jagged Little Pill (1995) was credited with opening doors for female singers such as Meredith Brooks, Tracy Bonham and Patti Rothberg, and later Avril Lavigne and Pink. Morissette and the album won six Juno Awards in 1996: Album of the Year, Single of the Year ("You Oughta Know"), Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Best Rock Album. At the 16th Brit Awards she won Brit Award for International Breakthrough Act. At the 38th Annual Grammy Awards in 1996, she won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song (both for "You Oughta Know"), Best Rock Album and Album of the Year.
"Ironic" got the instant success, though the lyrics were heavily criticized for their malapropism, and the music video received 6 nominations at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, where it won Best New Artist in a Video, Best Female Video and Best Editing in a Video (won by Scott Gray, Editor), and was also nominated for Viewer's Choice, Best Direction in a Video and Video of the Year. Rather than perform that song at the ceremony, Morrisette performed "Your House" instead, which is homage to Joni Mitchell. The song was also nominated for two 1997 Grammy Awards—Record of the Year and Best Music Video, Short Form—and won Single of the Year at the 1997 Juno Awards, where she also won Songwriter of the Year and the International Achievement Award.
Morissette embarked on an 18-month world tour in support of Jagged Little Pill, beginning in small clubs and ending in large venues. Taylor Hawkins, who later joined the Foo Fighters, was the tour's drummer. Radiohead joined as the opening act in mid-1996. The video Jagged Little Pill, Live, which was co-directed by Morissette and is about the bulk of her tour won a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Long Form.
Following the tour, Morissette began practicing Iyengar Yoga for balance. After the last December 1996 show, she went to India for six weeks, accompanied by Georgia, two aunts and two friends. The trip left her with an indelible impression and set the cornerstone for the concept of her next album.
Morissette was featured as a guest vocalist on Ringo Starr's cover of "Drift Away" on his 1998 album, Vertical Man, and on the songs "Don't Drink the Water" and "Spoon" on the Dave Matthews Band album Before These Crowded Streets. She recorded the song "Uninvited" for the soundtrack to the 1998 film City of Angels. Although the track was never commercially released as a single, it received widespread radio airplay in the U.S. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, it won in the categories of Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and was nominated for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.
In November 1998, Morissette released her fourth album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, which she wrote and co-produced with Glen Ballard. The label hoped to sell 1 million copies of the album on initial release; instead, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 469,000 copies—a record, at the time, for the highest first-week sales of an album by a female artist. The wordy, personal lyrics on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie alienated many fans, and after the album sold considerably less than Jagged Little Pill (1995), many labelled it an example of the sophomore jinx. It received positive reviews, including a four-star review from Rolling Stone. In Canada, it won the Juno Award for Best Album and was certified four times platinum. "Thank U", the album's only major international hit single, was released in October 1998 and was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance; the music video, which featured Morissette nude, generated mild controversy. She directed the videos for "Unsent" and "So Pure", which won, respectively, the MuchMusic Video Award for Best Director and the Juno Award for Video of the Year.
Morissette contributed vocals to four tracks on Jonathan Elias's project The Prayer Cycle, which was released in 1999, where she paid homage to her roots by singing in Hungarian on "Mercy" and "Faith", and in French on "Hope" and "Innocence". The same year, she released the live acoustic album Alanis Unplugged, which was recorded during her appearance on the television show MTV Unplugged. It featured tracks from her previous two albums alongside four new songs, including "King of Pain" (a cover of The Police song) and "No Pressure over Cappuccino", which she wrote with her main guitar player, Nick Lashley. The recording of the Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie track "That I Would Be Good", released as a single, became a minor hit on hot adult contemporary radio in America. Also in 1999, Morissette released a live version of her song "Are You Still Mad" on the charity album Live in the X Lounge II. For her live rendition of "So Pure" at Woodstock '99, she was nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 2001 Grammy Awards. During the summer of 1999, Morissette toured with singer-songwriter Tori Amos on the 5 and a Half Weeks Tour in support of Amos' album To Venus and Back (1999).
2000–2007: Under Rug Swept and So-Called Chaos
In 2001, Morissette was featured with Stephanie McKay on the Tricky song "Excess", which is on his album Blowback. She released her fifth studio album, Under Rug Swept, in February 2002. For the first time in her career, she took on the role of sole writer and producer of an album. Her band, comprising Joel Shearer, Nick Lashley, Chris Chaney, and Gary Novak, played the majority of the instruments; additional contributions came from Eric Avery, Dean DeLeo, Flea, and Meshell Ndegeocello.
Under Rug Swept debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, eventually going platinum in Canada and selling one million copies in the U.S. It produced the hit single "Hands Clean", which topped the Canadian Singles Chart and received substantial radio play; for her work on "Hands Clean" and "So Unsexy", Morissette won a Juno Award for Producer of the Year. A second single, "Precious Illusions", was released, but it did not garner significant success outside Canada or U.S. hot AC radio.
Later in 2002, Morissette released the combination package Feast on Scraps, which includes a DVD of live concert and backstage documentary footage directed by her and a CD containing eight previously unreleased songs from the Under Rug Swept recording sessions. Preceded by the single "Simple Together", it sold roughly 70,000 copies in the U.S. and was nominated for a Juno Award for Music DVD of the Year.
Morissette hosted the Juno Awards of 2004 dressed in a bathrobe, which she took off to reveal a flesh-colored bodysuit, a response to the era of censorship in the U.S. caused by Janet Jackson's breast-flash incident during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. She released her sixth studio album, So-Called Chaos, in May 2004. She wrote the songs on her own again, and co-produced the album with Tim Thorney and pop music producer John Shanks. The album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 chart to generally mixed critical reviews, and it became Morissette's lowest seller in the U.S. and was her first album not to top the chart. The lead single, "Everything", achieved major success on Adult Top 40 radio in America and was moderately popular elsewhere, particularly in Canada, although it failed to reach the top 40 on the U.S. Hot 100. Because the first line of the song includes the word "asshole", American radio stations refused to play it, and the single version was changed to include the word "nightmare" instead. Unhappy that U.S. radio networks had required her to change a word in the song, Canadian radio played the unaltered version, with her stating at the 2004 Juno Awards in Canada: "Well, I am overjoyed to be back in my homeland, the true North, strong and censor-free." Two other singles, "Out Is Through" and "Eight Easy Steps", fared considerably worse, although a dance mix of "Eight Easy Steps" was a U.S. club hit. Morissette embarked on a U.S. summer tour with long-time friends and fellow Canadians Barenaked Ladies, working with the non-profit environmental organization Reverb.
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Jagged Little Pill (1995), Morissette released a studio acoustic version, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic, in June 2005. The album was released exclusively through Starbucks' Hear Music retail concept through their coffee shops for a six-week run. The limited availability led to a dispute between Maverick Records and HMV Canada, who retaliated by removing Morissette's other albums from sale for the duration of Starbucks's exclusive six-week sale. As of November 2010, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic had sold 372,000 copies in the U.S., and a video for "Hand in My Pocket" received rotation on VH1 in America. The accompanying tour ran for two months in mid-2005, with Morissette playing small theatre venues. During the same period, she was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. She opened for The Rolling Stones for a few dates of their A Bigger Bang Tour in fall 2005.
Morissette released the greatest hits album Alanis Morissette: The Collection in late 2005. The lead single and only new track, a cover of Seal's "Crazy", was an Adult Top 40 and dance hit in the U.S., but achieved only minimal chart success elsewhere. A limited edition of The Collection features a DVD including a documentary with videos of two unreleased songs from Morissette's 1996 Can't Not Tour: "King of Intimidation" and "Can't Not". (A reworked version of "Can't Not" had also appeared on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie.) It also includes a ninety-second clip of the unreleased video for the single "Joining You". As of November 2010, The Collection had sold 373,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. That same year, Morissette contributed the song "Wunderkind" to the soundtrack of the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.
2006 marked the first year in Morissette's musical career without a single concert appearance showcasing her own songs, with the exception of an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in January when she performed "Wunderkind".
On April 1, 2007, Morissette released a tongue-in-cheek cover of The Black Eyed Peas's selection "My Humps", which she recorded in a slow, mournful voice, accompanied only by a piano. The accompanying YouTube-hosted video, in which she dances provocatively with a group of men and hits the ones who act as if attempting to touch her breasts, had received 16,465,653 views as of February 15, 2009. She did not take any interviews for a time to explain the song, and it was theorized that she did it as an April Fools' Day joke. Black Eyed Peas vocalist Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson responded by sending Morissette a buttocks-shaped cake with an approving note. On the verge of the release of her following album, she finally elaborated on how the video came to be, citing that she became very much emotionally loaded while recording her new songs one after the other and one day she wished she could do a simple song like "My Humps" and the joke just took a life of its own.
Morissette performed at a gig for The Nightwatchman, a.k.a. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, at the Hotel Café in Los Angeles in April 2007. The following June, she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada", the American and Canadian national anthems, in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Ottawa Senators and Anaheim Ducks in Ottawa. (The NHL requires arenas to perform both the American and Canadian national anthems at games involving teams from both countries.)
2008–2019: Flavors of Entanglement and Havoc and Bright Lights
In early 2008, Morissette participated in a tour with Matchbox Twenty and Mutemath as a special guest. Her seventh studio album, Flavors of Entanglement, which was produced by Guy Sigsworth, was released in mid-2008. She has said that the album was created out of her grief after her breakup with Ryan Reynolds, saying "it was cathartic." She stated that in late 2008, she would embark on a North American headlining tour, but in the meantime she would be promoting the album internationally by performing at shows and festivals and making television and radio appearances. The album's first single was "Underneath", a video for which was submitted to the 2007 Elevate Film Festival, the purpose of which festival was to create documentaries, music videos, narratives and shorts regarding subjects to raise the level of human consciousness on the earth. On October 3, 2008, she released the video for her latest single, "Not as We". She said the album was created out of her grief after splitting up with Reynolds, and the song "Torch" was written about him.
She has also recorded a cover of the 1984 Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias hit, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", re-written as "To All the Boys I've Loved Before". Nelson played rhythm guitar on the recording. In April 2010, she released the song "I Remain", which she wrote for the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time soundtrack. On May 26, 2010, the season finale of American Idol, she performed a duet of "You Oughta Know" with Runner Up Crystal Bowersox. She left Maverick Records after all promotion for Flavors was completed.
On November 20, 2011, she appeared at the American Music Awards. When asked about the new album during a short interview, she said she had recorded 31 songs, and that the album would "likely be out next year, probably [in] summertime". On December 21, 2011, she performed a duet of "Uninvited" with finalist Josh Krajcik during the performance finale of the X-Factor.
Morissette embarked on a European tour for summer 2012, according to Alanis.com. In early May 2012, a new song called "Magical Child" appeared on a Starbucks compilation called Every Mother Counts.
On May 2, 2012, Morissette revealed through her Facebook account that her eighth studio album, entitled Havoc and Bright Lights, would be released in August 2012, on new label Collective Sounds, distributed by Sony's RED Distribution. On the same day, Billboard specified the date as August 28 and revealed the album would contain twelve tracks. Its lead single, "Guardian", was released on iTunes on May 15, 2012, and hit the radio airwaves four days prior to this. The single had minor success in North America, charting the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles in the US and almost reaching the top 40 in Canada. It was a hit in several European countries.
On August 21, 2012, Morissette was inducted into the Guitar Center RockWalk in Hollywood. She received the UCLA Spring Sing's George and Ira Gershwin Award on May 16, 2014, at Pauley Pavilion. On her website starting in summer 2014, in celebration of her fortieth birthday, the LP record for her song "Big Sur" was offered for sale, which was previously available on the Target edition of her 2012 album, Havoc and Bright Lights. July 25, 2014, was the start of the ten-show Intimate and Acoustic tour. In 2015, she was named to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
In celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the release of Jagged Little Pill, a new four-disc collector's edition was released on October 30, 2015. The four-disc edition includes remastered audio of the original album as well as an entire disc of 10 unreleased demos from the era, handpicked by Morissette from her archives, offering a deeper and more personal look at the classic album. Also included is a previously unreleased concert from 1995 as well as 2005's Jagged Little Pill Acoustic.
While on tour in August 2017, Morissette teased a song which would become known as "I Miss The Band". On October 27, 2017, she premiered a new song entitled "Rest", which was released officially in May 2021, and performed "Castle of Glass" with members of the band No Doubt and Mike Shinoda at the Linkin Park and Friends – Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington memorial concert. In November 2017, she tweeted that she was writing 22 songs with Michael Farrell.
On March 16, 2018, Morissette performed a new song called "Ablaze" during her 2018 tour. In October 2018, she revealed on social media that she had written 23 new songs, and hinted at a new album with hashtag "#alanismorissettenewrecord2019", after a six-year hiatus. Song titles from the writing session include "Reckoning", "Diagnosis", "Her" and "Legacy". On May 5, 2018, Jagged Little Pill, a jukebox musical featuring Morissette's songs, premiered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the American Repertory Theater. Morissette contributed two new songs to the musical, "Smiling" and "Predator". It transferred to Broadway in fall 2019, starting previews on November 3 and opening on December 5 at the Broadhurst Theatre. It received fifteen Tony Award nominations, the most of any production that season. It also won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, including Morissette being the principal lyricist and co-composer.
2020–present: Such Pretty Forks in the Road and The Storm Before the Calm
In June 2019, Morissette went into the studio in Los Angeles. According to an interview, she had written all the songs, and "Smiling" would be included on the new album, likely to be released early 2020. On August 8, 2019, she revealed that the new album was produced by Alex Hope and Catherine Marks. On December 1, 2019, she announced her first studio album in eight years, Such Pretty Forks in the Road, set for release on May 1, 2020. The first single off the record, "Reasons I Drink", was released on December 2, 2019. Morissette was featured on Halsey's song "Alanis' Interlude", released on January 17, 2020. On February 5, 2020, she revealed that her upcoming album was mixed by Chris Dugan. The second single from the album, "Smiling", was released on February 20, 2020. On April 15, 2020, Morissette announced that the album's release would be postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. It was released on July 31, 2020.
She was originally scheduled to embark on a world tour for the 25th anniversary of Jagged Little Pill in June 2020 with Garbage and Liz Phair, both of whom already opened for Morissette in 1999 during Junkie Tour. The latter cancelled her shows in North America and was replaced by Cat Power instead. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was postponed to summer 2021. It then sprawled for the next two years, including some dates in the Philippines for the first time after 27 years. Beth Orton joined the UK and Europe leg of the summer tour 2022. Aimee Mann and Feist were confirmed as special guests in summer 2023 in the North American dates. On May 18, 2022, Morissette premiered the new track "Safety—Empath in Paradise". The new album of meditation music titled The Storm Before the Calm was released on June 17, 2022. The record was co-written with and produced by Dave Harrington, known for his work in the electronic music duo Darkside. On April 14, 2023, Morissette released a new song "No Return", which is a cover version of the theme song for Yellowjackets TV series.
In an interview to Variety magazine, Morissette revealed that she will start working on recording a new album in 2024. In November 2023, she also announced The Triple Moon Tour with 33 live dates in the United States for the summer 2024 with the Joan Jett and the Blackhearts as support act, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie album. On January 30, 2024, she was awarded with the Luminary of the Year prize for the outstanding contribution to the music, at the 1st annual Resonator Awards, organized by We Are Moving the Needle, a non-profit organization that aims to empower women producers and engineers.
On August 8, 2025, Morissette released a new single called "Coming Around Again", which is a duet with Carly Simon, who originally performed the song.
In October 2025, Morissette started a performance residency at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas.
Other ventures
Acting
In 1986, Morissette had her first stint as an actress in five episodes of the children's television sketch comedy series You Can't Do That on Television. She appeared on stage with the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society in 1985 and 1988. In 1999, she delved into acting again, for the first time since 1993, appearing as God in the Kevin Smith comedy Dogma and contributing the song "Still" to its soundtrack. She reprised her role as God for a post-credits scene in Smith's next film, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, to literally close the book on the View Askewniverse. She also appeared in the hit HBO comedies Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm, appeared in the play The Vagina Monologues, and had brief cameos playing herself in the Brazilian hit soap operas Celebridade and Malhação.
In late 2003, Morissette appeared in the Off-Broadway play The Exonerated as Sunny Jacobs, a death row inmate freed after proof surfaced that she was innocent. In April 2006, MTV News reported that she would reprise her role in The Exonerated in London from May 23 until May 28. She expanded her acting credentials with the July 2004 release of the Cole Porter biographical film De-Lovely, in which she performed the song "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" and had a brief role as an anonymous stage performer. In February 2005, she made a guest appearance on the Canadian television show Degrassi: The Next Generation with Dogma co-star Jason Mewes and director Kevin Smith. Also in 2005, she, then engaged to Ryan Reynolds, made a cameo appearance as "herself" as a former client of Reynolds' character in the film Just Friends. This scene was deleted from the theatrical release, and is only available on the DVD.
In 2006, Morrisette guest-starred in an episode of Lifetime's Lovespring International as a homeless woman named Lucinda, three episodes of FX's Nip/Tuck, playing a lesbian named Poppy, and the mockumentary-documentary Pittsburgh as herself. Morissette appeared in eight episodes of Weeds, playing Dr. Audra Kitson, a "no-nonsense obstetrician" who treats pregnant main character Nancy Botwin. Her first episode aired in July 2009. In early 2010, she returned to the stage, performing a one-night engagement in An Oak Tree, an experimental play in Los Angeles. The performance was a sell-out. In April 2010, Morissette was confirmed to be in the cast of season six of Weeds again portraying Dr. Audra Kitson.
Morissette also starred in a film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Radio Free Albemuth. She plays Sylvia, an ordinary woman in unexpected remission from lymphoma. She stated that she is "...a big fan of Philip K. Dick's poetic and expansively imaginative books" and that she "feel[s] blessed to portray Sylvia, and to be part of this story being told in film". She appeared as Amanda, a former bandmate of main character Ava Alexander (played by Maya Rudolph), in one episode of NBC's Up All Night on February 16, 2012. Rudolph officiated as minister for her wedding with both performing the explicit version of their hit hip hop song "Back It Up (Beep Beep)". In 2014, she played the role of Marisa Damia, the lover of architect and designer Eileen Gray, in the film The Price of Desire, directed by Mary McGuckian. In 2021, she was featured as a recurring character on adult-animation show The Great North.
Advocacy and philanthropy
Morissette is an advocate and educator in the areas of spiritual, psychological, and physical wholeness, with a focus on addiction recovery, trauma healing, women's empowerment, and holistic education for children. Her work spans a range of activities, including performances, written works, interviews, and public speaking engagements, as well as leading workshops and teachings. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with influential figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Arianna Huffington, Neale Donald Walsch, Richard Schwartz, Gabor Maté, Peter Levine, Dan Siegel, and Marianne Williamson. She has also facilitated workshops at notable institutions such as UCLA, the Omega Institute, Esalen, and 1440 Multiversity, both in-person and online.
In 2008 Morissette contributed a recording of "Versions of Violence" for the album Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace to promote peace. She contributed to 1 Giant Leap, performing "Arrival" with Zap Mama and she has released an acoustic version of her song "Still" as part of a compilation from Music for Relief in support of the 2010 Haiti earthquake crisis.
Jagged Little Pill adaptations
In May 2018, the American Repertory Theater (Cambridge, Massachusetts) premiered Jagged Little Pill, a musical with music by Morissette and Glen Ballard, lyrics by Morissette, book by Diablo Cody, and directed by Diane Paulus. Jagged, a documentary film about Morissette and Jagged Little Pill by filmmaker Alison Klayman, premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival before airing on HBO as part of the Music Box series of documentary films about music history.
Journalism and podcasts
In October 2015, Conversation with Alanis Morissette features conversations with different individuals from different schools and walks of life discussing everything from psychology to art to spirituality to design to health and well-being, to relationships (whether they be romantic or colleagueship or parent with children relationships). The monthly podcast is currently available to download on iTunes and free to listen to on YouTube. In January 2016, she began a short-lived advice column in The Guardian newspaper.
Personal life
Morissette was raised in a devout Catholic family in Canada. She became a US citizen in 2005, while retaining her Canadian citizenship. She has been a practising Buddhist for many years.
Throughout her teen years and 20s, Morissette had depression and various eating disorders. She recovered from them and started to eat a healthier diet. In 2009, she ran a marathon promoting awareness for the National Eating Disorders Association. In a 2024 interview, she told the New York Times that she works out with 15-to-20 pound kettle weights while on tour.
In the 2021 documentary Jagged, Morissette said men committed statutory rape offences against her when she was 15 years old.
Over seven years, Morissette's business manager, Jonathan Schwartz, stole over $5 million from her. He confessed to doing so in April 2017 and was sentenced to six years in prison.
On October 22, 2019, Morissette shared her nearly decade-long experience with postpartum depression on CBS This Morning.
In 1996, Morissette bought a home in Brentwood, Los Angeles. She also had an apartment in Ottawa and a home in Malibu, the latter of which was partially destroyed in the Woolsey Fire. In 2019, she and her family moved to Olympic Valley, California; she said in an interview with The New York Times that she was "finally done with living in Los Angeles".
Relationships
Morissette dated actor and comedian Dave Coulier for a short time in the early 1990s.
Morissette met actor Ryan Reynolds at Drew Barrymore's birthday party in 2002, and they began dating soon afterwards. They announced their engagement in June 2004. In February 2007, representatives for them announced they had decided to end their engagement.
On May 22, 2010, Morissette married rapper Mario "Souleye" Treadway in a private ceremony at their Los Angeles home. They have three children.
Discography
Alanis (1991)
Now Is the Time (1992)
Jagged Little Pill (1995)
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998)
Under Rug Swept (2002)
So-Called Chaos (2004)
Flavors of Entanglement (2008)
Havoc and Bright Lights (2012)
Such Pretty Forks in the Road (2020)
The Storm Before the Calm (2022)
Filmography
Film
Television
Stage
Tours
Headlining
Jagged Little Tour (1995)
Intellectual Intercourse Tour (1995–96)
Can't Not Tour (1996) featuring Radiohead
Dhanyavad Tour (1998)
Junkie Tour (1999) featuring Garbage and Liz Phair
One Tour (2000)
Under Rug Swept Tour (2001)
Toward Our Union Mended Tour (2002)
All I Really Want Tour (2003)
So-Called Chaos Tour (2004)
The Diamond Wink Tour (2005) featuring Jason Mraz
Jagged Little Pill Acoustic Tour (2005)
Flavors of Entanglement Tour (2008–09)
Guardian Angel Tour (2012)
Intimate and Acoustic (2014)
World Tour (2018)
World Tour: Celebrating 25 Years of Jagged Little Pill (2021–23) featuring Garbage, Cat Power, Beth Orton, Aimee Mann and Feist
The Triple Moon Tour (2024–25) featuring Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Morgan Wade, Liz Phair and Brandi Carlile
Co-headlining
Summer Tour (1996) (with Foo Fighters, Manic Street Preachers, Dodgy)
5 ½ Weeks Tour (1999) (with Tori Amos)
Au Naturale Tour (2004) (with the Barenaked Ladies)
Exile in America Tour (2008) (with Matchbox Twenty and Mutemath)
Residencies
Alanis Morissette: Las Vegas (2025)
Opening act
To the Extreme Tour (1991) (opening act for Vanilla Ice)
1996 European Summer Tour (1996) (opening act for Neil Young and Crazy Horse)
1999 Summer Tour (1999) (opening act for Dave Matthews Band–Denver)
A Bigger Bang Tour (2005) (opening act for The Rolling Stones)
Awards and nominations
Morissette was nominated for Best New Artist at the 38th Grammy Awards, and won Best New Artist at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards for her song, "Ironic"; additionally she was nominated for a Tony Award for the stage adaptation of Jagged Little Pill. She has been nominated four times for Songwriter of the Year at the Juno Awards, winning two in 1996 and 1997. In October 2002, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jagged Little Pill number 31 on its Women in Rock – The 50 Essential Albums list, and in 2003, the album was ranked number 327 on the magazine's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Jagged Little Pill was also featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. She was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2005. She was honored with the 2023 Carnegie Corporation of New York "Great Immigrants" Awards along with Angélique Kidjo, Ke Huy Quan, and Pedro Pascal.
See also
Canadian rock
Music of Canada
List of diamond-certified albums in Canada
List of best-selling albums
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Official website
Alanis Morissette at AllMusic
Alanis Morissette at IMDb
Alanis Morissette discography at Discogs
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Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ə-LAN-iss MORR-iss-ET; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actress. Regarded as the "queen of alt-rock angst", she became a cultural phenomenon for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting. She has sold more than 60 million records worldwide. Her accolades include a Brit Award, seven Grammy Awards, fourteen Juno Awards, and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award.
Morissette began her music career in Canada in the early 1990s with two dance-pop albums, Alanis (1991) and Now Is the Time (1992). After relocating to Los Angeles, she released the alternative rock album Jagged Little Pill (1995), which became one of the best-selling albums of all time and has appeared on several all-time lists. She won five Grammy Awards for the record including Album of the Year, becoming the youngest winner of the category at the time. She continued this success with her next album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998), which saw her adapt an experimental sound and was highly anticipated. That same year, her single "Uninvited" for City of Angels won two Grammy Awards and was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
Beginning in 2002, Morissette took on further creative control and production duties as the sole producer of her fifth album, Under Rug Swept, which won her the Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Award. Her 2005 song "Wunderkind" for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe netted her a second nomination for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song. She has continued her career with the albums So-Called Chaos (2004), Flavors of Entanglement (2008), Havoc and Bright Lights (2012), Such Pretty Forks in the Road (2020), and The Storm Before the Calm (2022).
Morissette holds the record for the most number ones on the weekly Billboard Alternative Songs chart among female soloists, group leaders, or duo members. Her first three internationally released studio albums topped the Billboard 200 albums chart, and her next four albums peaked within the top 20. Her singles "You Oughta Know", "Hand in My Pocket", "Ironic", "You Learn", "Head Over Feet", "Uninvited", "Thank U", and "Hands Clean", reached top 40 in major charts around the world. VH1 ranked her the 53rd-greatest woman in rock and roll. In 2005, she was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
Early life and education
Morissette was born on June 1, 1974, at Riverside Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Georgia Mary Ann (née Feuerstein) and Alan Richard Morissette. Her elder brother, Chad (born 1971), is an entrepreneur, and her twin brother, Wade (12 minutes elder), is a musician. Alan is of French and Irish descent, while Georgia, who fled Hungary during the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, has Jewish ancestry. Morissette has described her ethnicity as "a quarter Jewish". On a 2024 episode of Finding Your Roots, she stated that Alan and Georgia had never told their children about the family's Jewish ancestry, which she did not discover until her late 20s.
In 1977, the family moved to Lahr, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany, and Alan and Georgia started working as teachers at the local base of Canadian Air Command. They returned to Ottawa in 1980, and Morissette started taking dance lessons the next year. She had a Catholic upbringing. Morissette attended Holy Family Catholic School for elementary school and Immaculata High School for seventh and eighth grades; she appeared on five episodes of the children's television sketch comedy series You Can't Do That on Television (1986) while attending the former. She then attended and graduated from Glebe Collegiate Institute.
Career
1986–1993: Alanis and Now Is The Time
Morissette is known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting. She recorded her first demo called "Fate Stay with Me", produced by Lindsay Thomas Morgan at Marigold Studios in Toronto, and engineered by Rich Dodson of Canadian classic rock band The Stampeders. A second demo tape was recorded on cassette in August 1989 and sent to Geffen Records, but the tape has never been heard as it was stolen, among other records, in a burglary of the label's headquarters in October 1989.
In 1991, MCA Records Canada released Morissette's debut album, Alanis, in Canada only. She co-wrote every track on the album with its producer, Leslie Howe. The dance-pop album went platinum, and its first single, "Too Hot", reached the top 20 on the RPM singles chart. Subsequent singles "Walk Away" and "Feel Your Love" reached the top 40. Morissette's popularity, style of music and appearance, particularly that of her hair, led her to become known as the Debbie Gibson of Canada; comparisons to Tiffany were also common. During the same period, she was a concert opening act for rapper Vanilla Ice. She was nominated for three 1992 Juno Awards: Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year (which she won), Single of the Year and Best Dance Recording (both for "Too Hot").
In 1992, Morrisette released her second album, Now Is the Time, a ballad-driven record that featured less glitzy production than Alanis and contained more thoughtful lyrics. She wrote the songs with its producer, Leslie Howe, and Serge Côté. She said of the album, "People could go, 'Boo, hiss, hiss, this girl's like another Tiffany or whatever.' But the way I look at it... people will like your next album if it's a kick-ass one." As with Alanis, Now Is the Time was released only in Canada and produced three top 40 singles—"An Emotion Away", the minor adult contemporary hit "No Apologies" as well as "(Change Is) Never a Waste of Time". The industry considered it a commercial failure since it sold only a little more than half the copies of her first album. With her two-album deal with MCA Records Canada complete, Morissette was left without a major label contract.
1994–1999: Jagged Little Pill and Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
In 1993, Morissette's publisher Leeds Levy at MCA Music Publishing introduced her to the manager Scott Welch. Welch told HitQuarters he was impressed by her "spectacular" voice, her character and her lyrics. At the time she was still living with her parents. Together they decided it would be best for her career to move to Toronto and start writing with other people. After graduating from high school, Morissette moved from Ottawa to Toronto. Her publisher funded part of her development and she spent her time there composing and rehearsing with a number of other musicians, looking to find a songwriting partner for her next album. Although a number of songs came out of these sessions, none would make an album cut and no lasting partnerships were formed.
After Morissette moved to Los Angeles, she met the producer and songwriter Glen Ballard, who believed in her talent enough to let her use his studio. They wrote songs together, with him supporting her sound rather than trying to shape or mold it to his own tastes. In her newfound freeness of creative spirit, they wrote and recorded Morissette's first internationally released album, Jagged Little Pill, and in 1995 she signed a deal with Maverick Records. According to Welch, every other label they approached declined to sign her.
Maverick Records released Jagged Little Pill internationally in June 1995. It was expected only to sell enough for Morissette to make a follow-up, but the situation improved quickly when KROQ-FM, an influential Los Angeles modern rock radio station, began playing "You Oughta Know", the first single, featuring Flea and Dave Navarro from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The song instantly garnered attention for its scathing, explicit lyrics, and a subsequent music video went into heavy rotation on MTV and MuchMusic. In a 2008 interview, Dave Coulier said he was the ex-boyfriend who inspired "You Oughta Know"; in the 2021 documentary Jagged, Morissette denied it is about him. In a 2019 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Morissette mentioned that multiple people have taken credit for being the inspiration behind her song "You Oughta Know". She stated, "I just think: If you're going to take credit for a song where I'm singing about someone being a douche or an asshole, you might not want to say, 'Hey! That's me!'" She described the song as being written out of "devastation", reflecting a range of emotions that women often feel but are told to suppress, such as anger and sadness.
After the success of "You Oughta Know", the album's other hits helped send Jagged Little Pill to the top of the charts. "All I Really Want" and "Hand in My Pocket" followed, and the fourth U.S. single, "Ironic", became Morissette's biggest hit. "You Learn" and "Head over Feet", the fifth and sixth singles, kept Jagged Little Pill (1995) in the top 20 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for more than a year. Jagged Little Pill sold more than 16 million copies in the U.S.; it sold 33 million worldwide, making it the second biggest-selling album by a female artist (behind Shania Twain's Come On Over).
Morissette's popularity grew significantly in Canada, where the album was certified twelve times platinum and produced four RPM chart-toppers: "Hand in My Pocket", "Ironic", "You Learn", and "Head over Feet". The album was also a bestseller in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Morissette's success with Jagged Little Pill (1995) was credited with opening doors for female singers such as Meredith Brooks, Tracy Bonham and Patti Rothberg, and later Avril Lavigne and Pink. Morissette and the album won six Juno Awards in 1996: Album of the Year, Single of the Year ("You Oughta Know"), Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Best Rock Album. At the 16th Brit Awards she won Brit Award for International Breakthrough Act. At the 38th Annual Grammy Awards in 1996, she won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song (both for "You Oughta Know"), Best Rock Album and Album of the Year.
"Ironic" got the instant success, though the lyrics were heavily criticized for their malapropism, and the music video received 6 nominations at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, where it won Best New Artist in a Video, Best Female Video and Best Editing in a Video (won by Scott Gray, Editor), and was also nominated for Viewer's Choice, Best Direction in a Video and Video of the Year. Rather than perform that song at the ceremony, Morrisette performed "Your House" instead, which is homage to Joni Mitchell. The song was also nominated for two 1997 Grammy Awards—Record of the Year and Best Music Video, Short Form—and won Single of the Year at the 1997 Juno Awards, where she also won Songwriter of the Year and the International Achievement Award.
Morissette embarked on an 18-month world tour in support of Jagged Little Pill, beginning in small clubs and ending in large venues. Taylor Hawkins, who later joined the Foo Fighters, was the tour's drummer. Radiohead joined as the opening act in mid-1996. The video Jagged Little Pill, Live, which was co-directed by Morissette and is about the bulk of her tour won a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Long Form.
Following the tour, Morissette began practicing Iyengar Yoga for balance. After the last December 1996 show, she went to India for six weeks, accompanied by Georgia, two aunts and two friends. The trip left her with an indelible impression and set the cornerstone for the concept of her next album.
Morissette was featured as a guest vocalist on Ringo Starr's cover of "Drift Away" on his 1998 album, Vertical Man, and on the songs "Don't Drink the Water" and "Spoon" on the Dave Matthews Band album Before These Crowded Streets. She recorded the song "Uninvited" for the soundtrack to the 1998 film City of Angels. Although the track was never commercially released as a single, it received widespread radio airplay in the U.S. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, it won in the categories of Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and was nominated for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.
In November 1998, Morissette released her fourth album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, which she wrote and co-produced with Glen Ballard. The label hoped to sell 1 million copies of the album on initial release; instead, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 469,000 copies—a record, at the time, for the highest first-week sales of an album by a female artist. The wordy, personal lyrics on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie alienated many fans, and after the album sold considerably less than Jagged Little Pill (1995), many labelled it an example of the sophomore jinx. It received positive reviews, including a four-star review from Rolling Stone. In Canada, it won the Juno Award for Best Album and was certified four times platinum. "Thank U", the album's only major international hit single, was released in October 1998 and was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance; the music video, which featured Morissette nude, generated mild controversy. She directed the videos for "Unsent" and "So Pure", which won, respectively, the MuchMusic Video Award for Best Director and the Juno Award for Video of the Year.
Morissette contributed vocals to four tracks on Jonathan Elias's project The Prayer Cycle, which was released in 1999, where she paid homage to her roots by singing in Hungarian on "Mercy" and "Faith", and in French on "Hope" and "Innocence". The same year, she released the live acoustic album Alanis Unplugged, which was recorded during her appearance on the television show MTV Unplugged. It featured tracks from her previous two albums alongside four new songs, including "King of Pain" (a cover of The Police song) and "No Pressure over Cappuccino", which she wrote with her main guitar player, Nick Lashley. The recording of the Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie track "That I Would Be Good", released as a single, became a minor hit on hot adult contemporary radio in America. Also in 1999, Morissette released a live version of her song "Are You Still Mad" on the charity album Live in the X Lounge II. For her live rendition of "So Pure" at Woodstock '99, she was nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 2001 Grammy Awards. During the summer of 1999, Morissette toured with singer-songwriter Tori Amos on the 5 and a Half Weeks Tour in support of Amos' album To Venus and Back (1999).
2000–2007: Under Rug Swept and So-Called Chaos
In 2001, Morissette was featured with Stephanie McKay on the Tricky song "Excess", which is on his album Blowback. She released her fifth studio album, Under Rug Swept, in February 2002. For the first time in her career, she took on the role of sole writer and producer of an album. Her band, comprising Joel Shearer, Nick Lashley, Chris Chaney, and Gary Novak, played the majority of the instruments; additional contributions came from Eric Avery, Dean DeLeo, Flea, and Meshell Ndegeocello.
Under Rug Swept debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, eventually going platinum in Canada and selling one million copies in the U.S. It produced the hit single "Hands Clean", which topped the Canadian Singles Chart and received substantial radio play; for her work on "Hands Clean" and "So Unsexy", Morissette won a Juno Award for Producer of the Year. A second single, "Precious Illusions", was released, but it did not garner significant success outside Canada or U.S. hot AC radio.
Later in 2002, Morissette released the combination package Feast on Scraps, which includes a DVD of live concert and backstage documentary footage directed by her and a CD containing eight previously unreleased songs from the Under Rug Swept recording sessions. Preceded by the single "Simple Together", it sold roughly 70,000 copies in the U.S. and was nominated for a Juno Award for Music DVD of the Year.
Morissette hosted the Juno Awards of 2004 dressed in a bathrobe, which she took off to reveal a flesh-colored bodysuit, a response to the era of censorship in the U.S. caused by Janet Jackson's breast-flash incident during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. She released her sixth studio album, So-Called Chaos, in May 2004. She wrote the songs on her own again, and co-produced the album with Tim Thorney and pop music producer John Shanks. The album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 chart to generally mixed critical reviews, and it became Morissette's lowest seller in the U.S. and was her first album not to top the chart. The lead single, "Everything", achieved major success on Adult Top 40 radio in America and was moderately popular elsewhere, particularly in Canada, although it failed to reach the top 40 on the U.S. Hot 100. Because the first line of the song includes the word "asshole", American radio stations refused to play it, and the single version was changed to include the word "nightmare" instead. Unhappy that U.S. radio networks had required her to change a word in the song, Canadian radio played the unaltered version, with her stating at the 2004 Juno Awards in Canada: "Well, I am overjoyed to be back in my homeland, the true North, strong and censor-free." Two other singles, "Out Is Through" and "Eight Easy Steps", fared considerably worse, although a dance mix of "Eight Easy Steps" was a U.S. club hit. Morissette embarked on a U.S. summer tour with long-time friends and fellow Canadians Barenaked Ladies, working with the non-profit environmental organization Reverb.
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Jagged Little Pill (1995), Morissette released a studio acoustic version, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic, in June 2005. The album was released exclusively through Starbucks' Hear Music retail concept through their coffee shops for a six-week run. The limited availability led to a dispute between Maverick Records and HMV Canada, who retaliated by removing Morissette's other albums from sale for the duration of Starbucks's exclusive six-week sale. As of November 2010, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic had sold 372,000 copies in the U.S., and a video for "Hand in My Pocket" received rotation on VH1 in America. The accompanying tour ran for two months in mid-2005, with Morissette playing small theatre venues. During the same period, she was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. She opened for The Rolling Stones for a few dates of their A Bigger Bang Tour in fall 2005.
Morissette released the greatest hits album Alanis Morissette: The Collection in late 2005. The lead single and only new track, a cover of Seal's "Crazy", was an Adult Top 40 and dance hit in the U.S., but achieved only minimal chart success elsewhere. A limited edition of The Collection features a DVD including a documentary with videos of two unreleased songs from Morissette's 1996 Can't Not Tour: "King of Intimidation" and "Can't Not". (A reworked version of "Can't Not" had also appeared on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie.) It also includes a ninety-second clip of the unreleased video for the single "Joining You". As of November 2010, The Collection had sold 373,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. That same year, Morissette contributed the song "Wunderkind" to the soundtrack of the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.
2006 marked the first year in Morissette's musical career without a single concert appearance showcasing her own songs, with the exception of an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in January when she performed "Wunderkind".
On April 1, 2007, Morissette released a tongue-in-cheek cover of The Black Eyed Peas's selection "My Humps", which she recorded in a slow, mournful voice, accompanied only by a piano. The accompanying YouTube-hosted video, in which she dances provocatively with a group of men and hits the ones who act as if attempting to touch her breasts, had received 16,465,653 views as of February 15, 2009. She did not take any interviews for a time to explain the song, and it was theorized that she did it as an April Fools' Day joke. Black Eyed Peas vocalist Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson responded by sending Morissette a buttocks-shaped cake with an approving note. On the verge of the release of her following album, she finally elaborated on how the video came to be, citing that she became very much emotionally loaded while recording her new songs one after the other and one day she wished she could do a simple song like "My Humps" and the joke just took a life of its own.
Morissette performed at a gig for The Nightwatchman, a.k.a. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, at the Hotel Café in Los Angeles in April 2007. The following June, she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada", the American and Canadian national anthems, in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Ottawa Senators and Anaheim Ducks in Ottawa. (The NHL requires arenas to perform both the American and Canadian national anthems at games involving teams from both countries.)
2008–2019: Flavors of Entanglement and Havoc and Bright Lights
In early 2008, Morissette participated in a tour with Matchbox Twenty and Mutemath as a special guest. Her seventh studio album, Flavors of Entanglement, which was produced by Guy Sigsworth, was released in mid-2008. She has said that the album was created out of her grief after her breakup with Ryan Reynolds, saying "it was cathartic." She stated that in late 2008, she would embark on a North American headlining tour, but in the meantime she would be promoting the album internationally by performing at shows and festivals and making television and radio appearances. The album's first single was "Underneath", a video for which was submitted to the 2007 Elevate Film Festival, the purpose of which festival was to create documentaries, music videos, narratives and shorts regarding subjects to raise the level of human consciousness on the earth. On October 3, 2008, she released the video for her latest single, "Not as We". She said the album was created out of her grief after splitting up with Reynolds, and the song "Torch" was written about him.
She has also recorded a cover of the 1984 Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias hit, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", re-written as "To All the Boys I've Loved Before". Nelson played rhythm guitar on the recording. In April 2010, she released the song "I Remain", which she wrote for the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time soundtrack. On May 26, 2010, the season finale of American Idol, she performed a duet of "You Oughta Know" with Runner Up Crystal Bowersox. She left Maverick Records after all promotion for Flavors was completed.
On November 20, 2011, she appeared at the American Music Awards. When asked about the new album during a short interview, she said she had recorded 31 songs, and that the album would "likely be out next year, probably [in] summertime". On December 21, 2011, she performed a duet of "Uninvited" with finalist Josh Krajcik during the performance finale of the X-Factor.
Morissette embarked on a European tour for summer 2012, according to Alanis.com. In early May 2012, a new song called "Magical Child" appeared on a Starbucks compilation called Every Mother Counts.
On May 2, 2012, Morissette revealed through her Facebook account that her eighth studio album, entitled Havoc and Bright Lights, would be released in August 2012, on new label Collective Sounds, distributed by Sony's RED Distribution. On the same day, Billboard specified the date as August 28 and revealed the album would contain twelve tracks. Its lead single, "Guardian", was released on iTunes on May 15, 2012, and hit the radio airwaves four days prior to this. The single had minor success in North America, charting the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles in the US and almost reaching the top 40 in Canada. It was a hit in several European countries.
On August 21, 2012, Morissette was inducted into the Guitar Center RockWalk in Hollywood. She received the UCLA Spring Sing's George and Ira Gershwin Award on May 16, 2014, at Pauley Pavilion. On her website starting in summer 2014, in celebration of her fortieth birthday, the LP record for her song "Big Sur" was offered for sale, which was previously available on the Target edition of her 2012 album, Havoc and Bright Lights. July 25, 2014, was the start of the ten-show Intimate and Acoustic tour. In 2015, she was named to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
In celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the release of Jagged Little Pill, a new four-disc collector's edition was released on October 30, 2015. The four-disc edition includes remastered audio of the original album as well as an entire disc of 10 unreleased demos from the era, handpicked by Morissette from her archives, offering a deeper and more personal look at the classic album. Also included is a previously unreleased concert from 1995 as well as 2005's Jagged Little Pill Acoustic.
While on tour in August 2017, Morissette teased a song which would become known as "I Miss The Band". On October 27, 2017, she premiered a new song entitled "Rest", which was released officially in May 2021, and performed "Castle of Glass" with members of the band No Doubt and Mike Shinoda at the Linkin Park and Friends – Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington memorial concert. In November 2017, she tweeted that she was writing 22 songs with Michael Farrell.
On March 16, 2018, Morissette performed a new song called "Ablaze" during her 2018 tour. In October 2018, she revealed on social media that she had written 23 new songs, and hinted at a new album with hashtag "#alanismorissettenewrecord2019", after a six-year hiatus. Song titles from the writing session include "Reckoning", "Diagnosis", "Her" and "Legacy". On May 5, 2018, Jagged Little Pill, a jukebox musical featuring Morissette's songs, premiered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the American Repertory Theater. Morissette contributed two new songs to the musical, "Smiling" and "Predator". It transferred to Broadway in fall 2019, starting previews on November 3 and opening on December 5 at the Broadhurst Theatre. It received fifteen Tony Award nominations, the most of any production that season. It also won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, including Morissette being the principal lyricist and co-composer.
2020–present: Such Pretty Forks in the Road and The Storm Before the Calm
In June 2019, Morissette went into the studio in Los Angeles. According to an interview, she had written all the songs, and "Smiling" would be included on the new album, likely to be released early 2020. On August 8, 2019, she revealed that the new album was produced by Alex Hope and Catherine Marks. On December 1, 2019, she announced her first studio album in eight years, Such Pretty Forks in the Road, set for release on May 1, 2020. The first single off the record, "Reasons I Drink", was released on December 2, 2019. Morissette was featured on Halsey's song "Alanis' Interlude", released on January 17, 2020. On February 5, 2020, she revealed that her upcoming album was mixed by Chris Dugan. The second single from the album, "Smiling", was released on February 20, 2020. On April 15, 2020, Morissette announced that the album's release would be postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. It was released on July 31, 2020.
She was originally scheduled to embark on a world tour for the 25th anniversary of Jagged Little Pill in June 2020 with Garbage and Liz Phair, both of whom already opened for Morissette in 1999 during Junkie Tour. The latter cancelled her shows in North America and was replaced by Cat Power instead. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was postponed to summer 2021. It then sprawled for the next two years, including some dates in the Philippines for the first time after 27 years. Beth Orton joined the UK and Europe leg of the summer tour 2022. Aimee Mann and Feist were confirmed as special guests in summer 2023 in the North American dates. On May 18, 2022, Morissette premiered the new track "Safety—Empath in Paradise". The new album of meditation music titled The Storm Before the Calm was released on June 17, 2022. The record was co-written with and produced by Dave Harrington, known for his work in the electronic music duo Darkside. On April 14, 2023, Morissette released a new song "No Return", which is a cover version of the theme song for Yellowjackets TV series.
In an interview to Variety magazine, Morissette revealed that she will start working on recording a new album in 2024. In November 2023, she also announced The Triple Moon Tour with 33 live dates in the United States for the summer 2024 with the Joan Jett and the Blackhearts as support act, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie album. On January 30, 2024, she was awarded with the Luminary of the Year prize for the outstanding contribution to the music, at the 1st annual Resonator Awards, organized by We Are Moving the Needle, a non-profit organization that aims to empower women producers and engineers.
On August 8, 2025, Morissette released a new single called "Coming Around Again", which is a duet with Carly Simon, who originally performed the song.
In October 2025, Morissette started a performance residency at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas.
Other ventures
Acting
In 1986, Morissette had her first stint as an actress in five episodes of the children's television sketch comedy series You Can't Do That on Television. She appeared on stage with the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society in 1985 and 1988. In 1999, she delved into acting again, for the first time since 1993, appearing as God in the Kevin Smith comedy Dogma and contributing the song "Still" to its soundtrack. She reprised her role as God for a post-credits scene in Smith's next film, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, to literally close the book on the View Askewniverse. She also appeared in the hit HBO comedies Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm, appeared in the play The Vagina Monologues, and had brief cameos playing herself in the Brazilian hit soap operas Celebridade and Malhação.
In late 2003, Morissette appeared in the Off-Broadway play The Exonerated as Sunny Jacobs, a death row inmate freed after proof surfaced that she was innocent. In April 2006, MTV News reported that she would reprise her role in The Exonerated in London from May 23 until May 28. She expanded her acting credentials with the July 2004 release of the Cole Porter biographical film De-Lovely, in which she performed the song "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" and had a brief role as an anonymous stage performer. In February 2005, she made a guest appearance on the Canadian television show Degrassi: The Next Generation with Dogma co-star Jason Mewes and director Kevin Smith. Also in 2005, she, then engaged to Ryan Reynolds, made a cameo appearance as "herself" as a former client of Reynolds' character in the film Just Friends. This scene was deleted from the theatrical release, and is only available on the DVD.
In 2006, Morrisette guest-starred in an episode of Lifetime's Lovespring International as a homeless woman named Lucinda, three episodes of FX's Nip/Tuck, playing a lesbian named Poppy, and the mockumentary-documentary Pittsburgh as herself. Morissette appeared in eight episodes of Weeds, playing Dr. Audra Kitson, a "no-nonsense obstetrician" who treats pregnant main character Nancy Botwin. Her first episode aired in July 2009. In early 2010, she returned to the stage, performing a one-night engagement in An Oak Tree, an experimental play in Los Angeles. The performance was a sell-out. In April 2010, Morissette was confirmed to be in the cast of season six of Weeds again portraying Dr. Audra Kitson.
Morissette also starred in a film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Radio Free Albemuth. She plays Sylvia, an ordinary woman in unexpected remission from lymphoma. She stated that she is "...a big fan of Philip K. Dick's poetic and expansively imaginative books" and that she "feel[s] blessed to portray Sylvia, and to be part of this story being told in film". She appeared as Amanda, a former bandmate of main character Ava Alexander (played by Maya Rudolph), in one episode of NBC's Up All Night on February 16, 2012. Rudolph officiated as minister for her wedding with both performing the explicit version of their hit hip hop song "Back It Up (Beep Beep)". In 2014, she played the role of Marisa Damia, the lover of architect and designer Eileen Gray, in the film The Price of Desire, directed by Mary McGuckian. In 2021, she was featured as a recurring character on adult-animation show The Great North.
Advocacy and philanthropy
Morissette is an advocate and educator in the areas of spiritual, psychological, and physical wholeness, with a focus on addiction recovery, trauma healing, women's empowerment, and holistic education for children. Her work spans a range of activities, including performances, written works, interviews, and public speaking engagements, as well as leading workshops and teachings. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with influential figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Arianna Huffington, Neale Donald Walsch, Richard Schwartz, Gabor Maté, Peter Levine, Dan Siegel, and Marianne Williamson. She has also facilitated workshops at notable institutions such as UCLA, the Omega Institute, Esalen, and 1440 Multiversity, both in-person and online.
In 2008 Morissette contributed a recording of "Versions of Violence" for the album Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace to promote peace. She contributed to 1 Giant Leap, performing "Arrival" with Zap Mama and she has released an acoustic version of her song "Still" as part of a compilation from Music for Relief in support of the 2010 Haiti earthquake crisis.
Jagged Little Pill adaptations
In May 2018, the American Repertory Theater (Cambridge, Massachusetts) premiered Jagged Little Pill, a musical with music by Morissette and Glen Ballard, lyrics by Morissette, book by Diablo Cody, and directed by Diane Paulus. Jagged, a documentary film about Morissette and Jagged Little Pill by filmmaker Alison Klayman, premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival before airing on HBO as part of the Music Box series of documentary films about music history.
Journalism and podcasts
In October 2015, Conversation with Alanis Morissette features conversations with different individuals from different schools and walks of life discussing everything from psychology to art to spirituality to design to health and well-being, to relationships (whether they be romantic or colleagueship or parent with children relationships). The monthly podcast is currently available to download on iTunes and free to listen to on YouTube. In January 2016, she began a short-lived advice column in The Guardian newspaper.
Personal life
Morissette was raised in a devout Catholic family in Canada. She became a US citizen in 2005, while retaining her Canadian citizenship. She has been a practising Buddhist for many years.
Throughout her teen years and 20s, Morissette had depression and various eating disorders. She recovered from them and started to eat a healthier diet. In 2009, she ran a marathon promoting awareness for the National Eating Disorders Association. In a 2024 interview, she told the New York Times that she works out with 15-to-20 pound kettle weights while on tour.
In the 2021 documentary Jagged, Morissette said men committed statutory rape offences against her when she was 15 years old.
Over seven years, Morissette's business manager, Jonathan Schwartz, stole over $5 million from her. He confessed to doing so in April 2017 and was sentenced to six years in prison.
On October 22, 2019, Morissette shared her nearly decade-long experience with postpartum depression on CBS This Morning.
In 1996, Morissette bought a home in Brentwood, Los Angeles. She also had an apartment in Ottawa and a home in Malibu, the latter of which was partially destroyed in the Woolsey Fire. In 2019, she and her family moved to Olympic Valley, California; she said in an interview with The New York Times that she was "finally done with living in Los Angeles".
Relationships
Morissette dated actor and comedian Dave Coulier for a short time in the early 1990s.
Morissette met actor Ryan Reynolds at Drew Barrymore's birthday party in 2002, and they began dating soon afterwards. They announced their engagement in June 2004. In February 2007, representatives for them announced they had decided to end their engagement.
On May 22, 2010, Morissette married rapper Mario "Souleye" Treadway in a private ceremony at their Los Angeles home. They have three children.
Discography
Alanis (1991)
Now Is the Time (1992)
Jagged Little Pill (1995)
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998)
Under Rug Swept (2002)
So-Called Chaos (2004)
Flavors of Entanglement (2008)
Havoc and Bright Lights (2012)
Such Pretty Forks in the Road (2020)
The Storm Before the Calm (2022)
Filmography
Film
Television
Stage
Tours
Headlining
Jagged Little Tour (1995)
Intellectual Intercourse Tour (1995–96)
Can't Not Tour (1996) featuring Radiohead
Dhanyavad Tour (1998)
Junkie Tour (1999) featuring Garbage and Liz Phair
One Tour (2000)
Under Rug Swept Tour (2001)
Toward Our Union Mended Tour (2002)
All I Really Want Tour (2003)
So-Called Chaos Tour (2004)
The Diamond Wink Tour (2005) featuring Jason Mraz
Jagged Little Pill Acoustic Tour (2005)
Flavors of Entanglement Tour (2008–09)
Guardian Angel Tour (2012)
Intimate and Acoustic (2014)
World Tour (2018)
World Tour: Celebrating 25 Years of Jagged Little Pill (2021–23) featuring Garbage, Cat Power, Beth Orton, Aimee Mann and Feist
The Triple Moon Tour (2024–25) featuring Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Morgan Wade, Liz Phair and Brandi Carlile
Co-headlining
Summer Tour (1996) (with Foo Fighters, Manic Street Preachers, Dodgy)
5 ½ Weeks Tour (1999) (with Tori Amos)
Au Naturale Tour (2004) (with the Barenaked Ladies)
Exile in America Tour (2008) (with Matchbox Twenty and Mutemath)
Residencies
Alanis Morissette: Las Vegas (2025)
Opening act
To the Extreme Tour (1991) (opening act for Vanilla Ice)
1996 European Summer Tour (1996) (opening act for Neil Young and Crazy Horse)
1999 Summer Tour (1999) (opening act for Dave Matthews Band–Denver)
A Bigger Bang Tour (2005) (opening act for The Rolling Stones)
Awards and nominations
Morissette was nominated for Best New Artist at the 38th Grammy Awards, and won Best New Artist at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards for her song, "Ironic"; additionally she was nominated for a Tony Award for the stage adaptation of Jagged Little Pill. She has been nominated four times for Songwriter of the Year at the Juno Awards, winning two in 1996 and 1997. In October 2002, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jagged Little Pill number 31 on its Women in Rock – The 50 Essential Albums list, and in 2003, the album was ranked number 327 on the magazine's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Jagged Little Pill was also featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. She was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2005. She was honored with the 2023 Carnegie Corporation of New York "Great Immigrants" Awards along with Angélique Kidjo, Ke Huy Quan, and Pedro Pascal.
See also
Canadian rock
Music of Canada
List of diamond-certified albums in Canada
List of best-selling albums
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Official website
Alanis Morissette at AllMusic
Alanis Morissette at IMDb
Alanis Morissette discography at Discogs
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Marlon Brando
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Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of cinema, Brando received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Cannes Film Festival Award, three British Academy Film Awards, and an Emmy Award. Brando is credited with being one of the first actors to bring the Stanislavski system of acting and method acting to mainstream audiences.
Brando came under the influence of Stella Adler and Stanislavski's system in the 1940s. He began his career on stage, where he was lauded for adeptly interpreting his characters. He made his Broadway debut in the play I Remember Mama (1944) and won Theater World Awards for his roles in the plays Candida and Truckline Cafe, both in 1946. He returned to Broadway as Stanley Kowalski in the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), a role he reprised in the 1951 film adaptation, directed by Elia Kazan.
He made his film debut playing a wounded G.I. in The Men (1950) and won two Academy Awards for Best Actor for his roles as a dockworker in the crime drama film On the Waterfront (1954) and Vito Corleone in the gangster epic The Godfather (1972). He was Oscar-nominated for playing Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata! (1952), Mark Antony in Julius Caesar (1953), an air force pilot in Sayonara (1957), an American expatriate in Last Tango in Paris (1973), and a lawyer in A Dry White Season (1989).
Brando was known for playing characters who later became popular icons, such as the rebellious motorcycle-gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One (1953), and he came to be seen as an emblem of the era's so-called "generation gap", with his portrayal of rebelliousness. He also starred in such films as Guys and Dolls (1955), The Young Lions (1958), The Fugitive Kind (1960), The Chase (1966), Burn! (1969), The Missouri Breaks (1976), Superman (1978), Apocalypse Now (1979), and The Freshman (1990). He made his directorial film debut with, and also starred in, the western drama One-Eyed Jacks (1961), which did poorly at the box office.
On television, Brando won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his role in the ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations (1979), after which he took a nine-year hiatus from acting. He later returned to film, with varying degrees of commercial and critical success. The last two decades of his life were marked by controversy, and his troubled private life received significant public attention. He struggled with mood disorders and legal issues. His last films include The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) and The Score (2001).
Early life and education
Marlon Brando Jr. was born on April 3, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska, as the only son of Marlon Brando Sr. and Dorothy Pennebaker. His father was a salesman who often travelled out-of-state and his mother was a stage actress, often away from home. His mother's absence resulted in Brando's becoming attached to the family's housekeeper, who eventually left to get married, causing Brando to develop abandonment issues. His two elder sisters were Jocelyn and Frances.
Despite some of his most notable film roles, Brando did not have Italian ancestry. Brando's ancestry was mostly German, Dutch, English, and Irish. His patrilineal immigrant ancestor, Johann Wilhelm Brandau, arrived in New York City in the early 1700s from the Palatinate in Germany. He was also a descendant of Louis DuBois, a French Huguenot, who arrived in New York around 1660. His maternal great-grandfather, Myles Joseph Gahan, was an Irish immigrant who served as a medic in the American Civil War. In 1995, he gave an interview in Ireland in which he said, "I have never been so happy in my life. When I got off the plane I had this rush of emotion. I have never felt at home in a place as I do here. I am seriously contemplating Irish citizenship."
In 1930, when Brando was only six years old, the family moved to Evanston, Illinois, where Brando mimicked other people, developed a reputation for pranking, and met Wally Cox, with whom he remained friends until Cox's death in 1973. In 1936, his parents separated and he and his siblings moved with their mother to Santa Ana, California. Two years later, his parents reconciled, and his father purchased a farmhouse in Libertyville, Illinois. Brando attended Libertyville High School, excelling at sports and drama, but failing in every other subject. Consequently, he was held back for a year, and with his history of misbehaving, he was expelled in 1941.
Brando was sent by his father to Shattuck Military Academy, where his father had also studied. There, Brando continued to excel at acting until 1943, when he was put on probation for being insubordinate to an officer during maneuvers. He was confined to the campus, but sneaked into town and was caught. The faculty voted to expel him, although he was supported by the students who thought expulsion was too harsh. Brando was invited back for the following year, but decided instead to drop out of high school. He then worked as a ditch-digger at a summer job arranged by his father and tried to enlist in the Army, but his routine physical revealed that a football injury he had sustained at Shattuck had left him with a trick knee; he was classified physically unfit for military service.
Brando decided to follow his sisters to New York, studying at the American Theatre Wing Professional School, part of the Dramatic Workshop of the New School, with influential German director Erwin Piscator. In a 1988 documentary, Marlon Brando: The Wild One, Brando's sister Jocelyn remembered, "He was in a school play and enjoyed it ... So he decided he would go to New York and study acting because that was the only thing he had enjoyed. That was when he was 18." In the A&E Biography episode on Brando, George Englund said Brando fell into acting in New York because "he was accepted there. He wasn't criticized. It was the first time in his life that he heard good things about himself." He spent his first few months in New York sleeping on friends' couches. For a time he lived with Roy Somlyo, who later became a four-time Emmy-winning Broadway producer.
Brando was an avid student and proponent of Stella Adler, from whom he learned the techniques of the Stanislavski system. This technique encouraged the actor to explore both internal and external aspects to fully realize the character being portrayed. Brando's remarkable insight and sense of realism were evident early on. Adler used to recount that, when teaching Brando, she had instructed the class to act like chickens, and added that a nuclear bomb was about to fall on them. Most of the class clucked and ran around wildly, but Brando sat calmly and pretended to lay an egg. Asked by Adler why he had chosen to react this way, he said, "I'm a chicken—what do I know about bombs?" Despite being commonly regarded as a method actor, Brando disagreed. He claimed to have abhorred Lee Strasberg's teachings:
After I had some success, Lee Strasberg tried to take credit for teaching me how to act. He never taught me anything. He would have claimed credit for the sun and the moon if he believed he could get away with it. He was an ambitious, selfish man who exploited the people who attended the Actors Studio and tried to project himself as an acting oracle and guru. Some people worshipped him, but I never knew why. I sometimes went to the Actors Studio on Saturday mornings because Elia Kazan was teaching, and there were usually a lot of good-looking girls, but Strasberg never taught me acting. Stella (Adler) did—and later Kazan.
Brando was the first to bring a natural approach to acting on film. According to Dustin Hoffman in his online Masterclass, Brando would often talk to cameramen and fellow actors about their weekend even after the director would call action. Once Brando felt he could deliver the dialogue as naturally as that conversation, he would start the dialogue. In his 2015 documentary, Listen to Me Marlon, he said that prior to that, actors were like breakfast cereals, meaning they were predictable. Critics would later say that this was Brando being difficult, but actors who worked opposite him said it was just all part of his technique.
Career
1944–1950: Early career
Brando used his Stanislavski System skills for his first summer stock roles in Sayville, New York, on Long Island. Brando established a pattern of erratic, insubordinate behavior in the few shows he had been in. His behavior had him kicked out of the cast of the New School's production in Sayville, but he was soon afterwards discovered in a locally produced play there. Then, in 1944, he made it to Broadway in the bittersweet drama I Remember Mama, playing the son of Mady Christians. The Lunts wanted Brando to play the role of Alfred Lunt's son in O Mistress Mine, and Lunt even coached him for the audition, but Brando made no attempt to even read his lines at the audition and was not hired. New York Drama Critics voted him "Most Promising Young Actor" for his role as an anguished veteran in Truckline Café, although the play was a commercial failure. In 1946, he appeared on Broadway as the young hero in the political drama A Flag Is Born, refusing to accept wages above the Actors' Equity rate. In that same year, Brando played the role of Marchbanks alongside Katharine Cornell in her production's revival of Candida, one of her signature roles. Cornell also cast him as the Messenger in her production of Jean Anouilh's Antigone that same year. He was also offered the opportunity to portray one of the principal characters in the Broadway premiere of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, but turned the part down after falling asleep while trying to read the massive script and pronouncing the play "ineptly written and poorly constructed".
In 1945, Brando's agent recommended he take a co-starring role in The Eagle Has Two Heads with Tallulah Bankhead, produced by Jack Wilson. Bankhead had turned down the role of Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire, which Williams had written for her, to tour the play for the 1946–1947 season. Bankhead recognized Brando's potential, despite her disdain (which most Broadway veterans shared) for method acting, and agreed to hire him even though he auditioned poorly. The two clashed greatly during the pre-Broadway tour, with Bankhead reminding Brando of his mother, being her age and also having a drinking problem. Wilson was largely tolerant of Brando's behavior, but he reached his limit when Brando mumbled through a dress rehearsal shortly before the November 28, 1946, opening. "I don't care what your grandmother did," Wilson exclaimed, "and that Method stuff, I want to know what you're going to do!" Brando in turn raised his voice, and acted with great power and passion. "It was marvelous," a cast member recalled. "Everybody hugged him and kissed him. He came ambling offstage and said to me, 'They don't think you can act unless you can yell.'"
Critics were not as kind, however. A review of Brando's performance in the opening assessed that Brando was "still building his character, but at present fails to impress." One Boston critic remarked of Brando's prolonged death scene, "Brando looked like a car in midtown Manhattan searching for a parking space." He received better reviews at subsequent tour stops, but what his colleagues recalled was only occasional indications of the talent he would later demonstrate. "There were a few times when he was really magnificent," Bankhead admitted to an interviewer in 1962. "He was a great young actor when he wanted to be, but most of the time I couldn't even hear him on the stage."
Brando displayed his apathy for the production by demonstrating some shocking onstage manners. He "tried everything in the world to ruin it for her," Bankhead's stage manager claimed. "He nearly drove her crazy: scratching his crotch, picking his nose, doing anything." After several weeks on the road, they reached Boston, by which time Bankhead was ready to dismiss him. This proved to be one of the greatest blessings of his career, as it freed him up to play the role of Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams' 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan. Moreover, to that end, Bankhead herself, in her letter declining Williams' invitation to play the role of Blanche, gave Brando this ringing—albeit acid-tongued—endorsement stating "I do have one suggestion for casting. I know of an actor who can appear as this brutish Stanley Kowalski character. I mean, a total pig of a man without sensitivity or grace of any kind. Marlon Brando would be perfect as Stanley. I have just fired the cad from my play, The Eagle Has Two Heads, and I know for a fact that he is looking for work".
Pierpont writes that John Garfield was first choice for the role, but "made impossible demands." It was Kazan's decision to fall back on the far less experienced (and technically too young for the role) Brando. In a letter dated August 29, 1947, Williams confided to his agent Audrey Wood: "It had not occurred to me before what an excellent value would come through casting a very young actor in this part. It humanizes the character of Stanley in that it becomes the brutality and callousness of youth rather than a vicious old man ... A new value came out of Brando's reading which was by far the best reading I have ever heard." Brando based his portrayal of Kowalski on the boxer Rocky Graziano, whom he had studied at a local gymnasium. Graziano did not know who Brando was, but attended the production with tickets provided by the young man. He said, "The curtain went up and on the stage is that son of a bitch from the gym, and he's playing me."
In 1947, Brando performed a screen test for an early Warner Brothers script for the novel Rebel Without a Cause (1944), which bore no relation to the film eventually produced in 1955. The screen test is included as an extra in the 2006 DVD release of A Streetcar Named Desire. Brando's first screen role was a bitter paraplegic veteran in The Men (1950). He spent a month in bed at the Birmingham Army Hospital in Van Nuys to prepare for the role. The New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther wrote that Brando as Ken "is so vividly real, dynamic and sensitive that his illusion is complete" and noted, "Out of stiff and frozen silences he can lash into a passionate rage with the tearful and flailing frenzy of a taut cable suddenly cut."
By Brando's own account, it may have been because of this film that his draft status was changed from 4-F to 1-A. He had had surgery on his trick knee, and it was no longer physically debilitating enough to incur exclusion from the draft. When Brando reported to the induction center, he answered a questionnaire by saying his race was "human", his color was "Seasonal-oyster white to beige", and he told an Army doctor that he was psychoneurotic. When the draft board referred him to a psychiatrist, Brando explained that he had been expelled from military school and had severe problems with authority. Coincidentally, the psychiatrist knew a doctor friend of Brando. Brando avoided military service during the Korean War.
Early in his career, Brando began using cue cards instead of memorizing his lines. Despite the objections of several of the film directors he worked with, Brando felt that this helped bring realism and spontaneity to his performances. He felt otherwise he would appear to be reciting a writer's speech. In the TV documentary The Making of Superman: The Movie, Brando explained: "If you don't know what the words are but you have a general idea of what they are, then you look at the cue card and it gives you the feeling to the viewer, hopefully, that the person is really searching for what he is going to say—that he doesn't know what to say". Some, however, thought Brando used the cards out of laziness or an inability to memorize his lines. Once, on the set of The Godfather, Brando was asked why he wanted his lines printed out. He responded: "Because I can read them that way."
1951–1954: Stardom and On the Waterfront
Brando brought his performance as Stanley Kowalski to the screen in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). It earned him his first Academy Award nomination in the Best Actor category. The role is regarded as one of Brando's greatest.
He was also nominated the next year for Viva Zapata! (1952), a fictionalized account of the life of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. The film recounted Zapata's lower-class upbringing, his rise to power in the early 20th century, and death. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and co-starred Anthony Quinn. In the biopic Marlon Brando: The Wild One, Sam Shaw says: "Secretly, before the picture started, he went to Mexico to the very town where Zapata lived and was born in and it was there that he studied the speech patterns of people, their behavior, movement." Most critics focused on the actor rather than the film, with Time and Newsweek publishing rave reviews.
Years later, in his autobiography, Brando remarked: "Tony Quinn, whom I admired professionally and liked personally, played my brother, but he was extremely cold to me while we shot that picture. During our scenes together, I sensed a bitterness toward me, and if I suggested a drink after work, he either turned me down or else was sullen and said little. Only years later did I learn why." Brando explained that, to create on-screen tension between the two, "Gadg" (Kazan) had told Quinn – who had taken over the role of Stanley Kowalski from Brando on Broadway – that Brando had been unimpressed with his work. After achieving the desired effect, Kazan never told Quinn that he had misled him. It was only many years later, after comparing notes, that Brando and Quinn realized the deception.
Brando's next film, Julius Caesar (1953), received highly favorable reviews. Brando portrayed Mark Antony. While most acknowledged Brando's talent, some critics felt Brando's "mumbling" and other idiosyncrasies betrayed a lack of acting fundamentals and, when his casting was announced, many remained dubious about his prospects for success. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and co-starring British stage actor John Gielgud, Brando delivered an impressive performance, especially during Antony's noted "Friends, Romans, countrymen ..." speech. Gielgud was so impressed that he offered Brando a full season at the Hammersmith Theatre, an offer he declined. In his biography on the actor, Stefan Kanfer writes, "Marlon's autobiography devotes one line to his work on that film: Among all those British professionals, 'for me to walk onto a movie set and play Mark Anthony was asinine'—yet another example of his persistent self-denigration, and wholly incorrect."
Kanfer adds that after a screening of the film, director John Huston commented: "Christ! It was like a furnace door opening—the heat came off the screen. I don't know another actor who could do that." During the filming of Julius Caesar, Brando learned that Elia Kazan had cooperated with congressional investigators, naming a whole string of "subversives" to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). By all accounts, Brando was upset by his mentor's decision, but he worked with him again in On The Waterfront. "None of us is perfect," he later wrote in his memoir, "and I think that Gadg has done injury to others, but mostly to himself."
In 1953, Brando also starred in The Wild One, riding his own Triumph Thunderbird 6T motorcycle. Triumph's importers were ambivalent at the exposure, as the subject matter was rowdy motorcycle gangs taking over a small town. The film was criticized for its perceived gratuitous violence at the time, with Time stating: "The effect of the movie is not to throw light on the public problem, but to shoot adrenaline through the moviegoer's veins." Brando allegedly did not see eye to eye with the Hungarian director László Benedek and did not get on with costar Lee Marvin.
To Brando's expressed puzzlement, the movie inspired teen rebellion and made him a role model to the nascent rock-and-roll generation and future stars such as James Dean and Elvis Presley. After the movie's release, the sales of leather jackets and motorcycles skyrocketed. Reflecting on the movie in his autobiography, Brando concluded that it had not aged very well but said "More than most parts I've played in the movies or onstage, I related to Johnny, and because of this, I believe I played him as more sensitive and sympathetic than the script envisioned. There's a line in the picture where he snarls, 'Nobody tells me what to do.' That's exactly how I've felt all my life."
Later that same year, Brando co-starred with fellow Studio member William Redfield in a summer stock production of George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man.
In 1954, Brando starred in On the Waterfront, a crime drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg; it also starred Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger and, in her film debut, Eva Marie Saint. When initially offered the role, Brando—still stung by Kazan's testimony to HUAC—demurred and the part of Terry Malloy nearly went to Frank Sinatra. According to biographer Stefan Kanfer, the director believed that Sinatra, who grew up in Hoboken (where the film takes place and was shot), would work as Malloy, but eventually producer Sam Spiegel wooed Brando to the part, signing him for $100,000. "Kazan made no protest because, he subsequently confessed, 'I always preferred Brando to anybody.'"
Brando won the Oscar for his role as Irish-American stevedore Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront. His performance, spurred on by his rapport with Eva Marie Saint and Kazan's direction, was praised as a tour de force. For the scene in which Terry laments his failings, saying I coulda been a contender, he convinced Kazan that the scripted scene was unrealistic. Schulberg's script had Brando acting the entire scene with his character being held at gunpoint by his brother Charlie, played by Rod Steiger. Brando insisted on gently pushing away the gun, saying that Terry would never believe that his brother would pull the trigger and doubting that he could continue his speech while fearing a gun on him. Kazan let Brando improvise and later expressed deep admiration for Brando's instinctive understanding, saying:
what was extraordinary about his performance, I feel, is the contrast of the tough-guy front and the extreme delicacy and gentle cast of his behavior. What other actor, when his brother draws a pistol to force him to do something shameful, would put his hand on the gun and push it away with the gentleness of a caress? Who else could read "Oh, Charlie!" in a tone of reproach that is so loving and so melancholy and suggests the terrific depth of pain? … If there is a better performance by a man in the history of film in America, I don't know what it is.
Upon its release, On the Waterfront received glowing reviews from critics and was a commercial success, earning an estimated $4.2 million in rentals at the North American box office in 1954. In his July 29, 1954, review, The New York Times critic A. H. Weiler praised the film, calling it "an uncommonly powerful, exciting, and imaginative use of the screen by gifted professionals." Film critic Roger Ebert lauded the film retrospectively, stating that Brando and Kazan changed acting in American films forever and adding it to his "Great Movies" list. In his autobiography, Brando was typically dismissive of his performance: "On the day Gadg showed me the complete picture, I was so depressed by my performance I got up and left the screening room ... I thought I was a huge failure." After Brando won the Academy Award for Best Actor, the statue was stolen. Much later, it turned up at a London auction house, which contacted the actor and informed him of its whereabouts.
1954–1959: Box office success
Brando was in the film adaptation of the musical Guys and Dolls (1955). Guys and Dolls would be Brando's first and last musical role. Time found the picture "false to the original in its feeling", remarking that Brando "sings in a faraway tenor that sometimes tends to be flat". Appearing in Edward Murrow's Person to Person interview in early 1955, he admitted to having problems with his singing voice, which he called "pretty terrible". In the 1965 documentary Meet Marlon Brando, he revealed that the final product heard in the movie was a result of countless singing takes being cut into one and later joked, "I couldn't hit a note with a baseball bat; some notes I missed by extraordinary margins ... They sewed my words together on one song so tightly that when I mouthed it in front of the camera, I nearly asphyxiated myself". Relations between Brando and costar Frank Sinatra were also frosty, with Stefan Kanfer observing: "The two men were diametrical opposites: Marlon required multiple takes; Frank detested repeating himself." Upon their first meeting Sinatra reportedly scoffed, "Don't give me any of that Actors Studio shit." Brando later quipped, "Frank is the kind of guy, when he dies, he's going to heaven and give God a hard time for making him bald." Frank Sinatra called Brando "the world's most overrated actor", and referred to him as "mumbles". The film was commercially though not critically successful, costing $5.5 million to make and grossing $13 million.
Brando played Sakini, a Japanese interpreter for the U.S. Army in postwar Japan, in The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956). Pauline Kael was not particularly impressed by the movie, but noted "Marlon Brando starved himself to play the pixie interpreter Sakini, and he looks as if he's enjoying the stunt—talking with a mad accent, grinning boyishly, bending forward, and doing tricky movements with his legs. He's harmlessly genial (and he is certainly missed when he's offscreen), though the fey, roguish role doesn't allow him to do what he's great at and it's possible that he's less effective in it than a lesser actor might have been."
In Sayonara (1957), Brando appeared as a United States Air Force officer. Newsweek found the film a "dull tale of the meeting of the twain", but it was nevertheless a box-office success. According to Stefan Kanfer's biography of the actor, Brando's manager Jay Kanter negotiated a profitable contract with ten percent of the gross going to Brando, which put him in the millionaire category. The movie was controversial due to openly discussing interracial marriage, but proved a great success, earning 10 Academy Award nominations, with Brando being nominated for Best Actor. The film went on to win four Academy Awards. Teahouse and Sayonara were the first in a string of films Brando would strive to make over the next decade which contained socially relevant messages, and he formed a partnership with Paramount to establish his own production company called Pennebaker, its declared purpose to develop films that contained "social value that would improve the world." The name was a tribute in honor of his mother, who had died in 1954. By all accounts, Brando was devastated by her death, with biographer Peter Manso telling A&E's Biography, "She was the one who could give him approval like no one else could and, after his mother died, it seems that Marlon stops caring." Brando appointed his father to run Pennebaker. In the same A&E special, George Englund claims that Brando gave his father the job because "it gave Marlon a chance to take shots at him, to demean and diminish him".
In 1958, Brando appeared in The Young Lions, dyeing his hair blonde and assuming a German accent for the role, which he later admitted was not convincing. The film is based on the novel by Irwin Shaw, and Brando's portrayal of the character Christian Diestl was controversial for its time. He later wrote, "The original script closely followed the book, in which Shaw painted all Germans as evil caricatures, especially Christian, whom he portrayed as a symbol of everything that was bad about Nazism; he was mean, nasty, vicious, a cliché of evil ... I thought the story should demonstrate that there are no inherently 'bad' people in the world, but they can easily be misled." Shaw and Brando even appeared together for a televised interview with CBS correspondent David Schoenbrun and, during a bombastic exchange, Shaw charged that, like most actors, Brando was incapable of playing flat-out villainy; Brando responded by stating "Nobody creates a character but an actor. I play the role; now he exists. He is my creation." The Young Lions also features Brando's only appearance in a film with friend and rival Montgomery Clift (although they shared no scenes together). Brando closed out the decade by appearing in The Fugitive Kind (1960) opposite Anna Magnani. The film was based on another play by Tennessee Williams but was hardly the success A Streetcar Named Desire had been, with the Los Angeles Times labeling Williams' personae "psychologically sick or just plain ugly" and The New Yorker calling it a "cornpone melodrama".
1961–1971: Established actor
In 1961, Brando made his directorial debut in the western One-Eyed Jacks. The picture was originally directed by Stanley Kubrick, but he was fired early in the production. Paramount then made Brando the director. Brando portrays the lead character Rio, and Karl Malden plays his partner "Dad" Longworth. The supporting cast features Katy Jurado, Ben Johnson, and Slim Pickens. Brando's penchant for multiple retakes and character exploration as an actor carried over into his directing, however, and the film soon went over budget; Paramount expected the film to take three months to complete but shooting stretched to six and the cost doubled to more than six million dollars. Brando's inexperience as an editor also delayed postproduction and Paramount eventually took control of the film. Brando later wrote, "Paramount said it didn't like my version of the story; I'd had everyone lie except Karl Malden. The studio cut the movie to pieces and made him a liar, too. By then, I was bored with the whole project and walked away from it". One-Eyed Jacks was received with mixed reviews by critics.
Brando's revulsion with the film industry reportedly boiled over on the set of his next film, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's remake of Mutiny on the Bounty, which was filmed in Tahiti. The actor was accused of deliberately sabotaging nearly every aspect of the production. On June 16, 1962, The Saturday Evening Post ran an article by Bill Davidson with the headline "Six million dollars down the drain: the mutiny of Marlon Brando". Mutiny director Lewis Milestone claimed that the executives "deserve what they get when they give a ham actor, a petulant child, complete control over an expensive picture." Mutiny on the Bounty nearly capsized MGM and, while the project had indeed been hampered with delays other than Brando's behavior, the accusations would dog the actor for years as studios began to fear Brando's difficult reputation. Critics also began taking note of his fluctuating weight.
Distracted by his personal life and becoming disillusioned with his career, Brando began to view acting as a means to a financial end. Critics protested when he started accepting roles in films many perceived as being beneath his talent, or criticized him for failing to live up to the better roles. Previously only signing short-term deals with film studios, in 1961 Brando uncharacteristically signed a five-picture deal with Universal Studios that would haunt him for the rest of the decade. The Ugly American (1963) was the first of these films. Based on the 1958 novel of the same title that Pennebaker had optioned, the film, which featured Brando's sister Jocelyn, was rated fairly positively but died at the box office. Brando was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. All of Brando's other Universal films during this period, including Bedtime Story (1964), The Appaloosa (1966), A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) and The Night of the Following Day (1969), were also critical and commercial flops. Countess in particular was a disappointment for Brando, who had looked forward to working with one of his heroes, director Charlie Chaplin. The experience turned out to be an unhappy one; Brando was horrified at Chaplin's didactic style of direction and his authoritarian approach. Brando had also appeared in the spy thriller Morituri in 1965; that, too, failed to attract an audience.
Brando acknowledged his professional decline, writing later, "Some of the films I made during the sixties were successful; some weren't. Some, like The Night of the Following Day, I made only for the money; others, like Candy, I did because a friend asked me to and I didn't want to turn him down ... In some ways I think of my middle age as the Fuck You Years." Candy was especially appalling for many; a 1968 sex farce film directed by Christian Marquand and based on the 1958 novel by Terry Southern, the film satirizes pornographic stories through the adventures of its naive heroine, Candy, played by Ewa Aulin. It is generally regarded as the nadir of Brando's career. The Washington Post observed: "Brando's self-indulgence over a dozen years is costing him and his public his talents." In the March 1966 issue of The Atlantic, Pauline Kael wrote that in his rebellious days, Brando "was antisocial because he knew society was crap; he was a hero to youth because he was strong enough not to take the crap", but now Brando and others like him had become "buffoons, shamelessly, pathetically mocking their public reputations." In an earlier review of The Appaloosa in 1966, Kael wrote that the actor was "trapped in another dog of a movie ... Not for the first time, Mr. Brando gives us a heavy-lidded, adenoidally openmouthed caricature of the inarticulate, stalwart loner." Although he feigned indifference, Brando was hurt by the critical mauling, admitting in the 2015 film Listen to Me Marlon, "They can hit you every day and you have no way of fighting back. I was very convincing in my pose of indifference, but I was very sensitive and it hurt a lot."
Brando portrayed a repressed gay army officer in Reflections in a Golden Eye, directed by John Huston and co-starring Elizabeth Taylor. The role turned out as one of his most acclaimed in years, with Stanley Crouch marveling, "Brando's main achievement was to portray the taciturn but stoic gloom of those pulverized by circumstances." The film overall received mixed reviews. Another notable film was The Chase (1966), which paired the actor with director Arthur Penn, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford and Robert Duvall. The film deals with themes of racism, sexual revolution, small-town corruption, and vigilantism. The film was received mostly positively.
Brando cited Burn! (1969) as his personal favorite of the films he had made, writing in his autobiography: "I think I did some of the best acting I've ever done in that picture, but few people came to see it." Brando dedicated a full chapter to the film in his memoir, stating that the director, Gillo Pontecorvo, was the best director he had ever worked with next to Kazan and Bernardo Bertolucci. Brando also detailed his clashes with Pontecorvo on the set and how "we nearly killed each other." Loosely based on events in the history of Guadeloupe, the film got a hostile reception from critics. In 1971, Michael Winner directed him in the British horror film The Nightcomers with Stephanie Beacham, Thora Hird, Harry Andrews and Anna Palk. It is a prequel to The Turn of the Screw, which had previously been filmed as The Innocents (1961). Brando's performance earned him a nomination for a Best Actor BAFTA, but the film bombed at the box office.
1970–1979: Career resurgence and acclaim
During the 1970s, Brando was considered "unbankable". Critics were becoming increasingly dismissive of his work and he had not appeared in a box office hit since The Young Lions in 1958, the last year he had ranked as one of the Top Ten Box Office Stars and the year of his last Academy Award nomination, for Sayonara. Brando's performance as Vito Corleone, the "Don", in The Godfather (1972), Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Mario Puzo's 1969 bestselling novel of the same name, was a career turning point, putting him back in the Top Ten and winning him his second Best Actor Oscar.
Paramount production chief Robert Evans, who had given Puzo an advance to write The Godfather so that Paramount would own the film rights, hired Coppola after many major directors had turned the film down. Evans wanted an Italian-American director who could provide the film with cultural authenticity. Coppola also came cheap. Evans was conscious of the fact that Paramount's last Mafia film, The Brotherhood (1968) had been a box office bomb, and he believed it was partly due to the fact that the director, Martin Ritt, and the star, Kirk Douglas, were Jewish, and the film lacked an authentic Italian flavor. The studio originally intended the film to be a low-budget production set in contemporary times without any major actors, but the phenomenal success of the novel gave Evans the clout to turn The Godfather into a prestige picture.
Coppola had developed a list of actors for all the roles, and his list of potential Dons included the Oscar-winning Italian-American Ernest Borgnine, the Italian-American Frank de Kova (best known for playing Chief Wild Eagle on the TV sitcom F-Troop), John Marley (a Best Supporting Oscar-nominee for Paramount's 1970 hit film Love Story who was cast as the film producer Jack Woltz in the picture), the Italian-American Richard Conte (who was cast as Don Corleone's deadly rival Don Emilio Barzini), and Italian film producer Carlo Ponti. Coppola admitted in a 1975 interview, "We finally figured we had to lure the best actor in the world. It was that simple. That boiled down to Laurence Olivier or Marlon Brando, who are the greatest actors in the world." Coppola's hand-written cast list has Brando's name underlined.
Evans told Coppola that he had been thinking of Brando for the part two years earlier, and Puzo had imagined Brando in the part when he wrote the novel and had actually written to him about the part, so Coppola and Evans narrowed it down to Brando. (Coincidentally, Olivier would compete with Brando for the Best Actor Oscar for his part in Sleuth. He bested Brando at the 1972 New York Film Critics Circle Awards.) Albert S. Ruddy, whom Paramount assigned to produce the film, agreed with the choice of Brando. However, Paramount studio executives were opposed to casting Brando, due to his reputation for difficulty and his long string of box office flops. Brando also had One-Eyed Jacks working against him, a troubled production that lost money for Paramount when it was released in 1961. Paramount Pictures President Stanley Jaffe told an exasperated Coppola "As long as I'm president of this studio, Marlon Brando will not be in this picture, and I will no longer allow you to discuss it."
Jaffe eventually set three conditions for the casting of Brando: That he would have to take a fee far below what he typically received; he would have to agree to accept financial responsibility for any production delays his behavior cost; and he had to submit to a screen test. Coppola convinced Brando to do a videotaped "make-up" test, in which Brando did his own makeup (he used cotton balls to simulate the character's puffed cheeks). Coppola had feared Brando might be too young to play the Don, but was electrified by the actor's characterization as the head of a crime family. Even so, he had to fight the studio in order to cast the temperamental actor. Brando had doubts himself, stating in his autobiography, "I had never played an Italian before, and I didn't think I could do it successfully." Eventually, Charles Bluhdorn, the president of Paramount parent Gulf+Western, was won over to letting Brando have the role; when he saw the screen test, he asked in amazement, "What are we watching? Who is this old guinea?" Brando was signed for a low fee of $50,000, but in his contract, he was given a percentage of the gross on a sliding scale: 1% of the gross for each $10 million over a $10 million threshold, up to 5% if the picture exceeded $60 million. According to Evans, Brando sold back his points in the picture for $100,000 because he was in dire need of funds. "That $100,000 cost him $11 million," Evans claimed.
Brando was on his best behavior during filming, buoyed by a cast that included rising stars Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Caan, and Diane Keaton. As the most seasoned actor on set, he wielded his influence to support the creatives on the project, serving as the "head of the family" much like his role in the film. In a 1994 interview, Coppola insisted The Godfather was "a very unappreciated movie when we were making it. They were very unhappy with it. They didn't like the cast. They didn't like the way I was shooting it. I was always on the verge of getting fired." When word of this executive interference reached Brando, he threatened to walk off the picture, writing in his memoir: "I strongly believe that directors are entitled to independence and freedom to realize their vision." Similarly, in a 2010 interview, Al Pacino discussed how Brando's support helped him keep the role of Michael Corleone in the movie, despite the fact Coppola wanted to fire him due to pressure from studio executives who were puzzled by Pacino's performance.
Brando's performance was glowingly reviewed by critics. "I thought it would be interesting to play a gangster, maybe for the first time in the movies, who wasn't like those bad guys Edward G. Robinson played, but who is kind of a hero, a man to be respected," Brando recalled in his autobiography. "Also, because he had so much power and unquestioned authority, I thought it would be an interesting contrast to play him as a gentle man, unlike Al Capone, who beat up people with baseball bats." Duvall later marveled to A&E's Biography, "He minimized the sense of beginning. In other words he, like, deemphasized the word action. He would go in front of that camera just like he was before. Cut! It was all the same. There was really no beginning. I learned a lot from watching that." Brando won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, but he declined it, becoming the second actor to refuse a Best Actor award (after George C. Scott for Patton). Brando did not attend the award ceremony; instead, he sent actress Sacheen Littlefeather (who appeared in Plains Indian-style regalia) to decline the Oscar on his behalf. After refusing to touch the statue at the podium, she announced to the crowd that Brando was rejecting the award in protest of "the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry ... and on television and movie reruns and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee." The Wounded Knee Occupation of 1973 was occurring at the time of the ceremony. Brando had written a longer speech for her to read but, as she explained, this was not permitted due to time constraints. In the written speech Brando added that he hoped his declining the Oscar would be seen as "an earnest effort to focus attention on an issue that might very well determine whether or not this country has the right to say from this point forward we believe in the inalienable rights of all people to remain free and independent on lands that have supported their life beyond living memory."
The actor followed The Godfather with Bernardo Bertolucci's 1972 film Last Tango in Paris, playing opposite Maria Schneider, but Brando's highly noted performance threatened to be overshadowed by an uproar over the sexual content of the film. Brando portrays a recent American widower named Paul, who begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young, betrothed Parisian woman named Jeanne. As with previous films, Brando refused to memorize his lines for many scenes; instead, he wrote his lines on cue cards and posted them around the set for easy reference, leaving Bertolucci with the problem of keeping them out of the picture frame. The film features several intense, graphic scenes involving Brando, including Paul anally raping Jeanne using butter as a lubricant, which it was alleged was not consensual. The actress confirmed that no actual sex occurred, but she complained that she was not told what the scene would include until shortly prior to filming.
Bertolucci also shot a scene which showed Brando's genitals, but in 1973 explained, "I had so identified myself with Brando that I cut it out of shame for myself. To show him naked would have been like showing me naked." Schneider declared in an interview that "Marlon said he felt raped and manipulated by it and he was 48. And he was Marlon Brando!". Like Schneider, Brando confirmed that the sex was simulated. Bertolucci said about Brando that he was "a monster as an actor and a darling as a human being". Brando refused to speak to Bertolucci for 15 years after the production was completed. Bertolucci said:
I was thinking that it was like a dialogue where he was really answering my questions in a way. When at the end of the movie, when he saw it, I discovered that he realized what we were doing, that he was delivering so much of his own experience. And he was very upset with me, and I told him, "Listen, you are a grown-up. Older than me. Didn't you realize what you were doing?" And he didn't talk to me for years.
However; "I called him one day in '93, I think, I was in LA and my wife was shooting a movie. First of all, he answered the phone, and he was talking to me like we had seen each other a day earlier. He said, "Come here." I said, "When?" He said, "Now." So I remember driving on Mulholland Drive to his home and thinking I think I won't make it, I think I will crash before [I get there]. I was so emotional." The film also features Paul's angry, emotionally charged final confrontation with the corpse of his dead wife. The controversial movie was a hit however, and Brando made the list of Top Ten Box Office Stars for the last time. His gross participation deal earned him $3 million. The voting membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences again nominated Brando for Best Actor, his seventh nomination. Brando won the 1973 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor.
Pauline Kael, in The New Yorker review, wrote "The movie breakthrough has finally come. Bertolucci and Brando have altered the face of an art form." Brando confessed in his autobiography, "To this day I can't say what Last Tango in Paris was about", and added the film "required me to do a lot of emotional arm wrestling with myself, and when it was finished, I decided that I wasn't ever again going to destroy myself emotionally to make a movie". In 1973, Brando was devastated by the death of his childhood best friend Wally Cox. Brando wrenched his ashes from his widow, who was going to sue for their return, but finally said, "Marlon needed the ashes more than I did."
In 1976, Brando appeared in The Missouri Breaks with his friend Jack Nicholson. The movie also reunited the actor with director Arthur Penn. As biographer Stefan Kanfer describes, Penn had difficulty controlling Brando, who seemed intent on going over the top with his border-ruffian-turned-contract-killer Robert E. Lee Clayton: "Marlon made him a cross-dressing psychopath. Absent for the first hour of the movie, Clayton enters on horseback, dangling upside down, caparisoned in white buckskin, Littlefeather-style. He speaks in an Irish accent for no apparent reason. Over the next hour, also for no apparent reason, Clayton assumes the intonation of a British upper-class twit and an elderly frontier woman, complete with a granny dress and matching bonnet. Penn, who believed in letting actors do their thing, indulged Marlon all the way." Critics were unkind, with The Observer calling Brando's performance "one of the most extravagant displays of grandedamerie since Sarah Bernhardt", while The Sun complained, "Marlon Brando at fifty-two has the sloppy belly of a sixty-two-year-old, the white hair of a seventy-two-year-old, and the lack of discipline of a precocious twelve-year-old." However, Kanfer noted: "Even though his late work was met with disapproval, a re-examination shows that often, in the middle of the most pedestrian scene, there would be a sudden, luminous occurrence, a flash of the old Marlon that showed how capable he remained."
In 1978, Brando narrated the English version of Raoni, a French-Belgian documentary film directed by Jean-Pierre Dutilleux and Luiz Carlos Saldanha that focused on the life of Raoni Metuktire and issues surrounding the survival of the Indigenous tribes in north central Brazil. Brando portrayed Superman's father Jor-El in the 1978 film Superman. He agreed to the role only on assurance that he would be paid a large sum for what amounted to a small part, that he would not have to read the script beforehand, and that his lines would be displayed somewhere off-camera. It was revealed in a documentary contained in the 2001 DVD release of Superman that he was paid $3.7 million for two weeks of work. Brando also filmed scenes for the movie's sequel, Superman II, but after producers refused to pay him the same percentage he received for the first movie, he denied them permission to use the footage. "I asked for my usual percentage," he recollected in his memoir, "but they refused, and so did I." However, after Brando's death, the footage was reincorporated into the 2006 recut of the film, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut and in the 2006 "loose sequel" Superman Returns, in which both used and unused archive footage of him as Jor-El from the first two Superman films was remastered for a scene in the Fortress of Solitude, and Brando's voice-overs were used throughout the film. In 1979, he made a rare television appearance in the miniseries Roots: The Next Generations, portraying George Lincoln Rockwell; he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his performance.
Brando starred as Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam epic Apocalypse Now (1979). He plays a highly decorated U.S. Army Special Forces officer who goes renegade, running his own operation based in Cambodia and is feared by the U.S. military as much as the Vietnamese. Brando was paid $1 million a week for 3 weeks work. The film drew attention for its lengthy and troubled production, as Eleanor Coppola's documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse details: Brando showed up on the set overweight, Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack, and severe weather destroyed several expensive sets. The film's release was also postponed several times while Coppola edited millions of feet of footage. In the documentary, Coppola talks about how astonished he was when an overweight Brando turned up for his scenes and, feeling desperate, decided to portray Kurtz, who appears emaciated in the original story, as a man who had indulged every aspect of himself, with Coppola commentating that "He was already heavy when I hired him and he promised me that he was going to get in shape and I imagined that I would, if he were heavy, I could use that. But he was so fat, he was very, very shy about it ... He was very, very adamant about how he didn't want to portray himself that way." Brando admitted to Coppola that he had not read the book, Heart of Darkness, as the director had asked him to, and the pair spent days exploring the story and the character of Kurtz, much to the actor's financial benefit, according to producer Fred Roos: "The clock was ticking on this deal he had and we had to finish him within three weeks or we'd go into this very expensive overage ... And Francis and Marlon would be talking about the character and whole days would go by. And this is at Marlon's urging—and yet he's getting paid for it."
Upon release, Apocalypse Now earned critical acclaim, as did Brando's performance. His whispering of Kurtz's final words "The horror! The horror!", has become particularly famous. Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, defended the movie's controversial denouement, opining that the ending, "with Brando's fuzzy, brooding monologues and the final violence, feels much more satisfactory than any conventional ending possibly could." Brando received a fee of $2 million plus 10% of the gross theatrical rental and 10% of the TV sale rights, earning him around $9 million.
1980–2001: Later work and final roles
After appearing as oil tycoon Adam Steiffel in 1980's The Formula, which was poorly received critically, Brando announced his retirement from acting. However, he returned in 1989 in A Dry White Season, based on André Brink's 1979 anti-apartheid novel. Brando agreed to do the film for free, but fell out with director Euzhan Palcy over how the film was edited; he even made a rare television appearance in an interview with Connie Chung to voice his disapproval. In his memoir, he maintained that Palcy "had cut the picture so poorly, I thought, that the inherent drama of this conflict was vague at best." Brando received praise for his performance, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and winning the Best Actor Award at the Tokyo Film Festival.
Brando scored enthusiastic reviews for his caricature of his Vito Corleone role as Carmine Sabatini in 1990's The Freshman. In his original review, Roger Ebert wrote, "There have been a lot of movies where stars have repeated the triumphs of their parts—but has any star ever done it more triumphantly than Marlon Brando does in The Freshman?" Variety also praised Brando's performance as Sabatini and noted, "Marlon Brando's sublime comedy performance elevates The Freshman from screwball comedy to a quirky niche in film history." Brando starred alongside his friend Johnny Depp on the box office hit Don Juan DeMarco (1995), in which he also shared credits with singer Selena in her only filming appearance, and in Depp's controversial The Brave (1997), which was never released in the United States.
Later performances, such as his appearance in Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992) (for which he was nominated for a Raspberry as "Worst Supporting Actor"), The Island of Dr. Moreau (in which he won a "Worst Supporting Actor" Raspberry) (1996), and his barely recognizable appearance in Free Money (1998), resulted in some of the worst reviews of his career. The Island of Dr. Moreau screenwriter Ron Hutchinson would later say in his memoir, Clinging to the Iceberg: Writing for a Living on the Stage and in Hollywood (2017), that Brando sabotaged the film's production by feuding and refusing to cooperate with his colleagues and the film crew.
Unlike its immediate predecessors, Brando's last completed film, The Score (2001), was received generally positively. In the film, in which he portrays a fence, he starred with Robert De Niro. After Brando's death, the novel Fan-Tan was released. Brando conceived the novel with director Donald Cammell in 1979, but it was not released until 2005.
Later life
Brando's notoriety, his troubled family life and his obesity attracted more attention than his later acting career. He gained a great deal of weight in the 1970s; by the early-to-mid-1990s, he weighed over 300 pounds (140 kg) and suffered from Type 2 diabetes. He had a history of weight fluctuation throughout his career that, by and large, he attributed to his years of stress-related overeating, followed by compensatory dieting. He also earned a reputation for being difficult on the set, often unwilling or unable to memorize his lines and less interested in taking direction than in confronting the film director with odd demands. He also dabbled with some innovation in his last years. He had several patents issued in his name from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, all of which involve a method of tensioning drumheads, between June 2002 and November 2004 (for example, see U.S. patent 6,812,392). His assistant, Alice Marchak, resigned from her role due to his eccentric and unpredictable behavior. Brando also made sketches and art as hobby.
In 2004, Brando recorded voice tracks for the character Mrs. Sour in the unreleased animated film Big Bug Man. This was his last role and his only role as a female character. A longtime close friend of entertainer Michael Jackson, Brando paid regular visits to his Neverland Ranch, resting there for weeks at a time. Brando also participated in the singer's two-day solo career 30th-anniversary celebration concerts in 2001 and starred in his 13-minute-long music video "You Rock My World", in the same year.
Brando's son Miko was Jackson's bodyguard and assistant for several years and was a friend of the singer. "The last time my father left his house to go anywhere, to spend any kind of time, it was with Michael Jackson", Miko stated. "He loved it ... He had a 24-hour chef, 24-hour security, 24-hour help, 24-hour kitchen, 24-hour maid service. Just carte blanche." "Michael was instrumental helping my father through the last few years of his life. For that I will always be indebted to him. Dad had a hard time breathing in his final days and he was on oxygen much of the time. He loved the outdoors, so Michael would invite him over to Neverland. Dad could name all the trees there and the flowers, but being on oxygen it was hard for him to get around and see them all, it's such a big place. So Michael got Dad a golf cart with a portable oxygen tank so he could go around and enjoy Neverland. They'd just drive around—Michael Jackson, Marlon Brando, with an oxygen tank in a golf cart." In April 2001, Brando was hospitalized with pneumonia. In 2004, Brando signed with film director Ridha Behi and began preproduction on a project to be titled Brando and Brando. Up to a week before his death, he was working on the script in anticipation of a July/August 2004 start date. Production was suspended in July 2004 following Brando's death, at which time Behi stated that he would continue the film as an homage to Brando, with a new title of Citizen Brando, which ultimately became Always Brando.
Death
On July 1, 2004, Brando died of respiratory failure from pulmonary fibrosis with congestive heart failure at the UCLA Medical Center. The cause of death was initially withheld, with his lawyer citing privacy concerns. He also suffered from diabetes and liver cancer. Shortly before his death and despite needing an oxygen mask to breathe, he recorded his voice to appear in the video game The Godfather, once again as Don Vito Corleone. Brando recorded only one line due to his health and an impersonator was hired to finish his lines. His single recorded line was included within the final game as a tribute to the actor. Some additional lines from his character were directly lifted from the film. Karl Malden—Brando's co-star in three films (A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and One-Eyed Jacks)—spoke in a documentary accompanying the DVD of A Streetcar Named Desire about a phone call he received from Brando shortly before Brando's death. A distressed Brando told Malden he kept falling over. Malden wanted to come over, but Brando put him off, telling him there was no point. Three weeks later, Brando was dead. Shortly before his death, he had apparently refused permission for tubes carrying oxygen to be inserted into his lungs, which, he was told, was the only way to prolong his life.
Brando was cremated and his ashes were put in with those of Wally Cox. They were then scattered partly in Tahiti and partly in Death Valley.
Personal life
Brando was known for his tumultuous personal life, his poor treatment of women, and his large number of partners and children. He was the father of at least 11 children, three of whom were adopted. Brando was openly bisexual. In 1976, he told a French journalist, "Homosexuality is so much in fashion, it no longer makes news. Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences, and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think about me. But if there is someone who is convinced that Jack Nicholson and I are lovers, may they continue to do so. I find it amusing."
During the 1947 production of A Streetcar Named Desire, Brando became enamored with fellow cast member Sandy Campbell, who played the minor role of the young collector. Brando had asked Campbell to have an affair with him and was often seen standing in the wings with Campbell and holding his hand. According to Truman Capote, both Campbell and Brando confessed to having been in a sexual relationship. "I asked Marlon, and he admitted it. He said he went to bed with lots of other men, too, but that he didn't consider himself a homosexual. He said they were all so attracted to him. 'I just thought that I was doing them a favor,' he said." In his 1957 interview with Brando for The New Yorker, Capote claimed to have first encountered Brando at a rehearsal for A Streetcar Named Desire while Brando was sleeping on a table on the stage in an empty auditorium. However, the story was appropriated from Sandy Campbell, as confirmed by Campbell's partner, Donald Windham.
In Songs My Mother Taught Me, Brando wrote that he met Marilyn Monroe at a party where she played piano, unnoticed by anybody else there, that they had an affair and maintained an intermittent relationship until her death in 1962, and that he received a telephone call from her two or three days before she died. He also claimed numerous other romances, although he did not discuss his marriages, his wives or his children in his autobiography.
He met nisei actress and dancer Reiko Sato in the early 1950s. Though their relationship cooled, they remained friends for the rest of Sato's life, with Sato dividing her time between Los Angeles and Tetiʻaroa in her later years.
Brando was smitten with the Mexican actress Katy Jurado after seeing her in High Noon. They met when Brando was filming Viva Zapata! in Mexico. Brando told Joseph L. Mankiewicz that he was attracted to "her enigmatic eyes, black as hell, pointing at you like fiery arrows". Their first date became the beginning of an extended affair that lasted many years and peaked at the time they worked together on One-Eyed Jacks (1961), a film directed by Brando.
Brando met actress Rita Moreno in 1954, and they began a love affair. Moreno later revealed in her memoir that when she became pregnant by Brando, he arranged for an abortion. After the abortion was botched, and Brando fell in love with Tarita Teriipaia, Moreno attempted suicide by overdosing on Brando's sleeping pills. Years after they broke up, Moreno played his love interest in the film The Night of the Following Day. After their relationship, she accused Brando of significant emotional abuse and of throwing chairs in a fit of jealous rage after she revealed she had dated Elvis Presley in the past.
Brando was briefly engaged to the 19-year-old French actress Josanne Mariani, whom he met in 1954. They broke their engagement when Brando discovered that his other girlfriend, Anna Kashfi, was pregnant, and went on to marry Kashfi instead in 1957. Brando and Kashfi had a son, Christian Brando, on May 11, 1958; they divorced in 1959.
In 1960, Brando married Movita Castaneda, a Mexican-American actress; the marriage was annulled in 1968, after it was discovered she was still legally married to her first husband Jack Doyle. Castaneda had appeared in the first Mutiny on the Bounty film in 1935, 27 years before the 1962 remake with Brando as Fletcher Christian. They had two children together: Miko Castaneda Brando (born 1961) and Rebecca Brando (born 1966).
French actress Tarita Teriipaia, who played Brando's love interest in Mutiny on the Bounty, became his third wife on August 10, 1962. She was twenty years old, 18 years younger than Brando, who was reportedly delighted by her naïveté. Because Teriipaia was a native French speaker, Brando became fluent in the language and gave numerous interviews in French. Brando and Teriipaia had two children together: Simon Teihotu Brando (born 1963) and Tarita Cheyenne Brando (1970–1995). Brando also adopted Teriipaia's daughter, Maimiti Brando (born 1977) and niece, Raiatua Brando (born 1982). Brando and Teriipaia divorced in 1972.
After Brando's death, the daughter of actress Cynthia Lynn claimed that Brando had a short-lived affair with her mother, who appeared with Brando in Bedtime Story, and that this affair resulted in her birth in 1964. Throughout the late 1960s and into the early 1980s, he had a tempestuous, long-term relationship with actress Jill Banner.
Brando had a long-term relationship with his housekeeper Maria Cristina Ruiz, with whom he had three children: Ninna Priscilla Brando (born May 13, 1989), Myles Jonathan Brando (born January 16, 1992) and Timothy Gahan Brando (born January 6, 1994). Brando also adopted Petra Brando-Corval (born 1972), the daughter of his assistant Caroline Barrett and novelist James Clavell.
Brando's close friendship with Wally Cox was the subject of rumors. Brando told a journalist: "If Wally had been a woman, I would have married him and we would have lived happily ever after." Writer-editor Beauregard Houston-Montgomery said that while under the influence of marijuana, Brando told him that Cox had been the love of his life. Milagros Tirado "Millie" Beck, Cox's second wife, and Patricia Cox Shapiro, Cox's third wife, dismissed the suggestion that the love was more than platonic. After Cox died in 1973, Brando turned to Cox's widow, Shapiro, and pleaded for permission to scatter Cox's ashes in the hiking spots they had once frequented together, to which she agreed. However, 20 years later, to her dismay, she discovered that Brando had kept the ashes nearby instead of scattering them. Following Brando's death, in accordance with his wishes, his family scattered both men's ashes together in Death Valley, where they had often gone rock hunting.
In 2018, Quincy Jones claimed that Brando had had sexual relationships with James Baldwin, Richard Pryor and Marvin Gaye. Pryor's widow, Jennifer Lee, confirmed Pryor's relationship with Brando, but Pryor's daughter, Rain Pryor, disputed that assertion. In February 2024, actor Billy Dee Williams said Brando had propositioned him, which he rejected, while the two were at Brando's home during a party.
Brando's grandson Tuki Brando (born 1990), son of Cheyenne Brando, is a fashion model. His numerous grandchildren also include Prudence Brando and Shane Brando, children of Miko C. Brando; the children of Rebecca Brando; and the three children of Teihotu Brando among others.
Stephen Blackehart has been reported to be the son of Brando, but Blackehart disputes this claim.
Lifestyle
Brando earned a reputation as a "bad boy" for his public outbursts and antics. According to Los Angeles: "Brando was rock and roll before anybody knew what rock and roll was." His behavior during the filming of Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) seemed to bolster his reputation as a difficult star. He was blamed for a change in director and a runaway budget, though he denied responsibility for both. On June 12, 1973, Brando broke paparazzo Ron Galella's jaw. Galella had followed Brando, who was accompanied by talk show host Dick Cavett, after a taping of The Dick Cavett Show in New York City. He paid a $40,000 out-of-court settlement and suffered an infected hand as a result. Galella wore a football helmet the next time he photographed Brando at a gala benefiting the American Indians Development Association in 1974.
The filming of Mutiny on the Bounty affected Brando's life in a profound way, as he fell in love with Tahiti and its people. He bought a twelve-island atoll, Tetiaroa, and in 1970, hired a Los Angeles architect, Bernard Judge, to build his home and natural village there without despoiling the environment. An environmental laboratory protecting sea birds and turtles was established, and for many years student groups visited. The 1983 hurricane destroyed many of the structures, including his resort. A hotel using Brando's name, The Brando Resort opened in 2014. Brando was an active ham radio operator, with the call signs KE6PZH and FO5GJ (the latter from his island). He was listed in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) records as Martin Brandeaux to preserve his privacy.
In the A&E Biography episode on Brando, biographer Peter Manso comments: "On the one hand, being a celebrity allowed Marlon to take his revenge on the world that had so deeply hurt him, so deeply scarred him. On the other hand he hated it because he knew it was false and ephemeral." In the same program another biographer, David Thomson, says:
Many, many people who worked with him, and came to work with him with the best intentions, went away in despair saying he's a spoiled kid. It has to be done his way or he goes away with some vast story about how he was wronged, he was offended, and I think that fits with the psychological pattern that he was a wronged kid.
Activism
In 1946, Brando performed in Ben Hecht's Zionist play A Flag Is Born. He attended some fundraisers for John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. In August 1963, he participated in the March on Washington along with fellow celebrities Harry Belafonte, James Garner, Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster and Sidney Poitier. Along with Paul Newman, Brando also participated in the Freedom Rides. Brando supported Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 United States presidential election.
In autumn of 1967, Brando visited Helsinki, Finland, at a charity party organized by UNICEF at the Helsinki City Theatre. The gala was televised in thirteen countries. Brando's visit was based on the famine he had seen in Bihar, India, and he presented the film he shot there to the press and invited guests. He spoke in favor of children's rights and development aid in developing countries.
In the aftermath of the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., he announced that he was bowing out of the lead role of a major film, The Arrangement (1969), which was about to begin production, to devote himself to the civil rights movement. "I felt I'd better go find out where it is; what it is to be black in this country; what this rage is all about," Brando said on the late-night ABC-TV talk show Joey Bishop Show. In A&E's Biography episode on Brando, actor and co-star Martin Sheen states: "I'll never forget the night that Reverend King was shot and I turned on the news and Marlon was walking through Harlem with Mayor Lindsay. And there were snipers and there was a lot of unrest and he kept walking and talking through those neighborhoods with Mayor Lindsay. It was one of the most incredible acts of courage I ever saw, and it meant a lot and did a lot."
Brando's participation in the civil rights movement actually began well before King's death. In the early 1960s, he contributed thousands of dollars to both the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.) and to a scholarship fund established for the children of slain Mississippi N.A.A.C.P. leader Medgar Evers. In 1964, Brando was arrested at a "fish-in" held to protest a broken treaty that had promised Native Americans fishing rights in Puget Sound. By this time, Brando was already involved in films that carried messages about human rights: Sayonara, which addressed interracial romance, and The Ugly American, depicting the conduct of U.S. officials abroad and the deleterious effect on the citizens of foreign countries. For a time, he was also donating money to the Black Panther Party and considered himself a friend of founder Bobby Seale. He also gave a eulogy after Bobby Hutton was shot by the police.
Brando was also a supporter of Native American rights and the American Indian Movement. The March 1964 fish-in protest near Tacoma, Washington, where he was arrested while protesting for fishing treaty rights, won him respect from members of the Puyallup tribe, who reportedly dubbed the spot where he was arrested "Brando's Landing." At the 1973 Academy Awards ceremony, Brando refused to accept the Oscar for his career-reviving performance in The Godfather. Sacheen Littlefeather represented him at the ceremony. She appeared in full Apache attire and stated that owing to the "poor treatment of Native Americans in the film industry", Brando would not accept the award. This occurred while the standoff at Wounded Knee was ongoing. The event grabbed the attention of the US and the world media. This was considered a major event and victory for the movement by its supporters and participants.
Outside of his film work, Brando appeared before the California Assembly in support of a fair housing law, and personally joined picket lines in demonstrations protesting discrimination in housing developments in 1963.
He was also an activist against apartheid. In 1964, he favored a boycott of his films in South Africa to prevent them from being shown to a segregated audience. He took part at a 1975 protest rally against American investments in South Africa and for the release of Nelson Mandela. In 1989, Brando also starred in the film A Dry White Season, based upon André Brink's novel of the same name.
Comments on Jews and Hollywood
In an interview in Playboy magazine in January 1979, Brando said: "You've seen every single race besmirched, but you never saw an image of the kike because the Jews were ever so watchful for that—and rightly so. They never allowed it to be shown on screen. The Jews have done so much for the world that, I suppose, you get extra disappointed because they didn't pay attention to that."
Brando made a similar comment on Larry King Live in April 1996, saying:
Hollywood is run by Jews; it is owned by Jews, and they should have a greater sensitivity about the issue of—of people who are suffering. Because they've exploited—we have seen the—we have seen the nigger and greaseball, we've seen the chink, we've seen the slit-eyed dangerous Jap, we have seen the wily Filipino, we've seen everything, but we never saw the kike. Because they knew perfectly well, that that is where you draw the wagons around.
Larry King, who was Jewish, replied: "When you say—when you say something like that, you are playing right in, though, to anti-Semitic people who say the Jews are—" Brando interrupted: "No, no, because I will be the first one who will appraise the Jews honestly and say 'Thank God for the Jews'."
Jay Kanter, Brando's agent, producer, and friend, defended him in Daily Variety: "Marlon has spoken to me for hours about his fondness for the Jewish people, and he is a well-known supporter of Israel"; Kanter himself was Jewish. Similarly, Louie Kemp, in his article for Jewish Journal, wrote: "You might remember him as Don Vito Corleone, Stanley Kowalski or the eerie Col. Walter E. Kurtz in 'Apocalypse Now', but I remember Marlon Brando as a mensch and a personal friend of the Jewish people when they needed it most."
Legacy
Brando was one of the most respected actors of the post-war era. He is listed by the American Film Institute as the fourth greatest male star whose screen debut occurred before or during 1950 (it occurred in 1950). Film critic Pauline Kael called him an "American hero" and the main protagonist of the 1950s that embodied the tragic forces and themes of the time. He earned respect among critics for his memorable performances and charismatic screen presence. He helped popularize 'method acting'. He is regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century. Furthermore, he was one of only six actors named in 1999 by Time magazine in its list of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. In this list, Time also designated Brando as the "Actor of the Century".
Encyclopædia Britannica describes him as "the most celebrated of the method actors, and his slurred, mumbling delivery marked his rejection of classical dramatic training. His true and passionate performances proved him one of the greatest actors of his generation." It also notes the apparent paradox of his talent: "He is regarded as the most influential actor of his generation, yet his open disdain for the acting profession ... often manifested itself in the form of questionable choices and uninspired performances. Nevertheless, he remains a riveting screen presence with a vast emotional range and an endless array of compulsively watchable idiosyncrasies."
Cultural influence
Marlon Brando is a cultural icon with enduring popularity. His rise to national attention in the 1950s had a profound effect on American culture. According to film critic Pauline Kael, "Brando represented a reaction against the post-war mania for security. As a protagonist, the Brando of the early fifties had no code, only his instincts. He was a development from the gangster leader and the outlaw. He was antisocial because he knew society was crap; he was a hero to youth because he was strong enough not to take the crap ... Brando represented a contemporary version of the free American."
Sociologist Suzanne McDonald-Walker states: "Marlon Brando, sporting leather jacket, jeans, and moody glare, became a cultural icon summing up 'the road' in all its maverick glory." His portrayal of the gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One has become an enduring image, used both as a symbol of rebelliousness and a fashion accessory that includes a Perfecto style motorcycle jacket, a tilted cap, jeans and sunglasses. Johnny's haircut inspired a craze for sideburns, followed by James Dean and Elvis Presley, among others. Dean copied Brando's acting style extensively and Presley used Brando's image as a model for his role in Jailhouse Rock. Brando fans at the time held extraordinary resentment towards other actors, including Dean, if anyone came close to copying Brando's style as if another actor was trying to "take away some power from their god." These even extended to jeers and movie theater walkout by his devout following.
The "I coulda been a contender" scene from On the Waterfront, according to the author of Brooklyn Boomer, Martin H. Levinson, is "one of the most famous scenes in motion picture history, and the line itself has become part of America's cultural lexicon." An example of the endurance of Brando's popular "Wild One" image was the 2009 release of replicas of the leather jacket worn by Brando's Johnny Strabler character. The jackets were marketed by Triumph, the manufacturer of the Triumph Thunderbird motorcycles featured in The Wild One, and were officially licensed by Brando's estate.
Brando was also considered a male sex symbol. Linda Williams writes: "Marlon Brando [was] the quintessential American male sex symbol of the late fifties and early sixties". Brando was an early lesbian icon who, along with James Dean, influenced the butch look and self-image in the 1950s and after.
Brando has also been immortalized in music; most notably, he was mentioned in the lyrics of "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" by Bruce Springsteen, in which one of the opening lines read "I could walk like Brando right in to the sun", and in Neil Young's "Pocahontas" as a tribute to his lifetime support of Native Americans and in which Brando is depicted sitting by a fire with Young and Pocahontas. Brando was also mentioned in "Vogue" by Madonna, "Is This What You Wanted" by Leonard Cohen on the album New Skin for the Old Ceremony, "Eyeless" by Slipknot on their self-titled album, and most recently in the song simply titled "Marlon Brando" on the Australian singer Alex Cameron's 2017 album Forced Witness. Bob Dylan's 2020 song "My Own Version of You" references one of his most famous performances in the line: "I'll take the Scarface Pacino and the Godfather Brando / Mix 'em up in a tank and get a robot commando."
Brando is also visible on the cover of the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, among a tableau of celebrities and historical figures.
Brando's films, along with those of James Dean, caused Honda to come forward with its "You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda" ads, to curb the negative association motorcycles had gotten with rebels and outlaws.
Views on acting
In his autobiography Songs My Mother Taught Me, Brando observed:
I've always thought that one benefit of acting is that it gives actors a chance to express feelings that they are normally unable to vent in real life. Intense emotions buried inside you can come smoking out the back of your head, and I suppose in terms of psychodrama this can be helpful. In hindsight, I guess my emotional insecurity as a child—the frustrations of not being allowed to be who I was, of wanting love and not being able to get it, of realizing that I was of no value—may have helped me as an actor, at least in a small way. It probably gave me a certain intensity that most people don't have.
He also confessed that, while having great admiration for the theater, he did not return to it after his initial success primarily because the work left him drained emotionally:
What I remember most about A Streetcar Named Desire was the emotional grind of acting in it six nights and two afternoons. Try to imagine what it was like walking on stage at 8:30 every night having to yell, scream, cry, break dishes, kick the furniture, punch the walls and experience the same intense, wrenching emotions night after night, trying each time to evoke in audiences the same emotions I felt. It was exhausting.
Brando repeatedly credited Stella Adler and her understanding of the Stanislavski acting technique for bringing realism to American cinema, but also added:
This school of acting served the American theater and motion pictures well, but it was restricting. The American theater has never been able to present Shakespeare or classical drama of any kind satisfactorily. We simply do not have the style, the regard for the language or the cultural disposition … You cannot mumble in Shakespeare. You cannot improvise, and you are required to adhere strictly to the text. The English theater has a sense of language that we do not recognize … In the United States the English language has developed almost into a patois.
In the 2015 documentary Listen to Me Marlon, Brando shared his thoughts on playing a death scene, stating, "That's a tough scene to play. You have to make 'em believe that you are dying ... Try to think of the most intimate moment you've ever had in your life."
His favorite actors were Spencer Tracy, John Barrymore, Fredric March, James Cagney, and Paul Muni. He also showed admiration for Sean Penn, Jack Nicholson, Johnny Depp, and Daniel Day-Lewis.
Acting credits and accolades
Among the numerous accolades for his acting work, Brando has won two Academy Awards for Best Actor for his role as a longshoreman in the Elia Kazan directed drama On the Waterfront (1954) and Vito Corleone in the Francis Ford Coppola directed crime film The Godfather (1972). He also won three BAFTA Awards, five Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Over his lengthy career he has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following performances:
24th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
25th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, Viva Zapata! (1952)
26th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, Julius Caesar (1953)
27th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, win, On the Waterfront (1954)
30th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, Sayonara (1957)
45th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, win, The Godfather (1972)
46th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, Last Tango in Paris (1973)
62nd Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role, nomination, A Dry White Season (1989)
See also
List of actors with Academy Award nominations
List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories
List of LGBT Academy Award winners and nominees
List of most valuable celebrity memorabilia
List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees
Marlon Bundo, a pet rabbit named after the actor
Citations
Works cited
Further reading
External links
Official website
Marlon Brando at IMDb
Marlon Brando at the TCM Movie Database
Marlon Brando at Playbill Vault
Marlon Brando at the American Film Institute Catalog
Marlon Brando at the Internet Broadway Database
Vanity Fair: "The King Who Would Be Man" by Budd Schulberg
The New Yorker: "The Duke in His Domain" (Archived July 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine) – Truman Capote's influential 1957 interview.
"Excess after success: Marlon Brando" (Archived January 29, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)
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Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of cinema, Brando received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Cannes Film Festival Award, three British Academy Film Awards, and an Emmy Award. Brando is credited with being one of the first actors to bring the Stanislavski system of acting and method acting to mainstream audiences.
Brando came under the influence of Stella Adler and Stanislavski's system in the 1940s. He began his career on stage, where he was lauded for adeptly interpreting his characters. He made his Broadway debut in the play I Remember Mama (1944) and won Theater World Awards for his roles in the plays Candida and Truckline Cafe, both in 1946. He returned to Broadway as Stanley Kowalski in the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), a role he reprised in the 1951 film adaptation, directed by Elia Kazan.
He made his film debut playing a wounded G.I. in The Men (1950) and won two Academy Awards for Best Actor for his roles as a dockworker in the crime drama film On the Waterfront (1954) and Vito Corleone in the gangster epic The Godfather (1972). He was Oscar-nominated for playing Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata! (1952), Mark Antony in Julius Caesar (1953), an air force pilot in Sayonara (1957), an American expatriate in Last Tango in Paris (1973), and a lawyer in A Dry White Season (1989).
Brando was known for playing characters who later became popular icons, such as the rebellious motorcycle-gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One (1953), and he came to be seen as an emblem of the era's so-called "generation gap", with his portrayal of rebelliousness. He also starred in such films as Guys and Dolls (1955), The Young Lions (1958), The Fugitive Kind (1960), The Chase (1966), Burn! (1969), The Missouri Breaks (1976), Superman (1978), Apocalypse Now (1979), and The Freshman (1990). He made his directorial film debut with, and also starred in, the western drama One-Eyed Jacks (1961), which did poorly at the box office.
On television, Brando won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his role in the ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations (1979), after which he took a nine-year hiatus from acting. He later returned to film, with varying degrees of commercial and critical success. The last two decades of his life were marked by controversy, and his troubled private life received significant public attention. He struggled with mood disorders and legal issues. His last films include The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) and The Score (2001).
Early life and education
Marlon Brando Jr. was born on April 3, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska, as the only son of Marlon Brando Sr. and Dorothy Pennebaker. His father was a salesman who often travelled out-of-state and his mother was a stage actress, often away from home. His mother's absence resulted in Brando's becoming attached to the family's housekeeper, who eventually left to get married, causing Brando to develop abandonment issues. His two elder sisters were Jocelyn and Frances.
Despite some of his most notable film roles, Brando did not have Italian ancestry. Brando's ancestry was mostly German, Dutch, English, and Irish. His patrilineal immigrant ancestor, Johann Wilhelm Brandau, arrived in New York City in the early 1700s from the Palatinate in Germany. He was also a descendant of Louis DuBois, a French Huguenot, who arrived in New York around 1660. His maternal great-grandfather, Myles Joseph Gahan, was an Irish immigrant who served as a medic in the American Civil War. In 1995, he gave an interview in Ireland in which he said, "I have never been so happy in my life. When I got off the plane I had this rush of emotion. I have never felt at home in a place as I do here. I am seriously contemplating Irish citizenship."
In 1930, when Brando was only six years old, the family moved to Evanston, Illinois, where Brando mimicked other people, developed a reputation for pranking, and met Wally Cox, with whom he remained friends until Cox's death in 1973. In 1936, his parents separated and he and his siblings moved with their mother to Santa Ana, California. Two years later, his parents reconciled, and his father purchased a farmhouse in Libertyville, Illinois. Brando attended Libertyville High School, excelling at sports and drama, but failing in every other subject. Consequently, he was held back for a year, and with his history of misbehaving, he was expelled in 1941.
Brando was sent by his father to Shattuck Military Academy, where his father had also studied. There, Brando continued to excel at acting until 1943, when he was put on probation for being insubordinate to an officer during maneuvers. He was confined to the campus, but sneaked into town and was caught. The faculty voted to expel him, although he was supported by the students who thought expulsion was too harsh. Brando was invited back for the following year, but decided instead to drop out of high school. He then worked as a ditch-digger at a summer job arranged by his father and tried to enlist in the Army, but his routine physical revealed that a football injury he had sustained at Shattuck had left him with a trick knee; he was classified physically unfit for military service.
Brando decided to follow his sisters to New York, studying at the American Theatre Wing Professional School, part of the Dramatic Workshop of the New School, with influential German director Erwin Piscator. In a 1988 documentary, Marlon Brando: The Wild One, Brando's sister Jocelyn remembered, "He was in a school play and enjoyed it ... So he decided he would go to New York and study acting because that was the only thing he had enjoyed. That was when he was 18." In the A&E Biography episode on Brando, George Englund said Brando fell into acting in New York because "he was accepted there. He wasn't criticized. It was the first time in his life that he heard good things about himself." He spent his first few months in New York sleeping on friends' couches. For a time he lived with Roy Somlyo, who later became a four-time Emmy-winning Broadway producer.
Brando was an avid student and proponent of Stella Adler, from whom he learned the techniques of the Stanislavski system. This technique encouraged the actor to explore both internal and external aspects to fully realize the character being portrayed. Brando's remarkable insight and sense of realism were evident early on. Adler used to recount that, when teaching Brando, she had instructed the class to act like chickens, and added that a nuclear bomb was about to fall on them. Most of the class clucked and ran around wildly, but Brando sat calmly and pretended to lay an egg. Asked by Adler why he had chosen to react this way, he said, "I'm a chicken—what do I know about bombs?" Despite being commonly regarded as a method actor, Brando disagreed. He claimed to have abhorred Lee Strasberg's teachings:
After I had some success, Lee Strasberg tried to take credit for teaching me how to act. He never taught me anything. He would have claimed credit for the sun and the moon if he believed he could get away with it. He was an ambitious, selfish man who exploited the people who attended the Actors Studio and tried to project himself as an acting oracle and guru. Some people worshipped him, but I never knew why. I sometimes went to the Actors Studio on Saturday mornings because Elia Kazan was teaching, and there were usually a lot of good-looking girls, but Strasberg never taught me acting. Stella (Adler) did—and later Kazan.
Brando was the first to bring a natural approach to acting on film. According to Dustin Hoffman in his online Masterclass, Brando would often talk to cameramen and fellow actors about their weekend even after the director would call action. Once Brando felt he could deliver the dialogue as naturally as that conversation, he would start the dialogue. In his 2015 documentary, Listen to Me Marlon, he said that prior to that, actors were like breakfast cereals, meaning they were predictable. Critics would later say that this was Brando being difficult, but actors who worked opposite him said it was just all part of his technique.
Career
1944–1950: Early career
Brando used his Stanislavski System skills for his first summer stock roles in Sayville, New York, on Long Island. Brando established a pattern of erratic, insubordinate behavior in the few shows he had been in. His behavior had him kicked out of the cast of the New School's production in Sayville, but he was soon afterwards discovered in a locally produced play there. Then, in 1944, he made it to Broadway in the bittersweet drama I Remember Mama, playing the son of Mady Christians. The Lunts wanted Brando to play the role of Alfred Lunt's son in O Mistress Mine, and Lunt even coached him for the audition, but Brando made no attempt to even read his lines at the audition and was not hired. New York Drama Critics voted him "Most Promising Young Actor" for his role as an anguished veteran in Truckline Café, although the play was a commercial failure. In 1946, he appeared on Broadway as the young hero in the political drama A Flag Is Born, refusing to accept wages above the Actors' Equity rate. In that same year, Brando played the role of Marchbanks alongside Katharine Cornell in her production's revival of Candida, one of her signature roles. Cornell also cast him as the Messenger in her production of Jean Anouilh's Antigone that same year. He was also offered the opportunity to portray one of the principal characters in the Broadway premiere of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, but turned the part down after falling asleep while trying to read the massive script and pronouncing the play "ineptly written and poorly constructed".
In 1945, Brando's agent recommended he take a co-starring role in The Eagle Has Two Heads with Tallulah Bankhead, produced by Jack Wilson. Bankhead had turned down the role of Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire, which Williams had written for her, to tour the play for the 1946–1947 season. Bankhead recognized Brando's potential, despite her disdain (which most Broadway veterans shared) for method acting, and agreed to hire him even though he auditioned poorly. The two clashed greatly during the pre-Broadway tour, with Bankhead reminding Brando of his mother, being her age and also having a drinking problem. Wilson was largely tolerant of Brando's behavior, but he reached his limit when Brando mumbled through a dress rehearsal shortly before the November 28, 1946, opening. "I don't care what your grandmother did," Wilson exclaimed, "and that Method stuff, I want to know what you're going to do!" Brando in turn raised his voice, and acted with great power and passion. "It was marvelous," a cast member recalled. "Everybody hugged him and kissed him. He came ambling offstage and said to me, 'They don't think you can act unless you can yell.'"
Critics were not as kind, however. A review of Brando's performance in the opening assessed that Brando was "still building his character, but at present fails to impress." One Boston critic remarked of Brando's prolonged death scene, "Brando looked like a car in midtown Manhattan searching for a parking space." He received better reviews at subsequent tour stops, but what his colleagues recalled was only occasional indications of the talent he would later demonstrate. "There were a few times when he was really magnificent," Bankhead admitted to an interviewer in 1962. "He was a great young actor when he wanted to be, but most of the time I couldn't even hear him on the stage."
Brando displayed his apathy for the production by demonstrating some shocking onstage manners. He "tried everything in the world to ruin it for her," Bankhead's stage manager claimed. "He nearly drove her crazy: scratching his crotch, picking his nose, doing anything." After several weeks on the road, they reached Boston, by which time Bankhead was ready to dismiss him. This proved to be one of the greatest blessings of his career, as it freed him up to play the role of Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams' 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan. Moreover, to that end, Bankhead herself, in her letter declining Williams' invitation to play the role of Blanche, gave Brando this ringing—albeit acid-tongued—endorsement stating "I do have one suggestion for casting. I know of an actor who can appear as this brutish Stanley Kowalski character. I mean, a total pig of a man without sensitivity or grace of any kind. Marlon Brando would be perfect as Stanley. I have just fired the cad from my play, The Eagle Has Two Heads, and I know for a fact that he is looking for work".
Pierpont writes that John Garfield was first choice for the role, but "made impossible demands." It was Kazan's decision to fall back on the far less experienced (and technically too young for the role) Brando. In a letter dated August 29, 1947, Williams confided to his agent Audrey Wood: "It had not occurred to me before what an excellent value would come through casting a very young actor in this part. It humanizes the character of Stanley in that it becomes the brutality and callousness of youth rather than a vicious old man ... A new value came out of Brando's reading which was by far the best reading I have ever heard." Brando based his portrayal of Kowalski on the boxer Rocky Graziano, whom he had studied at a local gymnasium. Graziano did not know who Brando was, but attended the production with tickets provided by the young man. He said, "The curtain went up and on the stage is that son of a bitch from the gym, and he's playing me."
In 1947, Brando performed a screen test for an early Warner Brothers script for the novel Rebel Without a Cause (1944), which bore no relation to the film eventually produced in 1955. The screen test is included as an extra in the 2006 DVD release of A Streetcar Named Desire. Brando's first screen role was a bitter paraplegic veteran in The Men (1950). He spent a month in bed at the Birmingham Army Hospital in Van Nuys to prepare for the role. The New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther wrote that Brando as Ken "is so vividly real, dynamic and sensitive that his illusion is complete" and noted, "Out of stiff and frozen silences he can lash into a passionate rage with the tearful and flailing frenzy of a taut cable suddenly cut."
By Brando's own account, it may have been because of this film that his draft status was changed from 4-F to 1-A. He had had surgery on his trick knee, and it was no longer physically debilitating enough to incur exclusion from the draft. When Brando reported to the induction center, he answered a questionnaire by saying his race was "human", his color was "Seasonal-oyster white to beige", and he told an Army doctor that he was psychoneurotic. When the draft board referred him to a psychiatrist, Brando explained that he had been expelled from military school and had severe problems with authority. Coincidentally, the psychiatrist knew a doctor friend of Brando. Brando avoided military service during the Korean War.
Early in his career, Brando began using cue cards instead of memorizing his lines. Despite the objections of several of the film directors he worked with, Brando felt that this helped bring realism and spontaneity to his performances. He felt otherwise he would appear to be reciting a writer's speech. In the TV documentary The Making of Superman: The Movie, Brando explained: "If you don't know what the words are but you have a general idea of what they are, then you look at the cue card and it gives you the feeling to the viewer, hopefully, that the person is really searching for what he is going to say—that he doesn't know what to say". Some, however, thought Brando used the cards out of laziness or an inability to memorize his lines. Once, on the set of The Godfather, Brando was asked why he wanted his lines printed out. He responded: "Because I can read them that way."
1951–1954: Stardom and On the Waterfront
Brando brought his performance as Stanley Kowalski to the screen in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). It earned him his first Academy Award nomination in the Best Actor category. The role is regarded as one of Brando's greatest.
He was also nominated the next year for Viva Zapata! (1952), a fictionalized account of the life of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. The film recounted Zapata's lower-class upbringing, his rise to power in the early 20th century, and death. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and co-starred Anthony Quinn. In the biopic Marlon Brando: The Wild One, Sam Shaw says: "Secretly, before the picture started, he went to Mexico to the very town where Zapata lived and was born in and it was there that he studied the speech patterns of people, their behavior, movement." Most critics focused on the actor rather than the film, with Time and Newsweek publishing rave reviews.
Years later, in his autobiography, Brando remarked: "Tony Quinn, whom I admired professionally and liked personally, played my brother, but he was extremely cold to me while we shot that picture. During our scenes together, I sensed a bitterness toward me, and if I suggested a drink after work, he either turned me down or else was sullen and said little. Only years later did I learn why." Brando explained that, to create on-screen tension between the two, "Gadg" (Kazan) had told Quinn – who had taken over the role of Stanley Kowalski from Brando on Broadway – that Brando had been unimpressed with his work. After achieving the desired effect, Kazan never told Quinn that he had misled him. It was only many years later, after comparing notes, that Brando and Quinn realized the deception.
Brando's next film, Julius Caesar (1953), received highly favorable reviews. Brando portrayed Mark Antony. While most acknowledged Brando's talent, some critics felt Brando's "mumbling" and other idiosyncrasies betrayed a lack of acting fundamentals and, when his casting was announced, many remained dubious about his prospects for success. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and co-starring British stage actor John Gielgud, Brando delivered an impressive performance, especially during Antony's noted "Friends, Romans, countrymen ..." speech. Gielgud was so impressed that he offered Brando a full season at the Hammersmith Theatre, an offer he declined. In his biography on the actor, Stefan Kanfer writes, "Marlon's autobiography devotes one line to his work on that film: Among all those British professionals, 'for me to walk onto a movie set and play Mark Anthony was asinine'—yet another example of his persistent self-denigration, and wholly incorrect."
Kanfer adds that after a screening of the film, director John Huston commented: "Christ! It was like a furnace door opening—the heat came off the screen. I don't know another actor who could do that." During the filming of Julius Caesar, Brando learned that Elia Kazan had cooperated with congressional investigators, naming a whole string of "subversives" to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). By all accounts, Brando was upset by his mentor's decision, but he worked with him again in On The Waterfront. "None of us is perfect," he later wrote in his memoir, "and I think that Gadg has done injury to others, but mostly to himself."
In 1953, Brando also starred in The Wild One, riding his own Triumph Thunderbird 6T motorcycle. Triumph's importers were ambivalent at the exposure, as the subject matter was rowdy motorcycle gangs taking over a small town. The film was criticized for its perceived gratuitous violence at the time, with Time stating: "The effect of the movie is not to throw light on the public problem, but to shoot adrenaline through the moviegoer's veins." Brando allegedly did not see eye to eye with the Hungarian director László Benedek and did not get on with costar Lee Marvin.
To Brando's expressed puzzlement, the movie inspired teen rebellion and made him a role model to the nascent rock-and-roll generation and future stars such as James Dean and Elvis Presley. After the movie's release, the sales of leather jackets and motorcycles skyrocketed. Reflecting on the movie in his autobiography, Brando concluded that it had not aged very well but said "More than most parts I've played in the movies or onstage, I related to Johnny, and because of this, I believe I played him as more sensitive and sympathetic than the script envisioned. There's a line in the picture where he snarls, 'Nobody tells me what to do.' That's exactly how I've felt all my life."
Later that same year, Brando co-starred with fellow Studio member William Redfield in a summer stock production of George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man.
In 1954, Brando starred in On the Waterfront, a crime drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg; it also starred Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger and, in her film debut, Eva Marie Saint. When initially offered the role, Brando—still stung by Kazan's testimony to HUAC—demurred and the part of Terry Malloy nearly went to Frank Sinatra. According to biographer Stefan Kanfer, the director believed that Sinatra, who grew up in Hoboken (where the film takes place and was shot), would work as Malloy, but eventually producer Sam Spiegel wooed Brando to the part, signing him for $100,000. "Kazan made no protest because, he subsequently confessed, 'I always preferred Brando to anybody.'"
Brando won the Oscar for his role as Irish-American stevedore Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront. His performance, spurred on by his rapport with Eva Marie Saint and Kazan's direction, was praised as a tour de force. For the scene in which Terry laments his failings, saying I coulda been a contender, he convinced Kazan that the scripted scene was unrealistic. Schulberg's script had Brando acting the entire scene with his character being held at gunpoint by his brother Charlie, played by Rod Steiger. Brando insisted on gently pushing away the gun, saying that Terry would never believe that his brother would pull the trigger and doubting that he could continue his speech while fearing a gun on him. Kazan let Brando improvise and later expressed deep admiration for Brando's instinctive understanding, saying:
what was extraordinary about his performance, I feel, is the contrast of the tough-guy front and the extreme delicacy and gentle cast of his behavior. What other actor, when his brother draws a pistol to force him to do something shameful, would put his hand on the gun and push it away with the gentleness of a caress? Who else could read "Oh, Charlie!" in a tone of reproach that is so loving and so melancholy and suggests the terrific depth of pain? … If there is a better performance by a man in the history of film in America, I don't know what it is.
Upon its release, On the Waterfront received glowing reviews from critics and was a commercial success, earning an estimated $4.2 million in rentals at the North American box office in 1954. In his July 29, 1954, review, The New York Times critic A. H. Weiler praised the film, calling it "an uncommonly powerful, exciting, and imaginative use of the screen by gifted professionals." Film critic Roger Ebert lauded the film retrospectively, stating that Brando and Kazan changed acting in American films forever and adding it to his "Great Movies" list. In his autobiography, Brando was typically dismissive of his performance: "On the day Gadg showed me the complete picture, I was so depressed by my performance I got up and left the screening room ... I thought I was a huge failure." After Brando won the Academy Award for Best Actor, the statue was stolen. Much later, it turned up at a London auction house, which contacted the actor and informed him of its whereabouts.
1954–1959: Box office success
Brando was in the film adaptation of the musical Guys and Dolls (1955). Guys and Dolls would be Brando's first and last musical role. Time found the picture "false to the original in its feeling", remarking that Brando "sings in a faraway tenor that sometimes tends to be flat". Appearing in Edward Murrow's Person to Person interview in early 1955, he admitted to having problems with his singing voice, which he called "pretty terrible". In the 1965 documentary Meet Marlon Brando, he revealed that the final product heard in the movie was a result of countless singing takes being cut into one and later joked, "I couldn't hit a note with a baseball bat; some notes I missed by extraordinary margins ... They sewed my words together on one song so tightly that when I mouthed it in front of the camera, I nearly asphyxiated myself". Relations between Brando and costar Frank Sinatra were also frosty, with Stefan Kanfer observing: "The two men were diametrical opposites: Marlon required multiple takes; Frank detested repeating himself." Upon their first meeting Sinatra reportedly scoffed, "Don't give me any of that Actors Studio shit." Brando later quipped, "Frank is the kind of guy, when he dies, he's going to heaven and give God a hard time for making him bald." Frank Sinatra called Brando "the world's most overrated actor", and referred to him as "mumbles". The film was commercially though not critically successful, costing $5.5 million to make and grossing $13 million.
Brando played Sakini, a Japanese interpreter for the U.S. Army in postwar Japan, in The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956). Pauline Kael was not particularly impressed by the movie, but noted "Marlon Brando starved himself to play the pixie interpreter Sakini, and he looks as if he's enjoying the stunt—talking with a mad accent, grinning boyishly, bending forward, and doing tricky movements with his legs. He's harmlessly genial (and he is certainly missed when he's offscreen), though the fey, roguish role doesn't allow him to do what he's great at and it's possible that he's less effective in it than a lesser actor might have been."
In Sayonara (1957), Brando appeared as a United States Air Force officer. Newsweek found the film a "dull tale of the meeting of the twain", but it was nevertheless a box-office success. According to Stefan Kanfer's biography of the actor, Brando's manager Jay Kanter negotiated a profitable contract with ten percent of the gross going to Brando, which put him in the millionaire category. The movie was controversial due to openly discussing interracial marriage, but proved a great success, earning 10 Academy Award nominations, with Brando being nominated for Best Actor. The film went on to win four Academy Awards. Teahouse and Sayonara were the first in a string of films Brando would strive to make over the next decade which contained socially relevant messages, and he formed a partnership with Paramount to establish his own production company called Pennebaker, its declared purpose to develop films that contained "social value that would improve the world." The name was a tribute in honor of his mother, who had died in 1954. By all accounts, Brando was devastated by her death, with biographer Peter Manso telling A&E's Biography, "She was the one who could give him approval like no one else could and, after his mother died, it seems that Marlon stops caring." Brando appointed his father to run Pennebaker. In the same A&E special, George Englund claims that Brando gave his father the job because "it gave Marlon a chance to take shots at him, to demean and diminish him".
In 1958, Brando appeared in The Young Lions, dyeing his hair blonde and assuming a German accent for the role, which he later admitted was not convincing. The film is based on the novel by Irwin Shaw, and Brando's portrayal of the character Christian Diestl was controversial for its time. He later wrote, "The original script closely followed the book, in which Shaw painted all Germans as evil caricatures, especially Christian, whom he portrayed as a symbol of everything that was bad about Nazism; he was mean, nasty, vicious, a cliché of evil ... I thought the story should demonstrate that there are no inherently 'bad' people in the world, but they can easily be misled." Shaw and Brando even appeared together for a televised interview with CBS correspondent David Schoenbrun and, during a bombastic exchange, Shaw charged that, like most actors, Brando was incapable of playing flat-out villainy; Brando responded by stating "Nobody creates a character but an actor. I play the role; now he exists. He is my creation." The Young Lions also features Brando's only appearance in a film with friend and rival Montgomery Clift (although they shared no scenes together). Brando closed out the decade by appearing in The Fugitive Kind (1960) opposite Anna Magnani. The film was based on another play by Tennessee Williams but was hardly the success A Streetcar Named Desire had been, with the Los Angeles Times labeling Williams' personae "psychologically sick or just plain ugly" and The New Yorker calling it a "cornpone melodrama".
1961–1971: Established actor
In 1961, Brando made his directorial debut in the western One-Eyed Jacks. The picture was originally directed by Stanley Kubrick, but he was fired early in the production. Paramount then made Brando the director. Brando portrays the lead character Rio, and Karl Malden plays his partner "Dad" Longworth. The supporting cast features Katy Jurado, Ben Johnson, and Slim Pickens. Brando's penchant for multiple retakes and character exploration as an actor carried over into his directing, however, and the film soon went over budget; Paramount expected the film to take three months to complete but shooting stretched to six and the cost doubled to more than six million dollars. Brando's inexperience as an editor also delayed postproduction and Paramount eventually took control of the film. Brando later wrote, "Paramount said it didn't like my version of the story; I'd had everyone lie except Karl Malden. The studio cut the movie to pieces and made him a liar, too. By then, I was bored with the whole project and walked away from it". One-Eyed Jacks was received with mixed reviews by critics.
Brando's revulsion with the film industry reportedly boiled over on the set of his next film, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's remake of Mutiny on the Bounty, which was filmed in Tahiti. The actor was accused of deliberately sabotaging nearly every aspect of the production. On June 16, 1962, The Saturday Evening Post ran an article by Bill Davidson with the headline "Six million dollars down the drain: the mutiny of Marlon Brando". Mutiny director Lewis Milestone claimed that the executives "deserve what they get when they give a ham actor, a petulant child, complete control over an expensive picture." Mutiny on the Bounty nearly capsized MGM and, while the project had indeed been hampered with delays other than Brando's behavior, the accusations would dog the actor for years as studios began to fear Brando's difficult reputation. Critics also began taking note of his fluctuating weight.
Distracted by his personal life and becoming disillusioned with his career, Brando began to view acting as a means to a financial end. Critics protested when he started accepting roles in films many perceived as being beneath his talent, or criticized him for failing to live up to the better roles. Previously only signing short-term deals with film studios, in 1961 Brando uncharacteristically signed a five-picture deal with Universal Studios that would haunt him for the rest of the decade. The Ugly American (1963) was the first of these films. Based on the 1958 novel of the same title that Pennebaker had optioned, the film, which featured Brando's sister Jocelyn, was rated fairly positively but died at the box office. Brando was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. All of Brando's other Universal films during this period, including Bedtime Story (1964), The Appaloosa (1966), A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) and The Night of the Following Day (1969), were also critical and commercial flops. Countess in particular was a disappointment for Brando, who had looked forward to working with one of his heroes, director Charlie Chaplin. The experience turned out to be an unhappy one; Brando was horrified at Chaplin's didactic style of direction and his authoritarian approach. Brando had also appeared in the spy thriller Morituri in 1965; that, too, failed to attract an audience.
Brando acknowledged his professional decline, writing later, "Some of the films I made during the sixties were successful; some weren't. Some, like The Night of the Following Day, I made only for the money; others, like Candy, I did because a friend asked me to and I didn't want to turn him down ... In some ways I think of my middle age as the Fuck You Years." Candy was especially appalling for many; a 1968 sex farce film directed by Christian Marquand and based on the 1958 novel by Terry Southern, the film satirizes pornographic stories through the adventures of its naive heroine, Candy, played by Ewa Aulin. It is generally regarded as the nadir of Brando's career. The Washington Post observed: "Brando's self-indulgence over a dozen years is costing him and his public his talents." In the March 1966 issue of The Atlantic, Pauline Kael wrote that in his rebellious days, Brando "was antisocial because he knew society was crap; he was a hero to youth because he was strong enough not to take the crap", but now Brando and others like him had become "buffoons, shamelessly, pathetically mocking their public reputations." In an earlier review of The Appaloosa in 1966, Kael wrote that the actor was "trapped in another dog of a movie ... Not for the first time, Mr. Brando gives us a heavy-lidded, adenoidally openmouthed caricature of the inarticulate, stalwart loner." Although he feigned indifference, Brando was hurt by the critical mauling, admitting in the 2015 film Listen to Me Marlon, "They can hit you every day and you have no way of fighting back. I was very convincing in my pose of indifference, but I was very sensitive and it hurt a lot."
Brando portrayed a repressed gay army officer in Reflections in a Golden Eye, directed by John Huston and co-starring Elizabeth Taylor. The role turned out as one of his most acclaimed in years, with Stanley Crouch marveling, "Brando's main achievement was to portray the taciturn but stoic gloom of those pulverized by circumstances." The film overall received mixed reviews. Another notable film was The Chase (1966), which paired the actor with director Arthur Penn, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford and Robert Duvall. The film deals with themes of racism, sexual revolution, small-town corruption, and vigilantism. The film was received mostly positively.
Brando cited Burn! (1969) as his personal favorite of the films he had made, writing in his autobiography: "I think I did some of the best acting I've ever done in that picture, but few people came to see it." Brando dedicated a full chapter to the film in his memoir, stating that the director, Gillo Pontecorvo, was the best director he had ever worked with next to Kazan and Bernardo Bertolucci. Brando also detailed his clashes with Pontecorvo on the set and how "we nearly killed each other." Loosely based on events in the history of Guadeloupe, the film got a hostile reception from critics. In 1971, Michael Winner directed him in the British horror film The Nightcomers with Stephanie Beacham, Thora Hird, Harry Andrews and Anna Palk. It is a prequel to The Turn of the Screw, which had previously been filmed as The Innocents (1961). Brando's performance earned him a nomination for a Best Actor BAFTA, but the film bombed at the box office.
1970–1979: Career resurgence and acclaim
During the 1970s, Brando was considered "unbankable". Critics were becoming increasingly dismissive of his work and he had not appeared in a box office hit since The Young Lions in 1958, the last year he had ranked as one of the Top Ten Box Office Stars and the year of his last Academy Award nomination, for Sayonara. Brando's performance as Vito Corleone, the "Don", in The Godfather (1972), Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Mario Puzo's 1969 bestselling novel of the same name, was a career turning point, putting him back in the Top Ten and winning him his second Best Actor Oscar.
Paramount production chief Robert Evans, who had given Puzo an advance to write The Godfather so that Paramount would own the film rights, hired Coppola after many major directors had turned the film down. Evans wanted an Italian-American director who could provide the film with cultural authenticity. Coppola also came cheap. Evans was conscious of the fact that Paramount's last Mafia film, The Brotherhood (1968) had been a box office bomb, and he believed it was partly due to the fact that the director, Martin Ritt, and the star, Kirk Douglas, were Jewish, and the film lacked an authentic Italian flavor. The studio originally intended the film to be a low-budget production set in contemporary times without any major actors, but the phenomenal success of the novel gave Evans the clout to turn The Godfather into a prestige picture.
Coppola had developed a list of actors for all the roles, and his list of potential Dons included the Oscar-winning Italian-American Ernest Borgnine, the Italian-American Frank de Kova (best known for playing Chief Wild Eagle on the TV sitcom F-Troop), John Marley (a Best Supporting Oscar-nominee for Paramount's 1970 hit film Love Story who was cast as the film producer Jack Woltz in the picture), the Italian-American Richard Conte (who was cast as Don Corleone's deadly rival Don Emilio Barzini), and Italian film producer Carlo Ponti. Coppola admitted in a 1975 interview, "We finally figured we had to lure the best actor in the world. It was that simple. That boiled down to Laurence Olivier or Marlon Brando, who are the greatest actors in the world." Coppola's hand-written cast list has Brando's name underlined.
Evans told Coppola that he had been thinking of Brando for the part two years earlier, and Puzo had imagined Brando in the part when he wrote the novel and had actually written to him about the part, so Coppola and Evans narrowed it down to Brando. (Coincidentally, Olivier would compete with Brando for the Best Actor Oscar for his part in Sleuth. He bested Brando at the 1972 New York Film Critics Circle Awards.) Albert S. Ruddy, whom Paramount assigned to produce the film, agreed with the choice of Brando. However, Paramount studio executives were opposed to casting Brando, due to his reputation for difficulty and his long string of box office flops. Brando also had One-Eyed Jacks working against him, a troubled production that lost money for Paramount when it was released in 1961. Paramount Pictures President Stanley Jaffe told an exasperated Coppola "As long as I'm president of this studio, Marlon Brando will not be in this picture, and I will no longer allow you to discuss it."
Jaffe eventually set three conditions for the casting of Brando: That he would have to take a fee far below what he typically received; he would have to agree to accept financial responsibility for any production delays his behavior cost; and he had to submit to a screen test. Coppola convinced Brando to do a videotaped "make-up" test, in which Brando did his own makeup (he used cotton balls to simulate the character's puffed cheeks). Coppola had feared Brando might be too young to play the Don, but was electrified by the actor's characterization as the head of a crime family. Even so, he had to fight the studio in order to cast the temperamental actor. Brando had doubts himself, stating in his autobiography, "I had never played an Italian before, and I didn't think I could do it successfully." Eventually, Charles Bluhdorn, the president of Paramount parent Gulf+Western, was won over to letting Brando have the role; when he saw the screen test, he asked in amazement, "What are we watching? Who is this old guinea?" Brando was signed for a low fee of $50,000, but in his contract, he was given a percentage of the gross on a sliding scale: 1% of the gross for each $10 million over a $10 million threshold, up to 5% if the picture exceeded $60 million. According to Evans, Brando sold back his points in the picture for $100,000 because he was in dire need of funds. "That $100,000 cost him $11 million," Evans claimed.
Brando was on his best behavior during filming, buoyed by a cast that included rising stars Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Caan, and Diane Keaton. As the most seasoned actor on set, he wielded his influence to support the creatives on the project, serving as the "head of the family" much like his role in the film. In a 1994 interview, Coppola insisted The Godfather was "a very unappreciated movie when we were making it. They were very unhappy with it. They didn't like the cast. They didn't like the way I was shooting it. I was always on the verge of getting fired." When word of this executive interference reached Brando, he threatened to walk off the picture, writing in his memoir: "I strongly believe that directors are entitled to independence and freedom to realize their vision." Similarly, in a 2010 interview, Al Pacino discussed how Brando's support helped him keep the role of Michael Corleone in the movie, despite the fact Coppola wanted to fire him due to pressure from studio executives who were puzzled by Pacino's performance.
Brando's performance was glowingly reviewed by critics. "I thought it would be interesting to play a gangster, maybe for the first time in the movies, who wasn't like those bad guys Edward G. Robinson played, but who is kind of a hero, a man to be respected," Brando recalled in his autobiography. "Also, because he had so much power and unquestioned authority, I thought it would be an interesting contrast to play him as a gentle man, unlike Al Capone, who beat up people with baseball bats." Duvall later marveled to A&E's Biography, "He minimized the sense of beginning. In other words he, like, deemphasized the word action. He would go in front of that camera just like he was before. Cut! It was all the same. There was really no beginning. I learned a lot from watching that." Brando won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, but he declined it, becoming the second actor to refuse a Best Actor award (after George C. Scott for Patton). Brando did not attend the award ceremony; instead, he sent actress Sacheen Littlefeather (who appeared in Plains Indian-style regalia) to decline the Oscar on his behalf. After refusing to touch the statue at the podium, she announced to the crowd that Brando was rejecting the award in protest of "the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry ... and on television and movie reruns and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee." The Wounded Knee Occupation of 1973 was occurring at the time of the ceremony. Brando had written a longer speech for her to read but, as she explained, this was not permitted due to time constraints. In the written speech Brando added that he hoped his declining the Oscar would be seen as "an earnest effort to focus attention on an issue that might very well determine whether or not this country has the right to say from this point forward we believe in the inalienable rights of all people to remain free and independent on lands that have supported their life beyond living memory."
The actor followed The Godfather with Bernardo Bertolucci's 1972 film Last Tango in Paris, playing opposite Maria Schneider, but Brando's highly noted performance threatened to be overshadowed by an uproar over the sexual content of the film. Brando portrays a recent American widower named Paul, who begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young, betrothed Parisian woman named Jeanne. As with previous films, Brando refused to memorize his lines for many scenes; instead, he wrote his lines on cue cards and posted them around the set for easy reference, leaving Bertolucci with the problem of keeping them out of the picture frame. The film features several intense, graphic scenes involving Brando, including Paul anally raping Jeanne using butter as a lubricant, which it was alleged was not consensual. The actress confirmed that no actual sex occurred, but she complained that she was not told what the scene would include until shortly prior to filming.
Bertolucci also shot a scene which showed Brando's genitals, but in 1973 explained, "I had so identified myself with Brando that I cut it out of shame for myself. To show him naked would have been like showing me naked." Schneider declared in an interview that "Marlon said he felt raped and manipulated by it and he was 48. And he was Marlon Brando!". Like Schneider, Brando confirmed that the sex was simulated. Bertolucci said about Brando that he was "a monster as an actor and a darling as a human being". Brando refused to speak to Bertolucci for 15 years after the production was completed. Bertolucci said:
I was thinking that it was like a dialogue where he was really answering my questions in a way. When at the end of the movie, when he saw it, I discovered that he realized what we were doing, that he was delivering so much of his own experience. And he was very upset with me, and I told him, "Listen, you are a grown-up. Older than me. Didn't you realize what you were doing?" And he didn't talk to me for years.
However; "I called him one day in '93, I think, I was in LA and my wife was shooting a movie. First of all, he answered the phone, and he was talking to me like we had seen each other a day earlier. He said, "Come here." I said, "When?" He said, "Now." So I remember driving on Mulholland Drive to his home and thinking I think I won't make it, I think I will crash before [I get there]. I was so emotional." The film also features Paul's angry, emotionally charged final confrontation with the corpse of his dead wife. The controversial movie was a hit however, and Brando made the list of Top Ten Box Office Stars for the last time. His gross participation deal earned him $3 million. The voting membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences again nominated Brando for Best Actor, his seventh nomination. Brando won the 1973 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor.
Pauline Kael, in The New Yorker review, wrote "The movie breakthrough has finally come. Bertolucci and Brando have altered the face of an art form." Brando confessed in his autobiography, "To this day I can't say what Last Tango in Paris was about", and added the film "required me to do a lot of emotional arm wrestling with myself, and when it was finished, I decided that I wasn't ever again going to destroy myself emotionally to make a movie". In 1973, Brando was devastated by the death of his childhood best friend Wally Cox. Brando wrenched his ashes from his widow, who was going to sue for their return, but finally said, "Marlon needed the ashes more than I did."
In 1976, Brando appeared in The Missouri Breaks with his friend Jack Nicholson. The movie also reunited the actor with director Arthur Penn. As biographer Stefan Kanfer describes, Penn had difficulty controlling Brando, who seemed intent on going over the top with his border-ruffian-turned-contract-killer Robert E. Lee Clayton: "Marlon made him a cross-dressing psychopath. Absent for the first hour of the movie, Clayton enters on horseback, dangling upside down, caparisoned in white buckskin, Littlefeather-style. He speaks in an Irish accent for no apparent reason. Over the next hour, also for no apparent reason, Clayton assumes the intonation of a British upper-class twit and an elderly frontier woman, complete with a granny dress and matching bonnet. Penn, who believed in letting actors do their thing, indulged Marlon all the way." Critics were unkind, with The Observer calling Brando's performance "one of the most extravagant displays of grandedamerie since Sarah Bernhardt", while The Sun complained, "Marlon Brando at fifty-two has the sloppy belly of a sixty-two-year-old, the white hair of a seventy-two-year-old, and the lack of discipline of a precocious twelve-year-old." However, Kanfer noted: "Even though his late work was met with disapproval, a re-examination shows that often, in the middle of the most pedestrian scene, there would be a sudden, luminous occurrence, a flash of the old Marlon that showed how capable he remained."
In 1978, Brando narrated the English version of Raoni, a French-Belgian documentary film directed by Jean-Pierre Dutilleux and Luiz Carlos Saldanha that focused on the life of Raoni Metuktire and issues surrounding the survival of the Indigenous tribes in north central Brazil. Brando portrayed Superman's father Jor-El in the 1978 film Superman. He agreed to the role only on assurance that he would be paid a large sum for what amounted to a small part, that he would not have to read the script beforehand, and that his lines would be displayed somewhere off-camera. It was revealed in a documentary contained in the 2001 DVD release of Superman that he was paid $3.7 million for two weeks of work. Brando also filmed scenes for the movie's sequel, Superman II, but after producers refused to pay him the same percentage he received for the first movie, he denied them permission to use the footage. "I asked for my usual percentage," he recollected in his memoir, "but they refused, and so did I." However, after Brando's death, the footage was reincorporated into the 2006 recut of the film, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut and in the 2006 "loose sequel" Superman Returns, in which both used and unused archive footage of him as Jor-El from the first two Superman films was remastered for a scene in the Fortress of Solitude, and Brando's voice-overs were used throughout the film. In 1979, he made a rare television appearance in the miniseries Roots: The Next Generations, portraying George Lincoln Rockwell; he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his performance.
Brando starred as Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam epic Apocalypse Now (1979). He plays a highly decorated U.S. Army Special Forces officer who goes renegade, running his own operation based in Cambodia and is feared by the U.S. military as much as the Vietnamese. Brando was paid $1 million a week for 3 weeks work. The film drew attention for its lengthy and troubled production, as Eleanor Coppola's documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse details: Brando showed up on the set overweight, Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack, and severe weather destroyed several expensive sets. The film's release was also postponed several times while Coppola edited millions of feet of footage. In the documentary, Coppola talks about how astonished he was when an overweight Brando turned up for his scenes and, feeling desperate, decided to portray Kurtz, who appears emaciated in the original story, as a man who had indulged every aspect of himself, with Coppola commentating that "He was already heavy when I hired him and he promised me that he was going to get in shape and I imagined that I would, if he were heavy, I could use that. But he was so fat, he was very, very shy about it ... He was very, very adamant about how he didn't want to portray himself that way." Brando admitted to Coppola that he had not read the book, Heart of Darkness, as the director had asked him to, and the pair spent days exploring the story and the character of Kurtz, much to the actor's financial benefit, according to producer Fred Roos: "The clock was ticking on this deal he had and we had to finish him within three weeks or we'd go into this very expensive overage ... And Francis and Marlon would be talking about the character and whole days would go by. And this is at Marlon's urging—and yet he's getting paid for it."
Upon release, Apocalypse Now earned critical acclaim, as did Brando's performance. His whispering of Kurtz's final words "The horror! The horror!", has become particularly famous. Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, defended the movie's controversial denouement, opining that the ending, "with Brando's fuzzy, brooding monologues and the final violence, feels much more satisfactory than any conventional ending possibly could." Brando received a fee of $2 million plus 10% of the gross theatrical rental and 10% of the TV sale rights, earning him around $9 million.
1980–2001: Later work and final roles
After appearing as oil tycoon Adam Steiffel in 1980's The Formula, which was poorly received critically, Brando announced his retirement from acting. However, he returned in 1989 in A Dry White Season, based on André Brink's 1979 anti-apartheid novel. Brando agreed to do the film for free, but fell out with director Euzhan Palcy over how the film was edited; he even made a rare television appearance in an interview with Connie Chung to voice his disapproval. In his memoir, he maintained that Palcy "had cut the picture so poorly, I thought, that the inherent drama of this conflict was vague at best." Brando received praise for his performance, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and winning the Best Actor Award at the Tokyo Film Festival.
Brando scored enthusiastic reviews for his caricature of his Vito Corleone role as Carmine Sabatini in 1990's The Freshman. In his original review, Roger Ebert wrote, "There have been a lot of movies where stars have repeated the triumphs of their parts—but has any star ever done it more triumphantly than Marlon Brando does in The Freshman?" Variety also praised Brando's performance as Sabatini and noted, "Marlon Brando's sublime comedy performance elevates The Freshman from screwball comedy to a quirky niche in film history." Brando starred alongside his friend Johnny Depp on the box office hit Don Juan DeMarco (1995), in which he also shared credits with singer Selena in her only filming appearance, and in Depp's controversial The Brave (1997), which was never released in the United States.
Later performances, such as his appearance in Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992) (for which he was nominated for a Raspberry as "Worst Supporting Actor"), The Island of Dr. Moreau (in which he won a "Worst Supporting Actor" Raspberry) (1996), and his barely recognizable appearance in Free Money (1998), resulted in some of the worst reviews of his career. The Island of Dr. Moreau screenwriter Ron Hutchinson would later say in his memoir, Clinging to the Iceberg: Writing for a Living on the Stage and in Hollywood (2017), that Brando sabotaged the film's production by feuding and refusing to cooperate with his colleagues and the film crew.
Unlike its immediate predecessors, Brando's last completed film, The Score (2001), was received generally positively. In the film, in which he portrays a fence, he starred with Robert De Niro. After Brando's death, the novel Fan-Tan was released. Brando conceived the novel with director Donald Cammell in 1979, but it was not released until 2005.
Later life
Brando's notoriety, his troubled family life and his obesity attracted more attention than his later acting career. He gained a great deal of weight in the 1970s; by the early-to-mid-1990s, he weighed over 300 pounds (140 kg) and suffered from Type 2 diabetes. He had a history of weight fluctuation throughout his career that, by and large, he attributed to his years of stress-related overeating, followed by compensatory dieting. He also earned a reputation for being difficult on the set, often unwilling or unable to memorize his lines and less interested in taking direction than in confronting the film director with odd demands. He also dabbled with some innovation in his last years. He had several patents issued in his name from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, all of which involve a method of tensioning drumheads, between June 2002 and November 2004 (for example, see U.S. patent 6,812,392). His assistant, Alice Marchak, resigned from her role due to his eccentric and unpredictable behavior. Brando also made sketches and art as hobby.
In 2004, Brando recorded voice tracks for the character Mrs. Sour in the unreleased animated film Big Bug Man. This was his last role and his only role as a female character. A longtime close friend of entertainer Michael Jackson, Brando paid regular visits to his Neverland Ranch, resting there for weeks at a time. Brando also participated in the singer's two-day solo career 30th-anniversary celebration concerts in 2001 and starred in his 13-minute-long music video "You Rock My World", in the same year.
Brando's son Miko was Jackson's bodyguard and assistant for several years and was a friend of the singer. "The last time my father left his house to go anywhere, to spend any kind of time, it was with Michael Jackson", Miko stated. "He loved it ... He had a 24-hour chef, 24-hour security, 24-hour help, 24-hour kitchen, 24-hour maid service. Just carte blanche." "Michael was instrumental helping my father through the last few years of his life. For that I will always be indebted to him. Dad had a hard time breathing in his final days and he was on oxygen much of the time. He loved the outdoors, so Michael would invite him over to Neverland. Dad could name all the trees there and the flowers, but being on oxygen it was hard for him to get around and see them all, it's such a big place. So Michael got Dad a golf cart with a portable oxygen tank so he could go around and enjoy Neverland. They'd just drive around—Michael Jackson, Marlon Brando, with an oxygen tank in a golf cart." In April 2001, Brando was hospitalized with pneumonia. In 2004, Brando signed with film director Ridha Behi and began preproduction on a project to be titled Brando and Brando. Up to a week before his death, he was working on the script in anticipation of a July/August 2004 start date. Production was suspended in July 2004 following Brando's death, at which time Behi stated that he would continue the film as an homage to Brando, with a new title of Citizen Brando, which ultimately became Always Brando.
Death
On July 1, 2004, Brando died of respiratory failure from pulmonary fibrosis with congestive heart failure at the UCLA Medical Center. The cause of death was initially withheld, with his lawyer citing privacy concerns. He also suffered from diabetes and liver cancer. Shortly before his death and despite needing an oxygen mask to breathe, he recorded his voice to appear in the video game The Godfather, once again as Don Vito Corleone. Brando recorded only one line due to his health and an impersonator was hired to finish his lines. His single recorded line was included within the final game as a tribute to the actor. Some additional lines from his character were directly lifted from the film. Karl Malden—Brando's co-star in three films (A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and One-Eyed Jacks)—spoke in a documentary accompanying the DVD of A Streetcar Named Desire about a phone call he received from Brando shortly before Brando's death. A distressed Brando told Malden he kept falling over. Malden wanted to come over, but Brando put him off, telling him there was no point. Three weeks later, Brando was dead. Shortly before his death, he had apparently refused permission for tubes carrying oxygen to be inserted into his lungs, which, he was told, was the only way to prolong his life.
Brando was cremated and his ashes were put in with those of Wally Cox. They were then scattered partly in Tahiti and partly in Death Valley.
Personal life
Brando was known for his tumultuous personal life, his poor treatment of women, and his large number of partners and children. He was the father of at least 11 children, three of whom were adopted. Brando was openly bisexual. In 1976, he told a French journalist, "Homosexuality is so much in fashion, it no longer makes news. Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences, and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think about me. But if there is someone who is convinced that Jack Nicholson and I are lovers, may they continue to do so. I find it amusing."
During the 1947 production of A Streetcar Named Desire, Brando became enamored with fellow cast member Sandy Campbell, who played the minor role of the young collector. Brando had asked Campbell to have an affair with him and was often seen standing in the wings with Campbell and holding his hand. According to Truman Capote, both Campbell and Brando confessed to having been in a sexual relationship. "I asked Marlon, and he admitted it. He said he went to bed with lots of other men, too, but that he didn't consider himself a homosexual. He said they were all so attracted to him. 'I just thought that I was doing them a favor,' he said." In his 1957 interview with Brando for The New Yorker, Capote claimed to have first encountered Brando at a rehearsal for A Streetcar Named Desire while Brando was sleeping on a table on the stage in an empty auditorium. However, the story was appropriated from Sandy Campbell, as confirmed by Campbell's partner, Donald Windham.
In Songs My Mother Taught Me, Brando wrote that he met Marilyn Monroe at a party where she played piano, unnoticed by anybody else there, that they had an affair and maintained an intermittent relationship until her death in 1962, and that he received a telephone call from her two or three days before she died. He also claimed numerous other romances, although he did not discuss his marriages, his wives or his children in his autobiography.
He met nisei actress and dancer Reiko Sato in the early 1950s. Though their relationship cooled, they remained friends for the rest of Sato's life, with Sato dividing her time between Los Angeles and Tetiʻaroa in her later years.
Brando was smitten with the Mexican actress Katy Jurado after seeing her in High Noon. They met when Brando was filming Viva Zapata! in Mexico. Brando told Joseph L. Mankiewicz that he was attracted to "her enigmatic eyes, black as hell, pointing at you like fiery arrows". Their first date became the beginning of an extended affair that lasted many years and peaked at the time they worked together on One-Eyed Jacks (1961), a film directed by Brando.
Brando met actress Rita Moreno in 1954, and they began a love affair. Moreno later revealed in her memoir that when she became pregnant by Brando, he arranged for an abortion. After the abortion was botched, and Brando fell in love with Tarita Teriipaia, Moreno attempted suicide by overdosing on Brando's sleeping pills. Years after they broke up, Moreno played his love interest in the film The Night of the Following Day. After their relationship, she accused Brando of significant emotional abuse and of throwing chairs in a fit of jealous rage after she revealed she had dated Elvis Presley in the past.
Brando was briefly engaged to the 19-year-old French actress Josanne Mariani, whom he met in 1954. They broke their engagement when Brando discovered that his other girlfriend, Anna Kashfi, was pregnant, and went on to marry Kashfi instead in 1957. Brando and Kashfi had a son, Christian Brando, on May 11, 1958; they divorced in 1959.
In 1960, Brando married Movita Castaneda, a Mexican-American actress; the marriage was annulled in 1968, after it was discovered she was still legally married to her first husband Jack Doyle. Castaneda had appeared in the first Mutiny on the Bounty film in 1935, 27 years before the 1962 remake with Brando as Fletcher Christian. They had two children together: Miko Castaneda Brando (born 1961) and Rebecca Brando (born 1966).
French actress Tarita Teriipaia, who played Brando's love interest in Mutiny on the Bounty, became his third wife on August 10, 1962. She was twenty years old, 18 years younger than Brando, who was reportedly delighted by her naïveté. Because Teriipaia was a native French speaker, Brando became fluent in the language and gave numerous interviews in French. Brando and Teriipaia had two children together: Simon Teihotu Brando (born 1963) and Tarita Cheyenne Brando (1970–1995). Brando also adopted Teriipaia's daughter, Maimiti Brando (born 1977) and niece, Raiatua Brando (born 1982). Brando and Teriipaia divorced in 1972.
After Brando's death, the daughter of actress Cynthia Lynn claimed that Brando had a short-lived affair with her mother, who appeared with Brando in Bedtime Story, and that this affair resulted in her birth in 1964. Throughout the late 1960s and into the early 1980s, he had a tempestuous, long-term relationship with actress Jill Banner.
Brando had a long-term relationship with his housekeeper Maria Cristina Ruiz, with whom he had three children: Ninna Priscilla Brando (born May 13, 1989), Myles Jonathan Brando (born January 16, 1992) and Timothy Gahan Brando (born January 6, 1994). Brando also adopted Petra Brando-Corval (born 1972), the daughter of his assistant Caroline Barrett and novelist James Clavell.
Brando's close friendship with Wally Cox was the subject of rumors. Brando told a journalist: "If Wally had been a woman, I would have married him and we would have lived happily ever after." Writer-editor Beauregard Houston-Montgomery said that while under the influence of marijuana, Brando told him that Cox had been the love of his life. Milagros Tirado "Millie" Beck, Cox's second wife, and Patricia Cox Shapiro, Cox's third wife, dismissed the suggestion that the love was more than platonic. After Cox died in 1973, Brando turned to Cox's widow, Shapiro, and pleaded for permission to scatter Cox's ashes in the hiking spots they had once frequented together, to which she agreed. However, 20 years later, to her dismay, she discovered that Brando had kept the ashes nearby instead of scattering them. Following Brando's death, in accordance with his wishes, his family scattered both men's ashes together in Death Valley, where they had often gone rock hunting.
In 2018, Quincy Jones claimed that Brando had had sexual relationships with James Baldwin, Richard Pryor and Marvin Gaye. Pryor's widow, Jennifer Lee, confirmed Pryor's relationship with Brando, but Pryor's daughter, Rain Pryor, disputed that assertion. In February 2024, actor Billy Dee Williams said Brando had propositioned him, which he rejected, while the two were at Brando's home during a party.
Brando's grandson Tuki Brando (born 1990), son of Cheyenne Brando, is a fashion model. His numerous grandchildren also include Prudence Brando and Shane Brando, children of Miko C. Brando; the children of Rebecca Brando; and the three children of Teihotu Brando among others.
Stephen Blackehart has been reported to be the son of Brando, but Blackehart disputes this claim.
Lifestyle
Brando earned a reputation as a "bad boy" for his public outbursts and antics. According to Los Angeles: "Brando was rock and roll before anybody knew what rock and roll was." His behavior during the filming of Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) seemed to bolster his reputation as a difficult star. He was blamed for a change in director and a runaway budget, though he denied responsibility for both. On June 12, 1973, Brando broke paparazzo Ron Galella's jaw. Galella had followed Brando, who was accompanied by talk show host Dick Cavett, after a taping of The Dick Cavett Show in New York City. He paid a $40,000 out-of-court settlement and suffered an infected hand as a result. Galella wore a football helmet the next time he photographed Brando at a gala benefiting the American Indians Development Association in 1974.
The filming of Mutiny on the Bounty affected Brando's life in a profound way, as he fell in love with Tahiti and its people. He bought a twelve-island atoll, Tetiaroa, and in 1970, hired a Los Angeles architect, Bernard Judge, to build his home and natural village there without despoiling the environment. An environmental laboratory protecting sea birds and turtles was established, and for many years student groups visited. The 1983 hurricane destroyed many of the structures, including his resort. A hotel using Brando's name, The Brando Resort opened in 2014. Brando was an active ham radio operator, with the call signs KE6PZH and FO5GJ (the latter from his island). He was listed in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) records as Martin Brandeaux to preserve his privacy.
In the A&E Biography episode on Brando, biographer Peter Manso comments: "On the one hand, being a celebrity allowed Marlon to take his revenge on the world that had so deeply hurt him, so deeply scarred him. On the other hand he hated it because he knew it was false and ephemeral." In the same program another biographer, David Thomson, says:
Many, many people who worked with him, and came to work with him with the best intentions, went away in despair saying he's a spoiled kid. It has to be done his way or he goes away with some vast story about how he was wronged, he was offended, and I think that fits with the psychological pattern that he was a wronged kid.
Activism
In 1946, Brando performed in Ben Hecht's Zionist play A Flag Is Born. He attended some fundraisers for John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. In August 1963, he participated in the March on Washington along with fellow celebrities Harry Belafonte, James Garner, Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster and Sidney Poitier. Along with Paul Newman, Brando also participated in the Freedom Rides. Brando supported Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 United States presidential election.
In autumn of 1967, Brando visited Helsinki, Finland, at a charity party organized by UNICEF at the Helsinki City Theatre. The gala was televised in thirteen countries. Brando's visit was based on the famine he had seen in Bihar, India, and he presented the film he shot there to the press and invited guests. He spoke in favor of children's rights and development aid in developing countries.
In the aftermath of the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., he announced that he was bowing out of the lead role of a major film, The Arrangement (1969), which was about to begin production, to devote himself to the civil rights movement. "I felt I'd better go find out where it is; what it is to be black in this country; what this rage is all about," Brando said on the late-night ABC-TV talk show Joey Bishop Show. In A&E's Biography episode on Brando, actor and co-star Martin Sheen states: "I'll never forget the night that Reverend King was shot and I turned on the news and Marlon was walking through Harlem with Mayor Lindsay. And there were snipers and there was a lot of unrest and he kept walking and talking through those neighborhoods with Mayor Lindsay. It was one of the most incredible acts of courage I ever saw, and it meant a lot and did a lot."
Brando's participation in the civil rights movement actually began well before King's death. In the early 1960s, he contributed thousands of dollars to both the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.) and to a scholarship fund established for the children of slain Mississippi N.A.A.C.P. leader Medgar Evers. In 1964, Brando was arrested at a "fish-in" held to protest a broken treaty that had promised Native Americans fishing rights in Puget Sound. By this time, Brando was already involved in films that carried messages about human rights: Sayonara, which addressed interracial romance, and The Ugly American, depicting the conduct of U.S. officials abroad and the deleterious effect on the citizens of foreign countries. For a time, he was also donating money to the Black Panther Party and considered himself a friend of founder Bobby Seale. He also gave a eulogy after Bobby Hutton was shot by the police.
Brando was also a supporter of Native American rights and the American Indian Movement. The March 1964 fish-in protest near Tacoma, Washington, where he was arrested while protesting for fishing treaty rights, won him respect from members of the Puyallup tribe, who reportedly dubbed the spot where he was arrested "Brando's Landing." At the 1973 Academy Awards ceremony, Brando refused to accept the Oscar for his career-reviving performance in The Godfather. Sacheen Littlefeather represented him at the ceremony. She appeared in full Apache attire and stated that owing to the "poor treatment of Native Americans in the film industry", Brando would not accept the award. This occurred while the standoff at Wounded Knee was ongoing. The event grabbed the attention of the US and the world media. This was considered a major event and victory for the movement by its supporters and participants.
Outside of his film work, Brando appeared before the California Assembly in support of a fair housing law, and personally joined picket lines in demonstrations protesting discrimination in housing developments in 1963.
He was also an activist against apartheid. In 1964, he favored a boycott of his films in South Africa to prevent them from being shown to a segregated audience. He took part at a 1975 protest rally against American investments in South Africa and for the release of Nelson Mandela. In 1989, Brando also starred in the film A Dry White Season, based upon André Brink's novel of the same name.
Comments on Jews and Hollywood
In an interview in Playboy magazine in January 1979, Brando said: "You've seen every single race besmirched, but you never saw an image of the kike because the Jews were ever so watchful for that—and rightly so. They never allowed it to be shown on screen. The Jews have done so much for the world that, I suppose, you get extra disappointed because they didn't pay attention to that."
Brando made a similar comment on Larry King Live in April 1996, saying:
Hollywood is run by Jews; it is owned by Jews, and they should have a greater sensitivity about the issue of—of people who are suffering. Because they've exploited—we have seen the—we have seen the nigger and greaseball, we've seen the chink, we've seen the slit-eyed dangerous Jap, we have seen the wily Filipino, we've seen everything, but we never saw the kike. Because they knew perfectly well, that that is where you draw the wagons around.
Larry King, who was Jewish, replied: "When you say—when you say something like that, you are playing right in, though, to anti-Semitic people who say the Jews are—" Brando interrupted: "No, no, because I will be the first one who will appraise the Jews honestly and say 'Thank God for the Jews'."
Jay Kanter, Brando's agent, producer, and friend, defended him in Daily Variety: "Marlon has spoken to me for hours about his fondness for the Jewish people, and he is a well-known supporter of Israel"; Kanter himself was Jewish. Similarly, Louie Kemp, in his article for Jewish Journal, wrote: "You might remember him as Don Vito Corleone, Stanley Kowalski or the eerie Col. Walter E. Kurtz in 'Apocalypse Now', but I remember Marlon Brando as a mensch and a personal friend of the Jewish people when they needed it most."
Legacy
Brando was one of the most respected actors of the post-war era. He is listed by the American Film Institute as the fourth greatest male star whose screen debut occurred before or during 1950 (it occurred in 1950). Film critic Pauline Kael called him an "American hero" and the main protagonist of the 1950s that embodied the tragic forces and themes of the time. He earned respect among critics for his memorable performances and charismatic screen presence. He helped popularize 'method acting'. He is regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century. Furthermore, he was one of only six actors named in 1999 by Time magazine in its list of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. In this list, Time also designated Brando as the "Actor of the Century".
Encyclopædia Britannica describes him as "the most celebrated of the method actors, and his slurred, mumbling delivery marked his rejection of classical dramatic training. His true and passionate performances proved him one of the greatest actors of his generation." It also notes the apparent paradox of his talent: "He is regarded as the most influential actor of his generation, yet his open disdain for the acting profession ... often manifested itself in the form of questionable choices and uninspired performances. Nevertheless, he remains a riveting screen presence with a vast emotional range and an endless array of compulsively watchable idiosyncrasies."
Cultural influence
Marlon Brando is a cultural icon with enduring popularity. His rise to national attention in the 1950s had a profound effect on American culture. According to film critic Pauline Kael, "Brando represented a reaction against the post-war mania for security. As a protagonist, the Brando of the early fifties had no code, only his instincts. He was a development from the gangster leader and the outlaw. He was antisocial because he knew society was crap; he was a hero to youth because he was strong enough not to take the crap ... Brando represented a contemporary version of the free American."
Sociologist Suzanne McDonald-Walker states: "Marlon Brando, sporting leather jacket, jeans, and moody glare, became a cultural icon summing up 'the road' in all its maverick glory." His portrayal of the gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One has become an enduring image, used both as a symbol of rebelliousness and a fashion accessory that includes a Perfecto style motorcycle jacket, a tilted cap, jeans and sunglasses. Johnny's haircut inspired a craze for sideburns, followed by James Dean and Elvis Presley, among others. Dean copied Brando's acting style extensively and Presley used Brando's image as a model for his role in Jailhouse Rock. Brando fans at the time held extraordinary resentment towards other actors, including Dean, if anyone came close to copying Brando's style as if another actor was trying to "take away some power from their god." These even extended to jeers and movie theater walkout by his devout following.
The "I coulda been a contender" scene from On the Waterfront, according to the author of Brooklyn Boomer, Martin H. Levinson, is "one of the most famous scenes in motion picture history, and the line itself has become part of America's cultural lexicon." An example of the endurance of Brando's popular "Wild One" image was the 2009 release of replicas of the leather jacket worn by Brando's Johnny Strabler character. The jackets were marketed by Triumph, the manufacturer of the Triumph Thunderbird motorcycles featured in The Wild One, and were officially licensed by Brando's estate.
Brando was also considered a male sex symbol. Linda Williams writes: "Marlon Brando [was] the quintessential American male sex symbol of the late fifties and early sixties". Brando was an early lesbian icon who, along with James Dean, influenced the butch look and self-image in the 1950s and after.
Brando has also been immortalized in music; most notably, he was mentioned in the lyrics of "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" by Bruce Springsteen, in which one of the opening lines read "I could walk like Brando right in to the sun", and in Neil Young's "Pocahontas" as a tribute to his lifetime support of Native Americans and in which Brando is depicted sitting by a fire with Young and Pocahontas. Brando was also mentioned in "Vogue" by Madonna, "Is This What You Wanted" by Leonard Cohen on the album New Skin for the Old Ceremony, "Eyeless" by Slipknot on their self-titled album, and most recently in the song simply titled "Marlon Brando" on the Australian singer Alex Cameron's 2017 album Forced Witness. Bob Dylan's 2020 song "My Own Version of You" references one of his most famous performances in the line: "I'll take the Scarface Pacino and the Godfather Brando / Mix 'em up in a tank and get a robot commando."
Brando is also visible on the cover of the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, among a tableau of celebrities and historical figures.
Brando's films, along with those of James Dean, caused Honda to come forward with its "You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda" ads, to curb the negative association motorcycles had gotten with rebels and outlaws.
Views on acting
In his autobiography Songs My Mother Taught Me, Brando observed:
I've always thought that one benefit of acting is that it gives actors a chance to express feelings that they are normally unable to vent in real life. Intense emotions buried inside you can come smoking out the back of your head, and I suppose in terms of psychodrama this can be helpful. In hindsight, I guess my emotional insecurity as a child—the frustrations of not being allowed to be who I was, of wanting love and not being able to get it, of realizing that I was of no value—may have helped me as an actor, at least in a small way. It probably gave me a certain intensity that most people don't have.
He also confessed that, while having great admiration for the theater, he did not return to it after his initial success primarily because the work left him drained emotionally:
What I remember most about A Streetcar Named Desire was the emotional grind of acting in it six nights and two afternoons. Try to imagine what it was like walking on stage at 8:30 every night having to yell, scream, cry, break dishes, kick the furniture, punch the walls and experience the same intense, wrenching emotions night after night, trying each time to evoke in audiences the same emotions I felt. It was exhausting.
Brando repeatedly credited Stella Adler and her understanding of the Stanislavski acting technique for bringing realism to American cinema, but also added:
This school of acting served the American theater and motion pictures well, but it was restricting. The American theater has never been able to present Shakespeare or classical drama of any kind satisfactorily. We simply do not have the style, the regard for the language or the cultural disposition … You cannot mumble in Shakespeare. You cannot improvise, and you are required to adhere strictly to the text. The English theater has a sense of language that we do not recognize … In the United States the English language has developed almost into a patois.
In the 2015 documentary Listen to Me Marlon, Brando shared his thoughts on playing a death scene, stating, "That's a tough scene to play. You have to make 'em believe that you are dying ... Try to think of the most intimate moment you've ever had in your life."
His favorite actors were Spencer Tracy, John Barrymore, Fredric March, James Cagney, and Paul Muni. He also showed admiration for Sean Penn, Jack Nicholson, Johnny Depp, and Daniel Day-Lewis.
Acting credits and accolades
Among the numerous accolades for his acting work, Brando has won two Academy Awards for Best Actor for his role as a longshoreman in the Elia Kazan directed drama On the Waterfront (1954) and Vito Corleone in the Francis Ford Coppola directed crime film The Godfather (1972). He also won three BAFTA Awards, five Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Over his lengthy career he has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following performances:
24th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
25th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, Viva Zapata! (1952)
26th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, Julius Caesar (1953)
27th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, win, On the Waterfront (1954)
30th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, Sayonara (1957)
45th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, win, The Godfather (1972)
46th Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, Last Tango in Paris (1973)
62nd Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role, nomination, A Dry White Season (1989)
See also
List of actors with Academy Award nominations
List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories
List of LGBT Academy Award winners and nominees
List of most valuable celebrity memorabilia
List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees
Marlon Bundo, a pet rabbit named after the actor
Citations
Works cited
Further reading
External links
Official website
Marlon Brando at IMDb
Marlon Brando at the TCM Movie Database
Marlon Brando at Playbill Vault
Marlon Brando at the American Film Institute Catalog
Marlon Brando at the Internet Broadway Database
Vanity Fair: "The King Who Would Be Man" by Budd Schulberg
The New Yorker: "The Duke in His Domain" (Archived July 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine) – Truman Capote's influential 1957 interview.
"Excess after success: Marlon Brando" (Archived January 29, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)
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50 Cent
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Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, he recorded his debut album Power of the Dollar for Columbia Records. During a shooting in May 2000, he was struck by nine bullets, causing its release to be cancelled and Jackson to be dropped from the label. His 2002 mixtape, Guess Who's Back?, was discovered by Detroit rapper Eminem, who signed Jackson to his label Shady Records, an imprint of Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records that same year.
His debut studio album, Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003), was released to critical acclaim and commercial success. Peaking atop the Billboard 200, it spawned the Billboard Hot 100-number one singles "In da Club" and "21 Questions" (featuring Nate Dogg), and received nonuple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). That same year, he launched the record label G-Unit Records, namesake of a hip hop group he formed two years prior; the label's initial signees were its members, fellow East Coast rappers Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. His second album, The Massacre (2005), was met with similar success, yielding his third number-one single, "Candy Shop" (featuring Olivia). He adopted a lighter, further commercially oriented approach for his third and fourth albums, Curtis (2007) and Before I Self Destruct (2009)—both were met with critical and commercial declines—and aimed for a return to his roots with his fifth album, Animal Ambition (2014), which was met with mixed reviews. He has since focused on his career in television and media, having executive-produced and starred in the television series Power (2014–2020), as well as its numerous spin-offs under his company G-Unit Films and Television Inc.
Jackson has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and earned several accolades, including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, thirteen Billboard Music Awards, six World Music Awards, three American Music Awards and four BET Awards. In his acting career, Jackson first starred in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005), which was critically panned. He was also cast in the war film Home of the Brave (2006), and the crime thriller Righteous Kill (2008). Billboard ranked Jackson as 17th on their "50 Greatest Rappers" list in 2023, and named him the sixth top artist of the 2000s decade. Rolling Stone ranked Get Rich or Die Tryin' and "In da Club" in its lists of the "100 Best Albums of the 2000s" and "100 Best Songs of the 2000s" at numbers 37 and 13, respectively.
Early life
Jackson was born in Queens, New York City, and raised in the South Jamaica neighborhood by his mother Sabrina. Sabrina, a drug dealer, raised Jackson until she died in a fire when Jackson was eight years old. Jackson revealed in an interview that his mother was a lesbian. After his mother's death and his father's departure, Jackson was raised by his grandparents.
He began boxing at about age 11, and when he was 14, a neighbor opened a boxing gym for local youth. "When I wasn't killing time in school, I was sparring in the gym or selling crack on the strip," Jackson remembered. He sold crack during primary school. "I was competitive in the ring and hip-hop is competitive too ... I think rappers condition themselves like boxers, so they all kind of feel like they're the champ."
At age 12, Jackson began dealing narcotics when his grandparents thought he was in after-school programs, and brought guns and drug money to school. In the tenth grade, he was caught by metal detectors at Andrew Jackson High School: "I was embarrassed that I got arrested like that ... After I got arrested I stopped hiding it. I was telling my grandmother [openly], 'I sell drugs.'"
On June 29, 1994, Jackson was arrested for selling four vials of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He was arrested again three weeks later, when police searched his home and found heroin, ten ounces of crack cocaine, and a starting pistol. Although Jackson was sentenced to three to nine years in prison, he served six months in a boot camp and earned his GED. He has said that he did not use cocaine himself. Jackson adopted the nickname "50 Cent" as a metaphor for change. The name was inspired by Kelvin Martin, a 1980s Brooklyn robber known as "50 Cent"; Jackson chose it "because it says everything I want it to say. I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself by any means."
Career
1996–2002: Rise to fame, shooting, and early mixtapes
Jackson began rapping in a friend's basement, where he used turntables to record over instrumentals. In 1996, a friend introduced him to Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC, who was establishing Jam Master Jay Records. Jay taught him how to count bars, write choruses, structure songs, and make records. In 1997, A&R of Def Jam Irv Gotti turned down demo tapes from Jackson after Jam Master Jay had shown the songs for a potential record deal with the reason for decline being a style too similar to Jay-Z. Jackson's first appearance was on "React" with Onyx, for their 1998 album Shut 'Em Down, which Gotti was the A&R for. He credited Jam Master Jay for improving his ability to write hooks, and Jay produced Jackson's first (unreleased) album. In 1999, after Jackson left Jam Master Jay, the platinum-selling producers Trackmasters signed him to Columbia Records. They sent him to an upstate New York studio, where he produced 36 songs in two weeks; 18 were included on his 2000 album, Power of the Dollar. Jackson founded Hollow Point Entertainment with former G-Unit member Bang 'Em Smurf.
Jackson's popularity began to grow after the successful, controversial underground single "How to Rob", which he wrote in a half-hour car ride to a studio. The track comically describes how he would rob famous artists. Jackson explained the song's rationale: "There's a hundred artists on that label, you gotta separate yourself from that group and make yourself relevant." Rappers Jay-Z, Kurupt, Sticky Fingaz, Big Pun, Wyclef Jean, and the Wu-Tang Clan responded to the track, and Nas invited Jackson to join him on his Nastradamus tour. Although "How to Rob" was intended to be released with "Thug Love" (with Destiny's Child), two days before he was scheduled to film the "Thug Love" music video, Jackson was shot and hospitalized.
On May 24, 2000, Jackson was attacked by a gunman outside his grandmother's former home in South Jamaica. After getting into a friend's car, he was asked to return to the house to get some jewelry; his son was in the house, and his grandmother was in the front yard. Jackson returned to the back seat of the car, and another car pulled up nearby; an assailant walked up and fired nine shots at close range with a 9mm handgun. Jackson was shot in the hand, arm, hip, both legs, chest, and left cheek. His facial wound resulted in a swollen tongue, the loss of a wisdom tooth and a slightly slurred voice; his friend was wounded in the hand. They were driven to a hospital, where Jackson spent 13 days. The alleged attacker, Darryl "Homicide" Baum, Mike Tyson's close friend and bodyguard, was killed three weeks later.
Jackson recalled the shooting: "It happens so fast that you don't even get a chance to shoot back .... I was scared the whole time ... I was looking in the rear-view mirror like, 'Oh shit, somebody shot me in the face! It burns, burns, burns.'" In his autobiography, From Pieces to Weight: Once upon a Time in Southside Queens, he wrote: "After I got shot nine times at close range and didn't die, I started to think that I must have a purpose in life ... How much more damage could that shell have done? Give me an inch in this direction or that one, and I'm gone." Jackson used a walker for six weeks and fully recovered after five months. When he left the hospital, he stayed in the Poconos with his girlfriend and son, and his workout regime helped him develop a muscular physique.
In the hospital, Jackson signed a publishing deal with Columbia Records before he was dropped from the label and blacklisted by the recording industry because of his song, "Ghetto Qu'ran". Unable to work in a U.S. studio, he went to Canada. With business partner Sha Money XL, Jackson recorded over thirty songs for mixtapes to build a reputation. In a HitQuarters interview, Marc Labelle of Shady Records A&R said that Jackson used the mixtape circuit to his advantage: "He took all the hottest beats from every artist and flipped them with better hooks. They then got into all the markets on the mixtapes and all the mixtape DJs were messing with them." Jackson's popularity increased, and in 2002 he released the mixtape Guess Who's Back?. He then released 50 Cent Is the Future backed by G-Unit, a mixtape revisiting material by Jay-Z and Raphael Saadiq.
2002–2007: Mainstream breakthrough, Get Rich or Die Tryin, and The Massacre
In 2002, Eminem heard Jackson's Guess Who's Back? album, received from Jackson's attorney (who was working with Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg). Impressed, Eminem invited Jackson to fly to Los Angeles and introduced him to Dr. Dre. After signing a $1 million record deal, Jackson released No Mercy, No Fear. The mixtape featured one new track, "Wanksta", which appeared on Eminem's 8 Mile soundtrack. Jackson was also signed by Violator Management and Sha Money XL's Money Management Group.
50 Cent released his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin' (described by AllMusic as "probably the most hyped debut album by a rap artist in about a decade"), in February 2003. Rolling Stone noted its "dark synth grooves, buzzy keyboards and a persistently funky bounce", with Jackson complementing the production in "an unflappable, laid-back flow". It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 872,000 copies in its first four days. The lead single, "In da Club" (noted by The Source for its "blaring horns, funky organs, guitar riffs and sparse hand claps"), set a Billboard record as the most listened-to song in radio history within a week.
Interscope began funding and distributing for Jackson's label, G-Unit Records, in 2003. He signed Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and Young Buck as members of G-Unit, and The Game was later signed in a joint venture with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. G-Unit Records replaced Jackson's previous imprint, Rotten Apple Entertainment. 50 Cent executive produced Lloyd Banks's June 2004 debut studio album, The Hunger for More, which achieved Platinum status in America. 50 Cent also contributed vocals to Lloyd Banks's hit single, "On Fire". In March 2005, 50 Cent's second commercial album, The Massacre, sold 1.14 million copies in its first four days (the highest in an abbreviated sales cycle) and was number one on the Billboard 200 for six weeks. He was the first solo artist with three singles in the Billboard top five in the same week with "Candy Shop", "Disco Inferno" and "How We Do". According to Rolling Stone, "50's secret weapon is his singing voice - the deceptively amateur-sounding tenor croon that he deploys on almost every chorus". 50 Cent's video game, 50 Cent: Bulletproof was released in November 2005. 50 Cent portrays himself and provides his likeness and voice in the video game, with the video game also featuring music from his first two studio albums.
After The Game's departure Jackson signed Olivia and rap veterans Mobb Deep to G-Unit Records, with Spider Loc, M.O.P., 40 Glocc and Young Hot Rod later joining the label, who all eventually departed the label. Jackson expressed an interest in working with rappers other than G-Unit, such as Lil' Scrappy of BME, LL Cool J of Def Jam, Mase of Bad Boy and Freeway of Roc-A-Fella, and recorded with several.
2007–2010: Curtis, sales battle with Kanye West, and Before I Self Destruct
In September 2007, 50 Cent released his third album, Curtis, which was inspired by his life before Get Rich or Die Tryin'. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 691,000 copies during its first week. It sold behind Kanye West's Graduation, released the same day; the outcome of this highly publicized sales battle between Jackson and West has been accredited to the commercial decline of the gangsta rap and "bling era" style that previously dominated mainstream hip-hop.
In 2008, 50 Cent co-signed the underground rap group Bang Bang Boogie, which consisted of Mysonne, Cuban Link, Lord Tariq, Hocus 45th and S-One, giving them his stamp of approval. The group released the mixtapes The Machine, Vol. 1 and X-Files: No Mercy For The Weak in that same year before disbanding shortly due to Hocus and S-One being falsely incarcerated for gang-related crimes. The group was known for representing The Bronx and for their beef with Fat Joe as they dissed him on songs such as "High Blood Pressure" and "Bang Out".
On September 10, 2008, episode of Total Request Live, Jackson said his fourth studio album, Before I Self Destruct, would be "done and released in November". He released "Ok, You're Right", produced by Dr. Dre for Before I Self Destruct, on May 18, 2009, and was scheduled to appear in a fall 2009 episode of VH1's Behind the Music. On September 3, 2009, Jackson posted a video for the Soundkillers' Phoenix- produced track, "Flight 187", introducing his mixtape and book (The 50th Law). The song, with lyrics inspiring speculation about tension between Jackson and Jay-Z, was a bonus track on the iTunes version of Before I Self Destruct. Before I Self Destruct was released on November 9, 2009, and debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200, giving 50 Cent his fourth consecutive top 5 album in the U.S.
2010–2015: New musical directions, new business ventures, and Animal Ambition
In a Contactmusic.com interview, Jackson said he was working on a Eurodance album, Black Magic, inspired by European nightclubs: "First they played hip-hop which suddenly changed to uptempo songs, known as Eurodance". He later said he had changed his next album to The Return of the Heartless Monster after writing different material when he returned home from the Invitation Tour in 2010, shelving Black Magic. On September 3, Jackson supported Eminem on his and Jay-Z's The Home & Home Tour, performing "Crack A Bottle" with Eminem and Dr. Dre amid rumors of tension between Jackson and Dre.
He "recorded 20 songs to a whole different album concept" before putting them aside, wanting his new album to have the "aggression" of Get Rich or Die Tryin'. Jackson tweeted that the album was "80 percent done" and fans could expect it in the summer of 2011. It was ultimately delayed a year due to disagreements with Interscope Records, with Jackson saying that he would release it in November 2011 with a different title than Black Magic. Eminem would appear on the album, and Jackson said he was working with new producers such as Boi-1da and Alex da Kid. Cardiak, who produced Lloyd Banks' "Start It Up", confirmed that he produced a song for the upcoming album.
Jackson released a song, "Outlaw", from his fifth album on the Internet on June 16, 2011. The single, produced by Cardiak, was released on iTunes on July 19 (although Jackson tweeted that it was not the album's first single). The rapper planned to write a semi-autobiographical young-adult novel about bullying, different from his previous books which focused on his life and the rules of power. According to the book's publisher, the first-person novel (about a 13-year-old schoolyard bully "who finds redemption as he faces what he's done") was scheduled for publication in January 2012.
In a series of tweets, Jackson said that the delay of his fifth album was due to disagreements with Interscope Records, later suggesting that it would be released in November 2011 with his headphone line (SMS by 50). He speculated to MTV News about not renewing his five-album contract with Interscope: "I don't know ... It will all be clear in the negotiations following me turning this actual album in. And, of course, the performance and how they actually treat the work will determine whether you still want to stay in that position or not."
On June 20, 2011, Jackson announced the release of Before I Self Destruct II after his fifth album. Although he planned to shoot a music video for the fifth album's lead single, "I'm On It", on June 26 the video was never filmed. Jackson told Shade45, "I did four songs in Detroit with Eminem. I did two with Just Blaze, a Boi-1da joint, and I did something with Alex da Kid. We made two that are definite singles and the other two are the kinds of records that we been making, more aimed at my core audience, more aggressive, more of a different kind of energy to it." He released "Street King Energy Track #7" in September 2011 to promote Street King, his charity-based energy drink. An announcement that Jackson was shooting a music video for "Girls Go Wild", the fifth-album lead single featuring Jeremih, was made on September 28, 2011.
Jackson's fifth album, Street King Immortal, was initially scheduled for a summer 2012 release and postponed until November 13. Disagreements with Interscope Records about its release and promotion led to its temporary cancellation. Its first promo single, "New Day" with Dr. Dre and Alicia Keys, was released on July 27. The song was produced by Dr. Dre, mixed by Eminem and written by 50 Cent, Alicia Keys, Royce da 5'9" and Dr. Dre. A solo version by Keys was leaked by her husband, Swizz Beatz. "My Life", the album's second promo single (with Eminem and Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine), was released on November 26, 2012.
In January 2014, Jackson said he planned to release Animal Ambition in the first quarter of the year, followed by Street King Immortal. On February 20, he left Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment, and Interscope, signing with Caroline and Capitol Music Group. According to Jackson, although he owed Interscope another album, he was released from his contract because of his friendship with Eminem and Dr. Dre: "I'm a special case and situation. It's also because of the leverage of having the strong relationships with Eminem and Dr. Dre. They don't want me to be uncomfortable. They value our friendship to the point that they would never want [to jeopardize] it over that little bit of money."
That day, he announced that Animal Ambition would be released on June 3 and released its first track. The song, "Funeral", was released with a video on Forbes.com. Produced by Jake One, it is a continuation of "50 Bars" from a previous album; two more tracks were scheduled for release on March 18. At South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, Jackson performed "Hold On" from the new album. That song and "Don't Worry 'Bout It" were released with accompanying videos on March 18. According to Jackson, prosperity would be a theme of the album: "This project, I had to search for a concept, a really good concept, in my perspective, and that was prosperity. I outlined all the things that would be a part of prosperity, positive and negative [for Animal Ambition]."
Animal Ambition debuted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200, giving 50 Cent his fifth consecutive top five album in the country, while also debuting at number one on Billboard's Independent Albums chart.
2015–2021: Street King Immortal, bankruptcy, and departure from Interscope
On May 14, 2015, Jackson revealed in an interview that the first single from Street King Immortal, would be previewed Memorial Day weekend and would likely be released in June. Jackson released "Get Low" on May 20, 2015, as the intended first single from his sixth studio album, Street King Immortal. The song, produced by Remo the Hitmaker, features vocals from fellow American rappers 2 Chainz and T.I., as well as American singer Jeremih. He announced bankruptcy on July 13, 2015.
On March 31, 2017, Interscope Records released 50 Cent's final album for the label, a greatest hits album titled Best Of.
In 2020, Jackson stepped in as executive producer for late rapper Pop Smoke's debut album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, having been one of the rapper's biggest inspirations. The album was released on July 3, 2020, to nationwide commercial acclaim. Jackson curated the album, desiring to finish it after Pop had died. He contacted many of the artists involved, and also features on one of the album tracks, "The Woo". The Woo also features vocals from fellow American rapper Roddy Ricch.
In 2020, it was reported that Jackson was producing two television series for Starz, an anthology about hip hop and a biographical drama about sports agent Nicole Lynn.
In 2021, he became one of the headliners of the music festival Golden Sand in Riviera Maya.
In a July 2021 interview with The Independent, 50 Cent confirmed that he had officially decided to shelve his Street King Immortal album after it spent a decade in development hell. He even confirmed that he planned to release a completely new project.
2021–present: Focusing on acting and media production, Super Bowl LVI halftime show performance
In May 2021, Curtis Jackson moved to Houston. This was thought to be for lower taxes, no income tax, and for the rapper scene, as well as other ventures such as writing new screenplays. Also, Jackson, Horizon United Group, and Houston Independent School District began a partnership on a project that would help high school students learn the business skills that define successful entrepreneurship.
While living in Houston, Curtis Jackson was in the process of writing screenplays for new crime shows.
In August 2021, he was confirmed to be starring in the upcoming Expend4bles film; it was released on September 22, 2023. The film was a critical and commercial failure, grossing $51 million against a $100 million production budget.
In September 2021, Starz began airing BMF, a biographical series based on true events, depicting two brothers in Detroit (Demetrius "Big Meech" and Terry "Southwest T" Flenory, co-founders of the Black Mafia Family) who ran a drug trafficking and money laundering operation from the mid-1980s until 2005. Jackson is the executive producer of the show. He also performed the show's theme song, "Wish Me Luck", alongside Charlie Wilson, Moneybagg Yo and Snoop Dogg.
On February 13, 2022, 50 Cent was a surprise performer in the Super Bowl LVI halftime show, receiving a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) in September for the performance.
From December 2024 to January 2025, Jackson embarked on his Las Vegas residency, 50 Cent: In da Club, which was announced the prior October. He also announced plans to executive-produce a documentary for Netflix, which would center on the sexual misconduct allegations against hip-hop entrepreneur Sean Combs. It is yet to be released. In January 2025, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera was released as a sequel to the 2018 film. Jackson, who previously starred in the 2018 predecessor, executively produced the sequel alongside former co-star O'Shea Jackson Jr., who reprised his role.
Artistry
Jackson cites Boogie Down Productions, Big Daddy Kane, The Juice Crew, EPMD and KRS-One as his rapping influences, while citing LL Cool J as an inspiration behind his writing of "21 Questions". Jackson also states that he drew influences from Nas, Rakim and The Notorious B.I.G. while working on Animal Ambition.
Business ventures
Jackson has had a highly successful business career. He is financially invested in a highly diversified variety of industries. Jackson is now involved in artist and talent management, record, television, and film production, footwear, apparel, fragrances, liquor, video games, mobile apps, book publishing, headphones, along with health drinks and dietary supplements. His broad business and investment portfolio contains investments in a variety of sectors including real estate, financial market investments, mining, boxing promotion, vodka, fragrances, consumer electronics and fashion.
He established his own record label G-Unit Records in 2003 following his mainstream success. In November 2003, he signed a five-year deal with Reebok to distribute a G-Unit Sneakers line for his G-Unit Clothing Company. In an interview, Jackson said his businesses had a habit of doing well as he saw all of his ventures both past and present as revolving around his alter ego.
Jackson has also started a book publishing imprint, G-Unit Books on January 4, 2007, at the Time Warner Building in New York. He has written a number of books including a memoir, From Pieces To Weight in 2005 where it sold 73,000 copies in hardcover and 14,000 copies in paperback; a crime novel and a book with Robert Greene titled The 50th Law, an urban take on The 48 Laws of Power. In November 2011, Jackson released 50 Cent's Playground, a young adult fiction novel about a bullied, violent boy and his gay mother.
One of Jackson's first business ventures was a partnership with Glacéau to create an enhanced water drink called Formula 50. In October 2004, Jackson became a beverage investor when he was given a minority share in the company in exchange for becoming a spokesperson after learning that he was a fan of the beverage. The health conscious Jackson noted that he first learned of the product while at a gym in Los Angeles, and stated that "they do such a good job making water taste good". After becoming a minority shareholder and celebrity spokesperson, Jackson worked with the company to create a new grape flavored "Formula 50" variant of VitaminWater and mentioned the drinks in various songs and interviews. In 2007, Coca-Cola purchased Glacéau for $4.1 billion and, according to Forbes, Jackson, who was a minority shareholder, earned $100 million from the deal after taxes.
Though he no longer has an equity stake in the company, Jackson continues to act as a spokesperson for VitaminWater, supporting the product including singing about it at the BET Awards and expressing his excitement over the company's continuing to allow his input on products.
He joined Right Guard to introduce a body spray (Pure 50 RGX) and endorsed Magic Stick condoms, planning to donate part of their proceeds to increasing HIV awareness. Jackson signed a multi-year deal with Steiner Sports to sell his memorabilia, and announced plans for a dietary-supplement company in conjunction with his film Spectacular Regret in August 2007.
Jackson has founded two film production companies: G-Unit Films in 2003 and Cheetah Vision in 2008. Cheetah Vision produces low budget action thrillers for foreign film markets across the world. When G-Unit Films folded, he focused on Cheetah Vision and the company obtained $200 million in funding in 2010. In 2010, Jackson revived G-Unit Films, renaming the company to G-Unit Film and Television, Inc. The company had joint ventures with Will Packer's production company, Will Packer Productions, and Universal Television. In over 18 months, Jackson sold projects to six different television networks. Among them was the Courtney A. Kemp-created Power, a crime drama in which he not only co-stars as Kanan Stark, but also serves as an executive producer. Power debuted on Starz on June 7, 2014, and ended on February 9, 2020, after six seasons. He signed a two-year contract with representation from the Agency for the Performing Arts. Ratings have been a success for Starz, with the second-season premiere being the highest with 1.43 million viewers. Jackson is also the executive producer of three of the series' spin-offs, Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book III: Raising Kanan and Power Book IV: Force. Offices for G-Unit Film and Television (also known as G-Unit Studios) are headquartered in Shreveport, Louisiana as part of a 45-year lease agreement with the state.
In 2002, Jackson filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to register the term "50 Cent" as a trademark for clothing, sound recordings, and live performances. The application was published in 2003, and registration issued in 2004. He has since filed for additional trademark registrations.
In July 2011, Jackson launched a philanthropic initiative to provide food for one billion starving people in Africa by 2016, joining Pure Growth Partners to introduce Street King. A portion of the proceeds from each Street King purchase would be used to provide a daily meal to an underprivileged child. The partnership coincides with Jackson's goal to feed a billion people in Africa during the next five years. "50 Cent and I share a common vision: to address the world's problems through smart and sustainable business models," said Chris Clarke, founder and CEO of Pure Growth Partners. "With the rampant starvation in Africa and hunger afflicting children worldwide, we need socially responsible businesses that affect real change now more than ever." Jackson said, "I'm inspired by Clarke's vision and innovative approaches to tackling serious issues. It's our mission with Street King to really change children's lives around the world." In 2011, he founded SMS Audio, a consumer-electronics company selling Street by 50 headphones, pledging to donate a portion of their sales to charity. In April 2015, SMS announced new co-branding deals with Reebok and Marvel. It added those to existing partnerships with Walt Disney Parks, Lucasfilm's Star Wars, and Intel.
In 2014, Jackson became a minority shareholder in Effen Vodka, a brand of vodka produced in the Netherlands, when he invested undisclosed amount in the company, Sire Spirits, LLC. He endorsed the product via his live concert performances and social media. The rapper was asked to take part in two promotional bottle signings, one in Oak Creek and another in Sun Prairie. Jackson made an appearance at Liquor Warehouse in Syracuse, New York on April 25, 2015, where he reportedly sold 1,400 bottles (277 gallons) of Jackson's signature liquor brand. Liquor Warehouse's owner, George Angeloro, reportedly stocked 300 cases (1,800 bottles or 357 gallons) of Effen Vodka, which sells for $30 a bottle, prior to the event.
In December 2014, Jackson signed a $78 million deal with FRIGO Revolution Wear, a luxury underwear brand. The joint venture is partnered between Jackson, basketball player Carmelo Anthony, baseball player Derek Jeter and Mathias Ingvarsson, the former president of mattress company Tempur-Pedic. Jackson became the chief fashion designer for the brands single pair of Frigo boxers. In April 2015, Jackson mulled investing in Jamaica, exploring foreign investment opportunities on the island when he met with some local officials and had ongoing discussions on investment opportunities in the Montego Bay resort area.
Investments
Over the years, Jackson invested his earnings from music and celebrity endorsements in an array of privately controlled companies, real estate, and stocks and bonds. A portion of his investments lost value during the 2008 financial crisis. In December 2008, he told the Canadian press that he had been affected by the recession, losing several million dollars in the stock market. Unable to sell his Connecticut mansion, Jackson postponed Before I Self-Destruct due to the severity of the economic downturn.
His Farmington mansion located on 50 Poplar Hill Drive that he tried to sell for years filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut in 2015 listed an asking price for that property in 2012 at $10 million but was valued at $8.3 million in 2015. He first tried to sell the house in 2007 for $18.5 million, and dropped the price several times in the next five years, when it was on and off the market.
In January 2011, Jackson reportedly made $10 million after using Twitter to promote a marketing company which he was part shareholder of. His endorsements company G Unit Brands Inc. revealed through a public SEC filing controls 12.9 per cent of H&H Imports, which is a parent company of TV Goods – the firm responsible for marketing his range of headphones, Sleek by 50 Cent. Jackson bought stock in the company on November 30, 2010, a week after it offered buyers 180 million shares at 17 cents each. Jackson later made a stock recommendation on Twitter, causing its share value to rise from four cents to nearly 50 cents each, closing on Monday at 39 cents. Jackson was later investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for breaching securities laws following his tweet which may have constituted allegations of insider trading via his pump and dump stock investment strategy.
In 2013, Jackson became a minority investor in Hang w/, a live video broadcasting mobile app used by dozens of celebrities to broadcast their daily activities and chat with fans. The app was downloaded more than 1 million times since its launch in March 2013 and had more than 1 million users as of February 2015. Other minority celebrity investors include former NFL player Terrell Owens and record producer Timbaland.
Mining and heavy metals
In 2008, Jackson visited a platinum, palladium and iridium mine shaft in South Africa, and met with South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe in talks of purchasing an equity stake in the mine. After his meeting with Motsepe, Jackson considered purchasing equity in the mine and launching his own line of 50 Cent branded platinum.
Boxing promotion
On July 21, 2012, Jackson became a licensed boxing promoter when he formed his new company, TMT (The Money Team). Licensed to promote in New York, he was in the process of being licensed in Nevada (where most major fights are held in the U.S.). A former amateur boxer, Jackson signed gold medalist and former featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa and middleweight Olympic medalist Andre Dirrell. On July 29, 2012, he and the boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. signed IBF featherweight champion Billy Dib. They unveiled plans to challenge the box-office dominance of mixed martial arts and change the landscape of boxing with TMT Promotions. Boxer Zab Judah also expressed interest in making a deal with Jackson. In December 2012, Mayweather and Jackson parted company, with Jackson taking over the promotion company and founding SMS Promotions with Gamboa, Dirrell, Dib, James Kirkland, Luis Olivares and Donte Strayhorn in his stable.
Bankruptcy
On July 13, 2015, Jackson filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut with a debt of $32,509,549.91. On July 17, 2015, the Court issued an order allowing a creditor to proceed with the punitive damages phase of a trial against Jackson in a New York state court, in connection with the alleged release of a private video. His assets were listed as between $10 million and $50 million in his bankruptcy petition, though he testified under oath that he is worth $4.4 million. He said that he had between $10 million and $50 million in debt, and the same amount in assets. Later in the week, Jackson's bankruptcy lawyers elucidated through the court documents that legal fees and judgments exceeding $20 million over the past year were the primary cause of the filing.
His filings listed 32 entities that he had a stake in. The bankruptcy came days after a jury ordered him to pay $5 million to rapper Rick Ross's ex-girlfriend Lastonia Leviston for invading her privacy by posting online a sex tape of her and another man. In addition, Jackson lost a dispute over a failed business deal involving his Sleek headphones, where Jackson invested more than $2 million. An ex-partner accused Jackson of later stealing the design of the "Sleek by 50" headphones, prompting a judge to award the partner more than $17.2 million. His Connecticut bankruptcy filing stated that he owned seven cars valued at more than $500,000, including a 2010 Rolls-Royce and a 1966 Chevrolet Coupe. His expenses of $108,000 a month included $5,000 for gardening. He reported a monthly income of $185,000, mainly from royalties and income from his external businesses and investments. The court filing said he also owed money to his stylist, his barber, and his fitness coach.
Other details in the bankruptcy documents included information about two deals that sold the right to collect royalties of on-air play of his music. Half the rights to his portfolio were sold to the British independent music publishing company Kobalt Music Group for $3 million and the other half for another $3 million with the sales of his albums allowing Jackson to own 100 percent of the rights to the master recordings while paying only for distribution. Zeisler & Zeisler, a Bridgeport law firm, represented 50 Cent in the bankruptcy, which later resulted in Jackson filing a $75 million lawsuit against his own lawyers. He stated that his lawyers did a terrible job of representing him, specifically citing the fallout of his failed venture with Sleek Audio headphones. He accused Garvey Schubert Barer, a Wall Street law firm, of failing to "employ the requisite knowledge and skill necessary to confront the circumstances of the case".
Corporate positions
G-Unity Foundation Inc. – Founder
SMS Audio – CEO, founder
SK Energy – Founder
SMS Promotions – CEO, founder
Sire Spirits – Owner
Effen Vodka – Former minority shareholder
Personal life
50 Cent has said his life philosophy, following his shooting, is "When your time comes, you go. I think that comes from God." Despite having numerous songs that reference drug and alcohol usage and his ownership of Branson Cognac, Jackson remains a teetotaler, citing a bad experience with alcohol as his main reason.
Forbes noted Jackson's wealth in 2007, ranking him second behind Jay-Z in the rap industry. He lived in a Farmington, Connecticut, mansion formerly owned by ex-boxer Mike Tyson. Jackson listed the mansion for sale in 2007 at $18.5 million to move closer to his son (who lived on Long Island at the time). In 2019, the mansion was sold for $2.9 million, with $1 million being donated to tax-deducted charities.
The mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, declared October 12, 2007 "50 Cent Curtis Jackson Day", honoring the rapper with a proclamation and a key to the city. One of Jackson's New York homes, purchased in January 2007 for $2.4 million and the center of a lawsuit between Jackson and Shaniqua Tompkins, caught fire on May 31, 2008, while he was filming in Louisiana.
Family and relationships
On October 13, 1996, Jackson's girlfriend, Shaniqua Tompkins, gave birth to son Marquise. Tompkins later sued Jackson for $50 million in 2009, saying he promised to take care of her for life. The suit, with 15 causes of action, was dismissed by a judge who called it "an unfortunate tale of a love relationship gone sour". The two have had an ongoing dispute for years, and have even taken their feud to social media many times.
Marquise's birth changed Jackson's outlook on life: "When my son came into my life, my priorities changed, because I wanted to have the relationship with him that I didn't have with my father." He credited his son for inspiring his career and being the "motivation to go in a different direction". Despite this, the two have endured a fractured relationship that began when Jackson and Tompkins separated in 2008. Their feud has been taken to social media numerous times, including in 2020 when Jackson disclosed that he "used to" love his son. Jackson has a tattoo "Marquise" with an axe on his right biceps ("The axe is 'cause I'm a warrior. I don't want him to be one, though"), and has "50", "Southside" and "Cold World" on his back: "I'm a product of that environment. It's on my back, though, so it's all behind me".
In 2003, Jackson briefly dated actress Vivica A. Fox. He broke up with her eight months later.
Jackson dated model Daphne Joy and had his second son, Sire Jackson, with her, on September 1, 2012. At the age of two years, Sire modeled for Kidz Safe, a headphone brand for kids, earning $700,000 through his contract.
In 2024, on a post on Instagram to promote his Cognac brand, Jackson stated that he had been practicing celibacy. Jackson stated: "My new idea is so big, I don't have time to be distracted I'm practicing abstinence, I have been meditating and focusing on my goals." Jackson further clarified his stance during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, stating, "Listen, when you calm down you can focus....I've been good to me." In the same interview, Jackson also opened up about his decision to not marry, stating that, "I'm safe. I'm not a happy hostage. I'm here. I'm free. I made some mistakes, just not that one....I want someone I can love in my life too, just not right now, I'm fine."
Political views
In 2005, Jackson supported President George W. Bush after rapper Kanye West criticized Bush for a slow response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. If his felony convictions did not prevent him from voting, he said that he would have voted for the president. Jackson later said that Bush "has less compassion than the average human. By all means, I don't aspire to be like George Bush." In September 2007, he told Time that although he would not endorse a candidate in 2008, he "liked Hillary [Clinton]".
Six months later, the rapper told MTV News that he had switched his support to Barack Obama after hearing him speak, but had lost interest in politics. Asked his opinion of President Obama's May 9, 2012, endorsement of gay marriage, Jackson said, "I'm for it ... I've encouraged same-sex activities. I've engaged in fetish areas a couple times." He had been criticized for anti-gay comments in the past.
Jackson endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He rejected an offer of $500,000 from the Trump campaign to make an appearance on the candidate's behalf. However, he endorsed Donald Trump in 2020, due to his dislike of Joe Biden's tax plans. A week later, he retracted his endorsement, saying on Twitter "Fuck Donald Trump, I never liked him", and endorsed Biden.
In June 2025, Jackson posted on Instagram a video of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani explaining his tax policy, writing: "I'm not feeling this plan no. I will give him $258,750 and a first class one way ticket away from NY. I'm telling [President Donald] Trump what he said too !".
Legal issues
On June 29, 1994, Jackson was arrested for selling four vials of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He was arrested again three weeks later, when police searched his home and found heroin, ten ounces of crack cocaine and a starter's pistol. Although Jackson was sentenced to three to nine years in prison, he served six months in a boot camp (where he earned his high-school equivalency diploma). According to him, he did not use cocaine.
Jackson and four members of his entourage were arrested shortly before 2 a.m. on December 31, 2002, when police found a .25-caliber handgun and a .45-caliber pistol in a parked car (which they searched due to its tinted windows) outside a Manhattan nightclub. The rapper was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
Jackson was sentenced to two years' probation on July 22, 2005, for a May 2004 incident, when he was charged with three counts of assault and battery after jumping into an audience when he was hit by a water bottle.
Lawsuits
Use of image
Jackson filed a lawsuit against an advertising company, Traffix of Pearl River, New York, on July 21, 2007, for using his image in a promotion he said threatened his safety. He was alerted by a staff member to an Internet advertisement on a Myspace page. According to court documents, the advertisement had a cartoon image of the rapper with "Shoot the rapper and you will win $5000 or five ring tones guaranteed". Although the ad did not use his name, the image allegedly resembled him and suggested that he endorsed the product. The lawsuit, calling the ad a "vile, tasteless and despicable" use of Jackson's image which "quite literally call[ed] for violence against him", sought unspecified punitive damages and a permanent injunction against the use of his image without permission.
Use of name
In 2008, Jackson sued Taco Bell over an ad campaign that used his name without permission, in which it invited him to change his name for one day from 50 Cent to 79 Cent, 89 Cent, or 99 Cent, in line with pricing for some of its items, and they would donate $10,000 to the charity of his choice. The case was settled out of court in his favor in November 2009.
Janitor incident
While walking through Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in May 2016, Jackson harassed and insulted a janitor at the airport, accusing him of being under the influence. The janitor was a hearing-impaired, autistic teenager named Andrew Farrell. The parents of the janitor had seen the viral video as disrespect and wanted to sue Jackson for his action against their child. The lawsuit was originally over one million dollars, but the parents settled for a $100,000 donation to Autism Speaks and his apology.
Bamba sample
In 2016, a judge declared that Brandon Parrott gave Dr. Dre and 50 Cent the rights to "Bamba" for the song "P.I.M.P."
Other civil and criminal matters
One of his New York homes, purchased for $2.4 million in January 2007 and the center of a lawsuit between Jackson and Shaniqua Tompkins, caught fire on May 30, 2008, while he was filming in Louisiana. On August 5, 2013, Jackson pleaded not guilty to one count of domestic violence and four counts of vandalism in a Los Angeles County court. If convicted of all charges, he faced up to five years in prison and a $46,000 fine. Model-actress Daphne Joy accused Jackson of kicking her and ransacking her bedroom during an argument at her condominium in the Toluca Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles on June 23. He allegedly caused $7,100 in property damage, leaving the scene before police arrived.
Judge Ann Nevins has ordered Jackson back to court because of Instagram messages he made over several months. She said Jackson was not fully clear about his funds and indicated posts of the rapper showing stacks of his money. In March 2016, Jackson claimed that he would no longer use Instagram, electing instead to have his profile page operated by someone else.
In June 2018, after former linebacker and actor Terry Crews gave a speech before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary in which he described being groped by a Hollywood agent in 2016, Jackson posted a photo on Instagram of a shirtless muscular Crews with the caption: "I got raped. My wife just watched." After receiving backlash, Jackson deleted the post and wrote on Twitter: "People are so sensitive." In a July 2018 appearance on The View, Jackson stated that he would "never make fun of any sexual assault victim", adding: "I wasn't looking at Terry Crews that way, at that point. I'm looking at the Hulk. The guy is this big, that's being taken advantage of."
In 2020, Jackson was a subject of controversy for his involvement in a viral video of him giving money to a Burger King restaurant in New York City on behalf of a local scammer who was later arrested and charged for Bitcoin scamming and for assaulting and kidnapping his victims on April 24, 2021.
Feuds
Ja Rule
Before he signed with Interscope Records, Jackson engaged in a public dispute with rapper Ja Rule and his label, Murder Inc. Records, saying that a friend robbed jewelry from Ja Rule and the latter accused him of orchestrating the robbery. Ja Rule said that the conflict stemmed from a Queens video shoot, when Jackson did not like seeing him "getting so much love" from the neighborhood. At The Hit Factory in New York in March 2000, Jackson had an altercation with Murder Inc. associates and received three stitches for a stab wound. Rapper Black Child claimed responsibility for the stabbing, saying that he acted in self-defense when he thought someone reached for a gun.
An affidavit by an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent suggested ties between Murder Inc. and Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, a New York drug lord suspected of involvement in the murder of Jam Master Jay and Jackson's shooting. An excerpt read:
The investigation has uncovered a conspiracy involving McGriff and others to murder a rap artist who has released songs containing lyrics regarding McGriff's criminal activities. The rap artist was shot in 2000, survived and thereafter refused to cooperate with law enforcement regarding the shooting. Messages transmitted over the Murder Inc. pager indicate that McGriff is involved in an ongoing plot to kill this rap artist, and that he communicates with Murder Inc. employees concerning the target.
The end of the Jackson-Ja Rule feud was confirmed in May 2011. According to Ja Rule, "I'm cool. We ain't beefing no more. We'll never collaborate. That's just what it is. You don't have to be at war with somebody, but it's also kind of like U.S. and another country that they may not get along with. We don't gotta go to war, but we're not friends either. But we can coincide inside of a world. He's doing him, and he's not thinking about me, and I'm doing me and I'm not thinking about him."
On August 7, 2015, the feud between the two rappers later reignited when Ja Rule gave a feedback to a social follower via Twitter over a similar feud between Meek Mill and Drake. Enraged, Jackson later responded with photos and comments via Instagram, only siding with Drake. The feud resurfaced three years later on January 19, 2018, when Ja Rule took to Twitter, calling out 50 Cent on social media.
In October 2018, Jackson pranked Ja Rule by purchasing 200 discounted front-row tickets for an upcoming show of his in Arlington, Texas for a total of US$3,000 via Groupon, with Jackson later confirming on social media that he bought the tickets with the express intention of forcing Ja Rule to perform in front of rows of empty seats.
Jay-Z and Beyoncé
In 1999, with the release of the single "How to Rob", 50 Cent attacked his rap peers, including Jay-Z, who responded to the provocation with the single "It's Hot (Some Like It Hot)" in which he raps "Go against Jigga yo ass is dense/I'm about a dollar – what the f*ck is 50 Cents?".
In a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, 50 Cent accused Jay-Z and his record company Roc-A-Fella Records of being unfair to Beanie Sigel because "[Jay-Z] didn't have their interests in mind, he was just doing what he had to do for himself." The rapper also stated that "I don't know him personally, [...] I tried to collaborate with him on the Freeway project ... What I did was Freeway went out and found his publishing deal, and we started the album. [...] when it came time to put the record out, he didn't want to shoot his video. He has a god complex." 50 Cent also accused Jay-Z of changing in attitude and image since marrying Beyoncé.
In 2017, 50 Cent described Jay-Z's thirteenth studio album 4:44 as "golf course music" in a Instagram post, elaborating: "I listened to Jay sh*t, that 4:44. [...] [It] was too smart. I felt like I was supposed to be wearing like glasses and shit and like a tie, a fucking sweater around my waist. It was like Ivy League. They don't wanna hear that shit. [...] They just wanna have a good time. You know what I'm saying? You can't be the best rapper at 47 because the new n****s is here. They coming with new [music] going on." In an interview on the Conan Show, 50 Cent spoke about the album, saying: "Hip-hop culture's connected to youth culture. The kids gonna bring new innovative stuff. He just had the maturity bleed off into the material. [...] But the kids, I don't see them actually listening to it".
In an interview in 2022, 50 Cent reported that in a meeting between him and the couple in Los Angeles, the two rappers were having a heated argument. Beyoncé, seeing them, jumped from a ledge to come to her husband's defense. 50 Cent compared the singer to her sister Solange when she hit Jay-Z in the elevator, describing them as "two gangstas".
In an interview for XXL Mag in 2023, 50 Cent claimed that Jay-Z's Grammy wins were due to his marriage to Beyoncé: "Even Jay-Z's career, you can look at that and say the association to Beyoncé is when he started to receive the 16, 17 Grammys, since he's been with Beyoncé. And you go, prior to that [he had] one. That came with the association." 50 Cent also pointed out that the couple's eldest child Blue Ivy Carter won a Grammy even though she does not sing or rap, accusing award ceremonies of giving accolades to the couple just to ensure their attendance during the show. The rapper also reported that his non-win at the Grammys was due to his music being "a little bit abrasive to conservatives; [...] It didn't matter to me in that time period. Don't give me the trophy. They didn't give me Best New Artist and I sold 13 million records", while the Carter-Knowles family is more politically agreeable to the music industry.
Fat Joe
In connection to his feud with Ja Rule, 50 Cent also took aim at fellow New York rapper Fat Joe, a high-profile collaborator of Ja Rule's. The feud took aim at Fat Joe following his 2002 track "What's Luv?" featuring Ja Rule and Ashanti. Fat Joe had also continued his collaboration with Murder Inc. on his 2004 track "New York" featuring Jadakiss, prompting a diss track aimed at Fat Joe from 50 Cent on his 2005 album The Massacre entitled "Piggy Bank". Fat Joe later responded with the track "My Fofo" on his album All or Nothing released later that same year. Tensions boiled over during the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards when Fat Joe presented the award for best Hip Hop Video, in which he told the audience "I feel so safe tonight with all this police protection courtesy of G-Unit". 50 Cent later retaliated with a profanity-laden diatribe following his performance of the song "So Seductive" with fellow G-Unit artist Tony Yayo, exclaiming "Fat Joe's a pussy man! [...] Pussy Boy, Nigga What?!". The feud later affected Fat Joe financially as he sought to secure a $20 million contract endorsing Air Jordan sneakers in early 2005, Michael Jordan himself later cancelled the contract following the VMA incident as he was in fear of conflict with 50 Cent or any other affiliates. Following this; little action was taken on either side as the feud seemed to calm down by 2011. Murder Inc. executive Irv Gotti later expressed anger at Fat Joe following his proposal to quell their longstanding feud with G-Unit in 2010. In 2012, 50 Cent approached Fat Joe in talks of ending the feud following the two agreeing to perform at a memorial ceremony for then-recently deceased music executive Chris Lighty. Despite the prior history between the two, 50 Cent and Fat Joe became close friends and business associates shortly thereafter despite Fat Joe's lengthy connections with Ja Rule.
The Game
Although Jackson was close to The Game before the latter released his debut album, The Documentary, they grew apart. After The Documentary's release, Jackson felt that The Game was disloyal for saying that he did not want to participate in G-Unit's feuds with other rappers (such as Nas, Jadakiss and Fat Joe) and his desire to work with artists with which G-Unit was feuding. He said that he wrote six songs for the album and did not receive proper credit, which The Game denied.
Jackson later dismissed The Game from G-Unit on Hot 97. After the announcement, The Game (a guest earlier in the evening) tried to enter the building with his entourage. After they were denied entry, one of his associates was shot in the leg in a confrontation with a group of men leaving the building. When the situation escalated, the rappers held a joint press conference announcing their reconciliation, and fans were uncertain if the rappers had staged a publicity stunt to boost sales of their recently released albums. After the situation cooled, G-Unit criticized The Game's street credibility and announced that they would not appear on his albums. During a Summer Jam performance The Game announced a boycott of G-Unit, which he called "G-Unot".
After the Summer Jam performance The Game recorded "300 Bars and Runnin'", an extended "diss" of G-Unit and Roc-A-Fella Records, for the mixtape You Know What It Is Vol. 3. Jackson responded with his "Piggy Bank" music video, with The Game as Mr. Potato Head and parodies of other rivals. They have continued attacking each other, with The Game releasing two more mixtapes: Ghost Unit and a mixtape-DVD, Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin. Jackson superimposed The Game's head on the body of a male stripper for the cover of the Hate It or Love It (G-Unit Radio Part 21) mixtape in response to The Game's pictures of G-Unit dressed as the Village People. The Game, under contract to Aftermath Entertainment, signed with Geffen Records to terminate his contractual obligations with G-Unit (although it is claimed that Jackson pressured Dr. Dre to fire him). G-Unit member Spider Loc has insulted The Game in songs, and the latter released "240 Bars (Spider Joke)" and "100 Bars (The Funeral)" attacking G-Unit and Loc. Jackson's response was "Not Rich, Still Lyin'", mocking The Game. Lloyd Banks replied to the Game on a Rap City freestyle-booth segment, followed by a Game "diss" song ("SoundScan") ridiculing the 13-position drop of Banks' album Rotten Apple on the Billboard 200 chart and its disappointing second-week sales. Banks replied on his mixtape Mo' Money In The Bank Pt. 5: Gang Green Season Continues with "Showtime (The Game's Over)", said that Jackson wrote half of The Documentary and ridiculed The Game's suicidal thoughts.
In October 2006, The Game made a peace overture (which was not immediately answered) to Jackson, but two days later he said on Power 106 that the peace offer was valid for only one day. In several songs on Doctor's Advocate, he implied that the feud was over. He said in July 2009 that the feud had ended with help from Michael Jackson and Sean Combs, and apologized for his actions. According to Tony Yayo, neither Jackson nor G-Unit accepted his apology and The Game has resumed his calls for a "G-Unot" boycott at concerts. Jackson released "So Disrespectful" on Before I Self Destruct, targeting Jay-Z, The Game and Young Buck. The Game responded with "Shake", poking fun at the music video for Jackson's "Candy Shop".
On January 2, 2015, The Game claimed that he and 50 were "sworn enemies", promising never to reconcile with him anymore, but on August 1, 2016, they ended their twelve-year feud when the two were in the Ace of Diamonds strip club and The Game said "I love 50, man. What happened, that shit was 12 years ago."
In January 2022, the feud reignited after 50 critiqued Game's Drink Champs interview with N.O.R.E., where he claimed that 50's former competitor Kanye West did "more for me in two weeks than [Dr.] Dre did for me throughout my entire career". The Game responded, commenting that he enclosed the entirety of G-Unit as a group and clothing brand "in a casket", also expressing his likeliness in the Power television trilogy, but warning 50 to "leave [the past] alone or else... I'm outside #Numinati". Then, two months later, in March, 50 Cent published a video via Instagram of Game being shunned by former Interscope Records CEO Jimmy Iovine at a basketball game, poking fun of it while also commenting "50 wrote ya hits". The Game once again flamed 50 after the claims were brought back up and also bragged to "get [50's] girlfriend out of my DM's". This was believed to have been a consequential result of Game claiming on Drink Champs to be "the best and a better rapper" than Eminem, with whom 50 still remains close friends. Additionally, Game's manager, Wack 100, has subliminally called out or questioned 50 Cent's credibility, over the rapper's surprise appearance at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show and ghostwriting allegations.
Cam'ron
Jackson's issues with former The Diplomats member Cam'ron began in 2007, when they had a live argument on The Angie Martinez Show on Hot 97 radio. Jackson commented that he felt that the music division of Koch Entertainment (known today as MNRK Music Group) was a "graveyard", meaning major record labels would not work with their artists. Cam'ron then ridiculed the record sales of G-Unit members Lloyd Banks and Mobb Deep by pointing out that Dipset member Jim Jones outsold both of their albums despite not being signed to a major label, and also went on to clarify that his group, The Diplomats, had a distribution deal from several labels. Both rappers released diss songs with videos on YouTube. Jackson released "Funeral Music", and suggested in the song that Cam'ron is no longer able to lead The Diplomats and that Jim Jones should take his place. Cam'ron responded with "Curtis" and "Curtis Pt. II", in which he makes fun of not only Jackson's first name, but also his appearance, calling him "a gorilla, with rabbit teeth". Jackson responded by releasing "Hold On" with Young Buck. Since 2009, the feud slowly died down, and they eventually reconciled in 2016.
Rick Ross
Although Rick Ross began a feud with Jackson over an alleged incident at the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards, Jackson told news sources he did not remember seeing Ross there. Later that month Ross' "Mafia Music" was leaked on the Internet, with lyrics apparently disparaging Jackson. Several days later, Jackson released "Officer Ricky (Go Head, Try Me)" in response to "Mafia Music". The following day, Ross appeared on Shade 45 (Eminem's Sirius channel) and told Jackson to come up with something better in 24 hours.
Before leaving for Venezuela, Jackson uploaded a video ("Warning Shot") and the first of a series of "Officer Ricky" cartoons. In early February he uploaded a YouTube video in which he interviewed "Tia", the mother of one of Ross' children; according to her, Ross is in reality a correctional officer. On February 5, 2009, The Game phoned Seattle radio station KUBE. Asked about the dispute between Jackson and Ross, he sided with Jackson and offered to mediate: "Rick Ross, holla at your boy, man" and "50 eating you, boy."
On his album Deeper Than Rap, Ross refers to Jackson in "In Cold Blood" and Jackson's mock funeral is part of the song's video. When the song was released, Ross said that he ended Jackson's career. "Rick Ross is Albert From CB4. You ever seen the movie? He's Albert," Jackson replied in an interview. "It never gets worse than this. You get a guy that was a correctional officer come out and base his entire career on writing material from a drug dealer's perspective such as "Freeway" Ricky Ross." Their feud rekindled at the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards, where Jackson and G-Unit members Kidd Kidd, Mike Knox, Tony Yayo were seen on video attacking Gunplay (a member of Ross' Maybach Music Group). Gunplay's Maybach Music diamond necklace was stolen during the brawl, and several days later Jackson appeared at a Washington, D.C. bowling alley wearing Gunplay's chain. On January 30, 2013, Jackson tweeted that Ross' attempted drive-by shooting on his birthday three days earlier was "staged".
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Jackson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. were close friends in the early 2000s, sharing key personal milestones including Mayweather's birthday party in Las Vegas in 2007. In 2012, he and Jackson co-founded the company “The Money Team” also known as “TMT”, which signs up-and-coming boxers. On December 21, 2011, Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days in county jail for domestic violence and battery. He started serving his sentence on June 1, leaving Jackson to run the promotion company. Mayweather was released two months later on August 3. Jackson then claimed Mayweather owed him $1 million for work done for TMT during Mayweather's jail sentence. This caused a public dispute in which the two traded insults via online videos.
Jackson then claimed Mayweather couldn't read and challenged him to read a full Harry Potter book in exchange for a donation of $750,000 to a charity of Mayweather's choosing. Mayweather rejected the challenge and insulted Jackson's strained relationship with his son, offering Jackson $1 million if he could post a video of his son saying "I love you". They continued to trade insults until in 2022, when Jackson & Mayweather reconciled in Las Vegas.
Awards and nominations
Discography
Studio albums
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003)
The Massacre (2005)
Curtis (2007)
Before I Self Destruct (2009)
Animal Ambition (2014)
Collaborative albums
Beg for Mercy (with G-Unit) (2003)
T·O·S (Terminate on Sight) (with G-Unit) (2008)
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
In popular culture
Jackson's stage name is lent to the female character, Isuzu Sento, in the Japanese light novel/manga/anime series, Amagi Brilliant Park.
Footnote
References
External links
Official website
50 Cent at AllMusic
50 Cent at IMDb
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Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, he recorded his debut album Power of the Dollar for Columbia Records. During a shooting in May 2000, he was struck by nine bullets, causing its release to be cancelled and Jackson to be dropped from the label. His 2002 mixtape, Guess Who's Back?, was discovered by Detroit rapper Eminem, who signed Jackson to his label Shady Records, an imprint of Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records that same year.
His debut studio album, Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003), was released to critical acclaim and commercial success. Peaking atop the Billboard 200, it spawned the Billboard Hot 100-number one singles "In da Club" and "21 Questions" (featuring Nate Dogg), and received nonuple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). That same year, he launched the record label G-Unit Records, namesake of a hip hop group he formed two years prior; the label's initial signees were its members, fellow East Coast rappers Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. His second album, The Massacre (2005), was met with similar success, yielding his third number-one single, "Candy Shop" (featuring Olivia). He adopted a lighter, further commercially oriented approach for his third and fourth albums, Curtis (2007) and Before I Self Destruct (2009)—both were met with critical and commercial declines—and aimed for a return to his roots with his fifth album, Animal Ambition (2014), which was met with mixed reviews. He has since focused on his career in television and media, having executive-produced and starred in the television series Power (2014–2020), as well as its numerous spin-offs under his company G-Unit Films and Television Inc.
Jackson has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and earned several accolades, including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, thirteen Billboard Music Awards, six World Music Awards, three American Music Awards and four BET Awards. In his acting career, Jackson first starred in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005), which was critically panned. He was also cast in the war film Home of the Brave (2006), and the crime thriller Righteous Kill (2008). Billboard ranked Jackson as 17th on their "50 Greatest Rappers" list in 2023, and named him the sixth top artist of the 2000s decade. Rolling Stone ranked Get Rich or Die Tryin' and "In da Club" in its lists of the "100 Best Albums of the 2000s" and "100 Best Songs of the 2000s" at numbers 37 and 13, respectively.
Early life
Jackson was born in Queens, New York City, and raised in the South Jamaica neighborhood by his mother Sabrina. Sabrina, a drug dealer, raised Jackson until she died in a fire when Jackson was eight years old. Jackson revealed in an interview that his mother was a lesbian. After his mother's death and his father's departure, Jackson was raised by his grandparents.
He began boxing at about age 11, and when he was 14, a neighbor opened a boxing gym for local youth. "When I wasn't killing time in school, I was sparring in the gym or selling crack on the strip," Jackson remembered. He sold crack during primary school. "I was competitive in the ring and hip-hop is competitive too ... I think rappers condition themselves like boxers, so they all kind of feel like they're the champ."
At age 12, Jackson began dealing narcotics when his grandparents thought he was in after-school programs, and brought guns and drug money to school. In the tenth grade, he was caught by metal detectors at Andrew Jackson High School: "I was embarrassed that I got arrested like that ... After I got arrested I stopped hiding it. I was telling my grandmother [openly], 'I sell drugs.'"
On June 29, 1994, Jackson was arrested for selling four vials of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He was arrested again three weeks later, when police searched his home and found heroin, ten ounces of crack cocaine, and a starting pistol. Although Jackson was sentenced to three to nine years in prison, he served six months in a boot camp and earned his GED. He has said that he did not use cocaine himself. Jackson adopted the nickname "50 Cent" as a metaphor for change. The name was inspired by Kelvin Martin, a 1980s Brooklyn robber known as "50 Cent"; Jackson chose it "because it says everything I want it to say. I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself by any means."
Career
1996–2002: Rise to fame, shooting, and early mixtapes
Jackson began rapping in a friend's basement, where he used turntables to record over instrumentals. In 1996, a friend introduced him to Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC, who was establishing Jam Master Jay Records. Jay taught him how to count bars, write choruses, structure songs, and make records. In 1997, A&R of Def Jam Irv Gotti turned down demo tapes from Jackson after Jam Master Jay had shown the songs for a potential record deal with the reason for decline being a style too similar to Jay-Z. Jackson's first appearance was on "React" with Onyx, for their 1998 album Shut 'Em Down, which Gotti was the A&R for. He credited Jam Master Jay for improving his ability to write hooks, and Jay produced Jackson's first (unreleased) album. In 1999, after Jackson left Jam Master Jay, the platinum-selling producers Trackmasters signed him to Columbia Records. They sent him to an upstate New York studio, where he produced 36 songs in two weeks; 18 were included on his 2000 album, Power of the Dollar. Jackson founded Hollow Point Entertainment with former G-Unit member Bang 'Em Smurf.
Jackson's popularity began to grow after the successful, controversial underground single "How to Rob", which he wrote in a half-hour car ride to a studio. The track comically describes how he would rob famous artists. Jackson explained the song's rationale: "There's a hundred artists on that label, you gotta separate yourself from that group and make yourself relevant." Rappers Jay-Z, Kurupt, Sticky Fingaz, Big Pun, Wyclef Jean, and the Wu-Tang Clan responded to the track, and Nas invited Jackson to join him on his Nastradamus tour. Although "How to Rob" was intended to be released with "Thug Love" (with Destiny's Child), two days before he was scheduled to film the "Thug Love" music video, Jackson was shot and hospitalized.
On May 24, 2000, Jackson was attacked by a gunman outside his grandmother's former home in South Jamaica. After getting into a friend's car, he was asked to return to the house to get some jewelry; his son was in the house, and his grandmother was in the front yard. Jackson returned to the back seat of the car, and another car pulled up nearby; an assailant walked up and fired nine shots at close range with a 9mm handgun. Jackson was shot in the hand, arm, hip, both legs, chest, and left cheek. His facial wound resulted in a swollen tongue, the loss of a wisdom tooth and a slightly slurred voice; his friend was wounded in the hand. They were driven to a hospital, where Jackson spent 13 days. The alleged attacker, Darryl "Homicide" Baum, Mike Tyson's close friend and bodyguard, was killed three weeks later.
Jackson recalled the shooting: "It happens so fast that you don't even get a chance to shoot back .... I was scared the whole time ... I was looking in the rear-view mirror like, 'Oh shit, somebody shot me in the face! It burns, burns, burns.'" In his autobiography, From Pieces to Weight: Once upon a Time in Southside Queens, he wrote: "After I got shot nine times at close range and didn't die, I started to think that I must have a purpose in life ... How much more damage could that shell have done? Give me an inch in this direction or that one, and I'm gone." Jackson used a walker for six weeks and fully recovered after five months. When he left the hospital, he stayed in the Poconos with his girlfriend and son, and his workout regime helped him develop a muscular physique.
In the hospital, Jackson signed a publishing deal with Columbia Records before he was dropped from the label and blacklisted by the recording industry because of his song, "Ghetto Qu'ran". Unable to work in a U.S. studio, he went to Canada. With business partner Sha Money XL, Jackson recorded over thirty songs for mixtapes to build a reputation. In a HitQuarters interview, Marc Labelle of Shady Records A&R said that Jackson used the mixtape circuit to his advantage: "He took all the hottest beats from every artist and flipped them with better hooks. They then got into all the markets on the mixtapes and all the mixtape DJs were messing with them." Jackson's popularity increased, and in 2002 he released the mixtape Guess Who's Back?. He then released 50 Cent Is the Future backed by G-Unit, a mixtape revisiting material by Jay-Z and Raphael Saadiq.
2002–2007: Mainstream breakthrough, Get Rich or Die Tryin, and The Massacre
In 2002, Eminem heard Jackson's Guess Who's Back? album, received from Jackson's attorney (who was working with Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg). Impressed, Eminem invited Jackson to fly to Los Angeles and introduced him to Dr. Dre. After signing a $1 million record deal, Jackson released No Mercy, No Fear. The mixtape featured one new track, "Wanksta", which appeared on Eminem's 8 Mile soundtrack. Jackson was also signed by Violator Management and Sha Money XL's Money Management Group.
50 Cent released his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin' (described by AllMusic as "probably the most hyped debut album by a rap artist in about a decade"), in February 2003. Rolling Stone noted its "dark synth grooves, buzzy keyboards and a persistently funky bounce", with Jackson complementing the production in "an unflappable, laid-back flow". It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 872,000 copies in its first four days. The lead single, "In da Club" (noted by The Source for its "blaring horns, funky organs, guitar riffs and sparse hand claps"), set a Billboard record as the most listened-to song in radio history within a week.
Interscope began funding and distributing for Jackson's label, G-Unit Records, in 2003. He signed Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and Young Buck as members of G-Unit, and The Game was later signed in a joint venture with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. G-Unit Records replaced Jackson's previous imprint, Rotten Apple Entertainment. 50 Cent executive produced Lloyd Banks's June 2004 debut studio album, The Hunger for More, which achieved Platinum status in America. 50 Cent also contributed vocals to Lloyd Banks's hit single, "On Fire". In March 2005, 50 Cent's second commercial album, The Massacre, sold 1.14 million copies in its first four days (the highest in an abbreviated sales cycle) and was number one on the Billboard 200 for six weeks. He was the first solo artist with three singles in the Billboard top five in the same week with "Candy Shop", "Disco Inferno" and "How We Do". According to Rolling Stone, "50's secret weapon is his singing voice - the deceptively amateur-sounding tenor croon that he deploys on almost every chorus". 50 Cent's video game, 50 Cent: Bulletproof was released in November 2005. 50 Cent portrays himself and provides his likeness and voice in the video game, with the video game also featuring music from his first two studio albums.
After The Game's departure Jackson signed Olivia and rap veterans Mobb Deep to G-Unit Records, with Spider Loc, M.O.P., 40 Glocc and Young Hot Rod later joining the label, who all eventually departed the label. Jackson expressed an interest in working with rappers other than G-Unit, such as Lil' Scrappy of BME, LL Cool J of Def Jam, Mase of Bad Boy and Freeway of Roc-A-Fella, and recorded with several.
2007–2010: Curtis, sales battle with Kanye West, and Before I Self Destruct
In September 2007, 50 Cent released his third album, Curtis, which was inspired by his life before Get Rich or Die Tryin'. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 691,000 copies during its first week. It sold behind Kanye West's Graduation, released the same day; the outcome of this highly publicized sales battle between Jackson and West has been accredited to the commercial decline of the gangsta rap and "bling era" style that previously dominated mainstream hip-hop.
In 2008, 50 Cent co-signed the underground rap group Bang Bang Boogie, which consisted of Mysonne, Cuban Link, Lord Tariq, Hocus 45th and S-One, giving them his stamp of approval. The group released the mixtapes The Machine, Vol. 1 and X-Files: No Mercy For The Weak in that same year before disbanding shortly due to Hocus and S-One being falsely incarcerated for gang-related crimes. The group was known for representing The Bronx and for their beef with Fat Joe as they dissed him on songs such as "High Blood Pressure" and "Bang Out".
On September 10, 2008, episode of Total Request Live, Jackson said his fourth studio album, Before I Self Destruct, would be "done and released in November". He released "Ok, You're Right", produced by Dr. Dre for Before I Self Destruct, on May 18, 2009, and was scheduled to appear in a fall 2009 episode of VH1's Behind the Music. On September 3, 2009, Jackson posted a video for the Soundkillers' Phoenix- produced track, "Flight 187", introducing his mixtape and book (The 50th Law). The song, with lyrics inspiring speculation about tension between Jackson and Jay-Z, was a bonus track on the iTunes version of Before I Self Destruct. Before I Self Destruct was released on November 9, 2009, and debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200, giving 50 Cent his fourth consecutive top 5 album in the U.S.
2010–2015: New musical directions, new business ventures, and Animal Ambition
In a Contactmusic.com interview, Jackson said he was working on a Eurodance album, Black Magic, inspired by European nightclubs: "First they played hip-hop which suddenly changed to uptempo songs, known as Eurodance". He later said he had changed his next album to The Return of the Heartless Monster after writing different material when he returned home from the Invitation Tour in 2010, shelving Black Magic. On September 3, Jackson supported Eminem on his and Jay-Z's The Home & Home Tour, performing "Crack A Bottle" with Eminem and Dr. Dre amid rumors of tension between Jackson and Dre.
He "recorded 20 songs to a whole different album concept" before putting them aside, wanting his new album to have the "aggression" of Get Rich or Die Tryin'. Jackson tweeted that the album was "80 percent done" and fans could expect it in the summer of 2011. It was ultimately delayed a year due to disagreements with Interscope Records, with Jackson saying that he would release it in November 2011 with a different title than Black Magic. Eminem would appear on the album, and Jackson said he was working with new producers such as Boi-1da and Alex da Kid. Cardiak, who produced Lloyd Banks' "Start It Up", confirmed that he produced a song for the upcoming album.
Jackson released a song, "Outlaw", from his fifth album on the Internet on June 16, 2011. The single, produced by Cardiak, was released on iTunes on July 19 (although Jackson tweeted that it was not the album's first single). The rapper planned to write a semi-autobiographical young-adult novel about bullying, different from his previous books which focused on his life and the rules of power. According to the book's publisher, the first-person novel (about a 13-year-old schoolyard bully "who finds redemption as he faces what he's done") was scheduled for publication in January 2012.
In a series of tweets, Jackson said that the delay of his fifth album was due to disagreements with Interscope Records, later suggesting that it would be released in November 2011 with his headphone line (SMS by 50). He speculated to MTV News about not renewing his five-album contract with Interscope: "I don't know ... It will all be clear in the negotiations following me turning this actual album in. And, of course, the performance and how they actually treat the work will determine whether you still want to stay in that position or not."
On June 20, 2011, Jackson announced the release of Before I Self Destruct II after his fifth album. Although he planned to shoot a music video for the fifth album's lead single, "I'm On It", on June 26 the video was never filmed. Jackson told Shade45, "I did four songs in Detroit with Eminem. I did two with Just Blaze, a Boi-1da joint, and I did something with Alex da Kid. We made two that are definite singles and the other two are the kinds of records that we been making, more aimed at my core audience, more aggressive, more of a different kind of energy to it." He released "Street King Energy Track #7" in September 2011 to promote Street King, his charity-based energy drink. An announcement that Jackson was shooting a music video for "Girls Go Wild", the fifth-album lead single featuring Jeremih, was made on September 28, 2011.
Jackson's fifth album, Street King Immortal, was initially scheduled for a summer 2012 release and postponed until November 13. Disagreements with Interscope Records about its release and promotion led to its temporary cancellation. Its first promo single, "New Day" with Dr. Dre and Alicia Keys, was released on July 27. The song was produced by Dr. Dre, mixed by Eminem and written by 50 Cent, Alicia Keys, Royce da 5'9" and Dr. Dre. A solo version by Keys was leaked by her husband, Swizz Beatz. "My Life", the album's second promo single (with Eminem and Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine), was released on November 26, 2012.
In January 2014, Jackson said he planned to release Animal Ambition in the first quarter of the year, followed by Street King Immortal. On February 20, he left Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment, and Interscope, signing with Caroline and Capitol Music Group. According to Jackson, although he owed Interscope another album, he was released from his contract because of his friendship with Eminem and Dr. Dre: "I'm a special case and situation. It's also because of the leverage of having the strong relationships with Eminem and Dr. Dre. They don't want me to be uncomfortable. They value our friendship to the point that they would never want [to jeopardize] it over that little bit of money."
That day, he announced that Animal Ambition would be released on June 3 and released its first track. The song, "Funeral", was released with a video on Forbes.com. Produced by Jake One, it is a continuation of "50 Bars" from a previous album; two more tracks were scheduled for release on March 18. At South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, Jackson performed "Hold On" from the new album. That song and "Don't Worry 'Bout It" were released with accompanying videos on March 18. According to Jackson, prosperity would be a theme of the album: "This project, I had to search for a concept, a really good concept, in my perspective, and that was prosperity. I outlined all the things that would be a part of prosperity, positive and negative [for Animal Ambition]."
Animal Ambition debuted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200, giving 50 Cent his fifth consecutive top five album in the country, while also debuting at number one on Billboard's Independent Albums chart.
2015–2021: Street King Immortal, bankruptcy, and departure from Interscope
On May 14, 2015, Jackson revealed in an interview that the first single from Street King Immortal, would be previewed Memorial Day weekend and would likely be released in June. Jackson released "Get Low" on May 20, 2015, as the intended first single from his sixth studio album, Street King Immortal. The song, produced by Remo the Hitmaker, features vocals from fellow American rappers 2 Chainz and T.I., as well as American singer Jeremih. He announced bankruptcy on July 13, 2015.
On March 31, 2017, Interscope Records released 50 Cent's final album for the label, a greatest hits album titled Best Of.
In 2020, Jackson stepped in as executive producer for late rapper Pop Smoke's debut album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, having been one of the rapper's biggest inspirations. The album was released on July 3, 2020, to nationwide commercial acclaim. Jackson curated the album, desiring to finish it after Pop had died. He contacted many of the artists involved, and also features on one of the album tracks, "The Woo". The Woo also features vocals from fellow American rapper Roddy Ricch.
In 2020, it was reported that Jackson was producing two television series for Starz, an anthology about hip hop and a biographical drama about sports agent Nicole Lynn.
In 2021, he became one of the headliners of the music festival Golden Sand in Riviera Maya.
In a July 2021 interview with The Independent, 50 Cent confirmed that he had officially decided to shelve his Street King Immortal album after it spent a decade in development hell. He even confirmed that he planned to release a completely new project.
2021–present: Focusing on acting and media production, Super Bowl LVI halftime show performance
In May 2021, Curtis Jackson moved to Houston. This was thought to be for lower taxes, no income tax, and for the rapper scene, as well as other ventures such as writing new screenplays. Also, Jackson, Horizon United Group, and Houston Independent School District began a partnership on a project that would help high school students learn the business skills that define successful entrepreneurship.
While living in Houston, Curtis Jackson was in the process of writing screenplays for new crime shows.
In August 2021, he was confirmed to be starring in the upcoming Expend4bles film; it was released on September 22, 2023. The film was a critical and commercial failure, grossing $51 million against a $100 million production budget.
In September 2021, Starz began airing BMF, a biographical series based on true events, depicting two brothers in Detroit (Demetrius "Big Meech" and Terry "Southwest T" Flenory, co-founders of the Black Mafia Family) who ran a drug trafficking and money laundering operation from the mid-1980s until 2005. Jackson is the executive producer of the show. He also performed the show's theme song, "Wish Me Luck", alongside Charlie Wilson, Moneybagg Yo and Snoop Dogg.
On February 13, 2022, 50 Cent was a surprise performer in the Super Bowl LVI halftime show, receiving a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) in September for the performance.
From December 2024 to January 2025, Jackson embarked on his Las Vegas residency, 50 Cent: In da Club, which was announced the prior October. He also announced plans to executive-produce a documentary for Netflix, which would center on the sexual misconduct allegations against hip-hop entrepreneur Sean Combs. It is yet to be released. In January 2025, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera was released as a sequel to the 2018 film. Jackson, who previously starred in the 2018 predecessor, executively produced the sequel alongside former co-star O'Shea Jackson Jr., who reprised his role.
Artistry
Jackson cites Boogie Down Productions, Big Daddy Kane, The Juice Crew, EPMD and KRS-One as his rapping influences, while citing LL Cool J as an inspiration behind his writing of "21 Questions". Jackson also states that he drew influences from Nas, Rakim and The Notorious B.I.G. while working on Animal Ambition.
Business ventures
Jackson has had a highly successful business career. He is financially invested in a highly diversified variety of industries. Jackson is now involved in artist and talent management, record, television, and film production, footwear, apparel, fragrances, liquor, video games, mobile apps, book publishing, headphones, along with health drinks and dietary supplements. His broad business and investment portfolio contains investments in a variety of sectors including real estate, financial market investments, mining, boxing promotion, vodka, fragrances, consumer electronics and fashion.
He established his own record label G-Unit Records in 2003 following his mainstream success. In November 2003, he signed a five-year deal with Reebok to distribute a G-Unit Sneakers line for his G-Unit Clothing Company. In an interview, Jackson said his businesses had a habit of doing well as he saw all of his ventures both past and present as revolving around his alter ego.
Jackson has also started a book publishing imprint, G-Unit Books on January 4, 2007, at the Time Warner Building in New York. He has written a number of books including a memoir, From Pieces To Weight in 2005 where it sold 73,000 copies in hardcover and 14,000 copies in paperback; a crime novel and a book with Robert Greene titled The 50th Law, an urban take on The 48 Laws of Power. In November 2011, Jackson released 50 Cent's Playground, a young adult fiction novel about a bullied, violent boy and his gay mother.
One of Jackson's first business ventures was a partnership with Glacéau to create an enhanced water drink called Formula 50. In October 2004, Jackson became a beverage investor when he was given a minority share in the company in exchange for becoming a spokesperson after learning that he was a fan of the beverage. The health conscious Jackson noted that he first learned of the product while at a gym in Los Angeles, and stated that "they do such a good job making water taste good". After becoming a minority shareholder and celebrity spokesperson, Jackson worked with the company to create a new grape flavored "Formula 50" variant of VitaminWater and mentioned the drinks in various songs and interviews. In 2007, Coca-Cola purchased Glacéau for $4.1 billion and, according to Forbes, Jackson, who was a minority shareholder, earned $100 million from the deal after taxes.
Though he no longer has an equity stake in the company, Jackson continues to act as a spokesperson for VitaminWater, supporting the product including singing about it at the BET Awards and expressing his excitement over the company's continuing to allow his input on products.
He joined Right Guard to introduce a body spray (Pure 50 RGX) and endorsed Magic Stick condoms, planning to donate part of their proceeds to increasing HIV awareness. Jackson signed a multi-year deal with Steiner Sports to sell his memorabilia, and announced plans for a dietary-supplement company in conjunction with his film Spectacular Regret in August 2007.
Jackson has founded two film production companies: G-Unit Films in 2003 and Cheetah Vision in 2008. Cheetah Vision produces low budget action thrillers for foreign film markets across the world. When G-Unit Films folded, he focused on Cheetah Vision and the company obtained $200 million in funding in 2010. In 2010, Jackson revived G-Unit Films, renaming the company to G-Unit Film and Television, Inc. The company had joint ventures with Will Packer's production company, Will Packer Productions, and Universal Television. In over 18 months, Jackson sold projects to six different television networks. Among them was the Courtney A. Kemp-created Power, a crime drama in which he not only co-stars as Kanan Stark, but also serves as an executive producer. Power debuted on Starz on June 7, 2014, and ended on February 9, 2020, after six seasons. He signed a two-year contract with representation from the Agency for the Performing Arts. Ratings have been a success for Starz, with the second-season premiere being the highest with 1.43 million viewers. Jackson is also the executive producer of three of the series' spin-offs, Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book III: Raising Kanan and Power Book IV: Force. Offices for G-Unit Film and Television (also known as G-Unit Studios) are headquartered in Shreveport, Louisiana as part of a 45-year lease agreement with the state.
In 2002, Jackson filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to register the term "50 Cent" as a trademark for clothing, sound recordings, and live performances. The application was published in 2003, and registration issued in 2004. He has since filed for additional trademark registrations.
In July 2011, Jackson launched a philanthropic initiative to provide food for one billion starving people in Africa by 2016, joining Pure Growth Partners to introduce Street King. A portion of the proceeds from each Street King purchase would be used to provide a daily meal to an underprivileged child. The partnership coincides with Jackson's goal to feed a billion people in Africa during the next five years. "50 Cent and I share a common vision: to address the world's problems through smart and sustainable business models," said Chris Clarke, founder and CEO of Pure Growth Partners. "With the rampant starvation in Africa and hunger afflicting children worldwide, we need socially responsible businesses that affect real change now more than ever." Jackson said, "I'm inspired by Clarke's vision and innovative approaches to tackling serious issues. It's our mission with Street King to really change children's lives around the world." In 2011, he founded SMS Audio, a consumer-electronics company selling Street by 50 headphones, pledging to donate a portion of their sales to charity. In April 2015, SMS announced new co-branding deals with Reebok and Marvel. It added those to existing partnerships with Walt Disney Parks, Lucasfilm's Star Wars, and Intel.
In 2014, Jackson became a minority shareholder in Effen Vodka, a brand of vodka produced in the Netherlands, when he invested undisclosed amount in the company, Sire Spirits, LLC. He endorsed the product via his live concert performances and social media. The rapper was asked to take part in two promotional bottle signings, one in Oak Creek and another in Sun Prairie. Jackson made an appearance at Liquor Warehouse in Syracuse, New York on April 25, 2015, where he reportedly sold 1,400 bottles (277 gallons) of Jackson's signature liquor brand. Liquor Warehouse's owner, George Angeloro, reportedly stocked 300 cases (1,800 bottles or 357 gallons) of Effen Vodka, which sells for $30 a bottle, prior to the event.
In December 2014, Jackson signed a $78 million deal with FRIGO Revolution Wear, a luxury underwear brand. The joint venture is partnered between Jackson, basketball player Carmelo Anthony, baseball player Derek Jeter and Mathias Ingvarsson, the former president of mattress company Tempur-Pedic. Jackson became the chief fashion designer for the brands single pair of Frigo boxers. In April 2015, Jackson mulled investing in Jamaica, exploring foreign investment opportunities on the island when he met with some local officials and had ongoing discussions on investment opportunities in the Montego Bay resort area.
Investments
Over the years, Jackson invested his earnings from music and celebrity endorsements in an array of privately controlled companies, real estate, and stocks and bonds. A portion of his investments lost value during the 2008 financial crisis. In December 2008, he told the Canadian press that he had been affected by the recession, losing several million dollars in the stock market. Unable to sell his Connecticut mansion, Jackson postponed Before I Self-Destruct due to the severity of the economic downturn.
His Farmington mansion located on 50 Poplar Hill Drive that he tried to sell for years filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut in 2015 listed an asking price for that property in 2012 at $10 million but was valued at $8.3 million in 2015. He first tried to sell the house in 2007 for $18.5 million, and dropped the price several times in the next five years, when it was on and off the market.
In January 2011, Jackson reportedly made $10 million after using Twitter to promote a marketing company which he was part shareholder of. His endorsements company G Unit Brands Inc. revealed through a public SEC filing controls 12.9 per cent of H&H Imports, which is a parent company of TV Goods – the firm responsible for marketing his range of headphones, Sleek by 50 Cent. Jackson bought stock in the company on November 30, 2010, a week after it offered buyers 180 million shares at 17 cents each. Jackson later made a stock recommendation on Twitter, causing its share value to rise from four cents to nearly 50 cents each, closing on Monday at 39 cents. Jackson was later investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for breaching securities laws following his tweet which may have constituted allegations of insider trading via his pump and dump stock investment strategy.
In 2013, Jackson became a minority investor in Hang w/, a live video broadcasting mobile app used by dozens of celebrities to broadcast their daily activities and chat with fans. The app was downloaded more than 1 million times since its launch in March 2013 and had more than 1 million users as of February 2015. Other minority celebrity investors include former NFL player Terrell Owens and record producer Timbaland.
Mining and heavy metals
In 2008, Jackson visited a platinum, palladium and iridium mine shaft in South Africa, and met with South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe in talks of purchasing an equity stake in the mine. After his meeting with Motsepe, Jackson considered purchasing equity in the mine and launching his own line of 50 Cent branded platinum.
Boxing promotion
On July 21, 2012, Jackson became a licensed boxing promoter when he formed his new company, TMT (The Money Team). Licensed to promote in New York, he was in the process of being licensed in Nevada (where most major fights are held in the U.S.). A former amateur boxer, Jackson signed gold medalist and former featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa and middleweight Olympic medalist Andre Dirrell. On July 29, 2012, he and the boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. signed IBF featherweight champion Billy Dib. They unveiled plans to challenge the box-office dominance of mixed martial arts and change the landscape of boxing with TMT Promotions. Boxer Zab Judah also expressed interest in making a deal with Jackson. In December 2012, Mayweather and Jackson parted company, with Jackson taking over the promotion company and founding SMS Promotions with Gamboa, Dirrell, Dib, James Kirkland, Luis Olivares and Donte Strayhorn in his stable.
Bankruptcy
On July 13, 2015, Jackson filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut with a debt of $32,509,549.91. On July 17, 2015, the Court issued an order allowing a creditor to proceed with the punitive damages phase of a trial against Jackson in a New York state court, in connection with the alleged release of a private video. His assets were listed as between $10 million and $50 million in his bankruptcy petition, though he testified under oath that he is worth $4.4 million. He said that he had between $10 million and $50 million in debt, and the same amount in assets. Later in the week, Jackson's bankruptcy lawyers elucidated through the court documents that legal fees and judgments exceeding $20 million over the past year were the primary cause of the filing.
His filings listed 32 entities that he had a stake in. The bankruptcy came days after a jury ordered him to pay $5 million to rapper Rick Ross's ex-girlfriend Lastonia Leviston for invading her privacy by posting online a sex tape of her and another man. In addition, Jackson lost a dispute over a failed business deal involving his Sleek headphones, where Jackson invested more than $2 million. An ex-partner accused Jackson of later stealing the design of the "Sleek by 50" headphones, prompting a judge to award the partner more than $17.2 million. His Connecticut bankruptcy filing stated that he owned seven cars valued at more than $500,000, including a 2010 Rolls-Royce and a 1966 Chevrolet Coupe. His expenses of $108,000 a month included $5,000 for gardening. He reported a monthly income of $185,000, mainly from royalties and income from his external businesses and investments. The court filing said he also owed money to his stylist, his barber, and his fitness coach.
Other details in the bankruptcy documents included information about two deals that sold the right to collect royalties of on-air play of his music. Half the rights to his portfolio were sold to the British independent music publishing company Kobalt Music Group for $3 million and the other half for another $3 million with the sales of his albums allowing Jackson to own 100 percent of the rights to the master recordings while paying only for distribution. Zeisler & Zeisler, a Bridgeport law firm, represented 50 Cent in the bankruptcy, which later resulted in Jackson filing a $75 million lawsuit against his own lawyers. He stated that his lawyers did a terrible job of representing him, specifically citing the fallout of his failed venture with Sleek Audio headphones. He accused Garvey Schubert Barer, a Wall Street law firm, of failing to "employ the requisite knowledge and skill necessary to confront the circumstances of the case".
Corporate positions
G-Unity Foundation Inc. – Founder
SMS Audio – CEO, founder
SK Energy – Founder
SMS Promotions – CEO, founder
Sire Spirits – Owner
Effen Vodka – Former minority shareholder
Personal life
50 Cent has said his life philosophy, following his shooting, is "When your time comes, you go. I think that comes from God." Despite having numerous songs that reference drug and alcohol usage and his ownership of Branson Cognac, Jackson remains a teetotaler, citing a bad experience with alcohol as his main reason.
Forbes noted Jackson's wealth in 2007, ranking him second behind Jay-Z in the rap industry. He lived in a Farmington, Connecticut, mansion formerly owned by ex-boxer Mike Tyson. Jackson listed the mansion for sale in 2007 at $18.5 million to move closer to his son (who lived on Long Island at the time). In 2019, the mansion was sold for $2.9 million, with $1 million being donated to tax-deducted charities.
The mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, declared October 12, 2007 "50 Cent Curtis Jackson Day", honoring the rapper with a proclamation and a key to the city. One of Jackson's New York homes, purchased in January 2007 for $2.4 million and the center of a lawsuit between Jackson and Shaniqua Tompkins, caught fire on May 31, 2008, while he was filming in Louisiana.
Family and relationships
On October 13, 1996, Jackson's girlfriend, Shaniqua Tompkins, gave birth to son Marquise. Tompkins later sued Jackson for $50 million in 2009, saying he promised to take care of her for life. The suit, with 15 causes of action, was dismissed by a judge who called it "an unfortunate tale of a love relationship gone sour". The two have had an ongoing dispute for years, and have even taken their feud to social media many times.
Marquise's birth changed Jackson's outlook on life: "When my son came into my life, my priorities changed, because I wanted to have the relationship with him that I didn't have with my father." He credited his son for inspiring his career and being the "motivation to go in a different direction". Despite this, the two have endured a fractured relationship that began when Jackson and Tompkins separated in 2008. Their feud has been taken to social media numerous times, including in 2020 when Jackson disclosed that he "used to" love his son. Jackson has a tattoo "Marquise" with an axe on his right biceps ("The axe is 'cause I'm a warrior. I don't want him to be one, though"), and has "50", "Southside" and "Cold World" on his back: "I'm a product of that environment. It's on my back, though, so it's all behind me".
In 2003, Jackson briefly dated actress Vivica A. Fox. He broke up with her eight months later.
Jackson dated model Daphne Joy and had his second son, Sire Jackson, with her, on September 1, 2012. At the age of two years, Sire modeled for Kidz Safe, a headphone brand for kids, earning $700,000 through his contract.
In 2024, on a post on Instagram to promote his Cognac brand, Jackson stated that he had been practicing celibacy. Jackson stated: "My new idea is so big, I don't have time to be distracted I'm practicing abstinence, I have been meditating and focusing on my goals." Jackson further clarified his stance during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, stating, "Listen, when you calm down you can focus....I've been good to me." In the same interview, Jackson also opened up about his decision to not marry, stating that, "I'm safe. I'm not a happy hostage. I'm here. I'm free. I made some mistakes, just not that one....I want someone I can love in my life too, just not right now, I'm fine."
Political views
In 2005, Jackson supported President George W. Bush after rapper Kanye West criticized Bush for a slow response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. If his felony convictions did not prevent him from voting, he said that he would have voted for the president. Jackson later said that Bush "has less compassion than the average human. By all means, I don't aspire to be like George Bush." In September 2007, he told Time that although he would not endorse a candidate in 2008, he "liked Hillary [Clinton]".
Six months later, the rapper told MTV News that he had switched his support to Barack Obama after hearing him speak, but had lost interest in politics. Asked his opinion of President Obama's May 9, 2012, endorsement of gay marriage, Jackson said, "I'm for it ... I've encouraged same-sex activities. I've engaged in fetish areas a couple times." He had been criticized for anti-gay comments in the past.
Jackson endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He rejected an offer of $500,000 from the Trump campaign to make an appearance on the candidate's behalf. However, he endorsed Donald Trump in 2020, due to his dislike of Joe Biden's tax plans. A week later, he retracted his endorsement, saying on Twitter "Fuck Donald Trump, I never liked him", and endorsed Biden.
In June 2025, Jackson posted on Instagram a video of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani explaining his tax policy, writing: "I'm not feeling this plan no. I will give him $258,750 and a first class one way ticket away from NY. I'm telling [President Donald] Trump what he said too !".
Legal issues
On June 29, 1994, Jackson was arrested for selling four vials of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He was arrested again three weeks later, when police searched his home and found heroin, ten ounces of crack cocaine and a starter's pistol. Although Jackson was sentenced to three to nine years in prison, he served six months in a boot camp (where he earned his high-school equivalency diploma). According to him, he did not use cocaine.
Jackson and four members of his entourage were arrested shortly before 2 a.m. on December 31, 2002, when police found a .25-caliber handgun and a .45-caliber pistol in a parked car (which they searched due to its tinted windows) outside a Manhattan nightclub. The rapper was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
Jackson was sentenced to two years' probation on July 22, 2005, for a May 2004 incident, when he was charged with three counts of assault and battery after jumping into an audience when he was hit by a water bottle.
Lawsuits
Use of image
Jackson filed a lawsuit against an advertising company, Traffix of Pearl River, New York, on July 21, 2007, for using his image in a promotion he said threatened his safety. He was alerted by a staff member to an Internet advertisement on a Myspace page. According to court documents, the advertisement had a cartoon image of the rapper with "Shoot the rapper and you will win $5000 or five ring tones guaranteed". Although the ad did not use his name, the image allegedly resembled him and suggested that he endorsed the product. The lawsuit, calling the ad a "vile, tasteless and despicable" use of Jackson's image which "quite literally call[ed] for violence against him", sought unspecified punitive damages and a permanent injunction against the use of his image without permission.
Use of name
In 2008, Jackson sued Taco Bell over an ad campaign that used his name without permission, in which it invited him to change his name for one day from 50 Cent to 79 Cent, 89 Cent, or 99 Cent, in line with pricing for some of its items, and they would donate $10,000 to the charity of his choice. The case was settled out of court in his favor in November 2009.
Janitor incident
While walking through Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in May 2016, Jackson harassed and insulted a janitor at the airport, accusing him of being under the influence. The janitor was a hearing-impaired, autistic teenager named Andrew Farrell. The parents of the janitor had seen the viral video as disrespect and wanted to sue Jackson for his action against their child. The lawsuit was originally over one million dollars, but the parents settled for a $100,000 donation to Autism Speaks and his apology.
Bamba sample
In 2016, a judge declared that Brandon Parrott gave Dr. Dre and 50 Cent the rights to "Bamba" for the song "P.I.M.P."
Other civil and criminal matters
One of his New York homes, purchased for $2.4 million in January 2007 and the center of a lawsuit between Jackson and Shaniqua Tompkins, caught fire on May 30, 2008, while he was filming in Louisiana. On August 5, 2013, Jackson pleaded not guilty to one count of domestic violence and four counts of vandalism in a Los Angeles County court. If convicted of all charges, he faced up to five years in prison and a $46,000 fine. Model-actress Daphne Joy accused Jackson of kicking her and ransacking her bedroom during an argument at her condominium in the Toluca Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles on June 23. He allegedly caused $7,100 in property damage, leaving the scene before police arrived.
Judge Ann Nevins has ordered Jackson back to court because of Instagram messages he made over several months. She said Jackson was not fully clear about his funds and indicated posts of the rapper showing stacks of his money. In March 2016, Jackson claimed that he would no longer use Instagram, electing instead to have his profile page operated by someone else.
In June 2018, after former linebacker and actor Terry Crews gave a speech before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary in which he described being groped by a Hollywood agent in 2016, Jackson posted a photo on Instagram of a shirtless muscular Crews with the caption: "I got raped. My wife just watched." After receiving backlash, Jackson deleted the post and wrote on Twitter: "People are so sensitive." In a July 2018 appearance on The View, Jackson stated that he would "never make fun of any sexual assault victim", adding: "I wasn't looking at Terry Crews that way, at that point. I'm looking at the Hulk. The guy is this big, that's being taken advantage of."
In 2020, Jackson was a subject of controversy for his involvement in a viral video of him giving money to a Burger King restaurant in New York City on behalf of a local scammer who was later arrested and charged for Bitcoin scamming and for assaulting and kidnapping his victims on April 24, 2021.
Feuds
Ja Rule
Before he signed with Interscope Records, Jackson engaged in a public dispute with rapper Ja Rule and his label, Murder Inc. Records, saying that a friend robbed jewelry from Ja Rule and the latter accused him of orchestrating the robbery. Ja Rule said that the conflict stemmed from a Queens video shoot, when Jackson did not like seeing him "getting so much love" from the neighborhood. At The Hit Factory in New York in March 2000, Jackson had an altercation with Murder Inc. associates and received three stitches for a stab wound. Rapper Black Child claimed responsibility for the stabbing, saying that he acted in self-defense when he thought someone reached for a gun.
An affidavit by an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent suggested ties between Murder Inc. and Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, a New York drug lord suspected of involvement in the murder of Jam Master Jay and Jackson's shooting. An excerpt read:
The investigation has uncovered a conspiracy involving McGriff and others to murder a rap artist who has released songs containing lyrics regarding McGriff's criminal activities. The rap artist was shot in 2000, survived and thereafter refused to cooperate with law enforcement regarding the shooting. Messages transmitted over the Murder Inc. pager indicate that McGriff is involved in an ongoing plot to kill this rap artist, and that he communicates with Murder Inc. employees concerning the target.
The end of the Jackson-Ja Rule feud was confirmed in May 2011. According to Ja Rule, "I'm cool. We ain't beefing no more. We'll never collaborate. That's just what it is. You don't have to be at war with somebody, but it's also kind of like U.S. and another country that they may not get along with. We don't gotta go to war, but we're not friends either. But we can coincide inside of a world. He's doing him, and he's not thinking about me, and I'm doing me and I'm not thinking about him."
On August 7, 2015, the feud between the two rappers later reignited when Ja Rule gave a feedback to a social follower via Twitter over a similar feud between Meek Mill and Drake. Enraged, Jackson later responded with photos and comments via Instagram, only siding with Drake. The feud resurfaced three years later on January 19, 2018, when Ja Rule took to Twitter, calling out 50 Cent on social media.
In October 2018, Jackson pranked Ja Rule by purchasing 200 discounted front-row tickets for an upcoming show of his in Arlington, Texas for a total of US$3,000 via Groupon, with Jackson later confirming on social media that he bought the tickets with the express intention of forcing Ja Rule to perform in front of rows of empty seats.
Jay-Z and Beyoncé
In 1999, with the release of the single "How to Rob", 50 Cent attacked his rap peers, including Jay-Z, who responded to the provocation with the single "It's Hot (Some Like It Hot)" in which he raps "Go against Jigga yo ass is dense/I'm about a dollar – what the f*ck is 50 Cents?".
In a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, 50 Cent accused Jay-Z and his record company Roc-A-Fella Records of being unfair to Beanie Sigel because "[Jay-Z] didn't have their interests in mind, he was just doing what he had to do for himself." The rapper also stated that "I don't know him personally, [...] I tried to collaborate with him on the Freeway project ... What I did was Freeway went out and found his publishing deal, and we started the album. [...] when it came time to put the record out, he didn't want to shoot his video. He has a god complex." 50 Cent also accused Jay-Z of changing in attitude and image since marrying Beyoncé.
In 2017, 50 Cent described Jay-Z's thirteenth studio album 4:44 as "golf course music" in a Instagram post, elaborating: "I listened to Jay sh*t, that 4:44. [...] [It] was too smart. I felt like I was supposed to be wearing like glasses and shit and like a tie, a fucking sweater around my waist. It was like Ivy League. They don't wanna hear that shit. [...] They just wanna have a good time. You know what I'm saying? You can't be the best rapper at 47 because the new n****s is here. They coming with new [music] going on." In an interview on the Conan Show, 50 Cent spoke about the album, saying: "Hip-hop culture's connected to youth culture. The kids gonna bring new innovative stuff. He just had the maturity bleed off into the material. [...] But the kids, I don't see them actually listening to it".
In an interview in 2022, 50 Cent reported that in a meeting between him and the couple in Los Angeles, the two rappers were having a heated argument. Beyoncé, seeing them, jumped from a ledge to come to her husband's defense. 50 Cent compared the singer to her sister Solange when she hit Jay-Z in the elevator, describing them as "two gangstas".
In an interview for XXL Mag in 2023, 50 Cent claimed that Jay-Z's Grammy wins were due to his marriage to Beyoncé: "Even Jay-Z's career, you can look at that and say the association to Beyoncé is when he started to receive the 16, 17 Grammys, since he's been with Beyoncé. And you go, prior to that [he had] one. That came with the association." 50 Cent also pointed out that the couple's eldest child Blue Ivy Carter won a Grammy even though she does not sing or rap, accusing award ceremonies of giving accolades to the couple just to ensure their attendance during the show. The rapper also reported that his non-win at the Grammys was due to his music being "a little bit abrasive to conservatives; [...] It didn't matter to me in that time period. Don't give me the trophy. They didn't give me Best New Artist and I sold 13 million records", while the Carter-Knowles family is more politically agreeable to the music industry.
Fat Joe
In connection to his feud with Ja Rule, 50 Cent also took aim at fellow New York rapper Fat Joe, a high-profile collaborator of Ja Rule's. The feud took aim at Fat Joe following his 2002 track "What's Luv?" featuring Ja Rule and Ashanti. Fat Joe had also continued his collaboration with Murder Inc. on his 2004 track "New York" featuring Jadakiss, prompting a diss track aimed at Fat Joe from 50 Cent on his 2005 album The Massacre entitled "Piggy Bank". Fat Joe later responded with the track "My Fofo" on his album All or Nothing released later that same year. Tensions boiled over during the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards when Fat Joe presented the award for best Hip Hop Video, in which he told the audience "I feel so safe tonight with all this police protection courtesy of G-Unit". 50 Cent later retaliated with a profanity-laden diatribe following his performance of the song "So Seductive" with fellow G-Unit artist Tony Yayo, exclaiming "Fat Joe's a pussy man! [...] Pussy Boy, Nigga What?!". The feud later affected Fat Joe financially as he sought to secure a $20 million contract endorsing Air Jordan sneakers in early 2005, Michael Jordan himself later cancelled the contract following the VMA incident as he was in fear of conflict with 50 Cent or any other affiliates. Following this; little action was taken on either side as the feud seemed to calm down by 2011. Murder Inc. executive Irv Gotti later expressed anger at Fat Joe following his proposal to quell their longstanding feud with G-Unit in 2010. In 2012, 50 Cent approached Fat Joe in talks of ending the feud following the two agreeing to perform at a memorial ceremony for then-recently deceased music executive Chris Lighty. Despite the prior history between the two, 50 Cent and Fat Joe became close friends and business associates shortly thereafter despite Fat Joe's lengthy connections with Ja Rule.
The Game
Although Jackson was close to The Game before the latter released his debut album, The Documentary, they grew apart. After The Documentary's release, Jackson felt that The Game was disloyal for saying that he did not want to participate in G-Unit's feuds with other rappers (such as Nas, Jadakiss and Fat Joe) and his desire to work with artists with which G-Unit was feuding. He said that he wrote six songs for the album and did not receive proper credit, which The Game denied.
Jackson later dismissed The Game from G-Unit on Hot 97. After the announcement, The Game (a guest earlier in the evening) tried to enter the building with his entourage. After they were denied entry, one of his associates was shot in the leg in a confrontation with a group of men leaving the building. When the situation escalated, the rappers held a joint press conference announcing their reconciliation, and fans were uncertain if the rappers had staged a publicity stunt to boost sales of their recently released albums. After the situation cooled, G-Unit criticized The Game's street credibility and announced that they would not appear on his albums. During a Summer Jam performance The Game announced a boycott of G-Unit, which he called "G-Unot".
After the Summer Jam performance The Game recorded "300 Bars and Runnin'", an extended "diss" of G-Unit and Roc-A-Fella Records, for the mixtape You Know What It Is Vol. 3. Jackson responded with his "Piggy Bank" music video, with The Game as Mr. Potato Head and parodies of other rivals. They have continued attacking each other, with The Game releasing two more mixtapes: Ghost Unit and a mixtape-DVD, Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin. Jackson superimposed The Game's head on the body of a male stripper for the cover of the Hate It or Love It (G-Unit Radio Part 21) mixtape in response to The Game's pictures of G-Unit dressed as the Village People. The Game, under contract to Aftermath Entertainment, signed with Geffen Records to terminate his contractual obligations with G-Unit (although it is claimed that Jackson pressured Dr. Dre to fire him). G-Unit member Spider Loc has insulted The Game in songs, and the latter released "240 Bars (Spider Joke)" and "100 Bars (The Funeral)" attacking G-Unit and Loc. Jackson's response was "Not Rich, Still Lyin'", mocking The Game. Lloyd Banks replied to the Game on a Rap City freestyle-booth segment, followed by a Game "diss" song ("SoundScan") ridiculing the 13-position drop of Banks' album Rotten Apple on the Billboard 200 chart and its disappointing second-week sales. Banks replied on his mixtape Mo' Money In The Bank Pt. 5: Gang Green Season Continues with "Showtime (The Game's Over)", said that Jackson wrote half of The Documentary and ridiculed The Game's suicidal thoughts.
In October 2006, The Game made a peace overture (which was not immediately answered) to Jackson, but two days later he said on Power 106 that the peace offer was valid for only one day. In several songs on Doctor's Advocate, he implied that the feud was over. He said in July 2009 that the feud had ended with help from Michael Jackson and Sean Combs, and apologized for his actions. According to Tony Yayo, neither Jackson nor G-Unit accepted his apology and The Game has resumed his calls for a "G-Unot" boycott at concerts. Jackson released "So Disrespectful" on Before I Self Destruct, targeting Jay-Z, The Game and Young Buck. The Game responded with "Shake", poking fun at the music video for Jackson's "Candy Shop".
On January 2, 2015, The Game claimed that he and 50 were "sworn enemies", promising never to reconcile with him anymore, but on August 1, 2016, they ended their twelve-year feud when the two were in the Ace of Diamonds strip club and The Game said "I love 50, man. What happened, that shit was 12 years ago."
In January 2022, the feud reignited after 50 critiqued Game's Drink Champs interview with N.O.R.E., where he claimed that 50's former competitor Kanye West did "more for me in two weeks than [Dr.] Dre did for me throughout my entire career". The Game responded, commenting that he enclosed the entirety of G-Unit as a group and clothing brand "in a casket", also expressing his likeliness in the Power television trilogy, but warning 50 to "leave [the past] alone or else... I'm outside #Numinati". Then, two months later, in March, 50 Cent published a video via Instagram of Game being shunned by former Interscope Records CEO Jimmy Iovine at a basketball game, poking fun of it while also commenting "50 wrote ya hits". The Game once again flamed 50 after the claims were brought back up and also bragged to "get [50's] girlfriend out of my DM's". This was believed to have been a consequential result of Game claiming on Drink Champs to be "the best and a better rapper" than Eminem, with whom 50 still remains close friends. Additionally, Game's manager, Wack 100, has subliminally called out or questioned 50 Cent's credibility, over the rapper's surprise appearance at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show and ghostwriting allegations.
Cam'ron
Jackson's issues with former The Diplomats member Cam'ron began in 2007, when they had a live argument on The Angie Martinez Show on Hot 97 radio. Jackson commented that he felt that the music division of Koch Entertainment (known today as MNRK Music Group) was a "graveyard", meaning major record labels would not work with their artists. Cam'ron then ridiculed the record sales of G-Unit members Lloyd Banks and Mobb Deep by pointing out that Dipset member Jim Jones outsold both of their albums despite not being signed to a major label, and also went on to clarify that his group, The Diplomats, had a distribution deal from several labels. Both rappers released diss songs with videos on YouTube. Jackson released "Funeral Music", and suggested in the song that Cam'ron is no longer able to lead The Diplomats and that Jim Jones should take his place. Cam'ron responded with "Curtis" and "Curtis Pt. II", in which he makes fun of not only Jackson's first name, but also his appearance, calling him "a gorilla, with rabbit teeth". Jackson responded by releasing "Hold On" with Young Buck. Since 2009, the feud slowly died down, and they eventually reconciled in 2016.
Rick Ross
Although Rick Ross began a feud with Jackson over an alleged incident at the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards, Jackson told news sources he did not remember seeing Ross there. Later that month Ross' "Mafia Music" was leaked on the Internet, with lyrics apparently disparaging Jackson. Several days later, Jackson released "Officer Ricky (Go Head, Try Me)" in response to "Mafia Music". The following day, Ross appeared on Shade 45 (Eminem's Sirius channel) and told Jackson to come up with something better in 24 hours.
Before leaving for Venezuela, Jackson uploaded a video ("Warning Shot") and the first of a series of "Officer Ricky" cartoons. In early February he uploaded a YouTube video in which he interviewed "Tia", the mother of one of Ross' children; according to her, Ross is in reality a correctional officer. On February 5, 2009, The Game phoned Seattle radio station KUBE. Asked about the dispute between Jackson and Ross, he sided with Jackson and offered to mediate: "Rick Ross, holla at your boy, man" and "50 eating you, boy."
On his album Deeper Than Rap, Ross refers to Jackson in "In Cold Blood" and Jackson's mock funeral is part of the song's video. When the song was released, Ross said that he ended Jackson's career. "Rick Ross is Albert From CB4. You ever seen the movie? He's Albert," Jackson replied in an interview. "It never gets worse than this. You get a guy that was a correctional officer come out and base his entire career on writing material from a drug dealer's perspective such as "Freeway" Ricky Ross." Their feud rekindled at the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards, where Jackson and G-Unit members Kidd Kidd, Mike Knox, Tony Yayo were seen on video attacking Gunplay (a member of Ross' Maybach Music Group). Gunplay's Maybach Music diamond necklace was stolen during the brawl, and several days later Jackson appeared at a Washington, D.C. bowling alley wearing Gunplay's chain. On January 30, 2013, Jackson tweeted that Ross' attempted drive-by shooting on his birthday three days earlier was "staged".
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Jackson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. were close friends in the early 2000s, sharing key personal milestones including Mayweather's birthday party in Las Vegas in 2007. In 2012, he and Jackson co-founded the company “The Money Team” also known as “TMT”, which signs up-and-coming boxers. On December 21, 2011, Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days in county jail for domestic violence and battery. He started serving his sentence on June 1, leaving Jackson to run the promotion company. Mayweather was released two months later on August 3. Jackson then claimed Mayweather owed him $1 million for work done for TMT during Mayweather's jail sentence. This caused a public dispute in which the two traded insults via online videos.
Jackson then claimed Mayweather couldn't read and challenged him to read a full Harry Potter book in exchange for a donation of $750,000 to a charity of Mayweather's choosing. Mayweather rejected the challenge and insulted Jackson's strained relationship with his son, offering Jackson $1 million if he could post a video of his son saying "I love you". They continued to trade insults until in 2022, when Jackson & Mayweather reconciled in Las Vegas.
Awards and nominations
Discography
Studio albums
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003)
The Massacre (2005)
Curtis (2007)
Before I Self Destruct (2009)
Animal Ambition (2014)
Collaborative albums
Beg for Mercy (with G-Unit) (2003)
T·O·S (Terminate on Sight) (with G-Unit) (2008)
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
In popular culture
Jackson's stage name is lent to the female character, Isuzu Sento, in the Japanese light novel/manga/anime series, Amagi Brilliant Park.
Footnote
References
External links
Official website
50 Cent at AllMusic
50 Cent at IMDb
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Jim Morrison
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James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his charismatic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, and unpredictable performances, along with the dramatic circumstances surrounding his life and early death, Morrison is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most influential frontmen in rock history. Since his death, his fame has endured as one of popular culture's top rebellious and oft-displayed icons, representing the generation gap and youth counterculture.
Together with keyboardist Ray Manzarek, Morrison founded the Doors in 1965 in Venice, California. The group spent two years in obscurity until shooting to prominence with its number-one hit single in the United States "Light My Fire", which was taken from the band's self-titled debut album. Morrison recorded a total of six studio albums with the Doors, all of which sold well and many of which received critical acclaim. He frequently gave spoken word poetry passages while the band was playing live. Manzarek said Morrison "embodied hippie counterculture rebellion".
Morrison developed an alcohol dependency, which at times affected his performances on stage. In 1971, Morrison died unexpectedly in a Paris apartment at the age of 27, amid several conflicting witness reports. Since no autopsy was performed, the cause of Morrison's death remains disputed. Although the Doors recorded two more albums after Morrison died, his death greatly affected the band's fortunes, and they split up two years later. In 1993, Morrison was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the other Doors members. Rolling Stone, NME, and Classic Rock have ranked him among the greatest rock singers of all time.
Biography
Early years and education
Morrison was born on December 8, 1943, in Melbourne, Florida, to Clara Virginia (née Clarke; 1919–2005) and Lt.(j.g.) George Stephen Morrison (1919–2008), later a rear admiral in the United States Navy. His ancestors were Irish, Scottish and English. In August 1964, Admiral Morrison was commanding U.S. naval forces during the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The following year, in 1965, the incident was a leading pretext used to justify U.S. engagement in the Vietnam War. Morrison had a younger sister, Anne Robin, who was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1947, and a younger brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was born in Los Altos, California in 1948.
In 1947, when he was three to four years old, Morrison allegedly witnessed a car crash in the desert, during which a truck overturned and some Native Americans were lying injured on the side of the road. He referred to this incident in the Doors' song "Peace Frog" from their 1970 album Morrison Hotel, and in his spoken word performances "Dawn's Highway" and "Ghost Song" on the posthumous 1978 album An American Prayer. Morrison described this incident as the most formative event of his life, and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems, and interviews. Morrison believed the spirits or the ghosts of those "dead Indians leaped into [his] soul," and that he was "like a sponge, ready to sit there and absorb it."
Morrison's family does not recall this traffic incident happening in the way he told it. According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, his family did drive past a car crash on an Indian reservation when he was a child, and he was very upset by it. The book The Doors, written by the surviving members of the band, explains how Morrison's account of the incident differed from that of his father, who is quoted as saying, "We went by several Indians. It did make an impression on him. He always thought about that crying Indian." This is contrasted sharply with Morrison's tale of "Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death." In another book, his sister says that his version of the event is likely exaggerated, writing that, "he says we saw a dead Indian on the side of the road, and I don't even know if that's true." Subsequent research has established that the accident occurred on October 17, 1947, in which a truck was struck. One passenger, actually not an Indian, was killed on his way home to retire after finishing his last day of work.
Raised in a military family, Morrison spent part of his childhood in San Diego, completed third grade at Fairfax Elementary School in Fairfax County, Virginia, and attended Charles H. Flato Elementary School in Kingsville, Texas, while his father was stationed at NAS Kingsville in 1952. He continued at St. John's Methodist School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and then Longfellow School Sixth Grade Graduation Program in San Diego.
In 1957, Morrison attended Alameda High School in Alameda, California for his freshman year and the first semester of his sophomore year. In 1959, his family returned to Northern Virginia, where he graduated from George Washington High School, now a middle school in Alexandria, in June 1961. While attending George Washington High School, Morrison maintained a grade average of 88 and tested in the top 0.1% with an IQ of 149.
1961–1963: Literary influences
Morrison's senior year English teacher later said, "Jim read as much and probably more than any student in class, but everything he read was so offbeat I had another teacher (who was going to the Library of Congress) check to see if the books Jim was reporting on actually existed. I suspected he was making them up, as they were English books on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century demonology. I'd never heard of them, but they existed, and I'm convinced from the paper he wrote that he read them, and the Library of Congress would've been the only source."
Morrison went to live with his paternal grandparents in Clearwater, Florida, and attended St. Petersburg Junior College. In 1962, he transferred to Florida State University in Tallahassee, and appeared in a school recruitment film. At Florida State, Morrison was arrested on September 28, 1963, for disturbing the peace and petty larceny while drunk at a home Florida State Seminoles football game at Doak Campbell Stadium.
A voracious reader from an early age, Morrison was particularly inspired by the writings of several philosophers and poets. He was influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche, whose views on aesthetics, morality, and the Apollonian and Dionysian duality would appear in his conversation, poetry, and songs. Some of his formative influences were Plutarch's Parallel Lives and the works of the French Symbolist poet Arthur Rimbaud, whose style would later influence the form of Morrison's short prose poems. He was also influenced by William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Charles Baudelaire, Vladimir Nabokov, Molière, Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, Honoré de Balzac, Jean Cocteau, and most French existentialist philosophers.
1964–1965: College experience in Los Angeles
Morrison soon transferred to the film program at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he enrolled in Jack Hirschman's class on Antonin Artaud in UCLA's Comparative Literature program. Artaud's surrealist theater brand profoundly impacted Morrison's dark poetic sensibility of cinematic theatricality.
Morrison completed his undergraduate degree at UCLA's film school within the Theater Arts department of the College of Fine Arts in 1965. Refusing to attend the graduation ceremony, he went to Venice Beach in Los Angeles, and the university later mailed his diploma to his mother in Coronado, California.
While living in Venice Beach, Morrison befriended writers at the Los Angeles Free Press, and he advocated for the publication until his 1971 death, conducting a lengthy and in-depth interview with Bob Chorush and Andy Kent of the Free Press in December 1970, and was planning to visit the headquarters of the busy newspaper shortly before leaving for Paris.
1965–1971: The Doors
In the middle of 1965, after graduating with a bachelor's degree from the UCLA film school, Morrison led a bohemian lifestyle in Venice Beach. Living on the rooftop of a building inhabited by his UCLA classmate, Dennis Jakob, he wrote the lyrics of many of the early songs the Doors would later perform live and record on albums, such as "Moonlight Drive" and "Hello, I Love You". According to fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek, he lived on canned beans and LSD for several months.
Morrison and Manzarek, who had met months earlier as cinematography students, were the first members of the Doors, forming the group during that summer. Manzarek narrated the story that he was lying on Venice Beach one day when he coincidentally encountered Morrison. He was impressed with Morrison's poetic lyrics, claiming that they were "rock group" material. Subsequently, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore joined. All three musicians shared a common interest in the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's meditation practices at the time, attending scheduled classes, but Morrison was not involved in these series of classes.
Morrison was inspired to name the band after the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception (a reference to the unlocking of doors of perception through psychedelic drug use). Huxley's own concept was based on a quotation from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Blake wrote: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."
Although Morrison was known as the lyricist of the group, Krieger also made lyrical contributions, writing or co-writing some of the group's biggest hits, including "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Love Her Madly" and "Touch Me". On the other hand, Morrison, who did not write most songs using an instrument, would come up with vocal melodies for his own lyrics, with the other band members contributing chords and rhythm. Morrison did not play an instrument live (except for maracas and tambourine for most shows, and harmonica on a few occasions) or in the studio (excluding maracas, tambourine, handclaps, and whistling). However, he did play the grand piano on "Orange County Suite" and a Moog synthesizer on "Strange Days".
In May 1966, Morrison reportedly attended a concert by the Velvet Underground at The Trip in Los Angeles, and Andy Warhol claimed in his book Popism that his "black leather" look had been heavily influenced by the dancer Gerard Malanga who performed at the concert. Conversely, Krieger and Manzarek claim that Morrison was inspired to wear leather pants by Marlon Brando from his role in The Fugitive Kind. No One Here Gets Out Alive repeatedly mentions that Morrison was especially drawn to the look and posture of the ancient Greek king Alexander the Great. In June 1966, Morrison and the Doors were the opening act at the Whisky a Go Go in the last week of the residency of Van Morrison's band Them. Van's influence on Jim's developing stage performance was later noted by Brian Hinton in his book Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison: "Jim Morrison learned quickly from his near namesake's stagecraft, his apparent recklessness, his air of subdued menace, the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching down by the bass drum during instrumental breaks." On the final night, the two Morrisons and their two bands jammed together on "Gloria". Van later described Jim as being "really raw. He knew what he was doing and could do it very well."
In November 1966, Morrison and the Doors produced a promotional film for "Break On Through (To the Other Side)", which was their first single release. The film featured the four group members playing the song on a darkened set with alternating views and close-ups of the performers while Morrison lip-synched the lyrics. Morrison and the Doors continued to make short music films, including "The Unknown Soldier", "Strange Days" and "People Are Strange".
On September 18, 1967, photographer Joel Brodsky took a series of black-and-white photos of a shirtless Morrison in a photo shoot known as "The Young Lion" photo session. These photographs are considered among the most iconic images of Jim Morrison and are frequently used as covers for compilation albums, books, and other memorabilia related to Morrison and the Doors.
The Doors achieved national recognition in 1967 after signing with Elektra Records. The single "Light My Fire" spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in July/August 1967, a far cry from the Doors opening for Simon and Garfunkel or playing at a high school as they did in Connecticut that same year. Later on, the Doors appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, a popular Sunday night variety series that had given the Beatles and Elvis Presley national exposure. Ed Sullivan requested two songs from the Doors for the show, "People Are Strange" and "Light My Fire". Sullivan's censors insisted that the Doors change the lyrics of the song "Light My Fire" from "Girl we couldn't get much higher" to "Girl we couldn't get much better" for the television viewers; this was reportedly due to what was perceived as a reference to drugs in the original lyrics. After giving reluctant assurances of compliance to the producer in the dressing room, in one version of the story, an angry and defiant Morrison told the band he wasn't changing a word and sang the song with the original lyrics deliberately; in another, Morrison sang mistakenly the unaltered lyric out of anxiety from performing on live television. Either way, Sullivan was unhappy and refused to shake hands with Morrison or any other band member after their performance. He then had a producer tell the band they would never appear on his show again, and their planned six further bookings were cancelled. In a defiant tone, Morrison said to the producer, "Hey, man. So what? We just did the Sullivan Show!"
By the release of their second album, Strange Days, the Doors had become one of the most popular rock bands in the U.S. Their blend of blues and dark psychedelic rock included a number of original songs and distinctive cover versions, such as their rendition of "Alabama Song" from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The band also performed a number of extended concept works, including the songs "The End", "When the Music's Over", and "Celebration of the Lizard".
On the evening of December 9, 1967, during a concert in New Haven, Connecticut, Morrison was arrested on stage in an incident that further added to his mystique and emphasized his rebellious image. Before the show, a police officer found Morrison and a woman in the showers backstage. Not recognizing the singer, the policeman ordered him to leave, to which Morrison mockingly replied, "Eat me." He was subsequently maced by the officer, and the show was delayed. Once onstage, he told the concertgoers an obscenity-filled version of the incident. New Haven police arrested him for indecency and public obscenity, but the charges were later dropped. Morrison was the first rock performer arrested onstage.
In 1968, the Doors released their third studio album, Waiting for the Sun. On July 5, the band performed at the Hollywood Bowl; footage from this performance was later released on the DVD Live at the Hollywood Bowl. While in Los Angeles, Morrison spent time with Mick Jagger, discussing their mutual hesitation and awkwardness about dancing in front of an audience, with Jagger asking Morrison's advice on "how to work for a big crowd".
On September 6 and 7, 1968, the Doors played in Europe for the first time, with four performances at the Roundhouse in London with Jefferson Airplane, which was filmed by Granada Television for the television documentary The Doors Are Open, directed by John Sheppard. Around this time, Morrison – who had long been a heavy drinker – started showing up for recording sessions visibly inebriated. He was also frequently appearing in live performances and studio recordings late or stoned.
By early 1969, the formerly svelte Morrison had gained weight, grown a beard, and begun dressing more casually, abandoning the leather pants and concho belts for slacks, jeans, and T-shirts. The Soft Parade, the Doors' fourth album, was released later that year. It was the first album where each band member was given individual songwriting credit, by name, for their work. Previously, each song on their albums had been credited simply to "The Doors".
During a concert on March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, a visibly intoxicated Morrison attempted to spark a riot in the audience, in part by screaming, "You wanna see my cock?" and other obscenities. Three days later, six warrants for his arrest were issued by the Dade County Public Safety Department for indecent exposure, among other accusations. Consequently, many of the Doors' scheduled concerts were canceled. On September 20, 1970, Morrison was convicted of indecent exposure and profanity by a six-person jury in Miami after a sixteen-day trial. Morrison, who attended the October 30 sentencing "in a wool jacket adorned with Indian designs", silently listened as he was sentenced to six months in prison and had to pay a $500 fine. However, Morrison remained free on a $50,000 bond while the verdict was being appealed. At the sentencing, Judge Murray Goodman told Morrison that he was a "person graced with a talent" admired by many of his peers.
Interviewed by Bob Chorush of the L.A. Free Press, Morrison expressed both bafflement and clarity about the Miami incident:
I wasted a lot of time and energy with the Miami trial. About a year and a half. But I guess it was a valuable experience because before the trial, I had a very unrealistic schoolboy attitude about the American judicial system. My eyes have been opened up a bit. There were guys down there, black guys, that would go each day before I went on. It took about five minutes and they would get twenty or twenty-five years in jail. If I hadn't had unlimited funds to continue fighting my case, I'd be in jail right now for three years. It's just if you have money you generally don't go to jail.
On December 8, 2010 – the 67th anniversary of Morrison's birth – Florida governor Charlie Crist and the state clemency board unanimously signed a complete posthumous pardon for Morrison. All the other members of the band, along with Doors' road manager Vince Treanor, have insisted that Morrison did not expose himself on stage that night.
Following The Soft Parade, the Doors released Morrison Hotel. After a lengthy break, the group reconvened in October 1970 to record their final album with Morrison, titled L.A. Woman. Shortly after the recording sessions for the album began, producer Paul A. Rothchild – who had overseen all of their previous recordings – left the project, and engineer Bruce Botnick took over as producer.
Death
After recording L.A. Woman with the other members of the Doors in Los Angeles, Morrison announced to the band his intention to go to Paris. His bandmates generally felt that it was a good idea. In March 1971, Morrison took a leave of absence from the Doors and joined girlfriend Pamela Courson in Paris at an apartment she had rented at 17–19 Rue Beautreillis, in Le Marais, 4th arrondissement. In letters to friends, he described going alone for long walks through the city. During this time, he shaved his beard and lost some of the weight he had gained in the previous months. He also telephoned John Densmore to ask him how L.A. Woman was doing commercially; he was the last band member to ever speak with him.
On July 3, 1971, Morrison was found dead in the bathtub of the apartment at approximately 6:00 AM. by Courson. He was 27 years old. The official cause of death was listed as heart failure, although no autopsy was performed as it was not required by French law. Courson said that Morrison's last words, as he was bathing, were, "Pam, are you still there?"
Several individuals who say they were eyewitnesses, including Marianne Faithfull, claim that his death was due to an accidental heroin overdose. Sam Bernett, founder and manager of the Rock 'n' Roll Circus night club, affirmed that he had found Morrison unconscious in the club's bathrooms after a purported heroin overdose around 2:00 AM and that his body was taken away from the club by two men supposed to be the drug dealers. Because of the lack of an autopsy, however, these statements could never be confirmed. According to music journalist Ben Fong-Torres, it was suggested that his death was kept a secret, and the reporters who had telephoned Paris were told that Morrison was not deceased but tired and resting at a hospital. Morrison's friend, film director Agnès Varda, admitted that she was the one who was responsible for hiding the incident from becoming public. In her last media interview before her death in 2019, Varda confirmed that she was one of the only four mourners to attend Morrison's burial.
Since his death there have been a number of conspiracy theories concerning Morrison's death.
Age 27 artist deaths
Morrison's death came two years to the day after the death of Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones and approximately nine months after the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. All of these popular musicians died at the age of 27 in the same era, leading to the emergence of the 27 Club urban legend.
Personal life
Morrison's family
Morrison's early life was the semi-nomadic existence typical of military families. Jerry Hopkins recorded Morrison's brother, Andy, explaining that his parents had determined never to use corporal punishment such as spanking on their children. They instead instilled discipline by the military tradition known as "dressing down", which consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to tears and acknowledged their failings. Once Morrison graduated from UCLA, he broke off most contact with his family. By the time his music ascended to the top of the charts (in 1967) he had not been in communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed that everyone in his immediate family was dead (or claimed that he was an only child). However, Morrison told Hopkins in a 1969 interview for Rolling Stone magazine that he did this because he did not want to involve his family in his musical career. His sister similarly believed that "he did it to protect my dad, who was moving up in the Navy, and to keep his life separate, not to shake it up on both sides."
Morrison's father was not supportive of his career in music. In a letter to the Florida Probation and Parole Commission District Office dated October 2, 1970, Admiral Morrison revealed that, while on a military assignment in England a few years prior, he had wrote Jim and "strongly advised him to give up any idea of singing or any connection with a music group because of what I considered to be a complete lack of talent in this direction." In the letter he acknowledged that Jim's "reluctance to communicate with me again is to me quite understandable." One day, Andy brought home the Doors' debut album and played it for his parents. According to Andy, their father "listened to the album and afterward he didn’t say a thing. Not a thing."
Morrison spoke fondly of his Scottish and Northern Irish ancestry and was inspired by Celtic mythology in his poetry and songs. Celtic Family Magazine revealed in its 2016 Spring Issue that his Morrison clan was originally from the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, while his Irish side, the Clelland clan who married into the Morrison line, were from County Down in Northern Ireland.
Relationships
Morrison was sought after by many as a photographer's model, confidant, romantic partner and sexual conquest. He had several serious relationships and many casual encounters. By many accounts, he could also be inconsistent with his partners, displaying what some recall as "a dual personality". Rothchild recalls, "Jim really was two very distinct and different people. A Jekyll and Hyde. When he was sober, he was Jekyll, the most erudite, balanced, friendly kind of guy ... He was Mr. America. When he would start to drink, he'd be okay at first, then, suddenly, he would turn into a maniac. Turn into Hyde."
One of Morrison's early relationships was with Mary Werbelow, whom he met on the beach in Clearwater, Florida, when they were teenagers in mid-1962. In a 2005 interview with the St. Petersburg Times, she said Morrison spoke to her before a photo shoot for the Doors' fourth album and told her the first three albums were about her. She also stated in the interview that she was not a fan of the band and never attended a concert by them. Werbelow broke off the relationship in Los Angeles in mid-1965, a few months before Morrison began rehearsals. Manzarek said of Werbelow, "She was Jim's first love. She held a deep place in his soul." Manzarek also noted that Morrison's song "The End" was intended originally to be "a short goodbye love song to Mary", with the longer oedipal middle section a later addition.
Morrison spent the majority of his adult life in an open and at times very charged and intense relationship with Pamela Courson. Through to the end, Courson saw Morrison as more than a rock star, as "a great poet"; she constantly encouraged him and pushed him to write. Courson attended his concerts and focused on supporting his career. Like Morrison, she was described by many as fiery, determined and attractive, as someone who was tough despite appearing fragile. Manzarek called Pamela "Jim's other half" and said, "I never knew another person who could so complement his bizarreness."
After her death in 1974, Courson was buried by her family as Pamela Susan Morrison. Her parents petitioned the court for inheritance of Morrison's estate. The probate court in California judged that she and Morrison had what qualified as a common-law marriage. Morrison's will at the time of his death named Courson as the sole heir.
Morrison dedicated his published poetry books The Lords and New Creatures and the lost writings Wilderness to Courson. A number of writers have speculated that songs like "Love Street", "Orange County Suite" and "Queen of the Highway", among other songs, may have been written about her. Though the relationship was "tumultuous" much of the time, and both also had relationships with others, they always maintained a unique and ongoing connection with one another until the end of Morrison's life.
Throughout his career, Morrison had regular sexual and romantic encounters with fans (including groupies) such as Pamela Des Barres or Poppy Martins (according to Zouzou), as well as ongoing affairs with other musicians, writers, and photographers involved in the music business. They included Nico; Eve Babitz; singer Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane; and editor Gloria Stavers of 16 Magazine, as well as an alleged alcohol-fueled encounter with Janis Joplin. David Crosby stated many years later that Morrison treated Joplin cruelly at a party at the Calabasas, California, home of John Davidson while Davidson was out of town. She reportedly hit him over the head with a bottle of whiskey during a fight in front of witnesses, and thereafter referred to Morrison as "that asshole" whenever his name was brought up in conversation. During her appearance on the Dick Cavett Show in 1969, when host Dick Cavett offered to light her cigarette, asking "May I light your fire, my child?", she jokingly replied, "That's my favorite singer ... I guess not."
Rock critic Patricia Kennealy described her fling with Morrison in No One Here Gets Out Alive, Break On Through, and later in Kennealy's own memoir, Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison. Kennealy said that Morrison participated in a neopagan handfasting ceremony with her. According to Kennealy, the couple signed a handwritten document, and were declared wed by a Celtic high priestess and high priest on Midsummer night in 1970, but none of the necessary paperwork for a legal marriage was filed with the state. No witness to this ceremony was ever named. In an interview for the book Rock Wives, Kennealy was asked if Morrison took the handfasting ceremony seriously. She is seen on video saying, "Probably not too seriously". She added, he turned "really cold" when she claimed she became pregnant, leading her to speculate that maybe he had not taken the wedding as seriously as she had. Kennealy showed up unexpectedly in Miami during the indecency trial, and Morrison was curt with her. She later said, "he was scared to death. They were really out to put him away. Jim was devastated that he wasn't getting any public support."
Morrison moved to Paris with Pamela and never had his day in court due to his unexpected death there.
At the time of Morrison's death, there were thirty-seven paternity actions pending against him, although no claims were made against his estate by any of the putative paternity claimants.
Artistic influences
Although Morrison's early education was routinely disrupted as he moved from school to school, he was drawn to the study of literature, poetry, religion, philosophy and psychology, among other fields. Biographers have consistently pointed to a number of writers and philosophers who influenced his thinking and, perhaps, his behavior. While still in his adolescence, Morrison discovered the works of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Densmore has mentioned that he believed Nietzsche's ideas of a world with no objective order or structure "killed Jim Morrison".
Morrison was drawn to the poetry of William Blake, Arthur Rimbaud, and Charles Baudelaire. Beat Generation writers such as Jack Kerouac and libertine writers such as the Marquis de Sade also had a strong influence on Morrison's outlook and manner of expression; he was eager to experience the life described in Kerouac's On the Road. He was similarly drawn to the work of French writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline. Céline's book, Voyage Au Bout de la Nuit (Journey to the End of the Night) and Blake's Auguries of Innocence both echo through one of Morrison's early songs, "End of the Night".
Morrison later met and befriended Michael McClure, a well-known Beat poet. McClure had enjoyed Morrison's lyrics but was even more impressed by his poetry and encouraged him to further develop his craft. Morrison's vision of performance was colored by the works of 20th-century French playwright Antonin Artaud (author of Theater and its Double) and by Judith Malina and Julian Beck's Living Theater.
Other works relating to religion, mysticism, ancient myth and symbolism were of lasting interest to Morrison, particularly Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. James Frazer's The Golden Bough also became a source of inspiration and is reflected in the title and lyrics of the song "Not to Touch the Earth". Morrison was particularly attracted to the myths and religions of Native American cultures.
While he was still at school, his family moved to New Mexico where he became familiar with the landscape and some of the iconography important to the Indigenous peoples of the American Southwest. These interests appear to be the source of many references to creatures and places such as lizards, snakes, deserts and "ancient lakes" that appear in his songs and poetry. His interpretations and fantasies of Native American ceremonies and ceremonial leaders (which, based on his readings, he referred to by the anthropological term "shamans") influenced his stage performances, notably in his seeking of trance states and vision through dancing to the point of exhaustion. In particular, Morrison's poem "The Ghost Song" was inspired by his readings about the Native American Ghost Dance.
Morrison's vocal influences included Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, which can be heard in his baritone crooning style on several of the Doors' songs. In the 1981 documentary The Doors: A Tribute to Jim Morrison, Rothchild relates his first impression of Morrison as being a "Rock and Roll Bing Crosby". Botnick has recalled that when he first met the Doors in Sunset Sound Studios he showed them the condenser microphone, which Morrison would then use when recording his vocals for their debut album. Morrison was particularly excited about this microphone (the Telefunken U47) as it was the same model that Sinatra had used for some of his recording sessions. Sugerman has written that Morrison, as a teenager, was such a fan of Elvis that he demanded silence when Elvis was on the radio, but that Sinatra was Morrison's favorite singer. Morrison also cited Little Richard, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent as other early influences. In his Elektra Records biography, Morrison named contemporaries such as the Beach Boys, the Kinks, and Love as his favorite singing groups. According to record producer David Anderle, Morrison considered Brian Wilson "his favorite musician" and the Beach Boys' 1967 LP Wild Honey "one of his favorite albums. ... he really got into it."
Wallace Fowlie, professor emeritus of French literature at Duke University, wrote Rimbaud and Jim Morrison, subtitled "The Rebel as Poet – A Memoir". In this, he recounts his surprise at receiving a fan letter from Morrison who, in 1968, thanked him for his latest translation of Rimbaud's verse into English. "I don't read French easily", he wrote, "... your book travels around with me." Fowlie went on to give lectures on numerous campuses comparing the lives, philosophies, and poetry of Morrison and Rimbaud. The book The Doors, by the remaining Doors, quotes Morrison's close friend Frank Lisciandro as saying that too many people took a remark of Morrison's that he was interested in revolt, disorder, and chaos "to mean that he was an anarchist, a revolutionary, or, worse yet, a nihilist. Hardly anyone noticed that Jim was paraphrasing Rimbaud and the Surrealist poets".
Poetry and film
Morrison began writing in earnest during his adolescence. At UCLA he studied the related fields of theater, film, and cinematography. He self-published two volumes of poetry in 1969, titled The Lords / Notes on Vision and The New Creatures. The Lords consists primarily of brief descriptions of places, people, events and Morrison's thoughts on cinema. The New Creatures verses are more poetic in structure, feel and appearance. These two books were later combined into a single volume titled The Lords and The New Creatures. These were the only writings published during Morrison's lifetime. Morrison befriended Beat poet Michael McClure, who wrote the afterword for Hopkins' No One Here Gets Out Alive. McClure and Morrison reportedly collaborated on a number of unmade film projects, including a film version of McClure's infamous play The Beard, in which Morrison would have played Billy the Kid.
The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison Volume I is titled Wilderness, and, upon its release in 1988, became an instant New York Times Bestseller. Volume II, The American Night, released in 1990, was also a success. Morrison recorded his own poetry in a professional sound studio on two occasions. The first was in March 1969 in Los Angeles and the second was on December 8, 1970. The latter recording session was attended by Morrison's personal friends and included a variety of sketch pieces. Some of the segments from the 1969 session were issued on the bootleg album The Lost Paris Tapes and were later used as part of the Doors' An American Prayer album, released in 1978. The album reached No. 54 on the music charts.
Some poetry recorded from the December 1970 session remains unreleased to this day and is in the possession of the Courson family. Morrison's best-known but seldom seen cinematic endeavor is HWY: An American Pastoral, a project he started in 1969. Morrison financed the venture and formed his own production company in order to maintain complete control of the project. Paul Ferrara, Frank Lisciandro, and Babe Hill assisted with the project. Morrison played the main character, a hitchhiker turned killer/car thief. Morrison asked his friend composer/pianist Fred Myrow to select the soundtrack for the film.
Paris Journal
After his death, a notebook of poetry written by Morrison was recovered, titled Paris Journal; among other personal details, it contains the allegorical foretelling of a man who will be left grieving and having to abandon his belongings, due to a police investigation into a death connected to the Chinese opium trade. "Weeping, he left his pad on orders from police and furnishings hauled away, all records and mementos, and reporters calculating tears & curses for the press: 'I hope the Chinese junkies get you' and they will for the [opium] poppy rules the world".
The concluding stanzas of this poem convey disappointment in someone with whom he had had an intimate relationship, perhaps using the relationship as a metaphor as the relationship with life itself, and contain a further invocation of Billy the killer/Hitchhiker, a common character in Morrison's body of work:
In 2013, another of Morrison's notebooks from Paris, found alongside the Paris Journal in the same box, known as the 127 Fascination box, sold for $250,000 at auction. This box of personal belongings similarly contained a home movie of Pamela Courson dancing in an unspecified cemetery in Corsica, the only film so far recovered to have been filmed by Morrison. The box also housed a number of older notebooks and journals and may initially have included the "Steno Pad" and the falsely titled The Lost Paris Tapes bootleg, if they had not been separated from the primary collection and sold by Philippe Dalecky with this promotional title. Those familiar with the voices of Morrison's friends and colleagues later determined that, contrary to the story advanced by Dalecky that this was Morrison's final recording made with busking Parisian musicians, the Lost Paris Tapes are in fact of "Jomo & The Smoothies": Morrison, friend Michael McClure and producer Paul Rothchild loose jamming in Los Angeles, well before Paris 1971.
Grave site
Morrison was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, one of the city's most visited tourist attractions, where Irish playwright Oscar Wilde, French cabaret singer Édith Piaf, and many other poets and artists are also buried. The grave had no official marker until French officials placed a shield over it, which was stolen in 1973. The grave was listed in the cemetery directory with Morrison's name incorrectly arranged as "Douglas James Morrison".
In 1981, Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin voluntarily – with the approval of the cemetery curators – placed a marble bust of his own design and a new gravestone with Morrison's name at the grave to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Morrison's death; the bust was defaced through the years by vandals and later stolen in 1988. Mikulin made another bust of Morrison in 1989 and a bronze portrait ("death mask") of him in 2001; neither piece is at the gravesite. Mikulin's original bust was recovered by the Paris police in May 2025. The discovery was made by chance while the police were investigating another matter.
In 1990, Morrison's father, George Stephen Morrison, after a consultation with E. Nicholas Genovese, Professor of Classics and Humanities, San Diego State University, placed a flat stone on the grave. The bronze plaque thereon bears the Greek inscription: ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ, usually translated as "true to his own spirit" or "according to his own daemon".
Legacy
Musical
Morrison was and continues to be one of the most popular and influential singer-songwriters and iconic frontmen in rock history. To this day, he is widely regarded as the prototypical rock star: surly, sexy, scandalous, and mysterious. The leather pants he was fond of wearing both onstage and off have since become stereotyped as rock-star apparel. The lead singer of U2, Bono, had used Morrison's leather pants for his onstage alter-ego, which he called "Fly". Music journalist Stephen Davis described Morrison as the single "greatest American rock star of his era".
In 1993, Morrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Doors; the other band members dedicated their induction to Morrison. In 2011, a Rolling Stone readers' pick placed Morrison in fifth place of the magazine's "Best Lead Singers of All Time". In another Rolling Stone list, entitled "The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time", he was ranked 47th. NME named him the 13th greatest singer of all time. He was also ranked number 22 on Classic Rock magazine's "50 Greatest Singers in Rock".
Fatboy Slim's song "Sunset" includes Morrison's vocal interpretation of his poem "Bird of Prey". In 2012, electronic music producer Skrillex released "Breakn' a Sweat," which contained vocals from an interview with Morrison. Alice Cooper has said that his song "Desperado", from the 1971 Killer, was a tribute to Morrison.
Influences
Iggy and the Stooges are said to have formed after lead singer Iggy Pop was inspired by Morrison while attending a Doors concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Pop later said about the concert:
That show was a big, big, big influence on me. They had just had their big hit, "Light My Fire" and the album had taken off ... So, here's this guy, out of his head on acid, dressed in leather with his hair all oiled and curled. The stage was tiny and it was really low. It got confrontational. I found it really interesting. I loved the performance ... Part of me was like, "Wow, this is great. He's really pissing people off and he's lurching around making these guys angry."
One of Pop's most popular songs, "The Passenger", is said to be based on one of Morrison's poems. Layne Staley, the vocalist of Alice in Chains; Eddie Vedder, the vocalist of Pearl Jam; Scott Weiland, the vocalist of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver; Glenn Danzig, singer and founder of Danzig; Ian Astbury, the frontman of the Cult; Siouxsie Sioux, the lead singer of Siouxsie and the Banshees; Michael Gira, the frontman of Swans; Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division; Julian Casablancas, the vocalist of the Strokes; Billy Idol; and Patti Smith have said that Morrison was their biggest influence. Music journalist Simon Reynolds noted that the "deep, heavy alloys" in Morrison's voice, served as a prototype for the gothic rock scene.
Films
Biopic
In 1991, Oliver Stone directed a biopic film about Morrison, with actor Val Kilmer portraying him. Kilmer learned over twenty of the Doors' songs to achieve Morrison's role. While the film was inspired by many real events and individuals, the film's depiction of Morrison was heavily criticized by many people who knew him personally, including Patricia Kennealy and the other Doors members. Manzarek said about the film's portrayal, "It was ridiculous ... It was not about Jim Morrison. It was about 'Jimbo Morrison', the drunk. God, where was the sensitive poet and the funny guy? The guy I knew was not on that screen." Krieger agreed that the movie did not capture "how Jim [Morrison] was at all". He also noted the impact of the film's representation on numerous people he talked to: "He's never a real guy in that movie. People find it hard to believe he could just be a normal person–a good friend and a great guy to be with."
On an album by CPR, David Crosby wrote and recorded a song about the movie with the lyric: "And I have seen that movie – and it wasn't like that." In general, the film received underwhelming to poor reviews, which largely focused on the many inaccuracies and problems with the narrative. However, Kilmer received some praise for his performance, with some members of the Doors reportedly saying that at times they could not distinguish whether it was Kilmer or Morrison singing on some of the sequences. Overall, the group members praised Kilmer's interpretation. Regardless of the widespread acclaim surrounding Kilmer's performance, he did not claim any award.
Others
The lead character of a 2011 Bollywood film, Rockstar starring Ranbir Kapoor, was inspired by Morrison. The 2007 film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story has numerous references to Morrison. Morrison's grave is featured in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 1, episode 3.
Discography
The Doors
The Doors (1967)
Strange Days (1967)
Waiting for the Sun (1968)
The Soft Parade (1969)
Morrison Hotel (1970)
L.A. Woman (1971)
An American Prayer (1978)
Filmography
Films by Morrison
HWY: An American Pastoral
Documentaries featuring Morrison
See also
Outline of the Doors
Bibliography
The Lords and the New Creatures (1969). 1985 edition: ISBN 0-7119-0552-5
An American Prayer (1970) privately printed by Western Lithographers. (Unauthorized edition also published in 1983, Zeppelin Publishing Company, ISBN 0-915628-46-5. The authenticity of the unauthorized edition has been disputed.)
Ardent lointain, edition bilingue (1988), trad. de l'américain et présenté par Sabine Prudent et Werner Reimann. [Paris]: C. Bourgois. 157 p. N.B.: Original texts in English, with French translations, on facing pages. ISBN 2-267-00560-3
Wilderness: The Lost Writings Of Jim Morrison (1988). 1990 edition: ISBN 0-14-011910-8
The American Night: The Writings of Jim Morrison (1990). 1991 edition: ISBN 0-670-83772-5
The Collected Works of Jim Morrison: Poetry, Journals, Transcripts, and Lyrics (2021). Edited by Frank Lisciandro, foreword by Tom Robbins: ISBN 978-0-06302897-5
Stephen Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, (2004) ISBN 1-59240-064-7
John Densmore, Riders on the Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison and The Doors (1991) ISBN 0-385-30447-1
References
Further reading
Linda Ashcroft (1997), Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison, ISBN 1-56025-249-9
Lester Bangs, "Jim Morrison: Bozo Dionysus a Decade Later" in Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader, John Morthland, ed. Anchor Press (2003) ISBN 0-375-71367-0
Dave DiMartino, Moonlight Drive (1995) ISBN 1-886894-21-3
Steven Erkel, "The Poet Behind The Doors: Jim Morrison's Poetry and the 1960s Countercultural Movement" (2011)
Wallace Fowlie, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison (1994) ISBN 0-8223-1442-8
Jerry Hopkins, The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison (1995) ISBN 0-684-81866-3
Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980) ISBN 0-85965-138-X
Huddleston, Judy, Love Him Madly: An Intimate Memoir of Jim Morrison (2013) ISBN 9781613747506
Mike Jahn, "Jim Morrison and The Doors", (1969) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 71–84745
Dylan Jones, Jim Morrison: Dark Star, (1990) ISBN 0-7475-0951-4
Gerry Kirstein, "Some Are Born to Endless Night: Jim Morrison, Visions of Apocalypse and Transcendence" (2012) ISBN 1451558066
Frank Lisciandro, Morrison: A Feast of Friends (1991) ISBN 0-446-39276-6, Morrison – Un festin entre amis (1996) (French)
Frank Lisciandro, Jim Morrison: An Hour For Magic (A Photojournal) (1982) ISBN 0-85965-246-7, James Douglas Morrison (2005) (French)
Ray Manzarek, Light My Fire (1998) ISBN 0-446-60228-0. First by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman (1981)
Peter Jan Margry, The Pilgrimage to Jim Morrison's Grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery: The Social Construction of Sacred Space. In idem (ed.), Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World. New Itineraries into the Sacred. Amsterdam University Press, 2008, p. 145–173.
Thanasis Michos, The Poetry of James Douglas Morrison (2001) ISBN 960-7748-23-9 (Greek)
Daveth Milton, We Want The World: Jim Morrison, The Living Theatre, and the FBI, (2012) ISBN 978-0957051188
Mark Opsasnick, The Lizard King Was Here: The Life and Times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Virginia (2006) ISBN 1-4257-1330-0
James Riordan and Jerry Prochnicky, Break on through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison (1991) ISBN 0-688-11915-8
Adriana Rubio, Jim Morrison: Ceremony...Exploring the Shaman Possession (2005) ISBN
Howard Sounes. 27: A History of the 27 Club Through the Lives of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse, Boston: Da Capo Press, 2013. ISBN 0-306-82168-0.
The Doors (remaining members Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore) with Ben Fong-Torres, The Doors (2006) ISBN 1-4013-0303-X
Mick Wall (2014), Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre: A Biography of The Doors
External links
The Doors official website
Jim Morrison discography at Discogs
Jim Morrison at IMDb
Earliest film of Jim Morrison
A lost painting collaboration with Jim Morrison intended for his An American Prayer album
George Washington High School Alumni Association, Alexandria, Va., Morrison page
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James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his charismatic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, and unpredictable performances, along with the dramatic circumstances surrounding his life and early death, Morrison is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most influential frontmen in rock history. Since his death, his fame has endured as one of popular culture's top rebellious and oft-displayed icons, representing the generation gap and youth counterculture.
Together with keyboardist Ray Manzarek, Morrison founded the Doors in 1965 in Venice, California. The group spent two years in obscurity until shooting to prominence with its number-one hit single in the United States "Light My Fire", which was taken from the band's self-titled debut album. Morrison recorded a total of six studio albums with the Doors, all of which sold well and many of which received critical acclaim. He frequently gave spoken word poetry passages while the band was playing live. Manzarek said Morrison "embodied hippie counterculture rebellion".
Morrison developed an alcohol dependency, which at times affected his performances on stage. In 1971, Morrison died unexpectedly in a Paris apartment at the age of 27, amid several conflicting witness reports. Since no autopsy was performed, the cause of Morrison's death remains disputed. Although the Doors recorded two more albums after Morrison died, his death greatly affected the band's fortunes, and they split up two years later. In 1993, Morrison was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the other Doors members. Rolling Stone, NME, and Classic Rock have ranked him among the greatest rock singers of all time.
Biography
Early years and education
Morrison was born on December 8, 1943, in Melbourne, Florida, to Clara Virginia (née Clarke; 1919–2005) and Lt.(j.g.) George Stephen Morrison (1919–2008), later a rear admiral in the United States Navy. His ancestors were Irish, Scottish and English. In August 1964, Admiral Morrison was commanding U.S. naval forces during the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The following year, in 1965, the incident was a leading pretext used to justify U.S. engagement in the Vietnam War. Morrison had a younger sister, Anne Robin, who was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1947, and a younger brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was born in Los Altos, California in 1948.
In 1947, when he was three to four years old, Morrison allegedly witnessed a car crash in the desert, during which a truck overturned and some Native Americans were lying injured on the side of the road. He referred to this incident in the Doors' song "Peace Frog" from their 1970 album Morrison Hotel, and in his spoken word performances "Dawn's Highway" and "Ghost Song" on the posthumous 1978 album An American Prayer. Morrison described this incident as the most formative event of his life, and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems, and interviews. Morrison believed the spirits or the ghosts of those "dead Indians leaped into [his] soul," and that he was "like a sponge, ready to sit there and absorb it."
Morrison's family does not recall this traffic incident happening in the way he told it. According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, his family did drive past a car crash on an Indian reservation when he was a child, and he was very upset by it. The book The Doors, written by the surviving members of the band, explains how Morrison's account of the incident differed from that of his father, who is quoted as saying, "We went by several Indians. It did make an impression on him. He always thought about that crying Indian." This is contrasted sharply with Morrison's tale of "Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death." In another book, his sister says that his version of the event is likely exaggerated, writing that, "he says we saw a dead Indian on the side of the road, and I don't even know if that's true." Subsequent research has established that the accident occurred on October 17, 1947, in which a truck was struck. One passenger, actually not an Indian, was killed on his way home to retire after finishing his last day of work.
Raised in a military family, Morrison spent part of his childhood in San Diego, completed third grade at Fairfax Elementary School in Fairfax County, Virginia, and attended Charles H. Flato Elementary School in Kingsville, Texas, while his father was stationed at NAS Kingsville in 1952. He continued at St. John's Methodist School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and then Longfellow School Sixth Grade Graduation Program in San Diego.
In 1957, Morrison attended Alameda High School in Alameda, California for his freshman year and the first semester of his sophomore year. In 1959, his family returned to Northern Virginia, where he graduated from George Washington High School, now a middle school in Alexandria, in June 1961. While attending George Washington High School, Morrison maintained a grade average of 88 and tested in the top 0.1% with an IQ of 149.
1961–1963: Literary influences
Morrison's senior year English teacher later said, "Jim read as much and probably more than any student in class, but everything he read was so offbeat I had another teacher (who was going to the Library of Congress) check to see if the books Jim was reporting on actually existed. I suspected he was making them up, as they were English books on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century demonology. I'd never heard of them, but they existed, and I'm convinced from the paper he wrote that he read them, and the Library of Congress would've been the only source."
Morrison went to live with his paternal grandparents in Clearwater, Florida, and attended St. Petersburg Junior College. In 1962, he transferred to Florida State University in Tallahassee, and appeared in a school recruitment film. At Florida State, Morrison was arrested on September 28, 1963, for disturbing the peace and petty larceny while drunk at a home Florida State Seminoles football game at Doak Campbell Stadium.
A voracious reader from an early age, Morrison was particularly inspired by the writings of several philosophers and poets. He was influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche, whose views on aesthetics, morality, and the Apollonian and Dionysian duality would appear in his conversation, poetry, and songs. Some of his formative influences were Plutarch's Parallel Lives and the works of the French Symbolist poet Arthur Rimbaud, whose style would later influence the form of Morrison's short prose poems. He was also influenced by William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Charles Baudelaire, Vladimir Nabokov, Molière, Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, Honoré de Balzac, Jean Cocteau, and most French existentialist philosophers.
1964–1965: College experience in Los Angeles
Morrison soon transferred to the film program at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he enrolled in Jack Hirschman's class on Antonin Artaud in UCLA's Comparative Literature program. Artaud's surrealist theater brand profoundly impacted Morrison's dark poetic sensibility of cinematic theatricality.
Morrison completed his undergraduate degree at UCLA's film school within the Theater Arts department of the College of Fine Arts in 1965. Refusing to attend the graduation ceremony, he went to Venice Beach in Los Angeles, and the university later mailed his diploma to his mother in Coronado, California.
While living in Venice Beach, Morrison befriended writers at the Los Angeles Free Press, and he advocated for the publication until his 1971 death, conducting a lengthy and in-depth interview with Bob Chorush and Andy Kent of the Free Press in December 1970, and was planning to visit the headquarters of the busy newspaper shortly before leaving for Paris.
1965–1971: The Doors
In the middle of 1965, after graduating with a bachelor's degree from the UCLA film school, Morrison led a bohemian lifestyle in Venice Beach. Living on the rooftop of a building inhabited by his UCLA classmate, Dennis Jakob, he wrote the lyrics of many of the early songs the Doors would later perform live and record on albums, such as "Moonlight Drive" and "Hello, I Love You". According to fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek, he lived on canned beans and LSD for several months.
Morrison and Manzarek, who had met months earlier as cinematography students, were the first members of the Doors, forming the group during that summer. Manzarek narrated the story that he was lying on Venice Beach one day when he coincidentally encountered Morrison. He was impressed with Morrison's poetic lyrics, claiming that they were "rock group" material. Subsequently, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore joined. All three musicians shared a common interest in the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's meditation practices at the time, attending scheduled classes, but Morrison was not involved in these series of classes.
Morrison was inspired to name the band after the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception (a reference to the unlocking of doors of perception through psychedelic drug use). Huxley's own concept was based on a quotation from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Blake wrote: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."
Although Morrison was known as the lyricist of the group, Krieger also made lyrical contributions, writing or co-writing some of the group's biggest hits, including "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Love Her Madly" and "Touch Me". On the other hand, Morrison, who did not write most songs using an instrument, would come up with vocal melodies for his own lyrics, with the other band members contributing chords and rhythm. Morrison did not play an instrument live (except for maracas and tambourine for most shows, and harmonica on a few occasions) or in the studio (excluding maracas, tambourine, handclaps, and whistling). However, he did play the grand piano on "Orange County Suite" and a Moog synthesizer on "Strange Days".
In May 1966, Morrison reportedly attended a concert by the Velvet Underground at The Trip in Los Angeles, and Andy Warhol claimed in his book Popism that his "black leather" look had been heavily influenced by the dancer Gerard Malanga who performed at the concert. Conversely, Krieger and Manzarek claim that Morrison was inspired to wear leather pants by Marlon Brando from his role in The Fugitive Kind. No One Here Gets Out Alive repeatedly mentions that Morrison was especially drawn to the look and posture of the ancient Greek king Alexander the Great. In June 1966, Morrison and the Doors were the opening act at the Whisky a Go Go in the last week of the residency of Van Morrison's band Them. Van's influence on Jim's developing stage performance was later noted by Brian Hinton in his book Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison: "Jim Morrison learned quickly from his near namesake's stagecraft, his apparent recklessness, his air of subdued menace, the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching down by the bass drum during instrumental breaks." On the final night, the two Morrisons and their two bands jammed together on "Gloria". Van later described Jim as being "really raw. He knew what he was doing and could do it very well."
In November 1966, Morrison and the Doors produced a promotional film for "Break On Through (To the Other Side)", which was their first single release. The film featured the four group members playing the song on a darkened set with alternating views and close-ups of the performers while Morrison lip-synched the lyrics. Morrison and the Doors continued to make short music films, including "The Unknown Soldier", "Strange Days" and "People Are Strange".
On September 18, 1967, photographer Joel Brodsky took a series of black-and-white photos of a shirtless Morrison in a photo shoot known as "The Young Lion" photo session. These photographs are considered among the most iconic images of Jim Morrison and are frequently used as covers for compilation albums, books, and other memorabilia related to Morrison and the Doors.
The Doors achieved national recognition in 1967 after signing with Elektra Records. The single "Light My Fire" spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in July/August 1967, a far cry from the Doors opening for Simon and Garfunkel or playing at a high school as they did in Connecticut that same year. Later on, the Doors appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, a popular Sunday night variety series that had given the Beatles and Elvis Presley national exposure. Ed Sullivan requested two songs from the Doors for the show, "People Are Strange" and "Light My Fire". Sullivan's censors insisted that the Doors change the lyrics of the song "Light My Fire" from "Girl we couldn't get much higher" to "Girl we couldn't get much better" for the television viewers; this was reportedly due to what was perceived as a reference to drugs in the original lyrics. After giving reluctant assurances of compliance to the producer in the dressing room, in one version of the story, an angry and defiant Morrison told the band he wasn't changing a word and sang the song with the original lyrics deliberately; in another, Morrison sang mistakenly the unaltered lyric out of anxiety from performing on live television. Either way, Sullivan was unhappy and refused to shake hands with Morrison or any other band member after their performance. He then had a producer tell the band they would never appear on his show again, and their planned six further bookings were cancelled. In a defiant tone, Morrison said to the producer, "Hey, man. So what? We just did the Sullivan Show!"
By the release of their second album, Strange Days, the Doors had become one of the most popular rock bands in the U.S. Their blend of blues and dark psychedelic rock included a number of original songs and distinctive cover versions, such as their rendition of "Alabama Song" from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The band also performed a number of extended concept works, including the songs "The End", "When the Music's Over", and "Celebration of the Lizard".
On the evening of December 9, 1967, during a concert in New Haven, Connecticut, Morrison was arrested on stage in an incident that further added to his mystique and emphasized his rebellious image. Before the show, a police officer found Morrison and a woman in the showers backstage. Not recognizing the singer, the policeman ordered him to leave, to which Morrison mockingly replied, "Eat me." He was subsequently maced by the officer, and the show was delayed. Once onstage, he told the concertgoers an obscenity-filled version of the incident. New Haven police arrested him for indecency and public obscenity, but the charges were later dropped. Morrison was the first rock performer arrested onstage.
In 1968, the Doors released their third studio album, Waiting for the Sun. On July 5, the band performed at the Hollywood Bowl; footage from this performance was later released on the DVD Live at the Hollywood Bowl. While in Los Angeles, Morrison spent time with Mick Jagger, discussing their mutual hesitation and awkwardness about dancing in front of an audience, with Jagger asking Morrison's advice on "how to work for a big crowd".
On September 6 and 7, 1968, the Doors played in Europe for the first time, with four performances at the Roundhouse in London with Jefferson Airplane, which was filmed by Granada Television for the television documentary The Doors Are Open, directed by John Sheppard. Around this time, Morrison – who had long been a heavy drinker – started showing up for recording sessions visibly inebriated. He was also frequently appearing in live performances and studio recordings late or stoned.
By early 1969, the formerly svelte Morrison had gained weight, grown a beard, and begun dressing more casually, abandoning the leather pants and concho belts for slacks, jeans, and T-shirts. The Soft Parade, the Doors' fourth album, was released later that year. It was the first album where each band member was given individual songwriting credit, by name, for their work. Previously, each song on their albums had been credited simply to "The Doors".
During a concert on March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, a visibly intoxicated Morrison attempted to spark a riot in the audience, in part by screaming, "You wanna see my cock?" and other obscenities. Three days later, six warrants for his arrest were issued by the Dade County Public Safety Department for indecent exposure, among other accusations. Consequently, many of the Doors' scheduled concerts were canceled. On September 20, 1970, Morrison was convicted of indecent exposure and profanity by a six-person jury in Miami after a sixteen-day trial. Morrison, who attended the October 30 sentencing "in a wool jacket adorned with Indian designs", silently listened as he was sentenced to six months in prison and had to pay a $500 fine. However, Morrison remained free on a $50,000 bond while the verdict was being appealed. At the sentencing, Judge Murray Goodman told Morrison that he was a "person graced with a talent" admired by many of his peers.
Interviewed by Bob Chorush of the L.A. Free Press, Morrison expressed both bafflement and clarity about the Miami incident:
I wasted a lot of time and energy with the Miami trial. About a year and a half. But I guess it was a valuable experience because before the trial, I had a very unrealistic schoolboy attitude about the American judicial system. My eyes have been opened up a bit. There were guys down there, black guys, that would go each day before I went on. It took about five minutes and they would get twenty or twenty-five years in jail. If I hadn't had unlimited funds to continue fighting my case, I'd be in jail right now for three years. It's just if you have money you generally don't go to jail.
On December 8, 2010 – the 67th anniversary of Morrison's birth – Florida governor Charlie Crist and the state clemency board unanimously signed a complete posthumous pardon for Morrison. All the other members of the band, along with Doors' road manager Vince Treanor, have insisted that Morrison did not expose himself on stage that night.
Following The Soft Parade, the Doors released Morrison Hotel. After a lengthy break, the group reconvened in October 1970 to record their final album with Morrison, titled L.A. Woman. Shortly after the recording sessions for the album began, producer Paul A. Rothchild – who had overseen all of their previous recordings – left the project, and engineer Bruce Botnick took over as producer.
Death
After recording L.A. Woman with the other members of the Doors in Los Angeles, Morrison announced to the band his intention to go to Paris. His bandmates generally felt that it was a good idea. In March 1971, Morrison took a leave of absence from the Doors and joined girlfriend Pamela Courson in Paris at an apartment she had rented at 17–19 Rue Beautreillis, in Le Marais, 4th arrondissement. In letters to friends, he described going alone for long walks through the city. During this time, he shaved his beard and lost some of the weight he had gained in the previous months. He also telephoned John Densmore to ask him how L.A. Woman was doing commercially; he was the last band member to ever speak with him.
On July 3, 1971, Morrison was found dead in the bathtub of the apartment at approximately 6:00 AM. by Courson. He was 27 years old. The official cause of death was listed as heart failure, although no autopsy was performed as it was not required by French law. Courson said that Morrison's last words, as he was bathing, were, "Pam, are you still there?"
Several individuals who say they were eyewitnesses, including Marianne Faithfull, claim that his death was due to an accidental heroin overdose. Sam Bernett, founder and manager of the Rock 'n' Roll Circus night club, affirmed that he had found Morrison unconscious in the club's bathrooms after a purported heroin overdose around 2:00 AM and that his body was taken away from the club by two men supposed to be the drug dealers. Because of the lack of an autopsy, however, these statements could never be confirmed. According to music journalist Ben Fong-Torres, it was suggested that his death was kept a secret, and the reporters who had telephoned Paris were told that Morrison was not deceased but tired and resting at a hospital. Morrison's friend, film director Agnès Varda, admitted that she was the one who was responsible for hiding the incident from becoming public. In her last media interview before her death in 2019, Varda confirmed that she was one of the only four mourners to attend Morrison's burial.
Since his death there have been a number of conspiracy theories concerning Morrison's death.
Age 27 artist deaths
Morrison's death came two years to the day after the death of Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones and approximately nine months after the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. All of these popular musicians died at the age of 27 in the same era, leading to the emergence of the 27 Club urban legend.
Personal life
Morrison's family
Morrison's early life was the semi-nomadic existence typical of military families. Jerry Hopkins recorded Morrison's brother, Andy, explaining that his parents had determined never to use corporal punishment such as spanking on their children. They instead instilled discipline by the military tradition known as "dressing down", which consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to tears and acknowledged their failings. Once Morrison graduated from UCLA, he broke off most contact with his family. By the time his music ascended to the top of the charts (in 1967) he had not been in communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed that everyone in his immediate family was dead (or claimed that he was an only child). However, Morrison told Hopkins in a 1969 interview for Rolling Stone magazine that he did this because he did not want to involve his family in his musical career. His sister similarly believed that "he did it to protect my dad, who was moving up in the Navy, and to keep his life separate, not to shake it up on both sides."
Morrison's father was not supportive of his career in music. In a letter to the Florida Probation and Parole Commission District Office dated October 2, 1970, Admiral Morrison revealed that, while on a military assignment in England a few years prior, he had wrote Jim and "strongly advised him to give up any idea of singing or any connection with a music group because of what I considered to be a complete lack of talent in this direction." In the letter he acknowledged that Jim's "reluctance to communicate with me again is to me quite understandable." One day, Andy brought home the Doors' debut album and played it for his parents. According to Andy, their father "listened to the album and afterward he didn’t say a thing. Not a thing."
Morrison spoke fondly of his Scottish and Northern Irish ancestry and was inspired by Celtic mythology in his poetry and songs. Celtic Family Magazine revealed in its 2016 Spring Issue that his Morrison clan was originally from the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, while his Irish side, the Clelland clan who married into the Morrison line, were from County Down in Northern Ireland.
Relationships
Morrison was sought after by many as a photographer's model, confidant, romantic partner and sexual conquest. He had several serious relationships and many casual encounters. By many accounts, he could also be inconsistent with his partners, displaying what some recall as "a dual personality". Rothchild recalls, "Jim really was two very distinct and different people. A Jekyll and Hyde. When he was sober, he was Jekyll, the most erudite, balanced, friendly kind of guy ... He was Mr. America. When he would start to drink, he'd be okay at first, then, suddenly, he would turn into a maniac. Turn into Hyde."
One of Morrison's early relationships was with Mary Werbelow, whom he met on the beach in Clearwater, Florida, when they were teenagers in mid-1962. In a 2005 interview with the St. Petersburg Times, she said Morrison spoke to her before a photo shoot for the Doors' fourth album and told her the first three albums were about her. She also stated in the interview that she was not a fan of the band and never attended a concert by them. Werbelow broke off the relationship in Los Angeles in mid-1965, a few months before Morrison began rehearsals. Manzarek said of Werbelow, "She was Jim's first love. She held a deep place in his soul." Manzarek also noted that Morrison's song "The End" was intended originally to be "a short goodbye love song to Mary", with the longer oedipal middle section a later addition.
Morrison spent the majority of his adult life in an open and at times very charged and intense relationship with Pamela Courson. Through to the end, Courson saw Morrison as more than a rock star, as "a great poet"; she constantly encouraged him and pushed him to write. Courson attended his concerts and focused on supporting his career. Like Morrison, she was described by many as fiery, determined and attractive, as someone who was tough despite appearing fragile. Manzarek called Pamela "Jim's other half" and said, "I never knew another person who could so complement his bizarreness."
After her death in 1974, Courson was buried by her family as Pamela Susan Morrison. Her parents petitioned the court for inheritance of Morrison's estate. The probate court in California judged that she and Morrison had what qualified as a common-law marriage. Morrison's will at the time of his death named Courson as the sole heir.
Morrison dedicated his published poetry books The Lords and New Creatures and the lost writings Wilderness to Courson. A number of writers have speculated that songs like "Love Street", "Orange County Suite" and "Queen of the Highway", among other songs, may have been written about her. Though the relationship was "tumultuous" much of the time, and both also had relationships with others, they always maintained a unique and ongoing connection with one another until the end of Morrison's life.
Throughout his career, Morrison had regular sexual and romantic encounters with fans (including groupies) such as Pamela Des Barres or Poppy Martins (according to Zouzou), as well as ongoing affairs with other musicians, writers, and photographers involved in the music business. They included Nico; Eve Babitz; singer Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane; and editor Gloria Stavers of 16 Magazine, as well as an alleged alcohol-fueled encounter with Janis Joplin. David Crosby stated many years later that Morrison treated Joplin cruelly at a party at the Calabasas, California, home of John Davidson while Davidson was out of town. She reportedly hit him over the head with a bottle of whiskey during a fight in front of witnesses, and thereafter referred to Morrison as "that asshole" whenever his name was brought up in conversation. During her appearance on the Dick Cavett Show in 1969, when host Dick Cavett offered to light her cigarette, asking "May I light your fire, my child?", she jokingly replied, "That's my favorite singer ... I guess not."
Rock critic Patricia Kennealy described her fling with Morrison in No One Here Gets Out Alive, Break On Through, and later in Kennealy's own memoir, Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison. Kennealy said that Morrison participated in a neopagan handfasting ceremony with her. According to Kennealy, the couple signed a handwritten document, and were declared wed by a Celtic high priestess and high priest on Midsummer night in 1970, but none of the necessary paperwork for a legal marriage was filed with the state. No witness to this ceremony was ever named. In an interview for the book Rock Wives, Kennealy was asked if Morrison took the handfasting ceremony seriously. She is seen on video saying, "Probably not too seriously". She added, he turned "really cold" when she claimed she became pregnant, leading her to speculate that maybe he had not taken the wedding as seriously as she had. Kennealy showed up unexpectedly in Miami during the indecency trial, and Morrison was curt with her. She later said, "he was scared to death. They were really out to put him away. Jim was devastated that he wasn't getting any public support."
Morrison moved to Paris with Pamela and never had his day in court due to his unexpected death there.
At the time of Morrison's death, there were thirty-seven paternity actions pending against him, although no claims were made against his estate by any of the putative paternity claimants.
Artistic influences
Although Morrison's early education was routinely disrupted as he moved from school to school, he was drawn to the study of literature, poetry, religion, philosophy and psychology, among other fields. Biographers have consistently pointed to a number of writers and philosophers who influenced his thinking and, perhaps, his behavior. While still in his adolescence, Morrison discovered the works of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Densmore has mentioned that he believed Nietzsche's ideas of a world with no objective order or structure "killed Jim Morrison".
Morrison was drawn to the poetry of William Blake, Arthur Rimbaud, and Charles Baudelaire. Beat Generation writers such as Jack Kerouac and libertine writers such as the Marquis de Sade also had a strong influence on Morrison's outlook and manner of expression; he was eager to experience the life described in Kerouac's On the Road. He was similarly drawn to the work of French writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline. Céline's book, Voyage Au Bout de la Nuit (Journey to the End of the Night) and Blake's Auguries of Innocence both echo through one of Morrison's early songs, "End of the Night".
Morrison later met and befriended Michael McClure, a well-known Beat poet. McClure had enjoyed Morrison's lyrics but was even more impressed by his poetry and encouraged him to further develop his craft. Morrison's vision of performance was colored by the works of 20th-century French playwright Antonin Artaud (author of Theater and its Double) and by Judith Malina and Julian Beck's Living Theater.
Other works relating to religion, mysticism, ancient myth and symbolism were of lasting interest to Morrison, particularly Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. James Frazer's The Golden Bough also became a source of inspiration and is reflected in the title and lyrics of the song "Not to Touch the Earth". Morrison was particularly attracted to the myths and religions of Native American cultures.
While he was still at school, his family moved to New Mexico where he became familiar with the landscape and some of the iconography important to the Indigenous peoples of the American Southwest. These interests appear to be the source of many references to creatures and places such as lizards, snakes, deserts and "ancient lakes" that appear in his songs and poetry. His interpretations and fantasies of Native American ceremonies and ceremonial leaders (which, based on his readings, he referred to by the anthropological term "shamans") influenced his stage performances, notably in his seeking of trance states and vision through dancing to the point of exhaustion. In particular, Morrison's poem "The Ghost Song" was inspired by his readings about the Native American Ghost Dance.
Morrison's vocal influences included Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, which can be heard in his baritone crooning style on several of the Doors' songs. In the 1981 documentary The Doors: A Tribute to Jim Morrison, Rothchild relates his first impression of Morrison as being a "Rock and Roll Bing Crosby". Botnick has recalled that when he first met the Doors in Sunset Sound Studios he showed them the condenser microphone, which Morrison would then use when recording his vocals for their debut album. Morrison was particularly excited about this microphone (the Telefunken U47) as it was the same model that Sinatra had used for some of his recording sessions. Sugerman has written that Morrison, as a teenager, was such a fan of Elvis that he demanded silence when Elvis was on the radio, but that Sinatra was Morrison's favorite singer. Morrison also cited Little Richard, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent as other early influences. In his Elektra Records biography, Morrison named contemporaries such as the Beach Boys, the Kinks, and Love as his favorite singing groups. According to record producer David Anderle, Morrison considered Brian Wilson "his favorite musician" and the Beach Boys' 1967 LP Wild Honey "one of his favorite albums. ... he really got into it."
Wallace Fowlie, professor emeritus of French literature at Duke University, wrote Rimbaud and Jim Morrison, subtitled "The Rebel as Poet – A Memoir". In this, he recounts his surprise at receiving a fan letter from Morrison who, in 1968, thanked him for his latest translation of Rimbaud's verse into English. "I don't read French easily", he wrote, "... your book travels around with me." Fowlie went on to give lectures on numerous campuses comparing the lives, philosophies, and poetry of Morrison and Rimbaud. The book The Doors, by the remaining Doors, quotes Morrison's close friend Frank Lisciandro as saying that too many people took a remark of Morrison's that he was interested in revolt, disorder, and chaos "to mean that he was an anarchist, a revolutionary, or, worse yet, a nihilist. Hardly anyone noticed that Jim was paraphrasing Rimbaud and the Surrealist poets".
Poetry and film
Morrison began writing in earnest during his adolescence. At UCLA he studied the related fields of theater, film, and cinematography. He self-published two volumes of poetry in 1969, titled The Lords / Notes on Vision and The New Creatures. The Lords consists primarily of brief descriptions of places, people, events and Morrison's thoughts on cinema. The New Creatures verses are more poetic in structure, feel and appearance. These two books were later combined into a single volume titled The Lords and The New Creatures. These were the only writings published during Morrison's lifetime. Morrison befriended Beat poet Michael McClure, who wrote the afterword for Hopkins' No One Here Gets Out Alive. McClure and Morrison reportedly collaborated on a number of unmade film projects, including a film version of McClure's infamous play The Beard, in which Morrison would have played Billy the Kid.
The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison Volume I is titled Wilderness, and, upon its release in 1988, became an instant New York Times Bestseller. Volume II, The American Night, released in 1990, was also a success. Morrison recorded his own poetry in a professional sound studio on two occasions. The first was in March 1969 in Los Angeles and the second was on December 8, 1970. The latter recording session was attended by Morrison's personal friends and included a variety of sketch pieces. Some of the segments from the 1969 session were issued on the bootleg album The Lost Paris Tapes and were later used as part of the Doors' An American Prayer album, released in 1978. The album reached No. 54 on the music charts.
Some poetry recorded from the December 1970 session remains unreleased to this day and is in the possession of the Courson family. Morrison's best-known but seldom seen cinematic endeavor is HWY: An American Pastoral, a project he started in 1969. Morrison financed the venture and formed his own production company in order to maintain complete control of the project. Paul Ferrara, Frank Lisciandro, and Babe Hill assisted with the project. Morrison played the main character, a hitchhiker turned killer/car thief. Morrison asked his friend composer/pianist Fred Myrow to select the soundtrack for the film.
Paris Journal
After his death, a notebook of poetry written by Morrison was recovered, titled Paris Journal; among other personal details, it contains the allegorical foretelling of a man who will be left grieving and having to abandon his belongings, due to a police investigation into a death connected to the Chinese opium trade. "Weeping, he left his pad on orders from police and furnishings hauled away, all records and mementos, and reporters calculating tears & curses for the press: 'I hope the Chinese junkies get you' and they will for the [opium] poppy rules the world".
The concluding stanzas of this poem convey disappointment in someone with whom he had had an intimate relationship, perhaps using the relationship as a metaphor as the relationship with life itself, and contain a further invocation of Billy the killer/Hitchhiker, a common character in Morrison's body of work:
In 2013, another of Morrison's notebooks from Paris, found alongside the Paris Journal in the same box, known as the 127 Fascination box, sold for $250,000 at auction. This box of personal belongings similarly contained a home movie of Pamela Courson dancing in an unspecified cemetery in Corsica, the only film so far recovered to have been filmed by Morrison. The box also housed a number of older notebooks and journals and may initially have included the "Steno Pad" and the falsely titled The Lost Paris Tapes bootleg, if they had not been separated from the primary collection and sold by Philippe Dalecky with this promotional title. Those familiar with the voices of Morrison's friends and colleagues later determined that, contrary to the story advanced by Dalecky that this was Morrison's final recording made with busking Parisian musicians, the Lost Paris Tapes are in fact of "Jomo & The Smoothies": Morrison, friend Michael McClure and producer Paul Rothchild loose jamming in Los Angeles, well before Paris 1971.
Grave site
Morrison was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, one of the city's most visited tourist attractions, where Irish playwright Oscar Wilde, French cabaret singer Édith Piaf, and many other poets and artists are also buried. The grave had no official marker until French officials placed a shield over it, which was stolen in 1973. The grave was listed in the cemetery directory with Morrison's name incorrectly arranged as "Douglas James Morrison".
In 1981, Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin voluntarily – with the approval of the cemetery curators – placed a marble bust of his own design and a new gravestone with Morrison's name at the grave to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Morrison's death; the bust was defaced through the years by vandals and later stolen in 1988. Mikulin made another bust of Morrison in 1989 and a bronze portrait ("death mask") of him in 2001; neither piece is at the gravesite. Mikulin's original bust was recovered by the Paris police in May 2025. The discovery was made by chance while the police were investigating another matter.
In 1990, Morrison's father, George Stephen Morrison, after a consultation with E. Nicholas Genovese, Professor of Classics and Humanities, San Diego State University, placed a flat stone on the grave. The bronze plaque thereon bears the Greek inscription: ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ, usually translated as "true to his own spirit" or "according to his own daemon".
Legacy
Musical
Morrison was and continues to be one of the most popular and influential singer-songwriters and iconic frontmen in rock history. To this day, he is widely regarded as the prototypical rock star: surly, sexy, scandalous, and mysterious. The leather pants he was fond of wearing both onstage and off have since become stereotyped as rock-star apparel. The lead singer of U2, Bono, had used Morrison's leather pants for his onstage alter-ego, which he called "Fly". Music journalist Stephen Davis described Morrison as the single "greatest American rock star of his era".
In 1993, Morrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Doors; the other band members dedicated their induction to Morrison. In 2011, a Rolling Stone readers' pick placed Morrison in fifth place of the magazine's "Best Lead Singers of All Time". In another Rolling Stone list, entitled "The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time", he was ranked 47th. NME named him the 13th greatest singer of all time. He was also ranked number 22 on Classic Rock magazine's "50 Greatest Singers in Rock".
Fatboy Slim's song "Sunset" includes Morrison's vocal interpretation of his poem "Bird of Prey". In 2012, electronic music producer Skrillex released "Breakn' a Sweat," which contained vocals from an interview with Morrison. Alice Cooper has said that his song "Desperado", from the 1971 Killer, was a tribute to Morrison.
Influences
Iggy and the Stooges are said to have formed after lead singer Iggy Pop was inspired by Morrison while attending a Doors concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Pop later said about the concert:
That show was a big, big, big influence on me. They had just had their big hit, "Light My Fire" and the album had taken off ... So, here's this guy, out of his head on acid, dressed in leather with his hair all oiled and curled. The stage was tiny and it was really low. It got confrontational. I found it really interesting. I loved the performance ... Part of me was like, "Wow, this is great. He's really pissing people off and he's lurching around making these guys angry."
One of Pop's most popular songs, "The Passenger", is said to be based on one of Morrison's poems. Layne Staley, the vocalist of Alice in Chains; Eddie Vedder, the vocalist of Pearl Jam; Scott Weiland, the vocalist of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver; Glenn Danzig, singer and founder of Danzig; Ian Astbury, the frontman of the Cult; Siouxsie Sioux, the lead singer of Siouxsie and the Banshees; Michael Gira, the frontman of Swans; Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division; Julian Casablancas, the vocalist of the Strokes; Billy Idol; and Patti Smith have said that Morrison was their biggest influence. Music journalist Simon Reynolds noted that the "deep, heavy alloys" in Morrison's voice, served as a prototype for the gothic rock scene.
Films
Biopic
In 1991, Oliver Stone directed a biopic film about Morrison, with actor Val Kilmer portraying him. Kilmer learned over twenty of the Doors' songs to achieve Morrison's role. While the film was inspired by many real events and individuals, the film's depiction of Morrison was heavily criticized by many people who knew him personally, including Patricia Kennealy and the other Doors members. Manzarek said about the film's portrayal, "It was ridiculous ... It was not about Jim Morrison. It was about 'Jimbo Morrison', the drunk. God, where was the sensitive poet and the funny guy? The guy I knew was not on that screen." Krieger agreed that the movie did not capture "how Jim [Morrison] was at all". He also noted the impact of the film's representation on numerous people he talked to: "He's never a real guy in that movie. People find it hard to believe he could just be a normal person–a good friend and a great guy to be with."
On an album by CPR, David Crosby wrote and recorded a song about the movie with the lyric: "And I have seen that movie – and it wasn't like that." In general, the film received underwhelming to poor reviews, which largely focused on the many inaccuracies and problems with the narrative. However, Kilmer received some praise for his performance, with some members of the Doors reportedly saying that at times they could not distinguish whether it was Kilmer or Morrison singing on some of the sequences. Overall, the group members praised Kilmer's interpretation. Regardless of the widespread acclaim surrounding Kilmer's performance, he did not claim any award.
Others
The lead character of a 2011 Bollywood film, Rockstar starring Ranbir Kapoor, was inspired by Morrison. The 2007 film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story has numerous references to Morrison. Morrison's grave is featured in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 1, episode 3.
Discography
The Doors
The Doors (1967)
Strange Days (1967)
Waiting for the Sun (1968)
The Soft Parade (1969)
Morrison Hotel (1970)
L.A. Woman (1971)
An American Prayer (1978)
Filmography
Films by Morrison
HWY: An American Pastoral
Documentaries featuring Morrison
See also
Outline of the Doors
Bibliography
The Lords and the New Creatures (1969). 1985 edition: ISBN 0-7119-0552-5
An American Prayer (1970) privately printed by Western Lithographers. (Unauthorized edition also published in 1983, Zeppelin Publishing Company, ISBN 0-915628-46-5. The authenticity of the unauthorized edition has been disputed.)
Ardent lointain, edition bilingue (1988), trad. de l'américain et présenté par Sabine Prudent et Werner Reimann. [Paris]: C. Bourgois. 157 p. N.B.: Original texts in English, with French translations, on facing pages. ISBN 2-267-00560-3
Wilderness: The Lost Writings Of Jim Morrison (1988). 1990 edition: ISBN 0-14-011910-8
The American Night: The Writings of Jim Morrison (1990). 1991 edition: ISBN 0-670-83772-5
The Collected Works of Jim Morrison: Poetry, Journals, Transcripts, and Lyrics (2021). Edited by Frank Lisciandro, foreword by Tom Robbins: ISBN 978-0-06302897-5
Stephen Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, (2004) ISBN 1-59240-064-7
John Densmore, Riders on the Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison and The Doors (1991) ISBN 0-385-30447-1
References
Further reading
Linda Ashcroft (1997), Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison, ISBN 1-56025-249-9
Lester Bangs, "Jim Morrison: Bozo Dionysus a Decade Later" in Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader, John Morthland, ed. Anchor Press (2003) ISBN 0-375-71367-0
Dave DiMartino, Moonlight Drive (1995) ISBN 1-886894-21-3
Steven Erkel, "The Poet Behind The Doors: Jim Morrison's Poetry and the 1960s Countercultural Movement" (2011)
Wallace Fowlie, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison (1994) ISBN 0-8223-1442-8
Jerry Hopkins, The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison (1995) ISBN 0-684-81866-3
Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980) ISBN 0-85965-138-X
Huddleston, Judy, Love Him Madly: An Intimate Memoir of Jim Morrison (2013) ISBN 9781613747506
Mike Jahn, "Jim Morrison and The Doors", (1969) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 71–84745
Dylan Jones, Jim Morrison: Dark Star, (1990) ISBN 0-7475-0951-4
Gerry Kirstein, "Some Are Born to Endless Night: Jim Morrison, Visions of Apocalypse and Transcendence" (2012) ISBN 1451558066
Frank Lisciandro, Morrison: A Feast of Friends (1991) ISBN 0-446-39276-6, Morrison – Un festin entre amis (1996) (French)
Frank Lisciandro, Jim Morrison: An Hour For Magic (A Photojournal) (1982) ISBN 0-85965-246-7, James Douglas Morrison (2005) (French)
Ray Manzarek, Light My Fire (1998) ISBN 0-446-60228-0. First by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman (1981)
Peter Jan Margry, The Pilgrimage to Jim Morrison's Grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery: The Social Construction of Sacred Space. In idem (ed.), Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World. New Itineraries into the Sacred. Amsterdam University Press, 2008, p. 145–173.
Thanasis Michos, The Poetry of James Douglas Morrison (2001) ISBN 960-7748-23-9 (Greek)
Daveth Milton, We Want The World: Jim Morrison, The Living Theatre, and the FBI, (2012) ISBN 978-0957051188
Mark Opsasnick, The Lizard King Was Here: The Life and Times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Virginia (2006) ISBN 1-4257-1330-0
James Riordan and Jerry Prochnicky, Break on through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison (1991) ISBN 0-688-11915-8
Adriana Rubio, Jim Morrison: Ceremony...Exploring the Shaman Possession (2005) ISBN
Howard Sounes. 27: A History of the 27 Club Through the Lives of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse, Boston: Da Capo Press, 2013. ISBN 0-306-82168-0.
The Doors (remaining members Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore) with Ben Fong-Torres, The Doors (2006) ISBN 1-4013-0303-X
Mick Wall (2014), Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre: A Biography of The Doors
External links
The Doors official website
Jim Morrison discography at Discogs
Jim Morrison at IMDb
Earliest film of Jim Morrison
A lost painting collaboration with Jim Morrison intended for his An American Prayer album
George Washington High School Alumni Association, Alexandria, Va., Morrison page
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Evel Knievel
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Robert Craig Knievel (October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007), known professionally as Evel Knievel ( EE-vəl kə-NEE-vəl), was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Throughout his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.
Evel Knievel was born in Butte, Montana. Raised by his paternal grandparents, Knievel was inspired to become a motorcycle daredevil after attending a Joie Chitwood auto daredevil show. He left high school early to work in the copper mines but was later fired for causing a city-wide power outage. After adopting the nickname "Evel Knievel", he participated in rodeos and ski jumping events, and served in the U.S. Army before marrying Linda Joan Bork and starting a semi-pro hockey team. To support his family, Knievel started the Sur-Kill Guide Service and later worked as an insurance salesman. Eventually, he opened a Honda motorcycle dealership in Washington, but faced difficulties promoting Japanese imports. After the dealership closed, Knievel worked at a motorcycle shop where he learned motocross stunts that would later contribute to his daredevil career.
Knievel's most famous stunt was an attempt to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace, which resulted in severe injuries. Knievel became a legendary figure, breaking numerous records throughout his career.
On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted to jump across the Snake River Canyon in Idaho using a rocket-powered cycle called the Skycycle X-2. The jump failed after the parachute deployed prematurely, but Knievel survived with minor injuries.
Knievel sought to profit from his image through endorsements and marketing deals. American Eagle Motorcycles signed him, and his popularity grew with young boys. From 1972 to 1977, Ideal Toy Company sold over $125 million worth of Knievel toys. Knievel's fame led to TV appearances and partnerships with companies like AMF and Harley-Davidson. However, after an assault conviction and jail time, he lost endorsements and declared bankruptcy. Despite a decline in his daredevil career, Knievel made a marketing comeback in the 1990s and continued to be involved in various ventures.
Knievel died on November 30, 2007, at the age of 69 due to diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was buried in his hometown of Butte, Montana. Posthumously, Knievel has been honored through various exhibits, a museum, and tribute jumps. His legacy also lives on in television commercials featuring his iconic stunts.
Early life
Knievel was born on October 17, 1938, in Butte, Montana, the first of two children of Robert E. and Ann Marie Keough Knievel. His surname is of German origin; his paternal great-great-grandparents immigrated to the United States from Germany. His mother was of Irish ancestry. Robert and Ann divorced in 1940, after the 1939 birth of their second child, Nicolas, known as Nic. Both parents decided to leave Butte.
Knievel and his brother were raised in Butte by their paternal grandparents, Ignatius and Emma Knievel. At the age of eight, Knievel attended a Joie Chitwood auto daredevil show, which he credited for his later career choice as a motorcycle daredevil.
Knievel was a cousin of Democratic U.S. Representative from Montana, Pat Williams (1937 – 2025).
Knievel left Butte High School after his sophomore year. He got a job in the copper mines as a diamond drill operator with the Anaconda Mining Company; however, Knievel preferred motorbiking to what he called "unimportant stuff". He was promoted to surface duty, where he drove a large earth mover. Knievel was fired when he made the earth mover do a motorcycle-type wheelie and accidentally drove it into Butte's main power line, leaving the city without electricity for several hours.
Knievel's website says that he chose his nickname after spending a night in jail in 1956 after being arrested for reckless driving. In the same jail that night was a man named William Knofel, who had the nickname “Awful Knofel”; this led to Knievel being referred to as “Evel Knievel”.
Seeking new thrills and challenges, Knievel participated in local professional rodeos and ski jumping events, including winning the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Men's ski jumping championship in 1959. During the late 1950s, Knievel joined the United States Army. His athletic ability allowed him to join the track team, where he was a pole vaulter. After his army stint, Knievel returned to Butte, where he met and married his first wife, Linda Joan Bork. Shortly after getting married, Knievel started the Butte Bombers, a semi-pro hockey team.
To help promote his team and earn some money, he convinced the Czechoslovak Olympic ice hockey team to play the Butte Bombers in a warm-up game to the 1960 Winter Olympics (to be held in California). Knievel was ejected from the game minutes into the third period and left the stadium. When the Czechoslovak officials went to the box office to collect the expense money that the team was promised, workers discovered the game receipts had been stolen. The United States Olympic Committee ended up paying the Czechoslovak team's expenses to avoid an international incident. Knievel tried out with the Charlotte Clippers of the Eastern Hockey League in 1959, but decided that a traveling team was not for him.
After the birth of his first son, Kelly, Knievel realized that he needed to come up with a new way to support his family financially. Using the hunting and fishing skills taught to him by his grandfather, Knievel started the Sur-Kill Guide Service. He guaranteed that if a hunter employed his service and paid his fee, he would get the big game animal desired or Knievel would refund his fee.
Knievel, after learning about the culling of elk in Yellowstone, decided to hitchhike from Butte to Washington, D.C., in December 1961 to raise awareness and to have the elk relocated to areas where hunting was permitted. After this conspicuous trek (he hitchhiked with a 54-inch-wide (1.4-meter) rack of elk antlers and a petition with 3,000 signatures), he presented his case to Representative Arnold Olsen, Senator Mike Mansfield, and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall. Culling was stopped in the late 1960s.
After returning home to the west from Washington, D.C., he joined the motocross circuit and had moderate success, but he still could not make enough money to support his family. In 1962, Knievel broke his collarbone and shoulder in a motocross accident. The doctors said he could not race for at least six months. Still needing to help support his family, he again switched careers and sold insurance for the Combined Insurance Company of America, working for W. Clement Stone. Stone suggested that Knievel read Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude, a book that Stone wrote with Napoleon Hill. Knievel credited much of his later success to Stone and his book.
Knievel was successful as an insurance salesman, but felt that his efforts were being unrecognized. When the company refused to promote him to vice president after he had been a few months on the job, he quit. Wanting a new start away from Butte, Knievel moved his family to Moses Lake, Washington. There, he opened a Honda motorcycle dealership and promoted motocross racing. During the early 1960s, he and other dealers had difficulty promoting and selling Japanese imports because of the steep competition of their auto industry, and the Moses Lake Honda dealership eventually closed. After the closure, Knievel went to work for Don Pomeroy at his motorcycle shop in Sunnyside, Washington. Pomeroy's son, Jim Pomeroy, who went on to compete in the Motocross World Championship, taught Knievel how to do a wheelie and ride while standing on the seat of the bike.
Career
Stunt performance
As a boy, Knievel had seen the Joie Chitwood show. He decided that he could do something similar using a motorcycle. Promoting the show himself, Knievel rented the venue, wrote the press releases, set up the show, sold the tickets, and served as his own master of ceremonies. After enticing the small crowd with a few wheelies, he proceeded to jump a 20-foot-long (6.1-meter) box of rattlesnakes and two mountain lions. Despite landing short and his back wheel hitting the box containing the rattlesnakes, Knievel managed to land safely.
Knievel realized that to make a more substantial amount of money he would need to hire more performers, stunt coordinators, and other personnel so that he could concentrate on the jumps. With little money, he went looking for a sponsor and found one in Bob Blair, owner of ZDS Motors, Inc., the West Coast distributor for Berliner Motor Corporation, a distributor for Norton Motorcycles. Blair offered to provide the needed motorcycles, but he wanted the name changed from Bobby Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils Thrill Show to Evil Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils. Knievel did not want his image to be that of a Hells Angels rider, so he convinced Blair to at least allow him to use the spelling Evel instead of Evil.
Knievel and his daredevils debuted on January 3, 1966, at the National Date Festival in Indio, California. The second booking was in Hemet, California, but was canceled due to rain. The next performance was on February 10, in Barstow, California. During the performance, Knievel attempted a new stunt in which he would jump, spread-eagled, over a speeding motorcycle. Knievel jumped too late and the motorcycle hit him in the groin, tossing him 15 feet (4.6 m) into the air. He was hospitalized as a result of his injuries. When released, he returned to Barstow to finish the performance he had started almost a month earlier.
Knievel's daredevil show broke up after the Barstow performance because injuries prevented him from performing. After recovering, Knievel started traveling from small town to small town as a solo act. To get ahead of other motorcycle stunt people who were jumping animals or pools of water, Knievel started jumping cars. He began adding more and more cars to his jumps when he would return to the same venue to get people to come out and see him again. Knievel had not had a serious injury since the Barstow performance, but on June 19 in Missoula, Montana, he attempted to jump twelve cars and a cargo van. The distance he had for takeoff did not allow him to get up enough speed. His back wheel hit the top of the van while his front wheel hit the top of the landing ramp. Knievel ended up with a severely broken arm and several broken ribs. The crash and subsequent stay in the hospital were a publicity windfall.
With each successful jump, the public wanted him to jump one more car. On March 25, 1967, Knievel cleared 15 cars at Ascot Park in Gardena, California. Then he attempted the same jump on July 28, 1967, in Graham, Washington, where he had his next serious crash. Landing his cycle on the last vehicle, a panel truck, Knievel was thrown from his bike. This time he suffered a serious concussion. After a month, he recovered and returned to Graham on August 18 to finish the show; but the result was the same, only this time the injuries were more serious. Again coming up short, Knievel crashed, breaking his left wrist, right knee, and two ribs.
Knievel first received national exposure on March 18, 1968, when comedian and late-night talk show host Joey Bishop had him on as a guest of ABC's The Joey Bishop Show.
Caesars Palace
While in Las Vegas to watch Dick Tiger successfully defend his World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight titles at the Convention Center on November 17, 1967, Knievel first saw the fountains at Caesars Palace and decided to jump them.
To get an audience with casino CEO Jay Sarno, Knievel created a fictitious corporation called Evel Knievel Enterprises and three fictitious lawyers to make phone calls to Sarno. Knievel also placed phone calls to Sarno claiming to be from American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and Sports Illustrated inquiring about the jump. Sarno finally agreed to meet Knievel and arranged for Knievel to jump the fountains on December 31, 1967, New Year's Eve. After the deal was set, Knievel tried to get ABC to air the event live on their popular Wide World of Sports. ABC declined but said that if Knievel had the jump filmed and it was as spectacular as he said it would be, they would consider using it later.
Knievel, at the age of 29, used his own money to have actor/director John Derek produce a film of the Caesars jump. To keep costs low, Derek employed his then-wife Linda Evans as one of the camera operators. It was Evans who filmed the famous landing. On the morning of the jump, Knievel stopped in the casino and placed his last $100 on the blackjack table (which he lost), stopped by the bar, and had a shot of Wild Turkey, and then headed outside where he was joined by several members of the Caesars staff, as well as two showgirls.
After doing his normal pre-jump show and a few warm-up approaches, Knievel began his real approach. When he hit the takeoff ramp, he said later, he felt the motorcycle unexpectedly decelerate. The sudden loss of power on the takeoff caused Knievel to come up short and land on the safety ramp which was supported by a van. This caused the handlebars to be ripped out of his hands as he tumbled over them onto the pavement where he skidded into the Dunes hotel parking lot.
As a result of the crash, Knievel suffered a crushed pelvis and femur, fractures to his hip, wrist, and both ankles, and a concussion that kept him in the hospital. Rumors circulated that he was in a coma for 29 days in the hospital, but this was refuted by his wife and others in the documentary film Being Evel.
The Caesars Palace crash was Knievel's longest attempted motorcycle jump at 144 ft 6 in. After his crash and recovery, Knievel was more famous than ever. ABC declined to air the event live on Wide World of Sports. The Caesars Palace historical jump video is now owned by K and K Promotions, Inc which is the successor in interest and owner of all Evel Knievel trademarks, film footage, and copyrights.
Insurance
In a 1971 interview with Dick Cavett, Knievel stated that he was uninsurable following the Caesars' crash, stating, "I have trouble getting life insurance, accident insurance, hospitalization and even insurance for my automobile ... Lloyd's of London has rejected me 37 times so if you hear the rumor that they insure anybody, don't pay too much attention to it." Four years later, a clause in Knievel's contract to jump 14 buses at Kings Island required a one-day $1 million liability insurance to the amusement park. Lloyd's of London offered liability insurance for $17,500. Knievel eventually paid $2,500 to a U.S.-based insurance company.
Jumps and records
To keep his name in the news, Knievel proposed his biggest stunt ever, a motorcycle jump across the Grand Canyon. Just five months after his near-fatal crash in Las Vegas, Knievel performed another jump. On May 25, 1968, in Scottsdale, Arizona, Knievel crashed while attempting to jump 15 Ford Mustangs. Knievel ended up breaking his right leg and foot as a result of the crash.
On August 3, 1968, Knievel returned to jumping, making more money than ever before. He was earning approximately $25,000 per performance, and he was making successful jumps almost weekly until October 13, in Carson City, Nevada. While trying to stick the landing, he lost control of the bike and crashed, breaking his hip again.
By 1971, Knievel realized that the U.S. government would never allow him to jump the Grand Canyon. To keep his fans interested, Knievel considered several other stunts that might match the publicity that would have been generated by jumping the canyon. Ideas included jumping across the Mississippi River, jumping from one skyscraper to another in New York City, and jumping over 13 cars inside the Houston Astrodome. While flying back to Butte from a performance tour, he looked out the window of his airplane and saw the Snake River Canyon. After finding a location just east of Twin Falls, Idaho, that was wide enough, deep enough, and on private property, he leased 300 acres (1.2 square kilometers) for $35,000 to stage his jump. He set the date for Labor Day (September 4), 1972.
On January 7–8, 1971, Knievel set a sales record at the Houston Astrodome by selling over 100,000 tickets to back-to-back performances there. On February 28, he set a new world record by jumping 19 cars with his Harley-Davidson XR-750 at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California. The 19-car jump was shot for the biopic Evel Knievel. Knievel held the record for 27 years until Bubba Blackwell jumped 20 cars in 1998 with an XR-750. In 2015, Doug Danger surpassed that number with 22 cars, accomplishing this feat on Evel Knievel's actual vintage 1972 Harley-Davidson XR-750.
On May 10, 1970, Knievel crashed while attempting to jump 13 Pepsi delivery trucks in Yakima, WA. His approach was complicated by the fact that he had to start on pavement, cut across grass, and then return to pavement. His lack of speed caused the motorcycle to come down on its front wheel first. He managed to hold on until the cycle hit the base of the ramp. After being thrown off, he skidded for 50 feet (15 m). He broke his collarbone, suffered a compound fracture of his right arm, and broke both legs.
On March 3, 1972, at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California, after making a successful jump, he tried to come to a quick stop because of a short landing area. He reportedly suffered a broken back and a concussion after getting thrown off and run over by his motorcycle, a Harley-Davidson. Knievel returned to jumping in November 1973, when he successfully jumped over 50 stacked cars at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. For 35 years, Knievel held the record for jumping the most stacked cars on a Harley-Davidson XR-750 (the record was broken in October 2008). His XR-750 is now part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Made of steel, aluminum, and fiberglass, the customized motorcycle weighs about 140 kilograms (300 pounds).
During his career, Knievel may have suffered more than 433 bone fractures, earning an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the survivor of "most bones broken in a lifetime". However, this number could be exaggerated: his son Robbie told a reporter in June 2014 that his father had broken 40 to 50 bones; Knievel himself claimed he broke 35.
The Grand Canyon jump
Although Knievel never attempted to jump the Grand Canyon, rumors of the Canyon jump were started by Knievel himself in 1968, following the Caesars Palace crash. During a 1968 interview, Knievel stated, "I don't care if they say, 'Look, kid, you're going to drive that thing off the edge of the Canyon and die,' I'm going to do it. I want to be the first. If they'd let me go to the moon, I'd crawl all the way to Cape Kennedy just to do it. I'd like to go to the moon, but I don't want to be the second man to go there." For the next several years, Knievel negotiated with the federal government to secure a jumping site and develop various concept bikes to make the jump, but the Interior Department denied him airspace over the northern Arizona canyon. Knievel switched his attention in 1971 to the Snake River Canyon in southern Idaho.
In the 1971 film Evel Knievel, George Hamilton (as Knievel) alludes to the canyon jump in the final scene of the movie. One of the common movie posters for the film depicts Knievel jumping his motorcycle off a (likely) Grand Canyon cliff. In 1999, his son Robbie jumped a portion of the Grand Canyon owned by the Hualapai Indian Reservation.
Snake River Canyon jump
ABC's Wide World of Sports was unwilling to pay the price Knievel wanted for the Snake River Canyon jump, so he hired boxing promoter Bob Arum's company, Top Rank Productions, to put the event on closed-circuit television and broadcast to movie theaters. Investors in the event took a substantial loss, including promoter Don E. Branker, as well as Vince McMahon of what was then called the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Arum partnered with Invest West Sports, Shelly Saltman's company, to secure from Invest West Sports two things: first, the necessary financing for the jump, and second, the services of Saltman, long recognized as one of America's premier public relations and promotion men, to do publicity so that Knievel could concentrate on his jumps. Knievel hired aeronautical engineer Doug Malewicki to build him a rocket-powered cycle to jump across the Snake River, and called it the Skycycle X-1. Malewicki's creation was powered by a steam engine built by former Aerojet engineer Robert Truax. On April 15, 1972, the X-1 was launched to test the feasibility of the launching ramp. The decision was then made to have Truax build two Skycycle X-2s, one to test and one for the actual jump. Both the X-1 and the X-2 test vehicles went into the river.
The launch took place at the south rim of the Snake River Canyon, west of Shoshone Falls, on September 8, 1974, at 3:36 p.m. MDT. The steam that powered the engine was superheated to a temperature of 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees Celsius). The drogue parachute prematurely deployed as the Skycycle left the launching rail and induced significant drag. Even though the craft made it across the canyon to the north rim, the prevailing northwest winds caused it to drift back into the canyon. By the time it hit the bottom of the canyon, it landed only a few feet from the water on the same side of the canyon from which it had been launched. If he had landed in the water, Knievel said that he would have drowned, due to a harness malfunction that kept him strapped in the vehicle. He survived the failed jump with only minor physical injuries.
Since the 1974 launch, seven daredevils have expressed interest in recreating the jump, including Knievel's two sons, Robbie and Kelly. In 2010, Robbie announced he would recreate the jump. Stuntman Eddie Braun announced he was working with Kelly and Robert Truax's son to recreate the jump using a replica of the Skycycle X-2. Braun's jump took place on September 16, 2016, and was completed successfully.
Wembley jump
After the Snake River jump, Knievel returned to motorcycle jumping with ABC's Wide World of Sports televising several jumps. On May 26, 1975, in front of 90,000 people at Wembley Stadium in London, Knievel crashed while trying to land a jump over 13 redundant single-deck AEC Merlin buses (the term "London Buses" used in earlier publicity had led to the belief that the attempt was to be made over the higher and more traditional AEC Routemaster double-decker type).
After the crash, despite breaking his pelvis, Knievel addressed the audience and announced his retirement by stating, "Ladies and gentlemen of this wonderful country, I've got to tell you that you are the last people in the world who will ever see me jump. Because I will never, ever, ever jump again. I'm through." Near shock and ignoring Frank Gifford's (of ABC's Wide World of Sports) plea to use a stretcher, Knievel walked off the Wembley pitch stating, "I came in walking, I went out walking!"
Kings Island jump
After recuperating, Knievel decided that he had spoken too soon and that he would continue jumping. On October 25, 1975, Knievel jumped 14 Greyhound buses at Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio. Although Knievel landed on the safety deck above the 14th bus, his landing was successful and he held the record for jumping the most buses on a Harley-Davidson for 24 years (until broken by Bubba Blackwell in late 1999 with 15 at 157 feet (48 m)). The Kings Island event scored the highest viewer ratings in the history of ABC's Wide World of Sports and would serve as Knievel's longest successful jump at 133 feet (41 m) (although the Caesars Palace jump was longer, it ended in a crash). In the end, Knievel was featured in seven of the ten highest-rated episodes of ABC's Wide World of Sports. After the Kings Island jump, Knievel again announced his retirement.
His retirement was once again short-lived, and Knievel continued to jump. However, after the lengthy Kings Island jump, Knievel limited the remainder of his career jumps to shorter and more attainable lengths. Knievel jumped on October 31, 1976, at the Seattle Kingdome. He jumped only seven Greyhound buses but it was a success. Despite the crowd's pleasure, Knievel felt that it was not his best jump, and apologized to the crowd.
Shark jump
On January 31, 1977, Knievel was scheduled for a major jump in Chicago, Illinois. The jump was inspired by the 1975 film Jaws. Knievel was scheduled to jump a tank full of live sharks which would be televised live nationally. However, during his rehearsal, Knievel lost control of the motorcycle and crashed into a cameraman. Although Knievel broke his arms, he was more distraught over what he claimed was a permanent eye injury to cameraman Thomas Geren. The cameraman was admitted to the hospital and received treatment for an injury near his eye, but received no permanent injury. The footage of this crash was so upsetting to Knievel that he did not show the clip for 19 years until the documentary Absolute Evel: The Evel Knievel Story.
Later that year on the sitcom Happy Days, motorcycle-riding character Fonzie (Henry Winkler) performed a similar trick, albeit on waterskis, inspiring the creation of the phrase "jump the shark."
Afterward, Knievel retired from major performances and limited his appearances to smaller venues to help launch Robbie's career. His last stunt show, not including a jump, took place in March 1980 in Puerto Rico. However, Knievel would officially finish his career as a daredevil as a touring "companion" of Robbie's, limiting his performance to speaking only, rather than stunt riding. His final tour appearance with Robbie was in March 1981 in Hollywood, Florida.
Feature movies: Evel Knievel and Viva Knievel!
A 1971 biopic film, Evel Knievel, fictionalized Knievel's life and exploits. Knievel, portrayed by George Hamilton, calls himself "the last gladiator in the new Rome"; this was a nod to a January 1970 Esquire magazine article about the stunt rider, whose author, David Lyle, declared, "Evel Knievel [...] may be the last great gladiator." (Later, Knievel titled his 1988 self-produced documentary Last of the Gladiators.) A higher end B-movie, Evel Knievel was a minor hit, taking in $4 million in rentals (equivalent to approximately $31,056,697 in 2024) against a $450,000 budget.
Knievel played himself in the 1977 American action film Viva Knievel!, directed by Gordon Douglas and co-starring Gene Kelly and Lauren Hutton, with an ensemble supporting cast including Red Buttons, Leslie Nielsen, Cameron Mitchell, Frank Gifford, Dabney Coleman and Marjoe Gortner. The film premiered in June 1977, three months later Knievel and his associates attacked promoter Shelly Saltman with an aluminum baseball bat on September 21, 1977.
With Knievel losing most of his sponsorship and marketing deals as a result of the bad publicity, Viva Knievel became much less commercially attractive, only opening in four further international markets after Knievel's conviction. In addition, the wholesome image of Knievel the movie promoted and the plot point concerning Knievel's promoter being corrupt seemed ill-judged in the light of the events that saw Knievel imprisoned.
Motorcycles
Knievel briefly used a Honda 250cc motorcycle to jump a crate of rattlesnakes and two mountain lions, his first known jump. Knievel then used a Norton Motorcycle Company 750cc for only one year, 1966. Between 1967 and 1968, Knievel jumped using the Triumph Bonneville T120 (with a 650cc engine). Knievel used the Triumph at the Caesars Palace crash on New Year's Eve 1967. When Knievel returned to jumping after the crash, he used Triumph for the remainder of 1968.
Attempting his jumps on motorcycles whose suspensions were designed primarily for street riding or flat track racing was a major factor in Knievel's many disastrous landings. The terrific forces these machines passed on to his body are well illustrated in the super slow-motion footage of his Caesars' landing.
Between December 1969 and April 1970, Knievel used the Laverda American Eagle 750cc motorcycle. On December 12, 1970, Knievel would switch to the Harley-Davidson XR-750, the motorcycle with which he is best known for jumping. Knievel would use the XR-750 in association with Harley-Davidson until 1977. However, after his 1977 conviction for the assault of Shelly Saltman, Harley-Davidson withdrew its sponsorship of Knievel.
On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket-propelled motorcycle designed by former NASA engineer Robert Truax, dubbed the Skycycle X-2. The State of Idaho registered the X-2 as an airplane rather than a motorcycle.
At the tail end of his career, while helping launch the career of his son, Robbie, Knievel returned to the Triumph T120. However, he used the bike only for wheelies and did not jump after retiring from the XR-750.
In 1997, Knievel signed with the California Motorcycle Company to release a limited Evel Knievel Motorcycle. The motorcycle was not built to jump but was rather a V-twin cruiser motorcycle intended to compete with Harley-Davidson street bikes. Knievel promoted the motorcycle at his various public appearances. After the company closed in 2003, Knievel returned to riding modern street Harley-Davidson motorcycles at his public appearances.
Robbie sold limited-edition motorcycles from his company, Knievel Motorcycles Manufacturing Inc. Although two of the motorcycles refer to Evel (the Legend Series Evel Commemorative and the Snake River Canyon motorcycle), Evel did not ride Robbie's bikes.
Leather jumpsuits
Throughout his daredevil career, Knievel was known for his leather jumpsuits that were compared to the jumpsuits worn by Elvis Presley. When Knievel began jumping, he used a black and yellow jumpsuit. When he switched to the Triumph motorcycle, his jumpsuit changed to a white suit with stripes down the legs and sleeves. In interviews, he said the reason for the switch was because he saw how Liberace had become not just a performer, but the epitome of what a showman should be, and Knievel sought to create his variation of that showmanship in his jumps. Two variations of the white suit appeared (one with three stars across the chest and one with the three stars on his right chest). The latter was worn at the Caesars Palace jump.
When Knievel switched to the Laverda motorcycle in 1969, he switched his leathers to an All American Themed red-white-and-blue jumpsuit with an "X" across the chest. Later, Knievel adjusted the blue stripes to a V-shape (the first version of the V-shape was also used in the 1971 film's final jump). For the remainder of his career, variants of the V-shaped white-starred jumpsuit would be a constant, including a special nylon/canvas flight suit that matched his white leathers for the X-2 jump. Each variant would become more elaborate, including the addition of the red-white-blue cape and the Elvis-styled belt buckle with his initials, "EK". In 1975, Knievel premiered the blue leathers with red stars on the white stripes for the Wembley jump.
Core values
Evel Knievel took great pride in his core values. Throughout his career and later life, he would repeatedly talk about the importance of "keeping his word". He stated that, although he knew he might not successfully make a jump or even survive the canyon jump, he followed through with each stunt because he gave his word that he would. Before the canyon jump, Knievel stated, "If someone says to you, 'that guy should have never jumped the canyon. You knew if he did, that he'd lose his life and that he was crazy.' Do me a favor. Tell him that you saw me here and regardless of what I was, that you knew me, and that I kept my word."
In Last of the Gladiators, Knievel discussed the crash of a 1970 Pepsi-Cola sponsored jump in Yakima, Washington. Knievel knew the jump was very questionable, but stated, "I went ahead and did it anyway. When you give your word to somebody that you're going to do something, you've gotta do it." In the 1971 biopic, George Hamilton (as Knievel) emphasizes in the opening monologue that a man does not go back on his word.
Anti-drug campaign
Knievel would regularly share his anti-drug message, one of his core values. Knievel would preach an anti-drug message to children and adults before each of his stunts.
Knievel regularly spoke out against the Hells Angels due to their alleged involvement in the drug trade. A near-riot erupted during Knievel's show at the Cow Palace on March 3, 1971, when a Hells Angels member threw a metal object (either a tire iron or a Coca-Cola can, according to different witnesses) at Knievel. Knievel and a majority of the spectators fought back, injuring three of the fifteen Hells Angels members in attendance to the point that they required hospitalization.
In the film Viva Knievel!, Knievel plays a fictionalized version of himself who foils a drug lord's attempt to smuggle narcotics into the United States.
Motorcycle helmet safety
Knievel was a proponent of motorcycle helmet safety. He constantly encouraged his fans to wear motorcycle helmets. The Bell Star helmet he used in the Caesars Palace jump is credited for having saved Knievel's life after he fell off the motorcycle and struck his head on the ground. (Following the Caesars Palace crash, each of Knievel's full-face helmets bore the slogan, "Color Me Lucky.") Knievel once offered a cash reward for anyone who witnessed him stunting on a motorcycle without a helmet.
In 1987, Knievel supported a mandatory helmet bill in the State of California. During the Assembly Transportation Committee meeting, Knievel was introduced as "the best walking commercial for a helmet law." Evel claimed the main reason he was still alive and walking was that he wore a helmet.
Marketing image
Knievel sought to make more money from his image. He was no longer satisfied with just receiving free motorcycles to jump with. Knievel wanted to be paid to use and promote a company's brand of motorcycles. After Triumph, the British motorcycle brand he had been jumping with, refused to meet his demands (it was part of the bankrupt BSA group that was merged with Norton in 1972), Knievel started to propose the idea to other manufacturers. American Eagle Motorcycles, the brand under which Italian Laverda machines were sold in the US, was the first company to sign Knievel to an endorsement deal. Knievel then used the new lightweight racing motorcycle Harley-Davidson XR-750 from December 1970 until his final jump in January 1977.
At approximately the same time, Fanfare Films started production on the George Hamilton biopic (Evel Knievel (1971 film)). Two other films about Knievel, a television pilot made in 1974 starring Sam Elliott, and a made-for-TV film in 2004 starring George Eads, were produced in later years. In 1974, Knievel and Amherst Records released at the Sound City Studios the self-titled album Evel Knievel, which included a press conference, an anti-drug talk for his young fans, and four other tracks.
In 1972, Knievel appeared in the motorcycle safety film 'Not So Easy', together with Easy Rider Peter Fonda.
Knievel kept up his pursuit of the United States government to allow him to jump the Grand Canyon. To push his case, he hired famed San Francisco defense attorney Melvin Belli to fight the legal battle for obtaining government permission. ABC's Wide World of Sports started showing Knievel's jumps on television regularly. His popularity, especially with young boys, was ever-increasing. He became a hero to a generation of young boys. A. J. Foyt made Knievel part of his pit crew for the Indianapolis 500 in 1970. Evel Knievel's huge fame caused him to start traveling with bodyguards, who became life-long friends.
Ideal Toys
Between 1972 and 1977, Ideal Toy Company released a series of Evel Knievel-related merchandise, designed initially by Joseph M. Burck of Marvin Glass and Associates. During the six years the toys were manufactured, Ideal claimed to have sold more than $125 million worth of Knievel toys. The toys included the original 1972 figures, which offered various outfits and accessories. In 1973, Ideal released the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle. After the release of the Stunt Cycle, the Knievel toys were the best-selling item for Ideal.
During the next four years, Ideal Toys released various models relating to Knievel's touring stunt show. The models included a Robbie Knievel doll, the Scramble Van, The Canyon Sky Cycle, a Dragster, a Stunt Car, and the Evel Knievel The Stunt World. Additionally, Ideal released non-Knievel-touring toys, including a Chopper Motorcycle, a Trail Bike, and a female counterpart, Derry Daring. The last item marketed by Ideal Toys before it discontinued the distribution of Knievel toys was the Strato-Cycle, based on the film Viva Knievel!
In 1977, Bally marketed its Knievel pinball machine as the "first fully electronic commercial game"; it has elsewhere been described as one of the "last of the classic pre-digital games." (Both electromechanical and solid-state versions were produced. The electromechanical version is extremely rare, with only 155 made.)
Other television appearances
In the 1970s, Knievel partnered with AMF to release a series of bicycles, marketed with TV ads.
Though Knievel had no involvement, a 30-minute ABC Saturday morning animated series Devlin produced by Hanna-Barbera aired in the fall of 1974. The series, inspired by his popularity, featured stunt motorcyclists.
Knievel made several television appearances, including frequently as a guest on talk shows such as Dinah! and Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. In 1977, he made a guest spot on The Bionic Woman, where he played himself, getting inadvertently caught up in East German espionage while appearing in West Germany. Actual footage from Evel's L.A. Coliseum jump over crushed cars was used at the beginning of the episode, and an indoor jump over eleven cars and one van was used at the end of the show. Also in 1977, Warner Bros. released Viva Knievel! This movie starred Knievel as himself and co-starred Gene Kelly, Lauren Hutton, and Red Buttons. Similar to The Bionic Woman, actual Wembley footage was used in the film. In addition, the 1999 children's TV series Hilltop Hospital featured a character based on Knievel called Weasel Kneasel, who was the focus of an episode of the same name. In Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 4, a character named Duke Caboom (voiced by Keanu Reeves) was partially based on the Evel Knievel toy. On September 23, 2020, Knievel's son Kelly and K&K Promotions filed a lawsuit against Disney and Pixar, claiming Duke was created illegally using Knievel's likeness.
Assault conviction, jail, and bankruptcy
While Knievel was healing from injuries sustained from the Chicago jump, the book Evel Knievel on Tour was released. Written by Knievel's promoter for the Snake River Canyon jump, Shelly Saltman, the book painted him as "an alcoholic, a pill addict, an anti-Semite and an immoral person" through tape-recorded interviews done of Knievel and others.
Knievel, with both arms still in casts, flew to California to confront Saltman, by then a vice president at 20th Century Fox. On September 21, 1977, outside the studio commissary, one of Knievel's friends grabbed Saltman and held him, while Knievel attacked him with an aluminum baseball bat, declaring "I'm going to kill you!" According to a witness to the attack, Knievel struck repeated blows at Saltman's head, with Saltman blocking the blows with his left arm. Saltman's arm and wrist were shattered in several places before he fell to the ground unconscious. Numerous surgeries were done to the shattered arm that resulted in Saltman having a steel plate and screws.
Saltman's book was withdrawn by the publisher after Knievel threatened to sue. Saltman later produced documents in both criminal and civil court that proved that, although Knievel claimed to have been insulted by statements in Saltman's book, he and his lawyers had been given editorial access to the book and had approved and signed off on every word before its publication. On November 15, 1977, Knievel pleaded guilty to battery and was sentenced to three years probation and six months in county jail.
After the Saltman assault and subsequent jail time, Knievel lost his marketing endorsements and deals, including Harley-Davidson and Ideal Toys. With no income from jumping or sponsorships, Knievel eventually declared bankruptcy. In 1981, Saltman was awarded a $12.75 million judgment against Knievel in a civil trial, but he never received any money from either Knievel or Knievel's estate. Knievel expressed no remorse for the attack, once calling it "frontier justice".
Marriages and children
Knievel was married twice. He and his wife Linda were married for 38 years. During their marriage, the couple had four children: two boys, Kelly and Robbie, and two girls, Tracey and Alicia. Throughout Kelly's and Robbie's adolescence, they performed at Knievel's stunt shows. Into adulthood, Robbie continued to perform as a professional motorcycle daredevil. After Evel's death, Kelly has overseen the Knievel legacy, including developing Knievel-related products and assisting Harley-Davidson to develop a museum exhibit. Knievel's courtship and marriage to Linda was the theme of the biopic 1971 film Evel Knievel. Linda and Evel separated in the early 1990s and were divorced in 1997 in San Jose, California.
A municipal judge ordered Evel to stand trial for a weapons possession charge in 1994. Knievel was arrested in October at a Sunnyvale go-go bar on suspicion of battering his girlfriend, 25-year-old Krystal Kennedy of Florida. Sunnyvale police later discovered two handguns and some ammunition in the trunk of his car. The battering charge was dropped when Kennedy declined to cooperate.
In 1999, Knievel married his girlfriend, Krystal Kennedy of Clearwater, Florida, whom he began dating in 1992. The wedding was held on November 19, 1999, on a special platform built on the fountains at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip (site of Evel's jump New Year's Eve 1967). Long-time friend Engelbert Humperdinck sent a recorded tribute to the couple.
The couple was married for two years, divorcing in 2001. Following the divorce, Krystal Knievel was granted a restraining order against him. However, Krystal and Evel would work out their differences, living together until Knievel's death. According to the investment magazine, Registered Rep., Knievel left his entire estate to Krystal.
Post-daredevil years
During the 1980s, Knievel drove around the country in a recreational vehicle, selling works of art allegedly painted by him. After several years of obscurity, Knievel made a significant marketing comeback in the 1990s, representing Maxim Casino, Little Caesars, Harley-Davidson and other firms.
In 1999, Knievel celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Snake River Canyon jump at the Twin Falls mall. His memorabilia was then stored at Kent Knigge's farm in Filer, Idaho, seven miles west of Twin Falls. During the same year, Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
Knievel once dreamed of housing all of his career memorabilia in an Evel Knievel Museum to be located in his home state of Montana. Those dreams were unfulfilled, and his artifacts are spread throughout transportation museums and private collections around the world. Knievel's original blueprints and handwritten notes about his desired museum are currently displayed at the Route 66 Vintage Iron Motorcycle Museum in downtown Miami, Oklahoma. The Route 66 site also houses Evel's Snake River Canyon Jump Mission Control Super Van. While Knievel's original dream of having all his significant memorabilia being centralized would go unfulfilled, a few public museums were opened in his honor, including the Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka, Kansas, which has the official approval of the Knievel estate.
On October 9, 2005, Knievel promoted his last public "motorcycle ride" at the Milwaukee Harley-Davidson dealership. The ride was to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. Although he was originally scheduled to lead a benefit ride through Milwaukee, Knievel never rode the motorcycle because he suffered a mild (non-debilitating) stroke before the appearance and limited his visit to a signing session.
Evel Knievel: The Rock Opera
In 2003, Knievel signed over exclusive rights to Los Angeles composer Jef Bek, authorizing the production of a rock opera based on Knievel's life. Directed by Bat Boy co-creator Keythe Farley, the production opened in Los Angeles in September 2007 to some positive reviews.
Six Flags Evel Knievel roller coaster
Knievel had partnered with Six Flags St. Louis to name a new wooden coaster after "America's Legendary Daredevil". The amusement park in Eureka, Missouri, outside of St. Louis, Missouri, opened the ride on June 20, 2008. The Evel Knievel Roller Coaster operated for three seasons before being renamed American Thunder in 2011.
Declining health
In the late 1990s, Knievel required a life-saving liver transplant as a result of suffering the long-term effects of Hepatitis C, which he contracted from one of the numerous blood transfusions he received before 1992. In February 1999, Knievel was given only a few days to live and he requested to leave the hospital and die at his home. En route to his home, Knievel received a phone call from the hospital stating a young man had died in a motorcycle accident and could be a donor. Days later, Knievel received the transplant.
In 2005, he was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable and terminal lung disease that required him to be on supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day. In 2006, he had an internal morphine pain pump surgically implanted to help him with the excruciating pain in his deteriorated lower back, one of the costs of incurring so many traumas throughout his career as a daredevil. He also had two strokes after 2005, but neither left him with severe debilitation.
On July 27, 2006, he appeared on The Adam Carolla Show and discussed his health problems. The following day, he appeared on stage with Robbie at Evel Knievel Days in Butte, marking the last performance in which the two appeared together. Robbie jumped 196 feet (60 m) in a tribute to his father on a much lighter motorcycle with far superior suspension.
Shortly before his death, Evel Knievel was featured in a BBC Two Christmas special presented by Richard Hammond. The 60-minute program Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel aired on December 23, 2007, less than a month after Knievel's death. The documentary was filmed in July 2007 at the annual "Evel Knievel Days" festival in his old hometown of Butte.
Christian conversion
On April 1, 2007, Knievel appeared on Robert H. Schuller's television program Hour of Power and announced that he "believed in Jesus Christ" for the first time. At his request, he was baptized at a televised congregation at the Crystal Cathedral by Schuller. Knievel's televised testimony triggered mass baptisms at the Crystal Cathedral.
Death
Knievel died in Clearwater, Florida on November 30, 2007, aged 69. He had been suffering from diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis for many years. A longtime friend reported that Knievel had trouble breathing while at his residence in Clearwater and died on the way to hospital. The friend said, "It's been coming for years but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?"
In one of his last interviews, Knievel told Maxim magazine:
You can't ask a guy like me why I performed. I really wanted to fly through the air. I was a daredevil, a performer. I loved the thrill, the money, the whole macho thing. All those things made me Evel Knievel. Sure, I was scared. You gotta be an ass not to be scared. But I beat the hell out of death. [...] You're in the air for four seconds, you're part of the machine and then if you make a mistake midair, you say to yourself, "Oh, boy. I'm gonna crash" and there's nothing you can do to stop it, not at all.
Knievel was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in his hometown of Butte, Montana on December 10, 2007, following a funeral at the 7,500-seat Butte Civic Center presided over by Robert H. Schuller with actor Matthew McConaughey giving the eulogy. Before the Monday service, fireworks exploded in the Butte night sky as pallbearers carried Knievel's casket into the center.
Posthumous recognition
On July 10, 2010, a special temporary exhibit entitled True Evel: The Amazing Story of Evel Knievel was opened at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The exhibit was opened in collaboration with Harley-Davidson Motorcycles and Evel's oldest son, Kelly. Among the various artifacts from Knievel's life, the exhibit included his "Shark Jump" Harley-Davidson XR-750, the Skycycle X-2, a blue jumpsuit from late in his career without any sponsor patches, and his trademark red-white-and-blue jumpsuit complete with his helmet and walking stick. Evel Knievel merchandising, personal artifacts, and X-rays from his injuries were also exhibited. In December 2010, a traveling version of the exhibit began a one-year tour of the United Kingdom and Europe.
On September 16, 2016, professional stuntman Eddie Braun successfully jumped the Snake River Canyon in a replica of Knievel's Snake River rocket. Braun cited Knievel as an inspiration and wanted to show that Knievel's jump would have been successful had the parachute not been deployed too early. Braun stated that he was "finishing out [the] dream" of his hero, Knievel.
In 2017, the Evel Knievel Museum, a 13,000 square foot (1,200 square meters) museum honoring Knievel was opened in Topeka, Kansas, by co-founders Lathan McKay and Mike Patterson. The museum features his motorcycles, leathers, helmets, wardrobe, and jewelry along with various displays and a virtual reality motorcycle jump.
On July 8, 2018, Travis Pastrana from Nitro Circus paid tribute to Evel on History Channel live event, "Evel Live", with 3 of Evel's most famous record-breaking Las Vegas jumps in one night. He was riding a Roland Sands Design–prepared 450-pound Indian Scout FTR750, and dressed in a full Evel Knievel getup, down to wearing vintage-style-appearing dress boots from Bates, the manufacturer that had made Evel's.
On November 16, 2023, the New York Times crossword, created by Paolo Pascal, paid homage to Knievel with a themed crossword which included clues such as "Description of this puzzle's subject" (DAREDEVIL) and "Acting dangerously, like this puzzle's subject" (LIVING ON THE EDGE). Upon completion of the puzzle through the NYT Games app or website, solvers were rewarded with a short animation of a person on a motorcycle leaping through the squares of the crossword over three buses.
On December 19, 2024, a new biographical film adaptation of Evel's life was reported to be in the works with La La Land director Damien Chazelle attached to direct, William Monahan set to pen the script, and negotiations with Leonardo DiCaprio to star as Knievel.
In September of 2025, an Evel Knievel comic book series was announced which would be published by Half Evil Comics and crowdfunded through Kickstarter. The series will be written by Rylend Grant and feature input from Knievel's son Kelly.
Television commercials
In November 2010, General Motors premiered a television commercial featuring footage of Knievel's Wembley Stadium crash in 1975, followed by Knievel getting onto his feet. The ad focused on GM's restructuring and emphasized the belief that "we all fall down".
On July 18, 2012, Audi of America recreated Knievel's Snake River jump in a promotional commercial for the Audi RS5. The commercial depicts the RS5 being driven by a professional driver and jumping the canyon off a jump ramp.
Portrayal in film
Evel Knievel (1971), a biographical film directed by Marvin J. Chomsky and starring George Hamilton as Knievel.
Viva Knievel! (1977), a fictional story directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Evel Knievel as himself.
Evel Knievel (2004), a biographical television film directed by John Badham and starring George Eads as Knievel.
Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel (2007), a television documentary film directed by Nigel Simpkiss.
I Am Evel Knievel (2014), a documentary directed by Derik Murray and David Ray.
Being Evel (2015), a documentary directed by Daniel Junge.
Evel, an upcoming biographical limited series written by Etan Frankel and starring Milo Ventimiglia as Knievel, was searching for a TV network as of 2020.
See also
Devlin, an animated TV series inspired by Evel Knievel
Evel Pie, an Evel Knievel–themed restaurant in Las Vegas co-owned by Kelly Knievel
References
Citations
General bibliography
"Evel Knievel (Obituary)". Orlando Sentinel. Associated Press. Retrieved July 27, 2010 – via Legacy.com.
"Evel Knievel; All-American motorcycle daredevil who thrilled a generation but then lost his health, his reputation and his fortune". The Times. London. December 3, 2007. Archived from the original on May 25, 2010. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
Roscoe, Michael (December 3, 2007). "Evel Knievel: Motorcycle daredevil famed for his bone-breaking jumps (Obituary)". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on December 4, 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
Severo, Richard (December 1, 2007). "Evel Knievel, 69, Daredevil on a Motorcycle, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
Squatriglia, Chuck (November 30, 2007). "Evel Knievel Jumps the River Styx". Wired. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
External links
Official website
Evel Knievel on ABC's Wide World of Sports
Evel Knievel at IMDb
Evel Knievel at Find a Grave
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Robert Craig Knievel (October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007), known professionally as Evel Knievel ( EE-vəl kə-NEE-vəl), was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Throughout his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.
Evel Knievel was born in Butte, Montana. Raised by his paternal grandparents, Knievel was inspired to become a motorcycle daredevil after attending a Joie Chitwood auto daredevil show. He left high school early to work in the copper mines but was later fired for causing a city-wide power outage. After adopting the nickname "Evel Knievel", he participated in rodeos and ski jumping events, and served in the U.S. Army before marrying Linda Joan Bork and starting a semi-pro hockey team. To support his family, Knievel started the Sur-Kill Guide Service and later worked as an insurance salesman. Eventually, he opened a Honda motorcycle dealership in Washington, but faced difficulties promoting Japanese imports. After the dealership closed, Knievel worked at a motorcycle shop where he learned motocross stunts that would later contribute to his daredevil career.
Knievel's most famous stunt was an attempt to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace, which resulted in severe injuries. Knievel became a legendary figure, breaking numerous records throughout his career.
On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted to jump across the Snake River Canyon in Idaho using a rocket-powered cycle called the Skycycle X-2. The jump failed after the parachute deployed prematurely, but Knievel survived with minor injuries.
Knievel sought to profit from his image through endorsements and marketing deals. American Eagle Motorcycles signed him, and his popularity grew with young boys. From 1972 to 1977, Ideal Toy Company sold over $125 million worth of Knievel toys. Knievel's fame led to TV appearances and partnerships with companies like AMF and Harley-Davidson. However, after an assault conviction and jail time, he lost endorsements and declared bankruptcy. Despite a decline in his daredevil career, Knievel made a marketing comeback in the 1990s and continued to be involved in various ventures.
Knievel died on November 30, 2007, at the age of 69 due to diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was buried in his hometown of Butte, Montana. Posthumously, Knievel has been honored through various exhibits, a museum, and tribute jumps. His legacy also lives on in television commercials featuring his iconic stunts.
Early life
Knievel was born on October 17, 1938, in Butte, Montana, the first of two children of Robert E. and Ann Marie Keough Knievel. His surname is of German origin; his paternal great-great-grandparents immigrated to the United States from Germany. His mother was of Irish ancestry. Robert and Ann divorced in 1940, after the 1939 birth of their second child, Nicolas, known as Nic. Both parents decided to leave Butte.
Knievel and his brother were raised in Butte by their paternal grandparents, Ignatius and Emma Knievel. At the age of eight, Knievel attended a Joie Chitwood auto daredevil show, which he credited for his later career choice as a motorcycle daredevil.
Knievel was a cousin of Democratic U.S. Representative from Montana, Pat Williams (1937 – 2025).
Knievel left Butte High School after his sophomore year. He got a job in the copper mines as a diamond drill operator with the Anaconda Mining Company; however, Knievel preferred motorbiking to what he called "unimportant stuff". He was promoted to surface duty, where he drove a large earth mover. Knievel was fired when he made the earth mover do a motorcycle-type wheelie and accidentally drove it into Butte's main power line, leaving the city without electricity for several hours.
Knievel's website says that he chose his nickname after spending a night in jail in 1956 after being arrested for reckless driving. In the same jail that night was a man named William Knofel, who had the nickname “Awful Knofel”; this led to Knievel being referred to as “Evel Knievel”.
Seeking new thrills and challenges, Knievel participated in local professional rodeos and ski jumping events, including winning the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Men's ski jumping championship in 1959. During the late 1950s, Knievel joined the United States Army. His athletic ability allowed him to join the track team, where he was a pole vaulter. After his army stint, Knievel returned to Butte, where he met and married his first wife, Linda Joan Bork. Shortly after getting married, Knievel started the Butte Bombers, a semi-pro hockey team.
To help promote his team and earn some money, he convinced the Czechoslovak Olympic ice hockey team to play the Butte Bombers in a warm-up game to the 1960 Winter Olympics (to be held in California). Knievel was ejected from the game minutes into the third period and left the stadium. When the Czechoslovak officials went to the box office to collect the expense money that the team was promised, workers discovered the game receipts had been stolen. The United States Olympic Committee ended up paying the Czechoslovak team's expenses to avoid an international incident. Knievel tried out with the Charlotte Clippers of the Eastern Hockey League in 1959, but decided that a traveling team was not for him.
After the birth of his first son, Kelly, Knievel realized that he needed to come up with a new way to support his family financially. Using the hunting and fishing skills taught to him by his grandfather, Knievel started the Sur-Kill Guide Service. He guaranteed that if a hunter employed his service and paid his fee, he would get the big game animal desired or Knievel would refund his fee.
Knievel, after learning about the culling of elk in Yellowstone, decided to hitchhike from Butte to Washington, D.C., in December 1961 to raise awareness and to have the elk relocated to areas where hunting was permitted. After this conspicuous trek (he hitchhiked with a 54-inch-wide (1.4-meter) rack of elk antlers and a petition with 3,000 signatures), he presented his case to Representative Arnold Olsen, Senator Mike Mansfield, and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall. Culling was stopped in the late 1960s.
After returning home to the west from Washington, D.C., he joined the motocross circuit and had moderate success, but he still could not make enough money to support his family. In 1962, Knievel broke his collarbone and shoulder in a motocross accident. The doctors said he could not race for at least six months. Still needing to help support his family, he again switched careers and sold insurance for the Combined Insurance Company of America, working for W. Clement Stone. Stone suggested that Knievel read Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude, a book that Stone wrote with Napoleon Hill. Knievel credited much of his later success to Stone and his book.
Knievel was successful as an insurance salesman, but felt that his efforts were being unrecognized. When the company refused to promote him to vice president after he had been a few months on the job, he quit. Wanting a new start away from Butte, Knievel moved his family to Moses Lake, Washington. There, he opened a Honda motorcycle dealership and promoted motocross racing. During the early 1960s, he and other dealers had difficulty promoting and selling Japanese imports because of the steep competition of their auto industry, and the Moses Lake Honda dealership eventually closed. After the closure, Knievel went to work for Don Pomeroy at his motorcycle shop in Sunnyside, Washington. Pomeroy's son, Jim Pomeroy, who went on to compete in the Motocross World Championship, taught Knievel how to do a wheelie and ride while standing on the seat of the bike.
Career
Stunt performance
As a boy, Knievel had seen the Joie Chitwood show. He decided that he could do something similar using a motorcycle. Promoting the show himself, Knievel rented the venue, wrote the press releases, set up the show, sold the tickets, and served as his own master of ceremonies. After enticing the small crowd with a few wheelies, he proceeded to jump a 20-foot-long (6.1-meter) box of rattlesnakes and two mountain lions. Despite landing short and his back wheel hitting the box containing the rattlesnakes, Knievel managed to land safely.
Knievel realized that to make a more substantial amount of money he would need to hire more performers, stunt coordinators, and other personnel so that he could concentrate on the jumps. With little money, he went looking for a sponsor and found one in Bob Blair, owner of ZDS Motors, Inc., the West Coast distributor for Berliner Motor Corporation, a distributor for Norton Motorcycles. Blair offered to provide the needed motorcycles, but he wanted the name changed from Bobby Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils Thrill Show to Evil Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils. Knievel did not want his image to be that of a Hells Angels rider, so he convinced Blair to at least allow him to use the spelling Evel instead of Evil.
Knievel and his daredevils debuted on January 3, 1966, at the National Date Festival in Indio, California. The second booking was in Hemet, California, but was canceled due to rain. The next performance was on February 10, in Barstow, California. During the performance, Knievel attempted a new stunt in which he would jump, spread-eagled, over a speeding motorcycle. Knievel jumped too late and the motorcycle hit him in the groin, tossing him 15 feet (4.6 m) into the air. He was hospitalized as a result of his injuries. When released, he returned to Barstow to finish the performance he had started almost a month earlier.
Knievel's daredevil show broke up after the Barstow performance because injuries prevented him from performing. After recovering, Knievel started traveling from small town to small town as a solo act. To get ahead of other motorcycle stunt people who were jumping animals or pools of water, Knievel started jumping cars. He began adding more and more cars to his jumps when he would return to the same venue to get people to come out and see him again. Knievel had not had a serious injury since the Barstow performance, but on June 19 in Missoula, Montana, he attempted to jump twelve cars and a cargo van. The distance he had for takeoff did not allow him to get up enough speed. His back wheel hit the top of the van while his front wheel hit the top of the landing ramp. Knievel ended up with a severely broken arm and several broken ribs. The crash and subsequent stay in the hospital were a publicity windfall.
With each successful jump, the public wanted him to jump one more car. On March 25, 1967, Knievel cleared 15 cars at Ascot Park in Gardena, California. Then he attempted the same jump on July 28, 1967, in Graham, Washington, where he had his next serious crash. Landing his cycle on the last vehicle, a panel truck, Knievel was thrown from his bike. This time he suffered a serious concussion. After a month, he recovered and returned to Graham on August 18 to finish the show; but the result was the same, only this time the injuries were more serious. Again coming up short, Knievel crashed, breaking his left wrist, right knee, and two ribs.
Knievel first received national exposure on March 18, 1968, when comedian and late-night talk show host Joey Bishop had him on as a guest of ABC's The Joey Bishop Show.
Caesars Palace
While in Las Vegas to watch Dick Tiger successfully defend his World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight titles at the Convention Center on November 17, 1967, Knievel first saw the fountains at Caesars Palace and decided to jump them.
To get an audience with casino CEO Jay Sarno, Knievel created a fictitious corporation called Evel Knievel Enterprises and three fictitious lawyers to make phone calls to Sarno. Knievel also placed phone calls to Sarno claiming to be from American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and Sports Illustrated inquiring about the jump. Sarno finally agreed to meet Knievel and arranged for Knievel to jump the fountains on December 31, 1967, New Year's Eve. After the deal was set, Knievel tried to get ABC to air the event live on their popular Wide World of Sports. ABC declined but said that if Knievel had the jump filmed and it was as spectacular as he said it would be, they would consider using it later.
Knievel, at the age of 29, used his own money to have actor/director John Derek produce a film of the Caesars jump. To keep costs low, Derek employed his then-wife Linda Evans as one of the camera operators. It was Evans who filmed the famous landing. On the morning of the jump, Knievel stopped in the casino and placed his last $100 on the blackjack table (which he lost), stopped by the bar, and had a shot of Wild Turkey, and then headed outside where he was joined by several members of the Caesars staff, as well as two showgirls.
After doing his normal pre-jump show and a few warm-up approaches, Knievel began his real approach. When he hit the takeoff ramp, he said later, he felt the motorcycle unexpectedly decelerate. The sudden loss of power on the takeoff caused Knievel to come up short and land on the safety ramp which was supported by a van. This caused the handlebars to be ripped out of his hands as he tumbled over them onto the pavement where he skidded into the Dunes hotel parking lot.
As a result of the crash, Knievel suffered a crushed pelvis and femur, fractures to his hip, wrist, and both ankles, and a concussion that kept him in the hospital. Rumors circulated that he was in a coma for 29 days in the hospital, but this was refuted by his wife and others in the documentary film Being Evel.
The Caesars Palace crash was Knievel's longest attempted motorcycle jump at 144 ft 6 in. After his crash and recovery, Knievel was more famous than ever. ABC declined to air the event live on Wide World of Sports. The Caesars Palace historical jump video is now owned by K and K Promotions, Inc which is the successor in interest and owner of all Evel Knievel trademarks, film footage, and copyrights.
Insurance
In a 1971 interview with Dick Cavett, Knievel stated that he was uninsurable following the Caesars' crash, stating, "I have trouble getting life insurance, accident insurance, hospitalization and even insurance for my automobile ... Lloyd's of London has rejected me 37 times so if you hear the rumor that they insure anybody, don't pay too much attention to it." Four years later, a clause in Knievel's contract to jump 14 buses at Kings Island required a one-day $1 million liability insurance to the amusement park. Lloyd's of London offered liability insurance for $17,500. Knievel eventually paid $2,500 to a U.S.-based insurance company.
Jumps and records
To keep his name in the news, Knievel proposed his biggest stunt ever, a motorcycle jump across the Grand Canyon. Just five months after his near-fatal crash in Las Vegas, Knievel performed another jump. On May 25, 1968, in Scottsdale, Arizona, Knievel crashed while attempting to jump 15 Ford Mustangs. Knievel ended up breaking his right leg and foot as a result of the crash.
On August 3, 1968, Knievel returned to jumping, making more money than ever before. He was earning approximately $25,000 per performance, and he was making successful jumps almost weekly until October 13, in Carson City, Nevada. While trying to stick the landing, he lost control of the bike and crashed, breaking his hip again.
By 1971, Knievel realized that the U.S. government would never allow him to jump the Grand Canyon. To keep his fans interested, Knievel considered several other stunts that might match the publicity that would have been generated by jumping the canyon. Ideas included jumping across the Mississippi River, jumping from one skyscraper to another in New York City, and jumping over 13 cars inside the Houston Astrodome. While flying back to Butte from a performance tour, he looked out the window of his airplane and saw the Snake River Canyon. After finding a location just east of Twin Falls, Idaho, that was wide enough, deep enough, and on private property, he leased 300 acres (1.2 square kilometers) for $35,000 to stage his jump. He set the date for Labor Day (September 4), 1972.
On January 7–8, 1971, Knievel set a sales record at the Houston Astrodome by selling over 100,000 tickets to back-to-back performances there. On February 28, he set a new world record by jumping 19 cars with his Harley-Davidson XR-750 at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California. The 19-car jump was shot for the biopic Evel Knievel. Knievel held the record for 27 years until Bubba Blackwell jumped 20 cars in 1998 with an XR-750. In 2015, Doug Danger surpassed that number with 22 cars, accomplishing this feat on Evel Knievel's actual vintage 1972 Harley-Davidson XR-750.
On May 10, 1970, Knievel crashed while attempting to jump 13 Pepsi delivery trucks in Yakima, WA. His approach was complicated by the fact that he had to start on pavement, cut across grass, and then return to pavement. His lack of speed caused the motorcycle to come down on its front wheel first. He managed to hold on until the cycle hit the base of the ramp. After being thrown off, he skidded for 50 feet (15 m). He broke his collarbone, suffered a compound fracture of his right arm, and broke both legs.
On March 3, 1972, at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California, after making a successful jump, he tried to come to a quick stop because of a short landing area. He reportedly suffered a broken back and a concussion after getting thrown off and run over by his motorcycle, a Harley-Davidson. Knievel returned to jumping in November 1973, when he successfully jumped over 50 stacked cars at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. For 35 years, Knievel held the record for jumping the most stacked cars on a Harley-Davidson XR-750 (the record was broken in October 2008). His XR-750 is now part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Made of steel, aluminum, and fiberglass, the customized motorcycle weighs about 140 kilograms (300 pounds).
During his career, Knievel may have suffered more than 433 bone fractures, earning an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the survivor of "most bones broken in a lifetime". However, this number could be exaggerated: his son Robbie told a reporter in June 2014 that his father had broken 40 to 50 bones; Knievel himself claimed he broke 35.
The Grand Canyon jump
Although Knievel never attempted to jump the Grand Canyon, rumors of the Canyon jump were started by Knievel himself in 1968, following the Caesars Palace crash. During a 1968 interview, Knievel stated, "I don't care if they say, 'Look, kid, you're going to drive that thing off the edge of the Canyon and die,' I'm going to do it. I want to be the first. If they'd let me go to the moon, I'd crawl all the way to Cape Kennedy just to do it. I'd like to go to the moon, but I don't want to be the second man to go there." For the next several years, Knievel negotiated with the federal government to secure a jumping site and develop various concept bikes to make the jump, but the Interior Department denied him airspace over the northern Arizona canyon. Knievel switched his attention in 1971 to the Snake River Canyon in southern Idaho.
In the 1971 film Evel Knievel, George Hamilton (as Knievel) alludes to the canyon jump in the final scene of the movie. One of the common movie posters for the film depicts Knievel jumping his motorcycle off a (likely) Grand Canyon cliff. In 1999, his son Robbie jumped a portion of the Grand Canyon owned by the Hualapai Indian Reservation.
Snake River Canyon jump
ABC's Wide World of Sports was unwilling to pay the price Knievel wanted for the Snake River Canyon jump, so he hired boxing promoter Bob Arum's company, Top Rank Productions, to put the event on closed-circuit television and broadcast to movie theaters. Investors in the event took a substantial loss, including promoter Don E. Branker, as well as Vince McMahon of what was then called the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Arum partnered with Invest West Sports, Shelly Saltman's company, to secure from Invest West Sports two things: first, the necessary financing for the jump, and second, the services of Saltman, long recognized as one of America's premier public relations and promotion men, to do publicity so that Knievel could concentrate on his jumps. Knievel hired aeronautical engineer Doug Malewicki to build him a rocket-powered cycle to jump across the Snake River, and called it the Skycycle X-1. Malewicki's creation was powered by a steam engine built by former Aerojet engineer Robert Truax. On April 15, 1972, the X-1 was launched to test the feasibility of the launching ramp. The decision was then made to have Truax build two Skycycle X-2s, one to test and one for the actual jump. Both the X-1 and the X-2 test vehicles went into the river.
The launch took place at the south rim of the Snake River Canyon, west of Shoshone Falls, on September 8, 1974, at 3:36 p.m. MDT. The steam that powered the engine was superheated to a temperature of 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees Celsius). The drogue parachute prematurely deployed as the Skycycle left the launching rail and induced significant drag. Even though the craft made it across the canyon to the north rim, the prevailing northwest winds caused it to drift back into the canyon. By the time it hit the bottom of the canyon, it landed only a few feet from the water on the same side of the canyon from which it had been launched. If he had landed in the water, Knievel said that he would have drowned, due to a harness malfunction that kept him strapped in the vehicle. He survived the failed jump with only minor physical injuries.
Since the 1974 launch, seven daredevils have expressed interest in recreating the jump, including Knievel's two sons, Robbie and Kelly. In 2010, Robbie announced he would recreate the jump. Stuntman Eddie Braun announced he was working with Kelly and Robert Truax's son to recreate the jump using a replica of the Skycycle X-2. Braun's jump took place on September 16, 2016, and was completed successfully.
Wembley jump
After the Snake River jump, Knievel returned to motorcycle jumping with ABC's Wide World of Sports televising several jumps. On May 26, 1975, in front of 90,000 people at Wembley Stadium in London, Knievel crashed while trying to land a jump over 13 redundant single-deck AEC Merlin buses (the term "London Buses" used in earlier publicity had led to the belief that the attempt was to be made over the higher and more traditional AEC Routemaster double-decker type).
After the crash, despite breaking his pelvis, Knievel addressed the audience and announced his retirement by stating, "Ladies and gentlemen of this wonderful country, I've got to tell you that you are the last people in the world who will ever see me jump. Because I will never, ever, ever jump again. I'm through." Near shock and ignoring Frank Gifford's (of ABC's Wide World of Sports) plea to use a stretcher, Knievel walked off the Wembley pitch stating, "I came in walking, I went out walking!"
Kings Island jump
After recuperating, Knievel decided that he had spoken too soon and that he would continue jumping. On October 25, 1975, Knievel jumped 14 Greyhound buses at Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio. Although Knievel landed on the safety deck above the 14th bus, his landing was successful and he held the record for jumping the most buses on a Harley-Davidson for 24 years (until broken by Bubba Blackwell in late 1999 with 15 at 157 feet (48 m)). The Kings Island event scored the highest viewer ratings in the history of ABC's Wide World of Sports and would serve as Knievel's longest successful jump at 133 feet (41 m) (although the Caesars Palace jump was longer, it ended in a crash). In the end, Knievel was featured in seven of the ten highest-rated episodes of ABC's Wide World of Sports. After the Kings Island jump, Knievel again announced his retirement.
His retirement was once again short-lived, and Knievel continued to jump. However, after the lengthy Kings Island jump, Knievel limited the remainder of his career jumps to shorter and more attainable lengths. Knievel jumped on October 31, 1976, at the Seattle Kingdome. He jumped only seven Greyhound buses but it was a success. Despite the crowd's pleasure, Knievel felt that it was not his best jump, and apologized to the crowd.
Shark jump
On January 31, 1977, Knievel was scheduled for a major jump in Chicago, Illinois. The jump was inspired by the 1975 film Jaws. Knievel was scheduled to jump a tank full of live sharks which would be televised live nationally. However, during his rehearsal, Knievel lost control of the motorcycle and crashed into a cameraman. Although Knievel broke his arms, he was more distraught over what he claimed was a permanent eye injury to cameraman Thomas Geren. The cameraman was admitted to the hospital and received treatment for an injury near his eye, but received no permanent injury. The footage of this crash was so upsetting to Knievel that he did not show the clip for 19 years until the documentary Absolute Evel: The Evel Knievel Story.
Later that year on the sitcom Happy Days, motorcycle-riding character Fonzie (Henry Winkler) performed a similar trick, albeit on waterskis, inspiring the creation of the phrase "jump the shark."
Afterward, Knievel retired from major performances and limited his appearances to smaller venues to help launch Robbie's career. His last stunt show, not including a jump, took place in March 1980 in Puerto Rico. However, Knievel would officially finish his career as a daredevil as a touring "companion" of Robbie's, limiting his performance to speaking only, rather than stunt riding. His final tour appearance with Robbie was in March 1981 in Hollywood, Florida.
Feature movies: Evel Knievel and Viva Knievel!
A 1971 biopic film, Evel Knievel, fictionalized Knievel's life and exploits. Knievel, portrayed by George Hamilton, calls himself "the last gladiator in the new Rome"; this was a nod to a January 1970 Esquire magazine article about the stunt rider, whose author, David Lyle, declared, "Evel Knievel [...] may be the last great gladiator." (Later, Knievel titled his 1988 self-produced documentary Last of the Gladiators.) A higher end B-movie, Evel Knievel was a minor hit, taking in $4 million in rentals (equivalent to approximately $31,056,697 in 2024) against a $450,000 budget.
Knievel played himself in the 1977 American action film Viva Knievel!, directed by Gordon Douglas and co-starring Gene Kelly and Lauren Hutton, with an ensemble supporting cast including Red Buttons, Leslie Nielsen, Cameron Mitchell, Frank Gifford, Dabney Coleman and Marjoe Gortner. The film premiered in June 1977, three months later Knievel and his associates attacked promoter Shelly Saltman with an aluminum baseball bat on September 21, 1977.
With Knievel losing most of his sponsorship and marketing deals as a result of the bad publicity, Viva Knievel became much less commercially attractive, only opening in four further international markets after Knievel's conviction. In addition, the wholesome image of Knievel the movie promoted and the plot point concerning Knievel's promoter being corrupt seemed ill-judged in the light of the events that saw Knievel imprisoned.
Motorcycles
Knievel briefly used a Honda 250cc motorcycle to jump a crate of rattlesnakes and two mountain lions, his first known jump. Knievel then used a Norton Motorcycle Company 750cc for only one year, 1966. Between 1967 and 1968, Knievel jumped using the Triumph Bonneville T120 (with a 650cc engine). Knievel used the Triumph at the Caesars Palace crash on New Year's Eve 1967. When Knievel returned to jumping after the crash, he used Triumph for the remainder of 1968.
Attempting his jumps on motorcycles whose suspensions were designed primarily for street riding or flat track racing was a major factor in Knievel's many disastrous landings. The terrific forces these machines passed on to his body are well illustrated in the super slow-motion footage of his Caesars' landing.
Between December 1969 and April 1970, Knievel used the Laverda American Eagle 750cc motorcycle. On December 12, 1970, Knievel would switch to the Harley-Davidson XR-750, the motorcycle with which he is best known for jumping. Knievel would use the XR-750 in association with Harley-Davidson until 1977. However, after his 1977 conviction for the assault of Shelly Saltman, Harley-Davidson withdrew its sponsorship of Knievel.
On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket-propelled motorcycle designed by former NASA engineer Robert Truax, dubbed the Skycycle X-2. The State of Idaho registered the X-2 as an airplane rather than a motorcycle.
At the tail end of his career, while helping launch the career of his son, Robbie, Knievel returned to the Triumph T120. However, he used the bike only for wheelies and did not jump after retiring from the XR-750.
In 1997, Knievel signed with the California Motorcycle Company to release a limited Evel Knievel Motorcycle. The motorcycle was not built to jump but was rather a V-twin cruiser motorcycle intended to compete with Harley-Davidson street bikes. Knievel promoted the motorcycle at his various public appearances. After the company closed in 2003, Knievel returned to riding modern street Harley-Davidson motorcycles at his public appearances.
Robbie sold limited-edition motorcycles from his company, Knievel Motorcycles Manufacturing Inc. Although two of the motorcycles refer to Evel (the Legend Series Evel Commemorative and the Snake River Canyon motorcycle), Evel did not ride Robbie's bikes.
Leather jumpsuits
Throughout his daredevil career, Knievel was known for his leather jumpsuits that were compared to the jumpsuits worn by Elvis Presley. When Knievel began jumping, he used a black and yellow jumpsuit. When he switched to the Triumph motorcycle, his jumpsuit changed to a white suit with stripes down the legs and sleeves. In interviews, he said the reason for the switch was because he saw how Liberace had become not just a performer, but the epitome of what a showman should be, and Knievel sought to create his variation of that showmanship in his jumps. Two variations of the white suit appeared (one with three stars across the chest and one with the three stars on his right chest). The latter was worn at the Caesars Palace jump.
When Knievel switched to the Laverda motorcycle in 1969, he switched his leathers to an All American Themed red-white-and-blue jumpsuit with an "X" across the chest. Later, Knievel adjusted the blue stripes to a V-shape (the first version of the V-shape was also used in the 1971 film's final jump). For the remainder of his career, variants of the V-shaped white-starred jumpsuit would be a constant, including a special nylon/canvas flight suit that matched his white leathers for the X-2 jump. Each variant would become more elaborate, including the addition of the red-white-blue cape and the Elvis-styled belt buckle with his initials, "EK". In 1975, Knievel premiered the blue leathers with red stars on the white stripes for the Wembley jump.
Core values
Evel Knievel took great pride in his core values. Throughout his career and later life, he would repeatedly talk about the importance of "keeping his word". He stated that, although he knew he might not successfully make a jump or even survive the canyon jump, he followed through with each stunt because he gave his word that he would. Before the canyon jump, Knievel stated, "If someone says to you, 'that guy should have never jumped the canyon. You knew if he did, that he'd lose his life and that he was crazy.' Do me a favor. Tell him that you saw me here and regardless of what I was, that you knew me, and that I kept my word."
In Last of the Gladiators, Knievel discussed the crash of a 1970 Pepsi-Cola sponsored jump in Yakima, Washington. Knievel knew the jump was very questionable, but stated, "I went ahead and did it anyway. When you give your word to somebody that you're going to do something, you've gotta do it." In the 1971 biopic, George Hamilton (as Knievel) emphasizes in the opening monologue that a man does not go back on his word.
Anti-drug campaign
Knievel would regularly share his anti-drug message, one of his core values. Knievel would preach an anti-drug message to children and adults before each of his stunts.
Knievel regularly spoke out against the Hells Angels due to their alleged involvement in the drug trade. A near-riot erupted during Knievel's show at the Cow Palace on March 3, 1971, when a Hells Angels member threw a metal object (either a tire iron or a Coca-Cola can, according to different witnesses) at Knievel. Knievel and a majority of the spectators fought back, injuring three of the fifteen Hells Angels members in attendance to the point that they required hospitalization.
In the film Viva Knievel!, Knievel plays a fictionalized version of himself who foils a drug lord's attempt to smuggle narcotics into the United States.
Motorcycle helmet safety
Knievel was a proponent of motorcycle helmet safety. He constantly encouraged his fans to wear motorcycle helmets. The Bell Star helmet he used in the Caesars Palace jump is credited for having saved Knievel's life after he fell off the motorcycle and struck his head on the ground. (Following the Caesars Palace crash, each of Knievel's full-face helmets bore the slogan, "Color Me Lucky.") Knievel once offered a cash reward for anyone who witnessed him stunting on a motorcycle without a helmet.
In 1987, Knievel supported a mandatory helmet bill in the State of California. During the Assembly Transportation Committee meeting, Knievel was introduced as "the best walking commercial for a helmet law." Evel claimed the main reason he was still alive and walking was that he wore a helmet.
Marketing image
Knievel sought to make more money from his image. He was no longer satisfied with just receiving free motorcycles to jump with. Knievel wanted to be paid to use and promote a company's brand of motorcycles. After Triumph, the British motorcycle brand he had been jumping with, refused to meet his demands (it was part of the bankrupt BSA group that was merged with Norton in 1972), Knievel started to propose the idea to other manufacturers. American Eagle Motorcycles, the brand under which Italian Laverda machines were sold in the US, was the first company to sign Knievel to an endorsement deal. Knievel then used the new lightweight racing motorcycle Harley-Davidson XR-750 from December 1970 until his final jump in January 1977.
At approximately the same time, Fanfare Films started production on the George Hamilton biopic (Evel Knievel (1971 film)). Two other films about Knievel, a television pilot made in 1974 starring Sam Elliott, and a made-for-TV film in 2004 starring George Eads, were produced in later years. In 1974, Knievel and Amherst Records released at the Sound City Studios the self-titled album Evel Knievel, which included a press conference, an anti-drug talk for his young fans, and four other tracks.
In 1972, Knievel appeared in the motorcycle safety film 'Not So Easy', together with Easy Rider Peter Fonda.
Knievel kept up his pursuit of the United States government to allow him to jump the Grand Canyon. To push his case, he hired famed San Francisco defense attorney Melvin Belli to fight the legal battle for obtaining government permission. ABC's Wide World of Sports started showing Knievel's jumps on television regularly. His popularity, especially with young boys, was ever-increasing. He became a hero to a generation of young boys. A. J. Foyt made Knievel part of his pit crew for the Indianapolis 500 in 1970. Evel Knievel's huge fame caused him to start traveling with bodyguards, who became life-long friends.
Ideal Toys
Between 1972 and 1977, Ideal Toy Company released a series of Evel Knievel-related merchandise, designed initially by Joseph M. Burck of Marvin Glass and Associates. During the six years the toys were manufactured, Ideal claimed to have sold more than $125 million worth of Knievel toys. The toys included the original 1972 figures, which offered various outfits and accessories. In 1973, Ideal released the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle. After the release of the Stunt Cycle, the Knievel toys were the best-selling item for Ideal.
During the next four years, Ideal Toys released various models relating to Knievel's touring stunt show. The models included a Robbie Knievel doll, the Scramble Van, The Canyon Sky Cycle, a Dragster, a Stunt Car, and the Evel Knievel The Stunt World. Additionally, Ideal released non-Knievel-touring toys, including a Chopper Motorcycle, a Trail Bike, and a female counterpart, Derry Daring. The last item marketed by Ideal Toys before it discontinued the distribution of Knievel toys was the Strato-Cycle, based on the film Viva Knievel!
In 1977, Bally marketed its Knievel pinball machine as the "first fully electronic commercial game"; it has elsewhere been described as one of the "last of the classic pre-digital games." (Both electromechanical and solid-state versions were produced. The electromechanical version is extremely rare, with only 155 made.)
Other television appearances
In the 1970s, Knievel partnered with AMF to release a series of bicycles, marketed with TV ads.
Though Knievel had no involvement, a 30-minute ABC Saturday morning animated series Devlin produced by Hanna-Barbera aired in the fall of 1974. The series, inspired by his popularity, featured stunt motorcyclists.
Knievel made several television appearances, including frequently as a guest on talk shows such as Dinah! and Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. In 1977, he made a guest spot on The Bionic Woman, where he played himself, getting inadvertently caught up in East German espionage while appearing in West Germany. Actual footage from Evel's L.A. Coliseum jump over crushed cars was used at the beginning of the episode, and an indoor jump over eleven cars and one van was used at the end of the show. Also in 1977, Warner Bros. released Viva Knievel! This movie starred Knievel as himself and co-starred Gene Kelly, Lauren Hutton, and Red Buttons. Similar to The Bionic Woman, actual Wembley footage was used in the film. In addition, the 1999 children's TV series Hilltop Hospital featured a character based on Knievel called Weasel Kneasel, who was the focus of an episode of the same name. In Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 4, a character named Duke Caboom (voiced by Keanu Reeves) was partially based on the Evel Knievel toy. On September 23, 2020, Knievel's son Kelly and K&K Promotions filed a lawsuit against Disney and Pixar, claiming Duke was created illegally using Knievel's likeness.
Assault conviction, jail, and bankruptcy
While Knievel was healing from injuries sustained from the Chicago jump, the book Evel Knievel on Tour was released. Written by Knievel's promoter for the Snake River Canyon jump, Shelly Saltman, the book painted him as "an alcoholic, a pill addict, an anti-Semite and an immoral person" through tape-recorded interviews done of Knievel and others.
Knievel, with both arms still in casts, flew to California to confront Saltman, by then a vice president at 20th Century Fox. On September 21, 1977, outside the studio commissary, one of Knievel's friends grabbed Saltman and held him, while Knievel attacked him with an aluminum baseball bat, declaring "I'm going to kill you!" According to a witness to the attack, Knievel struck repeated blows at Saltman's head, with Saltman blocking the blows with his left arm. Saltman's arm and wrist were shattered in several places before he fell to the ground unconscious. Numerous surgeries were done to the shattered arm that resulted in Saltman having a steel plate and screws.
Saltman's book was withdrawn by the publisher after Knievel threatened to sue. Saltman later produced documents in both criminal and civil court that proved that, although Knievel claimed to have been insulted by statements in Saltman's book, he and his lawyers had been given editorial access to the book and had approved and signed off on every word before its publication. On November 15, 1977, Knievel pleaded guilty to battery and was sentenced to three years probation and six months in county jail.
After the Saltman assault and subsequent jail time, Knievel lost his marketing endorsements and deals, including Harley-Davidson and Ideal Toys. With no income from jumping or sponsorships, Knievel eventually declared bankruptcy. In 1981, Saltman was awarded a $12.75 million judgment against Knievel in a civil trial, but he never received any money from either Knievel or Knievel's estate. Knievel expressed no remorse for the attack, once calling it "frontier justice".
Marriages and children
Knievel was married twice. He and his wife Linda were married for 38 years. During their marriage, the couple had four children: two boys, Kelly and Robbie, and two girls, Tracey and Alicia. Throughout Kelly's and Robbie's adolescence, they performed at Knievel's stunt shows. Into adulthood, Robbie continued to perform as a professional motorcycle daredevil. After Evel's death, Kelly has overseen the Knievel legacy, including developing Knievel-related products and assisting Harley-Davidson to develop a museum exhibit. Knievel's courtship and marriage to Linda was the theme of the biopic 1971 film Evel Knievel. Linda and Evel separated in the early 1990s and were divorced in 1997 in San Jose, California.
A municipal judge ordered Evel to stand trial for a weapons possession charge in 1994. Knievel was arrested in October at a Sunnyvale go-go bar on suspicion of battering his girlfriend, 25-year-old Krystal Kennedy of Florida. Sunnyvale police later discovered two handguns and some ammunition in the trunk of his car. The battering charge was dropped when Kennedy declined to cooperate.
In 1999, Knievel married his girlfriend, Krystal Kennedy of Clearwater, Florida, whom he began dating in 1992. The wedding was held on November 19, 1999, on a special platform built on the fountains at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip (site of Evel's jump New Year's Eve 1967). Long-time friend Engelbert Humperdinck sent a recorded tribute to the couple.
The couple was married for two years, divorcing in 2001. Following the divorce, Krystal Knievel was granted a restraining order against him. However, Krystal and Evel would work out their differences, living together until Knievel's death. According to the investment magazine, Registered Rep., Knievel left his entire estate to Krystal.
Post-daredevil years
During the 1980s, Knievel drove around the country in a recreational vehicle, selling works of art allegedly painted by him. After several years of obscurity, Knievel made a significant marketing comeback in the 1990s, representing Maxim Casino, Little Caesars, Harley-Davidson and other firms.
In 1999, Knievel celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Snake River Canyon jump at the Twin Falls mall. His memorabilia was then stored at Kent Knigge's farm in Filer, Idaho, seven miles west of Twin Falls. During the same year, Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
Knievel once dreamed of housing all of his career memorabilia in an Evel Knievel Museum to be located in his home state of Montana. Those dreams were unfulfilled, and his artifacts are spread throughout transportation museums and private collections around the world. Knievel's original blueprints and handwritten notes about his desired museum are currently displayed at the Route 66 Vintage Iron Motorcycle Museum in downtown Miami, Oklahoma. The Route 66 site also houses Evel's Snake River Canyon Jump Mission Control Super Van. While Knievel's original dream of having all his significant memorabilia being centralized would go unfulfilled, a few public museums were opened in his honor, including the Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka, Kansas, which has the official approval of the Knievel estate.
On October 9, 2005, Knievel promoted his last public "motorcycle ride" at the Milwaukee Harley-Davidson dealership. The ride was to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. Although he was originally scheduled to lead a benefit ride through Milwaukee, Knievel never rode the motorcycle because he suffered a mild (non-debilitating) stroke before the appearance and limited his visit to a signing session.
Evel Knievel: The Rock Opera
In 2003, Knievel signed over exclusive rights to Los Angeles composer Jef Bek, authorizing the production of a rock opera based on Knievel's life. Directed by Bat Boy co-creator Keythe Farley, the production opened in Los Angeles in September 2007 to some positive reviews.
Six Flags Evel Knievel roller coaster
Knievel had partnered with Six Flags St. Louis to name a new wooden coaster after "America's Legendary Daredevil". The amusement park in Eureka, Missouri, outside of St. Louis, Missouri, opened the ride on June 20, 2008. The Evel Knievel Roller Coaster operated for three seasons before being renamed American Thunder in 2011.
Declining health
In the late 1990s, Knievel required a life-saving liver transplant as a result of suffering the long-term effects of Hepatitis C, which he contracted from one of the numerous blood transfusions he received before 1992. In February 1999, Knievel was given only a few days to live and he requested to leave the hospital and die at his home. En route to his home, Knievel received a phone call from the hospital stating a young man had died in a motorcycle accident and could be a donor. Days later, Knievel received the transplant.
In 2005, he was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable and terminal lung disease that required him to be on supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day. In 2006, he had an internal morphine pain pump surgically implanted to help him with the excruciating pain in his deteriorated lower back, one of the costs of incurring so many traumas throughout his career as a daredevil. He also had two strokes after 2005, but neither left him with severe debilitation.
On July 27, 2006, he appeared on The Adam Carolla Show and discussed his health problems. The following day, he appeared on stage with Robbie at Evel Knievel Days in Butte, marking the last performance in which the two appeared together. Robbie jumped 196 feet (60 m) in a tribute to his father on a much lighter motorcycle with far superior suspension.
Shortly before his death, Evel Knievel was featured in a BBC Two Christmas special presented by Richard Hammond. The 60-minute program Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel aired on December 23, 2007, less than a month after Knievel's death. The documentary was filmed in July 2007 at the annual "Evel Knievel Days" festival in his old hometown of Butte.
Christian conversion
On April 1, 2007, Knievel appeared on Robert H. Schuller's television program Hour of Power and announced that he "believed in Jesus Christ" for the first time. At his request, he was baptized at a televised congregation at the Crystal Cathedral by Schuller. Knievel's televised testimony triggered mass baptisms at the Crystal Cathedral.
Death
Knievel died in Clearwater, Florida on November 30, 2007, aged 69. He had been suffering from diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis for many years. A longtime friend reported that Knievel had trouble breathing while at his residence in Clearwater and died on the way to hospital. The friend said, "It's been coming for years but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?"
In one of his last interviews, Knievel told Maxim magazine:
You can't ask a guy like me why I performed. I really wanted to fly through the air. I was a daredevil, a performer. I loved the thrill, the money, the whole macho thing. All those things made me Evel Knievel. Sure, I was scared. You gotta be an ass not to be scared. But I beat the hell out of death. [...] You're in the air for four seconds, you're part of the machine and then if you make a mistake midair, you say to yourself, "Oh, boy. I'm gonna crash" and there's nothing you can do to stop it, not at all.
Knievel was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in his hometown of Butte, Montana on December 10, 2007, following a funeral at the 7,500-seat Butte Civic Center presided over by Robert H. Schuller with actor Matthew McConaughey giving the eulogy. Before the Monday service, fireworks exploded in the Butte night sky as pallbearers carried Knievel's casket into the center.
Posthumous recognition
On July 10, 2010, a special temporary exhibit entitled True Evel: The Amazing Story of Evel Knievel was opened at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The exhibit was opened in collaboration with Harley-Davidson Motorcycles and Evel's oldest son, Kelly. Among the various artifacts from Knievel's life, the exhibit included his "Shark Jump" Harley-Davidson XR-750, the Skycycle X-2, a blue jumpsuit from late in his career without any sponsor patches, and his trademark red-white-and-blue jumpsuit complete with his helmet and walking stick. Evel Knievel merchandising, personal artifacts, and X-rays from his injuries were also exhibited. In December 2010, a traveling version of the exhibit began a one-year tour of the United Kingdom and Europe.
On September 16, 2016, professional stuntman Eddie Braun successfully jumped the Snake River Canyon in a replica of Knievel's Snake River rocket. Braun cited Knievel as an inspiration and wanted to show that Knievel's jump would have been successful had the parachute not been deployed too early. Braun stated that he was "finishing out [the] dream" of his hero, Knievel.
In 2017, the Evel Knievel Museum, a 13,000 square foot (1,200 square meters) museum honoring Knievel was opened in Topeka, Kansas, by co-founders Lathan McKay and Mike Patterson. The museum features his motorcycles, leathers, helmets, wardrobe, and jewelry along with various displays and a virtual reality motorcycle jump.
On July 8, 2018, Travis Pastrana from Nitro Circus paid tribute to Evel on History Channel live event, "Evel Live", with 3 of Evel's most famous record-breaking Las Vegas jumps in one night. He was riding a Roland Sands Design–prepared 450-pound Indian Scout FTR750, and dressed in a full Evel Knievel getup, down to wearing vintage-style-appearing dress boots from Bates, the manufacturer that had made Evel's.
On November 16, 2023, the New York Times crossword, created by Paolo Pascal, paid homage to Knievel with a themed crossword which included clues such as "Description of this puzzle's subject" (DAREDEVIL) and "Acting dangerously, like this puzzle's subject" (LIVING ON THE EDGE). Upon completion of the puzzle through the NYT Games app or website, solvers were rewarded with a short animation of a person on a motorcycle leaping through the squares of the crossword over three buses.
On December 19, 2024, a new biographical film adaptation of Evel's life was reported to be in the works with La La Land director Damien Chazelle attached to direct, William Monahan set to pen the script, and negotiations with Leonardo DiCaprio to star as Knievel.
In September of 2025, an Evel Knievel comic book series was announced which would be published by Half Evil Comics and crowdfunded through Kickstarter. The series will be written by Rylend Grant and feature input from Knievel's son Kelly.
Television commercials
In November 2010, General Motors premiered a television commercial featuring footage of Knievel's Wembley Stadium crash in 1975, followed by Knievel getting onto his feet. The ad focused on GM's restructuring and emphasized the belief that "we all fall down".
On July 18, 2012, Audi of America recreated Knievel's Snake River jump in a promotional commercial for the Audi RS5. The commercial depicts the RS5 being driven by a professional driver and jumping the canyon off a jump ramp.
Portrayal in film
Evel Knievel (1971), a biographical film directed by Marvin J. Chomsky and starring George Hamilton as Knievel.
Viva Knievel! (1977), a fictional story directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Evel Knievel as himself.
Evel Knievel (2004), a biographical television film directed by John Badham and starring George Eads as Knievel.
Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel (2007), a television documentary film directed by Nigel Simpkiss.
I Am Evel Knievel (2014), a documentary directed by Derik Murray and David Ray.
Being Evel (2015), a documentary directed by Daniel Junge.
Evel, an upcoming biographical limited series written by Etan Frankel and starring Milo Ventimiglia as Knievel, was searching for a TV network as of 2020.
See also
Devlin, an animated TV series inspired by Evel Knievel
Evel Pie, an Evel Knievel–themed restaurant in Las Vegas co-owned by Kelly Knievel
References
Citations
General bibliography
"Evel Knievel (Obituary)". Orlando Sentinel. Associated Press. Retrieved July 27, 2010 – via Legacy.com.
"Evel Knievel; All-American motorcycle daredevil who thrilled a generation but then lost his health, his reputation and his fortune". The Times. London. December 3, 2007. Archived from the original on May 25, 2010. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
Roscoe, Michael (December 3, 2007). "Evel Knievel: Motorcycle daredevil famed for his bone-breaking jumps (Obituary)". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on December 4, 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
Severo, Richard (December 1, 2007). "Evel Knievel, 69, Daredevil on a Motorcycle, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
Squatriglia, Chuck (November 30, 2007). "Evel Knievel Jumps the River Styx". Wired. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
External links
Official website
Evel Knievel on ABC's Wide World of Sports
Evel Knievel at IMDb
Evel Knievel at Find a Grave
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Beyoncé
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Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( bee-ON-say; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. Known for her vocal ability, artistic reinventions, and live performances, she is widely regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 21st century. Credited with shaping popular music, Beyoncé is often deemed one of the greatest entertainers and most influential artists of all time.
Beyoncé rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of Destiny's Child, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. Her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love (2003), became one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. After Destiny's Child disbanded in 2005, Beyoncé released the funk-imbued B'Day (2006) and starred in the drama film Dreamgirls (2006). Her marriage to rapper Jay-Z and portrayal of Etta James in the biopic Cadillac Records (2008) influenced her pop-oriented double album I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008). Through the 2000s, Beyoncé garnered the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Crazy in Love", "Baby Boy", "Irreplaceable", "Check on It", and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)".
After forming the management company Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé embraced traditional R&B and soul on 4 (2011). The electronic-influenced Beyoncé (2013) popularized surprise and visual albums, inspiring the setting of Friday as Global Release Day, while the eclectic Lemonade (2016) sparked sociopolitical discourse and was the best-selling album worldwide in 2016. Her ongoing trilogy project—consisting of the queer-inspired dance album Renaissance (2022) and Americana epic Cowboy Carter (2024)—has highlighted the contributions of Black pioneers to American musical and cultural history, spawning the US number-one singles "Break My Soul" and "Texas Hold 'Em".
Beyoncé is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 200 million records. She is the most RIAA-certified female artist and the only woman whose first eight studio albums each debuted atop the US Billboard 200. One of the most-awarded artists in popular music, her accolades include 35 Grammy Awards—the most of any individual—a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Peabody Award. Beyoncé is the most-awarded artist of the BET Awards (36), MTV Video Music Awards (30), NAACP Image Awards (32), and Soul Train Music Awards (25). The first woman to headline an all-stadium tour, she is amongst the highest-grossing live acts of all time.
Life and career
Early life
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born in Houston, Texas, on September 4, 1981. Her mother, Tina Knowles (née Beyoncé), was a hairdresser and salon owner, while her father, Mathew Knowles, was a sales manager at Xerox. Mathew is African American, while Tina is Louisiana Creole with African, French, Irish, Breton, Norman and Native American ancestry. Beyoncé's younger sister, Solange, is also a singer and actress. They are descendants of Acadian militia officer Joseph Broussard, who was exiled to French Louisiana after the expulsion of the Acadians. Both sisters also have Belgian ancestry from Hainaut Province, Wallonia. Beyoncé was raised within multiple religious traditions, attending both St. John's United Methodist Church and St. Mary of the Purification Catholic Church in Houston. Her first job as a child was sweeping hair and occasionally performing for customers at her mother's hair salon.
Beyoncé began her education at St. Mary's Catholic Montessori School, where she also took dance classes. Her vocals were discovered by her dance instructor, who began humming a song that Beyoncé completed. Beyoncé's interest in music and performing grew after she won a school talent show at the age of seven by singing John Lennon's "Imagine", winning against older competitors aged fifteen and sixteen. In 1990, nine-year-old Beyoncé enrolled in Parker Elementary School, a music magnet school in Houston, where she performed with the school's choir. She later attended the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and subsequently Alief Elsik High School. Beyoncé was also a member of the choir at St. John's United Methodist Church, where she sang her first solo and was a soloist for two years.
1990–2001: Early career and Destiny's Child
In 1990, Beyoncé met singer LaTavia Roberson while in an audition for an all-girl entertainment group. Joined by Kelly Rowland two years later, the trio was placed in "Girl's Tyme", a group that performed rap and dance routines on Houston's talent show circuit. In 1993, the group was entered in Star Search, the largest national talent show on television at the time. Competing in the show's singing category, the group lost the competition, which Beyoncé attributed to a poor song choice. After LeToya Luckett joined in 1993, Girl's Tyme continued performing as an opening act for established R&B girl groups. In 1995, Mathew left his job to manage the group, which halved the Knowles family's income, leading to them moving into separate apartments. The group was briefly signed by Elektra Records and later dropped; ensuing tensions led to a six-month separation of Beyoncé's parents. The Knowles family later reunited and the group secured a contract with Columbia Records, aided by talent scout Teresa LaBarbera Whites.
The group adopted the name Destiny's Child in 1997, based upon a passage in the Book of Isaiah. That year, they released their major-label debut song, "Killing Time", which appeared on the soundtrack for the film Men in Black. Their debut single and first major hit, "No, No, No", preceded their debut album, Destiny's Child (1998), a moderate success. Released in July 1999, the group's second album, The Writing's on the Wall, peaked at number five on the US Billboard 200 and later achieved multi-platinum status in the country. The record spawned the singles "Bills, Bills, Bills", "Say My Name", and "Jumpin', Jumpin'"; the former two both peaked atop the US Billboard Hot 100. "Say My Name" won Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best R&B Song at the 2001 Grammy Awards. The Writing's on the Wall became one of the best-selling R&B albums of all time, having sold 13 million copies worldwide.
Following several lineup changes, Destiny's Child ultimately comprised Beyoncé, Rowland, and Michelle Williams. In early 2001, while the group were completing work on their third album, Beyoncé secured a leading role in the MTV made-for-television film Carmen: A Hip Hopera, an interpretation of the 19th-century opera Carmen. Destiny's Child's third studio album, Survivor, was released in May 2001; it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 663,000 copies in its first week. The album produced the Billboard Hot 100 number-ones "Independent Woman Part I" and "Bootylicious", as well as the title track, which peaked at number two. "Survivor" earned the group a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Following the release of their holiday album, 8 Days of Christmas (2001), Destiny's Child announced a hiatus to allow each member to pursue solo careers.
2002–2007: Dangerously in Love, B'Day, and Dreamgirls
In July 2002, Beyoncé made her theatrical film debut, portraying Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember. She released "Work It Out" as the lead single from the film's soundtrack. Her breakthrough as a solo artist came when she featured on Jay-Z's track "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" from his album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002). The single peaked at number four on the Hot 100 chart. Beyoncé appeared as Jay-Z's girlfriend in the music video for the song, fueling speculation about a relationship. She later shared that they began dating when she was nineteen, after a year and a half of friendship.
On June 14, 2003, Beyoncé premiered songs from her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love, during her first solo concert, which was broadcast as a pay-per-view television special. Released ten days later, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 317,000 copies in its first week. The album's lead single, "Crazy in Love", featured Jay-Z and became Beyoncé's first number-one single as a solo artist on the US Billboard Hot 100. The single "Baby Boy" also reached number one, while "Me, Myself and I" and "Naughty Girl" both reached the top five. Dangerously in Love earned Beyoncé five awards at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary R&B Album and Best R&B Song for "Crazy in Love". Having sold 11 million copies since its release, it is one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. She starred alongside Cuba Gooding Jr. in the musical comedy The Fighting Temptations (2003), portraying a single mother and the love interest of Gooding's character.
In November 2003, Beyoncé embarked on the European Dangerously in Love Tour and North American Verizon Ladies First Tour alongside Missy Elliott and Alicia Keys. On February 1, 2004, she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the US, at the Super Bowl XXXVIII. Destiny Fulfilled, Destiny's Child's final album, was released on November 15, 2004. The record peaked at number two on the Billboard 200, spawning the US top-five singles "Lose My Breath" and "Soldier". In 2005, Destiny's Child embarked on a global concert tour titled Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It. The group announced that they would disband at the end of the tour. Destiny's Child released their first compilation album, #1's, in October 2005 and were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2006.
Beyoncé's second solo album, B'Day, was released internationally on September 4, 2006, to coincide with her twenty-fifth birthday. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with 541,000 copies sold in its first week. The album's lead single, "Déjà Vu", featuring Jay-Z, reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100, while the second worldwide single, "Irreplaceable", topped the chart for ten weeks. B'Day's other singles—"Ring the Alarm", "Get Me Bodied", and "Green Light"—each saw moderate chart success. At the 2007 Grammy Awards, B'Day and some of its songs received five nominations, winning Best Contemporary R&B Album. At the 2008 Grammy Awards, the album garnered two more nominations, including Record of the Year for "Irreplaceable".
Beyoncé's first acting role in 2006 was in the comedy film The Pink Panther. She performed "Check on It" as its theme song, which was included on #1's and on the European deluxe version of B'Day. "Check on It" peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks. Later that year, she starred in Dreamgirls, a cinematic adaptation of the 1981 Broadway musical; Beyoncé portrayed a pop singer modeled after Diana Ross. In support of B'Day, Beyoncé embarked on the Beyoncé Experience in 2007, her first worldwide concert tour, which visited 97 venues. Simultaneously, B'Day was re-released with additional tracks, including her duet with Shakira, "Beautiful Liar", which peaked at number three in the US. In December 2007, Beyoncé and Jay-Z became engaged.
2008–2009: I Am... Sasha Fierce and marriage
On April 4, 2008, Beyoncé and Jay-Z married in a small, private ceremony; the latter confirmed their marriage in an interview later that year. Their marriage served as a creative inspiration for her third studio album, titled I Am... Sasha Fierce. Released on November 12, 2008, I Am... Sasha Fierce formally introduced her alter ego Sasha Fierce. A double album, it comprises two discs—I Am... and Sasha Fierce; the former contains slow and midtempo pop and R&B ballads, while the latter focuses on uptempo beats that blend electropop and Europop elements. Debuting at number one on the Billboard 200, it sold 482,000 copies in its first week, marking Beyoncé's third consecutive US number-one album.
I Am... Sasha Fierce included Beyoncé's fifth number one on the Billboard Hot 100, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", as well as the UK chart-topping single, "If I Were a Boy". The success of "Halo", which peaked at number five in the US, helped Beyoncé attain more top-ten singles on the list than any other woman during the 2000s. Parodied and imitated around the world, the "Single Ladies" music video was described by the Toronto Star as the "first major dance craze" of the Internet age. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won three categories, including Video of the Year. In March 2009, Beyoncé embarked on the I Am... Tour, her second headlining worldwide concert tour, which grossed $119.5 million.
I Am... Sasha Fierce went on to become one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century, with over 10 million copies sold worldwide. Soon after its release, Beyoncé portrayed blues singer Etta James in the musical biopic Cadillac Records (2008), garnering several nominations including an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. In the psychological thriller Obsessed (2009), Beyoncé played Sharon Charles, a woman protecting her family from her husband's stalker, which co-starred Ali Larter and Idris Elba. The film was critically panned, but Beyoncé's acting saw favorable reception. Obsessed performed strongly at the US box office, earning $68 million on a $20 million budget. Beyoncé performed "America the Beautiful" at president Barack Obama's 2009 presidential inauguration and "At Last" during the first inaugural dance.
At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2010, Beyoncé received ten nominations—both for I Am... Sasha Fierce and for her work in film soundtracks—tying with Lauryn Hill for most Grammy nominations in a single year by a female artist. Beyoncé won six of those nominations, including Best Contemporary R&B Album for I Am... Sasha Fierce and Song of the Year for "Single Ladies", breaking a record she previously tied in 2004 for the most Grammy awards won in a single night by a female artist. Beyoncé provided vocals on Lady Gaga's single "Telephone", from the latter's extended play The Fame Monster (2009). It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
2010–2012: 4 and first child
In January 2010, Beyoncé announced a hiatus from her music career. Over the nine-month break, she traveled to several European cities, the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramids, Australia, English music festivals, and attended museum exhibitions and ballet performances. "Eat, Play, Love", a cover story written by Beyoncé for Essence that detailed her career break, won her a writing award from the New York Association of Black Journalists. Around this time, she miscarried, retrospectively describing it as "the saddest thing" she had endured. Beyoncé returned to the studio and wrote music to cope with the loss. In September 2010, Beyoncé made her runway modelling debut at Tom Ford's Spring/Summer 2011 fashion show. In March 2011, her father Mathew stopped managing her career.
In April 2011, during a photoshoot in Paris for her upcoming album cover, Beyoncé unexpectedly discovered she was pregnant. Her fourth studio album, 4, was released on June 24, 2011, in the US and debuted atop the Billboard 200, selling 310,000 copies in its first week. It was her fourth consecutive number-one album in the US. 4 marked Beyoncé's first project of creative control since she split from her father, and was conceived as a traditional R&B and soul record that stood apart from contemporary popular music. It contained five Billboard Hot 100 songs: "Run the World (Girls)", "Party", "Countdown", "Best Thing I Never Had", and "Love on Top". The latter two peaked at numbers sixteen and twenty.
On June 26, 2011, Beyoncé became the first solo female artist in over two decades to headline the main Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival. The performance received praise from critics, with some outlets praising her growth as a live performer. In August 2011, Beyoncé and Jay-Z attended the MTV Video Music Awards, in which the former performed "Love on Top" and revealed her pregnancy. Her announcement contributed to the ceremony becoming the most-watched broadcast in MTV history at the time, drawing 12.4 million viewers. The moment also set a Guinness World Record for the most tweets per second for a single event, with 8,868 tweets per second, and "Beyonce pregnant" became the most Googled phrase during the week of August 29, 2011.
In late 2011, Beyoncé headlined four exclusive shows at New York's Roseland Ballroom titled 4 Intimate Nights with Beyoncé, performing songs from 4. That month, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America after shipping one million copies to retail stores. In February 2018, 4 made Beyoncé the first female artist to have three of her albums surpass one billion streams on Spotify. On January 7, 2012, Beyoncé gave birth to her first daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, in New York City. In June 2012, she performed for four nights at Revel Atlantic City's Ovation Hall to celebrate the resort's opening.
2013–2014: Beyoncé
In January 2013, Beyoncé performed the American national anthem during Obama's second presidential inauguration. In February, she headlined the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show in New Orleans. The performance became the second most tweeted-about moment in history at the time, generating 268,000 tweets per minute. That same month, she co-directed and premiered her feature-length documentary Life Is But a Dream on HBO, which offered an introspective look into both her personal and professional life.
In April 2013, Beyoncé embarked on the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, released a cover of Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" with André 3000 for The Great Gatsby's soundtrack, and in May, voiced Queen Tara in the animated film Epic. On December 13, 2013, she unexpectedly released her fifth studio album, Beyoncé, on the iTunes Store without prior announcement or promotion. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, marking her fifth consecutive US number-one debut and making her the first woman in the chart's history to achieve this milestone with her first five studio albums. The album received widespread critical acclaim, and sold one million digital copies globally within six days—a record for any album on iTunes at the time.
Musically rooted in electro-R&B, Beyoncé explored darker, more personal themes than her previous work, including bulimia, postnatal depression, and the emotional complexities of marriage and motherhood. As a visual album, the album's music videos were recorded in secrecy to accompany to album's unexpected release. Beyoncé is credited with helping popularize digital releases, as well as surprise and visual album formats; its release influenced the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry to adopt Friday as Global Release Day. The record spawned five singles: "Blow", "XO", "Drunk in Love", "Partition", and "Pretty Hurts". "Drunk in Love" featured Jay-Z and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Beyoncé sold 2.3 million units worldwide in 2013, making it the one of the best-selling albums of the year.
At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé received six nominations and won three: Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for "Drunk in Love", and Best Surround Sound Album for Beyoncé. In April 2014, Beyoncé and Jay-Z—known collectively by their stage name the Carters—announced their first co-headlining stadium tour called the On the Run Tour. On August 24, 2014, she received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the MTV Video Music Awards, and won three additional honors: Best Video with a Social Message and Best Cinematography for "Pretty Hurts", and Best Collaboration for "Drunk in Love". The album was reissued as the Platinum Edition on November 24, 2014, featuring six additional songs.
2015–2017: Lemonade
Beyoncé released the single "Formation" on February 6, 2016, and performed it live for the first time during the NFL Super Bowl 50 halftime show. The performance sparked controversy due to its perceived allusions to the Black Panther Party on its fiftieth anniversary, as the NFL prohibits political statements during its events. On April 16, 2016, Beyoncé released a teaser for a project titled Lemonade. An hour-long musical film premiered on HBO on April 23, coinciding with the release of the corresponding studio album of the same name exclusively on Tidal the same day.
The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making Beyoncé the first artist in Billboard history to have her first six studio albums debut atop the chart. All twelve tracks from Lemonade entered the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first female artist to chart twelve songs simultaneously. After the album's release, "Sorry", "Hold Up", "Freedom", and "All Night" were released as singles. It was the third best-selling album in the US in 2016, with 1.554 million copies sold, and the best-selling album globally that year, with 2.5 million copies sold. Beyoncé embarked on the Formation World Tour from April to October 2016, with stops across North America and Europe. It was the first all-stadium tour by a female artist and received Tour of the Year at the 44th American Music Awards.
The album's visuals earned eleven nominations at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards—the most Beyoncé had ever received in a single year—and won eight awards, including Video of the Year for "Formation". Beyoncé became the show's most-awarded artist with 24 total awards, surpassing Madonna's previous record of 20 wins. In January 2017, Beyoncé was announced as a headliner for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which would have made her only the second female artist to headline the event. However, on February 23, it was confirmed she would no longer perform as a result of her second pregnancy. Festival organizers later announced she would headline the 2018 edition instead.
At the 59th Grammy Awards in February 2017, Lemonade led with nine nominations, including Album of the Year, and Record and Song of the Year for "Formation". Beyoncé won two awards: Best Urban Contemporary Album for Lemonade and Best Music Video for "Formation". That month, Beyoncé announced on Instagram that she was expecting twins. The post garnered over 6.3 million likes within a few hours, setting a world record for the most-liked image on the platform at the time. On July 13, she shared the first photo of herself with the twins, confirming they were born a month earlier on June 13. That post became the second most-liked on Instagram, following her original pregnancy announcement. The twins—a daughter, Rumi, and a son, Sir—were born via caesarean section in California. Later that year, Beyoncé featured on the remix of Ed Sheeran's "Perfect", which reached number one in the US, marking her sixth chart-topper as a solo artist.
2018–2021: Everything Is Love and The Lion King
Beyoncé headlined both weekends of the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Her performance on April 14 was the most-tweeted-about performance of the first weekend and became the most-watched live performance on YouTube. It received widespread praise from critics, many of whom described it as historic. The performance paid homage to Black culture—particularly focusing on historically Black colleges and universities—and included a brief reunion of Destiny's Child.
On June 6, 2018, Beyoncé and Jay-Z launched their On the Run II Tour. After its final show, the couple released their first collaborative studio album, Everything Is Love, on June 16. The project debuted at number two in the US with 123,000 album-equivalent units; its only single, "Apeshit", peaked at number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100. On December 2, 2018, Beyoncé and Jay-Z headlined the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé, a documentary and concert film chronicling the 2018 Coachella performances, was released on Netflix on April 17, 2019, alongside Homecoming: The Live Album. The film earned six nominations at the 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2019.
Beyoncé starred as the voice of Nala in the 2019 remake of The Lion King, released in July that year. She also contributed to the film's soundtrack, performing a remade version of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Beyoncé's original song "Spirit" was the lead single from both the official soundtrack and The Lion King: The Gift, a companion album she curated and produced. Incorporating gqom and Afrobeat, she recruited African producers to create The Gift, given the film's African setting. In September, ABC aired Beyoncé Presents: Making The Gift, a surprise documentary detailing the album's creation.
In April 2020, Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé released a remix of "Savage", which topped the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Beyoncé's seventh number one as a soloist. In July 2020, she released Black Is King, the visual companion to The Gift written, directed, and executive produced by Beyoncé. At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021, she led with nine nominations and won four awards, making her the most-awarded singer and female individual in Grammy history, and the second most-awarded individual overall. That same year, she co-wrote and recorded "Be Alive" for the biographical sports drama film King Richard, earning her first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 94th Academy Awards.
2022–present: Renaissance and Cowboy Carter
On June 16, 2022, Beyoncé announced the title of her seventh studio album, Renaissance. The album's lead single, "Break My Soul", was released four days later and peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Beyoncé's eighth number-one and twentieth top-ten song on the chart. This placed her alongside Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson as the only artists in chart history to earn at least twenty top-ten singles as solo acts and ten as members of a group.
Renaissance was released on July 29, 2022, to critical acclaim. The album features Black dance music styles such as disco and house and largely pays homage to the historically overlooked contributions of Black queer pioneers to those genres. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making Beyoncé the first artist to have her first seven studio albums debut at number one in the US. All of its sixteen songs charted on the Hot 100, with its second single, "Cuff It", peaking at number six. Upon the release of Renaissance, Beyoncé revealed that it was the first installment of a trilogy developed and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic—a period she described as her "most creative".
On January 21, 2023, Beyoncé gave her first full concert in over four years at a private event in Dubai, performing for an audience of influencers and journalists. She was reportedly paid $24 million for the show, which sparked criticism due to the United Arab Emirates' laws criminalizing homosexuality. Later in the year, she headlined the Renaissance World Tour across the US and Europe, which became the highest-grossing tour by a female artist at the time. In November 2023, she released Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, a documentary concert film that chronicled the tour's creation. She wrote, directed, and produced the film in partnership with AMC Theatres. Having won four of her nine nominations at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé became the most-awarded person in Grammy history, with a total of 32 accolades.
On February 11, 2024, Beyoncé announced the second installment of her trilogy project and released its first two singles, "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages". "Texas Hold 'Em" became her ninth solo number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 and her first on the Billboard Global 200. She announced the album's title, Cowboy Carter, on March 12 and released it on March 29. An Americana-inspired record, Cowboy Carter highlights the historically overlooked contributions of Black pioneers to country music. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with Beyoncé becoming the only female artist to debut her first eight studio albums at number one in the US. The album's third single, "II Most Wanted", featuring Miley Cyrus, debuted at number six in the US. In July 2024, NBC released two promotional commercials featuring Beyoncé for their coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Beyoncé returned as Nala in Mufasa: The Lion King (2024), a prequel to the 2019 remake. In December 2024, she headlined the first-ever NFL Christmas Gameday Halftime Show, debuting songs from Cowboy Carter. At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in 2025, she became the first Black artist in 50 years to win in the country categories, and the first Black artist to win Best Country Album. She also won Album of the Year, the first Black woman to do so in 25 years. That year, Beyoncé embarked on the Cowboy Carter Tour across the US and Europe, which went on to become the highest-grossing country tour of all time.
Artistry
Musical style
Beyoncé's music is primarily R&B, pop, and hip-hop, and also incorporates elements of soul and funk. With continuous musical reinventions, Beyoncé has been described as a musical "chameleon" by publications such as Vox and Billboard. Expanding beyond the hip-hop and R&B sound she featured in her previous two albums—Dangerously in Love and B'Day—I Am... Sasha Fierce incorporates a 1980s electropop- and Europop-imbued sound, featuring instruments such as synthesizers and the acoustic guitar. With the album 4, she expanded her use of soul and hip-hop compared to earlier work. Drawing from 1970s funk, 1980s pop, and 1990s soul influences, 4 featured elements of hard rock, reggae, and adult contemporary. Minimalism inspired Beyoncé's self-titled album, which employed emotive falsetto and often braggadocio, using fragmented song structures that rejected traditional pop formats in favor of atmosphere. Lemonade incorporated a broader range of genres, including rock, country, gospel, reggae, and blues.
The Lion King: The Gift was conceived as a record rooted in cultural celebration. As such, Beyoncé recruited artists and producers from across the African continent and explored genres such as Afropop and gqom. Delving into disco, ballroom culture, and 1990s club sounds, Renaissance extensively made use of four-on-the-floor beats and pulsating synths, with interpolations of queer and Black dance music pioneers. Beyoncé conceived Cowboy Carter as a multi-genre reclamation of Americana music. The country and gospel-tinged epic features instrumentation such as the accordion, harmonica, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Although she mainly records in English, Beyoncé released Spanish-language tracks for Irreemplazable (2007)—a Spanish reissue of songs from B'Day.
Voice
Beyoncé's possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range. T's Jody Rosen praised her musical tone and timbre as especially distinctive, calling her voice "one of the most compelling instruments in popular music". While Rosen credited the hip-hop era for shaping her rhythmic vocal style, he also noted her traditionalist leanings through balladry, gospel, and falsetto. Her voice was described as "velvety yet tart, with an insistent flutter and reserves of soul belting" by Jon Pareles.
On Dangerously in Love, Beyoncé's vocals balance between sultry utters and powerful belting, while B'Day incorporated melismatic vocals and staccato phrasing. Throughout I Am... Sasha Fierce, Beyoncé employs vibrato yelps and trills, often singing in a lower register on several tracks. With 4, she opted for "brass[y] and gritt[y]" vocals. "Love on Top" has multiple key changes with sustained vocal power, while growls and raspy textures characterize such songs as "Start Over". She embraced more breathy and airy vocals on Beyoncé, with squeaky falsettos and wordless ecstasies accompanied by spoken word and rap-singing—what Kitty Empire dubbed "hood rat rapping". Beyoncé adopted a looser, more genre-fluid approach on Lemonade, drawing on Southern roots with the twang of "Daddy Lessons"; a hushed and intimate tone on "Pray You Catch Me"; and raspy, distorted, and shouted vocals to channel raw anger on "Don't Hurt Yourself".
On Renaissance, Beyoncé's vocals are processed with electronic effects such as reverb, distortion, and modulation. She predominantly sings in her natural Texan accent on Cowboy Carter, with Southern American English elements. However, on the Caro mio ben excerpt in "Daughter", she adopts a classical operatic vocal style. Chris Richards, in an article for The Washington Post, highlighted her vocal range and power, noting she could "punctuate any beat with goose-bump-inducing whispers or full-bore diva-roars". In Rolling Stone's 2023 list of the "200 Greatest Singers of All Time", Beyoncé ranked eighth, with the magazine stating, "in [her] voice lies the entire history of Black music".
Songwriting and themes
Beyoncé has a collaborative and experimental songwriting process, often merging different song parts to create new structures. Early in her career with Destiny's Child, her lyrics often focused on themes of female empowerment, as seen in songs like "Independent Women" and "Survivor". When her relationship with Jay-Z began, her songwriting style shifted to include more romantic and relationship-focused content with songs such as "Cater 2 U". Dangerously in Love explored sexual and romantic themes, with the follow-up B'Day delving into Black women's personal and spiritual discontent, fulfillment, self-worth, and agency. I Am... Sasha Fierce examined themes of love, heartbreak, and the tension between Beyoncé's self and her stage alter ego; more personal themes characterized 4 and Beyonce, which delved into marriage, monogamy, and intimacy.
Around the mid-2010s, Beyoncé began exploring historical and political themes. Storytelling and poetry inspired Lemonade, an album that discusses Black womanhood, reconciliation, and heartbreak—particularly in light of Jay-Z's alleged infidelity. Scholar Emily J. Lordi described the album as a "cinematic and sonic Afrodiasporic journey from betrayal to redemption". Renaissance and Cowboy Carter were conceived to highlight the historically overlooked and marginalized contributions of Black pioneers to American musical and cultural history. The former pays tribute to the influence of Black queer artists in shaping dance music, while the latter centers on the role of Black people in the development of country music.
Critics and music artists have analyzed Beyoncé's distinctive style of songwriting. Caroline Polachek, who worked on "No Angel", praised her ability to make connections between ideas, and called her a "genius" writer and producer. While writing with Beyoncé, record producer Sean Garrett described her as "very particular about her brand", stating that she rejects anything that feels off-brand. Dubbed a "meticulous curator" by The New Yorker, Beyoncé has been studied by some academics as a musical archivist, while others have likened her storytelling to that of a modern-day griot. She has received co-writing credits on most of her songs. Beyoncé often faces scrutiny over the number of writing credits she receives, with some questioning the extent of her contributions.
Influences
Beyoncé has named Michael Jackson as her greatest musical influence. At the age of five, she attended her first concert where Jackson performed, an experience she later said helped her realize her purpose as a performer. She has also credited Tina Turner as a major inspiration, admiring how she embodied strength while remaining feminine and sexy. Diana Ross influenced her as an "all-around entertainer", and Whitney Houston inspired her to pursue performing, saying Houston made her believe she could do the same.
Beyoncé praised Madonna for her music and roles as a businesswoman. She has cited Mariah Carey's vocal style—especially on her song "Vision of Love"—as an early influence that inspired her to practice vocal runs as a child. Other artists that Beyoncé has mentioned as inspirations include Rachelle Ferrell, Aaliyah, Prince, Janet Jackson, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Fairuz, Mary J. Blige, Selena, Anita Baker, and Toni Braxton.
Beyoncé has cited Michelle Obama—44th First Lady of the US—as a personal inspiration. She described Oprah Winfrey as "the definition of inspiration and a strong woman". Beyoncé has stated that her husband, rapper Jay-Z, inspires her, and she has praised his lyrical talent and the challenges he has overcome. She expressed admiration for artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, stating that she wants to emulate his lyrical and raw artistic traits in her music. Beyoncé has named Ross and Cher as some of her fashion inspirations.
Videography and stage
Beyoncé's music videos are known for their visual storytelling, frequent choreography, and thematic cohesion. Albums such as Beyoncé (2013) and Lemonade (2016) were released as "visual albums", with each track paired with a music video to form a continuous narrative. Beyoncé has worked with numerous directors for her music videos, such as Melina Matsoukas, Jonas Åkerlund, and Jake Nava.
Beyoncé is known for her meticulously produced and physically demanding performances that incorporate elaborate costumes, striking visuals, and stage design. Her shows are characterized by large-scale production elements such as LED staging, supporting ensembles, theatrical props, and numerous costume changes. When performing, Beyoncé uses different fashion styles that coordinate with the music she is singing. According to Barbara Ellen, writing for The Guardian, Beyoncé is the most in-charge female artist onstage, while Alice Jones of The Independent wrote she "takes her role as entertainer so seriously she's almost too good".
Beyoncé has been praised for her stage presence and voice during live performances, and she is often deemed one of the greatest entertainers of all time. She created the alter ego Sasha Fierce to separate her stage persona from her personal attributes. She characterized her persona as "too aggressive, too strong, too sassy [and] too sexy", adding that she is not like her in real life at all. Sasha Fierce was created during the production of "Crazy in Love" and was introduced with the release of her third solo studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce, in 2008. By February 2010, Beyoncé stated she no longer needed the alter ego, having grown more comfortable with herself. In May 2012, she announced Sasha Fierce would return for her Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live performances later that month.
Public image
Beyoncé has been described by critics as having sex appeal. Writing for Rolling Stone, music journalist Touré noted that she became a "crossover sex symbol" after the release of Dangerously in Love (2003). Scholar Adrienne Trier-Bieniek argued that Beyoncé's fair skin, ethnically ambiguous features, and hair are central to her status as a sex symbol and "beauty icon within the [B]lack community". The media often used the term "bootylicious"—a portmanteau of "booty" and "delicious"—in reference to her curvaceous figure; the phrase was popularized by Destiny's Child's 2001 single of the same name. In 2004, "bootylicious" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary, defined as "(of a woman) sexually attractive".
Known for her "diva" persona, Beyoncé has been nicknamed "Queen Bey" (also spelled "Queen B") by the media. Her fanbase is known as the BeyHive, having previously been known as the Beyontourage until 2011. The Guardian called them "the most dedicated group of superfans ... on the planet". She was named the "World's Most Beautiful Woman" by People and the "Hottest Female Singer of All Time" by Complex in 2012. In January 2013, GQ placed Beyoncé on its cover, featuring her atop its "100 Sexiest Women of the 21st Century" list. VH1 listed her at number one on its 2013 list of the "100 Sexiest Artists". Beyoncé is known for rarely granting interviews, especially to traditional media; she largely stopped participating in conventional press interviews in 2013. Active on social media, Beyoncé has over 300 million followers on Instagram; she was the most-followed account on the platform until 2015 and remains one of its most-followed users.
Beyoncé's lighter skin tone and styling choices have drawn criticism, with some arguing that they may perpetuate Eurocentric beauty standards and contribute to issues of colorism, particularly regarding the underrepresentation of darker-skinned Black women in mainstream media. Emmett Price, a professor of music at Northeastern University, wrote in 2007 that he thinks race plays a role in many of these criticisms, saying white celebrities who dress similarly attract fewer comments. In 2008, L'Oreal denied accusations of whitening her skin in their Feria hair color advertisements; Beyoncé herself criticized H&M for their proposed "retouching" of promotional images of her in 2013, requesting only "natural pictures be used". In 2007, she became the second African American woman to appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue magazine, and People recognized her as the best-dressed celebrity.
Legacy
Beyoncé is widely recognized as one of the most influential figures in music history. Billboard features her on its list of the greatest artists of all time, and later named her greatest pop star of the 21st century in 2024. Beyoncé has repeatedly been named as the defining artist of both the 2000s and 2010s. Writing in The New Yorker, Rosen called her "the most important and compelling popular musician of the twenty-first century [...] the result, the logical end point of a century-plus of pop". Critics have hailed several of Beyoncé's albums, singles, music videos, and live performances as amongst the greatest of all time.
Beyoncé is considered one of the most signficant cultural figures of the 21st century, with her contributions to music and performance, alongside her highly publicized three-decade career and activism, making her prominent worldwide. She is credited with revolutionizing the music industry, transforming the production, distribution, promotion, and consumption of music. Beyoncé has been credited with revitalizing the album format in an era dominated by singles, with albums becoming increasingly cohesive and narrative-led. Her 2013 album Beyoncé popularized surprise releases, prompting widespread adoption of unconventional promotional strategies throughout the 2010s and 2020s. Beyoncé is also recognized for reviving the music video as an art form, popularizing the visual album format, and inspiring the industry to move Global Release Day from Tuesday to Friday.
Beyoncé's use of staccato rap-singing and chopped and re-pitched vocals helped them become prominent in 21st-century music. Her work transcends traditional genre boundaries, creating new artistic standards that shaped contemporary music and set the precedent for music artists to move between and beyond genre confines. Beyoncé has helped repopularize such subgenres of music as R&B, country, dance, and house, while also being credited with introducing Afrobeats to the US mainstream. Beyoncé is known for transforming concert tours into cultural and artistic events. Additionally, she has significantly influenced socio-political matters, using her platform to advocate for women's empowerment and social justice. Critics credit her with significantly influencing political conversations and movements, such as fourth-wave feminism and Black Lives Matter.
Beyoncé has been recognized for setting new standards for success in the modern era, with musicians from across genres, generations, and countries citing her as a major influence on their career. Taylor Swift called her a major influence, crediting her with showing other artists how to oppose industry standards and create new opportunities. Lady Gaga said Beyoncé inspired her to become a musician, while Rihanna was motivated to pursue music after watching Beyoncé. Ariana Grande said she learned to sing by mimicking artists like Beyoncé, while Adele described her as part of her artistic influence since she was a preteen. McCartney and Garth Brooks have also cited Beyoncé's live performances as inspirational, with the latter recommending that both new and veteran musicians analyze these performances to improve their work.
Beyoncé's influence extends into academia and cultural institutions, with her artistry and career being extensively studied in universities around the world. Museum exhibitions analyze her impact on music, fashion, activism, and popular culture. She has popularized phrases that entered mainstream culture: "put a ring on it" (from "Single Ladies") to signify a marriage proposal; "I woke up like this" (from "Flawless"), which sparked a trend of morning selfies; and "boy, bye" (from "Sorry"), used as a way to break up with a romantic partner. In January 2012, Australian research scientist Bryan Lessard named a species of horse-fly, Scaptia beyonceae, after her, due to the insect's distinctive golden hairs on its abdomen. Several wax figures of Beyoncé are found at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums in major cities around the world. In Minnesota, May 23 is designated as "Beyoncé Day" to mark the same day she performed the Formation World Tour in the state in 2016.
Achievements
Beyoncé has received numerous awards and is the most-awarded female artist of all time. Having sold over 200 million records worldwide (and an additional 60 million with Destiny's Child), she is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. RIAA listed Beyoncé as the top certified artist of the 2000s decade, with 64 certifications. In 2024, she became the most RIAA-certified female artist in history. Several of her tours have been ranked amongst the highest-grossing by a female artist, and she is one of the highest-grossing live acts in history.
At the Grammy Awards, Beyoncé is the most honored individual by the award show, with 35 recognitions, both as a solo artist and as a member of a group. With 99, she also has the highest number of nominations. As the recipient of 30 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), she is tied with Taylor Swift for the most in its history. At the BET Awards, Beyoncé is the most awarded and nominated individual, with 32 awards and 75 nominations. She also leads at the Soul Train Music Awards and the NAACP Image Awards, with 25 and 32 wins, respectively. At the 2011 Billboard Music Awards, she was honored with the Billboard Millennium Award. An inductee of the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame, she has set numerous world records over her career.
For her role in Dreamgirls, Beyoncé was nominated for Best Original Song for "Listen" and Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards. The film Lemonade (2016) won a Peabody Award in 2017. In 2022, "Be Alive" was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In June 2021, Beyoncé was honored as the Top Touring Artist of the 2010s at the Pollstar Awards. In August 2025, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Programming for Beyoncé Bowl, which chronicled her 2024 NFL Halftime Show. Billboard ranked her at number three on its 2025 "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list and at seventeen as part of Destiny's Child. Time named Beyoncé one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013, 2014, and 2023. She occupied the sixth place for the magazine's 2016 Person of the Year.
Wealth
Beyoncé is one of the wealthiest musical artists; as of June 2025, Forbes estimates her net worth to be $780 million. The magazine named Beyoncé the annual highest-earning female musician in 2008, 2010, 2014, and 2017. Forbes began reporting on her earnings in 2008, calculating that the $80 million earned between June 2007 and June 2008 made her the second highest-paid musician in 2008. On the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, Beyoncé was placed fourth in 2008 and 2009, second in 2010, and fourth in 2013. She ranked at number one on the Celebrity 100 list in 2014, earning an estimated $115 million. Billboard named Beyoncé the highest-paid musician of 2016, with estimated earnings of $62.1 million. She was listed as the third highest-paid musician of the 2010s by Forbes, earning $685 million.
Forbes placed Beyoncé and Jay-Z at number one on the "World's Highest-Paid Celebrity Couples" list, collectively earning $78 million and $107.5 million in 2012 and 2016, respectively. The couple made it into 2011's Guinness Book of World Records as the "highest-earning power couple" for collectively earning $122 million in 2009. They officially became a billion-dollar couple in 2017, when Forbes estimated a combined net worth of $1.16 billion.
Other ventures
Social activism
Beyoncé held a fundraiser for Obama's 2012 presidential campaign and voted for him in the 2012 presidential election. In May 2015, Beyoncé attended a celebrity fundraiser for 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and headlined in a concert for Clinton the weekend before the election. She endorsed the bid of Beto O'Rourke during the 2018 US Senate election in Texas. Beyoncé endorsed Joe Biden for president during the 2020 election and Kamala Harris in 2024, giving the latter permission to use "Freedom" as the official song for her presidential campaign.
Beyoncé identifies as a "modern-day feminist". Her self-identification incited debate about whether her feminism is aligned with older, more established feminist ideals; Annie Lennox referred to her use of the word feminist as "feminist lite". Beyoncé publicly aligned with feminism by sampling Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 2013 TEDx speech "We should all be feminists" in "Flawless", released later that year. Adichie described Beyoncé's feminism as leaning toward heteropatriarchal ideals, emphasizing men's needs and diverging from her own views. Beyoncé performed at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards before a giant "Feminist" backdrop. Some critics suggest that her portrayal of empowerment tends to be individualized, with limited engagement in structural issues affecting marginalized groups.
In December 2012, Beyoncé joined a coalition of celebrities in the "Demand a Plan" campaign—an initiative led by US mayors to urge federal action on gun control legislation following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. In 2013, she endorsed same-sex marriage via Instagram and voiced opposition to North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, a law criticized for discriminating against the LGBT community. In February 2017, she supported transgender youth following Donald Trump's federal rollback of protections for transgender students in public schools.
Beyoncé has spoken against police brutality toward African Americans. She attended a 2013 rally after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin, and featured the mothers of Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner holding photos of their deceased sons in the music video for "Freedom". Her 2016 single "Formation" was interpreted as a critique of law enforcement, though she clarified it was a celebration of her heritage. Performing the song during the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show, with dancers dressed in outfits referencing the Black Panther Party, sparked backlash from conservative figures and law enforcement groups. Beyoncé responded to the criticism by selling "Boycott Beyoncé" merchandise on her tour.
Philanthropy
In 1999, Beyoncé, her mother Tina Knowles, and former Destiny's Child bandmate Kelly Rowland established the Knowles-Rowland Center for Youth. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Beyoncé, Solange, Tina, and Rowland co-founded the Survivor Foundation to offer transitional housing for displaced families and support the construction of new homes. They extended aid after Hurricane Ike in 2008, with Beyoncé donating $100,000 to the Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund. In 2007, she launched the Knowles-Temenos Place Apartments, a housing development that accommodates 43 displaced individuals.
After learning about Phoenix House—a nonprofit focused on drug and alcohol rehabilitation—during the filming of Cadillac Records in 2008, Beyoncé donated her entire $4 million salary from the film to the organization. She later founded the Beyoncé Cosmetology Center, a program at Phoenix House that provides a cosmetology training course. In April 2011, Beyoncé participated in the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation's campaign against child obesity by reworking "Get Me Bodied". She was an ambassador for the 2012 World Humanitarian Day campaign, and took part in Gucci's 2013 "Chime for Change" initiative to promote global female empowerment.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z donated tens of thousands of dollars to post bail for Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters in Baltimore and Ferguson, and contributed to building the infrastructure needed to establish BLM chapters across the US. In 2016 she pledged to fund ten college scholarships for students in financial need. In June 2016, she donated over $82,000 to the United Way of Genesee County to assist victims of the Flint water crisis and provided financial support for fourteen Michigan students pursuing higher education. That August, Beyoncé and Jay-Z donated $1.5 million to civil rights organizations including BLM, Hands Up United, and Trayvon Martin Foundation.
In August 2017, during Hurricane Harvey, Beyoncé launched BeyGood Houston to support those affected and donated $75,000 worth of new mattresses to survivors. Later that month, she released a remix of J Balvin and Willy William's "Mi Gente", pledging all proceeds to disaster relief efforts across Puerto Rico, Mexico, the US, and the Caribbean in response to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as the Chiapas and Puebla earthquakes. In April 2020, Beyoncé donated $6 million to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, UCLA, and local community-based organizations to provide mental health and wellness services for essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. She featured on the remix of Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage" (2020), with proceeds supporting Bread of Life Houston's COVID-19 relief efforts.
Beyoncé worked with the Feminist Coalition in the End SARS movement in Nigeria to cover medical costs for injured protestors, legal fees for arrested protestors, and resources for those in need. Beyoncé also supports the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon, ShutItAllDown in Namibia, Zimbabwean Lives Matter in Zimbabwe, and the Rape National Emergency in Liberia. In December 2020, Beyoncé donated $500,000 to alleviate the housing crisis in the US caused by the cessation of the eviction moratorium. In partnership with BeyGood, in 2024, she introduced an annual grant program to support cosmetology students and professional hair stylists with financial assistance. In January 2025, she donated $2.5 million to Los Angeles fire relief funds amidst the wildfires that month in Southern California.
Entrepreneurship
In 2008, Beyoncé founded Parkwood Entertainment, an entertainment company established as an imprint of Columbia Records. Parkwood has since grown to include a music division, signing artists such as Chloe x Halle.
In 2005, Beyoncé and Tina launched House of Deréon, a women's fashion line inspired by three generations of women in their family. The two also established Beyond Productions to handle licensing and brand management for House of Deréon and its junior line, Deréon. The collection features sportswear, denim offerings with fur, outerwear, and accessories like handbags and footwear. In 2005, Beyoncé partnered with House of Brands, a footwear company, to produce a range of shoes for House of Deréon. In January 2008, Starwave Mobile launched Beyoncé Fashion Diva, a mobile game with a social networking component, featuring the House of Deréon collection. In July 2009, Beyoncé and her mother launched a junior apparel label, Sasha Fierce for Deréon, for the back-to-school season. The collection included sportswear, outerwear, handbags, footwear, eyewear, lingerie, and jewelry.
In April 2016, Beyoncé launched Ivy Park, a 50–50 joint venture with fashion retailer Topshop. The brand's name was inspired by her daughter, Blue Ivy, Beyoncé's favorite number, four (IV), and the park where she used to run in Texas. Following allegations that Topshop owner Philip Green had sexually harassed, bullied, and racially abused employees, Beyoncé bought out his 50 percent stake in the company. In April 2019, she partnered with Adidas as a creative collaborator to relaunch Ivy Park and develop new apparel and footwear, with the first collection debuting in January 2020. The brand struggled financially and by March 2023, Beyoncé and Adidas mutually ended their partnership. That same month, Beyoncé collaborated with Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing on a couture collection inspired by Renaissance. With sixteen looks—one for each track—it was the first time a Black woman led the design of a Parisian couture house collection. In February 2024, Beyoncé launched Cécred, a hair care line designed to serve a wide range of hair textures.
Endorsements and partnerships
Beyoncé began her partnership with Pepsi in 2002. Two years later, she starred in a gladiator-themed commercial for the company alongside Britney Spears, Pink, and Enrique Iglesias. Beyoncé signed a $50 million endorsement deal with Pepsi in 2012. Beyoncé has also collaborated with Tommy Hilfiger for the fragrances True Star—for which she recorded a cover of "Wishing on a Star"—and True Star Gold. In 2007, she promoted Emporio Armani's Diamonds fragrance. Beyoncé launched her own fragrance line with Heat in 2010, followed by Heat Rush in 2011 and Pulse later in the same year. Beyoncé also has had deals with American Express, Nintendo, and L'Oréal.
In March 2015, Beyoncé became a co-owner of the music streaming platform Tidal, alongside several other artists. In November 2020, she entered a multi-year partnership with fitness and media company Peloton. In 2021, Beyoncé and Jay-Z partnered with Tiffany & Co. for the company's "About Love" campaign. Beyoncé became the fourth woman, and first Black woman, to wear the 128.54-carat Tiffany Yellow Diamond. The campaign drew criticism, as the diamond is considered a blood diamond and a symbol of British colonial exploitation in Africa. On August 20, 2024, Beyoncé announced SirDavis, a whiskey in collaboration with Moët Hennessy developed for years prior and co-founded with master distiller Dr. Bill Lumsden. In October 2024, Levi's launched a four-part global campaign titled "Reiimagine" with Beyoncé, spotlighting women's history with the company and featuring her Cowboy Carter track "Levii's Jeans".
Discography
Dangerously in Love (2003)
B'Day (2006)
I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008)
4 (2011)
Beyoncé (2013)
Lemonade (2016)
Renaissance (2022)
Cowboy Carter (2024)
Filmography
Tours and residencies
See also
Forbes list of highest-earning musicians
List of artists with the most number-one European singles
List of Black Golden Globe Award winners and nominees
List of highest-grossing live music artists
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
Notes
References
Citations
Print sources
External links
Official website
Beyoncé at AllMusic
Beyoncé discography at Discogs
Beyoncé at IMDb
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Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( bee-ON-say; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. Known for her vocal ability, artistic reinventions, and live performances, she is widely regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 21st century. Credited with shaping popular music, Beyoncé is often deemed one of the greatest entertainers and most influential artists of all time.
Beyoncé rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of Destiny's Child, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. Her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love (2003), became one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. After Destiny's Child disbanded in 2005, Beyoncé released the funk-imbued B'Day (2006) and starred in the drama film Dreamgirls (2006). Her marriage to rapper Jay-Z and portrayal of Etta James in the biopic Cadillac Records (2008) influenced her pop-oriented double album I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008). Through the 2000s, Beyoncé garnered the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Crazy in Love", "Baby Boy", "Irreplaceable", "Check on It", and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)".
After forming the management company Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé embraced traditional R&B and soul on 4 (2011). The electronic-influenced Beyoncé (2013) popularized surprise and visual albums, inspiring the setting of Friday as Global Release Day, while the eclectic Lemonade (2016) sparked sociopolitical discourse and was the best-selling album worldwide in 2016. Her ongoing trilogy project—consisting of the queer-inspired dance album Renaissance (2022) and Americana epic Cowboy Carter (2024)—has highlighted the contributions of Black pioneers to American musical and cultural history, spawning the US number-one singles "Break My Soul" and "Texas Hold 'Em".
Beyoncé is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 200 million records. She is the most RIAA-certified female artist and the only woman whose first eight studio albums each debuted atop the US Billboard 200. One of the most-awarded artists in popular music, her accolades include 35 Grammy Awards—the most of any individual—a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Peabody Award. Beyoncé is the most-awarded artist of the BET Awards (36), MTV Video Music Awards (30), NAACP Image Awards (32), and Soul Train Music Awards (25). The first woman to headline an all-stadium tour, she is amongst the highest-grossing live acts of all time.
Life and career
Early life
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born in Houston, Texas, on September 4, 1981. Her mother, Tina Knowles (née Beyoncé), was a hairdresser and salon owner, while her father, Mathew Knowles, was a sales manager at Xerox. Mathew is African American, while Tina is Louisiana Creole with African, French, Irish, Breton, Norman and Native American ancestry. Beyoncé's younger sister, Solange, is also a singer and actress. They are descendants of Acadian militia officer Joseph Broussard, who was exiled to French Louisiana after the expulsion of the Acadians. Both sisters also have Belgian ancestry from Hainaut Province, Wallonia. Beyoncé was raised within multiple religious traditions, attending both St. John's United Methodist Church and St. Mary of the Purification Catholic Church in Houston. Her first job as a child was sweeping hair and occasionally performing for customers at her mother's hair salon.
Beyoncé began her education at St. Mary's Catholic Montessori School, where she also took dance classes. Her vocals were discovered by her dance instructor, who began humming a song that Beyoncé completed. Beyoncé's interest in music and performing grew after she won a school talent show at the age of seven by singing John Lennon's "Imagine", winning against older competitors aged fifteen and sixteen. In 1990, nine-year-old Beyoncé enrolled in Parker Elementary School, a music magnet school in Houston, where she performed with the school's choir. She later attended the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and subsequently Alief Elsik High School. Beyoncé was also a member of the choir at St. John's United Methodist Church, where she sang her first solo and was a soloist for two years.
1990–2001: Early career and Destiny's Child
In 1990, Beyoncé met singer LaTavia Roberson while in an audition for an all-girl entertainment group. Joined by Kelly Rowland two years later, the trio was placed in "Girl's Tyme", a group that performed rap and dance routines on Houston's talent show circuit. In 1993, the group was entered in Star Search, the largest national talent show on television at the time. Competing in the show's singing category, the group lost the competition, which Beyoncé attributed to a poor song choice. After LeToya Luckett joined in 1993, Girl's Tyme continued performing as an opening act for established R&B girl groups. In 1995, Mathew left his job to manage the group, which halved the Knowles family's income, leading to them moving into separate apartments. The group was briefly signed by Elektra Records and later dropped; ensuing tensions led to a six-month separation of Beyoncé's parents. The Knowles family later reunited and the group secured a contract with Columbia Records, aided by talent scout Teresa LaBarbera Whites.
The group adopted the name Destiny's Child in 1997, based upon a passage in the Book of Isaiah. That year, they released their major-label debut song, "Killing Time", which appeared on the soundtrack for the film Men in Black. Their debut single and first major hit, "No, No, No", preceded their debut album, Destiny's Child (1998), a moderate success. Released in July 1999, the group's second album, The Writing's on the Wall, peaked at number five on the US Billboard 200 and later achieved multi-platinum status in the country. The record spawned the singles "Bills, Bills, Bills", "Say My Name", and "Jumpin', Jumpin'"; the former two both peaked atop the US Billboard Hot 100. "Say My Name" won Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best R&B Song at the 2001 Grammy Awards. The Writing's on the Wall became one of the best-selling R&B albums of all time, having sold 13 million copies worldwide.
Following several lineup changes, Destiny's Child ultimately comprised Beyoncé, Rowland, and Michelle Williams. In early 2001, while the group were completing work on their third album, Beyoncé secured a leading role in the MTV made-for-television film Carmen: A Hip Hopera, an interpretation of the 19th-century opera Carmen. Destiny's Child's third studio album, Survivor, was released in May 2001; it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 663,000 copies in its first week. The album produced the Billboard Hot 100 number-ones "Independent Woman Part I" and "Bootylicious", as well as the title track, which peaked at number two. "Survivor" earned the group a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Following the release of their holiday album, 8 Days of Christmas (2001), Destiny's Child announced a hiatus to allow each member to pursue solo careers.
2002–2007: Dangerously in Love, B'Day, and Dreamgirls
In July 2002, Beyoncé made her theatrical film debut, portraying Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember. She released "Work It Out" as the lead single from the film's soundtrack. Her breakthrough as a solo artist came when she featured on Jay-Z's track "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" from his album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002). The single peaked at number four on the Hot 100 chart. Beyoncé appeared as Jay-Z's girlfriend in the music video for the song, fueling speculation about a relationship. She later shared that they began dating when she was nineteen, after a year and a half of friendship.
On June 14, 2003, Beyoncé premiered songs from her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love, during her first solo concert, which was broadcast as a pay-per-view television special. Released ten days later, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 317,000 copies in its first week. The album's lead single, "Crazy in Love", featured Jay-Z and became Beyoncé's first number-one single as a solo artist on the US Billboard Hot 100. The single "Baby Boy" also reached number one, while "Me, Myself and I" and "Naughty Girl" both reached the top five. Dangerously in Love earned Beyoncé five awards at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary R&B Album and Best R&B Song for "Crazy in Love". Having sold 11 million copies since its release, it is one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. She starred alongside Cuba Gooding Jr. in the musical comedy The Fighting Temptations (2003), portraying a single mother and the love interest of Gooding's character.
In November 2003, Beyoncé embarked on the European Dangerously in Love Tour and North American Verizon Ladies First Tour alongside Missy Elliott and Alicia Keys. On February 1, 2004, she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the US, at the Super Bowl XXXVIII. Destiny Fulfilled, Destiny's Child's final album, was released on November 15, 2004. The record peaked at number two on the Billboard 200, spawning the US top-five singles "Lose My Breath" and "Soldier". In 2005, Destiny's Child embarked on a global concert tour titled Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It. The group announced that they would disband at the end of the tour. Destiny's Child released their first compilation album, #1's, in October 2005 and were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2006.
Beyoncé's second solo album, B'Day, was released internationally on September 4, 2006, to coincide with her twenty-fifth birthday. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with 541,000 copies sold in its first week. The album's lead single, "Déjà Vu", featuring Jay-Z, reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100, while the second worldwide single, "Irreplaceable", topped the chart for ten weeks. B'Day's other singles—"Ring the Alarm", "Get Me Bodied", and "Green Light"—each saw moderate chart success. At the 2007 Grammy Awards, B'Day and some of its songs received five nominations, winning Best Contemporary R&B Album. At the 2008 Grammy Awards, the album garnered two more nominations, including Record of the Year for "Irreplaceable".
Beyoncé's first acting role in 2006 was in the comedy film The Pink Panther. She performed "Check on It" as its theme song, which was included on #1's and on the European deluxe version of B'Day. "Check on It" peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks. Later that year, she starred in Dreamgirls, a cinematic adaptation of the 1981 Broadway musical; Beyoncé portrayed a pop singer modeled after Diana Ross. In support of B'Day, Beyoncé embarked on the Beyoncé Experience in 2007, her first worldwide concert tour, which visited 97 venues. Simultaneously, B'Day was re-released with additional tracks, including her duet with Shakira, "Beautiful Liar", which peaked at number three in the US. In December 2007, Beyoncé and Jay-Z became engaged.
2008–2009: I Am... Sasha Fierce and marriage
On April 4, 2008, Beyoncé and Jay-Z married in a small, private ceremony; the latter confirmed their marriage in an interview later that year. Their marriage served as a creative inspiration for her third studio album, titled I Am... Sasha Fierce. Released on November 12, 2008, I Am... Sasha Fierce formally introduced her alter ego Sasha Fierce. A double album, it comprises two discs—I Am... and Sasha Fierce; the former contains slow and midtempo pop and R&B ballads, while the latter focuses on uptempo beats that blend electropop and Europop elements. Debuting at number one on the Billboard 200, it sold 482,000 copies in its first week, marking Beyoncé's third consecutive US number-one album.
I Am... Sasha Fierce included Beyoncé's fifth number one on the Billboard Hot 100, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", as well as the UK chart-topping single, "If I Were a Boy". The success of "Halo", which peaked at number five in the US, helped Beyoncé attain more top-ten singles on the list than any other woman during the 2000s. Parodied and imitated around the world, the "Single Ladies" music video was described by the Toronto Star as the "first major dance craze" of the Internet age. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won three categories, including Video of the Year. In March 2009, Beyoncé embarked on the I Am... Tour, her second headlining worldwide concert tour, which grossed $119.5 million.
I Am... Sasha Fierce went on to become one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century, with over 10 million copies sold worldwide. Soon after its release, Beyoncé portrayed blues singer Etta James in the musical biopic Cadillac Records (2008), garnering several nominations including an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. In the psychological thriller Obsessed (2009), Beyoncé played Sharon Charles, a woman protecting her family from her husband's stalker, which co-starred Ali Larter and Idris Elba. The film was critically panned, but Beyoncé's acting saw favorable reception. Obsessed performed strongly at the US box office, earning $68 million on a $20 million budget. Beyoncé performed "America the Beautiful" at president Barack Obama's 2009 presidential inauguration and "At Last" during the first inaugural dance.
At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2010, Beyoncé received ten nominations—both for I Am... Sasha Fierce and for her work in film soundtracks—tying with Lauryn Hill for most Grammy nominations in a single year by a female artist. Beyoncé won six of those nominations, including Best Contemporary R&B Album for I Am... Sasha Fierce and Song of the Year for "Single Ladies", breaking a record she previously tied in 2004 for the most Grammy awards won in a single night by a female artist. Beyoncé provided vocals on Lady Gaga's single "Telephone", from the latter's extended play The Fame Monster (2009). It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
2010–2012: 4 and first child
In January 2010, Beyoncé announced a hiatus from her music career. Over the nine-month break, she traveled to several European cities, the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramids, Australia, English music festivals, and attended museum exhibitions and ballet performances. "Eat, Play, Love", a cover story written by Beyoncé for Essence that detailed her career break, won her a writing award from the New York Association of Black Journalists. Around this time, she miscarried, retrospectively describing it as "the saddest thing" she had endured. Beyoncé returned to the studio and wrote music to cope with the loss. In September 2010, Beyoncé made her runway modelling debut at Tom Ford's Spring/Summer 2011 fashion show. In March 2011, her father Mathew stopped managing her career.
In April 2011, during a photoshoot in Paris for her upcoming album cover, Beyoncé unexpectedly discovered she was pregnant. Her fourth studio album, 4, was released on June 24, 2011, in the US and debuted atop the Billboard 200, selling 310,000 copies in its first week. It was her fourth consecutive number-one album in the US. 4 marked Beyoncé's first project of creative control since she split from her father, and was conceived as a traditional R&B and soul record that stood apart from contemporary popular music. It contained five Billboard Hot 100 songs: "Run the World (Girls)", "Party", "Countdown", "Best Thing I Never Had", and "Love on Top". The latter two peaked at numbers sixteen and twenty.
On June 26, 2011, Beyoncé became the first solo female artist in over two decades to headline the main Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival. The performance received praise from critics, with some outlets praising her growth as a live performer. In August 2011, Beyoncé and Jay-Z attended the MTV Video Music Awards, in which the former performed "Love on Top" and revealed her pregnancy. Her announcement contributed to the ceremony becoming the most-watched broadcast in MTV history at the time, drawing 12.4 million viewers. The moment also set a Guinness World Record for the most tweets per second for a single event, with 8,868 tweets per second, and "Beyonce pregnant" became the most Googled phrase during the week of August 29, 2011.
In late 2011, Beyoncé headlined four exclusive shows at New York's Roseland Ballroom titled 4 Intimate Nights with Beyoncé, performing songs from 4. That month, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America after shipping one million copies to retail stores. In February 2018, 4 made Beyoncé the first female artist to have three of her albums surpass one billion streams on Spotify. On January 7, 2012, Beyoncé gave birth to her first daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, in New York City. In June 2012, she performed for four nights at Revel Atlantic City's Ovation Hall to celebrate the resort's opening.
2013–2014: Beyoncé
In January 2013, Beyoncé performed the American national anthem during Obama's second presidential inauguration. In February, she headlined the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show in New Orleans. The performance became the second most tweeted-about moment in history at the time, generating 268,000 tweets per minute. That same month, she co-directed and premiered her feature-length documentary Life Is But a Dream on HBO, which offered an introspective look into both her personal and professional life.
In April 2013, Beyoncé embarked on the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, released a cover of Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" with André 3000 for The Great Gatsby's soundtrack, and in May, voiced Queen Tara in the animated film Epic. On December 13, 2013, she unexpectedly released her fifth studio album, Beyoncé, on the iTunes Store without prior announcement or promotion. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, marking her fifth consecutive US number-one debut and making her the first woman in the chart's history to achieve this milestone with her first five studio albums. The album received widespread critical acclaim, and sold one million digital copies globally within six days—a record for any album on iTunes at the time.
Musically rooted in electro-R&B, Beyoncé explored darker, more personal themes than her previous work, including bulimia, postnatal depression, and the emotional complexities of marriage and motherhood. As a visual album, the album's music videos were recorded in secrecy to accompany to album's unexpected release. Beyoncé is credited with helping popularize digital releases, as well as surprise and visual album formats; its release influenced the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry to adopt Friday as Global Release Day. The record spawned five singles: "Blow", "XO", "Drunk in Love", "Partition", and "Pretty Hurts". "Drunk in Love" featured Jay-Z and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Beyoncé sold 2.3 million units worldwide in 2013, making it the one of the best-selling albums of the year.
At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé received six nominations and won three: Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for "Drunk in Love", and Best Surround Sound Album for Beyoncé. In April 2014, Beyoncé and Jay-Z—known collectively by their stage name the Carters—announced their first co-headlining stadium tour called the On the Run Tour. On August 24, 2014, she received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the MTV Video Music Awards, and won three additional honors: Best Video with a Social Message and Best Cinematography for "Pretty Hurts", and Best Collaboration for "Drunk in Love". The album was reissued as the Platinum Edition on November 24, 2014, featuring six additional songs.
2015–2017: Lemonade
Beyoncé released the single "Formation" on February 6, 2016, and performed it live for the first time during the NFL Super Bowl 50 halftime show. The performance sparked controversy due to its perceived allusions to the Black Panther Party on its fiftieth anniversary, as the NFL prohibits political statements during its events. On April 16, 2016, Beyoncé released a teaser for a project titled Lemonade. An hour-long musical film premiered on HBO on April 23, coinciding with the release of the corresponding studio album of the same name exclusively on Tidal the same day.
The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making Beyoncé the first artist in Billboard history to have her first six studio albums debut atop the chart. All twelve tracks from Lemonade entered the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first female artist to chart twelve songs simultaneously. After the album's release, "Sorry", "Hold Up", "Freedom", and "All Night" were released as singles. It was the third best-selling album in the US in 2016, with 1.554 million copies sold, and the best-selling album globally that year, with 2.5 million copies sold. Beyoncé embarked on the Formation World Tour from April to October 2016, with stops across North America and Europe. It was the first all-stadium tour by a female artist and received Tour of the Year at the 44th American Music Awards.
The album's visuals earned eleven nominations at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards—the most Beyoncé had ever received in a single year—and won eight awards, including Video of the Year for "Formation". Beyoncé became the show's most-awarded artist with 24 total awards, surpassing Madonna's previous record of 20 wins. In January 2017, Beyoncé was announced as a headliner for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which would have made her only the second female artist to headline the event. However, on February 23, it was confirmed she would no longer perform as a result of her second pregnancy. Festival organizers later announced she would headline the 2018 edition instead.
At the 59th Grammy Awards in February 2017, Lemonade led with nine nominations, including Album of the Year, and Record and Song of the Year for "Formation". Beyoncé won two awards: Best Urban Contemporary Album for Lemonade and Best Music Video for "Formation". That month, Beyoncé announced on Instagram that she was expecting twins. The post garnered over 6.3 million likes within a few hours, setting a world record for the most-liked image on the platform at the time. On July 13, she shared the first photo of herself with the twins, confirming they were born a month earlier on June 13. That post became the second most-liked on Instagram, following her original pregnancy announcement. The twins—a daughter, Rumi, and a son, Sir—were born via caesarean section in California. Later that year, Beyoncé featured on the remix of Ed Sheeran's "Perfect", which reached number one in the US, marking her sixth chart-topper as a solo artist.
2018–2021: Everything Is Love and The Lion King
Beyoncé headlined both weekends of the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Her performance on April 14 was the most-tweeted-about performance of the first weekend and became the most-watched live performance on YouTube. It received widespread praise from critics, many of whom described it as historic. The performance paid homage to Black culture—particularly focusing on historically Black colleges and universities—and included a brief reunion of Destiny's Child.
On June 6, 2018, Beyoncé and Jay-Z launched their On the Run II Tour. After its final show, the couple released their first collaborative studio album, Everything Is Love, on June 16. The project debuted at number two in the US with 123,000 album-equivalent units; its only single, "Apeshit", peaked at number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100. On December 2, 2018, Beyoncé and Jay-Z headlined the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé, a documentary and concert film chronicling the 2018 Coachella performances, was released on Netflix on April 17, 2019, alongside Homecoming: The Live Album. The film earned six nominations at the 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2019.
Beyoncé starred as the voice of Nala in the 2019 remake of The Lion King, released in July that year. She also contributed to the film's soundtrack, performing a remade version of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Beyoncé's original song "Spirit" was the lead single from both the official soundtrack and The Lion King: The Gift, a companion album she curated and produced. Incorporating gqom and Afrobeat, she recruited African producers to create The Gift, given the film's African setting. In September, ABC aired Beyoncé Presents: Making The Gift, a surprise documentary detailing the album's creation.
In April 2020, Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé released a remix of "Savage", which topped the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Beyoncé's seventh number one as a soloist. In July 2020, she released Black Is King, the visual companion to The Gift written, directed, and executive produced by Beyoncé. At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021, she led with nine nominations and won four awards, making her the most-awarded singer and female individual in Grammy history, and the second most-awarded individual overall. That same year, she co-wrote and recorded "Be Alive" for the biographical sports drama film King Richard, earning her first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 94th Academy Awards.
2022–present: Renaissance and Cowboy Carter
On June 16, 2022, Beyoncé announced the title of her seventh studio album, Renaissance. The album's lead single, "Break My Soul", was released four days later and peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Beyoncé's eighth number-one and twentieth top-ten song on the chart. This placed her alongside Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson as the only artists in chart history to earn at least twenty top-ten singles as solo acts and ten as members of a group.
Renaissance was released on July 29, 2022, to critical acclaim. The album features Black dance music styles such as disco and house and largely pays homage to the historically overlooked contributions of Black queer pioneers to those genres. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making Beyoncé the first artist to have her first seven studio albums debut at number one in the US. All of its sixteen songs charted on the Hot 100, with its second single, "Cuff It", peaking at number six. Upon the release of Renaissance, Beyoncé revealed that it was the first installment of a trilogy developed and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic—a period she described as her "most creative".
On January 21, 2023, Beyoncé gave her first full concert in over four years at a private event in Dubai, performing for an audience of influencers and journalists. She was reportedly paid $24 million for the show, which sparked criticism due to the United Arab Emirates' laws criminalizing homosexuality. Later in the year, she headlined the Renaissance World Tour across the US and Europe, which became the highest-grossing tour by a female artist at the time. In November 2023, she released Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, a documentary concert film that chronicled the tour's creation. She wrote, directed, and produced the film in partnership with AMC Theatres. Having won four of her nine nominations at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé became the most-awarded person in Grammy history, with a total of 32 accolades.
On February 11, 2024, Beyoncé announced the second installment of her trilogy project and released its first two singles, "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages". "Texas Hold 'Em" became her ninth solo number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 and her first on the Billboard Global 200. She announced the album's title, Cowboy Carter, on March 12 and released it on March 29. An Americana-inspired record, Cowboy Carter highlights the historically overlooked contributions of Black pioneers to country music. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with Beyoncé becoming the only female artist to debut her first eight studio albums at number one in the US. The album's third single, "II Most Wanted", featuring Miley Cyrus, debuted at number six in the US. In July 2024, NBC released two promotional commercials featuring Beyoncé for their coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Beyoncé returned as Nala in Mufasa: The Lion King (2024), a prequel to the 2019 remake. In December 2024, she headlined the first-ever NFL Christmas Gameday Halftime Show, debuting songs from Cowboy Carter. At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in 2025, she became the first Black artist in 50 years to win in the country categories, and the first Black artist to win Best Country Album. She also won Album of the Year, the first Black woman to do so in 25 years. That year, Beyoncé embarked on the Cowboy Carter Tour across the US and Europe, which went on to become the highest-grossing country tour of all time.
Artistry
Musical style
Beyoncé's music is primarily R&B, pop, and hip-hop, and also incorporates elements of soul and funk. With continuous musical reinventions, Beyoncé has been described as a musical "chameleon" by publications such as Vox and Billboard. Expanding beyond the hip-hop and R&B sound she featured in her previous two albums—Dangerously in Love and B'Day—I Am... Sasha Fierce incorporates a 1980s electropop- and Europop-imbued sound, featuring instruments such as synthesizers and the acoustic guitar. With the album 4, she expanded her use of soul and hip-hop compared to earlier work. Drawing from 1970s funk, 1980s pop, and 1990s soul influences, 4 featured elements of hard rock, reggae, and adult contemporary. Minimalism inspired Beyoncé's self-titled album, which employed emotive falsetto and often braggadocio, using fragmented song structures that rejected traditional pop formats in favor of atmosphere. Lemonade incorporated a broader range of genres, including rock, country, gospel, reggae, and blues.
The Lion King: The Gift was conceived as a record rooted in cultural celebration. As such, Beyoncé recruited artists and producers from across the African continent and explored genres such as Afropop and gqom. Delving into disco, ballroom culture, and 1990s club sounds, Renaissance extensively made use of four-on-the-floor beats and pulsating synths, with interpolations of queer and Black dance music pioneers. Beyoncé conceived Cowboy Carter as a multi-genre reclamation of Americana music. The country and gospel-tinged epic features instrumentation such as the accordion, harmonica, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Although she mainly records in English, Beyoncé released Spanish-language tracks for Irreemplazable (2007)—a Spanish reissue of songs from B'Day.
Voice
Beyoncé's possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range. T's Jody Rosen praised her musical tone and timbre as especially distinctive, calling her voice "one of the most compelling instruments in popular music". While Rosen credited the hip-hop era for shaping her rhythmic vocal style, he also noted her traditionalist leanings through balladry, gospel, and falsetto. Her voice was described as "velvety yet tart, with an insistent flutter and reserves of soul belting" by Jon Pareles.
On Dangerously in Love, Beyoncé's vocals balance between sultry utters and powerful belting, while B'Day incorporated melismatic vocals and staccato phrasing. Throughout I Am... Sasha Fierce, Beyoncé employs vibrato yelps and trills, often singing in a lower register on several tracks. With 4, she opted for "brass[y] and gritt[y]" vocals. "Love on Top" has multiple key changes with sustained vocal power, while growls and raspy textures characterize such songs as "Start Over". She embraced more breathy and airy vocals on Beyoncé, with squeaky falsettos and wordless ecstasies accompanied by spoken word and rap-singing—what Kitty Empire dubbed "hood rat rapping". Beyoncé adopted a looser, more genre-fluid approach on Lemonade, drawing on Southern roots with the twang of "Daddy Lessons"; a hushed and intimate tone on "Pray You Catch Me"; and raspy, distorted, and shouted vocals to channel raw anger on "Don't Hurt Yourself".
On Renaissance, Beyoncé's vocals are processed with electronic effects such as reverb, distortion, and modulation. She predominantly sings in her natural Texan accent on Cowboy Carter, with Southern American English elements. However, on the Caro mio ben excerpt in "Daughter", she adopts a classical operatic vocal style. Chris Richards, in an article for The Washington Post, highlighted her vocal range and power, noting she could "punctuate any beat with goose-bump-inducing whispers or full-bore diva-roars". In Rolling Stone's 2023 list of the "200 Greatest Singers of All Time", Beyoncé ranked eighth, with the magazine stating, "in [her] voice lies the entire history of Black music".
Songwriting and themes
Beyoncé has a collaborative and experimental songwriting process, often merging different song parts to create new structures. Early in her career with Destiny's Child, her lyrics often focused on themes of female empowerment, as seen in songs like "Independent Women" and "Survivor". When her relationship with Jay-Z began, her songwriting style shifted to include more romantic and relationship-focused content with songs such as "Cater 2 U". Dangerously in Love explored sexual and romantic themes, with the follow-up B'Day delving into Black women's personal and spiritual discontent, fulfillment, self-worth, and agency. I Am... Sasha Fierce examined themes of love, heartbreak, and the tension between Beyoncé's self and her stage alter ego; more personal themes characterized 4 and Beyonce, which delved into marriage, monogamy, and intimacy.
Around the mid-2010s, Beyoncé began exploring historical and political themes. Storytelling and poetry inspired Lemonade, an album that discusses Black womanhood, reconciliation, and heartbreak—particularly in light of Jay-Z's alleged infidelity. Scholar Emily J. Lordi described the album as a "cinematic and sonic Afrodiasporic journey from betrayal to redemption". Renaissance and Cowboy Carter were conceived to highlight the historically overlooked and marginalized contributions of Black pioneers to American musical and cultural history. The former pays tribute to the influence of Black queer artists in shaping dance music, while the latter centers on the role of Black people in the development of country music.
Critics and music artists have analyzed Beyoncé's distinctive style of songwriting. Caroline Polachek, who worked on "No Angel", praised her ability to make connections between ideas, and called her a "genius" writer and producer. While writing with Beyoncé, record producer Sean Garrett described her as "very particular about her brand", stating that she rejects anything that feels off-brand. Dubbed a "meticulous curator" by The New Yorker, Beyoncé has been studied by some academics as a musical archivist, while others have likened her storytelling to that of a modern-day griot. She has received co-writing credits on most of her songs. Beyoncé often faces scrutiny over the number of writing credits she receives, with some questioning the extent of her contributions.
Influences
Beyoncé has named Michael Jackson as her greatest musical influence. At the age of five, she attended her first concert where Jackson performed, an experience she later said helped her realize her purpose as a performer. She has also credited Tina Turner as a major inspiration, admiring how she embodied strength while remaining feminine and sexy. Diana Ross influenced her as an "all-around entertainer", and Whitney Houston inspired her to pursue performing, saying Houston made her believe she could do the same.
Beyoncé praised Madonna for her music and roles as a businesswoman. She has cited Mariah Carey's vocal style—especially on her song "Vision of Love"—as an early influence that inspired her to practice vocal runs as a child. Other artists that Beyoncé has mentioned as inspirations include Rachelle Ferrell, Aaliyah, Prince, Janet Jackson, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Fairuz, Mary J. Blige, Selena, Anita Baker, and Toni Braxton.
Beyoncé has cited Michelle Obama—44th First Lady of the US—as a personal inspiration. She described Oprah Winfrey as "the definition of inspiration and a strong woman". Beyoncé has stated that her husband, rapper Jay-Z, inspires her, and she has praised his lyrical talent and the challenges he has overcome. She expressed admiration for artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, stating that she wants to emulate his lyrical and raw artistic traits in her music. Beyoncé has named Ross and Cher as some of her fashion inspirations.
Videography and stage
Beyoncé's music videos are known for their visual storytelling, frequent choreography, and thematic cohesion. Albums such as Beyoncé (2013) and Lemonade (2016) were released as "visual albums", with each track paired with a music video to form a continuous narrative. Beyoncé has worked with numerous directors for her music videos, such as Melina Matsoukas, Jonas Åkerlund, and Jake Nava.
Beyoncé is known for her meticulously produced and physically demanding performances that incorporate elaborate costumes, striking visuals, and stage design. Her shows are characterized by large-scale production elements such as LED staging, supporting ensembles, theatrical props, and numerous costume changes. When performing, Beyoncé uses different fashion styles that coordinate with the music she is singing. According to Barbara Ellen, writing for The Guardian, Beyoncé is the most in-charge female artist onstage, while Alice Jones of The Independent wrote she "takes her role as entertainer so seriously she's almost too good".
Beyoncé has been praised for her stage presence and voice during live performances, and she is often deemed one of the greatest entertainers of all time. She created the alter ego Sasha Fierce to separate her stage persona from her personal attributes. She characterized her persona as "too aggressive, too strong, too sassy [and] too sexy", adding that she is not like her in real life at all. Sasha Fierce was created during the production of "Crazy in Love" and was introduced with the release of her third solo studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce, in 2008. By February 2010, Beyoncé stated she no longer needed the alter ego, having grown more comfortable with herself. In May 2012, she announced Sasha Fierce would return for her Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live performances later that month.
Public image
Beyoncé has been described by critics as having sex appeal. Writing for Rolling Stone, music journalist Touré noted that she became a "crossover sex symbol" after the release of Dangerously in Love (2003). Scholar Adrienne Trier-Bieniek argued that Beyoncé's fair skin, ethnically ambiguous features, and hair are central to her status as a sex symbol and "beauty icon within the [B]lack community". The media often used the term "bootylicious"—a portmanteau of "booty" and "delicious"—in reference to her curvaceous figure; the phrase was popularized by Destiny's Child's 2001 single of the same name. In 2004, "bootylicious" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary, defined as "(of a woman) sexually attractive".
Known for her "diva" persona, Beyoncé has been nicknamed "Queen Bey" (also spelled "Queen B") by the media. Her fanbase is known as the BeyHive, having previously been known as the Beyontourage until 2011. The Guardian called them "the most dedicated group of superfans ... on the planet". She was named the "World's Most Beautiful Woman" by People and the "Hottest Female Singer of All Time" by Complex in 2012. In January 2013, GQ placed Beyoncé on its cover, featuring her atop its "100 Sexiest Women of the 21st Century" list. VH1 listed her at number one on its 2013 list of the "100 Sexiest Artists". Beyoncé is known for rarely granting interviews, especially to traditional media; she largely stopped participating in conventional press interviews in 2013. Active on social media, Beyoncé has over 300 million followers on Instagram; she was the most-followed account on the platform until 2015 and remains one of its most-followed users.
Beyoncé's lighter skin tone and styling choices have drawn criticism, with some arguing that they may perpetuate Eurocentric beauty standards and contribute to issues of colorism, particularly regarding the underrepresentation of darker-skinned Black women in mainstream media. Emmett Price, a professor of music at Northeastern University, wrote in 2007 that he thinks race plays a role in many of these criticisms, saying white celebrities who dress similarly attract fewer comments. In 2008, L'Oreal denied accusations of whitening her skin in their Feria hair color advertisements; Beyoncé herself criticized H&M for their proposed "retouching" of promotional images of her in 2013, requesting only "natural pictures be used". In 2007, she became the second African American woman to appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue magazine, and People recognized her as the best-dressed celebrity.
Legacy
Beyoncé is widely recognized as one of the most influential figures in music history. Billboard features her on its list of the greatest artists of all time, and later named her greatest pop star of the 21st century in 2024. Beyoncé has repeatedly been named as the defining artist of both the 2000s and 2010s. Writing in The New Yorker, Rosen called her "the most important and compelling popular musician of the twenty-first century [...] the result, the logical end point of a century-plus of pop". Critics have hailed several of Beyoncé's albums, singles, music videos, and live performances as amongst the greatest of all time.
Beyoncé is considered one of the most signficant cultural figures of the 21st century, with her contributions to music and performance, alongside her highly publicized three-decade career and activism, making her prominent worldwide. She is credited with revolutionizing the music industry, transforming the production, distribution, promotion, and consumption of music. Beyoncé has been credited with revitalizing the album format in an era dominated by singles, with albums becoming increasingly cohesive and narrative-led. Her 2013 album Beyoncé popularized surprise releases, prompting widespread adoption of unconventional promotional strategies throughout the 2010s and 2020s. Beyoncé is also recognized for reviving the music video as an art form, popularizing the visual album format, and inspiring the industry to move Global Release Day from Tuesday to Friday.
Beyoncé's use of staccato rap-singing and chopped and re-pitched vocals helped them become prominent in 21st-century music. Her work transcends traditional genre boundaries, creating new artistic standards that shaped contemporary music and set the precedent for music artists to move between and beyond genre confines. Beyoncé has helped repopularize such subgenres of music as R&B, country, dance, and house, while also being credited with introducing Afrobeats to the US mainstream. Beyoncé is known for transforming concert tours into cultural and artistic events. Additionally, she has significantly influenced socio-political matters, using her platform to advocate for women's empowerment and social justice. Critics credit her with significantly influencing political conversations and movements, such as fourth-wave feminism and Black Lives Matter.
Beyoncé has been recognized for setting new standards for success in the modern era, with musicians from across genres, generations, and countries citing her as a major influence on their career. Taylor Swift called her a major influence, crediting her with showing other artists how to oppose industry standards and create new opportunities. Lady Gaga said Beyoncé inspired her to become a musician, while Rihanna was motivated to pursue music after watching Beyoncé. Ariana Grande said she learned to sing by mimicking artists like Beyoncé, while Adele described her as part of her artistic influence since she was a preteen. McCartney and Garth Brooks have also cited Beyoncé's live performances as inspirational, with the latter recommending that both new and veteran musicians analyze these performances to improve their work.
Beyoncé's influence extends into academia and cultural institutions, with her artistry and career being extensively studied in universities around the world. Museum exhibitions analyze her impact on music, fashion, activism, and popular culture. She has popularized phrases that entered mainstream culture: "put a ring on it" (from "Single Ladies") to signify a marriage proposal; "I woke up like this" (from "Flawless"), which sparked a trend of morning selfies; and "boy, bye" (from "Sorry"), used as a way to break up with a romantic partner. In January 2012, Australian research scientist Bryan Lessard named a species of horse-fly, Scaptia beyonceae, after her, due to the insect's distinctive golden hairs on its abdomen. Several wax figures of Beyoncé are found at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums in major cities around the world. In Minnesota, May 23 is designated as "Beyoncé Day" to mark the same day she performed the Formation World Tour in the state in 2016.
Achievements
Beyoncé has received numerous awards and is the most-awarded female artist of all time. Having sold over 200 million records worldwide (and an additional 60 million with Destiny's Child), she is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. RIAA listed Beyoncé as the top certified artist of the 2000s decade, with 64 certifications. In 2024, she became the most RIAA-certified female artist in history. Several of her tours have been ranked amongst the highest-grossing by a female artist, and she is one of the highest-grossing live acts in history.
At the Grammy Awards, Beyoncé is the most honored individual by the award show, with 35 recognitions, both as a solo artist and as a member of a group. With 99, she also has the highest number of nominations. As the recipient of 30 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), she is tied with Taylor Swift for the most in its history. At the BET Awards, Beyoncé is the most awarded and nominated individual, with 32 awards and 75 nominations. She also leads at the Soul Train Music Awards and the NAACP Image Awards, with 25 and 32 wins, respectively. At the 2011 Billboard Music Awards, she was honored with the Billboard Millennium Award. An inductee of the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame, she has set numerous world records over her career.
For her role in Dreamgirls, Beyoncé was nominated for Best Original Song for "Listen" and Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards. The film Lemonade (2016) won a Peabody Award in 2017. In 2022, "Be Alive" was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In June 2021, Beyoncé was honored as the Top Touring Artist of the 2010s at the Pollstar Awards. In August 2025, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Programming for Beyoncé Bowl, which chronicled her 2024 NFL Halftime Show. Billboard ranked her at number three on its 2025 "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list and at seventeen as part of Destiny's Child. Time named Beyoncé one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013, 2014, and 2023. She occupied the sixth place for the magazine's 2016 Person of the Year.
Wealth
Beyoncé is one of the wealthiest musical artists; as of June 2025, Forbes estimates her net worth to be $780 million. The magazine named Beyoncé the annual highest-earning female musician in 2008, 2010, 2014, and 2017. Forbes began reporting on her earnings in 2008, calculating that the $80 million earned between June 2007 and June 2008 made her the second highest-paid musician in 2008. On the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, Beyoncé was placed fourth in 2008 and 2009, second in 2010, and fourth in 2013. She ranked at number one on the Celebrity 100 list in 2014, earning an estimated $115 million. Billboard named Beyoncé the highest-paid musician of 2016, with estimated earnings of $62.1 million. She was listed as the third highest-paid musician of the 2010s by Forbes, earning $685 million.
Forbes placed Beyoncé and Jay-Z at number one on the "World's Highest-Paid Celebrity Couples" list, collectively earning $78 million and $107.5 million in 2012 and 2016, respectively. The couple made it into 2011's Guinness Book of World Records as the "highest-earning power couple" for collectively earning $122 million in 2009. They officially became a billion-dollar couple in 2017, when Forbes estimated a combined net worth of $1.16 billion.
Other ventures
Social activism
Beyoncé held a fundraiser for Obama's 2012 presidential campaign and voted for him in the 2012 presidential election. In May 2015, Beyoncé attended a celebrity fundraiser for 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and headlined in a concert for Clinton the weekend before the election. She endorsed the bid of Beto O'Rourke during the 2018 US Senate election in Texas. Beyoncé endorsed Joe Biden for president during the 2020 election and Kamala Harris in 2024, giving the latter permission to use "Freedom" as the official song for her presidential campaign.
Beyoncé identifies as a "modern-day feminist". Her self-identification incited debate about whether her feminism is aligned with older, more established feminist ideals; Annie Lennox referred to her use of the word feminist as "feminist lite". Beyoncé publicly aligned with feminism by sampling Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 2013 TEDx speech "We should all be feminists" in "Flawless", released later that year. Adichie described Beyoncé's feminism as leaning toward heteropatriarchal ideals, emphasizing men's needs and diverging from her own views. Beyoncé performed at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards before a giant "Feminist" backdrop. Some critics suggest that her portrayal of empowerment tends to be individualized, with limited engagement in structural issues affecting marginalized groups.
In December 2012, Beyoncé joined a coalition of celebrities in the "Demand a Plan" campaign—an initiative led by US mayors to urge federal action on gun control legislation following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. In 2013, she endorsed same-sex marriage via Instagram and voiced opposition to North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, a law criticized for discriminating against the LGBT community. In February 2017, she supported transgender youth following Donald Trump's federal rollback of protections for transgender students in public schools.
Beyoncé has spoken against police brutality toward African Americans. She attended a 2013 rally after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin, and featured the mothers of Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner holding photos of their deceased sons in the music video for "Freedom". Her 2016 single "Formation" was interpreted as a critique of law enforcement, though she clarified it was a celebration of her heritage. Performing the song during the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show, with dancers dressed in outfits referencing the Black Panther Party, sparked backlash from conservative figures and law enforcement groups. Beyoncé responded to the criticism by selling "Boycott Beyoncé" merchandise on her tour.
Philanthropy
In 1999, Beyoncé, her mother Tina Knowles, and former Destiny's Child bandmate Kelly Rowland established the Knowles-Rowland Center for Youth. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Beyoncé, Solange, Tina, and Rowland co-founded the Survivor Foundation to offer transitional housing for displaced families and support the construction of new homes. They extended aid after Hurricane Ike in 2008, with Beyoncé donating $100,000 to the Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund. In 2007, she launched the Knowles-Temenos Place Apartments, a housing development that accommodates 43 displaced individuals.
After learning about Phoenix House—a nonprofit focused on drug and alcohol rehabilitation—during the filming of Cadillac Records in 2008, Beyoncé donated her entire $4 million salary from the film to the organization. She later founded the Beyoncé Cosmetology Center, a program at Phoenix House that provides a cosmetology training course. In April 2011, Beyoncé participated in the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation's campaign against child obesity by reworking "Get Me Bodied". She was an ambassador for the 2012 World Humanitarian Day campaign, and took part in Gucci's 2013 "Chime for Change" initiative to promote global female empowerment.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z donated tens of thousands of dollars to post bail for Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters in Baltimore and Ferguson, and contributed to building the infrastructure needed to establish BLM chapters across the US. In 2016 she pledged to fund ten college scholarships for students in financial need. In June 2016, she donated over $82,000 to the United Way of Genesee County to assist victims of the Flint water crisis and provided financial support for fourteen Michigan students pursuing higher education. That August, Beyoncé and Jay-Z donated $1.5 million to civil rights organizations including BLM, Hands Up United, and Trayvon Martin Foundation.
In August 2017, during Hurricane Harvey, Beyoncé launched BeyGood Houston to support those affected and donated $75,000 worth of new mattresses to survivors. Later that month, she released a remix of J Balvin and Willy William's "Mi Gente", pledging all proceeds to disaster relief efforts across Puerto Rico, Mexico, the US, and the Caribbean in response to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as the Chiapas and Puebla earthquakes. In April 2020, Beyoncé donated $6 million to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, UCLA, and local community-based organizations to provide mental health and wellness services for essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. She featured on the remix of Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage" (2020), with proceeds supporting Bread of Life Houston's COVID-19 relief efforts.
Beyoncé worked with the Feminist Coalition in the End SARS movement in Nigeria to cover medical costs for injured protestors, legal fees for arrested protestors, and resources for those in need. Beyoncé also supports the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon, ShutItAllDown in Namibia, Zimbabwean Lives Matter in Zimbabwe, and the Rape National Emergency in Liberia. In December 2020, Beyoncé donated $500,000 to alleviate the housing crisis in the US caused by the cessation of the eviction moratorium. In partnership with BeyGood, in 2024, she introduced an annual grant program to support cosmetology students and professional hair stylists with financial assistance. In January 2025, she donated $2.5 million to Los Angeles fire relief funds amidst the wildfires that month in Southern California.
Entrepreneurship
In 2008, Beyoncé founded Parkwood Entertainment, an entertainment company established as an imprint of Columbia Records. Parkwood has since grown to include a music division, signing artists such as Chloe x Halle.
In 2005, Beyoncé and Tina launched House of Deréon, a women's fashion line inspired by three generations of women in their family. The two also established Beyond Productions to handle licensing and brand management for House of Deréon and its junior line, Deréon. The collection features sportswear, denim offerings with fur, outerwear, and accessories like handbags and footwear. In 2005, Beyoncé partnered with House of Brands, a footwear company, to produce a range of shoes for House of Deréon. In January 2008, Starwave Mobile launched Beyoncé Fashion Diva, a mobile game with a social networking component, featuring the House of Deréon collection. In July 2009, Beyoncé and her mother launched a junior apparel label, Sasha Fierce for Deréon, for the back-to-school season. The collection included sportswear, outerwear, handbags, footwear, eyewear, lingerie, and jewelry.
In April 2016, Beyoncé launched Ivy Park, a 50–50 joint venture with fashion retailer Topshop. The brand's name was inspired by her daughter, Blue Ivy, Beyoncé's favorite number, four (IV), and the park where she used to run in Texas. Following allegations that Topshop owner Philip Green had sexually harassed, bullied, and racially abused employees, Beyoncé bought out his 50 percent stake in the company. In April 2019, she partnered with Adidas as a creative collaborator to relaunch Ivy Park and develop new apparel and footwear, with the first collection debuting in January 2020. The brand struggled financially and by March 2023, Beyoncé and Adidas mutually ended their partnership. That same month, Beyoncé collaborated with Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing on a couture collection inspired by Renaissance. With sixteen looks—one for each track—it was the first time a Black woman led the design of a Parisian couture house collection. In February 2024, Beyoncé launched Cécred, a hair care line designed to serve a wide range of hair textures.
Endorsements and partnerships
Beyoncé began her partnership with Pepsi in 2002. Two years later, she starred in a gladiator-themed commercial for the company alongside Britney Spears, Pink, and Enrique Iglesias. Beyoncé signed a $50 million endorsement deal with Pepsi in 2012. Beyoncé has also collaborated with Tommy Hilfiger for the fragrances True Star—for which she recorded a cover of "Wishing on a Star"—and True Star Gold. In 2007, she promoted Emporio Armani's Diamonds fragrance. Beyoncé launched her own fragrance line with Heat in 2010, followed by Heat Rush in 2011 and Pulse later in the same year. Beyoncé also has had deals with American Express, Nintendo, and L'Oréal.
In March 2015, Beyoncé became a co-owner of the music streaming platform Tidal, alongside several other artists. In November 2020, she entered a multi-year partnership with fitness and media company Peloton. In 2021, Beyoncé and Jay-Z partnered with Tiffany & Co. for the company's "About Love" campaign. Beyoncé became the fourth woman, and first Black woman, to wear the 128.54-carat Tiffany Yellow Diamond. The campaign drew criticism, as the diamond is considered a blood diamond and a symbol of British colonial exploitation in Africa. On August 20, 2024, Beyoncé announced SirDavis, a whiskey in collaboration with Moët Hennessy developed for years prior and co-founded with master distiller Dr. Bill Lumsden. In October 2024, Levi's launched a four-part global campaign titled "Reiimagine" with Beyoncé, spotlighting women's history with the company and featuring her Cowboy Carter track "Levii's Jeans".
Discography
Dangerously in Love (2003)
B'Day (2006)
I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008)
4 (2011)
Beyoncé (2013)
Lemonade (2016)
Renaissance (2022)
Cowboy Carter (2024)
Filmography
Tours and residencies
See also
Forbes list of highest-earning musicians
List of artists with the most number-one European singles
List of Black Golden Globe Award winners and nominees
List of highest-grossing live music artists
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
Notes
References
Citations
Print sources
External links
Official website
Beyoncé at AllMusic
Beyoncé discography at Discogs
Beyoncé at IMDb
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Reba McEntire
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Reba Nell McEntire ( REE-bə-MAK-in-tire; born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country singer and actress. Dubbed "The Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, she has placed over 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 25 of which reached the number-one spot. An actress in both film and television, McEntire starred in the television series Reba, which aired for six seasons. She also owns several businesses, including a restaurant and a clothing line.
One of four children, McEntire was born and raised in Oklahoma. With her mother's help, her siblings and she formed the Singing McEntires, who played at local events and recorded for a small label. McEntire later enrolled at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and studied to become a public-school teacher. She also continued to occasionally perform and was heard singing at a rodeo event by country performer Red Steagall. Drawn to her singing voice, Steagall helped McEntire secure a country music recording contract with PolyGram/Mercury Records in 1975.
Over the next several years, PolyGram/Mercury released a series of McEntire's albums and singles, which amounted to little success. In the early 1980s, McEntire's music gained more momentum through several top-10 country songs, including "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven", "I'm Not That Lonely Yet", and her first number one "Can't Even Get the Blues". Yet McEntire became increasingly unhappy with her career trajectory and signed with MCA Records in 1984. Her second MCA album titled My Kind of Country (1984) became her breakout release, spawning two number-one Billboard country singles and pointed toward a more traditional musical style. Through the 1980s, McEntire released seven more studio albums and had 10 more number-one country hits. Her number-one singles included "One Promise Too Late", "The Last One to Know", and the Grammy Award-winning "Whoever's in New England".
In 1991, McEntire lost eight of her band members in a plane crash in San Diego, California. The experience led to McEntire's critically acclaimed album For My Broken Heart, which is her highest-selling album to date. She followed it with several commercially successful albums during the 1990s, including Read My Mind (1994), What If It's You (1996), and If You See Him (1998). These albums featured the number-one country singles "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", "How Was I to Know", and a duet with Brooks and Dunn called "If You See Him/If You See Her". McEntire's acting career began in January 1990 when she made her film debut in Tremors. In 2001, she played the role of Annie Oakley in the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. In the same year, The WB launched the TV series Reba, in which she starred. More recently, she has guest-starred on Young Sheldon as June Ballard and had a main role in the third season of Big Sky. Since 2023, McEntire has been featured as a coach on four seasons of the reality competition show The Voice. She currently stars in the NBC sitcom Happy's Place.
Early life
McEntire was born in McAlester, Oklahoma, in 1955 but was raised on a ranch in Chockie, Oklahoma. She was the third of four children born to Clark (1927–2014) and Jacqueline McEntire (1926–2020). Her grandfather, John Wesley McEntire, was a world-champion steer roper in 1934, while her father held the same title three times (1957, 1958, and 1961). Jacqueline McEntire had aspirations of becoming a country singer, but instead became a public-school teacher, librarian, and secretary. While her mother was tender and loving, her father had trouble showing affection. "When we were growing up, I used to regret that Daddy never told us that he loved us," she recalled in her autobiography. The McEntire family owned a cattle ranch. Each family member contributed to running the cattle operation. The McEntire children helped with ranch chores before and after school. This included castrating bulls and giving them worm medicine.
The McEntire siblings also developed an interest in singing, which was encouraged by their mother. On car trips to their father's rodeo dates, Jacqueline McEntire taught her children to sing in harmony with one another. Young Reba then started performing at school, beginning in first grade when she sang "Away in a Manger" at an elementary-school Christmas pageant. In fifth grade, she joined the 4-H club and won first place in the Junior Act Division for singing "My Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown". She also played basketball and ran track. For several summers, she attended a basketball camp. She also learned piano and guitar. She also developed an interest in the rodeo and trained to become a barrel racer.
By high school, the McEntire siblings had been frequently performing. Together, they formed a trio which they called the Singing McEntires. In 1971, the trio released a single about their famous grandfather called "The Ballad of John McEntire". It was pressed as a single by a local label and was issued in small numbers regionally. The trio eventually included a backing band, who performed at local functions. The group was later named the Kiowa High School Cowboy Band. They also had paying gigs at bars at dance halls in nearby Oklahoma City. "We were a bunch of kids barely in puberty who didn't get to bed until almost daylight after some of our shows," McEntire remembered. The band parted ways once Reba's brother graduated from high school. In 1973, McEntire graduated from Kiowa High School.
Once finishing high school, McEntire enrolled in college at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She majored in elementary education with a minor in music. She completed student teaching and later graduated with a bachelor's degree. She also continued to help out on her family's ranch during her college years. In 1974, McEntire's father encouraged her to take a job opportunity singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City. She contacted family friend and rodeo announcer Clem McSpadden, who helped her get hired for the gig. Following one of her performances, McEntire was heard by country artist Red Steagall who was impressed by her singing. Reba, her siblings, and her mother later joined him at a hotel party the same week. At the hotel, Reba performed an a cappella version of Dolly Parton's "Joshua". Jacqueline McEntire asked Steagall if he was able to help get all her children a recording contract. After going back to Nashville, Steagall contacted her in early 1975, and said, "I can't take all three. But I could take Reba. She's got something a little different."
In March 1975 and accompanied by her mother, McEntire embarked on a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, to record a demonstration tape that Steagall hoped to pass along to record labels. At the start of the trip, she was unsure about pursuing a professional country music career. McEntire recalled in her autobiography continually making excuses for her mother to stop the car instead of traveling to Nashville. After noticing her daughter's fear, Jacqueline McEntire told her, "Now Reba, let me tell you something. If you don't want to go to Nashville, we don't have to do this. But I'm living all my dreams through you." The conversation changed her mind and they continued on to Nashville.
After recording a demo, McEntire's tape was heard by Glenn Keener of PolyGram/Mercury Records, who was interested in signing her to a Nashville contract. Keener brought McEntire's tape and another woman's tape to PolyGram's Chicago headquarters. The label informed Keener that he could only sign one female performer. "He looked at the two tapes in his hand and handed ’em mine," McEntire told Entertainment Weekly.
Music career
1976–1983: Career launch at Mercury
In November 1975, McEntire signed a country music recording contract with PolyGram/Mercury Records. She made her first recordings for the label in January 1976. She was produced by Glenn Keener and was backed by a Countrypolitan arrangement that included a string section. McEntire's debut single released in 1976 was titled "I Don't Want to Be a One Night Stand". The track failed to become a major hit, only peaking at number 88 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart that May. It was followed by the low-charting Billboard country singles "(There's Nothing Like the Love) Between a Woman and Man" and "Glad I Waited Just for You". Mercury issued her self-titled debut album in 1977. In his album review, Greg Adams of AllMusic compared it to the country crossover style of Barbara Mandrell and Tammy Wynette. McEntire also began touring and performing more frequently. Without a band of her own, she often relied on house bands to accompany her. In some instances, the backing bands did not know country music and McEntire would have to fill her time onstage with jokes.
McEntire's career gained more momentum by 1978. That year, she collaborated on two singles with country artist Jacky Ward. The duo's double-sided release of "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight"/"Three Sheets in the Wind" became her first top-20 hit on the country chart. When Glenn Keener left the PolyGram/Mercury roster, McEntire inherited producer Jerry Kennedy. Kennedy produced her second studio album titled Out of a Dream (1979). The album's cover of Patsy Cline's "Sweet Dreams" became her first top-20 hit as a solo artist. Four additional top-40 country singles were spawned from the album, as well. By 1980, McEntire had formed her own band, which included sister Susie and brother Pake McEntire. She also hired a new manager. McEntire and her band toured to dates in a three-car caravan, which included a horse trailer for transporting instruments. She later upgraded to a bus nicknamed Silver Eagle, which routinely broke down. Also in 1980, "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven" became her first top-10 hit on the country songs chart. It was included on her third studio album, Feel the Fire, which was released in October.
By this point, McEntire's label pushed her to record music in a soft country-pop style with which she often disagreed. Future material (which included her next album) was recorded in this format. Her fourth album, Heart to Heart was issued in 1981 and became her first disc to chart the Billboard Country Albums list. It received only a 2.5 star review from AllMusic's William Ruhlmann, who described McEntire as being "a promising, but not yet accomplished country artist." Its lead single, "Today All Over Again", became her highest-charting country single yet, reaching number five. In 1983, McEntire's bus had broken down when she was informed that her latest single "Can't Even Get the Blues" reached the number-one spot on the Billboard country chart. It was followed by her second number-one song "You're the First Time I Thought About Leaving". The track also became her second to reach the top 10 of Canada's RPM country songs chart. Both singles appeared on her 1983 album Unlimited. The following year, the single "Why Do We Want (What We Know We Can't Have)" reached the top 10. With increased success in the country music industry, she was able to arrange an early release from PolyGram/Mercury in 1983. "Let met put it this way, I've sorta taken my career into control myself," she explained of the decision.
1984–1990: Breakthrough
McEntire signed with MCA Records in 1984 and released her seventh studio album Just a Little Love. Harold Shedd was originally intended to produce the disc, but McEntire rejected his desire for a country-pop arrangement. Instead, Norro Wilson produced the project. Despite spawning a top-10 hit, McEntire was still dissatisfied with the record's production and the lack of control over material. Instead, she turned to MCA president Jimmy Bowen who suggested that she find her own songs to record. Accompanied by Don "Dirt" Lanier, McEntire spent several days listening to various songs from publishing companies. Eventually, she found a song written by Harlan Howard titled "Somebody Should Leave" and a song by Jon Moffat titled "How Blue". Released as singles, they reached the number-one spot on the country songs chart and later appeared on 1984's My Kind of Country. The collection also included several covers of classic country songs by Ray Price, Charley Pride, and Connie Smith. AllMusic's William Ruhlmann gave the disc 4.5 stars. Billboard magazine described McEntire on the album as being "the finest woman country singer since Kitty Wells." United Press wrote that the album "represents a victory for McEntire. She has pulled in the reins of her career, regained control of her music and her life." The album became her breakthrough recording, leading McEntire to winning 1984's Female Vocalist of the Year accolade from the Country Music Association. Along with music by George Strait and Randy Travis, the album also brought forth a stylistic change in country towards traditional arrangements and sounds.
Her next MCA album was 1985's Have I Got a Deal for You. The project followed the same traditional country format of its predecessor. It was produced by Jimmy Bowen, along with co-production credits from McEntire herself. The album's title track reached the Billboard country top 10 along with "Only in My Mind", a song composed by McEntire herself. Just a few months later, on October 19, McEntire performed the National Anthem at game one of the 1985 World Series. In February 1986, her ninth studio album was released named Whoever's in New England. On the record, McEntire and co-producer Jimmy Bowen mixed a traditional country style with a modern, contemporary sound. Author Kurt Wolff described the title track's production as being "bigger and sentimentalism more obvious, even manipulative". Issued as the lead single, the title track peaked at number one on the Billboard country chart and won McEntire the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The album itself became her first to top the Billboard Country Albums survey. and later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of one million copies.
By this point McEntire had reached the height of her commercial stardom. Following this, McEntire made changes to her stage show. She began implementing choreography and experimented with stage lighting. Also in 1986, McEntire's twelfth studio album appeared titled What Am I Gonna Do About You. AllMusic found that it lacked the features that had made Whoever's in New England unique. The title track was the lead single from the release. It became her next number one song on the Billboard country chart and her first number one on the RPM Canadian country chart. Its second single, "One Promise Too Late", also topped the country chart. Her 13th studio project, The Last One to Know, was released in 1987 and reached number three on the Billboard country albums chart. Reviewer Tom Roland noted that McEntire chose material that reflected her recent divorce from first husband Charlie Battles. Both the title track and "Love Will Find Its Way to You" topped the Billboard country songs chart. In late 1987, McEntire released her first Christmas collection called Merry Christmas to You. Also in 1987, she played Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time.
In the late 1980s, McEntire took more control of her career. She fired her manager and formed her own entertainment company that helped further promote her material. Other new changes included her 1988 pop-inspired release Reba. Her fifteenth studio disc included covers of the former pop hits "Respect" and "A Sunday Kind of Love". It produced the number-one Billboard country singles "New Fool at an Old Game" and "I Know How He Feels". It was followed by 1989's Sweet Sixteen, which was noted to be a more of a "return to the neo-traditionalist fold", according to reviewer William Ruhlmann. The album featured the country hits "'Til Love Comes Again", "Little Girl", "Walk On" and a cover of "Cathy's Clown". Her first live project titled Reba Live was also released in 1989.
Rumor Has It (1990) was another pop-oriented album release featuring a mix of ballads and uptempo numbers. It was the first disc in McEntire's career to reach the top 40 of the Billboard 200 albums chart. The disc would become McEntire's highest-selling album, certifying three-times platinum from the RIAA. Four hit country singles came from the release, including "You Lie" and her cover of Bobbie Gentrys' 1969 single "Fancy". The latter single eventually became one of McEntire's signature songs.
1991: Plane crash and For My Broken Heart
In the late 1980s, McEntire's touring schedule became increasingly busy. To avoid long bus trips, her band and she began traveling by private planes to concerts. McEntire and her touring band started the 1991 leg of their tour with dates in Alaska, Saginaw, Michigan, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and a private gig for IBM in San Diego, California. Two planes were scheduled to leave San Diego, which would carry McEntire's band. McEntire, her husband, and her stylist were to take a different aircraft the next day. In the early hours of March 16, 1991, McEntire was awakened by a phone call from Roger Woolsey, pilot of the second plane. McEntire's husband took the call and discovered that one of the planes had crashed. Following the successful takeoff of both planes, one plane's wing hit the side of Otay Mountain in San Diego, killing everyone on board.
In total, eight members of her band were killed: guitarists Chris Austin and Michael Thomas, keyboardists Kirk Cappello and Joey Cigainero, vocalist Paula Kaye Evans, road manager Jim Hammon, bassist Terry Jackson, and drummer Anthony Saputo. In addition, pilot Donald Holmes and co-pilot Chris Hollinger were also killed. The first plane was a Hawker Siddeley DH-125-1A/522 charter jet that took off at 1:40 am from Brown Field Municipal Airport, located near the Mexico–United States border. After reaching an altitude of 3,400 feet (1,040 m) above sea level, the aircraft crashed on the side of Otay Mountain, located 10 miles (16 km) east of the airport. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the probable cause of the accident was related to "improper pilot planning".
Meanwhile, the second plane carrying the rest of her band made it successfully to an airport in Nashville. McEntire, her husband, and hair stylist returned on their own plane following the accident. "By the time that long, terrible weekend was over, we were emotionally and physically exhausted," McEntire stated in her autobiography. The news was reported nearly immediately to McEntire and her husband, who were sleeping at a nearby hotel. A spokeswoman for McEntire made a statement to The Los Angeles Times on her behalf: "She was very close to all of them. Some of them had been with her for years. Reba is totally devastated by this. It's like losing part of your family. Right now, she just wants to get back to Nashville." Two days after the crash, McEntire conducted an interview with People and scheduled a memorial service for the families of the victims. Nine days following the accident, McEntire performed at the 63rd Academy Awards ceremony, singing the Best Original Song nominee "I'm Checkin' Out" from the film Postcards from the Edge. In addition, Vince Gill and Dolly Parton offered their help in reorganizing her touring band.
McEntire dedicated her 16th album, For My Broken Heart, to the deceased members of her road band. Released in October 1991, it contained songs of sorrow and lost love about "all measure of suffering", according to Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly. Nash reported that McEntire "still hits her stride with the more traditional songs of emotional turmoil, above all combining a spectacular vocal performance with a terrific song on 'Buying Her Roses', a wife's head-spinning discovery of her husband's other woman." The disc peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. It also became her highest-charting release on the Billboard 200 yet, peaking at number 13. It later sold over four million copies in the United States, becoming her best-selling album to date. Its title track and "Is There Life Out There" both became number one Billboard country singles. In addition, "The Greatest Man I Never Knew" and McEntire's cover of "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" both became major country hits.
1992–2002: Continued country success
In December 1992, McEntire's 17th album It's Your Call was released. A sign of her increased mainstream success, the album was her first to reach the top 10 of the Billboard 200. It spawned the country hits "Take It Back", the title track and a number one duet with Vince Gill called "The Heart Won't Lie". Critic Brian Mansfield compared the disc to For My Broken Heart, concluding that "only casual or partial listeners will be moved as much." Christopher John Farley of Time wrote that the album ranged from being "relaxing" to "cathartic", and "these vocals from one of the best country singers linger in the mind". For her next release, McEntire collaborated with up-and-coming artist Linda Davis on the single "Does He Love You". MCA Records encouraged McEntire to record the track with more established acts like Wynonna Judd or Trisha Yearwood, but ultimately finalized the track with Davis. It became her 18th number-one hit on the Country Songs chart and her 16th topper on the Canadian country chart. It was later included on her 1993 compilation Greatest Hits Volume Two. Later that year, Davis and McEntire performed the duet at the CMA Awards. For her performance, McEntire wore a red dress with a plunging neckline that created controversy among the Nashville community.
Her 18th studio release was 1994's Read My Mind. The disc reached number two on both the Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums chart. The disc later reached sales of three million copies in the United States and certified three times platinum from the RIAA. Five major hits came from the release, including "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", "Till You Love Me" and a song about a woman contracting AIDS called "She Thinks His Name Was John". The last recording only reached a top-20 charting position due to its controversial lyrics. McEntire's 19th studio album, Starting Over (1995) is a collection of her favorite songs originally recorded by others. The album was made to commemorate McEntire's 20 years in the music industry. The album received a less favorable response from critics than that of her previous releases. While the project spawned three charting singles, only McEntire's cover of "Ring on Her Finger, Time on Her Hands" became a top-10 country song. Starting Over was certified platinum by the RIAA within the first two months of its release.
McEntire's next album release What If It's You was issued by MCA in November 1996. The record was a return to a contemporary country sound. It debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200 and eventually topped the Billboard country albums list. It received a more favorable response from radio programmers than that of her 1995 album and received greater promotion. Critic Thom Owens noted that the project "[didn't] offer any new tricks from Reba McEntire, but it is nevertheless an excellent reminder of her deep talents as a vocalist." Its first single, "The Fear of Being Alone" became a top-five hit, while "How Was I to Know" reached the number-one spot on the Billboard country songs survey.
McEntire began touring with country duo Brooks & Dunn during the mid 1990s. Their touring collaborating led to the recording of a duet titled "If You See Him/If You See Her" in 1998. The track topped both the Billboard country songs chart and the Canadian RPM country chart. Their initial collaborations would lead to several more professional endeavors over the years, including a joint Las Vegas residency. The duet was included on McEntire's If You See Him album and Brooks & Dunn's If You See Her album, both of which were released in June 1998. Thom Owens found that both album titles were named nearly the same as "a way to draw attention for both parties, since they were no longer new guns—they were veterans in danger of losing ground to younger musicians". If You See Him produced three more top-10 country hits, including "Forever Love" and "One Honest Heart".
In 1999, McEntire released two albums. In September she issued her second Christmas album, The Secret of Giving: A Christmas Collection. In November, her 22nd studio album, So Good Together was released. Entertainment Weekly commented that most of the album's material was "an odd set—mostly ballads, including an English/Portuguese duet with Jose e Durval on Boz Scaggs' 'We're All Alone'". It featured the top-five country songs "What Do You Say" and "I'll Be". McEntire focused on an acting career in the early 2000s and took a temporary musical hiatus. One exception was 2001's "I'm a Survivor". The single became a top-five country hit and the theme song to McEntire's 2001 television series.
2003–2015: Country music comeback, record label switch, and continued music success
McEntire returned to her recording career in August 2003 with the release of the MCA single "I'm Gonna Take That Mountain". The song was included on her first studio album in four years titled Room to Breathe (November 2003). "The reason I named the album Room to Breathe is because I needed a little room to breathe," McEntire told Billboard. The 12-track disc was produced by Buddy Cannon and Norro Wilson. It also featured a guest appearance from Vince Gill. Room to Breathe debuted at number four on the Billboard country chart and later certified platinum in the United States. It spawned McEntire's first number-one song in six years titled "Somebody". Also featured was the top-10 single "He Gets That from Me". In 2004, she embarked on her first tour in several years, also titled Room to Breathe, which included 36 cities in the United States. In 2005, MCA released the double-disc compilation titled Reba #1's while she was between albums.
In September 2007, McEntire's next studio disc was released titled Reba: Duets. The album was a collection of duets with various music artists, including Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes, Trisha Yearwood, Carole King, and Justin Timberlake. Reba: Duets topped the Billboard country chart and the Billboard 200, becoming her first album in her career to reach the top of both lists. Reba: Duets was later certified platinum by the RIAA. The album was given high critical praise from magazines such as PopMatters, which compared McEntire to artists like Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. AllMusic's Thom Jurek gave it 3.5 stars, commenting that "it's full of good to great songs delivered in mostly interesting ways." The first single was a duet version of Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You", which reached number two on the American country chart and topped the Canadian country songs chart.
In 2008, McEntire announced that she would be departing her label of 25 years and signing with the Valory Music Group, an imprint of Big Machine Records. The switch to Valory reunited McEntire with the label's president, Scott Borchetta, with whom she had worked previously. Her first Valory single was 2009's "Strange". The song debuted at number 39 Billboard country songs chart, giving McEntire the highest single debut of her career and peaked at number 11. Her 26th studio album, Keep on Loving You, was released in August 2009 and also topped both the Billboard Country and 200 charts. In 2009, "Consider Me Gone" (spawned as the record's second single) became her 24th number-one on the Billboard chart in December. At age 54, McEntire became one of the oldest women to have a number-one single on the country songs chart.
McEntire's 29th studio album, All the Women I Am, was released in November 2010. Steve Morse of The Boston Globe called the project "one of her best efforts", while Thom Jurek at AllMusic only gave it a 2.5 star rating, calling it "awkward" and lacking a "center". "Turn On the Radio" was issued as the lead single prior to the album, eventually becoming her twenty-fourth number one on the Billboard country survey. Three additional charting singles were spawned from All the Women I Am that peaked outside the top 20. Her All the Women I Am Tour followed shortly after featuring country acts the Band Perry, Steel Magnolia, and Edens Edge.
In 2014, McEntire moved to Big Machine's new imprint for veteran artists titled Nash Icon Music. Her first Nash Icon single was 2015's "Going Out Like That", which reached the top 25 of the Billboard country songs chart. It was included on her 2015 Nash Icon album Love Somebody. The album topped the country albums chart and charted the top five of the Billboard 200. In 2016, McEntire released a third Christmas-themed studio album called My Kind of Christmas. The album was exclusively sold at Cracker Barrel and online. She also announced she would soon be selling her own line of clothing, home decor, jewelry, and other things under the "Rockin' R by Reba" line, also at Cracker Barrel.
2017–present: New beginnings in her 60s
After her split from ex-husband Narvel Blackstock, McEntire took control of her career as her own manager. She recruited Justin McIntosh of Starstruck Entertainment, Leslie Matthews serving as brand manager, and Carolyn Snell who has been with McEntire for nine years. They formed Reba's Business Inc. (RBI). She moved out of the building where Blackstock and she had worked, and moved her company to Green Hills, Nashville.
On December 15, 2016, McEntire announced that she was releasing her first gospel album titled Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope. It was released by Nash Icon/Rockin' R Records on February 3, 2017, and consists of two discs. Disc one contains traditional hymns, while disc two contains original tracks. "Softly and Tenderly", featuring Kelly Clarkson and Trisha Yearwood, was the first track off the album released. Another track on the album, "In the Garden/Wonderful Peace", features the Isaacs. Jay DeMarcus of the Rascal Flatts produced the album. The first single off the album is "Back to God". In January 2018, McEntire won the Grammy Award for Best Roots Gospel Album, her first nomination since 2007, and her first Grammy Award win in more than 20 years, since 1994. She also headlined the C2C: Country to Country festival in the UK alongside Brad Paisley and Zac Brown Band in March. Because of its limited release in 2016, on October 13, 2017 My Kind of Christmas was re-released - this time including songs with Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Darius Rucker, and Lauren Daigle - on her website and through iTunes. In July 2018, it was announced that McEntire would be one of four honorees for the 41st annual Kennedy Center Honors, along with Cher, Philip Glass, and Wayne Shorter. The ceremony was held December 2, 2018, and broadcast on CBS December 26, 2018.
McEntire released her 29th studio album Stronger Than the Truth on April 5, 2019. McEntire also returned to host the 54th Academy of Country Music Awards on April 8, 2019. On February 20, 2020, during a surprise appearance at the Country Radio Seminar, McEntire announced she had signed a new record deal with MCA Nashville, returning to the label after leaving in November 2008. McEntire hosted the 54th Annual Country Music Association Awards alongside Darius Rucker in November 2020. McEntire previously hosted in 2019 with Carrie Underwood and Dolly Parton, 1992 with Vince Gill, 1991 by herself (the second solo female host), and 1990 with Randy Travis. On October 3, 2022, Reba revealed that she would continue her Reba: Live in Concert tour going through 2023 and play New York City's Madison Square Garden for the first time. In 2021, a duet version of the song "Does He Love You" with Dolly Parton was released. In 2024, McEntire sang the national anthem during Super Bowl LVIII, and she was accompanied by deaf actor Daniel Durant in American Sign Language.
Acting career
1989–1999: Entry into film and television acting
In 1989, she obtained her first film role playing Heather Gummer in the horror comedy Tremors, along with Kevin Bacon. The film told the story of a small group of people, living in Nevada, who were fighting subterranean worm-like creatures. After the film's release in 1990, McEntire developed a strong interest in acting and made it her second career. The film earned McEntire a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 1991 Saturn Awards. The following year, she starred along with Kenny Rogers and Burt Reynolds in the made-for-television movies The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw and The Man From Left Field. In 1994, McEntire worked with director Rob Reiner in the film North, playing Ma Tex.
In 1994, McEntire starred in Is There Life Out There?, a television movie based on her song of the same name. The following year, she appeared in Buffalo Girls, which was based upon the life of western cowgirl Calamity Jane (played by Anjelica Huston). Playing Jane's friend Annie Oakley, Buffalo Girls was nominated for an Emmy award. In 1996, McEntire was cast by director James Cameron as Molly Brown in his film Titanic. However, when it became apparent production for the film would extend well beyond its original length, McEntire had to turn down the part, as she had already scheduled prior concert engagements. The role was recast with Kathy Bates. In 1998, she starred as Lizzie Brooks in Forever Love, which was based upon McEntire's hit single of the same name.
2000–2007: Broadway and television series
In early 2001, McEntire expanded into theater, starring in the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun. Playing Annie Oakley (whom she had previously portrayed in Buffalo Girls), her performance was critically acclaimed by several newspapers, including The New York Times, which commented, "Without qualification the best performance by an actress in a musical comedy this season." McEntire personally called the musical "some of the hardest work I've ever done in my life".
In 2005, McEntire starred as Nellie Forbush in the Carnegie Hall concert production of the Broadway musical South Pacific with Alec Baldwin as Luther Billis and Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile de Becque, directed by Walter Bobbie, and with an adapted script by David Ives. The concert was broadcast as part of the Great Performances series in 2006.
In October 2001, McEntire premiered her half-hour television sitcom Reba on The WB. The show was based around divorced mother Reba Hart, who learns how to handle life situations after her husband divorces her to marry his dental hygienist––with whom he had been cheating and gotten pregnant––and then their teenaged daughter becomes pregnant, as well. Reba garnered critical acclaim and success, becoming the network's highest-rated television show for adults ranging from the ages of 18 to 49. The show ran for six seasons and earned McEntire a nomination for a Golden Globe award. It was canceled on February 18, 2007; the series finale had 8.7 million viewers.
Since 2011: Brief television return and current projects
In September 2011, McEntire confirmed on her website that ABC had ordered a pilot for her second television series Malibu Country. McEntire played a divorced mother of two who moves to Malibu, California, to restart her music career. The pilot was filmed in April 2012 and began production on its first season in August. The pilot for Malibu Country was to premiere November 2, 2012. The show was broadcast Friday nights at 8:30/7:30c on ABC. On May 11, 2012, McEntire tweeted that the show had been picked up. She also was the host in the 2011 NASCAR Award Show in Las Vegas.
Despite reports that Malibu Country was the most-watched freshman comedy in its debut season (8.7 million), the show was canceled on May 10, 2013, after 18 episodes.
In 2016, McEntire was a guest panelist during season 11 of America's Got Talent. During one of the Judge Cuts, McEntire gave the Golden Buzzer to contortionist Sofie Dossi.
In January 2017, it was announced that McEntire would star and produce a Southern drama series for ABC titled Red Blooded. In May, ABC announced it ultimately had turned down the show, so it moved to being shopped around to other networks. In January 2018, Reba was chosen to portray KFC's first female Colonel Sanders. The commercials ran through the end of April 2018.
In 2020, McEntire launched a podcast titled Living and Learning hosted by her former Reba co-star Melissa Peterman and herself.
She made a cameo appearance in the 2021 comedy film Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar as a water spirit named Trish, after Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, who wrote, produced, and starred in the film, wrote her an "impassioned letter" asking her to join the film. Director Josh Greenbaum said in an interview, "There's some casting that just clicks. Reba is not only 100% authentic, we knew she would be game."
In May 2022, ABC announced that McEntire will be joining the cast of the drama Big Sky, playing local businesswoman Sunny Barnes in season three.
McEntire starred in Reba McEntire's The Hammer on Lifetime in 2023. The country star reunited with her Reba sitcom co-star Melissa Peterman in the film inspired by the life of traveling Nevada circuit judge Kim Wheeler. The film also stars McEntire's boyfriend Rex Linn as Bart Crawford, a mysterious cowboy with unknown motives, and Kay Shioma Metchie as Vicky, the tough-talking bailiff who serves as Kim's right hand and trusted friend.
In May 2023, it was announced that McEntire would be a coach on The Voice, replacing Blake Shelton. She served as a coach from its 24th season to its 26th season. On May 21, 2024, Asher HaVon, a member of Reba's team, won the 25th season, making McEntire the winning coach on her second season. In May 2025, it was announced that McEntire would return to The Voice after a one season-hiatus for the 28th season, which premieres in late 2025.
On September 20, 2023, McEntire reunited with Sofie Dossi, where they collaborated during a result show on season 18 of America's Got Talent, when McEntire sang "Can't Even Get the Blues", while Dossi did her contortion, hand-balancing, and aerial performances.
In January 2024, McEntire was creating a new comedy for NBC, later announced to be titled Happy's Place and co-starring Melissa Peterman.
Musical styles and legacy
McEntire's sound has been influenced by the country music of Bob Wills, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell, and Patsy Cline. In college, McEntire attended local dances at the Oklahoma–Texas border, so she could dance to Wills's music, commenting that, "it didn't get any better than dancing to Bob Wills music". She also explained Merle Haggard's influence on her career, stating, "I had every album he ever put out", and would sing "every song he did", along with her brother, Pake and sister, Susie. In addition, her first major hit, "Sweet Dreams", was a remake of Patsy Cline's version of the song, according to McEntire herself.
McEntire's music has been described not only to be built upon traditional country music, but also expand into the genres of country pop, mainstream pop, soul, and rhythm and blues. At times, her music has been criticized for moving away from traditional country music. Many music critics have called her music to be "melodramatic", "formulaic", and "bombastic", particularly after her 1988 album Reba. Studio releases such as Sweet Sixteen, Rumor Has It, It's Your Call, and Starting Over have been described by these terms.
McEntire possesses a contralto vocal range and performs "vocal gymnastics" with her voice, a musical technique in which a singer twirls a note around, using their vibrato. McEntire has credited Dolly Parton for influencing this trait, stating that she always listened to Parton's records and find her style of vocal gymnastics "so pretty".
McEntire has often been regarded as one of country music's most influential female vocalists and most beloved entertainers. She is highly credited for remaining one of country's most popular female artists for nearly four decades, maintaining her success by continually incorporating contemporary musical sounds without changing her traditional vocal style. For numerous artists, she has been credited as an inspiration to their careers in music. The Net Music Countdown second-handedly reported, "That influence has manifested itself in many ways. As a role model, she's shown others how to handle fame with grace and good humor while never backing down from her values or goals. Just as importantly, she's shown others to refuse to accept limitations on what she can do or how much she can achieve." McEntire also explained to the online website, "Whatever I'm doing, I feel like I'm representing country music". "It's always been my main career, and it's where my loyalties lie. I feel like I'm waving the flag of country music wherever I go, and I couldn't be prouder to do it."
Personal life
McEntire is a Christian, and she has stated that her faith in God has helped her immensely throughout her life.
Two of her siblings have also had careers in the music industry. Her brother Pake dabbled in the country music industry in the late 1980s, but returned to Oklahoma after a brief stint. He owns and operates a 1,000-acre (400 ha) ranch near Coalgate, Oklahoma, and continues to rodeo. Her sister Susie McEntire-Eaton (Martha Susan "Susie" McEntire-Eaton, formerly Luchsinger) is a successful Christian music singer, who travels the country with her husband, speaking and performing. She also has an older sister, Alice Foran, a retired social worker who resides in Lane, Oklahoma. Her niece Calamity McEntire is the associate head coach for the University of Illinois women's basketball team.
Relationships and family
In 1976, McEntire married steer wrestling champion and rancher Charlie Battles, who was 10 years her senior and had two sons from his previous marriage. The couple shared a ranch in Oklahoma. In 1987, McEntire divorced Battles and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to further pursue her career.
In 1989, McEntire married her manager and former steel guitar player Narvel Blackstock. The couple wed at Lake Tahoe on a boat in a private ceremony. Together, the pair took over all aspects of McEntire's career, forming Starstruck Entertainment, which was originally designed to help manage her career. From her marriage to Blackstock, McEntire gained three stepchildren, Chassidy, Shawna, and Brandon. She gave birth to a son, Shelby Steven McEntire Blackstock, in February 1990. On August 3, 2015, a joint statement on McEntire's website announced that Blackstock and she had been separated for a few months after 26 years of marriage. McEntire announced in December 2015 that their divorce had been finalized on October 28, 2015. Despite the divorce, McEntire remains very close to her three stepchildren and the Blackstock family; she considers her stepchildren's children to be her grandchildren.
McEntire's stepson Brandon Blackstock married singer Kelly Clarkson, with whom he has a daughter and a son. Speaking about their impending marriage in 2013, McEntire stated she was "Thrilled to death, to have my buddy as my daughter-in-law. I mean, who could ask for more?" Blackstock and Clarkson's divorce was finalized in March 2022. He died of melanoma on August 7, 2025, at the age of 48.
In 2017, McEntire began a relationship with photographer Anthony "Skeeter" Lasuzzo. The couple met through McEntire's association with Kix Brooks. In describing her feelings about Lasuzzo, she stated in April 2019, "We're totally in love — absolutely," she says. "I wouldn't put up with somebody for two years if I wasn't in love with 'em!" McEntire and Lasuzzo separated six months later.
In 2020, McEntire began dating film and TV actor Rex Linn. They first met on the set of The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991) and reconnected almost 30 years later when McEntire guest-starred as June on Young Sheldon, where Linn has a recurring role as principal of Sheldon's high school. In an interview prior to the 2025 Emmy Awards ceremony, McEntire and Linn announced their engagement.
Philanthropy
In 1992, she opened Reba's Ranch House in Denison, Texas, an extended-stay residence for relatives of patients undergoing treatment at Texoma Medical Center or other nearby facilities.
Over the course of her career, she has been and continues to be an active supporter of various charitable organizations, including Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, Feeding America, and Celebrity Fight Night. She has been honored with the Minnie Pearl Award, the ACM Home Depot Humanitarian Award, and the Andrea Bocelli Foundation Humanitarian Award for her efforts. In 2018, she was honored with the Horatio Alger Award for Education, Charity Work. Named after the "rags to riches" writer, the award recognizes perseverance and giving back.
Accolades
McEntire has the second-most wins for the Academy of Country Music's Top Female Vocalist Awards with seven. McEntire holds the record American Music Awards for Favorite Country Female Artist (12). She also holds the distinction of being the first to win the Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year Award four times consecutively. Martina McBride won Female Vocalist four times, although not consecutively. In 2013, Miranda Lambert tied McEntire to win Female Vocalist four years in a row and in 2016 Carrie Underwood joined this elite club by winning her fourth Female Vocalist award. McEntire is also a rare musical artist to achieve solo number-ones across four decades (1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s). She holds the record for second-most CMA Award nominations for a female artist, with 51. McEntire has the second-most ACM Awards nominations for a female artist with 47, respectively. She is also the recipient of three Grammy Awards, winning in 1987, 1994 and 2018. In December 2018, McEntire received the Kennedy Center Honor.
When Reba McEntire made her Grand Ole Opry debut on September 17, 1977, she almost did not make it in the door after a guard at the Opry gate missed her name on the night's list of performers. Her parents and older sister, Alice, drove 1,400 miles round trip from their Oklahoma home to see what turned out to be Reba's three-minute performance that night. Her act was cut from two songs to just one—"Invitation to the Blues"—because of a surprise appearance by Dolly Parton. McEntire was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on January 17, 1986. "The Grand Ole Opry is a home," she says. "It's a family. It's like a family reunion, when you come back and get to see everybody."
In 2011, the Country Music Association announced that McEntire would be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. McEntire was unable to attend the announcement after her father had slipped into a coma following a stroke. McEntire attended the official induction ceremony alongside the other 2011 inductees Jean Shepard and Bobby Braddock. She was inducted by Dolly Parton.
Discography
Studio albums
Tours
Headlining tours
Co-headlining tours
Brooks & Dunn and Reba: The Tour (with Brooks & Dunn) (1997–98)
Girls Night Out (with Martina McBride) (2001)
2 Hats and a Redhead (with Brad Paisley and Terri Clark) (2005)
2 Worlds 2 Voices Tour (with Kelly Clarkson) (2008)
Reba and George Strait on Tour (with George Strait) (2010-11)
Residency shows
Key to the Heart (2006-07)
Together in Vegas (with Brooks & Dunn) (2015-2021)
Opening act
Grand Tour* (for George Jones) (1981)
The Statler Brothers in Concert (for the Statler Brothers) (1983-84)
Filmography
Publications
McEntire, Reba (May 1, 1994). Reba: My Story. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0553096071.
McEntire, Reba (April 13, 1999). Comfort from a Country Quilt: Finding New Inspiration and Strength from Old-Fashioned Values. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-10794-4.
McEntire, Reba (October 10, 2023). Not That Fancy: Simple Lessons on Living, Loving, Eating, and Dusting Off Your Boots. New York: Harper Celebrate. ISBN 978-1400238255.
See also
List of best-selling music artists in the United States
References
Footnotes
Books
External links
Official website
Reba McEntire at IMDb
Reba McEntire Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Profile on Country Music Television
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Reba Nell McEntire ( REE-bə-MAK-in-tire; born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country singer and actress. Dubbed "The Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, she has placed over 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 25 of which reached the number-one spot. An actress in both film and television, McEntire starred in the television series Reba, which aired for six seasons. She also owns several businesses, including a restaurant and a clothing line.
One of four children, McEntire was born and raised in Oklahoma. With her mother's help, her siblings and she formed the Singing McEntires, who played at local events and recorded for a small label. McEntire later enrolled at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and studied to become a public-school teacher. She also continued to occasionally perform and was heard singing at a rodeo event by country performer Red Steagall. Drawn to her singing voice, Steagall helped McEntire secure a country music recording contract with PolyGram/Mercury Records in 1975.
Over the next several years, PolyGram/Mercury released a series of McEntire's albums and singles, which amounted to little success. In the early 1980s, McEntire's music gained more momentum through several top-10 country songs, including "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven", "I'm Not That Lonely Yet", and her first number one "Can't Even Get the Blues". Yet McEntire became increasingly unhappy with her career trajectory and signed with MCA Records in 1984. Her second MCA album titled My Kind of Country (1984) became her breakout release, spawning two number-one Billboard country singles and pointed toward a more traditional musical style. Through the 1980s, McEntire released seven more studio albums and had 10 more number-one country hits. Her number-one singles included "One Promise Too Late", "The Last One to Know", and the Grammy Award-winning "Whoever's in New England".
In 1991, McEntire lost eight of her band members in a plane crash in San Diego, California. The experience led to McEntire's critically acclaimed album For My Broken Heart, which is her highest-selling album to date. She followed it with several commercially successful albums during the 1990s, including Read My Mind (1994), What If It's You (1996), and If You See Him (1998). These albums featured the number-one country singles "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", "How Was I to Know", and a duet with Brooks and Dunn called "If You See Him/If You See Her". McEntire's acting career began in January 1990 when she made her film debut in Tremors. In 2001, she played the role of Annie Oakley in the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. In the same year, The WB launched the TV series Reba, in which she starred. More recently, she has guest-starred on Young Sheldon as June Ballard and had a main role in the third season of Big Sky. Since 2023, McEntire has been featured as a coach on four seasons of the reality competition show The Voice. She currently stars in the NBC sitcom Happy's Place.
Early life
McEntire was born in McAlester, Oklahoma, in 1955 but was raised on a ranch in Chockie, Oklahoma. She was the third of four children born to Clark (1927–2014) and Jacqueline McEntire (1926–2020). Her grandfather, John Wesley McEntire, was a world-champion steer roper in 1934, while her father held the same title three times (1957, 1958, and 1961). Jacqueline McEntire had aspirations of becoming a country singer, but instead became a public-school teacher, librarian, and secretary. While her mother was tender and loving, her father had trouble showing affection. "When we were growing up, I used to regret that Daddy never told us that he loved us," she recalled in her autobiography. The McEntire family owned a cattle ranch. Each family member contributed to running the cattle operation. The McEntire children helped with ranch chores before and after school. This included castrating bulls and giving them worm medicine.
The McEntire siblings also developed an interest in singing, which was encouraged by their mother. On car trips to their father's rodeo dates, Jacqueline McEntire taught her children to sing in harmony with one another. Young Reba then started performing at school, beginning in first grade when she sang "Away in a Manger" at an elementary-school Christmas pageant. In fifth grade, she joined the 4-H club and won first place in the Junior Act Division for singing "My Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown". She also played basketball and ran track. For several summers, she attended a basketball camp. She also learned piano and guitar. She also developed an interest in the rodeo and trained to become a barrel racer.
By high school, the McEntire siblings had been frequently performing. Together, they formed a trio which they called the Singing McEntires. In 1971, the trio released a single about their famous grandfather called "The Ballad of John McEntire". It was pressed as a single by a local label and was issued in small numbers regionally. The trio eventually included a backing band, who performed at local functions. The group was later named the Kiowa High School Cowboy Band. They also had paying gigs at bars at dance halls in nearby Oklahoma City. "We were a bunch of kids barely in puberty who didn't get to bed until almost daylight after some of our shows," McEntire remembered. The band parted ways once Reba's brother graduated from high school. In 1973, McEntire graduated from Kiowa High School.
Once finishing high school, McEntire enrolled in college at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She majored in elementary education with a minor in music. She completed student teaching and later graduated with a bachelor's degree. She also continued to help out on her family's ranch during her college years. In 1974, McEntire's father encouraged her to take a job opportunity singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City. She contacted family friend and rodeo announcer Clem McSpadden, who helped her get hired for the gig. Following one of her performances, McEntire was heard by country artist Red Steagall who was impressed by her singing. Reba, her siblings, and her mother later joined him at a hotel party the same week. At the hotel, Reba performed an a cappella version of Dolly Parton's "Joshua". Jacqueline McEntire asked Steagall if he was able to help get all her children a recording contract. After going back to Nashville, Steagall contacted her in early 1975, and said, "I can't take all three. But I could take Reba. She's got something a little different."
In March 1975 and accompanied by her mother, McEntire embarked on a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, to record a demonstration tape that Steagall hoped to pass along to record labels. At the start of the trip, she was unsure about pursuing a professional country music career. McEntire recalled in her autobiography continually making excuses for her mother to stop the car instead of traveling to Nashville. After noticing her daughter's fear, Jacqueline McEntire told her, "Now Reba, let me tell you something. If you don't want to go to Nashville, we don't have to do this. But I'm living all my dreams through you." The conversation changed her mind and they continued on to Nashville.
After recording a demo, McEntire's tape was heard by Glenn Keener of PolyGram/Mercury Records, who was interested in signing her to a Nashville contract. Keener brought McEntire's tape and another woman's tape to PolyGram's Chicago headquarters. The label informed Keener that he could only sign one female performer. "He looked at the two tapes in his hand and handed ’em mine," McEntire told Entertainment Weekly.
Music career
1976–1983: Career launch at Mercury
In November 1975, McEntire signed a country music recording contract with PolyGram/Mercury Records. She made her first recordings for the label in January 1976. She was produced by Glenn Keener and was backed by a Countrypolitan arrangement that included a string section. McEntire's debut single released in 1976 was titled "I Don't Want to Be a One Night Stand". The track failed to become a major hit, only peaking at number 88 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart that May. It was followed by the low-charting Billboard country singles "(There's Nothing Like the Love) Between a Woman and Man" and "Glad I Waited Just for You". Mercury issued her self-titled debut album in 1977. In his album review, Greg Adams of AllMusic compared it to the country crossover style of Barbara Mandrell and Tammy Wynette. McEntire also began touring and performing more frequently. Without a band of her own, she often relied on house bands to accompany her. In some instances, the backing bands did not know country music and McEntire would have to fill her time onstage with jokes.
McEntire's career gained more momentum by 1978. That year, she collaborated on two singles with country artist Jacky Ward. The duo's double-sided release of "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight"/"Three Sheets in the Wind" became her first top-20 hit on the country chart. When Glenn Keener left the PolyGram/Mercury roster, McEntire inherited producer Jerry Kennedy. Kennedy produced her second studio album titled Out of a Dream (1979). The album's cover of Patsy Cline's "Sweet Dreams" became her first top-20 hit as a solo artist. Four additional top-40 country singles were spawned from the album, as well. By 1980, McEntire had formed her own band, which included sister Susie and brother Pake McEntire. She also hired a new manager. McEntire and her band toured to dates in a three-car caravan, which included a horse trailer for transporting instruments. She later upgraded to a bus nicknamed Silver Eagle, which routinely broke down. Also in 1980, "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven" became her first top-10 hit on the country songs chart. It was included on her third studio album, Feel the Fire, which was released in October.
By this point, McEntire's label pushed her to record music in a soft country-pop style with which she often disagreed. Future material (which included her next album) was recorded in this format. Her fourth album, Heart to Heart was issued in 1981 and became her first disc to chart the Billboard Country Albums list. It received only a 2.5 star review from AllMusic's William Ruhlmann, who described McEntire as being "a promising, but not yet accomplished country artist." Its lead single, "Today All Over Again", became her highest-charting country single yet, reaching number five. In 1983, McEntire's bus had broken down when she was informed that her latest single "Can't Even Get the Blues" reached the number-one spot on the Billboard country chart. It was followed by her second number-one song "You're the First Time I Thought About Leaving". The track also became her second to reach the top 10 of Canada's RPM country songs chart. Both singles appeared on her 1983 album Unlimited. The following year, the single "Why Do We Want (What We Know We Can't Have)" reached the top 10. With increased success in the country music industry, she was able to arrange an early release from PolyGram/Mercury in 1983. "Let met put it this way, I've sorta taken my career into control myself," she explained of the decision.
1984–1990: Breakthrough
McEntire signed with MCA Records in 1984 and released her seventh studio album Just a Little Love. Harold Shedd was originally intended to produce the disc, but McEntire rejected his desire for a country-pop arrangement. Instead, Norro Wilson produced the project. Despite spawning a top-10 hit, McEntire was still dissatisfied with the record's production and the lack of control over material. Instead, she turned to MCA president Jimmy Bowen who suggested that she find her own songs to record. Accompanied by Don "Dirt" Lanier, McEntire spent several days listening to various songs from publishing companies. Eventually, she found a song written by Harlan Howard titled "Somebody Should Leave" and a song by Jon Moffat titled "How Blue". Released as singles, they reached the number-one spot on the country songs chart and later appeared on 1984's My Kind of Country. The collection also included several covers of classic country songs by Ray Price, Charley Pride, and Connie Smith. AllMusic's William Ruhlmann gave the disc 4.5 stars. Billboard magazine described McEntire on the album as being "the finest woman country singer since Kitty Wells." United Press wrote that the album "represents a victory for McEntire. She has pulled in the reins of her career, regained control of her music and her life." The album became her breakthrough recording, leading McEntire to winning 1984's Female Vocalist of the Year accolade from the Country Music Association. Along with music by George Strait and Randy Travis, the album also brought forth a stylistic change in country towards traditional arrangements and sounds.
Her next MCA album was 1985's Have I Got a Deal for You. The project followed the same traditional country format of its predecessor. It was produced by Jimmy Bowen, along with co-production credits from McEntire herself. The album's title track reached the Billboard country top 10 along with "Only in My Mind", a song composed by McEntire herself. Just a few months later, on October 19, McEntire performed the National Anthem at game one of the 1985 World Series. In February 1986, her ninth studio album was released named Whoever's in New England. On the record, McEntire and co-producer Jimmy Bowen mixed a traditional country style with a modern, contemporary sound. Author Kurt Wolff described the title track's production as being "bigger and sentimentalism more obvious, even manipulative". Issued as the lead single, the title track peaked at number one on the Billboard country chart and won McEntire the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The album itself became her first to top the Billboard Country Albums survey. and later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of one million copies.
By this point McEntire had reached the height of her commercial stardom. Following this, McEntire made changes to her stage show. She began implementing choreography and experimented with stage lighting. Also in 1986, McEntire's twelfth studio album appeared titled What Am I Gonna Do About You. AllMusic found that it lacked the features that had made Whoever's in New England unique. The title track was the lead single from the release. It became her next number one song on the Billboard country chart and her first number one on the RPM Canadian country chart. Its second single, "One Promise Too Late", also topped the country chart. Her 13th studio project, The Last One to Know, was released in 1987 and reached number three on the Billboard country albums chart. Reviewer Tom Roland noted that McEntire chose material that reflected her recent divorce from first husband Charlie Battles. Both the title track and "Love Will Find Its Way to You" topped the Billboard country songs chart. In late 1987, McEntire released her first Christmas collection called Merry Christmas to You. Also in 1987, she played Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time.
In the late 1980s, McEntire took more control of her career. She fired her manager and formed her own entertainment company that helped further promote her material. Other new changes included her 1988 pop-inspired release Reba. Her fifteenth studio disc included covers of the former pop hits "Respect" and "A Sunday Kind of Love". It produced the number-one Billboard country singles "New Fool at an Old Game" and "I Know How He Feels". It was followed by 1989's Sweet Sixteen, which was noted to be a more of a "return to the neo-traditionalist fold", according to reviewer William Ruhlmann. The album featured the country hits "'Til Love Comes Again", "Little Girl", "Walk On" and a cover of "Cathy's Clown". Her first live project titled Reba Live was also released in 1989.
Rumor Has It (1990) was another pop-oriented album release featuring a mix of ballads and uptempo numbers. It was the first disc in McEntire's career to reach the top 40 of the Billboard 200 albums chart. The disc would become McEntire's highest-selling album, certifying three-times platinum from the RIAA. Four hit country singles came from the release, including "You Lie" and her cover of Bobbie Gentrys' 1969 single "Fancy". The latter single eventually became one of McEntire's signature songs.
1991: Plane crash and For My Broken Heart
In the late 1980s, McEntire's touring schedule became increasingly busy. To avoid long bus trips, her band and she began traveling by private planes to concerts. McEntire and her touring band started the 1991 leg of their tour with dates in Alaska, Saginaw, Michigan, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and a private gig for IBM in San Diego, California. Two planes were scheduled to leave San Diego, which would carry McEntire's band. McEntire, her husband, and her stylist were to take a different aircraft the next day. In the early hours of March 16, 1991, McEntire was awakened by a phone call from Roger Woolsey, pilot of the second plane. McEntire's husband took the call and discovered that one of the planes had crashed. Following the successful takeoff of both planes, one plane's wing hit the side of Otay Mountain in San Diego, killing everyone on board.
In total, eight members of her band were killed: guitarists Chris Austin and Michael Thomas, keyboardists Kirk Cappello and Joey Cigainero, vocalist Paula Kaye Evans, road manager Jim Hammon, bassist Terry Jackson, and drummer Anthony Saputo. In addition, pilot Donald Holmes and co-pilot Chris Hollinger were also killed. The first plane was a Hawker Siddeley DH-125-1A/522 charter jet that took off at 1:40 am from Brown Field Municipal Airport, located near the Mexico–United States border. After reaching an altitude of 3,400 feet (1,040 m) above sea level, the aircraft crashed on the side of Otay Mountain, located 10 miles (16 km) east of the airport. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the probable cause of the accident was related to "improper pilot planning".
Meanwhile, the second plane carrying the rest of her band made it successfully to an airport in Nashville. McEntire, her husband, and hair stylist returned on their own plane following the accident. "By the time that long, terrible weekend was over, we were emotionally and physically exhausted," McEntire stated in her autobiography. The news was reported nearly immediately to McEntire and her husband, who were sleeping at a nearby hotel. A spokeswoman for McEntire made a statement to The Los Angeles Times on her behalf: "She was very close to all of them. Some of them had been with her for years. Reba is totally devastated by this. It's like losing part of your family. Right now, she just wants to get back to Nashville." Two days after the crash, McEntire conducted an interview with People and scheduled a memorial service for the families of the victims. Nine days following the accident, McEntire performed at the 63rd Academy Awards ceremony, singing the Best Original Song nominee "I'm Checkin' Out" from the film Postcards from the Edge. In addition, Vince Gill and Dolly Parton offered their help in reorganizing her touring band.
McEntire dedicated her 16th album, For My Broken Heart, to the deceased members of her road band. Released in October 1991, it contained songs of sorrow and lost love about "all measure of suffering", according to Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly. Nash reported that McEntire "still hits her stride with the more traditional songs of emotional turmoil, above all combining a spectacular vocal performance with a terrific song on 'Buying Her Roses', a wife's head-spinning discovery of her husband's other woman." The disc peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. It also became her highest-charting release on the Billboard 200 yet, peaking at number 13. It later sold over four million copies in the United States, becoming her best-selling album to date. Its title track and "Is There Life Out There" both became number one Billboard country singles. In addition, "The Greatest Man I Never Knew" and McEntire's cover of "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" both became major country hits.
1992–2002: Continued country success
In December 1992, McEntire's 17th album It's Your Call was released. A sign of her increased mainstream success, the album was her first to reach the top 10 of the Billboard 200. It spawned the country hits "Take It Back", the title track and a number one duet with Vince Gill called "The Heart Won't Lie". Critic Brian Mansfield compared the disc to For My Broken Heart, concluding that "only casual or partial listeners will be moved as much." Christopher John Farley of Time wrote that the album ranged from being "relaxing" to "cathartic", and "these vocals from one of the best country singers linger in the mind". For her next release, McEntire collaborated with up-and-coming artist Linda Davis on the single "Does He Love You". MCA Records encouraged McEntire to record the track with more established acts like Wynonna Judd or Trisha Yearwood, but ultimately finalized the track with Davis. It became her 18th number-one hit on the Country Songs chart and her 16th topper on the Canadian country chart. It was later included on her 1993 compilation Greatest Hits Volume Two. Later that year, Davis and McEntire performed the duet at the CMA Awards. For her performance, McEntire wore a red dress with a plunging neckline that created controversy among the Nashville community.
Her 18th studio release was 1994's Read My Mind. The disc reached number two on both the Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums chart. The disc later reached sales of three million copies in the United States and certified three times platinum from the RIAA. Five major hits came from the release, including "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", "Till You Love Me" and a song about a woman contracting AIDS called "She Thinks His Name Was John". The last recording only reached a top-20 charting position due to its controversial lyrics. McEntire's 19th studio album, Starting Over (1995) is a collection of her favorite songs originally recorded by others. The album was made to commemorate McEntire's 20 years in the music industry. The album received a less favorable response from critics than that of her previous releases. While the project spawned three charting singles, only McEntire's cover of "Ring on Her Finger, Time on Her Hands" became a top-10 country song. Starting Over was certified platinum by the RIAA within the first two months of its release.
McEntire's next album release What If It's You was issued by MCA in November 1996. The record was a return to a contemporary country sound. It debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200 and eventually topped the Billboard country albums list. It received a more favorable response from radio programmers than that of her 1995 album and received greater promotion. Critic Thom Owens noted that the project "[didn't] offer any new tricks from Reba McEntire, but it is nevertheless an excellent reminder of her deep talents as a vocalist." Its first single, "The Fear of Being Alone" became a top-five hit, while "How Was I to Know" reached the number-one spot on the Billboard country songs survey.
McEntire began touring with country duo Brooks & Dunn during the mid 1990s. Their touring collaborating led to the recording of a duet titled "If You See Him/If You See Her" in 1998. The track topped both the Billboard country songs chart and the Canadian RPM country chart. Their initial collaborations would lead to several more professional endeavors over the years, including a joint Las Vegas residency. The duet was included on McEntire's If You See Him album and Brooks & Dunn's If You See Her album, both of which were released in June 1998. Thom Owens found that both album titles were named nearly the same as "a way to draw attention for both parties, since they were no longer new guns—they were veterans in danger of losing ground to younger musicians". If You See Him produced three more top-10 country hits, including "Forever Love" and "One Honest Heart".
In 1999, McEntire released two albums. In September she issued her second Christmas album, The Secret of Giving: A Christmas Collection. In November, her 22nd studio album, So Good Together was released. Entertainment Weekly commented that most of the album's material was "an odd set—mostly ballads, including an English/Portuguese duet with Jose e Durval on Boz Scaggs' 'We're All Alone'". It featured the top-five country songs "What Do You Say" and "I'll Be". McEntire focused on an acting career in the early 2000s and took a temporary musical hiatus. One exception was 2001's "I'm a Survivor". The single became a top-five country hit and the theme song to McEntire's 2001 television series.
2003–2015: Country music comeback, record label switch, and continued music success
McEntire returned to her recording career in August 2003 with the release of the MCA single "I'm Gonna Take That Mountain". The song was included on her first studio album in four years titled Room to Breathe (November 2003). "The reason I named the album Room to Breathe is because I needed a little room to breathe," McEntire told Billboard. The 12-track disc was produced by Buddy Cannon and Norro Wilson. It also featured a guest appearance from Vince Gill. Room to Breathe debuted at number four on the Billboard country chart and later certified platinum in the United States. It spawned McEntire's first number-one song in six years titled "Somebody". Also featured was the top-10 single "He Gets That from Me". In 2004, she embarked on her first tour in several years, also titled Room to Breathe, which included 36 cities in the United States. In 2005, MCA released the double-disc compilation titled Reba #1's while she was between albums.
In September 2007, McEntire's next studio disc was released titled Reba: Duets. The album was a collection of duets with various music artists, including Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes, Trisha Yearwood, Carole King, and Justin Timberlake. Reba: Duets topped the Billboard country chart and the Billboard 200, becoming her first album in her career to reach the top of both lists. Reba: Duets was later certified platinum by the RIAA. The album was given high critical praise from magazines such as PopMatters, which compared McEntire to artists like Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. AllMusic's Thom Jurek gave it 3.5 stars, commenting that "it's full of good to great songs delivered in mostly interesting ways." The first single was a duet version of Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You", which reached number two on the American country chart and topped the Canadian country songs chart.
In 2008, McEntire announced that she would be departing her label of 25 years and signing with the Valory Music Group, an imprint of Big Machine Records. The switch to Valory reunited McEntire with the label's president, Scott Borchetta, with whom she had worked previously. Her first Valory single was 2009's "Strange". The song debuted at number 39 Billboard country songs chart, giving McEntire the highest single debut of her career and peaked at number 11. Her 26th studio album, Keep on Loving You, was released in August 2009 and also topped both the Billboard Country and 200 charts. In 2009, "Consider Me Gone" (spawned as the record's second single) became her 24th number-one on the Billboard chart in December. At age 54, McEntire became one of the oldest women to have a number-one single on the country songs chart.
McEntire's 29th studio album, All the Women I Am, was released in November 2010. Steve Morse of The Boston Globe called the project "one of her best efforts", while Thom Jurek at AllMusic only gave it a 2.5 star rating, calling it "awkward" and lacking a "center". "Turn On the Radio" was issued as the lead single prior to the album, eventually becoming her twenty-fourth number one on the Billboard country survey. Three additional charting singles were spawned from All the Women I Am that peaked outside the top 20. Her All the Women I Am Tour followed shortly after featuring country acts the Band Perry, Steel Magnolia, and Edens Edge.
In 2014, McEntire moved to Big Machine's new imprint for veteran artists titled Nash Icon Music. Her first Nash Icon single was 2015's "Going Out Like That", which reached the top 25 of the Billboard country songs chart. It was included on her 2015 Nash Icon album Love Somebody. The album topped the country albums chart and charted the top five of the Billboard 200. In 2016, McEntire released a third Christmas-themed studio album called My Kind of Christmas. The album was exclusively sold at Cracker Barrel and online. She also announced she would soon be selling her own line of clothing, home decor, jewelry, and other things under the "Rockin' R by Reba" line, also at Cracker Barrel.
2017–present: New beginnings in her 60s
After her split from ex-husband Narvel Blackstock, McEntire took control of her career as her own manager. She recruited Justin McIntosh of Starstruck Entertainment, Leslie Matthews serving as brand manager, and Carolyn Snell who has been with McEntire for nine years. They formed Reba's Business Inc. (RBI). She moved out of the building where Blackstock and she had worked, and moved her company to Green Hills, Nashville.
On December 15, 2016, McEntire announced that she was releasing her first gospel album titled Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope. It was released by Nash Icon/Rockin' R Records on February 3, 2017, and consists of two discs. Disc one contains traditional hymns, while disc two contains original tracks. "Softly and Tenderly", featuring Kelly Clarkson and Trisha Yearwood, was the first track off the album released. Another track on the album, "In the Garden/Wonderful Peace", features the Isaacs. Jay DeMarcus of the Rascal Flatts produced the album. The first single off the album is "Back to God". In January 2018, McEntire won the Grammy Award for Best Roots Gospel Album, her first nomination since 2007, and her first Grammy Award win in more than 20 years, since 1994. She also headlined the C2C: Country to Country festival in the UK alongside Brad Paisley and Zac Brown Band in March. Because of its limited release in 2016, on October 13, 2017 My Kind of Christmas was re-released - this time including songs with Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Darius Rucker, and Lauren Daigle - on her website and through iTunes. In July 2018, it was announced that McEntire would be one of four honorees for the 41st annual Kennedy Center Honors, along with Cher, Philip Glass, and Wayne Shorter. The ceremony was held December 2, 2018, and broadcast on CBS December 26, 2018.
McEntire released her 29th studio album Stronger Than the Truth on April 5, 2019. McEntire also returned to host the 54th Academy of Country Music Awards on April 8, 2019. On February 20, 2020, during a surprise appearance at the Country Radio Seminar, McEntire announced she had signed a new record deal with MCA Nashville, returning to the label after leaving in November 2008. McEntire hosted the 54th Annual Country Music Association Awards alongside Darius Rucker in November 2020. McEntire previously hosted in 2019 with Carrie Underwood and Dolly Parton, 1992 with Vince Gill, 1991 by herself (the second solo female host), and 1990 with Randy Travis. On October 3, 2022, Reba revealed that she would continue her Reba: Live in Concert tour going through 2023 and play New York City's Madison Square Garden for the first time. In 2021, a duet version of the song "Does He Love You" with Dolly Parton was released. In 2024, McEntire sang the national anthem during Super Bowl LVIII, and she was accompanied by deaf actor Daniel Durant in American Sign Language.
Acting career
1989–1999: Entry into film and television acting
In 1989, she obtained her first film role playing Heather Gummer in the horror comedy Tremors, along with Kevin Bacon. The film told the story of a small group of people, living in Nevada, who were fighting subterranean worm-like creatures. After the film's release in 1990, McEntire developed a strong interest in acting and made it her second career. The film earned McEntire a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 1991 Saturn Awards. The following year, she starred along with Kenny Rogers and Burt Reynolds in the made-for-television movies The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw and The Man From Left Field. In 1994, McEntire worked with director Rob Reiner in the film North, playing Ma Tex.
In 1994, McEntire starred in Is There Life Out There?, a television movie based on her song of the same name. The following year, she appeared in Buffalo Girls, which was based upon the life of western cowgirl Calamity Jane (played by Anjelica Huston). Playing Jane's friend Annie Oakley, Buffalo Girls was nominated for an Emmy award. In 1996, McEntire was cast by director James Cameron as Molly Brown in his film Titanic. However, when it became apparent production for the film would extend well beyond its original length, McEntire had to turn down the part, as she had already scheduled prior concert engagements. The role was recast with Kathy Bates. In 1998, she starred as Lizzie Brooks in Forever Love, which was based upon McEntire's hit single of the same name.
2000–2007: Broadway and television series
In early 2001, McEntire expanded into theater, starring in the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun. Playing Annie Oakley (whom she had previously portrayed in Buffalo Girls), her performance was critically acclaimed by several newspapers, including The New York Times, which commented, "Without qualification the best performance by an actress in a musical comedy this season." McEntire personally called the musical "some of the hardest work I've ever done in my life".
In 2005, McEntire starred as Nellie Forbush in the Carnegie Hall concert production of the Broadway musical South Pacific with Alec Baldwin as Luther Billis and Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile de Becque, directed by Walter Bobbie, and with an adapted script by David Ives. The concert was broadcast as part of the Great Performances series in 2006.
In October 2001, McEntire premiered her half-hour television sitcom Reba on The WB. The show was based around divorced mother Reba Hart, who learns how to handle life situations after her husband divorces her to marry his dental hygienist––with whom he had been cheating and gotten pregnant––and then their teenaged daughter becomes pregnant, as well. Reba garnered critical acclaim and success, becoming the network's highest-rated television show for adults ranging from the ages of 18 to 49. The show ran for six seasons and earned McEntire a nomination for a Golden Globe award. It was canceled on February 18, 2007; the series finale had 8.7 million viewers.
Since 2011: Brief television return and current projects
In September 2011, McEntire confirmed on her website that ABC had ordered a pilot for her second television series Malibu Country. McEntire played a divorced mother of two who moves to Malibu, California, to restart her music career. The pilot was filmed in April 2012 and began production on its first season in August. The pilot for Malibu Country was to premiere November 2, 2012. The show was broadcast Friday nights at 8:30/7:30c on ABC. On May 11, 2012, McEntire tweeted that the show had been picked up. She also was the host in the 2011 NASCAR Award Show in Las Vegas.
Despite reports that Malibu Country was the most-watched freshman comedy in its debut season (8.7 million), the show was canceled on May 10, 2013, after 18 episodes.
In 2016, McEntire was a guest panelist during season 11 of America's Got Talent. During one of the Judge Cuts, McEntire gave the Golden Buzzer to contortionist Sofie Dossi.
In January 2017, it was announced that McEntire would star and produce a Southern drama series for ABC titled Red Blooded. In May, ABC announced it ultimately had turned down the show, so it moved to being shopped around to other networks. In January 2018, Reba was chosen to portray KFC's first female Colonel Sanders. The commercials ran through the end of April 2018.
In 2020, McEntire launched a podcast titled Living and Learning hosted by her former Reba co-star Melissa Peterman and herself.
She made a cameo appearance in the 2021 comedy film Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar as a water spirit named Trish, after Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, who wrote, produced, and starred in the film, wrote her an "impassioned letter" asking her to join the film. Director Josh Greenbaum said in an interview, "There's some casting that just clicks. Reba is not only 100% authentic, we knew she would be game."
In May 2022, ABC announced that McEntire will be joining the cast of the drama Big Sky, playing local businesswoman Sunny Barnes in season three.
McEntire starred in Reba McEntire's The Hammer on Lifetime in 2023. The country star reunited with her Reba sitcom co-star Melissa Peterman in the film inspired by the life of traveling Nevada circuit judge Kim Wheeler. The film also stars McEntire's boyfriend Rex Linn as Bart Crawford, a mysterious cowboy with unknown motives, and Kay Shioma Metchie as Vicky, the tough-talking bailiff who serves as Kim's right hand and trusted friend.
In May 2023, it was announced that McEntire would be a coach on The Voice, replacing Blake Shelton. She served as a coach from its 24th season to its 26th season. On May 21, 2024, Asher HaVon, a member of Reba's team, won the 25th season, making McEntire the winning coach on her second season. In May 2025, it was announced that McEntire would return to The Voice after a one season-hiatus for the 28th season, which premieres in late 2025.
On September 20, 2023, McEntire reunited with Sofie Dossi, where they collaborated during a result show on season 18 of America's Got Talent, when McEntire sang "Can't Even Get the Blues", while Dossi did her contortion, hand-balancing, and aerial performances.
In January 2024, McEntire was creating a new comedy for NBC, later announced to be titled Happy's Place and co-starring Melissa Peterman.
Musical styles and legacy
McEntire's sound has been influenced by the country music of Bob Wills, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell, and Patsy Cline. In college, McEntire attended local dances at the Oklahoma–Texas border, so she could dance to Wills's music, commenting that, "it didn't get any better than dancing to Bob Wills music". She also explained Merle Haggard's influence on her career, stating, "I had every album he ever put out", and would sing "every song he did", along with her brother, Pake and sister, Susie. In addition, her first major hit, "Sweet Dreams", was a remake of Patsy Cline's version of the song, according to McEntire herself.
McEntire's music has been described not only to be built upon traditional country music, but also expand into the genres of country pop, mainstream pop, soul, and rhythm and blues. At times, her music has been criticized for moving away from traditional country music. Many music critics have called her music to be "melodramatic", "formulaic", and "bombastic", particularly after her 1988 album Reba. Studio releases such as Sweet Sixteen, Rumor Has It, It's Your Call, and Starting Over have been described by these terms.
McEntire possesses a contralto vocal range and performs "vocal gymnastics" with her voice, a musical technique in which a singer twirls a note around, using their vibrato. McEntire has credited Dolly Parton for influencing this trait, stating that she always listened to Parton's records and find her style of vocal gymnastics "so pretty".
McEntire has often been regarded as one of country music's most influential female vocalists and most beloved entertainers. She is highly credited for remaining one of country's most popular female artists for nearly four decades, maintaining her success by continually incorporating contemporary musical sounds without changing her traditional vocal style. For numerous artists, she has been credited as an inspiration to their careers in music. The Net Music Countdown second-handedly reported, "That influence has manifested itself in many ways. As a role model, she's shown others how to handle fame with grace and good humor while never backing down from her values or goals. Just as importantly, she's shown others to refuse to accept limitations on what she can do or how much she can achieve." McEntire also explained to the online website, "Whatever I'm doing, I feel like I'm representing country music". "It's always been my main career, and it's where my loyalties lie. I feel like I'm waving the flag of country music wherever I go, and I couldn't be prouder to do it."
Personal life
McEntire is a Christian, and she has stated that her faith in God has helped her immensely throughout her life.
Two of her siblings have also had careers in the music industry. Her brother Pake dabbled in the country music industry in the late 1980s, but returned to Oklahoma after a brief stint. He owns and operates a 1,000-acre (400 ha) ranch near Coalgate, Oklahoma, and continues to rodeo. Her sister Susie McEntire-Eaton (Martha Susan "Susie" McEntire-Eaton, formerly Luchsinger) is a successful Christian music singer, who travels the country with her husband, speaking and performing. She also has an older sister, Alice Foran, a retired social worker who resides in Lane, Oklahoma. Her niece Calamity McEntire is the associate head coach for the University of Illinois women's basketball team.
Relationships and family
In 1976, McEntire married steer wrestling champion and rancher Charlie Battles, who was 10 years her senior and had two sons from his previous marriage. The couple shared a ranch in Oklahoma. In 1987, McEntire divorced Battles and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to further pursue her career.
In 1989, McEntire married her manager and former steel guitar player Narvel Blackstock. The couple wed at Lake Tahoe on a boat in a private ceremony. Together, the pair took over all aspects of McEntire's career, forming Starstruck Entertainment, which was originally designed to help manage her career. From her marriage to Blackstock, McEntire gained three stepchildren, Chassidy, Shawna, and Brandon. She gave birth to a son, Shelby Steven McEntire Blackstock, in February 1990. On August 3, 2015, a joint statement on McEntire's website announced that Blackstock and she had been separated for a few months after 26 years of marriage. McEntire announced in December 2015 that their divorce had been finalized on October 28, 2015. Despite the divorce, McEntire remains very close to her three stepchildren and the Blackstock family; she considers her stepchildren's children to be her grandchildren.
McEntire's stepson Brandon Blackstock married singer Kelly Clarkson, with whom he has a daughter and a son. Speaking about their impending marriage in 2013, McEntire stated she was "Thrilled to death, to have my buddy as my daughter-in-law. I mean, who could ask for more?" Blackstock and Clarkson's divorce was finalized in March 2022. He died of melanoma on August 7, 2025, at the age of 48.
In 2017, McEntire began a relationship with photographer Anthony "Skeeter" Lasuzzo. The couple met through McEntire's association with Kix Brooks. In describing her feelings about Lasuzzo, she stated in April 2019, "We're totally in love — absolutely," she says. "I wouldn't put up with somebody for two years if I wasn't in love with 'em!" McEntire and Lasuzzo separated six months later.
In 2020, McEntire began dating film and TV actor Rex Linn. They first met on the set of The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991) and reconnected almost 30 years later when McEntire guest-starred as June on Young Sheldon, where Linn has a recurring role as principal of Sheldon's high school. In an interview prior to the 2025 Emmy Awards ceremony, McEntire and Linn announced their engagement.
Philanthropy
In 1992, she opened Reba's Ranch House in Denison, Texas, an extended-stay residence for relatives of patients undergoing treatment at Texoma Medical Center or other nearby facilities.
Over the course of her career, she has been and continues to be an active supporter of various charitable organizations, including Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, Feeding America, and Celebrity Fight Night. She has been honored with the Minnie Pearl Award, the ACM Home Depot Humanitarian Award, and the Andrea Bocelli Foundation Humanitarian Award for her efforts. In 2018, she was honored with the Horatio Alger Award for Education, Charity Work. Named after the "rags to riches" writer, the award recognizes perseverance and giving back.
Accolades
McEntire has the second-most wins for the Academy of Country Music's Top Female Vocalist Awards with seven. McEntire holds the record American Music Awards for Favorite Country Female Artist (12). She also holds the distinction of being the first to win the Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year Award four times consecutively. Martina McBride won Female Vocalist four times, although not consecutively. In 2013, Miranda Lambert tied McEntire to win Female Vocalist four years in a row and in 2016 Carrie Underwood joined this elite club by winning her fourth Female Vocalist award. McEntire is also a rare musical artist to achieve solo number-ones across four decades (1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s). She holds the record for second-most CMA Award nominations for a female artist, with 51. McEntire has the second-most ACM Awards nominations for a female artist with 47, respectively. She is also the recipient of three Grammy Awards, winning in 1987, 1994 and 2018. In December 2018, McEntire received the Kennedy Center Honor.
When Reba McEntire made her Grand Ole Opry debut on September 17, 1977, she almost did not make it in the door after a guard at the Opry gate missed her name on the night's list of performers. Her parents and older sister, Alice, drove 1,400 miles round trip from their Oklahoma home to see what turned out to be Reba's three-minute performance that night. Her act was cut from two songs to just one—"Invitation to the Blues"—because of a surprise appearance by Dolly Parton. McEntire was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on January 17, 1986. "The Grand Ole Opry is a home," she says. "It's a family. It's like a family reunion, when you come back and get to see everybody."
In 2011, the Country Music Association announced that McEntire would be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. McEntire was unable to attend the announcement after her father had slipped into a coma following a stroke. McEntire attended the official induction ceremony alongside the other 2011 inductees Jean Shepard and Bobby Braddock. She was inducted by Dolly Parton.
Discography
Studio albums
Tours
Headlining tours
Co-headlining tours
Brooks & Dunn and Reba: The Tour (with Brooks & Dunn) (1997–98)
Girls Night Out (with Martina McBride) (2001)
2 Hats and a Redhead (with Brad Paisley and Terri Clark) (2005)
2 Worlds 2 Voices Tour (with Kelly Clarkson) (2008)
Reba and George Strait on Tour (with George Strait) (2010-11)
Residency shows
Key to the Heart (2006-07)
Together in Vegas (with Brooks & Dunn) (2015-2021)
Opening act
Grand Tour* (for George Jones) (1981)
The Statler Brothers in Concert (for the Statler Brothers) (1983-84)
Filmography
Publications
McEntire, Reba (May 1, 1994). Reba: My Story. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0553096071.
McEntire, Reba (April 13, 1999). Comfort from a Country Quilt: Finding New Inspiration and Strength from Old-Fashioned Values. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-10794-4.
McEntire, Reba (October 10, 2023). Not That Fancy: Simple Lessons on Living, Loving, Eating, and Dusting Off Your Boots. New York: Harper Celebrate. ISBN 978-1400238255.
See also
List of best-selling music artists in the United States
References
Footnotes
Books
External links
Official website
Reba McEntire at IMDb
Reba McEntire Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Profile on Country Music Television
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Justin Timberlake
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Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Prince of Pop", he is an influential figure in popular music. Timberlake is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of 88 million records worldwide.
Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Timberlake appeared on musical television shows as a child, competing on Star Search; in the early to mid-1990s, he was a cast member on the Disney Channel's The All New Mickey Mouse Club, where he performed cover songs, skits, and choreography. On the show, Timberlake met and worked with future bandmate JC Chasez, and the two later rose to prominence as the lead vocalists of the pop boy band NSYNC. The group released four commercially successful studio albums, becoming one of the best-selling boy bands of all time with sales of over 70 million units worldwide.
Timberlake established himself as a solo artist with his first two albums, Justified (2002) and FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006), both of which sold over 10 million copies and received triple platinum certification by the RIAA, with the latter becoming his first US Billboard 200 chart number-one album. He further topped the chart on three more occasions, with The 20/20 Experience, The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 (both 2013) and Man of the Woods (2018). The 20/20 Experience became the best-selling album of the year. Throughout his career, Timberlake scored numerous high-charting US Billboard Hot 100 singles, including "Cry Me a River", "Rock Your Body", "SexyBack", "My Love", "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows", "What Goes Around... Comes Around", "Give It to Me", "4 Minutes", "Pusher Love Girl", "Suit & Tie", "Mirrors" and "Can't Stop the Feeling!", which earned him an Academy Award nomination.
Timberlake enhanced his popularity with an acting career. He landed starring roles in the films The Love Guru (2008), The Social Network (2010), Bad Teacher (2011), Friends with Benefits (2011), In Time (2011), Wonder Wheel (2017) and Palmer (2021). He also voiced Artie in Shrek the Third (2007), Boo-Boo Bear in Yogi Bear (2010) and Branch in the Trolls franchise since 2016. Billboard named him one of the greatest pop stars of the 21st century. His awards include ten Grammy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, three Brit Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, the Contemporary Icon Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and MTV's Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. He has frequently collaborated with producers such as The Neptunes and Timbaland, who are best known for boosting Timberlake's solo career.
Early life
Justin Randall Timberlake was born on January 31, 1981, in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Janet Lynn (Bomar) Harless and Charles Randall Timberlake, a Baptist church choir director. Timberlake has two half-brothers, Jonathan and Stephen, from Charles' second marriage to Lisa Perry. His half-sister Laura Katherine died shortly after birth in 1997, and is mentioned in his acknowledgments in the album NSYNC as "My Angel in Heaven".
His family circle includes several musicians; his grandfather introduced him to music from country music artists like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Performing as a child, Timberlake sang country and gospel music: at the age of 11, he appeared on the television show Star Search, performing country songs as "Justin Randall". By that time, he began listening to rhythm and blues musicians from the 1960s and 70s, such as Al Green, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, and he had listening sessions with his father of studio albums by the Eagles and Bob Seger.
From 1993 to 1995, he was a Mouseketeer on The All New Mickey Mouse Club, where his castmates included future girlfriend and singer Britney Spears, future tourmate Christina Aguilera, future bandmate JC Chasez, and future actors Ryan Gosling and Keri Russell. In 1995 Timberlake recruited Chasez to be in an all-male singing group, put together by Chris Kirkpatrick and financed by boy band manager Lou Pearlman, that eventually became NSYNC.
Career
1995–2002: NSYNC
The boy band NSYNC formed in 1995, and they began recording and performing in 1996 in Europe; Timberlake and Chasez served as its two lead singers. In 1998, the group rose to prominence in the United States with the release of their self-titled debut studio album, which sold 11 million copies and includes the single "Tearin' Up My Heart". The group had a series of legal battles with former manager Lou Pearlman, and they subsequently signed with Jive Records. They released their third studio album No Strings Attached (2000) which sold 2.4 million copies in the first week, becoming the fastest-selling album of all time. They held this record until 2015 when Adele surpassed the record with her third album 25. No Strings Attached also includes the number one single "It's Gonna Be Me", "Bye Bye Bye", and "This I Promise You". NSYNC's fourth studio album Celebrity (2001) was also financially successful, selling 1.8 million copies in the first week and spawning top-five singles such as "Girlfriend". Upon the completion of the Celebrity Tour, the group went on an indefinite hiatus in 2002. NSYNC performed at the Academy Awards in 2000, the 2002 Winter Olympics, and the Super Bowl XXXV halftime show. The band sold more than 70 million records worldwide, becoming the fifth-best selling boy band in history.
In 2000, Timberlake appeared in The Wonderful World of Disney movie Model Behavior. He played Jason Sharpe, a model who falls in love with a waitress after mistaking her for another model.
The rise of his own stardom and the general decline in the popularity of boy bands led to the dissolution of NSYNC. Band member Lance Bass was openly critical of Timberlake's actions in his memoir Out of Sync. By 2002, when the group went on an indefinite hiatus and members were doing individual projects, he partnered with Pharrell Williams of the producing team The Neptunes–and Timbaland to start working on new music. The idea of going solo was strengthened a year earlier. Timberlake originally wrote the single "Gone" around 2001 for Michael Jackson, but he turned the song down, and it was instead recorded by NSYNC. Before its release, however, Jackson contacted him. Timberlake declared in a later interview that the first time he felt confident to go solo happened after that conversation. In a retrospective article in 2020, Billboard considered Celebrity "the group's swan song, setting the stage for Timberlake's equally massive solo career".
2002–2004: Justified and Super Bowl XXXVIII controversy
In August 2002, Timberlake performed at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, where he premiered his debut solo single "Like I Love You"; it peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK Singles Chart. His debut solo studio album Justified was released in November and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 439,000 copies, fewer than previous 'N Sync releases. It sold over three million copies in the U.S. and more than ten million copies worldwide. Its R&B influence, provided by hip-hop producers The Neptunes and Timbaland, was complimented by music critics. About the musical direction of the record, he commented, "I just want to do R&B. It's what I grew up listening to". The album spawned the top-five singles "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body".
In summer 2003, Timberlake and Christina Aguilera co-headlined The Justified & Stripped Tour. Later that year he recorded a song "I'm Lovin' It", used by McDonald's as the theme to its "I'm Lovin' It" campaign. The deal with McDonald's earned Timberlake an estimated $6 million. A tour titled Justified and Lovin' It Live was included with the deal, following his initial Justified World Tour. Timberlake was featured on Nelly's song, "Work It", which was remixed and included on Nelly's 2003 remix album.
Near the end of 2002, Timberlake was the first celebrity to appear on Punk'd, a "candid camera" type show created by Ashton Kutcher to trick celebrities. Timberlake, who cried during the episode, later admitted to being under the influence of cannabis when he was pranked. Three episodes later, he set up Kelly Osbourne to be "punk'd", thus making him the first celebrity to appear on the show more than once. Timberlake later spoofed Ashton Kutcher and Punk'd in a 2003 episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live. Timberlake co-starred in a skit titled The Barry Gibb Talk Show alongside comedian Jimmy Fallon, where the duo portrayed Bee Gees brothers Barry and Robin Gibb. It marked the beginning of a long-running friendship and collaboration with Fallon.
In February 2004, during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show, broadcast on the CBS television network from Houston, Timberlake performed with Janet Jackson before a television audience of more than 140 million viewers. At the end of the performance, as the song drew to a close, Timberlake tore off a part of Jackson's black leather costume in a "costume reveal" meant to accompany a portion of the song lyrics. Jackson's representative explained Timberlake intended "to pull away the rubber bustier to reveal a red lace bra. Part of the costume detached, and Jackson's breast was briefly exposed. Timberlake apologized for the incident, stating he was "sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl..." The phrase "wardrobe malfunction" has since been used by the media to refer to the incident and has entered pop culture. Timberlake and Jackson were threatened with exclusion from the 2004 Grammy Awards unless they agreed to apologize on screen at the event. Timberlake attended and issued a scripted apology when accepting the first of two Grammy Awards he received that night (Best Pop Vocal Album for Justified and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Cry Me a River"). He had also been nominated for Album of the Year for Justified, and Record of the Year along with Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Where Is the Love?" with The Black Eyed Peas.
2004–2007: Films and FutureSex/LoveSounds
After the Super Bowl incident, Timberlake put his recording career on hold to act in several films, having starred in a few feature films earlier in his career. The first role he took during this time was as a journalist in Edison Force, filmed in 2004 and received a direct-to-video release on July 18, 2006. He also appeared in the films Alpha Dog, Black Snake Moan, Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, and voiced Prince Artie Pendragon in the animated film Shrek the Third, released on May 18, 2007. He also appeared as a young Elton John, in the video for John's song "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore". Timberlake was considered to play the role of Roger Davis in the film version of the rock musical Rent, but director Chris Columbus had insisted that only the original Broadway members could convey the true meaning of Rent, so the role was reprised by Adam Pascal.
He continued to record with other artists. After "Where Is the Love?", he again collaborated with the Black Eyed Peas on the 2005 track "My Style" from their album Monkey Business. When recording the 2005 single "Signs" with Snoop Dogg, Timberlake discovered a throat condition. Nodules were subsequently removed from his throat in an operation that took place on May 5, 2005. He was advised not to sing or speak loudly for at least a few months. In 2005, he began his own record company, JayTee records.
Timberlake released his second studio album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, on September 12, 2006. The album, which Timberlake created from 2005 to 2006, debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 684,000 copies its first week. It became the biggest album for pre-orders on iTunes, and beat Coldplay's record for the biggest one-week sales of a digital album. The album was produced by Timbaland and Danja (who produced a bulk of the album), will.i.am, Rick Rubin and Timberlake himself, and features guest vocals by Snoop Dogg, Three 6 Mafia, T.I. and will.i.am. A studio representative described it as being "all about sexiness" and aiming for "an adult feel".
The album's lead single, "SexyBack", was performed by Timberlake at the opening of the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards and reached number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for seven consecutive weeks. "My Love", the album's second single, also produced by Timbaland and featuring rapper T.I., reached number-one on the Hot 100, as did third single "What Goes Around... Comes Around". The song is reported to have been inspired by the break-up of his childhood friend and business partner, Trace Ayala, with actress Elisha Cuthbert. In October 2006, Timberlake said that he would focus on his music career rather than his film roles, specifying that leaving the music industry would be a "dumb thing to do at this point". He was the special guest performer at the 2006 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show where he sang "SexyBack", "My Love" and "LoveStoned".
Timberlake hosted many music events, including the European MTV Music Awards in 2006. On December 16, 2006, Timberlake hosted Saturday Night Live, doing double duty as both host and musical guest for the second time. During this appearance, he and Andy Samberg performed an R&B song for a skit titled "Dick in a Box", which some radio stations aired as an unofficial single from Timberlake. Called "one of the most iconic musical moments in the show's history" by Billboard, it became a viral hit and one of the most viewed videos on YouTube at the time. Rolling Stone listed the skit at number three on their "50 Greatest 'Saturday Night Live' Sketches of All Time". The song earned him an Emmy Award and was later featured on The Lonely Island's debut album Incredibad.
In January 2007, Timberlake embarked on the FutureSex/LoveShow tour. Following singles off the album, "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows (Interlude)" and "Until the End of Time", peaked within the top 20 on the Hot 100, while the fourth single "Summer Love" reached the top 10. The song "Give It to Me", a Timbaland single on which Timberlake guests with Nelly Furtado, reached the Hot 100 number-one spot. Eventually, FutureSex/LoveSounds was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's musical library and archive.
2008–2012: Musical hiatus and focus on acting
The song "4 Minutes" was first played by Timbaland at Philadelphia's Jingle Ball on December 17, 2007. When released on March 17, 2008, "4 Minutes" was revealed to be a duet between Timberlake and Madonna, with backing vocals by Timbaland. It was the lead single from Madonna's eleventh studio album Hard Candy, which featured four other song-writing collaborations with Timberlake, being also one of the executive producers. The single was an international hit, topping the charts in over 21 countries worldwide. Timberlake also appears in the music video, which was directed by Jonas & François. On March 30, 2008, Timberlake performed the song at Madonna's Hard Candy Promo Show at Roseland Ballroom in New York City. On November 6, 2008, Timberlake performed the song with Madonna on the Los Angeles stop of her Sticky & Sweet Tour.
In June 2007, Timberlake co-wrote, produced and provided vocals for the songs "Nite Runner" and "Falling Down" for Duran Duran's album Red Carpet Massacre, released on November 13, 2007. "Falling Down" was released as a single in the UK on the previous day. Also in 2007, Timberlake made an appearance on 50 Cent's third album Curtis. Timberlake, along with Timbaland, is featured on a track called "Ayo Technology", which was the album's fourth single. Also, another possible collaboration was to occur with Lil Wayne for his album Tha Carter III with Nelly Furtado and Timbaland. With the wrapping up of the FutureSex/LoveSounds tour of Australasia and the Middle East in November 2007, Timberlake resumed his film career. Projects underway early in 2008 were starring roles in Mike Myers' comedy The Love Guru (released June 20, 2008) and Mike Meredith's drama The Open Road (released August 28, 2009). In March 2008, it was announced that he would be an executive producer in an American adaptation of the hit Peruvian comedy My Problem with Women for NBC. On November 20, 2008, TV Guide reported that Timberlake's next single, "Follow My Lead", which also featured vocals by Timberlake's protégée, former YouTube star Esmée Denters, would be available for exclusive download through Myspace. All proceeds would go to Shriners Hospitals for Children, a charity dedicated to improving pediatric care for sick children. In February 2008, Timberlake was awarded two Grammy Awards. At the 50th Grammy Awards ceremony, he won the Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "What Goes Around...Comes Around", and the Award for Best Dance Recording for "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows".
In 2008, a collaboration between Timberlake and T.I., "Dead and Gone", was featured on T.I.'s sixth studio album, Paper Trail, and was released as its fourth single late in 2009. In November 2008, it was confirmed that Timberlake would make a guest appearance and produce some tracks on R&B/pop singer Ciara's upcoming album Fantasy Ride due out May 5, 2009. Timberlake featured on Ciara's second single "Love Sex Magic", the video being shot on February 20, 2009. The single became a worldwide hit, reaching the top ten in numerous countries and peaking at number-one in several countries including Taiwan, India, and Turkey. The song was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Timberlake hosted the 16th ESPY Awards, and the musical number "I Love Sports" was later nominated for an Emmy award. Timberlake and his production team The Y's, along with Mike Elizondo, produced and co-wrote the song "Don't Let Me Down" for Leona Lewis's second studio album, Echo, released on November 17, 2009. Timberlake also co-wrote and performed on "Carry Out", the third single from Timbaland's album Shock Value II, released on December 1, 2009. Timberlake appeared on Jimmy Fallon's debut as host of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on March 2, 2009. Timberlake was the executive producer on the MTV reality series The Phone, which premiered on April 21, 2009. In late 2009, Barbadian singer Rihanna released the album Rated R, with Timberlake being one of the writers and producers. They both worked together previously for her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad.
From 2010, Timberlake increased his acting work. He played Sean Parker, the founder of Napster, in the acclaimed film The Social Network (2010). He also appeared at the 2010 MTV VMAs on September 12, 2010. In 2011, he starred alongside Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher and alongside Mila Kunis in Friends with Benefits, and played Will Salas, the protagonist of In Time, a science fiction film by Andrew Niccol. He provided a feature and appeared in the music video for the song "Motherlover" from The Lonely Island's second album Turtleneck & Chain, and directed and made a cameo in the FreeSol music video "Hoodies On, Hats Low", which was released in August 2011. The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon sketch "History of Rap" was performed for the first time by both Fallon and Timberlake in 2010. In July 2011, United States Marine Kelsey De Santis uploaded a YouTube video asking Timberlake to be her date to the United States Marine Corps birthday ball; they attended the event on November 13, 2011, in Richmond, Virginia. His fifth Saturday Night Live episode, as host and musical guest, was the most-watched episode in 14 months, with Charles Barkley as host and Kelly Clarkson as musical guest.
2013–2017: The 20/20 Experience, 2 of 2, and Trolls
Timberlake began working on his third studio album The 20/20 Experience in June 2012 with "no rules and/or end goal in mind". He publicly announced his return to the music industry in January 2013, releasing the album's lead single "Suit & Tie" featuring Jay-Z later that month, which would eventually peak at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. After four years not performing in concert, Timberlake appeared the night before the 2013 Super Bowl and performed during the "DirecTV Super Saturday Night" on February 2, 2013, in New Orleans. On February 10, 2013, he performed "Suit & Tie" with sepia-toned lighting at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, with Jay-Z joining him from the audience. On February 11, 2013, "Mirrors" was released as the second single from The 20/20 Experience. The song would eventually peak at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number-one on the UK Singles Chart. The 20/20 Experience was released on March 19, 2013 through RCA Records due to the disbandment of Jive Records. The album set a digital sales record for being the fastest-selling album on the iTunes Store and debuted at number-one on the charts by moving just over 968,000 copies in the U.S., the biggest sales week of 2013. It eventually became the best-selling album of the year in the country.
Timberlake performed at the "In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul" concert, held in the East Room of the White House and hosted by President Barack Obama, celebrating Memphis soul music from the 1960s. Afterward, Timberlake officially announced The 20/20 Experience World Tour, following his and Jay-Z's co-headlining concert tour Legends of the Summer Stadium Tour. Timberlake also appeared on Jay-Z's twelfth studio album Magna Carta... Holy Grail on three songs: "Holy Grail", "BBC" (along with Nas, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, Niigo & Beyoncé), and "Heaven". On August 25, 2013, Timberlake received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. He also took home three competitive awards, including Video of the Year for "Mirrors". During his performance, Timberlake briefly reunited with his fellow former NSYNC bandmates for a medley of their hit songs "Girlfriend" and "Bye Bye Bye".
Timberlake's fourth studio album The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 was released on September 30, 2013 and debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200. Its lead single "Take Back the Night" was released on July 12, 2013, following by the second single "TKO". Timberlake was given a production and writing credit on track six on Beyoncé's self-titled fifth studio album, which was released in December 2013. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Timberlake was nominated for seven awards, eventually winning three: Best R&B Song for "Pusher Love Girl", Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Holy Grail", and Best Music Video for "Suit & Tie", which was directed by The Social Network director David Fincher. On February 25, 2014, "Not a Bad Thing" was released as the third single from The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2. The song reached the top 10 on the Hot 100 and topped the Mainstream Top 40 chart. In 2014, Timberlake appeared on Michael Jackson's second posthumous record Xscape on the song "Love Never Felt So Good", which was produced by Timbaland, Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon and Timberlake. On May 14, 2014, a music video was also released featuring clips of Jackson, with Timberlake accompanied by several of Jackson's fans performing some of Jackson's signature moves. The video was directed by Timberlake and Rich Lee. During 2015, Timberlake performed along with Jimmy Fallon the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary's cold open, returned to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as a guest to perform a sixth edition of the sketch "History of Rap", and performed along with Chris Stapleton at the 49th Annual Country Music Association Awards.
Showcasing the final date of The 20/20 Experience World Tour at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena, the space-age themed concert film titled Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids and directed by Jonathan Demme premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival on September 13. Timberlake dedicated the film to Prince for influencing his music. Ahead of its debut at the film festival, the streaming service Netflix released it on October 12. Timberlake composed the soundtrack and served as music supervisor for the 2017 film The Book of Love, which his wife Jessica Biel produced and starred in.
Timberlake voiced the lead character in DreamWorks Animation's musical comedy Trolls opposite Anna Kendrick. The film was released in November 2016, and returned for its next two entries Trolls: World Tour and Trolls: Band Together in 2020 and 2023 respectively. He also served as the executive music producer, performing original music for the film. The lead single, "Can't Stop the Feeling!", was released on May 6, 2016. Timberlake was invited by Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) to perform "Can't Stop the Feeling" live during the interval act at the grand finale of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 on May 14, 2016. The single debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and reached the top spot in other 16 countries. It became his eighth U.S. Mainstream Top 40 number-one song. It became the best-selling song of the year in the U.S. with 2.4 million downloads sold. On February 26, 2017, Timberlake opened the 89th Academy Awards with a performance of "Can't Stop the Feeling!", since the song earned him a nomination. Also that year, Timberlake starred with Kate Winslet and Juno Temple in Woody Allen's drama film Wonder Wheel, and headlined several festivals and live sets, including Rock in Rio, the United States Grand Prix, and the Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival, which he co-produced.
2018–2022: Man of the Woods and Super Bowl LII halftime show
Speaking of his fifth studio album in 2016, Timberlake stated, "I think where I grew up in America has a lot of influence. Growing up in Tennessee—very central of the country—Memphis is known as the birthplace of rock & roll, but also the home of the blues, but Nashville's right down the street so there's a lot of country music." In following interviews, Timberlake confirmed working with producers Timbaland and Pharrell Williams, while stating, "It sounds more like where I've come from than any other music I've ever made... It's Southern American music. But I want to make it sound modern – at least that's the idea right now."
His fifth studio album Man of the Woods was released on February 2, 2018, two days before he headlined the Super Bowl LII halftime show in Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 4, where Timberlake performed a medley of his songs featuring both the Tennessee Kids and the Minnesota Marching Band alongside him, as well as a duet of "I Would Die 4 U" with a video projection of late singer Prince on screen. The show contained multiple selections from Man of the Woods, which is named after his son Silas, whose name means "from the forest". The album's first single, "Filthy", was released on January 5, along with its accompanying video directed by Mark Romanek. The electro-funk song has reached number nine in the U.S. and number 5 in Canada. The songs "Supplies", "Say Something" featuring Chris Stapleton and "Man of the Woods" were also released along with music videos ahead of the album. His collaboration with Stapleton also reached the top 10 in the U.S. and Canada.
Man of the Woods topped the Billboard 200 with the biggest first week sales of the year at the time, selling 293,000 total units. Man of the Woods also marks Timberlake's fourth consecutive No. 1 album and has since been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Man of the Woods concluded 2018 as the sixth best-selling album of the year. An accompanying tour of the same name began on March 13, 2018, in Toronto, Canada and concluded on April 13, 2019, in Uncasville. The Man of the Woods Tour was the sixth-highest-grossing tour of 2018.
In May 2019, Timberlake received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music. Missy Elliott and Alex Lacamoire also received doctorates at the ceremony.
Following the announcement of Trolls World Tour, Timberlake teased potential collaborations with a number of artists, through a series of Instagram posts, which included frequent collaborators Pharrell Williams, Nathaniel Hills and Rob Knox, as well as new collaborators such as Anderson .Paak, Brandy Norwood, Lizzo, and Meek Mill. On February 26, 2020, SZA and Timberlake released the single "The Other Side", a song part of the Trolls World Tour soundtrack, alongside its music video. On March 9, 2020, Timberlake released a teaser for his upcoming song "Don't Slack", which features Anderson .Paak, and is also part of the Trolls World Tour soundtrack. The song was released on March 10, 2020.
In September 2020, Timberlake and producer Timbaland teased a potential upcoming collaboration with Canadian musician Justin Bieber, as well as collaborations with Justine Skye, Hit-Boy and Ty Dolla Sign. In December 2020, Timberlake and Ant Clemons released the single "Better Days", which received its premier on the Rock the Runoff virtual concert, held by Stacey Abrams' organization Fair Fight.
In January 2021, Timberlake performed as part of the inauguration of Joe Biden. Performing from his hometown of Memphis, Timberlake performed his collaboration with Ant Clemons during the Celebrating America special. Timberlake performed at Pharrell Williams' Something in the Water festival in Washington D.C., where he was joined on stage by T.I. and Clipse for his five-song set.
2023–present: Everything I Thought It Was
In May 2023, Timbaland revealed that Timberlake's sixth studio album was completed, adding that their pair had revived the sound from the FutureSex/LoveSounds era. On September 1, 2023, Timbaland released the single "Keep Going Up", in collaboration with Furtado and Timberlake. Timberlake also reunited with his fellow former band members of NSYNC later that month and released the single "Better Place" in support of the Trolls Band Together soundtrack. In addition to "Keep Going Up" and "Better Place", Timberlake had also collaborated with Meek Mill on the song Believe, Romeo Santos on the song "Sin Fin", DJ Khaled on his album Khaled Khaled, on the song "Just Be", Justine Skye on her album, Space & Time, on the song "Innocent", Jack Harlow on his album Come Home the Kids Miss You, on the song "Parent Trap"; a remix of Coco Jones' "ICU" and a further remix of the song "3D" by Jungkook. Timberlake had also worked with Calvin Harris, producer of "Fuckin' Up the Disco" and "No Angels", on his song "Stay with Me", alongside Pharrell Williams and Halsey.
On January 19, 2024, Timberlake performed a free one-night-only concert at the Orpheum in Memphis where he live-debuted his new single "Selfish" after teasing a new project on social media in previous days. In promotion of the record, on January 25, 2024, Timberlake appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon; he announced the release of "Selfish" and revealed that the album had taken four years to produce.
"Selfish" debuted at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Timberlake's highest debut in six years on the chart. It became his 39th career solo entry on the Hot 100, and his 29th to reach the top 40. On the release day of "Selfish", he also announced that his sixth studio album, Everything I Thought It Was, would be released in March 2024. Timberlake appeared as a musical guest on the January 27, 2024, episode of Saturday Night Live, singing "Selfish" and "Sanctified". On January 30, he appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show and held an "intimate" concert at Irving Plaza in New York City on January 31, his 43rd birthday. He appeared as the musical guest, where he performed "Selfish" on The Graham Norton Show recorded in London on February 22, 2024, the night before he cancelled A One Night Only concert, to be held at the Roundhouse, London, on February 23, 2024. Timberlake was recovering from an illness. The promotional single "Drown" was released on February 23, 2024. Timberlake also appeared on Complex Networks Sneaker Shopping on March 11, 2024, and mentioned the release of his new album at the end of the video.
On March 13, 2024, in anticipation of the album release, Timberlake performed a one-off concert at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. The show featured a surprise reunion with his NSYNC bandmates, with the group playing a medley of hits and the new album track “Paradise.” Timberlake then performed on NPR's Tiny Desk series on March 15 for a half-hour-long concert. Timberlake also announced the release of a documentary showing the album's creation process. The second single off the record, "No Angels", was released on March 15, 2024, the same day as the album's release. Everything I Thought It Was debuted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200, giving Timberlake his sixth consecutive top five album in the country.
In April 2024, Timberlake opened the iHeartRadio Music Awards, performing both singles off the album, "Selfish" and "No Angels". Timberlake also promoted the album on the Forget Tomorrow World Tour, which began on April 29, 2024, in Vancouver, Canada. On February 23, 2024, Timberlake announced summer 2024 Europe tour dates. In March 2024, prior to the tour launching, Trace William Cowen of Complex reported that the Forget Tomorrow World Tour had become Timberlake's fastest selling tour to date. They stated that the tour had amassed over $140 million globally in initial ticket sales from over 70 dates and that more than one million attendees are expected. Cowen concluded that "Justin Timberlake's Forget Tomorrow World Tour Is Set to Become His Biggest Yet." On May 20, 2024, Pollstar announced that nine additional shows were added due to "overwhelming demand" and reported that over 1 million tickets were already sold, becoming Timberlake's fastest selling tour to date. The tour received generally positive reviews.
Personal life
Relationships and children
In early 1999, Timberlake began dating fellow former The All New Mickey Mouse Club cast member and singer Britney Spears. Their relationship ended abruptly in March 2002. Spears wrote in her 2023 memoir The Woman in Me that she became pregnant during their relationship and had an abortion in late 2000 after Timberlake said they were not prepared for parenthood and he did not want to be a father. In 2003, he briefly dated British singer Emma Bunton. In April 2003, he began a relationship with actress Cameron Diaz soon after they met at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. After much speculation of breakups throughout their relationship, the couple split in December 2006 shortly after she introduced him as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live.
In January 2007, Timberlake began dating actress Jessica Biel. They became engaged in December 2011 and married on October 19, 2012, at the Borgo Egnazia resort in Fasano, Italy. Their first child, a son, was born in April 2015. In July 2020, they had a second son.
Legal issues
Shortly after midnight on June 18, 2024, Timberlake was arrested in Sag Harbor, New York for driving while intoxicated (DWI). In addition to being charged with one count of DWI, Timberlake was issued two citations, one for running a stop sign and one for failure to keep in lane. He was released nine hours later following his first arraignment at Sag Harbor Village Justice Court. The Sag Harbor Police Department would later release his mugshot. Timberlake was scheduled to return to court on July 26, 2024. According to his arrest report, Timberlake alleged to authorities that he only had one martini shortly before he was pulled over. Despite making this claim, Timberlake refused a breathalyzer.
On June 22, 2024, bartender employees at the hotel where Timberlake was staying before his DWI arrest confirmed to People that he only had one martini while at the hotel bar. One employee stating that “If he was drinking more, it wasn't here." However, according to the arrest report, the officer who pulled Timberlake over after he drove through a stop sign and failed to keep on the right side of the road stated that his "eyes were bloodshot and glassy" at the time, and that "A strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath, he was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot, and he performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests." During the stop, Timberlake reportedly said, "this is going to ruin the tour." The officer, who did not know who Timberlake was, asked "what tour?", to which he replied with "the world tour." That exchange went viral, spawning several memes. Despite the arrest, Timberlake still continued to perform concerts, including a concert in Chicago on June 21, 2024, where he appeared to address the arrest, saying "We've been through ups and downs and lefts and rights... It's been a tough week - but you're here, and I'm here...I know sometimes I'm hard to love, but you keep on loving me and I love you right back."
Timberlake, who was performing overseas in Poland, would not attend his July 26, 2024, court arraignment, with his lawyer Edward Burke attending instead. Despite Burke's arguments that Timberlake was not intoxicated at the time of his arrest, Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace ordered for Timberlake to be re-arraigned on August 2. For the August 2 arraignment, Timberlake, who was still on tour, appeared virtually from Antwerp, Belgium. During this arraignment, Timberlake pled not guilty to a revised misdemeanor charge of driving drunk. Irace also agreed to review Burke's motion to dismiss the DWI charge. However, Timberlake's New York license was suspended by the judge for an indeterminate amount of time.
Timberlake was scheduled to have another hearing on August 9, 2024. In contrast to the August 2 hearing, Timberlake was not required to attend this court hearing. On September 11, 2024, it was revealed that Timberlake would plead guilty to a less serious traffic offense during his September 13 court appearance, with the DWI charge being dropped. Under his plea deal, Timberlake agreed to plead guilty to driving while impaired, a lesser offense which carries a penalty of a $300 to $500 fine and a 90-day driver license suspension.
On September 13, 2024, during an in-person appearance at the Sag Harbor Village Justice Courthouse, Timberlake pled guilty to a noncriminal driving while impaired traffic violation. Irace then sentenced Timberlake to a $500 fine with a $260 surcharge, 25 hours of community service at the nonprofit of his choosing and required him to make a public safety announcement. It also revealed that Timberlake's refusal to take a breathlyzer automatically triggered a suspension of his driver's license under New York state law.
Residences
In July 2002, Timberlake purchased a 13,250-square-foot (1,231 m2) mansion in Hollywood Hills for $8.3 million from Helen Hunt. In 2010, Timberlake purchased a unit at 311 West Broadway in SoHo, formerly owned by Oscar de la Renta, for $6.56 million. He sold the unit in 2018 for $6.35 million, incurring a loss.
In 2015, Timberlake bought a house in the Yellowstone Club near Big Sky, Montana. In May 2017, Timberlake and his wife, Jessica Biel, paid $20.2 million for a 5,375-square-foot (499.4 m2) penthouse unit at 443 Greenwich Street in Tribeca, Manhattan.
Earnings
Forbes began reporting on Timberlake's earnings in 2008, calculating that he earned $44 million between June 2007 and June 2008 for his music, tour, commercials, and hospitality, making him the world's 4th best-paid music personality at the time, above Madonna and Celine Dion. That year, he was ranked twelfth on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list and second on the "Best-Paid Celebrities Under 30" list.
According to Billboard, Timberlake was the third highest-paid musician of 2013, with earnings of $31 million. He was ranked 26th with earnings of $57 million on the Celebrity 100 list for 2014, and 19th on the 2015 list with $63 million. Timberlake was listed at number three on the Billboard Money-Makers List of 2014.
He was ranked 41st on the 2019 Celebrity 100 list by Forbes, with earnings of $57.5 million in 2019.
Health
At the end of his Forget Tomorrow World Tour in July 2025, Timberlake stated he had been diagnosed with Lyme disease. He shared, in an Instagram post, "When I first got the diagnosis I was shocked for sure. But, at least I could understand why I would be onstage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or, just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness. I was faced with a personal decision. Stop touring? Or, keep going and figure it out. I decided the joy that performing brings me far outweighs the fleeting stress my body was feeling. I'm so glad I kept going".
Artistry
Timberlake possesses a lyric tenor vocal range. He began including beatboxing in his records near the end of his boyband era and into his emergence as a solo act with Justified and FutureSex/LoveSounds. Many of his songs draw from his personal life and relationships, such as "Cry Me a River" (about his breakup with Britney Spears). Described by critics as a "consummate showman", Timberlake usually plays guitar, piano and keyboard in his shows. The New York Times' editor Katie Rogers highlighted Timberlake's crossover appeal after his performance with Chris Stapleton at the 2015 Country Music Association Awards.
Primarily an R&B album, his 2002 debut Justified also includes influence from dance-pop, funk and soul music. Timberlake has described it as influenced by Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. For the album's supporting tour Justified and Stripped Tour, he co-headlined with Christina Aguilera, drawing praise from Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times for his comfort in performing as part of a package.
His 2006 followup album FutureSex/LoveSounds departed from his earlier work to explore a broader sound, with elements of rap, rock, funk, soul, gospel, new wave, opera, and world music. During production, Timberlake was interested in musical techniques associated with rock music, which inspired his approach to recording. He described the album as drawing from David Bowie and Prince. Other influences include late INXS-frontman Michael Hutchence, Arcade Fire, David Byrne, The Killers, The Strokes, and Radiohead.
Timberlake's next album, The 20/20 Experience (2013) is a neo soul album partly inspired by the expansive song structures of 1960s and 1970s rock. Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times found its elaborate structures ambitious in the vein of Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Michael Jackson. He supported the album with a pair of tours: Legends of the Summer, which he co-headlined with Jay-Z, and The 20/20 Experience World Tour. These tours introduced his backing ensemble, the Tennessee Kids, a 15-piece multi-instrumentalist throwback to big band music.
Public image
Timberlake's fashion and style evolution, from "boy-band synchronized wardrobe days" to "a notable source of fashion inspiration to men all over", has been noticed by the media. As noted by a Billboard editor, "Since his solo career began with the 2002 release of debut album Justified, Timberlake has honed his unique sense of style", while citing Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Frank Sinatra as style influences: "guys who were just really never trying to be that [stylish], they just were that". According to American fashion designer Tom Ford, who has dressed Timberlake since 2011 and created more than 600 exclusive pieces for The 20/20 Experience World Tour, Timberlake "has a kind of effortless cool that makes classic menswear tailoring modern".
The New York Times' editor Sia Michel wrote in 2007, "Since his last tour, for 2002's multiplatinum Justified, he has learned how to project sex-symbol edge" adding "he's a rock star who can commit." Napster's founder Sean Parker, portrayed by Timberlake in The Social Network, stated "I don't think I look anything like Timberlake, but it's not so bad being played by a sex symbol." In Nielsen Music's U.S. report for 2015, Timberlake led the "Top 10 Musicians Among Millennials" list. His high-profile relationships earned him the nickname "Trousersnake", a reference to his allegedly big penis. Wax statues of Timberlake are on display at the Madame Tussauds wax museums in New York, Las Vegas, Hollywood, Nashville, Berlin, Amsterdam, and London. His costume used in the Saturday Night Live skit "Dick in a Box" is displayed at "Saturday Night Live: The Exhibition" in New York.
After New York legalized same-sex marriage in 2011, he voiced his support for LGBT equality in the U.S., stating, "We're people and we're different, all of us. And we should be using our differences to bring ourselves closer together." Timberlake and his wife Jessica Biel received the Inspiration Award at the GLSEN Respect Awards in 2015, with the executive director saying, "They are two vocal and committed allies to the LGBT community who are also devoted to charitable works that improve the lives of youth."
Timberlake's pronunciation of the word "me" on "It's Gonna Be Me" was popularized as an internet meme titled "It's Gonna Be May", after a Tumblr image of Timberlake was posted in 2012 with the respective caption. The meme eventually became an annually recurring joke throughout the month of April, which gained the attention of Barack Obama and Timberlake himself. Influenced by the national attention received by Timberlake's selfie inside a voting booth shared on Instagram during the 2016 presidential election, which was at the moment an illegal act, Senator Brian Kelsey of Germantown, Tennessee brought up a bill that would allow taking photos in voting poll stations, with some exceptions against bad procedures. It was later approved by the Tennessee Senate.
In June 2021, Timberlake spoke out in support of Britney Spears during her court battle over her conservatorship. Timberlake wrote on his Twitter that "No woman should ever be restricted from making decisions about her own body [...] [Jessica Biel] and I send our love, and our absolute support to Britney during this time. We hope the courts, and her family make this right and let her live however she wants to live".
Controversies
Following the release of Framing Britney Spears, public attention was brought to old comments Timberlake made in 2002 to describe his relationship with Britney Spears following their breakup, with some considering them to contain misogynistic rhetoric. It also led to renewed interest in his participation in the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, where he exposed Janet Jackson's breast on live television. Following much public pressure, Timberlake issued a public apology on his Instagram page, writing he "benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism" and "I do not want to ever benefit from others being pulled down again." He finished by saying "I care deeply about the wellbeing of the people I love and have loved. I can do better and I will do better".
Public scrutiny surrounding the Super Bowl XXXVIII incident was raised when a stylist alleged that the plan was originally for Timberlake to step on the back of Jackson's dress "to reveal her butt in this pearl g-string" but that he changed the plan to exposing her breast because he wanted a "reveal" to "one-up" Britney Spears' and Madonna's kiss at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. The claim that Timberlake wanted the breast reveal, however, is contradictory to a statement from Salli Frattini, the producer of the Halftime show, who stated in 2018 that the production team experimented with removing elements of clothing in rehearsal to reveal Jackson's skirt without nudity but that the idea was ultimately nixed. According to Frattini, it was Jackson's team who pitched the idea to Timberlake prior to the show that led to Jackson's breast being exposed.
Legacy
Timberlake has been referred to as the "President of Pop" and "Prince of Pop" by contemporary journalists. In a 2016 article of The Hollywood Reporter, editor Scott Feinberg stated Timberlake is "widely regarded as one of the greatest all-around entertainers in the history of show business".
In 2003, Rolling Stone named him the biggest pop star of the year and featured him on the magazine's cover, declaring he was "The New King of Pop". For Entertainment Weekly his second studio album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, "redefined pop's cutting edge"; for Vibe it "pushed boundaries more forcefully" than works by his male contemporaries. Fuse TV's editor Jason Lipshutz stated it "changed the game. [The album] was steely and sweaty, a universal dance opus that made room for intimacy. It had the best first half of any pop album in 25 years. You have to go back to 1979 for Off the Wall, to find a pop album with a first half that matches up." He was ranked 66th on the VH1 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time. Timberlake appeared for the first time on the Time 100 list of most influential people by Time in 2007. In 2013, he made his second appearance on the 100 list, with Stevie Wonder writing "Justin has accomplished a lot at a young age, taking advantage of all the possibilities, and yet he's found time to give of himself too—he gets and gives back. He has a spirit. He does God's work through using the most of his talent."
Justified's single "Cry Me a River" was ranked at number 20 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of the 2000s, and one of their 500 greatest songs of all time. Billboard editor Jason Lipshutz named the song's music video "one of the more brilliant musical moments in pop music since the dawn of the century". His second album FutureSex/LoveSounds was placed at 46 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the 2000s, the ninth best album of the decade for Entertainment Weekly, and the greatest of the decade for Vibe. The lead single, "SexyBack", helped introduce EDM sounds to top 40 radio, as it brought together variations of electronic dance music with Timberlake's R&B tone. Aside from earning critical acclaim for its parent album, Sia Michel of The New York Times noted that he was responsible for popularizing in 2006 the catchphrase "I'm bringing sexy back".
Considered a pop icon by media outlets, his work has influenced numerous artists, including Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Olly Murs, Maroon 5, Britney Spears, Lorde, Marilyn Manson, Joe Jonas, Thomas Rhett, Ed Sheeran, Jason Derulo, Tori Kelly, Liam Payne, Bridgit Mendler, Hunter Hayes, BoA, Seungri, Taeyang, Rain, Lloyd Banks, Maluma, Rosalía, and Jungkook. Bieber and Nick Jonas have cited him as one of their role models, with the latter stating is for "not only transitioning from where he started, but also balancing acting and singing". Christian hip hop artist tobyMac has stated Timberlake's work inspires him, commenting "he's setting himself up to be a classic, making decisions and moving on them. That's a great place to be." In the context of male artists that achieved commercial success after leaving their boy bands, Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone wrote "Timberlake and Michael Jackson set a high bar for what could be attained by solo success in that they not only scored numerous number-one hits but they also crafted the mold for what it meant to be a male pop star", while for Variety's Jeremy Blacklow the singer is "the modern case study". Multiple music publications have deemed Justified as the standard for post boy-band solo albums and teen pop stars seeking credibility. Billboard critics discussed in 2018 whether Timberlake is "the Best Male Pop Star of the 21st century;" those in favor named his crossover appeal, career longevity, showmanship and credibility within the industry among the reasons.
Achievements
Throughout his solo career, Timberlake has sold over 32 million albums and 56 million singles globally, and a further 70 million records with NSYNC, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. Timberlake has won ten Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, seven American Music Awards, three Brit Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, and eleven MTV Video Music Awards. His Grammy wins include categories on the pop, dance and R&B genres; while his Emmy wins consist of two Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics and two Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Timberlake received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards and the Innovator Award at the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Awards. Among other awards, he won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year for "Mirrors" in 2013 and the Billboard Music Awards for Top Artist with the Top Billboard 200 Album for The 20/20 Experience in 2014. Timberlake received the inaugural Decade Award at the 2016 Teen Choice Awards for his continuous achievements since the release of FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006).
In October 2015, he was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, becoming its youngest member. On April 30, 2018, Timberlake reunited with his NSYNC bandmates to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2019, Timberlake received a Contemporary Icon Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music.
All five of Timberlake's studio albums have been certified platinum or better by the RIAA and have received numerous awards. Worldwide sales figures for Justified stand at 10 million copies, FutureSex/LoveSounds at 10 million, and joint sales of The 20/20 Experience and 2 of 2 at 6 million copies. As of 2014, Timberlake has had seven songs exceed 3 million digital downloads in the United States, with "SexyBack" (4.5), "4 Minutes", "Dead and Gone", "Suit & Tie", "Mirrors", "Holy Grail", and "Can't Stop the Feeling!".
According to Billboard, FutureSex/LoveShow was the third highest-grossing concert tour of 2007 and highest solo. The 20/20 Experience World Tour was an international success and became Timberlake's most successful tour to date. The tour was the highest-grossing led by a solo artist in 2014, and one of the highest-grossing tours of the decade. For its associated album, The 20/20 Experience, Timberlake was named 2013 Artist of the Year with the top-selling album by iTunes' annual list of best-sellers.
In the United States, five of Timberlake's singles have topped the Billboard Hot 100: "SexyBack", "My Love" and "What Goes Around... Comes Around", "Give It to Me" and "Can't Stop the Feeling!". The latter became the 41st Hot 100 number one song to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. He topped nine Billboard Year-End charts for 2013, including Billboard 200 Artists and Billboard 200 Albums. For 2014, Timberlake was named Billboard Top Male Artist. Billboard published a list of "Greatest of All Time Pop Songs Artists" in 2017, where Timberlake ranked at number 5, being the top male soloist. The magazine also ranked him 25 on their "The Top 60 Male Artists of All-Time" list in 2018, and 64th on "The Hot 100's Top Artists of All Time". In 2019, Billboard ranked him 20th on their decade-end chart for "Top Artists" of the 2010s, and 74th on "Top 125 Greatest of All Time Artists Chart".
Other ventures
Business ventures
Timberlake has co-owned or provided celebrity endorsement for three restaurants in the United States: "Chi" opened in West Hollywood, California in 2003, and "Destino" and "Southern Hospitality" in New York opened in 2006 and 2007, respectively. In 2005, Timberlake launched the William Rast clothing line with childhood friend Juan ("Trace") Ayala. The 2007 line contained cord jackets, cashmere sweaters, jeans, and polo shirts. The pair reports inspiration from fellow Memphis resident Elvis Presley: "Elvis is the perfect mixture of Justin and I", Ayala says. "You can go back and see pictures of him in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat and a nice button-down shirt, but then again you can see him in a tux and a collared shirt with rhinestones on it and slacks. We like to think 'If he was alive today, what would he be wearing?'" Target has announced that a William Rast collection, including denim, outerwear and sportswear for men and women, would launch in December and be available for a month. In 2015, the clothing line earned him a Lord & Taylor's Fashion Oracle Award at the Fashion Group International's Night of The Stars Gala. An avid amateur golfer, in 2007 Timberlake purchased the run-down Big Creek Golf Course in his hometown of Millington, Tennessee, which he redeveloped as the eco-friendly Mirimichi Golf Course at the cost of around $US16 million. It was reopened on July 25, 2009, but closed again on January 15, 2010, for further improvements expected to take six months. In October 2011, Timberlake received the Futures Award at the Environmental Media Awards for his green-conscious golf course. It was reported on November 7, 2014, that Timberlake had sold Mirimichi to Three Star Leasing LLC for $500,000. In October 2018, Timberlake and Levi's debuted their collaborative clothing line collection "Fresh Leaves". In 2022, Justin Timberlake invested in Greenville, South Carolina par-3 golf course Greenville 3's.
Timberlake provides celebrity endorsement for many commercial products, this aspect of his business being managed by IMG since April 2008. Major endorsements in 2009 included Sony electronic products, Givenchy's men's fragrance "Play", the Audi A1, Callaway Golf Company products, and in 2011, Myspace. In 2011, he teamed up with Capital One to announce the winners of the inaugural Capital One Cup, in a six-minute advert, where he is repeatedly getting hit in the groin. In 2012, he hosted Walmart's annual shareholders meeting, saying, "I buy a lot at Walmart."
In 2014, Timberlake partnered with Sauza Tequila to re-launch his own version of the beverage as part of the Sauza franchise: Sauza 901. In 2016, he became an investor in the beverage company Bai Brands. In 2017, Tiger Woods and Timberlake acquired an ownership stake in the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour.
Timberlake and his wife Jessica Biel are minority owners of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Timberlake is an Air Jordan brand ambassador. His first collection with the brand, the Legend of the Summer collection, debuted on the co-headlining tour of the same name with Jay-Z. These sneakers have gone on to resell for upwards of $10,000. In the lead up to his 2018 Super Bowl Halftime Show, Timberlake worked with famed Nike, Inc. designer Tinker Hatfield to design his own version of the Air Jordan 3. Timberlake debuted the shoe at the halftime show. Timberlake's performance was estimated to be worth $2.86 million in marketing for Nike, and is credited for reigniting interested in the Nike and Air Jordan brand. Nike went on to release several colorways as part of the collaboration with Timberlake.
In May 2022, Timberlake sold the rights to his entire musical catalog, around 200 songs he wrote or co-wrote, to Hipgnosis Song Management for $100 million. The deal covers only pre-existing work, and not work he produces after the deal.
Timberlake had an estimated net-worth of $250 million prior to the Hipgnosis deal, and is now estimated to be worth in excess of $350 million – making him one of the music industry's wealthiest solo performers.
Philanthropy
Timberlake has been active in several charitable pursuits, initially through NSYNC's "Challenge for the Children" aimed at a range of charities, and since 2001 through his "Justin Timberlake Foundation", which initially funded music education programs in schools, but now has a much broader agenda. In October 2005, the Grammy Association presented Timberlake with an award for his humanitarian efforts in Tennessee, alongside writer/director Craig Brewer, also a Memphis native.
In November 2007, he donated $100,000 from takings from his Australian tour to Wildlife Warriors founded by Steve Irwin. On March 23, 2008, he donated $100,000 to the Memphis Rock N' Soul Museum and another $100,000 to the Memphis Music Foundation.
On November 12, 2007, the PGA Tour announced that Timberlake, an avid golfer who plays to a six handicap, would become the host of the tour's Las Vegas tournament starting in 2008. With Timberlake's agreement to host the tournament, its name was changed to the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He played in the celebrity pro-am on the day before the competitive tournament and hosted a charity concert during the week of the tournament. The activity was a success and was repeated in 2009. A review of the value of celebrities to fundraising concluded that Timberlake's contribution to Shriners Hospitals for Children was the single most valuable celebrity endorsement in the U.S. during 2009, and worth over $US9 million. However, in 2012, the event's chair Raoul Frevel told reporters Timberlake would no longer be involved in the event: "We tried everything we could to get him more involved with our kids and the hospitals. But it seemed that when the TV cameras weren't on, he disappeared."
Timberlake often participates in the American Century Championship and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Both annual tournaments raise money for a range of national and local non-profits.
In late 2012, Timberlake and his wife Jessica Biel volunteered in Far Rockaway, Queens over the weekend after Hurricane Sandy. Joined by their friend Timbaland, the couple helped distribute backpacks of supplies to members of the community who were still struggling after the hurricane.
Timberlake has donated items for auction for several charities, including by Ten O'Clock Classics and MusiCares. In 2010, Timberlake participated in the Hope for Haiti Now telethon performing "Hallelujah". The cover was made available for digital download with all proceeds donated to organizations doing relief work in Haiti. In 2016, Timberlake was featured in a new version of "Where Is the Love?". The proceeds of the charity single will go to educational programs. In 2017, Timberlake and Eminem helped raise over $2 million for Manchester Arena bombing victims.
Book
Timberlake's autobiography, Hindsight & All the Things I Can't See In Front of Me, was released on October 30, 2018. The book covers some on and off camera candid images, the singer's early life and inspiration for songs. According to publisher HarperCollins, Hindsight includes a "collection of anecdotes, reflections, and observations on his life and work".
Discography
Studio albums
Justified (2002)
FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006)
The 20/20 Experience (2013)
The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 (2013)
Man of the Woods (2018)
Everything I Thought It Was (2024)
Filmography
Films starred
Tours
See also
List of best-selling music artists – Artists with sales of over 88 million records worldwide
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
References
External links
Official website
Justin Timberlake at AllMusic
Justin Timberlake at IMDb
Justin Timberlake at the TCM Movie Database
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Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Prince of Pop", he is an influential figure in popular music. Timberlake is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of 88 million records worldwide.
Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Timberlake appeared on musical television shows as a child, competing on Star Search; in the early to mid-1990s, he was a cast member on the Disney Channel's The All New Mickey Mouse Club, where he performed cover songs, skits, and choreography. On the show, Timberlake met and worked with future bandmate JC Chasez, and the two later rose to prominence as the lead vocalists of the pop boy band NSYNC. The group released four commercially successful studio albums, becoming one of the best-selling boy bands of all time with sales of over 70 million units worldwide.
Timberlake established himself as a solo artist with his first two albums, Justified (2002) and FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006), both of which sold over 10 million copies and received triple platinum certification by the RIAA, with the latter becoming his first US Billboard 200 chart number-one album. He further topped the chart on three more occasions, with The 20/20 Experience, The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 (both 2013) and Man of the Woods (2018). The 20/20 Experience became the best-selling album of the year. Throughout his career, Timberlake scored numerous high-charting US Billboard Hot 100 singles, including "Cry Me a River", "Rock Your Body", "SexyBack", "My Love", "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows", "What Goes Around... Comes Around", "Give It to Me", "4 Minutes", "Pusher Love Girl", "Suit & Tie", "Mirrors" and "Can't Stop the Feeling!", which earned him an Academy Award nomination.
Timberlake enhanced his popularity with an acting career. He landed starring roles in the films The Love Guru (2008), The Social Network (2010), Bad Teacher (2011), Friends with Benefits (2011), In Time (2011), Wonder Wheel (2017) and Palmer (2021). He also voiced Artie in Shrek the Third (2007), Boo-Boo Bear in Yogi Bear (2010) and Branch in the Trolls franchise since 2016. Billboard named him one of the greatest pop stars of the 21st century. His awards include ten Grammy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, three Brit Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, the Contemporary Icon Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and MTV's Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. He has frequently collaborated with producers such as The Neptunes and Timbaland, who are best known for boosting Timberlake's solo career.
Early life
Justin Randall Timberlake was born on January 31, 1981, in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Janet Lynn (Bomar) Harless and Charles Randall Timberlake, a Baptist church choir director. Timberlake has two half-brothers, Jonathan and Stephen, from Charles' second marriage to Lisa Perry. His half-sister Laura Katherine died shortly after birth in 1997, and is mentioned in his acknowledgments in the album NSYNC as "My Angel in Heaven".
His family circle includes several musicians; his grandfather introduced him to music from country music artists like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Performing as a child, Timberlake sang country and gospel music: at the age of 11, he appeared on the television show Star Search, performing country songs as "Justin Randall". By that time, he began listening to rhythm and blues musicians from the 1960s and 70s, such as Al Green, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, and he had listening sessions with his father of studio albums by the Eagles and Bob Seger.
From 1993 to 1995, he was a Mouseketeer on The All New Mickey Mouse Club, where his castmates included future girlfriend and singer Britney Spears, future tourmate Christina Aguilera, future bandmate JC Chasez, and future actors Ryan Gosling and Keri Russell. In 1995 Timberlake recruited Chasez to be in an all-male singing group, put together by Chris Kirkpatrick and financed by boy band manager Lou Pearlman, that eventually became NSYNC.
Career
1995–2002: NSYNC
The boy band NSYNC formed in 1995, and they began recording and performing in 1996 in Europe; Timberlake and Chasez served as its two lead singers. In 1998, the group rose to prominence in the United States with the release of their self-titled debut studio album, which sold 11 million copies and includes the single "Tearin' Up My Heart". The group had a series of legal battles with former manager Lou Pearlman, and they subsequently signed with Jive Records. They released their third studio album No Strings Attached (2000) which sold 2.4 million copies in the first week, becoming the fastest-selling album of all time. They held this record until 2015 when Adele surpassed the record with her third album 25. No Strings Attached also includes the number one single "It's Gonna Be Me", "Bye Bye Bye", and "This I Promise You". NSYNC's fourth studio album Celebrity (2001) was also financially successful, selling 1.8 million copies in the first week and spawning top-five singles such as "Girlfriend". Upon the completion of the Celebrity Tour, the group went on an indefinite hiatus in 2002. NSYNC performed at the Academy Awards in 2000, the 2002 Winter Olympics, and the Super Bowl XXXV halftime show. The band sold more than 70 million records worldwide, becoming the fifth-best selling boy band in history.
In 2000, Timberlake appeared in The Wonderful World of Disney movie Model Behavior. He played Jason Sharpe, a model who falls in love with a waitress after mistaking her for another model.
The rise of his own stardom and the general decline in the popularity of boy bands led to the dissolution of NSYNC. Band member Lance Bass was openly critical of Timberlake's actions in his memoir Out of Sync. By 2002, when the group went on an indefinite hiatus and members were doing individual projects, he partnered with Pharrell Williams of the producing team The Neptunes–and Timbaland to start working on new music. The idea of going solo was strengthened a year earlier. Timberlake originally wrote the single "Gone" around 2001 for Michael Jackson, but he turned the song down, and it was instead recorded by NSYNC. Before its release, however, Jackson contacted him. Timberlake declared in a later interview that the first time he felt confident to go solo happened after that conversation. In a retrospective article in 2020, Billboard considered Celebrity "the group's swan song, setting the stage for Timberlake's equally massive solo career".
2002–2004: Justified and Super Bowl XXXVIII controversy
In August 2002, Timberlake performed at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, where he premiered his debut solo single "Like I Love You"; it peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK Singles Chart. His debut solo studio album Justified was released in November and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 439,000 copies, fewer than previous 'N Sync releases. It sold over three million copies in the U.S. and more than ten million copies worldwide. Its R&B influence, provided by hip-hop producers The Neptunes and Timbaland, was complimented by music critics. About the musical direction of the record, he commented, "I just want to do R&B. It's what I grew up listening to". The album spawned the top-five singles "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body".
In summer 2003, Timberlake and Christina Aguilera co-headlined The Justified & Stripped Tour. Later that year he recorded a song "I'm Lovin' It", used by McDonald's as the theme to its "I'm Lovin' It" campaign. The deal with McDonald's earned Timberlake an estimated $6 million. A tour titled Justified and Lovin' It Live was included with the deal, following his initial Justified World Tour. Timberlake was featured on Nelly's song, "Work It", which was remixed and included on Nelly's 2003 remix album.
Near the end of 2002, Timberlake was the first celebrity to appear on Punk'd, a "candid camera" type show created by Ashton Kutcher to trick celebrities. Timberlake, who cried during the episode, later admitted to being under the influence of cannabis when he was pranked. Three episodes later, he set up Kelly Osbourne to be "punk'd", thus making him the first celebrity to appear on the show more than once. Timberlake later spoofed Ashton Kutcher and Punk'd in a 2003 episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live. Timberlake co-starred in a skit titled The Barry Gibb Talk Show alongside comedian Jimmy Fallon, where the duo portrayed Bee Gees brothers Barry and Robin Gibb. It marked the beginning of a long-running friendship and collaboration with Fallon.
In February 2004, during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show, broadcast on the CBS television network from Houston, Timberlake performed with Janet Jackson before a television audience of more than 140 million viewers. At the end of the performance, as the song drew to a close, Timberlake tore off a part of Jackson's black leather costume in a "costume reveal" meant to accompany a portion of the song lyrics. Jackson's representative explained Timberlake intended "to pull away the rubber bustier to reveal a red lace bra. Part of the costume detached, and Jackson's breast was briefly exposed. Timberlake apologized for the incident, stating he was "sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl..." The phrase "wardrobe malfunction" has since been used by the media to refer to the incident and has entered pop culture. Timberlake and Jackson were threatened with exclusion from the 2004 Grammy Awards unless they agreed to apologize on screen at the event. Timberlake attended and issued a scripted apology when accepting the first of two Grammy Awards he received that night (Best Pop Vocal Album for Justified and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Cry Me a River"). He had also been nominated for Album of the Year for Justified, and Record of the Year along with Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Where Is the Love?" with The Black Eyed Peas.
2004–2007: Films and FutureSex/LoveSounds
After the Super Bowl incident, Timberlake put his recording career on hold to act in several films, having starred in a few feature films earlier in his career. The first role he took during this time was as a journalist in Edison Force, filmed in 2004 and received a direct-to-video release on July 18, 2006. He also appeared in the films Alpha Dog, Black Snake Moan, Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, and voiced Prince Artie Pendragon in the animated film Shrek the Third, released on May 18, 2007. He also appeared as a young Elton John, in the video for John's song "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore". Timberlake was considered to play the role of Roger Davis in the film version of the rock musical Rent, but director Chris Columbus had insisted that only the original Broadway members could convey the true meaning of Rent, so the role was reprised by Adam Pascal.
He continued to record with other artists. After "Where Is the Love?", he again collaborated with the Black Eyed Peas on the 2005 track "My Style" from their album Monkey Business. When recording the 2005 single "Signs" with Snoop Dogg, Timberlake discovered a throat condition. Nodules were subsequently removed from his throat in an operation that took place on May 5, 2005. He was advised not to sing or speak loudly for at least a few months. In 2005, he began his own record company, JayTee records.
Timberlake released his second studio album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, on September 12, 2006. The album, which Timberlake created from 2005 to 2006, debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 684,000 copies its first week. It became the biggest album for pre-orders on iTunes, and beat Coldplay's record for the biggest one-week sales of a digital album. The album was produced by Timbaland and Danja (who produced a bulk of the album), will.i.am, Rick Rubin and Timberlake himself, and features guest vocals by Snoop Dogg, Three 6 Mafia, T.I. and will.i.am. A studio representative described it as being "all about sexiness" and aiming for "an adult feel".
The album's lead single, "SexyBack", was performed by Timberlake at the opening of the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards and reached number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for seven consecutive weeks. "My Love", the album's second single, also produced by Timbaland and featuring rapper T.I., reached number-one on the Hot 100, as did third single "What Goes Around... Comes Around". The song is reported to have been inspired by the break-up of his childhood friend and business partner, Trace Ayala, with actress Elisha Cuthbert. In October 2006, Timberlake said that he would focus on his music career rather than his film roles, specifying that leaving the music industry would be a "dumb thing to do at this point". He was the special guest performer at the 2006 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show where he sang "SexyBack", "My Love" and "LoveStoned".
Timberlake hosted many music events, including the European MTV Music Awards in 2006. On December 16, 2006, Timberlake hosted Saturday Night Live, doing double duty as both host and musical guest for the second time. During this appearance, he and Andy Samberg performed an R&B song for a skit titled "Dick in a Box", which some radio stations aired as an unofficial single from Timberlake. Called "one of the most iconic musical moments in the show's history" by Billboard, it became a viral hit and one of the most viewed videos on YouTube at the time. Rolling Stone listed the skit at number three on their "50 Greatest 'Saturday Night Live' Sketches of All Time". The song earned him an Emmy Award and was later featured on The Lonely Island's debut album Incredibad.
In January 2007, Timberlake embarked on the FutureSex/LoveShow tour. Following singles off the album, "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows (Interlude)" and "Until the End of Time", peaked within the top 20 on the Hot 100, while the fourth single "Summer Love" reached the top 10. The song "Give It to Me", a Timbaland single on which Timberlake guests with Nelly Furtado, reached the Hot 100 number-one spot. Eventually, FutureSex/LoveSounds was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's musical library and archive.
2008–2012: Musical hiatus and focus on acting
The song "4 Minutes" was first played by Timbaland at Philadelphia's Jingle Ball on December 17, 2007. When released on March 17, 2008, "4 Minutes" was revealed to be a duet between Timberlake and Madonna, with backing vocals by Timbaland. It was the lead single from Madonna's eleventh studio album Hard Candy, which featured four other song-writing collaborations with Timberlake, being also one of the executive producers. The single was an international hit, topping the charts in over 21 countries worldwide. Timberlake also appears in the music video, which was directed by Jonas & François. On March 30, 2008, Timberlake performed the song at Madonna's Hard Candy Promo Show at Roseland Ballroom in New York City. On November 6, 2008, Timberlake performed the song with Madonna on the Los Angeles stop of her Sticky & Sweet Tour.
In June 2007, Timberlake co-wrote, produced and provided vocals for the songs "Nite Runner" and "Falling Down" for Duran Duran's album Red Carpet Massacre, released on November 13, 2007. "Falling Down" was released as a single in the UK on the previous day. Also in 2007, Timberlake made an appearance on 50 Cent's third album Curtis. Timberlake, along with Timbaland, is featured on a track called "Ayo Technology", which was the album's fourth single. Also, another possible collaboration was to occur with Lil Wayne for his album Tha Carter III with Nelly Furtado and Timbaland. With the wrapping up of the FutureSex/LoveSounds tour of Australasia and the Middle East in November 2007, Timberlake resumed his film career. Projects underway early in 2008 were starring roles in Mike Myers' comedy The Love Guru (released June 20, 2008) and Mike Meredith's drama The Open Road (released August 28, 2009). In March 2008, it was announced that he would be an executive producer in an American adaptation of the hit Peruvian comedy My Problem with Women for NBC. On November 20, 2008, TV Guide reported that Timberlake's next single, "Follow My Lead", which also featured vocals by Timberlake's protégée, former YouTube star Esmée Denters, would be available for exclusive download through Myspace. All proceeds would go to Shriners Hospitals for Children, a charity dedicated to improving pediatric care for sick children. In February 2008, Timberlake was awarded two Grammy Awards. At the 50th Grammy Awards ceremony, he won the Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "What Goes Around...Comes Around", and the Award for Best Dance Recording for "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows".
In 2008, a collaboration between Timberlake and T.I., "Dead and Gone", was featured on T.I.'s sixth studio album, Paper Trail, and was released as its fourth single late in 2009. In November 2008, it was confirmed that Timberlake would make a guest appearance and produce some tracks on R&B/pop singer Ciara's upcoming album Fantasy Ride due out May 5, 2009. Timberlake featured on Ciara's second single "Love Sex Magic", the video being shot on February 20, 2009. The single became a worldwide hit, reaching the top ten in numerous countries and peaking at number-one in several countries including Taiwan, India, and Turkey. The song was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Timberlake hosted the 16th ESPY Awards, and the musical number "I Love Sports" was later nominated for an Emmy award. Timberlake and his production team The Y's, along with Mike Elizondo, produced and co-wrote the song "Don't Let Me Down" for Leona Lewis's second studio album, Echo, released on November 17, 2009. Timberlake also co-wrote and performed on "Carry Out", the third single from Timbaland's album Shock Value II, released on December 1, 2009. Timberlake appeared on Jimmy Fallon's debut as host of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on March 2, 2009. Timberlake was the executive producer on the MTV reality series The Phone, which premiered on April 21, 2009. In late 2009, Barbadian singer Rihanna released the album Rated R, with Timberlake being one of the writers and producers. They both worked together previously for her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad.
From 2010, Timberlake increased his acting work. He played Sean Parker, the founder of Napster, in the acclaimed film The Social Network (2010). He also appeared at the 2010 MTV VMAs on September 12, 2010. In 2011, he starred alongside Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher and alongside Mila Kunis in Friends with Benefits, and played Will Salas, the protagonist of In Time, a science fiction film by Andrew Niccol. He provided a feature and appeared in the music video for the song "Motherlover" from The Lonely Island's second album Turtleneck & Chain, and directed and made a cameo in the FreeSol music video "Hoodies On, Hats Low", which was released in August 2011. The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon sketch "History of Rap" was performed for the first time by both Fallon and Timberlake in 2010. In July 2011, United States Marine Kelsey De Santis uploaded a YouTube video asking Timberlake to be her date to the United States Marine Corps birthday ball; they attended the event on November 13, 2011, in Richmond, Virginia. His fifth Saturday Night Live episode, as host and musical guest, was the most-watched episode in 14 months, with Charles Barkley as host and Kelly Clarkson as musical guest.
2013–2017: The 20/20 Experience, 2 of 2, and Trolls
Timberlake began working on his third studio album The 20/20 Experience in June 2012 with "no rules and/or end goal in mind". He publicly announced his return to the music industry in January 2013, releasing the album's lead single "Suit & Tie" featuring Jay-Z later that month, which would eventually peak at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. After four years not performing in concert, Timberlake appeared the night before the 2013 Super Bowl and performed during the "DirecTV Super Saturday Night" on February 2, 2013, in New Orleans. On February 10, 2013, he performed "Suit & Tie" with sepia-toned lighting at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, with Jay-Z joining him from the audience. On February 11, 2013, "Mirrors" was released as the second single from The 20/20 Experience. The song would eventually peak at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number-one on the UK Singles Chart. The 20/20 Experience was released on March 19, 2013 through RCA Records due to the disbandment of Jive Records. The album set a digital sales record for being the fastest-selling album on the iTunes Store and debuted at number-one on the charts by moving just over 968,000 copies in the U.S., the biggest sales week of 2013. It eventually became the best-selling album of the year in the country.
Timberlake performed at the "In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul" concert, held in the East Room of the White House and hosted by President Barack Obama, celebrating Memphis soul music from the 1960s. Afterward, Timberlake officially announced The 20/20 Experience World Tour, following his and Jay-Z's co-headlining concert tour Legends of the Summer Stadium Tour. Timberlake also appeared on Jay-Z's twelfth studio album Magna Carta... Holy Grail on three songs: "Holy Grail", "BBC" (along with Nas, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, Niigo & Beyoncé), and "Heaven". On August 25, 2013, Timberlake received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. He also took home three competitive awards, including Video of the Year for "Mirrors". During his performance, Timberlake briefly reunited with his fellow former NSYNC bandmates for a medley of their hit songs "Girlfriend" and "Bye Bye Bye".
Timberlake's fourth studio album The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 was released on September 30, 2013 and debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200. Its lead single "Take Back the Night" was released on July 12, 2013, following by the second single "TKO". Timberlake was given a production and writing credit on track six on Beyoncé's self-titled fifth studio album, which was released in December 2013. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Timberlake was nominated for seven awards, eventually winning three: Best R&B Song for "Pusher Love Girl", Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Holy Grail", and Best Music Video for "Suit & Tie", which was directed by The Social Network director David Fincher. On February 25, 2014, "Not a Bad Thing" was released as the third single from The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2. The song reached the top 10 on the Hot 100 and topped the Mainstream Top 40 chart. In 2014, Timberlake appeared on Michael Jackson's second posthumous record Xscape on the song "Love Never Felt So Good", which was produced by Timbaland, Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon and Timberlake. On May 14, 2014, a music video was also released featuring clips of Jackson, with Timberlake accompanied by several of Jackson's fans performing some of Jackson's signature moves. The video was directed by Timberlake and Rich Lee. During 2015, Timberlake performed along with Jimmy Fallon the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary's cold open, returned to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as a guest to perform a sixth edition of the sketch "History of Rap", and performed along with Chris Stapleton at the 49th Annual Country Music Association Awards.
Showcasing the final date of The 20/20 Experience World Tour at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena, the space-age themed concert film titled Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids and directed by Jonathan Demme premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival on September 13. Timberlake dedicated the film to Prince for influencing his music. Ahead of its debut at the film festival, the streaming service Netflix released it on October 12. Timberlake composed the soundtrack and served as music supervisor for the 2017 film The Book of Love, which his wife Jessica Biel produced and starred in.
Timberlake voiced the lead character in DreamWorks Animation's musical comedy Trolls opposite Anna Kendrick. The film was released in November 2016, and returned for its next two entries Trolls: World Tour and Trolls: Band Together in 2020 and 2023 respectively. He also served as the executive music producer, performing original music for the film. The lead single, "Can't Stop the Feeling!", was released on May 6, 2016. Timberlake was invited by Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) to perform "Can't Stop the Feeling" live during the interval act at the grand finale of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 on May 14, 2016. The single debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and reached the top spot in other 16 countries. It became his eighth U.S. Mainstream Top 40 number-one song. It became the best-selling song of the year in the U.S. with 2.4 million downloads sold. On February 26, 2017, Timberlake opened the 89th Academy Awards with a performance of "Can't Stop the Feeling!", since the song earned him a nomination. Also that year, Timberlake starred with Kate Winslet and Juno Temple in Woody Allen's drama film Wonder Wheel, and headlined several festivals and live sets, including Rock in Rio, the United States Grand Prix, and the Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival, which he co-produced.
2018–2022: Man of the Woods and Super Bowl LII halftime show
Speaking of his fifth studio album in 2016, Timberlake stated, "I think where I grew up in America has a lot of influence. Growing up in Tennessee—very central of the country—Memphis is known as the birthplace of rock & roll, but also the home of the blues, but Nashville's right down the street so there's a lot of country music." In following interviews, Timberlake confirmed working with producers Timbaland and Pharrell Williams, while stating, "It sounds more like where I've come from than any other music I've ever made... It's Southern American music. But I want to make it sound modern – at least that's the idea right now."
His fifth studio album Man of the Woods was released on February 2, 2018, two days before he headlined the Super Bowl LII halftime show in Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 4, where Timberlake performed a medley of his songs featuring both the Tennessee Kids and the Minnesota Marching Band alongside him, as well as a duet of "I Would Die 4 U" with a video projection of late singer Prince on screen. The show contained multiple selections from Man of the Woods, which is named after his son Silas, whose name means "from the forest". The album's first single, "Filthy", was released on January 5, along with its accompanying video directed by Mark Romanek. The electro-funk song has reached number nine in the U.S. and number 5 in Canada. The songs "Supplies", "Say Something" featuring Chris Stapleton and "Man of the Woods" were also released along with music videos ahead of the album. His collaboration with Stapleton also reached the top 10 in the U.S. and Canada.
Man of the Woods topped the Billboard 200 with the biggest first week sales of the year at the time, selling 293,000 total units. Man of the Woods also marks Timberlake's fourth consecutive No. 1 album and has since been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Man of the Woods concluded 2018 as the sixth best-selling album of the year. An accompanying tour of the same name began on March 13, 2018, in Toronto, Canada and concluded on April 13, 2019, in Uncasville. The Man of the Woods Tour was the sixth-highest-grossing tour of 2018.
In May 2019, Timberlake received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music. Missy Elliott and Alex Lacamoire also received doctorates at the ceremony.
Following the announcement of Trolls World Tour, Timberlake teased potential collaborations with a number of artists, through a series of Instagram posts, which included frequent collaborators Pharrell Williams, Nathaniel Hills and Rob Knox, as well as new collaborators such as Anderson .Paak, Brandy Norwood, Lizzo, and Meek Mill. On February 26, 2020, SZA and Timberlake released the single "The Other Side", a song part of the Trolls World Tour soundtrack, alongside its music video. On March 9, 2020, Timberlake released a teaser for his upcoming song "Don't Slack", which features Anderson .Paak, and is also part of the Trolls World Tour soundtrack. The song was released on March 10, 2020.
In September 2020, Timberlake and producer Timbaland teased a potential upcoming collaboration with Canadian musician Justin Bieber, as well as collaborations with Justine Skye, Hit-Boy and Ty Dolla Sign. In December 2020, Timberlake and Ant Clemons released the single "Better Days", which received its premier on the Rock the Runoff virtual concert, held by Stacey Abrams' organization Fair Fight.
In January 2021, Timberlake performed as part of the inauguration of Joe Biden. Performing from his hometown of Memphis, Timberlake performed his collaboration with Ant Clemons during the Celebrating America special. Timberlake performed at Pharrell Williams' Something in the Water festival in Washington D.C., where he was joined on stage by T.I. and Clipse for his five-song set.
2023–present: Everything I Thought It Was
In May 2023, Timbaland revealed that Timberlake's sixth studio album was completed, adding that their pair had revived the sound from the FutureSex/LoveSounds era. On September 1, 2023, Timbaland released the single "Keep Going Up", in collaboration with Furtado and Timberlake. Timberlake also reunited with his fellow former band members of NSYNC later that month and released the single "Better Place" in support of the Trolls Band Together soundtrack. In addition to "Keep Going Up" and "Better Place", Timberlake had also collaborated with Meek Mill on the song Believe, Romeo Santos on the song "Sin Fin", DJ Khaled on his album Khaled Khaled, on the song "Just Be", Justine Skye on her album, Space & Time, on the song "Innocent", Jack Harlow on his album Come Home the Kids Miss You, on the song "Parent Trap"; a remix of Coco Jones' "ICU" and a further remix of the song "3D" by Jungkook. Timberlake had also worked with Calvin Harris, producer of "Fuckin' Up the Disco" and "No Angels", on his song "Stay with Me", alongside Pharrell Williams and Halsey.
On January 19, 2024, Timberlake performed a free one-night-only concert at the Orpheum in Memphis where he live-debuted his new single "Selfish" after teasing a new project on social media in previous days. In promotion of the record, on January 25, 2024, Timberlake appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon; he announced the release of "Selfish" and revealed that the album had taken four years to produce.
"Selfish" debuted at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Timberlake's highest debut in six years on the chart. It became his 39th career solo entry on the Hot 100, and his 29th to reach the top 40. On the release day of "Selfish", he also announced that his sixth studio album, Everything I Thought It Was, would be released in March 2024. Timberlake appeared as a musical guest on the January 27, 2024, episode of Saturday Night Live, singing "Selfish" and "Sanctified". On January 30, he appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show and held an "intimate" concert at Irving Plaza in New York City on January 31, his 43rd birthday. He appeared as the musical guest, where he performed "Selfish" on The Graham Norton Show recorded in London on February 22, 2024, the night before he cancelled A One Night Only concert, to be held at the Roundhouse, London, on February 23, 2024. Timberlake was recovering from an illness. The promotional single "Drown" was released on February 23, 2024. Timberlake also appeared on Complex Networks Sneaker Shopping on March 11, 2024, and mentioned the release of his new album at the end of the video.
On March 13, 2024, in anticipation of the album release, Timberlake performed a one-off concert at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. The show featured a surprise reunion with his NSYNC bandmates, with the group playing a medley of hits and the new album track “Paradise.” Timberlake then performed on NPR's Tiny Desk series on March 15 for a half-hour-long concert. Timberlake also announced the release of a documentary showing the album's creation process. The second single off the record, "No Angels", was released on March 15, 2024, the same day as the album's release. Everything I Thought It Was debuted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200, giving Timberlake his sixth consecutive top five album in the country.
In April 2024, Timberlake opened the iHeartRadio Music Awards, performing both singles off the album, "Selfish" and "No Angels". Timberlake also promoted the album on the Forget Tomorrow World Tour, which began on April 29, 2024, in Vancouver, Canada. On February 23, 2024, Timberlake announced summer 2024 Europe tour dates. In March 2024, prior to the tour launching, Trace William Cowen of Complex reported that the Forget Tomorrow World Tour had become Timberlake's fastest selling tour to date. They stated that the tour had amassed over $140 million globally in initial ticket sales from over 70 dates and that more than one million attendees are expected. Cowen concluded that "Justin Timberlake's Forget Tomorrow World Tour Is Set to Become His Biggest Yet." On May 20, 2024, Pollstar announced that nine additional shows were added due to "overwhelming demand" and reported that over 1 million tickets were already sold, becoming Timberlake's fastest selling tour to date. The tour received generally positive reviews.
Personal life
Relationships and children
In early 1999, Timberlake began dating fellow former The All New Mickey Mouse Club cast member and singer Britney Spears. Their relationship ended abruptly in March 2002. Spears wrote in her 2023 memoir The Woman in Me that she became pregnant during their relationship and had an abortion in late 2000 after Timberlake said they were not prepared for parenthood and he did not want to be a father. In 2003, he briefly dated British singer Emma Bunton. In April 2003, he began a relationship with actress Cameron Diaz soon after they met at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. After much speculation of breakups throughout their relationship, the couple split in December 2006 shortly after she introduced him as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live.
In January 2007, Timberlake began dating actress Jessica Biel. They became engaged in December 2011 and married on October 19, 2012, at the Borgo Egnazia resort in Fasano, Italy. Their first child, a son, was born in April 2015. In July 2020, they had a second son.
Legal issues
Shortly after midnight on June 18, 2024, Timberlake was arrested in Sag Harbor, New York for driving while intoxicated (DWI). In addition to being charged with one count of DWI, Timberlake was issued two citations, one for running a stop sign and one for failure to keep in lane. He was released nine hours later following his first arraignment at Sag Harbor Village Justice Court. The Sag Harbor Police Department would later release his mugshot. Timberlake was scheduled to return to court on July 26, 2024. According to his arrest report, Timberlake alleged to authorities that he only had one martini shortly before he was pulled over. Despite making this claim, Timberlake refused a breathalyzer.
On June 22, 2024, bartender employees at the hotel where Timberlake was staying before his DWI arrest confirmed to People that he only had one martini while at the hotel bar. One employee stating that “If he was drinking more, it wasn't here." However, according to the arrest report, the officer who pulled Timberlake over after he drove through a stop sign and failed to keep on the right side of the road stated that his "eyes were bloodshot and glassy" at the time, and that "A strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath, he was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot, and he performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests." During the stop, Timberlake reportedly said, "this is going to ruin the tour." The officer, who did not know who Timberlake was, asked "what tour?", to which he replied with "the world tour." That exchange went viral, spawning several memes. Despite the arrest, Timberlake still continued to perform concerts, including a concert in Chicago on June 21, 2024, where he appeared to address the arrest, saying "We've been through ups and downs and lefts and rights... It's been a tough week - but you're here, and I'm here...I know sometimes I'm hard to love, but you keep on loving me and I love you right back."
Timberlake, who was performing overseas in Poland, would not attend his July 26, 2024, court arraignment, with his lawyer Edward Burke attending instead. Despite Burke's arguments that Timberlake was not intoxicated at the time of his arrest, Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace ordered for Timberlake to be re-arraigned on August 2. For the August 2 arraignment, Timberlake, who was still on tour, appeared virtually from Antwerp, Belgium. During this arraignment, Timberlake pled not guilty to a revised misdemeanor charge of driving drunk. Irace also agreed to review Burke's motion to dismiss the DWI charge. However, Timberlake's New York license was suspended by the judge for an indeterminate amount of time.
Timberlake was scheduled to have another hearing on August 9, 2024. In contrast to the August 2 hearing, Timberlake was not required to attend this court hearing. On September 11, 2024, it was revealed that Timberlake would plead guilty to a less serious traffic offense during his September 13 court appearance, with the DWI charge being dropped. Under his plea deal, Timberlake agreed to plead guilty to driving while impaired, a lesser offense which carries a penalty of a $300 to $500 fine and a 90-day driver license suspension.
On September 13, 2024, during an in-person appearance at the Sag Harbor Village Justice Courthouse, Timberlake pled guilty to a noncriminal driving while impaired traffic violation. Irace then sentenced Timberlake to a $500 fine with a $260 surcharge, 25 hours of community service at the nonprofit of his choosing and required him to make a public safety announcement. It also revealed that Timberlake's refusal to take a breathlyzer automatically triggered a suspension of his driver's license under New York state law.
Residences
In July 2002, Timberlake purchased a 13,250-square-foot (1,231 m2) mansion in Hollywood Hills for $8.3 million from Helen Hunt. In 2010, Timberlake purchased a unit at 311 West Broadway in SoHo, formerly owned by Oscar de la Renta, for $6.56 million. He sold the unit in 2018 for $6.35 million, incurring a loss.
In 2015, Timberlake bought a house in the Yellowstone Club near Big Sky, Montana. In May 2017, Timberlake and his wife, Jessica Biel, paid $20.2 million for a 5,375-square-foot (499.4 m2) penthouse unit at 443 Greenwich Street in Tribeca, Manhattan.
Earnings
Forbes began reporting on Timberlake's earnings in 2008, calculating that he earned $44 million between June 2007 and June 2008 for his music, tour, commercials, and hospitality, making him the world's 4th best-paid music personality at the time, above Madonna and Celine Dion. That year, he was ranked twelfth on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list and second on the "Best-Paid Celebrities Under 30" list.
According to Billboard, Timberlake was the third highest-paid musician of 2013, with earnings of $31 million. He was ranked 26th with earnings of $57 million on the Celebrity 100 list for 2014, and 19th on the 2015 list with $63 million. Timberlake was listed at number three on the Billboard Money-Makers List of 2014.
He was ranked 41st on the 2019 Celebrity 100 list by Forbes, with earnings of $57.5 million in 2019.
Health
At the end of his Forget Tomorrow World Tour in July 2025, Timberlake stated he had been diagnosed with Lyme disease. He shared, in an Instagram post, "When I first got the diagnosis I was shocked for sure. But, at least I could understand why I would be onstage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or, just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness. I was faced with a personal decision. Stop touring? Or, keep going and figure it out. I decided the joy that performing brings me far outweighs the fleeting stress my body was feeling. I'm so glad I kept going".
Artistry
Timberlake possesses a lyric tenor vocal range. He began including beatboxing in his records near the end of his boyband era and into his emergence as a solo act with Justified and FutureSex/LoveSounds. Many of his songs draw from his personal life and relationships, such as "Cry Me a River" (about his breakup with Britney Spears). Described by critics as a "consummate showman", Timberlake usually plays guitar, piano and keyboard in his shows. The New York Times' editor Katie Rogers highlighted Timberlake's crossover appeal after his performance with Chris Stapleton at the 2015 Country Music Association Awards.
Primarily an R&B album, his 2002 debut Justified also includes influence from dance-pop, funk and soul music. Timberlake has described it as influenced by Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. For the album's supporting tour Justified and Stripped Tour, he co-headlined with Christina Aguilera, drawing praise from Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times for his comfort in performing as part of a package.
His 2006 followup album FutureSex/LoveSounds departed from his earlier work to explore a broader sound, with elements of rap, rock, funk, soul, gospel, new wave, opera, and world music. During production, Timberlake was interested in musical techniques associated with rock music, which inspired his approach to recording. He described the album as drawing from David Bowie and Prince. Other influences include late INXS-frontman Michael Hutchence, Arcade Fire, David Byrne, The Killers, The Strokes, and Radiohead.
Timberlake's next album, The 20/20 Experience (2013) is a neo soul album partly inspired by the expansive song structures of 1960s and 1970s rock. Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times found its elaborate structures ambitious in the vein of Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Michael Jackson. He supported the album with a pair of tours: Legends of the Summer, which he co-headlined with Jay-Z, and The 20/20 Experience World Tour. These tours introduced his backing ensemble, the Tennessee Kids, a 15-piece multi-instrumentalist throwback to big band music.
Public image
Timberlake's fashion and style evolution, from "boy-band synchronized wardrobe days" to "a notable source of fashion inspiration to men all over", has been noticed by the media. As noted by a Billboard editor, "Since his solo career began with the 2002 release of debut album Justified, Timberlake has honed his unique sense of style", while citing Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Frank Sinatra as style influences: "guys who were just really never trying to be that [stylish], they just were that". According to American fashion designer Tom Ford, who has dressed Timberlake since 2011 and created more than 600 exclusive pieces for The 20/20 Experience World Tour, Timberlake "has a kind of effortless cool that makes classic menswear tailoring modern".
The New York Times' editor Sia Michel wrote in 2007, "Since his last tour, for 2002's multiplatinum Justified, he has learned how to project sex-symbol edge" adding "he's a rock star who can commit." Napster's founder Sean Parker, portrayed by Timberlake in The Social Network, stated "I don't think I look anything like Timberlake, but it's not so bad being played by a sex symbol." In Nielsen Music's U.S. report for 2015, Timberlake led the "Top 10 Musicians Among Millennials" list. His high-profile relationships earned him the nickname "Trousersnake", a reference to his allegedly big penis. Wax statues of Timberlake are on display at the Madame Tussauds wax museums in New York, Las Vegas, Hollywood, Nashville, Berlin, Amsterdam, and London. His costume used in the Saturday Night Live skit "Dick in a Box" is displayed at "Saturday Night Live: The Exhibition" in New York.
After New York legalized same-sex marriage in 2011, he voiced his support for LGBT equality in the U.S., stating, "We're people and we're different, all of us. And we should be using our differences to bring ourselves closer together." Timberlake and his wife Jessica Biel received the Inspiration Award at the GLSEN Respect Awards in 2015, with the executive director saying, "They are two vocal and committed allies to the LGBT community who are also devoted to charitable works that improve the lives of youth."
Timberlake's pronunciation of the word "me" on "It's Gonna Be Me" was popularized as an internet meme titled "It's Gonna Be May", after a Tumblr image of Timberlake was posted in 2012 with the respective caption. The meme eventually became an annually recurring joke throughout the month of April, which gained the attention of Barack Obama and Timberlake himself. Influenced by the national attention received by Timberlake's selfie inside a voting booth shared on Instagram during the 2016 presidential election, which was at the moment an illegal act, Senator Brian Kelsey of Germantown, Tennessee brought up a bill that would allow taking photos in voting poll stations, with some exceptions against bad procedures. It was later approved by the Tennessee Senate.
In June 2021, Timberlake spoke out in support of Britney Spears during her court battle over her conservatorship. Timberlake wrote on his Twitter that "No woman should ever be restricted from making decisions about her own body [...] [Jessica Biel] and I send our love, and our absolute support to Britney during this time. We hope the courts, and her family make this right and let her live however she wants to live".
Controversies
Following the release of Framing Britney Spears, public attention was brought to old comments Timberlake made in 2002 to describe his relationship with Britney Spears following their breakup, with some considering them to contain misogynistic rhetoric. It also led to renewed interest in his participation in the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, where he exposed Janet Jackson's breast on live television. Following much public pressure, Timberlake issued a public apology on his Instagram page, writing he "benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism" and "I do not want to ever benefit from others being pulled down again." He finished by saying "I care deeply about the wellbeing of the people I love and have loved. I can do better and I will do better".
Public scrutiny surrounding the Super Bowl XXXVIII incident was raised when a stylist alleged that the plan was originally for Timberlake to step on the back of Jackson's dress "to reveal her butt in this pearl g-string" but that he changed the plan to exposing her breast because he wanted a "reveal" to "one-up" Britney Spears' and Madonna's kiss at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. The claim that Timberlake wanted the breast reveal, however, is contradictory to a statement from Salli Frattini, the producer of the Halftime show, who stated in 2018 that the production team experimented with removing elements of clothing in rehearsal to reveal Jackson's skirt without nudity but that the idea was ultimately nixed. According to Frattini, it was Jackson's team who pitched the idea to Timberlake prior to the show that led to Jackson's breast being exposed.
Legacy
Timberlake has been referred to as the "President of Pop" and "Prince of Pop" by contemporary journalists. In a 2016 article of The Hollywood Reporter, editor Scott Feinberg stated Timberlake is "widely regarded as one of the greatest all-around entertainers in the history of show business".
In 2003, Rolling Stone named him the biggest pop star of the year and featured him on the magazine's cover, declaring he was "The New King of Pop". For Entertainment Weekly his second studio album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, "redefined pop's cutting edge"; for Vibe it "pushed boundaries more forcefully" than works by his male contemporaries. Fuse TV's editor Jason Lipshutz stated it "changed the game. [The album] was steely and sweaty, a universal dance opus that made room for intimacy. It had the best first half of any pop album in 25 years. You have to go back to 1979 for Off the Wall, to find a pop album with a first half that matches up." He was ranked 66th on the VH1 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time. Timberlake appeared for the first time on the Time 100 list of most influential people by Time in 2007. In 2013, he made his second appearance on the 100 list, with Stevie Wonder writing "Justin has accomplished a lot at a young age, taking advantage of all the possibilities, and yet he's found time to give of himself too—he gets and gives back. He has a spirit. He does God's work through using the most of his talent."
Justified's single "Cry Me a River" was ranked at number 20 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of the 2000s, and one of their 500 greatest songs of all time. Billboard editor Jason Lipshutz named the song's music video "one of the more brilliant musical moments in pop music since the dawn of the century". His second album FutureSex/LoveSounds was placed at 46 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the 2000s, the ninth best album of the decade for Entertainment Weekly, and the greatest of the decade for Vibe. The lead single, "SexyBack", helped introduce EDM sounds to top 40 radio, as it brought together variations of electronic dance music with Timberlake's R&B tone. Aside from earning critical acclaim for its parent album, Sia Michel of The New York Times noted that he was responsible for popularizing in 2006 the catchphrase "I'm bringing sexy back".
Considered a pop icon by media outlets, his work has influenced numerous artists, including Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Olly Murs, Maroon 5, Britney Spears, Lorde, Marilyn Manson, Joe Jonas, Thomas Rhett, Ed Sheeran, Jason Derulo, Tori Kelly, Liam Payne, Bridgit Mendler, Hunter Hayes, BoA, Seungri, Taeyang, Rain, Lloyd Banks, Maluma, Rosalía, and Jungkook. Bieber and Nick Jonas have cited him as one of their role models, with the latter stating is for "not only transitioning from where he started, but also balancing acting and singing". Christian hip hop artist tobyMac has stated Timberlake's work inspires him, commenting "he's setting himself up to be a classic, making decisions and moving on them. That's a great place to be." In the context of male artists that achieved commercial success after leaving their boy bands, Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone wrote "Timberlake and Michael Jackson set a high bar for what could be attained by solo success in that they not only scored numerous number-one hits but they also crafted the mold for what it meant to be a male pop star", while for Variety's Jeremy Blacklow the singer is "the modern case study". Multiple music publications have deemed Justified as the standard for post boy-band solo albums and teen pop stars seeking credibility. Billboard critics discussed in 2018 whether Timberlake is "the Best Male Pop Star of the 21st century;" those in favor named his crossover appeal, career longevity, showmanship and credibility within the industry among the reasons.
Achievements
Throughout his solo career, Timberlake has sold over 32 million albums and 56 million singles globally, and a further 70 million records with NSYNC, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. Timberlake has won ten Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, seven American Music Awards, three Brit Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, and eleven MTV Video Music Awards. His Grammy wins include categories on the pop, dance and R&B genres; while his Emmy wins consist of two Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics and two Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Timberlake received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards and the Innovator Award at the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Awards. Among other awards, he won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year for "Mirrors" in 2013 and the Billboard Music Awards for Top Artist with the Top Billboard 200 Album for The 20/20 Experience in 2014. Timberlake received the inaugural Decade Award at the 2016 Teen Choice Awards for his continuous achievements since the release of FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006).
In October 2015, he was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, becoming its youngest member. On April 30, 2018, Timberlake reunited with his NSYNC bandmates to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2019, Timberlake received a Contemporary Icon Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music.
All five of Timberlake's studio albums have been certified platinum or better by the RIAA and have received numerous awards. Worldwide sales figures for Justified stand at 10 million copies, FutureSex/LoveSounds at 10 million, and joint sales of The 20/20 Experience and 2 of 2 at 6 million copies. As of 2014, Timberlake has had seven songs exceed 3 million digital downloads in the United States, with "SexyBack" (4.5), "4 Minutes", "Dead and Gone", "Suit & Tie", "Mirrors", "Holy Grail", and "Can't Stop the Feeling!".
According to Billboard, FutureSex/LoveShow was the third highest-grossing concert tour of 2007 and highest solo. The 20/20 Experience World Tour was an international success and became Timberlake's most successful tour to date. The tour was the highest-grossing led by a solo artist in 2014, and one of the highest-grossing tours of the decade. For its associated album, The 20/20 Experience, Timberlake was named 2013 Artist of the Year with the top-selling album by iTunes' annual list of best-sellers.
In the United States, five of Timberlake's singles have topped the Billboard Hot 100: "SexyBack", "My Love" and "What Goes Around... Comes Around", "Give It to Me" and "Can't Stop the Feeling!". The latter became the 41st Hot 100 number one song to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. He topped nine Billboard Year-End charts for 2013, including Billboard 200 Artists and Billboard 200 Albums. For 2014, Timberlake was named Billboard Top Male Artist. Billboard published a list of "Greatest of All Time Pop Songs Artists" in 2017, where Timberlake ranked at number 5, being the top male soloist. The magazine also ranked him 25 on their "The Top 60 Male Artists of All-Time" list in 2018, and 64th on "The Hot 100's Top Artists of All Time". In 2019, Billboard ranked him 20th on their decade-end chart for "Top Artists" of the 2010s, and 74th on "Top 125 Greatest of All Time Artists Chart".
Other ventures
Business ventures
Timberlake has co-owned or provided celebrity endorsement for three restaurants in the United States: "Chi" opened in West Hollywood, California in 2003, and "Destino" and "Southern Hospitality" in New York opened in 2006 and 2007, respectively. In 2005, Timberlake launched the William Rast clothing line with childhood friend Juan ("Trace") Ayala. The 2007 line contained cord jackets, cashmere sweaters, jeans, and polo shirts. The pair reports inspiration from fellow Memphis resident Elvis Presley: "Elvis is the perfect mixture of Justin and I", Ayala says. "You can go back and see pictures of him in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat and a nice button-down shirt, but then again you can see him in a tux and a collared shirt with rhinestones on it and slacks. We like to think 'If he was alive today, what would he be wearing?'" Target has announced that a William Rast collection, including denim, outerwear and sportswear for men and women, would launch in December and be available for a month. In 2015, the clothing line earned him a Lord & Taylor's Fashion Oracle Award at the Fashion Group International's Night of The Stars Gala. An avid amateur golfer, in 2007 Timberlake purchased the run-down Big Creek Golf Course in his hometown of Millington, Tennessee, which he redeveloped as the eco-friendly Mirimichi Golf Course at the cost of around $US16 million. It was reopened on July 25, 2009, but closed again on January 15, 2010, for further improvements expected to take six months. In October 2011, Timberlake received the Futures Award at the Environmental Media Awards for his green-conscious golf course. It was reported on November 7, 2014, that Timberlake had sold Mirimichi to Three Star Leasing LLC for $500,000. In October 2018, Timberlake and Levi's debuted their collaborative clothing line collection "Fresh Leaves". In 2022, Justin Timberlake invested in Greenville, South Carolina par-3 golf course Greenville 3's.
Timberlake provides celebrity endorsement for many commercial products, this aspect of his business being managed by IMG since April 2008. Major endorsements in 2009 included Sony electronic products, Givenchy's men's fragrance "Play", the Audi A1, Callaway Golf Company products, and in 2011, Myspace. In 2011, he teamed up with Capital One to announce the winners of the inaugural Capital One Cup, in a six-minute advert, where he is repeatedly getting hit in the groin. In 2012, he hosted Walmart's annual shareholders meeting, saying, "I buy a lot at Walmart."
In 2014, Timberlake partnered with Sauza Tequila to re-launch his own version of the beverage as part of the Sauza franchise: Sauza 901. In 2016, he became an investor in the beverage company Bai Brands. In 2017, Tiger Woods and Timberlake acquired an ownership stake in the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour.
Timberlake and his wife Jessica Biel are minority owners of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Timberlake is an Air Jordan brand ambassador. His first collection with the brand, the Legend of the Summer collection, debuted on the co-headlining tour of the same name with Jay-Z. These sneakers have gone on to resell for upwards of $10,000. In the lead up to his 2018 Super Bowl Halftime Show, Timberlake worked with famed Nike, Inc. designer Tinker Hatfield to design his own version of the Air Jordan 3. Timberlake debuted the shoe at the halftime show. Timberlake's performance was estimated to be worth $2.86 million in marketing for Nike, and is credited for reigniting interested in the Nike and Air Jordan brand. Nike went on to release several colorways as part of the collaboration with Timberlake.
In May 2022, Timberlake sold the rights to his entire musical catalog, around 200 songs he wrote or co-wrote, to Hipgnosis Song Management for $100 million. The deal covers only pre-existing work, and not work he produces after the deal.
Timberlake had an estimated net-worth of $250 million prior to the Hipgnosis deal, and is now estimated to be worth in excess of $350 million – making him one of the music industry's wealthiest solo performers.
Philanthropy
Timberlake has been active in several charitable pursuits, initially through NSYNC's "Challenge for the Children" aimed at a range of charities, and since 2001 through his "Justin Timberlake Foundation", which initially funded music education programs in schools, but now has a much broader agenda. In October 2005, the Grammy Association presented Timberlake with an award for his humanitarian efforts in Tennessee, alongside writer/director Craig Brewer, also a Memphis native.
In November 2007, he donated $100,000 from takings from his Australian tour to Wildlife Warriors founded by Steve Irwin. On March 23, 2008, he donated $100,000 to the Memphis Rock N' Soul Museum and another $100,000 to the Memphis Music Foundation.
On November 12, 2007, the PGA Tour announced that Timberlake, an avid golfer who plays to a six handicap, would become the host of the tour's Las Vegas tournament starting in 2008. With Timberlake's agreement to host the tournament, its name was changed to the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He played in the celebrity pro-am on the day before the competitive tournament and hosted a charity concert during the week of the tournament. The activity was a success and was repeated in 2009. A review of the value of celebrities to fundraising concluded that Timberlake's contribution to Shriners Hospitals for Children was the single most valuable celebrity endorsement in the U.S. during 2009, and worth over $US9 million. However, in 2012, the event's chair Raoul Frevel told reporters Timberlake would no longer be involved in the event: "We tried everything we could to get him more involved with our kids and the hospitals. But it seemed that when the TV cameras weren't on, he disappeared."
Timberlake often participates in the American Century Championship and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Both annual tournaments raise money for a range of national and local non-profits.
In late 2012, Timberlake and his wife Jessica Biel volunteered in Far Rockaway, Queens over the weekend after Hurricane Sandy. Joined by their friend Timbaland, the couple helped distribute backpacks of supplies to members of the community who were still struggling after the hurricane.
Timberlake has donated items for auction for several charities, including by Ten O'Clock Classics and MusiCares. In 2010, Timberlake participated in the Hope for Haiti Now telethon performing "Hallelujah". The cover was made available for digital download with all proceeds donated to organizations doing relief work in Haiti. In 2016, Timberlake was featured in a new version of "Where Is the Love?". The proceeds of the charity single will go to educational programs. In 2017, Timberlake and Eminem helped raise over $2 million for Manchester Arena bombing victims.
Book
Timberlake's autobiography, Hindsight & All the Things I Can't See In Front of Me, was released on October 30, 2018. The book covers some on and off camera candid images, the singer's early life and inspiration for songs. According to publisher HarperCollins, Hindsight includes a "collection of anecdotes, reflections, and observations on his life and work".
Discography
Studio albums
Justified (2002)
FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006)
The 20/20 Experience (2013)
The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 (2013)
Man of the Woods (2018)
Everything I Thought It Was (2024)
Filmography
Films starred
Tours
See also
List of best-selling music artists – Artists with sales of over 88 million records worldwide
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
References
External links
Official website
Justin Timberlake at AllMusic
Justin Timberlake at IMDb
Justin Timberlake at the TCM Movie Database
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Vanna White
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Vanna Marie White (née Rosich; born February 18, 1957) is an American television personality and game-show hostess, best known as the co-host of the game show Wheel of Fortune, a position she has held since 1982. She began her career as a model while studying fashion, competing in Miss Georgia USA in 1978. In addition to her work on Wheel of Fortune, she has played minor characters or appeared as herself in many films and television series, and is the author of the 1987 autobiography Vanna Speaks. She also participates in real-estate investment, owns the yarn brand Vanna's Choice, and is a patron of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Early life
Vanna Marie Rosich was born on February 18, 1957, near North Myrtle Beach in Horry County, South Carolina. She is the daughter of Joan Marie (Nicholas) and Miguel Angel Rosich. According to census records, her paternal (Rosich) second great-grandparents were Spanish immigrants from Mallorca who settled in Ponce, Puerto Rico. When Vanna was an infant, her parents divorced. She was raised by her mother Joan and by Joan's second husband, Herbert White Jr. (1925–2022), a former real estate broker, in North Myrtle Beach. Vanna took White's surname. After graduating from high school, White moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she attended the Atlanta School of Fashion and Design and worked as a model. White headed to Los Angeles in 1979 to pursue an acting career, but in the summer of 1980, she returned briefly to South Carolina to see her mother, who was dying of ovarian cancer.
Career
Television, motion picture, and other media appearances
Before her appearance on TV, White was a contestant in the Miss Georgia USA 1978 pageant.
White's first appearance on a game show was on the June 20, 1980 episode of The Price Is Right, where she was among the first four contestants. White did not make it on stage, but the clip of her running to Contestants' Row was rebroadcast as part of The Price Is Right 25th Anniversary Special in August 1996 and The Price Is Right Celebrates 50 Years in September 2021 (in which she also appeared as a Guest Model during the show), and also was featured on the special broadcast Game Show Moments Gone Bananas.
In 1980, White acted in a film that was not completed; it was subsequently edited and released in June 1990 as Gypsy Angels. In 1981, she got a bit part in the film Looker and also appeared as Doris in the horror movie Graduation Day, an American slasher film directed by Herb Freed and produced by Troma Entertainment.
White's 1987 autobiography, Vanna Speaks!, was a best-seller. That same year, she was featured in a Playboy pictorial, showing photos taken of her before her career on Wheel of Fortune, wearing see-through lingerie. White starred as the title character, Venus, in the 1988 television movie Goddess of Love.
White has made cameo appearances on television shows such as L.A. Law, 227, Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Simon and Simon, The King of Queens, Full House, RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars and in films such as Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult (1994) Double Dragon (1994) and the Australian variety series Hey Hey It's Saturday.
White guest-starred on Married...With Children; in a gender swap parody of the film Indecent Proposal, she had the Robert Redford role while Al Bundy had that of Demi Moore. White served as guest timekeeper and provided interviews from the backstage area throughout the evening for WrestleMania IV. In 1996, she was the main narrator and singer in the CD release of Leslie Bricusse's "Santa's Last Ride."
On April 20, 2006, White was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with Pat Sajak, Merv Griffin, and Alex Trebek as key witnesses.
White lent her voice to the Canadian animated television special The Real Story of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and the American animated television series Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
White presented a set of luggage in a special guest appearance on The Price Is Right Celebrates 50 Years in September 2021.
In May 2022, White appeared as a special guest in the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars where the contestants did a runway in tribute to her past looks.
On April 21, 2023, it was announced that White would be featured in a four-episode documentary by ABC News titled The Game Show Show, covering the history of game shows in America over the last eight decades. The four-part documentary premiered on May 10, 2023.
Wheel of Fortune television game show
After Wheel of Fortune hostess Susan Stafford left in October 1982, White was selected as one of three substitute hostesses (along with Vicki McCarty and Summer Bartholomew) to co-host the show. On December 13, 1982, White became the regular hostess.
White temporarily took over hosting Wheel of Fortune as master of ceremonies starting with the week of episodes that were slated to air starting on December 9, 2019. The announcement was made after a taping day was postponed when Sajak was hospitalized with a blocked intestine and needed emergency surgery to clear it. White hosted that taping day and the subsequent rescheduled taping the next day. Guest letter activators were implemented during her shows hosting; the weeks of December 9 and 16 had Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse during the Secret Santa Holiday Giveaway. Subsequently, the show went on hiatus during Christmas week (December 23, 2019) and then a week of previously taped "America's Game" episodes (Wheel tapes six episodes per day, with each studio audience receiving three shows each; the third show in the afternoon session is an "America's Game" episode) that Sajak hosted, before White returned to hosting on January 6, 2020, for a final week; she was assisted by a "special guest", Pat Sajak's daughter Maggie. Fully recovered from his surgery, Sajak returned to the show on December 5, 2019, with episodes airing on January 13, 2020.
White missed filming five episodes in August 2023 after contracting COVID-19. She was temporarily replaced by Bridgette Donald-Blue but returned as hostess in October 2023. Filming on additional episodes was delayed until after her recovery. This marked the first time that White had missed an episode since 1991.
Since 2021, Sajak and White hosted Celebrity Wheel of Fortune on ABC. Later in the year it was announced that both Sajak and White had been signed on to continue as hosts of Wheel of Fortune through the 2023–24 season. She extended her contract on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune again in July 2023. In September 2023, White extended her contract as host of Wheel of Fortune through the 2025–26 season.
In May 2023, White competed as a contestant on a celebrity edition of Wheel of Fortune against Jeopardy! hosts Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik.
Real-estate investing
White uses her income to invest in apartment buildings, and she likes flipping houses. In 2017, White listed her Beverly Hills home for $47.5 million. In 2023, she began renting her home in Sherman Oaks.
Crochet and knitting endorsements
When White was five, her grandmother taught her how to crochet. White had lost interest in the hobby over time, until on the Wheel of Fortune set, she noticed her pregnant hairdresser was crocheting a baby blanket for herself. White told her that she previously crocheted and asked the hairdresser to help her relearn crochet. When she has downtime on the set, White often crochets, as she finds it very relaxing and has something to show for the time she has spent doing it.
White began her relationship with Lion Brand Yarns when she spoke about her love of crochet on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; the yarn company subsequently contacted her and negotiated a contract. White has her own line of yarn called Vanna's Choice and endorses crochet and knitting books published in her name.
World record
White is famous for her seamless revealing of letters on the game board, her smile, and her constant clapping in support of each episode's contestants. On the May 24, 2013 episode of Wheel of Fortune, White was presented with a Guinness World Record certificate for most frequent clapper. As of January 31, 2013, she had clapped an estimated 3,480,864 times across the show's 30 seasons. White had appeared in all but 10 of Wheel's 5,754 episodes to that point, during the show's modern syndicated run, which began on September 19, 1983. That works out to an average number of 606 claps per show.
Personal life
In the 1980s, White dated and became engaged to soap opera actor John Gibson, a Playgirl magazine centerfold and Chippendales dancer. However, Gibson died in a 1986 airplane crash. In 1990, White married restaurant owner George Santo Pietro. She first became pregnant in September 1992. An episode of Wheel of Fortune contained "Vanna's pregnant" as the answer to a puzzle. She miscarried shortly after the episode's taping. White gave birth to a son, Nicholas, on June 11, 1994 and a daughter, Giovanna, on July 1, 1997 from her marriage to Santo Pietro. The couple divorced in November 2002. From 2004 to 2006, she was engaged to Southern California businessman Michael Kaye. The two never wed. Since 2012, White has been in a relationship with contractor John Donaldson, whom she met through mutual friends.
White is a Baptist.
White is sometimes described as the "niece" of actor Christopher George. While George is not a biological relation, White's mother grew up with him, and George and his wife took White "under their wing" in Los Angeles. In an interview with Larry King, White said that her children often come to Wheel of Fortune tapings.
Philanthropy
As of 2019, White has donated $1.8 million to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and plans to continue her philanthropy after her retirement.
Litigation
In 1993, White sued Samsung Electronics over an advertisement featuring a robot turning letters on a game show, alleging a violation of her personality rights. The lower court's decision in Samsung's favor was reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which denied a rehearing, but Judge Alex Kozinski issued a dissent. The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari. A jury awarded White $403,000 in damages.
In popular culture
Parody song "Vanna, Pick Me a Letter" (a riff on Wayne Carson's "The Letter") was released by David Kolin (aka Dr. Dave) in 1987.
The second track of "Weird Al" Yankovic's 1988 album, Even Worse, features the song "Stuck in a Closet with Vanna White".
The 2001 Nelly single "Ride wit Me", mentions White with the lyrics "I'm getting pages out of New Jersey from Courtney B. Telling me bout a party up in NYC. And can I make it? Damn right, I be on the next flight, paying cash, first class, sitting next to Vanna White…"
Filmography
Film
Television
Publications
White, Vanna (1987). Vanna Speaks. New York: Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-51366-0.
Notes
References
External links
Vanna White at IMDb
Vanna White's biography Archived July 12, 2019, at the Wayback Machine on wheeloffortune.com
Judge Alex Kozinski's dissent in the White v. Samsung Electronics appeal
Vanna White at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
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Vanna Marie White (née Rosich; born February 18, 1957) is an American television personality and game-show hostess, best known as the co-host of the game show Wheel of Fortune, a position she has held since 1982. She began her career as a model while studying fashion, competing in Miss Georgia USA in 1978. In addition to her work on Wheel of Fortune, she has played minor characters or appeared as herself in many films and television series, and is the author of the 1987 autobiography Vanna Speaks. She also participates in real-estate investment, owns the yarn brand Vanna's Choice, and is a patron of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Early life
Vanna Marie Rosich was born on February 18, 1957, near North Myrtle Beach in Horry County, South Carolina. She is the daughter of Joan Marie (Nicholas) and Miguel Angel Rosich. According to census records, her paternal (Rosich) second great-grandparents were Spanish immigrants from Mallorca who settled in Ponce, Puerto Rico. When Vanna was an infant, her parents divorced. She was raised by her mother Joan and by Joan's second husband, Herbert White Jr. (1925–2022), a former real estate broker, in North Myrtle Beach. Vanna took White's surname. After graduating from high school, White moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she attended the Atlanta School of Fashion and Design and worked as a model. White headed to Los Angeles in 1979 to pursue an acting career, but in the summer of 1980, she returned briefly to South Carolina to see her mother, who was dying of ovarian cancer.
Career
Television, motion picture, and other media appearances
Before her appearance on TV, White was a contestant in the Miss Georgia USA 1978 pageant.
White's first appearance on a game show was on the June 20, 1980 episode of The Price Is Right, where she was among the first four contestants. White did not make it on stage, but the clip of her running to Contestants' Row was rebroadcast as part of The Price Is Right 25th Anniversary Special in August 1996 and The Price Is Right Celebrates 50 Years in September 2021 (in which she also appeared as a Guest Model during the show), and also was featured on the special broadcast Game Show Moments Gone Bananas.
In 1980, White acted in a film that was not completed; it was subsequently edited and released in June 1990 as Gypsy Angels. In 1981, she got a bit part in the film Looker and also appeared as Doris in the horror movie Graduation Day, an American slasher film directed by Herb Freed and produced by Troma Entertainment.
White's 1987 autobiography, Vanna Speaks!, was a best-seller. That same year, she was featured in a Playboy pictorial, showing photos taken of her before her career on Wheel of Fortune, wearing see-through lingerie. White starred as the title character, Venus, in the 1988 television movie Goddess of Love.
White has made cameo appearances on television shows such as L.A. Law, 227, Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Simon and Simon, The King of Queens, Full House, RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars and in films such as Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult (1994) Double Dragon (1994) and the Australian variety series Hey Hey It's Saturday.
White guest-starred on Married...With Children; in a gender swap parody of the film Indecent Proposal, she had the Robert Redford role while Al Bundy had that of Demi Moore. White served as guest timekeeper and provided interviews from the backstage area throughout the evening for WrestleMania IV. In 1996, she was the main narrator and singer in the CD release of Leslie Bricusse's "Santa's Last Ride."
On April 20, 2006, White was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with Pat Sajak, Merv Griffin, and Alex Trebek as key witnesses.
White lent her voice to the Canadian animated television special The Real Story of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and the American animated television series Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
White presented a set of luggage in a special guest appearance on The Price Is Right Celebrates 50 Years in September 2021.
In May 2022, White appeared as a special guest in the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars where the contestants did a runway in tribute to her past looks.
On April 21, 2023, it was announced that White would be featured in a four-episode documentary by ABC News titled The Game Show Show, covering the history of game shows in America over the last eight decades. The four-part documentary premiered on May 10, 2023.
Wheel of Fortune television game show
After Wheel of Fortune hostess Susan Stafford left in October 1982, White was selected as one of three substitute hostesses (along with Vicki McCarty and Summer Bartholomew) to co-host the show. On December 13, 1982, White became the regular hostess.
White temporarily took over hosting Wheel of Fortune as master of ceremonies starting with the week of episodes that were slated to air starting on December 9, 2019. The announcement was made after a taping day was postponed when Sajak was hospitalized with a blocked intestine and needed emergency surgery to clear it. White hosted that taping day and the subsequent rescheduled taping the next day. Guest letter activators were implemented during her shows hosting; the weeks of December 9 and 16 had Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse during the Secret Santa Holiday Giveaway. Subsequently, the show went on hiatus during Christmas week (December 23, 2019) and then a week of previously taped "America's Game" episodes (Wheel tapes six episodes per day, with each studio audience receiving three shows each; the third show in the afternoon session is an "America's Game" episode) that Sajak hosted, before White returned to hosting on January 6, 2020, for a final week; she was assisted by a "special guest", Pat Sajak's daughter Maggie. Fully recovered from his surgery, Sajak returned to the show on December 5, 2019, with episodes airing on January 13, 2020.
White missed filming five episodes in August 2023 after contracting COVID-19. She was temporarily replaced by Bridgette Donald-Blue but returned as hostess in October 2023. Filming on additional episodes was delayed until after her recovery. This marked the first time that White had missed an episode since 1991.
Since 2021, Sajak and White hosted Celebrity Wheel of Fortune on ABC. Later in the year it was announced that both Sajak and White had been signed on to continue as hosts of Wheel of Fortune through the 2023–24 season. She extended her contract on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune again in July 2023. In September 2023, White extended her contract as host of Wheel of Fortune through the 2025–26 season.
In May 2023, White competed as a contestant on a celebrity edition of Wheel of Fortune against Jeopardy! hosts Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik.
Real-estate investing
White uses her income to invest in apartment buildings, and she likes flipping houses. In 2017, White listed her Beverly Hills home for $47.5 million. In 2023, she began renting her home in Sherman Oaks.
Crochet and knitting endorsements
When White was five, her grandmother taught her how to crochet. White had lost interest in the hobby over time, until on the Wheel of Fortune set, she noticed her pregnant hairdresser was crocheting a baby blanket for herself. White told her that she previously crocheted and asked the hairdresser to help her relearn crochet. When she has downtime on the set, White often crochets, as she finds it very relaxing and has something to show for the time she has spent doing it.
White began her relationship with Lion Brand Yarns when she spoke about her love of crochet on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; the yarn company subsequently contacted her and negotiated a contract. White has her own line of yarn called Vanna's Choice and endorses crochet and knitting books published in her name.
World record
White is famous for her seamless revealing of letters on the game board, her smile, and her constant clapping in support of each episode's contestants. On the May 24, 2013 episode of Wheel of Fortune, White was presented with a Guinness World Record certificate for most frequent clapper. As of January 31, 2013, she had clapped an estimated 3,480,864 times across the show's 30 seasons. White had appeared in all but 10 of Wheel's 5,754 episodes to that point, during the show's modern syndicated run, which began on September 19, 1983. That works out to an average number of 606 claps per show.
Personal life
In the 1980s, White dated and became engaged to soap opera actor John Gibson, a Playgirl magazine centerfold and Chippendales dancer. However, Gibson died in a 1986 airplane crash. In 1990, White married restaurant owner George Santo Pietro. She first became pregnant in September 1992. An episode of Wheel of Fortune contained "Vanna's pregnant" as the answer to a puzzle. She miscarried shortly after the episode's taping. White gave birth to a son, Nicholas, on June 11, 1994 and a daughter, Giovanna, on July 1, 1997 from her marriage to Santo Pietro. The couple divorced in November 2002. From 2004 to 2006, she was engaged to Southern California businessman Michael Kaye. The two never wed. Since 2012, White has been in a relationship with contractor John Donaldson, whom she met through mutual friends.
White is a Baptist.
White is sometimes described as the "niece" of actor Christopher George. While George is not a biological relation, White's mother grew up with him, and George and his wife took White "under their wing" in Los Angeles. In an interview with Larry King, White said that her children often come to Wheel of Fortune tapings.
Philanthropy
As of 2019, White has donated $1.8 million to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and plans to continue her philanthropy after her retirement.
Litigation
In 1993, White sued Samsung Electronics over an advertisement featuring a robot turning letters on a game show, alleging a violation of her personality rights. The lower court's decision in Samsung's favor was reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which denied a rehearing, but Judge Alex Kozinski issued a dissent. The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari. A jury awarded White $403,000 in damages.
In popular culture
Parody song "Vanna, Pick Me a Letter" (a riff on Wayne Carson's "The Letter") was released by David Kolin (aka Dr. Dave) in 1987.
The second track of "Weird Al" Yankovic's 1988 album, Even Worse, features the song "Stuck in a Closet with Vanna White".
The 2001 Nelly single "Ride wit Me", mentions White with the lyrics "I'm getting pages out of New Jersey from Courtney B. Telling me bout a party up in NYC. And can I make it? Damn right, I be on the next flight, paying cash, first class, sitting next to Vanna White…"
Filmography
Film
Television
Publications
White, Vanna (1987). Vanna Speaks. New York: Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-51366-0.
Notes
References
External links
Vanna White at IMDb
Vanna White's biography Archived July 12, 2019, at the Wayback Machine on wheeloffortune.com
Judge Alex Kozinski's dissent in the White v. Samsung Electronics appeal
Vanna White at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
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Lil Wayne
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Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Born and raised in New Orleans, he was discovered by hometown rapper Birdman in 1993 and signed with his record label, Cash Money Records, at age eleven. He emerged as the label's flagship artist until his departure in 2018.
Carter was first placed in a duo with Cash Money labelmate B.G. in 1994—known collectively as the B.G.'z—and they released the album True Story that year, although Carter (at the time known as Baby D) appeared on only three of its tracks. Carter and B.G. then formed the Southern hip-hop group Hot Boys with labelmates Juvenile and Turk in 1997, and released their debut album, Get It How U Live! that year. The Hot Boys gained mainstream success after the release of their second album Guerrilla Warfare (1999) and their appearance on B.G.'s single, "Bling Bling". The group briefly disbanded after the album due to each member (besides Carter) parting ways with the label, although one further album—Let 'Em Burn (2003)—was released.
Carter's debut studio album, Tha Block Is Hot (1999), was his breakthrough as a solo artist, quickly achieving commercial success. It was followed by Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2003). Carter is credited with revolutionizing the mixtape scene with his innovative approach in the 2000s. His fourth and fifth albums, Tha Carter (2004) and Tha Carter II (2005), both debuted within the top five of the Billboard 200 and received critical acclaim. His sixth album, Tha Carter III (2008), yielded the pinnacle of Wayne's career, with first-week sales of over one million units domestically. It won the Best Rap Album at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards and was supported by his first Billboard Hot 100-number one single "Lollipop" (featuring Static Major), and the top-ten singles "A Milli" and "Got Money" (featuring T-Pain).
Carter's seventh studio album, Rebirth (2010), experimented with rap rock and was released to generally negative critical reception. A month after its release, he began serving an 8-month jail sentence for criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in 2007. His eighth album, I Am Not a Human Being (2010), was released during his incarceration, while his ninth album, Tha Carter IV (2011), followed months after his release from prison. Despite mixed reviews, Tha Carter IV sold 964,000 units in its first-week in the U.S. His twelfth studio album, Tha Carter V (2018)—preceded by I Am Not a Human Being II (2013) and Free Weezy Album (2015)—was released following long-term delays and label disputes, and was met with 480,000 in first-week sales. His thirteenth album, Funeral (2020), became his fifth non-consecutive number one album. He released his fourteenth album, Tha Carter VI, in June 2025.
Carter has sold over 120 million records worldwide, including over 25 million albums and 95 million digital tracks in the U.S, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He has won five Grammy Awards, eleven BET Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and eight NAACP Image Awards. On September 27, 2012, he became the first male artist to surpass Elvis Presley with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100, with 109 songs. Carter founded the record label Young Money Entertainment in 2005, which has signed artists including Drake, Tyga and Nicki Minaj.
Early life
Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. was born on September 27, 1982. He spent his first few years in the impoverished Hollygrove neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans, Louisiana's 17th Ward. His mother, a cook, gave birth to him when she was 19 years old. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and his father permanently abandoned the family. In a 2009 interview, CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked the rapper why he used the name Wayne instead of his given name. Carter replied, "I'll tell you why I dropped the D right here on TV. I dropped the D because I am a junior. My father, he’s livin', and he is not in my life and he’s never been in my life. So I don't wanna be Dwayne. I’d rather be Wayne." Couric asked if his father knew that, and Carter, chuckling, said, "He knows it now." Carter has said that he considers his deceased stepfather Reginald "Rabbit" McDonald to be his real father. Carter has a tattoo dedicated to McDonald.
Carter was enrolled in the gifted program at Lafayette Elementary School. He later attended Eleanor McMain Secondary School for two years, where he was an honor student and a member of the drama club, playing the Tin Man in the school's production of The Wiz. Despite matriculating to Marion Abramson Senior High School, Carter left during his tenth grade year to pursue a GED. Carter's mother made the decision to remove him from school for his safety. At 15, Carter was already finding success in the music industry; his mother decided he needed to leave high school after discovering the gun he packed in his school bag for protection.
Carter wrote his first rap song at age eight. In the summer of 1991, he met rapper and Cash Money Records co-founder Bryan "Baby" Williams (known currently as Birdman), who mentored him and encouraged his love of hip-hop; Birdman included Carter on several Cash Money tracks, and he (in return) would often record freestyle raps on Williams' answering machine.
In 1994, at age 12, Carter suffered a near-fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. At the time, he said the injury was accidental. However, in September 2018, Carter claimed in interviews that it was a suicide attempt after he was told by his mother that he would have to end his rap-related associations. Carter credits off-duty police officer Robert Hoobler (1956–2022), who he calls "Uncle Bob", with saving his life by insisting the dying child be driven immediately to hospital in a police car rather than waiting for an ambulance to become available. Other accounts indicate that several officers played a part in deciding on and implementing that course of action.
Career
1994–1999: Career beginnings and Hot Boys
After recovering from his self-inflicted gunshot wound, Carter linked with Christopher Dorsey, a local New Orleans rapper known as B.G., his longtime friend, future Cash Money labelmate and Hot Boys bandmate. They would later form their duo, the B.G.'z, with B.G. being named "Lil Doogie" and Carter being "Baby D". They only released one album under the group name, True Story (1995).
In 1997, Carter and Dorsey then joined the hip-hop quartet, the Hot Boys, along with rappers and labelmates, Juvenile, and Turk. Having joined at age 14, Carter was the youngest member at the time. Hot Boys' debut album, Get It How U Live!, was released the same year, followed in 1999 by the group's major-label debut Guerrilla Warfare, which respectively reached number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and number five on the Billboard 200. During their career, the Hot Boys had two charting singles, "We on Fire" from Get It How U Live! and "I Need a Hot Girl" from Guerrilla Warfare. The group shared a track, "Bling Bling", alongside another Cash Money group, duo Big Tymers (consisting of Birdman and producer Mannie Fresh). Carter's verse appeared only on the radio version of the song, while on the album version he performed on the chorus. "Bling Bling" appeared on Hot Boys member B.G.'s solo album, Chopper City in the Ghetto, released in April 1999. Carter was also featured on Juvenile's single "Back That Azz Up", which reached number eighteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.
Let 'Em Burn, a compilation album of unreleased tracks recorded by the quartet during 1998 and 2000, was released in March 2003, several years after the group disbanded. It reached number three on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, but underperformed on the Billboard 200 at number fourteen.
1999–2004: Tha Block Is Hot, Lights Out, and 500 Degreez
Carter's debut solo album, Tha Block Is Hot, was released on November 2, 1999, when he was 17 and featured significant contributions from the Hot Boys. It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and was later certified platinum by the RIAA in December 1999, less than a month after its release. The album earned Carter a 1999 Source magazine nomination for "Best New Artist", and also became a Top Ten hit. The lead single was the album's title track, which its chorus was performed by Carter's former Hot Boys cohort, Juvenile and B.G.
His second album, Lights Out, was released on December 19, 2000. It failed to attain the level of success achieved by his debut, but was certified gold by RIAA in June 2001, nearly six months after its release. Critics noted the lack of coherent narratives in his verses as evidence that he had yet to mature to the level of his fellow Hot Boys. The lead single was "Get Off the Corner", which was noticed for an improvement in its lyrical content and style. The second single, which received less attention, was "Shine" featuring the Hot Boys. Near the release of Lights Out, Carter was featured on the single, "Number One Stunna" with Big Tymers and Juvenile, which peaked at number 24 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. The track, originally featured on Big Tymers' I Got That Work, would be used for the Spike Lee-directed comedy film, The Original Kings of Comedy.
Carter's third album, 500 Degreez, was released in August 2002. It followed the format of his previous two, with significant contributions from the Hot Boys and Mannie Fresh. While being certified gold like its predecessor, it also failed to match the success of his debut. The title was a reference to the recently estranged Hot Boys member Juvenile's debut solo studio album, 400 Degreez (1998). Its lead single was "Way of Life", featuring Birdman and singer TQ with narration by its producer, Mannie Fresh; it reached number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 23 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. The single featured a sample of Tupac Shakur's diss track towards the Notorious B.I.G., "Hit 'Em Up" (1996), which itself sampled Dennis Edwards and Siedah Garrett's "Don't Look Any Further" (1984). Despite the album's commercial failure, John Bush of AllMusic praised 500 Degreez, while calling "Way of Life" an "infectious party hit". After the release of 500 Degreez, Carter was featured on the single "Neva Get Enuf" by 3LW, and later appeared on his future girlfriend, singer Nivea's single, "Ya Ya Ya".
2004–2006: Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, and Like Father, Like Son
On June 29, 2004, Carter's fourth studio album, Tha Carter, was released, marking what critics considered advancement in his rapping style and lyrical themes. In addition, the album's cover art featured the debut of Wayne's now-signature dreadlocks. Tha Carter gained Wayne significant recognition, selling 878,000 copies in the United States, while the single "Go DJ" became a top five hit on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. After the release of Tha Carter, Lil Wayne was featured on Destiny's Child's single "Soldier" alongside Atlanta rapper T.I., which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts.
In 2005, Carter appeared on a remix of singer Bobby Valentino's "Tell Me", which rose to number thirteen on the U.S. Hot R&B Songs chart. That same year, Carter was named the president of Cash Money Records, but was later granted his own label; he founded Young Money Entertainment as an imprint of Cash Money and Universal Music Group. However, as of late 2007, Carter reported having stepped down from the management of both labels and handed management of Young Money over to his longtime manager, Cortez Bryant.
Tha Carter II, the sequel to 2004's Tha Carter, was released on December 6, 2005. Mannie Fresh was not involved in the production of the album, as he had left the label prior, due to financial issues. Tha Carter II sold more than 238,000 copies in its first week of release, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200; the album went on to sell two million copies worldwide. The lead single, "Fireman", became a hit in the U.S., peaking at 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other singles included "Grown Man" with Currensy, "Hustler Musik", and "Shooter" with R&B singer Robin Thicke.
In 2006, Carter collaborated with his label boss, Birdman, for the album, Like Father, Like Son, which its first single "Stuntin' Like My Daddy", reached number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.
2006–2007: Mixtapes and collaborations
Instead of a follow-up solo album, Carter began to reach his audience through a plethora of mixtapes and guest appearances on a variety of pop, R&B and hip hop singles. Of his many mixtapes, Dedication 2 and Da Drought 3 received the most media exposure and critical review. Dedication 2, released in 2006, paired Carter with DJ Drama and contained the acclaimed socially conscious track, "Georgia Bush", a remix of Field Mob and Ludacris' "Georgia", in which Carter critiqued former U.S. president George W. Bush's response to the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans. Da Drought 3 was released the following year and was available for free legal download. It contained Carter rapping over a variety of beats from recent hits by other musicians. A number of prominent hip hop magazines such as XXL and Vibe covered the mixtape. Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone magazine considered the mixtapes Da Drought 3 and The Drought Is Over 2 (The Carter 3 Sessions) "among the best albums of 2007".
Despite no album release for two years, Carter appeared in numerous singles as a featured performer, including in 2006 with the remix to "Gimme That" by Chris Brown, "Make It Rain" by Fat Joe and "You" by Lloyd, and in 2007 with "We Takin' Over" by DJ Khaled (also featuring Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, and Birdman), "Duffle Bag Boy" by Playaz Circle, "Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)" by Wyclef Jean (also featuring Akon), and the remix to "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled (also featuring T-Pain, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Fat Joe, Birdman, and Rick Ross). All these singles charted within the top 20 spots on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Rap Tracks, and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. On Birdman's 2007 album, 5 * Stunna, Carter appeared on the singles "100 Million" and "I Run This" among several other tracks. Carter also appeared on tracks from albums, Getback by Little Brother, American Gangster by Jay-Z, and Graduation by Kanye West and Insomniac by Enrique Iglesias. "Make It Rain" (2006), a Scott Storch production that peaked at number thirteen on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot Rap Tracks chart, was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for 2008.
Vibe magazine ranked a list of 77 of Lil Wayne's songs from 2007 and ranked his verse in DJ Khaled's "We Takin Over" as his best of 2007, with "Dough Is What I Got" (a freestyle over the beat of Jay-Z's "Show Me What You Got") from Da Drought 3. At the end of 2007, an MTV poll selected Lil Wayne as "Hottest MC in the Game", The New Yorker magazine ranked him "Rapper of the Year", and GQ magazine named him "Workaholic of the Year". In 2008, he was named "Best MC" by Rolling Stone. Another article, built around Lil Wayne's 2007 mixtape work, cites his creative practice as an example of post-performance creative practice.
2007–2010: Tha Carter III, We Are Young Money, and Rebirth
In 2007, Carter stated that he would reunite with Hot Boys, with plans to release an album after B.G.'s solo album Too Hood to Be Hollywood was completed. Tha Carter III was originally scheduled to be released in 2007, but it was delayed after several recordings were leaked and distributed through mixtapes, including The Drought Is Over Pt. 2 and The Drought Is Over Pt. 4. Lil Wayne initially planned to release The Leak, a separate album with leaked songs and four additional tracks, on December 18, 2007, with Tha Carter III delayed to March 18, 2008. Instead, The Leak became an EP with five songs and was released digitally on December 25, 2007.
Tha Carter III was released on June 10, 2008, with first-week sales of over 1 million copies, the first to do so since 50 Cent's The Massacre (2005). The album's first single, "Lollipop", featuring Static Major, became the Carter's most successful song at the time, topping the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming his first top ten single as a solo artist and his first number one on the chart. The third single "Got Money", featuring T-Pain, peaked at number thirteen on the Billboard 100. Tha Carter III went on to win four Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song, which he won for "Lollipop". On July 14, 2008, the Recording Industry Association of America certified Tha Carter III two times platinum. In October 2008, Lil Wayne announced plans to MTV News to re-release the album with new tracks, including a duet with Ludacris and remixes of "A Milli".
Carter also appeared on R&B singles "Girls Around the World" by Lloyd, "Love in This Club, Part II" by Usher, "Official Girl" by Cassie, "I'm So Paid" by Akon, "Turnin' Me On" by Keri Hilson, and "Can't Believe It" by T-Pain; rap singles "My Life" by The Game, "Shawty Say" by David Banner, "Swagga Like Us" by T.I., "Cutty Buddy" by Mike Jones, All My Life (In the Ghetto) by Jay Rock and the remix to "Certified" by Glasses Malone; and pop single "Let It Rock" by new Cash Money artist Kevin Rudolf.
Throughout 2008, Carter performed at the Voodoo Experience in October in New Orleans, which was described by Jonathan Cohen of Billboard as his biggest hometown headlining set of his career. He also performed at the Virgin Mobile Music Fest with Kanye West, where they performed the remix of "Lollipop" and lip-synced to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You". Lil Wayne also performed at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards with Kid Rock ("All Summer Long"), Leona Lewis ("DontGetIt (Misunderstood)") and T-Pain ("Got Money") and performed "Lollipop" and "Got Money" on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live. He later performed at the homecoming rally at Vanderbilt University and the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards, where he received 12 nominations. He won eight awards at the BET Hip Hop Awards, one of which included the "MVP" title. After M.I.A. dropped out of performing on Carter's I Am Music Tour due to her pregnancy, Jay-Z performed "Mr. Carter" with Lil Wayne at select shows.
After Tha Carter III sold over 3 million copies and became the best-selling record of 2008, Carter re-signed with Cash Money Records for a multi-album deal.
On November 11, 2008, Carter became the first hip hop act to perform at the Country Music Association Awards, playing "All Summer Long" alongside Kid Rock, in which Carter inaudibly strummed guitar strings alongside the guitarist in Kid Rock's band. Shortly after, Wayne was nominated for eight Grammys – the most for any artist nominated that year. He was then named the first MTV Man of the Year at the end of 2008. He won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for "A Milli", Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for his appearance on T.I.'s single "Swagga Like Us", and Best Rap Song for "Lollipop". Tha Carter III won the award for Best Rap Album. MTV News listed Carter number two on their 2009 list of the Hottest MCs in the Game.
Prior to the 2009 Grammy Awards, Wayne was featured in an interview with Katie Couric. On February 7, 2009, he presented the Top Ten List on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman. On April 24, 2009, he appeared on The View, discussing his GED and addictions. In September 2009, Carter was profiled in an episode of VH1's Behind the Music and was a presenter of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. In film, Carter produced and composed music for and starred in the direct-to-video film Hurricane Season. A documentary of Carter, titled The Carter, was released at the Sundance Film Festival.
On December 23, 2009, Carter released his label, Young Money's first compilation album, We Are Young Money, with its lead single being "Every Girl". The second single was "BedRock", featuring Lloyd, with the third being "Roger That". On May 24, 2010, the album was certified gold by the RIAA with over 500,000 copies sold. Carter is featured on the song, "Revolver", with Madonna for her greatest hits album, Celebration (2009). He was also featured on a Weezer song, "Can't Stop Partying", on Raditude (2009). In late 2008, Carter announced plans to reissue Tha Carter III with leftover recordings, and was to be titled Rebirth, originally scheduled to be released on April 7, 2009, before being delayed several times. Rebirth instead became his sixth solo studio album, re-recorded with replaced material and later released on February 2, 2010. The album received negative reviews from fans and critics, considering it Carter's worst album released since 500 Degreez (2002).
To support its release and that of We Are Young Money, Carter was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone and headlined the 'Young Money Presents: America's Most Wanted Music Festival', a United States and Canada–only concert tour which began on July 29, 2009. "Prom Queen", the first official single, debuted on January 27, 2009, immediately after a live Internet broadcast of his concert in San Diego on Ustream (now IBM Cloud Video). It peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. On December 3, 2009, the second single, "On Fire", produced by Cool & Dre, was released. Based on a sample of Amy Holland's "She's on Fire" from the soundtrack to the 1983 film, Scarface, "On Fire" peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Drop the World", which features Eminem, was the album's third single; it was produced by a then-unknown Hit-Boy.
2010–2013: I Am Not a Human Being series and Tha Carter IV
In an interview on MTV's Mixtape Monday, Carter hinted at the release of Tha Carter IV. He later announced that it would be released in late 2009 before the holiday season. Birdman had previously stated that Tha Carter IV would be packaged with Rebirth as a double disc album. Carter denied this, saying that "Tha Carter IV deserves Tha Carter IV", adding that We Are Young Money may be packaged with Rebirth. These albums were eventually released separately.
Carter released his eighth album, I Am Not a Human Being, on his 28th birthday, September 27, 2010. The album was released during Carter's incarceration on a weapon possession charge. The album has sold over 953,000 copies in the U.S. and spawned the successful single "Right Above It", which peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also debuted at number two, but later climbed to number one on the Billboard 200, making Carter the first rapper while incarcerated (since Tupac Shakur's Me Against the World, released in 1995) to have a number one album. Tha Carter IV was delayed into 2011, after Lil Wayne began recording from scratch after his release from prison. He described his first song since his release as "a 2010 version of A Milli on steroids". The lead single from Tha Carter IV, "6 Foot 7 Foot" featuring Cory Gunz, was released on December 15, 2010. On March 8, Carter released another song, "We Back Soon", though it was not included on the official track listing of Tha Carter IV. The second single, "John", featuring Rick Ross, was released on March 24. In an interview on March 29, Carter announced that he would retire at age 35; saying that "I would feel selfish still going to the studio when it's such a vital point" in the lives of his four children.
Throughout a two-year period between 2010 and 2012, Carter has been featured in many hit singles such as "I Made It (Cash Money Heroes)" by Kevin Rudolf, "Miss Me", "The Motto", and "HYFR (Hell Ya Fucking Right)" by Drake, "No Love" by Eminem, "Hit the Lights" by Jay Sean, "Look at Me Now" by Chris Brown, "Welcome to My Hood", "I'm on One", "Take It to the Head", and "No New Friends" by DJ Khaled, "Motivation" by Kelly Rowland, "Ballin'" by Young Jeezy, "Strange Clouds" by B.o.B, "I Can Only Imagine" by David Guetta, "Faded" by Tyga, "Pop That" by French Montana, and "Bandz a Make Her Dance" by Juicy J.
The artwork for Tha Carter IV was unveiled on April 20. Originally scheduled to be released on May 16, it was delayed several times until being confirmed for release on August 29, 2011. On May 26, the album's third single, "How to Love", was released. He released another track, "Dear Anne (Stan Part 2)", in June. In preparation for Tha Carter IV, Carter released a mixtape, Sorry 4 the Wait, in similarity to his mixtape No Ceilings (2009); the mixtape was re-released on streaming services in January 2022 with four additional tracks.
Finally released on August 29, 2011, Tha Carter IV debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 964,000 copies (overshadowing the first-week sales of Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne), making it Carter's third chart-topping album of his career. On January 8, 2012, according to Nielsen SoundScan, Carter was the seventh all-time best-selling artist for digital track sales with 36,788,000 million to the end of 2011.
In October 2011, it was reported that Carter was working on sequels to both I Am Not a Human Being and Rebirth. In January 2012, Birdman announced that he and Carter had finished recording Like Father, Like Son 2. On November 22, 2012, Carter announced that Tha Carter V would be his final album, as he wanted to pursue other interests.
After a one-year delay, I Am Not a Human Being II was released on March 26, 2013, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 selling 217,000 copies in its first week; "My Homies Still", "Love Me", and "No Worries" were released as singles prior to its release. The album was met with generally mixed reviews, with most critics noticing the declining quality of his releases. Carter toured North America with 2 Chainz and T.I. on the second America's Most Wanted Festival. On May 3, 2013, Pepsi dropped Carter, who was a spokesperson for Mountain Dew, due to him performing offensive lyrics about civil rights icon Emmett Till on the remix to rapper Future's single, "Karate Chop". On September 1, 2013, Carter released Dedication 5, the fifth instalment of the Dedication mixtape series. The mixtape featured 29 tracks, with guest appearances from several members of Young Money.
2014–2019: Free Weezy Album and Tha Carter V
On October 18, 2013, former Cash Money Records vice president of promotion Mel Smith, tweeted: "Happy Friday!! New YMCMB music coming soon!! Carter 5." Nearly four months later, in an interview with The Griffin, released on February 14, 2014, Smith spoke on the upcoming album: "We're very close to dropping the album. It's going to be a huge surprise to everyone ... I can't release the date because he wants to surprise people." On February 15, during Drake's performance at the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities in New Orleans, Carter appeared as a guest performer before announcing that Tha Carter V would be released on May 5, 2014. In March 2014, Carter again said during an interview at SXSW that Tha Carter V would be his last album.
On March 27, 2014, Carter's manager Cortez Bryant announced that the album had been delayed. Carter then released the single "Believe Me", which features vocals from Drake, to mainstream urban radio in the United States on May 6, 2014. Three more singles, "Krazy", "Grindin'" (featuring Drake) and "Start a Fire" (featuring Christina Milian), were also released, but ultimately scrapped from the album.
Carter and Drake embarked on their joint tour, Drake vs. Lil Wayne (running from August 8 to September 28, 2014), determining who is "the best rapper on tour and in the world". The concept of the tour was based on the Street Fighter franchise. It was the third-largest grossing hip hop concert tour of 2014 behind Eminem and Rihanna's Monster Tour, and Jay-Z and Beyoncé's On the Run Tour.
In late 2014, Carter claimed that the album's release was postponed due to his financial disputes with Cash Money.
On January 20, 2015, Carter self-released Sorry 4 the Wait 2, a sequel to his 2011 mixtape, to compensate for the continued delay of Tha Carter V. In February 2015, due to Tha Carter V's delay, Carter announced that a free album would be released prior to the fifth installment in his popular series. In June 2015, Carter joined Jay-Z's TIDAL, as an artist owner, kicking off the partnership by exclusively releasing a single on the service titled "Glory". He also announced plans on his own TIDAL X concert series. On July 4, 2015, Carter released Free Weezy Album, exclusively through TIDAL, under Young Money and Republic Records. On January 27, 2016, when rapper 2 Chainz released his "Felt Like Cappin" EP, Carter is featured on the lead single titled "Back on That Bullshit". On March 4, 2016, 2 Chainz released his third studio album, ColleGrove. The album was initially a collaborative effort between 2 Chainz and Carter, but due to his record label issues, only 2 Chainz was credited as the primary artist. On June 28, 2016, Carter was one of several artists who appeared on the track "Sucker for Pain" for the film Suicide Squad. In September 2016, Carter tweeted "I AM NOW DEFENSELESS and mentally DEFEATED", followed by stating "I'm done", hinting at a possible retirement. Many rappers responded with respect and encouragement.
In 2017, Carter announced he had signed with Jay-Z's Roc Nation, although he later stated that there was no official paperwork that he signed to the label. On August 8, 2017, he released the song "Like a Man" with sound engineer Onhel. On June 7, 2018, it was announced that Carter had been released from Cash Money Records and would be releasing Tha Carter V via Young Money and Republic Records.
In September 2016, Carter's song, "No Mercy", debuted as the theme song for Skip and Shannon: Undisputed, a sports talk show on FS1. On Christmas Day 2017, Carter released the mixtape Dedication 6, the sixth installment of the "Gangsta Grillz" chronology. The second part was released on January 26, 2018.
Tha Carter V was finally released on September 27, 2018, the day of Carter's 36th birthday, debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 with 480,000 album-equivalent units, including 140,000 pure album sales. It is the second-largest streaming week for an album behind former Young Money labelmate Drake's Scorpion with 433 million streams. It is also Carter's fourth number-one Billboard 200 album. Every song on the album charted on the Billboard 100, while simultaneously charting 4 songs in the top 10, also becoming the first artist to debut two songs in the top five. One of the album's singles, "Uproar", produced by Swizz Beatz, was its leading, reaching number seven on the Billboard Hot 100; it features a sample from rapper G. Dep's 2001 single, "Special Delivery". Tha Carter V has since been certified 2× platinum by the RIAA.
2020–2021: Funeral and Trust Fund Babies
While Carter was working on Tha Carter V, it was announced that his next album would be titled Funeral. On January 23, 2020, he revealed the album's release date and album artwork. Funeral was released on January 31, and debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, with 139,000 album-equivalent units, becoming his fifth U.S. number-one album. The album received generally mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics. On February 2, 2020, Lil Wayne competed in season three of The Masked Singer after the Super Bowl LIV as "Robot". He was the first to be eliminated. Carter featured on Lil Baby's track "Forever", a track from Baby's second studio album, My Turn, which was released on February 28, 2020. The song's music video was released on March 3, 2020. This marked the second collaboration for the two artists in 2020, with the first being on Carter's single, "I Do It".
On April 24, 2020, Lil Wayne, along with Litt Live (formerly at the time, Dash Radio), launched his own radio show, Young Money Radio, on Apple Music through its subdivision Apple Music 1. Wayne described the show as having "heavyweights calling in discussing sports, music, comedy, everything!". On July 3, Lil Wayne released his eleventh studio album, Free Weezy Album (2015) on streaming services to commemorate its five-year anniversary. The album charted at number 77 on the Billboard 200 the following week. On May 29, Wayne released the deluxe edition of Funeral featuring artists such as Doja Cat, Tory Lanez, Lil Uzi Vert, Benny The Butcher, Conway the Machine and Jessie Reyez. On August 28, Wayne released another old project, his 2009 mixtape No Ceilings, for commercial release. He also celebrated the release by collaborating with ASAP Ferg on the song "No Ceilings". Wayne was featured on YoungBoy Never Broke Again's album Top on the track "My Window", released on September 11. His verse received praise from critics. On September 25, he released the deluxe edition of his twelfth album Tha Carter V, to celebrate the album's second anniversary; it consists of songs that did not make the cut on the original album.
On November 27, 2020, Lil Wayne released the mixtape, No Ceilings 3, while announcing the album, I Am Not a Human Being III, for 2021, although it would not be released that year due to delays. On October 1, 2021, Wayne and Rich the Kid released a collaborative mixtape titled Trust Fund Babies, along with a music video for the single "Feelin' Like Tunechi". The mixtape took roughly a month and a half to record. On their working relationship, Wayne said, "For me, it's the chemistry, it's the camaraderie because first of all, Rich like my little bro and me and Rich been rockin' for a minute".
2023–present: Welcome 2 Collegrove and Tha Carter VI
On March 31, 2023, Wayne dropped his first ever greatest hits album titled I Am Music. It included the then-unreleased "Kant Nobody", featuring DMX, whose song, "Niggaz Done Started Something" (1998), was sampled through. Wayne and DMX previously collaborated on "Dogs Out", a track from the latter's posthumous album, Exodus, which was released a month after his death in 2021. Wayne released a single titled "Kat Food" on September 1, 2023. That October, Lil Wayne released a mixtape, Tha Fix Before Tha VI. On November 3, 2023, Wayne was featured on the remix to Ciara and Chris Brown's single "How We Roll". That same month, he and 2 Chainz released a collaborative album, Welcome 2 Collegrove. A sequel to 2 Chainz's 2016 album, ColleGrove, Wayne was credited as a co-leading artist as he was previously unable to receive credit for its predecessor, due to his prior legal issues involving his Cash Money dispute.
On February 6, 2025, during an advert for Cetaphil, Wayne announced that Tha Carter VI would be released on June 6, 2025. On February 17, after being critical of his "Mona Lisa" collaborator Kendrick Lamar replacing him as the headliner of the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, Carter performed for the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special.
Future and unreleased projects
Carter has announced several possible upcoming projects, including a collaborative album entitled I Can't Feel My Face with Harlem-based rapper Juelz Santana, that has been in production for several years. In late 2011, it was announced by Mack Maine that Carter and Juelz Santana had gone back to work on their collaborative album I Can't Feel My Face, which had been delayed for a few years due to "label politics".
On June 19, 2008, Carter and T-Pain formed a duo called T-Wayne with plans to release an album, titled He Raps, He Sings; however, those plans have died down due to much of the material recorded for the album being leaked. T-Pain ultimately released T-Wayne as a mixtape in 2017.
According to an interview with Drake, in the December 2011 issue of XXL, plans for an upcoming album with Carter had been scrapped for the time being because of the Jay-Z and Kanye West collaboration album Watch the Throne (2011).
In April 2012, on the premiere of MTV's Hip Hop POV, Carter sat down with Amanda Seales and spoke briefly about an album he put together titled Devol (loved, backwards), an album full of "love songs" that he wrote during his imprisonment at Rikers Island. In May 2013, he confirmed the album will still be released.
Carter's once ongoing litigation with Cash Money prevented numerous completed projects from being released. In January 2017, Young Money revealed the title of a planned Carter album called Velvet. The album ended up leaking online in November 2018.
Musical style and artistry
Carter is known for his creative lyrical ability—which often uses punchlines, homonyms, word play, and braggadocio. His music often deals with the subjects of wealth, drugs, and sex. His lyrics have been criticized for their controversial subject matter.
Carter has cited rapper Missy Elliott as his biggest musical inspiration, saying, "she's a huge influence of everything I've ever done". Another one of his major influences is American hip hop group Goodie Mob. In an interview with Genius, Carter said, "I've been listening to Goodie Mob since I was in the 7th grade". For his MTV Unplugged special, Carter paid tribute to Tupac by covering his music. He also pulled inspiration from Tupac's "Keep Ya Head Up" for his 2011 single "How to Love".
Additionally, he has mentioned T-Pain, Prince, Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Alicia Keys, and Lenny Kravitz as influences, stating, "I viewed them seriously and was like, 'Wow, I could do that without being totally them.'" Carter and rapper Calboy paid homage to Hill on their 2021 single "Miseducation" titled after Hill's 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
According to American Songwriter, Carter credits Jay-Z for inspiring him to freestyle rhymes while recording over an instrumental, as opposed to writing down his lyrics. Carter also credits The Notorious B.I.G. as an influence.
Legacy
Lil Wayne is often described as "one of the most influential artists in the 21st century" and is many times called "the greatest rapper of his generation" as well as one of the greatest rappers of all time. His musical style and usage of autotune influenced modern sound of hip-hop music and its subgenres, especially the development of trap.
Many rappers and musicians have cited Lil Wayne as an influence on their careers and musical style, including Nicki Minaj, Drake, Fall Out Boy, Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz, Tyga, Future, Lil B, Young Thug, Trippie Redd, Lil Skies, Playboi Carti, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Lil Baby, DaBaby, Polo G, BlocBoy JB, NLE Choppa, Flo Milli, and The Kid Laroi.
In November 2024, during the Lil WeezyAna Fest, Lil Wayne received a Key to the City from New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. In the same tribute, Master P announced the creation of the NOLA Walk of Fame and presented Wayne with a fleur-de-lis plaque to mark this honor. Additionally, February 6–7 will now be celebrated as "Lil Wayne Day" in New Orleans.
Personal life
Relationships and children
Carter has four children. His first child, daughter Reginae, was born November 29, 1998, when he was 16, to his high school sweetheart and later ex-wife Toya Johnson. Internet rumors circulated in August 2008 that Carter's daughter had died in an auto accident; he immediately dispelled them. His second child, son Dwayne III, was born on October 22, 2008, at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati to former radio personality Sarah Vivan. His third child, son Kameron, was born to actress Lauren London on September 9, 2009. His fourth child, son Neal, was born on November 30, 2009, to singer Nivea.
Carter met his high school sweetheart, Toya Johnson, when he and she were 15 and 14 respectively. After dating on and off for seven years, they married on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2004, and divorced in January 2006. Johnson cited her inability to cope with his lifestyle and the fact he had communicated with his other former romantic partners prior. More specifically, his career kept him away from their home for long periods of time. Despite being divorced, the two have remained good friends and continued to jointly support their daughter, Reginae.
In February 2002, after he first broke up with Johnson, Carter began dating singer Nivea. On the 2007 song "Something You Forgot", he explained his feelings for Nivea, whom he got engaged to in December 2002 but broke off the engagement with in August 2003. Nivea stated that Carter tried to make her quit doing music so that he could take care of her, but she also acknowledged that the song was written about her.
Previously having known each other since 1999, Carter and Lauren London reconciled following his divorce from Johnson in 2006. They broke up again in 2009 after London found out that she was pregnant at the same time as Carter's ex-girlfriend, Nivea. In a May 2011 radio interview, London said of her relationship with Wayne and his fatherhood, "I met Wayne when I was 15 years old. I've known him a very long time, and we were in a relationship that didn't make it. We tried more than once to revive it, and we were engaged briefly years ago, but we eventually parted ways. People see the 'Lil Wayne' personality and think they know who he really is. My son's father is an intelligent, loving, and lovable person who will always be a dear friend. And that will never change. That is all." On the 500 Degreez track "Young'n Blues", Carter discussed his breakup with Toya Johnson and his issues with London, while he nicknamed the latter "Young Cali Sweet Thing".
Carter began dating rapper Trina in 2005 after featuring on her single "Don't Trip". The two were discussing future plans for engagement and moving to Florida to live together. However, in 2006, after Trina suffered a miscarriage from what was later confirmed to be her and Carter's unborn child, they have grown distant from one another. It was during that time when Trina developed an affair with Carter's would be rival, rapper Young Buck. In October 2007, the relationship ended after Trina realized that it was not properly empathized. According to her, it was the cause of the pair "being young and not knowing what [we were] doing". The two reunited to collaborate for the 2013 single "Wowzerz" and 2019's "Situation". They remain on good terms.
Carter and Nivea reconciled in early 2008 following Nivea's divorce from singer-songwriter The-Dream. Both were re-engaged in 2009, but Nivea decided to end her relationship with Carter while pregnant with their son; they called off their engagement for the second time in June 2010, during Carter's prison sentence.
Carter dated model Karrine Steffans (on and off) from 2007 to 2014. He briefly dated Dana Lee in 2012.
He entered into an intimate relationship with glamour model Tammy Torres from 2009 to 2010. While imprisoned, Drake encouraged him not to rekindle his relationship with Torres due to his already having had an encounter with her. After ending his relationship with Torres and mending over his falling out with Drake, Carter later got involved with Dhea Sodano from 2011 to 2019.
In July 2014, it was rumored that Carter was dating singer Christina Milian, with whom he attended the ESPY Awards. They later confirmed their relationship in mid-2015, after which they received criticism from their interconnected exes, singer Nivea and songwriter The-Dream. They split in August 2015, having collaborated on multiple singles, videos, and concert dates.
Wayne was engaged to model La'Tecia Thomas, but they called off the engagement in May 2020. A month later, it was announced that Wayne had started dating Denise Bidot, another model. In November 2020, they reportedly broke up over Wayne's endorsement of Donald Trump. Shortly after, it was reported that the couple had reconciled. Wayne and Bidot later broke up again in January 2022.
On October 18, 2024, Carter began dating chef LeahAngelie Murphy.
Carter's son, Neal Carter, currently performs music under the alias Lil Novi.
Beliefs and interests
In an interview with Blender, Carter said that one of his favorite bands from childhood was rock group Nirvana; he cites them as a major influence in his music.
Carter got his first tattoo, of his father's name, at age 14. His second spelled "Cash Money" across his stomach. His tattoos have grown to include a Jay-Z verse on his leg, "I Am Music" on his forehead and teardrops on his cheeks among many others. His most recent one is "Baked" on his forehead stylized as the Baker Skateboards logo.
Carter identifies as a Catholic. While playing in Newark Symphony Hall, Carter professed his belief "in God and His son, Jesus". During his 2011 tour in Australia with Eminem, before beginning his bracket, he proclaimed his belief in God.
After earning his GED, Carter enrolled at the University of Houston in January 2005. He dropped out in the same year due to his conflicting schedule. He also stated on The View that he switched to the University of Phoenix and majored in psychology taking online courses. An article in Urb magazine in March 2007 asserted that Carter had been earning high grades at Houston.
In 2016, Carter purchased Player's Rep. Sports Agency, and became Young Money APAA sports, which hired the NFL's first female sports agent, Nicole Lynn. She currently represents Seth Roberts, Corey Nelson, Jordan Evans, Malik Jefferson, Erik Harris, Quinnen Williams, as well as NCAA coaches, and two former No. 1 Pro Softball draft picks.
On October 29, 2020, less than a week before the presidential election, Carter posted an image of him and President Donald Trump to Twitter. In the caption for the photo, Carter stated that he and Trump had recently met to discuss criminal justice reform and Trump's Platinum Plan, an initiative which aims to raise access to capital in Black communities by almost $500 billion. Carter claimed Trump "listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done".
Health problems
On October 25, 2012, Carter's private jet, bound for Los Angeles, made an emergency landing in Texas due to an in-flight medical episode. Lil Wayne was transferred to a local hospital upon arrival. TMZ and other media sources said that Carter had suffered a seizure aboard the plane. His publicist denied this, saying that he was in fact treated for "a severe migraine and dehydration".
The following day, while flying from Texas to Los Angeles, Carter's private jet was reportedly again forced to make an emergency landing, this time in Louisiana, after he suffered a second seizure and required further hospitalization. His representative said that the reports of Carter's condition had been exaggerated, and that he was resting at his Louisiana home. In a November 2012 interview with MTV, Carter stated that he was taking seizure medication, on doctors' orders, due to the aforementioned incidents.
On March 14, 2013, TMZ reported that Carter had been treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on the evening of March 12, after having seizures while on a music video set with Young Money rapper Nicki Minaj. He was reportedly released in the early hours of March 13. On March 15, TMZ published a second story, claiming that hours after his release on March 13, Carter was found unconscious after experiencing further seizures, and was brought back to Cedars-Sinai, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit in critical condition. The article alleged the latest seizures were found to be linked to high amounts of codeine in Carter's system, possibly due to bingeing on purple drank after his initial hospital release. Multiple celebrities, including Drake and Birdman, were photographed on March 15 and 16 visiting Carter at Cedars-Sinai.
Several members of Young Money Entertainment, including president Mack Maine, criticized media reports on Carter's hospitalization, particularly those of TMZ, alleging that they exaggerated the severity of his condition and falsely implied that he was on his deathbed (such as by saying that he was in a medically induced coma), triggering what the Washington Post called "the most overheated celebrity deathwatch in recent years". In separate interviews on March 18, Mack Maine and Birdman disputed TMZ's reports; they stated that in fact there were not multiple seizures or multiple hospital visits. They explained that after Carter began seizing on the way to the music video shoot on March 12, an ambulance was called and he was transported to the hospital, where he was admitted and remained continuously thereafter. They also refuted the claims that Carter's seizures are drug-induced, saying that they are an ongoing problem for which doctors have been unable to identify a cause.
Carter was released from the hospital late on March 18, following a six-day stay. He addressed his condition via a vlog, on March 21 saying he was "more than good".
Carter had two seizures in June 2016 during a cross-country flight from Wisconsin to California, causing the plane to divert to Omaha, Nebraska. The second seizure occurred just two minutes after takeoff, forcing the plane to land in Omaha once again. Less than a month later, he had another seizure, supposedly due to his not taking his epilepsy medication.
Carter canceled a Las Vegas show on September 3, 2017, after experiencing a seizure in a Chicago hospital earlier that day. He was taken there after being found unconscious in a hotel room.
In June 2023, Carter acknowledged that he now had trouble remembering his songs due to memory problems caused by his epilepsy.
Philanthropy
On February 19, 2008, Carter and his manager, Cortez Bryant, revisited their alma mater, McMain Secondary School, to recruit students to design an invitation to the gala introducing Carter's nonprofit One Family Foundation.
Other ventures
Young Money Entertainment
Books
Carter wrote a memoir of his experience in Rikers Island called Gone Til' November: A Journal of Rikers Island that was released October 11, 2016.
Cannabis industry
In December 2019, Carter announced his own cannabis brand under the name GKUA Ultra Premium.
Sports media
On September 24, 2008, Carter published his first blog for ESPN in their issue, ESPN The Magazine. Carter said that he was a fan of tennis, the Green Bay Packers, the Boston Bruins, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Red Sox. To commemorate the Packers' appearance in Super Bowl XLV, he parodied Wiz Khalifa's hit song "Black and Yellow" (which were the colors of the Packers' opponents, the Pittsburgh Steelers) in 2021 with a song titled "Green and Yellow". He released a second version of the song later that year, which was requested by the Packers and updated with the current roster. Carter has continued writing for ESPN, notably reporting at the ESPN Super Bowl party.
On January 6, 2009, Carter was a guest debater against Skip Bayless on the "1st & 10" segment of ESPN First Take. On February 10, 2009, he appeared on ESPN's Around the Horn and beat out veterans Woody Paige, Jay Mariotti and fellow New Orleanian Michael Smith to win that show's episode.
Carter made his debut on ESPN's daily sports round table show Around The Horn on February 10, 2009. Carter created the intro song "No Mercy" for the Fox Sports 1 sports debate show Undisputed. After Shannon Sharpe's departure from the show, Carter created a new theme song for Undisputed: "Good Morning". Carter also joined the series as a regular guest opposite Bayless.
Carter has mentioned being a fan of Latvian tennis player Jeļena Ostapenko. He was extended an invite to the 2024 US Open. Carter also thanked Ostapenko, who attended Drake's tour featuring Lil Wayne.
Legal issues
Arrests, incarceration, and presidential pardon
On July 22, 2007, Carter was arrested in New York City following a performance at the Beacon Theatre; the New York City Police Department discovered Carter and another man smoking marijuana near a tour bus. After taking Carter into custody, police discovered a .40 caliber pistol near his person. The gun, which was registered to his manager, was in a bag located near the rapper. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and marijuana.
Following a performance at Qwest Arena in Boise, Idaho, Carter was arrested October 5, 2007, on felony fugitive charges after Georgia authorities accused the rapper of possessing a controlled substance. The incident was later described as a "mix-up" and the fugitive charges were dropped.
On January 23, 2008, Carter was arrested alongside two others. His tour bus was stopped by Border Patrol agents near Yuma, Arizona. A K-9 Unit recovered 105 grams (3.7 oz) of marijuana, almost 29 grams (1.0 oz) of cocaine, 41 grams (1.4 oz) of ecstasy, and $22,000 in cash. Carter was charged with four felonies: possession of narcotic drug for sale, possession of dangerous drugs, misconduct involving weapons, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was granted permission to travel outside of the state and remain out of custody on the $10,185 bond he posted.
On May 6, 2008, Carter returned to court in Arizona to plead not guilty to the charges. A bench warrant was issued on March 17, 2010, when Carter did not show for a final trial management conference. However, he was already incarcerated, serving a one-year sentence on Rikers Island on weapons charges. On June 22, 2010, Carter pleaded guilty to the charges. As part of the plea deal he was able to serve 36 months of probation, to which he was sentenced on June 30, 2010.
On December 18, 2009, Carter and 11 others were detained at the Falfurrias, Texas, border patrol checkpoint after an unknown amount of marijuana was found on two of his tour buses.
On October 22, 2009, Carter pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He was due for sentencing in February 2010 and was expected to receive a one-year county jail sentence, but on February 9, 2010, Carter's attorney announced that the sentencing was delayed until March 2 due to dental surgery, which was performed on February 16. The surgery included eight root canals, the replacement of several tooth implants, as well as the addition of a few new implants and work on his remaining original teeth. On March 2, 2010, sentencing was postponed again when the courthouse reported a fire in its basement.
On March 8, 2010, Carter was given a one-year sentence, which he served on Rikers Island. His lawyer said the rapper expected to be held in protective custody, separated from other prisoners. In May 2010, Carter was found by Rikers Island correctional staff to be in possession of contraband (an MP3 player, charger, and headphones). In April 2010, Carter's friends created a website called Weezy Thanx You, which published letters written by Carter while incarcerated. In the first letter, titled "Gone 'til November", Carter said he was staying in good spirits thinking about his children and spending his time working out regularly and reading the Bible every day. Carter was released from Rikers Island Jail on November 4, 2010, after serving eight months of his year-long sentence.
On December 12, 2020, Carter pleaded guilty to a federal firearms charge brought against him by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. This plea stemmed from an incident during December of the previous year, when Carter was arrested in Florida after transporting a loaded handgun on his private jet from California. As a convicted felon, he is barred from possessing such weapons. He was pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump on January 19, 2021, his last full day in office before the end of his first term.
Lawsuits
On July 24, 2008, Abkco Music filed a lawsuit against Carter for copyright infringement and unfair competition, specifically referring to Tha Carter III's track "Playing with Fire". In the lawsuit, Abkco says that the song was obviously derived from the Rolling Stones' "Play with Fire", to which Abkco owns the rights. Subsequently, "Playing with Fire" was removed from the track list of Tha Carter III on all online music stores and replaced with the David Banner produced track, "Pussy Monster".
In February 2009, production company RMF Productions filed a $1.3 million lawsuit against Carter following a $100,000 advance payment for three shows, all of which were cancelled by the artist.
In October 2009, Carter, Birdman, Cash Money Records, and various music distribution outlets were sued for copyright infringement by Thomas Marasciullo, who says his voice was used without permission. The rappers asked him to record some "Italian-styled spoken word recordings" in 2006. The lyrics were allegedly used on "Respect" and other tracks from the rappers' collaboration album Like Father, Like Son and Birdman's 5 * Stunna.
In March 2011, producer Deezle (Darius Harrison) sued Carter and his parent labels Cash Money Records over unpaid royalties from Tha Carter III. Two months later, that May, producer Bangladesh also filed a lawsuit against Wayne over unpaid royalties as well.
In early June 2011, another producer named David Kirkwood filed a lawsuit against Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records on claims that the labels have failed to pay him over $1.5 million in royalties and production services for his work on the album, also including his songwriting on "Love Me or Hate Me", a bonus song featured only on the deluxe edition of the album.
Also in June 2011, Dallas producers Play-N-Skillz filed a lawsuit against him, saying Carter owes them at least $1 million in unpaid royalties for "Got Money" from his album Tha Carter III. The single has sold over 2 million copies since being released.
In July 2011, Done Deal Enterprises, a production company based in Georgia, filed suit against Carter, Universal Music Group, Cash Money Records and Young Money Entertainment, claiming copyright infringement. The lawsuit alleges Carter stole the song "BedRock", featured on the compilation album We Are Young Money, and seeks damages of $15 million.
In November 2012, Wayne was ordered to pay Quincy Jones III $2.2 million based on a lawsuit which stated that the rapper blocked the release of Jones's film The Carter, therefore infringing on its profits.
Controversies and feuds
Juvenile
Carter began feuding with former Hot Boys member and Cash Money Records labelmate Juvenile in 2002 after he took offense to Carter naming his third studio album 500 Degreez—a diss aimed towards Juvenile, whose previous album was named 400 Degreez. Juvenile responded with a diss track on his 2002 album 600 Degreez, titled "A Hoe". In the song, Juvenile questions Carter's sexuality and calls him a fake gangster. The two squashed their rivalry for a short period in 2004, with Carter and Birdman appearing in the music video for Juvenile and Soulja Slim's song "Slow Motion". Carter later paid tribute to the Hot Boys with a song called "I Miss My Dawgs" on 2004's Tha Carter. Juvenile responded by labeling the song "fake" and criticizing Carter for releasing a tribute song and later promoting the album on BET with "nothing good to say about them". The two eventually reconciled once again, and Juvenile re-signed with Cash Money Records in 2014.
Young Buck
Young Buck released a song called "Off Parole", featuring Tony Yayo, which insulted Carter. Young Buck said that Carter could not be angry because Buck spoke the truth. Young Buck also said "You think you got a problem with Juve and B.G.; you'll have a true problem with me", referring to the Cash Money-Juvenile/B.G feud. One of the reasons 50 Cent stated he was dismissing Young Buck was what he called "inconsistent behavior", which included appearing on stage with Carter, then seemingly dissing him on records with G-Unit. After he was dismissed, Young Buck appeared in the music video "My Life" by The Game, which featured Carter on the song's chorus. As of 2009, Young Buck and Carter have reconciled and also linked up to record a track "Up's and Down's" for Young Buck's Back on My Buck Shit mixtape.
Pusha T
Tension between Wayne and Pusha T had been going on for years, beginning soon after Clipse and Birdman worked on "What Happened to That Boy", the latter's 2002 single. In 2006, Wayne felt the Clipse song "Mr. Me Too" was directed at him, which caused more tension between the two. In 2012, after much speculation that Pusha T was subliminally dissing Canadian rapper and Wayne's Young Money signee Drake in several songs, the speculation heightened after the release of Pusha T's "Exodus 23:1" song. Lil Wayne quickly responded on online social networking service Twitter and later released a diss track titled "Goulish". In the first verse, Wayne raps "Fuck Pusha T and anybody that love him / His head up his ass, I'mma have to head-butt him". Pusha T called Wayne's diss track "horrible" and said he felt it did not deserve a response. Both men have downplayed the feud, with Wayne saying he's over it. However, in November 2012, Pusha T dissed Wayne and Birdman on a Ludacris song titled "Tell Me What They Mad For". In December 2014, once the feud between Lil Wayne and Birdman arose, Pusha T sent out a tweet encouraging Lil Wayne to sign to G.O.O.D. Music, which also insulted Birdman for his hand-rubbing habit.
Jay-Z
In a 2009 interview with Tropical TV, Birdman disputed the MTV poll that voted Jay-Z "The Hottest MC in the Game", stating that Lil Wayne was a better rapper and made more money. In early 2011, when Jay-Z and Kanye West's single "H•A•M" was released, Jay-Z took shots at Birdman, saying "Really, you got Baby money" and "[you] ain't got my lady's money!". On August 24, 2011, a song called "It's Good" by Lil Wayne (featuring Drake and Jadakiss) was leaked online and included Lil Wayne responding "Talkin' 'bout baby money? I gotcha baby money. Kidnap your bitch, get that, How much you love your lady? money". Jadakiss later absolved himself of involvement in any brewing beef on his official Twitter feed.
Dispute with Cash Money Records
On December 4, 2014, just five days before Tha Carter V was due to be released, Carter issued a statement saying the album would not be released on its expected release date, due to his displeasure with Cash Money Records label-boss Birdman, refusing to release the album although it had been completed. Carter also expressed his feelings by stating he felt both he and his creativity were being held "prisoner".
Upon Sorry for the Wait 2's release on January 20, 2015, he continuously disses Birdman and Cash Money Records, several times throughout the mixtape. Birdman was reported to be upset with this. In late January 2015, Carter sued Birdman and Cash Money Records for $51 million. Carter and Birdman supposedly reconciled after being seen at Drake's NYE Party, at Miami's Club Liv, and in studio.
On January 27, 2024, both Carter and Birdman reunited during a studio session, putting an end to their nine-year quarrel.
Political and racial views
In 2013, Carter received criticism after a video released by TMZ showed him apparently stepping on the U.S. flag. Carter later explained that "It was never my intention to desecrate the flag of the United States", and that he was shooting a video for a song on his upcoming album, "God Bless Amerika". He says the purpose of the flag was to show that "behind the American Flag was the Hoods of America".
In late 2016, Carter made statements critical of the Black Lives Matter movement, saying, "I don't feel connected to a damn thing that ain't got nothin' to do with me. If you do, you crazy as shit," adding that his status as a wealthy black man who has white fans is evidence that black people are valued in the United States.
Discography
Studio albums
Tha Block Is Hot (1999)
Lights Out (2000)
500 Degreez (2002)
Tha Carter (2004)
Tha Carter II (2005)
Tha Carter III (2008)
Rebirth (2010)
I Am Not a Human Being (2010)
Tha Carter IV (2011)
I Am Not a Human Being II (2013)
Free Weezy Album (2015)
Tha Carter V (2018)
Funeral (2020)
Tha Carter VI (2025)
Collaborative albums
Like Father, Like Son (with Birdman) (2006)
Trust Fund Babies (with Rich The Kid) (2021)
Welcome 2 Collegrove (with 2 Chainz) (2023)
Tours
Headlining
I Am Music Tour (2008-2009)
America's Most Wanted Tour (2009)
I Am Music II Tour (2011)
Sorry For The Wait 2 Tour (2015)
The Dedication Tour (2016)
Kloser 2 U Tour (2017)
I Ain't Shit Without You (2018)
Welcome To Tha Carter Tour (2023)
Tha Carter VI Tour (2025)
Co-headlining
Cash Money/Ruff Ryders Tour (with Cash Money and Ruff Ryders) (2000)
Drake vs. Lil Wayne (with Drake) (2014)
Blink-182 and Lil Wayne Tour (with Blink-182) (2019)
The HotBoys Reunion Tour (with Juvenile, B.G. and Turk) (2024-2025)
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
See also
List of celebrities who own cannabis businesses
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of highest-certified music artists in the United States
List of best-selling singles in the United States
List of best-selling singles
List of best-selling albums by year in the United States
List of artists who reached number one on the UK singles chart
References
External links
Official website
Lil Wayne at AllMusic
Lil Wayne at IMDb
Lil Wayne on Instagram
Lil Wayne on Spotify
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Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Born and raised in New Orleans, he was discovered by hometown rapper Birdman in 1993 and signed with his record label, Cash Money Records, at age eleven. He emerged as the label's flagship artist until his departure in 2018.
Carter was first placed in a duo with Cash Money labelmate B.G. in 1994—known collectively as the B.G.'z—and they released the album True Story that year, although Carter (at the time known as Baby D) appeared on only three of its tracks. Carter and B.G. then formed the Southern hip-hop group Hot Boys with labelmates Juvenile and Turk in 1997, and released their debut album, Get It How U Live! that year. The Hot Boys gained mainstream success after the release of their second album Guerrilla Warfare (1999) and their appearance on B.G.'s single, "Bling Bling". The group briefly disbanded after the album due to each member (besides Carter) parting ways with the label, although one further album—Let 'Em Burn (2003)—was released.
Carter's debut studio album, Tha Block Is Hot (1999), was his breakthrough as a solo artist, quickly achieving commercial success. It was followed by Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2003). Carter is credited with revolutionizing the mixtape scene with his innovative approach in the 2000s. His fourth and fifth albums, Tha Carter (2004) and Tha Carter II (2005), both debuted within the top five of the Billboard 200 and received critical acclaim. His sixth album, Tha Carter III (2008), yielded the pinnacle of Wayne's career, with first-week sales of over one million units domestically. It won the Best Rap Album at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards and was supported by his first Billboard Hot 100-number one single "Lollipop" (featuring Static Major), and the top-ten singles "A Milli" and "Got Money" (featuring T-Pain).
Carter's seventh studio album, Rebirth (2010), experimented with rap rock and was released to generally negative critical reception. A month after its release, he began serving an 8-month jail sentence for criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in 2007. His eighth album, I Am Not a Human Being (2010), was released during his incarceration, while his ninth album, Tha Carter IV (2011), followed months after his release from prison. Despite mixed reviews, Tha Carter IV sold 964,000 units in its first-week in the U.S. His twelfth studio album, Tha Carter V (2018)—preceded by I Am Not a Human Being II (2013) and Free Weezy Album (2015)—was released following long-term delays and label disputes, and was met with 480,000 in first-week sales. His thirteenth album, Funeral (2020), became his fifth non-consecutive number one album. He released his fourteenth album, Tha Carter VI, in June 2025.
Carter has sold over 120 million records worldwide, including over 25 million albums and 95 million digital tracks in the U.S, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He has won five Grammy Awards, eleven BET Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and eight NAACP Image Awards. On September 27, 2012, he became the first male artist to surpass Elvis Presley with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100, with 109 songs. Carter founded the record label Young Money Entertainment in 2005, which has signed artists including Drake, Tyga and Nicki Minaj.
Early life
Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. was born on September 27, 1982. He spent his first few years in the impoverished Hollygrove neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans, Louisiana's 17th Ward. His mother, a cook, gave birth to him when she was 19 years old. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and his father permanently abandoned the family. In a 2009 interview, CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked the rapper why he used the name Wayne instead of his given name. Carter replied, "I'll tell you why I dropped the D right here on TV. I dropped the D because I am a junior. My father, he’s livin', and he is not in my life and he’s never been in my life. So I don't wanna be Dwayne. I’d rather be Wayne." Couric asked if his father knew that, and Carter, chuckling, said, "He knows it now." Carter has said that he considers his deceased stepfather Reginald "Rabbit" McDonald to be his real father. Carter has a tattoo dedicated to McDonald.
Carter was enrolled in the gifted program at Lafayette Elementary School. He later attended Eleanor McMain Secondary School for two years, where he was an honor student and a member of the drama club, playing the Tin Man in the school's production of The Wiz. Despite matriculating to Marion Abramson Senior High School, Carter left during his tenth grade year to pursue a GED. Carter's mother made the decision to remove him from school for his safety. At 15, Carter was already finding success in the music industry; his mother decided he needed to leave high school after discovering the gun he packed in his school bag for protection.
Carter wrote his first rap song at age eight. In the summer of 1991, he met rapper and Cash Money Records co-founder Bryan "Baby" Williams (known currently as Birdman), who mentored him and encouraged his love of hip-hop; Birdman included Carter on several Cash Money tracks, and he (in return) would often record freestyle raps on Williams' answering machine.
In 1994, at age 12, Carter suffered a near-fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. At the time, he said the injury was accidental. However, in September 2018, Carter claimed in interviews that it was a suicide attempt after he was told by his mother that he would have to end his rap-related associations. Carter credits off-duty police officer Robert Hoobler (1956–2022), who he calls "Uncle Bob", with saving his life by insisting the dying child be driven immediately to hospital in a police car rather than waiting for an ambulance to become available. Other accounts indicate that several officers played a part in deciding on and implementing that course of action.
Career
1994–1999: Career beginnings and Hot Boys
After recovering from his self-inflicted gunshot wound, Carter linked with Christopher Dorsey, a local New Orleans rapper known as B.G., his longtime friend, future Cash Money labelmate and Hot Boys bandmate. They would later form their duo, the B.G.'z, with B.G. being named "Lil Doogie" and Carter being "Baby D". They only released one album under the group name, True Story (1995).
In 1997, Carter and Dorsey then joined the hip-hop quartet, the Hot Boys, along with rappers and labelmates, Juvenile, and Turk. Having joined at age 14, Carter was the youngest member at the time. Hot Boys' debut album, Get It How U Live!, was released the same year, followed in 1999 by the group's major-label debut Guerrilla Warfare, which respectively reached number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and number five on the Billboard 200. During their career, the Hot Boys had two charting singles, "We on Fire" from Get It How U Live! and "I Need a Hot Girl" from Guerrilla Warfare. The group shared a track, "Bling Bling", alongside another Cash Money group, duo Big Tymers (consisting of Birdman and producer Mannie Fresh). Carter's verse appeared only on the radio version of the song, while on the album version he performed on the chorus. "Bling Bling" appeared on Hot Boys member B.G.'s solo album, Chopper City in the Ghetto, released in April 1999. Carter was also featured on Juvenile's single "Back That Azz Up", which reached number eighteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.
Let 'Em Burn, a compilation album of unreleased tracks recorded by the quartet during 1998 and 2000, was released in March 2003, several years after the group disbanded. It reached number three on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, but underperformed on the Billboard 200 at number fourteen.
1999–2004: Tha Block Is Hot, Lights Out, and 500 Degreez
Carter's debut solo album, Tha Block Is Hot, was released on November 2, 1999, when he was 17 and featured significant contributions from the Hot Boys. It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and was later certified platinum by the RIAA in December 1999, less than a month after its release. The album earned Carter a 1999 Source magazine nomination for "Best New Artist", and also became a Top Ten hit. The lead single was the album's title track, which its chorus was performed by Carter's former Hot Boys cohort, Juvenile and B.G.
His second album, Lights Out, was released on December 19, 2000. It failed to attain the level of success achieved by his debut, but was certified gold by RIAA in June 2001, nearly six months after its release. Critics noted the lack of coherent narratives in his verses as evidence that he had yet to mature to the level of his fellow Hot Boys. The lead single was "Get Off the Corner", which was noticed for an improvement in its lyrical content and style. The second single, which received less attention, was "Shine" featuring the Hot Boys. Near the release of Lights Out, Carter was featured on the single, "Number One Stunna" with Big Tymers and Juvenile, which peaked at number 24 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. The track, originally featured on Big Tymers' I Got That Work, would be used for the Spike Lee-directed comedy film, The Original Kings of Comedy.
Carter's third album, 500 Degreez, was released in August 2002. It followed the format of his previous two, with significant contributions from the Hot Boys and Mannie Fresh. While being certified gold like its predecessor, it also failed to match the success of his debut. The title was a reference to the recently estranged Hot Boys member Juvenile's debut solo studio album, 400 Degreez (1998). Its lead single was "Way of Life", featuring Birdman and singer TQ with narration by its producer, Mannie Fresh; it reached number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 23 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. The single featured a sample of Tupac Shakur's diss track towards the Notorious B.I.G., "Hit 'Em Up" (1996), which itself sampled Dennis Edwards and Siedah Garrett's "Don't Look Any Further" (1984). Despite the album's commercial failure, John Bush of AllMusic praised 500 Degreez, while calling "Way of Life" an "infectious party hit". After the release of 500 Degreez, Carter was featured on the single "Neva Get Enuf" by 3LW, and later appeared on his future girlfriend, singer Nivea's single, "Ya Ya Ya".
2004–2006: Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, and Like Father, Like Son
On June 29, 2004, Carter's fourth studio album, Tha Carter, was released, marking what critics considered advancement in his rapping style and lyrical themes. In addition, the album's cover art featured the debut of Wayne's now-signature dreadlocks. Tha Carter gained Wayne significant recognition, selling 878,000 copies in the United States, while the single "Go DJ" became a top five hit on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. After the release of Tha Carter, Lil Wayne was featured on Destiny's Child's single "Soldier" alongside Atlanta rapper T.I., which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts.
In 2005, Carter appeared on a remix of singer Bobby Valentino's "Tell Me", which rose to number thirteen on the U.S. Hot R&B Songs chart. That same year, Carter was named the president of Cash Money Records, but was later granted his own label; he founded Young Money Entertainment as an imprint of Cash Money and Universal Music Group. However, as of late 2007, Carter reported having stepped down from the management of both labels and handed management of Young Money over to his longtime manager, Cortez Bryant.
Tha Carter II, the sequel to 2004's Tha Carter, was released on December 6, 2005. Mannie Fresh was not involved in the production of the album, as he had left the label prior, due to financial issues. Tha Carter II sold more than 238,000 copies in its first week of release, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200; the album went on to sell two million copies worldwide. The lead single, "Fireman", became a hit in the U.S., peaking at 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other singles included "Grown Man" with Currensy, "Hustler Musik", and "Shooter" with R&B singer Robin Thicke.
In 2006, Carter collaborated with his label boss, Birdman, for the album, Like Father, Like Son, which its first single "Stuntin' Like My Daddy", reached number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.
2006–2007: Mixtapes and collaborations
Instead of a follow-up solo album, Carter began to reach his audience through a plethora of mixtapes and guest appearances on a variety of pop, R&B and hip hop singles. Of his many mixtapes, Dedication 2 and Da Drought 3 received the most media exposure and critical review. Dedication 2, released in 2006, paired Carter with DJ Drama and contained the acclaimed socially conscious track, "Georgia Bush", a remix of Field Mob and Ludacris' "Georgia", in which Carter critiqued former U.S. president George W. Bush's response to the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans. Da Drought 3 was released the following year and was available for free legal download. It contained Carter rapping over a variety of beats from recent hits by other musicians. A number of prominent hip hop magazines such as XXL and Vibe covered the mixtape. Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone magazine considered the mixtapes Da Drought 3 and The Drought Is Over 2 (The Carter 3 Sessions) "among the best albums of 2007".
Despite no album release for two years, Carter appeared in numerous singles as a featured performer, including in 2006 with the remix to "Gimme That" by Chris Brown, "Make It Rain" by Fat Joe and "You" by Lloyd, and in 2007 with "We Takin' Over" by DJ Khaled (also featuring Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, and Birdman), "Duffle Bag Boy" by Playaz Circle, "Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)" by Wyclef Jean (also featuring Akon), and the remix to "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled (also featuring T-Pain, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Fat Joe, Birdman, and Rick Ross). All these singles charted within the top 20 spots on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Rap Tracks, and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. On Birdman's 2007 album, 5 * Stunna, Carter appeared on the singles "100 Million" and "I Run This" among several other tracks. Carter also appeared on tracks from albums, Getback by Little Brother, American Gangster by Jay-Z, and Graduation by Kanye West and Insomniac by Enrique Iglesias. "Make It Rain" (2006), a Scott Storch production that peaked at number thirteen on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot Rap Tracks chart, was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for 2008.
Vibe magazine ranked a list of 77 of Lil Wayne's songs from 2007 and ranked his verse in DJ Khaled's "We Takin Over" as his best of 2007, with "Dough Is What I Got" (a freestyle over the beat of Jay-Z's "Show Me What You Got") from Da Drought 3. At the end of 2007, an MTV poll selected Lil Wayne as "Hottest MC in the Game", The New Yorker magazine ranked him "Rapper of the Year", and GQ magazine named him "Workaholic of the Year". In 2008, he was named "Best MC" by Rolling Stone. Another article, built around Lil Wayne's 2007 mixtape work, cites his creative practice as an example of post-performance creative practice.
2007–2010: Tha Carter III, We Are Young Money, and Rebirth
In 2007, Carter stated that he would reunite with Hot Boys, with plans to release an album after B.G.'s solo album Too Hood to Be Hollywood was completed. Tha Carter III was originally scheduled to be released in 2007, but it was delayed after several recordings were leaked and distributed through mixtapes, including The Drought Is Over Pt. 2 and The Drought Is Over Pt. 4. Lil Wayne initially planned to release The Leak, a separate album with leaked songs and four additional tracks, on December 18, 2007, with Tha Carter III delayed to March 18, 2008. Instead, The Leak became an EP with five songs and was released digitally on December 25, 2007.
Tha Carter III was released on June 10, 2008, with first-week sales of over 1 million copies, the first to do so since 50 Cent's The Massacre (2005). The album's first single, "Lollipop", featuring Static Major, became the Carter's most successful song at the time, topping the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming his first top ten single as a solo artist and his first number one on the chart. The third single "Got Money", featuring T-Pain, peaked at number thirteen on the Billboard 100. Tha Carter III went on to win four Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song, which he won for "Lollipop". On July 14, 2008, the Recording Industry Association of America certified Tha Carter III two times platinum. In October 2008, Lil Wayne announced plans to MTV News to re-release the album with new tracks, including a duet with Ludacris and remixes of "A Milli".
Carter also appeared on R&B singles "Girls Around the World" by Lloyd, "Love in This Club, Part II" by Usher, "Official Girl" by Cassie, "I'm So Paid" by Akon, "Turnin' Me On" by Keri Hilson, and "Can't Believe It" by T-Pain; rap singles "My Life" by The Game, "Shawty Say" by David Banner, "Swagga Like Us" by T.I., "Cutty Buddy" by Mike Jones, All My Life (In the Ghetto) by Jay Rock and the remix to "Certified" by Glasses Malone; and pop single "Let It Rock" by new Cash Money artist Kevin Rudolf.
Throughout 2008, Carter performed at the Voodoo Experience in October in New Orleans, which was described by Jonathan Cohen of Billboard as his biggest hometown headlining set of his career. He also performed at the Virgin Mobile Music Fest with Kanye West, where they performed the remix of "Lollipop" and lip-synced to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You". Lil Wayne also performed at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards with Kid Rock ("All Summer Long"), Leona Lewis ("DontGetIt (Misunderstood)") and T-Pain ("Got Money") and performed "Lollipop" and "Got Money" on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live. He later performed at the homecoming rally at Vanderbilt University and the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards, where he received 12 nominations. He won eight awards at the BET Hip Hop Awards, one of which included the "MVP" title. After M.I.A. dropped out of performing on Carter's I Am Music Tour due to her pregnancy, Jay-Z performed "Mr. Carter" with Lil Wayne at select shows.
After Tha Carter III sold over 3 million copies and became the best-selling record of 2008, Carter re-signed with Cash Money Records for a multi-album deal.
On November 11, 2008, Carter became the first hip hop act to perform at the Country Music Association Awards, playing "All Summer Long" alongside Kid Rock, in which Carter inaudibly strummed guitar strings alongside the guitarist in Kid Rock's band. Shortly after, Wayne was nominated for eight Grammys – the most for any artist nominated that year. He was then named the first MTV Man of the Year at the end of 2008. He won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for "A Milli", Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for his appearance on T.I.'s single "Swagga Like Us", and Best Rap Song for "Lollipop". Tha Carter III won the award for Best Rap Album. MTV News listed Carter number two on their 2009 list of the Hottest MCs in the Game.
Prior to the 2009 Grammy Awards, Wayne was featured in an interview with Katie Couric. On February 7, 2009, he presented the Top Ten List on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman. On April 24, 2009, he appeared on The View, discussing his GED and addictions. In September 2009, Carter was profiled in an episode of VH1's Behind the Music and was a presenter of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. In film, Carter produced and composed music for and starred in the direct-to-video film Hurricane Season. A documentary of Carter, titled The Carter, was released at the Sundance Film Festival.
On December 23, 2009, Carter released his label, Young Money's first compilation album, We Are Young Money, with its lead single being "Every Girl". The second single was "BedRock", featuring Lloyd, with the third being "Roger That". On May 24, 2010, the album was certified gold by the RIAA with over 500,000 copies sold. Carter is featured on the song, "Revolver", with Madonna for her greatest hits album, Celebration (2009). He was also featured on a Weezer song, "Can't Stop Partying", on Raditude (2009). In late 2008, Carter announced plans to reissue Tha Carter III with leftover recordings, and was to be titled Rebirth, originally scheduled to be released on April 7, 2009, before being delayed several times. Rebirth instead became his sixth solo studio album, re-recorded with replaced material and later released on February 2, 2010. The album received negative reviews from fans and critics, considering it Carter's worst album released since 500 Degreez (2002).
To support its release and that of We Are Young Money, Carter was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone and headlined the 'Young Money Presents: America's Most Wanted Music Festival', a United States and Canada–only concert tour which began on July 29, 2009. "Prom Queen", the first official single, debuted on January 27, 2009, immediately after a live Internet broadcast of his concert in San Diego on Ustream (now IBM Cloud Video). It peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. On December 3, 2009, the second single, "On Fire", produced by Cool & Dre, was released. Based on a sample of Amy Holland's "She's on Fire" from the soundtrack to the 1983 film, Scarface, "On Fire" peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Drop the World", which features Eminem, was the album's third single; it was produced by a then-unknown Hit-Boy.
2010–2013: I Am Not a Human Being series and Tha Carter IV
In an interview on MTV's Mixtape Monday, Carter hinted at the release of Tha Carter IV. He later announced that it would be released in late 2009 before the holiday season. Birdman had previously stated that Tha Carter IV would be packaged with Rebirth as a double disc album. Carter denied this, saying that "Tha Carter IV deserves Tha Carter IV", adding that We Are Young Money may be packaged with Rebirth. These albums were eventually released separately.
Carter released his eighth album, I Am Not a Human Being, on his 28th birthday, September 27, 2010. The album was released during Carter's incarceration on a weapon possession charge. The album has sold over 953,000 copies in the U.S. and spawned the successful single "Right Above It", which peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also debuted at number two, but later climbed to number one on the Billboard 200, making Carter the first rapper while incarcerated (since Tupac Shakur's Me Against the World, released in 1995) to have a number one album. Tha Carter IV was delayed into 2011, after Lil Wayne began recording from scratch after his release from prison. He described his first song since his release as "a 2010 version of A Milli on steroids". The lead single from Tha Carter IV, "6 Foot 7 Foot" featuring Cory Gunz, was released on December 15, 2010. On March 8, Carter released another song, "We Back Soon", though it was not included on the official track listing of Tha Carter IV. The second single, "John", featuring Rick Ross, was released on March 24. In an interview on March 29, Carter announced that he would retire at age 35; saying that "I would feel selfish still going to the studio when it's such a vital point" in the lives of his four children.
Throughout a two-year period between 2010 and 2012, Carter has been featured in many hit singles such as "I Made It (Cash Money Heroes)" by Kevin Rudolf, "Miss Me", "The Motto", and "HYFR (Hell Ya Fucking Right)" by Drake, "No Love" by Eminem, "Hit the Lights" by Jay Sean, "Look at Me Now" by Chris Brown, "Welcome to My Hood", "I'm on One", "Take It to the Head", and "No New Friends" by DJ Khaled, "Motivation" by Kelly Rowland, "Ballin'" by Young Jeezy, "Strange Clouds" by B.o.B, "I Can Only Imagine" by David Guetta, "Faded" by Tyga, "Pop That" by French Montana, and "Bandz a Make Her Dance" by Juicy J.
The artwork for Tha Carter IV was unveiled on April 20. Originally scheduled to be released on May 16, it was delayed several times until being confirmed for release on August 29, 2011. On May 26, the album's third single, "How to Love", was released. He released another track, "Dear Anne (Stan Part 2)", in June. In preparation for Tha Carter IV, Carter released a mixtape, Sorry 4 the Wait, in similarity to his mixtape No Ceilings (2009); the mixtape was re-released on streaming services in January 2022 with four additional tracks.
Finally released on August 29, 2011, Tha Carter IV debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 964,000 copies (overshadowing the first-week sales of Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne), making it Carter's third chart-topping album of his career. On January 8, 2012, according to Nielsen SoundScan, Carter was the seventh all-time best-selling artist for digital track sales with 36,788,000 million to the end of 2011.
In October 2011, it was reported that Carter was working on sequels to both I Am Not a Human Being and Rebirth. In January 2012, Birdman announced that he and Carter had finished recording Like Father, Like Son 2. On November 22, 2012, Carter announced that Tha Carter V would be his final album, as he wanted to pursue other interests.
After a one-year delay, I Am Not a Human Being II was released on March 26, 2013, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 selling 217,000 copies in its first week; "My Homies Still", "Love Me", and "No Worries" were released as singles prior to its release. The album was met with generally mixed reviews, with most critics noticing the declining quality of his releases. Carter toured North America with 2 Chainz and T.I. on the second America's Most Wanted Festival. On May 3, 2013, Pepsi dropped Carter, who was a spokesperson for Mountain Dew, due to him performing offensive lyrics about civil rights icon Emmett Till on the remix to rapper Future's single, "Karate Chop". On September 1, 2013, Carter released Dedication 5, the fifth instalment of the Dedication mixtape series. The mixtape featured 29 tracks, with guest appearances from several members of Young Money.
2014–2019: Free Weezy Album and Tha Carter V
On October 18, 2013, former Cash Money Records vice president of promotion Mel Smith, tweeted: "Happy Friday!! New YMCMB music coming soon!! Carter 5." Nearly four months later, in an interview with The Griffin, released on February 14, 2014, Smith spoke on the upcoming album: "We're very close to dropping the album. It's going to be a huge surprise to everyone ... I can't release the date because he wants to surprise people." On February 15, during Drake's performance at the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities in New Orleans, Carter appeared as a guest performer before announcing that Tha Carter V would be released on May 5, 2014. In March 2014, Carter again said during an interview at SXSW that Tha Carter V would be his last album.
On March 27, 2014, Carter's manager Cortez Bryant announced that the album had been delayed. Carter then released the single "Believe Me", which features vocals from Drake, to mainstream urban radio in the United States on May 6, 2014. Three more singles, "Krazy", "Grindin'" (featuring Drake) and "Start a Fire" (featuring Christina Milian), were also released, but ultimately scrapped from the album.
Carter and Drake embarked on their joint tour, Drake vs. Lil Wayne (running from August 8 to September 28, 2014), determining who is "the best rapper on tour and in the world". The concept of the tour was based on the Street Fighter franchise. It was the third-largest grossing hip hop concert tour of 2014 behind Eminem and Rihanna's Monster Tour, and Jay-Z and Beyoncé's On the Run Tour.
In late 2014, Carter claimed that the album's release was postponed due to his financial disputes with Cash Money.
On January 20, 2015, Carter self-released Sorry 4 the Wait 2, a sequel to his 2011 mixtape, to compensate for the continued delay of Tha Carter V. In February 2015, due to Tha Carter V's delay, Carter announced that a free album would be released prior to the fifth installment in his popular series. In June 2015, Carter joined Jay-Z's TIDAL, as an artist owner, kicking off the partnership by exclusively releasing a single on the service titled "Glory". He also announced plans on his own TIDAL X concert series. On July 4, 2015, Carter released Free Weezy Album, exclusively through TIDAL, under Young Money and Republic Records. On January 27, 2016, when rapper 2 Chainz released his "Felt Like Cappin" EP, Carter is featured on the lead single titled "Back on That Bullshit". On March 4, 2016, 2 Chainz released his third studio album, ColleGrove. The album was initially a collaborative effort between 2 Chainz and Carter, but due to his record label issues, only 2 Chainz was credited as the primary artist. On June 28, 2016, Carter was one of several artists who appeared on the track "Sucker for Pain" for the film Suicide Squad. In September 2016, Carter tweeted "I AM NOW DEFENSELESS and mentally DEFEATED", followed by stating "I'm done", hinting at a possible retirement. Many rappers responded with respect and encouragement.
In 2017, Carter announced he had signed with Jay-Z's Roc Nation, although he later stated that there was no official paperwork that he signed to the label. On August 8, 2017, he released the song "Like a Man" with sound engineer Onhel. On June 7, 2018, it was announced that Carter had been released from Cash Money Records and would be releasing Tha Carter V via Young Money and Republic Records.
In September 2016, Carter's song, "No Mercy", debuted as the theme song for Skip and Shannon: Undisputed, a sports talk show on FS1. On Christmas Day 2017, Carter released the mixtape Dedication 6, the sixth installment of the "Gangsta Grillz" chronology. The second part was released on January 26, 2018.
Tha Carter V was finally released on September 27, 2018, the day of Carter's 36th birthday, debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 with 480,000 album-equivalent units, including 140,000 pure album sales. It is the second-largest streaming week for an album behind former Young Money labelmate Drake's Scorpion with 433 million streams. It is also Carter's fourth number-one Billboard 200 album. Every song on the album charted on the Billboard 100, while simultaneously charting 4 songs in the top 10, also becoming the first artist to debut two songs in the top five. One of the album's singles, "Uproar", produced by Swizz Beatz, was its leading, reaching number seven on the Billboard Hot 100; it features a sample from rapper G. Dep's 2001 single, "Special Delivery". Tha Carter V has since been certified 2× platinum by the RIAA.
2020–2021: Funeral and Trust Fund Babies
While Carter was working on Tha Carter V, it was announced that his next album would be titled Funeral. On January 23, 2020, he revealed the album's release date and album artwork. Funeral was released on January 31, and debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, with 139,000 album-equivalent units, becoming his fifth U.S. number-one album. The album received generally mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics. On February 2, 2020, Lil Wayne competed in season three of The Masked Singer after the Super Bowl LIV as "Robot". He was the first to be eliminated. Carter featured on Lil Baby's track "Forever", a track from Baby's second studio album, My Turn, which was released on February 28, 2020. The song's music video was released on March 3, 2020. This marked the second collaboration for the two artists in 2020, with the first being on Carter's single, "I Do It".
On April 24, 2020, Lil Wayne, along with Litt Live (formerly at the time, Dash Radio), launched his own radio show, Young Money Radio, on Apple Music through its subdivision Apple Music 1. Wayne described the show as having "heavyweights calling in discussing sports, music, comedy, everything!". On July 3, Lil Wayne released his eleventh studio album, Free Weezy Album (2015) on streaming services to commemorate its five-year anniversary. The album charted at number 77 on the Billboard 200 the following week. On May 29, Wayne released the deluxe edition of Funeral featuring artists such as Doja Cat, Tory Lanez, Lil Uzi Vert, Benny The Butcher, Conway the Machine and Jessie Reyez. On August 28, Wayne released another old project, his 2009 mixtape No Ceilings, for commercial release. He also celebrated the release by collaborating with ASAP Ferg on the song "No Ceilings". Wayne was featured on YoungBoy Never Broke Again's album Top on the track "My Window", released on September 11. His verse received praise from critics. On September 25, he released the deluxe edition of his twelfth album Tha Carter V, to celebrate the album's second anniversary; it consists of songs that did not make the cut on the original album.
On November 27, 2020, Lil Wayne released the mixtape, No Ceilings 3, while announcing the album, I Am Not a Human Being III, for 2021, although it would not be released that year due to delays. On October 1, 2021, Wayne and Rich the Kid released a collaborative mixtape titled Trust Fund Babies, along with a music video for the single "Feelin' Like Tunechi". The mixtape took roughly a month and a half to record. On their working relationship, Wayne said, "For me, it's the chemistry, it's the camaraderie because first of all, Rich like my little bro and me and Rich been rockin' for a minute".
2023–present: Welcome 2 Collegrove and Tha Carter VI
On March 31, 2023, Wayne dropped his first ever greatest hits album titled I Am Music. It included the then-unreleased "Kant Nobody", featuring DMX, whose song, "Niggaz Done Started Something" (1998), was sampled through. Wayne and DMX previously collaborated on "Dogs Out", a track from the latter's posthumous album, Exodus, which was released a month after his death in 2021. Wayne released a single titled "Kat Food" on September 1, 2023. That October, Lil Wayne released a mixtape, Tha Fix Before Tha VI. On November 3, 2023, Wayne was featured on the remix to Ciara and Chris Brown's single "How We Roll". That same month, he and 2 Chainz released a collaborative album, Welcome 2 Collegrove. A sequel to 2 Chainz's 2016 album, ColleGrove, Wayne was credited as a co-leading artist as he was previously unable to receive credit for its predecessor, due to his prior legal issues involving his Cash Money dispute.
On February 6, 2025, during an advert for Cetaphil, Wayne announced that Tha Carter VI would be released on June 6, 2025. On February 17, after being critical of his "Mona Lisa" collaborator Kendrick Lamar replacing him as the headliner of the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, Carter performed for the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special.
Future and unreleased projects
Carter has announced several possible upcoming projects, including a collaborative album entitled I Can't Feel My Face with Harlem-based rapper Juelz Santana, that has been in production for several years. In late 2011, it was announced by Mack Maine that Carter and Juelz Santana had gone back to work on their collaborative album I Can't Feel My Face, which had been delayed for a few years due to "label politics".
On June 19, 2008, Carter and T-Pain formed a duo called T-Wayne with plans to release an album, titled He Raps, He Sings; however, those plans have died down due to much of the material recorded for the album being leaked. T-Pain ultimately released T-Wayne as a mixtape in 2017.
According to an interview with Drake, in the December 2011 issue of XXL, plans for an upcoming album with Carter had been scrapped for the time being because of the Jay-Z and Kanye West collaboration album Watch the Throne (2011).
In April 2012, on the premiere of MTV's Hip Hop POV, Carter sat down with Amanda Seales and spoke briefly about an album he put together titled Devol (loved, backwards), an album full of "love songs" that he wrote during his imprisonment at Rikers Island. In May 2013, he confirmed the album will still be released.
Carter's once ongoing litigation with Cash Money prevented numerous completed projects from being released. In January 2017, Young Money revealed the title of a planned Carter album called Velvet. The album ended up leaking online in November 2018.
Musical style and artistry
Carter is known for his creative lyrical ability—which often uses punchlines, homonyms, word play, and braggadocio. His music often deals with the subjects of wealth, drugs, and sex. His lyrics have been criticized for their controversial subject matter.
Carter has cited rapper Missy Elliott as his biggest musical inspiration, saying, "she's a huge influence of everything I've ever done". Another one of his major influences is American hip hop group Goodie Mob. In an interview with Genius, Carter said, "I've been listening to Goodie Mob since I was in the 7th grade". For his MTV Unplugged special, Carter paid tribute to Tupac by covering his music. He also pulled inspiration from Tupac's "Keep Ya Head Up" for his 2011 single "How to Love".
Additionally, he has mentioned T-Pain, Prince, Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Alicia Keys, and Lenny Kravitz as influences, stating, "I viewed them seriously and was like, 'Wow, I could do that without being totally them.'" Carter and rapper Calboy paid homage to Hill on their 2021 single "Miseducation" titled after Hill's 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
According to American Songwriter, Carter credits Jay-Z for inspiring him to freestyle rhymes while recording over an instrumental, as opposed to writing down his lyrics. Carter also credits The Notorious B.I.G. as an influence.
Legacy
Lil Wayne is often described as "one of the most influential artists in the 21st century" and is many times called "the greatest rapper of his generation" as well as one of the greatest rappers of all time. His musical style and usage of autotune influenced modern sound of hip-hop music and its subgenres, especially the development of trap.
Many rappers and musicians have cited Lil Wayne as an influence on their careers and musical style, including Nicki Minaj, Drake, Fall Out Boy, Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz, Tyga, Future, Lil B, Young Thug, Trippie Redd, Lil Skies, Playboi Carti, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Lil Baby, DaBaby, Polo G, BlocBoy JB, NLE Choppa, Flo Milli, and The Kid Laroi.
In November 2024, during the Lil WeezyAna Fest, Lil Wayne received a Key to the City from New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. In the same tribute, Master P announced the creation of the NOLA Walk of Fame and presented Wayne with a fleur-de-lis plaque to mark this honor. Additionally, February 6–7 will now be celebrated as "Lil Wayne Day" in New Orleans.
Personal life
Relationships and children
Carter has four children. His first child, daughter Reginae, was born November 29, 1998, when he was 16, to his high school sweetheart and later ex-wife Toya Johnson. Internet rumors circulated in August 2008 that Carter's daughter had died in an auto accident; he immediately dispelled them. His second child, son Dwayne III, was born on October 22, 2008, at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati to former radio personality Sarah Vivan. His third child, son Kameron, was born to actress Lauren London on September 9, 2009. His fourth child, son Neal, was born on November 30, 2009, to singer Nivea.
Carter met his high school sweetheart, Toya Johnson, when he and she were 15 and 14 respectively. After dating on and off for seven years, they married on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2004, and divorced in January 2006. Johnson cited her inability to cope with his lifestyle and the fact he had communicated with his other former romantic partners prior. More specifically, his career kept him away from their home for long periods of time. Despite being divorced, the two have remained good friends and continued to jointly support their daughter, Reginae.
In February 2002, after he first broke up with Johnson, Carter began dating singer Nivea. On the 2007 song "Something You Forgot", he explained his feelings for Nivea, whom he got engaged to in December 2002 but broke off the engagement with in August 2003. Nivea stated that Carter tried to make her quit doing music so that he could take care of her, but she also acknowledged that the song was written about her.
Previously having known each other since 1999, Carter and Lauren London reconciled following his divorce from Johnson in 2006. They broke up again in 2009 after London found out that she was pregnant at the same time as Carter's ex-girlfriend, Nivea. In a May 2011 radio interview, London said of her relationship with Wayne and his fatherhood, "I met Wayne when I was 15 years old. I've known him a very long time, and we were in a relationship that didn't make it. We tried more than once to revive it, and we were engaged briefly years ago, but we eventually parted ways. People see the 'Lil Wayne' personality and think they know who he really is. My son's father is an intelligent, loving, and lovable person who will always be a dear friend. And that will never change. That is all." On the 500 Degreez track "Young'n Blues", Carter discussed his breakup with Toya Johnson and his issues with London, while he nicknamed the latter "Young Cali Sweet Thing".
Carter began dating rapper Trina in 2005 after featuring on her single "Don't Trip". The two were discussing future plans for engagement and moving to Florida to live together. However, in 2006, after Trina suffered a miscarriage from what was later confirmed to be her and Carter's unborn child, they have grown distant from one another. It was during that time when Trina developed an affair with Carter's would be rival, rapper Young Buck. In October 2007, the relationship ended after Trina realized that it was not properly empathized. According to her, it was the cause of the pair "being young and not knowing what [we were] doing". The two reunited to collaborate for the 2013 single "Wowzerz" and 2019's "Situation". They remain on good terms.
Carter and Nivea reconciled in early 2008 following Nivea's divorce from singer-songwriter The-Dream. Both were re-engaged in 2009, but Nivea decided to end her relationship with Carter while pregnant with their son; they called off their engagement for the second time in June 2010, during Carter's prison sentence.
Carter dated model Karrine Steffans (on and off) from 2007 to 2014. He briefly dated Dana Lee in 2012.
He entered into an intimate relationship with glamour model Tammy Torres from 2009 to 2010. While imprisoned, Drake encouraged him not to rekindle his relationship with Torres due to his already having had an encounter with her. After ending his relationship with Torres and mending over his falling out with Drake, Carter later got involved with Dhea Sodano from 2011 to 2019.
In July 2014, it was rumored that Carter was dating singer Christina Milian, with whom he attended the ESPY Awards. They later confirmed their relationship in mid-2015, after which they received criticism from their interconnected exes, singer Nivea and songwriter The-Dream. They split in August 2015, having collaborated on multiple singles, videos, and concert dates.
Wayne was engaged to model La'Tecia Thomas, but they called off the engagement in May 2020. A month later, it was announced that Wayne had started dating Denise Bidot, another model. In November 2020, they reportedly broke up over Wayne's endorsement of Donald Trump. Shortly after, it was reported that the couple had reconciled. Wayne and Bidot later broke up again in January 2022.
On October 18, 2024, Carter began dating chef LeahAngelie Murphy.
Carter's son, Neal Carter, currently performs music under the alias Lil Novi.
Beliefs and interests
In an interview with Blender, Carter said that one of his favorite bands from childhood was rock group Nirvana; he cites them as a major influence in his music.
Carter got his first tattoo, of his father's name, at age 14. His second spelled "Cash Money" across his stomach. His tattoos have grown to include a Jay-Z verse on his leg, "I Am Music" on his forehead and teardrops on his cheeks among many others. His most recent one is "Baked" on his forehead stylized as the Baker Skateboards logo.
Carter identifies as a Catholic. While playing in Newark Symphony Hall, Carter professed his belief "in God and His son, Jesus". During his 2011 tour in Australia with Eminem, before beginning his bracket, he proclaimed his belief in God.
After earning his GED, Carter enrolled at the University of Houston in January 2005. He dropped out in the same year due to his conflicting schedule. He also stated on The View that he switched to the University of Phoenix and majored in psychology taking online courses. An article in Urb magazine in March 2007 asserted that Carter had been earning high grades at Houston.
In 2016, Carter purchased Player's Rep. Sports Agency, and became Young Money APAA sports, which hired the NFL's first female sports agent, Nicole Lynn. She currently represents Seth Roberts, Corey Nelson, Jordan Evans, Malik Jefferson, Erik Harris, Quinnen Williams, as well as NCAA coaches, and two former No. 1 Pro Softball draft picks.
On October 29, 2020, less than a week before the presidential election, Carter posted an image of him and President Donald Trump to Twitter. In the caption for the photo, Carter stated that he and Trump had recently met to discuss criminal justice reform and Trump's Platinum Plan, an initiative which aims to raise access to capital in Black communities by almost $500 billion. Carter claimed Trump "listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done".
Health problems
On October 25, 2012, Carter's private jet, bound for Los Angeles, made an emergency landing in Texas due to an in-flight medical episode. Lil Wayne was transferred to a local hospital upon arrival. TMZ and other media sources said that Carter had suffered a seizure aboard the plane. His publicist denied this, saying that he was in fact treated for "a severe migraine and dehydration".
The following day, while flying from Texas to Los Angeles, Carter's private jet was reportedly again forced to make an emergency landing, this time in Louisiana, after he suffered a second seizure and required further hospitalization. His representative said that the reports of Carter's condition had been exaggerated, and that he was resting at his Louisiana home. In a November 2012 interview with MTV, Carter stated that he was taking seizure medication, on doctors' orders, due to the aforementioned incidents.
On March 14, 2013, TMZ reported that Carter had been treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on the evening of March 12, after having seizures while on a music video set with Young Money rapper Nicki Minaj. He was reportedly released in the early hours of March 13. On March 15, TMZ published a second story, claiming that hours after his release on March 13, Carter was found unconscious after experiencing further seizures, and was brought back to Cedars-Sinai, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit in critical condition. The article alleged the latest seizures were found to be linked to high amounts of codeine in Carter's system, possibly due to bingeing on purple drank after his initial hospital release. Multiple celebrities, including Drake and Birdman, were photographed on March 15 and 16 visiting Carter at Cedars-Sinai.
Several members of Young Money Entertainment, including president Mack Maine, criticized media reports on Carter's hospitalization, particularly those of TMZ, alleging that they exaggerated the severity of his condition and falsely implied that he was on his deathbed (such as by saying that he was in a medically induced coma), triggering what the Washington Post called "the most overheated celebrity deathwatch in recent years". In separate interviews on March 18, Mack Maine and Birdman disputed TMZ's reports; they stated that in fact there were not multiple seizures or multiple hospital visits. They explained that after Carter began seizing on the way to the music video shoot on March 12, an ambulance was called and he was transported to the hospital, where he was admitted and remained continuously thereafter. They also refuted the claims that Carter's seizures are drug-induced, saying that they are an ongoing problem for which doctors have been unable to identify a cause.
Carter was released from the hospital late on March 18, following a six-day stay. He addressed his condition via a vlog, on March 21 saying he was "more than good".
Carter had two seizures in June 2016 during a cross-country flight from Wisconsin to California, causing the plane to divert to Omaha, Nebraska. The second seizure occurred just two minutes after takeoff, forcing the plane to land in Omaha once again. Less than a month later, he had another seizure, supposedly due to his not taking his epilepsy medication.
Carter canceled a Las Vegas show on September 3, 2017, after experiencing a seizure in a Chicago hospital earlier that day. He was taken there after being found unconscious in a hotel room.
In June 2023, Carter acknowledged that he now had trouble remembering his songs due to memory problems caused by his epilepsy.
Philanthropy
On February 19, 2008, Carter and his manager, Cortez Bryant, revisited their alma mater, McMain Secondary School, to recruit students to design an invitation to the gala introducing Carter's nonprofit One Family Foundation.
Other ventures
Young Money Entertainment
Books
Carter wrote a memoir of his experience in Rikers Island called Gone Til' November: A Journal of Rikers Island that was released October 11, 2016.
Cannabis industry
In December 2019, Carter announced his own cannabis brand under the name GKUA Ultra Premium.
Sports media
On September 24, 2008, Carter published his first blog for ESPN in their issue, ESPN The Magazine. Carter said that he was a fan of tennis, the Green Bay Packers, the Boston Bruins, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Red Sox. To commemorate the Packers' appearance in Super Bowl XLV, he parodied Wiz Khalifa's hit song "Black and Yellow" (which were the colors of the Packers' opponents, the Pittsburgh Steelers) in 2021 with a song titled "Green and Yellow". He released a second version of the song later that year, which was requested by the Packers and updated with the current roster. Carter has continued writing for ESPN, notably reporting at the ESPN Super Bowl party.
On January 6, 2009, Carter was a guest debater against Skip Bayless on the "1st & 10" segment of ESPN First Take. On February 10, 2009, he appeared on ESPN's Around the Horn and beat out veterans Woody Paige, Jay Mariotti and fellow New Orleanian Michael Smith to win that show's episode.
Carter made his debut on ESPN's daily sports round table show Around The Horn on February 10, 2009. Carter created the intro song "No Mercy" for the Fox Sports 1 sports debate show Undisputed. After Shannon Sharpe's departure from the show, Carter created a new theme song for Undisputed: "Good Morning". Carter also joined the series as a regular guest opposite Bayless.
Carter has mentioned being a fan of Latvian tennis player Jeļena Ostapenko. He was extended an invite to the 2024 US Open. Carter also thanked Ostapenko, who attended Drake's tour featuring Lil Wayne.
Legal issues
Arrests, incarceration, and presidential pardon
On July 22, 2007, Carter was arrested in New York City following a performance at the Beacon Theatre; the New York City Police Department discovered Carter and another man smoking marijuana near a tour bus. After taking Carter into custody, police discovered a .40 caliber pistol near his person. The gun, which was registered to his manager, was in a bag located near the rapper. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and marijuana.
Following a performance at Qwest Arena in Boise, Idaho, Carter was arrested October 5, 2007, on felony fugitive charges after Georgia authorities accused the rapper of possessing a controlled substance. The incident was later described as a "mix-up" and the fugitive charges were dropped.
On January 23, 2008, Carter was arrested alongside two others. His tour bus was stopped by Border Patrol agents near Yuma, Arizona. A K-9 Unit recovered 105 grams (3.7 oz) of marijuana, almost 29 grams (1.0 oz) of cocaine, 41 grams (1.4 oz) of ecstasy, and $22,000 in cash. Carter was charged with four felonies: possession of narcotic drug for sale, possession of dangerous drugs, misconduct involving weapons, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was granted permission to travel outside of the state and remain out of custody on the $10,185 bond he posted.
On May 6, 2008, Carter returned to court in Arizona to plead not guilty to the charges. A bench warrant was issued on March 17, 2010, when Carter did not show for a final trial management conference. However, he was already incarcerated, serving a one-year sentence on Rikers Island on weapons charges. On June 22, 2010, Carter pleaded guilty to the charges. As part of the plea deal he was able to serve 36 months of probation, to which he was sentenced on June 30, 2010.
On December 18, 2009, Carter and 11 others were detained at the Falfurrias, Texas, border patrol checkpoint after an unknown amount of marijuana was found on two of his tour buses.
On October 22, 2009, Carter pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He was due for sentencing in February 2010 and was expected to receive a one-year county jail sentence, but on February 9, 2010, Carter's attorney announced that the sentencing was delayed until March 2 due to dental surgery, which was performed on February 16. The surgery included eight root canals, the replacement of several tooth implants, as well as the addition of a few new implants and work on his remaining original teeth. On March 2, 2010, sentencing was postponed again when the courthouse reported a fire in its basement.
On March 8, 2010, Carter was given a one-year sentence, which he served on Rikers Island. His lawyer said the rapper expected to be held in protective custody, separated from other prisoners. In May 2010, Carter was found by Rikers Island correctional staff to be in possession of contraband (an MP3 player, charger, and headphones). In April 2010, Carter's friends created a website called Weezy Thanx You, which published letters written by Carter while incarcerated. In the first letter, titled "Gone 'til November", Carter said he was staying in good spirits thinking about his children and spending his time working out regularly and reading the Bible every day. Carter was released from Rikers Island Jail on November 4, 2010, after serving eight months of his year-long sentence.
On December 12, 2020, Carter pleaded guilty to a federal firearms charge brought against him by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. This plea stemmed from an incident during December of the previous year, when Carter was arrested in Florida after transporting a loaded handgun on his private jet from California. As a convicted felon, he is barred from possessing such weapons. He was pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump on January 19, 2021, his last full day in office before the end of his first term.
Lawsuits
On July 24, 2008, Abkco Music filed a lawsuit against Carter for copyright infringement and unfair competition, specifically referring to Tha Carter III's track "Playing with Fire". In the lawsuit, Abkco says that the song was obviously derived from the Rolling Stones' "Play with Fire", to which Abkco owns the rights. Subsequently, "Playing with Fire" was removed from the track list of Tha Carter III on all online music stores and replaced with the David Banner produced track, "Pussy Monster".
In February 2009, production company RMF Productions filed a $1.3 million lawsuit against Carter following a $100,000 advance payment for three shows, all of which were cancelled by the artist.
In October 2009, Carter, Birdman, Cash Money Records, and various music distribution outlets were sued for copyright infringement by Thomas Marasciullo, who says his voice was used without permission. The rappers asked him to record some "Italian-styled spoken word recordings" in 2006. The lyrics were allegedly used on "Respect" and other tracks from the rappers' collaboration album Like Father, Like Son and Birdman's 5 * Stunna.
In March 2011, producer Deezle (Darius Harrison) sued Carter and his parent labels Cash Money Records over unpaid royalties from Tha Carter III. Two months later, that May, producer Bangladesh also filed a lawsuit against Wayne over unpaid royalties as well.
In early June 2011, another producer named David Kirkwood filed a lawsuit against Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records on claims that the labels have failed to pay him over $1.5 million in royalties and production services for his work on the album, also including his songwriting on "Love Me or Hate Me", a bonus song featured only on the deluxe edition of the album.
Also in June 2011, Dallas producers Play-N-Skillz filed a lawsuit against him, saying Carter owes them at least $1 million in unpaid royalties for "Got Money" from his album Tha Carter III. The single has sold over 2 million copies since being released.
In July 2011, Done Deal Enterprises, a production company based in Georgia, filed suit against Carter, Universal Music Group, Cash Money Records and Young Money Entertainment, claiming copyright infringement. The lawsuit alleges Carter stole the song "BedRock", featured on the compilation album We Are Young Money, and seeks damages of $15 million.
In November 2012, Wayne was ordered to pay Quincy Jones III $2.2 million based on a lawsuit which stated that the rapper blocked the release of Jones's film The Carter, therefore infringing on its profits.
Controversies and feuds
Juvenile
Carter began feuding with former Hot Boys member and Cash Money Records labelmate Juvenile in 2002 after he took offense to Carter naming his third studio album 500 Degreez—a diss aimed towards Juvenile, whose previous album was named 400 Degreez. Juvenile responded with a diss track on his 2002 album 600 Degreez, titled "A Hoe". In the song, Juvenile questions Carter's sexuality and calls him a fake gangster. The two squashed their rivalry for a short period in 2004, with Carter and Birdman appearing in the music video for Juvenile and Soulja Slim's song "Slow Motion". Carter later paid tribute to the Hot Boys with a song called "I Miss My Dawgs" on 2004's Tha Carter. Juvenile responded by labeling the song "fake" and criticizing Carter for releasing a tribute song and later promoting the album on BET with "nothing good to say about them". The two eventually reconciled once again, and Juvenile re-signed with Cash Money Records in 2014.
Young Buck
Young Buck released a song called "Off Parole", featuring Tony Yayo, which insulted Carter. Young Buck said that Carter could not be angry because Buck spoke the truth. Young Buck also said "You think you got a problem with Juve and B.G.; you'll have a true problem with me", referring to the Cash Money-Juvenile/B.G feud. One of the reasons 50 Cent stated he was dismissing Young Buck was what he called "inconsistent behavior", which included appearing on stage with Carter, then seemingly dissing him on records with G-Unit. After he was dismissed, Young Buck appeared in the music video "My Life" by The Game, which featured Carter on the song's chorus. As of 2009, Young Buck and Carter have reconciled and also linked up to record a track "Up's and Down's" for Young Buck's Back on My Buck Shit mixtape.
Pusha T
Tension between Wayne and Pusha T had been going on for years, beginning soon after Clipse and Birdman worked on "What Happened to That Boy", the latter's 2002 single. In 2006, Wayne felt the Clipse song "Mr. Me Too" was directed at him, which caused more tension between the two. In 2012, after much speculation that Pusha T was subliminally dissing Canadian rapper and Wayne's Young Money signee Drake in several songs, the speculation heightened after the release of Pusha T's "Exodus 23:1" song. Lil Wayne quickly responded on online social networking service Twitter and later released a diss track titled "Goulish". In the first verse, Wayne raps "Fuck Pusha T and anybody that love him / His head up his ass, I'mma have to head-butt him". Pusha T called Wayne's diss track "horrible" and said he felt it did not deserve a response. Both men have downplayed the feud, with Wayne saying he's over it. However, in November 2012, Pusha T dissed Wayne and Birdman on a Ludacris song titled "Tell Me What They Mad For". In December 2014, once the feud between Lil Wayne and Birdman arose, Pusha T sent out a tweet encouraging Lil Wayne to sign to G.O.O.D. Music, which also insulted Birdman for his hand-rubbing habit.
Jay-Z
In a 2009 interview with Tropical TV, Birdman disputed the MTV poll that voted Jay-Z "The Hottest MC in the Game", stating that Lil Wayne was a better rapper and made more money. In early 2011, when Jay-Z and Kanye West's single "H•A•M" was released, Jay-Z took shots at Birdman, saying "Really, you got Baby money" and "[you] ain't got my lady's money!". On August 24, 2011, a song called "It's Good" by Lil Wayne (featuring Drake and Jadakiss) was leaked online and included Lil Wayne responding "Talkin' 'bout baby money? I gotcha baby money. Kidnap your bitch, get that, How much you love your lady? money". Jadakiss later absolved himself of involvement in any brewing beef on his official Twitter feed.
Dispute with Cash Money Records
On December 4, 2014, just five days before Tha Carter V was due to be released, Carter issued a statement saying the album would not be released on its expected release date, due to his displeasure with Cash Money Records label-boss Birdman, refusing to release the album although it had been completed. Carter also expressed his feelings by stating he felt both he and his creativity were being held "prisoner".
Upon Sorry for the Wait 2's release on January 20, 2015, he continuously disses Birdman and Cash Money Records, several times throughout the mixtape. Birdman was reported to be upset with this. In late January 2015, Carter sued Birdman and Cash Money Records for $51 million. Carter and Birdman supposedly reconciled after being seen at Drake's NYE Party, at Miami's Club Liv, and in studio.
On January 27, 2024, both Carter and Birdman reunited during a studio session, putting an end to their nine-year quarrel.
Political and racial views
In 2013, Carter received criticism after a video released by TMZ showed him apparently stepping on the U.S. flag. Carter later explained that "It was never my intention to desecrate the flag of the United States", and that he was shooting a video for a song on his upcoming album, "God Bless Amerika". He says the purpose of the flag was to show that "behind the American Flag was the Hoods of America".
In late 2016, Carter made statements critical of the Black Lives Matter movement, saying, "I don't feel connected to a damn thing that ain't got nothin' to do with me. If you do, you crazy as shit," adding that his status as a wealthy black man who has white fans is evidence that black people are valued in the United States.
Discography
Studio albums
Tha Block Is Hot (1999)
Lights Out (2000)
500 Degreez (2002)
Tha Carter (2004)
Tha Carter II (2005)
Tha Carter III (2008)
Rebirth (2010)
I Am Not a Human Being (2010)
Tha Carter IV (2011)
I Am Not a Human Being II (2013)
Free Weezy Album (2015)
Tha Carter V (2018)
Funeral (2020)
Tha Carter VI (2025)
Collaborative albums
Like Father, Like Son (with Birdman) (2006)
Trust Fund Babies (with Rich The Kid) (2021)
Welcome 2 Collegrove (with 2 Chainz) (2023)
Tours
Headlining
I Am Music Tour (2008-2009)
America's Most Wanted Tour (2009)
I Am Music II Tour (2011)
Sorry For The Wait 2 Tour (2015)
The Dedication Tour (2016)
Kloser 2 U Tour (2017)
I Ain't Shit Without You (2018)
Welcome To Tha Carter Tour (2023)
Tha Carter VI Tour (2025)
Co-headlining
Cash Money/Ruff Ryders Tour (with Cash Money and Ruff Ryders) (2000)
Drake vs. Lil Wayne (with Drake) (2014)
Blink-182 and Lil Wayne Tour (with Blink-182) (2019)
The HotBoys Reunion Tour (with Juvenile, B.G. and Turk) (2024-2025)
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
See also
List of celebrities who own cannabis businesses
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of highest-certified music artists in the United States
List of best-selling singles in the United States
List of best-selling singles
List of best-selling albums by year in the United States
List of artists who reached number one on the UK singles chart
References
External links
Official website
Lil Wayne at AllMusic
Lil Wayne at IMDb
Lil Wayne on Instagram
Lil Wayne on Spotify
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Anna Nicole Smith
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Vickie Lynn Marshall (née Hogan; November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007), known professionally as Anna Nicole Smith, was an American model, actress and television personality. Smith started her career as a Playboy magazine centerfold in May 1992 and won the title of 1993 Playmate of the Year. She later modeled for fashion companies, including Guess, H&M and Heatherette.
Smith dropped out of high school in 1984, married in 1985, and divorced in 1993. In 1994, her highly publicized second marriage to 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall resulted in speculation that she was a gold digger, which she denied. Following Marshall's death in 1995, Smith began a lengthy legal battle over a share of his estate. Her cases reached the Supreme Court of the United States: Marshall v. Marshall on a question of federal jurisdiction and Stern v. Marshall on a question of bankruptcy court authority. Smith died on February 8, 2007, in Hollywood, Florida, of a combined drug intoxication.
Early life
Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967, in Houston, Texas, the only daughter of Virgie Tabers Arthur (1951–2018) and Donald Eugene Hogan (1947–2009). Smith attended Mexia High School, in Mexia, Texas, transferring there from a Houston school. She had five half-siblings on her father's side. Smith was primarily raised by her mother and her family in Mexia.
Career
Modeling
Smith started her career as a Playboy magazine centerfold in May 1992 and won the title of 1993 Playmate of the Year.
Smith secured a contract to replace supermodel Claudia Schiffer in a Guess Jeans advertisement campaign featuring a series of sultry black-and-white photographs. During the Guess campaign, she took on the stage name "Anna Nicole". Guess photographers noticed Smith bore a striking resemblance to Jayne Mansfield and showcased her in several Mansfield-inspired photo sessions. In 1993, she modeled for the Swedish clothing company H&M, which led to her picture being displayed on large billboards in Sweden and Norway. Smith was featured on the cover of Marie Claire, shot by Peter Lindbergh in October 1993, and in GQ magazine. In 2004 she modelled for Heatherette.
Endorsements
In October 2003, she became a spokeswoman for TrimSpa, which allegedly helped her lose a reported 69 pounds (31 kg). TrimSpa diet product company and Smith were sued in a class-action lawsuit alleging their marketing of a weight loss pill was false or misleading. TrimSpa filed for bankruptcy after Smith's death and was liquidated.
In March 2005, at the first MTV Australia Video Music Awards in Sydney's Luna Park, Smith spoofed Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction by pulling down her dress to reveal both breasts, each covered with the MTV logo.
Personal life
While working at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, Smith met Billy Wayne Smith, a cook at the restaurant, and the couple married on April 4, 1985, when he was 16 and she was 17. She gave birth to their son, Daniel Wayne Smith, on January 22, 1986. Smith and her husband separated the following year and divorced in 1993.
While performing at a Houston strip club in October 1991, Smith met 86-year-old petroleum tycoon J. Howard Marshall. On June 27, 1994, Smith and Marshall were married in Houston, resulting in speculation that she married him for his money. Marshall died on August 4, 1995, in Houston, at the age of 90.
Court cases and bankruptcy
In October 1994, Smith initiated a $5 million lawsuit against the New York magazine, claiming that she did not authorize the use of her photo on the cover of its magazine titled "White Trash Nation" and that the article damaged her reputation. The lawsuit was settled.
Even though Smith was not in Marshall's will, she claimed that in return for marriage, Marshall verbally promised her half of his estate, which primarily consisted of a 16% interest in Koch, Inc., then worth $1.6 billion. Smith's stepson E. Pierce Marshall disputed the claim. Smith temporarily joined forces with J. Howard's other son, J. Howard Marshall III, who was disowned after attempting to take control of Koch. Howard III also claimed that his father had verbally promised him a portion of the estate; like Smith, Howard III was also left out of his father's will.
In 1996, Smith filed for bankruptcy in California as a result of an $850,000 default judgment against her for the sexual harassment of a nanny who cared for her son. Since any money potentially due to her from the Marshall estate was part of her potential assets, the bankruptcy court involved itself in the matter.
In September 2000, a Los Angeles bankruptcy judge awarded Smith $449,754,134.00, the amount that Marshall's interest in Koch appreciated during their marriage. However, in July 2001, Houston judge Mike Wood affirmed the jury's findings in the probate case by ruling that Smith was entitled to nothing. The judge ordered Smith to pay over $1 million to cover the legal costs and expenses of E. Pierce Marshall. The conflict between the Texas probate court and California bankruptcy court judgments forced the matter into federal court.
In March 2002, a federal judge vacated the California bankruptcy court's ruling and issued a new ruling that reduced the award to $88 million. On December 30, 2004, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed that decision on the grounds that the federal courts lacked jurisdiction to overrule the probate court's decision.
In September 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear the appeal of that decision. The George W. Bush administration directed Paul Clement, the United States Solicitor General, to intercede on Smith's behalf in the interest of expanding federal court jurisdiction over state probate disputes. On May 1, 2006, the Supreme Court unanimously decided in favor of Smith. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion. The decision did not give Smith a portion of her husband's estate, but affirmed her right to pursue a share of it in federal court.
On June 20, 2006, E. Pierce Marshall died at age 67 from an infection. His widow and estate executor Elaine Tettemer Marshall, pursued the case on behalf of his estate. After Smith's death in 2007, the case continued on behalf of Smith's infant daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead. In March 2010, an appeals court upheld the verdict barring Smith from the estate. Following the decision, lawyers for Smith's estate appealed the decision to the entire Ninth Circuit. On May 6, 2010, the appeal was denied.
In June 2011, in the case of Stern v. Marshall, the Supreme Court issued a ruling against Smith's estate, stating that the California bankruptcy court decision that gave her estate $475 million was made without subject-matter jurisdiction. The court agreed with the ruling of the Ninth Circuit that a bankruptcy court could not make a decision on an issue outside bankruptcy law. In August 2014, David O. Carter, a federal U.S. District Court judge in Orange County, California, rejected efforts to obtain about $44 million from the J. Howard Marshall estate.
Birth of daughter
A psychiatrist said she met with Smith in April 2006 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles while she was pregnant with her daughter, and that she believed that Smith had borderline personality disorder, and was addicted to prescription medications.
On June 1, 2006, Smith announced her pregnancy in a video clip on her official website. She gave birth to a daughter, Dannielynn, on September 7, 2006, in New Providence, The Bahamas. In an interview on CNN's Larry King Live after the death of Smith's son, attorney Howard K. Stern said that he and Smith had been in a relationship for "a very long time" and said he was the father. Entertainment photographer Larry Birkhead claimed that he was the baby's father and filed a lawsuit to establish paternity. The Bahamian birth certificate recorded the father as Stern.
A judge in the United States ordered that DNA paternity tests be performed to determine Dannielynn's biological father. Following Smith's death, Birkhead's attorney asked for an emergency DNA sample to be taken from Smith's body. The request was denied by a judge who ordered that her body be preserved until February 20.
On February 9, 2007, Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, stated that he had had a decade-long affair with Smith and could potentially be the father of her daughter. Smith's former bodyguard and chef, Alexander Denk, also claimed that he had an affair with Smith and that he, too, was potentially the father.
After Smith's death, the TMZ website reported that she had been given a prescription for methadone under a false name while she was in her eighth month of pregnancy. The Medical Board of California launched a review into the matter. The prescribing doctor, Sandeep Kapoor, said the treatment he had administered was "sound and appropriate".
In April 2007, a Bahamian judge ruled that DNA tests had established Birkhead as the biological father. Birkhead subsequently applied for an amended birth certificate listing him as Dannielynn's father, paving the way for him to obtain a passport for the baby to leave with him for the United States. Stern did not contest the DNA results or the ruling, and Birkhead returned to the United States with the baby. Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, appealed the ruling, but her appeal was denied and she was ordered to pay costs.
Death of son
On September 10, 2006, Smith's twenty-year-old son Daniel Wayne Smith died in his mother's hospital room while visiting her and his half-sister Dannielynn, who was born three days earlier on September 7. An autopsy found that Daniel had died from a combination of drugs, including methadone and antidepressants. A Bahamian jury determined that he had died from an accidental drug overdose and recommended no criminal charges.
A death certificate was issued on September 21, 2006. Daniel was buried at Lake View Cemetery in New Providence on October 19, 2006.
According to Stern, Smith was devastated by her son's death. "Anna and Daniel were inseparable. Daniel was without question the most important person in Anna's life," Stern said during his testimony at the trial regarding the right to control disposition of Smith's remains. "At Daniel's funeral, she had them open the coffin and tried to climb inside. She said that 'if Daniel has to be buried, I want to be buried with him.' She was ready to go down with him." Stern said that, "Anna saw herself as both mother and father to Daniel. From the time I met her, everything was for Daniel. I would say that physically, she died last week, but in a lot of ways, emotionally she died when Daniel died."
Commitment ceremony with Stern
On September 28, 2006, Smith and Stern exchanged vows and rings in an informal commitment ceremony in the Bahamas. Although they pledged their love and made a commitment to be there for each other before a Baptist minister, no marriage certificate was issued and the ceremony did not create a legal marriage. Regarding the questionable timing of the ceremony, Smith's attorney in Nassau said, "They needed a little adrenaline boost because things have been so hectic and devastating in their life recently." Ceremony photos were sold through Getty Images to People magazine for $1 million.
Residency in the Bahamas
Smith and Stern were reportedly staying in the Bahamas to avoid paternity testing of her daughter in the United States. In late 2006, Smith was granted permanent resident status in the Bahamas by Immigration Minister Shane Gibson. A local newspaper published photographs showing Smith lying clothed in bed in an embrace with Gibson. Gibson resigned after the wave of controversy over his relationship with Smith.
The basis of Smith's permanent residency status was the claim that she owned a $900,000 mansion, which she said was given to her by a former boyfriend, real estate developer Gaither Ben Thompson of South Carolina. Thompson asserted that he loaned Smith the finances to purchase the property, which she failed to repay, and that he was attempting to regain control of it. Thompson sued to evict Smith from the property in the Bahamas Court and received a default judgment against her. It was claimed that methadone was found in Smith's bedroom refrigerator while the mansion was being reclaimed. A photograph provided to TMZ of Smith's refrigerator showed a large bottle labelled methadone, vials of injectable vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin), and numerous bottles of diet product SlimFast.
Death
On February 8, 2007, Smith was found unresponsive in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Smith's bodyguard and his wife who was a registered nurse, performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Smith was taken to Hollywood's Memorial Regional Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, at the age of 39.
An investigation was led by Broward County Medical Examiner and forensic pathologist Joshua Perper in conjunction with Seminole police and several independent forensic pathologists and toxicologists. Perper announced that Smith died of "combined drug intoxication" with the sleeping medication chloral hydrate as the "major component". No illegal drugs were found in her system. According to the official report, her death was not due to homicide, suicide or natural causes.
Smith's death was ultimately ruled an accidental drug overdose of the sedative chloral hydrate that became increasingly toxic when combined with other prescription drugs in her system, specifically four benzodiazepines. Furthermore, she had taken diphenhydramine and topiramate. Despite rumors of methadone use involved in the death of Smith's son, Perper only found methadone in her bile, indicating it was probably ingested 2–3 days prior to her death, and therefore was not a contributing factor. The autopsy report indicates that abscesses on her buttocks, presumably from prior injections of vitamin B12 in the form of cyanocobalamin, as well as human growth hormone, and viral enteritis were contributory causes of death. Tests for influenza A and B were negative.
Eight of the eleven drugs in Smith's system, including the chloral hydrate, were prescribed to Stern, not Smith. Additionally, two of the prescriptions were written for "Alex Katz" and one was written for Smith's friend and psychiatrist Dr. Khristine Eroshevich. Perper acknowledged that all of the prescriptions were written by Dr. Eroshevich.
Smith's funeral took place on March 2, 2007, in the Bahamas.
Last will and testament
Smith's will was prepared by attorney Eric Lund in 2001, in Los Angeles, California. Smith named her son Daniel as the sole beneficiary of her estate, specifically excluded other children and named Stern executor of the estate. It indicated personal property valued at $10,000 and real estate valued at $1.8 million, with a $1.1 million mortgage, at the time of her death. A petition to probate Smith's will was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, listing Birkhead as a party with interest to the estate.
Defamation lawsuit by Smith's mother
In 2008, John O'Quinn, lawyer for Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, filed the underlying proceedings against Entertainment Tonight, TMZ, CBS, journalist Art Harris, and several Texas bloggers, alleging that the defendants conspired to ruin her reputation through defamatory e-mails, blogs and website postings and harmed her efforts to seek custody and visitation of her granddaughter. The court jailed one blogger because she failed to turn over her computer as evidence. Arthur's defamation lawsuit was dismissed after TMZ, CBS, Entertainment Tonight, Harris, and others won summary judgment.
Acting credits
Filmography
Television
Music videos
Legacy
Anna Nicole, an opera by Mark-Anthony Turnage about Smith, premiered on February 17, 2011, at the Royal Opera House, to mixed reviews. Smith was the subject of the 2023 Netflix documentary Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me. Smith was also the subject of the biographical films The Anna Nicole Smith Story (2007) and The Anna Nicole Story (2013). In December 2023, it was announced that Sylvia Hoeks would portray Smith in the upcoming film Hurricana.
In 2017, Smith's primary care physician Sandeep Kapoor published a memoir titled Trust Me, I'm a Doctor: My Life Before, During and After Anna Nicole Smith. In February 2024, it was reported that Kal Penn would star as Kapoor in an upcoming film based on the book, titled Trust Me, I'm a Doctor.
References
External links
Anna Nicole Smith at Playboy Plus
Anna Nicole Smith at IMDb
Anna Nicole Smith at the TCM Movie Database
Anna Nicole Smith at People.com
Anna Nicole Smith at the FBI Vault
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Vickie Lynn Marshall (née Hogan; November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007), known professionally as Anna Nicole Smith, was an American model, actress and television personality. Smith started her career as a Playboy magazine centerfold in May 1992 and won the title of 1993 Playmate of the Year. She later modeled for fashion companies, including Guess, H&M and Heatherette.
Smith dropped out of high school in 1984, married in 1985, and divorced in 1993. In 1994, her highly publicized second marriage to 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall resulted in speculation that she was a gold digger, which she denied. Following Marshall's death in 1995, Smith began a lengthy legal battle over a share of his estate. Her cases reached the Supreme Court of the United States: Marshall v. Marshall on a question of federal jurisdiction and Stern v. Marshall on a question of bankruptcy court authority. Smith died on February 8, 2007, in Hollywood, Florida, of a combined drug intoxication.
Early life
Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967, in Houston, Texas, the only daughter of Virgie Tabers Arthur (1951–2018) and Donald Eugene Hogan (1947–2009). Smith attended Mexia High School, in Mexia, Texas, transferring there from a Houston school. She had five half-siblings on her father's side. Smith was primarily raised by her mother and her family in Mexia.
Career
Modeling
Smith started her career as a Playboy magazine centerfold in May 1992 and won the title of 1993 Playmate of the Year.
Smith secured a contract to replace supermodel Claudia Schiffer in a Guess Jeans advertisement campaign featuring a series of sultry black-and-white photographs. During the Guess campaign, she took on the stage name "Anna Nicole". Guess photographers noticed Smith bore a striking resemblance to Jayne Mansfield and showcased her in several Mansfield-inspired photo sessions. In 1993, she modeled for the Swedish clothing company H&M, which led to her picture being displayed on large billboards in Sweden and Norway. Smith was featured on the cover of Marie Claire, shot by Peter Lindbergh in October 1993, and in GQ magazine. In 2004 she modelled for Heatherette.
Endorsements
In October 2003, she became a spokeswoman for TrimSpa, which allegedly helped her lose a reported 69 pounds (31 kg). TrimSpa diet product company and Smith were sued in a class-action lawsuit alleging their marketing of a weight loss pill was false or misleading. TrimSpa filed for bankruptcy after Smith's death and was liquidated.
In March 2005, at the first MTV Australia Video Music Awards in Sydney's Luna Park, Smith spoofed Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction by pulling down her dress to reveal both breasts, each covered with the MTV logo.
Personal life
While working at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, Smith met Billy Wayne Smith, a cook at the restaurant, and the couple married on April 4, 1985, when he was 16 and she was 17. She gave birth to their son, Daniel Wayne Smith, on January 22, 1986. Smith and her husband separated the following year and divorced in 1993.
While performing at a Houston strip club in October 1991, Smith met 86-year-old petroleum tycoon J. Howard Marshall. On June 27, 1994, Smith and Marshall were married in Houston, resulting in speculation that she married him for his money. Marshall died on August 4, 1995, in Houston, at the age of 90.
Court cases and bankruptcy
In October 1994, Smith initiated a $5 million lawsuit against the New York magazine, claiming that she did not authorize the use of her photo on the cover of its magazine titled "White Trash Nation" and that the article damaged her reputation. The lawsuit was settled.
Even though Smith was not in Marshall's will, she claimed that in return for marriage, Marshall verbally promised her half of his estate, which primarily consisted of a 16% interest in Koch, Inc., then worth $1.6 billion. Smith's stepson E. Pierce Marshall disputed the claim. Smith temporarily joined forces with J. Howard's other son, J. Howard Marshall III, who was disowned after attempting to take control of Koch. Howard III also claimed that his father had verbally promised him a portion of the estate; like Smith, Howard III was also left out of his father's will.
In 1996, Smith filed for bankruptcy in California as a result of an $850,000 default judgment against her for the sexual harassment of a nanny who cared for her son. Since any money potentially due to her from the Marshall estate was part of her potential assets, the bankruptcy court involved itself in the matter.
In September 2000, a Los Angeles bankruptcy judge awarded Smith $449,754,134.00, the amount that Marshall's interest in Koch appreciated during their marriage. However, in July 2001, Houston judge Mike Wood affirmed the jury's findings in the probate case by ruling that Smith was entitled to nothing. The judge ordered Smith to pay over $1 million to cover the legal costs and expenses of E. Pierce Marshall. The conflict between the Texas probate court and California bankruptcy court judgments forced the matter into federal court.
In March 2002, a federal judge vacated the California bankruptcy court's ruling and issued a new ruling that reduced the award to $88 million. On December 30, 2004, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed that decision on the grounds that the federal courts lacked jurisdiction to overrule the probate court's decision.
In September 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear the appeal of that decision. The George W. Bush administration directed Paul Clement, the United States Solicitor General, to intercede on Smith's behalf in the interest of expanding federal court jurisdiction over state probate disputes. On May 1, 2006, the Supreme Court unanimously decided in favor of Smith. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion. The decision did not give Smith a portion of her husband's estate, but affirmed her right to pursue a share of it in federal court.
On June 20, 2006, E. Pierce Marshall died at age 67 from an infection. His widow and estate executor Elaine Tettemer Marshall, pursued the case on behalf of his estate. After Smith's death in 2007, the case continued on behalf of Smith's infant daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead. In March 2010, an appeals court upheld the verdict barring Smith from the estate. Following the decision, lawyers for Smith's estate appealed the decision to the entire Ninth Circuit. On May 6, 2010, the appeal was denied.
In June 2011, in the case of Stern v. Marshall, the Supreme Court issued a ruling against Smith's estate, stating that the California bankruptcy court decision that gave her estate $475 million was made without subject-matter jurisdiction. The court agreed with the ruling of the Ninth Circuit that a bankruptcy court could not make a decision on an issue outside bankruptcy law. In August 2014, David O. Carter, a federal U.S. District Court judge in Orange County, California, rejected efforts to obtain about $44 million from the J. Howard Marshall estate.
Birth of daughter
A psychiatrist said she met with Smith in April 2006 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles while she was pregnant with her daughter, and that she believed that Smith had borderline personality disorder, and was addicted to prescription medications.
On June 1, 2006, Smith announced her pregnancy in a video clip on her official website. She gave birth to a daughter, Dannielynn, on September 7, 2006, in New Providence, The Bahamas. In an interview on CNN's Larry King Live after the death of Smith's son, attorney Howard K. Stern said that he and Smith had been in a relationship for "a very long time" and said he was the father. Entertainment photographer Larry Birkhead claimed that he was the baby's father and filed a lawsuit to establish paternity. The Bahamian birth certificate recorded the father as Stern.
A judge in the United States ordered that DNA paternity tests be performed to determine Dannielynn's biological father. Following Smith's death, Birkhead's attorney asked for an emergency DNA sample to be taken from Smith's body. The request was denied by a judge who ordered that her body be preserved until February 20.
On February 9, 2007, Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, stated that he had had a decade-long affair with Smith and could potentially be the father of her daughter. Smith's former bodyguard and chef, Alexander Denk, also claimed that he had an affair with Smith and that he, too, was potentially the father.
After Smith's death, the TMZ website reported that she had been given a prescription for methadone under a false name while she was in her eighth month of pregnancy. The Medical Board of California launched a review into the matter. The prescribing doctor, Sandeep Kapoor, said the treatment he had administered was "sound and appropriate".
In April 2007, a Bahamian judge ruled that DNA tests had established Birkhead as the biological father. Birkhead subsequently applied for an amended birth certificate listing him as Dannielynn's father, paving the way for him to obtain a passport for the baby to leave with him for the United States. Stern did not contest the DNA results or the ruling, and Birkhead returned to the United States with the baby. Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, appealed the ruling, but her appeal was denied and she was ordered to pay costs.
Death of son
On September 10, 2006, Smith's twenty-year-old son Daniel Wayne Smith died in his mother's hospital room while visiting her and his half-sister Dannielynn, who was born three days earlier on September 7. An autopsy found that Daniel had died from a combination of drugs, including methadone and antidepressants. A Bahamian jury determined that he had died from an accidental drug overdose and recommended no criminal charges.
A death certificate was issued on September 21, 2006. Daniel was buried at Lake View Cemetery in New Providence on October 19, 2006.
According to Stern, Smith was devastated by her son's death. "Anna and Daniel were inseparable. Daniel was without question the most important person in Anna's life," Stern said during his testimony at the trial regarding the right to control disposition of Smith's remains. "At Daniel's funeral, she had them open the coffin and tried to climb inside. She said that 'if Daniel has to be buried, I want to be buried with him.' She was ready to go down with him." Stern said that, "Anna saw herself as both mother and father to Daniel. From the time I met her, everything was for Daniel. I would say that physically, she died last week, but in a lot of ways, emotionally she died when Daniel died."
Commitment ceremony with Stern
On September 28, 2006, Smith and Stern exchanged vows and rings in an informal commitment ceremony in the Bahamas. Although they pledged their love and made a commitment to be there for each other before a Baptist minister, no marriage certificate was issued and the ceremony did not create a legal marriage. Regarding the questionable timing of the ceremony, Smith's attorney in Nassau said, "They needed a little adrenaline boost because things have been so hectic and devastating in their life recently." Ceremony photos were sold through Getty Images to People magazine for $1 million.
Residency in the Bahamas
Smith and Stern were reportedly staying in the Bahamas to avoid paternity testing of her daughter in the United States. In late 2006, Smith was granted permanent resident status in the Bahamas by Immigration Minister Shane Gibson. A local newspaper published photographs showing Smith lying clothed in bed in an embrace with Gibson. Gibson resigned after the wave of controversy over his relationship with Smith.
The basis of Smith's permanent residency status was the claim that she owned a $900,000 mansion, which she said was given to her by a former boyfriend, real estate developer Gaither Ben Thompson of South Carolina. Thompson asserted that he loaned Smith the finances to purchase the property, which she failed to repay, and that he was attempting to regain control of it. Thompson sued to evict Smith from the property in the Bahamas Court and received a default judgment against her. It was claimed that methadone was found in Smith's bedroom refrigerator while the mansion was being reclaimed. A photograph provided to TMZ of Smith's refrigerator showed a large bottle labelled methadone, vials of injectable vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin), and numerous bottles of diet product SlimFast.
Death
On February 8, 2007, Smith was found unresponsive in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Smith's bodyguard and his wife who was a registered nurse, performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Smith was taken to Hollywood's Memorial Regional Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, at the age of 39.
An investigation was led by Broward County Medical Examiner and forensic pathologist Joshua Perper in conjunction with Seminole police and several independent forensic pathologists and toxicologists. Perper announced that Smith died of "combined drug intoxication" with the sleeping medication chloral hydrate as the "major component". No illegal drugs were found in her system. According to the official report, her death was not due to homicide, suicide or natural causes.
Smith's death was ultimately ruled an accidental drug overdose of the sedative chloral hydrate that became increasingly toxic when combined with other prescription drugs in her system, specifically four benzodiazepines. Furthermore, she had taken diphenhydramine and topiramate. Despite rumors of methadone use involved in the death of Smith's son, Perper only found methadone in her bile, indicating it was probably ingested 2–3 days prior to her death, and therefore was not a contributing factor. The autopsy report indicates that abscesses on her buttocks, presumably from prior injections of vitamin B12 in the form of cyanocobalamin, as well as human growth hormone, and viral enteritis were contributory causes of death. Tests for influenza A and B were negative.
Eight of the eleven drugs in Smith's system, including the chloral hydrate, were prescribed to Stern, not Smith. Additionally, two of the prescriptions were written for "Alex Katz" and one was written for Smith's friend and psychiatrist Dr. Khristine Eroshevich. Perper acknowledged that all of the prescriptions were written by Dr. Eroshevich.
Smith's funeral took place on March 2, 2007, in the Bahamas.
Last will and testament
Smith's will was prepared by attorney Eric Lund in 2001, in Los Angeles, California. Smith named her son Daniel as the sole beneficiary of her estate, specifically excluded other children and named Stern executor of the estate. It indicated personal property valued at $10,000 and real estate valued at $1.8 million, with a $1.1 million mortgage, at the time of her death. A petition to probate Smith's will was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, listing Birkhead as a party with interest to the estate.
Defamation lawsuit by Smith's mother
In 2008, John O'Quinn, lawyer for Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, filed the underlying proceedings against Entertainment Tonight, TMZ, CBS, journalist Art Harris, and several Texas bloggers, alleging that the defendants conspired to ruin her reputation through defamatory e-mails, blogs and website postings and harmed her efforts to seek custody and visitation of her granddaughter. The court jailed one blogger because she failed to turn over her computer as evidence. Arthur's defamation lawsuit was dismissed after TMZ, CBS, Entertainment Tonight, Harris, and others won summary judgment.
Acting credits
Filmography
Television
Music videos
Legacy
Anna Nicole, an opera by Mark-Anthony Turnage about Smith, premiered on February 17, 2011, at the Royal Opera House, to mixed reviews. Smith was the subject of the 2023 Netflix documentary Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me. Smith was also the subject of the biographical films The Anna Nicole Smith Story (2007) and The Anna Nicole Story (2013). In December 2023, it was announced that Sylvia Hoeks would portray Smith in the upcoming film Hurricana.
In 2017, Smith's primary care physician Sandeep Kapoor published a memoir titled Trust Me, I'm a Doctor: My Life Before, During and After Anna Nicole Smith. In February 2024, it was reported that Kal Penn would star as Kapoor in an upcoming film based on the book, titled Trust Me, I'm a Doctor.
References
External links
Anna Nicole Smith at Playboy Plus
Anna Nicole Smith at IMDb
Anna Nicole Smith at the TCM Movie Database
Anna Nicole Smith at People.com
Anna Nicole Smith at the FBI Vault
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Henry Winkler
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Henry Franklin Winkler (born October 30, 1945) is an American actor, producer, director, and author. Widely known as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the sitcom Happy Days (1974–1984), Winkler has distinguished himself as a character actor for roles on stage and screen. His many accolades include three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and two Critics Choice Awards.
Winkler studied theater at both Emerson College and the Yale School of Drama and spent a year and a half with the Yale Repertory Theater. After getting cast in a small role in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, he became a star playing the role of "Fonzie" on the sitcom Happy Days (1974–1984). He then helped develop the original MacGyver television series and directed Memories of Me (1988) and Cop and a Half (1993).
Winkler acted in films such as Heroes (1977), Night Shift (1982), Scream (1996), The Waterboy (1998), Click (2006), The French Dispatch (2021), and Black Adam (2022). He also found a career resurgence in television portraying humorous characters such as Barry Zuckerkorn in Arrested Development (2003–2019), Eddie R. Lawson in Royal Pains (2010–2016), Dr. Saperstein in Parks and Recreation (2013–2015), and Gene Cousineau in Barry (2018–2023). The last earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Winkler was a member of the main cast of the reality series Better Late Than Never (2016–2018).
Winkler has drawn upon his childhood struggles with dyslexia to co-write the children's book series Hank Zipzer (2003–2010), which was adapted into the Hank Zipzer television series (2014–2016) in which Winkler appears as Mr. Rock. He has also written three memoirs: The Other Side of Henry Winkler: My Story (1976), I've Never Met an Idiot on the River (2011), and Being Henry: The Fonz ... and Beyond (2023).
Early life
1939–1945: Family history
Winkler's parents, Ilse Anna Marie (née Hadra) and businessman Harry Irving Winkler, were German Jews living in Berlin during the rise of Nazi Germany. By 1939, rising hostilities against Jews led his father to conclude that it was time to leave Germany. He arranged to take his wife on a six-week business trip to the United States. Soon after arriving, his parents settled in New York City, where his father established a new version of his German company, which bought and sold wood.
Winkler's uncle, Helmut Winkler, fled to the Netherlands in January 1940 and went into hiding in Amsterdam. He and his mother Pauline Olga Winkler, who had emigrated to the Netherlands in January 1939, were deported to Auschwitz in September 1942 and murdered. The building where Helmut had lived in Berlin was destroyed in an air raid in November 1943. A commemorative Stolperstein is embedded in the sidewalk in front of the post-war building erected on the site.
1945–1963: Early life and education
Henry Franklin Winkler was born on October 30, 1945, on the West Side of New York City's Manhattan borough. The "H" in his first name is a reference to his Uncle Helmut, while his middle name refers to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He has an older sister named Beatrice.
Although his family did not keep kosher, Winkler was raised in the traditions of Conservative Judaism. During his childhood, Winkler and his family spent their summers at Lake Mahopac, New York, and as a teenager he was a water skiing instructor at Blue Mountain camps.
While growing up, Winkler had a difficult relationship with his father, who wanted him to continue the family business. When his father grew frustrated with Winkler's focus on acting, he would ask his son why he had brought the business over from Germany to the United States. Winkler would respond: "Besides being chased by the Nazis, Dad, was there a bigger reason than that?"
Difficulties in school
Winkler first attended P.S. 87 on West 78th Street, Manhattan, and then the McBurney School on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Although he was "outgoing" and "the class comedian" in school, he also lived in a state of "constant anxiety" over his struggles with schoolwork. His parents were perpetually frustrated by his poor grades, referred to him as "dummer Hund" (dumb dog), and repeatedly punished him for his inability to excel in school. Winkler has said that this time period was "excruciating" as his "self-image was almost nonexistent". In addition, his consistently poor academic performance made it difficult to be involved in the theater, as he was "grounded most of my high school career" and was almost never academically eligible. However, he did manage to appear in two theatrical productions: Billy Budd when he was in the eighth grade and Of Thee I Sing in the eleventh grade.
Although Winkler graduated from the McBurney School in 1963, he was not allowed to attend graduation, as he had to repeat geometry for the fourth time during summer school. After finally passing the course, he received his diploma in the mail.
1963–1967: Emerson College
Winkler applied to 28 colleges but was admitted to only two of them. He enrolled in Emerson College in Boston in 1963, where he majored in theater and minored in child psychology, as he considered becoming a child psychologist if he did not succeed as an actor. He was also a member of the Alpha Pi Theta fraternity, and appeared in Emerson's production of Peer Gynt as the title character. Winkler later recalled that he had nearly failed his first and second years but managed to stay for four years and graduated in 1967. In 1978, Emerson awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL).
1967–1970: Yale School of Drama
During his senior year at Emerson, Winkler decided to audition for the Yale School of Drama. Although his then-undiagnosed dyslexia led to his forgetting the Shakespearean monologue he was supposed to perform, forcing him to improvise, Winkler was still admitted to the M.F.A. program in 1967.
He appeared in They Told Me That You Came This Way; Any Day Now, Any Day Now; and The Bacchae (as a member of the chorus). During the summers, he and his Yale classmates stayed in New Haven and opened a summer stock theater called the New Haven Free Theater. They performed various plays including Woyzeck, where he portrayed the title role, and Just Add Water for improv night. He also performed in the political piece, The American Pig at the Joseph Papp Public Theater for the New York Shakespeare Festival in New York City, with classmates James Keach, James Naughton, and Jill Eikenberry. In addition, he also appeared in a number of Yale Repertory Theatre productions while still a student, including, The Government Inspector, The Rhesus Umbrella, Don Juan, Endgame, and The Physicists. He also appeared in Sweeney Agonistes and Hughie. Winkler would later credit his time at Yale as critical to his future success.
Out of his original cohort of 25 actors at Yale, Winkler was one of 11 who graduated when he received his MFA in 1970. Over two decades later, in May 1996, he served as the Senior Class Day Speaker for Yale University's graduating seniors.
Career
1970–1973: Early career
Yale Repertory Theatre company
After receiving his MFA in 1970, Winkler was one of three students from his graduating class of 11 who were invited to become a part of the Yale Repertory Theatre company. He joined on June 30, 1970, was paid $173 a week, and appeared throughout the 1970–71 season. He performed in Story Theater Reportory, Gimpel the Fool and Saint Julian the Hospitaler and Olympian Games. He also appeared in The Revenger's Tragedy, Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?, Macbeth, and Woyzeck and Play. He also appeared in a double feature of two works by Bertolt Brecht, The Seven Deadly Sins (ballet chanté), and The Little Mahagonny during May–June 1971 and January 20–29, 1972.
New York and California
In the fall of 1971, Winkler was invited to be a part of the play Moonchildren which would open at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Three weeks into rehearsals, director Alan Schneider fired him as Winkler had been hired to fill the space until the actor that Schneider really wanted was available. At the time, Winkler was certain that because he had been fired, he would never be hired as an actor again.
Winkler moved back to New York, and began to audition for plays, movies, and commercials. He was able to earn a living through performing in commercials, thus, he was able to perform with the Manhattan Theater Club for free.
Winkler's first appearance on Broadway was as "John" in 42 Seconds from Broadway, a play that opened and closed on March 11, 1973. He swore to himself that one day he would "make that right". By 1973, he had roles in two independent films, The Lords of Flatbush and Crazy Joe. He also performed with the improv group, Off the Wall New York. He continued to feel anxiety, however, with the process of cold reading during auditions and depended upon compensation strategies.
By 1973, his agent told him that it was time to leave New York and explore possibilities in California. Although Winkler was initially resistant, thinking he was not a good fit for Hollywood, his agent was persistent. Winkler ultimately decided that he had earned enough money through his work in commercials to try Hollywood for one month. He and his Lords of Flatbush co-star, Perry King, thus traveled to Los Angeles on September 18, 1973. After meeting with his agency's west coast branch, and spending five days going to auditions, Winkler was hired for a small part on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, appearing in Season 4, Episode 10, "The Dinner Party".
1973–1984: Happy Days and stardom
During his second week in Los Angeles, Winkler auditioned for the part of Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, better known as "Fonzie" or "The Fonz", on a new show called Happy Days. Although he was an unknown and not the first choice for the role, he was asked to return after his first audition for a second one in costume. In costume, and with a different voice, Winkler said his six lines, threw his script in the air, and left the room. He was offered the role on his birthday, and accepted it based on his condition that the producers would show who the character was when he took his jacket off. Winkler appeared on the first episode of Happy Days in January 1974, and was with the series continuously until it ended in July 1984.
"The Fonz" was initially written as a minor role and developed as the foil for the central protagonist of the series, Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard). Winkler made his own interpretation of the character during the first episode, choosing not to comb his hair, chew gum, or keep a box of cigarettes rolled in his sleeve like actors typically did with this type of character. Although he tried to explain this philosophy to the producers, he was told he had to follow the script and comb his hair. He thus stood at the mirror, motioned in a way that suggested "Hey I don't have to because it's perfect," and in doing so, created the seminal moment which defined the character. ABC executives did not want to see Fonzie wearing leather, thinking it would imply that the character was a criminal. Thus, during the first season, Winkler wore two different windbreaker jackets, one of which was green. Director Garry Marshall argued with the executives about the jacket, and eventually they made a compromise: Fonzie could wear the leather jacket, but only in scenes with his motorcycle. Marshall thus made certain that his motorcycle was written into every scene. In reality, Winkler did not know how to ride a motorcycle. As he almost crashed it the first time he tried, he subsequently never rode the motorcycle during the series.
By the middle of the second season in December 1974, "The Fonz" began his transition as a breakout character when he was featured as the central protagonist in the episode, "Guess Who's Coming to Christmas". By the third season, he became the lead of the series, as the storylines shifted away from the original protagonist, Richie Cunningham, to "The Fonz". Winkler recalled in a 2018 interview that he directly addressed the issue with Ron Howard, who portrayed Cunningham. According to Winkler, Howard told him that although he "was signed on as the star, you did nothing except be as good as you could be. It's good for the show, we're friends." In 2021, Howard reiterated these points by stating that Winkler had been "sort of a big brother" to him.
In a 2018 interview with Winkler, journalist Michael Schneider suggests that it was at this point that the character "became the biggest icon on television" at that time. Winkler responded by stating that he "went from somebody who had no sense of self" to a situation that was "scary". He has also admitted that while he shares some characteristics with "The Fonz" such as loyalty to friends and an undercurrent of anger that he drew from his struggles with school as a child, they were fundamentally different from one another.
During his decade on Happy Days, Winkler also appeared in a variety of roles in film and on television. In film, he appeared in Heroes (1977) with Harrison Ford and Sally Field and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. He later appeared in Carl Reiner's The One and Only (1978) and in Ron Howard's 1982 directorial debut, Night Shift with Shelley Long before she appeared in Cheers and a then-unknown Michael Keaton. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his work in Night Shift.
In television, he served as executive producer and host for the 50-minute television version of the documentary, Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? (1978), which was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series or Special. He was also an executive producer for the ABC Afterschool Special: Run, Don't Walk (1981), based on the novel of the same name by Harriet May Savitz, and featuring his Happy Days co-star, Scott Baio. He further directed Baio in the 13th episode of the Happy Days spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi, also starring Erin Moran.
In addition, Winkler starred in An American Christmas Carol (1979), and served as a co-host for the Music for UNICEF Concert (1979). He also appeared as "Fonzie" on Sesame Street to promote the letter "A" (ayyyy), later recalling that it was "the only time I ever appeared as the Fonz on something else. I had a strict rule about that, but they asked me and it was my pleasure."
Post- Happy Days
After Happy Days ended in 1984, Winkler was typecast, and could not get acting roles until 1991. He later stated that his "agent would put me out there and people would say, 'You know, he's great, he's a wonderful guy, really good actor. Funny, So funny. But he was the Fonz.'" Winkler, who desired to be a working actor, felt "rudderless" during this period; desiring to continue a presence in the industry, he started the production company Fair Dinkum Productions in the late 1970s. The name fair dinkum was taken from Australian English slang, meaning something is "honest" or "authentic". In 1987, he inked a new feature film and development pact with the studio.
In 1984, Winkler directed, and was executive producer for, the CBS Schoolbreak Special: "All the Kids Do It" starring Scott Baio, which won the 1985 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Children's Special and was nominated for the 1985 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Directing in Children's Programming. In addition to a few episodes of television sitcoms that he directed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Winkler directed his first theatrical release in 1988, Memories of Me with Billy Crystal. In 1993, he directed his second theatrical release, Cop and a Half, a film produced by Ron Howard's company, Imagine Entertainment, and starring Burt Reynolds.
Winkler was an executive producer for Rob Reiner's second film as a director, The Sure Thing (1985). He was also the executive producer for the original MacGyver television series, which won the Genesis Award for Best TV Drama in 1991, and for Dead Man's Gun, which won the Bronze Wrangler in 1998. In 1988, he was the executive producer for the ABC Afterschool Special: A Family Again starring Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker. In addition, he was the executive producer for a number of series, including Sightings and So Weird. In 2002, he partnered with Michael Levitt to revamp and update The Hollywood Squares for the fifth season of the 1998 reboot. It was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show in 2003.
1991–2003: Acting roles
Winkler returned to acting in the early 1990s. He starred in the 1991 television film, Absolute Strangers, and in the short-lived 1994 television series Monty with David Schwimmer (before his debut on Friends). He also starred in the 1994 television film One Christmas, with Katharine Hepburn in her last role and Swoosie Kurtz.
In 1996, he appeared in his friend Wes Craven's 1996 film Scream as foul-mouthed high school principal Arthur Himbry. His role was uncredited, however, as the producers were concerned that he would only be seen as The Fonz, and thus distract from the film. After the screening, he received positive feedback for his role and was subsequently asked to participate in the publicity campaign for Scream.
In 2000, Winkler was nominated for a Primetime Emmy, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, for his portrayal of Dr. Henry Olson in three episodes of The Practice. He also portrayed Stanley Yelnats III in Holes (2003).
Work with Adam Sandler
Winkler began to collaborate with Adam Sandler in the 1990s, after Sandler included Fonzie in the Saturday Night Live skit, The Chanukah Song (1994). Winkler called Sandler to thank him, which led first to a friendship, and later to the role of Coach Klein in the 1998 film The Waterboy, and as Sandler's father in Click (2006). He also made cameo appearances in Little Nicky (2000), You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), and Sandy Wexler (2017).
Work with John Ritter
Winkler worked on a few projects with his longtime friend, actor John Ritter, whom he first met in 1978 at ABC's 25th anniversary party, when Winkler was still on Happy Days, and Ritter was Jack Tripper on the television series Three's Company. He directed Ritter in the 1986 television movie A Smoky Mountain Christmas starring Dolly Parton, and in 1993, they co-starred in the made-for-television movie, The Only Way Out.
Later in 1999, Neil Simon gave Winkler the chance to be involved with his first theatrical production since 1973, when he asked him to do a read-through of The Dinner Party. Given the problems he had with cold-readings, Winkler initially panicked. However, he asked for the script in advance in order to memorize it, and managed to get through the reading. Simon eventually contacted Winkler again, and asked him to be in the theatrical version he was staging, to which Winkler agreed. He was also excited to be working with Ritter again. Although their initial debut was not well-received, they were invited to perform the play in Washington, D.C. with a few casting changes, and it received positive reviews. The play then moved to Broadway, and again received positive reviews.
In September 2003, he was slated for a guest appearance on Ritter's show, 8 Simple Rules. However, during the filming of the episode, Ritter became ill and had to be taken to the hospital, dying hours later. The episode was never completed, and Winkler's role was dropped.
2003–2019: Arrested Development
In 2003, Mitch Hurwitz wanted Winkler to portray the incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn on one episode of Arrested Development. However, he made numerous further appearances in the original three seasons, and also returned for the later seasons in 2013 and 2018. For his portrayal of Barry Zuckerkorn, Winkler won a Gold Derby Award: Comedy Guest Actor in 2004. In 2014, Winkler was nominated as part of the cast for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
Arrested Development is known for its inside jokes. In three episodes of the 2013 reboot, Winkler's son Max portrayed "young Barry Zuckerkorn" in flashbacks. In addition, there were a number of references to Happy Days, such as in the season three episode "Forget-Me-Now", where Scott Baio joined the cast as the potentially new lawyer Bob Loblaw, stating, "look, this is not the first time I've been brought in to replace Barry Zuckerkorn." Vulture argues that this statement is "a nod to Happy Days, where [Baio] was brought on as Chachi, to be a new teen idol as Henry Winkler got older". In addition, Barry's hopping over a shark on the pier in "Motherboy XXX" is a reference to Jon Hein's phrase jumping the shark. Hein coined the phrase in 1985, in reference to a 1977 Happy Days episode in which Fonzie jumps over a shark while on water skis.
2003–2019: Hank Zipzer
Winkler's career as an author began with the Hank Zipzer series of children's books about the adventures of a dyslexic child, which he co-wrote with Lin Oliver. During the early 2000s, when Winkler experienced "a lull in [his] acting career", his manager Alan Berger suggested that he write children's books about the difficulties he experienced as a child before he knew that he was dyslexic. Winkler was resistant to the idea until Berger suggested that Winkler co-write the books with an experienced author.
Berger introduced Winkler to Oliver, and the two met for lunch and created the character of Hank Zipzer. Winkler chose the name Hank from the nickname for Henry, and Zipzer from the name of a neighbor in the apartment building that he grew up in. Winkler and Oliver's writing process, which involved developing ideas during in-person discussions, drew upon their mutual background in television. According to Winkler, the system drew upon his strengths as an actor, allowing him to work through ideas out loud.
The original series spanned 17 books, published from 2003 to 2010. Following that, Winkler and Oliver wrote a prequel series, Here's Hank (2014 to 2019), which explores Hank's life as a second-grader before he was diagnosed as dyslexic. The Here's Hank series uses a dyslexic-friendly font called Dyslexie, marking the first time that this font was used in a book published in the United States.
Winkler and Oliver also created the television adaptation Hank Zipzer, which ran for three seasons, from 2014 to 2016. The series appeared on the children's BBC Channel, as they could not find an American buyer for it. After the series was successful on the BBC, it was broadcast on the Universal Kids Channel in the United States. Winkler played the music teacher Mr. Rock, who was based on a teacher at McBurney who encouraged Winkler. They also produced the 2016 stand-alone television film Hank Zipzer's Christmas Catastrophe.
2004–present: Acting roles
Theater
Winkler returned to the stage in 2006 as Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London. He reprised the role in Woking for Christmas 2007. For the 2008/2009 season, he played Captain Hook at the Milton Keynes Theatre, and once again for the 2009/2010 panto season at the Liverpool Empire. A few years later in 2012, Winkler made his third Broadway appearance as "Chuck Wood" in The Performers (November 14–18).
Television and film
Winkler has continued his work as a character actor in television and film. In television, he was nominated in 2004 for a Daytime Emmy, Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program, and in 2005, he won the Daytime Emmy, Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program, for his voice-work as Norville in Clifford's Puppy Days. Additional television roles include Dr. Stewart Barnes in Out of Practice (2005–2006), Eddie R. Lawson in Royal Pains (2010–2016), Sy Mittleman in Childrens Hospital (2010–2016), Dr. Saperstein in Parks and Recreation (2013–2015), the villainous Uncle King Julien in animated series All Hail King Julien and its spinoff season Exiled (2014–2017), and Fritz in the 2021–present animated streaming television series Monsters at Work.
His film roles include Uncle Ralph in the Christmas film The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2008), Marty Streb in Here Comes the Boom (2012), Ed Koch in Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie (2016), Grandpa Bill in All I Want for Christmas Is You (2017), Uncle Joe in Wes Anderson's 2021 release The French Dispatch, and a cameo appearance as Al Pratt (Uncle Al) in the 2022 release Black Adam.
2016–2018: Better Late Than Never
Winkler was both an executive producer for and star of the American reality-travel show, Better Late Than Never. He starred along with William Shatner, Terry Bradshaw, George Foreman, and Jeff Dye, in this adaptation of the South Korean reality series, Grandpas Over Flowers.
Winkler was the focus of the Season 2 episode "Berlin: How Do You Say Roots in German?" as the group explored the city from which his parents escaped in 1939. The journey culminated at the site of a brass memorial plaque, known as a stolperstein, embedded in the pavement in front of the workplace and home of his uncle, Helmut Winkler. The discovery came as a complete surprise to Winkler, as Jeff Dye had secretly enlisted the help of Winkler's children, who planned the surprise.
2018–2023: Barry
When Bill Hader developed the HBO comedy Barry with Alec Berg, he asked HBO if they could "get" Winkler for the part of acting teacher Gene Cousineau. According to Hader, he was "out of [his] mind" when HBO told him that Winkler was coming to audition for the role. In addition, Winkler's son Max, who is a director, helped him to prepare for this audition.
Work for the first season of Barry began in 2016. Winkler has noted parallels between Barry and his time on Happy Days. He "was 27 when I did the Fonz, and now, I'm 72. I just flipped the numbers." In his role as Cousineau, he wears Garry Marshall's tie as "a tribute to my mentor". Cousineau was originally written to be "much darker, much colder—really cynical", but after Winkler added his own insight, the character became more affectionate. Portraying Cousineau allowed Winkler to draw upon decades of experience with acting teachers. Winkler continued his lifelong habit of improvising when he forgot his lines, something he has "done my whole career—except I drove Bill mad".
Winkler received his first Primetime Emmy Award in 2018 for his portrayal of Gene Cousineau. He also won two Critics' Choice Television Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2019 and 2023. In addition, he received three Primetime Emmy nominations, three Golden Globe nominations, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations for the role.
2025: Hazardous History
In 2025, Winkler hosted the series Hazardous History with Henry Winkler on the History Channel.
Filmography and accolades
Winkler states that during his lifetime, he has worked with "five directing geniuses": Garry Marshall (Happy Days), Adam Sandler, Mitch Hurwitz (Arrested Development), Bill Hader and Alec Berg (Barry).
After portraying Fonzie on Happy Days, Winkler evolved into a character actor, with roles that include the high school principal Arthur Himbry in Scream, Coach Klein in The Waterboy, Barry Zuckerkorn in Arrested Development, Sy Mittleman in Childrens Hospital, Dr. Saperstein in Parks and Recreation, Mr. Rock in the Hank Zipzer BBC series, Eddie R. Lawson in Royal Pains, Fritz in Monsters at Work, Uncle Joe in The French Dispatch, Al Pratt in Black Adam, and Gene Cousineau in Barry. He is also the recipient of a Primetime Emmy, two Golden Globe Awards, two Critics Choice Awards, and two Daytime Emmys. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2025.
Philanthropy
In March 2020, Winkler contributed via Zoom to social justice issues during COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. On May 7, 2020, the Office of the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, posted a video of Winkler on Facebook and Twitter reminding Californians to practice social distancing and to follow stay-at-home orders.
During this time, Winkler also offered aid "to SAG-AFTRA artists and their families" through the virtual table read of Season 3, Episode 2 ("The Motorcycle", 1975) of Happy Days. Winkler reprised the role of "Fonzie", while SAG members Glenn Close, John Carroll Lynch, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Jamie Chung, Luke Newton, and Nicola Coughlan read the roles of Marion Cunningham, Howard Cunningham, Richie Cunningham, Ralph Malph, Joanie Cunningham, Potsie, and a waitress at Al's diner.
Personal life
Winkler met Stacey, formerly Weitzman (née Furstman), in a Beverly Hills clothing store in 1976, and they married in 1978 in the synagogue where he had his bar mitzvah. They have three children, including Max.
His cousin, the late actor and comedian Richard Belzer, starred as John Munch in the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–2013).
In 2018, almost 80 years after his parents had left Germany, Winkler visited Berlin for the television show Better Late Than Never and shared their story on the Season 2 episode "Berlin: How Do You Say Roots in German?"
Winkler continues to remain close with members of the Happy Days cast, telling the Hollywood Reporter in November 2021 that "I loved the people. They are still my friends."
Dyslexia
During his time on Happy Days, Winkler realized that he was dyslexic after his stepson was diagnosed with a learning disability. Previously, Winkler had known that aspects of reading and memorizing were difficult for him but not why. He had developed coping mechanisms that allowed him to mask the difficulties he had with cold-reading scripts. He later recalled that prior to learning about dyslexia, he frequently embarrassed himself in front of his fellow cast members as he would "stumble at least once or twice a paragraph".
Additional books and legacy
Winkler's 2011 memoir I've Never Met an Idiot on the River explores his interest in fly fishing. The next year, he and his writing partner Lin Oliver created the Ghost Buddy book series (2012–2013), about the friendship between the protagonist Billy and a "ghost buddy".
A few years later they wrote the science fiction trilogy Alien Superstar (2019–2021). The adventures of Alien Superstar's protagonist are loosely based on Winker's own experiences after arriving in Los Angeles.
Winkler released a new memoir, Being Henry: The Fonz...and Beyond in October 2023. He also began a new series of children's books with Lin Oliver in 2023 called Detective Duck.
The Fonz and Hank Zipzer
TV Guide ranked "The Fonz" as No. 4 on its "50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time" list in 1999, and a 2001 poll conducted by Channel 4 in the UK ranked him as 13th on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters.
When asked which books influenced him in childhood, American journalist Anderson Cooper, who is dyslexic, responded that, "I also loved the Fonz and read a book when I was around 8 called The Fonz: The Henry Winkler Story. I actually keep it in my office at CNN. Henry Winkler was very important to me when I was a child." This sentiment reflects National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution curator Eric Jentsch's statement on the description of Fonzie's leather jacket that Winkler donated to the Smithsonian in 1980: "Fonzie was a representation of cool at a time when you were learning about what cool was."
Winkler won two Golden Globe Awards, and earned three Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for the role. In 1981, he received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (for Television), largely due to his portrayal of Fonzie. A few decades later, American artist Gerald P. Sawyer, unveiled the Bronze Fonz on the Milwaukee Riverwalk in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 18, 2008.
Winkler would eventually be recognized for contributing to a greater understanding of dyslexia through the Hank Zipzer series. He was given the Key to the City of Winnipeg for "contributions to education and literacy" in 2010, was appointed an Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to children with special educational needs and dyslexia in the UK" by Queen Elizabeth in 2011, was named one of the United Kingdom's Top 10 Literacy Heroes in 2013, and was awarded the Bill Rosendahl Public Service Award for Contributions to the Public Good for his children's books in 2019 by the Los Angeles Press Club.
Bibliography
Standalone
Winkler, Henry (1976). The Other Side of Henry Winkler: My Story. Warner Books. ISBN 978-0-446-87340-6. OCLC 475068133.
Winkler, Henry (2011). I've Never Met an Idiot on the River: Reflections on Family, Photography and Fly-Fishing. Insight Editions. ISBN 978-1-608-87020-2. OCLC 1132359326.
Winkler, Henry (2023). Being Henry: The Fonz ... and Beyond. Celadon Books. ISBN 978-1250888099.
Series (with Lin Oliver)
Hank Zipzer: The World's Greatest Underachiever (18 volumes, 2003–2010, 2015).
Ghost Buddy (4 volumes, 2012–2013).
Here's Hank (12 volumes, 2014–2019).
Alien Superstar (3 volumes, 2019–2021).
Detective Duck (2023–present).
See also
List of breakout characters
List of children's literature writers
List of people with dyslexia
List of public art in Milwaukee
List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
References
Further reading
Amato, Jennifer (August 18, 2021). "Gold Award candidate seeks help of Henry Winkler for school library project". CentralJersey.com.
Green, Jonathon (1978). The Fonz & Henry Winkler: His Real Life Story. Castle Books. ISBN 978-0-89009-200-2. OCLC 858068258.
Klam, Matthew (April 27, 2022). "Henry Winkler Breaks the Curse of Stardom". The New York Times Magazine.
Pike, Charles E. (1976). The Fonz: The Henry Winkler Story. Outbackpress. ISBN 978-0-86888-044-0. OCLC 475655439.
External links
Henry Winkler on Twitter
Henry Winkler at IMDb
Henry Winkler at the Internet Broadway Database
Henry Winkler on Playbill
Henry Winkler at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Henry Winkler at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television (2006)
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Henry Franklin Winkler (born October 30, 1945) is an American actor, producer, director, and author. Widely known as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the sitcom Happy Days (1974–1984), Winkler has distinguished himself as a character actor for roles on stage and screen. His many accolades include three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and two Critics Choice Awards.
Winkler studied theater at both Emerson College and the Yale School of Drama and spent a year and a half with the Yale Repertory Theater. After getting cast in a small role in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, he became a star playing the role of "Fonzie" on the sitcom Happy Days (1974–1984). He then helped develop the original MacGyver television series and directed Memories of Me (1988) and Cop and a Half (1993).
Winkler acted in films such as Heroes (1977), Night Shift (1982), Scream (1996), The Waterboy (1998), Click (2006), The French Dispatch (2021), and Black Adam (2022). He also found a career resurgence in television portraying humorous characters such as Barry Zuckerkorn in Arrested Development (2003–2019), Eddie R. Lawson in Royal Pains (2010–2016), Dr. Saperstein in Parks and Recreation (2013–2015), and Gene Cousineau in Barry (2018–2023). The last earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Winkler was a member of the main cast of the reality series Better Late Than Never (2016–2018).
Winkler has drawn upon his childhood struggles with dyslexia to co-write the children's book series Hank Zipzer (2003–2010), which was adapted into the Hank Zipzer television series (2014–2016) in which Winkler appears as Mr. Rock. He has also written three memoirs: The Other Side of Henry Winkler: My Story (1976), I've Never Met an Idiot on the River (2011), and Being Henry: The Fonz ... and Beyond (2023).
Early life
1939–1945: Family history
Winkler's parents, Ilse Anna Marie (née Hadra) and businessman Harry Irving Winkler, were German Jews living in Berlin during the rise of Nazi Germany. By 1939, rising hostilities against Jews led his father to conclude that it was time to leave Germany. He arranged to take his wife on a six-week business trip to the United States. Soon after arriving, his parents settled in New York City, where his father established a new version of his German company, which bought and sold wood.
Winkler's uncle, Helmut Winkler, fled to the Netherlands in January 1940 and went into hiding in Amsterdam. He and his mother Pauline Olga Winkler, who had emigrated to the Netherlands in January 1939, were deported to Auschwitz in September 1942 and murdered. The building where Helmut had lived in Berlin was destroyed in an air raid in November 1943. A commemorative Stolperstein is embedded in the sidewalk in front of the post-war building erected on the site.
1945–1963: Early life and education
Henry Franklin Winkler was born on October 30, 1945, on the West Side of New York City's Manhattan borough. The "H" in his first name is a reference to his Uncle Helmut, while his middle name refers to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He has an older sister named Beatrice.
Although his family did not keep kosher, Winkler was raised in the traditions of Conservative Judaism. During his childhood, Winkler and his family spent their summers at Lake Mahopac, New York, and as a teenager he was a water skiing instructor at Blue Mountain camps.
While growing up, Winkler had a difficult relationship with his father, who wanted him to continue the family business. When his father grew frustrated with Winkler's focus on acting, he would ask his son why he had brought the business over from Germany to the United States. Winkler would respond: "Besides being chased by the Nazis, Dad, was there a bigger reason than that?"
Difficulties in school
Winkler first attended P.S. 87 on West 78th Street, Manhattan, and then the McBurney School on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Although he was "outgoing" and "the class comedian" in school, he also lived in a state of "constant anxiety" over his struggles with schoolwork. His parents were perpetually frustrated by his poor grades, referred to him as "dummer Hund" (dumb dog), and repeatedly punished him for his inability to excel in school. Winkler has said that this time period was "excruciating" as his "self-image was almost nonexistent". In addition, his consistently poor academic performance made it difficult to be involved in the theater, as he was "grounded most of my high school career" and was almost never academically eligible. However, he did manage to appear in two theatrical productions: Billy Budd when he was in the eighth grade and Of Thee I Sing in the eleventh grade.
Although Winkler graduated from the McBurney School in 1963, he was not allowed to attend graduation, as he had to repeat geometry for the fourth time during summer school. After finally passing the course, he received his diploma in the mail.
1963–1967: Emerson College
Winkler applied to 28 colleges but was admitted to only two of them. He enrolled in Emerson College in Boston in 1963, where he majored in theater and minored in child psychology, as he considered becoming a child psychologist if he did not succeed as an actor. He was also a member of the Alpha Pi Theta fraternity, and appeared in Emerson's production of Peer Gynt as the title character. Winkler later recalled that he had nearly failed his first and second years but managed to stay for four years and graduated in 1967. In 1978, Emerson awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL).
1967–1970: Yale School of Drama
During his senior year at Emerson, Winkler decided to audition for the Yale School of Drama. Although his then-undiagnosed dyslexia led to his forgetting the Shakespearean monologue he was supposed to perform, forcing him to improvise, Winkler was still admitted to the M.F.A. program in 1967.
He appeared in They Told Me That You Came This Way; Any Day Now, Any Day Now; and The Bacchae (as a member of the chorus). During the summers, he and his Yale classmates stayed in New Haven and opened a summer stock theater called the New Haven Free Theater. They performed various plays including Woyzeck, where he portrayed the title role, and Just Add Water for improv night. He also performed in the political piece, The American Pig at the Joseph Papp Public Theater for the New York Shakespeare Festival in New York City, with classmates James Keach, James Naughton, and Jill Eikenberry. In addition, he also appeared in a number of Yale Repertory Theatre productions while still a student, including, The Government Inspector, The Rhesus Umbrella, Don Juan, Endgame, and The Physicists. He also appeared in Sweeney Agonistes and Hughie. Winkler would later credit his time at Yale as critical to his future success.
Out of his original cohort of 25 actors at Yale, Winkler was one of 11 who graduated when he received his MFA in 1970. Over two decades later, in May 1996, he served as the Senior Class Day Speaker for Yale University's graduating seniors.
Career
1970–1973: Early career
Yale Repertory Theatre company
After receiving his MFA in 1970, Winkler was one of three students from his graduating class of 11 who were invited to become a part of the Yale Repertory Theatre company. He joined on June 30, 1970, was paid $173 a week, and appeared throughout the 1970–71 season. He performed in Story Theater Reportory, Gimpel the Fool and Saint Julian the Hospitaler and Olympian Games. He also appeared in The Revenger's Tragedy, Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?, Macbeth, and Woyzeck and Play. He also appeared in a double feature of two works by Bertolt Brecht, The Seven Deadly Sins (ballet chanté), and The Little Mahagonny during May–June 1971 and January 20–29, 1972.
New York and California
In the fall of 1971, Winkler was invited to be a part of the play Moonchildren which would open at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Three weeks into rehearsals, director Alan Schneider fired him as Winkler had been hired to fill the space until the actor that Schneider really wanted was available. At the time, Winkler was certain that because he had been fired, he would never be hired as an actor again.
Winkler moved back to New York, and began to audition for plays, movies, and commercials. He was able to earn a living through performing in commercials, thus, he was able to perform with the Manhattan Theater Club for free.
Winkler's first appearance on Broadway was as "John" in 42 Seconds from Broadway, a play that opened and closed on March 11, 1973. He swore to himself that one day he would "make that right". By 1973, he had roles in two independent films, The Lords of Flatbush and Crazy Joe. He also performed with the improv group, Off the Wall New York. He continued to feel anxiety, however, with the process of cold reading during auditions and depended upon compensation strategies.
By 1973, his agent told him that it was time to leave New York and explore possibilities in California. Although Winkler was initially resistant, thinking he was not a good fit for Hollywood, his agent was persistent. Winkler ultimately decided that he had earned enough money through his work in commercials to try Hollywood for one month. He and his Lords of Flatbush co-star, Perry King, thus traveled to Los Angeles on September 18, 1973. After meeting with his agency's west coast branch, and spending five days going to auditions, Winkler was hired for a small part on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, appearing in Season 4, Episode 10, "The Dinner Party".
1973–1984: Happy Days and stardom
During his second week in Los Angeles, Winkler auditioned for the part of Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, better known as "Fonzie" or "The Fonz", on a new show called Happy Days. Although he was an unknown and not the first choice for the role, he was asked to return after his first audition for a second one in costume. In costume, and with a different voice, Winkler said his six lines, threw his script in the air, and left the room. He was offered the role on his birthday, and accepted it based on his condition that the producers would show who the character was when he took his jacket off. Winkler appeared on the first episode of Happy Days in January 1974, and was with the series continuously until it ended in July 1984.
"The Fonz" was initially written as a minor role and developed as the foil for the central protagonist of the series, Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard). Winkler made his own interpretation of the character during the first episode, choosing not to comb his hair, chew gum, or keep a box of cigarettes rolled in his sleeve like actors typically did with this type of character. Although he tried to explain this philosophy to the producers, he was told he had to follow the script and comb his hair. He thus stood at the mirror, motioned in a way that suggested "Hey I don't have to because it's perfect," and in doing so, created the seminal moment which defined the character. ABC executives did not want to see Fonzie wearing leather, thinking it would imply that the character was a criminal. Thus, during the first season, Winkler wore two different windbreaker jackets, one of which was green. Director Garry Marshall argued with the executives about the jacket, and eventually they made a compromise: Fonzie could wear the leather jacket, but only in scenes with his motorcycle. Marshall thus made certain that his motorcycle was written into every scene. In reality, Winkler did not know how to ride a motorcycle. As he almost crashed it the first time he tried, he subsequently never rode the motorcycle during the series.
By the middle of the second season in December 1974, "The Fonz" began his transition as a breakout character when he was featured as the central protagonist in the episode, "Guess Who's Coming to Christmas". By the third season, he became the lead of the series, as the storylines shifted away from the original protagonist, Richie Cunningham, to "The Fonz". Winkler recalled in a 2018 interview that he directly addressed the issue with Ron Howard, who portrayed Cunningham. According to Winkler, Howard told him that although he "was signed on as the star, you did nothing except be as good as you could be. It's good for the show, we're friends." In 2021, Howard reiterated these points by stating that Winkler had been "sort of a big brother" to him.
In a 2018 interview with Winkler, journalist Michael Schneider suggests that it was at this point that the character "became the biggest icon on television" at that time. Winkler responded by stating that he "went from somebody who had no sense of self" to a situation that was "scary". He has also admitted that while he shares some characteristics with "The Fonz" such as loyalty to friends and an undercurrent of anger that he drew from his struggles with school as a child, they were fundamentally different from one another.
During his decade on Happy Days, Winkler also appeared in a variety of roles in film and on television. In film, he appeared in Heroes (1977) with Harrison Ford and Sally Field and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. He later appeared in Carl Reiner's The One and Only (1978) and in Ron Howard's 1982 directorial debut, Night Shift with Shelley Long before she appeared in Cheers and a then-unknown Michael Keaton. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his work in Night Shift.
In television, he served as executive producer and host for the 50-minute television version of the documentary, Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? (1978), which was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series or Special. He was also an executive producer for the ABC Afterschool Special: Run, Don't Walk (1981), based on the novel of the same name by Harriet May Savitz, and featuring his Happy Days co-star, Scott Baio. He further directed Baio in the 13th episode of the Happy Days spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi, also starring Erin Moran.
In addition, Winkler starred in An American Christmas Carol (1979), and served as a co-host for the Music for UNICEF Concert (1979). He also appeared as "Fonzie" on Sesame Street to promote the letter "A" (ayyyy), later recalling that it was "the only time I ever appeared as the Fonz on something else. I had a strict rule about that, but they asked me and it was my pleasure."
Post- Happy Days
After Happy Days ended in 1984, Winkler was typecast, and could not get acting roles until 1991. He later stated that his "agent would put me out there and people would say, 'You know, he's great, he's a wonderful guy, really good actor. Funny, So funny. But he was the Fonz.'" Winkler, who desired to be a working actor, felt "rudderless" during this period; desiring to continue a presence in the industry, he started the production company Fair Dinkum Productions in the late 1970s. The name fair dinkum was taken from Australian English slang, meaning something is "honest" or "authentic". In 1987, he inked a new feature film and development pact with the studio.
In 1984, Winkler directed, and was executive producer for, the CBS Schoolbreak Special: "All the Kids Do It" starring Scott Baio, which won the 1985 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Children's Special and was nominated for the 1985 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Directing in Children's Programming. In addition to a few episodes of television sitcoms that he directed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Winkler directed his first theatrical release in 1988, Memories of Me with Billy Crystal. In 1993, he directed his second theatrical release, Cop and a Half, a film produced by Ron Howard's company, Imagine Entertainment, and starring Burt Reynolds.
Winkler was an executive producer for Rob Reiner's second film as a director, The Sure Thing (1985). He was also the executive producer for the original MacGyver television series, which won the Genesis Award for Best TV Drama in 1991, and for Dead Man's Gun, which won the Bronze Wrangler in 1998. In 1988, he was the executive producer for the ABC Afterschool Special: A Family Again starring Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker. In addition, he was the executive producer for a number of series, including Sightings and So Weird. In 2002, he partnered with Michael Levitt to revamp and update The Hollywood Squares for the fifth season of the 1998 reboot. It was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show in 2003.
1991–2003: Acting roles
Winkler returned to acting in the early 1990s. He starred in the 1991 television film, Absolute Strangers, and in the short-lived 1994 television series Monty with David Schwimmer (before his debut on Friends). He also starred in the 1994 television film One Christmas, with Katharine Hepburn in her last role and Swoosie Kurtz.
In 1996, he appeared in his friend Wes Craven's 1996 film Scream as foul-mouthed high school principal Arthur Himbry. His role was uncredited, however, as the producers were concerned that he would only be seen as The Fonz, and thus distract from the film. After the screening, he received positive feedback for his role and was subsequently asked to participate in the publicity campaign for Scream.
In 2000, Winkler was nominated for a Primetime Emmy, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, for his portrayal of Dr. Henry Olson in three episodes of The Practice. He also portrayed Stanley Yelnats III in Holes (2003).
Work with Adam Sandler
Winkler began to collaborate with Adam Sandler in the 1990s, after Sandler included Fonzie in the Saturday Night Live skit, The Chanukah Song (1994). Winkler called Sandler to thank him, which led first to a friendship, and later to the role of Coach Klein in the 1998 film The Waterboy, and as Sandler's father in Click (2006). He also made cameo appearances in Little Nicky (2000), You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), and Sandy Wexler (2017).
Work with John Ritter
Winkler worked on a few projects with his longtime friend, actor John Ritter, whom he first met in 1978 at ABC's 25th anniversary party, when Winkler was still on Happy Days, and Ritter was Jack Tripper on the television series Three's Company. He directed Ritter in the 1986 television movie A Smoky Mountain Christmas starring Dolly Parton, and in 1993, they co-starred in the made-for-television movie, The Only Way Out.
Later in 1999, Neil Simon gave Winkler the chance to be involved with his first theatrical production since 1973, when he asked him to do a read-through of The Dinner Party. Given the problems he had with cold-readings, Winkler initially panicked. However, he asked for the script in advance in order to memorize it, and managed to get through the reading. Simon eventually contacted Winkler again, and asked him to be in the theatrical version he was staging, to which Winkler agreed. He was also excited to be working with Ritter again. Although their initial debut was not well-received, they were invited to perform the play in Washington, D.C. with a few casting changes, and it received positive reviews. The play then moved to Broadway, and again received positive reviews.
In September 2003, he was slated for a guest appearance on Ritter's show, 8 Simple Rules. However, during the filming of the episode, Ritter became ill and had to be taken to the hospital, dying hours later. The episode was never completed, and Winkler's role was dropped.
2003–2019: Arrested Development
In 2003, Mitch Hurwitz wanted Winkler to portray the incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn on one episode of Arrested Development. However, he made numerous further appearances in the original three seasons, and also returned for the later seasons in 2013 and 2018. For his portrayal of Barry Zuckerkorn, Winkler won a Gold Derby Award: Comedy Guest Actor in 2004. In 2014, Winkler was nominated as part of the cast for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
Arrested Development is known for its inside jokes. In three episodes of the 2013 reboot, Winkler's son Max portrayed "young Barry Zuckerkorn" in flashbacks. In addition, there were a number of references to Happy Days, such as in the season three episode "Forget-Me-Now", where Scott Baio joined the cast as the potentially new lawyer Bob Loblaw, stating, "look, this is not the first time I've been brought in to replace Barry Zuckerkorn." Vulture argues that this statement is "a nod to Happy Days, where [Baio] was brought on as Chachi, to be a new teen idol as Henry Winkler got older". In addition, Barry's hopping over a shark on the pier in "Motherboy XXX" is a reference to Jon Hein's phrase jumping the shark. Hein coined the phrase in 1985, in reference to a 1977 Happy Days episode in which Fonzie jumps over a shark while on water skis.
2003–2019: Hank Zipzer
Winkler's career as an author began with the Hank Zipzer series of children's books about the adventures of a dyslexic child, which he co-wrote with Lin Oliver. During the early 2000s, when Winkler experienced "a lull in [his] acting career", his manager Alan Berger suggested that he write children's books about the difficulties he experienced as a child before he knew that he was dyslexic. Winkler was resistant to the idea until Berger suggested that Winkler co-write the books with an experienced author.
Berger introduced Winkler to Oliver, and the two met for lunch and created the character of Hank Zipzer. Winkler chose the name Hank from the nickname for Henry, and Zipzer from the name of a neighbor in the apartment building that he grew up in. Winkler and Oliver's writing process, which involved developing ideas during in-person discussions, drew upon their mutual background in television. According to Winkler, the system drew upon his strengths as an actor, allowing him to work through ideas out loud.
The original series spanned 17 books, published from 2003 to 2010. Following that, Winkler and Oliver wrote a prequel series, Here's Hank (2014 to 2019), which explores Hank's life as a second-grader before he was diagnosed as dyslexic. The Here's Hank series uses a dyslexic-friendly font called Dyslexie, marking the first time that this font was used in a book published in the United States.
Winkler and Oliver also created the television adaptation Hank Zipzer, which ran for three seasons, from 2014 to 2016. The series appeared on the children's BBC Channel, as they could not find an American buyer for it. After the series was successful on the BBC, it was broadcast on the Universal Kids Channel in the United States. Winkler played the music teacher Mr. Rock, who was based on a teacher at McBurney who encouraged Winkler. They also produced the 2016 stand-alone television film Hank Zipzer's Christmas Catastrophe.
2004–present: Acting roles
Theater
Winkler returned to the stage in 2006 as Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London. He reprised the role in Woking for Christmas 2007. For the 2008/2009 season, he played Captain Hook at the Milton Keynes Theatre, and once again for the 2009/2010 panto season at the Liverpool Empire. A few years later in 2012, Winkler made his third Broadway appearance as "Chuck Wood" in The Performers (November 14–18).
Television and film
Winkler has continued his work as a character actor in television and film. In television, he was nominated in 2004 for a Daytime Emmy, Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program, and in 2005, he won the Daytime Emmy, Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program, for his voice-work as Norville in Clifford's Puppy Days. Additional television roles include Dr. Stewart Barnes in Out of Practice (2005–2006), Eddie R. Lawson in Royal Pains (2010–2016), Sy Mittleman in Childrens Hospital (2010–2016), Dr. Saperstein in Parks and Recreation (2013–2015), the villainous Uncle King Julien in animated series All Hail King Julien and its spinoff season Exiled (2014–2017), and Fritz in the 2021–present animated streaming television series Monsters at Work.
His film roles include Uncle Ralph in the Christmas film The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2008), Marty Streb in Here Comes the Boom (2012), Ed Koch in Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie (2016), Grandpa Bill in All I Want for Christmas Is You (2017), Uncle Joe in Wes Anderson's 2021 release The French Dispatch, and a cameo appearance as Al Pratt (Uncle Al) in the 2022 release Black Adam.
2016–2018: Better Late Than Never
Winkler was both an executive producer for and star of the American reality-travel show, Better Late Than Never. He starred along with William Shatner, Terry Bradshaw, George Foreman, and Jeff Dye, in this adaptation of the South Korean reality series, Grandpas Over Flowers.
Winkler was the focus of the Season 2 episode "Berlin: How Do You Say Roots in German?" as the group explored the city from which his parents escaped in 1939. The journey culminated at the site of a brass memorial plaque, known as a stolperstein, embedded in the pavement in front of the workplace and home of his uncle, Helmut Winkler. The discovery came as a complete surprise to Winkler, as Jeff Dye had secretly enlisted the help of Winkler's children, who planned the surprise.
2018–2023: Barry
When Bill Hader developed the HBO comedy Barry with Alec Berg, he asked HBO if they could "get" Winkler for the part of acting teacher Gene Cousineau. According to Hader, he was "out of [his] mind" when HBO told him that Winkler was coming to audition for the role. In addition, Winkler's son Max, who is a director, helped him to prepare for this audition.
Work for the first season of Barry began in 2016. Winkler has noted parallels between Barry and his time on Happy Days. He "was 27 when I did the Fonz, and now, I'm 72. I just flipped the numbers." In his role as Cousineau, he wears Garry Marshall's tie as "a tribute to my mentor". Cousineau was originally written to be "much darker, much colder—really cynical", but after Winkler added his own insight, the character became more affectionate. Portraying Cousineau allowed Winkler to draw upon decades of experience with acting teachers. Winkler continued his lifelong habit of improvising when he forgot his lines, something he has "done my whole career—except I drove Bill mad".
Winkler received his first Primetime Emmy Award in 2018 for his portrayal of Gene Cousineau. He also won two Critics' Choice Television Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2019 and 2023. In addition, he received three Primetime Emmy nominations, three Golden Globe nominations, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations for the role.
2025: Hazardous History
In 2025, Winkler hosted the series Hazardous History with Henry Winkler on the History Channel.
Filmography and accolades
Winkler states that during his lifetime, he has worked with "five directing geniuses": Garry Marshall (Happy Days), Adam Sandler, Mitch Hurwitz (Arrested Development), Bill Hader and Alec Berg (Barry).
After portraying Fonzie on Happy Days, Winkler evolved into a character actor, with roles that include the high school principal Arthur Himbry in Scream, Coach Klein in The Waterboy, Barry Zuckerkorn in Arrested Development, Sy Mittleman in Childrens Hospital, Dr. Saperstein in Parks and Recreation, Mr. Rock in the Hank Zipzer BBC series, Eddie R. Lawson in Royal Pains, Fritz in Monsters at Work, Uncle Joe in The French Dispatch, Al Pratt in Black Adam, and Gene Cousineau in Barry. He is also the recipient of a Primetime Emmy, two Golden Globe Awards, two Critics Choice Awards, and two Daytime Emmys. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2025.
Philanthropy
In March 2020, Winkler contributed via Zoom to social justice issues during COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. On May 7, 2020, the Office of the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, posted a video of Winkler on Facebook and Twitter reminding Californians to practice social distancing and to follow stay-at-home orders.
During this time, Winkler also offered aid "to SAG-AFTRA artists and their families" through the virtual table read of Season 3, Episode 2 ("The Motorcycle", 1975) of Happy Days. Winkler reprised the role of "Fonzie", while SAG members Glenn Close, John Carroll Lynch, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Jamie Chung, Luke Newton, and Nicola Coughlan read the roles of Marion Cunningham, Howard Cunningham, Richie Cunningham, Ralph Malph, Joanie Cunningham, Potsie, and a waitress at Al's diner.
Personal life
Winkler met Stacey, formerly Weitzman (née Furstman), in a Beverly Hills clothing store in 1976, and they married in 1978 in the synagogue where he had his bar mitzvah. They have three children, including Max.
His cousin, the late actor and comedian Richard Belzer, starred as John Munch in the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–2013).
In 2018, almost 80 years after his parents had left Germany, Winkler visited Berlin for the television show Better Late Than Never and shared their story on the Season 2 episode "Berlin: How Do You Say Roots in German?"
Winkler continues to remain close with members of the Happy Days cast, telling the Hollywood Reporter in November 2021 that "I loved the people. They are still my friends."
Dyslexia
During his time on Happy Days, Winkler realized that he was dyslexic after his stepson was diagnosed with a learning disability. Previously, Winkler had known that aspects of reading and memorizing were difficult for him but not why. He had developed coping mechanisms that allowed him to mask the difficulties he had with cold-reading scripts. He later recalled that prior to learning about dyslexia, he frequently embarrassed himself in front of his fellow cast members as he would "stumble at least once or twice a paragraph".
Additional books and legacy
Winkler's 2011 memoir I've Never Met an Idiot on the River explores his interest in fly fishing. The next year, he and his writing partner Lin Oliver created the Ghost Buddy book series (2012–2013), about the friendship between the protagonist Billy and a "ghost buddy".
A few years later they wrote the science fiction trilogy Alien Superstar (2019–2021). The adventures of Alien Superstar's protagonist are loosely based on Winker's own experiences after arriving in Los Angeles.
Winkler released a new memoir, Being Henry: The Fonz...and Beyond in October 2023. He also began a new series of children's books with Lin Oliver in 2023 called Detective Duck.
The Fonz and Hank Zipzer
TV Guide ranked "The Fonz" as No. 4 on its "50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time" list in 1999, and a 2001 poll conducted by Channel 4 in the UK ranked him as 13th on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters.
When asked which books influenced him in childhood, American journalist Anderson Cooper, who is dyslexic, responded that, "I also loved the Fonz and read a book when I was around 8 called The Fonz: The Henry Winkler Story. I actually keep it in my office at CNN. Henry Winkler was very important to me when I was a child." This sentiment reflects National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution curator Eric Jentsch's statement on the description of Fonzie's leather jacket that Winkler donated to the Smithsonian in 1980: "Fonzie was a representation of cool at a time when you were learning about what cool was."
Winkler won two Golden Globe Awards, and earned three Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for the role. In 1981, he received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (for Television), largely due to his portrayal of Fonzie. A few decades later, American artist Gerald P. Sawyer, unveiled the Bronze Fonz on the Milwaukee Riverwalk in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 18, 2008.
Winkler would eventually be recognized for contributing to a greater understanding of dyslexia through the Hank Zipzer series. He was given the Key to the City of Winnipeg for "contributions to education and literacy" in 2010, was appointed an Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to children with special educational needs and dyslexia in the UK" by Queen Elizabeth in 2011, was named one of the United Kingdom's Top 10 Literacy Heroes in 2013, and was awarded the Bill Rosendahl Public Service Award for Contributions to the Public Good for his children's books in 2019 by the Los Angeles Press Club.
Bibliography
Standalone
Winkler, Henry (1976). The Other Side of Henry Winkler: My Story. Warner Books. ISBN 978-0-446-87340-6. OCLC 475068133.
Winkler, Henry (2011). I've Never Met an Idiot on the River: Reflections on Family, Photography and Fly-Fishing. Insight Editions. ISBN 978-1-608-87020-2. OCLC 1132359326.
Winkler, Henry (2023). Being Henry: The Fonz ... and Beyond. Celadon Books. ISBN 978-1250888099.
Series (with Lin Oliver)
Hank Zipzer: The World's Greatest Underachiever (18 volumes, 2003–2010, 2015).
Ghost Buddy (4 volumes, 2012–2013).
Here's Hank (12 volumes, 2014–2019).
Alien Superstar (3 volumes, 2019–2021).
Detective Duck (2023–present).
See also
List of breakout characters
List of children's literature writers
List of people with dyslexia
List of public art in Milwaukee
List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
References
Further reading
Amato, Jennifer (August 18, 2021). "Gold Award candidate seeks help of Henry Winkler for school library project". CentralJersey.com.
Green, Jonathon (1978). The Fonz & Henry Winkler: His Real Life Story. Castle Books. ISBN 978-0-89009-200-2. OCLC 858068258.
Klam, Matthew (April 27, 2022). "Henry Winkler Breaks the Curse of Stardom". The New York Times Magazine.
Pike, Charles E. (1976). The Fonz: The Henry Winkler Story. Outbackpress. ISBN 978-0-86888-044-0. OCLC 475655439.
External links
Henry Winkler on Twitter
Henry Winkler at IMDb
Henry Winkler at the Internet Broadway Database
Henry Winkler on Playbill
Henry Winkler at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Henry Winkler at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television (2006)
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Leonardo da Vinci
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Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he has also become known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and palaeontology. Leonardo is widely regarded to have been a genius who epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works comprise a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary Michelangelo.
Born out of wedlock to a successful notary and a lower-class woman in, or near, Vinci, he was educated in Florence by the Italian painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. He began his career in the city, but then spent much time in the service of Ludovico Sforza in Milan. Later, he worked in Florence and Milan again, as well as briefly in Rome, all while attracting a large following of imitators and students. Upon the invitation of Francis I, he spent his last three years in France, where he died in 1519. Since his death, there has not been a time when his achievements, diverse interests, personal life, and empirical thinking have failed to incite interest and admiration, making him a frequent namesake and subject in culture.
Leonardo is identified as one of the greatest painters in the history of Western art and is often credited as the founder of the High Renaissance. Despite having many lost works and fewer than 25 attributed major works – including numerous unfinished works – he created some of the most influential paintings in the Western canon. The Mona Lisa is his best known work and is the world's most famous individual painting. The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time and his Vitruvian Man drawing is also regarded as a cultural icon. In 2017, Salvator Mundi, attributed in whole or part to Leonardo, was sold at auction for US$450.3 million, setting a new record for the most expensive painting ever sold at public auction.
Revered for his technological ingenuity, he conceptualised flying machines, a type of armoured fighting vehicle, concentrated solar power, a ratio machine that could be used in an adding machine, and the double hull. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were even feasible during his lifetime, as the modern scientific approaches to metallurgy and engineering were only in their infancy during the Renaissance. Some of his smaller inventions, however, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire. He made substantial discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, hydrodynamics, geology, optics, and tribology, but he did not publish his findings and they had little to no direct influence on subsequent science.
Biography
Early life (1452–1472)
Birth and background
Leonardo da Vinci, properly named Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci ("Leonardo, son of ser Piero from Vinci"), was born on 15 April 1452 in, or close to, the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, Italy 20 miles from Florence. He was born out of wedlock to Piero da Vinci (Ser Piero da Vinci d'Antonio di ser Piero di ser Guido; 1426–1504), a Florentine legal notary, and Caterina di Meo Lippi (c. 1434–1494), from the lower class. It remains uncertain where Leonardo was born; the traditional account, from a local oral tradition recorded by the historian Emanuele Repetti, is that he was born in Anchiano, a country hamlet that would have offered sufficient privacy for the illegitimate birth, though it is still possible he was born in a house in Florence that Ser Piero almost certainly had. Leonardo's parents both married separately the year after his birth. Caterina – who later appears in Leonardo's notes as only "Caterina" or "Catelina" – is usually identified as the Caterina Buti del Vacca, who married the local artisan Antonio di Piero Buti del Vacca, nicknamed L'Accattabriga, 'the quarrelsome one'. Having been betrothed to her the previous year, Ser Piero married Albiera Amadori and after her death in 1464, went on to have three subsequent marriages. From all the marriages, Leonardo eventually had 16 half-siblings (of whom 11 survived infancy) who were much younger than he (the last was born when Leonardo was 46 years old) and with whom he had very little contact.
Very little is known about Leonardo's childhood and much is shrouded in myth, partially because of his biography in the frequently apocryphal Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (1550) by 16th-century art historian Giorgio Vasari. Tax records indicate that by at least 1457 he lived in the household of his paternal grandfather, Antonio da Vinci, but it is possible that he spent the years before then in the care of his mother in Vinci, either Anchiano or Campo Zeppi in the parish of San Pantaleone. He is thought to have been close to his uncle, Francesco da Vinci, but his father was probably in Florence most of the time. Ser Piero, who was the descendant of a long line of notaries, established an official residence in Florence by at least 1469 and had a successful career. Despite his family history, Leonardo only received a basic and informal education in (vernacular) writing, reading, and mathematics; possibly because his artistic talents were recognised early, so his family decided to focus their attention there.
Later in life, Leonardo recorded his earliest memory, now in the Codex Atlanticus. While writing on the flight of birds, he recalled as an infant when a kite came to his cradle and opened his mouth with its tail; commentators still debate whether the anecdote was an actual memory or a fantasy.
Verrocchio's workshop
In the mid-1460s, Leonardo's family moved to Florence, which at the time was the centre of Christian Humanist thought and culture. Around the age of 14, he became a garzone (studio boy) in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, who was the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of his time. This was about the time of the death of Verrocchio's master, the great sculptor Donatello. Leonardo became an apprentice by the age of 17 and remained in training for seven years. Other famous painters apprenticed in the workshop or associated with it include Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Botticelli, and Lorenzo di Credi. Leonardo was exposed to both theoretical training and a wide range of technical skills, including drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics, and woodwork, as well as the artistic skills of drawing, painting, sculpting, and modelling.
Leonardo was a contemporary of Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Perugino, who were all slightly older than he was. He would have met them at the workshop of Verrocchio or at the Platonic Academy of the Medici. Florence was ornamented by the works of artists such as Donatello's contemporaries Masaccio, whose figurative frescoes were imbued with realism and emotion, and Ghiberti, whose Gates of Paradise, gleaming with gold leaf, displayed the art of combining complex figure compositions with detailed architectural backgrounds. Piero della Francesca had made a detailed study of perspective, and was the first painter to make a scientific study of light. These studies and Leon Battista Alberti's treatise De pictura were to have a profound effect on younger artists and in particular on Leonardo's own observations and artworks.
Much of the painting in Verrocchio's workshop was done by his assistants. According to Vasari, Leonardo collaborated with Verrocchio on his The Baptism of Christ (c. 1472–1475), painting the young angel holding Jesus's robe with skill so far superior to his master's that Verrocchio purportedly put down his brush and never painted again (the latter claim probably being apocryphal). The new technique of oil paint was applied to areas of the mostly tempera work, including the landscape, the rocks seen through the brown mountain stream, and much of Jesus's figure, indicating Leonardo's hand. Additionally, Leonardo may have been a model for two works by Verrocchio: the bronze statue of David in the Bargello and the archangel Raphael in Tobias and the Angel.
Vasari tells a story of Leonardo as a very young man: a local peasant made himself a round buckler shield and requested that Ser Piero have it painted for him. Leonardo, inspired by the story of Medusa, responded with a painting of a monster spitting fire that was so terrifying that his father bought a different shield to give to the peasant and sold Leonardo's to a Florentine art dealer for 100 ducats, who in turn sold it to the Duke of Milan.
First Florentine period (1472 – c. 1482)
By 1472, at the age of 20, Leonardo qualified as a master in the Guild of Saint Luke, the guild of artists and doctors of medicine, but even after his father set him up in his own workshop, his attachment to Verrocchio was such that he continued to collaborate and live with him. Leonardo's earliest known dated work is a 1473 pen-and-ink drawing of the Arno valley (see below). According to Vasari, the young Leonardo was the first to suggest making the Arno river a navigable channel between Florence and Pisa.
In January 1478, Leonardo received an independent commission to paint an altarpiece for the Chapel of Saint Bernard in the Florentine town hall, the Palazzo della Signoria, an indication of his independence from Verrocchio's studio. An anonymous early biographer, known as Anonimo Gaddiano, claims that in 1480 Leonardo was living with the Medici and often worked in the garden of the Piazza San Marco, Florence, where a Neoplatonic academy of artists, poets and philosophers organised by the Medici met. In March 1481, he received a commission from the monks of San Donato in Scopeto for The Adoration of the Magi. Neither of these initial commissions were completed, being abandoned when Leonardo went to offer his services to Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza. Leonardo wrote Sforza a letter which described the diverse things that he could achieve in the fields of engineering and weapon design, and mentioned that he could paint. He brought with him a silver string instrument – either a lute or lyre – in the form of a horse's head.
With Alberti, Leonardo visited the home of the Medici and through them came to know the older Humanist philosophers of whom Marsiglio Ficino, proponent of Neoplatonism; Cristoforo Landino, writer of commentaries on Classical writings, and John Argyropoulos, teacher of Greek and translator of Aristotle were the foremost. Also associated with the Platonic Academy of the Medici was Leonardo's contemporary, the brilliant young poet and philosopher Pico della Mirandola. In 1482, Leonardo was sent as an ambassador by Lorenzo de' Medici to Ludovico il Moro, who ruled Milan between 1479 and 1499.
First Milanese period (c. 1482–1499)
Leonardo worked in Milan from 1482 until 1499. He was commissioned to paint the Virgin of the Rocks for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception and The Last Supper for the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. In the spring of 1485, Leonardo travelled to Hungary (on behalf of Sforza) to meet king Matthias Corvinus, and was commissioned by him to paint a Madonna. In 1490 he was called as a consultant, together with Francesco di Giorgio Martini, for the building site of the cathedral of Pavia and was struck by the equestrian statue of Regisole, of which he left a sketch. Leonardo was employed on many other projects for Sforza, such as preparation of floats and pageants for special occasions; a drawing of, and wooden model for, a competition to design the cupola for Milan Cathedral; and a model for a huge equestrian monument to Ludovico's predecessor Francesco Sforza. This would have surpassed in size the only two large equestrian statues of the Renaissance, Donatello's Gattamelata in Padua and Verrocchio's Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice, and became known as the Gran Cavallo. Leonardo completed a model for the horse and made detailed plans for its casting, but in November 1494, Ludovico gave the metal to his brother-in-law to be used for a cannon to defend the city from Charles VIII of France.
Contemporary correspondence records that Leonardo and his assistants were commissioned by the Duke of Milan to paint the Sala delle Asse in the Sforza Castle, c. 1498. The project became a trompe-l'œil decoration that made the great hall appear to be a pergola created by the interwoven limbs of sixteen mulberry trees, whose canopy included an intricate labyrinth of leaves and knots on the ceiling.
Second Florentine period (1500–1508)
When Ludovico Sforza was overthrown by France in 1500, Leonardo fled Milan for Venice, accompanied by his assistant Salaì and friend, the mathematician Luca Pacioli. In Venice, Leonardo was employed as a military architect and engineer, devising methods to defend the city from naval attack. On his return to Florence in 1500, he and his household were guests of the Servite monks at the monastery of Santissima Annunziata and were provided with a workshop where, according to Vasari, Leonardo created the cartoon of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, a work that won such admiration that "men [and] women, young and old" flocked to see it "as if they were going to a solemn festival."
In Cesena in 1502, Leonardo entered the service of Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI, acting as a military architect and engineer and travelling throughout Italy with his patron. Leonardo created a map of Cesare Borgia's stronghold, a town plan of Imola in order to win his patronage. Upon seeing it, Cesare hired Leonardo as his chief military engineer and architect. Later in the year, Leonardo produced another map for his patron, one of Chiana Valley, Tuscany, so as to give his patron a better overlay of the land and greater strategic position. He created this map in conjunction with his other project of constructing a dam from the sea to Florence, in order to allow a supply of water to sustain the canal during all seasons.
Leonardo had left Borgia's service and returned to Florence by early 1503, where he rejoined the Guild of Saint Luke on 18 October of that year. By this same month, Leonardo had begun working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, the model for the Mona Lisa, which he would continue working on until his later years. In January 1504, he was part of a committee formed to recommend where Michelangelo's statue of David should be placed. He then spent two years in Florence designing and painting a mural of The Battle of Anghiari for the Signoria, with Michelangelo designing its companion piece, The Battle of Cascina.
In 1506, Leonardo was summoned to Milan by Charles II d'Amboise, the acting French governor of the city. There, Leonardo took on another pupil, Count Francesco Melzi, the son of a Lombard aristocrat, who is considered to have been his favourite student. The Council of Florence wished Leonardo to return promptly to finish The Battle of Anghiari, but he was given leave at the behest of Louis XII, who considered commissioning the artist to make some portraits. Leonardo may have commenced a project for an equestrian figure of d'Amboise; a wax model attributed to him survives and would be the only extant example of Leonardo's sculpture, but the attribution is not widely accepted. Leonardo was otherwise free to pursue his scientific interests. Many of Leonardo's most prominent pupils either knew or worked with him in Milan, including Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, and Marco d'Oggiono. In 1507, Leonardo was in Florence sorting out a dispute with his brothers over the estate of his father, who had died in 1504.
Second Milanese period (1508–1513)
By 1508, Leonardo was back in Milan, living in his own house in Porta Orientale in the parish of Santa Babila.
In 1512, Leonardo was working on plans for an equestrian monument for Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, but this was prevented by an invasion of a confederation of Swiss, Spanish and Venetian forces, which drove the French from Milan. Leonardo stayed in the city, spending several months in 1513 at the Medici's Vaprio d'Adda villa.
Rome and France (1513–1519)
In March 1513, Lorenzo de' Medici's son Giovanni assumed the papacy (as Leo X); Leonardo went to Rome that September, where he was received by the pope's brother Giuliano. From September 1513 to 1516, Leonardo spent much of his time living in the Belvedere Courtyard in the Apostolic Palace, where Michelangelo and Raphael were both active. Leonardo was given an allowance of 33 ducats a month and, according to Vasari, decorated a lizard with scales dipped in quicksilver. The pope gave him a painting commission of unknown subject matter, but cancelled it when the artist set about developing a new kind of varnish. Leonardo became ill, in what may have been the first of multiple strokes leading to his death. He practised botany in the Vatican Gardens, and was commissioned to make plans for the Pope's proposed draining of the Pontine Marshes. He also dissected cadavers, making notes for a treatise on vocal cords; these he gave to an official in hopes of regaining the Pope's favour, but he was unsuccessful.
In October 1515, King Francis I of France recaptured Milan. On 21 March 1516 Antonio Maria Pallavicini, the French ambassador to the Holy See, received a letter sent from Lyon a week previously by the royal advisor Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet, containing the French king's instructions to assist Leonardo in his relocation to France and to inform the artist that the King was eagerly awaiting his arrival. Pallavicini was also asked to reassure Leonardo that he would be well received at court, both by the King and by his mother, Louise of Savoy. Leonardo entered Francis's service later that year, and was given the use of the manor house Clos Lucé near the King's residence at the royal Château d'Amboise. He was frequently visited by Francis, and drew plans for an immense castle town the King intended to erect at Romorantin. He also made a mechanical lion, which during a pageant walked towards the King and – upon being struck by a wand – opened its chest to reveal a cluster of lilies.
Leonardo was accompanied during this time by his friend and apprentice Francesco Melzi, and was supported by a pension totalling 10,000 scudi. At some point, Melzi drew a portrait of Leonardo; the only others known from his lifetime were a sketch by an unknown assistant on the back of one of Leonardo's studies (c. 1517) and a drawing by Giovanni Ambrogio Figino depicting an elderly Leonardo with his right arm wrapped in clothing. The latter, in addition to the record of an October 1517 visit by Louis d'Aragon, confirms an account of Leonardo's right hand being paralytic when he was 65, which may indicate why he left works such as the Mona Lisa unfinished. He continued to work at some capacity until eventually becoming ill and bedridden for several months.
Death
Leonardo died at Clos Lucé on 2 May 1519 at the age of 67, possibly of a stroke. Francis I had become a close friend. Vasari describes Leonardo as lamenting on his deathbed, full of repentance, that "he had offended against God and men by failing to practice his art as he should have done." Vasari states that in his last days, Leonardo sent for a priest to make his confession and to receive the Holy Sacrament. Vasari also records that the King held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died, although this story may be legend rather than fact. In accordance with his will, sixty beggars carrying tapers followed Leonardo's casket. Melzi was the principal heir and executor, receiving, as well as money, Leonardo's paintings, tools, library and personal effects. Leonardo's other long-time pupil and companion, Salaì, and his servant Baptista de Vilanis, each received half of Leonardo's vineyards. His brothers received land, and his serving woman received a fur-lined cloak. On 12 August 1519, Leonardo's remains were interred in the Collegiate Church of Saint Florentin at the Château d'Amboise.
Some 20 years after Leonardo's death, Francis was reported by the goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini as saying: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."
Salaì, or Il Salaino ("The Little Unclean One", i.e., the devil), entered Leonardo's household in 1490 as an assistant. After only a year, Leonardo made a list of his misdemeanours, calling him "a thief, a liar, stubborn, and a glutton," after he had made off with money and valuables on at least five occasions and spent a fortune on clothes. Nevertheless, Leonardo treated him with great indulgence, and he remained in Leonardo's household for the next thirty years. Salaì executed paintings under the name of Andrea Salaì, but although Vasari claims that Leonardo "taught him many things about painting," his work is generally considered to be of less artistic merit than others among Leonardo's pupils, such as Marco d'Oggiono and Boltraffio.
At the time of his death in 1524, Salaì owned a painting referred to as Joconda in a posthumous inventory of his belongings; it was assessed at 505 lire, an exceptionally high valuation for a small panel portrait.
Personal life
Despite the thousands of pages Leonardo left in notebooks and manuscripts, he scarcely made reference to his personal life.
Within Leonardo's lifetime, his extraordinary powers of invention, his "great physical beauty" and "infinite grace," as described by Vasari, as well as all other aspects of his life, attracted the curiosity of others. One such aspect was his love for animals, likely including vegetarianism and according to Vasari, a habit of purchasing caged birds and releasing them.
Leonardo had many friends who are now notable either in their fields or for their historical significance, including mathematician Luca Pacioli, with whom he collaborated on the book Divina proportione in the 1490s. Leonardo appears to have had no close relationships with women except for his friendship with Cecilia Gallerani and the two Este sisters, Beatrice and Isabella. While on a journey that took him through Mantua, he drew a portrait of Isabella that appears to have been used to create a painted portrait, now lost.
Beyond friendship, Leonardo kept his private life secret. His sexuality has been the subject of satire, analysis, and speculation. This trend began in the mid-16th century and was revived in the 19th and 20th centuries, most notably by Sigmund Freud in his Leonardo da Vinci, A Memory of His Childhood. Leonardo's most intimate relationships were perhaps with his pupils Salaì and Melzi. Melzi, writing to inform Leonardo's brothers of his death, described Leonardo's feelings for his pupils as both loving and passionate. It has been claimed since the 16th century that these relationships were of a sexual or erotic nature. Walter Isaacson in his biography of Leonardo makes explicit his opinion that the relations with Salaì were intimate and homosexual.
In 1476, when he was aged twenty-four, court records show that Leonardo and three other young men were charged with sodomy in an incident involving a known male prostitute. The charges were dismissed for lack of evidence, and there is speculation that since one of the accused, Lionardo de Tornabuoni, was related to Lorenzo de' Medici, the family exerted its influence to secure the dismissal. Since that date much has been written about his presumed homosexuality and its role in his art, particularly in the androgyny and eroticism manifested in Saint John the Baptist and Bacchus and more explicitly in erotic drawings.
Paintings
Despite the recent awareness and admiration of Leonardo as a scientist and inventor, for the better part of four hundred years his fame rested on his achievements as a painter. A handful of works that are either authenticated or attributed to him have been regarded as among the great masterpieces. These paintings are famous for a variety of qualities that have been much imitated by students and discussed at great length by connoisseurs and critics. By the 1490s Leonardo had already been described as a "Divine" painter.
Among the qualities that make Leonardo's work unique are his innovative techniques for laying on the paint; his detailed knowledge of anatomy, light, botany and geology; his interest in physiognomy and the way humans register emotion in expression and gesture; his innovative use of the human form in figurative composition; and his use of subtle gradation of tone. All these qualities come together in his most famous painted works, the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, and the Virgin of the Rocks.
Early works
Leonardo first gained attention for his work on the Baptism of Christ, painted in conjunction with Verrocchio. Two other paintings appear to date from his time at Verrocchio's workshop, both of which are Annunciations. One is small, 59 centimetres (23 in) long and 14 cm (5.5 in) high. It is a "predella" to go at the base of a larger composition, a painting by Lorenzo di Credi from which it has become separated. The other is a much larger work, 217 cm (85 in) long. In both Annunciations, Leonardo used a formal arrangement, like two well-known pictures by Fra Angelico of the same subject, of the Virgin Mary sitting or kneeling to the right of the picture, approached from the left by an angel in profile, with a rich flowing garment, raised wings and bearing a lily. Although previously attributed to Ghirlandaio, the larger work is now generally attributed to Leonardo.
In the smaller painting, Mary averts her eyes and folds her hands in a gesture that symbolised submission to God's will. Mary is not submissive, however, in the larger piece. The girl, interrupted in her reading by this unexpected messenger, puts a finger in her bible to mark the place and raises her hand in a formal gesture of greeting or surprise. This calm young woman appears to accept her role as the Mother of God, not with resignation but with confidence. In this painting, the young Leonardo presents the humanist face of the Virgin Mary, recognising humanity's role in God's incarnation.
Paintings of the 1480s
In the 1480s, Leonardo received two very important commissions and commenced another work that was of ground-breaking importance in terms of composition. Two of the three were never finished, and the third took so long that it was subject to lengthy negotiations over completion and payment.
One of these paintings was Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, which Bortolon associates with a difficult period of Leonardo's life, as evidenced in his diary: "I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die." Although the painting is barely begun, the composition can be seen and is very unusual. Jerome, as a penitent, occupies the middle of the picture, set on a slight diagonal and viewed somewhat from above. His kneeling form takes on a trapezoid shape, with one arm stretched to the outer edge of the painting and his gaze looking in the opposite direction. J. Wasserman points out the link between this painting and Leonardo's anatomical studies. Across the foreground sprawls his symbol, a great lion whose body and tail make a double spiral across the base of the picture space. The other remarkable feature is the sketchy landscape of craggy rocks against which the figure is silhouetted.
The daring display of figure composition, the landscape elements and personal drama also appear in the great unfinished masterpiece, the Adoration of the Magi, a commission from the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto. It is a complex composition, of about 250 × 250 centimetres. Leonardo did numerous drawings and preparatory studies, including a detailed one in linear perspective of the ruined classical architecture that forms part of the background. In 1482 Leonardo went to Milan at the behest of Lorenzo de' Medici in order to win favour with Ludovico il Moro, and the painting was abandoned.
The third important work of this period is the Virgin of the Rocks, commissioned in Milan for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. The painting, to be done with the assistance of the de Predis brothers, was to fill a large complex altarpiece. Leonardo chose to paint an apocryphal moment of the infancy of Christ when the infant John the Baptist, in protection of an angel, met the Holy Family on the road to Egypt. The painting demonstrates an eerie beauty as the graceful figures kneel in adoration around the infant Christ in a wild landscape of tumbling rock and whirling water. While the painting is quite large, about 200 × 120 centimetres, it is not nearly as complex as the painting ordered by the monks of San Donato, having only four figures rather than about fifty and a rocky landscape rather than architectural details. The painting was eventually finished; in fact, two versions of the painting were finished: one remained at the chapel of the Confraternity, while Leonardo took the other to France. The Brothers did not get their painting, however, nor the de Predis their payment, until the next century.
Leonardo's most remarkable portrait of this period is the Lady with an Ermine, presumed to be Cecilia Gallerani (c. 1483–1490), lover of Ludovico Sforza. The painting is characterised by the pose of the figure with the head turned at a very different angle to the torso, unusual at a date when many portraits were still rigidly in profile. The ermine plainly carries symbolic meaning, relating either to the sitter, or to Ludovico who belonged to the prestigious Order of the Ermine.
Paintings of the 1490s
Leonardo's most famous painting of the 1490s is The Last Supper, commissioned for the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. It represents the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples before his capture and death, and shows the moment when Jesus has just said "one of you will betray me", and the consternation that this statement caused.
The writer Matteo Bandello observed Leonardo at work and wrote that some days he would paint from dawn till dusk without stopping to eat and then not paint for three or four days at a time. This was beyond the comprehension of the prior of the convent, who hounded him until Leonardo asked Ludovico to intervene. Vasari describes how Leonardo, troubled over his ability to adequately depict the faces of Christ and the traitor Judas, told the duke that he might be obliged to use the prior as his model.
The painting was acclaimed as a masterpiece of design and characterisation, but it deteriorated rapidly, so that within a hundred years it was described by one viewer as "completely ruined." Leonardo, instead of using the reliable technique of fresco, had used tempera over a ground that was mainly gesso, resulting in a surface subject to mould and to flaking. Despite this, the painting remains one of the most reproduced works of art; countless copies have been made in various mediums.
Toward the end of this period, in 1498 Leonardo's trompe-l'œil decoration of the Sala delle Asse was painted for the Duke of Milan in the Castello Sforzesco.
Paintings of the 1500s
In 1505, Leonardo was commissioned to paint The Battle of Anghiari in the Salone dei Cinquecento ("Hall of the Five Hundred") in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Leonardo devised a dynamic composition depicting four men riding raging war horses engaged in a battle for possession of a standard, at the Battle of Anghiari in 1440. Michelangelo was assigned the opposite wall to depict the Battle of Cascina. Leonardo's painting deteriorated rapidly and is now known from a copy by Rubens.
Among the works created by Leonardo in the 16th century is the small portrait known as the Mona Lisa or La Gioconda, the laughing one. In the present era, it is arguably the most famous painting in the world. Its fame rests, in particular, on the elusive smile on the woman's face, its mysterious quality perhaps due to the subtly shadowed corners of the mouth and eyes such that the exact nature of the smile cannot be determined. The shadowy quality for which the work is renowned came to be called sfumato, or "Leonardo's smoke". Vasari wrote that the smile was "so pleasing that it seems more divine than human, and it was considered a wondrous thing that it was as lively as the smile of the living original."
Other characteristics of the painting are the unadorned dress, in which the eyes and hands have no competition from other details; the dramatic landscape background, in which the world seems to be in a state of flux; the subdued colouring; and the extremely smooth nature of the painterly technique, employing oils laid on much like tempera, and blended on the surface so that the brushstrokes are indistinguishable. Vasari expressed that the painting's quality would make even "the most confident master ... despair and lose heart." The perfect state of preservation and the fact that there is no sign of repair or overpainting is rare in a panel painting of this date.
In the painting Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, the composition again picks up the theme of figures in a landscape, which Wasserman describes as "breathtakingly beautiful" and harkens back to the Saint Jerome with the figure set at an oblique angle. What makes this painting unusual is that there are two obliquely set figures superimposed. Mary is seated on the knee of her mother, Saint Anne. She leans forward to restrain the Christ Child as he plays roughly with a lamb, the sign of his own impending sacrifice. This painting, which was copied many times, influenced Michelangelo, Raphael, and Andrea del Sarto, and through them Pontormo and Correggio. The trends in composition were adopted in particular by the Venetian painters Tintoretto and Veronese.
Drawings
Leonardo was a prolific draughtsman, keeping journals full of small sketches and detailed drawings recording all manner of things that took his attention. As well as the journals there exist many studies for paintings, some of which can be identified as preparatory to particular works such as The Adoration of the Magi, The Virgin of the Rocks and The Last Supper. His earliest dated drawing is a Landscape of the Arno Valley, 1473, which shows the river, the mountains, Montelupo Castle and the farmlands beyond it in great detail.
Among his famous drawings are the Vitruvian Man, a study of the proportions of the human body; the Head of an Angel, for The Virgin of the Rocks in the Louvre; a botanical study of Star of Bethlehem; and a large drawing (160 × 100 cm) in black chalk on coloured paper of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist in the National Gallery, London. This drawing employs the subtle sfumato technique of shading, in the manner of the Mona Lisa. It is thought that Leonardo never made a painting from it, the closest similarity being to The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne in the Louvre.
Other drawings of interest include numerous studies generally referred to as "caricatures" because, although exaggerated, they appear to be based upon observation of live models. Vasari relates that Leonardo would look for interesting faces in public to use as models for some of his work. There are numerous studies of beautiful young men, often associated with Salaì, with the rare and much admired facial feature, the so-called "Grecian profile". These faces are often contrasted with that of a warrior. Salaì is often depicted in fancy-dress costume. Leonardo is known to have designed sets for pageants with which these may be associated. Other, often meticulous, drawings show studies of drapery. A marked development in Leonardo's ability to draw drapery occurred in his early works. Another often-reproduced drawing is a macabre sketch that was done by Leonardo in Florence in 1479 showing the body of Bernardo Baroncelli, hanged in connection with the murder of Giuliano, brother of Lorenzo de' Medici, in the Pazzi conspiracy. In his notes, Leonardo recorded the colours of the robes that Baroncelli was wearing when he died.
Like the two contemporary architects Donato Bramante (who designed the Belvedere Courtyard) and Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, Leonardo experimented with designs for centrally planned churches, some of which appear in his journals, as both plans and views, although none was ever realised.
Journals and notes
Renaissance humanism recognised no mutually exclusive polarities between the sciences and the arts, and Leonardo's studies in science and engineering are sometimes considered as impressive and innovative as his artistic work. These studies were recorded in 13,000 pages of notes and drawings, which fuse art and natural philosophy (the forerunner of modern science). They were made and maintained daily throughout Leonardo's life and travels, as he made continual observations of the world around him. Leonardo's notes and drawings display an enormous range of interests and preoccupations, some as mundane as lists of groceries and people who owed him money and some as intriguing as designs for wings and shoes for walking on water. There are compositions for paintings, studies of details and drapery, studies of faces and emotions, of animals, babies, dissections, plant studies, rock formations, whirlpools, war machines, flying machines and architecture.
These notebooks – originally loose papers of different types and sizes – were largely entrusted to Leonardo's pupil and heir Francesco Melzi after the master's death. These were to be published, a task of overwhelming difficulty because of its scope and Leonardo's idiosyncratic writing. Some of Leonardo's drawings were copied by an anonymous Milanese artist for a planned treatise on art (Codex Huygens, c. 1570). After Melzi's death in 1570, the collection passed to his son, the lawyer Orazio, who initially took little interest in the journals. In 1587, a Melzi household tutor named Lelio Gavardi took 13 of the manuscripts to Pisa; there, the architect Giovanni Magenta reproached Gavardi for having taken the manuscripts illicitly and returned them to Orazio. Having many more such works in his possession, Orazio gifted the volumes to Magenta. News spread of these lost works of Leonardo's, and Orazio retrieved seven of the 13 manuscripts, which he then gave to Pompeo Leoni for publication in two volumes; one of these was the Codex Atlanticus. The other six works had been distributed to a few others. After Orazio's death, his heirs sold the rest of Leonardo's possessions, and thus began their dispersal.
Some works have found their way into major collections such as the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, the Louvre, the Biblioteca Nacional de España, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, which holds the 12-volume Codex Atlanticus, and the British Library in London, which has put a selection from the Codex Arundel (BL Arundel MS 263) online. Works have also been at Holkham Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in the private hands of John Nicholas Brown I and Robert Lehman. The Codex Leicester is the only privately owned major scientific work of Leonardo; it is owned by Bill Gates and displayed once a year in different cities around the world.
Most of Leonardo's writings are in mirror-image cursive. Since Leonardo wrote with his left hand, it was probably easier for him to write from right to left. Leonardo used a variety of shorthand and symbols, and states in his notes that he intended to prepare them for publication. In many cases a single topic is covered in detail in both words and pictures on a single sheet, together conveying information that would not be lost if the pages were published out of order. Why they were not published during Leonardo's lifetime is unknown.
Science and inventions
Leonardo's approach to science was observational: he tried to understand a phenomenon by describing and depicting it in utmost detail and did not emphasise experiments or theoretical explanation. Since he lacked formal education in Latin and mathematics, contemporary scholars mostly ignored Leonardo the scientist, although he did teach himself Latin. His keen observations in many areas were noted, such as when he wrote "Il sole non si muove" ("The Sun does not move").
In the 1490s he studied mathematics under Luca Pacioli and prepared a series of drawings of regular solids in a skeletal form to be engraved as plates for Pacioli's book Divina proportione, published in 1509. While living in Milan, he studied light from the summit of Monte Rosa. Scientific writings in his notebook on fossils have been considered as influential on early palaeontology.
The content of his journals suggest that he was planning a series of treatises on a variety of subjects. A coherent treatise on anatomy is said to have been observed during a visit by Cardinal Louis d'Aragon's secretary in 1517. Aspects of his work on the studies of anatomy, light and the landscape were assembled for publication by Melzi and eventually published as A Treatise on Painting in France and Italy in 1651 and Germany in 1724, with engravings based upon drawings by the Classical painter Nicolas Poussin. According to Arasse, the treatise, which in France went into 62 editions in 50 years, caused Leonardo to be seen as "the precursor of French academic thought on art."
While Leonardo's experimentation followed scientific methods, a recent and exhaustive analysis of Leonardo as a scientist by Fritjof Capra argues that Leonardo was a fundamentally different kind of scientist from Galileo, Newton and other scientists who followed him in that, as a "Renaissance Man", his theorising and hypothesising integrated the arts and particularly painting.
Anatomy and physiology
Leonardo started his study of the anatomy of the human body under the apprenticeship of Verrocchio, who demanded that his students develop a deep knowledge of the subject. As an artist, he quickly became master of topographic anatomy, drawing many studies of muscles, tendons and other visible anatomical features.
As a successful artist, Leonardo was given permission to dissect human corpses at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence and later at hospitals in Milan and Rome. From 1510 to 1511 he collaborated in his studies with the doctor Marcantonio della Torre, professor of Anatomy at the University of Pavia. Leonardo made over 240 detailed drawings and wrote about 13,000 words toward a treatise on anatomy. Only a small amount of the material on anatomy was published in Leonardo's Treatise on Painting. During the time that Melzi was ordering the material into chapters for publication, they were examined by anatomists and artists, including Vasari, Cellini and Albrecht Dürer, who made drawings from them.
Leonardo's anatomical drawings include many studies of the human skeleton, its parts, and the muscles and sinews. He studied the mechanical functions of the skeleton and the muscular forces that are applied to it in a manner that prefigured the modern science of biomechanics. He drew the heart and vascular system, the sex organs and other internal organs, making one of the first scientific drawings of a foetus in utero. The drawings and notation are far ahead of their time, and if published would undoubtedly have made a major contribution to medical science.
Leonardo also closely observed and recorded the effects of age and of human emotion on the physiology, studying in particular the effects of age. He drew many figures who had significant facial deformities or signs of illness. Leonardo also studied and drew the anatomy of many animals, dissecting cows, birds, monkeys, bears, and frogs, and comparing in his drawings their anatomical structure with that of humans. He also made studies of horses.
Leonardo's dissections and documentation of muscles, nerves, and vessels helped to describe the physiology and mechanics of movement. He attempted to identify the source of 'emotions' and their expression. He found it difficult to incorporate the prevailing system and theories of bodily humours, but eventually he abandoned these physiological explanations of bodily functions. He made the observations that humours were not located in cerebral spaces or ventricles. He documented that the humours were not contained in the heart or the liver, and that it was the heart that defined the circulatory system. He was the first to define atherosclerosis and liver cirrhosis. He created models of the cerebral ventricles with the use of melted wax and constructed a glass aorta to observe the circulation of blood through the aortic valve by using water and grass seed to watch flow patterns.
Engineering and inventions
During his lifetime, Leonardo was also valued as an engineer. With the same rational and analytical approach that moved him to represent the human body and to investigate anatomy, Leonardo studied and designed many machines and devices. He drew their "anatomy" with unparalleled mastery, producing the first form of the modern technical drawing, including a perfected "exploded view" technique, to represent internal components. Those studies and projects collected in his codices fill more than 5,000 pages. In a letter of 1482 to the lord of Milan Ludovico il Moro, he wrote that he could create all sorts of machines both for the protection of a city and for siege. When he fled from Milan to Venice in 1499, he found employment as an engineer and devised a system of moveable barricades to protect the city from attack. In 1502, he created a scheme for diverting the flow of the Arno river, a project on which Niccolò Machiavelli also worked. He continued to contemplate the canalisation of Lombardy's plains while in Louis XII's company and of the Loire and its tributaries in the company of Francis I. Leonardo's journals include a vast number of inventions, both practical and impractical. They include musical instruments, a mechanical knight, hydraulic pumps, reversible crank mechanisms, finned mortar shells, and a steam cannon.
Leonardo was fascinated by the phenomenon of flight for much of his life, producing many studies, including Codex on the Flight of Birds (c. 1505), as well as plans for several flying machines, such as a flapping ornithopter and a machine with a helical rotor. In a 2003 documentary by British television station Channel Four, titled Leonardo's Dream Machines, various designs by Leonardo, such as a parachute and a giant crossbow, were interpreted and constructed. Some of those designs proved successful, whilst others fared less well when tested. Similarly, a team of engineers built ten machines designed by Leonardo in the 2009 American television series Doing DaVinci, including a fighting vehicle and a self-propelled cart.
Research performed by Marc van den Broek revealed older prototypes for more than 100 inventions that are ascribed to Leonardo. Similarities between Leonardo's illustrations and drawings from the Middle Ages and from Ancient Greece and Rome, the Chinese and Persian Empires, and Egypt suggest that a large portion of Leonardo's inventions had been conceived before his lifetime. Leonardo's innovation was to combine different functions from existing drafts and set them into scenes that illustrated their utility. By reconstituting technical inventions he created something new.
In his notebooks, Leonardo first stated the 'laws' of sliding friction in 1493. His inspiration for investigating friction came about in part from his study of perpetual motion, which he correctly concluded was not possible. His results were never published and the friction laws were not rediscovered until 1699 by Guillaume Amontons, with whose name they are now usually associated. For this contribution, Leonardo was named as the first of the 23 "Men of Tribology" by Duncan Dowson.
Legacy
Although he had no formal academic training, many historians and scholars regard Leonardo as the prime exemplar of the "Universal Genius" or "Renaissance Man", an individual of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination." He is widely considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent in recorded history, and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, while the man himself mysterious and remote." Scholars interpret his view of the world as being based in logic, though the empirical methods he used were unorthodox for his time.
Leonardo's fame within his own lifetime was such that the King of France carried him away like a trophy, and was claimed to have supported him in his old age and held him in his arms as he died. Interest in Leonardo and his work has never diminished. Crowds still queue to see his best-known artworks, T-shirts still bear his most famous drawing, and writers continue to hail him as a genius while speculating about his private life, as well as about what one so intelligent actually believed in.
The continued admiration that Leonardo commanded from painters, critics and historians is reflected in many other written tributes. Baldassare Castiglione, author of Il Cortegiano (The Courtier), wrote in 1528: "...Another of the greatest painters in this world looks down on this art in which he is unequalled..." while the biographer known as "Anonimo Gaddiano" wrote, c. 1540: "His genius was so rare and universal that it can be said that nature worked a miracle on his behalf..." Vasari, in his Lives of the Artists (1568), opens his chapter on Leonardo:
In the normal course of events many men and women are born with remarkable talents; but occasionally, in a way that transcends nature, a single person is marvellously endowed by Heaven with beauty, grace and talent in such abundance that he leaves other men far behind, all his actions seem inspired and indeed everything he does clearly comes from God rather than from human skill. Everyone acknowledged that this was true of Leonardo da Vinci, an artist of outstanding physical beauty, who displayed infinite grace in everything that he did and who cultivated his genius so brilliantly that all problems he studied he solved with ease.
The 19th century brought a particular admiration for Leonardo's genius, causing Henry Fuseli to write in 1801: "Such was the dawn of modern art, when Leonardo da Vinci broke forth with a splendour that distanced former excellence: made up of all the elements that constitute the essence of genius..." This is echoed by A. E. Rio who wrote in 1861: "He towered above all other artists through the strength and the nobility of his talents."
By the 19th century, the scope of Leonardo's notebooks was known, as well as his paintings. Hippolyte Taine wrote in 1866: "There may not be in the world an example of another genius so universal, so incapable of fulfilment, so full of yearning for the infinite, so naturally refined, so far ahead of his own century and the following centuries."
Art historian Bernard Berenson wrote in 1896: Leonardo is the one artist of whom it may be said with perfect literalness: Nothing that he touched but turned into a thing of eternal beauty. Whether it be the cross section of a skull, the structure of a weed, or a study of muscles, he, with his feeling for line and for light and shade, forever transmuted it into life-communicating values.
The interest in Leonardo's genius has continued unabated; experts study and translate his writings, analyse his paintings using scientific techniques, argue over attributions and search for works which have been recorded but never found. Liana Bortolon, writing in 1967, said: Because of the multiplicity of interests that spurred him to pursue every field of knowledge...Leonardo can be considered, quite rightly, to have been the universal genius par excellence, and with all the disquieting overtones inherent in that term. Man is as uncomfortable today, faced with a genius, as he was in the 16th century. Five centuries have passed, yet we still view Leonardo with awe. The Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana is a special collection at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Twenty-first-century author Walter Isaacson based much of his biography of Leonardo on thousands of notebook entries, studying the personal notes, sketches, budget notations, and musings of the man whom he considers the greatest of innovators. Isaacson was surprised to discover a "fun, joyous" side of Leonardo in addition to his limitless curiosity and creative genius.
On the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death, the Louvre in Paris arranged for the largest ever single exhibit of his work, called Leonardo, between November 2019 and February 2020. The exhibit includes over 100 paintings, drawings and notebooks. Eleven of the paintings that Leonardo completed in his lifetime were included. Five of these are owned by the Louvre, but the Mona Lisa was not included because it is in such great demand among general visitors to the Louvre; it remains on display in its gallery. Vitruvian Man, however, is on display following a legal battle with its owner, the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice. Salvator Mundi was also not included because its Saudi owner did not agree to lease the work.
The Mona Lisa, considered Leonardo's magnum opus, is often regarded as the most famous portrait ever made. The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time, and Leonardo's Vitruvian Man drawing is also considered a cultural icon.
More than a decade of analysis of Leonardo's genetic genealogy, conducted by Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato, came to a conclusion in mid-2021. It was determined that the artist has 14 living male relatives. The work could also help determine the authenticity of remains thought to belong to Leonardo.
Location of remains
While Leonardo was certainly buried in the collegiate church of Saint Florentin at the Château d'Amboise in 12 August 1519, the current location of his remains is unclear. Much of Château d'Amboise was damaged during the French Revolution, leading to the church's demolition in 1802. Some of the graves were destroyed in the process, scattering the bones interred there and thereby leaving the whereabouts of Leonardo's remains subject to dispute; a gardener may have even buried some in the corner of the courtyard.
In 1863, fine-arts inspector general Arsène Houssaye received an imperial commission to excavate the site and discovered a partially complete skeleton with a bronze ring on one finger, white hair, and stone fragments bearing the inscriptions "EO", "AR", "DUS", and "VINC" – interpreted as forming "Leonardus Vinci". The skull's eight teeth correspond to someone of approximately the appropriate age, and a silver shield found near the bones depicts a beardless Francis I, corresponding to the king's appearance during Leonardo's time in France.
Houssaye postulated that the unusually large skull was an indicator of Leonardo's intelligence; author Charles Nicholl describes this as a "dubious phrenological deduction". At the same time, Houssaye noted some issues with his observations, including that the feet were turned toward the high altar, a practice generally reserved for laymen, and that the skeleton of 1.73 metres (5.7 ft) seemed too short. Art historian Mary Margaret Heaton wrote in 1874 that the height would be appropriate for Leonardo. The skull was allegedly presented to Napoleon III before being returned to the Château d'Amboise, where they were re-interred in the chapel of Saint Hubert in 1874. A plaque above the tomb states that its contents are only presumed to be those of Leonardo.
It has since been theorised that the folding of the skeleton's right arm over the head may correspond to the paralysis of Leonardo's right hand. In 2016, it was announced that DNA tests would be conducted to determine whether the attribution is correct. The DNA of the remains will be compared to that of samples collected from Leonardo's work and his half-brother Domenico's descendants; it may also be sequenced.
In 2019, documents were published revealing that Houssaye had kept the ring and a lock of hair. In 1925, his great-grandson sold these to an American collector. Sixty years later, another American acquired them, leading to their being displayed at the Leonardo Museum in Vinci beginning on 2 May 2019, the 500th anniversary of the artist's death.
See also
Leonardo polyhedron
Notes
General
Dates of works
References
Citations
Early
Modern
Works cited
Early
Modern
Books
Journals and encyclopedia articles
Further reading
See Kemp (2003) and Bambach (2019, pp. 442–579) for extensive bibliographies
External links
General
Universal Leonardo, a database of Leonardo's life and works maintained by Martin Kemp and Marina Wallace
Leonardo da Vinci on the National Gallery website
Works
Biblioteca Leonardiana, online bibliography (in Italian)
e-Leo: Archivio digitale di storia della tecnica e della scienza, archive of drawings, notes and manuscripts
Works by Leonardo da Vinci at Project Gutenberg
Works by Leonardo da Vinci at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Complete text and images of Richter's translation of the Notebooks
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci
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Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he has also become known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and palaeontology. Leonardo is widely regarded to have been a genius who epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works comprise a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary Michelangelo.
Born out of wedlock to a successful notary and a lower-class woman in, or near, Vinci, he was educated in Florence by the Italian painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. He began his career in the city, but then spent much time in the service of Ludovico Sforza in Milan. Later, he worked in Florence and Milan again, as well as briefly in Rome, all while attracting a large following of imitators and students. Upon the invitation of Francis I, he spent his last three years in France, where he died in 1519. Since his death, there has not been a time when his achievements, diverse interests, personal life, and empirical thinking have failed to incite interest and admiration, making him a frequent namesake and subject in culture.
Leonardo is identified as one of the greatest painters in the history of Western art and is often credited as the founder of the High Renaissance. Despite having many lost works and fewer than 25 attributed major works – including numerous unfinished works – he created some of the most influential paintings in the Western canon. The Mona Lisa is his best known work and is the world's most famous individual painting. The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time and his Vitruvian Man drawing is also regarded as a cultural icon. In 2017, Salvator Mundi, attributed in whole or part to Leonardo, was sold at auction for US$450.3 million, setting a new record for the most expensive painting ever sold at public auction.
Revered for his technological ingenuity, he conceptualised flying machines, a type of armoured fighting vehicle, concentrated solar power, a ratio machine that could be used in an adding machine, and the double hull. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were even feasible during his lifetime, as the modern scientific approaches to metallurgy and engineering were only in their infancy during the Renaissance. Some of his smaller inventions, however, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire. He made substantial discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, hydrodynamics, geology, optics, and tribology, but he did not publish his findings and they had little to no direct influence on subsequent science.
Biography
Early life (1452–1472)
Birth and background
Leonardo da Vinci, properly named Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci ("Leonardo, son of ser Piero from Vinci"), was born on 15 April 1452 in, or close to, the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, Italy 20 miles from Florence. He was born out of wedlock to Piero da Vinci (Ser Piero da Vinci d'Antonio di ser Piero di ser Guido; 1426–1504), a Florentine legal notary, and Caterina di Meo Lippi (c. 1434–1494), from the lower class. It remains uncertain where Leonardo was born; the traditional account, from a local oral tradition recorded by the historian Emanuele Repetti, is that he was born in Anchiano, a country hamlet that would have offered sufficient privacy for the illegitimate birth, though it is still possible he was born in a house in Florence that Ser Piero almost certainly had. Leonardo's parents both married separately the year after his birth. Caterina – who later appears in Leonardo's notes as only "Caterina" or "Catelina" – is usually identified as the Caterina Buti del Vacca, who married the local artisan Antonio di Piero Buti del Vacca, nicknamed L'Accattabriga, 'the quarrelsome one'. Having been betrothed to her the previous year, Ser Piero married Albiera Amadori and after her death in 1464, went on to have three subsequent marriages. From all the marriages, Leonardo eventually had 16 half-siblings (of whom 11 survived infancy) who were much younger than he (the last was born when Leonardo was 46 years old) and with whom he had very little contact.
Very little is known about Leonardo's childhood and much is shrouded in myth, partially because of his biography in the frequently apocryphal Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (1550) by 16th-century art historian Giorgio Vasari. Tax records indicate that by at least 1457 he lived in the household of his paternal grandfather, Antonio da Vinci, but it is possible that he spent the years before then in the care of his mother in Vinci, either Anchiano or Campo Zeppi in the parish of San Pantaleone. He is thought to have been close to his uncle, Francesco da Vinci, but his father was probably in Florence most of the time. Ser Piero, who was the descendant of a long line of notaries, established an official residence in Florence by at least 1469 and had a successful career. Despite his family history, Leonardo only received a basic and informal education in (vernacular) writing, reading, and mathematics; possibly because his artistic talents were recognised early, so his family decided to focus their attention there.
Later in life, Leonardo recorded his earliest memory, now in the Codex Atlanticus. While writing on the flight of birds, he recalled as an infant when a kite came to his cradle and opened his mouth with its tail; commentators still debate whether the anecdote was an actual memory or a fantasy.
Verrocchio's workshop
In the mid-1460s, Leonardo's family moved to Florence, which at the time was the centre of Christian Humanist thought and culture. Around the age of 14, he became a garzone (studio boy) in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, who was the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of his time. This was about the time of the death of Verrocchio's master, the great sculptor Donatello. Leonardo became an apprentice by the age of 17 and remained in training for seven years. Other famous painters apprenticed in the workshop or associated with it include Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Botticelli, and Lorenzo di Credi. Leonardo was exposed to both theoretical training and a wide range of technical skills, including drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics, and woodwork, as well as the artistic skills of drawing, painting, sculpting, and modelling.
Leonardo was a contemporary of Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Perugino, who were all slightly older than he was. He would have met them at the workshop of Verrocchio or at the Platonic Academy of the Medici. Florence was ornamented by the works of artists such as Donatello's contemporaries Masaccio, whose figurative frescoes were imbued with realism and emotion, and Ghiberti, whose Gates of Paradise, gleaming with gold leaf, displayed the art of combining complex figure compositions with detailed architectural backgrounds. Piero della Francesca had made a detailed study of perspective, and was the first painter to make a scientific study of light. These studies and Leon Battista Alberti's treatise De pictura were to have a profound effect on younger artists and in particular on Leonardo's own observations and artworks.
Much of the painting in Verrocchio's workshop was done by his assistants. According to Vasari, Leonardo collaborated with Verrocchio on his The Baptism of Christ (c. 1472–1475), painting the young angel holding Jesus's robe with skill so far superior to his master's that Verrocchio purportedly put down his brush and never painted again (the latter claim probably being apocryphal). The new technique of oil paint was applied to areas of the mostly tempera work, including the landscape, the rocks seen through the brown mountain stream, and much of Jesus's figure, indicating Leonardo's hand. Additionally, Leonardo may have been a model for two works by Verrocchio: the bronze statue of David in the Bargello and the archangel Raphael in Tobias and the Angel.
Vasari tells a story of Leonardo as a very young man: a local peasant made himself a round buckler shield and requested that Ser Piero have it painted for him. Leonardo, inspired by the story of Medusa, responded with a painting of a monster spitting fire that was so terrifying that his father bought a different shield to give to the peasant and sold Leonardo's to a Florentine art dealer for 100 ducats, who in turn sold it to the Duke of Milan.
First Florentine period (1472 – c. 1482)
By 1472, at the age of 20, Leonardo qualified as a master in the Guild of Saint Luke, the guild of artists and doctors of medicine, but even after his father set him up in his own workshop, his attachment to Verrocchio was such that he continued to collaborate and live with him. Leonardo's earliest known dated work is a 1473 pen-and-ink drawing of the Arno valley (see below). According to Vasari, the young Leonardo was the first to suggest making the Arno river a navigable channel between Florence and Pisa.
In January 1478, Leonardo received an independent commission to paint an altarpiece for the Chapel of Saint Bernard in the Florentine town hall, the Palazzo della Signoria, an indication of his independence from Verrocchio's studio. An anonymous early biographer, known as Anonimo Gaddiano, claims that in 1480 Leonardo was living with the Medici and often worked in the garden of the Piazza San Marco, Florence, where a Neoplatonic academy of artists, poets and philosophers organised by the Medici met. In March 1481, he received a commission from the monks of San Donato in Scopeto for The Adoration of the Magi. Neither of these initial commissions were completed, being abandoned when Leonardo went to offer his services to Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza. Leonardo wrote Sforza a letter which described the diverse things that he could achieve in the fields of engineering and weapon design, and mentioned that he could paint. He brought with him a silver string instrument – either a lute or lyre – in the form of a horse's head.
With Alberti, Leonardo visited the home of the Medici and through them came to know the older Humanist philosophers of whom Marsiglio Ficino, proponent of Neoplatonism; Cristoforo Landino, writer of commentaries on Classical writings, and John Argyropoulos, teacher of Greek and translator of Aristotle were the foremost. Also associated with the Platonic Academy of the Medici was Leonardo's contemporary, the brilliant young poet and philosopher Pico della Mirandola. In 1482, Leonardo was sent as an ambassador by Lorenzo de' Medici to Ludovico il Moro, who ruled Milan between 1479 and 1499.
First Milanese period (c. 1482–1499)
Leonardo worked in Milan from 1482 until 1499. He was commissioned to paint the Virgin of the Rocks for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception and The Last Supper for the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. In the spring of 1485, Leonardo travelled to Hungary (on behalf of Sforza) to meet king Matthias Corvinus, and was commissioned by him to paint a Madonna. In 1490 he was called as a consultant, together with Francesco di Giorgio Martini, for the building site of the cathedral of Pavia and was struck by the equestrian statue of Regisole, of which he left a sketch. Leonardo was employed on many other projects for Sforza, such as preparation of floats and pageants for special occasions; a drawing of, and wooden model for, a competition to design the cupola for Milan Cathedral; and a model for a huge equestrian monument to Ludovico's predecessor Francesco Sforza. This would have surpassed in size the only two large equestrian statues of the Renaissance, Donatello's Gattamelata in Padua and Verrocchio's Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice, and became known as the Gran Cavallo. Leonardo completed a model for the horse and made detailed plans for its casting, but in November 1494, Ludovico gave the metal to his brother-in-law to be used for a cannon to defend the city from Charles VIII of France.
Contemporary correspondence records that Leonardo and his assistants were commissioned by the Duke of Milan to paint the Sala delle Asse in the Sforza Castle, c. 1498. The project became a trompe-l'œil decoration that made the great hall appear to be a pergola created by the interwoven limbs of sixteen mulberry trees, whose canopy included an intricate labyrinth of leaves and knots on the ceiling.
Second Florentine period (1500–1508)
When Ludovico Sforza was overthrown by France in 1500, Leonardo fled Milan for Venice, accompanied by his assistant Salaì and friend, the mathematician Luca Pacioli. In Venice, Leonardo was employed as a military architect and engineer, devising methods to defend the city from naval attack. On his return to Florence in 1500, he and his household were guests of the Servite monks at the monastery of Santissima Annunziata and were provided with a workshop where, according to Vasari, Leonardo created the cartoon of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, a work that won such admiration that "men [and] women, young and old" flocked to see it "as if they were going to a solemn festival."
In Cesena in 1502, Leonardo entered the service of Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI, acting as a military architect and engineer and travelling throughout Italy with his patron. Leonardo created a map of Cesare Borgia's stronghold, a town plan of Imola in order to win his patronage. Upon seeing it, Cesare hired Leonardo as his chief military engineer and architect. Later in the year, Leonardo produced another map for his patron, one of Chiana Valley, Tuscany, so as to give his patron a better overlay of the land and greater strategic position. He created this map in conjunction with his other project of constructing a dam from the sea to Florence, in order to allow a supply of water to sustain the canal during all seasons.
Leonardo had left Borgia's service and returned to Florence by early 1503, where he rejoined the Guild of Saint Luke on 18 October of that year. By this same month, Leonardo had begun working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, the model for the Mona Lisa, which he would continue working on until his later years. In January 1504, he was part of a committee formed to recommend where Michelangelo's statue of David should be placed. He then spent two years in Florence designing and painting a mural of The Battle of Anghiari for the Signoria, with Michelangelo designing its companion piece, The Battle of Cascina.
In 1506, Leonardo was summoned to Milan by Charles II d'Amboise, the acting French governor of the city. There, Leonardo took on another pupil, Count Francesco Melzi, the son of a Lombard aristocrat, who is considered to have been his favourite student. The Council of Florence wished Leonardo to return promptly to finish The Battle of Anghiari, but he was given leave at the behest of Louis XII, who considered commissioning the artist to make some portraits. Leonardo may have commenced a project for an equestrian figure of d'Amboise; a wax model attributed to him survives and would be the only extant example of Leonardo's sculpture, but the attribution is not widely accepted. Leonardo was otherwise free to pursue his scientific interests. Many of Leonardo's most prominent pupils either knew or worked with him in Milan, including Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, and Marco d'Oggiono. In 1507, Leonardo was in Florence sorting out a dispute with his brothers over the estate of his father, who had died in 1504.
Second Milanese period (1508–1513)
By 1508, Leonardo was back in Milan, living in his own house in Porta Orientale in the parish of Santa Babila.
In 1512, Leonardo was working on plans for an equestrian monument for Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, but this was prevented by an invasion of a confederation of Swiss, Spanish and Venetian forces, which drove the French from Milan. Leonardo stayed in the city, spending several months in 1513 at the Medici's Vaprio d'Adda villa.
Rome and France (1513–1519)
In March 1513, Lorenzo de' Medici's son Giovanni assumed the papacy (as Leo X); Leonardo went to Rome that September, where he was received by the pope's brother Giuliano. From September 1513 to 1516, Leonardo spent much of his time living in the Belvedere Courtyard in the Apostolic Palace, where Michelangelo and Raphael were both active. Leonardo was given an allowance of 33 ducats a month and, according to Vasari, decorated a lizard with scales dipped in quicksilver. The pope gave him a painting commission of unknown subject matter, but cancelled it when the artist set about developing a new kind of varnish. Leonardo became ill, in what may have been the first of multiple strokes leading to his death. He practised botany in the Vatican Gardens, and was commissioned to make plans for the Pope's proposed draining of the Pontine Marshes. He also dissected cadavers, making notes for a treatise on vocal cords; these he gave to an official in hopes of regaining the Pope's favour, but he was unsuccessful.
In October 1515, King Francis I of France recaptured Milan. On 21 March 1516 Antonio Maria Pallavicini, the French ambassador to the Holy See, received a letter sent from Lyon a week previously by the royal advisor Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet, containing the French king's instructions to assist Leonardo in his relocation to France and to inform the artist that the King was eagerly awaiting his arrival. Pallavicini was also asked to reassure Leonardo that he would be well received at court, both by the King and by his mother, Louise of Savoy. Leonardo entered Francis's service later that year, and was given the use of the manor house Clos Lucé near the King's residence at the royal Château d'Amboise. He was frequently visited by Francis, and drew plans for an immense castle town the King intended to erect at Romorantin. He also made a mechanical lion, which during a pageant walked towards the King and – upon being struck by a wand – opened its chest to reveal a cluster of lilies.
Leonardo was accompanied during this time by his friend and apprentice Francesco Melzi, and was supported by a pension totalling 10,000 scudi. At some point, Melzi drew a portrait of Leonardo; the only others known from his lifetime were a sketch by an unknown assistant on the back of one of Leonardo's studies (c. 1517) and a drawing by Giovanni Ambrogio Figino depicting an elderly Leonardo with his right arm wrapped in clothing. The latter, in addition to the record of an October 1517 visit by Louis d'Aragon, confirms an account of Leonardo's right hand being paralytic when he was 65, which may indicate why he left works such as the Mona Lisa unfinished. He continued to work at some capacity until eventually becoming ill and bedridden for several months.
Death
Leonardo died at Clos Lucé on 2 May 1519 at the age of 67, possibly of a stroke. Francis I had become a close friend. Vasari describes Leonardo as lamenting on his deathbed, full of repentance, that "he had offended against God and men by failing to practice his art as he should have done." Vasari states that in his last days, Leonardo sent for a priest to make his confession and to receive the Holy Sacrament. Vasari also records that the King held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died, although this story may be legend rather than fact. In accordance with his will, sixty beggars carrying tapers followed Leonardo's casket. Melzi was the principal heir and executor, receiving, as well as money, Leonardo's paintings, tools, library and personal effects. Leonardo's other long-time pupil and companion, Salaì, and his servant Baptista de Vilanis, each received half of Leonardo's vineyards. His brothers received land, and his serving woman received a fur-lined cloak. On 12 August 1519, Leonardo's remains were interred in the Collegiate Church of Saint Florentin at the Château d'Amboise.
Some 20 years after Leonardo's death, Francis was reported by the goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini as saying: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."
Salaì, or Il Salaino ("The Little Unclean One", i.e., the devil), entered Leonardo's household in 1490 as an assistant. After only a year, Leonardo made a list of his misdemeanours, calling him "a thief, a liar, stubborn, and a glutton," after he had made off with money and valuables on at least five occasions and spent a fortune on clothes. Nevertheless, Leonardo treated him with great indulgence, and he remained in Leonardo's household for the next thirty years. Salaì executed paintings under the name of Andrea Salaì, but although Vasari claims that Leonardo "taught him many things about painting," his work is generally considered to be of less artistic merit than others among Leonardo's pupils, such as Marco d'Oggiono and Boltraffio.
At the time of his death in 1524, Salaì owned a painting referred to as Joconda in a posthumous inventory of his belongings; it was assessed at 505 lire, an exceptionally high valuation for a small panel portrait.
Personal life
Despite the thousands of pages Leonardo left in notebooks and manuscripts, he scarcely made reference to his personal life.
Within Leonardo's lifetime, his extraordinary powers of invention, his "great physical beauty" and "infinite grace," as described by Vasari, as well as all other aspects of his life, attracted the curiosity of others. One such aspect was his love for animals, likely including vegetarianism and according to Vasari, a habit of purchasing caged birds and releasing them.
Leonardo had many friends who are now notable either in their fields or for their historical significance, including mathematician Luca Pacioli, with whom he collaborated on the book Divina proportione in the 1490s. Leonardo appears to have had no close relationships with women except for his friendship with Cecilia Gallerani and the two Este sisters, Beatrice and Isabella. While on a journey that took him through Mantua, he drew a portrait of Isabella that appears to have been used to create a painted portrait, now lost.
Beyond friendship, Leonardo kept his private life secret. His sexuality has been the subject of satire, analysis, and speculation. This trend began in the mid-16th century and was revived in the 19th and 20th centuries, most notably by Sigmund Freud in his Leonardo da Vinci, A Memory of His Childhood. Leonardo's most intimate relationships were perhaps with his pupils Salaì and Melzi. Melzi, writing to inform Leonardo's brothers of his death, described Leonardo's feelings for his pupils as both loving and passionate. It has been claimed since the 16th century that these relationships were of a sexual or erotic nature. Walter Isaacson in his biography of Leonardo makes explicit his opinion that the relations with Salaì were intimate and homosexual.
In 1476, when he was aged twenty-four, court records show that Leonardo and three other young men were charged with sodomy in an incident involving a known male prostitute. The charges were dismissed for lack of evidence, and there is speculation that since one of the accused, Lionardo de Tornabuoni, was related to Lorenzo de' Medici, the family exerted its influence to secure the dismissal. Since that date much has been written about his presumed homosexuality and its role in his art, particularly in the androgyny and eroticism manifested in Saint John the Baptist and Bacchus and more explicitly in erotic drawings.
Paintings
Despite the recent awareness and admiration of Leonardo as a scientist and inventor, for the better part of four hundred years his fame rested on his achievements as a painter. A handful of works that are either authenticated or attributed to him have been regarded as among the great masterpieces. These paintings are famous for a variety of qualities that have been much imitated by students and discussed at great length by connoisseurs and critics. By the 1490s Leonardo had already been described as a "Divine" painter.
Among the qualities that make Leonardo's work unique are his innovative techniques for laying on the paint; his detailed knowledge of anatomy, light, botany and geology; his interest in physiognomy and the way humans register emotion in expression and gesture; his innovative use of the human form in figurative composition; and his use of subtle gradation of tone. All these qualities come together in his most famous painted works, the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, and the Virgin of the Rocks.
Early works
Leonardo first gained attention for his work on the Baptism of Christ, painted in conjunction with Verrocchio. Two other paintings appear to date from his time at Verrocchio's workshop, both of which are Annunciations. One is small, 59 centimetres (23 in) long and 14 cm (5.5 in) high. It is a "predella" to go at the base of a larger composition, a painting by Lorenzo di Credi from which it has become separated. The other is a much larger work, 217 cm (85 in) long. In both Annunciations, Leonardo used a formal arrangement, like two well-known pictures by Fra Angelico of the same subject, of the Virgin Mary sitting or kneeling to the right of the picture, approached from the left by an angel in profile, with a rich flowing garment, raised wings and bearing a lily. Although previously attributed to Ghirlandaio, the larger work is now generally attributed to Leonardo.
In the smaller painting, Mary averts her eyes and folds her hands in a gesture that symbolised submission to God's will. Mary is not submissive, however, in the larger piece. The girl, interrupted in her reading by this unexpected messenger, puts a finger in her bible to mark the place and raises her hand in a formal gesture of greeting or surprise. This calm young woman appears to accept her role as the Mother of God, not with resignation but with confidence. In this painting, the young Leonardo presents the humanist face of the Virgin Mary, recognising humanity's role in God's incarnation.
Paintings of the 1480s
In the 1480s, Leonardo received two very important commissions and commenced another work that was of ground-breaking importance in terms of composition. Two of the three were never finished, and the third took so long that it was subject to lengthy negotiations over completion and payment.
One of these paintings was Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, which Bortolon associates with a difficult period of Leonardo's life, as evidenced in his diary: "I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die." Although the painting is barely begun, the composition can be seen and is very unusual. Jerome, as a penitent, occupies the middle of the picture, set on a slight diagonal and viewed somewhat from above. His kneeling form takes on a trapezoid shape, with one arm stretched to the outer edge of the painting and his gaze looking in the opposite direction. J. Wasserman points out the link between this painting and Leonardo's anatomical studies. Across the foreground sprawls his symbol, a great lion whose body and tail make a double spiral across the base of the picture space. The other remarkable feature is the sketchy landscape of craggy rocks against which the figure is silhouetted.
The daring display of figure composition, the landscape elements and personal drama also appear in the great unfinished masterpiece, the Adoration of the Magi, a commission from the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto. It is a complex composition, of about 250 × 250 centimetres. Leonardo did numerous drawings and preparatory studies, including a detailed one in linear perspective of the ruined classical architecture that forms part of the background. In 1482 Leonardo went to Milan at the behest of Lorenzo de' Medici in order to win favour with Ludovico il Moro, and the painting was abandoned.
The third important work of this period is the Virgin of the Rocks, commissioned in Milan for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. The painting, to be done with the assistance of the de Predis brothers, was to fill a large complex altarpiece. Leonardo chose to paint an apocryphal moment of the infancy of Christ when the infant John the Baptist, in protection of an angel, met the Holy Family on the road to Egypt. The painting demonstrates an eerie beauty as the graceful figures kneel in adoration around the infant Christ in a wild landscape of tumbling rock and whirling water. While the painting is quite large, about 200 × 120 centimetres, it is not nearly as complex as the painting ordered by the monks of San Donato, having only four figures rather than about fifty and a rocky landscape rather than architectural details. The painting was eventually finished; in fact, two versions of the painting were finished: one remained at the chapel of the Confraternity, while Leonardo took the other to France. The Brothers did not get their painting, however, nor the de Predis their payment, until the next century.
Leonardo's most remarkable portrait of this period is the Lady with an Ermine, presumed to be Cecilia Gallerani (c. 1483–1490), lover of Ludovico Sforza. The painting is characterised by the pose of the figure with the head turned at a very different angle to the torso, unusual at a date when many portraits were still rigidly in profile. The ermine plainly carries symbolic meaning, relating either to the sitter, or to Ludovico who belonged to the prestigious Order of the Ermine.
Paintings of the 1490s
Leonardo's most famous painting of the 1490s is The Last Supper, commissioned for the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. It represents the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples before his capture and death, and shows the moment when Jesus has just said "one of you will betray me", and the consternation that this statement caused.
The writer Matteo Bandello observed Leonardo at work and wrote that some days he would paint from dawn till dusk without stopping to eat and then not paint for three or four days at a time. This was beyond the comprehension of the prior of the convent, who hounded him until Leonardo asked Ludovico to intervene. Vasari describes how Leonardo, troubled over his ability to adequately depict the faces of Christ and the traitor Judas, told the duke that he might be obliged to use the prior as his model.
The painting was acclaimed as a masterpiece of design and characterisation, but it deteriorated rapidly, so that within a hundred years it was described by one viewer as "completely ruined." Leonardo, instead of using the reliable technique of fresco, had used tempera over a ground that was mainly gesso, resulting in a surface subject to mould and to flaking. Despite this, the painting remains one of the most reproduced works of art; countless copies have been made in various mediums.
Toward the end of this period, in 1498 Leonardo's trompe-l'œil decoration of the Sala delle Asse was painted for the Duke of Milan in the Castello Sforzesco.
Paintings of the 1500s
In 1505, Leonardo was commissioned to paint The Battle of Anghiari in the Salone dei Cinquecento ("Hall of the Five Hundred") in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Leonardo devised a dynamic composition depicting four men riding raging war horses engaged in a battle for possession of a standard, at the Battle of Anghiari in 1440. Michelangelo was assigned the opposite wall to depict the Battle of Cascina. Leonardo's painting deteriorated rapidly and is now known from a copy by Rubens.
Among the works created by Leonardo in the 16th century is the small portrait known as the Mona Lisa or La Gioconda, the laughing one. In the present era, it is arguably the most famous painting in the world. Its fame rests, in particular, on the elusive smile on the woman's face, its mysterious quality perhaps due to the subtly shadowed corners of the mouth and eyes such that the exact nature of the smile cannot be determined. The shadowy quality for which the work is renowned came to be called sfumato, or "Leonardo's smoke". Vasari wrote that the smile was "so pleasing that it seems more divine than human, and it was considered a wondrous thing that it was as lively as the smile of the living original."
Other characteristics of the painting are the unadorned dress, in which the eyes and hands have no competition from other details; the dramatic landscape background, in which the world seems to be in a state of flux; the subdued colouring; and the extremely smooth nature of the painterly technique, employing oils laid on much like tempera, and blended on the surface so that the brushstrokes are indistinguishable. Vasari expressed that the painting's quality would make even "the most confident master ... despair and lose heart." The perfect state of preservation and the fact that there is no sign of repair or overpainting is rare in a panel painting of this date.
In the painting Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, the composition again picks up the theme of figures in a landscape, which Wasserman describes as "breathtakingly beautiful" and harkens back to the Saint Jerome with the figure set at an oblique angle. What makes this painting unusual is that there are two obliquely set figures superimposed. Mary is seated on the knee of her mother, Saint Anne. She leans forward to restrain the Christ Child as he plays roughly with a lamb, the sign of his own impending sacrifice. This painting, which was copied many times, influenced Michelangelo, Raphael, and Andrea del Sarto, and through them Pontormo and Correggio. The trends in composition were adopted in particular by the Venetian painters Tintoretto and Veronese.
Drawings
Leonardo was a prolific draughtsman, keeping journals full of small sketches and detailed drawings recording all manner of things that took his attention. As well as the journals there exist many studies for paintings, some of which can be identified as preparatory to particular works such as The Adoration of the Magi, The Virgin of the Rocks and The Last Supper. His earliest dated drawing is a Landscape of the Arno Valley, 1473, which shows the river, the mountains, Montelupo Castle and the farmlands beyond it in great detail.
Among his famous drawings are the Vitruvian Man, a study of the proportions of the human body; the Head of an Angel, for The Virgin of the Rocks in the Louvre; a botanical study of Star of Bethlehem; and a large drawing (160 × 100 cm) in black chalk on coloured paper of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist in the National Gallery, London. This drawing employs the subtle sfumato technique of shading, in the manner of the Mona Lisa. It is thought that Leonardo never made a painting from it, the closest similarity being to The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne in the Louvre.
Other drawings of interest include numerous studies generally referred to as "caricatures" because, although exaggerated, they appear to be based upon observation of live models. Vasari relates that Leonardo would look for interesting faces in public to use as models for some of his work. There are numerous studies of beautiful young men, often associated with Salaì, with the rare and much admired facial feature, the so-called "Grecian profile". These faces are often contrasted with that of a warrior. Salaì is often depicted in fancy-dress costume. Leonardo is known to have designed sets for pageants with which these may be associated. Other, often meticulous, drawings show studies of drapery. A marked development in Leonardo's ability to draw drapery occurred in his early works. Another often-reproduced drawing is a macabre sketch that was done by Leonardo in Florence in 1479 showing the body of Bernardo Baroncelli, hanged in connection with the murder of Giuliano, brother of Lorenzo de' Medici, in the Pazzi conspiracy. In his notes, Leonardo recorded the colours of the robes that Baroncelli was wearing when he died.
Like the two contemporary architects Donato Bramante (who designed the Belvedere Courtyard) and Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, Leonardo experimented with designs for centrally planned churches, some of which appear in his journals, as both plans and views, although none was ever realised.
Journals and notes
Renaissance humanism recognised no mutually exclusive polarities between the sciences and the arts, and Leonardo's studies in science and engineering are sometimes considered as impressive and innovative as his artistic work. These studies were recorded in 13,000 pages of notes and drawings, which fuse art and natural philosophy (the forerunner of modern science). They were made and maintained daily throughout Leonardo's life and travels, as he made continual observations of the world around him. Leonardo's notes and drawings display an enormous range of interests and preoccupations, some as mundane as lists of groceries and people who owed him money and some as intriguing as designs for wings and shoes for walking on water. There are compositions for paintings, studies of details and drapery, studies of faces and emotions, of animals, babies, dissections, plant studies, rock formations, whirlpools, war machines, flying machines and architecture.
These notebooks – originally loose papers of different types and sizes – were largely entrusted to Leonardo's pupil and heir Francesco Melzi after the master's death. These were to be published, a task of overwhelming difficulty because of its scope and Leonardo's idiosyncratic writing. Some of Leonardo's drawings were copied by an anonymous Milanese artist for a planned treatise on art (Codex Huygens, c. 1570). After Melzi's death in 1570, the collection passed to his son, the lawyer Orazio, who initially took little interest in the journals. In 1587, a Melzi household tutor named Lelio Gavardi took 13 of the manuscripts to Pisa; there, the architect Giovanni Magenta reproached Gavardi for having taken the manuscripts illicitly and returned them to Orazio. Having many more such works in his possession, Orazio gifted the volumes to Magenta. News spread of these lost works of Leonardo's, and Orazio retrieved seven of the 13 manuscripts, which he then gave to Pompeo Leoni for publication in two volumes; one of these was the Codex Atlanticus. The other six works had been distributed to a few others. After Orazio's death, his heirs sold the rest of Leonardo's possessions, and thus began their dispersal.
Some works have found their way into major collections such as the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, the Louvre, the Biblioteca Nacional de España, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, which holds the 12-volume Codex Atlanticus, and the British Library in London, which has put a selection from the Codex Arundel (BL Arundel MS 263) online. Works have also been at Holkham Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in the private hands of John Nicholas Brown I and Robert Lehman. The Codex Leicester is the only privately owned major scientific work of Leonardo; it is owned by Bill Gates and displayed once a year in different cities around the world.
Most of Leonardo's writings are in mirror-image cursive. Since Leonardo wrote with his left hand, it was probably easier for him to write from right to left. Leonardo used a variety of shorthand and symbols, and states in his notes that he intended to prepare them for publication. In many cases a single topic is covered in detail in both words and pictures on a single sheet, together conveying information that would not be lost if the pages were published out of order. Why they were not published during Leonardo's lifetime is unknown.
Science and inventions
Leonardo's approach to science was observational: he tried to understand a phenomenon by describing and depicting it in utmost detail and did not emphasise experiments or theoretical explanation. Since he lacked formal education in Latin and mathematics, contemporary scholars mostly ignored Leonardo the scientist, although he did teach himself Latin. His keen observations in many areas were noted, such as when he wrote "Il sole non si muove" ("The Sun does not move").
In the 1490s he studied mathematics under Luca Pacioli and prepared a series of drawings of regular solids in a skeletal form to be engraved as plates for Pacioli's book Divina proportione, published in 1509. While living in Milan, he studied light from the summit of Monte Rosa. Scientific writings in his notebook on fossils have been considered as influential on early palaeontology.
The content of his journals suggest that he was planning a series of treatises on a variety of subjects. A coherent treatise on anatomy is said to have been observed during a visit by Cardinal Louis d'Aragon's secretary in 1517. Aspects of his work on the studies of anatomy, light and the landscape were assembled for publication by Melzi and eventually published as A Treatise on Painting in France and Italy in 1651 and Germany in 1724, with engravings based upon drawings by the Classical painter Nicolas Poussin. According to Arasse, the treatise, which in France went into 62 editions in 50 years, caused Leonardo to be seen as "the precursor of French academic thought on art."
While Leonardo's experimentation followed scientific methods, a recent and exhaustive analysis of Leonardo as a scientist by Fritjof Capra argues that Leonardo was a fundamentally different kind of scientist from Galileo, Newton and other scientists who followed him in that, as a "Renaissance Man", his theorising and hypothesising integrated the arts and particularly painting.
Anatomy and physiology
Leonardo started his study of the anatomy of the human body under the apprenticeship of Verrocchio, who demanded that his students develop a deep knowledge of the subject. As an artist, he quickly became master of topographic anatomy, drawing many studies of muscles, tendons and other visible anatomical features.
As a successful artist, Leonardo was given permission to dissect human corpses at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence and later at hospitals in Milan and Rome. From 1510 to 1511 he collaborated in his studies with the doctor Marcantonio della Torre, professor of Anatomy at the University of Pavia. Leonardo made over 240 detailed drawings and wrote about 13,000 words toward a treatise on anatomy. Only a small amount of the material on anatomy was published in Leonardo's Treatise on Painting. During the time that Melzi was ordering the material into chapters for publication, they were examined by anatomists and artists, including Vasari, Cellini and Albrecht Dürer, who made drawings from them.
Leonardo's anatomical drawings include many studies of the human skeleton, its parts, and the muscles and sinews. He studied the mechanical functions of the skeleton and the muscular forces that are applied to it in a manner that prefigured the modern science of biomechanics. He drew the heart and vascular system, the sex organs and other internal organs, making one of the first scientific drawings of a foetus in utero. The drawings and notation are far ahead of their time, and if published would undoubtedly have made a major contribution to medical science.
Leonardo also closely observed and recorded the effects of age and of human emotion on the physiology, studying in particular the effects of age. He drew many figures who had significant facial deformities or signs of illness. Leonardo also studied and drew the anatomy of many animals, dissecting cows, birds, monkeys, bears, and frogs, and comparing in his drawings their anatomical structure with that of humans. He also made studies of horses.
Leonardo's dissections and documentation of muscles, nerves, and vessels helped to describe the physiology and mechanics of movement. He attempted to identify the source of 'emotions' and their expression. He found it difficult to incorporate the prevailing system and theories of bodily humours, but eventually he abandoned these physiological explanations of bodily functions. He made the observations that humours were not located in cerebral spaces or ventricles. He documented that the humours were not contained in the heart or the liver, and that it was the heart that defined the circulatory system. He was the first to define atherosclerosis and liver cirrhosis. He created models of the cerebral ventricles with the use of melted wax and constructed a glass aorta to observe the circulation of blood through the aortic valve by using water and grass seed to watch flow patterns.
Engineering and inventions
During his lifetime, Leonardo was also valued as an engineer. With the same rational and analytical approach that moved him to represent the human body and to investigate anatomy, Leonardo studied and designed many machines and devices. He drew their "anatomy" with unparalleled mastery, producing the first form of the modern technical drawing, including a perfected "exploded view" technique, to represent internal components. Those studies and projects collected in his codices fill more than 5,000 pages. In a letter of 1482 to the lord of Milan Ludovico il Moro, he wrote that he could create all sorts of machines both for the protection of a city and for siege. When he fled from Milan to Venice in 1499, he found employment as an engineer and devised a system of moveable barricades to protect the city from attack. In 1502, he created a scheme for diverting the flow of the Arno river, a project on which Niccolò Machiavelli also worked. He continued to contemplate the canalisation of Lombardy's plains while in Louis XII's company and of the Loire and its tributaries in the company of Francis I. Leonardo's journals include a vast number of inventions, both practical and impractical. They include musical instruments, a mechanical knight, hydraulic pumps, reversible crank mechanisms, finned mortar shells, and a steam cannon.
Leonardo was fascinated by the phenomenon of flight for much of his life, producing many studies, including Codex on the Flight of Birds (c. 1505), as well as plans for several flying machines, such as a flapping ornithopter and a machine with a helical rotor. In a 2003 documentary by British television station Channel Four, titled Leonardo's Dream Machines, various designs by Leonardo, such as a parachute and a giant crossbow, were interpreted and constructed. Some of those designs proved successful, whilst others fared less well when tested. Similarly, a team of engineers built ten machines designed by Leonardo in the 2009 American television series Doing DaVinci, including a fighting vehicle and a self-propelled cart.
Research performed by Marc van den Broek revealed older prototypes for more than 100 inventions that are ascribed to Leonardo. Similarities between Leonardo's illustrations and drawings from the Middle Ages and from Ancient Greece and Rome, the Chinese and Persian Empires, and Egypt suggest that a large portion of Leonardo's inventions had been conceived before his lifetime. Leonardo's innovation was to combine different functions from existing drafts and set them into scenes that illustrated their utility. By reconstituting technical inventions he created something new.
In his notebooks, Leonardo first stated the 'laws' of sliding friction in 1493. His inspiration for investigating friction came about in part from his study of perpetual motion, which he correctly concluded was not possible. His results were never published and the friction laws were not rediscovered until 1699 by Guillaume Amontons, with whose name they are now usually associated. For this contribution, Leonardo was named as the first of the 23 "Men of Tribology" by Duncan Dowson.
Legacy
Although he had no formal academic training, many historians and scholars regard Leonardo as the prime exemplar of the "Universal Genius" or "Renaissance Man", an individual of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination." He is widely considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent in recorded history, and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, while the man himself mysterious and remote." Scholars interpret his view of the world as being based in logic, though the empirical methods he used were unorthodox for his time.
Leonardo's fame within his own lifetime was such that the King of France carried him away like a trophy, and was claimed to have supported him in his old age and held him in his arms as he died. Interest in Leonardo and his work has never diminished. Crowds still queue to see his best-known artworks, T-shirts still bear his most famous drawing, and writers continue to hail him as a genius while speculating about his private life, as well as about what one so intelligent actually believed in.
The continued admiration that Leonardo commanded from painters, critics and historians is reflected in many other written tributes. Baldassare Castiglione, author of Il Cortegiano (The Courtier), wrote in 1528: "...Another of the greatest painters in this world looks down on this art in which he is unequalled..." while the biographer known as "Anonimo Gaddiano" wrote, c. 1540: "His genius was so rare and universal that it can be said that nature worked a miracle on his behalf..." Vasari, in his Lives of the Artists (1568), opens his chapter on Leonardo:
In the normal course of events many men and women are born with remarkable talents; but occasionally, in a way that transcends nature, a single person is marvellously endowed by Heaven with beauty, grace and talent in such abundance that he leaves other men far behind, all his actions seem inspired and indeed everything he does clearly comes from God rather than from human skill. Everyone acknowledged that this was true of Leonardo da Vinci, an artist of outstanding physical beauty, who displayed infinite grace in everything that he did and who cultivated his genius so brilliantly that all problems he studied he solved with ease.
The 19th century brought a particular admiration for Leonardo's genius, causing Henry Fuseli to write in 1801: "Such was the dawn of modern art, when Leonardo da Vinci broke forth with a splendour that distanced former excellence: made up of all the elements that constitute the essence of genius..." This is echoed by A. E. Rio who wrote in 1861: "He towered above all other artists through the strength and the nobility of his talents."
By the 19th century, the scope of Leonardo's notebooks was known, as well as his paintings. Hippolyte Taine wrote in 1866: "There may not be in the world an example of another genius so universal, so incapable of fulfilment, so full of yearning for the infinite, so naturally refined, so far ahead of his own century and the following centuries."
Art historian Bernard Berenson wrote in 1896: Leonardo is the one artist of whom it may be said with perfect literalness: Nothing that he touched but turned into a thing of eternal beauty. Whether it be the cross section of a skull, the structure of a weed, or a study of muscles, he, with his feeling for line and for light and shade, forever transmuted it into life-communicating values.
The interest in Leonardo's genius has continued unabated; experts study and translate his writings, analyse his paintings using scientific techniques, argue over attributions and search for works which have been recorded but never found. Liana Bortolon, writing in 1967, said: Because of the multiplicity of interests that spurred him to pursue every field of knowledge...Leonardo can be considered, quite rightly, to have been the universal genius par excellence, and with all the disquieting overtones inherent in that term. Man is as uncomfortable today, faced with a genius, as he was in the 16th century. Five centuries have passed, yet we still view Leonardo with awe. The Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana is a special collection at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Twenty-first-century author Walter Isaacson based much of his biography of Leonardo on thousands of notebook entries, studying the personal notes, sketches, budget notations, and musings of the man whom he considers the greatest of innovators. Isaacson was surprised to discover a "fun, joyous" side of Leonardo in addition to his limitless curiosity and creative genius.
On the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death, the Louvre in Paris arranged for the largest ever single exhibit of his work, called Leonardo, between November 2019 and February 2020. The exhibit includes over 100 paintings, drawings and notebooks. Eleven of the paintings that Leonardo completed in his lifetime were included. Five of these are owned by the Louvre, but the Mona Lisa was not included because it is in such great demand among general visitors to the Louvre; it remains on display in its gallery. Vitruvian Man, however, is on display following a legal battle with its owner, the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice. Salvator Mundi was also not included because its Saudi owner did not agree to lease the work.
The Mona Lisa, considered Leonardo's magnum opus, is often regarded as the most famous portrait ever made. The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time, and Leonardo's Vitruvian Man drawing is also considered a cultural icon.
More than a decade of analysis of Leonardo's genetic genealogy, conducted by Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato, came to a conclusion in mid-2021. It was determined that the artist has 14 living male relatives. The work could also help determine the authenticity of remains thought to belong to Leonardo.
Location of remains
While Leonardo was certainly buried in the collegiate church of Saint Florentin at the Château d'Amboise in 12 August 1519, the current location of his remains is unclear. Much of Château d'Amboise was damaged during the French Revolution, leading to the church's demolition in 1802. Some of the graves were destroyed in the process, scattering the bones interred there and thereby leaving the whereabouts of Leonardo's remains subject to dispute; a gardener may have even buried some in the corner of the courtyard.
In 1863, fine-arts inspector general Arsène Houssaye received an imperial commission to excavate the site and discovered a partially complete skeleton with a bronze ring on one finger, white hair, and stone fragments bearing the inscriptions "EO", "AR", "DUS", and "VINC" – interpreted as forming "Leonardus Vinci". The skull's eight teeth correspond to someone of approximately the appropriate age, and a silver shield found near the bones depicts a beardless Francis I, corresponding to the king's appearance during Leonardo's time in France.
Houssaye postulated that the unusually large skull was an indicator of Leonardo's intelligence; author Charles Nicholl describes this as a "dubious phrenological deduction". At the same time, Houssaye noted some issues with his observations, including that the feet were turned toward the high altar, a practice generally reserved for laymen, and that the skeleton of 1.73 metres (5.7 ft) seemed too short. Art historian Mary Margaret Heaton wrote in 1874 that the height would be appropriate for Leonardo. The skull was allegedly presented to Napoleon III before being returned to the Château d'Amboise, where they were re-interred in the chapel of Saint Hubert in 1874. A plaque above the tomb states that its contents are only presumed to be those of Leonardo.
It has since been theorised that the folding of the skeleton's right arm over the head may correspond to the paralysis of Leonardo's right hand. In 2016, it was announced that DNA tests would be conducted to determine whether the attribution is correct. The DNA of the remains will be compared to that of samples collected from Leonardo's work and his half-brother Domenico's descendants; it may also be sequenced.
In 2019, documents were published revealing that Houssaye had kept the ring and a lock of hair. In 1925, his great-grandson sold these to an American collector. Sixty years later, another American acquired them, leading to their being displayed at the Leonardo Museum in Vinci beginning on 2 May 2019, the 500th anniversary of the artist's death.
See also
Leonardo polyhedron
Notes
General
Dates of works
References
Citations
Early
Modern
Works cited
Early
Modern
Books
Journals and encyclopedia articles
Further reading
See Kemp (2003) and Bambach (2019, pp. 442–579) for extensive bibliographies
External links
General
Universal Leonardo, a database of Leonardo's life and works maintained by Martin Kemp and Marina Wallace
Leonardo da Vinci on the National Gallery website
Works
Biblioteca Leonardiana, online bibliography (in Italian)
e-Leo: Archivio digitale di storia della tecnica e della scienza, archive of drawings, notes and manuscripts
Works by Leonardo da Vinci at Project Gutenberg
Works by Leonardo da Vinci at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Complete text and images of Richter's translation of the Notebooks
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci
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Kanye West
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Ye ( YAY; born Kanye Omari West KAHN-yay; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time and one of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary.
After dropping out of college to pursue a music career, West began producing for regional artists in the Chicago area. As an in-house producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, he co-produced albums such as Jay-Z's The Blueprint (2001) before signing with the label as a recording artist. West's debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004), received acclaim and included the US Billboard Hot 100-number one single "Slow Jamz". He topped the chart on four other occasions with the singles "Gold Digger" (2005), "Stronger" (2007), "E.T." (2011, as a featured artist), and "Carnival" (2024).
The College Dropout and five of West's subsequent albums—Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007), 808s & Heartbreak (2008), My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), and Yeezus (2013)—were all included on Rolling Stone's 2020 "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list, with the same publication naming him one of the "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time". One of the world's best-selling music artists with 160 million records sold, West has won 24 Grammy Awards, making him the 12th-most awarded of all time. His other accolades include a Billboard Artist Achievement Award, a joint-record three Brit Awards for Best International Male Solo Artist, and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. West holds the joint record (with Bob Dylan) for most albums (4) topping the annual Pazz & Jop critic poll. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015.
West's outspoken views have received significant media coverage. He has been a frequent source of controversy due to his conduct on social media, at award shows and in public settings, as well as his comments on the music and fashion industries, U.S. politics, race, and slavery. His Christian faith, high-profile marriage to Kim Kardashian, feuds with Taylor Swift and with Drake, and mental health have also been topics of media attention. In 2020, West ran an unsuccessful independent presidential campaign. Starting in 2022, West has drawn widespread condemnation—and lost sponsors and partnerships—for his antisemitic views. He has self-identified as a Nazi, praised Adolf Hitler, used swastika imagery, and denied the Holocaust.
Early life
Kanye Omari West was born on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. After his parents divorced when he was three years old, he moved with his mother to Chicago, Illinois. His father, Ray West, is a former Black Panther and was one of the first black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ray later became a Christian counselor, and in 2006, opened the Good Water Store and Café in Lexington Park, Maryland, with startup capital from his son. West's mother, Donda C. West (née Williams), was a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University and the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University before retiring to serve as his manager.
West was raised in a middle-class environment, attending Polaris School for Individual Education in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois, after living in Chicago. At the age of 10, West moved with his mother to Nanjing, China, where she was teaching at Nanjing University as a Fulbright Scholar. According to his mother, West was the only foreigner in his class, but he settled in well and quickly picked up the language, although he has since forgotten most of it. When asked about his grades in high school, West replied, "I got A's and B's."
West demonstrated an affinity for the arts at an early age; he began writing poetry when he was five years old. West started rapping in the third grade and began making musical compositions in the seventh grade, eventually selling them to other artists. West crossed paths with producer No I.D., who became West's friend and mentor. After graduating from high school, West received a scholarship to attend Chicago's American Academy of Art in 1997 and began taking painting classes. Shortly after, he transferred to Chicago State University to study English. At age 20, he dropped out to pursue his musical career. This greatly displeased his mother, who was also a professor at the university, although she would later accept the decision.
Musical career
1996–2002: Early work and Roc-A-Fella
West began his early production career in the mid-1990s, creating beats primarily for burgeoning local artists in the Chicago area. He received his first official production credits at age nineteen, when he produced eight tracks on Down to Earth, the 1996 debut album of Chicago-based underground rapper Grav. In 1998, West was the first producer signed to the management-production company Hip Hop Since 1978, founded by Gee Roberson and Kyambo "Hip-Hop" Joshua. For a time, West acted as a ghost producer for Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie. Due to his association with Angelettie, West was not able to release a solo album, so he formed the Go-Getters, a hip-hop group composed of him and fellow Chicago natives GLC, Timmy G, Really Doe, and Arrowstar. The Go-Getters independently released their first and only studio album, World Record Holders in 1999 through West's company, Konman Productions. West spent much of the late 1990s further producing for several musical acts. He produced "My Life" on Foxy Brown's second studio album Chyna Doll (1999), which became the second hip-hop album by a female rapper to peak atop the US Billboard 200 chart.
In 2000, West began producing for artists on Roc-A-Fella Records as an in-house producer. West is often credited with revitalizing Jay-Z's career with extensive contributions to his 2001 album The Blueprint, which Rolling Stone ranked among their list of greatest hip-hop albums. West produced songs for label cohorts such as Beanie Sigel and Freeway, but also produced beats which were used by artists on other labels including Ludacris, Alicia Keys, and Janet Jackson. Meanwhile, West struggled to attain a record deal as a rapper. Multiple record companies, including Capitol Records, denied or ignored him because he did not portray the gangsta image prominent in mainstream hip-hop at the time. Desperate to keep West from defecting to another label, then-label head Damon Dash reluctantly signed West to Roc-A-Fella as a recording artist.
After a 2002 car accident shattered his jaw, West was inspired; two weeks after being admitted to the hospital, he recorded "Through the Wire" at the Record Plant Studios with his jaw still wired shut. The song was first included on West's debut mixtape Get Well Soon..., which was released in December 2002. At the same time, West announced that he was working on an album titled The College Dropout, whose overall theme was to "make your own decisions. Don't let society tell you, 'This is what you have to do.'"
2003–2006: The College Dropout and Late Registration
West recorded the remainder of the album in Los Angeles while recovering from the car accident. It was leaked months before its release date, and West used the opportunity to remix, remaster, and revise the album before its release; West added new verses, string arrangements, gospel choirs, and improved drum programming. The album was postponed three times from its initial date in August 2003, and was eventually released in February 2004, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 as his debut single, "Through the Wire" peaked at No. 15 while on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for five weeks. "Slow Jamz", his second single, featuring Twista and Jamie Foxx, became the three musicians' first No. 1 hit. The College Dropout received critical acclaim, was nominated for the top album of the year by American Music Awards and Billboard, and has consistently been ranked among the great hip-hop works and debut albums by artists.
"Jesus Walks", the album's fourth single, reached the top 20 of the Billboard pop charts, despite industry executives' predictions that a song containing such blatant declarations of faith would never make it to the radio. The College Dropout was certified triple platinum in the U.S., and garnered West 10 Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year, and Best Rap Album (which it received). During this period, West founded GOOD Music, a record label and management company that housed affiliate artists and producers, such as No I.D. and John Legend, and produced singles for Brandy, Common, Legend, and Slum Village.
West invested $2 million and took over a year to make his second album. West was inspired by Roseland NYC Live, a 1998 live album by English trip hop group Portishead, produced with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, incorporating string arrangements into his hip-hop production. Though West had not been able to afford many live instruments around the time of his debut album, the money from his commercial success enabled him to hire a string orchestra for his second album Late Registration. West collaborated with American film score composer Jon Brion, who served as the album's co-executive producer for several tracks. Late Registration sold over 2.3 million units in the United States alone by the end of 2005 and was considered by industry observers as the only successful major album release of the fall season, which had been plagued by steadily declining CD sales.
When his song "Touch the Sky" failed to win Best Video at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards, West went onto the stage as the award was being presented to Justice and Simian for "We Are Your Friends" and argued that he should have won the award instead. Hundreds of news outlets worldwide criticized the outburst. On November 7, 2006, West apologized for this outburst publicly during his performance as support act for U2 for their Vertigo concert in Brisbane. He later spoofed the incident on the 33rd-season premiere of Saturday Night Live in September 2007.
2007–2009: Graduation, 808s & Heartbreak, and VMAs incident
West's third studio album, Graduation, was released in September 2007. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and selling 957,000 copies in its first week. Graduation continued the string of critical and commercial successes by West, and the album's lead single, "Stronger", garnered his third number-one hit. "Stronger", which samples French house duo Daft Punk, has been accredited to not only encouraging other hip-hop artists to incorporate house and electronica elements into their music, but also for playing a part in the revival of disco and electro-infused music in the late 2000s. His mother's death in November 2007 and the end of his engagement to Alexis Phifer profoundly affected West, who set off for his 2008 Glow in the Dark Tour shortly thereafter.
Recorded mostly in Honolulu, Hawaii in three weeks, West announced his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak, at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, where he performed its lead single, "Love Lockdown". Music audiences were taken aback by the uncharacteristic production style and the presence of Auto-Tune, which typified the pre-release response to the record. 808s & Heartbreak was released by Island Def Jam in November 2008. Upon its release, the lead single "Love Lockdown" debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, while follow-up single "Heartless" debuted at number four. While it was criticized prior to release, 808s & Heartbreak is considered to have had a significant effect on hip-hop music, encouraging other rappers to take more creative risks with their productions.
While Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, West went on stage and grabbed the microphone from her to proclaim that Beyoncé deserved the award instead. He was subsequently removed from the remainder of the show for his actions. West was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and by President Barack Obama, who called West a "jackass". The incident sparked a large influx of Internet photo memes. West subsequently apologized, including personally to Swift. However, in a November 2010 interview, he seemed to recant his past apologies, describing the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless".
2010–2012: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Watch the Throne, and Cruel Summer
Following the highly publicized incident, West took a brief break from music and threw himself into fashion, then returned to Hawaii for a few months writing and recording his next album. Importing his favorite producers and artists to work on and inspire his recording, West kept engineers behind the boards 24 hours a day and slept only in increments. Noah Callahan-Bever, a writer for Complex, was present during the sessions and described the "communal" atmosphere as thus: "With the right songs and the right album, he can overcome any and all controversy, and we are here to contribute, challenge, and inspire." A variety of artists contributed to the project, including close friends Jay-Z, Kid Cudi and Pusha T, as well as collaborations with artists including Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Gil Scott Heron.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, West's fifth studio album, was released in November 2010 to widespread acclaim from critics, many of whom considered it his best work and said it solidified his comeback. In stark contrast to his previous effort, which featured a minimalist sound, Dark Fantasy adopts a maximalist philosophy and deals with themes of celebrity and excess. The record included the international hit "All of the Lights", and Billboard hits "Power", "Monster", and "Runaway", the latter of which accompanied a 35-minute film of the same name directed by and starring West. During this time, West initiated the free music program GOOD Fridays through his website, offering a free download of previously unreleased songs each Friday, a portion of which were included on the album. This promotion ran from August to December 2010. Dark Fantasy went on to go platinum in the United States, but its omission as a contender for Album of the Year at the 54th Grammy Awards was viewed as a "snub" by several media outlets.
2011 saw West embark on a festival tour to commemorate the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, performing and headlining at numerous festivals, including: SWU Music & Arts, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Oya Festival, Flow Festival, Live Music Festival,
The Big Chill, Essence Music Festival, Lollapalooza, and Coachella, which was described by The Hollywood Reporter as "one of greatest hip-hop sets of all time". West released the collaborative album Watch the Throne with Jay-Z in August 2011. By employing a sales strategy that released the album digitally weeks before its physical counterpart, Watch the Throne became one of the few major label albums in the Internet age to avoid a leak. "Niggas in Paris" became the record's highest-charting single, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The co-headlining Watch the Throne Tour kicked off in October 2011 and concluded in June 2012. In 2012, West released the compilation album Cruel Summer, a collection of tracks by artists from West's record label GOOD Music.
2013–2015: Yeezus and the Yeezus Tour
Sessions for West's sixth solo effort begin to take shape in early 2013 in his own personal loft's living room at a Paris hotel. Determined to "undermine the commercial", he once again brought together close collaborators and attempted to incorporate Chicago drill, dancehall, acid house, and industrial music. Primarily inspired by architecture, West's perfectionist tendencies led him to contact producer Rick Rubin fifteen days shy of its due date to strip down the record's sound in favor of a more minimalist approach. Initial promotion of his sixth album included worldwide video projections of the album's music and live television performances. Yeezus, West's sixth album, was released June 18, 2013, to rave reviews from critics. It became his sixth consecutive number one debut, but also marked his lowest solo opening week sales.
In September 2013, West announced he would be headlining his first solo tour in five years, to support Yeezus, with fellow American rapper Kendrick Lamar accompanying him as a supporting act. The tour was met with rave reviews from critics. Rolling Stone described it as "crazily entertaining, hugely ambitious, emotionally affecting (really!) and, most importantly, totally bonkers". Writing for Forbes, Zack O'Malley Greenburg praised West for "taking risks that few pop stars, if any, are willing to take in today's hyper-exposed world of pop", describing the show as "overwrought and uncomfortable at times, but [it] excels at challenging norms and provoking thought in a way that just isn't common for mainstream musical acts of late". West subsequently released a number of singles featuring Paul McCartney, including "Only One" and "FourFiveSeconds", also featuring Rihanna.
In November 2013, West stated that he was beginning work on his next studio album, hoping to release it by mid-2014, with production by Rick Rubin and Q-Tip. Having initially announced a new album entitled Yeezus II slated for a 2014 release, West announced in March 2015 that the album would instead be tentatively called So Help Me God. In May 2015, West was awarded an honorary doctorate by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for his contributions to music, fashion, and popular culture. The next month, West headlined at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, despite a petition signed by almost 135,000 people against his appearance. Another petition aimed to block West from headlining the 2015 Pan American Games, garnering 50,000 supporters.
2016–2017: The Life of Pablo and tour cancellation
West announced in January 2016 that Swish would be released on February 11, and later that month, released new songs "Real Friends" and a snippet of "No More Parties in LA" with Kendrick Lamar. On January 26, 2016, West revealed he had renamed the album from Swish to Waves. In the weeks leading up to the album's release, West became embroiled in several Twitter controversies. Several days ahead of its release, West again changed the title, this time to The Life of Pablo. On February 11, West premiered the album at Madison Square Garden as part of the presentation of his Yeezy Season 3 clothing line. Following the preview, West announced that he would be modifying the tracklist once more before its release to the public. He released the album exclusively on Tidal on February 14, 2016, following a performance on SNL. Following its release, West continued to tinker with mixes of several tracks, describing the work as "a living breathing changing creative expression" and proclaiming the end of the album as a dominant release form. Despite West's earlier comments, in addition to Tidal, the album was released through several other competing services starting in April.
In February 2016, West stated on Twitter that he was planning to release another album in the summer of 2016, tentatively called Turbo Grafx 16 in reference to the 1990s video game console of the same name. In June 2016, West released the collaborative lead single "Champions" off the GOOD Music album Cruel Winter, which has yet to be released. Later that month, West released a controversial video for "Famous", which depicted wax figures of several celebrities (including West, Kardashian, Taylor Swift, businessman and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, comedian Bill Cosby, and former president George W. Bush) sleeping nude in a shared bed.
In August 2016, West embarked on the Saint Pablo Tour in support of The Life of Pablo. The performances featured a mobile stage suspended from the ceiling. West postponed several dates in October following the Paris robbery of several of his wife's effects. On November 21, 2016, West cancelled the remaining 21 dates on the Saint Pablo Tour, following a week of no-shows, curtailed concerts and rants about politics. He was later admitted for psychiatric observation at UCLA Medical Center. He stayed hospitalized over the Thanksgiving weekend because of a temporary psychosis stemming from sleep deprivation and extreme dehydration. Following this episode West took an 11-month break from posting on Twitter and the public in general.
2017–2019: Ye and the Wyoming Sessions
It was reported in May 2017 that West was recording new music in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with a wide range of collaborators. In April 2018, West announced plans to write a philosophy book entitled Break the Simulation, later clarifying that he was sharing the book "in real time" on Twitter and began posting content that was likened to "life coaching". Later that month, he also announced two new albums, a solo album and self-titled collaboration with Kid Cudi under the name Kids See Ghosts, both of which would be released in June. Additionally, he revealed he would produce upcoming albums by GOOD Music label-mates Pusha T and Teyana Taylor, as well as Nas. Shortly thereafter, West released the non-album singles "Lift Yourself" and "Ye vs. the People", in which he and T.I. discussed West's support of Donald Trump.
Pusha T's Daytona, "the first project out of Wyoming", was released in May to critical acclaim, although the album's artwork—a photograph of deceased singer Whitney Houston's bathroom that West paid $85,000 to license—attracted some controversy. The following week, West released his eighth studio album, Ye. West has suggested that he scrapped the original recordings of the album and re-recorded it within a month. The week after, West released a collaborative album with Kid Cudi, titled Kids See Ghosts, named after their group of the same name. West also completed production work on Nas' Nasir and Teyana Taylor's K.T.S.E., which were released in June 2018.
In September, West announced his ninth studio album Yandhi to be released by the end of the month and a collaborative album with fellow Chicagoan rapper Chance the Rapper titled Good Ass Job. That same month, West announced that he would be changing his stage name to "Ye". Yandhi was originally set for release in September 2018 but was postponed multiple times. In January 2019, West pulled out of headlining that year's Coachella festival after negotiations broke down due to discord regarding stage design. In July, it was reported that songs from West's unreleased album Yandhi were leaked online. The following month, Kim Kardashian announced that West's next album would be titled Jesus Is King, effectively scrapping Yandhi. By October, the entire unfinished album was available for a short time on streaming services Spotify and Tidal.
2019–2022: Jesus Is King, Donda, and Donda 2
On January 6, 2019, West started his weekly "Sunday Service" events, which included soul variations of both West's and others' songs and were attended by multiple celebrities, including the Kardashians, Charlie Wilson, and Kid Cudi. West previewed a new song, "Water" at his "Sunday Service" orchestration performance at Coachella 2019, which was later revealed to feature on his upcoming album Jesus Is King; West released the album on October 25, 2019. It became the first to ever top the Billboard 200, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Top Rap Albums, Top Christian Albums and Top Gospel Albums at the same time. On December 25, 2019, West and Sunday Service released Jesus Is Born, containing 19 songs, including several re-workings of older West songs.
West released a single titled "Wash Us in the Blood" on June 30, 2020, featuring fellow American rapper and singer Travis Scott, along with the music video, which was set to serve as the lead single from his tenth studio album Donda. However, in September 2020, West stated that he would not be releasing any further music until he is "done with [his] contract with Sony and Universal". On October 16, he released the single "Nah Nah Nah". West held several listening parties at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for his upcoming album Donda in the summer of 2021, where he had taken up temporary residence in one of the stadium's locker rooms, converting it into a recording studio to finish the recording. After multiple delays, Donda was released on August 29, 2021. West claimed the album was released early without his approval and alleged that Universal had altered the tracklist. He released a deluxe edition of Donda, including five new songs, to streaming services on November 14, 2021. On November 20, days after ending their long-running feud, West and rapper Drake confirmed that they would stage the "Free Larry Hoover" benefit concert on December 9 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
On January 5, 2022, West was announced as one of the 2022 headliners of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Later that month on January 15, West released the first single for his upcoming album Donda 2, "Eazy" featuring The Game, to be executive produced by American rapper Future. West hosted a listening event for the album at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, on February 22. In April, shortly before Coachella, West pulled out as headlining act, then proceeded to pull out of headlining Rolling Loud. West and The Game performed the single on July 22, marking West's first performance in five months following the low profile he had been keeping since Donda 2 remained unfinished. A day later, despite cancelling as headliner, he appeared at Rolling Loud during Lil Durk's set. In December 2022, after weeks of controversial antisemitic statements, West released a new song, "Someday We'll All Be Free", on his Instagram.
2023–present: Vultures trilogy, Bully, and In a Perfect World
On August 25, 2023, West was reported to be in the process of recording his eleventh studio album, with two sources close to him stating that the release of new music was "imminent". On October 13, Billboard reported that West had finished recording a collaborative studio album with Ty Dolla Sign and was in the process of shopping the album to distributors, adding that the album was originally intended for an official release that day but was ultimately pushed back for unknown reasons and expected to drop within the coming weeks. The eponymous lead single for the album, "Vultures" featuring Bump J, was released on November 22, 2023.
Throughout late 2023 and early 2024, West and Ty Dolla Sign held several concerts previewing songs from the album. In a trailer, West announced that Vultures would be released as a trilogy of albums, with three volumes set to be released on February 9, March 6, and April 5, 2024. In January 2024, West co-signed 4Batz and called him his favorite new artist. On February 8, 2024, West released the first volume's second single, "Talking / Once Again" featuring his eldest daughter North. A day later, producer Erick Sermon revealed in an interview that West's upcoming eleventh studio album was titled Y3, while also stating that he had contributed to the album in 2023. West has since denied working on an album titled Y3.
On February 10, 2024, hours after West held a listening party at UBS Arena, the first volume of the Vultures trilogy, entitled Vultures 1, was officially released. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming West's eleventh consecutive and Ty Dolla Sign's first number one album, respectively. Vultures 2 released later that year on August 3. On September 28, during a concert in Haikou, China at the Wuyuan River Stadium, West announced his eleventh solo album Bully, debuting the track "Beauty and the Beast". On March 15, 2025, he shared a song on his X account, "Lonely Roads Still Go to Sunshine", featuring his daughter North and vocals credited to Sean Combs, resulting in legal action from Kim Kardashian. On March 18, he shared links on X to three versions of Bully, all of which were accompanied by a short film starring his son Saint. He stated that the album was "not finished and half of the vocals [are] AI", and added that he did not intend to release it on streaming services because of "French and Jewish record labels". Bully would later be released as the "screening version" on YouTube for a temporary time.
On March 26, 2025, West released "WW3" under the name Ye onto streaming services, after having been previously teased by Dave Blunts and Adin Ross. A week later, DJ Akademiks announced that West was working on WW3, a collaborative album with Blunts, a few days after they held an interview where West wore a black Ku Klux Klan-inspired outfit and said further controversial remarks. West changed the album's title to Cuck on April 21, and in the following weeks released the singles "Cousins" and "Heil Hitler". After Cuck leaked on May 18, 2025, West stated that he was "done with antisemitism", and asked God to "forgive me for the pain I've caused". He removed pro-Nazi and antisemitic lyrics from the Cuck singles, and on June 22, announced he was changing the album's title to In a Perfect World.
On April 29, during the production of In a Perfect World, West released Donda 2 on streaming services. On May 21, he released the single "Alive", featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again, as the theme song for his upcoming YZY SZN 10 fashion collection. On June 20, West released a three-track extended play (EP) preview of Bully on streaming services. On June 27, West released Never Stop, an EP by Sean Combs' son Christian "King" Combs. West served as Never Stop's executive producer, and North appears on the song "Lonely Roads". The EP's release coincided with the closing arguments of Sean Combs' criminal trial, in which he was charged with racketeering and sex trafficking; West has been an outspoken defender of Combs.
Musical style
West's musical career is defined by frequent stylistic shifts and different musical approaches. In the subsequent years since his debut, West has both musically and lyrically taken an increasingly experimental approach to crafting progressive hip-hop music while maintaining accessible pop sensibilities. Ed Ledsham of PopMatters said that "West's melding of multiple genres into the hip-hop fold is a complex act that challenges the dominant white notions of what constitutes true 'art' music." West's rhymes have been described as funny, provocative and articulate, capable of seamlessly segueing from shrewd commentary to comical braggadocio to introspective sensitivity. West imparts that he strives to speak in an inclusive manner so groups from different racial and gender backgrounds can comprehend his lyrics, saying he desired to sound "just as ill as Jadakiss and just as understandable as Will Smith". Early in his career, West pioneered a style of hip-hop production dubbed "chipmunk-soul", a sampling technique involving the manipulation of tempo in order to chop and stretch pitched-up samples from vintage soul songs.
On his debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004), West formed the constitutive elements of his style, described as intricate hip-hop beats, topical subject matter, and clumsy rapping laced with inventive wordplay. The record saw West diverge from the then-dominant gangster persona in hip-hop in favor of more diverse, topical lyrical subjects, including higher education, materialism, self-consciousness, minimum-wage labor, institutional prejudice, class struggle, family, sexuality, his struggles in the music industry, and middle-class upbringing. Over time, West has explored a variety of music genres, encompassing and taking inspiration from chamber pop on his second studio album, Late Registration (2005), arena rock and europop on his third album, Graduation (2007), synth-driven electropop on his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak (2008), acid-house, drill, industrial rap and trap on Yeezus (2013), gospel and Christian rap on The Life of Pablo (2016), Jesus Is King (2019) and Donda (2021), and psychedelic music on Kids See Ghosts (2018).
Other ventures
Fashion
Early in his career, West made clear his interest in fashion and desire to work in the clothing design industry. He launched his own clothing line in spring 2006, and developed it over the following four years before the line was ultimately cancelled in 2009. In January 2007, West's first sneaker collaboration was released, a special-edition Bapesta from A Bathing Ape. In 2009, West collaborated with Nike to release his own shoe, the Air Yeezys, becoming the first non-athlete to be given a shoe deal with the company. In January 2009, he introduced his first shoe line designed for Louis Vuitton during Paris Fashion Week. The line was released in summer 2009. West has additionally designed shoewear for Italian shoemaker Giuseppe Zanotti.
In fall 2009, West moved to Rome, where he interned at Italian fashion brand Fendi, giving ideas for the men's collection. In March 2011, West collaborated with M/M Paris for a series of silk scarves featuring artwork from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. In October 2011, West premiered his women's fashion label at Paris Fashion Week. His debut fashion show received mixed-to-negative reviews. In March 2012, West premiered a second fashion line at Paris Fashion Week. Critics deemed the sophomore effort "much improved" compared to his first show.
On December 3, 2013, Adidas officially confirmed a new shoe collaboration deal with West. After months of anticipation and rumors, West confirmed the release of the Adidas Yeezy Boosts. In 2015, West unveiled a Yeezy clothing line, premiering in collaboration with Adidas early that year. In June 2016, Adidas announced a new long-term contract with Kanye West that extended the Yeezy line to a number of stores, planning to sell sports performance products like basketball, football, and soccer, although Adidas terminated the partnership with West in October 2022 due to his antisemitic remarks. In May 2021, West signed a 10-year deal linking Yeezy with GAP to create Yeezy Gap, however, in September 2022, West announced that he was ending the deal.
Business ventures
West founded the record label and production company GOOD Music in 2004, in conjunction with Sony BMG, shortly after releasing his debut album, The College Dropout. West, alongside then-unknown Ohio singer John Legend and fellow Chicago rapper Common were the label's inaugural artists. The label houses artists including West, Big Sean, Pusha T, Teyana Taylor, Yasiin Bey / Mos Def, D'banj and John Legend, and producers including Hudson Mohawke, Q-Tip, Travis Scott, No I.D., Jeff Bhasker, and S1. GOOD Music has released ten albums certified gold or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In November 2015, West appointed Pusha T the new president of GOOD Music.
In August 2008, West revealed plans to open 10 Fatburger restaurants in the Chicago area after his company, KW Foods LLC, bought the rights to the chain in Chicago. The first location opened in September 2008 in Orland Park and a second followed in January 2009. The Orland Park location closed in early 2011 due to poor sales performance.
In January 2012, West announced his establishment of the creative content company Donda, named after his late mother. In his announcement, West proclaimed that the company would "pick up where Steve Jobs left off"; Donda would operate as a "design company" with a goal to "make products and experiences that people want and can afford". In stating Donda's creative philosophy, West articulated the need to "put creatives in a room together with like minds" in order to "simplify and aesthetically improve everything we see, taste, touch, and feel". West is notoriously secretive about the company's operations, maintaining neither an official website nor a social media presence. Contemporary critics have noted the consistent minimalistic aesthetic exhibited throughout Donda creative projects.
West expressed interest in starting an architecture firm in May 2013, saying "I want to do product, I am a product person, not just clothing but water bottle design, architecture ... I make music but I shouldn't be limited to one place of creativity" and then later in November 2013, delivering a manifesto on his architectural goals during a visit to Harvard Graduate School of Design. In May 2018, West announced he was starting an architecture firm called Yeezy Home, which will act as an arm of his already successful Yeezy fashion label. In June 2018, the first Yeezy Home collaboration was announced by designer Jalil Peraza, teasing an affordable concrete prefabricated home as part of a social housing project.
In March 2015, it was announced that West is a co-owner, with various other music artists, in the music streaming service Tidal. The service specialises in lossless audio and high definition music videos. Jay-Z acquired the parent company of Tidal, Aspiro, in the first quarter of 2015. Sixteen artist stakeholders including Jay-Z, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Madonna, Chris Martin, Nicki Minaj co-own Tidal, with the majority owning a 3% equity stake. In October 2022, in response to bans he received on Twitter and Instagram stemming from his antisemitic comments, West reached an agreement in principle to acquire the alt-tech social network Parler for an undisclosed amount. Parler and West mutually agreed to terminate the proposed deal in mid-November.
Philanthropy
West, alongside his mother, founded the Kanye West Foundation in Chicago in 2003, tasked with a mission to battle dropout and illiteracy rates, while partnering with community organizations to provide underprivileged youth access to music education. In 2007, West and the Foundation partnered with Strong American Schools as part of their "Ed in '08" campaign. As spokesman for the campaign, West appeared in a series of PSAs for the organization, and hosted an inaugural benefit concert in August of that year. In 2008, following the death of West's mother, the foundation was rechristened The Dr. Donda West Foundation. The foundation ceased operations in 2011. In 2013, Kanye West and friend Rhymefest founded Donda's House, Inc., a program aimed at helping at-risk Chicago youth.
West has contributed to hurricane relief in 2005 by participating in a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert after the storm had ravaged black communities in New Orleans and in 2012 when he performed at a Hurricane Sandy benefit concert. In January 2019, West donated $10 million towards the completion of the Roden Crater by American artist James Turrell. In June 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the following protests, he donated $2 million between the family of Floyd and other victims of police brutality, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. The donation funded legal fees for Arbery and Taylor's families, as well as establishing a 529 plan to fully cover college tuition for Floyd's daughter.
Acting and filmmaking
West made cameo appearances as himself in the films State Property 2 (2005) and The Love Guru (2008), and in an episode of the television show Entourage in 2007. West provided the voice for "Kenny West", a rapper, in the animated sitcom The Cleveland Show (2010–2012). In 2009, he starred in the Spike Jonze-directed short film We Were Once a Fairytale (2009), playing himself acting belligerently while drunk in a nightclub. West wrote, directed, and starred in the musical short film Runaway (2010), which heavily features music from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The film depicts a relationship between a man, played by West, and a half-woman, half-phoenix creature.
In 2012, West co-directed another short film, along with Alexandre Moors, titled Cruel Summer, which premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in a custom pyramid-shaped screening pavilion featuring seven screens constructed for the film. The film was meant to tie in with the compilation album of the same name to be released later that year. West made a cameo appearance in the comedy Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013) as a MTV News representative in the film's fight scene. In September 2018, West announced the starting of a film production company named Half Beast, LLC. A documentary shot over 21 years featuring footage of West's early days in Chicago through the death of his mother to his presidential run was announced to debut in 2021. Titled Jeen-Yuhs, it was acquired by Netflix for $30 million and released in 2022.
A documentary shot over six years with a billion-dollar budget was announced in 2024. Titled In Whose Name?, it was directed by Nico Ballesteros and was released on September 19, 2025.
Presidential campaigns
2020
On July 4, 2020, West announced on Twitter that he would be running in the 2020 presidential election. On July 7, West was interviewed by Forbes about his presidential run, where he announced that his running mate would be Wyoming preacher Michelle Tidball, and that he would run as an independent under the "Birthday Party", explaining his decision of why he chose the name, saying, "Because when we win, it's everybody's 'birthday'." West also said he no longer supported Trump because he "hid in [a] bunker" during the COVID-19 pandemic. Continuing, he said, "You know? Obama's special. Trump's special. We say Kanye West is special. America needs special people that lead. Bill Clinton? Special. Joe Biden's not special."
Various political pundits speculated that West's presidential run was a publicity stunt to promote his latest music releases. On July 15, 2020, official paperwork was filed with the Federal Election Commission for West, under the "BDY" Party affiliation amid claims that he was preparing to drop out. West held his first rally that weekend, on July 19. West aligned himself with the philosophy of a consistent life ethic, a tenet of Christian democracy. His platform advocated for the creation of a culture of life, endorsing environmental stewardship, supporting the arts, buttressing faith-based organizations, restoring school prayer, providing for a strong national defense, and "America First" diplomacy. In July 2020, West told Forbes that he is ignorant on issues such as taxes and foreign policy.
West conceded on Twitter on November 4, 2020. He received 66,365 votes in the 12 states he had ballot access in, receiving an average of 0.32%. Reported write-in votes gave West an additional 3,931 votes across 5 states. In addition, the Roque De La Fuente / Kanye West ticket won 60,160 votes in California (0.34%). According to Reuters, on January 4, 2021, a Kanye West-linked publicist pressured a Georgia election worker to confess to bogus charges of election tampering to assist Trump's claims of election interference. In December 2021, The Daily Beast reported that West's presidential campaign received millions of dollars in services from a secret network of Republican operatives, payments to which the committee did not report. According to campaign finance experts, this was done to conceal a connection.
2024
West stated his intention to run for president again in the 2024 presidential election, saying at a November 2019 event, "When I run for president in 2024, we would've created so many jobs that I'm not going to run, I'm going to walk." He was met with laughter from the audience. In response to a request for additional information from the Federal Election Commission regarding the creation of a presidential exploratory committee, West's representatives emphasized that he "has not decided whether to become a candidate for president in the 2024 election" and refused to file additional paperwork with the commission. West officially launched his presidential campaign in November 2022. West claimed to have asked former president Donald Trump to be his running mate; according to West, Trump was "caught [...] off-guard" by the request and warned him of losing if he decided to run. In October 2023, an attorney for West said that he "is not a candidate for office in 2024".
Views
West has been an outspoken and controversial celebrity throughout his career, receiving criticism from the mainstream media, industry colleagues and entertainers, and three U.S. presidents. In a 2005 speech, West criticized both the media and the government's racial disparities in their response to Hurricane Katrina, stating on live television "George Bush doesn't care about black people". He apologized for the comment in 2010, saying he "didn't have the grounds to call [Bush] a racist" and later stated in regard to the remark that he "was programmed to think from a victimized mentality". West voiced his opposition to abortion in 2013, citing his belief in the Sixth Commandment, and in 2022 deemed abortion "genocide and population control" of black people. In 2018, West stated that the 400-year enslavement of Africans "sounds like a choice", before elaborating that his comment was in reference to mental enslavement and argued for free thought. He later apologized for the comment.
In late 2022, West made a series of antisemitic statements, resulting in the termination of his collaborations, sponsorships, and partnerships with Vogue, Universal Music Group, CAA, Balenciaga, Gap, and Adidas. Several former associates of West have claimed that he has espoused antisemitic views since the early 2000s, describing it as a "well-known but well-kept secret" within his inner circle. In November 2022, West was widely condemned after appearing at a dinner hosted by Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago beside Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist. In a subsequent December appearance on Alex Jones's InfoWars, West praised Adolf Hitler, denied the Holocaust, and identified himself as a Nazi. After the interview, West used his Twitter account to post a picture of a swastika entangled in a Star of David, and his account was terminated. In July 2023, Twitter reversed the ban, citing assurances from West that he would not post harmful content.
According to a 2023 report published by the Anti-Defamation League, West's antisemitic rhetoric has caused several instances of hate-speech vandalism, harassment, and violence across the United States. In December 2023, weeks before the slated release of his upcoming album, West apologized for his antisemitic remarks in a written statement on Instagram. In a subsequent interview, he said "[s]ome of the stuff I was saying was true" and that Black people cannot be antisemitic because they "are Jew". In February 2025, he went on an antisemitic rant on X, professing his love for Hitler, and purchased local advertising during Super Bowl LIX which directed viewers to his website, where he was selling a swastika T-shirt. In May 2025, Rolling Stone wrote that West's social media tirades had turned him into "a cultural and business pariah".
Personal life
West has been one of the wealthiest musical artists; his net worth was as high as $1.8 billion in 2021. In October 2022, Forbes estimated his net worth to have dropped to $400 million in large part due to Adidas's termination of their partnership following a series of public antisemitic statements.
Name change
In August 2021, West applied to court to have his legal name changed from "Kanye Omari West" to "Ye", with no middle or last name; he cited "personal reasons" for the change. The request was granted by Michelle Williams Court, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, in October 2021. West had alluded to wishing to change his name since 2018 and had used Ye as a nickname for several years prior, stating in a 2018 interview that he believed "ye" () was the most commonly used word in the Bible: "In the Bible it means 'you'. So, I'm you. I'm us. It's us. It went from being Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye." He has said that the name Ye represents him without an ego. West began releasing music under the name Ye and made an effort to change his social media handles from @kanyewest to @ye in 2025. HotNewHipHop noted that the public still generally referred to him using his birth name, "[w]hether for SEO reasons, force of habit, animosity, or intentional suppression".
Relationships and family
In April 2025, West said that he and a male cousin had an incestuous relationship as children. The relationship began when they attempted reenacting what they saw in gay pornography magazines that West had discovered in his mother's closet. West said that he performed oral sex on his cousin until he was 14, when he ended the relationship.
Kim Kardashian
In April 2012, West began dating reality television star Kim Kardashian, with whom he had already been long-time friends. West and Kardashian became engaged in October 2013, and married at Fort di Belvedere in Florence in May 2014. Their private ceremony was subject to widespread mainstream coverage, with which West took issue. The couple's high-profile status and respective careers have resulted in their relationship becoming subject to heavy media coverage; The New York Times referred to their marriage as "a historic blizzard of celebrity".
West and Kardashian have four children: North West (born June 2013), Saint West (born December 2015), Chicago West (born via surrogate in January 2018), and Psalm West (born via surrogate in May 2019). In July 2020, during a presidential campaign rally of his, West revealed that he had previously considered abortion during Kardashian's first pregnancy but has since adopted anti-abortion views. In April 2015, West and Kardashian traveled to Jerusalem to have North baptized in the Armenian Apostolic Church at the Cathedral of St. James.
In September 2018, West announced that he would be permanently moving back to Chicago to establish his Yeezy company headquarters there. This did not actually occur, and West instead went on to purchase two ranches near Cody, Wyoming, where he recorded his eighth solo studio album, Ye. Kardashian resides with their children in a home that the now-divorced couple owns in California, whereas West moved into a home across the street to continue to be near their children. In October 2021, West began the process of selling his Wyoming ranch.
In July 2020, West acknowledged the possibility of Kardashian ending their marriage due to his adoption of anti-abortion views. Later that month, West wrote on Twitter that he had been attempting to divorce Kardashian. He also wrote that the Kardashian family was attempting "to lock [him] up". In January 2021, CNN reported that the couple were discussing divorce. A month later, Kardashian filed for divorce, with the couple citing "irreconcilable differences", agreeing to joint custody of their children, and declining spousal support from each other. The divorce settlement was finalized in November 2022, and West was ordered to pay $200,000 in monthly child support and be responsible for half of the children's medical, educational, and security expenses.
Other relationships
West began an on-and-off relationship with the designer Alexis Phifer in 2002, and they became engaged in August 2006. They ended their 18-month engagement in 2008. Phifer stated that the pair had split amicably and remained friends. West dated model Amber Rose from 2008 until mid-2010. In an interview following their split, West stated that he had to take "30 showers" before committing to his next relationship with Kim Kardashian. In response, Rose stated that she had been "bullied" and "slut-shamed" by West throughout their relationship.
In January 2022, actress Julia Fox confirmed in an Interview essay that she was dating West. West continued to say that he wanted his "family back" and publicly lashed out at Kardashian's new boyfriend, comedian Pete Davidson. His treatment of Davidson and Kardashian has been described by commentators as harassment and abusive; the 64th Annual Grammy Awards dropped him as a performer in response to his "concerning online behavior". Less than two months after confirming their relationship, Fox said that she and West had split up but remained on good terms. She later said that she dated West purely to "give people something to talk about" during the COVID-19 pandemic and to "get him off Kim's case".
In January 2023, it was reported that West had informally married Australian architect Bianca Censori, who works for West's Yeezy brand, in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills. The ceremony had no legal standing; the couple did not file for a marriage license. In response to West's subsequent trips to Australia to visit Censori's family, Australian Minister for Education Jason Clare commented that West may be denied a visa due to his recent antisemitic remarks. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the Anti-Defamation Commission further argued against granting West entry. In April 2025, West claimed in the song "Bianca" that Censori had left him following his controversial Twitter comments, but shared a photo later that month showing that they were still together.
Legal issues
He has been accused of the extensive use of uncleared samples in his music, leading to numerous lawsuits. In December 2006, Robert "Evel" Knievel sued the rapper for trademark infringement of his name and likeness in West's video for "Touch the Sky". Knievel took issue with the "vulgar and offensive" and "sexually charged video" in which West takes on the persona of "Evel Kanyevel" that Knievel claimed damaged his reputation. The suit sought monetary damages and an injunction to stop distribution of the video. West's attorneys argued that the music video amounted to satire and therefore was covered under the First Amendment. Days before his death in November 2007, Knievel amicably settled the suit after being paid a visit by West, saying, "I thought he was a wonderful guy and quite a gentleman."
In 2014, after an altercation with a paparazzo at the Los Angeles Airport, West was sentenced to serve two years' probation for a misdemeanor battery conviction, and was required to attend 24 anger management sessions, perform 250 hours of community service, and pay restitution to the photographer. A separate civil lawsuit brought by the paparazzo was settled in 2015, a week before it was due for trial. According to TMZ, an appeal to have West's conviction expunged from his criminal record was granted by a judge in 2016.
On June 29, 2022, a complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in New York claiming copyright infringement due to unauthorized use of a sample on the song "Flowers". The complaint claims that West sampled Marshall Jefferson's 1986 house track "Move Your Body" without gaining permission or providing compensation. In July 2022, West was sued for $416,000 by the fashion rental company the David Casavant Archive. The lawsuit claimed that West had failed to make payments on and return 13 rented pieces.
West was sued three times in 2024. The first lawsuit, filed by a former security guard in April, accused him of racial discrimination, alleging he treated black employees worse than white ones. The second, filed by a former assistant in June, accused him of wrongful termination, sexual harassment, and breach of contract; the accuser amended the lawsuit to include sexual assault later that year, and to include stalking, sexual battery, sex trafficking, and false imprisonment in July 2025. West denied the allegations in the second lawsuit and said he planned to countersue the accuser for "sexual coercion". The third, filed by a former model in November, accused him of sexual assault and strangulation. The accuser said that during a music video set, West choked and gagged her.
Religious beliefs
After the success of his song "Jesus Walks" from the album The College Dropout, West was asked about his beliefs and said, "I will say that I'm spiritual. I have accepted Jesus as my Savior. And I will say that I fall short every day." In a 2008 interview with The Fader, West stated that "I'm like a vessel, and God has chosen me to be the voice and the connector". In a 2009 interview with online magazine Bossip, West stated that he believed in God, but at the time felt that he "would never go into a religion". In 2014, West referred to himself as a Christian during one of his concerts. Kim Kardashian stated in September 2019: "He has had an amazing evolution of being born again and being saved by Christ." In October 2019, West said with respect to his past, "When I was trying to serve multiple gods it drove me crazy" in reference to the "god of ego, god of money, god of pride, the god of fame", and that "I didn't even know what it meant to be saved" and that now "I love Jesus Christ. I love Christianity."
Politics
In September 2012, West donated $1,000 to Barack Obama's re-election campaign; further, in August 2015, West donated $2,700 to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. He also donated $15,000 to the Democratic National Committee in October 2014. In December 2016, West met with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculums, and violence in Chicago. West subsequently stated he would have voted for Trump had he voted. In February 2017, however, West deleted all his tweets about Trump in purported dislike of the new president's policies, particularly the travel ban. West reiterated his support for Donald Trump in April 2018. In October 2018, West donated to progressive Chicago mayoral candidate Amara Enyia.
On June 29, 2024, he arrived in Moscow, Russia, to celebrate the 40th birthday of Russian fashion designer Gosha Rubchinskiy. West was labeled an "enemy of Ukraine" after his trip to Moscow.
Mental health
On November 19, 2016, West abruptly ended a concert before being committed at the recommendation of authorities to the UCLA Medical Center with hallucinations and paranoia. While the episode was first described as one of "temporary psychosis" caused by dehydration and sleep deprivation, West's mental state was abnormal enough for his 21 cancelled concerts to be covered by his insurance policy. He was reportedly paranoid and depressed throughout the hospitalization, but remained formally undiagnosed. Some have speculated that the Paris robbery of his wife may have triggered the paranoia. On November 30, West was released from the hospital.
In his song "FML" and his featured verse on Vic Mensa's song "U Mad", he refers to using the antidepressant medication Lexapro, and in his unreleased song "I Feel Like That", he mentions feeling many common symptoms of depression and anxiety. In a 2018 interview, West said that he had become addicted to opioids when they were prescribed to him after liposuction. The addiction may have contributed to his nervous breakdown in 2016. In addition to his opioid addiction, West has stated that he has had addictions to alcohol, sex, and pornography. West said that he often has suicidal ideation. West was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016, though his diagnosis was not made public until his 2018 album Ye. He told President Donald Trump that it was a misdiagnosis. He had reportedly accepted the diagnosis again by 2019, but again suggested that it had been a misdiagnosis in 2022. In December 2022, he suggested that he may be autistic, and later said in February 2025 that he had received a professional diagnosis.
In August 2024, West's former Chief of Staff Milo Yiannopoulos stated in an affidavit filed to the California Dental Board that West was addicted to nitrous oxide. He alleged that dentist Thomas Connelly, who installed permanent titanium prosthodontics for West in January 2024, had moved into West's apartment building and was charging him $50,000 a month to supply the drugs. In May 2025, West and Censori sued Connelly for "medical malpractice, professional negligence, and related tortious and contractual violations". Their lawyer, Andrew Cherkasky, said that West "experienced increased confusion, mood instability, anxiety, and depression" as a result of Connelly's alleged role in facilitating the addiction.
Musical influence
West is among the most critically acclaimed popular music artists of the 21st century, earning praise from music critics, industry peers, and cultural figures. In 2014, NME named him the third most influential artist in music. Billboard senior editor Alex Gale declared West "absolutely one of the best, and you could make the argument for the best artist of the 21st century." Sharing similar sentiments, Dave Bry of Complex Magazine called West the twenty-first century's "most important artist of any art form, of any genre." The Atlantic writer David Samuels commented, "Kanye's power resides in his wild creativity and expressiveness, his mastery of form, and his deep and uncompromising attachment to a self-made aesthetic that he expresses through means that are entirely of the moment: rap music, digital downloads, fashion, Twitter, blogs, live streaming video." Joe Muggs of The Guardian argued that "there is nobody else who can sell as many records as West does [...] while remaining so resolutely experimental and capable of stirring things up culturally and politically."
Rolling Stone credited West with transforming hip-hop's mainstream, "establishing a style of introspective yet glossy rap" while deeming him "a producer who created a signature sound and then abandoned it to his imitators, a flashy, free-spending sybarite with insightful things to say about college, culture, and economics, an egomaniac with more than enough artistic firepower to back it up." Writing for Highsnobiety, Shahzaib Hussain stated that West's first three albums "cemented his role as a progressive rap progenitor". AllMusic editor Jason Birchmeier described West as "[shattering] certain stereotypes about rappers, becoming a superstar on his own terms without adapting his appearance, his rhetoric, or his music to fit any one musical mold". Lawrence Burney of Noisey has credited West with the commercial decline of the gangsta rap genre that once dominated mainstream hip-hop. The release of his third studio album Graduation has been described as a turning point in the music industry, and is considered to have helped pave the way for new rappers who did not follow the hardcore-gangster mold to find wider mainstream acceptance.
Hip-hop artists like Drake, Nicki Minaj, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, and Chance the Rapper have acknowledged being influenced by West. Several other artists and music groups of various genres have named West as an influence on their work.
Achievements
West is the fourth-highest certified artist in the U.S. by digital singles (69 million). He had the most RIAA digital song certifications by a male artist in the 2000s (19), and was the fourth best-selling digital songs artist of the 2000s in the U.S. In Spotify's first ten years from 2008 to 2018, West was the sixth most streamed artist, and the fourth fastest artist to reach one billion streams. West has the joint-most consecutive studio album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 (9) and was the first rapper to top the Billboard Hot 100 in three distinct decades (2000s, 2010s, 2020s). He ranked third on Billboard's 2000s decade-end list of top producers and has topped the annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll the joint-most times (four albums) with Bob Dylan.
West has been nominated for 75 Grammys, of which he has won 24. He has been the most nominated act at five ceremonies, and has received the fourth-most wins overall in the 2000s. In 2008, West became the first solo artist to have his first three albums receive nominations for Album of the Year. West has won a Webby Award for Artist of the Year, an Accessories Council Excellence Award for being a stylemaker, International Man of the Year at the GQ Awards, a Clio Award for The Life of Pablo Album Experience, and an honour by The Recording Academy. West is one of eight acts to have won the Billboard Artist Achievement Award. In 2015, he became the third rap act to win the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
West's first six solo studio albums were included on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Entertainment Weekly named The College Dropout the best album of the 2000s, Complex named Graduation the best album released between 2002 and 2012, 808s & Heartbreak was named by Rolling Stone as one of the 40 most groundbreaking albums of all time, The A.V. Club named My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the best album of the 2010s, Yeezus was the most critically acclaimed album of 2013 according to Metacritic, and The Life of Pablo was the first album to top the Billboard 200, go platinum in the U.S., and go gold in the UK via streaming alone.
Discography
Solo studio albums
Collaborative studio albums
Watch the Throne (2011) (with Jay-Z)
Kids See Ghosts (2018) (with Kid Cudi, as Kids See Ghosts)
Vultures 1 (2024) (with Ty Dolla Sign, as ¥$)
Vultures 2 (2024) (with Ty Dolla Sign, as ¥$)
Compilation albums
Cruel Summer (2012) (with GOOD Music)
Visual albums
Bully V1 (2025)
Videography
The College Dropout Video Anthology (2004)
Late Orchestration (2006)
VH1 Storytellers (2010)
Runaway (2010)
Jesus Is King (2019)
Jeen-Yuhs (2022)
Bully V1 (2025)
In Whose Name? (2025)
Tours
Books
Thank You and You're Welcome (2009)
Through the Wire: Lyrics & Illuminations (2009)
Glow in the Dark (2009)
See also
Black conservatism in the United States
List of people with bipolar disorder
List of Christian hip-hop artists
Notes
References
Further reading
Kanye in Oxford: The #YeezOx highlights. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
External links
Kanye West on Twitter
Kanye West at AllMusic
Kanye West at IMDb
Kanye West discography at Discogs
Appearances on C-SPAN
Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
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Ye ( YAY; born Kanye Omari West KAHN-yay; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time and one of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary.
After dropping out of college to pursue a music career, West began producing for regional artists in the Chicago area. As an in-house producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, he co-produced albums such as Jay-Z's The Blueprint (2001) before signing with the label as a recording artist. West's debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004), received acclaim and included the US Billboard Hot 100-number one single "Slow Jamz". He topped the chart on four other occasions with the singles "Gold Digger" (2005), "Stronger" (2007), "E.T." (2011, as a featured artist), and "Carnival" (2024).
The College Dropout and five of West's subsequent albums—Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007), 808s & Heartbreak (2008), My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), and Yeezus (2013)—were all included on Rolling Stone's 2020 "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list, with the same publication naming him one of the "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time". One of the world's best-selling music artists with 160 million records sold, West has won 24 Grammy Awards, making him the 12th-most awarded of all time. His other accolades include a Billboard Artist Achievement Award, a joint-record three Brit Awards for Best International Male Solo Artist, and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. West holds the joint record (with Bob Dylan) for most albums (4) topping the annual Pazz & Jop critic poll. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015.
West's outspoken views have received significant media coverage. He has been a frequent source of controversy due to his conduct on social media, at award shows and in public settings, as well as his comments on the music and fashion industries, U.S. politics, race, and slavery. His Christian faith, high-profile marriage to Kim Kardashian, feuds with Taylor Swift and with Drake, and mental health have also been topics of media attention. In 2020, West ran an unsuccessful independent presidential campaign. Starting in 2022, West has drawn widespread condemnation—and lost sponsors and partnerships—for his antisemitic views. He has self-identified as a Nazi, praised Adolf Hitler, used swastika imagery, and denied the Holocaust.
Early life
Kanye Omari West was born on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. After his parents divorced when he was three years old, he moved with his mother to Chicago, Illinois. His father, Ray West, is a former Black Panther and was one of the first black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ray later became a Christian counselor, and in 2006, opened the Good Water Store and Café in Lexington Park, Maryland, with startup capital from his son. West's mother, Donda C. West (née Williams), was a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University and the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University before retiring to serve as his manager.
West was raised in a middle-class environment, attending Polaris School for Individual Education in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois, after living in Chicago. At the age of 10, West moved with his mother to Nanjing, China, where she was teaching at Nanjing University as a Fulbright Scholar. According to his mother, West was the only foreigner in his class, but he settled in well and quickly picked up the language, although he has since forgotten most of it. When asked about his grades in high school, West replied, "I got A's and B's."
West demonstrated an affinity for the arts at an early age; he began writing poetry when he was five years old. West started rapping in the third grade and began making musical compositions in the seventh grade, eventually selling them to other artists. West crossed paths with producer No I.D., who became West's friend and mentor. After graduating from high school, West received a scholarship to attend Chicago's American Academy of Art in 1997 and began taking painting classes. Shortly after, he transferred to Chicago State University to study English. At age 20, he dropped out to pursue his musical career. This greatly displeased his mother, who was also a professor at the university, although she would later accept the decision.
Musical career
1996–2002: Early work and Roc-A-Fella
West began his early production career in the mid-1990s, creating beats primarily for burgeoning local artists in the Chicago area. He received his first official production credits at age nineteen, when he produced eight tracks on Down to Earth, the 1996 debut album of Chicago-based underground rapper Grav. In 1998, West was the first producer signed to the management-production company Hip Hop Since 1978, founded by Gee Roberson and Kyambo "Hip-Hop" Joshua. For a time, West acted as a ghost producer for Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie. Due to his association with Angelettie, West was not able to release a solo album, so he formed the Go-Getters, a hip-hop group composed of him and fellow Chicago natives GLC, Timmy G, Really Doe, and Arrowstar. The Go-Getters independently released their first and only studio album, World Record Holders in 1999 through West's company, Konman Productions. West spent much of the late 1990s further producing for several musical acts. He produced "My Life" on Foxy Brown's second studio album Chyna Doll (1999), which became the second hip-hop album by a female rapper to peak atop the US Billboard 200 chart.
In 2000, West began producing for artists on Roc-A-Fella Records as an in-house producer. West is often credited with revitalizing Jay-Z's career with extensive contributions to his 2001 album The Blueprint, which Rolling Stone ranked among their list of greatest hip-hop albums. West produced songs for label cohorts such as Beanie Sigel and Freeway, but also produced beats which were used by artists on other labels including Ludacris, Alicia Keys, and Janet Jackson. Meanwhile, West struggled to attain a record deal as a rapper. Multiple record companies, including Capitol Records, denied or ignored him because he did not portray the gangsta image prominent in mainstream hip-hop at the time. Desperate to keep West from defecting to another label, then-label head Damon Dash reluctantly signed West to Roc-A-Fella as a recording artist.
After a 2002 car accident shattered his jaw, West was inspired; two weeks after being admitted to the hospital, he recorded "Through the Wire" at the Record Plant Studios with his jaw still wired shut. The song was first included on West's debut mixtape Get Well Soon..., which was released in December 2002. At the same time, West announced that he was working on an album titled The College Dropout, whose overall theme was to "make your own decisions. Don't let society tell you, 'This is what you have to do.'"
2003–2006: The College Dropout and Late Registration
West recorded the remainder of the album in Los Angeles while recovering from the car accident. It was leaked months before its release date, and West used the opportunity to remix, remaster, and revise the album before its release; West added new verses, string arrangements, gospel choirs, and improved drum programming. The album was postponed three times from its initial date in August 2003, and was eventually released in February 2004, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 as his debut single, "Through the Wire" peaked at No. 15 while on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for five weeks. "Slow Jamz", his second single, featuring Twista and Jamie Foxx, became the three musicians' first No. 1 hit. The College Dropout received critical acclaim, was nominated for the top album of the year by American Music Awards and Billboard, and has consistently been ranked among the great hip-hop works and debut albums by artists.
"Jesus Walks", the album's fourth single, reached the top 20 of the Billboard pop charts, despite industry executives' predictions that a song containing such blatant declarations of faith would never make it to the radio. The College Dropout was certified triple platinum in the U.S., and garnered West 10 Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year, and Best Rap Album (which it received). During this period, West founded GOOD Music, a record label and management company that housed affiliate artists and producers, such as No I.D. and John Legend, and produced singles for Brandy, Common, Legend, and Slum Village.
West invested $2 million and took over a year to make his second album. West was inspired by Roseland NYC Live, a 1998 live album by English trip hop group Portishead, produced with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, incorporating string arrangements into his hip-hop production. Though West had not been able to afford many live instruments around the time of his debut album, the money from his commercial success enabled him to hire a string orchestra for his second album Late Registration. West collaborated with American film score composer Jon Brion, who served as the album's co-executive producer for several tracks. Late Registration sold over 2.3 million units in the United States alone by the end of 2005 and was considered by industry observers as the only successful major album release of the fall season, which had been plagued by steadily declining CD sales.
When his song "Touch the Sky" failed to win Best Video at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards, West went onto the stage as the award was being presented to Justice and Simian for "We Are Your Friends" and argued that he should have won the award instead. Hundreds of news outlets worldwide criticized the outburst. On November 7, 2006, West apologized for this outburst publicly during his performance as support act for U2 for their Vertigo concert in Brisbane. He later spoofed the incident on the 33rd-season premiere of Saturday Night Live in September 2007.
2007–2009: Graduation, 808s & Heartbreak, and VMAs incident
West's third studio album, Graduation, was released in September 2007. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and selling 957,000 copies in its first week. Graduation continued the string of critical and commercial successes by West, and the album's lead single, "Stronger", garnered his third number-one hit. "Stronger", which samples French house duo Daft Punk, has been accredited to not only encouraging other hip-hop artists to incorporate house and electronica elements into their music, but also for playing a part in the revival of disco and electro-infused music in the late 2000s. His mother's death in November 2007 and the end of his engagement to Alexis Phifer profoundly affected West, who set off for his 2008 Glow in the Dark Tour shortly thereafter.
Recorded mostly in Honolulu, Hawaii in three weeks, West announced his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak, at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, where he performed its lead single, "Love Lockdown". Music audiences were taken aback by the uncharacteristic production style and the presence of Auto-Tune, which typified the pre-release response to the record. 808s & Heartbreak was released by Island Def Jam in November 2008. Upon its release, the lead single "Love Lockdown" debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, while follow-up single "Heartless" debuted at number four. While it was criticized prior to release, 808s & Heartbreak is considered to have had a significant effect on hip-hop music, encouraging other rappers to take more creative risks with their productions.
While Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, West went on stage and grabbed the microphone from her to proclaim that Beyoncé deserved the award instead. He was subsequently removed from the remainder of the show for his actions. West was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and by President Barack Obama, who called West a "jackass". The incident sparked a large influx of Internet photo memes. West subsequently apologized, including personally to Swift. However, in a November 2010 interview, he seemed to recant his past apologies, describing the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless".
2010–2012: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Watch the Throne, and Cruel Summer
Following the highly publicized incident, West took a brief break from music and threw himself into fashion, then returned to Hawaii for a few months writing and recording his next album. Importing his favorite producers and artists to work on and inspire his recording, West kept engineers behind the boards 24 hours a day and slept only in increments. Noah Callahan-Bever, a writer for Complex, was present during the sessions and described the "communal" atmosphere as thus: "With the right songs and the right album, he can overcome any and all controversy, and we are here to contribute, challenge, and inspire." A variety of artists contributed to the project, including close friends Jay-Z, Kid Cudi and Pusha T, as well as collaborations with artists including Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Gil Scott Heron.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, West's fifth studio album, was released in November 2010 to widespread acclaim from critics, many of whom considered it his best work and said it solidified his comeback. In stark contrast to his previous effort, which featured a minimalist sound, Dark Fantasy adopts a maximalist philosophy and deals with themes of celebrity and excess. The record included the international hit "All of the Lights", and Billboard hits "Power", "Monster", and "Runaway", the latter of which accompanied a 35-minute film of the same name directed by and starring West. During this time, West initiated the free music program GOOD Fridays through his website, offering a free download of previously unreleased songs each Friday, a portion of which were included on the album. This promotion ran from August to December 2010. Dark Fantasy went on to go platinum in the United States, but its omission as a contender for Album of the Year at the 54th Grammy Awards was viewed as a "snub" by several media outlets.
2011 saw West embark on a festival tour to commemorate the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, performing and headlining at numerous festivals, including: SWU Music & Arts, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Oya Festival, Flow Festival, Live Music Festival,
The Big Chill, Essence Music Festival, Lollapalooza, and Coachella, which was described by The Hollywood Reporter as "one of greatest hip-hop sets of all time". West released the collaborative album Watch the Throne with Jay-Z in August 2011. By employing a sales strategy that released the album digitally weeks before its physical counterpart, Watch the Throne became one of the few major label albums in the Internet age to avoid a leak. "Niggas in Paris" became the record's highest-charting single, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The co-headlining Watch the Throne Tour kicked off in October 2011 and concluded in June 2012. In 2012, West released the compilation album Cruel Summer, a collection of tracks by artists from West's record label GOOD Music.
2013–2015: Yeezus and the Yeezus Tour
Sessions for West's sixth solo effort begin to take shape in early 2013 in his own personal loft's living room at a Paris hotel. Determined to "undermine the commercial", he once again brought together close collaborators and attempted to incorporate Chicago drill, dancehall, acid house, and industrial music. Primarily inspired by architecture, West's perfectionist tendencies led him to contact producer Rick Rubin fifteen days shy of its due date to strip down the record's sound in favor of a more minimalist approach. Initial promotion of his sixth album included worldwide video projections of the album's music and live television performances. Yeezus, West's sixth album, was released June 18, 2013, to rave reviews from critics. It became his sixth consecutive number one debut, but also marked his lowest solo opening week sales.
In September 2013, West announced he would be headlining his first solo tour in five years, to support Yeezus, with fellow American rapper Kendrick Lamar accompanying him as a supporting act. The tour was met with rave reviews from critics. Rolling Stone described it as "crazily entertaining, hugely ambitious, emotionally affecting (really!) and, most importantly, totally bonkers". Writing for Forbes, Zack O'Malley Greenburg praised West for "taking risks that few pop stars, if any, are willing to take in today's hyper-exposed world of pop", describing the show as "overwrought and uncomfortable at times, but [it] excels at challenging norms and provoking thought in a way that just isn't common for mainstream musical acts of late". West subsequently released a number of singles featuring Paul McCartney, including "Only One" and "FourFiveSeconds", also featuring Rihanna.
In November 2013, West stated that he was beginning work on his next studio album, hoping to release it by mid-2014, with production by Rick Rubin and Q-Tip. Having initially announced a new album entitled Yeezus II slated for a 2014 release, West announced in March 2015 that the album would instead be tentatively called So Help Me God. In May 2015, West was awarded an honorary doctorate by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for his contributions to music, fashion, and popular culture. The next month, West headlined at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, despite a petition signed by almost 135,000 people against his appearance. Another petition aimed to block West from headlining the 2015 Pan American Games, garnering 50,000 supporters.
2016–2017: The Life of Pablo and tour cancellation
West announced in January 2016 that Swish would be released on February 11, and later that month, released new songs "Real Friends" and a snippet of "No More Parties in LA" with Kendrick Lamar. On January 26, 2016, West revealed he had renamed the album from Swish to Waves. In the weeks leading up to the album's release, West became embroiled in several Twitter controversies. Several days ahead of its release, West again changed the title, this time to The Life of Pablo. On February 11, West premiered the album at Madison Square Garden as part of the presentation of his Yeezy Season 3 clothing line. Following the preview, West announced that he would be modifying the tracklist once more before its release to the public. He released the album exclusively on Tidal on February 14, 2016, following a performance on SNL. Following its release, West continued to tinker with mixes of several tracks, describing the work as "a living breathing changing creative expression" and proclaiming the end of the album as a dominant release form. Despite West's earlier comments, in addition to Tidal, the album was released through several other competing services starting in April.
In February 2016, West stated on Twitter that he was planning to release another album in the summer of 2016, tentatively called Turbo Grafx 16 in reference to the 1990s video game console of the same name. In June 2016, West released the collaborative lead single "Champions" off the GOOD Music album Cruel Winter, which has yet to be released. Later that month, West released a controversial video for "Famous", which depicted wax figures of several celebrities (including West, Kardashian, Taylor Swift, businessman and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, comedian Bill Cosby, and former president George W. Bush) sleeping nude in a shared bed.
In August 2016, West embarked on the Saint Pablo Tour in support of The Life of Pablo. The performances featured a mobile stage suspended from the ceiling. West postponed several dates in October following the Paris robbery of several of his wife's effects. On November 21, 2016, West cancelled the remaining 21 dates on the Saint Pablo Tour, following a week of no-shows, curtailed concerts and rants about politics. He was later admitted for psychiatric observation at UCLA Medical Center. He stayed hospitalized over the Thanksgiving weekend because of a temporary psychosis stemming from sleep deprivation and extreme dehydration. Following this episode West took an 11-month break from posting on Twitter and the public in general.
2017–2019: Ye and the Wyoming Sessions
It was reported in May 2017 that West was recording new music in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with a wide range of collaborators. In April 2018, West announced plans to write a philosophy book entitled Break the Simulation, later clarifying that he was sharing the book "in real time" on Twitter and began posting content that was likened to "life coaching". Later that month, he also announced two new albums, a solo album and self-titled collaboration with Kid Cudi under the name Kids See Ghosts, both of which would be released in June. Additionally, he revealed he would produce upcoming albums by GOOD Music label-mates Pusha T and Teyana Taylor, as well as Nas. Shortly thereafter, West released the non-album singles "Lift Yourself" and "Ye vs. the People", in which he and T.I. discussed West's support of Donald Trump.
Pusha T's Daytona, "the first project out of Wyoming", was released in May to critical acclaim, although the album's artwork—a photograph of deceased singer Whitney Houston's bathroom that West paid $85,000 to license—attracted some controversy. The following week, West released his eighth studio album, Ye. West has suggested that he scrapped the original recordings of the album and re-recorded it within a month. The week after, West released a collaborative album with Kid Cudi, titled Kids See Ghosts, named after their group of the same name. West also completed production work on Nas' Nasir and Teyana Taylor's K.T.S.E., which were released in June 2018.
In September, West announced his ninth studio album Yandhi to be released by the end of the month and a collaborative album with fellow Chicagoan rapper Chance the Rapper titled Good Ass Job. That same month, West announced that he would be changing his stage name to "Ye". Yandhi was originally set for release in September 2018 but was postponed multiple times. In January 2019, West pulled out of headlining that year's Coachella festival after negotiations broke down due to discord regarding stage design. In July, it was reported that songs from West's unreleased album Yandhi were leaked online. The following month, Kim Kardashian announced that West's next album would be titled Jesus Is King, effectively scrapping Yandhi. By October, the entire unfinished album was available for a short time on streaming services Spotify and Tidal.
2019–2022: Jesus Is King, Donda, and Donda 2
On January 6, 2019, West started his weekly "Sunday Service" events, which included soul variations of both West's and others' songs and were attended by multiple celebrities, including the Kardashians, Charlie Wilson, and Kid Cudi. West previewed a new song, "Water" at his "Sunday Service" orchestration performance at Coachella 2019, which was later revealed to feature on his upcoming album Jesus Is King; West released the album on October 25, 2019. It became the first to ever top the Billboard 200, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Top Rap Albums, Top Christian Albums and Top Gospel Albums at the same time. On December 25, 2019, West and Sunday Service released Jesus Is Born, containing 19 songs, including several re-workings of older West songs.
West released a single titled "Wash Us in the Blood" on June 30, 2020, featuring fellow American rapper and singer Travis Scott, along with the music video, which was set to serve as the lead single from his tenth studio album Donda. However, in September 2020, West stated that he would not be releasing any further music until he is "done with [his] contract with Sony and Universal". On October 16, he released the single "Nah Nah Nah". West held several listening parties at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for his upcoming album Donda in the summer of 2021, where he had taken up temporary residence in one of the stadium's locker rooms, converting it into a recording studio to finish the recording. After multiple delays, Donda was released on August 29, 2021. West claimed the album was released early without his approval and alleged that Universal had altered the tracklist. He released a deluxe edition of Donda, including five new songs, to streaming services on November 14, 2021. On November 20, days after ending their long-running feud, West and rapper Drake confirmed that they would stage the "Free Larry Hoover" benefit concert on December 9 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
On January 5, 2022, West was announced as one of the 2022 headliners of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Later that month on January 15, West released the first single for his upcoming album Donda 2, "Eazy" featuring The Game, to be executive produced by American rapper Future. West hosted a listening event for the album at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, on February 22. In April, shortly before Coachella, West pulled out as headlining act, then proceeded to pull out of headlining Rolling Loud. West and The Game performed the single on July 22, marking West's first performance in five months following the low profile he had been keeping since Donda 2 remained unfinished. A day later, despite cancelling as headliner, he appeared at Rolling Loud during Lil Durk's set. In December 2022, after weeks of controversial antisemitic statements, West released a new song, "Someday We'll All Be Free", on his Instagram.
2023–present: Vultures trilogy, Bully, and In a Perfect World
On August 25, 2023, West was reported to be in the process of recording his eleventh studio album, with two sources close to him stating that the release of new music was "imminent". On October 13, Billboard reported that West had finished recording a collaborative studio album with Ty Dolla Sign and was in the process of shopping the album to distributors, adding that the album was originally intended for an official release that day but was ultimately pushed back for unknown reasons and expected to drop within the coming weeks. The eponymous lead single for the album, "Vultures" featuring Bump J, was released on November 22, 2023.
Throughout late 2023 and early 2024, West and Ty Dolla Sign held several concerts previewing songs from the album. In a trailer, West announced that Vultures would be released as a trilogy of albums, with three volumes set to be released on February 9, March 6, and April 5, 2024. In January 2024, West co-signed 4Batz and called him his favorite new artist. On February 8, 2024, West released the first volume's second single, "Talking / Once Again" featuring his eldest daughter North. A day later, producer Erick Sermon revealed in an interview that West's upcoming eleventh studio album was titled Y3, while also stating that he had contributed to the album in 2023. West has since denied working on an album titled Y3.
On February 10, 2024, hours after West held a listening party at UBS Arena, the first volume of the Vultures trilogy, entitled Vultures 1, was officially released. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming West's eleventh consecutive and Ty Dolla Sign's first number one album, respectively. Vultures 2 released later that year on August 3. On September 28, during a concert in Haikou, China at the Wuyuan River Stadium, West announced his eleventh solo album Bully, debuting the track "Beauty and the Beast". On March 15, 2025, he shared a song on his X account, "Lonely Roads Still Go to Sunshine", featuring his daughter North and vocals credited to Sean Combs, resulting in legal action from Kim Kardashian. On March 18, he shared links on X to three versions of Bully, all of which were accompanied by a short film starring his son Saint. He stated that the album was "not finished and half of the vocals [are] AI", and added that he did not intend to release it on streaming services because of "French and Jewish record labels". Bully would later be released as the "screening version" on YouTube for a temporary time.
On March 26, 2025, West released "WW3" under the name Ye onto streaming services, after having been previously teased by Dave Blunts and Adin Ross. A week later, DJ Akademiks announced that West was working on WW3, a collaborative album with Blunts, a few days after they held an interview where West wore a black Ku Klux Klan-inspired outfit and said further controversial remarks. West changed the album's title to Cuck on April 21, and in the following weeks released the singles "Cousins" and "Heil Hitler". After Cuck leaked on May 18, 2025, West stated that he was "done with antisemitism", and asked God to "forgive me for the pain I've caused". He removed pro-Nazi and antisemitic lyrics from the Cuck singles, and on June 22, announced he was changing the album's title to In a Perfect World.
On April 29, during the production of In a Perfect World, West released Donda 2 on streaming services. On May 21, he released the single "Alive", featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again, as the theme song for his upcoming YZY SZN 10 fashion collection. On June 20, West released a three-track extended play (EP) preview of Bully on streaming services. On June 27, West released Never Stop, an EP by Sean Combs' son Christian "King" Combs. West served as Never Stop's executive producer, and North appears on the song "Lonely Roads". The EP's release coincided with the closing arguments of Sean Combs' criminal trial, in which he was charged with racketeering and sex trafficking; West has been an outspoken defender of Combs.
Musical style
West's musical career is defined by frequent stylistic shifts and different musical approaches. In the subsequent years since his debut, West has both musically and lyrically taken an increasingly experimental approach to crafting progressive hip-hop music while maintaining accessible pop sensibilities. Ed Ledsham of PopMatters said that "West's melding of multiple genres into the hip-hop fold is a complex act that challenges the dominant white notions of what constitutes true 'art' music." West's rhymes have been described as funny, provocative and articulate, capable of seamlessly segueing from shrewd commentary to comical braggadocio to introspective sensitivity. West imparts that he strives to speak in an inclusive manner so groups from different racial and gender backgrounds can comprehend his lyrics, saying he desired to sound "just as ill as Jadakiss and just as understandable as Will Smith". Early in his career, West pioneered a style of hip-hop production dubbed "chipmunk-soul", a sampling technique involving the manipulation of tempo in order to chop and stretch pitched-up samples from vintage soul songs.
On his debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004), West formed the constitutive elements of his style, described as intricate hip-hop beats, topical subject matter, and clumsy rapping laced with inventive wordplay. The record saw West diverge from the then-dominant gangster persona in hip-hop in favor of more diverse, topical lyrical subjects, including higher education, materialism, self-consciousness, minimum-wage labor, institutional prejudice, class struggle, family, sexuality, his struggles in the music industry, and middle-class upbringing. Over time, West has explored a variety of music genres, encompassing and taking inspiration from chamber pop on his second studio album, Late Registration (2005), arena rock and europop on his third album, Graduation (2007), synth-driven electropop on his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak (2008), acid-house, drill, industrial rap and trap on Yeezus (2013), gospel and Christian rap on The Life of Pablo (2016), Jesus Is King (2019) and Donda (2021), and psychedelic music on Kids See Ghosts (2018).
Other ventures
Fashion
Early in his career, West made clear his interest in fashion and desire to work in the clothing design industry. He launched his own clothing line in spring 2006, and developed it over the following four years before the line was ultimately cancelled in 2009. In January 2007, West's first sneaker collaboration was released, a special-edition Bapesta from A Bathing Ape. In 2009, West collaborated with Nike to release his own shoe, the Air Yeezys, becoming the first non-athlete to be given a shoe deal with the company. In January 2009, he introduced his first shoe line designed for Louis Vuitton during Paris Fashion Week. The line was released in summer 2009. West has additionally designed shoewear for Italian shoemaker Giuseppe Zanotti.
In fall 2009, West moved to Rome, where he interned at Italian fashion brand Fendi, giving ideas for the men's collection. In March 2011, West collaborated with M/M Paris for a series of silk scarves featuring artwork from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. In October 2011, West premiered his women's fashion label at Paris Fashion Week. His debut fashion show received mixed-to-negative reviews. In March 2012, West premiered a second fashion line at Paris Fashion Week. Critics deemed the sophomore effort "much improved" compared to his first show.
On December 3, 2013, Adidas officially confirmed a new shoe collaboration deal with West. After months of anticipation and rumors, West confirmed the release of the Adidas Yeezy Boosts. In 2015, West unveiled a Yeezy clothing line, premiering in collaboration with Adidas early that year. In June 2016, Adidas announced a new long-term contract with Kanye West that extended the Yeezy line to a number of stores, planning to sell sports performance products like basketball, football, and soccer, although Adidas terminated the partnership with West in October 2022 due to his antisemitic remarks. In May 2021, West signed a 10-year deal linking Yeezy with GAP to create Yeezy Gap, however, in September 2022, West announced that he was ending the deal.
Business ventures
West founded the record label and production company GOOD Music in 2004, in conjunction with Sony BMG, shortly after releasing his debut album, The College Dropout. West, alongside then-unknown Ohio singer John Legend and fellow Chicago rapper Common were the label's inaugural artists. The label houses artists including West, Big Sean, Pusha T, Teyana Taylor, Yasiin Bey / Mos Def, D'banj and John Legend, and producers including Hudson Mohawke, Q-Tip, Travis Scott, No I.D., Jeff Bhasker, and S1. GOOD Music has released ten albums certified gold or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In November 2015, West appointed Pusha T the new president of GOOD Music.
In August 2008, West revealed plans to open 10 Fatburger restaurants in the Chicago area after his company, KW Foods LLC, bought the rights to the chain in Chicago. The first location opened in September 2008 in Orland Park and a second followed in January 2009. The Orland Park location closed in early 2011 due to poor sales performance.
In January 2012, West announced his establishment of the creative content company Donda, named after his late mother. In his announcement, West proclaimed that the company would "pick up where Steve Jobs left off"; Donda would operate as a "design company" with a goal to "make products and experiences that people want and can afford". In stating Donda's creative philosophy, West articulated the need to "put creatives in a room together with like minds" in order to "simplify and aesthetically improve everything we see, taste, touch, and feel". West is notoriously secretive about the company's operations, maintaining neither an official website nor a social media presence. Contemporary critics have noted the consistent minimalistic aesthetic exhibited throughout Donda creative projects.
West expressed interest in starting an architecture firm in May 2013, saying "I want to do product, I am a product person, not just clothing but water bottle design, architecture ... I make music but I shouldn't be limited to one place of creativity" and then later in November 2013, delivering a manifesto on his architectural goals during a visit to Harvard Graduate School of Design. In May 2018, West announced he was starting an architecture firm called Yeezy Home, which will act as an arm of his already successful Yeezy fashion label. In June 2018, the first Yeezy Home collaboration was announced by designer Jalil Peraza, teasing an affordable concrete prefabricated home as part of a social housing project.
In March 2015, it was announced that West is a co-owner, with various other music artists, in the music streaming service Tidal. The service specialises in lossless audio and high definition music videos. Jay-Z acquired the parent company of Tidal, Aspiro, in the first quarter of 2015. Sixteen artist stakeholders including Jay-Z, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Madonna, Chris Martin, Nicki Minaj co-own Tidal, with the majority owning a 3% equity stake. In October 2022, in response to bans he received on Twitter and Instagram stemming from his antisemitic comments, West reached an agreement in principle to acquire the alt-tech social network Parler for an undisclosed amount. Parler and West mutually agreed to terminate the proposed deal in mid-November.
Philanthropy
West, alongside his mother, founded the Kanye West Foundation in Chicago in 2003, tasked with a mission to battle dropout and illiteracy rates, while partnering with community organizations to provide underprivileged youth access to music education. In 2007, West and the Foundation partnered with Strong American Schools as part of their "Ed in '08" campaign. As spokesman for the campaign, West appeared in a series of PSAs for the organization, and hosted an inaugural benefit concert in August of that year. In 2008, following the death of West's mother, the foundation was rechristened The Dr. Donda West Foundation. The foundation ceased operations in 2011. In 2013, Kanye West and friend Rhymefest founded Donda's House, Inc., a program aimed at helping at-risk Chicago youth.
West has contributed to hurricane relief in 2005 by participating in a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert after the storm had ravaged black communities in New Orleans and in 2012 when he performed at a Hurricane Sandy benefit concert. In January 2019, West donated $10 million towards the completion of the Roden Crater by American artist James Turrell. In June 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the following protests, he donated $2 million between the family of Floyd and other victims of police brutality, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. The donation funded legal fees for Arbery and Taylor's families, as well as establishing a 529 plan to fully cover college tuition for Floyd's daughter.
Acting and filmmaking
West made cameo appearances as himself in the films State Property 2 (2005) and The Love Guru (2008), and in an episode of the television show Entourage in 2007. West provided the voice for "Kenny West", a rapper, in the animated sitcom The Cleveland Show (2010–2012). In 2009, he starred in the Spike Jonze-directed short film We Were Once a Fairytale (2009), playing himself acting belligerently while drunk in a nightclub. West wrote, directed, and starred in the musical short film Runaway (2010), which heavily features music from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The film depicts a relationship between a man, played by West, and a half-woman, half-phoenix creature.
In 2012, West co-directed another short film, along with Alexandre Moors, titled Cruel Summer, which premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in a custom pyramid-shaped screening pavilion featuring seven screens constructed for the film. The film was meant to tie in with the compilation album of the same name to be released later that year. West made a cameo appearance in the comedy Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013) as a MTV News representative in the film's fight scene. In September 2018, West announced the starting of a film production company named Half Beast, LLC. A documentary shot over 21 years featuring footage of West's early days in Chicago through the death of his mother to his presidential run was announced to debut in 2021. Titled Jeen-Yuhs, it was acquired by Netflix for $30 million and released in 2022.
A documentary shot over six years with a billion-dollar budget was announced in 2024. Titled In Whose Name?, it was directed by Nico Ballesteros and was released on September 19, 2025.
Presidential campaigns
2020
On July 4, 2020, West announced on Twitter that he would be running in the 2020 presidential election. On July 7, West was interviewed by Forbes about his presidential run, where he announced that his running mate would be Wyoming preacher Michelle Tidball, and that he would run as an independent under the "Birthday Party", explaining his decision of why he chose the name, saying, "Because when we win, it's everybody's 'birthday'." West also said he no longer supported Trump because he "hid in [a] bunker" during the COVID-19 pandemic. Continuing, he said, "You know? Obama's special. Trump's special. We say Kanye West is special. America needs special people that lead. Bill Clinton? Special. Joe Biden's not special."
Various political pundits speculated that West's presidential run was a publicity stunt to promote his latest music releases. On July 15, 2020, official paperwork was filed with the Federal Election Commission for West, under the "BDY" Party affiliation amid claims that he was preparing to drop out. West held his first rally that weekend, on July 19. West aligned himself with the philosophy of a consistent life ethic, a tenet of Christian democracy. His platform advocated for the creation of a culture of life, endorsing environmental stewardship, supporting the arts, buttressing faith-based organizations, restoring school prayer, providing for a strong national defense, and "America First" diplomacy. In July 2020, West told Forbes that he is ignorant on issues such as taxes and foreign policy.
West conceded on Twitter on November 4, 2020. He received 66,365 votes in the 12 states he had ballot access in, receiving an average of 0.32%. Reported write-in votes gave West an additional 3,931 votes across 5 states. In addition, the Roque De La Fuente / Kanye West ticket won 60,160 votes in California (0.34%). According to Reuters, on January 4, 2021, a Kanye West-linked publicist pressured a Georgia election worker to confess to bogus charges of election tampering to assist Trump's claims of election interference. In December 2021, The Daily Beast reported that West's presidential campaign received millions of dollars in services from a secret network of Republican operatives, payments to which the committee did not report. According to campaign finance experts, this was done to conceal a connection.
2024
West stated his intention to run for president again in the 2024 presidential election, saying at a November 2019 event, "When I run for president in 2024, we would've created so many jobs that I'm not going to run, I'm going to walk." He was met with laughter from the audience. In response to a request for additional information from the Federal Election Commission regarding the creation of a presidential exploratory committee, West's representatives emphasized that he "has not decided whether to become a candidate for president in the 2024 election" and refused to file additional paperwork with the commission. West officially launched his presidential campaign in November 2022. West claimed to have asked former president Donald Trump to be his running mate; according to West, Trump was "caught [...] off-guard" by the request and warned him of losing if he decided to run. In October 2023, an attorney for West said that he "is not a candidate for office in 2024".
Views
West has been an outspoken and controversial celebrity throughout his career, receiving criticism from the mainstream media, industry colleagues and entertainers, and three U.S. presidents. In a 2005 speech, West criticized both the media and the government's racial disparities in their response to Hurricane Katrina, stating on live television "George Bush doesn't care about black people". He apologized for the comment in 2010, saying he "didn't have the grounds to call [Bush] a racist" and later stated in regard to the remark that he "was programmed to think from a victimized mentality". West voiced his opposition to abortion in 2013, citing his belief in the Sixth Commandment, and in 2022 deemed abortion "genocide and population control" of black people. In 2018, West stated that the 400-year enslavement of Africans "sounds like a choice", before elaborating that his comment was in reference to mental enslavement and argued for free thought. He later apologized for the comment.
In late 2022, West made a series of antisemitic statements, resulting in the termination of his collaborations, sponsorships, and partnerships with Vogue, Universal Music Group, CAA, Balenciaga, Gap, and Adidas. Several former associates of West have claimed that he has espoused antisemitic views since the early 2000s, describing it as a "well-known but well-kept secret" within his inner circle. In November 2022, West was widely condemned after appearing at a dinner hosted by Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago beside Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist. In a subsequent December appearance on Alex Jones's InfoWars, West praised Adolf Hitler, denied the Holocaust, and identified himself as a Nazi. After the interview, West used his Twitter account to post a picture of a swastika entangled in a Star of David, and his account was terminated. In July 2023, Twitter reversed the ban, citing assurances from West that he would not post harmful content.
According to a 2023 report published by the Anti-Defamation League, West's antisemitic rhetoric has caused several instances of hate-speech vandalism, harassment, and violence across the United States. In December 2023, weeks before the slated release of his upcoming album, West apologized for his antisemitic remarks in a written statement on Instagram. In a subsequent interview, he said "[s]ome of the stuff I was saying was true" and that Black people cannot be antisemitic because they "are Jew". In February 2025, he went on an antisemitic rant on X, professing his love for Hitler, and purchased local advertising during Super Bowl LIX which directed viewers to his website, where he was selling a swastika T-shirt. In May 2025, Rolling Stone wrote that West's social media tirades had turned him into "a cultural and business pariah".
Personal life
West has been one of the wealthiest musical artists; his net worth was as high as $1.8 billion in 2021. In October 2022, Forbes estimated his net worth to have dropped to $400 million in large part due to Adidas's termination of their partnership following a series of public antisemitic statements.
Name change
In August 2021, West applied to court to have his legal name changed from "Kanye Omari West" to "Ye", with no middle or last name; he cited "personal reasons" for the change. The request was granted by Michelle Williams Court, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, in October 2021. West had alluded to wishing to change his name since 2018 and had used Ye as a nickname for several years prior, stating in a 2018 interview that he believed "ye" () was the most commonly used word in the Bible: "In the Bible it means 'you'. So, I'm you. I'm us. It's us. It went from being Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye." He has said that the name Ye represents him without an ego. West began releasing music under the name Ye and made an effort to change his social media handles from @kanyewest to @ye in 2025. HotNewHipHop noted that the public still generally referred to him using his birth name, "[w]hether for SEO reasons, force of habit, animosity, or intentional suppression".
Relationships and family
In April 2025, West said that he and a male cousin had an incestuous relationship as children. The relationship began when they attempted reenacting what they saw in gay pornography magazines that West had discovered in his mother's closet. West said that he performed oral sex on his cousin until he was 14, when he ended the relationship.
Kim Kardashian
In April 2012, West began dating reality television star Kim Kardashian, with whom he had already been long-time friends. West and Kardashian became engaged in October 2013, and married at Fort di Belvedere in Florence in May 2014. Their private ceremony was subject to widespread mainstream coverage, with which West took issue. The couple's high-profile status and respective careers have resulted in their relationship becoming subject to heavy media coverage; The New York Times referred to their marriage as "a historic blizzard of celebrity".
West and Kardashian have four children: North West (born June 2013), Saint West (born December 2015), Chicago West (born via surrogate in January 2018), and Psalm West (born via surrogate in May 2019). In July 2020, during a presidential campaign rally of his, West revealed that he had previously considered abortion during Kardashian's first pregnancy but has since adopted anti-abortion views. In April 2015, West and Kardashian traveled to Jerusalem to have North baptized in the Armenian Apostolic Church at the Cathedral of St. James.
In September 2018, West announced that he would be permanently moving back to Chicago to establish his Yeezy company headquarters there. This did not actually occur, and West instead went on to purchase two ranches near Cody, Wyoming, where he recorded his eighth solo studio album, Ye. Kardashian resides with their children in a home that the now-divorced couple owns in California, whereas West moved into a home across the street to continue to be near their children. In October 2021, West began the process of selling his Wyoming ranch.
In July 2020, West acknowledged the possibility of Kardashian ending their marriage due to his adoption of anti-abortion views. Later that month, West wrote on Twitter that he had been attempting to divorce Kardashian. He also wrote that the Kardashian family was attempting "to lock [him] up". In January 2021, CNN reported that the couple were discussing divorce. A month later, Kardashian filed for divorce, with the couple citing "irreconcilable differences", agreeing to joint custody of their children, and declining spousal support from each other. The divorce settlement was finalized in November 2022, and West was ordered to pay $200,000 in monthly child support and be responsible for half of the children's medical, educational, and security expenses.
Other relationships
West began an on-and-off relationship with the designer Alexis Phifer in 2002, and they became engaged in August 2006. They ended their 18-month engagement in 2008. Phifer stated that the pair had split amicably and remained friends. West dated model Amber Rose from 2008 until mid-2010. In an interview following their split, West stated that he had to take "30 showers" before committing to his next relationship with Kim Kardashian. In response, Rose stated that she had been "bullied" and "slut-shamed" by West throughout their relationship.
In January 2022, actress Julia Fox confirmed in an Interview essay that she was dating West. West continued to say that he wanted his "family back" and publicly lashed out at Kardashian's new boyfriend, comedian Pete Davidson. His treatment of Davidson and Kardashian has been described by commentators as harassment and abusive; the 64th Annual Grammy Awards dropped him as a performer in response to his "concerning online behavior". Less than two months after confirming their relationship, Fox said that she and West had split up but remained on good terms. She later said that she dated West purely to "give people something to talk about" during the COVID-19 pandemic and to "get him off Kim's case".
In January 2023, it was reported that West had informally married Australian architect Bianca Censori, who works for West's Yeezy brand, in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills. The ceremony had no legal standing; the couple did not file for a marriage license. In response to West's subsequent trips to Australia to visit Censori's family, Australian Minister for Education Jason Clare commented that West may be denied a visa due to his recent antisemitic remarks. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the Anti-Defamation Commission further argued against granting West entry. In April 2025, West claimed in the song "Bianca" that Censori had left him following his controversial Twitter comments, but shared a photo later that month showing that they were still together.
Legal issues
He has been accused of the extensive use of uncleared samples in his music, leading to numerous lawsuits. In December 2006, Robert "Evel" Knievel sued the rapper for trademark infringement of his name and likeness in West's video for "Touch the Sky". Knievel took issue with the "vulgar and offensive" and "sexually charged video" in which West takes on the persona of "Evel Kanyevel" that Knievel claimed damaged his reputation. The suit sought monetary damages and an injunction to stop distribution of the video. West's attorneys argued that the music video amounted to satire and therefore was covered under the First Amendment. Days before his death in November 2007, Knievel amicably settled the suit after being paid a visit by West, saying, "I thought he was a wonderful guy and quite a gentleman."
In 2014, after an altercation with a paparazzo at the Los Angeles Airport, West was sentenced to serve two years' probation for a misdemeanor battery conviction, and was required to attend 24 anger management sessions, perform 250 hours of community service, and pay restitution to the photographer. A separate civil lawsuit brought by the paparazzo was settled in 2015, a week before it was due for trial. According to TMZ, an appeal to have West's conviction expunged from his criminal record was granted by a judge in 2016.
On June 29, 2022, a complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in New York claiming copyright infringement due to unauthorized use of a sample on the song "Flowers". The complaint claims that West sampled Marshall Jefferson's 1986 house track "Move Your Body" without gaining permission or providing compensation. In July 2022, West was sued for $416,000 by the fashion rental company the David Casavant Archive. The lawsuit claimed that West had failed to make payments on and return 13 rented pieces.
West was sued three times in 2024. The first lawsuit, filed by a former security guard in April, accused him of racial discrimination, alleging he treated black employees worse than white ones. The second, filed by a former assistant in June, accused him of wrongful termination, sexual harassment, and breach of contract; the accuser amended the lawsuit to include sexual assault later that year, and to include stalking, sexual battery, sex trafficking, and false imprisonment in July 2025. West denied the allegations in the second lawsuit and said he planned to countersue the accuser for "sexual coercion". The third, filed by a former model in November, accused him of sexual assault and strangulation. The accuser said that during a music video set, West choked and gagged her.
Religious beliefs
After the success of his song "Jesus Walks" from the album The College Dropout, West was asked about his beliefs and said, "I will say that I'm spiritual. I have accepted Jesus as my Savior. And I will say that I fall short every day." In a 2008 interview with The Fader, West stated that "I'm like a vessel, and God has chosen me to be the voice and the connector". In a 2009 interview with online magazine Bossip, West stated that he believed in God, but at the time felt that he "would never go into a religion". In 2014, West referred to himself as a Christian during one of his concerts. Kim Kardashian stated in September 2019: "He has had an amazing evolution of being born again and being saved by Christ." In October 2019, West said with respect to his past, "When I was trying to serve multiple gods it drove me crazy" in reference to the "god of ego, god of money, god of pride, the god of fame", and that "I didn't even know what it meant to be saved" and that now "I love Jesus Christ. I love Christianity."
Politics
In September 2012, West donated $1,000 to Barack Obama's re-election campaign; further, in August 2015, West donated $2,700 to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. He also donated $15,000 to the Democratic National Committee in October 2014. In December 2016, West met with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculums, and violence in Chicago. West subsequently stated he would have voted for Trump had he voted. In February 2017, however, West deleted all his tweets about Trump in purported dislike of the new president's policies, particularly the travel ban. West reiterated his support for Donald Trump in April 2018. In October 2018, West donated to progressive Chicago mayoral candidate Amara Enyia.
On June 29, 2024, he arrived in Moscow, Russia, to celebrate the 40th birthday of Russian fashion designer Gosha Rubchinskiy. West was labeled an "enemy of Ukraine" after his trip to Moscow.
Mental health
On November 19, 2016, West abruptly ended a concert before being committed at the recommendation of authorities to the UCLA Medical Center with hallucinations and paranoia. While the episode was first described as one of "temporary psychosis" caused by dehydration and sleep deprivation, West's mental state was abnormal enough for his 21 cancelled concerts to be covered by his insurance policy. He was reportedly paranoid and depressed throughout the hospitalization, but remained formally undiagnosed. Some have speculated that the Paris robbery of his wife may have triggered the paranoia. On November 30, West was released from the hospital.
In his song "FML" and his featured verse on Vic Mensa's song "U Mad", he refers to using the antidepressant medication Lexapro, and in his unreleased song "I Feel Like That", he mentions feeling many common symptoms of depression and anxiety. In a 2018 interview, West said that he had become addicted to opioids when they were prescribed to him after liposuction. The addiction may have contributed to his nervous breakdown in 2016. In addition to his opioid addiction, West has stated that he has had addictions to alcohol, sex, and pornography. West said that he often has suicidal ideation. West was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016, though his diagnosis was not made public until his 2018 album Ye. He told President Donald Trump that it was a misdiagnosis. He had reportedly accepted the diagnosis again by 2019, but again suggested that it had been a misdiagnosis in 2022. In December 2022, he suggested that he may be autistic, and later said in February 2025 that he had received a professional diagnosis.
In August 2024, West's former Chief of Staff Milo Yiannopoulos stated in an affidavit filed to the California Dental Board that West was addicted to nitrous oxide. He alleged that dentist Thomas Connelly, who installed permanent titanium prosthodontics for West in January 2024, had moved into West's apartment building and was charging him $50,000 a month to supply the drugs. In May 2025, West and Censori sued Connelly for "medical malpractice, professional negligence, and related tortious and contractual violations". Their lawyer, Andrew Cherkasky, said that West "experienced increased confusion, mood instability, anxiety, and depression" as a result of Connelly's alleged role in facilitating the addiction.
Musical influence
West is among the most critically acclaimed popular music artists of the 21st century, earning praise from music critics, industry peers, and cultural figures. In 2014, NME named him the third most influential artist in music. Billboard senior editor Alex Gale declared West "absolutely one of the best, and you could make the argument for the best artist of the 21st century." Sharing similar sentiments, Dave Bry of Complex Magazine called West the twenty-first century's "most important artist of any art form, of any genre." The Atlantic writer David Samuels commented, "Kanye's power resides in his wild creativity and expressiveness, his mastery of form, and his deep and uncompromising attachment to a self-made aesthetic that he expresses through means that are entirely of the moment: rap music, digital downloads, fashion, Twitter, blogs, live streaming video." Joe Muggs of The Guardian argued that "there is nobody else who can sell as many records as West does [...] while remaining so resolutely experimental and capable of stirring things up culturally and politically."
Rolling Stone credited West with transforming hip-hop's mainstream, "establishing a style of introspective yet glossy rap" while deeming him "a producer who created a signature sound and then abandoned it to his imitators, a flashy, free-spending sybarite with insightful things to say about college, culture, and economics, an egomaniac with more than enough artistic firepower to back it up." Writing for Highsnobiety, Shahzaib Hussain stated that West's first three albums "cemented his role as a progressive rap progenitor". AllMusic editor Jason Birchmeier described West as "[shattering] certain stereotypes about rappers, becoming a superstar on his own terms without adapting his appearance, his rhetoric, or his music to fit any one musical mold". Lawrence Burney of Noisey has credited West with the commercial decline of the gangsta rap genre that once dominated mainstream hip-hop. The release of his third studio album Graduation has been described as a turning point in the music industry, and is considered to have helped pave the way for new rappers who did not follow the hardcore-gangster mold to find wider mainstream acceptance.
Hip-hop artists like Drake, Nicki Minaj, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, and Chance the Rapper have acknowledged being influenced by West. Several other artists and music groups of various genres have named West as an influence on their work.
Achievements
West is the fourth-highest certified artist in the U.S. by digital singles (69 million). He had the most RIAA digital song certifications by a male artist in the 2000s (19), and was the fourth best-selling digital songs artist of the 2000s in the U.S. In Spotify's first ten years from 2008 to 2018, West was the sixth most streamed artist, and the fourth fastest artist to reach one billion streams. West has the joint-most consecutive studio album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 (9) and was the first rapper to top the Billboard Hot 100 in three distinct decades (2000s, 2010s, 2020s). He ranked third on Billboard's 2000s decade-end list of top producers and has topped the annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll the joint-most times (four albums) with Bob Dylan.
West has been nominated for 75 Grammys, of which he has won 24. He has been the most nominated act at five ceremonies, and has received the fourth-most wins overall in the 2000s. In 2008, West became the first solo artist to have his first three albums receive nominations for Album of the Year. West has won a Webby Award for Artist of the Year, an Accessories Council Excellence Award for being a stylemaker, International Man of the Year at the GQ Awards, a Clio Award for The Life of Pablo Album Experience, and an honour by The Recording Academy. West is one of eight acts to have won the Billboard Artist Achievement Award. In 2015, he became the third rap act to win the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
West's first six solo studio albums were included on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Entertainment Weekly named The College Dropout the best album of the 2000s, Complex named Graduation the best album released between 2002 and 2012, 808s & Heartbreak was named by Rolling Stone as one of the 40 most groundbreaking albums of all time, The A.V. Club named My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the best album of the 2010s, Yeezus was the most critically acclaimed album of 2013 according to Metacritic, and The Life of Pablo was the first album to top the Billboard 200, go platinum in the U.S., and go gold in the UK via streaming alone.
Discography
Solo studio albums
Collaborative studio albums
Watch the Throne (2011) (with Jay-Z)
Kids See Ghosts (2018) (with Kid Cudi, as Kids See Ghosts)
Vultures 1 (2024) (with Ty Dolla Sign, as ¥$)
Vultures 2 (2024) (with Ty Dolla Sign, as ¥$)
Compilation albums
Cruel Summer (2012) (with GOOD Music)
Visual albums
Bully V1 (2025)
Videography
The College Dropout Video Anthology (2004)
Late Orchestration (2006)
VH1 Storytellers (2010)
Runaway (2010)
Jesus Is King (2019)
Jeen-Yuhs (2022)
Bully V1 (2025)
In Whose Name? (2025)
Tours
Books
Thank You and You're Welcome (2009)
Through the Wire: Lyrics & Illuminations (2009)
Glow in the Dark (2009)
See also
Black conservatism in the United States
List of people with bipolar disorder
List of Christian hip-hop artists
Notes
References
Further reading
Kanye in Oxford: The #YeezOx highlights. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
External links
Kanye West on Twitter
Kanye West at AllMusic
Kanye West at IMDb
Kanye West discography at Discogs
Appearances on C-SPAN
Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
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Paul Walker
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Paul William Walker IV (September 12, 1973 – November 30, 2013) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Brian O'Conner in the Fast & Furious franchise.
Paul Walker began his career as a child actor in the 1980s, gaining recognition in the 1990s after appearing in the television soap opera The Young and the Restless; he received praise for his performances in the teen comedy She's All That and the comedy-drama Varsity Blues (both 1999), and rose to international fame by starring in The Fast and the Furious (2001).
He also starred in the commercially successful road thriller Joy Ride (2001), becoming an action star. He followed this with the box-office disappointments Into the Blue (2005) and Running Scared (2006), although he earned praise for his performance in the survival drama Eight Below and for his portrayal of Hank Hansen in Flags of Our Fathers (both 2006). Outside of these, Walker largely appeared in low-budget action films, but starred in the commercially successful heist film Takers (2010).
Walker died in a single-vehicle collision on November 30, 2013, as a passenger in a speeding car. His father and daughter filed separate wrongful death lawsuits against Porsche, which resulted in settlements. At the time of his death, Walker had not completed filming Furious 7 (2015); it was released after rewrites and stand-ins, including his brothers Cody and Caleb, were used to complete the film while the song "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth was commissioned as a tribute.
Early life and education
Walker was born on September 12, 1973, in Glendale, California. His mother, Cheryl (née Crabtree), was a fashion model, and his father, Paul William Walker III, was a sewer contractor and former amateur boxer who was a two-time Golden Gloves champion. Walker's paternal grandfather, William, had a short-lived boxing career as "Irish" Billy Walker, while another raced factory cars for Ford in the 1960s.
Walker was raised in the Mormon religion, and had four younger siblings: Aimee, Ashlie, Caleb, and Cody. He spent most of his early life in the Sunland neighborhood of Los Angeles and graduated from high school at Village Christian School in 1991. Walker subsequently attended several community colleges in Southern California, majoring in marine biology.
Career
Walker began a modeling career as a toddler, starring in a television commercial for Pampers at age two. He continued to appear in commercials, most notably for Showbiz Pizza in 1984, before beginning an acting career on television that year, appearing in the teen anthology series CBS Schoolbreak Special. Walker continued to work in television until 1996, across a number of genres; he appeared in two episodes of the fantasy drama Highway to Heaven between 1984 and 1986, and secured his first leading role in 1987, appearing as Jeremy Beatty in the sitcom Throb. He continued to feature on sitcoms in the early 1990s, with guest roles in Charles in Charge, Who's the Boss?, and the short-lived What a Dummy. In 1993, he portrayed Brandon Collins on the soap opera The Young and the Restless; he and co-star Heather Tom, who played Victoria Newman, gained fame, and were nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a Soap Opera at the Youth in Film Awards. Walker's final television role was on Touched by an Angel, although he appeared as himself, alongside his sister Ashlie, as contestants on a 1988 episode of the game show I'm Telling!, in which they finished in second place.
Walker began his film career in 1986, appearing mainly in low budget B films. His first role was in the horror comedy Monster in the Closet, and a year later, starred in The Retaliator (retroactively subtitled Programmed to Kill), a science fiction film. In 1994, he returned to film, starring in Tammy and the T-Rex, but secured his first feature film role in the comedy Meet the Deedles in 1998; although commercially and critically unsuccessful, it allowed Walker to secure supporting roles in the films Pleasantville (1998), Varsity Blues (1999), She's All That (1999), and The Skulls (2000).
In 2001, Walker's breakthrough role was starring opposite Vin Diesel in the action film The Fast and the Furious; it was commercially successful, and subsequently launched a media franchise. The film also established Walker as a film star and leading man, as his performance garnered the MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team (shared with Diesel) in 2002. Walker starred in the critically successful thriller Joy Ride (2001). Walker was originally set to play Jim Street in S.W.A.T. (2003) and had even started training for the part, but backed out to reprise his role as Brian O'Conner in the 2003 sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious. After this, he starred either in low-budget or commercially unsuccessful films for a time, notably Timeline (2003) and Into the Blue (2005).
Walker portrayed Hank Hansen in Clint Eastwood's war film Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and starred in the survival drama Eight Below, both released in 2006. Eight Below garnered critical acclaim and opened in first place at the box office, grossing over US$20 million during its opening weekend. In 2007, Walker debuted as a producer in the action film The Death and Life of Bobby Z, in which he also starred in. He would later go on to be an executive producer in the thriller film Vehicle 19 (2013) and produce the crime comedy film Pawn Shop Chronicles (2013). Walker then starred in the independent film The Lazarus Project, which was released on DVD on October 21, 2008.
Despite initial reluctance, Walker reprised his role as Brian O'Conner after six years, in Fast & Furious (2009). The film became the highest-grossing film in the franchise up until that point. He then reprised his role in the fifth and sixth installments of the franchise, which were commercially successful, while his performances were praised. Walker was nominated for Choice Movie Actor – Action at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards for the former, and nominated for Choice Movie: Chemistry (with Diesel and Dwayne Johnson) and won his second MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo with Diesel for the latter. Walker also starred in the heist film Takers (2010), and returned to modeling in 2011, appearing as the face of fragrance brand Cool Water. In 2012, he founded the film production company Laguna Ridge Pictures, which signed a first-look deal with Fast & Furious distributor Universal Pictures.
After his death in 2013, three films starring Walker were released; the thriller film Hours (2013), which he also served as an executive producer, the action film Brick Mansions (2014), itself a remake of the French film District 13 (2004). He also starred in the action film Furious 7 (2015) but died before he had wrapped up filming. It was originally set to release in 2014, but was pushed back to recreate Walker's likeness. At the time of his death, he had completed around 85% of his scenes. The filmmakers hired Peter Jackson's Weta Digital visual effects house to complete this, using existing reference materials, Walker's brothers Caleb and Cody, as well as co-star John Brotherton, as stand-ins, and outtakes or older footage, to create an accurate remodel of Walker's face. The film was then released in 2015, and Walker won the award for Choice Movie Actor: Action at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards, and was nominated for Choice Movie: Chemistry (shared with Diesel, Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, and Ludacris).
Walker was also set to play Dawson Cole in Nicholas Sparks's film adaptation of The Best of Me (2014) and Agent 47 in the film adaptation Hitman: Agent 47 (2015) after wrapping up production of Furious 7 (2015), but died before both productions began. His roles went to James Marsden and Rupert Friend, respectively. It was later revealed Walker declined the role of Superman in Superman Returns (2006), allegedly due to the "Superman curse" and the celebrity associated with the role.
After Walker's death, the Fast & Furious franchise has paid tributes to him and his character in the movies, such as his character making an off-screen cameo appearance by driving a Nissan Skyline GT-R at the end of F9 (2021), which he also drove in Fast & Furious (2009). Archive footage of Walker from Fast Five (2011) was used in Fast X (2023) as a flashback scene. He also posthumously received a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.
Personal life
Raised in a Mormon household, Walker became a non-denominational Christian as an adult. He lived in Santa Barbara with his dogs. He and Rebecca Soteros, a childhood friend with whom he had an on-and-off relationship, had a daughter named Meadow Rain Walker. Meadow lived with her mother in Hawaii for 13 years and, in 2011, moved to California to live with Walker. Vin Diesel, Walker's close friend, is the godfather of Walker's daughter.
In addition to Diesel, Walker was also close friends with fellow Fast & Furious co-star Tyrese Gibson.
He held a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller at Paragon Jiu-Jitsu and was awarded his black belt by Miller posthumously. Walker founded the humanitarian aid nonprofit charity Reach Out Worldwide (ROWW) with financial adviser Roger Rodas in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. He traveled to a number of disaster-stricken areas to supply aid until his death.
Walker had an interest in marine biology, and joined the board of directors of The Billfish Foundation in 2006. He fulfilled a lifelong dream by starring in the National Geographic Channel series Expedition Great White (retroactively retitled Shark Men), which premiered in June 2010. Walker spent 11 days catching and tagging seven great white sharks off the coast of Mexico. The expedition, led by Chris Fischer, founder and CEO of Fischer Productions, and Brett McBride and Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, took measurements, gathered DNA samples, and fastened real-time satellite tags to the great white sharks, in order to study migratory patterns, especially those associated with mating and birthing, over a five-year period.
A car enthusiast, Walker competed in the Redline Time Attack racing series in which he raced on the AE Performance Team driving a BMW E92 M3. His car was sponsored by Etnies, Brembo, Öhlins, Volk, OS Giken, Hankook, Gintani and Reach Out Worldwide. Walker had been preparing for an auto show prior to his death. Walker owned Always Evolving, a Valencia high-end vehicle performance shop, where Rodas, a pro-am racer, acted as CEO. Walker had a large collection of about 30 cars, a portion of which he co-owned along with Rodas. In January 2020, 21 vehicles owned by Walker were sold for a combined $2.33 million during spirited bidding at an annual car auction in Arizona.
Death
On November 30, 2013, at about 3:30 p.m. PST, Walker, 40, and Roger Rodas, 38, left an event for Walker's charity Reach Out Worldwide for victims of Typhoon Haiyan, with Rodas driving his red 2005 Porsche Carrera GT. Traveling between 80 mph (130 km/h) and 93 mph (150 km/h) in a
45 mph (72 km/h) speed zone on Hercules Street in Valencia, a neighborhood of Santa Clarita, California, Rodas lost control of the car, which crashed into a concrete lamp post and two trees off the road, catching fire within seconds after impact. According to forensic evidence gathered from the scene, both men were knocked out by the impact. Rodas died instantly from multiple physical traumas, while Walker died within seconds from the combined effects of physical trauma and burns. Both of their bodies were burned beyond recognition.
The curve where Walker and Rodas died is a popular spot for drifting cars. No alcohol or other drugs were found in either man's system, and neither mechanical failure nor road conditions appeared to play a role. Police found no evidence of drag racing. The investigation concluded that the car's speed and age of the tires were the primary reasons for the crash.
With Furious 7 in the middle of filming at the time of Walker's death, Universal announced an indeterminate hiatus on the production, citing a desire to speak with his family before determining what to do with the film.
Numerous friends and movie stars posted tributes to Walker on social media. His remains were cremated and his ashes were buried in a non-denominational ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. His life was later chronicled in the documentary I Am Paul Walker, which was released on August 11, 2018.
Lawsuits
In December 2014, Walker's father filed a wrongful death claim against Rodas's estate, seeking the return of or "a proportionate share" of revenue generated by a group of automobiles that were jointly owned by both Walker and Rodas. Walker's daughter received a $10.1M settlement in 2016.
In September 2015, Walker's daughter filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Porsche, claiming that the Porsche Carrera GT had numerous design defects, including a history of instability, and that its seat belt placement could cause harm upon impact. Porsche denied any wrongdoing and blamed Walker, stating: "The perils, risk, and danger were open and obvious and known to him, and he chose to conduct himself in a manner so as to expose himself to such perils, dangers, and risks, thus assuming all the risks involved in using the vehicle." Walker's father and daughter both reached separate out-of-court settlements with Porsche. In April 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Philip S. Gutierrez ruled in favor of Porsche in a separate lawsuit filed by Rodas's widow Kristine.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Paul Walker at IMDb
|
Paul William Walker IV (September 12, 1973 – November 30, 2013) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Brian O'Conner in the Fast & Furious franchise.
Paul Walker began his career as a child actor in the 1980s, gaining recognition in the 1990s after appearing in the television soap opera The Young and the Restless; he received praise for his performances in the teen comedy She's All That and the comedy-drama Varsity Blues (both 1999), and rose to international fame by starring in The Fast and the Furious (2001).
He also starred in the commercially successful road thriller Joy Ride (2001), becoming an action star. He followed this with the box-office disappointments Into the Blue (2005) and Running Scared (2006), although he earned praise for his performance in the survival drama Eight Below and for his portrayal of Hank Hansen in Flags of Our Fathers (both 2006). Outside of these, Walker largely appeared in low-budget action films, but starred in the commercially successful heist film Takers (2010).
Walker died in a single-vehicle collision on November 30, 2013, as a passenger in a speeding car. His father and daughter filed separate wrongful death lawsuits against Porsche, which resulted in settlements. At the time of his death, Walker had not completed filming Furious 7 (2015); it was released after rewrites and stand-ins, including his brothers Cody and Caleb, were used to complete the film while the song "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth was commissioned as a tribute.
Early life and education
Walker was born on September 12, 1973, in Glendale, California. His mother, Cheryl (née Crabtree), was a fashion model, and his father, Paul William Walker III, was a sewer contractor and former amateur boxer who was a two-time Golden Gloves champion. Walker's paternal grandfather, William, had a short-lived boxing career as "Irish" Billy Walker, while another raced factory cars for Ford in the 1960s.
Walker was raised in the Mormon religion, and had four younger siblings: Aimee, Ashlie, Caleb, and Cody. He spent most of his early life in the Sunland neighborhood of Los Angeles and graduated from high school at Village Christian School in 1991. Walker subsequently attended several community colleges in Southern California, majoring in marine biology.
Career
Walker began a modeling career as a toddler, starring in a television commercial for Pampers at age two. He continued to appear in commercials, most notably for Showbiz Pizza in 1984, before beginning an acting career on television that year, appearing in the teen anthology series CBS Schoolbreak Special. Walker continued to work in television until 1996, across a number of genres; he appeared in two episodes of the fantasy drama Highway to Heaven between 1984 and 1986, and secured his first leading role in 1987, appearing as Jeremy Beatty in the sitcom Throb. He continued to feature on sitcoms in the early 1990s, with guest roles in Charles in Charge, Who's the Boss?, and the short-lived What a Dummy. In 1993, he portrayed Brandon Collins on the soap opera The Young and the Restless; he and co-star Heather Tom, who played Victoria Newman, gained fame, and were nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a Soap Opera at the Youth in Film Awards. Walker's final television role was on Touched by an Angel, although he appeared as himself, alongside his sister Ashlie, as contestants on a 1988 episode of the game show I'm Telling!, in which they finished in second place.
Walker began his film career in 1986, appearing mainly in low budget B films. His first role was in the horror comedy Monster in the Closet, and a year later, starred in The Retaliator (retroactively subtitled Programmed to Kill), a science fiction film. In 1994, he returned to film, starring in Tammy and the T-Rex, but secured his first feature film role in the comedy Meet the Deedles in 1998; although commercially and critically unsuccessful, it allowed Walker to secure supporting roles in the films Pleasantville (1998), Varsity Blues (1999), She's All That (1999), and The Skulls (2000).
In 2001, Walker's breakthrough role was starring opposite Vin Diesel in the action film The Fast and the Furious; it was commercially successful, and subsequently launched a media franchise. The film also established Walker as a film star and leading man, as his performance garnered the MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team (shared with Diesel) in 2002. Walker starred in the critically successful thriller Joy Ride (2001). Walker was originally set to play Jim Street in S.W.A.T. (2003) and had even started training for the part, but backed out to reprise his role as Brian O'Conner in the 2003 sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious. After this, he starred either in low-budget or commercially unsuccessful films for a time, notably Timeline (2003) and Into the Blue (2005).
Walker portrayed Hank Hansen in Clint Eastwood's war film Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and starred in the survival drama Eight Below, both released in 2006. Eight Below garnered critical acclaim and opened in first place at the box office, grossing over US$20 million during its opening weekend. In 2007, Walker debuted as a producer in the action film The Death and Life of Bobby Z, in which he also starred in. He would later go on to be an executive producer in the thriller film Vehicle 19 (2013) and produce the crime comedy film Pawn Shop Chronicles (2013). Walker then starred in the independent film The Lazarus Project, which was released on DVD on October 21, 2008.
Despite initial reluctance, Walker reprised his role as Brian O'Conner after six years, in Fast & Furious (2009). The film became the highest-grossing film in the franchise up until that point. He then reprised his role in the fifth and sixth installments of the franchise, which were commercially successful, while his performances were praised. Walker was nominated for Choice Movie Actor – Action at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards for the former, and nominated for Choice Movie: Chemistry (with Diesel and Dwayne Johnson) and won his second MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo with Diesel for the latter. Walker also starred in the heist film Takers (2010), and returned to modeling in 2011, appearing as the face of fragrance brand Cool Water. In 2012, he founded the film production company Laguna Ridge Pictures, which signed a first-look deal with Fast & Furious distributor Universal Pictures.
After his death in 2013, three films starring Walker were released; the thriller film Hours (2013), which he also served as an executive producer, the action film Brick Mansions (2014), itself a remake of the French film District 13 (2004). He also starred in the action film Furious 7 (2015) but died before he had wrapped up filming. It was originally set to release in 2014, but was pushed back to recreate Walker's likeness. At the time of his death, he had completed around 85% of his scenes. The filmmakers hired Peter Jackson's Weta Digital visual effects house to complete this, using existing reference materials, Walker's brothers Caleb and Cody, as well as co-star John Brotherton, as stand-ins, and outtakes or older footage, to create an accurate remodel of Walker's face. The film was then released in 2015, and Walker won the award for Choice Movie Actor: Action at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards, and was nominated for Choice Movie: Chemistry (shared with Diesel, Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, and Ludacris).
Walker was also set to play Dawson Cole in Nicholas Sparks's film adaptation of The Best of Me (2014) and Agent 47 in the film adaptation Hitman: Agent 47 (2015) after wrapping up production of Furious 7 (2015), but died before both productions began. His roles went to James Marsden and Rupert Friend, respectively. It was later revealed Walker declined the role of Superman in Superman Returns (2006), allegedly due to the "Superman curse" and the celebrity associated with the role.
After Walker's death, the Fast & Furious franchise has paid tributes to him and his character in the movies, such as his character making an off-screen cameo appearance by driving a Nissan Skyline GT-R at the end of F9 (2021), which he also drove in Fast & Furious (2009). Archive footage of Walker from Fast Five (2011) was used in Fast X (2023) as a flashback scene. He also posthumously received a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.
Personal life
Raised in a Mormon household, Walker became a non-denominational Christian as an adult. He lived in Santa Barbara with his dogs. He and Rebecca Soteros, a childhood friend with whom he had an on-and-off relationship, had a daughter named Meadow Rain Walker. Meadow lived with her mother in Hawaii for 13 years and, in 2011, moved to California to live with Walker. Vin Diesel, Walker's close friend, is the godfather of Walker's daughter.
In addition to Diesel, Walker was also close friends with fellow Fast & Furious co-star Tyrese Gibson.
He held a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller at Paragon Jiu-Jitsu and was awarded his black belt by Miller posthumously. Walker founded the humanitarian aid nonprofit charity Reach Out Worldwide (ROWW) with financial adviser Roger Rodas in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. He traveled to a number of disaster-stricken areas to supply aid until his death.
Walker had an interest in marine biology, and joined the board of directors of The Billfish Foundation in 2006. He fulfilled a lifelong dream by starring in the National Geographic Channel series Expedition Great White (retroactively retitled Shark Men), which premiered in June 2010. Walker spent 11 days catching and tagging seven great white sharks off the coast of Mexico. The expedition, led by Chris Fischer, founder and CEO of Fischer Productions, and Brett McBride and Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, took measurements, gathered DNA samples, and fastened real-time satellite tags to the great white sharks, in order to study migratory patterns, especially those associated with mating and birthing, over a five-year period.
A car enthusiast, Walker competed in the Redline Time Attack racing series in which he raced on the AE Performance Team driving a BMW E92 M3. His car was sponsored by Etnies, Brembo, Öhlins, Volk, OS Giken, Hankook, Gintani and Reach Out Worldwide. Walker had been preparing for an auto show prior to his death. Walker owned Always Evolving, a Valencia high-end vehicle performance shop, where Rodas, a pro-am racer, acted as CEO. Walker had a large collection of about 30 cars, a portion of which he co-owned along with Rodas. In January 2020, 21 vehicles owned by Walker were sold for a combined $2.33 million during spirited bidding at an annual car auction in Arizona.
Death
On November 30, 2013, at about 3:30 p.m. PST, Walker, 40, and Roger Rodas, 38, left an event for Walker's charity Reach Out Worldwide for victims of Typhoon Haiyan, with Rodas driving his red 2005 Porsche Carrera GT. Traveling between 80 mph (130 km/h) and 93 mph (150 km/h) in a
45 mph (72 km/h) speed zone on Hercules Street in Valencia, a neighborhood of Santa Clarita, California, Rodas lost control of the car, which crashed into a concrete lamp post and two trees off the road, catching fire within seconds after impact. According to forensic evidence gathered from the scene, both men were knocked out by the impact. Rodas died instantly from multiple physical traumas, while Walker died within seconds from the combined effects of physical trauma and burns. Both of their bodies were burned beyond recognition.
The curve where Walker and Rodas died is a popular spot for drifting cars. No alcohol or other drugs were found in either man's system, and neither mechanical failure nor road conditions appeared to play a role. Police found no evidence of drag racing. The investigation concluded that the car's speed and age of the tires were the primary reasons for the crash.
With Furious 7 in the middle of filming at the time of Walker's death, Universal announced an indeterminate hiatus on the production, citing a desire to speak with his family before determining what to do with the film.
Numerous friends and movie stars posted tributes to Walker on social media. His remains were cremated and his ashes were buried in a non-denominational ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. His life was later chronicled in the documentary I Am Paul Walker, which was released on August 11, 2018.
Lawsuits
In December 2014, Walker's father filed a wrongful death claim against Rodas's estate, seeking the return of or "a proportionate share" of revenue generated by a group of automobiles that were jointly owned by both Walker and Rodas. Walker's daughter received a $10.1M settlement in 2016.
In September 2015, Walker's daughter filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Porsche, claiming that the Porsche Carrera GT had numerous design defects, including a history of instability, and that its seat belt placement could cause harm upon impact. Porsche denied any wrongdoing and blamed Walker, stating: "The perils, risk, and danger were open and obvious and known to him, and he chose to conduct himself in a manner so as to expose himself to such perils, dangers, and risks, thus assuming all the risks involved in using the vehicle." Walker's father and daughter both reached separate out-of-court settlements with Porsche. In April 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Philip S. Gutierrez ruled in favor of Porsche in a separate lawsuit filed by Rodas's widow Kristine.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Paul Walker at IMDb
|
Daniel Day-Lewis
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Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English actor. Often described as one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema, he is best known for intense method acting portrayed with eccentric characters in auteurs' films. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a record three Academy Awards for Best Actor, as well as four BAFTAs, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globes. In 2014, Day-Lewis received a knighthood for services to drama.
Born and raised in London, Day-Lewis excelled on stage at the National Youth Theatre before being accepted at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which he attended for three years. Despite his traditional training at the Bristol Old Vic, he is considered a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. Protective of his private life, he rarely grants interviews and makes very few public appearances.
Day-Lewis shifted between theatre and film for most of the early 1980s, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company and playing Romeo Montague in Romeo and Juliet and Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Playing the title role in Hamlet at the National Theatre in London in 1989, he left the stage midway through a performance after breaking down during a scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father appears before him—this was his last appearance on the stage. After supporting film roles in Gandhi (1982) and The Bounty (1984), he earned acclaim for his breakthrough performances in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), A Room with a View (1985), and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988).
He earned three Academy Awards for Best Actor for his roles as Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989), an oil tycoon in There Will Be Blood (2007), and Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln (2012). He was Oscar-nominated for In the Name of the Father (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), and Phantom Thread (2017). Other notable films include The Last of the Mohicans (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993), The Crucible (1996), and The Boxer (1997). He retired from acting twice, from 1997 to 2000, when he took up a new profession as an apprentice shoe-maker in Italy, and from 2017 to 2024. In 2025 he starred in and co-wrote Anemone, directed by his son Ronan.
Early life and education
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis was born on 29 April 1957 in Kensington, London, the second child of the poet Cecil Day-Lewis and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon. His older sister, Tamasin Day-Lewis, is a television chef and food critic. His father, who was born in the Irish town of Ballintubbert, County Laois, was of Protestant Anglo-Irish descent, lived in England from age two, and was appointed Poet Laureate in 1968. Day-Lewis's mother was Jewish; her Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors were immigrants to England in the late 19th century, from Latvia and Poland. Day-Lewis's maternal grandfather, Sir Michael Balcon, became the head of Ealing Studios, helping develop the new British film industry. The BAFTA for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema is presented every year in honour of Balcon's memory.
Two years after Day-Lewis's birth, he moved with his family to Croom's Hill in Greenwich via Port Clarence, County Durham. He and his older sister did not see much of their older two half-brothers, who had been teenagers when Day-Lewis's father divorced their mother. Living in Greenwich (he attended Invicta and Sherington Primary Schools), Day-Lewis had to deal with tough south London children. At this school, he was bullied for being both Jewish and "posh". He mastered the local accent and mannerisms, and credits that as being his first convincing performance. Later in life, he has been known to speak of himself as a disorderly character in his younger years, often in trouble for shoplifting and other petty crimes.
In 1968, Day-Lewis's parents, finding his behaviour to be too wild, sent him as a boarder to the independent Sevenoaks School in Kent. At the school, he was introduced to his three most prominent interests: woodworking, acting, and fishing. However, his disdain for the school grew, and after two years at Sevenoaks, he was transferred to another independent school, Bedales in Petersfield, Hampshire. His sister was already a pupil there, and it had a more relaxed and creative ethos. He made his film debut at age 14 in Sunday Bloody Sunday, in which he played a vandal in an uncredited role. He described the experience as "heaven" for getting paid £2 to vandalise expensive cars parked outside his local church.
For a few weeks in 1972, the Day-Lewis family lived at Lemmons, the north London home of Kingsley Amis and Elizabeth Jane Howard. Day-Lewis's father had pancreatic cancer, and Howard invited the family to Lemmons as a place they could use to rest and recuperate. His father died there in May that year. By the time he left Bedales in 1975, Day-Lewis's unruly attitude had diminished and he needed to make a career choice. Although he had excelled on stage at the National Youth Theatre in London, he applied for a five-year apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. He was turned down due to a lack of experience. He was accepted at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which he attended for three years along with Miranda Richardson, eventually performing at the Bristol Old Vic itself. At one point he played understudy to Pete Postlethwaite, with whom he would later co-star in the film In the Name of the Father (1994).
John Hartoch, Day-Lewis's acting teacher at Bristol Old Vic, recalled:
There was something about him even then. He was quiet and polite, but he was clearly focused on his acting—he had a burning quality. He seemed to have something burning beneath the surface. There was a lot going on beneath that quiet appearance. There was one performance in particular, when the students put on a play called Class Enemy, when he really seemed to shine—and it became obvious to us, the staff, that we had someone rather special on our hands.
Career
1980s
During the early 1980s, Day-Lewis worked in theatre and television, including Frost in May (where he played an impotent man-child) and How Many Miles to Babylon? (as a World War I officer torn between allegiances to Britain and Ireland) for the BBC. Eleven years after his film debut, Day-Lewis had a small part in the film Gandhi (1982) as Colin, a South African street thug who racially bullies the title character. In late 1982, he had his big theatre break when he took over the lead in Another Country, which had premiered in late 1981. Next, he took on a supporting role as the conflicted, but ultimately loyal, first mate in The Bounty (1984). He next joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
In 1985, Day-Lewis gave his first critically acclaimed performance playing a young gay English man in an interracial relationship with a Pakistani youth in the film My Beautiful Laundrette. Directed by Stephen Frears, and written by Hanif Kureishi, the film is set in 1980s London during Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister. It is the first of three Day-Lewis films to appear in the BFI's 100 greatest British films of the 20th century, ranking 50th.
Day-Lewis gained further public notice that year with A Room with a View (1985), based on the novel by E. M. Forster. Set in the Edwardian period of turn-of-the-20th-century England, he portrayed an entirely different character: Cecil Vyse, the proper upper-class fiancé of the main character Lucy Honeychurch (played by Helena Bonham Carter).
In 1987, Day-Lewis assumed leading man status by starring in Philip Kaufman's adaptation of Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, in which he portrayed a Czech surgeon whose hyperactive sex life is thrown into disarray when he allows himself to become emotionally involved with a woman. During the eight-month shoot, he learned Czech, and first began to refuse to break character on or off the set for the entire shooting schedule. During this period, Day-Lewis was regarded as "one of Britain's most exciting young actors". He and other young British actors of the time, such as Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tim Roth, and Bruce Payne, were dubbed the "Brit Pack".
Day-Lewis progressed his personal version of method acting in 1989 with his performance as Christy Brown in Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot. It won him numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor and BAFTA Award for Best Actor. Brown, known as a writer and painter, was born with cerebral palsy, and was able to control only his left foot. Day-Lewis prepared for the role by making frequent visits to Sandymount School Clinic in Dublin, where he formed friendships with several people with disabilities, some of whom had no speech. During filming, he again refused to break character.
Playing a severely paralysed character on screen, off-screen Day-Lewis had to be moved around the set in his wheelchair, and crew members would curse at having to lift him over camera and lighting wires, all so that he might gain insight into all aspects of Brown's life, including the embarrassments. Crew members were also required to spoon-feed him. It was rumoured that he had broken two ribs during filming from assuming a hunched-over position in his wheelchair for so many weeks, something he denied years later at the 2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Day-Lewis returned to the stage in 1989 to work with Richard Eyre, as the title character in Hamlet at the National Theatre, London, but during a performance collapsed during the scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father appears before him. He began sobbing uncontrollably, and refused to go back on stage; he was replaced by Jeremy Northam, who gave a triumphant performance. Ian Charleson formally replaced Day-Lewis for the rest of the run. Earlier in the run, Day-Lewis had talked of the "demons" in the role, and for weeks he threw himself passionately into the part. Although the incident was officially attributed to exhaustion, Day-Lewis said he had seen the ghost of his own father. He later explained that this was more of a metaphor than a hallucination. "To some extent I probably saw my father's ghost every night, because of course if you're working in a play like Hamlet, you explore everything through your own experience." He has not appeared on stage since. The media attention following his breakdown on-stage contributed to his decision to eventually move from England to Ireland in the mid-1990s, to regain a sense of privacy amidst his increasing fame.
1990s
Day-Lewis starred in the American film The Last of the Mohicans (1992), based on a novel by James Fenimore Cooper. Day-Lewis's character research for this film was well-publicised; he reportedly underwent rigorous weight training and learned to live off the land and forest where his character lived, camping, hunting, and fishing. Day-Lewis also added to his wood-working skills, and learned how to make canoes. He carried a long rifle at all times during filming to remain in character.
He returned to work with Jim Sheridan on In the Name of the Father in which he played Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four, who were wrongfully convicted of a bombing carried out by the Provisional IRA. He lost 2st 2 lb (30 lb or 14 kg) for the part, kept his Northern Irish accent on and off the set for the entire shooting schedule, and spent stretches of time in a prison cell. He insisted that crew members throw cold water at him and verbally abuse him. Starring opposite Emma Thompson (who played his lawyer Gareth Peirce) and Pete Postlethwaite, Day-Lewis earned his second Academy Award nomination, third BAFTA nomination, and second Golden Globe nomination.
Day-Lewis returned to the US in 1993, playing Newland Archer in Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel The Age of Innocence. Day-Lewis starred opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder. To prepare for the film, set in America's Gilded Age, he wore 1870s-period aristocratic clothing around New York City for two months, including top hat, cane, and cape. Although Day-Lewis was sceptical of the role, thinking himself "too English" for it and hoping for something "more rough-and-tumble", he accepted due to Scorsese directing the film. The film was critically well received, while Peter Travers in Rolling Stone wrote: "Day-Lewis is smashing as the man caught between his emotions and the social ethic. Not since Olivier in Wuthering Heights has an actor matched piercing intelligence with such imposing good looks and physical grace."
In 1996, Day-Lewis starred in the film adaptation of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, starring alongside Paul Scofield and Joan Allen and reuniting with Winona Ryder. During the shoot, he met his future wife, Rebecca Miller, the author's daughter. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a grade of "A", calling the adaptation "joltingly powerful" and noting the "spectacularly" acted performances of Day-Lewis, Scofield, and Allen.
In 1997, he starred in Jim Sheridan's The Boxer alongside Emily Watson, playing a former boxer and IRA member recently released from prison. His preparation included training with former boxing world champion Barry McGuigan. Immersing himself into the boxing scene, he watched "Prince" Naseem Hamed train, and attended professional boxing matches such as the Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan world title fight at London Arena. Impressed with his work in the ring, McGuigan felt Day-Lewis could have become a professional boxer, commenting, "If you eliminate the top ten middleweights in Britain, any of the other guys Daniel could have gone in and fought."
Following The Boxer, Day-Lewis took a leave of absence from acting by going into "semi-retirement" and returning to his old passion of woodworking. He moved to Florence, Italy, where he became intrigued by the craft of shoe-making. He apprenticed as a shoe-maker with Stefano Bemer. For a time, his exact whereabouts and actions were not made publicly known.
2000s
After a three-year absence from acting on screen, Day-Lewis returned to film by reuniting with Martin Scorsese for Gangs of New York (2002). He took on the role of villainous gang leader William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Bill's young protégé as well as Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Brendan Gleeson, and Liam Neeson. To help him get into character, he hired circus performers to teach him to throw knives. While filming, he was never out of character between takes, including keeping his character's New York accent.
At one point during filming, having been diagnosed with pneumonia, he refused to wear a warmer coat, or to take treatment, because it was not in keeping with the period. He was eventually persuaded to seek medical treatment. The film divided critics while Day-Lewis received plaudits for his portrayal of Bill the Butcher. Rotten Tomatoes's critical consensus reads, "Though flawed, the sprawling, messy Gangs of New York is redeemed by impressive production design and Day-Lewis's electrifying performance." It earned Day-Lewis his third Oscar nomination, and won him his second BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
In the early 2000s, Day-Lewis's wife, director Rebecca Miller, offered him the lead role in her film The Ballad of Jack and Rose, in which he played a dying man with regrets over how his life had evolved, and over how he had brought up his teenage daughter. While filming, he arranged to live separately from his wife to achieve the "isolation" needed to focus on his own character's reality. The film received mixed reviews.
In 2007, Day-Lewis starred alongside Paul Dano in Paul Thomas Anderson's loose film adaptation of Upton Sinclair's novel Oil!, titled There Will Be Blood. The film received widespread critical acclaim, with critic Andrew Sarris calling the film "an impressive achievement in its confident expertness in rendering the simulated realities of a bygone time and place, largely with an inspired use of regional amateur actors and extras with all the right moves and sounds." Day-Lewis received the Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (which he dedicated to Heath Ledger, who had died five days earlier, saying he was inspired by Ledger's acting and calling the actor's performance in Brokeback Mountain "unique, perfect"), and a variety of film critics' circle awards for the role. In winning the Best Actor Oscar, Day-Lewis joined Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson as the only Best Actor winner awarded an Oscar in two non-consecutive decades.
In 2009, Day-Lewis starred in Rob Marshall's musical adaptation Nine as film director Guido Contini. The film featured a large ensemble of distinguished actresses, including Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, and Sophia Loren. The film received mixed reviews, with overall praise for the performances of Day-Lewis, Cotillard, and Cruz. He was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role, as well as sharing nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast and the Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture with the rest of the cast members.
2010s
Day-Lewis portrayed Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's biopic Lincoln (2012). Based on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, the film began shooting in Richmond, Virginia, in October 2011. Day-Lewis spent a year in preparation for the role, a time he had requested from Spielberg. He read over 100 books on Lincoln, and long worked with the make-up artist to achieve a physical likeness to Lincoln. Speaking in Lincoln's voice throughout the entire shoot, Day-Lewis asked the British crew members who shared his native accent not to chat with him.
Spielberg said of Day-Lewis's portrayal, "I never once looked the gift horse in the mouth. I never asked Daniel about his process. I didn't want to know." Lincoln received critical acclaim, especially for Day-Lewis's performance. It also became a commercial success, grossing over $275 million worldwide. In November 2012, he received the BAFTA Britannia Award for Excellence in Film. The same month, Day-Lewis featured on the cover of Time magazine as the "World's Greatest Actor".
At the 70th Golden Globe Awards, on 14 January 2013, Day-Lewis won his second Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, and at the 66th British Academy Film Awards on 10 February, he won his fourth BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. At the 85th Academy Awards, Day-Lewis became the first three-time recipient of the Best Actor Oscar for his role in Lincoln. John Hartoch, Day-Lewis's acting teacher at Bristol Old Vic theatre school, said of his former pupil's achievement:
Although we have quite an impressive alumni – everyone from Jeremy Irons to Patrick Stewart – I suppose he is now probably the best known, and we're very proud of all he's achieved. I certainly hold him up to current students of an example, particularly as an example of how to manage your career with great integrity. He's never courted fame, and as a result, he's never had his private life impeached [sic] upon by the press. He's clearly not interested in celebrity as such – he's just interested in his acting. He is still a great craftsman.
Shortly after winning the Oscar for Lincoln, Day-Lewis announced he would be taking a break from acting before making another film. After a five-year hiatus, Day-Lewis returned to the screen to star in Paul Thomas Anderson's historical drama Phantom Thread (2017). Set in 1950s London, Day-Lewis played an obsessive dressmaker, Reynolds Woodcock, who falls in love with a waitress (played by Vicky Krieps). The film and his performance were met with widespread acclaim from critics, and Day-Lewis was again nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Prior to the film's release in June 2017, Day-Lewis announced that he was retiring from acting. In a November 2017 interview, Day-Lewis stated: "I need to believe in the value of what I'm doing. The work can seem vital, irresistible, even. And if an audience believes it, that should be good enough for me. But, lately, it isn't."
2020s
On 1 October 2024, after a seven-year absence, it was announced that Day-Lewis would return to acting. He stars in Anemone, the first film directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, with whom Daniel co-wrote the script. The film, in which Day-Lewis co-stars with Sean Bean and Samantha Morton, had its world premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival. His performance was lauded as a "commanding return" by David Rooney for The Hollywood Reporter.
Technique and reputation
Day-Lewis is considered a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. Displaying a "mercurial intensity", he would often remain completely in character throughout the shooting schedules of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health. He is one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only seven films since 1998, with as many as eight years between roles. Protective of his private life, he rarely grants interviews, and makes very few public appearances.
Following his third Oscar win in 2013, there was much debate about Day-Lewis's standing among the greatest actors in film history. Joe Queenan of The Guardian remarked, "Arguing whether Daniel Day-Lewis is a greater actor than Laurence Olivier, or Richard Burton, or Marlon Brando, is like arguing whether Messi is more talented than Pelé, whether Napoleon Bonaparte edges out Alexander the Great as a military genius." When Day-Lewis himself was asked what it was like to be "the world's greatest actor", he replied, "It's daft isn't it? It changes all the time."
Day-Lewis is widely respected among his peers and, in June 2017, Michael Simkins of The Guardian wrote, "In this glittering cesspit we call the acting profession, there are plenty of rival thesps who, through sheer luck or happenstance, seem to have the career we ourselves could have had if only the cards had fallen differently. But Day-Lewis is, by common consent, even in the most sourly disposed green rooms – a class apart. We shall not look upon his like again – at least for a bit. Performers of his mercurial intensity come along once in a generation."
Personal life
Relationships
Protective of his privacy, Day-Lewis has described his life as a "lifelong study in evasion". He had a relationship with French actress Isabelle Adjani that lasted six years, eventually ending after a split and reconciliation. Their son was born in 1995 in New York City a few months after the relationship ended.
In 1996, while working on the film version of the stage play The Crucible, he visited the home of playwright Arthur Miller, where he was introduced to the writer's daughter, Rebecca Miller. They married later that year, on 13 November 1996. The couple have two sons. They divide their time between their homes in Manhattan, US and Annamoe, Ireland.
Citizenship and knighthood
Day-Lewis has held dual British and Irish citizenship since 1993. He has maintained his Annamoe home since 1997. He stated: "I do have dual citizenship, but I think of England as my country. I miss London very much, but I couldn't live there because there came a time when I needed to be private and was forced to be public by the press. I couldn't deal with it." He is a supporter of south-east London football club Millwall.
In 2008, when he received the Academy Award for Best Actor from Helen Mirren, who was on presenting duty having won the previous year's Best Actress Oscar for portraying Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, Day-Lewis knelt before her, and she tapped him on each shoulder with the Oscar statuette, to which he quipped, "That's the closest I'll come to ever getting a knighthood." Day-Lewis was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to drama. On 14 November 2014, he was knighted by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, in an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
Academic honours and activities
In 2010, Day-Lewis received an honorary doctorate in letters from the University of Bristol, in part because of his attendance of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in his youth. Day-Lewis is also an ambassador for The Lir Academy, a new drama school at Trinity College Dublin, founded in 2011.
In 2012, he donated to the University of Oxford papers belonging to his father, the poet Cecil Day-Lewis, including early drafts of the poet's work and letters from actor John Gielgud and literary figures such as W. H. Auden, Robert Graves, and Philip Larkin.
Philanthropy
In 2005, Day-Lewis visited the Gaza Strip with the charity Médecins Sans Frontières, and criticised the occupation as "a state of apartheid". He wrote a piece titled "Gaza, Authors in the Frontline: Daniel Day-Lewis" (published in The Sunday Times, April 2005) in which he describes conditions in Gaza, including references to demolitions, checkpoints and psychological impact, commenting: "In the Gaza Strip the Israeli army reacts to stone-throwing with bullets".
In 2015, Day-Lewis became the honorary president of the Poetry Archive. A registered UK charity, the Poetry Archive is a free website containing a growing collection of recordings of English-language poets reading their work. In 2017 he became a patron of the Wilfred Owen Association. Day-Lewis's association with Wilfred Owen began with his father, Cecil Day-Lewis, who edited Owen's poetry in the 1960s and his mother, Jill Balcon, who was a vice-president of the Wilfred Owen Association until her death in 2009.
Religious views
Day-Lewis has stated that he had "no real religious education", and that he "suppose[s]" he is "a die-hard agnostic".
Acting credits
Film
Television
Theatre
Documentaries
Music
Awards and nominations
Day-Lewis received numerous accolades throughout his career which spanned over four decades, including three Academy Awards for Best Actor, making him the only actor to have three wins in that category, the third male actor to win three competitive Academy Awards for acting, and the sixth performer overall to do so. Additionally, he has received four British Academy Film Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. In 2014, Day-Lewis received a knighthood for services to drama.
See also
List of people on the postage stamps of Ireland
List of Academy Award records
List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Great Britain
List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Ireland
List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees – Youngest winners for Best Actor in a Leading Role
List of actors with Academy Award nominations
List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories
List of superlative Academy Award winners and nominees
List of Jewish Academy Award winners and nominees
Notes
References
External links
Daniel Day-Lewis at IMDb
Daniel Day-Lewis at the BFI's Screenonline
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Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English actor. Often described as one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema, he is best known for intense method acting portrayed with eccentric characters in auteurs' films. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a record three Academy Awards for Best Actor, as well as four BAFTAs, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globes. In 2014, Day-Lewis received a knighthood for services to drama.
Born and raised in London, Day-Lewis excelled on stage at the National Youth Theatre before being accepted at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which he attended for three years. Despite his traditional training at the Bristol Old Vic, he is considered a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. Protective of his private life, he rarely grants interviews and makes very few public appearances.
Day-Lewis shifted between theatre and film for most of the early 1980s, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company and playing Romeo Montague in Romeo and Juliet and Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Playing the title role in Hamlet at the National Theatre in London in 1989, he left the stage midway through a performance after breaking down during a scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father appears before him—this was his last appearance on the stage. After supporting film roles in Gandhi (1982) and The Bounty (1984), he earned acclaim for his breakthrough performances in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), A Room with a View (1985), and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988).
He earned three Academy Awards for Best Actor for his roles as Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989), an oil tycoon in There Will Be Blood (2007), and Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln (2012). He was Oscar-nominated for In the Name of the Father (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), and Phantom Thread (2017). Other notable films include The Last of the Mohicans (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993), The Crucible (1996), and The Boxer (1997). He retired from acting twice, from 1997 to 2000, when he took up a new profession as an apprentice shoe-maker in Italy, and from 2017 to 2024. In 2025 he starred in and co-wrote Anemone, directed by his son Ronan.
Early life and education
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis was born on 29 April 1957 in Kensington, London, the second child of the poet Cecil Day-Lewis and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon. His older sister, Tamasin Day-Lewis, is a television chef and food critic. His father, who was born in the Irish town of Ballintubbert, County Laois, was of Protestant Anglo-Irish descent, lived in England from age two, and was appointed Poet Laureate in 1968. Day-Lewis's mother was Jewish; her Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors were immigrants to England in the late 19th century, from Latvia and Poland. Day-Lewis's maternal grandfather, Sir Michael Balcon, became the head of Ealing Studios, helping develop the new British film industry. The BAFTA for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema is presented every year in honour of Balcon's memory.
Two years after Day-Lewis's birth, he moved with his family to Croom's Hill in Greenwich via Port Clarence, County Durham. He and his older sister did not see much of their older two half-brothers, who had been teenagers when Day-Lewis's father divorced their mother. Living in Greenwich (he attended Invicta and Sherington Primary Schools), Day-Lewis had to deal with tough south London children. At this school, he was bullied for being both Jewish and "posh". He mastered the local accent and mannerisms, and credits that as being his first convincing performance. Later in life, he has been known to speak of himself as a disorderly character in his younger years, often in trouble for shoplifting and other petty crimes.
In 1968, Day-Lewis's parents, finding his behaviour to be too wild, sent him as a boarder to the independent Sevenoaks School in Kent. At the school, he was introduced to his three most prominent interests: woodworking, acting, and fishing. However, his disdain for the school grew, and after two years at Sevenoaks, he was transferred to another independent school, Bedales in Petersfield, Hampshire. His sister was already a pupil there, and it had a more relaxed and creative ethos. He made his film debut at age 14 in Sunday Bloody Sunday, in which he played a vandal in an uncredited role. He described the experience as "heaven" for getting paid £2 to vandalise expensive cars parked outside his local church.
For a few weeks in 1972, the Day-Lewis family lived at Lemmons, the north London home of Kingsley Amis and Elizabeth Jane Howard. Day-Lewis's father had pancreatic cancer, and Howard invited the family to Lemmons as a place they could use to rest and recuperate. His father died there in May that year. By the time he left Bedales in 1975, Day-Lewis's unruly attitude had diminished and he needed to make a career choice. Although he had excelled on stage at the National Youth Theatre in London, he applied for a five-year apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. He was turned down due to a lack of experience. He was accepted at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which he attended for three years along with Miranda Richardson, eventually performing at the Bristol Old Vic itself. At one point he played understudy to Pete Postlethwaite, with whom he would later co-star in the film In the Name of the Father (1994).
John Hartoch, Day-Lewis's acting teacher at Bristol Old Vic, recalled:
There was something about him even then. He was quiet and polite, but he was clearly focused on his acting—he had a burning quality. He seemed to have something burning beneath the surface. There was a lot going on beneath that quiet appearance. There was one performance in particular, when the students put on a play called Class Enemy, when he really seemed to shine—and it became obvious to us, the staff, that we had someone rather special on our hands.
Career
1980s
During the early 1980s, Day-Lewis worked in theatre and television, including Frost in May (where he played an impotent man-child) and How Many Miles to Babylon? (as a World War I officer torn between allegiances to Britain and Ireland) for the BBC. Eleven years after his film debut, Day-Lewis had a small part in the film Gandhi (1982) as Colin, a South African street thug who racially bullies the title character. In late 1982, he had his big theatre break when he took over the lead in Another Country, which had premiered in late 1981. Next, he took on a supporting role as the conflicted, but ultimately loyal, first mate in The Bounty (1984). He next joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
In 1985, Day-Lewis gave his first critically acclaimed performance playing a young gay English man in an interracial relationship with a Pakistani youth in the film My Beautiful Laundrette. Directed by Stephen Frears, and written by Hanif Kureishi, the film is set in 1980s London during Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister. It is the first of three Day-Lewis films to appear in the BFI's 100 greatest British films of the 20th century, ranking 50th.
Day-Lewis gained further public notice that year with A Room with a View (1985), based on the novel by E. M. Forster. Set in the Edwardian period of turn-of-the-20th-century England, he portrayed an entirely different character: Cecil Vyse, the proper upper-class fiancé of the main character Lucy Honeychurch (played by Helena Bonham Carter).
In 1987, Day-Lewis assumed leading man status by starring in Philip Kaufman's adaptation of Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, in which he portrayed a Czech surgeon whose hyperactive sex life is thrown into disarray when he allows himself to become emotionally involved with a woman. During the eight-month shoot, he learned Czech, and first began to refuse to break character on or off the set for the entire shooting schedule. During this period, Day-Lewis was regarded as "one of Britain's most exciting young actors". He and other young British actors of the time, such as Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tim Roth, and Bruce Payne, were dubbed the "Brit Pack".
Day-Lewis progressed his personal version of method acting in 1989 with his performance as Christy Brown in Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot. It won him numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor and BAFTA Award for Best Actor. Brown, known as a writer and painter, was born with cerebral palsy, and was able to control only his left foot. Day-Lewis prepared for the role by making frequent visits to Sandymount School Clinic in Dublin, where he formed friendships with several people with disabilities, some of whom had no speech. During filming, he again refused to break character.
Playing a severely paralysed character on screen, off-screen Day-Lewis had to be moved around the set in his wheelchair, and crew members would curse at having to lift him over camera and lighting wires, all so that he might gain insight into all aspects of Brown's life, including the embarrassments. Crew members were also required to spoon-feed him. It was rumoured that he had broken two ribs during filming from assuming a hunched-over position in his wheelchair for so many weeks, something he denied years later at the 2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Day-Lewis returned to the stage in 1989 to work with Richard Eyre, as the title character in Hamlet at the National Theatre, London, but during a performance collapsed during the scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father appears before him. He began sobbing uncontrollably, and refused to go back on stage; he was replaced by Jeremy Northam, who gave a triumphant performance. Ian Charleson formally replaced Day-Lewis for the rest of the run. Earlier in the run, Day-Lewis had talked of the "demons" in the role, and for weeks he threw himself passionately into the part. Although the incident was officially attributed to exhaustion, Day-Lewis said he had seen the ghost of his own father. He later explained that this was more of a metaphor than a hallucination. "To some extent I probably saw my father's ghost every night, because of course if you're working in a play like Hamlet, you explore everything through your own experience." He has not appeared on stage since. The media attention following his breakdown on-stage contributed to his decision to eventually move from England to Ireland in the mid-1990s, to regain a sense of privacy amidst his increasing fame.
1990s
Day-Lewis starred in the American film The Last of the Mohicans (1992), based on a novel by James Fenimore Cooper. Day-Lewis's character research for this film was well-publicised; he reportedly underwent rigorous weight training and learned to live off the land and forest where his character lived, camping, hunting, and fishing. Day-Lewis also added to his wood-working skills, and learned how to make canoes. He carried a long rifle at all times during filming to remain in character.
He returned to work with Jim Sheridan on In the Name of the Father in which he played Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four, who were wrongfully convicted of a bombing carried out by the Provisional IRA. He lost 2st 2 lb (30 lb or 14 kg) for the part, kept his Northern Irish accent on and off the set for the entire shooting schedule, and spent stretches of time in a prison cell. He insisted that crew members throw cold water at him and verbally abuse him. Starring opposite Emma Thompson (who played his lawyer Gareth Peirce) and Pete Postlethwaite, Day-Lewis earned his second Academy Award nomination, third BAFTA nomination, and second Golden Globe nomination.
Day-Lewis returned to the US in 1993, playing Newland Archer in Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel The Age of Innocence. Day-Lewis starred opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder. To prepare for the film, set in America's Gilded Age, he wore 1870s-period aristocratic clothing around New York City for two months, including top hat, cane, and cape. Although Day-Lewis was sceptical of the role, thinking himself "too English" for it and hoping for something "more rough-and-tumble", he accepted due to Scorsese directing the film. The film was critically well received, while Peter Travers in Rolling Stone wrote: "Day-Lewis is smashing as the man caught between his emotions and the social ethic. Not since Olivier in Wuthering Heights has an actor matched piercing intelligence with such imposing good looks and physical grace."
In 1996, Day-Lewis starred in the film adaptation of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, starring alongside Paul Scofield and Joan Allen and reuniting with Winona Ryder. During the shoot, he met his future wife, Rebecca Miller, the author's daughter. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a grade of "A", calling the adaptation "joltingly powerful" and noting the "spectacularly" acted performances of Day-Lewis, Scofield, and Allen.
In 1997, he starred in Jim Sheridan's The Boxer alongside Emily Watson, playing a former boxer and IRA member recently released from prison. His preparation included training with former boxing world champion Barry McGuigan. Immersing himself into the boxing scene, he watched "Prince" Naseem Hamed train, and attended professional boxing matches such as the Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan world title fight at London Arena. Impressed with his work in the ring, McGuigan felt Day-Lewis could have become a professional boxer, commenting, "If you eliminate the top ten middleweights in Britain, any of the other guys Daniel could have gone in and fought."
Following The Boxer, Day-Lewis took a leave of absence from acting by going into "semi-retirement" and returning to his old passion of woodworking. He moved to Florence, Italy, where he became intrigued by the craft of shoe-making. He apprenticed as a shoe-maker with Stefano Bemer. For a time, his exact whereabouts and actions were not made publicly known.
2000s
After a three-year absence from acting on screen, Day-Lewis returned to film by reuniting with Martin Scorsese for Gangs of New York (2002). He took on the role of villainous gang leader William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Bill's young protégé as well as Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Brendan Gleeson, and Liam Neeson. To help him get into character, he hired circus performers to teach him to throw knives. While filming, he was never out of character between takes, including keeping his character's New York accent.
At one point during filming, having been diagnosed with pneumonia, he refused to wear a warmer coat, or to take treatment, because it was not in keeping with the period. He was eventually persuaded to seek medical treatment. The film divided critics while Day-Lewis received plaudits for his portrayal of Bill the Butcher. Rotten Tomatoes's critical consensus reads, "Though flawed, the sprawling, messy Gangs of New York is redeemed by impressive production design and Day-Lewis's electrifying performance." It earned Day-Lewis his third Oscar nomination, and won him his second BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
In the early 2000s, Day-Lewis's wife, director Rebecca Miller, offered him the lead role in her film The Ballad of Jack and Rose, in which he played a dying man with regrets over how his life had evolved, and over how he had brought up his teenage daughter. While filming, he arranged to live separately from his wife to achieve the "isolation" needed to focus on his own character's reality. The film received mixed reviews.
In 2007, Day-Lewis starred alongside Paul Dano in Paul Thomas Anderson's loose film adaptation of Upton Sinclair's novel Oil!, titled There Will Be Blood. The film received widespread critical acclaim, with critic Andrew Sarris calling the film "an impressive achievement in its confident expertness in rendering the simulated realities of a bygone time and place, largely with an inspired use of regional amateur actors and extras with all the right moves and sounds." Day-Lewis received the Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (which he dedicated to Heath Ledger, who had died five days earlier, saying he was inspired by Ledger's acting and calling the actor's performance in Brokeback Mountain "unique, perfect"), and a variety of film critics' circle awards for the role. In winning the Best Actor Oscar, Day-Lewis joined Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson as the only Best Actor winner awarded an Oscar in two non-consecutive decades.
In 2009, Day-Lewis starred in Rob Marshall's musical adaptation Nine as film director Guido Contini. The film featured a large ensemble of distinguished actresses, including Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, and Sophia Loren. The film received mixed reviews, with overall praise for the performances of Day-Lewis, Cotillard, and Cruz. He was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role, as well as sharing nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast and the Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture with the rest of the cast members.
2010s
Day-Lewis portrayed Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's biopic Lincoln (2012). Based on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, the film began shooting in Richmond, Virginia, in October 2011. Day-Lewis spent a year in preparation for the role, a time he had requested from Spielberg. He read over 100 books on Lincoln, and long worked with the make-up artist to achieve a physical likeness to Lincoln. Speaking in Lincoln's voice throughout the entire shoot, Day-Lewis asked the British crew members who shared his native accent not to chat with him.
Spielberg said of Day-Lewis's portrayal, "I never once looked the gift horse in the mouth. I never asked Daniel about his process. I didn't want to know." Lincoln received critical acclaim, especially for Day-Lewis's performance. It also became a commercial success, grossing over $275 million worldwide. In November 2012, he received the BAFTA Britannia Award for Excellence in Film. The same month, Day-Lewis featured on the cover of Time magazine as the "World's Greatest Actor".
At the 70th Golden Globe Awards, on 14 January 2013, Day-Lewis won his second Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, and at the 66th British Academy Film Awards on 10 February, he won his fourth BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. At the 85th Academy Awards, Day-Lewis became the first three-time recipient of the Best Actor Oscar for his role in Lincoln. John Hartoch, Day-Lewis's acting teacher at Bristol Old Vic theatre school, said of his former pupil's achievement:
Although we have quite an impressive alumni – everyone from Jeremy Irons to Patrick Stewart – I suppose he is now probably the best known, and we're very proud of all he's achieved. I certainly hold him up to current students of an example, particularly as an example of how to manage your career with great integrity. He's never courted fame, and as a result, he's never had his private life impeached [sic] upon by the press. He's clearly not interested in celebrity as such – he's just interested in his acting. He is still a great craftsman.
Shortly after winning the Oscar for Lincoln, Day-Lewis announced he would be taking a break from acting before making another film. After a five-year hiatus, Day-Lewis returned to the screen to star in Paul Thomas Anderson's historical drama Phantom Thread (2017). Set in 1950s London, Day-Lewis played an obsessive dressmaker, Reynolds Woodcock, who falls in love with a waitress (played by Vicky Krieps). The film and his performance were met with widespread acclaim from critics, and Day-Lewis was again nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Prior to the film's release in June 2017, Day-Lewis announced that he was retiring from acting. In a November 2017 interview, Day-Lewis stated: "I need to believe in the value of what I'm doing. The work can seem vital, irresistible, even. And if an audience believes it, that should be good enough for me. But, lately, it isn't."
2020s
On 1 October 2024, after a seven-year absence, it was announced that Day-Lewis would return to acting. He stars in Anemone, the first film directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, with whom Daniel co-wrote the script. The film, in which Day-Lewis co-stars with Sean Bean and Samantha Morton, had its world premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival. His performance was lauded as a "commanding return" by David Rooney for The Hollywood Reporter.
Technique and reputation
Day-Lewis is considered a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. Displaying a "mercurial intensity", he would often remain completely in character throughout the shooting schedules of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health. He is one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only seven films since 1998, with as many as eight years between roles. Protective of his private life, he rarely grants interviews, and makes very few public appearances.
Following his third Oscar win in 2013, there was much debate about Day-Lewis's standing among the greatest actors in film history. Joe Queenan of The Guardian remarked, "Arguing whether Daniel Day-Lewis is a greater actor than Laurence Olivier, or Richard Burton, or Marlon Brando, is like arguing whether Messi is more talented than Pelé, whether Napoleon Bonaparte edges out Alexander the Great as a military genius." When Day-Lewis himself was asked what it was like to be "the world's greatest actor", he replied, "It's daft isn't it? It changes all the time."
Day-Lewis is widely respected among his peers and, in June 2017, Michael Simkins of The Guardian wrote, "In this glittering cesspit we call the acting profession, there are plenty of rival thesps who, through sheer luck or happenstance, seem to have the career we ourselves could have had if only the cards had fallen differently. But Day-Lewis is, by common consent, even in the most sourly disposed green rooms – a class apart. We shall not look upon his like again – at least for a bit. Performers of his mercurial intensity come along once in a generation."
Personal life
Relationships
Protective of his privacy, Day-Lewis has described his life as a "lifelong study in evasion". He had a relationship with French actress Isabelle Adjani that lasted six years, eventually ending after a split and reconciliation. Their son was born in 1995 in New York City a few months after the relationship ended.
In 1996, while working on the film version of the stage play The Crucible, he visited the home of playwright Arthur Miller, where he was introduced to the writer's daughter, Rebecca Miller. They married later that year, on 13 November 1996. The couple have two sons. They divide their time between their homes in Manhattan, US and Annamoe, Ireland.
Citizenship and knighthood
Day-Lewis has held dual British and Irish citizenship since 1993. He has maintained his Annamoe home since 1997. He stated: "I do have dual citizenship, but I think of England as my country. I miss London very much, but I couldn't live there because there came a time when I needed to be private and was forced to be public by the press. I couldn't deal with it." He is a supporter of south-east London football club Millwall.
In 2008, when he received the Academy Award for Best Actor from Helen Mirren, who was on presenting duty having won the previous year's Best Actress Oscar for portraying Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, Day-Lewis knelt before her, and she tapped him on each shoulder with the Oscar statuette, to which he quipped, "That's the closest I'll come to ever getting a knighthood." Day-Lewis was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to drama. On 14 November 2014, he was knighted by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, in an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
Academic honours and activities
In 2010, Day-Lewis received an honorary doctorate in letters from the University of Bristol, in part because of his attendance of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in his youth. Day-Lewis is also an ambassador for The Lir Academy, a new drama school at Trinity College Dublin, founded in 2011.
In 2012, he donated to the University of Oxford papers belonging to his father, the poet Cecil Day-Lewis, including early drafts of the poet's work and letters from actor John Gielgud and literary figures such as W. H. Auden, Robert Graves, and Philip Larkin.
Philanthropy
In 2005, Day-Lewis visited the Gaza Strip with the charity Médecins Sans Frontières, and criticised the occupation as "a state of apartheid". He wrote a piece titled "Gaza, Authors in the Frontline: Daniel Day-Lewis" (published in The Sunday Times, April 2005) in which he describes conditions in Gaza, including references to demolitions, checkpoints and psychological impact, commenting: "In the Gaza Strip the Israeli army reacts to stone-throwing with bullets".
In 2015, Day-Lewis became the honorary president of the Poetry Archive. A registered UK charity, the Poetry Archive is a free website containing a growing collection of recordings of English-language poets reading their work. In 2017 he became a patron of the Wilfred Owen Association. Day-Lewis's association with Wilfred Owen began with his father, Cecil Day-Lewis, who edited Owen's poetry in the 1960s and his mother, Jill Balcon, who was a vice-president of the Wilfred Owen Association until her death in 2009.
Religious views
Day-Lewis has stated that he had "no real religious education", and that he "suppose[s]" he is "a die-hard agnostic".
Acting credits
Film
Television
Theatre
Documentaries
Music
Awards and nominations
Day-Lewis received numerous accolades throughout his career which spanned over four decades, including three Academy Awards for Best Actor, making him the only actor to have three wins in that category, the third male actor to win three competitive Academy Awards for acting, and the sixth performer overall to do so. Additionally, he has received four British Academy Film Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. In 2014, Day-Lewis received a knighthood for services to drama.
See also
List of people on the postage stamps of Ireland
List of Academy Award records
List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Great Britain
List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Ireland
List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees – Youngest winners for Best Actor in a Leading Role
List of actors with Academy Award nominations
List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories
List of superlative Academy Award winners and nominees
List of Jewish Academy Award winners and nominees
Notes
References
External links
Daniel Day-Lewis at IMDb
Daniel Day-Lewis at the BFI's Screenonline
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Jim Parsons
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James Joseph Parsons (born March 24, 1973) is an American actor. Known for his work on both stage and screen, his accolades include four Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a nomination for a Tony Award. From 2015 to 2018, Forbes named him the world's highest-paid television actor.
A graduate of the University of Houston and the University of San Diego, Parsons started his career on the stage and had his screen debut in 2002. From 2007 to 2019, he played Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, winning four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. He was further Emmy-nominated for the television film The Normal Heart (2014), the short form series Special (2019), and playing Henry Wilson in the Netflix miniseries Hollywood (2020).
Following his breakthrough, Parsons gained wider recognition with his Broadway debut in the Larry Kramer play The Normal Heart (2011) and later received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role in Mother Play (2024). He has also acted in the Broadway plays Harvey (2012), An Act of God (2015), The Boys in the Band (2018), and Our Town (2024). Alongside a lead voice role in the animated comedy film Home (2015), he also played supporting roles in Hidden Figures (2016), A Kid Like Jake (2018), Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019), The Boys in the Band (2020), and Spoiler Alert (2022).
Early life and education
Parsons was born at St. Joseph Hospital in Houston, Texas, and was raised in one of its northern suburbs, Spring. He is the son of Milton Joseph "Mickey/Jack" Parsons Jr. and teacher Judy Ann (née McKnight). His sister, Julie Ann Parsons, is also a teacher.
After playing the role of the Kola-Kola bird in a school production of The Elephant's Child at age six, Parsons was determined to become an actor. He attended Klein Oak High School in Spring. Parsons points to a role in Noises Off during his junior year as the first time "I fully connected with the role I was playing and started to truly understand what it meant to be honest on stage." The young Parsons was heavily influenced by sitcoms, particularly Three's Company, Family Ties, and The Cosby Show.
After graduating from high school, Parsons earned a BA degree in Theater from the University of Houston. He was prolific during this time, appearing in 17 plays in three years. He was a founding member of Infernal Bridegroom Productions and regularly appeared at the Stages Repertory Theatre. Parsons enrolled in graduate school at the University of San Diego in 1999. He was one of seven students accepted into a special two-year course in classical theater, taught in partnership with the Old Globe Theater. Program director Rick Seer recalled having reservations about admitting Parsons, saying, "Jim is a very specific personality. He's thoroughly original, which is one reason he's been so successful. But we worried, 'Does that adapt itself to classical theater? Does that adapt itself to the kind of training that we're doing?' But we decided that he was so talented that we would give him a try and see how it worked out."
Parsons enjoyed his schooling so much, he told an interviewer that he would have pursued a doctorate in acting if possible: "School was so safe!.....You frequently would surprise yourself by what you were capable of, and you were not surprised by some things." Parsons graduated with an M.F.A. degree in acting from Old Globe Theatre/University of San Diego in 2001 and moved to New York.
Parsons traced his family's history on TLC's Who Do You Think You Are? in September 2013, and discovered French heritage from his father's side. The French architect Louis-François Trouard (1729–1804) is his sixth great-grandfather.
Career
2003–2006: Early roles
In New York, Parsons worked in Off-Broadway productions and made several television appearances. In a 2003 Quiznos commercial, Parsons played a man who had been raised by wolves and continued to nurse from his wolf "mother". He had a recurring role on the television show Judging Amy and appeared on the television series Ed. Parsons also had minor roles in several movies, including Garden State and School for Scoundrels.
2007–2019: The Big Bang Theory and theatre roles
Parsons has estimated that he auditioned for between 15 and 30 television pilots, but on many of the occasions when he was cast, the show failed to find a television network willing to purchase it. The exception came with The Big Bang Theory. After reading the pilot script, Parsons felt that the role of Sheldon Cooper would be a very good fit for him. Although he did not feel any sort of relationship with the character, he was enchanted by the dialogue structure, the way the writers "brilliantly use those words that most of us don't recognize to create that rhythm, and the rhythm got me. It was the chance to dance through that dialogue and in a lot of ways still is." In his audition, Parsons impressed series creator Chuck Lorre, who insisted on a second audition to see if Parsons could replicate the performance. Parsons was cast as Sheldon Cooper, a physicist with social apathy who frequently belittles his friends. The role required Parsons to "rattle off line after line of tightly composed, rhythmic dialogue, as well as then do something with his face or body during the silence that follows." Parsons credits his University of San Diego training with giving him the tools to break down Sheldon's lines.
Television critic Andrew Dansby compares Parsons's physical comedy to that of Buster Keaton and other silent film stars. Lorre praises Parsons' instincts, saying that "You can't teach that." Lorre describes Parsons' "great sense of control over every part of his body, the way he walks, holds his hands, cocks his head, the facial tics as 'inspired'." Reviewer Lewis Beale describes Parsons' performance as "so spot-on, it seems as if the character and the actor are the same person." Parsons admits that the work is "more effort than I ever thought a sitcom would take, and that's really the fun of it." In August 2009, Parsons won the Television Critics Association award for individual achievement in comedy, beating Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, and Neil Patrick Harris. Parsons was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, winning in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014. In September 2010, Parsons and co-stars Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco signed new contracts, guaranteeing each of them $200,000 per episode for the fourth season of The Big Bang Theory, with substantial raises for each of the next three seasons. The three were also promised a percentage of the show's earnings. In January 2011, Parsons won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Comedy. From August 2013, Parsons, Cuoco and Galecki each earned $325,000 per episode. In August 2014, Parsons, Galecki and Cuoco once again signed new contracts, guaranteeing each of them $1 million per episode for the eighth, ninth, and tenth seasons of The Big Bang Theory, as well as quadrupling their percentage of the show's earnings to over 1% each.
In 2011, Parsons appeared with Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Steve Martin, and Rashida Jones in the comedy film The Big Year. It was released in October. That same year, he appeared as the human alter ego of Walter, the newest Muppet introduced in The Muppets. On May 18, 2012, Parsons began appearing on Broadway as Elwood P. Dowd in a revival of Harvey. He reprised the role in The Normal Heart (2014), and he received his seventh Emmy nomination, this time in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie. Parsons received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 11, 2015. He voiced Oh, one of the lead roles in the DreamWorks Animation comedy film Home (2015), alongside Rihanna.
Parsons and Todd Spiewak founded That's Wonderful Productions in 2015 with the intention of raising distinct voices and producing work with an underlying sense of purpose and social consciousness. Their work includes Special, Equal, Call Me Kat and A Kid Like Jake. Parsons and Spiewak are also Executive Producers of Young Sheldon. On January 29, 2015, it was announced that Parsons would star as God in the Broadway production of An Act of God, a new play by David Javerbaum and directed by Joe Mantello. The play began previews at Studio 54 on May 5, 2015 and closed August 2, 2015, to positive reviews. In 2016, Jim Parsons played a supporting role as STG (special task group) head engineer Paul Stafford in the biographical drama film Hidden Figures. The film was directed by Theodore Melfi, who had previously worked with Parsons in commercials for Intel.
In 2017, Parsons started hosting his own SiriusXM talk show, Jim Parsons Is Too Stupid for Politics. The show ran for six weeks. In August 2018, Parsons announced his refusal of a contract worth $50 million for seasons 13 and 14 of The Big Bang Theory. The producers simultaneously announced that, after 279 episodes, the most of any multi-camera series in TV history, the show would come to an "epic, creative close" in May 2019. Parsons was expected to remain in his role as narrator of the prequel series, Young Sheldon. In 2018, Parsons was one of the actors who voiced the audiobook A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo. Parsons starred as party host Michael in the 50th anniversary Broadway production of The Boys in the Band, which won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, reprising his performance (with the whole Broadway anniversary cast) in the 2020 film adaptation.
2020–present: Return to theatre
In 2020, he portrayed Henry Willson in the Ryan Murphy limited series Hollywood on Netflix. He also served as an executive producer. For his performance he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. In 2022 he portrayed Michael Ausiello in the romantic comedy Spoiler Alert distributed by Focus Features. He acted in the revival of Terrence McNally's A Man of No Importance at the Classic Stage Company. He starred in Paula Vogel's new play Mother Play (2024) acting alongside Jessica Lange and Celia Keenan-Bolger. He starred as the Stage Manager in the revival of the Thorton Wilder play Our Town at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
Personal life
Parsons lives in the New York City neighborhood Gramercy Park while also maintaining a residence in Los Angeles.
His father died in a car crash on April 29, 2001, when Parsons was 28.
On May 23, 2012, an article in The New York Times noted that Parsons is gay and had been in a relationship for the last ten years. His husband is art director Todd Spiewak. In October 2013, Parsons called their relationship "an act of love, coffee in the morning, going to work, washing the clothes, taking the dogs out—a regular life, boring love". Parsons and Spiewak wed in New York in May 2017.
Parsons supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 United States presidential election.
Acting credits
Film
Television
Theatre
Video games
Awards and nominations
See also
Character actor
LGBT culture in New York City
List of LGBT people from New York City
References
External links
Jim Parsons at IMDb
Jim Parsons at the Internet Broadway Database
Jim Parsons at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
CBS Biography
Movieline interviews Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons On Learning Lines, Emmy Nods and Cast Ping Pong Deathmatches
Fresh Air Interview: Jim Parsons On The Science Of Sheldon, 'Big Bang'
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James Joseph Parsons (born March 24, 1973) is an American actor. Known for his work on both stage and screen, his accolades include four Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a nomination for a Tony Award. From 2015 to 2018, Forbes named him the world's highest-paid television actor.
A graduate of the University of Houston and the University of San Diego, Parsons started his career on the stage and had his screen debut in 2002. From 2007 to 2019, he played Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, winning four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. He was further Emmy-nominated for the television film The Normal Heart (2014), the short form series Special (2019), and playing Henry Wilson in the Netflix miniseries Hollywood (2020).
Following his breakthrough, Parsons gained wider recognition with his Broadway debut in the Larry Kramer play The Normal Heart (2011) and later received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role in Mother Play (2024). He has also acted in the Broadway plays Harvey (2012), An Act of God (2015), The Boys in the Band (2018), and Our Town (2024). Alongside a lead voice role in the animated comedy film Home (2015), he also played supporting roles in Hidden Figures (2016), A Kid Like Jake (2018), Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019), The Boys in the Band (2020), and Spoiler Alert (2022).
Early life and education
Parsons was born at St. Joseph Hospital in Houston, Texas, and was raised in one of its northern suburbs, Spring. He is the son of Milton Joseph "Mickey/Jack" Parsons Jr. and teacher Judy Ann (née McKnight). His sister, Julie Ann Parsons, is also a teacher.
After playing the role of the Kola-Kola bird in a school production of The Elephant's Child at age six, Parsons was determined to become an actor. He attended Klein Oak High School in Spring. Parsons points to a role in Noises Off during his junior year as the first time "I fully connected with the role I was playing and started to truly understand what it meant to be honest on stage." The young Parsons was heavily influenced by sitcoms, particularly Three's Company, Family Ties, and The Cosby Show.
After graduating from high school, Parsons earned a BA degree in Theater from the University of Houston. He was prolific during this time, appearing in 17 plays in three years. He was a founding member of Infernal Bridegroom Productions and regularly appeared at the Stages Repertory Theatre. Parsons enrolled in graduate school at the University of San Diego in 1999. He was one of seven students accepted into a special two-year course in classical theater, taught in partnership with the Old Globe Theater. Program director Rick Seer recalled having reservations about admitting Parsons, saying, "Jim is a very specific personality. He's thoroughly original, which is one reason he's been so successful. But we worried, 'Does that adapt itself to classical theater? Does that adapt itself to the kind of training that we're doing?' But we decided that he was so talented that we would give him a try and see how it worked out."
Parsons enjoyed his schooling so much, he told an interviewer that he would have pursued a doctorate in acting if possible: "School was so safe!.....You frequently would surprise yourself by what you were capable of, and you were not surprised by some things." Parsons graduated with an M.F.A. degree in acting from Old Globe Theatre/University of San Diego in 2001 and moved to New York.
Parsons traced his family's history on TLC's Who Do You Think You Are? in September 2013, and discovered French heritage from his father's side. The French architect Louis-François Trouard (1729–1804) is his sixth great-grandfather.
Career
2003–2006: Early roles
In New York, Parsons worked in Off-Broadway productions and made several television appearances. In a 2003 Quiznos commercial, Parsons played a man who had been raised by wolves and continued to nurse from his wolf "mother". He had a recurring role on the television show Judging Amy and appeared on the television series Ed. Parsons also had minor roles in several movies, including Garden State and School for Scoundrels.
2007–2019: The Big Bang Theory and theatre roles
Parsons has estimated that he auditioned for between 15 and 30 television pilots, but on many of the occasions when he was cast, the show failed to find a television network willing to purchase it. The exception came with The Big Bang Theory. After reading the pilot script, Parsons felt that the role of Sheldon Cooper would be a very good fit for him. Although he did not feel any sort of relationship with the character, he was enchanted by the dialogue structure, the way the writers "brilliantly use those words that most of us don't recognize to create that rhythm, and the rhythm got me. It was the chance to dance through that dialogue and in a lot of ways still is." In his audition, Parsons impressed series creator Chuck Lorre, who insisted on a second audition to see if Parsons could replicate the performance. Parsons was cast as Sheldon Cooper, a physicist with social apathy who frequently belittles his friends. The role required Parsons to "rattle off line after line of tightly composed, rhythmic dialogue, as well as then do something with his face or body during the silence that follows." Parsons credits his University of San Diego training with giving him the tools to break down Sheldon's lines.
Television critic Andrew Dansby compares Parsons's physical comedy to that of Buster Keaton and other silent film stars. Lorre praises Parsons' instincts, saying that "You can't teach that." Lorre describes Parsons' "great sense of control over every part of his body, the way he walks, holds his hands, cocks his head, the facial tics as 'inspired'." Reviewer Lewis Beale describes Parsons' performance as "so spot-on, it seems as if the character and the actor are the same person." Parsons admits that the work is "more effort than I ever thought a sitcom would take, and that's really the fun of it." In August 2009, Parsons won the Television Critics Association award for individual achievement in comedy, beating Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, and Neil Patrick Harris. Parsons was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, winning in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014. In September 2010, Parsons and co-stars Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco signed new contracts, guaranteeing each of them $200,000 per episode for the fourth season of The Big Bang Theory, with substantial raises for each of the next three seasons. The three were also promised a percentage of the show's earnings. In January 2011, Parsons won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Comedy. From August 2013, Parsons, Cuoco and Galecki each earned $325,000 per episode. In August 2014, Parsons, Galecki and Cuoco once again signed new contracts, guaranteeing each of them $1 million per episode for the eighth, ninth, and tenth seasons of The Big Bang Theory, as well as quadrupling their percentage of the show's earnings to over 1% each.
In 2011, Parsons appeared with Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Steve Martin, and Rashida Jones in the comedy film The Big Year. It was released in October. That same year, he appeared as the human alter ego of Walter, the newest Muppet introduced in The Muppets. On May 18, 2012, Parsons began appearing on Broadway as Elwood P. Dowd in a revival of Harvey. He reprised the role in The Normal Heart (2014), and he received his seventh Emmy nomination, this time in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie. Parsons received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 11, 2015. He voiced Oh, one of the lead roles in the DreamWorks Animation comedy film Home (2015), alongside Rihanna.
Parsons and Todd Spiewak founded That's Wonderful Productions in 2015 with the intention of raising distinct voices and producing work with an underlying sense of purpose and social consciousness. Their work includes Special, Equal, Call Me Kat and A Kid Like Jake. Parsons and Spiewak are also Executive Producers of Young Sheldon. On January 29, 2015, it was announced that Parsons would star as God in the Broadway production of An Act of God, a new play by David Javerbaum and directed by Joe Mantello. The play began previews at Studio 54 on May 5, 2015 and closed August 2, 2015, to positive reviews. In 2016, Jim Parsons played a supporting role as STG (special task group) head engineer Paul Stafford in the biographical drama film Hidden Figures. The film was directed by Theodore Melfi, who had previously worked with Parsons in commercials for Intel.
In 2017, Parsons started hosting his own SiriusXM talk show, Jim Parsons Is Too Stupid for Politics. The show ran for six weeks. In August 2018, Parsons announced his refusal of a contract worth $50 million for seasons 13 and 14 of The Big Bang Theory. The producers simultaneously announced that, after 279 episodes, the most of any multi-camera series in TV history, the show would come to an "epic, creative close" in May 2019. Parsons was expected to remain in his role as narrator of the prequel series, Young Sheldon. In 2018, Parsons was one of the actors who voiced the audiobook A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo. Parsons starred as party host Michael in the 50th anniversary Broadway production of The Boys in the Band, which won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, reprising his performance (with the whole Broadway anniversary cast) in the 2020 film adaptation.
2020–present: Return to theatre
In 2020, he portrayed Henry Willson in the Ryan Murphy limited series Hollywood on Netflix. He also served as an executive producer. For his performance he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. In 2022 he portrayed Michael Ausiello in the romantic comedy Spoiler Alert distributed by Focus Features. He acted in the revival of Terrence McNally's A Man of No Importance at the Classic Stage Company. He starred in Paula Vogel's new play Mother Play (2024) acting alongside Jessica Lange and Celia Keenan-Bolger. He starred as the Stage Manager in the revival of the Thorton Wilder play Our Town at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
Personal life
Parsons lives in the New York City neighborhood Gramercy Park while also maintaining a residence in Los Angeles.
His father died in a car crash on April 29, 2001, when Parsons was 28.
On May 23, 2012, an article in The New York Times noted that Parsons is gay and had been in a relationship for the last ten years. His husband is art director Todd Spiewak. In October 2013, Parsons called their relationship "an act of love, coffee in the morning, going to work, washing the clothes, taking the dogs out—a regular life, boring love". Parsons and Spiewak wed in New York in May 2017.
Parsons supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 United States presidential election.
Acting credits
Film
Television
Theatre
Video games
Awards and nominations
See also
Character actor
LGBT culture in New York City
List of LGBT people from New York City
References
External links
Jim Parsons at IMDb
Jim Parsons at the Internet Broadway Database
Jim Parsons at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
CBS Biography
Movieline interviews Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons On Learning Lines, Emmy Nods and Cast Ping Pong Deathmatches
Fresh Air Interview: Jim Parsons On The Science Of Sheldon, 'Big Bang'
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Henry Kissinger
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Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th national security advisor from 1969 to 1975, serving under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
Born in Germany, Kissinger emigrated to the United States in 1938 as a Jewish refugee fleeing Nazi persecution. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After the war, he attended Harvard University, where he excelled academically. He later became a professor of government at the university and earned an international reputation as an expert on nuclear weapons and foreign policy. He acted as a consultant to government agencies, think tanks, and the presidential campaigns of Nelson Rockefeller and Nixon before being appointed as national security advisor and later secretary of state by President Nixon.
An advocate of a pragmatic approach to geopolitics known as Realpolitik, Kissinger pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, orchestrated an opening of relations with China, engaged in "shuttle diplomacy" in the Middle East to end the Yom Kippur War, and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords, which ended American involvement in the Vietnam War. For his role in negotiating the accords, he was awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize, which sparked controversy. Kissinger is also associated with controversial U.S. policies including its bombing of Cambodia, involvement in the 1971 Bolivian and 1973 Chilean coup d'états, and support for Argentina's military junta in its Dirty War, Indonesia in its invasion of East Timor, and Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War and Bangladesh genocide. Considered by many American scholars to have been an effective secretary of state, Kissinger was also accused by critics of war crimes for the civilian death toll of the policies he pursued and for his role in facilitating U.S. support for authoritarian regimes.
After leaving government, Kissinger founded Kissinger Associates, an international geopolitical consulting firm which he ran from 1982 until his death. He authored over a dozen books on diplomatic history and international relations. His advice was sought by American presidents of both major political parties.
Early life and education
Kissinger was born Heinz Alfred Kissinger on May 27, 1923, in Fürth, Bavaria, Germany. He was the son of homemaker Paula (née Stern), from Leutershausen, and Louis Kissinger, a school teacher. He had a younger brother, Walter, who was a businessman. Kissinger's family was German-Jewish. His great-great-grandfather Meyer Löb adopted "Kissinger" as his surname in 1817, taking it from the Bavarian spa town of Bad Kissingen. In his childhood, Kissinger enjoyed playing soccer. He played for the youth team of SpVgg Fürth, one of the nation's best clubs at the time.
In a 2022 BBC interview, Kissinger vividly recalled being nine years old in 1933 and learning of Adolf Hitler's election as Chancellor of Germany, which proved to be a profound turning point for the Kissinger family. During Nazi rule, Kissinger and his friends were regularly harassed and beaten by Hitler Youth gangs. Kissinger sometimes defied the segregation imposed by Nazi racial laws by sneaking into soccer stadiums to watch matches, often receiving beatings from security guards. As a result of the Nazis' anti-Semitic laws, Kissinger was unable to gain admittance to the Gymnasium and his father was dismissed from his teaching job.
On August 20, 1938, when Kissinger was 15 years old, he and his family fled Germany to avoid further Nazi persecution. The family briefly stopped in London before arriving in New York City on September 5. Kissinger later downplayed the influence his experiences of Nazi persecution had had on his policies and view of the world, writing that the "Germany of my youth had a great deal of order and very little justice; it was not the sort of place likely to inspire devotion to order in the abstract." Nevertheless, many scholars, including Kissinger's biographer Walter Isaacson, have argued that his experiences influenced the formation of his realist approach to foreign policy.
Kissinger spent his high-school years in the German-Jewish community in Washington Heights, Manhattan. Although Kissinger assimilated quickly into American culture, he never lost his pronounced German accent, due to childhood shyness that made him hesitant to speak. After his first year at George Washington High School, he completed school at night while working in a shaving brush factory during the day.
Kissinger studied accounting at the City College of New York, excelling academically as a part-time student while continuing to work. His studies were interrupted in early 1943, when he was drafted into the U.S. Army.
U.S. Army
Kissinger underwent basic training at Camp Croft in Spartanburg, South Carolina. On June 19, 1943, while stationed in South Carolina, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. The army sent him to study engineering at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania under the Army Specialized Training Program, but the program was canceled and Kissinger was reassigned to the 84th Infantry Division. There, he made the acquaintance of Fritz Kraemer, a fellow immigrant from Germany who noted Kissinger's fluency in German and his intellect and arranged for him to be assigned to the division's military intelligence. According to Vernon A. Walters, Kissinger also received training at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, before being shipped to Europe. Kissinger saw combat with the division and volunteered for hazardous intelligence duties during the Battle of the Bulge. On April 10, 1945, he participated in the liberation of the Hannover-Ahlem concentration camp, a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp. At the time, Kissinger wrote in his journal, "I had never seen people degraded to the level that people were in Ahlem. They barely looked human. They were skeletons." After the initial shock, however, Kissinger was relatively silent about his wartime service.
During the American advance into Germany, Kissinger, though only a private, was put in charge of the administration of the city of Krefeld because of a lack of German speakers on the division's intelligence staff. Within eight days he had established a civilian administration. Kissinger was then reassigned to the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC), where he became a CIC Special Agent holding the enlisted rank of sergeant. He was given charge of a team in Hanover assigned to tracking down Gestapo officers and other saboteurs, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star. Kissinger drew up a comprehensive list of all known Gestapo employees in the Bergstraße region, and had them rounded up. By the end of July, 12 men had been arrested. In March 1947, Fritz Girke, Hans Hellenbroich, Michael Raaf, and Karl Stattmann were subsequently caught and tried by the Dachau Military Tribunal for killing two American prisoners of war. The four men were all found guilty and sentenced to death. They were executed by hanging at Landsberg Prison in October 1948.
In June 1945, Kissinger was made commandant of the Bensheim metro CIC detachment, Bergstraße district of Hesse, with responsibility for denazification of the district. Although he possessed absolute authority and powers of arrest, Kissinger took care to avoid abuses against the local population by his command.
In 1946, Kissinger was reassigned to teach at the European Command Intelligence School at Camp King and, as a civilian employee following his separation from the army, continued to serve in this role.
Kissinger recalled that his experience in the army "made me feel like an American".
Academic career
Kissinger earned his Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in political science from Harvard College in 1950, where he lived in Adams House and studied under William Yandell Elliott. His senior undergraduate thesis, titled The Meaning of History: Reflections on Spengler, Toynbee and Kant, was over 400 pages long, and provoked Harvard's current cap on the length of undergraduate theses (35,000 words). He earned his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy at Harvard University in 1951 and 1954, respectively. In 1952, while still a graduate student at Harvard, he served as a consultant to the director of the Psychological Strategy Board, and founded a magazine, Confluence. At that time, he sought to work as a spy for the FBI.
Kissinger's doctoral dissertation was titled Peace, Legitimacy, and the Equilibrium (A Study of the Statesmanship of Castlereagh and Metternich). Stephen Graubard, Kissinger's friend, asserted that Kissinger primarily pursued such endeavor to instruct himself on the history of power play between European states in the 19th century. In his doctoral dissertation, Kissinger first introduced the concept of "legitimacy", which he defined as: "Legitimacy as used here should not be confused with justice. It means no more than an international agreement about the nature of workable arrangements and about the permissible aims and methods of foreign policy". An international order accepted by all of the major powers is "legitimate" whereas an international order not accepted by one or more of the great powers is "revolutionary" and hence dangerous. Thus, when after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the leaders of Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia agreed to co-operate in the Concert of Europe to preserve the peace after Austria, Prussia, and Russia participated in a series of three Partitions of Poland, in Kissinger's viewpoint this international system was "legitimate" because it was accepted by the leaders of all five of the Great Powers of Europe. Notably, Kissinger's Primat der Außenpolitik (Primacy of foreign policy) approach to diplomacy took it for granted that as long as the decision-makers in the major states were willing to accept the international order, then it is "legitimate" with questions of public opinion and morality dismissed as irrelevant. His dissertation also won him the Senator Charles Sumner Prize, an award given to the best dissertation "from the legal, political, historical, economic, social, or ethnic approach, dealing with any means or measures tending toward the prevention of war and the establishment of universal peace" by a student under the Harvard Department of Government. It was published in 1957 as A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of Peace 1812–1822.
Kissinger remained at Harvard as a member of the faculty in the Department of Government where he served as the director of the Harvard International Seminar between 1951 and 1971. In 1955, he was a consultant to the National Security Council's Operations Coordinating Board. During 1955 and 1956, he was also study director in nuclear weapons and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. He released his book Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy the following year. The book, which criticized the Eisenhower administration's massive retaliation nuclear doctrine, caused much controversy at the time by proposing the use of tactical nuclear weapons on a regular basis to win wars. That same year, he published A World Restored, a study of balance-of-power politics in post-Napoleonic Europe.
From 1956 to 1958, Kissinger worked for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund as director of its Special Studies Project. He served as the director of the Harvard Defense Studies Program between 1958 and 1971. In 1958, he also co-founded the Center for International Affairs with Robert R. Bowie where he served as its associate director. Outside of academia, he served as a consultant to several government agencies and think tanks, including the Operations Research Office, the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Department of State, and the RAND Corporation.
Keen to have a greater influence on U.S. foreign policy, Kissinger became foreign policy advisor to the presidential campaigns of Nelson Rockefeller, supporting his bids for the Republican nomination in 1960, 1964, and 1968. Kissinger first met Richard Nixon at a party hosted by Clare Boothe Luce in 1967, saying that he found him more "thoughtful" than he expected. During the Republican primaries in 1968, Kissinger again served as the foreign policy adviser to Rockefeller and in July 1968 called Nixon "the most dangerous of all the men running to have as president". Initially upset when Nixon won the Republican nomination, the ambitious Kissinger soon changed his mind about Nixon and contacted a Nixon campaign aide, Richard Allen, to state he was willing to do anything to help Nixon win. After Nixon became president in January 1969, Kissinger was appointed as National Security Advisor. By this time, he was arguably "one of the most important theorists about foreign policy ever to be produced by the United States", according to his official biographer Niall Ferguson.
Foreign policy
Kissinger served as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under President Richard Nixon and continued as Secretary of State under Nixon's successor Gerald Ford. With the death of George Shultz in February 2021, Kissinger was the last surviving member of the Nixon administration Cabinet.
The relationship between Nixon and Kissinger was unusually close, and has been compared to the relationships of Woodrow Wilson and Colonel House, or Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Hopkins. In all three cases, the State Department was relegated to a backseat role in developing foreign policy. Kissinger and Nixon shared a penchant for secrecy and conducted numerous "backchannel" negotiations, such as that through the Soviet Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Dobrynin, that excluded State Department experts. Historian David Rothkopf looked at the personalities of Nixon and Kissinger, saying:
They were a fascinating pair. In a way, they complemented each other perfectly. Kissinger was the charming and worldly Mr. Outside who provided the grace and intellectual-establishment respectability that Nixon lacked, disdained and aspired to. Kissinger was an international citizen. Nixon very much a classic American. Kissinger had a worldview and a facility for adjusting it to meet the times, Nixon had pragmatism and a strategic vision that provided the foundations for their policies. Kissinger would, of course, say that he was not political like Nixon—but in fact he was just as political as Nixon, just as calculating, just as relentlessly ambitious ... these self-made men were driven as much by their need for approval and their neuroses as by their strengths.
A proponent of Realpolitik, Kissinger played a dominant role in United States foreign policy between 1969 and 1977. In that period, he extended the policy of détente. This policy led to a significant relaxation in U.S.–Soviet tensions and played a crucial role in 1971 talks with the People's Republic of China premier Zhou Enlai. The talks concluded with a rapprochement between the United States and China, and the formation of a new strategic anti-Soviet Sino-American alignment. He was jointly awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize with Lê Đức Thọ for helping to establish a ceasefire and U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. The ceasefire, however, was not durable. Thọ declined to accept the award and Kissinger appeared deeply ambivalent about it—he donated his prize money to charity, did not attend the award ceremony, and later offered to return his prize medal. As National Security Advisor in 1974, Kissinger directed the much-debated National Security Study Memorandum 200.
Détente and opening to the People's Republic of China
Kissinger initially had little interest in China when he began his work as National Security Adviser in 1969, and the driving force behind the rapprochement with China was Nixon. Like Nixon, Kissinger believed that relations with China would help the United States exit the Vietnam War and obtain long-term strategic benefits in confrontations with the Soviet Union.
In April 1970, both Nixon and Kissinger promised Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, that they would never abandon Taiwan or make any compromises with Mao Zedong, although Nixon did speak vaguely of his wish to improve relations with the People's Republic.
Kissinger made two trips to the People's Republic in July and October 1971 (the first of which was made in secret) to confer with Premier Zhou Enlai, then in charge of Chinese foreign policy. During his visit to Beijing, the main issue turned out to be Taiwan, as Zhou demanded the United States recognize that Taiwan was a legitimate part of the People's Republic, pull U.S. forces out of Taiwan, and end military support for the Kuomintang regime. Kissinger gave way by promising to pull U.S. forces out of Taiwan, saying two-thirds would be pulled out when the Vietnam war ended and the rest to be pulled out as Sino-American relations improved.
In October 1971, as Kissinger was making his second trip to the People's Republic, the issue of which Chinese government deserved to be represented in the United Nations came up again. Out of concern to not be seen abandoning an ally, the United States tried to promote a compromise under which both Chinese regimes would be United Nations members, although Kissinger called it "an essentially doomed rearguard action". While American ambassador to the United Nations George H. W. Bush was lobbying for the "two Chinas" formula, Kissinger was removing favorable references to Taiwan from a speech that then Secretary of State William P. Rogers was preparing, as he expected the country to be expelled from the United Nations. During his second visit to Beijing, Kissinger told Zhou that according to a public opinion poll 62% of Americans wanted Taiwan to remain a United Nations member and asked him to consider the "two Chinas" compromise to avoid offending American public opinion. Zhou responded with his claim that the People's Republic was the legitimate government of all China, and no compromise was possible. Kissinger said that the United States could not totally sever ties with Chiang, who had been an ally in World War II. Kissinger told Nixon that Bush was "too soft and not sophisticated" enough to properly represent the United States at the United Nations and expressed no anger when the United Nations General Assembly voted to expel Taiwan and give China's seat on the United Nations Security Council to the People's Republic.
Kissinger's trips paved the way for the groundbreaking 1972 summit between Nixon, Zhou, and Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong, as well as the formalization of relations between the two countries, ending 23 years of diplomatic isolation and mutual hostility. The result was the formation of a tacit strategic anti-Soviet alliance between China and the United States. Kissinger's diplomacy led to economic and cultural exchanges between the two sides and the establishment of "liaison offices" in the Chinese and American capitals, though full normalization of relations with China would not occur until 1979.
Vietnam War
Kissinger discussed being involved in Indochina prior to his appointment as National Security Adviser to Nixon. According to Kissinger, his friend Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., the Ambassador to Saigon, employed Kissinger as a consultant, leading to Kissinger visiting Vietnam once in 1965 and twice in 1966, where Kissinger realized that the United States "knew neither how to win or how to conclude" the Vietnam War. Kissinger also stated that in 1967, he served as an intermediary for negotiations between the United States and North Vietnam, with Kissinger providing the American position, while two Frenchmen provided the North Vietnamese position.
When he came into office in 1969, Kissinger favored a negotiating strategy under which the United States and North Vietnam would sign an armistice and agreed to pull their troops out of South Vietnam while the South Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were to agree to a coalition government. Kissinger had doubts about Nixon's theory of "linkage", believing that this would give the Soviet Union leverage over the United States and unlike Nixon was less concerned about the ultimate fate of South Vietnam. Though Kissinger did not regard South Vietnam as important in its own right, he believed it was necessary to support South Vietnam to maintain the United States as a global power, believing that none of America's allies would trust the United States if South Vietnam were abandoned too quickly.
In early 1969, Kissinger was opposed to the plans for Operation Menu, the bombing of Cambodia, fearing that Nixon was acting rashly with no plans for the diplomatic fall-out, but on March 16, 1969, Nixon announced the bombing would start the next day. As he saw the president was committed, he became more supportive. Kissinger played a key role in bombing Cambodia to disrupt raids into South Vietnam from Cambodia, as well as the 1970 Cambodian campaign and subsequent widespread bombing of Khmer Rouge targets in Cambodia. For his role in planning the U.S. bombing of Cambodia, scholars have stated that Kissinger bears substantial responsibility for the killing of between 50,000 and 150,000 Cambodian civilians and also the destabilization of Cambodia that the U.S. bombing campaign caused, which contributed to the Khmer Rouge's ascendance to power. The Paris peace talks had become stalemated by late 1969 owing to the obstructionism of the South Vietnamese delegation. The South Vietnamese president Nguyễn Văn Thiệu did not want the United States to withdraw from Vietnam, and out of frustration with him, Kissinger began secret peace talks with
Le Duc Thọ in Paris parallel to the official talks that the South Vietnamese were unaware of. In June 1971, Kissinger supported Nixon's effort to ban the Pentagon Papers saying the "hemorrhage of state secrets" to the media was making diplomacy impossible.
On August 1, 1972, Kissinger met Thọ again in Paris, and for first time, he seemed willing to compromise, saying that political and military terms of an armistice could be treated separately and hinted that his government was no longer willing to make the overthrow of Thiệu a precondition. On the evening of October 8, 1972, at a secret meeting of Kissinger and Thọ in Paris came the decisive breakthrough in the talks. Thọ began with "a very realistic and very simple proposal" for a ceasefire that would see the Americans pull all their forces out of Vietnam in exchange for the release of all the POWs in North Vietnam. Kissinger accepted Thọ's offer as the best deal possible, saying that the "mutual withdrawal formula" had to be abandoned as it had been "unobtainable through ten years of war ... We could not make it a condition for a final settlement. We had long passed that threshold". In the fall of 1972, both Kissinger and Nixon were frustrated with Thiệu's refusal to accept any sort of peace deal calling for withdrawal of American forces. On October 21 Kissinger and the American ambassador Ellsworth Bunker arrived in Saigon to show Thiệu the peace agreement. Thiệu refused to sign the peace agreement and demanded very extensive amendments that Kissinger reported to Nixon "verge on insanity".
Though Nixon had initially supported Kissinger against Thiệu, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman urged him to reconsider, arguing that Thiệu's objections had merit. Nixon wanted 69 amendments to the draft peace agreement included in the final treaty and ordered Kissinger back to Paris to force Thọ to accept them. Kissinger regarded Nixon's 69 amendments as "preposterous" as he knew Thọ would never accept them. As expected, Thọ refused to consider any of the 69 amendments, and on December 13, 1972, left Paris for Hanoi. Kissinger by this stage was worked up into a state of fury after Thọ walked out of the Paris talks and told Nixon: "They're just a bunch of shits. Tawdry, filthy shits".
On January 8, 1973, Kissinger and Thọ met again in Paris and the next day reached an agreement, which in main points was essentially the same as the one Nixon had rejected in October with only cosmetic concessions to the Americans. Thiệu once again rejected the peace agreement, only to receive an ultimatum from Nixon which caused Thiệu to reluctantly accept the peace agreement. On January 27, 1973, Kissinger and Thọ signed a peace agreement that called for the complete withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Vietnam by March in exchange for North Vietnam freeing all the U.S. POWs. Along with Thọ, Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1973, for their work in negotiating the ceasefires contained in the Paris Peace Accords on "Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam", signed the previous January. According to Irwin Abrams in 2001, this prize was the most controversial to date. For the first time in the history of the Peace Prize, two members left the Nobel Committee in protest. Thọ rejected the award, telling Kissinger that peace had not been restored in South Vietnam. Kissinger wrote to the Nobel Committee that he accepted the award "with humility", and "donated the entire proceeds to the children of American service members killed or missing in action in Indochina". After the Fall of Saigon in 1975, Kissinger attempted to return the award.
By the summer of 1974, the U.S. embassy reported that morale in the ARVN had fallen to dangerously low levels and it was uncertain how much longer South Vietnam would last. In August 1974, the U.S. Congress passed a bill limiting American aid to South Vietnam to $700 million annually. By November 1974, Kissinger lobbied Leonid Brezhnev to end Soviet military aid to North Vietnam. The same month, he also lobbied Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai to end Chinese military aid to North Vietnam. On April 15, 1975, Kissinger testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee, urging Congress to increase the military aid budget to South Vietnam by another $700 million to save the ARVN as the PAVN was rapidly advancing on Saigon, which was refused. Kissinger maintained at the time, and until his death, that if only Congress had approved of his request for another $700 million South Vietnam would have been able to resist.
In November 1975, seven months after the Khmer Rouge took power, Kissinger told the Thai foreign minister: "You should tell the Cambodians that we will be friends with them. They are murderous thugs but we won't let that stand in our way." In a 1998 interview, Kissinger said: "some countries, the Chinese in particular supported Pol Pot as a counterweight to the Vietnamese supported people and We at least tolerated it." Kissinger said he did not approve of this due to the genocide and said he "would not have dealt with Pol Pot for any purpose whatsoever." He further said: "The Thais and the Chinese did not want a Vietnamese-dominated Indochina. We didn't want the Vietnamese to dominate. I don't believe we did anything for Pol Pot. But I suspect we closed our eyes when some others did something for Pol Pot."
Interview with Oriana Fallaci
On November 4, 1972, Kissinger agreed to an interview with Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci. Kissinger, who rarely engaged in one-on-one interviews with the press and knew very little about Fallaci, accepted her request after reportedly being impressed with her 1969 interview with Võ Nguyên Giáp. The interview turned out to be a political and public relations disaster for Kissinger as he agreed that Vietnam was a "useless war", implied that he preferred to have dinner with Lê Đức Thọ over Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (in her 1976 book Interview with History, Fallaci recalled that Kissinger agreed with many of her negative sentiments towards Thiệu in a private discussion before the interview), and engaged in a now infamous exchange with the hard-pressing Fallaci, with Kissinger comparing himself to a cowboy leading the Nixon administration:
Fallaci: I suppose that at the root of everything there's your success. I mean, like a chess player, you've made two or three good moves. China, first of all. People like chess players who checkmate the king.Kissinger: Yes, China has been a very important element in the mechanics of my success. And yet that's not the main point. The main point. ... Well, yes, I'll tell you. What do I care? The main point arises from the fact that I've always acted alone. Americans like that immensely. Americans like the cowboy who leads the wagon train by riding ahead alone on his horse, the cowboy who rides all alone into the town, the village, with his horse and nothing else. Maybe even without a pistol, since he doesn't shoot. He acts, that's all, by being in the right place at the right time. In short, a Western.Fallaci: I see. You see yourself as a kind of Henry Fonda, unarmed and ready to fight with his fists for honest ideals. Alone, courageous ...Kissinger: Not necessarily courageous. In fact, this cowboy doesn't have to be courageous. All he needs is to be alone, to show others that he rides into the town and does everything by himself. This amazing, romantic character suits me precisely because to be alone has always been part of my style or, if you like, my technique. Together with independence. Oh, that's very important in me and for me. And finally, conviction. I've always been convinced that I had to do whatever I've done. And people feel it, and believe in it. And I care about the fact that they believe in me when you sway or convince somebody, you shouldn't confuse them. Nor can you even simply calculate. Some people think that I carefully plan what are to be the consequences, for the public, of any of my initiatives or efforts. They think this preoccupation is always on my mind. Instead the consequences of what I do, I mean the public's judgment, have never bothered me. I don't ask for popularity, I'm not looking for popularity. On the contrary, if you really want to know, I care nothing about popularity. I'm not at all afraid of losing my public; I can allow myself to say what I think. I'm referring to what's genuine in me. If I were to let myself be disturbed by the reactions of the public, if I were to act solely on the basis of a calculated technique, I would accomplish nothing.
Nixon was enraged by the interview, in particular the comedic "cowboy" comparison which infuriated Nixon. For several weeks afterwards, he refused to see Kissinger and even contemplated firing him. At one point, Kissinger, in desperation, drove up unannounced to Nixon's San Clemente residence but was rejected by Secret Service personnel at the gates. Kissinger later claimed that it was "the single most disastrous conversation I have ever had with any member of the press". Fallaci described the interview with the evasive, monotonous, non-expressive Kissinger as the most uncomfortable and most difficult she ever did, criticizing Kissinger as a "intellectual adventurer" and a self-styled Metternich.
Bangladesh Liberation War
Nixon supported Pakistani dictator Yahya Khan in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Kissinger sneered at people who "bleed" for "the dying Bengalis" and ignored the first telegram from the U.S. consul general in East Pakistan, Archer K. Blood, and 20 members of his staff, which informed the U.S. that their allies West Pakistan were undertaking, in Blood's words, "a selective genocide" targeting the Bengali intelligentsia, supporters of independence for East Pakistan, and the Hindu minority. In the second, more famous, Blood Telegram the word 'genocide' was again used to describe the events, and further that with its continuing support for West Pakistan the U.S. government had "evidenced ... moral bankruptcy". As a direct response to the dissent against U.S. policy, Kissinger and Nixon ended Archer Blood's tenure as United States consul general in East Pakistan and put him to work in the State Department's Personnel Office. Christopher Clary argues that Nixon and Kissinger were unconsciously biased, leading them to overestimate the likelihood of Pakistani victory against Bengali rebels.
Kissinger was particularly concerned about the expansion of Soviet influence in the Indian subcontinent as a result of a treaty of friendship recently signed by India and the Soviet Union, and sought to demonstrate to China (Pakistan's ally and an enemy of both India and the Soviet Union) the value of a tacit alliance with the United States.
Kissinger had also come under fire for private comments he made to Nixon during the Bangladesh–Pakistan War in which he described Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi as a "bitch" and a "witch". He also said "the Indians are bastards", shortly before the war. Kissinger later expressed his regret over the comments.
Europe
As National Security Adviser under Nixon, Kissinger pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, seeking a relaxation in tensions between the two superpowers. As a part of this strategy, he negotiated the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (culminating in the SALT I treaty) and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. Negotiations about strategic disarmament were originally supposed to start under the Lyndon Johnson administration but were postponed in protest upon the invasion by Warsaw Pact troops of Czechoslovakia in August 1968.
Nixon felt his administration had neglected relations with the Western European states in his first term and in September 1972 decided that if he was reelected that 1973 would be the "Year of Europe" as the United States would focus on relations with the states of the European Economic Community (EEC) which had emerged as a serious economic rival by 1970. Applying his favorite "linkage" concept, Nixon intended henceforward economic relations with Europe would not be severed from security relations, and if the EEC states wanted changes in American tariff and monetary policies, the price would be defense spending on their part. Kissinger in particular as part of the "Year of Europe" wanted to "revitalize" NATO, which he called a "decaying" alliance as he believed that there was nothing at present to stop the Red Army from overrunning Western Europe in a conventional forces conflict. The "linkage" concept more applied to the question of security as Kissinger noted that the United States was going to sacrifice NATO for the sake of "citrus fruits".
Israeli policy and Soviet Jewry
According to notes taken by H. R. Haldeman, Nixon "ordered his aides to exclude all Jewish-Americans from policy-making on Israel", including Kissinger. One note quotes Nixon as saying "get K. [Kissinger] out of the play—Haig handle it".
In 1973, Kissinger did not feel that pressing the Soviet Union concerning the plight of Jews being persecuted there was in the interest of U.S. foreign policy. In a conversation with Nixon shortly after a meeting with Israeli prime minister Golda Meir on March 1, 1973, Kissinger stated, "The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy, and if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern." He had a negative view of American Jews who lobbied for aid to Soviet Jews, calling them "bastards" and "self-serving". He went on to state that, "If it were not for the accident of my birth, I would be antisemitic" and "any people who has been persecuted for two thousand years must be doing something wrong."
Arab–Israeli conflict
In September 1973, Nixon fired William P. Rogers as Secretary of State and replaced him with Kissinger. He would later state he had not been given enough time to know the Middle East as he settled into the State Department. Kissinger later admitted that he was so engrossed with the Paris peace talks to end the Vietnam war that he and others in Washington missed the significance of the Egyptian-Saudi alliance. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat expelled Soviet advisors from Egypt in May 1972, attempting to signal to the U.S. that he was open to disentangling Egypt from the Soviet sphere of influence; Kissinger offered secret talks on a settlement for the Middle East, though nothing came of the offer. By March 1973, Sadat had moved back towards the Soviets, closing the largest arms package between Egypt and the Soviet Union and allowing for the return of Soviet military personnel and advisors to Egypt.
On October 6, 1973, at 6:15 am, assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs Joseph Sisco, informed Kissinger that Egypt and Syria were about to go to war with Israel. Sisco had been warned by U.S. ambassador to Israel, Kenneth Keating, who two hours previously had been urgently summoned by Israel's Prime Minister Golda Meir who believed conflict was imminent. Prioritising détente, Kissinger's first phone call (at 6:40 am) was to Soviet ambassador and good friend Anatoly Dobrynin. He would later make calls to British ambassador Rowland Baring and the U.N. secretary-general Kurt Waldheim. Kissinger did not inform President Richard Nixon or White House chief of staff Alexander Haig about the start of the Yom Kippur War until either 8:35 or 9:25 am. as both were spending the weekend at Key Biscayne discussing Spiro Agnew's imminent resignation. According to Kissinger his urgent calls to the Soviets and Egyptians were ineffective.
On October 12, under Nixon's direction, and against Kissinger's initial advice, while Kissinger was on his way to Moscow to discuss conditions for a cease-fire, Nixon sent a message to Brezhnev giving Kissinger full negotiating authority. Kissinger wanted to stall a ceasefire to gain more time for Israel to push across the Suez Canal to the African side, and wanted to be perceived as a mere presidential emissary who needed to consult the White House all the time as a stalling tactic.
Kissinger promised the Israeli prime minister Golda Meir that the United States would replace its losses in equipment after the war, but sought initially to delay arms shipments to Israel, as he believed it would improve the odds of making peace along the lines of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. In 1973, Meir requested $850 million worth of American arms and equipment to replace its materiel losses. Nixon instead sent some $2 billion worth. The arms lift enraged King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, and he retaliated on October 20, 1973, by placing a total embargo on oil shipments to the United States, to be joined by all of the other oil-producing Arab states except Iraq and Libya.
On November 7, 1973, Kissinger flew to Riyadh to meet King Faisal and to ask him to end the oil embargo in exchange for promising to be "even handed" in the Arab-Israeli dispute. Despite Kissinger's efforts to charm him, Faisal refused to lift the oil embargo. Only on March 19, 1974, did the King end the oil embargo, after Sadat reported to him that the United States was being more "even handed" and after Kissinger had promised to sell Saudi Arabia weapons that it had previously denied under the grounds that they might be used against Israel.
Kissinger pressured the Israelis to cede some of the newly captured land back to its Arab neighbors, contributing to the first phases of Israeli–Egyptian non-aggression. In 1973–1974, Kissinger engaged in "shuttle diplomacy" flying between Tel Aviv, Cairo, and Damascus in a bid to make the armistice the basis of a permanent peace. Kissinger's first meeting with Hafez al-Assad lasted 6 hours and 30 minutes, causing the press to believe for a moment that he had been kidnapped by the Syrians. In his memoirs, Kissinger described how, during the course of his 28 meetings in Damascus in 1973–74, Assad "negotiated tenaciously and daringly like a riverboat gambler to make sure he had exacted the last sliver of available concessions". As for the others Kissinger negotiated with, Kissinger viewed the Israeli politicians as rigid, while he had a good relationship and was able to develop a sense of assurance with Sadat. Kissinger's efforts resulted in two ceasefires between Egypt and Israel, Sinai I in January 1974, and Sinai II in September 1975.
Kissinger had avoided involving France and the United Kingdom, the former European colonial powers of the Middle East, in the peace negotiations that followed the Yom Kippur War, being primarily focused on minimizing the Soviet Union's sway over the peace negotiations and on moderating the international influences on the Arab-Israeli conflict. President Pompidou of France was concerned and perturbed by this development, viewing it as an indication of the United States' ambitions of hegemonically domineering the region.
Persian Gulf
A major concern for Kissinger was the possibility of Soviet influence in the Persian Gulf. In April 1969, Iraq came into conflict with Iran when Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi renounced the 1937 treaty governing the Shatt-al-Arab river. On December 1, 1971, after two years of skirmishes along the border, President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr broke off diplomatic relations with Iran. In May 1972, Nixon and Kissinger visited Tehran to tell the Shah that there would be no "second-guessing of his requests" to buy American weapons. At the same time, Nixon and Kissinger agreed to a plan of the Shah's that the United States together with Iran and Israel would support the Kurdish peshmerga guerrillas fighting for independence from Iraq. Kissinger later wrote that after Vietnam, there was no possibility of deploying American forces in the Middle East, and henceforward Iran was to act as America's surrogate in the Persian Gulf. Kissinger described the Ba'athist regime in Iraq as a potential threat to the United States and believed that building up Iran and supporting the peshmerga was the best counterweight.
Turkish invasion of Cyprus
Following a period of steady relations between the U.S. Government and the Greek military regime after 1967, Secretary of State Kissinger was faced with the coup by the Greek junta and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July and August 1974. In an August 1974 edition of The New York Times, it was revealed that Kissinger and the State Department were informed in advance of the impending coup by the Greek junta in Cyprus. Indeed, according to the journalist, the official version of events as told by the State Department was that it felt it had to warn the Greek military regime not to carry out the coup.
Kissinger was a target of anti-American sentiment which was a significant feature of Greek public opinion at the time—particularly among young people—viewing the U.S. role in Cyprus as negative. In a demonstration by students in Heraklion, Crete, soon after the second phase of the Turkish invasion in August 1974, slogans such as "Kissinger, murderer", "Americans get out", "No to Partition" and "Cyprus is no Vietnam" were heard. Some years later, Kissinger expressed the opinion that the Cyprus issue was resolved in 1974. The New York Times and other major newspapers were highly critical, and even State Department officials did not hide their dissatisfaction with his alleged arrogance and ignorance of the basic facts of the issue.
Kissinger was reported to have said, "The Turkish tactics are right – grab what they want and then negotiate on the basis of possession".
However, Kissinger never felt comfortable with the way he handled the Cyprus issue. Journalist Alexis Papahelas stated that Kissinger's "facial expression changes markedly when someone—usually Greek or Cypriot—refers to the crisis". According to him, Kissinger had felt since the summer of 1974 that history would not treat him lightly in relation to his actions.
Latin American policy
In 1970, Kissinger parroted to Nixon the United States Department of Defense's position that the country should maintain control over the Panama Canal, which was a reversal of the commitment by the Lyndon Johnson administration. Later, in the face of international pressure, Kissinger changed his stance, viewing the past hardline position in the Panama Canal issue as a hindrance to American relations with Latin America and an international setback that the Soviet Union would approve of. Kissinger in 1973 called for "new dialogue" between the United States and Latin America, then in 1974, Kissinger met Panama military leader Omar Torrijos and an agreement on eight operating principles for an eventual handover of the Panama Canal to Panama was made between Kissinger and Panamanian foreign minister Juan Antonio Tack, which angered the United States Congress, but ultimately provided a framework for the 1977 U.S.–Panama treaties.
Cuba
Kissinger initially supported the normalization of United States–Cuba relations, broken since 1961 (all U.S.–Cuban trade was blocked in February 1962, a few weeks after the exclusion of Cuba from the Organization of American States because of U.S. pressure). However, he quickly changed his mind and followed Kennedy's policy. After the involvement of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces in the independence struggles in Angola and Mozambique, Kissinger said that unless Cuba withdrew its forces relations would not be normalized. Cuba refused.
During the 1970 Cienfuegos Crisis, in which the Soviet Navy was strongly suspected of building a submarine base in the Cuban city of Cienfuegos, Kissinger met with Anatoly Dobrynin, Soviet Ambassador to the United States, informing him that the United States government considered this act a violation of the agreements made in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, prompting the Soviets to halt construction of their planned base in Cienfuegos.
In February 1976, Kissinger considered launching air strikes against ports and military installations in Cuba, as well as deploying U.S. Marine Corps battalions based at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, in retaliation for Cuban president Fidel Castro's decision in late 1975 to send troops to newly independent Angola to help the MPLA in its fight against UNITA and South Africa during the start of the Angolan Civil War.
Bolivian Coup
Following the uprising of October 7, 1970, General Juan José Torres came to power in Bolivia, forming a left-wing nationalist government with an "anti-imperialist" stance. His policies, which included the nationalization of some American-owned property, led to the U.S. exerting external pressure over his government.
On June 11, 1971, Nixon and Kissinger discussed plans for a coup in Bolivia, and later in July, the 40 Committee approved covert funding towards Torres's opposition. Torres was successfully overthrown by the Nationalist Popular Front, led by Hugo Banzer, in August 21, 1971.
Chilean Coup
Chilean Socialist Party presidential candidate Salvador Allende was elected in 1970, causing serious concern in Washington, D.C., due to his socialist and pro-Cuban politics. The Nixon administration, with Kissinger's input, authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to encourage a military coup that would prevent Allende's inauguration, but the plan was not successful. Prior to Allende's election Kissinger had said that "I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go Communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people".
On September 11, 1973, Allende died during an army attack on the presidential palace that was an element of a military coup launched by Army Commander-in-Chief Augusto Pinochet, who then became the head of the military junta which replaced Allende. In September 1976, Orlando Letelier, a Chilean opponent of the new Pinochet regime, was assassinated in Washington, D.C., with a car bomb. Previously, Kissinger had helped secure his release from prison, and had chosen to cancel an official U.S. letter to Chile warning them against carrying out any political assassinations. This murder was part of Operation Condor, a covert program of political repression and assassination carried out by Southern Cone nations that Kissinger has been accused of being involved in.
On September 10, 2001, after recent declassification of documents, relatives and survivors of General René Schneider filed civil proceedings against Kissinger, in federal court in Washington, D.C., accusing him of collaborating in arranging Schneider's kidnapping which resulted in his death. The case was later dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, citing separation of powers: "The decision to support a coup of the Chilean government to prevent Dr. Allende from coming to power, and the means by which the United States Government sought to effect that goal, implicate policy makers in the murky realm of foreign affairs and national security best left to the political branches." Decades later, the CIA admitted its involvement in the kidnapping of General Schneider, but not his murder, and subsequently paid the group responsible for his death $35,000 "to keep the prior contact secret, maintain the goodwill of the group, and for humanitarian reasons".
Argentina
Kissinger took a similar line as he had toward Chile when the Argentine Armed Forces, led by Jorge Videla, toppled the elected government of Isabel Perón in 1976 with a process called the National Reorganization Process by the military, with which they consolidated power, launching brutal reprisals and "disappearances" against political opponents. An October 1987 investigative report in The Nation broke the story of how, in a June 1976 meeting in the Hotel Carrera in Santiago, Kissinger gave the military junta in neighboring Argentina the "green light" for their own clandestine repression against leftwing guerrillas and other dissidents, thousands of whom were kept in more than 400 secret concentration camps before they were executed. During a meeting with Argentine foreign minister César Augusto Guzzetti, Kissinger assured him that the United States was an ally but urged him to "get back to normal procedures" quickly before the U.S. Congress reconvened and had a chance to consider sanctions.
As the article published in The Nation noted, as the state-sponsored terror mounted, conservative Republican U.S. Ambassador to Buenos Aires Robert C. Hill "'was shaken, he became very disturbed, by the case of the son of a thirty-year embassy employee, a student who was arrested, never to be seen again,' recalled Juan de Onis, former reporter for The New York Times. 'Hill took a personal interest.' He went to the Interior Minister, a general with whom he had worked on drug cases, saying, 'Hey, what about this? We're interested in this case.' He questioned (Foreign Minister Cesar) Guzzetti and, finally, President Jorge Videla himself. 'All he got was stonewalling; he got nowhere.' de Onis said. 'His last year was marked by increasing disillusionment and dismay, and he backed his staff on human rights right to the hilt."
In a letter to The Nation editor Victor Navasky, protesting publication of the article, Kissinger claimed that: "At any rate, the notion of Hill as a passionate human rights advocate is news to all his former associates." Yet Kissinger aide Harry W. Shlaudeman later disagreed with Kissinger, telling the oral historian William E. Knight of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project: It really came to a head when I was Assistant Secretary, or it began to come to a head, in the case of Argentina where the dirty war was in full flower. Bob Hill, who was Ambassador then in Buenos Aires, a very conservative Republican politician—by no means liberal or anything of the kind, began to report quite effectively about what was going on, this slaughter of innocent civilians, supposedly innocent civilians—this vicious war that they were conducting, underground war. He, at one time in fact, sent me a back-channel telegram saying that the Foreign Minister, who had just come for a visit to Washington and had returned to Buenos Aires, had gloated to him that Kissinger had said nothing to him about human rights. I don't know—I wasn't present at the interview.
Navasky later wrote in his book about being confronted by Kissinger: 'Tell me, Mr. Navasky,' [Kissinger] said in his famous guttural tones, 'how is it that a short article in an obscure journal such as yours about a conversation that was supposed to have taken place years ago about something that did or didn't happen in Argentina resulted in sixty people holding placards denouncing me a few months ago at the airport when I got off the plane in Copenhagen?'
According to declassified state department files, Kissinger also hindered the Carter administration's efforts to halt the mass killings by the 1976–1983 military dictatorship by visiting the country as Videla's personal guest to attend the 1978 FIFA World Cup and praising the regime.
Brazil's nuclear weapons program
Kissinger was in favor of accommodating Brazil while it pursued a nuclear weapons program in the 1970s. Kissinger justified his position by arguing that Brazil was a U.S. ally and on the grounds that it would benefit private nuclear industry actors in the U.S. Kissinger's position on Brazil was out of sync with influential voices in the U.S. Congress, the State Department, and the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
Rhodesia
In September 1976, Kissinger was actively involved in negotiations regarding the Rhodesian Bush War. Kissinger, along with South Africa's prime minister John Vorster, pressured Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith to hasten the transition to black majority rule in Rhodesia. With FRELIMO in control of Mozambique and even the apartheid regime of South Africa withdrawing its support, Rhodesia's isolation was nearly complete. According to Smith's autobiography, Kissinger told Smith of Mrs. Kissinger's admiration for him, but Smith stated that he thought Kissinger was asking him to sign Rhodesia's "death certificate". Kissinger, bringing the weight of the United States, and corralling other relevant parties to put pressure on Rhodesia, hastened the end of white minority rule.
Portuguese Empire
In contrast to the unfriendly disposition of the previous Kennedy and Johnson administrations towards the Estado Novo regime of Portugal, particularly with regards to its attempts to maintain the Portuguese Colonial Empire by waging the Portuguese Colonial War against anti-colonial rebellions in defense of its empire, the Department of State under Kissinger adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards Portugal. In 1971, the administration of President Nixon successfully renewed the lease of the American military base in the Azores, despite condemnation from the Congressional Black Caucus and some members of the Senate. Though privately continuing to view Portugal contemptibly for its perceived atavistic foreign policy towards Africa, Kissinger publicly expressed thanks for Portugal's agreement to use its military base in Lajes in the Azores to resupply Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Following the fall of the far-right Portuguese regime in 1974, Kissinger worried that the new government's hasty decolonization plan might benefit radical factions such as the MPLA in Angola. He also expressed concern that the inclusion of the Portuguese Communist Party in the new Portuguese government could legitimize communist parties in other NATO member states, such as Italy.
East Timor
The Portuguese decolonization process brought U.S. attention to the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, which declared its independence in 1975. Indonesian president Suharto regarded East Timor as rightfully part of Indonesia. In December 1975, Suharto discussed invasion plans during a meeting with Kissinger and President Ford in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Both Ford and Kissinger made clear that U.S. relations with Indonesia would remain strong and that it would not object to the proposed annexation. They only wanted it done "fast" and proposed that it be delayed until after they had returned to Washington. Accordingly, Suharto delayed the operation for one day. Finally on December 7, Indonesian forces invaded the former Portuguese colony. U.S. arms sales to Indonesia continued, and Suharto went ahead with the annexation plan. According to Ben Kiernan, the invasion and occupation resulted in the deaths of nearly a quarter of the Timorese population from 1975 to 1981.
Western Sahara
The Kissingerian doctrine endorsed the forced concession of Spanish Sahara to Morocco. At the height of the 1975 Sahara crisis, Kissinger misled Gerald Ford into thinking the International Court of Justice had ruled in favor of Morocco. Kissinger was aware in advance of the Moroccan plans for the invasion of the territory, materialized on November 6, 1975, in the so-called Green March.
Zaire
Kissinger was involved in furthering cooperation between the U.S. and the Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and held multiple meetings with him. Kissinger later described these efforts as "one of our policy successes in Africa" and praised Mobutu as "courageous, politically astute" and "relatively honest in a country where governmental corruption is a way of life".
Later roles
After Nixon was forced to resign in August 1974 due to the Watergate scandal, Kissinger initially kept both of his positions as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the new presidential administration of Gerald Ford. However, his influence was somewhat diminished when he was replaced by Brent Scowcroft as National Security Advisor during the "Halloween Massacre" cabinet reshuffle of November 1975. Ford later explained his decision to journalist Thomas M. DeFrank: "When Kissinger had both State and NSC, there was not an independent evaluation of proposals, and I never liked that arrangement that I inherited. And when the time came to make some [other] changes at the Pentagon and CIA, it was logical to tell Henry, 'I’m gonna just leave you as secretary of state and upgrade Brent Scowcroft.'" Kissinger left office as Secretary of State when Democrat Jimmy Carter defeated Ford in the 1976 presidential election.
Kissinger continued to participate in policy groups, such as the Trilateral Commission, and to maintain political consulting, speaking, and writing engagements. In 1978, he was secretly involved in thwarting efforts by the Carter administration to indict three Chilean intelligence agents for masterminding the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier. Kissinger was critical of the foreign policy of the Jimmy Carter administration, saying in 1980 that "has managed the extraordinary feat of having, at one and the same time, the worst relations with our allies, the worst relations with our adversaries, and the most serious upheavals in the developing world since the end of the Second World War."
After Kissinger left office in 1977, he was offered an endowed chair at Columbia University, which was met with student opposition. Kissinger instead accepted a position at Georgetown University's Center for Strategic and International Studies. He taught at Georgetown's Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service for several years in the late 1970s. In 1982, with the help of a loan from the international banking firm of E.M. Warburg, Pincus and Company, Kissinger founded a consulting firm, Kissinger Associates, and was a partner in affiliate Kissinger McLarty Associates with Mack McLarty, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. He also served on the board of directors of Hollinger International, a Chicago-based newspaper group, and as of March 1999, was a director of Gulfstream Aerospace.
In September 1989, The Wall Street Journal's John Fialka disclosed that Kissinger took a direct economic interest in U.S.–China relations in March 1989 with the establishment of China Ventures, Inc., a Delaware limited partnership, of which he was chairman of the board and chief executive officer. A US$75 million investment in a joint venture with the Communist Party government's primary commercial vehicle at the time, China International Trust & Investment Corporation (CITIC), was its purpose. Board members were major clients of Kissinger Associates. Kissinger was criticized for not disclosing his role in the venture when called upon by ABC's Peter Jennings to comment the morning after the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square massacre. Kissinger's position was generally supportive of Deng Xiaoping's decision to use the military against the demonstrating students and he opposed economic sanctions.
From 1995 to 2001, Kissinger served on the board of directors for Freeport-McMoRan, a multinational copper and gold producer with significant mining and milling operations in Papua, Indonesia. In February 2000, president of Indonesia Abdurrahman Wahid appointed Kissinger as a political advisor. He also served as an honorary advisor to the United States-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce.
In 1998, in response to the 2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal, the International Olympic Committee formed a commission, called the "2000 Commission", to recommend reforms, which Kissinger served on. This service led in 2000 to his appointment as one of five IOC "honor members", a category the organization described as granted to "eminent personalities from outside the IOC who have rendered particularly outstanding services to it".
Kissinger served as the 22nd Chancellor of the College of William and Mary from 2000 to 2005. He was preceded by former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and succeeded by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The College of William & Mary also owns a painted portrait of Kissinger that was painted by Ned Bittinger.
From 2000 to 2006, Kissinger served as chairman of the board of trustees of Eisenhower Fellowships. In 2006, upon his departure from Eisenhower Fellowships, he received the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service.
In November 2002, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to chair the newly established National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States to investigate the September 11 attacks. Kissinger stepped down as chairman on December 13, 2002, rather than reveal his business client list, when queried about potential conflicts of interest.
In January 2007, Kissinger delivered a eulogy for Gerald Ford, one of the U.S. presidents he served, at Ford's state funeral in the Washington National Cathedral.
In April 2008 Kissinger gave a eulogy for the conservative author and founder of the National Review, William F. Buckley at the latter's memorial service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.
In the Rio Tinto espionage case of 2009–2010, Kissinger was paid US$5 million to advise the multinational mining company how to distance itself from an employee who had been arrested in China for bribery.
Kissinger—along with William Perry, Sam Nunn, and George Shultz—called upon governments to embrace the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons, and in three op-eds in The Wall Street Journal proposed an ambitious program of urgent steps to that end. The four created the Nuclear Threat Initiative to advance this agenda. In 2010, the four were featured in a documentary film entitled Nuclear Tipping Point. The film is a visual and historical depiction of the ideas laid forth in The Wall Street Journal op-eds and reinforces their commitment to a world without nuclear weapons and the steps that can be taken to reach that goal.
On November 17, 2016, Kissinger met with President-elect Donald Trump during which they discussed global affairs. Kissinger also met with President Trump at the White House in May 2017.
In an interview with Charlie Rose on August 17, 2017, Kissinger said about President Trump: "I'm hoping for an Augustinian moment, for St. Augustine ... who in his early life followed a pattern that was quite incompatible with later on when he had a vision, and rose to sainthood. One does not expect the president to become that, but it's conceivable". Kissinger also argued that Russian president Vladimir Putin wanted to weaken Hillary Clinton, not elect Donald Trump. Kissinger said that Putin "thought—wrongly incidentally—that she would be extremely confrontational ... I think he tried to weaken the incoming president [Clinton]".
Views on U.S. foreign policy
Yugoslav Wars
In several articles of his and interviews that he gave during the Yugoslav Wars, he criticized the United States' policies in Southeast Europe, among other things for the recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a sovereign state, which he described as a foolish act. Most importantly he dismissed the notion of Serbs and Croats being aggressors or separatist, saying that "they can't be separating from something that has never existed". In addition, he repeatedly warned the West against inserting itself into a conflict that has its roots at least hundreds of years back in time, and said that the West would do better if it allowed the Serbs and Croats to join their respective countries. Kissinger shared similarly critical views on Western involvement in Kosovo. In particular, he held a disparaging view of the Rambouillet Agreement:
The Rambouillet text, which called on Serbia to admit NATO troops throughout Yugoslavia, was a provocation, an excuse to start bombing. Rambouillet is not a document that any Serb could have accepted. It was a terrible diplomatic document that should never have been presented in that form.
However, as the Serbs did not accept the Rambouillet text and NATO bombings started, he opted to support a continuation of the bombing as NATO's credibility was now at stake, but dismissed the use of ground forces in claiming that it was not worth it.
Iraq
In 2006, it was reported in the book State of Denial by Bob Woodward that Kissinger met regularly with President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to offer advice on the Iraq War. Kissinger confirmed in recorded interviews with Woodward that the advice was the same as he had given in a column in The Washington Post on August 12, 2005: "Victory over the insurgency is the only meaningful exit strategy." Kissinger also frequently met with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, whom he warned that Coalition Provisional Authority Director L. Paul Bremer was "a control freak".
In an interview on the BBC's Sunday AM on November 19, 2006, Kissinger was asked whether there was any hope left for a clear military victory in Iraq and responded, "If you mean by 'military victory' an Iraqi government that can be established and whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the civil war under control and sectarian violence under control in a time period that the political processes of the democracies will support, I don't believe that is possible. ... I think we have to redefine the course. But I don't believe that the alternative is between military victory as it had been defined previously, or total withdrawal."
In an interview with Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institution on April 3, 2008, Kissinger reiterated that even though he supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he thought that the George W. Bush administration rested too much of its case for war on Saddam's supposed weapons of mass destruction. Robinson noted that Kissinger had criticized the administration for invading with too few troops, for disbanding the Iraqi Army as part of de-Baathification, and for mishandling relations with certain allies.
India
Kissinger said in April 2008 that "India has parallel objectives to the United States", and he called the nation an ally of the U.S.
China
Kissinger attended the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. A few months before the Games opened, as controversy over China's human rights record was intensifying due to criticism by Amnesty International and other groups of the widespread use of the death penalty and other issues, Kissinger told China's official press agency Xinhua: "I think one should separate Olympics as a sporting event from whatever political disagreements people may have had with China. I expect that the games will proceed in the spirit for which they were designed, which is friendship among nations, and that other issues are discussed in other forums." He said China had made huge efforts to stage the Games. "Friends of China should not use the Olympics to pressure China now." He added that he would bring two of his grandchildren to watch the Games and planned to attend the opening ceremony. During the Games, he participated with Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe, film star Jackie Chan, and former British prime minister Tony Blair at a Peking University forum on the qualities that make a champion. He sat with his wife Nancy Kissinger, President George W. Bush, former president George H. W. Bush, and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi at the men's basketball game between China and the U.S.
In 2011, Kissinger published On China, chronicling the evolution of Sino-American relations and laying out the challenges to a partnership of "genuine strategic trust" between the U.S. and China. In this book On China and his 2014 book World Order, as well as in his 2018 interview with Financial Times, Kissinger consistently stated that he believed that China wants to restore its historic role as the Middle Kingdom and be "the principal adviser to all humanity".
In 2020, during a period of worsening Sino-American relations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hong Kong protests, and the U.S.–China trade war, Kissinger expressed concerns that the United States and China are entering a Second Cold War and will eventually become embroiled in a military conflict similar to World War I. He called for Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the incoming U.S. president-elect Joe Biden to take a less confrontational foreign policy. Kissinger previously said that a potential war between China and the United States would be "worse than the world wars that ruined European civilization".
In July 2023, Kissinger traveled to Beijing to meet with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, who was sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2018 for engaging in the purchase of combat aircraft from a Russian arms exporter. Kissinger emphasized Sino-American relations in the meeting, stating that "the United States and China should eliminate misunderstandings, coexist peacefully, and avoid confrontation". Later that trip, Kissinger met with Xi with the intention of defrosting relations between the U.S. and China.
Iran
Kissinger's position on this issue of U.S.–Iran talks was reported by the Tehran Times to be that "Any direct talks between the U.S. and Iran on issues such as the nuclear dispute would be most likely to succeed if they first involved only diplomatic staff and progressed to the level of secretary of state before the heads of state meet." In 2016, Kissinger said that the biggest challenge facing the Middle East is the "potential domination of the region by an Iran that is both imperial and jihadist". He further wrote in August 2017 that if the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran and its Shiite allies were allowed to fill the territorial vacuum left by a militarily defeated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the region would be left with a land corridor extending from Iran to the Levant "which could mark the emergence of an Iranian radical empire". Commenting on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Kissinger said that he would not have agreed to it, but that Trump's plan to end the agreement after it was signed would "enable the Iranians to do more than us".
2014 Ukrainian crisis
On March 5, 2014, The Washington Post published an op-ed piece by Kissinger, 11 days before the Crimean status referendum on whether Crimea should officially keep being a part of Ukraine or join Russia. In it, he attempted to balance the Ukrainian, Russian, and Western desires for a functional state. He made four main points:
Ukraine should have the right to choose freely its economic and political associations, including with Europe;
Ukraine should not join NATO, a repetition of the position he took seven years before;
Ukraine should be free to create any government compatible with the expressed will of its people. Wise Ukrainian leaders would then opt for a policy of reconciliation between the various parts of their country. He imagined an international position for Ukraine like that of Finland.
Ukraine should maintain sovereignty over Crimea.
Kissinger also wrote: "The west speaks Ukrainian; the east speaks mostly Russian. Any attempt by one wing of Ukraine to dominate the other—as has been the pattern—would lead eventually to civil war or break up."
Following the publication of his book titled World Order, Kissinger participated in an interview with Charlie Rose and updated his position on Ukraine, which he saw as a possible geographical mediator between Russia and the West. In a question he posed to himself for illustration regarding re-conceiving policy regarding Ukraine, Kissinger stated: "If Ukraine is considered an outpost, then the situation is that its eastern border is the NATO strategic line, and NATO will be within 200 miles (320 km) of Volgograd. That will never be accepted by Russia. On the other hand, if the Russian western line is at the border of Poland, Europe will be permanently disquieted. The Strategic objective should have been to see whether one can build Ukraine as a bridge between East and West, and whether one can do it as a kind of a joint effort."
In December 2016, Kissinger advised President-elect Donald Trump to accept "Crimea as a part of Russia" in an attempt to secure a rapprochement between the United States and Russia, whose relations soured as a result of the Crimean crisis. When asked if he explicitly considered Russia's sovereignty over Crimea legitimate, Kissinger answered in the affirmative, reversing the position he took in his Washington Post op-ed.
Computers and nuclear weapons
In 2019, Kissinger wrote about the increasing tendency to give control of nuclear weapons to computers operating with artificial intelligence (AI) that: "Adversaries' ignorance of AI-developed configurations will become a strategic advantage". Kissinger argued that giving power to launch nuclear weapons to computers using algorithms to make decisions would eliminate the human factor and give the advantage to the state that had the most effective AI system as a computer can make decisions about war and peace far faster than any human ever could. Just as an AI-enhanced computer can win chess games by anticipating human decision-making, an AI-enhanced computer could be useful in a crisis as in a nuclear war, the side that strikes first would have the advantage by destroying the opponent's nuclear capacity. Kissinger also noted there was always the danger that a computer could make a decision to start a nuclear war before diplomacy had been exhausted, or for a reason that would not be understandable to the operators. Kissinger also warned the use of AI to control nuclear weapons would impose "opacity" on the decision-making process as the algorithms that control the AI system are not readily understandable, destabilizing the decision-making process:
grand strategy requires an understanding of the capabilities and military deployments of potential adversaries. But if more and more intelligence becomes opaque, how will policy makers understand the views and abilities of their adversaries and perhaps even allies? Will many different internets emerge or, in the end, only one? What will be the implications for cooperation? For confrontation? As AI becomes ubiquitous, new concepts for its security need to emerge.
COVID-19 pandemic
On April 3, 2020, Kissinger shared his diagnostic view of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that it threatens the "liberal world order". Kissinger added that the virus does not know borders although global leaders are trying to address the crisis on a mainly national basis. He stressed that the key is not a purely national effort but greater international cooperation.
Russian invasion of Ukraine
In May 2022, speaking to the World Economic Forum on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kissinger advocated for a diplomatic settlement that would restore the status quo ante bellum, effectively ceding Crimea and parts of Donbas to Russian control. Kissinger urged Ukrainians to "match the heroism they have shown with wisdom", arguing that "[p]ursuing the war beyond that point would not be about the freedom of Ukraine, but a new war against Russia itself." He spoke to Edward Luce and a Financial Times audience in the same month. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Kissinger's suggestions, saying Ukraine would not agree to peace until Russia agreed to return Crimea and the Donbas region to Ukraine.
On a book tour to sell Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy in July 2022 he spoke to Judy Woodruff of PBS and he was still of the opinion that "a negotiation is desirable" and clarified his earlier statements, saying that he supported a ceasefire line on the borders of February 24 and that "Russia should not gain anything from the war... Ukraine above all cannot give up territory that it had when the war started because this would be symbolically dangerous."
On January 18, 2023, Kissinger was interviewed by Graham Allison for a World Economic Forum audience; he said that U.S. support should be intensified until either the February 24 borders are reached or the February 24 borders are recognized, upon which time under a ceasefire agreement negotiations would begin. Kissinger felt that Russia needs to be given an opportunity to rejoin the comity of nations while the sanctions are maintained until final settlement is reached. He expressed his admiration for President Zelenskyy and lauded the heroic conduct of the Ukrainian people. Kissinger felt that the invasion has ipso facto its logical outcome pointed to NATO membership for Ukraine at the end of the peace process.
In September 2023, Kissinger met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York City, on which occasion they discussed his change in position on Ukraine's NATO membership ambitions.
In September 2023, Kissinger also presented a reformulated response endorsing Ukraine's NATO membership as an “appropriate outcome,” which could be seen as a substantial boost to the transatlantic aspirations of embattled Ukraine.
Gaza war
In a statement made a month before his death, Kissinger responded to the October 7 attacks and outbreak of the Gaza war by saying that the goals of Hamas "can only be to mobilize the Arab world against Israel and to get off the track of peaceful negotiations". In response to celebrations of the attack by some Arabs in Germany, he issued a statement denouncing Muslim immigration into Germany: "It was a grave mistake to let in so many people of totally different culture and religion and concepts, because it creates a pressure group inside each country that does that."
Public perception
A 2014 poll of American international relations scholars conducted by the College of William & Mary ranked Kissinger as the most effective Secretary of State in the 50 years prior to 2015. In 1972, Time commented that "a streak of suspicion seems to underlie all that he does" and "His jokes about his paranoia have an uncomfortable edge of truth". He was so often seen escorting Hollywood starlets that the Village Voice charged he was "a secret square posing as a swinger". The insight, "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac", is widely attributed to him, although Kissinger was paraphrasing Napoleon Bonaparte.
Historian Jeffrey Kimball developed the theory that Kissinger and the Nixon administration accepted a South Vietnamese collapse provided a face-saving decent interval passed between U.S. withdrawal and defeat. In his first meeting with Zhou Enlai in 1971, Kissinger "laid out in detail the settlement terms that would produce such a delayed defeat: total American withdrawal, return of all American POWs, and a ceasefire-in-place for '18 months or some period'", in the words of historian Ken Hughes. On October 6, 1972, Kissinger told Nixon twice that the terms of the Paris Peace Accords would probably destroy South Vietnam: "I also think that Thieu is right, that our terms will eventually destroy him." However, Kissinger denied using a "decent interval" strategy, writing "All of us who negotiated the agreement of October 12 were convinced that we had vindicated the anguish of a decade not by a 'decent interval' but by a decent settlement." Johannes Kadura offers a positive assessment of Nixon and Kissinger's strategy, arguing that the two men "simultaneously maintained a Plan A of further supporting Saigon and a Plan B of shielding Washington should their maneuvers prove futile." According to Kadura, the "decent interval" concept has been "largely misrepresented", in that Nixon and Kissinger "sought to gain time, make the North turn inward, and create a perpetual equilibrium" rather than acquiescing in the collapse of South Vietnam.
Kissinger's record was brought up during the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Hillary Clinton had cultivated a close relationship with Kissinger, describing him as a "friend" and a source of "counsel". During the Democratic primary debates, Clinton touted Kissinger's praise for her record as secretary of state. In response, candidate Bernie Sanders criticized Kissinger and said: "I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger."
Kissinger was an immensely beloved figure within China, with China News Service describing him in his obituary as someone "who had a sharp vision and a thorough understanding of world affairs".
Legacy and reception
Kissinger has generally received a polarizing reception; some have portrayed him as a strategic genius who was willing to act in a utilitarian manner, others have portrayed his foreign policy decisions as immoral and profoundly damaging in the long run.
Positive views
Historian Niall Ferguson has argued that Kissinger is one of the most effective secretaries of state in American history. The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal stated in the aftermath of his death "Kissinger was a target of both the right and left in those perilous Cold War years, often unfairly". The article noted that he was often criticized by American conservatives for overlooking human rights in China, while saying "he had no illusions about the Communist Party or its nationalist ambitions. His view was that the U.S. and China had to achieve some modus vivendi to avoid war despite their profound cultural and political differences" while claiming that "the alternatives then, as now, weren't usually [democracy advocates] of the left's imagining. They were often Communists who would have aligned themselves with the Soviets ... . The U.S. provided covert aid to Allende's political opponents, but declassified briefings from the time show the U.S. was unaware of the military coup that deposed him. Kissinger wasn't responsible for Augusto Pinochet's coup or its bloody excesses. Chile eventually became a democracy ... Cuba remains a dictatorship."
Negative views
A number of journalists, activists, and human rights lawyers accused Kissinger of being responsible for war crimes during his tenure in government. Some sought civil and even criminal penalties against Kissinger, but none of these attempts were successful. In September 2001, relatives and survivors of General Rene Schneider filed civil proceedings in federal court in Washington, D.C. The suit was later dismissed. In April 2002, a petition for Kissinger's arrest was filed in the High Court of Justice in London by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, citing the destruction of civilian populations and the environment in Indochina during the years 1969–1975. The petition was rejected one day after filing.
One of his most prominent critics was American-British journalist and author Christopher Hitchens. Hitchens authored The Trial of Henry Kissinger, in which he called for the prosecution of Kissinger "for war crimes, for crimes against humanity, and for offenses against common or customary or international law, including conspiracy to commit murder, kidnap, and torture". American chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain wrote in A Cook's Tour: "Once you've been to Cambodia, you'll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands... Witness what [he] did... and you will never understand why he's not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to Milošević."
Author Robert D. Kaplan and historian Niall Ferguson have disputed these notions and argued that there is a double standard in how Kissinger is judged in comparison to others. They have defended Kissinger by arguing that American power to advocate for human rights in other nations is often counterproductive and limited, that taking into consideration geopolitical realities is an inevitable part of any effective foreign policy, and that there are utilitarian reasons to defend most of the decisions of his tenure.
Other perspectives
Several historians have rejected both prominent reputations of Kissinger. David Greenberg argued that each are exaggerated caricatures that overstate both his genius and immorality: In fact, if there's a single word I'd apply to Kissinger, it's 'overrated.' He was overrated as a scholar (famous mainly for writing a very long dissertation). He was overrated as a strategist (he often gave bad advice, as he did in urging George W. Bush not to withdraw troops from Iraq). He was even overrated as a villain – the 'Christopher Hitchenses' of the world loved to call him a 'war criminal,' but this was a fundamentally unserious charge. The Defense Department, not the State Department, prosecutes wars, and the president oversees it – but the Hitchenses preferred to go after Kissinger rather than (Defense Secretaries) Mel Laird or James Schlesinger or even Nixon. Similarly, Mario Del Pero argued: He was not particularly original or bold, once we scratch away from his writings the deliberately opaque and convoluted prose he often used, possibly to try to render more original thoughts and reflections that were in reality fairly conventional. ... In short, he wasn't a war criminal, he wasn't a very deep or sophisticated thinker, he rarely challenged the intellectual vogues of the time (even because it would have meant to challenge those in power, something he always was—and still is—reluctant to do), and once in government he displayed a certain intellectual laziness vis-à-vis the intricacies and complexities of a world that he still tended to see in black-and-white.
Family and personal life
Kissinger married Anneliese "Ann" Fleischer (born November 6, 1925, in Fürth, Germany) on February 6, 1949. They had two children, Elizabeth and David, and divorced in 1964. In 1955, he met Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann during a symposium at Harvard; the two had a romantic relationship that lasted several years. On March 30, 1974, he married Nancy Maginnes. They lived in Kent, Connecticut, and in New York City. Kissinger's son David served as an executive with NBC Universal Television Studio before becoming head of Conaco, Conan O'Brien's production company, in 2005. In February 1982, at the age of 58, Henry Kissinger underwent coronary bypass surgery. On May 27, 2023, he turned 100.
Soccer
Daryl Grove characterized Kissinger as one of the most influential people in the growth of soccer in the United States. Kissinger was named chairman of the North American Soccer League board of directors in 1978. He helped bring Brazilian star Pelé to the New York Cosmos after calling the Brazilian foreign minister and telling him that Pele's move to America would substantially improve relations between the United States and Brazil. Previously, the military dictatorship in Brazil had been reluctant to let a designated national treasure leave the country. In a 2023 interview, Kissinger said soccer was "at the highest level complexity masquerading as simplicity."
Since his childhood, Kissinger had been a fan of his hometown's soccer club, SpVgg Fürth (now SpVgg Greuther Fürth). Even during his time in office, the German Embassy informed him about the team's results every Monday morning. He was an honorary member with lifetime season tickets. In September 2012, Kissinger attended a home game in which Greuther Fürth lost 0–2 against Schalke, after promising years previously that he would attend a Greuther Fürth home game if they were promoted to the Bundesliga from the 2. Bundesliga. From 1989 onward, he was an honorary member of Bayern Munich.
Death
Kissinger died from heart failure at his home in Kent, Connecticut, on November 29, 2023, at the age of 100. At the time of his death, he was the last living former U.S. Cabinet member who served in the Richard Nixon administration. He was survived by his wife, Nancy Maginnes Kissinger; two children, David and Elizabeth; and five grandchildren. His death was announced by Kissinger Associates, his consulting firm. Kissinger Associates announced that the funeral would be private. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
International reactions
Kissinger was widely admired within China and praised by the Chinese Communist Party. Government figures on state media uniformly released posts mourning his death. Chinese social media expressed widespread sorrow after news of his death was released, and hashtags idolizing Kissinger became the most searched trend in China. China News Service stated in its obituary for Kissinger that "Today, this 'old friend of the Chinese people,' who had a sharp vision and a thorough understanding of world affairs, has completed his legendary life". China Central Television, the state broadcaster, called Kissinger a "legendary diplomat" and a "living fossil" who had witnessed the development of China-U.S. relations. Shortly before his death, Chinese president Xi Jinping stated: "The Chinese people never forget their old friends, and Sino-U.S. relations will always be linked with the name of Henry Kissinger".
Former British prime ministers mourned Kissinger. Tony Blair, the former leader of the Labour Party and prime minister of the United Kingdom, released a statement saying: "There is no-one like Henry Kissinger... From the first time I met him as a new Labour Party opposition leader in 1994, struggling to form views on foreign policy, to the last occasion when I visited him in New York and, later, he spoke at my institute's annual gathering, I was in awe of him... If it is possible for diplomacy, at its highest level, to be a form of art, Henry was an artist." David Cameron stated "He was a great statesman and a deeply respected diplomat who will be greatly missed on the world stage... Even at 100, his wisdom and thoughtfulness shone through". Boris Johnson said: "The world needs him now. If ever there was an author of peace and lover of concord, that man was Henry Kissinger".
European Council president Charles Michel called Kissinger a "strategist with attention to the smallest detail" and "a kind human and a brilliant mind who, over 100 years, shaped the [destinies] of some of the most important events of the century." Russian president Vladimir Putin stated in a telegram to Kissinger's widow Nancy that he was a "wise and farsighted statesman". Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that he "had the privilege of meeting Dr. Kissinger on numerous occasions, the most recent being just two months ago in New York. Each meeting with him was not just a lesson in diplomacy but also a masterclass in statesmanship. His understanding of the complexities of international relations and his unique insights into the challenges facing our world were unparalleled." German chancellor Olaf Scholz stated: "The world has lost a great diplomat".
Chile's ambassador to the United States, Juan Gabriel Valdés, released a statement saying he possessed "brilliance" but also "profound moral wretchedness". This statement was reposted by President Gabriel Boric. The Bangladeshi foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said that Kissinger did "inhumane things", adding that "he should have apologized to the people of Bangladesh for what he has done".
Domestic reactions
The announcement of Kissinger's death saw a widespread mix of tribute and criticism on American social media.
Joe Biden praised Kissinger's "fierce intellect" while noting that they often "disagreed strongly". Former president George W. Bush stated: "America has lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs with the passing of Henry Kissinger. I have long admired the man who fled the Nazis as a young boy from a Jewish family, then fought them in the United States Army". Cindy McCain, the widow of John McCain, wrote: "Henry Kissinger was ever present in my late husband's life. While John was a prisoner of war, and in the later years, as a senator and statesman. The McCain family will miss his wit, charm, and intelligence terribly".
Many negative reactions to Kissinger's death argued his decisions in government violated American values. House of Representative members Jim McGovern, Gerry Connolly, and Greg Casar issued critical reactions to his death, with Connolly stating Kissinger's "indifference to human suffering will forever tarnish his name and shape his legacy". The front page of HuffPost labeled him "The Beltway Butcher", while another HuffPost article described him as "America's Most Notorious War Criminal". Teen Vogue mocked Kissinger with the headline: "War Criminal Responsible for Millions of Deaths Dies at 100", a statement similar to that of Nick Turse of The Intercept. A CNN op-ed by Peter Bergen entitled "Christopher Hitchens was right about Henry Kissinger" stated that to Kissinger "the ends almost always justified the means," referencing Hitchens's 2001 book The Trial of Henry Kissinger. Socialist magazine Jacobin released a book-length anthology entitled The Good Die Young. The introduction by historian Greg Grandin notes "We all live now in the Kissingerian void."
Kissinger was defended by conservative commentator David Harsanyi in an op-ed on the New York Post, where he stated that "the left disgustingly dances on Kissinger's grave because it hates America". The New York Sun also defended Kissinger, describing him as "one of the most remarkable figures in American history".
Awards, honors, and associations
Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ were jointly offered the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for their work on the Paris Peace Accords which prompted the withdrawal of American forces from the Vietnam War. Lê Đức Thọ declined to accept the award on the grounds that peace had not actually been achieved in Vietnam. Kissinger donated his prize money to charity, did not attend the award ceremony and later offered to return his prize medal after the fall of South Vietnam to North Vietnamese forces 18 months later.
In 1973, Kissinger received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.
In 1976, Kissinger became the first honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters.
On January 13, 1977, Kissinger received the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction from President Gerald Ford.
In 1980, Kissinger won the National Book Award in History (hardcover) for the first volume of his memoirs, The White House Years.
In 1986, Kissinger was one of twelve recipients of the Medal of Liberty.
In 1995, Kissinger was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George.
In 2000, Kissinger received the Sylvanus Thayer Award at United States Military Academy at West Point.
In 2002, Kissinger became an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee.
On March 1, 2012, Kissinger was awarded Israel's President's Medal.
In October 2013, Kissinger was awarded the Henry A. Grunwald Award for Public Service by Lighthouse International.
Kissinger was a member of the Founding Council of the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford.
Kissinger was a member of the following groups:
Aspen Institute
Atlantic Council
Bilderberg Group
Bohemian Club
Council on Foreign Relations
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Le Cercle
Pilgrims Society
Trilateral Commission
World.minds
Bloomberg New Economy Forum
Kissinger served on the board of Theranos, a health technology company, from 2014 to 2017.
He received the Theodore Roosevelt American Experience Award from the Union League Club of New York in 2009.
He became the Honorary Chair of the advisory board for the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in 2018.
He also received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
In 2023, he received the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art from Minister-President of Bavaria Markus Söder.
He was an Honorary Member of Bayern Munich.
Notable works
Theses
1950. The Meaning of History: Reflections on Spengler, Toynbee and Kant. Bachelor's honors thesis. Harvard University.
1957. A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of Peace, 1812–22. PhD thesis, ISBN 0-395-17229-2.
Memoirs
1979. The White House Years. ISBN 0-316-49661-8 (National Book Award, History [hardcover])
1982. Years of Upheaval. ISBN 0-316-28591-9
1999. Years of Renewal. ISBN 0-684-85571-2
Public policy
1957. Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy. New York: Published for the Council on Foreign Relations by Harper & Brothers. Foreword by Gordon Dean (pp. vii–x).
1961. The Necessity for Choice: Prospects of American Foreign Policy. ISBN 0-06-012410-5.
1965. The Troubled Partnership: A Re-Appraisal of the Atlantic Alliance. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-07-034895-2.
1969. American Foreign Policy: Three Essays. ISBN 0-297-17933-0.
1981. For the Record: Selected Statements 1977–1980. ISBN 0-316-49663-4.
1985. Observations: Selected Speeches and Essays 1982–1984. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-49664-2.
1994. Diplomacy. ISBN 0-671-65991-X.
1998. Kissinger Transcripts: The Top Secret Talks With Beijing and Moscow, edited by William Burr. New York: New Press. ISBN 1-56584-480-7.
2001. Does America Need a Foreign Policy? Toward a Diplomacy for the 21st Century. ISBN 0-684-85567-4.
2002. Vietnam: A Personal History of America's Involvement in and Extrication from the Vietnam War. ISBN 0-7432-1916-3.
2003. Crisis: The Anatomy of Two Major Foreign Policy Crises: Based on the Record of Henry Kissinger's Hitherto Secret Telephone Conversations. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-4911-9.
2011. On China. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-59420-271-1.
2014. World Order. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-59420-614-6.
Other works
2021. The Age of AI: And Our Human Future. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-27380-0.
2022. Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy. Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN 978-0-241-54200-2.
Articles
1994. "Reflections on Containment," Foreign Affairs
1999. "Between the Old Left and the New Right," Foreign Affairs
2001. "The Pitfalls of Universal Jurisdiction," Foreign Affairs
2012. "The Future of U.S.-Chinese Relations," Foreign Affairs
2023. "The Path to AI Arms Control," Foreign Affairs (co-authored with Graham Allison)
See also
List of centenarians (politicians and civil servants)
List of Jewish Nobel laureates
List of secretaries of state of the United States
List of Jewish United States Cabinet members
List of foreign-born United States Cabinet members
Notes
References
Citations
General and cited sources
Bernkopf Tucker, Nancy (June 2005). "Taiwan Expendable? Nixon and Kissinger Go to China". The Journal of American History. 92 (1): 109–135. doi:10.2307/3660527. JSTOR 3660527.
2015. Ferguson, Niall (2015). Kissinger, 1923–1968: The Idealist. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-59420-653-5.
Isaacson, Walter (1992). Kissinger: A Biography. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-66323-0.
Karnow, Stanley (1983). Vietnam: A History. Viking. ISBN 0-14-007324-8.
Lacey, Robert (1981). The Kingdom. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-147260-2.
Sela, Avraham (2012). The Decline of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Middle East Politics and the Quest for Regional Order. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-1939-8. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
Turse, Nick (2023a). "Kissinger's Killing Fields". The Intercept.
Zonis, Marvin (1991). Majestic Failure. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-98928-3.
Further reading
Biographies
Other
External links
Official website
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th national security advisor from 1969 to 1975, serving under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
Born in Germany, Kissinger emigrated to the United States in 1938 as a Jewish refugee fleeing Nazi persecution. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After the war, he attended Harvard University, where he excelled academically. He later became a professor of government at the university and earned an international reputation as an expert on nuclear weapons and foreign policy. He acted as a consultant to government agencies, think tanks, and the presidential campaigns of Nelson Rockefeller and Nixon before being appointed as national security advisor and later secretary of state by President Nixon.
An advocate of a pragmatic approach to geopolitics known as Realpolitik, Kissinger pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, orchestrated an opening of relations with China, engaged in "shuttle diplomacy" in the Middle East to end the Yom Kippur War, and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords, which ended American involvement in the Vietnam War. For his role in negotiating the accords, he was awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize, which sparked controversy. Kissinger is also associated with controversial U.S. policies including its bombing of Cambodia, involvement in the 1971 Bolivian and 1973 Chilean coup d'états, and support for Argentina's military junta in its Dirty War, Indonesia in its invasion of East Timor, and Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War and Bangladesh genocide. Considered by many American scholars to have been an effective secretary of state, Kissinger was also accused by critics of war crimes for the civilian death toll of the policies he pursued and for his role in facilitating U.S. support for authoritarian regimes.
After leaving government, Kissinger founded Kissinger Associates, an international geopolitical consulting firm which he ran from 1982 until his death. He authored over a dozen books on diplomatic history and international relations. His advice was sought by American presidents of both major political parties.
Early life and education
Kissinger was born Heinz Alfred Kissinger on May 27, 1923, in Fürth, Bavaria, Germany. He was the son of homemaker Paula (née Stern), from Leutershausen, and Louis Kissinger, a school teacher. He had a younger brother, Walter, who was a businessman. Kissinger's family was German-Jewish. His great-great-grandfather Meyer Löb adopted "Kissinger" as his surname in 1817, taking it from the Bavarian spa town of Bad Kissingen. In his childhood, Kissinger enjoyed playing soccer. He played for the youth team of SpVgg Fürth, one of the nation's best clubs at the time.
In a 2022 BBC interview, Kissinger vividly recalled being nine years old in 1933 and learning of Adolf Hitler's election as Chancellor of Germany, which proved to be a profound turning point for the Kissinger family. During Nazi rule, Kissinger and his friends were regularly harassed and beaten by Hitler Youth gangs. Kissinger sometimes defied the segregation imposed by Nazi racial laws by sneaking into soccer stadiums to watch matches, often receiving beatings from security guards. As a result of the Nazis' anti-Semitic laws, Kissinger was unable to gain admittance to the Gymnasium and his father was dismissed from his teaching job.
On August 20, 1938, when Kissinger was 15 years old, he and his family fled Germany to avoid further Nazi persecution. The family briefly stopped in London before arriving in New York City on September 5. Kissinger later downplayed the influence his experiences of Nazi persecution had had on his policies and view of the world, writing that the "Germany of my youth had a great deal of order and very little justice; it was not the sort of place likely to inspire devotion to order in the abstract." Nevertheless, many scholars, including Kissinger's biographer Walter Isaacson, have argued that his experiences influenced the formation of his realist approach to foreign policy.
Kissinger spent his high-school years in the German-Jewish community in Washington Heights, Manhattan. Although Kissinger assimilated quickly into American culture, he never lost his pronounced German accent, due to childhood shyness that made him hesitant to speak. After his first year at George Washington High School, he completed school at night while working in a shaving brush factory during the day.
Kissinger studied accounting at the City College of New York, excelling academically as a part-time student while continuing to work. His studies were interrupted in early 1943, when he was drafted into the U.S. Army.
U.S. Army
Kissinger underwent basic training at Camp Croft in Spartanburg, South Carolina. On June 19, 1943, while stationed in South Carolina, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. The army sent him to study engineering at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania under the Army Specialized Training Program, but the program was canceled and Kissinger was reassigned to the 84th Infantry Division. There, he made the acquaintance of Fritz Kraemer, a fellow immigrant from Germany who noted Kissinger's fluency in German and his intellect and arranged for him to be assigned to the division's military intelligence. According to Vernon A. Walters, Kissinger also received training at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, before being shipped to Europe. Kissinger saw combat with the division and volunteered for hazardous intelligence duties during the Battle of the Bulge. On April 10, 1945, he participated in the liberation of the Hannover-Ahlem concentration camp, a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp. At the time, Kissinger wrote in his journal, "I had never seen people degraded to the level that people were in Ahlem. They barely looked human. They were skeletons." After the initial shock, however, Kissinger was relatively silent about his wartime service.
During the American advance into Germany, Kissinger, though only a private, was put in charge of the administration of the city of Krefeld because of a lack of German speakers on the division's intelligence staff. Within eight days he had established a civilian administration. Kissinger was then reassigned to the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC), where he became a CIC Special Agent holding the enlisted rank of sergeant. He was given charge of a team in Hanover assigned to tracking down Gestapo officers and other saboteurs, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star. Kissinger drew up a comprehensive list of all known Gestapo employees in the Bergstraße region, and had them rounded up. By the end of July, 12 men had been arrested. In March 1947, Fritz Girke, Hans Hellenbroich, Michael Raaf, and Karl Stattmann were subsequently caught and tried by the Dachau Military Tribunal for killing two American prisoners of war. The four men were all found guilty and sentenced to death. They were executed by hanging at Landsberg Prison in October 1948.
In June 1945, Kissinger was made commandant of the Bensheim metro CIC detachment, Bergstraße district of Hesse, with responsibility for denazification of the district. Although he possessed absolute authority and powers of arrest, Kissinger took care to avoid abuses against the local population by his command.
In 1946, Kissinger was reassigned to teach at the European Command Intelligence School at Camp King and, as a civilian employee following his separation from the army, continued to serve in this role.
Kissinger recalled that his experience in the army "made me feel like an American".
Academic career
Kissinger earned his Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in political science from Harvard College in 1950, where he lived in Adams House and studied under William Yandell Elliott. His senior undergraduate thesis, titled The Meaning of History: Reflections on Spengler, Toynbee and Kant, was over 400 pages long, and provoked Harvard's current cap on the length of undergraduate theses (35,000 words). He earned his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy at Harvard University in 1951 and 1954, respectively. In 1952, while still a graduate student at Harvard, he served as a consultant to the director of the Psychological Strategy Board, and founded a magazine, Confluence. At that time, he sought to work as a spy for the FBI.
Kissinger's doctoral dissertation was titled Peace, Legitimacy, and the Equilibrium (A Study of the Statesmanship of Castlereagh and Metternich). Stephen Graubard, Kissinger's friend, asserted that Kissinger primarily pursued such endeavor to instruct himself on the history of power play between European states in the 19th century. In his doctoral dissertation, Kissinger first introduced the concept of "legitimacy", which he defined as: "Legitimacy as used here should not be confused with justice. It means no more than an international agreement about the nature of workable arrangements and about the permissible aims and methods of foreign policy". An international order accepted by all of the major powers is "legitimate" whereas an international order not accepted by one or more of the great powers is "revolutionary" and hence dangerous. Thus, when after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the leaders of Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia agreed to co-operate in the Concert of Europe to preserve the peace after Austria, Prussia, and Russia participated in a series of three Partitions of Poland, in Kissinger's viewpoint this international system was "legitimate" because it was accepted by the leaders of all five of the Great Powers of Europe. Notably, Kissinger's Primat der Außenpolitik (Primacy of foreign policy) approach to diplomacy took it for granted that as long as the decision-makers in the major states were willing to accept the international order, then it is "legitimate" with questions of public opinion and morality dismissed as irrelevant. His dissertation also won him the Senator Charles Sumner Prize, an award given to the best dissertation "from the legal, political, historical, economic, social, or ethnic approach, dealing with any means or measures tending toward the prevention of war and the establishment of universal peace" by a student under the Harvard Department of Government. It was published in 1957 as A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of Peace 1812–1822.
Kissinger remained at Harvard as a member of the faculty in the Department of Government where he served as the director of the Harvard International Seminar between 1951 and 1971. In 1955, he was a consultant to the National Security Council's Operations Coordinating Board. During 1955 and 1956, he was also study director in nuclear weapons and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. He released his book Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy the following year. The book, which criticized the Eisenhower administration's massive retaliation nuclear doctrine, caused much controversy at the time by proposing the use of tactical nuclear weapons on a regular basis to win wars. That same year, he published A World Restored, a study of balance-of-power politics in post-Napoleonic Europe.
From 1956 to 1958, Kissinger worked for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund as director of its Special Studies Project. He served as the director of the Harvard Defense Studies Program between 1958 and 1971. In 1958, he also co-founded the Center for International Affairs with Robert R. Bowie where he served as its associate director. Outside of academia, he served as a consultant to several government agencies and think tanks, including the Operations Research Office, the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Department of State, and the RAND Corporation.
Keen to have a greater influence on U.S. foreign policy, Kissinger became foreign policy advisor to the presidential campaigns of Nelson Rockefeller, supporting his bids for the Republican nomination in 1960, 1964, and 1968. Kissinger first met Richard Nixon at a party hosted by Clare Boothe Luce in 1967, saying that he found him more "thoughtful" than he expected. During the Republican primaries in 1968, Kissinger again served as the foreign policy adviser to Rockefeller and in July 1968 called Nixon "the most dangerous of all the men running to have as president". Initially upset when Nixon won the Republican nomination, the ambitious Kissinger soon changed his mind about Nixon and contacted a Nixon campaign aide, Richard Allen, to state he was willing to do anything to help Nixon win. After Nixon became president in January 1969, Kissinger was appointed as National Security Advisor. By this time, he was arguably "one of the most important theorists about foreign policy ever to be produced by the United States", according to his official biographer Niall Ferguson.
Foreign policy
Kissinger served as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under President Richard Nixon and continued as Secretary of State under Nixon's successor Gerald Ford. With the death of George Shultz in February 2021, Kissinger was the last surviving member of the Nixon administration Cabinet.
The relationship between Nixon and Kissinger was unusually close, and has been compared to the relationships of Woodrow Wilson and Colonel House, or Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Hopkins. In all three cases, the State Department was relegated to a backseat role in developing foreign policy. Kissinger and Nixon shared a penchant for secrecy and conducted numerous "backchannel" negotiations, such as that through the Soviet Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Dobrynin, that excluded State Department experts. Historian David Rothkopf looked at the personalities of Nixon and Kissinger, saying:
They were a fascinating pair. In a way, they complemented each other perfectly. Kissinger was the charming and worldly Mr. Outside who provided the grace and intellectual-establishment respectability that Nixon lacked, disdained and aspired to. Kissinger was an international citizen. Nixon very much a classic American. Kissinger had a worldview and a facility for adjusting it to meet the times, Nixon had pragmatism and a strategic vision that provided the foundations for their policies. Kissinger would, of course, say that he was not political like Nixon—but in fact he was just as political as Nixon, just as calculating, just as relentlessly ambitious ... these self-made men were driven as much by their need for approval and their neuroses as by their strengths.
A proponent of Realpolitik, Kissinger played a dominant role in United States foreign policy between 1969 and 1977. In that period, he extended the policy of détente. This policy led to a significant relaxation in U.S.–Soviet tensions and played a crucial role in 1971 talks with the People's Republic of China premier Zhou Enlai. The talks concluded with a rapprochement between the United States and China, and the formation of a new strategic anti-Soviet Sino-American alignment. He was jointly awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize with Lê Đức Thọ for helping to establish a ceasefire and U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. The ceasefire, however, was not durable. Thọ declined to accept the award and Kissinger appeared deeply ambivalent about it—he donated his prize money to charity, did not attend the award ceremony, and later offered to return his prize medal. As National Security Advisor in 1974, Kissinger directed the much-debated National Security Study Memorandum 200.
Détente and opening to the People's Republic of China
Kissinger initially had little interest in China when he began his work as National Security Adviser in 1969, and the driving force behind the rapprochement with China was Nixon. Like Nixon, Kissinger believed that relations with China would help the United States exit the Vietnam War and obtain long-term strategic benefits in confrontations with the Soviet Union.
In April 1970, both Nixon and Kissinger promised Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, that they would never abandon Taiwan or make any compromises with Mao Zedong, although Nixon did speak vaguely of his wish to improve relations with the People's Republic.
Kissinger made two trips to the People's Republic in July and October 1971 (the first of which was made in secret) to confer with Premier Zhou Enlai, then in charge of Chinese foreign policy. During his visit to Beijing, the main issue turned out to be Taiwan, as Zhou demanded the United States recognize that Taiwan was a legitimate part of the People's Republic, pull U.S. forces out of Taiwan, and end military support for the Kuomintang regime. Kissinger gave way by promising to pull U.S. forces out of Taiwan, saying two-thirds would be pulled out when the Vietnam war ended and the rest to be pulled out as Sino-American relations improved.
In October 1971, as Kissinger was making his second trip to the People's Republic, the issue of which Chinese government deserved to be represented in the United Nations came up again. Out of concern to not be seen abandoning an ally, the United States tried to promote a compromise under which both Chinese regimes would be United Nations members, although Kissinger called it "an essentially doomed rearguard action". While American ambassador to the United Nations George H. W. Bush was lobbying for the "two Chinas" formula, Kissinger was removing favorable references to Taiwan from a speech that then Secretary of State William P. Rogers was preparing, as he expected the country to be expelled from the United Nations. During his second visit to Beijing, Kissinger told Zhou that according to a public opinion poll 62% of Americans wanted Taiwan to remain a United Nations member and asked him to consider the "two Chinas" compromise to avoid offending American public opinion. Zhou responded with his claim that the People's Republic was the legitimate government of all China, and no compromise was possible. Kissinger said that the United States could not totally sever ties with Chiang, who had been an ally in World War II. Kissinger told Nixon that Bush was "too soft and not sophisticated" enough to properly represent the United States at the United Nations and expressed no anger when the United Nations General Assembly voted to expel Taiwan and give China's seat on the United Nations Security Council to the People's Republic.
Kissinger's trips paved the way for the groundbreaking 1972 summit between Nixon, Zhou, and Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong, as well as the formalization of relations between the two countries, ending 23 years of diplomatic isolation and mutual hostility. The result was the formation of a tacit strategic anti-Soviet alliance between China and the United States. Kissinger's diplomacy led to economic and cultural exchanges between the two sides and the establishment of "liaison offices" in the Chinese and American capitals, though full normalization of relations with China would not occur until 1979.
Vietnam War
Kissinger discussed being involved in Indochina prior to his appointment as National Security Adviser to Nixon. According to Kissinger, his friend Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., the Ambassador to Saigon, employed Kissinger as a consultant, leading to Kissinger visiting Vietnam once in 1965 and twice in 1966, where Kissinger realized that the United States "knew neither how to win or how to conclude" the Vietnam War. Kissinger also stated that in 1967, he served as an intermediary for negotiations between the United States and North Vietnam, with Kissinger providing the American position, while two Frenchmen provided the North Vietnamese position.
When he came into office in 1969, Kissinger favored a negotiating strategy under which the United States and North Vietnam would sign an armistice and agreed to pull their troops out of South Vietnam while the South Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were to agree to a coalition government. Kissinger had doubts about Nixon's theory of "linkage", believing that this would give the Soviet Union leverage over the United States and unlike Nixon was less concerned about the ultimate fate of South Vietnam. Though Kissinger did not regard South Vietnam as important in its own right, he believed it was necessary to support South Vietnam to maintain the United States as a global power, believing that none of America's allies would trust the United States if South Vietnam were abandoned too quickly.
In early 1969, Kissinger was opposed to the plans for Operation Menu, the bombing of Cambodia, fearing that Nixon was acting rashly with no plans for the diplomatic fall-out, but on March 16, 1969, Nixon announced the bombing would start the next day. As he saw the president was committed, he became more supportive. Kissinger played a key role in bombing Cambodia to disrupt raids into South Vietnam from Cambodia, as well as the 1970 Cambodian campaign and subsequent widespread bombing of Khmer Rouge targets in Cambodia. For his role in planning the U.S. bombing of Cambodia, scholars have stated that Kissinger bears substantial responsibility for the killing of between 50,000 and 150,000 Cambodian civilians and also the destabilization of Cambodia that the U.S. bombing campaign caused, which contributed to the Khmer Rouge's ascendance to power. The Paris peace talks had become stalemated by late 1969 owing to the obstructionism of the South Vietnamese delegation. The South Vietnamese president Nguyễn Văn Thiệu did not want the United States to withdraw from Vietnam, and out of frustration with him, Kissinger began secret peace talks with
Le Duc Thọ in Paris parallel to the official talks that the South Vietnamese were unaware of. In June 1971, Kissinger supported Nixon's effort to ban the Pentagon Papers saying the "hemorrhage of state secrets" to the media was making diplomacy impossible.
On August 1, 1972, Kissinger met Thọ again in Paris, and for first time, he seemed willing to compromise, saying that political and military terms of an armistice could be treated separately and hinted that his government was no longer willing to make the overthrow of Thiệu a precondition. On the evening of October 8, 1972, at a secret meeting of Kissinger and Thọ in Paris came the decisive breakthrough in the talks. Thọ began with "a very realistic and very simple proposal" for a ceasefire that would see the Americans pull all their forces out of Vietnam in exchange for the release of all the POWs in North Vietnam. Kissinger accepted Thọ's offer as the best deal possible, saying that the "mutual withdrawal formula" had to be abandoned as it had been "unobtainable through ten years of war ... We could not make it a condition for a final settlement. We had long passed that threshold". In the fall of 1972, both Kissinger and Nixon were frustrated with Thiệu's refusal to accept any sort of peace deal calling for withdrawal of American forces. On October 21 Kissinger and the American ambassador Ellsworth Bunker arrived in Saigon to show Thiệu the peace agreement. Thiệu refused to sign the peace agreement and demanded very extensive amendments that Kissinger reported to Nixon "verge on insanity".
Though Nixon had initially supported Kissinger against Thiệu, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman urged him to reconsider, arguing that Thiệu's objections had merit. Nixon wanted 69 amendments to the draft peace agreement included in the final treaty and ordered Kissinger back to Paris to force Thọ to accept them. Kissinger regarded Nixon's 69 amendments as "preposterous" as he knew Thọ would never accept them. As expected, Thọ refused to consider any of the 69 amendments, and on December 13, 1972, left Paris for Hanoi. Kissinger by this stage was worked up into a state of fury after Thọ walked out of the Paris talks and told Nixon: "They're just a bunch of shits. Tawdry, filthy shits".
On January 8, 1973, Kissinger and Thọ met again in Paris and the next day reached an agreement, which in main points was essentially the same as the one Nixon had rejected in October with only cosmetic concessions to the Americans. Thiệu once again rejected the peace agreement, only to receive an ultimatum from Nixon which caused Thiệu to reluctantly accept the peace agreement. On January 27, 1973, Kissinger and Thọ signed a peace agreement that called for the complete withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Vietnam by March in exchange for North Vietnam freeing all the U.S. POWs. Along with Thọ, Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1973, for their work in negotiating the ceasefires contained in the Paris Peace Accords on "Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam", signed the previous January. According to Irwin Abrams in 2001, this prize was the most controversial to date. For the first time in the history of the Peace Prize, two members left the Nobel Committee in protest. Thọ rejected the award, telling Kissinger that peace had not been restored in South Vietnam. Kissinger wrote to the Nobel Committee that he accepted the award "with humility", and "donated the entire proceeds to the children of American service members killed or missing in action in Indochina". After the Fall of Saigon in 1975, Kissinger attempted to return the award.
By the summer of 1974, the U.S. embassy reported that morale in the ARVN had fallen to dangerously low levels and it was uncertain how much longer South Vietnam would last. In August 1974, the U.S. Congress passed a bill limiting American aid to South Vietnam to $700 million annually. By November 1974, Kissinger lobbied Leonid Brezhnev to end Soviet military aid to North Vietnam. The same month, he also lobbied Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai to end Chinese military aid to North Vietnam. On April 15, 1975, Kissinger testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee, urging Congress to increase the military aid budget to South Vietnam by another $700 million to save the ARVN as the PAVN was rapidly advancing on Saigon, which was refused. Kissinger maintained at the time, and until his death, that if only Congress had approved of his request for another $700 million South Vietnam would have been able to resist.
In November 1975, seven months after the Khmer Rouge took power, Kissinger told the Thai foreign minister: "You should tell the Cambodians that we will be friends with them. They are murderous thugs but we won't let that stand in our way." In a 1998 interview, Kissinger said: "some countries, the Chinese in particular supported Pol Pot as a counterweight to the Vietnamese supported people and We at least tolerated it." Kissinger said he did not approve of this due to the genocide and said he "would not have dealt with Pol Pot for any purpose whatsoever." He further said: "The Thais and the Chinese did not want a Vietnamese-dominated Indochina. We didn't want the Vietnamese to dominate. I don't believe we did anything for Pol Pot. But I suspect we closed our eyes when some others did something for Pol Pot."
Interview with Oriana Fallaci
On November 4, 1972, Kissinger agreed to an interview with Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci. Kissinger, who rarely engaged in one-on-one interviews with the press and knew very little about Fallaci, accepted her request after reportedly being impressed with her 1969 interview with Võ Nguyên Giáp. The interview turned out to be a political and public relations disaster for Kissinger as he agreed that Vietnam was a "useless war", implied that he preferred to have dinner with Lê Đức Thọ over Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (in her 1976 book Interview with History, Fallaci recalled that Kissinger agreed with many of her negative sentiments towards Thiệu in a private discussion before the interview), and engaged in a now infamous exchange with the hard-pressing Fallaci, with Kissinger comparing himself to a cowboy leading the Nixon administration:
Fallaci: I suppose that at the root of everything there's your success. I mean, like a chess player, you've made two or three good moves. China, first of all. People like chess players who checkmate the king.Kissinger: Yes, China has been a very important element in the mechanics of my success. And yet that's not the main point. The main point. ... Well, yes, I'll tell you. What do I care? The main point arises from the fact that I've always acted alone. Americans like that immensely. Americans like the cowboy who leads the wagon train by riding ahead alone on his horse, the cowboy who rides all alone into the town, the village, with his horse and nothing else. Maybe even without a pistol, since he doesn't shoot. He acts, that's all, by being in the right place at the right time. In short, a Western.Fallaci: I see. You see yourself as a kind of Henry Fonda, unarmed and ready to fight with his fists for honest ideals. Alone, courageous ...Kissinger: Not necessarily courageous. In fact, this cowboy doesn't have to be courageous. All he needs is to be alone, to show others that he rides into the town and does everything by himself. This amazing, romantic character suits me precisely because to be alone has always been part of my style or, if you like, my technique. Together with independence. Oh, that's very important in me and for me. And finally, conviction. I've always been convinced that I had to do whatever I've done. And people feel it, and believe in it. And I care about the fact that they believe in me when you sway or convince somebody, you shouldn't confuse them. Nor can you even simply calculate. Some people think that I carefully plan what are to be the consequences, for the public, of any of my initiatives or efforts. They think this preoccupation is always on my mind. Instead the consequences of what I do, I mean the public's judgment, have never bothered me. I don't ask for popularity, I'm not looking for popularity. On the contrary, if you really want to know, I care nothing about popularity. I'm not at all afraid of losing my public; I can allow myself to say what I think. I'm referring to what's genuine in me. If I were to let myself be disturbed by the reactions of the public, if I were to act solely on the basis of a calculated technique, I would accomplish nothing.
Nixon was enraged by the interview, in particular the comedic "cowboy" comparison which infuriated Nixon. For several weeks afterwards, he refused to see Kissinger and even contemplated firing him. At one point, Kissinger, in desperation, drove up unannounced to Nixon's San Clemente residence but was rejected by Secret Service personnel at the gates. Kissinger later claimed that it was "the single most disastrous conversation I have ever had with any member of the press". Fallaci described the interview with the evasive, monotonous, non-expressive Kissinger as the most uncomfortable and most difficult she ever did, criticizing Kissinger as a "intellectual adventurer" and a self-styled Metternich.
Bangladesh Liberation War
Nixon supported Pakistani dictator Yahya Khan in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Kissinger sneered at people who "bleed" for "the dying Bengalis" and ignored the first telegram from the U.S. consul general in East Pakistan, Archer K. Blood, and 20 members of his staff, which informed the U.S. that their allies West Pakistan were undertaking, in Blood's words, "a selective genocide" targeting the Bengali intelligentsia, supporters of independence for East Pakistan, and the Hindu minority. In the second, more famous, Blood Telegram the word 'genocide' was again used to describe the events, and further that with its continuing support for West Pakistan the U.S. government had "evidenced ... moral bankruptcy". As a direct response to the dissent against U.S. policy, Kissinger and Nixon ended Archer Blood's tenure as United States consul general in East Pakistan and put him to work in the State Department's Personnel Office. Christopher Clary argues that Nixon and Kissinger were unconsciously biased, leading them to overestimate the likelihood of Pakistani victory against Bengali rebels.
Kissinger was particularly concerned about the expansion of Soviet influence in the Indian subcontinent as a result of a treaty of friendship recently signed by India and the Soviet Union, and sought to demonstrate to China (Pakistan's ally and an enemy of both India and the Soviet Union) the value of a tacit alliance with the United States.
Kissinger had also come under fire for private comments he made to Nixon during the Bangladesh–Pakistan War in which he described Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi as a "bitch" and a "witch". He also said "the Indians are bastards", shortly before the war. Kissinger later expressed his regret over the comments.
Europe
As National Security Adviser under Nixon, Kissinger pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, seeking a relaxation in tensions between the two superpowers. As a part of this strategy, he negotiated the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (culminating in the SALT I treaty) and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. Negotiations about strategic disarmament were originally supposed to start under the Lyndon Johnson administration but were postponed in protest upon the invasion by Warsaw Pact troops of Czechoslovakia in August 1968.
Nixon felt his administration had neglected relations with the Western European states in his first term and in September 1972 decided that if he was reelected that 1973 would be the "Year of Europe" as the United States would focus on relations with the states of the European Economic Community (EEC) which had emerged as a serious economic rival by 1970. Applying his favorite "linkage" concept, Nixon intended henceforward economic relations with Europe would not be severed from security relations, and if the EEC states wanted changes in American tariff and monetary policies, the price would be defense spending on their part. Kissinger in particular as part of the "Year of Europe" wanted to "revitalize" NATO, which he called a "decaying" alliance as he believed that there was nothing at present to stop the Red Army from overrunning Western Europe in a conventional forces conflict. The "linkage" concept more applied to the question of security as Kissinger noted that the United States was going to sacrifice NATO for the sake of "citrus fruits".
Israeli policy and Soviet Jewry
According to notes taken by H. R. Haldeman, Nixon "ordered his aides to exclude all Jewish-Americans from policy-making on Israel", including Kissinger. One note quotes Nixon as saying "get K. [Kissinger] out of the play—Haig handle it".
In 1973, Kissinger did not feel that pressing the Soviet Union concerning the plight of Jews being persecuted there was in the interest of U.S. foreign policy. In a conversation with Nixon shortly after a meeting with Israeli prime minister Golda Meir on March 1, 1973, Kissinger stated, "The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy, and if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern." He had a negative view of American Jews who lobbied for aid to Soviet Jews, calling them "bastards" and "self-serving". He went on to state that, "If it were not for the accident of my birth, I would be antisemitic" and "any people who has been persecuted for two thousand years must be doing something wrong."
Arab–Israeli conflict
In September 1973, Nixon fired William P. Rogers as Secretary of State and replaced him with Kissinger. He would later state he had not been given enough time to know the Middle East as he settled into the State Department. Kissinger later admitted that he was so engrossed with the Paris peace talks to end the Vietnam war that he and others in Washington missed the significance of the Egyptian-Saudi alliance. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat expelled Soviet advisors from Egypt in May 1972, attempting to signal to the U.S. that he was open to disentangling Egypt from the Soviet sphere of influence; Kissinger offered secret talks on a settlement for the Middle East, though nothing came of the offer. By March 1973, Sadat had moved back towards the Soviets, closing the largest arms package between Egypt and the Soviet Union and allowing for the return of Soviet military personnel and advisors to Egypt.
On October 6, 1973, at 6:15 am, assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs Joseph Sisco, informed Kissinger that Egypt and Syria were about to go to war with Israel. Sisco had been warned by U.S. ambassador to Israel, Kenneth Keating, who two hours previously had been urgently summoned by Israel's Prime Minister Golda Meir who believed conflict was imminent. Prioritising détente, Kissinger's first phone call (at 6:40 am) was to Soviet ambassador and good friend Anatoly Dobrynin. He would later make calls to British ambassador Rowland Baring and the U.N. secretary-general Kurt Waldheim. Kissinger did not inform President Richard Nixon or White House chief of staff Alexander Haig about the start of the Yom Kippur War until either 8:35 or 9:25 am. as both were spending the weekend at Key Biscayne discussing Spiro Agnew's imminent resignation. According to Kissinger his urgent calls to the Soviets and Egyptians were ineffective.
On October 12, under Nixon's direction, and against Kissinger's initial advice, while Kissinger was on his way to Moscow to discuss conditions for a cease-fire, Nixon sent a message to Brezhnev giving Kissinger full negotiating authority. Kissinger wanted to stall a ceasefire to gain more time for Israel to push across the Suez Canal to the African side, and wanted to be perceived as a mere presidential emissary who needed to consult the White House all the time as a stalling tactic.
Kissinger promised the Israeli prime minister Golda Meir that the United States would replace its losses in equipment after the war, but sought initially to delay arms shipments to Israel, as he believed it would improve the odds of making peace along the lines of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. In 1973, Meir requested $850 million worth of American arms and equipment to replace its materiel losses. Nixon instead sent some $2 billion worth. The arms lift enraged King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, and he retaliated on October 20, 1973, by placing a total embargo on oil shipments to the United States, to be joined by all of the other oil-producing Arab states except Iraq and Libya.
On November 7, 1973, Kissinger flew to Riyadh to meet King Faisal and to ask him to end the oil embargo in exchange for promising to be "even handed" in the Arab-Israeli dispute. Despite Kissinger's efforts to charm him, Faisal refused to lift the oil embargo. Only on March 19, 1974, did the King end the oil embargo, after Sadat reported to him that the United States was being more "even handed" and after Kissinger had promised to sell Saudi Arabia weapons that it had previously denied under the grounds that they might be used against Israel.
Kissinger pressured the Israelis to cede some of the newly captured land back to its Arab neighbors, contributing to the first phases of Israeli–Egyptian non-aggression. In 1973–1974, Kissinger engaged in "shuttle diplomacy" flying between Tel Aviv, Cairo, and Damascus in a bid to make the armistice the basis of a permanent peace. Kissinger's first meeting with Hafez al-Assad lasted 6 hours and 30 minutes, causing the press to believe for a moment that he had been kidnapped by the Syrians. In his memoirs, Kissinger described how, during the course of his 28 meetings in Damascus in 1973–74, Assad "negotiated tenaciously and daringly like a riverboat gambler to make sure he had exacted the last sliver of available concessions". As for the others Kissinger negotiated with, Kissinger viewed the Israeli politicians as rigid, while he had a good relationship and was able to develop a sense of assurance with Sadat. Kissinger's efforts resulted in two ceasefires between Egypt and Israel, Sinai I in January 1974, and Sinai II in September 1975.
Kissinger had avoided involving France and the United Kingdom, the former European colonial powers of the Middle East, in the peace negotiations that followed the Yom Kippur War, being primarily focused on minimizing the Soviet Union's sway over the peace negotiations and on moderating the international influences on the Arab-Israeli conflict. President Pompidou of France was concerned and perturbed by this development, viewing it as an indication of the United States' ambitions of hegemonically domineering the region.
Persian Gulf
A major concern for Kissinger was the possibility of Soviet influence in the Persian Gulf. In April 1969, Iraq came into conflict with Iran when Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi renounced the 1937 treaty governing the Shatt-al-Arab river. On December 1, 1971, after two years of skirmishes along the border, President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr broke off diplomatic relations with Iran. In May 1972, Nixon and Kissinger visited Tehran to tell the Shah that there would be no "second-guessing of his requests" to buy American weapons. At the same time, Nixon and Kissinger agreed to a plan of the Shah's that the United States together with Iran and Israel would support the Kurdish peshmerga guerrillas fighting for independence from Iraq. Kissinger later wrote that after Vietnam, there was no possibility of deploying American forces in the Middle East, and henceforward Iran was to act as America's surrogate in the Persian Gulf. Kissinger described the Ba'athist regime in Iraq as a potential threat to the United States and believed that building up Iran and supporting the peshmerga was the best counterweight.
Turkish invasion of Cyprus
Following a period of steady relations between the U.S. Government and the Greek military regime after 1967, Secretary of State Kissinger was faced with the coup by the Greek junta and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July and August 1974. In an August 1974 edition of The New York Times, it was revealed that Kissinger and the State Department were informed in advance of the impending coup by the Greek junta in Cyprus. Indeed, according to the journalist, the official version of events as told by the State Department was that it felt it had to warn the Greek military regime not to carry out the coup.
Kissinger was a target of anti-American sentiment which was a significant feature of Greek public opinion at the time—particularly among young people—viewing the U.S. role in Cyprus as negative. In a demonstration by students in Heraklion, Crete, soon after the second phase of the Turkish invasion in August 1974, slogans such as "Kissinger, murderer", "Americans get out", "No to Partition" and "Cyprus is no Vietnam" were heard. Some years later, Kissinger expressed the opinion that the Cyprus issue was resolved in 1974. The New York Times and other major newspapers were highly critical, and even State Department officials did not hide their dissatisfaction with his alleged arrogance and ignorance of the basic facts of the issue.
Kissinger was reported to have said, "The Turkish tactics are right – grab what they want and then negotiate on the basis of possession".
However, Kissinger never felt comfortable with the way he handled the Cyprus issue. Journalist Alexis Papahelas stated that Kissinger's "facial expression changes markedly when someone—usually Greek or Cypriot—refers to the crisis". According to him, Kissinger had felt since the summer of 1974 that history would not treat him lightly in relation to his actions.
Latin American policy
In 1970, Kissinger parroted to Nixon the United States Department of Defense's position that the country should maintain control over the Panama Canal, which was a reversal of the commitment by the Lyndon Johnson administration. Later, in the face of international pressure, Kissinger changed his stance, viewing the past hardline position in the Panama Canal issue as a hindrance to American relations with Latin America and an international setback that the Soviet Union would approve of. Kissinger in 1973 called for "new dialogue" between the United States and Latin America, then in 1974, Kissinger met Panama military leader Omar Torrijos and an agreement on eight operating principles for an eventual handover of the Panama Canal to Panama was made between Kissinger and Panamanian foreign minister Juan Antonio Tack, which angered the United States Congress, but ultimately provided a framework for the 1977 U.S.–Panama treaties.
Cuba
Kissinger initially supported the normalization of United States–Cuba relations, broken since 1961 (all U.S.–Cuban trade was blocked in February 1962, a few weeks after the exclusion of Cuba from the Organization of American States because of U.S. pressure). However, he quickly changed his mind and followed Kennedy's policy. After the involvement of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces in the independence struggles in Angola and Mozambique, Kissinger said that unless Cuba withdrew its forces relations would not be normalized. Cuba refused.
During the 1970 Cienfuegos Crisis, in which the Soviet Navy was strongly suspected of building a submarine base in the Cuban city of Cienfuegos, Kissinger met with Anatoly Dobrynin, Soviet Ambassador to the United States, informing him that the United States government considered this act a violation of the agreements made in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, prompting the Soviets to halt construction of their planned base in Cienfuegos.
In February 1976, Kissinger considered launching air strikes against ports and military installations in Cuba, as well as deploying U.S. Marine Corps battalions based at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, in retaliation for Cuban president Fidel Castro's decision in late 1975 to send troops to newly independent Angola to help the MPLA in its fight against UNITA and South Africa during the start of the Angolan Civil War.
Bolivian Coup
Following the uprising of October 7, 1970, General Juan José Torres came to power in Bolivia, forming a left-wing nationalist government with an "anti-imperialist" stance. His policies, which included the nationalization of some American-owned property, led to the U.S. exerting external pressure over his government.
On June 11, 1971, Nixon and Kissinger discussed plans for a coup in Bolivia, and later in July, the 40 Committee approved covert funding towards Torres's opposition. Torres was successfully overthrown by the Nationalist Popular Front, led by Hugo Banzer, in August 21, 1971.
Chilean Coup
Chilean Socialist Party presidential candidate Salvador Allende was elected in 1970, causing serious concern in Washington, D.C., due to his socialist and pro-Cuban politics. The Nixon administration, with Kissinger's input, authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to encourage a military coup that would prevent Allende's inauguration, but the plan was not successful. Prior to Allende's election Kissinger had said that "I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go Communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people".
On September 11, 1973, Allende died during an army attack on the presidential palace that was an element of a military coup launched by Army Commander-in-Chief Augusto Pinochet, who then became the head of the military junta which replaced Allende. In September 1976, Orlando Letelier, a Chilean opponent of the new Pinochet regime, was assassinated in Washington, D.C., with a car bomb. Previously, Kissinger had helped secure his release from prison, and had chosen to cancel an official U.S. letter to Chile warning them against carrying out any political assassinations. This murder was part of Operation Condor, a covert program of political repression and assassination carried out by Southern Cone nations that Kissinger has been accused of being involved in.
On September 10, 2001, after recent declassification of documents, relatives and survivors of General René Schneider filed civil proceedings against Kissinger, in federal court in Washington, D.C., accusing him of collaborating in arranging Schneider's kidnapping which resulted in his death. The case was later dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, citing separation of powers: "The decision to support a coup of the Chilean government to prevent Dr. Allende from coming to power, and the means by which the United States Government sought to effect that goal, implicate policy makers in the murky realm of foreign affairs and national security best left to the political branches." Decades later, the CIA admitted its involvement in the kidnapping of General Schneider, but not his murder, and subsequently paid the group responsible for his death $35,000 "to keep the prior contact secret, maintain the goodwill of the group, and for humanitarian reasons".
Argentina
Kissinger took a similar line as he had toward Chile when the Argentine Armed Forces, led by Jorge Videla, toppled the elected government of Isabel Perón in 1976 with a process called the National Reorganization Process by the military, with which they consolidated power, launching brutal reprisals and "disappearances" against political opponents. An October 1987 investigative report in The Nation broke the story of how, in a June 1976 meeting in the Hotel Carrera in Santiago, Kissinger gave the military junta in neighboring Argentina the "green light" for their own clandestine repression against leftwing guerrillas and other dissidents, thousands of whom were kept in more than 400 secret concentration camps before they were executed. During a meeting with Argentine foreign minister César Augusto Guzzetti, Kissinger assured him that the United States was an ally but urged him to "get back to normal procedures" quickly before the U.S. Congress reconvened and had a chance to consider sanctions.
As the article published in The Nation noted, as the state-sponsored terror mounted, conservative Republican U.S. Ambassador to Buenos Aires Robert C. Hill "'was shaken, he became very disturbed, by the case of the son of a thirty-year embassy employee, a student who was arrested, never to be seen again,' recalled Juan de Onis, former reporter for The New York Times. 'Hill took a personal interest.' He went to the Interior Minister, a general with whom he had worked on drug cases, saying, 'Hey, what about this? We're interested in this case.' He questioned (Foreign Minister Cesar) Guzzetti and, finally, President Jorge Videla himself. 'All he got was stonewalling; he got nowhere.' de Onis said. 'His last year was marked by increasing disillusionment and dismay, and he backed his staff on human rights right to the hilt."
In a letter to The Nation editor Victor Navasky, protesting publication of the article, Kissinger claimed that: "At any rate, the notion of Hill as a passionate human rights advocate is news to all his former associates." Yet Kissinger aide Harry W. Shlaudeman later disagreed with Kissinger, telling the oral historian William E. Knight of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project: It really came to a head when I was Assistant Secretary, or it began to come to a head, in the case of Argentina where the dirty war was in full flower. Bob Hill, who was Ambassador then in Buenos Aires, a very conservative Republican politician—by no means liberal or anything of the kind, began to report quite effectively about what was going on, this slaughter of innocent civilians, supposedly innocent civilians—this vicious war that they were conducting, underground war. He, at one time in fact, sent me a back-channel telegram saying that the Foreign Minister, who had just come for a visit to Washington and had returned to Buenos Aires, had gloated to him that Kissinger had said nothing to him about human rights. I don't know—I wasn't present at the interview.
Navasky later wrote in his book about being confronted by Kissinger: 'Tell me, Mr. Navasky,' [Kissinger] said in his famous guttural tones, 'how is it that a short article in an obscure journal such as yours about a conversation that was supposed to have taken place years ago about something that did or didn't happen in Argentina resulted in sixty people holding placards denouncing me a few months ago at the airport when I got off the plane in Copenhagen?'
According to declassified state department files, Kissinger also hindered the Carter administration's efforts to halt the mass killings by the 1976–1983 military dictatorship by visiting the country as Videla's personal guest to attend the 1978 FIFA World Cup and praising the regime.
Brazil's nuclear weapons program
Kissinger was in favor of accommodating Brazil while it pursued a nuclear weapons program in the 1970s. Kissinger justified his position by arguing that Brazil was a U.S. ally and on the grounds that it would benefit private nuclear industry actors in the U.S. Kissinger's position on Brazil was out of sync with influential voices in the U.S. Congress, the State Department, and the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
Rhodesia
In September 1976, Kissinger was actively involved in negotiations regarding the Rhodesian Bush War. Kissinger, along with South Africa's prime minister John Vorster, pressured Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith to hasten the transition to black majority rule in Rhodesia. With FRELIMO in control of Mozambique and even the apartheid regime of South Africa withdrawing its support, Rhodesia's isolation was nearly complete. According to Smith's autobiography, Kissinger told Smith of Mrs. Kissinger's admiration for him, but Smith stated that he thought Kissinger was asking him to sign Rhodesia's "death certificate". Kissinger, bringing the weight of the United States, and corralling other relevant parties to put pressure on Rhodesia, hastened the end of white minority rule.
Portuguese Empire
In contrast to the unfriendly disposition of the previous Kennedy and Johnson administrations towards the Estado Novo regime of Portugal, particularly with regards to its attempts to maintain the Portuguese Colonial Empire by waging the Portuguese Colonial War against anti-colonial rebellions in defense of its empire, the Department of State under Kissinger adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards Portugal. In 1971, the administration of President Nixon successfully renewed the lease of the American military base in the Azores, despite condemnation from the Congressional Black Caucus and some members of the Senate. Though privately continuing to view Portugal contemptibly for its perceived atavistic foreign policy towards Africa, Kissinger publicly expressed thanks for Portugal's agreement to use its military base in Lajes in the Azores to resupply Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Following the fall of the far-right Portuguese regime in 1974, Kissinger worried that the new government's hasty decolonization plan might benefit radical factions such as the MPLA in Angola. He also expressed concern that the inclusion of the Portuguese Communist Party in the new Portuguese government could legitimize communist parties in other NATO member states, such as Italy.
East Timor
The Portuguese decolonization process brought U.S. attention to the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, which declared its independence in 1975. Indonesian president Suharto regarded East Timor as rightfully part of Indonesia. In December 1975, Suharto discussed invasion plans during a meeting with Kissinger and President Ford in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Both Ford and Kissinger made clear that U.S. relations with Indonesia would remain strong and that it would not object to the proposed annexation. They only wanted it done "fast" and proposed that it be delayed until after they had returned to Washington. Accordingly, Suharto delayed the operation for one day. Finally on December 7, Indonesian forces invaded the former Portuguese colony. U.S. arms sales to Indonesia continued, and Suharto went ahead with the annexation plan. According to Ben Kiernan, the invasion and occupation resulted in the deaths of nearly a quarter of the Timorese population from 1975 to 1981.
Western Sahara
The Kissingerian doctrine endorsed the forced concession of Spanish Sahara to Morocco. At the height of the 1975 Sahara crisis, Kissinger misled Gerald Ford into thinking the International Court of Justice had ruled in favor of Morocco. Kissinger was aware in advance of the Moroccan plans for the invasion of the territory, materialized on November 6, 1975, in the so-called Green March.
Zaire
Kissinger was involved in furthering cooperation between the U.S. and the Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and held multiple meetings with him. Kissinger later described these efforts as "one of our policy successes in Africa" and praised Mobutu as "courageous, politically astute" and "relatively honest in a country where governmental corruption is a way of life".
Later roles
After Nixon was forced to resign in August 1974 due to the Watergate scandal, Kissinger initially kept both of his positions as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the new presidential administration of Gerald Ford. However, his influence was somewhat diminished when he was replaced by Brent Scowcroft as National Security Advisor during the "Halloween Massacre" cabinet reshuffle of November 1975. Ford later explained his decision to journalist Thomas M. DeFrank: "When Kissinger had both State and NSC, there was not an independent evaluation of proposals, and I never liked that arrangement that I inherited. And when the time came to make some [other] changes at the Pentagon and CIA, it was logical to tell Henry, 'I’m gonna just leave you as secretary of state and upgrade Brent Scowcroft.'" Kissinger left office as Secretary of State when Democrat Jimmy Carter defeated Ford in the 1976 presidential election.
Kissinger continued to participate in policy groups, such as the Trilateral Commission, and to maintain political consulting, speaking, and writing engagements. In 1978, he was secretly involved in thwarting efforts by the Carter administration to indict three Chilean intelligence agents for masterminding the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier. Kissinger was critical of the foreign policy of the Jimmy Carter administration, saying in 1980 that "has managed the extraordinary feat of having, at one and the same time, the worst relations with our allies, the worst relations with our adversaries, and the most serious upheavals in the developing world since the end of the Second World War."
After Kissinger left office in 1977, he was offered an endowed chair at Columbia University, which was met with student opposition. Kissinger instead accepted a position at Georgetown University's Center for Strategic and International Studies. He taught at Georgetown's Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service for several years in the late 1970s. In 1982, with the help of a loan from the international banking firm of E.M. Warburg, Pincus and Company, Kissinger founded a consulting firm, Kissinger Associates, and was a partner in affiliate Kissinger McLarty Associates with Mack McLarty, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. He also served on the board of directors of Hollinger International, a Chicago-based newspaper group, and as of March 1999, was a director of Gulfstream Aerospace.
In September 1989, The Wall Street Journal's John Fialka disclosed that Kissinger took a direct economic interest in U.S.–China relations in March 1989 with the establishment of China Ventures, Inc., a Delaware limited partnership, of which he was chairman of the board and chief executive officer. A US$75 million investment in a joint venture with the Communist Party government's primary commercial vehicle at the time, China International Trust & Investment Corporation (CITIC), was its purpose. Board members were major clients of Kissinger Associates. Kissinger was criticized for not disclosing his role in the venture when called upon by ABC's Peter Jennings to comment the morning after the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square massacre. Kissinger's position was generally supportive of Deng Xiaoping's decision to use the military against the demonstrating students and he opposed economic sanctions.
From 1995 to 2001, Kissinger served on the board of directors for Freeport-McMoRan, a multinational copper and gold producer with significant mining and milling operations in Papua, Indonesia. In February 2000, president of Indonesia Abdurrahman Wahid appointed Kissinger as a political advisor. He also served as an honorary advisor to the United States-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce.
In 1998, in response to the 2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal, the International Olympic Committee formed a commission, called the "2000 Commission", to recommend reforms, which Kissinger served on. This service led in 2000 to his appointment as one of five IOC "honor members", a category the organization described as granted to "eminent personalities from outside the IOC who have rendered particularly outstanding services to it".
Kissinger served as the 22nd Chancellor of the College of William and Mary from 2000 to 2005. He was preceded by former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and succeeded by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The College of William & Mary also owns a painted portrait of Kissinger that was painted by Ned Bittinger.
From 2000 to 2006, Kissinger served as chairman of the board of trustees of Eisenhower Fellowships. In 2006, upon his departure from Eisenhower Fellowships, he received the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service.
In November 2002, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to chair the newly established National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States to investigate the September 11 attacks. Kissinger stepped down as chairman on December 13, 2002, rather than reveal his business client list, when queried about potential conflicts of interest.
In January 2007, Kissinger delivered a eulogy for Gerald Ford, one of the U.S. presidents he served, at Ford's state funeral in the Washington National Cathedral.
In April 2008 Kissinger gave a eulogy for the conservative author and founder of the National Review, William F. Buckley at the latter's memorial service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.
In the Rio Tinto espionage case of 2009–2010, Kissinger was paid US$5 million to advise the multinational mining company how to distance itself from an employee who had been arrested in China for bribery.
Kissinger—along with William Perry, Sam Nunn, and George Shultz—called upon governments to embrace the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons, and in three op-eds in The Wall Street Journal proposed an ambitious program of urgent steps to that end. The four created the Nuclear Threat Initiative to advance this agenda. In 2010, the four were featured in a documentary film entitled Nuclear Tipping Point. The film is a visual and historical depiction of the ideas laid forth in The Wall Street Journal op-eds and reinforces their commitment to a world without nuclear weapons and the steps that can be taken to reach that goal.
On November 17, 2016, Kissinger met with President-elect Donald Trump during which they discussed global affairs. Kissinger also met with President Trump at the White House in May 2017.
In an interview with Charlie Rose on August 17, 2017, Kissinger said about President Trump: "I'm hoping for an Augustinian moment, for St. Augustine ... who in his early life followed a pattern that was quite incompatible with later on when he had a vision, and rose to sainthood. One does not expect the president to become that, but it's conceivable". Kissinger also argued that Russian president Vladimir Putin wanted to weaken Hillary Clinton, not elect Donald Trump. Kissinger said that Putin "thought—wrongly incidentally—that she would be extremely confrontational ... I think he tried to weaken the incoming president [Clinton]".
Views on U.S. foreign policy
Yugoslav Wars
In several articles of his and interviews that he gave during the Yugoslav Wars, he criticized the United States' policies in Southeast Europe, among other things for the recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a sovereign state, which he described as a foolish act. Most importantly he dismissed the notion of Serbs and Croats being aggressors or separatist, saying that "they can't be separating from something that has never existed". In addition, he repeatedly warned the West against inserting itself into a conflict that has its roots at least hundreds of years back in time, and said that the West would do better if it allowed the Serbs and Croats to join their respective countries. Kissinger shared similarly critical views on Western involvement in Kosovo. In particular, he held a disparaging view of the Rambouillet Agreement:
The Rambouillet text, which called on Serbia to admit NATO troops throughout Yugoslavia, was a provocation, an excuse to start bombing. Rambouillet is not a document that any Serb could have accepted. It was a terrible diplomatic document that should never have been presented in that form.
However, as the Serbs did not accept the Rambouillet text and NATO bombings started, he opted to support a continuation of the bombing as NATO's credibility was now at stake, but dismissed the use of ground forces in claiming that it was not worth it.
Iraq
In 2006, it was reported in the book State of Denial by Bob Woodward that Kissinger met regularly with President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to offer advice on the Iraq War. Kissinger confirmed in recorded interviews with Woodward that the advice was the same as he had given in a column in The Washington Post on August 12, 2005: "Victory over the insurgency is the only meaningful exit strategy." Kissinger also frequently met with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, whom he warned that Coalition Provisional Authority Director L. Paul Bremer was "a control freak".
In an interview on the BBC's Sunday AM on November 19, 2006, Kissinger was asked whether there was any hope left for a clear military victory in Iraq and responded, "If you mean by 'military victory' an Iraqi government that can be established and whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the civil war under control and sectarian violence under control in a time period that the political processes of the democracies will support, I don't believe that is possible. ... I think we have to redefine the course. But I don't believe that the alternative is between military victory as it had been defined previously, or total withdrawal."
In an interview with Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institution on April 3, 2008, Kissinger reiterated that even though he supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he thought that the George W. Bush administration rested too much of its case for war on Saddam's supposed weapons of mass destruction. Robinson noted that Kissinger had criticized the administration for invading with too few troops, for disbanding the Iraqi Army as part of de-Baathification, and for mishandling relations with certain allies.
India
Kissinger said in April 2008 that "India has parallel objectives to the United States", and he called the nation an ally of the U.S.
China
Kissinger attended the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. A few months before the Games opened, as controversy over China's human rights record was intensifying due to criticism by Amnesty International and other groups of the widespread use of the death penalty and other issues, Kissinger told China's official press agency Xinhua: "I think one should separate Olympics as a sporting event from whatever political disagreements people may have had with China. I expect that the games will proceed in the spirit for which they were designed, which is friendship among nations, and that other issues are discussed in other forums." He said China had made huge efforts to stage the Games. "Friends of China should not use the Olympics to pressure China now." He added that he would bring two of his grandchildren to watch the Games and planned to attend the opening ceremony. During the Games, he participated with Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe, film star Jackie Chan, and former British prime minister Tony Blair at a Peking University forum on the qualities that make a champion. He sat with his wife Nancy Kissinger, President George W. Bush, former president George H. W. Bush, and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi at the men's basketball game between China and the U.S.
In 2011, Kissinger published On China, chronicling the evolution of Sino-American relations and laying out the challenges to a partnership of "genuine strategic trust" between the U.S. and China. In this book On China and his 2014 book World Order, as well as in his 2018 interview with Financial Times, Kissinger consistently stated that he believed that China wants to restore its historic role as the Middle Kingdom and be "the principal adviser to all humanity".
In 2020, during a period of worsening Sino-American relations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hong Kong protests, and the U.S.–China trade war, Kissinger expressed concerns that the United States and China are entering a Second Cold War and will eventually become embroiled in a military conflict similar to World War I. He called for Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the incoming U.S. president-elect Joe Biden to take a less confrontational foreign policy. Kissinger previously said that a potential war between China and the United States would be "worse than the world wars that ruined European civilization".
In July 2023, Kissinger traveled to Beijing to meet with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, who was sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2018 for engaging in the purchase of combat aircraft from a Russian arms exporter. Kissinger emphasized Sino-American relations in the meeting, stating that "the United States and China should eliminate misunderstandings, coexist peacefully, and avoid confrontation". Later that trip, Kissinger met with Xi with the intention of defrosting relations between the U.S. and China.
Iran
Kissinger's position on this issue of U.S.–Iran talks was reported by the Tehran Times to be that "Any direct talks between the U.S. and Iran on issues such as the nuclear dispute would be most likely to succeed if they first involved only diplomatic staff and progressed to the level of secretary of state before the heads of state meet." In 2016, Kissinger said that the biggest challenge facing the Middle East is the "potential domination of the region by an Iran that is both imperial and jihadist". He further wrote in August 2017 that if the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran and its Shiite allies were allowed to fill the territorial vacuum left by a militarily defeated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the region would be left with a land corridor extending from Iran to the Levant "which could mark the emergence of an Iranian radical empire". Commenting on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Kissinger said that he would not have agreed to it, but that Trump's plan to end the agreement after it was signed would "enable the Iranians to do more than us".
2014 Ukrainian crisis
On March 5, 2014, The Washington Post published an op-ed piece by Kissinger, 11 days before the Crimean status referendum on whether Crimea should officially keep being a part of Ukraine or join Russia. In it, he attempted to balance the Ukrainian, Russian, and Western desires for a functional state. He made four main points:
Ukraine should have the right to choose freely its economic and political associations, including with Europe;
Ukraine should not join NATO, a repetition of the position he took seven years before;
Ukraine should be free to create any government compatible with the expressed will of its people. Wise Ukrainian leaders would then opt for a policy of reconciliation between the various parts of their country. He imagined an international position for Ukraine like that of Finland.
Ukraine should maintain sovereignty over Crimea.
Kissinger also wrote: "The west speaks Ukrainian; the east speaks mostly Russian. Any attempt by one wing of Ukraine to dominate the other—as has been the pattern—would lead eventually to civil war or break up."
Following the publication of his book titled World Order, Kissinger participated in an interview with Charlie Rose and updated his position on Ukraine, which he saw as a possible geographical mediator between Russia and the West. In a question he posed to himself for illustration regarding re-conceiving policy regarding Ukraine, Kissinger stated: "If Ukraine is considered an outpost, then the situation is that its eastern border is the NATO strategic line, and NATO will be within 200 miles (320 km) of Volgograd. That will never be accepted by Russia. On the other hand, if the Russian western line is at the border of Poland, Europe will be permanently disquieted. The Strategic objective should have been to see whether one can build Ukraine as a bridge between East and West, and whether one can do it as a kind of a joint effort."
In December 2016, Kissinger advised President-elect Donald Trump to accept "Crimea as a part of Russia" in an attempt to secure a rapprochement between the United States and Russia, whose relations soured as a result of the Crimean crisis. When asked if he explicitly considered Russia's sovereignty over Crimea legitimate, Kissinger answered in the affirmative, reversing the position he took in his Washington Post op-ed.
Computers and nuclear weapons
In 2019, Kissinger wrote about the increasing tendency to give control of nuclear weapons to computers operating with artificial intelligence (AI) that: "Adversaries' ignorance of AI-developed configurations will become a strategic advantage". Kissinger argued that giving power to launch nuclear weapons to computers using algorithms to make decisions would eliminate the human factor and give the advantage to the state that had the most effective AI system as a computer can make decisions about war and peace far faster than any human ever could. Just as an AI-enhanced computer can win chess games by anticipating human decision-making, an AI-enhanced computer could be useful in a crisis as in a nuclear war, the side that strikes first would have the advantage by destroying the opponent's nuclear capacity. Kissinger also noted there was always the danger that a computer could make a decision to start a nuclear war before diplomacy had been exhausted, or for a reason that would not be understandable to the operators. Kissinger also warned the use of AI to control nuclear weapons would impose "opacity" on the decision-making process as the algorithms that control the AI system are not readily understandable, destabilizing the decision-making process:
grand strategy requires an understanding of the capabilities and military deployments of potential adversaries. But if more and more intelligence becomes opaque, how will policy makers understand the views and abilities of their adversaries and perhaps even allies? Will many different internets emerge or, in the end, only one? What will be the implications for cooperation? For confrontation? As AI becomes ubiquitous, new concepts for its security need to emerge.
COVID-19 pandemic
On April 3, 2020, Kissinger shared his diagnostic view of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that it threatens the "liberal world order". Kissinger added that the virus does not know borders although global leaders are trying to address the crisis on a mainly national basis. He stressed that the key is not a purely national effort but greater international cooperation.
Russian invasion of Ukraine
In May 2022, speaking to the World Economic Forum on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kissinger advocated for a diplomatic settlement that would restore the status quo ante bellum, effectively ceding Crimea and parts of Donbas to Russian control. Kissinger urged Ukrainians to "match the heroism they have shown with wisdom", arguing that "[p]ursuing the war beyond that point would not be about the freedom of Ukraine, but a new war against Russia itself." He spoke to Edward Luce and a Financial Times audience in the same month. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Kissinger's suggestions, saying Ukraine would not agree to peace until Russia agreed to return Crimea and the Donbas region to Ukraine.
On a book tour to sell Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy in July 2022 he spoke to Judy Woodruff of PBS and he was still of the opinion that "a negotiation is desirable" and clarified his earlier statements, saying that he supported a ceasefire line on the borders of February 24 and that "Russia should not gain anything from the war... Ukraine above all cannot give up territory that it had when the war started because this would be symbolically dangerous."
On January 18, 2023, Kissinger was interviewed by Graham Allison for a World Economic Forum audience; he said that U.S. support should be intensified until either the February 24 borders are reached or the February 24 borders are recognized, upon which time under a ceasefire agreement negotiations would begin. Kissinger felt that Russia needs to be given an opportunity to rejoin the comity of nations while the sanctions are maintained until final settlement is reached. He expressed his admiration for President Zelenskyy and lauded the heroic conduct of the Ukrainian people. Kissinger felt that the invasion has ipso facto its logical outcome pointed to NATO membership for Ukraine at the end of the peace process.
In September 2023, Kissinger met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York City, on which occasion they discussed his change in position on Ukraine's NATO membership ambitions.
In September 2023, Kissinger also presented a reformulated response endorsing Ukraine's NATO membership as an “appropriate outcome,” which could be seen as a substantial boost to the transatlantic aspirations of embattled Ukraine.
Gaza war
In a statement made a month before his death, Kissinger responded to the October 7 attacks and outbreak of the Gaza war by saying that the goals of Hamas "can only be to mobilize the Arab world against Israel and to get off the track of peaceful negotiations". In response to celebrations of the attack by some Arabs in Germany, he issued a statement denouncing Muslim immigration into Germany: "It was a grave mistake to let in so many people of totally different culture and religion and concepts, because it creates a pressure group inside each country that does that."
Public perception
A 2014 poll of American international relations scholars conducted by the College of William & Mary ranked Kissinger as the most effective Secretary of State in the 50 years prior to 2015. In 1972, Time commented that "a streak of suspicion seems to underlie all that he does" and "His jokes about his paranoia have an uncomfortable edge of truth". He was so often seen escorting Hollywood starlets that the Village Voice charged he was "a secret square posing as a swinger". The insight, "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac", is widely attributed to him, although Kissinger was paraphrasing Napoleon Bonaparte.
Historian Jeffrey Kimball developed the theory that Kissinger and the Nixon administration accepted a South Vietnamese collapse provided a face-saving decent interval passed between U.S. withdrawal and defeat. In his first meeting with Zhou Enlai in 1971, Kissinger "laid out in detail the settlement terms that would produce such a delayed defeat: total American withdrawal, return of all American POWs, and a ceasefire-in-place for '18 months or some period'", in the words of historian Ken Hughes. On October 6, 1972, Kissinger told Nixon twice that the terms of the Paris Peace Accords would probably destroy South Vietnam: "I also think that Thieu is right, that our terms will eventually destroy him." However, Kissinger denied using a "decent interval" strategy, writing "All of us who negotiated the agreement of October 12 were convinced that we had vindicated the anguish of a decade not by a 'decent interval' but by a decent settlement." Johannes Kadura offers a positive assessment of Nixon and Kissinger's strategy, arguing that the two men "simultaneously maintained a Plan A of further supporting Saigon and a Plan B of shielding Washington should their maneuvers prove futile." According to Kadura, the "decent interval" concept has been "largely misrepresented", in that Nixon and Kissinger "sought to gain time, make the North turn inward, and create a perpetual equilibrium" rather than acquiescing in the collapse of South Vietnam.
Kissinger's record was brought up during the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Hillary Clinton had cultivated a close relationship with Kissinger, describing him as a "friend" and a source of "counsel". During the Democratic primary debates, Clinton touted Kissinger's praise for her record as secretary of state. In response, candidate Bernie Sanders criticized Kissinger and said: "I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger."
Kissinger was an immensely beloved figure within China, with China News Service describing him in his obituary as someone "who had a sharp vision and a thorough understanding of world affairs".
Legacy and reception
Kissinger has generally received a polarizing reception; some have portrayed him as a strategic genius who was willing to act in a utilitarian manner, others have portrayed his foreign policy decisions as immoral and profoundly damaging in the long run.
Positive views
Historian Niall Ferguson has argued that Kissinger is one of the most effective secretaries of state in American history. The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal stated in the aftermath of his death "Kissinger was a target of both the right and left in those perilous Cold War years, often unfairly". The article noted that he was often criticized by American conservatives for overlooking human rights in China, while saying "he had no illusions about the Communist Party or its nationalist ambitions. His view was that the U.S. and China had to achieve some modus vivendi to avoid war despite their profound cultural and political differences" while claiming that "the alternatives then, as now, weren't usually [democracy advocates] of the left's imagining. They were often Communists who would have aligned themselves with the Soviets ... . The U.S. provided covert aid to Allende's political opponents, but declassified briefings from the time show the U.S. was unaware of the military coup that deposed him. Kissinger wasn't responsible for Augusto Pinochet's coup or its bloody excesses. Chile eventually became a democracy ... Cuba remains a dictatorship."
Negative views
A number of journalists, activists, and human rights lawyers accused Kissinger of being responsible for war crimes during his tenure in government. Some sought civil and even criminal penalties against Kissinger, but none of these attempts were successful. In September 2001, relatives and survivors of General Rene Schneider filed civil proceedings in federal court in Washington, D.C. The suit was later dismissed. In April 2002, a petition for Kissinger's arrest was filed in the High Court of Justice in London by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, citing the destruction of civilian populations and the environment in Indochina during the years 1969–1975. The petition was rejected one day after filing.
One of his most prominent critics was American-British journalist and author Christopher Hitchens. Hitchens authored The Trial of Henry Kissinger, in which he called for the prosecution of Kissinger "for war crimes, for crimes against humanity, and for offenses against common or customary or international law, including conspiracy to commit murder, kidnap, and torture". American chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain wrote in A Cook's Tour: "Once you've been to Cambodia, you'll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands... Witness what [he] did... and you will never understand why he's not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to Milošević."
Author Robert D. Kaplan and historian Niall Ferguson have disputed these notions and argued that there is a double standard in how Kissinger is judged in comparison to others. They have defended Kissinger by arguing that American power to advocate for human rights in other nations is often counterproductive and limited, that taking into consideration geopolitical realities is an inevitable part of any effective foreign policy, and that there are utilitarian reasons to defend most of the decisions of his tenure.
Other perspectives
Several historians have rejected both prominent reputations of Kissinger. David Greenberg argued that each are exaggerated caricatures that overstate both his genius and immorality: In fact, if there's a single word I'd apply to Kissinger, it's 'overrated.' He was overrated as a scholar (famous mainly for writing a very long dissertation). He was overrated as a strategist (he often gave bad advice, as he did in urging George W. Bush not to withdraw troops from Iraq). He was even overrated as a villain – the 'Christopher Hitchenses' of the world loved to call him a 'war criminal,' but this was a fundamentally unserious charge. The Defense Department, not the State Department, prosecutes wars, and the president oversees it – but the Hitchenses preferred to go after Kissinger rather than (Defense Secretaries) Mel Laird or James Schlesinger or even Nixon. Similarly, Mario Del Pero argued: He was not particularly original or bold, once we scratch away from his writings the deliberately opaque and convoluted prose he often used, possibly to try to render more original thoughts and reflections that were in reality fairly conventional. ... In short, he wasn't a war criminal, he wasn't a very deep or sophisticated thinker, he rarely challenged the intellectual vogues of the time (even because it would have meant to challenge those in power, something he always was—and still is—reluctant to do), and once in government he displayed a certain intellectual laziness vis-à-vis the intricacies and complexities of a world that he still tended to see in black-and-white.
Family and personal life
Kissinger married Anneliese "Ann" Fleischer (born November 6, 1925, in Fürth, Germany) on February 6, 1949. They had two children, Elizabeth and David, and divorced in 1964. In 1955, he met Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann during a symposium at Harvard; the two had a romantic relationship that lasted several years. On March 30, 1974, he married Nancy Maginnes. They lived in Kent, Connecticut, and in New York City. Kissinger's son David served as an executive with NBC Universal Television Studio before becoming head of Conaco, Conan O'Brien's production company, in 2005. In February 1982, at the age of 58, Henry Kissinger underwent coronary bypass surgery. On May 27, 2023, he turned 100.
Soccer
Daryl Grove characterized Kissinger as one of the most influential people in the growth of soccer in the United States. Kissinger was named chairman of the North American Soccer League board of directors in 1978. He helped bring Brazilian star Pelé to the New York Cosmos after calling the Brazilian foreign minister and telling him that Pele's move to America would substantially improve relations between the United States and Brazil. Previously, the military dictatorship in Brazil had been reluctant to let a designated national treasure leave the country. In a 2023 interview, Kissinger said soccer was "at the highest level complexity masquerading as simplicity."
Since his childhood, Kissinger had been a fan of his hometown's soccer club, SpVgg Fürth (now SpVgg Greuther Fürth). Even during his time in office, the German Embassy informed him about the team's results every Monday morning. He was an honorary member with lifetime season tickets. In September 2012, Kissinger attended a home game in which Greuther Fürth lost 0–2 against Schalke, after promising years previously that he would attend a Greuther Fürth home game if they were promoted to the Bundesliga from the 2. Bundesliga. From 1989 onward, he was an honorary member of Bayern Munich.
Death
Kissinger died from heart failure at his home in Kent, Connecticut, on November 29, 2023, at the age of 100. At the time of his death, he was the last living former U.S. Cabinet member who served in the Richard Nixon administration. He was survived by his wife, Nancy Maginnes Kissinger; two children, David and Elizabeth; and five grandchildren. His death was announced by Kissinger Associates, his consulting firm. Kissinger Associates announced that the funeral would be private. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
International reactions
Kissinger was widely admired within China and praised by the Chinese Communist Party. Government figures on state media uniformly released posts mourning his death. Chinese social media expressed widespread sorrow after news of his death was released, and hashtags idolizing Kissinger became the most searched trend in China. China News Service stated in its obituary for Kissinger that "Today, this 'old friend of the Chinese people,' who had a sharp vision and a thorough understanding of world affairs, has completed his legendary life". China Central Television, the state broadcaster, called Kissinger a "legendary diplomat" and a "living fossil" who had witnessed the development of China-U.S. relations. Shortly before his death, Chinese president Xi Jinping stated: "The Chinese people never forget their old friends, and Sino-U.S. relations will always be linked with the name of Henry Kissinger".
Former British prime ministers mourned Kissinger. Tony Blair, the former leader of the Labour Party and prime minister of the United Kingdom, released a statement saying: "There is no-one like Henry Kissinger... From the first time I met him as a new Labour Party opposition leader in 1994, struggling to form views on foreign policy, to the last occasion when I visited him in New York and, later, he spoke at my institute's annual gathering, I was in awe of him... If it is possible for diplomacy, at its highest level, to be a form of art, Henry was an artist." David Cameron stated "He was a great statesman and a deeply respected diplomat who will be greatly missed on the world stage... Even at 100, his wisdom and thoughtfulness shone through". Boris Johnson said: "The world needs him now. If ever there was an author of peace and lover of concord, that man was Henry Kissinger".
European Council president Charles Michel called Kissinger a "strategist with attention to the smallest detail" and "a kind human and a brilliant mind who, over 100 years, shaped the [destinies] of some of the most important events of the century." Russian president Vladimir Putin stated in a telegram to Kissinger's widow Nancy that he was a "wise and farsighted statesman". Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that he "had the privilege of meeting Dr. Kissinger on numerous occasions, the most recent being just two months ago in New York. Each meeting with him was not just a lesson in diplomacy but also a masterclass in statesmanship. His understanding of the complexities of international relations and his unique insights into the challenges facing our world were unparalleled." German chancellor Olaf Scholz stated: "The world has lost a great diplomat".
Chile's ambassador to the United States, Juan Gabriel Valdés, released a statement saying he possessed "brilliance" but also "profound moral wretchedness". This statement was reposted by President Gabriel Boric. The Bangladeshi foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said that Kissinger did "inhumane things", adding that "he should have apologized to the people of Bangladesh for what he has done".
Domestic reactions
The announcement of Kissinger's death saw a widespread mix of tribute and criticism on American social media.
Joe Biden praised Kissinger's "fierce intellect" while noting that they often "disagreed strongly". Former president George W. Bush stated: "America has lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs with the passing of Henry Kissinger. I have long admired the man who fled the Nazis as a young boy from a Jewish family, then fought them in the United States Army". Cindy McCain, the widow of John McCain, wrote: "Henry Kissinger was ever present in my late husband's life. While John was a prisoner of war, and in the later years, as a senator and statesman. The McCain family will miss his wit, charm, and intelligence terribly".
Many negative reactions to Kissinger's death argued his decisions in government violated American values. House of Representative members Jim McGovern, Gerry Connolly, and Greg Casar issued critical reactions to his death, with Connolly stating Kissinger's "indifference to human suffering will forever tarnish his name and shape his legacy". The front page of HuffPost labeled him "The Beltway Butcher", while another HuffPost article described him as "America's Most Notorious War Criminal". Teen Vogue mocked Kissinger with the headline: "War Criminal Responsible for Millions of Deaths Dies at 100", a statement similar to that of Nick Turse of The Intercept. A CNN op-ed by Peter Bergen entitled "Christopher Hitchens was right about Henry Kissinger" stated that to Kissinger "the ends almost always justified the means," referencing Hitchens's 2001 book The Trial of Henry Kissinger. Socialist magazine Jacobin released a book-length anthology entitled The Good Die Young. The introduction by historian Greg Grandin notes "We all live now in the Kissingerian void."
Kissinger was defended by conservative commentator David Harsanyi in an op-ed on the New York Post, where he stated that "the left disgustingly dances on Kissinger's grave because it hates America". The New York Sun also defended Kissinger, describing him as "one of the most remarkable figures in American history".
Awards, honors, and associations
Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ were jointly offered the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for their work on the Paris Peace Accords which prompted the withdrawal of American forces from the Vietnam War. Lê Đức Thọ declined to accept the award on the grounds that peace had not actually been achieved in Vietnam. Kissinger donated his prize money to charity, did not attend the award ceremony and later offered to return his prize medal after the fall of South Vietnam to North Vietnamese forces 18 months later.
In 1973, Kissinger received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.
In 1976, Kissinger became the first honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters.
On January 13, 1977, Kissinger received the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction from President Gerald Ford.
In 1980, Kissinger won the National Book Award in History (hardcover) for the first volume of his memoirs, The White House Years.
In 1986, Kissinger was one of twelve recipients of the Medal of Liberty.
In 1995, Kissinger was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George.
In 2000, Kissinger received the Sylvanus Thayer Award at United States Military Academy at West Point.
In 2002, Kissinger became an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee.
On March 1, 2012, Kissinger was awarded Israel's President's Medal.
In October 2013, Kissinger was awarded the Henry A. Grunwald Award for Public Service by Lighthouse International.
Kissinger was a member of the Founding Council of the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford.
Kissinger was a member of the following groups:
Aspen Institute
Atlantic Council
Bilderberg Group
Bohemian Club
Council on Foreign Relations
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Le Cercle
Pilgrims Society
Trilateral Commission
World.minds
Bloomberg New Economy Forum
Kissinger served on the board of Theranos, a health technology company, from 2014 to 2017.
He received the Theodore Roosevelt American Experience Award from the Union League Club of New York in 2009.
He became the Honorary Chair of the advisory board for the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in 2018.
He also received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
In 2023, he received the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art from Minister-President of Bavaria Markus Söder.
He was an Honorary Member of Bayern Munich.
Notable works
Theses
1950. The Meaning of History: Reflections on Spengler, Toynbee and Kant. Bachelor's honors thesis. Harvard University.
1957. A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of Peace, 1812–22. PhD thesis, ISBN 0-395-17229-2.
Memoirs
1979. The White House Years. ISBN 0-316-49661-8 (National Book Award, History [hardcover])
1982. Years of Upheaval. ISBN 0-316-28591-9
1999. Years of Renewal. ISBN 0-684-85571-2
Public policy
1957. Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy. New York: Published for the Council on Foreign Relations by Harper & Brothers. Foreword by Gordon Dean (pp. vii–x).
1961. The Necessity for Choice: Prospects of American Foreign Policy. ISBN 0-06-012410-5.
1965. The Troubled Partnership: A Re-Appraisal of the Atlantic Alliance. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-07-034895-2.
1969. American Foreign Policy: Three Essays. ISBN 0-297-17933-0.
1981. For the Record: Selected Statements 1977–1980. ISBN 0-316-49663-4.
1985. Observations: Selected Speeches and Essays 1982–1984. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-49664-2.
1994. Diplomacy. ISBN 0-671-65991-X.
1998. Kissinger Transcripts: The Top Secret Talks With Beijing and Moscow, edited by William Burr. New York: New Press. ISBN 1-56584-480-7.
2001. Does America Need a Foreign Policy? Toward a Diplomacy for the 21st Century. ISBN 0-684-85567-4.
2002. Vietnam: A Personal History of America's Involvement in and Extrication from the Vietnam War. ISBN 0-7432-1916-3.
2003. Crisis: The Anatomy of Two Major Foreign Policy Crises: Based on the Record of Henry Kissinger's Hitherto Secret Telephone Conversations. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-4911-9.
2011. On China. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-59420-271-1.
2014. World Order. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-59420-614-6.
Other works
2021. The Age of AI: And Our Human Future. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-27380-0.
2022. Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy. Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN 978-0-241-54200-2.
Articles
1994. "Reflections on Containment," Foreign Affairs
1999. "Between the Old Left and the New Right," Foreign Affairs
2001. "The Pitfalls of Universal Jurisdiction," Foreign Affairs
2012. "The Future of U.S.-Chinese Relations," Foreign Affairs
2023. "The Path to AI Arms Control," Foreign Affairs (co-authored with Graham Allison)
See also
List of centenarians (politicians and civil servants)
List of Jewish Nobel laureates
List of secretaries of state of the United States
List of Jewish United States Cabinet members
List of foreign-born United States Cabinet members
Notes
References
Citations
General and cited sources
Bernkopf Tucker, Nancy (June 2005). "Taiwan Expendable? Nixon and Kissinger Go to China". The Journal of American History. 92 (1): 109–135. doi:10.2307/3660527. JSTOR 3660527.
2015. Ferguson, Niall (2015). Kissinger, 1923–1968: The Idealist. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-59420-653-5.
Isaacson, Walter (1992). Kissinger: A Biography. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-66323-0.
Karnow, Stanley (1983). Vietnam: A History. Viking. ISBN 0-14-007324-8.
Lacey, Robert (1981). The Kingdom. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-147260-2.
Sela, Avraham (2012). The Decline of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Middle East Politics and the Quest for Regional Order. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-1939-8. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
Turse, Nick (2023a). "Kissinger's Killing Fields". The Intercept.
Zonis, Marvin (1991). Majestic Failure. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-98928-3.
Further reading
Biographies
Other
External links
Official website
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Chuck Norris
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Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Karate, Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu, and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championships and later founded his own discipline, Chun Kuk Do. Shortly after, in Hollywood, Norris trained celebrities in martial arts. Norris went on to appear in a minor role in The Wrecking Crew (1968). Friend and fellow martial artist Bruce Lee invited him to play one of the main villains in The Way of the Dragon (1972). While Norris continued acting, friend and student Steve McQueen suggested he take it seriously. Norris took the starring role in the action film Breaker! Breaker! (1977), which turned a profit. His second lead, Good Guys Wear Black (1978), became a hit, and he soon became a popular action film star.
Norris went on to star in a streak of bankable independently made action and martial arts films, with A Force of One (1979), The Octagon (1980), and An Eye for an Eye (1981). This made Norris an international celebrity. He went on to make studio films like Silent Rage (1982) with Columbia, Forced Vengeance (1982) with MGM, and Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) with Orion. This led Cannon Films to sign Norris into a multiple film deal, starting with Missing in Action (1984), which proved to be very successful and launched a trilogy. Norris started to work almost exclusively on high-profile action films with Cannon, becoming its leading star during the 1980s. Films with Cannon include Invasion U.S.A (1985), The Delta Force (1986), and Firewalker (1986), among others. Apart from the Cannon films, Norris made Code of Silence (1985), which was received as one of his best films. In the 1990s, he played the title role in the long-running CBS television series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1993 to 2001. Until 2006, Norris continued taking lead roles in action movies. His last appearance in a major film release was in The Expendables 2 (2012).
Throughout his film and TV career, Norris diversified from his regular endeavors. He is a New York Times bestselling author, having penned books on martial arts, exercise, philosophy, politics, Christianity, Western fiction, and biographies. Norris also appeared in several commercials endorsing several products, most notably being one of the main spokespersons for the Total Gym infomercials. In 2005, Norris found new fame on the Internet when Chuck Norris facts became an Internet meme documenting humorous, fictional, and often absurd feats of strength and endurance. Although Norris himself did not produce the "facts", he was hired to endorse many products that incorporated Chuck Norris facts in advertising. The phenomenon resulted in six books some of them New York Times bestsellers, two video games, and several appearances on talk shows, such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, in which he read the facts or participated in sketches.
Early life
Norris was born in Ryan, Oklahoma, on March 10, 1940, to Wilma Lee (née Scarberry, 1921–2024) and Ray Dee Norris (1918–1971), who was a World War II Army soldier, mechanic, bus driver, and a truck driver. His mother was of Irish descent and his father of German, British, and distant Cherokee descent. Norris was named after Carlos Berry, his father's minister. He was the oldest of three brothers, the younger two being Wieland (1943–1970) and Aaron. Wieland Norris informed his eldest sibling he would not reach his 27th birthday; this prediction came true in 1970 when he was killed in the Vietnam War. When Norris was 16 years old, his parents divorced, and he later relocated to Prairie Village, Kansas and then to Torrance, California with his mother and brothers.
Norris has described his childhood as downbeat. He was nonathletic, shy, and scholastically mediocre. His father, Ray, worked intermittently as an automobile mechanic, and went on drinking binges that lasted for months at a time. Embarrassed by his father's behavior and the family's financial plight, Norris developed a debilitating introversion that lasted for his entire childhood.
Career
1958 to 1969: United States Air Force and martial arts breakthrough
Norris joined the United States Air Force as an Air Policeman (AP) in 1958 and was sent to Osan Air Base, South Korea. It was there that Norris acquired the nickname "Chuck" and began his training in Tang Soo Do (tangsudo), an interest that led to black belts in that art and the founding of the Chun Kuk Do ("Universal Way") form. When he returned to the United States, he continued to serve as an AP at March Air Force Base in California.
Norris was discharged from the Air Force in August 1962 with the rank of Airman first class. Following his military service, Norris applied to be a police officer in Torrance, California. While on the waiting list, Norris opened a martial arts studio.
Norris started to participate in martial arts competitions. He was defeated in his first two tournaments, dropping decisions to Joe Lewis and Allen Steen. He lost three matches at the International Karate Championships to Tony Tulleners. By 1967, Norris had improved enough that he scored victories over the likes of Vic Moore. On June 3, Norris won the 1967 tournament of karate, Norris defeated seven opponents, until his final fight with Skipper Mullins. On June 24, Norris was declared champion at the S. Henry Cho's All-American Karate Championship at the Madison Square Garden, taking the title from Julio LaSalle and defeating Joe Lewis. During this time, Norris also worked for the Northrop Corporation and opened a chain of karate schools. Norris's official website lists celebrity clients at the schools; among them Steve McQueen, Chad McQueen, Bob Barker, Priscilla Presley, Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond.
In early 1968, Norris suffered the tenth and final loss of his career, losing an upset decision to Louis Delgado. On November 24, 1968, he avenged his defeat to Delgado and by doing so won the Professional Middleweight Karate champion title, which he then held for six consecutive years. On April 1, Norris successfully defended his All-American Karate Championship title, in a round-robin tournament, at the Karate tournament of champions of North America. Again that year, Norris won for the second time the All-American Karate Championship. It was the last time Norris participated and retired undefeated. While competing, Norris met Bruce Lee, who at the time was known for the TV series The Green Hornet. They developed a friendship, as well as a training and working relationship.
In 1969, during the first weekend of August, Norris defended his title as world champion at the International Karate Championship. The competition included champions from most of the fifty states as well as half a dozen from abroad who joined for the preliminaries. Norris retained his title and won Karate's triple crown for the most tournament wins of the year, he also got the Fighter of the Year award by Black Belt magazine. Around this time, Norris made his acting debut in the Matt Helm spy spoof The Wrecking Crew.
1970 to 1978: Early roles and breakthrough
In 1972, Norris acted as Bruce Lee's nemesis in the widely acclaimed martial arts movie Way of the Dragon (titled Return of the Dragon in its U.S. distribution). The film grossed over HK$5.3 million at the Hong Kong box office, beating previous records set by Lee's own films, The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, making it the highest-grossing film of 1972 in Hong Kong. The Way of the Dragon went on to gross an estimated US$130 million worldwide. The film is credited with launching him toward stardom.
In 1973, Norris played a role in Jonathan Kaplan's The Student Teachers.
In 1974, actor Steve McQueen, who was his martial art student and friend at the time, saw his potential and encouraged him to begin acting classes at MGM. That same year, he played the supporting role of the main antagonist in Lo Wei's Yellow Faced Tiger. Norris plays a powerful drug king in San Francisco, where he dominates the criminal world including the police department. He is eventually challenged by a young police officer who stands up to corruption. The film played theatrically in the United States in 1981 as Slaughter in San Francisco. It was noticed that it was an older, low-budget film announcing Norris as the lead. The film played as a double-bill to other action and genre film. It was described as a low-budget martial arts actioner taking advantage of Norris's fame.
In 1975, Norris wrote his first book Winning Tournament Karate on the practical study of competition training for any rank. It covers all phases of executing speedy attacks, conditioning, fighting form drills, and one-step sparring techniques.
Norris's first starring role was 1977's Breaker! Breaker! He chose it after turning down offers to do several martial-arts films. Norris decided that he wanted to do films that had a story and where the action would take place when it is emotionally right. The low-budget film turned out to be very successful.
In 1978, Norris starred in Good Guys Wear Black. He considers it to be his first significant lead role. No studio wanted to release it, so Norris and his producers four-walled it, renting the theaters and taking whatever money came in. The film did very well; shot on a $1 million budget, it made over $18 million at the box office. Following years of kung fu film imports from Hong Kong action cinema during the 1970s, most notably Bruce Lee films followed by Bruceploitation flicks, Good Guys Wear Black launched Norris as the first successful homegrown American martial-arts star, having previously been best known as a villain in Lee's Way of the Dragon. Good Guys Wear Black distinguished itself from earlier martial-arts films by its distinctly American setting, characters, themes, and politics, a formula that Norris continued to develop with his later films.
1979 to 1983: Action film star
In 1979, Norris starred in A Force of One, where he played Matt Logan, a world karate champion who assists the police in their investigation. The film was developed while touring for Good Guys Wear Black. Again no studio wanted to pick it up, but it out-grossed the previous film by making $20 million at the box office.
In 1980, he released The Octagon, where his character must stop a group of terrorists trained in the ninja style. Unlike his previous films, this time the studios were interested. American Cinema Releasing distributed it and it made almost $19 million at the box office.
In 1981, he starred in Steve Carver's An Eye for an Eye.
In 1982, he had the lead in the action horror film Silent Rage. It was his first film released by a major studio, Columbia Pictures. Norris plays a sheriff who must stop a psychopath on a rampage. Shortly afterward MGM gave him a three-movie deal and that same year, they released Forced Vengeance (1982). Norris was unhappy with the direction they wanted to take with him, hence the contract was canceled.
In 1983, Norris made Lone Wolf McQuade with Orion Pictures and Carver directing. He plays a reckless but brave Texas Ranger who defeats an arms dealer played by David Carradine. The film was a worldwide hit and had a positive reception from movie critics, often being compared to Sergio Leone's stylish Spaghetti Westerns. The film became the inspiration for Norris's future hit TV show Walker, Texas Ranger. Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5 star rating, calling the character of J.J. McQuade worthy of a film series and predicting the character would be a future classic, and it would be the first movie where Norris would wear his trademark beard. The same year, he also published an exercise called Toughen Up! the Chuck Norris Fitness System. Also in 1983, Xonox produced the video game Chuck Norris Superkicks for the Commodore 64, VIC-20, Atari 2600, and Colecovision. The game combines two types of gameplay: moving through a map, and fighting against enemies. The player takes control of Norris who has to liberate a hostage. It was later sold as Kung Fu Superkicks when the license for the use of the Chuck Norris name expired.
1984 to 1988: Mainstream success
In 1984, Norris starred in Joseph Zito's Missing in Action. It's the first of a series of POW rescue fantasies, where he plays Colonel James Braddock. Produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus and released under their Cannon Films banner, with which he had signed a multiple movie deal. Norris later dedicated these films to his younger brother Wieland, who was a private in the 101st Airborne Division, and had been killed in June 1970 in Vietnam while on patrol in the defense of Firebase Ripcord. The film was a huge success, and Norris became Cannon's most prominent star of the 1980s.
That same year, on October 2, principal photography of Andrew Davis's Code of Silence started. The film marked a departure for Norris, due to its complexity and dramatic depth. The film is about a cop who is ostracized for refusing to support a corrupt cop who killed an innocent bystander, while protecting the daughter of a mob boss. Davis described Norris as "easy to work with and very supportive." Released by Orion Pictures on May 3, 1985, and received generally positive reviews, with critics praising its slick direction, strong performances, and engaging action. It was regarded as a standout in Norris's career, with many considering it his best film to date. Vincent Canby of The New York Times who liked the film said of Norris performance that "it could well prove to be his breakout picture". He explains that it marks a potential turning point for Norris, who projects a quiet competence that shines in the film's meticulously crafted fight sequences and that his restrained performance feels fresh and distinct, a departure from his earlier roles. Of critical success Norris said “I really appreciate the acclaim, I’ve worked hard these last nine years to get critics to look at me in a different light. They’re usually more concerned with things like Passage to India, and they’ve hit me hard all these years, especially in the beginning. I’m really excited, to say the least.” The film debuted at number 1 with an opening weekend gross of $5.5 million and ultimately earned a total of $20.3 million at the US box office.
Missing in Action 2: The Beginning premiered on March 1, 1985. It is a prequel to the first installment, about Braddock being held in a North Vietnamese POW camp. Invasion U.S.A. premiered on September 27, with Zito directing.
On February 14, 1986, Menahem Golan's The Delta Force premiered. Norris co-stars with Lee Marvin. They play leaders of an elite squad of Special Forces troops who face a group of terrorists. The Delta Force was a box office success. In October, Ruby-Spears' cartoon Karate Kommandos first aired. The animated show lasted six episodes. In it, Norris voices a cartoon version of himself who leads a United States government team of operatives known as the Karate Kommandos. Marvel made a comic book adaptation.
On November 21, J. Lee Thompson's action-adventure comedy film Firewalker premiered, where Norris co-lead with Louis Gossett Jr.. Gossett and Norris play two seasoned treasure hunters whose adventures rarely result in any notable success. Norris explained that the project came about when he wanted to show a lighter side of himself. Gossett appreciated Norris efforts and said "I have great respect for what actors call stretch. Chuck had to open up first to allow this atmosphere. It has to do with his desire to stretch. Someone else could have been quite insecure. He chose to open up. He's studying hard and he's serious." The review were mostly negative, while some thought it was a fine for a light action film. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times, enjoyed it of the cast he said they "really get into the light-hearted spirit of the occasion." The film made $11,834,302 at the box-office.
In 1987, he published the New York Times Best Seller The Secret of Inner Strength: My Story. It is about his self-improvement philosophy.
On January 2, 1988, Braddock: Missing in Action III premiered, Norris returned to the title role and his brother Aaron Norris directed. On August 28, Norris starred in Hero and the Terror directed by William Tannen. In it Norris stars as a cop investigating a serial killer.
1989 to 1999: Subsequent success
By 1990, his films had collectively grossed over $500 million worldwide . By this time, he had drawn comparisons to both Bruce Lee and Clint Eastwood, sometimes called the "blonde Bruce Lee" for his martial arts film roles while his "loner" persona was compared to the Eastwood character Dirty Harry. That same year, MGM acquired the Cannon Films library. Norris continued making films with Aaron, who directed him in Delta Force 2, The Hitman, Sidekicks (1993), Hellbound (1994), Top Dog (1995), and Forest Warrior (1996).
In 1993, he began shooting the action series Walker, Texas Ranger. The television show is centered on Sergeant Cordell Walker (Norris), a member of the Texas Rangers, a state-level bureau of investigation, and is about his adventures fighting criminals with his partner James Trivette. It lasted eight seasons on CBS and continued in syndication on other channels, notably the Hallmark Channel. The show was very successful in the ratings throughout its run, ranking among the Top 30 programs from 1995 until 1999, and ranking in the Top 20 in both the 1995–1996 and 1998–1999 seasons. In 1999, Norris produced and played Walker in a supporting role in the Walker, Texas Ranger spin-off Sons of Thunder. The same year, also playing the role of Walker, Norris acted in a crossover episode of the Sammo Hung's TV show Martial Law. For another crossover, Hung also appeared as his character in Walker, Texas Ranger.
Separately from Walker, Texas Ranger, on August 25, 1993, the Randy Travis television special Wind in the Wire first aired. Norris was among the guests. At the 1994 edition of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s Survivor Series event, Norris was the special outside enforcer for the Casket Match between The Undertaker and Yokozuna. During the match, Norris delivered a roundhouse kick to an interfering Jeff Jarrett. In 1996, Norris wrote the book The Secret Power Within: Zen Solutions to Real Problems. Since 1997, Norris has appeared with Christie Brinkley in a long-running series of cable TV infomercials promoting Total Gym home fitness equipment. On November 1, 1998, CBS premiered Michael Preece's television film Logan's War: Bound by Honor, starring Norris and Eddie Cibrian. The television film was ranked third among the thirteen most viewed shows of that week.
2000 to 2005: Subsequent films and internet fame
In the early 2000s, Norris starred as a secret agent in the CBS television films The President's Man (2000) and The President's Man: A Line in the Sand.(2002).
In 2003, Norris played a role in the supernatural Christian film Bells of Innocence. That same year, he acted in one episode of the TV show Yes, Dear.
In 2004, Rawson Marshall Thurber's comedy film DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story was released. Norris plays himself as a judge during a dodgeball game. Described by critics as "a raunchy comedy that delivers for many", it grossed $167.7 million.
That same year, he published his autobiography Against All Odds: My Story.
In 2005, Norris founded the World Combat League (WCL), a full-contact, team-based martial arts competition, of which part of the proceeds are given to his Kickstart Kids program.
On October 17, 2005, CBS premiered the Sunday Night Movie of the Week Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire. The production was a continuation of the series, and not scripted to be a reunion movie. Norris reprised his role as Walker for the movie. He has stated that future Walker, Texas Ranger Movie of the Week projects are expected; however, this was severely impaired by CBS's 2006–2007 season decision to no longer regularly schedule Movies of the Week on Sunday night.
Chuck Norris facts originally started appearing on the Internet in early 2005. Created by Ian Spector, they are satirical factoids about Norris. Since then, they have become widespread in popular culture. The "facts" are normally absurd hyperbolic claims about Norris's toughness, attitude, virility, sophistication, and masculinity. Norris has written his own response to the parody on his website, stating that he does not feel offended by them and finds some of them funny, claiming that his personal favorite is that they wanted to add his face to Mount Rushmore, but the granite is not hard enough for his beard. At first it was mostly college students exchanging them, but they later became extremely widespread.
From that point on, Norris started to tour with the Chuck Norris facts appearing on major talk shows, and even visiting troops in Iraq for morale boosting appearances.
2006–present: Current works
Norris starred in the film The Cutter in 2006, where he plays a detective on a rescue mission. That year time he published the novel The Justice Riders, co-written with Ken Abraham, Aaron Norris, and Tim Grayem.
Gotham Books, the adult division of Penguin USA, released a book penned by Ian Spector entitled The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World's Greatest Human. Norris subsequently filed suit in December against Penguin USA claiming "trademark infringement, unjust enrichment and privacy rights". Norris dropped the lawsuit in 2008. The book is a New York Times bestseller. Since then, Spector has published four more books based on Chuck Norris facts, these are Chuck Norris Cannot Be Stopped: 400 All-New Facts About the Man Who Knows Neither Fear Nor Mercy, Chuck Norris: Longer and Harder: The Complete Chronicle of the World's Deadliest, Sexiest, and Beardiest Man, The Last Stand of Chuck Norris: 400 All New Facts About the Most Terrifying Man in the Universe, and Chuck Norris Vs. Mr. T: 400 Facts About the Baddest Dudes in the History of Ever (also a New York Times bestseller). That year Norris with the same team published a sequel to The Justice Riders called A Threat to Justice. Tyndale House Publishers also published a book praising Norris, entitled The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book: 101 of Chuck's Favorite Facts and Stories, which was co-written and officially endorsed by him.
In 2008, he published the political non-fiction book Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken America, which reached number 14 on The New York Times best seller list in September 2008. That same year, Gameloft produced the video game Chuck Norris: Bring On the Pain for mobile devices, based on the popularity Norris had developed on the internet with the Chuck Norris facts. The player takes control of Norris in a side-scrolling beat 'em up. The game was well reviewed.
Since 2010, Norris has been a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate writing on both personal health issues and broader issues of health care in America.
Throughout the 2010s, Norris appeared in advertisements for T-Mobile, World of Warcraft, BZ WBK, the French TV show "Pieds dans le plat", Hoegaarden, United Healthcare, Hesburger, Cerveza Poker, Toyota, and in the 2020s, QuikTrip.
In 2012, Norris played a mercenary in The Expendables 2. The film was a success and grossed over $310 million worldwide. That same year, Norris and his wife Gena founded CForce Bottling Co. after an aquifer was discovered on his ranch.
In 2017, Norris became Fiat's ambassador, a "tough face" for its commercial vehicles. Flaregames produced Non Stop Chuck Norris, an isometric action-RPG game for mobile devices and is the second game to be based on his popularity developed by the Chuck Norris facts. The game was well-reviewed.
In 2019, Norris hosted the documentary Chuck Norris’ Epic Guide to Military Vehicles on the History Channel. In it, Norris explores vehicular creations by the US military. In 2020, Norris acted in the series finale of Hawaii Five-0. In 2021, Norris was featured as a character in the video game World of Tanks during a holiday event.
Martial arts knowledge
Norris has founded two major martial arts systems: American Tang Soo Do and Chuck Norris System (formerly known as Chun Kuk Do).
American Tang Soo Do
American Tang Soo Do was formed in 1966 by Norris, which is combination of Moo Duk Kwan-style Tang Soo Do, Judo and Karate (Shito-Ryu and Shotokan). Over the years it has been further developed by former black belts of his and their students.
Chuck Norris System
Norris's present martial art system is the Chuck Norris System, formerly known as Chun Kuk Do.
The style was formally founded in 1990 as Chun Kuk Do by Norris, and was originally based on Norris's Tang Soo Do training in Korea while he was in the military.
During his competitive fighting career, Norris began to evolve the style to make it more effective and well-rounded by studying other systems such as Shōtōkan, Gōjū-ryū, Shitō-ryū, Enshin kaikan, Kyokushin, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Arnis, Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Hapkido and American Kenpo. Chun Kuk Do now emphasizes self defense, competition, weapons, grappling, and fitness, among other things. Each summer the United Fighting Arts Federation (UFAF) holds a training conference and the Chun Kuk Do world championship tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The art includes a code of honor and rules to live by. These rules are from Norris's personal code. They are:
I will develop myself to the maximum of my potential in all ways.
I will forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements.
I will continually work at developing love, happiness and loyalty in my family.
I will look for the good in all people and make them feel worthwhile.
If I have nothing good to say about a person, I will say nothing.
I will always be as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.
I will maintain an attitude of open-mindedness.
I will maintain respect for those in authority and demonstrate this respect at all times.
I will always remain loyal to my God, my country, family and my friends.
I will remain highly goal-oriented throughout my life because that positive attitude helps my family, my country and myself.
Like most traditional martial arts, Chuck Norris System includes the practice of forms (Korean hyung and Japanese kata). The majority of the system's forms are adapted from Korean Tang Soo Do, and Taekwondo, Japanese Shitō-ryū, Shotokan Karate, Goju-ryu, Kyokushinkai Karate, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, American Kenpo. It includes two organization-specific introductory forms, two organization-specific empty-hand forms, and one organization-specific weapon form (UFAF Nunchuk form, UFAF Bo form, UFAF Sai forms).
The United Fighting Arts Federation has graduated over 3,000 black belts in its history, and currently has nearly 4,000 active members world-wide. There are about 90 member schools in the US, Mexico, Norway, and Paraguay.
Distinctions, awards, and honors
While in the military, Norris's rank units were Airman First Class, 15th Air Force, 22d Bombardment Group, and 452d Troop Carrier Wing.
Norris has received many black belts. These include a 10th degree black belt in Chun Kuk Do (founded 1990 by Chuck Norris. Based on his Tang Soo Do training in Korea while he was in military), a 9th degree black belt in Tang Soo Do, an 8th degree black belt in Taekwondo, a 5th degree black belt in Karate, a 3rd degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu from the Machado family, and a black belt in Judo.
In 1967, he won the Sparring Grand Champions at the S. Henry Cho's All American Championship, and won it again the following year.
In 1968, he won the Professional Middleweight Karate champion title, which he held for six consecutive years.
In 1969, he won Karate's triple crown for the most tournament wins of the year.
In 1969, he won the Fighter of the Year award by Black Belt magazine.
In 1982, he won Action Star of the Year at the ShoWest Convention.
In 1989, he received his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1992, he won International Box Office Star of the Year at the ShoWest Convention.
In 1997, he won the Special Award of being a Texas legend at the Lone Star Film & Television Awards.
From 1997 to 1998, he won for three consecutive years the BMI TV Music Award at the BMI Awards.
In 1999, Norris was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum's Hall of Fame.
In 1999, he was nominated for Favorite Actor in a Drama by the TV Guide Award.
In 1999, he won the Inspirational Acting in Television Award at the Grace Prize Award.
On July 1, 2000, Norris was presented the Golden Lifetime Achievement Award by the World Karate Union Hall of Fame.
In 2001, he received the Veteran of the Year at the American Veteran Awards.
In 2001, he won the Golden Boot at the Golden Boot Awards.
On March 28, 2007, Commandant Gen. James T. Conway made Norris an honorary United States Marine during a dinner at the commandant's residence in Washington, D.C.
On December 2, 2010, he (along with brother Aaron) was given the title honorary Texas Ranger by Texas Governor Rick Perry.
In 2010, he won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the ActionFest.
In 2017, he was honored as an "Honorary Texan" because for many years he has lived at his Texas ranch near Navasota and he starred as Texas Ranger in his movie Lone Wolf McQuade and starred as ranger Cordell Walker in the TV series Walker, Texas Ranger.
In 2020, two editions of a book honoring Norris were published titled Martial Arts Masters & Pioneers Biography: Chuck Norris – Giving Back For A Lifetime by Jessie Bowen of the American Martial Arts Alliance.
In 2024, a small statue was erected by Mihály Kolodkó at the eastern end of Megyeri Bridge in Budapest.
Personal life
Family
Norris married Dianne Kay Holechek (born 1941) in December 1958, in Torrance, California. He was 18 and Dianne was 17. The two had been classmates at North High School in Torrance. He and Holecheck separated in 1988, after 30 years of marriage, and finalized their divorce in 1989. They had two children together, Mike (born 1962) and Eric (born 1964).
Norris married Gena O'Kelley, a model 23 years his junior, on November 28, 1998. The two met in 1997, while Norris was on a date with another woman. They have two children together, fraternal twins Dakota and Danilee (b. 2001).
Norris has a daughter, Dina (born 1962), from an extramarital relationship. While stationed in California during his time in the United States Air Force, Norris began seeing a woman named Johanna and didn't tell her he was married to Holechek. The two met for the first time in 1990 and publicly acknowledged her in 2004, in his memoir, Against All Odds: My Story.
Norris has 13 grandchildren as of 2017.
Christianity
An outspoken Christian, Norris is the author of several Christian-themed books. On April 22, 2008, Norris expressed his support for the intelligent design movement when he reviewed Ben Stein's Expelled for Townhall.com.
He is Baptist and a member of the Prestonwood Baptist Church (Southern Baptist Convention) in Dallas.
Political views
Norris is a Republican and outspoken conservative. Norris is a columnist for the far-right WorldNetDaily.
In an interview following the release of the 1984 film Missing in Action, Norris stated that "I am a conservative, a real flag waver, a big Ronald Reagan fan. I'm not so much a Republican or Democrat; I go more for the man himself. Ronald Reagan says what he thinks, he's not afraid to speak his mind, even if he may be unpopular. I want a strong leader and he is a strong leader. And ever since he has been in office there has been a more positive, patriotic feeling in this country."
Around the time of the filming of the 1986 film The Delta Force, Norris said—in response to the hijacking of TWA flight 847—that United States is becoming a "paper tiger" in the Middle East. "What we're facing here is the fact that our passive approach to terrorism is going to instigate much more terrorism throughout the world." "I've been all over the world, and seeing the devastation that terrorism has done in Europe and the Middle East, I know eventually it's going to come here," added Norris. "It's just a matter of time. They're doing all this devastation in Europe now, and the next stepping stone is America and Canada. Being a free country, with the freedom of movement that we have, it's an open door policy for terrorism. It's like Khadafy [sic] said a few weeks ago. 'If Reagan doesn't back off, I'm going to release my killer squads in America.' And there's no doubt in my mind that he has them."
In 2007, Norris took a trip to Iraq to visit U.S. troops.
Norris supported Mike Huckabee's failed candidacy in the 2008 Republican Party presidential primaries, where he made headlines for calling the eventual Republican nominee, John McCain, too old to handle the pressures of being president. He voiced his support for McCain in the 2008 presidential election, emphasizing his enthusiasm for McCain's partner on the Republican ticket, Sarah Palin.
On November 18, 2008, Norris became one of the first members of show business to express support for the California Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage, and he criticized activists for not accepting the democratic process and the apparent double standard he perceived in criticizing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints without criticizing African Americans, most of whom who had voted for the measure.
In 2009, Norris had expressed support for the Barack Obama "birther" conspiracy. In his letter, released at WorldNetDaily, Norris deemed then-President Obama's refusal to disclose his birth certificate suspicious and implored him to put an end to the conspiracy theories.
On April 11, 2011 Norris had written a five-part investigation regarding the "infiltration of Sharia law into United States culture" for WorldNetDaily.
On June 26, 2012, Norris published an article on Ammoland.com, in which he accused the Obama administration of paying Jim Turley, one of the national board members of the Boy Scouts of America at the time, to reverse the organization's policy that excluded gay youths from joining.
During the 2012 presidential election, Norris first recommended Ron Paul, and then later formally endorsed Newt Gingrich as the Republican presidential candidate. After Gingrich suspended his campaign in May 2012, Norris endorsed Republican presumptive nominee Mitt Romney, despite Norris having previously accused Romney of flip-flopping and of trying to buy the nomination for the Republican Party candidacy for 2012. On the eve of the election, he and his wife Gena made a video warning that if evangelicals did not show up at the polls and vote out President Obama, "...our country as we know it may be lost forever...".
Norris has visited Israel, and he voiced support for former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the 2013 and 2015 elections. Norris endorsed Huckabee again in the 2016 Republican primaries before he dropped out. In March 2016, it was reported that Norris endorsed Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz and that he would be attending a Cruz rally, but two days later, Norris stated he would only endorse the GOP nominee once that nominee has been nominated by the party. Later, Norris endorsed former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in the 2017 United States Senate special election in Alabama.
In 2019, Norris signed an endorsement deal with gun manufacturer Glock. The deal was met with criticism from some members of the public and some of his fans, who felt it was in bad timing due to the increase in school shootings in the United States.
In 2021, Norris announced his support of the 2021 gubernatorial election to recall incumbent Governor Gavin Newsom and endorsed radio talk show host Larry Elder to replace him.
Philanthropy
In 1990, Norris established the United Fighting Arts Federation and Kickstart Kids. As a significant part of his philanthropic contributions, the organization was formed to develop self-esteem and focus in at-risk children as a tactic to keep them away from drug-related pressure by training them in martial arts. Norris hopes that by shifting middle school and high school children's focus towards this positive and strengthening endeavor, these children will have the opportunity to build a better future for themselves. Norris has a ranch in Navasota, Texas, where they bottle water; a portion of the sales support environmental funds and Kickstart Kids.
He is known for his contributions towards organizations such as Funds for Kids, Veteran's Administration National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans, the United Way, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation in the form of donations as well as fund-raising activities.
His time with the U.S. Veterans Administration as a spokesperson was inspired by his experience serving the United States Air Force in Korea. His objective has been to popularize the issues that concern hospitalized war veterans such as pensions and health care. Due to his significant contributions, and continued support, he received the Veteran of the Year award in 2001 at the American Veteran Awards.
In India, Norris supports the Vijay Amritraj Foundation, which aims to help victims of disease, tragedy and circumstance. Through his donations, he has helped the foundation support Paediatric HIV/AIDS homes in Delhi, a blind school in Karnataka, and a mission that cares for HIV/AIDS-infected adults, as well as mentally ill patients in Cochin.
Filmography
Bibliography
Winning Tournament Karate (1975)
Toughen Up! The Chuck Norris Fitness System (1983)
The Secret of Inner Strength: My Story (1987)
The Secret Power Within: Zen Solutions to Real Problems (1996)
Against All Odds: My Story (2004)
The Justice Riders (2006)
A Threat to Justice (2007) ISBN 978-0-80544-033-1
Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken America (2008). Regnery Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59698-558-2.
The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book: 101 of Chuck's Favorite Facts and Stories (2009) ISBN 978-1-41433-449-3
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Official website
Chuck Norris at the British Film Institute
Chuck Norris at IMDb
Chuck Norris. Archived October 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine at martialinfo.com. Archived August 26, 2019, at the Wayback Machine.
Official Chun Kuk Do Website
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Karate, Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu, and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championships and later founded his own discipline, Chun Kuk Do. Shortly after, in Hollywood, Norris trained celebrities in martial arts. Norris went on to appear in a minor role in The Wrecking Crew (1968). Friend and fellow martial artist Bruce Lee invited him to play one of the main villains in The Way of the Dragon (1972). While Norris continued acting, friend and student Steve McQueen suggested he take it seriously. Norris took the starring role in the action film Breaker! Breaker! (1977), which turned a profit. His second lead, Good Guys Wear Black (1978), became a hit, and he soon became a popular action film star.
Norris went on to star in a streak of bankable independently made action and martial arts films, with A Force of One (1979), The Octagon (1980), and An Eye for an Eye (1981). This made Norris an international celebrity. He went on to make studio films like Silent Rage (1982) with Columbia, Forced Vengeance (1982) with MGM, and Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) with Orion. This led Cannon Films to sign Norris into a multiple film deal, starting with Missing in Action (1984), which proved to be very successful and launched a trilogy. Norris started to work almost exclusively on high-profile action films with Cannon, becoming its leading star during the 1980s. Films with Cannon include Invasion U.S.A (1985), The Delta Force (1986), and Firewalker (1986), among others. Apart from the Cannon films, Norris made Code of Silence (1985), which was received as one of his best films. In the 1990s, he played the title role in the long-running CBS television series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1993 to 2001. Until 2006, Norris continued taking lead roles in action movies. His last appearance in a major film release was in The Expendables 2 (2012).
Throughout his film and TV career, Norris diversified from his regular endeavors. He is a New York Times bestselling author, having penned books on martial arts, exercise, philosophy, politics, Christianity, Western fiction, and biographies. Norris also appeared in several commercials endorsing several products, most notably being one of the main spokespersons for the Total Gym infomercials. In 2005, Norris found new fame on the Internet when Chuck Norris facts became an Internet meme documenting humorous, fictional, and often absurd feats of strength and endurance. Although Norris himself did not produce the "facts", he was hired to endorse many products that incorporated Chuck Norris facts in advertising. The phenomenon resulted in six books some of them New York Times bestsellers, two video games, and several appearances on talk shows, such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, in which he read the facts or participated in sketches.
Early life
Norris was born in Ryan, Oklahoma, on March 10, 1940, to Wilma Lee (née Scarberry, 1921–2024) and Ray Dee Norris (1918–1971), who was a World War II Army soldier, mechanic, bus driver, and a truck driver. His mother was of Irish descent and his father of German, British, and distant Cherokee descent. Norris was named after Carlos Berry, his father's minister. He was the oldest of three brothers, the younger two being Wieland (1943–1970) and Aaron. Wieland Norris informed his eldest sibling he would not reach his 27th birthday; this prediction came true in 1970 when he was killed in the Vietnam War. When Norris was 16 years old, his parents divorced, and he later relocated to Prairie Village, Kansas and then to Torrance, California with his mother and brothers.
Norris has described his childhood as downbeat. He was nonathletic, shy, and scholastically mediocre. His father, Ray, worked intermittently as an automobile mechanic, and went on drinking binges that lasted for months at a time. Embarrassed by his father's behavior and the family's financial plight, Norris developed a debilitating introversion that lasted for his entire childhood.
Career
1958 to 1969: United States Air Force and martial arts breakthrough
Norris joined the United States Air Force as an Air Policeman (AP) in 1958 and was sent to Osan Air Base, South Korea. It was there that Norris acquired the nickname "Chuck" and began his training in Tang Soo Do (tangsudo), an interest that led to black belts in that art and the founding of the Chun Kuk Do ("Universal Way") form. When he returned to the United States, he continued to serve as an AP at March Air Force Base in California.
Norris was discharged from the Air Force in August 1962 with the rank of Airman first class. Following his military service, Norris applied to be a police officer in Torrance, California. While on the waiting list, Norris opened a martial arts studio.
Norris started to participate in martial arts competitions. He was defeated in his first two tournaments, dropping decisions to Joe Lewis and Allen Steen. He lost three matches at the International Karate Championships to Tony Tulleners. By 1967, Norris had improved enough that he scored victories over the likes of Vic Moore. On June 3, Norris won the 1967 tournament of karate, Norris defeated seven opponents, until his final fight with Skipper Mullins. On June 24, Norris was declared champion at the S. Henry Cho's All-American Karate Championship at the Madison Square Garden, taking the title from Julio LaSalle and defeating Joe Lewis. During this time, Norris also worked for the Northrop Corporation and opened a chain of karate schools. Norris's official website lists celebrity clients at the schools; among them Steve McQueen, Chad McQueen, Bob Barker, Priscilla Presley, Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond.
In early 1968, Norris suffered the tenth and final loss of his career, losing an upset decision to Louis Delgado. On November 24, 1968, he avenged his defeat to Delgado and by doing so won the Professional Middleweight Karate champion title, which he then held for six consecutive years. On April 1, Norris successfully defended his All-American Karate Championship title, in a round-robin tournament, at the Karate tournament of champions of North America. Again that year, Norris won for the second time the All-American Karate Championship. It was the last time Norris participated and retired undefeated. While competing, Norris met Bruce Lee, who at the time was known for the TV series The Green Hornet. They developed a friendship, as well as a training and working relationship.
In 1969, during the first weekend of August, Norris defended his title as world champion at the International Karate Championship. The competition included champions from most of the fifty states as well as half a dozen from abroad who joined for the preliminaries. Norris retained his title and won Karate's triple crown for the most tournament wins of the year, he also got the Fighter of the Year award by Black Belt magazine. Around this time, Norris made his acting debut in the Matt Helm spy spoof The Wrecking Crew.
1970 to 1978: Early roles and breakthrough
In 1972, Norris acted as Bruce Lee's nemesis in the widely acclaimed martial arts movie Way of the Dragon (titled Return of the Dragon in its U.S. distribution). The film grossed over HK$5.3 million at the Hong Kong box office, beating previous records set by Lee's own films, The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, making it the highest-grossing film of 1972 in Hong Kong. The Way of the Dragon went on to gross an estimated US$130 million worldwide. The film is credited with launching him toward stardom.
In 1973, Norris played a role in Jonathan Kaplan's The Student Teachers.
In 1974, actor Steve McQueen, who was his martial art student and friend at the time, saw his potential and encouraged him to begin acting classes at MGM. That same year, he played the supporting role of the main antagonist in Lo Wei's Yellow Faced Tiger. Norris plays a powerful drug king in San Francisco, where he dominates the criminal world including the police department. He is eventually challenged by a young police officer who stands up to corruption. The film played theatrically in the United States in 1981 as Slaughter in San Francisco. It was noticed that it was an older, low-budget film announcing Norris as the lead. The film played as a double-bill to other action and genre film. It was described as a low-budget martial arts actioner taking advantage of Norris's fame.
In 1975, Norris wrote his first book Winning Tournament Karate on the practical study of competition training for any rank. It covers all phases of executing speedy attacks, conditioning, fighting form drills, and one-step sparring techniques.
Norris's first starring role was 1977's Breaker! Breaker! He chose it after turning down offers to do several martial-arts films. Norris decided that he wanted to do films that had a story and where the action would take place when it is emotionally right. The low-budget film turned out to be very successful.
In 1978, Norris starred in Good Guys Wear Black. He considers it to be his first significant lead role. No studio wanted to release it, so Norris and his producers four-walled it, renting the theaters and taking whatever money came in. The film did very well; shot on a $1 million budget, it made over $18 million at the box office. Following years of kung fu film imports from Hong Kong action cinema during the 1970s, most notably Bruce Lee films followed by Bruceploitation flicks, Good Guys Wear Black launched Norris as the first successful homegrown American martial-arts star, having previously been best known as a villain in Lee's Way of the Dragon. Good Guys Wear Black distinguished itself from earlier martial-arts films by its distinctly American setting, characters, themes, and politics, a formula that Norris continued to develop with his later films.
1979 to 1983: Action film star
In 1979, Norris starred in A Force of One, where he played Matt Logan, a world karate champion who assists the police in their investigation. The film was developed while touring for Good Guys Wear Black. Again no studio wanted to pick it up, but it out-grossed the previous film by making $20 million at the box office.
In 1980, he released The Octagon, where his character must stop a group of terrorists trained in the ninja style. Unlike his previous films, this time the studios were interested. American Cinema Releasing distributed it and it made almost $19 million at the box office.
In 1981, he starred in Steve Carver's An Eye for an Eye.
In 1982, he had the lead in the action horror film Silent Rage. It was his first film released by a major studio, Columbia Pictures. Norris plays a sheriff who must stop a psychopath on a rampage. Shortly afterward MGM gave him a three-movie deal and that same year, they released Forced Vengeance (1982). Norris was unhappy with the direction they wanted to take with him, hence the contract was canceled.
In 1983, Norris made Lone Wolf McQuade with Orion Pictures and Carver directing. He plays a reckless but brave Texas Ranger who defeats an arms dealer played by David Carradine. The film was a worldwide hit and had a positive reception from movie critics, often being compared to Sergio Leone's stylish Spaghetti Westerns. The film became the inspiration for Norris's future hit TV show Walker, Texas Ranger. Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5 star rating, calling the character of J.J. McQuade worthy of a film series and predicting the character would be a future classic, and it would be the first movie where Norris would wear his trademark beard. The same year, he also published an exercise called Toughen Up! the Chuck Norris Fitness System. Also in 1983, Xonox produced the video game Chuck Norris Superkicks for the Commodore 64, VIC-20, Atari 2600, and Colecovision. The game combines two types of gameplay: moving through a map, and fighting against enemies. The player takes control of Norris who has to liberate a hostage. It was later sold as Kung Fu Superkicks when the license for the use of the Chuck Norris name expired.
1984 to 1988: Mainstream success
In 1984, Norris starred in Joseph Zito's Missing in Action. It's the first of a series of POW rescue fantasies, where he plays Colonel James Braddock. Produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus and released under their Cannon Films banner, with which he had signed a multiple movie deal. Norris later dedicated these films to his younger brother Wieland, who was a private in the 101st Airborne Division, and had been killed in June 1970 in Vietnam while on patrol in the defense of Firebase Ripcord. The film was a huge success, and Norris became Cannon's most prominent star of the 1980s.
That same year, on October 2, principal photography of Andrew Davis's Code of Silence started. The film marked a departure for Norris, due to its complexity and dramatic depth. The film is about a cop who is ostracized for refusing to support a corrupt cop who killed an innocent bystander, while protecting the daughter of a mob boss. Davis described Norris as "easy to work with and very supportive." Released by Orion Pictures on May 3, 1985, and received generally positive reviews, with critics praising its slick direction, strong performances, and engaging action. It was regarded as a standout in Norris's career, with many considering it his best film to date. Vincent Canby of The New York Times who liked the film said of Norris performance that "it could well prove to be his breakout picture". He explains that it marks a potential turning point for Norris, who projects a quiet competence that shines in the film's meticulously crafted fight sequences and that his restrained performance feels fresh and distinct, a departure from his earlier roles. Of critical success Norris said “I really appreciate the acclaim, I’ve worked hard these last nine years to get critics to look at me in a different light. They’re usually more concerned with things like Passage to India, and they’ve hit me hard all these years, especially in the beginning. I’m really excited, to say the least.” The film debuted at number 1 with an opening weekend gross of $5.5 million and ultimately earned a total of $20.3 million at the US box office.
Missing in Action 2: The Beginning premiered on March 1, 1985. It is a prequel to the first installment, about Braddock being held in a North Vietnamese POW camp. Invasion U.S.A. premiered on September 27, with Zito directing.
On February 14, 1986, Menahem Golan's The Delta Force premiered. Norris co-stars with Lee Marvin. They play leaders of an elite squad of Special Forces troops who face a group of terrorists. The Delta Force was a box office success. In October, Ruby-Spears' cartoon Karate Kommandos first aired. The animated show lasted six episodes. In it, Norris voices a cartoon version of himself who leads a United States government team of operatives known as the Karate Kommandos. Marvel made a comic book adaptation.
On November 21, J. Lee Thompson's action-adventure comedy film Firewalker premiered, where Norris co-lead with Louis Gossett Jr.. Gossett and Norris play two seasoned treasure hunters whose adventures rarely result in any notable success. Norris explained that the project came about when he wanted to show a lighter side of himself. Gossett appreciated Norris efforts and said "I have great respect for what actors call stretch. Chuck had to open up first to allow this atmosphere. It has to do with his desire to stretch. Someone else could have been quite insecure. He chose to open up. He's studying hard and he's serious." The review were mostly negative, while some thought it was a fine for a light action film. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times, enjoyed it of the cast he said they "really get into the light-hearted spirit of the occasion." The film made $11,834,302 at the box-office.
In 1987, he published the New York Times Best Seller The Secret of Inner Strength: My Story. It is about his self-improvement philosophy.
On January 2, 1988, Braddock: Missing in Action III premiered, Norris returned to the title role and his brother Aaron Norris directed. On August 28, Norris starred in Hero and the Terror directed by William Tannen. In it Norris stars as a cop investigating a serial killer.
1989 to 1999: Subsequent success
By 1990, his films had collectively grossed over $500 million worldwide . By this time, he had drawn comparisons to both Bruce Lee and Clint Eastwood, sometimes called the "blonde Bruce Lee" for his martial arts film roles while his "loner" persona was compared to the Eastwood character Dirty Harry. That same year, MGM acquired the Cannon Films library. Norris continued making films with Aaron, who directed him in Delta Force 2, The Hitman, Sidekicks (1993), Hellbound (1994), Top Dog (1995), and Forest Warrior (1996).
In 1993, he began shooting the action series Walker, Texas Ranger. The television show is centered on Sergeant Cordell Walker (Norris), a member of the Texas Rangers, a state-level bureau of investigation, and is about his adventures fighting criminals with his partner James Trivette. It lasted eight seasons on CBS and continued in syndication on other channels, notably the Hallmark Channel. The show was very successful in the ratings throughout its run, ranking among the Top 30 programs from 1995 until 1999, and ranking in the Top 20 in both the 1995–1996 and 1998–1999 seasons. In 1999, Norris produced and played Walker in a supporting role in the Walker, Texas Ranger spin-off Sons of Thunder. The same year, also playing the role of Walker, Norris acted in a crossover episode of the Sammo Hung's TV show Martial Law. For another crossover, Hung also appeared as his character in Walker, Texas Ranger.
Separately from Walker, Texas Ranger, on August 25, 1993, the Randy Travis television special Wind in the Wire first aired. Norris was among the guests. At the 1994 edition of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s Survivor Series event, Norris was the special outside enforcer for the Casket Match between The Undertaker and Yokozuna. During the match, Norris delivered a roundhouse kick to an interfering Jeff Jarrett. In 1996, Norris wrote the book The Secret Power Within: Zen Solutions to Real Problems. Since 1997, Norris has appeared with Christie Brinkley in a long-running series of cable TV infomercials promoting Total Gym home fitness equipment. On November 1, 1998, CBS premiered Michael Preece's television film Logan's War: Bound by Honor, starring Norris and Eddie Cibrian. The television film was ranked third among the thirteen most viewed shows of that week.
2000 to 2005: Subsequent films and internet fame
In the early 2000s, Norris starred as a secret agent in the CBS television films The President's Man (2000) and The President's Man: A Line in the Sand.(2002).
In 2003, Norris played a role in the supernatural Christian film Bells of Innocence. That same year, he acted in one episode of the TV show Yes, Dear.
In 2004, Rawson Marshall Thurber's comedy film DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story was released. Norris plays himself as a judge during a dodgeball game. Described by critics as "a raunchy comedy that delivers for many", it grossed $167.7 million.
That same year, he published his autobiography Against All Odds: My Story.
In 2005, Norris founded the World Combat League (WCL), a full-contact, team-based martial arts competition, of which part of the proceeds are given to his Kickstart Kids program.
On October 17, 2005, CBS premiered the Sunday Night Movie of the Week Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire. The production was a continuation of the series, and not scripted to be a reunion movie. Norris reprised his role as Walker for the movie. He has stated that future Walker, Texas Ranger Movie of the Week projects are expected; however, this was severely impaired by CBS's 2006–2007 season decision to no longer regularly schedule Movies of the Week on Sunday night.
Chuck Norris facts originally started appearing on the Internet in early 2005. Created by Ian Spector, they are satirical factoids about Norris. Since then, they have become widespread in popular culture. The "facts" are normally absurd hyperbolic claims about Norris's toughness, attitude, virility, sophistication, and masculinity. Norris has written his own response to the parody on his website, stating that he does not feel offended by them and finds some of them funny, claiming that his personal favorite is that they wanted to add his face to Mount Rushmore, but the granite is not hard enough for his beard. At first it was mostly college students exchanging them, but they later became extremely widespread.
From that point on, Norris started to tour with the Chuck Norris facts appearing on major talk shows, and even visiting troops in Iraq for morale boosting appearances.
2006–present: Current works
Norris starred in the film The Cutter in 2006, where he plays a detective on a rescue mission. That year time he published the novel The Justice Riders, co-written with Ken Abraham, Aaron Norris, and Tim Grayem.
Gotham Books, the adult division of Penguin USA, released a book penned by Ian Spector entitled The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World's Greatest Human. Norris subsequently filed suit in December against Penguin USA claiming "trademark infringement, unjust enrichment and privacy rights". Norris dropped the lawsuit in 2008. The book is a New York Times bestseller. Since then, Spector has published four more books based on Chuck Norris facts, these are Chuck Norris Cannot Be Stopped: 400 All-New Facts About the Man Who Knows Neither Fear Nor Mercy, Chuck Norris: Longer and Harder: The Complete Chronicle of the World's Deadliest, Sexiest, and Beardiest Man, The Last Stand of Chuck Norris: 400 All New Facts About the Most Terrifying Man in the Universe, and Chuck Norris Vs. Mr. T: 400 Facts About the Baddest Dudes in the History of Ever (also a New York Times bestseller). That year Norris with the same team published a sequel to The Justice Riders called A Threat to Justice. Tyndale House Publishers also published a book praising Norris, entitled The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book: 101 of Chuck's Favorite Facts and Stories, which was co-written and officially endorsed by him.
In 2008, he published the political non-fiction book Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken America, which reached number 14 on The New York Times best seller list in September 2008. That same year, Gameloft produced the video game Chuck Norris: Bring On the Pain for mobile devices, based on the popularity Norris had developed on the internet with the Chuck Norris facts. The player takes control of Norris in a side-scrolling beat 'em up. The game was well reviewed.
Since 2010, Norris has been a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate writing on both personal health issues and broader issues of health care in America.
Throughout the 2010s, Norris appeared in advertisements for T-Mobile, World of Warcraft, BZ WBK, the French TV show "Pieds dans le plat", Hoegaarden, United Healthcare, Hesburger, Cerveza Poker, Toyota, and in the 2020s, QuikTrip.
In 2012, Norris played a mercenary in The Expendables 2. The film was a success and grossed over $310 million worldwide. That same year, Norris and his wife Gena founded CForce Bottling Co. after an aquifer was discovered on his ranch.
In 2017, Norris became Fiat's ambassador, a "tough face" for its commercial vehicles. Flaregames produced Non Stop Chuck Norris, an isometric action-RPG game for mobile devices and is the second game to be based on his popularity developed by the Chuck Norris facts. The game was well-reviewed.
In 2019, Norris hosted the documentary Chuck Norris’ Epic Guide to Military Vehicles on the History Channel. In it, Norris explores vehicular creations by the US military. In 2020, Norris acted in the series finale of Hawaii Five-0. In 2021, Norris was featured as a character in the video game World of Tanks during a holiday event.
Martial arts knowledge
Norris has founded two major martial arts systems: American Tang Soo Do and Chuck Norris System (formerly known as Chun Kuk Do).
American Tang Soo Do
American Tang Soo Do was formed in 1966 by Norris, which is combination of Moo Duk Kwan-style Tang Soo Do, Judo and Karate (Shito-Ryu and Shotokan). Over the years it has been further developed by former black belts of his and their students.
Chuck Norris System
Norris's present martial art system is the Chuck Norris System, formerly known as Chun Kuk Do.
The style was formally founded in 1990 as Chun Kuk Do by Norris, and was originally based on Norris's Tang Soo Do training in Korea while he was in the military.
During his competitive fighting career, Norris began to evolve the style to make it more effective and well-rounded by studying other systems such as Shōtōkan, Gōjū-ryū, Shitō-ryū, Enshin kaikan, Kyokushin, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Arnis, Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Hapkido and American Kenpo. Chun Kuk Do now emphasizes self defense, competition, weapons, grappling, and fitness, among other things. Each summer the United Fighting Arts Federation (UFAF) holds a training conference and the Chun Kuk Do world championship tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The art includes a code of honor and rules to live by. These rules are from Norris's personal code. They are:
I will develop myself to the maximum of my potential in all ways.
I will forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements.
I will continually work at developing love, happiness and loyalty in my family.
I will look for the good in all people and make them feel worthwhile.
If I have nothing good to say about a person, I will say nothing.
I will always be as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.
I will maintain an attitude of open-mindedness.
I will maintain respect for those in authority and demonstrate this respect at all times.
I will always remain loyal to my God, my country, family and my friends.
I will remain highly goal-oriented throughout my life because that positive attitude helps my family, my country and myself.
Like most traditional martial arts, Chuck Norris System includes the practice of forms (Korean hyung and Japanese kata). The majority of the system's forms are adapted from Korean Tang Soo Do, and Taekwondo, Japanese Shitō-ryū, Shotokan Karate, Goju-ryu, Kyokushinkai Karate, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, American Kenpo. It includes two organization-specific introductory forms, two organization-specific empty-hand forms, and one organization-specific weapon form (UFAF Nunchuk form, UFAF Bo form, UFAF Sai forms).
The United Fighting Arts Federation has graduated over 3,000 black belts in its history, and currently has nearly 4,000 active members world-wide. There are about 90 member schools in the US, Mexico, Norway, and Paraguay.
Distinctions, awards, and honors
While in the military, Norris's rank units were Airman First Class, 15th Air Force, 22d Bombardment Group, and 452d Troop Carrier Wing.
Norris has received many black belts. These include a 10th degree black belt in Chun Kuk Do (founded 1990 by Chuck Norris. Based on his Tang Soo Do training in Korea while he was in military), a 9th degree black belt in Tang Soo Do, an 8th degree black belt in Taekwondo, a 5th degree black belt in Karate, a 3rd degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu from the Machado family, and a black belt in Judo.
In 1967, he won the Sparring Grand Champions at the S. Henry Cho's All American Championship, and won it again the following year.
In 1968, he won the Professional Middleweight Karate champion title, which he held for six consecutive years.
In 1969, he won Karate's triple crown for the most tournament wins of the year.
In 1969, he won the Fighter of the Year award by Black Belt magazine.
In 1982, he won Action Star of the Year at the ShoWest Convention.
In 1989, he received his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1992, he won International Box Office Star of the Year at the ShoWest Convention.
In 1997, he won the Special Award of being a Texas legend at the Lone Star Film & Television Awards.
From 1997 to 1998, he won for three consecutive years the BMI TV Music Award at the BMI Awards.
In 1999, Norris was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum's Hall of Fame.
In 1999, he was nominated for Favorite Actor in a Drama by the TV Guide Award.
In 1999, he won the Inspirational Acting in Television Award at the Grace Prize Award.
On July 1, 2000, Norris was presented the Golden Lifetime Achievement Award by the World Karate Union Hall of Fame.
In 2001, he received the Veteran of the Year at the American Veteran Awards.
In 2001, he won the Golden Boot at the Golden Boot Awards.
On March 28, 2007, Commandant Gen. James T. Conway made Norris an honorary United States Marine during a dinner at the commandant's residence in Washington, D.C.
On December 2, 2010, he (along with brother Aaron) was given the title honorary Texas Ranger by Texas Governor Rick Perry.
In 2010, he won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the ActionFest.
In 2017, he was honored as an "Honorary Texan" because for many years he has lived at his Texas ranch near Navasota and he starred as Texas Ranger in his movie Lone Wolf McQuade and starred as ranger Cordell Walker in the TV series Walker, Texas Ranger.
In 2020, two editions of a book honoring Norris were published titled Martial Arts Masters & Pioneers Biography: Chuck Norris – Giving Back For A Lifetime by Jessie Bowen of the American Martial Arts Alliance.
In 2024, a small statue was erected by Mihály Kolodkó at the eastern end of Megyeri Bridge in Budapest.
Personal life
Family
Norris married Dianne Kay Holechek (born 1941) in December 1958, in Torrance, California. He was 18 and Dianne was 17. The two had been classmates at North High School in Torrance. He and Holecheck separated in 1988, after 30 years of marriage, and finalized their divorce in 1989. They had two children together, Mike (born 1962) and Eric (born 1964).
Norris married Gena O'Kelley, a model 23 years his junior, on November 28, 1998. The two met in 1997, while Norris was on a date with another woman. They have two children together, fraternal twins Dakota and Danilee (b. 2001).
Norris has a daughter, Dina (born 1962), from an extramarital relationship. While stationed in California during his time in the United States Air Force, Norris began seeing a woman named Johanna and didn't tell her he was married to Holechek. The two met for the first time in 1990 and publicly acknowledged her in 2004, in his memoir, Against All Odds: My Story.
Norris has 13 grandchildren as of 2017.
Christianity
An outspoken Christian, Norris is the author of several Christian-themed books. On April 22, 2008, Norris expressed his support for the intelligent design movement when he reviewed Ben Stein's Expelled for Townhall.com.
He is Baptist and a member of the Prestonwood Baptist Church (Southern Baptist Convention) in Dallas.
Political views
Norris is a Republican and outspoken conservative. Norris is a columnist for the far-right WorldNetDaily.
In an interview following the release of the 1984 film Missing in Action, Norris stated that "I am a conservative, a real flag waver, a big Ronald Reagan fan. I'm not so much a Republican or Democrat; I go more for the man himself. Ronald Reagan says what he thinks, he's not afraid to speak his mind, even if he may be unpopular. I want a strong leader and he is a strong leader. And ever since he has been in office there has been a more positive, patriotic feeling in this country."
Around the time of the filming of the 1986 film The Delta Force, Norris said—in response to the hijacking of TWA flight 847—that United States is becoming a "paper tiger" in the Middle East. "What we're facing here is the fact that our passive approach to terrorism is going to instigate much more terrorism throughout the world." "I've been all over the world, and seeing the devastation that terrorism has done in Europe and the Middle East, I know eventually it's going to come here," added Norris. "It's just a matter of time. They're doing all this devastation in Europe now, and the next stepping stone is America and Canada. Being a free country, with the freedom of movement that we have, it's an open door policy for terrorism. It's like Khadafy [sic] said a few weeks ago. 'If Reagan doesn't back off, I'm going to release my killer squads in America.' And there's no doubt in my mind that he has them."
In 2007, Norris took a trip to Iraq to visit U.S. troops.
Norris supported Mike Huckabee's failed candidacy in the 2008 Republican Party presidential primaries, where he made headlines for calling the eventual Republican nominee, John McCain, too old to handle the pressures of being president. He voiced his support for McCain in the 2008 presidential election, emphasizing his enthusiasm for McCain's partner on the Republican ticket, Sarah Palin.
On November 18, 2008, Norris became one of the first members of show business to express support for the California Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage, and he criticized activists for not accepting the democratic process and the apparent double standard he perceived in criticizing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints without criticizing African Americans, most of whom who had voted for the measure.
In 2009, Norris had expressed support for the Barack Obama "birther" conspiracy. In his letter, released at WorldNetDaily, Norris deemed then-President Obama's refusal to disclose his birth certificate suspicious and implored him to put an end to the conspiracy theories.
On April 11, 2011 Norris had written a five-part investigation regarding the "infiltration of Sharia law into United States culture" for WorldNetDaily.
On June 26, 2012, Norris published an article on Ammoland.com, in which he accused the Obama administration of paying Jim Turley, one of the national board members of the Boy Scouts of America at the time, to reverse the organization's policy that excluded gay youths from joining.
During the 2012 presidential election, Norris first recommended Ron Paul, and then later formally endorsed Newt Gingrich as the Republican presidential candidate. After Gingrich suspended his campaign in May 2012, Norris endorsed Republican presumptive nominee Mitt Romney, despite Norris having previously accused Romney of flip-flopping and of trying to buy the nomination for the Republican Party candidacy for 2012. On the eve of the election, he and his wife Gena made a video warning that if evangelicals did not show up at the polls and vote out President Obama, "...our country as we know it may be lost forever...".
Norris has visited Israel, and he voiced support for former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the 2013 and 2015 elections. Norris endorsed Huckabee again in the 2016 Republican primaries before he dropped out. In March 2016, it was reported that Norris endorsed Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz and that he would be attending a Cruz rally, but two days later, Norris stated he would only endorse the GOP nominee once that nominee has been nominated by the party. Later, Norris endorsed former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in the 2017 United States Senate special election in Alabama.
In 2019, Norris signed an endorsement deal with gun manufacturer Glock. The deal was met with criticism from some members of the public and some of his fans, who felt it was in bad timing due to the increase in school shootings in the United States.
In 2021, Norris announced his support of the 2021 gubernatorial election to recall incumbent Governor Gavin Newsom and endorsed radio talk show host Larry Elder to replace him.
Philanthropy
In 1990, Norris established the United Fighting Arts Federation and Kickstart Kids. As a significant part of his philanthropic contributions, the organization was formed to develop self-esteem and focus in at-risk children as a tactic to keep them away from drug-related pressure by training them in martial arts. Norris hopes that by shifting middle school and high school children's focus towards this positive and strengthening endeavor, these children will have the opportunity to build a better future for themselves. Norris has a ranch in Navasota, Texas, where they bottle water; a portion of the sales support environmental funds and Kickstart Kids.
He is known for his contributions towards organizations such as Funds for Kids, Veteran's Administration National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans, the United Way, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation in the form of donations as well as fund-raising activities.
His time with the U.S. Veterans Administration as a spokesperson was inspired by his experience serving the United States Air Force in Korea. His objective has been to popularize the issues that concern hospitalized war veterans such as pensions and health care. Due to his significant contributions, and continued support, he received the Veteran of the Year award in 2001 at the American Veteran Awards.
In India, Norris supports the Vijay Amritraj Foundation, which aims to help victims of disease, tragedy and circumstance. Through his donations, he has helped the foundation support Paediatric HIV/AIDS homes in Delhi, a blind school in Karnataka, and a mission that cares for HIV/AIDS-infected adults, as well as mentally ill patients in Cochin.
Filmography
Bibliography
Winning Tournament Karate (1975)
Toughen Up! The Chuck Norris Fitness System (1983)
The Secret of Inner Strength: My Story (1987)
The Secret Power Within: Zen Solutions to Real Problems (1996)
Against All Odds: My Story (2004)
The Justice Riders (2006)
A Threat to Justice (2007) ISBN 978-0-80544-033-1
Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken America (2008). Regnery Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59698-558-2.
The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book: 101 of Chuck's Favorite Facts and Stories (2009) ISBN 978-1-41433-449-3
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Official website
Chuck Norris at the British Film Institute
Chuck Norris at IMDb
Chuck Norris. Archived October 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine at martialinfo.com. Archived August 26, 2019, at the Wayback Machine.
Official Chun Kuk Do Website
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Steven Seagal
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Steven Frederic Seagal ( sih-GAHL; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-dan black belt and shihan in Aikikai aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instructor in Japan where he became the first non-Japanese and American to operate an aikido dojo. He later moved to Los Angeles where he continued teaching aikido. In 1988, Seagal made his acting debut in Above the Law, which is regarded as the first American film to feature aikido in fight sequences.
By 1991, he had starred in three commercially successful films, and would go on to achieve greater fame in Under Siege (1992), where he played Navy SEALs counter-terrorist expert Casey Ryback, a role he reprised in the sequel Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995). In 1994, he starred in his directorial debut film On Deadly Ground. During the latter half of the 1990s, Seagal starred in three more feature films and the direct-to-video film The Patriot. Subsequently, his career shifted to mostly direct-to-video productions. He has since appeared in films and reality shows, most notably as the main villain in Robert Rodriguez's Machete (2010), and Steven Seagal: Lawman, which depicted Seagal performing duties as a reserve deputy sheriff.
Seagal is a guitarist and has released two studio albums, Songs from the Crystal Cave and Mojo Priest, and performed on the scores of several of his films. He has worked with Stevie Wonder and Tony Rebel, who both performed on his debut album. He has been involved in a line of "therapeutic oil" products and energy drinks. Seagal is an environmentalist, animal rights activist, and supporter of 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. In 2004, he was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame.
Seagal has been the subject of controversy during his career. Since 1991, multiple women have accused Seagal of sexual harassment or assault. A supporter of Vladimir Putin, he backed the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He was granted both Russian and Serbian citizenship in 2016. In 2018, he was appointed Russia's special envoy to the U.S.
Early life
Seagal was born on April 10, 1952, in Lansing, Michigan, the son of Patricia Anne Fisher, a medical technician, and Samuel Seagal, a mathematics teacher. His mother was of Irish descent, while his father was Jewish. His paternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants. During an interview for the Russian talk show Let Them Talk, Seagal stated that he has paternal ancestors from the Siberian city of Vladivostok, as well as Belarus and Saint Petersburg. He claims that genetic testing determined that he has Yakut and Buryat ancestry as well. When he was 5, Seagal moved with his parents to Fullerton, California. His mother later told People magazine that prior to the move Seagal was frail and suffered from asthma: "He was a puny kid back then. But he really thrived after the move [from Michigan]."
Seagal attended Buena Park High School in Buena Park, California, and Fullerton College between 1970 and 1971. Seagal has been described as a “pathological liar” due to his propensity of making greatly exaggerated or outright fabricated statements about his personal life and achievements. For instance, Seagal has claimed that he was a student of the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, despite the fact that Ueshiba died in 1969 when Seagal was 17 and five years before Seagal moved to Japan at age 22 — when he moved there to allegedly avoid the draft for the Vietnam War by marrying a Japanese national.
Martial arts and Japan
According to Seagal's first wife, Miyako Fujitani: "I met Steven in California in the fall of 1974. He followed me back to Japan in October. We got married in December 1974." Fujitani was a second-degree black belt and daughter of an Osaka aikido master who had come to Los Angeles to teach aikido. After they married, they had a son, Kentaro, and a daughter, Ayako. Seagal taught at the school owned by Miyako's family and earned his aikido black belt in 1978. Interviewed in 1993, Fujitani stated that: "The only reason Steven was awarded the black belt was because the judge, who was famous for his laziness, fell asleep during Steven's presentation. The judge just gave him the black belt."
Seagal has claimed that he helped train CIA agents in Japan: "They saw my abilities, both with martial arts and with the language. You could say that I became an advisor to several CIA agents in the field, and through my friends in the CIA, I met many powerful people and did special works and favors." Fujitani has refuted these allegations and has also dismissed Seagal's claims that he had combatted yakuza. There is no evidence that Seagal has ever worked with the Central Intelligence Agency. In the early-1980s, Seagal had aspirations to return to America and become a movie star. Fujitani then "scrimped and saved for years, even denying herself and her children necessities, to help pay his way home." According to Fujitani, "he then availed himself of her savings and hied off."
Seagal returned to Taos, New Mexico, with his student (and later film stuntman) Craig Dunn, where they opened a dojo, although Seagal spent much of his time pursuing other ventures. After another period in Japan, Seagal returned to the United States in 1983 with senior student Haruo Matsuoka. They opened an aikido dojo, initially in North Hollywood, but later moved it to the city of West Hollywood. Seagal left Matsuoka in charge of the dojo, which the latter ran until the two parted ways in 1997. In the early 1980s, Seagal had his first experiences in the film industry by working as a fight coordinator on The Challenge (1982), which was shot in Japan, and Never Say Never Again (1983).
Later in his career, Seagal helped train Brazilian mixed martial artist Lyoto Machida, who credited Seagal for helping him perfect the front kick that he used to knock out Randy Couture at UFC 129 in May 2011.
Career
1987–1993: Hollywood action star
In 1987, Seagal began work on his first film as an actor, Above the Law (titled Nico in Europe), with director Andrew Davis. Seagal was asked to make the film by agent Michael Ovitz, who reportedly became convinced that Seagal had movie star potential after taking aikido classes with him. Ovitz financed Seagal's successful screen test, which led Seagal to be offered a contract by Warner Bros. Ovitz' role in starting Seagal's acting career led to a long-standing, unfounded rumor that the agent had made a bet that he could turn anyone into a movie star and decided to bank on his martial arts teacher to win his wager. Above the Law was a success, grossing $18,869,631 in the U.S. and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times stated "It contains 50 percent more plot than it needs, but that allows it room to grow in areas not ordinarily covered in action thrillers." Following its success, Seagal's subsequent movies were Hard to Kill, Marked for Death, and Out for Justice; all were box office hits and made Seagal an action hero. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Seagal is effective for both his novelty value and his ability to be both literally and figuratively disarming."
Seagal achieved mainstream success in 1992 with the release of Under Siege, which reunited him with director Andrew Davis for what critics described as "Die Hard on a battleship". Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 83% based on reviews from 30 critics. The site's consensus states: "A well-directed action thriller that makes the most of its confined setting, Under Siege marks a high point for early '90s action—and its star's spotty filmography." Reviewers praised Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey's performances as the film's villains, and it is often considered Seagal's best film to date.
On April 20, 1991, Seagal hosted Season 16, Episode 18 of Saturday Night Live. The series' long-time executive producer Lorne Michaels and cast-members David Spade and Tim Meadows called Seagal the show's "worst host ever". Spade and Meadows cited Seagal's humorlessness, his ill-treatment of the cast and writers, and his refusal to do a "Hans and Franz" sketch because the skit's title characters had previously said that they could "beat up Steven Seagal". Seagal has never been invited back to the show. Meadows commented, "He didn't realize that you can't tell somebody they're stupid on Wednesday and expect them to continue writing for you on Saturday."
SNL cast member Julia Sweeney later recalled that Seagal "had this idea that he's a therapist and he wanted Victoria Jackson to be his patient who's just been raped. And the therapist says, 'You're going to have to come to me twice a week for like three years," because, he said, 'That's how therapists freaking are. They're just trying to get your money.' And then he says that the psychiatrist tries to have sex with her." The cast and crew's difficulties with Seagal were later echoed on-air by Michaels during guest host Nicolas Cage's monologue in the September 26, 1992, Season 18 premiere. When Cage worried that he would do so poorly that the audience would regard him as "the biggest jerk who's ever been on the show", Michaels replied: "No, no. That would be Steven Seagal."
1994–2002: Career fluctuations
Seagal directed and starred in On Deadly Ground (1994), featuring Michael Caine, R. Lee Ermey, and Billy Bob Thornton in minor supporting roles. The film emphasized environmental and spiritual themes, signaling a break with his previous persona as a genre-ready inner-city cop. On Deadly Ground was poorly received by critics, especially denouncing Seagal's long environmental speech in the film. Regardless, Seagal considers it one of the most important and relevant moments in his career. Seagal followed this with a sequel to one of his most successful films, Under Siege, titled Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995). According to co-star Morris Chestnut, Seagal rewrote many of the scenes he was in. "The only time they really stuck to the script or had ad libs was the stuff when he really wasn't there. It was a lot of stuff, because at that time I think he was flying a helicopter, he was doing something... He would come to set, "Okay, you're gonna say this. I'm gonna say this and this is gonna happen and then you do that." That's how we did a lot of that movie."
In 1996, Seagal had a role in the Kurt Russell film Executive Decision, portraying a special ops soldier who appears in only the film's first 45 minutes. Former Warner Bros Vice President Bill Daly later stated Seagal agreed to the role in exchange for the studio forgiving him losing his director's salary due to going over-budget with On Deadly Ground. The same year, he filmed a police drama, The Glimmer Man (1996). In another environmentally conscious and commercially unsuccessful film, Fire Down Below (1997), he played an EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance agent fighting industrialists dumping toxic waste in the Kentucky hills.
In 1998, Seagal made The Patriot, another environmental thriller which was his first direct-to-video release in the United States (though it was released theatrically in most of the world). Seagal produced this film with his own money, and the film was shot on-location on and near his farm in Montana. After producing Prince of Central Park, Seagal returned to cinema screens with the release of Exit Wounds in March 2001. The film had fewer martial arts scenes than Seagal's previous films, but it was a commercial success, taking almost $80 million worldwide. It was considered at the time to be a "comeback" for Seagal. However, Seagal was unable to capitalize on this success and his next two projects were both critical and commercial failures. The movie Ticker, co-starring Tom Sizemore and Dennis Hopper, was filmed in San Francisco before Exit Wounds, and went straight to DVD. Half Past Dead, starring hip hop star Ja Rule, made less than $20 million worldwide. It was ranked in a Rotten Tomatoes editorial on the 100 worst movies of all time. Seagal was also nominated for Worst Actor at the 2002 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards and the 23rd Golden Raspberry Awards.
2003–present: Direct-to-video films and television
Other than his role as a villain in Robert Rodriguez's Machete (2010), almost all the films Seagal has made since the latter half of 2001 have been released direct-to-video (DTV) in North America, with some theatrical releases to other countries around the world. Seagal is credited as a producer and sometimes a writer on many of these DTV movies, which include Black Dawn, Belly of the Beast, Out of Reach, Submerged, Kill Switch, Urban Justice, Pistol Whipped, Against the Dark, Driven to Kill, A Dangerous Man, Born to Raise Hell, and The Keeper. Beyond the Law (2019) is one of Seagal's few movies to have had a theatrical release in North America since Machete.
In 2009, A&E Network premiered the reality television series Steven Seagal: Lawman, focusing on Seagal as a deputy in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. In the 2010s, Seagal's direct-to-video films increasingly started to become ensemble pieces, with Seagal playing minor or supporting roles, despite the fact that he often received top billing. Maximum Conviction, Force of Execution, Gutshot Straight, Code of Honor, Sniper Special Ops, The Asian Connection, The Perfect Weapon, Cartels, and China Salesman all exemplify this trend. This has led some commentators to criticize Seagal for his low-effort participation in movies which heavily promote his involvement.
In 2011, Seagal produced and starred in an American television action series entitled True Justice. The series first aired on Nitro, a TV station in Spain, on May 12, 2011. It premiered in the UK on 5 USA, with the first episode broadcast July 20, 2011. The series was renewed for a second season airing on ReelzChannel. In the UK, True Justice was repackaged as a series of DVD movies, with each disc editing together two episodes.
Influence and artistry
At the height of his career, Seagal was one of the biggest action movie stars in the world, and one of the most successful martial arts actors of the 1980s and 1990s, alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme. Credited with popularising aikido in film, Seagal is considered an important figure in the development and popularization of East Asian martial arts in the West.
Many of Seagal's films share unique elements which have become characteristic of his body of work. His characters often have an elite past affiliation with the CIA, Special Forces, or Black Ops (for example, Casey Ryback in Under Siege, a former Navy SEAL, Jack Cole in The Glimmer Man, an ex-CIA police detective, or Jonathan Cold in The Foreigner and Black Dawn, an ex-CIA Black Ops freelancer). His characters differ from those of other action movie icons by virtue of their near-invulnerability; they rarely face any significant physical threat, easily overpowering any opposition and seldom facing bodily harm or even temporary defeat. Two notable exceptions are Executive Decision (1996), in which Seagal's character is introduced as a false protagonist only to be killed halfway through and Machete (2010), which features Seagal in a rare villainous role.
Seagal's films also frequently reflect aspects of his personal life. His music appears in several of his films (for example, Into the Sun and Ticker, where he appears as part of a bar band), as does his fluency in other languages (he speaks Japanese in Into the Sun) and religion (Buddhism features prominently in The Glimmer Man and Belly of the Beast). His past as an aikido teacher is also incorporated into several films, for example Above the Law (which opens with a montage of real-life photos from Seagal's own past) or Shadow Man, where he is seen giving an aikido demonstration. Several of his films also feature prominent political messages, most notably the environmentalism evident in On Deadly Ground.
While Seagal's acting in Above the Law gained praise from the likes of Roger Ebert, Seagal has repeatedly faced criticism from both critics and fans who accuse him of playing the same character in many of his movies, as well as displaying a lack of emotional range. In fact, his typecasting has been informally referred to as "Seagalism" and has become the subject of much parody. In 2008, author and critic Vern published Seagalogy, a work which examines Seagal's filmography using the framework of auteur theory. Vern describes themes of government corruption (particularly involving the CIA), environmentalism, and adoption of foreign cultures as being examples of recurrent motifs in Seagal's films, among a variety of others. The first edition breaks Seagal's career into four chronological "eras", marked by specific differences in style and content. The 2012 updated edition adds a fifth era.
These chronological "eras" describe different phases of Seagal's career, and include the "Golden Era" (1988–1991), the period of Seagal's first successes, the "Silver Era" (1992–1997), during which Seagal saw the peak of his fame and made high-profile blockbusters, a "Transitional Period" (1998–2002) during which he made lower-profile or ensemble films, a lengthy "direct-to-video" period (his most prolific to date, 2003–2008) and, in the 2012 updated addition, a "Chief Seagal" period (2009–present) during which Seagal moved into television and began reflecting elements of his Steven Seagal: Lawman persona in his films.
Other ventures
Music
Seagal plays the guitar and among his extensive collection are guitars previously owned by "the Kings"; Albert, BB, and Freddie, as well as Bo Diddley, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Jimi Hendrix. In 2004, he released his first album, Songs from the Crystal Cave, which has a mix of pop, world, country, and blues music. It features duets with Tony Rebel, Lt. Stichie, Lady Saw, and Stevie Wonder. The soundtrack to Seagal's 2005 film Into the Sun features several songs from the album. One of his album tracks, "Girl It's Alright", was also released as a single in several countries alongside an accompanying music video. Seagal's second album, titled Mojo Priest, was released in April 2006 and spawned a concert tour. Thom Jurek of AllMusic panned the album, rating it 1.5 stars out of 5 and stating that Seagal's guitar playing "rarely rises above bar band pedigree" and that "all of this music takes itself so seriously that it borders on delusional excess."
Law enforcement work
Seagal has been a Reserve Deputy Chief in the Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Sheriff's Office. In the late 1980s, after teaching the deputies martial arts, unarmed combat, and marksmanship, then-sheriff Harry Lee (1932–2007) asked Seagal to join the force. Seagal's rank in Louisiana was ceremonial. Steven Seagal: Lawman, a series which follows his work in the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, premiered on A&E on December 2, 2009. Seagal stated that "I've decided to work with A&E on this series now because I believe it's important to show the nation all the positive work being accomplished here in Louisiana—to see the passion and commitment that comes from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in this post-Katrina environment." The series premiere drew 3.6 million viewers, ranking as best season opener for any original A&E series ever.
On April 14, 2010, the series was suspended by Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand due to a sexual trafficking lawsuit filed against Seagal. The suit was later dropped. A&E resumed the show for the second season, which began on October 6, 2010. Production on Season 3 started in February 2011, with a change of location from Louisiana to Maricopa County, Arizona. Two episodes were scheduled to be aired, beginning on January 4, 2012. Shortly before the episodes were to be aired, Season 3 was suspended, with no explanations given. Season 3 premiered on January 2, 2014, but the show was not renewed for a fourth season. In October 2011, Seagal was sworn in as the Sheriff department's deputy sheriff of Hudspeth County, Texas, a law department responsible for patrolling a 98-mile stretch of the Texas-Mexico border.
Business ventures
In 1997, Seagal was to be featured in an action video game for the Nintendo 64 and the original PlayStation called Deadly Honor, but it was cancelled for undisclosed reasons in its beta phase of development. In 2005, Seagal Enterprises began to market an energy drink known as "Steven Seagal's Lightning Bolt", but it has since been discontinued. Seagal has also marketed an aftershave called "Scent of Action", and a range of knives and weapons. In 2013, Seagal joined newly formed Russian firearms manufacturer ORSIS, representing the company in both a promotional capacity as well as lobbying for the easement of US import restrictions on Russian sporting firearms.
Personal life
Seagal has an extensive sword collection, and at one time had a custom gun made for him once a month. Seagal owns a home in the Mandeville Canyon section of Los Angeles, and a home in Louisiana. He formerly lived on Staten Island in New York. Seagal is a Buddhist and in February 1997, Lama Penor Rinpoche from Palyul monastery announced that Seagal was a tulku, and specifically the reincarnation of Chungdrag Dorje, a 17th-century terton (treasure revealer) of the Nyingma, the oldest sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
Seagal holds citizenships in three countries: the United States, Serbia, and Russia. Born in the United States, he possesses jus soli U.S. citizenship. He was granted Serbian citizenship on January 11, 2016, following several visits to the country, and has been asked to teach aikido to the Serbian Special Forces.
Seagal was granted Russian citizenship on November 3, 2016; according to government spokesman Dmitry Peskov, "He was asking quite insistently and over a lengthy period to be granted citizenship." Various media outlets have cited Seagal and President Vladimir Putin as friends and Seagal stated that he "would like to consider [Putin] as a brother". Putin bestowed the Russian award of Order of Friendship medal upon Seagal in 2023; Peskov has said of Putin: "he's definitely seen some of his movies."
While in Japan, Seagal married his first wife, Miyako Fujitani, the daughter of an aikido instructor. With Fujitani, he had a son, actor and model Kentaro Seagal, and a daughter, writer and actress Ayako Fujitani. Seagal left Miyako to move back to the United States. During this time, he met actress and model Kelly LeBrock, with whom he began an affair that led to Fujitani granting him a divorce. Seagal was briefly married to actress Adrienne La Russa in 1984, but that marriage was annulled the same year over concerns that his divorce had not yet been finalized. LeBrock gave birth to Seagal's daughter Annaliza in early 1987. Seagal and LeBrock married in September 1987 and their son Dominic was born in June 1990. Their daughter Arissa was born in 1993. The following year, LeBrock filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences".
Seagal is married to Mongolian Erdenetuya Batsukh (Mongolian: Батсүхийн Эрдэнэтуяа), better known as "Elle". They have one son together, Kunzang. From an early age, Elle trained as a dancer at the Children's Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. After her graduation from high school and the Children's Palace, she pursued a career as a professional dancer. She won a number of dancing contests and was considered the top female dancer in Mongolia, excelling at ballroom dancing in particular. Elle first met Seagal in 2001, when she worked as his interpreter during his visit to Mongolia. Seagal has seven children from four relationships, two grandchildren by his eldest son, Kentaro and two granddaughters by his daughter Ayako Fujitani. In addition to his biological offspring, Seagal is the guardian of Yabshi Pan Rinzinwangmo, the only child of the 10th Panchen Lama of Tibet. When she studied in the United States, Seagal was her minder and bodyguard.
In 2017, former two time World boxing heavyweight champion George Foreman publicly challenged Seagal to an official ten-round MMA match in Las Vegas.
Political views and activism
Seagal lent his voice as a narrator for an activist film project, Medicine Lake Video. The project seeks to protect sacred tribal ground near Seagal's ranch in Siskiyou County. He also wrote an open letter to the leadership of Thailand in 2003, urging them to enact a law to prevent the torture of baby elephants. In 1999, Seagal was awarded a PETA Humanitarian Award.
In a March 2014 interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Seagal described Vladimir Putin as "one of the great living world leaders". He expressed support for the annexation of Crimea by Russia. In July 2014, following calls for a boycott, Seagal was dropped from the lineup of the August Blues Festival in Haapsalu, Estonia. Estonian musician Tõnis Mägi, minister of Foreign Affairs, Urmas Paet, and Parliament's Foreign Affairs chairman Marko Mihkelson had all condemned inviting Seagal into the country, with Paet saying, "Steven Seagal has tried to actively participate in politics during the past few months and has done it in a way which is unacceptable to the majority of the world that respects democracy and the rule of law."
In August 2014, Seagal appeared at a Night Wolves-organized show in Sevastopol, Crimea, supporting the Crimean annexation and depicting Ukraine as a country controlled by fascists. On November 3, Seagal was granted Russian citizenship by Putin. His views on Ukraine and Russian citizenship caused Ukraine to ban him from entering the country because he "committed socially dangerous actions". Seagal visited the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2015 and met with the country's long-time president, Ilham Aliyev. Seagal has expressed support for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and dispute with neighboring Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Seagal spoke out against the protests during the United States national anthem by professional athletes, stating, "I believe in free speech, I believe that everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but I don't agree that they should hold the United States of America or the world hostage by taking a venue where people are tuning in to watch a football game and imposing their political views." He also expressed skepticism of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
In 2017, Seagal collaborated with a former chair of the Arizona Republican Party, Tom Morrissey, in writing a self-published conspiracy thriller novel, The Way of the Shadow Wolves: The Deep State And The Hijacking Of America, which featured a Tohono Shadow Wolf tracker working for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to foil a plot by Mexican drug cartels and the "deep state" to smuggle in Islamist terrorists to the United States through the U.S.–Mexico border.
In October 2017, Seagal met with Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte while scouting locations in Manila for a possible film. During the visit, Seagal flashed Duterte's signature fist. In 2021, Seagal gave a katana to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry special envoy while visiting Canaima National Park. Maduro referred to Seagal as "my brother." On May 30, 2021, the pro-Kremlin systemic opposition party A Just Russia — Patriots — For Truth announced that Seagal had received an official membership card to the party.
In March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Seagal visited Moscow where he organized his birthday party, attended by many people connected to Vladimir Putin, including some affected by international sanctions. This has been criticized as a dissenting action that came amidst the growing international boycott of Russia. In August 2022, he visited Olenivka in Donetsk Oblast, the site of the Olenivka prison massacre, with Donetsk People's Republic leader Denis Pushilin, who claimed that Seagal was filming a documentary about the war in Donbas. Seagal also met with Leonid Slutsky. On February 27, 2023, he received the Russian Order of Friendship from Vladimir Putin for his "major contribution to the development of international cultural and humanitarian cooperation".
Controversies
Allegations and lawsuits
In May 1991 (during the filming of Out for Justice), Warner Bros. employees Raenne Malone, Nicole Selinger, and Christine Keeve accused Seagal of sexual harassment. In return for remaining silent, Malone and another woman received around $50,000 each in an out-of-court settlement. Around the same time, at least four actresses said that Seagal had made sexual advances, typically during late-night "casting sessions". In another incident, Jenny McCarthy said that Seagal asked her to undress during an audition for Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.
In 1995, Seagal was charged with employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and breach of contract. Cheryl Shuman filed a case against Seagal, accusing him of threatening and beating her during the filming of On Deadly Ground. In August 1995, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki dismissed the case, calling the claims "repetitive and unintelligible".
On April 12, 2010, 23-year-old Kayden Nguyen filed a lawsuit against Seagal in a Los Angeles County Superior Court, requesting more than one million dollars in damages. In her suit, Nguyen alleged Seagal engaged in sexual harassment, the illegal trafficking of females for sex, failure to prevent sexual harassment, and wrongful termination. Seagal denied the allegations, but his reality show Steven Seagal: Lawman was suspended while his attorneys resolved the case. On July 14, 2010, three months after Nguyen filed her suit, she withdrew her claim without explanation.
On August 30, 2011, Jesus Sanchez Llovera filed a lawsuit against Seagal over his part in a Maricopa county police raid with heavy weapons (notably including an army surplus tank) of Llovera's residence for suspicion of cockfighting. The incident was taped for Seagal's A&E reality show Steven Seagal: Lawman. Llovera was seeking $100,000 for damages caused during the raid and a letter of apology from Seagal to Llovera's children for the death of their family pet. Llovera claimed that his 11-month-old puppy was shot and killed during the raid. Llovera failed to file court-ordered paperwork after his attorney withdrew from the case and the lawsuit was dismissed in January 2013.
In 2017, actress Portia de Rossi accused Seagal of sexually harassing her during a movie audition. De Rossi alleged that during an audition in Seagal's office, he told her "how important it was to have chemistry off-screen" before unzipping his pants. On an April 18 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Katherine Heigl alleged on the final day of shooting for Under Siege 2 that Seagal told her that he had girlfriends the same age as the 16-year-old Heigl. Kimmel responded by displaying a photo from the film's promotional tour showing Seagal's hand on Heigl's chest while they posed for a photo.
On November 9, 2017, Dutch model Faviola Dadis posted a statement on her Instagram account stating that she also had been sexually assaulted by Seagal years earlier.
On January 15, 2018, actress Rachel Grant publicly accused Seagal of sexually assaulting her in 2002, during pre-production on his direct-to-video film, Out for a Kill (2003), stating that she lost her job on the film after the incident. In February 2018, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office acknowledged that it was reviewing a potential sex-abuse case involving Seagal.
In March 2018, Regina Simons publicly claimed that in 1993, when she was 18, Seagal raped her at his home when she arrived for what she thought was a wrap party for the movie On Deadly Ground. In September 2018, Los Angeles prosecutors refused to charge the actor based on Regina Simons accusations, due to California's statute of limitations. Two months later, the case involving the actress Rachel Grant was dismissed for the same reasons.
Victim of attempted extortion
Seagal became embroiled in a legal case involving film producer Julius R. Nasso after Nasso attempted to extort Seagal. Nasso produced seven of Seagal's films beginning with Marked for Death in 1990. The two "became best friends", according to Seagal, and formed Seagal/Nasso Productions together. Their relationship became strained, however, and their partnership ended in 2000. Believing that Seagal owed him $3 million in compensation for backing out of a four-film deal, Nasso enlisted members of the Gambino crime family to threaten Seagal in an attempt to recoup money Nasso allegedly lost.
Gambino family captain Anthony Ciccone first visited Seagal in Toronto during the filming of Exit Wounds in October 2000. In January 2001, Primo Cassarino and other gangsters picked up Seagal by car to bring him to a meeting with Ciccone at a Brooklyn restaurant. At the meeting, Ciccone reportedly told Seagal that he had a choice of making four promised movies with Nasso or paying Nasso a penalty of $150,000 per movie, and that if Seagal refused, Ciccone would kill him.
Seagal, who later claimed that he brought a handgun to the meeting, was able to stall Ciccone and escape the meeting unharmed. In the spring of 2001, Seagal sought out another mobster, Genovese crime family captain Angelo Prisco, to act as a "peacemaker". He visited Prisco in prison at Rahway, New Jersey and paid Prisco's lawyer $10,000.
On March 17, 2003, Cassarino, Ciccone and others were convicted of labor racketeering, extortion, and 63 other counts under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Seagal testified for the prosecution about the mobsters' extortion attempt. Nasso pleaded guilty to the charge of extortion conspiracy in August 2003. In February 2004, he was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, fined $75,000 and ordered to take mental health counselling on release from jail. In January 2008, Nasso agreed to drop a $60 million lawsuit against Seagal for an alleged breach of contract when the two settled out of court.
Conflicts with stuntmen
Seagal has been accused by former stunt performers who have worked with him, including Kane Hodder, Stephen Quadros, and Gene LeBell, of intentionally hitting stuntmen during scenes. Additionally, while serving as stunt coordinator for Out for Justice, LeBell allegedly got into an on-set altercation with Seagal over his mistreatment of some of the film's stunt performers. After the actor claimed that, due to his aikido training, he was "immune" to being choked unconscious, LeBell supposedly offered Seagal the opportunity to prove it. With Seagal's permission, LeBell then successfully choked him unconscious, with Seagal losing bowel control. Although LeBell has not directly confirmed the rumor, he implied that it was true in a 2012 interview. Seagal's bodyguard and stuntman Steven Lambert stated that a confrontation did happen, during which Seagal elbowed LeBell before he could lock the hold, after which LeBell flipped Seagal. Seagal has directly denied that a confrontation took place, calling LeBell a "sick, pathological scumbag liar".
Robart Wall included LeBell in his "Dirty Dozen", a list of martial artists willing to answer to a public challenge made by Seagal. LeBell however declined to participate, as the feud with Seagal was hurting him professionally. He did however criticize Seagal for his treatment of stuntmen, and left open the possibility of a professional fight if Seagal wanted.
Allegations of mistreatment towards stuntmen have continued throughout Seagal's later career, with both stuntman Peter Harris Kent (Arnold Schwarzenegger's stunt double) and Mike Leeder publicly criticizing his on-set antics. Actor John Leguizamo also claimed that during rehearsals on Executive Decision, in retaliation for laughing at him, Seagal caught him off guard and knocked him into a brick wall. Michael Jai White, who acted with him in a number of movies, stated that he routinely hit stunt men, and that he was known for it. He said they just accepted it. However, he stated that Seagal never hit him.
Filmography
Films
Television
Stunts
Awards and nominations
Discography
Songs from the Crystal Cave (2004)
Mojo Priest (2006)
References
External links
Official website
Steven Seagal at IMDb
Steven Seagal discography at Discogs
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Steven Frederic Seagal ( sih-GAHL; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-dan black belt and shihan in Aikikai aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instructor in Japan where he became the first non-Japanese and American to operate an aikido dojo. He later moved to Los Angeles where he continued teaching aikido. In 1988, Seagal made his acting debut in Above the Law, which is regarded as the first American film to feature aikido in fight sequences.
By 1991, he had starred in three commercially successful films, and would go on to achieve greater fame in Under Siege (1992), where he played Navy SEALs counter-terrorist expert Casey Ryback, a role he reprised in the sequel Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995). In 1994, he starred in his directorial debut film On Deadly Ground. During the latter half of the 1990s, Seagal starred in three more feature films and the direct-to-video film The Patriot. Subsequently, his career shifted to mostly direct-to-video productions. He has since appeared in films and reality shows, most notably as the main villain in Robert Rodriguez's Machete (2010), and Steven Seagal: Lawman, which depicted Seagal performing duties as a reserve deputy sheriff.
Seagal is a guitarist and has released two studio albums, Songs from the Crystal Cave and Mojo Priest, and performed on the scores of several of his films. He has worked with Stevie Wonder and Tony Rebel, who both performed on his debut album. He has been involved in a line of "therapeutic oil" products and energy drinks. Seagal is an environmentalist, animal rights activist, and supporter of 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. In 2004, he was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame.
Seagal has been the subject of controversy during his career. Since 1991, multiple women have accused Seagal of sexual harassment or assault. A supporter of Vladimir Putin, he backed the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He was granted both Russian and Serbian citizenship in 2016. In 2018, he was appointed Russia's special envoy to the U.S.
Early life
Seagal was born on April 10, 1952, in Lansing, Michigan, the son of Patricia Anne Fisher, a medical technician, and Samuel Seagal, a mathematics teacher. His mother was of Irish descent, while his father was Jewish. His paternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants. During an interview for the Russian talk show Let Them Talk, Seagal stated that he has paternal ancestors from the Siberian city of Vladivostok, as well as Belarus and Saint Petersburg. He claims that genetic testing determined that he has Yakut and Buryat ancestry as well. When he was 5, Seagal moved with his parents to Fullerton, California. His mother later told People magazine that prior to the move Seagal was frail and suffered from asthma: "He was a puny kid back then. But he really thrived after the move [from Michigan]."
Seagal attended Buena Park High School in Buena Park, California, and Fullerton College between 1970 and 1971. Seagal has been described as a “pathological liar” due to his propensity of making greatly exaggerated or outright fabricated statements about his personal life and achievements. For instance, Seagal has claimed that he was a student of the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, despite the fact that Ueshiba died in 1969 when Seagal was 17 and five years before Seagal moved to Japan at age 22 — when he moved there to allegedly avoid the draft for the Vietnam War by marrying a Japanese national.
Martial arts and Japan
According to Seagal's first wife, Miyako Fujitani: "I met Steven in California in the fall of 1974. He followed me back to Japan in October. We got married in December 1974." Fujitani was a second-degree black belt and daughter of an Osaka aikido master who had come to Los Angeles to teach aikido. After they married, they had a son, Kentaro, and a daughter, Ayako. Seagal taught at the school owned by Miyako's family and earned his aikido black belt in 1978. Interviewed in 1993, Fujitani stated that: "The only reason Steven was awarded the black belt was because the judge, who was famous for his laziness, fell asleep during Steven's presentation. The judge just gave him the black belt."
Seagal has claimed that he helped train CIA agents in Japan: "They saw my abilities, both with martial arts and with the language. You could say that I became an advisor to several CIA agents in the field, and through my friends in the CIA, I met many powerful people and did special works and favors." Fujitani has refuted these allegations and has also dismissed Seagal's claims that he had combatted yakuza. There is no evidence that Seagal has ever worked with the Central Intelligence Agency. In the early-1980s, Seagal had aspirations to return to America and become a movie star. Fujitani then "scrimped and saved for years, even denying herself and her children necessities, to help pay his way home." According to Fujitani, "he then availed himself of her savings and hied off."
Seagal returned to Taos, New Mexico, with his student (and later film stuntman) Craig Dunn, where they opened a dojo, although Seagal spent much of his time pursuing other ventures. After another period in Japan, Seagal returned to the United States in 1983 with senior student Haruo Matsuoka. They opened an aikido dojo, initially in North Hollywood, but later moved it to the city of West Hollywood. Seagal left Matsuoka in charge of the dojo, which the latter ran until the two parted ways in 1997. In the early 1980s, Seagal had his first experiences in the film industry by working as a fight coordinator on The Challenge (1982), which was shot in Japan, and Never Say Never Again (1983).
Later in his career, Seagal helped train Brazilian mixed martial artist Lyoto Machida, who credited Seagal for helping him perfect the front kick that he used to knock out Randy Couture at UFC 129 in May 2011.
Career
1987–1993: Hollywood action star
In 1987, Seagal began work on his first film as an actor, Above the Law (titled Nico in Europe), with director Andrew Davis. Seagal was asked to make the film by agent Michael Ovitz, who reportedly became convinced that Seagal had movie star potential after taking aikido classes with him. Ovitz financed Seagal's successful screen test, which led Seagal to be offered a contract by Warner Bros. Ovitz' role in starting Seagal's acting career led to a long-standing, unfounded rumor that the agent had made a bet that he could turn anyone into a movie star and decided to bank on his martial arts teacher to win his wager. Above the Law was a success, grossing $18,869,631 in the U.S. and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times stated "It contains 50 percent more plot than it needs, but that allows it room to grow in areas not ordinarily covered in action thrillers." Following its success, Seagal's subsequent movies were Hard to Kill, Marked for Death, and Out for Justice; all were box office hits and made Seagal an action hero. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Seagal is effective for both his novelty value and his ability to be both literally and figuratively disarming."
Seagal achieved mainstream success in 1992 with the release of Under Siege, which reunited him with director Andrew Davis for what critics described as "Die Hard on a battleship". Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 83% based on reviews from 30 critics. The site's consensus states: "A well-directed action thriller that makes the most of its confined setting, Under Siege marks a high point for early '90s action—and its star's spotty filmography." Reviewers praised Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey's performances as the film's villains, and it is often considered Seagal's best film to date.
On April 20, 1991, Seagal hosted Season 16, Episode 18 of Saturday Night Live. The series' long-time executive producer Lorne Michaels and cast-members David Spade and Tim Meadows called Seagal the show's "worst host ever". Spade and Meadows cited Seagal's humorlessness, his ill-treatment of the cast and writers, and his refusal to do a "Hans and Franz" sketch because the skit's title characters had previously said that they could "beat up Steven Seagal". Seagal has never been invited back to the show. Meadows commented, "He didn't realize that you can't tell somebody they're stupid on Wednesday and expect them to continue writing for you on Saturday."
SNL cast member Julia Sweeney later recalled that Seagal "had this idea that he's a therapist and he wanted Victoria Jackson to be his patient who's just been raped. And the therapist says, 'You're going to have to come to me twice a week for like three years," because, he said, 'That's how therapists freaking are. They're just trying to get your money.' And then he says that the psychiatrist tries to have sex with her." The cast and crew's difficulties with Seagal were later echoed on-air by Michaels during guest host Nicolas Cage's monologue in the September 26, 1992, Season 18 premiere. When Cage worried that he would do so poorly that the audience would regard him as "the biggest jerk who's ever been on the show", Michaels replied: "No, no. That would be Steven Seagal."
1994–2002: Career fluctuations
Seagal directed and starred in On Deadly Ground (1994), featuring Michael Caine, R. Lee Ermey, and Billy Bob Thornton in minor supporting roles. The film emphasized environmental and spiritual themes, signaling a break with his previous persona as a genre-ready inner-city cop. On Deadly Ground was poorly received by critics, especially denouncing Seagal's long environmental speech in the film. Regardless, Seagal considers it one of the most important and relevant moments in his career. Seagal followed this with a sequel to one of his most successful films, Under Siege, titled Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995). According to co-star Morris Chestnut, Seagal rewrote many of the scenes he was in. "The only time they really stuck to the script or had ad libs was the stuff when he really wasn't there. It was a lot of stuff, because at that time I think he was flying a helicopter, he was doing something... He would come to set, "Okay, you're gonna say this. I'm gonna say this and this is gonna happen and then you do that." That's how we did a lot of that movie."
In 1996, Seagal had a role in the Kurt Russell film Executive Decision, portraying a special ops soldier who appears in only the film's first 45 minutes. Former Warner Bros Vice President Bill Daly later stated Seagal agreed to the role in exchange for the studio forgiving him losing his director's salary due to going over-budget with On Deadly Ground. The same year, he filmed a police drama, The Glimmer Man (1996). In another environmentally conscious and commercially unsuccessful film, Fire Down Below (1997), he played an EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance agent fighting industrialists dumping toxic waste in the Kentucky hills.
In 1998, Seagal made The Patriot, another environmental thriller which was his first direct-to-video release in the United States (though it was released theatrically in most of the world). Seagal produced this film with his own money, and the film was shot on-location on and near his farm in Montana. After producing Prince of Central Park, Seagal returned to cinema screens with the release of Exit Wounds in March 2001. The film had fewer martial arts scenes than Seagal's previous films, but it was a commercial success, taking almost $80 million worldwide. It was considered at the time to be a "comeback" for Seagal. However, Seagal was unable to capitalize on this success and his next two projects were both critical and commercial failures. The movie Ticker, co-starring Tom Sizemore and Dennis Hopper, was filmed in San Francisco before Exit Wounds, and went straight to DVD. Half Past Dead, starring hip hop star Ja Rule, made less than $20 million worldwide. It was ranked in a Rotten Tomatoes editorial on the 100 worst movies of all time. Seagal was also nominated for Worst Actor at the 2002 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards and the 23rd Golden Raspberry Awards.
2003–present: Direct-to-video films and television
Other than his role as a villain in Robert Rodriguez's Machete (2010), almost all the films Seagal has made since the latter half of 2001 have been released direct-to-video (DTV) in North America, with some theatrical releases to other countries around the world. Seagal is credited as a producer and sometimes a writer on many of these DTV movies, which include Black Dawn, Belly of the Beast, Out of Reach, Submerged, Kill Switch, Urban Justice, Pistol Whipped, Against the Dark, Driven to Kill, A Dangerous Man, Born to Raise Hell, and The Keeper. Beyond the Law (2019) is one of Seagal's few movies to have had a theatrical release in North America since Machete.
In 2009, A&E Network premiered the reality television series Steven Seagal: Lawman, focusing on Seagal as a deputy in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. In the 2010s, Seagal's direct-to-video films increasingly started to become ensemble pieces, with Seagal playing minor or supporting roles, despite the fact that he often received top billing. Maximum Conviction, Force of Execution, Gutshot Straight, Code of Honor, Sniper Special Ops, The Asian Connection, The Perfect Weapon, Cartels, and China Salesman all exemplify this trend. This has led some commentators to criticize Seagal for his low-effort participation in movies which heavily promote his involvement.
In 2011, Seagal produced and starred in an American television action series entitled True Justice. The series first aired on Nitro, a TV station in Spain, on May 12, 2011. It premiered in the UK on 5 USA, with the first episode broadcast July 20, 2011. The series was renewed for a second season airing on ReelzChannel. In the UK, True Justice was repackaged as a series of DVD movies, with each disc editing together two episodes.
Influence and artistry
At the height of his career, Seagal was one of the biggest action movie stars in the world, and one of the most successful martial arts actors of the 1980s and 1990s, alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme. Credited with popularising aikido in film, Seagal is considered an important figure in the development and popularization of East Asian martial arts in the West.
Many of Seagal's films share unique elements which have become characteristic of his body of work. His characters often have an elite past affiliation with the CIA, Special Forces, or Black Ops (for example, Casey Ryback in Under Siege, a former Navy SEAL, Jack Cole in The Glimmer Man, an ex-CIA police detective, or Jonathan Cold in The Foreigner and Black Dawn, an ex-CIA Black Ops freelancer). His characters differ from those of other action movie icons by virtue of their near-invulnerability; they rarely face any significant physical threat, easily overpowering any opposition and seldom facing bodily harm or even temporary defeat. Two notable exceptions are Executive Decision (1996), in which Seagal's character is introduced as a false protagonist only to be killed halfway through and Machete (2010), which features Seagal in a rare villainous role.
Seagal's films also frequently reflect aspects of his personal life. His music appears in several of his films (for example, Into the Sun and Ticker, where he appears as part of a bar band), as does his fluency in other languages (he speaks Japanese in Into the Sun) and religion (Buddhism features prominently in The Glimmer Man and Belly of the Beast). His past as an aikido teacher is also incorporated into several films, for example Above the Law (which opens with a montage of real-life photos from Seagal's own past) or Shadow Man, where he is seen giving an aikido demonstration. Several of his films also feature prominent political messages, most notably the environmentalism evident in On Deadly Ground.
While Seagal's acting in Above the Law gained praise from the likes of Roger Ebert, Seagal has repeatedly faced criticism from both critics and fans who accuse him of playing the same character in many of his movies, as well as displaying a lack of emotional range. In fact, his typecasting has been informally referred to as "Seagalism" and has become the subject of much parody. In 2008, author and critic Vern published Seagalogy, a work which examines Seagal's filmography using the framework of auteur theory. Vern describes themes of government corruption (particularly involving the CIA), environmentalism, and adoption of foreign cultures as being examples of recurrent motifs in Seagal's films, among a variety of others. The first edition breaks Seagal's career into four chronological "eras", marked by specific differences in style and content. The 2012 updated edition adds a fifth era.
These chronological "eras" describe different phases of Seagal's career, and include the "Golden Era" (1988–1991), the period of Seagal's first successes, the "Silver Era" (1992–1997), during which Seagal saw the peak of his fame and made high-profile blockbusters, a "Transitional Period" (1998–2002) during which he made lower-profile or ensemble films, a lengthy "direct-to-video" period (his most prolific to date, 2003–2008) and, in the 2012 updated addition, a "Chief Seagal" period (2009–present) during which Seagal moved into television and began reflecting elements of his Steven Seagal: Lawman persona in his films.
Other ventures
Music
Seagal plays the guitar and among his extensive collection are guitars previously owned by "the Kings"; Albert, BB, and Freddie, as well as Bo Diddley, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Jimi Hendrix. In 2004, he released his first album, Songs from the Crystal Cave, which has a mix of pop, world, country, and blues music. It features duets with Tony Rebel, Lt. Stichie, Lady Saw, and Stevie Wonder. The soundtrack to Seagal's 2005 film Into the Sun features several songs from the album. One of his album tracks, "Girl It's Alright", was also released as a single in several countries alongside an accompanying music video. Seagal's second album, titled Mojo Priest, was released in April 2006 and spawned a concert tour. Thom Jurek of AllMusic panned the album, rating it 1.5 stars out of 5 and stating that Seagal's guitar playing "rarely rises above bar band pedigree" and that "all of this music takes itself so seriously that it borders on delusional excess."
Law enforcement work
Seagal has been a Reserve Deputy Chief in the Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Sheriff's Office. In the late 1980s, after teaching the deputies martial arts, unarmed combat, and marksmanship, then-sheriff Harry Lee (1932–2007) asked Seagal to join the force. Seagal's rank in Louisiana was ceremonial. Steven Seagal: Lawman, a series which follows his work in the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, premiered on A&E on December 2, 2009. Seagal stated that "I've decided to work with A&E on this series now because I believe it's important to show the nation all the positive work being accomplished here in Louisiana—to see the passion and commitment that comes from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in this post-Katrina environment." The series premiere drew 3.6 million viewers, ranking as best season opener for any original A&E series ever.
On April 14, 2010, the series was suspended by Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand due to a sexual trafficking lawsuit filed against Seagal. The suit was later dropped. A&E resumed the show for the second season, which began on October 6, 2010. Production on Season 3 started in February 2011, with a change of location from Louisiana to Maricopa County, Arizona. Two episodes were scheduled to be aired, beginning on January 4, 2012. Shortly before the episodes were to be aired, Season 3 was suspended, with no explanations given. Season 3 premiered on January 2, 2014, but the show was not renewed for a fourth season. In October 2011, Seagal was sworn in as the Sheriff department's deputy sheriff of Hudspeth County, Texas, a law department responsible for patrolling a 98-mile stretch of the Texas-Mexico border.
Business ventures
In 1997, Seagal was to be featured in an action video game for the Nintendo 64 and the original PlayStation called Deadly Honor, but it was cancelled for undisclosed reasons in its beta phase of development. In 2005, Seagal Enterprises began to market an energy drink known as "Steven Seagal's Lightning Bolt", but it has since been discontinued. Seagal has also marketed an aftershave called "Scent of Action", and a range of knives and weapons. In 2013, Seagal joined newly formed Russian firearms manufacturer ORSIS, representing the company in both a promotional capacity as well as lobbying for the easement of US import restrictions on Russian sporting firearms.
Personal life
Seagal has an extensive sword collection, and at one time had a custom gun made for him once a month. Seagal owns a home in the Mandeville Canyon section of Los Angeles, and a home in Louisiana. He formerly lived on Staten Island in New York. Seagal is a Buddhist and in February 1997, Lama Penor Rinpoche from Palyul monastery announced that Seagal was a tulku, and specifically the reincarnation of Chungdrag Dorje, a 17th-century terton (treasure revealer) of the Nyingma, the oldest sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
Seagal holds citizenships in three countries: the United States, Serbia, and Russia. Born in the United States, he possesses jus soli U.S. citizenship. He was granted Serbian citizenship on January 11, 2016, following several visits to the country, and has been asked to teach aikido to the Serbian Special Forces.
Seagal was granted Russian citizenship on November 3, 2016; according to government spokesman Dmitry Peskov, "He was asking quite insistently and over a lengthy period to be granted citizenship." Various media outlets have cited Seagal and President Vladimir Putin as friends and Seagal stated that he "would like to consider [Putin] as a brother". Putin bestowed the Russian award of Order of Friendship medal upon Seagal in 2023; Peskov has said of Putin: "he's definitely seen some of his movies."
While in Japan, Seagal married his first wife, Miyako Fujitani, the daughter of an aikido instructor. With Fujitani, he had a son, actor and model Kentaro Seagal, and a daughter, writer and actress Ayako Fujitani. Seagal left Miyako to move back to the United States. During this time, he met actress and model Kelly LeBrock, with whom he began an affair that led to Fujitani granting him a divorce. Seagal was briefly married to actress Adrienne La Russa in 1984, but that marriage was annulled the same year over concerns that his divorce had not yet been finalized. LeBrock gave birth to Seagal's daughter Annaliza in early 1987. Seagal and LeBrock married in September 1987 and their son Dominic was born in June 1990. Their daughter Arissa was born in 1993. The following year, LeBrock filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences".
Seagal is married to Mongolian Erdenetuya Batsukh (Mongolian: Батсүхийн Эрдэнэтуяа), better known as "Elle". They have one son together, Kunzang. From an early age, Elle trained as a dancer at the Children's Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. After her graduation from high school and the Children's Palace, she pursued a career as a professional dancer. She won a number of dancing contests and was considered the top female dancer in Mongolia, excelling at ballroom dancing in particular. Elle first met Seagal in 2001, when she worked as his interpreter during his visit to Mongolia. Seagal has seven children from four relationships, two grandchildren by his eldest son, Kentaro and two granddaughters by his daughter Ayako Fujitani. In addition to his biological offspring, Seagal is the guardian of Yabshi Pan Rinzinwangmo, the only child of the 10th Panchen Lama of Tibet. When she studied in the United States, Seagal was her minder and bodyguard.
In 2017, former two time World boxing heavyweight champion George Foreman publicly challenged Seagal to an official ten-round MMA match in Las Vegas.
Political views and activism
Seagal lent his voice as a narrator for an activist film project, Medicine Lake Video. The project seeks to protect sacred tribal ground near Seagal's ranch in Siskiyou County. He also wrote an open letter to the leadership of Thailand in 2003, urging them to enact a law to prevent the torture of baby elephants. In 1999, Seagal was awarded a PETA Humanitarian Award.
In a March 2014 interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Seagal described Vladimir Putin as "one of the great living world leaders". He expressed support for the annexation of Crimea by Russia. In July 2014, following calls for a boycott, Seagal was dropped from the lineup of the August Blues Festival in Haapsalu, Estonia. Estonian musician Tõnis Mägi, minister of Foreign Affairs, Urmas Paet, and Parliament's Foreign Affairs chairman Marko Mihkelson had all condemned inviting Seagal into the country, with Paet saying, "Steven Seagal has tried to actively participate in politics during the past few months and has done it in a way which is unacceptable to the majority of the world that respects democracy and the rule of law."
In August 2014, Seagal appeared at a Night Wolves-organized show in Sevastopol, Crimea, supporting the Crimean annexation and depicting Ukraine as a country controlled by fascists. On November 3, Seagal was granted Russian citizenship by Putin. His views on Ukraine and Russian citizenship caused Ukraine to ban him from entering the country because he "committed socially dangerous actions". Seagal visited the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2015 and met with the country's long-time president, Ilham Aliyev. Seagal has expressed support for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and dispute with neighboring Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Seagal spoke out against the protests during the United States national anthem by professional athletes, stating, "I believe in free speech, I believe that everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but I don't agree that they should hold the United States of America or the world hostage by taking a venue where people are tuning in to watch a football game and imposing their political views." He also expressed skepticism of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
In 2017, Seagal collaborated with a former chair of the Arizona Republican Party, Tom Morrissey, in writing a self-published conspiracy thriller novel, The Way of the Shadow Wolves: The Deep State And The Hijacking Of America, which featured a Tohono Shadow Wolf tracker working for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to foil a plot by Mexican drug cartels and the "deep state" to smuggle in Islamist terrorists to the United States through the U.S.–Mexico border.
In October 2017, Seagal met with Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte while scouting locations in Manila for a possible film. During the visit, Seagal flashed Duterte's signature fist. In 2021, Seagal gave a katana to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry special envoy while visiting Canaima National Park. Maduro referred to Seagal as "my brother." On May 30, 2021, the pro-Kremlin systemic opposition party A Just Russia — Patriots — For Truth announced that Seagal had received an official membership card to the party.
In March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Seagal visited Moscow where he organized his birthday party, attended by many people connected to Vladimir Putin, including some affected by international sanctions. This has been criticized as a dissenting action that came amidst the growing international boycott of Russia. In August 2022, he visited Olenivka in Donetsk Oblast, the site of the Olenivka prison massacre, with Donetsk People's Republic leader Denis Pushilin, who claimed that Seagal was filming a documentary about the war in Donbas. Seagal also met with Leonid Slutsky. On February 27, 2023, he received the Russian Order of Friendship from Vladimir Putin for his "major contribution to the development of international cultural and humanitarian cooperation".
Controversies
Allegations and lawsuits
In May 1991 (during the filming of Out for Justice), Warner Bros. employees Raenne Malone, Nicole Selinger, and Christine Keeve accused Seagal of sexual harassment. In return for remaining silent, Malone and another woman received around $50,000 each in an out-of-court settlement. Around the same time, at least four actresses said that Seagal had made sexual advances, typically during late-night "casting sessions". In another incident, Jenny McCarthy said that Seagal asked her to undress during an audition for Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.
In 1995, Seagal was charged with employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and breach of contract. Cheryl Shuman filed a case against Seagal, accusing him of threatening and beating her during the filming of On Deadly Ground. In August 1995, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki dismissed the case, calling the claims "repetitive and unintelligible".
On April 12, 2010, 23-year-old Kayden Nguyen filed a lawsuit against Seagal in a Los Angeles County Superior Court, requesting more than one million dollars in damages. In her suit, Nguyen alleged Seagal engaged in sexual harassment, the illegal trafficking of females for sex, failure to prevent sexual harassment, and wrongful termination. Seagal denied the allegations, but his reality show Steven Seagal: Lawman was suspended while his attorneys resolved the case. On July 14, 2010, three months after Nguyen filed her suit, she withdrew her claim without explanation.
On August 30, 2011, Jesus Sanchez Llovera filed a lawsuit against Seagal over his part in a Maricopa county police raid with heavy weapons (notably including an army surplus tank) of Llovera's residence for suspicion of cockfighting. The incident was taped for Seagal's A&E reality show Steven Seagal: Lawman. Llovera was seeking $100,000 for damages caused during the raid and a letter of apology from Seagal to Llovera's children for the death of their family pet. Llovera claimed that his 11-month-old puppy was shot and killed during the raid. Llovera failed to file court-ordered paperwork after his attorney withdrew from the case and the lawsuit was dismissed in January 2013.
In 2017, actress Portia de Rossi accused Seagal of sexually harassing her during a movie audition. De Rossi alleged that during an audition in Seagal's office, he told her "how important it was to have chemistry off-screen" before unzipping his pants. On an April 18 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Katherine Heigl alleged on the final day of shooting for Under Siege 2 that Seagal told her that he had girlfriends the same age as the 16-year-old Heigl. Kimmel responded by displaying a photo from the film's promotional tour showing Seagal's hand on Heigl's chest while they posed for a photo.
On November 9, 2017, Dutch model Faviola Dadis posted a statement on her Instagram account stating that she also had been sexually assaulted by Seagal years earlier.
On January 15, 2018, actress Rachel Grant publicly accused Seagal of sexually assaulting her in 2002, during pre-production on his direct-to-video film, Out for a Kill (2003), stating that she lost her job on the film after the incident. In February 2018, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office acknowledged that it was reviewing a potential sex-abuse case involving Seagal.
In March 2018, Regina Simons publicly claimed that in 1993, when she was 18, Seagal raped her at his home when she arrived for what she thought was a wrap party for the movie On Deadly Ground. In September 2018, Los Angeles prosecutors refused to charge the actor based on Regina Simons accusations, due to California's statute of limitations. Two months later, the case involving the actress Rachel Grant was dismissed for the same reasons.
Victim of attempted extortion
Seagal became embroiled in a legal case involving film producer Julius R. Nasso after Nasso attempted to extort Seagal. Nasso produced seven of Seagal's films beginning with Marked for Death in 1990. The two "became best friends", according to Seagal, and formed Seagal/Nasso Productions together. Their relationship became strained, however, and their partnership ended in 2000. Believing that Seagal owed him $3 million in compensation for backing out of a four-film deal, Nasso enlisted members of the Gambino crime family to threaten Seagal in an attempt to recoup money Nasso allegedly lost.
Gambino family captain Anthony Ciccone first visited Seagal in Toronto during the filming of Exit Wounds in October 2000. In January 2001, Primo Cassarino and other gangsters picked up Seagal by car to bring him to a meeting with Ciccone at a Brooklyn restaurant. At the meeting, Ciccone reportedly told Seagal that he had a choice of making four promised movies with Nasso or paying Nasso a penalty of $150,000 per movie, and that if Seagal refused, Ciccone would kill him.
Seagal, who later claimed that he brought a handgun to the meeting, was able to stall Ciccone and escape the meeting unharmed. In the spring of 2001, Seagal sought out another mobster, Genovese crime family captain Angelo Prisco, to act as a "peacemaker". He visited Prisco in prison at Rahway, New Jersey and paid Prisco's lawyer $10,000.
On March 17, 2003, Cassarino, Ciccone and others were convicted of labor racketeering, extortion, and 63 other counts under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Seagal testified for the prosecution about the mobsters' extortion attempt. Nasso pleaded guilty to the charge of extortion conspiracy in August 2003. In February 2004, he was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, fined $75,000 and ordered to take mental health counselling on release from jail. In January 2008, Nasso agreed to drop a $60 million lawsuit against Seagal for an alleged breach of contract when the two settled out of court.
Conflicts with stuntmen
Seagal has been accused by former stunt performers who have worked with him, including Kane Hodder, Stephen Quadros, and Gene LeBell, of intentionally hitting stuntmen during scenes. Additionally, while serving as stunt coordinator for Out for Justice, LeBell allegedly got into an on-set altercation with Seagal over his mistreatment of some of the film's stunt performers. After the actor claimed that, due to his aikido training, he was "immune" to being choked unconscious, LeBell supposedly offered Seagal the opportunity to prove it. With Seagal's permission, LeBell then successfully choked him unconscious, with Seagal losing bowel control. Although LeBell has not directly confirmed the rumor, he implied that it was true in a 2012 interview. Seagal's bodyguard and stuntman Steven Lambert stated that a confrontation did happen, during which Seagal elbowed LeBell before he could lock the hold, after which LeBell flipped Seagal. Seagal has directly denied that a confrontation took place, calling LeBell a "sick, pathological scumbag liar".
Robart Wall included LeBell in his "Dirty Dozen", a list of martial artists willing to answer to a public challenge made by Seagal. LeBell however declined to participate, as the feud with Seagal was hurting him professionally. He did however criticize Seagal for his treatment of stuntmen, and left open the possibility of a professional fight if Seagal wanted.
Allegations of mistreatment towards stuntmen have continued throughout Seagal's later career, with both stuntman Peter Harris Kent (Arnold Schwarzenegger's stunt double) and Mike Leeder publicly criticizing his on-set antics. Actor John Leguizamo also claimed that during rehearsals on Executive Decision, in retaliation for laughing at him, Seagal caught him off guard and knocked him into a brick wall. Michael Jai White, who acted with him in a number of movies, stated that he routinely hit stunt men, and that he was known for it. He said they just accepted it. However, he stated that Seagal never hit him.
Filmography
Films
Television
Stunts
Awards and nominations
Discography
Songs from the Crystal Cave (2004)
Mojo Priest (2006)
References
External links
Official website
Steven Seagal at IMDb
Steven Seagal discography at Discogs
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Linda Hamilton
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Linda Carroll Hamilton (born September 26, 1956) is an American actress. Known for portraying tough, resilient characters, she made her film debut in 1979 before achieving fame with her starring role as Sarah Connor in The Terminator (1984) and two of its sequels, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019). She is the recipient of various accolades, including two Saturn Awards, two MTV Movie Awards, a Satellite Award and a Romy Award, as well as nominations for three Golden Globes and one Primetime Emmy.
Hamilton's other film credits include Children of the Corn (1984), Black Moon Rising, King Kong Lives (both 1986), Mr. Destiny (1990), Dante's Peak (1997), and The Kid & I (2005). On television, she starred as Catherine Chandler in Beauty and the Beast (1987–1989) and played the recurring role of Mary Elizabeth Bartowski on NBC's Chuck (2010–2012). Her stage work includes Laura (Tiffany Theater, 2000) and The Night of the Iguana (Berkshire Theatre, 2006). Divorced from actor Bruce Abbott and director James Cameron, she has a child from each marriage.
Early life
Hamilton was born in Salisbury, Maryland, on September 26, 1956. Hamilton's father (1928-1962) died when she was five; her mother (1931-2019) later married a police chief. Hamilton had an identical twin sister, Leslie Hamilton Freas (1956–2020), as well as one older sister, a younger brother, and a stepbrother. She has said that she was raised in a "very boring, white Anglo-Saxon" household, and that she "voraciously read books" in her spare time. Hamilton went to Wicomico Junior High and Wicomico High School in Salisbury.
She studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York City. Hamilton has said that her acting professor at Washington College told her she had no hope of earning a living as an actress. In New York, she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg.
Career
1979–1983: Film debut and early roles
Hamilton made her professional debut at age 23 with a small part in the 1979 drama Night-Flowers. Her first major role came the following year when she appeared as Lisa Rogers on the short-lived CBS soap opera Secrets of Midland Heights (December 1980–January 1981). She appeared in the TV series "King's Crossing," as Lauren Hollister, immediately afterward in 1982. Hamilton played in supporting roles to actress Marilyn Jones in both of those last
two efforts, with Linda Hamilton playing the bad girl in each instance. Hamilton subsequentally appeared in her first starring film role in the low-budget thriller TAG: The Assassination Game (1982), and co-starred that same year in the made-for-television movie Country Gold. She was listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1982" in John A. Willis' Screen World, Vol. 34.
1984–1997: The Terminator franchise and television work
Hamilton made two prominent film appearances in 1984: firstly, a starring role in Children of the Corn, a horror film based on the short story by Stephen King. Hamilton played Vicky Baxter, a motorist who runs into trouble while travelling with her boyfriend through rural Nebraska. The film was financially profitable, making US$14 million at the domestic box office against a budget of US$3 million, but received generally negative reviews. In a more positive assessment by The New York Times, Hamilton's performance was praised. Her next role was co-starring in James Cameron's science fiction action film The Terminator (1984) as Sarah Connor, a young waitress—and soon-to-be mother of a valiant resistance leader—who finds herself at the center of a nightmarish ordeal when a soldier travels back in time to help her defeat the titular cyborg assassin, sent from the future to execute her. The film was a surprise commercial hit, topping the U.S. box office for two weeks. Critics believed it to be a perfect example of its genre, with some attributing its strength to Hamilton's performance; The Hollywood Reporter wrote that she displayed "tremendous resiliency" as Connor, while Janet Maslin felt she played the part "engrossingly" in her review for The New York Times. That same year, she guest-starred in four episodes of the NBC police drama Hill Street Blues.
Following the success of The Terminator, Hamilton starred as car thief Nina in the action thriller Black Moon Rising (1986). Also that year, she guest-starred in an episode of Murder, She Wrote and headlined the big-budget adventure film King Kong Lives, a sequel to the 1976 remake of King Kong. The film was a moderate financial success but was universally panned by critics.
Hamilton's next major role was that of savvy district attorney Catherine Chandler in the television series Beauty and the Beast. A modern re-telling of the classic fairy tale, the show ran for three seasons on CBS between 1987 and 1990, though Hamilton requested to be written out during its third season when she fell pregnant. For her portrayal of Chandler, she won Austria's Romy Award for Favorite Actress in a Series in 1990, as well as receiving Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations in 1988 and 1989, respectively.
Hamilton returned to film with a starring role opposite in the 1990 fantasy-comedy Mr. Destiny. In her review for the Los Angeles Times, Sheila Benson believed that the film only worked because of "Hamilton's intrinsic warmth". The following year, she re-teamed with James Cameron to star in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Reported at the time to be the most expensive motion picture ever made, it went on to gross over US$500 million worldwide; more than any other film that year. Of his decision to present a more troubled version of the Sarah Connor character, Cameron later reflected, "It was all inspired by Linda really. I called her and said, 'Hey, we're [doing] another Terminator'. And she [replied], 'I want to be crazy'. I said, 'I can do that — I'll put you in a mental hospital'. She said, 'Perfect. That's what I want'". Hamilton underwent intense physical training to emphasize the character's transformation during the seven years since the first film. "I hated [my trainer] most of the time", she later said; "He would yell at me and throw tennis balls while I was shooting weapons blindfolded. I'd go off to the bathroom to cry for a minute, then I'd wipe away my tears and go back". Critics were impressed by Hamilton's "wild-eyed" performance, with Derek Malcolm of The Guardian singling out her "formidable sweaty intensity". She went on to receive two MTV Movie Awards and the 1991 Saturn Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Connor, which has since been recognised as one of the most iconic female roles in cinematic history. Following the success of T2, she was invited to host an episode of Saturday Night Live on November 16, 1991.
Hamilton's subsequent film appearances were in the psychological thrillers Silent Fall (1994) and Separate Lives (1995). For her performance in the television movie A Mother's Prayer (1995), where she played a widow diagnosed with AIDS, Hamilton received a CableACE Award and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. On her decision to take the part, she said, "So many people think I'm just this incredibly ferocious, fierce woman. Sarah Connor has sort of etched herself into my psyche and will never go away. So I chose [to play] this woman because she was a great balance of strength and frailty". She put herself on a strict diet in preparation for the role, saying, "I had to know what it was like … I knew that I had to sort of sink in on myself. So I got very, very thin".
After guest-starring in an episode of Frasier, Hamilton played leading roles in two features that were released one week apart in 1997: political thriller Shadow Conspiracy and the big-budget action-adventure film Dante's Peak. The latter proved to be one of the biggest commercial hits of the year, grossing US$180 million. Critics were mostly unimpressed by the film's derivative narrative, but some praised the effects and performances, with Roger Ebert writing in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, "In Brosnan and Hamilton [the filmmakers] have actors who play for realism and don't go over the top". For her portrayal of small-town mayor Rachel Wando, Hamilton was named Best Actress at the following year's Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. Speaking of her casting, she said, "Police officers, military officers and lesbians. That was pretty much what I [used to get offered] and nothing else. [When I auditioned for director] Roger Donaldson, he literally said to me: 'You've never played a part like this before' … And [I said], 'What do you mean?' [He replied] 'Normal.' He thought I couldn't play normal! Jesus! It was just the way people thought [about me]".
1998–2018: Stage, television, and film roles
Between 1998 and 1999, Hamilton appeared in a succession of voice roles in episodes of The New Batman Adventures, Hercules, and Batman Beyond. Her next project was the Lifetime movie Sex & Mrs. X (2000), where she played a magazine writer who experiences a sexual reawakening when she is assigned to interview an upper-class Parisian madam. The Los Angeles Times called it an "[intriguing] character study that passes muster on the strength of good performances by [its leads]", adding that Hamilton was both "tough" and "tender" in the part. Later that year, she received a Satellite Award for Best Actress for her performance in the television film The Color of Courage, which Variety called "excellent". She also headlined a production of Laura, an adaptation of the 1944 film noir of the same name, at California's Tiffany Theater in December 2000. Hamilton received praise for her portrayal of the title character, with Jay Reiner of The Hollywood Reporter commenting:
There's an inherent risk in reviving a film classic like Laura … [original star] Gene Tierney … left such an indelible impression that any [actress] trying to fill [her] shoes [is] probably going to suffer by comparison. Linda Hamilton accepts this risk, and even turns it to her advantage, in [this] sparkling production … Where [Tierney] gave us Laura Hunt as a ravishing femme fatale shrouded in mystery, Hamilton gives us a genuine charmer — a woman intriguing enough to invite attention, elusive enough to ensure pursuit and smart enough to make it all seem worthwhile … after a few minutes in her company, you don't want to be anywhere else.
The following year, Hamilton starred in the small-scale mystery thriller Skeletons in the Closet (2001), subsequently winning a DVD Exclusive Award for Best Supporting Actress. She then portrayed the real-life Ethel Rosenberg in Worse Than Murder: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, admitting that her decision to "transform myself into a tenement Jew from the Lower East Side" had been a daunting one: "I'm already prepared for the critics to be unkind to me, like, 'Why is she playing a Jewish character' or 'What's she trying to do, prove she's an actress?' But the fear is just part of the process". The play opened in May 2002—at the Ventura Theatre in California—to a rave review from Variety, who felt that Hamilton played her part with "sumptuous veracity". Next, she had supporting roles in two films: the post-Vietnam war drama Missing in America (2005) and the Penelope Spheeris-directed comedy The Kid & I (2005).
Hamilton's portrayal of Maxine Faulk in the 2006 stage adaptation of The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams was met with acclaim. Writing for Variety, Frank Rizzo said, "[She is] well cast as the recently widowed but hardly mourning proprietress … She takes over the stage with natural assurance and plays this overripe survivor with lusty humor and cunning". The production ran between August 1–12 at the Berkshire Theatre in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Hamilton reprised the role of Sarah Connor for a second time with a voice cameo in 2009's Terminator Salvation, which grossed US$371 million at the worldwide box office. In 2010, she joined the cast of NBC's espionage-style comedy series Chuck, playing the recurring role of CIA agent Mary Elizabeth Bartowski. That same year, she guest-starred in three episodes of the Showtime dark comedy Weeds—as the marijuana supplier for the series' protagonist—and appeared as a "cartoon American cop" in the poorly received Irish film Holy Water.
In 2011, Hamilton narrated the Chiller network's The Future of Fear, a documentary on the history of horror films. She then played a fictional U.S. president in the television miniseries Air Force One Is Down (2013), and had recurring roles as a bounty hunter on the Showcase series Lost Girl (2013) and a mentally ill mother on Syfy's Defiance (2014–2015). Her next projects were the television pilot Shoot Me Nicely (2016), which was later released as a short film, and the small-scale science fiction film Curvature (2017). In his evaluation of the latter for The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck described it as "awfully loopy", adding, "it's always a pleasure to see Hamilton, even if it's painfully obvious that she's been cast [here] because of the genre resonance she brings to the table".
2019–present: Return to mainstream projects
Hamilton returned once more to the Terminator franchise and the character of Sarah Connor when she headlined the Tim Miller-directed Terminator: Dark Fate, set 25 years after the events of T2. She admitted to being reluctant to sign on to the project, having spent the previous few years away from the spotlight: "I love my alone time like no one you've ever met … That was my hesitation: Do I want to trade this lovely, authentic life [that I've built] for that? I didn't want my neighbours looking at me differently. We're neighbors because of who we are, not what we do, and I don't want that to creep into my life again".
Filming on Dark Fate took place in Hungary, Spain and the U.S. between May and November 2018. Though a financial disappointment, it received generally positive reviews upon its 2019 release, particularly for Hamilton's performance. Writing for Rolling Stone, David Fear felt that she provided the film's "sinew, heart, and soul", and said of her introduction:
A truck pulls up, we see boots hit the ground, and there she is: Sarah Connor 1.0, sunglasses on, stoic and iconic as fuck, gunning down a sprinting shape-shifter and employing a rocket launcher for a finishing move. It's the sort of movie entrance that the character (and the actor) deserves, the kind that prompts spontaneous, uncontrollable cheering in theaters … Her weathered survivor will charitably share the screen with newcomers and old co-stars alike, but from this moment on, Dark Fate is Hamilton's property. She calmly slips the superior sequel into the back pocket of her faded work pants and walks away with it. Everyone else is acting in her movie.
Later that year, Hamilton was named Best Actress at the Los Angeles Crime and Horror Film Festival for her portrayal of "King George"—a ruthless crime boss—in Easy Does It, which Film Threat described as "excellent … a throwback to grindhouse adventure films [and westerns]". She began appearing as General McCallister on Syfy's Resident Alien in 2021, which IndieWire called a "genre-bending … spry half-hour comedy [series]". Also that year, she guest-starred as a hippie life coach in six episodes of the TNT dark comedy Claws during its final season.
It was announced in June 2023 that Hamilton would join the ensemble of the Netflix mystery-horror series Stranger Things for its fifth and final season—due to air in late 2025—as an unspecified character, later revealed to be Dr. Kay. A self-proclaimed fan of the show, she said of her casting, "I don't know how to be a fangirl and an actress at the same time. I'm going to work on that".
Personal life
Hamilton's twin sister, Leslie, died on August 22, 2020, at the age of 63. Leslie appeared as Linda's double in a few scenes of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, including the scene in which the T-1000 disguises itself as Sarah Connor. Hamilton has described herself politically as a Democrat, but she voted for Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger—her Terminator co-star—in the 2003 California election after his campaign convinced her he was suitable for the job. While filming Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Hamilton suffered permanent hearing damage in one ear because she had forgotten to put in her earplugs for a scene which called for Schwarzenegger to fire a shotgun inside an elevator.
Marriage and relationships
Hamilton has been married and divorced twice. Her first marriage was to actor Bruce Abbott, from 1982 to 1989. He left Hamilton when she was pregnant with their son Dalton, who was born in 1989. She later stated Abbott departed due to her mood swings and physical abuse towards him stemming from bipolar disorder, and she publicly apologized to him 14 years later in 2004.
In 1991, Hamilton began a relationship and moved in with film director James Cameron after filming Terminator 2: Judgment Day. They had a daughter, born in 1993. Hamilton said she experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her second child. Hamilton and Cameron briefly separated when Cameron was filming Titanic (1997) and he began a relationship with actress Suzy Amis, who played a small role in the film. Hamilton and Cameron later got back together and married in 1997; this ended in a $50 million divorce settlement for Hamilton in 1999.
In a 2019 interview for The New York Times, Hamilton said she had been celibate for "at least 15 years". "One loses track, because it just doesn't matter — or at least it doesn't matter to me. I have a very romantic relationship with my world every day and the people who are in it," she said.
Mental health
Hamilton started to binge eat when she entered high school. After seeing a psychologist for the first time at the age of 22 in 1978–1979, she thought acting would help her feel better, but she ended up having a breakdown in the beginning of her acting career and turned to drugs and alcohol use and self-medicated with cocaine in order to get her confidence up. In an October 2005 appearance on Larry King Live, Hamilton discussed her depression and bipolar disorder, which led to violent mood swings and suicidal thoughts during her marriage to Abbott and, in her view, caused the failure of both her marriages. She also discussed how she eventually received therapy and medication to manage the condition.
Filmography
Accolades
References
External links
Linda Hamilton at IMDb
Linda Hamilton at the TCM Movie Database
|
Linda Carroll Hamilton (born September 26, 1956) is an American actress. Known for portraying tough, resilient characters, she made her film debut in 1979 before achieving fame with her starring role as Sarah Connor in The Terminator (1984) and two of its sequels, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019). She is the recipient of various accolades, including two Saturn Awards, two MTV Movie Awards, a Satellite Award and a Romy Award, as well as nominations for three Golden Globes and one Primetime Emmy.
Hamilton's other film credits include Children of the Corn (1984), Black Moon Rising, King Kong Lives (both 1986), Mr. Destiny (1990), Dante's Peak (1997), and The Kid & I (2005). On television, she starred as Catherine Chandler in Beauty and the Beast (1987–1989) and played the recurring role of Mary Elizabeth Bartowski on NBC's Chuck (2010–2012). Her stage work includes Laura (Tiffany Theater, 2000) and The Night of the Iguana (Berkshire Theatre, 2006). Divorced from actor Bruce Abbott and director James Cameron, she has a child from each marriage.
Early life
Hamilton was born in Salisbury, Maryland, on September 26, 1956. Hamilton's father (1928-1962) died when she was five; her mother (1931-2019) later married a police chief. Hamilton had an identical twin sister, Leslie Hamilton Freas (1956–2020), as well as one older sister, a younger brother, and a stepbrother. She has said that she was raised in a "very boring, white Anglo-Saxon" household, and that she "voraciously read books" in her spare time. Hamilton went to Wicomico Junior High and Wicomico High School in Salisbury.
She studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York City. Hamilton has said that her acting professor at Washington College told her she had no hope of earning a living as an actress. In New York, she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg.
Career
1979–1983: Film debut and early roles
Hamilton made her professional debut at age 23 with a small part in the 1979 drama Night-Flowers. Her first major role came the following year when she appeared as Lisa Rogers on the short-lived CBS soap opera Secrets of Midland Heights (December 1980–January 1981). She appeared in the TV series "King's Crossing," as Lauren Hollister, immediately afterward in 1982. Hamilton played in supporting roles to actress Marilyn Jones in both of those last
two efforts, with Linda Hamilton playing the bad girl in each instance. Hamilton subsequentally appeared in her first starring film role in the low-budget thriller TAG: The Assassination Game (1982), and co-starred that same year in the made-for-television movie Country Gold. She was listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1982" in John A. Willis' Screen World, Vol. 34.
1984–1997: The Terminator franchise and television work
Hamilton made two prominent film appearances in 1984: firstly, a starring role in Children of the Corn, a horror film based on the short story by Stephen King. Hamilton played Vicky Baxter, a motorist who runs into trouble while travelling with her boyfriend through rural Nebraska. The film was financially profitable, making US$14 million at the domestic box office against a budget of US$3 million, but received generally negative reviews. In a more positive assessment by The New York Times, Hamilton's performance was praised. Her next role was co-starring in James Cameron's science fiction action film The Terminator (1984) as Sarah Connor, a young waitress—and soon-to-be mother of a valiant resistance leader—who finds herself at the center of a nightmarish ordeal when a soldier travels back in time to help her defeat the titular cyborg assassin, sent from the future to execute her. The film was a surprise commercial hit, topping the U.S. box office for two weeks. Critics believed it to be a perfect example of its genre, with some attributing its strength to Hamilton's performance; The Hollywood Reporter wrote that she displayed "tremendous resiliency" as Connor, while Janet Maslin felt she played the part "engrossingly" in her review for The New York Times. That same year, she guest-starred in four episodes of the NBC police drama Hill Street Blues.
Following the success of The Terminator, Hamilton starred as car thief Nina in the action thriller Black Moon Rising (1986). Also that year, she guest-starred in an episode of Murder, She Wrote and headlined the big-budget adventure film King Kong Lives, a sequel to the 1976 remake of King Kong. The film was a moderate financial success but was universally panned by critics.
Hamilton's next major role was that of savvy district attorney Catherine Chandler in the television series Beauty and the Beast. A modern re-telling of the classic fairy tale, the show ran for three seasons on CBS between 1987 and 1990, though Hamilton requested to be written out during its third season when she fell pregnant. For her portrayal of Chandler, she won Austria's Romy Award for Favorite Actress in a Series in 1990, as well as receiving Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations in 1988 and 1989, respectively.
Hamilton returned to film with a starring role opposite in the 1990 fantasy-comedy Mr. Destiny. In her review for the Los Angeles Times, Sheila Benson believed that the film only worked because of "Hamilton's intrinsic warmth". The following year, she re-teamed with James Cameron to star in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Reported at the time to be the most expensive motion picture ever made, it went on to gross over US$500 million worldwide; more than any other film that year. Of his decision to present a more troubled version of the Sarah Connor character, Cameron later reflected, "It was all inspired by Linda really. I called her and said, 'Hey, we're [doing] another Terminator'. And she [replied], 'I want to be crazy'. I said, 'I can do that — I'll put you in a mental hospital'. She said, 'Perfect. That's what I want'". Hamilton underwent intense physical training to emphasize the character's transformation during the seven years since the first film. "I hated [my trainer] most of the time", she later said; "He would yell at me and throw tennis balls while I was shooting weapons blindfolded. I'd go off to the bathroom to cry for a minute, then I'd wipe away my tears and go back". Critics were impressed by Hamilton's "wild-eyed" performance, with Derek Malcolm of The Guardian singling out her "formidable sweaty intensity". She went on to receive two MTV Movie Awards and the 1991 Saturn Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Connor, which has since been recognised as one of the most iconic female roles in cinematic history. Following the success of T2, she was invited to host an episode of Saturday Night Live on November 16, 1991.
Hamilton's subsequent film appearances were in the psychological thrillers Silent Fall (1994) and Separate Lives (1995). For her performance in the television movie A Mother's Prayer (1995), where she played a widow diagnosed with AIDS, Hamilton received a CableACE Award and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. On her decision to take the part, she said, "So many people think I'm just this incredibly ferocious, fierce woman. Sarah Connor has sort of etched herself into my psyche and will never go away. So I chose [to play] this woman because she was a great balance of strength and frailty". She put herself on a strict diet in preparation for the role, saying, "I had to know what it was like … I knew that I had to sort of sink in on myself. So I got very, very thin".
After guest-starring in an episode of Frasier, Hamilton played leading roles in two features that were released one week apart in 1997: political thriller Shadow Conspiracy and the big-budget action-adventure film Dante's Peak. The latter proved to be one of the biggest commercial hits of the year, grossing US$180 million. Critics were mostly unimpressed by the film's derivative narrative, but some praised the effects and performances, with Roger Ebert writing in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, "In Brosnan and Hamilton [the filmmakers] have actors who play for realism and don't go over the top". For her portrayal of small-town mayor Rachel Wando, Hamilton was named Best Actress at the following year's Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. Speaking of her casting, she said, "Police officers, military officers and lesbians. That was pretty much what I [used to get offered] and nothing else. [When I auditioned for director] Roger Donaldson, he literally said to me: 'You've never played a part like this before' … And [I said], 'What do you mean?' [He replied] 'Normal.' He thought I couldn't play normal! Jesus! It was just the way people thought [about me]".
1998–2018: Stage, television, and film roles
Between 1998 and 1999, Hamilton appeared in a succession of voice roles in episodes of The New Batman Adventures, Hercules, and Batman Beyond. Her next project was the Lifetime movie Sex & Mrs. X (2000), where she played a magazine writer who experiences a sexual reawakening when she is assigned to interview an upper-class Parisian madam. The Los Angeles Times called it an "[intriguing] character study that passes muster on the strength of good performances by [its leads]", adding that Hamilton was both "tough" and "tender" in the part. Later that year, she received a Satellite Award for Best Actress for her performance in the television film The Color of Courage, which Variety called "excellent". She also headlined a production of Laura, an adaptation of the 1944 film noir of the same name, at California's Tiffany Theater in December 2000. Hamilton received praise for her portrayal of the title character, with Jay Reiner of The Hollywood Reporter commenting:
There's an inherent risk in reviving a film classic like Laura … [original star] Gene Tierney … left such an indelible impression that any [actress] trying to fill [her] shoes [is] probably going to suffer by comparison. Linda Hamilton accepts this risk, and even turns it to her advantage, in [this] sparkling production … Where [Tierney] gave us Laura Hunt as a ravishing femme fatale shrouded in mystery, Hamilton gives us a genuine charmer — a woman intriguing enough to invite attention, elusive enough to ensure pursuit and smart enough to make it all seem worthwhile … after a few minutes in her company, you don't want to be anywhere else.
The following year, Hamilton starred in the small-scale mystery thriller Skeletons in the Closet (2001), subsequently winning a DVD Exclusive Award for Best Supporting Actress. She then portrayed the real-life Ethel Rosenberg in Worse Than Murder: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, admitting that her decision to "transform myself into a tenement Jew from the Lower East Side" had been a daunting one: "I'm already prepared for the critics to be unkind to me, like, 'Why is she playing a Jewish character' or 'What's she trying to do, prove she's an actress?' But the fear is just part of the process". The play opened in May 2002—at the Ventura Theatre in California—to a rave review from Variety, who felt that Hamilton played her part with "sumptuous veracity". Next, she had supporting roles in two films: the post-Vietnam war drama Missing in America (2005) and the Penelope Spheeris-directed comedy The Kid & I (2005).
Hamilton's portrayal of Maxine Faulk in the 2006 stage adaptation of The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams was met with acclaim. Writing for Variety, Frank Rizzo said, "[She is] well cast as the recently widowed but hardly mourning proprietress … She takes over the stage with natural assurance and plays this overripe survivor with lusty humor and cunning". The production ran between August 1–12 at the Berkshire Theatre in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Hamilton reprised the role of Sarah Connor for a second time with a voice cameo in 2009's Terminator Salvation, which grossed US$371 million at the worldwide box office. In 2010, she joined the cast of NBC's espionage-style comedy series Chuck, playing the recurring role of CIA agent Mary Elizabeth Bartowski. That same year, she guest-starred in three episodes of the Showtime dark comedy Weeds—as the marijuana supplier for the series' protagonist—and appeared as a "cartoon American cop" in the poorly received Irish film Holy Water.
In 2011, Hamilton narrated the Chiller network's The Future of Fear, a documentary on the history of horror films. She then played a fictional U.S. president in the television miniseries Air Force One Is Down (2013), and had recurring roles as a bounty hunter on the Showcase series Lost Girl (2013) and a mentally ill mother on Syfy's Defiance (2014–2015). Her next projects were the television pilot Shoot Me Nicely (2016), which was later released as a short film, and the small-scale science fiction film Curvature (2017). In his evaluation of the latter for The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck described it as "awfully loopy", adding, "it's always a pleasure to see Hamilton, even if it's painfully obvious that she's been cast [here] because of the genre resonance she brings to the table".
2019–present: Return to mainstream projects
Hamilton returned once more to the Terminator franchise and the character of Sarah Connor when she headlined the Tim Miller-directed Terminator: Dark Fate, set 25 years after the events of T2. She admitted to being reluctant to sign on to the project, having spent the previous few years away from the spotlight: "I love my alone time like no one you've ever met … That was my hesitation: Do I want to trade this lovely, authentic life [that I've built] for that? I didn't want my neighbours looking at me differently. We're neighbors because of who we are, not what we do, and I don't want that to creep into my life again".
Filming on Dark Fate took place in Hungary, Spain and the U.S. between May and November 2018. Though a financial disappointment, it received generally positive reviews upon its 2019 release, particularly for Hamilton's performance. Writing for Rolling Stone, David Fear felt that she provided the film's "sinew, heart, and soul", and said of her introduction:
A truck pulls up, we see boots hit the ground, and there she is: Sarah Connor 1.0, sunglasses on, stoic and iconic as fuck, gunning down a sprinting shape-shifter and employing a rocket launcher for a finishing move. It's the sort of movie entrance that the character (and the actor) deserves, the kind that prompts spontaneous, uncontrollable cheering in theaters … Her weathered survivor will charitably share the screen with newcomers and old co-stars alike, but from this moment on, Dark Fate is Hamilton's property. She calmly slips the superior sequel into the back pocket of her faded work pants and walks away with it. Everyone else is acting in her movie.
Later that year, Hamilton was named Best Actress at the Los Angeles Crime and Horror Film Festival for her portrayal of "King George"—a ruthless crime boss—in Easy Does It, which Film Threat described as "excellent … a throwback to grindhouse adventure films [and westerns]". She began appearing as General McCallister on Syfy's Resident Alien in 2021, which IndieWire called a "genre-bending … spry half-hour comedy [series]". Also that year, she guest-starred as a hippie life coach in six episodes of the TNT dark comedy Claws during its final season.
It was announced in June 2023 that Hamilton would join the ensemble of the Netflix mystery-horror series Stranger Things for its fifth and final season—due to air in late 2025—as an unspecified character, later revealed to be Dr. Kay. A self-proclaimed fan of the show, she said of her casting, "I don't know how to be a fangirl and an actress at the same time. I'm going to work on that".
Personal life
Hamilton's twin sister, Leslie, died on August 22, 2020, at the age of 63. Leslie appeared as Linda's double in a few scenes of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, including the scene in which the T-1000 disguises itself as Sarah Connor. Hamilton has described herself politically as a Democrat, but she voted for Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger—her Terminator co-star—in the 2003 California election after his campaign convinced her he was suitable for the job. While filming Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Hamilton suffered permanent hearing damage in one ear because she had forgotten to put in her earplugs for a scene which called for Schwarzenegger to fire a shotgun inside an elevator.
Marriage and relationships
Hamilton has been married and divorced twice. Her first marriage was to actor Bruce Abbott, from 1982 to 1989. He left Hamilton when she was pregnant with their son Dalton, who was born in 1989. She later stated Abbott departed due to her mood swings and physical abuse towards him stemming from bipolar disorder, and she publicly apologized to him 14 years later in 2004.
In 1991, Hamilton began a relationship and moved in with film director James Cameron after filming Terminator 2: Judgment Day. They had a daughter, born in 1993. Hamilton said she experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her second child. Hamilton and Cameron briefly separated when Cameron was filming Titanic (1997) and he began a relationship with actress Suzy Amis, who played a small role in the film. Hamilton and Cameron later got back together and married in 1997; this ended in a $50 million divorce settlement for Hamilton in 1999.
In a 2019 interview for The New York Times, Hamilton said she had been celibate for "at least 15 years". "One loses track, because it just doesn't matter — or at least it doesn't matter to me. I have a very romantic relationship with my world every day and the people who are in it," she said.
Mental health
Hamilton started to binge eat when she entered high school. After seeing a psychologist for the first time at the age of 22 in 1978–1979, she thought acting would help her feel better, but she ended up having a breakdown in the beginning of her acting career and turned to drugs and alcohol use and self-medicated with cocaine in order to get her confidence up. In an October 2005 appearance on Larry King Live, Hamilton discussed her depression and bipolar disorder, which led to violent mood swings and suicidal thoughts during her marriage to Abbott and, in her view, caused the failure of both her marriages. She also discussed how she eventually received therapy and medication to manage the condition.
Filmography
Accolades
References
External links
Linda Hamilton at IMDb
Linda Hamilton at the TCM Movie Database
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Danny Trejo
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Danny Trejo (, Spanish: [ˈtɾexo]; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. In his body of work he appears as a character actor. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $3.7 billion worldwide.
A native of Los Angeles, Trejo's film career began in 1985, when he landed a role in Runaway Train (1985). The first film in which he was given a credited role was as Art Sanella in Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987). He went on to star in a multitude of other films, many of which were small parts as inmates, gangsters, or other criminals, appearing in Desperado, Heat (both 1995), From Dusk till Dawn (1996), Con Air (1997), The Replacement Killers (1998), Reindeer Games (2000), and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), among others.
From 2001 to 2003, Trejo appeared in the Robert Rodriguez-directed Spy Kids franchise as Isador "Machete" Cortez. Subsequently, in 2010, Trejo reprised his role as Machete in the spin-off exploitation action film Machete as the protagonist. With the success of Machete (2010), Trejo once again reprised his role in a direct sequel, Machete Kills (2013).
His voice acting work includes Storks (2016) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), as well as the characters Umberto Robina for the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, himself in Def Jam: Fight for NY (2004), Raul in Fallout: New Vegas, Trainer Duke in The Fight: Lights Out, himself in Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of The Dead and Call of Duty Black Ops 4: Blackout and also himself in Far Cry 6: Danny and Dani vs. Everybody, and SCUM, among others.
Early life
Childhood
Danny Trejo was born on May 16, 1944, in Maywood, California. He was raised on Temple Street in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, the son of Mexican-American parents. He is the son of Delores Rivera King and Dionisio "Dan" Trejo (1922–1981), a construction worker. Trejo was the result of an extramarital affair; Delores's husband was away fighting in World War II. His parents met at a dance hall in Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1943. He had a maternal half-sister, Dyhan, but saw neither her nor Delores from 1949 until 1965; his father banned his mother from seeing him after Trejo sprained his arm in her care.
Trejo was often abused by his father. Shortly after his birth, Trejo and his family briefly lived in San Antonio, Texas; they fled Los Angeles because Dionisio was wanted by police for stabbing another man. After a year, they returned to Los Angeles and Trejo's father turned himself in. By 1949, Trejo shared a room with his cousins at their grandmother's house. His stepmother was Alice Mendias, "his only source of comfort" when he lived with his father.
Trejo was using marijuana, heroin, and cocaine by ages 8, 12, and 18, respectively. Trejo's uncle Gilbert introduced him to all three and was responsible for Trejo overdosing on his first heroin fix. When he was 13, he moved to the majority Hispanic neighborhood of Pacoima, Los Angeles, where he said he did not experience racism growing up. Years later, he purchased his childhood home and often lived in it.
Life of crime and incarceration
At age seven, Trejo participated in his first drug deal. He was first arrested at the age of 10, but experienced his first incarceration at Eastlake Juvenile Hall in 1956.
Throughout the 1960s, Trejo's life consisted predominantly of intermittent jail stints in the California prison system. The accounts of his prison chronology, though, are notably conflicting; by one account, his final term in custody is said to have ended in 1972. However, Trejo did time in various juvenile offenders' camps, including three years at Camp Glenn Rockey, San Dimas, for maiming a sailor (stabbing him in the face with broken glass), followed by numerous California prisons between 1959 and 1969; "I was in San Quentin, Folsom, Soledad, Vacaville, Susanville, Sierra".
While doing a stint in Los Angeles County jail in 1961, he met Charles Manson, whom he described as a "dirty, greasy, scrawny white boy" who was allegedly a talented hypnotist.
Trejo arrived at San Quentin State Prison in 1966, and his heroin use was exacerbated shortly thereafter. He was a debt collector and drug dealer, often participating in or witnessing acts of serious violence, including murder. Simultaneously while imprisoned, Trejo focused on boxing and became a champion in San Quentin's lightweight and welterweight divisions.
Regarding himself, Trejo has suggested his physical appearance contributed to his constantly getting into trouble. In 1968, a prison riot broke out during Cinco de Mayo at Soledad. From that fracas, Trejo ended up in solitary confinement, facing capital charges and, potentially, the death penalty, after hitting a guard with a rock. While in solitary, Trejo found faith and became a member of a 12-step program, having first attended one "by accident" aged 15. He successfully overcame his drug addictions, recalling in 2011 that he had been sober for the previous 42 years. Also while incarcerated, he earned his high-school diploma.
In July 1969, Trejo was released from custody and returned to Pacoima, Los Angeles, having served five years of a 10-year prison sentence.
Prior to his film career, Trejo worked as a labor foreman for developer Saul Pick, and contributed toward the construction of the Cinerama Dome. He was also a gardener, salesperson, part owner of a lawn care company, and has been a substance abuse counselor since 1973.
Career
Film and television
1980s: Acting debut
Trejo worked with Western Pacific Med Corp in the 1980s, assisting them with the establishing and operating of sober living houses within the San Fernando Valley. He met a "good looking tattooed kid" during a meeting in one such house, who explained that he worked as a film extra and was paid $50 per day to stand there. Intrigued, Trejo considered becoming a film extra, initially due to the easy money and publicity it could afford his work with Western Pacific Med Corp. Trejo signed with an agent and would hand out his details while working on film sets, in the hopes of finding more opportunities to help those in need. Late one night, Trejo received a call from a teenaged patient, asking for his assistance in dealing with cocaine problems on the set of Runaway Train (1985).
While there, Trejo was offered a job as an extra in the film's prison scenes. Edward Bunker, a former convict turned published crime author who was writing the screenplay for the film, recognized Trejo from their time together at San Quentin. Remembering Trejo's boxing skills, Bunker played a pivotal role in securing Trejo as Eric Roberts' personal trainer and boxing advisor. Trejo was paid between $320 and $350 per day. Trejo recalled: "When I got my first paycheck, I thought they made a mistake!" Bunker also convinced director Andrei Konchalovsky to offer Trejo a small acting role, asserting that Trejo's personal experiences of incarceration would provide authenticity to the prison drama. Following his acting debut, Trejo was oblivious to being typecast as a prisoner in similar roles for years to follow; "I [did not] know I was being stereotyped. I just knew I was working."
Penitentiary III was his first billed role. While filming he met Anthony Gambino of the Gambino crime family; Gambino allegedly had financial interests invested and was there to meet the leading man, Leon Isaac Kennedy. Trejo was paid $120 cash each day, but the project often went into overtime; "We were stacked with cash." On a good month, Trejo was taking home as much as $700 by 1989 from being an extra alone; yet, people often assumed he was far wealthier after a few appearances on television. Trejo says this worked to his advantage as a drug counselor, though, because clients would recognize him as an actor, therefore appreciating his presence and the humility of his work all the more.
1990s: Blood In, Blood Out and career progression
Trejo had made a dozen films by 1990, including Death Wish 4: The Crackdown, and Marked for Death. He enjoyed the making of Guns, yet alleges Erik Estrada took issue with the cast and crew being more familiar with Trejo than himself. Trejo says Estrada's ego got the better of him; he believes Estrada arranged for Trejo and a number of others to fly coach instead of first class on the way to Hawaii for filming.
In 1991, Edward James Olmos originally offered him the role of Pedro Santana in American Me. Trejo was unimpressed by the script and his initial meeting with Olmos. Trejo claims rumors began circulating within the Mexican Mafia that the script was taking narrative liberties. Before Trejo had the chance to attend a second meeting with Olmos, he received a call from Joe "Pegleg" Morgan, the then-don of the Mexican Mafia; Morgan approved of his choosing a role in Blood In, Blood Out instead of American Me. In 2021, Trejo stated that he believes Olmos has yet to accept him as a serious actor.
Of his experiences of Blood In, Blood Out, Trejo recalls feeling uncomfortable around many of the other actors during rehearsals, as they were more established. During production at San Quentin, Trejo often had flashbacks to his time there; filming scenes in C550, his former cell, merely exacerbated such feelings. Though his previous works brought him opportunities, Trejo credits Blood In, Blood Out as having brought him "legitimate, worldwide fame."
Trejo found a new talent agent with the help of Raymond Cruz. He was first cast in an episode of Baywatch, followed by a part in 1993's Last Light, Kiefer Sutherland's directorial debut.
Heat went through two script revisions while Trejo read for the part. He ultimately secured the role, which reunited him with Michael Mann, who had directed him in the television miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story a few years prior. Mann initially mistook Trejo for his uncle Gilbert; he found the resemblance uncanny, having met Gilbert while shooting The Jericho Mile at Folsom in the late 1970s; production required the co-operation of the inmates, and Gilbert happened to be one of the shot-callers. Trejo's character in the film was initially called 'Vince' but renamed 'Trejo' in honor of Gilbert. Filming could be upward of 17 hours per day, but Trejo said he was grateful for how much he learned; "watching De Niro, Kilmer, and Voight, I learned a lot about how they saved [their performances] for when it mattered." He recalls being mentored by Robert De Niro, who was a patient and instructive scene partner. Trejo and De Niro improvised the former's death scene.
In 1996, Trejo was cast in the French production Le Jaguar (which was French for The Jaguar) and reunited with Voight for Anaconda, both of which were filmed in Manaus, Brazil. When production for Anaconda moved to Venezuela, Trejo would go out socializing on his days off. The producers were worried given a possible coup d'état had made parts of the country unsafe to travel; a group of teenagers brandished AK47's on one occasion, demanding Trejo's combat boots. Because of this, Trejo says he negotiated a higher salary to remain within the confines of his hotel.
Trejo described 1997's Con Air as a "macho fest from the start" and the cast were often pulling pranks on one another. He remembers Nicolas Cage as being "cool as hell" and John Cusack as a "kickboxing badass". Trejo met many of his longtime friends on set, including: John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, and Dave Chappelle.
2000s: Health scare, Spy Kids and the establishing of Isador "Machete" Cortez
After concluding Animal Factory in 1999, he contracted Hepatitis C and "had to drag [his] ass" from Canada to Austin, Texas, to begin filming of Spy Kids in 2000. Spy Kids marked Trejo's debut as the fictional character Isador "Machete" Cortez. Having already made Desperado and From Dusk till Dawn together, the opportunity to collaborate with Robert Rodriguez, Antonio Banderas, and Cheech Marin once again "felt like [a] family reunion." Spy Kids provided Trejo with worldwide recognition and for the first time he was "instantly recognizable" among children around the globe.
By the time of Bubble Boy in 2001, his illness had progressed to the point that much of the cast had noticed his weight loss; Trejo states that his past drug use had caught up with him. He described himself as having been pale and weak throughout production, and pre-occupied with keeping his diagnosis a secret within Hollywood for fear of reprisal. Trejo was "out of it" and struggling to remember his lines due to prescription medication. By the time Spy Kids premiered in September 2002, Trejo had fully recovered.
Throughout the 2000s, Trejo appeared in productions including: XXX; Once Upon a Time in Mexico; Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy; The Devil's Rejects; Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror; Delta Farce; Grindhouse; Rob Zombie's Halloween; Urban Justice (alongside Steven Seagal); and Valley of Angels. He also made a number of television appearances, including: Monk, Desperate Housewives, Stargate: Atlantis, and Breaking Bad. Trejo also voiced Enrique and several other minor characters on King of the Hill. His life is documented in the independent biographical film, Champion, featuring some of Trejo's close friends: Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Steve Buscemi, and Robert Rodriguez. Trejo also shared his tumultuous journey from convict to film star with KTTV in Los Angeles, 2013, in a segment filmed in Trejo's home.
2010s: Becoming a lead actor
Regarding his continued growth as a professional actor, Trejo has remarked, "I'm so blessed. I'm still scared that somebody's going to wake me up and say, 'Hey, we're still in prison. Let's go to chow’". Trejo also played 'Machete' in a trailer made for Rodriguez's film collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, Grindhouse. He also starred in a full theatrical release of the film Machete, in 2010, based on the character Isador "Machete" Cortez and again in 2013 for the sequel film, Machete Kills.
In 2011, he appeared in the action film Recoil as Drayke Selgado, with WWE wrestler and actor Steve Austin and played the role of the Ripper in Cross.
In 2012, Trejo starred alongside Ron Perlman and Charles S. Dutton in the Craig Moss action film Bad Ass. He played the main character of Vietnam veteran Frank Vega, based on 67-year-old "Epic Beard Man" Thomas Bruso. That same year, Trejo appeared again with Ron Perlman, in a supporting role as Romero 'Romeo' Parada on season four of the FX television drama Sons of Anarchy.
In 2014, Trejo produced his first film, titled Ambition, and produced his second film, the action film Bad Asses.
In 2015, Trejo appeared in a television commercial for Snickers that aired during Super Bowl XLIX, in which he portrayed Marcia Brady prior to eating the Snickers candy bar. In 2016 and 2017, he appeared as himself in transparent disguises in TV ads for Sling TV.
In 2017, Trejo played the role of 'Muerte' in Cross Wars and the 2019 film Cross: Rise of the Villains respectively.
Trejo appeared on Hell's Kitchen twice as a guest diner in Season 16's final dinner service and as a guest judge for the team challenge in the Season 21 episode "Everyone's Taco'ing About It".
On August 6, 2017, Trejo made a guest appearance on season three of the Rick and Morty animated TV show, on the episode "Pickle Rick", in which he voiced the part of Mr. Jaguar. Together with Sasha Grey, he was a lead actor in Snapshot (2017), directed by Frankie Latina. That same year, he also appeared in Brooklyn Nine-Nine as Detective Rosa Diaz's father in an episode centered around Diaz's struggle to come out to her family.
In the TV show The Flash, he appeared in the episode Elongated Journey Into Night as the father of Cisco's love interest, Gypsy. His character works as a breacher (an interdimensional bounty hunter) who can manipulate the space-time fabric and travel to parallel worlds.
Since 2018 he has voiced the role of Vasquez the bodyguard on the Disney show Big City Greens.
In 2019, Trejo played the roles of Jose in Wish Man, Eduardo Hernandez in Grand-Daddy Day Care, Miguel in The Short History of the Long Road, Carlos in The Outsider, himself in Madness in the Method, Grave-digger in Bullets of Justice, Rondo in 3 from Hell and himself in Slayer: The Repent less Killogy.
Also in 2019, Trejo had a supporting role in the film Acceleration, as Santos. Trejo also voiced the role of Clint Beltran in the Family Guy episode "Shanksgiving".
2020s: Present
In 2021, Trejo competed in season five of The Masked Singer as "Raccoon" and was eliminated in his second appearance. Trejo later mentioned in the interview that he "couldn't stop laughing" after the panel had thought that "Raccoon" was originally portrayed by Danny DeVito.
That same year, he appeared in season six of Running Wild with Bear Grylls on the episode "Danny Trejo in the Moab Desert" and portrayed one of the many forms of Mr. World in the first two episodes of the third and final season of American Gods. In 2021, Trejo portrayed the Ghost of Huet in the Disney+ puppet comedy Halloween special Muppets Haunted Mansion.
In 2022, Trejo made his official Star Wars debut in the Disney+ space Western television series The Book of Boba Fett as a Rancor keeper on the episode "Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa".
In 2023, Danny Trejo made a surprise appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15, episode 7 “The Daytona Wind 2” acting challenge and referenced iconic queens of the past.
Video games
In 2004, Trejo made an appearance in the videogame Def Jam: Fight for NY, playing one of the villains, an enforcer for Snoop Dogg's character. Trejo's character is named after him and uses the street fighting style and was a Featured fighter and a Playable character.
In 2006, Trejo reprised the role in the PSP videogame which was entitled Def Jam Fight for NY: The Takeover.
Trejo lent his voice to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories for the character Umberto Robina, who also resembles Trejo. He also voiced Raul Alfonso Tejada, a Ghoul, in Fallout: New Vegas.
Trejo appeared in the PlayStation Move game The Fight: Lights Out as Duke, the instructor for the player's character. He appeared as himself in the second map pack installation for Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010), the "Escalation" map pack, on the zombie map "Call of the Dead".
His voice and appearance is in the game Guns of Boom. He can only be seen in the introduction of the game Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball MAX'D ("Play for Real", B-Real & DJ Lethal). In 2019, he was added as a playable character to the battle royale mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
In 2019, he participated in promotions for Magic: The Gathering Arena, along with Sean Plott.
In 2021, Trejo made a guest appearance in the DLC expansion game Far Cry 6: Danny and Dani vs. Everybody.
In 2022, Trejo also made a guest appearance in the 2D-platforming skateboarding game Olli Olli World, appearing in the fictional Radlandia.
He also appears as Machete in the 3rd DLC for the game Scum.
In 2023, Trejo was revealed as a celebrity star in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, where he voices the Hawaiian mob boss Dwight Méndez.
Music videos
Trejo has made a number of cameo appearances in various music videos throughout his career; these include Kid Frost - “La Familia”, Sepultura - “Attitude”, Jay Chou's short film-music video “Double Blade”, Mobb Deep - “Got It Twisted”, Rehab - “Bartender Song (Sittin’ at a Bar)”, Enrique Inglesias - “Loco”, Tyga - “MAMACITA ft. YG, Sanata”, YG - “I Dance ft. Duki, Cuco” and ROSALÍA - “LA FAMA ft. The Weeknd”.
He also appeared in adult entertainer Lupe Fuentes's music video "We Are the Party" with her band, The Ex-Girlfriends. In 2014, he featured as the character Machete in the official music video for Train's "Angel In Blue Jeans". In 2015, Trejo appeared in the music videos "Repentless" and "Pride in Prejudice" from Slayer's album Repentless.
Plastilina Mosh, a Mexican alternative rock band, paid tribute to him with their song "Danny Trejo", featured in their album All U Need Is Mosh.
Literature
Trejo is mentioned in Charlie Higson's novel, The Fear.
Trejo was a contributor to the book Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind Bars. He's also mentioned in Edward Bunker's prison autobiography Education of a Felon (titled Mr. Blue in England), calling him the Rona Barrett of San Quentin because Danny knew all the gossip.
In 2020, he published a cookbook titled Trejo's Tacos: Recipes and Stories from L.A., sharing recipes and stories from his life.
In 2021, Trejo published his memoir Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood, co-written with his longtime friend Donal Logue. The book debuted at number four on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list for the week ending July 10, 2021.
Restaurants
Over the years, Trejo has opened a series of successful Los Angeles restaurants. In January 2016, these included a taco restaurant on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles; his own brands of beer, coffee, and various merchandise; with ice cream sandwiches under development. His first was Trejo's Tacos, followed by Trejo's Cantina and Trejo's Coffee and Donuts. Trejo's Donuts is located on the northeast corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Highland Avenue. As of 2020, he is the owner of eight restaurants.
As of 2024, Trejo's Tacos has expanded to Detroit, Michigan and London's Notting Hill.
In 2017, the rainbow cauliflower tacos made the Los Angeles Times's list of 10 most favorite recipes of 2017. The restaurants are overseen by executive chef Mason Royal. As of 2018, their most recent venture would be an expansion of a donut food truck in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Martial arts
In 2019, Trejo became ring announcer for the full contact karate league Karate Combat in the season Karate Combat: Hollywood. Following this he received a karate lesson from Karate Combat sensei and former UFC champion Georges St-Pierre.
Personal life
Trejo has been married and divorced four times and has three children.
In 1962, following his release from Youth Training School, reputedly one of California's most notorious juvenile prisons, he met his first wife, Laura. Her parents did not approve of their relationship, and they were married in the backyard of Trejo's family home. Trejo believes his drug use and criminal lifestyle contributed to their marriage's demise; Laura filed for divorce during his second confinement at Youth Training School.
He was married to Debbie Schipek from 1971 to 1975, and to Joanne Discuillo from 1975 to 1978.
Trejo is a Christian.
Trejo has three children: Danny (b. 1981), actor and director Gilbert (b. 1988), and actress Danielle (b. 1990). His eldest child, nicknamed "Danny Boy", is from a relationship with Diana Walton; they were together from 1978 to 1983. His latter two children are from a relationship with Maeve Crommie. They were together from 1986 to 1997, and he has also helped her raise her two sons from a subsequent relationship.
In 1997, he married Debbie Shreve; they separated in 2005 and he filed for divorce in 2009.
Trejo is a Democrat. His second cousin is filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, though the two were unaware they were related until the filming of Desperado.
Trejo battled liver cancer in 2010. In 2011, he moved to the San Fernando Valley to be closer to his mother after she sustained a knee injury; she died in 2013. Prior to this, he lived in Venice, California, a neighborhood of Los Angeles. In August 2019, he witnessed a car colliding with an SUV at an intersection and helped extract a five-year-old trapped in a child safety seat inside the overturned SUV. In reference to the incident, he was quoted saying: "Everything good that has happened to me has happened as a direct result of helping someone else. Everything."
Trejo is characterized in his acting roles by his distinctive appearance; in addition to his heavily lined face, scarred from cystic acne and boxing brawls, and the long hair often in a ponytail and full mustache that he usually sports. For many roles, he also displays a large tattoo on his chest. The tattoo depicts a woman – a Charra wearing a sombrero.
Trejo is a passionate fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles FC as well as the Los Angeles Rams dating back well into their original tenure in Los Angeles. Trejo claims that as a child he used to sneak through the security fences at the LA Coliseum to watch Rams games. He frequently attends games and the team's training camps.
During the filming of Blood In, Blood Out at San Quentin, Trejo met Mario Castillo, a prisoner in the midst of drug addiction. Trejo helped him overcome his addiction, and they became good friends upon Castillo's release from prison. They have since spoken together at both juvenile detention centers and recovery centers across California.
See also
Danny Trejo filmography
History of Mexican Americans in Los Angeles
References
Further reading
Trejo, Danny. (2020) Trejo's Tacos: Recipes and Stories from L.A.. United States: Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 9781984826855.
Trejo, Danny and Logue, Donal. (2021) Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood. United Kingdom: John Blake Publishing. ISBN 9781789465426.
External links
Danny Trejo at IMDb
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Danny Trejo (, Spanish: [ˈtɾexo]; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. In his body of work he appears as a character actor. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $3.7 billion worldwide.
A native of Los Angeles, Trejo's film career began in 1985, when he landed a role in Runaway Train (1985). The first film in which he was given a credited role was as Art Sanella in Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987). He went on to star in a multitude of other films, many of which were small parts as inmates, gangsters, or other criminals, appearing in Desperado, Heat (both 1995), From Dusk till Dawn (1996), Con Air (1997), The Replacement Killers (1998), Reindeer Games (2000), and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), among others.
From 2001 to 2003, Trejo appeared in the Robert Rodriguez-directed Spy Kids franchise as Isador "Machete" Cortez. Subsequently, in 2010, Trejo reprised his role as Machete in the spin-off exploitation action film Machete as the protagonist. With the success of Machete (2010), Trejo once again reprised his role in a direct sequel, Machete Kills (2013).
His voice acting work includes Storks (2016) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), as well as the characters Umberto Robina for the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, himself in Def Jam: Fight for NY (2004), Raul in Fallout: New Vegas, Trainer Duke in The Fight: Lights Out, himself in Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of The Dead and Call of Duty Black Ops 4: Blackout and also himself in Far Cry 6: Danny and Dani vs. Everybody, and SCUM, among others.
Early life
Childhood
Danny Trejo was born on May 16, 1944, in Maywood, California. He was raised on Temple Street in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, the son of Mexican-American parents. He is the son of Delores Rivera King and Dionisio "Dan" Trejo (1922–1981), a construction worker. Trejo was the result of an extramarital affair; Delores's husband was away fighting in World War II. His parents met at a dance hall in Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1943. He had a maternal half-sister, Dyhan, but saw neither her nor Delores from 1949 until 1965; his father banned his mother from seeing him after Trejo sprained his arm in her care.
Trejo was often abused by his father. Shortly after his birth, Trejo and his family briefly lived in San Antonio, Texas; they fled Los Angeles because Dionisio was wanted by police for stabbing another man. After a year, they returned to Los Angeles and Trejo's father turned himself in. By 1949, Trejo shared a room with his cousins at their grandmother's house. His stepmother was Alice Mendias, "his only source of comfort" when he lived with his father.
Trejo was using marijuana, heroin, and cocaine by ages 8, 12, and 18, respectively. Trejo's uncle Gilbert introduced him to all three and was responsible for Trejo overdosing on his first heroin fix. When he was 13, he moved to the majority Hispanic neighborhood of Pacoima, Los Angeles, where he said he did not experience racism growing up. Years later, he purchased his childhood home and often lived in it.
Life of crime and incarceration
At age seven, Trejo participated in his first drug deal. He was first arrested at the age of 10, but experienced his first incarceration at Eastlake Juvenile Hall in 1956.
Throughout the 1960s, Trejo's life consisted predominantly of intermittent jail stints in the California prison system. The accounts of his prison chronology, though, are notably conflicting; by one account, his final term in custody is said to have ended in 1972. However, Trejo did time in various juvenile offenders' camps, including three years at Camp Glenn Rockey, San Dimas, for maiming a sailor (stabbing him in the face with broken glass), followed by numerous California prisons between 1959 and 1969; "I was in San Quentin, Folsom, Soledad, Vacaville, Susanville, Sierra".
While doing a stint in Los Angeles County jail in 1961, he met Charles Manson, whom he described as a "dirty, greasy, scrawny white boy" who was allegedly a talented hypnotist.
Trejo arrived at San Quentin State Prison in 1966, and his heroin use was exacerbated shortly thereafter. He was a debt collector and drug dealer, often participating in or witnessing acts of serious violence, including murder. Simultaneously while imprisoned, Trejo focused on boxing and became a champion in San Quentin's lightweight and welterweight divisions.
Regarding himself, Trejo has suggested his physical appearance contributed to his constantly getting into trouble. In 1968, a prison riot broke out during Cinco de Mayo at Soledad. From that fracas, Trejo ended up in solitary confinement, facing capital charges and, potentially, the death penalty, after hitting a guard with a rock. While in solitary, Trejo found faith and became a member of a 12-step program, having first attended one "by accident" aged 15. He successfully overcame his drug addictions, recalling in 2011 that he had been sober for the previous 42 years. Also while incarcerated, he earned his high-school diploma.
In July 1969, Trejo was released from custody and returned to Pacoima, Los Angeles, having served five years of a 10-year prison sentence.
Prior to his film career, Trejo worked as a labor foreman for developer Saul Pick, and contributed toward the construction of the Cinerama Dome. He was also a gardener, salesperson, part owner of a lawn care company, and has been a substance abuse counselor since 1973.
Career
Film and television
1980s: Acting debut
Trejo worked with Western Pacific Med Corp in the 1980s, assisting them with the establishing and operating of sober living houses within the San Fernando Valley. He met a "good looking tattooed kid" during a meeting in one such house, who explained that he worked as a film extra and was paid $50 per day to stand there. Intrigued, Trejo considered becoming a film extra, initially due to the easy money and publicity it could afford his work with Western Pacific Med Corp. Trejo signed with an agent and would hand out his details while working on film sets, in the hopes of finding more opportunities to help those in need. Late one night, Trejo received a call from a teenaged patient, asking for his assistance in dealing with cocaine problems on the set of Runaway Train (1985).
While there, Trejo was offered a job as an extra in the film's prison scenes. Edward Bunker, a former convict turned published crime author who was writing the screenplay for the film, recognized Trejo from their time together at San Quentin. Remembering Trejo's boxing skills, Bunker played a pivotal role in securing Trejo as Eric Roberts' personal trainer and boxing advisor. Trejo was paid between $320 and $350 per day. Trejo recalled: "When I got my first paycheck, I thought they made a mistake!" Bunker also convinced director Andrei Konchalovsky to offer Trejo a small acting role, asserting that Trejo's personal experiences of incarceration would provide authenticity to the prison drama. Following his acting debut, Trejo was oblivious to being typecast as a prisoner in similar roles for years to follow; "I [did not] know I was being stereotyped. I just knew I was working."
Penitentiary III was his first billed role. While filming he met Anthony Gambino of the Gambino crime family; Gambino allegedly had financial interests invested and was there to meet the leading man, Leon Isaac Kennedy. Trejo was paid $120 cash each day, but the project often went into overtime; "We were stacked with cash." On a good month, Trejo was taking home as much as $700 by 1989 from being an extra alone; yet, people often assumed he was far wealthier after a few appearances on television. Trejo says this worked to his advantage as a drug counselor, though, because clients would recognize him as an actor, therefore appreciating his presence and the humility of his work all the more.
1990s: Blood In, Blood Out and career progression
Trejo had made a dozen films by 1990, including Death Wish 4: The Crackdown, and Marked for Death. He enjoyed the making of Guns, yet alleges Erik Estrada took issue with the cast and crew being more familiar with Trejo than himself. Trejo says Estrada's ego got the better of him; he believes Estrada arranged for Trejo and a number of others to fly coach instead of first class on the way to Hawaii for filming.
In 1991, Edward James Olmos originally offered him the role of Pedro Santana in American Me. Trejo was unimpressed by the script and his initial meeting with Olmos. Trejo claims rumors began circulating within the Mexican Mafia that the script was taking narrative liberties. Before Trejo had the chance to attend a second meeting with Olmos, he received a call from Joe "Pegleg" Morgan, the then-don of the Mexican Mafia; Morgan approved of his choosing a role in Blood In, Blood Out instead of American Me. In 2021, Trejo stated that he believes Olmos has yet to accept him as a serious actor.
Of his experiences of Blood In, Blood Out, Trejo recalls feeling uncomfortable around many of the other actors during rehearsals, as they were more established. During production at San Quentin, Trejo often had flashbacks to his time there; filming scenes in C550, his former cell, merely exacerbated such feelings. Though his previous works brought him opportunities, Trejo credits Blood In, Blood Out as having brought him "legitimate, worldwide fame."
Trejo found a new talent agent with the help of Raymond Cruz. He was first cast in an episode of Baywatch, followed by a part in 1993's Last Light, Kiefer Sutherland's directorial debut.
Heat went through two script revisions while Trejo read for the part. He ultimately secured the role, which reunited him with Michael Mann, who had directed him in the television miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story a few years prior. Mann initially mistook Trejo for his uncle Gilbert; he found the resemblance uncanny, having met Gilbert while shooting The Jericho Mile at Folsom in the late 1970s; production required the co-operation of the inmates, and Gilbert happened to be one of the shot-callers. Trejo's character in the film was initially called 'Vince' but renamed 'Trejo' in honor of Gilbert. Filming could be upward of 17 hours per day, but Trejo said he was grateful for how much he learned; "watching De Niro, Kilmer, and Voight, I learned a lot about how they saved [their performances] for when it mattered." He recalls being mentored by Robert De Niro, who was a patient and instructive scene partner. Trejo and De Niro improvised the former's death scene.
In 1996, Trejo was cast in the French production Le Jaguar (which was French for The Jaguar) and reunited with Voight for Anaconda, both of which were filmed in Manaus, Brazil. When production for Anaconda moved to Venezuela, Trejo would go out socializing on his days off. The producers were worried given a possible coup d'état had made parts of the country unsafe to travel; a group of teenagers brandished AK47's on one occasion, demanding Trejo's combat boots. Because of this, Trejo says he negotiated a higher salary to remain within the confines of his hotel.
Trejo described 1997's Con Air as a "macho fest from the start" and the cast were often pulling pranks on one another. He remembers Nicolas Cage as being "cool as hell" and John Cusack as a "kickboxing badass". Trejo met many of his longtime friends on set, including: John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, and Dave Chappelle.
2000s: Health scare, Spy Kids and the establishing of Isador "Machete" Cortez
After concluding Animal Factory in 1999, he contracted Hepatitis C and "had to drag [his] ass" from Canada to Austin, Texas, to begin filming of Spy Kids in 2000. Spy Kids marked Trejo's debut as the fictional character Isador "Machete" Cortez. Having already made Desperado and From Dusk till Dawn together, the opportunity to collaborate with Robert Rodriguez, Antonio Banderas, and Cheech Marin once again "felt like [a] family reunion." Spy Kids provided Trejo with worldwide recognition and for the first time he was "instantly recognizable" among children around the globe.
By the time of Bubble Boy in 2001, his illness had progressed to the point that much of the cast had noticed his weight loss; Trejo states that his past drug use had caught up with him. He described himself as having been pale and weak throughout production, and pre-occupied with keeping his diagnosis a secret within Hollywood for fear of reprisal. Trejo was "out of it" and struggling to remember his lines due to prescription medication. By the time Spy Kids premiered in September 2002, Trejo had fully recovered.
Throughout the 2000s, Trejo appeared in productions including: XXX; Once Upon a Time in Mexico; Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy; The Devil's Rejects; Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror; Delta Farce; Grindhouse; Rob Zombie's Halloween; Urban Justice (alongside Steven Seagal); and Valley of Angels. He also made a number of television appearances, including: Monk, Desperate Housewives, Stargate: Atlantis, and Breaking Bad. Trejo also voiced Enrique and several other minor characters on King of the Hill. His life is documented in the independent biographical film, Champion, featuring some of Trejo's close friends: Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Steve Buscemi, and Robert Rodriguez. Trejo also shared his tumultuous journey from convict to film star with KTTV in Los Angeles, 2013, in a segment filmed in Trejo's home.
2010s: Becoming a lead actor
Regarding his continued growth as a professional actor, Trejo has remarked, "I'm so blessed. I'm still scared that somebody's going to wake me up and say, 'Hey, we're still in prison. Let's go to chow’". Trejo also played 'Machete' in a trailer made for Rodriguez's film collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, Grindhouse. He also starred in a full theatrical release of the film Machete, in 2010, based on the character Isador "Machete" Cortez and again in 2013 for the sequel film, Machete Kills.
In 2011, he appeared in the action film Recoil as Drayke Selgado, with WWE wrestler and actor Steve Austin and played the role of the Ripper in Cross.
In 2012, Trejo starred alongside Ron Perlman and Charles S. Dutton in the Craig Moss action film Bad Ass. He played the main character of Vietnam veteran Frank Vega, based on 67-year-old "Epic Beard Man" Thomas Bruso. That same year, Trejo appeared again with Ron Perlman, in a supporting role as Romero 'Romeo' Parada on season four of the FX television drama Sons of Anarchy.
In 2014, Trejo produced his first film, titled Ambition, and produced his second film, the action film Bad Asses.
In 2015, Trejo appeared in a television commercial for Snickers that aired during Super Bowl XLIX, in which he portrayed Marcia Brady prior to eating the Snickers candy bar. In 2016 and 2017, he appeared as himself in transparent disguises in TV ads for Sling TV.
In 2017, Trejo played the role of 'Muerte' in Cross Wars and the 2019 film Cross: Rise of the Villains respectively.
Trejo appeared on Hell's Kitchen twice as a guest diner in Season 16's final dinner service and as a guest judge for the team challenge in the Season 21 episode "Everyone's Taco'ing About It".
On August 6, 2017, Trejo made a guest appearance on season three of the Rick and Morty animated TV show, on the episode "Pickle Rick", in which he voiced the part of Mr. Jaguar. Together with Sasha Grey, he was a lead actor in Snapshot (2017), directed by Frankie Latina. That same year, he also appeared in Brooklyn Nine-Nine as Detective Rosa Diaz's father in an episode centered around Diaz's struggle to come out to her family.
In the TV show The Flash, he appeared in the episode Elongated Journey Into Night as the father of Cisco's love interest, Gypsy. His character works as a breacher (an interdimensional bounty hunter) who can manipulate the space-time fabric and travel to parallel worlds.
Since 2018 he has voiced the role of Vasquez the bodyguard on the Disney show Big City Greens.
In 2019, Trejo played the roles of Jose in Wish Man, Eduardo Hernandez in Grand-Daddy Day Care, Miguel in The Short History of the Long Road, Carlos in The Outsider, himself in Madness in the Method, Grave-digger in Bullets of Justice, Rondo in 3 from Hell and himself in Slayer: The Repent less Killogy.
Also in 2019, Trejo had a supporting role in the film Acceleration, as Santos. Trejo also voiced the role of Clint Beltran in the Family Guy episode "Shanksgiving".
2020s: Present
In 2021, Trejo competed in season five of The Masked Singer as "Raccoon" and was eliminated in his second appearance. Trejo later mentioned in the interview that he "couldn't stop laughing" after the panel had thought that "Raccoon" was originally portrayed by Danny DeVito.
That same year, he appeared in season six of Running Wild with Bear Grylls on the episode "Danny Trejo in the Moab Desert" and portrayed one of the many forms of Mr. World in the first two episodes of the third and final season of American Gods. In 2021, Trejo portrayed the Ghost of Huet in the Disney+ puppet comedy Halloween special Muppets Haunted Mansion.
In 2022, Trejo made his official Star Wars debut in the Disney+ space Western television series The Book of Boba Fett as a Rancor keeper on the episode "Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa".
In 2023, Danny Trejo made a surprise appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15, episode 7 “The Daytona Wind 2” acting challenge and referenced iconic queens of the past.
Video games
In 2004, Trejo made an appearance in the videogame Def Jam: Fight for NY, playing one of the villains, an enforcer for Snoop Dogg's character. Trejo's character is named after him and uses the street fighting style and was a Featured fighter and a Playable character.
In 2006, Trejo reprised the role in the PSP videogame which was entitled Def Jam Fight for NY: The Takeover.
Trejo lent his voice to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories for the character Umberto Robina, who also resembles Trejo. He also voiced Raul Alfonso Tejada, a Ghoul, in Fallout: New Vegas.
Trejo appeared in the PlayStation Move game The Fight: Lights Out as Duke, the instructor for the player's character. He appeared as himself in the second map pack installation for Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010), the "Escalation" map pack, on the zombie map "Call of the Dead".
His voice and appearance is in the game Guns of Boom. He can only be seen in the introduction of the game Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball MAX'D ("Play for Real", B-Real & DJ Lethal). In 2019, he was added as a playable character to the battle royale mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
In 2019, he participated in promotions for Magic: The Gathering Arena, along with Sean Plott.
In 2021, Trejo made a guest appearance in the DLC expansion game Far Cry 6: Danny and Dani vs. Everybody.
In 2022, Trejo also made a guest appearance in the 2D-platforming skateboarding game Olli Olli World, appearing in the fictional Radlandia.
He also appears as Machete in the 3rd DLC for the game Scum.
In 2023, Trejo was revealed as a celebrity star in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, where he voices the Hawaiian mob boss Dwight Méndez.
Music videos
Trejo has made a number of cameo appearances in various music videos throughout his career; these include Kid Frost - “La Familia”, Sepultura - “Attitude”, Jay Chou's short film-music video “Double Blade”, Mobb Deep - “Got It Twisted”, Rehab - “Bartender Song (Sittin’ at a Bar)”, Enrique Inglesias - “Loco”, Tyga - “MAMACITA ft. YG, Sanata”, YG - “I Dance ft. Duki, Cuco” and ROSALÍA - “LA FAMA ft. The Weeknd”.
He also appeared in adult entertainer Lupe Fuentes's music video "We Are the Party" with her band, The Ex-Girlfriends. In 2014, he featured as the character Machete in the official music video for Train's "Angel In Blue Jeans". In 2015, Trejo appeared in the music videos "Repentless" and "Pride in Prejudice" from Slayer's album Repentless.
Plastilina Mosh, a Mexican alternative rock band, paid tribute to him with their song "Danny Trejo", featured in their album All U Need Is Mosh.
Literature
Trejo is mentioned in Charlie Higson's novel, The Fear.
Trejo was a contributor to the book Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind Bars. He's also mentioned in Edward Bunker's prison autobiography Education of a Felon (titled Mr. Blue in England), calling him the Rona Barrett of San Quentin because Danny knew all the gossip.
In 2020, he published a cookbook titled Trejo's Tacos: Recipes and Stories from L.A., sharing recipes and stories from his life.
In 2021, Trejo published his memoir Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood, co-written with his longtime friend Donal Logue. The book debuted at number four on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list for the week ending July 10, 2021.
Restaurants
Over the years, Trejo has opened a series of successful Los Angeles restaurants. In January 2016, these included a taco restaurant on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles; his own brands of beer, coffee, and various merchandise; with ice cream sandwiches under development. His first was Trejo's Tacos, followed by Trejo's Cantina and Trejo's Coffee and Donuts. Trejo's Donuts is located on the northeast corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Highland Avenue. As of 2020, he is the owner of eight restaurants.
As of 2024, Trejo's Tacos has expanded to Detroit, Michigan and London's Notting Hill.
In 2017, the rainbow cauliflower tacos made the Los Angeles Times's list of 10 most favorite recipes of 2017. The restaurants are overseen by executive chef Mason Royal. As of 2018, their most recent venture would be an expansion of a donut food truck in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Martial arts
In 2019, Trejo became ring announcer for the full contact karate league Karate Combat in the season Karate Combat: Hollywood. Following this he received a karate lesson from Karate Combat sensei and former UFC champion Georges St-Pierre.
Personal life
Trejo has been married and divorced four times and has three children.
In 1962, following his release from Youth Training School, reputedly one of California's most notorious juvenile prisons, he met his first wife, Laura. Her parents did not approve of their relationship, and they were married in the backyard of Trejo's family home. Trejo believes his drug use and criminal lifestyle contributed to their marriage's demise; Laura filed for divorce during his second confinement at Youth Training School.
He was married to Debbie Schipek from 1971 to 1975, and to Joanne Discuillo from 1975 to 1978.
Trejo is a Christian.
Trejo has three children: Danny (b. 1981), actor and director Gilbert (b. 1988), and actress Danielle (b. 1990). His eldest child, nicknamed "Danny Boy", is from a relationship with Diana Walton; they were together from 1978 to 1983. His latter two children are from a relationship with Maeve Crommie. They were together from 1986 to 1997, and he has also helped her raise her two sons from a subsequent relationship.
In 1997, he married Debbie Shreve; they separated in 2005 and he filed for divorce in 2009.
Trejo is a Democrat. His second cousin is filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, though the two were unaware they were related until the filming of Desperado.
Trejo battled liver cancer in 2010. In 2011, he moved to the San Fernando Valley to be closer to his mother after she sustained a knee injury; she died in 2013. Prior to this, he lived in Venice, California, a neighborhood of Los Angeles. In August 2019, he witnessed a car colliding with an SUV at an intersection and helped extract a five-year-old trapped in a child safety seat inside the overturned SUV. In reference to the incident, he was quoted saying: "Everything good that has happened to me has happened as a direct result of helping someone else. Everything."
Trejo is characterized in his acting roles by his distinctive appearance; in addition to his heavily lined face, scarred from cystic acne and boxing brawls, and the long hair often in a ponytail and full mustache that he usually sports. For many roles, he also displays a large tattoo on his chest. The tattoo depicts a woman – a Charra wearing a sombrero.
Trejo is a passionate fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles FC as well as the Los Angeles Rams dating back well into their original tenure in Los Angeles. Trejo claims that as a child he used to sneak through the security fences at the LA Coliseum to watch Rams games. He frequently attends games and the team's training camps.
During the filming of Blood In, Blood Out at San Quentin, Trejo met Mario Castillo, a prisoner in the midst of drug addiction. Trejo helped him overcome his addiction, and they became good friends upon Castillo's release from prison. They have since spoken together at both juvenile detention centers and recovery centers across California.
See also
Danny Trejo filmography
History of Mexican Americans in Los Angeles
References
Further reading
Trejo, Danny. (2020) Trejo's Tacos: Recipes and Stories from L.A.. United States: Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 9781984826855.
Trejo, Danny and Logue, Donal. (2021) Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood. United Kingdom: John Blake Publishing. ISBN 9781789465426.
External links
Danny Trejo at IMDb
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Sam Elliott
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Samuel Pack Elliott (born August 9, 1944) is an American actor. With a career spanning over five decades of film and television, he is recognized for his deep sonorous voice. Elliott has received various accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award and a National Board of Review Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.
Elliott began his career with minor roles on screen, making his film debut in the western The Way West (1967). After his first leading film role in the horror Frogs (1972), Elliott gained wider attention with his breakthrough role in the drama Lifeguard (1976). He achieved commercial success with his role in the biopic Mask (1985) and received Golden Globe nominations for starring in Louis L'Amour's adaptation of Conagher (1991) and the miniseries Buffalo Girls (1995), the latter of which also earned him his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Throughout the 1990s, he portrayed John Buford in the historical drama Gettysburg (1993), Virgil Earp in the western Tombstone (1993), Sgt. Buckey O'Neill in the epic war miniseries Rough Riders (1997), and the Stranger in the crime comedy The Big Lebowski (1998).
In ensuing decades, Elliott established himself as a character actor, with supporting roles in a number of films, such as the drama We Were Soldiers (2002) and superhero films Hulk (2003) and Ghost Rider (2007). In the 2010s, he had guest starring roles in the FX neo-western series Justified (2015) and the Netflix comedy series Grace and Frankie (2016) and subsequently starred in the Netflix sitcom The Ranch (2016–2020). He went on to headline the comedy drama film The Hero (2017) and star opposite Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in Cooper's 2018 adaptation of A Star Is Born, for which he received critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His role in the Paramount+ western miniseries 1883 (2021–2022) earned him further praise and a SAG Award.
Early life
Samuel Pack Elliott was born August 9, 1944, at the Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento, California, the son of Glynn Mamie (née Sparks), a Texas state diving champion in high school and later a physical-training instructor and high-school teacher, and Henry Nelson Elliott, who worked as a predator-control specialist for the Department of the Interior. His parents were originally from El Paso, Texas, and Elliott has an ancestor who served as a surgeon at the Battle of San Jacinto. He moved from California to Portland, Oregon, with his family when he was 13 years old.
Elliott spent his teenage years living in northeast Portland, and graduated from David Douglas High School in 1962. After graduating from high school, Elliott attended college at the University of Oregon as an English and psychology major for two terms before dropping out. He returned to Portland and attended Clark College in nearby Vancouver, Washington, where he completed a two-year program and was cast as Big Jule in a stage production of Guys and Dolls. The Vancouver Columbian newspaper suggested that Elliott should be a professional actor. After his graduation from Clark in 1965, Elliott re-enrolled at the University of Oregon and pledged at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He dropped out again after his father died of a heart attack.
In the late 1960s, Elliott relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting, which his father had dissuaded him from doing, instead urging him to obtain a college degree. "He gave me that proverbial line, 'You've got a snowball's chance in hell of having a career in (Hollywood),'" Elliott recalled. "He was a realist, my dad. He was a hard worker. He had a work ethic that I've fashioned mine after, and I thank him for that every day." Elliott worked in construction while studying acting and served in the California Air National Guard's 146th Airlift Wing (the Hollywood Guard) at Van Nuys Airport before the unit moved to Channel Islands Air National Guard Station.
Career
Early work
Elliott began his career as a character actor; his appearance, voice, and bearing were well-suited to Westerns. In 1969, he earned his first television credit as Dan Kenyon in Judd for the Defense in the episode "The Crystal Maze".
That same year he appeared in the show Lancer in the episode "Death Bait", playing Renslo. He went on to appear in two additional episodes of the series between 1970 and 1971. One of his early film roles was as a card player who watches as the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) demonstrates his shooting ability in the opening scene of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). In the 1970–1971 television season, Elliott starred as Doug Robert for several episodes in the hit series Mission: Impossible. Beginning in 1972, Elliott appeared as the cowboy Walker in a series of Falstaff Beer commercials. In 1975, Elliott was cast in a lead role as Charles Wood in the television film I Will Fight No More Forever, a dramatization of Chief Joseph's resistance to the U.S. government's forcible removal of his Nez Perce Indian tribe to a reservation in Idaho.
From 1976 to 1977, he played the lead character Sam Damon in the miniseries Once an Eagle, an adaptation of the Anton Myrer novel of the same name, opposite Amy Irving, Kim Hunter, Clu Gulager, and Melanie Griffith. He also had a starring role as Rick Carlson in the summer sleeper hit Lifeguard (1976), which marked his feature film breakthrough. He portrayed a lifeguard in Southern California who reevaluates his life choices after being invited to a reunion. Variety deemed the film "unsatisfying," adding: "Elliott, who has some beefcake value, projects a character who is mostly a passive reactor rather than a person in sure command of his fate."
Recognition as a character actor
Elliott played Tom Keating in the miniseries Aspen in 1977. He later played an abusive wife-killer in the miniseries Murder in Texas (1981) opposite Farrah Fawcett and his future wife Katharine Ross, and starred with Cheryl Ladd in A Death in California (1985). In 1979, he co-starred with Tom Selleck in the popular miniseries adaptation of Louis L'Amour's The Sacketts. Elliott and Selleck were a team again in 1982 in The Shadow Riders, another Louis L'Amour adaption.
Elliott had a supporting role in Mask (1985) opposite Cher. He played a hard-nosed, rough-around-the-edges but ultimately sympathetic father figure in the Christmas film Prancer (1989). He has made guest appearances on shows including Felony Squad, Gunsmoke, Lancer, and Hawaii Five-O, and has been featured in many TV movies, including Buffalo Girls (1995), in which he played Wild Bill Hickok.
In 1986, he starred in the TV movie Gone to Texas, based on a biography of Sam Houston. The role allowed him to play Houston as both fighter and a man who grew into a skillful political leader; the film depicted his disgrace as governor of Tennessee, his return to his Cherokee Nation friends, and his pivotal role in the liberation of Texas from Mexico in 1836. Elliott appeared with Patrick Swayze in Road House (1989) as Wade Garrett, a bouncer, mentor and friend of Swayze's character. In 1991, Elliott and his wife Katharine Ross starred in the adaptation of the Louis L'Amour novel Conagher (1991).
He portrayed Brigadier General John Buford in the 1993 historical drama Gettysburg, and the same year played Virgil Earp in the Western Tombstone (1993). Elliott played The Stranger, a character narrating the story of The Big Lebowski (1998). He co-starred in We Were Soldiers (2002), an adaptation of We Were Soldiers Once… And Young, in which he portrayed Command Sergeant Major Basil L. Plumley. He played General Thaddeus Ross in the 2003 action film Hulk.
Later career
In 2005, he appeared in Thank You for Smoking as a former Marlboro Man advertisement cowboy who has developed lung cancer. In 2006 he provided the voice for the character Ben the Cow in the animated film Barnyard.
In 2007, Elliott joined the comic book adaptation Ghost Rider. He played the character Carter Slade. The same year, Elliott appeared in The Golden Compass as the character Lee Scoresby. The film is based on Northern Lights in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials. Also appearing in the film are Nicole Kidman, Christopher Lee, and Daniel Craig.
In 2009, Elliott had a small role in Up In The Air in which he portrayed the chief pilot of American Airlines. He appeared three times on Parks and Recreation as Ron Dunn, the Eagleton equivalent of Ron Swanson; Dunn is a hippie, compared to Swanson's staunch survivalist and Libertarian personality. He then provided the voice of Buster (a.k.a. Chupadogra) in the animated film Marmaduke (2010). He had a supporting role in the thriller film The Company You Keep and played a college football coach in 2014's drama film Draft Day.
In 2015, Elliott appeared opposite Lily Tomlin as a former love interest of a grandmother (Tomlin) attempting to help her pregnant granddaughter in Paul Weitz's comedy Grandma. In the same year he appeared in the romance I'll See You in My Dreams, and had a role in the independent film Digging for Fire. In 2015, he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for best guest performer in a drama for his role in the FX Network's show Justified.
Career resurgence and critical acclaim
In 2015, Elliott began appearing as a series regular in the Netflix series The Ranch, opposite Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson. He also had a recurring role as Phil Millstein in the second season of Grace and Frankie. In film, he supplied the voice of Butch in the animated film The Good Dinosaur (2015).
In 2017, Elliott starred in The Hero, as Lee Hayden, an aging Western icon with a golden voice, whose best performances are decades behind him. His work in the film received much critical acclaim with Joey Magidson, writing for AwardsCircuit, proclaiming that "Elliott is perfect here. The Hero encapsulates everything you love about him into one package." Later that year, Elliott starred in The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot.
The following year, Elliott costarred in A Star Is Born (2018), in which he plays Bobby Maine, the elder half-brother of Bradley Cooper's lead character. Elliott received critical acclaim for his performance, winning the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was also nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, as well as the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, his career-first nomination. Commenting on his Academy Award nomination, Elliott declared: "I think the thing off the top of my head might be, 'It's about fucking time!'" From 2019 to 2025, he played Wild West, new Mayor of Quahog, in 21 episodes of the animated series Family Guy. Wild West is a parody of Western film characters.
In 2022, Elliott starred as Shea Brennan on the Paramount+ miniseries 1883, a prequel to the Yellowstone series. The show's story involves Brennan as he leads a group of immigrants from Fort Worth, Texas into the untamed western areas of the plains, and its connection to the Dutton family and its migration to Montana. The show's first season was aired from late 2021 until February 2022. For his performance he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie.
Other ventures
In 1998, Elliott was named the grand marshal of the Calgary Stampede parade and rode in the procession before an estimated 300,000 spectators.
Voice work and political endorsements
Elliott has performed voice-over narration for various commercials. He has lent his voice to campaigns for Dodge, IBM, Kinney Drugs, Union Pacific, and most notably the American Beef Council, succeeding Robert Mitchum in the latter. Since late 2007 Elliott has done voice-overs for Coors beer, bringing his deep, rich voice and "western" appeal to the brand brewed in Colorado. In 2010, Ram Trucks hired Elliott to do the voice-over for their Ram Heavy Duty truck commercial; he has been voicing their commercials since. Starting in 2008, he has voiced Smokey Bear, and shares the mascot's birth date (August 9, 1944). He also narrated the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers team introductions to Super Bowl XLV, played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas at the conclusion of the 2010 NFL season for NFL on Fox. On September 9, 2020, it was announced that Elliott would begin recurring on Family Guy as the new mayor of Quahog, the late Mayor Adam West's cousin, Wild Wild West. Also in 2020, he voiced Joe Biden's "Go From There" campaign ad. He did another ad for The Lincoln Project, in support of Kamala Harris' 2024 presidential campaign, where he said "It's time to be a man and vote for a woman."
Personal life
Elliott married actress Katharine Ross in 1984, becoming her fifth husband. They have a daughter, Cleo, who is a musician in Malibu, California. Ross and Elliott live on a seaside ranch in Malibu, which they purchased in the 1970s. Elliott also maintains a property in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Following his mother's death in 2011 at the age of 96, he also took ownership of his childhood home in northeast Portland.
Filmography and accolades
Elliott has received a number of awards and nominations for his numerous screen performances. These include a Screen Actors Guild Award, a National Board of Review Award and nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.
After gaining early recognition in western films in the late 1960s and continuing into the 1970s and 1980s, Elliott received two Golden Globe Award nominations—for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film and Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film—for his respective roles in the television film Conagher (1991) and miniseries Buffalo Girls (1995), the latter of which also earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special. His voice-over performance in Robot Chicken (2012–2020) earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance. Elliott's guest role in Justified (2015) earned him a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series.
As a member of the ensemble cast of Up in the Air (2009), Elliott was nominated for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Acting Ensemble. For starring opposite Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in Cooper's 2018 adaptation of A Star Is Born, Elliott won the National Board of Review Award and received nominations for the AACTA International, Academy Award, Critics' Choice and SAG Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as another nomination for the SAG Award for Outstanding Cast. His role in the Paramount+ miniseries 1883 (2021–2022) won him the SAG Award for Outstanding Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.
References
External links
Sam Elliott at IMDb
Sam Elliott at the TCM Movie Database
Hajek, Daniel (September 6, 2015). "Typecast as a Cowboy, Sam Elliott Came to Embrace That 'Western Box'". My Big Break (story series). All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
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Samuel Pack Elliott (born August 9, 1944) is an American actor. With a career spanning over five decades of film and television, he is recognized for his deep sonorous voice. Elliott has received various accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award and a National Board of Review Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.
Elliott began his career with minor roles on screen, making his film debut in the western The Way West (1967). After his first leading film role in the horror Frogs (1972), Elliott gained wider attention with his breakthrough role in the drama Lifeguard (1976). He achieved commercial success with his role in the biopic Mask (1985) and received Golden Globe nominations for starring in Louis L'Amour's adaptation of Conagher (1991) and the miniseries Buffalo Girls (1995), the latter of which also earned him his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Throughout the 1990s, he portrayed John Buford in the historical drama Gettysburg (1993), Virgil Earp in the western Tombstone (1993), Sgt. Buckey O'Neill in the epic war miniseries Rough Riders (1997), and the Stranger in the crime comedy The Big Lebowski (1998).
In ensuing decades, Elliott established himself as a character actor, with supporting roles in a number of films, such as the drama We Were Soldiers (2002) and superhero films Hulk (2003) and Ghost Rider (2007). In the 2010s, he had guest starring roles in the FX neo-western series Justified (2015) and the Netflix comedy series Grace and Frankie (2016) and subsequently starred in the Netflix sitcom The Ranch (2016–2020). He went on to headline the comedy drama film The Hero (2017) and star opposite Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in Cooper's 2018 adaptation of A Star Is Born, for which he received critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His role in the Paramount+ western miniseries 1883 (2021–2022) earned him further praise and a SAG Award.
Early life
Samuel Pack Elliott was born August 9, 1944, at the Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento, California, the son of Glynn Mamie (née Sparks), a Texas state diving champion in high school and later a physical-training instructor and high-school teacher, and Henry Nelson Elliott, who worked as a predator-control specialist for the Department of the Interior. His parents were originally from El Paso, Texas, and Elliott has an ancestor who served as a surgeon at the Battle of San Jacinto. He moved from California to Portland, Oregon, with his family when he was 13 years old.
Elliott spent his teenage years living in northeast Portland, and graduated from David Douglas High School in 1962. After graduating from high school, Elliott attended college at the University of Oregon as an English and psychology major for two terms before dropping out. He returned to Portland and attended Clark College in nearby Vancouver, Washington, where he completed a two-year program and was cast as Big Jule in a stage production of Guys and Dolls. The Vancouver Columbian newspaper suggested that Elliott should be a professional actor. After his graduation from Clark in 1965, Elliott re-enrolled at the University of Oregon and pledged at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He dropped out again after his father died of a heart attack.
In the late 1960s, Elliott relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting, which his father had dissuaded him from doing, instead urging him to obtain a college degree. "He gave me that proverbial line, 'You've got a snowball's chance in hell of having a career in (Hollywood),'" Elliott recalled. "He was a realist, my dad. He was a hard worker. He had a work ethic that I've fashioned mine after, and I thank him for that every day." Elliott worked in construction while studying acting and served in the California Air National Guard's 146th Airlift Wing (the Hollywood Guard) at Van Nuys Airport before the unit moved to Channel Islands Air National Guard Station.
Career
Early work
Elliott began his career as a character actor; his appearance, voice, and bearing were well-suited to Westerns. In 1969, he earned his first television credit as Dan Kenyon in Judd for the Defense in the episode "The Crystal Maze".
That same year he appeared in the show Lancer in the episode "Death Bait", playing Renslo. He went on to appear in two additional episodes of the series between 1970 and 1971. One of his early film roles was as a card player who watches as the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) demonstrates his shooting ability in the opening scene of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). In the 1970–1971 television season, Elliott starred as Doug Robert for several episodes in the hit series Mission: Impossible. Beginning in 1972, Elliott appeared as the cowboy Walker in a series of Falstaff Beer commercials. In 1975, Elliott was cast in a lead role as Charles Wood in the television film I Will Fight No More Forever, a dramatization of Chief Joseph's resistance to the U.S. government's forcible removal of his Nez Perce Indian tribe to a reservation in Idaho.
From 1976 to 1977, he played the lead character Sam Damon in the miniseries Once an Eagle, an adaptation of the Anton Myrer novel of the same name, opposite Amy Irving, Kim Hunter, Clu Gulager, and Melanie Griffith. He also had a starring role as Rick Carlson in the summer sleeper hit Lifeguard (1976), which marked his feature film breakthrough. He portrayed a lifeguard in Southern California who reevaluates his life choices after being invited to a reunion. Variety deemed the film "unsatisfying," adding: "Elliott, who has some beefcake value, projects a character who is mostly a passive reactor rather than a person in sure command of his fate."
Recognition as a character actor
Elliott played Tom Keating in the miniseries Aspen in 1977. He later played an abusive wife-killer in the miniseries Murder in Texas (1981) opposite Farrah Fawcett and his future wife Katharine Ross, and starred with Cheryl Ladd in A Death in California (1985). In 1979, he co-starred with Tom Selleck in the popular miniseries adaptation of Louis L'Amour's The Sacketts. Elliott and Selleck were a team again in 1982 in The Shadow Riders, another Louis L'Amour adaption.
Elliott had a supporting role in Mask (1985) opposite Cher. He played a hard-nosed, rough-around-the-edges but ultimately sympathetic father figure in the Christmas film Prancer (1989). He has made guest appearances on shows including Felony Squad, Gunsmoke, Lancer, and Hawaii Five-O, and has been featured in many TV movies, including Buffalo Girls (1995), in which he played Wild Bill Hickok.
In 1986, he starred in the TV movie Gone to Texas, based on a biography of Sam Houston. The role allowed him to play Houston as both fighter and a man who grew into a skillful political leader; the film depicted his disgrace as governor of Tennessee, his return to his Cherokee Nation friends, and his pivotal role in the liberation of Texas from Mexico in 1836. Elliott appeared with Patrick Swayze in Road House (1989) as Wade Garrett, a bouncer, mentor and friend of Swayze's character. In 1991, Elliott and his wife Katharine Ross starred in the adaptation of the Louis L'Amour novel Conagher (1991).
He portrayed Brigadier General John Buford in the 1993 historical drama Gettysburg, and the same year played Virgil Earp in the Western Tombstone (1993). Elliott played The Stranger, a character narrating the story of The Big Lebowski (1998). He co-starred in We Were Soldiers (2002), an adaptation of We Were Soldiers Once… And Young, in which he portrayed Command Sergeant Major Basil L. Plumley. He played General Thaddeus Ross in the 2003 action film Hulk.
Later career
In 2005, he appeared in Thank You for Smoking as a former Marlboro Man advertisement cowboy who has developed lung cancer. In 2006 he provided the voice for the character Ben the Cow in the animated film Barnyard.
In 2007, Elliott joined the comic book adaptation Ghost Rider. He played the character Carter Slade. The same year, Elliott appeared in The Golden Compass as the character Lee Scoresby. The film is based on Northern Lights in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials. Also appearing in the film are Nicole Kidman, Christopher Lee, and Daniel Craig.
In 2009, Elliott had a small role in Up In The Air in which he portrayed the chief pilot of American Airlines. He appeared three times on Parks and Recreation as Ron Dunn, the Eagleton equivalent of Ron Swanson; Dunn is a hippie, compared to Swanson's staunch survivalist and Libertarian personality. He then provided the voice of Buster (a.k.a. Chupadogra) in the animated film Marmaduke (2010). He had a supporting role in the thriller film The Company You Keep and played a college football coach in 2014's drama film Draft Day.
In 2015, Elliott appeared opposite Lily Tomlin as a former love interest of a grandmother (Tomlin) attempting to help her pregnant granddaughter in Paul Weitz's comedy Grandma. In the same year he appeared in the romance I'll See You in My Dreams, and had a role in the independent film Digging for Fire. In 2015, he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for best guest performer in a drama for his role in the FX Network's show Justified.
Career resurgence and critical acclaim
In 2015, Elliott began appearing as a series regular in the Netflix series The Ranch, opposite Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson. He also had a recurring role as Phil Millstein in the second season of Grace and Frankie. In film, he supplied the voice of Butch in the animated film The Good Dinosaur (2015).
In 2017, Elliott starred in The Hero, as Lee Hayden, an aging Western icon with a golden voice, whose best performances are decades behind him. His work in the film received much critical acclaim with Joey Magidson, writing for AwardsCircuit, proclaiming that "Elliott is perfect here. The Hero encapsulates everything you love about him into one package." Later that year, Elliott starred in The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot.
The following year, Elliott costarred in A Star Is Born (2018), in which he plays Bobby Maine, the elder half-brother of Bradley Cooper's lead character. Elliott received critical acclaim for his performance, winning the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was also nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, as well as the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, his career-first nomination. Commenting on his Academy Award nomination, Elliott declared: "I think the thing off the top of my head might be, 'It's about fucking time!'" From 2019 to 2025, he played Wild West, new Mayor of Quahog, in 21 episodes of the animated series Family Guy. Wild West is a parody of Western film characters.
In 2022, Elliott starred as Shea Brennan on the Paramount+ miniseries 1883, a prequel to the Yellowstone series. The show's story involves Brennan as he leads a group of immigrants from Fort Worth, Texas into the untamed western areas of the plains, and its connection to the Dutton family and its migration to Montana. The show's first season was aired from late 2021 until February 2022. For his performance he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie.
Other ventures
In 1998, Elliott was named the grand marshal of the Calgary Stampede parade and rode in the procession before an estimated 300,000 spectators.
Voice work and political endorsements
Elliott has performed voice-over narration for various commercials. He has lent his voice to campaigns for Dodge, IBM, Kinney Drugs, Union Pacific, and most notably the American Beef Council, succeeding Robert Mitchum in the latter. Since late 2007 Elliott has done voice-overs for Coors beer, bringing his deep, rich voice and "western" appeal to the brand brewed in Colorado. In 2010, Ram Trucks hired Elliott to do the voice-over for their Ram Heavy Duty truck commercial; he has been voicing their commercials since. Starting in 2008, he has voiced Smokey Bear, and shares the mascot's birth date (August 9, 1944). He also narrated the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers team introductions to Super Bowl XLV, played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas at the conclusion of the 2010 NFL season for NFL on Fox. On September 9, 2020, it was announced that Elliott would begin recurring on Family Guy as the new mayor of Quahog, the late Mayor Adam West's cousin, Wild Wild West. Also in 2020, he voiced Joe Biden's "Go From There" campaign ad. He did another ad for The Lincoln Project, in support of Kamala Harris' 2024 presidential campaign, where he said "It's time to be a man and vote for a woman."
Personal life
Elliott married actress Katharine Ross in 1984, becoming her fifth husband. They have a daughter, Cleo, who is a musician in Malibu, California. Ross and Elliott live on a seaside ranch in Malibu, which they purchased in the 1970s. Elliott also maintains a property in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Following his mother's death in 2011 at the age of 96, he also took ownership of his childhood home in northeast Portland.
Filmography and accolades
Elliott has received a number of awards and nominations for his numerous screen performances. These include a Screen Actors Guild Award, a National Board of Review Award and nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.
After gaining early recognition in western films in the late 1960s and continuing into the 1970s and 1980s, Elliott received two Golden Globe Award nominations—for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film and Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film—for his respective roles in the television film Conagher (1991) and miniseries Buffalo Girls (1995), the latter of which also earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special. His voice-over performance in Robot Chicken (2012–2020) earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance. Elliott's guest role in Justified (2015) earned him a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series.
As a member of the ensemble cast of Up in the Air (2009), Elliott was nominated for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Acting Ensemble. For starring opposite Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in Cooper's 2018 adaptation of A Star Is Born, Elliott won the National Board of Review Award and received nominations for the AACTA International, Academy Award, Critics' Choice and SAG Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as another nomination for the SAG Award for Outstanding Cast. His role in the Paramount+ miniseries 1883 (2021–2022) won him the SAG Award for Outstanding Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.
References
External links
Sam Elliott at IMDb
Sam Elliott at the TCM Movie Database
Hajek, Daniel (September 6, 2015). "Typecast as a Cowboy, Sam Elliott Came to Embrace That 'Western Box'". My Big Break (story series). All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
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Michael Strahan
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Michael Anthony Strahan ( STRAY-han; born November 21, 1971) is an American television host, journalist, and former professional football player. He played his entire 15-year professional career as a defensive end for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). A dominant pass rusher, Strahan set the record for most NFL single season quarterback sacks (22.5, which was matched by T. J. Watt in 2021) and helped the Giants win Super Bowl XLII over the New England Patriots in his final season in 2007. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
Since retiring from the NFL, Strahan became a media personality. He appears as a football analyst on Fox NFL Sunday, and served as a co-host of ABC's Good Morning America as well as Live! with Kelly and Michael with Kelly Ripa from 2012 to 2016, for which he won two Daytime Emmy Awards. He has also made guest appearances on game shows and other programs. In 2014, he became a regular contributor on Good Morning America, and in 2016 the network announced that Strahan would be leaving Live! to join GMA full-time. He also hosts the current incarnation of the Pyramid game show for ABC.
Early life
Strahan was born in Houston. He is the nephew of retired NFL defensive lineman Art Strahan. When Strahan was 9, his family moved to Army post BFV (Benjamin Franklin Village) in Mannheim, West Germany. Strahan attended Mannheim American High School (MAHS), a US Department of Defense Dependent High School, and played linebacker for the Mannheim Bison, the school's football team.
The summer before Strahan's senior year of high school, his father sent him to live with his uncle Art in Houston so he could attend Westbury High School. Strahan played one season of football, which was enough for him to get a scholarship offer from Texas Southern University.
College career
Strahan followed in the footsteps of his uncle Art, who also played defensive end at Texas Southern University. Strahan was so dominant he drew double teams, and TSU coaches dubbed Strahan double teaming "Strahan rules". By his junior season, Strahan began to turn himself into an NFL prospect. As a senior with the Texas Southern Tigers, Strahan was selected to the All-America first-team by The Poor Man's Guide to the NFL Draft, The Sheridan Network, Edd Hayes Black College Sports Report and the Associated Press. He recorded 68 tackles with a school-record 19 quarterback sacks and 32 tackles totaling 142 yards in losses. He was also selected Division I-AA Defensive Player of the Year by The Poor Man's Guide and Edd Hayes Black College Sports Report. In 1992, he was named First-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and the SWAC's Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. He was also named Black College Defensive Player of the Year. As a junior in 1991, Strahan led the SWAC with 14.5 quarterback sacks. His 41.5 career sacks is a Texas Southern record. He was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2014. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2025.
Professional career
Early career
Strahan was selected in the second round by the New York Giants in 1993. He played in only six games due to injuries, and missed the Giants' two playoff games that season. After a few unremarkable seasons, Strahan had a breakout season in 1997, recording 14 sacks. He was voted into his first Pro Bowl and was also named First-team All-Pro by the Associated Press. In 1998, Strahan continued his success, racking up 15 sacks and being voted into his second Pro-Bowl and All-Pro team. In week 8 of the 1999 season, Strahan returned an interception 44 yards for a game-winning overtime touchdown in a 23–17 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Middle career
Strahan was a member of the 2000 Giants and participated in their playoff run to Super Bowl XXXV. Despite coming off a strong NFC Championship Game, where the Giants defeated the Minnesota Vikings 41–0, the Baltimore Ravens proved too strong for the Giants and they were handily defeated by a score of 34–7. In 2002, Strahan and the Giants negotiated on a new contract. He said the team failed to negotiate after he turned down its first contract proposal. He accused the front office of not trying to be competitive in 2002. Four days later, running back Tiki Barber ripped him for being selfish and greedy. The two had a heated phone conversation that night, and Strahan said they no longer speak. It also surfaced in the spring that the Giants explored trading Strahan, after which he suggested that management had orchestrated the contract flap to make him look bad. The team denied that.
Few defensive ends in the NFL were more dominant than Strahan from 1997 to 2005. He was named the 2001 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and was a two-time NFC Defensive Player of the Year (in 2001 and 2003). Throughout the greater part of the 2004 season, Strahan was injured with a torn pectoral muscle, which limited him to only four sacks. He rebounded in 2005, returning to the Pro Bowl, with his protégé, Osi Umenyiora, as the two combined for 26 sacks while anchoring the Giants' defense. Strahan was considered by many coaches, peers, and experts as the standard, and best at his position during the prime of his career (1997–2005). He was also regarded as one of if not the best defensive end ever at defending the run, which made people and peers view him as a complete defensive end.
2001: Set single season sack record
In the 2001 season, Strahan set the NFL record for sacks in a single season with 22.5, the highest tally since it was made an official statistic in 1982, breaking New York Jet Mark Gastineau's total of 22. In the final game of the season on January 6, 2002, with Strahan coming free, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre slid down and Strahan fell on top of Favre for an easy sack. After the play, during the ensuing celebration, many of the Giants' defensive players patted Favre on the helmet. At least one observer accused Favre of deliberately falling to ensure that Strahan would get the record. However, Packers right tackle Mark Tauscher claimed it was just a bad play and "we wanted to avoid that sack." Gastineau later confronted Favre about it at an autograph signing in 2023 while ESPN was filming a 30 for 30 documentary on the New York Sack Exchange, leading to a $25 million lawsuit by Gastineau, though by that point Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T. J. Watt had tied the record uncontroversially. Strahan himself wasn't involved in the dispute.
Later career
On October 23, 2006, with a sack on Drew Bledsoe in a Monday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Strahan tied Lawrence Taylor for the Giants franchise record for most career sacks with 1321⁄2 (this total does not include 91⁄2 sacks accrued by Taylor in his rookie season of 1981, the year before sacks became an official NFL statistic). It was the last sack Strahan would get that season, as two weeks later he suffered a Lisfranc fracture in a game against the Houston Texans and would miss the remainder of the season and the playoffs.
It seemed as though Strahan would retire after the 2006 season when he did not report to Giants training camp and missed the entire preseason, but the 14-year veteran opted to return for one final year. His 15th and final season proved to be the Giants' first championship since 1990. On September 30, 2007, he sacked Donovan McNabb from the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football, increasing his career total to 133.5, setting a new franchise record. On Sunday, February 3, 2008, at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Strahan had two tackles and one sack in Super Bowl XLII, in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in NFL history. Bolstered by a strong defense and unrelenting pass rush, the Giants went on to win the game 17–14, over the previously undefeated New England Patriots, giving Strahan a Super Bowl win. His saying was "Stomp you out!" His final act as a Giant was his acceptance of the Vince Lombardi Trophy alongside John Mara, Steve Tisch and Tom Coughlin.
On June 9, 2008, Strahan retired from the NFL.
Strahan retired with 141.5 career sacks (fifth all-time when he retired), 854 career tackles, four career interceptions, 24 forced fumbles, and three career touchdowns in 200 games over a 15-year career (through the 2007 season). He was also named to the Pro Bowl roster seven times.
On February 2, 2013, Strahan failed to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame; 2013 was his first year of eligibility.
Super Bowl XLVIII, played in East Rutherford, New Jersey, was dedicated to Strahan upon his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014. Strahan performed the ceremonial coin toss, accompanied by the other members of that year's PFHOF class. Strahan also commented on the trophy presentation for Fox, since Terry Bradshaw (who had commented on the trophy presentations for Fox's previous Super Bowl broadcasts) was mourning the death of his father. On November 3, 2014, he was presented his Hall of Fame ring at halftime of a New York Giants–Indianapolis Colts game by the Giants. In attendance were 100 former Giants players as well as former teammates of Strahan's.
On November 28, 2021, the Giants retired his number 92 at halftime of their game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
On May 6, 2025, Strahan announced that he was looking to become a minority shareholder of his former team, the New York Giants.
NFL career statistics
Regular season
Awards and honors
NFL
Super Bowl XLII champion
Four-time first-team All-Pro
Seven-time Pro Bowl selection
AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year (2001)
NFL 2000s All-Decade Team
Number 92 retired by the New York Giants (2021)
NCAA
Associated Press first-team college-division All-American (1992)
Edd Hayes' Black College Sports All-American (1992)
Daytime Emmy Awards
Two-time winner - Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host (2015, 2016 - with Kelly Ripa)
Halls of Fame
New York Giants Ring of Honor (2010)
Pro Football Hall of Fame (2014)
Black College Football Hall of Fame (2014)
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2023)
College Football Hall of Fame (2025)
Competition Media
ABC To Tell The Truth-Doris Award (2020)
Spaceflight
Strahan flew on a suborbital space flight on December 11, 2021, aboard the Blue Origin NS-19. At 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m), he became the tallest person to fly in space. Strahan, along with the other members of Blue Origins NS-19, were the final recipients of the FAA Commercial Space Astronaut Wings, an aviator wings-like badge created by the Federal Aviation Administration to encourage and draw attention to commercial space flight.
Media career
Fox NFL
On June 24, 2008, it was announced that Strahan would be joining the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show, alongside host Curt Menefee and analysts Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Jimmy Johnson.
When Fox acquired the rights to broadcast Thursday Night Football in 2018, it was decided to have Strahan host the Fox NFL Thursday pregame show, along with Bradshaw and Long. Fox NFL Thursday is televised live from New York City instead of from the Fox NFL Sunday studios in Los Angeles so it can accommodate Strahan's other live shows (see below), since a coast-to-coast commute on a Thursday night/early Friday morning would be impractical.
Live! and Good Morning America
On October 1, 2010, Strahan co-hosted Live! with Regis and Kelly as a guest host with Kelly Ripa for the first time when Regis Philbin was absent on the show. Philbin left in November 2011, leaving an empty spot. After twenty guest appearances over two years, Strahan was selected as Kelly Ripa's new co-host on September 4, 2012, marking his first official day on the rechristened syndicated talk show, Live! with Kelly and Michael. Ratings instantly surged, impressively generating year-over-year time slot gains across all key demographics, towering over its nearest competition, the fourth hour of NBC's Today, by 87 percent. On April 19, 2016, ABC announced that Strahan would be leaving Live! with Kelly and Michael to begin working full-time on Good Morning America. Strahan together with co-host Ripa won a Daytime Emmy twice for "Outstanding Talk Show Host" during his tenure on the show.
In 2018, Strahan began co-hosting a daytime talk show spin-off of Good Morning America, originally titled GMA Day, alongside Sara Haines. In January 2019, the program was retitled Strahan and Sara, then finally Strahan, Sara and Keke in August 2019, to coincide with the addition of actress Keke Palmer. The show was put on hiatus in March 2020 due to ABC News coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was officially cancelled in the fall of that year.
On February 19, 2025, NewsNation announced that Strahan would leave Good Morning America at the end of his contract, according to sources at ABC News. His contract is set to expire in the summer of 2025.
The $100,000 Pyramid
In 2016, ABC announced that Strahan would be hosting a summer revival of The $100,000 Pyramid, which would air on Sunday nights along with the Steve Harvey-hosted Celebrity Family Feud and the Alec Baldwin-hosted Match Game as part of a "Sunday Fun & Games" lineup. Strahan said that Pyramid was one of his favorite game shows growing up. The series has since been renewed for six seasons. Pyramid did not air in the summer of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other guest appearances
Strahan was the host of the home improvement program Backyard Stadiums on DIY Network, where he and a team of contractors and gardeners lay out sports courses and goals in backyards.
In September 2008, Strahan starred in VIP Like Me, a web series for Snickers.
In 2008, Strahan guest-starred on an episode of Chuck, "Chuck Versus the Break-Up". He played Mitt, a bully and leader of the Mighty Jocks.
Strahan starred as Michael Trainor in the television sitcom Brothers, which ran on Fox from September 25 to December 27, 2009.
In the episode of Lip Sync Battle that originally aired on April 30, 2015, Strahan competed against Today co-host Hoda Kotb with performances of Fergie's "London Bridge" and Bell Biv DeVoe's Poison". He lost.
Strahan was a guest on the show Wild 'n Out during its sixth season, which aired in 2014.
Strahan played Augustus in the 2015 film Magic Mike XXL.
Strahan guest-starred in the Halloween episode of Black-ish as June Bug, Dre's cousin.
In 2018, Strahan was a guest on Beat Bobby Flay during its 18th season. He and Michael Symon appeared in the episode Aged To Perfection.
In 2019, Strahan made a cameo appearance in the movie Charlie's Angels as Bosley from the Townsend Agency's New York branch.
In 2023, Strahan was a guest judge on Season 32 of Dancing with the Stars.
Advertising
Strahan starred in an award-winning commercial series for Vaseline Men
Strahan, along with former New York Giants defensive end and teammate Justin Tuck, appeared in Subway's "$5 Foot-long" commercials.
Strahan did a commercial for CA Technologies for their new product Total Defense r12.
In 2015, Strahan wrote and published a motivational book, Wake Up Happy: The Dream Big, Win Big Guide to Transforming Your Life.
On September 8, 2015, Strahan launched a men's clothing line exclusively through JCPenney. It Includes suits, blazers, sports shirts, belts, ties, cufflinks, suspenders, and other accessories.
Public image
Many consider the gap between his two middle-upper front teeth as his “signature” feature.
Personal life
His uncle, Art Strahan, played as a defensive lineman for the Houston Oilers (1965) and Atlanta Falcons (1968). In an episode of Finding Your Roots, Strahan learned that he has Anglo-Saxon ancestry that traces directly to Charlemagne, who is his 39-great-grandfather.
Strahan was married to his first wife, Wanda Hutchins, from 1992 to 1996. Hutchins is an American businesswoman, interior designer, and home decorator. They have a daughter, Tanita Strahan, and a son, Michael Anthony Strahan Jr. Strahan moved them to the U.S. and purchased a $163,000 house in the same Houston neighborhood where his parents live.
In 1999, Strahan married Jean Muggli after meeting her at a spa. They had twin daughters, Isabella and Sophia, born December 2004. Strahan and Muggli finalized their divorce on July 20, 2006. In January 2007, Judge James B. Convery awarded Muggli $15 million in a divorce settlement in addition to $18,000 monthly child support. Strahan appealed. In March 2007, the court ordered the Montclair, New Jersey mansion to be auctioned and the sales money split evenly; the house was valued at $3.6 million.
In August 2009, Strahan became engaged to Nicole Mitchell, Eddie Murphy's ex-wife, but the two ended their engagement in 2014. In June 2011, Strahan filmed a commercial supporting legalizing same-sex marriage in New York.
Since around 2015, Strahan has been dating Kayla Quick.
Philanthropy
In 2002, Strahan had a multimillion-dollar restoration and renovation done on Georgian Heights. The turn-of-the-19th-century mansion is located on 2.3 acres of mountainside property and boasts sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline. The home was built in 1906 at 99 Lloyd Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey. It is a red brick house with a carriage house and a greenhouse that he bought in 2000 for $1.3 million. Before moving in, he allowed the Junior League of Montclair-Newark to use his house as a model home for its charity fundraiser. From May 28 to 31, the League decorated the mansion, had a "bare bones" party and a black-tie affair, and held $25 tours to fund the Junior League programs Children At Risk and HomeCorp. Children At Risk aids children and families and HomeCorp helps low-income people achieve home ownership.
In February 2008, Strahan and Giants teammate Justin Tuck teamed up with Nike to design their own exclusive sneakers for ID studio in New York City. All proceeds from the sneakers were donated to Nike's Let Me Play global campaign.
In December 2018, Strahan volunteered at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and was featured in a series of holiday promotions.
See also
New Yorkers in journalism
Notes
References
External links
Career statistics from NFL.com · ESPN · Pro Football Reference
Michael Strahan at IMDb
NFL combine results
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Michael Anthony Strahan ( STRAY-han; born November 21, 1971) is an American television host, journalist, and former professional football player. He played his entire 15-year professional career as a defensive end for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). A dominant pass rusher, Strahan set the record for most NFL single season quarterback sacks (22.5, which was matched by T. J. Watt in 2021) and helped the Giants win Super Bowl XLII over the New England Patriots in his final season in 2007. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
Since retiring from the NFL, Strahan became a media personality. He appears as a football analyst on Fox NFL Sunday, and served as a co-host of ABC's Good Morning America as well as Live! with Kelly and Michael with Kelly Ripa from 2012 to 2016, for which he won two Daytime Emmy Awards. He has also made guest appearances on game shows and other programs. In 2014, he became a regular contributor on Good Morning America, and in 2016 the network announced that Strahan would be leaving Live! to join GMA full-time. He also hosts the current incarnation of the Pyramid game show for ABC.
Early life
Strahan was born in Houston. He is the nephew of retired NFL defensive lineman Art Strahan. When Strahan was 9, his family moved to Army post BFV (Benjamin Franklin Village) in Mannheim, West Germany. Strahan attended Mannheim American High School (MAHS), a US Department of Defense Dependent High School, and played linebacker for the Mannheim Bison, the school's football team.
The summer before Strahan's senior year of high school, his father sent him to live with his uncle Art in Houston so he could attend Westbury High School. Strahan played one season of football, which was enough for him to get a scholarship offer from Texas Southern University.
College career
Strahan followed in the footsteps of his uncle Art, who also played defensive end at Texas Southern University. Strahan was so dominant he drew double teams, and TSU coaches dubbed Strahan double teaming "Strahan rules". By his junior season, Strahan began to turn himself into an NFL prospect. As a senior with the Texas Southern Tigers, Strahan was selected to the All-America first-team by The Poor Man's Guide to the NFL Draft, The Sheridan Network, Edd Hayes Black College Sports Report and the Associated Press. He recorded 68 tackles with a school-record 19 quarterback sacks and 32 tackles totaling 142 yards in losses. He was also selected Division I-AA Defensive Player of the Year by The Poor Man's Guide and Edd Hayes Black College Sports Report. In 1992, he was named First-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and the SWAC's Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. He was also named Black College Defensive Player of the Year. As a junior in 1991, Strahan led the SWAC with 14.5 quarterback sacks. His 41.5 career sacks is a Texas Southern record. He was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2014. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2025.
Professional career
Early career
Strahan was selected in the second round by the New York Giants in 1993. He played in only six games due to injuries, and missed the Giants' two playoff games that season. After a few unremarkable seasons, Strahan had a breakout season in 1997, recording 14 sacks. He was voted into his first Pro Bowl and was also named First-team All-Pro by the Associated Press. In 1998, Strahan continued his success, racking up 15 sacks and being voted into his second Pro-Bowl and All-Pro team. In week 8 of the 1999 season, Strahan returned an interception 44 yards for a game-winning overtime touchdown in a 23–17 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Middle career
Strahan was a member of the 2000 Giants and participated in their playoff run to Super Bowl XXXV. Despite coming off a strong NFC Championship Game, where the Giants defeated the Minnesota Vikings 41–0, the Baltimore Ravens proved too strong for the Giants and they were handily defeated by a score of 34–7. In 2002, Strahan and the Giants negotiated on a new contract. He said the team failed to negotiate after he turned down its first contract proposal. He accused the front office of not trying to be competitive in 2002. Four days later, running back Tiki Barber ripped him for being selfish and greedy. The two had a heated phone conversation that night, and Strahan said they no longer speak. It also surfaced in the spring that the Giants explored trading Strahan, after which he suggested that management had orchestrated the contract flap to make him look bad. The team denied that.
Few defensive ends in the NFL were more dominant than Strahan from 1997 to 2005. He was named the 2001 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and was a two-time NFC Defensive Player of the Year (in 2001 and 2003). Throughout the greater part of the 2004 season, Strahan was injured with a torn pectoral muscle, which limited him to only four sacks. He rebounded in 2005, returning to the Pro Bowl, with his protégé, Osi Umenyiora, as the two combined for 26 sacks while anchoring the Giants' defense. Strahan was considered by many coaches, peers, and experts as the standard, and best at his position during the prime of his career (1997–2005). He was also regarded as one of if not the best defensive end ever at defending the run, which made people and peers view him as a complete defensive end.
2001: Set single season sack record
In the 2001 season, Strahan set the NFL record for sacks in a single season with 22.5, the highest tally since it was made an official statistic in 1982, breaking New York Jet Mark Gastineau's total of 22. In the final game of the season on January 6, 2002, with Strahan coming free, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre slid down and Strahan fell on top of Favre for an easy sack. After the play, during the ensuing celebration, many of the Giants' defensive players patted Favre on the helmet. At least one observer accused Favre of deliberately falling to ensure that Strahan would get the record. However, Packers right tackle Mark Tauscher claimed it was just a bad play and "we wanted to avoid that sack." Gastineau later confronted Favre about it at an autograph signing in 2023 while ESPN was filming a 30 for 30 documentary on the New York Sack Exchange, leading to a $25 million lawsuit by Gastineau, though by that point Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T. J. Watt had tied the record uncontroversially. Strahan himself wasn't involved in the dispute.
Later career
On October 23, 2006, with a sack on Drew Bledsoe in a Monday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Strahan tied Lawrence Taylor for the Giants franchise record for most career sacks with 1321⁄2 (this total does not include 91⁄2 sacks accrued by Taylor in his rookie season of 1981, the year before sacks became an official NFL statistic). It was the last sack Strahan would get that season, as two weeks later he suffered a Lisfranc fracture in a game against the Houston Texans and would miss the remainder of the season and the playoffs.
It seemed as though Strahan would retire after the 2006 season when he did not report to Giants training camp and missed the entire preseason, but the 14-year veteran opted to return for one final year. His 15th and final season proved to be the Giants' first championship since 1990. On September 30, 2007, he sacked Donovan McNabb from the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football, increasing his career total to 133.5, setting a new franchise record. On Sunday, February 3, 2008, at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Strahan had two tackles and one sack in Super Bowl XLII, in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in NFL history. Bolstered by a strong defense and unrelenting pass rush, the Giants went on to win the game 17–14, over the previously undefeated New England Patriots, giving Strahan a Super Bowl win. His saying was "Stomp you out!" His final act as a Giant was his acceptance of the Vince Lombardi Trophy alongside John Mara, Steve Tisch and Tom Coughlin.
On June 9, 2008, Strahan retired from the NFL.
Strahan retired with 141.5 career sacks (fifth all-time when he retired), 854 career tackles, four career interceptions, 24 forced fumbles, and three career touchdowns in 200 games over a 15-year career (through the 2007 season). He was also named to the Pro Bowl roster seven times.
On February 2, 2013, Strahan failed to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame; 2013 was his first year of eligibility.
Super Bowl XLVIII, played in East Rutherford, New Jersey, was dedicated to Strahan upon his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014. Strahan performed the ceremonial coin toss, accompanied by the other members of that year's PFHOF class. Strahan also commented on the trophy presentation for Fox, since Terry Bradshaw (who had commented on the trophy presentations for Fox's previous Super Bowl broadcasts) was mourning the death of his father. On November 3, 2014, he was presented his Hall of Fame ring at halftime of a New York Giants–Indianapolis Colts game by the Giants. In attendance were 100 former Giants players as well as former teammates of Strahan's.
On November 28, 2021, the Giants retired his number 92 at halftime of their game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
On May 6, 2025, Strahan announced that he was looking to become a minority shareholder of his former team, the New York Giants.
NFL career statistics
Regular season
Awards and honors
NFL
Super Bowl XLII champion
Four-time first-team All-Pro
Seven-time Pro Bowl selection
AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year (2001)
NFL 2000s All-Decade Team
Number 92 retired by the New York Giants (2021)
NCAA
Associated Press first-team college-division All-American (1992)
Edd Hayes' Black College Sports All-American (1992)
Daytime Emmy Awards
Two-time winner - Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host (2015, 2016 - with Kelly Ripa)
Halls of Fame
New York Giants Ring of Honor (2010)
Pro Football Hall of Fame (2014)
Black College Football Hall of Fame (2014)
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2023)
College Football Hall of Fame (2025)
Competition Media
ABC To Tell The Truth-Doris Award (2020)
Spaceflight
Strahan flew on a suborbital space flight on December 11, 2021, aboard the Blue Origin NS-19. At 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m), he became the tallest person to fly in space. Strahan, along with the other members of Blue Origins NS-19, were the final recipients of the FAA Commercial Space Astronaut Wings, an aviator wings-like badge created by the Federal Aviation Administration to encourage and draw attention to commercial space flight.
Media career
Fox NFL
On June 24, 2008, it was announced that Strahan would be joining the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show, alongside host Curt Menefee and analysts Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Jimmy Johnson.
When Fox acquired the rights to broadcast Thursday Night Football in 2018, it was decided to have Strahan host the Fox NFL Thursday pregame show, along with Bradshaw and Long. Fox NFL Thursday is televised live from New York City instead of from the Fox NFL Sunday studios in Los Angeles so it can accommodate Strahan's other live shows (see below), since a coast-to-coast commute on a Thursday night/early Friday morning would be impractical.
Live! and Good Morning America
On October 1, 2010, Strahan co-hosted Live! with Regis and Kelly as a guest host with Kelly Ripa for the first time when Regis Philbin was absent on the show. Philbin left in November 2011, leaving an empty spot. After twenty guest appearances over two years, Strahan was selected as Kelly Ripa's new co-host on September 4, 2012, marking his first official day on the rechristened syndicated talk show, Live! with Kelly and Michael. Ratings instantly surged, impressively generating year-over-year time slot gains across all key demographics, towering over its nearest competition, the fourth hour of NBC's Today, by 87 percent. On April 19, 2016, ABC announced that Strahan would be leaving Live! with Kelly and Michael to begin working full-time on Good Morning America. Strahan together with co-host Ripa won a Daytime Emmy twice for "Outstanding Talk Show Host" during his tenure on the show.
In 2018, Strahan began co-hosting a daytime talk show spin-off of Good Morning America, originally titled GMA Day, alongside Sara Haines. In January 2019, the program was retitled Strahan and Sara, then finally Strahan, Sara and Keke in August 2019, to coincide with the addition of actress Keke Palmer. The show was put on hiatus in March 2020 due to ABC News coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was officially cancelled in the fall of that year.
On February 19, 2025, NewsNation announced that Strahan would leave Good Morning America at the end of his contract, according to sources at ABC News. His contract is set to expire in the summer of 2025.
The $100,000 Pyramid
In 2016, ABC announced that Strahan would be hosting a summer revival of The $100,000 Pyramid, which would air on Sunday nights along with the Steve Harvey-hosted Celebrity Family Feud and the Alec Baldwin-hosted Match Game as part of a "Sunday Fun & Games" lineup. Strahan said that Pyramid was one of his favorite game shows growing up. The series has since been renewed for six seasons. Pyramid did not air in the summer of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other guest appearances
Strahan was the host of the home improvement program Backyard Stadiums on DIY Network, where he and a team of contractors and gardeners lay out sports courses and goals in backyards.
In September 2008, Strahan starred in VIP Like Me, a web series for Snickers.
In 2008, Strahan guest-starred on an episode of Chuck, "Chuck Versus the Break-Up". He played Mitt, a bully and leader of the Mighty Jocks.
Strahan starred as Michael Trainor in the television sitcom Brothers, which ran on Fox from September 25 to December 27, 2009.
In the episode of Lip Sync Battle that originally aired on April 30, 2015, Strahan competed against Today co-host Hoda Kotb with performances of Fergie's "London Bridge" and Bell Biv DeVoe's Poison". He lost.
Strahan was a guest on the show Wild 'n Out during its sixth season, which aired in 2014.
Strahan played Augustus in the 2015 film Magic Mike XXL.
Strahan guest-starred in the Halloween episode of Black-ish as June Bug, Dre's cousin.
In 2018, Strahan was a guest on Beat Bobby Flay during its 18th season. He and Michael Symon appeared in the episode Aged To Perfection.
In 2019, Strahan made a cameo appearance in the movie Charlie's Angels as Bosley from the Townsend Agency's New York branch.
In 2023, Strahan was a guest judge on Season 32 of Dancing with the Stars.
Advertising
Strahan starred in an award-winning commercial series for Vaseline Men
Strahan, along with former New York Giants defensive end and teammate Justin Tuck, appeared in Subway's "$5 Foot-long" commercials.
Strahan did a commercial for CA Technologies for their new product Total Defense r12.
In 2015, Strahan wrote and published a motivational book, Wake Up Happy: The Dream Big, Win Big Guide to Transforming Your Life.
On September 8, 2015, Strahan launched a men's clothing line exclusively through JCPenney. It Includes suits, blazers, sports shirts, belts, ties, cufflinks, suspenders, and other accessories.
Public image
Many consider the gap between his two middle-upper front teeth as his “signature” feature.
Personal life
His uncle, Art Strahan, played as a defensive lineman for the Houston Oilers (1965) and Atlanta Falcons (1968). In an episode of Finding Your Roots, Strahan learned that he has Anglo-Saxon ancestry that traces directly to Charlemagne, who is his 39-great-grandfather.
Strahan was married to his first wife, Wanda Hutchins, from 1992 to 1996. Hutchins is an American businesswoman, interior designer, and home decorator. They have a daughter, Tanita Strahan, and a son, Michael Anthony Strahan Jr. Strahan moved them to the U.S. and purchased a $163,000 house in the same Houston neighborhood where his parents live.
In 1999, Strahan married Jean Muggli after meeting her at a spa. They had twin daughters, Isabella and Sophia, born December 2004. Strahan and Muggli finalized their divorce on July 20, 2006. In January 2007, Judge James B. Convery awarded Muggli $15 million in a divorce settlement in addition to $18,000 monthly child support. Strahan appealed. In March 2007, the court ordered the Montclair, New Jersey mansion to be auctioned and the sales money split evenly; the house was valued at $3.6 million.
In August 2009, Strahan became engaged to Nicole Mitchell, Eddie Murphy's ex-wife, but the two ended their engagement in 2014. In June 2011, Strahan filmed a commercial supporting legalizing same-sex marriage in New York.
Since around 2015, Strahan has been dating Kayla Quick.
Philanthropy
In 2002, Strahan had a multimillion-dollar restoration and renovation done on Georgian Heights. The turn-of-the-19th-century mansion is located on 2.3 acres of mountainside property and boasts sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline. The home was built in 1906 at 99 Lloyd Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey. It is a red brick house with a carriage house and a greenhouse that he bought in 2000 for $1.3 million. Before moving in, he allowed the Junior League of Montclair-Newark to use his house as a model home for its charity fundraiser. From May 28 to 31, the League decorated the mansion, had a "bare bones" party and a black-tie affair, and held $25 tours to fund the Junior League programs Children At Risk and HomeCorp. Children At Risk aids children and families and HomeCorp helps low-income people achieve home ownership.
In February 2008, Strahan and Giants teammate Justin Tuck teamed up with Nike to design their own exclusive sneakers for ID studio in New York City. All proceeds from the sneakers were donated to Nike's Let Me Play global campaign.
In December 2018, Strahan volunteered at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and was featured in a series of holiday promotions.
See also
New Yorkers in journalism
Notes
References
External links
Career statistics from NFL.com · ESPN · Pro Football Reference
Michael Strahan at IMDb
NFL combine results
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Paul Simon
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Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Simon & Garfunkel. Their blend of folk and rock, including hits such as "The Sound of Silence" (1965), "Mrs. Robinson" (1968), "America" (1968), and "The Boxer" (1969), served as a soundtrack to the 1960s counterculture. Their final album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970), is among the best-selling of all time.
As a solo artist, Simon has explored genres including gospel, reggae, and soul. His albums Paul Simon (1972), There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973), and Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) kept him in the public eye and drew acclaim, producing the hits "Mother and Child Reunion" (1972), "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" (1972), and "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (1975). Simon reunited with Garfunkel for several tours and the 1981 Concert in Central Park. Simon hosted Saturday Night Live four times from 1975 to 1987 and has served as the musical guest various times on the show. He made his acting debut in the Woody Allen romantic comedy Annie Hall (1977).
In 1986, Simon released his most successful and acclaimed album, Graceland, incorporating South African influences. "You Can Call Me Al" became one of Simon's most successful singles. Graceland was followed by The Rhythm of the Saints (1990) and a second Concert in the Park in 1991, without Garfunkel, which approximately 500,000 people attended. In 1998, Simon wrote a Broadway musical, The Capeman, that was poorly received. He continued to record and tour in the 21st century. His later albums, such as You're the One (2000), So Beautiful or So What (2011), and Stranger to Stranger (2016), introduced him to new generations. His most recent album, Seven Psalms, was released in 2023.
Simon has twice been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has won 16 Grammy Awards, including three for Album of the Year. Two of his works, Sounds of Silence (1966) (as part of Simon & Garfunkel) and Graceland, were inducted into the National Recording Registry for their cultural significance. He was honored with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001 and the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize in 2007. He is a co-founder of the Children's Health Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides medical care to children. Simon is a supporter of the effective altruism movement, which uses evidence to determine where charitable giving will do the most good.
Early life and education
Simon was born on October 13, 1941, in Newark, New Jersey, to Hungarian-Jewish parents. His father, Louis (1916–1995), a professor of education at the City College of New York, was a double bass player and dance bandleader who performed under the name Lee Sims. His mother, Belle (1910–2007), was an elementary-school teacher. In 1945, his family moved to the Kew Gardens Hills section of Flushing, Queens, in New York City.
The musician Donald Fagen described Simon's childhood as that of "a certain kind of New York Jew, almost a stereotype really, to whom music and baseball are very important. I think it has to do with the parents. The parents are either immigrants or first-generation Americans who felt like outsiders, and assimilation was the key thought—they gravitated to black music and baseball, looking for an alternative culture." Simon said Fagen's description was not far from the truth. He described his father as funny and smart, but said he worked late and did not see his children much. He recalls hearing "Gee" by The Crows on Make Believe Ballroom: "It was really the first thing I heard on there that I liked. And it was really the first time I heard rock and roll." He tried to explain to his father the feeling he got hearing "Earth Angel": "My father was a very good musician. And he comes from an era of very sophisticated music. Big bands, and Sinatra ... He didn't buy it. But I love that record".
Simon met Art Garfunkel when they were 11 years old and performed together in a production of Alice in Wonderland for their sixth-grade graduation. The two began singing together at age 13, occasionally performing at school dances. At age 12 or 13, Simon wrote his first song, "The Girl for Me", for him and Garfunkel to perform. According to Simon, it became the "neighborhood hit". His father wrote the words and chords on paper for the boys to use, and that paper became the first officially copyrighted Simon and Garfunkel song. It is now in the Library of Congress. In 1957, in their mid-teens, they recorded the song "Hey, Schoolgirl" under the name "Tom & Jerry", a name given to them by their label, Big Records. The single reached number 49 on the Billboard charts.
After graduating from Forest Hills High School, Simon majored in English at Queens College and graduated in 1963. Garfunkel studied mathematics education at Columbia University in Manhattan. Simon was a brother in the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, and attended Brooklyn Law School for one semester in 1963.
Career
Between 1957 and 1964, Simon wrote, recorded, and released more than 30 songs. He and Garfunkel occasionally reunited as Tom & Jerry to record singles, including "Our Song" and "That's My Story". Most of the songs Simon recorded during that time he performed alone, or with musicians other than Garfunkel. They were released on minor record labels including Amy, Big, Hunt, King, Tribute and Madison. Simon used several pseudonyms for these recordings, including "Jerry Landis", "Paul Kane", and "True Taylor". By 1962, working as Jerry Landis, he was a frequent writer/producer for several Amy Records artists, overseeing material released by Dotty Daniels, the Vels and Ritchie Cordell.
Simon enjoyed moderate success with singles as part of the group Tico and the Triumphs, including "Motorcycle", which reached number 99 on the Billboard charts in 1962. Tico and the Triumphs released four 45s. Marty Cooper, known as Tico, sang lead on several of these releases, but "Motorcycle" featured Simon's vocal. Also in 1962, Simon reached number 97 on the pop charts as Jerry Landis, with the novelty song "The Lone Teen Ranger".
1960s: Simon & Garfunkel
In early 1964, Simon and Garfunkel auditioned for Columbia Records, whose executive Clive Davis signed them to produce an album. Columbia decided to call them Simon & Garfunkel instead of Tom & Jerry, and according to Simon, this was the first time artists' surnames had been used in pop music without their first names. Simon and Garfunkel's first LP, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., was released on October 19, 1964. It consisted of 12 songs, five of which were written by Simon. The album initially flopped.
In 1965, after the album's release, Simon moved to London and performed in folk clubs. He enjoyed his time in England and said in 1970, "I had a lot of friends there and a girlfriend. I could play music there. There was no place to play in New York City. They wouldn't have me." He was welcomed by England's bohemian folk scene. He recalled, "I learnt how to finger-pick acoustic guitar from Martin Carthy, who was connected to the Watersons from Hull, which of course led to 'Scarborough Fair', and I had never heard anything like those old English songs. The closest I got was the Everly Brothers, who borrowed from Appalachian melodies, so that period was very powerful for me. I had never heard anything like those old English songs. I was 21, 22, and emotionally open to everything." He wrote "Homeward Bound" and "I Am a Rock", and learned Davey Graham's guitar instrumental "Anji". He says that “Nothing in my repertoire can’t be traced back to something I’ve heard at some point, and the two big influences were street corner doo-wop from New York and the folk music I heard in England."
In England, Simon recorded a solo album, The Paul Simon Songbook, featuring just his voice and guitar accompaniment; it was released only in the UK at the time, but later released elsewhere. He produced Jackson C. Frank's only album and co-wrote several songs with Bruce Woodley of the Australian pop group the Seekers, including "I Wish You Could Be Here", "Cloudy" and "Red Rubber Ball". Simon penned "Someday, One Day" for the Seekers, which charted around the same time as "Homeward Bound".
Radio stations on the American East Coast began receiving requests for the Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. track "The Sound of Silence". Simon & Garfunkel's producer, Tom Wilson, overdubbed the track with electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums, and it was released as a single, eventually reaching number 1 on the U.S. pop charts. Wilson did not inform the duo of his plan, and Simon was "horrified" when he first heard it. The single's success drew Simon back to the U.S. to reunite with Garfunkel, and they recorded the albums Sounds of Silence (1966), Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966) and Bookends (1968).
Simon & Garfunkel also contributed to the soundtrack of Mike Nichols's film The Graduate (1967). While writing "Mrs. Robinson", Simon toyed with the title "Mrs. Roosevelt". When Garfunkel reported this indecision over the song's name to the director, Nichols replied, "Don't be ridiculous! We're making a movie here! It's Mrs. Robinson!"
Simon and Garfunkel's relationship became strained and they split in 1970. At the urging of his wife, Peggy Harper, Simon called Davis to confirm the duo's breakup. For the next several years, they spoke only two or three times a year. Their last album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970), was the bestselling album to date. The title track reached number one, and "Cecilia" and "The Boxer" made the top ten.
1970–1976: Solo and Still Crazy After All These Years
In 1970, Simon taught songwriting at New York University. He said he had wanted to teach for a while, and hoped to help people avoid some of the mistakes he had made: "You can teach somebody about writing songs. You can't teach someone how to write a song ... I'd go to a course if the Beatles would talk about how they made records because I'm sure I could learn something." He contributed the lyrics of "Half of the People" to Leonard Bernstein’s Mass (1971).
Simon pursued solo work while occasionally reuniting with Garfunkel for various projects. In April 1972, he performed at the Cleveland Arena alongside Joni Mitchell and James Taylor in a benefit concert for George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign. He and Garfunkel reunited in mid-June that year at Madison Square Garden in another concert for McGovern.
Simon's next album, Paul Simon, was released in January 1972. It featured an early experiment with world music, the reggae-inspired "Mother and Child Reunion", recorded with Jimmy Cliff's band. It reached both the American and British Top 5. The album received universal acclaim and critics praised its variety of styles and confessional lyrics. Paul Simon reached number 4 in the U.S. and number 1 in the UK and Japan, and produced another Top 30 hit, "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard". Simon also provided guitar on Garfunkel's 1973 album Angel Clare, and added backing vocals to the song "Down in the Willow Garden".
Simon's next project, the pop-folk album There Goes Rhymin' Simon, was released in May 1973. The lead single, "Kodachrome", was a number 2 hit in the U.S. The follow-up, the gospel-flavored "Loves Me Like a Rock", topped the Cashbox charts. Other songs like "American Tune" and "Something So Right" (a tribute to Simon's first wife, Peggy) became part of his repertoire. The album reached number 1 on the Cashbox album charts. In March 1974 he released a live album, Live Rhymin', containing elements of Latin and religious music.
His next album, produced by Simon and Phil Ramone, was Still Crazy After All These Years, released in October 1975. The mood of the album, written after Simon's divorce, was darker. It contains "Gone at Last", a duet with Phoebe Snow, and the Simon & Garfunkel reunion track "My Little Town" (a number 9 on Billboard). Simon wrote the song for Garfunkel, whose solo output Simon felt lacked "bite", and it was included on Garfunkel's album Breakaway. Contrary to popular belief, the song was not based on Simon's early life in New York City. The album is his only number 1 on the Billboard charts to date. The 18th Grammy Awards named it the Album of the Year, and his performance on it the year's Best Male Pop Vocal. The third single from the album, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", reached the top spot on the Billboard charts. On May 3, 1976, Simon put together a benefit show at Madison Square Garden for the New York Public Library that raised over $30,000.
1977–1985: One-Trick Pony and Hearts and Bones
After releasing three successful studio albums, Simon worked on various projects. He wrote music for Hal Ashby's Shampoo (1975). "Slip Slidin' Away", the lead single of his 1977 compilation Greatest Hits, Etc., reached number 5 in the U.S. Simon has also had several acting roles in films and television shows. He played music producer Tony Lacey, a supporting character in Woody Allen's film Annie Hall (1977) and made a cameo appearance in the movie The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash the following year. In 1981 he appeared in an episode of The Muppet Show, the only episode of the series to use the songs of one songwriter. He appeared in several episodes of Sesame Street in the 1970s and 1980s, including in a memorable performance of "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" in 1977, and a cameo appearance in the song "Put Down the Duckie!" in 1986.
In 1980, Simon released One-Trick Pony, his first album with Warner Bros. Records and his first in almost five years. The album was paired with the motion picture of the same name, which Simon wrote and starred in. The single "Late in the Evening" reached number 6 on Billboard, but the album did not sell well. In 1981, Simon & Garfunkel included eight songs from Simon's solo career in the set list of their September 19 concert in Central Park. Five were rearranged as duets and Simon performed the other three solo. The resulting live album, TV special, and videocassette (later DVD) releases were all major hits.
After the success of The Concert in Central Park, Simon & Garfunkel returned to the studio, planning to record an album of new material. This would have been their first new recordings as a duo since their "My Little Town" and their first album of new material since Bridge over Troubled Water. Simon ultimately decided to wipe Garfunkel's vocals from the mix, and in 1983, he released Hearts and Bones as a solo album. It is a polished, confessional album that was eventually viewed as one of his best works, but it achieved the lowest sales of his career. Hearts and Bones included "The Late Great Johnny Ace", a song about the deaths of American R&B singer Johnny Ace and John Lennon. It featured an orchestral coda by Philip Glass. In January 1985, Simon performed for USA for Africa and on the relief fundraising single "We Are the World".
1986–1992: Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints
In 1986, Simon was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music, where he had served on the board of trustees.
Simon decided to record an album of South African music after hearing a bootlegged tape of mbaqanga, South African street music, and in 1986 he traveled to Johannesburg and recorded with African musicians. Additional sessions were held in New York. The sessions featured many South African acts, notably Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Simon also collaborated with several American artists, duetting with Linda Ronstadt on "Under African Skies" and playing with Los Lobos on "All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints".
The resulting album, Graceland, became Simon's most successful studio album. Simon recalls that "I improvised in two ways - by making up melodies in falsetto, and by singing any words that came to mind down in my lower and mid range. I tried not to censor the words and to keep an ear cocked to see if a phrase came out that was interesting enough to suggest that my subconscious had allowed something significant to bubble out. Though I had no intentions of writing about Elvis Presley, the word 'Graceland' came very early. While writing the lyrics, I always tried to stay true to the mood of the music, which was flowing, pleasant and easy." Stephen Holden wrote "Listening to Graceland, one gets the sense of an artist submitting to, and being swept up by, musical forces he does not totally understand. Adding a crucial extra dimension to the album is Mr. Simon's very urbane literary sensibility, which pulls against the simplicity of the music and lends the songs a kind of double vision. The music extends and enriches the language while the lyrics meditate on the music." It is estimated to have sold more than 16 million copies worldwide. Graceland won the 1987 Grammy for Album of the Year. In 2006, the album was added to the United States' National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically important".
Simon was accused of breaking the cultural boycott imposed by the rest of the world against South Africa's apartheid regime by organizations such as Artists United Against Apartheid, anti-apartheid musicians (including Billy Bragg, Paul Weller and Jerry Dammers), and James Victor Gbeho (Ghana's Ambassador to the United Nations). Simon denied that he had gone to South Africa to "take money out of the country" and said he paid the black artists and split royalties with them and was not paid to play to a white-only audience. The United Nations Anti-Apartheid Committee supported Graceland, as it showcased black South African musicians and offered no support to the South African government, but the African National Congress protested that it was a violation of the boycott. The Congress voted to ban Simon from South Africa and he was added to the United Nations blacklist, from which he was removed in January 1987. In 1989, Simon appeared on Dion's song "Written on the Subway Wall"/"Little Star" from Yo Frankie, which peaked at number 97 in October 1990. In 1992, Simon and his band were invited to play in South Africa by Nelson Mandela.
After Graceland, Simon extended his roots with the Brazilian-flavored The Rhythm of the Saints. Sessions for the album began in December 1989 in Rio de Janeiro and New York and featured guitarist J.J. Cale and Brazilian and African musicians. The album's tone is more introspective and low-key than that of Graceland. Released in October 1990, the album received excellent reviews and sold well, peaking at number 4 in the U.S. and number 1 in the UK. The lead single, "The Obvious Child", featuring the Grupo Cultural Olodum, became Simon's last Top 20 hit in the UK and appeared near the bottom of the Billboard Hot 100. Although not as successful as Graceland, The Rhythm of the Saints received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Simon's ex-wife Carrie Fisher wrote in her autobiography Wishful Drinking that the song "She Moves On" is about her: "If you can get Paul Simon to write a song about you, do it. Because he is so brilliant at it."
The success of both albums allowed Simon to stage another concert in New York. On August 15, 1991, he gave a second concert in Central Park, with African and South American bands. The concert's success surpassed all expectations, and 48,500 people are estimated to have attended. He later remembered the concert as "the most memorable moment in my career". Its success led to a live album and an Emmy-winning TV special. Simon embarked on the "Born at the Right Time" tour and promoted the album with further singles, including "Proof", which was accompanied by a humorous video featuring Chevy Chase and Steve Martin. On March 4, 1992, Simon performed on an episode of MTV Unplugged. Simon & Garfunkel were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
1993–1998: Paul Simon 1964/1993 and The Capeman
Another Simon & Garfunkel reunion took place in September 1993, and Columbia released Paul Simon 1964/1993. Originally a three-disc compilation, it became a reduced version on the two-disc album The Paul Simon Anthology one month later. In 1995, Simon appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and performed the song "Ten Years", which he had composed for the show's tenth anniversary. Also in 1995 he featured in the Annie Lennox version of his 1973 song "Something So Right", which appeared briefly on the UK Top 50 after it was released as a single.
Simon collaborated with poet Derek Walcott on a musical, The Capeman, that opened on January 29, 1998. He worked enthusiastically on the project for many years, and described it as "a New York Puerto Rican story based on events that happened in 1959—events that I remembered." The musical told the story of a real-life Puerto Rican youth, Salvador Agron, who wore a cape while committing two murders in New York in 1959. He became a writer while in prison. Featuring Marc Anthony as the young Agron and Rubén Blades as the older Agron, the play was not a success, receiving mixed reviews and poor box-office receipts. Clive Barnes wrote "Here is the most bewitching and bewitched Broadway score in years -- music that, in a quite different way, only Stephen Sondheim has equaled," but that "it was West Side Story particularized, de-prettified and de-balleticized. A tough call for entertainment."
Simon recorded an album of songs from the show which was released in November 1997. The album received mixed reviews. Some critics praised its combination of doo-wop, rockabilly, and Caribbean music, but Songs from The Capeman was a failure, and for the first time in Simon's career he did not reach the Top 40 of the Billboard charts. The cast album was never released on CD but eventually became available online.
1999–2007: You're the One and Surprise
In the 1990s and 2000s, Simon played the character of Simple Simon in the Disney Channel TV movie Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme, and provided cameos in Millennium and The Great Buck Howard. In the late 1990s, Simon wrote and produced a Broadway musical called The Capeman, which lost $11 million during its 1998 run. After The Capeman, Simon's career was in an unexpected crisis, but he continued to record new material. In 1999, he embarked on a three-month North American tour with Bob Dylan, in which he and Dylan alternated as the headline act with a middle section where they performed together. The collaboration was generally well-received, with just one critic, Seth Rogovoy of the Berkshire Eagle, questioning the collaboration.
In 2000, Simon wrote and recorded a new album, You're the One, very quickly. The album was released in October and consisted mostly of folk-pop writing combined with foreign musical sounds, particularly grooves from North Africa. The album received favorable reviews, reached both the British and American Top 20, and received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Simon toured extensively to promote it, and one performance in Paris was released to home video. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in America, Simon sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water" on America: A Tribute to Heroes, a multi-network broadcast to benefit the September 11 Telethon Fund, and performed "The Boxer" at the start of the first episode of Saturday Night Live after September 11. In 2002, he wrote and recorded "Father and Daughter", the theme song for the animated family film The Wild Thornberrys Movie. The track was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song.
In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel performed together again when they received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. This reunion led to a U.S. tour, the acclaimed "Old Friends" concert series, followed by a 2004 international encore, culminating in a free concert at the Colosseum in Rome that attracted an audience of 600,000. In 2005, they sang "Mrs. Robinson" and "Homeward Bound" together, plus "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with Aaron Neville, in the benefit concert From the Big Apple to The Big Easy – The Concert for New Orleans (eventually released as a DVD) for Hurricane Katrina victims. In 2004, Simon's studio albums were re-released both individually and as a collection in a limited-edition, nine-CD boxed set, Paul Simon: The Studio Recordings 1972–2000. Simon was then working with Brian Eno on a new album, Surprise, which was released in May 2006. Most of its songs were inspired by the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. Simon also took inspiration from having turned 60 in 2001, which he humorously referred to in "Old" from You're the One. Surprise was a commercial hit, reaching number 14 on the Billboard 200 and number 4 in the UK. Most critics praised the album. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote, "Simon doesn't achieve his comeback by reconnecting with the sound and spirit of his classic work; he has achieved it by being as restless and ambitious as he was at his popular and creative peak." The album was supported by the Surprise Tour in 2006.
In March 2004, Walter Yetnikoff published Howling at the Moon, a book in which he criticized Simon and his previous business partnership with Columbia Records. In 2007, Simon was the inaugural recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and he later performed as part of a gala of his work.
2008–2013: So Beautiful or So What and touring
After living in Montauk, New York, for many years, Simon relocated to New Canaan, Connecticut. He is one of a small number of performers who are named as the copyright owner on their recordings (most records have the recording company as the named owner). This development followed the Bee Gees' successful $200-million lawsuit against RSO Records, the largest successful suit against a record company by an artist or group. All of Simon's solo recordings, including those originally issued by Columbia Records, are distributed by Sony Records' Legacy Recordings unit. His albums were issued by Warner Music Group until mid-2010, when Simon moved his catalog of solo work from Warner Bros. Records to Sony/Columbia Records, which holds the Simon & Garfunkel catalog.
In April 2008, Songs From the Capeman played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with original cast members and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Simon appeared during the BAM shows, performing "Trailways Bus" and "Late in the Evening". In February 2009, Simon performed back-to-back shows in New York City at the recently renovated Beacon Theatre. He was joined by Garfunkel and the cast of The Capeman in the first show. The band included Graceland bassist Bakithi Kumalo. In May 2009, Simon toured with Garfunkel in Australia, New Zealand and Japan, and in October they appeared together at the 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts. At that concert, Simon duetted with Dion on "The Wanderer" and with Graham Nash and David Crosby on "Here Comes the Sun". In April 2010, Simon & Garfunkel performed together again at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In August 2010, The Capeman was staged for three nights in the Delacorte Theatre in New York's Central Park. The production was directed by Diane Paulus and produced in conjunction with the Public Theater.
Simon released a new song, "Getting Ready for Christmas Day", on November 10, 2010. The song sampled a 1941 sermon by J. M. Gates and premiered on National Public Radio Simon performed the song on The Colbert Report on December 16, 2010. In the first show of the final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 10, 2010, Simon performed a song that commemorated the show's 25 years, an update of a song he wrote for its 10th anniversary. Simon's next album, So Beautiful or So What, was released on the Concord Music Group label on April 12, 2011, and Simon said it was the best work he had done in 20 years. It was reported that he had wanted to have Bob Dylan perform on the album. At the end of his 2011 World Tour, which included the U.S., the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany, Simon appeared at Ramat Gan Stadium in Israel in July 2011, his first concert appearance in Israel since 1983. On the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, he performed "The Sound of Silence" at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, on the site of the destroyed World Trade Center.
On February 26, 2012, Simon paid tribute to fellow musicians Chuck Berry and Leonard Cohen, who had received the first annual PEN Awards for songwriting excellence at the JFK Presidential Library. In 2012, Simon released a 25th-anniversary box set of Graceland that included a remastered edition of the original album; the 2012 documentary film Under African Skies; the original 1987 "African Concert" from Zimbabwe; an audio narrative, The Story of Graceland, related by Simon; and other interviews and memorabilia. He played a few concerts in Europe with the original musicians to commemorate the anniversary. On December 19, 2012, Simon performed at the funeral of Victoria Leigh Soto, a teacher killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. In September 2013, he delivered the Richard Ellmann Lecture in Modern Literature at Emory University.
2014–2022: Stranger to Stranger and In the Blue Light
In 2014, Simon embarked on a joint 21-date concert tour of North America, On Stage Together, with English musician Sting. The tour continued in 2015 with ten shows in Australia and New Zealand and 23 in Europe.
Simon made a surprise appearance in The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on September 11, 2015. He performed "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" with Colbert, having been billed before the show as a Simon & Garfunkel Tribute Band. He also performed "American Tune", which was posted on the show's YouTube channel. In 2015, Dion released the single "New York Is My Home" with Simon.
Simon wrote and performed the theme song for comedian Louis C.K.'s show Horace and Pete, which debuted on January 30, 2016. The song is heard during the show's opening, intermission, and closing credits and features Simon's voice and acoustic guitar. Simon made a cameo appearance onscreen in the series' final episode. On June 3, 2016, he released his 13th solo studio album, Stranger to Stranger, on Concord Records.
In 2011, Simon was introduced to Italian electronic dance music artist Clap! Clap! by his son, Adrian, who was a fan of his work. They met in 2011 when Simon was touring So Beautiful or So What in Italy. Simon collaborated with him on three songs, and also worked with longtime friend Roy Halee, who co-produced the album. After the release of the album, Simon said he was no longer interested in showbiz and talked about retirement. He said, "I am going to see what happens if I let go". In the 2010s he appeared briefly in shows such as Portlandia, Welcome to Sweden and Horace & Pete. He appeared as an interviewee and as a musical guest on talk shows such as The Dick Cavett Show, Late Night with David Letterman, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Colbert Report, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He was the subject of two films by Jeremy Marre on the making of Graceland and The Capeman.
Simon performed "Bridge over Troubled Water" at the 2016 Democratic National Convention on July 25, 2016. He debuted a new version of "Questions for the Angels" with jazz guitarist Bill Frisell on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on May 24, 2017. On February 5, 2018, Simon announced his intention to retire from touring, citing time away from his family and the death of longtime guitarist Vincent Nguini. He did not rule out performing live again. He began a farewell concert tour, Homeward Bound – The Farewell Tour, in May 2018 in Vancouver, Canada, and performed shows across North America and Europe. He played his final concert in Queens, New York, on September 22, 2018.
In 2018, Simon released his 14th solo studio album, In the Blue Light, which consisted of re-recordings of lesser-known songs from his catalog, some with altered arrangements, harmonic structures and lyrics. On August 11, 2019, he returned to live performance when he closed San Francisco's Outside Lands festival in Golden Gate Park. He said he planned to donate his net proceeds to local environmental nonprofit organizations. American Songwriter honored Dion's "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)", featuring Simon, as the "Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs". Simon sold his music publishing catalog to Sony Music Publishing in March 2021. He was previously signed to Universal Music Publishing Group.
2023–present: Seven Psalms and return to touring
Simon released a new album, Seven Psalms, in April 2023. A documentary of the project, In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, was made by Alex Gibney. The album was described as 33 minutes of uninterrupted musical meditation, consisting of seven pieces performed on acoustic guitar, linked by a motif derived from "Anji", with elements of folk, blues, and jazz, and lyrics that reflect on life, death, and faith. The inspiration for the album came to Simon in 2020. He recalled, "I had a dream so vivid it made me get up in the middle of the night and write it down ... a voice said 'You are meant to be working on a piece called 'Seven Psalms'." For the next few months, isolated by the COVID-19 pandemic on a Texas ranch, Simon worked on a series of guitar pieces and added sounds like distant church bells produced by amplified upside-down wine glasses. He said, "I envisioned Seven Psalms as one long thought, combined with sounds powerful enough to make the thought come alive." In December 2023, Simon rehearsed Seven Psalms with two acoustic guitarists. He said he missed performing and hoped that it might be possible to play the album live.
Simon had planned to retire from music, but after the success of Seven Psalms, he completed another song, composed four more guitar pieces, and was planning an album of duets with his wife, singer Edie Brickell. He was also in the early stages of working on a musical. In a May 2023 interview with The Times, he said he had lost most of the hearing in his left ear. In February 2025, Simon performed "Homeward Bound" with Sabrina Carpenter at a 50th-anniversary special for Saturday Night Live. That month, he announced the Quiet Celebration Tour, comprising performances in smaller venues in 20 cities across the U.S. and Canada and multiple nights in a row in most cities. The tour began with 2 shows at the Saenger Theater on April 4 and 5 in New Orleans and ended with 2 filmed shows at McCaw Hall in Seattle on August 4 and 5, 2025.
Songwriting
In 2012, in an interview reprinted in American Songwriter, Simon discussed the craft of songwriting with music journalist Tom Moon and talked about the basic themes in his songwriting—love, family, social commentary, religion, spirituality, and God. He said: "The music always precedes the words. The words often come from the sound of the music and eventually evolve into coherent thoughts. Or incoherent thoughts. Rhythm plays a crucial part in the lyric-making as well. It's like a puzzle to find the right words to express what the music is saying."
Saturday Night Live
Simon was the host of the second episode of SNL, on October 18, 1975. Simon appeared alongside George Harrison on the Thanksgiving Day episode of SNL on November 20, 1976, and they performed "Here Comes the Sun" and "Homeward Bound" together. Simon opened the show in a comedy sketch in which he performed "Still Crazy After All These Years," in a turkey outfit, Thanksgiving being the following week. Halfway through the song, he told the band to stop playing because he was embarrassed, gave a speech to the audience and left the stage. Lorne Michaels greeted him backstage, but Simon, still acting upset, yelled at him because of the humiliating turkey outfit. This was one of SNL's most replayed sketches.
In one SNL skit from 1986, when he was promoting Graceland, Simon played himself waiting in line with a friend to get into a movie. He amazed his friend by remembering intricate details about prior meetings with passers-by, but drew a complete blank when he was approached by Art Garfunkel. When Simon hosted an SNL episode during the 1988 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Simon walked out with Illinois Senator and presidential candidate Paul Simon, and argued about which Paul Simon was supposed to have hosting duties.
On September 29, 2001, Simon played "The Boxer" as the cold open for the first episode of SNL to air after the September 11 attacks, also the first episode of its 2001-2002 season.
Simon closed the 40th anniversary SNL show on February 15, 2015, with a performance of "Still Crazy After All These Years". He played a snippet of "I've Just Seen a Face" with Sir Paul McCartney during the introductory sequence. Much of the Thanksgiving episode from 1976 was shown during this prime-time special. On October 13, 2018, he was the musical guest on his 77th birthday. His most recent SNL appearance was on February 16, 2025, Paul Simon performed "Homeward Bound" alongside Sabrina Carpenter for the opening of the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special.
Credits
Film
Television
Theater
Rock 'n Roll! The First 5,000 Years (1982) – revue – featured songwriter for "Mrs. Robinson"
Asinamali! (1987) – play – co-producer
Mike Nichols and Elaine May: Together Again on Broadway (1992) – concert – performer
The Capeman (1998) – composer, co-lyricist and music arranger – Tony Nomination for Best Original Score
The Graduate (2002) – play – featured songwriter
Awards, legacy and honors
Simon has earned sixteen Grammy Awards for his solo and collaborative work, including three for Album of the Year (Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1971; Still Crazy After All These Years, 1976; and Graceland, 1988), and a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is one of only eight artists to have won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year more than once as the main credited artist. In 1998, Simon was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for the Simon & Garfunkel album Bridge over Troubled Water. In 2002, he received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song for his song "Father and Daughter".
Simon has twice been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: in 1990 as a member of Simon & Garfunkel; and in 2001 for his solo career. In 2011, Rolling Stone named him one of the 100 greatest guitarists, and in 2015 he was ranked 8th in their list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. In 2023, he was ranked the 246th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone. In 2001, Simon was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year. In 2002 he was one of five recipients of the annual Kennedy Center Honors, the nation's highest tribute to performing and cultural artists. In 2005, Simon was honored at the BMI Pop Awards. His songwriting catalog had earned 39 BMI Awards, including numerous citations for "Bridge over Troubled Water", "Mrs. Robinson", "Scarborough Fair" and "The Sound of Silence". In 2006, he was selected by Time Magazine as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World".
In 2007, Simon received the first annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Named in honor of George and Ira Gershwin, this award recognized the profound and positive effect of popular music on the world's culture. Simon said, "I am grateful to be the recipient of the Gershwin Prize and doubly honored to be the first. I look forward to spending an evening in the company of artists I admire at the award ceremony in May. I can think of a few [artists] who have expressed my words and music far better than I [have]. I'm excited at the prospect of that happening again. It's a songwriter's dream come true." Among the performers who paid tribute to Simon were Stevie Wonder, Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Lyle Lovett, James Taylor, Dianne Reeves, Marc Anthony, Yolanda Adams and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The event was professionally filmed and broadcast and was released as Paul Simon and Friends. In 2012, Simon was awarded the Polar Music Prize.
Personal life
Relationships and marriages
When Simon moved to England in 1964, he met Kathleen Mary "Kathy" Chitty at the first English folk club he played, the Railway Inn Folk Club in Brentwood, Essex, where Chitty worked part-time selling tickets. She was 18 and he was 22 when they began a relationship. Later that year they visited the U.S. together, mainly touring by bus. Kathy returned to England and Simon followed some weeks later. When he returned to the U.S. with the growing success of "The Sounds of Silence", Kathy, who was quite shy, wanted no part in success and fame, and they ended their relationship. She is mentioned by name in at least two of Simon's songs, "Kathy's Song" and "America". She is also referred to in "Homeward Bound" and "The Late Great Johnny Ace". A photo of Simon and Kathy is on the cover of Simon's 1965 album The Paul Simon Songbook.
Peggy Harper
Simon has been married three times, first to Peggy Harper in 1969. They had a son, Harper Simon, in 1972, and divorced in 1975, inspiring the song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover". Simon wrote about this relationship in the song "Train in the Distance" from his 1983 album Hearts and Bones. In the late 1970s, Simon lived in New York City next door to Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, who has been described as Simon's "best friend" during the period.
Carrie Fisher
Simon met actress Shelley Duvall while filming Annie Hall in 1976. They lived together as a couple for two years until Duvall introduced him to her friend actress Carrie Fisher. Simon and Fisher began dating in 1978, and were married from 1983 to 1984. He proposed to her after a New York Yankees game. The song "Hearts and Bones" is about their time together, and the song "Graceland" is believed to be about seeking solace from the end of the relationship by taking a road trip. A year after they divorced, Simon and Fisher resumed their relationship, which lasted several years.
Edie Brickell
Simon married singer Edie Brickell on May 30, 1992. Brickell and Simon have three children, Adrian, Lulu, and Gabriel. On April 26, 2014, Simon and Brickell were involved in a domestic dispute in which police responded to their Connecticut residence. Each was issued a summons to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges.
Family and interests
All four of his children are now adults and are musicians. Simon and his younger brother, Eddie Simon, founded the Guitar Study Center sometime before 1973. The Guitar Study Center became part of The New School in New York City, sometime before 2002.
Simon is an avid fan of the New York Rangers ice hockey team, the New York Knicks basketball team and the New York Yankees baseball team.
Philanthropy
Simon is an advocate of music education for children. In 1970, after recording "Bridge Over Troubled Water", he held auditions for a young songwriters' workshop at the invitation of the NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. The auditions were advertised in The Village Voice, and brought hundreds of hopefuls to perform. Among the six teenage songwriters selected for tutelage were Melissa Manchester, Tommy Mandel and rock/beat poet Joe Linus. Maggie and Terre Roche (the Roche Sisters), who later sang back-up for Simon, joined the workshop in progress in an impromptu appearance.
Simon invited the six teenagers to experience the recording process at Columbia studios with engineer Roy Halee. During these sessions, Bob Dylan was downstairs recording his album Self-Portrait, which included a version of Simon's "The Boxer". Violinist Isaac Stern visited the group with a CBS film crew and spoke to the young musicians about lyrics and music. Manchester later paid homage to Simon with her recorded song "Ode to Paul". Other musicians Simon mentored include Nick Laird-Clowes, who co-founded the band the Dream Academy. Laird-Clowes credited Simon with helping to shape the band's biggest hit, "Life in a Northern Town".
In 2003, Simon became a supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provided free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools in the U.S. He sits on the organization's board of directors as an honorary member. Simon is also a major benefactor and one of the co-founders, with Irwin Redlener, of the Children's Health Project and The Children's Health Fund which began by creating specially equipped buses to take medical care to children in medically under-served areas, both urban and rural. Their first bus was placed in the impoverished South Bronx of New York City, but the buses now operate in 12 states, including on the Gulf Coast. The project has expanded greatly and partners with major hospitals, local public schools and medical schools, and advocates policy for children's health and medical care.
In May 2012, Paul Simon performed at a benefit dinner for the Turkana Basin Institute in New York City, raising more than $2 million for Richard Leakey's research institute in Africa. For his 2019 performance at San Francisco's Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Simon donated his appearance fee to the San Francisco Parks Alliance and Friends of the Urban Forest. After reading Peter Singer's book The Life You Can Save, Simon became a supporter of effective altruism, a movement that uses evidence to determine where charitable giving has the greatest impact. He reflects, “You really have to know what and to whom you’re giving this money. All these years I had been doing these benefit concerts with all my friends and musicians. We’d come. We’d play. We pack up our guitars. We leave. And nobody ever says, ‘Where’d that money go?’” In 2015, he performed a benefit concert for the Fistula Foundation.
Discography
This discography does not include compilation albums, concert albums or work with Simon & Garfunkel.
Simon's solo concert albums often have songs he originally recorded with Simon & Garfunkel, and many Simon & Garfunkel concert albums contain songs Simon first recorded on solo albums.
Simon has a few songs that appear on compilation albums and nowhere else, such as "Slip Slidin' Away", which first appeared on the compilation album Greatest Hits, Etc. (1977) and has since been included in subsequent compilations such as Negotiations and Love Songs (1988).
Solo studio albums
Bibliography
Kingston, Victoria (1996). Simon and Garfunkel: The Definitive Biography. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. p. 308. ISBN 9780283062674.
Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits. Billboard Books. ISBN 0-8230-7677-6.
See also
List of songs written by Paul Simon
References
Bibliography
Eliot, Marc (2010). Paul Simon: A Life. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-43363-8.
External links
Official website
Paul Simon at AllMusic
Paul Simon discography at Discogs
Paul Simon at IMDb
82f75e30-e211-41a1-9b2b-f083b9dd3ba3 Paul Simon discography at MusicBrainz
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Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Simon & Garfunkel. Their blend of folk and rock, including hits such as "The Sound of Silence" (1965), "Mrs. Robinson" (1968), "America" (1968), and "The Boxer" (1969), served as a soundtrack to the 1960s counterculture. Their final album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970), is among the best-selling of all time.
As a solo artist, Simon has explored genres including gospel, reggae, and soul. His albums Paul Simon (1972), There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973), and Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) kept him in the public eye and drew acclaim, producing the hits "Mother and Child Reunion" (1972), "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" (1972), and "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (1975). Simon reunited with Garfunkel for several tours and the 1981 Concert in Central Park. Simon hosted Saturday Night Live four times from 1975 to 1987 and has served as the musical guest various times on the show. He made his acting debut in the Woody Allen romantic comedy Annie Hall (1977).
In 1986, Simon released his most successful and acclaimed album, Graceland, incorporating South African influences. "You Can Call Me Al" became one of Simon's most successful singles. Graceland was followed by The Rhythm of the Saints (1990) and a second Concert in the Park in 1991, without Garfunkel, which approximately 500,000 people attended. In 1998, Simon wrote a Broadway musical, The Capeman, that was poorly received. He continued to record and tour in the 21st century. His later albums, such as You're the One (2000), So Beautiful or So What (2011), and Stranger to Stranger (2016), introduced him to new generations. His most recent album, Seven Psalms, was released in 2023.
Simon has twice been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has won 16 Grammy Awards, including three for Album of the Year. Two of his works, Sounds of Silence (1966) (as part of Simon & Garfunkel) and Graceland, were inducted into the National Recording Registry for their cultural significance. He was honored with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001 and the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize in 2007. He is a co-founder of the Children's Health Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides medical care to children. Simon is a supporter of the effective altruism movement, which uses evidence to determine where charitable giving will do the most good.
Early life and education
Simon was born on October 13, 1941, in Newark, New Jersey, to Hungarian-Jewish parents. His father, Louis (1916–1995), a professor of education at the City College of New York, was a double bass player and dance bandleader who performed under the name Lee Sims. His mother, Belle (1910–2007), was an elementary-school teacher. In 1945, his family moved to the Kew Gardens Hills section of Flushing, Queens, in New York City.
The musician Donald Fagen described Simon's childhood as that of "a certain kind of New York Jew, almost a stereotype really, to whom music and baseball are very important. I think it has to do with the parents. The parents are either immigrants or first-generation Americans who felt like outsiders, and assimilation was the key thought—they gravitated to black music and baseball, looking for an alternative culture." Simon said Fagen's description was not far from the truth. He described his father as funny and smart, but said he worked late and did not see his children much. He recalls hearing "Gee" by The Crows on Make Believe Ballroom: "It was really the first thing I heard on there that I liked. And it was really the first time I heard rock and roll." He tried to explain to his father the feeling he got hearing "Earth Angel": "My father was a very good musician. And he comes from an era of very sophisticated music. Big bands, and Sinatra ... He didn't buy it. But I love that record".
Simon met Art Garfunkel when they were 11 years old and performed together in a production of Alice in Wonderland for their sixth-grade graduation. The two began singing together at age 13, occasionally performing at school dances. At age 12 or 13, Simon wrote his first song, "The Girl for Me", for him and Garfunkel to perform. According to Simon, it became the "neighborhood hit". His father wrote the words and chords on paper for the boys to use, and that paper became the first officially copyrighted Simon and Garfunkel song. It is now in the Library of Congress. In 1957, in their mid-teens, they recorded the song "Hey, Schoolgirl" under the name "Tom & Jerry", a name given to them by their label, Big Records. The single reached number 49 on the Billboard charts.
After graduating from Forest Hills High School, Simon majored in English at Queens College and graduated in 1963. Garfunkel studied mathematics education at Columbia University in Manhattan. Simon was a brother in the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, and attended Brooklyn Law School for one semester in 1963.
Career
Between 1957 and 1964, Simon wrote, recorded, and released more than 30 songs. He and Garfunkel occasionally reunited as Tom & Jerry to record singles, including "Our Song" and "That's My Story". Most of the songs Simon recorded during that time he performed alone, or with musicians other than Garfunkel. They were released on minor record labels including Amy, Big, Hunt, King, Tribute and Madison. Simon used several pseudonyms for these recordings, including "Jerry Landis", "Paul Kane", and "True Taylor". By 1962, working as Jerry Landis, he was a frequent writer/producer for several Amy Records artists, overseeing material released by Dotty Daniels, the Vels and Ritchie Cordell.
Simon enjoyed moderate success with singles as part of the group Tico and the Triumphs, including "Motorcycle", which reached number 99 on the Billboard charts in 1962. Tico and the Triumphs released four 45s. Marty Cooper, known as Tico, sang lead on several of these releases, but "Motorcycle" featured Simon's vocal. Also in 1962, Simon reached number 97 on the pop charts as Jerry Landis, with the novelty song "The Lone Teen Ranger".
1960s: Simon & Garfunkel
In early 1964, Simon and Garfunkel auditioned for Columbia Records, whose executive Clive Davis signed them to produce an album. Columbia decided to call them Simon & Garfunkel instead of Tom & Jerry, and according to Simon, this was the first time artists' surnames had been used in pop music without their first names. Simon and Garfunkel's first LP, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., was released on October 19, 1964. It consisted of 12 songs, five of which were written by Simon. The album initially flopped.
In 1965, after the album's release, Simon moved to London and performed in folk clubs. He enjoyed his time in England and said in 1970, "I had a lot of friends there and a girlfriend. I could play music there. There was no place to play in New York City. They wouldn't have me." He was welcomed by England's bohemian folk scene. He recalled, "I learnt how to finger-pick acoustic guitar from Martin Carthy, who was connected to the Watersons from Hull, which of course led to 'Scarborough Fair', and I had never heard anything like those old English songs. The closest I got was the Everly Brothers, who borrowed from Appalachian melodies, so that period was very powerful for me. I had never heard anything like those old English songs. I was 21, 22, and emotionally open to everything." He wrote "Homeward Bound" and "I Am a Rock", and learned Davey Graham's guitar instrumental "Anji". He says that “Nothing in my repertoire can’t be traced back to something I’ve heard at some point, and the two big influences were street corner doo-wop from New York and the folk music I heard in England."
In England, Simon recorded a solo album, The Paul Simon Songbook, featuring just his voice and guitar accompaniment; it was released only in the UK at the time, but later released elsewhere. He produced Jackson C. Frank's only album and co-wrote several songs with Bruce Woodley of the Australian pop group the Seekers, including "I Wish You Could Be Here", "Cloudy" and "Red Rubber Ball". Simon penned "Someday, One Day" for the Seekers, which charted around the same time as "Homeward Bound".
Radio stations on the American East Coast began receiving requests for the Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. track "The Sound of Silence". Simon & Garfunkel's producer, Tom Wilson, overdubbed the track with electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums, and it was released as a single, eventually reaching number 1 on the U.S. pop charts. Wilson did not inform the duo of his plan, and Simon was "horrified" when he first heard it. The single's success drew Simon back to the U.S. to reunite with Garfunkel, and they recorded the albums Sounds of Silence (1966), Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966) and Bookends (1968).
Simon & Garfunkel also contributed to the soundtrack of Mike Nichols's film The Graduate (1967). While writing "Mrs. Robinson", Simon toyed with the title "Mrs. Roosevelt". When Garfunkel reported this indecision over the song's name to the director, Nichols replied, "Don't be ridiculous! We're making a movie here! It's Mrs. Robinson!"
Simon and Garfunkel's relationship became strained and they split in 1970. At the urging of his wife, Peggy Harper, Simon called Davis to confirm the duo's breakup. For the next several years, they spoke only two or three times a year. Their last album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970), was the bestselling album to date. The title track reached number one, and "Cecilia" and "The Boxer" made the top ten.
1970–1976: Solo and Still Crazy After All These Years
In 1970, Simon taught songwriting at New York University. He said he had wanted to teach for a while, and hoped to help people avoid some of the mistakes he had made: "You can teach somebody about writing songs. You can't teach someone how to write a song ... I'd go to a course if the Beatles would talk about how they made records because I'm sure I could learn something." He contributed the lyrics of "Half of the People" to Leonard Bernstein’s Mass (1971).
Simon pursued solo work while occasionally reuniting with Garfunkel for various projects. In April 1972, he performed at the Cleveland Arena alongside Joni Mitchell and James Taylor in a benefit concert for George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign. He and Garfunkel reunited in mid-June that year at Madison Square Garden in another concert for McGovern.
Simon's next album, Paul Simon, was released in January 1972. It featured an early experiment with world music, the reggae-inspired "Mother and Child Reunion", recorded with Jimmy Cliff's band. It reached both the American and British Top 5. The album received universal acclaim and critics praised its variety of styles and confessional lyrics. Paul Simon reached number 4 in the U.S. and number 1 in the UK and Japan, and produced another Top 30 hit, "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard". Simon also provided guitar on Garfunkel's 1973 album Angel Clare, and added backing vocals to the song "Down in the Willow Garden".
Simon's next project, the pop-folk album There Goes Rhymin' Simon, was released in May 1973. The lead single, "Kodachrome", was a number 2 hit in the U.S. The follow-up, the gospel-flavored "Loves Me Like a Rock", topped the Cashbox charts. Other songs like "American Tune" and "Something So Right" (a tribute to Simon's first wife, Peggy) became part of his repertoire. The album reached number 1 on the Cashbox album charts. In March 1974 he released a live album, Live Rhymin', containing elements of Latin and religious music.
His next album, produced by Simon and Phil Ramone, was Still Crazy After All These Years, released in October 1975. The mood of the album, written after Simon's divorce, was darker. It contains "Gone at Last", a duet with Phoebe Snow, and the Simon & Garfunkel reunion track "My Little Town" (a number 9 on Billboard). Simon wrote the song for Garfunkel, whose solo output Simon felt lacked "bite", and it was included on Garfunkel's album Breakaway. Contrary to popular belief, the song was not based on Simon's early life in New York City. The album is his only number 1 on the Billboard charts to date. The 18th Grammy Awards named it the Album of the Year, and his performance on it the year's Best Male Pop Vocal. The third single from the album, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", reached the top spot on the Billboard charts. On May 3, 1976, Simon put together a benefit show at Madison Square Garden for the New York Public Library that raised over $30,000.
1977–1985: One-Trick Pony and Hearts and Bones
After releasing three successful studio albums, Simon worked on various projects. He wrote music for Hal Ashby's Shampoo (1975). "Slip Slidin' Away", the lead single of his 1977 compilation Greatest Hits, Etc., reached number 5 in the U.S. Simon has also had several acting roles in films and television shows. He played music producer Tony Lacey, a supporting character in Woody Allen's film Annie Hall (1977) and made a cameo appearance in the movie The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash the following year. In 1981 he appeared in an episode of The Muppet Show, the only episode of the series to use the songs of one songwriter. He appeared in several episodes of Sesame Street in the 1970s and 1980s, including in a memorable performance of "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" in 1977, and a cameo appearance in the song "Put Down the Duckie!" in 1986.
In 1980, Simon released One-Trick Pony, his first album with Warner Bros. Records and his first in almost five years. The album was paired with the motion picture of the same name, which Simon wrote and starred in. The single "Late in the Evening" reached number 6 on Billboard, but the album did not sell well. In 1981, Simon & Garfunkel included eight songs from Simon's solo career in the set list of their September 19 concert in Central Park. Five were rearranged as duets and Simon performed the other three solo. The resulting live album, TV special, and videocassette (later DVD) releases were all major hits.
After the success of The Concert in Central Park, Simon & Garfunkel returned to the studio, planning to record an album of new material. This would have been their first new recordings as a duo since their "My Little Town" and their first album of new material since Bridge over Troubled Water. Simon ultimately decided to wipe Garfunkel's vocals from the mix, and in 1983, he released Hearts and Bones as a solo album. It is a polished, confessional album that was eventually viewed as one of his best works, but it achieved the lowest sales of his career. Hearts and Bones included "The Late Great Johnny Ace", a song about the deaths of American R&B singer Johnny Ace and John Lennon. It featured an orchestral coda by Philip Glass. In January 1985, Simon performed for USA for Africa and on the relief fundraising single "We Are the World".
1986–1992: Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints
In 1986, Simon was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music, where he had served on the board of trustees.
Simon decided to record an album of South African music after hearing a bootlegged tape of mbaqanga, South African street music, and in 1986 he traveled to Johannesburg and recorded with African musicians. Additional sessions were held in New York. The sessions featured many South African acts, notably Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Simon also collaborated with several American artists, duetting with Linda Ronstadt on "Under African Skies" and playing with Los Lobos on "All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints".
The resulting album, Graceland, became Simon's most successful studio album. Simon recalls that "I improvised in two ways - by making up melodies in falsetto, and by singing any words that came to mind down in my lower and mid range. I tried not to censor the words and to keep an ear cocked to see if a phrase came out that was interesting enough to suggest that my subconscious had allowed something significant to bubble out. Though I had no intentions of writing about Elvis Presley, the word 'Graceland' came very early. While writing the lyrics, I always tried to stay true to the mood of the music, which was flowing, pleasant and easy." Stephen Holden wrote "Listening to Graceland, one gets the sense of an artist submitting to, and being swept up by, musical forces he does not totally understand. Adding a crucial extra dimension to the album is Mr. Simon's very urbane literary sensibility, which pulls against the simplicity of the music and lends the songs a kind of double vision. The music extends and enriches the language while the lyrics meditate on the music." It is estimated to have sold more than 16 million copies worldwide. Graceland won the 1987 Grammy for Album of the Year. In 2006, the album was added to the United States' National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically important".
Simon was accused of breaking the cultural boycott imposed by the rest of the world against South Africa's apartheid regime by organizations such as Artists United Against Apartheid, anti-apartheid musicians (including Billy Bragg, Paul Weller and Jerry Dammers), and James Victor Gbeho (Ghana's Ambassador to the United Nations). Simon denied that he had gone to South Africa to "take money out of the country" and said he paid the black artists and split royalties with them and was not paid to play to a white-only audience. The United Nations Anti-Apartheid Committee supported Graceland, as it showcased black South African musicians and offered no support to the South African government, but the African National Congress protested that it was a violation of the boycott. The Congress voted to ban Simon from South Africa and he was added to the United Nations blacklist, from which he was removed in January 1987. In 1989, Simon appeared on Dion's song "Written on the Subway Wall"/"Little Star" from Yo Frankie, which peaked at number 97 in October 1990. In 1992, Simon and his band were invited to play in South Africa by Nelson Mandela.
After Graceland, Simon extended his roots with the Brazilian-flavored The Rhythm of the Saints. Sessions for the album began in December 1989 in Rio de Janeiro and New York and featured guitarist J.J. Cale and Brazilian and African musicians. The album's tone is more introspective and low-key than that of Graceland. Released in October 1990, the album received excellent reviews and sold well, peaking at number 4 in the U.S. and number 1 in the UK. The lead single, "The Obvious Child", featuring the Grupo Cultural Olodum, became Simon's last Top 20 hit in the UK and appeared near the bottom of the Billboard Hot 100. Although not as successful as Graceland, The Rhythm of the Saints received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Simon's ex-wife Carrie Fisher wrote in her autobiography Wishful Drinking that the song "She Moves On" is about her: "If you can get Paul Simon to write a song about you, do it. Because he is so brilliant at it."
The success of both albums allowed Simon to stage another concert in New York. On August 15, 1991, he gave a second concert in Central Park, with African and South American bands. The concert's success surpassed all expectations, and 48,500 people are estimated to have attended. He later remembered the concert as "the most memorable moment in my career". Its success led to a live album and an Emmy-winning TV special. Simon embarked on the "Born at the Right Time" tour and promoted the album with further singles, including "Proof", which was accompanied by a humorous video featuring Chevy Chase and Steve Martin. On March 4, 1992, Simon performed on an episode of MTV Unplugged. Simon & Garfunkel were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
1993–1998: Paul Simon 1964/1993 and The Capeman
Another Simon & Garfunkel reunion took place in September 1993, and Columbia released Paul Simon 1964/1993. Originally a three-disc compilation, it became a reduced version on the two-disc album The Paul Simon Anthology one month later. In 1995, Simon appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and performed the song "Ten Years", which he had composed for the show's tenth anniversary. Also in 1995 he featured in the Annie Lennox version of his 1973 song "Something So Right", which appeared briefly on the UK Top 50 after it was released as a single.
Simon collaborated with poet Derek Walcott on a musical, The Capeman, that opened on January 29, 1998. He worked enthusiastically on the project for many years, and described it as "a New York Puerto Rican story based on events that happened in 1959—events that I remembered." The musical told the story of a real-life Puerto Rican youth, Salvador Agron, who wore a cape while committing two murders in New York in 1959. He became a writer while in prison. Featuring Marc Anthony as the young Agron and Rubén Blades as the older Agron, the play was not a success, receiving mixed reviews and poor box-office receipts. Clive Barnes wrote "Here is the most bewitching and bewitched Broadway score in years -- music that, in a quite different way, only Stephen Sondheim has equaled," but that "it was West Side Story particularized, de-prettified and de-balleticized. A tough call for entertainment."
Simon recorded an album of songs from the show which was released in November 1997. The album received mixed reviews. Some critics praised its combination of doo-wop, rockabilly, and Caribbean music, but Songs from The Capeman was a failure, and for the first time in Simon's career he did not reach the Top 40 of the Billboard charts. The cast album was never released on CD but eventually became available online.
1999–2007: You're the One and Surprise
In the 1990s and 2000s, Simon played the character of Simple Simon in the Disney Channel TV movie Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme, and provided cameos in Millennium and The Great Buck Howard. In the late 1990s, Simon wrote and produced a Broadway musical called The Capeman, which lost $11 million during its 1998 run. After The Capeman, Simon's career was in an unexpected crisis, but he continued to record new material. In 1999, he embarked on a three-month North American tour with Bob Dylan, in which he and Dylan alternated as the headline act with a middle section where they performed together. The collaboration was generally well-received, with just one critic, Seth Rogovoy of the Berkshire Eagle, questioning the collaboration.
In 2000, Simon wrote and recorded a new album, You're the One, very quickly. The album was released in October and consisted mostly of folk-pop writing combined with foreign musical sounds, particularly grooves from North Africa. The album received favorable reviews, reached both the British and American Top 20, and received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Simon toured extensively to promote it, and one performance in Paris was released to home video. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in America, Simon sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water" on America: A Tribute to Heroes, a multi-network broadcast to benefit the September 11 Telethon Fund, and performed "The Boxer" at the start of the first episode of Saturday Night Live after September 11. In 2002, he wrote and recorded "Father and Daughter", the theme song for the animated family film The Wild Thornberrys Movie. The track was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song.
In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel performed together again when they received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. This reunion led to a U.S. tour, the acclaimed "Old Friends" concert series, followed by a 2004 international encore, culminating in a free concert at the Colosseum in Rome that attracted an audience of 600,000. In 2005, they sang "Mrs. Robinson" and "Homeward Bound" together, plus "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with Aaron Neville, in the benefit concert From the Big Apple to The Big Easy – The Concert for New Orleans (eventually released as a DVD) for Hurricane Katrina victims. In 2004, Simon's studio albums were re-released both individually and as a collection in a limited-edition, nine-CD boxed set, Paul Simon: The Studio Recordings 1972–2000. Simon was then working with Brian Eno on a new album, Surprise, which was released in May 2006. Most of its songs were inspired by the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. Simon also took inspiration from having turned 60 in 2001, which he humorously referred to in "Old" from You're the One. Surprise was a commercial hit, reaching number 14 on the Billboard 200 and number 4 in the UK. Most critics praised the album. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote, "Simon doesn't achieve his comeback by reconnecting with the sound and spirit of his classic work; he has achieved it by being as restless and ambitious as he was at his popular and creative peak." The album was supported by the Surprise Tour in 2006.
In March 2004, Walter Yetnikoff published Howling at the Moon, a book in which he criticized Simon and his previous business partnership with Columbia Records. In 2007, Simon was the inaugural recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and he later performed as part of a gala of his work.
2008–2013: So Beautiful or So What and touring
After living in Montauk, New York, for many years, Simon relocated to New Canaan, Connecticut. He is one of a small number of performers who are named as the copyright owner on their recordings (most records have the recording company as the named owner). This development followed the Bee Gees' successful $200-million lawsuit against RSO Records, the largest successful suit against a record company by an artist or group. All of Simon's solo recordings, including those originally issued by Columbia Records, are distributed by Sony Records' Legacy Recordings unit. His albums were issued by Warner Music Group until mid-2010, when Simon moved his catalog of solo work from Warner Bros. Records to Sony/Columbia Records, which holds the Simon & Garfunkel catalog.
In April 2008, Songs From the Capeman played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with original cast members and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Simon appeared during the BAM shows, performing "Trailways Bus" and "Late in the Evening". In February 2009, Simon performed back-to-back shows in New York City at the recently renovated Beacon Theatre. He was joined by Garfunkel and the cast of The Capeman in the first show. The band included Graceland bassist Bakithi Kumalo. In May 2009, Simon toured with Garfunkel in Australia, New Zealand and Japan, and in October they appeared together at the 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts. At that concert, Simon duetted with Dion on "The Wanderer" and with Graham Nash and David Crosby on "Here Comes the Sun". In April 2010, Simon & Garfunkel performed together again at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In August 2010, The Capeman was staged for three nights in the Delacorte Theatre in New York's Central Park. The production was directed by Diane Paulus and produced in conjunction with the Public Theater.
Simon released a new song, "Getting Ready for Christmas Day", on November 10, 2010. The song sampled a 1941 sermon by J. M. Gates and premiered on National Public Radio Simon performed the song on The Colbert Report on December 16, 2010. In the first show of the final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 10, 2010, Simon performed a song that commemorated the show's 25 years, an update of a song he wrote for its 10th anniversary. Simon's next album, So Beautiful or So What, was released on the Concord Music Group label on April 12, 2011, and Simon said it was the best work he had done in 20 years. It was reported that he had wanted to have Bob Dylan perform on the album. At the end of his 2011 World Tour, which included the U.S., the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany, Simon appeared at Ramat Gan Stadium in Israel in July 2011, his first concert appearance in Israel since 1983. On the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, he performed "The Sound of Silence" at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, on the site of the destroyed World Trade Center.
On February 26, 2012, Simon paid tribute to fellow musicians Chuck Berry and Leonard Cohen, who had received the first annual PEN Awards for songwriting excellence at the JFK Presidential Library. In 2012, Simon released a 25th-anniversary box set of Graceland that included a remastered edition of the original album; the 2012 documentary film Under African Skies; the original 1987 "African Concert" from Zimbabwe; an audio narrative, The Story of Graceland, related by Simon; and other interviews and memorabilia. He played a few concerts in Europe with the original musicians to commemorate the anniversary. On December 19, 2012, Simon performed at the funeral of Victoria Leigh Soto, a teacher killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. In September 2013, he delivered the Richard Ellmann Lecture in Modern Literature at Emory University.
2014–2022: Stranger to Stranger and In the Blue Light
In 2014, Simon embarked on a joint 21-date concert tour of North America, On Stage Together, with English musician Sting. The tour continued in 2015 with ten shows in Australia and New Zealand and 23 in Europe.
Simon made a surprise appearance in The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on September 11, 2015. He performed "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" with Colbert, having been billed before the show as a Simon & Garfunkel Tribute Band. He also performed "American Tune", which was posted on the show's YouTube channel. In 2015, Dion released the single "New York Is My Home" with Simon.
Simon wrote and performed the theme song for comedian Louis C.K.'s show Horace and Pete, which debuted on January 30, 2016. The song is heard during the show's opening, intermission, and closing credits and features Simon's voice and acoustic guitar. Simon made a cameo appearance onscreen in the series' final episode. On June 3, 2016, he released his 13th solo studio album, Stranger to Stranger, on Concord Records.
In 2011, Simon was introduced to Italian electronic dance music artist Clap! Clap! by his son, Adrian, who was a fan of his work. They met in 2011 when Simon was touring So Beautiful or So What in Italy. Simon collaborated with him on three songs, and also worked with longtime friend Roy Halee, who co-produced the album. After the release of the album, Simon said he was no longer interested in showbiz and talked about retirement. He said, "I am going to see what happens if I let go". In the 2010s he appeared briefly in shows such as Portlandia, Welcome to Sweden and Horace & Pete. He appeared as an interviewee and as a musical guest on talk shows such as The Dick Cavett Show, Late Night with David Letterman, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Colbert Report, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He was the subject of two films by Jeremy Marre on the making of Graceland and The Capeman.
Simon performed "Bridge over Troubled Water" at the 2016 Democratic National Convention on July 25, 2016. He debuted a new version of "Questions for the Angels" with jazz guitarist Bill Frisell on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on May 24, 2017. On February 5, 2018, Simon announced his intention to retire from touring, citing time away from his family and the death of longtime guitarist Vincent Nguini. He did not rule out performing live again. He began a farewell concert tour, Homeward Bound – The Farewell Tour, in May 2018 in Vancouver, Canada, and performed shows across North America and Europe. He played his final concert in Queens, New York, on September 22, 2018.
In 2018, Simon released his 14th solo studio album, In the Blue Light, which consisted of re-recordings of lesser-known songs from his catalog, some with altered arrangements, harmonic structures and lyrics. On August 11, 2019, he returned to live performance when he closed San Francisco's Outside Lands festival in Golden Gate Park. He said he planned to donate his net proceeds to local environmental nonprofit organizations. American Songwriter honored Dion's "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)", featuring Simon, as the "Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs". Simon sold his music publishing catalog to Sony Music Publishing in March 2021. He was previously signed to Universal Music Publishing Group.
2023–present: Seven Psalms and return to touring
Simon released a new album, Seven Psalms, in April 2023. A documentary of the project, In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, was made by Alex Gibney. The album was described as 33 minutes of uninterrupted musical meditation, consisting of seven pieces performed on acoustic guitar, linked by a motif derived from "Anji", with elements of folk, blues, and jazz, and lyrics that reflect on life, death, and faith. The inspiration for the album came to Simon in 2020. He recalled, "I had a dream so vivid it made me get up in the middle of the night and write it down ... a voice said 'You are meant to be working on a piece called 'Seven Psalms'." For the next few months, isolated by the COVID-19 pandemic on a Texas ranch, Simon worked on a series of guitar pieces and added sounds like distant church bells produced by amplified upside-down wine glasses. He said, "I envisioned Seven Psalms as one long thought, combined with sounds powerful enough to make the thought come alive." In December 2023, Simon rehearsed Seven Psalms with two acoustic guitarists. He said he missed performing and hoped that it might be possible to play the album live.
Simon had planned to retire from music, but after the success of Seven Psalms, he completed another song, composed four more guitar pieces, and was planning an album of duets with his wife, singer Edie Brickell. He was also in the early stages of working on a musical. In a May 2023 interview with The Times, he said he had lost most of the hearing in his left ear. In February 2025, Simon performed "Homeward Bound" with Sabrina Carpenter at a 50th-anniversary special for Saturday Night Live. That month, he announced the Quiet Celebration Tour, comprising performances in smaller venues in 20 cities across the U.S. and Canada and multiple nights in a row in most cities. The tour began with 2 shows at the Saenger Theater on April 4 and 5 in New Orleans and ended with 2 filmed shows at McCaw Hall in Seattle on August 4 and 5, 2025.
Songwriting
In 2012, in an interview reprinted in American Songwriter, Simon discussed the craft of songwriting with music journalist Tom Moon and talked about the basic themes in his songwriting—love, family, social commentary, religion, spirituality, and God. He said: "The music always precedes the words. The words often come from the sound of the music and eventually evolve into coherent thoughts. Or incoherent thoughts. Rhythm plays a crucial part in the lyric-making as well. It's like a puzzle to find the right words to express what the music is saying."
Saturday Night Live
Simon was the host of the second episode of SNL, on October 18, 1975. Simon appeared alongside George Harrison on the Thanksgiving Day episode of SNL on November 20, 1976, and they performed "Here Comes the Sun" and "Homeward Bound" together. Simon opened the show in a comedy sketch in which he performed "Still Crazy After All These Years," in a turkey outfit, Thanksgiving being the following week. Halfway through the song, he told the band to stop playing because he was embarrassed, gave a speech to the audience and left the stage. Lorne Michaels greeted him backstage, but Simon, still acting upset, yelled at him because of the humiliating turkey outfit. This was one of SNL's most replayed sketches.
In one SNL skit from 1986, when he was promoting Graceland, Simon played himself waiting in line with a friend to get into a movie. He amazed his friend by remembering intricate details about prior meetings with passers-by, but drew a complete blank when he was approached by Art Garfunkel. When Simon hosted an SNL episode during the 1988 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Simon walked out with Illinois Senator and presidential candidate Paul Simon, and argued about which Paul Simon was supposed to have hosting duties.
On September 29, 2001, Simon played "The Boxer" as the cold open for the first episode of SNL to air after the September 11 attacks, also the first episode of its 2001-2002 season.
Simon closed the 40th anniversary SNL show on February 15, 2015, with a performance of "Still Crazy After All These Years". He played a snippet of "I've Just Seen a Face" with Sir Paul McCartney during the introductory sequence. Much of the Thanksgiving episode from 1976 was shown during this prime-time special. On October 13, 2018, he was the musical guest on his 77th birthday. His most recent SNL appearance was on February 16, 2025, Paul Simon performed "Homeward Bound" alongside Sabrina Carpenter for the opening of the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special.
Credits
Film
Television
Theater
Rock 'n Roll! The First 5,000 Years (1982) – revue – featured songwriter for "Mrs. Robinson"
Asinamali! (1987) – play – co-producer
Mike Nichols and Elaine May: Together Again on Broadway (1992) – concert – performer
The Capeman (1998) – composer, co-lyricist and music arranger – Tony Nomination for Best Original Score
The Graduate (2002) – play – featured songwriter
Awards, legacy and honors
Simon has earned sixteen Grammy Awards for his solo and collaborative work, including three for Album of the Year (Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1971; Still Crazy After All These Years, 1976; and Graceland, 1988), and a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is one of only eight artists to have won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year more than once as the main credited artist. In 1998, Simon was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for the Simon & Garfunkel album Bridge over Troubled Water. In 2002, he received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song for his song "Father and Daughter".
Simon has twice been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: in 1990 as a member of Simon & Garfunkel; and in 2001 for his solo career. In 2011, Rolling Stone named him one of the 100 greatest guitarists, and in 2015 he was ranked 8th in their list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. In 2023, he was ranked the 246th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone. In 2001, Simon was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year. In 2002 he was one of five recipients of the annual Kennedy Center Honors, the nation's highest tribute to performing and cultural artists. In 2005, Simon was honored at the BMI Pop Awards. His songwriting catalog had earned 39 BMI Awards, including numerous citations for "Bridge over Troubled Water", "Mrs. Robinson", "Scarborough Fair" and "The Sound of Silence". In 2006, he was selected by Time Magazine as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World".
In 2007, Simon received the first annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Named in honor of George and Ira Gershwin, this award recognized the profound and positive effect of popular music on the world's culture. Simon said, "I am grateful to be the recipient of the Gershwin Prize and doubly honored to be the first. I look forward to spending an evening in the company of artists I admire at the award ceremony in May. I can think of a few [artists] who have expressed my words and music far better than I [have]. I'm excited at the prospect of that happening again. It's a songwriter's dream come true." Among the performers who paid tribute to Simon were Stevie Wonder, Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Lyle Lovett, James Taylor, Dianne Reeves, Marc Anthony, Yolanda Adams and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The event was professionally filmed and broadcast and was released as Paul Simon and Friends. In 2012, Simon was awarded the Polar Music Prize.
Personal life
Relationships and marriages
When Simon moved to England in 1964, he met Kathleen Mary "Kathy" Chitty at the first English folk club he played, the Railway Inn Folk Club in Brentwood, Essex, where Chitty worked part-time selling tickets. She was 18 and he was 22 when they began a relationship. Later that year they visited the U.S. together, mainly touring by bus. Kathy returned to England and Simon followed some weeks later. When he returned to the U.S. with the growing success of "The Sounds of Silence", Kathy, who was quite shy, wanted no part in success and fame, and they ended their relationship. She is mentioned by name in at least two of Simon's songs, "Kathy's Song" and "America". She is also referred to in "Homeward Bound" and "The Late Great Johnny Ace". A photo of Simon and Kathy is on the cover of Simon's 1965 album The Paul Simon Songbook.
Peggy Harper
Simon has been married three times, first to Peggy Harper in 1969. They had a son, Harper Simon, in 1972, and divorced in 1975, inspiring the song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover". Simon wrote about this relationship in the song "Train in the Distance" from his 1983 album Hearts and Bones. In the late 1970s, Simon lived in New York City next door to Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, who has been described as Simon's "best friend" during the period.
Carrie Fisher
Simon met actress Shelley Duvall while filming Annie Hall in 1976. They lived together as a couple for two years until Duvall introduced him to her friend actress Carrie Fisher. Simon and Fisher began dating in 1978, and were married from 1983 to 1984. He proposed to her after a New York Yankees game. The song "Hearts and Bones" is about their time together, and the song "Graceland" is believed to be about seeking solace from the end of the relationship by taking a road trip. A year after they divorced, Simon and Fisher resumed their relationship, which lasted several years.
Edie Brickell
Simon married singer Edie Brickell on May 30, 1992. Brickell and Simon have three children, Adrian, Lulu, and Gabriel. On April 26, 2014, Simon and Brickell were involved in a domestic dispute in which police responded to their Connecticut residence. Each was issued a summons to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges.
Family and interests
All four of his children are now adults and are musicians. Simon and his younger brother, Eddie Simon, founded the Guitar Study Center sometime before 1973. The Guitar Study Center became part of The New School in New York City, sometime before 2002.
Simon is an avid fan of the New York Rangers ice hockey team, the New York Knicks basketball team and the New York Yankees baseball team.
Philanthropy
Simon is an advocate of music education for children. In 1970, after recording "Bridge Over Troubled Water", he held auditions for a young songwriters' workshop at the invitation of the NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. The auditions were advertised in The Village Voice, and brought hundreds of hopefuls to perform. Among the six teenage songwriters selected for tutelage were Melissa Manchester, Tommy Mandel and rock/beat poet Joe Linus. Maggie and Terre Roche (the Roche Sisters), who later sang back-up for Simon, joined the workshop in progress in an impromptu appearance.
Simon invited the six teenagers to experience the recording process at Columbia studios with engineer Roy Halee. During these sessions, Bob Dylan was downstairs recording his album Self-Portrait, which included a version of Simon's "The Boxer". Violinist Isaac Stern visited the group with a CBS film crew and spoke to the young musicians about lyrics and music. Manchester later paid homage to Simon with her recorded song "Ode to Paul". Other musicians Simon mentored include Nick Laird-Clowes, who co-founded the band the Dream Academy. Laird-Clowes credited Simon with helping to shape the band's biggest hit, "Life in a Northern Town".
In 2003, Simon became a supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provided free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools in the U.S. He sits on the organization's board of directors as an honorary member. Simon is also a major benefactor and one of the co-founders, with Irwin Redlener, of the Children's Health Project and The Children's Health Fund which began by creating specially equipped buses to take medical care to children in medically under-served areas, both urban and rural. Their first bus was placed in the impoverished South Bronx of New York City, but the buses now operate in 12 states, including on the Gulf Coast. The project has expanded greatly and partners with major hospitals, local public schools and medical schools, and advocates policy for children's health and medical care.
In May 2012, Paul Simon performed at a benefit dinner for the Turkana Basin Institute in New York City, raising more than $2 million for Richard Leakey's research institute in Africa. For his 2019 performance at San Francisco's Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Simon donated his appearance fee to the San Francisco Parks Alliance and Friends of the Urban Forest. After reading Peter Singer's book The Life You Can Save, Simon became a supporter of effective altruism, a movement that uses evidence to determine where charitable giving has the greatest impact. He reflects, “You really have to know what and to whom you’re giving this money. All these years I had been doing these benefit concerts with all my friends and musicians. We’d come. We’d play. We pack up our guitars. We leave. And nobody ever says, ‘Where’d that money go?’” In 2015, he performed a benefit concert for the Fistula Foundation.
Discography
This discography does not include compilation albums, concert albums or work with Simon & Garfunkel.
Simon's solo concert albums often have songs he originally recorded with Simon & Garfunkel, and many Simon & Garfunkel concert albums contain songs Simon first recorded on solo albums.
Simon has a few songs that appear on compilation albums and nowhere else, such as "Slip Slidin' Away", which first appeared on the compilation album Greatest Hits, Etc. (1977) and has since been included in subsequent compilations such as Negotiations and Love Songs (1988).
Solo studio albums
Bibliography
Kingston, Victoria (1996). Simon and Garfunkel: The Definitive Biography. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. p. 308. ISBN 9780283062674.
Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits. Billboard Books. ISBN 0-8230-7677-6.
See also
List of songs written by Paul Simon
References
Bibliography
Eliot, Marc (2010). Paul Simon: A Life. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-43363-8.
External links
Official website
Paul Simon at AllMusic
Paul Simon discography at Discogs
Paul Simon at IMDb
82f75e30-e211-41a1-9b2b-f083b9dd3ba3 Paul Simon discography at MusicBrainz
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Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
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Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (; born Rachel Meghan Markle, August 4, 1981), is an American member of the British royal family, media personality, entrepreneur, and former actress. She is married to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles III.
Meghan was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her acting career began at Northwestern University. She played the part of Rachel Zane for seven seasons (2011–2018) in the legal drama series Suits. She also developed a social media presence, which included The Tig (2014–2017), a lifestyle blog. During The Tig period, Meghan became involved in charity work focused primarily on women's issues and social justice. She was married to the film producer Trevor Engelson from 2011 until their divorce in 2014.
Meghan retired from acting upon her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018 and became known as the Duchess of Sussex. They have two children: Archie and Lilibet. The couple stepped down as working royals in January 2020, moved to Meghan's native Southern California and launched Archewell Inc., a Beverly Hills-based mix of for-profit and not-for-profit (charitable) business organizations. In March 2021, she and her husband participated in Oprah with Meghan and Harry, a much-publicized American television interview by Oprah Winfrey. She has written the children's book The Bench, hosted a podcast Archetypes (2022), and has starred in the Netflix series Harry & Meghan (2022) and With Love, Meghan (2025). Her lifestyle and cooking brand, As Ever, was officially launched in April 2025.
Early life and education
Rachel Meghan Markle was born on August 4, 1981, at West Park Hospital in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California. She identifies as mixed race; "My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African American. I'm half black and half white." Her parents – the former makeup artist Doria Ragland (born 1956) and Thomas Markle Sr. (born 1944), a television lighting director and director of photography – separated when she was two years old and divorced four years later.
Markle reportedly has a close relationship with her mother. Until the age of nine, both parents contributed to raising her; then, her father was left in charge of caring for her (while her mother pursued a career) so Meghan lived with him full-time before commencing university at age eighteen.
Markle Sr. worked as a director of photography and lighting for General Hospital and Married... with Children, and Meghan occasionally visited the set of Married... with Children as a child. In later life, she became estranged from her father and paternal half-siblings, Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr.
Growing up in View Park–Windsor Hills, Los Angeles, Markle attended Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse. At age eleven, she and her classmates wrote to Procter & Gamble to gender-neutralize a dishwashing soap commercial on national television. She was raised as a Christian, though conflicting reports indicate she was raised either Catholic or Protestant. She graduated from Immaculate Heart High School (Los Angeles), a fee-charging all-girls Catholic school. Markle took part in plays and musicals at the school, where her father helped with lighting. During her teenage years, she worked at a local frozen yogurt shop and a donut shop and later as a nanny and waitress. She also volunteered at a soup kitchen in Skid Row, Los Angeles.
In 1999, she was admitted to Northwestern University (NU) in Evanston, Illinois, where she joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. With other members of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Markle did volunteer work with the Glass Slipper Project. After her junior year, her uncle Michael Markle helped secure her an internship as a junior press officer at the American embassy in Buenos Aires, and she considered a political career. However, she did not score high enough in the Foreign Service Officer test to proceed further with the US State Department and returned to NU. She also attended a study abroad program in Madrid. In 2003, Markle earned her bachelor's degree with a double major in theater and international studies from Northwestern's School of Communication.
Acting career
According to Markle, she had some difficulty getting roles early in her career due to being "ethnically ambiguous" because "I wasn't black enough for the black roles and I wasn't white enough for the white ones." To support herself between acting jobs, she worked as a freelance calligrapher and taught bookbinding. Her first on-screen appearance was a small role as a nurse in an episode of the daytime soap opera General Hospital, a show for which her father served as a lighting director. Markle had small guest roles on the television shows Century City (2004), The War at Home (2006) and CSI: NY (2006). For her role in Century City, she told the casting directors that she was a SAG-AFTRA member when she was not, but after being cast, the employers were obliged to help her join the union according to the Taft–Hartley Act. Markle also did several contract acting and modeling jobs. Between 2006 and 2007, she worked as a "briefcase girl" on 34 episodes of the US version of the game show Deal or No Deal. She appeared in Fox's series Fringe as Junior Agent Amy Jessup in the first two episodes of its second season.
Markle appeared in small roles in the films Get Him to the Greek, Remember Me (produced by her then-partner Trevor Engelson) and The Candidate in 2010 and the film Horrible Bosses in 2011. She was paid $187,000 for her role in Remember Me and $171,429 for her role in the short film The Candidate. In July 2011, she joined the cast of the USA Network show Suits through to late 2017 and the seventh season. Her character, Rachel Zane, began as a paralegal and eventually became an attorney. While working on Suits, she lived for nine months each year in Toronto. Fortune magazine estimated that she was paid $50,000 per episode, amounting to an equivalent annual salary of $450,000.
Personal life
Early relationships and first marriage
Markle and American film producer Trevor Engelson began dating in 2004. They were married in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on August 16, 2011. They separated in 2013, and were granted a divorce in 2014. Markle's subsequent live-in relationship with Canadian celebrity chef and restaurateur Cory Vitiello ended in May 2016 after almost two years.
Second marriage and motherhood
In mid-2016, Markle began a relationship with Prince Harry, a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II. According to the couple, they first connected with each other via Instagram, and they have also said that they were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend in July 2016. On November 8, eight days after the relationship was made public by the press, the prince directed his communications secretary to release a statement on his behalf to express personal concern about pejorative and false comments made about his girlfriend by mainstream media and internet trolls. Later, in a letter to a British media regulator, Markle's representatives complained about harassment from journalists. In September 2017, Markle and Prince Harry appeared together in public in Toronto at the Invictus Games, of which Harry is founding patron.
Meghan Markle's engagement to Prince Harry was announced on November 27, 2017, by Harry's father Charles (then the Prince of Wales). The announcement was greeted with enthusiasm by the British media and prompted generally positive comments about a mixed-race person as a member of the royal family, especially in regard to Commonwealth countries. Markle announced that she would retire from acting and her intention to become a British citizen.
In preparation for the wedding, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, baptized Markle and confirmed her in the Church of England on March 6, 2018. The private ceremony, performed with water from the River Jordan, took place in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace. The marriage ceremony was held on May 19 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Her wedding dress was designed by Clare Waight Keller. Markle later revealed that there was a private exchange of vows three days earlier, with the Archbishop of Canterbury in the couple's garden. However, this private exchange of vows was not a legally recognized marriage.
After the wedding, the Duke and Duchess lived at Nottingham Cottage in London, in the grounds of Kensington Palace. In May 2018, it was reported that they had signed a two-year lease on Westfield Large, located on the Great Tew Estate in the Cotswolds. They gave up the lease after photos of the house and its interior were published by a paparazzi agency. The couple considered settling at the twenty-one room Apartment 1 within Kensington Palace, but moved to Frogmore Cottage in the Home Park of Windsor Castle instead. The Crown Estate refurbished the cottage at a cost of £2.4 million, paid out of the Sovereign Grant, with the Duke later reimbursing expenses beyond restoration and ordinary maintenance, a part of which was offset against rental payments that were due at the time. Meghan gave birth to a son, Archie, on May 6, 2019. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's office moved to Buckingham Palace and officially closed on March 31, 2020, when the Sussexes withdrew from undertaking official royal engagements. After some months in Canada and the United States, in June 2020, the couple bought a house on the former estate of Riven Rock, Montecito, California. The next month, Meghan suffered a miscarriage. She gave birth to a daughter, Lilibet, on June 4, 2021. Meghan later revealed that she had suffered from postpartum preeclampsia. The Duke and Duchess have owned a Labrador named Pula and two Beagles named Guy and Mamma Mia. Meghan previously owned a Labrador-German Shepherd cross named Bogart.
Political views
Markle was politically vocal before marrying Prince Harry. At age 9, she and her friends reportedly campaigned against the Gulf War. Decades later, she backed Hillary Clinton during the 2016 United States presidential election and publicly denounced her opponent and eventual winner, Donald Trump. In the same year, when the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union resulted in favor of Brexit, Markle expressed her disappointment on Instagram. In 2017, Markle recommended the book Who Rules the World? by left-wing intellectual Noam Chomsky on her Instagram account.
In July 2018, Irish senator Catherine Noone tweeted that the Duchess was "pleased to see the result" of the Irish referendum on legalizing abortion. Meghan received criticism for potentially breaching the protocol that prohibits royals from interfering in politics; She deleted her tweet and emphasized that her statement was misleading and "the Duchess was not in any way political".
After she returned to the United States and as an eligible voter, she released a video with her husband encouraging others to register for the 2020 United States presidential election on National Voter Registration Day. Some media outlets took it as an implicit endorsement of the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, which prompted then-president Trump to dismiss their messaging at a press conference. In October 2021, she penned an open letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, advocating for paid leave for parents. Her remarks were met by backlash from Republican representatives Jason Smith and Lisa McClain, who found her statement "out of touch" and criticized her interference with American politics while utilizing her British royal titles. Meghan has reportedly lobbied senators from both parties on the issue of paid family leave, including Democratic senators Patty Murray and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as Republican senators Shelley Moore Capito and Susan Collins. She has also publicly spoken in support of federal voting protections.
In February 2022, she voiced her support for the Supreme Court nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson. In June 2022, she publicly supported Moms Demand Action, an organization which campaigns for safer gun laws in the US. In the same month, in an interview with Jessica Yellin for Vogue, Meghan criticized the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that abortion is not a protected constitutional right and voiced her support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment.
Public life
Royal duties
After becoming engaged, Markle's first official public appearance with Prince Harry was at a World AIDS Day walkabout in Nottingham on December 1, 2017. On March 12, the 2018 Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey was the first royal event she attended with the Queen. On March 23, Harry and Meghan made an unannounced day visit to Northern Ireland. In total, Markle attended 26 public engagements prior to the wedding. Meghan's first official engagement after marriage was on May 22, when she and her husband attended a garden party celebrating the charity work of King Charles III (then the Prince of Wales).
In July 2018, Meghan's first official trip abroad as a royal was to Dublin, Ireland, alongside Harry. In October 2018, the Duke and Duchess traveled to Sydney for the 2018 Invictus Games. This formed part of a Pacific tour that included Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. As representatives of the Queen, the couple were greeted warmly by crowds in Sydney, and the announcement of Meghan's pregnancy hours after their arrival delighted the public and media. During their visit to Morocco in February 2019, the Duke and Duchess focused on projects centered on "women's empowerment, girls' education, inclusivity and encouragement of social entrepreneurship". Meghan also participated in her husband's work as youth ambassador to the Commonwealth, which included overseas tours.
As part of establishing a separate office from that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2019, the Duke and Duchess created an Instagram social media account, which broke the record for the fastest account at the time to reach a million followers. In July 2019, the Duchess's security team were criticized for creating an empty zone of about 40 seats around her at Wimbledon where she was watching a match between Serena Williams and Kaja Juvan. In August 2019, Meghan and her husband were criticized by environmental campaigners for using private jets regularly when taking their personal trips abroad, which would leave more carbon footprint per person compared to commercial planes. The criticism was in line with similar criticism faced by the royal family in June 2019, after it was claimed that they had doubled their carbon footprint from business travel.
In September and October 2019, a Southern African tour included Malawi, Angola, South Africa and Botswana. Archie traveled with his parents, making it "their first official tour as a family". Meghan completed 179 engagements in total in 2018 and 2019.
Stepping back and subsequent public appearances
In January 2020, Meghan and Harry returned to the UK from a vacation in Canada and announced that they were stepping back from their role as senior members of the royal family and would balance their time between the United Kingdom and North America. A statement released by the Palace confirmed that the Duke and Duchess were to cease to undertake royal duties as representatives of the Queen and would therefore no longer receive the relevant financial support. The couple would retain their HRH styles but not use them. The formal role of the Duke and Duchess was subject to a twelve-month review period, ending in March 2021. Meghan's final public solo engagement as a senior royal was a visit to Robert Clack School in Dagenham on March 7, 2020, ahead of International Women's Day. She and Harry attended the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on March 9, 2020, which was their last engagement as a couple before they officially stepped down on March 31. Two years later, they made their first official appearance in the UK in June 2022 while attending the Platinum Jubilee National Service of Thanksgiving.
They visited the UK and Germany in September 2022 for a number of charity events in Manchester and Düsseldorf. On September 8, 2022, while Meghan and Harry were in London preparing to attend a charity event, Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and they remained in the United Kingdom for her funeral.
Meghan and Harry visited Nigeria in May 2024 to honor the work of the Invictus Games. Meghan had previously stated that a genetic test had found she was of 43% Nigerian ancestry. According to CNN, their trip focused on "sports rehabilitation, mental health, and women's empowerment". Meghan co-hosted a women's empowerment summit with the head of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and she was honored in a ceremony by some of the Nigerian Chiefs.
Further career and investments
In summer 2019, before announcing their decision to step down in January 2020, Meghan and her husband were involved in talks with Jeffrey Katzenberg, the founder of the now-defunct streaming platform Quibi, over a possible role in the service without gaining personal profits, but they eventually decided against joining the project. In September 2019, it was reported that the couple had hired New York-based PR firm Sunshine Sachs, which represented them until 2022. The couple has also been associated with Adam Lilling's Plus Capital, a venture capital fund designed to connect early stage companies with influencers and investors.
In June 2020, they signed with the Harry Walker Agency, owned by media company Endeavor, to conduct paid public speaking engagements. In September 2020, the Sussexes signed a five-year private commercial deal with Netflix. In December 2020, it was announced that Meghan had invested in Clevr Blends, a coffee company based in Southern California. In the same month, Meghan and Harry signed a multi-year deal with Spotify to produce and host their own programs through their audio producing company, Archewell Audio. A holiday special was released by the couple on the service in December 2020, while Meghan's podcast, titled Archetypes, premiered in August 2022. In June 2023, Spotify cancelled the podcast, which ran for a single season of 12 episodes.
The Bench, a picture book written by Meghan with illustrations by Christian Robinson, was published in June 2021 by Random House Children's Books. It is based on her perception of the relationship between her husband and their son. The book received a mixed response; it garnered praise for its illustrations and messaging but was criticized for its structure and writing. On June 17, the book reached number one in the children's picture books category of The New York Times Best Seller list. In July 2021, it was announced that Meghan would executive produce, alongside David Furnish, a Netflix animated series called Pearl. The series was originally pitched to Netflix in 2018. Pearl would have depicted the adventures of a 12-year-old girl who was inspired by influential women from history, but the project was canceled in May 2022. Also in July 2021, it was reported that Meghan and Harry had signed a four-book publishing deal with Random House, including a wellness guide by Meghan and a memoir by Harry.
In October 2021, Meghan and Harry announced their partnership with Ethic, a sustainable investment firm based in New York City, which also manages the couple's investments. According to state filings from Delaware, where the couple's Archewell foundation is registered, Meghan and Harry incorporated 11 companies and a trust beginning in early 2020 which include Orinoco Publishing LLC and Peca Publishing LLC to hold the rights for their books as well as Cobblestone Lane LLC and IPHW LLC which are holders of their foundation's logos. Frim Fram Inc., which ran The Tig, had been registered earlier as a new corporation in Delaware in December 2019.
Harry & Meghan, a docuseries about the couple directed by Liz Garbus, was produced by Netflix and the couple's Archewell Productions and premiered on December 8, 2022. The series received mixed reviews. In April 2023, it was announced that she had signed with talent agency WME, which would represent Archewell as well.
In March 2024, Meghan launched the lifestyle and cooking brand American Riviera Orchard, which was later renamed As Ever. In April 2024, it was announced that Archewell Productions was collaborating with Netflix to produce two new shows on lifestyle and on polo, respectively. Later in August, it was revealed that she had invested in the handbag brand Cesta Collective, which sold handwoven basket bags prepared by a group of women in Rwanda that were then completed in Italy. In November of the same year she invested in the haircare line Highbrow Hippie. Her lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan premiered on Netflix in March 2025. In August 2025, Archewell Productions renewed its partnership with Netflix under a multi-year first-look deal, which included plans for a holiday special of With Love, Meghan, as well as further development of the As Ever brand and other documentary and scripted projects. On August 26, 2025, the second season of With Love, Meghan was released.
In March 2025, it was announced that Meghan would host a second podcast series, Confessions of a Female Founder, with Lemonada Media. Between March and September 2025, she ran an online site via ShopMy, which allows content creators to share links to their favorite items while earning revenue through commissions.
Charity work and advocacy
Markle became a counsellor for the international network One Young World in 2014, spoke at its 2014 summit in Dublin and attended the 2016 opening ceremony in Ottawa. Also in 2014, she toured Spain, Italy, Turkey, Afghanistan and England with the United Service Organizations.
In 2016, Markle became a global ambassador for World Vision Canada, traveling to Rwanda for the Clean Water Campaign. After a trip to India focused on raising awareness for women's issues, she penned an op-ed for Time magazine concerning stigmatization of women in regard to menstrual health. She has also worked with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women as an advocate. Her speech at the UN Women's 2015 conference as an advocate for political participation and leadership contained a number of sentences that were nearly identical to a 1951 speech by Eleanor Roosevelt. In 2017, Markle joined Prince Harry in teaming up with the charity Elephants Without Borders to assist with the conservation efforts taking place in Botswana.
In January 2018, Markle became interested in the Hubb Community Kitchen run by survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire. She visited the kitchen regularly and suggested that the displaced women publish a cookbook to assist in funding for the group. Together: Our Community Cookbook, her first charity project as Duchess of Sussex, was announced in September. In August 2020, Meghan used proceeds from the cookbook to donate £8,000 to the UK charity Migrateful, which supports refugees, asylum seekers and migrants by helping them organize cookery classes. In March 2021, she donated £10,000 from the proceeds to the UK-based charity Himmah to assist them with stocking the group's food bank, provide them with equipment and help the Salaam Shalom Kitchen, the only Muslim and Jewish community kitchen in the UK.
In March 2020, it was announced that Meghan's first post-royal project would be the narration of Disneynature's documentary Elephant, which was released on April 3. In support of elephants, Disneynature and the Disney Conservation Fund would donate to Elephants Without Borders for species conservation in Botswana. In June 2020, the couple backed the Stop Hate for Profit campaign and encouraged CEOs of different companies to join the movement. In July 2020, she spoke in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In April 2021, the couple were announced as campaign chairs for Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World, an event organized by Global Citizen to increase access to COVID-19 vaccinations. They also announced their support for a vaccine equity fundraiser initiated by the same organization, and penned an open letter to the pharmaceutical industry CEOs urging them to address the vaccine equity crisis. In July 2021, Meghan and Harry were among people who were selected by UK-based charity Population Matters to receive the Change Champions Award for their decision to have only two children and help with maintaining a smaller and more sustainable population. In August 2021, to mark her 40th birthday, Meghan launched 40x40, a campaign that asks people around the world to spend 40 minutes of their time mentoring women reentering the workforce. In October 2021 and ahead of the 2021 G20 Rome summit, the couple penned an open letter together with the Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom, asking the G20 leaders to expedite efforts for the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
In February 2022, the couple were selected to receive NAACP's President's Award for their work on causes related to social justice and equity. In the following month, they were among more than a hundred people who signed an open letter published by the People's Vaccine Alliance, asking for free global access to COVID-19 vaccines and calling out the UK, EU and Switzerland for opposing a waiver that would allow vaccine intellectual property protections to be lifted. In October 2022, Meghan and Harry were named as Ripple of Hope Award laureates for their work on racial justice, mental health and other social initiatives through their foundation Archewell. In April 2023, she was named as a recipient of the Ms. Foundation for Women's Women of Vision Award. In October 2025, she and her husband received the Humanitarians of the Year award at Project Healthy Minds' annual gala in New York City in recognition of their commitment to mental health support.
Patronages and interests
From January 2019 to February 2021, Meghan was patron of London's National Theatre and the Association of Commonwealth Universities. She continued her role as the private patron of Mayhew until 2022. She remains a private patron of Smart Works. From March 2019 to February 2021, she was the vice president of The Queen's Commonwealth Trust. Until February 2021, periodically, online QCT chat sessions were conducted and uploaded to YouTube for general public viewing. In October 2019, along with other members of the royal family, Meghan voiced a Public Health England announcement, for the "Every Mind Matters" mental health program.
In 2019 Meghan was a contributor and guest editor for the September issue of British Vogue and highlighted the works of 15 women from different areas, who were described as "Forces for Change". Edward Enninful, editor-in-chief of the British Vogue, later revealed that the issue had become the "fastest-selling issue in the history of British Vogue". In the same issue, it was announced that she had collaborated with a number of British fashion houses and stores to launch a capsule collection, called The Smart Set, in September 2019 to benefit the charity Smart Works. The collection sought to help "unemployed and disadvantaged women", through selling items "on a one-for-one basis, meaning an item is donated for each item purchased". Taking advantage of the "Meghan Markle effect" (driving consumer purchases), in 10 days the collection provided a year's worth of clothes for the charity.
Sussex Royal and Archewell
In February 2018, Markle and fiancé Harry attended the first annual forum of The Royal Foundation. After marriage, Meghan became the foundation's fourth patron alongside Prince Harry, Prince William and his wife, Catherine. In May 2019, as a part of their Heads Together initiative, the Duchess of Sussex together with her husband and in-laws launched Shout, a text messaging service for those who suffer from mental issues. In June 2019, it was announced that Harry and Meghan would split from the charity and establish their own foundation. Nevertheless, the couples would collaborate on mutual projects, such as the mental health initiative Heads Together. The following month, "Sussex Royal The Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex" was registered in England and Wales. However, it was confirmed on February 21, 2020, that "Sussex Royal" would not be used as a brand name for the couple, following their step back from official life as working royals. On August 5, 2020, the Sussex Royal Foundation was renamed "MWX Foundation" and dissolved the same day.
In March 2021, it was reported that the Charity Commission for England and Wales was conducting a review of the Sussex Royal organization in a "regulatory and compliance case" regarding its conduct under charity law during dissolution. Representatives for the couple claimed that Sussex Royal was "managed by a board of trustees" and that "suggestion of mismanagement" directed exclusively at the Duke and Duchess would be incorrect. The commission later concluded that the foundation did not act unlawfully, but criticized the board of directors for expending a "substantial proportion of funds" to setting up and closing the charity.
In April 2020, Meghan and Harry confirmed that an alternative foundation (in lieu of Sussex Royal) would be called "Archewell". The name stems from the Greek word "arche", which means "source of action"—the same word that inspired the name of their son. Archewell was registered in the United States. Its website was officially launched in October 2020.
Public image and style
Between 2010 and 2012, Markle anonymously ran the blog The Working Actress, which detailed the "pitfalls and triumphs of struggling to make it in Hollywood". In 2014, she founded her own lifestyle blog The Tig, which posted articles about food, fashion, beauty, travel, and inspirational women. The viewing audience consisted primarily of the fans of Markle and Suits. Promotion of the blog on other social media platforms targeted three million followers on Instagram, 800,000 on Facebook and 350,000 on Twitter. In April 2017, The Tig closed. In January 2018, she took all articles offline and deleted her social media accounts. It is estimated that Markle's social media activities annually earned her about $80,000 from endorsements and sponsorships. She rejoined Instagram in January 2025. She was also known for socializing at Soho House.
Markle became known through The Tig for her fashion sense, releasing two fashion collections with Canadian clothing company Reitmans in 2015 and 2016. The lines were based on her personal style and that of her Suits character. Markle has cited Emmanuelle Alt as her style inspiration. In 2016, she hosted USA Network's video series Power Lunch with Meghan Markle in collaboration with Lexus and Eater, discussing the culinary inspirations of five different New York kitchens.
In 2015, Markle visited Malta after discovering an ancestor had been born there. Her trip was documented by Elle UK. She was featured in the cover story for the October 2017 issue of Vanity Fair and the December 2017 issue of Elle France. Shortly after her engagement to Prince Harry in 2017, she caused a surge of interest in Scottish retailer Strathberry after carrying one of its handbags to a public event. This was reported as an indication that her fashion choices would produce results similar to the Kate Middleton effect. After Markle and Prince Harry's first appearance as a couple, brands Mackage, Birks, R&R Jewelers, Crown Jewelers, and Everlane noted an upswing in their website hits and sales. It was speculated that Markle's effect would be broader internationally because she already had a strong American appeal. Consequently, the United States saw a boost in yellow gold jewelry sales in the first quarter of 2018.
In 2018, Tatler included Meghan with other senior royal women on its list of Britain's best dressed people. Following the announcement of her pregnancy, she appeared in a Karen Gee dress that resulted in the Australian designer's website crashing. Fashion website Net-a-Porter ranked Meghan as one of the best dressed women in 2018. She was nominated for the 2018 Teen Choice Awards in the category Choice Style Icon. In 2019, British brand Reiss reported a growth in profits after Meghan was seen wearing a mini dress by them on International Women's Day. In 2022, the black Armani dress worn by Meghan during her Oprah interview was selected by the Fashion Museum, Bath, as Dress of the Year 2021. In the same year, she was featured in the cover story for the 2022 Fall Fashion issue of The Cut. There was controversy over her claim in the interview that she had been told at the premiere of The Lion King that her marriage resulted in rejoicing in South Africa similar to that seen at Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990.
In 2018, Time selected Meghan as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World and placed her on its shortlist for Person of the Year. Her name appeared again on the listicle in 2021, and she and her husband were featured on one of the magazine's seven worldwide covers. In 2019, the magazine named Meghan and Prince Harry among the 25 Most Influential People on the Internet. She was also chosen as one of the 25 most influential women in the United Kingdom by British Vogue magazine in 2018, 2019, and 2021. Her influence was also recognized in both the 2019 and 2020 editions of Powerlist, the 100 most influential Britons of African and Afro-Caribbean descent. In 2022, she was named as one of the 50 Women Changing the World over the past year by Worth magazine. In the same year, Variety named her as a stellar honoree for its Power of Women issue, and Financial Times included her on its list of "25 most influential women of 2022". In December 2022, Meghan was found to be the second most disliked member of the British royal family by statistics and polling company YouGov, behind her husband's uncle Prince Andrew. In March 2023, The Independent included her on its "Influence List 2023". Meghan and Harry's exit from the royal family was satirized in a 2023 episode of South Park. In the same year, James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter named Meghan and Harry among the Hollywood losers of 2023.
Following Meghan and Harry's trip to Nigeria in May 2024, Lucia Stein of the ABC argued that the couple could have been used by the royal family, and added that "perhaps how helpful they would have been" had an agreement on a "hybrid working model" been achieved. Among other things, she noted Meghan's style and meetings were extensively covered internationally.
Privacy and the media
Court cases
Associated Newspapers Limited
In November 2016, the MailOnline was criticized for running an article on Markle's family background titled "(Almost) Straight Outta Compton", which triggered a response from Prince Harry's communications secretary. Between 2019 and 2020, Meghan and Harry contributed to the book Finding Freedom through a third-party source. Despite initially denying their involvement with the book, their contributions to the book became apparent during her court case against Associated Newspapers who were trying to use the book in their defense. In October 2019, Meghan filed a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline over the publication of a letter she had sent to her father. Thomas Markle Sr. had provided the publisher with excerpts of the letter after five of his daughter's friends referenced it in a People article. She subsequently received support from more than 70 female MPs from different parties who in an open letter condemned the use of "outdated, colonial undertones" against her in some national media outlets. In May 2020, the court dismissed claims of the tabloid's alleged dishonesty and malice, as they were deemed either vague or irrelevant to the case. In February 2021, the High Court of Justice found in a summary judgment that ANL's Mail on Sunday had invaded Meghan's privacy by publishing the letter, and she won her claim for "misuse of private information and copyright infringement" in May 2021. She was given a £450,000 down payment on her £1.5 million legal fees as an interim payment, and pursuant to copyright law, her legal team asked for a front-page statement by The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline to acknowledge her legal victory.
An appeal was subsequently launched by ANL in November 2021. In December 2021, three senior appeal judges upheld the judgement of the High Court against ANL, prompting Meghan to call for reform of the tabloid industry. In the same month, ANL's The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline published a front-page statement on Boxing Day acknowledging Meghan's victory, adding that there had been an agreement on "financial remedies". In addition to covering a portion of Meghan's legal costs, the outlet agreed to pay her £1 in damages for invading her privacy and a confidential sum for infringing her copyright. They were also banned from naming Meghan's friends, who had spoken to People magazine about the letter in 2018.
Other cases and complaints
In November 2016, The Sun ran the headline "Harry girl's on Pornhub". The outlet denied any smear after it was revealed that the clips were illegally uploaded scenes from the TV series Suits and not pornographic material. They subsequently apologized via an official statement in February 2017. In February 2018, a letter containing white powder and a racist note addressing Markle was sent to St James's Palace, triggering counter-terrorism and hate crime investigations by Scotland Yard. Meghan and Harry obtained a formal apology in May 2019 from Splash News for privacy invasion at their Cotswolds residence. In December 2019, PA Media retracted the publishing of a Christmas card photograph of Meghan, Harry, and their son Archie. The agency said that the photo was retracted because they had been advised that the photograph was "not representative of the Christmas card sent by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex". The couple had a legal warning issued to the press in general in January 2020 after the publication of paparazzi photographs. In March 2020, the couple took Splash UK to court after Meghan and her son were photographed without permission in Canada during a "private family outing". The case was settled later that year with Splash UK agreeing to no longer take unauthorized photos of the family. The Duke and Duchess announced in April that they would no longer cooperate with the Daily Mail, The Sun, Daily Mirror and Daily Express. They won an apology in October from American news agency X17 for taking photographs of their son at their home using drones.
In March 2021, ITV News reported Meghan had complained directly to ITV's CEO about Piers Morgan's comments on mental health following her interview with Oprah Winfrey. Ofcom received over 57,000 complaints about the program including one from the Duchess of Sussex. In the same month, it was reported that an American private investigator unlawfully handed over personal details about Meghan to The Sun, including her Social Security number, cell phone number and address, when she first started dating Prince Harry in 2016. Meghan and her husband condemned the "predatory practices" of the British tabloids, while The Sun stated that the investigator "was instructed clearly in writing to act lawfully", and they did not "use the information he provided for any unlawful practice".
In July 2021, Meghan filed legal complaints against The Times for two separate articles, with the first one covering an unproven allegation from Robert Lacey's book that she had left an engagement in Fiji for not being appointed by UN Women as a goodwill ambassador and the second one claiming that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had refused to talk to Prince Harry after Prince Philip's funeral due to fears of a potential leak. In January 2022, the couple jointly filed a legal complaint against The Times for an article reporting on Archewell raising less than $50,000 in 2020. In the same month, she complained to the BBC regarding their five-part podcast Harry, Meghan and the Media, in which the presenter Amol Rajan stated that Meghan had "apologized for misleading" the Court of Appeal in her case against the Mail on Sunday. The BBC responded by issuing a statement on its "corrections and clarifications" website to emphasize that she had "apologized to the court for not remembering email exchanges".
In March 2022, Meghan's half-sister, Samantha Markle, filed a defamation lawsuit against her in Florida, accusing her of lying in the Oprah interview and disseminating false statements via her communications secretary for the book Finding Freedom and sought damages in excess of $75,000. In June 2022, Meghan's initial motion to dismiss the case was rejected by a judge following amendments made by Samantha in her complaint. She filed a second motion in the same month. In addition to applying for the case to be dismissed, Meghan's lawyer also applied for the discovery process to be delayed, pending the outcome of the dismissal application. A Florida judge later denied the application to halt the discovery process, but dismissed the lawsuit in March 2023. In April 2023, Samantha refiled the lawsuit with another amended complaint that covered statements made by Meghan in her Netflix docuseries as well. The lawsuit was later dismissed with prejudice in March 2024, after a judge ruled that the claimant was unable to provide evidence of defamation. Samantha later appealed the decision.
Between December 2022 and January 2023, more than 25,000 complaints were submitted to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) about a column by Jeremy Clarkson in The Sun, in which he stated that he hated Meghan "on a cellular level" and dreamed "of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, 'Shame!' and throw lumps of excrement at her." On December 20, 2022, Conservative MP Caroline Nokes wrote to The Sun's editor, Victoria Newton, calling for "action [to be] taken" against Clarkson. The letter was signed by more than 60 cross-party MPs. On December 23, The Sun issued an apology, stating "columnists' opinions are their own" but they "regret the publication of this article" and are "sincerely sorry". On the following day, a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex described the apology as "nothing more than a PR stunt". Clarkson said his column was a reference to a scene from the television series Game of Thrones and he later revealed that he had emailed Meghan and Harry on Christmas Day 2022 to apologise. A spokesperson for the couple said Clarkson wrote solely to Harry and the article was not an isolated incident. In February 2023, IPSO announced that it was launching an investigation about the article. In June 2023, IPSO concluded that the column was sexist and contained a "pejorative and prejudicial reference" to Meghan's sex, but it rejected complaints that the piece raised an issue of fact, or was meant to harass her or included discriminatory references on the grounds of race.
Bullying allegations and Oprah interview
In 2021, shortly before Meghan and Harry were due to be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, Valentine Low reported in The Times that Meghan's former communications secretary, Jason Knauf, complained in October 2018 that her conduct at Kensington Palace had caused two personal assistants to quit and had undermined the confidence of a third employee, prompting an investigation by Buckingham Palace into the bullying allegations. The palace hired an external law firm to examine the claims, with ten aides reported to have cooperated with the review. Criticism of Meghan for twice wearing earrings gifted from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2018, after he was accused of complicity in the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, appeared at the same time. Her representatives denied her awareness of the accusations against Mohammed bin Salman and said The Times was being used by Buckingham Palace for "a smear campaign" against her.
The television special Oprah with Meghan and Harry was broadcast on CBS on March 7, 2021. Meghan spoke about her personal and royal life and public pressure. She claimed to have been contemplating suicide during her time as a working royal and complained of a lack of protection for her and her son while being part of the royal institution. There was a wide and polarized reaction to the interview.
In an updated epilogue for the couple's unauthorized biography, Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, the authors claimed that "two of the individuals mentioned in [Knauf's] email asked for any allegations made to HR about their experiences with Meghan to be rescinded". Speaking on behalf of the Duchess in a BBC documentary, Jenny Afia, a lawyer who represented Meghan in her case against ANL, stated that the bullying allegations were "just not true". In June 2022, The Times reported that the results from the inquiry made Buckingham Palace modify some of the policies and procedures in its HR department, but the report would not be published to ensure the privacy of those who took part in it. In September 2024 The Hollywood Reporter reported on complaints raised by American staff members about Meghan's behavior. Her spokesperson declined to comment. In January 2025 Vanity Fair, who spoke with Meghan's employees, reported on their descriptions of her varying from "lovely, genuine person" to "cold and withholding", adding that a staff member with ties to Archetypes took a leave of absence while a number of others talked about quitting their jobs, taking long absences from work to avoid attention, or going through long-term therapy after working with her.
On Twitter and other platforms
In March 2019, European consulting firm 89up reported on their discovery of 1,103 highly connected Twitter accounts with more than two and a half million tweets in favor of Meghan, most of which appeared to be bots carrying out "coordinated attacks" on royal correspondents who had reported negatively on her. In the same year, CNN had reported on research by Hope not Hate, stating that out of 5,200 "abusive tweets directed at Meghan" in January and February 2019, 3,600 came from a small group of trolls. In March 2019, the royal family introduced new rules for followers commenting on its official social media accounts in response to the online abuse aimed at Meghan and her sister-in-law Catherine.
In October 2021, Twitter analytics service Bot Sentinel alleged they found 83 accounts with a combined number of 187,631 followers that were possibly responsible for approximately 70% of the negative content posted about Meghan and Harry. The report prompted an investigation by Twitter. The company stated that it found no evidence of "widespread coordination" between the accounts and said that it had taken action against users who violated Twitter's conduct policy. Bot Sentinel released three more reports in the following months.
In January 2022, the BBC named Meghan and Harry among people whose photos and videos were used in fake instant profits advertisements and bitcoin-related investment schemes.
Among theories widespread on social media, including Twitter and YouTube, were unfounded assertions that Meghan had faked her pregnancies, instead using surrogate mother(s), or that her children do not exist at all. Meghan's half-sister, Samantha, was reported to have run multiple Twitter accounts that targeted Meghan.
Titles, styles and arms
Meghan became a princess of the United Kingdom upon her marriage to Prince Harry, entitled to the style of Royal Highness. After her marriage, she was styled "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex". She also holds the titles of Countess of Dumbarton and Baroness Kilkeel. She is the first person to hold the title "Duchess of Sussex".
Following the Duke and Duchess's decision to step back from royal duties in 2020, the couple agreed not to use the style of Royal Highness in practice or publicly, but they are still referred to as "His/Her Royal Highness" in legal and private settings.
During Meghan's trip to Nigeria in May 2024, Igwe Alfred Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, and Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwo, gave her the chieftaincy titles Ada Mazi (transl. 'the daughter of the Igbo ancestral palace') and Adetokunbo (transl. 'royalty from across the seas').
Filmography
Television
Film
Bibliography
Books
Markle, Meghan (1996). A Face without Freckles... Is a Night without Stars.
HRH The Duchess of Sussex, "Foreword", in: The Hubb Community Kitchen (2018). Together: Our Community Cookbook. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-1529102925. OCLC 1055685147. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (2021). The Bench. Illustrated by Christian Robinson. Random House Children's Books. ISBN 978-0593434512.
Authored articles and letters
Markle, Meghan (May 2015). "It's All Enough". Darling Magazine., republished online, November 6, 2018.
Markle, Meghan (July 2015). "I'm More Than An 'Other'". ELLE., republished online, December 22, 2016.
Markle, Meghan (November 9, 2016). "With Fame Comes Opportunity, But Also A Responsibility". ELLE.
Markle, Meghan (March 8, 2017). "How Periods Affect Potential". Time.
HRH The Duchess of Sussex (July 29, 2019). "HRH The Duchess of Sussex Introduces The September Issue In Her Own Words". Vogue (British ed.).
HRH The Duchess of Sussex (July 31, 2019). "HRH The Duchess of Sussex Shares A New Smart Works Initiative". Vogue (British ed.).
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (August 26, 2020). "Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex: My conversation with Gloria Steinem". Yahoo!.
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (November 25, 2020). "The Losses We Share". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020.
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (October 20, 2021). "A Letter on Paid Leave from Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex". Paid Leave for All.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex; Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (October 29, 2021). "Meeting the COVID-19 vaccine commitments". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021.
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (April 6, 2022). "A message from Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex". Mayhew.
References
Further reading
Bower, Tom (2022). Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors. London: Blink Publishing. ISBN 978-1788705035.
Campbell, Lady Colin (2020). Meghan and Harry: The Real Story. London: Dynasty Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1643136752.
Morton, Andrew (2018). Meghan: A Hollywood Princess. London: Michael O'Mara. ISBN 978-1782439615.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (2023). Spare. London: Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-0593593806.
Scobie, Omid; Durand, Carolyn (2020). Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Royal Family. London: Dey Street Books. ISBN 978-0063046108.
Smith, Sean (2020). Meghan Misunderstood. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-835960-7. OCLC 1256038027.
External links
Official website
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the official website of the British royal family
The Duchess of Sussex at the website of the Government of Canada
Portraits of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at the National Portrait Gallery, London
Meghan Markle at IMDb
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Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (; born Rachel Meghan Markle, August 4, 1981), is an American member of the British royal family, media personality, entrepreneur, and former actress. She is married to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles III.
Meghan was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her acting career began at Northwestern University. She played the part of Rachel Zane for seven seasons (2011–2018) in the legal drama series Suits. She also developed a social media presence, which included The Tig (2014–2017), a lifestyle blog. During The Tig period, Meghan became involved in charity work focused primarily on women's issues and social justice. She was married to the film producer Trevor Engelson from 2011 until their divorce in 2014.
Meghan retired from acting upon her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018 and became known as the Duchess of Sussex. They have two children: Archie and Lilibet. The couple stepped down as working royals in January 2020, moved to Meghan's native Southern California and launched Archewell Inc., a Beverly Hills-based mix of for-profit and not-for-profit (charitable) business organizations. In March 2021, she and her husband participated in Oprah with Meghan and Harry, a much-publicized American television interview by Oprah Winfrey. She has written the children's book The Bench, hosted a podcast Archetypes (2022), and has starred in the Netflix series Harry & Meghan (2022) and With Love, Meghan (2025). Her lifestyle and cooking brand, As Ever, was officially launched in April 2025.
Early life and education
Rachel Meghan Markle was born on August 4, 1981, at West Park Hospital in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California. She identifies as mixed race; "My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African American. I'm half black and half white." Her parents – the former makeup artist Doria Ragland (born 1956) and Thomas Markle Sr. (born 1944), a television lighting director and director of photography – separated when she was two years old and divorced four years later.
Markle reportedly has a close relationship with her mother. Until the age of nine, both parents contributed to raising her; then, her father was left in charge of caring for her (while her mother pursued a career) so Meghan lived with him full-time before commencing university at age eighteen.
Markle Sr. worked as a director of photography and lighting for General Hospital and Married... with Children, and Meghan occasionally visited the set of Married... with Children as a child. In later life, she became estranged from her father and paternal half-siblings, Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr.
Growing up in View Park–Windsor Hills, Los Angeles, Markle attended Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse. At age eleven, she and her classmates wrote to Procter & Gamble to gender-neutralize a dishwashing soap commercial on national television. She was raised as a Christian, though conflicting reports indicate she was raised either Catholic or Protestant. She graduated from Immaculate Heart High School (Los Angeles), a fee-charging all-girls Catholic school. Markle took part in plays and musicals at the school, where her father helped with lighting. During her teenage years, she worked at a local frozen yogurt shop and a donut shop and later as a nanny and waitress. She also volunteered at a soup kitchen in Skid Row, Los Angeles.
In 1999, she was admitted to Northwestern University (NU) in Evanston, Illinois, where she joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. With other members of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Markle did volunteer work with the Glass Slipper Project. After her junior year, her uncle Michael Markle helped secure her an internship as a junior press officer at the American embassy in Buenos Aires, and she considered a political career. However, she did not score high enough in the Foreign Service Officer test to proceed further with the US State Department and returned to NU. She also attended a study abroad program in Madrid. In 2003, Markle earned her bachelor's degree with a double major in theater and international studies from Northwestern's School of Communication.
Acting career
According to Markle, she had some difficulty getting roles early in her career due to being "ethnically ambiguous" because "I wasn't black enough for the black roles and I wasn't white enough for the white ones." To support herself between acting jobs, she worked as a freelance calligrapher and taught bookbinding. Her first on-screen appearance was a small role as a nurse in an episode of the daytime soap opera General Hospital, a show for which her father served as a lighting director. Markle had small guest roles on the television shows Century City (2004), The War at Home (2006) and CSI: NY (2006). For her role in Century City, she told the casting directors that she was a SAG-AFTRA member when she was not, but after being cast, the employers were obliged to help her join the union according to the Taft–Hartley Act. Markle also did several contract acting and modeling jobs. Between 2006 and 2007, she worked as a "briefcase girl" on 34 episodes of the US version of the game show Deal or No Deal. She appeared in Fox's series Fringe as Junior Agent Amy Jessup in the first two episodes of its second season.
Markle appeared in small roles in the films Get Him to the Greek, Remember Me (produced by her then-partner Trevor Engelson) and The Candidate in 2010 and the film Horrible Bosses in 2011. She was paid $187,000 for her role in Remember Me and $171,429 for her role in the short film The Candidate. In July 2011, she joined the cast of the USA Network show Suits through to late 2017 and the seventh season. Her character, Rachel Zane, began as a paralegal and eventually became an attorney. While working on Suits, she lived for nine months each year in Toronto. Fortune magazine estimated that she was paid $50,000 per episode, amounting to an equivalent annual salary of $450,000.
Personal life
Early relationships and first marriage
Markle and American film producer Trevor Engelson began dating in 2004. They were married in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on August 16, 2011. They separated in 2013, and were granted a divorce in 2014. Markle's subsequent live-in relationship with Canadian celebrity chef and restaurateur Cory Vitiello ended in May 2016 after almost two years.
Second marriage and motherhood
In mid-2016, Markle began a relationship with Prince Harry, a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II. According to the couple, they first connected with each other via Instagram, and they have also said that they were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend in July 2016. On November 8, eight days after the relationship was made public by the press, the prince directed his communications secretary to release a statement on his behalf to express personal concern about pejorative and false comments made about his girlfriend by mainstream media and internet trolls. Later, in a letter to a British media regulator, Markle's representatives complained about harassment from journalists. In September 2017, Markle and Prince Harry appeared together in public in Toronto at the Invictus Games, of which Harry is founding patron.
Meghan Markle's engagement to Prince Harry was announced on November 27, 2017, by Harry's father Charles (then the Prince of Wales). The announcement was greeted with enthusiasm by the British media and prompted generally positive comments about a mixed-race person as a member of the royal family, especially in regard to Commonwealth countries. Markle announced that she would retire from acting and her intention to become a British citizen.
In preparation for the wedding, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, baptized Markle and confirmed her in the Church of England on March 6, 2018. The private ceremony, performed with water from the River Jordan, took place in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace. The marriage ceremony was held on May 19 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Her wedding dress was designed by Clare Waight Keller. Markle later revealed that there was a private exchange of vows three days earlier, with the Archbishop of Canterbury in the couple's garden. However, this private exchange of vows was not a legally recognized marriage.
After the wedding, the Duke and Duchess lived at Nottingham Cottage in London, in the grounds of Kensington Palace. In May 2018, it was reported that they had signed a two-year lease on Westfield Large, located on the Great Tew Estate in the Cotswolds. They gave up the lease after photos of the house and its interior were published by a paparazzi agency. The couple considered settling at the twenty-one room Apartment 1 within Kensington Palace, but moved to Frogmore Cottage in the Home Park of Windsor Castle instead. The Crown Estate refurbished the cottage at a cost of £2.4 million, paid out of the Sovereign Grant, with the Duke later reimbursing expenses beyond restoration and ordinary maintenance, a part of which was offset against rental payments that were due at the time. Meghan gave birth to a son, Archie, on May 6, 2019. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's office moved to Buckingham Palace and officially closed on March 31, 2020, when the Sussexes withdrew from undertaking official royal engagements. After some months in Canada and the United States, in June 2020, the couple bought a house on the former estate of Riven Rock, Montecito, California. The next month, Meghan suffered a miscarriage. She gave birth to a daughter, Lilibet, on June 4, 2021. Meghan later revealed that she had suffered from postpartum preeclampsia. The Duke and Duchess have owned a Labrador named Pula and two Beagles named Guy and Mamma Mia. Meghan previously owned a Labrador-German Shepherd cross named Bogart.
Political views
Markle was politically vocal before marrying Prince Harry. At age 9, she and her friends reportedly campaigned against the Gulf War. Decades later, she backed Hillary Clinton during the 2016 United States presidential election and publicly denounced her opponent and eventual winner, Donald Trump. In the same year, when the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union resulted in favor of Brexit, Markle expressed her disappointment on Instagram. In 2017, Markle recommended the book Who Rules the World? by left-wing intellectual Noam Chomsky on her Instagram account.
In July 2018, Irish senator Catherine Noone tweeted that the Duchess was "pleased to see the result" of the Irish referendum on legalizing abortion. Meghan received criticism for potentially breaching the protocol that prohibits royals from interfering in politics; She deleted her tweet and emphasized that her statement was misleading and "the Duchess was not in any way political".
After she returned to the United States and as an eligible voter, she released a video with her husband encouraging others to register for the 2020 United States presidential election on National Voter Registration Day. Some media outlets took it as an implicit endorsement of the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, which prompted then-president Trump to dismiss their messaging at a press conference. In October 2021, she penned an open letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, advocating for paid leave for parents. Her remarks were met by backlash from Republican representatives Jason Smith and Lisa McClain, who found her statement "out of touch" and criticized her interference with American politics while utilizing her British royal titles. Meghan has reportedly lobbied senators from both parties on the issue of paid family leave, including Democratic senators Patty Murray and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as Republican senators Shelley Moore Capito and Susan Collins. She has also publicly spoken in support of federal voting protections.
In February 2022, she voiced her support for the Supreme Court nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson. In June 2022, she publicly supported Moms Demand Action, an organization which campaigns for safer gun laws in the US. In the same month, in an interview with Jessica Yellin for Vogue, Meghan criticized the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that abortion is not a protected constitutional right and voiced her support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment.
Public life
Royal duties
After becoming engaged, Markle's first official public appearance with Prince Harry was at a World AIDS Day walkabout in Nottingham on December 1, 2017. On March 12, the 2018 Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey was the first royal event she attended with the Queen. On March 23, Harry and Meghan made an unannounced day visit to Northern Ireland. In total, Markle attended 26 public engagements prior to the wedding. Meghan's first official engagement after marriage was on May 22, when she and her husband attended a garden party celebrating the charity work of King Charles III (then the Prince of Wales).
In July 2018, Meghan's first official trip abroad as a royal was to Dublin, Ireland, alongside Harry. In October 2018, the Duke and Duchess traveled to Sydney for the 2018 Invictus Games. This formed part of a Pacific tour that included Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. As representatives of the Queen, the couple were greeted warmly by crowds in Sydney, and the announcement of Meghan's pregnancy hours after their arrival delighted the public and media. During their visit to Morocco in February 2019, the Duke and Duchess focused on projects centered on "women's empowerment, girls' education, inclusivity and encouragement of social entrepreneurship". Meghan also participated in her husband's work as youth ambassador to the Commonwealth, which included overseas tours.
As part of establishing a separate office from that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2019, the Duke and Duchess created an Instagram social media account, which broke the record for the fastest account at the time to reach a million followers. In July 2019, the Duchess's security team were criticized for creating an empty zone of about 40 seats around her at Wimbledon where she was watching a match between Serena Williams and Kaja Juvan. In August 2019, Meghan and her husband were criticized by environmental campaigners for using private jets regularly when taking their personal trips abroad, which would leave more carbon footprint per person compared to commercial planes. The criticism was in line with similar criticism faced by the royal family in June 2019, after it was claimed that they had doubled their carbon footprint from business travel.
In September and October 2019, a Southern African tour included Malawi, Angola, South Africa and Botswana. Archie traveled with his parents, making it "their first official tour as a family". Meghan completed 179 engagements in total in 2018 and 2019.
Stepping back and subsequent public appearances
In January 2020, Meghan and Harry returned to the UK from a vacation in Canada and announced that they were stepping back from their role as senior members of the royal family and would balance their time between the United Kingdom and North America. A statement released by the Palace confirmed that the Duke and Duchess were to cease to undertake royal duties as representatives of the Queen and would therefore no longer receive the relevant financial support. The couple would retain their HRH styles but not use them. The formal role of the Duke and Duchess was subject to a twelve-month review period, ending in March 2021. Meghan's final public solo engagement as a senior royal was a visit to Robert Clack School in Dagenham on March 7, 2020, ahead of International Women's Day. She and Harry attended the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on March 9, 2020, which was their last engagement as a couple before they officially stepped down on March 31. Two years later, they made their first official appearance in the UK in June 2022 while attending the Platinum Jubilee National Service of Thanksgiving.
They visited the UK and Germany in September 2022 for a number of charity events in Manchester and Düsseldorf. On September 8, 2022, while Meghan and Harry were in London preparing to attend a charity event, Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and they remained in the United Kingdom for her funeral.
Meghan and Harry visited Nigeria in May 2024 to honor the work of the Invictus Games. Meghan had previously stated that a genetic test had found she was of 43% Nigerian ancestry. According to CNN, their trip focused on "sports rehabilitation, mental health, and women's empowerment". Meghan co-hosted a women's empowerment summit with the head of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and she was honored in a ceremony by some of the Nigerian Chiefs.
Further career and investments
In summer 2019, before announcing their decision to step down in January 2020, Meghan and her husband were involved in talks with Jeffrey Katzenberg, the founder of the now-defunct streaming platform Quibi, over a possible role in the service without gaining personal profits, but they eventually decided against joining the project. In September 2019, it was reported that the couple had hired New York-based PR firm Sunshine Sachs, which represented them until 2022. The couple has also been associated with Adam Lilling's Plus Capital, a venture capital fund designed to connect early stage companies with influencers and investors.
In June 2020, they signed with the Harry Walker Agency, owned by media company Endeavor, to conduct paid public speaking engagements. In September 2020, the Sussexes signed a five-year private commercial deal with Netflix. In December 2020, it was announced that Meghan had invested in Clevr Blends, a coffee company based in Southern California. In the same month, Meghan and Harry signed a multi-year deal with Spotify to produce and host their own programs through their audio producing company, Archewell Audio. A holiday special was released by the couple on the service in December 2020, while Meghan's podcast, titled Archetypes, premiered in August 2022. In June 2023, Spotify cancelled the podcast, which ran for a single season of 12 episodes.
The Bench, a picture book written by Meghan with illustrations by Christian Robinson, was published in June 2021 by Random House Children's Books. It is based on her perception of the relationship between her husband and their son. The book received a mixed response; it garnered praise for its illustrations and messaging but was criticized for its structure and writing. On June 17, the book reached number one in the children's picture books category of The New York Times Best Seller list. In July 2021, it was announced that Meghan would executive produce, alongside David Furnish, a Netflix animated series called Pearl. The series was originally pitched to Netflix in 2018. Pearl would have depicted the adventures of a 12-year-old girl who was inspired by influential women from history, but the project was canceled in May 2022. Also in July 2021, it was reported that Meghan and Harry had signed a four-book publishing deal with Random House, including a wellness guide by Meghan and a memoir by Harry.
In October 2021, Meghan and Harry announced their partnership with Ethic, a sustainable investment firm based in New York City, which also manages the couple's investments. According to state filings from Delaware, where the couple's Archewell foundation is registered, Meghan and Harry incorporated 11 companies and a trust beginning in early 2020 which include Orinoco Publishing LLC and Peca Publishing LLC to hold the rights for their books as well as Cobblestone Lane LLC and IPHW LLC which are holders of their foundation's logos. Frim Fram Inc., which ran The Tig, had been registered earlier as a new corporation in Delaware in December 2019.
Harry & Meghan, a docuseries about the couple directed by Liz Garbus, was produced by Netflix and the couple's Archewell Productions and premiered on December 8, 2022. The series received mixed reviews. In April 2023, it was announced that she had signed with talent agency WME, which would represent Archewell as well.
In March 2024, Meghan launched the lifestyle and cooking brand American Riviera Orchard, which was later renamed As Ever. In April 2024, it was announced that Archewell Productions was collaborating with Netflix to produce two new shows on lifestyle and on polo, respectively. Later in August, it was revealed that she had invested in the handbag brand Cesta Collective, which sold handwoven basket bags prepared by a group of women in Rwanda that were then completed in Italy. In November of the same year she invested in the haircare line Highbrow Hippie. Her lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan premiered on Netflix in March 2025. In August 2025, Archewell Productions renewed its partnership with Netflix under a multi-year first-look deal, which included plans for a holiday special of With Love, Meghan, as well as further development of the As Ever brand and other documentary and scripted projects. On August 26, 2025, the second season of With Love, Meghan was released.
In March 2025, it was announced that Meghan would host a second podcast series, Confessions of a Female Founder, with Lemonada Media. Between March and September 2025, she ran an online site via ShopMy, which allows content creators to share links to their favorite items while earning revenue through commissions.
Charity work and advocacy
Markle became a counsellor for the international network One Young World in 2014, spoke at its 2014 summit in Dublin and attended the 2016 opening ceremony in Ottawa. Also in 2014, she toured Spain, Italy, Turkey, Afghanistan and England with the United Service Organizations.
In 2016, Markle became a global ambassador for World Vision Canada, traveling to Rwanda for the Clean Water Campaign. After a trip to India focused on raising awareness for women's issues, she penned an op-ed for Time magazine concerning stigmatization of women in regard to menstrual health. She has also worked with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women as an advocate. Her speech at the UN Women's 2015 conference as an advocate for political participation and leadership contained a number of sentences that were nearly identical to a 1951 speech by Eleanor Roosevelt. In 2017, Markle joined Prince Harry in teaming up with the charity Elephants Without Borders to assist with the conservation efforts taking place in Botswana.
In January 2018, Markle became interested in the Hubb Community Kitchen run by survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire. She visited the kitchen regularly and suggested that the displaced women publish a cookbook to assist in funding for the group. Together: Our Community Cookbook, her first charity project as Duchess of Sussex, was announced in September. In August 2020, Meghan used proceeds from the cookbook to donate £8,000 to the UK charity Migrateful, which supports refugees, asylum seekers and migrants by helping them organize cookery classes. In March 2021, she donated £10,000 from the proceeds to the UK-based charity Himmah to assist them with stocking the group's food bank, provide them with equipment and help the Salaam Shalom Kitchen, the only Muslim and Jewish community kitchen in the UK.
In March 2020, it was announced that Meghan's first post-royal project would be the narration of Disneynature's documentary Elephant, which was released on April 3. In support of elephants, Disneynature and the Disney Conservation Fund would donate to Elephants Without Borders for species conservation in Botswana. In June 2020, the couple backed the Stop Hate for Profit campaign and encouraged CEOs of different companies to join the movement. In July 2020, she spoke in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In April 2021, the couple were announced as campaign chairs for Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World, an event organized by Global Citizen to increase access to COVID-19 vaccinations. They also announced their support for a vaccine equity fundraiser initiated by the same organization, and penned an open letter to the pharmaceutical industry CEOs urging them to address the vaccine equity crisis. In July 2021, Meghan and Harry were among people who were selected by UK-based charity Population Matters to receive the Change Champions Award for their decision to have only two children and help with maintaining a smaller and more sustainable population. In August 2021, to mark her 40th birthday, Meghan launched 40x40, a campaign that asks people around the world to spend 40 minutes of their time mentoring women reentering the workforce. In October 2021 and ahead of the 2021 G20 Rome summit, the couple penned an open letter together with the Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom, asking the G20 leaders to expedite efforts for the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
In February 2022, the couple were selected to receive NAACP's President's Award for their work on causes related to social justice and equity. In the following month, they were among more than a hundred people who signed an open letter published by the People's Vaccine Alliance, asking for free global access to COVID-19 vaccines and calling out the UK, EU and Switzerland for opposing a waiver that would allow vaccine intellectual property protections to be lifted. In October 2022, Meghan and Harry were named as Ripple of Hope Award laureates for their work on racial justice, mental health and other social initiatives through their foundation Archewell. In April 2023, she was named as a recipient of the Ms. Foundation for Women's Women of Vision Award. In October 2025, she and her husband received the Humanitarians of the Year award at Project Healthy Minds' annual gala in New York City in recognition of their commitment to mental health support.
Patronages and interests
From January 2019 to February 2021, Meghan was patron of London's National Theatre and the Association of Commonwealth Universities. She continued her role as the private patron of Mayhew until 2022. She remains a private patron of Smart Works. From March 2019 to February 2021, she was the vice president of The Queen's Commonwealth Trust. Until February 2021, periodically, online QCT chat sessions were conducted and uploaded to YouTube for general public viewing. In October 2019, along with other members of the royal family, Meghan voiced a Public Health England announcement, for the "Every Mind Matters" mental health program.
In 2019 Meghan was a contributor and guest editor for the September issue of British Vogue and highlighted the works of 15 women from different areas, who were described as "Forces for Change". Edward Enninful, editor-in-chief of the British Vogue, later revealed that the issue had become the "fastest-selling issue in the history of British Vogue". In the same issue, it was announced that she had collaborated with a number of British fashion houses and stores to launch a capsule collection, called The Smart Set, in September 2019 to benefit the charity Smart Works. The collection sought to help "unemployed and disadvantaged women", through selling items "on a one-for-one basis, meaning an item is donated for each item purchased". Taking advantage of the "Meghan Markle effect" (driving consumer purchases), in 10 days the collection provided a year's worth of clothes for the charity.
Sussex Royal and Archewell
In February 2018, Markle and fiancé Harry attended the first annual forum of The Royal Foundation. After marriage, Meghan became the foundation's fourth patron alongside Prince Harry, Prince William and his wife, Catherine. In May 2019, as a part of their Heads Together initiative, the Duchess of Sussex together with her husband and in-laws launched Shout, a text messaging service for those who suffer from mental issues. In June 2019, it was announced that Harry and Meghan would split from the charity and establish their own foundation. Nevertheless, the couples would collaborate on mutual projects, such as the mental health initiative Heads Together. The following month, "Sussex Royal The Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex" was registered in England and Wales. However, it was confirmed on February 21, 2020, that "Sussex Royal" would not be used as a brand name for the couple, following their step back from official life as working royals. On August 5, 2020, the Sussex Royal Foundation was renamed "MWX Foundation" and dissolved the same day.
In March 2021, it was reported that the Charity Commission for England and Wales was conducting a review of the Sussex Royal organization in a "regulatory and compliance case" regarding its conduct under charity law during dissolution. Representatives for the couple claimed that Sussex Royal was "managed by a board of trustees" and that "suggestion of mismanagement" directed exclusively at the Duke and Duchess would be incorrect. The commission later concluded that the foundation did not act unlawfully, but criticized the board of directors for expending a "substantial proportion of funds" to setting up and closing the charity.
In April 2020, Meghan and Harry confirmed that an alternative foundation (in lieu of Sussex Royal) would be called "Archewell". The name stems from the Greek word "arche", which means "source of action"—the same word that inspired the name of their son. Archewell was registered in the United States. Its website was officially launched in October 2020.
Public image and style
Between 2010 and 2012, Markle anonymously ran the blog The Working Actress, which detailed the "pitfalls and triumphs of struggling to make it in Hollywood". In 2014, she founded her own lifestyle blog The Tig, which posted articles about food, fashion, beauty, travel, and inspirational women. The viewing audience consisted primarily of the fans of Markle and Suits. Promotion of the blog on other social media platforms targeted three million followers on Instagram, 800,000 on Facebook and 350,000 on Twitter. In April 2017, The Tig closed. In January 2018, she took all articles offline and deleted her social media accounts. It is estimated that Markle's social media activities annually earned her about $80,000 from endorsements and sponsorships. She rejoined Instagram in January 2025. She was also known for socializing at Soho House.
Markle became known through The Tig for her fashion sense, releasing two fashion collections with Canadian clothing company Reitmans in 2015 and 2016. The lines were based on her personal style and that of her Suits character. Markle has cited Emmanuelle Alt as her style inspiration. In 2016, she hosted USA Network's video series Power Lunch with Meghan Markle in collaboration with Lexus and Eater, discussing the culinary inspirations of five different New York kitchens.
In 2015, Markle visited Malta after discovering an ancestor had been born there. Her trip was documented by Elle UK. She was featured in the cover story for the October 2017 issue of Vanity Fair and the December 2017 issue of Elle France. Shortly after her engagement to Prince Harry in 2017, she caused a surge of interest in Scottish retailer Strathberry after carrying one of its handbags to a public event. This was reported as an indication that her fashion choices would produce results similar to the Kate Middleton effect. After Markle and Prince Harry's first appearance as a couple, brands Mackage, Birks, R&R Jewelers, Crown Jewelers, and Everlane noted an upswing in their website hits and sales. It was speculated that Markle's effect would be broader internationally because she already had a strong American appeal. Consequently, the United States saw a boost in yellow gold jewelry sales in the first quarter of 2018.
In 2018, Tatler included Meghan with other senior royal women on its list of Britain's best dressed people. Following the announcement of her pregnancy, she appeared in a Karen Gee dress that resulted in the Australian designer's website crashing. Fashion website Net-a-Porter ranked Meghan as one of the best dressed women in 2018. She was nominated for the 2018 Teen Choice Awards in the category Choice Style Icon. In 2019, British brand Reiss reported a growth in profits after Meghan was seen wearing a mini dress by them on International Women's Day. In 2022, the black Armani dress worn by Meghan during her Oprah interview was selected by the Fashion Museum, Bath, as Dress of the Year 2021. In the same year, she was featured in the cover story for the 2022 Fall Fashion issue of The Cut. There was controversy over her claim in the interview that she had been told at the premiere of The Lion King that her marriage resulted in rejoicing in South Africa similar to that seen at Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990.
In 2018, Time selected Meghan as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World and placed her on its shortlist for Person of the Year. Her name appeared again on the listicle in 2021, and she and her husband were featured on one of the magazine's seven worldwide covers. In 2019, the magazine named Meghan and Prince Harry among the 25 Most Influential People on the Internet. She was also chosen as one of the 25 most influential women in the United Kingdom by British Vogue magazine in 2018, 2019, and 2021. Her influence was also recognized in both the 2019 and 2020 editions of Powerlist, the 100 most influential Britons of African and Afro-Caribbean descent. In 2022, she was named as one of the 50 Women Changing the World over the past year by Worth magazine. In the same year, Variety named her as a stellar honoree for its Power of Women issue, and Financial Times included her on its list of "25 most influential women of 2022". In December 2022, Meghan was found to be the second most disliked member of the British royal family by statistics and polling company YouGov, behind her husband's uncle Prince Andrew. In March 2023, The Independent included her on its "Influence List 2023". Meghan and Harry's exit from the royal family was satirized in a 2023 episode of South Park. In the same year, James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter named Meghan and Harry among the Hollywood losers of 2023.
Following Meghan and Harry's trip to Nigeria in May 2024, Lucia Stein of the ABC argued that the couple could have been used by the royal family, and added that "perhaps how helpful they would have been" had an agreement on a "hybrid working model" been achieved. Among other things, she noted Meghan's style and meetings were extensively covered internationally.
Privacy and the media
Court cases
Associated Newspapers Limited
In November 2016, the MailOnline was criticized for running an article on Markle's family background titled "(Almost) Straight Outta Compton", which triggered a response from Prince Harry's communications secretary. Between 2019 and 2020, Meghan and Harry contributed to the book Finding Freedom through a third-party source. Despite initially denying their involvement with the book, their contributions to the book became apparent during her court case against Associated Newspapers who were trying to use the book in their defense. In October 2019, Meghan filed a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline over the publication of a letter she had sent to her father. Thomas Markle Sr. had provided the publisher with excerpts of the letter after five of his daughter's friends referenced it in a People article. She subsequently received support from more than 70 female MPs from different parties who in an open letter condemned the use of "outdated, colonial undertones" against her in some national media outlets. In May 2020, the court dismissed claims of the tabloid's alleged dishonesty and malice, as they were deemed either vague or irrelevant to the case. In February 2021, the High Court of Justice found in a summary judgment that ANL's Mail on Sunday had invaded Meghan's privacy by publishing the letter, and she won her claim for "misuse of private information and copyright infringement" in May 2021. She was given a £450,000 down payment on her £1.5 million legal fees as an interim payment, and pursuant to copyright law, her legal team asked for a front-page statement by The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline to acknowledge her legal victory.
An appeal was subsequently launched by ANL in November 2021. In December 2021, three senior appeal judges upheld the judgement of the High Court against ANL, prompting Meghan to call for reform of the tabloid industry. In the same month, ANL's The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline published a front-page statement on Boxing Day acknowledging Meghan's victory, adding that there had been an agreement on "financial remedies". In addition to covering a portion of Meghan's legal costs, the outlet agreed to pay her £1 in damages for invading her privacy and a confidential sum for infringing her copyright. They were also banned from naming Meghan's friends, who had spoken to People magazine about the letter in 2018.
Other cases and complaints
In November 2016, The Sun ran the headline "Harry girl's on Pornhub". The outlet denied any smear after it was revealed that the clips were illegally uploaded scenes from the TV series Suits and not pornographic material. They subsequently apologized via an official statement in February 2017. In February 2018, a letter containing white powder and a racist note addressing Markle was sent to St James's Palace, triggering counter-terrorism and hate crime investigations by Scotland Yard. Meghan and Harry obtained a formal apology in May 2019 from Splash News for privacy invasion at their Cotswolds residence. In December 2019, PA Media retracted the publishing of a Christmas card photograph of Meghan, Harry, and their son Archie. The agency said that the photo was retracted because they had been advised that the photograph was "not representative of the Christmas card sent by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex". The couple had a legal warning issued to the press in general in January 2020 after the publication of paparazzi photographs. In March 2020, the couple took Splash UK to court after Meghan and her son were photographed without permission in Canada during a "private family outing". The case was settled later that year with Splash UK agreeing to no longer take unauthorized photos of the family. The Duke and Duchess announced in April that they would no longer cooperate with the Daily Mail, The Sun, Daily Mirror and Daily Express. They won an apology in October from American news agency X17 for taking photographs of their son at their home using drones.
In March 2021, ITV News reported Meghan had complained directly to ITV's CEO about Piers Morgan's comments on mental health following her interview with Oprah Winfrey. Ofcom received over 57,000 complaints about the program including one from the Duchess of Sussex. In the same month, it was reported that an American private investigator unlawfully handed over personal details about Meghan to The Sun, including her Social Security number, cell phone number and address, when she first started dating Prince Harry in 2016. Meghan and her husband condemned the "predatory practices" of the British tabloids, while The Sun stated that the investigator "was instructed clearly in writing to act lawfully", and they did not "use the information he provided for any unlawful practice".
In July 2021, Meghan filed legal complaints against The Times for two separate articles, with the first one covering an unproven allegation from Robert Lacey's book that she had left an engagement in Fiji for not being appointed by UN Women as a goodwill ambassador and the second one claiming that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had refused to talk to Prince Harry after Prince Philip's funeral due to fears of a potential leak. In January 2022, the couple jointly filed a legal complaint against The Times for an article reporting on Archewell raising less than $50,000 in 2020. In the same month, she complained to the BBC regarding their five-part podcast Harry, Meghan and the Media, in which the presenter Amol Rajan stated that Meghan had "apologized for misleading" the Court of Appeal in her case against the Mail on Sunday. The BBC responded by issuing a statement on its "corrections and clarifications" website to emphasize that she had "apologized to the court for not remembering email exchanges".
In March 2022, Meghan's half-sister, Samantha Markle, filed a defamation lawsuit against her in Florida, accusing her of lying in the Oprah interview and disseminating false statements via her communications secretary for the book Finding Freedom and sought damages in excess of $75,000. In June 2022, Meghan's initial motion to dismiss the case was rejected by a judge following amendments made by Samantha in her complaint. She filed a second motion in the same month. In addition to applying for the case to be dismissed, Meghan's lawyer also applied for the discovery process to be delayed, pending the outcome of the dismissal application. A Florida judge later denied the application to halt the discovery process, but dismissed the lawsuit in March 2023. In April 2023, Samantha refiled the lawsuit with another amended complaint that covered statements made by Meghan in her Netflix docuseries as well. The lawsuit was later dismissed with prejudice in March 2024, after a judge ruled that the claimant was unable to provide evidence of defamation. Samantha later appealed the decision.
Between December 2022 and January 2023, more than 25,000 complaints were submitted to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) about a column by Jeremy Clarkson in The Sun, in which he stated that he hated Meghan "on a cellular level" and dreamed "of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, 'Shame!' and throw lumps of excrement at her." On December 20, 2022, Conservative MP Caroline Nokes wrote to The Sun's editor, Victoria Newton, calling for "action [to be] taken" against Clarkson. The letter was signed by more than 60 cross-party MPs. On December 23, The Sun issued an apology, stating "columnists' opinions are their own" but they "regret the publication of this article" and are "sincerely sorry". On the following day, a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex described the apology as "nothing more than a PR stunt". Clarkson said his column was a reference to a scene from the television series Game of Thrones and he later revealed that he had emailed Meghan and Harry on Christmas Day 2022 to apologise. A spokesperson for the couple said Clarkson wrote solely to Harry and the article was not an isolated incident. In February 2023, IPSO announced that it was launching an investigation about the article. In June 2023, IPSO concluded that the column was sexist and contained a "pejorative and prejudicial reference" to Meghan's sex, but it rejected complaints that the piece raised an issue of fact, or was meant to harass her or included discriminatory references on the grounds of race.
Bullying allegations and Oprah interview
In 2021, shortly before Meghan and Harry were due to be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, Valentine Low reported in The Times that Meghan's former communications secretary, Jason Knauf, complained in October 2018 that her conduct at Kensington Palace had caused two personal assistants to quit and had undermined the confidence of a third employee, prompting an investigation by Buckingham Palace into the bullying allegations. The palace hired an external law firm to examine the claims, with ten aides reported to have cooperated with the review. Criticism of Meghan for twice wearing earrings gifted from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2018, after he was accused of complicity in the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, appeared at the same time. Her representatives denied her awareness of the accusations against Mohammed bin Salman and said The Times was being used by Buckingham Palace for "a smear campaign" against her.
The television special Oprah with Meghan and Harry was broadcast on CBS on March 7, 2021. Meghan spoke about her personal and royal life and public pressure. She claimed to have been contemplating suicide during her time as a working royal and complained of a lack of protection for her and her son while being part of the royal institution. There was a wide and polarized reaction to the interview.
In an updated epilogue for the couple's unauthorized biography, Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, the authors claimed that "two of the individuals mentioned in [Knauf's] email asked for any allegations made to HR about their experiences with Meghan to be rescinded". Speaking on behalf of the Duchess in a BBC documentary, Jenny Afia, a lawyer who represented Meghan in her case against ANL, stated that the bullying allegations were "just not true". In June 2022, The Times reported that the results from the inquiry made Buckingham Palace modify some of the policies and procedures in its HR department, but the report would not be published to ensure the privacy of those who took part in it. In September 2024 The Hollywood Reporter reported on complaints raised by American staff members about Meghan's behavior. Her spokesperson declined to comment. In January 2025 Vanity Fair, who spoke with Meghan's employees, reported on their descriptions of her varying from "lovely, genuine person" to "cold and withholding", adding that a staff member with ties to Archetypes took a leave of absence while a number of others talked about quitting their jobs, taking long absences from work to avoid attention, or going through long-term therapy after working with her.
On Twitter and other platforms
In March 2019, European consulting firm 89up reported on their discovery of 1,103 highly connected Twitter accounts with more than two and a half million tweets in favor of Meghan, most of which appeared to be bots carrying out "coordinated attacks" on royal correspondents who had reported negatively on her. In the same year, CNN had reported on research by Hope not Hate, stating that out of 5,200 "abusive tweets directed at Meghan" in January and February 2019, 3,600 came from a small group of trolls. In March 2019, the royal family introduced new rules for followers commenting on its official social media accounts in response to the online abuse aimed at Meghan and her sister-in-law Catherine.
In October 2021, Twitter analytics service Bot Sentinel alleged they found 83 accounts with a combined number of 187,631 followers that were possibly responsible for approximately 70% of the negative content posted about Meghan and Harry. The report prompted an investigation by Twitter. The company stated that it found no evidence of "widespread coordination" between the accounts and said that it had taken action against users who violated Twitter's conduct policy. Bot Sentinel released three more reports in the following months.
In January 2022, the BBC named Meghan and Harry among people whose photos and videos were used in fake instant profits advertisements and bitcoin-related investment schemes.
Among theories widespread on social media, including Twitter and YouTube, were unfounded assertions that Meghan had faked her pregnancies, instead using surrogate mother(s), or that her children do not exist at all. Meghan's half-sister, Samantha, was reported to have run multiple Twitter accounts that targeted Meghan.
Titles, styles and arms
Meghan became a princess of the United Kingdom upon her marriage to Prince Harry, entitled to the style of Royal Highness. After her marriage, she was styled "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex". She also holds the titles of Countess of Dumbarton and Baroness Kilkeel. She is the first person to hold the title "Duchess of Sussex".
Following the Duke and Duchess's decision to step back from royal duties in 2020, the couple agreed not to use the style of Royal Highness in practice or publicly, but they are still referred to as "His/Her Royal Highness" in legal and private settings.
During Meghan's trip to Nigeria in May 2024, Igwe Alfred Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, and Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwo, gave her the chieftaincy titles Ada Mazi (transl. 'the daughter of the Igbo ancestral palace') and Adetokunbo (transl. 'royalty from across the seas').
Filmography
Television
Film
Bibliography
Books
Markle, Meghan (1996). A Face without Freckles... Is a Night without Stars.
HRH The Duchess of Sussex, "Foreword", in: The Hubb Community Kitchen (2018). Together: Our Community Cookbook. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-1529102925. OCLC 1055685147. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (2021). The Bench. Illustrated by Christian Robinson. Random House Children's Books. ISBN 978-0593434512.
Authored articles and letters
Markle, Meghan (May 2015). "It's All Enough". Darling Magazine., republished online, November 6, 2018.
Markle, Meghan (July 2015). "I'm More Than An 'Other'". ELLE., republished online, December 22, 2016.
Markle, Meghan (November 9, 2016). "With Fame Comes Opportunity, But Also A Responsibility". ELLE.
Markle, Meghan (March 8, 2017). "How Periods Affect Potential". Time.
HRH The Duchess of Sussex (July 29, 2019). "HRH The Duchess of Sussex Introduces The September Issue In Her Own Words". Vogue (British ed.).
HRH The Duchess of Sussex (July 31, 2019). "HRH The Duchess of Sussex Shares A New Smart Works Initiative". Vogue (British ed.).
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (August 26, 2020). "Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex: My conversation with Gloria Steinem". Yahoo!.
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (November 25, 2020). "The Losses We Share". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020.
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (October 20, 2021). "A Letter on Paid Leave from Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex". Paid Leave for All.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex; Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (October 29, 2021). "Meeting the COVID-19 vaccine commitments". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021.
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex (April 6, 2022). "A message from Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex". Mayhew.
References
Further reading
Bower, Tom (2022). Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors. London: Blink Publishing. ISBN 978-1788705035.
Campbell, Lady Colin (2020). Meghan and Harry: The Real Story. London: Dynasty Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1643136752.
Morton, Andrew (2018). Meghan: A Hollywood Princess. London: Michael O'Mara. ISBN 978-1782439615.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (2023). Spare. London: Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-0593593806.
Scobie, Omid; Durand, Carolyn (2020). Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Royal Family. London: Dey Street Books. ISBN 978-0063046108.
Smith, Sean (2020). Meghan Misunderstood. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-835960-7. OCLC 1256038027.
External links
Official website
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the official website of the British royal family
The Duchess of Sussex at the website of the Government of Canada
Portraits of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at the National Portrait Gallery, London
Meghan Markle at IMDb
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Bruce Springsteen
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Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature the E Street Band, his backing band since 1972. Springsteen is a pioneer of heartland rock, combining commercially successful rock with poetic, socially conscious lyrics that reflect working class American life. He is known for his energetic concerts, some of which last more than four hours.
Springsteen released his first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, in 1973. Although both were well received by critics, neither earned him a large audience. He changed his style and achieved worldwide popularity with Born to Run (1975). Springsteen followed with Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) and The River (1980), Springsteen's first album to top the Billboard 200 chart. After the solo acoustic album Nebraska (1982), he recorded Born in the U.S.A. (1984) with the E Street Band, which became his most commercially successful album and the 23rd-best selling album ever as of 2024. All seven singles from Born in the U.S.A. reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, including the title track. Springsteen mostly hired session musicians for the recording of his next three albums, Tunnel of Love (1987), Human Touch (1992), and Lucky Town (1992). He reassembled the E Street Band for Greatest Hits (1995), and recorded the acoustic album The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) and the EP Blood Brothers (1996) solo.
Springsteen then released The Rising (2002), which was dedicated to the victims of the September 11 attacks. He released two more folk albums, Devils & Dust (2005) and We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006), his first cover album. Springsteen followed with two more albums with the E Street Band, Magic (2007) and Working on a Dream (2009). His next albums, Wrecking Ball (2012) and High Hopes (2014), topped album charts worldwide. In 2017, 2018 and 2021, Springsteen performed the critically acclaimed show Springsteen on Broadway, in which he performed songs and told stories from his 2016 autobiography; an album version from the Broadway performances was released in 2018. He released the solo album Western Stars in 2019, Letter to You with the E Street Band in 2020, and a solo covers album entitled Only the Strong Survive in 2022. Letter to You reached No. 2 in the US, making Springsteen the first artist to release a top-five album in six consecutive decades.
A prominent musician from the album era, Springsteen has sold more 140 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His accolades include 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, was named MusiCares person of the year in 2013, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 and the National Medal of Arts in 2023. In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked Springsteen 23rd on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", describing him as "the embodiment of rock and roll". In 2025, Springsteen became one of only five artists to gross over $2.3 billion in touring thanks to his 2023-2025 Tour with the E Street Band.
Early life and education
Springsteen was born at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey, on September 23, 1949, to Douglas Frederick "Dutch" Springsteen (1924–1998) and his wife, Adele Ann (née Zerilli; 1925–2024). Springsteen's father worked as a bus driver and other jobs. His father had mental health issues throughout his life, which worsened in his later life. His mother, who was originally from the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, worked as a legal secretary and was the family's main breadwinner. He is of Dutch, Irish, and Italian descent, and grew up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey.
Springsteen's paternal ancestors were among the early Dutch families who, in the 17th century, settled in colonial-era America, then part of the Dutch Republic known as New Netherland. Springsteen's paternal ancestor, John Springsteen, was a patriot in the American Revolution, which evolved into the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. The Springsteen surname originates in Groningen, a province in the Netherlands, and is topographic, translating to "jump stone" and meaning a stepping stone used on unpaved streets or between two houses. Springsteen's Italian maternal grandfather was born in Vico Equense and emigrated through Ellis Island. He arrived in the United States unable to read or write English, but went on to become a lawyer and impressed the young Springsteen as being "larger than life".
Springsteen has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela (born c. 1962). Pamela Springsteen worked briefly as an actress and later as a photographer; she took photos for three Springsteen albums, Human Touch, Lucky Town, and The Ghost of Tom Joad.
Springsteen attended the St. Rose of Lima Catholic School in Freehold, where he was at odds with the nuns and rebelled against the strictures imposed upon him, though some of his later music reflected a Catholic ethos and included Irish Catholic hymns with a rock music twist. In 2012, Springsteen said that it was his Catholic upbringing rather than his political ideology that most influenced his music. He said his faith gave him a "very active spiritual life" but joked that this "made it very difficult sexually" and added "once a Catholic, always a Catholic". He grew up hearing fellow New Jersey singer Frank Sinatra on the radio, and became interested in being a musician by the age of seven after seeing Elvis Presley's performances on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 and 1957. Soon after, his mother rented him a guitar from Mike Diehl's Music in Freehold for $6 a week and took a few weeks of guitar lessons, but quit after it failed to provide him with the instant gratification he desired.
In ninth grade, Springsteen entered Freehold High School, a public high school, but did not fit in there either. A former teacher said Springsteen was a "loner who wanted nothing more than to play his guitar". He graduated in 1967, but felt so alienated that he skipped his graduation ceremony. He briefly attended Ocean County College, but dropped out. At age 19, Springsteen was called for his draft physical, but failed it because of a concussion he suffered in a motorcycle accident two years earlier combined with his behavior at induction, both of which reportedly made him unacceptable for military service. In failing his examination, Springsteen likely avoided service in the Vietnam War. In 1969, when he was 20 years old, Springsteen's parents and sister Pamela moved to San Mateo, California; he and his sister Virginia, who was married and pregnant at the time, remained in Freehold.
Career
1964–1972: Early career
In 1964, Springsteen saw the Beatles' televised appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Inspired, he bought his first guitar for $18.95 at the Western Auto appliance store. Thereafter, he started playing for audiences with a band called the Rogues at local venues, including Elks Lodge in Freehold. Later that year, his mother took out a loan to buy him a $60 Kent guitar, an act he later memorialized in his song "The Wish". In 1965, he went to the house of Tex and Marion Vinyard, who sponsored young bands in town. They helped him become the lead guitarist and subsequently one of the lead singers of the Castiles, a band that recorded two original songs at a public recording studio in Brick Township and played a variety of venues, including Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. Marion Vinyard said she believed the young Springsteen when he promised he would make it big. In the late 1960s, Springsteen performed briefly in a power trio known as Earth, who played in various clubs in New Jersey and at a major show at the Hotel Diplomat in New York City.
From 1969 through early 1971, Springsteen performed with the band Child, which later changed its name to Steel Mill and included Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin, and later Steven Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson. Steel Mill performed at various Jersey Shore venues and also outside of New Jersey, in Richmond, Virginia; Nashville, Tennessee; and California, and gathered a cult following. In his January 1970 review of Steel Mill's show at The Matrix, music critic Philip Elwood wrote in the San Francisco Examiner that he had "never been so overwhelmed by a totally unknown talent" and called Steel Mill "the first big thing that's happened to Asbury Park since the good ship Morro Castle burned to the waterline of that Jersey beach in '34". Elwood praised the band's "cohesive musicality" and called Springsteen "a most impressive composer". In San Mateo, Steel Mill recorded three original Springsteen songs at Pacific Recording.
As Springsteen sought to shape a unique and genuine musical and lyrical style, he performed with the bands Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom from early-to-mid-1971, the Sundance Blues Band in mid-1971, and the Bruce Springsteen Band from mid-1971 to mid-1972. His songwriting ability included, as his future record label described it in early publicity campaigns, "more words in some individual songs than other artists had in whole albums". He brought his skills to the attention of several people who went on to prove influential to his career development, including managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, who in turn brought him to the attention of John Hammond, a talent scout at Columbia Records. In May 1972, Springsteen auditioned for Hammond.
In October 1972, Springsteen formed a new band for the recording of his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. The band eventually became known as the E Street Band, although the name was not used until September 1974. Springsteen acquired the nickname "the Boss" during this period, since he took on the task of collecting his band's nightly pay and distributing it among his bandmates. The nickname also reportedly sprang from games of Monopoly, which Springsteen played with other Jersey Shore musicians.
1972–1974: Initial struggle
Springsteen was signed to Columbia Records in 1972 by John Hammond, who had signed Bob Dylan to the same label a decade earlier. His debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., was released in January 1973, establishing him as a critical favorite. Because of Springsteen's lyrical poeticism and folk rock-rooted music exemplified on tracks like "Blinded by the Light" and "For You", and his connection with Hammond and Columbia Records, critics initially compared Springsteen to Bob Dylan. "He sings with a freshness and urgency I haven't heard since I was rocked by 'Like a Rolling Stone'", Crawdaddy magazine editor Peter Knobler wrote in a March 1973 profile of Springsteen's that included photographs taken by Ed Gallucci. Crawdaddy was an early champion of Springsteen; Knobler profiled him in the magazine three times, in 1973, 1975, and 1978. In June 1976, Springsteen and the E Street Band acknowledged the magazine's support by giving a private performance at the magazine's 10th Anniversary Party in New York City.
Springsteen's second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, was released in November 1973, eleven months after Greetings from Asbury Park. Like Springsteen's inaugural album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle was met with critical acclaim but limited commercial success. Springsteen's songs became grander in form and scope with the E Street Band providing a less folksy, more rhythm and blues vibe, and lyrics that romanticized teenage street life. "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "Incident on 57th Street" became fan favorites, while "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" continues to rank among Springsteen's most beloved concert numbers. "Rosalita" is the ninth-most played song in Springsteen's concert catalog; as of June 2020, he has played it live 809 times.
In February 1974, the Stone Pony, a music venue and bar, opened on Ocean Avenue in Asbury Park, and Springsteen played there regularly. Several years later, in the early 1980s, prior to the start of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour in June 1984, Springsteen also met his second and current wife Patti Scialfa at the Stone Pony during her performance there. A regular venue for Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny, and other acts from the area, the Stone Pony has since been described as "an integral part of music history for decades."
After seeing Springsteen's performance at the Harvard Square Theater in 1974, music critic Jon Landau wrote that he "saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen." Springsteen met Landau in Boston a month prior and the two became close friends; Landau subsequently became the co-producer of Springsteen's next album, Born to Run, in February 1975. As Springsteen's last-ditch effort at a commercially viable record, Springsteen became bogged down in the recording process while striving for a "Wall of Sound" production. When his manager, Mike Appel, orchestrated the release of an early mix of "Born to Run" to nearly a dozen radio stations, anticipation built toward the album's release.
The album took over 14 months to record, with six months spent recording "Born to Run" alone. E Street Band members David Sancious and Ernest Carter departed after "Born to Run" was completed, and were replaced by Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg on piano and drums, respectively. Springsteen battled with anger and frustration throughout the sessions, saying he heard "sounds in [his] head" that he could not explain to the others in the studio. He also dealt with two producers who had opposing views. During the recording of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", Steven Van Zandt conceived the horn parts for the horn players on the spot in the studio after Springsteen and Bittan had failed to write proper ones by the time the players arrived to record. He joined the E Street Band shortly thereafter. Mixing for Born to Run lasted until July 20, 1975, just before a concert tour began.
Born to Run was mastered while the band was on the road. Springsteen was furious at the initial acetate, throwing it into the swimming pool of the hotel he was staying at. He contemplated scrapping the entire project and re-recording it live before he was stopped by Landau. Springsteen was sent multiple mixes as he was on the road and rejected all of them until August when he approved the final one.
1975–1983: Born to Run and breakthrough success
Born to Run was released in August 1975. It proved to be a breakthrough album that catapulted Springsteen to worldwide fame. The album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, eventually going seven times platinum in the US. The album's two singles, "Born to Run" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" reached No. 23 and 83, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100. According to author Louis Masur, the album's success was tied to the fears of growing old held by a generation of late teenagers. In October 1975, Springsteen appeared on the covers of both Newsweek and Time in the same week, becoming the first artist to do so. The magazines' cover stories resulted in a media backlash, as critics began wondering if Springsteen was for real or the product of record company promotion. Springsteen was hurt by the backlash and disliked his newfound attention. When the E Street Band arrived in London for their first concerts outside North America, Springsteen personally tore down promotional posters in the lobby of the Hammersmith Odeon.
A legal battle with Appel kept Springsteen out of the studio for nearly a year, during which time he kept the E Street Band together through extensive touring across the U.S. and continued writing new material. Reaching a settlement with Appel in May 1977, Springsteen returned to the studio, and the subsequent nine-month recording sessions with the E Street Band produced Darkness on the Edge of Town. The record stripped the "Wall of Sound" production of Born to Run for a rawer hard rock sound. Its lyrics focus on ill-fortuned people who fight back against overwhelming odds.
Released in June 1978, Darkness on the Edge of Town sold fewer copies than its predecessor, but remained on the Billboard chart for 167 weeks, selling three million copies in the U.S. Its three singles—"Prove It All Night", "Badlands", and "The Promised Land"—performed modestly. The supporting Darkness Tour was Springsteen's largest up to that point and featured shows that lasted upwards of three hours in length. The staff of Ultimate Classic Rock said the tour solidified Springsteen and the E Street Band as "one of the most exciting live acts in rock 'n' roll".
By the late 1970s, Springsteen earned a reputation as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands. Manfred Mann's Earth Band had achieved a U.S. No. 1 pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of Greetings' "Blinded by the Light" in early 1977. Patti Smith reached No. 13 with her version of Springsteen's unreleased "Because the Night" with revised lyrics by Smith in 1978. The Pointer Sisters hit No. 2 in 1979 with Springsteen's then unreleased "Fire". Between 1976 and 1978, Springsteen provided four compositions to Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, including "The Fever" and "Hearts of Stone", and collaborated on four more with Steven Van Zandt, producer of their first three albums.
In September 1979, Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear power collective at Madison Square Garden for two nights, playing an abbreviated set while premiering two songs from his upcoming album. The subsequent No Nukes live album, as well as the following summer's No Nukes documentary film, represented the first official recordings and footage of Springsteen's fabled live act and Springsteen's first tentative dip into political involvement.
The recording sessions for Springsteen's fifth album, The River, lasted 18 months. The 20-track double album was an attempt at capturing the energy and feel of the E Street Band playing live on stage and featured a mix of party songs and introspective ballads. Released in October 1980, The River became Springsteen's biggest and fastest-selling album yet, topping the U.S. Billboard chart. The single "Hungry Heart" became his first top ten single as a performer, reaching number five, while "Fade Away" reached No. 20.
Several songs on The River foreshadowed the direction of Springsteen's next record, the minimalist, folk-inspired solo effort Nebraska, released in September 1982. Springsteen recorded the songs on the album as demo recordings at his home in Colts Neck, New Jersey, intending to re-record them with the E Street Band, but after poor test sessions he decided to release the recordings as is. The album chronicled dark hardships felt by everyday blue-collar workers, as well as bleak tales of criminals, cops, and gang wars. Nebraska sold minimally compared to Springsteen's three previous albums, but reached No. 3 on the Billboard chart. Nevertheless, it surprised critics, who praised it as a brave artistic statement.
1984–1986: Born in the U.S.A. and cultural phenomenon
In 1984, Springsteen released Born in the U.S.A., which sold 30 million worldwide, and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, with seven singles hitting the top ten. The title track was a bitter commentary on the treatment of Vietnam veterans, some of whom were Springsteen's friends. The lyrics in the verses were entirely unambiguous when listened to, but the anthemic music and the title of the song made it hard for many, from politicians to the common person, to get the lyrics—except those in the chorus, which could be read many ways. The song made a huge political impact, as he was advocating for the rights of the common working-class man.
The song was widely misinterpreted as patriotic, and in connection with the 1984 presidential campaign became the subject of considerable folklore. In 1984, conservative columnist George Will attended a Springsteen concert and then wrote a column praising Springsteen's work ethic. Six days after the column's publication, then President Ronald Reagan, in a campaign rally in Hammonton, New Jersey, made brief mention of the song, saying, "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire—New Jersey's own, Bruce Springsteen." Two nights later, at a concert in Pittsburgh, Springsteen told the crowd, "Well, the president was mentioning my name in his speech the other day and I kind of got to wondering what his favorite album of mine must've been, you know? I don't think it was the Nebraska album. I don't think he's been listening to this one." He then began playing "Johnny 99", with its allusions to closing factories and criminals.
"Dancing in the Dark" was the biggest of seven hit singles from Born in the U.S.A., peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard singles chart. The video for the song showed a young Courteney Cox dancing on stage with Springsteen, which helped start the actress's career. The song "Cover Me" was written by Springsteen for Donna Summer, but his record company persuaded him to keep it for the new album. A big fan of Summer's work, Springsteen wrote another song for her, "Protection". Videos for Born in the U.S.A. were directed by Brian De Palma and John Sayles. Springsteen played on the "We Are the World" song and album in 1985. His live cover of the Jimmy Cliff song "Trapped" from that album received moderate airplay on US Top 40 stations as well as reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart.
The Born in the U.S.A. period represented the height of Springsteen's visibility in popular culture and the broadest audience he would ever reach (aided by the release of Arthur Baker's dance mixes of three of the singles). From June 15 to August 10, 1985, all seven of his albums appeared on the UK Albums Chart: the first time an artist had charted their entire back catalogue simultaneously.
Live/1975–85, a five-record box set (also on three cassettes or three CDs), was released near the end of 1986 and became the first box set to debut at No. 1 on the U.S. album charts. It is one of the most commercially successful live albums of all time, ultimately selling 13 million units in the U.S. During the 1980s, several Springsteen fanzines were launched, including Backstreets magazine.
1987–1991: Tunnel of Love and activism
Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative Tunnel of Love in October 1987. The album is a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered, and the full sound of the E Street Band is included only selectively. Although it sold less than Born in the U.S.A., it was a commercial success, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
On July 19, 1988, Springsteen's concert in East Germany attracted 300,000 spectators. Journalist Erik Kirschbaum called the concert "the most important rock concert ever, anywhere" in his 2013 book Rocking the Wall. Bruce Springsteen: The Berlin Concert That Changed the World. The concert had been conceived by the Socialist Unity Party's youth wing in an attempt to placate the youth of East Germany, who were hungry for more freedom and the popular music of the West. However, it is Kirschbaum's opinion that the success of the concert catalyzed opposition to the regime in East Germany, and helped contribute to the fall of the Berlin Wall the following year.
Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. In October 1989, he dissolved the E Street Band.
1992–1998: Academy Award, Greatest Hits, and soundtracks
In 1992, after risking fan accusations of "going Hollywood" by moving to Los Angeles and working with session musicians, Springsteen released two albums at once: Human Touch and Lucky Town.
An electric band appearance on the acoustic MTV Unplugged television program (later released as In Concert/MTV Plugged) was poorly received and cemented fan dissatisfaction.
Springsteen won an Academy Award in 1994 for his song "Streets of Philadelphia", which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia. The video for the song shows Springsteen's actual vocal performance, recorded using a hidden microphone, to a prerecorded instrumental track. This technique was developed on the "Brilliant Disguise" video.
In 1995, after temporarily re-organizing the E Street Band for a few new songs recorded for his first Greatest Hits album (a recording session that was chronicled in the documentary Blood Brothers), and also one show at Tramps in New York City, he released his second folk album, The Ghost of Tom Joad. The album was inspired by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and by Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass, a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dale Maharidge and photographer Michael Williamson. Rolling Stone characterized the album as Springsteen's first overtly social statement since Born in the U.S.A., drawing a strong parallel to Nebraska, due to its acoustic nature and Depression-era storytelling sensibility reminiscent of Woody Guthrie. The album is noted for its bleak, unrelenting atmosphere, focusing on characters who are broken by life's hardships, with few escapes and little musical relief from the dark, desolate scenarios portrayed.
Springsteen supported the album on the lengthy, worldwide, small-venue solo acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad Tour. The tour presented many of his older songs in drastically reshaped acoustic form. Springsteen explicitly reminded his audiences to "shut the fuck up" and not to clap during the performances. Following the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, Springsteen moved from California back to New Jersey with his family. In 1998, he released the sprawling, four-disc box set of outtakes, Tracks. Later, he would acknowledge that the 1990s were musically a "lost period" for him: "I didn't do a lot of work. Some people would say I didn't do my best work."
1999–2007: The Rising, Devils & Dust, and other releases
Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 by Bono (the lead singer of U2), a favor he returned in 2005.
In 1999, Springsteen and the E Street Band reunited and began their extensive Reunion Tour, which lasted over a year. Highlights included a record sold-out, 15-show run at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey and a ten-night, sold-out engagement at New York City's Madison Square Garden. A new song played at these shows, "American Skin (41 Shots)" (about the police shooting of Amadou Diallo), proved controversial.
In 2002, Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years, The Rising, produced by Brendan O'Brien. The album, mostly a reflection on the September 11 attacks, was a critical and popular success. The title track gained airplay in several radio formats, and the record became Springsteen's best-selling album of new material in 15 years. Kicked off by an early-morning Asbury Park appearance on The Today Show, The Rising Tour commenced; the band barnstormed through a series of single-night arena stands in the U.S. and Europe. Springsteen played an unprecedented 10 nights at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.
The Rising won the Grammy for Best Rock Album and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards in 2003. In addition, "The Rising" won the Grammy for Best Rock Song and for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, and nominated for Song of the Year. At the ceremony, Springsteen performed the Clash's "London Calling" with Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt and No Doubt's bassist, Tony Kanal, in tribute to Joe Strummer. In 2004, Springsteen and the E Street Band participated in the Vote for Change tour, with John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Bright Eyes, the Dave Matthews Band, Jackson Browne, and other musicians.
The solo record Devils & Dust was released in April 2005. It is a low-key, mostly acoustic album, in the same vein as Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad. Some of the material was written almost 10 years earlier, during or shortly after the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour; a few of the songs had been performed at that time but unreleased. The title track concerns an ordinary soldier's feelings and fears during the Iraq War. The album topped the charts in ten countries. Springsteen began the solo Devils & Dust Tour at the same time as the album's release, playing both small and large venues. Attendance was disappointing in a few regions, and except in Europe tickets were easier to get than in the past.
In April 2006, Springsteen released We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, an American roots music project focused around a big folk sound treatment of 15 songs popularized by the radical musical activism of Pete Seeger. A tour began the same month, with the 18-strong ensemble of musicians dubbed the Seeger Sessions Band (and later shortened to the Sessions Band). The tour proved very popular in Europe, selling out everywhere and receiving some excellent reviews, including its opening act in New Orleans, Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, but newspapers reported that a number of U.S. shows suffered from sparse attendance.
Springsteen's next album, Magic, was released in October 2007. Recorded with the E Street Band, it had 10 new Springsteen songs plus "Long Walk Home", performed once with the Sessions band, and a hidden track (the first included on a Springsteen studio release), "Terry's Song", a tribute to Springsteen's long-time assistant Terry Magovern, who died in July 2007. Magic debuted at No. 1 in the U.S., Ireland and the UK. Springsteen supported the album on the Magic Tour, his first tour with the E Street Band since 2003. It was the final tour for longtime E Street member Danny Federici, who died in 2008.
2008–2011: Political involvement, Super Bowl XLIII, and Kennedy Center Honors
Springsteen supported Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He gave solo acoustic performances in support of Obama's campaign throughout 2008, culminating with a November 2 rally at which he debuted the song "Working on a Dream" in a duet with Scialfa. Following Obama's electoral victory on November 4, Springsteen's song "The Rising" was the first song played over the loudspeakers after Obama's victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park. Springsteen was the musical opener for the Obama Inaugural Celebration on January 18, 2009, which was attended by over 400,000 people. He performed "The Rising" with an all-female choir. Later he performed Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" with Pete Seeger.
On January 11, 2009, Springsteen won the Golden Globe Award for Best Song for "The Wrestler", from the Darren Aronofsky film by the same name. After receiving a heartfelt letter from lead actor Mickey Rourke, Springsteen supplied the song for the film for free.
Springsteen performed at the halftime show at Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009, agreeing to perform after having declined on prior occasions. A few days before the game, Springsteen gave a rare press conference at which he promised a "twelve-minute party". It has been reported that this press conference was Springsteen's first press conference in more than 25 years. His 12-minute 45-second set, with the E Street Band and the Miami Horns, included abbreviated renditions of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", "Born to Run", "Working on a Dream", and "Glory Days", the latter complete with football references in place of the original baseball-themed lyrics. The set of appearances and promotional activities led Springsteen to say, "This has probably been the busiest month of my life."
Working on a Dream, dedicated to Federici, was released in late January 2009. The supporting Working on a Dream Tour ran from April to November 2009. The band performed five final shows at Giants Stadium, opening with a new song highlighting the historic stadium, and Springsteen's Jersey roots, named "Wrecking Ball".
Springsteen received the Kennedy Center Honors on December 6, 2009. President Obama gave a speech in which he asserted that Springsteen had incorporated the lives of regular Americans into his expansive palette of songs. Obama added that Springsteen's concerts were not just rock-and-roll concerts, but "communions". The event included musical tributes from Melissa Etheridge, Ben Harper, John Mellencamp, Jennifer Nettles, Sting, and Eddie Vedder.
The 2000s ended with Springsteen named one of eight Artists of the Decade by Rolling Stone magazine and with Springsteen's tours ranking him fourth among artists in total concert grosses for the decade.
Clarence Clemons, the E Street Band's saxophonist and founding member, died on June 18, 2011, of complications from a stroke.
2012–2018: Autobiography and Broadway show
Springsteen's 17th studio album, Wrecking Ball, was released in March 2012. The album consists of eleven tracks plus two bonus tracks. Three songs previously only available as live versions, "Wrecking Ball", "Land of Hope and Dreams", and "American Land", appear on the album. Wrecking Ball became Springsteen's tenth No. 1 album in the U.S., tying him with Elvis Presley for third most No. 1 albums of all time, behind the Beatles (19) and Jay Z (12) as of 2009. The supporting Wrecking Ball Tour shortly after its release. On July 31, 2012, in Helsinki, Finland, Springsteen performed his longest concert at four hours and six minutes with 33 songs.
In 2012, Springsteen campaigned for President Barack Obama's re-election in the 2012 presidential election, appearing and performing at Obama rallies in Ohio, Pittsburgh, Iowa, Virginia, and Wisconsin. At the rallies, he briefly spoke to the audience and performed a short acoustic set that included a newly written song titled "Forward".
At year's end, the Wrecking Ball Tour was named Top Draw by the Billboard Touring Awards for having the highest attendance of any tour that year. Financially, the tour grossed second to the one by Roger Waters. Springsteen finished second only to Madonna as the top money maker of 2012, with $33.44 million. The Wrecking Ball album, along with the single "We Take Care of Our Own", was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for "We Take Care of Our Own" and Best Rock Album. Rolling Stone named Wrecking Ball the number one album of 2012 on their Top 50 list.
In late July 2013, the documentary Springsteen & I, directed by Baillie Walsh and produced by Ridley Scott, was released simultaneously via a worldwide cinema broadcast in over 50 countries and in over 2000 movie theaters.
Springsteen released his eighteenth studio album, High Hopes, in January 2014. The first single and video were of a newly recorded version of the song "High Hopes", which Springsteen had previously recorded in 1995. The album was the first by Springsteen in which all songs are either cover songs, newly recorded outtakes from previous records, or newly recorded versions of songs previously released. The 2014 E Street Band touring lineup appears on the album, including material they had recorded with Clemons and Federici before their deaths. High Hopes became Springsteen's eleventh No. 1 album in the US. It was his tenth No. 1 in the UK, tying him for fifth all-time with the Rolling Stones and U2. Rolling Stone named High Hopes the second best album of the year (behind U2's Songs of Innocence) on their Top 50 Albums of 2014 list.
Springsteen made his acting debut in the final episode of season three of Van Zandt's show Lilyhammer, which was named "Loose Ends" after a Springsteen song on the Tracks album.
On August 6, 2015, Springsteen performed "Land of Hope and Dreams" and "Born to Run" on the final episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as Stewart's final 'Moment of Zen'. On October 16, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of The River, Springsteen announced The Ties That Bind: The River Collection box set. Released on December 4, it contains four CDs (including many previously unreleased songs) and three DVDs (or Blu-ray) along with a 148-page coffee table book. In November 2015, "American Skin (41 Shots)" was performed with John Legend at Shining a Light: A Concert for Progress on Race in America.
Springsteen made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live since 2002 on December 19, 2015, performing "Meet Me in the City", "The Ties That Bind", and "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town".
The River Tour 2016 began in January 2016 in support of The Ties That Bind: The River Collection box set. All first-leg shows in North America included an in-sequence performance of the entire The River album along with other songs from Springsteen's catalog, and all dates were recorded and made available for purchase. In April 2016, Springsteen was one of the first artists to boycott North Carolina's anti-transgender bathroom bill.
Chapter and Verse, a compilation from throughout Springsteen's career dating back to 1966, was released in September 2016. The same month, Simon & Schuster published his 500-page autobiography, Born to Run. The book rose quickly to the top of The New York Times Best Sellers List.
On September 7, 2016, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Springsteen performed for four hours and four minutes, his longest-ever show in the United States. The River Tour 2016 was the top-grossing worldwide tour of 2016; it pulled in $268.3 million globally and was the highest-grossing tour since 2014 for any artist topping Taylor Swift's 2015 tour, which grossed $250.1 million.
Springsteen supported Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign by performing an acoustic set of "Thunder Road", "Long Walk Home" and "Dancing in the Dark" at a rally in Philadelphia on November 7, 2016. On November 22, Springsteen was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom award by Barack Obama. On January 12, 2017, Springsteen and Scialfa performed a special 15-song acoustic set for Barack and Michelle Obama at the White House's East Room two days before the president gave his farewell address to the nation.
Springsteen on Broadway, an eight-week run at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway in New York City in fall 2017, was announced in June 2017. The show included Springsteen reading excerpts from his 2016 autobiography Born to Run and performing other spoken reminiscences. Originally scheduled to run from October 12 through November 26, the show was extended three times; the last performance occurred on December 15, 2018. For Springsteen's production of Springsteen on Broadway, he was honored with a Special Tony Award at the 72nd Tony Awards in 2018.
The live album Springsteen on Broadway was released in December 2018. It reached the top 10 in more than 10 countries and No. 11 in the United States.
2019–2021: Western Stars
Springsteen's nineteenth studio album, Western Stars, was released in June 2019.
It was announced on July 23, 2019, that Springsteen would premiere his film, Western Stars, at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2019. He co-directed the film along with longtime collaborator Thom Zimny. The film features Springsteen and his backing band performing the music from Western Stars to a live audience. The film was released in theaters in October 2019, and the film's soundtrack, Western Stars – Songs from the Film, was also released that day.
On May 29, 2020, Springsteen appeared remotely during a livestream, no-audience concert by the Dropkick Murphys at Fenway Park in Boston. Springsteen performed the Dropkick Murphys song "Rose Tattoo" and his song "American Land", sharing co-vocals with Ken Casey on both songs. The event marked the first music performance without an in-person audience at a major U.S. arena, stadium or ballpark during the COVID-19 pandemic. The livestream attracted over 9 million viewers and raised over $700,000 through charitable donations.
Springsteen's twentieth studio album, Letter to You, was released in October 2020. An accompanying documentary of the same name was released the same month. The documentary was shot exclusively in black and white and was directed by Thom Zimny. The album was supported by two singles, "Letter to You" and "Ghosts", released in September. In November, Springsteen was featured as a guest singer for Bleachers' single, "Chinatown". Letter to You reached No. 2 in the US, making Springsteen the first artist to release a top-five album in six consecutive decades.
Springsteen and the E Street Band were musical guests on the December 12, 2020, episode of Saturday Night Live, where they performed "Ghosts" and "I'll See You in My Dreams". This marked the band's first performance since 2017 and their first to promote Letter to You. Garry Tallent and Soozie Tyrell opted to remain at home due to COVID-19 concerns; this was the first time Tallent had missed a performance with the band, and Jack Daley of the Disciples of Soul filled in for him.
In February 2021, it was announced that Springsteen was releasing an eight-part podcast on Spotify titled Renegades: Born in the USA that would feature himself in conversation with Barack Obama discussing a wide range of topics including family, race, marriage, fatherhood, and the state of the U.S. Springsteen performed co-lead vocals and guitar on John Mellencamp's song "Wasted Days", released in September 2021.
On June 7, 2021, Springsteen announced that his Springsteen on Broadway shows would return for a limited run at Jujamcyn's St. James Theatre beginning on June 26, 2021. In an interview with E Street Radio's Jim Rotolo on June 10, 2021, Springsteen said that he did not plan on playing any shows in 2021 but was talked into the Broadway shows by a "friend". During the same interview, Springsteen also announced an upcoming collaboration with the Killers.
On September 11, 2021, Springsteen performed "I'll See You in My Dreams" in tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks.
On December 13, 2021, Springsteen gave a surprise four-song performance at the John Henry's Friends benefit concert for children diagnosed with Autism where he was joined by Steve Earle and the Dukes as his backing band. On December 16, 2021, Springsteen sold the masters of his entire catalog and the coinciding music publishing rights to Sony Music for $500 million. This topped what Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift received for their catalogs by $200 million. This sale, along with his Broadway shows and projects with Obama, helped him top the Rolling Stone list of the highest-paid musicians of 2021.
Since 2022: Only the Strong Survive, collaborations, touring, and The Lost Albums
On May 24, 2022, it was announced that he would be launching an international tour with the E Street Band in 2023, the first such since 2017. In November, Springsteen released his twenty-first studio album, Only the Strong Survive, a covers album of classic soul music songs from the 1960s and 1970s. To promote the album, Springsteen performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in mid-November, along with a special Thanksgiving episode on November 24.
On February 1, 2023, Springsteen and the E Street band launched their first tour in six years, due to conclude in July 2025. In a November 2022 interview, Springsteen confirmed that he planned a Volume 2 of the album; at the time, he said it was "probably three-quarters recorded".
Springsteen provided vocals on the song "History Books" by the Gaslight Anthem, the title track on the band's October 2023 album. The same month, he collaborated with Bryce Dessner on "Addicted to Romance", an original song for the She Came to Me soundtrack album. In September, Springsteen announced the postponement of eight shows scheduled for September. Springsteen was undergoing treatment for peptic ulcer disease and doctors recommended he not perform live. A few days later, the remaining twelve shows scheduled for November through December 2023 were also postponed to dates in March and April, and between August and November 2024. In total, twenty-nine shows on the tour were postponed due to Springsteen's illness along with Springsteen and other members of the band having COVID-19.
In April 2024, 20th Century Studios announced a biographical film, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, based on the 2023 book by Warren Zanes about the making of Nebraska. It is written and directed by Scott Cooper; Jeremy Allen White will play Springsteen and perform his own singing. That year, Springsteen contributed guitar to a re-release of Mark Knopfler's "Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero" in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. His eighth compilation album, Best of Bruce Springsteen, was released on April 19. In October, Disney+ and Hulu released a documentary about Springsteen's 2023–2024 tour, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The documentary made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024. In July 2024, Forbes reported that Springsteen had a net worth of more than $1.1 billion, thanks to his tours and the sale of his back catalogue in 2021, making him one of the richest celebrities and musicians. During his August 23, 2024, show in Philadelphia, Springsteen denounced rumors of a farewell tour.
In April 2025, Springsteen announced the Tracks II: The Lost Albums collection, which was released on June 27, 2025. It features seven full-length albums of unreleased material dating from 1983 to 2018. The collection includes 83 songs, 74 of which were previously unreleased. A twenty-song companion album, Lost and Found: Selections from The Lost Albums, was also released on June 27. On May 21, 2025, Springsteen released the Land of Hope & Dreams EP. The four-song EP features songs from the tour opener in Manchester on May 14, 2025. A 17-minute documentary entitled Inside Tracks II: The Lost Albums was released on June 20, 2025; it gives viewers an in-depth look at each Lost Album.
In a June 2025 interview with Rolling Stone, Springsteen confirmed that a new solo album is completed and will be released in 2026, Only the Strong Survive, Volume 2 is also completed, and a Tracks III box set will be released in the next three years. Springsteen also at first denied the existence of the long-rumored Electric Nebraska album, but a month after the interview corrected himself and confirmed that songs from those sessions existed. Springsteen discussed the future of the E Street Band, saying he wants to "play more often with less dates" and that "it’s very exciting to play with the E Street Band now, and I’m looking forward to doing a good deal of it in the future. But that future is finite." He said he would also like to do another solo tour similar to his Broadway shows. Springsteen said there will never be a farewell tour and that he hopes to still be onstage in his nineties.
Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2023-2025 Tour was the highest grossing tour of their career grossing close to $730 million world-wide and placing it as one of the top ten highest grossing tours ever. It more than doubled their previous all-time gross from their 2012-2013 Wrecking Ball Tour. It also made Springsteen one of just five artists ever to have grossed over $2.3 billion touring in his career.
On August 22, 2025, Springsteen released the song "Lonely Night in the Park" to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Born to Run album. A low quality version of the song appeared on various fan released bootlegs over the years and in 2005 was briefly played on SiriusXM’s E Street Radio channel.
Artistry and legacy
Widely regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Springsteen has been called a "rock 'n' roll poet" who "[radiates] working-class authenticity". He is a pioneer of heartland rock, a genre combining mainstream rock music with working class thematic concerns and socially conscious lyrics. According to Rolling Stone, his work "epitomizes rock's deepest values: desire, the need for freedom and the search to find yourself." Often described as cinematic in their scope, Springsteen's lyrics frequently explore highly personal themes such as individual commitment, dissatisfaction and dismay with life in a context of everyday situations. Springsteen's themes include social and political commentary and are rooted in the struggles faced by his own family of origin.
A shift in Springsteen's lyrical approach began with the album Darkness on the Edge of Town, in which he focused on the emotional struggles of working class life, alongside more typical rock and roll themes. Reviewing Born in the U.S.A., Rolling Stone critic Debby Miller noted that "Springsteen ignored the British Invasion and embraced instead the legacy of Phil Spector's releases, the sort of soul that was coming from Atlantic Records, and especially the garage bands that had anomalous radio hits. He's always chased the utopian feeling of that music".
Jon Pareles included Springsteen among the "pantheon" of artists of the album era. "Springsteen is the quintessential album-era rock star," writes Ann Powers, who argues that while other acts like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Marvin Gaye probably made better individual works, "none [had] used the long-player form itself more powerfully over the arc of a career, not only to establish a world through song, but to inhabit an enduring persona". He used it to lyricize "America's slide from industrial-era swagger into service-economy anomie". In her mind, Springsteen needed the "track-by-track architecture of albums to flesh out characters, relate each to the other, extend metaphors and build a palpable, detail-strewn landscape through which they could travel". He simultaneously grew musically "both with his stalwart E Street Band (a metaphor itself for the family connections and community spirit his songs celebrate or lament) and in more minimalist projects."
Springsteen and the E Street Band have frequently appeared in lists ranking the best live acts of all time. In Forbes, Steve Baltin wrote: "There has never been a live experience in music that captures the feeling of liberation and optimism rock and roll is supposed to bring you more than a Springsteen and the E Street Band show." In January 2023, Rolling Stone named Springsteen the 77th-greatest singer of all time. In April 2023, the governor of New Jersey issued a proclamation announcing September 23 "Bruce Springsteen Day".
Springsteen's songs have been the subject of various scholarly articles analyzing his music and lyrics. The Bruce Springsteen Special Collection houses academic journals and papers on Springsteen published since the 1980s. Springsteen himself said in 2001: "The Collection has almost 1,000 books and magazines on myself and the band–more stuff than every place except my mother's basement!"
In 2003, Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list included Born to Run (18), Born in the U.S.A. (85), The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (132), Darkness on the Edge of Town (151), Nebraska (224), The River (250), Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (379), and Tunnel of Love (475). In 2004, on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, Rolling Stone included "Born to Run" (21), "Thunder Road" (86), and "Born in the U.S.A." (275). In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked Springsteen 23rd on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", describing him as "the embodiment of rock and roll".
Personal life
Relationships
Springsteen briefly dated artist Karon Bihari in the 1970s, who claimed the Darkness on the Edge of Town song "Candy's Room" was about her. He also had relationships with photographer Lynn Goldsmith, model Karen Darvin and, for four years in the 1980s, actress Joyce Hyser.
In the early 1980s, he met Patti Scialfa at the Stone Pony the evening she was performing alongside his friend Bobby Bandiera, with whom she wrote "At Least We Got Shoes" for Southside Johnny. Springsteen liked her voice and after the performance he introduced himself to her. They soon started spending time together and became friends.
Early in 1984, Springsteen asked Scialfa to join the E Street Band for the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, which began in June 1984. According to the book Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin, they seemed about to become a couple through the first leg of the tour, but Springsteen was introduced to actress Julianne Phillips and married her shortly after midnight on May 13, 1985, at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Opposites in background, the two had an 11-year age difference and Springsteen's traveling took its toll on their relationship. Many of the songs on Tunnel of Love described the unhappiness he felt in his relationship with Phillips.
The Tunnel of Love Express Tour began in February 1988 and Springsteen convinced Scialfa to postpone her own solo record and join the tour. Scialfa moved in with Springsteen shortly after he separated from Phillips. On August 30, 1988, citing irreconcilable differences, Phillips filed for divorce in Los Angeles, and a settlement was reached in December and finalized on March 1, 1989. They had no children.
Springsteen received press criticism for the apparent haste in which he and Scialfa started their relationship. In a 1995 interview with The Advocate, he told Judy Wieder about the negative publicity the couple subsequently received: "It's a strange society that assumes it has the right to tell people whom they should love and whom they shouldn't. But the truth is, I basically ignored the entire thing as much as I could. I said, 'Well, all I know is, this feels real, and maybe I have got a mess going here in some fashion, but that's life.'" Years later, he reflected, "'I didn't protect Juli... some sort of public announcement would have been fair, but I felt overly concerned about my own privacy. I handled it badly, and I still feel badly about it. It was cruel for people to find out the way they did.'"
Springsteen and Scialfa lived in New Jersey before moving to Los Angeles, where they decided to start a family. On July 25, 1990, Scialfa gave birth to the couple's first child, Evan James Springsteen. On June 8, 1991, Springsteen and Scialfa married at their Los Angeles home in a private ceremony, only attended by family and close friends. Their second child, Jessica Rae Springsteen, was born on December 30, 1991. Their third child, Samuel Ryan Springsteen, was born on January 5, 1994. In a 1995 interview, Springsteen said, "I went through a divorce, and it was really difficult and painful and I was very frightened about getting married again. So part of me said, 'Hey, what does it matter?' But it does matter. It's very different than just living together. First of all, stepping up publicly—which is what you do: You get your license, you do all the social rituals—is a part of your place in society and in some way part of society's acceptance of you ... Patti and I both found that it did mean something."
When their children reached school age in the 1990s, Springsteen and Scialfa moved back to New Jersey to raise them away from paparazzi. The family owns and lives on a horse farm in Colts Neck Township and has a home in Rumson; they also own homes in Los Angeles and Wellington, Florida. Evan graduated from Boston College; he writes and performs his own songs and won the 2012 Singer/Songwriter Competition held during Boston College's Arts Festival. Jessica graduated from Duke University and is a nationally ranked champion equestrian. She made her show-jumping debut with Team USA in August 2014. Sam is a firefighter in Jersey City. On July 17, 2022, Springsteen and Scialfa became grandparents when their son Sam and his fiancée had a daughter.
Health
Springsteen has avoided hard drugs his entire life. Van Zandt said in 2012, "[Springsteen is] the only guy I know—I think the only guy I know at all—who never did drugs." He has spoken about his struggles with depression, which he began to address in his 30s after years of denial. During this time, he also became frustrated with being an underweight "fast food junkie" who had to be helped off the stage after a show due to his poor health. He later began following a mostly vegetarian diet while running up to six miles on a treadmill and lifting weights three times a week. A 2019 Consequence article celebrating his 70th birthday revealed that he still maintains this routine and diet. In September 2023, Springsteen announced the postponement of all his concerts in the US beginning in that month and through December, due to his ongoing treatment for peptic ulcer disease.
Religion
While rejecting religion in his earlier years, Springsteen stated in his 2016 autobiography Born to Run, "I have a personal relationship with Jesus. I believe in his power to save, love [...] but not to damn." In terms of his lapsed Catholicism, he said that he "came to ruefully and bemusedly understand that once you're a Catholic you're always a Catholic ... I don't participate in my religion but I know somewhere... deep inside... I'm still on the team."
Wealth
In a 2017 interview with Tom Hanks, Springsteen admitted that he evaded taxes early in his career since the government had not paid attention to his taxes prior to his 1975 appearance on the cover of Time. Most of his income over the next several years went towards paying back his taxes; by his 30th birthday, he had only $20,000, despite multiple bestselling records and tours. Forbes "conservatively" estimated Springsteen's net worth at US$1.1 billion in 2024.
Hobbies
Springsteen is a model railroader. He collects and runs HO scale model trains.
Political views and activism
Springsteen announced his endorsement of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign in April 2008. He appeared at several rallies in support of Obama throughout that year. At one rally in Ohio, Springsteen discussed the importance of "truth, transparency and integrity in government, the right of every American to have a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, and a life filled with the dignity of work, the promise and the sanctity of home". Despite saying that he would sit out the 2012 presidential election, Springsteen campaigned for Obama's re-election in Ohio, Iowa, Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Wisconsin.
Springsteen supports LGBTQ rights and gay marriage. In 2009, he posted the following statement on his website: "I've long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that 'The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is—a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law.'" In 2012, he lent his support to the Four 2012, an ad campaign for gay marriage. Springsteen noted in the ad, "I couldn't agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now." In April 2016, Springsteen cancelled a show in Greensboro, North Carolina, days before it was to take place to protest the state's newly passed Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, also referred to as the "bathroom law", which dictates which restrooms transgender people are permitted to use and prevents LGBTQ citizens from suing over human rights violations in the workplace. Springsteen released a statement on his website. The Human Rights Campaign celebrated Springsteen's statement, and he has received praise and gratitude from the LGBTQ community.
During a 2017 show in Perth, Australia, Springsteen made a statement celebrating the post-inauguration Women's March against the incoming Trump administration in cities worldwide: "We're a long way from home, and our hearts and spirits are with the hundreds of thousands of women and men that marched yesterday in every city in America, and in Melbourne ... [They] rallied against hate and division and in support of tolerance, inclusion, reproductive rights, civil rights, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, the environment, wage equality, gender equality, healthcare, and immigrant rights. We stand with you. We are the new American resistance."
Springsteen is a staunch critic of Donald Trump, whom he calls the "conman from Queens". During Trump's first term as president of the United States in October 2019, Springsteen said Trump "doesn't have a grasp of the deep meaning of what it means to be an American", and in June 2020 called him a "threat to our democracy". Springsteen's song "The Rising" was featured prominently in the 2020 Democratic National Convention in support of Joe Biden, accompanied with a new video and campaign slogan, #TheRising. On October 13, 2020, author Don Winslow released a video critical of Trump prior to his campaign event in Pennsylvania. The video features Springsteen's song "Streets of Philadelphia". A few days prior to the 2020 United States presidential election, Springsteen provided narration for a campaign ad that spotlights Biden's upbringing in Scranton, Pennsylvania with "My Hometown" playing throughout the ad. Biden used "We Take Care of Our Own" as one of his theme songs, as Obama had before him in 2012. On October 3, 2024, Springsteen endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election, and gave a speech at one of her campaign rallies on October 24.
During a show in Manchester, England, on May 14, 2025, Springsteen spoke out against Trump and called his administration "corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous". Two days later, Trump responded on Truth Social by calling Springsteen "highly overrated" and "dumb as a rock". Tino Gagliardi, the president of the American Federation of Musicians defended Springsteen, saying, "Musicians have the right to freedom of expression, and we stand in solidarity with all our members." On May 19, Trump called for a major investigation into Springsteen, Beyoncé, Oprah, and other celebrities for their endorsement of Harris. He claims that Harris illegally paid them to support her 2024 campaign for president. Musicians such as Neil Young and Eddie Vedder spoke out in defense of Springsteen saying his freedom of speech rights were being violated. Springsteen included recordings of his Manchester remarks as part of a live EP release, Land of Hope and Dreams.
Achievements and awards
Springsteen has sold more than 140 million records worldwide and more than 71 million records in the United States, making him one of the world's best-selling artists. He has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award (for Springsteen on Broadway). Springsteen was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, was named MusiCares person of the year in 2013, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2016.
In May 2021, Springsteen became the eighth recipient of the Woody Guthrie Prize, a prize that honors an artist who speaks out for social justice and carries on the spirit of the folk singer. In March 2023, Springsteen was awarded the 2021 National Medal of Arts from President Joe Biden at the White House. Springsteen was supposed to receive the award in 2021 but the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the ceremonies.
In March 2024, it was announced that Springsteen would be named an Academy Fellow by The Ivors Academy in May 2024. On May 23, 2024, Springsteen became the first international songwriter that the Academy has inducted into the Fellowship in its 80-year history.
Discography
Studio albums
Concert tours
Springsteen has developed a reputation for energetic and long-lasting live performances.
Headlining tours
Residency
Springsteen on Broadway (2017–18; 2021)
Co-headlining tours
Human Rights Now! (1988)
Vote for Change (2004)
See also
Forbes list of highest-earning musicians
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart
List of highest-grossing live music artists
List of music artists by net worth
Music of New Jersey
References
Sources
External links
Official website
Bruce Springsteen Archives
Bruce Springsteen at AllMusic
Bruce Springsteen at IMDb
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Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature the E Street Band, his backing band since 1972. Springsteen is a pioneer of heartland rock, combining commercially successful rock with poetic, socially conscious lyrics that reflect working class American life. He is known for his energetic concerts, some of which last more than four hours.
Springsteen released his first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, in 1973. Although both were well received by critics, neither earned him a large audience. He changed his style and achieved worldwide popularity with Born to Run (1975). Springsteen followed with Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) and The River (1980), Springsteen's first album to top the Billboard 200 chart. After the solo acoustic album Nebraska (1982), he recorded Born in the U.S.A. (1984) with the E Street Band, which became his most commercially successful album and the 23rd-best selling album ever as of 2024. All seven singles from Born in the U.S.A. reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, including the title track. Springsteen mostly hired session musicians for the recording of his next three albums, Tunnel of Love (1987), Human Touch (1992), and Lucky Town (1992). He reassembled the E Street Band for Greatest Hits (1995), and recorded the acoustic album The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) and the EP Blood Brothers (1996) solo.
Springsteen then released The Rising (2002), which was dedicated to the victims of the September 11 attacks. He released two more folk albums, Devils & Dust (2005) and We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006), his first cover album. Springsteen followed with two more albums with the E Street Band, Magic (2007) and Working on a Dream (2009). His next albums, Wrecking Ball (2012) and High Hopes (2014), topped album charts worldwide. In 2017, 2018 and 2021, Springsteen performed the critically acclaimed show Springsteen on Broadway, in which he performed songs and told stories from his 2016 autobiography; an album version from the Broadway performances was released in 2018. He released the solo album Western Stars in 2019, Letter to You with the E Street Band in 2020, and a solo covers album entitled Only the Strong Survive in 2022. Letter to You reached No. 2 in the US, making Springsteen the first artist to release a top-five album in six consecutive decades.
A prominent musician from the album era, Springsteen has sold more 140 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His accolades include 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, was named MusiCares person of the year in 2013, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 and the National Medal of Arts in 2023. In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked Springsteen 23rd on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", describing him as "the embodiment of rock and roll". In 2025, Springsteen became one of only five artists to gross over $2.3 billion in touring thanks to his 2023-2025 Tour with the E Street Band.
Early life and education
Springsteen was born at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey, on September 23, 1949, to Douglas Frederick "Dutch" Springsteen (1924–1998) and his wife, Adele Ann (née Zerilli; 1925–2024). Springsteen's father worked as a bus driver and other jobs. His father had mental health issues throughout his life, which worsened in his later life. His mother, who was originally from the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, worked as a legal secretary and was the family's main breadwinner. He is of Dutch, Irish, and Italian descent, and grew up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey.
Springsteen's paternal ancestors were among the early Dutch families who, in the 17th century, settled in colonial-era America, then part of the Dutch Republic known as New Netherland. Springsteen's paternal ancestor, John Springsteen, was a patriot in the American Revolution, which evolved into the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. The Springsteen surname originates in Groningen, a province in the Netherlands, and is topographic, translating to "jump stone" and meaning a stepping stone used on unpaved streets or between two houses. Springsteen's Italian maternal grandfather was born in Vico Equense and emigrated through Ellis Island. He arrived in the United States unable to read or write English, but went on to become a lawyer and impressed the young Springsteen as being "larger than life".
Springsteen has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela (born c. 1962). Pamela Springsteen worked briefly as an actress and later as a photographer; she took photos for three Springsteen albums, Human Touch, Lucky Town, and The Ghost of Tom Joad.
Springsteen attended the St. Rose of Lima Catholic School in Freehold, where he was at odds with the nuns and rebelled against the strictures imposed upon him, though some of his later music reflected a Catholic ethos and included Irish Catholic hymns with a rock music twist. In 2012, Springsteen said that it was his Catholic upbringing rather than his political ideology that most influenced his music. He said his faith gave him a "very active spiritual life" but joked that this "made it very difficult sexually" and added "once a Catholic, always a Catholic". He grew up hearing fellow New Jersey singer Frank Sinatra on the radio, and became interested in being a musician by the age of seven after seeing Elvis Presley's performances on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 and 1957. Soon after, his mother rented him a guitar from Mike Diehl's Music in Freehold for $6 a week and took a few weeks of guitar lessons, but quit after it failed to provide him with the instant gratification he desired.
In ninth grade, Springsteen entered Freehold High School, a public high school, but did not fit in there either. A former teacher said Springsteen was a "loner who wanted nothing more than to play his guitar". He graduated in 1967, but felt so alienated that he skipped his graduation ceremony. He briefly attended Ocean County College, but dropped out. At age 19, Springsteen was called for his draft physical, but failed it because of a concussion he suffered in a motorcycle accident two years earlier combined with his behavior at induction, both of which reportedly made him unacceptable for military service. In failing his examination, Springsteen likely avoided service in the Vietnam War. In 1969, when he was 20 years old, Springsteen's parents and sister Pamela moved to San Mateo, California; he and his sister Virginia, who was married and pregnant at the time, remained in Freehold.
Career
1964–1972: Early career
In 1964, Springsteen saw the Beatles' televised appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Inspired, he bought his first guitar for $18.95 at the Western Auto appliance store. Thereafter, he started playing for audiences with a band called the Rogues at local venues, including Elks Lodge in Freehold. Later that year, his mother took out a loan to buy him a $60 Kent guitar, an act he later memorialized in his song "The Wish". In 1965, he went to the house of Tex and Marion Vinyard, who sponsored young bands in town. They helped him become the lead guitarist and subsequently one of the lead singers of the Castiles, a band that recorded two original songs at a public recording studio in Brick Township and played a variety of venues, including Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. Marion Vinyard said she believed the young Springsteen when he promised he would make it big. In the late 1960s, Springsteen performed briefly in a power trio known as Earth, who played in various clubs in New Jersey and at a major show at the Hotel Diplomat in New York City.
From 1969 through early 1971, Springsteen performed with the band Child, which later changed its name to Steel Mill and included Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin, and later Steven Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson. Steel Mill performed at various Jersey Shore venues and also outside of New Jersey, in Richmond, Virginia; Nashville, Tennessee; and California, and gathered a cult following. In his January 1970 review of Steel Mill's show at The Matrix, music critic Philip Elwood wrote in the San Francisco Examiner that he had "never been so overwhelmed by a totally unknown talent" and called Steel Mill "the first big thing that's happened to Asbury Park since the good ship Morro Castle burned to the waterline of that Jersey beach in '34". Elwood praised the band's "cohesive musicality" and called Springsteen "a most impressive composer". In San Mateo, Steel Mill recorded three original Springsteen songs at Pacific Recording.
As Springsteen sought to shape a unique and genuine musical and lyrical style, he performed with the bands Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom from early-to-mid-1971, the Sundance Blues Band in mid-1971, and the Bruce Springsteen Band from mid-1971 to mid-1972. His songwriting ability included, as his future record label described it in early publicity campaigns, "more words in some individual songs than other artists had in whole albums". He brought his skills to the attention of several people who went on to prove influential to his career development, including managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, who in turn brought him to the attention of John Hammond, a talent scout at Columbia Records. In May 1972, Springsteen auditioned for Hammond.
In October 1972, Springsteen formed a new band for the recording of his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. The band eventually became known as the E Street Band, although the name was not used until September 1974. Springsteen acquired the nickname "the Boss" during this period, since he took on the task of collecting his band's nightly pay and distributing it among his bandmates. The nickname also reportedly sprang from games of Monopoly, which Springsteen played with other Jersey Shore musicians.
1972–1974: Initial struggle
Springsteen was signed to Columbia Records in 1972 by John Hammond, who had signed Bob Dylan to the same label a decade earlier. His debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., was released in January 1973, establishing him as a critical favorite. Because of Springsteen's lyrical poeticism and folk rock-rooted music exemplified on tracks like "Blinded by the Light" and "For You", and his connection with Hammond and Columbia Records, critics initially compared Springsteen to Bob Dylan. "He sings with a freshness and urgency I haven't heard since I was rocked by 'Like a Rolling Stone'", Crawdaddy magazine editor Peter Knobler wrote in a March 1973 profile of Springsteen's that included photographs taken by Ed Gallucci. Crawdaddy was an early champion of Springsteen; Knobler profiled him in the magazine three times, in 1973, 1975, and 1978. In June 1976, Springsteen and the E Street Band acknowledged the magazine's support by giving a private performance at the magazine's 10th Anniversary Party in New York City.
Springsteen's second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, was released in November 1973, eleven months after Greetings from Asbury Park. Like Springsteen's inaugural album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle was met with critical acclaim but limited commercial success. Springsteen's songs became grander in form and scope with the E Street Band providing a less folksy, more rhythm and blues vibe, and lyrics that romanticized teenage street life. "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "Incident on 57th Street" became fan favorites, while "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" continues to rank among Springsteen's most beloved concert numbers. "Rosalita" is the ninth-most played song in Springsteen's concert catalog; as of June 2020, he has played it live 809 times.
In February 1974, the Stone Pony, a music venue and bar, opened on Ocean Avenue in Asbury Park, and Springsteen played there regularly. Several years later, in the early 1980s, prior to the start of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour in June 1984, Springsteen also met his second and current wife Patti Scialfa at the Stone Pony during her performance there. A regular venue for Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny, and other acts from the area, the Stone Pony has since been described as "an integral part of music history for decades."
After seeing Springsteen's performance at the Harvard Square Theater in 1974, music critic Jon Landau wrote that he "saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen." Springsteen met Landau in Boston a month prior and the two became close friends; Landau subsequently became the co-producer of Springsteen's next album, Born to Run, in February 1975. As Springsteen's last-ditch effort at a commercially viable record, Springsteen became bogged down in the recording process while striving for a "Wall of Sound" production. When his manager, Mike Appel, orchestrated the release of an early mix of "Born to Run" to nearly a dozen radio stations, anticipation built toward the album's release.
The album took over 14 months to record, with six months spent recording "Born to Run" alone. E Street Band members David Sancious and Ernest Carter departed after "Born to Run" was completed, and were replaced by Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg on piano and drums, respectively. Springsteen battled with anger and frustration throughout the sessions, saying he heard "sounds in [his] head" that he could not explain to the others in the studio. He also dealt with two producers who had opposing views. During the recording of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", Steven Van Zandt conceived the horn parts for the horn players on the spot in the studio after Springsteen and Bittan had failed to write proper ones by the time the players arrived to record. He joined the E Street Band shortly thereafter. Mixing for Born to Run lasted until July 20, 1975, just before a concert tour began.
Born to Run was mastered while the band was on the road. Springsteen was furious at the initial acetate, throwing it into the swimming pool of the hotel he was staying at. He contemplated scrapping the entire project and re-recording it live before he was stopped by Landau. Springsteen was sent multiple mixes as he was on the road and rejected all of them until August when he approved the final one.
1975–1983: Born to Run and breakthrough success
Born to Run was released in August 1975. It proved to be a breakthrough album that catapulted Springsteen to worldwide fame. The album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, eventually going seven times platinum in the US. The album's two singles, "Born to Run" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" reached No. 23 and 83, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100. According to author Louis Masur, the album's success was tied to the fears of growing old held by a generation of late teenagers. In October 1975, Springsteen appeared on the covers of both Newsweek and Time in the same week, becoming the first artist to do so. The magazines' cover stories resulted in a media backlash, as critics began wondering if Springsteen was for real or the product of record company promotion. Springsteen was hurt by the backlash and disliked his newfound attention. When the E Street Band arrived in London for their first concerts outside North America, Springsteen personally tore down promotional posters in the lobby of the Hammersmith Odeon.
A legal battle with Appel kept Springsteen out of the studio for nearly a year, during which time he kept the E Street Band together through extensive touring across the U.S. and continued writing new material. Reaching a settlement with Appel in May 1977, Springsteen returned to the studio, and the subsequent nine-month recording sessions with the E Street Band produced Darkness on the Edge of Town. The record stripped the "Wall of Sound" production of Born to Run for a rawer hard rock sound. Its lyrics focus on ill-fortuned people who fight back against overwhelming odds.
Released in June 1978, Darkness on the Edge of Town sold fewer copies than its predecessor, but remained on the Billboard chart for 167 weeks, selling three million copies in the U.S. Its three singles—"Prove It All Night", "Badlands", and "The Promised Land"—performed modestly. The supporting Darkness Tour was Springsteen's largest up to that point and featured shows that lasted upwards of three hours in length. The staff of Ultimate Classic Rock said the tour solidified Springsteen and the E Street Band as "one of the most exciting live acts in rock 'n' roll".
By the late 1970s, Springsteen earned a reputation as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands. Manfred Mann's Earth Band had achieved a U.S. No. 1 pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of Greetings' "Blinded by the Light" in early 1977. Patti Smith reached No. 13 with her version of Springsteen's unreleased "Because the Night" with revised lyrics by Smith in 1978. The Pointer Sisters hit No. 2 in 1979 with Springsteen's then unreleased "Fire". Between 1976 and 1978, Springsteen provided four compositions to Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, including "The Fever" and "Hearts of Stone", and collaborated on four more with Steven Van Zandt, producer of their first three albums.
In September 1979, Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear power collective at Madison Square Garden for two nights, playing an abbreviated set while premiering two songs from his upcoming album. The subsequent No Nukes live album, as well as the following summer's No Nukes documentary film, represented the first official recordings and footage of Springsteen's fabled live act and Springsteen's first tentative dip into political involvement.
The recording sessions for Springsteen's fifth album, The River, lasted 18 months. The 20-track double album was an attempt at capturing the energy and feel of the E Street Band playing live on stage and featured a mix of party songs and introspective ballads. Released in October 1980, The River became Springsteen's biggest and fastest-selling album yet, topping the U.S. Billboard chart. The single "Hungry Heart" became his first top ten single as a performer, reaching number five, while "Fade Away" reached No. 20.
Several songs on The River foreshadowed the direction of Springsteen's next record, the minimalist, folk-inspired solo effort Nebraska, released in September 1982. Springsteen recorded the songs on the album as demo recordings at his home in Colts Neck, New Jersey, intending to re-record them with the E Street Band, but after poor test sessions he decided to release the recordings as is. The album chronicled dark hardships felt by everyday blue-collar workers, as well as bleak tales of criminals, cops, and gang wars. Nebraska sold minimally compared to Springsteen's three previous albums, but reached No. 3 on the Billboard chart. Nevertheless, it surprised critics, who praised it as a brave artistic statement.
1984–1986: Born in the U.S.A. and cultural phenomenon
In 1984, Springsteen released Born in the U.S.A., which sold 30 million worldwide, and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, with seven singles hitting the top ten. The title track was a bitter commentary on the treatment of Vietnam veterans, some of whom were Springsteen's friends. The lyrics in the verses were entirely unambiguous when listened to, but the anthemic music and the title of the song made it hard for many, from politicians to the common person, to get the lyrics—except those in the chorus, which could be read many ways. The song made a huge political impact, as he was advocating for the rights of the common working-class man.
The song was widely misinterpreted as patriotic, and in connection with the 1984 presidential campaign became the subject of considerable folklore. In 1984, conservative columnist George Will attended a Springsteen concert and then wrote a column praising Springsteen's work ethic. Six days after the column's publication, then President Ronald Reagan, in a campaign rally in Hammonton, New Jersey, made brief mention of the song, saying, "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire—New Jersey's own, Bruce Springsteen." Two nights later, at a concert in Pittsburgh, Springsteen told the crowd, "Well, the president was mentioning my name in his speech the other day and I kind of got to wondering what his favorite album of mine must've been, you know? I don't think it was the Nebraska album. I don't think he's been listening to this one." He then began playing "Johnny 99", with its allusions to closing factories and criminals.
"Dancing in the Dark" was the biggest of seven hit singles from Born in the U.S.A., peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard singles chart. The video for the song showed a young Courteney Cox dancing on stage with Springsteen, which helped start the actress's career. The song "Cover Me" was written by Springsteen for Donna Summer, but his record company persuaded him to keep it for the new album. A big fan of Summer's work, Springsteen wrote another song for her, "Protection". Videos for Born in the U.S.A. were directed by Brian De Palma and John Sayles. Springsteen played on the "We Are the World" song and album in 1985. His live cover of the Jimmy Cliff song "Trapped" from that album received moderate airplay on US Top 40 stations as well as reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart.
The Born in the U.S.A. period represented the height of Springsteen's visibility in popular culture and the broadest audience he would ever reach (aided by the release of Arthur Baker's dance mixes of three of the singles). From June 15 to August 10, 1985, all seven of his albums appeared on the UK Albums Chart: the first time an artist had charted their entire back catalogue simultaneously.
Live/1975–85, a five-record box set (also on three cassettes or three CDs), was released near the end of 1986 and became the first box set to debut at No. 1 on the U.S. album charts. It is one of the most commercially successful live albums of all time, ultimately selling 13 million units in the U.S. During the 1980s, several Springsteen fanzines were launched, including Backstreets magazine.
1987–1991: Tunnel of Love and activism
Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative Tunnel of Love in October 1987. The album is a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered, and the full sound of the E Street Band is included only selectively. Although it sold less than Born in the U.S.A., it was a commercial success, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
On July 19, 1988, Springsteen's concert in East Germany attracted 300,000 spectators. Journalist Erik Kirschbaum called the concert "the most important rock concert ever, anywhere" in his 2013 book Rocking the Wall. Bruce Springsteen: The Berlin Concert That Changed the World. The concert had been conceived by the Socialist Unity Party's youth wing in an attempt to placate the youth of East Germany, who were hungry for more freedom and the popular music of the West. However, it is Kirschbaum's opinion that the success of the concert catalyzed opposition to the regime in East Germany, and helped contribute to the fall of the Berlin Wall the following year.
Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. In October 1989, he dissolved the E Street Band.
1992–1998: Academy Award, Greatest Hits, and soundtracks
In 1992, after risking fan accusations of "going Hollywood" by moving to Los Angeles and working with session musicians, Springsteen released two albums at once: Human Touch and Lucky Town.
An electric band appearance on the acoustic MTV Unplugged television program (later released as In Concert/MTV Plugged) was poorly received and cemented fan dissatisfaction.
Springsteen won an Academy Award in 1994 for his song "Streets of Philadelphia", which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia. The video for the song shows Springsteen's actual vocal performance, recorded using a hidden microphone, to a prerecorded instrumental track. This technique was developed on the "Brilliant Disguise" video.
In 1995, after temporarily re-organizing the E Street Band for a few new songs recorded for his first Greatest Hits album (a recording session that was chronicled in the documentary Blood Brothers), and also one show at Tramps in New York City, he released his second folk album, The Ghost of Tom Joad. The album was inspired by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and by Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass, a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dale Maharidge and photographer Michael Williamson. Rolling Stone characterized the album as Springsteen's first overtly social statement since Born in the U.S.A., drawing a strong parallel to Nebraska, due to its acoustic nature and Depression-era storytelling sensibility reminiscent of Woody Guthrie. The album is noted for its bleak, unrelenting atmosphere, focusing on characters who are broken by life's hardships, with few escapes and little musical relief from the dark, desolate scenarios portrayed.
Springsteen supported the album on the lengthy, worldwide, small-venue solo acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad Tour. The tour presented many of his older songs in drastically reshaped acoustic form. Springsteen explicitly reminded his audiences to "shut the fuck up" and not to clap during the performances. Following the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, Springsteen moved from California back to New Jersey with his family. In 1998, he released the sprawling, four-disc box set of outtakes, Tracks. Later, he would acknowledge that the 1990s were musically a "lost period" for him: "I didn't do a lot of work. Some people would say I didn't do my best work."
1999–2007: The Rising, Devils & Dust, and other releases
Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 by Bono (the lead singer of U2), a favor he returned in 2005.
In 1999, Springsteen and the E Street Band reunited and began their extensive Reunion Tour, which lasted over a year. Highlights included a record sold-out, 15-show run at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey and a ten-night, sold-out engagement at New York City's Madison Square Garden. A new song played at these shows, "American Skin (41 Shots)" (about the police shooting of Amadou Diallo), proved controversial.
In 2002, Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years, The Rising, produced by Brendan O'Brien. The album, mostly a reflection on the September 11 attacks, was a critical and popular success. The title track gained airplay in several radio formats, and the record became Springsteen's best-selling album of new material in 15 years. Kicked off by an early-morning Asbury Park appearance on The Today Show, The Rising Tour commenced; the band barnstormed through a series of single-night arena stands in the U.S. and Europe. Springsteen played an unprecedented 10 nights at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.
The Rising won the Grammy for Best Rock Album and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards in 2003. In addition, "The Rising" won the Grammy for Best Rock Song and for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, and nominated for Song of the Year. At the ceremony, Springsteen performed the Clash's "London Calling" with Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt and No Doubt's bassist, Tony Kanal, in tribute to Joe Strummer. In 2004, Springsteen and the E Street Band participated in the Vote for Change tour, with John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Bright Eyes, the Dave Matthews Band, Jackson Browne, and other musicians.
The solo record Devils & Dust was released in April 2005. It is a low-key, mostly acoustic album, in the same vein as Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad. Some of the material was written almost 10 years earlier, during or shortly after the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour; a few of the songs had been performed at that time but unreleased. The title track concerns an ordinary soldier's feelings and fears during the Iraq War. The album topped the charts in ten countries. Springsteen began the solo Devils & Dust Tour at the same time as the album's release, playing both small and large venues. Attendance was disappointing in a few regions, and except in Europe tickets were easier to get than in the past.
In April 2006, Springsteen released We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, an American roots music project focused around a big folk sound treatment of 15 songs popularized by the radical musical activism of Pete Seeger. A tour began the same month, with the 18-strong ensemble of musicians dubbed the Seeger Sessions Band (and later shortened to the Sessions Band). The tour proved very popular in Europe, selling out everywhere and receiving some excellent reviews, including its opening act in New Orleans, Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, but newspapers reported that a number of U.S. shows suffered from sparse attendance.
Springsteen's next album, Magic, was released in October 2007. Recorded with the E Street Band, it had 10 new Springsteen songs plus "Long Walk Home", performed once with the Sessions band, and a hidden track (the first included on a Springsteen studio release), "Terry's Song", a tribute to Springsteen's long-time assistant Terry Magovern, who died in July 2007. Magic debuted at No. 1 in the U.S., Ireland and the UK. Springsteen supported the album on the Magic Tour, his first tour with the E Street Band since 2003. It was the final tour for longtime E Street member Danny Federici, who died in 2008.
2008–2011: Political involvement, Super Bowl XLIII, and Kennedy Center Honors
Springsteen supported Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He gave solo acoustic performances in support of Obama's campaign throughout 2008, culminating with a November 2 rally at which he debuted the song "Working on a Dream" in a duet with Scialfa. Following Obama's electoral victory on November 4, Springsteen's song "The Rising" was the first song played over the loudspeakers after Obama's victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park. Springsteen was the musical opener for the Obama Inaugural Celebration on January 18, 2009, which was attended by over 400,000 people. He performed "The Rising" with an all-female choir. Later he performed Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" with Pete Seeger.
On January 11, 2009, Springsteen won the Golden Globe Award for Best Song for "The Wrestler", from the Darren Aronofsky film by the same name. After receiving a heartfelt letter from lead actor Mickey Rourke, Springsteen supplied the song for the film for free.
Springsteen performed at the halftime show at Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009, agreeing to perform after having declined on prior occasions. A few days before the game, Springsteen gave a rare press conference at which he promised a "twelve-minute party". It has been reported that this press conference was Springsteen's first press conference in more than 25 years. His 12-minute 45-second set, with the E Street Band and the Miami Horns, included abbreviated renditions of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", "Born to Run", "Working on a Dream", and "Glory Days", the latter complete with football references in place of the original baseball-themed lyrics. The set of appearances and promotional activities led Springsteen to say, "This has probably been the busiest month of my life."
Working on a Dream, dedicated to Federici, was released in late January 2009. The supporting Working on a Dream Tour ran from April to November 2009. The band performed five final shows at Giants Stadium, opening with a new song highlighting the historic stadium, and Springsteen's Jersey roots, named "Wrecking Ball".
Springsteen received the Kennedy Center Honors on December 6, 2009. President Obama gave a speech in which he asserted that Springsteen had incorporated the lives of regular Americans into his expansive palette of songs. Obama added that Springsteen's concerts were not just rock-and-roll concerts, but "communions". The event included musical tributes from Melissa Etheridge, Ben Harper, John Mellencamp, Jennifer Nettles, Sting, and Eddie Vedder.
The 2000s ended with Springsteen named one of eight Artists of the Decade by Rolling Stone magazine and with Springsteen's tours ranking him fourth among artists in total concert grosses for the decade.
Clarence Clemons, the E Street Band's saxophonist and founding member, died on June 18, 2011, of complications from a stroke.
2012–2018: Autobiography and Broadway show
Springsteen's 17th studio album, Wrecking Ball, was released in March 2012. The album consists of eleven tracks plus two bonus tracks. Three songs previously only available as live versions, "Wrecking Ball", "Land of Hope and Dreams", and "American Land", appear on the album. Wrecking Ball became Springsteen's tenth No. 1 album in the U.S., tying him with Elvis Presley for third most No. 1 albums of all time, behind the Beatles (19) and Jay Z (12) as of 2009. The supporting Wrecking Ball Tour shortly after its release. On July 31, 2012, in Helsinki, Finland, Springsteen performed his longest concert at four hours and six minutes with 33 songs.
In 2012, Springsteen campaigned for President Barack Obama's re-election in the 2012 presidential election, appearing and performing at Obama rallies in Ohio, Pittsburgh, Iowa, Virginia, and Wisconsin. At the rallies, he briefly spoke to the audience and performed a short acoustic set that included a newly written song titled "Forward".
At year's end, the Wrecking Ball Tour was named Top Draw by the Billboard Touring Awards for having the highest attendance of any tour that year. Financially, the tour grossed second to the one by Roger Waters. Springsteen finished second only to Madonna as the top money maker of 2012, with $33.44 million. The Wrecking Ball album, along with the single "We Take Care of Our Own", was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for "We Take Care of Our Own" and Best Rock Album. Rolling Stone named Wrecking Ball the number one album of 2012 on their Top 50 list.
In late July 2013, the documentary Springsteen & I, directed by Baillie Walsh and produced by Ridley Scott, was released simultaneously via a worldwide cinema broadcast in over 50 countries and in over 2000 movie theaters.
Springsteen released his eighteenth studio album, High Hopes, in January 2014. The first single and video were of a newly recorded version of the song "High Hopes", which Springsteen had previously recorded in 1995. The album was the first by Springsteen in which all songs are either cover songs, newly recorded outtakes from previous records, or newly recorded versions of songs previously released. The 2014 E Street Band touring lineup appears on the album, including material they had recorded with Clemons and Federici before their deaths. High Hopes became Springsteen's eleventh No. 1 album in the US. It was his tenth No. 1 in the UK, tying him for fifth all-time with the Rolling Stones and U2. Rolling Stone named High Hopes the second best album of the year (behind U2's Songs of Innocence) on their Top 50 Albums of 2014 list.
Springsteen made his acting debut in the final episode of season three of Van Zandt's show Lilyhammer, which was named "Loose Ends" after a Springsteen song on the Tracks album.
On August 6, 2015, Springsteen performed "Land of Hope and Dreams" and "Born to Run" on the final episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as Stewart's final 'Moment of Zen'. On October 16, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of The River, Springsteen announced The Ties That Bind: The River Collection box set. Released on December 4, it contains four CDs (including many previously unreleased songs) and three DVDs (or Blu-ray) along with a 148-page coffee table book. In November 2015, "American Skin (41 Shots)" was performed with John Legend at Shining a Light: A Concert for Progress on Race in America.
Springsteen made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live since 2002 on December 19, 2015, performing "Meet Me in the City", "The Ties That Bind", and "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town".
The River Tour 2016 began in January 2016 in support of The Ties That Bind: The River Collection box set. All first-leg shows in North America included an in-sequence performance of the entire The River album along with other songs from Springsteen's catalog, and all dates were recorded and made available for purchase. In April 2016, Springsteen was one of the first artists to boycott North Carolina's anti-transgender bathroom bill.
Chapter and Verse, a compilation from throughout Springsteen's career dating back to 1966, was released in September 2016. The same month, Simon & Schuster published his 500-page autobiography, Born to Run. The book rose quickly to the top of The New York Times Best Sellers List.
On September 7, 2016, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Springsteen performed for four hours and four minutes, his longest-ever show in the United States. The River Tour 2016 was the top-grossing worldwide tour of 2016; it pulled in $268.3 million globally and was the highest-grossing tour since 2014 for any artist topping Taylor Swift's 2015 tour, which grossed $250.1 million.
Springsteen supported Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign by performing an acoustic set of "Thunder Road", "Long Walk Home" and "Dancing in the Dark" at a rally in Philadelphia on November 7, 2016. On November 22, Springsteen was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom award by Barack Obama. On January 12, 2017, Springsteen and Scialfa performed a special 15-song acoustic set for Barack and Michelle Obama at the White House's East Room two days before the president gave his farewell address to the nation.
Springsteen on Broadway, an eight-week run at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway in New York City in fall 2017, was announced in June 2017. The show included Springsteen reading excerpts from his 2016 autobiography Born to Run and performing other spoken reminiscences. Originally scheduled to run from October 12 through November 26, the show was extended three times; the last performance occurred on December 15, 2018. For Springsteen's production of Springsteen on Broadway, he was honored with a Special Tony Award at the 72nd Tony Awards in 2018.
The live album Springsteen on Broadway was released in December 2018. It reached the top 10 in more than 10 countries and No. 11 in the United States.
2019–2021: Western Stars
Springsteen's nineteenth studio album, Western Stars, was released in June 2019.
It was announced on July 23, 2019, that Springsteen would premiere his film, Western Stars, at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2019. He co-directed the film along with longtime collaborator Thom Zimny. The film features Springsteen and his backing band performing the music from Western Stars to a live audience. The film was released in theaters in October 2019, and the film's soundtrack, Western Stars – Songs from the Film, was also released that day.
On May 29, 2020, Springsteen appeared remotely during a livestream, no-audience concert by the Dropkick Murphys at Fenway Park in Boston. Springsteen performed the Dropkick Murphys song "Rose Tattoo" and his song "American Land", sharing co-vocals with Ken Casey on both songs. The event marked the first music performance without an in-person audience at a major U.S. arena, stadium or ballpark during the COVID-19 pandemic. The livestream attracted over 9 million viewers and raised over $700,000 through charitable donations.
Springsteen's twentieth studio album, Letter to You, was released in October 2020. An accompanying documentary of the same name was released the same month. The documentary was shot exclusively in black and white and was directed by Thom Zimny. The album was supported by two singles, "Letter to You" and "Ghosts", released in September. In November, Springsteen was featured as a guest singer for Bleachers' single, "Chinatown". Letter to You reached No. 2 in the US, making Springsteen the first artist to release a top-five album in six consecutive decades.
Springsteen and the E Street Band were musical guests on the December 12, 2020, episode of Saturday Night Live, where they performed "Ghosts" and "I'll See You in My Dreams". This marked the band's first performance since 2017 and their first to promote Letter to You. Garry Tallent and Soozie Tyrell opted to remain at home due to COVID-19 concerns; this was the first time Tallent had missed a performance with the band, and Jack Daley of the Disciples of Soul filled in for him.
In February 2021, it was announced that Springsteen was releasing an eight-part podcast on Spotify titled Renegades: Born in the USA that would feature himself in conversation with Barack Obama discussing a wide range of topics including family, race, marriage, fatherhood, and the state of the U.S. Springsteen performed co-lead vocals and guitar on John Mellencamp's song "Wasted Days", released in September 2021.
On June 7, 2021, Springsteen announced that his Springsteen on Broadway shows would return for a limited run at Jujamcyn's St. James Theatre beginning on June 26, 2021. In an interview with E Street Radio's Jim Rotolo on June 10, 2021, Springsteen said that he did not plan on playing any shows in 2021 but was talked into the Broadway shows by a "friend". During the same interview, Springsteen also announced an upcoming collaboration with the Killers.
On September 11, 2021, Springsteen performed "I'll See You in My Dreams" in tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks.
On December 13, 2021, Springsteen gave a surprise four-song performance at the John Henry's Friends benefit concert for children diagnosed with Autism where he was joined by Steve Earle and the Dukes as his backing band. On December 16, 2021, Springsteen sold the masters of his entire catalog and the coinciding music publishing rights to Sony Music for $500 million. This topped what Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift received for their catalogs by $200 million. This sale, along with his Broadway shows and projects with Obama, helped him top the Rolling Stone list of the highest-paid musicians of 2021.
Since 2022: Only the Strong Survive, collaborations, touring, and The Lost Albums
On May 24, 2022, it was announced that he would be launching an international tour with the E Street Band in 2023, the first such since 2017. In November, Springsteen released his twenty-first studio album, Only the Strong Survive, a covers album of classic soul music songs from the 1960s and 1970s. To promote the album, Springsteen performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in mid-November, along with a special Thanksgiving episode on November 24.
On February 1, 2023, Springsteen and the E Street band launched their first tour in six years, due to conclude in July 2025. In a November 2022 interview, Springsteen confirmed that he planned a Volume 2 of the album; at the time, he said it was "probably three-quarters recorded".
Springsteen provided vocals on the song "History Books" by the Gaslight Anthem, the title track on the band's October 2023 album. The same month, he collaborated with Bryce Dessner on "Addicted to Romance", an original song for the She Came to Me soundtrack album. In September, Springsteen announced the postponement of eight shows scheduled for September. Springsteen was undergoing treatment for peptic ulcer disease and doctors recommended he not perform live. A few days later, the remaining twelve shows scheduled for November through December 2023 were also postponed to dates in March and April, and between August and November 2024. In total, twenty-nine shows on the tour were postponed due to Springsteen's illness along with Springsteen and other members of the band having COVID-19.
In April 2024, 20th Century Studios announced a biographical film, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, based on the 2023 book by Warren Zanes about the making of Nebraska. It is written and directed by Scott Cooper; Jeremy Allen White will play Springsteen and perform his own singing. That year, Springsteen contributed guitar to a re-release of Mark Knopfler's "Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero" in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. His eighth compilation album, Best of Bruce Springsteen, was released on April 19. In October, Disney+ and Hulu released a documentary about Springsteen's 2023–2024 tour, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The documentary made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024. In July 2024, Forbes reported that Springsteen had a net worth of more than $1.1 billion, thanks to his tours and the sale of his back catalogue in 2021, making him one of the richest celebrities and musicians. During his August 23, 2024, show in Philadelphia, Springsteen denounced rumors of a farewell tour.
In April 2025, Springsteen announced the Tracks II: The Lost Albums collection, which was released on June 27, 2025. It features seven full-length albums of unreleased material dating from 1983 to 2018. The collection includes 83 songs, 74 of which were previously unreleased. A twenty-song companion album, Lost and Found: Selections from The Lost Albums, was also released on June 27. On May 21, 2025, Springsteen released the Land of Hope & Dreams EP. The four-song EP features songs from the tour opener in Manchester on May 14, 2025. A 17-minute documentary entitled Inside Tracks II: The Lost Albums was released on June 20, 2025; it gives viewers an in-depth look at each Lost Album.
In a June 2025 interview with Rolling Stone, Springsteen confirmed that a new solo album is completed and will be released in 2026, Only the Strong Survive, Volume 2 is also completed, and a Tracks III box set will be released in the next three years. Springsteen also at first denied the existence of the long-rumored Electric Nebraska album, but a month after the interview corrected himself and confirmed that songs from those sessions existed. Springsteen discussed the future of the E Street Band, saying he wants to "play more often with less dates" and that "it’s very exciting to play with the E Street Band now, and I’m looking forward to doing a good deal of it in the future. But that future is finite." He said he would also like to do another solo tour similar to his Broadway shows. Springsteen said there will never be a farewell tour and that he hopes to still be onstage in his nineties.
Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2023-2025 Tour was the highest grossing tour of their career grossing close to $730 million world-wide and placing it as one of the top ten highest grossing tours ever. It more than doubled their previous all-time gross from their 2012-2013 Wrecking Ball Tour. It also made Springsteen one of just five artists ever to have grossed over $2.3 billion touring in his career.
On August 22, 2025, Springsteen released the song "Lonely Night in the Park" to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Born to Run album. A low quality version of the song appeared on various fan released bootlegs over the years and in 2005 was briefly played on SiriusXM’s E Street Radio channel.
Artistry and legacy
Widely regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Springsteen has been called a "rock 'n' roll poet" who "[radiates] working-class authenticity". He is a pioneer of heartland rock, a genre combining mainstream rock music with working class thematic concerns and socially conscious lyrics. According to Rolling Stone, his work "epitomizes rock's deepest values: desire, the need for freedom and the search to find yourself." Often described as cinematic in their scope, Springsteen's lyrics frequently explore highly personal themes such as individual commitment, dissatisfaction and dismay with life in a context of everyday situations. Springsteen's themes include social and political commentary and are rooted in the struggles faced by his own family of origin.
A shift in Springsteen's lyrical approach began with the album Darkness on the Edge of Town, in which he focused on the emotional struggles of working class life, alongside more typical rock and roll themes. Reviewing Born in the U.S.A., Rolling Stone critic Debby Miller noted that "Springsteen ignored the British Invasion and embraced instead the legacy of Phil Spector's releases, the sort of soul that was coming from Atlantic Records, and especially the garage bands that had anomalous radio hits. He's always chased the utopian feeling of that music".
Jon Pareles included Springsteen among the "pantheon" of artists of the album era. "Springsteen is the quintessential album-era rock star," writes Ann Powers, who argues that while other acts like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Marvin Gaye probably made better individual works, "none [had] used the long-player form itself more powerfully over the arc of a career, not only to establish a world through song, but to inhabit an enduring persona". He used it to lyricize "America's slide from industrial-era swagger into service-economy anomie". In her mind, Springsteen needed the "track-by-track architecture of albums to flesh out characters, relate each to the other, extend metaphors and build a palpable, detail-strewn landscape through which they could travel". He simultaneously grew musically "both with his stalwart E Street Band (a metaphor itself for the family connections and community spirit his songs celebrate or lament) and in more minimalist projects."
Springsteen and the E Street Band have frequently appeared in lists ranking the best live acts of all time. In Forbes, Steve Baltin wrote: "There has never been a live experience in music that captures the feeling of liberation and optimism rock and roll is supposed to bring you more than a Springsteen and the E Street Band show." In January 2023, Rolling Stone named Springsteen the 77th-greatest singer of all time. In April 2023, the governor of New Jersey issued a proclamation announcing September 23 "Bruce Springsteen Day".
Springsteen's songs have been the subject of various scholarly articles analyzing his music and lyrics. The Bruce Springsteen Special Collection houses academic journals and papers on Springsteen published since the 1980s. Springsteen himself said in 2001: "The Collection has almost 1,000 books and magazines on myself and the band–more stuff than every place except my mother's basement!"
In 2003, Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list included Born to Run (18), Born in the U.S.A. (85), The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (132), Darkness on the Edge of Town (151), Nebraska (224), The River (250), Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (379), and Tunnel of Love (475). In 2004, on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, Rolling Stone included "Born to Run" (21), "Thunder Road" (86), and "Born in the U.S.A." (275). In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked Springsteen 23rd on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", describing him as "the embodiment of rock and roll".
Personal life
Relationships
Springsteen briefly dated artist Karon Bihari in the 1970s, who claimed the Darkness on the Edge of Town song "Candy's Room" was about her. He also had relationships with photographer Lynn Goldsmith, model Karen Darvin and, for four years in the 1980s, actress Joyce Hyser.
In the early 1980s, he met Patti Scialfa at the Stone Pony the evening she was performing alongside his friend Bobby Bandiera, with whom she wrote "At Least We Got Shoes" for Southside Johnny. Springsteen liked her voice and after the performance he introduced himself to her. They soon started spending time together and became friends.
Early in 1984, Springsteen asked Scialfa to join the E Street Band for the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, which began in June 1984. According to the book Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin, they seemed about to become a couple through the first leg of the tour, but Springsteen was introduced to actress Julianne Phillips and married her shortly after midnight on May 13, 1985, at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Opposites in background, the two had an 11-year age difference and Springsteen's traveling took its toll on their relationship. Many of the songs on Tunnel of Love described the unhappiness he felt in his relationship with Phillips.
The Tunnel of Love Express Tour began in February 1988 and Springsteen convinced Scialfa to postpone her own solo record and join the tour. Scialfa moved in with Springsteen shortly after he separated from Phillips. On August 30, 1988, citing irreconcilable differences, Phillips filed for divorce in Los Angeles, and a settlement was reached in December and finalized on March 1, 1989. They had no children.
Springsteen received press criticism for the apparent haste in which he and Scialfa started their relationship. In a 1995 interview with The Advocate, he told Judy Wieder about the negative publicity the couple subsequently received: "It's a strange society that assumes it has the right to tell people whom they should love and whom they shouldn't. But the truth is, I basically ignored the entire thing as much as I could. I said, 'Well, all I know is, this feels real, and maybe I have got a mess going here in some fashion, but that's life.'" Years later, he reflected, "'I didn't protect Juli... some sort of public announcement would have been fair, but I felt overly concerned about my own privacy. I handled it badly, and I still feel badly about it. It was cruel for people to find out the way they did.'"
Springsteen and Scialfa lived in New Jersey before moving to Los Angeles, where they decided to start a family. On July 25, 1990, Scialfa gave birth to the couple's first child, Evan James Springsteen. On June 8, 1991, Springsteen and Scialfa married at their Los Angeles home in a private ceremony, only attended by family and close friends. Their second child, Jessica Rae Springsteen, was born on December 30, 1991. Their third child, Samuel Ryan Springsteen, was born on January 5, 1994. In a 1995 interview, Springsteen said, "I went through a divorce, and it was really difficult and painful and I was very frightened about getting married again. So part of me said, 'Hey, what does it matter?' But it does matter. It's very different than just living together. First of all, stepping up publicly—which is what you do: You get your license, you do all the social rituals—is a part of your place in society and in some way part of society's acceptance of you ... Patti and I both found that it did mean something."
When their children reached school age in the 1990s, Springsteen and Scialfa moved back to New Jersey to raise them away from paparazzi. The family owns and lives on a horse farm in Colts Neck Township and has a home in Rumson; they also own homes in Los Angeles and Wellington, Florida. Evan graduated from Boston College; he writes and performs his own songs and won the 2012 Singer/Songwriter Competition held during Boston College's Arts Festival. Jessica graduated from Duke University and is a nationally ranked champion equestrian. She made her show-jumping debut with Team USA in August 2014. Sam is a firefighter in Jersey City. On July 17, 2022, Springsteen and Scialfa became grandparents when their son Sam and his fiancée had a daughter.
Health
Springsteen has avoided hard drugs his entire life. Van Zandt said in 2012, "[Springsteen is] the only guy I know—I think the only guy I know at all—who never did drugs." He has spoken about his struggles with depression, which he began to address in his 30s after years of denial. During this time, he also became frustrated with being an underweight "fast food junkie" who had to be helped off the stage after a show due to his poor health. He later began following a mostly vegetarian diet while running up to six miles on a treadmill and lifting weights three times a week. A 2019 Consequence article celebrating his 70th birthday revealed that he still maintains this routine and diet. In September 2023, Springsteen announced the postponement of all his concerts in the US beginning in that month and through December, due to his ongoing treatment for peptic ulcer disease.
Religion
While rejecting religion in his earlier years, Springsteen stated in his 2016 autobiography Born to Run, "I have a personal relationship with Jesus. I believe in his power to save, love [...] but not to damn." In terms of his lapsed Catholicism, he said that he "came to ruefully and bemusedly understand that once you're a Catholic you're always a Catholic ... I don't participate in my religion but I know somewhere... deep inside... I'm still on the team."
Wealth
In a 2017 interview with Tom Hanks, Springsteen admitted that he evaded taxes early in his career since the government had not paid attention to his taxes prior to his 1975 appearance on the cover of Time. Most of his income over the next several years went towards paying back his taxes; by his 30th birthday, he had only $20,000, despite multiple bestselling records and tours. Forbes "conservatively" estimated Springsteen's net worth at US$1.1 billion in 2024.
Hobbies
Springsteen is a model railroader. He collects and runs HO scale model trains.
Political views and activism
Springsteen announced his endorsement of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign in April 2008. He appeared at several rallies in support of Obama throughout that year. At one rally in Ohio, Springsteen discussed the importance of "truth, transparency and integrity in government, the right of every American to have a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, and a life filled with the dignity of work, the promise and the sanctity of home". Despite saying that he would sit out the 2012 presidential election, Springsteen campaigned for Obama's re-election in Ohio, Iowa, Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Wisconsin.
Springsteen supports LGBTQ rights and gay marriage. In 2009, he posted the following statement on his website: "I've long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that 'The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is—a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law.'" In 2012, he lent his support to the Four 2012, an ad campaign for gay marriage. Springsteen noted in the ad, "I couldn't agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now." In April 2016, Springsteen cancelled a show in Greensboro, North Carolina, days before it was to take place to protest the state's newly passed Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, also referred to as the "bathroom law", which dictates which restrooms transgender people are permitted to use and prevents LGBTQ citizens from suing over human rights violations in the workplace. Springsteen released a statement on his website. The Human Rights Campaign celebrated Springsteen's statement, and he has received praise and gratitude from the LGBTQ community.
During a 2017 show in Perth, Australia, Springsteen made a statement celebrating the post-inauguration Women's March against the incoming Trump administration in cities worldwide: "We're a long way from home, and our hearts and spirits are with the hundreds of thousands of women and men that marched yesterday in every city in America, and in Melbourne ... [They] rallied against hate and division and in support of tolerance, inclusion, reproductive rights, civil rights, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, the environment, wage equality, gender equality, healthcare, and immigrant rights. We stand with you. We are the new American resistance."
Springsteen is a staunch critic of Donald Trump, whom he calls the "conman from Queens". During Trump's first term as president of the United States in October 2019, Springsteen said Trump "doesn't have a grasp of the deep meaning of what it means to be an American", and in June 2020 called him a "threat to our democracy". Springsteen's song "The Rising" was featured prominently in the 2020 Democratic National Convention in support of Joe Biden, accompanied with a new video and campaign slogan, #TheRising. On October 13, 2020, author Don Winslow released a video critical of Trump prior to his campaign event in Pennsylvania. The video features Springsteen's song "Streets of Philadelphia". A few days prior to the 2020 United States presidential election, Springsteen provided narration for a campaign ad that spotlights Biden's upbringing in Scranton, Pennsylvania with "My Hometown" playing throughout the ad. Biden used "We Take Care of Our Own" as one of his theme songs, as Obama had before him in 2012. On October 3, 2024, Springsteen endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election, and gave a speech at one of her campaign rallies on October 24.
During a show in Manchester, England, on May 14, 2025, Springsteen spoke out against Trump and called his administration "corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous". Two days later, Trump responded on Truth Social by calling Springsteen "highly overrated" and "dumb as a rock". Tino Gagliardi, the president of the American Federation of Musicians defended Springsteen, saying, "Musicians have the right to freedom of expression, and we stand in solidarity with all our members." On May 19, Trump called for a major investigation into Springsteen, Beyoncé, Oprah, and other celebrities for their endorsement of Harris. He claims that Harris illegally paid them to support her 2024 campaign for president. Musicians such as Neil Young and Eddie Vedder spoke out in defense of Springsteen saying his freedom of speech rights were being violated. Springsteen included recordings of his Manchester remarks as part of a live EP release, Land of Hope and Dreams.
Achievements and awards
Springsteen has sold more than 140 million records worldwide and more than 71 million records in the United States, making him one of the world's best-selling artists. He has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award (for Springsteen on Broadway). Springsteen was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, was named MusiCares person of the year in 2013, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2016.
In May 2021, Springsteen became the eighth recipient of the Woody Guthrie Prize, a prize that honors an artist who speaks out for social justice and carries on the spirit of the folk singer. In March 2023, Springsteen was awarded the 2021 National Medal of Arts from President Joe Biden at the White House. Springsteen was supposed to receive the award in 2021 but the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the ceremonies.
In March 2024, it was announced that Springsteen would be named an Academy Fellow by The Ivors Academy in May 2024. On May 23, 2024, Springsteen became the first international songwriter that the Academy has inducted into the Fellowship in its 80-year history.
Discography
Studio albums
Concert tours
Springsteen has developed a reputation for energetic and long-lasting live performances.
Headlining tours
Residency
Springsteen on Broadway (2017–18; 2021)
Co-headlining tours
Human Rights Now! (1988)
Vote for Change (2004)
See also
Forbes list of highest-earning musicians
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart
List of highest-grossing live music artists
List of music artists by net worth
Music of New Jersey
References
Sources
External links
Official website
Bruce Springsteen Archives
Bruce Springsteen at AllMusic
Bruce Springsteen at IMDb
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Raquel Welch
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Jo Raquel Welch (née Tejada; September 5, 1940 – February 15, 2023) was an American actress. Welch first gained attention for her role in Fantastic Voyage (1966), after which she signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer Film Productions, for whom she made One Million Years B.C. (1966). Although Welch had only three lines of dialogue in the film, images of her in the doe-skin bikini became bestselling posters that turned her into an international sex symbol. She later starred in Bedazzled (1967), Bandolero! (1968), 100 Rifles (1969), Myra Breckinridge (1970), Hannie Caulder (1971), Kansas City Bomber (1972), The Last of Sheila (1973), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Wild Party (1975), and Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976). She made several television variety specials.
Through her portrayal of strong female characters, helping her break the mold of the traditional sex symbol, Welch developed a unique film persona that made her an icon of the 1960s and 1970s. Her rise to stardom in the mid-1960s was partly credited with ending Hollywood's vigorous promotion of the blonde bombshell. Her love scene with Jim Brown in 100 Rifles also made cinematic history with their portrayal of interracial intimacy. She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy in 1974 for her performance as Constance Bonacieux in The Three Musketeers and reprised the role in its sequel the following year. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Television Film for her performance in Right to Die (1987). Her final film was How to Be a Latin Lover (2017). In 1995, Welch was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History". Playboy ranked Welch No. 3 on their "100 Sexiest Stars of the Twentieth Century" list.
Early life
Welch was born Jo Raquel Tejada on September 5, 1940, in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to San Diego, California, at age two with her family. She was the first child of Josephine Sarah Hall and Armando Carlos Tejada Urquizo. Her mother was of English descent with ancestors tracing back to the Mayflower; she was the daughter of Clara Louise Adams and architect Emery Stanford Hall. Her father was an aeronautical engineer from La Paz, Bolivia, of Spanish descent; he was the son of Raquel Urquizo and Agustin Tejada. Her cousin, Bolivian politician Lidia Gueiler Tejada, became the first female president of Bolivia and the second female non-royal head of state in the Americas. Welch had a younger brother, James ("Jim"), and a younger sister, Gayle.
Welch was raised in the Presbyterian religion and attended Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church every Sunday with her family. As a young girl, Welch had the desire to be a performer and entertainer. She began studying ballet at age seven, but after ten years of study, she left the art at seventeen when her instructor told her she did not have the right body type for professional ballet companies. At age 14, she won beauty titles as Miss Photogenic and Miss Contour. While attending La Jolla High School she won the title of Miss La Jolla and the title of Miss San Diego – the Fairest of the Fair – at the San Diego County Fair. This long line of beauty contests eventually led to the state title of Maid of California. Her parents divorced when she finished school.
Welch graduated with honors from high school in 1958. Seeking an acting career, she entered San Diego State College on a theater arts scholarship, and the following year she married her high school sweetheart, James Welch, with whom she had two children. She assumed his last name and kept it throughout her life. She won several parts in local theater productions.
In 1960, Welch got a job as a weather presenter at KFMB, a local San Diego television station. Because her family life and television duties were so demanding, she decided to give up her drama classes. She separated from James Welch, and moved with her two children to Dallas, Texas, where she made a "precarious living" as a model for Neiman Marcus and as a cocktail waitress.
Career
1964–1966: Early works and breakthrough
Welch originally intended to move to New York City from Dallas, but moved back to Los Angeles in 1963 and started applying for roles with film studios. During this period she met one-time child actor and Hollywood agent Patrick Curtis, who became her personal and business manager. They developed a plan to turn Welch into a sex symbol. To avoid typecasting as a Latina, he convinced her to use her ex-husband's surname. She was cast in small roles in two films, A House Is Not a Home (1964) and the Elvis Presley musical Roustabout (1964). She also had small roles on the television series Bewitched, McHale's Navy and The Virginian, and appeared on the weekly variety series The Hollywood Palace as a billboard girl and presenter. She was one of many actresses who auditioned for the role of Mary Ann Summers on the television series Gilligan's Island.
Welch's first featured role was in the beach film A Swingin' Summer (1965). She won the Deb Star that year, while her photo in a Life magazine layout called "The End of the Great Girl Drought!" created a buzz around town. She was strongly considered for the role of Domino in Thunderball and was also noticed by the wife of producer Saul David, who recommended her to 20th Century Fox, which signed her to a seven-year non-exclusive contract covering five pictures over the next five years and two floaters. Studio executives considered changing her name to "Debbie", thought easier to pronounce than "Raquel"; she refused, wanting her real name "Raquel Welch". After screen testing for Saul David's Our Man Flint, she was cast in a leading role in David's sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage (1966), in which she portrayed a member of a medical team that is miniaturized and injected into the body of an injured scientist with the mission to save his life. The film was a hit and made her a star.
Fox loaned Welch to Hammer Studios in Britain where she starred in the science fiction film One Million Years B.C. (1966), a remake of the Hal Roach film One Million B.C. (1940). Her only costume was a two-piece deerskin bikini; she was described as "wearing mankind's first bikini" and the fur bikini was described as a "definitive look of the 1960s". The New York Times hailed her in its review of the film, released in the UK in 1966 and in the U.S. in 1967, as a "marvelous breathing monument to womankind". One author said, "although she had only three lines in the film, her luscious figure in a fur bikini made her a star and the dream girl of millions of young moviegoers". A publicity still of her in the bikini became a bestselling poster and turned her into an instant pin-up girl. The film raised Welch's stature as a leading sex symbol of the era. In 2011, Time magazine listed Welch's B.C. bikini in the "Top Ten Bikinis in Pop Culture".
In 1966, Welch starred with Marcello Mastroianni in the Italian crime film Shoot Loud, Louder... I Don't Understand for Joseph E. Levine. The same year, she appeared in the film Sex Quartet as Elena in the segment "Fata Elena". She was the only American in the cast of the anthology comedy film The Oldest Profession (1967); her segment was directed by Michael Pfleghar. In Italy, she also appeared in a heist film for MGM, The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968). It co-starred Edward G. Robinson, who said of Welch, "I must say she has quite a body. She has been the product of a good publicity campaign. I hope she lives up to it because a body will only take you so far."
1967–1979: International stardom
Her first starring vehicle, the British Modesty Blaise-style spy film Fathom (1967), was filmed in Spain for 20th Century Fox. Second unit director Peter Medak said Welch "was at that time quite inexperienced, exactly like one of those American drum majorettes. But she tried very hard and went to see the rushes each day, gradually improving. 'Who's this dumb broad?' people used to say. But I said: 'You wait. I'll bet she makes it.' I liked her very much because she was such a genuine person. And she had a beautiful body which always helps." Welch said her role was "a blown up Barbie doll". Reviewing her performance, the Los Angeles Times film critic said that "each new Raquel Welch picture brings further proof that when Maria Montez died they didn't break the mold. Like Maria, Raquel can't act from here to there, but both ladies seem to have been born to be photographed ... this sappiest of spy pictures."
At this stage, Welch owed Fox four films, at one a year. She and Curtis also established their own production company, Curtwel. Fox wanted Welch to play Jennifer in their adaptation of Valley of the Dolls but she refused, wanting to play the role of Neely O'Hara. The studio was not interested, casting Patty Duke; Sharon Tate played Jennifer North.
In England, she appeared as Lust incarnate in the Peter Cook–Dudley Moore comedy, Bedazzled (1967), a Swinging Sixties retelling of the Faust legend. It was popular, as was the Western, Bandolero! (1968), which was shot in Del Rio, Texas, at the Alamo Village. She co-starred with James Stewart and Dean Martin. "I think she's going to stack up all right," Stewart said of Welch. "No one is going to shout, 'Wow it's Anne Bancroft all over again'," said Welch of her performance, "but at least I'm not Miss Sexpot running around half naked all the time."
In 1968, Welch appeared with Frank Sinatra in the detective film Lady in Cement, a sequel to the film Tony Rome (1967). She played the socialite Kit Forrest, the romantic interest of Tony Rome. Welch later said wittily that she caught the film from time to time and realized only later that Kit Forrest was an alcoholic: "I'm watching this movie and I'm thinking, 'What the hell has she got on?' At one point, I had this epiphany: 'Oh, she's an alcoholic!' I didn't know that. How could I miss that?" She reportedly was so smitten with Sinatra that she forgot to act: "I think I was just so enamored with Frank Sinatra, you know. He's hypnotic."
Welch starred as a freedom fighter leader in 100 Rifles, a 1969 western directed by Tom Gries and filmed in Almería, Spain. It also starred Jim Brown, Burt Reynolds, and Fernando Lamas. The film provoked publicity and controversy at the time because it included a love scene between Welch and Brown that breached Hollywood's taboo against onscreen interracial intimacy. The film is remembered for the spectacular "Shower Scene" in which Welch distracts the soldiers on the train by taking a shower at a water tower along the tracks. The director, Gries, tried hard to convince Welch to do the scene naked, but she refused. It was one of the many instances Welch resisted going nude on-screen and pushed back for years against producers who wanted her to act or pose nude. In 1969, Welch also starred in the thriller Flareup and had a supporting role in the dark comedy The Magic Christian.
Welch's most controversial role came in Myra Breckinridge (1970). She took the role of the film's transsexual heroine in an attempt to be taken seriously as an actress. The production was characterized by animosity between Welch and Mae West, who walked out of the film for three days. The film was based on Gore Vidal's controversial bestseller about a man who becomes a woman through surgery. The film's producer Robert Fryer stated: "If a man were going to become a woman, he would want to become the most beautiful woman in the world. He would become Raquel Welch".
Her looks and fame led Playboy to dub her the "Most Desired Woman" of the 1970s. Welch presented at the Academy Awards ceremony several times during the 1970s due to her popularity. She accepted the Best Supporting Actress Oscar on behalf of fellow actress Goldie Hawn when Hawn could not be there to accept it.
On April 26, 1970, CBS released her television special Raquel! On the day of the premiere, the show received a 51 percent share on the National ARB Ratings and an overnight New York Nielsen rating of 58 percent share. Also that year Welch starred in The Beloved with co-star Richard Johnson, which she co-produced and filmed in Cyprus.
In 1971, Welch had the title role in Hannie Caulder, a Western produced by Tigon and Curtwel, which was shot in Spain. Welch was one of the few actresses, and one of the earliest, who had a lead role in a Western film. Hannie Caulder was a significant influence on later revenge films, with director Quentin Tarantino citing it as an inspiration for his 2003 film, Kill Bill: Volume 1.
The following year, in 1972, Welch starred in Kansas City Bomber, in which she played a hardened derby star and single mother who tries to balance her desire for a happy personal life and her dreams of stardom. Life magazine dubbed Welch the "hottest thing on wheels" for her role. The production of the film shut down for six weeks after Welch broke her wrist doing some of her own stunts. In the interim, she flew to Budapest and filmed a cameo in Bluebeard opposite Richard Burton, and was photographed at a lavish party thrown by Burton for his then-wife Elizabeth Taylor's fortieth birthday, even though Taylor had specifically uninvited her. Despite not being considered a critical success, Kansas City Bomber was noted for its depiction of gender relations in the early 1970s. In a 2012 interview with GQ, Welch reflected on the roller derby world depicted in the film: "You have all those women out there, but the men in the front office are really running it. Which I thought was a really nice metaphor for the way a lot of women felt about their lives at that time." Also in 1972, Welch reunited with Burt Reynolds for the detective film Fuzz.
In 1973, Welch acted in two films: The Last of Sheila and The Three Musketeers. The latter – for which she won a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Comedy – spawned a sequel, The Four Musketeers (1974). Welch was offered the title role in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), which earned an Oscar for its eventual star Ellen Burstyn; she also turned down the chance to play Honey Bruce in the biographical film Lenny (1974), a part that went to Valerie Perrine. In 1975, Welch appeared in The Wild Party and also performed a duet with Cher, singing "I'm a Woman" on an episode of The Cher Show. She then co-starred with Bill Cosby and Harvey Keitel in the action comedy Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976), directed by Peter Yates. Welch's character, promoted from Dispatcher to Emergency Medical Technician after threatening a sexual discrimination lawsuit, is an early example of feminism and equal pay for equal work as she breaks the "glass ceiling" doing a "man's work".
In 1977, Welch acted in the French film Animal, co-starring with Jean-Paul Belmondo. She also starred in the British swashbuckling adventure The Prince and the Pauper. Welch made a guest appearance on The Muppet Show in 1978, where she sang "I'm a Woman" with Miss Piggy. The following year, Welch guest-starred as Captain Nirvana, an alien bounty hunter, in an episode of Mork & Mindy titled "Mork vs. the Necrotons".
1980–2017: Subsequent projects and later years
Television
In 1982, Welch starred in the Western The Legend of Walks Far Woman for NBC. Billed as her "first TV movie dramatic debut", Welch played a 19th-century Native American woman in Montana. In the summer of 1982, Welch was among the candidates considered for the role of Alexis Carrington on the ABC primetime drama Dynasty, along with Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren, before the producers settled on Joan Collins.
In 1987, Welch starred in the television drama Right to Die, an "unglamorous" role in which she portrayed a college professor and mother of two stricken with Lou Gehrig's disease, and asks to die with dignity.
Welch starred in the made-for-television films Scandal in a Small Town (1988), Trouble in Paradise (1989), and Torch Song (1993). In 1995, she was a guest star in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. In the Season 2 episode "Top Copy", Welch played a television reporter and assassin who threatens to expose Clark's identity as Superman.
In 1996, Welch joined the cast of the night-time soap opera Central Park West, after CBS had already slated it for cancellation, as creator Darren Star made a final attempt to save the show by boosting its ratings late in its first season. She was a guest star on the American comedy series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1997), playing Sabrina's flamboyant Aunt Vesta from the realm called the Pleasuredome.
Welch acted in the Season 8 finale of the comedy series Seinfeld, titled "The Summer of George" (1997), playing an exaggerated and highly temperamental version of herself. In the episode, ranked by Zap2it as one of the top 10 episodes of Seinfeld, series character Kramer is forced to fire Welch from the lead role in a fictional Tony Award-winning musical called "Scarsdale Surprise", while the character Elaine gets into a "catfight" with her after a chance encounter on the street. Entertainment Weekly wrote, "By delivering a pitch-perfect performance as a fire-breathing prima donna, Welch also poked fun at her reputation (fairly earned or not) for being difficult to work with."
In 2002, Welch co-starred in the PBS series American Family, a story about a Mexican American family in East Los Angeles, with Edward James Olmos. Her role as Aunt Dora, the "drama queen of the family", marked the first time in her 40-year career that Welch had acknowledged her heritage as a Latina.
In 2008, Welch appeared in Welcome to The Captain on CBS, playing a "sultry actress"; according to one critic, she was "spoofing herself". She guest starred on CSI: Miami in 2012 and played Aunt Lucia in the 2013 Lifetime original movie House of Versace. In 2015, she portrayed Miss Sally May Anderson in the television drama The Ultimate Legacy.
Welch played the mother-in-law of Barry Watson's character in a Canadian sitcom titled Date My Dad (2017) where she reunited with Robert Wagner on screen, five decades after starring together in The Biggest Bundle of Them All.
Film
Welch was due to star in a 1982 adaptation of John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, but was abruptly fired by the producers a few weeks into production. The studio claimed she had breached her contract by not attending a required morning makeup session, and she was replaced by Debra Winger, not yet a big star, who was paid less. By firing her in this way Welch could be replaced without the studio having to buy out the remaining $194,000 of her $250,000 contract. Welch sued MGM for $20m for breach of contract. Studio executives claimed in testimony the reason Welch was following through with the trial was that she was an actress over 40, an age at which actresses could usually no longer get roles. Welch's evidence at trial proved there was a conspiracy to falsely blame her for the film's budget problems and delays; the jury sided with Welch and awarded her $10.8 million against MGM in 1986. Welch said that she thought the judgment was for "more money than the movie actually grossed".
Despite winning the case, Welch said she wished the whole episode had never happened. "I just wanted to clear my reputation and get back to my work, my work in movies", she said. She said that the incident ruined her career and perpetuated the notion that she was a difficult actress to work with; she was blackballed by the industry and the incident affected the remainder of her film career.
In 1994, Welch made a cameo appearance in Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult, in the scene where Leslie Nielsen's character crashes the Academy Awards. In 2001, she had a cameo in the comedy film Legally Blonde with Reese Witherspoon, playing a wealthy ex-wife in court. Also that year, Welch appeared in Tortilla Soup, a family comedy-drama inspired by Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman, playing Hortensia, a domineering mother determined to marry the master chef who thinks he is losing his sense of smell and taste.
Welch starred in Forget About It (2006), a mobster comedy in which Burt Reynolds, Robert Loggia, and Charles Durning competed for her affection. She played a single billionaire grandmother in the romantic comedy How to Be a Latin Lover (2017).
Stage
In December 1972, Welch made her nightclub debut at the Las Vegas Hilton; her act preceded Elvis Presley's. Over the next decade, she took her nightclub act to other venues, and starred in television specials featuring her singing and dancing. She released the dance single "This Girl's Back In Town", which peaked at No. 29 on Billboard's dance club chart in 1988, along with a music video.
In December 1981, Welch starred on Broadway in Woman of the Year for two weeks, filling in for Lauren Bacall in the title role while Bacall was on vacation. Critics were so enthusiastic about Welch's performance, she was invited back to perform the role again for six months in 1982.
In 1997, Welch starred on Broadway in Victor/Victoria, following Julie Andrews and Liza Minnelli in the title role. Theatre critic Jamie Portman wrote that her glamor made Welch "scarcely believable as the vulnerable Victoria and totally unbelievable as the swaggering tuxedoed Victor", but that she at least "earns high marks for valor" for attempting to breathe life into "the misbegotten musical version of Victor/Victoria".
Achievements and awards
In 1975, Welch won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy for The Three Musketeers. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the television drama Right to Die (1987). In 1996, Welch received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2001, she was awarded the Imagen Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for her positive promotion of Americans of Latin heritage throughout her career. In 2012, the Film Society of Lincoln Center presented a special retrospective of the films of Welch at the Walter Reade Theater.
Beauty and business career
The Raquel Welch Total Beauty and Fitness Program book and videos were first released in 1984. The book, written by Welch with photographs by André Weinfeld, includes a hatha yoga fitness program, her views on healthy living and nutrition, as well as beauty and personal style. The Multi-Platinum collection of Fitness and Yoga videos were produced and directed by André Weinfeld. As a businesswoman, Welch succeeded with her signature line of wigs. She also began a jewelry and skincare line, although neither of those ventures compared to the success of her wig collection HAIRuWEAR.
In January 2007, Welch was selected as the newest face of MAC Cosmetics Beauty Icon series. Her line features several limited-edition makeup shades in glossy black and tiger-print packaging. The tiger print motif of the collection celebrates Welch's feline and sensuous image: "strong and wild, yet sultry and exotic".
Her personal beauty regime included abstinence from alcohol and tobacco; daily yoga; and moisturising with Bag Balm.
Personal life
Marriages and relationships
Welch married her high school sweetheart, James Welch, in Las Vegas on May 8, 1959. They had two children, Damon (born November 6, 1959) and Tahnee (born December 26, 1961). The couple separated in 1962 and divorced in 1964; she retained the surname Welch for the rest of her life.
She married publicist Patrick Curtis in Paris on February 14, 1967, and they divorced on January 6, 1972. Curtis later said to the tabloid newspapers that Welch had had an abortion during their marriage. Spanish media reported that during the shooting of 100 Rifles in Spain in 1968, Welch, while married to Curtis, had a relationship with Spanish actor Sancho Gracia, who had a small role in the film, and that Welch's husband, upon finding out about the affair, chased Gracia at gunpoint through the hotel where they were staying in Aguadulce.
Subsequent boyfriends included football player Joe Namath, producer Robert Evans and comedian Freddie Prinze.
On July 5, 1980, she married producer André Weinfeld in Cabo San Lucas. In early February 1983, while vacationing in Mustique, Welch suffered a miscarriage three months into her pregnancy. Her marriage to Weinfeld ended in August 1990.
In 1996, after keeping a low romantic profile for several years, she dated former British boxing champion Gary Stretch, who was younger than Welch's children.
Richie Palmer, co-owner of Mulberry Street Pizzeria, who had one son from a previous marriage, broke off his engagement with business partner and actress Cathy Moriarty to pursue Welch in October 1997. In July 17, 1999, they married at her home in Beverly Hills; they separated in August 2003 and divorced a year later.
In 2011, Welch told Elle magazine she would not remarry. Her last known relationship, during the early-to-mid-2010s, was with American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe.
Religion
Welch was Presbyterian, the religion of her childhood, and had said, "I remembered the wonderful sense of peace I'd felt when sitting under the protection and grace of my mother's faith." She was a faithful member of Calvary Presbyterian Church, a Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) congregation in Glendale, which she described as a "beautiful little church" where the people "weren't Hollywood types. They were modest, unassuming, cheerful and friendly. They welcomed me." Welch said her faith helped her after the death of her mother, a devout Presbyterian, and her sister's recovery from cancer.
Public image
While her image in the 1960s was that of a torrid sex temptress, Welch's private life was quite different. Welch once famously said, "What I do on the screen is not to be equated with what I do in my private life. Privately, I am understated and dislike any hoopla." She also said, "I was not brought up to be a sex symbol, nor is it in my nature to be one. The fact that I became one is probably the loveliest, most glamorous, and fortunate misunderstanding."
Welch posed for Playboy magazine in 1979, but she never did a fully nude shoot. Hugh Hefner later wrote, "Raquel Welch, one of the last of the classic sex symbols, came from the era when you could be considered the sexiest woman in the world without taking your clothes off. She declined to do complete nudity, and I yielded gracefully. The pictures prove her point." Welch refused to take all her clothes off on screen or pose naked throughout her five-decade career, saying this was the way she was brought up.
Political views
Welch showed support for the Vietnam War troops, appearing at United Service Organizations (USO) shows in 1967, often with Bob Hope.
Welch appeared in 2011 on Your World with Neil Cavuto, briefly discussing the conservative candidates choices during political debates for the 2012 election and that she doesn’t discuss politics very much in Hollywood.
In 2014, during an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor, Welch described herself as being on the conservative side, attributing it to her upbringing and her mother's Midwestern values. In 2015, Welch attended a gathering for the Republican Jewish Coalition in Beverly Hills.
Death
Welch died from cardiac arrest on February 15, 2023, at her home in Los Angeles. She was 82. At the time of her death, Welch was also suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Legacy
Welch helped transform America's feminine ideal into its current state. Her beautiful looks and eroticism made her the definitive 1960s and 1970s sex icon, rather than the blonde bombshell of the late 1950s as typified by Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and others. Welch became a star in the mid-1960s and was exotic, brunette, and smolderingly sexual. Her countless publicity photos helped to popularize her image, dress style, and 1960s and 1970s fashion trends. Welch was among actresses who made big hair popular.
In popular culture
Welch is mentioned in the 1970 song "Raquel Welch" by Shel Silverstein and in the 1971 song, "One's on the Way" also written by Silverstein but made popular by Loretta Lynn. Welch is also mentioned in "Unknown Stuntman", the theme song to The Fall Guy, starring Lee Majors, who also recorded the song. She is also mentioned in the Al Jarreau song "Love Is Real" from the Grammy-winning 1980 album This Time, where Jarreau sings "Raquel and Redford are the tops". Welch is also mentioned in the Tori Amos song "Glory of the 80's" from her 1999 album To Venus and Back, referencing Amos's experience as a background dancer in a Crystal Light commercial starring Welch with the lyric: "Auditioning for reptiles in their Raquel Welsh campaign."
In the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption, the poster in Andy Dufresne's cell that hid his escape tunnel was the famous pinup image of Welch in One Million Years B.C..
Filmography
Film
Television
Stage
Selected discography
Album appearances
Singles
Books
Raquel Welch: Raquel: The Raquel Welch Total Beauty and Fitness Program, Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (October 1, 1984), ISBN 978-0-03069-549-0
Raquel Welch: Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage, Publisher: Weinstein Books (March 29, 2010), ISBN 978-1-60286-097-1
See also
Fur bikini of Raquel Welch
References
External links
Raquel Welch at IMDb
Raquel Welch discography at Discogs
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Jo Raquel Welch (née Tejada; September 5, 1940 – February 15, 2023) was an American actress. Welch first gained attention for her role in Fantastic Voyage (1966), after which she signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer Film Productions, for whom she made One Million Years B.C. (1966). Although Welch had only three lines of dialogue in the film, images of her in the doe-skin bikini became bestselling posters that turned her into an international sex symbol. She later starred in Bedazzled (1967), Bandolero! (1968), 100 Rifles (1969), Myra Breckinridge (1970), Hannie Caulder (1971), Kansas City Bomber (1972), The Last of Sheila (1973), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Wild Party (1975), and Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976). She made several television variety specials.
Through her portrayal of strong female characters, helping her break the mold of the traditional sex symbol, Welch developed a unique film persona that made her an icon of the 1960s and 1970s. Her rise to stardom in the mid-1960s was partly credited with ending Hollywood's vigorous promotion of the blonde bombshell. Her love scene with Jim Brown in 100 Rifles also made cinematic history with their portrayal of interracial intimacy. She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy in 1974 for her performance as Constance Bonacieux in The Three Musketeers and reprised the role in its sequel the following year. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Television Film for her performance in Right to Die (1987). Her final film was How to Be a Latin Lover (2017). In 1995, Welch was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History". Playboy ranked Welch No. 3 on their "100 Sexiest Stars of the Twentieth Century" list.
Early life
Welch was born Jo Raquel Tejada on September 5, 1940, in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to San Diego, California, at age two with her family. She was the first child of Josephine Sarah Hall and Armando Carlos Tejada Urquizo. Her mother was of English descent with ancestors tracing back to the Mayflower; she was the daughter of Clara Louise Adams and architect Emery Stanford Hall. Her father was an aeronautical engineer from La Paz, Bolivia, of Spanish descent; he was the son of Raquel Urquizo and Agustin Tejada. Her cousin, Bolivian politician Lidia Gueiler Tejada, became the first female president of Bolivia and the second female non-royal head of state in the Americas. Welch had a younger brother, James ("Jim"), and a younger sister, Gayle.
Welch was raised in the Presbyterian religion and attended Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church every Sunday with her family. As a young girl, Welch had the desire to be a performer and entertainer. She began studying ballet at age seven, but after ten years of study, she left the art at seventeen when her instructor told her she did not have the right body type for professional ballet companies. At age 14, she won beauty titles as Miss Photogenic and Miss Contour. While attending La Jolla High School she won the title of Miss La Jolla and the title of Miss San Diego – the Fairest of the Fair – at the San Diego County Fair. This long line of beauty contests eventually led to the state title of Maid of California. Her parents divorced when she finished school.
Welch graduated with honors from high school in 1958. Seeking an acting career, she entered San Diego State College on a theater arts scholarship, and the following year she married her high school sweetheart, James Welch, with whom she had two children. She assumed his last name and kept it throughout her life. She won several parts in local theater productions.
In 1960, Welch got a job as a weather presenter at KFMB, a local San Diego television station. Because her family life and television duties were so demanding, she decided to give up her drama classes. She separated from James Welch, and moved with her two children to Dallas, Texas, where she made a "precarious living" as a model for Neiman Marcus and as a cocktail waitress.
Career
1964–1966: Early works and breakthrough
Welch originally intended to move to New York City from Dallas, but moved back to Los Angeles in 1963 and started applying for roles with film studios. During this period she met one-time child actor and Hollywood agent Patrick Curtis, who became her personal and business manager. They developed a plan to turn Welch into a sex symbol. To avoid typecasting as a Latina, he convinced her to use her ex-husband's surname. She was cast in small roles in two films, A House Is Not a Home (1964) and the Elvis Presley musical Roustabout (1964). She also had small roles on the television series Bewitched, McHale's Navy and The Virginian, and appeared on the weekly variety series The Hollywood Palace as a billboard girl and presenter. She was one of many actresses who auditioned for the role of Mary Ann Summers on the television series Gilligan's Island.
Welch's first featured role was in the beach film A Swingin' Summer (1965). She won the Deb Star that year, while her photo in a Life magazine layout called "The End of the Great Girl Drought!" created a buzz around town. She was strongly considered for the role of Domino in Thunderball and was also noticed by the wife of producer Saul David, who recommended her to 20th Century Fox, which signed her to a seven-year non-exclusive contract covering five pictures over the next five years and two floaters. Studio executives considered changing her name to "Debbie", thought easier to pronounce than "Raquel"; she refused, wanting her real name "Raquel Welch". After screen testing for Saul David's Our Man Flint, she was cast in a leading role in David's sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage (1966), in which she portrayed a member of a medical team that is miniaturized and injected into the body of an injured scientist with the mission to save his life. The film was a hit and made her a star.
Fox loaned Welch to Hammer Studios in Britain where she starred in the science fiction film One Million Years B.C. (1966), a remake of the Hal Roach film One Million B.C. (1940). Her only costume was a two-piece deerskin bikini; she was described as "wearing mankind's first bikini" and the fur bikini was described as a "definitive look of the 1960s". The New York Times hailed her in its review of the film, released in the UK in 1966 and in the U.S. in 1967, as a "marvelous breathing monument to womankind". One author said, "although she had only three lines in the film, her luscious figure in a fur bikini made her a star and the dream girl of millions of young moviegoers". A publicity still of her in the bikini became a bestselling poster and turned her into an instant pin-up girl. The film raised Welch's stature as a leading sex symbol of the era. In 2011, Time magazine listed Welch's B.C. bikini in the "Top Ten Bikinis in Pop Culture".
In 1966, Welch starred with Marcello Mastroianni in the Italian crime film Shoot Loud, Louder... I Don't Understand for Joseph E. Levine. The same year, she appeared in the film Sex Quartet as Elena in the segment "Fata Elena". She was the only American in the cast of the anthology comedy film The Oldest Profession (1967); her segment was directed by Michael Pfleghar. In Italy, she also appeared in a heist film for MGM, The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968). It co-starred Edward G. Robinson, who said of Welch, "I must say she has quite a body. She has been the product of a good publicity campaign. I hope she lives up to it because a body will only take you so far."
1967–1979: International stardom
Her first starring vehicle, the British Modesty Blaise-style spy film Fathom (1967), was filmed in Spain for 20th Century Fox. Second unit director Peter Medak said Welch "was at that time quite inexperienced, exactly like one of those American drum majorettes. But she tried very hard and went to see the rushes each day, gradually improving. 'Who's this dumb broad?' people used to say. But I said: 'You wait. I'll bet she makes it.' I liked her very much because she was such a genuine person. And she had a beautiful body which always helps." Welch said her role was "a blown up Barbie doll". Reviewing her performance, the Los Angeles Times film critic said that "each new Raquel Welch picture brings further proof that when Maria Montez died they didn't break the mold. Like Maria, Raquel can't act from here to there, but both ladies seem to have been born to be photographed ... this sappiest of spy pictures."
At this stage, Welch owed Fox four films, at one a year. She and Curtis also established their own production company, Curtwel. Fox wanted Welch to play Jennifer in their adaptation of Valley of the Dolls but she refused, wanting to play the role of Neely O'Hara. The studio was not interested, casting Patty Duke; Sharon Tate played Jennifer North.
In England, she appeared as Lust incarnate in the Peter Cook–Dudley Moore comedy, Bedazzled (1967), a Swinging Sixties retelling of the Faust legend. It was popular, as was the Western, Bandolero! (1968), which was shot in Del Rio, Texas, at the Alamo Village. She co-starred with James Stewart and Dean Martin. "I think she's going to stack up all right," Stewart said of Welch. "No one is going to shout, 'Wow it's Anne Bancroft all over again'," said Welch of her performance, "but at least I'm not Miss Sexpot running around half naked all the time."
In 1968, Welch appeared with Frank Sinatra in the detective film Lady in Cement, a sequel to the film Tony Rome (1967). She played the socialite Kit Forrest, the romantic interest of Tony Rome. Welch later said wittily that she caught the film from time to time and realized only later that Kit Forrest was an alcoholic: "I'm watching this movie and I'm thinking, 'What the hell has she got on?' At one point, I had this epiphany: 'Oh, she's an alcoholic!' I didn't know that. How could I miss that?" She reportedly was so smitten with Sinatra that she forgot to act: "I think I was just so enamored with Frank Sinatra, you know. He's hypnotic."
Welch starred as a freedom fighter leader in 100 Rifles, a 1969 western directed by Tom Gries and filmed in Almería, Spain. It also starred Jim Brown, Burt Reynolds, and Fernando Lamas. The film provoked publicity and controversy at the time because it included a love scene between Welch and Brown that breached Hollywood's taboo against onscreen interracial intimacy. The film is remembered for the spectacular "Shower Scene" in which Welch distracts the soldiers on the train by taking a shower at a water tower along the tracks. The director, Gries, tried hard to convince Welch to do the scene naked, but she refused. It was one of the many instances Welch resisted going nude on-screen and pushed back for years against producers who wanted her to act or pose nude. In 1969, Welch also starred in the thriller Flareup and had a supporting role in the dark comedy The Magic Christian.
Welch's most controversial role came in Myra Breckinridge (1970). She took the role of the film's transsexual heroine in an attempt to be taken seriously as an actress. The production was characterized by animosity between Welch and Mae West, who walked out of the film for three days. The film was based on Gore Vidal's controversial bestseller about a man who becomes a woman through surgery. The film's producer Robert Fryer stated: "If a man were going to become a woman, he would want to become the most beautiful woman in the world. He would become Raquel Welch".
Her looks and fame led Playboy to dub her the "Most Desired Woman" of the 1970s. Welch presented at the Academy Awards ceremony several times during the 1970s due to her popularity. She accepted the Best Supporting Actress Oscar on behalf of fellow actress Goldie Hawn when Hawn could not be there to accept it.
On April 26, 1970, CBS released her television special Raquel! On the day of the premiere, the show received a 51 percent share on the National ARB Ratings and an overnight New York Nielsen rating of 58 percent share. Also that year Welch starred in The Beloved with co-star Richard Johnson, which she co-produced and filmed in Cyprus.
In 1971, Welch had the title role in Hannie Caulder, a Western produced by Tigon and Curtwel, which was shot in Spain. Welch was one of the few actresses, and one of the earliest, who had a lead role in a Western film. Hannie Caulder was a significant influence on later revenge films, with director Quentin Tarantino citing it as an inspiration for his 2003 film, Kill Bill: Volume 1.
The following year, in 1972, Welch starred in Kansas City Bomber, in which she played a hardened derby star and single mother who tries to balance her desire for a happy personal life and her dreams of stardom. Life magazine dubbed Welch the "hottest thing on wheels" for her role. The production of the film shut down for six weeks after Welch broke her wrist doing some of her own stunts. In the interim, she flew to Budapest and filmed a cameo in Bluebeard opposite Richard Burton, and was photographed at a lavish party thrown by Burton for his then-wife Elizabeth Taylor's fortieth birthday, even though Taylor had specifically uninvited her. Despite not being considered a critical success, Kansas City Bomber was noted for its depiction of gender relations in the early 1970s. In a 2012 interview with GQ, Welch reflected on the roller derby world depicted in the film: "You have all those women out there, but the men in the front office are really running it. Which I thought was a really nice metaphor for the way a lot of women felt about their lives at that time." Also in 1972, Welch reunited with Burt Reynolds for the detective film Fuzz.
In 1973, Welch acted in two films: The Last of Sheila and The Three Musketeers. The latter – for which she won a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Comedy – spawned a sequel, The Four Musketeers (1974). Welch was offered the title role in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), which earned an Oscar for its eventual star Ellen Burstyn; she also turned down the chance to play Honey Bruce in the biographical film Lenny (1974), a part that went to Valerie Perrine. In 1975, Welch appeared in The Wild Party and also performed a duet with Cher, singing "I'm a Woman" on an episode of The Cher Show. She then co-starred with Bill Cosby and Harvey Keitel in the action comedy Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976), directed by Peter Yates. Welch's character, promoted from Dispatcher to Emergency Medical Technician after threatening a sexual discrimination lawsuit, is an early example of feminism and equal pay for equal work as she breaks the "glass ceiling" doing a "man's work".
In 1977, Welch acted in the French film Animal, co-starring with Jean-Paul Belmondo. She also starred in the British swashbuckling adventure The Prince and the Pauper. Welch made a guest appearance on The Muppet Show in 1978, where she sang "I'm a Woman" with Miss Piggy. The following year, Welch guest-starred as Captain Nirvana, an alien bounty hunter, in an episode of Mork & Mindy titled "Mork vs. the Necrotons".
1980–2017: Subsequent projects and later years
Television
In 1982, Welch starred in the Western The Legend of Walks Far Woman for NBC. Billed as her "first TV movie dramatic debut", Welch played a 19th-century Native American woman in Montana. In the summer of 1982, Welch was among the candidates considered for the role of Alexis Carrington on the ABC primetime drama Dynasty, along with Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren, before the producers settled on Joan Collins.
In 1987, Welch starred in the television drama Right to Die, an "unglamorous" role in which she portrayed a college professor and mother of two stricken with Lou Gehrig's disease, and asks to die with dignity.
Welch starred in the made-for-television films Scandal in a Small Town (1988), Trouble in Paradise (1989), and Torch Song (1993). In 1995, she was a guest star in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. In the Season 2 episode "Top Copy", Welch played a television reporter and assassin who threatens to expose Clark's identity as Superman.
In 1996, Welch joined the cast of the night-time soap opera Central Park West, after CBS had already slated it for cancellation, as creator Darren Star made a final attempt to save the show by boosting its ratings late in its first season. She was a guest star on the American comedy series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1997), playing Sabrina's flamboyant Aunt Vesta from the realm called the Pleasuredome.
Welch acted in the Season 8 finale of the comedy series Seinfeld, titled "The Summer of George" (1997), playing an exaggerated and highly temperamental version of herself. In the episode, ranked by Zap2it as one of the top 10 episodes of Seinfeld, series character Kramer is forced to fire Welch from the lead role in a fictional Tony Award-winning musical called "Scarsdale Surprise", while the character Elaine gets into a "catfight" with her after a chance encounter on the street. Entertainment Weekly wrote, "By delivering a pitch-perfect performance as a fire-breathing prima donna, Welch also poked fun at her reputation (fairly earned or not) for being difficult to work with."
In 2002, Welch co-starred in the PBS series American Family, a story about a Mexican American family in East Los Angeles, with Edward James Olmos. Her role as Aunt Dora, the "drama queen of the family", marked the first time in her 40-year career that Welch had acknowledged her heritage as a Latina.
In 2008, Welch appeared in Welcome to The Captain on CBS, playing a "sultry actress"; according to one critic, she was "spoofing herself". She guest starred on CSI: Miami in 2012 and played Aunt Lucia in the 2013 Lifetime original movie House of Versace. In 2015, she portrayed Miss Sally May Anderson in the television drama The Ultimate Legacy.
Welch played the mother-in-law of Barry Watson's character in a Canadian sitcom titled Date My Dad (2017) where she reunited with Robert Wagner on screen, five decades after starring together in The Biggest Bundle of Them All.
Film
Welch was due to star in a 1982 adaptation of John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, but was abruptly fired by the producers a few weeks into production. The studio claimed she had breached her contract by not attending a required morning makeup session, and she was replaced by Debra Winger, not yet a big star, who was paid less. By firing her in this way Welch could be replaced without the studio having to buy out the remaining $194,000 of her $250,000 contract. Welch sued MGM for $20m for breach of contract. Studio executives claimed in testimony the reason Welch was following through with the trial was that she was an actress over 40, an age at which actresses could usually no longer get roles. Welch's evidence at trial proved there was a conspiracy to falsely blame her for the film's budget problems and delays; the jury sided with Welch and awarded her $10.8 million against MGM in 1986. Welch said that she thought the judgment was for "more money than the movie actually grossed".
Despite winning the case, Welch said she wished the whole episode had never happened. "I just wanted to clear my reputation and get back to my work, my work in movies", she said. She said that the incident ruined her career and perpetuated the notion that she was a difficult actress to work with; she was blackballed by the industry and the incident affected the remainder of her film career.
In 1994, Welch made a cameo appearance in Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult, in the scene where Leslie Nielsen's character crashes the Academy Awards. In 2001, she had a cameo in the comedy film Legally Blonde with Reese Witherspoon, playing a wealthy ex-wife in court. Also that year, Welch appeared in Tortilla Soup, a family comedy-drama inspired by Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman, playing Hortensia, a domineering mother determined to marry the master chef who thinks he is losing his sense of smell and taste.
Welch starred in Forget About It (2006), a mobster comedy in which Burt Reynolds, Robert Loggia, and Charles Durning competed for her affection. She played a single billionaire grandmother in the romantic comedy How to Be a Latin Lover (2017).
Stage
In December 1972, Welch made her nightclub debut at the Las Vegas Hilton; her act preceded Elvis Presley's. Over the next decade, she took her nightclub act to other venues, and starred in television specials featuring her singing and dancing. She released the dance single "This Girl's Back In Town", which peaked at No. 29 on Billboard's dance club chart in 1988, along with a music video.
In December 1981, Welch starred on Broadway in Woman of the Year for two weeks, filling in for Lauren Bacall in the title role while Bacall was on vacation. Critics were so enthusiastic about Welch's performance, she was invited back to perform the role again for six months in 1982.
In 1997, Welch starred on Broadway in Victor/Victoria, following Julie Andrews and Liza Minnelli in the title role. Theatre critic Jamie Portman wrote that her glamor made Welch "scarcely believable as the vulnerable Victoria and totally unbelievable as the swaggering tuxedoed Victor", but that she at least "earns high marks for valor" for attempting to breathe life into "the misbegotten musical version of Victor/Victoria".
Achievements and awards
In 1975, Welch won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy for The Three Musketeers. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the television drama Right to Die (1987). In 1996, Welch received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2001, she was awarded the Imagen Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for her positive promotion of Americans of Latin heritage throughout her career. In 2012, the Film Society of Lincoln Center presented a special retrospective of the films of Welch at the Walter Reade Theater.
Beauty and business career
The Raquel Welch Total Beauty and Fitness Program book and videos were first released in 1984. The book, written by Welch with photographs by André Weinfeld, includes a hatha yoga fitness program, her views on healthy living and nutrition, as well as beauty and personal style. The Multi-Platinum collection of Fitness and Yoga videos were produced and directed by André Weinfeld. As a businesswoman, Welch succeeded with her signature line of wigs. She also began a jewelry and skincare line, although neither of those ventures compared to the success of her wig collection HAIRuWEAR.
In January 2007, Welch was selected as the newest face of MAC Cosmetics Beauty Icon series. Her line features several limited-edition makeup shades in glossy black and tiger-print packaging. The tiger print motif of the collection celebrates Welch's feline and sensuous image: "strong and wild, yet sultry and exotic".
Her personal beauty regime included abstinence from alcohol and tobacco; daily yoga; and moisturising with Bag Balm.
Personal life
Marriages and relationships
Welch married her high school sweetheart, James Welch, in Las Vegas on May 8, 1959. They had two children, Damon (born November 6, 1959) and Tahnee (born December 26, 1961). The couple separated in 1962 and divorced in 1964; she retained the surname Welch for the rest of her life.
She married publicist Patrick Curtis in Paris on February 14, 1967, and they divorced on January 6, 1972. Curtis later said to the tabloid newspapers that Welch had had an abortion during their marriage. Spanish media reported that during the shooting of 100 Rifles in Spain in 1968, Welch, while married to Curtis, had a relationship with Spanish actor Sancho Gracia, who had a small role in the film, and that Welch's husband, upon finding out about the affair, chased Gracia at gunpoint through the hotel where they were staying in Aguadulce.
Subsequent boyfriends included football player Joe Namath, producer Robert Evans and comedian Freddie Prinze.
On July 5, 1980, she married producer André Weinfeld in Cabo San Lucas. In early February 1983, while vacationing in Mustique, Welch suffered a miscarriage three months into her pregnancy. Her marriage to Weinfeld ended in August 1990.
In 1996, after keeping a low romantic profile for several years, she dated former British boxing champion Gary Stretch, who was younger than Welch's children.
Richie Palmer, co-owner of Mulberry Street Pizzeria, who had one son from a previous marriage, broke off his engagement with business partner and actress Cathy Moriarty to pursue Welch in October 1997. In July 17, 1999, they married at her home in Beverly Hills; they separated in August 2003 and divorced a year later.
In 2011, Welch told Elle magazine she would not remarry. Her last known relationship, during the early-to-mid-2010s, was with American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe.
Religion
Welch was Presbyterian, the religion of her childhood, and had said, "I remembered the wonderful sense of peace I'd felt when sitting under the protection and grace of my mother's faith." She was a faithful member of Calvary Presbyterian Church, a Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) congregation in Glendale, which she described as a "beautiful little church" where the people "weren't Hollywood types. They were modest, unassuming, cheerful and friendly. They welcomed me." Welch said her faith helped her after the death of her mother, a devout Presbyterian, and her sister's recovery from cancer.
Public image
While her image in the 1960s was that of a torrid sex temptress, Welch's private life was quite different. Welch once famously said, "What I do on the screen is not to be equated with what I do in my private life. Privately, I am understated and dislike any hoopla." She also said, "I was not brought up to be a sex symbol, nor is it in my nature to be one. The fact that I became one is probably the loveliest, most glamorous, and fortunate misunderstanding."
Welch posed for Playboy magazine in 1979, but she never did a fully nude shoot. Hugh Hefner later wrote, "Raquel Welch, one of the last of the classic sex symbols, came from the era when you could be considered the sexiest woman in the world without taking your clothes off. She declined to do complete nudity, and I yielded gracefully. The pictures prove her point." Welch refused to take all her clothes off on screen or pose naked throughout her five-decade career, saying this was the way she was brought up.
Political views
Welch showed support for the Vietnam War troops, appearing at United Service Organizations (USO) shows in 1967, often with Bob Hope.
Welch appeared in 2011 on Your World with Neil Cavuto, briefly discussing the conservative candidates choices during political debates for the 2012 election and that she doesn’t discuss politics very much in Hollywood.
In 2014, during an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor, Welch described herself as being on the conservative side, attributing it to her upbringing and her mother's Midwestern values. In 2015, Welch attended a gathering for the Republican Jewish Coalition in Beverly Hills.
Death
Welch died from cardiac arrest on February 15, 2023, at her home in Los Angeles. She was 82. At the time of her death, Welch was also suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Legacy
Welch helped transform America's feminine ideal into its current state. Her beautiful looks and eroticism made her the definitive 1960s and 1970s sex icon, rather than the blonde bombshell of the late 1950s as typified by Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and others. Welch became a star in the mid-1960s and was exotic, brunette, and smolderingly sexual. Her countless publicity photos helped to popularize her image, dress style, and 1960s and 1970s fashion trends. Welch was among actresses who made big hair popular.
In popular culture
Welch is mentioned in the 1970 song "Raquel Welch" by Shel Silverstein and in the 1971 song, "One's on the Way" also written by Silverstein but made popular by Loretta Lynn. Welch is also mentioned in "Unknown Stuntman", the theme song to The Fall Guy, starring Lee Majors, who also recorded the song. She is also mentioned in the Al Jarreau song "Love Is Real" from the Grammy-winning 1980 album This Time, where Jarreau sings "Raquel and Redford are the tops". Welch is also mentioned in the Tori Amos song "Glory of the 80's" from her 1999 album To Venus and Back, referencing Amos's experience as a background dancer in a Crystal Light commercial starring Welch with the lyric: "Auditioning for reptiles in their Raquel Welsh campaign."
In the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption, the poster in Andy Dufresne's cell that hid his escape tunnel was the famous pinup image of Welch in One Million Years B.C..
Filmography
Film
Television
Stage
Selected discography
Album appearances
Singles
Books
Raquel Welch: Raquel: The Raquel Welch Total Beauty and Fitness Program, Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (October 1, 1984), ISBN 978-0-03069-549-0
Raquel Welch: Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage, Publisher: Weinstein Books (March 29, 2010), ISBN 978-1-60286-097-1
See also
Fur bikini of Raquel Welch
References
External links
Raquel Welch at IMDb
Raquel Welch discography at Discogs
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Lenny Kravitz
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Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His debut album Let Love Rule (1989) was characterized by a blend of rock, funk, reggae, hard rock, soul, and R&B, along with his subsequent releases.
Kravitz has had hit singles, including "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" (1991) and "Again" (2000), both of which peaked within the Billboard Hot 100's top ten. His other hits include "Let Love Rule" (1989), "Always on the Run" (1991), "Are You Gonna Go My Way" (1993), "Fly Away" (1998), and "American Woman" (1999), all of which peaked within the top ten of the Alternative Airplay chart. Kravitz has won several awards, including the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, which he received four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, breaking the record for most wins in that category, and setting the record for most consecutive wins in one category by a male performer. Kravitz has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and was ranked 93 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".
Aside from his music career, Kravitz has acted in films including Precious (2009) and the first two installments of The Hunger Games film series (2012–13). In addition, he also founded the creative studio Kravitz Design Inc. Kravitz was previously married to Lisa Bonet, with whom he has a daughter, Zoë Kravitz.
Early life
Kravitz was born on May 26, 1964, in New York City, the only child of NBC television news producer Sy Kravitz (1924–2005) and actress Roxie Roker (1929–1995). His mother came from a Christian family that was of African American and Bahamian descent. His grandfather was Russian-Jewish. Kravitz's paternal grandparents emigrated to the United States from Kiev. Through his mother, Kravitz is a second cousin of television weather presenter Al Roker, as their grandfathers were brothers. Kravitz was named after his uncle, Leonard M. Kravitz, a private first class who was killed in action in the Korean War at the age of 20, while single-handedly holding off a Chinese attack, enabling most of his platoon to escape.
During his early years, Kravitz did not grow up in a religious environment. After a spiritual experience when he was 13, he started attending church and later became a non-denominational Christian. Kravitz grew up spending weekdays on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with his parents, attending P.S. 6 for elementary school, and spending weekends at his grandmother Bessie's house in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Kravitz began banging on pots and pans in the kitchen, playing them as drums at the age of three. He decided that he wanted to be a musician at the age of five. He began playing the drums and soon added guitar. He grew up listening to the music his parents listened to: R&B, jazz, classical, opera, gospel, and blues. He said, "My parents were very supportive of the fact that I loved music early on, and they took me to a lot of shows." Around the age of seven, he saw the Jackson 5 perform at Madison Square Garden, and they became his favorite performers. His father, who was a jazz promoter, was friends with Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Short, Miles Davis, and other jazz greats; Ellington played "Happy Birthday" for him on his fifth birthday.
In 1974, at the age of 10, Kravitz relocated to Los Angeles with his parents when his mother landed her role on The Jeffersons. At his mother's urging, he joined the California Boys Choir for three years, where he performed a classical repertoire, and sang with the Metropolitan Opera. He took part in Mahler's Third Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl. It was in Los Angeles that Kravitz was introduced to rock music, listening to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Kiss, Pink Floyd, and the Who, and he said he was "attracted to the cool style, the girls, the rock 'n' roll lifestyle." During his junior high school years, he was also introduced to marijuana; he has stated that he was a "pothead" during his youth. His other musical influences at the time included Fela Kuti, Bill Withers, Marvin Gaye, Pharoah Sanders, and Miles Davis. Later influences came in the form of John Lennon and Bob Marley. Kravitz attended Beverly Hills High School, where he was classmates with Maria McKee, Nicolas Cage, and Slash. He taught himself to play piano and bass and made friends with Zoro, who would later become his long-time collaborator. His parents divorced in 1985.
Career
1985–1990: Virgin Records and career debut
With record labels reportedly telling him his music was not "black enough" or "white enough", Kravitz decided to record an album on his own under the name Romeo Blue. Kravitz had met the recording engineer, keyboardist, and bassist Henry Hirsch in 1985 when recording a demo at his Hoboken, New Jersey, recording studio. The two shared an interest in using real instruments and vintage recording equipment, as well as a love of R&B, jazz, and rock. Kravitz would go on to collaborate with Hirsch on most of his albums. Kravitz began working on his debut album with Hirsch over the next year and a half, with Kravitz's father paying for the studio time. Kravitz met saxophonist Karl Denson and invited him to play on the song "Let Love Rule". Kravitz was so impressed with his playing that Denson played on much of the album. Beginning in the late 1980s, Denson toured with Kravitz for five years.
In October 1988, after completing most of the recording, Kravitz approached friend Stephen Elvis Smith, who had served as the music supervisor on Lisa Bonet's The Cosby Show spin-off A Different World. Smith had also worked with Kravitz's mother on the hit sitcom The Jeffersons. Kravitz urged Smith to manage his career and assist him in finding a record deal. In less than a month of shopping the recordings, five labels (Warner Bros, Elektra, Geffen, Capitol, and Virgin) were in a bidding war for Kravitz. Eventually, a deal was made with Virgin Records in January 1989, and signed by Virgin A&R executive Nancy Jeffries. The label was "excited" about the music he was making, music inspired by his relationship with wife Bonet and their new daughter, Zoe. On Smith's urging, Kravitz dropped the name Romeo Blue and reclaimed the Lenny Kravitz moniker. About his time as Romeo Blue, Kravitz said, "Ultimately, it got me back to myself. And when I finally did accept myself for myself, music started flowing out of me."
Kravitz released his debut album Let Love Rule in 1989, a combination of rock and funk with a 1960s vibe. Music critics were mixed: some felt Kravitz was a gifted new artist, others felt he was overpowered by his musical influences. The album was a moderate success in the United States, but became an instant hit outside of the US, especially in Europe. Lisa Bonet directed the debut music video for the title track, "Let Love Rule". Stephen Smith signed Kravitz with talent booking agency CAA, who soon were fielding offers for Kravitz, first on a club tour, and then in opening slots for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie. Having played essentially all of the instruments on the album, Kravitz had to quickly assemble a touring band to support the Let Love Rule release. In May 2009, a 20th-anniversary deluxe edition of Let Love Rule was released worldwide by Virgin. Kravitz launched a LLR(20) tour of Europe and the United States in support of the re-release.
1991–2001: Popularity established
In 1990, Kravitz produced the song "Justify My Love" for Madonna, which he co-wrote with Ingrid Chavez. The song appeared on her greatest hits album The Immaculate Collection.
Kravitz separated from Lisa Bonet in 1991, amid rumors of an affair between him and Madonna. Kravitz has denied any infidelity. Kravitz and Bonet divorced in 1993. Kravitz produced the self-titled album Vanessa Paradis (1991) for French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis. He played most of the instruments and co-wrote most of the songs on the album.
In 1991, Kravitz released his second album, Mama Said. The songs on the album were about Bonet and documented his depression over their breakup. The single, "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over", went to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. A second single "Always on the Run", a tribute to his mother, featured Slash on guitar. "Stand by My Woman" and "What Goes Around Comes Around" followed. Sean Lennon co-wrote and played piano on the song "All I Ever Wanted".
His third album, Are You Gonna Go My Way (1993), solidified his global popularity, with the title track topping both the Billboard Album Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts. The song's iconic music video also earned him the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video for 1993.
In 1994, Kravitz recorded "Main Squeeze" with Teena Marie from her Passion Play CD. Kravitz also made a video to pay tribute to Teena Marie when she suddenly died on December 26, 2010. He recorded a funk-rock version of the song "Deuce" for the KISS cover album Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved. The track featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica and background vocals.
With 5 (1998), Kravitz won the first of his four consecutive Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1999. In 1999 he produced and sang with Cree Summer on her solo album Street Faërie.
His cover version of the Guess Who's hit "American Woman" won him another Grammy at the Grammy Awards of 2000 and helped the Guess Who's song reach a new audience. Kravitz's version of the song originally came from the soundtrack of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and was added to 5 as a bonus track in 1999. Kravitz worked on two songs for Michael Jackson's Invincible album released in 2001; a snippet of "Another Day" was leaked, and the full version was officially released on the album Michael in 2010.
Kravitz released a Greatest Hits album in 2000. The single "Again" earned him his third consecutive Grammy for the Best Male Rock Vocal in the Grammy Awards of 2001.
2006–2009: Live Earth, charity work, and It Is Time for a Love Revolution
In January 2006, Kravitz contributed "Breathe" to absoluttracks, a project sponsored by Absolut Vodka. This song was re-mixed by ten musical producers and distributed via the internet. Kravitz appeared in the audience of Madonna's Confessions Tour (2006) during numerous shows. He later joined Madonna live on stage to play guitar on the song, "I Love New York", at the last of four Paris shows. Kravitz founded a design firm named Kravitz Design, stating if he hadn't been a musician he would have been a designer. Kravitz Design, focused on interior and furniture design, has designed residential spaces, as well as a chandelier for the crystal company Swarovski, named "Casino Royale".
On July 7, 2007, Kravitz performed at the Brazilian leg of Live Earth in Rio de Janeiro, making him one of three major international rock stars to perform two huge free concerts at the world-famous Copacabana Beach along with Macy Gray and the Rolling Stones. Kravitz had already played there on March 21, 2005, drawing 300,000 people on a concert of his own. The Live Earth concert, with eight other acts on the bill, including Pharrell and Macy Gray had an audience of 400,000 on the beach. Also in 2007, Kravitz released a version of "Cold Turkey" by John Lennon on the charity CD Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. Kravitz also spent time recording his latest album, It Is Time for a Love Revolution, released February 5, 2008. On September 25, 2007, the Fats Domino tribute album Goin' Home; A Tribute To Fats Domino was released. Kravitz was on the song "Whole Lotta Lovin'" along with Rebirth Brass Band, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, and Maceo Parker.
Kravitz made his feature film acting debut in Precious which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009.
2009–2011: U2 tour and Black and White America
In June 2010 it was announced that Kravitz would guest star on an episode of the upcoming season of Entourage.
In 2011 Kravitz was honored with one of the highest cultural awards in France when he was made an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by French cultural minister Frederic Mitterrand in Paris. Kravitz stated he was "particularly touched" to receive the award in France as his success in the country pre-dated his success in the United States and still enjoys great record sales in the country today. Kravitz joined other American recipients such as Martin Scorsese, George Clooney, and Bob Dylan. On February 26, 2012, he performed at the Daytona International Speedway for the Daytona 500, the opening race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. A sample of "Are You Gonna Go My Way" was used in American singer Chris Willis's single "Too Much In Love", released on August 16, 2011.
2012–present: The Hunger Games films, Super Bowl performance, and further albums
Lenny Kravitz played the part of Katniss's creative stylist, Cinna, in the first two Hunger Games films, The Hunger Games released on March 23, 2012, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire released on November 22, 2013.
In 2014 Lenny Kravitz released his tenth studio album Strut on his own Roxie Records via Kobalt Label Services. In 2015, Kravitz performed alongside Katy Perry at the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show.
During an August 2015 show in Stockholm, Kravitz experienced a wardrobe malfunction. His leather pants ripped open, exposing his penis.
As a designer, Kravitz launched a furniture collection in partnership with CB2 in 2015.
In 2015, he became a furniture designer for the first time ever, launching a collection of furniture products marketed under the label CB2 x Kravitz design through retailer CB2. The collection was apparently inspired by the 70s and by the work of Italian designer Gabriella Crespi.
The Raise Vibration world tour (2018) coincided with the release of his 11th studio album.
In April 2018, Kravitz signed with BMG Rights Management for a new worldwide publishing music deal to go with his new album Raise Vibration, released in September 2018. BMG had acquired Kravitz's music publishing rights in 2013, as part of Virgin Music Publishing.
In 2023, Kravitz wrote and performed a song for the film Rustin entitled "Road to Freedom". The song was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In December 2023, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced shortlists for the 96th Oscars ceremony, and "Road to Freedom" was included in the Best Original Song category. Kravitz won Music Icon of the Year at the 49th People's Choice Awards. In March 2024, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
On May 24, 2024, he released his 12th album, Blue Electric Light, which was supported by a world tour with the same name.
Other work
Photography and collaboration with Leica
Kravitz has partnered with Leica on two occasions: in 2015, a Leica M-P edition titled "The Correspondent", and again in 2019 with a Monochrom edition titled "Drifter". The 2019 collaboration also included a gallery of his own work, which was unveiled on May 24, 2019, and was on display at the Leica Gallery in Wetzlar Germany.
Kravitz Design
Kravitz Design is a New York City–based company founded by Kravitz in 2003. Kravitz Design focuses on commercial, residential and product creative direction and design.
Among its clients are the Morgans Hotel Group, Swarovski Crystal, and The Setai Group. Swarovski selected Kravitz Design in 2005 and 2006 to participate in their Crystal Palace Collection. Kravitz Design also envisioned a luxury recording studio for The Setai Resort and Residences in Miami Beach, New York, Paris, and New Orleans. In 2010, Kravitz Design collaborated with Flavor Paper wallpaper on the Tropicalismo Collection, a line inspired by Brazil's Tropicalia art movement of the late 1960s.
Personal life
In 1985, Kravitz met actress Lisa Bonet backstage at a concert in California. They were close friends for two years before beginning a relationship. In 1987, Kravitz moved back to New York City, to move in with Bonet. They eloped in Las Vegas on November 16, 1987, her 20th birthday. Kravitz, still known as Romeo Blue at the time, found himself in the headlines of tabloids. He and Bonet had a daughter, Zoë Isabella Kravitz, on December 1, 1988, who became an actress, singer and model. Kravitz and Bonet separated in 1991. They divorced amicably in 1993.
Kravitz dated French singer and model Vanessa Paradis from 1991 to 1996. He began dating Brazilian model Adriana Lima in 2001, and they lived together before becoming engaged in 2002. The engagement was called off in August 2003. Lima was featured in the music video for Kravitz's 2002 single "Yesterday Is Gone (My Dear Kay)". He briefly dated and was engaged to Australian actress Nicole Kidman from 2003 to 2004.
Kravitz identifies himself as a Christian in a religious sense "through choice" but stated: "I'm also a Jew. It's all the same to me." During another interview, he stated: "I'm half Jewish, I'm half black, I look in-between." He notes that spirituality "has been an important issue in [his] growth", citing his upbringing by parents of different faiths. Such spirituality is prominently featured in many of his songs, such as the lyrics on his album Baptism, and a tattoo on his back which is inscribed with "My Heart Belongs to Jesus Christ". In 2011, he stated that his 2005 religious commitment to remain celibate until remarriage was unchanged. In a 2014 interview with Men's Health, however, he reconsidered his previous stance. In 2024, Kravitz reaffirmed his desire to remain celibate once again, stating that it was his father's infidelity that inspired him to make a change. "After the marriage, [to ex-wife Lisa Bonet] I became more like him. I was becoming a player... I didn't like it. I didn't want to be that guy. So I had to tackle that and it took years... by taking responsibility. Discipline. Not letting my own desires take over." Kravitz stated in the same interview that he had not been in a romantic relationship for 9 years at that point.
He owns a house in Paris, a farm compound in Brazil, and a trailer with the surrounding land in The Bahamas.
He follows veganism with a primarily raw vegan diet, and uses his land in Brazil and The Bahamas to grow his own food. PETA named Kravitz one of the Most Beautiful Vegan Celebrities of 2022.
On August 25, 2001, singer and actress Aaliyah died in a plane crash in the Bahamas, following the ending of the video shoot to single "Rock the Boat". When the video's choreographer Fatima Robinson and dancers were too afraid to get on their plane to get back to the United States, Kravitz (Robinson's friend) sent his private jet to bring them home.
Legacy
A street has been named after Lenny Kravitz in Saint-Jean-d'Heurs, a rural commune of France.
Discography
Studio albums
Let Love Rule (1989)
Mama Said (1991)
Are You Gonna Go My Way (1993)
Circus (1995)
5 (1998)
Lenny (2001)
Baptism (2004)
It Is Time for a Love Revolution (2008)
Black and White America (2011)
Strut (2014)
Raise Vibration (2018)
Blue Electric Light (2024)
Filmography
Film
Television
Tours
Let Love Rule Tour (1990)
There Is Only One Truth Tour (1991)
Universal Love Tour (1993)
Are You Gonna Go My Way Tour (1994) (opening for The Rolling Stones)
Circus Tour (1995–96)
The Freedom Tour (1998–99)
Lenny Tour (2002)
The Baptism Tour (2004)
Celebration Tour (2005)
Electric Church Tour: One Night Only (2005)
Get on the Bus Mini-Tour (2008)
Love Revolution Tour (2008)
LLR 20(09) Tour (2009)
Black and White Tour (2011)
Strut Tour (2014–15)
Raise Vibration Tour (2018–19)
Here to Love Tour (2020)
Blue Electric Light Tour (2024–25)
Awards and nominations
Grammy Awards
Billboard Music Awards
Other awards and nominations
See also
Category:Works by Lenny Kravitz
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Modern Rock chart
List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
List of artists who reached number one on the Australian singles chart
List of blues musicians
List of Gibson players
List of Number 1 albums from the 1990s (UK)
List of Number 1 singles from the 1990s (UK)
List of performers on Top of the Pops
List of Saturday Night Live hosts and musical guests
Notes
References
General sources
di Martino, Dave. Singer-songwriters: Pop music's performer-composers, from A to Zevon, Billboard Books, 1994.
Gregory, Hugh. 1000 Great Guitarists: Rock, Jazz, Country, Funk ..., Balafon Books, 1994.
la Blanc, Michael (ed.). Contemporary musicians, Vol. 5, Gale Research, 1991.
Larkin, Colin. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Guinness Publishing, 1992.
Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 5th edition, Watson-Guptill Publications, 1992.
Further reading
Anderson, Ashely (November 9, 2000). "Brown eyes blue". The Silhouette. Volume 71, Number 12. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
Cooper, Carol (1990). "Let love rule – Lisa Bonet and husband Lenny Kravitz". Essence. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
Halbersberg, Elianne (November 1, 2004). "Flying (Almost) Solo". Mix. Retrieved on March 13, 2007.
"Behind the Music: Lenny Kravitz". Harper, William & Williams, Paulina (Directors). Behind the Music. VH1. June 27, 1999. Season 2, no. 35.
Henderson, Ashyia N. (2002). Contemporary Black Biography: Profiles from the International Black Community. Gale Group. ISBN 978-0-7876-6049-9.
Pepper, Tracey (July 1998). "Deep joy – musical artist Lenny Kravitz – Interview". Retrieved on March 12, 2007.
"Artist Profile – Lenny Kravitz". EMI Music Publishing. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
"HELLO! Profiles – Lenny Kravitz". Hello!. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
Prato, Greg. Biography of Lenny Kravitz at AllMusic. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
"Romeo Blue Discography, Biography and Links". Mr. Bill's I.R.S. Records Corner. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
Scarlett MacDougal's book series "Have a Nice Life", refers to the main girl's "intergalactic angel/fairy godmother" as a Lenny Kravitz lookalike, though his actual name is Clarence Terence. ISBN 0-14-131020-0
External links
Official website
Lenny Kravitz – The Artists Organization – Management
Lenny Kravitz discography at MusicBrainz
Lenny Kravitz discography at Discogs
Lenny Kravitz at IMDb
"Lenny Kravitz: Ice Ice Lenny"—interview by Pete Lewis, Blues & Soul no. 1096, July 2009
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Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His debut album Let Love Rule (1989) was characterized by a blend of rock, funk, reggae, hard rock, soul, and R&B, along with his subsequent releases.
Kravitz has had hit singles, including "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" (1991) and "Again" (2000), both of which peaked within the Billboard Hot 100's top ten. His other hits include "Let Love Rule" (1989), "Always on the Run" (1991), "Are You Gonna Go My Way" (1993), "Fly Away" (1998), and "American Woman" (1999), all of which peaked within the top ten of the Alternative Airplay chart. Kravitz has won several awards, including the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, which he received four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, breaking the record for most wins in that category, and setting the record for most consecutive wins in one category by a male performer. Kravitz has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and was ranked 93 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".
Aside from his music career, Kravitz has acted in films including Precious (2009) and the first two installments of The Hunger Games film series (2012–13). In addition, he also founded the creative studio Kravitz Design Inc. Kravitz was previously married to Lisa Bonet, with whom he has a daughter, Zoë Kravitz.
Early life
Kravitz was born on May 26, 1964, in New York City, the only child of NBC television news producer Sy Kravitz (1924–2005) and actress Roxie Roker (1929–1995). His mother came from a Christian family that was of African American and Bahamian descent. His grandfather was Russian-Jewish. Kravitz's paternal grandparents emigrated to the United States from Kiev. Through his mother, Kravitz is a second cousin of television weather presenter Al Roker, as their grandfathers were brothers. Kravitz was named after his uncle, Leonard M. Kravitz, a private first class who was killed in action in the Korean War at the age of 20, while single-handedly holding off a Chinese attack, enabling most of his platoon to escape.
During his early years, Kravitz did not grow up in a religious environment. After a spiritual experience when he was 13, he started attending church and later became a non-denominational Christian. Kravitz grew up spending weekdays on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with his parents, attending P.S. 6 for elementary school, and spending weekends at his grandmother Bessie's house in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Kravitz began banging on pots and pans in the kitchen, playing them as drums at the age of three. He decided that he wanted to be a musician at the age of five. He began playing the drums and soon added guitar. He grew up listening to the music his parents listened to: R&B, jazz, classical, opera, gospel, and blues. He said, "My parents were very supportive of the fact that I loved music early on, and they took me to a lot of shows." Around the age of seven, he saw the Jackson 5 perform at Madison Square Garden, and they became his favorite performers. His father, who was a jazz promoter, was friends with Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Short, Miles Davis, and other jazz greats; Ellington played "Happy Birthday" for him on his fifth birthday.
In 1974, at the age of 10, Kravitz relocated to Los Angeles with his parents when his mother landed her role on The Jeffersons. At his mother's urging, he joined the California Boys Choir for three years, where he performed a classical repertoire, and sang with the Metropolitan Opera. He took part in Mahler's Third Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl. It was in Los Angeles that Kravitz was introduced to rock music, listening to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Kiss, Pink Floyd, and the Who, and he said he was "attracted to the cool style, the girls, the rock 'n' roll lifestyle." During his junior high school years, he was also introduced to marijuana; he has stated that he was a "pothead" during his youth. His other musical influences at the time included Fela Kuti, Bill Withers, Marvin Gaye, Pharoah Sanders, and Miles Davis. Later influences came in the form of John Lennon and Bob Marley. Kravitz attended Beverly Hills High School, where he was classmates with Maria McKee, Nicolas Cage, and Slash. He taught himself to play piano and bass and made friends with Zoro, who would later become his long-time collaborator. His parents divorced in 1985.
Career
1985–1990: Virgin Records and career debut
With record labels reportedly telling him his music was not "black enough" or "white enough", Kravitz decided to record an album on his own under the name Romeo Blue. Kravitz had met the recording engineer, keyboardist, and bassist Henry Hirsch in 1985 when recording a demo at his Hoboken, New Jersey, recording studio. The two shared an interest in using real instruments and vintage recording equipment, as well as a love of R&B, jazz, and rock. Kravitz would go on to collaborate with Hirsch on most of his albums. Kravitz began working on his debut album with Hirsch over the next year and a half, with Kravitz's father paying for the studio time. Kravitz met saxophonist Karl Denson and invited him to play on the song "Let Love Rule". Kravitz was so impressed with his playing that Denson played on much of the album. Beginning in the late 1980s, Denson toured with Kravitz for five years.
In October 1988, after completing most of the recording, Kravitz approached friend Stephen Elvis Smith, who had served as the music supervisor on Lisa Bonet's The Cosby Show spin-off A Different World. Smith had also worked with Kravitz's mother on the hit sitcom The Jeffersons. Kravitz urged Smith to manage his career and assist him in finding a record deal. In less than a month of shopping the recordings, five labels (Warner Bros, Elektra, Geffen, Capitol, and Virgin) were in a bidding war for Kravitz. Eventually, a deal was made with Virgin Records in January 1989, and signed by Virgin A&R executive Nancy Jeffries. The label was "excited" about the music he was making, music inspired by his relationship with wife Bonet and their new daughter, Zoe. On Smith's urging, Kravitz dropped the name Romeo Blue and reclaimed the Lenny Kravitz moniker. About his time as Romeo Blue, Kravitz said, "Ultimately, it got me back to myself. And when I finally did accept myself for myself, music started flowing out of me."
Kravitz released his debut album Let Love Rule in 1989, a combination of rock and funk with a 1960s vibe. Music critics were mixed: some felt Kravitz was a gifted new artist, others felt he was overpowered by his musical influences. The album was a moderate success in the United States, but became an instant hit outside of the US, especially in Europe. Lisa Bonet directed the debut music video for the title track, "Let Love Rule". Stephen Smith signed Kravitz with talent booking agency CAA, who soon were fielding offers for Kravitz, first on a club tour, and then in opening slots for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie. Having played essentially all of the instruments on the album, Kravitz had to quickly assemble a touring band to support the Let Love Rule release. In May 2009, a 20th-anniversary deluxe edition of Let Love Rule was released worldwide by Virgin. Kravitz launched a LLR(20) tour of Europe and the United States in support of the re-release.
1991–2001: Popularity established
In 1990, Kravitz produced the song "Justify My Love" for Madonna, which he co-wrote with Ingrid Chavez. The song appeared on her greatest hits album The Immaculate Collection.
Kravitz separated from Lisa Bonet in 1991, amid rumors of an affair between him and Madonna. Kravitz has denied any infidelity. Kravitz and Bonet divorced in 1993. Kravitz produced the self-titled album Vanessa Paradis (1991) for French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis. He played most of the instruments and co-wrote most of the songs on the album.
In 1991, Kravitz released his second album, Mama Said. The songs on the album were about Bonet and documented his depression over their breakup. The single, "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over", went to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. A second single "Always on the Run", a tribute to his mother, featured Slash on guitar. "Stand by My Woman" and "What Goes Around Comes Around" followed. Sean Lennon co-wrote and played piano on the song "All I Ever Wanted".
His third album, Are You Gonna Go My Way (1993), solidified his global popularity, with the title track topping both the Billboard Album Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts. The song's iconic music video also earned him the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video for 1993.
In 1994, Kravitz recorded "Main Squeeze" with Teena Marie from her Passion Play CD. Kravitz also made a video to pay tribute to Teena Marie when she suddenly died on December 26, 2010. He recorded a funk-rock version of the song "Deuce" for the KISS cover album Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved. The track featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica and background vocals.
With 5 (1998), Kravitz won the first of his four consecutive Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1999. In 1999 he produced and sang with Cree Summer on her solo album Street Faërie.
His cover version of the Guess Who's hit "American Woman" won him another Grammy at the Grammy Awards of 2000 and helped the Guess Who's song reach a new audience. Kravitz's version of the song originally came from the soundtrack of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and was added to 5 as a bonus track in 1999. Kravitz worked on two songs for Michael Jackson's Invincible album released in 2001; a snippet of "Another Day" was leaked, and the full version was officially released on the album Michael in 2010.
Kravitz released a Greatest Hits album in 2000. The single "Again" earned him his third consecutive Grammy for the Best Male Rock Vocal in the Grammy Awards of 2001.
2006–2009: Live Earth, charity work, and It Is Time for a Love Revolution
In January 2006, Kravitz contributed "Breathe" to absoluttracks, a project sponsored by Absolut Vodka. This song was re-mixed by ten musical producers and distributed via the internet. Kravitz appeared in the audience of Madonna's Confessions Tour (2006) during numerous shows. He later joined Madonna live on stage to play guitar on the song, "I Love New York", at the last of four Paris shows. Kravitz founded a design firm named Kravitz Design, stating if he hadn't been a musician he would have been a designer. Kravitz Design, focused on interior and furniture design, has designed residential spaces, as well as a chandelier for the crystal company Swarovski, named "Casino Royale".
On July 7, 2007, Kravitz performed at the Brazilian leg of Live Earth in Rio de Janeiro, making him one of three major international rock stars to perform two huge free concerts at the world-famous Copacabana Beach along with Macy Gray and the Rolling Stones. Kravitz had already played there on March 21, 2005, drawing 300,000 people on a concert of his own. The Live Earth concert, with eight other acts on the bill, including Pharrell and Macy Gray had an audience of 400,000 on the beach. Also in 2007, Kravitz released a version of "Cold Turkey" by John Lennon on the charity CD Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. Kravitz also spent time recording his latest album, It Is Time for a Love Revolution, released February 5, 2008. On September 25, 2007, the Fats Domino tribute album Goin' Home; A Tribute To Fats Domino was released. Kravitz was on the song "Whole Lotta Lovin'" along with Rebirth Brass Band, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, and Maceo Parker.
Kravitz made his feature film acting debut in Precious which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009.
2009–2011: U2 tour and Black and White America
In June 2010 it was announced that Kravitz would guest star on an episode of the upcoming season of Entourage.
In 2011 Kravitz was honored with one of the highest cultural awards in France when he was made an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by French cultural minister Frederic Mitterrand in Paris. Kravitz stated he was "particularly touched" to receive the award in France as his success in the country pre-dated his success in the United States and still enjoys great record sales in the country today. Kravitz joined other American recipients such as Martin Scorsese, George Clooney, and Bob Dylan. On February 26, 2012, he performed at the Daytona International Speedway for the Daytona 500, the opening race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. A sample of "Are You Gonna Go My Way" was used in American singer Chris Willis's single "Too Much In Love", released on August 16, 2011.
2012–present: The Hunger Games films, Super Bowl performance, and further albums
Lenny Kravitz played the part of Katniss's creative stylist, Cinna, in the first two Hunger Games films, The Hunger Games released on March 23, 2012, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire released on November 22, 2013.
In 2014 Lenny Kravitz released his tenth studio album Strut on his own Roxie Records via Kobalt Label Services. In 2015, Kravitz performed alongside Katy Perry at the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show.
During an August 2015 show in Stockholm, Kravitz experienced a wardrobe malfunction. His leather pants ripped open, exposing his penis.
As a designer, Kravitz launched a furniture collection in partnership with CB2 in 2015.
In 2015, he became a furniture designer for the first time ever, launching a collection of furniture products marketed under the label CB2 x Kravitz design through retailer CB2. The collection was apparently inspired by the 70s and by the work of Italian designer Gabriella Crespi.
The Raise Vibration world tour (2018) coincided with the release of his 11th studio album.
In April 2018, Kravitz signed with BMG Rights Management for a new worldwide publishing music deal to go with his new album Raise Vibration, released in September 2018. BMG had acquired Kravitz's music publishing rights in 2013, as part of Virgin Music Publishing.
In 2023, Kravitz wrote and performed a song for the film Rustin entitled "Road to Freedom". The song was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In December 2023, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced shortlists for the 96th Oscars ceremony, and "Road to Freedom" was included in the Best Original Song category. Kravitz won Music Icon of the Year at the 49th People's Choice Awards. In March 2024, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
On May 24, 2024, he released his 12th album, Blue Electric Light, which was supported by a world tour with the same name.
Other work
Photography and collaboration with Leica
Kravitz has partnered with Leica on two occasions: in 2015, a Leica M-P edition titled "The Correspondent", and again in 2019 with a Monochrom edition titled "Drifter". The 2019 collaboration also included a gallery of his own work, which was unveiled on May 24, 2019, and was on display at the Leica Gallery in Wetzlar Germany.
Kravitz Design
Kravitz Design is a New York City–based company founded by Kravitz in 2003. Kravitz Design focuses on commercial, residential and product creative direction and design.
Among its clients are the Morgans Hotel Group, Swarovski Crystal, and The Setai Group. Swarovski selected Kravitz Design in 2005 and 2006 to participate in their Crystal Palace Collection. Kravitz Design also envisioned a luxury recording studio for The Setai Resort and Residences in Miami Beach, New York, Paris, and New Orleans. In 2010, Kravitz Design collaborated with Flavor Paper wallpaper on the Tropicalismo Collection, a line inspired by Brazil's Tropicalia art movement of the late 1960s.
Personal life
In 1985, Kravitz met actress Lisa Bonet backstage at a concert in California. They were close friends for two years before beginning a relationship. In 1987, Kravitz moved back to New York City, to move in with Bonet. They eloped in Las Vegas on November 16, 1987, her 20th birthday. Kravitz, still known as Romeo Blue at the time, found himself in the headlines of tabloids. He and Bonet had a daughter, Zoë Isabella Kravitz, on December 1, 1988, who became an actress, singer and model. Kravitz and Bonet separated in 1991. They divorced amicably in 1993.
Kravitz dated French singer and model Vanessa Paradis from 1991 to 1996. He began dating Brazilian model Adriana Lima in 2001, and they lived together before becoming engaged in 2002. The engagement was called off in August 2003. Lima was featured in the music video for Kravitz's 2002 single "Yesterday Is Gone (My Dear Kay)". He briefly dated and was engaged to Australian actress Nicole Kidman from 2003 to 2004.
Kravitz identifies himself as a Christian in a religious sense "through choice" but stated: "I'm also a Jew. It's all the same to me." During another interview, he stated: "I'm half Jewish, I'm half black, I look in-between." He notes that spirituality "has been an important issue in [his] growth", citing his upbringing by parents of different faiths. Such spirituality is prominently featured in many of his songs, such as the lyrics on his album Baptism, and a tattoo on his back which is inscribed with "My Heart Belongs to Jesus Christ". In 2011, he stated that his 2005 religious commitment to remain celibate until remarriage was unchanged. In a 2014 interview with Men's Health, however, he reconsidered his previous stance. In 2024, Kravitz reaffirmed his desire to remain celibate once again, stating that it was his father's infidelity that inspired him to make a change. "After the marriage, [to ex-wife Lisa Bonet] I became more like him. I was becoming a player... I didn't like it. I didn't want to be that guy. So I had to tackle that and it took years... by taking responsibility. Discipline. Not letting my own desires take over." Kravitz stated in the same interview that he had not been in a romantic relationship for 9 years at that point.
He owns a house in Paris, a farm compound in Brazil, and a trailer with the surrounding land in The Bahamas.
He follows veganism with a primarily raw vegan diet, and uses his land in Brazil and The Bahamas to grow his own food. PETA named Kravitz one of the Most Beautiful Vegan Celebrities of 2022.
On August 25, 2001, singer and actress Aaliyah died in a plane crash in the Bahamas, following the ending of the video shoot to single "Rock the Boat". When the video's choreographer Fatima Robinson and dancers were too afraid to get on their plane to get back to the United States, Kravitz (Robinson's friend) sent his private jet to bring them home.
Legacy
A street has been named after Lenny Kravitz in Saint-Jean-d'Heurs, a rural commune of France.
Discography
Studio albums
Let Love Rule (1989)
Mama Said (1991)
Are You Gonna Go My Way (1993)
Circus (1995)
5 (1998)
Lenny (2001)
Baptism (2004)
It Is Time for a Love Revolution (2008)
Black and White America (2011)
Strut (2014)
Raise Vibration (2018)
Blue Electric Light (2024)
Filmography
Film
Television
Tours
Let Love Rule Tour (1990)
There Is Only One Truth Tour (1991)
Universal Love Tour (1993)
Are You Gonna Go My Way Tour (1994) (opening for The Rolling Stones)
Circus Tour (1995–96)
The Freedom Tour (1998–99)
Lenny Tour (2002)
The Baptism Tour (2004)
Celebration Tour (2005)
Electric Church Tour: One Night Only (2005)
Get on the Bus Mini-Tour (2008)
Love Revolution Tour (2008)
LLR 20(09) Tour (2009)
Black and White Tour (2011)
Strut Tour (2014–15)
Raise Vibration Tour (2018–19)
Here to Love Tour (2020)
Blue Electric Light Tour (2024–25)
Awards and nominations
Grammy Awards
Billboard Music Awards
Other awards and nominations
See also
Category:Works by Lenny Kravitz
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Modern Rock chart
List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
List of artists who reached number one on the Australian singles chart
List of blues musicians
List of Gibson players
List of Number 1 albums from the 1990s (UK)
List of Number 1 singles from the 1990s (UK)
List of performers on Top of the Pops
List of Saturday Night Live hosts and musical guests
Notes
References
General sources
di Martino, Dave. Singer-songwriters: Pop music's performer-composers, from A to Zevon, Billboard Books, 1994.
Gregory, Hugh. 1000 Great Guitarists: Rock, Jazz, Country, Funk ..., Balafon Books, 1994.
la Blanc, Michael (ed.). Contemporary musicians, Vol. 5, Gale Research, 1991.
Larkin, Colin. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Guinness Publishing, 1992.
Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 5th edition, Watson-Guptill Publications, 1992.
Further reading
Anderson, Ashely (November 9, 2000). "Brown eyes blue". The Silhouette. Volume 71, Number 12. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
Cooper, Carol (1990). "Let love rule – Lisa Bonet and husband Lenny Kravitz". Essence. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
Halbersberg, Elianne (November 1, 2004). "Flying (Almost) Solo". Mix. Retrieved on March 13, 2007.
"Behind the Music: Lenny Kravitz". Harper, William & Williams, Paulina (Directors). Behind the Music. VH1. June 27, 1999. Season 2, no. 35.
Henderson, Ashyia N. (2002). Contemporary Black Biography: Profiles from the International Black Community. Gale Group. ISBN 978-0-7876-6049-9.
Pepper, Tracey (July 1998). "Deep joy – musical artist Lenny Kravitz – Interview". Retrieved on March 12, 2007.
"Artist Profile – Lenny Kravitz". EMI Music Publishing. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
"HELLO! Profiles – Lenny Kravitz". Hello!. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
Prato, Greg. Biography of Lenny Kravitz at AllMusic. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
"Romeo Blue Discography, Biography and Links". Mr. Bill's I.R.S. Records Corner. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
Scarlett MacDougal's book series "Have a Nice Life", refers to the main girl's "intergalactic angel/fairy godmother" as a Lenny Kravitz lookalike, though his actual name is Clarence Terence. ISBN 0-14-131020-0
External links
Official website
Lenny Kravitz – The Artists Organization – Management
Lenny Kravitz discography at MusicBrainz
Lenny Kravitz discography at Discogs
Lenny Kravitz at IMDb
"Lenny Kravitz: Ice Ice Lenny"—interview by Pete Lewis, Blues & Soul no. 1096, July 2009
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Bob Saget
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Robert Lane Saget (May 17, 1956 – January 9, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and television host. He portrayed Danny Tanner on the sitcom Full House (1987–1995) and its sequel Fuller House (2016–2020). Saget was the original host of America's Funniest Home Videos (1989–1997), and the voice of narrator Ted Mosby on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014). He was also known for his squeaky-clean family-sitcom image and at the same time profane comedian persona, with his 2014 album That's What I'm Talkin' About being nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.
Early life
Robert Lane Saget was born into a Jewish family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 17, 1956, the son of hospital administrator Rosalyn and supermarket chain executive Benjamin Saget. Early in his life, his family moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where he briefly attended Lake Taylor High School. He later said that his sense of humor developed while he was a rebellious student at the Conservative synagogue Temple Israel in Norfolk. Due to a lack of family in Norfolk, he returned to Philadelphia for his bar mitzvah. The family later moved from Norfolk to the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, where Saget met Larry Fine of The Three Stooges and listened to him tell stories. The family then moved back to the Philadelphia area prior to his senior year, and he graduated from Abington Senior High School. Saget originally intended to become a doctor, but his Honors English teacher saw his creative potential and urged him to pursue an acting career.
Saget attended Temple University's film school, where he created Through Adam's Eyes, a black-and-white film about a boy who received reconstructive facial surgery; he received an award of merit in the Student Academy Awards. While attending university, he took the train to New York City and performed at comedy clubs such as The Improv and Catch a Rising Star; his act included a section where he played the Beatles song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", using a water bottle to make his guitar appear to actually weep. He graduated from Temple with a BA in 1978. He intended to take graduate courses at the University of Southern California, but quit after only a few days. He later described himself at that time as a "cocky, overweight 22-year-old" who "had a gangrenous appendix taken out, almost died, [and] got over being cocky or overweight". He further discussed his burst appendix on Anytime with Bob Kushell, revealing that it happened on the Fourth of July at the UCLA Medical Center, and that surgeons put ice on the area for seven hours before taking his appendix out and finding that it had become gangrenous.
Career
Following a short stint as a member of CBS' The Morning Program in early 1987, Saget was cast as Danny Tanner in Full House, which became a success with family viewers, and landed in the Nielsen ratings' Top 30 beginning with season three. In 1989, Saget began as the host of America's Funniest Home Videos, a role he held until 1997. During the early 1990s, Saget worked on both Full House and AFV simultaneously. In 2009, he returned to AFV for the 20th-anniversary one-hour special co-hosted with Tom Bergeron.
Saget directed the 1996 ABC television film For Hope, which was inspired by the life story of his sister, Gay Saget, who had died from scleroderma three years earlier. In 1998, he directed his first feature film, Dirty Work, starring Norm Macdonald and Artie Lange. Released one year after he left his role as host of America's Funniest Home Videos, the film received broadly negative reviews from critics and earned low box office returns. However, it has since become a cult favorite, due partially to Artie Lange's later popularity on The Howard Stern Show where the film is sometimes mentioned, often in unflattering terms. In 1998, Saget made a cameo appearance as a cocaine addict in the stoner comedy Half Baked.
In 2001, Saget took on another widowed-dad role, starring on Raising Dad on The WB. It co-starred Kat Dennings, Brie Larson, and Jerry Adler and lasted only one season, from October 5, 2001, to May 10, 2002. He served as the voice of the future Ted Mosby, who narrated the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which ran for nine seasons from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014. He was host of the NBC game show 1 vs. 100 from 2006 to 2008. His HBO comedy special, That Ain't Right, came out on DVD on August 28, 2007. It is dedicated to his father, Ben Saget, who died at age 89 on January 30, 2007, due to complications from congestive heart failure. From 2005 to 2010, Saget had a recurring role in four episodes of the HBO TV series Entourage playing a parody version of himself. He later appeared in the 2015 feature film based on the series. 2005 also saw him partake in "Rollin' with Saget", a song by Jamie Kennedy and Stuart Stone, about a night out with him that shows off his raunchier behaviors. The video appeared on the MTV series Blowin' Up, and he came to use it as a pseudo-theme song on his stand-up tours and website.
Saget wrote, directed, and starred in Farce of the Penguins, a parody of 2005's March of the Penguins, which was released direct-to-DVD, in January 2007. Saget appeared in the Broadway musical The Drowsy Chaperone for a limited four-month engagement. He played "Man in Chair" while Jonathan Crombie, who normally played the character on Broadway, was with the national tour of the musical. On January 4, 2008, Saget's caricature was unveiled at Sardi's Restaurant. In April 2009, he debuted in a new sitcom along with his co-star Cynthia Stevenson on ABC called Surviving Suburbia. The series, which was originally slated to air on The CW, ended after a single abbreviated season. In 2010, Saget starred in the A&E series Strange Days, in which he followed others in different activities and lifestyles, documenting their adventures in unusual ways.
In 2014, his book Dirty Daddy was released, in which he writes about his career, comedy influences, and experiences with life and death. He embarked on a small tour in support of the book, including the Pemberton Music Festival, where he introduced Snoop Dogg prior to performing his own set. In the same year, he toured Australia for the first time with a stand-up show called Bob Saget Live: The Dirty Daddy Tour. The show was performed in the major cities of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth.
In 2015 and 2016, he guest-starred in two episodes of Grandfathered, starring and produced by his Full House co-star John Stamos. From 2016 to 2020, Saget reprised his role as Danny Tanner for fifteen episodes of Full House's sequel series, Fuller House, including the series premiere and finale.
In 2017, he released another stand-up special, Bob Saget: Zero to Sixty.
In 2019, he was announced as host of ABC's Videos After Dark. Saget also hosted the game show Nashville Squares on CMT, and made his first of three appearances as a panelist on To Tell the Truth.
In 2020, Saget competed in season four of The Masked Singer as "Squiggly Monster". Saget also launched a podcast titled Bob Saget's Here for You with Studio71. Its 130th and final episode, with comedian Dane Cook, was released posthumously on January 31, 2022.
He also made an appearance on Nikki Glaser's E! series Welcome Home Nikki Glaser? in an episode that aired on June 5, 2022.
Personal life
Saget married Sherri Kramer in 1982, and they had three daughters Aubrey (b. 1987), Lara Melanie (b. 1989), and Jennifer Belle (b. 1992) before divorcing in 1997. He was later married to television presenter Kelly Rizzo from 2018 until his death in 2022.
Saget was a board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation. His efforts benefited celebrities such as actress Regina Hall. In an interview with Ability, he discussed how his sister was diagnosed with scleroderma at 43 and died at 47. She had previously been misdiagnosed numerous times.
Death
At about 4 p.m. ET on January 9, 2022, Saget was found dead in his room at a Ritz-Carlton hotel near Williamsburg in Orange County, Florida. At the time of his death, Saget was on a stand-up tour and had performed in Ponte Vedra Beach the previous evening. An autopsy report released on February 9 found that Saget had blunt head trauma from an accidental blow to the back of his head, most likely from a fall, and had subsequently died from the resulting injuries (subdural hematoma and subarachnoid hemorrhage) in his sleep. He was infected with COVID-19 at the time, though there were no signs that it played a role in his death. His funeral took place on January 14, and he was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery near the graves of his parents and sister. On February 15, Saget's family sued to prevent county officials from releasing additional documents from the investigation of his death, arguing that their graphic content would present privacy violations. On March 14, a permanent injunction was issued against releasing the documents.
Tributes
News of Saget's death broke during a broadcast of America's Funniest Home Videos, of which he was the original host, and ABC interrupted the program to announce it. A tribute video was posted on the show's official YouTube channel, and a dedication to Saget was added before the credits of the following episode. Clips of Saget's hosting of the show were run from January 16 to the end of 2021–22 season on America's Funniest Home Videos as tribute as well.
Saget had been honored with donations and offers to help the charity Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF), whose board of directors Saget served on since 2003. According to a statement made by the foundation's executive director on January 13, 2022, the foundation received donations from more than 1,500 donors from all over the world, totaling more than $90,000. Additionally, a donation of $1.5 million was awarded to the charity by one of its board members in the form of a grant, which will match every donation made in memory of Saget.
A tribute special was filmed at The Comedy Store by Saget's longtime friend Mike Binder on January 30; titled Dirty Daddy: The Bob Saget Tribute and featuring footage from a private memorial held at Jeff Franklin's home, it was released on Netflix on June 10, 2022.
Filmography
Comedy specials
Film
Television
Book
Saget, Bob. Dirty Daddy: The Chronicles of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian. 2014: It Books. ISBN 978-0-062-27478-6.
References
External links
Official website
Bob Saget at IMDb
Bob Saget discography at Discogs
Bob Saget at the Internet Broadway Database
Bob Saget at Rotten Tomatoes
Bob Saget on Instagram
Bob Saget at Find a Grave
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Robert Lane Saget (May 17, 1956 – January 9, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and television host. He portrayed Danny Tanner on the sitcom Full House (1987–1995) and its sequel Fuller House (2016–2020). Saget was the original host of America's Funniest Home Videos (1989–1997), and the voice of narrator Ted Mosby on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014). He was also known for his squeaky-clean family-sitcom image and at the same time profane comedian persona, with his 2014 album That's What I'm Talkin' About being nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.
Early life
Robert Lane Saget was born into a Jewish family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 17, 1956, the son of hospital administrator Rosalyn and supermarket chain executive Benjamin Saget. Early in his life, his family moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where he briefly attended Lake Taylor High School. He later said that his sense of humor developed while he was a rebellious student at the Conservative synagogue Temple Israel in Norfolk. Due to a lack of family in Norfolk, he returned to Philadelphia for his bar mitzvah. The family later moved from Norfolk to the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, where Saget met Larry Fine of The Three Stooges and listened to him tell stories. The family then moved back to the Philadelphia area prior to his senior year, and he graduated from Abington Senior High School. Saget originally intended to become a doctor, but his Honors English teacher saw his creative potential and urged him to pursue an acting career.
Saget attended Temple University's film school, where he created Through Adam's Eyes, a black-and-white film about a boy who received reconstructive facial surgery; he received an award of merit in the Student Academy Awards. While attending university, he took the train to New York City and performed at comedy clubs such as The Improv and Catch a Rising Star; his act included a section where he played the Beatles song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", using a water bottle to make his guitar appear to actually weep. He graduated from Temple with a BA in 1978. He intended to take graduate courses at the University of Southern California, but quit after only a few days. He later described himself at that time as a "cocky, overweight 22-year-old" who "had a gangrenous appendix taken out, almost died, [and] got over being cocky or overweight". He further discussed his burst appendix on Anytime with Bob Kushell, revealing that it happened on the Fourth of July at the UCLA Medical Center, and that surgeons put ice on the area for seven hours before taking his appendix out and finding that it had become gangrenous.
Career
Following a short stint as a member of CBS' The Morning Program in early 1987, Saget was cast as Danny Tanner in Full House, which became a success with family viewers, and landed in the Nielsen ratings' Top 30 beginning with season three. In 1989, Saget began as the host of America's Funniest Home Videos, a role he held until 1997. During the early 1990s, Saget worked on both Full House and AFV simultaneously. In 2009, he returned to AFV for the 20th-anniversary one-hour special co-hosted with Tom Bergeron.
Saget directed the 1996 ABC television film For Hope, which was inspired by the life story of his sister, Gay Saget, who had died from scleroderma three years earlier. In 1998, he directed his first feature film, Dirty Work, starring Norm Macdonald and Artie Lange. Released one year after he left his role as host of America's Funniest Home Videos, the film received broadly negative reviews from critics and earned low box office returns. However, it has since become a cult favorite, due partially to Artie Lange's later popularity on The Howard Stern Show where the film is sometimes mentioned, often in unflattering terms. In 1998, Saget made a cameo appearance as a cocaine addict in the stoner comedy Half Baked.
In 2001, Saget took on another widowed-dad role, starring on Raising Dad on The WB. It co-starred Kat Dennings, Brie Larson, and Jerry Adler and lasted only one season, from October 5, 2001, to May 10, 2002. He served as the voice of the future Ted Mosby, who narrated the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which ran for nine seasons from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014. He was host of the NBC game show 1 vs. 100 from 2006 to 2008. His HBO comedy special, That Ain't Right, came out on DVD on August 28, 2007. It is dedicated to his father, Ben Saget, who died at age 89 on January 30, 2007, due to complications from congestive heart failure. From 2005 to 2010, Saget had a recurring role in four episodes of the HBO TV series Entourage playing a parody version of himself. He later appeared in the 2015 feature film based on the series. 2005 also saw him partake in "Rollin' with Saget", a song by Jamie Kennedy and Stuart Stone, about a night out with him that shows off his raunchier behaviors. The video appeared on the MTV series Blowin' Up, and he came to use it as a pseudo-theme song on his stand-up tours and website.
Saget wrote, directed, and starred in Farce of the Penguins, a parody of 2005's March of the Penguins, which was released direct-to-DVD, in January 2007. Saget appeared in the Broadway musical The Drowsy Chaperone for a limited four-month engagement. He played "Man in Chair" while Jonathan Crombie, who normally played the character on Broadway, was with the national tour of the musical. On January 4, 2008, Saget's caricature was unveiled at Sardi's Restaurant. In April 2009, he debuted in a new sitcom along with his co-star Cynthia Stevenson on ABC called Surviving Suburbia. The series, which was originally slated to air on The CW, ended after a single abbreviated season. In 2010, Saget starred in the A&E series Strange Days, in which he followed others in different activities and lifestyles, documenting their adventures in unusual ways.
In 2014, his book Dirty Daddy was released, in which he writes about his career, comedy influences, and experiences with life and death. He embarked on a small tour in support of the book, including the Pemberton Music Festival, where he introduced Snoop Dogg prior to performing his own set. In the same year, he toured Australia for the first time with a stand-up show called Bob Saget Live: The Dirty Daddy Tour. The show was performed in the major cities of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth.
In 2015 and 2016, he guest-starred in two episodes of Grandfathered, starring and produced by his Full House co-star John Stamos. From 2016 to 2020, Saget reprised his role as Danny Tanner for fifteen episodes of Full House's sequel series, Fuller House, including the series premiere and finale.
In 2017, he released another stand-up special, Bob Saget: Zero to Sixty.
In 2019, he was announced as host of ABC's Videos After Dark. Saget also hosted the game show Nashville Squares on CMT, and made his first of three appearances as a panelist on To Tell the Truth.
In 2020, Saget competed in season four of The Masked Singer as "Squiggly Monster". Saget also launched a podcast titled Bob Saget's Here for You with Studio71. Its 130th and final episode, with comedian Dane Cook, was released posthumously on January 31, 2022.
He also made an appearance on Nikki Glaser's E! series Welcome Home Nikki Glaser? in an episode that aired on June 5, 2022.
Personal life
Saget married Sherri Kramer in 1982, and they had three daughters Aubrey (b. 1987), Lara Melanie (b. 1989), and Jennifer Belle (b. 1992) before divorcing in 1997. He was later married to television presenter Kelly Rizzo from 2018 until his death in 2022.
Saget was a board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation. His efforts benefited celebrities such as actress Regina Hall. In an interview with Ability, he discussed how his sister was diagnosed with scleroderma at 43 and died at 47. She had previously been misdiagnosed numerous times.
Death
At about 4 p.m. ET on January 9, 2022, Saget was found dead in his room at a Ritz-Carlton hotel near Williamsburg in Orange County, Florida. At the time of his death, Saget was on a stand-up tour and had performed in Ponte Vedra Beach the previous evening. An autopsy report released on February 9 found that Saget had blunt head trauma from an accidental blow to the back of his head, most likely from a fall, and had subsequently died from the resulting injuries (subdural hematoma and subarachnoid hemorrhage) in his sleep. He was infected with COVID-19 at the time, though there were no signs that it played a role in his death. His funeral took place on January 14, and he was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery near the graves of his parents and sister. On February 15, Saget's family sued to prevent county officials from releasing additional documents from the investigation of his death, arguing that their graphic content would present privacy violations. On March 14, a permanent injunction was issued against releasing the documents.
Tributes
News of Saget's death broke during a broadcast of America's Funniest Home Videos, of which he was the original host, and ABC interrupted the program to announce it. A tribute video was posted on the show's official YouTube channel, and a dedication to Saget was added before the credits of the following episode. Clips of Saget's hosting of the show were run from January 16 to the end of 2021–22 season on America's Funniest Home Videos as tribute as well.
Saget had been honored with donations and offers to help the charity Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF), whose board of directors Saget served on since 2003. According to a statement made by the foundation's executive director on January 13, 2022, the foundation received donations from more than 1,500 donors from all over the world, totaling more than $90,000. Additionally, a donation of $1.5 million was awarded to the charity by one of its board members in the form of a grant, which will match every donation made in memory of Saget.
A tribute special was filmed at The Comedy Store by Saget's longtime friend Mike Binder on January 30; titled Dirty Daddy: The Bob Saget Tribute and featuring footage from a private memorial held at Jeff Franklin's home, it was released on Netflix on June 10, 2022.
Filmography
Comedy specials
Film
Television
Book
Saget, Bob. Dirty Daddy: The Chronicles of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian. 2014: It Books. ISBN 978-0-062-27478-6.
References
External links
Official website
Bob Saget at IMDb
Bob Saget discography at Discogs
Bob Saget at the Internet Broadway Database
Bob Saget at Rotten Tomatoes
Bob Saget on Instagram
Bob Saget at Find a Grave
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Jon Voight
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Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and four Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2019, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Films in which Voight has appeared have grossed more than $5.2 billion worldwide.
Associated with the angst and unruliness that typified the late 1960s counterculture, Voight won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a paraplegic Vietnam veteran in Coming Home (1978). His other Oscar nominations are for playing Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in Midnight Cowboy (1969); ruthless bank robber Oscar "Manny" Manheim in Runaway Train (1985); and sportscaster Howard Cosell in Ali (2001). His other notable films include Deliverance (1972), The Champ (1979), Heat (1995), Mission: Impossible (1996), The Rainmaker (1997), Enemy of the State (1998), Pearl Harbor, Zoolander (both 2001), Holes (2003), Glory Road (2006), Transformers (2007), and Pride and Glory (2008). He is also known for his role in the National Treasure film series.
Voight is also known for his television roles, including as Nazi officer Jürgen Stroop in Uprising (2001) and Pope John Paul II on the eponymous miniseries (2005). His role as Mickey Donovan on the Showtime drama series Ray Donovan brought him newfound acclaim and attention among critics and audiences, as well as his fourth Golden Globe win in 2014. He also appeared on the thriller series 24 in its seventh season.
Despite originally adopting liberal views, Voight has gained attention in his later years for his outspoken conservative and religious beliefs. He is the father of actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven.
Early life and education
Jonathan Vincent Voight was born on December 29, 1938, in Yonkers, New York, to Barbara (née Kamp) and Elmer Voight (né Voytka), a professional golfer. He has two brothers, Barry Voight, a former volcanologist at Pennsylvania State University, and James Wesley Voight, known as Chip Taylor, a singer-songwriter who wrote "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning". Voight's paternal grandfather and his paternal grandmother's parents were Slovak immigrants, while his maternal grandfather and his maternal grandmother's parents were German immigrants. Political activist Joseph P. Kamp was his great-uncle through his mother.
Voight was raised as a Catholic and attended the Catholic boys' Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York, where he first took an interest in acting. Following his graduation in 1956, he enrolled at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he majored in art and graduated with a B.A. degree in 1960. After graduation, Voight moved to New York City, where he pursued an acting career. He graduated from the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, where he studied under Sanford Meisner.
Career
1961–1969: Early roles and breakthrough
Voight started his off-Broadway career in a revue called O Oysters, which ran in early 1961. He made his Broadway debut in the fall of 1961 as Rolf in The Sound of Music. In the early 1960s, Voight found work in television, appearing in several episodes of Gunsmoke, between 1963 and 1968, as well as guest spots on Naked City and The Defenders, both in 1963, and Twelve O'Clock High, in 1966 and Cimarron Strip in 1968. Voight's theater career took off in January 1965, playing Rodolfo in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge in an Off-Broadway revival. Voight's film debut did not come until 1967, when he took a part in Phillip Kaufman's crimefighter spoof, Fearless Frank. He also took a small role in 1967's western, Hour of the Gun, directed by veteran helmer John Sturges. In 1968 he took a role in director Paul Williams's Out of It.
In 1968, Voight was cast in the groundbreaking Midnight Cowboy (1969), the film that would make his career. He played Joe Buck, a naïve male hustler from Texas, adrift in New York City. He comes under the tutelage of Dustin Hoffman's Ratso Rizzo, a tubercular petty thief and con artist. The film explored late 1960s New York and the development of an unlikely, but poignant friendship between the two main characters. Directed by John Schlesinger and based on a novel by James Leo Herlihy, the film struck a chord with critics and audiences. Because of its controversial themes, the film was released with an X rating and would make history by being the only X-rated feature to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Both Voight and Hoffman were nominated for Best Actor, but lost out to John Wayne in True Grit.
1970–1989: Stardom and acclaim
In 1970, Voight appeared in Mike Nichols' adaptation of Catch-22, and re-teamed with director Paul Williams to star in The Revolutionary, as a left-wing college student struggling with his conscience. Voight next starred in 1972's Deliverance. Directed by John Boorman, from a script that James Dickey had helped to adapt from his own novel of the same name, it tells the story of a canoe trip in a feral, backwoods America. Both the film and the performances of Voight and co-stars Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty received great critical acclaim, and were popular with audiences. Voight also appeared at the Studio Arena Theater, in Buffalo, New York, in the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire from 1973 to 1974 as Stanley Kowalski.
Voight played a directionless young boxer in 1973's The All American Boy, then appeared in the 1974 film Conrack, directed by Martin Ritt. Based on Pat Conroy's autobiographical novel The Water Is Wide, Voight portrayed the title character, an idealistic young schoolteacher sent to teach underprivileged black children on a remote South Carolina island. The same year he appeared in The Odessa File, based on Frederick Forsyth's thriller, as Peter Miller, a young German journalist who discovers a conspiracy to protect former Nazis still operating within Germany. This film first teamed him with the actor-director Maximilian Schell, who acted out a character named and based on the "Butcher of Riga" Eduard Roschmann, and for whom Voight would appear in 1975's End of the Game, a psychological thriller co-starring Jacqueline Bisset and based on a story by Swiss novelist and playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt.
According to Joseph McBride's biography of Steven Spielberg, Voight was Spielberg's first choice for the role of Matt Hooper in the 1975 film Jaws and he turned down the role, which was ultimately played by Richard Dreyfuss. However, in interview with Dr. Ben Carson on September 6, 2024, Voight was asked if he turned down the part of Quint in Jaws; Voight said that the offer of a part in Jaws is "a myth" and that Spielberg had actually offered him a part in a different, less successful film, a role that he turned down because he thought it was a "repeat of the character from Midnight Cowboy". In 1978, Voight portrayed the Vietnam veteran Luke Martin in Hal Ashby's film Coming Home, and was awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, for his portrait of a cynical, yet noble paraplegic, reportedly based on real-life Vietnam veteran-turned-antiwar-activist Ron Kovic, with whom Jane Fonda's character falls in love. The film included a much-talked-about love scene between the two. Fonda won her second Best Actress award for her role, and Voight won for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Oscars. In 1979, Voight once again put on boxing gloves, starring as an alcoholic ex-heavyweight in Franco Zeffirelli's The Champ with Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder. The film was an international success, but less popular with American audiences.
He next reteamed with director Ashby in 1982's Lookin' to Get Out, in which he played Alex Kovac, a con man who has run into debt with New York mobsters and hopes to win enough in Las Vegas to pay them off. Voight both co-wrote the script and also co-produced. He also produced and acted in 1983's Table for Five, in which he played a widower bringing up his children by himself. Also in 1983, Voight was slated to play Robert Harmon in John Cassavetes' Golden Bear-winning Love Streams, having performed the role on stage in 1981. However, a few weeks before shooting began, Voight announced that he also wanted to direct the picture and was consequently dropped. In 1985, Voight teamed up with Russian writer and director Andrei Konchalovsky to play the role of escaped con Oscar "Manny" Manheim in Runaway Train. The script was based on a story by Akira Kurosawa, and paired Voight with Eric Roberts as a fellow escapee, and Rebecca De Mornay as an assistant locomotive engineer. Voight received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and won the Golden Globe's award for Best Actor. Roberts was also honored for his performance, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Voight followed up this and other performances with a role in the 1986 film, Desert Bloom, and reportedly experienced a "spiritual awakening" toward the end of the decade. In 1989, Voight starred in and helped write Eternity, which dealt with a television reporter's efforts to uncover corruption.
1990–2012: Established actor
He made his first acting debut into television films, acting in 1991's Chernobyl: The Final Warning, followed by The Last of his Tribe, in 1992. He followed with 1992's The Rainbow Warrior for ABC, the story of the ill-fated Greenpeace ship sunk by French operatives in Auckland Harbour. For the remainder of the decade, Voight would alternate between feature films and television movies, including a starring role in the 1993 miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove, a continuation of Larry McMurtry's western saga, 1989's Lonesome Dove. Voight played Captain Woodrow F. Call, the part played by Tommy Lee Jones in the original miniseries. Voight made a cameo appearance as himself on the Seinfeld episode "The Mom & Pop Store" airing November 17, 1994, in which George Costanza buys a car that appears to be owned by Jon Voight. Voight described the process leading up to the episode in an interview on the Red Carpet at the 2006 BAFTA Emmy Awards:
Well what happened was I was asked to be on Seinfeld. They said: "Would you do a Seinfeld?" And I said, and I just happened to know to see a few Seinfelds and I knew these guys were really tops; they were really, really clever guys, and I liked the show. And so I said "Sure!" and I thought they would ask me to do a walk-on, the way it came: "Would you come be part of the show?" And I said "Yeah, sure I'll do it." You know what I mean? Then I got the script and my name was on every page because it was about my car. And I laughed; it was hysterically funny. So I was really delighted to do it. The writer came up to me and he said "Jon, would you come take a look at my car to see if you ever owned it?", because the writer wrote it from a real experience where someone sold him the car based on the fact that it was my car. And I went down and I looked at the car and I said "No, I never had this car." So unfortunately I had to give him the bad news. But it was a funny episode.
In 1992, Voight appeared in the HBO film The Last of His Tribe. In 1995, Voight played the role of "Nate", a sophisticated fence, in the crime drama film Heat, directed by Michael Mann, and appeared in the television films Convict Cowboy and The Tin Soldier, also directing the latter film. Voight next appeared in 1996's blockbuster film Mission: Impossible, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Tom Cruise. Voight played the role of spymaster James Phelps, a role originated by Peter Graves in the television series. In 1997, Voight appeared in six films, beginning with Rosewood, based on the 1923 destruction of the primarily black town of Rosewood, Florida, by the white residents of nearby Sumner. Voight played John Wright, a white Rosewood storeowner who follows his conscience and protects his black customers from the white rage. He next appeared in Anaconda, set in the Amazon; he played Paul Sarone, a snake hunter obsessed with a fabled giant anaconda, who hijacks an unwitting National Geographic film crew who are looking for a remote Indian tribe. Voight next appeared in a supporting role in Oliver Stone's U Turn, portraying a blind man. He took a supporting role in The Rainmaker, adopted from the John Grisham novel and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He played an unscrupulous lawyer representing an insurance company, facing off with a neophyte lawyer played by Matt Damon. His last film of 1997 was Boys Will Be Boys, a family comedy directed by Dom DeLuise.
The following year, Voight had the lead role in the television film The Fixer, in which he played Jack Killoran, a lawyer who crosses ethical lines in order to "fix" things for his wealthy clients. A near-fatal accident awakens his dormant conscience and Killoran soon runs afoul of his former clients. He also took a substantial role in Tony Scott's 1998 political thriller, Enemy of the State, in which he played Will Smith's character's stalwart antagonist from the NSA. Voight was reunited with director Boorman in 1998's The General. Set in Dublin, Ireland, the film tells the true-life story of the charismatic leader of a gang of thieves, Martin Cahill, at odds with both the police and the Provisional IRA. Voight portrays Inspector Ned Kenny, determined to bring Cahill to justice. He next appeared in 1999's Varsity Blues. He played a blunt, autocratic football coach, pitted in a test of wills against his star player, portrayed by James Van Der Beek. Produced by fledgling MTV Pictures, the film became a surprise hit and helped connect Voight with a younger audience. Voight played Noah in the 1999 television production Noah's Ark, and appeared in Second String, also for TV. He also appeared with Cheryl Ladd in the feature A Dog of Flanders, a remake of a popular film set in Belgium.
Voight next portrayed President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 2001's action/war film Pearl Harbor, having accepted the role when Gene Hackman declined (his performance was received favorably by critics). Also that year, he appeared as Lord Croft, father of the title character of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Based on the popular video game, the digital adventuress was played on the big screen by Voight's own real-life daughter Angelina Jolie. That year, he also appeared in Zoolander, directed by Ben Stiller who starred as the title character, a vapid supermodel with humble roots. Voight appeared as Zoolander's coal-miner father. The film extracted both pathos and cruel humor from the scenes of Zoolander's return home, when he entered the mines alongside his father and brothers and Voight's character expressed his unspoken disgust at his son's chosen profession. Also in 2001, Voight joined Leelee Sobieski, Hank Azaria and David Schwimmer in the made-for-television film Uprising, which was based on the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. Voight played Major-General Juergen Stroop, the German officer responsible for the destruction of the Jewish resistance, and received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
Director Michael Mann tagged Voight for a supporting role in the 2001 biopic Ali, which starred Will Smith as the controversial former heavyweight champ, Muhammad Ali. Voight was almost unrecognizable under his make-up and toupée, as he impersonated the sports broadcaster Howard Cosell. Voight received his fourth Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his performance. Also in 2001, he appeared in the television mini-series Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story along with Vanessa Redgrave, Matthew Modine, Richard Attenborough, and Mia Sara. In 2003, he played the role of Marion Seville/Mr. Sir in Holes. In 2004, Voight joined Nicolas Cage, in National Treasure as Patrick Gates, the father of Cage's character. In 2005, he played the title role in the second part of CBS' miniseries, Pope John Paul II.
In 2006, he was Kentucky Wildcats head coach Adolph Rupp in the Disney hit Glory Road. In 2007, he played United States Secretary of Defense John Keller in the summer blockbuster Transformers, reuniting him with Holes star Shia LaBeouf. Also in 2007, Voight reprised his role as Patrick Gates in National Treasure: Book of Secrets. He appeared in Bratz with his goddaughter Skyler Shaye. In 2008, he appeared as Creighton Kinkaid in the Christmas film Four Christmases. In 2009, Voight played Jonas Hodges, the American antagonist, in the seventh season of the hit Fox drama 24, a role that many argue is based on real life figures Alfried Krupp, Johann Rall and Erik Prince. Voight plays the chief executive officer of a fictional private military company based in northern Virginia called Starkwood, which has loose resemblances to Academi and ThyssenKrupp. Voight made his first appearance in the two-hour prequel episode 24: Redemption on November 23. He then went on to recur for 10 episodes of Season 7. He joined Dennis Haysbert as the only two actors ever to have been credited with the "Special Guest Appearance" card on 24.
That same year Voight also lent his voice talents in the Thomas Nelson audio Bible production known as The Word of Promise. In this dramatized audio, Voight played the character of Abraham. The project also featured a large ensemble of other well-known Hollywood actors including Jim Caviezel, Louis Gossett Jr., John Rhys-Davies, Luke Perry, Gary Sinise, Jason Alexander, Christopher McDonald, Marisa Tomei and John Schneider.
2013–2024: Later career
In 2013, Voight made his much-acclaimed appearance on Ray Donovan as Mickey Donovan, the main character's conniving father. The role earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film in 2014 as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He reprised his role in the 2022 film Ray Donovan: The Movie. He played Henry Shaw Sr. in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). The following year he acted in the Christian drama Same Kind of Different as Me alongside Greg Kinnear and Renée Zellweger. On March 26, 2019, Voight was appointed to a six-year term on the Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. He portrayed Supreme Court Justice Warren E. Burger in the film Roe v. Wade (2020). In 2022 he participated in the documentary film Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy with Bob Balaban, Brian De Palma and Brenda Vaccaro. It premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival and was later shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. In 2022, Voight was cast in the science fiction epic Megalopolis, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. In Reagan, Jon Voight is cast as Viktor Ivanov, a former KGB agent. The film, starring Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan, was theatrically released in the United States on August 30, 2024.
2025–present: Special Ambassador to Hollywood
On January 16, 2025, it was announced by president-elect Donald Trump that Voight would serve in a new role as a Special Ambassador to Hollywood, sharing the role with fellow actors Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone. Trump stated that he wants these actors to make Hollywood "stronger than ever before" by bringing back business lost to "foreign countries". According to Deadline, by May 2025, Voight had held meetings with both Hollywood unions and executives on issues with domestic film production. Stallone and Gibson were not involved and have not held similar talks of their own.
Political views
In his early life, Voight's political views aligned with American liberal views, and he supported President John F. Kennedy, describing his assassination as traumatizing to people at that time. He also worked alongside Jane Fonda, Tina Sinatra, and Cicely Tyson for the George McGovern campaign, assisting with voter registration efforts in the inner city areas of Los Angeles. Voight actively protested against the Vietnam War. In the 1970s, he made public appearances alongside Jane Fonda and Leonard Bernstein in support of the leftist Popular Unity group in Chile.
In a July 28, 2008, op-ed in The Washington Times, Voight wrote that he regretted his youthful anti-war activism, and claimed that the peace movement of that time was driven by "Marxist propaganda". He also claimed that the radicals in the peace movement were responsible for the communists coming to power in Vietnam and Cambodia and for failing to stop the subsequent slaughter of 1.5 million people in the Killing Fields.
In the same op-ed, Voight also criticized the Democratic Party and Barack Obama's bid to become president, claiming that the Democrats had created "a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure (Obama)" who would "demoralize this country and help create a socialist America." He claimed that Obama had grown up with the teachings of very angry, militant white and black people around him.
Voight endorsed Republican presidential nominees Mitt Romney and Donald Trump in the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections respectively. Speaking at an inauguration rally for Trump in January 2017, Voight said, "God answered all our prayers" by granting Trump the White House. In May 2019, Voight released a short two-part video on Twitter supporting Trump's policies, and calling him "the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln."
In November 2020, after the United States presidential election, Voight released a statement through his Twitter account, in which he stated he was very angry that Joe Biden had won the election. He further implied that Biden had committed electoral fraud and proclaimed that the United States was engaged in "our greatest fight since the Civil War – the battle of righteousness versus Satan, because these leftists are evil, corrupt, and they want to tear down this nation." He finished the statement by imploring his followers to not let the 2020 presidential election be certified without attempting to make sure it was accurate first. After the January 6 United States Capitol attack, and after Biden's victory was confirmed in Congress on January 7, Voight released one more video on his Twitter account for his followers, telling them to cease protesting.
In 2022, following a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Voight posted a video in support of gun control, arguing that "proper qualifications" and "testing" should be necessary for gun ownership. In November 2023, Voight expressed disappointment in his daughter Angelina Jolie, criticizing her views on the Gaza war and accusing her of spreading misinformation. Whereas Jolie had called for a ceasefire, Voight emphasized Israel's right to protect its people, stating that the conflict was about preserving the Holy Land and the Jewish people. Reportedly this was one factor leading Jolie to once again cut off contact with him. Voight again endorsed Donald Trump's candidacy for president in 2024.
Personal life
In 1962, Voight married actress Lauri Peters, whom he met when they both appeared in the original Broadway production of The Sound of Music. They divorced in 1967. He married actress Marcheline Bertrand in 1971. They separated in 1976, filed for divorce in 1978, and finalized it in 1980. Their children, James Haven (born 1973) and Angelina Jolie (born 1975), went on to enter the film business as actors and producers. Through Jolie, he has six grandchildren.
Voight has not remarried since the divorce from his second wife. Over the decades, he has dated Linda Morand, Stacey Pickren, Rebecca De Mornay, Eileen Davidson, Barbra Streisand, Nastassja Kinski, and Diana Ross.
Voight is a Kentucky Colonel.
Acting credits and accolades
Over his career Voight has received several accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and four Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2019 he was awarded with the National Medal of Arts.
See also
List of actors with Academy Award nominations
List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
List of Golden Globe winners
References
Further reading
Potton, Ed (September 22, 2007). "Jon Voight on making Deliverance". The Times. London. Archived from the original on December 5, 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2007.
External links
Jon Voight at the American Film Institute Catalog
Jon Voight at IMDb
Jon Voight at the TCM Movie Database
Jon Voight at the Internet Broadway Database
Jon Voight at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and four Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2019, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Films in which Voight has appeared have grossed more than $5.2 billion worldwide.
Associated with the angst and unruliness that typified the late 1960s counterculture, Voight won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a paraplegic Vietnam veteran in Coming Home (1978). His other Oscar nominations are for playing Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in Midnight Cowboy (1969); ruthless bank robber Oscar "Manny" Manheim in Runaway Train (1985); and sportscaster Howard Cosell in Ali (2001). His other notable films include Deliverance (1972), The Champ (1979), Heat (1995), Mission: Impossible (1996), The Rainmaker (1997), Enemy of the State (1998), Pearl Harbor, Zoolander (both 2001), Holes (2003), Glory Road (2006), Transformers (2007), and Pride and Glory (2008). He is also known for his role in the National Treasure film series.
Voight is also known for his television roles, including as Nazi officer Jürgen Stroop in Uprising (2001) and Pope John Paul II on the eponymous miniseries (2005). His role as Mickey Donovan on the Showtime drama series Ray Donovan brought him newfound acclaim and attention among critics and audiences, as well as his fourth Golden Globe win in 2014. He also appeared on the thriller series 24 in its seventh season.
Despite originally adopting liberal views, Voight has gained attention in his later years for his outspoken conservative and religious beliefs. He is the father of actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven.
Early life and education
Jonathan Vincent Voight was born on December 29, 1938, in Yonkers, New York, to Barbara (née Kamp) and Elmer Voight (né Voytka), a professional golfer. He has two brothers, Barry Voight, a former volcanologist at Pennsylvania State University, and James Wesley Voight, known as Chip Taylor, a singer-songwriter who wrote "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning". Voight's paternal grandfather and his paternal grandmother's parents were Slovak immigrants, while his maternal grandfather and his maternal grandmother's parents were German immigrants. Political activist Joseph P. Kamp was his great-uncle through his mother.
Voight was raised as a Catholic and attended the Catholic boys' Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York, where he first took an interest in acting. Following his graduation in 1956, he enrolled at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he majored in art and graduated with a B.A. degree in 1960. After graduation, Voight moved to New York City, where he pursued an acting career. He graduated from the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, where he studied under Sanford Meisner.
Career
1961–1969: Early roles and breakthrough
Voight started his off-Broadway career in a revue called O Oysters, which ran in early 1961. He made his Broadway debut in the fall of 1961 as Rolf in The Sound of Music. In the early 1960s, Voight found work in television, appearing in several episodes of Gunsmoke, between 1963 and 1968, as well as guest spots on Naked City and The Defenders, both in 1963, and Twelve O'Clock High, in 1966 and Cimarron Strip in 1968. Voight's theater career took off in January 1965, playing Rodolfo in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge in an Off-Broadway revival. Voight's film debut did not come until 1967, when he took a part in Phillip Kaufman's crimefighter spoof, Fearless Frank. He also took a small role in 1967's western, Hour of the Gun, directed by veteran helmer John Sturges. In 1968 he took a role in director Paul Williams's Out of It.
In 1968, Voight was cast in the groundbreaking Midnight Cowboy (1969), the film that would make his career. He played Joe Buck, a naïve male hustler from Texas, adrift in New York City. He comes under the tutelage of Dustin Hoffman's Ratso Rizzo, a tubercular petty thief and con artist. The film explored late 1960s New York and the development of an unlikely, but poignant friendship between the two main characters. Directed by John Schlesinger and based on a novel by James Leo Herlihy, the film struck a chord with critics and audiences. Because of its controversial themes, the film was released with an X rating and would make history by being the only X-rated feature to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Both Voight and Hoffman were nominated for Best Actor, but lost out to John Wayne in True Grit.
1970–1989: Stardom and acclaim
In 1970, Voight appeared in Mike Nichols' adaptation of Catch-22, and re-teamed with director Paul Williams to star in The Revolutionary, as a left-wing college student struggling with his conscience. Voight next starred in 1972's Deliverance. Directed by John Boorman, from a script that James Dickey had helped to adapt from his own novel of the same name, it tells the story of a canoe trip in a feral, backwoods America. Both the film and the performances of Voight and co-stars Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty received great critical acclaim, and were popular with audiences. Voight also appeared at the Studio Arena Theater, in Buffalo, New York, in the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire from 1973 to 1974 as Stanley Kowalski.
Voight played a directionless young boxer in 1973's The All American Boy, then appeared in the 1974 film Conrack, directed by Martin Ritt. Based on Pat Conroy's autobiographical novel The Water Is Wide, Voight portrayed the title character, an idealistic young schoolteacher sent to teach underprivileged black children on a remote South Carolina island. The same year he appeared in The Odessa File, based on Frederick Forsyth's thriller, as Peter Miller, a young German journalist who discovers a conspiracy to protect former Nazis still operating within Germany. This film first teamed him with the actor-director Maximilian Schell, who acted out a character named and based on the "Butcher of Riga" Eduard Roschmann, and for whom Voight would appear in 1975's End of the Game, a psychological thriller co-starring Jacqueline Bisset and based on a story by Swiss novelist and playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt.
According to Joseph McBride's biography of Steven Spielberg, Voight was Spielberg's first choice for the role of Matt Hooper in the 1975 film Jaws and he turned down the role, which was ultimately played by Richard Dreyfuss. However, in interview with Dr. Ben Carson on September 6, 2024, Voight was asked if he turned down the part of Quint in Jaws; Voight said that the offer of a part in Jaws is "a myth" and that Spielberg had actually offered him a part in a different, less successful film, a role that he turned down because he thought it was a "repeat of the character from Midnight Cowboy". In 1978, Voight portrayed the Vietnam veteran Luke Martin in Hal Ashby's film Coming Home, and was awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, for his portrait of a cynical, yet noble paraplegic, reportedly based on real-life Vietnam veteran-turned-antiwar-activist Ron Kovic, with whom Jane Fonda's character falls in love. The film included a much-talked-about love scene between the two. Fonda won her second Best Actress award for her role, and Voight won for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Oscars. In 1979, Voight once again put on boxing gloves, starring as an alcoholic ex-heavyweight in Franco Zeffirelli's The Champ with Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder. The film was an international success, but less popular with American audiences.
He next reteamed with director Ashby in 1982's Lookin' to Get Out, in which he played Alex Kovac, a con man who has run into debt with New York mobsters and hopes to win enough in Las Vegas to pay them off. Voight both co-wrote the script and also co-produced. He also produced and acted in 1983's Table for Five, in which he played a widower bringing up his children by himself. Also in 1983, Voight was slated to play Robert Harmon in John Cassavetes' Golden Bear-winning Love Streams, having performed the role on stage in 1981. However, a few weeks before shooting began, Voight announced that he also wanted to direct the picture and was consequently dropped. In 1985, Voight teamed up with Russian writer and director Andrei Konchalovsky to play the role of escaped con Oscar "Manny" Manheim in Runaway Train. The script was based on a story by Akira Kurosawa, and paired Voight with Eric Roberts as a fellow escapee, and Rebecca De Mornay as an assistant locomotive engineer. Voight received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and won the Golden Globe's award for Best Actor. Roberts was also honored for his performance, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Voight followed up this and other performances with a role in the 1986 film, Desert Bloom, and reportedly experienced a "spiritual awakening" toward the end of the decade. In 1989, Voight starred in and helped write Eternity, which dealt with a television reporter's efforts to uncover corruption.
1990–2012: Established actor
He made his first acting debut into television films, acting in 1991's Chernobyl: The Final Warning, followed by The Last of his Tribe, in 1992. He followed with 1992's The Rainbow Warrior for ABC, the story of the ill-fated Greenpeace ship sunk by French operatives in Auckland Harbour. For the remainder of the decade, Voight would alternate between feature films and television movies, including a starring role in the 1993 miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove, a continuation of Larry McMurtry's western saga, 1989's Lonesome Dove. Voight played Captain Woodrow F. Call, the part played by Tommy Lee Jones in the original miniseries. Voight made a cameo appearance as himself on the Seinfeld episode "The Mom & Pop Store" airing November 17, 1994, in which George Costanza buys a car that appears to be owned by Jon Voight. Voight described the process leading up to the episode in an interview on the Red Carpet at the 2006 BAFTA Emmy Awards:
Well what happened was I was asked to be on Seinfeld. They said: "Would you do a Seinfeld?" And I said, and I just happened to know to see a few Seinfelds and I knew these guys were really tops; they were really, really clever guys, and I liked the show. And so I said "Sure!" and I thought they would ask me to do a walk-on, the way it came: "Would you come be part of the show?" And I said "Yeah, sure I'll do it." You know what I mean? Then I got the script and my name was on every page because it was about my car. And I laughed; it was hysterically funny. So I was really delighted to do it. The writer came up to me and he said "Jon, would you come take a look at my car to see if you ever owned it?", because the writer wrote it from a real experience where someone sold him the car based on the fact that it was my car. And I went down and I looked at the car and I said "No, I never had this car." So unfortunately I had to give him the bad news. But it was a funny episode.
In 1992, Voight appeared in the HBO film The Last of His Tribe. In 1995, Voight played the role of "Nate", a sophisticated fence, in the crime drama film Heat, directed by Michael Mann, and appeared in the television films Convict Cowboy and The Tin Soldier, also directing the latter film. Voight next appeared in 1996's blockbuster film Mission: Impossible, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Tom Cruise. Voight played the role of spymaster James Phelps, a role originated by Peter Graves in the television series. In 1997, Voight appeared in six films, beginning with Rosewood, based on the 1923 destruction of the primarily black town of Rosewood, Florida, by the white residents of nearby Sumner. Voight played John Wright, a white Rosewood storeowner who follows his conscience and protects his black customers from the white rage. He next appeared in Anaconda, set in the Amazon; he played Paul Sarone, a snake hunter obsessed with a fabled giant anaconda, who hijacks an unwitting National Geographic film crew who are looking for a remote Indian tribe. Voight next appeared in a supporting role in Oliver Stone's U Turn, portraying a blind man. He took a supporting role in The Rainmaker, adopted from the John Grisham novel and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He played an unscrupulous lawyer representing an insurance company, facing off with a neophyte lawyer played by Matt Damon. His last film of 1997 was Boys Will Be Boys, a family comedy directed by Dom DeLuise.
The following year, Voight had the lead role in the television film The Fixer, in which he played Jack Killoran, a lawyer who crosses ethical lines in order to "fix" things for his wealthy clients. A near-fatal accident awakens his dormant conscience and Killoran soon runs afoul of his former clients. He also took a substantial role in Tony Scott's 1998 political thriller, Enemy of the State, in which he played Will Smith's character's stalwart antagonist from the NSA. Voight was reunited with director Boorman in 1998's The General. Set in Dublin, Ireland, the film tells the true-life story of the charismatic leader of a gang of thieves, Martin Cahill, at odds with both the police and the Provisional IRA. Voight portrays Inspector Ned Kenny, determined to bring Cahill to justice. He next appeared in 1999's Varsity Blues. He played a blunt, autocratic football coach, pitted in a test of wills against his star player, portrayed by James Van Der Beek. Produced by fledgling MTV Pictures, the film became a surprise hit and helped connect Voight with a younger audience. Voight played Noah in the 1999 television production Noah's Ark, and appeared in Second String, also for TV. He also appeared with Cheryl Ladd in the feature A Dog of Flanders, a remake of a popular film set in Belgium.
Voight next portrayed President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 2001's action/war film Pearl Harbor, having accepted the role when Gene Hackman declined (his performance was received favorably by critics). Also that year, he appeared as Lord Croft, father of the title character of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Based on the popular video game, the digital adventuress was played on the big screen by Voight's own real-life daughter Angelina Jolie. That year, he also appeared in Zoolander, directed by Ben Stiller who starred as the title character, a vapid supermodel with humble roots. Voight appeared as Zoolander's coal-miner father. The film extracted both pathos and cruel humor from the scenes of Zoolander's return home, when he entered the mines alongside his father and brothers and Voight's character expressed his unspoken disgust at his son's chosen profession. Also in 2001, Voight joined Leelee Sobieski, Hank Azaria and David Schwimmer in the made-for-television film Uprising, which was based on the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. Voight played Major-General Juergen Stroop, the German officer responsible for the destruction of the Jewish resistance, and received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
Director Michael Mann tagged Voight for a supporting role in the 2001 biopic Ali, which starred Will Smith as the controversial former heavyweight champ, Muhammad Ali. Voight was almost unrecognizable under his make-up and toupée, as he impersonated the sports broadcaster Howard Cosell. Voight received his fourth Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his performance. Also in 2001, he appeared in the television mini-series Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story along with Vanessa Redgrave, Matthew Modine, Richard Attenborough, and Mia Sara. In 2003, he played the role of Marion Seville/Mr. Sir in Holes. In 2004, Voight joined Nicolas Cage, in National Treasure as Patrick Gates, the father of Cage's character. In 2005, he played the title role in the second part of CBS' miniseries, Pope John Paul II.
In 2006, he was Kentucky Wildcats head coach Adolph Rupp in the Disney hit Glory Road. In 2007, he played United States Secretary of Defense John Keller in the summer blockbuster Transformers, reuniting him with Holes star Shia LaBeouf. Also in 2007, Voight reprised his role as Patrick Gates in National Treasure: Book of Secrets. He appeared in Bratz with his goddaughter Skyler Shaye. In 2008, he appeared as Creighton Kinkaid in the Christmas film Four Christmases. In 2009, Voight played Jonas Hodges, the American antagonist, in the seventh season of the hit Fox drama 24, a role that many argue is based on real life figures Alfried Krupp, Johann Rall and Erik Prince. Voight plays the chief executive officer of a fictional private military company based in northern Virginia called Starkwood, which has loose resemblances to Academi and ThyssenKrupp. Voight made his first appearance in the two-hour prequel episode 24: Redemption on November 23. He then went on to recur for 10 episodes of Season 7. He joined Dennis Haysbert as the only two actors ever to have been credited with the "Special Guest Appearance" card on 24.
That same year Voight also lent his voice talents in the Thomas Nelson audio Bible production known as The Word of Promise. In this dramatized audio, Voight played the character of Abraham. The project also featured a large ensemble of other well-known Hollywood actors including Jim Caviezel, Louis Gossett Jr., John Rhys-Davies, Luke Perry, Gary Sinise, Jason Alexander, Christopher McDonald, Marisa Tomei and John Schneider.
2013–2024: Later career
In 2013, Voight made his much-acclaimed appearance on Ray Donovan as Mickey Donovan, the main character's conniving father. The role earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film in 2014 as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He reprised his role in the 2022 film Ray Donovan: The Movie. He played Henry Shaw Sr. in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). The following year he acted in the Christian drama Same Kind of Different as Me alongside Greg Kinnear and Renée Zellweger. On March 26, 2019, Voight was appointed to a six-year term on the Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. He portrayed Supreme Court Justice Warren E. Burger in the film Roe v. Wade (2020). In 2022 he participated in the documentary film Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy with Bob Balaban, Brian De Palma and Brenda Vaccaro. It premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival and was later shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. In 2022, Voight was cast in the science fiction epic Megalopolis, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. In Reagan, Jon Voight is cast as Viktor Ivanov, a former KGB agent. The film, starring Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan, was theatrically released in the United States on August 30, 2024.
2025–present: Special Ambassador to Hollywood
On January 16, 2025, it was announced by president-elect Donald Trump that Voight would serve in a new role as a Special Ambassador to Hollywood, sharing the role with fellow actors Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone. Trump stated that he wants these actors to make Hollywood "stronger than ever before" by bringing back business lost to "foreign countries". According to Deadline, by May 2025, Voight had held meetings with both Hollywood unions and executives on issues with domestic film production. Stallone and Gibson were not involved and have not held similar talks of their own.
Political views
In his early life, Voight's political views aligned with American liberal views, and he supported President John F. Kennedy, describing his assassination as traumatizing to people at that time. He also worked alongside Jane Fonda, Tina Sinatra, and Cicely Tyson for the George McGovern campaign, assisting with voter registration efforts in the inner city areas of Los Angeles. Voight actively protested against the Vietnam War. In the 1970s, he made public appearances alongside Jane Fonda and Leonard Bernstein in support of the leftist Popular Unity group in Chile.
In a July 28, 2008, op-ed in The Washington Times, Voight wrote that he regretted his youthful anti-war activism, and claimed that the peace movement of that time was driven by "Marxist propaganda". He also claimed that the radicals in the peace movement were responsible for the communists coming to power in Vietnam and Cambodia and for failing to stop the subsequent slaughter of 1.5 million people in the Killing Fields.
In the same op-ed, Voight also criticized the Democratic Party and Barack Obama's bid to become president, claiming that the Democrats had created "a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure (Obama)" who would "demoralize this country and help create a socialist America." He claimed that Obama had grown up with the teachings of very angry, militant white and black people around him.
Voight endorsed Republican presidential nominees Mitt Romney and Donald Trump in the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections respectively. Speaking at an inauguration rally for Trump in January 2017, Voight said, "God answered all our prayers" by granting Trump the White House. In May 2019, Voight released a short two-part video on Twitter supporting Trump's policies, and calling him "the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln."
In November 2020, after the United States presidential election, Voight released a statement through his Twitter account, in which he stated he was very angry that Joe Biden had won the election. He further implied that Biden had committed electoral fraud and proclaimed that the United States was engaged in "our greatest fight since the Civil War – the battle of righteousness versus Satan, because these leftists are evil, corrupt, and they want to tear down this nation." He finished the statement by imploring his followers to not let the 2020 presidential election be certified without attempting to make sure it was accurate first. After the January 6 United States Capitol attack, and after Biden's victory was confirmed in Congress on January 7, Voight released one more video on his Twitter account for his followers, telling them to cease protesting.
In 2022, following a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Voight posted a video in support of gun control, arguing that "proper qualifications" and "testing" should be necessary for gun ownership. In November 2023, Voight expressed disappointment in his daughter Angelina Jolie, criticizing her views on the Gaza war and accusing her of spreading misinformation. Whereas Jolie had called for a ceasefire, Voight emphasized Israel's right to protect its people, stating that the conflict was about preserving the Holy Land and the Jewish people. Reportedly this was one factor leading Jolie to once again cut off contact with him. Voight again endorsed Donald Trump's candidacy for president in 2024.
Personal life
In 1962, Voight married actress Lauri Peters, whom he met when they both appeared in the original Broadway production of The Sound of Music. They divorced in 1967. He married actress Marcheline Bertrand in 1971. They separated in 1976, filed for divorce in 1978, and finalized it in 1980. Their children, James Haven (born 1973) and Angelina Jolie (born 1975), went on to enter the film business as actors and producers. Through Jolie, he has six grandchildren.
Voight has not remarried since the divorce from his second wife. Over the decades, he has dated Linda Morand, Stacey Pickren, Rebecca De Mornay, Eileen Davidson, Barbra Streisand, Nastassja Kinski, and Diana Ross.
Voight is a Kentucky Colonel.
Acting credits and accolades
Over his career Voight has received several accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and four Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2019 he was awarded with the National Medal of Arts.
See also
List of actors with Academy Award nominations
List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
List of Golden Globe winners
References
Further reading
Potton, Ed (September 22, 2007). "Jon Voight on making Deliverance". The Times. London. Archived from the original on December 5, 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2007.
External links
Jon Voight at the American Film Institute Catalog
Jon Voight at IMDb
Jon Voight at the TCM Movie Database
Jon Voight at the Internet Broadway Database
Jon Voight at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Ryan Seacrest
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Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American television host and producer. Seacrest is the host of Wheel of Fortune, having hosted since replacing long-time host Pat Sajak in September 2024. Seacrest co-hosted and served as executive producer of Live with Kelly and Ryan, and has hosted other media including American Idol, American Top 40, and On Air with Ryan Seacrest. He became co-host of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in 2005, and he became the sole host following Clark's death in 2012.
Seacrest received Emmy Award nominations for American Idol each year from 2004 to 2013 and once more in 2016. He won an Emmy for Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution in 2010, and he was nominated once more in 2012. In 2018, he received nominations for Live with Kelly and Ryan for Outstanding Talk Show Entertainment and Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host.
Early life
Ryan John Seacrest was born in Atlanta on December 24, 1974, the son of homemaker Constance Marie (née Zullinger) and real estate lawyer Gary Lee Seacrest. His father served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, in which his grandfather Henry Gene Skeen was a major general. His mother told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Instead of playing with G.I. Joes or Cowboys and Indians, Ryan would always have a little microphone and do shows in the house." At age 14, he attended Dunwoody High School. At age 16, while still attending high school, he won an internship at WSTR in Atlanta where Tom Sullivan trained him in many aspects of radio. When a regular DJ called in sick, Sullivan put him on the air for the first show of his broadcasting career. He was given the weekend overnight shift at WSTR. He continued to work on air at WSTR until graduating from Dunwoody High in 1992. He studied journalism at the University of Georgia in the fall of 1992. He continued his radio show at a local station in Athens, Georgia. He left the university at age 19 and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his broadcasting career.
Career
Television hosting
Early work
In 1993, Seacrest hosted the first season of ESPN's Radical Outdoor Challenge. He also hosted three children's game shows, Gladiators 2000 from 1994 to 1996 (a spin-off of the television show, American Gladiators), Wild Animal Games in 1995, and Click in 1997. He appeared as the host of the fictional game show Lover's Lane on Beverly Hills, 90210 in "The Final Proof". In the fall and winter of 2000, he was the host of the NBC Saturday Night Movie. During commercial breaks he offered trivia on the film and a chance to win prizes by answering online on NBCi. In 2001, he hosted a reality television program, Ultimate Revenge, where elaborate practical jokes were played on family and friends instigated by their own relatives and friends. It was shown on TNN from 2001 to 2003.
American Idol
In 2002, Seacrest accepted the position as co-host of a new Fox reality television series American Idol with comedian Brian Dunkleman. The following year he became the sole host after Dunkleman resigned. The show increased in popularity and was seen by some 26 million viewers weekly; Seacrest became recognizable around the world. In 2003, he hosted the spin-off show, American Juniors. In July 2009, he signed a deal with CKX for $45 million to continue to host American Idol which made him the highest paid reality television host at the time. In April 2012, he signed a two-year $30 million deal to continue as host of American Idol. In May 2014, Deadline Hollywood reported that he had signed a one-year deal with the option of signing for another year. He remained host of the series until the end of its original run in April 2016. The following May, it was announced that ABC had won a multi-network bidding war for the rights to the show. On July 20, 2017, he announced on Live with Kelly and Ryan that he would be the host of an Idol revival. His initial multi-year deal was reported to be worth over $10 million.
New Year's Rockin' Eve
In August 2005, it was announced that Seacrest would become executive producer and co-host of ABC's Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. On December 31, 2005, Seacrest performed much of the show's hosting duties; Dick Clark's role was limited by speech and mobility issues due to his recovery from a stroke.
In 2009, ABC renamed the program Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve With Ryan Seacrest, paying attention to Seacrest's role. He co-hosted the show delivering ABC's biggest New Year's numbers in twelve years, with 22.8 million viewers.
When Clark died, Seacrest publicly remembered his mentor's impact on his life in a special tribute in The Hollywood Reporter. After Clark's death, Seacrest hosted the 2013 edition of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with co-hosts Jenny McCarthy and Fergie paying tribute to Clark in the pre-show. In October 2013, Seacrest signed a multi-year contract extension with Dick Clark Productions to continue as host and executive producer of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. In 2017, Seacrest hosted Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve for the 13th consecutive year alongside McCarthy, who had co-hosted for eight years. The show had 25.6 million viewers, the highest in six years. The 2019–20 edition of Rockin' Eve marked his 15th consecutive year as the host and Lucy Hale also hosted. Recently, he received a multi-year deal extension to continue hosting the show.
E! and NBC
In January 2006, American cable channel E! announced a three-year, $21-million deal for Seacrest to host various programs, including E! News and its red-carpet awards show coverages. In April 2012, Seacrest signed a deal with NBCUniversal expanding his on-air role beyond E! to NBC. He contributed to the Today Show, Olympics coverage, entertainment programming, as well as news and other special events. Seacrest remains as managing editor of E! News and hosts and produces its red-carpet awards show coverage.
In September 2012, Seacrest left E! News and was replaced by Terrence J.
Seacrest was an NBC correspondent for the 2012 London Olympic Games and co-hosted the closing ceremony with Bob Costas and Al Michaels. In 2016, Seacrest hosted NBC's live late-night coverage for the Rio Olympic Games.
Live with Kelly and Ryan
After a year-long search, on May 1, 2017, it was announced that Seacrest would join Kelly Ripa as host of Live with Kelly and Ryan as her new permanent co-host and executive producer. Seacrest succeeded Michael Strahan, who left the show the previous year. Seacrest started work on the day of the announcement. By December 2017 the show was averaging over 3 million viewers.
On February 16, 2023, Seacrest announced that he would be leaving Live with Kelly and Ryan after six years in April 2023, primarily due to traveling as his primary residence is in Los Angeles, while the show tapes in New York City. Seacrest made his last appearance as full-time host on April 14, 2023. Mark Consuelos, husband of Kelly Ripa, replaced him full-time on April 17, 2023.
Seacrest has stated, however, that he would return to guest host whenever Consuelos is unavailable.
Wheel of Fortune
On June 27, 2023, The New York Times reported that Seacrest would become the new host of Wheel of Fortune to replace Pat Sajak, who announced his retirement from hosting two weeks earlier, starting with the show's 42nd season in fall 2024, citing "two people familiar with the plan". Seacrest and Sony would later confirm the news in separate releases. Seacrest began hosting duties on September 9, 2024. Despite this, Sajak remained as host of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune in its fifth season due to Seacrest focusing on American Idol auditions.
Other shows
Starting in 2003, Seacrest occasionally served as a substitute host on the CNN television program Larry King Live, and co-hosted Larry King's final show with Bill Maher on December 16, 2010. In 2013, Seacrest hosted The Million Second Quiz which was an interactive game show on NBC. Seacrest hosted Knock Knock Live in 2015, which premiered on Fox. The show featured celebrities arriving at the door of ordinary people who have done something special and giving them a prize. However, the show was cancelled after two episodes.
Radio hosting
In January 2004, Seacrest became the new host of the radio program American Top 40, a syndicated weekly countdown show, created and formerly hosted by Casey Kasem. The show was syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks. In February 2004, Seacrest became host of Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM's morning show, replacing long-time host Rick Dees. The show, On Air With Ryan Seacrest, since 2017, Seacrest has been broadcasting from a studio at the facilities of WABC-TV in New York City, where Live with Kelly and Ryan is produced. Seacrest renewed his contract with Premiere and KIIS parent company iHeartMedia in September 2021, a contract that will last through the end of 2025.
In 2018, Seacrest was inducted into the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation's 16th Annual Giants of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts.
Television producing
Seacrest's three-year hosting deal with E! included executive producing credits on various programs, including E! News and its red-carpet awards show coverages. In the same year, Seacrest launched Ryan Seacrest Productions (RSP). In August 2008, Seacrest named his longtime William Morris agent Adam Sher as CEO. Through 2012 Comcast had first-look rights for all RSP shows. Clear Channel acquired a minority stake in RSP in early 2012, but RSP no longer has a first look deal with any network.
Seacrest remains managing editor of E! News and executive produces its red-carpet awards show coverage but no longer hosts E! News since 2012.
An Associated Press profile portrayed Seacrest as using both the deal with E! and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve as springboards to a long-lasting career in television production and ownership.
Seacrest produced the hit series Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the highest-rated show on the E! network, and the spin-offs Khloe and Lamar, Kourtney and Kim Take New York and Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami. RSP also produced the Emmy Award-winning ABC reality series Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. RSP also produced two new reality series in 2012 including Melissa and Tye, which aired on CMT and Shahs of Sunset for Bravo. Bravo announced a second season of Shahs of Sunset on April 18, 2012. RSP's new show Married to Jonas premiered on August 19, 2012, on E! and was renewed for a second season.
On January 31, 2012, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital announced they would invest up to $300M in Ryan Seacrest Media. A consortium headed by Seacrest (with partners AEG and CAA) agreed to rebrand Mark Cuban's HDNet television network as AXS TV.
In 2017, Seacrest signed a multi-year overall deal between Ryan Seacrest Productions and ABC Studios in which the company's scripted division would develop scripted projects for ABC Studios exclusively.
In 2018, Seacrest joined the Paley Center for Media's Board of Trustees.
Business ventures
Seacrest was a principal investor in the Typo keyboard, which aimed at cloning the BlackBerry physical keyboard for use with iPhone devices that launched in 2014. The Typo keyboard was discontinued in a 2015 patent settlement with Blackberry Ltd. He is also an investor and partner at Pathwater, a brand of purified water offered in a refillable aluminum bottle.
Fashion
Seacrest worked with Burberry's Christopher Bailey who designed Seacrest's suits for red carpet events as well as New Year's Eve since 2009 and American Idol starting in 2010. Seacrest wore close-fitting suits and decided to make something similar for a wider audience at an "accessible" price point.
In 2013, in conjunction with Randa Apparel & Accessories, Seacrest developed his own clothing and accessories collection, "Ryan Seacrest Distinction." The Randa/Seacrest partnership signed an exclusive retail deal with Macy's to sell the brand and it successfully launched in 2014. It consists of suit separates, sports coats, and evening wear manufactured by Peerless Clothing International; accessories including ties, pocket squares, belts, wallets, cufflinks, and jewelry produced by Randa Accessories; and dress shirts from PVH (produced later by Itochu Prominent which added sportswear in September 2017).
Seacrest partnered with dermatologist Harold Lancer to produce the men's skincare line Polished. The line has five items and they are designed for easy use. Seacrest announced the line in August 2017 on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Philanthropy
In 2010, Seacrest launched the nonprofit Ryan Seacrest Foundation. The foundation has fourteen Seacrest Studios: at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (opened 2010), Children's Hospital of Orange County (2013), Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (2011), Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C. (2015), Levine Children's Hospital (2013), Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (2013), Children's Medical Center Dallas (2012), Boston Children's Hospital (2014), Children's Hospital Colorado (2014). Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Tennessee (2016), Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Florida (2020), Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Tennessee (2023 May), Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York (2023 September), and Primary Children's Hospital in Utah (2023 December). Apparently there was a location at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, but it isn't included in the Foundation's map in 2023. In April 2012, Seacrest named Selena Gomez Ambassador of the Foundation. In February 2017, the foundation partnered with the Atlanta Braves to promote the non-profit at SunTrust Park. Seacrest did voice overs for the Braves' "Welcome Home" broadcast media campaign.
Seacrest serves on the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and honorary co-chair of the GRAMMY Foundation board, which later merged with the GRAMMY Museum and became the GRAMMY Museum Foundation.
The day before Georgia's special election in 2018, Seacrest, a Georgia native, urged voters in the state to visit the VoteRider's site or call or text the nonpartisan voter advocacy organization's helpline to find out what ID is required to vote.
Personal life
Seacrest had a two-year on-and-off relationship with model Sara Jean Underwood, which was revealed on The Howard Stern Show in 2009. He began dating dancer and actress Julianne Hough in April 2010. In March 2013, it was announced that their relationship had ended. He dated model Shayna Taylor from 2017 until 2020.
In May 2016, Seacrest returned to the University of Georgia to serve as the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony and receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
In November 2017, it was reported that a former E! wardrobe stylist had accused Seacrest of sexual harassment and that he was under investigation. Seacrest denied the allegations and said, "This person who has accused me of horrible things offered, on multiple occasions, to withdraw her claims if I paid her millions of dollars. I refused." In February 2018, the investigation was closed due to insufficient evidence.
Credits
Radio
Source
Film
Television
References
External links
Official website
Ryan Seacrest at IMDb
DigitalReview.net Biography and reviews of Ryan Seacrest Archived June 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
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Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American television host and producer. Seacrest is the host of Wheel of Fortune, having hosted since replacing long-time host Pat Sajak in September 2024. Seacrest co-hosted and served as executive producer of Live with Kelly and Ryan, and has hosted other media including American Idol, American Top 40, and On Air with Ryan Seacrest. He became co-host of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in 2005, and he became the sole host following Clark's death in 2012.
Seacrest received Emmy Award nominations for American Idol each year from 2004 to 2013 and once more in 2016. He won an Emmy for Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution in 2010, and he was nominated once more in 2012. In 2018, he received nominations for Live with Kelly and Ryan for Outstanding Talk Show Entertainment and Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host.
Early life
Ryan John Seacrest was born in Atlanta on December 24, 1974, the son of homemaker Constance Marie (née Zullinger) and real estate lawyer Gary Lee Seacrest. His father served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, in which his grandfather Henry Gene Skeen was a major general. His mother told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Instead of playing with G.I. Joes or Cowboys and Indians, Ryan would always have a little microphone and do shows in the house." At age 14, he attended Dunwoody High School. At age 16, while still attending high school, he won an internship at WSTR in Atlanta where Tom Sullivan trained him in many aspects of radio. When a regular DJ called in sick, Sullivan put him on the air for the first show of his broadcasting career. He was given the weekend overnight shift at WSTR. He continued to work on air at WSTR until graduating from Dunwoody High in 1992. He studied journalism at the University of Georgia in the fall of 1992. He continued his radio show at a local station in Athens, Georgia. He left the university at age 19 and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his broadcasting career.
Career
Television hosting
Early work
In 1993, Seacrest hosted the first season of ESPN's Radical Outdoor Challenge. He also hosted three children's game shows, Gladiators 2000 from 1994 to 1996 (a spin-off of the television show, American Gladiators), Wild Animal Games in 1995, and Click in 1997. He appeared as the host of the fictional game show Lover's Lane on Beverly Hills, 90210 in "The Final Proof". In the fall and winter of 2000, he was the host of the NBC Saturday Night Movie. During commercial breaks he offered trivia on the film and a chance to win prizes by answering online on NBCi. In 2001, he hosted a reality television program, Ultimate Revenge, where elaborate practical jokes were played on family and friends instigated by their own relatives and friends. It was shown on TNN from 2001 to 2003.
American Idol
In 2002, Seacrest accepted the position as co-host of a new Fox reality television series American Idol with comedian Brian Dunkleman. The following year he became the sole host after Dunkleman resigned. The show increased in popularity and was seen by some 26 million viewers weekly; Seacrest became recognizable around the world. In 2003, he hosted the spin-off show, American Juniors. In July 2009, he signed a deal with CKX for $45 million to continue to host American Idol which made him the highest paid reality television host at the time. In April 2012, he signed a two-year $30 million deal to continue as host of American Idol. In May 2014, Deadline Hollywood reported that he had signed a one-year deal with the option of signing for another year. He remained host of the series until the end of its original run in April 2016. The following May, it was announced that ABC had won a multi-network bidding war for the rights to the show. On July 20, 2017, he announced on Live with Kelly and Ryan that he would be the host of an Idol revival. His initial multi-year deal was reported to be worth over $10 million.
New Year's Rockin' Eve
In August 2005, it was announced that Seacrest would become executive producer and co-host of ABC's Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. On December 31, 2005, Seacrest performed much of the show's hosting duties; Dick Clark's role was limited by speech and mobility issues due to his recovery from a stroke.
In 2009, ABC renamed the program Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve With Ryan Seacrest, paying attention to Seacrest's role. He co-hosted the show delivering ABC's biggest New Year's numbers in twelve years, with 22.8 million viewers.
When Clark died, Seacrest publicly remembered his mentor's impact on his life in a special tribute in The Hollywood Reporter. After Clark's death, Seacrest hosted the 2013 edition of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with co-hosts Jenny McCarthy and Fergie paying tribute to Clark in the pre-show. In October 2013, Seacrest signed a multi-year contract extension with Dick Clark Productions to continue as host and executive producer of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. In 2017, Seacrest hosted Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve for the 13th consecutive year alongside McCarthy, who had co-hosted for eight years. The show had 25.6 million viewers, the highest in six years. The 2019–20 edition of Rockin' Eve marked his 15th consecutive year as the host and Lucy Hale also hosted. Recently, he received a multi-year deal extension to continue hosting the show.
E! and NBC
In January 2006, American cable channel E! announced a three-year, $21-million deal for Seacrest to host various programs, including E! News and its red-carpet awards show coverages. In April 2012, Seacrest signed a deal with NBCUniversal expanding his on-air role beyond E! to NBC. He contributed to the Today Show, Olympics coverage, entertainment programming, as well as news and other special events. Seacrest remains as managing editor of E! News and hosts and produces its red-carpet awards show coverage.
In September 2012, Seacrest left E! News and was replaced by Terrence J.
Seacrest was an NBC correspondent for the 2012 London Olympic Games and co-hosted the closing ceremony with Bob Costas and Al Michaels. In 2016, Seacrest hosted NBC's live late-night coverage for the Rio Olympic Games.
Live with Kelly and Ryan
After a year-long search, on May 1, 2017, it was announced that Seacrest would join Kelly Ripa as host of Live with Kelly and Ryan as her new permanent co-host and executive producer. Seacrest succeeded Michael Strahan, who left the show the previous year. Seacrest started work on the day of the announcement. By December 2017 the show was averaging over 3 million viewers.
On February 16, 2023, Seacrest announced that he would be leaving Live with Kelly and Ryan after six years in April 2023, primarily due to traveling as his primary residence is in Los Angeles, while the show tapes in New York City. Seacrest made his last appearance as full-time host on April 14, 2023. Mark Consuelos, husband of Kelly Ripa, replaced him full-time on April 17, 2023.
Seacrest has stated, however, that he would return to guest host whenever Consuelos is unavailable.
Wheel of Fortune
On June 27, 2023, The New York Times reported that Seacrest would become the new host of Wheel of Fortune to replace Pat Sajak, who announced his retirement from hosting two weeks earlier, starting with the show's 42nd season in fall 2024, citing "two people familiar with the plan". Seacrest and Sony would later confirm the news in separate releases. Seacrest began hosting duties on September 9, 2024. Despite this, Sajak remained as host of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune in its fifth season due to Seacrest focusing on American Idol auditions.
Other shows
Starting in 2003, Seacrest occasionally served as a substitute host on the CNN television program Larry King Live, and co-hosted Larry King's final show with Bill Maher on December 16, 2010. In 2013, Seacrest hosted The Million Second Quiz which was an interactive game show on NBC. Seacrest hosted Knock Knock Live in 2015, which premiered on Fox. The show featured celebrities arriving at the door of ordinary people who have done something special and giving them a prize. However, the show was cancelled after two episodes.
Radio hosting
In January 2004, Seacrest became the new host of the radio program American Top 40, a syndicated weekly countdown show, created and formerly hosted by Casey Kasem. The show was syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks. In February 2004, Seacrest became host of Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM's morning show, replacing long-time host Rick Dees. The show, On Air With Ryan Seacrest, since 2017, Seacrest has been broadcasting from a studio at the facilities of WABC-TV in New York City, where Live with Kelly and Ryan is produced. Seacrest renewed his contract with Premiere and KIIS parent company iHeartMedia in September 2021, a contract that will last through the end of 2025.
In 2018, Seacrest was inducted into the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation's 16th Annual Giants of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts.
Television producing
Seacrest's three-year hosting deal with E! included executive producing credits on various programs, including E! News and its red-carpet awards show coverages. In the same year, Seacrest launched Ryan Seacrest Productions (RSP). In August 2008, Seacrest named his longtime William Morris agent Adam Sher as CEO. Through 2012 Comcast had first-look rights for all RSP shows. Clear Channel acquired a minority stake in RSP in early 2012, but RSP no longer has a first look deal with any network.
Seacrest remains managing editor of E! News and executive produces its red-carpet awards show coverage but no longer hosts E! News since 2012.
An Associated Press profile portrayed Seacrest as using both the deal with E! and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve as springboards to a long-lasting career in television production and ownership.
Seacrest produced the hit series Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the highest-rated show on the E! network, and the spin-offs Khloe and Lamar, Kourtney and Kim Take New York and Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami. RSP also produced the Emmy Award-winning ABC reality series Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. RSP also produced two new reality series in 2012 including Melissa and Tye, which aired on CMT and Shahs of Sunset for Bravo. Bravo announced a second season of Shahs of Sunset on April 18, 2012. RSP's new show Married to Jonas premiered on August 19, 2012, on E! and was renewed for a second season.
On January 31, 2012, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital announced they would invest up to $300M in Ryan Seacrest Media. A consortium headed by Seacrest (with partners AEG and CAA) agreed to rebrand Mark Cuban's HDNet television network as AXS TV.
In 2017, Seacrest signed a multi-year overall deal between Ryan Seacrest Productions and ABC Studios in which the company's scripted division would develop scripted projects for ABC Studios exclusively.
In 2018, Seacrest joined the Paley Center for Media's Board of Trustees.
Business ventures
Seacrest was a principal investor in the Typo keyboard, which aimed at cloning the BlackBerry physical keyboard for use with iPhone devices that launched in 2014. The Typo keyboard was discontinued in a 2015 patent settlement with Blackberry Ltd. He is also an investor and partner at Pathwater, a brand of purified water offered in a refillable aluminum bottle.
Fashion
Seacrest worked with Burberry's Christopher Bailey who designed Seacrest's suits for red carpet events as well as New Year's Eve since 2009 and American Idol starting in 2010. Seacrest wore close-fitting suits and decided to make something similar for a wider audience at an "accessible" price point.
In 2013, in conjunction with Randa Apparel & Accessories, Seacrest developed his own clothing and accessories collection, "Ryan Seacrest Distinction." The Randa/Seacrest partnership signed an exclusive retail deal with Macy's to sell the brand and it successfully launched in 2014. It consists of suit separates, sports coats, and evening wear manufactured by Peerless Clothing International; accessories including ties, pocket squares, belts, wallets, cufflinks, and jewelry produced by Randa Accessories; and dress shirts from PVH (produced later by Itochu Prominent which added sportswear in September 2017).
Seacrest partnered with dermatologist Harold Lancer to produce the men's skincare line Polished. The line has five items and they are designed for easy use. Seacrest announced the line in August 2017 on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Philanthropy
In 2010, Seacrest launched the nonprofit Ryan Seacrest Foundation. The foundation has fourteen Seacrest Studios: at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (opened 2010), Children's Hospital of Orange County (2013), Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (2011), Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C. (2015), Levine Children's Hospital (2013), Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (2013), Children's Medical Center Dallas (2012), Boston Children's Hospital (2014), Children's Hospital Colorado (2014). Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Tennessee (2016), Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Florida (2020), Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Tennessee (2023 May), Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York (2023 September), and Primary Children's Hospital in Utah (2023 December). Apparently there was a location at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, but it isn't included in the Foundation's map in 2023. In April 2012, Seacrest named Selena Gomez Ambassador of the Foundation. In February 2017, the foundation partnered with the Atlanta Braves to promote the non-profit at SunTrust Park. Seacrest did voice overs for the Braves' "Welcome Home" broadcast media campaign.
Seacrest serves on the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and honorary co-chair of the GRAMMY Foundation board, which later merged with the GRAMMY Museum and became the GRAMMY Museum Foundation.
The day before Georgia's special election in 2018, Seacrest, a Georgia native, urged voters in the state to visit the VoteRider's site or call or text the nonpartisan voter advocacy organization's helpline to find out what ID is required to vote.
Personal life
Seacrest had a two-year on-and-off relationship with model Sara Jean Underwood, which was revealed on The Howard Stern Show in 2009. He began dating dancer and actress Julianne Hough in April 2010. In March 2013, it was announced that their relationship had ended. He dated model Shayna Taylor from 2017 until 2020.
In May 2016, Seacrest returned to the University of Georgia to serve as the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony and receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
In November 2017, it was reported that a former E! wardrobe stylist had accused Seacrest of sexual harassment and that he was under investigation. Seacrest denied the allegations and said, "This person who has accused me of horrible things offered, on multiple occasions, to withdraw her claims if I paid her millions of dollars. I refused." In February 2018, the investigation was closed due to insufficient evidence.
Credits
Radio
Source
Film
Television
References
External links
Official website
Ryan Seacrest at IMDb
DigitalReview.net Biography and reviews of Ryan Seacrest Archived June 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
|
Betty White
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Betty Marion Ludden (née White; January 17, 1922 – December 31, 2021) was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of early television with a career spanning almost seven decades, she was noted for her vast number of television appearances, acting in sitcoms, sketch comedy, and game shows.
White produced and starred in the series Life with Elizabeth (1953–1955), thus becoming the first woman to produce a sitcom. After moving from radio to television, she became a staple panelist of American game shows such as Password, Match Game, Tattletales, To Tell the Truth, The Hollywood Squares, and The $25,000 Pyramid. Dubbed "the first lady of game shows", she became the first woman to receive the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host for the show Just Men! in 1983. She then became more widely known for her guest and recurring appearances on shows such as The Carol Burnett Show, Mama's Family, The Bold and the Beautiful and Boston Legal.
White's biggest roles include Sue Ann Nivens on the CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1973–1977), Rose Nylund on the NBC sitcom The Golden Girls (1985–1992), and Elka Ostrovsky on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland (2010–2015). She had a late career resurgence when she starred in the romantic comedy film The Proposal (2009) and hosted Saturday Night Live the following year, garnering her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. The 2018 documentary Betty White: First Lady of Television detailed her life and career.
For her lengthy work in radio, television, and film, White twice earned the Guinness World Record for the longest TV career by a female entertainer in both 2014 and 2018. She received various awards and nominations, including seven Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Grammy Award. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995.
Early life
Betty Marion White was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on January 17, 1922. She later clarified that "Betty" was her legal name and not a shortened version of "Elizabeth" as some people had assumed. She was the only child of housewife Christine Tess (née Cachikis) and lighting company executive Horace Logan White. Her father was from Michigan. White's maternal grandfather was Greek, her paternal grandfather was Danish, both of her grandmothers were Canadians of English descent, and her other ancestry included Welsh. When she was one year old, her family moved to Alhambra, California, and later to Los Angeles during the Great Depression. To make extra money, her father built crystal radios and sold them wherever he could. Since it was the height of the Depression and hardly anyone had a sizable income, he would trade the radios for other goods, which sometimes included dogs.
White was educated in Beverly Hills, where she attended Horace Mann Elementary School and Beverly Hills High School, graduating from the latter in 1939. Her interest in wildlife was sparked by family vacations to the Sierra Nevada. She initially aspired to become a forest ranger, but was unable to do so because women were not allowed to serve as rangers at the time. She instead pursued an interest in writing; she wrote and played the lead in a graduation play at Horace Mann School and discovered her interest in performing. Inspired by her idols Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, she decided to pursue a career as an actress.
One month after White graduated from high school, she and a classmate sang songs from The Merry Widow on an experimental television show, at a time when the medium of television itself was still in development. She found work as a model, and her first professional acting job was at the Bliss Hayden Little Theatre. After the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, she volunteered for the American Women's Voluntary Services. Her assignment included driving a PX truck with military supplies to the Hollywood Hills. She also participated in events for troops before they were deployed overseas. Commenting on her wartime service, she later said that it was "a strange time and out of balance with everything".
Career
1951–1969: Early career and breakthrough
After the war, White made the rounds to movie studios looking for work, but was turned down because she was "not photogenic". She started to look for radio jobs, where being photogenic did not matter. Her first radio jobs included reading commercials and playing bit parts, and sometimes even doing crowd noises. She made about five dollars a show. She would do just about anything, like singing on a show for no pay. She appeared on shows such as Blondie, The Great Gildersleeve, and This Is Your FBI. She was then offered her own radio show, called The Betty White Show.
In 1949, she began appearing as co-host with Al Jarvis on his daily live television variety show Hollywood on Television, originally called Make Believe Ballroom, on KFWB and then on KLAC-TV (now KCOP-TV) in Los Angeles.
White began hosting the show by herself in 1952 after Jarvis's departure, spanning five and a half hours of live ad lib television six days per week, over a continuous four-year span. In all of her various variety series over the years, White would sing at least a couple of songs during each broadcast. In 1951, she was nominated for her first Emmy Award as "Best Actress" on television, competing with Judith Anderson, Helen Hayes, and Imogene Coca; the award went to Gertrude Berg. At this point, the award was for body of work, with no shows named in nominations.
The Betty White Show (1952–1954)
From 1952 to 1954, White hosted and produced her own daily talk/variety show, The Betty White Show, first on KLAC-TV and then on NBC (her first television, but second show to feature that title). Like her sitcom, she had creative control over the series, and was able to hire a female director. In a first for American network variety television, her show featured an African-American performer, but the show faced criticism for the inclusion of tap dancer Arthur Duncan as a regular cast member. The criticism followed when NBC expanded the show nationally. Local Southern stations in the Jim Crow era threatened to boycott unless Duncan was removed from the series. In response, White said "I'm sorry. Live with it", and gave Duncan more airtime. Initially a ratings success, the show repeatedly changed time slots and suffered lower viewership. By the end of the year, NBC quietly cancelled the series.
Life with Elizabeth (1953–1955)
In 1952, the same year that she began hosting Hollywood on Television, White co-founded Bandy Productions with writer George Tibbles and Don Fedderson, a producer. The trio worked to create new shows using existing characters from sketches shown on Hollywood on Television. White, Fedderson, and Tibbles created the television comedy Life with Elizabeth, with White portraying the title character. The show was originally a live production on KLAC-TV in 1951, and won White a Los Angeles Emmy Award in 1952. Life with Elizabeth was nationally syndicated from 1953 to 1955, allowing White to become one of the few women in television with full creative control in front of and behind the camera. The show was unusual for a sitcom in the 1950s because it was co-produced and owned by a twenty-eight-year-old woman who still lived with her parents. White said they did not worry about relevance in those days, and that usually the incidents were based on real-life situations that happened to her, Del Moore (who played Alvin), and the writer. White also performed in television advertisements seen on live television in Los Angeles, including a rendition of the "Dr. Ross Dog Food" advertisement at KTLA during the 1950s. She guest-starred on The Millionaire in the 1956 episode "The Virginia Lennart Story", as the owner of a small-town diner who receives an anonymous gift of $1 million.
Following the end of Life with Elizabeth, she appeared as Vicki Angel on the ABC sitcom Date with the Angels from 1957 to 1958. As originally intended, the show, loosely based on the Elmer Rice play Dream Girl, would focus on Vicki's daydreaming tendencies. However, the sponsor was not pleased with the fantasy elements and was pressured to have them eliminated. "I can honestly say that was the only time I have ever wanted to get out of a show", White later said. The sitcom was a critical and rating disaster, but ABC would not allow White to break her contractual agreement and required her to fill the remaining thirteen weeks in their deal. Instead of a retooled version of the sitcom, White rebooted her old talk/variety show, The Betty White Show, which aired until her contract was fulfilled.
The sitcom did give White some positive experiences: she first met Lucille Ball while working on it, as both Date With the Angels and I Love Lucy were filmed on the same Culver Studios lot. The two quickly struck up a friendship over their accomplishments in taking on the male-dominated television business of the 1950s. They relied on one another through divorce, illness, personal loss, and even competed against one another on various game shows. In July 1959, White made her professional stage debut in a week-long production of the play, Third Best Sport, at the Ephrata Legion Star Playhouse in Ephrata, Pennsylvania.
Game and talk show appearances
By the 1960s, White was a staple of network game shows and talk shows: including both Jack Paar's and later Johnny Carson's tenure on The Tonight Show. She made many appearances on the hit Password show as a celebrity guest from 1961 through 1975. She married the show's host, Allen Ludden, in 1963. She subsequently appeared on the show's three updated versions, Password Plus, Super Password, and Million Dollar Password. White made frequent game show appearances on What's My Line? (starting in 1955), To Tell the Truth (in 1961, 1990, and 2015), I've Got a Secret (in 1972–73), Match Game (1973–1982), and Pyramid (starting in 1982). She made her feature film debut as fictional Kansas Senator Elizabeth Ames Adams in the 1962 drama Advise & Consent; in 2004, on talk show Q&A, host Brian Lamb remarked on White's longevity as an actress besides the fact she was playing a strong female senator in 1962. He and Donald A. Ritchie noted that viewers would have seen the Senator Adams character to reflect Margaret Chase Smith. In 1963, White starred in a production of The King and I at the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre, with Charles Korvin co-starring as the king.
NBC offered her an anchor job on their flagship breakfast television show Today. She turned the offer down because she did not want to move permanently to New York City (where Today is produced). The job eventually went to Barbara Walters. Through the 1950s and 1960s, White began a nineteen-year run as hostess and commentator on the annual Rose Parade broadcast on NBC (co-hosting with Roy Neal and later Lorne Greene), and appeared on a number of late-night talk shows, including Jack Paar's The Tonight Show, and various other daytime game shows.
1973–1992: Established star
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1973–1977)
White made several appearances in the fourth season (1973–74) of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, as the "man-hungry" Sue Ann Nivens. "We need somebody who can play sickeningly sweet, like Betty White", Moore suggested at a production meeting, which resulted in the casting of White herself. Although considering the role a highlight of her career, White described the character's image as "icky sweet", feeling she was the very definition of feminine passivity, owing to the fact she always satirized her own persona onscreen in just such a way. The Mary Tyler Moore Show's producers made Sue Ann Nivens a regular character and brought White into the main cast starting with the fifth season, after Valerie Harper, who played Rhoda Morgenstern, left the program. A running gag was how Sue Ann's aggressive, cynical personality was the complete opposite of her relentlessly perky TV persona on the fictional WJM-TV show, The Happy Homemaker. White won two Emmy Awards back-to-back, in 1975 and 1976, for her role in the hugely popular series.
Mary Tyler Moore and her husband Grant Tinker were close friends with White and her husband Allen Ludden. In a 2010 The Interviews: An Oral History of Television interview, Moore explained that producers, aware of Moore and White's friendship, were initially hesitant to audition White for the role, for fear that if she did not work out, it would create awkwardness between the two.
In 1975, NBC replaced White as commentator hostess of the Tournament of Roses Parade, feeling that she was identified too heavily with rival network CBS's The Mary Tyler Moore Show. White admitted to People that it was difficult "watching someone else do my parade", although she would soon start a ten-year run as hostess of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for CBS. Following the end of The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1977, White was offered her own sitcom on CBS, her fourth, entitled The Betty White Show (the first of the name running a quarter century earlier), in which she co-starred with John Hillerman and former Mary Tyler Moore co-star Georgia Engel. Running up against Monday Night Football in its timeslot, the ratings were poor and it was canceled after one season.
White appeared several times on The Carol Burnett Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson appearing in many sketches, and began guest-starring in a number of television movies and television miniseries, including With This Ring, The Best Place to Be, Before and After, and The Gossip Columnist. In 1983, White became the first woman to win a Daytime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Game Show Host, for the NBC entry Just Men! Due to the amount of work she did on them, she was deemed the "First Lady of Game Shows".
The Golden Girls (1985–1992)
From 1983 to 1984, White had a recurring role playing Ellen Harper-Jackson on the series Mama's Family, along with future Golden Girls co-star Rue McClanahan. White had originated this character in a series of sketches on The Carol Burnett Show in the 1970s. In 1985, White scored her second signature role and the biggest hit of her career as the St. Olaf, Minnesota native Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls. The series chronicled the lives of four widowed or divorced women in their "golden years" who shared a home in Miami. The Golden Girls, which also starred Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan, was immensely successful and ran from 1985 through 1992. White won one Primetime Emmy Award, for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series", for the first season of The Golden Girls and was nominated in that category every year of the show's run (Getty was also nominated every year, but in the supporting actress category).
White had a strained relationship with her The Golden Girls co-star Bea Arthur on and off the set of their television show, commenting that Arthur "was not that fond of me" and that "she found me a pain in the neck sometimes. It was my positive attitude – and that made Bea mad sometimes. Sometimes if I was happy, she'd be furious." After Arthur's death in 2009, White said, "I knew it would hurt, I just didn't know it would hurt this much." Despite their differences, The Golden Girls was a positive experience for both actresses and they had great mutual respect for the show, their roles, and the achievements made as an ensemble cast.
White was originally offered the role of Blanche in The Golden Girls, and Rue McClanahan was offered the role of Rose (the two characters being similar to roles they had played in Mary Tyler Moore and Maude, respectively). Jay Sandrich, the director of the pilot, suggested that since they had played similar roles in the past, they should switch roles, Rue McClanahan later said in a documentary on the series. White originally had doubts about her ability to play Rose, until Sandrich explained to her that Rose was "terminally naive". White says "if you told Rose you were so hungry you could eat a horse, she'd call the ASPCA."
The Golden Girls ended in 1992 after Arthur announced her decision to depart the series. White, McClanahan, and Getty reprised their roles as Rose, Blanche, and Sophia in the spin-off The Golden Palace. The series was short-lived, lasting only one season. In addition, White reprised her Rose Nylund character in guest appearances on the NBC shows Empty Nest and Nurses, both set in Miami.
1993–2009: Continued roles
After The Golden Palace ended, White guest-starred on a number of television programs including Suddenly Susan, The Practice, and Yes, Dear where she received Emmy nominations for her individual appearances. She won an Emmy in 1996 for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, appearing as herself on an episode of The John Larroquette Show. In that episode, titled "Here We Go Again", a parody on Sunset Boulevard, a diva-like White convinces Larroquette to help write her memoir. At one point, Golden Girls co-stars McClanahan and Getty appear as themselves. Larroquette is forced to dress in drag as Bea Arthur, when all four appear in public as the "original" cast members. White also appeared in films such as Lake Placid (1999) and Bringing Down the House (2003) during this time.
In December 2006, White joined the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful in the role of Ann Douglas (where she would make 22 appearances), the long-lost mother of the show's matriarch, Stephanie Forrester, played by Susan Flannery. She also began a recurring role in ABC's Boston Legal from 2005 to 2008 as the calculating, blackmailing gossip-monger Catherine Piper, a role she originally played as a guest star on The Practice in 2004.
White appeared several times on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson appearing in many sketches and returned to Password in its latest incarnation, Million Dollar Password, on June 12, 2008, (episode #3), participating in the Million Dollar challenge at the end of the show. On May 19, 2008, she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, taking part in the host's Mary Tyler Moore Show reunion special alongside every surviving cast member of the series.
Beginning in 2007, White was featured in television commercials for PetMed Express, highlighting her interest in animal welfare.
The Proposal (2009)
In 2009, White starred in the romantic comedy The Proposal alongside Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Also in 2009, the candy company Mars, Incorporated launched a global campaign for their Snickers bar; the campaign's slogan was: "You're not you when you're hungry". White appeared, alongside Abe Vigoda, in the company's advertisement for the candy during the 2010 Super Bowl XLIV. The advertisement became popular, and won the top spot on the Super Bowl Ad Meter.
2010–2021: Career resurgence
Following the success of the Snickers advertisement, a grassroots campaign on Facebook called "Betty White to Host SNL (Please)" began in January 2010. The group was approaching 500,000 members when NBC confirmed on March 11, 2010, that White would in fact host Saturday Night Live on May 8. The appearance made her, at age 88, the oldest person to host the show, beating Miskel Spillman, the winner of SNL's "Anybody Can Host" contest, who was 80 when she hosted in 1977. In her opening monologue, White thanked Facebook and joked that she "didn't know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time." The appearance earned her a 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. White and Jean Smart are the only actresses to have wins in all three comedy Emmy categories.
Hot in Cleveland (2010–2015)
In June 2010, White took on the role of Elka Ostrovsky, the house caretaker on TV Land's original sitcom Hot in Cleveland along with Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Wendie Malick. Hot in Cleveland was TV Land's first attempt at a first-run scripted comedy (the channel has rerun other sitcoms since its debut). White was only meant to appear in the pilot of the show but was asked to stay on for the entire series. In 2011, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Elka, but lost to Julie Bowen for Modern Family. The series ran for six seasons, a total of 128 episodes, with the hour-long final episode airing on June 3, 2015.
White also starred in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of The Lost Valentine on January 30, 2011 (this presentation garnered the highest rating for a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation in the previous four years and according to the Nielsen Media Research TV rating service won first place in the prime time slot for that date), and from 2012 to 2014, White hosted and executive produced Betty White's Off Their Rockers, in which senior citizens play practical jokes on the younger generation. For this show, she received three Emmy nominations.
A Betty White calendar for 2011 was published in late 2010. The calendar features photos from White's career and with various animals. She also launched her own clothing line on July 22, 2010, which features shirts with her face on them. All proceeds go to various animal charities she supported.
White's success continued in 2012 with her first Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for her bestseller If You Ask Me. She also won the UCLA Jack Benny Award for Comedy, recognizing her significant contribution to comedy in television, and was roasted at the New York Friars Club. A television special, Betty White's 90th Birthday Party, aired on NBC a day before her birthday on January 16, 2012. The show featured appearances of many stars whom White worked with over the years as well as a message from then sitting president Barack Obama. In January 2013, NBC once again celebrated White's birthday with a TV special featuring celebrity friends, including former president Bill Clinton; the special aired on February 5.
On February 15, 2015, White made her final appearance on Saturday Night Live when she attended the 40th Anniversary Special. She participated in "The Californians" sketch alongside members of the current SNL cast as well as Bill Hader, Taylor Swift and Kerry Washington. In the memorable sketch White ends up kissing Bradley Cooper.
On August 18, 2018, White's career was celebrated in a PBS documentary called Betty White: First Lady of Television. The documentary was filmed over a period of ten years, and featured archived footage and interviews from colleagues and friends. In 2019, White appeared in Pixar's Toy Story 4, providing the voice of Bitey White, a toy tiger that was named after her. The other toys she shared a scene with were named and played by Carol Burnett, Carl Reiner, and Mel Brooks. White commented that "It was wonderful the way they incorporated our names into the characters ... And I'm a sucker for animals, so the tiger was perfect!"
Betty White: A Celebration (2022)
In December 2021, before White's death, it was announced that a new documentary-style film about her, Betty White: A Celebration would be released in U.S. theatres on what would have been her 100th birthday, January 17, 2022. It features a cast of friends including Ryan Reynolds, Tina Fey, Robert Redford, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Leno, Carol Burnett, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel, Valerie Bertinelli, James Corden, Wendie Malick, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. In addition to the planned documentary, People magazine featured her as the cover story of its January 10, 2022, newsstand publication and a separate commemorative edition to celebrate the anticipated milestone, which were released days before her death.
Following White's death, producers Steve Boettcher and Mike Trinklein of the event distributors Fathom Events announced in a Facebook post that the pre-filmed production would be going ahead as scheduled.
Achievements and honors
White won five Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards (including the 2015 Daytime Emmy for Lifetime Achievement), and received a Los Angeles Emmy Award in 1952. White was the first woman to have received an Emmy in all performing comedic categories, and also holds the record for longest span between Emmy nominations for performances—her first was in 1951 and her last was in 2014, a span of over 60 years. In 2015, she received the Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy. She also won three American Comedy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990), and two Viewers for Quality Television Awards. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at Hollywood Boulevard alongside the star of her late husband Allen Ludden. In 2009, White received the TCA Career Achievement Award from the Television Critics Association.
In 1955 she was named the honorary Mayor of Hollywood. White was the recipient of The Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters Golden Ike Award and the Genii Award from the Alliance for Women in Media in 1976. The American Comedy Awards awarded her the award for Funniest Female in 1987 as well as the list of lifetime achievement awards in 1990.
The American Veterinary Medical Association awarded White with its Humane Award in 1987 for her charitable work with animals. The City of Los Angeles further honored her for her philanthropic work with animals in 2006 with a bronze commemorative plaque near the Gorilla Exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo. The City of Los Angeles named her "Ambassador to the Animals" at the dedication ceremony.
In September 2009, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced plans to honor White with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award at the 16th Screen Actors Guild Awards. Actress Sandra Bullock presented White with the award on January 23, 2010, at the ceremony, which took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. She was a Kentucky Colonel. In 2009, White and her Golden Girls cast mates Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty were awarded Disney Legends awards. White was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in December 2010. In 2010, she was chosen as the Associated Press's Entertainer of the Year.
On November 9, 2010, the USDA Forest Service, along with Smokey Bear, made White an honorary forest ranger, fulfilling her lifelong dream. White said in previous interviews that she wanted to be a forest ranger as a little girl but that women were not allowed to do that then. When White received the honor, more than one-third of Forest Service employees were women.
In January 2011, White received a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her role as Elka Ostrovsky in Hot in Cleveland. The show itself was also nominated for an award as Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, but it lost to the cast of Modern Family. She won the same award again in 2012 and later received a third nomination.
In October 2011, White was awarded an honorary degree and a white doctor's coat by Washington State University at the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association's centennial gala in Yakima, Washington.
A 2011 poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos revealed that White was considered the most popular and most trusted celebrity among Americans, beating the likes of Denzel Washington, Sandra Bullock, and Tom Hanks.
In 2017, after 70 years in the industry, White was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At age 95, this made her the oldest new member at the time.
In 2025, the United States Postal Service unveiled a new stamp that features White on it. It is a Forever stamp and features White with the words "Forever USA" under her.
Personal life
While volunteering with the American Women's Voluntary Services, White met Air Force P-38 pilot Dick Barker. After the war, they were married in 1945 and moved to Belle Center, Ohio, where Barker owned a chicken farm; he wanted to embrace a simpler life, but White did not enjoy doing so. They returned to Los Angeles and divorced within a year. She married Hollywood talent agent Lane Allen in 1947, and they divorced in 1949 because he wanted to start a family but she wanted to focus on her career rather than having children.
On June 14, 1963, White married television host Allen Ludden, whom she had met as a celebrity guest on his game show Password in 1961. Her legal name was changed to Betty Marion Ludden. He proposed to her at least twice before she accepted, and they remained married until he died from stomach cancer in Los Angeles on June 9, 1981. The couple appeared together in an episode of The Odd Couple featuring Felix's and Oscar's appearance on Password.
Writer John Steinbeck was in White and Ludden's group of high-profile friends, and White wrote about the friendship in her 2011 book If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't). Ludden had attended the same school as actress Elaine Anderson (Steinbeck's future wife) and Steinbeck later gave an early draft of his Nobel Prize in Literature acceptance speech to Ludden as a birthday gift. The couple also had a close friendship with blind musician and motivational speaker Tom Sullivan, whom they had met in 1968 while Sullivan was singing in a small club at the same time that White and Ludden were performing in a play on Cape Cod. White and Sullivan co-wrote a book, Leading Lady, about Sullivan's first seeing eye dog, who lived with White after being retired.
White and Ludden had no children together, though she was the stepmother of his three children with Margaret McGloin Ludden, who had died of cancer in 1961. During an interview on Larry King Live, she was asked why she never remarried after Ludden's death. She replied, "Once you've had the best, who needs the rest?" When asked by James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio in 2010 what she would like God to say to her if Heaven exists, she replied, "Come on in, Betty. Here's Allen."
White attended the Unity Church, part of the New Thought movement.
Death
On December 25, 2021, White suffered a stroke. On the morning of December 31, she died in her sleep at her home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles at the age of 99. Her remains were cremated.
White's death was met with statements of sympathy and tributes from many people and organizations around the world. The United States Army released a statement, as White had volunteered with the American Women's Voluntary Services during World War II. The Martin Luther King Jr. Center also offered their condolences and praised White for her early support of racial equality. There were additional tributes from numerous media organizations, entertainers, political commentators, sports teams, politicians, and other public figures. White's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was flooded with flowers and tributes within hours of the announcement of her death.
White's two California homes in Brentwood and Carmel were sold in April and June 2022 respectively, with her personal belongings sold at auction that September and the proceeds donated to several charities. Her estate also donated a substantial portion of her television memorabilia to the National Comedy Center, including wardrobe pieces, annotated notes, and five of her Emmy Awards.
Causes and advocacy
Animal welfare
White was a pet enthusiast and animal welfare advocate, who worked with organizations including the Los Angeles Zoo Commission, The Morris Animal Foundation, African Wildlife Foundation, and Actors and Others for Animals. Her interest in animal welfare began in the early 1970s while she was producing and hosting the syndicated series The Pet Set, which spotlighted celebrities and their pets. As of 2009, White was the president emerita of the Morris Animal Foundation, where she served as a trustee of the organization beginning in 1971. She was a member of the board of directors of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association since 1974. Additionally, White served the association as a Zoo Commissioner for eight years.
According to the Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Garden's ZooScape member newsletter, White hosted "History on Film" from 2000 to 2002. White donated nearly $100,000 to the zoo in the month of April 2008 alone. White served as a judge at the 2011 American Humane Hero Dog Awards ceremony.
White served as a judge alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Wendy Diamond for American Humane's Hero Dog Awards on the Hallmark Channel on November 8, 2011.
Racial equality
In 1954, as The Betty White Show became national across the United States, White was criticized by many in the Southern states for having Arthur Duncan, a Black tap dancer, on her variety show and was asked to remove him. In the 2018 documentary Betty White: First Lady of Television, White recalled threats to take the show off-air "if we didn't get rid of Arthur, because he was Black." She refused, saying "he stays, live with it".
In 2017, sixty-three years after the show was canceled, Duncan appeared as a surprise guest on the series premiere of the reality talent series Little Big Shots: Forever Young, where he performed and reunited with White, later thanking her again for her support.
LGBT rights
A supporter and advocate of LGBT rights, White said in 2010, "If a couple has been together all that time – and there are gay relationships that are more solid than some heterosexual ones – I think it's fine if they want to get married. I don't know how people can get so anti-something. Mind your own business, take care of your affairs, and don't worry about other people so much." In a 2011 interview, she revealed that she always knew her close friend Liberace was gay and that she sometimes accompanied him to premieres to help him hide it.
Discography
In September 2011, White teamed up with English singer Luciana to produce a remix of her song "I'm Still Hot". The song was released digitally on September 22 and the video later premiered on October 6. It was made for a campaign for a life settlement company, The Lifeline Program, and it is her only commercial single to date, peaking at number 1 on the Dance Club Songs chart. White also covered songs on her live television shows, such as "Nevertheless I'm in Love with You", "It's a Good Day", "Getting to Know You" and "A 'No' That Sounds like 'Yes'".
Filmography
Bibliography
White published several books. In August 2010, she entered a deal with G.P. Putnam's Sons to produce two more books, the first of which, If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't), was released in 2011. In February 2012, White received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for the audio recording of the book.
Books
Betty White's Pet-Love: How Pets Take Care of Us. W. Morrow. 1983.
Betty White in Person. Doubleday. 1987.
The Leading Lady: Dinah's Story. Bantam Books. 1991. ISBN 9780385421683. (with Tom Sullivan)
Here We Go Again: My Life In Television. Scribner. 1995. ISBN 9780684800424.
Together: A Novel of Shared Vision. Center Point Pub. 2008. ISBN 9781602852488. (with Tom Sullivan)
If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't). Penguin. 2011. ISBN 9781101514467.
Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo. Penguin. 2011. ISBN 9781101558928.
Audiobooks
2004: Here We Go Again (read by the author) ISBN 978-1451613698
2011: If You Ask Me: (And of Course You Won't) (read by the author), Penguin Audio, ISBN 978-0-1424-2936-5
References
Further reading
Tucker, David C. (2007). The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2900-4
Armstrong, Jennifer (2021). When women invented television: the untold story of the female powerhouses who pioneered the way we watch today. New York: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers. ISBN 978-0-06-297330-6. OCLC 1241185819.
Bernstein, Paula (October 5, 2021). How to Be Golden: Lessons We Can Learn from Betty White. Running Press. ISBN 978-0-7624-7460-8.
Stoner, Andrew E. (2012). Betty White: The First 90 Years. Blue River Press. ISBN 978-1-935628-23-1.
External links
Betty White at IMDb
Betty White at the TCM Movie Database
Betty White at Emmys.com
Betty White at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Betty White: Celebrating 60 Years (August 7, 2008)
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Betty Marion Ludden (née White; January 17, 1922 – December 31, 2021) was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of early television with a career spanning almost seven decades, she was noted for her vast number of television appearances, acting in sitcoms, sketch comedy, and game shows.
White produced and starred in the series Life with Elizabeth (1953–1955), thus becoming the first woman to produce a sitcom. After moving from radio to television, she became a staple panelist of American game shows such as Password, Match Game, Tattletales, To Tell the Truth, The Hollywood Squares, and The $25,000 Pyramid. Dubbed "the first lady of game shows", she became the first woman to receive the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host for the show Just Men! in 1983. She then became more widely known for her guest and recurring appearances on shows such as The Carol Burnett Show, Mama's Family, The Bold and the Beautiful and Boston Legal.
White's biggest roles include Sue Ann Nivens on the CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1973–1977), Rose Nylund on the NBC sitcom The Golden Girls (1985–1992), and Elka Ostrovsky on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland (2010–2015). She had a late career resurgence when she starred in the romantic comedy film The Proposal (2009) and hosted Saturday Night Live the following year, garnering her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. The 2018 documentary Betty White: First Lady of Television detailed her life and career.
For her lengthy work in radio, television, and film, White twice earned the Guinness World Record for the longest TV career by a female entertainer in both 2014 and 2018. She received various awards and nominations, including seven Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Grammy Award. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995.
Early life
Betty Marion White was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on January 17, 1922. She later clarified that "Betty" was her legal name and not a shortened version of "Elizabeth" as some people had assumed. She was the only child of housewife Christine Tess (née Cachikis) and lighting company executive Horace Logan White. Her father was from Michigan. White's maternal grandfather was Greek, her paternal grandfather was Danish, both of her grandmothers were Canadians of English descent, and her other ancestry included Welsh. When she was one year old, her family moved to Alhambra, California, and later to Los Angeles during the Great Depression. To make extra money, her father built crystal radios and sold them wherever he could. Since it was the height of the Depression and hardly anyone had a sizable income, he would trade the radios for other goods, which sometimes included dogs.
White was educated in Beverly Hills, where she attended Horace Mann Elementary School and Beverly Hills High School, graduating from the latter in 1939. Her interest in wildlife was sparked by family vacations to the Sierra Nevada. She initially aspired to become a forest ranger, but was unable to do so because women were not allowed to serve as rangers at the time. She instead pursued an interest in writing; she wrote and played the lead in a graduation play at Horace Mann School and discovered her interest in performing. Inspired by her idols Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, she decided to pursue a career as an actress.
One month after White graduated from high school, she and a classmate sang songs from The Merry Widow on an experimental television show, at a time when the medium of television itself was still in development. She found work as a model, and her first professional acting job was at the Bliss Hayden Little Theatre. After the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, she volunteered for the American Women's Voluntary Services. Her assignment included driving a PX truck with military supplies to the Hollywood Hills. She also participated in events for troops before they were deployed overseas. Commenting on her wartime service, she later said that it was "a strange time and out of balance with everything".
Career
1951–1969: Early career and breakthrough
After the war, White made the rounds to movie studios looking for work, but was turned down because she was "not photogenic". She started to look for radio jobs, where being photogenic did not matter. Her first radio jobs included reading commercials and playing bit parts, and sometimes even doing crowd noises. She made about five dollars a show. She would do just about anything, like singing on a show for no pay. She appeared on shows such as Blondie, The Great Gildersleeve, and This Is Your FBI. She was then offered her own radio show, called The Betty White Show.
In 1949, she began appearing as co-host with Al Jarvis on his daily live television variety show Hollywood on Television, originally called Make Believe Ballroom, on KFWB and then on KLAC-TV (now KCOP-TV) in Los Angeles.
White began hosting the show by herself in 1952 after Jarvis's departure, spanning five and a half hours of live ad lib television six days per week, over a continuous four-year span. In all of her various variety series over the years, White would sing at least a couple of songs during each broadcast. In 1951, she was nominated for her first Emmy Award as "Best Actress" on television, competing with Judith Anderson, Helen Hayes, and Imogene Coca; the award went to Gertrude Berg. At this point, the award was for body of work, with no shows named in nominations.
The Betty White Show (1952–1954)
From 1952 to 1954, White hosted and produced her own daily talk/variety show, The Betty White Show, first on KLAC-TV and then on NBC (her first television, but second show to feature that title). Like her sitcom, she had creative control over the series, and was able to hire a female director. In a first for American network variety television, her show featured an African-American performer, but the show faced criticism for the inclusion of tap dancer Arthur Duncan as a regular cast member. The criticism followed when NBC expanded the show nationally. Local Southern stations in the Jim Crow era threatened to boycott unless Duncan was removed from the series. In response, White said "I'm sorry. Live with it", and gave Duncan more airtime. Initially a ratings success, the show repeatedly changed time slots and suffered lower viewership. By the end of the year, NBC quietly cancelled the series.
Life with Elizabeth (1953–1955)
In 1952, the same year that she began hosting Hollywood on Television, White co-founded Bandy Productions with writer George Tibbles and Don Fedderson, a producer. The trio worked to create new shows using existing characters from sketches shown on Hollywood on Television. White, Fedderson, and Tibbles created the television comedy Life with Elizabeth, with White portraying the title character. The show was originally a live production on KLAC-TV in 1951, and won White a Los Angeles Emmy Award in 1952. Life with Elizabeth was nationally syndicated from 1953 to 1955, allowing White to become one of the few women in television with full creative control in front of and behind the camera. The show was unusual for a sitcom in the 1950s because it was co-produced and owned by a twenty-eight-year-old woman who still lived with her parents. White said they did not worry about relevance in those days, and that usually the incidents were based on real-life situations that happened to her, Del Moore (who played Alvin), and the writer. White also performed in television advertisements seen on live television in Los Angeles, including a rendition of the "Dr. Ross Dog Food" advertisement at KTLA during the 1950s. She guest-starred on The Millionaire in the 1956 episode "The Virginia Lennart Story", as the owner of a small-town diner who receives an anonymous gift of $1 million.
Following the end of Life with Elizabeth, she appeared as Vicki Angel on the ABC sitcom Date with the Angels from 1957 to 1958. As originally intended, the show, loosely based on the Elmer Rice play Dream Girl, would focus on Vicki's daydreaming tendencies. However, the sponsor was not pleased with the fantasy elements and was pressured to have them eliminated. "I can honestly say that was the only time I have ever wanted to get out of a show", White later said. The sitcom was a critical and rating disaster, but ABC would not allow White to break her contractual agreement and required her to fill the remaining thirteen weeks in their deal. Instead of a retooled version of the sitcom, White rebooted her old talk/variety show, The Betty White Show, which aired until her contract was fulfilled.
The sitcom did give White some positive experiences: she first met Lucille Ball while working on it, as both Date With the Angels and I Love Lucy were filmed on the same Culver Studios lot. The two quickly struck up a friendship over their accomplishments in taking on the male-dominated television business of the 1950s. They relied on one another through divorce, illness, personal loss, and even competed against one another on various game shows. In July 1959, White made her professional stage debut in a week-long production of the play, Third Best Sport, at the Ephrata Legion Star Playhouse in Ephrata, Pennsylvania.
Game and talk show appearances
By the 1960s, White was a staple of network game shows and talk shows: including both Jack Paar's and later Johnny Carson's tenure on The Tonight Show. She made many appearances on the hit Password show as a celebrity guest from 1961 through 1975. She married the show's host, Allen Ludden, in 1963. She subsequently appeared on the show's three updated versions, Password Plus, Super Password, and Million Dollar Password. White made frequent game show appearances on What's My Line? (starting in 1955), To Tell the Truth (in 1961, 1990, and 2015), I've Got a Secret (in 1972–73), Match Game (1973–1982), and Pyramid (starting in 1982). She made her feature film debut as fictional Kansas Senator Elizabeth Ames Adams in the 1962 drama Advise & Consent; in 2004, on talk show Q&A, host Brian Lamb remarked on White's longevity as an actress besides the fact she was playing a strong female senator in 1962. He and Donald A. Ritchie noted that viewers would have seen the Senator Adams character to reflect Margaret Chase Smith. In 1963, White starred in a production of The King and I at the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre, with Charles Korvin co-starring as the king.
NBC offered her an anchor job on their flagship breakfast television show Today. She turned the offer down because she did not want to move permanently to New York City (where Today is produced). The job eventually went to Barbara Walters. Through the 1950s and 1960s, White began a nineteen-year run as hostess and commentator on the annual Rose Parade broadcast on NBC (co-hosting with Roy Neal and later Lorne Greene), and appeared on a number of late-night talk shows, including Jack Paar's The Tonight Show, and various other daytime game shows.
1973–1992: Established star
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1973–1977)
White made several appearances in the fourth season (1973–74) of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, as the "man-hungry" Sue Ann Nivens. "We need somebody who can play sickeningly sweet, like Betty White", Moore suggested at a production meeting, which resulted in the casting of White herself. Although considering the role a highlight of her career, White described the character's image as "icky sweet", feeling she was the very definition of feminine passivity, owing to the fact she always satirized her own persona onscreen in just such a way. The Mary Tyler Moore Show's producers made Sue Ann Nivens a regular character and brought White into the main cast starting with the fifth season, after Valerie Harper, who played Rhoda Morgenstern, left the program. A running gag was how Sue Ann's aggressive, cynical personality was the complete opposite of her relentlessly perky TV persona on the fictional WJM-TV show, The Happy Homemaker. White won two Emmy Awards back-to-back, in 1975 and 1976, for her role in the hugely popular series.
Mary Tyler Moore and her husband Grant Tinker were close friends with White and her husband Allen Ludden. In a 2010 The Interviews: An Oral History of Television interview, Moore explained that producers, aware of Moore and White's friendship, were initially hesitant to audition White for the role, for fear that if she did not work out, it would create awkwardness between the two.
In 1975, NBC replaced White as commentator hostess of the Tournament of Roses Parade, feeling that she was identified too heavily with rival network CBS's The Mary Tyler Moore Show. White admitted to People that it was difficult "watching someone else do my parade", although she would soon start a ten-year run as hostess of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for CBS. Following the end of The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1977, White was offered her own sitcom on CBS, her fourth, entitled The Betty White Show (the first of the name running a quarter century earlier), in which she co-starred with John Hillerman and former Mary Tyler Moore co-star Georgia Engel. Running up against Monday Night Football in its timeslot, the ratings were poor and it was canceled after one season.
White appeared several times on The Carol Burnett Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson appearing in many sketches, and began guest-starring in a number of television movies and television miniseries, including With This Ring, The Best Place to Be, Before and After, and The Gossip Columnist. In 1983, White became the first woman to win a Daytime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Game Show Host, for the NBC entry Just Men! Due to the amount of work she did on them, she was deemed the "First Lady of Game Shows".
The Golden Girls (1985–1992)
From 1983 to 1984, White had a recurring role playing Ellen Harper-Jackson on the series Mama's Family, along with future Golden Girls co-star Rue McClanahan. White had originated this character in a series of sketches on The Carol Burnett Show in the 1970s. In 1985, White scored her second signature role and the biggest hit of her career as the St. Olaf, Minnesota native Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls. The series chronicled the lives of four widowed or divorced women in their "golden years" who shared a home in Miami. The Golden Girls, which also starred Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan, was immensely successful and ran from 1985 through 1992. White won one Primetime Emmy Award, for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series", for the first season of The Golden Girls and was nominated in that category every year of the show's run (Getty was also nominated every year, but in the supporting actress category).
White had a strained relationship with her The Golden Girls co-star Bea Arthur on and off the set of their television show, commenting that Arthur "was not that fond of me" and that "she found me a pain in the neck sometimes. It was my positive attitude – and that made Bea mad sometimes. Sometimes if I was happy, she'd be furious." After Arthur's death in 2009, White said, "I knew it would hurt, I just didn't know it would hurt this much." Despite their differences, The Golden Girls was a positive experience for both actresses and they had great mutual respect for the show, their roles, and the achievements made as an ensemble cast.
White was originally offered the role of Blanche in The Golden Girls, and Rue McClanahan was offered the role of Rose (the two characters being similar to roles they had played in Mary Tyler Moore and Maude, respectively). Jay Sandrich, the director of the pilot, suggested that since they had played similar roles in the past, they should switch roles, Rue McClanahan later said in a documentary on the series. White originally had doubts about her ability to play Rose, until Sandrich explained to her that Rose was "terminally naive". White says "if you told Rose you were so hungry you could eat a horse, she'd call the ASPCA."
The Golden Girls ended in 1992 after Arthur announced her decision to depart the series. White, McClanahan, and Getty reprised their roles as Rose, Blanche, and Sophia in the spin-off The Golden Palace. The series was short-lived, lasting only one season. In addition, White reprised her Rose Nylund character in guest appearances on the NBC shows Empty Nest and Nurses, both set in Miami.
1993–2009: Continued roles
After The Golden Palace ended, White guest-starred on a number of television programs including Suddenly Susan, The Practice, and Yes, Dear where she received Emmy nominations for her individual appearances. She won an Emmy in 1996 for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, appearing as herself on an episode of The John Larroquette Show. In that episode, titled "Here We Go Again", a parody on Sunset Boulevard, a diva-like White convinces Larroquette to help write her memoir. At one point, Golden Girls co-stars McClanahan and Getty appear as themselves. Larroquette is forced to dress in drag as Bea Arthur, when all four appear in public as the "original" cast members. White also appeared in films such as Lake Placid (1999) and Bringing Down the House (2003) during this time.
In December 2006, White joined the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful in the role of Ann Douglas (where she would make 22 appearances), the long-lost mother of the show's matriarch, Stephanie Forrester, played by Susan Flannery. She also began a recurring role in ABC's Boston Legal from 2005 to 2008 as the calculating, blackmailing gossip-monger Catherine Piper, a role she originally played as a guest star on The Practice in 2004.
White appeared several times on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson appearing in many sketches and returned to Password in its latest incarnation, Million Dollar Password, on June 12, 2008, (episode #3), participating in the Million Dollar challenge at the end of the show. On May 19, 2008, she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, taking part in the host's Mary Tyler Moore Show reunion special alongside every surviving cast member of the series.
Beginning in 2007, White was featured in television commercials for PetMed Express, highlighting her interest in animal welfare.
The Proposal (2009)
In 2009, White starred in the romantic comedy The Proposal alongside Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Also in 2009, the candy company Mars, Incorporated launched a global campaign for their Snickers bar; the campaign's slogan was: "You're not you when you're hungry". White appeared, alongside Abe Vigoda, in the company's advertisement for the candy during the 2010 Super Bowl XLIV. The advertisement became popular, and won the top spot on the Super Bowl Ad Meter.
2010–2021: Career resurgence
Following the success of the Snickers advertisement, a grassroots campaign on Facebook called "Betty White to Host SNL (Please)" began in January 2010. The group was approaching 500,000 members when NBC confirmed on March 11, 2010, that White would in fact host Saturday Night Live on May 8. The appearance made her, at age 88, the oldest person to host the show, beating Miskel Spillman, the winner of SNL's "Anybody Can Host" contest, who was 80 when she hosted in 1977. In her opening monologue, White thanked Facebook and joked that she "didn't know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time." The appearance earned her a 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. White and Jean Smart are the only actresses to have wins in all three comedy Emmy categories.
Hot in Cleveland (2010–2015)
In June 2010, White took on the role of Elka Ostrovsky, the house caretaker on TV Land's original sitcom Hot in Cleveland along with Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Wendie Malick. Hot in Cleveland was TV Land's first attempt at a first-run scripted comedy (the channel has rerun other sitcoms since its debut). White was only meant to appear in the pilot of the show but was asked to stay on for the entire series. In 2011, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Elka, but lost to Julie Bowen for Modern Family. The series ran for six seasons, a total of 128 episodes, with the hour-long final episode airing on June 3, 2015.
White also starred in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of The Lost Valentine on January 30, 2011 (this presentation garnered the highest rating for a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation in the previous four years and according to the Nielsen Media Research TV rating service won first place in the prime time slot for that date), and from 2012 to 2014, White hosted and executive produced Betty White's Off Their Rockers, in which senior citizens play practical jokes on the younger generation. For this show, she received three Emmy nominations.
A Betty White calendar for 2011 was published in late 2010. The calendar features photos from White's career and with various animals. She also launched her own clothing line on July 22, 2010, which features shirts with her face on them. All proceeds go to various animal charities she supported.
White's success continued in 2012 with her first Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for her bestseller If You Ask Me. She also won the UCLA Jack Benny Award for Comedy, recognizing her significant contribution to comedy in television, and was roasted at the New York Friars Club. A television special, Betty White's 90th Birthday Party, aired on NBC a day before her birthday on January 16, 2012. The show featured appearances of many stars whom White worked with over the years as well as a message from then sitting president Barack Obama. In January 2013, NBC once again celebrated White's birthday with a TV special featuring celebrity friends, including former president Bill Clinton; the special aired on February 5.
On February 15, 2015, White made her final appearance on Saturday Night Live when she attended the 40th Anniversary Special. She participated in "The Californians" sketch alongside members of the current SNL cast as well as Bill Hader, Taylor Swift and Kerry Washington. In the memorable sketch White ends up kissing Bradley Cooper.
On August 18, 2018, White's career was celebrated in a PBS documentary called Betty White: First Lady of Television. The documentary was filmed over a period of ten years, and featured archived footage and interviews from colleagues and friends. In 2019, White appeared in Pixar's Toy Story 4, providing the voice of Bitey White, a toy tiger that was named after her. The other toys she shared a scene with were named and played by Carol Burnett, Carl Reiner, and Mel Brooks. White commented that "It was wonderful the way they incorporated our names into the characters ... And I'm a sucker for animals, so the tiger was perfect!"
Betty White: A Celebration (2022)
In December 2021, before White's death, it was announced that a new documentary-style film about her, Betty White: A Celebration would be released in U.S. theatres on what would have been her 100th birthday, January 17, 2022. It features a cast of friends including Ryan Reynolds, Tina Fey, Robert Redford, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Leno, Carol Burnett, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel, Valerie Bertinelli, James Corden, Wendie Malick, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. In addition to the planned documentary, People magazine featured her as the cover story of its January 10, 2022, newsstand publication and a separate commemorative edition to celebrate the anticipated milestone, which were released days before her death.
Following White's death, producers Steve Boettcher and Mike Trinklein of the event distributors Fathom Events announced in a Facebook post that the pre-filmed production would be going ahead as scheduled.
Achievements and honors
White won five Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards (including the 2015 Daytime Emmy for Lifetime Achievement), and received a Los Angeles Emmy Award in 1952. White was the first woman to have received an Emmy in all performing comedic categories, and also holds the record for longest span between Emmy nominations for performances—her first was in 1951 and her last was in 2014, a span of over 60 years. In 2015, she received the Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy. She also won three American Comedy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990), and two Viewers for Quality Television Awards. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at Hollywood Boulevard alongside the star of her late husband Allen Ludden. In 2009, White received the TCA Career Achievement Award from the Television Critics Association.
In 1955 she was named the honorary Mayor of Hollywood. White was the recipient of The Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters Golden Ike Award and the Genii Award from the Alliance for Women in Media in 1976. The American Comedy Awards awarded her the award for Funniest Female in 1987 as well as the list of lifetime achievement awards in 1990.
The American Veterinary Medical Association awarded White with its Humane Award in 1987 for her charitable work with animals. The City of Los Angeles further honored her for her philanthropic work with animals in 2006 with a bronze commemorative plaque near the Gorilla Exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo. The City of Los Angeles named her "Ambassador to the Animals" at the dedication ceremony.
In September 2009, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced plans to honor White with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award at the 16th Screen Actors Guild Awards. Actress Sandra Bullock presented White with the award on January 23, 2010, at the ceremony, which took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. She was a Kentucky Colonel. In 2009, White and her Golden Girls cast mates Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty were awarded Disney Legends awards. White was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in December 2010. In 2010, she was chosen as the Associated Press's Entertainer of the Year.
On November 9, 2010, the USDA Forest Service, along with Smokey Bear, made White an honorary forest ranger, fulfilling her lifelong dream. White said in previous interviews that she wanted to be a forest ranger as a little girl but that women were not allowed to do that then. When White received the honor, more than one-third of Forest Service employees were women.
In January 2011, White received a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her role as Elka Ostrovsky in Hot in Cleveland. The show itself was also nominated for an award as Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, but it lost to the cast of Modern Family. She won the same award again in 2012 and later received a third nomination.
In October 2011, White was awarded an honorary degree and a white doctor's coat by Washington State University at the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association's centennial gala in Yakima, Washington.
A 2011 poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos revealed that White was considered the most popular and most trusted celebrity among Americans, beating the likes of Denzel Washington, Sandra Bullock, and Tom Hanks.
In 2017, after 70 years in the industry, White was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At age 95, this made her the oldest new member at the time.
In 2025, the United States Postal Service unveiled a new stamp that features White on it. It is a Forever stamp and features White with the words "Forever USA" under her.
Personal life
While volunteering with the American Women's Voluntary Services, White met Air Force P-38 pilot Dick Barker. After the war, they were married in 1945 and moved to Belle Center, Ohio, where Barker owned a chicken farm; he wanted to embrace a simpler life, but White did not enjoy doing so. They returned to Los Angeles and divorced within a year. She married Hollywood talent agent Lane Allen in 1947, and they divorced in 1949 because he wanted to start a family but she wanted to focus on her career rather than having children.
On June 14, 1963, White married television host Allen Ludden, whom she had met as a celebrity guest on his game show Password in 1961. Her legal name was changed to Betty Marion Ludden. He proposed to her at least twice before she accepted, and they remained married until he died from stomach cancer in Los Angeles on June 9, 1981. The couple appeared together in an episode of The Odd Couple featuring Felix's and Oscar's appearance on Password.
Writer John Steinbeck was in White and Ludden's group of high-profile friends, and White wrote about the friendship in her 2011 book If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't). Ludden had attended the same school as actress Elaine Anderson (Steinbeck's future wife) and Steinbeck later gave an early draft of his Nobel Prize in Literature acceptance speech to Ludden as a birthday gift. The couple also had a close friendship with blind musician and motivational speaker Tom Sullivan, whom they had met in 1968 while Sullivan was singing in a small club at the same time that White and Ludden were performing in a play on Cape Cod. White and Sullivan co-wrote a book, Leading Lady, about Sullivan's first seeing eye dog, who lived with White after being retired.
White and Ludden had no children together, though she was the stepmother of his three children with Margaret McGloin Ludden, who had died of cancer in 1961. During an interview on Larry King Live, she was asked why she never remarried after Ludden's death. She replied, "Once you've had the best, who needs the rest?" When asked by James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio in 2010 what she would like God to say to her if Heaven exists, she replied, "Come on in, Betty. Here's Allen."
White attended the Unity Church, part of the New Thought movement.
Death
On December 25, 2021, White suffered a stroke. On the morning of December 31, she died in her sleep at her home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles at the age of 99. Her remains were cremated.
White's death was met with statements of sympathy and tributes from many people and organizations around the world. The United States Army released a statement, as White had volunteered with the American Women's Voluntary Services during World War II. The Martin Luther King Jr. Center also offered their condolences and praised White for her early support of racial equality. There were additional tributes from numerous media organizations, entertainers, political commentators, sports teams, politicians, and other public figures. White's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was flooded with flowers and tributes within hours of the announcement of her death.
White's two California homes in Brentwood and Carmel were sold in April and June 2022 respectively, with her personal belongings sold at auction that September and the proceeds donated to several charities. Her estate also donated a substantial portion of her television memorabilia to the National Comedy Center, including wardrobe pieces, annotated notes, and five of her Emmy Awards.
Causes and advocacy
Animal welfare
White was a pet enthusiast and animal welfare advocate, who worked with organizations including the Los Angeles Zoo Commission, The Morris Animal Foundation, African Wildlife Foundation, and Actors and Others for Animals. Her interest in animal welfare began in the early 1970s while she was producing and hosting the syndicated series The Pet Set, which spotlighted celebrities and their pets. As of 2009, White was the president emerita of the Morris Animal Foundation, where she served as a trustee of the organization beginning in 1971. She was a member of the board of directors of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association since 1974. Additionally, White served the association as a Zoo Commissioner for eight years.
According to the Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Garden's ZooScape member newsletter, White hosted "History on Film" from 2000 to 2002. White donated nearly $100,000 to the zoo in the month of April 2008 alone. White served as a judge at the 2011 American Humane Hero Dog Awards ceremony.
White served as a judge alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Wendy Diamond for American Humane's Hero Dog Awards on the Hallmark Channel on November 8, 2011.
Racial equality
In 1954, as The Betty White Show became national across the United States, White was criticized by many in the Southern states for having Arthur Duncan, a Black tap dancer, on her variety show and was asked to remove him. In the 2018 documentary Betty White: First Lady of Television, White recalled threats to take the show off-air "if we didn't get rid of Arthur, because he was Black." She refused, saying "he stays, live with it".
In 2017, sixty-three years after the show was canceled, Duncan appeared as a surprise guest on the series premiere of the reality talent series Little Big Shots: Forever Young, where he performed and reunited with White, later thanking her again for her support.
LGBT rights
A supporter and advocate of LGBT rights, White said in 2010, "If a couple has been together all that time – and there are gay relationships that are more solid than some heterosexual ones – I think it's fine if they want to get married. I don't know how people can get so anti-something. Mind your own business, take care of your affairs, and don't worry about other people so much." In a 2011 interview, she revealed that she always knew her close friend Liberace was gay and that she sometimes accompanied him to premieres to help him hide it.
Discography
In September 2011, White teamed up with English singer Luciana to produce a remix of her song "I'm Still Hot". The song was released digitally on September 22 and the video later premiered on October 6. It was made for a campaign for a life settlement company, The Lifeline Program, and it is her only commercial single to date, peaking at number 1 on the Dance Club Songs chart. White also covered songs on her live television shows, such as "Nevertheless I'm in Love with You", "It's a Good Day", "Getting to Know You" and "A 'No' That Sounds like 'Yes'".
Filmography
Bibliography
White published several books. In August 2010, she entered a deal with G.P. Putnam's Sons to produce two more books, the first of which, If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't), was released in 2011. In February 2012, White received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for the audio recording of the book.
Books
Betty White's Pet-Love: How Pets Take Care of Us. W. Morrow. 1983.
Betty White in Person. Doubleday. 1987.
The Leading Lady: Dinah's Story. Bantam Books. 1991. ISBN 9780385421683. (with Tom Sullivan)
Here We Go Again: My Life In Television. Scribner. 1995. ISBN 9780684800424.
Together: A Novel of Shared Vision. Center Point Pub. 2008. ISBN 9781602852488. (with Tom Sullivan)
If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't). Penguin. 2011. ISBN 9781101514467.
Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo. Penguin. 2011. ISBN 9781101558928.
Audiobooks
2004: Here We Go Again (read by the author) ISBN 978-1451613698
2011: If You Ask Me: (And of Course You Won't) (read by the author), Penguin Audio, ISBN 978-0-1424-2936-5
References
Further reading
Tucker, David C. (2007). The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2900-4
Armstrong, Jennifer (2021). When women invented television: the untold story of the female powerhouses who pioneered the way we watch today. New York: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers. ISBN 978-0-06-297330-6. OCLC 1241185819.
Bernstein, Paula (October 5, 2021). How to Be Golden: Lessons We Can Learn from Betty White. Running Press. ISBN 978-0-7624-7460-8.
Stoner, Andrew E. (2012). Betty White: The First 90 Years. Blue River Press. ISBN 978-1-935628-23-1.
External links
Betty White at IMDb
Betty White at the TCM Movie Database
Betty White at Emmys.com
Betty White at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Betty White: Celebrating 60 Years (August 7, 2008)
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Chris Brown
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Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer, and actor. A pop and hip-hop-influenced R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "King of R&B" by some of his contemporaries. His lyrics often address emotional and hedonistic themes. His singing and dancing skills have often been compared favorably to those of Michael Jackson.
In 2004, Brown signed with Jive Records. The following year, he released his eponymous debut studio album, which went triple platinum. Brown topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his debut single, "Run It!", making him the first male artist since 1995 to do so. His second album, Exclusive (2007), was commercially successful worldwide and spawned his second Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, "Kiss Kiss".
In 2009, Brown faced significant controversy and media attention when he was arrested for and plead guilty to felony assault of singer and then-girlfriend Rihanna, for which he was sentenced to five years probation with six months community service. The same year, he released his third album, Graffiti, which was considered to be a commercial failure. He released his fourth album F.A.M.E. (2011), which was his first album to top the Billboard 200. The album contained three commercially successful singles—"Yeah 3x", Diamond certified "Look at Me Now" and "Beautiful People"—and earned him the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. His fifth album, Fortune, released in 2012, topped the Billboard 200.
Following the releases of X (2014) and Royalty (2015), both peaking in the top three of the Billboard 200, his eighth album, Heartbreak on a Full Moon (2017), a double-disc LP consisting of 45 tracks, was certified gold for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 after one week, and later certified double platinum. Brown's ninth studio album, Indigo (2019) found similar success, debuting atop the Billboard 200. It included the single "No Guidance" which broke the record for longest-running number one on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Its chart success was outdone with the single "Go Crazy" released the following year, which broke Brown's own record for longest-running number one. In 2022, his Indigo album spawned a sleeper hit with its song "Under the Influence", which was re-released as a single.
Brown has sold over 140 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He has gained a cult following, and is one of the highest-grossing African American touring artists of all time. Brown holds the record for the most top 40 hits of any R&B singer in history, the most RIAA gold-certified singles of any male singer in history, and the most RIAA multi-platinum singles of any male singer in history. In 2019, Billboard named Brown the third most successful artist of the 2010s decade in R&B and hip-hop music, behind Drake and Rihanna. Brown has won 209 awards from 534 nominations over the course of his career. He has also pursued an acting career. In 2007, he made his feature film debut in Stomp the Yard, and appeared as a guest on the television series The O.C. Other films include This Christmas (2007), Takers (2010), Think Like a Man (2012) and Battle of the Year (2013).
Early life, family and education
Christopher Maurice Brown was born on May 5, 1989, in Tappahannock, Virginia, to Joyce Hawkins, a former day care center director, and Clinton Brown, a corrections officer at a local prison. He has an older sister, Lytrell Bundy, a bank employee. Music was always present in Brown's life beginning in his childhood. He would listen to soul albums that his parents owned, and eventually began to show interest in the hip-hop scene.
His parents had divorced when he was 6 years old, and his mother's boyfriend terrified him by subjecting her to domestic violence. In a 2017 self-documentary film, Welcome to My Life, Brown recalls the couple's abusive relationship. Brown said that when he was six, his mother's partner shot himself in the head, but did not die. The gunshot blinded him, the physical impairment only adding to his rage. Donnelle vented his anger and frustration on Brown's mother. "I had to hear my mom get beat up every night. I'd pee on myself, just scared to even walk out into the hallway, because I didn't want to see nothing".
Brown taught himself to sing and dance at a young age and often cites Michael Jackson as his inspiration. He began to perform in his church choir and in several local talent shows. Brown said, during a 2023 interview with Shannon Sharpe, that he started to take in consideration music as his job after winning a talent show during a summer camp when he was 11 years old, performing Sisqó's "Thong Song": "The camp leaders, they laughed, but everybody kinda went crazy in there and I was like 'I think I can do this'." When he mimicked an Usher performance of "My Way", his mother recognized his vocal talent, and they began to look for the opportunity of a record deal.
At age 16, Brown dropped out of Essex High School in Virginia in late 2004 or early 2005 to relocate and pursue a music career.
Career
2002–2004: Career beginnings
At age 13, Brown was discovered by Hitmission Records, a local production team that visited the gas station where his father worked, while searching for new talent. Around the same time, he performed with one of his production managers' son, named TJ, for hip-hop artist Puff Daddy, but the rapper refused to sign him to his record label Bad Boy Records. Hitmission's Lamont Fleming provided voice coaching for Brown. The team helped to arrange a demo package, under the name of "C. Sizzle", and approached contacts in New York. Tina Davis, senior A&R executive at Def Jam Recordings, heard the demo package that Brown's local team had sent to Def Jam, and among the artists contained in the CD she was impressed by Brown with his track "Whose Girl Is That". Davis later had Brown auditioning in her New York office, and she immediately took him to meet the former president of Island Def Jam Music Group, Antonio "L.A." Reid, who offered to sign him that day, but Brown refused his proposal because Reid wouldn't talk to his mother. Brown then started to sojourn in Harlem, New York City, to seek a record deal. The negotiations with Def Jam continued for two months, and ended when Davis lost her job due to a corporate merger. Brown asked her to be his manager, and once Davis accepted, she promoted the singer to other labels such as Jive Records, J-Records and Warner Bros. Records. "I knew that Chris had real talent," says Davis. "I just knew I wanted to be part of it." Brown attended Essex High School in Virginia until late 2004, when he moved to New York to pursue his music career.
According to Mark Pitts, in an interview with HitQuarters, Davis presented Brown with a video recording, and Pitts' reaction was: "I saw huge potential ... I didn't love all the records, but I loved his voice. It wasn't a problem because I knew that he could sing, and I knew how to make records." Brown ultimately chose Jive due to its successful work with then-young acts such as Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Brown stated, "I picked Jive because they had the best success with younger artists in the pop market, [...] I knew I was going to capture my African American audience, but Jive had a lot of strength in the pop area as well as longevity in careers." Brown said in a 2013 interview, that during his permanence in Harlem, when he was trying to get his music heard by major labels, his artistic intention was to both rap and sing on his records, but Jive convinced him to stick to just singing, because according to him "it wasn't acceptable yet" for an R&B singer to also rap on records.
2005–2006: Chris Brown and acting debut
After signing to Jive Records in 2004, Brown began recording his self-titled debut studio album in February 2005. By May, there were 50 songs already recorded, 14 of which were picked to the final track listing. He has worked with producers and songwriters Scott Storch, Cool & Dre, Sean Garrett, Jazze Pha, and others, and has said that they "really believed in [him]". Brown co-wrote half of the tracks. "I write about the things that 16 year olds go through every day," he said in 2009. "Like you just got in trouble for sneaking your girl into the house, or you can't drive, so you steal a car or something." The whole album took less than eight weeks to produce. In 2023, Brown described working on his first album as a "learning experience", recalling that he felt "insecure" about releasing "Run It!" as his first single.
The album's lead single, "Run It!", was a great commercial success, making Brown the first male act since Montell Jordan in 1995 to have his debut single to reach the summit of the Billboard Hot 100—later remaining for four additional weeks. Three other singles, "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)", "Gimme That", and "Say Goodbye", were successful, peaking in the top 20 on the same chart. Released on November 29, 2005, the self-titled Chris Brown album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 154,000 copies. Decca Aitkenhead of The Guardian wrote that it was "a smooth slice of commercial R&B". Chris Brown sold over three million copies in the US and was certified three times platinum by the RIAA; worldwide, it sold six million copies.
On June 13, 2006, Brown released a DVD entitled Chris Brown's Journey, which shows footage of him traveling through England and Japan, preparing for his first visit to the Grammy Awards, behind the scenes of his music videos and bloopers. On August 17, 2006, to further promote the album, Brown began his major co-headlining tour, The Up Close and Personal Tour. Due to the tour, production for his next album was pushed back two months. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital received $10,000 in ticket proceeds from Brown's 2006 Up Close & Personal Tour. Brown has made appearances on UPN's One on One and The N's Brandon T. Jackson Show on its pilot episode.
2007–2008: Exclusive
In January 2007, Brown landed a small role as a band geek in the fourth season of the American television series The O.C.. Brown then made his film debut in Stomp the Yard, alongside Ne-Yo, Meagan Good and Columbus Short on January 12, 2007. In April 2007, Brown was the opening act for Beyoncé, on the Australian leg of her The Beyoncé Experience tour. On July 9, 2007, Brown was featured in an episode of MTV's My Super Sweet 16 (for the event, it was retitled: Chris Brown: My Super 18) celebrating his eighteenth birthday in New York City.
Shortly after ending his summer tour with Ne-Yo, Brown quickly began production for his second studio album, Exclusive. The album's lead single, "Wall to Wall" was released, and it didn't reach the chart success of his previous singles, peaking at number 79 on US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number 22 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, being his lowest charting single at the time. However, "Kiss Kiss", featuring and produced by T-Pain, released as the album's second single, received huge success, reaching number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and becoming Brown's second number one single following "Run It!" in 2005. "With You", produced by Stargate (a producers duo known at the time for their work with R&B singer Ne-Yo), was released as the third single from Exclusive, and had even bigger worldwide success than "Kiss Kiss", becoming one of the all-time best-selling singles, and reaching number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Exclusive was released in the US on November 6, 2007. According to The Guardian the album demonstrated "his agility in fusing R&B with the era's auto-tuned strain of pop-leaning hip-hop". The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 294,000 copies in its first week, becoming a bigger commercial success than his previous outing. Exclusive was certified four times platinum by the RIAA.
In November 2007, Brown starred as a video host for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's Math-A-Thon program. He showed his support by encouraging students to use their math skills to help children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. On November 21, 2007, Brown appeared as a leading role in This Christmas, a family drama starring Regina King. He also contributed to the soundtrack of the movie, that contains his cover versions of "Try a Little Tenderness" and "This Christmas", the latter has been certified platinum by the RIAA. To further support the album Exclusive, Brown embarked on his The Exclusive Holiday Tour, visiting over thirty venues in US. The tour began in Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 6, 2007, and concluded on February 9, 2008, in Honolulu, Hawaii. In March 2008, Brown was featured on Jordin Sparks' single "No Air", which received worldwide success, peaking at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also made a guest appearance on David Banner' single "Get Like Me" alongside Yung Joc. The song peaked at number sixteen on the Billboard Hot 100, and number two on the US Hot Rap Songs chart. In 2008, Brown did of a commercial spot for Doublemint gum, creating a jingle commissioned by an advertising company working for Wrigley. Brown first created the short version for the commercial, then extended and expanded it into a full song, "Forever", during another recording session. "Forever" was later released as a single anticipating Brown's re-issue of Exclusive. The song was noted for being Brown's first record to venture into the dance-pop genre, becoming one of his biggest singles, reaching number two on Billboard Hot 100. Billboard wrote positively of the single, stating in its 2008 review that Brown "has proved as 2008's pop/R&B prince that he has talent and charm to command the charts for as long he chooses". The re-issue, titled Exclusive: The Forever Edition, was released on June 3, 2008, seven months after the original version, featuring four new tracks, and pushed the album's success further. In August 2008, Brown guest-starred on Disney's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody as himself. Towards the end of 2008, Brown was named the Artist of the Year by Billboard magazine, with the songs "With You", "Forever" and "No Air" resulting three of the top 10 most sold singles of 2008 in the US.
2009–2010: Graffiti and mixtapes
In 2008, Brown began work on his third studio album, announced to be called Graffiti, promising to experiment with a different musical direction inspired by singers Prince and Michael Jackson. He stated, "I wanted to change it up and really be different. Like my style nowadays, I don't try to be typical urban. I want to be like how Prince, Michael and Stevie Wonder were. They can cross over to any genre of music." Following the domestic violence scandal involving Brown and his then-girlfriend, musician/actress Rihanna on February 8, 2009, a major part of mass media took positions against the singer. The scandal also caused Brown to lose significant endorsements, including the one with Doublemint, with some music stations across the US briefly banning Brown's songs. The singer later participated in numerous television appearances during the year to express himself publicly about it. He spoke about it to ABC News: "I never ever had problems with anger. No, no domestic violence with any of my past girlfriends or any altercations. I never was that kind of person. I look at it, and it's really, like really difficult. It's like, 'How could I be that person?'". In the 2017 self-documentary, Welcome to My Life, Brown says his reputation dropped sharply after his 2009 assault on Rihanna, "I went from being on top of the world, number one songs, being kind of like America's sweetheart, to being public enemy number one." Graffiti's lead single "I Can Transform Ya" was released on September 29, 2009. The song peaked at number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Crawl" was released as the album's second single on November 23, 2009. The song reached number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100. Graffiti was then released on December 8, 2009. Brown, with this album, started to take full control of his art, managing the artistic direction, and writing every song of the album (with the exception of the song "I'll Go", written and produced by Brian Kennedy and James Fauntleroy). He said that his decision to entirely direct and write his albums and songs came from the fact that he wanted to give his "own perspective of the music [he] wanted to make" and by his wanting to "verbalize whatever [he] was going through". Critics noted that with the album's sound Brown aimed to expand his music beyond the genres of his previous works. According to Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times, the album is made of an "upbeat" part, that "can be considered the sonic sequel to 'Forever'", mixed with power ballads, observed to express his remorse and feelings following the Rihanna incident. The album, compared to its two predecessors, was a commercial and critical failure, debuting at number 7 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 102,000 copies in its first week, and receiving generally negative reviews from critics. Despite this, Graffiti was nominated for two Grammy Awards; including one for the Best Contemporary R&B Album and the other for the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the track, "Take My Time" featuring Tank. As of March 23, 2011, it has sold 341,000 copies in the US.
While performing a Michael Jackson Tribute at the 2010 BET Awards, Brown started to cry and fell to his knees while singing Jackson's "Man in the Mirror". The performance and his emotional turmoil resonated with several celebrities present at the ceremony, including Trey Songz, Diddy and Taraji P. Henson. Songz said, "He left his heart on the stage. He gave genuine emotion. I was proud of him and I was happy for him for having that moment". Michael's brother, Jermaine Jackson, expressed similar sentiments stating, "it was very emotional for me, because it was an acceptance from his fans from what has happened to him and also paying tribute to my brother". Later during the award ceremony, Brown stated, "I let y'all down before, but I won't do it again...I promise", while accepting the award for the AOL Fandemonium prize. In August 2010, Brown starred alongside an ensemble cast, including Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Hayden Christensen and T.I. in the crime thriller Takers, and also served as executive producer of the film.
During 2010, Brown released three free mixtapes: In My Zone (Rhythm & Streets), Fan of a Fan (collaborative mixtape with rapper Tyga), and In My Zone 2, which featured a new writing style for the singer, and a different musical style, mixing R&B with hip-hop. For the mixtapes he worked with new producers, most notably Kevin McCall. The mixtapes received a great response from the artist's core audience, consolidating it. The single "Deuces", extracted from the Fan of a Fan mixtape, obtained critical and commercial success, peaking at number 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The song was later remixed by some of the biggest names in the hip-hop scene of that time, including Drake, Kanye West, André 3000, Rick Ross, Fabolous, and T.I. He later released the solo track "No BS" as his second single from Fan of a Fan, and decided to include the two singles from the mixtape as anticipation singles for his next album.
2011–2012: F.A.M.E. and Fortune
In September 2010, Brown announced his album, F.A.M.E., a backronym for "Forgiving All My Enemies", would be released in October. The album's first single, "Yeah 3x", a dance-pop song, different from the urban content of the previous mixtapes. The single received big international success, entering the top-ten in eleven countries, including Australia, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It was succeeded by the hip-hop single "Look at Me Now", featuring rappers Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes, that reached number one on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where it remained for eight consecutive weeks. It also reached number one on the US Hot Rap Songs chart. The single became the best-selling rap song of 2011, as well as one of all-time best-selling singles in the US. Stereogum while critiquing Brown's public image during a review, praised his musical ability and the track, stating that "It brings me no joy to report that 'Look At Me Now' is a 10".
Brown's fourth studio album F.A.M.E. was first released on March 18, 2011. Defined by critics as a "musical kaleidoscope" for its versatile sound, the album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 270,000 copies, giving Brown his first number-one album in the US. Steve Jones of USA Today said that the album showed "a more mature, confident and adventurous Brown who has emerged in the wake of all the drama, and he has delivered the strongest album of his career". The album's third single, "Beautiful People", featuring Benny Benassi, peaked at number one on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart, and became the first number-one single on the chart for both Brown and Benassi. "She Ain't You" was released as the album's fourth US single, while "Next 2 You", featuring Canadian recording artist Justin Bieber, served as the album's fourth international single. To further promote the album, Brown embarked on his F.A.M.E. Tour in Australia and North America.
Brown received six nominations at the 2011 BET Awards and ultimately won five awards, including Best Male R&B Artist, Viewers Choice Award, The Fandemonium Award, Best Collaboration and Video of the Year for "Look at Me Now". He also won three awards at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards, including the People's Champ Award, Reese's Perfect Combo Award and Best Hip Hop Video for "Look at Me Now". At the 2011 Soul Train Music Awards, F.A.M.E. won Album of the Year. The album has also earned Brown three Grammy Award nominations at the 54th Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album, as well as Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for "Look at Me Now". On February 12, 2012, Brown won his first Grammy Award, for Best R&B Album. During the ceremony, Brown performed several songs marking his first appearance at the awards show since his conviction of felony assault.
Originally, Brown wanted F.A.M.E. to be a double-disc, consisting of 25–30 tracks, but the label was contrary to that. Right before the release of F.A.M.E. Brown decided to follow his intentions in an acceptable way for the label, working on a sequel of F.A.M.E. called Fortune, that would be a whole new album that contained new material and even some tracks that didn't make the cut of the previous album. On October 7, 2011, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, Brown (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release future material on the RCA Records brand. Brown's fifth studio album Fortune was anticipated with the release of "Strip", "Sweet Love", "Till I Die", and the top 10 singles "Turn Up the Music" and "Don't Wake Me Up". Fortune was released on July 3, 2012. The album's musical style was noted for mixing Brown's R&B with pop and electronic music. The album debuted atop the Billboard 200, but received negative reviews from critics. Los Angeles Times wrote that the album is "brash and commercial", stating that "Brown's "F.A.M.E." hit with a solid combination of freaky, heavy-duty R&B bangers and the requisite sex-in-bed seduction numbers. But Fortune, his fifth studio album, is the work of an artist who has gone all-in with a handful of commercial tracks designed to get Our Hero paid and back in America's good graces". Despite the negative reception, it was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 55th Grammy Awards. To further promote the album, Brown embarked on his Carpe Diem Tour in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Trinidad.
2013–2015: X and Royalty
After concluding his Carpe Diem Tour in 2012, Brown's next studio album started to develop. On February 15, 2013, the singer unofficially released the song "Home", where he expresses a reflection on the dark side of fame, and how the only moment of respite from that thought is when he returns to the neighborhood where he grew up with people who knew him from the start. On March 26, 2013, Brown announced the release of X, in various interviews and listening sessions. In an interview with Ebony, Brown spoke of taking his music in a different direction and changing his sound from the pop-infused and sexually explicit one of the previous album Fortune, to a more mature, soulful and vulnerable theme for the album. On March 29, 2013, he released the critically acclaimed "Fine China" as the lead single of X. Yahoo! lauded 'Fine China' as "a soulful, 1970's-inspired track" and said that it was "Brown's most musical sound to date".
Following the release of two other anticipation singles of X, "Don't Think They Know" and "Love More", on August 9, 2013, at 1:09 am PDT, Brown was reported to have suffered a seizure from Record Plant Studios in Hollywood, California as a 9-1-1 call was made. When paramedics arrived, Brown allegedly refused to receive treatment and also refused to be transported to the local hospital. (Brown has reportedly suffered from seizures since his childhood.) The next day, Brown's representative reported the seizure was caused by "intense fatigue and extreme emotional stress, both due to the continued onslaught of unfounded legal matters and the nonstop negativity." On November 20, 2013, Brown was sentenced to an anger management rehabilitation center for three months, putting the December 2013 release of X in jeopardy. To "hold [fans] over until [the X album] drops," Brown released a mixtape, titled X Files on November 19, 2013. Brown revealed in 2022, that at the time, when he was on the way to go to the counseling, he received a phone call from Prince, that told him to "don't lose focus", wanting a conversation with him about "being special". Brown described the phone call as "one of [his] most influential" moments. On February 22, 2014, it was announced that the album would be released on Brown's birthday, May 5, 2014. On April 14, 2014, Brown released a teaser of the new track "Don't Be Gone Too Long" featuring Ariana Grande. However, at his May 9, 2014, court date, Brown was ordered to serve 131 days in jail for his probation violation, and the collaboration ended up never being released, furthermore, the album was again delayed due to Brown's prison sentence. While incarcerated, the album's fourth single, "Loyal", became one of Brown's most successful songs, by selling over six million copies in the US, and peaking in the top 10 of the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. Brown said in a 2022 interview, that following his release from jail he experienced more episodes of fans explaining to him how some of his records helped them through life-changing situations, making him realize that he was making music for an "actual purpose". "New Flame" featuring Usher and Rick Ross was later released as the album's final single. The title track "X" was released as an instant-gratification track alongside the album pre-order on iTunes on August 25, 2014.
Brown's sixth studio album, X was released on September 16, 2014. The album received positive reviews from critics, that considered it a big improvement compared to its critically panned predecessor Fortune. Brad Wete of Billboard reviewing X described Brown as "a talent whose skill for hit singles and agile performances is only matched by his knack for cannonballing into career-threatening pools of legal and PR problems", At the 2015 Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for the Best Urban Contemporary Album, while "New Flame" was nominated for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song. Commercially, the album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 selling 146,000 copies in its first week, becoming his sixth consecutive top ten debut in the US. X has been certified double platinum by the RIAA. Pushing the promotion for the album further, Brown performed and appeared at several televised music events and music festivals across the US.
On February 24, 2015, Brown released his first collaborative studio album with Tyga, titled Fan of a Fan: The Album. The album was a follow-up to the pairs' 2010 mixtape Fan of a Fan, and its lead single "Ayo" received commercial success. In early 2015, Brown also embarked on his Between the Sheets Tour with Trey Songz.
In spring 2015, Brown was featured on DJ Deorro's song "Five More Hours", which received worldwide success. On June 24, Brown released "Liquor" as the first single from his seventh studio album, titled Royalty, being dedicated to his daughter. On October 16, he revealed the album cover. On October 13, 2015, Brown announced that Royalty would be released on November 27, 2015. After it was revealed that the album has been pushed back to December 18, 2015, in exchange on November 27, 2015, he released a free 34-track mixtape called Before the Party as a prelude to Royalty, which features guest appearances from Rihanna, Wiz Khalifa, Pusha T, Kelly Rowland, Wale, Tyga, French Montana and Fetty Wap. The mixtape is composed by previously unreleased tracks that Brown recorded in different studio sessions between 2012 and 2015. Royalty was released on December 18, 2015, and debuted at number 3 on the US Billboard 200, selling 184,000 units (162,000 in pure album sales) in its first week. Brown directed and released eight music videos for the songs of Royalty, serializing them to construct a linear story. According to Iyana Robertson of Vibe, Brown on the album "sticks to the absence of a sonic script", showcasing "a pure, palpable display of an "outside of the box" approach to music". Robertson said that lyrically the album "waves goodbye to amour on its way out the door", noting it to be a "stark contrast to 2014's X, which included professions of affection".
2016–2017: Heartbreak on a Full Moon
Brown started working and recording tracks for his next album few weeks before the release of Royalty, in late 2015. From the first days of 2016, Brown started to preview on his social media accounts several unreleased songs from his recording sessions. In March 2016, he collaborated again with Italian DJ Benny Benassi, for the song "Paradise" from the latter's album Danceaholic. On May 3, he announced the single "Grass Ain't Greener", showing its cover art and announcing it as the first single from a new album titled Heartbreak on a Full Moon. The single was released on May 5, 2016. On July 7, after the 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers, Brown released on his SoundCloud page two piano ballads, "My Friend" and "A Lot of Love", saying that the songs are "released for free for anybody dealing with injustice or struggle in their lives." In 2016, the singer released two hip-hop collaborative mixtapes with his OHB crew, Before the Trap: Nights in Tarzana and Attack the Block.
Throughout 2016 and 2017, he continued sharing several snippets from songs that he was recording. He also built a recording studio inside of his home to work on the album. During this period he embarked two concert tours as well: the European leg of the One Hell of a Nite Tour in 2016, and The Party Tour in 2017. On December 16, 2016, he released the second official single from the album, "Party", featuring guest vocals from American R&B singer Usher and rapper Gucci Mane. Around this time, Brown decided to create Heartbreak on a Full Moon as a 40-track album. Talking about this decision, he stated in a 2017 interview that he wanted to "outdo expectations" and "push the boundaries on artistry". RCA Records, the record label of the singer, initially wasn't agreeable of satisfying Brown's intentions to make a 40-track album, thinking that it would've damaged its commercial performance, but the singer ended up convincing them. "Privacy" was later released as the album's third single. On June 7 he released Welcome to My Life, a self-documentary focused on his life and career, directed by Andrew Sandler. Numerous celebrities participated in the movie, describing Brown from a personal and professional point of view. Among them there are Jennifer Lopez, Mike Tyson, Rita Ora, Usher and Tyga.
On August 4, 2017, he released the album's fourth single, the trap song "Pills & Automobiles", featuring fellow American rappers Yo Gotti, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, and Kodak Black, while shortly after he released the fifth single, "Questions". On October 25, 2017, Brown organized with Tidal a free pop-up concert in New York City to perform the singles on the album and promote it.
Heartbreak on a Full Moon was eventually released as a double-disc album on October 31, 2017, via digital retailers and onto CD, three days later by RCA Records. He explained the concept for the album in August 2017 during an interview for Complex, saying: "I thought Heartbreak on a Full Moon was a depiction of what my soul wanted to say. It's funny because we're doing a double album. I've done so many records, but all of the records, to me, are personal favorites and I feel like it gets what I want to say across". Cultural critic and media personality Joe Budden defined Heartbreak on a Full Moon as his best album. Despite being counted for only three days of sales, Heartbreak on a Full Moon debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, becoming Brown's ninth consecutive top 10 album on the chart. One week after its release Heartbreak on a Full Moon was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the US, and Brown became the first R&B male artist that went gold in a week since Usher's Confessions in 2004. In 2019 the album has been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. On December 13, 2017, he released a 12-track surprise deluxe edition of the album, titled Cuffing Season – 12 Days of Christmas. Brown eventually embarked on his US "Heartbreak on a Full Moon Tour" in June 2018 to further promote the album. The opening acts for the tour were 6lack, H.E.R., Rich the Kid, and Jacquees.
2018–2019: Indigo
On January 31, 2018, shortly after President Donald Trump's 2020 State of the Union Address, Brown released for free the track "State of the Union", a ballad where he expresses a message about social harmony. In February 2018, Brown and rapper Joyner Lucas announced an upcoming collaboration project, titled Angels & Demons, with the release of the single "Stranger Things". However, the project ended up never being released. On March 15, 2018, Brown was featured on Lil Dicky's hit single "Freaky Friday". The song became one of the most successful comedy songs in contemporary pop music, topping the charts in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, also entering the top 10 in the US.
Following the end of the "Heartbreak on a Full Moon" tour, Brown started to work on his ninth album, Indigo. On January 4, 2019, Brown released "Undecided" as its lead single. "Undecided" saw Brown reunite with producer Scott Storch, who previously worked with Brown in 2005 on his breakout hit "Run It!". The single marked Brown's first release after signing an extension and a new license agreement with RCA Records, that gave him the owning of his master recordings, making him one of the youngest artists to do so at the age of 29. On April 11, he released the second single off the album, "Back to Love". Andy Kellman of AllMusic described the song as a "career highlight", although it failed to chart in the US. The third single, "Wobble Up", was released a week later, featuring Nicki Minaj and G-Eazy, and a summer tour with Nicki Minaj was announced, but ended up never happening. On April 25, he appeared on a track with Marshmello and Tyga called "Light It Up". On May 2, Brown revealed the list of artists featured on Indigo, including Nicki Minaj, Tory Lanez, Tyga, Justin Bieber, Juicy J, Juvenile, H.E.R, Tank, Lil Jon, Lil Wayne, Joyner Lucas, Gunna and Drake. The announcement of the Drake collaboration sparked headlines, due to their public feud that lasted for several years. On May 31, he appeared on the commercially successful single "Easy", where he duetted with singer DaniLeigh. On June 8, Brown released "No Guidance" featuring Drake as a single. It debuted at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100, making it Brown's 15th top-ten song, and later peaked at number five. The single won Best Collaboration Performance, Best Dance Performance and Song of the Year at the 2019 Soul Train Music Awards and received a nomination for Best R&B Song at the 62nd Grammy Awards.
Indigo was eventually released on June 28, 2019, marking Brown's second double album. Musically, the album explored his R&B roots, and other genres such as Afrobeats, pop, dancehall and bounce music. According to A.D. Amorosi of The Inquirer, the album's themes mix spiritual awakening with sexuality. In the US, Indigo debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 108,000 album-equivalent units, which included 28,000 pure album sales in its first week, making it his third number-one album in the country. Indigo was further promoted with the release of the single "Heat", which topped the Billboard Rhythmic Airplay chart, and earned Brown his 13th number one on the chart, and second during 2019. On October 4, 2019, Brown eventually released a deluxe version of Indigo entitled Indigo Extended, which included 10 additional songs, making the extended version a total of 42 songs.
On June 10, 2019, Brown announced an official headlining concert tour "Indigoat Tour" in which he performed the album throughout the US. The tour began on August 20 and ended on October 19. Jay Cridlin of Tampa Bay Times attended the Tampa concert, and reviewing it he said it was "a guilty pleasure", wondering if enjoying his stage presence should be wrong, considering the controversies surrounding his public figure, expressing "At what point do we -- can we, should we -- forget about the blowups and restraining orders, and just marvel at the way Brown splits into a backflip and kick-spins a 360 during 'Drunk Texting'?". The "Indigoat Tour" grossed over $30,100,000 in its 37 shows, selling out most of the venues. At the end of the year, Brown was ranked third on Billboard's "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Decade" for the 2010s, behind Rihanna and Drake in second and first, respectively.
2020–2023: Breezy
In December 2019, Brown revealed that he started working on new material for his tenth studio album. Later, on April 29, 2020, Brown announced the release of a collaborative mixtape with Young Thug, Slime & B. The mixtape was released on May 5, 2020, and features the hit single "Go Crazy", which peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Brown's first song to spend one full year on the chart. In April 2021, "Go Crazy" broke the record for the longest running No. 1 song on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, a record that was previously held by Brown's 2019 hit single "No Guidance". On May 1, 2020, Brown was featured on Drake's Dark Lane Demo Tapes mixtape, on the track "Not You Too". The song earned Brown his 100th career entry on the US Billboard Hot 100, debuting at number 25.
On July 9, 2020, Brown announced via Instagram that the title of his tenth album would be Breezy, a reference to his stage nickname. Also in July, Brown stated that while working on the album he wanted to make some "really endearing music" that "talk to women's soul". On August 2, 2021, he announced on his Instagram account that his Breezy album would be accompanied by a short film of the same name, however it ended up never happening. On January 14, 2022, he released the single "Iffy", which peaked to #1 of the Rhythmic Radio Chart on April 3, 2022. On March 27, 2022, Brown co-headined a F1 post-race concert for the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. On April 1, 2022, Brown released the album's second single "WE (Warm Embrace)". The song was listed on the "Top 5 R&B songs of 2022" list by Vibe magazine, that stated "'We' will go down in history as one of Chris Brown's most timeless songs". On April 26, 2022, Brown announced his US summer tour "One of Them Ones" with rapper Lil Baby. The tour included 27 stops in North America and kicked off on July 15. Brown performed at Drai's After Hours Nightclub at The Cromwell Las Vegas Hotel and Casino on June 11, 2022, in Las Vegas to mark the launch of his new multi-year residency at the venue.
On June 17, 2022, one week ahead of the album release, Brown released the audio for an Afrobeats collaboration with Nigerian singer Wizkid titled "Call Me Every Day". Breezy was released on June 24, 2022, by RCA Records and CBE and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. On July 8, an expanded version of the album with nine new songs was released. At the 65th Grammy Awards, the deluxe edition of Breezy was nominated for Best R&B Album, but lost to Robert Glasper's Black Radio III. Following Glasper's winning, Brown publicly attacked him and The Recording Academy on his social media accounts, later apologizing to the American musician, congratulating him for the accolade, stating he was not the intended target.
On September 4, 2022, Brown won international artiste of the year at the 15th annual Headies awards. The category is designed for non-African artists or groups with outstanding achievements and impact on Afrobeats. In the summer of 2022, his song "Under the Influence", contained in the extended edition of his 2019 album Indigo, went viral on the TikTok platform, giving the song great commercial success globally. With "Under the Influence", Brown became the first R&B singer in history to chart over fifty top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. On October 14, 2022, Brown appeared as a special guest at Usher's Las Vegas Residency to perform few songs. At the end of his performance Usher told Brown: "You're a legend. We love you and we gon' continue to keep lifting you up". On November 16, 2022, Brown released two Christmas themed songs, "No Time Like Christmas" and "It's Giving Christmas". On November 18, 2022, Brown took to his Instagram page to announce that the American Music Awards had canceled his scheduled tribute performance to Michael Jackson in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the 1982 album Thriller. Brown also shared rehearsal footage of the cancelled tribute and stated the performance was cancelled for unknown reasons. The cancelled tribute prompted backlash against the AMAs from fans and industry peers alike. Jermaine Dupri stated the decision to pull the tribute signals something grave for celebration of Black music stating that "If the American Music Awards canceled the Chris Brown performance, then that means they canceled the 40th anniversary of Thriller. Which means they canceled the Michael Jackson tribute. Black Music, we in trouble." Similarly John Branca, the co-executor of the Michael Jackson Estate stated that the AMAs should be ashamed of themselves and that the cancellation is an attack on Black Music. Following the global success of "Under the Influence", the title of the song gave its name to the European tour that Brown subsequently embarked in 2023, the "Under the Influence Tour", which registered sold out during all the 24 arena dates scheduled, with 7 additional dates being later added, also registering sold out. The tour included six nights at London's O2 Arena, three nights at Accor Arena in Paris, three nights at Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam and more. Prior to the start of the "Under The Influence Tour", the original opening act Skillibeng withdrew from the tour and was replaced by South African singer Tyla. The tour marked Brown's first tour in Europe since the 2016 European leg of his One Hell of a Nite Tour. The tour also marked Brown's first concerts in the United Kingdom following the revoking of his ban from entering the country implemented in 2010.
In January 2023, Brown surpassed Elvis Presley for the most RIAA gold-certified singles among all male vocalists in history, after previously passing Presley for the most Billboard Hot 100 entries among all male vocalists. In March 2023, Brown became the fifth artist in Billboard's history to reach 10 No. 1s on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart with his hit record Under the Influence. Additionally, Brown earned his 18th No. 1 on the Billboard's Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart with Under the Influence. Making him the artist with the third most No. 1s on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart behind Drake and Lil Wayne in first and second, respectively. In April 2023, Brown co-headlined Rolling Loud Thailand in its inaugural year, alongside Travis Scott and Cardi B. On August 4, 2023, the single "How We Roll" in collaboration with Ciara was released. On August 27, 2023, Brown headlined a one off concert from Jamaica National Stadium, titled Chris Brown and Friends Live In Jamaica, as apart his 'Under the Influence Tour'.
2023–present: 11:11
In June 2023, Brown released "Summer Too Hot", the lead single of his eleventh album. The song was nominated at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards for Best R&B Performance. Brown announced that his next album would be titled 11:11, revealing the album's concept being connected to the homonym numerological belief. Moreover, he shared that the album will contain 11 songs, a much shorter tracklist than his previous albums Heartbreak on a Full Moon, Indigo, and Breezy. On October 20, 2023, Brown released the Afrobeats song "Sensational" featuring Nigerian artists Lojay and Davido, as 11:11's second single. Sensational eventually peaked at #1 on both Urban and Rhythmic radio, as well as on Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay Chart. The single also helped Lojay and Davido earn their first Billboard Hot 100 entry. On September 8, 2023, Brown alongside Mariah the Scientist appeared as featured artists on Tee Grizzley single IDGAF. IDGAF eventually peaked at #1 on Urban radio and helped Mariah the Scientist earn her first Billboard Hot 100 entry. On October 21, 2023, Brown clarified that the album would actually contain 22 songs as opposed to the 11 he had stated previously. On November 6, 2023, Brown confirmed that there would be 7 featured artists on the album, including Lojay, Davido, Future, Fridayy, Byron Messia and 2 other artists who were listed as hidden features prior to its release. On November 7, 2023, Brown released the single "Nightmares" featuring Byron Messia. On November 9, he announced that 11:11 would be released on November 10, a day earlier than what previously announced. A few hours before the release of 11:11, its last track was changed from the previously announced "Double Negative", which features Justin Bieber, to a track called "Views". Brown explained the last minute change on his Instagram account on the album's release day with the following statement: "Double negative unfortunately did not make the deadline in time with the lawyers, so we couldn't put it on the album. Justin my little brother for life, so we will make that moment happen soon. Sorry to the fans that really wanted it to be on the album".
11:11 was released on November 10, 2023. The album marks Brown's third double album, with its two sides containing 11 tracks each. The album's musical style mixes R&B, pop music, Afrobeats and dancehall. Reviewing 11:11, Kayla Sandiford of Renowned for Sound stated that on the record "Brown does well to demonstrate his dynamic vocal quality". In the US, 11:11 debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200, making it his 12th consecutive top-ten album in the country. 11:11 marks the lowest debut for a Chris Brown's solo studio album on the US Billboard 200, surpassing Graffiti (2009) which debuted at number seven on the chart.
Towards the end of 2023, Brown headlined different concerts in the Middle East. The singer addressed the ongoing war in Gaza at the end of a Dubai, UAE concert, saying there's 'a lot of evil and a lot of genocide going on in the world right now', urging his audience, particularly the younger generation, to embrace love and positivity and expressed his appreciation for the support of his fans using words in Arabic. 'InshaAllah, mashaAllah, I love you,' he said. In December 2023, Vevo reported that Brown was the 6th most watched artist in the US and 10th most watched artist globally for the 2023 calendar year, amassing 413.7 million views in the US and 1.4 billion views globally. In January 2024, with Tee Grizzley's single "IDGAF" featuring Chris Brown and Mariah the Scientist, he became the first artist in the 21st century to have charted on the Billboard Hot 100 for twenty consecutive years . On March 5, 2024, Brown announced "The 11:11 Tour", a North American arena tour featuring singers Ayra Starr, Muni Long and Maeta as supporting acts.
On April 11, 2024, the singer released 11:11 (Deluxe), the expanded edition of his eleventh album, containing 13 additional tracks and features from Lil Wayne, Bryson Tiller, Davido, Joyner Lucas, Tee Grizzley and Mario. Among the tracks contained, the song "Freak" features a verse where the singer directly disses American rapper Quavo. The rapper responded the following day with "Tender", a diss track aimed at Brown, leading the latter to release "Weakest Link" the following week. From May 17 to June 5, Brown released four consecutive music videos in the span of four weeks for the following songs off the 11:11 (Deluxe): "Go Girlfriend", "Press Me", "Feel Something" and "Hmmm" featuring Davido. On December 14 and 15, Brown sold out two consecutive stadium shows at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. He recorded over 90K attendees each night and sold out the first of the two shows in less than two hours. Subsequently on December 21 and 22, Brown sold out two consecutive stadium shows at Allianz Parque Stadium in São Paulo, Brazil, with 100K tickets sold across both nights. On January 23, 2025, Brown released a music video for his Grammy-nominated song "Residuals" from the 11:11 (Deluxe). On February 2, 2025, Brown's 11:11 (Deluxe) won the Grammy for "Best R&B Album" at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
On March 27, 2025, Brown announced a stadium world tour titled the "Breezy Bowl XX" with special guests Summer Walker and Bryson Tiller, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his self-titled album.
Artistry
Influences
Brown has cited a number of artists as his inspiration, predominantly Michael Jackson. Brown emphasizes "Michael Jackson is the reason why I do music and why I am an entertainer." In "She Ain't You", "Fine China" and "Back to Love", he exemplifies Jackson's influence both musically and visually. Ebony magazine's Britini Danielle asserted that "Fine China" was "reminiscent of Michael Jackson's Off the Wall". Choreographically, MTV noticed that it "takes distinct visual cues from classic clips like 'Smooth Criminal' and 'Beat It'", while Billboard complimented his appearance by calling it "a modern way to channel the King of Pop". Usher is also another influence who comes across as a more contemporary figure for Brown. He tells Vibe magazine "He was the one who the youngsters looked up to. I know that we, in the dancing and singing world, looked up to him", and maintains "If it wasn't for Usher, then Chris Brown couldn't exist". Other influences include Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Ginuwine, Phil Collins, Bobby Brown and R. Kelly. He has cited Naughty by Nature, Tupac, Lil' Wayne and Rakim as his hip-hop influences.
Musical style
Brown's musical style typically blends R&B with pop and hip-hop, along with other genres. His pure side of R&B is densely shown throughout his discography, being exemplified by songs like "No BS", "Don't Judge Me", "Back to Sleep" and "WE (Warm Embrace)". Music critics have commended Brown's musical contribution, recognizing his versatility, and considering him an evolver of R&B music. Iyana Robertson of Vibe, talking about his introduction to the genre, said: "As traditional R&B flourished around him, the young singer began an evolution of the genre". She saw his debut single "Run It!" as a "prelude to what Brown would continue to do for the next decade: relentlessly disrupt the constructs of rhythm and blues." By his second album Exclusive, she says he was "tapping more electric up-tempos, swimming deep in hip-hop waters and annihilating the pop arena". Describing the Grammy Award winning F.A.M.E. as "his most diverse offering to date", containing songs that mixed many genres including R&B, pop, hip-hop, dancehall, rock and Europop, she remarked, "There was no level of musical flexibility comparable. There still isn't." F.A.M.E. is considered to be the album that defined Brown's musical style and persona. Fortune was noted for featuring a more electronic musical direction, containing genres such as house music and EDM. According to AllMusic, different tracks of the X album are "soul-driven", while on others "Brown combines memorable hooks with some stellar production work on rubbery disco-funk". Disco and funk are also showcased on singles like "Zero" and "Fine China". Royalty and Heartbreak on a Full Moon further explored alternative R&B and trap, with the latter also containing dancehall records. His dance-pop side in the single Forever" off his second album Exclusive opened the door for other Europop songs like "Yeah 3x", "Beautiful People", "Turn Up the Music" and "Don't Wake Me Up", but started to be less present in his music from his album X. On the albums Indigo and 11:11 Brown incorporated Afrobeats in his music.
Themes
Brown's lyrical production is typically considered to be "emotional" or "hedonistic". His songs mainly cover themes of sexuality, desire, regret, romantic love, heartbreak, recklessness and internal conflict, also having some introspections over the dark side of celebrity. Along with his vocal and dancing abilities, his songwriting is considered to be one of the things that distincts him for the better compared to other R&B singers of his time. American media executive and radio personality Ebro Darden stated that Brown is the "most all-around talented person in R&B. Trey Songz is talented, but he can't dance like Chris Brown. Usher is probably the only one that could come close to him, but he doesn't have the songwriting abilities that Chris Brown has."
Brown said in 2013, during an interview for Rolling Stone, that his songs are always "derived from personal experiences. Then again, I always like mixing reality with art." Billboard reviewing Royalty found its content to be "an art imitating life thing". Vulture's writer Craig Jenkins, while reviewing Heartbreak on a Full Moon, noted in its "breakup tracks" a usage of "shattered, jilted reflection", while the sexual records' lyrics were described for being explicit.
Voice
Brown possesses a light lyric tenor voice, which spans three and a half octaves, rising from the bass F♯ (F2) to its peak at the soprano C♯.(C♯6) His vocal ability was first recognized by his mother at a young age, as Brown tells People magazine, "I was 11 and watching Usher perform 'My Way', and I started trying to mimic it. My mom was like, 'You can sing?' And I was like, 'Well, yeah, Mama.'" subsequently leading to the start of his career. "Take You Down" most notably earned him a Grammy award nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 2009.
Often described as a dynamic vocalist, Brown's vocal performances are characterized by harmonization, vocal runs and melisma. Stereogum stated that "Brown's voice is an undeniably powerful instrument, one of those endlessly elastic soulful tenors, and he knows exactly how to flex it without flaunting it". While his voice on his first two albums, Chris Brown and Exclusive, was considered to be "youthful", due to his age, with subsequent projects like Graffiti and F.A.M.E. it was noted for maturing to a more distinctive voice, with Brown "coming into his own as a singer". On F.A.M.E. critics noted huge flexibility in his voice, with Steve Jones of USA Today praising the singer's ability to "give top notch vocal performances in R&B, Europop, rap, rock and acoustic records". X and Indigo were noted for displaying his timbre, exemplifying his singing performances.
According to Billboard, his singles "Liquor" and "Go Crazy" are representative of Brown's harmonizing. "Lost & Found", "Time for Love", "No Guidance" and "Red", feature "energic" vocal performances, being noted for displaying a "wide emotional range" in his singing. On "Another Round", "Don't Judge Me" and "It Won't Stop", he showcases "soft vocals" through a "soothing tone". According to Slant Magazine, different tracks from his Heartbreak on a Full Moon album showcase the singer's falsetto, being "a reminder that Brown's voice is capable of sublime beauty". Jake Indiana of Highsnobiety said that his feature on Kanye West's song "Waves" is one of his best vocal performances, and that it "sounds like ascending to heaven with a choir of angels at your back". On "Look at Me Now", "No Romeo No Juliet" and "Stranger Things" he displayed his ability of fast-rapping.
Dancing
Brown's dancing abilities and stage presence are widely praised, receiving broad comparisons to those of Michael Jackson. According to Brown, he taught himself how to dance by imitating Jackson's moves since childhood, then developing his own distinct style throughout his career. Brown also mentioned MC Hammer as an inspiration to his dancing style. Most of his music videos feature complex choreographies, including the "futuristic" "Turn Up the Music", the Jackson-inspired choreography of "Fine China", "Zero", where he displayed different dancing styles, including popping and his "signature spin move", "Party", where he showcased his remarked footwork, and "Heat", described by The Source as a "silky smooth choreography that shows Brown's unmatchable dancing talent". Some of his most notable dancing live performances include his "Thriller" recreation at the 2006 World Music Awards, his medley at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, where he performed a choreography that included flying parts, and his 2015 freestyled dancing over Future's "March Madness" at the Vestival The Hague Malieveld, that included an acclaimed front-flip.
In films such as Stomp the Yard and Battle of the Year, Brown displayed his ability to breakdance while in-character.
Street art
Aside from his musical career, Brown was noted for markedly producing graffiti art. His visual works have been described as "manga-inspired" and "abstract". Brown said that he painted since his childhood, saying "my first approach with it was painting school walls" saying that he has always been captivated by the fact that drawing and painting "gives you the chance to express yourself in whatever way, showing to the world your own dimension".
Brown has produced street art under the pseudonym Konfused, partnering with street artist Kai to produce works for the Miami Basel. The singer painted the buildings of different radio stations such as Hot 97 (WQHT). In 2015 he worked on some of the walls of The Grammy Museum, mixing his spray paint drawings with images of James Brown, Prince, Michael Jackson and himself. Brown has made graffiti works for different cities worldwide, including Los Angeles, London and Amsterdam.
His painting and dancing abilities were shown at the same time when Brown, partnering with Spotify's Rap Caviar, painted Heartbreak on a Full Moon's album cover, mostly from dancing around the canvas. In 2020 he painted a mural in memory of Kobe Bryant, doing a portray that includes Kobe's face, a mamba, and a few pictures of Kobe dribbling and dunking a basketball.
Acting
Brown has also pursued an acting career. In 2007, he made his on-screen feature film debut as a supporting role in the dance drama Stomp the Yard and took a leading role in the Christmas comedy film This Christmas (2007). He portrayed Will Tutt in three episodes on the Fox television series The O.C. in 2007. He also guest starred as himself on the children's programs Sesame Street in 2007, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody in 2008, and in the Comedy Central series Tosh.O in 2011. He has continued to act inconsistently in films such as the heist thriller, Takers (2010), which he also executive produced, the romantic comedy Think Like a Man (2012), and the dance film Battle of the Year (2013). He produced and starred in a documentary on himself entitled Welcome to My Life (2017). Reviewing the documentary, Rachel Leah of Salon talked about what the singer said on domestic violence, stating: "Chris Brown's actions are inexcusable, but what he says about male violence is vital". Brown returned to film playing a supporting role in the sports comedy film She Ball (2021).
He also made a guest starring appearance as a rapper in the ABC sitcom Black-ish in the Season 3 episode, "Richard Youngster". The episode received controversy and criticism for its casting of Brown with Caroline Framke of Vox writing, "Casting Brown as the linchpin of an episode all about double standards and oblivious men doing wrong by black women is astonishingly tone-deaf — and a major misstep from a show that usually makes a point of knowing better." The show's creator Kenya Barris defended Brown's casting saying, "We wanted someone to play a troubled music star, which he was... It had been 10 years since the Rihanna incident, which happened when he was a kid, basically, 19 years old, I saw him out, and he was very contrite and wanted to do something. I felt like, let's do that."
Achievements and awards
In terms of music sales and accolades, Brown is one of the most commercially successful and award-winning artists in R&B music, often being referred to by contemporaries as the "King of R&B". Brown has sold over 140 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He is also one of the highest-grossing African American touring artists of all time. Brown is also one of the best selling digital artists of all time. As of 2024, Brown has certified 114.5 million digital singles in the US, which is the most of any male R&B singer in history and tied for 11th overall among all artists across genres. Brown has sold over 40 million albums worldwide since his debut, including 18 million in the US.
In May 2019, Brown surpassed James Brown, for the most Billboard Hot 100 entries among R&B singers. In May 2020, Brown became the first R&B artist in history to achieve 100 entries on the Billboard Hot 100. Subsequently in July 2022, Brown surpassed Elvis Presley, for the most Billboard Hot 100 entries among male singers. Also in July 2022, Brown overtook singer The Weeknd for the most charted songs on Billboard's nearly 10-year-old Hot R&B Songs chart. Brown also has the third most top 10 entries on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs among all artists. In September 2022, Brown became the first R&B singer in history to chart over 50 top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. He achieved the record by earning his 51st top 40 hit with his single "Under the Influence". As of 2023, Brown is in a 3-way tie with Rihanna, Eminem and Future for 9th most top 40 hits on the Hot 100 with 52. Moreover, Brown holds the record for the most consecutive charting weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 among all male R&B artists with a streak of 161 weeks. This streak ranks ninth overall among artists across all genres. In January 2023, Brown broke Elvis Presley's record for the most gold certified singles by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) among all male vocalists. He did so after scoring his 56th gold-certified single with "Call Me Everyday". In February 2023, Brown became the first male vocalist in RIAA history to score 20 multi-platinum singles in the US. At the time of the record, only 8 acts in history had scored 20 or more multi-platinum singles in the US throughout their careers, with Brown being the only male vocalist and male R&B artist in the group. In November 2024, Brown became the first male vocalist in RIAA history to score over 40 platinum singles in the US. To provide an overall picture of Brown's chart success, Billboard ranked him third overall in the top R&B/Hip-Hop artists of the 2010s decade. He was only surpassed on the list by Drake and Rihanna in first and second, respectively, and held the highest rank among male R&B artists. In January 2024, Brown became the first artist in the 21st century to have charted on the Billboard Hot 100 for at least 20 distinct and consecutive calendar years.
In terms of radio success and achievements, Brown is tied with Beyoncé for the 4th most #1's on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Moreover, Brown has 53 top 10 entries on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, which is the most among all R&B artists and the 2nd most among all artists, behind Drake Brown also holds the record for the two longest running #1 hits on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay since the chart was first established in 1992. In January 2020, Brown initially set the record for longest running #1 on this chart with his 2019 single "No Guidance", which remained #1 for 27 weeks. The following year, Brown broke his own record for the longest running #1, with his 2020 single "Go Crazy", which remained #1 for 28 weeks. Moreover, Brown has the 3rd most #1's on the Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart with 18, which is the most among all R&B artists and 3rd most among all artists behind Drake and Lil Wayne in 1st and 2nd, respectively. On the Billboard Rhythmic Airplay chart, Brown is in a 4-way tie with Usher, The Weeknd and Bruno Mars for 3rd most #1 singles on the chart with 13. Brown has a total of 117 entries on the Rhythmic Airplay chart, which is the most among all R&B artists and the 2nd most among all artists, behind Drake.
In terms of awards and accolades, Brown has won a total of 215 awards from 544 nominations over the course of his career. Among which include two Grammy Awards, 19 BET Awards, 4 BET Hip Hop Awards, 5 Billboard Music Awards, 5 American Music Awards, 60 ASCAP Awards, 49 BMI Awards, 14 Soul Train Music Awards, 3 MTV Video Music Awards, 1 MTV Australian Award, 3 iHeartRadio Music Awards, 1 iHeartRadio Titanium Award, 1 International Dance Music Award, 1 Kora Award, 2 MOBO Awards, 1 TRL Award, 4 NAACP Image Awards, 2 Nickelodeon Awards, 2 People's Choice Awards, 1 Ozone Award, 7 Teen Choice Awards, 8 Urban Music Awards, 38 Vevo Certified Awards, 1 World Music Award, 1 Headies. Brown is the second most decorated artist in the history of the BET Awards, behind Beyonce. Brown is also tied with Bruno Mars as the second most decorated artist in the history of the Soul Train Awards, behind Beyonce. Brown is tied with Rihanna for the seventh most Vevo Certified Awards with 38 and holds the record for the most Vevo certifications among male R&B artists. Moreover, Brown was ranked fourth among the top 10 highest performing US artists on Vevo of the 2010s decade, behind Taylor Swift, Eminem, and Justin Bieber in first, second and third, respectively. Lastly, Brown is the first American artist and the only R&B artist to ever win a Headies award for outstanding achievements in the Nigerian music industry. Brown won his Headies in the category of international artist of the year, which was designed to recognize non-African artists or groups with outstanding achievements and impact on Afrobeats.
Personal life
Relationships
From 2007 to 2009, Brown dated singer Rihanna until their highly publicized domestic violence case. In 2010, Brown briefly dated professional model Jasmine Sanders. In 2011, Brown briefly dated media personality Draya Michele. Later during the same year, Brown began dating Karrueche Tran. In February 2012, Rihanna and Brown released remixes to their singles "Turn Up the Music" and "Birthday Cake", leading observers to speculate about their relationship. In January 2013, Rihanna confirmed that she and Brown had resumed their romantic relationship, stating, "It's different now. We don't have those types of arguments anymore. We talk about shit. We value each other. We know exactly what we have now, and we don't want to lose that." Speaking of Brown, Rihanna also said, "He's not the monster everybody thinks. He's a good person. He has a fantastic heart. He's giving and loving. And he's fun to be around. That's what I love about him – he always makes me laugh. All I want to do is laugh, really – and I do that with him". Rihanna and Brown collaborated again on "Nobody's Business", a duet song off Rihanna's Unapologetic album. The song was noted by critics as a public response by the couple towards the public perception of their intimacy. In a May 2013 interview, Brown stated that he and Rihanna had broken up again. He subsequently reunited with Tran but they split up shortly aftwards. Brown is the father of one son and two daughters.
Religion
When discussing his upbringing, Brown stated, "We were used to two pairs of shoes for a school year. We used to go to church every day. I was one of those kids that had more church clothes than school clothes." He has also discussed his second work of grace, saying that "he experienced the Holy Ghost while performing 'His Eye Is on the Sparrow' in church". After being released from jail on June 2, 2014, Brown wrote that he was "Humbled and Blessed" and tweeted the words "Thank you GOD."
In 2015, he said during an interview for Vibe, that God is the only thing that he is afraid of. Speaking about prayers he said "I pray everyday, I think we pray unconsciously too. Personally I don't pray for success. I pray for knowledge for understanding and peace of mind. I really try to pray for that because it's a big world, and you can get wrapped up in it trying to please every city. So I just try to get a peace of mind and me understanding that being at peace with my flaws and my talents. I'm cool with that. That's why I think once He shows me certain things, or even the choices that I make, and decisions that I make that are healthy for me. He shows me the right path. When I bless other people, He always blesses me. It's not even about a self-serving journey; it's about just learning. I want to learn people's experiences. I want to give them experiences too."
Mental health
Brown has long struggled with mental health issues and addiction. In his Welcome to My Life documentary, Brown revealed that he had contemplated suicide following the Rihanna incident. In 2013, Brown was sentenced to 90 days in rehab by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to fulfill the terms of his probation for the Rihanna incident. While at the rehab facility, Brown was formally diagnosed with bipolar II disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. The rehab facility stated that Brown will require close supervision by a physician "to ensure his bipolar mental health condition remains stable. It is not uncommon for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II to use substances to self-medicate their biochemical mood swings and trauma triggers". The clinical team at the rehab facility attributed Brown's aggression to his untreated mental health disorder, severe sleep deprivation, inappropriate self-medicating and untreated PTSD.
In a 2014 interview with radio personality Ebro Darden, Brown revealed that prior to his 2013 incarceration, he used "the syrup, the Xanax," and added that marijuana offset his hyperactive tendencies, "once I started doing the lean, the other stuff ... I'd be sitting in the [recording] booth sleeping." In 2017, Billboard wrote an investigative article about Brown's mental health issues and addiction. Former members of Brown's team told Billboard that around April 2015 he had broken a 15-month stretch of sobriety and spiraling into a more frequent drug use in the first months of 2016, including the use of cocaine, xanax, marijuana, molly and lean. Additionally, his former security guards revealed they would often check Brown's pulse while he slept to ensure he had not overdosed.
Legal issues
Domestic violence case with Rihanna
At around 12:30 a.m. (PST) on February 8, 2009, Brown and his then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna, had an argument that escalated into physical violence, with Brown causing Rihanna visible severe facial injuries which required hospitalization. Brown turned himself in to the Los Angeles Police Department's Wilshire station at 6:30 p.m. (PST) and was booked under suspicion of making criminal threats. On June 22, 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault and accepted a plea deal of community labor, five years of probation, and domestic violence counseling. On August 25, Brown received five years of probation. He was ordered to attend one year of domestic violence counseling and undergo six months of community service; the judge retained a five-year restraining order on Brown, which required him to remain 50 yards (45.72 meters) away from Rihanna, reduced to 10 yards at public events.
In February 2011, at request of Brown's and Rihanna's lawyers, Mark Geragos and Donald Eltra, Judge Patricia Schnegg modified the restraining order to a "level one order", allowing both singers to appear at awards shows together in the future. On March 20, 2015, Brown's probation ended, formally closing the felony case emanating from the Rihanna assault that happened over six years prior.
Assault case with Abraham Diaw
On May 15, 2025, Brown was arrested in Manchester, England, on a 2023 warrant issued against him for a grievous bodily harm with intent charge. The charge resulted from an alleged incident which involved Brown smashing a tequila bottle over music producer Abraham Diaw's head while at a London nightclub.
On May 16, the Manchester Magistrates' Court denied bail and remanded Brown in custody pending trial at Southwark Crown Court in London. On May 21, at a renewed bail application hearing at Southwark Crown Court, Brown was granted bail on the condition that he lodges a £5 million security fee with the court (£4 million immediately, with £1 million due within a week). The bail conditions enables Brown to continue his scheduled tour. He appeared at Southwark Crown Court on June 20, 2025, where he pleaded not guilty to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent. On July 11, he entered not guilty pleas to two further charges: assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon, relating to the same incident. His trial is scheduled to begin on October 26, 2026.
Diaw has also filed a civil claim against Brown for £12m ($16m) in damages which are related to the injuries and losses he claims are a result of the nightclub incident.
Other legal issues
On June 14, 2012, Drake and his entourage were involved in a scuffle with Brown at a nightclub called WIP in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. About eight people were injured during the brawl, including San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker, who had surgery to remove a piece of glass from his eye. Drake was not arrested. Brown's attorney alleged Drake was the instigator. Brown himself tweeted about the incident and publicly criticized Drake weeks later.
In January 2013, Brown was in an altercation with Frank Ocean over a parking space outside a recording studio in West Hollywood. Police officers in Los Angeles said Brown was under investigation, describing the incident as "battery" due to Brown allegedly punching Ocean. Ocean said he would not press charges. According to Jamaican singer Sean Kingston, who was present during the altercation, Ocean and his cousin instigated the fight and were at fault.
In July 2013, Brown's probation was revoked after he was involved in an alleged hit and run in Los Angeles. He was released from court and scheduled to reappear in August 2013 to learn whether he would serve time in prison. The charges would later be dropped, but Brown would have 1,000 additional hours of community service added to his probation terms. In October 2013, Brown was arrested for felony assault in Washington, D.C., after refusing to take a picture with a man, and throwing a punch that broke the man's nose. The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. Brown spent 36 hours in a Washington jail and was taken to court in shackles. He was released and ordered to report to his California probation officer within 48 hours.
On October 30, 2013, Brown voluntarily entered rehab. After Brown completed his 90 days, the judge ordered him to remain a resident at the Malibu treatment facility until a hearing on April 23, 2014. The deal was if Brown left rehab, he would go to jail. On March 14, 2014, Brown was kicked out of the rehab facility and sent to Northern Neck Regional Jail for violating internal rules. He was expected to be released on April 23, 2014, but a judge denied his release request from custody either on bail or his own recognizance. At his May 9, 2014, court date, Brown was ordered to serve 131 days in jail for his probation violation. He was sentenced to serve 365 days in custody; however, the judge gave him credit for 234 days he had already spent in rehab and jail, as well as credits for good behavior while behind bars. Brown was released from jail on June 2, 2014.
In June 2016, Chris Brown was sued for assault, false imprisonment and battery by Mike G, the singer's former manager, hired in 2012 to help him repair his public image. Mike G claimed that on May 10 of that year, Brown assaulted him, locked him in a room and punched him four times in the face and neck. Subsequently, Brown accused Mike G on his social media accounts of stealing money while working for him, being fired for it, an accusation that the manager later denied. In 2019, the lawsuit was settled out of court, with Brown and the manager informing courts that both parties have reconciled their differences and reached a confidential deal.
In 2017, Brown's ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran was granted a 5-year restraining order against him by a judge in Santa Monica, California, after she shared text messages and voicemails in court where Brown threatened her and demanded she return diamond rings and other gifts given during their relationship.
In 2022, Brown was served copyright infringement lawsuits on three of his singles: "Privacy"; "No Guidance"; and "Pills and Automobiles". The lawsuit on the single "Privacy" was filed by UK-based music firm Greensleeves, who alleged that "Privacy" lifted a line from 1997 dancehall track "Tight Up Skirt", recorded by Red Rat. Red Rat himself wasn't involved in the lawsuit, and publicly expressed that he was agreeable of Brown's usage of his lyric. Brown eventually reached a settlement with Greensleeves for copyright infringement. The pair of songwriters who sued Brown and Drake for copyright infringement on "No Guidance" dropped the lawsuit in its entirety in September 2022. Lastly, the musician who filed the copyright infringement on "Pills and Automobiles" dropped the lawsuit in June 2023.
Allegations
In the early hours of August 30, 2016, a woman called the police and accused Brown of threatening her with a gun inside his house. Police were called, but Brown denied them entry without a warrant. When they returned with one, Brown refused them entry and began what news sources referred to as a "standoff" with the LAPD, including the robbery-homicide division and SWAT team. During this time, Brown was seen posting videos on Instagram, in which he rails against the police and the media coverage of the activity at his house. He denounced media reports that he was "barricaded" inside his house, complained about the helicopters flying overhead, and called the police "idiots" and "the worst gang in the world." He said that he was innocent and "What I do care about is you are defacing [sic] my name and my character and integrity". Brown was arrested and later released from jail on $250,000 bail. On September 1, 2016, Brown's lawyer, Mark Geragos, stated that there was no standoff and that, with regard to the LAPD search, "nothing was found to corroborate her statement." Charges were later dropped after prosecutors declined to arraign Brown on the felony charges. Brown later sued the accuser for defamation, prevailing in the lawsuit, after it was ruled that the defendant brought to court false and defamatory statements about Brown, through her incriminating text messages where she said that "Brown kicked [her] out of his house because [she] called his friend jewelry fake" and she was "going to set him up and call the cops and say that he tried to shoot [her]". Brown later told Good Morning America: "My character's been defaced. I'm glad that all my real supporters know me and know the truth and they'll see the truth."
In January 2022, a woman filed a $20 million civil lawsuit against Brown for allegedly raping her on a yacht in Miami in December 2020. Brown denied the allegations and later submitted text messages and voicemails to the Miami police department which implied a consensual relationship with the accuser. In the text messages the woman addressed Brown using lewd language and sent nude "selfie" pictures almost immediately after the alleged rape took place. According to TMZ, Brown intended to counter-sue the plaintiff for defamation and the plaintiff's lawyer withdrew from the case after she was made aware of the messages and voicemails. The presiding judge dismissed the lawsuit due to lack of prosecution by the plaintiff in August 2022. The lawsuit was dismissed on procedural grounds without prejudice, meaning the case can be reinstated under proper legal grounds if the plaintiff intends to pursue it again.
On October 27, 2024, an episode of the docuseries Chris Brown: A History of Violence aired which revealed more details about the alleged 2020 yacht incident, including the fact that the yacht was owned by controversial music producer Sean "Diddy" Combs. In January 2025, Brown filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. for $500 million over the multiple abuse allegations which numerous women made against him in Chris Brown: A History of Violence, which aired in October 2024 on Investigation Discovery. As of May 2025, the lawsuit remains ongoing.
Business ventures
In 2007, Brown founded the record label CBE ("Chris Brown Entertainment" or "Culture Beyond Evolution"), under Interscope Records. Brown has since signed frequent collaborator Kevin McCall, singer Sabrina Antoinette, former RichGirl member Sevyn Streeter, singer-songwriter Joelle James, and rock group U.G.L.Y. However, from 2014 the label started to sign exclusively Brown's works.
In October 2009, Brown founded a lifestyle website, Mechanical Dummy, with the purpose of curating and promoting current trends in the world of technology, music, culture, fashion, style and emerging brands. Brown served as the creative director of the site.
Brown has stated in 2015 he owned fourteen Burger King restaurants, later revealing in 2022 that he sold the portfolio. In November 2012, Brown launched a nonprofit charity organization called the "Symphonic Love Foundation" to financially support arts programs for kids and to support a number of health and education programs and nonprofits, which provide education on domestic abuse, dating violence and HIV/AIDS and leadership programs to children with developmental disabilities.
In May 2012, Brown partnered with famed artist Ron English to create a limited-edition toy and sculpture line, "Dum English", which they debuted at the Toy Art Gallery in Los Angeles.
In November 2013, Brown partnered with Sprayground, a New York backpack company, to launch a limited line of custom backpacks, the "Invasion Capsule Collection".
On November 11, 2021, the singer launched his own cereal, "Breezy's Cosmic Crunch", partnering with SoFlo Snacks for this limited edition of collectible breakfast cereal.
In May 2022, Brown partnered with Los Angeles based clothing brand Renowned and an online media company BlackNFTArt, to launch a NFT collection, "The Auracles", with accompanying physical streetwear pieces. In July 2022, Brown released a NFT collection, "The Breezyverse", consisting of 10,000 3D animated NFTs with sound and visual effects implemented on the Ehtereum blockchain. The Breezyverse NFT collection was released in conjunction with Brown's tenth studio album Breezy.
In September 2023, Brown partnered with California based cannabis brand and dispensary Originals, to launch Bussin, a recreational cannabis brand.
In October 2023, Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc, a California-based startup focused on the development of electric vehicles, announced a partnership with Brown where he would become an ambassador and Co-Creation Officer of the company.
In March 2024, Brown launched a line of disposable vapes, the CB 15K x Chris Brown Disposable Vape.
Fashion
In 2012, Brown launched a streetwear clothing line called Black Pyramid, in collaboration with the founders of the Pink + Dolphin clothing line. In 2016 the clothing label was set for larger release, partnering with streetwear clothing lines such as Snipes for a worldwide distribution, also being distributed through its own Black Pyramid boutiques.
On December 11, 2015, the Japanese fashion brand A Bathing Ape revealed that Brown would become the face of the brand's high end range, BAPE Black Label. Which was a follow-up to the brand's inaugural celebrity partnership fronted by fellow artist Travis Scott.
In 2016, Brown partnered with German streetwear company Snipes, for a summer capsule collection designed in collaboration with the singer. The same year Brown also served as a model for Philipp Plein's fall and winter campaign. In 2016, during an interview with Vanity Fair Italia, he talked about his own definition of style: «It's not the name of a designer, it's not parading as a model, it's not the money you can spend on a jacket. Style is self-awareness, self-confidence. It's feeling comfortable in what you have on and who you are. It's the ability to be an individual, to be yourself, to be free in a free world».
In May 2023, Brown partnered with German 3D printed footwear company Zellerfeld, designer Nos Ailes, and streetwear and culture company The Auracles to launch his own line of 3D printed slides, NAMI.
Discography
Studio albums
Chris Brown (2005)
Exclusive (2007)
Graffiti (2009)
F.A.M.E. (2011)
Fortune (2012)
X (2014)
Royalty (2015)
Heartbreak on a Full Moon (2017)
Indigo (2019)
Breezy (2022)
11:11 (2023)
Brown (TBA)
Collaborative albums
Fan of a Fan: The Album (with Tyga) (2015)
Tours
Brown has headlined multiple arena tours worldwide. Additionally, he has co-headlined two separate North American tours with singer Trey Songz and rapper Lil Baby. Brown is one of the highest grossing African American touring artists of all time. In February 2023, Pollstar reported that Brown had grossed $166 million from 284 shows between 2006 and 2022. He subsequently grossed $34 million from his Under The Influence tour in 2023 and $82 million from his 11:11 tour in 2024.
Headlining
Up Close and Personal Tour (2006)
The UCP Exclusive Tour (2007)
Fan Appreciation Tour (2009)
F.A.M.E. Tour (2011)
Carpe Diem Tour (2012)
One Hell of a Nite Tour (2015–2016)
The Party Tour (2017)
Heartbreak on a Full Moon Tour (2018)
Indigoat Tour (2019)
Under the Influence Tour (2023)
The 11:11 Tour (2024)
Breezy Bowl XX (2025)
Co-headlining
Between the Sheets Tour (with Trey Songz) (2015)
One of Them Ones Tour (with Lil Baby) (2022)
Supporting
Scream V Encore Tour (2005)
The Beyoncé Experience (Australia) (2007)
Good Girl Gone Bad Tour (the Philippines, Oceania) (2008)
Filmography
Film
Television
Documentary
See also
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of highest-certified music artists in the United States
List of best-selling music artists
List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
Notes
References
External links
Media related to Chris Brown (entertainer) at Wikimedia Commons
Official website
Chris Brown at IMDb
Chris Brown on YouTube
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Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer, and actor. A pop and hip-hop-influenced R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "King of R&B" by some of his contemporaries. His lyrics often address emotional and hedonistic themes. His singing and dancing skills have often been compared favorably to those of Michael Jackson.
In 2004, Brown signed with Jive Records. The following year, he released his eponymous debut studio album, which went triple platinum. Brown topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his debut single, "Run It!", making him the first male artist since 1995 to do so. His second album, Exclusive (2007), was commercially successful worldwide and spawned his second Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, "Kiss Kiss".
In 2009, Brown faced significant controversy and media attention when he was arrested for and plead guilty to felony assault of singer and then-girlfriend Rihanna, for which he was sentenced to five years probation with six months community service. The same year, he released his third album, Graffiti, which was considered to be a commercial failure. He released his fourth album F.A.M.E. (2011), which was his first album to top the Billboard 200. The album contained three commercially successful singles—"Yeah 3x", Diamond certified "Look at Me Now" and "Beautiful People"—and earned him the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. His fifth album, Fortune, released in 2012, topped the Billboard 200.
Following the releases of X (2014) and Royalty (2015), both peaking in the top three of the Billboard 200, his eighth album, Heartbreak on a Full Moon (2017), a double-disc LP consisting of 45 tracks, was certified gold for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 after one week, and later certified double platinum. Brown's ninth studio album, Indigo (2019) found similar success, debuting atop the Billboard 200. It included the single "No Guidance" which broke the record for longest-running number one on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Its chart success was outdone with the single "Go Crazy" released the following year, which broke Brown's own record for longest-running number one. In 2022, his Indigo album spawned a sleeper hit with its song "Under the Influence", which was re-released as a single.
Brown has sold over 140 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He has gained a cult following, and is one of the highest-grossing African American touring artists of all time. Brown holds the record for the most top 40 hits of any R&B singer in history, the most RIAA gold-certified singles of any male singer in history, and the most RIAA multi-platinum singles of any male singer in history. In 2019, Billboard named Brown the third most successful artist of the 2010s decade in R&B and hip-hop music, behind Drake and Rihanna. Brown has won 209 awards from 534 nominations over the course of his career. He has also pursued an acting career. In 2007, he made his feature film debut in Stomp the Yard, and appeared as a guest on the television series The O.C. Other films include This Christmas (2007), Takers (2010), Think Like a Man (2012) and Battle of the Year (2013).
Early life, family and education
Christopher Maurice Brown was born on May 5, 1989, in Tappahannock, Virginia, to Joyce Hawkins, a former day care center director, and Clinton Brown, a corrections officer at a local prison. He has an older sister, Lytrell Bundy, a bank employee. Music was always present in Brown's life beginning in his childhood. He would listen to soul albums that his parents owned, and eventually began to show interest in the hip-hop scene.
His parents had divorced when he was 6 years old, and his mother's boyfriend terrified him by subjecting her to domestic violence. In a 2017 self-documentary film, Welcome to My Life, Brown recalls the couple's abusive relationship. Brown said that when he was six, his mother's partner shot himself in the head, but did not die. The gunshot blinded him, the physical impairment only adding to his rage. Donnelle vented his anger and frustration on Brown's mother. "I had to hear my mom get beat up every night. I'd pee on myself, just scared to even walk out into the hallway, because I didn't want to see nothing".
Brown taught himself to sing and dance at a young age and often cites Michael Jackson as his inspiration. He began to perform in his church choir and in several local talent shows. Brown said, during a 2023 interview with Shannon Sharpe, that he started to take in consideration music as his job after winning a talent show during a summer camp when he was 11 years old, performing Sisqó's "Thong Song": "The camp leaders, they laughed, but everybody kinda went crazy in there and I was like 'I think I can do this'." When he mimicked an Usher performance of "My Way", his mother recognized his vocal talent, and they began to look for the opportunity of a record deal.
At age 16, Brown dropped out of Essex High School in Virginia in late 2004 or early 2005 to relocate and pursue a music career.
Career
2002–2004: Career beginnings
At age 13, Brown was discovered by Hitmission Records, a local production team that visited the gas station where his father worked, while searching for new talent. Around the same time, he performed with one of his production managers' son, named TJ, for hip-hop artist Puff Daddy, but the rapper refused to sign him to his record label Bad Boy Records. Hitmission's Lamont Fleming provided voice coaching for Brown. The team helped to arrange a demo package, under the name of "C. Sizzle", and approached contacts in New York. Tina Davis, senior A&R executive at Def Jam Recordings, heard the demo package that Brown's local team had sent to Def Jam, and among the artists contained in the CD she was impressed by Brown with his track "Whose Girl Is That". Davis later had Brown auditioning in her New York office, and she immediately took him to meet the former president of Island Def Jam Music Group, Antonio "L.A." Reid, who offered to sign him that day, but Brown refused his proposal because Reid wouldn't talk to his mother. Brown then started to sojourn in Harlem, New York City, to seek a record deal. The negotiations with Def Jam continued for two months, and ended when Davis lost her job due to a corporate merger. Brown asked her to be his manager, and once Davis accepted, she promoted the singer to other labels such as Jive Records, J-Records and Warner Bros. Records. "I knew that Chris had real talent," says Davis. "I just knew I wanted to be part of it." Brown attended Essex High School in Virginia until late 2004, when he moved to New York to pursue his music career.
According to Mark Pitts, in an interview with HitQuarters, Davis presented Brown with a video recording, and Pitts' reaction was: "I saw huge potential ... I didn't love all the records, but I loved his voice. It wasn't a problem because I knew that he could sing, and I knew how to make records." Brown ultimately chose Jive due to its successful work with then-young acts such as Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Brown stated, "I picked Jive because they had the best success with younger artists in the pop market, [...] I knew I was going to capture my African American audience, but Jive had a lot of strength in the pop area as well as longevity in careers." Brown said in a 2013 interview, that during his permanence in Harlem, when he was trying to get his music heard by major labels, his artistic intention was to both rap and sing on his records, but Jive convinced him to stick to just singing, because according to him "it wasn't acceptable yet" for an R&B singer to also rap on records.
2005–2006: Chris Brown and acting debut
After signing to Jive Records in 2004, Brown began recording his self-titled debut studio album in February 2005. By May, there were 50 songs already recorded, 14 of which were picked to the final track listing. He has worked with producers and songwriters Scott Storch, Cool & Dre, Sean Garrett, Jazze Pha, and others, and has said that they "really believed in [him]". Brown co-wrote half of the tracks. "I write about the things that 16 year olds go through every day," he said in 2009. "Like you just got in trouble for sneaking your girl into the house, or you can't drive, so you steal a car or something." The whole album took less than eight weeks to produce. In 2023, Brown described working on his first album as a "learning experience", recalling that he felt "insecure" about releasing "Run It!" as his first single.
The album's lead single, "Run It!", was a great commercial success, making Brown the first male act since Montell Jordan in 1995 to have his debut single to reach the summit of the Billboard Hot 100—later remaining for four additional weeks. Three other singles, "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)", "Gimme That", and "Say Goodbye", were successful, peaking in the top 20 on the same chart. Released on November 29, 2005, the self-titled Chris Brown album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 154,000 copies. Decca Aitkenhead of The Guardian wrote that it was "a smooth slice of commercial R&B". Chris Brown sold over three million copies in the US and was certified three times platinum by the RIAA; worldwide, it sold six million copies.
On June 13, 2006, Brown released a DVD entitled Chris Brown's Journey, which shows footage of him traveling through England and Japan, preparing for his first visit to the Grammy Awards, behind the scenes of his music videos and bloopers. On August 17, 2006, to further promote the album, Brown began his major co-headlining tour, The Up Close and Personal Tour. Due to the tour, production for his next album was pushed back two months. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital received $10,000 in ticket proceeds from Brown's 2006 Up Close & Personal Tour. Brown has made appearances on UPN's One on One and The N's Brandon T. Jackson Show on its pilot episode.
2007–2008: Exclusive
In January 2007, Brown landed a small role as a band geek in the fourth season of the American television series The O.C.. Brown then made his film debut in Stomp the Yard, alongside Ne-Yo, Meagan Good and Columbus Short on January 12, 2007. In April 2007, Brown was the opening act for Beyoncé, on the Australian leg of her The Beyoncé Experience tour. On July 9, 2007, Brown was featured in an episode of MTV's My Super Sweet 16 (for the event, it was retitled: Chris Brown: My Super 18) celebrating his eighteenth birthday in New York City.
Shortly after ending his summer tour with Ne-Yo, Brown quickly began production for his second studio album, Exclusive. The album's lead single, "Wall to Wall" was released, and it didn't reach the chart success of his previous singles, peaking at number 79 on US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number 22 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, being his lowest charting single at the time. However, "Kiss Kiss", featuring and produced by T-Pain, released as the album's second single, received huge success, reaching number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and becoming Brown's second number one single following "Run It!" in 2005. "With You", produced by Stargate (a producers duo known at the time for their work with R&B singer Ne-Yo), was released as the third single from Exclusive, and had even bigger worldwide success than "Kiss Kiss", becoming one of the all-time best-selling singles, and reaching number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Exclusive was released in the US on November 6, 2007. According to The Guardian the album demonstrated "his agility in fusing R&B with the era's auto-tuned strain of pop-leaning hip-hop". The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 294,000 copies in its first week, becoming a bigger commercial success than his previous outing. Exclusive was certified four times platinum by the RIAA.
In November 2007, Brown starred as a video host for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's Math-A-Thon program. He showed his support by encouraging students to use their math skills to help children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. On November 21, 2007, Brown appeared as a leading role in This Christmas, a family drama starring Regina King. He also contributed to the soundtrack of the movie, that contains his cover versions of "Try a Little Tenderness" and "This Christmas", the latter has been certified platinum by the RIAA. To further support the album Exclusive, Brown embarked on his The Exclusive Holiday Tour, visiting over thirty venues in US. The tour began in Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 6, 2007, and concluded on February 9, 2008, in Honolulu, Hawaii. In March 2008, Brown was featured on Jordin Sparks' single "No Air", which received worldwide success, peaking at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also made a guest appearance on David Banner' single "Get Like Me" alongside Yung Joc. The song peaked at number sixteen on the Billboard Hot 100, and number two on the US Hot Rap Songs chart. In 2008, Brown did of a commercial spot for Doublemint gum, creating a jingle commissioned by an advertising company working for Wrigley. Brown first created the short version for the commercial, then extended and expanded it into a full song, "Forever", during another recording session. "Forever" was later released as a single anticipating Brown's re-issue of Exclusive. The song was noted for being Brown's first record to venture into the dance-pop genre, becoming one of his biggest singles, reaching number two on Billboard Hot 100. Billboard wrote positively of the single, stating in its 2008 review that Brown "has proved as 2008's pop/R&B prince that he has talent and charm to command the charts for as long he chooses". The re-issue, titled Exclusive: The Forever Edition, was released on June 3, 2008, seven months after the original version, featuring four new tracks, and pushed the album's success further. In August 2008, Brown guest-starred on Disney's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody as himself. Towards the end of 2008, Brown was named the Artist of the Year by Billboard magazine, with the songs "With You", "Forever" and "No Air" resulting three of the top 10 most sold singles of 2008 in the US.
2009–2010: Graffiti and mixtapes
In 2008, Brown began work on his third studio album, announced to be called Graffiti, promising to experiment with a different musical direction inspired by singers Prince and Michael Jackson. He stated, "I wanted to change it up and really be different. Like my style nowadays, I don't try to be typical urban. I want to be like how Prince, Michael and Stevie Wonder were. They can cross over to any genre of music." Following the domestic violence scandal involving Brown and his then-girlfriend, musician/actress Rihanna on February 8, 2009, a major part of mass media took positions against the singer. The scandal also caused Brown to lose significant endorsements, including the one with Doublemint, with some music stations across the US briefly banning Brown's songs. The singer later participated in numerous television appearances during the year to express himself publicly about it. He spoke about it to ABC News: "I never ever had problems with anger. No, no domestic violence with any of my past girlfriends or any altercations. I never was that kind of person. I look at it, and it's really, like really difficult. It's like, 'How could I be that person?'". In the 2017 self-documentary, Welcome to My Life, Brown says his reputation dropped sharply after his 2009 assault on Rihanna, "I went from being on top of the world, number one songs, being kind of like America's sweetheart, to being public enemy number one." Graffiti's lead single "I Can Transform Ya" was released on September 29, 2009. The song peaked at number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Crawl" was released as the album's second single on November 23, 2009. The song reached number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100. Graffiti was then released on December 8, 2009. Brown, with this album, started to take full control of his art, managing the artistic direction, and writing every song of the album (with the exception of the song "I'll Go", written and produced by Brian Kennedy and James Fauntleroy). He said that his decision to entirely direct and write his albums and songs came from the fact that he wanted to give his "own perspective of the music [he] wanted to make" and by his wanting to "verbalize whatever [he] was going through". Critics noted that with the album's sound Brown aimed to expand his music beyond the genres of his previous works. According to Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times, the album is made of an "upbeat" part, that "can be considered the sonic sequel to 'Forever'", mixed with power ballads, observed to express his remorse and feelings following the Rihanna incident. The album, compared to its two predecessors, was a commercial and critical failure, debuting at number 7 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 102,000 copies in its first week, and receiving generally negative reviews from critics. Despite this, Graffiti was nominated for two Grammy Awards; including one for the Best Contemporary R&B Album and the other for the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the track, "Take My Time" featuring Tank. As of March 23, 2011, it has sold 341,000 copies in the US.
While performing a Michael Jackson Tribute at the 2010 BET Awards, Brown started to cry and fell to his knees while singing Jackson's "Man in the Mirror". The performance and his emotional turmoil resonated with several celebrities present at the ceremony, including Trey Songz, Diddy and Taraji P. Henson. Songz said, "He left his heart on the stage. He gave genuine emotion. I was proud of him and I was happy for him for having that moment". Michael's brother, Jermaine Jackson, expressed similar sentiments stating, "it was very emotional for me, because it was an acceptance from his fans from what has happened to him and also paying tribute to my brother". Later during the award ceremony, Brown stated, "I let y'all down before, but I won't do it again...I promise", while accepting the award for the AOL Fandemonium prize. In August 2010, Brown starred alongside an ensemble cast, including Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Hayden Christensen and T.I. in the crime thriller Takers, and also served as executive producer of the film.
During 2010, Brown released three free mixtapes: In My Zone (Rhythm & Streets), Fan of a Fan (collaborative mixtape with rapper Tyga), and In My Zone 2, which featured a new writing style for the singer, and a different musical style, mixing R&B with hip-hop. For the mixtapes he worked with new producers, most notably Kevin McCall. The mixtapes received a great response from the artist's core audience, consolidating it. The single "Deuces", extracted from the Fan of a Fan mixtape, obtained critical and commercial success, peaking at number 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The song was later remixed by some of the biggest names in the hip-hop scene of that time, including Drake, Kanye West, André 3000, Rick Ross, Fabolous, and T.I. He later released the solo track "No BS" as his second single from Fan of a Fan, and decided to include the two singles from the mixtape as anticipation singles for his next album.
2011–2012: F.A.M.E. and Fortune
In September 2010, Brown announced his album, F.A.M.E., a backronym for "Forgiving All My Enemies", would be released in October. The album's first single, "Yeah 3x", a dance-pop song, different from the urban content of the previous mixtapes. The single received big international success, entering the top-ten in eleven countries, including Australia, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It was succeeded by the hip-hop single "Look at Me Now", featuring rappers Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes, that reached number one on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where it remained for eight consecutive weeks. It also reached number one on the US Hot Rap Songs chart. The single became the best-selling rap song of 2011, as well as one of all-time best-selling singles in the US. Stereogum while critiquing Brown's public image during a review, praised his musical ability and the track, stating that "It brings me no joy to report that 'Look At Me Now' is a 10".
Brown's fourth studio album F.A.M.E. was first released on March 18, 2011. Defined by critics as a "musical kaleidoscope" for its versatile sound, the album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 270,000 copies, giving Brown his first number-one album in the US. Steve Jones of USA Today said that the album showed "a more mature, confident and adventurous Brown who has emerged in the wake of all the drama, and he has delivered the strongest album of his career". The album's third single, "Beautiful People", featuring Benny Benassi, peaked at number one on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart, and became the first number-one single on the chart for both Brown and Benassi. "She Ain't You" was released as the album's fourth US single, while "Next 2 You", featuring Canadian recording artist Justin Bieber, served as the album's fourth international single. To further promote the album, Brown embarked on his F.A.M.E. Tour in Australia and North America.
Brown received six nominations at the 2011 BET Awards and ultimately won five awards, including Best Male R&B Artist, Viewers Choice Award, The Fandemonium Award, Best Collaboration and Video of the Year for "Look at Me Now". He also won three awards at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards, including the People's Champ Award, Reese's Perfect Combo Award and Best Hip Hop Video for "Look at Me Now". At the 2011 Soul Train Music Awards, F.A.M.E. won Album of the Year. The album has also earned Brown three Grammy Award nominations at the 54th Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album, as well as Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for "Look at Me Now". On February 12, 2012, Brown won his first Grammy Award, for Best R&B Album. During the ceremony, Brown performed several songs marking his first appearance at the awards show since his conviction of felony assault.
Originally, Brown wanted F.A.M.E. to be a double-disc, consisting of 25–30 tracks, but the label was contrary to that. Right before the release of F.A.M.E. Brown decided to follow his intentions in an acceptable way for the label, working on a sequel of F.A.M.E. called Fortune, that would be a whole new album that contained new material and even some tracks that didn't make the cut of the previous album. On October 7, 2011, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, Brown (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release future material on the RCA Records brand. Brown's fifth studio album Fortune was anticipated with the release of "Strip", "Sweet Love", "Till I Die", and the top 10 singles "Turn Up the Music" and "Don't Wake Me Up". Fortune was released on July 3, 2012. The album's musical style was noted for mixing Brown's R&B with pop and electronic music. The album debuted atop the Billboard 200, but received negative reviews from critics. Los Angeles Times wrote that the album is "brash and commercial", stating that "Brown's "F.A.M.E." hit with a solid combination of freaky, heavy-duty R&B bangers and the requisite sex-in-bed seduction numbers. But Fortune, his fifth studio album, is the work of an artist who has gone all-in with a handful of commercial tracks designed to get Our Hero paid and back in America's good graces". Despite the negative reception, it was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 55th Grammy Awards. To further promote the album, Brown embarked on his Carpe Diem Tour in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Trinidad.
2013–2015: X and Royalty
After concluding his Carpe Diem Tour in 2012, Brown's next studio album started to develop. On February 15, 2013, the singer unofficially released the song "Home", where he expresses a reflection on the dark side of fame, and how the only moment of respite from that thought is when he returns to the neighborhood where he grew up with people who knew him from the start. On March 26, 2013, Brown announced the release of X, in various interviews and listening sessions. In an interview with Ebony, Brown spoke of taking his music in a different direction and changing his sound from the pop-infused and sexually explicit one of the previous album Fortune, to a more mature, soulful and vulnerable theme for the album. On March 29, 2013, he released the critically acclaimed "Fine China" as the lead single of X. Yahoo! lauded 'Fine China' as "a soulful, 1970's-inspired track" and said that it was "Brown's most musical sound to date".
Following the release of two other anticipation singles of X, "Don't Think They Know" and "Love More", on August 9, 2013, at 1:09 am PDT, Brown was reported to have suffered a seizure from Record Plant Studios in Hollywood, California as a 9-1-1 call was made. When paramedics arrived, Brown allegedly refused to receive treatment and also refused to be transported to the local hospital. (Brown has reportedly suffered from seizures since his childhood.) The next day, Brown's representative reported the seizure was caused by "intense fatigue and extreme emotional stress, both due to the continued onslaught of unfounded legal matters and the nonstop negativity." On November 20, 2013, Brown was sentenced to an anger management rehabilitation center for three months, putting the December 2013 release of X in jeopardy. To "hold [fans] over until [the X album] drops," Brown released a mixtape, titled X Files on November 19, 2013. Brown revealed in 2022, that at the time, when he was on the way to go to the counseling, he received a phone call from Prince, that told him to "don't lose focus", wanting a conversation with him about "being special". Brown described the phone call as "one of [his] most influential" moments. On February 22, 2014, it was announced that the album would be released on Brown's birthday, May 5, 2014. On April 14, 2014, Brown released a teaser of the new track "Don't Be Gone Too Long" featuring Ariana Grande. However, at his May 9, 2014, court date, Brown was ordered to serve 131 days in jail for his probation violation, and the collaboration ended up never being released, furthermore, the album was again delayed due to Brown's prison sentence. While incarcerated, the album's fourth single, "Loyal", became one of Brown's most successful songs, by selling over six million copies in the US, and peaking in the top 10 of the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. Brown said in a 2022 interview, that following his release from jail he experienced more episodes of fans explaining to him how some of his records helped them through life-changing situations, making him realize that he was making music for an "actual purpose". "New Flame" featuring Usher and Rick Ross was later released as the album's final single. The title track "X" was released as an instant-gratification track alongside the album pre-order on iTunes on August 25, 2014.
Brown's sixth studio album, X was released on September 16, 2014. The album received positive reviews from critics, that considered it a big improvement compared to its critically panned predecessor Fortune. Brad Wete of Billboard reviewing X described Brown as "a talent whose skill for hit singles and agile performances is only matched by his knack for cannonballing into career-threatening pools of legal and PR problems", At the 2015 Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for the Best Urban Contemporary Album, while "New Flame" was nominated for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song. Commercially, the album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 selling 146,000 copies in its first week, becoming his sixth consecutive top ten debut in the US. X has been certified double platinum by the RIAA. Pushing the promotion for the album further, Brown performed and appeared at several televised music events and music festivals across the US.
On February 24, 2015, Brown released his first collaborative studio album with Tyga, titled Fan of a Fan: The Album. The album was a follow-up to the pairs' 2010 mixtape Fan of a Fan, and its lead single "Ayo" received commercial success. In early 2015, Brown also embarked on his Between the Sheets Tour with Trey Songz.
In spring 2015, Brown was featured on DJ Deorro's song "Five More Hours", which received worldwide success. On June 24, Brown released "Liquor" as the first single from his seventh studio album, titled Royalty, being dedicated to his daughter. On October 16, he revealed the album cover. On October 13, 2015, Brown announced that Royalty would be released on November 27, 2015. After it was revealed that the album has been pushed back to December 18, 2015, in exchange on November 27, 2015, he released a free 34-track mixtape called Before the Party as a prelude to Royalty, which features guest appearances from Rihanna, Wiz Khalifa, Pusha T, Kelly Rowland, Wale, Tyga, French Montana and Fetty Wap. The mixtape is composed by previously unreleased tracks that Brown recorded in different studio sessions between 2012 and 2015. Royalty was released on December 18, 2015, and debuted at number 3 on the US Billboard 200, selling 184,000 units (162,000 in pure album sales) in its first week. Brown directed and released eight music videos for the songs of Royalty, serializing them to construct a linear story. According to Iyana Robertson of Vibe, Brown on the album "sticks to the absence of a sonic script", showcasing "a pure, palpable display of an "outside of the box" approach to music". Robertson said that lyrically the album "waves goodbye to amour on its way out the door", noting it to be a "stark contrast to 2014's X, which included professions of affection".
2016–2017: Heartbreak on a Full Moon
Brown started working and recording tracks for his next album few weeks before the release of Royalty, in late 2015. From the first days of 2016, Brown started to preview on his social media accounts several unreleased songs from his recording sessions. In March 2016, he collaborated again with Italian DJ Benny Benassi, for the song "Paradise" from the latter's album Danceaholic. On May 3, he announced the single "Grass Ain't Greener", showing its cover art and announcing it as the first single from a new album titled Heartbreak on a Full Moon. The single was released on May 5, 2016. On July 7, after the 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers, Brown released on his SoundCloud page two piano ballads, "My Friend" and "A Lot of Love", saying that the songs are "released for free for anybody dealing with injustice or struggle in their lives." In 2016, the singer released two hip-hop collaborative mixtapes with his OHB crew, Before the Trap: Nights in Tarzana and Attack the Block.
Throughout 2016 and 2017, he continued sharing several snippets from songs that he was recording. He also built a recording studio inside of his home to work on the album. During this period he embarked two concert tours as well: the European leg of the One Hell of a Nite Tour in 2016, and The Party Tour in 2017. On December 16, 2016, he released the second official single from the album, "Party", featuring guest vocals from American R&B singer Usher and rapper Gucci Mane. Around this time, Brown decided to create Heartbreak on a Full Moon as a 40-track album. Talking about this decision, he stated in a 2017 interview that he wanted to "outdo expectations" and "push the boundaries on artistry". RCA Records, the record label of the singer, initially wasn't agreeable of satisfying Brown's intentions to make a 40-track album, thinking that it would've damaged its commercial performance, but the singer ended up convincing them. "Privacy" was later released as the album's third single. On June 7 he released Welcome to My Life, a self-documentary focused on his life and career, directed by Andrew Sandler. Numerous celebrities participated in the movie, describing Brown from a personal and professional point of view. Among them there are Jennifer Lopez, Mike Tyson, Rita Ora, Usher and Tyga.
On August 4, 2017, he released the album's fourth single, the trap song "Pills & Automobiles", featuring fellow American rappers Yo Gotti, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, and Kodak Black, while shortly after he released the fifth single, "Questions". On October 25, 2017, Brown organized with Tidal a free pop-up concert in New York City to perform the singles on the album and promote it.
Heartbreak on a Full Moon was eventually released as a double-disc album on October 31, 2017, via digital retailers and onto CD, three days later by RCA Records. He explained the concept for the album in August 2017 during an interview for Complex, saying: "I thought Heartbreak on a Full Moon was a depiction of what my soul wanted to say. It's funny because we're doing a double album. I've done so many records, but all of the records, to me, are personal favorites and I feel like it gets what I want to say across". Cultural critic and media personality Joe Budden defined Heartbreak on a Full Moon as his best album. Despite being counted for only three days of sales, Heartbreak on a Full Moon debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, becoming Brown's ninth consecutive top 10 album on the chart. One week after its release Heartbreak on a Full Moon was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the US, and Brown became the first R&B male artist that went gold in a week since Usher's Confessions in 2004. In 2019 the album has been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. On December 13, 2017, he released a 12-track surprise deluxe edition of the album, titled Cuffing Season – 12 Days of Christmas. Brown eventually embarked on his US "Heartbreak on a Full Moon Tour" in June 2018 to further promote the album. The opening acts for the tour were 6lack, H.E.R., Rich the Kid, and Jacquees.
2018–2019: Indigo
On January 31, 2018, shortly after President Donald Trump's 2020 State of the Union Address, Brown released for free the track "State of the Union", a ballad where he expresses a message about social harmony. In February 2018, Brown and rapper Joyner Lucas announced an upcoming collaboration project, titled Angels & Demons, with the release of the single "Stranger Things". However, the project ended up never being released. On March 15, 2018, Brown was featured on Lil Dicky's hit single "Freaky Friday". The song became one of the most successful comedy songs in contemporary pop music, topping the charts in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, also entering the top 10 in the US.
Following the end of the "Heartbreak on a Full Moon" tour, Brown started to work on his ninth album, Indigo. On January 4, 2019, Brown released "Undecided" as its lead single. "Undecided" saw Brown reunite with producer Scott Storch, who previously worked with Brown in 2005 on his breakout hit "Run It!". The single marked Brown's first release after signing an extension and a new license agreement with RCA Records, that gave him the owning of his master recordings, making him one of the youngest artists to do so at the age of 29. On April 11, he released the second single off the album, "Back to Love". Andy Kellman of AllMusic described the song as a "career highlight", although it failed to chart in the US. The third single, "Wobble Up", was released a week later, featuring Nicki Minaj and G-Eazy, and a summer tour with Nicki Minaj was announced, but ended up never happening. On April 25, he appeared on a track with Marshmello and Tyga called "Light It Up". On May 2, Brown revealed the list of artists featured on Indigo, including Nicki Minaj, Tory Lanez, Tyga, Justin Bieber, Juicy J, Juvenile, H.E.R, Tank, Lil Jon, Lil Wayne, Joyner Lucas, Gunna and Drake. The announcement of the Drake collaboration sparked headlines, due to their public feud that lasted for several years. On May 31, he appeared on the commercially successful single "Easy", where he duetted with singer DaniLeigh. On June 8, Brown released "No Guidance" featuring Drake as a single. It debuted at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100, making it Brown's 15th top-ten song, and later peaked at number five. The single won Best Collaboration Performance, Best Dance Performance and Song of the Year at the 2019 Soul Train Music Awards and received a nomination for Best R&B Song at the 62nd Grammy Awards.
Indigo was eventually released on June 28, 2019, marking Brown's second double album. Musically, the album explored his R&B roots, and other genres such as Afrobeats, pop, dancehall and bounce music. According to A.D. Amorosi of The Inquirer, the album's themes mix spiritual awakening with sexuality. In the US, Indigo debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 108,000 album-equivalent units, which included 28,000 pure album sales in its first week, making it his third number-one album in the country. Indigo was further promoted with the release of the single "Heat", which topped the Billboard Rhythmic Airplay chart, and earned Brown his 13th number one on the chart, and second during 2019. On October 4, 2019, Brown eventually released a deluxe version of Indigo entitled Indigo Extended, which included 10 additional songs, making the extended version a total of 42 songs.
On June 10, 2019, Brown announced an official headlining concert tour "Indigoat Tour" in which he performed the album throughout the US. The tour began on August 20 and ended on October 19. Jay Cridlin of Tampa Bay Times attended the Tampa concert, and reviewing it he said it was "a guilty pleasure", wondering if enjoying his stage presence should be wrong, considering the controversies surrounding his public figure, expressing "At what point do we -- can we, should we -- forget about the blowups and restraining orders, and just marvel at the way Brown splits into a backflip and kick-spins a 360 during 'Drunk Texting'?". The "Indigoat Tour" grossed over $30,100,000 in its 37 shows, selling out most of the venues. At the end of the year, Brown was ranked third on Billboard's "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Decade" for the 2010s, behind Rihanna and Drake in second and first, respectively.
2020–2023: Breezy
In December 2019, Brown revealed that he started working on new material for his tenth studio album. Later, on April 29, 2020, Brown announced the release of a collaborative mixtape with Young Thug, Slime & B. The mixtape was released on May 5, 2020, and features the hit single "Go Crazy", which peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Brown's first song to spend one full year on the chart. In April 2021, "Go Crazy" broke the record for the longest running No. 1 song on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, a record that was previously held by Brown's 2019 hit single "No Guidance". On May 1, 2020, Brown was featured on Drake's Dark Lane Demo Tapes mixtape, on the track "Not You Too". The song earned Brown his 100th career entry on the US Billboard Hot 100, debuting at number 25.
On July 9, 2020, Brown announced via Instagram that the title of his tenth album would be Breezy, a reference to his stage nickname. Also in July, Brown stated that while working on the album he wanted to make some "really endearing music" that "talk to women's soul". On August 2, 2021, he announced on his Instagram account that his Breezy album would be accompanied by a short film of the same name, however it ended up never happening. On January 14, 2022, he released the single "Iffy", which peaked to #1 of the Rhythmic Radio Chart on April 3, 2022. On March 27, 2022, Brown co-headined a F1 post-race concert for the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. On April 1, 2022, Brown released the album's second single "WE (Warm Embrace)". The song was listed on the "Top 5 R&B songs of 2022" list by Vibe magazine, that stated "'We' will go down in history as one of Chris Brown's most timeless songs". On April 26, 2022, Brown announced his US summer tour "One of Them Ones" with rapper Lil Baby. The tour included 27 stops in North America and kicked off on July 15. Brown performed at Drai's After Hours Nightclub at The Cromwell Las Vegas Hotel and Casino on June 11, 2022, in Las Vegas to mark the launch of his new multi-year residency at the venue.
On June 17, 2022, one week ahead of the album release, Brown released the audio for an Afrobeats collaboration with Nigerian singer Wizkid titled "Call Me Every Day". Breezy was released on June 24, 2022, by RCA Records and CBE and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. On July 8, an expanded version of the album with nine new songs was released. At the 65th Grammy Awards, the deluxe edition of Breezy was nominated for Best R&B Album, but lost to Robert Glasper's Black Radio III. Following Glasper's winning, Brown publicly attacked him and The Recording Academy on his social media accounts, later apologizing to the American musician, congratulating him for the accolade, stating he was not the intended target.
On September 4, 2022, Brown won international artiste of the year at the 15th annual Headies awards. The category is designed for non-African artists or groups with outstanding achievements and impact on Afrobeats. In the summer of 2022, his song "Under the Influence", contained in the extended edition of his 2019 album Indigo, went viral on the TikTok platform, giving the song great commercial success globally. With "Under the Influence", Brown became the first R&B singer in history to chart over fifty top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. On October 14, 2022, Brown appeared as a special guest at Usher's Las Vegas Residency to perform few songs. At the end of his performance Usher told Brown: "You're a legend. We love you and we gon' continue to keep lifting you up". On November 16, 2022, Brown released two Christmas themed songs, "No Time Like Christmas" and "It's Giving Christmas". On November 18, 2022, Brown took to his Instagram page to announce that the American Music Awards had canceled his scheduled tribute performance to Michael Jackson in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the 1982 album Thriller. Brown also shared rehearsal footage of the cancelled tribute and stated the performance was cancelled for unknown reasons. The cancelled tribute prompted backlash against the AMAs from fans and industry peers alike. Jermaine Dupri stated the decision to pull the tribute signals something grave for celebration of Black music stating that "If the American Music Awards canceled the Chris Brown performance, then that means they canceled the 40th anniversary of Thriller. Which means they canceled the Michael Jackson tribute. Black Music, we in trouble." Similarly John Branca, the co-executor of the Michael Jackson Estate stated that the AMAs should be ashamed of themselves and that the cancellation is an attack on Black Music. Following the global success of "Under the Influence", the title of the song gave its name to the European tour that Brown subsequently embarked in 2023, the "Under the Influence Tour", which registered sold out during all the 24 arena dates scheduled, with 7 additional dates being later added, also registering sold out. The tour included six nights at London's O2 Arena, three nights at Accor Arena in Paris, three nights at Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam and more. Prior to the start of the "Under The Influence Tour", the original opening act Skillibeng withdrew from the tour and was replaced by South African singer Tyla. The tour marked Brown's first tour in Europe since the 2016 European leg of his One Hell of a Nite Tour. The tour also marked Brown's first concerts in the United Kingdom following the revoking of his ban from entering the country implemented in 2010.
In January 2023, Brown surpassed Elvis Presley for the most RIAA gold-certified singles among all male vocalists in history, after previously passing Presley for the most Billboard Hot 100 entries among all male vocalists. In March 2023, Brown became the fifth artist in Billboard's history to reach 10 No. 1s on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart with his hit record Under the Influence. Additionally, Brown earned his 18th No. 1 on the Billboard's Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart with Under the Influence. Making him the artist with the third most No. 1s on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart behind Drake and Lil Wayne in first and second, respectively. In April 2023, Brown co-headlined Rolling Loud Thailand in its inaugural year, alongside Travis Scott and Cardi B. On August 4, 2023, the single "How We Roll" in collaboration with Ciara was released. On August 27, 2023, Brown headlined a one off concert from Jamaica National Stadium, titled Chris Brown and Friends Live In Jamaica, as apart his 'Under the Influence Tour'.
2023–present: 11:11
In June 2023, Brown released "Summer Too Hot", the lead single of his eleventh album. The song was nominated at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards for Best R&B Performance. Brown announced that his next album would be titled 11:11, revealing the album's concept being connected to the homonym numerological belief. Moreover, he shared that the album will contain 11 songs, a much shorter tracklist than his previous albums Heartbreak on a Full Moon, Indigo, and Breezy. On October 20, 2023, Brown released the Afrobeats song "Sensational" featuring Nigerian artists Lojay and Davido, as 11:11's second single. Sensational eventually peaked at #1 on both Urban and Rhythmic radio, as well as on Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay Chart. The single also helped Lojay and Davido earn their first Billboard Hot 100 entry. On September 8, 2023, Brown alongside Mariah the Scientist appeared as featured artists on Tee Grizzley single IDGAF. IDGAF eventually peaked at #1 on Urban radio and helped Mariah the Scientist earn her first Billboard Hot 100 entry. On October 21, 2023, Brown clarified that the album would actually contain 22 songs as opposed to the 11 he had stated previously. On November 6, 2023, Brown confirmed that there would be 7 featured artists on the album, including Lojay, Davido, Future, Fridayy, Byron Messia and 2 other artists who were listed as hidden features prior to its release. On November 7, 2023, Brown released the single "Nightmares" featuring Byron Messia. On November 9, he announced that 11:11 would be released on November 10, a day earlier than what previously announced. A few hours before the release of 11:11, its last track was changed from the previously announced "Double Negative", which features Justin Bieber, to a track called "Views". Brown explained the last minute change on his Instagram account on the album's release day with the following statement: "Double negative unfortunately did not make the deadline in time with the lawyers, so we couldn't put it on the album. Justin my little brother for life, so we will make that moment happen soon. Sorry to the fans that really wanted it to be on the album".
11:11 was released on November 10, 2023. The album marks Brown's third double album, with its two sides containing 11 tracks each. The album's musical style mixes R&B, pop music, Afrobeats and dancehall. Reviewing 11:11, Kayla Sandiford of Renowned for Sound stated that on the record "Brown does well to demonstrate his dynamic vocal quality". In the US, 11:11 debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200, making it his 12th consecutive top-ten album in the country. 11:11 marks the lowest debut for a Chris Brown's solo studio album on the US Billboard 200, surpassing Graffiti (2009) which debuted at number seven on the chart.
Towards the end of 2023, Brown headlined different concerts in the Middle East. The singer addressed the ongoing war in Gaza at the end of a Dubai, UAE concert, saying there's 'a lot of evil and a lot of genocide going on in the world right now', urging his audience, particularly the younger generation, to embrace love and positivity and expressed his appreciation for the support of his fans using words in Arabic. 'InshaAllah, mashaAllah, I love you,' he said. In December 2023, Vevo reported that Brown was the 6th most watched artist in the US and 10th most watched artist globally for the 2023 calendar year, amassing 413.7 million views in the US and 1.4 billion views globally. In January 2024, with Tee Grizzley's single "IDGAF" featuring Chris Brown and Mariah the Scientist, he became the first artist in the 21st century to have charted on the Billboard Hot 100 for twenty consecutive years . On March 5, 2024, Brown announced "The 11:11 Tour", a North American arena tour featuring singers Ayra Starr, Muni Long and Maeta as supporting acts.
On April 11, 2024, the singer released 11:11 (Deluxe), the expanded edition of his eleventh album, containing 13 additional tracks and features from Lil Wayne, Bryson Tiller, Davido, Joyner Lucas, Tee Grizzley and Mario. Among the tracks contained, the song "Freak" features a verse where the singer directly disses American rapper Quavo. The rapper responded the following day with "Tender", a diss track aimed at Brown, leading the latter to release "Weakest Link" the following week. From May 17 to June 5, Brown released four consecutive music videos in the span of four weeks for the following songs off the 11:11 (Deluxe): "Go Girlfriend", "Press Me", "Feel Something" and "Hmmm" featuring Davido. On December 14 and 15, Brown sold out two consecutive stadium shows at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. He recorded over 90K attendees each night and sold out the first of the two shows in less than two hours. Subsequently on December 21 and 22, Brown sold out two consecutive stadium shows at Allianz Parque Stadium in São Paulo, Brazil, with 100K tickets sold across both nights. On January 23, 2025, Brown released a music video for his Grammy-nominated song "Residuals" from the 11:11 (Deluxe). On February 2, 2025, Brown's 11:11 (Deluxe) won the Grammy for "Best R&B Album" at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
On March 27, 2025, Brown announced a stadium world tour titled the "Breezy Bowl XX" with special guests Summer Walker and Bryson Tiller, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his self-titled album.
Artistry
Influences
Brown has cited a number of artists as his inspiration, predominantly Michael Jackson. Brown emphasizes "Michael Jackson is the reason why I do music and why I am an entertainer." In "She Ain't You", "Fine China" and "Back to Love", he exemplifies Jackson's influence both musically and visually. Ebony magazine's Britini Danielle asserted that "Fine China" was "reminiscent of Michael Jackson's Off the Wall". Choreographically, MTV noticed that it "takes distinct visual cues from classic clips like 'Smooth Criminal' and 'Beat It'", while Billboard complimented his appearance by calling it "a modern way to channel the King of Pop". Usher is also another influence who comes across as a more contemporary figure for Brown. He tells Vibe magazine "He was the one who the youngsters looked up to. I know that we, in the dancing and singing world, looked up to him", and maintains "If it wasn't for Usher, then Chris Brown couldn't exist". Other influences include Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Ginuwine, Phil Collins, Bobby Brown and R. Kelly. He has cited Naughty by Nature, Tupac, Lil' Wayne and Rakim as his hip-hop influences.
Musical style
Brown's musical style typically blends R&B with pop and hip-hop, along with other genres. His pure side of R&B is densely shown throughout his discography, being exemplified by songs like "No BS", "Don't Judge Me", "Back to Sleep" and "WE (Warm Embrace)". Music critics have commended Brown's musical contribution, recognizing his versatility, and considering him an evolver of R&B music. Iyana Robertson of Vibe, talking about his introduction to the genre, said: "As traditional R&B flourished around him, the young singer began an evolution of the genre". She saw his debut single "Run It!" as a "prelude to what Brown would continue to do for the next decade: relentlessly disrupt the constructs of rhythm and blues." By his second album Exclusive, she says he was "tapping more electric up-tempos, swimming deep in hip-hop waters and annihilating the pop arena". Describing the Grammy Award winning F.A.M.E. as "his most diverse offering to date", containing songs that mixed many genres including R&B, pop, hip-hop, dancehall, rock and Europop, she remarked, "There was no level of musical flexibility comparable. There still isn't." F.A.M.E. is considered to be the album that defined Brown's musical style and persona. Fortune was noted for featuring a more electronic musical direction, containing genres such as house music and EDM. According to AllMusic, different tracks of the X album are "soul-driven", while on others "Brown combines memorable hooks with some stellar production work on rubbery disco-funk". Disco and funk are also showcased on singles like "Zero" and "Fine China". Royalty and Heartbreak on a Full Moon further explored alternative R&B and trap, with the latter also containing dancehall records. His dance-pop side in the single Forever" off his second album Exclusive opened the door for other Europop songs like "Yeah 3x", "Beautiful People", "Turn Up the Music" and "Don't Wake Me Up", but started to be less present in his music from his album X. On the albums Indigo and 11:11 Brown incorporated Afrobeats in his music.
Themes
Brown's lyrical production is typically considered to be "emotional" or "hedonistic". His songs mainly cover themes of sexuality, desire, regret, romantic love, heartbreak, recklessness and internal conflict, also having some introspections over the dark side of celebrity. Along with his vocal and dancing abilities, his songwriting is considered to be one of the things that distincts him for the better compared to other R&B singers of his time. American media executive and radio personality Ebro Darden stated that Brown is the "most all-around talented person in R&B. Trey Songz is talented, but he can't dance like Chris Brown. Usher is probably the only one that could come close to him, but he doesn't have the songwriting abilities that Chris Brown has."
Brown said in 2013, during an interview for Rolling Stone, that his songs are always "derived from personal experiences. Then again, I always like mixing reality with art." Billboard reviewing Royalty found its content to be "an art imitating life thing". Vulture's writer Craig Jenkins, while reviewing Heartbreak on a Full Moon, noted in its "breakup tracks" a usage of "shattered, jilted reflection", while the sexual records' lyrics were described for being explicit.
Voice
Brown possesses a light lyric tenor voice, which spans three and a half octaves, rising from the bass F♯ (F2) to its peak at the soprano C♯.(C♯6) His vocal ability was first recognized by his mother at a young age, as Brown tells People magazine, "I was 11 and watching Usher perform 'My Way', and I started trying to mimic it. My mom was like, 'You can sing?' And I was like, 'Well, yeah, Mama.'" subsequently leading to the start of his career. "Take You Down" most notably earned him a Grammy award nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 2009.
Often described as a dynamic vocalist, Brown's vocal performances are characterized by harmonization, vocal runs and melisma. Stereogum stated that "Brown's voice is an undeniably powerful instrument, one of those endlessly elastic soulful tenors, and he knows exactly how to flex it without flaunting it". While his voice on his first two albums, Chris Brown and Exclusive, was considered to be "youthful", due to his age, with subsequent projects like Graffiti and F.A.M.E. it was noted for maturing to a more distinctive voice, with Brown "coming into his own as a singer". On F.A.M.E. critics noted huge flexibility in his voice, with Steve Jones of USA Today praising the singer's ability to "give top notch vocal performances in R&B, Europop, rap, rock and acoustic records". X and Indigo were noted for displaying his timbre, exemplifying his singing performances.
According to Billboard, his singles "Liquor" and "Go Crazy" are representative of Brown's harmonizing. "Lost & Found", "Time for Love", "No Guidance" and "Red", feature "energic" vocal performances, being noted for displaying a "wide emotional range" in his singing. On "Another Round", "Don't Judge Me" and "It Won't Stop", he showcases "soft vocals" through a "soothing tone". According to Slant Magazine, different tracks from his Heartbreak on a Full Moon album showcase the singer's falsetto, being "a reminder that Brown's voice is capable of sublime beauty". Jake Indiana of Highsnobiety said that his feature on Kanye West's song "Waves" is one of his best vocal performances, and that it "sounds like ascending to heaven with a choir of angels at your back". On "Look at Me Now", "No Romeo No Juliet" and "Stranger Things" he displayed his ability of fast-rapping.
Dancing
Brown's dancing abilities and stage presence are widely praised, receiving broad comparisons to those of Michael Jackson. According to Brown, he taught himself how to dance by imitating Jackson's moves since childhood, then developing his own distinct style throughout his career. Brown also mentioned MC Hammer as an inspiration to his dancing style. Most of his music videos feature complex choreographies, including the "futuristic" "Turn Up the Music", the Jackson-inspired choreography of "Fine China", "Zero", where he displayed different dancing styles, including popping and his "signature spin move", "Party", where he showcased his remarked footwork, and "Heat", described by The Source as a "silky smooth choreography that shows Brown's unmatchable dancing talent". Some of his most notable dancing live performances include his "Thriller" recreation at the 2006 World Music Awards, his medley at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, where he performed a choreography that included flying parts, and his 2015 freestyled dancing over Future's "March Madness" at the Vestival The Hague Malieveld, that included an acclaimed front-flip.
In films such as Stomp the Yard and Battle of the Year, Brown displayed his ability to breakdance while in-character.
Street art
Aside from his musical career, Brown was noted for markedly producing graffiti art. His visual works have been described as "manga-inspired" and "abstract". Brown said that he painted since his childhood, saying "my first approach with it was painting school walls" saying that he has always been captivated by the fact that drawing and painting "gives you the chance to express yourself in whatever way, showing to the world your own dimension".
Brown has produced street art under the pseudonym Konfused, partnering with street artist Kai to produce works for the Miami Basel. The singer painted the buildings of different radio stations such as Hot 97 (WQHT). In 2015 he worked on some of the walls of The Grammy Museum, mixing his spray paint drawings with images of James Brown, Prince, Michael Jackson and himself. Brown has made graffiti works for different cities worldwide, including Los Angeles, London and Amsterdam.
His painting and dancing abilities were shown at the same time when Brown, partnering with Spotify's Rap Caviar, painted Heartbreak on a Full Moon's album cover, mostly from dancing around the canvas. In 2020 he painted a mural in memory of Kobe Bryant, doing a portray that includes Kobe's face, a mamba, and a few pictures of Kobe dribbling and dunking a basketball.
Acting
Brown has also pursued an acting career. In 2007, he made his on-screen feature film debut as a supporting role in the dance drama Stomp the Yard and took a leading role in the Christmas comedy film This Christmas (2007). He portrayed Will Tutt in three episodes on the Fox television series The O.C. in 2007. He also guest starred as himself on the children's programs Sesame Street in 2007, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody in 2008, and in the Comedy Central series Tosh.O in 2011. He has continued to act inconsistently in films such as the heist thriller, Takers (2010), which he also executive produced, the romantic comedy Think Like a Man (2012), and the dance film Battle of the Year (2013). He produced and starred in a documentary on himself entitled Welcome to My Life (2017). Reviewing the documentary, Rachel Leah of Salon talked about what the singer said on domestic violence, stating: "Chris Brown's actions are inexcusable, but what he says about male violence is vital". Brown returned to film playing a supporting role in the sports comedy film She Ball (2021).
He also made a guest starring appearance as a rapper in the ABC sitcom Black-ish in the Season 3 episode, "Richard Youngster". The episode received controversy and criticism for its casting of Brown with Caroline Framke of Vox writing, "Casting Brown as the linchpin of an episode all about double standards and oblivious men doing wrong by black women is astonishingly tone-deaf — and a major misstep from a show that usually makes a point of knowing better." The show's creator Kenya Barris defended Brown's casting saying, "We wanted someone to play a troubled music star, which he was... It had been 10 years since the Rihanna incident, which happened when he was a kid, basically, 19 years old, I saw him out, and he was very contrite and wanted to do something. I felt like, let's do that."
Achievements and awards
In terms of music sales and accolades, Brown is one of the most commercially successful and award-winning artists in R&B music, often being referred to by contemporaries as the "King of R&B". Brown has sold over 140 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He is also one of the highest-grossing African American touring artists of all time. Brown is also one of the best selling digital artists of all time. As of 2024, Brown has certified 114.5 million digital singles in the US, which is the most of any male R&B singer in history and tied for 11th overall among all artists across genres. Brown has sold over 40 million albums worldwide since his debut, including 18 million in the US.
In May 2019, Brown surpassed James Brown, for the most Billboard Hot 100 entries among R&B singers. In May 2020, Brown became the first R&B artist in history to achieve 100 entries on the Billboard Hot 100. Subsequently in July 2022, Brown surpassed Elvis Presley, for the most Billboard Hot 100 entries among male singers. Also in July 2022, Brown overtook singer The Weeknd for the most charted songs on Billboard's nearly 10-year-old Hot R&B Songs chart. Brown also has the third most top 10 entries on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs among all artists. In September 2022, Brown became the first R&B singer in history to chart over 50 top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. He achieved the record by earning his 51st top 40 hit with his single "Under the Influence". As of 2023, Brown is in a 3-way tie with Rihanna, Eminem and Future for 9th most top 40 hits on the Hot 100 with 52. Moreover, Brown holds the record for the most consecutive charting weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 among all male R&B artists with a streak of 161 weeks. This streak ranks ninth overall among artists across all genres. In January 2023, Brown broke Elvis Presley's record for the most gold certified singles by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) among all male vocalists. He did so after scoring his 56th gold-certified single with "Call Me Everyday". In February 2023, Brown became the first male vocalist in RIAA history to score 20 multi-platinum singles in the US. At the time of the record, only 8 acts in history had scored 20 or more multi-platinum singles in the US throughout their careers, with Brown being the only male vocalist and male R&B artist in the group. In November 2024, Brown became the first male vocalist in RIAA history to score over 40 platinum singles in the US. To provide an overall picture of Brown's chart success, Billboard ranked him third overall in the top R&B/Hip-Hop artists of the 2010s decade. He was only surpassed on the list by Drake and Rihanna in first and second, respectively, and held the highest rank among male R&B artists. In January 2024, Brown became the first artist in the 21st century to have charted on the Billboard Hot 100 for at least 20 distinct and consecutive calendar years.
In terms of radio success and achievements, Brown is tied with Beyoncé for the 4th most #1's on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Moreover, Brown has 53 top 10 entries on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, which is the most among all R&B artists and the 2nd most among all artists, behind Drake Brown also holds the record for the two longest running #1 hits on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay since the chart was first established in 1992. In January 2020, Brown initially set the record for longest running #1 on this chart with his 2019 single "No Guidance", which remained #1 for 27 weeks. The following year, Brown broke his own record for the longest running #1, with his 2020 single "Go Crazy", which remained #1 for 28 weeks. Moreover, Brown has the 3rd most #1's on the Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart with 18, which is the most among all R&B artists and 3rd most among all artists behind Drake and Lil Wayne in 1st and 2nd, respectively. On the Billboard Rhythmic Airplay chart, Brown is in a 4-way tie with Usher, The Weeknd and Bruno Mars for 3rd most #1 singles on the chart with 13. Brown has a total of 117 entries on the Rhythmic Airplay chart, which is the most among all R&B artists and the 2nd most among all artists, behind Drake.
In terms of awards and accolades, Brown has won a total of 215 awards from 544 nominations over the course of his career. Among which include two Grammy Awards, 19 BET Awards, 4 BET Hip Hop Awards, 5 Billboard Music Awards, 5 American Music Awards, 60 ASCAP Awards, 49 BMI Awards, 14 Soul Train Music Awards, 3 MTV Video Music Awards, 1 MTV Australian Award, 3 iHeartRadio Music Awards, 1 iHeartRadio Titanium Award, 1 International Dance Music Award, 1 Kora Award, 2 MOBO Awards, 1 TRL Award, 4 NAACP Image Awards, 2 Nickelodeon Awards, 2 People's Choice Awards, 1 Ozone Award, 7 Teen Choice Awards, 8 Urban Music Awards, 38 Vevo Certified Awards, 1 World Music Award, 1 Headies. Brown is the second most decorated artist in the history of the BET Awards, behind Beyonce. Brown is also tied with Bruno Mars as the second most decorated artist in the history of the Soul Train Awards, behind Beyonce. Brown is tied with Rihanna for the seventh most Vevo Certified Awards with 38 and holds the record for the most Vevo certifications among male R&B artists. Moreover, Brown was ranked fourth among the top 10 highest performing US artists on Vevo of the 2010s decade, behind Taylor Swift, Eminem, and Justin Bieber in first, second and third, respectively. Lastly, Brown is the first American artist and the only R&B artist to ever win a Headies award for outstanding achievements in the Nigerian music industry. Brown won his Headies in the category of international artist of the year, which was designed to recognize non-African artists or groups with outstanding achievements and impact on Afrobeats.
Personal life
Relationships
From 2007 to 2009, Brown dated singer Rihanna until their highly publicized domestic violence case. In 2010, Brown briefly dated professional model Jasmine Sanders. In 2011, Brown briefly dated media personality Draya Michele. Later during the same year, Brown began dating Karrueche Tran. In February 2012, Rihanna and Brown released remixes to their singles "Turn Up the Music" and "Birthday Cake", leading observers to speculate about their relationship. In January 2013, Rihanna confirmed that she and Brown had resumed their romantic relationship, stating, "It's different now. We don't have those types of arguments anymore. We talk about shit. We value each other. We know exactly what we have now, and we don't want to lose that." Speaking of Brown, Rihanna also said, "He's not the monster everybody thinks. He's a good person. He has a fantastic heart. He's giving and loving. And he's fun to be around. That's what I love about him – he always makes me laugh. All I want to do is laugh, really – and I do that with him". Rihanna and Brown collaborated again on "Nobody's Business", a duet song off Rihanna's Unapologetic album. The song was noted by critics as a public response by the couple towards the public perception of their intimacy. In a May 2013 interview, Brown stated that he and Rihanna had broken up again. He subsequently reunited with Tran but they split up shortly aftwards. Brown is the father of one son and two daughters.
Religion
When discussing his upbringing, Brown stated, "We were used to two pairs of shoes for a school year. We used to go to church every day. I was one of those kids that had more church clothes than school clothes." He has also discussed his second work of grace, saying that "he experienced the Holy Ghost while performing 'His Eye Is on the Sparrow' in church". After being released from jail on June 2, 2014, Brown wrote that he was "Humbled and Blessed" and tweeted the words "Thank you GOD."
In 2015, he said during an interview for Vibe, that God is the only thing that he is afraid of. Speaking about prayers he said "I pray everyday, I think we pray unconsciously too. Personally I don't pray for success. I pray for knowledge for understanding and peace of mind. I really try to pray for that because it's a big world, and you can get wrapped up in it trying to please every city. So I just try to get a peace of mind and me understanding that being at peace with my flaws and my talents. I'm cool with that. That's why I think once He shows me certain things, or even the choices that I make, and decisions that I make that are healthy for me. He shows me the right path. When I bless other people, He always blesses me. It's not even about a self-serving journey; it's about just learning. I want to learn people's experiences. I want to give them experiences too."
Mental health
Brown has long struggled with mental health issues and addiction. In his Welcome to My Life documentary, Brown revealed that he had contemplated suicide following the Rihanna incident. In 2013, Brown was sentenced to 90 days in rehab by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to fulfill the terms of his probation for the Rihanna incident. While at the rehab facility, Brown was formally diagnosed with bipolar II disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. The rehab facility stated that Brown will require close supervision by a physician "to ensure his bipolar mental health condition remains stable. It is not uncommon for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II to use substances to self-medicate their biochemical mood swings and trauma triggers". The clinical team at the rehab facility attributed Brown's aggression to his untreated mental health disorder, severe sleep deprivation, inappropriate self-medicating and untreated PTSD.
In a 2014 interview with radio personality Ebro Darden, Brown revealed that prior to his 2013 incarceration, he used "the syrup, the Xanax," and added that marijuana offset his hyperactive tendencies, "once I started doing the lean, the other stuff ... I'd be sitting in the [recording] booth sleeping." In 2017, Billboard wrote an investigative article about Brown's mental health issues and addiction. Former members of Brown's team told Billboard that around April 2015 he had broken a 15-month stretch of sobriety and spiraling into a more frequent drug use in the first months of 2016, including the use of cocaine, xanax, marijuana, molly and lean. Additionally, his former security guards revealed they would often check Brown's pulse while he slept to ensure he had not overdosed.
Legal issues
Domestic violence case with Rihanna
At around 12:30 a.m. (PST) on February 8, 2009, Brown and his then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna, had an argument that escalated into physical violence, with Brown causing Rihanna visible severe facial injuries which required hospitalization. Brown turned himself in to the Los Angeles Police Department's Wilshire station at 6:30 p.m. (PST) and was booked under suspicion of making criminal threats. On June 22, 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault and accepted a plea deal of community labor, five years of probation, and domestic violence counseling. On August 25, Brown received five years of probation. He was ordered to attend one year of domestic violence counseling and undergo six months of community service; the judge retained a five-year restraining order on Brown, which required him to remain 50 yards (45.72 meters) away from Rihanna, reduced to 10 yards at public events.
In February 2011, at request of Brown's and Rihanna's lawyers, Mark Geragos and Donald Eltra, Judge Patricia Schnegg modified the restraining order to a "level one order", allowing both singers to appear at awards shows together in the future. On March 20, 2015, Brown's probation ended, formally closing the felony case emanating from the Rihanna assault that happened over six years prior.
Assault case with Abraham Diaw
On May 15, 2025, Brown was arrested in Manchester, England, on a 2023 warrant issued against him for a grievous bodily harm with intent charge. The charge resulted from an alleged incident which involved Brown smashing a tequila bottle over music producer Abraham Diaw's head while at a London nightclub.
On May 16, the Manchester Magistrates' Court denied bail and remanded Brown in custody pending trial at Southwark Crown Court in London. On May 21, at a renewed bail application hearing at Southwark Crown Court, Brown was granted bail on the condition that he lodges a £5 million security fee with the court (£4 million immediately, with £1 million due within a week). The bail conditions enables Brown to continue his scheduled tour. He appeared at Southwark Crown Court on June 20, 2025, where he pleaded not guilty to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent. On July 11, he entered not guilty pleas to two further charges: assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon, relating to the same incident. His trial is scheduled to begin on October 26, 2026.
Diaw has also filed a civil claim against Brown for £12m ($16m) in damages which are related to the injuries and losses he claims are a result of the nightclub incident.
Other legal issues
On June 14, 2012, Drake and his entourage were involved in a scuffle with Brown at a nightclub called WIP in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. About eight people were injured during the brawl, including San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker, who had surgery to remove a piece of glass from his eye. Drake was not arrested. Brown's attorney alleged Drake was the instigator. Brown himself tweeted about the incident and publicly criticized Drake weeks later.
In January 2013, Brown was in an altercation with Frank Ocean over a parking space outside a recording studio in West Hollywood. Police officers in Los Angeles said Brown was under investigation, describing the incident as "battery" due to Brown allegedly punching Ocean. Ocean said he would not press charges. According to Jamaican singer Sean Kingston, who was present during the altercation, Ocean and his cousin instigated the fight and were at fault.
In July 2013, Brown's probation was revoked after he was involved in an alleged hit and run in Los Angeles. He was released from court and scheduled to reappear in August 2013 to learn whether he would serve time in prison. The charges would later be dropped, but Brown would have 1,000 additional hours of community service added to his probation terms. In October 2013, Brown was arrested for felony assault in Washington, D.C., after refusing to take a picture with a man, and throwing a punch that broke the man's nose. The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. Brown spent 36 hours in a Washington jail and was taken to court in shackles. He was released and ordered to report to his California probation officer within 48 hours.
On October 30, 2013, Brown voluntarily entered rehab. After Brown completed his 90 days, the judge ordered him to remain a resident at the Malibu treatment facility until a hearing on April 23, 2014. The deal was if Brown left rehab, he would go to jail. On March 14, 2014, Brown was kicked out of the rehab facility and sent to Northern Neck Regional Jail for violating internal rules. He was expected to be released on April 23, 2014, but a judge denied his release request from custody either on bail or his own recognizance. At his May 9, 2014, court date, Brown was ordered to serve 131 days in jail for his probation violation. He was sentenced to serve 365 days in custody; however, the judge gave him credit for 234 days he had already spent in rehab and jail, as well as credits for good behavior while behind bars. Brown was released from jail on June 2, 2014.
In June 2016, Chris Brown was sued for assault, false imprisonment and battery by Mike G, the singer's former manager, hired in 2012 to help him repair his public image. Mike G claimed that on May 10 of that year, Brown assaulted him, locked him in a room and punched him four times in the face and neck. Subsequently, Brown accused Mike G on his social media accounts of stealing money while working for him, being fired for it, an accusation that the manager later denied. In 2019, the lawsuit was settled out of court, with Brown and the manager informing courts that both parties have reconciled their differences and reached a confidential deal.
In 2017, Brown's ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran was granted a 5-year restraining order against him by a judge in Santa Monica, California, after she shared text messages and voicemails in court where Brown threatened her and demanded she return diamond rings and other gifts given during their relationship.
In 2022, Brown was served copyright infringement lawsuits on three of his singles: "Privacy"; "No Guidance"; and "Pills and Automobiles". The lawsuit on the single "Privacy" was filed by UK-based music firm Greensleeves, who alleged that "Privacy" lifted a line from 1997 dancehall track "Tight Up Skirt", recorded by Red Rat. Red Rat himself wasn't involved in the lawsuit, and publicly expressed that he was agreeable of Brown's usage of his lyric. Brown eventually reached a settlement with Greensleeves for copyright infringement. The pair of songwriters who sued Brown and Drake for copyright infringement on "No Guidance" dropped the lawsuit in its entirety in September 2022. Lastly, the musician who filed the copyright infringement on "Pills and Automobiles" dropped the lawsuit in June 2023.
Allegations
In the early hours of August 30, 2016, a woman called the police and accused Brown of threatening her with a gun inside his house. Police were called, but Brown denied them entry without a warrant. When they returned with one, Brown refused them entry and began what news sources referred to as a "standoff" with the LAPD, including the robbery-homicide division and SWAT team. During this time, Brown was seen posting videos on Instagram, in which he rails against the police and the media coverage of the activity at his house. He denounced media reports that he was "barricaded" inside his house, complained about the helicopters flying overhead, and called the police "idiots" and "the worst gang in the world." He said that he was innocent and "What I do care about is you are defacing [sic] my name and my character and integrity". Brown was arrested and later released from jail on $250,000 bail. On September 1, 2016, Brown's lawyer, Mark Geragos, stated that there was no standoff and that, with regard to the LAPD search, "nothing was found to corroborate her statement." Charges were later dropped after prosecutors declined to arraign Brown on the felony charges. Brown later sued the accuser for defamation, prevailing in the lawsuit, after it was ruled that the defendant brought to court false and defamatory statements about Brown, through her incriminating text messages where she said that "Brown kicked [her] out of his house because [she] called his friend jewelry fake" and she was "going to set him up and call the cops and say that he tried to shoot [her]". Brown later told Good Morning America: "My character's been defaced. I'm glad that all my real supporters know me and know the truth and they'll see the truth."
In January 2022, a woman filed a $20 million civil lawsuit against Brown for allegedly raping her on a yacht in Miami in December 2020. Brown denied the allegations and later submitted text messages and voicemails to the Miami police department which implied a consensual relationship with the accuser. In the text messages the woman addressed Brown using lewd language and sent nude "selfie" pictures almost immediately after the alleged rape took place. According to TMZ, Brown intended to counter-sue the plaintiff for defamation and the plaintiff's lawyer withdrew from the case after she was made aware of the messages and voicemails. The presiding judge dismissed the lawsuit due to lack of prosecution by the plaintiff in August 2022. The lawsuit was dismissed on procedural grounds without prejudice, meaning the case can be reinstated under proper legal grounds if the plaintiff intends to pursue it again.
On October 27, 2024, an episode of the docuseries Chris Brown: A History of Violence aired which revealed more details about the alleged 2020 yacht incident, including the fact that the yacht was owned by controversial music producer Sean "Diddy" Combs. In January 2025, Brown filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. for $500 million over the multiple abuse allegations which numerous women made against him in Chris Brown: A History of Violence, which aired in October 2024 on Investigation Discovery. As of May 2025, the lawsuit remains ongoing.
Business ventures
In 2007, Brown founded the record label CBE ("Chris Brown Entertainment" or "Culture Beyond Evolution"), under Interscope Records. Brown has since signed frequent collaborator Kevin McCall, singer Sabrina Antoinette, former RichGirl member Sevyn Streeter, singer-songwriter Joelle James, and rock group U.G.L.Y. However, from 2014 the label started to sign exclusively Brown's works.
In October 2009, Brown founded a lifestyle website, Mechanical Dummy, with the purpose of curating and promoting current trends in the world of technology, music, culture, fashion, style and emerging brands. Brown served as the creative director of the site.
Brown has stated in 2015 he owned fourteen Burger King restaurants, later revealing in 2022 that he sold the portfolio. In November 2012, Brown launched a nonprofit charity organization called the "Symphonic Love Foundation" to financially support arts programs for kids and to support a number of health and education programs and nonprofits, which provide education on domestic abuse, dating violence and HIV/AIDS and leadership programs to children with developmental disabilities.
In May 2012, Brown partnered with famed artist Ron English to create a limited-edition toy and sculpture line, "Dum English", which they debuted at the Toy Art Gallery in Los Angeles.
In November 2013, Brown partnered with Sprayground, a New York backpack company, to launch a limited line of custom backpacks, the "Invasion Capsule Collection".
On November 11, 2021, the singer launched his own cereal, "Breezy's Cosmic Crunch", partnering with SoFlo Snacks for this limited edition of collectible breakfast cereal.
In May 2022, Brown partnered with Los Angeles based clothing brand Renowned and an online media company BlackNFTArt, to launch a NFT collection, "The Auracles", with accompanying physical streetwear pieces. In July 2022, Brown released a NFT collection, "The Breezyverse", consisting of 10,000 3D animated NFTs with sound and visual effects implemented on the Ehtereum blockchain. The Breezyverse NFT collection was released in conjunction with Brown's tenth studio album Breezy.
In September 2023, Brown partnered with California based cannabis brand and dispensary Originals, to launch Bussin, a recreational cannabis brand.
In October 2023, Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc, a California-based startup focused on the development of electric vehicles, announced a partnership with Brown where he would become an ambassador and Co-Creation Officer of the company.
In March 2024, Brown launched a line of disposable vapes, the CB 15K x Chris Brown Disposable Vape.
Fashion
In 2012, Brown launched a streetwear clothing line called Black Pyramid, in collaboration with the founders of the Pink + Dolphin clothing line. In 2016 the clothing label was set for larger release, partnering with streetwear clothing lines such as Snipes for a worldwide distribution, also being distributed through its own Black Pyramid boutiques.
On December 11, 2015, the Japanese fashion brand A Bathing Ape revealed that Brown would become the face of the brand's high end range, BAPE Black Label. Which was a follow-up to the brand's inaugural celebrity partnership fronted by fellow artist Travis Scott.
In 2016, Brown partnered with German streetwear company Snipes, for a summer capsule collection designed in collaboration with the singer. The same year Brown also served as a model for Philipp Plein's fall and winter campaign. In 2016, during an interview with Vanity Fair Italia, he talked about his own definition of style: «It's not the name of a designer, it's not parading as a model, it's not the money you can spend on a jacket. Style is self-awareness, self-confidence. It's feeling comfortable in what you have on and who you are. It's the ability to be an individual, to be yourself, to be free in a free world».
In May 2023, Brown partnered with German 3D printed footwear company Zellerfeld, designer Nos Ailes, and streetwear and culture company The Auracles to launch his own line of 3D printed slides, NAMI.
Discography
Studio albums
Chris Brown (2005)
Exclusive (2007)
Graffiti (2009)
F.A.M.E. (2011)
Fortune (2012)
X (2014)
Royalty (2015)
Heartbreak on a Full Moon (2017)
Indigo (2019)
Breezy (2022)
11:11 (2023)
Brown (TBA)
Collaborative albums
Fan of a Fan: The Album (with Tyga) (2015)
Tours
Brown has headlined multiple arena tours worldwide. Additionally, he has co-headlined two separate North American tours with singer Trey Songz and rapper Lil Baby. Brown is one of the highest grossing African American touring artists of all time. In February 2023, Pollstar reported that Brown had grossed $166 million from 284 shows between 2006 and 2022. He subsequently grossed $34 million from his Under The Influence tour in 2023 and $82 million from his 11:11 tour in 2024.
Headlining
Up Close and Personal Tour (2006)
The UCP Exclusive Tour (2007)
Fan Appreciation Tour (2009)
F.A.M.E. Tour (2011)
Carpe Diem Tour (2012)
One Hell of a Nite Tour (2015–2016)
The Party Tour (2017)
Heartbreak on a Full Moon Tour (2018)
Indigoat Tour (2019)
Under the Influence Tour (2023)
The 11:11 Tour (2024)
Breezy Bowl XX (2025)
Co-headlining
Between the Sheets Tour (with Trey Songz) (2015)
One of Them Ones Tour (with Lil Baby) (2022)
Supporting
Scream V Encore Tour (2005)
The Beyoncé Experience (Australia) (2007)
Good Girl Gone Bad Tour (the Philippines, Oceania) (2008)
Filmography
Film
Television
Documentary
See also
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of highest-certified music artists in the United States
List of best-selling music artists
List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
Notes
References
External links
Media related to Chris Brown (entertainer) at Wikimedia Commons
Official website
Chris Brown at IMDb
Chris Brown on YouTube
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Travis Kelce
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Travis Michael Kelce ( KEL-see; born October 5, 1989) is an American professional football player who is a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Chiefs in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft and later won Super Bowls LIV, LVII, and LVIII with the team. He played college football for the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Considered one of the greatest tight ends in history, Kelce is a ten-time Pro Bowler and a seven-time All-Pro, with four first-team and three second-team selections. He holds the NFL records for most consecutive and most overall seasons with 1,000 receiving yards by a tight end: seven. He holds the record for most receiving yards by a tight end in a single season with 1,416 in 2020, despite playing in only 15 games.
During the 2022 season, Kelce became the fifth NFL tight end to reach 10,000 career receiving yards and reached the milestone faster than any tight end in NFL history. Kelce was named to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team. During the 2023 season, he surpassed Jerry Rice in career playoff receptions en route to winning Super Bowl LVIII, his fourth Super Bowl appearance in five seasons.
Outside of football, Kelce has appeared on reality and scripted television, including being the namesake of the dating show Catching Kelce on E!, hosting a 2023 episode of Saturday Night Live, and in advertisements. He co-hosts the podcast New Heights with his brother Jason, covering topics from football to popular culture. The show was ranked as the 8th most popular podcast in the United States on Apple Podcasts in 2024. Kelce's relationship with and subsequent engagement to singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has drawn massive media coverage and stimulated viewership and revenue for his team and the NFL.
Early life
Kelce was born on October 5, 1989, in Westlake, Ohio. His father, Ed Kelce, is a former sales representative in the steel industry, and his mother, Donna, is a former bank executive. Travis's older brother is Jason Kelce, who played center for the Philadelphia Eagles for 13 seasons.
He is of Croatian descent through his mother, whose ancestors were from Brod Moravice and Velike Drage in the Gorski Kotar region, near the Slovenian border.
Kelce attended Cleveland Heights High School in his hometown of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where he played football, basketball, and baseball. He was a three-year letter winner as quarterback for the Tigers. As a senior in 2007, he ran for 1,016 yards and 10 touchdowns and threw for 1,523 yards, 21 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. His 2,539 yards of total offense garnered him All-Lake Erie League honors.
College career
Considered a two-star recruit by Rivals.com, Kelce accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Cincinnati over offers from Akron, Eastern Michigan, and Miami (OH). He joined his brother, Jason Kelce, who was the starting left guard for the Bearcats. After redshirting in 2008, he appeared in 11 games in 2009, playing at tight end and quarterback out of the Wildcat formation. He tallied eight rushes for 47 yards and two touchdowns and had one reception for three yards. He was suspended for the 2010 season after testing positive for marijuana, a violation of team rules. Returning for the 2011 season, he played tight end, recording 13 catches totaling 150 yards and two touchdowns. In 2012, his last collegiate season, he set personal season highs in receptions (45), receiving yards (722), yards per receptions (16.0), and receiving touchdowns (8). Kelce earned first-team all-conference honors and in March 2013, was named the College Football Performance Awards Tight End of the Year. Kelce graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies degree, he received his diploma during an April 2024 podcast event at the Fifth Third Arena with his brother Jason.
College statistics
Professional career
2013 season
Kelce was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the third round (63rd pick overall) of the 2013 NFL draft. The Chiefs had hired Andy Reid as their new head coach during the off-season. Reid was familiar with Kelce, having drafted and coached his brother, Jason Kelce, in 2011 during his time as the head coach of the Eagles. Reid believed Kelce to be a first round talent but had reservations due to his suspension in college; Jason spoke with Reid and vouched that Travis would stay out of trouble if drafted. On June 6, 2013, the Chiefs signed Kelce to a four-year, $3.12 million rookie contract that also included a signing bonus of $703,304.
Kelce injured his knee in the preseason. The injury was later diagnosed as a bone bruise. After being limited the first two weeks of the season due to the injury and being inactive the next three games, Kelce was placed on injured reserve on October 12, 2013, after having a microfracture surgery performed on his knee. He only played one snap, on special teams in the Chiefs' Week 2 game against the Dallas Cowboys.
2014 season
During Week 3 against the Miami Dolphins, Kelce recorded his first NFL touchdown on a 20-yard reception from quarterback Alex Smith. On November 30, he was fined $11,025 for "unsportsmanlike conduct" during a 29–16 loss to the Denver Broncos. Kelce made an inappropriate hand gesture and motion at Broncos linebacker Von Miller. Chiefs' head coach Andy Reid later called this "immature". In the next game against the Arizona Cardinals, Kelce had seven receptions for 110 yards for his first NFL game with over 100 receiving yards. In the regular-season finale against the San Diego Chargers, he had an offensive fumble recovery for a touchdown in the 19–7 victory. Kelce was the Chiefs' leading receiver during the 2014 season, totaling 862 yards off 67 receptions.
2015 season
Kelce began the 2015 season with his first NFL multiple touchdown game, with six receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns in the 27–20 victory over the Houston Texans. It was his only 100-plus-yard game, but he had at least one reception in all 16 games, and was ranked a top-five tight end by ESPN. He started all 16 regular season games and recorded 72 catches for 875 yards and five touchdowns, earning his way to his first Pro Bowl. The Chiefs finished the regular season with an 11–5 record and made the playoffs. In his first NFL playoff game, Kelce had eight receptions for 128 yards in a 30–0 Wild Card Round victory over the Texans. In the Divisional Round against the New England Patriots, Kelce had six receptions for 23 yards as the Chiefs lost 27–20. He was ranked 91st by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016.
2016 season
On January 29, 2016, Kelce signed a five-year, $46 million contract extension. He was ranked 91st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016.
During Week 8 against the Indianapolis Colts, Kelce had seven receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown. In the next game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he was ejected after receiving two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after arguing with two officials over not having a pass interference penalty called. The second resulted from him sarcastically throwing his towel at field judge Mike Weatherford in a flagging motion due to being upset about the first penalty. He was later fined $24,309 for his outburst. During Week 13 against the Atlanta Falcons, he had eight receptions for 140 yards. In the next game, Kelce recorded 101 receiving yards against the Oakland Raiders, his fourth consecutive game topping 100. He joined Jimmy Graham and former Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez as the only NFL tight ends ever to do so. In a Christmas Day win over the Broncos, Kelce had career bests of 11 receptions for 160 yards and a career-long 80-yard touchdown on a screen pass. He finished the season with career highs in yards (1,125) and receptions (85). His 1,125 receiving yards led the league among tight ends and his 85 receptions were second among tight ends behind Dennis Pitta of the Baltimore Ravens. Kelce's 634 yards after the catch also led all NFL tight ends. He was named as a starter in his second career Pro Bowl, held on December 20, 2016. He was also named First-team All-Pro. He was ranked 26th by his fellow players, and second among tight ends, on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2017.
The Chiefs finished atop the AFC West with a 12–4 record and earned a first-round bye in the playoffs. In the Divisional Round against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kelce had five receptions for 77 yards in the 18–16 loss.
2017 season
During Week 2 against the Eagles, Kelce had eight receptions for 103 yards and a touchdown in the 27–20 victory. After just one reception for one yard in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Kelce recorded seven receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown in Week 4 against the Washington Redskins followed by eight for 98 in Week 5 against the Texans. During Week 8, Kelce had seven receptions for 133 yards to pass Zach Ertz as the NFL's leading tight end in both categories, along with a touchdown. During Week 13 against the New York Jets, Kelce opened the game with spectacular fashion, scoring two receiving touchdowns on 90 receiving yards in the first 2 minutes and 46 seconds of regulation. He finished the game with 94 receiving yards on four receptions in the 38–31 loss. On December 19, 2017, Kelce was named to his third straight Pro Bowl. Kelce finished the season with a career-high eight receiving touchdowns. He finished second among tight ends with 1,038 receiving yards, only trailing Gronkowski's 1,084 receiving yards. He was ranked 24th by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018.
The 10–6 Chiefs entered the Wild Card Round of the playoffs against the Tennessee Titans, where Kelce finished with four receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown in the 21–22 defeat. He was not able to finish the game as he suffered a concussion in the first half on a hit to his helmet.
2018 season
In the 2018 season, Kelce benefited from the rise of new quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who was named NFL MVP at the end of the season. After being held to a lone reception for six yards in the season opener against the Chargers, he rebounded with seven receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns in a Week 2 road victory over the Steelers. In two of the next three games, he was able to reach 100 receiving yards against the San Francisco 49ers and the Jaguars. He added 99 yards and two touchdowns in a Week 9 win over the Cleveland Browns, and went into the Week 12 bye with 10 receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown in an offensively spectacular 54–51 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. In the Week 13 win over the Raiders, Kelce had career-bests of 12 receptions and 168 yards, including two short touchdowns in the first half. At this point, he was well on his way to an NFL record, but his production tapered off; over the final four weeks, Kelce averaged six receptions for 63.5 yards and had only one touchdown reception. In Week 17, Kelce indeed broke the NFL record for most receiving yards by a tight end in a single season, but 49ers tight end George Kittle passed him to claim the record less than an hour later. Kelce ended the regular season at 10th in the NFL in receptions with 103 and receiving yards with 1,336, and sixth in receiving touchdowns with 10. He was named to the 2018 Pro Bowl and was named first-team All-Pro.
The Chiefs finished atop the AFC West with a 12–4 record and earned a first-round bye. In the Divisional Round against the Colts, he had seven receptions for 108 yards in the 31–13 victory. In the AFC Championship against the Patriots, he had three receptions for 23 yards and a receiving touchdown in the 37–31 overtime loss. He was ranked 21st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018.
2019 season: First Super Bowl win
During Week 2 against the Raiders, Kelce caught seven passes for 107 yards and a touchdown of the season as the Chiefs won by a score of 28–10. Despite injuries to Patrick Mahomes and just two touchdowns, at the midpoint of the season Kelce led all tight ends and Chiefs players in receiving yards with 604. During Week 11 against the Chargers on Monday Night Football in Mexico, Kelce caught seven passes for 92 yards and a touchdown in the 24–17 win. During Week 14 against the Patriots, Kelce caught seven passes for 66 yards and rushed the ball once for a one-yard touchdown during the 23–16 road victory. In the next game against the Broncos, Kelce finished with 11 catches for 142 receiving yards as the Chiefs won 23–3. In the next game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football, he caught eight passes for 74 yards and a touchdown in the 26–3 win. During the game, he became the fastest tight end in NFL history to record 500 career receptions.
Kelce finished the 2019 season with 97 receptions for 1,229 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns to go along with his one rushing touchdown. Kelce became the first tight end in NFL history to record four consecutive seasons with at least 1,000 receiving yards. He was named to his fifth Pro Bowl for his 2019 season.
In the Divisional Round against the Texans, the Chiefs began the game with a 24–0 deficit. The Chiefs then went on a 51–7 run, including 41 unanswered points, to win 51–31. After a drop on third down on the Chiefs first drive that would have been a first down if it had been caught, Kelce caught 10 passes for 134 yards and three touchdowns (all in the second quarter) as he helped lead the Chiefs to their second consecutive conference championship game. In the AFC Championship Game against the Titans, Kelce caught three passes for 30 yards during the 35–24 win. In Super Bowl LIV against the San Francisco 49ers, Kelce caught six passes for 43 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown and had one carry for two rushing yards during the 31–20 win. He was ranked 18th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2020.
2020 season
Following the release of long-time Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt in the offseason, Kelce became tied with Anthony Sherman and fellow 2013 draftee Eric Fisher as the team's longest tenured members. On August 14, 2020, Kelce signed a four-year, $57 million contract extension with the Chiefs through the 2025 season. In Week 6, he caught two touchdowns in a 26–17 victory over the Buffalo Bills. In Week 8 against the Jets, Kelce dunked the ball through the goal posts after scoring a touchdown, paying homage to former Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez. He was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct and was fined $12,500. In Week 9, against the Carolina Panthers, he had ten receptions for 159 receiving yards in the 33–31 victory.
In Week 11 against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday Night Football, Kelce recorded eight catches for 127 yards and scored the game-winning touchdown in a 35–31 win.
In Week 13 against the Broncos on Sunday Night Football, he caught eight passes for 136 yards and a touchdown during the 22–16 win. In the following game against the Dolphins, he again posted eight catches for 136 yards and a touchdown in a 33–27 victory. In Week 16, Kelce became the first tight end with two 100-catch seasons. Kelce caught seven passes, giving him a career-high 105 for the season. Kelce set the single-season yardage record for a tight end with 1,416, topping George Kittle's 1,377 in 2018. His yardage ranked second overall in the 2020 NFL season (behind Stefon Diggs' 1,535), while his total receptions ranked fifth in the NFL and second among tight ends (behind Darren Waller's 107). He was named to his sixth Pro Bowl and earned First-team All-Pro honors.
In the Divisional Round of the playoffs against the Browns, Kelce caught eight passes for 109 yards and a touchdown during the 22–17 win. In the AFC Championship against the Bills, Kelce recorded 13 catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns in a 38–24 win to advance to Super Bowl LV. In the Super Bowl, he caught 10 passes for 133 yards—a record for receiving yards by a tight end in the championship game—but the Chiefs did not score a touchdown in the 31–9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was ranked fifth by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2021.
2021 season
After Fisher was released and Sherman retired in the offseason, Kelce became the longest-tenured member of the Chiefs. In the Chiefs' second game of the season, against the Ravens, he became the fastest tight end in NFL history to record 8,000 career yards, surpassing Rob Gronkowski's record in 113 games. In the Chiefs' week-15 game against the Chargers, Kelce set a career high for receiving yards in a game with 191 yards. He also caught two touchdowns, including the game-winning 34-yard touchdown in overtime. Kelce was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. The game also put him over 1,000 yards for the season, his NFL record (among tight ends) extending sixth consecutive 1,000-yard season. It also extended Kelce's record for most 1,000-yard seasons by a tight end with six. He was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on December 20, 2021. Kelce was activated on December 25, 2021. However, due to NFL protocols for COVID-19, since he tested positive for the virus and did not test negative before the day of the game, he was ruled out for the Chiefs' week 16 game against the Steelers. It was the first game Kelce had missed due to injury or illness since his rookie season. In the regular season-ending game against the Broncos, Kelce became the fastest tight end in NFL history to reach 9,000 career yards in just 127 games, a record also previously held by Gronkowski with 140 games. He finished the season with 92 receptions for 1,125 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. He was named Second-Team All-Pro by the AP, his sixth overall All-Pro selection. He was also named to his seventh consecutive Pro Bowl.
In the Wild Card Round against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kelce had five receptions for 108 yards and a receiving touchdown to go along with a two-yard touchdown pass to Byron Pringle in the 42–21 victory. In the Divisional Round against the Bills, he had eight receptions for 96 yards and the game-winning touchdown in the 42–36 overtime victory. Kelce was wearing an NFL Films microphone for the game, and audio footage from the two offensive plays of the 13-second drive revealed that Kelce instructed Tyreek Hill to run the route which led to the success of the first completion, and revealed him suggesting to Mahomes that he might improvise his own route on the second offensive play if the Bills' defensive scheme didn't change. Prior to the snap, Mahomes realized Kelce's suggested improvised route would work and shouted "Do it, Kelce!", before finding his tight-end for a completion of 25 yards.
In the AFC Championship against the Cincinnati Bengals, he had 10 receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown in the 27–24 overtime loss. He was ranked tenth by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2022.
2022 season: Second Super Bowl win
In Week 5, Kelce had four receiving touchdowns in the 30–29 victory over the Raiders. Kelce tied the franchise record for receiving touchdowns in a game. In the Chiefs' Week 11 game against the Chargers, he recorded his NFL record-breaking (among tight ends) 33rd 100-yard receiving game with 115 yards. He also scored three touchdowns, including the game-winning touchdown, his second straight season recording a game-winning touchdown against the Chargers. In Week 14 against the Broncos, he became the fifth tight end in NFL history to have 10,000 receiving yards. He also officially recorded his seventh consecutive 1,000-yard season, extending his records (among tight ends) of consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and most overall 1,000 seasons. He finished the 2022 season with 110 receptions for 1,338 receiving yards and 12 receiving touchdowns.
Kelce set a single-game NFL postseason record for a tight end with 14 receptions in a 27–20 victory over the Jaguars in the Divisional Round. He scored two receiving touchdowns in the game. Kelce and the Chiefs appeared in Super Bowl LVII against the Eagles. Kelce's brother Jason played for the Eagles, making it the first Super Bowl to feature two brothers as players on opposing teams. Kelce caught six passes for 81 yards and a touchdown as the Chiefs beat the Eagles 38–35 to win his second Super Bowl. He was ranked fifth by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2023.
2023 season: Third Super Bowl win
Kelce was inactive for the Chiefs' game against the Detroit Lions due to a knee injury he suffered earlier in the week. It was his first game missed due to an injury since his rookie season. Kelce made his season debut the following week against the Jaguars. In the Chiefs' week 7 game against the Chargers, Kelce tied a career high with 12 receptions. He also had 179 receiving yards, the second highest of his career. In the Chiefs' Week 9 game against the Dolphins, he broke the Chiefs franchise record for career receiving yards. Kelce finished the regular season with 984 receiving yards on 93 receptions and five touchdowns. He elected to not play in the Chiefs' Week 18 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers, ending his NFL-record streak of seven consecutive seasons to finish with 1,000 receiving yards.
In the Divisional Round victory over the Bills, Kelce had two receiving touchdowns. Kelce, along with Mahomes, broke the record for most career touchdowns in the playoffs for a quarterback/receiver duo. In the AFC Championship Game victory against the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens, Kelce caught 11 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown, surpassing Jerry Rice for most playoff receptions and tying Rice for first in 100+ receiving yard games. The victory marked Kelce's fourth Super Bowl appearance in five seasons.
During Super Bowl LVIII, Kelce had nine receptions for 93 yards and was the leading yards receiver for the game. The Chiefs would win 25–22 in just the second Super Bowl in history to go to overtime, earning Kelce his third Super Bowl win. The Chiefs became the first team to repeat as Super Bowl champions since the New England Patriots accomplished the feat in the 2003 and 2004 seasons. During the game, following a fumble by Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco when Kelce was not on the field, he was shown screaming at the Chiefs' head coach Andy Reid. The incident drew criticism, for which Kelce later apologized through his podcast. He was ranked ninth by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2024.
2024 season
On April 29, 2024, Kelce signed a two-year extension with the Chiefs for a reported $34.25 million, making him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL. Kelce started the season slow with just eight catches for 69 yards in the team's first three games. In Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Kelce recorded a season-high seven receptions for 89 yards. During the game, Kelce became the Chiefs' leader in career receptions, surpassing Tony Gonzalez's previous record of 916 catches. On December 8, Kelce reached 12,000 career receiving yards in a 19–17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. He became the fastest tight end in NFL history to achieve this, doing so in 172 games. On Christmas Day against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kelce achieved his 1,000th career reception and became the Chiefs' leader in receiving touchdowns, surpassing the previous record set by Tony Gonzalez of 77. In the 2024 season, Kelce finished with 97 receptions for 823 yards and three touchdowns.
In the Divisional Round against the Texans, he had seven receptions for 117 yards and a touchdown in the 23–14 win. In the AFC Championship, Kelce finished with two catches for 19 yards, but received a $11,255 fine for unsportsmanlike conduct. In Super Bowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles, Kelce had four catches for 39 yards; in doing so, Kelce set a new NFL record for most career Super Bowl receptions with 35, eclipsing the previous record of 33 held by Jerry Rice. However, the Chiefs lost to the Eagles by a score of 40–22, denying Kelce and the team a third consecutive championship. After Super Bowl LIX, Kelce stated that he would "take some time" and decide whether or not he would retire or continue playing football.
2025 season
Kelce announced on February 27, 2025, that he would play in the 2025 season in his final year under contract with Kansas City.
NFL career statistics
Regular season
Postseason
Filmography
Film
Television
Records
NFL record (any position)
Career postseason receptions: 172
Career postseason 100-yard games: 9
Career Super Bowl receptions: 35
NFL records (among tight ends)
Consecutive 1,000-plus-yard seasons (7, 2016–2022)
1,000-yard seasons (7, 2016–2022)
Receiving yards in a season (1,416, 2020)
Career postseason receiving yards (1,903)
100+ reception seasons (3)
Fewest games to 10,000 career receiving yards (140)
100 receiving yard games (37)
Career postseason receiving touchdowns: 20
Career postseason games started: 23
Chiefs franchise records (any position)
100-plus-yard receiving games (37)
Receiving touchdowns in a game (tied, 4)
Career receiving yards (11,328)
Career receptions (1,004)
Career touchdown receptions (77)
Awards and honors
NFL
3× Super Bowl champion (LIV, LVII, LVIII)
4× First-team All-Pro (2016, 2018, 2020, 2022)
3× Second-team All-Pro (2017, 2019, 2021)
10× Pro Bowl (2015–2024)
NFL 2010s All-Decade Team
NCAA
First-team All-Big East (2012)
Non-football awards
People's Choice Awards – Athlete of the Year (2024)
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards – Favorite Male Sports Star (2024)
IHeartRadio Music Awards – Favorite Surprise Guest w/ Taylor Swift (2025)
Other ventures
Philanthropy
Noted for being generous with his time and resources, Kelce has received several awards for his philanthropic efforts. He received the Chiefs' Ed Block Courage Award in 2014. In 2020, the Chiefs nominated him for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. That same year, fans voted him the winner of the NFL's Charity Challenge Award.
In 2015, Kelce created a foundation called Eighty-Seven & Running in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, with the goal of "empowering underprivileged youth". The foundation organizes an annual fundraising event in Kansas City, including an auto show and a fashion show, to raise money for various causes there and in Cleveland. Some of its other activities have included:
2018: With Operation Breakthrough, a Kansas City-based nonprofit, opened a Robotics Lab accessible to nearly 300 elementary to high school students.
2020: Gave $500,000 to buy and transform a Kansas City building into a coworking space to help disadvantaged children explore careers in STEM under a workforce development program called "Ignition Lab".
2020: Gave $140,000 to Operation Breakthrough and the Heights Schools Foundation in Ohio to help them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021: Created the "Catching for a Cause" initiative which pledges to donate money for every catch and touchdown that Kelce makes during the football season.
2022: Endowed a Health and Wellness fund that supports the University of Cincinnati's Sports Psychology and Counseling Department and the school's 450 athletes.
2024: Donated 25,000 breakfast meals to students from Operation Breakthrough.
2024: Helped an elderly former athlete by paying for repairs to her Kansas City home of 56 years.
Kelce supports various non-profit organizations and initiatives, including Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Read Across America Day, and has donated autographed items to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Kelce has made several appearances at Kansas City hospitals and schools to support local charities. In 2019, he hosted a meet and dance event to raise funds for the "Rose Brooks Center", a Kansas City-based organization that provides shelter to women, children, and their pets in situations of domestic violence. He and his brother Jason have also donated to the Heights Schools Foundation to buy equipment and fund afterschool activities. In 2019, Kelce participated in a charity celebrity softball game to raise funds for the Lake Health Foundation. In 2024, he donated $100,000 to the family of two children who were seriously wounded in the 2024 Kansas City parade shooting. Kelce is among the Kansas City celebrities who have hosted the Big Slick charity event and gala, which benefits the Cancer Center at Children's Mercy Hospital; in 2024, Kelce and teammate Mahomes contributed game-worn Chiefs jerseys to a lot of NFL items that went for $250,000 at the charity auction.
Activism
Kelce has been a vocal advocate for social justice. In 2017, he became one of the highest-profile white NFL players to kneel during the national anthem in protest against police brutality, racism, and social inequalities in America. After the shooting of Jacob Blake by police officer Rusten Sheskey, Kelce, along with teammate Patrick Mahomes, spoke publicly in support of social justice. He has pledged support for the Black Lives Matter movement including in Kansas City. In 2019, Kelce and other NFL players joined students in virtual class discussions around the U.S. to discuss Black Boys, a Malcolm Jenkins-produced documentary that examines social and emotional effects of racism against Black men.
Kelce has also shown support to the LGBT community. In 2021, he called for more acceptance of homosexuality in American football, saying, "Anybody in this world [can play]."
Entertainment
In January 2016, Kelce starred in the E! Entertainment Television dating show Catching Kelce, choosing Maya Benberry as the winner. In 2020, Kelce appeared as a fictionalized version of himself in the first episode of the comedy series Moonbase 8. Kelce was featured in Kelce, a feature-length documentary about his brother Jason's football career and private life that was released on Amazon Prime on September 11, 2023. Within 24 hours, it was the most-watched movie among U.S. subscribers to the streaming service. In May 2023, he signed with Creative Artists Agency for off-the-field representation while keeping his agent for his NFL representation. Kelce hosted Saturday Night Live on March 4, 2023, and appeared in a sketch with his brother Jason and SNL cast members Heidi Gardner and Chloe Fineman. He also made a cameo appearance on the October 14, 2023, episode. In 2024, it was announced that Kelce will host a reboot for the game show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? on Amazon Prime Video. The show will be titled Are You Smarter than a Celebrity? with a 20-episode season.
In 2023, Kelce became an executive producer of the war comedy-drama film My Dead Friend Zoe (2024) and of the documentary King Pleasure about the life of American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Kelce was cast in his first major acting role in Ryan Murphy's FX horror series Grotesquerie where he will star opposite Niecy Nash-Betts, Courtney B. Vance, and Lesley Manville.
Through his Super Bowl runs with the Chiefs, Kelce became known for reciting the chorus from the Beastie Boys' 1986 song "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" during team celebrations, first after the 2019 AFC Championship Game then again at the parade in Kansas City after clinching Super Bowl LIV. The Chiefs responded by making "Fight for Your Right" its touchdown song during games at Arrowhead Stadium. In 2023, Kelce performed the song with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.
Kelce was featured, with his brother Jason, on the cover of "Fairytale of New York" (1987) by the Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl, titled "Fairytale of Philadelphia", which appeared on the 2023 album A Philly Special Christmas Special; proceeds from the album benefit various charity institutions in Philadelphia. "Fairytale of Philadelphia" topped the US iTunes chart, following which the brothers thanked the Swifties. The song further debuted at number five on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart and number two on Billboard Rock Digital Song Sales with 6,000 downloads sold in the first week. The song climbed to number one on both charts on its second week of release, making the brothers Billboard-charting artists. He returned in 2024 to contribute vocals to the song "It's Christmas Time (In Cleveland Heights) on A Philly Special Christmas Party.
In April 2023, Kelce announced the launch of his own annual music festival called Kelce Jam. The first edition of the event, held in Bonner Springs, Kansas during the 2023 NFL draft weekend, featured artists including Machine Gun Kelly, Rick Ross, Loud Luxury and Tech N9ne. The festival sold its first 10,000 tickets in 20 minutes, and was eventually sold out with 18,000 people in attendance. The second edition of the festival in 2024, saw an attendance of 20,000 fans with headlining performances from 2 Chainz, Diplo and Lil Wayne.
New Heights podcast
In September 2022, Kelce and his brother Jason launched a weekly sports podcast called New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce, produced with Wave Sports + Entertainment. The name is a nod to the brothers' upbringing in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. During the podcast, the brothers discuss NFL news, rumors, and sports headlines as well as each other's games. New Heights features special guests including NFL players, celebrities, and members of their family. The brothers record the podcast before cameras; it is broadcast live on YouTube and released in video and audio forms.
Within weeks of its launch, the podcast was the most-listened-to sports podcast on Spotify and the third-most listened to on Apple Podcast sports charts. In February 2023, the podcast experienced a rise in popularity when Travis and Jason faced off in Super Bowl LVII, it marked the first time two brothers played against each other. It reached the No. 1 in Apple sports podcasts, No. 2 among all podcasts on Apple, and No. 3 on Spotify in all podcast categories. The podcast is regularly highlighted on Monday Night Football on ESPN and Sunday Night Football on NBC. In 2022, it was named the Sports Podcast of the Year by Sports Illustrated. After the premiere of the second season in September 2023, New Heights became the No. 1 sports podcast in the U.S. and the No. 1 sports podcast globally on Spotify as well as No. 1 among all podcasts on Apple. In March 2025, New Heights won the Best Sports Podcast award at the IHeartRadio podcast awards.
Business ventures
Kelce has appeared in print, television and online advertisements for brands such as Dick's Sporting Goods, LG, McDonald's, Nike, Papa John's, Bud Light, Old Spice, Walgreens, Pfizer, State Farm, DirecTV, Experian, Lowe's, and Campbell's Soup among others. In August 2022, Hy-Vee began manufacturing "Kelce's Krunch", a limited-edition frosted cornflakes breakfast cereal named after and endorsed by Kelce. A portion of proceeds from the sale of the cereal was donated to Kelce's charity foundation. In 2023, Business Insider estimated that Kelce makes $5 million a year in off-the-field earnings and stated that "he was one of football's most successful endorsers."
In 2019, Kelce founded his own health brand, Hilo Nutrition, which sells gummy supplements for performance nutrition and other health benefits. In January 2020, Kelce launched his own clothing brand, Tru Kolors. It became the first brand by an NFL player to launch an official merchandise collaboration with an NFL franchise: the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022. In 2021, Kelce released a signature sneaker collection as part of a deal with Nike. The collection was called Nike x Kelce Blazer Mid '77 Vintage and included six shoes that inspired by facets of Kelce's life, including his brand and his team's colors. Kelce is co-owner of a car wash chain named Club Car Wash that operates in 109 locations in eight states in the central U.S. In October 2023, Kelce and Walmart launched Travis Kelce's Kitchen, a line of seven barbecue products inspired by the flavors of Kansas City.
In 2019, Kelce invested in the private equity firm L Catterton's purchase of the condiment brand Cholula Hot Sauce. He earned four times his investment when McCormick & Company acquired the brand for $800 million in 2020. Kelce is also an angel investor in several companies, including the tequila brand Casa Azul, the whole-grain pancake and waffle mixes Kodiak Cakes, and the made-to-measure menswear retailer Indochino. In 2023, Kelce joined a group of investors, including actor Ryan Reynolds and teammate Mahomes, to buy a stake in Alpine, a UK-based French Formula One team. The exact amount or stake was not disclosed. In 2024, Kelce teamed up with his brother Jason as significant owners and operators of the light beer company Garage Beer. In 2025, Mahomes and Kelce will open a steakhouse called 1587 Prime at the Loews Hotel Kansas City. In August 2025, Kelce launched a design collaboration with American Eagle Outfitters.
Personal life
Kelce and Maya Benberry, the winner of his dating show, started dating after the show ended in April 2016. In January 2017, Benberry confirmed that they had broken up. From 2017 to 2022, Kelce was in a relationship with social media influencer Kayla Nicole Brown.
Kelce began dating the singer-songwriter Taylor Swift in 2023, and the pair have since been frequently described in the media as a "supercouple." In June 2024, Kelce joined Swift onstage at her Wembley Stadium concert from the Eras Tour during her performance of "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart". In August 2025, Swift announced details of her forthcoming album The Life of a Showgirl on New Heights. The couple became engaged later that month. Their engagement announcement became one of Instagram's top 10 most-liked and reposted posts.
Their highly publicized relationship and Swift's attendance at games stimulated interest in the Chiefs and the NFL during the 2023 NFL season, breaking viewership, ticket sales, and merchandise sales records: a Chiefs–Chicago Bears game drew the most television viewers of the weekend; a Chiefs–New York Jets game averaged 27 million viewers, making it the most-watched Sunday-night television show since Super Bowl LVII; and a Chiefs–Buffalo Bills game on January 21, 2024, became the most-watched NFL divisional playoff game ever and the most-watched program on any network since Super Bowl LVII. The Chiefs–Baltimore Ravens AFC Conference Championship Game was the most watched AFC Championship game of all time. One widely cited estimate by a sports marketing company said the Kelce–Swift relationship had so stimulated ticket sales, viewership, and merchandising that in just six months the Chiefs franchise had gained $331.4 million in value.
Kelce plays golf during the offseason. He has participated in several celebrity tournaments, including the American Century Championship, at which he won the long drive contest in the 2023 edition. In 2023, he participated in The Match VIII, teaming up with his Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes against Golden State Warriors teammates Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Mahomes and Kelce won. Kelce owns homes in the Kansas City area and a condo in Baldwin Park, Florida. He is also an avid car collector.
See also
List of National Football League career receiving touchdowns leaders
List of National Football League career receiving yards leaders
List of National Football League career receptions leaders
Explanatory notes
References
External links
Career statistics from NFL.com · ESPN · CBS Sports · Yahoo Sports · Pro Football Reference
Kansas City Chiefs profile
Cincinnati Bearcats profile
Eighty-Seven & Running
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Travis Michael Kelce ( KEL-see; born October 5, 1989) is an American professional football player who is a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Chiefs in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft and later won Super Bowls LIV, LVII, and LVIII with the team. He played college football for the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Considered one of the greatest tight ends in history, Kelce is a ten-time Pro Bowler and a seven-time All-Pro, with four first-team and three second-team selections. He holds the NFL records for most consecutive and most overall seasons with 1,000 receiving yards by a tight end: seven. He holds the record for most receiving yards by a tight end in a single season with 1,416 in 2020, despite playing in only 15 games.
During the 2022 season, Kelce became the fifth NFL tight end to reach 10,000 career receiving yards and reached the milestone faster than any tight end in NFL history. Kelce was named to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team. During the 2023 season, he surpassed Jerry Rice in career playoff receptions en route to winning Super Bowl LVIII, his fourth Super Bowl appearance in five seasons.
Outside of football, Kelce has appeared on reality and scripted television, including being the namesake of the dating show Catching Kelce on E!, hosting a 2023 episode of Saturday Night Live, and in advertisements. He co-hosts the podcast New Heights with his brother Jason, covering topics from football to popular culture. The show was ranked as the 8th most popular podcast in the United States on Apple Podcasts in 2024. Kelce's relationship with and subsequent engagement to singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has drawn massive media coverage and stimulated viewership and revenue for his team and the NFL.
Early life
Kelce was born on October 5, 1989, in Westlake, Ohio. His father, Ed Kelce, is a former sales representative in the steel industry, and his mother, Donna, is a former bank executive. Travis's older brother is Jason Kelce, who played center for the Philadelphia Eagles for 13 seasons.
He is of Croatian descent through his mother, whose ancestors were from Brod Moravice and Velike Drage in the Gorski Kotar region, near the Slovenian border.
Kelce attended Cleveland Heights High School in his hometown of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where he played football, basketball, and baseball. He was a three-year letter winner as quarterback for the Tigers. As a senior in 2007, he ran for 1,016 yards and 10 touchdowns and threw for 1,523 yards, 21 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. His 2,539 yards of total offense garnered him All-Lake Erie League honors.
College career
Considered a two-star recruit by Rivals.com, Kelce accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Cincinnati over offers from Akron, Eastern Michigan, and Miami (OH). He joined his brother, Jason Kelce, who was the starting left guard for the Bearcats. After redshirting in 2008, he appeared in 11 games in 2009, playing at tight end and quarterback out of the Wildcat formation. He tallied eight rushes for 47 yards and two touchdowns and had one reception for three yards. He was suspended for the 2010 season after testing positive for marijuana, a violation of team rules. Returning for the 2011 season, he played tight end, recording 13 catches totaling 150 yards and two touchdowns. In 2012, his last collegiate season, he set personal season highs in receptions (45), receiving yards (722), yards per receptions (16.0), and receiving touchdowns (8). Kelce earned first-team all-conference honors and in March 2013, was named the College Football Performance Awards Tight End of the Year. Kelce graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies degree, he received his diploma during an April 2024 podcast event at the Fifth Third Arena with his brother Jason.
College statistics
Professional career
2013 season
Kelce was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the third round (63rd pick overall) of the 2013 NFL draft. The Chiefs had hired Andy Reid as their new head coach during the off-season. Reid was familiar with Kelce, having drafted and coached his brother, Jason Kelce, in 2011 during his time as the head coach of the Eagles. Reid believed Kelce to be a first round talent but had reservations due to his suspension in college; Jason spoke with Reid and vouched that Travis would stay out of trouble if drafted. On June 6, 2013, the Chiefs signed Kelce to a four-year, $3.12 million rookie contract that also included a signing bonus of $703,304.
Kelce injured his knee in the preseason. The injury was later diagnosed as a bone bruise. After being limited the first two weeks of the season due to the injury and being inactive the next three games, Kelce was placed on injured reserve on October 12, 2013, after having a microfracture surgery performed on his knee. He only played one snap, on special teams in the Chiefs' Week 2 game against the Dallas Cowboys.
2014 season
During Week 3 against the Miami Dolphins, Kelce recorded his first NFL touchdown on a 20-yard reception from quarterback Alex Smith. On November 30, he was fined $11,025 for "unsportsmanlike conduct" during a 29–16 loss to the Denver Broncos. Kelce made an inappropriate hand gesture and motion at Broncos linebacker Von Miller. Chiefs' head coach Andy Reid later called this "immature". In the next game against the Arizona Cardinals, Kelce had seven receptions for 110 yards for his first NFL game with over 100 receiving yards. In the regular-season finale against the San Diego Chargers, he had an offensive fumble recovery for a touchdown in the 19–7 victory. Kelce was the Chiefs' leading receiver during the 2014 season, totaling 862 yards off 67 receptions.
2015 season
Kelce began the 2015 season with his first NFL multiple touchdown game, with six receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns in the 27–20 victory over the Houston Texans. It was his only 100-plus-yard game, but he had at least one reception in all 16 games, and was ranked a top-five tight end by ESPN. He started all 16 regular season games and recorded 72 catches for 875 yards and five touchdowns, earning his way to his first Pro Bowl. The Chiefs finished the regular season with an 11–5 record and made the playoffs. In his first NFL playoff game, Kelce had eight receptions for 128 yards in a 30–0 Wild Card Round victory over the Texans. In the Divisional Round against the New England Patriots, Kelce had six receptions for 23 yards as the Chiefs lost 27–20. He was ranked 91st by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016.
2016 season
On January 29, 2016, Kelce signed a five-year, $46 million contract extension. He was ranked 91st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016.
During Week 8 against the Indianapolis Colts, Kelce had seven receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown. In the next game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he was ejected after receiving two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after arguing with two officials over not having a pass interference penalty called. The second resulted from him sarcastically throwing his towel at field judge Mike Weatherford in a flagging motion due to being upset about the first penalty. He was later fined $24,309 for his outburst. During Week 13 against the Atlanta Falcons, he had eight receptions for 140 yards. In the next game, Kelce recorded 101 receiving yards against the Oakland Raiders, his fourth consecutive game topping 100. He joined Jimmy Graham and former Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez as the only NFL tight ends ever to do so. In a Christmas Day win over the Broncos, Kelce had career bests of 11 receptions for 160 yards and a career-long 80-yard touchdown on a screen pass. He finished the season with career highs in yards (1,125) and receptions (85). His 1,125 receiving yards led the league among tight ends and his 85 receptions were second among tight ends behind Dennis Pitta of the Baltimore Ravens. Kelce's 634 yards after the catch also led all NFL tight ends. He was named as a starter in his second career Pro Bowl, held on December 20, 2016. He was also named First-team All-Pro. He was ranked 26th by his fellow players, and second among tight ends, on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2017.
The Chiefs finished atop the AFC West with a 12–4 record and earned a first-round bye in the playoffs. In the Divisional Round against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kelce had five receptions for 77 yards in the 18–16 loss.
2017 season
During Week 2 against the Eagles, Kelce had eight receptions for 103 yards and a touchdown in the 27–20 victory. After just one reception for one yard in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Kelce recorded seven receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown in Week 4 against the Washington Redskins followed by eight for 98 in Week 5 against the Texans. During Week 8, Kelce had seven receptions for 133 yards to pass Zach Ertz as the NFL's leading tight end in both categories, along with a touchdown. During Week 13 against the New York Jets, Kelce opened the game with spectacular fashion, scoring two receiving touchdowns on 90 receiving yards in the first 2 minutes and 46 seconds of regulation. He finished the game with 94 receiving yards on four receptions in the 38–31 loss. On December 19, 2017, Kelce was named to his third straight Pro Bowl. Kelce finished the season with a career-high eight receiving touchdowns. He finished second among tight ends with 1,038 receiving yards, only trailing Gronkowski's 1,084 receiving yards. He was ranked 24th by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018.
The 10–6 Chiefs entered the Wild Card Round of the playoffs against the Tennessee Titans, where Kelce finished with four receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown in the 21–22 defeat. He was not able to finish the game as he suffered a concussion in the first half on a hit to his helmet.
2018 season
In the 2018 season, Kelce benefited from the rise of new quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who was named NFL MVP at the end of the season. After being held to a lone reception for six yards in the season opener against the Chargers, he rebounded with seven receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns in a Week 2 road victory over the Steelers. In two of the next three games, he was able to reach 100 receiving yards against the San Francisco 49ers and the Jaguars. He added 99 yards and two touchdowns in a Week 9 win over the Cleveland Browns, and went into the Week 12 bye with 10 receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown in an offensively spectacular 54–51 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. In the Week 13 win over the Raiders, Kelce had career-bests of 12 receptions and 168 yards, including two short touchdowns in the first half. At this point, he was well on his way to an NFL record, but his production tapered off; over the final four weeks, Kelce averaged six receptions for 63.5 yards and had only one touchdown reception. In Week 17, Kelce indeed broke the NFL record for most receiving yards by a tight end in a single season, but 49ers tight end George Kittle passed him to claim the record less than an hour later. Kelce ended the regular season at 10th in the NFL in receptions with 103 and receiving yards with 1,336, and sixth in receiving touchdowns with 10. He was named to the 2018 Pro Bowl and was named first-team All-Pro.
The Chiefs finished atop the AFC West with a 12–4 record and earned a first-round bye. In the Divisional Round against the Colts, he had seven receptions for 108 yards in the 31–13 victory. In the AFC Championship against the Patriots, he had three receptions for 23 yards and a receiving touchdown in the 37–31 overtime loss. He was ranked 21st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018.
2019 season: First Super Bowl win
During Week 2 against the Raiders, Kelce caught seven passes for 107 yards and a touchdown of the season as the Chiefs won by a score of 28–10. Despite injuries to Patrick Mahomes and just two touchdowns, at the midpoint of the season Kelce led all tight ends and Chiefs players in receiving yards with 604. During Week 11 against the Chargers on Monday Night Football in Mexico, Kelce caught seven passes for 92 yards and a touchdown in the 24–17 win. During Week 14 against the Patriots, Kelce caught seven passes for 66 yards and rushed the ball once for a one-yard touchdown during the 23–16 road victory. In the next game against the Broncos, Kelce finished with 11 catches for 142 receiving yards as the Chiefs won 23–3. In the next game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football, he caught eight passes for 74 yards and a touchdown in the 26–3 win. During the game, he became the fastest tight end in NFL history to record 500 career receptions.
Kelce finished the 2019 season with 97 receptions for 1,229 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns to go along with his one rushing touchdown. Kelce became the first tight end in NFL history to record four consecutive seasons with at least 1,000 receiving yards. He was named to his fifth Pro Bowl for his 2019 season.
In the Divisional Round against the Texans, the Chiefs began the game with a 24–0 deficit. The Chiefs then went on a 51–7 run, including 41 unanswered points, to win 51–31. After a drop on third down on the Chiefs first drive that would have been a first down if it had been caught, Kelce caught 10 passes for 134 yards and three touchdowns (all in the second quarter) as he helped lead the Chiefs to their second consecutive conference championship game. In the AFC Championship Game against the Titans, Kelce caught three passes for 30 yards during the 35–24 win. In Super Bowl LIV against the San Francisco 49ers, Kelce caught six passes for 43 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown and had one carry for two rushing yards during the 31–20 win. He was ranked 18th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2020.
2020 season
Following the release of long-time Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt in the offseason, Kelce became tied with Anthony Sherman and fellow 2013 draftee Eric Fisher as the team's longest tenured members. On August 14, 2020, Kelce signed a four-year, $57 million contract extension with the Chiefs through the 2025 season. In Week 6, he caught two touchdowns in a 26–17 victory over the Buffalo Bills. In Week 8 against the Jets, Kelce dunked the ball through the goal posts after scoring a touchdown, paying homage to former Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez. He was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct and was fined $12,500. In Week 9, against the Carolina Panthers, he had ten receptions for 159 receiving yards in the 33–31 victory.
In Week 11 against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday Night Football, Kelce recorded eight catches for 127 yards and scored the game-winning touchdown in a 35–31 win.
In Week 13 against the Broncos on Sunday Night Football, he caught eight passes for 136 yards and a touchdown during the 22–16 win. In the following game against the Dolphins, he again posted eight catches for 136 yards and a touchdown in a 33–27 victory. In Week 16, Kelce became the first tight end with two 100-catch seasons. Kelce caught seven passes, giving him a career-high 105 for the season. Kelce set the single-season yardage record for a tight end with 1,416, topping George Kittle's 1,377 in 2018. His yardage ranked second overall in the 2020 NFL season (behind Stefon Diggs' 1,535), while his total receptions ranked fifth in the NFL and second among tight ends (behind Darren Waller's 107). He was named to his sixth Pro Bowl and earned First-team All-Pro honors.
In the Divisional Round of the playoffs against the Browns, Kelce caught eight passes for 109 yards and a touchdown during the 22–17 win. In the AFC Championship against the Bills, Kelce recorded 13 catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns in a 38–24 win to advance to Super Bowl LV. In the Super Bowl, he caught 10 passes for 133 yards—a record for receiving yards by a tight end in the championship game—but the Chiefs did not score a touchdown in the 31–9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was ranked fifth by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2021.
2021 season
After Fisher was released and Sherman retired in the offseason, Kelce became the longest-tenured member of the Chiefs. In the Chiefs' second game of the season, against the Ravens, he became the fastest tight end in NFL history to record 8,000 career yards, surpassing Rob Gronkowski's record in 113 games. In the Chiefs' week-15 game against the Chargers, Kelce set a career high for receiving yards in a game with 191 yards. He also caught two touchdowns, including the game-winning 34-yard touchdown in overtime. Kelce was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. The game also put him over 1,000 yards for the season, his NFL record (among tight ends) extending sixth consecutive 1,000-yard season. It also extended Kelce's record for most 1,000-yard seasons by a tight end with six. He was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on December 20, 2021. Kelce was activated on December 25, 2021. However, due to NFL protocols for COVID-19, since he tested positive for the virus and did not test negative before the day of the game, he was ruled out for the Chiefs' week 16 game against the Steelers. It was the first game Kelce had missed due to injury or illness since his rookie season. In the regular season-ending game against the Broncos, Kelce became the fastest tight end in NFL history to reach 9,000 career yards in just 127 games, a record also previously held by Gronkowski with 140 games. He finished the season with 92 receptions for 1,125 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. He was named Second-Team All-Pro by the AP, his sixth overall All-Pro selection. He was also named to his seventh consecutive Pro Bowl.
In the Wild Card Round against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kelce had five receptions for 108 yards and a receiving touchdown to go along with a two-yard touchdown pass to Byron Pringle in the 42–21 victory. In the Divisional Round against the Bills, he had eight receptions for 96 yards and the game-winning touchdown in the 42–36 overtime victory. Kelce was wearing an NFL Films microphone for the game, and audio footage from the two offensive plays of the 13-second drive revealed that Kelce instructed Tyreek Hill to run the route which led to the success of the first completion, and revealed him suggesting to Mahomes that he might improvise his own route on the second offensive play if the Bills' defensive scheme didn't change. Prior to the snap, Mahomes realized Kelce's suggested improvised route would work and shouted "Do it, Kelce!", before finding his tight-end for a completion of 25 yards.
In the AFC Championship against the Cincinnati Bengals, he had 10 receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown in the 27–24 overtime loss. He was ranked tenth by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2022.
2022 season: Second Super Bowl win
In Week 5, Kelce had four receiving touchdowns in the 30–29 victory over the Raiders. Kelce tied the franchise record for receiving touchdowns in a game. In the Chiefs' Week 11 game against the Chargers, he recorded his NFL record-breaking (among tight ends) 33rd 100-yard receiving game with 115 yards. He also scored three touchdowns, including the game-winning touchdown, his second straight season recording a game-winning touchdown against the Chargers. In Week 14 against the Broncos, he became the fifth tight end in NFL history to have 10,000 receiving yards. He also officially recorded his seventh consecutive 1,000-yard season, extending his records (among tight ends) of consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and most overall 1,000 seasons. He finished the 2022 season with 110 receptions for 1,338 receiving yards and 12 receiving touchdowns.
Kelce set a single-game NFL postseason record for a tight end with 14 receptions in a 27–20 victory over the Jaguars in the Divisional Round. He scored two receiving touchdowns in the game. Kelce and the Chiefs appeared in Super Bowl LVII against the Eagles. Kelce's brother Jason played for the Eagles, making it the first Super Bowl to feature two brothers as players on opposing teams. Kelce caught six passes for 81 yards and a touchdown as the Chiefs beat the Eagles 38–35 to win his second Super Bowl. He was ranked fifth by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2023.
2023 season: Third Super Bowl win
Kelce was inactive for the Chiefs' game against the Detroit Lions due to a knee injury he suffered earlier in the week. It was his first game missed due to an injury since his rookie season. Kelce made his season debut the following week against the Jaguars. In the Chiefs' week 7 game against the Chargers, Kelce tied a career high with 12 receptions. He also had 179 receiving yards, the second highest of his career. In the Chiefs' Week 9 game against the Dolphins, he broke the Chiefs franchise record for career receiving yards. Kelce finished the regular season with 984 receiving yards on 93 receptions and five touchdowns. He elected to not play in the Chiefs' Week 18 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers, ending his NFL-record streak of seven consecutive seasons to finish with 1,000 receiving yards.
In the Divisional Round victory over the Bills, Kelce had two receiving touchdowns. Kelce, along with Mahomes, broke the record for most career touchdowns in the playoffs for a quarterback/receiver duo. In the AFC Championship Game victory against the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens, Kelce caught 11 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown, surpassing Jerry Rice for most playoff receptions and tying Rice for first in 100+ receiving yard games. The victory marked Kelce's fourth Super Bowl appearance in five seasons.
During Super Bowl LVIII, Kelce had nine receptions for 93 yards and was the leading yards receiver for the game. The Chiefs would win 25–22 in just the second Super Bowl in history to go to overtime, earning Kelce his third Super Bowl win. The Chiefs became the first team to repeat as Super Bowl champions since the New England Patriots accomplished the feat in the 2003 and 2004 seasons. During the game, following a fumble by Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco when Kelce was not on the field, he was shown screaming at the Chiefs' head coach Andy Reid. The incident drew criticism, for which Kelce later apologized through his podcast. He was ranked ninth by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2024.
2024 season
On April 29, 2024, Kelce signed a two-year extension with the Chiefs for a reported $34.25 million, making him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL. Kelce started the season slow with just eight catches for 69 yards in the team's first three games. In Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Kelce recorded a season-high seven receptions for 89 yards. During the game, Kelce became the Chiefs' leader in career receptions, surpassing Tony Gonzalez's previous record of 916 catches. On December 8, Kelce reached 12,000 career receiving yards in a 19–17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. He became the fastest tight end in NFL history to achieve this, doing so in 172 games. On Christmas Day against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kelce achieved his 1,000th career reception and became the Chiefs' leader in receiving touchdowns, surpassing the previous record set by Tony Gonzalez of 77. In the 2024 season, Kelce finished with 97 receptions for 823 yards and three touchdowns.
In the Divisional Round against the Texans, he had seven receptions for 117 yards and a touchdown in the 23–14 win. In the AFC Championship, Kelce finished with two catches for 19 yards, but received a $11,255 fine for unsportsmanlike conduct. In Super Bowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles, Kelce had four catches for 39 yards; in doing so, Kelce set a new NFL record for most career Super Bowl receptions with 35, eclipsing the previous record of 33 held by Jerry Rice. However, the Chiefs lost to the Eagles by a score of 40–22, denying Kelce and the team a third consecutive championship. After Super Bowl LIX, Kelce stated that he would "take some time" and decide whether or not he would retire or continue playing football.
2025 season
Kelce announced on February 27, 2025, that he would play in the 2025 season in his final year under contract with Kansas City.
NFL career statistics
Regular season
Postseason
Filmography
Film
Television
Records
NFL record (any position)
Career postseason receptions: 172
Career postseason 100-yard games: 9
Career Super Bowl receptions: 35
NFL records (among tight ends)
Consecutive 1,000-plus-yard seasons (7, 2016–2022)
1,000-yard seasons (7, 2016–2022)
Receiving yards in a season (1,416, 2020)
Career postseason receiving yards (1,903)
100+ reception seasons (3)
Fewest games to 10,000 career receiving yards (140)
100 receiving yard games (37)
Career postseason receiving touchdowns: 20
Career postseason games started: 23
Chiefs franchise records (any position)
100-plus-yard receiving games (37)
Receiving touchdowns in a game (tied, 4)
Career receiving yards (11,328)
Career receptions (1,004)
Career touchdown receptions (77)
Awards and honors
NFL
3× Super Bowl champion (LIV, LVII, LVIII)
4× First-team All-Pro (2016, 2018, 2020, 2022)
3× Second-team All-Pro (2017, 2019, 2021)
10× Pro Bowl (2015–2024)
NFL 2010s All-Decade Team
NCAA
First-team All-Big East (2012)
Non-football awards
People's Choice Awards – Athlete of the Year (2024)
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards – Favorite Male Sports Star (2024)
IHeartRadio Music Awards – Favorite Surprise Guest w/ Taylor Swift (2025)
Other ventures
Philanthropy
Noted for being generous with his time and resources, Kelce has received several awards for his philanthropic efforts. He received the Chiefs' Ed Block Courage Award in 2014. In 2020, the Chiefs nominated him for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. That same year, fans voted him the winner of the NFL's Charity Challenge Award.
In 2015, Kelce created a foundation called Eighty-Seven & Running in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, with the goal of "empowering underprivileged youth". The foundation organizes an annual fundraising event in Kansas City, including an auto show and a fashion show, to raise money for various causes there and in Cleveland. Some of its other activities have included:
2018: With Operation Breakthrough, a Kansas City-based nonprofit, opened a Robotics Lab accessible to nearly 300 elementary to high school students.
2020: Gave $500,000 to buy and transform a Kansas City building into a coworking space to help disadvantaged children explore careers in STEM under a workforce development program called "Ignition Lab".
2020: Gave $140,000 to Operation Breakthrough and the Heights Schools Foundation in Ohio to help them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021: Created the "Catching for a Cause" initiative which pledges to donate money for every catch and touchdown that Kelce makes during the football season.
2022: Endowed a Health and Wellness fund that supports the University of Cincinnati's Sports Psychology and Counseling Department and the school's 450 athletes.
2024: Donated 25,000 breakfast meals to students from Operation Breakthrough.
2024: Helped an elderly former athlete by paying for repairs to her Kansas City home of 56 years.
Kelce supports various non-profit organizations and initiatives, including Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Read Across America Day, and has donated autographed items to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Kelce has made several appearances at Kansas City hospitals and schools to support local charities. In 2019, he hosted a meet and dance event to raise funds for the "Rose Brooks Center", a Kansas City-based organization that provides shelter to women, children, and their pets in situations of domestic violence. He and his brother Jason have also donated to the Heights Schools Foundation to buy equipment and fund afterschool activities. In 2019, Kelce participated in a charity celebrity softball game to raise funds for the Lake Health Foundation. In 2024, he donated $100,000 to the family of two children who were seriously wounded in the 2024 Kansas City parade shooting. Kelce is among the Kansas City celebrities who have hosted the Big Slick charity event and gala, which benefits the Cancer Center at Children's Mercy Hospital; in 2024, Kelce and teammate Mahomes contributed game-worn Chiefs jerseys to a lot of NFL items that went for $250,000 at the charity auction.
Activism
Kelce has been a vocal advocate for social justice. In 2017, he became one of the highest-profile white NFL players to kneel during the national anthem in protest against police brutality, racism, and social inequalities in America. After the shooting of Jacob Blake by police officer Rusten Sheskey, Kelce, along with teammate Patrick Mahomes, spoke publicly in support of social justice. He has pledged support for the Black Lives Matter movement including in Kansas City. In 2019, Kelce and other NFL players joined students in virtual class discussions around the U.S. to discuss Black Boys, a Malcolm Jenkins-produced documentary that examines social and emotional effects of racism against Black men.
Kelce has also shown support to the LGBT community. In 2021, he called for more acceptance of homosexuality in American football, saying, "Anybody in this world [can play]."
Entertainment
In January 2016, Kelce starred in the E! Entertainment Television dating show Catching Kelce, choosing Maya Benberry as the winner. In 2020, Kelce appeared as a fictionalized version of himself in the first episode of the comedy series Moonbase 8. Kelce was featured in Kelce, a feature-length documentary about his brother Jason's football career and private life that was released on Amazon Prime on September 11, 2023. Within 24 hours, it was the most-watched movie among U.S. subscribers to the streaming service. In May 2023, he signed with Creative Artists Agency for off-the-field representation while keeping his agent for his NFL representation. Kelce hosted Saturday Night Live on March 4, 2023, and appeared in a sketch with his brother Jason and SNL cast members Heidi Gardner and Chloe Fineman. He also made a cameo appearance on the October 14, 2023, episode. In 2024, it was announced that Kelce will host a reboot for the game show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? on Amazon Prime Video. The show will be titled Are You Smarter than a Celebrity? with a 20-episode season.
In 2023, Kelce became an executive producer of the war comedy-drama film My Dead Friend Zoe (2024) and of the documentary King Pleasure about the life of American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Kelce was cast in his first major acting role in Ryan Murphy's FX horror series Grotesquerie where he will star opposite Niecy Nash-Betts, Courtney B. Vance, and Lesley Manville.
Through his Super Bowl runs with the Chiefs, Kelce became known for reciting the chorus from the Beastie Boys' 1986 song "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" during team celebrations, first after the 2019 AFC Championship Game then again at the parade in Kansas City after clinching Super Bowl LIV. The Chiefs responded by making "Fight for Your Right" its touchdown song during games at Arrowhead Stadium. In 2023, Kelce performed the song with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.
Kelce was featured, with his brother Jason, on the cover of "Fairytale of New York" (1987) by the Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl, titled "Fairytale of Philadelphia", which appeared on the 2023 album A Philly Special Christmas Special; proceeds from the album benefit various charity institutions in Philadelphia. "Fairytale of Philadelphia" topped the US iTunes chart, following which the brothers thanked the Swifties. The song further debuted at number five on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart and number two on Billboard Rock Digital Song Sales with 6,000 downloads sold in the first week. The song climbed to number one on both charts on its second week of release, making the brothers Billboard-charting artists. He returned in 2024 to contribute vocals to the song "It's Christmas Time (In Cleveland Heights) on A Philly Special Christmas Party.
In April 2023, Kelce announced the launch of his own annual music festival called Kelce Jam. The first edition of the event, held in Bonner Springs, Kansas during the 2023 NFL draft weekend, featured artists including Machine Gun Kelly, Rick Ross, Loud Luxury and Tech N9ne. The festival sold its first 10,000 tickets in 20 minutes, and was eventually sold out with 18,000 people in attendance. The second edition of the festival in 2024, saw an attendance of 20,000 fans with headlining performances from 2 Chainz, Diplo and Lil Wayne.
New Heights podcast
In September 2022, Kelce and his brother Jason launched a weekly sports podcast called New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce, produced with Wave Sports + Entertainment. The name is a nod to the brothers' upbringing in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. During the podcast, the brothers discuss NFL news, rumors, and sports headlines as well as each other's games. New Heights features special guests including NFL players, celebrities, and members of their family. The brothers record the podcast before cameras; it is broadcast live on YouTube and released in video and audio forms.
Within weeks of its launch, the podcast was the most-listened-to sports podcast on Spotify and the third-most listened to on Apple Podcast sports charts. In February 2023, the podcast experienced a rise in popularity when Travis and Jason faced off in Super Bowl LVII, it marked the first time two brothers played against each other. It reached the No. 1 in Apple sports podcasts, No. 2 among all podcasts on Apple, and No. 3 on Spotify in all podcast categories. The podcast is regularly highlighted on Monday Night Football on ESPN and Sunday Night Football on NBC. In 2022, it was named the Sports Podcast of the Year by Sports Illustrated. After the premiere of the second season in September 2023, New Heights became the No. 1 sports podcast in the U.S. and the No. 1 sports podcast globally on Spotify as well as No. 1 among all podcasts on Apple. In March 2025, New Heights won the Best Sports Podcast award at the IHeartRadio podcast awards.
Business ventures
Kelce has appeared in print, television and online advertisements for brands such as Dick's Sporting Goods, LG, McDonald's, Nike, Papa John's, Bud Light, Old Spice, Walgreens, Pfizer, State Farm, DirecTV, Experian, Lowe's, and Campbell's Soup among others. In August 2022, Hy-Vee began manufacturing "Kelce's Krunch", a limited-edition frosted cornflakes breakfast cereal named after and endorsed by Kelce. A portion of proceeds from the sale of the cereal was donated to Kelce's charity foundation. In 2023, Business Insider estimated that Kelce makes $5 million a year in off-the-field earnings and stated that "he was one of football's most successful endorsers."
In 2019, Kelce founded his own health brand, Hilo Nutrition, which sells gummy supplements for performance nutrition and other health benefits. In January 2020, Kelce launched his own clothing brand, Tru Kolors. It became the first brand by an NFL player to launch an official merchandise collaboration with an NFL franchise: the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022. In 2021, Kelce released a signature sneaker collection as part of a deal with Nike. The collection was called Nike x Kelce Blazer Mid '77 Vintage and included six shoes that inspired by facets of Kelce's life, including his brand and his team's colors. Kelce is co-owner of a car wash chain named Club Car Wash that operates in 109 locations in eight states in the central U.S. In October 2023, Kelce and Walmart launched Travis Kelce's Kitchen, a line of seven barbecue products inspired by the flavors of Kansas City.
In 2019, Kelce invested in the private equity firm L Catterton's purchase of the condiment brand Cholula Hot Sauce. He earned four times his investment when McCormick & Company acquired the brand for $800 million in 2020. Kelce is also an angel investor in several companies, including the tequila brand Casa Azul, the whole-grain pancake and waffle mixes Kodiak Cakes, and the made-to-measure menswear retailer Indochino. In 2023, Kelce joined a group of investors, including actor Ryan Reynolds and teammate Mahomes, to buy a stake in Alpine, a UK-based French Formula One team. The exact amount or stake was not disclosed. In 2024, Kelce teamed up with his brother Jason as significant owners and operators of the light beer company Garage Beer. In 2025, Mahomes and Kelce will open a steakhouse called 1587 Prime at the Loews Hotel Kansas City. In August 2025, Kelce launched a design collaboration with American Eagle Outfitters.
Personal life
Kelce and Maya Benberry, the winner of his dating show, started dating after the show ended in April 2016. In January 2017, Benberry confirmed that they had broken up. From 2017 to 2022, Kelce was in a relationship with social media influencer Kayla Nicole Brown.
Kelce began dating the singer-songwriter Taylor Swift in 2023, and the pair have since been frequently described in the media as a "supercouple." In June 2024, Kelce joined Swift onstage at her Wembley Stadium concert from the Eras Tour during her performance of "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart". In August 2025, Swift announced details of her forthcoming album The Life of a Showgirl on New Heights. The couple became engaged later that month. Their engagement announcement became one of Instagram's top 10 most-liked and reposted posts.
Their highly publicized relationship and Swift's attendance at games stimulated interest in the Chiefs and the NFL during the 2023 NFL season, breaking viewership, ticket sales, and merchandise sales records: a Chiefs–Chicago Bears game drew the most television viewers of the weekend; a Chiefs–New York Jets game averaged 27 million viewers, making it the most-watched Sunday-night television show since Super Bowl LVII; and a Chiefs–Buffalo Bills game on January 21, 2024, became the most-watched NFL divisional playoff game ever and the most-watched program on any network since Super Bowl LVII. The Chiefs–Baltimore Ravens AFC Conference Championship Game was the most watched AFC Championship game of all time. One widely cited estimate by a sports marketing company said the Kelce–Swift relationship had so stimulated ticket sales, viewership, and merchandising that in just six months the Chiefs franchise had gained $331.4 million in value.
Kelce plays golf during the offseason. He has participated in several celebrity tournaments, including the American Century Championship, at which he won the long drive contest in the 2023 edition. In 2023, he participated in The Match VIII, teaming up with his Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes against Golden State Warriors teammates Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Mahomes and Kelce won. Kelce owns homes in the Kansas City area and a condo in Baldwin Park, Florida. He is also an avid car collector.
See also
List of National Football League career receiving touchdowns leaders
List of National Football League career receiving yards leaders
List of National Football League career receptions leaders
Explanatory notes
References
External links
Career statistics from NFL.com · ESPN · CBS Sports · Yahoo Sports · Pro Football Reference
Kansas City Chiefs profile
Cincinnati Bearcats profile
Eighty-Seven & Running
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Jay-Z
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Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named the greatest rapper of all time by Billboard and Vibe in 2023. Known for his complex lyrical ability—which often uses double entendres and word play—and braggadocio, his music is built upon a rags to riches narrative. He served as president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007, and founded the entertainment company Roc Nation the following year. He is the world's richest musical artist, worth $2.6 billion as of 2025.
A protégé of fellow New York City-based rapper Jaz-O, Jay-Z began his musical career in the late 1980s; he co-founded the record label Roc-A-Fella Records in 1994 to release his first two studio albums Reasonable Doubt (1996) and In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997), both of which were met with critical acclaim. Each of his eleven subsequent albums, including The Blueprint (2001), The Black Album (2003), American Gangster (2007), and 4:44 (2017), debuted atop the Billboard 200; Jay-Z has 14 number-one albums on the chart, the second-most for any solo artist (tied with Drake). He has also released the collaborative albums The Best of Both Worlds (2002) and Unfinished Business (2004) with singer R. Kelly, Collision Course (2004) with Linkin Park, Watch the Throne (2011) with Kanye West, and Everything Is Love (2018) with his wife Beyoncé. He peaked the Billboard Hot 100 on four occasions: once as a lead artist with his 2009 single "Empire State of Mind" (featuring Alicia Keys), and thrice with his guest performances on the singles "Heartbreaker" by Mariah Carey, "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé, and "Umbrella" by Rihanna.
Through his business ventures, Jay-Z became the first hip-hop billionaire in 2019. In 1999, he co-founded the clothing retailer Rocawear and later founded the 40/40 Club, a luxury bar chain, in 2003. As both grew into multi-million-dollar businesses, he launched Roc Nation, a multi-disciplinary entertainment agency in 2008. In 2015, he acquired the technology company Aspiro and led the expansion of Tidal, the company's media streaming service.
One of the world's best-selling music artists with 140 million records sold, Jay-Z has won 25 Grammy Awards, the eighth-most of all time and the most of any hip-hop artist. He is the recipient of the NAACP's President's Award and three Emmy Awards (including two Primetime Emmy Awards), in addition to being nominated for a Tony Award. Ranked by Billboard and Rolling Stone as one of the 100 greatest artists of all time, Jay-Z was the first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the first solo living rapper inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013.
Early life and education
Shawn Corey Carter was born on December 4, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York City. He was raised in Marcy Houses, a public housing project in Brooklyn's Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood. His father, Adnis Reeves, abandoned the family when Jay-Z was 11 years old, and Jay-Z and his three older siblings were raised by their mother, Gloria Carter. Reeves later met and reconciled with Jay-Z prior to his death in 2003. Jay-Z claims in his lyrics to "You Must Love Me", the closing track on his 1997 album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, that in 1982, at age 12, he shot his older brother Eric in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry.
He attended Eli Whitney High School and George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, both in Brooklyn, and then Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey. He did not graduate, dropping out during his sophomore year at Trenton Central High School. According to his interviews and lyrics, he sold crack cocaine and was shot at three times during this period. His former friend was sentenced to prison for possessing drugs and weapons. Known as "Jazzy" around the neighborhood, he later adopted the stage name "Jay-Z" in homage to his mentor Jaz-O.
Career
1986–1995: Early career and recordings
Jay-Z can be briefly heard on several of Jaz-O's early recordings in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including "H. P. Gets Busy", "The Originators" and "Hawaiian Sophie". Jaz-O's record label came up with the idea to create an album with a concept reminiscent of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, featuring Jaz-O as the rapper, Jay-Z as the hype man, and Irv Gotti as the DJ. While working on the album Word to the Jaz in London in 1988, Jay-Z and Gotti began to build their relationship on the trip. Jay-Z became embroiled in several battles with rapper LL Cool J in the early 1990s. He first became known to a wide audience on the posse cut "Show and Prove" on the 1994 Big Daddy Kane album Daddy's Home. Jay-Z has been referred to as Big Daddy Kane's hype man during this period, although Kane explains that he did not fill the traditional hype man role, and was instead basically making cameo appearances on stage. "When I would leave the stage to go change outfits, I would bring out Jay-Z and Positive K and let them freestyle until I came back to the stage."
According to his second verse on "99 Problems", released in 2003, Jay-Z was allegedly stopped by an NYPD detective in 1994 while en route to I-95, possibly for a search of drugs in his car. Detection dogs were called, but another police car had passed; Jay-Z was let go soon after. Jay-Z appeared on a popular song by Big L, "Da Graveyard", and on Mic Geronimo's "Time to Build", which also featured early appearances by his former Murder Inc. colleagues Ja Rule and DMX in 1995. His first official rap single was "In My Lifetime", which was released with an accompanying music video in 1995. An unreleased music video was also produced for the B-side "I Can't Get with That".
1995–2000: Reasonable Doubt, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, Vol. 2..., Vol. 3..., and The Dynasty
With no major label to give him a record deal, Jay-Z sold burned CDs out of his car, and with Damon "Dame" Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke, created Roc-A-Fella Records as an independent label in 1995. After striking a distribution deal with Priority, Jay-Z released his 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt with beats from acclaimed producers such as DJ Premier and Super DJ Clark Kent and an appearance by The Notorious B.I.G. The album reached number 23 on the Billboard 200 and went gold that year. This album would later be included in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time as No. 248 and eventually reach platinum status. After reaching a new label distribution deal with Def Jam in 1997, Jay-Z released his follow-up In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. Featuring production by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, DJ Premier, and Ski, it earned platinum status in the United States.
In 1998, Jay-Z released Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life which spawned the biggest hit of his career at the time, "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)". He relied more on flow and wordplay, and he continued with his penchant for mining beats from the popular producers of the day such as Swizz Beatz, an upstart in-house producer for Ruff Ryders, and Timbaland. Other producers included DJ Premier, Erick Sermon, The 45 King, and Kid Capri. Charting hits from this album included "Can I Get A...", featuring Ja Rule and Amil, and "Nigga What, Nigga Who", featuring Amil and Jaz-O. Vol. 2 would eventually become Jay-Z's most commercially successful album; it was certified 5× Platinum in the United States and has to date sold over five million copies. The album went on to win a Grammy Award, although Jay-Z boycotted the ceremony protesting DMX's failure to garner a Grammy nomination and the academy's decision to not broadcast urban music categories.
In 1999, Jay-Z collaborated with Mariah Carey on "Heartbreaker", a song from her seventh album, Rainbow. The song became Jay-Z's first chart-topper in the U.S., spending two weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. In that same year, Jay-Z released Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter. The album proved successful and sold over 3 million copies. Vol. 3's most successful single was "Big Pimpin'", featuring UGK.
In 2000, Jay-Z released The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, which was originally intended to become a compilation album for Roc-A-Fella artists but Def Jam turned into a Jay-Z album. The album helped to introduce newcomer producers The Neptunes, Just Blaze, Kanye West, and Bink, which have all gone on to achieve notable success. This is also the first album where Jay-Z utilizes a more soulful sound than his previous albums. The Dynasty sold over two million units in the U.S. alone.
2001–2002: Feud with Nas, Prodigy, The Blueprint and The Blueprint2
In 2001, Jay-Z spoke out against Prodigy after he took an issue with Jay-Z's "Money, Cash, Hoes." Prodigy felt that the lyrics alluded disparagingly to his shared dispute with Mobb Deep against Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and Death Row Records. He later performed the song "Takeover", at Summer Jam 2001, a diss-track about Nas, Prodigy, and Mobb Deep. At the same concert, Jay-Z brought Michael Jackson up on stage with him. A line at the end of "Takeover" referred to Nas, who criticized him on "We Will Survive". Nas responded with a diss of his own, and Jay-Z straightaway added a verse to "Takeover" which dissed Nas and would start a feud between the two rappers. The feud had ended by 2005; Jay-Z stated that record producer Mark Pitts had helped them settle their differences.
On September 11, 2001, Jay-Z released his sixth studio album, The Blueprint, which received a five-mic review from hip-hop magazine The Source. Written in just two days, the album sold more than 427,000 copies, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and reached double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. Eminem guest performed and produced its song, "Renegade". Four tracks were produced by Kanye West. The Blueprint includes the songs "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)", "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Jigga That Nigga", and "Song Cry". As of February 2012, the album had sold 2.7 million copies worldwide. In 2019, The Blueprint was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In October 2001, Jay-Z pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for stabbing record producer Lance Rivera at the Kit Kat Klub in New York City in 1999. Despite Jay-Z's sentence of three years probation for the crime, Rivera later recanted the allegations in 2023.
Jay-Z then collaborated with Chicago singer R. Kelly to release collaborative studio album, The Best of Both Worlds in March 2002. In November of that year, Jay-Z released his seventh studio album The Blueprint2: The Gift & The Curse—a double album. The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at number one, selling over 3 million units solely in the U.S. and surpassing The Blueprint. It yielded a single-disc re-issue, The Blueprint 2.1, which retained half of the songs from the original. Its original release spawned two hit singles, "Excuse Me Miss" and "'03 Bonnie & Clyde", which features Jay-Z's then-girlfriend, Beyoncé, and contained the track "A Dream", featuring Faith Evans and the late Notorious B.I.G.; the re-issue spawned the single "La-La-La", which was a sequel to "Excuse Me Miss" and failed to match its commercial success.
2003–2005: The Black Album and initial retirement
After visiting the south of France, Jay-Z announced work on his eighth studio album, The Black Album at the opening of the 40/40 Club. He worked with several producers including Just Blaze, The Neptunes, Kanye West, Timbaland, Eminem, DJ Quik, 9th Wonder, The Buchanans, and Rick Rubin. Notable songs on the album included "What More Can I Say", "Dirt off Your Shoulder", "Change Clothes", and "99 Problems". The Black Album has sold over 3 million copies in the U.S.
On November 25, 2003, Jay-Z held a concert—billed as a "retirement party" at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which was later the focus of his 2004 documentary, Fade to Black. All proceeds went to charity. Other performers included collaborators the Roots (in the form of his backing band), Missy Elliott, Memphis Bleek, Beanie Siegel, Freeway, Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé, Twista, Ghostface Killah, Foxy Brown, Pharrell Williams and R. Kelly, with appearances by Voletta Wallace and Afeni Shakur, the mothers of the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur, respectively. While Jay-Z had attested to a retirement from making new studio albums, various side projects and appearances soon followed. Included in these were a greatest hits record, as well as the release and tour of Unfinished Business, the second collaborative album between Jay-Z and R. Kelly.
In 2004, Jay-Z collaborated with rock group Linkin Park, in which they released their collaborative remix EP Collision Course, which featured mashups of both artists' songs, as well as a concert DVD. The album's only single, "Numb/Encore", went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, and was performed with Linkin Park live at the Grammys, with a special appearance by Paul McCartney, who added verses from the song "Yesterday". The EP sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. Jay-Z was the executive producer of The Rising Tied, the debut album of Fort Minor, the hip hop side project of Linkin Park rapper Mike Shinoda. Jay-Z also planned to retire in 2004.
Later in 2004, Jay-Z was named president of Def Jam Records, which led to Jay-Z, Dash and Biggs selling their remaining interests in Roc-A-Fella Records and Jay-Z taking control of both of the companies. This major industry move was reportedly prompted by disagreements between Jay-Z and Dash as to what direction Roc-A-Fella could undertake.
2005–2007: Kingdom Come and American Gangster
On October 27, 2005, Jay-Z headlined New York's Power 105.1 annual concert, Powerhouse. The concert's title, "I Declare War," led to intense speculation in the preceding weeks on whom exactly Jay-Z would declare war. As he had previously "declared war" on other artists taking lyrical shots at him at other events, many believed that the concert's title represented an all-out assault by Jay-Z upon his rivals. The theme of the concert was Jay-Z's position as president and CEO of Def Jam, complete with an on-stage mock-up of the Oval Office. Many artists made appearances such as the old roster of Roc-A-Fella records artists, as well as Ne-Yo, Teairra Marí, T.I., Young Jeezy, Akon, Kanye West, Paul Wall, The LOX, and Diddy.
At the conclusion of the concert, Jay-Z put many arguments to rest to the surprise of hip hop fans. The most significant development in this show was closure to the infamous hip hop rivalry between Jay-Z and Nas. The two former rivals shook hands and shared the stage together to perform Jay-Z's "Dead Presidents" blended with Nas's song "The World is Yours".
Jay-Z returned with his comeback album on November 21, 2006, titled Kingdom Come. Jay-Z's comeback single, "Show Me What You Got", was leaked on the Internet in early October 2006. The album, which was scheduled for release later on that month, received heavy air-play after its leak, causing the FBI to step in and investigate. Jay-Z worked with video director Hype Williams, and the single's video was directed by F. Gary Gray. The album features production from Just Blaze, Pharrell, Kanye West, Dr. Dre and Coldplay's Chris Martin (single entitled "Beach Chair"). The first week saw 680,000 sales of the CD, enough to be his "biggest sales week ever" as Billboard reported. This album has sold 2 million copies in the U.S. and is certified double platinum.
Jay-Z released his tenth album entitled American Gangster on November 6, 2007. After viewing the Ridley Scott film of the same name, Jay-Z was heavily inspired to create a new "concept" album that depicts his experiences as a street-hustler.
The album is not the film's official soundtrack, although it was distributed by Def Jam.
Jay-Z's American Gangster depicts his life in correlation to the movie American Gangster. At the start of the album's first single, "Blue Magic", Jay-Z offers a dealer's manifesto while making references to political figures of the late 1980s with the lyric: "Blame Reagan for making me to into a monster, blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra, I ran contraband that they sponsored, before this rhymin' stuff we was in concert." Also notable about the "Blue Magic" music video was Jay-Z flashing €500 notes; Harvard Business School professor Rawi Abdelal called this a "turning point in American pop culture's response to globalization." The album has sold 1 million copies in the U.S. On January 1, 2008, Jay-Z resigned as president of Def Jam.
2008–2011: The Blueprint 3 and Watch the Throne
In winter 2008, it was announced that Jay-Z would become the first major hip hop artist to headline Britain's Glastonbury Festival. Tickets sold out quickly. Former headliner Noel Gallagher of Oasis condemned the festival organizers for choosing Jay-Z to headline a traditionally guitar-driven festival. "I'm sorry, but Jay-Z?" Gallagher asked, swearing. "No chance. Glastonbury has a tradition of, kind of, guitar music, do you know what I mean? And even when they throw the odd curve balls in on a Sunday night—you go, 'Kylie Minogue? I don't know about that', do you know what I mean?—but I'm not having hip hop at Glastonbury, no way, no, no. It's wrong." As controversy mounted, Jay-Z replied, "We don't play guitars, Noel, but hip hop has put in its work like any other form of music. This headline show is just a natural progression. Rap music is still evolving. We have to respect each other's genre of music and move forward." Jay-Z opened his Glastonbury set with a tongue-in-cheek cover of Oasis's iconic song "Wonderwall", and went on to deliver a performance heralded as a successful response to pre-festival criticism. The guitar used in this performance was later shown at the Book of HOV exhibit in the Brooklyn Library.
He also headlined many other summer festivals in 2008, including Roskilde Festival in Denmark, Hove Festival in Norway and O2 Wireless Festival in London. During Kanye West's concert of August 6, 2008, at Madison Square Garden, Jay-Z came out to perform a new song and he and West proclaimed that it was to be on The Blueprint 3. On May 21, 2009, Jay-Z announced he would be parting ways with Def Jam, and had struck a multi-million-dollar deal to sign with Live Nation, with whom he would start his Roc Nation imprint which would serve as a record label, talent/management agency, and music publishing company and also partnered with production team Stargate to start a record label called StarRoc. Jay-Z's 11th studio album The Blueprint 3 was originally to be released on September 11, 2009, but was instead released in North America on September 8, 2009, due to increasing anticipation. Its international release followed on September 14. It is his 11th album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and surpassed Elvis Presley's previous record. On October 9, 2009, Jay-Z kicked off his tour for The Blueprint 3, during which he supported his new album in North America. In a Shave Magazine review of his performance at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Jake Tomlinson expressed that "It was the type of smooth performance you would expect from the hip-hop superstar." The review gave this performance 4 stars. His North American tour continued until November 22, 2009. At his concert on November 8, 2009, at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, Rihanna joined him on stage and performed "Hard" for the first time, then performed "Run This Town" with Jay-Z. Among his success, Jay-Z has ventured into producing Broadway shows. Along with Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, Jay-Z helped produce the play Fela!, a musical celebrating the work of the late Nigerian star Fela Kuti. Jay-Z said he was inspired by the power of Kuti's work and his life story, which resulted in his interest to help produce the musical. Fela! is a story about an African pioneer and political activist who made his first moves on the scene during the 1970s.
On January 23, 2010, Jay-Z released a track, "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)", with Rihanna, and U2's Bono and The Edge, and performed it at the Hope For Haiti Now telethon. In June 2010, Eminem and Jay-Z announced they would perform together in a pair of concerts in Detroit and New York. The event was dubbed The Home & Home Tour. The first two concerts rapidly sold out, prompting the scheduling of an additional show at each venue. Jay-Z was the supporting act for U2 on the Australian and New Zealand leg of their U2 360° Tour, beginning in Auckland, New Zealand, in November 2010, followed by Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth in December.
Jay-Z would later appear with Kanye West on Watch the Throne, a full-length LP with origins as a five-track EP. Recording sessions for the album took place at various recording locations and began in November 2010. The first single released for the project was "H•A•M". The track was co-produced by Lex Luger and West himself. The track ended up being on the deluxe edition of the album. The follow-up to that was the second single "Otis", which premiered on Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 radio show, and was later released to the iTunes Store eleven days later. The song's existence, along with several other tracks from the album, was confirmed during a listening session hosted by Jay-Z. The album was first released on the iTunes Store, five days prior to its being released in physical format, a strategy Jay-Z later said was used to block an internet leak. It debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes Store in 23 countries. It also broke Coldplay's record for most albums sold in one week on the online retailer, selling 290,000 copies on iTunes alone. It held that record until Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV was released twenty-one days later, selling 10,000 copies more. It debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at No. 1, selling 436,000 copies in its first week. The album received generally positive reviews. Jay-Z and West later gave a surprise performance of "Otis" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.
2012–2016: Magna Carta Holy Grail and other ventures
In May 2012, Jay-Z and former Philadelphia mayor Michael A. Nutter announced Jay-Z as the curator and the headliner for the first annual "Budweiser Made in America" festival at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on September 1 and 2, 2012. The performance was produced by Live Nation and assembled an eclectic lineup of "rock, hip hop, R&B, Latin music and dance" musicians. Jay-Z and Rihanna were the two main headlining acts for BBC Radio 1's 2012 Hackney Weekend music festival on June 23 to 24. Jay-Z opened his set with an appearance from Rihanna, they performed "Run this Town". On September 6, "Clique" was released, a single from the album "Cruel Summer", by GOOD Music. Kanye West and Big Sean starred alongside Jay-Z on the track. Jay-Z took the subway to his sold-out show at The Barclays Center on October 6, 2012. In December 2012, Coldplay performed with Jay-Z at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
On September 23, 2010, Q-Tip confirmed working on Jay-Z's follow-up album to The Blueprint 3, saying the album was to hit stores by spring 2011. In May 2012 it was reported that Jay-Z would work on new music with Roc Nation producer Jahlil Beats. Beats told XXL magazine: "Me and Jay-Z been going back and forth. He picked a couple of my joints that he's working on. I don't even wanna say too much about Jay, but we definitely working on some stuff. I haven't even sent him a bunch of beats. I sent him my favorite stuff. He hit me right back like, 'Yo, I'ma go in on this,' or, 'I like this.'" The album was named one of the most anticipated albums of 2013 by Complex Magazine, MTV, and XXL. The album was produced by Jahlil Beats, Kanye West, Rick Rubin, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, and Pharrell Williams. Jay-Z also co-produced and performed on Justin Timberlake's comeback single "Suit & Tie" from his third studio album The 20/20 Experience, the song itself was produced by both Jay-Z and Timberlake's mutual friend, Timbaland. In July 2013, Timberlake and Jay-Z embarked on the co-headlining Legends of the Summer Stadium Tour.
During the fifth game of the 2013 NBA Finals, Carter announced his twelfth studio album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, and was released on July 4, 2013. Not long after, Jay-Z confirmed that the hyphen in his stage name would be left out and officially stylized in all capital letters. Magna Carta Holy Grail debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold 528,000 copies in its first week, which bypassed its predicted debut in the range of 350,000 to 400,000.
In December 2013, it was announced that Jay-Z had received nine nominations at the 2014 Grammy Awards, more than any other artist. Jay-Z appeared on his wife Beyoncé's self-titled fifth studio album, Beyoncé, with a feature on the song "Drunk in Love". They performed this song together at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards opening. The song and its accompanying album would later win three Grammy Awards including Best R&B Performance at the 2015 ceremony. In 2016, he won a lawsuit for the song "Made in America" with Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean against Joel McDonald.
2017–present: 4:44, Everything Is Love and Book of HOV exhibit
In 2017, Jay-Z released his 13th solo studio album, 4:44. Two years later, he became hip-hop's first artist to achieve billionaire status.
In early June 2017, posters were displayed in New York City and Los Angeles, and banner ads were placed on the Internet promoting a Tidal-related project titled 4:44. A teaser ad was aired during the NBA Finals on June 7 featuring actors Mahershala Ali, Lupita Nyong'o and Danny Glover in a one-minute video, ending in "4:44 – 6.30.17, Exclusively on Tidal". On June 18, the project was confirmed to be a new Jay-Z album, and a clip featuring a song titled "Adnis" was posted on Sprint's YouTube page.
4:44 was released through Roc Nation and Universal Music Group, as an exclusive to Sprint and Tidal customers. The album is the first in a planned series of music exclusives from the Sprint–Tidal partnership. For a short time, on July 2, the album was made available for free digital download in Tidal's site. A physical edition was released on July 7, including three additional tracks. On the same day, the album was made available to other streaming platforms, such as Apple Music, Google Play Music and Amazon Music.
The album received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its emotional and personal content. On July 5, the album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in recognition of one million copies purchased by Sprint and offered to consumers as free downloads. It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, making it Jay-Z's 13th consecutive studio album to top the chart. The album spawned two singles, the title track "4:44" and "Bam", as well as several music videos, directed by a variety of high-profile collaborators. The album received a Grammy Award nomination for Album of the Year, while the title track was nominated for Song of the Year and "The Story of O.J." was nominated for Record of the Year at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
On June 6, 2018, Jay-Z and Beyoncé kicked-off the On the Run II Tour in Cardiff, United Kingdom. Ten days later, at their final London performance, the pair unveiled Everything Is Love, their much-awaited joint studio album, credited under the name The Carters. The pair also released the video for the album's lead single, "Apeshit", on Beyoncé's official YouTube channel. The song won two awards from eight nominations at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards.
In 2021, Jay-Z was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with fellow rapper LL Cool J. He also appeared on the song "Jail" on Kanye West's 2021 album Donda, which went on to win Grammy Award for Best Rap Song at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards and on the song "Love All" from Drake's 2021 album Certified Lover Boy.
In 2022, his first feature was a collaboration with fellow rapper Pusha T, "Neck & Wrist" featuring Pharrell Williams from Pusha T's album, It's Almost Dry. His feature was succeeded by a four-minute guest appearance on DJ Khaled's album title track, "God Did". He also was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live), as a producer for the Super Bowl LVI halftime show.
In 2023, the Brooklyn Library featured the Book of HOV exhibit. The showcase included artifacts commemorating Jay-Z's career. The next year, the exhibit was turned into a book, The Book of HOV: A Tribute to Jay-Z. Similar to the exhibit, the physical book recounted Jay-Z's life and career, including images, interviews, and professional insights.
Musical style
Influences
Jay-Z says his earliest exposure to music was through his parents' record collection, which was mostly of soul artists such as Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway. He says "I grew up around music, listening to all types of people... I'm into music that has soul in it, whether it be rap, R&B, pop music, whatever. As long as I can feel their soul through the wax, that's what I really listen to." He often uses excerpts from these artists as samples in his work, particularly in the Kanye West productions included on The Blueprint.
Rapping technique
Known for his lyrical prowess which often utilises double entendres, witty wordplays, and mixes messages with braggadocio, his music often describes his rise from poverty to vast wealth.
Royce da 5'9" and Fredro Starr of Onyx both describe Jay-Z's emphasis on flow in the book How to Rap—Starr says that Jay-Z is "a master of the flow—he can flow fast, he can flow slow". The book describes how Jay-Z uses 'rests' to provide structure to a verse and how he uses 'partial linking' to add more rhymes to a verse. Jay-Z's early style is described by Vibe as "a distinctly Das EFX-type, stiggety style" on his 12" single "Can't Get With That", referring to the fast rhythms and vocal delivery of the group Das EFX. He is also known to write lyrics in his head, as described by Pusha T of Clipse in How to Rap, a style popular with many MCs such as The Notorious B.I.G., Everlast, Bobby Creekwater and Guerilla Black. Shock G of Digital Underground describes Jay-Z's live performance style, saying he "rarely breaks a sweat, and instead uses smoothness and clever wordplay to keep the audience interested and entertained". Jay-Z's fast rapping technique, also known as the "triplet time", was developed during his early years of creating music with former mentor Jaz-O.
Business career
Jay-Z has also established himself as a successful entrepreneur with a business empire spanning a variety of industries from clothing lines, beverages, real estate, sport teams, and record labels. In an interview, he stated that "my brands are an extension of me. They're close to me. It's not like running GM, where there's no emotional attachment."
Rocawear
Jay-Z and Damon Dash are the founders of the urban clothing brand Rocawear. Rocawear has clothing lines and accessories for men, women and children. The line was taken over by Jay-Z in early 2006 following a falling out with Dash. In March 2007, Jay-Z sold the rights to the Rocawear brand to Iconix Brand Group for $204 million. He retains his stake in the company and continues to oversee the marketing, licensing and product development.
Reebok
Jay-Z became the first rapper in Reebok's history to endorse the company's footwear, signing a three-year endorsement deal. He later appeared in a 2003 Reebok collection advertising his S. Carter Collection. Later that year, he and frenemy 50 Cent appeared in a commercial to promote their S. Carter and G-Unit footwears for the company, with a Just Blaze-produced song made for it.
In 2006, Jay-Z's deal with Reebok expired with no renewal.
Alcoholic beverages
In 2014, Jay-Z invested $200 million in Armand de Brignac champagne—owned at the time by Sovereign Brands, a New York–based wine and spirits company—for a 100 percent stake, making it the second alcoholic product acquisition in his financial investment portfolio. The brand is known for its popularity with high-profile artists as being the gold bottles often referred to in media. His ties to the company date back to 2006, and he received millions of dollars per year for his association with Armand de Brignac before he bought the entire company.
Jay-Z serves as co-brand director for Budweiser Select and collaborates with the company on strategic marketing programs and creative ad development. He provides direction on brand programs and ads that appear on TV, radio, print, and high-profile events.
Technology
In March 2015, Jay-Z completed the $56 million acquisition of Aspiro, a Norwegian media technology company that operates the subscription-based music streaming service Tidal, which has been in operation since October 2014. The music service was acquired through his company Project Panther Bidco Ltd. (an entity indirectly owned by Jay-Z's S. Carter Enterprises a company holding interests in leading international music, media and entertainment companies). The music service combines audio and music videos with curated editorial. The main idea of the service is to bring major revenue streams back to the music artists themselves as the idea of an artist-owned streaming platform was stated as to "restore the value to music by launching a service owned by artists." Jay-Z currently is a major shareholder in the company.
In July 2015, Carter made a significant investment to JetSmarter, an app helping people book private executive plane flights. The app was built by Sergey Petrossov.
Music industry
From 2005 to 2007, Jay-Z was inaugurated as the president of Def Jam Recordings. Under Jay-Z's leadership, Def Jam launched the successful careers of contemporary R&B singers Rihanna and Ne-Yo. At the end of 2007, after he released American Gangster, Jay-Z decided not to renew his contract as the president and CEO of Def Jam. Shortly after, he started his Live Nation venture, Roc Nation.
In April 2011, it was reported that Jay-Z had outbid executives at Universal Music and Jive Records to acquire independent record label Block Starz Music.
Sporting business
For a decade (2003–2013), Jay-Z enjoyed his role as a part-owner of the Brooklyn Nets NBA team, having paid a reported $1 million for his share, which declined in value to $350,000 in April 2013, based on Forbes magazine's valuation of the team. He encouraged the team's relocation to Brooklyn's Barclays Center (from New Jersey) in the 2012–2013 season, at which point the team took on the Brooklyn Nets moniker.
On April 18, 2013, Jay-Z officially announced through his Life + Times website in a press release that he would be relinquishing his ownership in the Brooklyn Nets. The shares were eventually sold to singer, rapper, actor and entrepreneur Will Pan, making Pan the first American of Taiwanese descent to own a U.S. professional sports franchise. Jay-Z's cited Pan's athletic background (he was a team captain of his high school basketball team and played in college), his multitude of musical styles, his influence in the Taiwanese American community, and his business acumen and portfolio (including being the founder and chief executive of software company Camigo Media and a co-founder of streetwear boutique N.P.C [New Project Center]), as reasons why his bid was successful.
In September 2013, his stake in Barclays Center was sold for $1.5 million.
On April 2, 2013, ESPN reported Jay-Z's plans to launch his own sports agency, Roc Nation Sports, with a focus on the representation of various professional athletes. The sport management group is a partnership with Creative Artists Agency. In conjunction with the agency's launch, New York Yankees's second baseman Robinson Canó left agent Scott Boras to sign with the company. ESPN also mentioned that Jay-Z himself was planning to be a certified sports agent, first in baseball and eventually in basketball and football. In order to represent clients in basketball, he would have to give up his small share of the Brooklyn Nets.
In October 2005, he was reported in English media as considering buying a stake of Arsenal F.C., an English soccer team. Through his conglomerate company Gain Global Investments Network LLC, he had an interest estimated between 2 and 7% in the Aqueduct Entertainment Group (AEG) consortium, which in January 2010 was awarded a contract to operate a 4,500-slot-machine racino at the Aqueduct Race Track. Jay-Z became interested in the project after New York Governor David Paterson who awarded the contract said there had to be an affirmative action component to the ownership. Jay-Z was initially approached by casino mogul Steve Wynn, who was also bidding on the contract. On March 9, 2010, Jay-Z and Flake withdrew from the project, and Paterson recused himself from further involvement.
Media
On April 5, 2011, Jay-Z launched the popular culture and lifestyle online magazine Life + Times. It features content that showcases his high-end tastes in clothing, appliances, and cars. The site design is aesthetically aimed at the upwardly mobile young male demographic, with sports and music-related posts accompanying those about fashion and design. Among the music content is the Decoded series, originating from Jay-Z's memoir of the same name and featuring a select rapper deciphering their own lyrics.
In January 2015, after being contacted by the webzine, the DJ and radio host Funkmaster Flex revealed that he had been contacted in 2013 for a story about a digital app he made at the time, but alleged that the information was instead used to help launch the Magna Carta Samsung app for the release of Jay-Z's album of the same name. "But I was good with that. I ate that. Everybody's out here hustling", Flex reasoned to Vibe.
In 2016, he signed a two-year exclusive film and TV Deal with Weinstein Company and with the deal gives them first-look options to create scripted and unscripted TV projects and film projects, and those projects were in works. As part of his deal with Weinstein company, he produced a documentary series on the life of Kalief Browder who was imprisoned for three years and committed suicide upon his release. He also addressed racial profiling and police brutality in a conscious manner.
Other ventures
Jay-Z also co-owns the 40/40 Club, an upscale sports bar that started in New York City, and has since expanded to Atlantic City and Chicago. In 2008, the 40/40 Club in Las Vegas was closed down and bought back by the hotel after attendance steadily declined. In 2005, Jay-Z became an investor in Carol's Daughter, a line of beauty products, including products for hair, skin, and hands.
In 2010, he announced plans to expand his 40/40 Club sports bar chain into as many as 20 airports, joining his Roc Nation business partners, husband and wife Juan and Desiree Perez, in a deal with Delaware North.
On November 16, 2010, Jay-Z published a memoir entitled Decoded. The memoir was co-signed by Dream Hampton.
Parlux fragrances sued Jay-Z for $18 million for the failure of his cologne, Gold. They claim the cologne's failure is due to Jay-Z not doing social media posts and interviews about the cologne. Parlux claims they projected selling $15 million the first year, and $35 million the second, and subsequent years after the launch. The fragrance sold $14 million the first year and $6.1 million the second. Parlux lost money on the venture and have had constant returns of unsold inventory.
Jay-Z collaborated with Cohiba to launch his own cigars.
In August 2020, Jay-Z's Roc Nation partnered with Brooklyn's Long Island University to establish the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment.
In November 2020, it was announced that Jay-Z would be join TPCO Holding Corp., a newly formed cannabis products company, in the role of "Chief Visionary Officer".
On December 5, 2022, Jay-Z and the Roc Nation announced their partnership with Caesars Entertainment to build and operate a casino hotel in Times Square. The proposal was voted down by a community advisory committee in September 2025.
Relationship with Beyoncé
In 2002, Jay-Z and singer Beyoncé Knowles collaborated on the song "'03 Bonnie & Clyde". He also appeared on Beyoncé's hit single, "Crazy in Love" the following year, as well as the song "That's How You Like It" from her debut album Dangerously in Love (2003). On her second album, B'Day, he made appearances on the hits "Déjà Vu" and "Upgrade U". In the video for the latter song, she comically imitates his appearance. They kept a low profile while dating, and were married on April 4, 2008, in a private ceremony in Tribeca, New York City. Their relationship became a matter of public record on April 22, 2008, although Beyoncé did not publicly debut her US$5 million Lorraine Schwartz-designed wedding ring until the Fashion Rocks concert on September 5, 2008. Since their marriage, they generally avoid discussing their relationship, and Beyoncé has stated her belief that this has helped them, while Jay-Z agreed in a People article that they do not "play with [their] relationship".
In 2006, Beyoncé and Jay-Z were listed as the most powerful couple for Time magazine's 100 most influential people. In January 2009, Forbes ranked them as Hollywood's top-earning couple, with a combined total of $162 million. They made it to the top of the list the following year, with a combined total of US$122 million between June 2008 and June 2009.
At the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Beyoncé revealed that she was pregnant with their first child. Their daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, was born at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital on January 7, 2012. Jay-Z released "Glory", a song dedicated to Blue Ivy, through his Life+Times website on January 9, 2012. The song, produced by frequent collaborators the Neptunes, detailed the couple's pregnancy struggles, including a miscarriage Beyoncé had suffered. Blue Ivy's cries were included at the end of the song, and she was officially credited on the song as "B.I.C"; she became the youngest person in Billboard history (at two days old) to have a chart entry once "Glory" debuted at No. 74 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
On June 18, 2017, Beyoncé's father Mathew Knowles confirmed that she had given birth to twins with Jay-Z, a daughter named Rumi and a son named Sir. In the following months, they purchased a US$88 million home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles.
In 2023, the couple bought a house in Malibu, California, designed by the architect Tadao Ando, for $200 million. It established a record for the most expensive residence sold in California. In 2025, Beyoncé and Jay-Z reportedly began plans to relocate permanently to the United Kingdom. The couple is said to be seeking a residence in the Cotswolds, following Beyoncé's transition into country music and the UK leg of her Cowboy Carter World Tour.
Legal issues
1999 Lance "Un" Rivera stabbing
On December 2, 1999, Jay-Z, who had come to believe that record executive Lance "Un" Rivera was behind the bootlegging of Vol. 3..., allegedly stabbed him at the Kit Kat Klub, a now-defunct night club in Times Square, New York City, during a release party for Q-Tip's album Amplified. Jay-Z's associates at the party were accused of causing a commotion within the club, which Jay-Z allegedly used as cover while he stabbed Rivera in the stomach with a five-inch (127 mm) blade. He surrendered to police the following evening and was placed under arrest, although he was soon released on $50,000 bail. When he was indicted in Manhattan Criminal Court in late January 2000, he pleaded not guilty; he and his lawyers contended that they had witnesses and videotapes proving he had been nowhere near Rivera during the incident. Nevertheless, he later pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and accepted a three-year probation sentence.
Jay-Z later addressed the case in his 2010 book Decoded:
One night I went to Q-Tip's solo album release party and at some point in the night, I ran into the guy everyone's been telling me is behind the bootleg. So I approached him. When I told him what I suspected, to my surprise, he got real loud with me right there in the middle of the club. It was strange. We separated and I went over to the bar. I was sitting there like, "No the fuck this nigga did not..." I was talking to people, but I was really talking to myself out loud, just in a state of shock. Before I even realized what I was doing, I headed back over to him, but this time I was blacking out with anger. The next thing I knew, all hell had broken loose in the club. That night the guy went straight to the police and I was indicted. [...] There was no reason to put my life on the line, and the lives of everyone who depends on me, because of a momentary loss of control. [...] I vowed to never allow myself to be in a situation like that again.
In 2023, Rivera stated that Jay-Z lied, and was not the one that stabbed him: "No. Jay-Z was not the guy that actually stabbed me that night (...) it's never been his history". Rapper Nas, who feuded with Jay-Z in the early 2000s, had also claimed in his 2001 diss track "Ether" that Jay-Z was not Rivera's stabber. Rivera commented on this, stating, "The reality to it is Nas — and I don’t know why didn’t nobody believe him — on 'Ether' he talked about the incident. He let people know like, 'Yo, your man stabbed Un and you took the blame for it.'"
Civil lawsuits
In October 2024, an anonymous woman identifying as Jane Doe, with the assistance of hired attorneys Tony Buzbee, David Fortney, and Antigone Curis, filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, accusing two celebrities of sexual assault at an MTV Video Music Awards after-party in 2000. A couple months after the initial filing, the lawsuit was amended to name Jay-Z as a defendant. Jay-Z denied the allegations and described it as a blackmail attempt.
In December 2024, the accuser participated in an interview with NBC News, during which she acknowledged making “mistakes” in her recollection of certain details surrounding the alleged events, such as the timeline and the identities of people present, while maintaining that the core of her accusation was true. According to the NBC News investigation, Doe’s inconsistencies included her earlier claim that her father picked her up after the alleged assault, something her father says he does not recall as they lived five hours away from New York. She also claimed to have spoken with musician Benji Madden at the afterparty about his tattoos, but his representatives confirmed he was touring the midwest at the time and did not attend the VMAs. Additionally, photographs from the event showed Jay-Z and Combs in different locations on the evening in question, though the precise whereabouts of the rappers over the full time span remain unverified.
On February 14, 2025, the lawsuit against Jay-Z was officially dropped. A filing in federal court in Manhattan stated that the case was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice, not allowing for a future refiling. The suit was dismissed without settlement. Shortly thereafter, Jay-Z described the outcome as "a victory." However, despite her decision to dismiss the lawsuit, the plaintiff still maintains that she was raped by Jay-Z.
Philanthropy
During his first retirement from music, Jay-Z became involved in philanthropy. In 2003, along with his mother, Jay-Z founded the Shawn Carter Foundation, which assists eligible students facing socio-economic hardships attend and get through college. In August 2006, he met with Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations at the organization's New York City headquarters, where he pledged to use his upcoming world tour to raise awareness of the global water shortage, a challenge he learned about following a visit to Africa by Bono, the lead singer of U2. The effort took place in partnership with the UN, as well as MTV, which produced a documentary entitled Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life, first airing in November 2006. Along with Sean "Diddy" Combs, Jay-Z pledged $1 million to the American Red Cross's relief effort after Hurricane Katrina. Jay-Z supported Kanye West after West's outburst against President George W. Bush during a live Katrina charity telethon. He also addressed the Katrina disaster and the federal government's response in his one-verse song "Minority Report".
Jay-Z has said that "the greatest form of giving is anonymous to anonymous". In 2013, author dream hampton, who co-wrote Jay-Z's book Decoded, revealed that Jay-Z had established a trust fund for Sean Bell's children.
Jay-Z donated to bail out protestors arrested during 2015 activism against police brutality.
In March 2020, Jay-Z donated $1 million through the Shawn Carter Foundation to aid in relief during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York. In April 2020, along with Meek Mill, he donated over 100,000 face masks to U.S. prisons to assist in protecting prison inmates from COVID-19.
Political involvement
In 2006, Jay-Z appeared with Russell Simmons in a public service announcement denouncing racism and anti-Semitism, sponsored by the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. In 2008, Jay-Z was involved in the 2008 United States presidential election, supporting enhanced voter participation. He supported the 2008 presidential candidacy of Barack Obama and performed voter-drive concerts financed by the Democrats' campaign. He also became acquainted with Obama, who in June 2008 said, "Every time I talk to Jay-Z, who is a brilliant talent and a good guy, I enjoy how he thinks. That's somebody who is going to start branching out and can help shape attitudes in a real positive way."
During the 2010 mid-term elections, Jay-Z appeared with other artists in a HeadCount advertisement, urging voters, especially younger ones, to register and vote. In May 2012, Jay-Z endorsed President Obama's support of same-sex marriage and participated in his re-election campaign.
Musician and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte was critical of Jay-Z and Beyoncé for what he saw as their safe political stances, saying that they "have turned their back on social responsibility".
In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Jay-Z and Beyoncé appeared at a Hillary Clinton rally in Cleveland. Clinton praised Jay-Z for addressing racism, oppression, and the criminal justice system. He described Donald Trump as a "superbug" and condemned remarks he perceived as racist, but later said that Trump's rhetoric forced people to come together and address difficult issues such as white privilege.
Discography
Studio albums
Reasonable Doubt (1996)
In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997)
Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life (1998)
Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter (1999)
The Dynasty: Roc La Familia (2000)
The Blueprint (2001)
The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002)
The Black Album (2003)
Kingdom Come (2006)
American Gangster (2007)
The Blueprint 3 (2009)
Magna Carta Holy Grail (2013)
4:44 (2017)
Collaborative albums
The Best of Both Worlds with R. Kelly (2002)
Unfinished Business with R. Kelly (2004)
Watch the Throne with Kanye West (2011)
Everything Is Love with Beyoncé (as the Carters) (2018)
Filmography
Streets Is Watching (1998)
Backstage (2000)
State Property (2002)
Paper Soldiers (2002)
Paid in Full (2002, producer)
Fade to Black (2004)
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (2012, co-executive producer)
The Great Gatsby (2013, executive producer)
Made in America (2013, documentary)
Top Five (2014, co-producer)
Annie (2014, producer)
Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story (2018, executive producer)
The Harder They Fall (2021, producer)
The Book of Clarence (2023, producer)
Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé (2023)
Tours
Headlining
Reasonable Doubt Tour (1996)
Hard Knock Life Tour (1999)
Blueprint Lounge Tour (2001)
Hangar Tour (2006)
American Gangster Live (2007)
Jay-Z Fall Tour/Blueprint 3 Tour (2009–2010)
Magna Carter World Tour (2013–2014)
4:44 Tour (2017)
Co-headlining
Rock the Mic (with 50 Cent) (2003)
Best of Both Worlds Tour (with R. Kelly) (2004)
Heart of the City Tour (with Mary J. Blige) (2008)
Jay-Z & Ciara Live (with Ciara) (2009)
The Home & Home Tour (with Eminem) (2010)
Watch the Throne Tour (with Kanye West) (2011–2012)
Legends of the Summer Stadium Tour (with Justin Timberlake) (2013)
On the Run Tour (with Beyoncé) (2014)
On the Run II Tour (with Beyoncé) (2018)
Supporting
No Way Out Tour (with Puff Daddy & Bad Boy Records) (1997)
Projekt Revolution 2008 Europe (with Linkin Park) (2008)
Viva la Vida Tour (with Coldplay) (2008)
U2 360° Tour (with U2) (2009–2011)
Books
Decoded by Jay-Z (2010: Spiegel & Grau, 336 pages), ISBN 978-1-4000-6892-0. Part memoir and part a collection of Jay-Z lyrics with the stories behind them.
Awards and nominations
In 2006, he was enstooled as the Sarkin Waka of Kwara in the Nigerian chieftaincy system.
See also
List of celebrities who own cannabis businesses
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of best-selling music artists
List of largest music deals
List of celebrities by net worth
Murder Inc.
The Carters
The Throne
Notes
References
Further reading
Greenburg, Zack O'Malley (2011). Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. ISBN 978-1-59184-381-8.
Edwards, Paul (2009). How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781556528163.
External links
Official website
Jay-Z at IMDb
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Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named the greatest rapper of all time by Billboard and Vibe in 2023. Known for his complex lyrical ability—which often uses double entendres and word play—and braggadocio, his music is built upon a rags to riches narrative. He served as president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007, and founded the entertainment company Roc Nation the following year. He is the world's richest musical artist, worth $2.6 billion as of 2025.
A protégé of fellow New York City-based rapper Jaz-O, Jay-Z began his musical career in the late 1980s; he co-founded the record label Roc-A-Fella Records in 1994 to release his first two studio albums Reasonable Doubt (1996) and In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997), both of which were met with critical acclaim. Each of his eleven subsequent albums, including The Blueprint (2001), The Black Album (2003), American Gangster (2007), and 4:44 (2017), debuted atop the Billboard 200; Jay-Z has 14 number-one albums on the chart, the second-most for any solo artist (tied with Drake). He has also released the collaborative albums The Best of Both Worlds (2002) and Unfinished Business (2004) with singer R. Kelly, Collision Course (2004) with Linkin Park, Watch the Throne (2011) with Kanye West, and Everything Is Love (2018) with his wife Beyoncé. He peaked the Billboard Hot 100 on four occasions: once as a lead artist with his 2009 single "Empire State of Mind" (featuring Alicia Keys), and thrice with his guest performances on the singles "Heartbreaker" by Mariah Carey, "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé, and "Umbrella" by Rihanna.
Through his business ventures, Jay-Z became the first hip-hop billionaire in 2019. In 1999, he co-founded the clothing retailer Rocawear and later founded the 40/40 Club, a luxury bar chain, in 2003. As both grew into multi-million-dollar businesses, he launched Roc Nation, a multi-disciplinary entertainment agency in 2008. In 2015, he acquired the technology company Aspiro and led the expansion of Tidal, the company's media streaming service.
One of the world's best-selling music artists with 140 million records sold, Jay-Z has won 25 Grammy Awards, the eighth-most of all time and the most of any hip-hop artist. He is the recipient of the NAACP's President's Award and three Emmy Awards (including two Primetime Emmy Awards), in addition to being nominated for a Tony Award. Ranked by Billboard and Rolling Stone as one of the 100 greatest artists of all time, Jay-Z was the first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the first solo living rapper inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013.
Early life and education
Shawn Corey Carter was born on December 4, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York City. He was raised in Marcy Houses, a public housing project in Brooklyn's Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood. His father, Adnis Reeves, abandoned the family when Jay-Z was 11 years old, and Jay-Z and his three older siblings were raised by their mother, Gloria Carter. Reeves later met and reconciled with Jay-Z prior to his death in 2003. Jay-Z claims in his lyrics to "You Must Love Me", the closing track on his 1997 album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, that in 1982, at age 12, he shot his older brother Eric in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry.
He attended Eli Whitney High School and George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, both in Brooklyn, and then Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey. He did not graduate, dropping out during his sophomore year at Trenton Central High School. According to his interviews and lyrics, he sold crack cocaine and was shot at three times during this period. His former friend was sentenced to prison for possessing drugs and weapons. Known as "Jazzy" around the neighborhood, he later adopted the stage name "Jay-Z" in homage to his mentor Jaz-O.
Career
1986–1995: Early career and recordings
Jay-Z can be briefly heard on several of Jaz-O's early recordings in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including "H. P. Gets Busy", "The Originators" and "Hawaiian Sophie". Jaz-O's record label came up with the idea to create an album with a concept reminiscent of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, featuring Jaz-O as the rapper, Jay-Z as the hype man, and Irv Gotti as the DJ. While working on the album Word to the Jaz in London in 1988, Jay-Z and Gotti began to build their relationship on the trip. Jay-Z became embroiled in several battles with rapper LL Cool J in the early 1990s. He first became known to a wide audience on the posse cut "Show and Prove" on the 1994 Big Daddy Kane album Daddy's Home. Jay-Z has been referred to as Big Daddy Kane's hype man during this period, although Kane explains that he did not fill the traditional hype man role, and was instead basically making cameo appearances on stage. "When I would leave the stage to go change outfits, I would bring out Jay-Z and Positive K and let them freestyle until I came back to the stage."
According to his second verse on "99 Problems", released in 2003, Jay-Z was allegedly stopped by an NYPD detective in 1994 while en route to I-95, possibly for a search of drugs in his car. Detection dogs were called, but another police car had passed; Jay-Z was let go soon after. Jay-Z appeared on a popular song by Big L, "Da Graveyard", and on Mic Geronimo's "Time to Build", which also featured early appearances by his former Murder Inc. colleagues Ja Rule and DMX in 1995. His first official rap single was "In My Lifetime", which was released with an accompanying music video in 1995. An unreleased music video was also produced for the B-side "I Can't Get with That".
1995–2000: Reasonable Doubt, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, Vol. 2..., Vol. 3..., and The Dynasty
With no major label to give him a record deal, Jay-Z sold burned CDs out of his car, and with Damon "Dame" Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke, created Roc-A-Fella Records as an independent label in 1995. After striking a distribution deal with Priority, Jay-Z released his 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt with beats from acclaimed producers such as DJ Premier and Super DJ Clark Kent and an appearance by The Notorious B.I.G. The album reached number 23 on the Billboard 200 and went gold that year. This album would later be included in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time as No. 248 and eventually reach platinum status. After reaching a new label distribution deal with Def Jam in 1997, Jay-Z released his follow-up In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. Featuring production by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, DJ Premier, and Ski, it earned platinum status in the United States.
In 1998, Jay-Z released Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life which spawned the biggest hit of his career at the time, "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)". He relied more on flow and wordplay, and he continued with his penchant for mining beats from the popular producers of the day such as Swizz Beatz, an upstart in-house producer for Ruff Ryders, and Timbaland. Other producers included DJ Premier, Erick Sermon, The 45 King, and Kid Capri. Charting hits from this album included "Can I Get A...", featuring Ja Rule and Amil, and "Nigga What, Nigga Who", featuring Amil and Jaz-O. Vol. 2 would eventually become Jay-Z's most commercially successful album; it was certified 5× Platinum in the United States and has to date sold over five million copies. The album went on to win a Grammy Award, although Jay-Z boycotted the ceremony protesting DMX's failure to garner a Grammy nomination and the academy's decision to not broadcast urban music categories.
In 1999, Jay-Z collaborated with Mariah Carey on "Heartbreaker", a song from her seventh album, Rainbow. The song became Jay-Z's first chart-topper in the U.S., spending two weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. In that same year, Jay-Z released Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter. The album proved successful and sold over 3 million copies. Vol. 3's most successful single was "Big Pimpin'", featuring UGK.
In 2000, Jay-Z released The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, which was originally intended to become a compilation album for Roc-A-Fella artists but Def Jam turned into a Jay-Z album. The album helped to introduce newcomer producers The Neptunes, Just Blaze, Kanye West, and Bink, which have all gone on to achieve notable success. This is also the first album where Jay-Z utilizes a more soulful sound than his previous albums. The Dynasty sold over two million units in the U.S. alone.
2001–2002: Feud with Nas, Prodigy, The Blueprint and The Blueprint2
In 2001, Jay-Z spoke out against Prodigy after he took an issue with Jay-Z's "Money, Cash, Hoes." Prodigy felt that the lyrics alluded disparagingly to his shared dispute with Mobb Deep against Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and Death Row Records. He later performed the song "Takeover", at Summer Jam 2001, a diss-track about Nas, Prodigy, and Mobb Deep. At the same concert, Jay-Z brought Michael Jackson up on stage with him. A line at the end of "Takeover" referred to Nas, who criticized him on "We Will Survive". Nas responded with a diss of his own, and Jay-Z straightaway added a verse to "Takeover" which dissed Nas and would start a feud between the two rappers. The feud had ended by 2005; Jay-Z stated that record producer Mark Pitts had helped them settle their differences.
On September 11, 2001, Jay-Z released his sixth studio album, The Blueprint, which received a five-mic review from hip-hop magazine The Source. Written in just two days, the album sold more than 427,000 copies, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and reached double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. Eminem guest performed and produced its song, "Renegade". Four tracks were produced by Kanye West. The Blueprint includes the songs "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)", "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Jigga That Nigga", and "Song Cry". As of February 2012, the album had sold 2.7 million copies worldwide. In 2019, The Blueprint was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In October 2001, Jay-Z pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for stabbing record producer Lance Rivera at the Kit Kat Klub in New York City in 1999. Despite Jay-Z's sentence of three years probation for the crime, Rivera later recanted the allegations in 2023.
Jay-Z then collaborated with Chicago singer R. Kelly to release collaborative studio album, The Best of Both Worlds in March 2002. In November of that year, Jay-Z released his seventh studio album The Blueprint2: The Gift & The Curse—a double album. The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at number one, selling over 3 million units solely in the U.S. and surpassing The Blueprint. It yielded a single-disc re-issue, The Blueprint 2.1, which retained half of the songs from the original. Its original release spawned two hit singles, "Excuse Me Miss" and "'03 Bonnie & Clyde", which features Jay-Z's then-girlfriend, Beyoncé, and contained the track "A Dream", featuring Faith Evans and the late Notorious B.I.G.; the re-issue spawned the single "La-La-La", which was a sequel to "Excuse Me Miss" and failed to match its commercial success.
2003–2005: The Black Album and initial retirement
After visiting the south of France, Jay-Z announced work on his eighth studio album, The Black Album at the opening of the 40/40 Club. He worked with several producers including Just Blaze, The Neptunes, Kanye West, Timbaland, Eminem, DJ Quik, 9th Wonder, The Buchanans, and Rick Rubin. Notable songs on the album included "What More Can I Say", "Dirt off Your Shoulder", "Change Clothes", and "99 Problems". The Black Album has sold over 3 million copies in the U.S.
On November 25, 2003, Jay-Z held a concert—billed as a "retirement party" at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which was later the focus of his 2004 documentary, Fade to Black. All proceeds went to charity. Other performers included collaborators the Roots (in the form of his backing band), Missy Elliott, Memphis Bleek, Beanie Siegel, Freeway, Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé, Twista, Ghostface Killah, Foxy Brown, Pharrell Williams and R. Kelly, with appearances by Voletta Wallace and Afeni Shakur, the mothers of the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur, respectively. While Jay-Z had attested to a retirement from making new studio albums, various side projects and appearances soon followed. Included in these were a greatest hits record, as well as the release and tour of Unfinished Business, the second collaborative album between Jay-Z and R. Kelly.
In 2004, Jay-Z collaborated with rock group Linkin Park, in which they released their collaborative remix EP Collision Course, which featured mashups of both artists' songs, as well as a concert DVD. The album's only single, "Numb/Encore", went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, and was performed with Linkin Park live at the Grammys, with a special appearance by Paul McCartney, who added verses from the song "Yesterday". The EP sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. Jay-Z was the executive producer of The Rising Tied, the debut album of Fort Minor, the hip hop side project of Linkin Park rapper Mike Shinoda. Jay-Z also planned to retire in 2004.
Later in 2004, Jay-Z was named president of Def Jam Records, which led to Jay-Z, Dash and Biggs selling their remaining interests in Roc-A-Fella Records and Jay-Z taking control of both of the companies. This major industry move was reportedly prompted by disagreements between Jay-Z and Dash as to what direction Roc-A-Fella could undertake.
2005–2007: Kingdom Come and American Gangster
On October 27, 2005, Jay-Z headlined New York's Power 105.1 annual concert, Powerhouse. The concert's title, "I Declare War," led to intense speculation in the preceding weeks on whom exactly Jay-Z would declare war. As he had previously "declared war" on other artists taking lyrical shots at him at other events, many believed that the concert's title represented an all-out assault by Jay-Z upon his rivals. The theme of the concert was Jay-Z's position as president and CEO of Def Jam, complete with an on-stage mock-up of the Oval Office. Many artists made appearances such as the old roster of Roc-A-Fella records artists, as well as Ne-Yo, Teairra Marí, T.I., Young Jeezy, Akon, Kanye West, Paul Wall, The LOX, and Diddy.
At the conclusion of the concert, Jay-Z put many arguments to rest to the surprise of hip hop fans. The most significant development in this show was closure to the infamous hip hop rivalry between Jay-Z and Nas. The two former rivals shook hands and shared the stage together to perform Jay-Z's "Dead Presidents" blended with Nas's song "The World is Yours".
Jay-Z returned with his comeback album on November 21, 2006, titled Kingdom Come. Jay-Z's comeback single, "Show Me What You Got", was leaked on the Internet in early October 2006. The album, which was scheduled for release later on that month, received heavy air-play after its leak, causing the FBI to step in and investigate. Jay-Z worked with video director Hype Williams, and the single's video was directed by F. Gary Gray. The album features production from Just Blaze, Pharrell, Kanye West, Dr. Dre and Coldplay's Chris Martin (single entitled "Beach Chair"). The first week saw 680,000 sales of the CD, enough to be his "biggest sales week ever" as Billboard reported. This album has sold 2 million copies in the U.S. and is certified double platinum.
Jay-Z released his tenth album entitled American Gangster on November 6, 2007. After viewing the Ridley Scott film of the same name, Jay-Z was heavily inspired to create a new "concept" album that depicts his experiences as a street-hustler.
The album is not the film's official soundtrack, although it was distributed by Def Jam.
Jay-Z's American Gangster depicts his life in correlation to the movie American Gangster. At the start of the album's first single, "Blue Magic", Jay-Z offers a dealer's manifesto while making references to political figures of the late 1980s with the lyric: "Blame Reagan for making me to into a monster, blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra, I ran contraband that they sponsored, before this rhymin' stuff we was in concert." Also notable about the "Blue Magic" music video was Jay-Z flashing €500 notes; Harvard Business School professor Rawi Abdelal called this a "turning point in American pop culture's response to globalization." The album has sold 1 million copies in the U.S. On January 1, 2008, Jay-Z resigned as president of Def Jam.
2008–2011: The Blueprint 3 and Watch the Throne
In winter 2008, it was announced that Jay-Z would become the first major hip hop artist to headline Britain's Glastonbury Festival. Tickets sold out quickly. Former headliner Noel Gallagher of Oasis condemned the festival organizers for choosing Jay-Z to headline a traditionally guitar-driven festival. "I'm sorry, but Jay-Z?" Gallagher asked, swearing. "No chance. Glastonbury has a tradition of, kind of, guitar music, do you know what I mean? And even when they throw the odd curve balls in on a Sunday night—you go, 'Kylie Minogue? I don't know about that', do you know what I mean?—but I'm not having hip hop at Glastonbury, no way, no, no. It's wrong." As controversy mounted, Jay-Z replied, "We don't play guitars, Noel, but hip hop has put in its work like any other form of music. This headline show is just a natural progression. Rap music is still evolving. We have to respect each other's genre of music and move forward." Jay-Z opened his Glastonbury set with a tongue-in-cheek cover of Oasis's iconic song "Wonderwall", and went on to deliver a performance heralded as a successful response to pre-festival criticism. The guitar used in this performance was later shown at the Book of HOV exhibit in the Brooklyn Library.
He also headlined many other summer festivals in 2008, including Roskilde Festival in Denmark, Hove Festival in Norway and O2 Wireless Festival in London. During Kanye West's concert of August 6, 2008, at Madison Square Garden, Jay-Z came out to perform a new song and he and West proclaimed that it was to be on The Blueprint 3. On May 21, 2009, Jay-Z announced he would be parting ways with Def Jam, and had struck a multi-million-dollar deal to sign with Live Nation, with whom he would start his Roc Nation imprint which would serve as a record label, talent/management agency, and music publishing company and also partnered with production team Stargate to start a record label called StarRoc. Jay-Z's 11th studio album The Blueprint 3 was originally to be released on September 11, 2009, but was instead released in North America on September 8, 2009, due to increasing anticipation. Its international release followed on September 14. It is his 11th album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and surpassed Elvis Presley's previous record. On October 9, 2009, Jay-Z kicked off his tour for The Blueprint 3, during which he supported his new album in North America. In a Shave Magazine review of his performance at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Jake Tomlinson expressed that "It was the type of smooth performance you would expect from the hip-hop superstar." The review gave this performance 4 stars. His North American tour continued until November 22, 2009. At his concert on November 8, 2009, at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, Rihanna joined him on stage and performed "Hard" for the first time, then performed "Run This Town" with Jay-Z. Among his success, Jay-Z has ventured into producing Broadway shows. Along with Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, Jay-Z helped produce the play Fela!, a musical celebrating the work of the late Nigerian star Fela Kuti. Jay-Z said he was inspired by the power of Kuti's work and his life story, which resulted in his interest to help produce the musical. Fela! is a story about an African pioneer and political activist who made his first moves on the scene during the 1970s.
On January 23, 2010, Jay-Z released a track, "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)", with Rihanna, and U2's Bono and The Edge, and performed it at the Hope For Haiti Now telethon. In June 2010, Eminem and Jay-Z announced they would perform together in a pair of concerts in Detroit and New York. The event was dubbed The Home & Home Tour. The first two concerts rapidly sold out, prompting the scheduling of an additional show at each venue. Jay-Z was the supporting act for U2 on the Australian and New Zealand leg of their U2 360° Tour, beginning in Auckland, New Zealand, in November 2010, followed by Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth in December.
Jay-Z would later appear with Kanye West on Watch the Throne, a full-length LP with origins as a five-track EP. Recording sessions for the album took place at various recording locations and began in November 2010. The first single released for the project was "H•A•M". The track was co-produced by Lex Luger and West himself. The track ended up being on the deluxe edition of the album. The follow-up to that was the second single "Otis", which premiered on Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 radio show, and was later released to the iTunes Store eleven days later. The song's existence, along with several other tracks from the album, was confirmed during a listening session hosted by Jay-Z. The album was first released on the iTunes Store, five days prior to its being released in physical format, a strategy Jay-Z later said was used to block an internet leak. It debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes Store in 23 countries. It also broke Coldplay's record for most albums sold in one week on the online retailer, selling 290,000 copies on iTunes alone. It held that record until Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV was released twenty-one days later, selling 10,000 copies more. It debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at No. 1, selling 436,000 copies in its first week. The album received generally positive reviews. Jay-Z and West later gave a surprise performance of "Otis" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.
2012–2016: Magna Carta Holy Grail and other ventures
In May 2012, Jay-Z and former Philadelphia mayor Michael A. Nutter announced Jay-Z as the curator and the headliner for the first annual "Budweiser Made in America" festival at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on September 1 and 2, 2012. The performance was produced by Live Nation and assembled an eclectic lineup of "rock, hip hop, R&B, Latin music and dance" musicians. Jay-Z and Rihanna were the two main headlining acts for BBC Radio 1's 2012 Hackney Weekend music festival on June 23 to 24. Jay-Z opened his set with an appearance from Rihanna, they performed "Run this Town". On September 6, "Clique" was released, a single from the album "Cruel Summer", by GOOD Music. Kanye West and Big Sean starred alongside Jay-Z on the track. Jay-Z took the subway to his sold-out show at The Barclays Center on October 6, 2012. In December 2012, Coldplay performed with Jay-Z at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
On September 23, 2010, Q-Tip confirmed working on Jay-Z's follow-up album to The Blueprint 3, saying the album was to hit stores by spring 2011. In May 2012 it was reported that Jay-Z would work on new music with Roc Nation producer Jahlil Beats. Beats told XXL magazine: "Me and Jay-Z been going back and forth. He picked a couple of my joints that he's working on. I don't even wanna say too much about Jay, but we definitely working on some stuff. I haven't even sent him a bunch of beats. I sent him my favorite stuff. He hit me right back like, 'Yo, I'ma go in on this,' or, 'I like this.'" The album was named one of the most anticipated albums of 2013 by Complex Magazine, MTV, and XXL. The album was produced by Jahlil Beats, Kanye West, Rick Rubin, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, and Pharrell Williams. Jay-Z also co-produced and performed on Justin Timberlake's comeback single "Suit & Tie" from his third studio album The 20/20 Experience, the song itself was produced by both Jay-Z and Timberlake's mutual friend, Timbaland. In July 2013, Timberlake and Jay-Z embarked on the co-headlining Legends of the Summer Stadium Tour.
During the fifth game of the 2013 NBA Finals, Carter announced his twelfth studio album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, and was released on July 4, 2013. Not long after, Jay-Z confirmed that the hyphen in his stage name would be left out and officially stylized in all capital letters. Magna Carta Holy Grail debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold 528,000 copies in its first week, which bypassed its predicted debut in the range of 350,000 to 400,000.
In December 2013, it was announced that Jay-Z had received nine nominations at the 2014 Grammy Awards, more than any other artist. Jay-Z appeared on his wife Beyoncé's self-titled fifth studio album, Beyoncé, with a feature on the song "Drunk in Love". They performed this song together at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards opening. The song and its accompanying album would later win three Grammy Awards including Best R&B Performance at the 2015 ceremony. In 2016, he won a lawsuit for the song "Made in America" with Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean against Joel McDonald.
2017–present: 4:44, Everything Is Love and Book of HOV exhibit
In 2017, Jay-Z released his 13th solo studio album, 4:44. Two years later, he became hip-hop's first artist to achieve billionaire status.
In early June 2017, posters were displayed in New York City and Los Angeles, and banner ads were placed on the Internet promoting a Tidal-related project titled 4:44. A teaser ad was aired during the NBA Finals on June 7 featuring actors Mahershala Ali, Lupita Nyong'o and Danny Glover in a one-minute video, ending in "4:44 – 6.30.17, Exclusively on Tidal". On June 18, the project was confirmed to be a new Jay-Z album, and a clip featuring a song titled "Adnis" was posted on Sprint's YouTube page.
4:44 was released through Roc Nation and Universal Music Group, as an exclusive to Sprint and Tidal customers. The album is the first in a planned series of music exclusives from the Sprint–Tidal partnership. For a short time, on July 2, the album was made available for free digital download in Tidal's site. A physical edition was released on July 7, including three additional tracks. On the same day, the album was made available to other streaming platforms, such as Apple Music, Google Play Music and Amazon Music.
The album received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its emotional and personal content. On July 5, the album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in recognition of one million copies purchased by Sprint and offered to consumers as free downloads. It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, making it Jay-Z's 13th consecutive studio album to top the chart. The album spawned two singles, the title track "4:44" and "Bam", as well as several music videos, directed by a variety of high-profile collaborators. The album received a Grammy Award nomination for Album of the Year, while the title track was nominated for Song of the Year and "The Story of O.J." was nominated for Record of the Year at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
On June 6, 2018, Jay-Z and Beyoncé kicked-off the On the Run II Tour in Cardiff, United Kingdom. Ten days later, at their final London performance, the pair unveiled Everything Is Love, their much-awaited joint studio album, credited under the name The Carters. The pair also released the video for the album's lead single, "Apeshit", on Beyoncé's official YouTube channel. The song won two awards from eight nominations at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards.
In 2021, Jay-Z was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with fellow rapper LL Cool J. He also appeared on the song "Jail" on Kanye West's 2021 album Donda, which went on to win Grammy Award for Best Rap Song at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards and on the song "Love All" from Drake's 2021 album Certified Lover Boy.
In 2022, his first feature was a collaboration with fellow rapper Pusha T, "Neck & Wrist" featuring Pharrell Williams from Pusha T's album, It's Almost Dry. His feature was succeeded by a four-minute guest appearance on DJ Khaled's album title track, "God Did". He also was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live), as a producer for the Super Bowl LVI halftime show.
In 2023, the Brooklyn Library featured the Book of HOV exhibit. The showcase included artifacts commemorating Jay-Z's career. The next year, the exhibit was turned into a book, The Book of HOV: A Tribute to Jay-Z. Similar to the exhibit, the physical book recounted Jay-Z's life and career, including images, interviews, and professional insights.
Musical style
Influences
Jay-Z says his earliest exposure to music was through his parents' record collection, which was mostly of soul artists such as Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway. He says "I grew up around music, listening to all types of people... I'm into music that has soul in it, whether it be rap, R&B, pop music, whatever. As long as I can feel their soul through the wax, that's what I really listen to." He often uses excerpts from these artists as samples in his work, particularly in the Kanye West productions included on The Blueprint.
Rapping technique
Known for his lyrical prowess which often utilises double entendres, witty wordplays, and mixes messages with braggadocio, his music often describes his rise from poverty to vast wealth.
Royce da 5'9" and Fredro Starr of Onyx both describe Jay-Z's emphasis on flow in the book How to Rap—Starr says that Jay-Z is "a master of the flow—he can flow fast, he can flow slow". The book describes how Jay-Z uses 'rests' to provide structure to a verse and how he uses 'partial linking' to add more rhymes to a verse. Jay-Z's early style is described by Vibe as "a distinctly Das EFX-type, stiggety style" on his 12" single "Can't Get With That", referring to the fast rhythms and vocal delivery of the group Das EFX. He is also known to write lyrics in his head, as described by Pusha T of Clipse in How to Rap, a style popular with many MCs such as The Notorious B.I.G., Everlast, Bobby Creekwater and Guerilla Black. Shock G of Digital Underground describes Jay-Z's live performance style, saying he "rarely breaks a sweat, and instead uses smoothness and clever wordplay to keep the audience interested and entertained". Jay-Z's fast rapping technique, also known as the "triplet time", was developed during his early years of creating music with former mentor Jaz-O.
Business career
Jay-Z has also established himself as a successful entrepreneur with a business empire spanning a variety of industries from clothing lines, beverages, real estate, sport teams, and record labels. In an interview, he stated that "my brands are an extension of me. They're close to me. It's not like running GM, where there's no emotional attachment."
Rocawear
Jay-Z and Damon Dash are the founders of the urban clothing brand Rocawear. Rocawear has clothing lines and accessories for men, women and children. The line was taken over by Jay-Z in early 2006 following a falling out with Dash. In March 2007, Jay-Z sold the rights to the Rocawear brand to Iconix Brand Group for $204 million. He retains his stake in the company and continues to oversee the marketing, licensing and product development.
Reebok
Jay-Z became the first rapper in Reebok's history to endorse the company's footwear, signing a three-year endorsement deal. He later appeared in a 2003 Reebok collection advertising his S. Carter Collection. Later that year, he and frenemy 50 Cent appeared in a commercial to promote their S. Carter and G-Unit footwears for the company, with a Just Blaze-produced song made for it.
In 2006, Jay-Z's deal with Reebok expired with no renewal.
Alcoholic beverages
In 2014, Jay-Z invested $200 million in Armand de Brignac champagne—owned at the time by Sovereign Brands, a New York–based wine and spirits company—for a 100 percent stake, making it the second alcoholic product acquisition in his financial investment portfolio. The brand is known for its popularity with high-profile artists as being the gold bottles often referred to in media. His ties to the company date back to 2006, and he received millions of dollars per year for his association with Armand de Brignac before he bought the entire company.
Jay-Z serves as co-brand director for Budweiser Select and collaborates with the company on strategic marketing programs and creative ad development. He provides direction on brand programs and ads that appear on TV, radio, print, and high-profile events.
Technology
In March 2015, Jay-Z completed the $56 million acquisition of Aspiro, a Norwegian media technology company that operates the subscription-based music streaming service Tidal, which has been in operation since October 2014. The music service was acquired through his company Project Panther Bidco Ltd. (an entity indirectly owned by Jay-Z's S. Carter Enterprises a company holding interests in leading international music, media and entertainment companies). The music service combines audio and music videos with curated editorial. The main idea of the service is to bring major revenue streams back to the music artists themselves as the idea of an artist-owned streaming platform was stated as to "restore the value to music by launching a service owned by artists." Jay-Z currently is a major shareholder in the company.
In July 2015, Carter made a significant investment to JetSmarter, an app helping people book private executive plane flights. The app was built by Sergey Petrossov.
Music industry
From 2005 to 2007, Jay-Z was inaugurated as the president of Def Jam Recordings. Under Jay-Z's leadership, Def Jam launched the successful careers of contemporary R&B singers Rihanna and Ne-Yo. At the end of 2007, after he released American Gangster, Jay-Z decided not to renew his contract as the president and CEO of Def Jam. Shortly after, he started his Live Nation venture, Roc Nation.
In April 2011, it was reported that Jay-Z had outbid executives at Universal Music and Jive Records to acquire independent record label Block Starz Music.
Sporting business
For a decade (2003–2013), Jay-Z enjoyed his role as a part-owner of the Brooklyn Nets NBA team, having paid a reported $1 million for his share, which declined in value to $350,000 in April 2013, based on Forbes magazine's valuation of the team. He encouraged the team's relocation to Brooklyn's Barclays Center (from New Jersey) in the 2012–2013 season, at which point the team took on the Brooklyn Nets moniker.
On April 18, 2013, Jay-Z officially announced through his Life + Times website in a press release that he would be relinquishing his ownership in the Brooklyn Nets. The shares were eventually sold to singer, rapper, actor and entrepreneur Will Pan, making Pan the first American of Taiwanese descent to own a U.S. professional sports franchise. Jay-Z's cited Pan's athletic background (he was a team captain of his high school basketball team and played in college), his multitude of musical styles, his influence in the Taiwanese American community, and his business acumen and portfolio (including being the founder and chief executive of software company Camigo Media and a co-founder of streetwear boutique N.P.C [New Project Center]), as reasons why his bid was successful.
In September 2013, his stake in Barclays Center was sold for $1.5 million.
On April 2, 2013, ESPN reported Jay-Z's plans to launch his own sports agency, Roc Nation Sports, with a focus on the representation of various professional athletes. The sport management group is a partnership with Creative Artists Agency. In conjunction with the agency's launch, New York Yankees's second baseman Robinson Canó left agent Scott Boras to sign with the company. ESPN also mentioned that Jay-Z himself was planning to be a certified sports agent, first in baseball and eventually in basketball and football. In order to represent clients in basketball, he would have to give up his small share of the Brooklyn Nets.
In October 2005, he was reported in English media as considering buying a stake of Arsenal F.C., an English soccer team. Through his conglomerate company Gain Global Investments Network LLC, he had an interest estimated between 2 and 7% in the Aqueduct Entertainment Group (AEG) consortium, which in January 2010 was awarded a contract to operate a 4,500-slot-machine racino at the Aqueduct Race Track. Jay-Z became interested in the project after New York Governor David Paterson who awarded the contract said there had to be an affirmative action component to the ownership. Jay-Z was initially approached by casino mogul Steve Wynn, who was also bidding on the contract. On March 9, 2010, Jay-Z and Flake withdrew from the project, and Paterson recused himself from further involvement.
Media
On April 5, 2011, Jay-Z launched the popular culture and lifestyle online magazine Life + Times. It features content that showcases his high-end tastes in clothing, appliances, and cars. The site design is aesthetically aimed at the upwardly mobile young male demographic, with sports and music-related posts accompanying those about fashion and design. Among the music content is the Decoded series, originating from Jay-Z's memoir of the same name and featuring a select rapper deciphering their own lyrics.
In January 2015, after being contacted by the webzine, the DJ and radio host Funkmaster Flex revealed that he had been contacted in 2013 for a story about a digital app he made at the time, but alleged that the information was instead used to help launch the Magna Carta Samsung app for the release of Jay-Z's album of the same name. "But I was good with that. I ate that. Everybody's out here hustling", Flex reasoned to Vibe.
In 2016, he signed a two-year exclusive film and TV Deal with Weinstein Company and with the deal gives them first-look options to create scripted and unscripted TV projects and film projects, and those projects were in works. As part of his deal with Weinstein company, he produced a documentary series on the life of Kalief Browder who was imprisoned for three years and committed suicide upon his release. He also addressed racial profiling and police brutality in a conscious manner.
Other ventures
Jay-Z also co-owns the 40/40 Club, an upscale sports bar that started in New York City, and has since expanded to Atlantic City and Chicago. In 2008, the 40/40 Club in Las Vegas was closed down and bought back by the hotel after attendance steadily declined. In 2005, Jay-Z became an investor in Carol's Daughter, a line of beauty products, including products for hair, skin, and hands.
In 2010, he announced plans to expand his 40/40 Club sports bar chain into as many as 20 airports, joining his Roc Nation business partners, husband and wife Juan and Desiree Perez, in a deal with Delaware North.
On November 16, 2010, Jay-Z published a memoir entitled Decoded. The memoir was co-signed by Dream Hampton.
Parlux fragrances sued Jay-Z for $18 million for the failure of his cologne, Gold. They claim the cologne's failure is due to Jay-Z not doing social media posts and interviews about the cologne. Parlux claims they projected selling $15 million the first year, and $35 million the second, and subsequent years after the launch. The fragrance sold $14 million the first year and $6.1 million the second. Parlux lost money on the venture and have had constant returns of unsold inventory.
Jay-Z collaborated with Cohiba to launch his own cigars.
In August 2020, Jay-Z's Roc Nation partnered with Brooklyn's Long Island University to establish the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment.
In November 2020, it was announced that Jay-Z would be join TPCO Holding Corp., a newly formed cannabis products company, in the role of "Chief Visionary Officer".
On December 5, 2022, Jay-Z and the Roc Nation announced their partnership with Caesars Entertainment to build and operate a casino hotel in Times Square. The proposal was voted down by a community advisory committee in September 2025.
Relationship with Beyoncé
In 2002, Jay-Z and singer Beyoncé Knowles collaborated on the song "'03 Bonnie & Clyde". He also appeared on Beyoncé's hit single, "Crazy in Love" the following year, as well as the song "That's How You Like It" from her debut album Dangerously in Love (2003). On her second album, B'Day, he made appearances on the hits "Déjà Vu" and "Upgrade U". In the video for the latter song, she comically imitates his appearance. They kept a low profile while dating, and were married on April 4, 2008, in a private ceremony in Tribeca, New York City. Their relationship became a matter of public record on April 22, 2008, although Beyoncé did not publicly debut her US$5 million Lorraine Schwartz-designed wedding ring until the Fashion Rocks concert on September 5, 2008. Since their marriage, they generally avoid discussing their relationship, and Beyoncé has stated her belief that this has helped them, while Jay-Z agreed in a People article that they do not "play with [their] relationship".
In 2006, Beyoncé and Jay-Z were listed as the most powerful couple for Time magazine's 100 most influential people. In January 2009, Forbes ranked them as Hollywood's top-earning couple, with a combined total of $162 million. They made it to the top of the list the following year, with a combined total of US$122 million between June 2008 and June 2009.
At the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Beyoncé revealed that she was pregnant with their first child. Their daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, was born at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital on January 7, 2012. Jay-Z released "Glory", a song dedicated to Blue Ivy, through his Life+Times website on January 9, 2012. The song, produced by frequent collaborators the Neptunes, detailed the couple's pregnancy struggles, including a miscarriage Beyoncé had suffered. Blue Ivy's cries were included at the end of the song, and she was officially credited on the song as "B.I.C"; she became the youngest person in Billboard history (at two days old) to have a chart entry once "Glory" debuted at No. 74 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
On June 18, 2017, Beyoncé's father Mathew Knowles confirmed that she had given birth to twins with Jay-Z, a daughter named Rumi and a son named Sir. In the following months, they purchased a US$88 million home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles.
In 2023, the couple bought a house in Malibu, California, designed by the architect Tadao Ando, for $200 million. It established a record for the most expensive residence sold in California. In 2025, Beyoncé and Jay-Z reportedly began plans to relocate permanently to the United Kingdom. The couple is said to be seeking a residence in the Cotswolds, following Beyoncé's transition into country music and the UK leg of her Cowboy Carter World Tour.
Legal issues
1999 Lance "Un" Rivera stabbing
On December 2, 1999, Jay-Z, who had come to believe that record executive Lance "Un" Rivera was behind the bootlegging of Vol. 3..., allegedly stabbed him at the Kit Kat Klub, a now-defunct night club in Times Square, New York City, during a release party for Q-Tip's album Amplified. Jay-Z's associates at the party were accused of causing a commotion within the club, which Jay-Z allegedly used as cover while he stabbed Rivera in the stomach with a five-inch (127 mm) blade. He surrendered to police the following evening and was placed under arrest, although he was soon released on $50,000 bail. When he was indicted in Manhattan Criminal Court in late January 2000, he pleaded not guilty; he and his lawyers contended that they had witnesses and videotapes proving he had been nowhere near Rivera during the incident. Nevertheless, he later pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and accepted a three-year probation sentence.
Jay-Z later addressed the case in his 2010 book Decoded:
One night I went to Q-Tip's solo album release party and at some point in the night, I ran into the guy everyone's been telling me is behind the bootleg. So I approached him. When I told him what I suspected, to my surprise, he got real loud with me right there in the middle of the club. It was strange. We separated and I went over to the bar. I was sitting there like, "No the fuck this nigga did not..." I was talking to people, but I was really talking to myself out loud, just in a state of shock. Before I even realized what I was doing, I headed back over to him, but this time I was blacking out with anger. The next thing I knew, all hell had broken loose in the club. That night the guy went straight to the police and I was indicted. [...] There was no reason to put my life on the line, and the lives of everyone who depends on me, because of a momentary loss of control. [...] I vowed to never allow myself to be in a situation like that again.
In 2023, Rivera stated that Jay-Z lied, and was not the one that stabbed him: "No. Jay-Z was not the guy that actually stabbed me that night (...) it's never been his history". Rapper Nas, who feuded with Jay-Z in the early 2000s, had also claimed in his 2001 diss track "Ether" that Jay-Z was not Rivera's stabber. Rivera commented on this, stating, "The reality to it is Nas — and I don’t know why didn’t nobody believe him — on 'Ether' he talked about the incident. He let people know like, 'Yo, your man stabbed Un and you took the blame for it.'"
Civil lawsuits
In October 2024, an anonymous woman identifying as Jane Doe, with the assistance of hired attorneys Tony Buzbee, David Fortney, and Antigone Curis, filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, accusing two celebrities of sexual assault at an MTV Video Music Awards after-party in 2000. A couple months after the initial filing, the lawsuit was amended to name Jay-Z as a defendant. Jay-Z denied the allegations and described it as a blackmail attempt.
In December 2024, the accuser participated in an interview with NBC News, during which she acknowledged making “mistakes” in her recollection of certain details surrounding the alleged events, such as the timeline and the identities of people present, while maintaining that the core of her accusation was true. According to the NBC News investigation, Doe’s inconsistencies included her earlier claim that her father picked her up after the alleged assault, something her father says he does not recall as they lived five hours away from New York. She also claimed to have spoken with musician Benji Madden at the afterparty about his tattoos, but his representatives confirmed he was touring the midwest at the time and did not attend the VMAs. Additionally, photographs from the event showed Jay-Z and Combs in different locations on the evening in question, though the precise whereabouts of the rappers over the full time span remain unverified.
On February 14, 2025, the lawsuit against Jay-Z was officially dropped. A filing in federal court in Manhattan stated that the case was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice, not allowing for a future refiling. The suit was dismissed without settlement. Shortly thereafter, Jay-Z described the outcome as "a victory." However, despite her decision to dismiss the lawsuit, the plaintiff still maintains that she was raped by Jay-Z.
Philanthropy
During his first retirement from music, Jay-Z became involved in philanthropy. In 2003, along with his mother, Jay-Z founded the Shawn Carter Foundation, which assists eligible students facing socio-economic hardships attend and get through college. In August 2006, he met with Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations at the organization's New York City headquarters, where he pledged to use his upcoming world tour to raise awareness of the global water shortage, a challenge he learned about following a visit to Africa by Bono, the lead singer of U2. The effort took place in partnership with the UN, as well as MTV, which produced a documentary entitled Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life, first airing in November 2006. Along with Sean "Diddy" Combs, Jay-Z pledged $1 million to the American Red Cross's relief effort after Hurricane Katrina. Jay-Z supported Kanye West after West's outburst against President George W. Bush during a live Katrina charity telethon. He also addressed the Katrina disaster and the federal government's response in his one-verse song "Minority Report".
Jay-Z has said that "the greatest form of giving is anonymous to anonymous". In 2013, author dream hampton, who co-wrote Jay-Z's book Decoded, revealed that Jay-Z had established a trust fund for Sean Bell's children.
Jay-Z donated to bail out protestors arrested during 2015 activism against police brutality.
In March 2020, Jay-Z donated $1 million through the Shawn Carter Foundation to aid in relief during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York. In April 2020, along with Meek Mill, he donated over 100,000 face masks to U.S. prisons to assist in protecting prison inmates from COVID-19.
Political involvement
In 2006, Jay-Z appeared with Russell Simmons in a public service announcement denouncing racism and anti-Semitism, sponsored by the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. In 2008, Jay-Z was involved in the 2008 United States presidential election, supporting enhanced voter participation. He supported the 2008 presidential candidacy of Barack Obama and performed voter-drive concerts financed by the Democrats' campaign. He also became acquainted with Obama, who in June 2008 said, "Every time I talk to Jay-Z, who is a brilliant talent and a good guy, I enjoy how he thinks. That's somebody who is going to start branching out and can help shape attitudes in a real positive way."
During the 2010 mid-term elections, Jay-Z appeared with other artists in a HeadCount advertisement, urging voters, especially younger ones, to register and vote. In May 2012, Jay-Z endorsed President Obama's support of same-sex marriage and participated in his re-election campaign.
Musician and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte was critical of Jay-Z and Beyoncé for what he saw as their safe political stances, saying that they "have turned their back on social responsibility".
In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Jay-Z and Beyoncé appeared at a Hillary Clinton rally in Cleveland. Clinton praised Jay-Z for addressing racism, oppression, and the criminal justice system. He described Donald Trump as a "superbug" and condemned remarks he perceived as racist, but later said that Trump's rhetoric forced people to come together and address difficult issues such as white privilege.
Discography
Studio albums
Reasonable Doubt (1996)
In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997)
Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life (1998)
Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter (1999)
The Dynasty: Roc La Familia (2000)
The Blueprint (2001)
The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002)
The Black Album (2003)
Kingdom Come (2006)
American Gangster (2007)
The Blueprint 3 (2009)
Magna Carta Holy Grail (2013)
4:44 (2017)
Collaborative albums
The Best of Both Worlds with R. Kelly (2002)
Unfinished Business with R. Kelly (2004)
Watch the Throne with Kanye West (2011)
Everything Is Love with Beyoncé (as the Carters) (2018)
Filmography
Streets Is Watching (1998)
Backstage (2000)
State Property (2002)
Paper Soldiers (2002)
Paid in Full (2002, producer)
Fade to Black (2004)
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (2012, co-executive producer)
The Great Gatsby (2013, executive producer)
Made in America (2013, documentary)
Top Five (2014, co-producer)
Annie (2014, producer)
Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story (2018, executive producer)
The Harder They Fall (2021, producer)
The Book of Clarence (2023, producer)
Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé (2023)
Tours
Headlining
Reasonable Doubt Tour (1996)
Hard Knock Life Tour (1999)
Blueprint Lounge Tour (2001)
Hangar Tour (2006)
American Gangster Live (2007)
Jay-Z Fall Tour/Blueprint 3 Tour (2009–2010)
Magna Carter World Tour (2013–2014)
4:44 Tour (2017)
Co-headlining
Rock the Mic (with 50 Cent) (2003)
Best of Both Worlds Tour (with R. Kelly) (2004)
Heart of the City Tour (with Mary J. Blige) (2008)
Jay-Z & Ciara Live (with Ciara) (2009)
The Home & Home Tour (with Eminem) (2010)
Watch the Throne Tour (with Kanye West) (2011–2012)
Legends of the Summer Stadium Tour (with Justin Timberlake) (2013)
On the Run Tour (with Beyoncé) (2014)
On the Run II Tour (with Beyoncé) (2018)
Supporting
No Way Out Tour (with Puff Daddy & Bad Boy Records) (1997)
Projekt Revolution 2008 Europe (with Linkin Park) (2008)
Viva la Vida Tour (with Coldplay) (2008)
U2 360° Tour (with U2) (2009–2011)
Books
Decoded by Jay-Z (2010: Spiegel & Grau, 336 pages), ISBN 978-1-4000-6892-0. Part memoir and part a collection of Jay-Z lyrics with the stories behind them.
Awards and nominations
In 2006, he was enstooled as the Sarkin Waka of Kwara in the Nigerian chieftaincy system.
See also
List of celebrities who own cannabis businesses
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of best-selling music artists
List of largest music deals
List of celebrities by net worth
Murder Inc.
The Carters
The Throne
Notes
References
Further reading
Greenburg, Zack O'Malley (2011). Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. ISBN 978-1-59184-381-8.
Edwards, Paul (2009). How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781556528163.
External links
Official website
Jay-Z at IMDb
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Jackie Chan
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Fang Shilong (born Chan Kong-sang; 7 April 1954), known professionally as Jackie Chan, is a Hong Kongese martial artist, actor and filmmaker, known for his slapstick, acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically performs himself. With a film career spanning more than sixty years, he is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential martial artists in the history of cinema. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $6 billion worldwide.
Starting as one of the Seven Little Fortunes at the China Drama Academy, where he was trained in acrobatics, martial arts and acting, Chan entered the Hong Kong film industry as a stuntman before making the transition to acting. His breakthrough came with the action comedy Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978). He then starred in similar action comedies such as Drunken Master (1978) and The Young Master (1980). He made his directorial debut with The Fearless Hyena (1979), which was a box office success. Throughout the 1980s, he was part of the "Three Dragons" along with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao; the three starred in six Hong Kong films together. Project A (1983) saw the official formation of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and established Chan's signature style of elaborate, dangerous stunts combined with martial arts and slapstick humor, a style he further developed in a more modern setting with Wheels on Meals (1984) and Police Story (1985). Rumble in the Bronx (1995), which had a successful worldwide theatrical run, brought Chan into the North American mainstream. By the mid-1990s, he was the most popular action movie star in Asia and Europe.
Chan gained Hollywood success for portraying Chief Inspector Lee in the American buddy cop action comedy film Rush Hour (1998), a role he reprised in two sequels. He went on to work both in American and Chinese films, appearing in the well-received Shanghai film series (2000–2003), New Police Story (2004), Rob-B-Hood (2006), Little Big Soldier (2010), and Shaolin (2011), among others. The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) marked his first collaboration with fellow martial arts star Jet Li. He has played martial arts mentor Mr. Han in two Karate Kid films, the 2010 remake The Karate Kid and Karate Kid: Legends (2025). For CZ12 (2012), he earned two Guinness World Records for "Most Stunts Performed by a Living Actor" and "Most Credits in One Movie". He played against type in Shinjuku Incident (2009) and The Foreigner (2017). His voice acting work includes all three Chinese versions of Mulan (1998), the first three films in the Kung Fu Panda franchise (2008–2016), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023).
One of the most recognizable and influential film personalities in the world, Chan was described by film scholar Andrew Willis in 2004 as perhaps "the most recognized star in the world." He has received fame stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, as well as an honorary Academy Award in 2016. Chan has been referenced in various pop songs, films, television series, and video games. He has an award named after him, the Jackie Chan Action Movie Awards. He is an operatically trained vocalist who has released several pop music albums and performed theme songs for some of the films in which he starred. He is also a philanthropist and was named one of the top 10 most charitable celebrities by Forbes in 2011. In 2016, Forbes ranked him the second-highest-paid actor in the world. In 2025, Parade estimated his net worth to be $400 million, and reported he planned to leave his fortune to charity, rather than to his son, Jaycee Chan.
Early life
Chan was born on 7 April 1954 in British Hong Kong as Chan Kong-sang to Charles and Lee-lee Chan, political refugees from the Chinese Civil War. In circa 1937, Chan's father, originally named Fang Daolong, briefly worked as a secret agent for Lieutenant General Dai Li, the chief spy in Kuomintang-ruled China. For fear of being arrested by the communist government, Chan's father fled to British Hong Kong in the 1940s and changed his surname from Fang to Chan. Chan was his wife Chan Lee-lee's surname. Chan discovered his father's identity and changed his Chinese name to Fang Shilong (房仕龍) in the late 1990s, the name he would have been named according to his kin's genealogy book, which allegedly traces back to Tang dynasty statesman Fang Xuanling. Chan's ancestral roots are located in Wuhu, Anhui.
Chan spent his formative years within the grounds of the French consul's residence in the Victoria Peak, British Hong Kong, as his father worked as a cook there. Chan attended the Nah-Hwa Primary School on Hong Kong Island, where he failed his first year, after which his parents withdrew him from the school. In 1960, his father emigrated to Canberra, Australia to work as the head cook for the American embassy, and Chan was sent to the China Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School run by Master Yu Jim-yuen. Chan trained rigorously for the next decade, excelling in martial arts and acrobatics. He eventually became part of the Seven Little Fortunes, a performance group made up of the school's best students, gaining the stage name Yuen Lo (元樓) in homage to his master. Chan became close friends with fellow group members Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, and the three of them later became known as the Three Brothers or Three Dragons. After entering the film industry, Chan along with Sammo Hung got the opportunity to train in hapkido under the grand master Jin Pal Kim, and Chan eventually attained a black belt. As a martial artist, Chan is also skilled in multiple forms of Kung fu. He is also known to have trained in other martial art forms such as Karate, Judo, Boxing, Taekwondo, and Jeet Kune Do.
Chan joined his parents in Canberra, Australia in 1971, where he briefly attended Dickson College and worked as a construction worker. A fellow builder named Jack took Chan under his wing, thus earning Chan the nickname of "Little Jack", later shortened to "Jacky". In the 1980s, the spelling of his nickname became "Jackie", which has stuck with him ever since.
Film career
1962–1975: Early small appearances
He began his film career by appearing in small roles at the age of five as a child actor. At age eight, he appeared with some of his fellow "Little Fortunes" in the film Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962) with Li Li-Hua playing his mother. The following year, the young actor appeared in extras of Yen Chun's 1964 film Liang Shan Po and Chu Ying Tai and had a small role in King Hu's 1966 film Come Drink with Me. In 1971, after an appearance as an extra in another kung Fu film, A Touch of Zen, Chan was signed to Chu Mu's Great Earth Film Company.
Chan appeared in the Bruce Lee film Fist of Fury (1972), both as an extra and as a stunt double for the Japanese villain Hiroshi Suzuki (portrayed by Chikara Hashimoto), particularly during the final fight scene where Lee kicks him and he flies through the air. Chan again appeared in another Bruce Lee film, Enter the Dragon (1973), as a minor henchman who gets killed by Lee's character. Sammo Hung helped Chan get minor roles in both of the Bruce Lee films. Chan also worked as a martial arts choreographer for John Woo's The Young Dragons (1974).
1976–1980: Start-up leading roles
In 1976, Jackie Chan received a telegram from Willie Chan, a film producer in the Hong Kong film industry who had been impressed with Jackie's stunt choreography work. Willie Chan offered him an acting role in a film directed by Lo Wei. Lo saw Chan's performance in the John Woo film Hand of Death (1976) and planned to model him after Bruce Lee with the film New Fist of Fury. His stage name was changed to 成龍 (literally "becoming the dragon", Sing4 Lung4 in Jyutping or rarely as Cheng Long in pinyin), to emphasize his similarity to Bruce Lee, whose stage name meant "Lee the Little Dragon" in Chinese. (Note that "dragon" in Lee's name referred to Lee's birth year being the Dragon zodiac, not the Chinese dragon.) The film was unsuccessful because Chan was not accustomed to Lee's martial arts style. Despite the film's failure, Lo Wei continued producing films with similar themes, but with little improvement at the box office.
Chan's first major breakthrough was the 1978 film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, shot while he was loaned to Seasonal Film Corporation under a two-picture deal. Director Yuen Woo-ping allowed Chan complete freedom over his stunt work. The film established the comedic kung fu genre, and proved refreshing to the Hong Kong audience. The same year, Chan then starred in Drunken Master, which finally propelled him to mainstream success.
Upon Chan's return to Lo Wei's studio, Lo tried to replicate the comedic approach of Drunken Master, producing and also showed new features at the time with Jackie as the Stunt Director Half a Loaf of Kung Fu and Spiritual Kung Fu. He also gave Chan the opportunity to make his directorial debut in The Fearless Hyena. When Willie Chan left the company, he advised Jackie to decide for himself whether or not to stay with Lo Wei. During the shooting of Fearless Hyena Part II, Chan broke his contract and joined Golden Harvest, prompting Lo to blackmail Chan with triads, blaming Willie for his star's departure. The dispute was resolved with the help of fellow actor and director Jimmy Wang Yu, allowing Chan to stay with Golden Harvest.
1980–1987: Commercial success in the action comedy genre
Willie Chan became Jackie's personal manager and firm friend, and remained so for over 30 years. He was instrumental in launching Chan's international career, beginning with his first forays into the American film industry in the 1980s. His first Hollywood film was The Big Brawl in 1980. Chan then played a minor role in the 1981 film The Cannonball Run, which grossed over US$100 million worldwide. Despite being largely ignored by North American audiences in favour of established American actors such as Burt Reynolds, Chan was impressed by the outtakes shown at the closing credits, inspiring him to include the same device in his future films.
After the commercial failure of The Protector in 1985, Chan temporarily abandoned his attempts to break into the US market, returning his focus to Hong Kong films.
Back in Hong Kong, Chan's films began to reach a larger audience in East Asia, with early successes in the lucrative Japanese market including Drunken Master, The Young Master (1980) and Dragon Lord (1982). The Young Master went on to beat previous box office records set by Bruce Lee and established Chan as Hong Kong cinema's top star. With Dragon Lord, he began experimenting with elaborate stunt action sequences, including the final fight scene where he performs various stunts, including one where he does a back flip off a loft and falls to the lower ground.
Chan produced a number of action comedy films with his opera school friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The three co-starred together for the first time in 1983 in Project A, which introduced a dangerous stunt-driven style of martial arts that won it the Best Action Design Award at the third annual Hong Kong Film Awards. Over the following two years, the "Three Brothers" appeared in Wheels on Meals and the original Lucky Stars trilogy. In 1985, Chan made the first Police Story film, a crime action film in which Chan performed a number of dangerous stunts. It won Best Film at the 1986 Hong Kong Film Awards. In 1986, Chan played "Asian Hawk", an Indiana Jones-esque character, in the film Armour of God. The film was Chan's biggest domestic box office success up to that point, grossing over HK$35 million.
1988–1998: Acclaimed film sequels and Hollywood breakthrough
In 1988, Chan starred alongside Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao for the last time to date in the film Dragons Forever. Hung co-directed with Corey Yuen, and the villain in the film was played by Yuen Wah, both of whom were fellow graduates of the China Drama Academy.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Chan starred in a number of successful sequels beginning with Project A Part II and Police Story 2, which won the award for Best Action Choreography at the 1989 Hong Kong Film Awards. This was followed by Armour of God II: Operation Condor, and Police Story 3: Super Cop, for which Chan won the Best Actor Award at the 1993 Golden Horse Film Festival. In 1994, Chan reprised his role as Wong Fei-hung in Drunken Master II, which was listed in Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies. Another sequel, Police Story 4: First Strike, brought more awards and domestic box office success for Chan, but did not fare as well in foreign markets.
By the mid-1990s, he was the most popular action movie star in Asia and Europe. Up until January 1995, his films had grossed over HK$500 million (US$70 million) in Hong Kong and ¥39 billion (US$415 million) in Japan, while having sold over 33 million box office admissions in France, Germany, Italy and Spain up until then. Despite his international success, he was not very successful in North America, where he had only two wide releases as a leading actor, The Big Brawl and The Protector, grossing US$9.51 million (US$32 million adjusted for inflation). Despite this, there was a thriving North American home video market for Chan's Hong Kong films by the mid-1990s.
Chan rekindled his Hollywood ambitions in the 1990s, but refused early offers to play villains in Hollywood films to avoid being typecast in future roles. For example, Sylvester Stallone offered him the role of Simon Phoenix, a criminal in the futuristic film Demolition Man. Chan declined and the role was taken by Wesley Snipes.
Chan finally succeeded in establishing a foothold in the North American market in 1995 with a worldwide release of Rumble in the Bronx, attaining a cult following in the United States that was rare for Hong Kong movie stars. The success of Rumble in the Bronx led to a 1996 release of Police Story 3: Super Cop in the United States under the title Supercop, which grossed a total of US$16,270,600. Chan's first huge blockbuster success came when he co-starred with Chris Tucker in the 1998 buddy cop action comedy Rush Hour, grossing US$130 million in the United States alone. This film made him a Hollywood star, after which he wrote his autobiography in collaboration with Jeff Yang entitled I Am Jackie Chan.
1999–2007: Fame in Hollywood and dramatization
In 1998, Chan released his final film for Golden Harvest, Who Am I?. After leaving Golden Harvest in 1999, he produced and starred alongside Shu Qi in Gorgeous, a romantic comedy that focused on personal relationships and featured only a few martial arts sequences. Although Chan had left Golden Harvest in 1999, the company continued to produce and distribute for two of his films, Gorgeous (1999) and The Accidental Spy (2001). Chan then helped create a PlayStation game in 2000 called Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, to which he lent his voice and performed the motion capture. He continued his Hollywood success in 2000 when he teamed up with Owen Wilson in the Western action comedy Shanghai Noon. A sequel, Shanghai Knights followed in 2003 and also featured his first on-screen fight scene with Donnie Yen. He reunited with Chris Tucker for Rush Hour 2 (2001), which was an even bigger success than the original, grossing $347 million worldwide. Chan experimented with the use of special effects and wirework for the fight scenes in his next two Hollywood films, The Tuxedo (2002) and The Medallion (2003), which were not as successful critically or commercially. In 2004, he teamed up with Steve Coogan in Around the World in 80 Days, loosely based on Jules Verne's novel of the same name. In 2004, film scholar Andrew Willis stated that Chan was "perhaps" the "most recognized star in the world".
Despite the success of the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon films, Chan became frustrated with Hollywood over the limited range of roles and lack of control over the filmmaking process. In response to Golden Harvest's withdrawal from the film industry in 2003, Chan started his own film production company, JCE Movies Limited (Jackie Chan Emperor Movies Limited) in association with Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG). His films have since featured an increasing number of dramatic scenes while continuing to succeed at the box office; examples include New Police Story (2004), The Myth (2005) and the hit film Rob-B-Hood (2006).
Chan's next release was the third instalment in the Rush Hour film series directed by Brett Ratner: Rush Hour 3 in August 2007. It grossed US$255 million. However, it was a disappointment in Hong Kong, grossing only HK$3.5 million during its opening weekend.
2008–present: New experiments and change in acting style
Filming of The Forbidden Kingdom, Chan's first on-screen collaboration with fellow Chinese actor Jet Li, was completed on 24 August 2007 and the movie was released in April 2008. The movie featured heavy use of effects and wires. Chan voiced Master Monkey in Kung Fu Panda (released in June 2008), appearing with Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, and Angelina Jolie. In addition, he has assisted Anthony Szeto in an advisory capacity for the writer-director's film Wushu, released on 1 May 2008. The film stars Sammo Hung and Wang Wenjie as father and son.
In November 2007, Chan began filming Shinjuku Incident, a dramatic role featuring no martial arts sequences with director Derek Yee, which sees Chan take on the role of a Chinese immigrant in Japan. The film was released on 2 April 2009. According to his blog, Chan discussed his wishes to direct a film after completing Shinjuku Incident, something he has not done for a number of years. The film was expected to be the third in the Armour of God series, and had a working title of Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac. The film was released on 12 December 2012. Because the Screen Actors Guild did not go on strike, Chan started shooting his next Hollywood movie The Spy Next Door at the end of October in New Mexico. In The Spy Next Door, Chan plays an undercover agent whose cover is blown when he looks after the children of his girlfriend. In Little Big Soldier, Chan stars alongside Leehom Wang as a soldier in the Warring States period in China. He is the lone survivor of his army and must bring a captured enemy soldier Leehom Wang to the capital of his province.
In 2010, he starred with Jaden Smith in The Karate Kid, a remake of the 1984 original. This was Chan's first dramatic American film. He plays Mr. Han, a kung fu master and maintenance man who teaches Jaden Smith's character kung fu so he can defend himself from school bullies. His role in The Karate Kid won him the Favorite Buttkicker award at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in 2011. In Chan's next movie, Shaolin, he plays a supporting role as a cook of a temple instead of one of the major characters.
His 100th movie, 1911, was released on 26 September 2011. Chan was the co-director, executive producer, and lead star of the movie. While Chan has directed over ten films over his career, this was his first directorial work since Who Am I? in 1998. 1911 premiered in North America on 14 October.
While at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Chan announced that he was retiring from action films citing that he was getting too old for the genre. He later clarified that he would not be completely retiring from action films, but would be performing fewer stunts and taking care of his body more.
In 2013, Chan starred in Police Story 2013, a reboot of the Police Story franchise directed by Ding Sheng, and it was released in China at the end of 2013. Chan's next film Dragon Blade was released in early 2015 and co-starred Hollywood actors John Cusack and Adrien Brody. In 2015, Chan was awarded the title of "Datuk" by Malaysia as he helped Malaysia to boost its tourism, especially in Kuala Lumpur where he previously shot his films. In early 2017, Chan's new film titled Kung Fu Yoga, a Chinese-Indian project, which also starred Indian actors Disha Patani, Sonu Sood and Amyra Dastur, was released. The film reunited Chan with director Stanley Tong, who directed a number of Chan's films in the 1990s. Upon release, the film was a huge success at the box office, and became the 5th highest-grossing film in China, one month after its release.
In 2016, he teamed up with Johnny Knoxville and starred in his own production Skiptrace. That same year he also starred in the action-comedy Railroad Tigers. In 2017, he co-starred with Pierce Brosnan in the action-thriller The Foreigner, an Anglo-Chinese production. He also starred in the 2017 science fiction film Bleeding Steel.
In 2018, he served as an executive producer for the plant-based documentary, The Game Changers, along with James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Pamela Anderson.
He teamed up with John Cena and starred in the 2023 Chinese-American co-production Hidden Strike. He also voiced Splinter in the animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
His films had collectively grossed HK$1.14 billion (US$146 million) at the Hong Kong box office up until 2010, over US$72 million in South Korea between 1991 and 2010, and ¥48.4 billion (US$607 million) in Japan up until 2012. In Europe, his films collectively sold about 84 million tickets between 1973 and 2010. As of 2021, his films have grossed over CN¥14 billion (US$2.17 billion) in China, and US$1.84 billion (more than US$2.44 billion adjusted for inflation) in the United States and Canada. As of 2018, 48 of his films have collectively grossed more than US$5 billion at the worldwide box office.
Views on filmmaking
On August 10, 2025, during a Q&A session at the Locarno Film Festival, Chan stated that he believes contemporary Hollywood productions have "lost quality" due to major studios prioritizing profit over creative filmmaking. He commented, "Right now, a lot of big studios, they're not filmmakers, they're business guys. They invest 40 million and think, 'How can I get it back?' It's very difficult to make a good movie now." Chan contrasted modern productions with what he considered higher-quality films from earlier decades and said his own career goal had been to serve as a "cross-cultural bridge" between the United States and China.
Other works
Music
Chan had vocal lessons while at the Peking Opera School in his childhood. He began producing records professionally in the 1980s and has gone on to become a successful singer in Hong Kong and Asia. He has released 20 albums since 1984 and has performed vocals in Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Taiwanese and English. He often sings the theme songs of his films, which play over the closing credits. Chan's first musical recording was "Kung Fu Fighting Man", the theme song played over the closing credits of The Young Master (1980). At least 10 of these recordings have been released on soundtrack albums for the films. His Cantonese song "Story of a Hero" (英雄故事) (theme song of Police Story) was selected by the Royal Hong Kong Police and incorporated into their recruitment advertisement in 1994.
Chan voiced the character of Shang in the Chinese release of the Walt Disney animated feature Mulan (1998). He also performed the song "I'll Make a Man Out of You", for the film's soundtrack. For the US release, the speaking voice was performed by BD Wong and the singing voice was done by Donny Osmond. He also collaborated with Ani DiFranco on "Unforgettable".
In 2007, Chan recorded and released "We Are Ready", the official one-year countdown song to the 2008 Summer Olympics which he performed at a ceremony marking the one-year countdown to the 2008 Summer Paralympics. Chan also released one of the two official Olympics albums, Official Album for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – Jackie Chan's Version, which featured a number of special guest appearances. Chan performed "Hard to Say Goodbye" along with Andy Lau, Liu Huan and Wakin Chau, at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
Academia
Chan received his honorary Doctorate of Social Science degree in 1996 from the Hong Kong Baptist University. In 2009, he received another honorary doctorate from the University of Cambodia, and has also been awarded an honorary professorship by the Savannah College of Art and Design in Hong Kong in 2008.
Chan is currently a faculty member of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he teaches the subject of tourism management. As of 2015, he also serves as the Dean of the Jackie Chan Film and Television Academy under the Wuhan Institute of Design and Sciences.
Personal life
In 1981, Chan met Taiwanese actress Joan Lin. In December 1982, they married in Los Angeles; their son, Jaycee Chan, was born the day after. Lin retired from acting after their marriage, but made a cameo in CZ12 (2012), in which she plays Chan's wife.
Chan had an extramarital affair with Elaine Ng Yi-Lei, who gave birth to their daughter, Etta Ng Chok Lam, on 18 January 1999. Shortly before Etta's birth, Ng publicly revealed Chan as the father, sparking a scandal. Chan held a press conference where he expressed regret over the affair but stated that he had "only committed a fault that many men in the world commit". In 2002, Ng moved from Hong Kong to Shanghai. She and her daughter attracted media attention for their financial struggles, family conflicts, and mental health issues. However, according to her lawyer, Chan refused to provide any assistance. Chan has never met his daughter since her birth. In 2017, when asked about her coming out as lesbian, he replied: "As long as she's happy."
Chan speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese. He also knows American Sign Language. Chan is an avid football fan and supports the Hong Kong national football team, the England national football team, and Manchester City.
He is a fan of the Italian duo Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, from whom he was inspired for his movies.
Stunts and screen persona
Chan has performed most of his own stunts throughout his film career, which are choreographed by the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. The team was established in 1983, and Chan has used them in all his subsequent films to make choreographing easier, given his understanding of each member's abilities. Chan and his team undertake many of the stunts performed by other characters in his films, shooting the scenes so that their faces are obscured.
In the early 1980s, Jackie Chan began experimenting with elaborate stunt action sequences in films such as The Young Master (1980) and especially Dragon Lord (1982), which featured a pyramid fight scene that holds the record for the most takes required for a single scene, with 2900 takes, and the final fight scene where he performs various stunts, including one where he does a backflip off a loft and falls to the lower ground. In 1983, Project A saw the official formation of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and added elaborate, dangerous stunts to the fights and typical slapstick humor; at one point, Chan falls from the top of a clock tower through a series of fabric canopies. Critics have compared his comedic stunts in Project A to Buster Keaton, who was also known to perform his own stunts, although Chan himself had not watched Keaton's films until years after Project A released; according to Chan, Project A was an evolution of the action stunt work he had been doing in earlier kung Fu comedy films since The Young Master.
Police Story (1985) contained many large-scale action scenes, including an opening sequence featuring a car chase through a shanty town, Chan stopping a double-decker bus with his service revolver and a climactic fight scene in a shopping mall. This final scene earned the film the nickname "Glass Story" by the crew, due to the huge number of panes of sugar glass that were broken. During a stunt in this last scene, in which Chan slides down a pole from several stories up, the lights covering the pole had heated it considerably, resulting in Chan suffering second-degree burns, particularly to his hands, as well as a back injury and dislocation of his pelvis upon landing. Chan performed similarly elaborate stunts in numerous other films, such as several Police Story sequels, Project A Part II, the Armour of God series, Dragons Forever, Drunken Master II, Rumble in the Bronx, and the Rush Hour series, among others.
The dangerous nature of his stunts makes it difficult to get insurance, especially in the United States where his stunt work is contractually limited. Chan holds the Guinness World Record for "Most Stunts by a Living Actor", which emphasizes that "no insurance company will underwrite Chan's productions in which he performs all his own stunts".
Chan has been injured frequently when attempting stunts; many of them have been shown as outtakes or as bloopers during the closing credits of his films. He came closest to death filming Armour of God when he fell from a tree and fractured his skull. Over the years, he has dislocated his pelvis and also broken numerous parts of his body, including his fingers, toes, nose, both cheekbones, hips, sternum, neck, ankle, and ribs. Promotional materials for Rumble in the Bronx emphasized that he performed all of the stunts, and one version of the movie poster even diagrammed his many injuries.
Chan created his screen persona as a response to the late Bruce Lee and the numerous imitators who appeared before and after Lee's death. Lee's characters were typically stern, morally upright heroes. In contrast, Chan plays well-meaning, slightly foolish regular men, often at the mercy of their friends, girlfriends, or families, who always triumph in the end despite the odds. Additionally, he has stated that he deliberately styles his movement to be the opposite of Lee's: where Lee held his arms wide, Chan holds his tight to the body; where Lee was loose and flowing, Chan is tight and choppy. Despite the success of the Rush Hour series, Chan has stated that he is not a fan of it since he neither appreciates the action scenes in the movie nor understands American humor.
American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino classified Chan's style of acting and filmmaking as physical comedy, and considered him one of the greatest in the genre. British filmmaker Edgar Wright describes Jackie Chan as an "expressive" visual performer with an everyman persona. He notes that, in contrast to other action heroes (such as Bruce Lee, Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood or Arnold Schwarzenegger), Chan presents himself as a loveable "goofball" underdog who overcomes the odds with almost "superhuman" acrobatic stunts and fighting abilities.
In the 2000s, the ageing Chan grew tired of being typecast as an action hero, prompting him to act with more emotion in his latest films. In New Police Story (2004), he portrayed a character suffering from alcoholism and mourning his murdered colleagues. To further shed the image of a "nice guy", Chan played an antihero for the first time in Rob-B-Hood (2006) starring as Thongs, a burglar with gambling problems. Chan plays a low-level gangster in 2009's Shinjuku Incident, a serious drama set in Tokyo about unsavory characters.
Legacy
Chan has received global recognition for his film acting and stunt work. His accolades include the Innovator Award from the American Choreography Awards and a lifetime achievement award from the Taurus World Stunt Awards. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars. In addition, Chan has also been honored by placing his hand and footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Despite considerable box office success in Asia, Chan's Hollywood films have been criticized with regard to their action choreography. Reviewers of Rush Hour 2, The Tuxedo, and Shanghai Knights noted the toning down of Chan's fighting scenes, citing less intensity compared to his earlier films. The comedic value of his films is questioned; some critics stating that they can be childish at times. Chan was awarded the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1989 and the Silver Bauhinia Star (SBS) in 1999.
When American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino presented Chan with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1995 MTV Movie Awards, Tarantino described Chan as "one of the best filmmakers the world has ever known" and "one of the greatest physical comedians since sound came into film."
In 2001, he was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame.
He was also awarded an honorary black belt by the World Karate Federation, along with his Karate Kid: Legends co-star Ralph Macchio during the film's New York premiere in 2025.
Cultural impact
Film industry
Numerous films from around the world have taken inspiration from Jackie Chan's fight sequences and action choreography. Examples include The Matrix and Kill Bill (both choreographed by his former colleague Yuen Woo-ping), the Kung Fu Panda series (where he also voiced Monkey), The Raid: Redemption (2011) from Indonesian cinema, Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), the John Wick series, Atomic Blonde (2017), Marvel Cinematic Universe films such as Black Panther (2018) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), the DC Extended Universe film Birds of Prey (2020), and the Netflix film Extraction (2020). British filmmaker Edgar Wright cited Chan as an influence and said that, "No matter how many people try and rip off Jackie Chan movies, there's something which they can't rip off which is Jackie Chan himself." Tom Holland also cited Chan as an influence on several action scenes in Uncharted (2022), noting Chan's use of his surroundings to fight people in unique ways.
In popular culture and media
Chan has been the subject of Ash's song "Kung Fu", Heavy Vegetable's "Jackie Chan Is a Punk Rocker", Leehom Wang's "Long Live Chinese People", as well as in "Jackie Chan" by Frank Chickens, and television shows Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Celebrity Deathmatch and Family Guy.
He has been cited as the inspiration for manga and anime such as Dragon Ball, which was particularly inspired by Drunken Master, and the fight scenes in Jackie Chan movies; the show pays homage with a character by the alias "Jackie Chun". Toriyama said he had a young Jackie Chan in mind for a live-action Goku, stating that "nobody could play Goku but him." Chan himself was a fan of the series, and had expressed some interest in adapting Dragon Ball into a live-action film, but said it would require "a lot of amazing special effects and an enormous budget."
The parkour movement was also inspired by Chan.
A number of video games have been based on, or featured, Jackie Chan. His film Wheels on Meals (called Spartan X in Japan) spawned the hit 1984 beat 'em up arcade game Spartan X (released as Kung-Fu Master in Western markets), and its sequel Spartan X 2 for the Nintendo Famicom console. Spartan X laid the foundations for the beat 'em up genre, and inspired other games including Super Mario Bros. (1985) and Street Fighter (1987). Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu was released in 1990 for the PC-Engine and Nintendo Entertainment System. In 1995, Chan was featured in the arcade game Jackie Chan The Kung-Fu Master. A series of Japanese video games were released on the MSX computer by Pony, based on several of Chan's films (Project A, Project A 2, Police Story, The Protector and Wheels on Meals). Other games based on Jackie Chan include Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, Jackie Chan Adventures and Jackie Chan J-Mat Fitness. Chan also inspired video game characters such as Lei Wulong in Tekken and the fighting-type Pokémon Hitmonchan.
On 25 June 2013, Chan responded to a hoax Facebook page created a few days earlier that alleged he had died. He said that several people contacted him to congratulate him on his recent engagement, and soon thereafter contacted him again to ask if he was still alive. He posted a Facebook message, commenting: "If I died, I would probably tell the world!"
In 2015, a made-up word inspired by Chan's description of his hair during an interview for a commercial, duang, became an internet viral meme particularly in China. The Chinese character for the word is a composite of two characters of Chan's name.
A wax figure of Jackie Chan was revealed at Madame Tussauds New York in 2020.
Public image
Jackie Chan has a sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi Motors that has resulted in the appearance of Mitsubishi cars in a number of his films. Furthermore, Mitsubishi launched a limited series of Evolution cars personally customized by Chan.
Chan was also the primary catalyst for the creation of review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, whose founder Senh Duong was his fan and created the website after collecting all the reviews of Chan's Hong Kong action movies as they were being released in the United States. In anticipation for Rush Hour, Chan's first major Hollywood crossover, he coded the website in two weeks and the site went live shortly before the release of Rush Hour.
Chan says he has always wanted to be a role model to children, and has remained popular with them due to his good-natured acting style. He has generally refused to play villains and has been very restrained in using swear words in his films – he persuaded the director of Rush Hour to take "fuck" out of the script. Chan's greatest regret in life is not having received a proper education, inspiring him to fund educational institutions around the world. He funded the construction of the Jackie Chan Science Centre at the Australian National University and the establishment of schools in poor regions of China.
Chan is a spokesperson for the Government of Hong Kong, appearing in public service announcements. In a Clean Hong Kong commercial, he urged the people of Hong Kong to be more considerate with regards to littering, a problem that has been widespread for decades. Furthermore, in an advertisement promoting nationalism, he gave a short explanation of the March of the Volunteers, the national anthem of the People's Republic of China. When Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005, Chan participated in the opening ceremony. In the United States, Chan appeared alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in a government advert to combat copyright infringement and made another public service announcement with Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca to encourage people, especially Asian people, to join the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Cultural honors and depictions
In November 2013, a statue of Chan was unveiled in front of what is now known as the JC Film Gallery, which opened in the spring of 2014.
On 1 February 2015, Chan was awarded the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the Territorial Crown by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia Tuanku Abdul Halim in conjunction with the country's Federal Territory Day. It carries the title of Datuk in Malaysia.
Political views
Chan's views on Hong Kong politics have gradually shifted from a pro-democratic stance in the late 1980s to a pro-Beijing stance in the 2010s. In 1989, Chan performed at the Concert for Democracy in China in support of democratic movement during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. By 2021, in contrast, he expressed his desire to join the Chinese Communist Party. Since 2013, Chan has been a pro-China politician, having served two terms as a delegate to the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's political advisory body.
According to Chan, he wanted to be a Party member but his moral failings make him unqualified. Chan stated that he can "see the greatness of the CCP" and his view that "[i]t will deliver what it says, and what it promises in less than 100 years, but only a few decades."
During a news conference in Shanghai on 28 March 2004, Chan referred to the recently concluded 2004 Taiwanese presidential election, in which Democratic Progressive Party candidates Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu were re-elected as president and vice-president, as "the biggest joke in the world". A Taiwanese legislator and senior member of the DPP, Parris Chang, called for the government of Taiwan to ban Around the World in 80 Days. Police and security personnel separated Chan from scores of protesters shouting "Jackie Chan, get out" when he arrived at Taipei airport in June 2008.
Referring to his participation in the torch relay for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chan spoke out against demonstrators who disrupted the relay several times attempting to draw attention to a wide-ranging number of grievances against the Chinese government. He warned that "publicity seekers" planning to stop him from carrying the Olympic Torch "not get anywhere near" him. Chan also argued that the Olympics coverage that year would "provide another way for us to tell the world about Chinese culture."
In 2009, Chan was named an "anti-drug ambassador" by the Chinese government, actively taking part in anti-drug campaigns and supporting President Hu Jintao's declaration that illegal drugs should be eradicated, and their users punished severely. In 2014, when his own son Jaycee was arrested for cannabis use, he said that he was "angry", "shocked", "heartbroken" and "ashamed" of his son. He also remarked, "I hope all young people will learn a lesson from Jaycee and stay far from the harm of drugs. I say to Jaycee that you have to accept the consequences when you do something wrong."
On 18 April 2009, during a panel discussion at the annual Boao Forum for Asia, he questioned whether or not broad freedom is a good thing. Noting the strong tensions in Hong Kong and Taiwan, he said, "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want." Chan's comments prompted angry responses from several prominent figures in Taiwan and Hong Kong. A spokesman later said Chan was referring to freedom in the entertainment industry, rather than in Chinese society at large.
In December 2012, Chan caused outrage when he criticized Hong Kong as a "city of protest", suggesting that demonstrators' rights in Hong Kong should be limited. The same month, in an interview with Phoenix TV, Chan stated that the United States was the "most corrupt" country in the world, which in turn angered parts of the online community. Other articles situated Chan's comments in the context of his career and life in the United States, including his "embrace of the American film market" and his seeking asylum in the United States from Hong Kong triads.
From 2013 to 2023, Chan served two terms as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, representing the "Literature and Arts" sector.
In April 2016, Chan was named in the Panama Papers. While Chan was not accused of engaging in illegal activity per se, he was listed as having up to six different offshore accounts, likely for the purposes of serving as tax shelters.
In 2019, Chan criticized Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests, saying that the "'Five-starred Red Flag' is respected everywhere around the world." He also supported the National People's Congress decision on Hong Kong national security legislation.
Entrepreneurship and philanthropy
In addition to his film production and distribution company, JCE Movies Limited, Jackie Chan owns or co-owns the production companies JC Group China, Jackie & Willie Productions (with Willie Chan) and Jackie & JJ Productions. Chan has also put his name to Jackie Chan Theater International, a cinema chain in China, co-run by Hong Kong company Sparkle Roll Group Ltd. The first—Jackie Chan-Yaolai International Cinema—opened in February 2010, and is claimed to be the largest cinema complex in China, with 17 screens and 3,500 seats. Chan expressed his hopes that the size of the venue would afford young, non-commercial directors the opportunity to have their films screened. Fifteen further cinemas in the chain were planned for 2010, throughout Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, with a potential total of 65 cinemas throughout the country proposed.
In 2004, Chan launched his own line of clothing, which bears a Chinese dragon logo and the English word "Jackie", or the initials "JC". Chan also has a number of other branded businesses. His sushi restaurant chain, Jackie's Kitchen, has outlets throughout Hong Kong, as well as seven in South Korea, with plans to open another in Las Vegas. Jackie Chan's Cafe has outlets in Beijing, Singapore, and the Philippines. Other ventures include Jackie Chan Signature Club gyms (a partnership with California Fitness), and a line of chocolates, cookies and nutritional oatcakes. With each of his businesses, a percentage of the profits goes to various charities, including the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation.
In 2016, Chan partnered with Asian Le Mans Series champion David Cheng to form a racing team in the series and the FIA World Endurance Championship. The two met in March 2015 and Chan told Cheng about his interest in motorsports and raised the possibility of starting a team. Together, the two formed Baxi DC Racing Alpine, the first mainland China-based operation in WEC. In October, leading into the 2016–17 Asian Le Mans Series season, the team was rebranded to Jackie Chan DC Racing and raced with liveries promoting Chan's movie Kung Fu Yoga. At the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans, the team became the first Chinese team to win its class (LMP2).
Chan is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and has championed charitable works and causes. He has campaigned for conservation and against animal abuse, and has promoted disaster relief efforts for floods in mainland China and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
In June 2006, citing his admiration of the efforts made by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to help those in need, Chan pledged the donation of half his assets to charity upon his death. On 10 March 2008, Chan was the guest of honour for the launch, by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, of the Jackie Chan Science Centre at the John Curtin School of Medical Research of the Australian National University. Chan is also a supporter and ambassador of Save China's Tigers, which aims to save the endangered South China tiger through breeding and releasing them into the wild.
Following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Chan donated RMB ¥10 million to help those in need. In addition, he planned to make a film about the Chinese earthquake to raise money for survivors. In response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Chan and fellow Hong Kong-based celebrities, including American rapper MC Jin, headlined a special three-hour charity concert, titled Artistes 311 Love Beyond Borders, on 1 April 2011 to help with Japan's disaster recovery effort. The 3-hour concert raised over $3.3 million. In January 2017, Chan donated $65,000 to help flood victims in Thailand.
Chan founded the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation in 1988 to offer scholarship and active help to Hong Kong's young people and provide aid to victims of natural disaster or illness. In 2005, Chan created the Dragon's Heart Foundation to help children and the elderly in remote areas of China by building schools, providing books, fees, and uniforms for children; the organisation expanded its reach to Europe in 2011. The foundation also provides for the elderly with donations of warm clothing, wheelchairs, and other items.
Endorsements
One product which Chan had endorsed in China was the "Little Tyrant" ("小霸王") produced by Subor, a Nintendo Entertainment System hardware clone marketed as a "learning machine" to circumvent China's then-ban on video game consoles. In 2010, Chan served as brand ambassador for Kaspersky Lab's antivirus software in Asia.
There is an urban legend called the Jackie Chan curse. ABC News reported in 2010 that the legend originated because "A slew of products sold in China bearing his name, smile and seal of approval have proven defective, prone to explosion, and in one case, potentially damaging to consumers' health." This led to a belief that any product or company which was endorsed by Jackie Chan would suffer setbacks. In 2016 the failure of fitness chain California Fitness was blamed on the curse. The curse was again invoked in 2021 when Evergrande Group suffered major losses following Chan's promotion of Evergrande Spring brand bottled water. However, Jackie Chan has also endorsed a number of products and companies which have not had issues.
Filmography
Discography
Books
I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action, Random House, 1998, 398 p. Autobiography co-written with Jeff Yang.
Never Grow Up, Simon and Schuster, 2018, 352 p. Autobiography co-written with Zhu Mo.
Awards and nominations
International honours and recognition
United Kingdom
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) (1989)
Federal Territory (Malaysia)
Commander of the Order of the Territorial Crown (PMW) – Datuk (2015)
2002 motion pictures star at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard on the Walk of Fame.
The Jackie Chan Action Movie Awards, held at the Shanghai International Film Festival since 2015, is named after Jackie Chan.
Chan is a recipient of an honorary black belt by the World Karate Federation in 2025, along with Karate Kid: Legends co-star Ralph Macchio during the film's movie premiere in New York City.
See also
Hong Kong action cinema
Jackie Chan Hill – Neighbourhood in Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Official website
Jackie Chan at IMDb
Jackie Chan at the Hong Kong Movie Database
Jackie Chan at Rotten Tomatoes
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Fang Shilong (born Chan Kong-sang; 7 April 1954), known professionally as Jackie Chan, is a Hong Kongese martial artist, actor and filmmaker, known for his slapstick, acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically performs himself. With a film career spanning more than sixty years, he is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential martial artists in the history of cinema. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $6 billion worldwide.
Starting as one of the Seven Little Fortunes at the China Drama Academy, where he was trained in acrobatics, martial arts and acting, Chan entered the Hong Kong film industry as a stuntman before making the transition to acting. His breakthrough came with the action comedy Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978). He then starred in similar action comedies such as Drunken Master (1978) and The Young Master (1980). He made his directorial debut with The Fearless Hyena (1979), which was a box office success. Throughout the 1980s, he was part of the "Three Dragons" along with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao; the three starred in six Hong Kong films together. Project A (1983) saw the official formation of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and established Chan's signature style of elaborate, dangerous stunts combined with martial arts and slapstick humor, a style he further developed in a more modern setting with Wheels on Meals (1984) and Police Story (1985). Rumble in the Bronx (1995), which had a successful worldwide theatrical run, brought Chan into the North American mainstream. By the mid-1990s, he was the most popular action movie star in Asia and Europe.
Chan gained Hollywood success for portraying Chief Inspector Lee in the American buddy cop action comedy film Rush Hour (1998), a role he reprised in two sequels. He went on to work both in American and Chinese films, appearing in the well-received Shanghai film series (2000–2003), New Police Story (2004), Rob-B-Hood (2006), Little Big Soldier (2010), and Shaolin (2011), among others. The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) marked his first collaboration with fellow martial arts star Jet Li. He has played martial arts mentor Mr. Han in two Karate Kid films, the 2010 remake The Karate Kid and Karate Kid: Legends (2025). For CZ12 (2012), he earned two Guinness World Records for "Most Stunts Performed by a Living Actor" and "Most Credits in One Movie". He played against type in Shinjuku Incident (2009) and The Foreigner (2017). His voice acting work includes all three Chinese versions of Mulan (1998), the first three films in the Kung Fu Panda franchise (2008–2016), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023).
One of the most recognizable and influential film personalities in the world, Chan was described by film scholar Andrew Willis in 2004 as perhaps "the most recognized star in the world." He has received fame stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, as well as an honorary Academy Award in 2016. Chan has been referenced in various pop songs, films, television series, and video games. He has an award named after him, the Jackie Chan Action Movie Awards. He is an operatically trained vocalist who has released several pop music albums and performed theme songs for some of the films in which he starred. He is also a philanthropist and was named one of the top 10 most charitable celebrities by Forbes in 2011. In 2016, Forbes ranked him the second-highest-paid actor in the world. In 2025, Parade estimated his net worth to be $400 million, and reported he planned to leave his fortune to charity, rather than to his son, Jaycee Chan.
Early life
Chan was born on 7 April 1954 in British Hong Kong as Chan Kong-sang to Charles and Lee-lee Chan, political refugees from the Chinese Civil War. In circa 1937, Chan's father, originally named Fang Daolong, briefly worked as a secret agent for Lieutenant General Dai Li, the chief spy in Kuomintang-ruled China. For fear of being arrested by the communist government, Chan's father fled to British Hong Kong in the 1940s and changed his surname from Fang to Chan. Chan was his wife Chan Lee-lee's surname. Chan discovered his father's identity and changed his Chinese name to Fang Shilong (房仕龍) in the late 1990s, the name he would have been named according to his kin's genealogy book, which allegedly traces back to Tang dynasty statesman Fang Xuanling. Chan's ancestral roots are located in Wuhu, Anhui.
Chan spent his formative years within the grounds of the French consul's residence in the Victoria Peak, British Hong Kong, as his father worked as a cook there. Chan attended the Nah-Hwa Primary School on Hong Kong Island, where he failed his first year, after which his parents withdrew him from the school. In 1960, his father emigrated to Canberra, Australia to work as the head cook for the American embassy, and Chan was sent to the China Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School run by Master Yu Jim-yuen. Chan trained rigorously for the next decade, excelling in martial arts and acrobatics. He eventually became part of the Seven Little Fortunes, a performance group made up of the school's best students, gaining the stage name Yuen Lo (元樓) in homage to his master. Chan became close friends with fellow group members Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, and the three of them later became known as the Three Brothers or Three Dragons. After entering the film industry, Chan along with Sammo Hung got the opportunity to train in hapkido under the grand master Jin Pal Kim, and Chan eventually attained a black belt. As a martial artist, Chan is also skilled in multiple forms of Kung fu. He is also known to have trained in other martial art forms such as Karate, Judo, Boxing, Taekwondo, and Jeet Kune Do.
Chan joined his parents in Canberra, Australia in 1971, where he briefly attended Dickson College and worked as a construction worker. A fellow builder named Jack took Chan under his wing, thus earning Chan the nickname of "Little Jack", later shortened to "Jacky". In the 1980s, the spelling of his nickname became "Jackie", which has stuck with him ever since.
Film career
1962–1975: Early small appearances
He began his film career by appearing in small roles at the age of five as a child actor. At age eight, he appeared with some of his fellow "Little Fortunes" in the film Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962) with Li Li-Hua playing his mother. The following year, the young actor appeared in extras of Yen Chun's 1964 film Liang Shan Po and Chu Ying Tai and had a small role in King Hu's 1966 film Come Drink with Me. In 1971, after an appearance as an extra in another kung Fu film, A Touch of Zen, Chan was signed to Chu Mu's Great Earth Film Company.
Chan appeared in the Bruce Lee film Fist of Fury (1972), both as an extra and as a stunt double for the Japanese villain Hiroshi Suzuki (portrayed by Chikara Hashimoto), particularly during the final fight scene where Lee kicks him and he flies through the air. Chan again appeared in another Bruce Lee film, Enter the Dragon (1973), as a minor henchman who gets killed by Lee's character. Sammo Hung helped Chan get minor roles in both of the Bruce Lee films. Chan also worked as a martial arts choreographer for John Woo's The Young Dragons (1974).
1976–1980: Start-up leading roles
In 1976, Jackie Chan received a telegram from Willie Chan, a film producer in the Hong Kong film industry who had been impressed with Jackie's stunt choreography work. Willie Chan offered him an acting role in a film directed by Lo Wei. Lo saw Chan's performance in the John Woo film Hand of Death (1976) and planned to model him after Bruce Lee with the film New Fist of Fury. His stage name was changed to 成龍 (literally "becoming the dragon", Sing4 Lung4 in Jyutping or rarely as Cheng Long in pinyin), to emphasize his similarity to Bruce Lee, whose stage name meant "Lee the Little Dragon" in Chinese. (Note that "dragon" in Lee's name referred to Lee's birth year being the Dragon zodiac, not the Chinese dragon.) The film was unsuccessful because Chan was not accustomed to Lee's martial arts style. Despite the film's failure, Lo Wei continued producing films with similar themes, but with little improvement at the box office.
Chan's first major breakthrough was the 1978 film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, shot while he was loaned to Seasonal Film Corporation under a two-picture deal. Director Yuen Woo-ping allowed Chan complete freedom over his stunt work. The film established the comedic kung fu genre, and proved refreshing to the Hong Kong audience. The same year, Chan then starred in Drunken Master, which finally propelled him to mainstream success.
Upon Chan's return to Lo Wei's studio, Lo tried to replicate the comedic approach of Drunken Master, producing and also showed new features at the time with Jackie as the Stunt Director Half a Loaf of Kung Fu and Spiritual Kung Fu. He also gave Chan the opportunity to make his directorial debut in The Fearless Hyena. When Willie Chan left the company, he advised Jackie to decide for himself whether or not to stay with Lo Wei. During the shooting of Fearless Hyena Part II, Chan broke his contract and joined Golden Harvest, prompting Lo to blackmail Chan with triads, blaming Willie for his star's departure. The dispute was resolved with the help of fellow actor and director Jimmy Wang Yu, allowing Chan to stay with Golden Harvest.
1980–1987: Commercial success in the action comedy genre
Willie Chan became Jackie's personal manager and firm friend, and remained so for over 30 years. He was instrumental in launching Chan's international career, beginning with his first forays into the American film industry in the 1980s. His first Hollywood film was The Big Brawl in 1980. Chan then played a minor role in the 1981 film The Cannonball Run, which grossed over US$100 million worldwide. Despite being largely ignored by North American audiences in favour of established American actors such as Burt Reynolds, Chan was impressed by the outtakes shown at the closing credits, inspiring him to include the same device in his future films.
After the commercial failure of The Protector in 1985, Chan temporarily abandoned his attempts to break into the US market, returning his focus to Hong Kong films.
Back in Hong Kong, Chan's films began to reach a larger audience in East Asia, with early successes in the lucrative Japanese market including Drunken Master, The Young Master (1980) and Dragon Lord (1982). The Young Master went on to beat previous box office records set by Bruce Lee and established Chan as Hong Kong cinema's top star. With Dragon Lord, he began experimenting with elaborate stunt action sequences, including the final fight scene where he performs various stunts, including one where he does a back flip off a loft and falls to the lower ground.
Chan produced a number of action comedy films with his opera school friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The three co-starred together for the first time in 1983 in Project A, which introduced a dangerous stunt-driven style of martial arts that won it the Best Action Design Award at the third annual Hong Kong Film Awards. Over the following two years, the "Three Brothers" appeared in Wheels on Meals and the original Lucky Stars trilogy. In 1985, Chan made the first Police Story film, a crime action film in which Chan performed a number of dangerous stunts. It won Best Film at the 1986 Hong Kong Film Awards. In 1986, Chan played "Asian Hawk", an Indiana Jones-esque character, in the film Armour of God. The film was Chan's biggest domestic box office success up to that point, grossing over HK$35 million.
1988–1998: Acclaimed film sequels and Hollywood breakthrough
In 1988, Chan starred alongside Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao for the last time to date in the film Dragons Forever. Hung co-directed with Corey Yuen, and the villain in the film was played by Yuen Wah, both of whom were fellow graduates of the China Drama Academy.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Chan starred in a number of successful sequels beginning with Project A Part II and Police Story 2, which won the award for Best Action Choreography at the 1989 Hong Kong Film Awards. This was followed by Armour of God II: Operation Condor, and Police Story 3: Super Cop, for which Chan won the Best Actor Award at the 1993 Golden Horse Film Festival. In 1994, Chan reprised his role as Wong Fei-hung in Drunken Master II, which was listed in Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies. Another sequel, Police Story 4: First Strike, brought more awards and domestic box office success for Chan, but did not fare as well in foreign markets.
By the mid-1990s, he was the most popular action movie star in Asia and Europe. Up until January 1995, his films had grossed over HK$500 million (US$70 million) in Hong Kong and ¥39 billion (US$415 million) in Japan, while having sold over 33 million box office admissions in France, Germany, Italy and Spain up until then. Despite his international success, he was not very successful in North America, where he had only two wide releases as a leading actor, The Big Brawl and The Protector, grossing US$9.51 million (US$32 million adjusted for inflation). Despite this, there was a thriving North American home video market for Chan's Hong Kong films by the mid-1990s.
Chan rekindled his Hollywood ambitions in the 1990s, but refused early offers to play villains in Hollywood films to avoid being typecast in future roles. For example, Sylvester Stallone offered him the role of Simon Phoenix, a criminal in the futuristic film Demolition Man. Chan declined and the role was taken by Wesley Snipes.
Chan finally succeeded in establishing a foothold in the North American market in 1995 with a worldwide release of Rumble in the Bronx, attaining a cult following in the United States that was rare for Hong Kong movie stars. The success of Rumble in the Bronx led to a 1996 release of Police Story 3: Super Cop in the United States under the title Supercop, which grossed a total of US$16,270,600. Chan's first huge blockbuster success came when he co-starred with Chris Tucker in the 1998 buddy cop action comedy Rush Hour, grossing US$130 million in the United States alone. This film made him a Hollywood star, after which he wrote his autobiography in collaboration with Jeff Yang entitled I Am Jackie Chan.
1999–2007: Fame in Hollywood and dramatization
In 1998, Chan released his final film for Golden Harvest, Who Am I?. After leaving Golden Harvest in 1999, he produced and starred alongside Shu Qi in Gorgeous, a romantic comedy that focused on personal relationships and featured only a few martial arts sequences. Although Chan had left Golden Harvest in 1999, the company continued to produce and distribute for two of his films, Gorgeous (1999) and The Accidental Spy (2001). Chan then helped create a PlayStation game in 2000 called Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, to which he lent his voice and performed the motion capture. He continued his Hollywood success in 2000 when he teamed up with Owen Wilson in the Western action comedy Shanghai Noon. A sequel, Shanghai Knights followed in 2003 and also featured his first on-screen fight scene with Donnie Yen. He reunited with Chris Tucker for Rush Hour 2 (2001), which was an even bigger success than the original, grossing $347 million worldwide. Chan experimented with the use of special effects and wirework for the fight scenes in his next two Hollywood films, The Tuxedo (2002) and The Medallion (2003), which were not as successful critically or commercially. In 2004, he teamed up with Steve Coogan in Around the World in 80 Days, loosely based on Jules Verne's novel of the same name. In 2004, film scholar Andrew Willis stated that Chan was "perhaps" the "most recognized star in the world".
Despite the success of the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon films, Chan became frustrated with Hollywood over the limited range of roles and lack of control over the filmmaking process. In response to Golden Harvest's withdrawal from the film industry in 2003, Chan started his own film production company, JCE Movies Limited (Jackie Chan Emperor Movies Limited) in association with Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG). His films have since featured an increasing number of dramatic scenes while continuing to succeed at the box office; examples include New Police Story (2004), The Myth (2005) and the hit film Rob-B-Hood (2006).
Chan's next release was the third instalment in the Rush Hour film series directed by Brett Ratner: Rush Hour 3 in August 2007. It grossed US$255 million. However, it was a disappointment in Hong Kong, grossing only HK$3.5 million during its opening weekend.
2008–present: New experiments and change in acting style
Filming of The Forbidden Kingdom, Chan's first on-screen collaboration with fellow Chinese actor Jet Li, was completed on 24 August 2007 and the movie was released in April 2008. The movie featured heavy use of effects and wires. Chan voiced Master Monkey in Kung Fu Panda (released in June 2008), appearing with Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, and Angelina Jolie. In addition, he has assisted Anthony Szeto in an advisory capacity for the writer-director's film Wushu, released on 1 May 2008. The film stars Sammo Hung and Wang Wenjie as father and son.
In November 2007, Chan began filming Shinjuku Incident, a dramatic role featuring no martial arts sequences with director Derek Yee, which sees Chan take on the role of a Chinese immigrant in Japan. The film was released on 2 April 2009. According to his blog, Chan discussed his wishes to direct a film after completing Shinjuku Incident, something he has not done for a number of years. The film was expected to be the third in the Armour of God series, and had a working title of Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac. The film was released on 12 December 2012. Because the Screen Actors Guild did not go on strike, Chan started shooting his next Hollywood movie The Spy Next Door at the end of October in New Mexico. In The Spy Next Door, Chan plays an undercover agent whose cover is blown when he looks after the children of his girlfriend. In Little Big Soldier, Chan stars alongside Leehom Wang as a soldier in the Warring States period in China. He is the lone survivor of his army and must bring a captured enemy soldier Leehom Wang to the capital of his province.
In 2010, he starred with Jaden Smith in The Karate Kid, a remake of the 1984 original. This was Chan's first dramatic American film. He plays Mr. Han, a kung fu master and maintenance man who teaches Jaden Smith's character kung fu so he can defend himself from school bullies. His role in The Karate Kid won him the Favorite Buttkicker award at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in 2011. In Chan's next movie, Shaolin, he plays a supporting role as a cook of a temple instead of one of the major characters.
His 100th movie, 1911, was released on 26 September 2011. Chan was the co-director, executive producer, and lead star of the movie. While Chan has directed over ten films over his career, this was his first directorial work since Who Am I? in 1998. 1911 premiered in North America on 14 October.
While at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Chan announced that he was retiring from action films citing that he was getting too old for the genre. He later clarified that he would not be completely retiring from action films, but would be performing fewer stunts and taking care of his body more.
In 2013, Chan starred in Police Story 2013, a reboot of the Police Story franchise directed by Ding Sheng, and it was released in China at the end of 2013. Chan's next film Dragon Blade was released in early 2015 and co-starred Hollywood actors John Cusack and Adrien Brody. In 2015, Chan was awarded the title of "Datuk" by Malaysia as he helped Malaysia to boost its tourism, especially in Kuala Lumpur where he previously shot his films. In early 2017, Chan's new film titled Kung Fu Yoga, a Chinese-Indian project, which also starred Indian actors Disha Patani, Sonu Sood and Amyra Dastur, was released. The film reunited Chan with director Stanley Tong, who directed a number of Chan's films in the 1990s. Upon release, the film was a huge success at the box office, and became the 5th highest-grossing film in China, one month after its release.
In 2016, he teamed up with Johnny Knoxville and starred in his own production Skiptrace. That same year he also starred in the action-comedy Railroad Tigers. In 2017, he co-starred with Pierce Brosnan in the action-thriller The Foreigner, an Anglo-Chinese production. He also starred in the 2017 science fiction film Bleeding Steel.
In 2018, he served as an executive producer for the plant-based documentary, The Game Changers, along with James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Pamela Anderson.
He teamed up with John Cena and starred in the 2023 Chinese-American co-production Hidden Strike. He also voiced Splinter in the animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
His films had collectively grossed HK$1.14 billion (US$146 million) at the Hong Kong box office up until 2010, over US$72 million in South Korea between 1991 and 2010, and ¥48.4 billion (US$607 million) in Japan up until 2012. In Europe, his films collectively sold about 84 million tickets between 1973 and 2010. As of 2021, his films have grossed over CN¥14 billion (US$2.17 billion) in China, and US$1.84 billion (more than US$2.44 billion adjusted for inflation) in the United States and Canada. As of 2018, 48 of his films have collectively grossed more than US$5 billion at the worldwide box office.
Views on filmmaking
On August 10, 2025, during a Q&A session at the Locarno Film Festival, Chan stated that he believes contemporary Hollywood productions have "lost quality" due to major studios prioritizing profit over creative filmmaking. He commented, "Right now, a lot of big studios, they're not filmmakers, they're business guys. They invest 40 million and think, 'How can I get it back?' It's very difficult to make a good movie now." Chan contrasted modern productions with what he considered higher-quality films from earlier decades and said his own career goal had been to serve as a "cross-cultural bridge" between the United States and China.
Other works
Music
Chan had vocal lessons while at the Peking Opera School in his childhood. He began producing records professionally in the 1980s and has gone on to become a successful singer in Hong Kong and Asia. He has released 20 albums since 1984 and has performed vocals in Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Taiwanese and English. He often sings the theme songs of his films, which play over the closing credits. Chan's first musical recording was "Kung Fu Fighting Man", the theme song played over the closing credits of The Young Master (1980). At least 10 of these recordings have been released on soundtrack albums for the films. His Cantonese song "Story of a Hero" (英雄故事) (theme song of Police Story) was selected by the Royal Hong Kong Police and incorporated into their recruitment advertisement in 1994.
Chan voiced the character of Shang in the Chinese release of the Walt Disney animated feature Mulan (1998). He also performed the song "I'll Make a Man Out of You", for the film's soundtrack. For the US release, the speaking voice was performed by BD Wong and the singing voice was done by Donny Osmond. He also collaborated with Ani DiFranco on "Unforgettable".
In 2007, Chan recorded and released "We Are Ready", the official one-year countdown song to the 2008 Summer Olympics which he performed at a ceremony marking the one-year countdown to the 2008 Summer Paralympics. Chan also released one of the two official Olympics albums, Official Album for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – Jackie Chan's Version, which featured a number of special guest appearances. Chan performed "Hard to Say Goodbye" along with Andy Lau, Liu Huan and Wakin Chau, at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
Academia
Chan received his honorary Doctorate of Social Science degree in 1996 from the Hong Kong Baptist University. In 2009, he received another honorary doctorate from the University of Cambodia, and has also been awarded an honorary professorship by the Savannah College of Art and Design in Hong Kong in 2008.
Chan is currently a faculty member of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he teaches the subject of tourism management. As of 2015, he also serves as the Dean of the Jackie Chan Film and Television Academy under the Wuhan Institute of Design and Sciences.
Personal life
In 1981, Chan met Taiwanese actress Joan Lin. In December 1982, they married in Los Angeles; their son, Jaycee Chan, was born the day after. Lin retired from acting after their marriage, but made a cameo in CZ12 (2012), in which she plays Chan's wife.
Chan had an extramarital affair with Elaine Ng Yi-Lei, who gave birth to their daughter, Etta Ng Chok Lam, on 18 January 1999. Shortly before Etta's birth, Ng publicly revealed Chan as the father, sparking a scandal. Chan held a press conference where he expressed regret over the affair but stated that he had "only committed a fault that many men in the world commit". In 2002, Ng moved from Hong Kong to Shanghai. She and her daughter attracted media attention for their financial struggles, family conflicts, and mental health issues. However, according to her lawyer, Chan refused to provide any assistance. Chan has never met his daughter since her birth. In 2017, when asked about her coming out as lesbian, he replied: "As long as she's happy."
Chan speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese. He also knows American Sign Language. Chan is an avid football fan and supports the Hong Kong national football team, the England national football team, and Manchester City.
He is a fan of the Italian duo Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, from whom he was inspired for his movies.
Stunts and screen persona
Chan has performed most of his own stunts throughout his film career, which are choreographed by the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. The team was established in 1983, and Chan has used them in all his subsequent films to make choreographing easier, given his understanding of each member's abilities. Chan and his team undertake many of the stunts performed by other characters in his films, shooting the scenes so that their faces are obscured.
In the early 1980s, Jackie Chan began experimenting with elaborate stunt action sequences in films such as The Young Master (1980) and especially Dragon Lord (1982), which featured a pyramid fight scene that holds the record for the most takes required for a single scene, with 2900 takes, and the final fight scene where he performs various stunts, including one where he does a backflip off a loft and falls to the lower ground. In 1983, Project A saw the official formation of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and added elaborate, dangerous stunts to the fights and typical slapstick humor; at one point, Chan falls from the top of a clock tower through a series of fabric canopies. Critics have compared his comedic stunts in Project A to Buster Keaton, who was also known to perform his own stunts, although Chan himself had not watched Keaton's films until years after Project A released; according to Chan, Project A was an evolution of the action stunt work he had been doing in earlier kung Fu comedy films since The Young Master.
Police Story (1985) contained many large-scale action scenes, including an opening sequence featuring a car chase through a shanty town, Chan stopping a double-decker bus with his service revolver and a climactic fight scene in a shopping mall. This final scene earned the film the nickname "Glass Story" by the crew, due to the huge number of panes of sugar glass that were broken. During a stunt in this last scene, in which Chan slides down a pole from several stories up, the lights covering the pole had heated it considerably, resulting in Chan suffering second-degree burns, particularly to his hands, as well as a back injury and dislocation of his pelvis upon landing. Chan performed similarly elaborate stunts in numerous other films, such as several Police Story sequels, Project A Part II, the Armour of God series, Dragons Forever, Drunken Master II, Rumble in the Bronx, and the Rush Hour series, among others.
The dangerous nature of his stunts makes it difficult to get insurance, especially in the United States where his stunt work is contractually limited. Chan holds the Guinness World Record for "Most Stunts by a Living Actor", which emphasizes that "no insurance company will underwrite Chan's productions in which he performs all his own stunts".
Chan has been injured frequently when attempting stunts; many of them have been shown as outtakes or as bloopers during the closing credits of his films. He came closest to death filming Armour of God when he fell from a tree and fractured his skull. Over the years, he has dislocated his pelvis and also broken numerous parts of his body, including his fingers, toes, nose, both cheekbones, hips, sternum, neck, ankle, and ribs. Promotional materials for Rumble in the Bronx emphasized that he performed all of the stunts, and one version of the movie poster even diagrammed his many injuries.
Chan created his screen persona as a response to the late Bruce Lee and the numerous imitators who appeared before and after Lee's death. Lee's characters were typically stern, morally upright heroes. In contrast, Chan plays well-meaning, slightly foolish regular men, often at the mercy of their friends, girlfriends, or families, who always triumph in the end despite the odds. Additionally, he has stated that he deliberately styles his movement to be the opposite of Lee's: where Lee held his arms wide, Chan holds his tight to the body; where Lee was loose and flowing, Chan is tight and choppy. Despite the success of the Rush Hour series, Chan has stated that he is not a fan of it since he neither appreciates the action scenes in the movie nor understands American humor.
American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino classified Chan's style of acting and filmmaking as physical comedy, and considered him one of the greatest in the genre. British filmmaker Edgar Wright describes Jackie Chan as an "expressive" visual performer with an everyman persona. He notes that, in contrast to other action heroes (such as Bruce Lee, Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood or Arnold Schwarzenegger), Chan presents himself as a loveable "goofball" underdog who overcomes the odds with almost "superhuman" acrobatic stunts and fighting abilities.
In the 2000s, the ageing Chan grew tired of being typecast as an action hero, prompting him to act with more emotion in his latest films. In New Police Story (2004), he portrayed a character suffering from alcoholism and mourning his murdered colleagues. To further shed the image of a "nice guy", Chan played an antihero for the first time in Rob-B-Hood (2006) starring as Thongs, a burglar with gambling problems. Chan plays a low-level gangster in 2009's Shinjuku Incident, a serious drama set in Tokyo about unsavory characters.
Legacy
Chan has received global recognition for his film acting and stunt work. His accolades include the Innovator Award from the American Choreography Awards and a lifetime achievement award from the Taurus World Stunt Awards. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars. In addition, Chan has also been honored by placing his hand and footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Despite considerable box office success in Asia, Chan's Hollywood films have been criticized with regard to their action choreography. Reviewers of Rush Hour 2, The Tuxedo, and Shanghai Knights noted the toning down of Chan's fighting scenes, citing less intensity compared to his earlier films. The comedic value of his films is questioned; some critics stating that they can be childish at times. Chan was awarded the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1989 and the Silver Bauhinia Star (SBS) in 1999.
When American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino presented Chan with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1995 MTV Movie Awards, Tarantino described Chan as "one of the best filmmakers the world has ever known" and "one of the greatest physical comedians since sound came into film."
In 2001, he was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame.
He was also awarded an honorary black belt by the World Karate Federation, along with his Karate Kid: Legends co-star Ralph Macchio during the film's New York premiere in 2025.
Cultural impact
Film industry
Numerous films from around the world have taken inspiration from Jackie Chan's fight sequences and action choreography. Examples include The Matrix and Kill Bill (both choreographed by his former colleague Yuen Woo-ping), the Kung Fu Panda series (where he also voiced Monkey), The Raid: Redemption (2011) from Indonesian cinema, Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), the John Wick series, Atomic Blonde (2017), Marvel Cinematic Universe films such as Black Panther (2018) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), the DC Extended Universe film Birds of Prey (2020), and the Netflix film Extraction (2020). British filmmaker Edgar Wright cited Chan as an influence and said that, "No matter how many people try and rip off Jackie Chan movies, there's something which they can't rip off which is Jackie Chan himself." Tom Holland also cited Chan as an influence on several action scenes in Uncharted (2022), noting Chan's use of his surroundings to fight people in unique ways.
In popular culture and media
Chan has been the subject of Ash's song "Kung Fu", Heavy Vegetable's "Jackie Chan Is a Punk Rocker", Leehom Wang's "Long Live Chinese People", as well as in "Jackie Chan" by Frank Chickens, and television shows Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Celebrity Deathmatch and Family Guy.
He has been cited as the inspiration for manga and anime such as Dragon Ball, which was particularly inspired by Drunken Master, and the fight scenes in Jackie Chan movies; the show pays homage with a character by the alias "Jackie Chun". Toriyama said he had a young Jackie Chan in mind for a live-action Goku, stating that "nobody could play Goku but him." Chan himself was a fan of the series, and had expressed some interest in adapting Dragon Ball into a live-action film, but said it would require "a lot of amazing special effects and an enormous budget."
The parkour movement was also inspired by Chan.
A number of video games have been based on, or featured, Jackie Chan. His film Wheels on Meals (called Spartan X in Japan) spawned the hit 1984 beat 'em up arcade game Spartan X (released as Kung-Fu Master in Western markets), and its sequel Spartan X 2 for the Nintendo Famicom console. Spartan X laid the foundations for the beat 'em up genre, and inspired other games including Super Mario Bros. (1985) and Street Fighter (1987). Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu was released in 1990 for the PC-Engine and Nintendo Entertainment System. In 1995, Chan was featured in the arcade game Jackie Chan The Kung-Fu Master. A series of Japanese video games were released on the MSX computer by Pony, based on several of Chan's films (Project A, Project A 2, Police Story, The Protector and Wheels on Meals). Other games based on Jackie Chan include Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, Jackie Chan Adventures and Jackie Chan J-Mat Fitness. Chan also inspired video game characters such as Lei Wulong in Tekken and the fighting-type Pokémon Hitmonchan.
On 25 June 2013, Chan responded to a hoax Facebook page created a few days earlier that alleged he had died. He said that several people contacted him to congratulate him on his recent engagement, and soon thereafter contacted him again to ask if he was still alive. He posted a Facebook message, commenting: "If I died, I would probably tell the world!"
In 2015, a made-up word inspired by Chan's description of his hair during an interview for a commercial, duang, became an internet viral meme particularly in China. The Chinese character for the word is a composite of two characters of Chan's name.
A wax figure of Jackie Chan was revealed at Madame Tussauds New York in 2020.
Public image
Jackie Chan has a sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi Motors that has resulted in the appearance of Mitsubishi cars in a number of his films. Furthermore, Mitsubishi launched a limited series of Evolution cars personally customized by Chan.
Chan was also the primary catalyst for the creation of review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, whose founder Senh Duong was his fan and created the website after collecting all the reviews of Chan's Hong Kong action movies as they were being released in the United States. In anticipation for Rush Hour, Chan's first major Hollywood crossover, he coded the website in two weeks and the site went live shortly before the release of Rush Hour.
Chan says he has always wanted to be a role model to children, and has remained popular with them due to his good-natured acting style. He has generally refused to play villains and has been very restrained in using swear words in his films – he persuaded the director of Rush Hour to take "fuck" out of the script. Chan's greatest regret in life is not having received a proper education, inspiring him to fund educational institutions around the world. He funded the construction of the Jackie Chan Science Centre at the Australian National University and the establishment of schools in poor regions of China.
Chan is a spokesperson for the Government of Hong Kong, appearing in public service announcements. In a Clean Hong Kong commercial, he urged the people of Hong Kong to be more considerate with regards to littering, a problem that has been widespread for decades. Furthermore, in an advertisement promoting nationalism, he gave a short explanation of the March of the Volunteers, the national anthem of the People's Republic of China. When Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005, Chan participated in the opening ceremony. In the United States, Chan appeared alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in a government advert to combat copyright infringement and made another public service announcement with Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca to encourage people, especially Asian people, to join the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Cultural honors and depictions
In November 2013, a statue of Chan was unveiled in front of what is now known as the JC Film Gallery, which opened in the spring of 2014.
On 1 February 2015, Chan was awarded the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the Territorial Crown by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia Tuanku Abdul Halim in conjunction with the country's Federal Territory Day. It carries the title of Datuk in Malaysia.
Political views
Chan's views on Hong Kong politics have gradually shifted from a pro-democratic stance in the late 1980s to a pro-Beijing stance in the 2010s. In 1989, Chan performed at the Concert for Democracy in China in support of democratic movement during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. By 2021, in contrast, he expressed his desire to join the Chinese Communist Party. Since 2013, Chan has been a pro-China politician, having served two terms as a delegate to the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's political advisory body.
According to Chan, he wanted to be a Party member but his moral failings make him unqualified. Chan stated that he can "see the greatness of the CCP" and his view that "[i]t will deliver what it says, and what it promises in less than 100 years, but only a few decades."
During a news conference in Shanghai on 28 March 2004, Chan referred to the recently concluded 2004 Taiwanese presidential election, in which Democratic Progressive Party candidates Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu were re-elected as president and vice-president, as "the biggest joke in the world". A Taiwanese legislator and senior member of the DPP, Parris Chang, called for the government of Taiwan to ban Around the World in 80 Days. Police and security personnel separated Chan from scores of protesters shouting "Jackie Chan, get out" when he arrived at Taipei airport in June 2008.
Referring to his participation in the torch relay for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chan spoke out against demonstrators who disrupted the relay several times attempting to draw attention to a wide-ranging number of grievances against the Chinese government. He warned that "publicity seekers" planning to stop him from carrying the Olympic Torch "not get anywhere near" him. Chan also argued that the Olympics coverage that year would "provide another way for us to tell the world about Chinese culture."
In 2009, Chan was named an "anti-drug ambassador" by the Chinese government, actively taking part in anti-drug campaigns and supporting President Hu Jintao's declaration that illegal drugs should be eradicated, and their users punished severely. In 2014, when his own son Jaycee was arrested for cannabis use, he said that he was "angry", "shocked", "heartbroken" and "ashamed" of his son. He also remarked, "I hope all young people will learn a lesson from Jaycee and stay far from the harm of drugs. I say to Jaycee that you have to accept the consequences when you do something wrong."
On 18 April 2009, during a panel discussion at the annual Boao Forum for Asia, he questioned whether or not broad freedom is a good thing. Noting the strong tensions in Hong Kong and Taiwan, he said, "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want." Chan's comments prompted angry responses from several prominent figures in Taiwan and Hong Kong. A spokesman later said Chan was referring to freedom in the entertainment industry, rather than in Chinese society at large.
In December 2012, Chan caused outrage when he criticized Hong Kong as a "city of protest", suggesting that demonstrators' rights in Hong Kong should be limited. The same month, in an interview with Phoenix TV, Chan stated that the United States was the "most corrupt" country in the world, which in turn angered parts of the online community. Other articles situated Chan's comments in the context of his career and life in the United States, including his "embrace of the American film market" and his seeking asylum in the United States from Hong Kong triads.
From 2013 to 2023, Chan served two terms as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, representing the "Literature and Arts" sector.
In April 2016, Chan was named in the Panama Papers. While Chan was not accused of engaging in illegal activity per se, he was listed as having up to six different offshore accounts, likely for the purposes of serving as tax shelters.
In 2019, Chan criticized Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests, saying that the "'Five-starred Red Flag' is respected everywhere around the world." He also supported the National People's Congress decision on Hong Kong national security legislation.
Entrepreneurship and philanthropy
In addition to his film production and distribution company, JCE Movies Limited, Jackie Chan owns or co-owns the production companies JC Group China, Jackie & Willie Productions (with Willie Chan) and Jackie & JJ Productions. Chan has also put his name to Jackie Chan Theater International, a cinema chain in China, co-run by Hong Kong company Sparkle Roll Group Ltd. The first—Jackie Chan-Yaolai International Cinema—opened in February 2010, and is claimed to be the largest cinema complex in China, with 17 screens and 3,500 seats. Chan expressed his hopes that the size of the venue would afford young, non-commercial directors the opportunity to have their films screened. Fifteen further cinemas in the chain were planned for 2010, throughout Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, with a potential total of 65 cinemas throughout the country proposed.
In 2004, Chan launched his own line of clothing, which bears a Chinese dragon logo and the English word "Jackie", or the initials "JC". Chan also has a number of other branded businesses. His sushi restaurant chain, Jackie's Kitchen, has outlets throughout Hong Kong, as well as seven in South Korea, with plans to open another in Las Vegas. Jackie Chan's Cafe has outlets in Beijing, Singapore, and the Philippines. Other ventures include Jackie Chan Signature Club gyms (a partnership with California Fitness), and a line of chocolates, cookies and nutritional oatcakes. With each of his businesses, a percentage of the profits goes to various charities, including the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation.
In 2016, Chan partnered with Asian Le Mans Series champion David Cheng to form a racing team in the series and the FIA World Endurance Championship. The two met in March 2015 and Chan told Cheng about his interest in motorsports and raised the possibility of starting a team. Together, the two formed Baxi DC Racing Alpine, the first mainland China-based operation in WEC. In October, leading into the 2016–17 Asian Le Mans Series season, the team was rebranded to Jackie Chan DC Racing and raced with liveries promoting Chan's movie Kung Fu Yoga. At the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans, the team became the first Chinese team to win its class (LMP2).
Chan is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and has championed charitable works and causes. He has campaigned for conservation and against animal abuse, and has promoted disaster relief efforts for floods in mainland China and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
In June 2006, citing his admiration of the efforts made by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to help those in need, Chan pledged the donation of half his assets to charity upon his death. On 10 March 2008, Chan was the guest of honour for the launch, by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, of the Jackie Chan Science Centre at the John Curtin School of Medical Research of the Australian National University. Chan is also a supporter and ambassador of Save China's Tigers, which aims to save the endangered South China tiger through breeding and releasing them into the wild.
Following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Chan donated RMB ¥10 million to help those in need. In addition, he planned to make a film about the Chinese earthquake to raise money for survivors. In response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Chan and fellow Hong Kong-based celebrities, including American rapper MC Jin, headlined a special three-hour charity concert, titled Artistes 311 Love Beyond Borders, on 1 April 2011 to help with Japan's disaster recovery effort. The 3-hour concert raised over $3.3 million. In January 2017, Chan donated $65,000 to help flood victims in Thailand.
Chan founded the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation in 1988 to offer scholarship and active help to Hong Kong's young people and provide aid to victims of natural disaster or illness. In 2005, Chan created the Dragon's Heart Foundation to help children and the elderly in remote areas of China by building schools, providing books, fees, and uniforms for children; the organisation expanded its reach to Europe in 2011. The foundation also provides for the elderly with donations of warm clothing, wheelchairs, and other items.
Endorsements
One product which Chan had endorsed in China was the "Little Tyrant" ("小霸王") produced by Subor, a Nintendo Entertainment System hardware clone marketed as a "learning machine" to circumvent China's then-ban on video game consoles. In 2010, Chan served as brand ambassador for Kaspersky Lab's antivirus software in Asia.
There is an urban legend called the Jackie Chan curse. ABC News reported in 2010 that the legend originated because "A slew of products sold in China bearing his name, smile and seal of approval have proven defective, prone to explosion, and in one case, potentially damaging to consumers' health." This led to a belief that any product or company which was endorsed by Jackie Chan would suffer setbacks. In 2016 the failure of fitness chain California Fitness was blamed on the curse. The curse was again invoked in 2021 when Evergrande Group suffered major losses following Chan's promotion of Evergrande Spring brand bottled water. However, Jackie Chan has also endorsed a number of products and companies which have not had issues.
Filmography
Discography
Books
I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action, Random House, 1998, 398 p. Autobiography co-written with Jeff Yang.
Never Grow Up, Simon and Schuster, 2018, 352 p. Autobiography co-written with Zhu Mo.
Awards and nominations
International honours and recognition
United Kingdom
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) (1989)
Federal Territory (Malaysia)
Commander of the Order of the Territorial Crown (PMW) – Datuk (2015)
2002 motion pictures star at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard on the Walk of Fame.
The Jackie Chan Action Movie Awards, held at the Shanghai International Film Festival since 2015, is named after Jackie Chan.
Chan is a recipient of an honorary black belt by the World Karate Federation in 2025, along with Karate Kid: Legends co-star Ralph Macchio during the film's movie premiere in New York City.
See also
Hong Kong action cinema
Jackie Chan Hill – Neighbourhood in Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Official website
Jackie Chan at IMDb
Jackie Chan at the Hong Kong Movie Database
Jackie Chan at Rotten Tomatoes
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Mark Harmon
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Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor, writer, producer, television director and former football player. He is best known for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS.
He has appeared in a wide variety of television roles since the early 1970s, including as Dr. Robert Caldwell on St. Elsewhere, Detective Dicky Cobb on Reasonable Doubts, and Dr. Jack McNeil on Chicago Hope. He also starred in such films as Summer School, Prince of Bel Air, Stealing Home, Wyatt Earp, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Crossfire Trail, Local Boys, Freaky Friday, and Chasing Liberty.
Harmon played Secret Service special agent Simon Donovan in a four-episode story arc in The West Wing in 2002, receiving an Emmy Award nomination for the role. Harmon's character of NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was introduced in a guest starring role in two episodes of JAG. From 2003 to 2021, Harmon starred in the spinoff NCIS as the same character.
Early life
Harmon was born in Burbank, California, the youngest of three children. His parents were Heisman Trophy-winning football player and broadcaster Tom Harmon and actress, model, and artist Elyse Knox (née Elsie Lillian Kornbrath).
Harmon had two older sisters, the late actress and painter Kristin Nelson, who was divorced from the late singer Rick Nelson, and actress and model Kelly Harmon, formerly married to car magnate John DeLorean. His maternal grandparents were Austrian immigrants.
College football
After his high school graduation from Harvard-Westlake School in 1970, Harmon completed a two-year associate degree at Pierce College in Los Angeles. After his second season at Pierce, 1971, Harmon received offers from major college football programs, ultimately choosing UCLA over Oklahoma, even though in the previous season, 1971, the Sooners finished second in the nation, while the Bruins had stumbled to a 2–7–1 record, placing last in the Pac-8.
After transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles, he started as quarterback for the 1972 and 1973 Bruins.
During his first game, his UCLA team produced a stunning upset of the two-time defending national champion Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Bruins were an eighteen-point home underdog to the top-ranked Huskers but won 20–17 on a late field goal by Efren Herrera at L.A. Coliseum.
In his senior year, Harmon received the National Football Foundation Award for All-Round Excellence. During his two years as quarterback in coach Pepper Rodgers' wishbone offense, UCLA compiled a 17–5 record (.773). Harmon was UCLA's starting quarterback for two seasons, but he was not picked in the 1974 NFL draft.
Harmon graduated cum laude from UCLA in 1974 with a B.A. in Communications.
He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Pierce College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010.
Career
After college, Harmon considered pursuing a career in advertising or law. Harmon started his career in business as a merchandising director, but soon decided to switch to acting. He spent much of his career portraying law enforcement and medical personnel. One of his first national TV appearances (other than as an athlete) was in a commercial for Kellogg's Product 19 cereal with his father, Tom Harmon, its longstanding TV spokesman. Thanks to his sister Kristin's in-laws, Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Nelson, he landed his first job as an actor in an episode of Ozzie's Girls. This was followed by guest roles in episodes of Adam-12, Police Woman, and Emergency! in mid-1975. He also performed in "905-Wild", a backdoor pilot episode for a series about two L.A. County Animal Control Officers which did not sell. Producer/creator Jack Webb, who was the packager of both series, later cast Harmon in Sam, a short-lived 1978 series about an LAPD officer and his K-9 partner. Before this, Harmon received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his performance as Robert Dunlap in the television film Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years. In 1978, he appeared in three episodes of the mini-series, Centennial, as Captain John MacIntosh, an honorable Union cavalry officer.
During the mid- to late-1970s, Harmon made guest appearances on TV series, including Laverne & Shirley, Delvecchio, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, and had supporting roles in the feature films Comes a Horseman (1978) and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979). He then landed a co-starring role on the 1979 action series 240-Robert as Deputy Dwayne Thibideaux. The series centered around the missions of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Emergency Services Detail, but was also short-lived.
In 1980, Harmon gained a regular role in the prime time soap opera Flamingo Road, in which he played Fielding Carlisle, the husband of Morgan Fairchild's character. Despite initially good ratings, the series was canceled after two seasons. Following its cancellation, he landed the role of Dr. Robert Caldwell on the series St. Elsewhere in 1983. Harmon appeared in the show for almost three seasons before leaving in early 1986 when his character contracted HIV through unprotected intercourse, one of the first instances where a major recurring television character contracted the virus (the character's subsequent off-screen death from AIDS would be mentioned two years later). In the mid-1980s, Harmon also became the spokesperson for Coors Regular beer, appearing in television commercials for them.
Harmon's career reached several other high points in 1986. In January, he was named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive. Following his departure from St. Elsewhere in February, he played the lead in the television films Prince of Bel Air, co-starring with Kirstie Alley, and The Deliberate Stranger, in which he portrayed the real-life serial killer Ted Bundy. With his career blossoming, he played a role in the 1986 theatrical film Let's Get Harry and the lead role in the 1987 comedy Summer School, again co-starring with Kirstie Alley and alongside future JAG and NCIS alum Patrick Labyorteaux. Returning briefly to episodic television in 1987, Harmon had a limited engagement on the series Moonlighting, playing Cybill Shepherd's love interest Sam Crawford for four episodes. He then starred in the 1987 television film After the Promise. In 1988, he co-starred with Sean Connery and Meg Ryan in the 1988 feature film The Presidio, and also opposite Jodie Foster in the film Stealing Home. After his 1989 comedy Worth Winning, he returned to television, appearing in various television films.
Harmon's next regular television role would be as Chicago police detective Dickie Cobb for two seasons (1991–1993) on the NBC series Reasonable Doubts. In 1993, he appeared in one episode in the role of a rodeo clown on the CBS comedy/western series Harts of the West with future NCIS castmate Sean Murray. In 1994, he had a role in the Western film Wyatt Earp.
In 1995, Harmon starred in the ABC series Charlie Grace, in which he portrayed a private investigator. The series lasted only one season, after which he returned to ensemble medical shows on the series Chicago Hope, in which he played Dr. Jack McNeil from 1996 to 2000. He also portrayed astronaut Wally Schirra in one episode of the 1998 mini-series From the Earth to the Moon.
His movie roles during that time included Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Crossfire Trail (2001), and Local Boys (2002). In 2003, Harmon had a supporting role in the remake of the comedy film Freaky Friday. In 2004, he appeared in the romantic comedy Chasing Liberty.
Harmon has also starred in several stage productions in Los Angeles and Toronto. At the Cast Theatre in Los Angeles, he performed in Wrestlers and The Wager. In the late 1980s he was part of the cast of the Canadian premiere of Key Exchange. Several productions of Love Letters provided him the opportunity to play alongside his wife Pam Dawber.
NCIS
In May 2002, Harmon portrayed Secret Service special agent Simon Donovan on The West Wing in a four-episode story arc. The role gained him his second Emmy Award nomination, exactly 25 years after his first. Donald P. Bellisario, the creator of JAG and NCIS, saw him on The West Wing and had Harmon appear in a guest starring role in two episodes of JAG in April 2003, where Harmon was introduced as the character of NCIS agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Starting that September, Harmon has starred as Gibbs in the CBS drama NCIS, a role which has earned him six nominations at the People's Choice Awards including a win for Favorite TV Crime Drama Actor in 2017. During his time on the show, he was reunited with three of his former Chicago Hope co-stars, Rocky Carroll, Lauren Holly, and Jayne Brook. Since 2008, he has also been a producer and executive producer.
In the fourth episode of the show's nineteenth season, Harmon's Gibbs exited the series as a regular, an exit set in motion by the events of the previous season finale.
Other activities
Harmon received the 2,482nd star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 1, 2012.
In 2014, Harmon started a production company called Wings Productions to produce NCIS: New Orleans. As of 2018, Harmon works as a producer for a new CBS series, based on author John Sandford's best-selling Prey novels, which have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. The last 10 have reached No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list.
Harmon also directed two episodes of Chicago Hope in 1999 and 2000, and two episodes of Boston Public in 2002.
In 2023 Harmon, with retired NCIS Special Agent Leon Carroll Jr., released Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese spy, a Japanese American spy hunter, and the untold story of Pearl Harbor. Harmon also narrates the audio book.
Personal life
Harmon is the son of football player Tom Harmon and actress Elyse Knox. His sisters are Kelly, an actress and model, and Kristin, an actress and painter. Kristin died of a heart attack on April 27, 2018.
Harmon has been married to actress Pam Dawber since March 21, 1987. The couple has two sons. His son Sean played a young Gibbs in several NCIS episodes. They maintain a low profile and rarely appear in public with their children. Harmon was the brother-in-law of Ricky Nelson and John DeLorean and is the uncle of actress Tracy Nelson and singers Matthew and Gunnar Nelson of the rock duo Nelson.
In 1987, Harmon filed for custody of his nephew Sam, Kristin's son, on the grounds that she was incapable of good parenting. Sam's psychiatrist testified that the thirteen-year-old boy depicted his mother as a dragon and complained about her mood swings and how she prevented him from being with his siblings. Harmon later dropped the custody bid.
In 1988, Harmon was part owner of a minor league baseball team, the San Bernardino Spirit, the same season Ken Griffey Jr. played for the team before his major league call-up to the Seattle Mariners the next season. Harmon used the team and their home field, Fiscalini Field, for the opening and closing scenes of the film in which he was starring, Stealing Home.
In 1996, Harmon saved two teenage boys involved in a car accident outside his Brentwood home. One passenger suffered severe burns, but survived his injuries.
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
References
Further reading
Coyne, Kate (March 4, 2019). "Mark Harmon: Built to Last". People. Vol. 91, no. 10. pp. 40–46.
External links
Mark Harmon at IMDb
Mark Harmon at the TCM Movie Database
Mark Harmon at Emmys.com
Mark Harmon at TV Guide
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Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor, writer, producer, television director and former football player. He is best known for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS.
He has appeared in a wide variety of television roles since the early 1970s, including as Dr. Robert Caldwell on St. Elsewhere, Detective Dicky Cobb on Reasonable Doubts, and Dr. Jack McNeil on Chicago Hope. He also starred in such films as Summer School, Prince of Bel Air, Stealing Home, Wyatt Earp, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Crossfire Trail, Local Boys, Freaky Friday, and Chasing Liberty.
Harmon played Secret Service special agent Simon Donovan in a four-episode story arc in The West Wing in 2002, receiving an Emmy Award nomination for the role. Harmon's character of NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was introduced in a guest starring role in two episodes of JAG. From 2003 to 2021, Harmon starred in the spinoff NCIS as the same character.
Early life
Harmon was born in Burbank, California, the youngest of three children. His parents were Heisman Trophy-winning football player and broadcaster Tom Harmon and actress, model, and artist Elyse Knox (née Elsie Lillian Kornbrath).
Harmon had two older sisters, the late actress and painter Kristin Nelson, who was divorced from the late singer Rick Nelson, and actress and model Kelly Harmon, formerly married to car magnate John DeLorean. His maternal grandparents were Austrian immigrants.
College football
After his high school graduation from Harvard-Westlake School in 1970, Harmon completed a two-year associate degree at Pierce College in Los Angeles. After his second season at Pierce, 1971, Harmon received offers from major college football programs, ultimately choosing UCLA over Oklahoma, even though in the previous season, 1971, the Sooners finished second in the nation, while the Bruins had stumbled to a 2–7–1 record, placing last in the Pac-8.
After transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles, he started as quarterback for the 1972 and 1973 Bruins.
During his first game, his UCLA team produced a stunning upset of the two-time defending national champion Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Bruins were an eighteen-point home underdog to the top-ranked Huskers but won 20–17 on a late field goal by Efren Herrera at L.A. Coliseum.
In his senior year, Harmon received the National Football Foundation Award for All-Round Excellence. During his two years as quarterback in coach Pepper Rodgers' wishbone offense, UCLA compiled a 17–5 record (.773). Harmon was UCLA's starting quarterback for two seasons, but he was not picked in the 1974 NFL draft.
Harmon graduated cum laude from UCLA in 1974 with a B.A. in Communications.
He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Pierce College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010.
Career
After college, Harmon considered pursuing a career in advertising or law. Harmon started his career in business as a merchandising director, but soon decided to switch to acting. He spent much of his career portraying law enforcement and medical personnel. One of his first national TV appearances (other than as an athlete) was in a commercial for Kellogg's Product 19 cereal with his father, Tom Harmon, its longstanding TV spokesman. Thanks to his sister Kristin's in-laws, Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Nelson, he landed his first job as an actor in an episode of Ozzie's Girls. This was followed by guest roles in episodes of Adam-12, Police Woman, and Emergency! in mid-1975. He also performed in "905-Wild", a backdoor pilot episode for a series about two L.A. County Animal Control Officers which did not sell. Producer/creator Jack Webb, who was the packager of both series, later cast Harmon in Sam, a short-lived 1978 series about an LAPD officer and his K-9 partner. Before this, Harmon received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his performance as Robert Dunlap in the television film Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years. In 1978, he appeared in three episodes of the mini-series, Centennial, as Captain John MacIntosh, an honorable Union cavalry officer.
During the mid- to late-1970s, Harmon made guest appearances on TV series, including Laverne & Shirley, Delvecchio, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, and had supporting roles in the feature films Comes a Horseman (1978) and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979). He then landed a co-starring role on the 1979 action series 240-Robert as Deputy Dwayne Thibideaux. The series centered around the missions of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Emergency Services Detail, but was also short-lived.
In 1980, Harmon gained a regular role in the prime time soap opera Flamingo Road, in which he played Fielding Carlisle, the husband of Morgan Fairchild's character. Despite initially good ratings, the series was canceled after two seasons. Following its cancellation, he landed the role of Dr. Robert Caldwell on the series St. Elsewhere in 1983. Harmon appeared in the show for almost three seasons before leaving in early 1986 when his character contracted HIV through unprotected intercourse, one of the first instances where a major recurring television character contracted the virus (the character's subsequent off-screen death from AIDS would be mentioned two years later). In the mid-1980s, Harmon also became the spokesperson for Coors Regular beer, appearing in television commercials for them.
Harmon's career reached several other high points in 1986. In January, he was named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive. Following his departure from St. Elsewhere in February, he played the lead in the television films Prince of Bel Air, co-starring with Kirstie Alley, and The Deliberate Stranger, in which he portrayed the real-life serial killer Ted Bundy. With his career blossoming, he played a role in the 1986 theatrical film Let's Get Harry and the lead role in the 1987 comedy Summer School, again co-starring with Kirstie Alley and alongside future JAG and NCIS alum Patrick Labyorteaux. Returning briefly to episodic television in 1987, Harmon had a limited engagement on the series Moonlighting, playing Cybill Shepherd's love interest Sam Crawford for four episodes. He then starred in the 1987 television film After the Promise. In 1988, he co-starred with Sean Connery and Meg Ryan in the 1988 feature film The Presidio, and also opposite Jodie Foster in the film Stealing Home. After his 1989 comedy Worth Winning, he returned to television, appearing in various television films.
Harmon's next regular television role would be as Chicago police detective Dickie Cobb for two seasons (1991–1993) on the NBC series Reasonable Doubts. In 1993, he appeared in one episode in the role of a rodeo clown on the CBS comedy/western series Harts of the West with future NCIS castmate Sean Murray. In 1994, he had a role in the Western film Wyatt Earp.
In 1995, Harmon starred in the ABC series Charlie Grace, in which he portrayed a private investigator. The series lasted only one season, after which he returned to ensemble medical shows on the series Chicago Hope, in which he played Dr. Jack McNeil from 1996 to 2000. He also portrayed astronaut Wally Schirra in one episode of the 1998 mini-series From the Earth to the Moon.
His movie roles during that time included Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Crossfire Trail (2001), and Local Boys (2002). In 2003, Harmon had a supporting role in the remake of the comedy film Freaky Friday. In 2004, he appeared in the romantic comedy Chasing Liberty.
Harmon has also starred in several stage productions in Los Angeles and Toronto. At the Cast Theatre in Los Angeles, he performed in Wrestlers and The Wager. In the late 1980s he was part of the cast of the Canadian premiere of Key Exchange. Several productions of Love Letters provided him the opportunity to play alongside his wife Pam Dawber.
NCIS
In May 2002, Harmon portrayed Secret Service special agent Simon Donovan on The West Wing in a four-episode story arc. The role gained him his second Emmy Award nomination, exactly 25 years after his first. Donald P. Bellisario, the creator of JAG and NCIS, saw him on The West Wing and had Harmon appear in a guest starring role in two episodes of JAG in April 2003, where Harmon was introduced as the character of NCIS agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Starting that September, Harmon has starred as Gibbs in the CBS drama NCIS, a role which has earned him six nominations at the People's Choice Awards including a win for Favorite TV Crime Drama Actor in 2017. During his time on the show, he was reunited with three of his former Chicago Hope co-stars, Rocky Carroll, Lauren Holly, and Jayne Brook. Since 2008, he has also been a producer and executive producer.
In the fourth episode of the show's nineteenth season, Harmon's Gibbs exited the series as a regular, an exit set in motion by the events of the previous season finale.
Other activities
Harmon received the 2,482nd star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 1, 2012.
In 2014, Harmon started a production company called Wings Productions to produce NCIS: New Orleans. As of 2018, Harmon works as a producer for a new CBS series, based on author John Sandford's best-selling Prey novels, which have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. The last 10 have reached No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list.
Harmon also directed two episodes of Chicago Hope in 1999 and 2000, and two episodes of Boston Public in 2002.
In 2023 Harmon, with retired NCIS Special Agent Leon Carroll Jr., released Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese spy, a Japanese American spy hunter, and the untold story of Pearl Harbor. Harmon also narrates the audio book.
Personal life
Harmon is the son of football player Tom Harmon and actress Elyse Knox. His sisters are Kelly, an actress and model, and Kristin, an actress and painter. Kristin died of a heart attack on April 27, 2018.
Harmon has been married to actress Pam Dawber since March 21, 1987. The couple has two sons. His son Sean played a young Gibbs in several NCIS episodes. They maintain a low profile and rarely appear in public with their children. Harmon was the brother-in-law of Ricky Nelson and John DeLorean and is the uncle of actress Tracy Nelson and singers Matthew and Gunnar Nelson of the rock duo Nelson.
In 1987, Harmon filed for custody of his nephew Sam, Kristin's son, on the grounds that she was incapable of good parenting. Sam's psychiatrist testified that the thirteen-year-old boy depicted his mother as a dragon and complained about her mood swings and how she prevented him from being with his siblings. Harmon later dropped the custody bid.
In 1988, Harmon was part owner of a minor league baseball team, the San Bernardino Spirit, the same season Ken Griffey Jr. played for the team before his major league call-up to the Seattle Mariners the next season. Harmon used the team and their home field, Fiscalini Field, for the opening and closing scenes of the film in which he was starring, Stealing Home.
In 1996, Harmon saved two teenage boys involved in a car accident outside his Brentwood home. One passenger suffered severe burns, but survived his injuries.
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
References
Further reading
Coyne, Kate (March 4, 2019). "Mark Harmon: Built to Last". People. Vol. 91, no. 10. pp. 40–46.
External links
Mark Harmon at IMDb
Mark Harmon at the TCM Movie Database
Mark Harmon at Emmys.com
Mark Harmon at TV Guide
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Whitney Houston
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Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "the Voice", she is one of the most awarded performers of all time. As a cultural icon, her chart achievements and music videos influenced the breaking down of gender and racial barriers. Known for her vocal delivery and live performances, Houston was ranked second on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest singers of all time in 2023.
Houston signed to Arista Records at the age of 19. Her first two studio albums, Whitney Houston (1985) and Whitney (1987), topped the Billboard 200 for 14 and 11 weeks, respectively. The former remains the best selling debut album by a solo artist in history, while the latter made her the first woman to debut atop the US and UK charts. Houston took a more urban turn with her third album, I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990), and performed an acclaimed rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV in 1991. She then starred in the films The Bodyguard (1992), Waiting to Exhale (1995), The Preacher's Wife (1996) and Cinderella (1997), and produced the film franchises The Princess Diaries (2001–2004) and The Cheetah Girls (2003–2006). Soundtracks of The Bodyguard and The Preacher's Wife, respectively, rank as the best-selling soundtrack album and gospel album of all time, with the former winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and topping the Billboard 200 for 20 weeks.
Following the success of My Love Is Your Love (1998), Houston's first studio album in eight years, she renewed her contract with Arista Records for $100 million in 2001, one of the largest recording deals of all time. However, her drug use and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown tarnished her "America's Sweetheart" image, overshadowing her next albums, Just Whitney (2002) and One Wish: The Holiday Album (2003). After divorcing Brown, Houston returned to the top of the Billboard 200 with her final album, I Look to You (2009). On February 11, 2012, Houston accidentally drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors. News of her death coincided with the 2012 Grammy Awards and was covered internationally along with her memorial service.
Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of more than 220 million records worldwide. Her first two albums, along with The Bodyguard soundtrack, rank among the best-selling albums of all time and made her the first black artist to score three RIAA diamond-certified albums. "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" and "I Will Always Love You" are among the best-selling singles ever; the latter remains the best-selling single by a woman and has been certified diamond by RIAA. Houston scored 11 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles and remains the only artist to have seven consecutive singles top the chart. She has been inducted into multiple halls and walks of fame. Guinness World Records named Houston the highest-earning posthumous female celebrity. Her assets amounted to $250 million, earned over a 25-year career.
Early life and family
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born on August 9, 1963, at Presbyterian Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, to Emily "Cissy" (née Drinkard) and John Russell Houston Jr. Cissy was a Grammy-winning gospel and soul singer who was a member of The Drinkard Singers and the founder of The Sweet Inspirations before becoming a solo artist. John was a former Army serviceman who later became an administrator under Newark mayor Kenneth A. Gibson. According to her mother, Houston was named after actress Whitney Blake. Houston was given the nickname "Nippy" by her father.
Houston's parents were both African-American. Cissy Houston stated that she had partial Dutch and Native American ancestry. Houston was a cousin of singers Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick as well as a cousin of opera singer Leontyne Price. Aretha Franklin was an "honorary aunt" while Darlene Love was Houston's godmother. Houston's paternal great-great-grandfather Jeremiah Burke Sanderson was an American abolitionist and advocate for the civil and educational rights of black Americans during the mid-19th century. Houston had three older brothers: paternal half-brother John III; maternal half-brother Gary, a basketball player and singer; and full brother Michael.
At three, Houston witnessed the Newark race riots of 1967. Following Cissy signing a solo recording contract in 1970, the Houston family relocated to a suburban area of East Orange, New Jersey, called Doddtown. Prior to moving to East Orange, the Houstons had raised their children on Newark's Wainwright Street. Houston's parents married in the spring of 1964, just months before Houston's first birthday. Initially a happy union, the marriage dissolved by Houston's teen years after Houston's father suffered a near-fatal heart attack. By 17, Houston's parents separated; divorcing over a decade later.
Houston was raised in the Baptist faith. She joined the church choir at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark at the age of five, and she also learned to play piano at New Hope. She later recalled being exposed to the Pentecostal church nearby as well. Houston made her solo performance debut at New Hope singing the hymn "Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah" at the age of 12. Around this same period, she told her mother that she wanted to pursue a career in music. Houston would be trained on how to sing by Cissy throughout her teen years. Houston’s biggest musical influence was her mother. She was also heavily influenced by her successful cousins Dionne and Dee Dee. Other musical influences included Karen Carpenter, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, and Roberta Flack.
Houston attended Franklin Elementary School (now the Whitney E. Houston Academy of Creative and Performing Arts) from first grade to sixth grade before transferring to Mount Saint Dominic Academy, a Catholic girls' high school in Caldwell, New Jersey, at 13. She graduated from Mount Saint Dominic in 1981.
Career
1977–1984: Career beginnings
Houston's professional career began when she joined her mother's band as a background singer at fourteen while Cissy performed at Manhattan cabaret clubs. Houston gave her first solo during Cissy's performance at Manhattan's Town Hall in February 1978, performing "Tomorrow" from the Broadway musical, Annie, where she received her first standing ovation. Houston began a career as a session vocalist backing up artists like her mother, Michael Zager, Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls. Houston was the featured vocalist in Zager's disco song "Life's a Party" (1978).
Houston became a fashion model in 1980 after being spotted at Carnegie Hall and signed first with Click Models before moving onto the Wilhelmina Models agency, where she landed the cover of Seventeen. Houston's girl next door charm helped her to land in fashion spreads for Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Young Miss. Houston continued her music career during this period, recording demos of gospel recordings. Houston's vocal talent made her sought after for recording deals, but were turned down by her mother, who insisted that Houston finish high school.
Signing with Tara Productions in September 1981, Houston hired Gene Harvey as her manager, with Daniel Gittleman and Seymour Flics also playing part in managing her. During 1982, Houston auditioned for both Elektra Records and CBS Records. Houston's feature on the song "Memories" from Material's album One Down, led to critical raves, with then-Village Voice critic Robert Christgau calling it "one of the most gorgeous ballads you've ever heard". Producer Paul Jabara later featured her on the ballad, "Eternal Love", issued off his album, Paul Jabara & Friends.
After seeing Houston perform at the Seventh Avenue South nightclub in Manhattan, Gerry Griffith--then the A&R representative for Arista Records--convinced label head Clive Davis to see her perform at the Sweetwaters nightclub the following evening. Upon viewing the performance, an impressed Davis offered Houston a recording contract. With her parents present, Houston signed on April 10, 1983.
Houston was introduced to a national audience in June 1983, performing the song "Home" from the Broadway musical The Wiz on The Merv Griffin Show. During this period, Houston almost landed a role on The Cosby Show before pulling out on the show due to her emerging career. Houston landed a cameo role on Gimme a Break!, was featured in a Canada Dry commercial and also sang commercial jingles, including one for the restaurant brand, Steak & Ale.
Houston did not begin work on an album immediately. The label wanted to make sure no other company signed her away and Davis wanted to ensure he had the right material and producers for her debut album. Some producers passed on the project because of prior commitments. After seeing her perform in New York, Michael Masser paired Houston with Teddy Pendergrass, on the duet, "Hold Me", which appeared on his album, Love Language. Released in May 1984, the song gave Houston her first taste of success, becoming a top-ten hit on the US R&B and adult contemporary charts. Houston also received notice in 1984 after being paired up with Jermaine Jackson, with whom the duet, "Take Good Care of My Heart", was featured on Jackson's Dynamite album, while also appearing with Jackson performing the song and another duet, "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do", on an episode of As the World Turns. All three songs eventually appeared on her debut album.
1985–1986: Whitney Houston and rise to international prominence
Whitney Houston was released on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1985. The album received mixed to positive reviews in its initial run, with most of the positive remarks aimed at Houston's vocal ability. Rolling Stone called Houston "one of the most exciting new voices in years" while The New York Times called the album "an impressive, musically conservative showcase for an exceptional vocal talent". Debuting at number 166 on the Billboard 200 on March 30, 1985, the album reached the top ten 23 weeks later. It reached number one in March 1986, starting a 14-week run, which is the longest run for a female debut album in history.
Whitney Houston launched four top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with the first, "You Give Good Love" reaching number three on July 27, 1985. The song attracted some notoriety after advice columnist Ann Landers included it in her list of rock songs deemed "trashy music" on her Ask Ann Landers column; Houston quickly addressed Landers's comments in an interview with The Chicago Tribune. The song was followed by Houston's rendition of "Saving All My Love for You", which became her first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 26, two days before Houston opened at Carnegie Hall. The album's follow-up singles, "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love of All", also topped the charts, with the former peaking on February 15, 1986 for two weeks and the latter peaking on May 17, 1986 for three weeks. In accomplishing this, Houston became the first female artist to land three number one singles off the same album on the Billboard Hot 100, also becoming the first female solo artist to produce three consecutive number one singles. In addition, the ballad "All at Once" became an international hit in Europe and Japan.
Whitney Houston did not just perform well on the domestic charts; it became a global success as well. The album reached the top ten in 19 other countries, including the UK, and topping in six other countries, including Canada and Australia. The album has since been certified Diamond in the United States for sales of 14 million copies, with over 25 million units sold worldwide, becoming the best-selling solo debut album in music history and the best-selling debut album by a female artist. The album is also listed in the Guinness World Records as the best-selling R&B studio album by a female artist in history.
In a May 25, 1986 article on The New York Times, journalist Stephen Holden declared Houston "the new queen of pop". The album's success was attributed to performances on late-night talk shows, a format not often accessible to emerging black talent at the time and exposure on music video stations, including MTV, which at the time was receiving harsh criticism for not playing enough videos from artists of color while favoring predominantly white acts. Houston stated the channel rejected the clip to "You Give Good Love" for "being a very R&B kind of song", only for them to play the clip for "Saving All My Love for You" due to the song "hit(ting) so hard and explod(ing) so heavy" that they "had no choice but to play it". In December, the video to "How Will I Know" was submitted and accepted by MTV brass and sent the video to heavy rotation almost immediately after it debuted that month and later led to Houston's music regularly being played on the channel, the first occurrence for a black female artist. The success of the "How Will I Know" video resulted in Houston winning the MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video in September. In July 1986, her first major world tour, The Greatest Love World Tour, was launched and Houston performed on four continents for 53 shows until that December.
Houston was ranked the top new pop artist of 1985 by Billboard; the following year, her debut was the best-selling album of the year. Houston was denied a nomination for the Best New Artist Grammy due to her recordings in the previous year, prompting an angry letter from Clive Davis. The album was nominated for five Grammys, including Album of the Year. She won her first Grammy for "Saving All My Love for You" in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category. Later, a performance of the song at the ceremony won Houston an Emmy for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. She won her first seven American Music Awards from the album, out of a record 13 nominations. Houston's debut album is listed as one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Definitive 200 list. Houston's grand entrance into the music industry was considered one of the 25 musical milestones of the last 25 years, according to USA Today in 2007.
1987–1989: Whitney
In June 1987, Houston's second album, Whitney, was released. Mostly produced by Narada Michael Walden, critics complained that the material was too similar to her previous album. Rolling Stone said, "the narrow channel through which this talent has been directed is frustrating". Regardless of mixed reviews, the album enjoyed commercial success. On June 27, Houston became the first woman in music history to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 with the album. Houston was also the first artist ever to enter number one in the US and UK simultaneously, while also reaching number one in every country it charted. The album stayed at number one on the Billboard 200 for its first eleven weeks and is one of five albums to spend their first ten weeks or more at number one on the chart.
The album's first single, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", was a massive hit worldwide, peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the charts in 17 countries, including Australia, West Germany and the UK. Three more singles from the album — "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" — reached number one on the Hot 100 within a six-month stretch. Following the latter's peak on April 23, 1988, Houston became the first artist to produce seven consecutive number one hits on the Hot 100, breaking a record of six, held by The Beatles and the Bee Gees. Houston remains the only artist to ever accomplish this feat as of 2025. Houston also broke an all-time record for most number ones recorded by a solo female artist at the time and broke her own record by producing four number one singles off the same album. When the fifth single, "Love Will Save the Day", peaked at number nine on the chart, Houston joined a small list of artists to have more than five top ten singles off an album. Whitney has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, with ten million sold in the United States alone, where it has been certified Diamond.
Whitney earned Houston a second Grammy nomination for Album of the Year, while "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" won her a second Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Houston went on to win four American Music Awards, six Billboard awards and her first Soul Train Music Award for the album.
Houston launched her second world tour, the Moment of Truth World Tour, in July 1987. The North American leg of the tour grossed more than $20 million, becoming one of the top ten tours on the continent, as well as the top female tour. An expansive tour, the singer toured 155 dates in four continents, including nine sold-out dates at London's Wembley Arena. During that period, Houston recorded one of the main theme songs for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, "One Moment in Time", which later became a top five US hit and hit number one in the UK, Germany and Europe and won Houston a Sports Emmy Award.
Houston participated in the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at London's Wembley Stadium in support of the then-imprisoned civil rights activist and the anti-apartheid movement. Houston had refused work in South Africa due to the country's then strict apartheid laws. The concert aired on June 11 of the year, was watched by half a billion viewers and raised $1 million in charities, raising awareness to apartheid. That August, Houston held a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden to raise money to fund HBCUs, raising a quarter of a million dollars. Houston's philanthropy continued in 1989 when she founded the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, a nonprofit organization that has raised funds for the needs of children around the world. The organization cares for homelessness, children with cancer or AIDS and other issues of self-empowerment.
Houston's unprecedented success during this era caused Forbes magazine to take notice. In 1987, she ranked 8th place among the highest-paid entertainers in show business, earning $43 million, only trailing Bill Cosby and Eddie Murphy. She ranked 17th place in 1988.
1990–1991: I'm Your Baby Tonight and "The Star-Spangled Banner"
With the success of her first two albums, Houston became an international crossover superstar, appealing to all demographics. However, some black critics believed she was "selling out". They felt her singing on record lacked the soul that was present during her live concerts. At the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards, when Houston's name was called out for a nomination, a few in the audience jeered. Houston defended herself against the criticism, stating, "If you're gonna have a long career, there's a certain way to do it and I did it that way. I'm not ashamed of it."
Houston took a more urban direction with her third studio album, I'm Your Baby Tonight, released in November 1990. The first album in which she served as executive producer and exerted creative control for the first time in her career, Houston recruited the production team of Antonio "L.A." Reid and Babyface, as well as Luther Vandross and Stevie Wonder for the album, while retaining previous producer Walden. Reviews were mixed to positive. Rolling Stone felt it was her "best and most integrated album", while Entertainment Weekly, at the time thought Houston's shift towards an urban direction was "superficial".
Commercially, the album was a success, peaking at number three on the Billboard 200, staying inside the top ten for 22 weeks, becoming the tenth best-selling album of 1991, while topping the Top R&B Albums chart, staying there for eight weeks. As a result, Houston earned four Billboard Music Awards, including the top-selling R&B album of 1991. Houston returned to the top of the Hot 100 with the title track and "All the Man That I Need", helping Houston to set another chart record by being the first female soloist to have multiple number one pop songs on three albums at least. The title track, in particular, gave Babyface and Reid their first number one pop single, while "All the Man That I Need" became Houston's third single to top the pop, R&B and AC charts. The ballad "Miracle" and the more hip-hop driven "My Name Is Not Susan" followed those singles inside the top 20, with "Miracle" reaching the top ten. The remix of "My Name Is Not Susan" included rapper Monie Love.
I'm Your Baby Tonight would go on to sell ten million units worldwide, including going platinum four times in the US. In addition to winning the four Billboard Music Awards, Houston was nominated for several Grammys and American Music Awards for the album. A bonus track from the album's Japanese edition, "Higher Love", was remixed by Norwegian DJ and record producer Kygo and released posthumously in 2019 to commercial success. It topped the US Dance Club Songs chart and reached number two in the UK, becoming Houston's highest-charting single in the country since 1999.
During the Persian Gulf War, on January 27, 1991, Houston performed "The Star-Spangled Banner", the US national anthem, at Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium. Houston's vocals were pre-recorded, prompting criticism. Dan Klores, a spokesman for Houston, said: "This is not a Milli Vanilli thing. She sang live, but the microphone was turned off. It was a technical decision, partially based on the noise factor. This is standard procedure at these events." Nevertheless, a commercial single and video of the performance reached the Top 20 on the US Hot 100, giving Houston the biggest chart hit for a performance of the national anthem.
Houston donated her share of the proceeds to the American Red Cross Gulf Crisis Fund and was named to the Red Cross Board of Governors. Her rendition was critically acclaimed and is considered the benchmark for singers; VH1 listed the performance as one of the greatest moments that rocked TV. Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the single was rereleased, with all profits going towards the firefighters and victims of the attacks. It reached number 6 in the Hot 100 and was certified platinum. The song's re-charting made Houston the first woman to chart the same song inside the top 20 of the Hot 100. Later in 1991, Houston put together her Welcome Home Heroes concert with HBO for the soldiers fighting in the Persian Gulf War and their families. The free concert took place at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia in front of 3,500 servicemen and women. HBO descrambled the concert so that it was free for everyone to watch. The show gave HBO its highest ratings ever at the time.
Houston then embarked on her third world tour, the I'm Your Baby Tonight World Tour, in which Houston performed 97 shows, including a ten-date sold-out residency at Wembley Arena in London. The concert tour produced mixed to positive reviews. While The Sun Sentinel argued that Houston should've opted for smaller venues and theaters that were "far more suitable to her sophistication and talent", USA Today praised Houston for "shak[ing] the confinements of her recordings' calculated productions and gets downright gutsy and soulful".
1992–1994: The Bodyguard
With the success of her music, Houston received offers of film work, including work with Robert De Niro, Quincy Jones and Spike Lee, but she did not feel the time was right. Her first film role was in The Bodyguard, released in 1992. Houston played a star who is being stalked by a crazed fan and hires a bodyguard (played by Kevin Costner) to protect her. Houston's mainstream appeal allowed audiences to look past the interracial nature of her character's relationship with Costner's character. However, controversy arose as some felt Houston's face had been intentionally left out of the advertising to hide the film's interracial relationship. In a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone, Houston said that "people know who Whitney Houston is – I'm black. You can't hide that fact."
The film received mixed reviews. While Houston was accused of merely “playing herself” but came out “largely unscathed”, and “lacked chemistry” with her co-star, another review wrote that she “photographs wonderfully, and has a warm smile, and yet is able to suggest selfish and egotistical dimensions in the character.” Houston was nominated for Outstanding Actress at the NAACP Image Awards, the MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance and the People's Choice Award nod for Favorite Actress in a Dramatic Motion Picture. Upon its release, The Bodyguard grossed more than $121 million in the U.S. and $410 million worldwide, making it one of the top 100 highest-grossing films in history at its time of release. It remains in the top 50 of most successful R-rated films in box-office history.
The film's soundtrack also enjoyed success. As executive producer of the soundtrack, Houston recorded six tracks, two of which she produced. Rolling Stone described it as "nothing more than pleasant, tasteful and urbane". The soundtrack opened at number two on the Billboard 200 and took the number-one spot the following week, accumulating 20 weeks atop the chart, the first album by a woman to do so. One of the fastest-selling albums ever, it became the first album in music history to sell more than a million copies in a single week under the Nielsen Soundscan tracking system. The Bodyguard became the first album in history by a female artist to be certified diamond by the RIAA after it passed the ten-million mark in early November 1993. It has since gone on to sell more than 19 million copies alone in the US, with total sales reaching 45 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album by a female artist and the best-selling soundtrack album in history, earning Houston several Guinness World Records.
At the 1994 Grammy Awards, Houston won the Grammy for Album of the Year for the soundtrack and was the first black woman to win as producer as well as artist. In addition to the Grammy, Houston also won a record-setting eight American Music Awards, eleven Billboard Music Awards, five NAACP Image Awards and earned the Soul Train Music Award for the Sammy Davis Jr. Entertainer of the Year honor. Houston also earned international honors for the soundtrack, including a Juno Award, five World Music Awards, six Japan Gold Disc Awards and a Brit Award.
The soundtrack's lead single was "I Will Always Love You", written and originally recorded by Dolly Parton. Houston's version was highly acclaimed by critics, regarding it as her "signature song" or "iconic performance". Rolling Stone and USA Today called her rendition a tour-de-force. The song went on to become the longest-running number one single in Billboard Hot 100 history at the time for a record setting 14 weeks. The song also became Houston's fourth record-setting "triple-crown" number one Billboard hit after it topped the R&B and AC charts. It has gone on to sell more than eleven million units in the United States and was certified diamond in January 2021, making Houston just one of four female artists to earn a diamond-certified single and album. It remains the best-selling US single by a female artist. The song topped the charts in 34 countries and went on to sell 24 million units worldwide, becoming the best-selling single ever by a female solo artist. Houston earned the Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Pop Female Vocal Performance.
The soundtrack's follow-up singles, "I'm Every Woman" and "I Have Nothing", both reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100. Houston set a new Billboard Hot 100 chart record on March 13, 1993 when the two singles joined "I Will Always Love You" in simultaneously charting inside the top 20 in the same week, the first for an artist in the Nielsen SoundScan era. The fourth single, "Run to You", achieved modest success in the US and UK, while "Queen of the Night" reached the top 40 in several global charts and a remixed version topped the US dance chart. The success of The Bodyguard led to Houston becoming a cover story for Rolling Stone in its June 10, 1993 issue.
Houston then embarked on her most expansive global tour to date: The Bodyguard World Tour. She toured for nearly two years to mostly sold-out audiences across five continents. Houston eventually ranked as the third highest-earning female entertainer of 1993-94, according to Forbes, named as one of the 100 most powerful people in Hollywood by Premiere and placed in the top five of Entertainment Weekly's annual "Entertainer of the Year" ranking.
In October 1994, Houston attended and performed at a state dinner in the White House honoring newly elected South African president Nelson Mandela. At the end of her world tour, Houston performed three concerts in South Africa to honor President Mandela, playing to more than 200,000 people; this made her the first major musician to visit the newly unified and apartheid free nation following Mandela's winning election. Portions of Whitney: The Concert for a New South Africa were broadcast live on HBO with funds of the concerts being donated to various charities in South Africa. The event was considered the nation's "biggest media event since the inauguration of Nelson Mandela". In May 1995, Houston hosted the 8th Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. A month later, in June 1995, Houston's Whitney Houston Foundation for Children was awarded a VH1 Honor for all of their charitable work.
1995–1997: Waiting to Exhale, The Preacher's Wife and Cinderella
In 1995, Houston starred in Waiting to Exhale as Savannah Jackson, a TV producer. Houston called the film "a breakthrough for the image of black women because it presents them both as professionals and as caring mothers". It reached number one in the US box office and entered the highest-grossing film lists of both 1995 and 1996, eventually grossing over $67 million in the US, while grossing $81 million altogether worldwide. At the time of release, the film received mixed reviews from critics. According to Susan King from the Los Angeles Times, the film "showed the power of black actresses and led to other successful movies with ethnic casts." The film's success led to similar films such as How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Best Man and Diary of a Mad Black Woman. The film was also notable for its portrayal of black women as strong middle class citizens rather than as stereotypes. Houston received positive reviews for her role, with The New York Times reporting: "Ms. Houston has shed the defensive hauteur that made her portrayal of a pop star in 'The Bodyguard' seem so distant." Houston was nominated a second time for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress.
Houston contributed three songs to the film's soundtrack and advised producer Babyface to make it an "album of women with vocal distinction". As a result, several other contemporary female R&B singers such as Brandy, Mary J. Blige and Toni Braxton contributed to the soundtrack. Houston's single, "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)", debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, only the third single to do so. Two other Houston singles from the soundtrack, "Count On Me", a duet with CeCe Winans, and "Why Does It Hurt So Bad", also reached the US top 40, with "Count On Me" reaching number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. The soundtrack reached number one on the Billboard 200 in January 1996 and was certified seven-times platinum in the US. The album received eleven Grammy nominations and the American Music Award for Favorite Soundtrack. The soundtrack received strong reviews; as Entertainment Weekly stated: "the album goes down easy, just as you'd expect from a package framed by Whitney Houston tracks ... the soundtrack waits to exhale, hovering in sensuous suspense" and has since ranked it as one of the 100 Best Movie Soundtracks.
Houston's next film, the Christmas comedy The Preacher's Wife (1996), was largely an update of The Bishop's Wife (1948) and starred Houston alongside Denzel Washington and Courtney B. Vance. Houston earned $10 million for the role, making her the highest-earning African-American actress in Hollywood at the time. The movie, with its all African-American cast, was a moderate success, earning about $50 million in the US. The film gave Houston the strongest reviews of her acting career. The San Francisco Chronicle said Houston "is rather angelic herself, displaying a divine talent for being virtuous and flirtatious at the same time" and she "exudes gentle yet spirited warmth, especially when praising the Lord in her gorgeous singing voice". Houston won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for the film.
The accompanying soundtrack was Houston's first full-length foray into gospel music, which she produced with Mervyn Warren. Six of the more traditional gospel tracks were recorded with the Georgia Mass Choir at the Great Star Rising Baptist Church in Atlanta. Upon its release, the soundtrack entered number three on the Billboard 200 and topped the Top Gospel Albums chart, the first by a female artist. Three singles were released, including "I Believe in You and Me", which reached the US top-ten, and "Step by Step", which became a hit in Europe. The soundtrack sold six million units worldwide, becoming the best-selling gospel album of all time. Despite its success, Houston complained of not receiving a gospel nomination at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards in 1998 and responded by boycotting the ceremony. Houston's work was acknowledged by the Dove Awards and the NAACP Image Awards, where Houston received the award for Outstanding Gospel Artist.
In 1996, Houston formed her film production company, BrownHouse Productions. Debra Martin Chase became her partner. Their goal was "to show aspects of the lives of African-Americans that have not been brought to the screen before" while improving how African-Americans are portrayed in film and television. Their first project was a made-for-television remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. In addition to co-producing, Houston starred in the film as the Fairy Godmother along with Brandy, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg and Bernadette Peters. Houston was initially offered the role of Cinderella in 1993, but other projects intervened. The film is notable for its multi-racial cast and non-stereotypical message. An estimated 60 million viewers tuned into the special giving ABC its highest TV ratings in 16 years. The movie received seven Emmy nominations including Outstanding Variety, Musical or Comedy, while winning Outstanding Art Direction in a Variety, Musical or Comedy Special.
Houston and Chase also worked on a biopic on actress Dorothy Dandridge. Halle Berry, who also had rights to Dandridge's story, beat Houston and Chase to release her version several years later. In October, a third HBO concert special, Classic Whitney: Live from Washington, D.C. aired with proceeds of the special going to Marian Wright Edelman's Children's Defense Fund, eventually reaching $300,000. In early 1998, Houston received the Quincy Jones Award for outstanding career achievements at the 12th Soul Train Music Awards.
1998–2000: My Love Is Your Love and Whitney: The Greatest Hits
In 1998, Houston released My Love Is Your Love, her first studio album in eight years. Released during the so-called "Super Tuesday" week on November 17 of the year where multiple albums by other recording artists were also issued, the album debuted and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200. The album featured production from Rodney Jerkins, Wyclef Jean and Missy Elliott and resulted in Houston receiving some of her strongest reviews ever, with Rolling Stone writing that Houston was singing "with a bite in her voice" while The Village Voice called it "Whitney's sharpest and most satisfying so far". Billboard magazine noted the album had a "funkier and edgier sound than past releases" and saw Houston "handling urban dance, hip hop, mid-tempo R&B, reggae, torch songs and ballads all with great dexterity". The album produced five top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, the most for a Houston album since 1987's Whitney.
The leading single was the Mariah Carey-featured duet, "When You Believe", off The Prince of Egypt, which peaked at number 15 in the US and reached number two on the Eurochart Hot 100, and later won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The second single, "Heartbreak Hotel", peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, while the following two singles, "It's Not Right but It's Okay" and the title track, produced by Jean, each peaked at number four. The final single, "I Learned From the Best", also reached the US top 40. The album remained on the Billboard 200 for almost two years and sold four million units alone in the US, where it was certified four-times platinum by the RIAA. Besides "Believe", the latter four singles reached number one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.
Houston's North American leg of her world tour to promote the album was successful but plagued by cancellations with Houston's publicist citing "throat problems and a 'bronchitis situation'". However, its European leg was ranked as the highest-grossing arena tour of the year in the continent. The success of the tour led to My Love Is Your Love reaching number one on the European Top 100 Albums chart in August 1999, staying there for six weeks. All of Houston's singles from the album were successful internationally, with the title track reaching number one on the Eurochart Hot 100 and selling more than three million units worldwide while the last release, "I Learned From the Best" topped the charts in Poland and Romania. Eventually, global sales of the album reached 10 million units worldwide.
The album's European success helped Houston win the MTV Europe Music Award for Best R&B, while the music video for "Heartbreak Hotel" led to Houston receiving her first MTV Video Music Award nomination in over a decade. Nominated for four Grammys at the 2000 ceremony, Houston nabbed her sixth and final competitive Grammy in the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance category for "It's Not Right but It's Okay". Near the end of the year, the Recording Industry Association of America hosted its Century Awards and named Houston the top-selling R&B female artist of the century with certified US sales of 51 million records at the time while the soundtrack to The Bodyguard received the award for top-selling soundtrack album of the century. In March 2000, Houston earned a special honor at the 14th Soul Train Music Awards as the female artist of the decade for her extraordinary artistic contributions during the 1990s.
The next year, in May 2000, Houston's first compilation album, Whitney: The Greatest Hits, was released. The album reached number five in the US and number one in the UK and also reached the top ten in multiple countries. A double-disc collection, the album's first disc, "Cool Down", featured all of Houston's hit ballads, while the second disc, "Throw Down", featured house and club remixes of the singer's uptempo hits, in response to the well-received dance remixes from My Love Is Your Love. It also included four new tracks, three of them duets from the likes of Deborah Cox, Enrique Iglesias and George Michael. The singles with the latter two artists, "Could I Have This Kiss Forever" and "If I Told You That", both became hits in Europe. The set was later certified five times platinum in the US for sales of five million copies, while worldwide sales reached 10 million.
2000–2008: Just Whitney, Princess Diaries, and Cheetah Girls
Houston's reputation as "America's Sweetheart", which she was nicknamed for the duration of her career, came under scrutiny at the beginning of the 2000s. Reports of erratic behavior, showing up hours late to interviews, photo shoots, rehearsals and canceling several concerts, had been following her since the late 1990s.
Houston failed to show up to induct Clive Davis into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2000. Weeks later, Houston was scheduled to perform at the Academy Awards but was fired from the event by musical director and longtime friend Burt Bacharach. At the time, her publicist cited throat problems as the reason for the cancellation. In his book, The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards, author Steve Pond revealed that "Houston's voice was shaky, she seemed distracted and jittery, and her attitude was casual, almost defiant"; though she was supposed to perform "Over the Rainbow", she sang a different song during rehearsals. Houston later admitted she had been fired. Houston, however, did show up for a scheduled performance to celebrate Arista's 25th anniversary with Clive Davis, her performance received good reviews.
In May 2000, Houston's longtime executive assistant and friend, Robyn Crawford, resigned from Houston's management company.
Despite increasing negative press, Houston continued to find success. She produced the film The Princess Diaries (2001) alongside fellow BrownHouse partner Debra Martin Chase. Starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews, the film became an unexpected success in the box office, grossing more than $165 million worldwide. Houston and Chase became the first black people in box office history to produce a film that surpassed $100 million in the box office. In August 2001, Houston signed one of the biggest record deals in music history, with Arista/BMG. She renewed her contract for $100 million to release six new albums, for which she would also earn royalties.
A performance at Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special in September 2001 led to increasing rumors of drug use and possible health issues due to Houston's extremely thin frame. She canceled a second performance scheduled for the following night. Within weeks, Houston's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was re-released after the September 11 attacks, with the proceeds donated to the New York Firefighters 9/11 Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Fraternal Order of Police. The single reached No. 6 on the US Hot 100, topping its previous position.
Houston released her fifth studio album, Just Whitney, in December 2002. The album debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum, though it received mixed reviews. In August 2003, Houston's second television film as a producer, The Cheetah Girls, premiered on the Disney Channel. A soundtrack of the film, executive produced by Houston, became successful, reaching double platinum status in the US. Later that November, Houston released her first Christmas album, One Wish: The Holiday Album, which featured traditional holiday songs and was certified gold in the US.
In April 2004, Houston's second film as producer, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, was equally successful in the box office like its predecessor, earning $134 million in the box office. For most of the year, Houston toured internationally. Houston's success behind the scenes continued in 2006 with the airing of The Cheetah Girls 2, which Houston served as executive producer. The film remains one of the highest-rated Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOM) in history with more than 8.1 million viewers tuning in for the premiere.
2009–2012: I Look to You and Sparkle
Houston released I Look to You in August 2009. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 305,000 copies sold, marking a strong return. The album's success was followed by her performance on various European television shows and her appearance as a guest mentor on The X Factor in the UK. Despite a wardrobe malfunction during her performance of "Million Dollar Bill", the single still achieved commercial success, later going platinum in the United Kingdom. The title track was also a hit and was later certified platinum in the United States. Following the album's release, Houston embarked on the Nothing but Love World Tour, her first world tour in more than 10 years. Despite some negative reviews and rescheduled concerts, Houston continued to perform.
In January 2010, Houston was nominated for two NAACP Image Awards and won Best Music Video for "I Look to You". On January 16, she received the Entertainers Award at the BET Honors, acknowledging her lifetime achievements spanning more than 25 years. In January 2011, Houston made a surprise appearance at the BET Celebration of Gospel where she joined friend, gospel singer Kim Burrell onstage, to perform a duet version of "I Look to You"; their performance was received well. It would be Houston's final television performance prior to her death.
Later in 2010, Houston was cast in the remake of the 1976 film Sparkle, where she served as both a star and executive producer. The film marked her final acting role before her untimely death. The movie was released on August 17, 2012. The soundtrack featured "Celebrate", the last song Houston recorded, which was released in May 2012.
Personal life
Religion
Houston was a Christian, and she made it a point to sing gospel songs when on tour. During her childhood, she regularly attended New Hope Baptist Church where she joined the children's choir and later performed solos on a regular basis there. Houston's mother Cissy wrote that while at New Hope, Houston "got saved" and she later told her that she "accepted the Savior into her life" at around 12 years old. Houston's recording of "Do You Hear What I Hear", from the Christmas compilation album, A Very Special Christmas (1987), has constantly appeared on the Billboard gospel charts since 2011. In 1997, Houston was given a special honor from the Dove Awards for helping to bring gospel music to the attention of the mainstream. Two of Houston's final recordings—"His Eye Is on the Sparrow" and "Celebrate", from the 2012 film, Sparkle—posthumously made the Billboard gospel charts. Her last public performance prior to her death was an impromptu duet of "Jesus Loves Me" with friend and former collaborator Kelly Price at the Tru nightclub in Hollywood.
Relationships, marriage, and family
Houston first met Robyn Crawford when Crawford was 19 and Houston was 16; the two were summer camp counselors. According to Crawford, the two were romantically involved for a few years until Houston began seeking a recording contract. Crawford and Houston continued their professional relationship and platonic friendship until Crawford left Houston's employ in 2000.
In the 1980s, Houston was romantically linked to musician Jermaine Jackson, American football star Randall Cunningham, and actor Eddie Murphy.
In July 2012, it was reported that rapper MC Hammer was encouraged to marry Houston by her father John during Super Bowl XXV in January 1991, despite the fact that Hammer was already a married man with children; Houston and Hammer maintained a friendship until Houston's death.
Houston met R&B singer Bobby Brown at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards. After a three-year courtship, the two were married on July 18, 1992. The two singers occasionally collaborated on songs, including the hit record, "Something in Common". The following year, Houston gave birth to their daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown (March 4, 1993 – July 26, 2015), the couple's only child.
During their marriage, Brown had several run-ins with the law for drunken driving, drug possession and battery, including some jail time. In December 2003, Brown was charged with battery following an altercation during which he threatened to beat Houston and then assaulted her. Police reported that Houston had visible injuries to her face.
Starting in April of the following year, the reality show Being Bobby Brown was taped and later premiered on Bravo, in June 2005. The show drew criticism for what critics perceived to be unflattering moments from the couple, but still achieved high ratings. However, the show was not renewed for a second season after Houston declined further participation. In September 2006, a year after Being Bobby Brown aired, Houston filed for legal separation from Brown, later filing for divorce the following month, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was granted on April 24, 2007.
Legal issues
On April 19, 1991, at the start of her I'm Your Baby Tonight World Tour, Houston and her brother Michael got involved in an altercation with three men at a hotel in Lexington, Kentucky after the men reportedly sought her for an autograph while they were trying to watch a heavyweight boxing championship match. After seeing the men attack her brother, Houston reportedly jumped on one of the men, Ransom Brotherton, and punched him off her brother before Houston and her entourage fled from the hotel. Brotherton reported the incident, which led to him having to go to the hospital to receive "12 stitches over his left eye". Houston was charged with fourth degree assault for attacking Brotherton and "threatening to kill him", while her brother was charged with assaulting another man involved in the melee, Kevin Owens.
Charges were dropped against the Houstons in May due to "contradictory evidence" and due to the prosecution struggling to "prove them guilty". It was later revealed that the altercation began after the three men yelled racial slurs at Houston.
On January 11, 2000, while Houston was traveling with her husband Bobby Brown, airport security guards discovered half an ounce of marijuana in her handbag at Keahole-Kona International Airport in Hawaii. She departed before authorities could arrive. Houston was initially charged with a misdemeanor drug charge that carried a 30-day sentence and a $1,000 fine. The charges, however, were dropped in March 2001 after prosecutors received a substance abuse assessment from a counselor in New Jersey that stated the singer didn't need treatment for substance abuse.
In 2002, Houston became embroiled in a legal dispute with John Houston Enterprise, a company started by her father. The company, run by Kevin Skinner, sued her for $100 million, claiming unpaid compensation. Houston's father died in February 2003, and the lawsuit was dismissed in April 2004, with no compensation awarded.
Residences
Following graduation from Mount Saint Dominic Academy in 1981, Houston moved to a two-bedroom apartment at Woodbridge Township with Robyn Crawford. By early 1986, Houston had relocated to a bigger apartment in Fort Lee, just minutes away from Manhattan, before purchasing a mansion in Mendham Township with help from her father in late 1987. The 13,607-square-foot house had been built in the year prior to Houston purchasing the property. The house was the primary location for Houston and Bobby Brown's 1992 wedding. Six years later, in 1993, Houston purchased a second home in the city, located at 1 Crossway. The home served as the singer's personal recording studio at which she recorded some of her material, prominently the recording of My Love Is Your Love. During the latter years of her marriage to Brown, Houston lived in Alpharetta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, splitting time between there and Mendham. In 2003, the couple purchased a mansion in Alpharetta, where much of the taping of the reality series, Being Bobby Brown, was filmed. Houston's last house prior to her death was a townhouse, also located in Alpharetta. Houston also owned a condo at Williams Island in Aventura, Florida, a suburb of Miami. Following her separation from Brown, Houston rented a palatial house in Laguna Hills, California in April 2006 and lived there until 2008.
Health
During her marriage, Houston suffered several miscarriages, including one during the filming of The Bodyguard, another in July 1994, and another in December 1996.
Rolling Stone published a story in June 2000 stating that Cissy Houston and others had held a July 1999 intervention in which they unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Whitney to obtain drug treatment.
In her 2019 memoirs, A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston, Houston's longtime executive assistant and friend, Robyn Crawford, said she departed from Houston's management company after Houston declined to seek help for her drug dependency; years earlier, Houston claimed in an interview that the two friends parted ways over Houston's husband, Bobby Brown.
In September 2001, Houston's extremely thin appearance led to rumors about her health. Her publicist stated, "Whitney has been under stress due to family matters and when she is under stress she doesn't eat." In 2009, Houston acknowledged that drug use had been the reason for her weight loss in 2001.
In 2002, Houston gave an interview with Diane Sawyer to promote her upcoming album. During the interview, she addressed rumors of drug use, famously saying, "crack is whack". She admitted to using various substances but denied having an eating disorder.
In September 2009, Houston was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey. In the interview, she admitted to using drugs with Brown during their marriage and described her struggles with addiction. She told Winfrey that before The Bodyguard her drug use was light, that she used drugs more heavily after the film's success and the birth of her daughter and that by 1996 "[doing drugs] was an everyday thing ... I wasn't happy by that point in time. I was losing myself." Houston told Oprah that she had attended a 30-day rehabilitation program. Houston also acknowledged to Oprah that her drug use had continued after rehabilitation, and that at one point, her mother obtained a court order and the assistance of law enforcement to press her into receiving further drug treatment. Houston's mother recalled the incident in her 2013 book, Remembering Whitney: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Night the Music Stopped, in which she came to visit her daughter's Alpharetta residence in 2005 discussing seeing the walls were "spray-painted" with "big glaring eyes and strange faces. Evil eyes, staring out like a threat", as well as noticing most of her daughter's head cut out of a big framed photo of the singer; Houston herself explained it in her Oprah interview. When Winfrey asked Houston if she was drug-free, Houston responded, "'Yes, ma’am. I mean, you know, don’t think I don’t have desires for it.'"
In May 2011, Houston enrolled in rehabilitation again due to drug and alcohol problems, which she stated was part of her "longstanding recovery process". A month later, it was reported that Houston had been diagnosed with emphysema.
Death
On February 11, 2012, Houston was found unconscious in Suite 434 at the Beverly Hilton, submerged in the bathtub. Houston reportedly appeared "disheveled" and "erratic" in the days before her death. Beverly Hills paramedics arrived about 3:30 pm, found Houston unresponsive, and performed CPR. Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 pm PST. The cause of death was not immediately known; local police said there were "no obvious signs of criminal intent". On March 22, 2012, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office reported that Houston's death was caused by drowning and the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use". The manner of death was listed as "accident".
Houston's death coincided with the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, which took place the day following her death and included a tribute to Houston; it was later credited for the Grammys' second-highest ratings in history. The February 11, 2012, Clive Davis pre-Grammy party that Houston had been expected to attend, which featured many of the biggest names in music and film, went on as scheduled – although it was quickly turned into a tribute to Houston. Numerous other public figures also expressed their grief, including Mariah Carey, Quincy Jones, Darlene Love, Aretha Franklin and Oprah Winfrey. Houston's death was covered internationally in the media, along with her memorial service, which was held for Houston at her home church, New Hope Baptist Church, in Newark, New Jersey, on February 18, 2012.
Houston's music surged in popularity following her death. According to representatives from Houston's record label, Houston sold 8 million records worldwide in the first 10 months of the year she died. The single "I Will Always Love You" returned to the Billboard Hot 100 after almost 20 years, peaking at number three and becoming a posthumous top-10 single for Houston, the first one since 2001. Houston set a Guinness World Record for a female artist by placing 10 albums inside the Billboard 200 simultaneously. In October 2023, Houston made the list of the top 10 highest-earning posthumous celebrities on Forbes, earning $30 million, later winning a posthumous Guinness World Records entry as the highest-earning posthumous female celebrity, her 31st record.
Artistry
Houston had a four-octave spinto soprano vocal range. She was referred to as "the Voice" because of her vocal talent.
Jon Pareles of The New York Times stated Houston "always had a great big voice, a technical marvel from its velvety depths to its ballistic middle register to its ringing and airy heights". In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Houston second on their list of the greatest singers of all time, stating, "The standard-bearer for R&B vocals, Whitney Houston possessed a soprano that was as powerful as it was tender. Take her cover of Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You', which became one of the defining singles of the 1990s; it opens with her gently brooding, her unaccompanied voice sounding like it's turning over the idea of leaving her lover behind with the lightest touch. By the end, it's transformed into a showcase for her limber, muscular upper register; she sings the title phrase with equal parts bone-deep feeling and technical perfection, turning the conflicted emotions at the song's heart into a jumping-off point for her life's next step."
Matthew Perpetua of Rolling Stone also acknowledged Houston's vocal prowess, enumerating 10 performances, including "How Will I Know" at the 1986 MTV VMAs and "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the 1991 Super Bowl. "Whitney Houston was blessed with an astonishing vocal range and extraordinary technical skill, but what truly made her a great singer was her ability to connect with a song and drive home its drama and emotion with incredible precision", he stated. "She was a brilliant performer and her live shows often eclipsed her studio recordings."
Elysa Gardner of the Los Angeles Times in her review for The Preacher's Wife Soundtrack highly praised Houston's vocal ability, commenting, "She is first and foremost a pop diva – at that, the best one we have. No other female pop star – not Mariah Carey, not Celine Dion, not Barbra Streisand – quite rivals Houston in her exquisite vocal fluidity and purity of tone and her ability to infuse a lyric with mesmerizing melodrama." Singer and entertainer Michael Jackson named Houston as one of his musical inspirations, calling her a "wonderful singer, real stylist. You hear one line, and you know who it is."
R&B singer Faith Evans stated: "Whitney was not just a singer with a beautiful voice. She was a true musician. Her voice was an instrument and she knew how to use it. With the same complexity as someone who has mastered the violin or the piano, Whitney mastered the use of her voice. From every run to every crescendo—she was in tune with what she could do with her voice and it's not something simple for a singer—even a very talented one—to achieve. Whitney is 'the Voice' because she worked for it. This is someone who was singing backup for her mom when she was 14 years old at nightclubs across the country. This is someone who sang backup for Chaka Khan when she was only 17. She had years and years of honing her craft on stage and in the studio before she ever got signed to a record label. Coming from a family of singers and surrounded by music; she pretty much had a formal education in music, just like someone who might attend a performing arts high school or major in voice in college."
Jon Caramanica of The New York Times commented, "Her voice was clean and strong, with barely any grit, well suited to the songs of love and aspiration. [ ... ] Hers was a voice of triumph and achievement and it made for any number of stunning, time-stopping vocal performances." Mariah Carey stated, "She [Whitney] has a really rich, strong mid-belt that very few people have". In her review of I Look to You, music critic Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "[Houston's voice] stands like monuments upon the landscape of 20th century pop, defining the architecture of their times, sheltering the dreams of millions and inspiring the climbing careers of countless imitators". Powers added, "When she was at her best, nothing could match her huge, clean, cool mezzo-soprano".
Lauren Everitt from BBC News commented on the melisma used in Houston's recording. "An early 'I' in Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' takes nearly six seconds to sing. In those seconds the former gospel singer-turned-pop star packs a series of different notes into the single syllable", stated Everitt. "The technique is repeated throughout the song, most pronouncedly on every 'I' and 'you'. The vocal technique is called melisma and it has inspired a host of imitators. Other artists may have used it before Houston, but it was her rendition of Dolly Parton's love song that pushed the technique into the mainstream in the 90s. [ ... ] But perhaps what Houston nailed best was moderation." Everitt said that "[i]n a climate of reality shows ripe with 'oversinging,' it's easy to appreciate Houston's ability to save melisma for just the right moment."
Houston's vocal stylings have had a significant impact on the music industry. Stephen Holden from The New York Times, in his review of Houston's Radio City Music Hall concert on July 20, 1993, praised her attitude as a singer, writing, "Whitney Houston is one of the few contemporary pop stars of whom it might be said: the voice suffices. While almost every performer whose albums sell in the millions calls upon an entertainer's bag of tricks, from telling jokes to dancing to circus pyrotechnics, Ms. Houston would rather just stand there and sing." With regard to her singing style, he added: "Her [Houston's] stylistic trademark—shivery melismas that ripple up in the middle of a song, twirling embellishments at the ends of phrases that suggest an almost breathless exhilaration—infuse her interpretations with flashes of musical and emotional lightning."
Houston struggled with vocal problems in her later years. Gary Catona, a voice coach who began working with Houston in 2005, stated: "'When I first started working with her in 2005, she had lost 99.9 percent of her voice ... She could barely speak, let alone sing. Her lifestyle choices had made her almost completely hoarse'". After Houston's death, Catona asserted that Houston's voice reached "'about 75 to 80 percent'" of its former capacity after he had worked with her. However, during the world tour that followed the release of I Look to You, "YouTube videos surfaced, showing [Houston's] voice cracking, seemingly unable to hold the notes she was known for".
Houston's vocal performances incorporated a wide variety of genres, including R&B, pop, rock, soul, gospel, funk, dance, Latin pop, disco, house, hip hop soul, new jack swing, opera, reggae, and Christmas. The lyrical themes of her songs are mainly love, religion, and feminism. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame stated: "Her sound expanded through collaborations with a wide array of artists, including Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Babyface, Missy Elliott, Bobby Brown, and Mariah Carey." AllMusic commented that, "Houston was able to handle big adult contemporary ballads, effervescent, stylish dance-pop and slick urban contemporary soul with equal dexterity". During the early stages of Houston's career, some Black critics and audiences accused her voice and music of not sounding "Black enough". Steve Rose of The Guardian attributed this perception to her "syrupy ballads and perky dance-pop," along with music videos that featured a mix of both Black and white dancers. At the time, Houston had established herself as a mainstream pop star, with a musical style that differed from the soul and R&B genres often associated with Black artists.
Legacy
Houston has been regarded as one of the greatest vocalists of all time and a cultural icon. She is also recognized as one of the most influential R&B artists in history. ABC News described Houston as a "revolutionary artist who enchanted audiences with her iconic voice –– and kicked down the door for Black artists who followed her." Julianne MacNeill of Woman's World magazine credited Houston with "single-handedly changing the world of pop and R&B music". During the 1980s, MTV was coming into its own and received criticism for not playing enough videos by black artists. With Michael Jackson breaking down the color barrier for black men, Houston did the same for black women. She became the first black woman to receive heavy rotation on the network following the success of the "How Will I Know" video. Stephen Holden of The New York Times said that Houston "revitalized the tradition of strong gospel-oriented pop-soul singing". Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times referred to Houston as a "national treasure".
The Independent's music critic Andy Gill also wrote about Houston's influence on modern R&B and singing competitions, comparing it to Michael Jackson's, stating that "Jackson was a hugely talented icon, certainly, but he will be as well remembered (probably more so) for his presentational skills, his dazzling dance moves, as for his musical innovations. Whitney, on the other hand, just sang and the ripples from her voice continue to dominate the pop landscape." Gill said that there "are few, if any, Jackson imitators on today's TV talent shows, but every other contestant is a Whitney wannabe, desperately attempting to emulate that wondrous combination of vocal effects – the flowing melisma, the soaring mezzo-soprano confidence, the tremulous fluttering that carried the ends of lines into realms of higher yearning".
According to Linda Lister in Divafication: The Deification of Modern Female Pop Stars, she has been called the "Queen of Pop" for her influence during the 1990s, commercially rivaling Mariah Carey and Celine Dion. Rolling Stone stated that Houston "redefined the image of a female soul icon and inspired singers ranging from Mariah Carey to Rihanna". In 2013, ABC named Houston the greatest woman in music. She was ranked among the greatest women in music by VH1. Houston's entrance into the music industry is considered one of the 25 musical milestones of the last 25 years, according to USA Today in 2007. It stated that she paved the way for Mariah Carey's chart-topping vocal gymnastics. Many major publications including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Fox News, NBC News and The Independent dubbed Houston the “greatest singer of her generation”. Despite his opposition to music, Osama Bin Laden was reportedly fond of Whitney Houston. According to poet and activist Kola Boof, bin Laden wanted to make her one of his wives. In February 2025, Donald Trump announced plans to build a statue of Houston among a slew of others for the proposed National Garden of American Heroes, that would be implemented in 2026.
Achievements
Houston won numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Emmy Awards, five World Music Awards, eight Grammy Awards (including two Grammy Hall of Fame honors), 16 Billboard Music Awards (36 Billboard awards in all) and 22 American Music Awards. Houston currently holds the record for most American Music Awards in a single night with eight, a record for a woman and tied in general with fellow musician Michael Jackson. Houston was the first artist to win more than 11 Billboard awards in one night at its fourth annual ceremony in 1993, which set a Guinness World Record at the time. Houston continues to hold the record for the most WMAs won in a single year, winning five trophies at the sixth World Music Awards in 1994. Houston is also the black female artist with the most Guinness World Records in history with 33.
A premier black female entertainer, Houston was inducted into the BET Walk of Fame and the Soul Train Hall of Fame. In 2001, Houston became the first artist to receive the BET Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2010, she was honored at The BET Honors with the Entertainers Award. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary, ranking Houston at number nine. In November 2010, Billboard released its "Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years" list and ranked Houston at number three who not only went on to earn eight number-one singles on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but also landed five number ones on R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Houston is one of the longest-running acts on the US Billboard charts, with a total of 692 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and 1,022 weeks on the Billboard 200.
Houston is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, with more than 220 million records sold worldwide. She was ranked the best-selling female R&B artist of the 20th century by the RIAA in 1999. Houston sold more physical singles than any other female solo artist in history. As of 2025, she is ranked as one of the best-selling artists in the United States by the RIAA with 62 million certified albums. Houston released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have been certified diamond, multi-platinum or platinum.
Houston became the first female artist to go diamond with an album after her soundtrack to The Bodyguard went ten-times platinum in November 1993. In January 1994, her debut album Whitney Houston was the first studio album by a woman to be certified ten-times platinum, making her the first solo artist to receive two diamond-certified albums. When her sophomore album, Whitney (1987), was certified diamond in October 2020, Houston became the first black recording artist in history to have three diamond-certified albums. Those three albums are also among the best-selling albums of all time. Houston is the only black female artist with six albums to sell more than ten million units worldwide, the third most in general by a female artist. The Bodyguard remains the best-selling soundtrack and best-selling female album of all time, with global units of over 45 million, while "I Will Always Love You" remains the best-selling single by a female artist at 24 million units worldwide. In addition, her soundtrack for The Preacher's Wife is the best-selling gospel release ever.
She held an honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Grambling State University, Louisiana. Houston was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2013. She was inducted into the official Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in its second class in 2014. In 2020, Houston was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after her first nomination. In October 2020, the music video for "I Will Always Love You" surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube, making Houston the first solo 20th-century artist to have a video reach that milestone. In May 2023, Houston was one of the first of 13 artists to be given the Brits Billion Award by the BPI for reaching 1 billion career streams in the United Kingdom. Houston is one of only a handful of artists from the 20th century to have multiple songs streamed a billion times on Spotify with her 1987 hit, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", and her posthumous 2019 hit, "Higher Love", reaching the feat in 2023 and 2024. In September 2025, Houston was inducted into the Missouri Gospel Music Hall of Fame at St. Louis, Missouri.
Commemoration
In 1997, the Franklin School in East Orange, New Jersey, which Houston attended as a child, was renamed to the Whitney E. Houston Academy of Creative & Performing Arts.
Four posthumous albums have been released, including two compilation albums and two live albums. A posthumous concert tour, An Evening with Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour, featuring a projected image of Houston, ran from 2020 to 2023.
Madame Tussauds unveiled four wax figures of Houston in 2013, inspired by her looks from the music video of I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me), film The Bodyguard, album cover of I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston and The Star-Spangled Banner performance at the 1991 Super Bowl.
In 2015, Lifetime premiered the biographical film Whitney. Houston was portrayed by model Yaya DaCosta.
A television documentary film entitled Whitney: Can I Be Me aired on Showtime on August 25, 2017. The film was directed by Nick Broomfield.
Whitney, a documentary film based on Houston's life and death, premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was released internationally in theaters on July 6, 2018.
In 2019, Houston and Kygo's version of "Higher Love" was released as a single. It reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and reached the top 10 in several countries.
Lifetime released the documentary Whitney Houston & Bobbi Kristina: Didn't We Almost Have It All in 2021.
A mural of Houston, made of hand cut glass by artist Maude Lemaire, was installed at 45 Williams Street, Newark, New Jersey, in 2021.
On the tenth anniversary of her death, ESPN ran a 30-minute documentary of Houston's acclaimed performance of The Star Spangled Banner at Super Bowl XXV in 1991 titled Whitney's Anthem.
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, a biographical film, opened on December 23, 2022, with Houston being portrayed by Naomi Ackie. It grossed around $60 million.
In December 2023, the New Jersey Hall of Fame unveiled the Whitney Houston Service Area, formerly known as the Vauxhal Service Area at the Garden State Parkway. The New Jersey Hall of Fame explained that the renaming was part of their "ongoing program to honor its inductees by renaming Garden State Parkway service areas after them, and building displays about them".
In May 2025, it was announced by Houston's estate that The Voice of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebration, which integrates Houston's vocal recordings with the backing of an orchestra, will embark on a full length North American tour starting in September 2025.
In September 2025, Calum Scott released a reimagined duet ballad rendition of "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" with Houston.
Philanthropy
Houston was a long-time supporter of charities around the world. In 1989, she established the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children. It offered medical assistance to sick and homeless children, fought to prevent child abuse, taught children to read, created inner-city parks and playgrounds and granted college scholarships, including one to the Juilliard School. At a 1988 Madison Square Garden concert, Houston earned more than $250,000 for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). Later in October of that same year, Houston performed on the Channel Seven Perth Telethon in Perth to raise funds for several children's hospitals there. The following November, Houston announced plans to invest in a $100 million housing project set up by Vogue Skyview Estates, a real estate development firm, to create low and middle-income housing in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey. The Feingold Center for Children in Boston had its Hearing & Language Disorder Clinic renamed after the singer after she contributed to the hospital. In June 1995, it was reported that Houston donated $125,000 to Harlem's Hale House Center to help mothers who were at risk of abusing their children. Later, the Hale House Center built a Learning & Recreation Center due to Houston's donations. Houston also donated money to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Newark's University Hospital renamed its Pediatric Special Care Unit the Whitney Houston Intensive Care Unit after Houston's contributions to the hospital.
Houston donated all of the earnings from her 1991 Super Bowl XXV performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" sales to Gulf War servicemen and their families. The record label followed suit and she was voted to the American Red Cross Board of Directors as a result. Following the terrorist attacks in 2001, Houston re-released "The Star-Spangled Banner" to support the New York Firefighters 9/11 Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Fraternal Order of Police. She waived her royalty rights to the song, which reached number one on charts in October 2001 and generated more than $1 million. Houston declined to perform in apartheid-era South Africa in the 1980s. Her participation at the 1988 Freedomfest performance in London (for a then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela) grabbed the attention of other musicians and the media. During her historic South African tour in 1994, Houston donated all of its concert proceeds to numerous children's charities, including two children's museums, the President's Trust Fund (for Nelson Mandela) and the Kasigo Trust among several orphanages.
In addition, Houston became an activist for the fight against HIV and AIDS during the first decade of the AIDS epidemic. In 1986, the LGBT magazine publication The Advocate reported that one of Houston's concerts at the Boston Common in Boston raised $30,000 for the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts and the Gay and Lesbian Counseling Service. The Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, in particular, focused on helping children who suffered from HIV/AIDS, among other issues. In 1990, Whitney took part in Arista Records' 15th anniversary gala, which was an AIDS benefit, where she sang "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Greatest Love of All" and, with cousin Dionne Warwick, "That's What Friends Are For". A year later, Whitney participated in the Reach Out & Touch Someone AIDS vigil at London in September 1991 while she was finishing her historic ten-date residency at London's Wembley Arena; there, she stressed the importance of AIDS research and addressing HIV stigma.
In June 1999, Whitney gave a surprise performance at the 13th Annual New York City Lesbian & Gay Pride Dance at one of the city's West Side piers. According to Instinct magazine, Houston's unannounced performance at the Piers "ushered in a new era that would eventually make high-profile artists performing at LGBTQ events virtually commonplace". Before hitting the stage, Houston was asked by MTV veejay John Norris why she decided to attend the event. Houston replied, "We're all God's children, honey".
Discography
Whitney Houston (1985)
Whitney (1987)
I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990)
My Love Is Your Love (1998)
Just Whitney (2002)
One Wish: The Holiday Album (2003)
I Look to You (2009)
Filmography
Films starred
The Bodyguard (1992)
Waiting to Exhale (1995)
The Preacher's Wife (1996)
Cinderella (1997)
Sparkle (2012)
Films produced
Cinderella (1997)
The Princess Diaries (2001)
The Cheetah Girls (2003)
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)
The Cheetah Girls 2 (2006)
Sparkle (2012)
Documentaries and others
Nora's Hair Salon (2004)
Whitney: Can I Be Me (2017)
Whitney (2018)
The Concert for a New South Africa (Durban) (2024)
Tours
Headlining tours
Tribute tours
An Evening with Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour (2020–2023)
Co-headlining tours
Soul Divas Tour (2004)
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
Cox, Ted (1999). Whitney Houston: Black Americans of Achievement. Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0-7910-4456-4.
Heppermann, Christine (2012). Whitney Houston: Recording Artist & Actress. ABDO Publishing. ISBN 9781614801733.
Parish, Robert (2003). Whitney Houston: The Unauthorized Biography. Aurum Press. ISBN 1-85410-921-9.
Further reading
Ammons, Kevin; Bacon, Nancy (1998). Good Girl, Bad Girl: An Insider's Biography of Whitney Houston. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publ. Group. ISBN 978-0-8065-8012-8.
Bowman, Jeffery (1995). Diva: The Totally Unauthorized Biography of Whitney Houston. New York: Harper. ISBN 978-0-06-100853-5.
Halstead, Craig (2010). Whitney Houston: For the Record. Sandy, Bedfordshire, UK: Authors OnLine. ISBN 978-0-7552-1278-1. OCLC 751138536.
Houston, Whitney (March 1999). My Love Is Your Love: Piano, Vocal, Chords. Los Angeles: Alfred Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-7692-7734-9.
Kennedy, Gerrick (2022). Didn't We Almost Have it All: In Defense of Whitney Houston. New York: Abrams. ISBN 9781419749698. OCLC 1289268049.
Parish, James Robert (September 2003). Whitney Houston: The Unauthorized Biography. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-85410-921-7.
Parish, James Robert (April 2010). Whitney Houston: Return of the Diva. Chicago: John Blake. ISBN 978-1-84454-919-1.
External links
Whitney Houston at AllMusic
Whitney Houston discography at Discogs
Whitney Houston at IMDb
Whitney Houston at the TCM Movie Database
Whitney Houston collected news and commentary at The New York Times
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Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "the Voice", she is one of the most awarded performers of all time. As a cultural icon, her chart achievements and music videos influenced the breaking down of gender and racial barriers. Known for her vocal delivery and live performances, Houston was ranked second on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest singers of all time in 2023.
Houston signed to Arista Records at the age of 19. Her first two studio albums, Whitney Houston (1985) and Whitney (1987), topped the Billboard 200 for 14 and 11 weeks, respectively. The former remains the best selling debut album by a solo artist in history, while the latter made her the first woman to debut atop the US and UK charts. Houston took a more urban turn with her third album, I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990), and performed an acclaimed rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV in 1991. She then starred in the films The Bodyguard (1992), Waiting to Exhale (1995), The Preacher's Wife (1996) and Cinderella (1997), and produced the film franchises The Princess Diaries (2001–2004) and The Cheetah Girls (2003–2006). Soundtracks of The Bodyguard and The Preacher's Wife, respectively, rank as the best-selling soundtrack album and gospel album of all time, with the former winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and topping the Billboard 200 for 20 weeks.
Following the success of My Love Is Your Love (1998), Houston's first studio album in eight years, she renewed her contract with Arista Records for $100 million in 2001, one of the largest recording deals of all time. However, her drug use and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown tarnished her "America's Sweetheart" image, overshadowing her next albums, Just Whitney (2002) and One Wish: The Holiday Album (2003). After divorcing Brown, Houston returned to the top of the Billboard 200 with her final album, I Look to You (2009). On February 11, 2012, Houston accidentally drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors. News of her death coincided with the 2012 Grammy Awards and was covered internationally along with her memorial service.
Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of more than 220 million records worldwide. Her first two albums, along with The Bodyguard soundtrack, rank among the best-selling albums of all time and made her the first black artist to score three RIAA diamond-certified albums. "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" and "I Will Always Love You" are among the best-selling singles ever; the latter remains the best-selling single by a woman and has been certified diamond by RIAA. Houston scored 11 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles and remains the only artist to have seven consecutive singles top the chart. She has been inducted into multiple halls and walks of fame. Guinness World Records named Houston the highest-earning posthumous female celebrity. Her assets amounted to $250 million, earned over a 25-year career.
Early life and family
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born on August 9, 1963, at Presbyterian Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, to Emily "Cissy" (née Drinkard) and John Russell Houston Jr. Cissy was a Grammy-winning gospel and soul singer who was a member of The Drinkard Singers and the founder of The Sweet Inspirations before becoming a solo artist. John was a former Army serviceman who later became an administrator under Newark mayor Kenneth A. Gibson. According to her mother, Houston was named after actress Whitney Blake. Houston was given the nickname "Nippy" by her father.
Houston's parents were both African-American. Cissy Houston stated that she had partial Dutch and Native American ancestry. Houston was a cousin of singers Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick as well as a cousin of opera singer Leontyne Price. Aretha Franklin was an "honorary aunt" while Darlene Love was Houston's godmother. Houston's paternal great-great-grandfather Jeremiah Burke Sanderson was an American abolitionist and advocate for the civil and educational rights of black Americans during the mid-19th century. Houston had three older brothers: paternal half-brother John III; maternal half-brother Gary, a basketball player and singer; and full brother Michael.
At three, Houston witnessed the Newark race riots of 1967. Following Cissy signing a solo recording contract in 1970, the Houston family relocated to a suburban area of East Orange, New Jersey, called Doddtown. Prior to moving to East Orange, the Houstons had raised their children on Newark's Wainwright Street. Houston's parents married in the spring of 1964, just months before Houston's first birthday. Initially a happy union, the marriage dissolved by Houston's teen years after Houston's father suffered a near-fatal heart attack. By 17, Houston's parents separated; divorcing over a decade later.
Houston was raised in the Baptist faith. She joined the church choir at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark at the age of five, and she also learned to play piano at New Hope. She later recalled being exposed to the Pentecostal church nearby as well. Houston made her solo performance debut at New Hope singing the hymn "Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah" at the age of 12. Around this same period, she told her mother that she wanted to pursue a career in music. Houston would be trained on how to sing by Cissy throughout her teen years. Houston’s biggest musical influence was her mother. She was also heavily influenced by her successful cousins Dionne and Dee Dee. Other musical influences included Karen Carpenter, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, and Roberta Flack.
Houston attended Franklin Elementary School (now the Whitney E. Houston Academy of Creative and Performing Arts) from first grade to sixth grade before transferring to Mount Saint Dominic Academy, a Catholic girls' high school in Caldwell, New Jersey, at 13. She graduated from Mount Saint Dominic in 1981.
Career
1977–1984: Career beginnings
Houston's professional career began when she joined her mother's band as a background singer at fourteen while Cissy performed at Manhattan cabaret clubs. Houston gave her first solo during Cissy's performance at Manhattan's Town Hall in February 1978, performing "Tomorrow" from the Broadway musical, Annie, where she received her first standing ovation. Houston began a career as a session vocalist backing up artists like her mother, Michael Zager, Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls. Houston was the featured vocalist in Zager's disco song "Life's a Party" (1978).
Houston became a fashion model in 1980 after being spotted at Carnegie Hall and signed first with Click Models before moving onto the Wilhelmina Models agency, where she landed the cover of Seventeen. Houston's girl next door charm helped her to land in fashion spreads for Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Young Miss. Houston continued her music career during this period, recording demos of gospel recordings. Houston's vocal talent made her sought after for recording deals, but were turned down by her mother, who insisted that Houston finish high school.
Signing with Tara Productions in September 1981, Houston hired Gene Harvey as her manager, with Daniel Gittleman and Seymour Flics also playing part in managing her. During 1982, Houston auditioned for both Elektra Records and CBS Records. Houston's feature on the song "Memories" from Material's album One Down, led to critical raves, with then-Village Voice critic Robert Christgau calling it "one of the most gorgeous ballads you've ever heard". Producer Paul Jabara later featured her on the ballad, "Eternal Love", issued off his album, Paul Jabara & Friends.
After seeing Houston perform at the Seventh Avenue South nightclub in Manhattan, Gerry Griffith--then the A&R representative for Arista Records--convinced label head Clive Davis to see her perform at the Sweetwaters nightclub the following evening. Upon viewing the performance, an impressed Davis offered Houston a recording contract. With her parents present, Houston signed on April 10, 1983.
Houston was introduced to a national audience in June 1983, performing the song "Home" from the Broadway musical The Wiz on The Merv Griffin Show. During this period, Houston almost landed a role on The Cosby Show before pulling out on the show due to her emerging career. Houston landed a cameo role on Gimme a Break!, was featured in a Canada Dry commercial and also sang commercial jingles, including one for the restaurant brand, Steak & Ale.
Houston did not begin work on an album immediately. The label wanted to make sure no other company signed her away and Davis wanted to ensure he had the right material and producers for her debut album. Some producers passed on the project because of prior commitments. After seeing her perform in New York, Michael Masser paired Houston with Teddy Pendergrass, on the duet, "Hold Me", which appeared on his album, Love Language. Released in May 1984, the song gave Houston her first taste of success, becoming a top-ten hit on the US R&B and adult contemporary charts. Houston also received notice in 1984 after being paired up with Jermaine Jackson, with whom the duet, "Take Good Care of My Heart", was featured on Jackson's Dynamite album, while also appearing with Jackson performing the song and another duet, "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do", on an episode of As the World Turns. All three songs eventually appeared on her debut album.
1985–1986: Whitney Houston and rise to international prominence
Whitney Houston was released on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1985. The album received mixed to positive reviews in its initial run, with most of the positive remarks aimed at Houston's vocal ability. Rolling Stone called Houston "one of the most exciting new voices in years" while The New York Times called the album "an impressive, musically conservative showcase for an exceptional vocal talent". Debuting at number 166 on the Billboard 200 on March 30, 1985, the album reached the top ten 23 weeks later. It reached number one in March 1986, starting a 14-week run, which is the longest run for a female debut album in history.
Whitney Houston launched four top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with the first, "You Give Good Love" reaching number three on July 27, 1985. The song attracted some notoriety after advice columnist Ann Landers included it in her list of rock songs deemed "trashy music" on her Ask Ann Landers column; Houston quickly addressed Landers's comments in an interview with The Chicago Tribune. The song was followed by Houston's rendition of "Saving All My Love for You", which became her first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 26, two days before Houston opened at Carnegie Hall. The album's follow-up singles, "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love of All", also topped the charts, with the former peaking on February 15, 1986 for two weeks and the latter peaking on May 17, 1986 for three weeks. In accomplishing this, Houston became the first female artist to land three number one singles off the same album on the Billboard Hot 100, also becoming the first female solo artist to produce three consecutive number one singles. In addition, the ballad "All at Once" became an international hit in Europe and Japan.
Whitney Houston did not just perform well on the domestic charts; it became a global success as well. The album reached the top ten in 19 other countries, including the UK, and topping in six other countries, including Canada and Australia. The album has since been certified Diamond in the United States for sales of 14 million copies, with over 25 million units sold worldwide, becoming the best-selling solo debut album in music history and the best-selling debut album by a female artist. The album is also listed in the Guinness World Records as the best-selling R&B studio album by a female artist in history.
In a May 25, 1986 article on The New York Times, journalist Stephen Holden declared Houston "the new queen of pop". The album's success was attributed to performances on late-night talk shows, a format not often accessible to emerging black talent at the time and exposure on music video stations, including MTV, which at the time was receiving harsh criticism for not playing enough videos from artists of color while favoring predominantly white acts. Houston stated the channel rejected the clip to "You Give Good Love" for "being a very R&B kind of song", only for them to play the clip for "Saving All My Love for You" due to the song "hit(ting) so hard and explod(ing) so heavy" that they "had no choice but to play it". In December, the video to "How Will I Know" was submitted and accepted by MTV brass and sent the video to heavy rotation almost immediately after it debuted that month and later led to Houston's music regularly being played on the channel, the first occurrence for a black female artist. The success of the "How Will I Know" video resulted in Houston winning the MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video in September. In July 1986, her first major world tour, The Greatest Love World Tour, was launched and Houston performed on four continents for 53 shows until that December.
Houston was ranked the top new pop artist of 1985 by Billboard; the following year, her debut was the best-selling album of the year. Houston was denied a nomination for the Best New Artist Grammy due to her recordings in the previous year, prompting an angry letter from Clive Davis. The album was nominated for five Grammys, including Album of the Year. She won her first Grammy for "Saving All My Love for You" in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category. Later, a performance of the song at the ceremony won Houston an Emmy for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. She won her first seven American Music Awards from the album, out of a record 13 nominations. Houston's debut album is listed as one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Definitive 200 list. Houston's grand entrance into the music industry was considered one of the 25 musical milestones of the last 25 years, according to USA Today in 2007.
1987–1989: Whitney
In June 1987, Houston's second album, Whitney, was released. Mostly produced by Narada Michael Walden, critics complained that the material was too similar to her previous album. Rolling Stone said, "the narrow channel through which this talent has been directed is frustrating". Regardless of mixed reviews, the album enjoyed commercial success. On June 27, Houston became the first woman in music history to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 with the album. Houston was also the first artist ever to enter number one in the US and UK simultaneously, while also reaching number one in every country it charted. The album stayed at number one on the Billboard 200 for its first eleven weeks and is one of five albums to spend their first ten weeks or more at number one on the chart.
The album's first single, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", was a massive hit worldwide, peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the charts in 17 countries, including Australia, West Germany and the UK. Three more singles from the album — "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" — reached number one on the Hot 100 within a six-month stretch. Following the latter's peak on April 23, 1988, Houston became the first artist to produce seven consecutive number one hits on the Hot 100, breaking a record of six, held by The Beatles and the Bee Gees. Houston remains the only artist to ever accomplish this feat as of 2025. Houston also broke an all-time record for most number ones recorded by a solo female artist at the time and broke her own record by producing four number one singles off the same album. When the fifth single, "Love Will Save the Day", peaked at number nine on the chart, Houston joined a small list of artists to have more than five top ten singles off an album. Whitney has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, with ten million sold in the United States alone, where it has been certified Diamond.
Whitney earned Houston a second Grammy nomination for Album of the Year, while "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" won her a second Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Houston went on to win four American Music Awards, six Billboard awards and her first Soul Train Music Award for the album.
Houston launched her second world tour, the Moment of Truth World Tour, in July 1987. The North American leg of the tour grossed more than $20 million, becoming one of the top ten tours on the continent, as well as the top female tour. An expansive tour, the singer toured 155 dates in four continents, including nine sold-out dates at London's Wembley Arena. During that period, Houston recorded one of the main theme songs for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, "One Moment in Time", which later became a top five US hit and hit number one in the UK, Germany and Europe and won Houston a Sports Emmy Award.
Houston participated in the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at London's Wembley Stadium in support of the then-imprisoned civil rights activist and the anti-apartheid movement. Houston had refused work in South Africa due to the country's then strict apartheid laws. The concert aired on June 11 of the year, was watched by half a billion viewers and raised $1 million in charities, raising awareness to apartheid. That August, Houston held a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden to raise money to fund HBCUs, raising a quarter of a million dollars. Houston's philanthropy continued in 1989 when she founded the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, a nonprofit organization that has raised funds for the needs of children around the world. The organization cares for homelessness, children with cancer or AIDS and other issues of self-empowerment.
Houston's unprecedented success during this era caused Forbes magazine to take notice. In 1987, she ranked 8th place among the highest-paid entertainers in show business, earning $43 million, only trailing Bill Cosby and Eddie Murphy. She ranked 17th place in 1988.
1990–1991: I'm Your Baby Tonight and "The Star-Spangled Banner"
With the success of her first two albums, Houston became an international crossover superstar, appealing to all demographics. However, some black critics believed she was "selling out". They felt her singing on record lacked the soul that was present during her live concerts. At the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards, when Houston's name was called out for a nomination, a few in the audience jeered. Houston defended herself against the criticism, stating, "If you're gonna have a long career, there's a certain way to do it and I did it that way. I'm not ashamed of it."
Houston took a more urban direction with her third studio album, I'm Your Baby Tonight, released in November 1990. The first album in which she served as executive producer and exerted creative control for the first time in her career, Houston recruited the production team of Antonio "L.A." Reid and Babyface, as well as Luther Vandross and Stevie Wonder for the album, while retaining previous producer Walden. Reviews were mixed to positive. Rolling Stone felt it was her "best and most integrated album", while Entertainment Weekly, at the time thought Houston's shift towards an urban direction was "superficial".
Commercially, the album was a success, peaking at number three on the Billboard 200, staying inside the top ten for 22 weeks, becoming the tenth best-selling album of 1991, while topping the Top R&B Albums chart, staying there for eight weeks. As a result, Houston earned four Billboard Music Awards, including the top-selling R&B album of 1991. Houston returned to the top of the Hot 100 with the title track and "All the Man That I Need", helping Houston to set another chart record by being the first female soloist to have multiple number one pop songs on three albums at least. The title track, in particular, gave Babyface and Reid their first number one pop single, while "All the Man That I Need" became Houston's third single to top the pop, R&B and AC charts. The ballad "Miracle" and the more hip-hop driven "My Name Is Not Susan" followed those singles inside the top 20, with "Miracle" reaching the top ten. The remix of "My Name Is Not Susan" included rapper Monie Love.
I'm Your Baby Tonight would go on to sell ten million units worldwide, including going platinum four times in the US. In addition to winning the four Billboard Music Awards, Houston was nominated for several Grammys and American Music Awards for the album. A bonus track from the album's Japanese edition, "Higher Love", was remixed by Norwegian DJ and record producer Kygo and released posthumously in 2019 to commercial success. It topped the US Dance Club Songs chart and reached number two in the UK, becoming Houston's highest-charting single in the country since 1999.
During the Persian Gulf War, on January 27, 1991, Houston performed "The Star-Spangled Banner", the US national anthem, at Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium. Houston's vocals were pre-recorded, prompting criticism. Dan Klores, a spokesman for Houston, said: "This is not a Milli Vanilli thing. She sang live, but the microphone was turned off. It was a technical decision, partially based on the noise factor. This is standard procedure at these events." Nevertheless, a commercial single and video of the performance reached the Top 20 on the US Hot 100, giving Houston the biggest chart hit for a performance of the national anthem.
Houston donated her share of the proceeds to the American Red Cross Gulf Crisis Fund and was named to the Red Cross Board of Governors. Her rendition was critically acclaimed and is considered the benchmark for singers; VH1 listed the performance as one of the greatest moments that rocked TV. Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the single was rereleased, with all profits going towards the firefighters and victims of the attacks. It reached number 6 in the Hot 100 and was certified platinum. The song's re-charting made Houston the first woman to chart the same song inside the top 20 of the Hot 100. Later in 1991, Houston put together her Welcome Home Heroes concert with HBO for the soldiers fighting in the Persian Gulf War and their families. The free concert took place at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia in front of 3,500 servicemen and women. HBO descrambled the concert so that it was free for everyone to watch. The show gave HBO its highest ratings ever at the time.
Houston then embarked on her third world tour, the I'm Your Baby Tonight World Tour, in which Houston performed 97 shows, including a ten-date sold-out residency at Wembley Arena in London. The concert tour produced mixed to positive reviews. While The Sun Sentinel argued that Houston should've opted for smaller venues and theaters that were "far more suitable to her sophistication and talent", USA Today praised Houston for "shak[ing] the confinements of her recordings' calculated productions and gets downright gutsy and soulful".
1992–1994: The Bodyguard
With the success of her music, Houston received offers of film work, including work with Robert De Niro, Quincy Jones and Spike Lee, but she did not feel the time was right. Her first film role was in The Bodyguard, released in 1992. Houston played a star who is being stalked by a crazed fan and hires a bodyguard (played by Kevin Costner) to protect her. Houston's mainstream appeal allowed audiences to look past the interracial nature of her character's relationship with Costner's character. However, controversy arose as some felt Houston's face had been intentionally left out of the advertising to hide the film's interracial relationship. In a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone, Houston said that "people know who Whitney Houston is – I'm black. You can't hide that fact."
The film received mixed reviews. While Houston was accused of merely “playing herself” but came out “largely unscathed”, and “lacked chemistry” with her co-star, another review wrote that she “photographs wonderfully, and has a warm smile, and yet is able to suggest selfish and egotistical dimensions in the character.” Houston was nominated for Outstanding Actress at the NAACP Image Awards, the MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance and the People's Choice Award nod for Favorite Actress in a Dramatic Motion Picture. Upon its release, The Bodyguard grossed more than $121 million in the U.S. and $410 million worldwide, making it one of the top 100 highest-grossing films in history at its time of release. It remains in the top 50 of most successful R-rated films in box-office history.
The film's soundtrack also enjoyed success. As executive producer of the soundtrack, Houston recorded six tracks, two of which she produced. Rolling Stone described it as "nothing more than pleasant, tasteful and urbane". The soundtrack opened at number two on the Billboard 200 and took the number-one spot the following week, accumulating 20 weeks atop the chart, the first album by a woman to do so. One of the fastest-selling albums ever, it became the first album in music history to sell more than a million copies in a single week under the Nielsen Soundscan tracking system. The Bodyguard became the first album in history by a female artist to be certified diamond by the RIAA after it passed the ten-million mark in early November 1993. It has since gone on to sell more than 19 million copies alone in the US, with total sales reaching 45 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album by a female artist and the best-selling soundtrack album in history, earning Houston several Guinness World Records.
At the 1994 Grammy Awards, Houston won the Grammy for Album of the Year for the soundtrack and was the first black woman to win as producer as well as artist. In addition to the Grammy, Houston also won a record-setting eight American Music Awards, eleven Billboard Music Awards, five NAACP Image Awards and earned the Soul Train Music Award for the Sammy Davis Jr. Entertainer of the Year honor. Houston also earned international honors for the soundtrack, including a Juno Award, five World Music Awards, six Japan Gold Disc Awards and a Brit Award.
The soundtrack's lead single was "I Will Always Love You", written and originally recorded by Dolly Parton. Houston's version was highly acclaimed by critics, regarding it as her "signature song" or "iconic performance". Rolling Stone and USA Today called her rendition a tour-de-force. The song went on to become the longest-running number one single in Billboard Hot 100 history at the time for a record setting 14 weeks. The song also became Houston's fourth record-setting "triple-crown" number one Billboard hit after it topped the R&B and AC charts. It has gone on to sell more than eleven million units in the United States and was certified diamond in January 2021, making Houston just one of four female artists to earn a diamond-certified single and album. It remains the best-selling US single by a female artist. The song topped the charts in 34 countries and went on to sell 24 million units worldwide, becoming the best-selling single ever by a female solo artist. Houston earned the Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Pop Female Vocal Performance.
The soundtrack's follow-up singles, "I'm Every Woman" and "I Have Nothing", both reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100. Houston set a new Billboard Hot 100 chart record on March 13, 1993 when the two singles joined "I Will Always Love You" in simultaneously charting inside the top 20 in the same week, the first for an artist in the Nielsen SoundScan era. The fourth single, "Run to You", achieved modest success in the US and UK, while "Queen of the Night" reached the top 40 in several global charts and a remixed version topped the US dance chart. The success of The Bodyguard led to Houston becoming a cover story for Rolling Stone in its June 10, 1993 issue.
Houston then embarked on her most expansive global tour to date: The Bodyguard World Tour. She toured for nearly two years to mostly sold-out audiences across five continents. Houston eventually ranked as the third highest-earning female entertainer of 1993-94, according to Forbes, named as one of the 100 most powerful people in Hollywood by Premiere and placed in the top five of Entertainment Weekly's annual "Entertainer of the Year" ranking.
In October 1994, Houston attended and performed at a state dinner in the White House honoring newly elected South African president Nelson Mandela. At the end of her world tour, Houston performed three concerts in South Africa to honor President Mandela, playing to more than 200,000 people; this made her the first major musician to visit the newly unified and apartheid free nation following Mandela's winning election. Portions of Whitney: The Concert for a New South Africa were broadcast live on HBO with funds of the concerts being donated to various charities in South Africa. The event was considered the nation's "biggest media event since the inauguration of Nelson Mandela". In May 1995, Houston hosted the 8th Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. A month later, in June 1995, Houston's Whitney Houston Foundation for Children was awarded a VH1 Honor for all of their charitable work.
1995–1997: Waiting to Exhale, The Preacher's Wife and Cinderella
In 1995, Houston starred in Waiting to Exhale as Savannah Jackson, a TV producer. Houston called the film "a breakthrough for the image of black women because it presents them both as professionals and as caring mothers". It reached number one in the US box office and entered the highest-grossing film lists of both 1995 and 1996, eventually grossing over $67 million in the US, while grossing $81 million altogether worldwide. At the time of release, the film received mixed reviews from critics. According to Susan King from the Los Angeles Times, the film "showed the power of black actresses and led to other successful movies with ethnic casts." The film's success led to similar films such as How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Best Man and Diary of a Mad Black Woman. The film was also notable for its portrayal of black women as strong middle class citizens rather than as stereotypes. Houston received positive reviews for her role, with The New York Times reporting: "Ms. Houston has shed the defensive hauteur that made her portrayal of a pop star in 'The Bodyguard' seem so distant." Houston was nominated a second time for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress.
Houston contributed three songs to the film's soundtrack and advised producer Babyface to make it an "album of women with vocal distinction". As a result, several other contemporary female R&B singers such as Brandy, Mary J. Blige and Toni Braxton contributed to the soundtrack. Houston's single, "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)", debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, only the third single to do so. Two other Houston singles from the soundtrack, "Count On Me", a duet with CeCe Winans, and "Why Does It Hurt So Bad", also reached the US top 40, with "Count On Me" reaching number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. The soundtrack reached number one on the Billboard 200 in January 1996 and was certified seven-times platinum in the US. The album received eleven Grammy nominations and the American Music Award for Favorite Soundtrack. The soundtrack received strong reviews; as Entertainment Weekly stated: "the album goes down easy, just as you'd expect from a package framed by Whitney Houston tracks ... the soundtrack waits to exhale, hovering in sensuous suspense" and has since ranked it as one of the 100 Best Movie Soundtracks.
Houston's next film, the Christmas comedy The Preacher's Wife (1996), was largely an update of The Bishop's Wife (1948) and starred Houston alongside Denzel Washington and Courtney B. Vance. Houston earned $10 million for the role, making her the highest-earning African-American actress in Hollywood at the time. The movie, with its all African-American cast, was a moderate success, earning about $50 million in the US. The film gave Houston the strongest reviews of her acting career. The San Francisco Chronicle said Houston "is rather angelic herself, displaying a divine talent for being virtuous and flirtatious at the same time" and she "exudes gentle yet spirited warmth, especially when praising the Lord in her gorgeous singing voice". Houston won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for the film.
The accompanying soundtrack was Houston's first full-length foray into gospel music, which she produced with Mervyn Warren. Six of the more traditional gospel tracks were recorded with the Georgia Mass Choir at the Great Star Rising Baptist Church in Atlanta. Upon its release, the soundtrack entered number three on the Billboard 200 and topped the Top Gospel Albums chart, the first by a female artist. Three singles were released, including "I Believe in You and Me", which reached the US top-ten, and "Step by Step", which became a hit in Europe. The soundtrack sold six million units worldwide, becoming the best-selling gospel album of all time. Despite its success, Houston complained of not receiving a gospel nomination at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards in 1998 and responded by boycotting the ceremony. Houston's work was acknowledged by the Dove Awards and the NAACP Image Awards, where Houston received the award for Outstanding Gospel Artist.
In 1996, Houston formed her film production company, BrownHouse Productions. Debra Martin Chase became her partner. Their goal was "to show aspects of the lives of African-Americans that have not been brought to the screen before" while improving how African-Americans are portrayed in film and television. Their first project was a made-for-television remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. In addition to co-producing, Houston starred in the film as the Fairy Godmother along with Brandy, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg and Bernadette Peters. Houston was initially offered the role of Cinderella in 1993, but other projects intervened. The film is notable for its multi-racial cast and non-stereotypical message. An estimated 60 million viewers tuned into the special giving ABC its highest TV ratings in 16 years. The movie received seven Emmy nominations including Outstanding Variety, Musical or Comedy, while winning Outstanding Art Direction in a Variety, Musical or Comedy Special.
Houston and Chase also worked on a biopic on actress Dorothy Dandridge. Halle Berry, who also had rights to Dandridge's story, beat Houston and Chase to release her version several years later. In October, a third HBO concert special, Classic Whitney: Live from Washington, D.C. aired with proceeds of the special going to Marian Wright Edelman's Children's Defense Fund, eventually reaching $300,000. In early 1998, Houston received the Quincy Jones Award for outstanding career achievements at the 12th Soul Train Music Awards.
1998–2000: My Love Is Your Love and Whitney: The Greatest Hits
In 1998, Houston released My Love Is Your Love, her first studio album in eight years. Released during the so-called "Super Tuesday" week on November 17 of the year where multiple albums by other recording artists were also issued, the album debuted and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200. The album featured production from Rodney Jerkins, Wyclef Jean and Missy Elliott and resulted in Houston receiving some of her strongest reviews ever, with Rolling Stone writing that Houston was singing "with a bite in her voice" while The Village Voice called it "Whitney's sharpest and most satisfying so far". Billboard magazine noted the album had a "funkier and edgier sound than past releases" and saw Houston "handling urban dance, hip hop, mid-tempo R&B, reggae, torch songs and ballads all with great dexterity". The album produced five top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, the most for a Houston album since 1987's Whitney.
The leading single was the Mariah Carey-featured duet, "When You Believe", off The Prince of Egypt, which peaked at number 15 in the US and reached number two on the Eurochart Hot 100, and later won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The second single, "Heartbreak Hotel", peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, while the following two singles, "It's Not Right but It's Okay" and the title track, produced by Jean, each peaked at number four. The final single, "I Learned From the Best", also reached the US top 40. The album remained on the Billboard 200 for almost two years and sold four million units alone in the US, where it was certified four-times platinum by the RIAA. Besides "Believe", the latter four singles reached number one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.
Houston's North American leg of her world tour to promote the album was successful but plagued by cancellations with Houston's publicist citing "throat problems and a 'bronchitis situation'". However, its European leg was ranked as the highest-grossing arena tour of the year in the continent. The success of the tour led to My Love Is Your Love reaching number one on the European Top 100 Albums chart in August 1999, staying there for six weeks. All of Houston's singles from the album were successful internationally, with the title track reaching number one on the Eurochart Hot 100 and selling more than three million units worldwide while the last release, "I Learned From the Best" topped the charts in Poland and Romania. Eventually, global sales of the album reached 10 million units worldwide.
The album's European success helped Houston win the MTV Europe Music Award for Best R&B, while the music video for "Heartbreak Hotel" led to Houston receiving her first MTV Video Music Award nomination in over a decade. Nominated for four Grammys at the 2000 ceremony, Houston nabbed her sixth and final competitive Grammy in the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance category for "It's Not Right but It's Okay". Near the end of the year, the Recording Industry Association of America hosted its Century Awards and named Houston the top-selling R&B female artist of the century with certified US sales of 51 million records at the time while the soundtrack to The Bodyguard received the award for top-selling soundtrack album of the century. In March 2000, Houston earned a special honor at the 14th Soul Train Music Awards as the female artist of the decade for her extraordinary artistic contributions during the 1990s.
The next year, in May 2000, Houston's first compilation album, Whitney: The Greatest Hits, was released. The album reached number five in the US and number one in the UK and also reached the top ten in multiple countries. A double-disc collection, the album's first disc, "Cool Down", featured all of Houston's hit ballads, while the second disc, "Throw Down", featured house and club remixes of the singer's uptempo hits, in response to the well-received dance remixes from My Love Is Your Love. It also included four new tracks, three of them duets from the likes of Deborah Cox, Enrique Iglesias and George Michael. The singles with the latter two artists, "Could I Have This Kiss Forever" and "If I Told You That", both became hits in Europe. The set was later certified five times platinum in the US for sales of five million copies, while worldwide sales reached 10 million.
2000–2008: Just Whitney, Princess Diaries, and Cheetah Girls
Houston's reputation as "America's Sweetheart", which she was nicknamed for the duration of her career, came under scrutiny at the beginning of the 2000s. Reports of erratic behavior, showing up hours late to interviews, photo shoots, rehearsals and canceling several concerts, had been following her since the late 1990s.
Houston failed to show up to induct Clive Davis into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2000. Weeks later, Houston was scheduled to perform at the Academy Awards but was fired from the event by musical director and longtime friend Burt Bacharach. At the time, her publicist cited throat problems as the reason for the cancellation. In his book, The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards, author Steve Pond revealed that "Houston's voice was shaky, she seemed distracted and jittery, and her attitude was casual, almost defiant"; though she was supposed to perform "Over the Rainbow", she sang a different song during rehearsals. Houston later admitted she had been fired. Houston, however, did show up for a scheduled performance to celebrate Arista's 25th anniversary with Clive Davis, her performance received good reviews.
In May 2000, Houston's longtime executive assistant and friend, Robyn Crawford, resigned from Houston's management company.
Despite increasing negative press, Houston continued to find success. She produced the film The Princess Diaries (2001) alongside fellow BrownHouse partner Debra Martin Chase. Starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews, the film became an unexpected success in the box office, grossing more than $165 million worldwide. Houston and Chase became the first black people in box office history to produce a film that surpassed $100 million in the box office. In August 2001, Houston signed one of the biggest record deals in music history, with Arista/BMG. She renewed her contract for $100 million to release six new albums, for which she would also earn royalties.
A performance at Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special in September 2001 led to increasing rumors of drug use and possible health issues due to Houston's extremely thin frame. She canceled a second performance scheduled for the following night. Within weeks, Houston's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was re-released after the September 11 attacks, with the proceeds donated to the New York Firefighters 9/11 Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Fraternal Order of Police. The single reached No. 6 on the US Hot 100, topping its previous position.
Houston released her fifth studio album, Just Whitney, in December 2002. The album debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum, though it received mixed reviews. In August 2003, Houston's second television film as a producer, The Cheetah Girls, premiered on the Disney Channel. A soundtrack of the film, executive produced by Houston, became successful, reaching double platinum status in the US. Later that November, Houston released her first Christmas album, One Wish: The Holiday Album, which featured traditional holiday songs and was certified gold in the US.
In April 2004, Houston's second film as producer, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, was equally successful in the box office like its predecessor, earning $134 million in the box office. For most of the year, Houston toured internationally. Houston's success behind the scenes continued in 2006 with the airing of The Cheetah Girls 2, which Houston served as executive producer. The film remains one of the highest-rated Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOM) in history with more than 8.1 million viewers tuning in for the premiere.
2009–2012: I Look to You and Sparkle
Houston released I Look to You in August 2009. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 305,000 copies sold, marking a strong return. The album's success was followed by her performance on various European television shows and her appearance as a guest mentor on The X Factor in the UK. Despite a wardrobe malfunction during her performance of "Million Dollar Bill", the single still achieved commercial success, later going platinum in the United Kingdom. The title track was also a hit and was later certified platinum in the United States. Following the album's release, Houston embarked on the Nothing but Love World Tour, her first world tour in more than 10 years. Despite some negative reviews and rescheduled concerts, Houston continued to perform.
In January 2010, Houston was nominated for two NAACP Image Awards and won Best Music Video for "I Look to You". On January 16, she received the Entertainers Award at the BET Honors, acknowledging her lifetime achievements spanning more than 25 years. In January 2011, Houston made a surprise appearance at the BET Celebration of Gospel where she joined friend, gospel singer Kim Burrell onstage, to perform a duet version of "I Look to You"; their performance was received well. It would be Houston's final television performance prior to her death.
Later in 2010, Houston was cast in the remake of the 1976 film Sparkle, where she served as both a star and executive producer. The film marked her final acting role before her untimely death. The movie was released on August 17, 2012. The soundtrack featured "Celebrate", the last song Houston recorded, which was released in May 2012.
Personal life
Religion
Houston was a Christian, and she made it a point to sing gospel songs when on tour. During her childhood, she regularly attended New Hope Baptist Church where she joined the children's choir and later performed solos on a regular basis there. Houston's mother Cissy wrote that while at New Hope, Houston "got saved" and she later told her that she "accepted the Savior into her life" at around 12 years old. Houston's recording of "Do You Hear What I Hear", from the Christmas compilation album, A Very Special Christmas (1987), has constantly appeared on the Billboard gospel charts since 2011. In 1997, Houston was given a special honor from the Dove Awards for helping to bring gospel music to the attention of the mainstream. Two of Houston's final recordings—"His Eye Is on the Sparrow" and "Celebrate", from the 2012 film, Sparkle—posthumously made the Billboard gospel charts. Her last public performance prior to her death was an impromptu duet of "Jesus Loves Me" with friend and former collaborator Kelly Price at the Tru nightclub in Hollywood.
Relationships, marriage, and family
Houston first met Robyn Crawford when Crawford was 19 and Houston was 16; the two were summer camp counselors. According to Crawford, the two were romantically involved for a few years until Houston began seeking a recording contract. Crawford and Houston continued their professional relationship and platonic friendship until Crawford left Houston's employ in 2000.
In the 1980s, Houston was romantically linked to musician Jermaine Jackson, American football star Randall Cunningham, and actor Eddie Murphy.
In July 2012, it was reported that rapper MC Hammer was encouraged to marry Houston by her father John during Super Bowl XXV in January 1991, despite the fact that Hammer was already a married man with children; Houston and Hammer maintained a friendship until Houston's death.
Houston met R&B singer Bobby Brown at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards. After a three-year courtship, the two were married on July 18, 1992. The two singers occasionally collaborated on songs, including the hit record, "Something in Common". The following year, Houston gave birth to their daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown (March 4, 1993 – July 26, 2015), the couple's only child.
During their marriage, Brown had several run-ins with the law for drunken driving, drug possession and battery, including some jail time. In December 2003, Brown was charged with battery following an altercation during which he threatened to beat Houston and then assaulted her. Police reported that Houston had visible injuries to her face.
Starting in April of the following year, the reality show Being Bobby Brown was taped and later premiered on Bravo, in June 2005. The show drew criticism for what critics perceived to be unflattering moments from the couple, but still achieved high ratings. However, the show was not renewed for a second season after Houston declined further participation. In September 2006, a year after Being Bobby Brown aired, Houston filed for legal separation from Brown, later filing for divorce the following month, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was granted on April 24, 2007.
Legal issues
On April 19, 1991, at the start of her I'm Your Baby Tonight World Tour, Houston and her brother Michael got involved in an altercation with three men at a hotel in Lexington, Kentucky after the men reportedly sought her for an autograph while they were trying to watch a heavyweight boxing championship match. After seeing the men attack her brother, Houston reportedly jumped on one of the men, Ransom Brotherton, and punched him off her brother before Houston and her entourage fled from the hotel. Brotherton reported the incident, which led to him having to go to the hospital to receive "12 stitches over his left eye". Houston was charged with fourth degree assault for attacking Brotherton and "threatening to kill him", while her brother was charged with assaulting another man involved in the melee, Kevin Owens.
Charges were dropped against the Houstons in May due to "contradictory evidence" and due to the prosecution struggling to "prove them guilty". It was later revealed that the altercation began after the three men yelled racial slurs at Houston.
On January 11, 2000, while Houston was traveling with her husband Bobby Brown, airport security guards discovered half an ounce of marijuana in her handbag at Keahole-Kona International Airport in Hawaii. She departed before authorities could arrive. Houston was initially charged with a misdemeanor drug charge that carried a 30-day sentence and a $1,000 fine. The charges, however, were dropped in March 2001 after prosecutors received a substance abuse assessment from a counselor in New Jersey that stated the singer didn't need treatment for substance abuse.
In 2002, Houston became embroiled in a legal dispute with John Houston Enterprise, a company started by her father. The company, run by Kevin Skinner, sued her for $100 million, claiming unpaid compensation. Houston's father died in February 2003, and the lawsuit was dismissed in April 2004, with no compensation awarded.
Residences
Following graduation from Mount Saint Dominic Academy in 1981, Houston moved to a two-bedroom apartment at Woodbridge Township with Robyn Crawford. By early 1986, Houston had relocated to a bigger apartment in Fort Lee, just minutes away from Manhattan, before purchasing a mansion in Mendham Township with help from her father in late 1987. The 13,607-square-foot house had been built in the year prior to Houston purchasing the property. The house was the primary location for Houston and Bobby Brown's 1992 wedding. Six years later, in 1993, Houston purchased a second home in the city, located at 1 Crossway. The home served as the singer's personal recording studio at which she recorded some of her material, prominently the recording of My Love Is Your Love. During the latter years of her marriage to Brown, Houston lived in Alpharetta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, splitting time between there and Mendham. In 2003, the couple purchased a mansion in Alpharetta, where much of the taping of the reality series, Being Bobby Brown, was filmed. Houston's last house prior to her death was a townhouse, also located in Alpharetta. Houston also owned a condo at Williams Island in Aventura, Florida, a suburb of Miami. Following her separation from Brown, Houston rented a palatial house in Laguna Hills, California in April 2006 and lived there until 2008.
Health
During her marriage, Houston suffered several miscarriages, including one during the filming of The Bodyguard, another in July 1994, and another in December 1996.
Rolling Stone published a story in June 2000 stating that Cissy Houston and others had held a July 1999 intervention in which they unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Whitney to obtain drug treatment.
In her 2019 memoirs, A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston, Houston's longtime executive assistant and friend, Robyn Crawford, said she departed from Houston's management company after Houston declined to seek help for her drug dependency; years earlier, Houston claimed in an interview that the two friends parted ways over Houston's husband, Bobby Brown.
In September 2001, Houston's extremely thin appearance led to rumors about her health. Her publicist stated, "Whitney has been under stress due to family matters and when she is under stress she doesn't eat." In 2009, Houston acknowledged that drug use had been the reason for her weight loss in 2001.
In 2002, Houston gave an interview with Diane Sawyer to promote her upcoming album. During the interview, she addressed rumors of drug use, famously saying, "crack is whack". She admitted to using various substances but denied having an eating disorder.
In September 2009, Houston was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey. In the interview, she admitted to using drugs with Brown during their marriage and described her struggles with addiction. She told Winfrey that before The Bodyguard her drug use was light, that she used drugs more heavily after the film's success and the birth of her daughter and that by 1996 "[doing drugs] was an everyday thing ... I wasn't happy by that point in time. I was losing myself." Houston told Oprah that she had attended a 30-day rehabilitation program. Houston also acknowledged to Oprah that her drug use had continued after rehabilitation, and that at one point, her mother obtained a court order and the assistance of law enforcement to press her into receiving further drug treatment. Houston's mother recalled the incident in her 2013 book, Remembering Whitney: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Night the Music Stopped, in which she came to visit her daughter's Alpharetta residence in 2005 discussing seeing the walls were "spray-painted" with "big glaring eyes and strange faces. Evil eyes, staring out like a threat", as well as noticing most of her daughter's head cut out of a big framed photo of the singer; Houston herself explained it in her Oprah interview. When Winfrey asked Houston if she was drug-free, Houston responded, "'Yes, ma’am. I mean, you know, don’t think I don’t have desires for it.'"
In May 2011, Houston enrolled in rehabilitation again due to drug and alcohol problems, which she stated was part of her "longstanding recovery process". A month later, it was reported that Houston had been diagnosed with emphysema.
Death
On February 11, 2012, Houston was found unconscious in Suite 434 at the Beverly Hilton, submerged in the bathtub. Houston reportedly appeared "disheveled" and "erratic" in the days before her death. Beverly Hills paramedics arrived about 3:30 pm, found Houston unresponsive, and performed CPR. Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 pm PST. The cause of death was not immediately known; local police said there were "no obvious signs of criminal intent". On March 22, 2012, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office reported that Houston's death was caused by drowning and the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use". The manner of death was listed as "accident".
Houston's death coincided with the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, which took place the day following her death and included a tribute to Houston; it was later credited for the Grammys' second-highest ratings in history. The February 11, 2012, Clive Davis pre-Grammy party that Houston had been expected to attend, which featured many of the biggest names in music and film, went on as scheduled – although it was quickly turned into a tribute to Houston. Numerous other public figures also expressed their grief, including Mariah Carey, Quincy Jones, Darlene Love, Aretha Franklin and Oprah Winfrey. Houston's death was covered internationally in the media, along with her memorial service, which was held for Houston at her home church, New Hope Baptist Church, in Newark, New Jersey, on February 18, 2012.
Houston's music surged in popularity following her death. According to representatives from Houston's record label, Houston sold 8 million records worldwide in the first 10 months of the year she died. The single "I Will Always Love You" returned to the Billboard Hot 100 after almost 20 years, peaking at number three and becoming a posthumous top-10 single for Houston, the first one since 2001. Houston set a Guinness World Record for a female artist by placing 10 albums inside the Billboard 200 simultaneously. In October 2023, Houston made the list of the top 10 highest-earning posthumous celebrities on Forbes, earning $30 million, later winning a posthumous Guinness World Records entry as the highest-earning posthumous female celebrity, her 31st record.
Artistry
Houston had a four-octave spinto soprano vocal range. She was referred to as "the Voice" because of her vocal talent.
Jon Pareles of The New York Times stated Houston "always had a great big voice, a technical marvel from its velvety depths to its ballistic middle register to its ringing and airy heights". In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Houston second on their list of the greatest singers of all time, stating, "The standard-bearer for R&B vocals, Whitney Houston possessed a soprano that was as powerful as it was tender. Take her cover of Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You', which became one of the defining singles of the 1990s; it opens with her gently brooding, her unaccompanied voice sounding like it's turning over the idea of leaving her lover behind with the lightest touch. By the end, it's transformed into a showcase for her limber, muscular upper register; she sings the title phrase with equal parts bone-deep feeling and technical perfection, turning the conflicted emotions at the song's heart into a jumping-off point for her life's next step."
Matthew Perpetua of Rolling Stone also acknowledged Houston's vocal prowess, enumerating 10 performances, including "How Will I Know" at the 1986 MTV VMAs and "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the 1991 Super Bowl. "Whitney Houston was blessed with an astonishing vocal range and extraordinary technical skill, but what truly made her a great singer was her ability to connect with a song and drive home its drama and emotion with incredible precision", he stated. "She was a brilliant performer and her live shows often eclipsed her studio recordings."
Elysa Gardner of the Los Angeles Times in her review for The Preacher's Wife Soundtrack highly praised Houston's vocal ability, commenting, "She is first and foremost a pop diva – at that, the best one we have. No other female pop star – not Mariah Carey, not Celine Dion, not Barbra Streisand – quite rivals Houston in her exquisite vocal fluidity and purity of tone and her ability to infuse a lyric with mesmerizing melodrama." Singer and entertainer Michael Jackson named Houston as one of his musical inspirations, calling her a "wonderful singer, real stylist. You hear one line, and you know who it is."
R&B singer Faith Evans stated: "Whitney was not just a singer with a beautiful voice. She was a true musician. Her voice was an instrument and she knew how to use it. With the same complexity as someone who has mastered the violin or the piano, Whitney mastered the use of her voice. From every run to every crescendo—she was in tune with what she could do with her voice and it's not something simple for a singer—even a very talented one—to achieve. Whitney is 'the Voice' because she worked for it. This is someone who was singing backup for her mom when she was 14 years old at nightclubs across the country. This is someone who sang backup for Chaka Khan when she was only 17. She had years and years of honing her craft on stage and in the studio before she ever got signed to a record label. Coming from a family of singers and surrounded by music; she pretty much had a formal education in music, just like someone who might attend a performing arts high school or major in voice in college."
Jon Caramanica of The New York Times commented, "Her voice was clean and strong, with barely any grit, well suited to the songs of love and aspiration. [ ... ] Hers was a voice of triumph and achievement and it made for any number of stunning, time-stopping vocal performances." Mariah Carey stated, "She [Whitney] has a really rich, strong mid-belt that very few people have". In her review of I Look to You, music critic Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "[Houston's voice] stands like monuments upon the landscape of 20th century pop, defining the architecture of their times, sheltering the dreams of millions and inspiring the climbing careers of countless imitators". Powers added, "When she was at her best, nothing could match her huge, clean, cool mezzo-soprano".
Lauren Everitt from BBC News commented on the melisma used in Houston's recording. "An early 'I' in Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' takes nearly six seconds to sing. In those seconds the former gospel singer-turned-pop star packs a series of different notes into the single syllable", stated Everitt. "The technique is repeated throughout the song, most pronouncedly on every 'I' and 'you'. The vocal technique is called melisma and it has inspired a host of imitators. Other artists may have used it before Houston, but it was her rendition of Dolly Parton's love song that pushed the technique into the mainstream in the 90s. [ ... ] But perhaps what Houston nailed best was moderation." Everitt said that "[i]n a climate of reality shows ripe with 'oversinging,' it's easy to appreciate Houston's ability to save melisma for just the right moment."
Houston's vocal stylings have had a significant impact on the music industry. Stephen Holden from The New York Times, in his review of Houston's Radio City Music Hall concert on July 20, 1993, praised her attitude as a singer, writing, "Whitney Houston is one of the few contemporary pop stars of whom it might be said: the voice suffices. While almost every performer whose albums sell in the millions calls upon an entertainer's bag of tricks, from telling jokes to dancing to circus pyrotechnics, Ms. Houston would rather just stand there and sing." With regard to her singing style, he added: "Her [Houston's] stylistic trademark—shivery melismas that ripple up in the middle of a song, twirling embellishments at the ends of phrases that suggest an almost breathless exhilaration—infuse her interpretations with flashes of musical and emotional lightning."
Houston struggled with vocal problems in her later years. Gary Catona, a voice coach who began working with Houston in 2005, stated: "'When I first started working with her in 2005, she had lost 99.9 percent of her voice ... She could barely speak, let alone sing. Her lifestyle choices had made her almost completely hoarse'". After Houston's death, Catona asserted that Houston's voice reached "'about 75 to 80 percent'" of its former capacity after he had worked with her. However, during the world tour that followed the release of I Look to You, "YouTube videos surfaced, showing [Houston's] voice cracking, seemingly unable to hold the notes she was known for".
Houston's vocal performances incorporated a wide variety of genres, including R&B, pop, rock, soul, gospel, funk, dance, Latin pop, disco, house, hip hop soul, new jack swing, opera, reggae, and Christmas. The lyrical themes of her songs are mainly love, religion, and feminism. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame stated: "Her sound expanded through collaborations with a wide array of artists, including Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Babyface, Missy Elliott, Bobby Brown, and Mariah Carey." AllMusic commented that, "Houston was able to handle big adult contemporary ballads, effervescent, stylish dance-pop and slick urban contemporary soul with equal dexterity". During the early stages of Houston's career, some Black critics and audiences accused her voice and music of not sounding "Black enough". Steve Rose of The Guardian attributed this perception to her "syrupy ballads and perky dance-pop," along with music videos that featured a mix of both Black and white dancers. At the time, Houston had established herself as a mainstream pop star, with a musical style that differed from the soul and R&B genres often associated with Black artists.
Legacy
Houston has been regarded as one of the greatest vocalists of all time and a cultural icon. She is also recognized as one of the most influential R&B artists in history. ABC News described Houston as a "revolutionary artist who enchanted audiences with her iconic voice –– and kicked down the door for Black artists who followed her." Julianne MacNeill of Woman's World magazine credited Houston with "single-handedly changing the world of pop and R&B music". During the 1980s, MTV was coming into its own and received criticism for not playing enough videos by black artists. With Michael Jackson breaking down the color barrier for black men, Houston did the same for black women. She became the first black woman to receive heavy rotation on the network following the success of the "How Will I Know" video. Stephen Holden of The New York Times said that Houston "revitalized the tradition of strong gospel-oriented pop-soul singing". Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times referred to Houston as a "national treasure".
The Independent's music critic Andy Gill also wrote about Houston's influence on modern R&B and singing competitions, comparing it to Michael Jackson's, stating that "Jackson was a hugely talented icon, certainly, but he will be as well remembered (probably more so) for his presentational skills, his dazzling dance moves, as for his musical innovations. Whitney, on the other hand, just sang and the ripples from her voice continue to dominate the pop landscape." Gill said that there "are few, if any, Jackson imitators on today's TV talent shows, but every other contestant is a Whitney wannabe, desperately attempting to emulate that wondrous combination of vocal effects – the flowing melisma, the soaring mezzo-soprano confidence, the tremulous fluttering that carried the ends of lines into realms of higher yearning".
According to Linda Lister in Divafication: The Deification of Modern Female Pop Stars, she has been called the "Queen of Pop" for her influence during the 1990s, commercially rivaling Mariah Carey and Celine Dion. Rolling Stone stated that Houston "redefined the image of a female soul icon and inspired singers ranging from Mariah Carey to Rihanna". In 2013, ABC named Houston the greatest woman in music. She was ranked among the greatest women in music by VH1. Houston's entrance into the music industry is considered one of the 25 musical milestones of the last 25 years, according to USA Today in 2007. It stated that she paved the way for Mariah Carey's chart-topping vocal gymnastics. Many major publications including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Fox News, NBC News and The Independent dubbed Houston the “greatest singer of her generation”. Despite his opposition to music, Osama Bin Laden was reportedly fond of Whitney Houston. According to poet and activist Kola Boof, bin Laden wanted to make her one of his wives. In February 2025, Donald Trump announced plans to build a statue of Houston among a slew of others for the proposed National Garden of American Heroes, that would be implemented in 2026.
Achievements
Houston won numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Emmy Awards, five World Music Awards, eight Grammy Awards (including two Grammy Hall of Fame honors), 16 Billboard Music Awards (36 Billboard awards in all) and 22 American Music Awards. Houston currently holds the record for most American Music Awards in a single night with eight, a record for a woman and tied in general with fellow musician Michael Jackson. Houston was the first artist to win more than 11 Billboard awards in one night at its fourth annual ceremony in 1993, which set a Guinness World Record at the time. Houston continues to hold the record for the most WMAs won in a single year, winning five trophies at the sixth World Music Awards in 1994. Houston is also the black female artist with the most Guinness World Records in history with 33.
A premier black female entertainer, Houston was inducted into the BET Walk of Fame and the Soul Train Hall of Fame. In 2001, Houston became the first artist to receive the BET Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2010, she was honored at The BET Honors with the Entertainers Award. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary, ranking Houston at number nine. In November 2010, Billboard released its "Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years" list and ranked Houston at number three who not only went on to earn eight number-one singles on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but also landed five number ones on R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Houston is one of the longest-running acts on the US Billboard charts, with a total of 692 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and 1,022 weeks on the Billboard 200.
Houston is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, with more than 220 million records sold worldwide. She was ranked the best-selling female R&B artist of the 20th century by the RIAA in 1999. Houston sold more physical singles than any other female solo artist in history. As of 2025, she is ranked as one of the best-selling artists in the United States by the RIAA with 62 million certified albums. Houston released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have been certified diamond, multi-platinum or platinum.
Houston became the first female artist to go diamond with an album after her soundtrack to The Bodyguard went ten-times platinum in November 1993. In January 1994, her debut album Whitney Houston was the first studio album by a woman to be certified ten-times platinum, making her the first solo artist to receive two diamond-certified albums. When her sophomore album, Whitney (1987), was certified diamond in October 2020, Houston became the first black recording artist in history to have three diamond-certified albums. Those three albums are also among the best-selling albums of all time. Houston is the only black female artist with six albums to sell more than ten million units worldwide, the third most in general by a female artist. The Bodyguard remains the best-selling soundtrack and best-selling female album of all time, with global units of over 45 million, while "I Will Always Love You" remains the best-selling single by a female artist at 24 million units worldwide. In addition, her soundtrack for The Preacher's Wife is the best-selling gospel release ever.
She held an honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Grambling State University, Louisiana. Houston was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2013. She was inducted into the official Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in its second class in 2014. In 2020, Houston was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after her first nomination. In October 2020, the music video for "I Will Always Love You" surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube, making Houston the first solo 20th-century artist to have a video reach that milestone. In May 2023, Houston was one of the first of 13 artists to be given the Brits Billion Award by the BPI for reaching 1 billion career streams in the United Kingdom. Houston is one of only a handful of artists from the 20th century to have multiple songs streamed a billion times on Spotify with her 1987 hit, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", and her posthumous 2019 hit, "Higher Love", reaching the feat in 2023 and 2024. In September 2025, Houston was inducted into the Missouri Gospel Music Hall of Fame at St. Louis, Missouri.
Commemoration
In 1997, the Franklin School in East Orange, New Jersey, which Houston attended as a child, was renamed to the Whitney E. Houston Academy of Creative & Performing Arts.
Four posthumous albums have been released, including two compilation albums and two live albums. A posthumous concert tour, An Evening with Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour, featuring a projected image of Houston, ran from 2020 to 2023.
Madame Tussauds unveiled four wax figures of Houston in 2013, inspired by her looks from the music video of I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me), film The Bodyguard, album cover of I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston and The Star-Spangled Banner performance at the 1991 Super Bowl.
In 2015, Lifetime premiered the biographical film Whitney. Houston was portrayed by model Yaya DaCosta.
A television documentary film entitled Whitney: Can I Be Me aired on Showtime on August 25, 2017. The film was directed by Nick Broomfield.
Whitney, a documentary film based on Houston's life and death, premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was released internationally in theaters on July 6, 2018.
In 2019, Houston and Kygo's version of "Higher Love" was released as a single. It reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and reached the top 10 in several countries.
Lifetime released the documentary Whitney Houston & Bobbi Kristina: Didn't We Almost Have It All in 2021.
A mural of Houston, made of hand cut glass by artist Maude Lemaire, was installed at 45 Williams Street, Newark, New Jersey, in 2021.
On the tenth anniversary of her death, ESPN ran a 30-minute documentary of Houston's acclaimed performance of The Star Spangled Banner at Super Bowl XXV in 1991 titled Whitney's Anthem.
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, a biographical film, opened on December 23, 2022, with Houston being portrayed by Naomi Ackie. It grossed around $60 million.
In December 2023, the New Jersey Hall of Fame unveiled the Whitney Houston Service Area, formerly known as the Vauxhal Service Area at the Garden State Parkway. The New Jersey Hall of Fame explained that the renaming was part of their "ongoing program to honor its inductees by renaming Garden State Parkway service areas after them, and building displays about them".
In May 2025, it was announced by Houston's estate that The Voice of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebration, which integrates Houston's vocal recordings with the backing of an orchestra, will embark on a full length North American tour starting in September 2025.
In September 2025, Calum Scott released a reimagined duet ballad rendition of "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" with Houston.
Philanthropy
Houston was a long-time supporter of charities around the world. In 1989, she established the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children. It offered medical assistance to sick and homeless children, fought to prevent child abuse, taught children to read, created inner-city parks and playgrounds and granted college scholarships, including one to the Juilliard School. At a 1988 Madison Square Garden concert, Houston earned more than $250,000 for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). Later in October of that same year, Houston performed on the Channel Seven Perth Telethon in Perth to raise funds for several children's hospitals there. The following November, Houston announced plans to invest in a $100 million housing project set up by Vogue Skyview Estates, a real estate development firm, to create low and middle-income housing in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey. The Feingold Center for Children in Boston had its Hearing & Language Disorder Clinic renamed after the singer after she contributed to the hospital. In June 1995, it was reported that Houston donated $125,000 to Harlem's Hale House Center to help mothers who were at risk of abusing their children. Later, the Hale House Center built a Learning & Recreation Center due to Houston's donations. Houston also donated money to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Newark's University Hospital renamed its Pediatric Special Care Unit the Whitney Houston Intensive Care Unit after Houston's contributions to the hospital.
Houston donated all of the earnings from her 1991 Super Bowl XXV performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" sales to Gulf War servicemen and their families. The record label followed suit and she was voted to the American Red Cross Board of Directors as a result. Following the terrorist attacks in 2001, Houston re-released "The Star-Spangled Banner" to support the New York Firefighters 9/11 Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Fraternal Order of Police. She waived her royalty rights to the song, which reached number one on charts in October 2001 and generated more than $1 million. Houston declined to perform in apartheid-era South Africa in the 1980s. Her participation at the 1988 Freedomfest performance in London (for a then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela) grabbed the attention of other musicians and the media. During her historic South African tour in 1994, Houston donated all of its concert proceeds to numerous children's charities, including two children's museums, the President's Trust Fund (for Nelson Mandela) and the Kasigo Trust among several orphanages.
In addition, Houston became an activist for the fight against HIV and AIDS during the first decade of the AIDS epidemic. In 1986, the LGBT magazine publication The Advocate reported that one of Houston's concerts at the Boston Common in Boston raised $30,000 for the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts and the Gay and Lesbian Counseling Service. The Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, in particular, focused on helping children who suffered from HIV/AIDS, among other issues. In 1990, Whitney took part in Arista Records' 15th anniversary gala, which was an AIDS benefit, where she sang "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Greatest Love of All" and, with cousin Dionne Warwick, "That's What Friends Are For". A year later, Whitney participated in the Reach Out & Touch Someone AIDS vigil at London in September 1991 while she was finishing her historic ten-date residency at London's Wembley Arena; there, she stressed the importance of AIDS research and addressing HIV stigma.
In June 1999, Whitney gave a surprise performance at the 13th Annual New York City Lesbian & Gay Pride Dance at one of the city's West Side piers. According to Instinct magazine, Houston's unannounced performance at the Piers "ushered in a new era that would eventually make high-profile artists performing at LGBTQ events virtually commonplace". Before hitting the stage, Houston was asked by MTV veejay John Norris why she decided to attend the event. Houston replied, "We're all God's children, honey".
Discography
Whitney Houston (1985)
Whitney (1987)
I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990)
My Love Is Your Love (1998)
Just Whitney (2002)
One Wish: The Holiday Album (2003)
I Look to You (2009)
Filmography
Films starred
The Bodyguard (1992)
Waiting to Exhale (1995)
The Preacher's Wife (1996)
Cinderella (1997)
Sparkle (2012)
Films produced
Cinderella (1997)
The Princess Diaries (2001)
The Cheetah Girls (2003)
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)
The Cheetah Girls 2 (2006)
Sparkle (2012)
Documentaries and others
Nora's Hair Salon (2004)
Whitney: Can I Be Me (2017)
Whitney (2018)
The Concert for a New South Africa (Durban) (2024)
Tours
Headlining tours
Tribute tours
An Evening with Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour (2020–2023)
Co-headlining tours
Soul Divas Tour (2004)
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
Cox, Ted (1999). Whitney Houston: Black Americans of Achievement. Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0-7910-4456-4.
Heppermann, Christine (2012). Whitney Houston: Recording Artist & Actress. ABDO Publishing. ISBN 9781614801733.
Parish, Robert (2003). Whitney Houston: The Unauthorized Biography. Aurum Press. ISBN 1-85410-921-9.
Further reading
Ammons, Kevin; Bacon, Nancy (1998). Good Girl, Bad Girl: An Insider's Biography of Whitney Houston. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publ. Group. ISBN 978-0-8065-8012-8.
Bowman, Jeffery (1995). Diva: The Totally Unauthorized Biography of Whitney Houston. New York: Harper. ISBN 978-0-06-100853-5.
Halstead, Craig (2010). Whitney Houston: For the Record. Sandy, Bedfordshire, UK: Authors OnLine. ISBN 978-0-7552-1278-1. OCLC 751138536.
Houston, Whitney (March 1999). My Love Is Your Love: Piano, Vocal, Chords. Los Angeles: Alfred Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-7692-7734-9.
Kennedy, Gerrick (2022). Didn't We Almost Have it All: In Defense of Whitney Houston. New York: Abrams. ISBN 9781419749698. OCLC 1289268049.
Parish, James Robert (September 2003). Whitney Houston: The Unauthorized Biography. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-85410-921-7.
Parish, James Robert (April 2010). Whitney Houston: Return of the Diva. Chicago: John Blake. ISBN 978-1-84454-919-1.
External links
Whitney Houston at AllMusic
Whitney Houston discography at Discogs
Whitney Houston at IMDb
Whitney Houston at the TCM Movie Database
Whitney Houston collected news and commentary at The New York Times
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Rihanna
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Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ree-AN-ə; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. Known for her musical experimentation and artistic reinventions, she is an influential figure in both music and fashion. Rihanna is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 250 million records.
As a child, Rihanna showed interest in the arts. Signed to Def Jam Recordings, she debuted with the Caribbean-inspired records Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006), both of which reached the top ten of the US Billboard 200. The albums spawned the singles "Pon de Replay" and "SOS", which peaked at numbers two and one on the US Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Adopting a more mature image, Rihanna rose to stardom and transitioned to dance-pop and R&B with the album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) and its reissue, subtitled Reloaded (2008). The project yielded a string of successful songs, including the US number-one singles "Umbrella", "Take a Bow", and "Disturbia".
After exploring darker and more personal themes on the rock-influenced record Rated R (2009), Rihanna returned to her more upbeat sound on the dance-pop album Loud (2010), incorporated R&B on Talk That Talk (2011), and topped the Billboard 200 with her synth-pop set Unapologetic (2012). After she departed from Def Jam in favor of Jay-Z's label, Roc Nation, she released the eclectic Anti (2016)—her second number-one album. These albums contained the US number-one singles "Rude Boy", "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?", "S&M", "We Found Love", "Diamonds", and "Work". Her films include Battleship (2012), Home (2015), Ocean's 8 (2018), and Smurfs (2025).
Rihanna has received numerous accolades, including nine Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and thirteen American Music Awards. She is the highest-certified female digital single artist by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has seven diamond-certified singles and fourteen number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. One of the wealthiest musicians, she was the first female musician to achieve billionaire status. Rihanna founded the nonprofit Clara Lionel Foundation, the cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty, and the fashion brand Fenty under LVMH, becoming the first Black woman to lead a luxury brand for the group. She was named an ambassador by the Government of Barbados and declared a National Hero of Barbados in 2021.
Life and career
1988–2002: early life
Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born in Saint Michael, Barbados, on February 20, 1988. She is the daughter of Monica (née Braithwaite), an Afro-Guyanese accountant, and Ronald Fenty, a Barbadian warehouse supervisor of African, Irish, English, and Scottish descent. Rihanna has two younger brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty, as well as two half-sisters and a half-brother from her father's previous relationships. She was raised in a three-bedroom bungalow in Bridgetown and helped her father sell clothes at a street stall. Her childhood was affected by her father's alcoholism and crack cocaine addiction, which strained her parents' marriage. Rihanna has spoken about witnessing her father physically abuse her mother, describing her as "one of the strongest women I know, if not the strongest".
As a child, Rihanna suffered from intense headaches that required multiple CT scans, with doctors once suspecting a tumor. Her health began to improve after her parents divorced when she was 14. She attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and Combermere School. One of her teachers described her as a "well-behaved student" who avoided trouble. She showed an interest in singing, dancing, and poetry. Around this time, Rihanna began listening to reggae artists such as Sizzla and Damien Marley, as well as R&B musicians like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. At the age of 11, she became a cadet in Barbados's Cadet Corps, with future singer Shontelle as her drill sergeant. Though she initially planned to finish high school, she ultimately dropped out at age 16 to pursue a music career.
2003–2006: career beginnings with Music of the Sun and A Girl Like Me
In 2003, Rihanna formed a music trio with two classmates in Barbados. Unnamed and without original material, the girl group auditioned for American producer Evan Rogers, who recalled that "the minute Rihanna walked into the room, it was like the other two girls didn't exist". The trio went on to perform a cover of Destiny's Child's "Emotion". Impressed, Rogers arranged a second meeting with Rihanna and her mother—this time without the other two girls—and later invited them to his hometown in Connecticut to record demo tapes for record label submissions. Rihanna's demo tape included "Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time". In 2005, she became the first artist to sign with Syndicated Rhythm Productions, the production company founded by Rogers and Carl Sturken.
Rihanna's demo was sent to rapper Jay-Z, who had just become the president and CEO of the record label Def Jam Recordings. Although Jay-Z initially thought "Pon de Replay" was too big for a new artist, he invited her to audition. In early 2005, she performed in New York City for Jay-Z and music executive Antonio "L.A." Reid, singing Whitney Houston's "For the Love of You" along with demo tracks "Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time". Jay-Z was convinced of her potential, and Reid told him not to let her leave the building without a deal. She waited in Jay-Z's office while lawyers finalized a six-album contract with Def Jam. Rihanna canceled scheduled meetings with other labels and, shortly after turning 16, moved from Barbados to the US. There, she completed her high school education with a tutor.
After Rihanna signed with Def Jam, Jay-Z and his team spent three months completing her debut studio album. She collaborated with various producers, primarily Rogers and Sturken. "Pon de Replay" was selected as the lead single because of its summer appeal. The song was released on May 25, 2005, and became a commercial success, reaching number two on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. Her debut studio album, Music of the Sun, was released on August 29, 2005. It debuted at number ten on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 69,000 units. Its second single, "If It's Lovin' That You Want", peaked at number 36 in the US. Rihanna made her acting debut with a cameo in the straight-to-DVD film Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006), in which she portrayed herself.
Soon after releasing Music of the Sun, Rihanna began working on her second studio album in September 2005. Titled A Girl Like Me, the record was released on April 25, 2006. A pop and reggae album, A Girl Like Me peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 chart, with 115,000 copies sold in the US in its first week. It became her first RIAA-certified double platinum album, surpassing one million units sold. It spawned four singles: "SOS", "Unfaithful", "We Ride", and "Break It Off". "SOS" became her first song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, while "Unfaithful" was a top-ten single worldwide. To promote both A Girl Like Me and Music of the Sun, Rihanna embarked on her debut headlining concert tour, entitled Rihanna: Live in Concert Tour, throughout 2006.
2007–2008: Good Girl Gone Bad
In early 2007, Rihanna began recording her third studio album. Aiming to dismiss her girl-next-door image in favor of a more mature and rebellious persona, she worked with such producers as Ne-Yo, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, and Tricky Stewart for the album. The resulting album, Good Girl Gone Bad, was released on May 31, 2007, to critical acclaim. Regarded as a turning point in her career, it marked a shift from the Caribbean-influenced sound of her earlier work, embracing a more contemporary pop direction driven by uptempo dance tracks. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 162,000 copies in its first week.
The lead single from Good Girl Gone Bad was "Umbrella", featuring Jay-Z. It topped the charts in several territories, spending ten consecutive weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart and seven at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The following singles, "Shut Up and Drive" and "Hate That I Love You", saw moderate success, while the album's fourth single, "Don't Stop the Music", peaked at number three in the US. In support of the album, Rihanna embarked on the worldwide Good Girl Gone Bad Tour in September 2007, performing 80 concerts across five continents. At the 2008 Grammy Awards, she received multiple nominations for Good Girl Gone Bad and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Umbrella" alongside Jay-Z. In late 2008, she released "Rehab", the fifth and final single from Good Girl Gone Bad; it peaked within the top 20 of the charts in both the US and UK. Having sold nine million copies as of 2023, Good Girl Gone Bad is her best-selling album worldwide.
Entertainment Weekly named Rihanna "Diva of the Year" in 2008, praising her "newfound staying power". In April 2008, Rihanna joined Kanye West as a supporting act on his Glow in the Dark Tour. In June, she released Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, a reissue of her third studio album; selling 63,000 copies in its first week, it helped the original album rise to number seven in the US. Reloaded spawned four new tracks, two of which—"Disturbia" and "Take a Bow"—topped the Billboard Hot 100. Soon after the release of Reloaded, she issued Good Girl Gone Bad Live, a DVD documentary featuring Rihanna's December 2007 concert at the Manchester Arena. In 2008, she announced her romantic relationship with singer Chris Brown and topped the Hot 100 once again with a feature on rapper T.I.'s song "Live Your Life".
2009–2011: domestic violence case, Rated R, and Loud
On February 8, 2009, Rihanna was forced to cancel her scheduled performance at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards following reports that she had been physically assaulted by Brown. He later turned himself in to authorities and was detained on suspicion of making criminal threats. On March 5, 2009, he was formally charged with assault and making criminal threats. The case garnered widespread media attention, particularly after TMZ published a leaked police photograph showing Rihanna with visible injuries.
Rihanna was subpoenaed to testify at a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles on June 22, 2009. The incident and its aftermath influenced her artistically, prompting her to begin work on her fourth studio album, titled Rated R, one month after the Grammy Awards. Released on November 20, Rated R marked a shift away from the upbeat sound of Rihanna's earlier albums, embracing a darker, more introspective tone with rock influences. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 181,000 copies in its first week. The single "Rude Boy" peaked atop the Hot 100 for six weeks, while "Russian Roulette" and "Hard" both peaked within the top ten. In support of the album, Rihanna embarked on the Last Girl on Earth tour from 2010 to 2011.
Rihanna entered an on-again, off-again relationship with Canadian rapper Drake in 2009. In June 2010, she collaborated with rapper Eminem on the single "Love the Way You Lie". It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven consecutive weeks and peaked at number two in the UK; it was also the latter country's best-selling song of 2010. In October that year, Rihanna switched management, signing with Jay-Z's Roc Nation. Rihanna returned to her more upbeat sound with her fifth studio album, Loud, which was released on November 12, 2010. A dance-pop record, Loud debuted at number three in the US with first-week sales of 207,000 copies. It spawned three Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?" featuring Drake, and "S&M", which topped the chart following the release of its remix with Britney Spears. Rihanna became the youngest and fastest solo artist in Billboard Hot 100 history to accumulate ten number-one singles.
At the 53rd Grammy Awards in 2011, "Only Girl (In the World)" won Best Dance Recording. The songs "Man Down", "California King Bed", and "Cheers (Drink to That)" were released as singles from Loud in 2011. To support the album, Rihanna launched the Loud Tour in June 2011, which included a record-breaking ten sold-out shows at The O2 Arena in London—the most by a female artist in the venue's history. The tour grossed $90 million, making it one of the highest-grossing tours worldwide that year. Also in 2011, she featured on three other artists' songs: West's "All of the Lights" from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), Nicki Minaj's "Fly" from her debut album Pink Friday (2010), and David Guetta's "Who's That Chick?" from One More Love (2010).
2011–2013: Talk That Talk and Unapologetic
Rihanna aimed to explore more sexually expressive themes on her sixth studio album, Talk That Talk, which was released on November 18, 2011. A dance-oriented pop and R&B album, Talk That Talk opened at number three on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 198,000 copies, while debuting atop the UK Albums Chart with 163,000 units sold. The album's lead single, "We Found Love", became a worldwide chart-topper. It spent ten non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it both Rihanna's longest-running chart-topping single and the longest-running number one song in the US in 2011. The album spawned three other singles: "You da One", "Talk That Talk", and "Where Have You Been". "Where Have You Been" peaked at number five in the US.
In early 2012, Rihanna appeared on Coldplay's "Princess of China" and Drake's "Take Care". That February, she won the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "All of the Lights" with West, and was named Best International Female Solo Artist at the Brit Awards for the second year in a row. In March, Rihanna and Brown released two remixes—her track "Birthday Cake" and his "Turn Up the Music"—which were criticized due to their history of domestic violence. In September 2012, the music video for "We Found Love" won Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards, making Rihanna the first woman to receive the honor more than once. It later won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 2013.
Rihanna's seventh studio album, titled Unapologetic, was released on November 19, 2012. A synth-pop record with EDM and hip-hop elements, Unapologetic debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 238,000 copies, becoming Rihanna's first chart-topping album in the US. The album's lead single, "Diamonds", topped the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Rihanna's twelfth number-one song on the chart. The album's second single, "Stay", reached number three in the US. To promote the album, Rihanna embarked on the 777 Tour, performing seven shows in seven countries over the course of seven days. A documentary about the tour aired on Fox in May 2013, followed by the release of a DVD version the next day—her third long-form live video. In January 2013, Rihanna and Brown rekindled their relationship, although he remained under probation for their 2009 domestic violence case. The two broke up around four months later.
Rihanna made her feature film debut as Petty Officer Cora Raikes in Battleship (2012). Loosely inspired by the board game of the same name, Battleship received mixed reviews, though Neil Genzlinger, writing for The New York Times, said that she was "just fine in the rather generic role". That same month, the Official Charts Company reported she had sold 3.87 million records in the country over the past year, placing her at number one among the 2013 Brit Awards artist nominees. Her fifth headlining tour, the Diamonds World Tour, launched in March 2013 in support of Unapologetic. Rihanna made a cameo in the comedy film This Is the End (2013), and later collaborated with rapper Wale on his remix of the single "Bad". In December 2013, she topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart with a feature on Eminem's song "The Monster".
2014–2017: standalone releases and Anti
In 2014, Shakira featured Rihanna on her single "Can't Remember to Forget You". Following the release of Unapologetic and the ensuing tour, she expressed a desire to take a break from recording, saying she wanted "a year to just do whatever I want artistically, creatively". That May, she officially parted ways with Def Jam Recordings and transitioned fully to Roc Nation, the label that had been managing her career since October 2010. While working on her eighth studio album, Rihanna released the singles "FourFiveSeconds" (a collaboration with West and Paul McCartney), "Bitch Better Have My Money", and "American Oxygen"; none of the three appeared on the album's final tracklist. In 2015, she starred alongside Jim Parsons and Jennifer Lopez as the voice of Tip in the animated film Home. Rihanna also curated and released a concept album as its soundtrack.
In late 2015, Rihanna signed a $25 million deal with Samsung to promote its Galaxy product line, with the company also sponsoring the rollout of her eighth studio album, titled Anti, and its accompanying tour. The album was released exclusively on the streaming service Tidal on January 28, 2016. With an eclectic blend of genres such as pop, dancehall, and psychedelic soul, Anti peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, marking her second chart-topping record in the US. The lead single, "Work", topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, with the third and fourth singles, "Needed Me" and "Love on the Brain", peaking within the top ten. Announced in November 2015, the Anti World Tour was launched in March 2016 in support of the album.
In 2016, Rihanna appeared as a featured artist on multiple singles: Calvin Harris's "This Is What You Came For"; Drake's "Too Good"; and Mike Will Made It's "Nothing Is Promised". "This Is What You Came For" was a commercial success, peaking at number two and three in the UK and US, respectively. In June 2016, Rihanna released "Sledgehammer" as part of the film soundtrack for Star Trek Beyond. In August, she was honored with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, where she performed a series of medleys of her most successful songs. In 2017, she extended her run of collaborations, appearing on DJ Khaled's "Wild Thoughts" and Kendrick Lamar's "Loyalty". The former peaked at number two in the US, while the latter won her and Lamar the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance.
In 2017, Rihanna portrayed Marion Crane in a recurring role during the fifth and final season of Bates Motel; the showh was met with widespread critical acclaim. In Luc Besson's sci-fi film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), she played a shapeshifting, burlesque-style entertainer and performer in a space station club, starring alongside Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne. That year, Rihanna began dating Saudi businessman Hassan Jameel; their relationship ended in 2020.
2018–present: hiatus, motherhood, and Super Bowl LVII halftime show
Rihanna was part of the all-female ensemble cast of the heist film Ocean's 8 (2018), directed by Gary Ross. The film was a major box office success, earning $300 million globally. Alongside Donald Glover, she starred in the film Guava Island (2019), in which she played his character's love interest. In September 2019, it was announced that she had signed with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Rihanna appeared on PartyNextDoor's song "Believe It" (2020).
American rapper ASAP Rocky confirmed that he and Rihanna were in a relationship in May 2021; she gave birth to their first son the following year. "Lift Me Up", the lead single from the soundtrack of the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), was her first solo musical release since Anti. The song earned her nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song. On February 12, 2023, she headlined the Super Bowl LVII halftime show, which marked her first live performance in over five years, and the end of her previously self-imposed boycott of the event, which she instigated in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. The performance drew 121.017 million viewers, making it the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in history, surpassing Katy Perry's Super Bowl XLIX performance. The Super Bowl performance earned Rihanna five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including one for Outstanding Variety Special (Live).
In 2023, Rihanna became the first person to headline a Super Bowl halftime show while pregnant, revealing her pregnancy during the performance. Later that year, she gave birth to her and ASAP Rocky's second son. She voiced Smurfette in the animated adventure comedy film Smurfs (2025), which was critically panned. Later that year, Rihanna gave birth to her and ASAP Rocky's third child, a daughter.
Artistry
Music and voice
Rihanna is a mezzo-soprano with a vocal range spanning from B2 to C♯6. She began vocal training during the recording of Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) under the guidance of Ne-Yo, who taught her breathing techniques and vocal delivery. Critics have highlighted her versatility across different projects: James Skinner of the BBC described her performance on "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)" as "commanding, soulful and vulnerable", while Andy Gill of The Independent cited "California King Bed" as her strongest vocal performance. Billboard said that "Diamonds" showcased her "throatiest, most impassioned vocals", and Jon Caramanica of The New York Times wrote that her voice developed into "a weapon of emotional chill and strategic indifference". In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked her sixty-eighth on its list of the "200 Greatest Singers of All Time".
Rihanna's musical career has been characterized by experimentation, and she has stated her goal was "to make music that could be heard in parts of the world that I'd never been to". In Barbados, Rihanna drew early inspiration from reggae, soca, and hip-hop, and after relocating to the US, she was introduced to a wider variety of genres, including rock. Rihanna's early dancehall roots are evident on her first two albums, Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006). Music of the Sun demonstrates the influence of her Caribbean musical heritage; Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times called Rihanna "the latest singer to discover how versatile the genre's spring-loaded electronic rhythms can be". Aiming for artistic growth, A Girl Like Me expresses personal experiences that typical young adult women undergo, with ballads that were described as elegant and mature. Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) marked a departure from her Caribbean-influenced beginnings and is widely regarded as a turning point in her career, with uptempo dance-pop tracks like "Push Up on Me" and "Don't Stop the Music". The album's first half features strong 1980s pop influences, while the second half leans more toward traditional R&B.
Rihanna's rock-imbued record Rated R (2009), released after the assault by her then-boyfriend, Chris Brown, had a much darker tone and was filled with various emotions she experienced since then. With the dance-pop set Loud (2010), she reflected on the fun she had while recording the album, incorporating ballads, party anthems, and empowering love songs. On Talk That Talk (2011), Rihanna expanded on her dance-pop style while adopting a more overtly sexual persona and incorporating elements of R&B, hip-hop, dancehall, and dubstep. Loud and Talk That Talk saw her explore sexuality in her work ("S&M" and "Birthday Cake") and return to her dancehall roots ("Man Down" and "Watch n' Learn"). Vulnerability is explored on the pop and synth-pop record Unapologetic (2012), which Vulture described as an "act of defiance [...] to sort out her feelings about her [... ex-boyfriend Brown] and her public image". Anti (2016), created amidst creative struggles and emotional turmoil, incorporates lo-fi beats and eclectic influences such as soul and trap.
Influences
Rihanna has identified Madonna as her idol and primary inspiration. She expressed her aspiration to become the "Black Madonna" and commended her talent for continually reinventing herself throughout her career. Rihanna praised Madonna's ability to change her fashion and music repeatedly, while remaining a "real force in entertainment". She also named Mariah Carey as a major influence on her music and career. She recalled performing Carey's 1993 song "Hero" at her high school talent show. Rihanna also said that Carey's "Vision of Love" (1990) was the song that inspired her to pursue a career in music. After moving to the US, she was exposed to a wide range of musical genres, which she said had a profound effect on her. Rihanna identified Brandy's fourth album, Afrodisiac (2004), as a primary source of inspiration for her album Good Girl Gone Bad.
In her youth, Rihanna often watched Bob Marley on television due to his popularity in the Caribbean. She deemed him one of her all-time favorite artists, crediting him with "pav[ing] the way for every other artist out of the Caribbean". She created a shrine in her home dedicated to Marley and has performed covers of both "Is This Love" (1978) and "Redemption Song" (1980) during her concert tours. As a child, she sang Whitney Houston songs and "A Whole New World" (1992) into her hairbrush so frequently that her neighbors started calling her "Robyn Redbreast". She also mentioned that one of the earliest songs she developed an affection for was Houston's rendition of "I Will Always Love You" (1992). She credits that song with sparking her passion for music and partly attributes her presence in the industry to Houston. Rihanna was also influenced by artists such as Janet Jackson, Aaliyah, Beyoncé, Celine Dion, Grace Jones, Lil' Kim, Prince, and Brandy.
Videography and stage
Rihanna has worked with music video director Anthony Mandler on seventeen music videos, the first being "Unfaithful" (2006). Jocelyn Vena of MTV News observed that Rihanna often creates music videos that are thought-provoking and aligned with the themes of her songs. Jon Bream, writing for the Star Tribune, deemed her the video vixen of the 2000s, lauding her mastery of the pout, confident strut, and trend-setting hairstyles that draw attention from audiences on YouTube. InStyle's George Epaminondas described Rihanna's videos as cinematic and highlighted their island rhythms, pop sensibilities, and playful sensuality. Billboard ranked her eleventh on its list of "The 100 Greatest Music Video Artists of All Time" in 2020, stating that she "rarely shields her emotions, as she's always willing to unmask every side to her in her videos".
Many of her music videos were shot as short films exploring issues such as love triangles, abuse and substance abuse romance, including "We Found Love" and "Man Down". The former, portraying a turbulent, drug-fueled romance, was condemned by the Rape Crisis Centre for what it considered a troubling message. The latter, which depicts Rihanna shooting a man in a train station, drew criticism from the Parents Television Council. Charne Graham of the Houston Press defended her, asking, "Why should Rihanna's music videos get everyone riled up when others' equally sexual and controversial videos are in rotation? [... S]he just like[s] to make music videos that give us something to talk about." Her music video for "Umbrella" shows Rihanna's transition into adulthood and her newly adopted image. The "dark, creepy" scenes of "Disturbia" have been compared to Michael Jackson's Thriller. In 2013, Rihanna became the first woman to pass two billion cumulative views on YouTube.
Rihanna's concerts frequently incorporate elaborate staging and choreography. Critics have commended her stage presence and her experimental stage costumes. Billboard readers ranked Rihanna's 2008 MTV Video Music Awards performance of "Disturbia" the tenth-best in the show's history. Reviewing the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour, The Times compared her stage wardrobe to that of Janet Jackson and described her as "a vision of Ann Summers couture in thigh-high boots and a few scraps of black PVC". She described her performance identity as distinct from her real self, calling it "a part I play. You know, like it's a piece of art, with all these toys and textures to play with".
Public image
Rihanna has been described by the media as a pop and fashion icon, particularly since the release of Good Girl Gone Bad (2007). Known for her changing style and image, Rihanna's music and fashion choices have been closely followed by the media. In 2009, New York magazine described her early look as that of "a cookie-cutter teen queen" and praised her ability to shift appearances with ease. Around the time of her second album A Girl Like Me (2006), critics often compared her style and sound to that of Beyoncé. When asked about the comparisons, Rihanna told Look magazine that while she admired Beyoncé and felt honored to be mentioned alongside her, they were different performers with their own approaches. Speaking later with Oprah on Next Chapter, she explained that Def Jam's early attempts to mold her into a "pop princess" made her feel boxed in, saying the label had a clear image for her without first allowing her to find her own identity.
With the release of her third album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), Rihanna abandoned her innocent image in favor of a sharper, edgier style. Her bob haircut, which became emblematic of the era, was inspired by Charlize Theron's look in the film Æon Flux (2005). Nico Amarca of Highsnobiety later observed that Rihanna had undergone "one of the most significant aesthetic metamorphoses the world ha[d] ever seen". Her appearance and fashion have changed repeatedly since then, and each shift has often become associated with her artistic identity. Rihanna has credited her mother as the earliest inspiration for her love of fashion, recalling how she admired her getting dressed as a child. She has said that her own approach to style is about taking risks and finding unusual silhouettes. Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian called her wardrobe "the most talked-about, influential and dissected in pop", stating that whatever she wears is quickly reproduced in mainstream fashion.
Rihanna has been described by critics as having sex appeal. She is often labeled as a sex symbol, a label she has said is flattering but also uncomfortable. She has appeared on the cover of magazines such as Maxim, FHM, and Rolling Stone. In December 2012, Rihanna became the first woman featured on the cover of GQ's "Men of the Year" issue. She first attended the Met Gala in 2007 and has appeared several times since. Her 2015 appearance in a yellow Guo Pei gown drew massive attention online, generating over a billion impressions and inspiring a documentary, Yellow Is Forbidden (2018). Rihanna later co-chaired the 2018 gala, wearing Maison Margiela for the Heavenly Bodies theme. Through her fashion ventures, Rihanna has become one of the wealthiest musicians; in 2021, she became the richest female musician at the time, with a net worth of $1.7 billion. Forbes included her on its Celebrity 100 list in 2014, 2016, and 2017, and featured her on its list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women of 2019. Active on social media, she ranked atop Forbes' 2012 list of "Social Networking Superstars".
Achievements and impact
With estimated worldwide sales exceeding 250 million records as of 2023, Rihanna is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She has accumulated numerous awards and honors, including nine Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and thirteen American Music Awards. She was presented with the American Music Awards' Icon Award in 2013 and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. In 2012, she set a Guinness World Record as the best-selling digital artist in the US. In July 2015, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that Rihanna had surpassed 100 million gold and platinum song certifications. This made her the artist with the most digital single awards and the first performer to exceed RIAA's 100 million cumulative singles certification threshold.
Rihanna has fourteen number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, placing her third for the most chart-topping songs in its history. In August 2018, Billboard ranked Rihanna as the tenth-most successful Hot 100 artist of all time and it also named her the top Hot 100 artist of the 2010s. Rihanna has eight number-one singles on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, seven on the Airplay chart, and sixteen on the Rhythmic chart. In the US, Rihanna has sold more than ten million albums. She has also earned nine number-one songs on the UK Singles Chart and ranks second to the Beatles for the most million-selling singles in the country. She is the UK's third best-selling female artist of the 21st century, having sold seven million albums.
Billboard named Rihanna the "Greatest Pop Star" of 2007 and 2012. The publication also ranked her at number three on its list of the "Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century" (2024) and number two on its "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" (2025). Rolling Stone included her single "Umbrella" in its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and her album Anti amongst the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Time named her one of the most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2018. Her work has influenced artists such as Lorde, Sam Smith, Billie Eilish, Selena Gomez, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, Kim Petras, Marilyn Manson, Jessie J, SZA, and Demi Lovato.
Several wax figures of Rihanna are found at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums in major cities around the world. She has been honored with the title of Ambassador for Culture and Youth in Barbados. On February 22, 2008, Prime Minister David Thompson officially proclaimed "Rihanna Day" in Barbados, which—while not an official public holiday—is celebrated annually by locals in her honor. She was named "Humanitarian of the Year" by Harvard University's Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations in 2017. The Barbadian government appointed her as an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary on September 20, 2018, with the duty of promoting education, tourism, and investment on the island. At the 2020 NAACP Image Awards, Rihanna received the President's Award from Derrick Johnson. He highlighted her multifaceted career, "from her business achievements through Fenty to her tremendous record as an activist and philanthropist". Prime Minister Mia Mottley declared Rihanna a National Hero of Barbados during the Republic ceremony on November 30, 2021.
Other ventures
Rihanna has expanded into various business ventures and endorsements. In 2010, she featured in a Kodak advertisement alongside rapper Pitbull. That year, she released a photo book documenting the Last Girl on Earth tour, serving as a companion to her album Rated R (2009). In 2011, Rihanna was the face of Nivea and Vita Coco. Rihanna's first television program, Styled to Rock, premiered in the UK on Sky Living in August 2012. Over the ten-week series, she joined Nicola Roberts, Lysa Cooper, and Henry Holland to mentor emerging British designers on developing their clothing lines. The US adaptation of Styled to Rock debuted on Bravo in October 2013. In July 2013, Budweiser announced that Rihanna had joined their global Made For Music campaign, appearing alongside Jay-Z.
Business ventures
Rihanna's first fragrance, Reb'l Fleur, was released in January 2011. Rolling Stone deemed it a commercial success, projecting that it would generate US$80 million in retail sales by the end of the year. Her second fragrance, Rebelle, followed in December 2011. Director Anthony Mandler shot the promotional campaigns for both fragrances. In November 2012, she introduced her third fragrance, Nude. Her fourth women's scent, Rogue, debuted in September 2013; a men's version entitled Rogue Man launched in 2014. In 2013, Rihanna partnered with MAC Cosmetics to launch her own summer and fall makeup collections under the name RiRi Hearts MAC. In March 2015, Rihanna was announced as a co-owner of the music streaming platform Tidal, alongside several other artists. The service specializes in lossless audio and high-definition music videos. Including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, 16 artist stakeholders co-own Tidal, most of whom own a 3% equity stake. In 2016, it was confirmed that Rihanna would release her music through her own label, Westbury Road Entertainment, founded in 2005 and named after her childhood home in Barbados.
In November 2015, Rihanna partnered with Benoit Demouy to launch Fr8me, a Los Angeles-based beauty and stylist agency supporting artists with commercial bookings, photo shoots, campaigns, and red-carpet appearances. She also established a photography agency, A Dog Ate My Homework, representing photographers Erik Asla and Deborah Anderson. Early in her career, Rihanna expressed a strong interest in fashion and a desire to pursue clothing design, calling the former her "defense mechanism". In November 2011, she launched her first fashion venture in collaboration with Armani. By February 2013, she debuted her first women's fashion collection at London Fashion Week for the British brand River Island, working closely with her personal stylist, Adam Selman. Together, they released three additional collections for the brand. Rihanna went on to collaborate with numerous fashion houses, including Dior, Stance, and Manolo Blahnik. In March 2015, she became the first Black woman to be named the new face of Dior.
In 2014, Rihanna was named creative director of Puma's women's line, overseeing both apparel and footwear collaborations. The following year, she launched her first sneaker with the brand, which sold out online within three hours of its pre-sale. Over the next two years, she released a variety of footwear in different styles and colorways, all receiving positive responses from critics and consumers alike. In 2016, Rihanna debuted her first clothing line with Puma at New York Fashion Week, which was commercially successful, earning the company over $1 billion.
Fenty
In 2017, Rihanna launched her cosmetics line Fenty Beauty through LVMH's Kendo division, holding a 50% ownership stake. The $10 million partnership produced a wide range of beauty products, with the first collection released on September 8, 2017, in stores and online across more than 150 countries. It included an array of products including foundations, highlighters, bronzers, blush compacts, lip glosses, and blotting sheets, and was praised for offering shades that catered to all skin tones. Time named Fenty Beauty one of "The 25 Best Inventions of 2017", commending its inclusivity. The brand sparked what became known as the "Fenty Effect", as cosmetic companies across the industry began to expand their shade ranges to better serve diverse skin tones, with forty shades becoming the benchmark.
In 2018, Rihanna launched the lingerie brand Savage X Fenty, designed as an inclusive label offering products in a wide range of shades and sizes. The line debuted at New York Fashion Week in September 2018 and was praised for its diversity, particularly for featuring plus-size models, though some critics felt larger sizes were still underrepresented. In September 2019, Savage X Fenty returned to New York Fashion Week with a show at the Barclays Center, featuring models such as Joan Smalls, Bella Hadid, and Cara Delevingne. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video that month as the Savage X Fenty Show, and was renewed as Vol. 2 in October 2020, Vol. 3 in September 2021, and Vol. 4 in November 2022.
Rihanna launched the fashion brand Fenty under luxury group LVMH in May 2019. She became the first woman to create an original brand for LVMH and the first woman of color to lead one of its houses. The line debuted in a Paris pop-up on May 22 before a worldwide online release seven days later, featuring clothing, accessories, and footwear. It was LVMH's first new fashion house since 1987. In February 2021, amid the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rihanna and LVMH agreed to suspend the brand and focus on expanding the Savage X Fenty lingerie line. In July 2020, Rihanna introduced Fenty Skin, a skin care line debuting with a cleanser, toning serum, and moisturizer-sunscreen, designed to be gender-neutral and inclusive of all skin tones. In June 2024, she launched the hair care brand Fenty Hair, offering products formulated to suit all hair types, textures, and routines.
Rihanna exclusively uses her surname for ventures outside of music to keep her business and artistic identities separate. In January 2019, Rihanna filed a lawsuit against her father, Ronald Fenty, over the use of the Fenty name for commercial purposes. The lawsuit alleged that Rihanna's cosmetics brand, Fenty Beauty, was damaged commercially by her father's company, Fenty Entertainment, through misrepresentation of his company being affiliated with her. She dropped the lawsuit in September 2021.
Philanthropy
In 2006, Rihanna founded the Believe Foundation to support terminally ill children. In February 2008, she joined other public figures in designing clothing for H&M's Fashion Against AIDS campaign to raise awareness and combat HIV/AIDS. That same year, she performed a series of charity concerts called A Girl's Night Out to benefit the Believe Foundation. The events were free to the public, with funds from sponsors and advertisers directed toward providing medical supplies, school materials, and toys to children in need. In September 2008, Rihanna joined fifteen other female artists to record and perform the song "Just Stand Up!" during the Stand Up to Cancer television special. Proceeds from the single supported the fundraiser, which ultimately helped raise $100 million for cancer research.
Rihanna founded the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) in 2012, named after her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite. The foundation funds groundbreaking education and emergency preparedness and response programs worldwide. The CLF frequently hosted Diamond Ball charity fundraiser events. The inaugural event in 2014 raised over $2 million, and the second raised over $3 million. In February 2012, Rihanna performed a benefit show at the House of Blues to raise money for the Children's Orthopaedic Center and the Mark Taper-Johnny Mercer Artists Program at Children's Hospital. In December, Rihanna gave a $100,000 food bank donation for Hurricane Sandy. In January 2014, Rihanna was part of the MAC Viva Glam campaign, which benefits women, men and children living with HIV/AIDS.
In March 2020, Rihanna donated $5 million to COVID-19 relief and followed that up with additional donations of personal protective equipment to the state of New York and an offer of $700,000 worth of ventilators to her home country Barbados. The next month, Rihanna donated $2.1 million—matching Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for a total of $4.2 million—to provide support and resources to individuals and children suffering from domestic violence amidst the lockdown. In January 2022, Rihanna, through the CLF, donated $15 million to eighteen climate justice organizations across seven Caribbean nations and the US.
Advocacy
During her set at the NCAA March Madness Music Festival in February 2016, Rihanna voiced her opposition to Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which permits companies and individuals to cite religious beliefs as a defense when accused of discrimination against LGBT people. Rihanna appeared alongside other celebrities in the online video "23 Ways You Could Be Killed If You Are Black in America" (2016), released in partnership with the We Are Here Movement to raise awareness about police brutality.
In January 2017, Rihanna participated in the Women's March in New York, which took place amongst protests the day after US President Donald Trump's inauguration. She later criticized Trump's immigration policies—particularly Executive Order 13769, which sought to bar entry from several Muslim-majority countries—as well as his response to the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. In October 2019, she stated that she declined to perform at the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show in support of Colin Kaepernick following the controversy surrounding his role in the national anthem protests. In February 2021, Rihanna voiced her support for the Indian farmers' protest against the farm bills on Twitter.
In 2022, Rihanna advocated for reforming the global financial system to better address climate change and poverty, including providing aid to nations most affected by climate-related crises. In 2024, Rihanna endorsed Kamala Harris during the US presidential election.
Discography
Music of the Sun (2005)
A Girl Like Me (2006)
Good Girl Gone Bad (2007)
Rated R (2009)
Loud (2010)
Talk That Talk (2011)
Unapologetic (2012)
Anti (2016)
Filmography
Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006)
Battleship (2012)
This Is the End (2013)
Home (2015)
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Ocean's 8 (2018)
Guava Island (2019)
Smurfs (2025)
Tours
As a headliner
Rihanna: Live in Concert (2006)
Good Girl Gone Bad Tour (2007–2009)
Last Girl on Earth Tour (2010–2011)
Loud Tour (2011)
Diamonds World Tour (2013)
Anti World Tour (2016)
As a co-headliner
The Monster Tour (with Eminem) (2014)
Promotional tours
A Girl's Night Out (2008; a series of charity concerts to benefit the "Believe Foundation")
777 Tour (2012; in support of her seventh studio album Unapologetic)
See also
Culture of Barbados
Music of Barbados
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones
Notes
References
Print sources
Affuso, Elizabeth; Scott, Suzanne (2023). Sartorial Fandom. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-90338-2.
Finley, Laura L. (2018). Violence in Popular Culture. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4408-5433-0.
Ghadar, Fariborz (2022). The Danger of Devaluing Immigrants. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4408-7934-0.
Goldsmith, Melissa Ursula Dawn; Fonseca, Anthony J. (2018). Hip Hop Around the World. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-313-35759-6.
Govan, Chloe (2011). Rihanna: Rebel Flower. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-744-0.
Heatley, Michael; Betts, Graham (2012). Rihanna: Bad Girl. Flame Tree Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85775-275-8.
Herringshaw, DeAnn (2014). Rihanna: Grammy-Winning Superstar. ABDO Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-62968-025-5.
LaBennett, Oneka (2024). Global Guyana. NYU Press. ISBN 978-1-4798-2702-2.
Little, Clare Douglass (2020). Makeup in the World of Beauty Vlogging. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-9787-9547-1.
Madden, Emma (2025). Eternal Goth. Castle Books. ISBN 978-1-57715-526-3.
Miller, Donald C. (2018). Coming of Age in Popular Culture. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4408-4061-6.
Muehlhoff, Tim (October 18, 2010). Marriage Forecasting. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-6825-4.
Novic, Sara (2019). America Is Immigrants. Random House. ISBN 978-1-9848-1983-3.
Oliver, Sarah (2011). Rihanna. Bonnier Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84358-423-0.
Perricone, Kathleen (2025). Rihanna Is Life. Quarto Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7603-9497-7.
Seabrook, John (2015). The Song Machine. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4481-9101-7.
Tracy, Kathleen A. (2013). Superstars of the 21st Century. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 979-8-216-15169-2.
Vesey, Alyxandra (2024). Extending Play. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-008563-6.
Weidhase, Nathalie (2024). Pop & Postfeminism. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-15803-0.
External links
Official website
Rihanna at AllMusic
Rihanna at IMDb
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Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ree-AN-ə; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. Known for her musical experimentation and artistic reinventions, she is an influential figure in both music and fashion. Rihanna is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 250 million records.
As a child, Rihanna showed interest in the arts. Signed to Def Jam Recordings, she debuted with the Caribbean-inspired records Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006), both of which reached the top ten of the US Billboard 200. The albums spawned the singles "Pon de Replay" and "SOS", which peaked at numbers two and one on the US Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Adopting a more mature image, Rihanna rose to stardom and transitioned to dance-pop and R&B with the album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) and its reissue, subtitled Reloaded (2008). The project yielded a string of successful songs, including the US number-one singles "Umbrella", "Take a Bow", and "Disturbia".
After exploring darker and more personal themes on the rock-influenced record Rated R (2009), Rihanna returned to her more upbeat sound on the dance-pop album Loud (2010), incorporated R&B on Talk That Talk (2011), and topped the Billboard 200 with her synth-pop set Unapologetic (2012). After she departed from Def Jam in favor of Jay-Z's label, Roc Nation, she released the eclectic Anti (2016)—her second number-one album. These albums contained the US number-one singles "Rude Boy", "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?", "S&M", "We Found Love", "Diamonds", and "Work". Her films include Battleship (2012), Home (2015), Ocean's 8 (2018), and Smurfs (2025).
Rihanna has received numerous accolades, including nine Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and thirteen American Music Awards. She is the highest-certified female digital single artist by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has seven diamond-certified singles and fourteen number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. One of the wealthiest musicians, she was the first female musician to achieve billionaire status. Rihanna founded the nonprofit Clara Lionel Foundation, the cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty, and the fashion brand Fenty under LVMH, becoming the first Black woman to lead a luxury brand for the group. She was named an ambassador by the Government of Barbados and declared a National Hero of Barbados in 2021.
Life and career
1988–2002: early life
Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born in Saint Michael, Barbados, on February 20, 1988. She is the daughter of Monica (née Braithwaite), an Afro-Guyanese accountant, and Ronald Fenty, a Barbadian warehouse supervisor of African, Irish, English, and Scottish descent. Rihanna has two younger brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty, as well as two half-sisters and a half-brother from her father's previous relationships. She was raised in a three-bedroom bungalow in Bridgetown and helped her father sell clothes at a street stall. Her childhood was affected by her father's alcoholism and crack cocaine addiction, which strained her parents' marriage. Rihanna has spoken about witnessing her father physically abuse her mother, describing her as "one of the strongest women I know, if not the strongest".
As a child, Rihanna suffered from intense headaches that required multiple CT scans, with doctors once suspecting a tumor. Her health began to improve after her parents divorced when she was 14. She attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and Combermere School. One of her teachers described her as a "well-behaved student" who avoided trouble. She showed an interest in singing, dancing, and poetry. Around this time, Rihanna began listening to reggae artists such as Sizzla and Damien Marley, as well as R&B musicians like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. At the age of 11, she became a cadet in Barbados's Cadet Corps, with future singer Shontelle as her drill sergeant. Though she initially planned to finish high school, she ultimately dropped out at age 16 to pursue a music career.
2003–2006: career beginnings with Music of the Sun and A Girl Like Me
In 2003, Rihanna formed a music trio with two classmates in Barbados. Unnamed and without original material, the girl group auditioned for American producer Evan Rogers, who recalled that "the minute Rihanna walked into the room, it was like the other two girls didn't exist". The trio went on to perform a cover of Destiny's Child's "Emotion". Impressed, Rogers arranged a second meeting with Rihanna and her mother—this time without the other two girls—and later invited them to his hometown in Connecticut to record demo tapes for record label submissions. Rihanna's demo tape included "Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time". In 2005, she became the first artist to sign with Syndicated Rhythm Productions, the production company founded by Rogers and Carl Sturken.
Rihanna's demo was sent to rapper Jay-Z, who had just become the president and CEO of the record label Def Jam Recordings. Although Jay-Z initially thought "Pon de Replay" was too big for a new artist, he invited her to audition. In early 2005, she performed in New York City for Jay-Z and music executive Antonio "L.A." Reid, singing Whitney Houston's "For the Love of You" along with demo tracks "Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time". Jay-Z was convinced of her potential, and Reid told him not to let her leave the building without a deal. She waited in Jay-Z's office while lawyers finalized a six-album contract with Def Jam. Rihanna canceled scheduled meetings with other labels and, shortly after turning 16, moved from Barbados to the US. There, she completed her high school education with a tutor.
After Rihanna signed with Def Jam, Jay-Z and his team spent three months completing her debut studio album. She collaborated with various producers, primarily Rogers and Sturken. "Pon de Replay" was selected as the lead single because of its summer appeal. The song was released on May 25, 2005, and became a commercial success, reaching number two on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. Her debut studio album, Music of the Sun, was released on August 29, 2005. It debuted at number ten on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 69,000 units. Its second single, "If It's Lovin' That You Want", peaked at number 36 in the US. Rihanna made her acting debut with a cameo in the straight-to-DVD film Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006), in which she portrayed herself.
Soon after releasing Music of the Sun, Rihanna began working on her second studio album in September 2005. Titled A Girl Like Me, the record was released on April 25, 2006. A pop and reggae album, A Girl Like Me peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 chart, with 115,000 copies sold in the US in its first week. It became her first RIAA-certified double platinum album, surpassing one million units sold. It spawned four singles: "SOS", "Unfaithful", "We Ride", and "Break It Off". "SOS" became her first song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, while "Unfaithful" was a top-ten single worldwide. To promote both A Girl Like Me and Music of the Sun, Rihanna embarked on her debut headlining concert tour, entitled Rihanna: Live in Concert Tour, throughout 2006.
2007–2008: Good Girl Gone Bad
In early 2007, Rihanna began recording her third studio album. Aiming to dismiss her girl-next-door image in favor of a more mature and rebellious persona, she worked with such producers as Ne-Yo, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, and Tricky Stewart for the album. The resulting album, Good Girl Gone Bad, was released on May 31, 2007, to critical acclaim. Regarded as a turning point in her career, it marked a shift from the Caribbean-influenced sound of her earlier work, embracing a more contemporary pop direction driven by uptempo dance tracks. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 162,000 copies in its first week.
The lead single from Good Girl Gone Bad was "Umbrella", featuring Jay-Z. It topped the charts in several territories, spending ten consecutive weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart and seven at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The following singles, "Shut Up and Drive" and "Hate That I Love You", saw moderate success, while the album's fourth single, "Don't Stop the Music", peaked at number three in the US. In support of the album, Rihanna embarked on the worldwide Good Girl Gone Bad Tour in September 2007, performing 80 concerts across five continents. At the 2008 Grammy Awards, she received multiple nominations for Good Girl Gone Bad and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Umbrella" alongside Jay-Z. In late 2008, she released "Rehab", the fifth and final single from Good Girl Gone Bad; it peaked within the top 20 of the charts in both the US and UK. Having sold nine million copies as of 2023, Good Girl Gone Bad is her best-selling album worldwide.
Entertainment Weekly named Rihanna "Diva of the Year" in 2008, praising her "newfound staying power". In April 2008, Rihanna joined Kanye West as a supporting act on his Glow in the Dark Tour. In June, she released Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, a reissue of her third studio album; selling 63,000 copies in its first week, it helped the original album rise to number seven in the US. Reloaded spawned four new tracks, two of which—"Disturbia" and "Take a Bow"—topped the Billboard Hot 100. Soon after the release of Reloaded, she issued Good Girl Gone Bad Live, a DVD documentary featuring Rihanna's December 2007 concert at the Manchester Arena. In 2008, she announced her romantic relationship with singer Chris Brown and topped the Hot 100 once again with a feature on rapper T.I.'s song "Live Your Life".
2009–2011: domestic violence case, Rated R, and Loud
On February 8, 2009, Rihanna was forced to cancel her scheduled performance at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards following reports that she had been physically assaulted by Brown. He later turned himself in to authorities and was detained on suspicion of making criminal threats. On March 5, 2009, he was formally charged with assault and making criminal threats. The case garnered widespread media attention, particularly after TMZ published a leaked police photograph showing Rihanna with visible injuries.
Rihanna was subpoenaed to testify at a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles on June 22, 2009. The incident and its aftermath influenced her artistically, prompting her to begin work on her fourth studio album, titled Rated R, one month after the Grammy Awards. Released on November 20, Rated R marked a shift away from the upbeat sound of Rihanna's earlier albums, embracing a darker, more introspective tone with rock influences. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 181,000 copies in its first week. The single "Rude Boy" peaked atop the Hot 100 for six weeks, while "Russian Roulette" and "Hard" both peaked within the top ten. In support of the album, Rihanna embarked on the Last Girl on Earth tour from 2010 to 2011.
Rihanna entered an on-again, off-again relationship with Canadian rapper Drake in 2009. In June 2010, she collaborated with rapper Eminem on the single "Love the Way You Lie". It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven consecutive weeks and peaked at number two in the UK; it was also the latter country's best-selling song of 2010. In October that year, Rihanna switched management, signing with Jay-Z's Roc Nation. Rihanna returned to her more upbeat sound with her fifth studio album, Loud, which was released on November 12, 2010. A dance-pop record, Loud debuted at number three in the US with first-week sales of 207,000 copies. It spawned three Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?" featuring Drake, and "S&M", which topped the chart following the release of its remix with Britney Spears. Rihanna became the youngest and fastest solo artist in Billboard Hot 100 history to accumulate ten number-one singles.
At the 53rd Grammy Awards in 2011, "Only Girl (In the World)" won Best Dance Recording. The songs "Man Down", "California King Bed", and "Cheers (Drink to That)" were released as singles from Loud in 2011. To support the album, Rihanna launched the Loud Tour in June 2011, which included a record-breaking ten sold-out shows at The O2 Arena in London—the most by a female artist in the venue's history. The tour grossed $90 million, making it one of the highest-grossing tours worldwide that year. Also in 2011, she featured on three other artists' songs: West's "All of the Lights" from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), Nicki Minaj's "Fly" from her debut album Pink Friday (2010), and David Guetta's "Who's That Chick?" from One More Love (2010).
2011–2013: Talk That Talk and Unapologetic
Rihanna aimed to explore more sexually expressive themes on her sixth studio album, Talk That Talk, which was released on November 18, 2011. A dance-oriented pop and R&B album, Talk That Talk opened at number three on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 198,000 copies, while debuting atop the UK Albums Chart with 163,000 units sold. The album's lead single, "We Found Love", became a worldwide chart-topper. It spent ten non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it both Rihanna's longest-running chart-topping single and the longest-running number one song in the US in 2011. The album spawned three other singles: "You da One", "Talk That Talk", and "Where Have You Been". "Where Have You Been" peaked at number five in the US.
In early 2012, Rihanna appeared on Coldplay's "Princess of China" and Drake's "Take Care". That February, she won the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "All of the Lights" with West, and was named Best International Female Solo Artist at the Brit Awards for the second year in a row. In March, Rihanna and Brown released two remixes—her track "Birthday Cake" and his "Turn Up the Music"—which were criticized due to their history of domestic violence. In September 2012, the music video for "We Found Love" won Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards, making Rihanna the first woman to receive the honor more than once. It later won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 2013.
Rihanna's seventh studio album, titled Unapologetic, was released on November 19, 2012. A synth-pop record with EDM and hip-hop elements, Unapologetic debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 238,000 copies, becoming Rihanna's first chart-topping album in the US. The album's lead single, "Diamonds", topped the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Rihanna's twelfth number-one song on the chart. The album's second single, "Stay", reached number three in the US. To promote the album, Rihanna embarked on the 777 Tour, performing seven shows in seven countries over the course of seven days. A documentary about the tour aired on Fox in May 2013, followed by the release of a DVD version the next day—her third long-form live video. In January 2013, Rihanna and Brown rekindled their relationship, although he remained under probation for their 2009 domestic violence case. The two broke up around four months later.
Rihanna made her feature film debut as Petty Officer Cora Raikes in Battleship (2012). Loosely inspired by the board game of the same name, Battleship received mixed reviews, though Neil Genzlinger, writing for The New York Times, said that she was "just fine in the rather generic role". That same month, the Official Charts Company reported she had sold 3.87 million records in the country over the past year, placing her at number one among the 2013 Brit Awards artist nominees. Her fifth headlining tour, the Diamonds World Tour, launched in March 2013 in support of Unapologetic. Rihanna made a cameo in the comedy film This Is the End (2013), and later collaborated with rapper Wale on his remix of the single "Bad". In December 2013, she topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart with a feature on Eminem's song "The Monster".
2014–2017: standalone releases and Anti
In 2014, Shakira featured Rihanna on her single "Can't Remember to Forget You". Following the release of Unapologetic and the ensuing tour, she expressed a desire to take a break from recording, saying she wanted "a year to just do whatever I want artistically, creatively". That May, she officially parted ways with Def Jam Recordings and transitioned fully to Roc Nation, the label that had been managing her career since October 2010. While working on her eighth studio album, Rihanna released the singles "FourFiveSeconds" (a collaboration with West and Paul McCartney), "Bitch Better Have My Money", and "American Oxygen"; none of the three appeared on the album's final tracklist. In 2015, she starred alongside Jim Parsons and Jennifer Lopez as the voice of Tip in the animated film Home. Rihanna also curated and released a concept album as its soundtrack.
In late 2015, Rihanna signed a $25 million deal with Samsung to promote its Galaxy product line, with the company also sponsoring the rollout of her eighth studio album, titled Anti, and its accompanying tour. The album was released exclusively on the streaming service Tidal on January 28, 2016. With an eclectic blend of genres such as pop, dancehall, and psychedelic soul, Anti peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, marking her second chart-topping record in the US. The lead single, "Work", topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, with the third and fourth singles, "Needed Me" and "Love on the Brain", peaking within the top ten. Announced in November 2015, the Anti World Tour was launched in March 2016 in support of the album.
In 2016, Rihanna appeared as a featured artist on multiple singles: Calvin Harris's "This Is What You Came For"; Drake's "Too Good"; and Mike Will Made It's "Nothing Is Promised". "This Is What You Came For" was a commercial success, peaking at number two and three in the UK and US, respectively. In June 2016, Rihanna released "Sledgehammer" as part of the film soundtrack for Star Trek Beyond. In August, she was honored with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, where she performed a series of medleys of her most successful songs. In 2017, she extended her run of collaborations, appearing on DJ Khaled's "Wild Thoughts" and Kendrick Lamar's "Loyalty". The former peaked at number two in the US, while the latter won her and Lamar the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance.
In 2017, Rihanna portrayed Marion Crane in a recurring role during the fifth and final season of Bates Motel; the showh was met with widespread critical acclaim. In Luc Besson's sci-fi film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), she played a shapeshifting, burlesque-style entertainer and performer in a space station club, starring alongside Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne. That year, Rihanna began dating Saudi businessman Hassan Jameel; their relationship ended in 2020.
2018–present: hiatus, motherhood, and Super Bowl LVII halftime show
Rihanna was part of the all-female ensemble cast of the heist film Ocean's 8 (2018), directed by Gary Ross. The film was a major box office success, earning $300 million globally. Alongside Donald Glover, she starred in the film Guava Island (2019), in which she played his character's love interest. In September 2019, it was announced that she had signed with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Rihanna appeared on PartyNextDoor's song "Believe It" (2020).
American rapper ASAP Rocky confirmed that he and Rihanna were in a relationship in May 2021; she gave birth to their first son the following year. "Lift Me Up", the lead single from the soundtrack of the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), was her first solo musical release since Anti. The song earned her nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song. On February 12, 2023, she headlined the Super Bowl LVII halftime show, which marked her first live performance in over five years, and the end of her previously self-imposed boycott of the event, which she instigated in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. The performance drew 121.017 million viewers, making it the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in history, surpassing Katy Perry's Super Bowl XLIX performance. The Super Bowl performance earned Rihanna five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including one for Outstanding Variety Special (Live).
In 2023, Rihanna became the first person to headline a Super Bowl halftime show while pregnant, revealing her pregnancy during the performance. Later that year, she gave birth to her and ASAP Rocky's second son. She voiced Smurfette in the animated adventure comedy film Smurfs (2025), which was critically panned. Later that year, Rihanna gave birth to her and ASAP Rocky's third child, a daughter.
Artistry
Music and voice
Rihanna is a mezzo-soprano with a vocal range spanning from B2 to C♯6. She began vocal training during the recording of Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) under the guidance of Ne-Yo, who taught her breathing techniques and vocal delivery. Critics have highlighted her versatility across different projects: James Skinner of the BBC described her performance on "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)" as "commanding, soulful and vulnerable", while Andy Gill of The Independent cited "California King Bed" as her strongest vocal performance. Billboard said that "Diamonds" showcased her "throatiest, most impassioned vocals", and Jon Caramanica of The New York Times wrote that her voice developed into "a weapon of emotional chill and strategic indifference". In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked her sixty-eighth on its list of the "200 Greatest Singers of All Time".
Rihanna's musical career has been characterized by experimentation, and she has stated her goal was "to make music that could be heard in parts of the world that I'd never been to". In Barbados, Rihanna drew early inspiration from reggae, soca, and hip-hop, and after relocating to the US, she was introduced to a wider variety of genres, including rock. Rihanna's early dancehall roots are evident on her first two albums, Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006). Music of the Sun demonstrates the influence of her Caribbean musical heritage; Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times called Rihanna "the latest singer to discover how versatile the genre's spring-loaded electronic rhythms can be". Aiming for artistic growth, A Girl Like Me expresses personal experiences that typical young adult women undergo, with ballads that were described as elegant and mature. Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) marked a departure from her Caribbean-influenced beginnings and is widely regarded as a turning point in her career, with uptempo dance-pop tracks like "Push Up on Me" and "Don't Stop the Music". The album's first half features strong 1980s pop influences, while the second half leans more toward traditional R&B.
Rihanna's rock-imbued record Rated R (2009), released after the assault by her then-boyfriend, Chris Brown, had a much darker tone and was filled with various emotions she experienced since then. With the dance-pop set Loud (2010), she reflected on the fun she had while recording the album, incorporating ballads, party anthems, and empowering love songs. On Talk That Talk (2011), Rihanna expanded on her dance-pop style while adopting a more overtly sexual persona and incorporating elements of R&B, hip-hop, dancehall, and dubstep. Loud and Talk That Talk saw her explore sexuality in her work ("S&M" and "Birthday Cake") and return to her dancehall roots ("Man Down" and "Watch n' Learn"). Vulnerability is explored on the pop and synth-pop record Unapologetic (2012), which Vulture described as an "act of defiance [...] to sort out her feelings about her [... ex-boyfriend Brown] and her public image". Anti (2016), created amidst creative struggles and emotional turmoil, incorporates lo-fi beats and eclectic influences such as soul and trap.
Influences
Rihanna has identified Madonna as her idol and primary inspiration. She expressed her aspiration to become the "Black Madonna" and commended her talent for continually reinventing herself throughout her career. Rihanna praised Madonna's ability to change her fashion and music repeatedly, while remaining a "real force in entertainment". She also named Mariah Carey as a major influence on her music and career. She recalled performing Carey's 1993 song "Hero" at her high school talent show. Rihanna also said that Carey's "Vision of Love" (1990) was the song that inspired her to pursue a career in music. After moving to the US, she was exposed to a wide range of musical genres, which she said had a profound effect on her. Rihanna identified Brandy's fourth album, Afrodisiac (2004), as a primary source of inspiration for her album Good Girl Gone Bad.
In her youth, Rihanna often watched Bob Marley on television due to his popularity in the Caribbean. She deemed him one of her all-time favorite artists, crediting him with "pav[ing] the way for every other artist out of the Caribbean". She created a shrine in her home dedicated to Marley and has performed covers of both "Is This Love" (1978) and "Redemption Song" (1980) during her concert tours. As a child, she sang Whitney Houston songs and "A Whole New World" (1992) into her hairbrush so frequently that her neighbors started calling her "Robyn Redbreast". She also mentioned that one of the earliest songs she developed an affection for was Houston's rendition of "I Will Always Love You" (1992). She credits that song with sparking her passion for music and partly attributes her presence in the industry to Houston. Rihanna was also influenced by artists such as Janet Jackson, Aaliyah, Beyoncé, Celine Dion, Grace Jones, Lil' Kim, Prince, and Brandy.
Videography and stage
Rihanna has worked with music video director Anthony Mandler on seventeen music videos, the first being "Unfaithful" (2006). Jocelyn Vena of MTV News observed that Rihanna often creates music videos that are thought-provoking and aligned with the themes of her songs. Jon Bream, writing for the Star Tribune, deemed her the video vixen of the 2000s, lauding her mastery of the pout, confident strut, and trend-setting hairstyles that draw attention from audiences on YouTube. InStyle's George Epaminondas described Rihanna's videos as cinematic and highlighted their island rhythms, pop sensibilities, and playful sensuality. Billboard ranked her eleventh on its list of "The 100 Greatest Music Video Artists of All Time" in 2020, stating that she "rarely shields her emotions, as she's always willing to unmask every side to her in her videos".
Many of her music videos were shot as short films exploring issues such as love triangles, abuse and substance abuse romance, including "We Found Love" and "Man Down". The former, portraying a turbulent, drug-fueled romance, was condemned by the Rape Crisis Centre for what it considered a troubling message. The latter, which depicts Rihanna shooting a man in a train station, drew criticism from the Parents Television Council. Charne Graham of the Houston Press defended her, asking, "Why should Rihanna's music videos get everyone riled up when others' equally sexual and controversial videos are in rotation? [... S]he just like[s] to make music videos that give us something to talk about." Her music video for "Umbrella" shows Rihanna's transition into adulthood and her newly adopted image. The "dark, creepy" scenes of "Disturbia" have been compared to Michael Jackson's Thriller. In 2013, Rihanna became the first woman to pass two billion cumulative views on YouTube.
Rihanna's concerts frequently incorporate elaborate staging and choreography. Critics have commended her stage presence and her experimental stage costumes. Billboard readers ranked Rihanna's 2008 MTV Video Music Awards performance of "Disturbia" the tenth-best in the show's history. Reviewing the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour, The Times compared her stage wardrobe to that of Janet Jackson and described her as "a vision of Ann Summers couture in thigh-high boots and a few scraps of black PVC". She described her performance identity as distinct from her real self, calling it "a part I play. You know, like it's a piece of art, with all these toys and textures to play with".
Public image
Rihanna has been described by the media as a pop and fashion icon, particularly since the release of Good Girl Gone Bad (2007). Known for her changing style and image, Rihanna's music and fashion choices have been closely followed by the media. In 2009, New York magazine described her early look as that of "a cookie-cutter teen queen" and praised her ability to shift appearances with ease. Around the time of her second album A Girl Like Me (2006), critics often compared her style and sound to that of Beyoncé. When asked about the comparisons, Rihanna told Look magazine that while she admired Beyoncé and felt honored to be mentioned alongside her, they were different performers with their own approaches. Speaking later with Oprah on Next Chapter, she explained that Def Jam's early attempts to mold her into a "pop princess" made her feel boxed in, saying the label had a clear image for her without first allowing her to find her own identity.
With the release of her third album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), Rihanna abandoned her innocent image in favor of a sharper, edgier style. Her bob haircut, which became emblematic of the era, was inspired by Charlize Theron's look in the film Æon Flux (2005). Nico Amarca of Highsnobiety later observed that Rihanna had undergone "one of the most significant aesthetic metamorphoses the world ha[d] ever seen". Her appearance and fashion have changed repeatedly since then, and each shift has often become associated with her artistic identity. Rihanna has credited her mother as the earliest inspiration for her love of fashion, recalling how she admired her getting dressed as a child. She has said that her own approach to style is about taking risks and finding unusual silhouettes. Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian called her wardrobe "the most talked-about, influential and dissected in pop", stating that whatever she wears is quickly reproduced in mainstream fashion.
Rihanna has been described by critics as having sex appeal. She is often labeled as a sex symbol, a label she has said is flattering but also uncomfortable. She has appeared on the cover of magazines such as Maxim, FHM, and Rolling Stone. In December 2012, Rihanna became the first woman featured on the cover of GQ's "Men of the Year" issue. She first attended the Met Gala in 2007 and has appeared several times since. Her 2015 appearance in a yellow Guo Pei gown drew massive attention online, generating over a billion impressions and inspiring a documentary, Yellow Is Forbidden (2018). Rihanna later co-chaired the 2018 gala, wearing Maison Margiela for the Heavenly Bodies theme. Through her fashion ventures, Rihanna has become one of the wealthiest musicians; in 2021, she became the richest female musician at the time, with a net worth of $1.7 billion. Forbes included her on its Celebrity 100 list in 2014, 2016, and 2017, and featured her on its list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women of 2019. Active on social media, she ranked atop Forbes' 2012 list of "Social Networking Superstars".
Achievements and impact
With estimated worldwide sales exceeding 250 million records as of 2023, Rihanna is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She has accumulated numerous awards and honors, including nine Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and thirteen American Music Awards. She was presented with the American Music Awards' Icon Award in 2013 and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. In 2012, she set a Guinness World Record as the best-selling digital artist in the US. In July 2015, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that Rihanna had surpassed 100 million gold and platinum song certifications. This made her the artist with the most digital single awards and the first performer to exceed RIAA's 100 million cumulative singles certification threshold.
Rihanna has fourteen number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, placing her third for the most chart-topping songs in its history. In August 2018, Billboard ranked Rihanna as the tenth-most successful Hot 100 artist of all time and it also named her the top Hot 100 artist of the 2010s. Rihanna has eight number-one singles on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, seven on the Airplay chart, and sixteen on the Rhythmic chart. In the US, Rihanna has sold more than ten million albums. She has also earned nine number-one songs on the UK Singles Chart and ranks second to the Beatles for the most million-selling singles in the country. She is the UK's third best-selling female artist of the 21st century, having sold seven million albums.
Billboard named Rihanna the "Greatest Pop Star" of 2007 and 2012. The publication also ranked her at number three on its list of the "Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century" (2024) and number two on its "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" (2025). Rolling Stone included her single "Umbrella" in its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and her album Anti amongst the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Time named her one of the most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2018. Her work has influenced artists such as Lorde, Sam Smith, Billie Eilish, Selena Gomez, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, Kim Petras, Marilyn Manson, Jessie J, SZA, and Demi Lovato.
Several wax figures of Rihanna are found at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums in major cities around the world. She has been honored with the title of Ambassador for Culture and Youth in Barbados. On February 22, 2008, Prime Minister David Thompson officially proclaimed "Rihanna Day" in Barbados, which—while not an official public holiday—is celebrated annually by locals in her honor. She was named "Humanitarian of the Year" by Harvard University's Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations in 2017. The Barbadian government appointed her as an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary on September 20, 2018, with the duty of promoting education, tourism, and investment on the island. At the 2020 NAACP Image Awards, Rihanna received the President's Award from Derrick Johnson. He highlighted her multifaceted career, "from her business achievements through Fenty to her tremendous record as an activist and philanthropist". Prime Minister Mia Mottley declared Rihanna a National Hero of Barbados during the Republic ceremony on November 30, 2021.
Other ventures
Rihanna has expanded into various business ventures and endorsements. In 2010, she featured in a Kodak advertisement alongside rapper Pitbull. That year, she released a photo book documenting the Last Girl on Earth tour, serving as a companion to her album Rated R (2009). In 2011, Rihanna was the face of Nivea and Vita Coco. Rihanna's first television program, Styled to Rock, premiered in the UK on Sky Living in August 2012. Over the ten-week series, she joined Nicola Roberts, Lysa Cooper, and Henry Holland to mentor emerging British designers on developing their clothing lines. The US adaptation of Styled to Rock debuted on Bravo in October 2013. In July 2013, Budweiser announced that Rihanna had joined their global Made For Music campaign, appearing alongside Jay-Z.
Business ventures
Rihanna's first fragrance, Reb'l Fleur, was released in January 2011. Rolling Stone deemed it a commercial success, projecting that it would generate US$80 million in retail sales by the end of the year. Her second fragrance, Rebelle, followed in December 2011. Director Anthony Mandler shot the promotional campaigns for both fragrances. In November 2012, she introduced her third fragrance, Nude. Her fourth women's scent, Rogue, debuted in September 2013; a men's version entitled Rogue Man launched in 2014. In 2013, Rihanna partnered with MAC Cosmetics to launch her own summer and fall makeup collections under the name RiRi Hearts MAC. In March 2015, Rihanna was announced as a co-owner of the music streaming platform Tidal, alongside several other artists. The service specializes in lossless audio and high-definition music videos. Including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, 16 artist stakeholders co-own Tidal, most of whom own a 3% equity stake. In 2016, it was confirmed that Rihanna would release her music through her own label, Westbury Road Entertainment, founded in 2005 and named after her childhood home in Barbados.
In November 2015, Rihanna partnered with Benoit Demouy to launch Fr8me, a Los Angeles-based beauty and stylist agency supporting artists with commercial bookings, photo shoots, campaigns, and red-carpet appearances. She also established a photography agency, A Dog Ate My Homework, representing photographers Erik Asla and Deborah Anderson. Early in her career, Rihanna expressed a strong interest in fashion and a desire to pursue clothing design, calling the former her "defense mechanism". In November 2011, she launched her first fashion venture in collaboration with Armani. By February 2013, she debuted her first women's fashion collection at London Fashion Week for the British brand River Island, working closely with her personal stylist, Adam Selman. Together, they released three additional collections for the brand. Rihanna went on to collaborate with numerous fashion houses, including Dior, Stance, and Manolo Blahnik. In March 2015, she became the first Black woman to be named the new face of Dior.
In 2014, Rihanna was named creative director of Puma's women's line, overseeing both apparel and footwear collaborations. The following year, she launched her first sneaker with the brand, which sold out online within three hours of its pre-sale. Over the next two years, she released a variety of footwear in different styles and colorways, all receiving positive responses from critics and consumers alike. In 2016, Rihanna debuted her first clothing line with Puma at New York Fashion Week, which was commercially successful, earning the company over $1 billion.
Fenty
In 2017, Rihanna launched her cosmetics line Fenty Beauty through LVMH's Kendo division, holding a 50% ownership stake. The $10 million partnership produced a wide range of beauty products, with the first collection released on September 8, 2017, in stores and online across more than 150 countries. It included an array of products including foundations, highlighters, bronzers, blush compacts, lip glosses, and blotting sheets, and was praised for offering shades that catered to all skin tones. Time named Fenty Beauty one of "The 25 Best Inventions of 2017", commending its inclusivity. The brand sparked what became known as the "Fenty Effect", as cosmetic companies across the industry began to expand their shade ranges to better serve diverse skin tones, with forty shades becoming the benchmark.
In 2018, Rihanna launched the lingerie brand Savage X Fenty, designed as an inclusive label offering products in a wide range of shades and sizes. The line debuted at New York Fashion Week in September 2018 and was praised for its diversity, particularly for featuring plus-size models, though some critics felt larger sizes were still underrepresented. In September 2019, Savage X Fenty returned to New York Fashion Week with a show at the Barclays Center, featuring models such as Joan Smalls, Bella Hadid, and Cara Delevingne. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video that month as the Savage X Fenty Show, and was renewed as Vol. 2 in October 2020, Vol. 3 in September 2021, and Vol. 4 in November 2022.
Rihanna launched the fashion brand Fenty under luxury group LVMH in May 2019. She became the first woman to create an original brand for LVMH and the first woman of color to lead one of its houses. The line debuted in a Paris pop-up on May 22 before a worldwide online release seven days later, featuring clothing, accessories, and footwear. It was LVMH's first new fashion house since 1987. In February 2021, amid the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rihanna and LVMH agreed to suspend the brand and focus on expanding the Savage X Fenty lingerie line. In July 2020, Rihanna introduced Fenty Skin, a skin care line debuting with a cleanser, toning serum, and moisturizer-sunscreen, designed to be gender-neutral and inclusive of all skin tones. In June 2024, she launched the hair care brand Fenty Hair, offering products formulated to suit all hair types, textures, and routines.
Rihanna exclusively uses her surname for ventures outside of music to keep her business and artistic identities separate. In January 2019, Rihanna filed a lawsuit against her father, Ronald Fenty, over the use of the Fenty name for commercial purposes. The lawsuit alleged that Rihanna's cosmetics brand, Fenty Beauty, was damaged commercially by her father's company, Fenty Entertainment, through misrepresentation of his company being affiliated with her. She dropped the lawsuit in September 2021.
Philanthropy
In 2006, Rihanna founded the Believe Foundation to support terminally ill children. In February 2008, she joined other public figures in designing clothing for H&M's Fashion Against AIDS campaign to raise awareness and combat HIV/AIDS. That same year, she performed a series of charity concerts called A Girl's Night Out to benefit the Believe Foundation. The events were free to the public, with funds from sponsors and advertisers directed toward providing medical supplies, school materials, and toys to children in need. In September 2008, Rihanna joined fifteen other female artists to record and perform the song "Just Stand Up!" during the Stand Up to Cancer television special. Proceeds from the single supported the fundraiser, which ultimately helped raise $100 million for cancer research.
Rihanna founded the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) in 2012, named after her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite. The foundation funds groundbreaking education and emergency preparedness and response programs worldwide. The CLF frequently hosted Diamond Ball charity fundraiser events. The inaugural event in 2014 raised over $2 million, and the second raised over $3 million. In February 2012, Rihanna performed a benefit show at the House of Blues to raise money for the Children's Orthopaedic Center and the Mark Taper-Johnny Mercer Artists Program at Children's Hospital. In December, Rihanna gave a $100,000 food bank donation for Hurricane Sandy. In January 2014, Rihanna was part of the MAC Viva Glam campaign, which benefits women, men and children living with HIV/AIDS.
In March 2020, Rihanna donated $5 million to COVID-19 relief and followed that up with additional donations of personal protective equipment to the state of New York and an offer of $700,000 worth of ventilators to her home country Barbados. The next month, Rihanna donated $2.1 million—matching Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for a total of $4.2 million—to provide support and resources to individuals and children suffering from domestic violence amidst the lockdown. In January 2022, Rihanna, through the CLF, donated $15 million to eighteen climate justice organizations across seven Caribbean nations and the US.
Advocacy
During her set at the NCAA March Madness Music Festival in February 2016, Rihanna voiced her opposition to Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which permits companies and individuals to cite religious beliefs as a defense when accused of discrimination against LGBT people. Rihanna appeared alongside other celebrities in the online video "23 Ways You Could Be Killed If You Are Black in America" (2016), released in partnership with the We Are Here Movement to raise awareness about police brutality.
In January 2017, Rihanna participated in the Women's March in New York, which took place amongst protests the day after US President Donald Trump's inauguration. She later criticized Trump's immigration policies—particularly Executive Order 13769, which sought to bar entry from several Muslim-majority countries—as well as his response to the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. In October 2019, she stated that she declined to perform at the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show in support of Colin Kaepernick following the controversy surrounding his role in the national anthem protests. In February 2021, Rihanna voiced her support for the Indian farmers' protest against the farm bills on Twitter.
In 2022, Rihanna advocated for reforming the global financial system to better address climate change and poverty, including providing aid to nations most affected by climate-related crises. In 2024, Rihanna endorsed Kamala Harris during the US presidential election.
Discography
Music of the Sun (2005)
A Girl Like Me (2006)
Good Girl Gone Bad (2007)
Rated R (2009)
Loud (2010)
Talk That Talk (2011)
Unapologetic (2012)
Anti (2016)
Filmography
Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006)
Battleship (2012)
This Is the End (2013)
Home (2015)
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Ocean's 8 (2018)
Guava Island (2019)
Smurfs (2025)
Tours
As a headliner
Rihanna: Live in Concert (2006)
Good Girl Gone Bad Tour (2007–2009)
Last Girl on Earth Tour (2010–2011)
Loud Tour (2011)
Diamonds World Tour (2013)
Anti World Tour (2016)
As a co-headliner
The Monster Tour (with Eminem) (2014)
Promotional tours
A Girl's Night Out (2008; a series of charity concerts to benefit the "Believe Foundation")
777 Tour (2012; in support of her seventh studio album Unapologetic)
See also
Culture of Barbados
Music of Barbados
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones
Notes
References
Print sources
Affuso, Elizabeth; Scott, Suzanne (2023). Sartorial Fandom. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-90338-2.
Finley, Laura L. (2018). Violence in Popular Culture. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4408-5433-0.
Ghadar, Fariborz (2022). The Danger of Devaluing Immigrants. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4408-7934-0.
Goldsmith, Melissa Ursula Dawn; Fonseca, Anthony J. (2018). Hip Hop Around the World. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-313-35759-6.
Govan, Chloe (2011). Rihanna: Rebel Flower. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-744-0.
Heatley, Michael; Betts, Graham (2012). Rihanna: Bad Girl. Flame Tree Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85775-275-8.
Herringshaw, DeAnn (2014). Rihanna: Grammy-Winning Superstar. ABDO Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-62968-025-5.
LaBennett, Oneka (2024). Global Guyana. NYU Press. ISBN 978-1-4798-2702-2.
Little, Clare Douglass (2020). Makeup in the World of Beauty Vlogging. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-9787-9547-1.
Madden, Emma (2025). Eternal Goth. Castle Books. ISBN 978-1-57715-526-3.
Miller, Donald C. (2018). Coming of Age in Popular Culture. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4408-4061-6.
Muehlhoff, Tim (October 18, 2010). Marriage Forecasting. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-6825-4.
Novic, Sara (2019). America Is Immigrants. Random House. ISBN 978-1-9848-1983-3.
Oliver, Sarah (2011). Rihanna. Bonnier Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84358-423-0.
Perricone, Kathleen (2025). Rihanna Is Life. Quarto Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7603-9497-7.
Seabrook, John (2015). The Song Machine. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4481-9101-7.
Tracy, Kathleen A. (2013). Superstars of the 21st Century. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 979-8-216-15169-2.
Vesey, Alyxandra (2024). Extending Play. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-008563-6.
Weidhase, Nathalie (2024). Pop & Postfeminism. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-15803-0.
External links
Official website
Rihanna at AllMusic
Rihanna at IMDb
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Anderson Cooper
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Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator who anchors the CNN news broadcast show Anderson Cooper 360°. In addition to his duties at CNN, Cooper serves as a correspondent for 60 Minutes, produced by CBS News. After graduating from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1989, he began traveling the world, shooting footage of war-torn regions for Channel One News. Cooper was hired by ABC News as a correspondent in 1995, but he soon took more jobs throughout the network, working for a short time as a co-anchor, reality game show host, and fill-in morning talk show host.
In 2001, Cooper joined CNN, where he was given his own show, Anderson Cooper 360°; he has remained the show's host since. He developed a reputation for his on-the-ground reporting of breaking news events, with his coverage of Hurricane Katrina causing his popularity to sharply increase. For his coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Cooper received a National Order of Honour and Merit, the highest honor granted by the Haitian government. From September 2011 to May 2013, he also served as the host of his own syndicated television daytime talk show, Anderson Live.
Cooper has won 18 Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards, as well as an Edward Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club in 2011. A member of the Vanderbilt family, he came out as gay in 2012, becoming "the most prominent gay journalist on American television". In 2016, Cooper became the first LGBT person to moderate a presidential debate, and he has received several GLAAD Media Awards.
Early life and education
Cooper was born in Manhattan, New York City, the younger son of writer Wyatt Emory Cooper and artist Gloria Vanderbilt. His maternal grandparents were millionaire equestrian Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt of the Vanderbilt family and socialite Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and Reginald's patrilineal great-grandfather was business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who founded the prominent Vanderbilt shipping and railroad fortune. He has two older half-brothers, Leopold Stanislaus "Stan" Stokowski (b. 1950) and Christopher Stokowski (b. 1952), from Gloria's ten-year marriage to conductor Leopold Stokowski. In 2014, Cooper appeared in Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Finding Your Roots, where he learned of an ancestor, Burwell Boykin, who was a slave owner from the southern United States.
Cooper's media experience began early. As a baby, he was photographed by Diane Arbus for Harper's Bazaar. At the age of three, Cooper was a guest on The Tonight Show on September 17, 1970, appearing with his mother. At the age of nine, he appeared on To Tell the Truth as an impostor. From age 10 to 13, Cooper modeled with Ford Models for Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Macy's.
Wyatt experienced a series of heart attacks while undergoing open-heart surgery, and died January 5, 1978, at the age of 50. Cooper considers his father's book Families to be "sort of a guide on... how he would have wanted me to live my life and the choices he would have wanted me to make. And so I feel very connected to him."
When Cooper was 21, his older brother, Carter Vanderbilt Cooper, died by suicide on July 22, 1988, at age 23, by jumping from the 14th-floor terrace of Vanderbilt's New York City penthouse apartment. Gloria Vanderbilt later wrote about her son's death in the book A Mother's Story, in which she expressed her belief that the suicide was caused by a psychotic episode induced by an allergy to the anti-asthma prescription drug salbutamol. Carter's suicide sparked Anderson's interest in journalism:
Loss is a theme that I think a lot about, and it's something in my work that I dwell on. I think when you experience any kind of loss, especially the kind I did, you have questions about survival: Why do some people thrive in situations that others can't tolerate? Would I be able to survive and get on in the world on my own?
Cooper attended the Dalton School, a private co-educational day school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. At age 17, after graduating from Dalton a semester early, Cooper traveled around Africa for several months on a "survival trip". He contracted malaria on the trip and was hospitalized in Kenya. Describing the experience, Cooper wrote "Africa was a place to forget and be forgotten in." Cooper attended Yale University, where he resided in Trumbull College and was a coxswain on the lightweight rowing team. He was inducted into the Manuscript Society and majored in political science, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1989.
Career
Early career
During college, Cooper spent two summers as an intern at the Central Intelligence Agency while studying political science. He pursued journalism with no formal journalistic education. He is a self-proclaimed "news junkie since [he] was in utero".
Channel One
After Cooper graduated from Yale, he tried to gain entry-level employment with ABC answering telephones, but was unsuccessful. Finding it hard to get his foot in the door of on-air reporting, Cooper decided to enlist the help of a friend in making a fake press pass. At the time, Cooper was working as a fact checker for the small news agency Channel One, which produces a youth-oriented news program that is broadcast to many junior high and high schools in the United States. Cooper then entered Myanmar on his own with his forged press pass and met with students fighting the Burmese government.
After reporting from Myanmar, Cooper lived in Vietnam for a year to study the Vietnamese language at the University of Hanoi. Persuading Channel One to allow him to bring a Hi8 camera with him, Cooper began filming and assembling reports of Vietnamese life and culture that aired on Channel One. In 1992, he filmed stories from Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda.
After having been on such assignments for a couple of years, Cooper realized in 1994 that he had slowly become desensitized to the violence he was witnessing around him; the horrors of the Rwandan genocide became trivial: "I would see a dozen bodies and think, you know, it's a dozen, it's not so bad." One particular incident, however, snapped him out of it:
On the side of the road [Cooper] came across five bodies that had been in the sun for several days. The skin of a woman's hand was peeling off like a glove. Revealing macabre fascination, Cooper whipped out his disposable camera and took a closeup photograph for his personal album. As he did, someone took a photo of him. Later that person showed Cooper the photo, saying, "You need to take a look at what you were doing." "And that's when I realized I've got to stop, [...] I've got to report on some state fairs or a beauty pageant or something, to just, like, remind myself of some perspective."
ABC
In 1995, Cooper became a correspondent for ABC News, eventually rising to the position of co-anchor on its overnight World News Now program on September 21, 1999. In 2000, he switched career paths, taking a job as the host of ABC's reality show The Mole:
My last year at ABC, I was working overnights anchoring this newscast, then during the day at 20/20. So I was sleeping in two- or four-hour shifts, and I was really tired and wanted a change. I wanted to clear my head and get out of news a little bit, and I was interested in reality TV—and it was interesting.
Cooper was also a fill-in co-host for Regis Philbin on Live with Regis and Kelly in 2007 when Philbin underwent triple-bypass heart surgery. As of 2019, he still periodically serves as guest co-host on Live when one of the two hosts cannot go in to work.
CNN
Cooper left The Mole after its second season to return to broadcast news. In 2001, he joined CNN, commenting, "Two seasons was enough, and 9/11 happened, and I thought I needed to be getting back to news." His first position at CNN was to anchor alongside Paula Zahn on American Morning. In 2002, he became CNN's weekend prime-time anchor. Since 2002, he has hosted CNN's New Year's Eve special from Times Square.
Anderson Cooper 360°
On September 8, 2003, Cooper became the anchor of Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN. Describing his philosophy as an anchor, he has said:
I think the notion of traditional anchor is fading away, the all-knowing, all-seeing person who speaks from on high. I don't think the audience really buys that anymore. As a viewer, I know I don't buy it. I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know, and talk about what you do know, and talk about what you don't know as long as you say you don't know it. I tend to relate more to people on television who are just themselves, for good or for bad, than I do to someone who I believe is putting on some sort of persona. The anchorman on The Simpsons is a reasonable facsimile of some anchors who have that problem.
In 2005, Cooper covered the tsunami damage in Sri Lanka; the Cedar Revolution in Beirut, Lebanon; the death of Pope John Paul II; and the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. In August 2005, he covered the Niger famine from Maradi.
In 2005, during CNN coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he confronted Sen. Mary Landrieu, Sen. Trent Lott, and the Reverend Jesse Jackson about their perception of the government response. As Cooper said later in an interview with New York magazine, "Yeah, I would prefer not to be emotional and I would prefer not to get upset, but it's hard not to when you're surrounded by brave people who are suffering and in need." A contributor to Broadcasting & Cable magazine wrote: "In its aftermath, Hurricane Katrina served to usher in a new breed of emo-journalism, skyrocketing CNN's Anderson Cooper to superstardom as CNN's golden boy and a darling of the media circles because of his impassioned coverage of the storm."
In September 2005, the format of CNN's NewsNight was changed from 60 to 120 minutes to cover the unusually violent hurricane season. To help distribute some of the increased workload, Cooper was temporarily added as co-anchor to Aaron Brown. This arrangement was reported to have been made permanent the same month by the president of CNN's U.S. operations, Jonathan Klein, who has called Cooper "the anchorperson of the future". Following the addition of Cooper, the ratings for NewsNight increased significantly; Klein remarked that "[Cooper's] name has been on the tip of everyone's tongue." To further capitalize on this, Klein announced a major programming shakeup on November 2, 2005. Cooper's 360° program would be expanded to two hours and shifted into the 10:00 pm ET slot formerly held by NewsNight, with the third hour of Wolf Blitzer's The Situation Room filling in Cooper's former 7:00 pm ET slot. With "no options" left for him to host shows, Aaron Brown left CNN, ostensibly having "mutually agreed" with Jonathan Klein on the matter.
In early 2007, Cooper signed a multi-year deal with CNN that would allow him to continue as a contributor to 60 Minutes, as well as doubling his salary from $2 million annually to a reported $4 million.
The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper
On April 16, 2023, CNN launched a new Sunday primetime series, The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper.
CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute
In 2007, he began hosting CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, a show about extraordinary deeds by ordinary people.
Planet in Peril documentary
In October 2007, Cooper began hosting the documentary Planet in Peril with Sanjay Gupta and Jeff Corwin on CNN. In 2008, Cooper, Gupta, and Lisa Ling from National Geographic Explorer teamed up for a sequel, Planet in Peril: Battle Lines, which premiered in December 2008.
Syndicated talk show: Anderson Live
In September 2010, Warner Bros. and Telepictures (both corporate siblings of CNN) announced that Cooper had signed an agreement to host a nationally syndicated talk show. The journalist Brian Stelter (at the time employed by The New York Times, and now by CNN), reported on Twitter that the new Warner Bros. daytime talk show would be named Anderson (now titled Anderson Live). The show premiered on September 12, 2011, and as part of negotiations over the talk show deal, Cooper signed a new multi-year contract with CNN to continue as the host of Anderson Cooper 360°. On October 29, 2012, it was announced that Anderson Live would end at the conclusion of its second season. The show, slightly renamed after season one and revamped with a variety of co-hosts, failed to achieve the ratings distributor Warner Brothers hoped for. The final Anderson Live aired on May 30, 2013.
2016 presidential debates
Along with Martha Raddatz, Cooper moderated the second presidential election debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. This made him the first LGBT person to moderate a presidential debate in the general election.
New Year's Eve
In 2017, Cooper's close friend, Andy Cohen, joined Cooper in succeeding Kathy Griffin as co-host of CNN's New Year's Eve coverage. They again co-hosted CNN's New Year's Eve for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
60 Minutes
Cooper has been a correspondent for the CBS News program 60 Minutes since 2007, while concurrently serving as a CNN anchor and correspondent.
Other work
AC2
Andy Cohen and Cooper announced that they would be going on a national tour to perform their conversational stage show AC2 beginning in March 2015. The tour opened in Boston, followed by Miami Beach, Chicago and Atlanta. The idea for the show came about after Cooper interviewed Cohen about his then-latest book, The Andy Cohen Diaries, at an event at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Since then, the two-man show has continued to tour, reaching more than fifty cities as of October 2018.
Broadway
Cooper was the narrator for the 2011 Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, directed by Rob Ashford and starring Daniel Radcliffe.
Writings
A freelance writer, Cooper has authored a variety of articles that have appeared in many other outlets, including Details magazine.
In May 2006, Cooper published a memoir for HarperCollins, Dispatches from the Edge, detailing his life and work in Sri Lanka, Africa, Iraq and Louisiana over the previous year. Some of the book's proceeds are donated to charity. The book topped The New York Times Best Seller list on June 18, 2006.
In 2017, Cooper and his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, co-authored The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss. Compiled from a series of emails, the memoir recounts their shared past, and Vanderbilt's tumultuous childhood. Cooper said his goal in writing the book and correspondence was to leave "nothing left unsaid" between the pair. It landed on multiple best-seller lists the year of its publication.
Jeopardy!
From April 19 to 30, 2021 Cooper served as a guest host on Jeopardy! following the death of Alex Trebek.
Podcast: All There Is
In 2022, Cooper launched a deeply personal podcast exploring grief and loss. On the show, he interviews other notable people on their experiences with grief. Guests have included TV host Stephen Colbert, musician Laurie Anderson and comedian Molly Shannon. The inspiration for the podcast came from his own life. Reflecting on the loss of his father when he was 10, the loss of his brother to suicide at 21, and the more recent loss of his mother Gloria Vanderbilt, he said "What has struck me is the degree to which I had not dealt with this stuff at all." He shared that he wanted to explore this universal human experience. "I just felt like, 'Why am I so alone in this? This is something we all go through.' And this idea gave me great strength, that I'm on a road that has been traveled by everybody, in one form or another. Why every time somebody is going down this road should it feel like the first time?"
Cooper won a 2023 Webby Award for Best Series for All There Is. His 5-word acceptance speech was "All There Is, Is Love."
Personal life
As of 2016, Cooper was not registered to any political party. In 2008, Cooper told Oprah Winfrey he had dyslexia as a child.
Cooper played Dungeons & Dragons with his brother as a child. He later said that it gave him and his brother an escape from the grief of their father's death.
Cooper is gay; as of 2012, he was (according to The New York Times) "the most prominent openly gay journalist on American television". For years, Cooper avoided discussing his private life in interviews. On July 2, 2012, however, he gave Andrew Sullivan permission to publish an email that stated, in part:
I've begun to consider whether the unintended outcomes of maintaining my privacy outweigh personal and professional principle. It's become clear to me that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something—something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid. This is distressing because it is simply not true. ... The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn't be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.
In 2014, Apple CEO Tim Cook sought Cooper's advice before making the decision to publicly come out as gay.
In 2014, Cooper and his long-term partner at the time, Benjamin Maisani, purchased Rye House, a historic estate in Connecticut. In March 2018, Cooper confirmed that he and Maisani had split up.
Cooper was friends with Anthony Bourdain, celebrity chef and host of the CNN series Parts Unknown. After Bourdain died by suicide on June 8, 2018, Cooper paid tribute to him in a CNN special program, Remembering Anthony Bourdain. Cooper also paid tribute to Bourdain on the Thanksgiving 2020 episode of Anderson Cooper Full Circle, saying that he was "proud to call Anthony Bourdain a friend", and adding: "He is so, so missed by so many."
In 2021, Cooper and co-author Katherine Howe published Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty, a history of the Vanderbilt family going back to his Vanderbilt ancestors who came to New Amsterdam in the 17th century.
Children
On April 30, 2020, Cooper announced the birth of his son Wyatt Morgan Cooper by a surrogate on April 27. "On Monday I became a father. I've never said that out loud and it astonishes me. I have a son," he said at the end of a CNN Town Hall on his show, Anderson Cooper 360°. He also went on to make an announcement on Instagram, stating that "Wyatt Morgan Cooper was born on Monday weighing 7 pounds 2 ounces [3.2 kilograms]."
Though Cooper and Benjamin Maisani are no longer romantically involved, the pair co-parent the child and Maisani was present in the delivery room for Wyatt's birth. Wyatt is named after Cooper's late father, Wyatt Cooper, and his middle name is derived from the Morgan side of his family, being the maiden name of his maternal grandmother Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt.
On February 10, 2022, Cooper announced at the beginning of his show on CNN that he had just become a father for a second time to a son named Sebastian Luke Maisani-Cooper. Maisani is in the process of adopting Cooper's son Wyatt, after which Wyatt's surname will become Maisani-Cooper.
Awards
Cooper helped lead CNN's Peabody Award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and the network's Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award-winning coverage of the 2004 tsunami. He has won 18 Emmy Awards, including two for his coverage of the earthquake in Haiti, and an Edward R. Murrow Award.
Other awards
Silver Plaque from the Chicago International Film Festival for his report from Sarajevo on the Bosnian War
Bronze Award from the National Education Film and Video Festival for a report on political Islam
Career timeline
1999–2000: World News Now co-anchor
2001–2002: The Mole host
2002–present: New Year's Eve Live co-anchor on CNN and CNN International
2003–present: Anderson Cooper 360° anchor
2005: NewsNight co-anchor
2007–present: 60 Minutes correspondent
2011–2013: Anderson Live
2021: Jeopardy! guest host
Filmography
Chappie (2015)
The 33 (2015)
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Books
Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival (Harper Perennial, 2006). ISBN 978-0061451515.
The Rainbow Comes and Goes (Harper Perennial, 2016). ISBN 978-0062454942.
Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty. Hardcover – September 21, 2021 ISBN 0062964615
Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune. Harper – September 19, 2023 ISBN 978-0062964700
See also
LGBT culture in New York City
List of LGBT people from New York City
New Yorkers in journalism
References
External links
Anderson Cooper 360° Blog
CNN: Anchors & Reporters: Anderson Cooper (profile)
Appearances on C-SPAN
Anderson Cooper on Charlie Rose
Anderson Cooper at IMDb
Anderson Cooper collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Anderson Cooper: The Silver Fox
Anderson Cooper at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
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Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator who anchors the CNN news broadcast show Anderson Cooper 360°. In addition to his duties at CNN, Cooper serves as a correspondent for 60 Minutes, produced by CBS News. After graduating from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1989, he began traveling the world, shooting footage of war-torn regions for Channel One News. Cooper was hired by ABC News as a correspondent in 1995, but he soon took more jobs throughout the network, working for a short time as a co-anchor, reality game show host, and fill-in morning talk show host.
In 2001, Cooper joined CNN, where he was given his own show, Anderson Cooper 360°; he has remained the show's host since. He developed a reputation for his on-the-ground reporting of breaking news events, with his coverage of Hurricane Katrina causing his popularity to sharply increase. For his coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Cooper received a National Order of Honour and Merit, the highest honor granted by the Haitian government. From September 2011 to May 2013, he also served as the host of his own syndicated television daytime talk show, Anderson Live.
Cooper has won 18 Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards, as well as an Edward Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club in 2011. A member of the Vanderbilt family, he came out as gay in 2012, becoming "the most prominent gay journalist on American television". In 2016, Cooper became the first LGBT person to moderate a presidential debate, and he has received several GLAAD Media Awards.
Early life and education
Cooper was born in Manhattan, New York City, the younger son of writer Wyatt Emory Cooper and artist Gloria Vanderbilt. His maternal grandparents were millionaire equestrian Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt of the Vanderbilt family and socialite Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and Reginald's patrilineal great-grandfather was business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who founded the prominent Vanderbilt shipping and railroad fortune. He has two older half-brothers, Leopold Stanislaus "Stan" Stokowski (b. 1950) and Christopher Stokowski (b. 1952), from Gloria's ten-year marriage to conductor Leopold Stokowski. In 2014, Cooper appeared in Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Finding Your Roots, where he learned of an ancestor, Burwell Boykin, who was a slave owner from the southern United States.
Cooper's media experience began early. As a baby, he was photographed by Diane Arbus for Harper's Bazaar. At the age of three, Cooper was a guest on The Tonight Show on September 17, 1970, appearing with his mother. At the age of nine, he appeared on To Tell the Truth as an impostor. From age 10 to 13, Cooper modeled with Ford Models for Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Macy's.
Wyatt experienced a series of heart attacks while undergoing open-heart surgery, and died January 5, 1978, at the age of 50. Cooper considers his father's book Families to be "sort of a guide on... how he would have wanted me to live my life and the choices he would have wanted me to make. And so I feel very connected to him."
When Cooper was 21, his older brother, Carter Vanderbilt Cooper, died by suicide on July 22, 1988, at age 23, by jumping from the 14th-floor terrace of Vanderbilt's New York City penthouse apartment. Gloria Vanderbilt later wrote about her son's death in the book A Mother's Story, in which she expressed her belief that the suicide was caused by a psychotic episode induced by an allergy to the anti-asthma prescription drug salbutamol. Carter's suicide sparked Anderson's interest in journalism:
Loss is a theme that I think a lot about, and it's something in my work that I dwell on. I think when you experience any kind of loss, especially the kind I did, you have questions about survival: Why do some people thrive in situations that others can't tolerate? Would I be able to survive and get on in the world on my own?
Cooper attended the Dalton School, a private co-educational day school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. At age 17, after graduating from Dalton a semester early, Cooper traveled around Africa for several months on a "survival trip". He contracted malaria on the trip and was hospitalized in Kenya. Describing the experience, Cooper wrote "Africa was a place to forget and be forgotten in." Cooper attended Yale University, where he resided in Trumbull College and was a coxswain on the lightweight rowing team. He was inducted into the Manuscript Society and majored in political science, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1989.
Career
Early career
During college, Cooper spent two summers as an intern at the Central Intelligence Agency while studying political science. He pursued journalism with no formal journalistic education. He is a self-proclaimed "news junkie since [he] was in utero".
Channel One
After Cooper graduated from Yale, he tried to gain entry-level employment with ABC answering telephones, but was unsuccessful. Finding it hard to get his foot in the door of on-air reporting, Cooper decided to enlist the help of a friend in making a fake press pass. At the time, Cooper was working as a fact checker for the small news agency Channel One, which produces a youth-oriented news program that is broadcast to many junior high and high schools in the United States. Cooper then entered Myanmar on his own with his forged press pass and met with students fighting the Burmese government.
After reporting from Myanmar, Cooper lived in Vietnam for a year to study the Vietnamese language at the University of Hanoi. Persuading Channel One to allow him to bring a Hi8 camera with him, Cooper began filming and assembling reports of Vietnamese life and culture that aired on Channel One. In 1992, he filmed stories from Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda.
After having been on such assignments for a couple of years, Cooper realized in 1994 that he had slowly become desensitized to the violence he was witnessing around him; the horrors of the Rwandan genocide became trivial: "I would see a dozen bodies and think, you know, it's a dozen, it's not so bad." One particular incident, however, snapped him out of it:
On the side of the road [Cooper] came across five bodies that had been in the sun for several days. The skin of a woman's hand was peeling off like a glove. Revealing macabre fascination, Cooper whipped out his disposable camera and took a closeup photograph for his personal album. As he did, someone took a photo of him. Later that person showed Cooper the photo, saying, "You need to take a look at what you were doing." "And that's when I realized I've got to stop, [...] I've got to report on some state fairs or a beauty pageant or something, to just, like, remind myself of some perspective."
ABC
In 1995, Cooper became a correspondent for ABC News, eventually rising to the position of co-anchor on its overnight World News Now program on September 21, 1999. In 2000, he switched career paths, taking a job as the host of ABC's reality show The Mole:
My last year at ABC, I was working overnights anchoring this newscast, then during the day at 20/20. So I was sleeping in two- or four-hour shifts, and I was really tired and wanted a change. I wanted to clear my head and get out of news a little bit, and I was interested in reality TV—and it was interesting.
Cooper was also a fill-in co-host for Regis Philbin on Live with Regis and Kelly in 2007 when Philbin underwent triple-bypass heart surgery. As of 2019, he still periodically serves as guest co-host on Live when one of the two hosts cannot go in to work.
CNN
Cooper left The Mole after its second season to return to broadcast news. In 2001, he joined CNN, commenting, "Two seasons was enough, and 9/11 happened, and I thought I needed to be getting back to news." His first position at CNN was to anchor alongside Paula Zahn on American Morning. In 2002, he became CNN's weekend prime-time anchor. Since 2002, he has hosted CNN's New Year's Eve special from Times Square.
Anderson Cooper 360°
On September 8, 2003, Cooper became the anchor of Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN. Describing his philosophy as an anchor, he has said:
I think the notion of traditional anchor is fading away, the all-knowing, all-seeing person who speaks from on high. I don't think the audience really buys that anymore. As a viewer, I know I don't buy it. I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know, and talk about what you do know, and talk about what you don't know as long as you say you don't know it. I tend to relate more to people on television who are just themselves, for good or for bad, than I do to someone who I believe is putting on some sort of persona. The anchorman on The Simpsons is a reasonable facsimile of some anchors who have that problem.
In 2005, Cooper covered the tsunami damage in Sri Lanka; the Cedar Revolution in Beirut, Lebanon; the death of Pope John Paul II; and the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. In August 2005, he covered the Niger famine from Maradi.
In 2005, during CNN coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he confronted Sen. Mary Landrieu, Sen. Trent Lott, and the Reverend Jesse Jackson about their perception of the government response. As Cooper said later in an interview with New York magazine, "Yeah, I would prefer not to be emotional and I would prefer not to get upset, but it's hard not to when you're surrounded by brave people who are suffering and in need." A contributor to Broadcasting & Cable magazine wrote: "In its aftermath, Hurricane Katrina served to usher in a new breed of emo-journalism, skyrocketing CNN's Anderson Cooper to superstardom as CNN's golden boy and a darling of the media circles because of his impassioned coverage of the storm."
In September 2005, the format of CNN's NewsNight was changed from 60 to 120 minutes to cover the unusually violent hurricane season. To help distribute some of the increased workload, Cooper was temporarily added as co-anchor to Aaron Brown. This arrangement was reported to have been made permanent the same month by the president of CNN's U.S. operations, Jonathan Klein, who has called Cooper "the anchorperson of the future". Following the addition of Cooper, the ratings for NewsNight increased significantly; Klein remarked that "[Cooper's] name has been on the tip of everyone's tongue." To further capitalize on this, Klein announced a major programming shakeup on November 2, 2005. Cooper's 360° program would be expanded to two hours and shifted into the 10:00 pm ET slot formerly held by NewsNight, with the third hour of Wolf Blitzer's The Situation Room filling in Cooper's former 7:00 pm ET slot. With "no options" left for him to host shows, Aaron Brown left CNN, ostensibly having "mutually agreed" with Jonathan Klein on the matter.
In early 2007, Cooper signed a multi-year deal with CNN that would allow him to continue as a contributor to 60 Minutes, as well as doubling his salary from $2 million annually to a reported $4 million.
The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper
On April 16, 2023, CNN launched a new Sunday primetime series, The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper.
CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute
In 2007, he began hosting CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, a show about extraordinary deeds by ordinary people.
Planet in Peril documentary
In October 2007, Cooper began hosting the documentary Planet in Peril with Sanjay Gupta and Jeff Corwin on CNN. In 2008, Cooper, Gupta, and Lisa Ling from National Geographic Explorer teamed up for a sequel, Planet in Peril: Battle Lines, which premiered in December 2008.
Syndicated talk show: Anderson Live
In September 2010, Warner Bros. and Telepictures (both corporate siblings of CNN) announced that Cooper had signed an agreement to host a nationally syndicated talk show. The journalist Brian Stelter (at the time employed by The New York Times, and now by CNN), reported on Twitter that the new Warner Bros. daytime talk show would be named Anderson (now titled Anderson Live). The show premiered on September 12, 2011, and as part of negotiations over the talk show deal, Cooper signed a new multi-year contract with CNN to continue as the host of Anderson Cooper 360°. On October 29, 2012, it was announced that Anderson Live would end at the conclusion of its second season. The show, slightly renamed after season one and revamped with a variety of co-hosts, failed to achieve the ratings distributor Warner Brothers hoped for. The final Anderson Live aired on May 30, 2013.
2016 presidential debates
Along with Martha Raddatz, Cooper moderated the second presidential election debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. This made him the first LGBT person to moderate a presidential debate in the general election.
New Year's Eve
In 2017, Cooper's close friend, Andy Cohen, joined Cooper in succeeding Kathy Griffin as co-host of CNN's New Year's Eve coverage. They again co-hosted CNN's New Year's Eve for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
60 Minutes
Cooper has been a correspondent for the CBS News program 60 Minutes since 2007, while concurrently serving as a CNN anchor and correspondent.
Other work
AC2
Andy Cohen and Cooper announced that they would be going on a national tour to perform their conversational stage show AC2 beginning in March 2015. The tour opened in Boston, followed by Miami Beach, Chicago and Atlanta. The idea for the show came about after Cooper interviewed Cohen about his then-latest book, The Andy Cohen Diaries, at an event at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Since then, the two-man show has continued to tour, reaching more than fifty cities as of October 2018.
Broadway
Cooper was the narrator for the 2011 Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, directed by Rob Ashford and starring Daniel Radcliffe.
Writings
A freelance writer, Cooper has authored a variety of articles that have appeared in many other outlets, including Details magazine.
In May 2006, Cooper published a memoir for HarperCollins, Dispatches from the Edge, detailing his life and work in Sri Lanka, Africa, Iraq and Louisiana over the previous year. Some of the book's proceeds are donated to charity. The book topped The New York Times Best Seller list on June 18, 2006.
In 2017, Cooper and his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, co-authored The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss. Compiled from a series of emails, the memoir recounts their shared past, and Vanderbilt's tumultuous childhood. Cooper said his goal in writing the book and correspondence was to leave "nothing left unsaid" between the pair. It landed on multiple best-seller lists the year of its publication.
Jeopardy!
From April 19 to 30, 2021 Cooper served as a guest host on Jeopardy! following the death of Alex Trebek.
Podcast: All There Is
In 2022, Cooper launched a deeply personal podcast exploring grief and loss. On the show, he interviews other notable people on their experiences with grief. Guests have included TV host Stephen Colbert, musician Laurie Anderson and comedian Molly Shannon. The inspiration for the podcast came from his own life. Reflecting on the loss of his father when he was 10, the loss of his brother to suicide at 21, and the more recent loss of his mother Gloria Vanderbilt, he said "What has struck me is the degree to which I had not dealt with this stuff at all." He shared that he wanted to explore this universal human experience. "I just felt like, 'Why am I so alone in this? This is something we all go through.' And this idea gave me great strength, that I'm on a road that has been traveled by everybody, in one form or another. Why every time somebody is going down this road should it feel like the first time?"
Cooper won a 2023 Webby Award for Best Series for All There Is. His 5-word acceptance speech was "All There Is, Is Love."
Personal life
As of 2016, Cooper was not registered to any political party. In 2008, Cooper told Oprah Winfrey he had dyslexia as a child.
Cooper played Dungeons & Dragons with his brother as a child. He later said that it gave him and his brother an escape from the grief of their father's death.
Cooper is gay; as of 2012, he was (according to The New York Times) "the most prominent openly gay journalist on American television". For years, Cooper avoided discussing his private life in interviews. On July 2, 2012, however, he gave Andrew Sullivan permission to publish an email that stated, in part:
I've begun to consider whether the unintended outcomes of maintaining my privacy outweigh personal and professional principle. It's become clear to me that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something—something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid. This is distressing because it is simply not true. ... The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn't be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.
In 2014, Apple CEO Tim Cook sought Cooper's advice before making the decision to publicly come out as gay.
In 2014, Cooper and his long-term partner at the time, Benjamin Maisani, purchased Rye House, a historic estate in Connecticut. In March 2018, Cooper confirmed that he and Maisani had split up.
Cooper was friends with Anthony Bourdain, celebrity chef and host of the CNN series Parts Unknown. After Bourdain died by suicide on June 8, 2018, Cooper paid tribute to him in a CNN special program, Remembering Anthony Bourdain. Cooper also paid tribute to Bourdain on the Thanksgiving 2020 episode of Anderson Cooper Full Circle, saying that he was "proud to call Anthony Bourdain a friend", and adding: "He is so, so missed by so many."
In 2021, Cooper and co-author Katherine Howe published Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty, a history of the Vanderbilt family going back to his Vanderbilt ancestors who came to New Amsterdam in the 17th century.
Children
On April 30, 2020, Cooper announced the birth of his son Wyatt Morgan Cooper by a surrogate on April 27. "On Monday I became a father. I've never said that out loud and it astonishes me. I have a son," he said at the end of a CNN Town Hall on his show, Anderson Cooper 360°. He also went on to make an announcement on Instagram, stating that "Wyatt Morgan Cooper was born on Monday weighing 7 pounds 2 ounces [3.2 kilograms]."
Though Cooper and Benjamin Maisani are no longer romantically involved, the pair co-parent the child and Maisani was present in the delivery room for Wyatt's birth. Wyatt is named after Cooper's late father, Wyatt Cooper, and his middle name is derived from the Morgan side of his family, being the maiden name of his maternal grandmother Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt.
On February 10, 2022, Cooper announced at the beginning of his show on CNN that he had just become a father for a second time to a son named Sebastian Luke Maisani-Cooper. Maisani is in the process of adopting Cooper's son Wyatt, after which Wyatt's surname will become Maisani-Cooper.
Awards
Cooper helped lead CNN's Peabody Award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and the network's Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award-winning coverage of the 2004 tsunami. He has won 18 Emmy Awards, including two for his coverage of the earthquake in Haiti, and an Edward R. Murrow Award.
Other awards
Silver Plaque from the Chicago International Film Festival for his report from Sarajevo on the Bosnian War
Bronze Award from the National Education Film and Video Festival for a report on political Islam
Career timeline
1999–2000: World News Now co-anchor
2001–2002: The Mole host
2002–present: New Year's Eve Live co-anchor on CNN and CNN International
2003–present: Anderson Cooper 360° anchor
2005: NewsNight co-anchor
2007–present: 60 Minutes correspondent
2011–2013: Anderson Live
2021: Jeopardy! guest host
Filmography
Chappie (2015)
The 33 (2015)
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Books
Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival (Harper Perennial, 2006). ISBN 978-0061451515.
The Rainbow Comes and Goes (Harper Perennial, 2016). ISBN 978-0062454942.
Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty. Hardcover – September 21, 2021 ISBN 0062964615
Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune. Harper – September 19, 2023 ISBN 978-0062964700
See also
LGBT culture in New York City
List of LGBT people from New York City
New Yorkers in journalism
References
External links
Anderson Cooper 360° Blog
CNN: Anchors & Reporters: Anderson Cooper (profile)
Appearances on C-SPAN
Anderson Cooper on Charlie Rose
Anderson Cooper at IMDb
Anderson Cooper collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Anderson Cooper: The Silver Fox
Anderson Cooper at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
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Brendan Fraser
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Brendan James Fraser ( FRAY-zər; born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor. Fraser had his breakthrough in 1992 with the comedy Encino Man and the drama School Ties. He gained further prominence for his starring roles in the comedies With Honors (1994) and George of the Jungle (1997) and emerged as a star playing Rick O'Connell in The Mummy trilogy (1999–2008). He took on dramatic roles in Gods and Monsters (1998), The Quiet American (2002), and Crash (2004), and further fantasy roles in Bedazzled (2000) and Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008).
Fraser's film work slowed from the late 2000s to mid-2010s due to poor box office performances, and various health and personal issues, including the fallout from a sexual assault committed against him in 2003 by Philip Berk, the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. In addition to films, Fraser branched into television with roles in the Showtime drama The Affair (2016–2017), the FX series Trust (2018), and the Max series Doom Patrol (2019–2023).
His film career was revitalized by roles in Steven Soderbergh's No Sudden Move (2021) and Darren Aronofsky's The Whale (2022). Fraser's starring role as a morbidly obese English teacher in the latter earned him critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor – the first time a Canadian had won it.
Early life and education
Fraser was born on December 3, 1968, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Canadian parents Carol Mary (née Généreux; 1937–2016) and Peter Fraser. He is the youngest of four siblings; his brothers are Kevin, Sean, and Regan. His mother was a sales counselor, and his father was a former journalist who worked as a Canadian foreign service officer for the Government Office of Tourism. His maternal uncle, George Genereux, was the only Canadian to win a gold medal in the 1952 Summer Olympics, at the Olympic Trap. Fraser and his three older brothers have Irish, Scottish, German, Czech, and French-Canadian ancestry. He holds dual American and Canadian citizenship.
Fraser's family moved often during his childhood, living in Eureka, California; Seattle, Washington; Ottawa, Ontario; the Netherlands; and Switzerland. His earlier years were spent attending a Montessori school in Detroit and the Sacred Heart School in Bellevue, Washington. He then attended Upper Canada College, a private boarding school in Toronto, from which he graduated in 1987.
While on vacation in London, England, in the 1970s, he attended his first professional theater-show, Oliver!, in the West End, which sparked his interest in acting. He also joined the chorus of a high-school musical production of Oklahoma!
Fraser graduated from Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts in 1990. He then began acting at a small acting college in New York City. Fraser had planned on studying toward a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Southern Methodist University, but after visiting Hollywood, he decided instead to move there to pursue work in film.
Career
1991–1996: Career beginnings
In 1991, Fraser made his film debut with a small role as a seaman headed to Vietnam in Dogfight. He got his first leading film role alongside Sean Astin and Pauly Shore in the 1992 comedy film Encino Man, where he played a frozen pre-historic caveman who is thawed out in the present day. The film was a moderate box office success and has gained a cult following. That same year he starred in School Ties with fellow rising actors Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris O'Donnell as a Jewish star quarterback confronting embedded anti-semitism in private prep school society.
Between 1994 and 1997, he starred in several box office failures such as With Honors (1994) with Joe Pesci, Airheads (1994) with Steve Buscemi & Adam Sandler, The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995), Mrs. Winterbourne (1996) and The Twilight of the Golds (1997). He also had a small part in the 1995 film Now and Then. He made cameo appearances in the Pauly Shore films Son in Law (1993) and In the Army Now (1994), reprising his Encino Man role.
Fraser performed at his first theatre production in 1995 at the Geffen Playhouse, taking on the role of Victor in John Patrick Shanley's Four Dogs and a Bone.
1997–2001: Global success
He had his first major box office success with the 1997 comedy film George of the Jungle which was based on the animated series of the same title created by Jay Ward.
Fraser received critical acclaim for his dramatic role in 1998's Gods and Monsters, which was based on the life of James Whale (Ian McKellen), who directed Frankenstein. The film was written and directed by Bill Condon, and follows the loss of creativity, ambiguous sexuality and the bond between a heterosexual gardener (played by Fraser) and a homosexual, tortured and ailing filmmaker (played by McKellen).
He achieved his biggest commercial success when he portrayed the lead adventurer Rick O'Connell in the fantasy adventure film The Mummy (1999) and its sequel The Mummy Returns (2001). The Mummy established him as one of the biggest film stars of the 1990s. In between these successes, he also starred in the box office bombs Dudley Do-Right (1999) (which was based on another Jay Ward animated series) and the stop-motion/live-action fantasy comedy Monkeybone (2001); though he did have moderate success with the romantic comedy Blast from the Past (1999) and the fantasy comedy Bedazzled (2000), a remake of the 1967 British film of the same name. He lent his voice for the unreleased animated film Big Bug Man, with Marlon Brando.
2001–2008: Dramatic and comedic roles
In late 2001, Fraser starred as "Brick" in the Pulitzer Prize winning play Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Anthony Page. Castmates included Ned Beatty, Frances O'Connor and Gemma Jones. The show closed on January 12, 2002, with Fraser garnering many excellent reviews. In 2002, he starred alongside Michael Caine in the political drama The Quiet American which was well received by critics. The following year, he starred in the live-action/animated film Looney Tunes: Back in Action as its human lead, D.J. Drake (he also voiced the Tasmanian Devil). In 2004, he appeared as part of an ensemble cast in the Academy Award-winning film Crash where he played the husband to Sandra Bullock's character as the District Attorney of Los Angeles.
He has also made guest appearances on the television shows Scrubs, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons. In March 2006, he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, the first American-born actor to receive the honor. However, as of 2022, he does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After a six-year hiatus in the franchise, Fraser returned for the second sequel to The Mummy released in August 2008 and titled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Filming started in Montreal on July 27, 2007, and the film also starred Jet Li as Emperor Han. That same year, he starred in the 3D film adaptation of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth and the fantasy film Inkheart (chosen personally for the lead role by the novel's author Cornelia Funke).
2009–2020: Setbacks and switch to television
In 2010, Fraser returned to Broadway in the production of Elling, but the play closed after one week, due to lackluster reviews. After appearing in the critically panned Furry Vengeance in 2010, Fraser moved from being represented by William Morris Endeavor to the Creative Artists Agency. In 2010, he starred in Whole Lotta Sole directed by Terry George and in 2011, he was set to play William Tell in The Legend of William Tell: 3D, directed by Eric Brevig, with whom Fraser had also worked in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Filming was delayed and late in 2011, Fraser sued the producer Todd Moyer for promised wages. Moyer later countersued for assault, which Fraser dismissed as [Moyer's] desperate attempt to avoid paying his debt. In 2013, he played an Elvis Presley impersonator in the ensemble black comedy Pawn Shop Chronicles.
In 2016, Fraser replaced Ray Liotta in the Bollywood thriller Line of Descent. Fraser later joined the recurring cast of the television drama series The Affair during season 3 where he portrayed the misery-minded prison guard Gunther. He portrayed Getty family fixer James Fletcher Chace in the FX anthology series Trust, which premiered on March 25, 2018. Fraser portrayed Clifford "Cliff" Steele / Robotman in the Titans TV series, with Jake Michaels physically portraying Robotman. He reprised the role in the spin-off series Doom Patrol, where he voices the character and appears as Steele in flashbacks; Riley Shanahan, replacing Jake Michaels in Titans, physically portrays Robotman.
His comeback after a period of relative inactivity was dubbed "The Brennaissance" by fans. In an interview on The Graham Norton Show, Fraser acknowledged the portmanteau.
2020–present: Career resurgence and critical acclaim
In September 2020, Fraser was cast as gangster Doug Jones in Steven Soderbergh's period crime film No Sudden Move, which was released in 2021. In January 2021, Fraser was announced as the lead in Darren Aronofsky's film The Whale. Aronofsky stated he had looked for the lead role in the movie for a decade, and decided to cast Fraser after seeing him in the trailer of the low-budget Brazilian film Journey to the End of the Night. "A light bulb went off, and I was like, 'Oh, that guy can do it'", he said.
The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2022. Fraser spoke on preparing for the role with The New York Times stating, "The Obesity Action Coalition gave me access to many people, so I could ask them their story on Zoom calls. I talked to maybe eight or 10 people — some bedridden, some perfectly mobile." Fraser's performance was highly praised and the film received a six-minute standing ovation at the festival and subsequently won him an Oscar for Best Actor. He became the first Canadian to win the best actor award.
In August of the same year, Fraser was announced as part of the cast of Martin Scorsese's film Killers of the Flower Moon, as well as Max Barbakow's comedy film Brothers. In October 2021, Fraser was cast to portray the villain Firefly in the superhero film Batgirl, set in the DC Extended Universe; the release of the film was canceled in August 2022 after a change in Warner Bros. studio priorities.
Fraser lent his voice to the audiodrama The Downloaded, written by Robert J. Sawyer, which was released in Autumn of 2023 as an Audible-exclusive audiobook. In December 2023, Fraser was a guest narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World. In July 2024, it was announced that Fraser would star as Dwight D. Eisenhower in Pressure.
Personal life
On July 4, 1993, shortly after he had arrived in Los Angeles, Fraser met his future wife, actress Afton Smith, at a barbecue at Winona Ryder's house. Smith also appeared as a minor cast member in Fraser's George of the Jungle film. They married on September 27, 1998, and have three sons together:
Griffin Arthur Fraser (b. 2002), Holden Fletcher Fraser (b. 2004), and Leland Francis Fraser (b. 2006). Holden and Leland are both fashion models signed with Marilyn Agency; in a 2018 interview with GQ, Fraser said that Griffin is on the autism spectrum.
In April 2007, Fraser and his wife sold their home in Beverly Hills, California for $3 million; in December of that year, Fraser's publicist announced that the couple had decided to divorce. Fraser was ordered to make monthly alimony payments of $50,000 for ten years or until Smith remarried, whichever came first, and monthly child support payments of $25,000. In early 2011, Fraser asked the court to reduce his alimony payments, asserting that he was unable to meet the annual obligation of $600,000; he did not contest the child support payments. In late 2011, Smith accused Fraser of fraudulently failing to disclose some of his financial assets, including contracts for two films: Extraordinary Measures and Furry Vengeance. In 2014, the court ruled against both Fraser's request for alimony reduction and Smith's fraud allegation. Both parents received public praise for being actively engaged in their sons’ lives. Smith has since turned from acting to book-writing and real estate.
As of February 2018, Fraser lives in Bedford, New York. Since September 2022, Fraser has been in a relationship with makeup artist Jeanne Moore. The couple made their red-carpet debut at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, and Fraser expressed his gratitude to Moore during his acceptance speech for the Oscar for Best Actor at the 95th Academy Awards.
Fraser also speaks French and serves on the board of directors for FilmAid International. He is an accomplished amateur photographer and has used several instant cameras in movies and on TV shows, most notably in his guest roles on Scrubs. In his first appearance, he used a Polaroid pack film, and in his second appearance, he used a Holga with a Polaroid back, a Japanese-only model. The book Collector's Guide to Instant Cameras includes a dedication to Fraser. He is also an accomplished amateur archer.
Health
In 2018, Fraser stated publicly that the physical demands of the stunts and maneuvers he had performed in his action and comedy roles had required him to undergo several surgeries over a period of seven years, including a partial knee replacement, a laminectomy, and vocal-cord surgery.
Sexual assault allegation against Philip Berk
In 2018, Fraser said publicly that, at a luncheon in 2003, he had been sexually assaulted by Philip Berk, the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the nonprofit organization that votes for the Golden Globe Awards. Berk described Fraser's account as a "total fabrication", but in his 2014 memoir, he acknowledged having groped Fraser "in jest". The stress he experienced from a succession of events, including his divorce, his health problems, the death of his mother, and making the alleged assault public, plunged Fraser into a major depression that led to a break in his career.
Several publications and social media users assumed that Fraser had been blacklisted from Hollywood because of his accusation against Berk. In the 2018 GQ article in which Fraser first made his allegation public, he said, "The phone does stop ringing in your career, and you start asking yourself why. There's many reasons, but was [my allegation] one of them? I think it was." However, in Fraser’s 2019 appearance on the radio show Sway in the Morning, he expressed a different view, saying, "I don't think the HFPA really wield that much power." In 2022, Fraser told GQ that if the HFPA nominated him for a Golden Globe that year for his most recent film, The Whale, he would "not participate" because of his "history" with the organization.
Philanthropy
Since 2018, Fraser has been a celebrity judge on the Dancing Stars of Greenwich annual charity gala which raises money for the non-profit organization Abilis, a local charity which supports more than 800 individuals and their families with disabilities in Fairfield County, Connecticut. His former wife, Afton Smith, also takes part in the dance competition. In 2022, Smith and Fraser received the Heart of Abilis Award for their support and fundraising work for the charity.
Credits
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Brendan Fraser - official site
Brendan Fraser at IMDb
Brendan Fraser best movies - blog (archive)
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Brendan James Fraser ( FRAY-zər; born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor. Fraser had his breakthrough in 1992 with the comedy Encino Man and the drama School Ties. He gained further prominence for his starring roles in the comedies With Honors (1994) and George of the Jungle (1997) and emerged as a star playing Rick O'Connell in The Mummy trilogy (1999–2008). He took on dramatic roles in Gods and Monsters (1998), The Quiet American (2002), and Crash (2004), and further fantasy roles in Bedazzled (2000) and Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008).
Fraser's film work slowed from the late 2000s to mid-2010s due to poor box office performances, and various health and personal issues, including the fallout from a sexual assault committed against him in 2003 by Philip Berk, the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. In addition to films, Fraser branched into television with roles in the Showtime drama The Affair (2016–2017), the FX series Trust (2018), and the Max series Doom Patrol (2019–2023).
His film career was revitalized by roles in Steven Soderbergh's No Sudden Move (2021) and Darren Aronofsky's The Whale (2022). Fraser's starring role as a morbidly obese English teacher in the latter earned him critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor – the first time a Canadian had won it.
Early life and education
Fraser was born on December 3, 1968, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Canadian parents Carol Mary (née Généreux; 1937–2016) and Peter Fraser. He is the youngest of four siblings; his brothers are Kevin, Sean, and Regan. His mother was a sales counselor, and his father was a former journalist who worked as a Canadian foreign service officer for the Government Office of Tourism. His maternal uncle, George Genereux, was the only Canadian to win a gold medal in the 1952 Summer Olympics, at the Olympic Trap. Fraser and his three older brothers have Irish, Scottish, German, Czech, and French-Canadian ancestry. He holds dual American and Canadian citizenship.
Fraser's family moved often during his childhood, living in Eureka, California; Seattle, Washington; Ottawa, Ontario; the Netherlands; and Switzerland. His earlier years were spent attending a Montessori school in Detroit and the Sacred Heart School in Bellevue, Washington. He then attended Upper Canada College, a private boarding school in Toronto, from which he graduated in 1987.
While on vacation in London, England, in the 1970s, he attended his first professional theater-show, Oliver!, in the West End, which sparked his interest in acting. He also joined the chorus of a high-school musical production of Oklahoma!
Fraser graduated from Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts in 1990. He then began acting at a small acting college in New York City. Fraser had planned on studying toward a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Southern Methodist University, but after visiting Hollywood, he decided instead to move there to pursue work in film.
Career
1991–1996: Career beginnings
In 1991, Fraser made his film debut with a small role as a seaman headed to Vietnam in Dogfight. He got his first leading film role alongside Sean Astin and Pauly Shore in the 1992 comedy film Encino Man, where he played a frozen pre-historic caveman who is thawed out in the present day. The film was a moderate box office success and has gained a cult following. That same year he starred in School Ties with fellow rising actors Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris O'Donnell as a Jewish star quarterback confronting embedded anti-semitism in private prep school society.
Between 1994 and 1997, he starred in several box office failures such as With Honors (1994) with Joe Pesci, Airheads (1994) with Steve Buscemi & Adam Sandler, The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995), Mrs. Winterbourne (1996) and The Twilight of the Golds (1997). He also had a small part in the 1995 film Now and Then. He made cameo appearances in the Pauly Shore films Son in Law (1993) and In the Army Now (1994), reprising his Encino Man role.
Fraser performed at his first theatre production in 1995 at the Geffen Playhouse, taking on the role of Victor in John Patrick Shanley's Four Dogs and a Bone.
1997–2001: Global success
He had his first major box office success with the 1997 comedy film George of the Jungle which was based on the animated series of the same title created by Jay Ward.
Fraser received critical acclaim for his dramatic role in 1998's Gods and Monsters, which was based on the life of James Whale (Ian McKellen), who directed Frankenstein. The film was written and directed by Bill Condon, and follows the loss of creativity, ambiguous sexuality and the bond between a heterosexual gardener (played by Fraser) and a homosexual, tortured and ailing filmmaker (played by McKellen).
He achieved his biggest commercial success when he portrayed the lead adventurer Rick O'Connell in the fantasy adventure film The Mummy (1999) and its sequel The Mummy Returns (2001). The Mummy established him as one of the biggest film stars of the 1990s. In between these successes, he also starred in the box office bombs Dudley Do-Right (1999) (which was based on another Jay Ward animated series) and the stop-motion/live-action fantasy comedy Monkeybone (2001); though he did have moderate success with the romantic comedy Blast from the Past (1999) and the fantasy comedy Bedazzled (2000), a remake of the 1967 British film of the same name. He lent his voice for the unreleased animated film Big Bug Man, with Marlon Brando.
2001–2008: Dramatic and comedic roles
In late 2001, Fraser starred as "Brick" in the Pulitzer Prize winning play Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Anthony Page. Castmates included Ned Beatty, Frances O'Connor and Gemma Jones. The show closed on January 12, 2002, with Fraser garnering many excellent reviews. In 2002, he starred alongside Michael Caine in the political drama The Quiet American which was well received by critics. The following year, he starred in the live-action/animated film Looney Tunes: Back in Action as its human lead, D.J. Drake (he also voiced the Tasmanian Devil). In 2004, he appeared as part of an ensemble cast in the Academy Award-winning film Crash where he played the husband to Sandra Bullock's character as the District Attorney of Los Angeles.
He has also made guest appearances on the television shows Scrubs, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons. In March 2006, he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, the first American-born actor to receive the honor. However, as of 2022, he does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After a six-year hiatus in the franchise, Fraser returned for the second sequel to The Mummy released in August 2008 and titled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Filming started in Montreal on July 27, 2007, and the film also starred Jet Li as Emperor Han. That same year, he starred in the 3D film adaptation of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth and the fantasy film Inkheart (chosen personally for the lead role by the novel's author Cornelia Funke).
2009–2020: Setbacks and switch to television
In 2010, Fraser returned to Broadway in the production of Elling, but the play closed after one week, due to lackluster reviews. After appearing in the critically panned Furry Vengeance in 2010, Fraser moved from being represented by William Morris Endeavor to the Creative Artists Agency. In 2010, he starred in Whole Lotta Sole directed by Terry George and in 2011, he was set to play William Tell in The Legend of William Tell: 3D, directed by Eric Brevig, with whom Fraser had also worked in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Filming was delayed and late in 2011, Fraser sued the producer Todd Moyer for promised wages. Moyer later countersued for assault, which Fraser dismissed as [Moyer's] desperate attempt to avoid paying his debt. In 2013, he played an Elvis Presley impersonator in the ensemble black comedy Pawn Shop Chronicles.
In 2016, Fraser replaced Ray Liotta in the Bollywood thriller Line of Descent. Fraser later joined the recurring cast of the television drama series The Affair during season 3 where he portrayed the misery-minded prison guard Gunther. He portrayed Getty family fixer James Fletcher Chace in the FX anthology series Trust, which premiered on March 25, 2018. Fraser portrayed Clifford "Cliff" Steele / Robotman in the Titans TV series, with Jake Michaels physically portraying Robotman. He reprised the role in the spin-off series Doom Patrol, where he voices the character and appears as Steele in flashbacks; Riley Shanahan, replacing Jake Michaels in Titans, physically portrays Robotman.
His comeback after a period of relative inactivity was dubbed "The Brennaissance" by fans. In an interview on The Graham Norton Show, Fraser acknowledged the portmanteau.
2020–present: Career resurgence and critical acclaim
In September 2020, Fraser was cast as gangster Doug Jones in Steven Soderbergh's period crime film No Sudden Move, which was released in 2021. In January 2021, Fraser was announced as the lead in Darren Aronofsky's film The Whale. Aronofsky stated he had looked for the lead role in the movie for a decade, and decided to cast Fraser after seeing him in the trailer of the low-budget Brazilian film Journey to the End of the Night. "A light bulb went off, and I was like, 'Oh, that guy can do it'", he said.
The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2022. Fraser spoke on preparing for the role with The New York Times stating, "The Obesity Action Coalition gave me access to many people, so I could ask them their story on Zoom calls. I talked to maybe eight or 10 people — some bedridden, some perfectly mobile." Fraser's performance was highly praised and the film received a six-minute standing ovation at the festival and subsequently won him an Oscar for Best Actor. He became the first Canadian to win the best actor award.
In August of the same year, Fraser was announced as part of the cast of Martin Scorsese's film Killers of the Flower Moon, as well as Max Barbakow's comedy film Brothers. In October 2021, Fraser was cast to portray the villain Firefly in the superhero film Batgirl, set in the DC Extended Universe; the release of the film was canceled in August 2022 after a change in Warner Bros. studio priorities.
Fraser lent his voice to the audiodrama The Downloaded, written by Robert J. Sawyer, which was released in Autumn of 2023 as an Audible-exclusive audiobook. In December 2023, Fraser was a guest narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World. In July 2024, it was announced that Fraser would star as Dwight D. Eisenhower in Pressure.
Personal life
On July 4, 1993, shortly after he had arrived in Los Angeles, Fraser met his future wife, actress Afton Smith, at a barbecue at Winona Ryder's house. Smith also appeared as a minor cast member in Fraser's George of the Jungle film. They married on September 27, 1998, and have three sons together:
Griffin Arthur Fraser (b. 2002), Holden Fletcher Fraser (b. 2004), and Leland Francis Fraser (b. 2006). Holden and Leland are both fashion models signed with Marilyn Agency; in a 2018 interview with GQ, Fraser said that Griffin is on the autism spectrum.
In April 2007, Fraser and his wife sold their home in Beverly Hills, California for $3 million; in December of that year, Fraser's publicist announced that the couple had decided to divorce. Fraser was ordered to make monthly alimony payments of $50,000 for ten years or until Smith remarried, whichever came first, and monthly child support payments of $25,000. In early 2011, Fraser asked the court to reduce his alimony payments, asserting that he was unable to meet the annual obligation of $600,000; he did not contest the child support payments. In late 2011, Smith accused Fraser of fraudulently failing to disclose some of his financial assets, including contracts for two films: Extraordinary Measures and Furry Vengeance. In 2014, the court ruled against both Fraser's request for alimony reduction and Smith's fraud allegation. Both parents received public praise for being actively engaged in their sons’ lives. Smith has since turned from acting to book-writing and real estate.
As of February 2018, Fraser lives in Bedford, New York. Since September 2022, Fraser has been in a relationship with makeup artist Jeanne Moore. The couple made their red-carpet debut at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, and Fraser expressed his gratitude to Moore during his acceptance speech for the Oscar for Best Actor at the 95th Academy Awards.
Fraser also speaks French and serves on the board of directors for FilmAid International. He is an accomplished amateur photographer and has used several instant cameras in movies and on TV shows, most notably in his guest roles on Scrubs. In his first appearance, he used a Polaroid pack film, and in his second appearance, he used a Holga with a Polaroid back, a Japanese-only model. The book Collector's Guide to Instant Cameras includes a dedication to Fraser. He is also an accomplished amateur archer.
Health
In 2018, Fraser stated publicly that the physical demands of the stunts and maneuvers he had performed in his action and comedy roles had required him to undergo several surgeries over a period of seven years, including a partial knee replacement, a laminectomy, and vocal-cord surgery.
Sexual assault allegation against Philip Berk
In 2018, Fraser said publicly that, at a luncheon in 2003, he had been sexually assaulted by Philip Berk, the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the nonprofit organization that votes for the Golden Globe Awards. Berk described Fraser's account as a "total fabrication", but in his 2014 memoir, he acknowledged having groped Fraser "in jest". The stress he experienced from a succession of events, including his divorce, his health problems, the death of his mother, and making the alleged assault public, plunged Fraser into a major depression that led to a break in his career.
Several publications and social media users assumed that Fraser had been blacklisted from Hollywood because of his accusation against Berk. In the 2018 GQ article in which Fraser first made his allegation public, he said, "The phone does stop ringing in your career, and you start asking yourself why. There's many reasons, but was [my allegation] one of them? I think it was." However, in Fraser’s 2019 appearance on the radio show Sway in the Morning, he expressed a different view, saying, "I don't think the HFPA really wield that much power." In 2022, Fraser told GQ that if the HFPA nominated him for a Golden Globe that year for his most recent film, The Whale, he would "not participate" because of his "history" with the organization.
Philanthropy
Since 2018, Fraser has been a celebrity judge on the Dancing Stars of Greenwich annual charity gala which raises money for the non-profit organization Abilis, a local charity which supports more than 800 individuals and their families with disabilities in Fairfield County, Connecticut. His former wife, Afton Smith, also takes part in the dance competition. In 2022, Smith and Fraser received the Heart of Abilis Award for their support and fundraising work for the charity.
Credits
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Brendan Fraser - official site
Brendan Fraser at IMDb
Brendan Fraser best movies - blog (archive)
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Tim Burton
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Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and artist. Known for popularizing Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his gothic horror and dark fantasy films. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and three BAFTA Awards. He was honored with the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2007 and was given the Order of Arts and Letters by Culture Minister of France in 2010.
Burton made his directorial film debut with the comedy Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) and gained prominence for Beetlejuice (1988) and Edward Scissorhands (1990). Burton also directed the superhero films Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992); the animated films Corpse Bride (2005) and Frankenweenie (2012); the science fiction films Mars Attacks! (1996) and Planet of the Apes (2001); the supernatural horror film Sleepy Hollow (1999); the fantasy films Big Fish (2003), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Dark Shadows (2012) and Dumbo (2019); the musicals Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007); and the biographical dramas Ed Wood (1994) and Big Eyes (2014). Starting in 2022, Burton has directed several episodes for the Netflix series Wednesday, for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. He also directed Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), the sequel to the 1988 film. Burton has frequently collaborated with composer Danny Elfman, who scored all but three of his films. He has released several books including The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories (1997).
Early life and education
Timothy Walter Burton was born on August 25, 1958, in Burbank, California, the son of Jean Burton (née Erickson), who in the 1980s was the owner of a cat-themed gift shop, and William "Bill" Burton, a former minor league baseball player, who worked for many years for the Burbank Parks and Recreation Department. The baseball field at Olive Recreation Center in Burbank, California is named for Bill Burton.
As a preteen, Burton made short films in his backyard at 2101 North Evergreen Street, using crude stop motion animation techniques or shooting on 8 mm film without sound (one of his oldest known juvenile films is The Island of Doctor Agor, adapted from the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, which he made when he was 13 years old). Burton attended Providencia Elementary School, Luther Burbank Middle School, and Burbank High School, but was not a particularly good student. He played on the water polo team at Burbank High. Burton was an introspective person and found pleasure in artwork, painting, drawing, and watching movies. His future work would be heavily influenced by the books of such childhood heroes as Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl,
and of the visual aesthetics of silent gothic horror films, Universal Monsters movies such as Frankenstein which he would continuously tribute throughout his career, Hammer Horror films starring Christopher Lee and the horror films of Vincent Price, both of whom would star in his films, and with the latter being paid tribute in his 1982 short film Vincent. In a Hollywood Reporter article, Burton states: "I grew up watching the Universal horror movies, Japanese monster movies, and pretty much any kind of monster movie. That was my genre." Burton also said that his love of Ray Harryhausen's work got him interested in stop-motion animation at a young age.
After graduating from Burbank High School in 1976, Burton attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, Santa Clarita, to study character animation, until 1979. As a student at CalArts, Burton made the shorts Stalk of the Celery Monster and King and Octopus.
Career
1981–1987: Early work and breakthrough
Stalk of the Celery Monster attracted the attention of Walt Disney Productions, who offered Burton an animator's apprenticeship at its animation division. He worked as an animator, storyboard artist, graphic designer, art director, and concept artist on films such as The Fox and the Hound (1981), Tron (1982), and The Black Cauldron (1985). His concept art never made it into the finished films.
While at Disney in 1982, Burton made his first short, Vincent, a six-minute black-and-white stop motion film based on a poem written by Burton, which depicts a young boy who fantasizes that he is his hero Vincent Price, with Price himself providing narration. The film was produced by Rick Heinrichs, whom Burton had befriended while working in the concept art department at Disney. The film was shown at the Chicago Film Festival and released, alongside the teen drama Tex, for two weeks in one Los Angeles cinema. This was followed by Burton's first live-action production, Hansel and Gretel, a Japanese-themed adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale for the Disney Channel, which climaxes in a kung fu fight between Hansel and Gretel and the witch. Having aired once in 1983 at 10:30 P.M. on Halloween and promptly shelved, prints of the film are extremely difficult to locate, fueling rumors that the project did not exist. The short would finally go on public display in 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art, and again in 2011 as part of the Tim Burton art exhibit at LACMA. It was again shown at the Seoul Museum of Art in 2012.
Burton's next live-action short film, Frankenweenie, was released in 1984. It tells the story of a young boy who tries to revive his dog after it is run over by a car. Filmed in black-and-white, it stars Barret Oliver, Shelley Duvall (with whom he would work again in 1986, directing an episode of her television series Faerie Tale Theatre), and Daniel Stern. After Frankenweenie was completed, Disney fired Burton, under the pretext of him spending the company's resources on a film that would be too dark and scary for children to see.
Actor Paul Reubens saw Frankenweenie and chose Burton to direct the cinematic spin-off of his popular character Pee-wee Herman, stating on the audio commentary of 2000 DVD release of Pee-wee's Big Adventure that as soon as the short began, he was sold on Burton's style. Pee-wee Herman gained mainstream popularity with a successful stage show at The Groundlings and the Roxy which was later turned into an HBO special. The film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, was made on a budget of $8 million and grossed more than $40 million at the North American box office. Burton, a fan of the eccentric musical group Oingo Boingo, asked songwriter Danny Elfman to provide the music for the film. Since then, Elfman has scored every film that Tim Burton has directed, except for Ed Wood, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
Additionally, Burton directed episodes of the 1985 revival of the '50s/'60s anthology horror series Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre.
1988–1994: Batman films and acclaim
Burton's next major film was Beetlejuice (1988), a supernatural comedy horror about a young couple forced to cope with life after death and the family of pretentious yuppies who invade their treasured New England home. Their teenage daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder), has an obsession with death which allows her to see the deceased couple. Starring Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, and featuring Michael Keaton as the title character, the film grossed $80 million on a relatively low budget and won an Academy Award for Best Makeup. It was later adapted into an animated TV series of the same name, with Burton playing a role as executive producer, that ran on ABC and later the Fox network.
Burton's ability to produce hit films with low budgets impressed studio executives, and he received his first big-budget film, Batman. The production was plagued with problems. Burton repeatedly clashed with the film's producers, Jon Peters and Peter Guber, but the most notable debacle involved casting. For the title role, Burton chose to cast Michael Keaton as Batman following their previous collaboration in Beetlejuice, despite Keaton's average physique, inexperience with action films, and reputation as a comic actor. Although Burton won in the end, the furor over the casting provoked enormous fan animosity, to the extent that Warner Brothers' share price slumped. Burton had considered it ridiculous to cast a "bulked-up" ultra-masculine man as Batman, insisting that Batman should be an ordinary man who dressed up in an elaborate bat costume to frighten criminals. Burton originally considered Brad Dourif for The Joker, but eventually cast Jack Nicholson, in a move that helped assuage fans' fears, as well as attracting older audiences not as interested in a superhero film. When the film opened in June 1989, it was backed by the biggest marketing and merchandising campaign in film history at the time, and became one of the biggest box office hits of all time, grossing over $250 million in the U.S. and $400 million worldwide (numbers not adjusted for inflation) and earning critical acclaim for the performances of both Keaton and Nicholson, as well as the film's production aspects, which won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction. The success of the film helped establish Burton as a profitable director, and it proved to be a huge influence on future superhero films, which eschewed the bright, all-American heroism of Richard Donner's Superman for a grittier, more realistic look and characters with more psychological depth. It also served as a major inspiration for the acclaimed TV series Batman: The Animated Series.
Burton claimed that the graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke was a major influence on his film adaptation of Batman:
I was never a giant comic book fan, but I've always loved the image of Batman and the Joker. The reason I've never been a comic book fan – and I think it started when I was a child – is because I could never tell which box I was supposed to read. I don't know if it was dyslexia or whatever, but that's why I loved The Killing Joke, because, for the first time, I could tell which one to read. It's my favorite. It's the first comic I've ever loved. And the success of those graphic novels made our ideas more acceptable.
In 1990, Burton created a unique drawing which gave screenwriter Caroline Thompson inspiration to write the script for Edward Scissorhands which Burton directed, re-uniting with Winona Ryder from Beetlejuice. His friend Johnny Depp, a teen idol at the end of the 1980s due primarily to his work on the hit TV series 21 Jump Street, was cast in the title role of Edward, who was the creation of an eccentric and old-fashioned inventor (played by Vincent Price in one of his last screen appearances). Edward looked human, but was left with scissors in the place of hands due to the untimely death of his creator. Set in suburbia (and shot in Land o' Lakes, Florida), the film is largely seen as Burton's autobiography of his childhood in Burbank. Burton's idea for the character of Edward Scissorhands came from a drawing he created in high school. Depp wrote a similar comment in the foreword to Mark Salisbury's book, Burton on Burton, regarding his first meeting with Burton over the casting of the film. Edward Scissorhands is considered one of Burton's best movies by some critics. Burton has stated that this is his most personal and meaningful film because it is a representation of him not being able to communicate effectively with others as a teenager.
After the success of Batman, Burton agreed to direct the sequel for Warner Bros. on the condition that he would be granted total control. The result was Batman Returns, which featured Michael Keaton returning as Batman, and a new triad of villains: Danny DeVito (as the Penguin), Michelle Pfeiffer (as Catwoman) and Christopher Walken (as Max Shreck, an evil corporate tycoon and original character created for the film). Somewhat darker and considerably more personal than its predecessor, concerns were raised that the film might be too scary for children. Audiences were more uncomfortable at the film's overt sexuality, personified by the sleek, fetish-inspired styling of Catwoman's costume. Burton made many changes to the Penguin which would subsequently be applied to the character in both comics and television. In the comics, the penguin was an ordinary man; Burton transformed him into a freak of nature resembling a penguin with webbed, flipper-like fingers, a hooked, beak-like nose and a short, rotund body. Burton also chose the artist who recorded the single for the movie soundtrack; he insisted that it be the band Siouxsie and the Banshees with the song "Face to Face". Released in 1992, Batman Returns grossed $282.8 million worldwide, making it a financial success, though not to the extent of its predecessor.
Due to schedule constraints on Batman Returns, Burton produced, but did not direct, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) for Disney, originally meant to be a children's book in rhyme. The film was directed by Henry Selick and written by Caroline Thompson, based on Burton's original story, world, and characters. The film received positive reviews for the stop motion animation, musical score, and original storyline. It was a modest box office success, grossing $50 million. Because of the nature of the film, it was not produced under Disney's name, but rather Disney-owned Touchstone Pictures. Disney wanted the protagonist to have eyes, but the final iteration did not. Over 100 people worked on this motion picture just to create the characters, and it took three years of work to produce the film. Burton collaborated with Selick again for James and the Giant Peach (1996), which Burton co-produced.
In 1994, Burton and frequent co-producer Denise Di Novi produced the 1994 fantasy-comedy Cabin Boy, starring comedian Chris Elliott and directed/written by Adam Resnick. Burton was originally supposed to direct the film after seeing Elliott perform on Get a Life, but he handed the directing responsibility to Resnick once he was offered Ed Wood. Burton's next film, Ed Wood (1994), was of a much smaller scale, depicting the life of the infamous director Ed Wood. Starring Johnny Depp in the title role, the film is an homage to the low-budget science fiction and horror films of Burton's childhood and handles its comical protagonist and his motley band of collaborators with surprising fondness and sensitivity. Owing to creative squabbles during the making of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Danny Elfman declined to score Ed Wood, and the assignment went to Howard Shore. While a commercial failure at the time of its release, Ed Wood became a cult classic and was well received by critics. Martin Landau received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi, and the film received the Academy Award for Best Makeup.
Warner Bros. was not interested in Tim Burton's return as director for a third Batman installment after considering Batman Returns too dark and unsafe for children. Burton noted he was unsure about returning to direct, writing: "I don't think Warner Bros. wanted me to direct a third Batman. I even said that to them." Burton and Warner Bros. mutually agreed to part ways. To attract the young audience, it was decided that Joel Schumacher would direct the third film, whilst Burton would only produce it in conjunction with Peter MacGregor-Scott, in which Burton was given top-billing producer credit, without being able to contribute ideas; only approving director and screenplayers. Following this change and the changes made by the new director, Michael Keaton resigned from the lead role and was replaced by Val Kilmer. Filming for Batman Forever began in late 1994 with new actors: Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent/Two-Face, Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian, Chris O'Donnell as Dick Grayson/Robin and Jim Carrey as Edward Nygma/The Riddler; the only two actors who returned after Batman Returns were Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon and Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth. The film, a combination of the darkness that characterized the saga and colors and neon signs proposed by Schumacher, was a huge box office success, earning $336 million. Warner Bros. demanded that Schumacher delete some scenes so the film did not have the same tone as its predecessor, Batman Returns (later they were added as deleted scenes on the 2005 DVD release).
1995–2010: Established director
In 1996, Burton and Selick reunited for the musical fantasy James and the Giant Peach, based on the book by Roald Dahl. Burton, once again, served only as a producer due to his contributions to making Mars Attacks! (1996). The film, a combination of live action and stop motion footage, starred Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, David Thewlis, Simon Callow and Jane Leeves among others, with Selick's animation direction. While a box office disappointment for Disney, the film was received well by critics for its story and visual aspects and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (by Randy Newman).
Elfman and Burton reunited for Mars Attacks!. Based on a popular science-fiction trading card series, the film was a hybrid of 1950s science fiction and 1970s all-star disaster films. The coincidence made it an inadvertent spoof of the blockbuster Independence Day, which had been released five months earlier. The film boasted an all-star cast, including Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Danny DeVito, Pierce Brosnan, Michael J. Fox, Sarah Jessica Parker, Natalie Portman, Lukas Haas, Martin Short, Rod Steiger, Christina Applegate, and Jack Black.
Sleepy Hollow, released in late 1999, had a supernatural setting and starred Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, a detective with an interest in forensic science rather than the schoolteacher of Washington Irving's original tale. With Sleepy Hollow, Burton paid homage to the horror films of the English company Hammer Films. Christopher Lee, one of Hammer's stars, was given a cameo role. A host of Burton regulars appeared in supporting roles (Michael Gough, Jeffrey Jones, and Christopher Walken, among others), and Christina Ricci was cast as Katrina van Tassel. A well-regarded supporting cast was headed by Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Richard Griffiths and Ian McDiarmid. Mostly well received by critics, and with a special mention to Elfman's gothic score, the film has grossed $207 million worldwide and won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction, as well as two BAFTAs for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. A box office success, Sleepy Hollow was also a turning point for Burton. Along with the change in his personal life (separation from actress Lisa Marie), Burton changed radically in style for his next project, leaving the haunted forests and colorful outcasts behind to go on to directing Planet of the Apes which, as Burton had repeatedly noted, was "not a remake" of the earlier film.
Planet of the Apes was a commercial success, grossing $68 million in its opening weekend and eventually it earned $180 million in North America and $362 million worldwide. The film however has received mixed reviews and is widely considered inferior to the first adaptation of the novel. In 2003, Burton directed Big Fish, based on the novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace. The film is about a father telling the story of his life to his son using exaggeration and color. Starring Ewan McGregor as young Edward Bloom and Albert Finney as an older Edward Bloom, the film also stars Jessica Lange, Billy Crudup, Danny DeVito, Alison Lohman and Marion Cotillard. Big Fish received four Golden Globe nominations as well as an Academy Award nomination for Elfman's score. The film was also the second collaboration between Burton and Helena Bonham Carter, who played the characters of Jenny and the Witch, and Burton and Danny DeVito, who played Amos Calloway the circus ringleader.
Released in 2005, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Roald Dahl. Starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka, Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket, and Deep Roy as the Oompa-Loompas, the film generally took a more faithful approach to the source material than the 1971 adaptation, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, although some liberties were taken, such as adding Wonka's issue with his father (played by Christopher Lee). Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. The film made over $207 million domestically. Filming proved difficult as Burton, Depp, and Danny Elfman had to work on this and Burton's Corpse Bride (2005) at the same time, which was Burton's first full-length stop motion film as a director, featuring the voices of Johnny Depp as Victor and Helena Bonham Carter as Emily.
Burton directed his first music video, "Bones", in 2006. "Bones" is the sixth overall single by American indie rock band The Killers and the second released from their second studio album, Sam's Town. Starring in this video were actors Michael Steger and Devon Aoki. Burton went on to direct a second music video for The Killers, "Here with Me", starring Winona Ryder, released in 2012.
The DreamWorks/Warner Bros. production Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, based on the 1979 Broadway musical, was released on December 21, 2007, to critical acclaim and grossed $153 million worldwide. Burton's work on Sweeney Todd won the National Board of Review Award for Best Director, received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director, and won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction. The film blends explicit gore and Broadway tunes and was well received by critics. Johnny Depp's performance as Sweeney Todd was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
In 2005, filmmaker Shane Acker released his short film 9, a story about a sentient rag doll living in a post-apocalyptic world who tries to stop machines from destroying the rest of his eight fellow rag dolls. The film won numerous awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. After seeing the short film, Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, director of Wanted, showed interest in producing a feature-length adaptation of the film. Directed by Acker, the full-length film was produced by Burton, written by Acker (story) and Pamela Pettler (screenplay, co-writer of Corpse Bride), and featured the voice work of Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, and Crispin Glover, among others.
Burton appeared at the 2009 Comic-Con in San Diego, California, to promote both 9 and Alice in Wonderland; the latter won two Academy Awards, for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. In Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland, the story is set 13 years after the original Lewis Carroll tales. Mia Wasikowska was cast as Alice. The original start date for filming was May 2008. Torpoint and Plymouth were the locations used for filming from September 1 – October 14, and the film remains set in the Victorian era. During this time, filming took place in Antony House in Torpoint. 250 local extras were chosen in early August. Other production work took place in London. The film was originally to be released in 2009, but was pushed to March 5, 2010. The film starred Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter; Matt Lucas as both Tweedledee and Tweedledum; Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen; Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat; Anne Hathaway as the White Queen; Alan Rickman as Absolem the Caterpillar; Michael Sheen as McTwisp the White Rabbit; and Crispin Glover as the Knave of Hearts, with his face and voice added onto a CGI body. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was a commercial success, grossing $1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of Burton's career. Burton produced the film's sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), which was directed by James Bobin.
2011–2021: Career fluctuations
Burton began filming Dark Shadows, a feature film adaptation of the 1960s television series of the same name, in May 2011. In addition to starring Burton regulars Depp and Bonham Carter, the film saw Burton reunite with Batman Returns star Michelle Pfeiffer, while Burton once again collaborated with composer Danny Elfman, production designer Rick Heinrichs, and costume designer Colleen Atwood. The film was released on May 11, 2012, and grossed $245 million worldwide from a $150 million budget. Burton also co-produced Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter with Timur Bekmambetov, who also served as director (they previously worked together in 9). The film, released on June 22, 2012, was based on the novel by screenwriter and novelist Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote the film's screenplay and also authored Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The film starred Benjamin Walker as Abraham Lincoln, Anthony Mackie as William H. Johnson, Joseph Mawle as Lincoln's father Thomas, Robin McLeavy as Lincoln's mother, Nancy, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lincoln's love interest (and later wife), Mary Ann Todd. The film received mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office. He then remade his 1984 short film Frankenweenie as a feature-length stop motion film, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Burton has said, "The film is based on a memory that I had when I was growing up and with my relationship with a dog that I had." The film was released on October 5, 2012, and met with positive reviews.
Burton directed the 2014 biographical drama film Big Eyes about American artist Margaret Keane (Amy Adams), whose work was fraudulently claimed in the 1950s and 1960s by her then-husband, Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), and their heated divorce trial after Margaret accused Walter of stealing credit for her paintings. The script was written by the screenwriters behind Burton's Ed Wood, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia, in mid-2013. The film was distributed by The Weinstein Company and released in U.S. theaters on December 25, 2014. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
Burton entered talks to direct a film adaptation of the fantasy novel Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, written by Ransom Riggs, in November 2011. The film, starring Asa Butterfield, Eva Green, and Samuel L. Jackson, was released in theatres by 20th Century Fox on September 30, 2016. Burton also directed a live-action adaptation of the Disney animated film Dumbo, released on March 29, 2019, with Colin Farrell, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, and Michael Keaton starring. The film grossed $353 million worldwide against a $170 million budget and combined production and advertising costs of $300 million, ultimately losing money.
2022–present: Wednesday and resurgence
In February 2021, it was announced that Burton would be directing and producing Wednesday, a series for Netflix based on the titular character from The Addams Family starring Jenna Ortega and Christina Ricci. This marked Burton's first foray into directing television since the 1980s. He helmed four episodes in the first season, which began production in September 2021 for a November 2022 release. The show was released to critical acclaim, and was renewed for a second season in January 2023, which premiered in August 2025.
In October 2022, Burton announced that he would probably never work with The Walt Disney Company again after Dumbo, due to his distinctive style and working approach not matching with what Disney is currently looking for, with its focus on Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm. He stated that "It's gotten to be very homogenized, very consolidated. There's less room for different types of things".
In July 2012, It was announced that Burton was working with Seth Grahame-Smith on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a project he had been considering making since 1990. Actor Michael Keaton also expressed interest in reprising his role as the title character along with Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz. In October 2017, Deadline Hollywood reported that Mike Vukadinovich was hired to write a script in time for the film's 30th anniversary. In April 2019, Warner Bros. stated the sequel had been shelved. In February 2022, however, the sequel was announced again, with Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment producing alongside Warner Bros. Though Burton initially said that he was not involved, he later backtracked, and the sequel officially started shooting in London on May 10, 2023, with a release date of September 6, 2024, with Burton returning as director, Keaton, Ryder and Catherine O'Hara reprising their roles, and Ortega, Monica Bellucci and Justin Theroux joining the cast.
Unreleased projects
After Kevin Smith had been hired to write a new Superman film, he suggested Burton to direct. Burton came on and Warner Bros. set a theatrical release date for the summer of 1998, the 60th anniversary of the character's debut in Action Comics. Nicolas Cage was signed on to play Superman, Burton hired Wesley Strick to rewrite Smith's script, and the film entered pre-production in June 1997. For budgetary reasons, Warner Bros. ordered another rewrite from Dan Gilroy, delayed the film, and ultimately put it on hold in April 1998. Burton then left to direct Sleepy Hollow. Burton has depicted the experience as a difficult one, citing differences with producer Jon Peters and the studio, stating, "I basically wasted a year. A year is a long time to be working with somebody that you don't really want to be working with."
In 2002, The Walt Disney Company began to consider producing a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas, but rather than using stop motion, Disney wanted to use computer animation. Burton convinced Disney to drop the idea. "I was always very protective of ['Nightmare'], not to do sequels or things of that kind," Burton explained. "You know, 'Jack visits Thanksgiving world' or other kinds of things, just because I felt the movie had a purity to it and the people that like it... Because it's a mass-market kind of thing, it was important to kind of keep that purity of it." Regardless, in 2009, Henry Selick stated that he could make a sequel to Nightmare if he and Burton could create a good story for it.
In 2012, Shane Acker confirmed that Burton would work with Valve to create his next animated feature film, Deep. Like 9, the film would take place in a post-apocalyptic world (although set in a different universe). Deep would be another darker animated film, as Shane Acker has expressed his interest in creating more PG-13 animated films. Since then, there have been no further mentions of Deep, with Acker focusing on another project announced in 2013 (Beasts of Burden).
Burton was briefly attached to direct Maleficent for Walt Disney Pictures in 2011, but chose to pursue Dark Shadows and Frankenweenie instead.
It was reported that Burton would direct a 3D stop motion animation adaptation of The Addams Family, which was confirmed by Christopher Meledandri, but the project was scrapped on July 17, 2013. On July 19, 2010, Burton was announced as the director of the upcoming film adaptation of Monsterpocalypse.
In 2011, it was reported that Burton was working on a live-action adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame starring Josh Brolin, who would also be co-producing. The project did not move forward.
Frequent collaborators
Personal life
Burton was married to Lena Gieseke, a German-born artist. Their marriage ended in 1991 after four years. He went on to live with model and actress Lisa Marie; she acted in the films he made during their relationship from 1992 to 2001, most notably in Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, and Mars Attacks!. Burton developed a romantic relationship with English actress Helena Bonham Carter, whom he met while filming Planet of the Apes. Lisa Marie responded in 2005 by holding an auction of personal belongings that Burton had left behind, much to his dismay.
Burton and Bonham Carter have two children: a son, born in 2003 and a daughter born in 2007. Bonham Carter's representative said in December 2014 that she and Burton had broken up amicably earlier that year. It is unclear whether or not they were married; Bonham Carter has used the word divorce when discussing the end of their relationship while other news outlets state that they never married. The Independent reported in September 2023 that Burton and Bonham Carter had indeed been married for years before their separation.
On March 15, 2010, Burton received the insignia of Chevalier of Arts and Letters from then-Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand. The same year, Burton was the president of the jury for the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, held from May 12 to 24 in Cannes, France.
Burton's relationship with Italian actress and model Monica Bellucci was reported in February 2023. They met in October 2022 at the Lyon's Lumière Film Festival. Bellucci first spoke publicly about their relationship in June 2023. Their relationship ended in September 2025.
Exhibitions and books
From November 22, 2009, to April 26, 2010, Burton had a retrospective at the MoMA in New York with over 700 "drawings, paintings, photographs, storyboards, moving-image works, puppets, maquettes, costumes and cinematic ephemera", including many from the filmmaker's personal collection. From MoMA, the "Tim Burton" exhibition traveled directly to Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. Running from June 24 to October 10, 2010, the ACMI exhibition incorporated additional material from Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which was released in March 2010.
"The Art of Tim Burton" was exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from May 29 to October 31, 2011, in the Museum's Resnick Pavilion. LACMA also featured six films of Tim Burton's idol, Vincent Price. "Tim Burton, the exhibition/Tim Burton, l'exposition" was exhibited at the Cinémathèque Française from March 7 to August 5, 2012, in Paris, France. All of Tim Burton's movies were shown during the exhibition.
"Tim Burton at Seoul Museum of Art" was exhibited as a promotion of Hyundai Card at Seoul Museum of Art from December 12, 2012, to April 15, 2013, in Seoul, South Korea. This exhibition featured 862 of Burton's works including drawings, paintings, short films, sculptures, music, and costumes that have been used in the making of his feature-length movies. The exhibition was divided into three parts: the first part, "Surviving Burbank", covered his younger years, from 1958 to 1976. The second, "Beautifying Burbank", covers 1977 to 1984, including his time with CalArts and Walt Disney. The last segment, "Beyond Burbank", covers 1985 onward.
"Tim Burton and His World" was exhibited at the Stone Bell House from March 3 to August 8, 2014, in Prague, Czech Republic. The exhibition later premiered at the Museu da Imagem e do Som in São Paulo, Brazil, on February 4, 2016, and lasted until June 5. The exhibition was later held in Artis Tree in Taikoo Place, Hong Kong, from November 5, 2016, to January 23, 2017. The exhibition returned to Brazil from May 28 to August 11, 2019, being held at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil in Brasília.
Burton's first exhibition in the United States in nearly a decade, Lost Vegas: Tim Burton, opened in October 2019 at The Neon Museum in Las Vegas.
Burton also wrote and illustrated the poetry book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories, published in 1997 by British publishing house Faber and Faber, and a compilation of his drawings, sketches, and other artwork, entitled The Art of Tim Burton, was released in 2009. A follow-up to that book, entitled The Napkin Art of Tim Burton: Things You Think About in a Bar, containing sketches made by Burton on napkins at bars and restaurants he visited, was released in 2015.
Filmography
Awards and nominations for Burton films
Bibliography
Salisbury, Mark; Burton, Tim (2000). Burton on Burton. Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-57120-507-0. (original 1995; revised editions 2000, 2006)
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories (1997)
The Art of Tim Burton, written by Leah Gallo (2009)
The Napkin Art of Tim Burton: Things You Think About in a Bar, edited by Holly Kempf and Leah Gallo (2015)
Notes
References
Further reading
Bassil-Morozow, Helena (2010): Tim Burton: The Monster and the Crowd. Routledge, London, ISBN 978-0-415-48971-3 Read Introduction at JungArena.com
Fraga, Kristian (2005): Tim Burton – Interviews. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, MS, ISBN 1-57806-758-8
Gallo, Leah (2009): The Art of Tim Burton. Steeles Publishing, Los Angeles, ISBN 978-1-935539-01-8
Hanke, Ken (1999): Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker. Renaissance Books, Los Angeles, ISBN 1-58063-046-4
Heger, Christian (2010): Mondbeglänzte Zaubernächte. Das Kino von Tim Burton. Schüren, Marburg, ISBN 978-3-89472-554-9 Read Excerpts at Libreka.de
Lynette, Rachel (2006): Tim Burton, Filmmaker. KidHaven Press, San Diego, California, ISBN 0-7377-3556-2
Magliozzi, Ron; He, Jenny (2009): Tim Burton. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, ISBN 978-0-87070-760-5
McMahan, Alison (2005): The Films of Tim Burton: Animating Live Action in Contemporary Hollywood. Continuum, New York, ISBN 0-8264-1566-0 Chapter 3 at FilmsOfTimBurton.com
Merschmann, Helmut (2000): Tim Burton: The Life and Films of a Visionary Director (translated by Michael Kane). Titan Books, London, ISBN 1-84023-208-0
Odell, Colin; Le Blanc, Michelle (2005): Tim Burton. The Pocket Essentials, Harpenden 2005, ISBN 1-904048-45-5
Page, Edwin (2006): Gothic Fantasy: The Films of Tim Burton. Marion Boyars Publishers, London, ISBN 0-7145-3132-4
Smith, Jim; Matthews, J. Clive (2002): Tim Burton. Virgin, London, ISBN 0-7535-0682-3
Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew, ed (2013). The Works of Tim Burton: Margins to Mainstream. New York: Palgrave. ISBN 978-1-137-37082-2
Woods, Paul A. (2002): Tim Burton: A Child's Garden of Nightmares. Plexus, London, ISBN 0-85965-310-2
External links
Tim Burton at IMDb
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Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and artist. Known for popularizing Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his gothic horror and dark fantasy films. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and three BAFTA Awards. He was honored with the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2007 and was given the Order of Arts and Letters by Culture Minister of France in 2010.
Burton made his directorial film debut with the comedy Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) and gained prominence for Beetlejuice (1988) and Edward Scissorhands (1990). Burton also directed the superhero films Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992); the animated films Corpse Bride (2005) and Frankenweenie (2012); the science fiction films Mars Attacks! (1996) and Planet of the Apes (2001); the supernatural horror film Sleepy Hollow (1999); the fantasy films Big Fish (2003), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Dark Shadows (2012) and Dumbo (2019); the musicals Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007); and the biographical dramas Ed Wood (1994) and Big Eyes (2014). Starting in 2022, Burton has directed several episodes for the Netflix series Wednesday, for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. He also directed Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), the sequel to the 1988 film. Burton has frequently collaborated with composer Danny Elfman, who scored all but three of his films. He has released several books including The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories (1997).
Early life and education
Timothy Walter Burton was born on August 25, 1958, in Burbank, California, the son of Jean Burton (née Erickson), who in the 1980s was the owner of a cat-themed gift shop, and William "Bill" Burton, a former minor league baseball player, who worked for many years for the Burbank Parks and Recreation Department. The baseball field at Olive Recreation Center in Burbank, California is named for Bill Burton.
As a preteen, Burton made short films in his backyard at 2101 North Evergreen Street, using crude stop motion animation techniques or shooting on 8 mm film without sound (one of his oldest known juvenile films is The Island of Doctor Agor, adapted from the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, which he made when he was 13 years old). Burton attended Providencia Elementary School, Luther Burbank Middle School, and Burbank High School, but was not a particularly good student. He played on the water polo team at Burbank High. Burton was an introspective person and found pleasure in artwork, painting, drawing, and watching movies. His future work would be heavily influenced by the books of such childhood heroes as Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl,
and of the visual aesthetics of silent gothic horror films, Universal Monsters movies such as Frankenstein which he would continuously tribute throughout his career, Hammer Horror films starring Christopher Lee and the horror films of Vincent Price, both of whom would star in his films, and with the latter being paid tribute in his 1982 short film Vincent. In a Hollywood Reporter article, Burton states: "I grew up watching the Universal horror movies, Japanese monster movies, and pretty much any kind of monster movie. That was my genre." Burton also said that his love of Ray Harryhausen's work got him interested in stop-motion animation at a young age.
After graduating from Burbank High School in 1976, Burton attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, Santa Clarita, to study character animation, until 1979. As a student at CalArts, Burton made the shorts Stalk of the Celery Monster and King and Octopus.
Career
1981–1987: Early work and breakthrough
Stalk of the Celery Monster attracted the attention of Walt Disney Productions, who offered Burton an animator's apprenticeship at its animation division. He worked as an animator, storyboard artist, graphic designer, art director, and concept artist on films such as The Fox and the Hound (1981), Tron (1982), and The Black Cauldron (1985). His concept art never made it into the finished films.
While at Disney in 1982, Burton made his first short, Vincent, a six-minute black-and-white stop motion film based on a poem written by Burton, which depicts a young boy who fantasizes that he is his hero Vincent Price, with Price himself providing narration. The film was produced by Rick Heinrichs, whom Burton had befriended while working in the concept art department at Disney. The film was shown at the Chicago Film Festival and released, alongside the teen drama Tex, for two weeks in one Los Angeles cinema. This was followed by Burton's first live-action production, Hansel and Gretel, a Japanese-themed adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale for the Disney Channel, which climaxes in a kung fu fight between Hansel and Gretel and the witch. Having aired once in 1983 at 10:30 P.M. on Halloween and promptly shelved, prints of the film are extremely difficult to locate, fueling rumors that the project did not exist. The short would finally go on public display in 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art, and again in 2011 as part of the Tim Burton art exhibit at LACMA. It was again shown at the Seoul Museum of Art in 2012.
Burton's next live-action short film, Frankenweenie, was released in 1984. It tells the story of a young boy who tries to revive his dog after it is run over by a car. Filmed in black-and-white, it stars Barret Oliver, Shelley Duvall (with whom he would work again in 1986, directing an episode of her television series Faerie Tale Theatre), and Daniel Stern. After Frankenweenie was completed, Disney fired Burton, under the pretext of him spending the company's resources on a film that would be too dark and scary for children to see.
Actor Paul Reubens saw Frankenweenie and chose Burton to direct the cinematic spin-off of his popular character Pee-wee Herman, stating on the audio commentary of 2000 DVD release of Pee-wee's Big Adventure that as soon as the short began, he was sold on Burton's style. Pee-wee Herman gained mainstream popularity with a successful stage show at The Groundlings and the Roxy which was later turned into an HBO special. The film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, was made on a budget of $8 million and grossed more than $40 million at the North American box office. Burton, a fan of the eccentric musical group Oingo Boingo, asked songwriter Danny Elfman to provide the music for the film. Since then, Elfman has scored every film that Tim Burton has directed, except for Ed Wood, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
Additionally, Burton directed episodes of the 1985 revival of the '50s/'60s anthology horror series Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre.
1988–1994: Batman films and acclaim
Burton's next major film was Beetlejuice (1988), a supernatural comedy horror about a young couple forced to cope with life after death and the family of pretentious yuppies who invade their treasured New England home. Their teenage daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder), has an obsession with death which allows her to see the deceased couple. Starring Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, and featuring Michael Keaton as the title character, the film grossed $80 million on a relatively low budget and won an Academy Award for Best Makeup. It was later adapted into an animated TV series of the same name, with Burton playing a role as executive producer, that ran on ABC and later the Fox network.
Burton's ability to produce hit films with low budgets impressed studio executives, and he received his first big-budget film, Batman. The production was plagued with problems. Burton repeatedly clashed with the film's producers, Jon Peters and Peter Guber, but the most notable debacle involved casting. For the title role, Burton chose to cast Michael Keaton as Batman following their previous collaboration in Beetlejuice, despite Keaton's average physique, inexperience with action films, and reputation as a comic actor. Although Burton won in the end, the furor over the casting provoked enormous fan animosity, to the extent that Warner Brothers' share price slumped. Burton had considered it ridiculous to cast a "bulked-up" ultra-masculine man as Batman, insisting that Batman should be an ordinary man who dressed up in an elaborate bat costume to frighten criminals. Burton originally considered Brad Dourif for The Joker, but eventually cast Jack Nicholson, in a move that helped assuage fans' fears, as well as attracting older audiences not as interested in a superhero film. When the film opened in June 1989, it was backed by the biggest marketing and merchandising campaign in film history at the time, and became one of the biggest box office hits of all time, grossing over $250 million in the U.S. and $400 million worldwide (numbers not adjusted for inflation) and earning critical acclaim for the performances of both Keaton and Nicholson, as well as the film's production aspects, which won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction. The success of the film helped establish Burton as a profitable director, and it proved to be a huge influence on future superhero films, which eschewed the bright, all-American heroism of Richard Donner's Superman for a grittier, more realistic look and characters with more psychological depth. It also served as a major inspiration for the acclaimed TV series Batman: The Animated Series.
Burton claimed that the graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke was a major influence on his film adaptation of Batman:
I was never a giant comic book fan, but I've always loved the image of Batman and the Joker. The reason I've never been a comic book fan – and I think it started when I was a child – is because I could never tell which box I was supposed to read. I don't know if it was dyslexia or whatever, but that's why I loved The Killing Joke, because, for the first time, I could tell which one to read. It's my favorite. It's the first comic I've ever loved. And the success of those graphic novels made our ideas more acceptable.
In 1990, Burton created a unique drawing which gave screenwriter Caroline Thompson inspiration to write the script for Edward Scissorhands which Burton directed, re-uniting with Winona Ryder from Beetlejuice. His friend Johnny Depp, a teen idol at the end of the 1980s due primarily to his work on the hit TV series 21 Jump Street, was cast in the title role of Edward, who was the creation of an eccentric and old-fashioned inventor (played by Vincent Price in one of his last screen appearances). Edward looked human, but was left with scissors in the place of hands due to the untimely death of his creator. Set in suburbia (and shot in Land o' Lakes, Florida), the film is largely seen as Burton's autobiography of his childhood in Burbank. Burton's idea for the character of Edward Scissorhands came from a drawing he created in high school. Depp wrote a similar comment in the foreword to Mark Salisbury's book, Burton on Burton, regarding his first meeting with Burton over the casting of the film. Edward Scissorhands is considered one of Burton's best movies by some critics. Burton has stated that this is his most personal and meaningful film because it is a representation of him not being able to communicate effectively with others as a teenager.
After the success of Batman, Burton agreed to direct the sequel for Warner Bros. on the condition that he would be granted total control. The result was Batman Returns, which featured Michael Keaton returning as Batman, and a new triad of villains: Danny DeVito (as the Penguin), Michelle Pfeiffer (as Catwoman) and Christopher Walken (as Max Shreck, an evil corporate tycoon and original character created for the film). Somewhat darker and considerably more personal than its predecessor, concerns were raised that the film might be too scary for children. Audiences were more uncomfortable at the film's overt sexuality, personified by the sleek, fetish-inspired styling of Catwoman's costume. Burton made many changes to the Penguin which would subsequently be applied to the character in both comics and television. In the comics, the penguin was an ordinary man; Burton transformed him into a freak of nature resembling a penguin with webbed, flipper-like fingers, a hooked, beak-like nose and a short, rotund body. Burton also chose the artist who recorded the single for the movie soundtrack; he insisted that it be the band Siouxsie and the Banshees with the song "Face to Face". Released in 1992, Batman Returns grossed $282.8 million worldwide, making it a financial success, though not to the extent of its predecessor.
Due to schedule constraints on Batman Returns, Burton produced, but did not direct, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) for Disney, originally meant to be a children's book in rhyme. The film was directed by Henry Selick and written by Caroline Thompson, based on Burton's original story, world, and characters. The film received positive reviews for the stop motion animation, musical score, and original storyline. It was a modest box office success, grossing $50 million. Because of the nature of the film, it was not produced under Disney's name, but rather Disney-owned Touchstone Pictures. Disney wanted the protagonist to have eyes, but the final iteration did not. Over 100 people worked on this motion picture just to create the characters, and it took three years of work to produce the film. Burton collaborated with Selick again for James and the Giant Peach (1996), which Burton co-produced.
In 1994, Burton and frequent co-producer Denise Di Novi produced the 1994 fantasy-comedy Cabin Boy, starring comedian Chris Elliott and directed/written by Adam Resnick. Burton was originally supposed to direct the film after seeing Elliott perform on Get a Life, but he handed the directing responsibility to Resnick once he was offered Ed Wood. Burton's next film, Ed Wood (1994), was of a much smaller scale, depicting the life of the infamous director Ed Wood. Starring Johnny Depp in the title role, the film is an homage to the low-budget science fiction and horror films of Burton's childhood and handles its comical protagonist and his motley band of collaborators with surprising fondness and sensitivity. Owing to creative squabbles during the making of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Danny Elfman declined to score Ed Wood, and the assignment went to Howard Shore. While a commercial failure at the time of its release, Ed Wood became a cult classic and was well received by critics. Martin Landau received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi, and the film received the Academy Award for Best Makeup.
Warner Bros. was not interested in Tim Burton's return as director for a third Batman installment after considering Batman Returns too dark and unsafe for children. Burton noted he was unsure about returning to direct, writing: "I don't think Warner Bros. wanted me to direct a third Batman. I even said that to them." Burton and Warner Bros. mutually agreed to part ways. To attract the young audience, it was decided that Joel Schumacher would direct the third film, whilst Burton would only produce it in conjunction with Peter MacGregor-Scott, in which Burton was given top-billing producer credit, without being able to contribute ideas; only approving director and screenplayers. Following this change and the changes made by the new director, Michael Keaton resigned from the lead role and was replaced by Val Kilmer. Filming for Batman Forever began in late 1994 with new actors: Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent/Two-Face, Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian, Chris O'Donnell as Dick Grayson/Robin and Jim Carrey as Edward Nygma/The Riddler; the only two actors who returned after Batman Returns were Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon and Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth. The film, a combination of the darkness that characterized the saga and colors and neon signs proposed by Schumacher, was a huge box office success, earning $336 million. Warner Bros. demanded that Schumacher delete some scenes so the film did not have the same tone as its predecessor, Batman Returns (later they were added as deleted scenes on the 2005 DVD release).
1995–2010: Established director
In 1996, Burton and Selick reunited for the musical fantasy James and the Giant Peach, based on the book by Roald Dahl. Burton, once again, served only as a producer due to his contributions to making Mars Attacks! (1996). The film, a combination of live action and stop motion footage, starred Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, David Thewlis, Simon Callow and Jane Leeves among others, with Selick's animation direction. While a box office disappointment for Disney, the film was received well by critics for its story and visual aspects and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (by Randy Newman).
Elfman and Burton reunited for Mars Attacks!. Based on a popular science-fiction trading card series, the film was a hybrid of 1950s science fiction and 1970s all-star disaster films. The coincidence made it an inadvertent spoof of the blockbuster Independence Day, which had been released five months earlier. The film boasted an all-star cast, including Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Danny DeVito, Pierce Brosnan, Michael J. Fox, Sarah Jessica Parker, Natalie Portman, Lukas Haas, Martin Short, Rod Steiger, Christina Applegate, and Jack Black.
Sleepy Hollow, released in late 1999, had a supernatural setting and starred Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, a detective with an interest in forensic science rather than the schoolteacher of Washington Irving's original tale. With Sleepy Hollow, Burton paid homage to the horror films of the English company Hammer Films. Christopher Lee, one of Hammer's stars, was given a cameo role. A host of Burton regulars appeared in supporting roles (Michael Gough, Jeffrey Jones, and Christopher Walken, among others), and Christina Ricci was cast as Katrina van Tassel. A well-regarded supporting cast was headed by Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Richard Griffiths and Ian McDiarmid. Mostly well received by critics, and with a special mention to Elfman's gothic score, the film has grossed $207 million worldwide and won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction, as well as two BAFTAs for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. A box office success, Sleepy Hollow was also a turning point for Burton. Along with the change in his personal life (separation from actress Lisa Marie), Burton changed radically in style for his next project, leaving the haunted forests and colorful outcasts behind to go on to directing Planet of the Apes which, as Burton had repeatedly noted, was "not a remake" of the earlier film.
Planet of the Apes was a commercial success, grossing $68 million in its opening weekend and eventually it earned $180 million in North America and $362 million worldwide. The film however has received mixed reviews and is widely considered inferior to the first adaptation of the novel. In 2003, Burton directed Big Fish, based on the novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace. The film is about a father telling the story of his life to his son using exaggeration and color. Starring Ewan McGregor as young Edward Bloom and Albert Finney as an older Edward Bloom, the film also stars Jessica Lange, Billy Crudup, Danny DeVito, Alison Lohman and Marion Cotillard. Big Fish received four Golden Globe nominations as well as an Academy Award nomination for Elfman's score. The film was also the second collaboration between Burton and Helena Bonham Carter, who played the characters of Jenny and the Witch, and Burton and Danny DeVito, who played Amos Calloway the circus ringleader.
Released in 2005, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Roald Dahl. Starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka, Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket, and Deep Roy as the Oompa-Loompas, the film generally took a more faithful approach to the source material than the 1971 adaptation, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, although some liberties were taken, such as adding Wonka's issue with his father (played by Christopher Lee). Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. The film made over $207 million domestically. Filming proved difficult as Burton, Depp, and Danny Elfman had to work on this and Burton's Corpse Bride (2005) at the same time, which was Burton's first full-length stop motion film as a director, featuring the voices of Johnny Depp as Victor and Helena Bonham Carter as Emily.
Burton directed his first music video, "Bones", in 2006. "Bones" is the sixth overall single by American indie rock band The Killers and the second released from their second studio album, Sam's Town. Starring in this video were actors Michael Steger and Devon Aoki. Burton went on to direct a second music video for The Killers, "Here with Me", starring Winona Ryder, released in 2012.
The DreamWorks/Warner Bros. production Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, based on the 1979 Broadway musical, was released on December 21, 2007, to critical acclaim and grossed $153 million worldwide. Burton's work on Sweeney Todd won the National Board of Review Award for Best Director, received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director, and won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction. The film blends explicit gore and Broadway tunes and was well received by critics. Johnny Depp's performance as Sweeney Todd was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
In 2005, filmmaker Shane Acker released his short film 9, a story about a sentient rag doll living in a post-apocalyptic world who tries to stop machines from destroying the rest of his eight fellow rag dolls. The film won numerous awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. After seeing the short film, Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, director of Wanted, showed interest in producing a feature-length adaptation of the film. Directed by Acker, the full-length film was produced by Burton, written by Acker (story) and Pamela Pettler (screenplay, co-writer of Corpse Bride), and featured the voice work of Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, and Crispin Glover, among others.
Burton appeared at the 2009 Comic-Con in San Diego, California, to promote both 9 and Alice in Wonderland; the latter won two Academy Awards, for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. In Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland, the story is set 13 years after the original Lewis Carroll tales. Mia Wasikowska was cast as Alice. The original start date for filming was May 2008. Torpoint and Plymouth were the locations used for filming from September 1 – October 14, and the film remains set in the Victorian era. During this time, filming took place in Antony House in Torpoint. 250 local extras were chosen in early August. Other production work took place in London. The film was originally to be released in 2009, but was pushed to March 5, 2010. The film starred Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter; Matt Lucas as both Tweedledee and Tweedledum; Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen; Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat; Anne Hathaway as the White Queen; Alan Rickman as Absolem the Caterpillar; Michael Sheen as McTwisp the White Rabbit; and Crispin Glover as the Knave of Hearts, with his face and voice added onto a CGI body. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was a commercial success, grossing $1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of Burton's career. Burton produced the film's sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), which was directed by James Bobin.
2011–2021: Career fluctuations
Burton began filming Dark Shadows, a feature film adaptation of the 1960s television series of the same name, in May 2011. In addition to starring Burton regulars Depp and Bonham Carter, the film saw Burton reunite with Batman Returns star Michelle Pfeiffer, while Burton once again collaborated with composer Danny Elfman, production designer Rick Heinrichs, and costume designer Colleen Atwood. The film was released on May 11, 2012, and grossed $245 million worldwide from a $150 million budget. Burton also co-produced Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter with Timur Bekmambetov, who also served as director (they previously worked together in 9). The film, released on June 22, 2012, was based on the novel by screenwriter and novelist Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote the film's screenplay and also authored Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The film starred Benjamin Walker as Abraham Lincoln, Anthony Mackie as William H. Johnson, Joseph Mawle as Lincoln's father Thomas, Robin McLeavy as Lincoln's mother, Nancy, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lincoln's love interest (and later wife), Mary Ann Todd. The film received mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office. He then remade his 1984 short film Frankenweenie as a feature-length stop motion film, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Burton has said, "The film is based on a memory that I had when I was growing up and with my relationship with a dog that I had." The film was released on October 5, 2012, and met with positive reviews.
Burton directed the 2014 biographical drama film Big Eyes about American artist Margaret Keane (Amy Adams), whose work was fraudulently claimed in the 1950s and 1960s by her then-husband, Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), and their heated divorce trial after Margaret accused Walter of stealing credit for her paintings. The script was written by the screenwriters behind Burton's Ed Wood, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia, in mid-2013. The film was distributed by The Weinstein Company and released in U.S. theaters on December 25, 2014. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
Burton entered talks to direct a film adaptation of the fantasy novel Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, written by Ransom Riggs, in November 2011. The film, starring Asa Butterfield, Eva Green, and Samuel L. Jackson, was released in theatres by 20th Century Fox on September 30, 2016. Burton also directed a live-action adaptation of the Disney animated film Dumbo, released on March 29, 2019, with Colin Farrell, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, and Michael Keaton starring. The film grossed $353 million worldwide against a $170 million budget and combined production and advertising costs of $300 million, ultimately losing money.
2022–present: Wednesday and resurgence
In February 2021, it was announced that Burton would be directing and producing Wednesday, a series for Netflix based on the titular character from The Addams Family starring Jenna Ortega and Christina Ricci. This marked Burton's first foray into directing television since the 1980s. He helmed four episodes in the first season, which began production in September 2021 for a November 2022 release. The show was released to critical acclaim, and was renewed for a second season in January 2023, which premiered in August 2025.
In October 2022, Burton announced that he would probably never work with The Walt Disney Company again after Dumbo, due to his distinctive style and working approach not matching with what Disney is currently looking for, with its focus on Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm. He stated that "It's gotten to be very homogenized, very consolidated. There's less room for different types of things".
In July 2012, It was announced that Burton was working with Seth Grahame-Smith on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a project he had been considering making since 1990. Actor Michael Keaton also expressed interest in reprising his role as the title character along with Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz. In October 2017, Deadline Hollywood reported that Mike Vukadinovich was hired to write a script in time for the film's 30th anniversary. In April 2019, Warner Bros. stated the sequel had been shelved. In February 2022, however, the sequel was announced again, with Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment producing alongside Warner Bros. Though Burton initially said that he was not involved, he later backtracked, and the sequel officially started shooting in London on May 10, 2023, with a release date of September 6, 2024, with Burton returning as director, Keaton, Ryder and Catherine O'Hara reprising their roles, and Ortega, Monica Bellucci and Justin Theroux joining the cast.
Unreleased projects
After Kevin Smith had been hired to write a new Superman film, he suggested Burton to direct. Burton came on and Warner Bros. set a theatrical release date for the summer of 1998, the 60th anniversary of the character's debut in Action Comics. Nicolas Cage was signed on to play Superman, Burton hired Wesley Strick to rewrite Smith's script, and the film entered pre-production in June 1997. For budgetary reasons, Warner Bros. ordered another rewrite from Dan Gilroy, delayed the film, and ultimately put it on hold in April 1998. Burton then left to direct Sleepy Hollow. Burton has depicted the experience as a difficult one, citing differences with producer Jon Peters and the studio, stating, "I basically wasted a year. A year is a long time to be working with somebody that you don't really want to be working with."
In 2002, The Walt Disney Company began to consider producing a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas, but rather than using stop motion, Disney wanted to use computer animation. Burton convinced Disney to drop the idea. "I was always very protective of ['Nightmare'], not to do sequels or things of that kind," Burton explained. "You know, 'Jack visits Thanksgiving world' or other kinds of things, just because I felt the movie had a purity to it and the people that like it... Because it's a mass-market kind of thing, it was important to kind of keep that purity of it." Regardless, in 2009, Henry Selick stated that he could make a sequel to Nightmare if he and Burton could create a good story for it.
In 2012, Shane Acker confirmed that Burton would work with Valve to create his next animated feature film, Deep. Like 9, the film would take place in a post-apocalyptic world (although set in a different universe). Deep would be another darker animated film, as Shane Acker has expressed his interest in creating more PG-13 animated films. Since then, there have been no further mentions of Deep, with Acker focusing on another project announced in 2013 (Beasts of Burden).
Burton was briefly attached to direct Maleficent for Walt Disney Pictures in 2011, but chose to pursue Dark Shadows and Frankenweenie instead.
It was reported that Burton would direct a 3D stop motion animation adaptation of The Addams Family, which was confirmed by Christopher Meledandri, but the project was scrapped on July 17, 2013. On July 19, 2010, Burton was announced as the director of the upcoming film adaptation of Monsterpocalypse.
In 2011, it was reported that Burton was working on a live-action adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame starring Josh Brolin, who would also be co-producing. The project did not move forward.
Frequent collaborators
Personal life
Burton was married to Lena Gieseke, a German-born artist. Their marriage ended in 1991 after four years. He went on to live with model and actress Lisa Marie; she acted in the films he made during their relationship from 1992 to 2001, most notably in Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, and Mars Attacks!. Burton developed a romantic relationship with English actress Helena Bonham Carter, whom he met while filming Planet of the Apes. Lisa Marie responded in 2005 by holding an auction of personal belongings that Burton had left behind, much to his dismay.
Burton and Bonham Carter have two children: a son, born in 2003 and a daughter born in 2007. Bonham Carter's representative said in December 2014 that she and Burton had broken up amicably earlier that year. It is unclear whether or not they were married; Bonham Carter has used the word divorce when discussing the end of their relationship while other news outlets state that they never married. The Independent reported in September 2023 that Burton and Bonham Carter had indeed been married for years before their separation.
On March 15, 2010, Burton received the insignia of Chevalier of Arts and Letters from then-Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand. The same year, Burton was the president of the jury for the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, held from May 12 to 24 in Cannes, France.
Burton's relationship with Italian actress and model Monica Bellucci was reported in February 2023. They met in October 2022 at the Lyon's Lumière Film Festival. Bellucci first spoke publicly about their relationship in June 2023. Their relationship ended in September 2025.
Exhibitions and books
From November 22, 2009, to April 26, 2010, Burton had a retrospective at the MoMA in New York with over 700 "drawings, paintings, photographs, storyboards, moving-image works, puppets, maquettes, costumes and cinematic ephemera", including many from the filmmaker's personal collection. From MoMA, the "Tim Burton" exhibition traveled directly to Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. Running from June 24 to October 10, 2010, the ACMI exhibition incorporated additional material from Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which was released in March 2010.
"The Art of Tim Burton" was exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from May 29 to October 31, 2011, in the Museum's Resnick Pavilion. LACMA also featured six films of Tim Burton's idol, Vincent Price. "Tim Burton, the exhibition/Tim Burton, l'exposition" was exhibited at the Cinémathèque Française from March 7 to August 5, 2012, in Paris, France. All of Tim Burton's movies were shown during the exhibition.
"Tim Burton at Seoul Museum of Art" was exhibited as a promotion of Hyundai Card at Seoul Museum of Art from December 12, 2012, to April 15, 2013, in Seoul, South Korea. This exhibition featured 862 of Burton's works including drawings, paintings, short films, sculptures, music, and costumes that have been used in the making of his feature-length movies. The exhibition was divided into three parts: the first part, "Surviving Burbank", covered his younger years, from 1958 to 1976. The second, "Beautifying Burbank", covers 1977 to 1984, including his time with CalArts and Walt Disney. The last segment, "Beyond Burbank", covers 1985 onward.
"Tim Burton and His World" was exhibited at the Stone Bell House from March 3 to August 8, 2014, in Prague, Czech Republic. The exhibition later premiered at the Museu da Imagem e do Som in São Paulo, Brazil, on February 4, 2016, and lasted until June 5. The exhibition was later held in Artis Tree in Taikoo Place, Hong Kong, from November 5, 2016, to January 23, 2017. The exhibition returned to Brazil from May 28 to August 11, 2019, being held at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil in Brasília.
Burton's first exhibition in the United States in nearly a decade, Lost Vegas: Tim Burton, opened in October 2019 at The Neon Museum in Las Vegas.
Burton also wrote and illustrated the poetry book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories, published in 1997 by British publishing house Faber and Faber, and a compilation of his drawings, sketches, and other artwork, entitled The Art of Tim Burton, was released in 2009. A follow-up to that book, entitled The Napkin Art of Tim Burton: Things You Think About in a Bar, containing sketches made by Burton on napkins at bars and restaurants he visited, was released in 2015.
Filmography
Awards and nominations for Burton films
Bibliography
Salisbury, Mark; Burton, Tim (2000). Burton on Burton. Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-57120-507-0. (original 1995; revised editions 2000, 2006)
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories (1997)
The Art of Tim Burton, written by Leah Gallo (2009)
The Napkin Art of Tim Burton: Things You Think About in a Bar, edited by Holly Kempf and Leah Gallo (2015)
Notes
References
Further reading
Bassil-Morozow, Helena (2010): Tim Burton: The Monster and the Crowd. Routledge, London, ISBN 978-0-415-48971-3 Read Introduction at JungArena.com
Fraga, Kristian (2005): Tim Burton – Interviews. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, MS, ISBN 1-57806-758-8
Gallo, Leah (2009): The Art of Tim Burton. Steeles Publishing, Los Angeles, ISBN 978-1-935539-01-8
Hanke, Ken (1999): Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker. Renaissance Books, Los Angeles, ISBN 1-58063-046-4
Heger, Christian (2010): Mondbeglänzte Zaubernächte. Das Kino von Tim Burton. Schüren, Marburg, ISBN 978-3-89472-554-9 Read Excerpts at Libreka.de
Lynette, Rachel (2006): Tim Burton, Filmmaker. KidHaven Press, San Diego, California, ISBN 0-7377-3556-2
Magliozzi, Ron; He, Jenny (2009): Tim Burton. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, ISBN 978-0-87070-760-5
McMahan, Alison (2005): The Films of Tim Burton: Animating Live Action in Contemporary Hollywood. Continuum, New York, ISBN 0-8264-1566-0 Chapter 3 at FilmsOfTimBurton.com
Merschmann, Helmut (2000): Tim Burton: The Life and Films of a Visionary Director (translated by Michael Kane). Titan Books, London, ISBN 1-84023-208-0
Odell, Colin; Le Blanc, Michelle (2005): Tim Burton. The Pocket Essentials, Harpenden 2005, ISBN 1-904048-45-5
Page, Edwin (2006): Gothic Fantasy: The Films of Tim Burton. Marion Boyars Publishers, London, ISBN 0-7145-3132-4
Smith, Jim; Matthews, J. Clive (2002): Tim Burton. Virgin, London, ISBN 0-7535-0682-3
Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew, ed (2013). The Works of Tim Burton: Margins to Mainstream. New York: Palgrave. ISBN 978-1-137-37082-2
Woods, Paul A. (2002): Tim Burton: A Child's Garden of Nightmares. Plexus, London, ISBN 0-85965-310-2
External links
Tim Burton at IMDb
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Serena Williams
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Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 319 weeks (third-most of all time), and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Williams won 73 WTA Tour–level singles titles, including 23 major women's singles titles—the most in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time. She is the only player to accomplish a career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles.
Along with her elder sister Venus, Serena Williams was coached by her parents Oracene Price and Richard Williams. Turning professional in 1995, she won her first major singles title at the 1999 US Open. From the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open she was dominant, winning all four major singles titles consecutively (each time over Venus in the final) to achieve a non-calendar year Grand Slam (nicknamed the "Serena Slam"). The next few years saw Williams capture two more major singles titles, but suffer from injury and decline in form. Starting in 2007, however, she gradually returned to form despite continued injuries, reclaiming the world No. 1 singles ranking. Beginning with the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, Williams returned to dominance, claiming Olympic gold (completing the career Golden Slam in singles) and winning eight out of thirteen singles majors, including all four in a row from 2014–2015 to achieve a second "Serena Slam". At the 2017 Australian Open, she won her 23rd major singles title, surpassing Steffi Graf's Open Era record. After becoming pregnant, Williams took a break from professional tennis, but reached four major finals upon returning to play. In August 2022, Williams announced her impending "evolution" away from professional tennis, and played her final match at the 2022 US Open.
Williams also won 23 WTA Tour-level doubles titles, including 14 major women's doubles championships, all with her sister Venus. The pair was undefeated in major doubles finals, earning the best unbeaten record in major finals in any discipline of the sport. The sisters achieved a non-calendar year Grand Slam between the 2009 Wimbledon Championships and the 2010 French Open, which granted them the doubles world No. 1 ranking. Williams won four Olympic gold medals, three in women's doubles—an all-time joint record in tennis, shared with her sister. The duo are the only women in the Open Era to win Olympic gold in both singles and doubles. Williams also won two mixed doubles majors, both in 1998. She is the only player, male or female, to complete three career Golden Slams—one in women's singles and two in women's doubles.
The ascent of the Williams sisters has been credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women's professional tennis tour. Serena is the most recent woman to simultaneously hold all four major singles titles (2002–2003 and 2014–2015), and to win the Surface Slam (major titles on hard, clay and grass courts in the same calendar year), which she accomplished in 2015. She is also, with Venus, the most recent player to have simultaneously held all four major women's doubles titles (2009–2010).
Williams was the world's highest paid woman athlete in 2016, earning almost $29 million. She repeated this feat in 2017 when she was the only woman on Forbes' list of the 100 highest-paid athletes, with $27 million in prize money and endorsements. She is the highest-earning woman athlete of all time.
Williams won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year a record four times (2003, 2010, 2016, 2018), Comeback of the Year once (2007), and in December 2015 was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine. In 2020, the Tennis Channel ranked Williams as the greatest women's tennis player of all time. She received the Princess of Asturias Award for Sport in 2025.
Early life
Williams was born on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan, to Oracene Price and Richard Williams. She is the youngest of Price's five daughters, after half-sisters Yetunde, Lyndrea, and Isha Price, and full older sister Venus. She also has at least seven paternal half-siblings. When the children were young, the family moved to Compton, California, where she started playing tennis at the age of four. Her father home-schooled her and Venus. While he and her mother have been her official coaches, her other mentors have included Richard Williams, a Compton man who shared her father's name and subsequently founded The Venus and Serena Williams Tennis Tutorial Academy.
When Williams was nine, she and her family moved from Compton to West Palm Beach, Florida, so she could attend the tennis academy of Rick Macci, who provided her with additional coaching. Macci did not always agree with Williams's father, but respected that "he treated his daughters like kids, allowed them to be little girls". By 1991, Williams had a 46–3 record on the United States Tennis Association junior tour and was ranked No. 1 among under-10 players in Florida. When Williams was 10, Richard stopped sending his daughters to national junior tennis tournaments, as he wanted them to "go slowly" and focus on school, and because he wanted to ensure they would not burn out before turning professional. Experiences of racism also influenced this decision, as he had heard white parents talk about the Williams sisters in a derogatory manner during tournaments. In 1995, when Williams was in the ninth grade, her father pulled his daughters out of Macci's academy and took over all coaching at their home. When asked in 2000 whether it would have been more beneficial for them to have followed the normal path of playing regularly on the junior circuit, Richard responded, "Everyone does different things. I think for Venus and I, we just attempted a different road, and it worked for us."
Professional career
1995–1998: Professional debut
Williams's parents initially wanted their daughter to wait until she was 16 to participate in professional tournaments. In 1995, just after turning 14, Williams planned to make her professional debut as a wild-card entry in the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, California, but was denied due to age-eligibility restrictions. She subsequently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the WTA, but withdrew it at her parents' request. Her first professional event was in October 1995 at the Bell Challenge in Quebec, where she used a wild-card entry to circumvent age-eligibility rules. She lost in the first qualifying round to 18-year-old American Annie Miller.
After not playing in 1996, Williams won her first main-draw match at the Ameritech Cup Chicago in November 1997. Ranked No.304, she upset No.7 Mary Pierce and No.4 Monica Seles, recording her first career wins over top 10 players and becoming the lowest-ranked player in the Open Era to defeat two top-10 opponents in one tournament. She ultimately lost in the semifinals to No.5 Lindsay Davenport. Her run in Chicago propelled Williams into the Top 100 for the first time in her career, and she finished 1997 ranked No.99 in the world.
At the 1998 Sydney International, Williams defeated No.3 Davenport in the quarterfinals, before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals. Williams's first main draw of a Grand Slam tournament was at the Australian Open, where she defeated sixth-seeded Irina Spîrlea in the first round, before losing to Venus in the second round in the sisters' first professional face-off. She reached six other quarterfinals during the year, but lost all of them, including her first match against No.1-ranked Martina Hingis. She lost in the fourth round of the French Open to Vicario, and in the third round of the US Open to Spîrlea. She withdrew from Wimbledon two games into a match after straining a calf muscle. After losing the French Open mixed doubles final to Venus and Justin Gimelstob, Williams won the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open with Max Mirnyi. Williams won her first professional title in non-mixed doubles at the U.S. National Indoor Championships in Oklahoma City with Venus, which made them the third pair of sisters to win a WTA title. Williams finished the year ranked No.20 in singles, the fastest achievement of that milestone in women's history.
1999: First major and becoming a top-5 player
In February 1999, Williams won her first professional singles title when she defeated Amélie Mauresmo in the final of the Open Gaz de France in Paris. In March, Williams won her first WTA 1000 event at the Evert Cup in California, defeating Steffi Graf in the final. At the Miami Masters, Williams had her 16-match winning streak ended by her sister in the first all-sister singles final in WTA history. In the doubles event at the French Open, she and Venus won the title after defeating Hingis and Anna Kournikova in the final.
Williams missed Wimbledon in 1999 due to injury. When she returned to the tour two months later, she made her Fed Cup debut, defeating Rita Grande to send the United States to the final. She then won her third title at the JPMorgan Chase Open, beating Julie Halard-Decugis in the final. At the US Open, Williams defeated Grand Slam champions Kim Clijsters, Conchita Martínez, Monica Seles, and Lindsay Davenport (the defending champion) in consecutive matches to reach the final, where she defeated No.1-ranked Hingis. Williams became the second African-American woman to win a Grand Slam singles tournament, after Althea Gibson. The Williams sisters also won the doubles event at this tournament, making Serena the fifth woman in the Open Era to win both singles and doubles at the same major event. To complete her 1999 season, Williams won a doubles match against Russia in the Fed Cup final to help the US win the title. Williams ended the year ranked in a career-high world No.4 in just her second full year on the main tour.
2000–2001: Olympic gold, US Open final, and Indian Wells boycott
In 2000, Williams failed to defend her titles in Paris and Indian Wells, although she did win the Faber Grand Prix in Germany. Soon afterwards, she missed the French Open due to injury. She recovered and played at the Wimbledon Championships, where she lost to Venus in the semifinals; however, the pair won the doubles title. Her defense of the US Open title ended when she lost in the quarterfinals to Davenport. Williams and her sister won the gold medal in doubles at the Sydney Olympics that September, and Williams ended the year by winning the Toyota Princess Cup and finishing at No.6.
Williams began 2001 by losing to Hingis in the quarterfinals of both the Medibank International and the Australian Open. She and Venus won the doubles event at the latter tournament, becoming only the fifth doubles team in history to win all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles during their career, completing a "Career Grand Slam". Her next event was the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, where she defeated Clijsters in the final. During the tournament, Richard Williams stated that racist comments were made to him by spectators. As a result, both Serena and Venus pledged to boycott the event, even though it was a mandatory stop on the WTA tour; Serena's boycott lasted until 2015. Williams then lost to Jennifer Capriati in the quarterfinals of three tournaments: Miami Masters, the French Open and Wimbledon. She claimed her second title of the year at the Rogers Cup, defeating Capriati in the final. In September, Williams lost to her sister in the final of the US Open, which was the first Grand Slam tournament final played by two sisters during the Open Era. At the 2001 season-ending Tour Championships, Williams won the championship by walkover when Davenport withdrew due to injury. Williams finished 2001 at No.6 for the second straight year.
2002–2003: "Serena Slam"
Early in 2002, injury saw Williams retire from the semifinal at the Medibank International Sydney and later withdraw from the Australian Open. After recovering, Williams won her first title of the year in Scottsdale, Arizona, defeating No.2 Capriati, in the final. She then won the Miami Masters for the first time after beating No.3 Hingis in the quarterfinals, No.2 Venus in the semifinals, and No.1 Capriati in the final, becoming only the second player in the Open Era to defeat the world's top 3 ranked players at the same event.
In May, Williams reached her first clay-court final at the Eurocard German Open, but lost to Justine Henin. Williams won her first clay-court title at the Italian Open, which raised her ranking to a new high of No.3. She then claimed her first French Open title, which elevated her to No.2, second only to Venus. During the summer, Williams won Wimbledon for the first time, defeating Venus in the final. The victory propelled her to No.1, making her the third African American woman to hold the top ranking. The Williams sisters also won the doubles event at the tournament.
At the US Open, Williams reached the final where, for the third Grand Slam in a row, she defeated her sister to win the title. Williams won two consecutive singles titles in the fall, defeating Clijsters to win the Toyota Princess Cup in Tokyo, and Anastasia Myskina to win the Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig. She reached the final at the Home Depot Championships in Los Angeles, where she lost to Clijsters in straight sets. Williams finished 2002 with a 56–5 win/lose record, eight singles titles, and the No.1 ranking. Her three consecutive Grand Slam titles in 2002 made her only the third player in history to win the "Surface Slam" after Martina Navratilova (1984) and Steffi Graf (1993, 1995, 1996).
At the 2003 Australian Open, Williams faced Venus for the fourth consecutive Grand Slam tournament final. She defeated her older sister and became the sixth woman in the Open Era to complete a Career Grand Slam, alongside Graf, Navratilova, Margaret Court, Chris Evert and Billie Jean King. She also became the fifth woman to hold all Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously, a feat which was dubbed the "Serena Slam" by the press. At this tournament, the Williams sisters also won their sixth Grand Slam doubles title as a team.
During the spring of 2003, Williams captured the singles titles at the Open Gaz de France and the Sony Ericsson Open. Her streak of 21 wins ended when she lost the final of the Family Circle Cup to Henin. She also lost to Mauresmo in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. Despite these defeats, Williams was the top seed at the French Open, where she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Henin; this was Williams's first loss in a Grand Slam tournament since 2001. The match was controversial, with Williams questioning Henin's sportsmanship, and spectators applauding Williams's errors. Williams rebounded from the loss at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships, where she defeated Venus in the final. This was Williams's second consecutive Wimbledon title and her sixth Grand Slam singles title overall. Wimbledon was her last tournament of 2003; she pulled out of three events and then underwent surgery on the quadriceps tendon in her knee in early August. She was expected to be in recovery for six to eight weeks.
2004–2007: Injuries and comeback
After eight months away from tennis, Williams began her comeback at the NASDAQ-100 Open in March 2004, where she won the title for the third consecutive year. Although ranked No.7, Williams was seeded second at the French Open, where she lost to Capriati in the quarterfinals. A few weeks later, Williams was seeded first at Wimbledon, even though her ranking had dropped to No.10. She won six matches en route to the final, where Maria Sharapova defeated her. The loss caused her to drop out of the top 10 for the first time since 1999. Later that summer, Williams reached her third final of the year at the JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport.
Williams was seeded third at the 2004 US Open, where she faced Capriati in the quarterfinals. During the match, umpire Mariana Alves made a call that favored Capriati, but subsequent video review showed that her call was incorrect. Williams argued with Alves over several other calls during the match, which Capriati eventually won. Williams acknowledged that her loss was primarily due to her 57 unforced errors, but she nevertheless felt "cheated" and accused Alves of temporary insanity. The controversy renewed calls for, and was widely given credit for, the adoption of new technology such as the MacCAM and Hawk-Eye systems.
Williams won her second title of the year at the China Open in September, defeating US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. Williams's successful season allowed her to qualify for the Tour Championships, held again in Los Angeles. She lost to Sharapova in the final, where she suffered an abdominal injury. Williams finished 2004 ranked No.7, but did not win a Grand Slam singles tournament for the first season since 2001.
Following Venus's early exit from the 2005 Australian Open, Williams rejected suggestions that she and her sister were a declining force in tennis. She defeated top seed Davenport to win the tournament, claiming her second Australian Open trophy and seventh Grand Slam singles title. The victory moved her back to No.2. Williams completed just two tournaments between the Australian Open and Wimbledon, losing to Venus in Miami and Francesca Schiavone in Italy. A reoccurring ankle injury caused her to miss the French Open. She returned to Wimbledon as the 4th-seeded player, but was defeated in the third round. At the US Open, Williams lost to her sister in the fourth round. Williams played just one more match that fall, a loss to No.127 Sun Tiantian at the China Open in Beijing. She failed to qualify for the year-end championship for the first time since 1998, and she finished 2005 ranked No.11.
Williams made her 2006 debut at the Australian Open, defending her title. After she lost to Daniela Hantuchová in the third round, she told the press that she was injured. In her biography, Williams wrote that she was suffering from depression during this time. She stayed away from tennis for six months during the 2006 season, and began seeing a therapist daily. After a chance meeting with a young girl who idolized Williams and believed in her, Williams signed up to play in Cincinnati in July, her first tournament since January. She had slipped to No.139, her lowest ranking since 1997. On her return, Williams defeated Myskina and Bethanie Mattek, before losing in the semifinals to Vera Zvonareva. She also reached the semifinals in Los Angeles, losing to Janković in straight sets. Williams needed a wildcard to enter the US Open, as her No.139 ranking was too low to automatically qualify her to play. By the time the tournament began, however, she had risen to 79th. She lost to top-seeded Mauresmo in the fourth round. Williams finished the year ranked No.95, her lowest year-end ranking since 1997.
Williams began 2007 with renewed confidence. She stated her intention to return to the top of the rankings, a goal that was labeled "deluded" by commentator Pat Cash. Williams lost in the quarterfinals of the Hobart International, a warm-up for the Australian Open, where she was unseeded and widely regarded as "out of shape". Shortly before her first match, a representative from Nike told her the company might cancel her sponsorship if she did not perform at her customary level. Williams claimed that Nike's ultimatum meant she would have to reach the quarterfinals at least.
The Nike situation did not distract Williams, as she lost just three games to Mara Santangelo and defeated Anne Kremer in straight sets. By this point, a blister had developed on her foot and she had contracted a cold. In the third round, Williams found herself two points away from losing to Nadia Petrova, but fought back to win in three sets. She then made it to the final, defeating Jelena Janković, Shahar Pe'er and Nicole Vaidišová along the way. Williams described them as "good players ... who certainly didn't expect an overweight, out-of-shape, has-been champion ... to give them a game." Commentator Tracy Austin said she expected Sharapova to easily defeat Williams in the final. Williams thought the commentary was mean, and used it as motivation to win. She triumphed over Sharapova, losing just three games; it was her first tournament title in two years. Williams became the first player since Chris O'Neil to capture the title without being seeded. The victory, which elevated her to No.14, was her third Australian Open title and eighth career Grand Slam singles title. Williams dedicated the achievement to her deceased half-sister Yetunde.
Her performance in the final was described in the press as one of the best performances of her career, and "arguably the most powerful display ever seen in women's tennis". Williams won the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami for the fourth time by defeating Henin, but then lost to her in the quarterfinals at the French Open. During a fourth round match against Hantuchová at Wimbledon, Williams collapsed from an acute muscle spasm. After a medical timeout, rain forced play to be suspended for nearly two hours. When the players returned, Williams won the match. Williams then lost her quarterfinal match against Henin. At the US Open, Williams lost her third consecutive Grand Slam singles quarterfinal to Henin. Williams reached the final of the Kremlin Cup, but lost to Elena Dementieva. She qualified for the WTA Championships, but retired from her first match with a knee injury and subsequently withdrew from the event. Williams finished 2007 as No.7 and the top-ranked American for the first time since 2003.
2008–2010: Injuries, controversy, and return to No. 1
Williams started 2008 by winning the Hopman Cup for the US, with Mardy Fish. At the Australian Open, she lost in the quarterfinals to Janković, her fourth straight loss in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament. In the women's doubles event, she and Venus were defeated in the quarterfinals. Williams withdrew from her next three scheduled tournaments because of an urgent need for dental surgery. She then won three consecutive singles titles at Bangalore and her fifth Miami title, tying Graf for the most singles titles at this tournament. She claimed victory at the Family Circle Cup, her first clay-court title since 2002. Her 17-match winning streak was ended by Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals in Berlin. Williams withdrew in Rome in the quarterfinals due to a back injury, and lost in the third round of the French Open to Katarina Srebotnik.
At Wimbledon, Williams reached the finals for the first time in four years, but lost to Venus in their first Grand Slam final since 2003. Serena and Venus teamed up and won the doubles title, however. Williams played at Stanford, but retired in the semifinals with a knee injury, which also forced her to withdraw from a tournament in Los Angeles. During the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Williams lost to Dementieva in the singles quarterfinals, but she and Venus won the gold medal in doubles. In early September, Williams captured her third US Open title, which was also her ninth Grand Slam singles title. The victory returned her to No.1 for the first time since 2003. At the year-end championships, she defeated Safina and lost to Venus in round-robin matches, but withdrew from a match against Dementieva, citing a stomach muscle injury. She ended 2008 ranked No.2 and with four singles titles, her strongest performance in both respects since 2003.
Williams began 2009 at the Medibank International, losing in the semifinals to Dementieva. At the Australian Open, she claimed her tenth Grand Slam singles title by defeating Safina. This win restored her No.1 ranking and made her the all-time career prize money leader in women's sports, a title previously held by golfer Annika Sörenstam. Serena and Venus also won the doubles event at the Australian Open for the third time. At the Open GdF Suez, Williams withdrew before her semifinal match against Dementieva because of a knee injury. She then played in Dubai, losing to Venus in the semifinals.
Williams was beset by ankle and quadriceps injuries at the Sony Ericsson Open, and was upset in the final by Victoria Azarenka. This was the first of four consecutive losses for Williams, the longest losing streak of her career. After Ericsson, she was defeated in her opening matches in Barcelona, Rome, and Madrid. At the French Open, she lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion Kuznetsova. This ended her 18-match winning streak at Grand Slam tournaments. She rebounded at Wimbledon, prevailing over Dementieva in the semifinals and Venus in the finals. The victory was her third Wimbledon title and her 11th Grand Slam singles title. For the second consecutive year, Serena and Venus claimed the Wimbledon doubles title, which was their ninth Grand Slam title in doubles.
Ahead of the US Open, Williams suffered a third-round defeat in Cincinnati and a semifinal defeat at the Rogers Cup. At the Open, she was given a racket abuse warning after losing the first set of her semifinal match against Clijsters. Later in the match, one of her serves was called a foot fault. Williams yelled profanities at the lineswoman who made the call, and threatened to shove a tennis ball down her throat. Williams was penalized a point for unsportsmanlike conduct, which resulted in Clijsters winning the match. The following day, Williams was issued a fine of $10,500. After further investigation, the Grand Slam Committee fined her $175,000 in place of suspending her from the 2010 US Open or other Grand Slams. They also placed her on a two-year probation, which meant that if she committed another offense at a Grand Slam during the next two years, she would be suspended from the following US Open. If, however, she committed no offenses, her fine would be reduced to $82,500. Although Williams initially did not express regret for her outburst, she eventually apologized, saying she was humbled by the experience.
Williams continued in the US Open doubles competition, teaming up with Venus to capture their third Grand Slam doubles title of the year, and the tenth of their career. Williams won all three of her round-robin matches at the year-end WTA Tour Championships, defeating Venus, Dementieva, and Kuznetsova. She advanced to the final after Caroline Wozniacki retired from their semifinal match. In the final, Williams defeated her sister to claim her second singles title at this event. Williams finished the year ranked No.1 for the second time in her career. She played in 16 tournaments in 2009, more than any other year. With $6,545,586 in prize-money earnings, she broke the record previously set by Justine Henin for most prize money earned by a female tennis player in one year. In doubles, the Williams sisters finished 2009 at No.2, despite playing only six tournaments together. Williams now had a total of 23 Grand Slam titles, and was consequently named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press. She was also the International Tennis Federation World Champion in both singles and doubles.
In 2010, Williams's first tournament was in Sydney, where she lost in the final to Dementieva. At the Australian Open, Williams was the defending champion in both singles and doubles. She reached the final and defeated Justine Henin, who had recently come out of retirement, for her twelfth Grand Slam singles title. In doubles, Williams and her sister successfully defended their title by defeating Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the final. Williams sat out several events with a leg injury, but returned for the Rome Masters, where she was defeated by Janković in the semifinals. At Madrid, she fell to Nadia Petrova in the third round, but partnered with Venus to win the doubles title.
At the French Open, Williams was bested by Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals. She and Venus won the doubles event, achieving their fourth consecutive Grand Slam doubles title and improving their doubles ranking to No.1. Williams's next tournament was Wimbledon, where she did not lose a single set, defeating Zvonareva in the final. After the match, Navratilova said Williams was among the top five female tennis players in history. She asserted that being a great player is "not just about how many Slams you win ... it's just your game overall ... she's got all the goods." The Williams sisters lost in the doubles quarterfinals to Elena Vesnina and Zvonareva. In Munich on July 7, Williams stepped on broken glass while in a restaurant, and the injury caused her to miss the rest of the year. She finished 2010 ranked No.4 in singles and No.11 in doubles.On March 2, 2011, she confirmed that she had suffered a hematoma and a pulmonary embolism.
2011–2013: Return to dominance, Career Golden Slam
Williams made her first appearance on the WTA tour in almost a year in Eastbourne, where she lost in round two to Zvonareva. In June, she attempted to defend her title at Wimbledon, but was eliminated in the round of 16, which dropped her ranking to No.169. Later in the summer, she won titles in both Stanford and Toronto. Williams played the Western & Southern Open, but withdrew due to injury. She reached the final at the US Open, where she faced Stosur. During the match, Williams became angry with umpire Eve Asderaki. She made gestures and unflattering comments towards her, including calling her "a hater". Williams eventually lost the match, and then declined to offer Asderaki the customary handshake. A writer for ESPN suggested that Williams did not violate the terms of her probation (on which she was placed following her 2009 outburst), since she did not use profanity when addressing the umpire. In the end, Williams was fined $2,000, but was not barred from competing. The US Open was Williams's final event of 2011, and she ended the year ranked No.12, with two titles and a 22–3 record for the season. She only played in six tournaments during the season.
Williams started the 2012 season at the Brisbane International. During her match against Bojana Jovanovski, she injured her left ankle, and was forced to withdraw from the tournament. Next she participated in the Australian Open, where she was upset by Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round. After a month layoff, Williams returned to competition in Miami, losing in the quarterfinals. She then won consecutive titles in Charleston and Madrid, but withdrew from her semifinal match in Rome due to a lower back injury. At the French Open, Williams suffered her first ever loss in the opening round of a Grand Slam. She notched up a 33–1 record for the second half of the season, winning five titles in the process. She captured her fifth Wimbledon singles title (her 14th Grand Slam victory), and became the first female player to serve 24 aces in a match. She also set a record for the most aces in a tournament by any player—male or female—with a total of 102. Williams and her sister also captured their fifth trophy in Wimbledon doubles.
Williams returned to America to successfully defend her Stanford title, overcoming CoCo Vandeweghe in the final. At the Olympics, she won gold by defeating Sharapova in a dominating performance. She and Venus also won a second consecutive Olympic doubles title. In New York, Williams claimed her fourth US Open singles title, which was her 15th career Grand Slam singles title. She ended the season by going undefeated at the WTA Championships and winning the event for the third time. She was named ITF World Champion, and was voted WTA Player of the Year for the fourth time.
Williams's first tournament of the 2013 season was in Brisbane, where she won the title without dropping a set. At the Australian Open, she was upset in the quarterfinals by fellow American Sloane Stephens. After defeating Petra Kvitová in Doha, Williams returned to No.1 for the sixth time in her career, becoming the oldest woman in the Open Era to hold the ranking. In the Miami final, Williams recorded her 70th come-from-behind win. The victory made Williams a six-time champion in Miami, breaking the record she held with Graf. She also became the fourth woman in the Open Era to win a given tournament six times. Williams then defended her Charleston title, winning the event for the third time. She won her 50th career singles title in Madrid, prevailing over Sharapova in the final. She then played in Rome, where she won the title a second time. At the French Open, Williams lost only one game whilst defeating Sara Errani in the semifinal. Evert said Williams's play during the match was the finest performance she had ever seen by a female player on clay. Williams bested Sharapova in the final to claim her second French Open title and her 16th Grand Slam title overall. She also became the fourth woman in the Open Era to win each Grand Slam tournament at least twice. At Wimbledon, she advanced easily to the fourth round before being defeated by eventual finalist Sabine Lisicki. Williams then won the Swedish Open, her first victory at the International level. She was undefeated on clay during the season.
Williams won her third Rogers Cup title in Toronto, beating Sorana Cîrstea in the final. She reached the final of the Western & Southern Open for the first time, but lost to Azarenka. At the US Open, Williams began as top seed and defending champion. She reached the final and defeated Azarenka in three sets, capturing her 17th Grand Slam singles title and pushing her career prize winnings past $50 million. At 31, she became the oldest US Open champion in the Open Era. After the US Open, Williams beat Janković to win the China Open, which was her 10th title of 2013. She went undefeated at the WTA Championships, triumphing over Li Na in the final and becoming the first person to defend the title since Henin in 2007. She also became the oldest player to win the WTA Championships, the fourth player to win it four times or more, and the first female player to win more than $10 million in a season (her total for 2013 was $12.4 million). Only Rafael Nadal (in 2013), and Novak Djokovic (in 2011, 2012 and 2013) have earned more money in one season.
Williams finished as the year-end No.1 for the third time, becoming the oldest No.1 player in WTA history. She was named the ITF World Champion for the fourth time. She received two prizes at the 2013 ESPY Awards: Best Female Athlete and Best Female Tennis Player, the latter of which she won for a record sixth time. In December, Williams received the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award for the third time. Only Evert and Babe Didrikson have been chosen more often as Athlete of the Year since the awards were first handed out in 1931.
2014–2015: Second "Serena Slam"
Williams defended her title at the Brisbane International by defeating No.2 Azarenka in the final. At the Australian Open, she fell in the fourth round to Ana Ivanovic. In Dubai, Williams lost her semifinal match to Alizé Cornet in straight sets. Williams then played in the Miami Open, where she won her record seventh title with a straight-sets victory over No.2 Li Na. At the Family Circle Cup, she lost to Jana Čepelová in the second round. She made it to the quarterfinals at the Madrid Open before withdrawing with a thigh injury. In Rome, Williams won her third title of the season. She suffered the worst loss of her Grand Slam career in the second round of the French Open when Garbiñe Muguruza defeated her while losing just four games in two sets. Cornet defeated Williams in the third round of Wimbledon, handing Williams her earliest Wimbledon elimination since 2005. During the doubles event with Venus, Serena hit four consecutive doubles faults. She appeared disoriented and unsteady on her feet, and withdrew from the tournament. The official cause of withdrawal was "viral illness".
Williams rebounded by winning 19 out of her next 20 matches (losing only to Venus in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup). The streak included titles at the Bank of the West Classic and the Western & Southern Open, and her third consecutive and sixth overall US Open singles title. With this victory, Williams tied Evert for most US Open singles titles won by a woman in the Open Era. Williams also tied Evert and Navratilova's record of 18 career Grand Slam singles titles won in the Open Era. By virtue of winning both the US Open and the US Open Series, Williams collected $4 million—the biggest payday in tennis history. At the 2014 WTA Finals in Singapore, Williams advanced to the final for the third consecutive year despite having equaled her career-worst loss in her second round robin match against Simona Halep. She claimed the WTA Finals title, which was her seventh title of the year, and finished the year ranked No.1 for the fourth time in her career. She held the top ranking for the entire calendar year, a feat not accomplished since Graf achieved it in 1996. Williams was voted WTA Player of the Year and ITF World Champion for a third consecutive year.
Williams began the 2015 season by reaching the final of the Hopman Cup, where she and her partner John Isner lost to Poland. At the Australian Open, Williams defeated Sharapova for the 16th consecutive time to claim her sixth Australian Open singles title and 19th career Grand Slam singles title. With this victory, Williams surpassed both Evert and Navratilova for the second most Grand Slam singles titles won in the Open Era. She is the only player in history to win all four Grand Slams at age 30 or older. She and Venus next traveled to Buenos Aires to face Argentina in a World Group II tie in the Fed Cup. She played and won her only match against María Irigoyen to help the US team win against the Argentines. After a 14-year boycott of the Indian Wells Masters, Williams announced that she would be competing at the event. Upon her return, she received a standing ovation from the crowd and won her first match in straight sets. She reached the semifinals, but was forced to withdraw because of a knee injury. When Williams defeated Lisicki in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open, she became the eighth woman in the Open Era to record 700 match wins in her career. This also made her one of only three active players to have won 700 or more matches in singles, the others being Nadal and Roger Federer. Williams went on to win a record eighth title in Miami.
As preparation for the clay-court season (and to ensure her eligibility for the 2016 Summer Olympics), Williams travelled to Brindisi, Italy, where she competed with that country's team for a place in the Fed Cup's World Group. Williams and teammate Alison Riske lost the decisive doubles match to Errani and Flavia Pennetta, which meant the United States was relegated to World Group II. It was Williams's first loss in the Fed Cup. The week of April 20 marked Williams's 114th consecutive week ranked No.1, the third-longest run in WTA history at the time, behind Graf's 186 weeks and Navratilova's 156. In the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open, Williams suffered her first defeat of the season, ending a 50-match winning streak at Premier-Mandatory events. She played one match at the 2015 Internazionali BNL d'Italia before withdrawing with an elbow injury.
At the 2015 French Open, Williams defeated Lucie Šafářová in three sets to claim the trophy and win her third French Open and 20th Grand Slam singles title. The accomplishment made Williams only the third person in history to win each Grand Slam at least three times, the others being Court and Graf. At Wimbledon, Williams defeated three former No.1 players—Azarenka, Sharapova, and her sister Venus—to advance to the final. Awaiting her was Muguruza, who had previously handed Williams the worst Grand Slam defeat of her career. Williams bested Muguruza and claimed her sixth Wimbledon singles title and 21st Grand Slam singles title overall. With this triumph, she completed her second "Serena Slam" (winning all four Grand Slams in a row, but not in the same calendar year). The Wimbledon victory made Williams the oldest woman in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles title. It also was her eighth consecutive victory in Grand Slam singles finals appearances, breaking Graf's Open Era record of seven and tying Pete Sampras's Open Era record of eight. The week of July 13 marked the first time in WTA history that the No.1 player had more than twice as many points as the No.2. Following her win at Wimbledon, Williams was awarded her seventh ESPY for Best Female Tennis Player.
Williams was the defending champion at the Bank of the West Classic, but withdrew from the tournament to recover from an elbow injury. In the semifinals of the Canadian Open, Williams had a 19-match winning streak ended by 18-year-old Belinda Bencic. The next week Williams defended her title at the Western & Southern Open with a straight sets victory over No.3 Halep. Williams's attempt at capturing the "Grand Slam" (winning all four Grand Slams in a calendar year) came to an end at the US Open, where she lost to Roberta Vinci in the semifinals. The defeat has been described by some as one of the biggest upsets in tennis history. On October 1, Williams called an end to her season, stating that she had been injured for most of the year and wanted to "properly address [her] health". Coach Patrick Mouratoglou hinted that her decision to end the season early might be due to a lack of motivation and disappointment following her loss at the Open.
On October 5, Williams surpassed Evert for third-most weeks ranked world No.1. Williams held the top ranking the entire season for the second consecutive year, finishing there for the fifth time in her career. She was voted WTA Player of the Year for the seventh time, and named ITF World Champion for the sixth time. She was also voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press for the fourth time in her career, and was chosen as Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated. She became the third solo woman, and the first since 1983, to receive the latter award.
2016: Equalling the records of Steffi Graf
Williams was the No.1 seed and defending champion at the Australian Open. She reached the final without dropping a set, and faced first time Grand Slam finalist Angelique Kerber. Williams was considered the heavy favorite, as she had never lost an Australian Open final or semifinal. She had also dominated in past matches against Kerber, losing only once to her in six meetings. Williams lost the final in three sets, however, which marked her first-ever three-set loss in the final of a Grand Slam.
The week of February 15 marked Williams's 157th consecutive week ranked No.1, the second-longest streak in WTA history. Only Graf had held the ranking longer, for 186 weeks. Williams competed in Indian Wells as the No.1 seed, and reached the final for the first time since 2001. She was defeated by Azarenka, whom she had beaten the last five times the pair had met. This marked the first time since 2004 that Williams lost two consecutive finals. She next played the Miami Open as the defending champion, losing in the fourth round to Kuznetsova. In Rome, she prevailed over Anna-Lena Friedsam and Christina McHale to progress to the quarterfinals, where she defeated Kuznetsova. She then defeated Irina-Camelia Begu and Madison Keys to win her 70th career WTA title and her first title of the year.
At the French Open, Williams dropped only one set en route to the final, where she faced Muguruza. She lost to the Spanish-Venezuelan player in straight sets, marking the first time she had lost two consecutive Grand Slam finals. At Wimbledon, Williams again dropped only one set on her way to the final, where she faced Kerber in a rematch of their Australian Open final earlier in the year. Williams defeated Kerber in straight sets and tied Graf's record of 22 Open Era Grand Slam singles titles. Later that day, Williams and her sister won their sixth Wimbledon doubles title and 14th Grand Slam doubles title overall, keeping their perfect record at Grand Slam doubles finals intact.
In July, Williams withdrew from the Rogers Cup due to a shoulder injury. She next participated in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she was the defending gold medalist in both singles and doubles, and was the heavy favorite to retain those titles. The sisters suffered a shock exit in the first round of doubles, losing to the Czech duo of Šafářová and Barbora Strýcová, which ended their career record of 15–0 dating back to the 2000 Olympics. In singles, Williams lost to Elina Svitolina in the third round. Days after the Olympics, Williams entered the Western & Southern Open to defend her crown, but then withdrew due to the same shoulder injury from earlier in the summer. The week of September 5, 2016, marked Williams's 186th consecutive week ranked No.1, tying her with Graf for the longest run in WTA history. Williams's streak ended when she lost to Karolína Plíšková in the semifinals of the US Open. In October, she pulled out of the WTA Finals, citing her shoulder injury.
2017: Australian Open victory and pregnancy
Williams started 2017 by playing in the WTA Auckland Open for the first time in her career. In the second round, she lost to Madison Brengle. She then won the Australian Open for an Open Era record seventh time, defeating Venus in the final. It was her 23rd Open Era Grand Slam singles title, pushing her past Graf's record of 22. It was the first time in the Open Era that two players aged 35 or older had competed in the final of a Grand Slam tournament. The win ensured Williams's return to the No.1 ranking. She subsequently withdrew from the Indian Wells and Miami Opens, citing a knee injury.
On April 19, 2017, Williams revealed that she was 20 weeks pregnant and would miss the remainder of the season. The timing of her announcement meant she was already pregnant when she won the Australian Open. In interviews, she said that she intended to return to tennis after giving birth, saying she had an "outrageous plan" of competing in the 2018 Australian Open. On September 1, 2017, Williams gave birth to a daughter. She suffered a pulmonary embolism after delivery, leaving her bedridden for six weeks and delaying her return to training. On December 30, Williams played her first match since giving birth, an exhibition match at the World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, where she lost to Jeļena Ostapenko.
2018: Return to tennis, Wimbledon, and controversies
On January 5, 2018, Williams withdrew from the upcoming Australian Open, citing a lack of sufficient preparation in the wake of her pregnancy. In February, after overcoming pregnancy-related health problems, she returned to the tennis court with Venus. The pair lost to Lesley Kerkhove and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands in the first round of the Fed Cup. Williams then suffered back-to-back early exits in Indian Wells and Miami. Williams returned to Grand Slam tennis at the 2018 French Open, playing singles and doubles with her sister. In the first round, she defeated Kristýna Plíšková, then overcame Ashleigh Barty in the second round. She then defeated 11th seed Julia Görges to set up a fourth-round match against Sharapova, whom she had bested 18 consecutive times since 2004. Williams withdrew from the match due to an injury, however.
In July, she played Wimbledon and was seeded No.25. Many felt the decision showed bias and unduly favored Williams, who was ranked No.181. Others argued that the All England Club, which does not base seedings on players' world rankings—as other Grand Slam tournaments do—had sensibly considered Williams's excellent historic record at Wimbledon. Williams reached the Wimbledon semifinals, becoming the lowest-ranked player to do so. She bested 13th seed Görges in the semifinal match, but lost to Kerber in a rematch of the 2016 final. Following Wimbledon, Williams entered the 2018 Silicon Valley Classic, her first appearance in a US Open series tournament since 2015. She suffered the worst loss of her career in the first round, winning just a single game against Johanna Konta. Williams later revealed in an interview with Time that she checked Instagram prior to the match, and discovered that the man who had murdered her half-sister, Yetunde, in 2003 had been released on parole earlier in the year. Williams said she "couldn't shake it out of [her] mind."
Williams's next tournament was the Cincinnati Masters. She beat Daria Gavrilova in straight sets in the first round, but lost to Petra Kvitová in the second round. She was then seeded 17th at the US Open, although ranked 26th in the WTA. She prevailed over Magda Linette in the first round, Carina Witthöft in the second, Venus in the third, and Kaia Kanepi in the fourth. Williams's quarterfinal face-off against Karolína Plíšková was a rematch of the 2016 US Open semifinal, which the Czech player had won. Williams prevailed, notching her first win against a top 10 player since her return from pregnancy. Williams then won her semifinal match against Anastasija Sevastova, putting her into the final against Naomi Osaka. During the second set of the match, Williams was given a code violation because her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, gave her coaching hand signals. Williams claimed Mouratoglou was simply giving her a thumbs-up, and demanded an apology from umpire Carlos Ramos. However, Mouratoglou later admitted in the after-game interview that he had been coaching, but believes Williams did not understand the hint. Williams then received a second violation for racket abuse, which resulted in a point penalty. After her third code violation for verbal abuse of the umpire, Williams received a game penalty, and went on to lose the match. She was fined a total of $17,000 for the three offenses, although she claimed she was treated unfairly because she is a woman.
Following the US Open final match, the Melbourne newspaper the Herald Sun published a cartoon by Mark Knight depicting Williams throwing a tantrum while the umpire asks her opponent to "just let her win". The cartoon was widely criticized as racist and sexist, including by Williams's husband, Alexis Ohanian, and author J. K. Rowling. Complaints centered on the portrayal of Williams as an angry black woman with exaggeratedly large lips and a broad, flat nose; the depiction of Williams in an ape-like pose; and the rendering of Osaka with blonde hair (only some of her hair was colored blonde during the tournament). Knight defended his work, claiming his satire was never about race or gender, but rather about shining a spotlight on bad behavior by sports superstars.
2019: Return to the top 10
Williams started her 2019 season at the Australian Open, her first appearance at the tournament since winning it in 2017. Seeded 16th, she defeated Tatjana Maria, Eugenie Bouchard, and Dayana Yastremska in the first three rounds, then bested top seed and world No.1 Halep in the fourth. In the quarterfinals, she met Karolína Plíšková, who won the match after Williams twisted her ankle. This was Williams's earliest defeat at the Australian Open since her fourth-round loss in 2014. Despite the loss, her ranking climbed to No.11. Williams prevailed over Azarenka in the second round of the Indian Wells Masters, but a viral illness caused her to retire. She then experienced a recurrence of a long-term knee injury, which caused her to pull out of upcoming Miami and Rome events. She could not train properly until after the French Open, where she lost in the third round. Williams then reached the final at Wimbledon, making 2019 the 13th consecutive year in which she played in a Grand Slam final. She became the oldest Grand Slam finalist in the Open Era. Williams lost the final to Halep in two straight sets.
At the Canadian Open, Williams defeated Osaka in the quarterfinals and Marie Bouzkova in the semifinals, then faced Bianca Andreescu in the final. However, Williams was forced to withdraw early in the match after experiencing back spasms. Her back problems continued at the Cincinnati Open, where she withdrew before her first-round match. Williams was seeded eighth at the US Open, where she bested Sharapova in the first round. In the quarterfinals she defeated Wang Qiang, and in the semifinals she triumphed over Svitolina. Williams then proceeded to the final against Andreescu, who won the title in straight sets. Williams finished the year ranked No.10.
2020–2022: Final years
In January 2020, Williams won her first singles title as a mother at the ASB Classic, defeating Jessica Pegula in the final. At the Australian Open, Williams lost in the third round to Wang in three sets. Williams then entered the Top Seed Open as the No.1 seed, defeating Venus in the second round before losing to Shelby Rogers in the quarterfinals. At the US Open, Williams defeated Stephens in the third round before losing to Azarenka in the semifinals. Williams withdrew from the delayed French Open in October, citing an Achilles injury she had sustained during the US Open. She failed to reach a Grand Slam final in 2020.
Williams started the 2021 season by playing the Yarra Valley Classic, where she withdrew prior to her semifinal match, citing a right shoulder injury. In the Australian Open, Williams lost in the semifinal to Osaka. In May, Williams played her 1000th match of her career against Nadia Podoroska in the second round of the Italian Open, which she lost in straight sets. She sustained an injury during the first round at Wimbledon against Belarusian player Aliaksandra Sasnovich, forcing her to withdraw from the tournament. In August, a leg injury forced Williams to retire from the US Open. The withdrawal saw Williams plummet nineteen places to 41st in the world, her lowest year-end ranking in 15 years.
In December 2021, Williams announced she would not play the 2022 Australian Open, citing the same leg injury. She returned to professional play in June 2022 when she teamed up with Ons Jabeur for the Eastbourne International. The pair won two matches before retiring from the tournament due to an injury sustained by Jabeur. Williams also played singles at Wimbledon, where she lost to No.113 Harmony Tan in the first round. Williams was ranked No. 320 at the end of 2022.
Farewell tour
In the September 2022 issue of Vogue, Williams announced her plans to "evolve away" from tennis after the 2022 US Open, indicating retirement. She stated her intention to focus on her family and her venture capital firm. Williams began her farewell tour by entering the Canadian Open in Toronto using a protected ranking. She beat Nuria Párrizas Díaz in straight sets for her first singles win in 14 months, before losing to Belinda Bencic. After her elimination, tournament organizers gave Williams gifts to remember the city. Williams subsequently entered the Cincinnati Masters, where she fell to reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the first round.
At the US Open, Williams played doubles with Venus for the first time since 2018; the sisters lost to the Czech duo of Lucie Hradecká and Linda Nosková. In the first round of singles, Williams defeated Danka Kovinić of Montenegro. After the match—which was attended by Eric Adams, Bill Clinton, Spike Lee, Mike Tyson, Vera Wang, Ruth Westheimer, and Tiger Woods—a tribute video narrated by Oprah Winfrey was played, and an interview was conducted by Gayle King. In the second round, Williams upset world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit, becoming the oldest woman in the Open Era to defeat a top-three ranked player. She then lost to Ajla Tomljanović in what was ultimately her final match.
Rivalries
Serena vs. Venus
Serena played her older sister Venus in 31 professional matches starting in 1998. Overall, Serena is 19–12 against her sister. The pair played 15 times in Grand Slam singles and 13 times in other tournaments (including 11 finals). They have met in nine Grand Slam tournament finals, with Serena winning seven times. Beginning with the 2002 French Open, they played each other in four consecutive Grand Slam finals, which was the first time in the Open Era that the same two players had faced off in four consecutive finals in Grand Slam singles.
When both the Williams sisters entered the top ten and started facing off in tournaments, rumors of match fixing started to circulate. John McEnroe, while commenting on the 2000 Wimbledon semifinal between the two sisters, said that "Serena may not be allowed to win. Richard [Williams] may have something to say about this." After losing to Venus at the Indian Wells quarterfinals in 2001, Elena Dementieva claimed that Richard Williams had decided the results of matches between the sisters. Shortly after that, Venus pulled out of her Indian Wells semifinal match against Serena at the last minute, claiming tendinitis; this led to much speculation in the press, and some spectators demanded their money back. The final, in which Serena defeated Kim Clijsters, was marred by the behavior of the crowd toward Williams and her family.
Williams vs. Hingis
One of Williams's first rivalries was with Martina Hingis, who turned pro less than one year before her (Hingis in October 1994, Williams in 1995). They first played each other at the 1998 Miami Open where Hingis won in three sets. All but one of their matches was played on a hard court with the exception being a contest on clay in Rome in 1999, which Hingis won in straight sets. Their last match took place at the 2002 Miami Open, which Williams won. Williams leads the rivalry 7–6.
Williams vs. Capriati
Williams leads the series against Jennifer Capriati 10–7. The rivalry—which began in 1999 and was once considered one of the best rivalries in women's tennis—started off one-sided, with Capriati winning four of the first five matches. Williams went on to win the next eight. Twelve of the pair's seventeen meetings went three sets.
Williams vs. Henin
Justine Henin and Williams have met 14 times, five of which were in tournament finals. In Grand Slam tournaments, they have faced each other seven times, with Henin leading 4–3. The two women's different personalities and styles of play are often credited with making the rivalry entertaining. Williams leads the series 8–6.
Williams vs. Azarenka
Williams leads the series 18–5. The rivalry began at the 2008 Australian Open, and their most recent match was in the semifinals of the 2020 US Open. Williams holds a 10–1 record in Grand Slams. Azarenka is the only player to win four WTA tour-level finals against Williams, and, despite only winning five matches against Williams, is considered one of the few modern players to truly challenge Williams.
Williams vs. Sharapova
Williams leads the series 20–2. The pair first met in the fourth round of the 2004 Miami Open, where Williams defeated Sharapova. Their rivalry truly began at the 2004 Wimbledon final, where Williams was the two-time defending champion; Sharapova bested her in an upset. Williams next lost to Sharapova in the finals of the 2004 WTA Tour Championships. Since then, however, Williams has dominated the rivalry, winning all of their clashes, with only three of their matches going to three sets. They met 10 times in Grand Slam tournaments, where Williams leads 9–1. They faced off in a further nine finals, with Williams leading 7–2. Their final match was in the first round of the 2019 US Open, where Williams defeated Sharapova in two sets.
Legacy
Williams is regarded as one of the best female tennis players of all time. In 2017, BBC Sport users selected Williams as the greatest female tennis player of the Open Era. In 2018, a Tennis.com panel arrived at the same conclusion. Many players, commentators, and sports writers regard Williams as the greatest female tennis player of all time. In 2018, Roger Federer said the player who probably has the best case for "Greatest Of All Time", man or woman, is Serena Williams. In 2020, the Tennis Channel ranked Williams as the greatest female tennis player in history. In 2022, McEnroe described Williams as an "icon" and the "GOAT of GOATs". BBC presenter and former French Open Champion Sue Barker has called Williams's serve "without question the greatest ever".
Williams has won the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year a record four times (2003, 2010, 2016, 2018). In December 2019, the Associated Press named her Female Athlete of the Decade for the 2010s. In 2024, the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) voted her as the best female athlete of the past 100 years. She is the highest-earning woman athlete of all time.
For their first match in March 2019, the members of the United States women's national soccer team each wore a jersey with the name of a woman who inspired them on the back. Crystal Dunn chose Serena Williams. In September 2022, Twitter said that Williams was the most tweeted-about female athlete of all time. She and Venus have been widely credited with increasing diversity within the sport.
Player profile
Playing style
Williams was an aggressive baseliner whose game was centered around her powerful serve and forceful groundstrokes. Owing to her high-risk playing style, she typically hit a large number of winners and a large number of unforced errors. Williams's serve—which is considered the greatest in the history of women's tennis—is known for its speed and accurate placement, which allowed her to deliver numerous aces. At the 2013 Australian Open, she delivered the third-fastest serve in WTA recorded history, a 128.6 mph (207 km/h) ace against Ayumi Morita. Williams possessed an accurate and consistent ball toss, allowing her to serve to any position on the court with minimal differences in the position of the ball in the air; this made it difficult for opponents to read her service motion and predict the position of her serve, allowing her to dominate a rally from the first stroke. Williams also possessed effective and accurate kick and slice serves. She deployed these as second serves, minimizing double faults and preventing opponents from scoring free points.
Williams's forehand and backhand are considered two of the most powerful shots in the history of women's tennis. She hit both her forehand and her backhand in an open stance, allowing her to generate consistently powerful, heavy, and dominating groundstrokes. She was able to generate sharp, acute angles, which allowed her to hit winners from any position on the court. Her forehand—which has been described as "devastating"—was hit with heavy topspin, which allowed her to dominate rallies. She was capable of hitting her forehand both crosscourt and down the line to produce winners. Her two-handed backhand was equally dominant, and has been described as one of the greatest backhands of all time. Williams tended to hit her backhand flatter than her forehand, which allowed her to hit with speed, power, and depth both crosscourt and down the line. Despite playing primarily from the baseline, Williams was an adept net player thanks to her extensive doubles experience. She frequently chose to finish points at the net, either with deft touch, aggressive drive volleys, or a solid, powerful, and reliable overhead smash. She possessed an aggressive return of serve; she neutralized powerful first serves, and attacked weak second serves. She is widely considered one of the greatest returners of all time.
Despite predominantly employing an aggressive style, Williams was also an excellent defender who was capable of counterpunching against aggressive opponents until she created an opportunity to hit a winner. She was an exceptional athlete, known for her movement, speed, court coverage, agility, flexibility, balance, and footwork. Her on-court intelligence, shot selection, and point construction allowed her to execute her game plan effectively. American tennis player Christina McHale praised her composure in high-pressure moments, while Martina Navratilova called her mental strength "unbelievable". Williams has been noted for her ability to produce extraordinary comebacks, particularly at the Grand Slam level. She won three Slams after saving match points, more than any other player in history. Williams bounced back from a set down to win 37 Grand Slam matches. Her ability to come back from set and break deficits in Grand Slam matches was described by McEnroe as "a gift", and he called her "the greatest" competitor in the history of women's tennis. She has also been praised for her ability to serve aces at critical moments. As noted by retired player Li Na in 2016, "break point down, [there is an] 80% chance [she] serves an ace".
Coaches
Williams had five coaches during her career: Richard Williams (1994–2022), Oracene Price (1994–2003), Patrick Mouratoglou (2012–2022), Eric Hechtman (2022) and Rennae Stubbs (2022).
Endorsements
Williams graduated from Driftwood Academy in 1999, and soon after signed a $12 million endorsement deal with Puma. In 2004, she signed a five-year deal with Nike for $40 million, and has been sponsored by the company ever since. During Williams's tennis career, Nike designed custom clothing and footwear for her. The largest building on Nike's Portland campus is the one-million-square-foot Serena Williams Building, which features many references to the athlete's career and long partnership with Nike. According to John Hoke, Nike's Chief Design Officer, Williams assisted with the design of the building.
In 2015, Williams became the Chief Sporting Officer for British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin, and in 2018 she joined the board of directors of SurveyMonkey. During her career, Williams had endorsement deals with AbbVie, Anheuser-Busch InBev, AT&T, Audemars Piguet, Beats by Dre, Berlei Bras, Block Inc, Bumble, Chase Bank, Delta Air Lines, DirecTV, DoorDash, Ford Motor, Gatorade, Gucci, Hanes, IBM, Intel, Mission Athletecare, OnePiece, OPI Products, Pepsi, Subway, Tempur, Tonal and the Walt Disney Company.
Rackets
Williams used the Wilson Hammer Stretch range of rackets when she won her first Grand Slam title in 1999, before switching to the Hyper Hammer range. She switched to the Wilson nCode briefly in 2005, and has used various iterations of the Wilson Blade since 2008. Her racket is typically oversized, with a head size of 104 square inches. Since 2017, Wilson has manufactured a signature racket, the Wilson Blade SW104, which is designed to Williams's specifications. Since 2020, Williams has used a smaller variant of this racket, the Wilson Blade SW102 Autograph.
Career statistics
Grand Slam tournament performance timeline
Current through the 2022 US Open.
Note: Williams withdrew from the 2018 French Open before her fourth round match and the 2020 French Open before her second round match, both of which do not officially count as losses.
Grand Slam tournament finals
Singles: 33 (23–10)
Doubles: 14 (14–0)
Mixed doubles: 4 (2–2)
Records
Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.
Personal life
Williams is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. He proposed to her on December 10, 2016, and they married on November 16, 2017, in New Orleans. Their wedding ceremony was attended by prominent personalities such as Beyoncé, Anna Wintour, Kelly Rowland and Kim Kardashian.
On April 19, 2017, Williams posted a picture of herself on Snapchat that focused on her midsection. It had the caption, "20 weeks", prompting speculation that she was pregnant. Later that evening, her spokesperson confirmed the pregnancy. The fact that she was 20 weeks pregnant when announcing her pregnancy meant that she was roughly eight to nine weeks pregnant when she won the Australian Open earlier that year. Williams later said that posting the picture was an accident. On September 1, 2017, Williams gave birth to a daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. The child, who goes by "Olympia," was delivered through emergency caesarean-section after her heart rate dropped during labor. Williams gave Olympia a doll, Qai Qai, that has become famous on social media. By February 2021, Williams had hired a tennis coach for Olympia, then three years old. In August 2023, Williams gave birth to a second daughter, Adira River Ohanian.
Williams was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, but was not baptized until 2023. In 2017, she said she "never really practiced [the faith]". However, she would often thank Jehovah after winning a match. She does not celebrate birthdays, which is a practice of the faith.
Williams made an appearance on stage during Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime show, doing a crip walk amongst other background dancers. Williams is alleged to have been romantically involved with Drake, with whom Lamar is involved in an ongoing feud, in 2011 and 2015.
Other activities
Philanthropy
Williams runs the Serena Williams Foundation, which has partnered with major organizations to advance community development. In 2008, as part of the foundation's work, Williams helped to fund the construction of the Serena Williams Secondary School in Matooni, Kenya. The foundation also provides university scholarships for underprivileged students in the United States. In 2016, the Serena Williams Fund partnered with Helping Hands Jamaica to build the Salt Marsh Primary School for Jamaican youth in Trelawny Parish.
Williams received a Celebrity Role Model Award from the Avon Foundation in 2003 for her work fighting breast cancer. The same year, she won the "Young Heroes Award" from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater L.A. and Inland. In 2004, she won the "Family Circle and Prudential Financial Player Who Makes a Difference Award". She has been an International Goodwill Ambassador with UNICEF since 2011, and helped launch UNICEF's Schools for Asia campaign. In 2004 and 2005, Serena and Venus visited hospitals and played several tennis matches in predominantly Black cities to raise funds for the local Ronald McDonald House charities. An ESPN episode was dedicated to the charity tour.
In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Williams, along with other ATP and WTA stars, decided to forgo their final day of preparation for the Australian Open to assist earthquake victims. Serena and Venus are contributors to First Serve Miami, a foundation for youth who want to learn tennis but face social and economic obstacles. The sisters have collaborated on philanthropic projects through the Williams Sisters Fund, which assists individuals and communities affected by violence, and aims to ensure that youth have access to education. In 2014, Williams began hosting an annual charity run named "The Serena Williams Ultimate Fun Run" to support the Fund. In 2016, in her childhood home of Compton, she and Venus founded the Yetunde Price Resource Center, in honor of their late half-sister Yetunde.
Williams's return to Indian Wells in 2015 (after a 14-year boycott) occurred in partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit organization that provides legal representation to people who may have been denied a fair trial. In 2017, Williams became Ambassador for the Allstate Foundation's Purple Purse project, an initiative to provide financial empowerment to domestic abuse victims. Other organizations Williams supports include the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Hearts of Gold, the Common Ground Foundation, the Small Steps Project, the HollyRod Foundation, Beyond the Boroughs National Scholarship Fund, World Education, the Eva Longoria Foundation, the Caliber Foundation and the Cure for MND Foundation.
Business ventures
In August 2009, Serena and Venus became minority owners of the Miami Dolphins after purchasing a small stake in the team. According to the Dolphins, they are the first African-American women to hold any amount of ownership in an NFL franchise. In 2014, Williams founded the venture capital firm Serena Ventures, which invests in start-up companies whose "perspectives and innovations level the playing field for women and people of color." As of 2022, Serena Ventures had raised more than $110 million.
In July 2020, it was announced that Williams was part of a nearly all-women investors' group that was awarded a new franchise in the National Women's Soccer League, the highest level of the women's sport in the United States. Williams's husband Alexis Ohanian is classified as the "lead investor", but he holds a minority interest, and is the only man in the ownership group. Other owners in the group include prominent actresses, media figures, businesswomen, former members of the US women's national team, and Williams's eldest daughter. The new team began playing in 2022 as Angel City FC.
Activism
Williams became more involved in social change as her career progressed, primarily using social media to express her views. In 2016 she voiced her support for Black Lives Matter on her Facebook page. She expressed concern that her young nephew could be in danger from police due to his skin color. During American tennis player Tennys Sandgren's breakthrough run to the quarterfinals of the 2018 Australian Open, it was revealed that he tweeted insensitive words about the LGBT community, followed members of the alt-right, and referred to an article describing Williams's on-court behavior as "disgusting". Williams responded to him by saying, "I don't need or want [an apology]. But there is an entire group of people that deserves an apology."
Also in 2016, Williams wrote an open letter in Porter Magazine's feature "Incredible Women of 2016" in support of gender equality and to share her personal struggles as a woman in tennis. She claimed that women's contributions to the sport are not recognized in the same way as men's contributions, and she also commented on the issue of unequal pay. Williams has received several awards for her activism, particularly her endeavors involving Black communities. The NAACP has honored Williams with its President's Award (2003) and the Jackie Robinson Sports Award (2023).
Fashion
Williams was noted for her unusual and colorful outfits on court. She arrived at the 2004 US Open in a denim skirt and knee-high leg wraps that looked like boots, which she was not allowed to wear during matches. At the 2018 French Open, she promoted her clothing line Serena by wearing a catsuit, which was subsequently banned by the French Tennis Federation. At the 2018 US Open, Williams wore a black tutu during her first match.
In 2009, she launched a signature collection of handbags and jewelry, Signature Statement, which is sold mainly on the Home Shopping Network. In 2010, she became a certified nail technician in preparation for her upcoming nail collection with HairTech.
In February 2019, Williams was appointed to the board of directors of the online fashion marketplace Poshmark. In the fall of that year, she launched the first collection of her clothing line S by Serena. Inspired by 1990s street wear, the apparel is designed for a range of body types and body sizes.
Media and publishing
In 2005, the Williams sisters authored the book Venus & Serena: Serving From The Hip: 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning, which was written with Hilary Beard. In 2009, Williams released the autobiography On the Line. The same year, she appeared in online videos and print advertisements for Tampax Pearl tampons, becoming the first active female professional athlete to appear in advertising for a feminine hygiene product. Williams posed for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2003 and 2004.
Filmography
Williams has appeared in films, television series, and music videos. She and Venus also served as executive producers on the 2021 film King Richard, a biopic about their father.
See also
Explanatory notes
References
General references
Morgan, Terri (2001). Venus and Serena Williams: Grand Slam Sisters. Sports Achievers Biographies. Lerner Publishing. 64pp. ISBN 978-0-8225-3684-0.
Williams, Venus; Williams, Serena; Beard, Hilary (2005). Venus and Serena: Serving from the Hip: 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 133pp. ISBN 978-0-618-57653-1.
Williams, Serena; Paisner, Daniel (2009). On the Line. Hachette Digital. 214pp. ISBN 978-0-446-56402-1.
Williams, Serena; Paisner, Daniel (2009). My Life: Queen of the Court. Simon & Schuster. 257pp. ISBN 978-1-84737-544-5.
Further reading
Spencer, Nancy E. (May 2004). "Sister Act VI: Venus and Serena Williams at Indian Wells: 'Sincere Fictions' and White Racism". Journal of Sport & Social Issues. 28 (2): 115–135. doi:10.1177/0193723504264411. S2CID 159517372.
External links
Official website
Serena Williams at the Women's Tennis Association
Serena Williams at the International Tennis Federation
Serena Williams at the Billie Jean King Cup (archived)
Serena Williams at IMDb
Serena Williams Archived June 7, 2017, at the Wayback Machine video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
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Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 319 weeks (third-most of all time), and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Williams won 73 WTA Tour–level singles titles, including 23 major women's singles titles—the most in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time. She is the only player to accomplish a career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles.
Along with her elder sister Venus, Serena Williams was coached by her parents Oracene Price and Richard Williams. Turning professional in 1995, she won her first major singles title at the 1999 US Open. From the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open she was dominant, winning all four major singles titles consecutively (each time over Venus in the final) to achieve a non-calendar year Grand Slam (nicknamed the "Serena Slam"). The next few years saw Williams capture two more major singles titles, but suffer from injury and decline in form. Starting in 2007, however, she gradually returned to form despite continued injuries, reclaiming the world No. 1 singles ranking. Beginning with the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, Williams returned to dominance, claiming Olympic gold (completing the career Golden Slam in singles) and winning eight out of thirteen singles majors, including all four in a row from 2014–2015 to achieve a second "Serena Slam". At the 2017 Australian Open, she won her 23rd major singles title, surpassing Steffi Graf's Open Era record. After becoming pregnant, Williams took a break from professional tennis, but reached four major finals upon returning to play. In August 2022, Williams announced her impending "evolution" away from professional tennis, and played her final match at the 2022 US Open.
Williams also won 23 WTA Tour-level doubles titles, including 14 major women's doubles championships, all with her sister Venus. The pair was undefeated in major doubles finals, earning the best unbeaten record in major finals in any discipline of the sport. The sisters achieved a non-calendar year Grand Slam between the 2009 Wimbledon Championships and the 2010 French Open, which granted them the doubles world No. 1 ranking. Williams won four Olympic gold medals, three in women's doubles—an all-time joint record in tennis, shared with her sister. The duo are the only women in the Open Era to win Olympic gold in both singles and doubles. Williams also won two mixed doubles majors, both in 1998. She is the only player, male or female, to complete three career Golden Slams—one in women's singles and two in women's doubles.
The ascent of the Williams sisters has been credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women's professional tennis tour. Serena is the most recent woman to simultaneously hold all four major singles titles (2002–2003 and 2014–2015), and to win the Surface Slam (major titles on hard, clay and grass courts in the same calendar year), which she accomplished in 2015. She is also, with Venus, the most recent player to have simultaneously held all four major women's doubles titles (2009–2010).
Williams was the world's highest paid woman athlete in 2016, earning almost $29 million. She repeated this feat in 2017 when she was the only woman on Forbes' list of the 100 highest-paid athletes, with $27 million in prize money and endorsements. She is the highest-earning woman athlete of all time.
Williams won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year a record four times (2003, 2010, 2016, 2018), Comeback of the Year once (2007), and in December 2015 was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine. In 2020, the Tennis Channel ranked Williams as the greatest women's tennis player of all time. She received the Princess of Asturias Award for Sport in 2025.
Early life
Williams was born on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan, to Oracene Price and Richard Williams. She is the youngest of Price's five daughters, after half-sisters Yetunde, Lyndrea, and Isha Price, and full older sister Venus. She also has at least seven paternal half-siblings. When the children were young, the family moved to Compton, California, where she started playing tennis at the age of four. Her father home-schooled her and Venus. While he and her mother have been her official coaches, her other mentors have included Richard Williams, a Compton man who shared her father's name and subsequently founded The Venus and Serena Williams Tennis Tutorial Academy.
When Williams was nine, she and her family moved from Compton to West Palm Beach, Florida, so she could attend the tennis academy of Rick Macci, who provided her with additional coaching. Macci did not always agree with Williams's father, but respected that "he treated his daughters like kids, allowed them to be little girls". By 1991, Williams had a 46–3 record on the United States Tennis Association junior tour and was ranked No. 1 among under-10 players in Florida. When Williams was 10, Richard stopped sending his daughters to national junior tennis tournaments, as he wanted them to "go slowly" and focus on school, and because he wanted to ensure they would not burn out before turning professional. Experiences of racism also influenced this decision, as he had heard white parents talk about the Williams sisters in a derogatory manner during tournaments. In 1995, when Williams was in the ninth grade, her father pulled his daughters out of Macci's academy and took over all coaching at their home. When asked in 2000 whether it would have been more beneficial for them to have followed the normal path of playing regularly on the junior circuit, Richard responded, "Everyone does different things. I think for Venus and I, we just attempted a different road, and it worked for us."
Professional career
1995–1998: Professional debut
Williams's parents initially wanted their daughter to wait until she was 16 to participate in professional tournaments. In 1995, just after turning 14, Williams planned to make her professional debut as a wild-card entry in the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, California, but was denied due to age-eligibility restrictions. She subsequently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the WTA, but withdrew it at her parents' request. Her first professional event was in October 1995 at the Bell Challenge in Quebec, where she used a wild-card entry to circumvent age-eligibility rules. She lost in the first qualifying round to 18-year-old American Annie Miller.
After not playing in 1996, Williams won her first main-draw match at the Ameritech Cup Chicago in November 1997. Ranked No.304, she upset No.7 Mary Pierce and No.4 Monica Seles, recording her first career wins over top 10 players and becoming the lowest-ranked player in the Open Era to defeat two top-10 opponents in one tournament. She ultimately lost in the semifinals to No.5 Lindsay Davenport. Her run in Chicago propelled Williams into the Top 100 for the first time in her career, and she finished 1997 ranked No.99 in the world.
At the 1998 Sydney International, Williams defeated No.3 Davenport in the quarterfinals, before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals. Williams's first main draw of a Grand Slam tournament was at the Australian Open, where she defeated sixth-seeded Irina Spîrlea in the first round, before losing to Venus in the second round in the sisters' first professional face-off. She reached six other quarterfinals during the year, but lost all of them, including her first match against No.1-ranked Martina Hingis. She lost in the fourth round of the French Open to Vicario, and in the third round of the US Open to Spîrlea. She withdrew from Wimbledon two games into a match after straining a calf muscle. After losing the French Open mixed doubles final to Venus and Justin Gimelstob, Williams won the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open with Max Mirnyi. Williams won her first professional title in non-mixed doubles at the U.S. National Indoor Championships in Oklahoma City with Venus, which made them the third pair of sisters to win a WTA title. Williams finished the year ranked No.20 in singles, the fastest achievement of that milestone in women's history.
1999: First major and becoming a top-5 player
In February 1999, Williams won her first professional singles title when she defeated Amélie Mauresmo in the final of the Open Gaz de France in Paris. In March, Williams won her first WTA 1000 event at the Evert Cup in California, defeating Steffi Graf in the final. At the Miami Masters, Williams had her 16-match winning streak ended by her sister in the first all-sister singles final in WTA history. In the doubles event at the French Open, she and Venus won the title after defeating Hingis and Anna Kournikova in the final.
Williams missed Wimbledon in 1999 due to injury. When she returned to the tour two months later, she made her Fed Cup debut, defeating Rita Grande to send the United States to the final. She then won her third title at the JPMorgan Chase Open, beating Julie Halard-Decugis in the final. At the US Open, Williams defeated Grand Slam champions Kim Clijsters, Conchita Martínez, Monica Seles, and Lindsay Davenport (the defending champion) in consecutive matches to reach the final, where she defeated No.1-ranked Hingis. Williams became the second African-American woman to win a Grand Slam singles tournament, after Althea Gibson. The Williams sisters also won the doubles event at this tournament, making Serena the fifth woman in the Open Era to win both singles and doubles at the same major event. To complete her 1999 season, Williams won a doubles match against Russia in the Fed Cup final to help the US win the title. Williams ended the year ranked in a career-high world No.4 in just her second full year on the main tour.
2000–2001: Olympic gold, US Open final, and Indian Wells boycott
In 2000, Williams failed to defend her titles in Paris and Indian Wells, although she did win the Faber Grand Prix in Germany. Soon afterwards, she missed the French Open due to injury. She recovered and played at the Wimbledon Championships, where she lost to Venus in the semifinals; however, the pair won the doubles title. Her defense of the US Open title ended when she lost in the quarterfinals to Davenport. Williams and her sister won the gold medal in doubles at the Sydney Olympics that September, and Williams ended the year by winning the Toyota Princess Cup and finishing at No.6.
Williams began 2001 by losing to Hingis in the quarterfinals of both the Medibank International and the Australian Open. She and Venus won the doubles event at the latter tournament, becoming only the fifth doubles team in history to win all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles during their career, completing a "Career Grand Slam". Her next event was the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, where she defeated Clijsters in the final. During the tournament, Richard Williams stated that racist comments were made to him by spectators. As a result, both Serena and Venus pledged to boycott the event, even though it was a mandatory stop on the WTA tour; Serena's boycott lasted until 2015. Williams then lost to Jennifer Capriati in the quarterfinals of three tournaments: Miami Masters, the French Open and Wimbledon. She claimed her second title of the year at the Rogers Cup, defeating Capriati in the final. In September, Williams lost to her sister in the final of the US Open, which was the first Grand Slam tournament final played by two sisters during the Open Era. At the 2001 season-ending Tour Championships, Williams won the championship by walkover when Davenport withdrew due to injury. Williams finished 2001 at No.6 for the second straight year.
2002–2003: "Serena Slam"
Early in 2002, injury saw Williams retire from the semifinal at the Medibank International Sydney and later withdraw from the Australian Open. After recovering, Williams won her first title of the year in Scottsdale, Arizona, defeating No.2 Capriati, in the final. She then won the Miami Masters for the first time after beating No.3 Hingis in the quarterfinals, No.2 Venus in the semifinals, and No.1 Capriati in the final, becoming only the second player in the Open Era to defeat the world's top 3 ranked players at the same event.
In May, Williams reached her first clay-court final at the Eurocard German Open, but lost to Justine Henin. Williams won her first clay-court title at the Italian Open, which raised her ranking to a new high of No.3. She then claimed her first French Open title, which elevated her to No.2, second only to Venus. During the summer, Williams won Wimbledon for the first time, defeating Venus in the final. The victory propelled her to No.1, making her the third African American woman to hold the top ranking. The Williams sisters also won the doubles event at the tournament.
At the US Open, Williams reached the final where, for the third Grand Slam in a row, she defeated her sister to win the title. Williams won two consecutive singles titles in the fall, defeating Clijsters to win the Toyota Princess Cup in Tokyo, and Anastasia Myskina to win the Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig. She reached the final at the Home Depot Championships in Los Angeles, where she lost to Clijsters in straight sets. Williams finished 2002 with a 56–5 win/lose record, eight singles titles, and the No.1 ranking. Her three consecutive Grand Slam titles in 2002 made her only the third player in history to win the "Surface Slam" after Martina Navratilova (1984) and Steffi Graf (1993, 1995, 1996).
At the 2003 Australian Open, Williams faced Venus for the fourth consecutive Grand Slam tournament final. She defeated her older sister and became the sixth woman in the Open Era to complete a Career Grand Slam, alongside Graf, Navratilova, Margaret Court, Chris Evert and Billie Jean King. She also became the fifth woman to hold all Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously, a feat which was dubbed the "Serena Slam" by the press. At this tournament, the Williams sisters also won their sixth Grand Slam doubles title as a team.
During the spring of 2003, Williams captured the singles titles at the Open Gaz de France and the Sony Ericsson Open. Her streak of 21 wins ended when she lost the final of the Family Circle Cup to Henin. She also lost to Mauresmo in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. Despite these defeats, Williams was the top seed at the French Open, where she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Henin; this was Williams's first loss in a Grand Slam tournament since 2001. The match was controversial, with Williams questioning Henin's sportsmanship, and spectators applauding Williams's errors. Williams rebounded from the loss at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships, where she defeated Venus in the final. This was Williams's second consecutive Wimbledon title and her sixth Grand Slam singles title overall. Wimbledon was her last tournament of 2003; she pulled out of three events and then underwent surgery on the quadriceps tendon in her knee in early August. She was expected to be in recovery for six to eight weeks.
2004–2007: Injuries and comeback
After eight months away from tennis, Williams began her comeback at the NASDAQ-100 Open in March 2004, where she won the title for the third consecutive year. Although ranked No.7, Williams was seeded second at the French Open, where she lost to Capriati in the quarterfinals. A few weeks later, Williams was seeded first at Wimbledon, even though her ranking had dropped to No.10. She won six matches en route to the final, where Maria Sharapova defeated her. The loss caused her to drop out of the top 10 for the first time since 1999. Later that summer, Williams reached her third final of the year at the JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport.
Williams was seeded third at the 2004 US Open, where she faced Capriati in the quarterfinals. During the match, umpire Mariana Alves made a call that favored Capriati, but subsequent video review showed that her call was incorrect. Williams argued with Alves over several other calls during the match, which Capriati eventually won. Williams acknowledged that her loss was primarily due to her 57 unforced errors, but she nevertheless felt "cheated" and accused Alves of temporary insanity. The controversy renewed calls for, and was widely given credit for, the adoption of new technology such as the MacCAM and Hawk-Eye systems.
Williams won her second title of the year at the China Open in September, defeating US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. Williams's successful season allowed her to qualify for the Tour Championships, held again in Los Angeles. She lost to Sharapova in the final, where she suffered an abdominal injury. Williams finished 2004 ranked No.7, but did not win a Grand Slam singles tournament for the first season since 2001.
Following Venus's early exit from the 2005 Australian Open, Williams rejected suggestions that she and her sister were a declining force in tennis. She defeated top seed Davenport to win the tournament, claiming her second Australian Open trophy and seventh Grand Slam singles title. The victory moved her back to No.2. Williams completed just two tournaments between the Australian Open and Wimbledon, losing to Venus in Miami and Francesca Schiavone in Italy. A reoccurring ankle injury caused her to miss the French Open. She returned to Wimbledon as the 4th-seeded player, but was defeated in the third round. At the US Open, Williams lost to her sister in the fourth round. Williams played just one more match that fall, a loss to No.127 Sun Tiantian at the China Open in Beijing. She failed to qualify for the year-end championship for the first time since 1998, and she finished 2005 ranked No.11.
Williams made her 2006 debut at the Australian Open, defending her title. After she lost to Daniela Hantuchová in the third round, she told the press that she was injured. In her biography, Williams wrote that she was suffering from depression during this time. She stayed away from tennis for six months during the 2006 season, and began seeing a therapist daily. After a chance meeting with a young girl who idolized Williams and believed in her, Williams signed up to play in Cincinnati in July, her first tournament since January. She had slipped to No.139, her lowest ranking since 1997. On her return, Williams defeated Myskina and Bethanie Mattek, before losing in the semifinals to Vera Zvonareva. She also reached the semifinals in Los Angeles, losing to Janković in straight sets. Williams needed a wildcard to enter the US Open, as her No.139 ranking was too low to automatically qualify her to play. By the time the tournament began, however, she had risen to 79th. She lost to top-seeded Mauresmo in the fourth round. Williams finished the year ranked No.95, her lowest year-end ranking since 1997.
Williams began 2007 with renewed confidence. She stated her intention to return to the top of the rankings, a goal that was labeled "deluded" by commentator Pat Cash. Williams lost in the quarterfinals of the Hobart International, a warm-up for the Australian Open, where she was unseeded and widely regarded as "out of shape". Shortly before her first match, a representative from Nike told her the company might cancel her sponsorship if she did not perform at her customary level. Williams claimed that Nike's ultimatum meant she would have to reach the quarterfinals at least.
The Nike situation did not distract Williams, as she lost just three games to Mara Santangelo and defeated Anne Kremer in straight sets. By this point, a blister had developed on her foot and she had contracted a cold. In the third round, Williams found herself two points away from losing to Nadia Petrova, but fought back to win in three sets. She then made it to the final, defeating Jelena Janković, Shahar Pe'er and Nicole Vaidišová along the way. Williams described them as "good players ... who certainly didn't expect an overweight, out-of-shape, has-been champion ... to give them a game." Commentator Tracy Austin said she expected Sharapova to easily defeat Williams in the final. Williams thought the commentary was mean, and used it as motivation to win. She triumphed over Sharapova, losing just three games; it was her first tournament title in two years. Williams became the first player since Chris O'Neil to capture the title without being seeded. The victory, which elevated her to No.14, was her third Australian Open title and eighth career Grand Slam singles title. Williams dedicated the achievement to her deceased half-sister Yetunde.
Her performance in the final was described in the press as one of the best performances of her career, and "arguably the most powerful display ever seen in women's tennis". Williams won the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami for the fourth time by defeating Henin, but then lost to her in the quarterfinals at the French Open. During a fourth round match against Hantuchová at Wimbledon, Williams collapsed from an acute muscle spasm. After a medical timeout, rain forced play to be suspended for nearly two hours. When the players returned, Williams won the match. Williams then lost her quarterfinal match against Henin. At the US Open, Williams lost her third consecutive Grand Slam singles quarterfinal to Henin. Williams reached the final of the Kremlin Cup, but lost to Elena Dementieva. She qualified for the WTA Championships, but retired from her first match with a knee injury and subsequently withdrew from the event. Williams finished 2007 as No.7 and the top-ranked American for the first time since 2003.
2008–2010: Injuries, controversy, and return to No. 1
Williams started 2008 by winning the Hopman Cup for the US, with Mardy Fish. At the Australian Open, she lost in the quarterfinals to Janković, her fourth straight loss in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament. In the women's doubles event, she and Venus were defeated in the quarterfinals. Williams withdrew from her next three scheduled tournaments because of an urgent need for dental surgery. She then won three consecutive singles titles at Bangalore and her fifth Miami title, tying Graf for the most singles titles at this tournament. She claimed victory at the Family Circle Cup, her first clay-court title since 2002. Her 17-match winning streak was ended by Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals in Berlin. Williams withdrew in Rome in the quarterfinals due to a back injury, and lost in the third round of the French Open to Katarina Srebotnik.
At Wimbledon, Williams reached the finals for the first time in four years, but lost to Venus in their first Grand Slam final since 2003. Serena and Venus teamed up and won the doubles title, however. Williams played at Stanford, but retired in the semifinals with a knee injury, which also forced her to withdraw from a tournament in Los Angeles. During the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Williams lost to Dementieva in the singles quarterfinals, but she and Venus won the gold medal in doubles. In early September, Williams captured her third US Open title, which was also her ninth Grand Slam singles title. The victory returned her to No.1 for the first time since 2003. At the year-end championships, she defeated Safina and lost to Venus in round-robin matches, but withdrew from a match against Dementieva, citing a stomach muscle injury. She ended 2008 ranked No.2 and with four singles titles, her strongest performance in both respects since 2003.
Williams began 2009 at the Medibank International, losing in the semifinals to Dementieva. At the Australian Open, she claimed her tenth Grand Slam singles title by defeating Safina. This win restored her No.1 ranking and made her the all-time career prize money leader in women's sports, a title previously held by golfer Annika Sörenstam. Serena and Venus also won the doubles event at the Australian Open for the third time. At the Open GdF Suez, Williams withdrew before her semifinal match against Dementieva because of a knee injury. She then played in Dubai, losing to Venus in the semifinals.
Williams was beset by ankle and quadriceps injuries at the Sony Ericsson Open, and was upset in the final by Victoria Azarenka. This was the first of four consecutive losses for Williams, the longest losing streak of her career. After Ericsson, she was defeated in her opening matches in Barcelona, Rome, and Madrid. At the French Open, she lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion Kuznetsova. This ended her 18-match winning streak at Grand Slam tournaments. She rebounded at Wimbledon, prevailing over Dementieva in the semifinals and Venus in the finals. The victory was her third Wimbledon title and her 11th Grand Slam singles title. For the second consecutive year, Serena and Venus claimed the Wimbledon doubles title, which was their ninth Grand Slam title in doubles.
Ahead of the US Open, Williams suffered a third-round defeat in Cincinnati and a semifinal defeat at the Rogers Cup. At the Open, she was given a racket abuse warning after losing the first set of her semifinal match against Clijsters. Later in the match, one of her serves was called a foot fault. Williams yelled profanities at the lineswoman who made the call, and threatened to shove a tennis ball down her throat. Williams was penalized a point for unsportsmanlike conduct, which resulted in Clijsters winning the match. The following day, Williams was issued a fine of $10,500. After further investigation, the Grand Slam Committee fined her $175,000 in place of suspending her from the 2010 US Open or other Grand Slams. They also placed her on a two-year probation, which meant that if she committed another offense at a Grand Slam during the next two years, she would be suspended from the following US Open. If, however, she committed no offenses, her fine would be reduced to $82,500. Although Williams initially did not express regret for her outburst, she eventually apologized, saying she was humbled by the experience.
Williams continued in the US Open doubles competition, teaming up with Venus to capture their third Grand Slam doubles title of the year, and the tenth of their career. Williams won all three of her round-robin matches at the year-end WTA Tour Championships, defeating Venus, Dementieva, and Kuznetsova. She advanced to the final after Caroline Wozniacki retired from their semifinal match. In the final, Williams defeated her sister to claim her second singles title at this event. Williams finished the year ranked No.1 for the second time in her career. She played in 16 tournaments in 2009, more than any other year. With $6,545,586 in prize-money earnings, she broke the record previously set by Justine Henin for most prize money earned by a female tennis player in one year. In doubles, the Williams sisters finished 2009 at No.2, despite playing only six tournaments together. Williams now had a total of 23 Grand Slam titles, and was consequently named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press. She was also the International Tennis Federation World Champion in both singles and doubles.
In 2010, Williams's first tournament was in Sydney, where she lost in the final to Dementieva. At the Australian Open, Williams was the defending champion in both singles and doubles. She reached the final and defeated Justine Henin, who had recently come out of retirement, for her twelfth Grand Slam singles title. In doubles, Williams and her sister successfully defended their title by defeating Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the final. Williams sat out several events with a leg injury, but returned for the Rome Masters, where she was defeated by Janković in the semifinals. At Madrid, she fell to Nadia Petrova in the third round, but partnered with Venus to win the doubles title.
At the French Open, Williams was bested by Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals. She and Venus won the doubles event, achieving their fourth consecutive Grand Slam doubles title and improving their doubles ranking to No.1. Williams's next tournament was Wimbledon, where she did not lose a single set, defeating Zvonareva in the final. After the match, Navratilova said Williams was among the top five female tennis players in history. She asserted that being a great player is "not just about how many Slams you win ... it's just your game overall ... she's got all the goods." The Williams sisters lost in the doubles quarterfinals to Elena Vesnina and Zvonareva. In Munich on July 7, Williams stepped on broken glass while in a restaurant, and the injury caused her to miss the rest of the year. She finished 2010 ranked No.4 in singles and No.11 in doubles.On March 2, 2011, she confirmed that she had suffered a hematoma and a pulmonary embolism.
2011–2013: Return to dominance, Career Golden Slam
Williams made her first appearance on the WTA tour in almost a year in Eastbourne, where she lost in round two to Zvonareva. In June, she attempted to defend her title at Wimbledon, but was eliminated in the round of 16, which dropped her ranking to No.169. Later in the summer, she won titles in both Stanford and Toronto. Williams played the Western & Southern Open, but withdrew due to injury. She reached the final at the US Open, where she faced Stosur. During the match, Williams became angry with umpire Eve Asderaki. She made gestures and unflattering comments towards her, including calling her "a hater". Williams eventually lost the match, and then declined to offer Asderaki the customary handshake. A writer for ESPN suggested that Williams did not violate the terms of her probation (on which she was placed following her 2009 outburst), since she did not use profanity when addressing the umpire. In the end, Williams was fined $2,000, but was not barred from competing. The US Open was Williams's final event of 2011, and she ended the year ranked No.12, with two titles and a 22–3 record for the season. She only played in six tournaments during the season.
Williams started the 2012 season at the Brisbane International. During her match against Bojana Jovanovski, she injured her left ankle, and was forced to withdraw from the tournament. Next she participated in the Australian Open, where she was upset by Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round. After a month layoff, Williams returned to competition in Miami, losing in the quarterfinals. She then won consecutive titles in Charleston and Madrid, but withdrew from her semifinal match in Rome due to a lower back injury. At the French Open, Williams suffered her first ever loss in the opening round of a Grand Slam. She notched up a 33–1 record for the second half of the season, winning five titles in the process. She captured her fifth Wimbledon singles title (her 14th Grand Slam victory), and became the first female player to serve 24 aces in a match. She also set a record for the most aces in a tournament by any player—male or female—with a total of 102. Williams and her sister also captured their fifth trophy in Wimbledon doubles.
Williams returned to America to successfully defend her Stanford title, overcoming CoCo Vandeweghe in the final. At the Olympics, she won gold by defeating Sharapova in a dominating performance. She and Venus also won a second consecutive Olympic doubles title. In New York, Williams claimed her fourth US Open singles title, which was her 15th career Grand Slam singles title. She ended the season by going undefeated at the WTA Championships and winning the event for the third time. She was named ITF World Champion, and was voted WTA Player of the Year for the fourth time.
Williams's first tournament of the 2013 season was in Brisbane, where she won the title without dropping a set. At the Australian Open, she was upset in the quarterfinals by fellow American Sloane Stephens. After defeating Petra Kvitová in Doha, Williams returned to No.1 for the sixth time in her career, becoming the oldest woman in the Open Era to hold the ranking. In the Miami final, Williams recorded her 70th come-from-behind win. The victory made Williams a six-time champion in Miami, breaking the record she held with Graf. She also became the fourth woman in the Open Era to win a given tournament six times. Williams then defended her Charleston title, winning the event for the third time. She won her 50th career singles title in Madrid, prevailing over Sharapova in the final. She then played in Rome, where she won the title a second time. At the French Open, Williams lost only one game whilst defeating Sara Errani in the semifinal. Evert said Williams's play during the match was the finest performance she had ever seen by a female player on clay. Williams bested Sharapova in the final to claim her second French Open title and her 16th Grand Slam title overall. She also became the fourth woman in the Open Era to win each Grand Slam tournament at least twice. At Wimbledon, she advanced easily to the fourth round before being defeated by eventual finalist Sabine Lisicki. Williams then won the Swedish Open, her first victory at the International level. She was undefeated on clay during the season.
Williams won her third Rogers Cup title in Toronto, beating Sorana Cîrstea in the final. She reached the final of the Western & Southern Open for the first time, but lost to Azarenka. At the US Open, Williams began as top seed and defending champion. She reached the final and defeated Azarenka in three sets, capturing her 17th Grand Slam singles title and pushing her career prize winnings past $50 million. At 31, she became the oldest US Open champion in the Open Era. After the US Open, Williams beat Janković to win the China Open, which was her 10th title of 2013. She went undefeated at the WTA Championships, triumphing over Li Na in the final and becoming the first person to defend the title since Henin in 2007. She also became the oldest player to win the WTA Championships, the fourth player to win it four times or more, and the first female player to win more than $10 million in a season (her total for 2013 was $12.4 million). Only Rafael Nadal (in 2013), and Novak Djokovic (in 2011, 2012 and 2013) have earned more money in one season.
Williams finished as the year-end No.1 for the third time, becoming the oldest No.1 player in WTA history. She was named the ITF World Champion for the fourth time. She received two prizes at the 2013 ESPY Awards: Best Female Athlete and Best Female Tennis Player, the latter of which she won for a record sixth time. In December, Williams received the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award for the third time. Only Evert and Babe Didrikson have been chosen more often as Athlete of the Year since the awards were first handed out in 1931.
2014–2015: Second "Serena Slam"
Williams defended her title at the Brisbane International by defeating No.2 Azarenka in the final. At the Australian Open, she fell in the fourth round to Ana Ivanovic. In Dubai, Williams lost her semifinal match to Alizé Cornet in straight sets. Williams then played in the Miami Open, where she won her record seventh title with a straight-sets victory over No.2 Li Na. At the Family Circle Cup, she lost to Jana Čepelová in the second round. She made it to the quarterfinals at the Madrid Open before withdrawing with a thigh injury. In Rome, Williams won her third title of the season. She suffered the worst loss of her Grand Slam career in the second round of the French Open when Garbiñe Muguruza defeated her while losing just four games in two sets. Cornet defeated Williams in the third round of Wimbledon, handing Williams her earliest Wimbledon elimination since 2005. During the doubles event with Venus, Serena hit four consecutive doubles faults. She appeared disoriented and unsteady on her feet, and withdrew from the tournament. The official cause of withdrawal was "viral illness".
Williams rebounded by winning 19 out of her next 20 matches (losing only to Venus in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup). The streak included titles at the Bank of the West Classic and the Western & Southern Open, and her third consecutive and sixth overall US Open singles title. With this victory, Williams tied Evert for most US Open singles titles won by a woman in the Open Era. Williams also tied Evert and Navratilova's record of 18 career Grand Slam singles titles won in the Open Era. By virtue of winning both the US Open and the US Open Series, Williams collected $4 million—the biggest payday in tennis history. At the 2014 WTA Finals in Singapore, Williams advanced to the final for the third consecutive year despite having equaled her career-worst loss in her second round robin match against Simona Halep. She claimed the WTA Finals title, which was her seventh title of the year, and finished the year ranked No.1 for the fourth time in her career. She held the top ranking for the entire calendar year, a feat not accomplished since Graf achieved it in 1996. Williams was voted WTA Player of the Year and ITF World Champion for a third consecutive year.
Williams began the 2015 season by reaching the final of the Hopman Cup, where she and her partner John Isner lost to Poland. At the Australian Open, Williams defeated Sharapova for the 16th consecutive time to claim her sixth Australian Open singles title and 19th career Grand Slam singles title. With this victory, Williams surpassed both Evert and Navratilova for the second most Grand Slam singles titles won in the Open Era. She is the only player in history to win all four Grand Slams at age 30 or older. She and Venus next traveled to Buenos Aires to face Argentina in a World Group II tie in the Fed Cup. She played and won her only match against María Irigoyen to help the US team win against the Argentines. After a 14-year boycott of the Indian Wells Masters, Williams announced that she would be competing at the event. Upon her return, she received a standing ovation from the crowd and won her first match in straight sets. She reached the semifinals, but was forced to withdraw because of a knee injury. When Williams defeated Lisicki in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open, she became the eighth woman in the Open Era to record 700 match wins in her career. This also made her one of only three active players to have won 700 or more matches in singles, the others being Nadal and Roger Federer. Williams went on to win a record eighth title in Miami.
As preparation for the clay-court season (and to ensure her eligibility for the 2016 Summer Olympics), Williams travelled to Brindisi, Italy, where she competed with that country's team for a place in the Fed Cup's World Group. Williams and teammate Alison Riske lost the decisive doubles match to Errani and Flavia Pennetta, which meant the United States was relegated to World Group II. It was Williams's first loss in the Fed Cup. The week of April 20 marked Williams's 114th consecutive week ranked No.1, the third-longest run in WTA history at the time, behind Graf's 186 weeks and Navratilova's 156. In the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open, Williams suffered her first defeat of the season, ending a 50-match winning streak at Premier-Mandatory events. She played one match at the 2015 Internazionali BNL d'Italia before withdrawing with an elbow injury.
At the 2015 French Open, Williams defeated Lucie Šafářová in three sets to claim the trophy and win her third French Open and 20th Grand Slam singles title. The accomplishment made Williams only the third person in history to win each Grand Slam at least three times, the others being Court and Graf. At Wimbledon, Williams defeated three former No.1 players—Azarenka, Sharapova, and her sister Venus—to advance to the final. Awaiting her was Muguruza, who had previously handed Williams the worst Grand Slam defeat of her career. Williams bested Muguruza and claimed her sixth Wimbledon singles title and 21st Grand Slam singles title overall. With this triumph, she completed her second "Serena Slam" (winning all four Grand Slams in a row, but not in the same calendar year). The Wimbledon victory made Williams the oldest woman in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles title. It also was her eighth consecutive victory in Grand Slam singles finals appearances, breaking Graf's Open Era record of seven and tying Pete Sampras's Open Era record of eight. The week of July 13 marked the first time in WTA history that the No.1 player had more than twice as many points as the No.2. Following her win at Wimbledon, Williams was awarded her seventh ESPY for Best Female Tennis Player.
Williams was the defending champion at the Bank of the West Classic, but withdrew from the tournament to recover from an elbow injury. In the semifinals of the Canadian Open, Williams had a 19-match winning streak ended by 18-year-old Belinda Bencic. The next week Williams defended her title at the Western & Southern Open with a straight sets victory over No.3 Halep. Williams's attempt at capturing the "Grand Slam" (winning all four Grand Slams in a calendar year) came to an end at the US Open, where she lost to Roberta Vinci in the semifinals. The defeat has been described by some as one of the biggest upsets in tennis history. On October 1, Williams called an end to her season, stating that she had been injured for most of the year and wanted to "properly address [her] health". Coach Patrick Mouratoglou hinted that her decision to end the season early might be due to a lack of motivation and disappointment following her loss at the Open.
On October 5, Williams surpassed Evert for third-most weeks ranked world No.1. Williams held the top ranking the entire season for the second consecutive year, finishing there for the fifth time in her career. She was voted WTA Player of the Year for the seventh time, and named ITF World Champion for the sixth time. She was also voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press for the fourth time in her career, and was chosen as Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated. She became the third solo woman, and the first since 1983, to receive the latter award.
2016: Equalling the records of Steffi Graf
Williams was the No.1 seed and defending champion at the Australian Open. She reached the final without dropping a set, and faced first time Grand Slam finalist Angelique Kerber. Williams was considered the heavy favorite, as she had never lost an Australian Open final or semifinal. She had also dominated in past matches against Kerber, losing only once to her in six meetings. Williams lost the final in three sets, however, which marked her first-ever three-set loss in the final of a Grand Slam.
The week of February 15 marked Williams's 157th consecutive week ranked No.1, the second-longest streak in WTA history. Only Graf had held the ranking longer, for 186 weeks. Williams competed in Indian Wells as the No.1 seed, and reached the final for the first time since 2001. She was defeated by Azarenka, whom she had beaten the last five times the pair had met. This marked the first time since 2004 that Williams lost two consecutive finals. She next played the Miami Open as the defending champion, losing in the fourth round to Kuznetsova. In Rome, she prevailed over Anna-Lena Friedsam and Christina McHale to progress to the quarterfinals, where she defeated Kuznetsova. She then defeated Irina-Camelia Begu and Madison Keys to win her 70th career WTA title and her first title of the year.
At the French Open, Williams dropped only one set en route to the final, where she faced Muguruza. She lost to the Spanish-Venezuelan player in straight sets, marking the first time she had lost two consecutive Grand Slam finals. At Wimbledon, Williams again dropped only one set on her way to the final, where she faced Kerber in a rematch of their Australian Open final earlier in the year. Williams defeated Kerber in straight sets and tied Graf's record of 22 Open Era Grand Slam singles titles. Later that day, Williams and her sister won their sixth Wimbledon doubles title and 14th Grand Slam doubles title overall, keeping their perfect record at Grand Slam doubles finals intact.
In July, Williams withdrew from the Rogers Cup due to a shoulder injury. She next participated in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she was the defending gold medalist in both singles and doubles, and was the heavy favorite to retain those titles. The sisters suffered a shock exit in the first round of doubles, losing to the Czech duo of Šafářová and Barbora Strýcová, which ended their career record of 15–0 dating back to the 2000 Olympics. In singles, Williams lost to Elina Svitolina in the third round. Days after the Olympics, Williams entered the Western & Southern Open to defend her crown, but then withdrew due to the same shoulder injury from earlier in the summer. The week of September 5, 2016, marked Williams's 186th consecutive week ranked No.1, tying her with Graf for the longest run in WTA history. Williams's streak ended when she lost to Karolína Plíšková in the semifinals of the US Open. In October, she pulled out of the WTA Finals, citing her shoulder injury.
2017: Australian Open victory and pregnancy
Williams started 2017 by playing in the WTA Auckland Open for the first time in her career. In the second round, she lost to Madison Brengle. She then won the Australian Open for an Open Era record seventh time, defeating Venus in the final. It was her 23rd Open Era Grand Slam singles title, pushing her past Graf's record of 22. It was the first time in the Open Era that two players aged 35 or older had competed in the final of a Grand Slam tournament. The win ensured Williams's return to the No.1 ranking. She subsequently withdrew from the Indian Wells and Miami Opens, citing a knee injury.
On April 19, 2017, Williams revealed that she was 20 weeks pregnant and would miss the remainder of the season. The timing of her announcement meant she was already pregnant when she won the Australian Open. In interviews, she said that she intended to return to tennis after giving birth, saying she had an "outrageous plan" of competing in the 2018 Australian Open. On September 1, 2017, Williams gave birth to a daughter. She suffered a pulmonary embolism after delivery, leaving her bedridden for six weeks and delaying her return to training. On December 30, Williams played her first match since giving birth, an exhibition match at the World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, where she lost to Jeļena Ostapenko.
2018: Return to tennis, Wimbledon, and controversies
On January 5, 2018, Williams withdrew from the upcoming Australian Open, citing a lack of sufficient preparation in the wake of her pregnancy. In February, after overcoming pregnancy-related health problems, she returned to the tennis court with Venus. The pair lost to Lesley Kerkhove and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands in the first round of the Fed Cup. Williams then suffered back-to-back early exits in Indian Wells and Miami. Williams returned to Grand Slam tennis at the 2018 French Open, playing singles and doubles with her sister. In the first round, she defeated Kristýna Plíšková, then overcame Ashleigh Barty in the second round. She then defeated 11th seed Julia Görges to set up a fourth-round match against Sharapova, whom she had bested 18 consecutive times since 2004. Williams withdrew from the match due to an injury, however.
In July, she played Wimbledon and was seeded No.25. Many felt the decision showed bias and unduly favored Williams, who was ranked No.181. Others argued that the All England Club, which does not base seedings on players' world rankings—as other Grand Slam tournaments do—had sensibly considered Williams's excellent historic record at Wimbledon. Williams reached the Wimbledon semifinals, becoming the lowest-ranked player to do so. She bested 13th seed Görges in the semifinal match, but lost to Kerber in a rematch of the 2016 final. Following Wimbledon, Williams entered the 2018 Silicon Valley Classic, her first appearance in a US Open series tournament since 2015. She suffered the worst loss of her career in the first round, winning just a single game against Johanna Konta. Williams later revealed in an interview with Time that she checked Instagram prior to the match, and discovered that the man who had murdered her half-sister, Yetunde, in 2003 had been released on parole earlier in the year. Williams said she "couldn't shake it out of [her] mind."
Williams's next tournament was the Cincinnati Masters. She beat Daria Gavrilova in straight sets in the first round, but lost to Petra Kvitová in the second round. She was then seeded 17th at the US Open, although ranked 26th in the WTA. She prevailed over Magda Linette in the first round, Carina Witthöft in the second, Venus in the third, and Kaia Kanepi in the fourth. Williams's quarterfinal face-off against Karolína Plíšková was a rematch of the 2016 US Open semifinal, which the Czech player had won. Williams prevailed, notching her first win against a top 10 player since her return from pregnancy. Williams then won her semifinal match against Anastasija Sevastova, putting her into the final against Naomi Osaka. During the second set of the match, Williams was given a code violation because her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, gave her coaching hand signals. Williams claimed Mouratoglou was simply giving her a thumbs-up, and demanded an apology from umpire Carlos Ramos. However, Mouratoglou later admitted in the after-game interview that he had been coaching, but believes Williams did not understand the hint. Williams then received a second violation for racket abuse, which resulted in a point penalty. After her third code violation for verbal abuse of the umpire, Williams received a game penalty, and went on to lose the match. She was fined a total of $17,000 for the three offenses, although she claimed she was treated unfairly because she is a woman.
Following the US Open final match, the Melbourne newspaper the Herald Sun published a cartoon by Mark Knight depicting Williams throwing a tantrum while the umpire asks her opponent to "just let her win". The cartoon was widely criticized as racist and sexist, including by Williams's husband, Alexis Ohanian, and author J. K. Rowling. Complaints centered on the portrayal of Williams as an angry black woman with exaggeratedly large lips and a broad, flat nose; the depiction of Williams in an ape-like pose; and the rendering of Osaka with blonde hair (only some of her hair was colored blonde during the tournament). Knight defended his work, claiming his satire was never about race or gender, but rather about shining a spotlight on bad behavior by sports superstars.
2019: Return to the top 10
Williams started her 2019 season at the Australian Open, her first appearance at the tournament since winning it in 2017. Seeded 16th, she defeated Tatjana Maria, Eugenie Bouchard, and Dayana Yastremska in the first three rounds, then bested top seed and world No.1 Halep in the fourth. In the quarterfinals, she met Karolína Plíšková, who won the match after Williams twisted her ankle. This was Williams's earliest defeat at the Australian Open since her fourth-round loss in 2014. Despite the loss, her ranking climbed to No.11. Williams prevailed over Azarenka in the second round of the Indian Wells Masters, but a viral illness caused her to retire. She then experienced a recurrence of a long-term knee injury, which caused her to pull out of upcoming Miami and Rome events. She could not train properly until after the French Open, where she lost in the third round. Williams then reached the final at Wimbledon, making 2019 the 13th consecutive year in which she played in a Grand Slam final. She became the oldest Grand Slam finalist in the Open Era. Williams lost the final to Halep in two straight sets.
At the Canadian Open, Williams defeated Osaka in the quarterfinals and Marie Bouzkova in the semifinals, then faced Bianca Andreescu in the final. However, Williams was forced to withdraw early in the match after experiencing back spasms. Her back problems continued at the Cincinnati Open, where she withdrew before her first-round match. Williams was seeded eighth at the US Open, where she bested Sharapova in the first round. In the quarterfinals she defeated Wang Qiang, and in the semifinals she triumphed over Svitolina. Williams then proceeded to the final against Andreescu, who won the title in straight sets. Williams finished the year ranked No.10.
2020–2022: Final years
In January 2020, Williams won her first singles title as a mother at the ASB Classic, defeating Jessica Pegula in the final. At the Australian Open, Williams lost in the third round to Wang in three sets. Williams then entered the Top Seed Open as the No.1 seed, defeating Venus in the second round before losing to Shelby Rogers in the quarterfinals. At the US Open, Williams defeated Stephens in the third round before losing to Azarenka in the semifinals. Williams withdrew from the delayed French Open in October, citing an Achilles injury she had sustained during the US Open. She failed to reach a Grand Slam final in 2020.
Williams started the 2021 season by playing the Yarra Valley Classic, where she withdrew prior to her semifinal match, citing a right shoulder injury. In the Australian Open, Williams lost in the semifinal to Osaka. In May, Williams played her 1000th match of her career against Nadia Podoroska in the second round of the Italian Open, which she lost in straight sets. She sustained an injury during the first round at Wimbledon against Belarusian player Aliaksandra Sasnovich, forcing her to withdraw from the tournament. In August, a leg injury forced Williams to retire from the US Open. The withdrawal saw Williams plummet nineteen places to 41st in the world, her lowest year-end ranking in 15 years.
In December 2021, Williams announced she would not play the 2022 Australian Open, citing the same leg injury. She returned to professional play in June 2022 when she teamed up with Ons Jabeur for the Eastbourne International. The pair won two matches before retiring from the tournament due to an injury sustained by Jabeur. Williams also played singles at Wimbledon, where she lost to No.113 Harmony Tan in the first round. Williams was ranked No. 320 at the end of 2022.
Farewell tour
In the September 2022 issue of Vogue, Williams announced her plans to "evolve away" from tennis after the 2022 US Open, indicating retirement. She stated her intention to focus on her family and her venture capital firm. Williams began her farewell tour by entering the Canadian Open in Toronto using a protected ranking. She beat Nuria Párrizas Díaz in straight sets for her first singles win in 14 months, before losing to Belinda Bencic. After her elimination, tournament organizers gave Williams gifts to remember the city. Williams subsequently entered the Cincinnati Masters, where she fell to reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the first round.
At the US Open, Williams played doubles with Venus for the first time since 2018; the sisters lost to the Czech duo of Lucie Hradecká and Linda Nosková. In the first round of singles, Williams defeated Danka Kovinić of Montenegro. After the match—which was attended by Eric Adams, Bill Clinton, Spike Lee, Mike Tyson, Vera Wang, Ruth Westheimer, and Tiger Woods—a tribute video narrated by Oprah Winfrey was played, and an interview was conducted by Gayle King. In the second round, Williams upset world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit, becoming the oldest woman in the Open Era to defeat a top-three ranked player. She then lost to Ajla Tomljanović in what was ultimately her final match.
Rivalries
Serena vs. Venus
Serena played her older sister Venus in 31 professional matches starting in 1998. Overall, Serena is 19–12 against her sister. The pair played 15 times in Grand Slam singles and 13 times in other tournaments (including 11 finals). They have met in nine Grand Slam tournament finals, with Serena winning seven times. Beginning with the 2002 French Open, they played each other in four consecutive Grand Slam finals, which was the first time in the Open Era that the same two players had faced off in four consecutive finals in Grand Slam singles.
When both the Williams sisters entered the top ten and started facing off in tournaments, rumors of match fixing started to circulate. John McEnroe, while commenting on the 2000 Wimbledon semifinal between the two sisters, said that "Serena may not be allowed to win. Richard [Williams] may have something to say about this." After losing to Venus at the Indian Wells quarterfinals in 2001, Elena Dementieva claimed that Richard Williams had decided the results of matches between the sisters. Shortly after that, Venus pulled out of her Indian Wells semifinal match against Serena at the last minute, claiming tendinitis; this led to much speculation in the press, and some spectators demanded their money back. The final, in which Serena defeated Kim Clijsters, was marred by the behavior of the crowd toward Williams and her family.
Williams vs. Hingis
One of Williams's first rivalries was with Martina Hingis, who turned pro less than one year before her (Hingis in October 1994, Williams in 1995). They first played each other at the 1998 Miami Open where Hingis won in three sets. All but one of their matches was played on a hard court with the exception being a contest on clay in Rome in 1999, which Hingis won in straight sets. Their last match took place at the 2002 Miami Open, which Williams won. Williams leads the rivalry 7–6.
Williams vs. Capriati
Williams leads the series against Jennifer Capriati 10–7. The rivalry—which began in 1999 and was once considered one of the best rivalries in women's tennis—started off one-sided, with Capriati winning four of the first five matches. Williams went on to win the next eight. Twelve of the pair's seventeen meetings went three sets.
Williams vs. Henin
Justine Henin and Williams have met 14 times, five of which were in tournament finals. In Grand Slam tournaments, they have faced each other seven times, with Henin leading 4–3. The two women's different personalities and styles of play are often credited with making the rivalry entertaining. Williams leads the series 8–6.
Williams vs. Azarenka
Williams leads the series 18–5. The rivalry began at the 2008 Australian Open, and their most recent match was in the semifinals of the 2020 US Open. Williams holds a 10–1 record in Grand Slams. Azarenka is the only player to win four WTA tour-level finals against Williams, and, despite only winning five matches against Williams, is considered one of the few modern players to truly challenge Williams.
Williams vs. Sharapova
Williams leads the series 20–2. The pair first met in the fourth round of the 2004 Miami Open, where Williams defeated Sharapova. Their rivalry truly began at the 2004 Wimbledon final, where Williams was the two-time defending champion; Sharapova bested her in an upset. Williams next lost to Sharapova in the finals of the 2004 WTA Tour Championships. Since then, however, Williams has dominated the rivalry, winning all of their clashes, with only three of their matches going to three sets. They met 10 times in Grand Slam tournaments, where Williams leads 9–1. They faced off in a further nine finals, with Williams leading 7–2. Their final match was in the first round of the 2019 US Open, where Williams defeated Sharapova in two sets.
Legacy
Williams is regarded as one of the best female tennis players of all time. In 2017, BBC Sport users selected Williams as the greatest female tennis player of the Open Era. In 2018, a Tennis.com panel arrived at the same conclusion. Many players, commentators, and sports writers regard Williams as the greatest female tennis player of all time. In 2018, Roger Federer said the player who probably has the best case for "Greatest Of All Time", man or woman, is Serena Williams. In 2020, the Tennis Channel ranked Williams as the greatest female tennis player in history. In 2022, McEnroe described Williams as an "icon" and the "GOAT of GOATs". BBC presenter and former French Open Champion Sue Barker has called Williams's serve "without question the greatest ever".
Williams has won the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year a record four times (2003, 2010, 2016, 2018). In December 2019, the Associated Press named her Female Athlete of the Decade for the 2010s. In 2024, the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) voted her as the best female athlete of the past 100 years. She is the highest-earning woman athlete of all time.
For their first match in March 2019, the members of the United States women's national soccer team each wore a jersey with the name of a woman who inspired them on the back. Crystal Dunn chose Serena Williams. In September 2022, Twitter said that Williams was the most tweeted-about female athlete of all time. She and Venus have been widely credited with increasing diversity within the sport.
Player profile
Playing style
Williams was an aggressive baseliner whose game was centered around her powerful serve and forceful groundstrokes. Owing to her high-risk playing style, she typically hit a large number of winners and a large number of unforced errors. Williams's serve—which is considered the greatest in the history of women's tennis—is known for its speed and accurate placement, which allowed her to deliver numerous aces. At the 2013 Australian Open, she delivered the third-fastest serve in WTA recorded history, a 128.6 mph (207 km/h) ace against Ayumi Morita. Williams possessed an accurate and consistent ball toss, allowing her to serve to any position on the court with minimal differences in the position of the ball in the air; this made it difficult for opponents to read her service motion and predict the position of her serve, allowing her to dominate a rally from the first stroke. Williams also possessed effective and accurate kick and slice serves. She deployed these as second serves, minimizing double faults and preventing opponents from scoring free points.
Williams's forehand and backhand are considered two of the most powerful shots in the history of women's tennis. She hit both her forehand and her backhand in an open stance, allowing her to generate consistently powerful, heavy, and dominating groundstrokes. She was able to generate sharp, acute angles, which allowed her to hit winners from any position on the court. Her forehand—which has been described as "devastating"—was hit with heavy topspin, which allowed her to dominate rallies. She was capable of hitting her forehand both crosscourt and down the line to produce winners. Her two-handed backhand was equally dominant, and has been described as one of the greatest backhands of all time. Williams tended to hit her backhand flatter than her forehand, which allowed her to hit with speed, power, and depth both crosscourt and down the line. Despite playing primarily from the baseline, Williams was an adept net player thanks to her extensive doubles experience. She frequently chose to finish points at the net, either with deft touch, aggressive drive volleys, or a solid, powerful, and reliable overhead smash. She possessed an aggressive return of serve; she neutralized powerful first serves, and attacked weak second serves. She is widely considered one of the greatest returners of all time.
Despite predominantly employing an aggressive style, Williams was also an excellent defender who was capable of counterpunching against aggressive opponents until she created an opportunity to hit a winner. She was an exceptional athlete, known for her movement, speed, court coverage, agility, flexibility, balance, and footwork. Her on-court intelligence, shot selection, and point construction allowed her to execute her game plan effectively. American tennis player Christina McHale praised her composure in high-pressure moments, while Martina Navratilova called her mental strength "unbelievable". Williams has been noted for her ability to produce extraordinary comebacks, particularly at the Grand Slam level. She won three Slams after saving match points, more than any other player in history. Williams bounced back from a set down to win 37 Grand Slam matches. Her ability to come back from set and break deficits in Grand Slam matches was described by McEnroe as "a gift", and he called her "the greatest" competitor in the history of women's tennis. She has also been praised for her ability to serve aces at critical moments. As noted by retired player Li Na in 2016, "break point down, [there is an] 80% chance [she] serves an ace".
Coaches
Williams had five coaches during her career: Richard Williams (1994–2022), Oracene Price (1994–2003), Patrick Mouratoglou (2012–2022), Eric Hechtman (2022) and Rennae Stubbs (2022).
Endorsements
Williams graduated from Driftwood Academy in 1999, and soon after signed a $12 million endorsement deal with Puma. In 2004, she signed a five-year deal with Nike for $40 million, and has been sponsored by the company ever since. During Williams's tennis career, Nike designed custom clothing and footwear for her. The largest building on Nike's Portland campus is the one-million-square-foot Serena Williams Building, which features many references to the athlete's career and long partnership with Nike. According to John Hoke, Nike's Chief Design Officer, Williams assisted with the design of the building.
In 2015, Williams became the Chief Sporting Officer for British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin, and in 2018 she joined the board of directors of SurveyMonkey. During her career, Williams had endorsement deals with AbbVie, Anheuser-Busch InBev, AT&T, Audemars Piguet, Beats by Dre, Berlei Bras, Block Inc, Bumble, Chase Bank, Delta Air Lines, DirecTV, DoorDash, Ford Motor, Gatorade, Gucci, Hanes, IBM, Intel, Mission Athletecare, OnePiece, OPI Products, Pepsi, Subway, Tempur, Tonal and the Walt Disney Company.
Rackets
Williams used the Wilson Hammer Stretch range of rackets when she won her first Grand Slam title in 1999, before switching to the Hyper Hammer range. She switched to the Wilson nCode briefly in 2005, and has used various iterations of the Wilson Blade since 2008. Her racket is typically oversized, with a head size of 104 square inches. Since 2017, Wilson has manufactured a signature racket, the Wilson Blade SW104, which is designed to Williams's specifications. Since 2020, Williams has used a smaller variant of this racket, the Wilson Blade SW102 Autograph.
Career statistics
Grand Slam tournament performance timeline
Current through the 2022 US Open.
Note: Williams withdrew from the 2018 French Open before her fourth round match and the 2020 French Open before her second round match, both of which do not officially count as losses.
Grand Slam tournament finals
Singles: 33 (23–10)
Doubles: 14 (14–0)
Mixed doubles: 4 (2–2)
Records
Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.
Personal life
Williams is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. He proposed to her on December 10, 2016, and they married on November 16, 2017, in New Orleans. Their wedding ceremony was attended by prominent personalities such as Beyoncé, Anna Wintour, Kelly Rowland and Kim Kardashian.
On April 19, 2017, Williams posted a picture of herself on Snapchat that focused on her midsection. It had the caption, "20 weeks", prompting speculation that she was pregnant. Later that evening, her spokesperson confirmed the pregnancy. The fact that she was 20 weeks pregnant when announcing her pregnancy meant that she was roughly eight to nine weeks pregnant when she won the Australian Open earlier that year. Williams later said that posting the picture was an accident. On September 1, 2017, Williams gave birth to a daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. The child, who goes by "Olympia," was delivered through emergency caesarean-section after her heart rate dropped during labor. Williams gave Olympia a doll, Qai Qai, that has become famous on social media. By February 2021, Williams had hired a tennis coach for Olympia, then three years old. In August 2023, Williams gave birth to a second daughter, Adira River Ohanian.
Williams was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, but was not baptized until 2023. In 2017, she said she "never really practiced [the faith]". However, she would often thank Jehovah after winning a match. She does not celebrate birthdays, which is a practice of the faith.
Williams made an appearance on stage during Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime show, doing a crip walk amongst other background dancers. Williams is alleged to have been romantically involved with Drake, with whom Lamar is involved in an ongoing feud, in 2011 and 2015.
Other activities
Philanthropy
Williams runs the Serena Williams Foundation, which has partnered with major organizations to advance community development. In 2008, as part of the foundation's work, Williams helped to fund the construction of the Serena Williams Secondary School in Matooni, Kenya. The foundation also provides university scholarships for underprivileged students in the United States. In 2016, the Serena Williams Fund partnered with Helping Hands Jamaica to build the Salt Marsh Primary School for Jamaican youth in Trelawny Parish.
Williams received a Celebrity Role Model Award from the Avon Foundation in 2003 for her work fighting breast cancer. The same year, she won the "Young Heroes Award" from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater L.A. and Inland. In 2004, she won the "Family Circle and Prudential Financial Player Who Makes a Difference Award". She has been an International Goodwill Ambassador with UNICEF since 2011, and helped launch UNICEF's Schools for Asia campaign. In 2004 and 2005, Serena and Venus visited hospitals and played several tennis matches in predominantly Black cities to raise funds for the local Ronald McDonald House charities. An ESPN episode was dedicated to the charity tour.
In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Williams, along with other ATP and WTA stars, decided to forgo their final day of preparation for the Australian Open to assist earthquake victims. Serena and Venus are contributors to First Serve Miami, a foundation for youth who want to learn tennis but face social and economic obstacles. The sisters have collaborated on philanthropic projects through the Williams Sisters Fund, which assists individuals and communities affected by violence, and aims to ensure that youth have access to education. In 2014, Williams began hosting an annual charity run named "The Serena Williams Ultimate Fun Run" to support the Fund. In 2016, in her childhood home of Compton, she and Venus founded the Yetunde Price Resource Center, in honor of their late half-sister Yetunde.
Williams's return to Indian Wells in 2015 (after a 14-year boycott) occurred in partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit organization that provides legal representation to people who may have been denied a fair trial. In 2017, Williams became Ambassador for the Allstate Foundation's Purple Purse project, an initiative to provide financial empowerment to domestic abuse victims. Other organizations Williams supports include the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Hearts of Gold, the Common Ground Foundation, the Small Steps Project, the HollyRod Foundation, Beyond the Boroughs National Scholarship Fund, World Education, the Eva Longoria Foundation, the Caliber Foundation and the Cure for MND Foundation.
Business ventures
In August 2009, Serena and Venus became minority owners of the Miami Dolphins after purchasing a small stake in the team. According to the Dolphins, they are the first African-American women to hold any amount of ownership in an NFL franchise. In 2014, Williams founded the venture capital firm Serena Ventures, which invests in start-up companies whose "perspectives and innovations level the playing field for women and people of color." As of 2022, Serena Ventures had raised more than $110 million.
In July 2020, it was announced that Williams was part of a nearly all-women investors' group that was awarded a new franchise in the National Women's Soccer League, the highest level of the women's sport in the United States. Williams's husband Alexis Ohanian is classified as the "lead investor", but he holds a minority interest, and is the only man in the ownership group. Other owners in the group include prominent actresses, media figures, businesswomen, former members of the US women's national team, and Williams's eldest daughter. The new team began playing in 2022 as Angel City FC.
Activism
Williams became more involved in social change as her career progressed, primarily using social media to express her views. In 2016 she voiced her support for Black Lives Matter on her Facebook page. She expressed concern that her young nephew could be in danger from police due to his skin color. During American tennis player Tennys Sandgren's breakthrough run to the quarterfinals of the 2018 Australian Open, it was revealed that he tweeted insensitive words about the LGBT community, followed members of the alt-right, and referred to an article describing Williams's on-court behavior as "disgusting". Williams responded to him by saying, "I don't need or want [an apology]. But there is an entire group of people that deserves an apology."
Also in 2016, Williams wrote an open letter in Porter Magazine's feature "Incredible Women of 2016" in support of gender equality and to share her personal struggles as a woman in tennis. She claimed that women's contributions to the sport are not recognized in the same way as men's contributions, and she also commented on the issue of unequal pay. Williams has received several awards for her activism, particularly her endeavors involving Black communities. The NAACP has honored Williams with its President's Award (2003) and the Jackie Robinson Sports Award (2023).
Fashion
Williams was noted for her unusual and colorful outfits on court. She arrived at the 2004 US Open in a denim skirt and knee-high leg wraps that looked like boots, which she was not allowed to wear during matches. At the 2018 French Open, she promoted her clothing line Serena by wearing a catsuit, which was subsequently banned by the French Tennis Federation. At the 2018 US Open, Williams wore a black tutu during her first match.
In 2009, she launched a signature collection of handbags and jewelry, Signature Statement, which is sold mainly on the Home Shopping Network. In 2010, she became a certified nail technician in preparation for her upcoming nail collection with HairTech.
In February 2019, Williams was appointed to the board of directors of the online fashion marketplace Poshmark. In the fall of that year, she launched the first collection of her clothing line S by Serena. Inspired by 1990s street wear, the apparel is designed for a range of body types and body sizes.
Media and publishing
In 2005, the Williams sisters authored the book Venus & Serena: Serving From The Hip: 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning, which was written with Hilary Beard. In 2009, Williams released the autobiography On the Line. The same year, she appeared in online videos and print advertisements for Tampax Pearl tampons, becoming the first active female professional athlete to appear in advertising for a feminine hygiene product. Williams posed for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2003 and 2004.
Filmography
Williams has appeared in films, television series, and music videos. She and Venus also served as executive producers on the 2021 film King Richard, a biopic about their father.
See also
Explanatory notes
References
General references
Morgan, Terri (2001). Venus and Serena Williams: Grand Slam Sisters. Sports Achievers Biographies. Lerner Publishing. 64pp. ISBN 978-0-8225-3684-0.
Williams, Venus; Williams, Serena; Beard, Hilary (2005). Venus and Serena: Serving from the Hip: 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 133pp. ISBN 978-0-618-57653-1.
Williams, Serena; Paisner, Daniel (2009). On the Line. Hachette Digital. 214pp. ISBN 978-0-446-56402-1.
Williams, Serena; Paisner, Daniel (2009). My Life: Queen of the Court. Simon & Schuster. 257pp. ISBN 978-1-84737-544-5.
Further reading
Spencer, Nancy E. (May 2004). "Sister Act VI: Venus and Serena Williams at Indian Wells: 'Sincere Fictions' and White Racism". Journal of Sport & Social Issues. 28 (2): 115–135. doi:10.1177/0193723504264411. S2CID 159517372.
External links
Official website
Serena Williams at the Women's Tennis Association
Serena Williams at the International Tennis Federation
Serena Williams at the Billie Jean King Cup (archived)
Serena Williams at IMDb
Serena Williams Archived June 7, 2017, at the Wayback Machine video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
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Dionne Warwick
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Marie Dionne Warwick ( dee-ON WOR-wik; born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. During her career, Warwick has won many awards, including six Grammy Awards. She has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Apollo Theater Walk of Fame. In 2019, Warwick won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Three of her songs ("Walk On By", "Alfie", and "Don't Make Me Over") have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on Billboard's Hot 100 pop singles chart. She is the second-most charted female vocalist during the rock era (1955–1999). She is also one of the most-charted vocalists of all time, with 56 of her singles making the Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998 (12 of them Top Ten), and 80 singles in total – either solo or collaboratively – making the Hot 100, R&B, or adult contemporary charts. Warwick ranks number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100's "Greatest Artists of all time". She is a former Goodwill Ambassador for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
Early life and education
Marie Dionne Warrick, later Warwick, was born to Arthur Lee Drinkard and Mancel Warrick. Her mother was manager of the Drinkard Singers, and her father was a Pullman porter, chef, record promoter, and CPA. Dionne was named after her aunt on her mother's side. She had a sister, Delia ("Dee Dee"), who died in 2008, and a brother, Mancel Jr., who was killed in an accident in 1968 at the age of 21. Her parents were both African-American, and she also has Native American and Dutch ancestry.
Warwick was raised in East Orange, New Jersey, and was a Girl Scout for a time. She began singing gospel as a child at her grandfather’s AME church in Newark, NJ, where he was pastor and later at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. After finishing East Orange High School in 1959, Warwick pursued her passion at the Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut. She landed some work with her group singing backing vocals for recording sessions in New York City. During one session, Warwick met Burt Bacharach, who hired her to record demos featuring songs written by him and lyricist Hal David. She later landed her own record deal.
Career
Drinkard Singers
Many members of Warwick's family were members of the Drinkard Singers, a family gospel group and RCA recording artists who frequently performed throughout the New York metropolitan area. The original group, known as the Drinkard Jubilairs, consisted of Cissy, Anne, Larry, and Nicky, and later included Warwick's grandparents, Nicholas and Delia Drinkard, and their children: William, Lee (Warwick's mother) and Hansom. When the Drinkard Singers performed on TV Gospel Time, Dionne Warwick had her television performance debut.
Marie instructed the group, and they were managed by Lee. As they became more successful, Lee and Marie began performing with the group, and they were augmented by pop/R&B singer Judy Clay, whom Lee had unofficially adopted. Elvis Presley eventually expressed an interest in having them join his touring entourage.
The Gospelaires
Other talented singers joined the Gospelaires from time-to-time, including Judy Clay, Cissy Houston (mother of Whitney Houston), and Doris "Rikii" Troy, whose chart selection "Just One Look" (when she recorded it in 1963) featured backing vocals from the Gospelaires. After personnel changes (Dionne and Doris left the group after achieving solo success), the Gospelaires became the recording group the Sweet Inspirations, and had some chart success, but were much sought after as studio background singers. The Gospelaires, and later the Sweet Inspirations, performed on many records cut in New York City for artists such as Garnet Mimms, the Drifters, Jerry Butler, Solomon Burke and, later, Warwick's solo recordings, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley. Warwick recalled, in 2002's Biography, that "a man came running frantically backstage at the Apollo and said he needed background singers for a session for Sam "the Man" Taylor and old big-mouth here spoke up and said 'We'll do it!' and we left and did the session. I wish I remembered the gentleman's name because he was responsible for the beginning of my professional career."
The chance encounter led to the group being asked to provide background vocals at recording sessions around New York. Soon, the group was in-demand for their harmonies among New York musicians and producers, after hearing their work with the Drifters, Ben E. King, Chuck Jackson, Dinah Washington, Ronnie Hawkins, and Solomon Burke, among many others. In the same aforementioned Biography interview, Warwick recalled that, on weekdays after school, the girls would catch a bus from East Orange to the Port Authority Terminal, then take the subway to the recording studios in Manhattan, perform their background vocal work, and still be back at home in East Orange with time to do their school homework. Warwick's music work would continue while she pursued her studies at Hartt.
Discovery
While she was performing background on the Drifters' recording of their 1962 release "Mexican Divorce", Warwick's voice and star presence were noticed by the song's composer, Burt Bacharach, a Brill Building songwriter who was writing songs with many other songwriters, including lyricist Hal David. According to a July 14, 1967, article on Warwick in Time, Bacharach stated, "She has a tremendous strong side and a delicacy when singing softly – like miniature ships in bottles." Musically, she was no "play-safe girl. What emotion I could get away with!" During the session, Bacharach asked Warwick if she would be interested in recording demonstration recordings of his compositions to pitch the tunes to record labels, paying her $12.50 per demo recording session (equivalent to $130 in 2024). One such demo, "It's Love That Really Counts" – destined to be recorded by Scepter-signed act the Shirelles – caught the attention of the President of Scepter Records, Florence Greenberg, who, according to Current Biography (1969 Yearbook), told Bacharach, "Forget the song, get the girl!"
Warwick was signed to Bacharach's and David's production company, according to Warwick, which in turn was signed to Scepter Records in 1962 by Greenberg. The partnership would provide Bacharach with the freedom to produce Warwick without the control of recording company executives and company A&R men. Warwick's musical ability and education would also allow Bacharach to compose more challenging tunes. The demo version of "It's Love That Really Counts", along with her original demo of "Make It Easy on Yourself", would surface on Warwick's debut Scepter album, Presenting Dionne Warwick, which was released in early 1963.
Early stardom (1962–1965)
In November 1962, Scepter Records released her first solo single, "Don't Make Me Over", the title of which Warwick supplied herself when she snapped the phrase at producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David in anger. Warwick had found out that "Make It Easy on Yourself" – a song on which she had recorded the original demo and had wanted to be her first single release – had been given to another artist, Jerry Butler. From the phrase "don't make me over", Bacharach and David created their first top-40 pop hit (No. 21) and a top-5 U.S. R&B hit. Warrick's name was misspelled on the single's label, and she began using the new spelling, "Warwick", both professionally and personally.
After "Don't Make Me Over" hit in 1962, she answered the call of her manager, left school and went on a tour of France, where critics crowned her "Paris' Black Pearl", having been introduced on stage at Paris Olympia that year by Marlene Dietrich.
The two immediate follow-ups to "Don't Make Me Over" – "This Empty Place" (with "B" side "Wishin' and Hopin'" later recorded by Dusty Springfield) and "Make The Music Play" – charted briefly in the top 100. Her fourth single, "Anyone Who Had a Heart", released in November 1963, was Warwick's first top 10 pop hit (No. 8) in the U.S. and an international million seller. This was followed by "Walk On By" in April 1964, another major international hit and million seller that solidified her career. For the rest of the 1960s, Warwick was a fixture on the U.S. and Canadian charts, and much of her output from 1962 to 1971 was written and produced by the Bacharach/David team.
Warwick weathered the British Invasion better than most American artists. Her biggest UK hits were "Walk On By" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" In the UK, a number of Bacharach-David-Warwick songs were recorded by British singers Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and Dusty Springfield, most notably Black's "Anyone Who Had a Heart", which went to No. 1 in the UK. This upset Warwick, who described feeling insulted when told that in the UK, record company executives wanted her songs recorded by someone else. Warwick met Cilla Black while on tour in Britain. She recalled what she said to Black: "I told her that 'You're My World' would be my next single in the States. I honestly believe that if I'd sneezed on my next record, then Cilla would have sneezed on hers too. There was no imagination in her recording." Warwick later covered two of Cilla's songs – "You're My World" appeared on Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls, released in 1968 and on the soundtrack to Alfie.
Warwick was named the Bestselling Female Vocalist in the Cash Box Magazine poll in 1964, with six chart hits in that year. Cash Box named her the Top Female Vocalist in 1969, 1970 and 1971. In the 1967 Cash Box poll, she was second to Petula Clark, and in 1968's poll second to Aretha Franklin. Playboy's influential Music Poll of 1970 named her the Top Female Vocalist. In 1969, Harvard's Hasty Pudding Society named her Woman of the Year.
In Time's cover article of May 21, 1965, entitled "Rock 'n' Roll: The Sound of the Sixties", Warwick's sound was described as:
Swinging World. Scholarly articles probe the relationship between the Beatles and the nouvelle vague films of Jean-Luc Godard, discuss "the brio and elegance" of Dionne Warwick's singing style as a 'pleasurable but complex' event to be 'experienced without condescension.' In chic circles, anyone damning rock 'n' roll is labeled not only square but uncultured. For inspirational purposes, such hip artists as Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers and Andy Warhol occasionally paint while listening to rock 'n' roll music. Explains Warhol: "It makes me mindless, and I paint better." After gallery openings in Manhattan, the black-tie gatherings often adjourn to a discothèque.
In 1965, Eon Productions intended to use Warwick's song titled "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" as the theme song of the James Bond film Thunderball, until Albert R. Broccoli insisted that the theme song include the film's title. A new song titled "Thunderball" was composed and recorded at the eleventh hour, performed by Tom Jones. The melody of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" remains a major component of the film score. The Ultimate Edition DVD of Thunderball has the Warwick song playing over the titles on one of the commentary track extras, and the song was released on the 30th-anniversary CD of Bond songs.
Chart success (1966–1971)
The mid-1960s to early 1970s were a more successful time period for Warwick, who saw a string of gold-selling albums and Top 20 and Top 10 hit singles. "Message to Michael", a Bacharach-David composition that the duo was certain was a "man's song", became a top 10 hit for Warwick in May 1966. The January 1967 LP Here Where There Is Love was her first RIAA certified Gold album, and featured "Alfie" and two 1966 hits: "Trains and Boats and Planes" and "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself". "Alfie" had become a radio hit when disc jockeys across the nation began to play the album cut early in 1967. "Alfie" was released as the "B" side of a Bacharach/David ballad, "The Beginning of Loneliness", which charted in the Hot 100. Disc jockeys flipped the single and made it a double-sided hit. Bacharach had been contracted to produce "Alfie" for the Michael Caine film of the same name and wanted Warwick to sing the tune, but the British producers wanted a British subject to cut the tune. Cilla Black was selected to record the song, and her version peaked at No. 95 upon its release in the US. A cover version by Cher used in the American prints of the film peaked at No. 33. In the UK and Australia, Black's version was a Top-10 hit.
Later that same year, Warwick earned her first RIAA certified Gold single for U.S. sales of over one million units for the single "I Say a Little Prayer". When disc jockeys across the nation began to play the track from the album in late 1967 and demanded its release as a single, Scepter Records complied and "I Say a Little Prayer" became Warwick's biggest U.S. hit to that point, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Canadian Chart. The tune was also the first RIAA certified USA million seller for Bacharach-David.
Her follow-up to "I Say a Little Prayer", "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls", was unusual in several respects. It was not written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; it was the "B" side of her "I Say a Little Prayer" single, and it was a song that she almost did not record. While the film version of Valley of the Dolls was being made, actress Barbara Parkins suggested that Warwick be considered to sing the film's theme song, written by songwriting team André and Dory Previn. The song was to be recorded by Judy Garland, who was subsequently fired from the film. Warwick performed the song, and when the film became a success in the early weeks of 1968, disc jockeys flipped the single and made the single one of the biggest double-sided hits of the rock era and another million seller. At the time, RIAA rules allowed only one side of a double-sided hit single to be certified as gold, but Scepter awarded Warwick an "in-house award" to recognize "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls" as a million selling tune.
Warwick had re-recorded a Pat Williams-arranged version of the theme at A&R Studios in New York because contractual restrictions with her label would not allow the Warwick version from the film to be included on the 20th Century Fox soundtrack LP, and reverse legal restrictions would not allow the film version to be used anyplace else in a commercial LP. The LP Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls, released in early 1968 and containing the re-recorded version of the movie theme (No. 2 for three weeks), "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" and several new Bacharach-David compositions, hit the No. 6 position on the Billboard album chart and would remain on the chart for over a year. The film soundtrack LP, without Warwick vocals, failed to impress the public, while Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls earned an RIAA Gold certification.
The single "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" (an international million seller and a Top-10 hit in several countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Japan and Mexico) was also a double-sided hit, with the "B" side "Let Me Be Lonely" charting at No. 79. More hits followed into 1971, including "Who Is Gonna Love Me" (No. 32, 1968) with "B" side, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" becoming another double-sided hit; "Promises, Promises" (No. 19, 1968); "This Girl's in Love with You" (No. 7, 1969); "The April Fools" (No. 37, 1969); "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (No. 15, 1969); "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (No. 6 Pop, No. 1 AC, 1969); "Make It Easy on Yourself" (No. 37 Pop, No. 10 AC, 1970); "Let Me Go to Him" (No. 32 Pop, No. 4 AC, 1970); and "Paper Mache" (No. 43 Pop, No. 3 AC), 1970). Warwick's final Bacharach/David penned single on the Scepter label was March 1971's "Who Gets the Guy" (No. 52 Pop, No. 6 AC), 1971), and her final "official" Scepter single release was "He's Moving On" b/w "Amanda", (No. 83 Pop, No. 12 AC) both from the soundtrack of the motion picture adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's The Love Machine.
Warwick had become the priority act of Scepter Records with the release of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" in 1963. Other Scepter LPs certified RIAA Gold include Dionne Warwick's Golden Hits Part 1 released in 1967 and The Dionne Warwicke Story: A Decade of Gold released in 1971. By the end of 1971, Warwick had sold an estimated 35 million singles and albums internationally in less than nine years and more than 16 million singles in the U.S. alone. Exact figures of her sales are unknown and probably underestimated, due to Scepter Records' apparently lax accounting policies and the company policy of not submitting recordings for RIAA audit. Warwick became the first Scepter artist to request RIAA audits of her recordings in 1967 with the release of "I Say a Little Prayer".
On September 17, 1969, CBS Television aired Warwick's first television special, entitled The Dionne Warwick Chevy Special. Warwick's guests were Burt Bacharach, George Kirby, Glen Campbell, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. In 1970, Warwick formed her own label, Sonday Records, of which she was president. Sonday was distributed by Scepter.
In 1970, she was a performer on the prestigious Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium, singing The Look of Love, What the World Needs Now and Come Together.
In 1971, Warwick left the family atmosphere of Scepter Records for Warner Bros. Records, for a $5 million contract, the most lucrative recording contract given to a female vocalist up to that time, according to Variety. Warwick's last LP for Scepter was the soundtrack for the motion picture The Love Machine, in which she appeared in an uncredited cameo, released in July 1971. In 1975, Bacharach and David sued Scepter Records for an accurate accounting of royalties due the team from their recordings with Warwick and labelmate B.J. Thomas. They were awarded almost $600,000 and the rights to all Bacharach/David recordings on the Scepter label. The label, with the defection of Warwick to Warner Bros. Records, filed for bankruptcy in 1975 and was sold to Springboard International Records in 1976.
Following her signing with Warners, with Bacharach and David as writers and producers, Warwick returned to New York City's A&R Studios in late 1971 to begin recording her first album for the new label, the self-titled Dionne (not to be confused with her later Arista debut album) in January 1972. The album peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 Album Chart. In 1972, Burt Bacharach and Hal David scored and wrote the tunes for the motion picture Lost Horizon. However, the film was panned by the critics, and in the fallout, the songwriting duo decided to terminate their working relationship. The break-up left Warwick devoid of their services as her producers and songwriters. She was contractually obligated to fulfill her contract with Warners without Bacharach and David, and she would team with a variety of producers during her tenure with the label.
Faced with the prospect of being sued by Warner Bros. Records due to the breakup of Bacharach/David and their failure to honor their contract with Warwick, she filed a $5.5 million lawsuit against her former partners for breach of contract. The suit was settled out of court in 1979 for $5 million, including the rights to all Warwick recordings produced by Bacharach and David.
Also in 1971, Warwick had her name changed to "Warwicke" per the advice of Linda Goodman, an astrologer friend, who believed it would bring greater success. A few years later, she reverted to the old spelling after a string of disappointments and an absence from the Billboard top 40.
Warner era (1972–1978)
Without the guidance and songwriting that Bacharach/David had provided, Warwick's career stalled in the early 1970s although she remained a top concert draw throughout the world. There were no big hits during the early and mid part of the decade, aside from 1974's "Then Came You", recorded as a duet with the Spinners and produced by Thom Bell. Bell later noted, "Dionne made a (strange) face when we finished [the song]. She didn't like it much, but I knew we had something. So we ripped a dollar in two, signed each half and exchanged them. I told her, 'If it doesn't go number one, I'll send you my half.' When it took off, Dionne sent hers back. There was an apology on it." It was her first U.S. No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Other than this success, Warwick's five years on Warner Bros. Records produced no other major hits, but "Then Came You" was issued by co-owned Atlantic Records, the Spinners' label. Two notable songs recorded during this period were "His House and Me" and "Once You Hit The Road" (No. 79 pop, No. 5 R&B, No. 22 Adult Contemporary), both of which were produced in 1975 by Thom Bell.
Warwick recorded five albums with Warners: Dionne (1972), produced by Bacharach and David and a modest chart success; Just Being Myself (1973), produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland;
Then Came You (1975), produced by Jerry Ragovoy; Track of the Cat (1975), produced by Thom Bell; and Love at First Sight (1977), produced by Steve Barri and Michael Omartian. Her five-year contract with Warners expired in 1977, and with that, she ended her stay at the label.A Man and a Woman is a duet live album by American singers Isaac Hayes and Dionne Warwick, released in 1977 by ABC Records. The album was recorded during one of the concerts of the artists' 1976 joint tour. Warwick's dry spell on the American charts ended with her signing to Arista Records in 1979, where she began a second highly successful run of hit records and albums well into the late 1980s.
Heartbreaker and move to Arista (1979–1989)
With the move to Arista Records and the release of her RIAA-certified million seller "I'll Never Love This Way Again" in 1979, Warwick was again enjoying top success on the charts. The song was produced by Barry Manilow. The accompanying album, Dionne, was certified platinum in the United States for sales exceeding one million units. The album peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard albums chart and made the top 10 of the Billboard R&B albums chart. Warwick had been personally signed and guided by the label's founder Clive Davis, who told her, "You may be ready to give the business up, but the business is not ready to give you up." Warwick's next single release was another major hit. "Deja Vu" was co-written by Isaac Hayes and hit No. 1 Adult Contemporary as well as No. 15 on Billboard's Hot 100. In 1980, Warwick won two Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female for "Déjà Vu". She became the first female artist in the history of the awards to win in both categories the same year. Her second Arista album, 1980's No Night So Long sold 500,000 U.S. copies and featured the title track which became a major success – hitting No. 1 Adult Contemporary and No. 23 on Billboard's Hot 100 – and the album peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard albums chart.
In January 1980, while under contract to Arista Records, Warwick hosted a two-hour TV special called Solid Gold '79. This was adapted into the weekly one-hour show Solid Gold, which she hosted throughout 1980 and 1981 and again in 1985–86. Major highlights of each show were the duets she performed with her co-hosts, which often included some of Warwick's hits and her co-hosts' hits, intermingled and arranged by Solid Gold musical director Michael Miller. Another highlight in each show was Warwick's vocal rendition of the Solid Gold theme, composed by Miller (with lyrics by Dean Pitchford).
After a brief appearance in the top forty in early 1982 with Johnny Mathis on "Friends in Love" – from the album of the same name – Warwick's next hit later that same year was her full-length collaboration with Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees for the album Heartbreaker. The project came about when Clive Davis was attending his aunt's wedding in Orlando, Florida in early 1982 and spoke with Barry Gibb. Gibb mentioned that he had always been a fan of Warwick's, and Davis arranged for Warwick and the Bee Gees to discuss a project. The Gibb brothers had just had tremendous success writing and co-producing a smash hit album for Barbra Streisand (1980's Guilty), which prompted Davis to suggest they do something similar for Warwick. Both the album and the title single were released in October 1982 to massive success. Warwick later stated to Wesley Hyatt in his Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits that she was not initially fond of "Heartbreaker" but recorded the song because she trusted the Bee Gees' judgment that it would be a hit. The song did indeed become one of Warwick's biggest international hits, returning her to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 as well as No. 1 Adult Contemporary and No. 2 in both the UK and Australia. The song was also a top-10 hit throughout continental Europe, Japan, South Africa, Canada and Asia. The album ended up selling 3 million copies internationally and earned Warwick an RIAA gold record award in the US. In the UK, Heartbreaker became Warwick's most successful album, peaking at No. 3 and was certified platinum, while both the hit title track and follow-up single "All the Love in the World" (another UK top ten hit) would both be certified silver, becoming her biggest selling singles there.
In 1983, Warwick released How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye, produced by Luther Vandross. The album's most successful single was the title track, "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye", a Warwick/Vandross duet, which peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also became a top-10 hit on the Adult Contemporary and R&B charts. The album peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard albums chart. Of note was a reunion with the original Shirelles on Warwick's cover of "Will You (Still) Love Me Tomorrow?". The album Finder of Lost Loves followed in 1984 and reunited her with both Barry Manilow and Burt Bacharach, who was writing with his then current lyricist partner and wife, Carole Bayer Sager. In 1985, Warwick contributed her voice to the multi-Grammy Award winning charity song "We Are the World", along with vocalists like Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and Ray Charles. The song spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was the year's biggest hit – certified four times platinum in the United States alone.
In 1985, Warwick and Bacharach once again collaborated on the song "That's What Friends Are For". This period was the first time they had worked together since the 1970s, when Warwick felt abandoned by Bacharach and Hal David dissolving their partnership. Warwick said of their reconciliation:
We realized we were more than just friends. We were family. Time has a way of giving people the opportunity to grow and understand ... Working with Burt is not a bit different from how it used to be. He expects me to deliver and I can. He knows what I'm going to do before I do it, and the same with me. That's how intertwined we've been.
Warwick recorded "That's What Friends Are For" as a benefit single for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) alongside Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder in 1985. The single, credited to "Dionne and Friends", was released in October and eventually raised more than three million dollars for that cause. The tune was a triple No. 1 – R&B, Adult Contemporary, and four weeks at the summit on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1986 – selling close to two million 45s in the United States alone. "Working against AIDS, especially after years of raising money for work on many blood-related diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, seemed the right thing to do. You have to be granite not to want to help people with AIDS, because the devastation that it causes is so painful to see. I was so hurt to see my friend die with such agony", Warwick told The Washington Post in 1988. "I am tired of hurting and it does hurt." The single won the performers the NARAS Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Bacharach and Bayer Sager. It also was ranked by Billboard magazine as the most popular song of 1986. With this single, Warwick also released her most successful album of the 1980s, titled Friends, which reached No. 12 on the Billboard albums chart.
In 1987, Dionne Warwick won the Special Recognition Award at the American Music Awards for "That's What Friends Are For".
In 1987, Warwick scored another hit with "Love Power". Her eighth career No. 1 Adult Contemporary hit, it also reached No. 5 on the R&B chart and No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. A duet with Jeffrey Osborne, it was also written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, and it was featured on Warwick's album Reservations for Two. The album's title song, a duet with Kashif, was also a chart hit. Other artists featured on the album included Smokey Robinson and June Pointer.
Friends Can Be Lovers (1990–2000)
During the 1990s, Warwick hosted infomercials for the Psychic Friends Network, which featured self-described psychic Linda Georgian. The 900 number psychic service was active from 1991 to 1998. According to press statements throughout the 1990s, the program was the most successful infomercial for several years and Warwick earned in excess of three million dollars per year as spokesperson for the network. In 1998, Inphomation, the corporation owning the network, filed for bankruptcy and Warwick ended her association with the organization. Warwick's longtime friend and tour manager Henry Carr acknowledged that "when Dionne was going through an airport and a child recognized her as 'that psychic lady on TV', Dionne was crushed and said she had worked too hard as an entertainer to become known as 'the psychic lady.'"
Warwick's most publicized album during this period was 1993's Friends Can Be Lovers, which was produced in part by Ian Devaney and Lisa Stansfield. Featured on the album was "Sunny Weather Lover", which was the first song that Burt Bacharach and Hal David had written together for Warwick since 1972. It was Warwick's lead single in the United States, and was heavily promoted by Arista, but failed to chart. A follow-up "Where My Lips Have Been" peaked at No. 95 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. The 1994 Aquarela Do Brasil album marked the end of Warwick's contract with Arista Records. In 1990, Warwick recorded the song "It's All Over" with former member of Modern Talking Dieter Bohlen (Blue System). The single peaked at No. 60 (No. 33 airplay) on the German pop charts and it was covered on Blue System's album Déjà Vu.
In 1993, Forrest Sawyer, host of the ABC news/entertainment program Day One, alleged financial improprieties by the Warwick Foundation, founded in 1989 to benefit AIDS patients, and particularly Warwick's charity concert performances organized to benefit the organization as "America's Ambassador of Health". The network news magazine story, "That's What Friends Are For", reported that the Warwick Foundation was operating at more than 90% administrative cost, donating only about 3% of the money it raised to AIDS groups. Several AIDS groups and nonprofit experts criticized her foundation, including an AIDS group in the Virgin Islands that claimed she nearly bankrupted them after extravagant expenses left nothing for local charities. ABC reported that Warwick flew first class and was accommodated at first-class hotels for charity concerts and events in which she participated for the Warwick Foundation, managed by her close confidante, Guy Draper, a former chief of protocol for former Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry, and who had a history of bankruptcies. Warwick alleged that the ABC report was racially motivated and threatened to sue ABC News for defamation, although a suit was never filed. The Internal Revenue Service began an investigation of the Warwick Foundation after other complaints were filed, and the Warwick Foundation was later dissolved. ABC's story was nominated for a national Emmy award in 1994 and won a prestigious Investigative Reporters and Editors national television award in 1993.
My Favorite Time of the Year and move to Concord Records (2000–2010)
On October 16, 2002, Warwick was nominated to be Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
In 2004, Warwick's first Christmas album was released. Entitled My Favorite Time of the Year, the CD featured jazzy interpretations of many holiday classics. In 2007, Rhino Records re-released the CD with new cover art.
In 2005, Warwick was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball. She appeared on the May 24, 2006, fifth-season finale of American Idol. Warwick sang a medley of "Walk On By" and "That's What Friends Are For", with longtime collaborator Burt Bacharach accompanying her on the piano.
In 2006, Warwick signed with Concord Records after a 15-year tenure at Arista, which had ended in 1994. Her first and only release for the label was My Friends and Me, a duets album containing reworkings of her old hits, very similar to her 1998 CD Dionne Sings Dionne. Among her singing partners were Gloria Estefan, Olivia Newton-John, Wynonna Judd and Reba McEntire. The album peaked at No. 66 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album was produced by her son, Damon Elliott. A follow-up album featuring Warwick's old hits as duets with male vocalists was planned, but the project was cancelled. The relationship with Concord concluded with the release of My Friends and Me. A compilation CD of her greatest hits and love songs, The Love Collection, entered the UK album chart at number 27 on February 16, 2008.
Warwick's second gospel album, Why We Sing, was released on February 26, 2008, in the United Kingdom and on April 1, 2008, in the United States. The album features guest spots by her sister Dee Dee Warwick and BeBe Winans.
On October 18, 2008, Warwick's sister Dee Dee died in a nursing home in Essex County, New Jersey. She had been in failing health for several months.
On November 24, 2008, Warwick was the star performer on Divas II, a UK ITV1 special show that also featured Rihanna, Leona Lewis, the Sugababes, Pink, Gabriella Climi and Anastacia.
In 2008, Warwick began recording an album of songs from the Sammy Cahn and Jack Wolf songbooks. The finished recording, entitled Only Trust Your Heart, was released in 2011.
On October 20, 2009, Starlight Children's Foundation and New Gold Music Ltd. released a song that Warwick had recorded about ten years prior called "Starlight". The lyrics were written by Dean Pitchford, prolific writer of Fame, screenwriter of – and sole or joint lyricist of every song in the soundtrack of – the original 1984 film Footloose, and lyricist of the Solid Gold theme. The music had been composed by Bill Goldstein, whose versatile career included the original music for NBC's Fame TV series. Warwick, Pitchford and Goldstein announced that they would be donating 100% of their royalties to Starlight Children's Foundation, to support Starlight's mission to help seriously ill children and their families cope with pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities.
When Bill and Dean brought this song to me, I instantly felt connected to its message of shining a little light into the lives of people who need it most", said Warwick. "I admire the work of Starlight Children's Foundation and know that if the song brings hope to even just one sick child, we have succeeded.
Only Trust Your Heart and Grammy Award (2010–2019)
In 2011, the New Jazz style CD Only Trust Your Heart was released, featuring many Sammy Cahn songs. In March 2011, Warwick appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice 4. Her charity was the Hunger Project. She was dismissed from her "apprenticeship" to Donald Trump during the fourth task of the season. In February 2012, Warwick performed "Walk On By" on The Jonathan Ross Show. She also received the Goldene Kamera Musical Lifetime Achievement Award in Germany, and performed "That's What Friends Are For" at the ceremony.
On May 28, 2012, Warwick headlined the World Hunger Day concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. She sang "One World One Song", specially written for the Hunger Project by Tony Hatch and Tim Holder and was joined by Joe McElderry, the London Community Gospel Choir and a choir from Woodbridge School, Woodbridge, Suffolk.
In 2012, the 50th anniversary CD entitled NOW was released; Warwick recorded 12 Bacharach/David tracks produced by Phil Ramone.
On September 19, 2013, she collaborated with country singer Billy Ray Cyrus for his song "Hope Is Just Ahead".
In 2014, the duets album Feels So Good was released. Funkytowngrooves re-issued the remastered Arista albums No Night So Long, How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye ("So Amazing"), and Finder of Lost Loves ("Without Your Love"), all expanded with bonus material.
In December 2015, Warwick's website released the Tropical Love EP with five tracks previously unreleased from the Aquarel Do Brasil Sessions in 1994 – To Say Goodbye (Pra Dizer Adeus) with Edu Lobo – Love Me – Lullaby – Bridges (Travessia) – Rainy Day Girl with Ivan Lins.
A Heartbreaker two-disc expanded edition was planned for a 2016 release by Funkytowngrooves, which would include the original Heartbreaker album and up to 15 bonus tracks consisting of a mixture of unreleased songs, alternate takes, and instrumentals, with more remastered and expanded Arista albums to follow. In 2016, she was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
In 2017, she performed a benefit in Chicago for the Center on Halsted, an organization that contributes to the LGBTQ community. This event was co-chaired by Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama. Also that year, she made a cameo appearance in the Christian drama Let There Be Light directed by Kevin Sorbo.
In 2019 she was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Documentary and The Masked Singer (2020–present)
In 2020, she appeared as "Mouse" on the third season of The Masked Singer. She was eliminated in the fifth round, but came back during the first part of the season three finale to sing "What the World Needs Now Is Love" with the finalists Night Angel, Frog and Turtle as a tribute to the healthcare workers working on the front lines during the coronavirus pandemic. This performance was created after the season wrapped production in March. Warwick made a guest appearance during Gladys Knight's and Patti Labelle's Verzuz battle. Together they performed Warwick's song, "That's What Friends Are For". They closed with their collaborative song "Superwoman".
In My Life, as I See It: An Autobiography, Warwick lists her honorary doctorate from Hartt among those awarded by six other institutions: Hartt College, Bethune-Cookman University, Shaw University, Columbia College of Chicago, Lincoln College, Illinois [May 2010, Doctor of Arts (hon.)], and University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
On February 10, 2021, Dionne was nominated for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the first time.
On December 3, 2021, Dionne was honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.
Warwick appears in a documentary revolving around her life and career, Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2021. Organizers of the Toronto Film Festival announced that she would be honored in the upcoming event as a music icon. On November 26, 2021, Warwick released the single "Nothing's Impossible" a duet featuring Chance the Rapper. Two charities are being supported by the duet: SocialWorks, a Chicago-based nonprofit that Chance founded to empower the youth through the arts, education and civic engagement, and Hunger: Not Impossible, a text-based service connecting kids and their families in need with prepaid, nutritious, to-go meals from local restaurants. On January 1, 2023, the documentary premiered on national television on CNN.
In December 2023, Warwick participated in the fifth series of The Masked Singer UK as "Weather". She was eliminated and unmasked on the first episode.
On April 26, 2024, Warwick along with the vocal group the Chi-Lites, were inducted into The Atlantic City Walk of Fame. Producer, writer and director Dave Wooley was the presenter for Warwick. The induction ceremony was held at Brighton Park in Atlantic City, NJ.
In 2024, Warwick was selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical excellence category. She also competed on episode of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.
Voice and artistry
Warwick is a contralto, particularly known for her signature musicality and "husky" singing voice. The New Yorker theatre critic Hilton Als reported that, early in her singing career, Warwick's wide vocal range "allowed her both to sing contralto low notes and to soar as a soprano". According to Mike Joyce of The Washington Post, some performances on Warwick's album Dionne Warwick Sings Cole Porter (1990) capture her warmth "and emphasize her subtle phrasing". In a separate review published in 1982, Joyce noted that Warwick's "magical" voice still manages to be "opaque, elusive, elegant" simultaneously, even when performing what he described as some of her most banal material in her discography. Reviewing a concert in 1983, The New York Times music critic Stephen Holden observed that Warwick's voice had deepened "into a near-baritone at its bottom end", resulting in "an ever-more fascinating vocal personality". Similarly, in 2006, Sarah Dempster of The Guardian observed that Warwick's voice "has deepened with age, lending a splendidly full-bodied finish to everything".
Music critics have described Warwick as the muse of songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David's, a term Bacharach himself has used to refer to the singer. Bacharach confirmed that they considered Warwick their "main artist", to whom they allowed first priority on new songs. MTV contributor Carol Cooper said Warwick's interpretation of their songs "established Warwick as the eloquent voice of wounded feminine pride", crediting her with making their material "even more unique and compelling". According to Michael Musto of The Village Voice, the singer's voice proved to be "the perfect venue for Bacharach-David hits", writing, "Dionne could do sultry, pained, wispy, and regretful, all with sophisticated phrasings that made her a vocal emblem for the '60s heartbeat". The singer claims she did not find their material difficult to sing because they had been written specifically for her voice. Cooper identified their partnership as a precedent to the collaborations between R&B singer Toni Braxton, and songwriters Babyface and Diane Warren.
Musically, The New York Times music critic Stephen Holden and The Guardian's Ian Gittins described Warwick as a pop soul singer. However, AllMusic biographer William Ruhlmann found the singer particularly difficult to categorize as a vocalist, writing, "Although Warwick grew up singing in church, she is not a gospel singer. Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan are clear influences, but she is not a jazz singer. R&B is also part of her background, yet she is not really a soul singer, either, at least not in the sense that Aretha Franklin is". Similarly, another AllMusic reviewer, Steve Leggett, believes Warwick combines elements of jazz, soul, R&B and gospel, which ultimately results in her being a "pure pop singer". The Washington Informer senior editor D. Kevin McNeir reported that Warwick's delivery and stage presence are often described as "scintillating, soothing, sensual and soulful". A writer for the South Bend Tribune observed that Warwick is usually described as a "sophisticated" singer, while noting that this term "doesn't place her in a specific musical category". A writer for The Guardian described Warwick as "one of the greatest pop singers of all time", while Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times named her "that one-of-a-kind instrument that defined pop sophistication in the mid-1960s".
In recent years, Warwick has become known for sharing candid, straightforward opinions about various topics on the social media platform Twitter, being nicknamed the "Queen of Twitter" by several media publications.
Personal life
In 1966, Warwick married actor and drummer William Elliott; they divorced in May 1967. They reconciled and were remarried in Milan, Italy, in August 1967. On January 18, 1969, while living in East Orange, New Jersey, she gave birth to her first son, David Elliott. In 1973, her second son Damon Elliott was born. On May 30, 1975, the couple separated and Warwick was granted a divorce in December 1975 in Los Angeles. The court denied Elliott's request for $2,000 a month (equivalent to $11,700 in 2024) in support pending a community property trial, and for $5,000, when he insisted he was making $500 a month in comparison to Warwick making $100,000 a month (equivalent to $584,000 in 2024). Warwick stated "I was the breadwinner. The male ego is a fragile thing. It's hard when the woman is the breadwinner. All my life, the only man who ever took care of me financially was my father. I have always taken care of myself."
In 2002, Warwick was arrested at Miami International Airport for possession of marijuana. It was discovered that she had 11 suspected marijuana cigarettes inside her carry-on luggage, hidden in a lipstick container. She was charged with possessing marijuana totaling less than five grams.
In 2009 Warwick had a $2.2 million federal tax lien filed against her. The IRS eventually discovered that a large portion of the lien was due to an accounting error and revoked $1.2mil in 2012.
In 1993, her older son David, a former Los Angeles police officer, co-wrote with Terry Steele the Warwick-Whitney Houston duet "Love Will Find a Way", featured on her album Friends Can Be Lovers. Since 2002, he has periodically toured with and performed duets with his mother (along with being the drummer of her touring band), and had his acting debut in the film Ali as the singer Sam Cooke. David became a singer-songwriter, with Luther Vandross's "Here and Now" among others to his credit.
Her second son, Damon, is a music producer, who has worked with Mýa, Pink, Christina Aguilera and Keyshia Cole. He arranged and produced his mother's 2006 Concord release My Friends and Me. She received a 2014 Grammy Award nomination in the Traditional Pop Category for her 2013 album release, Now.
On January 24, 2015, Warwick was hospitalized after a fall in the shower at her home. After ankle surgery, she was discharged from the hospital.
Bankruptcy
Warwick declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy in New Jersey on March 21, 2013. Due to the reported mismanagement of her business affairs, she listed liabilities that included nearly $7 million owed to the Internal Revenue Service for the years 1991 to 1999 and more than $3 million in business taxes owed to the state of California. Unable to work out an agreement with tax officials, she and her attorney decided that declaring bankruptcy would be the best course of action.
Relations
Warwick's sister Dee Dee Warwick also had a successful singing career, scoring several notable R&B hits in the US, including the original version of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me". Dee Dee recorded the original version of the song "You're No Good", which later became a 1963 No. 5 R&B hit for Betty Everett, a 1964 No. 3 UK hit for the Swinging Blue Jeans and a 1975 No. 1 pop hit for Linda Ronstadt. In 1966, the Swinging Blue Jeans had a No. 31 UK hit with a cover of Dionne's "Don't Make Me Over", thus appearing in the UK Singles Chart with covers of songs from both Warwick sisters.
Warwick's maternal aunt is gospel-trained vocalist Cissy Houston, mother of Warwick's cousin, the late singer Whitney Houston.
In her 2011 autobiography, My Life, as I See It, Warwick notes that opera diva Leontyne Price is a maternal cousin.
Discography
Studio albums
Tours
Dionne Warwick Tour (1966)
Dionne: 40 Anniversary Tour (2002)
Soul Divas Tour (2004)
An Evening with Dionne (2007)
She's Back: One Last Time (2022)
Awards and honors
In addition to numerous awards and honors, the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce has declared May 25 to be Dionne Warwick Day and Lincoln Elementary School in East Orange, New Jersey, honored her by renaming it to the Dionne Warwick Institute of Economics and Entrepreneurship.
On Friday, October 11, 2024, Warwick was honored by the City of East Orange, NJ with a street renaming ceremony. North Arlington Avenue at City Hall Plaza was given the name "Dionne Warwick Way". The ceremony included a tribute concert by hundreds of children. The ceremony was also attended by her two sons and Clive Davis, the notable music producer. Reported by CBS News.
Awards
Honors
Filmography
Film
Television
Bibliography
Warwick, Dionne (2010). My Life, As I See It. With David Freeman Wooley. Atria Books. ISBN 978-1-4391-7134-9.
Live performances
Notes
References
External links
Dionne Warwick at AllMusic
VH1 Site (Archived February 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine)
Rolling Stone site
Billboard chart history (since 1983)
The Scepter Records Story
Dionne Warwick at IMDb
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Marie Dionne Warwick ( dee-ON WOR-wik; born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. During her career, Warwick has won many awards, including six Grammy Awards. She has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Apollo Theater Walk of Fame. In 2019, Warwick won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Three of her songs ("Walk On By", "Alfie", and "Don't Make Me Over") have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on Billboard's Hot 100 pop singles chart. She is the second-most charted female vocalist during the rock era (1955–1999). She is also one of the most-charted vocalists of all time, with 56 of her singles making the Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998 (12 of them Top Ten), and 80 singles in total – either solo or collaboratively – making the Hot 100, R&B, or adult contemporary charts. Warwick ranks number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100's "Greatest Artists of all time". She is a former Goodwill Ambassador for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
Early life and education
Marie Dionne Warrick, later Warwick, was born to Arthur Lee Drinkard and Mancel Warrick. Her mother was manager of the Drinkard Singers, and her father was a Pullman porter, chef, record promoter, and CPA. Dionne was named after her aunt on her mother's side. She had a sister, Delia ("Dee Dee"), who died in 2008, and a brother, Mancel Jr., who was killed in an accident in 1968 at the age of 21. Her parents were both African-American, and she also has Native American and Dutch ancestry.
Warwick was raised in East Orange, New Jersey, and was a Girl Scout for a time. She began singing gospel as a child at her grandfather’s AME church in Newark, NJ, where he was pastor and later at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. After finishing East Orange High School in 1959, Warwick pursued her passion at the Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut. She landed some work with her group singing backing vocals for recording sessions in New York City. During one session, Warwick met Burt Bacharach, who hired her to record demos featuring songs written by him and lyricist Hal David. She later landed her own record deal.
Career
Drinkard Singers
Many members of Warwick's family were members of the Drinkard Singers, a family gospel group and RCA recording artists who frequently performed throughout the New York metropolitan area. The original group, known as the Drinkard Jubilairs, consisted of Cissy, Anne, Larry, and Nicky, and later included Warwick's grandparents, Nicholas and Delia Drinkard, and their children: William, Lee (Warwick's mother) and Hansom. When the Drinkard Singers performed on TV Gospel Time, Dionne Warwick had her television performance debut.
Marie instructed the group, and they were managed by Lee. As they became more successful, Lee and Marie began performing with the group, and they were augmented by pop/R&B singer Judy Clay, whom Lee had unofficially adopted. Elvis Presley eventually expressed an interest in having them join his touring entourage.
The Gospelaires
Other talented singers joined the Gospelaires from time-to-time, including Judy Clay, Cissy Houston (mother of Whitney Houston), and Doris "Rikii" Troy, whose chart selection "Just One Look" (when she recorded it in 1963) featured backing vocals from the Gospelaires. After personnel changes (Dionne and Doris left the group after achieving solo success), the Gospelaires became the recording group the Sweet Inspirations, and had some chart success, but were much sought after as studio background singers. The Gospelaires, and later the Sweet Inspirations, performed on many records cut in New York City for artists such as Garnet Mimms, the Drifters, Jerry Butler, Solomon Burke and, later, Warwick's solo recordings, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley. Warwick recalled, in 2002's Biography, that "a man came running frantically backstage at the Apollo and said he needed background singers for a session for Sam "the Man" Taylor and old big-mouth here spoke up and said 'We'll do it!' and we left and did the session. I wish I remembered the gentleman's name because he was responsible for the beginning of my professional career."
The chance encounter led to the group being asked to provide background vocals at recording sessions around New York. Soon, the group was in-demand for their harmonies among New York musicians and producers, after hearing their work with the Drifters, Ben E. King, Chuck Jackson, Dinah Washington, Ronnie Hawkins, and Solomon Burke, among many others. In the same aforementioned Biography interview, Warwick recalled that, on weekdays after school, the girls would catch a bus from East Orange to the Port Authority Terminal, then take the subway to the recording studios in Manhattan, perform their background vocal work, and still be back at home in East Orange with time to do their school homework. Warwick's music work would continue while she pursued her studies at Hartt.
Discovery
While she was performing background on the Drifters' recording of their 1962 release "Mexican Divorce", Warwick's voice and star presence were noticed by the song's composer, Burt Bacharach, a Brill Building songwriter who was writing songs with many other songwriters, including lyricist Hal David. According to a July 14, 1967, article on Warwick in Time, Bacharach stated, "She has a tremendous strong side and a delicacy when singing softly – like miniature ships in bottles." Musically, she was no "play-safe girl. What emotion I could get away with!" During the session, Bacharach asked Warwick if she would be interested in recording demonstration recordings of his compositions to pitch the tunes to record labels, paying her $12.50 per demo recording session (equivalent to $130 in 2024). One such demo, "It's Love That Really Counts" – destined to be recorded by Scepter-signed act the Shirelles – caught the attention of the President of Scepter Records, Florence Greenberg, who, according to Current Biography (1969 Yearbook), told Bacharach, "Forget the song, get the girl!"
Warwick was signed to Bacharach's and David's production company, according to Warwick, which in turn was signed to Scepter Records in 1962 by Greenberg. The partnership would provide Bacharach with the freedom to produce Warwick without the control of recording company executives and company A&R men. Warwick's musical ability and education would also allow Bacharach to compose more challenging tunes. The demo version of "It's Love That Really Counts", along with her original demo of "Make It Easy on Yourself", would surface on Warwick's debut Scepter album, Presenting Dionne Warwick, which was released in early 1963.
Early stardom (1962–1965)
In November 1962, Scepter Records released her first solo single, "Don't Make Me Over", the title of which Warwick supplied herself when she snapped the phrase at producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David in anger. Warwick had found out that "Make It Easy on Yourself" – a song on which she had recorded the original demo and had wanted to be her first single release – had been given to another artist, Jerry Butler. From the phrase "don't make me over", Bacharach and David created their first top-40 pop hit (No. 21) and a top-5 U.S. R&B hit. Warrick's name was misspelled on the single's label, and she began using the new spelling, "Warwick", both professionally and personally.
After "Don't Make Me Over" hit in 1962, she answered the call of her manager, left school and went on a tour of France, where critics crowned her "Paris' Black Pearl", having been introduced on stage at Paris Olympia that year by Marlene Dietrich.
The two immediate follow-ups to "Don't Make Me Over" – "This Empty Place" (with "B" side "Wishin' and Hopin'" later recorded by Dusty Springfield) and "Make The Music Play" – charted briefly in the top 100. Her fourth single, "Anyone Who Had a Heart", released in November 1963, was Warwick's first top 10 pop hit (No. 8) in the U.S. and an international million seller. This was followed by "Walk On By" in April 1964, another major international hit and million seller that solidified her career. For the rest of the 1960s, Warwick was a fixture on the U.S. and Canadian charts, and much of her output from 1962 to 1971 was written and produced by the Bacharach/David team.
Warwick weathered the British Invasion better than most American artists. Her biggest UK hits were "Walk On By" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" In the UK, a number of Bacharach-David-Warwick songs were recorded by British singers Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and Dusty Springfield, most notably Black's "Anyone Who Had a Heart", which went to No. 1 in the UK. This upset Warwick, who described feeling insulted when told that in the UK, record company executives wanted her songs recorded by someone else. Warwick met Cilla Black while on tour in Britain. She recalled what she said to Black: "I told her that 'You're My World' would be my next single in the States. I honestly believe that if I'd sneezed on my next record, then Cilla would have sneezed on hers too. There was no imagination in her recording." Warwick later covered two of Cilla's songs – "You're My World" appeared on Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls, released in 1968 and on the soundtrack to Alfie.
Warwick was named the Bestselling Female Vocalist in the Cash Box Magazine poll in 1964, with six chart hits in that year. Cash Box named her the Top Female Vocalist in 1969, 1970 and 1971. In the 1967 Cash Box poll, she was second to Petula Clark, and in 1968's poll second to Aretha Franklin. Playboy's influential Music Poll of 1970 named her the Top Female Vocalist. In 1969, Harvard's Hasty Pudding Society named her Woman of the Year.
In Time's cover article of May 21, 1965, entitled "Rock 'n' Roll: The Sound of the Sixties", Warwick's sound was described as:
Swinging World. Scholarly articles probe the relationship between the Beatles and the nouvelle vague films of Jean-Luc Godard, discuss "the brio and elegance" of Dionne Warwick's singing style as a 'pleasurable but complex' event to be 'experienced without condescension.' In chic circles, anyone damning rock 'n' roll is labeled not only square but uncultured. For inspirational purposes, such hip artists as Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers and Andy Warhol occasionally paint while listening to rock 'n' roll music. Explains Warhol: "It makes me mindless, and I paint better." After gallery openings in Manhattan, the black-tie gatherings often adjourn to a discothèque.
In 1965, Eon Productions intended to use Warwick's song titled "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" as the theme song of the James Bond film Thunderball, until Albert R. Broccoli insisted that the theme song include the film's title. A new song titled "Thunderball" was composed and recorded at the eleventh hour, performed by Tom Jones. The melody of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" remains a major component of the film score. The Ultimate Edition DVD of Thunderball has the Warwick song playing over the titles on one of the commentary track extras, and the song was released on the 30th-anniversary CD of Bond songs.
Chart success (1966–1971)
The mid-1960s to early 1970s were a more successful time period for Warwick, who saw a string of gold-selling albums and Top 20 and Top 10 hit singles. "Message to Michael", a Bacharach-David composition that the duo was certain was a "man's song", became a top 10 hit for Warwick in May 1966. The January 1967 LP Here Where There Is Love was her first RIAA certified Gold album, and featured "Alfie" and two 1966 hits: "Trains and Boats and Planes" and "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself". "Alfie" had become a radio hit when disc jockeys across the nation began to play the album cut early in 1967. "Alfie" was released as the "B" side of a Bacharach/David ballad, "The Beginning of Loneliness", which charted in the Hot 100. Disc jockeys flipped the single and made it a double-sided hit. Bacharach had been contracted to produce "Alfie" for the Michael Caine film of the same name and wanted Warwick to sing the tune, but the British producers wanted a British subject to cut the tune. Cilla Black was selected to record the song, and her version peaked at No. 95 upon its release in the US. A cover version by Cher used in the American prints of the film peaked at No. 33. In the UK and Australia, Black's version was a Top-10 hit.
Later that same year, Warwick earned her first RIAA certified Gold single for U.S. sales of over one million units for the single "I Say a Little Prayer". When disc jockeys across the nation began to play the track from the album in late 1967 and demanded its release as a single, Scepter Records complied and "I Say a Little Prayer" became Warwick's biggest U.S. hit to that point, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Canadian Chart. The tune was also the first RIAA certified USA million seller for Bacharach-David.
Her follow-up to "I Say a Little Prayer", "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls", was unusual in several respects. It was not written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; it was the "B" side of her "I Say a Little Prayer" single, and it was a song that she almost did not record. While the film version of Valley of the Dolls was being made, actress Barbara Parkins suggested that Warwick be considered to sing the film's theme song, written by songwriting team André and Dory Previn. The song was to be recorded by Judy Garland, who was subsequently fired from the film. Warwick performed the song, and when the film became a success in the early weeks of 1968, disc jockeys flipped the single and made the single one of the biggest double-sided hits of the rock era and another million seller. At the time, RIAA rules allowed only one side of a double-sided hit single to be certified as gold, but Scepter awarded Warwick an "in-house award" to recognize "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls" as a million selling tune.
Warwick had re-recorded a Pat Williams-arranged version of the theme at A&R Studios in New York because contractual restrictions with her label would not allow the Warwick version from the film to be included on the 20th Century Fox soundtrack LP, and reverse legal restrictions would not allow the film version to be used anyplace else in a commercial LP. The LP Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls, released in early 1968 and containing the re-recorded version of the movie theme (No. 2 for three weeks), "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" and several new Bacharach-David compositions, hit the No. 6 position on the Billboard album chart and would remain on the chart for over a year. The film soundtrack LP, without Warwick vocals, failed to impress the public, while Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls earned an RIAA Gold certification.
The single "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" (an international million seller and a Top-10 hit in several countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Japan and Mexico) was also a double-sided hit, with the "B" side "Let Me Be Lonely" charting at No. 79. More hits followed into 1971, including "Who Is Gonna Love Me" (No. 32, 1968) with "B" side, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" becoming another double-sided hit; "Promises, Promises" (No. 19, 1968); "This Girl's in Love with You" (No. 7, 1969); "The April Fools" (No. 37, 1969); "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (No. 15, 1969); "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (No. 6 Pop, No. 1 AC, 1969); "Make It Easy on Yourself" (No. 37 Pop, No. 10 AC, 1970); "Let Me Go to Him" (No. 32 Pop, No. 4 AC, 1970); and "Paper Mache" (No. 43 Pop, No. 3 AC), 1970). Warwick's final Bacharach/David penned single on the Scepter label was March 1971's "Who Gets the Guy" (No. 52 Pop, No. 6 AC), 1971), and her final "official" Scepter single release was "He's Moving On" b/w "Amanda", (No. 83 Pop, No. 12 AC) both from the soundtrack of the motion picture adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's The Love Machine.
Warwick had become the priority act of Scepter Records with the release of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" in 1963. Other Scepter LPs certified RIAA Gold include Dionne Warwick's Golden Hits Part 1 released in 1967 and The Dionne Warwicke Story: A Decade of Gold released in 1971. By the end of 1971, Warwick had sold an estimated 35 million singles and albums internationally in less than nine years and more than 16 million singles in the U.S. alone. Exact figures of her sales are unknown and probably underestimated, due to Scepter Records' apparently lax accounting policies and the company policy of not submitting recordings for RIAA audit. Warwick became the first Scepter artist to request RIAA audits of her recordings in 1967 with the release of "I Say a Little Prayer".
On September 17, 1969, CBS Television aired Warwick's first television special, entitled The Dionne Warwick Chevy Special. Warwick's guests were Burt Bacharach, George Kirby, Glen Campbell, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. In 1970, Warwick formed her own label, Sonday Records, of which she was president. Sonday was distributed by Scepter.
In 1970, she was a performer on the prestigious Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium, singing The Look of Love, What the World Needs Now and Come Together.
In 1971, Warwick left the family atmosphere of Scepter Records for Warner Bros. Records, for a $5 million contract, the most lucrative recording contract given to a female vocalist up to that time, according to Variety. Warwick's last LP for Scepter was the soundtrack for the motion picture The Love Machine, in which she appeared in an uncredited cameo, released in July 1971. In 1975, Bacharach and David sued Scepter Records for an accurate accounting of royalties due the team from their recordings with Warwick and labelmate B.J. Thomas. They were awarded almost $600,000 and the rights to all Bacharach/David recordings on the Scepter label. The label, with the defection of Warwick to Warner Bros. Records, filed for bankruptcy in 1975 and was sold to Springboard International Records in 1976.
Following her signing with Warners, with Bacharach and David as writers and producers, Warwick returned to New York City's A&R Studios in late 1971 to begin recording her first album for the new label, the self-titled Dionne (not to be confused with her later Arista debut album) in January 1972. The album peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 Album Chart. In 1972, Burt Bacharach and Hal David scored and wrote the tunes for the motion picture Lost Horizon. However, the film was panned by the critics, and in the fallout, the songwriting duo decided to terminate their working relationship. The break-up left Warwick devoid of their services as her producers and songwriters. She was contractually obligated to fulfill her contract with Warners without Bacharach and David, and she would team with a variety of producers during her tenure with the label.
Faced with the prospect of being sued by Warner Bros. Records due to the breakup of Bacharach/David and their failure to honor their contract with Warwick, she filed a $5.5 million lawsuit against her former partners for breach of contract. The suit was settled out of court in 1979 for $5 million, including the rights to all Warwick recordings produced by Bacharach and David.
Also in 1971, Warwick had her name changed to "Warwicke" per the advice of Linda Goodman, an astrologer friend, who believed it would bring greater success. A few years later, she reverted to the old spelling after a string of disappointments and an absence from the Billboard top 40.
Warner era (1972–1978)
Without the guidance and songwriting that Bacharach/David had provided, Warwick's career stalled in the early 1970s although she remained a top concert draw throughout the world. There were no big hits during the early and mid part of the decade, aside from 1974's "Then Came You", recorded as a duet with the Spinners and produced by Thom Bell. Bell later noted, "Dionne made a (strange) face when we finished [the song]. She didn't like it much, but I knew we had something. So we ripped a dollar in two, signed each half and exchanged them. I told her, 'If it doesn't go number one, I'll send you my half.' When it took off, Dionne sent hers back. There was an apology on it." It was her first U.S. No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Other than this success, Warwick's five years on Warner Bros. Records produced no other major hits, but "Then Came You" was issued by co-owned Atlantic Records, the Spinners' label. Two notable songs recorded during this period were "His House and Me" and "Once You Hit The Road" (No. 79 pop, No. 5 R&B, No. 22 Adult Contemporary), both of which were produced in 1975 by Thom Bell.
Warwick recorded five albums with Warners: Dionne (1972), produced by Bacharach and David and a modest chart success; Just Being Myself (1973), produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland;
Then Came You (1975), produced by Jerry Ragovoy; Track of the Cat (1975), produced by Thom Bell; and Love at First Sight (1977), produced by Steve Barri and Michael Omartian. Her five-year contract with Warners expired in 1977, and with that, she ended her stay at the label.A Man and a Woman is a duet live album by American singers Isaac Hayes and Dionne Warwick, released in 1977 by ABC Records. The album was recorded during one of the concerts of the artists' 1976 joint tour. Warwick's dry spell on the American charts ended with her signing to Arista Records in 1979, where she began a second highly successful run of hit records and albums well into the late 1980s.
Heartbreaker and move to Arista (1979–1989)
With the move to Arista Records and the release of her RIAA-certified million seller "I'll Never Love This Way Again" in 1979, Warwick was again enjoying top success on the charts. The song was produced by Barry Manilow. The accompanying album, Dionne, was certified platinum in the United States for sales exceeding one million units. The album peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard albums chart and made the top 10 of the Billboard R&B albums chart. Warwick had been personally signed and guided by the label's founder Clive Davis, who told her, "You may be ready to give the business up, but the business is not ready to give you up." Warwick's next single release was another major hit. "Deja Vu" was co-written by Isaac Hayes and hit No. 1 Adult Contemporary as well as No. 15 on Billboard's Hot 100. In 1980, Warwick won two Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female for "Déjà Vu". She became the first female artist in the history of the awards to win in both categories the same year. Her second Arista album, 1980's No Night So Long sold 500,000 U.S. copies and featured the title track which became a major success – hitting No. 1 Adult Contemporary and No. 23 on Billboard's Hot 100 – and the album peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard albums chart.
In January 1980, while under contract to Arista Records, Warwick hosted a two-hour TV special called Solid Gold '79. This was adapted into the weekly one-hour show Solid Gold, which she hosted throughout 1980 and 1981 and again in 1985–86. Major highlights of each show were the duets she performed with her co-hosts, which often included some of Warwick's hits and her co-hosts' hits, intermingled and arranged by Solid Gold musical director Michael Miller. Another highlight in each show was Warwick's vocal rendition of the Solid Gold theme, composed by Miller (with lyrics by Dean Pitchford).
After a brief appearance in the top forty in early 1982 with Johnny Mathis on "Friends in Love" – from the album of the same name – Warwick's next hit later that same year was her full-length collaboration with Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees for the album Heartbreaker. The project came about when Clive Davis was attending his aunt's wedding in Orlando, Florida in early 1982 and spoke with Barry Gibb. Gibb mentioned that he had always been a fan of Warwick's, and Davis arranged for Warwick and the Bee Gees to discuss a project. The Gibb brothers had just had tremendous success writing and co-producing a smash hit album for Barbra Streisand (1980's Guilty), which prompted Davis to suggest they do something similar for Warwick. Both the album and the title single were released in October 1982 to massive success. Warwick later stated to Wesley Hyatt in his Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits that she was not initially fond of "Heartbreaker" but recorded the song because she trusted the Bee Gees' judgment that it would be a hit. The song did indeed become one of Warwick's biggest international hits, returning her to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 as well as No. 1 Adult Contemporary and No. 2 in both the UK and Australia. The song was also a top-10 hit throughout continental Europe, Japan, South Africa, Canada and Asia. The album ended up selling 3 million copies internationally and earned Warwick an RIAA gold record award in the US. In the UK, Heartbreaker became Warwick's most successful album, peaking at No. 3 and was certified platinum, while both the hit title track and follow-up single "All the Love in the World" (another UK top ten hit) would both be certified silver, becoming her biggest selling singles there.
In 1983, Warwick released How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye, produced by Luther Vandross. The album's most successful single was the title track, "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye", a Warwick/Vandross duet, which peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also became a top-10 hit on the Adult Contemporary and R&B charts. The album peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard albums chart. Of note was a reunion with the original Shirelles on Warwick's cover of "Will You (Still) Love Me Tomorrow?". The album Finder of Lost Loves followed in 1984 and reunited her with both Barry Manilow and Burt Bacharach, who was writing with his then current lyricist partner and wife, Carole Bayer Sager. In 1985, Warwick contributed her voice to the multi-Grammy Award winning charity song "We Are the World", along with vocalists like Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and Ray Charles. The song spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was the year's biggest hit – certified four times platinum in the United States alone.
In 1985, Warwick and Bacharach once again collaborated on the song "That's What Friends Are For". This period was the first time they had worked together since the 1970s, when Warwick felt abandoned by Bacharach and Hal David dissolving their partnership. Warwick said of their reconciliation:
We realized we were more than just friends. We were family. Time has a way of giving people the opportunity to grow and understand ... Working with Burt is not a bit different from how it used to be. He expects me to deliver and I can. He knows what I'm going to do before I do it, and the same with me. That's how intertwined we've been.
Warwick recorded "That's What Friends Are For" as a benefit single for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) alongside Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder in 1985. The single, credited to "Dionne and Friends", was released in October and eventually raised more than three million dollars for that cause. The tune was a triple No. 1 – R&B, Adult Contemporary, and four weeks at the summit on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1986 – selling close to two million 45s in the United States alone. "Working against AIDS, especially after years of raising money for work on many blood-related diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, seemed the right thing to do. You have to be granite not to want to help people with AIDS, because the devastation that it causes is so painful to see. I was so hurt to see my friend die with such agony", Warwick told The Washington Post in 1988. "I am tired of hurting and it does hurt." The single won the performers the NARAS Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Bacharach and Bayer Sager. It also was ranked by Billboard magazine as the most popular song of 1986. With this single, Warwick also released her most successful album of the 1980s, titled Friends, which reached No. 12 on the Billboard albums chart.
In 1987, Dionne Warwick won the Special Recognition Award at the American Music Awards for "That's What Friends Are For".
In 1987, Warwick scored another hit with "Love Power". Her eighth career No. 1 Adult Contemporary hit, it also reached No. 5 on the R&B chart and No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. A duet with Jeffrey Osborne, it was also written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, and it was featured on Warwick's album Reservations for Two. The album's title song, a duet with Kashif, was also a chart hit. Other artists featured on the album included Smokey Robinson and June Pointer.
Friends Can Be Lovers (1990–2000)
During the 1990s, Warwick hosted infomercials for the Psychic Friends Network, which featured self-described psychic Linda Georgian. The 900 number psychic service was active from 1991 to 1998. According to press statements throughout the 1990s, the program was the most successful infomercial for several years and Warwick earned in excess of three million dollars per year as spokesperson for the network. In 1998, Inphomation, the corporation owning the network, filed for bankruptcy and Warwick ended her association with the organization. Warwick's longtime friend and tour manager Henry Carr acknowledged that "when Dionne was going through an airport and a child recognized her as 'that psychic lady on TV', Dionne was crushed and said she had worked too hard as an entertainer to become known as 'the psychic lady.'"
Warwick's most publicized album during this period was 1993's Friends Can Be Lovers, which was produced in part by Ian Devaney and Lisa Stansfield. Featured on the album was "Sunny Weather Lover", which was the first song that Burt Bacharach and Hal David had written together for Warwick since 1972. It was Warwick's lead single in the United States, and was heavily promoted by Arista, but failed to chart. A follow-up "Where My Lips Have Been" peaked at No. 95 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. The 1994 Aquarela Do Brasil album marked the end of Warwick's contract with Arista Records. In 1990, Warwick recorded the song "It's All Over" with former member of Modern Talking Dieter Bohlen (Blue System). The single peaked at No. 60 (No. 33 airplay) on the German pop charts and it was covered on Blue System's album Déjà Vu.
In 1993, Forrest Sawyer, host of the ABC news/entertainment program Day One, alleged financial improprieties by the Warwick Foundation, founded in 1989 to benefit AIDS patients, and particularly Warwick's charity concert performances organized to benefit the organization as "America's Ambassador of Health". The network news magazine story, "That's What Friends Are For", reported that the Warwick Foundation was operating at more than 90% administrative cost, donating only about 3% of the money it raised to AIDS groups. Several AIDS groups and nonprofit experts criticized her foundation, including an AIDS group in the Virgin Islands that claimed she nearly bankrupted them after extravagant expenses left nothing for local charities. ABC reported that Warwick flew first class and was accommodated at first-class hotels for charity concerts and events in which she participated for the Warwick Foundation, managed by her close confidante, Guy Draper, a former chief of protocol for former Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry, and who had a history of bankruptcies. Warwick alleged that the ABC report was racially motivated and threatened to sue ABC News for defamation, although a suit was never filed. The Internal Revenue Service began an investigation of the Warwick Foundation after other complaints were filed, and the Warwick Foundation was later dissolved. ABC's story was nominated for a national Emmy award in 1994 and won a prestigious Investigative Reporters and Editors national television award in 1993.
My Favorite Time of the Year and move to Concord Records (2000–2010)
On October 16, 2002, Warwick was nominated to be Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
In 2004, Warwick's first Christmas album was released. Entitled My Favorite Time of the Year, the CD featured jazzy interpretations of many holiday classics. In 2007, Rhino Records re-released the CD with new cover art.
In 2005, Warwick was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball. She appeared on the May 24, 2006, fifth-season finale of American Idol. Warwick sang a medley of "Walk On By" and "That's What Friends Are For", with longtime collaborator Burt Bacharach accompanying her on the piano.
In 2006, Warwick signed with Concord Records after a 15-year tenure at Arista, which had ended in 1994. Her first and only release for the label was My Friends and Me, a duets album containing reworkings of her old hits, very similar to her 1998 CD Dionne Sings Dionne. Among her singing partners were Gloria Estefan, Olivia Newton-John, Wynonna Judd and Reba McEntire. The album peaked at No. 66 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album was produced by her son, Damon Elliott. A follow-up album featuring Warwick's old hits as duets with male vocalists was planned, but the project was cancelled. The relationship with Concord concluded with the release of My Friends and Me. A compilation CD of her greatest hits and love songs, The Love Collection, entered the UK album chart at number 27 on February 16, 2008.
Warwick's second gospel album, Why We Sing, was released on February 26, 2008, in the United Kingdom and on April 1, 2008, in the United States. The album features guest spots by her sister Dee Dee Warwick and BeBe Winans.
On October 18, 2008, Warwick's sister Dee Dee died in a nursing home in Essex County, New Jersey. She had been in failing health for several months.
On November 24, 2008, Warwick was the star performer on Divas II, a UK ITV1 special show that also featured Rihanna, Leona Lewis, the Sugababes, Pink, Gabriella Climi and Anastacia.
In 2008, Warwick began recording an album of songs from the Sammy Cahn and Jack Wolf songbooks. The finished recording, entitled Only Trust Your Heart, was released in 2011.
On October 20, 2009, Starlight Children's Foundation and New Gold Music Ltd. released a song that Warwick had recorded about ten years prior called "Starlight". The lyrics were written by Dean Pitchford, prolific writer of Fame, screenwriter of – and sole or joint lyricist of every song in the soundtrack of – the original 1984 film Footloose, and lyricist of the Solid Gold theme. The music had been composed by Bill Goldstein, whose versatile career included the original music for NBC's Fame TV series. Warwick, Pitchford and Goldstein announced that they would be donating 100% of their royalties to Starlight Children's Foundation, to support Starlight's mission to help seriously ill children and their families cope with pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities.
When Bill and Dean brought this song to me, I instantly felt connected to its message of shining a little light into the lives of people who need it most", said Warwick. "I admire the work of Starlight Children's Foundation and know that if the song brings hope to even just one sick child, we have succeeded.
Only Trust Your Heart and Grammy Award (2010–2019)
In 2011, the New Jazz style CD Only Trust Your Heart was released, featuring many Sammy Cahn songs. In March 2011, Warwick appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice 4. Her charity was the Hunger Project. She was dismissed from her "apprenticeship" to Donald Trump during the fourth task of the season. In February 2012, Warwick performed "Walk On By" on The Jonathan Ross Show. She also received the Goldene Kamera Musical Lifetime Achievement Award in Germany, and performed "That's What Friends Are For" at the ceremony.
On May 28, 2012, Warwick headlined the World Hunger Day concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. She sang "One World One Song", specially written for the Hunger Project by Tony Hatch and Tim Holder and was joined by Joe McElderry, the London Community Gospel Choir and a choir from Woodbridge School, Woodbridge, Suffolk.
In 2012, the 50th anniversary CD entitled NOW was released; Warwick recorded 12 Bacharach/David tracks produced by Phil Ramone.
On September 19, 2013, she collaborated with country singer Billy Ray Cyrus for his song "Hope Is Just Ahead".
In 2014, the duets album Feels So Good was released. Funkytowngrooves re-issued the remastered Arista albums No Night So Long, How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye ("So Amazing"), and Finder of Lost Loves ("Without Your Love"), all expanded with bonus material.
In December 2015, Warwick's website released the Tropical Love EP with five tracks previously unreleased from the Aquarel Do Brasil Sessions in 1994 – To Say Goodbye (Pra Dizer Adeus) with Edu Lobo – Love Me – Lullaby – Bridges (Travessia) – Rainy Day Girl with Ivan Lins.
A Heartbreaker two-disc expanded edition was planned for a 2016 release by Funkytowngrooves, which would include the original Heartbreaker album and up to 15 bonus tracks consisting of a mixture of unreleased songs, alternate takes, and instrumentals, with more remastered and expanded Arista albums to follow. In 2016, she was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
In 2017, she performed a benefit in Chicago for the Center on Halsted, an organization that contributes to the LGBTQ community. This event was co-chaired by Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama. Also that year, she made a cameo appearance in the Christian drama Let There Be Light directed by Kevin Sorbo.
In 2019 she was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Documentary and The Masked Singer (2020–present)
In 2020, she appeared as "Mouse" on the third season of The Masked Singer. She was eliminated in the fifth round, but came back during the first part of the season three finale to sing "What the World Needs Now Is Love" with the finalists Night Angel, Frog and Turtle as a tribute to the healthcare workers working on the front lines during the coronavirus pandemic. This performance was created after the season wrapped production in March. Warwick made a guest appearance during Gladys Knight's and Patti Labelle's Verzuz battle. Together they performed Warwick's song, "That's What Friends Are For". They closed with their collaborative song "Superwoman".
In My Life, as I See It: An Autobiography, Warwick lists her honorary doctorate from Hartt among those awarded by six other institutions: Hartt College, Bethune-Cookman University, Shaw University, Columbia College of Chicago, Lincoln College, Illinois [May 2010, Doctor of Arts (hon.)], and University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
On February 10, 2021, Dionne was nominated for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the first time.
On December 3, 2021, Dionne was honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.
Warwick appears in a documentary revolving around her life and career, Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2021. Organizers of the Toronto Film Festival announced that she would be honored in the upcoming event as a music icon. On November 26, 2021, Warwick released the single "Nothing's Impossible" a duet featuring Chance the Rapper. Two charities are being supported by the duet: SocialWorks, a Chicago-based nonprofit that Chance founded to empower the youth through the arts, education and civic engagement, and Hunger: Not Impossible, a text-based service connecting kids and their families in need with prepaid, nutritious, to-go meals from local restaurants. On January 1, 2023, the documentary premiered on national television on CNN.
In December 2023, Warwick participated in the fifth series of The Masked Singer UK as "Weather". She was eliminated and unmasked on the first episode.
On April 26, 2024, Warwick along with the vocal group the Chi-Lites, were inducted into The Atlantic City Walk of Fame. Producer, writer and director Dave Wooley was the presenter for Warwick. The induction ceremony was held at Brighton Park in Atlantic City, NJ.
In 2024, Warwick was selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical excellence category. She also competed on episode of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.
Voice and artistry
Warwick is a contralto, particularly known for her signature musicality and "husky" singing voice. The New Yorker theatre critic Hilton Als reported that, early in her singing career, Warwick's wide vocal range "allowed her both to sing contralto low notes and to soar as a soprano". According to Mike Joyce of The Washington Post, some performances on Warwick's album Dionne Warwick Sings Cole Porter (1990) capture her warmth "and emphasize her subtle phrasing". In a separate review published in 1982, Joyce noted that Warwick's "magical" voice still manages to be "opaque, elusive, elegant" simultaneously, even when performing what he described as some of her most banal material in her discography. Reviewing a concert in 1983, The New York Times music critic Stephen Holden observed that Warwick's voice had deepened "into a near-baritone at its bottom end", resulting in "an ever-more fascinating vocal personality". Similarly, in 2006, Sarah Dempster of The Guardian observed that Warwick's voice "has deepened with age, lending a splendidly full-bodied finish to everything".
Music critics have described Warwick as the muse of songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David's, a term Bacharach himself has used to refer to the singer. Bacharach confirmed that they considered Warwick their "main artist", to whom they allowed first priority on new songs. MTV contributor Carol Cooper said Warwick's interpretation of their songs "established Warwick as the eloquent voice of wounded feminine pride", crediting her with making their material "even more unique and compelling". According to Michael Musto of The Village Voice, the singer's voice proved to be "the perfect venue for Bacharach-David hits", writing, "Dionne could do sultry, pained, wispy, and regretful, all with sophisticated phrasings that made her a vocal emblem for the '60s heartbeat". The singer claims she did not find their material difficult to sing because they had been written specifically for her voice. Cooper identified their partnership as a precedent to the collaborations between R&B singer Toni Braxton, and songwriters Babyface and Diane Warren.
Musically, The New York Times music critic Stephen Holden and The Guardian's Ian Gittins described Warwick as a pop soul singer. However, AllMusic biographer William Ruhlmann found the singer particularly difficult to categorize as a vocalist, writing, "Although Warwick grew up singing in church, she is not a gospel singer. Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan are clear influences, but she is not a jazz singer. R&B is also part of her background, yet she is not really a soul singer, either, at least not in the sense that Aretha Franklin is". Similarly, another AllMusic reviewer, Steve Leggett, believes Warwick combines elements of jazz, soul, R&B and gospel, which ultimately results in her being a "pure pop singer". The Washington Informer senior editor D. Kevin McNeir reported that Warwick's delivery and stage presence are often described as "scintillating, soothing, sensual and soulful". A writer for the South Bend Tribune observed that Warwick is usually described as a "sophisticated" singer, while noting that this term "doesn't place her in a specific musical category". A writer for The Guardian described Warwick as "one of the greatest pop singers of all time", while Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times named her "that one-of-a-kind instrument that defined pop sophistication in the mid-1960s".
In recent years, Warwick has become known for sharing candid, straightforward opinions about various topics on the social media platform Twitter, being nicknamed the "Queen of Twitter" by several media publications.
Personal life
In 1966, Warwick married actor and drummer William Elliott; they divorced in May 1967. They reconciled and were remarried in Milan, Italy, in August 1967. On January 18, 1969, while living in East Orange, New Jersey, she gave birth to her first son, David Elliott. In 1973, her second son Damon Elliott was born. On May 30, 1975, the couple separated and Warwick was granted a divorce in December 1975 in Los Angeles. The court denied Elliott's request for $2,000 a month (equivalent to $11,700 in 2024) in support pending a community property trial, and for $5,000, when he insisted he was making $500 a month in comparison to Warwick making $100,000 a month (equivalent to $584,000 in 2024). Warwick stated "I was the breadwinner. The male ego is a fragile thing. It's hard when the woman is the breadwinner. All my life, the only man who ever took care of me financially was my father. I have always taken care of myself."
In 2002, Warwick was arrested at Miami International Airport for possession of marijuana. It was discovered that she had 11 suspected marijuana cigarettes inside her carry-on luggage, hidden in a lipstick container. She was charged with possessing marijuana totaling less than five grams.
In 2009 Warwick had a $2.2 million federal tax lien filed against her. The IRS eventually discovered that a large portion of the lien was due to an accounting error and revoked $1.2mil in 2012.
In 1993, her older son David, a former Los Angeles police officer, co-wrote with Terry Steele the Warwick-Whitney Houston duet "Love Will Find a Way", featured on her album Friends Can Be Lovers. Since 2002, he has periodically toured with and performed duets with his mother (along with being the drummer of her touring band), and had his acting debut in the film Ali as the singer Sam Cooke. David became a singer-songwriter, with Luther Vandross's "Here and Now" among others to his credit.
Her second son, Damon, is a music producer, who has worked with Mýa, Pink, Christina Aguilera and Keyshia Cole. He arranged and produced his mother's 2006 Concord release My Friends and Me. She received a 2014 Grammy Award nomination in the Traditional Pop Category for her 2013 album release, Now.
On January 24, 2015, Warwick was hospitalized after a fall in the shower at her home. After ankle surgery, she was discharged from the hospital.
Bankruptcy
Warwick declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy in New Jersey on March 21, 2013. Due to the reported mismanagement of her business affairs, she listed liabilities that included nearly $7 million owed to the Internal Revenue Service for the years 1991 to 1999 and more than $3 million in business taxes owed to the state of California. Unable to work out an agreement with tax officials, she and her attorney decided that declaring bankruptcy would be the best course of action.
Relations
Warwick's sister Dee Dee Warwick also had a successful singing career, scoring several notable R&B hits in the US, including the original version of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me". Dee Dee recorded the original version of the song "You're No Good", which later became a 1963 No. 5 R&B hit for Betty Everett, a 1964 No. 3 UK hit for the Swinging Blue Jeans and a 1975 No. 1 pop hit for Linda Ronstadt. In 1966, the Swinging Blue Jeans had a No. 31 UK hit with a cover of Dionne's "Don't Make Me Over", thus appearing in the UK Singles Chart with covers of songs from both Warwick sisters.
Warwick's maternal aunt is gospel-trained vocalist Cissy Houston, mother of Warwick's cousin, the late singer Whitney Houston.
In her 2011 autobiography, My Life, as I See It, Warwick notes that opera diva Leontyne Price is a maternal cousin.
Discography
Studio albums
Tours
Dionne Warwick Tour (1966)
Dionne: 40 Anniversary Tour (2002)
Soul Divas Tour (2004)
An Evening with Dionne (2007)
She's Back: One Last Time (2022)
Awards and honors
In addition to numerous awards and honors, the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce has declared May 25 to be Dionne Warwick Day and Lincoln Elementary School in East Orange, New Jersey, honored her by renaming it to the Dionne Warwick Institute of Economics and Entrepreneurship.
On Friday, October 11, 2024, Warwick was honored by the City of East Orange, NJ with a street renaming ceremony. North Arlington Avenue at City Hall Plaza was given the name "Dionne Warwick Way". The ceremony included a tribute concert by hundreds of children. The ceremony was also attended by her two sons and Clive Davis, the notable music producer. Reported by CBS News.
Awards
Honors
Filmography
Film
Television
Bibliography
Warwick, Dionne (2010). My Life, As I See It. With David Freeman Wooley. Atria Books. ISBN 978-1-4391-7134-9.
Live performances
Notes
References
External links
Dionne Warwick at AllMusic
VH1 Site (Archived February 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine)
Rolling Stone site
Billboard chart history (since 1983)
The Scepter Records Story
Dionne Warwick at IMDb
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Michelle Pfeiffer
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Michelle Marie Pfeiffer ( FY-fər; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress and producer. One of the most bankable stars in Hollywood during the 1980s and 1990s, her performances have earned her various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a British Academy Film Award, along with nominations for three Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Pfeiffer began her acting career with minor roles in television and film, before securing her first leading role in Grease 2 (1982). She achieved wider recognition for her breakthrough performance as Elvira Hancock in Scarface (1983), which brought her mainstream success. This was followed by leading roles in The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and Tequila Sunrise (1988). Pfeiffer received the first of six consecutive Golden Globe Award nominations for Married to the Mob (1988). She earned consecutive Academy Award nominations for Dangerous Liaisons (1988), for Best Supporting Actress, and The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), for Best Actress, winning a Golden Globe Award for the latter.
Established as one of the highest-paid actresses of the 1990s, Pfeiffer starred in The Russia House (1990) and Frankie and Johnny (1991). In 1992, she portrayed Catwoman in Batman Returns, and received her third Academy Award nomination for Love Field. She went on to appear in The Age of Innocence (1993) and Wolf (1994). Through her production company, Via Rosa Productions, she produced and starred in several films, including Dangerous Minds (1995). Pfeiffer reduced her workload in the 2000s to focus on her family, appearing in select projects such as What Lies Beneath (2000), White Oleander (2002), Hairspray, and Stardust (both 2007).
Following a hiatus, Pfeiffer returned to prominence in 2017 with roles in Where Is Kyra?, Mother!, and Murder on the Orient Express. That same year, she received her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for portraying Ruth Madoff in the television film The Wizard of Lies. In 2020, she earned her eighth Golden Globe Award nomination for French Exit. Since 2018, Pfeiffer has portrayed Janet van Dyne in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Early life
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer was born on April 29, 1958, in Santa Ana, California, to Richard Pfeiffer, an air-conditioning contractor, and Donna Jean (née Taverna), a housewife. She has an older brother, Rick, and two younger sisters, Dedee and Lori. Her parents were both originally from North Dakota. Her paternal grandfather was of German ancestry and her paternal grandmother was of English, Welsh, French, Irish, and Dutch descent, while her maternal grandfather was of Swiss-German-Italian descent and her maternal grandmother of Swedish ancestry. The family moved to Midway City, another Orange County community around seven miles (11 km) away, where Pfeiffer spent her early years.
Pfeiffer attended Fountain Valley High School, graduating in 1976. She worked as a check-out girl at Vons supermarket, and attended Golden West College where she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority. After a short stint training to be a court stenographer, she pursued an acting career. Pfeiffer won the Miss Orange County beauty pageant in 1978 and finished sixth in the Miss California contest the same year. After her appearances in these pageants, Pfeiffer acquired an agent and began to audition for television and film roles.
Career
Late 1970s and 1980s
Pfeiffer made her acting debut in 1978, in a one-episode appearance of Fantasy Island. Other roles on television series followed, including Delta House, CHiPs, Enos and B.A.D. Cats, as well as in the made-for-CBS film The Solitary Man (1979). Pfeiffer transitioned to film with the comedy The Hollywood Knights (1980), with Tony Danza, appearing as high school sweethearts. She subsequently played supporting roles in Falling in Love Again (1980) with Susannah York and Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981), none of which met with much critical or box office success. She appeared in a television commercial for Lux soap, and took acting lessons at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, before appearing in three 1981 television movies – Callie and Son, with Lindsay Wagner, The Children Nobody Wanted and Splendor in the Grass.
Pfeiffer obtained her first starring film role as the female lead in Grease 2 (1982), the sequel to the smash-hit musical film Grease (1978). With only a few television roles and small film appearances, the 23-year-old Pfeiffer was an unknown actress when she attended the casting call audition for the role, but according to director Patricia Birch, she won the part because she "has a quirky quality you don't expect". The film was a critical and commercial failure but Pfeiffer's performance was noted as a standout. The New York Times remarked: "[A]lthough she is a relative screen newcomer, Miss Pfeiffer manages to look much more insouciant and comfortable than anyone else in the cast." Despite escaping the critical mauling, her agent later admitted that her association with the film meant that "she couldn't get any jobs. Nobody wanted to hire her." On her early screen roles, she asserted: "I needed to learn how to act ... in the meantime, I was playing bimbos and cashing in on my looks."
Director Brian De Palma, having seen Grease 2, refused to audition Pfeiffer for Scarface (1983), but relented at the insistence of Martin Bregman, the film's producer. She was cast as cocaine-addicted trophy wife Elvira Hancock. The film was considered excessively violent by most critics, but became a commercial hit and gained a large cult following in subsequent years. Pfeiffer received positive reviews for her supporting turn; Richard Corliss of Time Magazine wrote, "most of the large cast is fine: Michelle Pfeiffer is better ..." while Dominick Dunne, in an article for Vanity Fair titled "Blonde Ambition", wrote, "[s]he is on the verge of stardom. In the parlance of the industry, she is hot."
Following Scarface, she played Diana in John Landis' comedy Into the Night (1985), with Jeff Goldblum; Isabeau d'Anjou in Richard Donner's fantasy film Ladyhawke (1985), with Rutger Hauer and Matthew Broderick; Faith Healy in Alan Alda's Sweet Liberty (1986), with Michael Caine; and Brenda Landers in a segment of the 1950s sci-fi parody Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), all of which, despite achieving only modest commercial success, helped to establish her as an actress. She finally scored a major box-office hit as Sukie Ridgemont in the 1987 adaptation of John Updike's novel The Witches of Eastwick, with Jack Nicholson, Cher, and Susan Sarandon. The film received positive reviews and grossed over $63.7 million domestically, equivalent to $176 million in 2024 dollars, becoming one of her earliest critical and commercial successes. Praising their comic timing, Roger Ebert wrote that Pfeiffer and her female co-stars each "have a delicious good time with their roles", while the Los Angeles Times film critic Sheila Benson said Pfeiffer makes her character "a warm, irresistible character."
Pfeiffer was cast against type, as a murdered gangster's widow, in Jonathan Demme's mafia comedy Married to the Mob (1988), with Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell and Mercedes Ruehl. For the role of Angela de Marco, she donned a curly brunette wig and a Brooklyn accent, and received her first Golden Globe Award nomination as Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, beginning a six-year streak of consecutive Best Actress nominations at the Golden Globes. Pfeiffer then appeared as chic restaurateuse Jo Ann Vallenari in Tequila Sunrise (1988) with Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell, but experienced creative and personal differences with director Robert Towne, who later described her as the "most difficult" actress he has ever worked with.
At Demme's personal recommendation, Pfeiffer joined the cast of Stephen Frears's Dangerous Liaisons (1988), with Glenn Close and John Malkovich, playing Madame Marie de Tourvel, the virtuous victim of seduction. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post saw Pfeiffer's role as "the least obvious and the most difficult. Nothing is harder to play than virtue, and Pfeiffer is smart enough not to try. Instead, she embodies it. Her porcelain-skinned beauty, in this regard, is a great asset, and the way it's used makes it seem an aspect of her spirituality." She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Pfeiffer then accepted the role of Susie Diamond, a hard-edged former call girl turned lounge singer, in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), which also starred Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges as the eponymous Baker Boys. She underwent intense voice training for the role for four months, and performed all of her character's vocals. The film was a modest success, grossing $18.4 million in the US and Canada (equivalent to $47 million in 2024 dollars ). Her portrayal of Susie, however, drew unanimous acclaim from critics. Critic Roger Ebert compared her to Rita Hayworth in Gilda and to Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, adding that the film was "one of the movies they will use as a document, years from now, when they begin to trace the steps by which Pfeiffer became a great star". During the 1989–1990 awards season, Pfeiffer won as Best Actress at the Golden Globes, the National Board of Review, the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Chicago Film Critics Association. Pfeiffer's performance as Susie is considered to be the most critically acclaimed of her career. The scene in which her character seductively performs "Makin' Whoopee" atop a grand piano is considered to be a memorable scene in modern cinema.
1990s
In 1990, Pfeiffer formed her own film production company, Via Rosa Productions, with business partner Kate Guinzburg, whom she had met on the set of Sweet Liberty (1986). The company was under a picture deal with Touchstone Pictures, a film label of The Walt Disney Studios. That year, Pfeiffer began earning $1 million per film, and took on the part of the Soviet book editor Katya Orlova in the film adaptation of John le Carré's The Russia House, with Sean Connery, a role that required her to adopt a Russian accent. For her efforts, she was rewarded with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. Pfeiffer then landed the role of damaged waitress Frankie in Garry Marshall's Frankie and Johnny (1991), a film adaptation of Terrence McNally's Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, which reunited her with her Scarface co-star, Al Pacino. The casting was seen as controversial by many, as Pfeiffer was considered far too beautiful to play an "ordinary" waitress; Kathy Bates, the original Frankie on Broadway, also expressed disappointment over the producers' choice. Pfeiffer herself stated that she took the role because it "wasn't what people would expect of [her]". Pfeiffer was once again nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for her performance.
Pfeiffer took on the role of Selina Kyle–Catwoman in Tim Burton's superhero film Batman Returns (1992), opposite Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito, after Annette Bening dropped out because of her pregnancy. For the role, she trained in martial arts and kickboxing. Pfeiffer received unanimous critical acclaim for her portrayal, which is often referred to as the greatest performance of Catwoman of all time by critics and fans. Premiere retrospectively stated: "Arguably the outstanding villain of the Tim Burton era, Michelle Pfeiffer's deadly kitten with a whip brought sex to the normally neutered franchise. Her stitched-together, black patent leather costume, based on a sketch of Burton's, remains the character's most iconic look. And Michelle Pfeiffer overcomes Batman Returns' heavy-handed feminist dialogue to deliver a growling, fierce performance." Batman Returns was a big box office success, grossing over $267 million worldwide.
The first film her company produced was the independent drama Love Field, which was released in 1992. Reviewers embraced the film and The New York Times felt that Pfeiffer was "again demonstrating that she is as subtle and surprising as she is beautiful". For her portrayal of an eccentric Dallas, Texas housewife, she earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for Best Actress – Drama and won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival. In Martin Scorsese's period drama The Age of Innocence (1993), a film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel, Pfeiffer starred with Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder, portraying a Countess in upper-class New York City in the 1870s. For her role, she received the Elvira Notari Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture. That year, she was awarded the Women in Film Los Angeles' Crystal Award.
Following the formation of her producing company, Via Rosa Productions, Pfeiffer saw a professional expansion as a producer. While she continued to act steadily throughout the decade, she and her producing partner Guinzburg experienced a winning streak of producing back to back films next under their header. She starred with Jack Nicholson in the 1994 horror film Wolf, portraying the sardonic and willful interest of a writer who becomes a wolf-man at night after being bitten by a creature. The film was released to a mixed critical reception; The New York Times wrote: "Ms. Pfeiffer's role is underwritten, but her performance is expert enough to make even diffidence compelling." Wolf was a commercial success, grossing $65 million (equivalent to $138 million in 2024) at the domestic box office and $131 million worldwide (equivalent to $278 million).
Pfeiffer's next role was that of high school teacher and former United States Marine LouAnne Johnson in the drama Dangerous Minds (1995), co-produced by her company. She appeared as her character in the music video for the soundtrack's lead single, "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio, featuring L.V.; the song won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance, and the video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video. While Dangerous Minds received negative reviews, it was a box office success, grossing $179.5 million around the globe. In 1996, Pfeiffer portrayed Sally Atwater in the romantic drama Up Close & Personal, with Robert Redford, took on the titular role in the drama To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, which was adapted by her husband David Kelley from Michael Brady's play of the same name, and served as an executive producer and starred as the divorced single mother architect Melanie Parker in the romantic comedy One Fine Day, with George Clooney.
Subsequent performances included Rose Cook Lewis in the film adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Thousand Acres (1997) with Jessica Lange and Jennifer Jason Leigh; Beth Cappadora in The Deep End of the Ocean (1998) about a married couple who found their son who was kidnapped nine years ago; Titania the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) with Kevin Kline, Rupert Everett and Stanley Tucci; and Katie Jordan in Rob Reiner's comedy drama The Story of Us (1999) with Bruce Willis. A Thousand Acres and The Deep End of the Ocean were also produced by Via Rosa Productions. Pfeiffer voiced Tzipporah, a shepherdess who becomes the wife of Moses (voiced by Val Kilmer), in DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt (1998), a musical adaptation based on the Book of Exodus. She also recorded the film's theme song "When You Believe", for which songwriter Stephen Schwartz won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The Prince of Egypt was released to critical and commercial success, but Kenneth Turan found the film's modernization of Pfeiffer's character into a "feisty protofeminist" to be problematic.
2000s
Pfeiffer began to dissolve her film production company, Via Rosa Productions, in 1999, and moved into semi-retirement to spend more quality time with her children and family. Pfeiffer handed her producing partner Guinzburg one final film to produce under the Via Rosa Productions header. The film was called Original Sin (2001). It was originally intended to star Pfeiffer, who later changed her mind as she was looking to work less for a while. The film was produced by her company, but instead starred Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas.
In What Lies Beneath (2000), a Hitchcockian thriller directed by Robert Zemeckis, Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford starred as a well-to-do couple who experience a strange haunting that uncovers secrets about their past. While critical response towards the film was mixed, it opened atop at the box office, and went on to gross $291 million worldwide. She then accepted the role of Rita Harrison, a highly strung lawyer helping a father with a developmental disability, in the drama I Am Sam (2001), with Sean Penn. Despite grossing $97.8 million worldwide, the film was unfavorably reviewed by critics; Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote: "Pfeiffer, apparently stymied by the bland clichés that prop up her screechy role, delivers her flattest, phoniest performance ever." Meanwhile, SF Gate observed: "In one scene, she breaks down in tears as she unburdens herself to him about her miserable life. It's hard not to cringe, watching this emotionally ready actress fling herself headlong into false material."
Pfeiffer took on the role of a murderous artist, named Ingrid Magnussen, in the drama White Oleander (2002), with Alison Lohman (in her film debut), Renée Zellweger and Robin Wright. The film was a critical and commercial success in its arthouse release. Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that "Ms. Pfeiffer, giving the most complex screen performance of her career, makes her Olympian seductress at once irresistible and diabolical." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described her as "incandescent", bringing "power and unshakable will to her role as mother-master manipulator" in a "riveting, impeccable performance". She earned Best Supporting Actress Awards from the San Diego Film Critics Society and the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.
In 2003, Pfeiffer lent her voice for the character of goddess of chaos Eris in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, an animated film featuring Brad Pitt as the voice of Sinbad the Sailor. She had struggles with finding the character's villainies. Initially the character was "too sexual", then she lacked fun. After a third rewrite, Pfeiffer called producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and told him "You know, you really can fire me," but he assured her that this was just part of the process. Following the release of the film, she took a four-year hiatus from acting, during which she remained largely out of the public eye to devote time to her husband and children. During this time, she turned down the role of the White Witch in the fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (2005), which went to Tilda Swinton.
Pfeiffer returned to cinemas in 2007 with villainous roles in two summer blockbusters, Hairspray and Stardust, which was hailed as a successful comeback by the media. In the former, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, she starred alongside John Travolta, Christopher Walken and Queen Latifah as Velma Von Tussle, the racist manager of a television station. Although a fan of Pfeiffer's work in the musicals Grease 2 and The Fabulous Baker Boys, director Adam Shankman cast Pfeiffer largely based on her performance in Batman Returns, claiming she was his first and only choice for Velma. Although she had fun with the part, Pfeiffer described Velma as the most difficult role she had played at the time, because of her character's racism; but she was drawn to the film's important message of anti-bigotry, accepting that "in order to do a movie about racism, somebody has got to be the racist". Released to widely positive reviews, Hairspray grossed $202.5 million worldwide. Pfeiffer's performance was also critically acclaimed, with film critic David Edelstein of NPR calling her "sublime". The cast of Hairspray was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture, and won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast, the Hollywood Film Festival Award for Ensemble of the Year, and the Palm Springs International Film Festival Award for Ensemble Cast. In the fantasy adventure Stardust, Pfeiffer plays Lamia, an ancient witch who hunts a fallen star (Claire Danes) in search of eternal youth. The film received mostly positive reviews but performed moderately at the box office, earning $135.5 million globally. The New York Times film critic Stephen Holden described Pfeiffer as "as deliciously evil a witch as the movies have ever invented", writing that she "goes for broke with the relish of a star who figures she has nothing to lose."
Pfeiffer starred in Amy Heckerling's romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007), with Paul Rudd and Saoirse Ronan, portraying Rosie, a forty-year-old divorced mother working as a scriptwriter and producer for a television show who falls in love with a much younger man (Rudd). Her reported salary was $1 million, with an advance on fifteen percent of the gross. However, the film was only distributed on home video markets domestically. Reviews for I Could Never Be Your Woman were moderately positive, with critic James Berardinelli finding Pfeiffer and Rudd to "have adequate chemistry to pull off the romance," in what he described as an "enjoyable romantic comedy that has enough going for it to make it worth a recommendation." Pfeiffer starred in Personal Effects, with Ashton Kutcher, playing two grieving people coping with the pain and frustration of their loss whose bond spawns an unlikely romance. The drama premiered at Iowa City's Englert Theatre in December 2008.
Her next film, an adaptation of Colette's Chéri, reunited her with the director (Stephen Frears) and screenwriter (Christopher Hampton) of Dangerous Liaisons (1988). Pfeiffer played the role of aging retired courtesan Léa de Lonval, with Rupert Friend in the title role, with Kathy Bates as his mother. Chéri premiered at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, where it received a nomination for the Golden Bear award. The Times of London reviewed the film favorably, describing Hampton's screenplay as a "steady flow of dry quips and acerbic one-liners" and Pfeiffer's performance as "magnetic and subtle, her worldly nonchalance a mask for vulnerability and heartache". Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that it was "fascinating to observe how Pfeiffer controls her face and voice during times of painful hurt". Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times praised the "wordless scenes that catch Léa unawares, with the camera alone seeing the despair and regret that she hides from the world. It's the kind of refined, delicate acting Pfeiffer does so well, and it's a further reminder of how much we've missed her since she's been away."
2010s
Following a two-year sabbatical from acting, Pfeiffer made part of a large ensemble cast in Garry Marshall's ensemble romantic comedy New Year's Eve (2011), her second collaboration with Marshall after Frankie and Johnny. The film, also starring Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Sofía Vergara, among many others, saw her take on the supporting role of Ingrid Withers, an overwhelmed secretary befriending a deliveryman (Efron). While the film was panned by critics, it made $142 million worldwide. In 2012, she appeared with Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks in the drama People Like Us, as the mother of a struggling New York City corporate trader (Pine). Rolling Stone found her to be "luminous" in the film, and The New York Times, positively pointing out Pfeiffer and Banks, noted that their performances "partly compensate for the holes in a story whose timing is hard to swallow". People Like Us debuted to $4.26 million, described as "meager" by Box Office Mojo, and only made $12 million in North America.
Pfieffer reunited with Tim Burton, her Batman Returns director, in Dark Shadows (2012), based on the gothic television soap opera of the same name. In the film, co-starring Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter and Chloë Grace Moretz, she played Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the matriarch of the Collins family. Critical response towards the film was mixed, but writers acclaimed the actors' performances—most notably Depp and Pfeiffer's. IGN found her to be "commanding" in her role and felt that the main characters were "played by one of Burton's best ensemble casts yet". While Dark Shadows grossed a modest $79.7 million in North America, it ultimately made $245.5 million globally. In Luc Besson's mob-comedy The Family (2013), co-starring Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron and John D'Leo, she played the "tough mother" in a Mafia family wanting to change their lives under the witness protection program. Although reviews for the film were mixed, THV11 said on the cast's portrayals: "The core actors of The Family were really solid, and the whole film comes together to make a solid movie." An article in HuffPost said that "De Niro, Pfieffer and Jones all brought 100% to their roles." The film grossed $78.4 million worldwide.
Pfeiffer stated that her lack of acting throughout the 2000s was due to several reasons, including family matters and her approach to choosing roles. She stated she was intending to "work a lot" once her children left for college, mentioning that she felt her best performance was "still in her", saying how that's what she felt kept her going.
In the independent drama Where Is Kyra? (2017), Pfeiffer starred as a sensitive and fragile woman who loses her mother and "faces a crisis in which she must find a means for survival, all the while hiding her struggles from her new lover". The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2017, and received a limited release on April 6, 2018, to critical acclaim; Her role as Kyra was called the "performance of her life" by Village Voice's Bilge Ebiri, and "the performance of her career", by Rolling Stone.
Pfeiffer landed the role of Ruth Madoff for the HBO Films drama The Wizard of Lies (2017), based on the book of the same name. The film, directed by Barry Levinson, reunites her with actor Robert De Niro, who played her husband, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff. The Wizard of Lies premiered on HBO on May 20, 2017, garnering favorable reviews from critics and an audience of 1.5 million viewers, HBO's largest premiere viewership for a film in four years. Tolucan Times remarked that Pfeiffer "steals the show as Madoff's wife, Ruth, and is a remarkable lookalike", while Los Angeles Times asserted: "As Ruth, Pfeiffer convincingly portrays a pampered woman left with utterly nothing —she's lost her homes, status and, most important, her relationship with her sons." She received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Movie, in addition to a Golden Globe Award nomination.
In Darren Aronofsky's psychological horror film Mother! (2017), Pfeiffer portrayed one of the mysterious guests who interrupt the tranquil life of a couple, played by Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem. Although Mother! divided critics and audiences, reviewers praised Pfeiffer unanimously, and some found her performance worthy of an Oscar nomination. Vulture remarked: "Out of the main actors, it's Pfeiffer who is able to root the character in meaning — she bracingly marries the exploration of Biblical creation, mythological overtones, and hellish domestic commentary. There's a gravity to Pfeiffer's performance that allows her to succeed where the other main actors fail, save for brief spurts — she straddles the boundaries between embodying a symbol and granting the character enough interiority to feel like a flesh and blood woman, too."
Pfeiffer played a widowed socialite in Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express (2017), the fourth screen adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1934 novel of the same name. Featuring an ensemble cast, the mystery film follows world-renowned detective Hercule Poirot (Branagh) attempting to solve a murder, while stranded with several suspects on the Orient Express during the 1930s. She also recorded the original song "Never Forget" for the film's soundtrack. The film grossed $351.7 million worldwide and received decent reviews from critics, with praise for the performances, but criticism for not adding anything new to previous adaptations. Although some critics found its large cast underused, Pfeiffer's performance was praised, with Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times saying she delivered the film's best performance. The New Yorker's Anthony Lane found that only Pfeiffer appears to be enjoying their material, while Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle credited the film with reminding audiences that she is one of the industry's best actresses. David Edelstein of Vulture described the actress as "a hoot and a half ... stealing every scene".
Pfeiffer debuted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp, in the Ant-Man (2015) sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). Variety's Owen Gleiberman described her performance as "lovely" and "wistful", while Josh Spiegel of /Film believed the film suffers from a lack of the actress. In 2019, Pfeiffer briefly reprised the role in Avengers: Endgame, and starred alongside Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning in the dark fantasy sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, playing the villainous Queen Ingrith. Despite the film earning mixed reviews, The Plain Dealer's Laura DeMarco felt that both Jolie and Pfeiffer "clearly relish their roles."
2020s
Pfeiffer headlined the dark comedy French Exit (2020), based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Patrick deWitt, directed by Azazel Jacobs. In the film, which co-stars Lucas Hedges and Tracy Letts, Pfeiffer played a widow who moves to Paris, France, with her son (Hedges) and cat, who happens to be her reincarnated husband (Letts). The film premiered at the New York Film Festival, to a positive reception. Peter Debruge of Variety remarked that she gave a performance "for which she'll be remembered." Pfeiffer received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for her performance.
Pfeiffer portrayed former First Lady Betty Ford in the anthology drama television series The First Lady, which premiered on Showtime in April 2022. The following year, she reprised the role of Janet van Dyne in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Manohla Dargis declared her the film's M.V.P.
Pfeiffer is attached to star alongside Annette Bening in the psychological thriller, Turn of Mind, set to be directed by Gideon Raff. In 2022, she was cast in Wild Four O'Clocks, penned and directed by Peter Craig, and produced by Marc Platt and Adam Siegel.
On March 18, 2024, it was announced that Pfeiffer had been cast in the Amazon MGM holiday comedy, Oh. What. Fun. (2025) On August 8, 2024, it was announced that she would star in, as well as executive produce, the Yellowstone spin-off The Madison. On September 23, 2024, it was announced that Pfeiffer would star alongside Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning in the Apple TV+ television series, Margo's Got Money Troubles.
Acting style and reception
Pfeiffer said she sometimes feels fraudulent as an untrained actor due to her lack of conventional schooling. She credits director Milton Katselas with teaching her the difference between how an actor and their character would behave during the same scene. Essayist Angelica Jade Bastién said Pfeiffer's talent disproves any argument that untrained actors are lesser than their trained peers. Several film critics have described her as "a character actress in a screen siren's body", with Bastién profiling her as "a character actress reluctantly placed in Hollywood’s lineage of blonde bombshells". Journalist James Kaplan reported that some critics feel Pfeiffer has undersold herself by choosing character roles instead of capitalizing on her beauty. In 1993, film critic Ty Burr argued that her "unshowy performances work because they don’t call attention to themselves", although her attractiveness prevents her from being seriously considered "one of today’s best screen actresses". Pfeiffer claims she rarely accepts glamorous roles because she finds few of them compelling. Although she prefers acting in dramas over comedies, she does not have a favorite genre to perform in.
During the 1980s, Pfeiffer typically played smart, funny, and independent women, and pursued a wider range of roles in the 1990s. Early in her career, she mostly played relatable working class women, aside from the occasional upper class character. She has admitted she enjoys playing imperfect, evil, and "slightly trashy" women. In a 2021 profile, journalist Lynn Hirschberg said Pfeiffer excels in emotionally conflicted roles, while Adam Platt of New Woman and journalist Bilge Ebiri agreed that she often plays emotionally detached women. Backstage contributor Manuel Betancourt observed parallels between Pfeiffer's characters and her own determination to subvert expectations, with the actress confirming that she searches new projects for relatability. However, Town & Country senior editor Adam Rathe finds Pfeiffer dissimilar to most of her characters. Known to be highly selective about potential projects, Pfeiffer, according to IndieWire contributor Kate Erbland, carefully chooses unconventional roles to avoid being typecast. Pfeiffer's colleagues have described her as extremely committed, competent, and prepared, although she refuses to watch her own performances.
Pfeiffer has been called one of the greatest actresses of her generation. However, she has also been described as one of Hollywood's most underrated, with The Hollywood Reporter saying she "is too seldom ranked among the best of her generation". In 2009, journalist Brian D. Johnson argued that Pfeiffer had yet to demonstrate her true range, believing she could potentially be as revered as Meryl Streep if afforded the same acting opportunities, while film critic Mick LaSalle remarked that Pfeiffer's humility sometimes causes the public to overlook her as one of the industry's finest actresses. Film critic Pauline Kael named Pfeiffer one of her favorite actresses, saying she always tried to see her work. Pfeiffer is particularly renowned for her versatility, having accrued a filmography that spans period, romance, fantasy, musical, comedy, and drama. By 2016, Salon's Charles Taylor declared that no actor of the previous decade had rivaled Pfeiffer's versatility. Summarizing her career as eclectic, Erbland believes she has rarely repeated acting choices, with the actress confirming she had always aspired to play the widest possible range of characters, even when her options were limited.
Pfeiffer was one of the highest-paid actresses of the 1980s and 1990s, typically earning $9–$10 million per film during the latter decade. Aside from The Witches of Eastwick, few of her films during the 1980s were major box office successes. In 1995, The New York Times journalist Bernard Weinraub said Pfeiffer belongs to a group of respected actresses who are "not considered a big box-office draw". However, several critics reported that her performances were consistently acclaimed, despite some mediocre films and box office returns. Regardless, Pfeiffer was the sixth highest-grossing domestic box office star of 1990, and one of the few actresses whose salary corresponded with their box office appeal as of 1996, according to UPI. In 1996, Entertainment Weekly ranked her the 67th greatest movie star of all time. By 1999, Variety named Pfeiffer "the female movie star most likely to improve a film's box-office appeal". In 2004, People ranked her among The 100 Greatest Movie Stars of Our Time, naming her 20th in the "icons" category.
Pfeiffer was awarded a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007. She was honored by TCL Chinese Theater on April 25, 2025 with a hand and footprints ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Public image
Pfeiffer has been described as one of the world's most beautiful and talented actresses. After being typecast in early roles based on her appearance, she initially struggled to convince directors to take her seriously as an actor, and thus sought out more challenging opportunities. Journalists Candice Russell of the Sun-Sentinel and Rachel Syme of The New Yorker observed that, early in her career, critics regularly undermined Pfeiffer's work by focusing on her appearance instead of her acting.
Pfeiffer was considered one of the leading sex symbols of the 1980s and 1990s, and several publications dubbed her one of the era's "It girls". In 1990, Pfeiffer appeared on the inaugural cover of People magazine's annual "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" issue. She has been featured in the "Most Beautiful" issue a record-breaking six times throughout the decade (from 1990 to 1993, and in 1996 and 1999). In 2004, the magazine named her one of the most beautiful women of all time. In 2011, the Los Angeles Times Magazine featured her among the "50 Most Beautiful Women in Film". In 2020, Vogue Paris listed Pfeiffer as one of the 21 most beautiful American actresses of all time. Men's Health ranked Pfeiffer 45th and 67th on their all-time hottest women and sex symbol rankings, respectively. Pfeiffer has been famously self-deprecating about her own appearance, at times mocking her trademark features. At least two of her films, Stardust (2007) and Chéri (2009), explore beautiful, youth-obsessed women struggling to accept aging, themes Pfeiffer personally identified with. According to several plastic surgeons, she possesses some of the most requested celebrity features among clients. In 2001, plastic surgeon Stephen R. Marquardt declared Pfeiffer the most beautiful face in Hollywood. Nicknamed the "golden ratio", Pfeiffer's face, Marquardt claims, adheres to a mathematical formula in which he determined a person's ideal mouth is 1,618 times as wide as their nose. Several outlets have commented on Pfeiffer's perceived ability to physically age slowly.
Famously private like the characters she plays, Matthew Jacobs of HuffPost crowned Pfeiffer Hollywood's foremost "movie star who doesn't walk around feeling like a movie star", which he believes allows her to play authentic characters without letting her fame compromise her talent. Analyzing her public profile for the repertory cinema Metograph, Luke Goodsell said few stars of the 1990s were as elusive as Pfeiffer, writing, "Though a sex symbol, she was never a femme fatale like Sharon Stone; she could play quirky and romantic, but she wasn’t an American sweetheart like Julia Roberts or Meg Ryan; a serious talent, she was rarely considered in the company of Meryl Streep or Jodie Foster". Pfeiffer is notorious for disliking giving press interviews. Describing herself as "the worst interviewee that ever was", she believes it is not an actor's responsibility to promote a film project. Film critic Michael Sragow observed that the actress can at times appear "flustered or elusive" during interviews. In 1995, journalist Timothy Egan likened profiling Pfeiffer in the past to covering geology, a quality he said she had since outgrown. Vikram Murthi of The Nation believes Pfeiffer's aversion to publicity "has lent her an air of gravitas, of someone who directs a spotlight rather than chases after it".
Media commentators noted that Pfeiffer had unexpectedly become a "pop-music muse" in 2014; her name is mentioned in two of the year's most popular songs: "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars, and "Riptide" by Vance Joy. Joy was particularly inspired by Pfeiffer's transformation from Selina Kyle into Catwoman in Batman Returns, whereas Ronson cited The Fabulous Baker Boys as his favorite Pfeiffer film. In 2021, singer-songwriter Ethel Cain released her debut single "Michelle Pfeiffer", which the artist named after the actress because "I've always ... thought she was a picture perfect bombshell". Australian cricketers speak of "getting a Michelle" when they take five wickets in an innings. In cricketing parlance, this is referred to as a "five for", a near-homophone for "Pfeiffer", which resulted in the nickname "Michelle". M3GAN 2.0 (2025) director, Gerard Johnstone, revealed that Pfeiffer was the original inspiration behind the film's counterpoint robot, AMELIA.
Other ventures
Product and endorsements
In 2005, Pfeiffer served as the face of Giorgio Armani's spring campaign; the designer has often dressed her for public appearances.
In 2019, she launched a collection of fine fragrances called Henry Rose. It is the first fine fragrance line to be both Cradle to Cradle Certified and EWG Verified.
In 2025, Pfeiffer fronted fashion house Yves Saint Laurent's Summer 2025 collection.
Philanthropy
Having been a smoker for ten years (she quit in 1992), and having a niece who suffered from leukemia for ten years, Pfeiffer decided to support the American Cancer Society. She also supports the Humane Society. In 2016, she attended the Healthy Child Healthy World's L.A. Gala for people who lead organizations for children's environmental health. In December that year, Pfeiffer, who was vegan at the time, joined the board of directors for Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group based in Washington. D.C.
Personal life
Soon after coming to Hollywood at age twenty, Pfeiffer was taken in by a seemingly friendly couple who ran a metaphysics and vegetarian cult. They helped her to cease drinking, smoking, and doing drugs. Over time, they took control of her entire life. Much of her money went to the group. "I was brainwashed," she said, "I gave them an enormous amount of money."
At an acting class taught by Milton Katselas in Los Angeles, she met fellow budding actor Peter Horton, and they began dating. They married in Santa Monica in 1981; it was on their honeymoon that she discovered she had won the lead role in Grease 2. Horton directed Pfeiffer in a 1985 ABC TV special, One Too Many, where she played the high school girlfriend of an alcoholic student (Val Kilmer). In 1987, the real-life couple played an on-screen couple in the 'Hospital' segment of John Landis's comedy skit compilation Amazon Women on the Moon.
In 1988, Pfeiffer had an affair with John Malkovich, her co-star in Dangerous Liaisons, who at the time was married to Glenne Headly.
Pfeiffer and Horton decided to separate in 1988, and were divorced two years later. Horton later blamed the split on their devotion to their work rather than their marriage. Pfeiffer then had a three-year relationship with actor/producer Fisher Stevens, whom Pfeiffer met when she was starring as Olivia in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Twelfth Night, where Stevens played Sir Andrew Aguecheek.
In 1993, Pfeiffer married television writer and producer David E. Kelley. She made a brief uncredited cameo appearance in one episode of Kelley's television series Picket Fences and played the title character in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, for which Kelley wrote the screenplay. She had entered into private adoption proceedings before she met Kelley, and in March 1993 adopted a newborn daughter, Claudia Rose, who was christened on Pfeiffer's and Kelley's wedding day. In 1994, Pfeiffer gave birth to a son, John Henry Kelley II, named for his grandfather and Pfeiffer's father-in-law, United States Hockey Hall of Fame coach John Henry "Jack" Kelley. In September 2025, Pfeiffer revealed that she had become a grandmother in 2024.
Pfeiffer experimented with a plant-based diet for a few years but later added meat to her diet and advocated a "paleoish" diet.
Acting credits and accolades
According to review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Pfeiffer's most acclaimed films include The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Hairspray (2007), Married to the Mob (1988), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), The Age of Innocence (1993), Batman Returns (1992), Scarface (1983), Where Is Kyra? (2017), The Prince of Egypt (1998), and Stardust (2007).
Pfeiffer has received three Academy Award nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Dangerous Liaisons (1988); and Best Actress for The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) and Love Field (1992). She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama for The Fabulous Baker Boys, and has been nominated seven more times for her performances in Married to the Mob (1988), The Russia House (1990), Frankie and Johnny (1991), Love Field, The Age of Innocence (1993), The Wizard of Lies (2017), and French Exit (2020). For Dangerous Liaisons, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She also received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for The Wizard of Lies.
References
External links
Michelle Pfeiffer at IMDb
Michelle Pfeiffer at the TCM Movie Database
Michelle Pfeiffer on Instagram
Michelle Pfeiffer at Rotten Tomatoes
Michelle Pfeiffer in the Hollywood Walk of Fame Directory
Michelle Pfeiffer discography at Discogs
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Michelle Marie Pfeiffer ( FY-fər; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress and producer. One of the most bankable stars in Hollywood during the 1980s and 1990s, her performances have earned her various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a British Academy Film Award, along with nominations for three Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Pfeiffer began her acting career with minor roles in television and film, before securing her first leading role in Grease 2 (1982). She achieved wider recognition for her breakthrough performance as Elvira Hancock in Scarface (1983), which brought her mainstream success. This was followed by leading roles in The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and Tequila Sunrise (1988). Pfeiffer received the first of six consecutive Golden Globe Award nominations for Married to the Mob (1988). She earned consecutive Academy Award nominations for Dangerous Liaisons (1988), for Best Supporting Actress, and The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), for Best Actress, winning a Golden Globe Award for the latter.
Established as one of the highest-paid actresses of the 1990s, Pfeiffer starred in The Russia House (1990) and Frankie and Johnny (1991). In 1992, she portrayed Catwoman in Batman Returns, and received her third Academy Award nomination for Love Field. She went on to appear in The Age of Innocence (1993) and Wolf (1994). Through her production company, Via Rosa Productions, she produced and starred in several films, including Dangerous Minds (1995). Pfeiffer reduced her workload in the 2000s to focus on her family, appearing in select projects such as What Lies Beneath (2000), White Oleander (2002), Hairspray, and Stardust (both 2007).
Following a hiatus, Pfeiffer returned to prominence in 2017 with roles in Where Is Kyra?, Mother!, and Murder on the Orient Express. That same year, she received her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for portraying Ruth Madoff in the television film The Wizard of Lies. In 2020, she earned her eighth Golden Globe Award nomination for French Exit. Since 2018, Pfeiffer has portrayed Janet van Dyne in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Early life
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer was born on April 29, 1958, in Santa Ana, California, to Richard Pfeiffer, an air-conditioning contractor, and Donna Jean (née Taverna), a housewife. She has an older brother, Rick, and two younger sisters, Dedee and Lori. Her parents were both originally from North Dakota. Her paternal grandfather was of German ancestry and her paternal grandmother was of English, Welsh, French, Irish, and Dutch descent, while her maternal grandfather was of Swiss-German-Italian descent and her maternal grandmother of Swedish ancestry. The family moved to Midway City, another Orange County community around seven miles (11 km) away, where Pfeiffer spent her early years.
Pfeiffer attended Fountain Valley High School, graduating in 1976. She worked as a check-out girl at Vons supermarket, and attended Golden West College where she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority. After a short stint training to be a court stenographer, she pursued an acting career. Pfeiffer won the Miss Orange County beauty pageant in 1978 and finished sixth in the Miss California contest the same year. After her appearances in these pageants, Pfeiffer acquired an agent and began to audition for television and film roles.
Career
Late 1970s and 1980s
Pfeiffer made her acting debut in 1978, in a one-episode appearance of Fantasy Island. Other roles on television series followed, including Delta House, CHiPs, Enos and B.A.D. Cats, as well as in the made-for-CBS film The Solitary Man (1979). Pfeiffer transitioned to film with the comedy The Hollywood Knights (1980), with Tony Danza, appearing as high school sweethearts. She subsequently played supporting roles in Falling in Love Again (1980) with Susannah York and Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981), none of which met with much critical or box office success. She appeared in a television commercial for Lux soap, and took acting lessons at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, before appearing in three 1981 television movies – Callie and Son, with Lindsay Wagner, The Children Nobody Wanted and Splendor in the Grass.
Pfeiffer obtained her first starring film role as the female lead in Grease 2 (1982), the sequel to the smash-hit musical film Grease (1978). With only a few television roles and small film appearances, the 23-year-old Pfeiffer was an unknown actress when she attended the casting call audition for the role, but according to director Patricia Birch, she won the part because she "has a quirky quality you don't expect". The film was a critical and commercial failure but Pfeiffer's performance was noted as a standout. The New York Times remarked: "[A]lthough she is a relative screen newcomer, Miss Pfeiffer manages to look much more insouciant and comfortable than anyone else in the cast." Despite escaping the critical mauling, her agent later admitted that her association with the film meant that "she couldn't get any jobs. Nobody wanted to hire her." On her early screen roles, she asserted: "I needed to learn how to act ... in the meantime, I was playing bimbos and cashing in on my looks."
Director Brian De Palma, having seen Grease 2, refused to audition Pfeiffer for Scarface (1983), but relented at the insistence of Martin Bregman, the film's producer. She was cast as cocaine-addicted trophy wife Elvira Hancock. The film was considered excessively violent by most critics, but became a commercial hit and gained a large cult following in subsequent years. Pfeiffer received positive reviews for her supporting turn; Richard Corliss of Time Magazine wrote, "most of the large cast is fine: Michelle Pfeiffer is better ..." while Dominick Dunne, in an article for Vanity Fair titled "Blonde Ambition", wrote, "[s]he is on the verge of stardom. In the parlance of the industry, she is hot."
Following Scarface, she played Diana in John Landis' comedy Into the Night (1985), with Jeff Goldblum; Isabeau d'Anjou in Richard Donner's fantasy film Ladyhawke (1985), with Rutger Hauer and Matthew Broderick; Faith Healy in Alan Alda's Sweet Liberty (1986), with Michael Caine; and Brenda Landers in a segment of the 1950s sci-fi parody Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), all of which, despite achieving only modest commercial success, helped to establish her as an actress. She finally scored a major box-office hit as Sukie Ridgemont in the 1987 adaptation of John Updike's novel The Witches of Eastwick, with Jack Nicholson, Cher, and Susan Sarandon. The film received positive reviews and grossed over $63.7 million domestically, equivalent to $176 million in 2024 dollars, becoming one of her earliest critical and commercial successes. Praising their comic timing, Roger Ebert wrote that Pfeiffer and her female co-stars each "have a delicious good time with their roles", while the Los Angeles Times film critic Sheila Benson said Pfeiffer makes her character "a warm, irresistible character."
Pfeiffer was cast against type, as a murdered gangster's widow, in Jonathan Demme's mafia comedy Married to the Mob (1988), with Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell and Mercedes Ruehl. For the role of Angela de Marco, she donned a curly brunette wig and a Brooklyn accent, and received her first Golden Globe Award nomination as Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, beginning a six-year streak of consecutive Best Actress nominations at the Golden Globes. Pfeiffer then appeared as chic restaurateuse Jo Ann Vallenari in Tequila Sunrise (1988) with Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell, but experienced creative and personal differences with director Robert Towne, who later described her as the "most difficult" actress he has ever worked with.
At Demme's personal recommendation, Pfeiffer joined the cast of Stephen Frears's Dangerous Liaisons (1988), with Glenn Close and John Malkovich, playing Madame Marie de Tourvel, the virtuous victim of seduction. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post saw Pfeiffer's role as "the least obvious and the most difficult. Nothing is harder to play than virtue, and Pfeiffer is smart enough not to try. Instead, she embodies it. Her porcelain-skinned beauty, in this regard, is a great asset, and the way it's used makes it seem an aspect of her spirituality." She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Pfeiffer then accepted the role of Susie Diamond, a hard-edged former call girl turned lounge singer, in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), which also starred Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges as the eponymous Baker Boys. She underwent intense voice training for the role for four months, and performed all of her character's vocals. The film was a modest success, grossing $18.4 million in the US and Canada (equivalent to $47 million in 2024 dollars ). Her portrayal of Susie, however, drew unanimous acclaim from critics. Critic Roger Ebert compared her to Rita Hayworth in Gilda and to Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, adding that the film was "one of the movies they will use as a document, years from now, when they begin to trace the steps by which Pfeiffer became a great star". During the 1989–1990 awards season, Pfeiffer won as Best Actress at the Golden Globes, the National Board of Review, the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Chicago Film Critics Association. Pfeiffer's performance as Susie is considered to be the most critically acclaimed of her career. The scene in which her character seductively performs "Makin' Whoopee" atop a grand piano is considered to be a memorable scene in modern cinema.
1990s
In 1990, Pfeiffer formed her own film production company, Via Rosa Productions, with business partner Kate Guinzburg, whom she had met on the set of Sweet Liberty (1986). The company was under a picture deal with Touchstone Pictures, a film label of The Walt Disney Studios. That year, Pfeiffer began earning $1 million per film, and took on the part of the Soviet book editor Katya Orlova in the film adaptation of John le Carré's The Russia House, with Sean Connery, a role that required her to adopt a Russian accent. For her efforts, she was rewarded with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. Pfeiffer then landed the role of damaged waitress Frankie in Garry Marshall's Frankie and Johnny (1991), a film adaptation of Terrence McNally's Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, which reunited her with her Scarface co-star, Al Pacino. The casting was seen as controversial by many, as Pfeiffer was considered far too beautiful to play an "ordinary" waitress; Kathy Bates, the original Frankie on Broadway, also expressed disappointment over the producers' choice. Pfeiffer herself stated that she took the role because it "wasn't what people would expect of [her]". Pfeiffer was once again nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for her performance.
Pfeiffer took on the role of Selina Kyle–Catwoman in Tim Burton's superhero film Batman Returns (1992), opposite Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito, after Annette Bening dropped out because of her pregnancy. For the role, she trained in martial arts and kickboxing. Pfeiffer received unanimous critical acclaim for her portrayal, which is often referred to as the greatest performance of Catwoman of all time by critics and fans. Premiere retrospectively stated: "Arguably the outstanding villain of the Tim Burton era, Michelle Pfeiffer's deadly kitten with a whip brought sex to the normally neutered franchise. Her stitched-together, black patent leather costume, based on a sketch of Burton's, remains the character's most iconic look. And Michelle Pfeiffer overcomes Batman Returns' heavy-handed feminist dialogue to deliver a growling, fierce performance." Batman Returns was a big box office success, grossing over $267 million worldwide.
The first film her company produced was the independent drama Love Field, which was released in 1992. Reviewers embraced the film and The New York Times felt that Pfeiffer was "again demonstrating that she is as subtle and surprising as she is beautiful". For her portrayal of an eccentric Dallas, Texas housewife, she earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for Best Actress – Drama and won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival. In Martin Scorsese's period drama The Age of Innocence (1993), a film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel, Pfeiffer starred with Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder, portraying a Countess in upper-class New York City in the 1870s. For her role, she received the Elvira Notari Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture. That year, she was awarded the Women in Film Los Angeles' Crystal Award.
Following the formation of her producing company, Via Rosa Productions, Pfeiffer saw a professional expansion as a producer. While she continued to act steadily throughout the decade, she and her producing partner Guinzburg experienced a winning streak of producing back to back films next under their header. She starred with Jack Nicholson in the 1994 horror film Wolf, portraying the sardonic and willful interest of a writer who becomes a wolf-man at night after being bitten by a creature. The film was released to a mixed critical reception; The New York Times wrote: "Ms. Pfeiffer's role is underwritten, but her performance is expert enough to make even diffidence compelling." Wolf was a commercial success, grossing $65 million (equivalent to $138 million in 2024) at the domestic box office and $131 million worldwide (equivalent to $278 million).
Pfeiffer's next role was that of high school teacher and former United States Marine LouAnne Johnson in the drama Dangerous Minds (1995), co-produced by her company. She appeared as her character in the music video for the soundtrack's lead single, "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio, featuring L.V.; the song won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance, and the video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video. While Dangerous Minds received negative reviews, it was a box office success, grossing $179.5 million around the globe. In 1996, Pfeiffer portrayed Sally Atwater in the romantic drama Up Close & Personal, with Robert Redford, took on the titular role in the drama To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, which was adapted by her husband David Kelley from Michael Brady's play of the same name, and served as an executive producer and starred as the divorced single mother architect Melanie Parker in the romantic comedy One Fine Day, with George Clooney.
Subsequent performances included Rose Cook Lewis in the film adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Thousand Acres (1997) with Jessica Lange and Jennifer Jason Leigh; Beth Cappadora in The Deep End of the Ocean (1998) about a married couple who found their son who was kidnapped nine years ago; Titania the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) with Kevin Kline, Rupert Everett and Stanley Tucci; and Katie Jordan in Rob Reiner's comedy drama The Story of Us (1999) with Bruce Willis. A Thousand Acres and The Deep End of the Ocean were also produced by Via Rosa Productions. Pfeiffer voiced Tzipporah, a shepherdess who becomes the wife of Moses (voiced by Val Kilmer), in DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt (1998), a musical adaptation based on the Book of Exodus. She also recorded the film's theme song "When You Believe", for which songwriter Stephen Schwartz won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The Prince of Egypt was released to critical and commercial success, but Kenneth Turan found the film's modernization of Pfeiffer's character into a "feisty protofeminist" to be problematic.
2000s
Pfeiffer began to dissolve her film production company, Via Rosa Productions, in 1999, and moved into semi-retirement to spend more quality time with her children and family. Pfeiffer handed her producing partner Guinzburg one final film to produce under the Via Rosa Productions header. The film was called Original Sin (2001). It was originally intended to star Pfeiffer, who later changed her mind as she was looking to work less for a while. The film was produced by her company, but instead starred Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas.
In What Lies Beneath (2000), a Hitchcockian thriller directed by Robert Zemeckis, Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford starred as a well-to-do couple who experience a strange haunting that uncovers secrets about their past. While critical response towards the film was mixed, it opened atop at the box office, and went on to gross $291 million worldwide. She then accepted the role of Rita Harrison, a highly strung lawyer helping a father with a developmental disability, in the drama I Am Sam (2001), with Sean Penn. Despite grossing $97.8 million worldwide, the film was unfavorably reviewed by critics; Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote: "Pfeiffer, apparently stymied by the bland clichés that prop up her screechy role, delivers her flattest, phoniest performance ever." Meanwhile, SF Gate observed: "In one scene, she breaks down in tears as she unburdens herself to him about her miserable life. It's hard not to cringe, watching this emotionally ready actress fling herself headlong into false material."
Pfeiffer took on the role of a murderous artist, named Ingrid Magnussen, in the drama White Oleander (2002), with Alison Lohman (in her film debut), Renée Zellweger and Robin Wright. The film was a critical and commercial success in its arthouse release. Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that "Ms. Pfeiffer, giving the most complex screen performance of her career, makes her Olympian seductress at once irresistible and diabolical." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described her as "incandescent", bringing "power and unshakable will to her role as mother-master manipulator" in a "riveting, impeccable performance". She earned Best Supporting Actress Awards from the San Diego Film Critics Society and the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.
In 2003, Pfeiffer lent her voice for the character of goddess of chaos Eris in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, an animated film featuring Brad Pitt as the voice of Sinbad the Sailor. She had struggles with finding the character's villainies. Initially the character was "too sexual", then she lacked fun. After a third rewrite, Pfeiffer called producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and told him "You know, you really can fire me," but he assured her that this was just part of the process. Following the release of the film, she took a four-year hiatus from acting, during which she remained largely out of the public eye to devote time to her husband and children. During this time, she turned down the role of the White Witch in the fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (2005), which went to Tilda Swinton.
Pfeiffer returned to cinemas in 2007 with villainous roles in two summer blockbusters, Hairspray and Stardust, which was hailed as a successful comeback by the media. In the former, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, she starred alongside John Travolta, Christopher Walken and Queen Latifah as Velma Von Tussle, the racist manager of a television station. Although a fan of Pfeiffer's work in the musicals Grease 2 and The Fabulous Baker Boys, director Adam Shankman cast Pfeiffer largely based on her performance in Batman Returns, claiming she was his first and only choice for Velma. Although she had fun with the part, Pfeiffer described Velma as the most difficult role she had played at the time, because of her character's racism; but she was drawn to the film's important message of anti-bigotry, accepting that "in order to do a movie about racism, somebody has got to be the racist". Released to widely positive reviews, Hairspray grossed $202.5 million worldwide. Pfeiffer's performance was also critically acclaimed, with film critic David Edelstein of NPR calling her "sublime". The cast of Hairspray was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture, and won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast, the Hollywood Film Festival Award for Ensemble of the Year, and the Palm Springs International Film Festival Award for Ensemble Cast. In the fantasy adventure Stardust, Pfeiffer plays Lamia, an ancient witch who hunts a fallen star (Claire Danes) in search of eternal youth. The film received mostly positive reviews but performed moderately at the box office, earning $135.5 million globally. The New York Times film critic Stephen Holden described Pfeiffer as "as deliciously evil a witch as the movies have ever invented", writing that she "goes for broke with the relish of a star who figures she has nothing to lose."
Pfeiffer starred in Amy Heckerling's romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007), with Paul Rudd and Saoirse Ronan, portraying Rosie, a forty-year-old divorced mother working as a scriptwriter and producer for a television show who falls in love with a much younger man (Rudd). Her reported salary was $1 million, with an advance on fifteen percent of the gross. However, the film was only distributed on home video markets domestically. Reviews for I Could Never Be Your Woman were moderately positive, with critic James Berardinelli finding Pfeiffer and Rudd to "have adequate chemistry to pull off the romance," in what he described as an "enjoyable romantic comedy that has enough going for it to make it worth a recommendation." Pfeiffer starred in Personal Effects, with Ashton Kutcher, playing two grieving people coping with the pain and frustration of their loss whose bond spawns an unlikely romance. The drama premiered at Iowa City's Englert Theatre in December 2008.
Her next film, an adaptation of Colette's Chéri, reunited her with the director (Stephen Frears) and screenwriter (Christopher Hampton) of Dangerous Liaisons (1988). Pfeiffer played the role of aging retired courtesan Léa de Lonval, with Rupert Friend in the title role, with Kathy Bates as his mother. Chéri premiered at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, where it received a nomination for the Golden Bear award. The Times of London reviewed the film favorably, describing Hampton's screenplay as a "steady flow of dry quips and acerbic one-liners" and Pfeiffer's performance as "magnetic and subtle, her worldly nonchalance a mask for vulnerability and heartache". Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that it was "fascinating to observe how Pfeiffer controls her face and voice during times of painful hurt". Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times praised the "wordless scenes that catch Léa unawares, with the camera alone seeing the despair and regret that she hides from the world. It's the kind of refined, delicate acting Pfeiffer does so well, and it's a further reminder of how much we've missed her since she's been away."
2010s
Following a two-year sabbatical from acting, Pfeiffer made part of a large ensemble cast in Garry Marshall's ensemble romantic comedy New Year's Eve (2011), her second collaboration with Marshall after Frankie and Johnny. The film, also starring Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Sofía Vergara, among many others, saw her take on the supporting role of Ingrid Withers, an overwhelmed secretary befriending a deliveryman (Efron). While the film was panned by critics, it made $142 million worldwide. In 2012, she appeared with Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks in the drama People Like Us, as the mother of a struggling New York City corporate trader (Pine). Rolling Stone found her to be "luminous" in the film, and The New York Times, positively pointing out Pfeiffer and Banks, noted that their performances "partly compensate for the holes in a story whose timing is hard to swallow". People Like Us debuted to $4.26 million, described as "meager" by Box Office Mojo, and only made $12 million in North America.
Pfieffer reunited with Tim Burton, her Batman Returns director, in Dark Shadows (2012), based on the gothic television soap opera of the same name. In the film, co-starring Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter and Chloë Grace Moretz, she played Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the matriarch of the Collins family. Critical response towards the film was mixed, but writers acclaimed the actors' performances—most notably Depp and Pfeiffer's. IGN found her to be "commanding" in her role and felt that the main characters were "played by one of Burton's best ensemble casts yet". While Dark Shadows grossed a modest $79.7 million in North America, it ultimately made $245.5 million globally. In Luc Besson's mob-comedy The Family (2013), co-starring Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron and John D'Leo, she played the "tough mother" in a Mafia family wanting to change their lives under the witness protection program. Although reviews for the film were mixed, THV11 said on the cast's portrayals: "The core actors of The Family were really solid, and the whole film comes together to make a solid movie." An article in HuffPost said that "De Niro, Pfieffer and Jones all brought 100% to their roles." The film grossed $78.4 million worldwide.
Pfeiffer stated that her lack of acting throughout the 2000s was due to several reasons, including family matters and her approach to choosing roles. She stated she was intending to "work a lot" once her children left for college, mentioning that she felt her best performance was "still in her", saying how that's what she felt kept her going.
In the independent drama Where Is Kyra? (2017), Pfeiffer starred as a sensitive and fragile woman who loses her mother and "faces a crisis in which she must find a means for survival, all the while hiding her struggles from her new lover". The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2017, and received a limited release on April 6, 2018, to critical acclaim; Her role as Kyra was called the "performance of her life" by Village Voice's Bilge Ebiri, and "the performance of her career", by Rolling Stone.
Pfeiffer landed the role of Ruth Madoff for the HBO Films drama The Wizard of Lies (2017), based on the book of the same name. The film, directed by Barry Levinson, reunites her with actor Robert De Niro, who played her husband, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff. The Wizard of Lies premiered on HBO on May 20, 2017, garnering favorable reviews from critics and an audience of 1.5 million viewers, HBO's largest premiere viewership for a film in four years. Tolucan Times remarked that Pfeiffer "steals the show as Madoff's wife, Ruth, and is a remarkable lookalike", while Los Angeles Times asserted: "As Ruth, Pfeiffer convincingly portrays a pampered woman left with utterly nothing —she's lost her homes, status and, most important, her relationship with her sons." She received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Movie, in addition to a Golden Globe Award nomination.
In Darren Aronofsky's psychological horror film Mother! (2017), Pfeiffer portrayed one of the mysterious guests who interrupt the tranquil life of a couple, played by Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem. Although Mother! divided critics and audiences, reviewers praised Pfeiffer unanimously, and some found her performance worthy of an Oscar nomination. Vulture remarked: "Out of the main actors, it's Pfeiffer who is able to root the character in meaning — she bracingly marries the exploration of Biblical creation, mythological overtones, and hellish domestic commentary. There's a gravity to Pfeiffer's performance that allows her to succeed where the other main actors fail, save for brief spurts — she straddles the boundaries between embodying a symbol and granting the character enough interiority to feel like a flesh and blood woman, too."
Pfeiffer played a widowed socialite in Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express (2017), the fourth screen adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1934 novel of the same name. Featuring an ensemble cast, the mystery film follows world-renowned detective Hercule Poirot (Branagh) attempting to solve a murder, while stranded with several suspects on the Orient Express during the 1930s. She also recorded the original song "Never Forget" for the film's soundtrack. The film grossed $351.7 million worldwide and received decent reviews from critics, with praise for the performances, but criticism for not adding anything new to previous adaptations. Although some critics found its large cast underused, Pfeiffer's performance was praised, with Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times saying she delivered the film's best performance. The New Yorker's Anthony Lane found that only Pfeiffer appears to be enjoying their material, while Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle credited the film with reminding audiences that she is one of the industry's best actresses. David Edelstein of Vulture described the actress as "a hoot and a half ... stealing every scene".
Pfeiffer debuted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp, in the Ant-Man (2015) sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). Variety's Owen Gleiberman described her performance as "lovely" and "wistful", while Josh Spiegel of /Film believed the film suffers from a lack of the actress. In 2019, Pfeiffer briefly reprised the role in Avengers: Endgame, and starred alongside Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning in the dark fantasy sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, playing the villainous Queen Ingrith. Despite the film earning mixed reviews, The Plain Dealer's Laura DeMarco felt that both Jolie and Pfeiffer "clearly relish their roles."
2020s
Pfeiffer headlined the dark comedy French Exit (2020), based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Patrick deWitt, directed by Azazel Jacobs. In the film, which co-stars Lucas Hedges and Tracy Letts, Pfeiffer played a widow who moves to Paris, France, with her son (Hedges) and cat, who happens to be her reincarnated husband (Letts). The film premiered at the New York Film Festival, to a positive reception. Peter Debruge of Variety remarked that she gave a performance "for which she'll be remembered." Pfeiffer received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for her performance.
Pfeiffer portrayed former First Lady Betty Ford in the anthology drama television series The First Lady, which premiered on Showtime in April 2022. The following year, she reprised the role of Janet van Dyne in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Manohla Dargis declared her the film's M.V.P.
Pfeiffer is attached to star alongside Annette Bening in the psychological thriller, Turn of Mind, set to be directed by Gideon Raff. In 2022, she was cast in Wild Four O'Clocks, penned and directed by Peter Craig, and produced by Marc Platt and Adam Siegel.
On March 18, 2024, it was announced that Pfeiffer had been cast in the Amazon MGM holiday comedy, Oh. What. Fun. (2025) On August 8, 2024, it was announced that she would star in, as well as executive produce, the Yellowstone spin-off The Madison. On September 23, 2024, it was announced that Pfeiffer would star alongside Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning in the Apple TV+ television series, Margo's Got Money Troubles.
Acting style and reception
Pfeiffer said she sometimes feels fraudulent as an untrained actor due to her lack of conventional schooling. She credits director Milton Katselas with teaching her the difference between how an actor and their character would behave during the same scene. Essayist Angelica Jade Bastién said Pfeiffer's talent disproves any argument that untrained actors are lesser than their trained peers. Several film critics have described her as "a character actress in a screen siren's body", with Bastién profiling her as "a character actress reluctantly placed in Hollywood’s lineage of blonde bombshells". Journalist James Kaplan reported that some critics feel Pfeiffer has undersold herself by choosing character roles instead of capitalizing on her beauty. In 1993, film critic Ty Burr argued that her "unshowy performances work because they don’t call attention to themselves", although her attractiveness prevents her from being seriously considered "one of today’s best screen actresses". Pfeiffer claims she rarely accepts glamorous roles because she finds few of them compelling. Although she prefers acting in dramas over comedies, she does not have a favorite genre to perform in.
During the 1980s, Pfeiffer typically played smart, funny, and independent women, and pursued a wider range of roles in the 1990s. Early in her career, she mostly played relatable working class women, aside from the occasional upper class character. She has admitted she enjoys playing imperfect, evil, and "slightly trashy" women. In a 2021 profile, journalist Lynn Hirschberg said Pfeiffer excels in emotionally conflicted roles, while Adam Platt of New Woman and journalist Bilge Ebiri agreed that she often plays emotionally detached women. Backstage contributor Manuel Betancourt observed parallels between Pfeiffer's characters and her own determination to subvert expectations, with the actress confirming that she searches new projects for relatability. However, Town & Country senior editor Adam Rathe finds Pfeiffer dissimilar to most of her characters. Known to be highly selective about potential projects, Pfeiffer, according to IndieWire contributor Kate Erbland, carefully chooses unconventional roles to avoid being typecast. Pfeiffer's colleagues have described her as extremely committed, competent, and prepared, although she refuses to watch her own performances.
Pfeiffer has been called one of the greatest actresses of her generation. However, she has also been described as one of Hollywood's most underrated, with The Hollywood Reporter saying she "is too seldom ranked among the best of her generation". In 2009, journalist Brian D. Johnson argued that Pfeiffer had yet to demonstrate her true range, believing she could potentially be as revered as Meryl Streep if afforded the same acting opportunities, while film critic Mick LaSalle remarked that Pfeiffer's humility sometimes causes the public to overlook her as one of the industry's finest actresses. Film critic Pauline Kael named Pfeiffer one of her favorite actresses, saying she always tried to see her work. Pfeiffer is particularly renowned for her versatility, having accrued a filmography that spans period, romance, fantasy, musical, comedy, and drama. By 2016, Salon's Charles Taylor declared that no actor of the previous decade had rivaled Pfeiffer's versatility. Summarizing her career as eclectic, Erbland believes she has rarely repeated acting choices, with the actress confirming she had always aspired to play the widest possible range of characters, even when her options were limited.
Pfeiffer was one of the highest-paid actresses of the 1980s and 1990s, typically earning $9–$10 million per film during the latter decade. Aside from The Witches of Eastwick, few of her films during the 1980s were major box office successes. In 1995, The New York Times journalist Bernard Weinraub said Pfeiffer belongs to a group of respected actresses who are "not considered a big box-office draw". However, several critics reported that her performances were consistently acclaimed, despite some mediocre films and box office returns. Regardless, Pfeiffer was the sixth highest-grossing domestic box office star of 1990, and one of the few actresses whose salary corresponded with their box office appeal as of 1996, according to UPI. In 1996, Entertainment Weekly ranked her the 67th greatest movie star of all time. By 1999, Variety named Pfeiffer "the female movie star most likely to improve a film's box-office appeal". In 2004, People ranked her among The 100 Greatest Movie Stars of Our Time, naming her 20th in the "icons" category.
Pfeiffer was awarded a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007. She was honored by TCL Chinese Theater on April 25, 2025 with a hand and footprints ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Public image
Pfeiffer has been described as one of the world's most beautiful and talented actresses. After being typecast in early roles based on her appearance, she initially struggled to convince directors to take her seriously as an actor, and thus sought out more challenging opportunities. Journalists Candice Russell of the Sun-Sentinel and Rachel Syme of The New Yorker observed that, early in her career, critics regularly undermined Pfeiffer's work by focusing on her appearance instead of her acting.
Pfeiffer was considered one of the leading sex symbols of the 1980s and 1990s, and several publications dubbed her one of the era's "It girls". In 1990, Pfeiffer appeared on the inaugural cover of People magazine's annual "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" issue. She has been featured in the "Most Beautiful" issue a record-breaking six times throughout the decade (from 1990 to 1993, and in 1996 and 1999). In 2004, the magazine named her one of the most beautiful women of all time. In 2011, the Los Angeles Times Magazine featured her among the "50 Most Beautiful Women in Film". In 2020, Vogue Paris listed Pfeiffer as one of the 21 most beautiful American actresses of all time. Men's Health ranked Pfeiffer 45th and 67th on their all-time hottest women and sex symbol rankings, respectively. Pfeiffer has been famously self-deprecating about her own appearance, at times mocking her trademark features. At least two of her films, Stardust (2007) and Chéri (2009), explore beautiful, youth-obsessed women struggling to accept aging, themes Pfeiffer personally identified with. According to several plastic surgeons, she possesses some of the most requested celebrity features among clients. In 2001, plastic surgeon Stephen R. Marquardt declared Pfeiffer the most beautiful face in Hollywood. Nicknamed the "golden ratio", Pfeiffer's face, Marquardt claims, adheres to a mathematical formula in which he determined a person's ideal mouth is 1,618 times as wide as their nose. Several outlets have commented on Pfeiffer's perceived ability to physically age slowly.
Famously private like the characters she plays, Matthew Jacobs of HuffPost crowned Pfeiffer Hollywood's foremost "movie star who doesn't walk around feeling like a movie star", which he believes allows her to play authentic characters without letting her fame compromise her talent. Analyzing her public profile for the repertory cinema Metograph, Luke Goodsell said few stars of the 1990s were as elusive as Pfeiffer, writing, "Though a sex symbol, she was never a femme fatale like Sharon Stone; she could play quirky and romantic, but she wasn’t an American sweetheart like Julia Roberts or Meg Ryan; a serious talent, she was rarely considered in the company of Meryl Streep or Jodie Foster". Pfeiffer is notorious for disliking giving press interviews. Describing herself as "the worst interviewee that ever was", she believes it is not an actor's responsibility to promote a film project. Film critic Michael Sragow observed that the actress can at times appear "flustered or elusive" during interviews. In 1995, journalist Timothy Egan likened profiling Pfeiffer in the past to covering geology, a quality he said she had since outgrown. Vikram Murthi of The Nation believes Pfeiffer's aversion to publicity "has lent her an air of gravitas, of someone who directs a spotlight rather than chases after it".
Media commentators noted that Pfeiffer had unexpectedly become a "pop-music muse" in 2014; her name is mentioned in two of the year's most popular songs: "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars, and "Riptide" by Vance Joy. Joy was particularly inspired by Pfeiffer's transformation from Selina Kyle into Catwoman in Batman Returns, whereas Ronson cited The Fabulous Baker Boys as his favorite Pfeiffer film. In 2021, singer-songwriter Ethel Cain released her debut single "Michelle Pfeiffer", which the artist named after the actress because "I've always ... thought she was a picture perfect bombshell". Australian cricketers speak of "getting a Michelle" when they take five wickets in an innings. In cricketing parlance, this is referred to as a "five for", a near-homophone for "Pfeiffer", which resulted in the nickname "Michelle". M3GAN 2.0 (2025) director, Gerard Johnstone, revealed that Pfeiffer was the original inspiration behind the film's counterpoint robot, AMELIA.
Other ventures
Product and endorsements
In 2005, Pfeiffer served as the face of Giorgio Armani's spring campaign; the designer has often dressed her for public appearances.
In 2019, she launched a collection of fine fragrances called Henry Rose. It is the first fine fragrance line to be both Cradle to Cradle Certified and EWG Verified.
In 2025, Pfeiffer fronted fashion house Yves Saint Laurent's Summer 2025 collection.
Philanthropy
Having been a smoker for ten years (she quit in 1992), and having a niece who suffered from leukemia for ten years, Pfeiffer decided to support the American Cancer Society. She also supports the Humane Society. In 2016, she attended the Healthy Child Healthy World's L.A. Gala for people who lead organizations for children's environmental health. In December that year, Pfeiffer, who was vegan at the time, joined the board of directors for Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group based in Washington. D.C.
Personal life
Soon after coming to Hollywood at age twenty, Pfeiffer was taken in by a seemingly friendly couple who ran a metaphysics and vegetarian cult. They helped her to cease drinking, smoking, and doing drugs. Over time, they took control of her entire life. Much of her money went to the group. "I was brainwashed," she said, "I gave them an enormous amount of money."
At an acting class taught by Milton Katselas in Los Angeles, she met fellow budding actor Peter Horton, and they began dating. They married in Santa Monica in 1981; it was on their honeymoon that she discovered she had won the lead role in Grease 2. Horton directed Pfeiffer in a 1985 ABC TV special, One Too Many, where she played the high school girlfriend of an alcoholic student (Val Kilmer). In 1987, the real-life couple played an on-screen couple in the 'Hospital' segment of John Landis's comedy skit compilation Amazon Women on the Moon.
In 1988, Pfeiffer had an affair with John Malkovich, her co-star in Dangerous Liaisons, who at the time was married to Glenne Headly.
Pfeiffer and Horton decided to separate in 1988, and were divorced two years later. Horton later blamed the split on their devotion to their work rather than their marriage. Pfeiffer then had a three-year relationship with actor/producer Fisher Stevens, whom Pfeiffer met when she was starring as Olivia in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Twelfth Night, where Stevens played Sir Andrew Aguecheek.
In 1993, Pfeiffer married television writer and producer David E. Kelley. She made a brief uncredited cameo appearance in one episode of Kelley's television series Picket Fences and played the title character in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, for which Kelley wrote the screenplay. She had entered into private adoption proceedings before she met Kelley, and in March 1993 adopted a newborn daughter, Claudia Rose, who was christened on Pfeiffer's and Kelley's wedding day. In 1994, Pfeiffer gave birth to a son, John Henry Kelley II, named for his grandfather and Pfeiffer's father-in-law, United States Hockey Hall of Fame coach John Henry "Jack" Kelley. In September 2025, Pfeiffer revealed that she had become a grandmother in 2024.
Pfeiffer experimented with a plant-based diet for a few years but later added meat to her diet and advocated a "paleoish" diet.
Acting credits and accolades
According to review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Pfeiffer's most acclaimed films include The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Hairspray (2007), Married to the Mob (1988), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), The Age of Innocence (1993), Batman Returns (1992), Scarface (1983), Where Is Kyra? (2017), The Prince of Egypt (1998), and Stardust (2007).
Pfeiffer has received three Academy Award nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Dangerous Liaisons (1988); and Best Actress for The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) and Love Field (1992). She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama for The Fabulous Baker Boys, and has been nominated seven more times for her performances in Married to the Mob (1988), The Russia House (1990), Frankie and Johnny (1991), Love Field, The Age of Innocence (1993), The Wizard of Lies (2017), and French Exit (2020). For Dangerous Liaisons, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She also received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for The Wizard of Lies.
References
External links
Michelle Pfeiffer at IMDb
Michelle Pfeiffer at the TCM Movie Database
Michelle Pfeiffer on Instagram
Michelle Pfeiffer at Rotten Tomatoes
Michelle Pfeiffer in the Hollywood Walk of Fame Directory
Michelle Pfeiffer discography at Discogs
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Selena Gomez
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Selena Marie Gomez ( sə-LEE-nə GOH-mez; born July 22, 1992) is an American actress and singer. Gomez began her career as a child actress, appearing on the children's television series Barney & Friends (2002–2004), and emerged as a teen idol for her leading role as Alex Russo on the Disney Channel sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place (2007–2012). She signed with Hollywood Records in 2008 and formed the band Selena Gomez & the Scene, which released three albums: Kiss & Tell (2009), A Year Without Rain (2010), and When the Sun Goes Down (2011).
Gomez has released three solo studio albums, starting with the EDM-infused debut, Stars Dance (2013), which featured the top-ten single "Come & Get It". She followed with Revival (2015), which included "Good for You", "Same Old Love", and "Hands to Myself". Her third album, Rare (2020), produced her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Lose You to Love Me". She also released the Spanish EP Revelación (2021) and her fourth album I Said I Love You First (2025), with her husband Benny Blanco. Gomez has collaborated on various singles, including "We Don't Talk Anymore", "It Ain't Me", "Wolves", "Taki Taki", and "Calm Down (Remix)", the last of which is widely regarded as the most successful Afrobeats song of all time.
Gomez has starred in films such as Another Cinderella Story (2008), Monte Carlo (2011), Spring Breakers (2012), The Fundamentals of Caring (2016), The Dead Don't Die (2019), and Emilia Pérez (2024). She also voiced Mavis in the Hotel Transylvania film franchise (2012–2022). Gomez has produced series such as 13 Reasons Why (2017–2020), Living Undocumented (2019) and Selena + Chef (2020–2023), and has played a lead role in Only Murders in the Building since 2021. Her accolades include an American Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, two MTV Video Music Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and 16 Guinness World Records.
Gomez has worked with charitable organizations. She advocates for mental health, and gender, racial, and LGBT equality, and has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2009. She founded the cosmetic company Rare Beauty in 2020, valued at $2 billion in 2024, and non-profit Rare Impact Fund. She has appeared in listicles such as the Time 100 (2020) and Forbes 30 Under 30 (2016 and 2020), was named Billboard's Woman of the Year (2017), and Latin Women of the Year (2025), and was made a member of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Government of France (2024). She is the most-followed woman on Instagram, and among the wealthiest musicians.
Early life
Selena Marie Gomez was born on July 22, 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas, to Ricardo Joel Gomez and Texas-born former stage actress Amanda Dawn "Mandy" (née Cornett) Teefey. She was named after Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla. Her father is of Mexican descent, while her mother, who was adopted, has Italian ancestry. Gomez's paternal grandparents emigrated to Texas from Monterrey, Mexico in the 1970s. She has called herself "a proud third-generation American-Mexican" and once said "My family does have quinceañeras, and we go to the communion church. We do everything that's Catholic, but we don't really have anything traditional except go to the park and have barbecues on Sundays after church." Gomez's Spanish fluency waned after age seven, when she began working on television.
Her parents divorced when she was five years old, and she remained with her mother. Gomez's mother and her second husband, Brian Teefey, had a daughter, Gracie Elliot Teefey, born in 2013. Through her father and his second wife, Sara, she has a half-sister, Victoria "Tori" Gomez, and a step-brother named Marcus. For most of her childhood, she was homeschooled, save for a brief period when she attended a traditional school as a young girl. She earned her high-school diploma through homeschooling in May 2010.
Gomez was born when her mother was 16 years old. The family had financial troubles throughout Gomez's childhood, with her mother struggling to provide for the pair. At one point, Gomez recalls that they had to search for quarters to buy gas for their car. Her mother later recalled that the two would frequently walk to their local dollar store to buy spaghetti for dinner.
Gomez has said, "I was frustrated that my parents weren't together, and never saw the light at the end of the tunnel where my mom was working hard to provide a better life for me. I'm terrified of what I would have become if I'd stayed [in Texas]." She later added that her mother "was really strong around me. Having me at 16 had to have been a big responsibility. She gave up everything for me, had three jobs, supported me, sacrificed her life for me." Gomez had a close relationship with her grandparents as a child and appeared in various pageants. Her grandparents often took care of her while her parents finished their schooling, and she has said they "raised her" until she found success in show business.
Career
2002–2006: Career beginnings
Gomez first gained an interest in pursuing a career in entertainment watching her mother prepare for stage productions. In 2002, she began her acting career on the children's television series Barney & Friends, portraying the character Gianna. The show was her first acting gig. Gomez recalled of the experience, "I was very shy when I was little [...] I didn't know what 'camera right' was. I didn't know what blocking was. I learned everything from Barney." Gomez appeared in thirteen episodes of the show between 2002 and 2004, as well as in two direct-to-video films; the show's producers released her "when she became too old" for the series. While working on Barney & Friends, Gomez had bit part roles in the film Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003) and the made-for-television film Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire (2005). She guest starred in a 2006 episode of the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
2007–2012: Breakthrough with Disney and Selena Gomez & the Scene
Gomez was given a recurring role on the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana in 2007 as pop star Mikayla. During this time, Gomez filmed pilot episodes for two potential Disney Channel series; the first was a Suite Life spin-off titled Arwin!, and the second was a Lizzie McGuire spin-off titled What's Stevie Thinking? She later auditioned for a role in the network's series Wizards of Waverly Place, ultimately winning the lead role of Alex Russo. Gomez and her mother subsequently moved to Los Angeles.
In Wizards of Waverly Place, Gomez played a teenage girl in a family of wizards who own a restaurant in New York City. It quickly became a success for the Disney Channel and marked Gomez's breakthrough into the mainstream. The role brought Gomez "teen idol" status, and she became one of the ten highest-paid children's TV stars of all time. The series received numerous awards and nominations, and won the Outstanding Children's Program at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. It garnered positive reviews and particular praise for Gomez's comic timing and sarcastic delivery.
In 2008, while working on the second season of Wizards of Waverly Place, Gomez voiced Helga in the animated film Horton Hears a Who! The film became a commercial and critical success, grossing over US$300 million worldwide. That same year, she starred as an aspiring dancer Mary Santiago in the teen musical comedy film Another Cinderella Story, the second installment of the A Cinderella Story series, released on direct-to-video. This role earned her a Young Artist Award. She contributed three songs to the soundtrack, including the single "Tell Me Something I Don't Know", which became her first entry on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. She also recorded the song "Fly to Your Heart" for the soundtrack of the animated film Tinker Bell.
At age 16, Gomez signed with Hollywood Records, and formed her own production company, July Moon Production. Gomez was slated to release two films under the company. The first, titled What Boys Want, would feature Gomez as a girl who could hear the thoughts of men. She later announced a film adaptation of the novel Thirteen Reasons Why, in which she was to play a young girl who commits suicide; ultimately, neither film was made. Gomez later produced a television adaptation of the novel.
Gomez continued to enjoy mainstream success throughout the following year, appearing as Alex Russo in a crossover episode of the Disney Channel series The Suite Life on Deck in 2009. She made a guest appearance on the Disney Channel series Sonny with a Chance. She appeared in a remix of the Forever the Sickest Kids' single "Whoa Oh! (Me vs. Everyone)" in April of that year. Gomez, along with Demi Lovato, starred in the Disney Channel film Princess Protection Program, which aired in June 2009. The film had a total of 8.5 million viewers during its premiere. The pair recorded the song "One and the Same" for the film's soundtrack. She next starred in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, a television film based on the series. The film premiered in August to an audience of 11.4 million viewers, becoming cable's number-one scripted telecast of the year and was the second-most watched TV movie on cable, behind High School Musical 2. Roxana Hadadi of The Washington Post credited all three performers—Gomez, David Henrie and Jake T. Austin—for their "acting skills that carry the film". The film won the series its second consecutive Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards. Gomez recorded three songs on the television series and film's soundtrack, including the single "Magic". She later provided the voice of Princess Selenia in the English-language version of the French animated/live-action film Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard.
Hoping to cross over into the music industry, Gomez formed the pop rock band Selena Gomez & the Scene under her deal with Hollywood Records. The name of the band is an "ironic jab" at the people who called Gomez a "wannabe scene". The group's debut studio album, Kiss & Tell, influenced by pop rock and electronic rock, was released in September 2009. It debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the U.S. with first-week sales of 66,000 copies. The album received mixed reviews, with some critics praising its "fun" nature and others criticizing Gomez's vocal performance. Although the lead single was not commercially successful, the second single, "Naturally", became a breakthrough hit, reaching number twenty-nine in the U.S. and number seven in the United Kingdom.
In 2010, Gomez starred alongside Joey King in Ramona and Beezus, a film adaptation of the children's novel series by Beverly Cleary, in which she portrayed Beezus Quimby. The film was well received by critics; Roger Ebert described it as "a sweet salute", and found both actresses "appealing". Additionally, Gomez reprised the voice role of Princess Selenia in Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds. That same year, Selena Gomez & the Scene released their second studio album A Year Without Rain, which debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 at number four with sales of over 66,000. The album received mixed to positive reviews, where some critics reacting negatively to Gomez's Auto-Tuned vocals. Both of the record's singles, "Round & Round" and "A Year Without Rain", achieved moderate success. The band was awarded Favorite Breakout Artist at the 37th People's Choice Awards.
The band's third and final studio album, When the Sun Goes Down, was released the following year, to mixed reviews. It debuted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 78,000 copies, and peaked at number three the following week. The album's lead single, "Who Says", was the band's highest charting effort, peaking at number twenty-one in the U.S. Its second single, "Love You like a Love Song", went on to become the band's highest performing single in the U.S. to date, peaking at number twenty-two on the Billboard Hot 100, where it spent 38 weeks, and reached the top ten in Canada, topping the chart in Russia. Alex Frank from Pitchfork called the song "a cult karaoke classic". In 2022, Billboard ranked the song as the biggest song that peaked at number twenty-two. Billboard featured Gomez on their 21 Under 21 list in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Gomez starred in the comedy film Monte Carlo (2011), with Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy; she played the lead role of Grace, a teenager "mistaken for a socialite" named Cordelia, also portrayed by Gomez, "while on a trip to Paris". In preparation for the role, she learned to play polo and received dialect coaching to speak in two different British accents; Gomez's accent was described as "unconvincing". The film received mixed reviews from critics. Nick Schager from Slant Magazine found Gomez "cute, but too bland to lend the proceedings any vivid character, except for the few scenes that allow her to indulge her cold, sarcastic, nasty side as Cordelia". Gomez appeared in a cameo role in the film The Muppets. She also hosted in June the MuchMusic Video Awards, and in November the MTV Europe Music Awards.
2012–2014: Stars Dance and films
Gomez confirmed in January 2012 that she would be taking a break from music, placing Selena Gomez & the Scene on hiatus. The hiatus eventually became a permanent split. Gomez described her time with the band as an "exploratory period" as a musician, after which she decided to pursue a solo music career: "And there was a moment when I felt like I could do it and I wanted to try it on my own". That year, Wizards of Waverly Place officially ended its run on the Disney Channel after four seasons.
Gomez starred in the exploitation film Spring Breakers (2012), alongside James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine. It was directed by Harmony Korine. The film premiered in September at the 69th Venice International Film Festival, and was released the following year. The story followed four college-aged girls who decide to rob a fast food restaurant in order to pay for their spring break. Gomez played a more mature character than she had previously and reportedly had a "bit of a meltdown on set". Spring Breakers received generally positive reviews from critics. Some described it as a potential cult classic. The film entered various retrospective "best of" lists, including the BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century. Manohla Dargis from The New York Times wrote that this role gave her "the chance to simulate the behavior that feeds the tabloids without the humiliations and career-crushing price paid".
Gomez played the voice role of Mavis Dracula in the animated film Hotel Transylvania, which premiered in September at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released in theaters the same month to mixed reviews. Hotel Transylvania was commercially successful, grossing US$358 million worldwide. In 2013, Gomez starred alongside Ethan Hawke in the action thriller film Getaway, in which she played a young hacker. The film was a critical and commercial failure, and earned Gomez a nomination for Worst Actress at the 34th Golden Raspberry Awards. Christopher Orr of The Atlantic described her as "a kid trying desperately to act like a grownup, but with no real idea what that might entail". She also served as executive producer and starred in the television special The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex on the Disney Channel.
Despite earlier claims that she would be taking a break from music, Gomez released "Come & Get It" in April 2013; it served as the lead single of her solo debut album. It became Gomez's first top-ten entry on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, reaching number six, and also reached the top-ten in Canada and the U.K. Stars Dance was released in July. The record is musically rooted in EDM and electropop. It became her first album to debut at number one in the U.S., selling 97,000 copies in its first week, and also reached number one in Canada. It received mixed reviews from music critics, with some noticing her inability to create her own musical identity and panning her vocal abilities. The album's second single, "Slow Down", achieved moderate success. Gomez incorporated choreographed dance routines into the album's music videos and her promotional live performances, having been inspired by artists such as Janet Jackson and Britney Spears. The video of "Come & Get It" won the Best Pop Video at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.
Gomez embarked on her Stars Dance Tour in August 2013. After performing in North America and Europe, Gomez canceled the Australian and Asian legs of the tour in December 2013, claiming that she would be taking a hiatus to spend time with her family. In January 2014, it was reported that Gomez had spent two weeks at Dawn at The Meadows, which is a treatment center in Wickenburg, Arizona, that specializes in treating addiction and trauma in young people. Her representative stated that she had spent time there "voluntarily [...] but not for substance abuse". Gomez confirmed in 2015 that she had been diagnosed with lupus and that after canceling the tour she entered rehab to undergo chemotherapy. Gomez played Nina Pennington, an innocent straight-A student, in Behaving Badly (2014). The project, filmed prior to Gomez's stint in rehab, was released in August to a generally negative critical and commercial reception. However, critics deemed Gomez's performance superior to the film. Gomez also had a supporting role in the drama Rudderless (2014), the directorial debut of William H. Macy. The independent film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and received a mixed reception from critics. At the 2014 Teen Choice Awards, Gomez was honored with the Ultimate Choice Award for her "contributions to the entertainment world".
In April 2014, Gomez had fired her mother and stepfather as her managers, who had served in those roles since her career at Disney. Gomez later signed with the WMA and Brillstein companies to manage her career. The Hollywood Reporter informed: "Selena's desire to find fresh handlers is part of a strategy to "move on into more adult-oriented fare in film and music"", and finally get rid of the image of the "Disney's Teen Idol". This change fueled rumors that her contract with Hollywood Records was coming to an end. In November 2014, Gomez surprise-released her new single "The Heart Wants What It Wants", and confirmed after months of speculation that she would be releasing a compilation album to complete her contract with her label. The single became her second top-ten hit in the U.S., and reached the top-ten in Canada. That same month, Gomez released her first greatest hits album, For You. The compilation album debuted at number twenty-four on the U.S. Billboard 200, earning 35,506 album-equivalent units in its first week. Gomez officially parted ways with Hollywood Records and later signed with Interscope Records in December 2014.
2015–2016: Revival
While working on her second studio album, Gomez collaborated with German DJ Zedd on "I Want You to Know", released in February 2015, and debuted at number-seventeen in the U.S. In May, she appeared in Taylor Swift's music video for "Bad Blood". Gomez released "Good for You" featuring rapper ASAP Rocky as the lead single from her second studio album, in June. The song debuted at number-one on the Digital Song Sales chart with first-week sales of 179,000 copies—the best sales week in Gomez's career for a single. "Good for You" became Gomez's first top-five single on the Billboard Hot 100, and her first single to top the Pop Airplay chart. It also reached the top-ten on charts in Australia and Canada. Gomez later reprised the voice role of Mavis in Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015); the film was met with a positive critical reception and commercial success upon release, grossing US$474 million worldwide. She was awarded Favorite Animated Movie Voice at the 42nd People's Choice Awards.
Gomez released her second studio album, Revival, in October 2015. It is primarily a dance-pop and electropop record with R&B vibes. The album was reviewed positively by critics, who praised its production and lyrical content. Writing for Rolling Stone, Brittany Spanos stated that "Revival is an audacious name for a 23-year-old singer's second album, but from start to finish, Gomez earns it," noting that "[t]his is the sound of a newly empowered pop artist growing into her strengths like never before." Kristen S.Hé of Billboard called it "one of the most influential pop albums of the late 2010s." Rob Sheffileld from Rolling Stone Australia called it "one of the past decade's most influential pop albums". The album debuted at number-one on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 117,000 album units, and was certified platinum by the RIAA. "Same Old Love" was released as the album's second single and topped the Pop Airplay chart. It also peaked at number-five in the U.S., tying with "Good for You" as Gomez's highest-charting single at the time, and reached the top-ten in Canada. "Hands to Myself" served as the album's third single and became her third consecutive number-one on the Pop Airplay, making Gomez the sixth woman to score at least three number-one singles on the Pop Airplay chart from a single set. The single also peaked within the top-ten in the U.S., and the top-five in Canada. "Kill Em with Kindness" was released as the Revival's fourth and final single four months later. For her performance on Billboard's music charts, Gomez received the Chart-Topper Award at the 2015 Billboard Women in Music event.
Gomez was a key advisor during the ninth season of the reality singing competition The Voice. She made a cameo appearance in Adam McKay's film The Big Short (2015). In 2016, Gomez starred as Dot, a young runaway hitchhiker, in the comedy-drama The Fundamentals of Caring with Paul Rudd, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and was released on Netflix five months later. The film received a positive critical response; Tristram Fane Saunders of The Daily Telegraph described Gomez's performance as "impressive" and "mature". Gomez performed as the musical guest on an episode of the NBC late-night sketch comedy Saturday Night Live in January 2016. Gomez played the president of a sorority in the comedy Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016); the film grossed US$108 million worldwide, and received mixed to positive reviews.
Gomez embarked on her worldwide Revival Tour in May 2016. She claimed that the tour would focus solely on her as an artist and would feature less choreography and fewer effects than her previous tour. Gomez began working on her third studio album while touring and added a new song titled "Feel Me" to the setlist of her Revival Tour. The song was later released in February 2020, due to high demand from fans. After touring in North America, Asia and Oceania, she canceled the European and South America legs in August 2016 due to anxiety, panic attacks and depression caused by her lupus.
Gomez featured on Charlie Puth's single, "We Don't Talk Anymore". The song was an international success, and reached the top-ten in the U.S., Australia, France, Spain, and topped the charts in Italy; and was certified 5× platinum by the RIAA. The music video went on to surpass 3 billion views on YouTube. Gomez had a supporting role in In Dubious Battle (2016) starring and directed by James Franco. The film had its world premiere at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, and was met with underwhelming reviews. She also guest starred in the Comedy Central variety sketch series Inside Amy Schumer. Gomez and Canadian singer Tory Lanez were featured on Norwegian DJ Cashmere Cat's single, "Trust Nobody".
Following the cancelation of her tour, Gomez rechecked into rehab to focus on her mental health and was noticeably absent from social media. At that time, she was the most followed person on Instagram, and became the first person to reach 100 million followers on the platform. In February 2023, she regained her status as the most-followed woman on the platform, and became the first woman to reach 400 million followers the following month. Gomez made her first public appearance since entering rehab at the 2016 American Music Awards, where she was nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Artist of the Year, the first of which she won. At the 2016 iHeartRadio Music Awards, Gomez won Biggest Triple Threat, and at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards, she was nominated for two awards including Top Female Artist. In the same year, she was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in the music category, and again in 2020 in its "All-Star Alumni" category.
2017–2019: Standalone releases and 13 Reasons Why
Gomez and the Norwegian DJ Kygo released a single together, "It Ain't Me", in February 2017. The collaboration reached top ten of most major music charts worldwide, including the U.S. and the U.K., and attained top five peaks in Australia, Canada, Germany and many European countries. The song received nominations at major awards around the world, including Top Dance/Electronic Song at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards, and it also her best-selling song in the UK, selling over 1.4 million chart units.
Gomez served as executive producer for the series adaptation of the novel Thirteen Reasons Why. The show premiered on Netflix in March 2017. The series drew backlash from various mental health charities and suicide prevention communities over "dangerous content", with some people feeling the show glamorized suicide. Gomez addressed the controversy, saying that "We stayed very true to the book and that's initially what [author] Jay Asher created was a beautifully tragic, complicated yet suspenseful story and I think that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to do it justice and, yeah, [the backlash is] gonna come no matter what. It's not an easy subject to talk about, but I'm very fortunate with how it's doing. Despite the controversy, the first season was a critical success. However, the other three seasons received generally negative reviews. 13 Reasons Why was the most tweeted about show of 2017, and the most-watched original streaming series of 2018. The series ended after four seasons in June 2020. Gomez recorded a cover version of the song "Only You" for the series' first season soundtrack.
In May 2017, Gomez released the single "Bad Liar", alongside a vertical music video which was available for streaming only through Spotify; it was the first-ever music video to premiere on Spotify. The song received universal acclaim from music critics, with some deeming it Gomez's best song to date; Billboard ranked it as the best song of 2017. Rolling Stone ranked "Bad Liar" at number 39 on its 2019 list of best songs of the 2010s. Winston Cook-Wilson of Spin magazine found Gomez's vocals pristine and the track "charmingly weird", calling its lyrics and sample usage "harebrained but ultimately brilliant". Gomez released the single "Fetish" featuring rapper Gucci Mane two month later. In October 2017, Gomez and EDM producer Marshmello released the single "Wolves". The song was a commercial success, and reached the top ten on charts in Australia, Canada, the U.K, and several European countries, peaking at number twenty in the U.S. Later that year, Gomez was named Billboard's Woman of the Year, in recognition of her influence and commercial success.
In May 2018, Gomez released the single "Back to You", from the 13 Reasons Why Season 2 Soundtrack. It reached the top-ten in a variety of charts in European countries, top-five in Australia and Canada, and reached top-twenty in the U.S. and the U.K. Gomez voiced Mavis again in Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, which was released in July. With box office earnings of US$528 million, the film was a commercial success, and received mixed to positive reviews. Gomez featured on DJ Snake's song "Taki Taki" alongside Ozuna and Cardi B, released in September. The single achieved global success, reaching the top-ten in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, topped the charts in Spain and several Latin American countries, and peaked at number eleven in the U.S. The song has received numerous awards and nominations including, nominations for the two Billboard Music Awards and, but ultimately won Song of the Year at the 2019 Latin American Music Awards. From 2011 to 2018, Gomez had a streak of 16 consecutive top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, which is the longest active run of any artist according to Billboard. Gomez also featured on Julia Michaels's song "Anxiety", released in January 2019, and the following month, her collaboration titled "I Can't Get Enough" with Benny Blanco, Tainy and J Balvin, was released.
Gomez appeared in Jim Jarmusch's comedy horror The Dead Don't Die (2019). The film had its world premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it generated mixed reviews. That year, she starred in Woody Allen's romantic comedy A Rainy Day in New York, with Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning. Due to a resurgence of the 1992 sexual abuse allegation against Allen prompted by the MeToo movement, Gomez made a donation of over $1 million, exceeding her salary from the film, to the Time's Up initiative. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but Gomez's performance was praised; Variety's Jessica Kiang wrote: "Gomez comes out the best of the younger cast, husking her way through some of the films better lines." Gomez served as an executive producer for the Netflix docuseries Living Undocumented, released in October 2019,
which follows eight undocumented families in America. The docuseries was a critical success, and was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy Award. In an op-ed for Time on October 1, 2019, Gomez wrote she was approached about the project in 2017 and decided to become involved after watching footage that captured "the shame, uncertainty, and fear I saw my own family struggle with. But it also captured the hope, optimism, and patriotism so many undocumented immigrants still hold in their hearts despite the hell they go through."
2020–2023: Rare, Revelación, and Only Murders in the Building
On October 23, 2019, Gomez released "Lose You to Love Me" as the lead single from her third studio album. The next day, she surprise-released the album's promotional single, "Look at Her Now". "Lose You to Love Me" became her first number-one song in the US and Canada, and reached the top five of various national charts worldwide, including Australia and the UK. Rare was released on January 10, 2020, and debuted atop the US Billboard 200, earning 112,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. It became her third consecutive number-one album in the US, and topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and several other territories, whilst peaking at number two in the UK. Primarily a dance-pop record, Rare features elements of R&B, electronic music, and alternative pop. The album received positive reviews from music critics, who praised its production and cohesiveness, with many calling it Gomez's best album to date; Jem Aswad of Variety labeled Rare "one of the best pop albums to be released in recent memory". Two other singles were released from the album: the title track, in conjunction with the album, and the third and final single "Boyfriend", released with the deluxe edition in April 2020.
In January 2020, Gomez voiced a giraffe in the adventure film Dolittle, directed by Stephen Gaghan. The film, starring Robert Downey Jr., was a box office disappointment, and received negative reviews from critics, who called it "too long [and] lifeless". Gomez hosted and executive produced the HBO Max cooking show Selena + Chef, which features her joined by a different chef each episode; this was initially implemented remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Each episode highlights a food-related charity. The show premiered in August 2020, and was well received by critics. It ran for four seasons till September 2022, and was nominated for Outstanding Culinary Series at the 50th Daytime Emmy Awards. Gomez won a Critics' Choice Real TV Award for her work on the program. In May 2023, Food Network ordered two projects to be hosted by Gomez. The first was Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays (2023), a four-part holiday special and extension of Selena + Chef, which was also nominated for Outstanding Culinary Series. The second became Selena + Restaurant, an interactive cooking series co-hosted with Raquelle Stevens; it premiered in May 2024. Gomez served as a producer for both programs.
In June 2020, Gomez featured in a remix of Trevor Daniel's song, "Past Life". Gomez executive produced two films that year; the romantic comedy The Broken Hearts Gallery, released in September 2020, to positive reviews, and the teen comedy-drama This Is the Year. In August, she collaborated with South Korean girl group Blackpink for "Ice Cream". The song peaked at number thirteen in the US, and achieved the third-highest 24-hour debut for a music video on YouTube at the time, with over 79 million views. That year, Gomez was honored by The Latin Recording Academy as one of the Leading Ladies of Entertainment. She was also named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Gomez released her first Spanish-language project, an EP titled Revelación, in March 2021. The record blends reggaeton, latin pop, R&B genres with urbano elements, marking a departure from the dance-pop sound of its predecessor, Rare. It debuted at number twenty-two in the US, shifting 23,000 equivalent album units in its first week of release, marking the largest sales week for a Latin album by a woman at the time, since Shakira's El Dorado in 2017. It also debuted atop the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, becoming the first album by a woman to do so, also since 2017's El Dorado. The EP received universal acclaim according to Metacritic, a website collecting reviews from professional music critics; it was nominated for Best Latin Pop Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. It also received Latin Pop Album of the Year nominations from the Billboard Latin Music, Latin American Music and Lo Nuestro award ceremonies. Gomez's expansion of her artistry was praised; Entertainment Weekly's Marcus Jones called her "a far more versatile musician than she's been given credit for". It spawned three singles: "De Una Vez", "Baila Conmigo" with Rauw Alejandro, and "Selfish Love" with DJ Snake. With this EP and the single "Baila Conmigo", she became the first female act to top the US Latin Albums and Latin Airplay charts simultaneously in over a decade. The music video for "De Una Vez" was nominated for Best Short Form Music Video at the 22nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards. Gomez performed at the 2021 UEFA Champions League final opening ceremony in May. In August, she collaborated with Colombian singer Camilo on a song titled "999".
Gomez starred in and executive produced the mystery-comedy series Only Murders in the Building alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short, which premiered on Hulu in August 2021, and set the record for the most-watched comedy premiere in the platform's history. Ahead of the official premiere of the series, Gomez revealed that she was happy to have played a character that matched her current actual age, saying that she "signed [her] life away" to The Walt Disney Company at the start of her career and that she "did not know what she was doing". As of August 2024, Only Murders in the Building is the most-watched original comedy series on Hulu. The series has received critical acclaim throughout its four-season run, and won numerous accolades. The performances and chemistry among the main trio were praised by critics; Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "Gomez is a true co-star in the series and does a superb job of meshing with Martin and Short to form one of the more entertaining albeit unlikely friendship trios in recent memory." Gomez won the Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series; she was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series, and thrice for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. Gomez received her first nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, marking the fourth time a Latina was a nominee for comedy series. With a third consecutive nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2024, Gomez became the most-nominated Latina producer in the category's history.
Gomez reprised the voice role of Mavis, and also served as an executive producer, for the fourth and final installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022). The film was released on Amazon Prime Video in January to mixed reviews. Gomez was nominated as executive producer for a Children's and Family Emmy Award. She collaborated with British band Coldplay on "Let Somebody Go", released as a single in February. For her work as a featured artist on Coldplay's ninth studio album, Music of the Spheres, she was nominated for Album of the Year at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. In May, Gomez hosted an episode of the NBC late-night sketch comedy Saturday Night Live. She later made a cameo appearance on the show in December. In July, Gomez executive produced the ViX+ docuseries Mi Vecino, El Cartel.
In August, Gomez was featured on the remix of Nigerian artist Rema's song, "Calm Down". An international success, it peaked at number three on the Billboard Global 200. The single became Gomez's ninth top-ten in the US, peaking at number three; and her second number-one in Canada, spending nine weeks atop the Canadian Hot 100. It topped the Global Excl. US, Pop Airplay, and Radio Songs charts for two, five, and 10 weeks, respectively, becoming Gomez's first leader on the former two. "Calm Down" became the highest- and longest-charting African artist-led song on the Hot 100; the longest-running number-one of all time on the Billboard US Afrobeats Songs chart, with 58 weeks at the summit; and the longest-charting song in the top 10 and overall on the Pop Airplay chart, with 45 and 71 weeks respectively. Billboard called it "Afrobeats' biggest crossover hit while Variety described it as the "song of two summers". At the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, the song was nominated for Song of the Year, and won Best Afrobeats; while it won Top Afrobeats Song at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards. It became the first African artist-led track to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify and 1 billion on-demand streams in the US; its music video became the most-viewed Afrobeats song on YouTube. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), "Calm Down" was the second best-selling song of 2023 globally. Billboard named it Gomez's biggest Hot 100 hit.
Gomez was the focus of the Alek Keshishian-directed "raw and intimate" documentary film, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me. The film premiered at the AFI Fest in November 2022, and was released two days after on Apple TV+ and in select movie theaters. It was met with a positive critical reception upon release; the documentary was praised for mental health transparency. Chris Azzopardi from The New York Times described it as an "honest portrait study of stardom and mental illness". The film was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Programming at the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, and won the MTV Movie & TV Award for Best Music Documentary. Gomez released the song "My Mind & Me" to coincide with the release of the documentary. The song received Variety's "Film Song of the Year" honor. In March 2023, Gomez appeared in the second-season finale of the Apple TV+ documentary television series Dear.... She released the standalone single "Single Soon" on August 25, 2023. It reached the top-twenty of the Billboard Global 200, and in the US and Canada.
2024–present: Continued acting and I Said I Love You First
In January 2024, Gomez stated that she prefers acting over music, and only has "one more album in me". She revealed that she "never really intended on being a singer full-time" but "that hobby" evolved into a career when she was working with Disney. Gomez later mentioned feeling "a little too old for the pop-star life", but has since retracted this and stated that "music isn't going away" and "I just set it down for a second". In February, she released the standalone single "Love On", which debuted within the top 60 in the US, and the top 70 on the Global 200 chart.
She played a supporting role as Jessi Del Monte, the title character's wife, in the Spanish-language musical crime film Emilia Pérez, directed by Jacques Audiard. She took Spanish lessons for the role, and performed two songs for the film's soundtrack. The film premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize Gomez's performance received praise; she was nominated for supporting actress categories at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards and the 78th British Academy Film Awards. She and the female ensemble of the film collectively won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, were nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards, and were honored, as chevaliers, with the Order of Arts and Letters by the government of France.
Gomez co-produced and appeared in the documentary Louder: The Soundtrack of Change, which was released on October 17 on Max. She guest-starred and reprised her role as Alex Russo in the pilot and season one-finale of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, the spin-off and sequel to Wizards of Waverly Place. The series, which she also executive produced, premiered on Disney Channel on October 29, 2024, and on Disney+ on October 30, 2024. Her performance, subtle comedic timing, and dynamic with co-star David Henrie was met with positive reception from critics.
Gomez and Benny Blanco released the collaborative album, and her fourth studio album, I Said I Love You First on March 21, 2025. A promotional single, titled "Scared of Loving You", was surprise released on February 13. It was followed by the lead single "Call Me When You Break Up", featuring Gracie Abrams, on February 21, and the second single "Sunset Blvd" on March 14. I Said I Love You First received positive reviews from music critics. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, with 120,000 units, marking Gomez's largest sales week to date, and her seventh top-ten release. I Said I Love You First also debuted within the top five in various countries, including Australia, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Gomez was named Billboard Latin Women of the Year.
Artistry
Musical style
Gomez is described as a pop artist. Her work is primarily characterized as dance-pop and EDM; however, she has experimented with different music genres. Her debut album with the Scene was influenced by electronic rock and pop rock, while her subsequent records with the band opted for a dance-pop sound. A Year Without Rain noted synth-pop characteristics, and When the Sun Goes Down featured a more electropop and electro-disco musical direction. Her debut solo album Stars Dance was rooted in the EDM-pop genre—Gomez herself described it as "baby dubstep"—drawing elements from electronic, disco, techno, and dancehall. Her songs "The Heart Wants What It Wants" and "Good for You" have been described as "minimalistic" and "grown-up", introducing a more adult pop sound into her repertoire.
Influences
Early in her career, Gomez cited Bruno Mars as an influence for "his style of music, his style in general, the way he performs, the way he carries himself". She has also named Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift as influences. Gomez's debut solo album Stars Dance (2013) was prominently influenced by Spears, Swift, and EDM producer Skrillex. Her second album, Revival, was mainly inspired by Aguilera's album Stripped (2002), as well as Janet Jackson and Spears.
Songwriting
In regard to Gomez's writing craft, co-writer Ali Tamposi revealed the following to Elle: "We actually started writing another song together while we were in the studio with Andrew Watt and I was really impressed by her collaboration, her ideas, how open she was and willing to tap into a place that is scary with having the power that she has over so many people—to really be honest with her lyrics," "She's extremely collaborative and she has great ideas. We'll just talk. I've only had the chance to get in with her once, [but] I'm sure we'll be working together, hopefully, in the future. But she comes up with tons of ideas and concepts, and she's a really great writer. It just flows naturally, and we just write on the guitar."
During a conversation with Amy Schumer for Interview, Gomez candidly opened up about the writing process for her hit song, "Lose You to Love Me". Gomez said: "I wrote it at the beginning of last year, and had just gotten out of treatment. It was a moment when I came back and I was like, "I'm ready to go into the studio with people I trust and start working on songs." There was an air around it where people were very happy, because it was like I was going to finally be me. But I didn't necessarily see it that way at the time. When I wrote the song, I was basically saying that I needed to hit rock-bottom to understand that there was this huge veil over my face."
On The Kelly Clarkson Show, Gomez opened up about of processing her own feelings through songwriting, calling it "the best therapy".
In a conversation with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Gomez was joined by Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter to talk about the creative process, incl. collaborative songwriting for her album, Rare. Gomez co-wrote every song on that album.
Philanthropy and advocacy
UNICEF
In October 2008, Gomez participated in St. Jude's Children's Hospital's "Runway For Life" by walking the runway as a model in Beverly Hills, where over $1 million was raised for the cause. That same month, Gomez was named UNICEF's spokesperson for the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign, which encouraged children to raise money on Halloween to help children around the world. In August 2009, Gomez, then 17 years old, became the youngest UNICEF ambassador (Millie Bobby Brown later surpassed this record). In her first official field mission, Gomez traveled to Ghana in September 2009 for one week to witness first-hand the stark conditions of vulnerable children that lack vital necessities such as clean water, nourishment, education and healthcare. Gomez explained in an interview with Associated Press correspondents that she wanted to use her star power to bring awareness to Ghana: "That's why I feel very honored to have a voice that kids listen to and take into consideration [...] I had people on my tour asking me where IS Ghana, and they Googled it [...] and because I went there, they now know where Ghana is. So it's pretty incredible." Gomez said, of her role as ambassador, that "Every day 25,000 children die from preventable causes. I stand with UNICEF in the belief that we can change that number from 25,000 to zero. I know we can achieve this because every moment, UNICEF is on the ground providing children with the lifesaving assistance needed to ensure zero becomes a reality."
Gomez was named spokesperson for UNICEF's 2009 Trick-or-Treat campaign for the second year in a row. She raised over $700,000 for the charity in 2008 and stated that she hopes to be able to raise US$1 million in 2009. Gomez participated in a celebrity auction and hosted a live web cast series on Facebook in support of the Trick-or-Treat campaign. She returned as the UNICEF spokesperson for the 60th anniversary of Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign in 2010. In celebration of the organization's 60th anniversary, Gomez and the Scene held a benefit concert, donating all proceeds to the campaign. Gomez also encouraged teenagers to donate via social media. She also auctioned personal items to CharityBuzz.com, designed a Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF t-shirt and participated in a small concert in Los Angeles. With Gomez's help, UNICEF raised $4 million.
In February 2011, Gomez traveled to Chile to meet with the families of the UNICEF-supported "Programa Puente", which helped families better understand and develop skills to deal with early childhood education, development, and other issues related to raising children. Gomez remarked that "UNICEF is helping Chilean families get out of poverty, prevent violence within the home and promote education. To witness first hand these families' struggles, and also their hope and perseverance, was truly inspiring". In March, Gomez participated in the UNICEF Tap Project's "Celebrity Tap Pack" which featured limited-edition, custom-made water bottles with tap water from the homes of each celebrity advocate to raise funds and increase profile for the clean water and sanitation programs. All the funds raised (the campaign raised $900,000) made it possible to provide clean, safe drinking water to children in Vietnam, Togo, Mauritania, and Cameroon- countries where it's desperately needed. She was also featured in videos that promoted the campaign. In April 2012, she advocated for the global "Sound the Alarm" campaign on Facebook and Twitter, and recorded a public announcement encouraging young people to donate $10 via text message to prevent the death of a million children from malnutrition in the Sahel Region of West and Central Africa.
Gomez has conducted and organized three charity concerts (2010–2013) to help UNICEF provide children around the world with life-saving therapeutic foods, medicines, clean water, education, and immunization. In total, Gomez's three charity concerts for UNICEF have raised nearly $400,000 for UNICEF programs worldwide. In 2014, Gomez visited Nepal to raise awareness for children in need. A UNICEF ambassador since 2009, Gomez has played an active role in advocating for the world's "most vulnerable children" by participating in several campaigns, events, and initiatives on behalf of the organization. In June 2021, Gomez signed a UNICEF open letter urging the G7 "to donate more coronavirus vaccines to the international COVAX initiative."
Other charity work
Gomez was involved in the UR Votes Count campaign, which encouraged teenagers to learn more about 2008 presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. The following year, Gomez became the ambassador of DoSomething after being involved with the charity Island Dog, which helped dogs in Puerto Rico. Gomez updated fans on her blog at MySpace: "We are spending the day feeding puppies, washing them and hanging out with them. After we spend the day with them we are sending these dogs to different places in the U.S the no-kill dog shelters so they can find a home [...]." She joined while filming Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie in Puerto Rico. In 2009, Gomez has been involved with the charity RAISE Hope For Congo, an initiative of the Enough Project, raising funds for war-torn African country, in order to raise awareness of conflict minerals and sexual crimes and violence committed against women and girls in the Congo, as well as to eliminate sexual violence, torture and other atrocities through the 4P method; Peace, Protection, Punishment and Prevention.
From 2009 to 2012, Gomez was involved in "Disney's Friends for Change", an organization which promoted "environmentally-friendly behavior", and appeared in its public service announcements. Gomez, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, and the Jonas Brothers recorded the charity single "Send It On" as the ad hoc musical team "Disney's Friends For Change", all of whose proceeds were donated into the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 20. Billboard included this song in their list of The 100 Greatest Disneyverse Songs of All Time (2023). In April 2012, Gomez was named ambassador to the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. The year before, Gomez made an appearance at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia during a Ryan Seacrest Foundation broadcast from the hospital's multimedia center. She was also a spokesperson for State Farm Insurance and appeared in numerous television commercials, which aired on the Disney Channel, to raise awareness of being a safe driver. Gomez provided the narration for Girl Rising (2013), a CNN documentary film, which focused on the power of female education as it followed seven girls around the world who sought to overcome obstacles and follow their dreams.
In 2017, during her partnership with Coach, Gomez participated in activities with Step Up, an organization that supports girls in under-resourced communities to pursue an education. Gomez attended Step Up events at two Los Angeles high schools. She conversed with the girls and gifted them new Coach bags. Gomez attended the We Day California youth empowerment event in Los Angeles in 2018 and 2019. During the 2018 event, Gomez introduced Nellie Mainor, a young fan who had a rare kidney disease. Her participation in We Day 2019 was her first appearance after an extended break from the spotlight. Gomez continued her partnership with WE Charity when she traveled to Kenya in December 2019 to meet the local community and visit schools built by the organization. During the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, Gomez donated US$3 million to fight Australia wildfires and urged followers to do the same.
In 2020, she created the Rare Impact Fund by Rare Beauty to help "young people gain access to mental health resources", which is committed to raise US$100 million over its first ten years since establishment. To achieve that goal, one percent of all sales of Rare Beauty products go toward the fund. In its first year, the Rare Impact Fund distributed $1.2 million in grants to support 8 organizations that work to expand mental health services in educational settings. For each episode of her HBO Max cooking show Selena + Chef (2020–2023), the show donated $10,000 to the charity of the chef's choice, often food related. In 2021, over the first two seasons of the show, $360,000 was raised for nonprofit organizations. Gomez donated 10 percent of the net proceeds from her cookware line with Our Place to the Rare Impact Fund, which focuses on mental health awareness. From 2023 to 2024, Gomez and Sephora donate all 100 percent of global Rare Beauty sales to the Rare Impact Fund in honor of World Mental Health Day. As of September 2024, the Rare Impact Fund has raised over $16 million since 2020, and distributed grants to support 26 mental health-focused organizations across five continents. Serendipity Brands—which Gomez is a co-owner and investor of—donated $1 from every ice cream pint and product sold in May 2022 to the Rare Impact Fund. In October, Gomez co-founded Wondermind, a mental health-focused digital platform. In December 2022, she donated exclusive items to the 2nd Annual ASCAP Foundation, which supports music education and talent development programs across the US.
In response to the Gaza war, Gomez and her cosmetics brand Rare Beauty issued a statement about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and donated funds to Magen David Adom in Israel and Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza and the West Bank, and also donated to UNICEF to help get urgent medical relief and resources to the children of Gaza. Both Gomez and Rare Beauty were heavily criticized for their misleading statement which implied solidarity with the people of Gaza, whilst they donated funds to Magen David Adom, which is an auxiliary service to the Israel Defense Forces. Gomez signed an Artist4Ceasefire letter in October 2023 calling on President Joe Biden and Congress to call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. The letter says: "We believe that all life is sacred, regardless of faith or ethnicity, and we condemn the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians". In December 2023, she attended Ramy Youssef's fundraiser for Gaza.
In January 2025, Gomez volunteered to help distribute basic necessities during the 2025 Southern California wildfires to those who were displaced by the tragedy, and also, together with her brand Rare Beauty, made donation to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and World Central Kitchen, who are on the ground providing immediate aid. During the pop-up of the fifth anniversary of her album, Rare, Gomez sent all proceeds from sales of all products to fight 2025 Southern California wildfires.
Advocacy
Gomez advocates for various causes. She is known for frequently raising awareness on mental health. In 2019, she received the McLean Award for mental health advocacy. The Stanford Healthcare Innovation Lab honored her with the first ever Mental Health Innovations Award for Excellence in Mental Health Advocacy in 2022. That year, she also received the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion by the Ruderman Family Foundation. Gomez has shown support for the LGBTQ community. She joined numerous celebrities to write a "love letter" during pride month, as a part of Billboard's 30 Days of Pride during the month of June 2016. She also collaborated with 23 other artists for the charity single "Hands", a tribute for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, to raise funds for Equality Florida's Pulse Victims Fund, GLAAD, and the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida. That year, she donated proceeds of her Revival Tour concert in North Carolina to fight the state's recent legislation known as the "bathroom law". The law, repealed in 2017, required people to use public restrooms in line with their birth gender unless they had fully transitioned.
In 2023, Gomez and her cosmetics brand Rare Beauty, participated in the 53rd annual Los Angeles Pride Parade, as well as her Rare Impact Fund has been donating funds since the foundation for The Trevor Project and in 2023 for Trans Lifeline who focus on LGBTQ+ youth. In April 2024, Gomez participated as one of the speakers at the Time 100 Summit, which brought together the Global TIME 100 community to discuss encouragement and solutions for actions that aim to improve the future by telling the stories go global personalities and ideas that shape our world. Gomez spoke about important issues related to mental health protection, social media and many others. On May 1, 2024, Gomez held a special event dedicated to mental health awareness Rare Beauty Summit, where she also offered resources to solve mental health problems, the U.S. Surgeon General Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy joined her at this event, he thanked Gomez for creating the Rare Impact Fund and for paving the way for self-acceptance, support and healing.
In 2014, Gomez spoke out about the 2014 Gaza War, posting a message on her social media in which she asked for help and prayers for Gaza, the message read: "It's About Humanity. Pray for Gaza"., "Please pray for those families and babies today. Please always remember what's important in life. It's not any of this. We are here to help, inspire and love. Be that change. #wearethenextgeneration," Gomez wrote in the caption. A few hours later, she added that: "And of course to be clear, I am not picking any sides. I am praying for peace and humanity for all!" Gomez wrote in her message. In the wake of the Alabama abortion ban in May 2019, Gomez spoke out on Instagram in favor of abortion rights in the United States. Amidst Roe v. Wade being overturned in June 2022, Gomez stated she is "not happy" and that "men need to stand up and also speak against this issue. It's also the amount of women that are hurting." Gomez is a critic of racism and supported the Black Lives Matter movement, lending her Instagram account to Alicia Garza, co-creator of Black Lives Matter and one of the founders of Black Futures Lab, in June 2020. In May 2021, Gomez participated in the VAX Live: The Concert to Reunite the World concert organized by Global Citizen to promote the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide through the COVAX program. The event urged people to ask their governments to pledge $22.1 billion in aid to the vaccine distribution. In May 2022, MTV partnered with Gomez and the Rare Impact Fund by Rare Beauty to host the Mental Health Youth Action Forum at the White House in coordination with the Biden-Harris Administration.
Business and ventures
Products and endorsements
In 2009, Gomez was part of Sears's back-to-school fashion campaign and featured in television commercials. She hosted the "Sears Arrive Air Band Casting Call" to select five winners for the first-ever "Sears Air Band" to perform at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. She also became the spokesperson for Borden Milk and starred in campaign's print ads and television commercials for the brand.
Having previously announced plans to launch a fashion line, Gomez released the Dream Out Loud collection in 2010. It consisted of bohemian dresses, floral tops, jeans, skirts, jackets, scarves and hats, all of which were made from recycled or eco-friendly materials. Gomez stated, "With my line, I really want to give the customer options on how they can put their own looks together [...] I want the pieces that can be easy to dress up or down, and the fabrics being eco-friendly and organic is super important [...] Also, the tags will all have some of my inspirational quotes on them. I'm just looking to send a good message." Gomez teamed up with designers Tony Melillo and Sandra Campos for the project, both of whom had previously worked with big-name fashion houses. Melillo and Campos teamed with New York-based Adjmi Apparel to manufacture the brand, which was formed by Adjmi CH Brands LLC, the holding company for the brand. From 2010 to 2014, Gomez worked with retailer Kmart to release the clothing line.
It was announced on July 14, 2011, that Gomez had signed a license agreement with Adrenalina, an extreme sports and adventure-themed lifestyle brand, to develop, manufacture, and distribute her own fragrance. Chairman and CEO of Adrenalina, Ilia Lekach, said, "We are incredibly enthused to be working with Ms. Gomez and will reveal more details pertaining to the fragrance as we get closer to the launch date." The perfume was released in May 2012. In 2013, she released her second fragrance, Vivamore by Selena Gomez. She also created her own collection of nail polish colors for Nicole by OPI.
From 2013 to 2015, Gomez was a spokesperson and partner for Neo by Adidas. In 2015, Gomez signed $3 million endorsement deal with Pantene. In 2016, Gomez appeared in a fashion campaign for luxury brand Louis Vuitton. She also appeared in ads for Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke" campaign, and advertisements for the campaign and lyrics from two of her songs were featured on Coca-Cola packaging nationwide. In 2017, Gomez confirmed her collaboration with Coach, beginning with their fall line, thereby becoming the new face of the brand. The limited-edition collection of handbags was called the "Selena Grace" line. Gomez's second collection and "first ever ready-to-wear collection for Coach", named Coach X Selena Gomez, included clothing, outerwear, and bags. That year, Gomez signed a $30 million contract with the athletic brand Puma as brand ambassador, appearing in campaigns such as those for the Phenom Lux sneakers released in March. Her collection with Puma, called SG x PUMA Strong Girl collection, launched on December 12 of that year and contained products from sneakers to athleisure attire. Since 2017, Gomez has been one of the highest-paid people on Instagram, becoming the highest paid-person on the platform of 2017. As of July 2023, Gomez earns $1.7 million per sponsored Instagram post.
In April 2020, Gomez became an owner and investor of the ice cream brand Serendipity. In July 2021, she released a swimwear line with La'Mariette. In November, Gomez co-founded the mental health media platform Wondermind. The following month, Gomez became an investor in the food delivery company Gopuff. In May 2022, she collaborated with Our Place on a cookware line, the Summer Collection. A second edition of the range was released in June 2023. In February 2025, Gomez and Benny Blanco's collaboration "Talk" was previewed as the soundtrack to an Apple advertisement for the IPhone 16e, before its release the following month.
Rare Beauty
In September 2020, Gomez launched her own makeup and cosmetics brand, Rare Beauty. The brand "[instead of selling an unattainable image] aims to help people feel good about themselves" by promoting inclusivity and mental health initiatives; it sells cruelty-free and vegan products packaged with recyclable materials certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Following its release on its official webstore and Sephora stores in the US, the brand was eventually made available in the Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia. It was named Startup of the Year at the 2020 WWD Beauty Inc Awards. Rare Beauty was named as Time's most influential company of 2024.
As of May 2024, the brand is valued at $2 billion. It is one of the best-selling brands at Sephora and the fastest-growing celebrity beauty brand on social media. Rare Beauty has already sold US$70 million worth of liquid blush (over 3.1 million units), in 2022 alone. In 2023, Rare Beauty emerged as the top index brand on TikTok and Instagram, with a combined media impact value of US$313,198,657 on the two platforms alone. That year, the estimated revenue for the line reached US$300 million, up approximately 50 percent from 2022. In September 2024, it was reported that Gomez had become a billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion; Bloomberg News estimated that roughly 81% of it originated from Rare Beauty. Bloomberg also stated that at age 32, she had become "one of the country's youngest female self-made billionaires".
Public image
Initially a teen idol, she has been referred to as a pop icon, as a "triple threat", owing to her successful singing, performing, and acting careers, and as one of the most influential Latina in entertainment. Gomez is one of the most successful child stars. Vulture ranked her third on its "Disney and Nickelodeon Stars Gone Pop" listicle, writing in 2021 that "Gomez is perhaps the most effortlessly likable star of her generation", and in the revision of this rating, named her as one of the few child stars with a successful music career as an adult. Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian called Gomez the "Tween Queen", and "the biggest star attached to the Walt Disney Company", describing the Gomez phenomenon as a key figure in the influence of "billions of kids and, through them, their parents' wallets", bringing billions to the company through "her image, TV series, movies, music records, perfume and clothing ranges" being in the spotlight "all this means that tweens can barely avoid her". Billboard ranked her number 38 on its Decade-End listicle of the most successful artists of the 2010s decade. With an estimated net worth of US$1.3 billion, Gomez is the first former Disney star to become a billionaire, being one of the wealthiest musicians and youngest self-made billionaires in the world.
With over 690 million followers across various platforms, Gomez is the most-followed woman globally on social media, as of September 2024. She is the most-followed woman on Instagram, as of 2025, and was the most-followed person on the platform from March 2016 to October 2018. She was the first person to surpass 100 million followers and the first woman to surpass 400 million followers on the platform. Gomez held the record for most-liked image on Instagram in 2016, and has 4 out of the 15 most-liked non-football related posts on the app, as of 2024. She is the seventh-most-followed woman on Twitter. The actress with the most likes on Facebook, she is also the third-most-followed woman on the platform.
Impact
She has had a huge impact on social media, with Hugh McIntyre from Forbes noting that "Gomez's posts, no matter what the image is actually of, are always liked by millions of people" and "in fact, the mere mention of Selena Gomez in a post by another star helps up the number of people who like it, proving her power". She was named as the number one positive influencer on social media in 2022. David Amsden from W named her "the most popular girl in America", writing that she "landed her first gig at 7, and by 14 was known to millions of prepubescent youths" and that "she embodies a particular strain of American fame: You know who she is without quite knowing who she is". Variety considers her a key personality in global media, owing to her "multi-hyphenate" presence incorporating music, films, television, cosmetics, and social activism.
In 2021, Rolling Stone India regarded her as one of the most influential pop culture icons of her time. In 2017, Time honored her as one of the "women who are changing the world" on its First Women Leaders list. Gomez was included in The Hollywood Reporter's Power 100 list, from 2022 to 2024 consecutively, as one of the most powerful women in entertainment, a rating based on achievements, overall authority within company and Hollywood, and its position in the industry, naming her "one of the most globally and culturally celebrated artists, actors, producers, entrepreneurs and philanthropists of her generation". People named Gomez as one of 15 women who are "changing the music industry today". Vogue India named her as one of the "women who has inspire this generation", calling her "newsmaker" of pop culture headlines. The Guardian credited her with popularizing "whisper pop", a style of pop music characterized by soft, hushed and breathy vocals.
A wax figure of Gomez has been exhibited at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums since 2010, in Hollywood, New York City, Washington, Berlin, and her wax figure was the first in Orlando. Gomez's work has inspired or influenced artists and entertainers such as Billie Eilish, Hailee Steinfeld, Vanessa Hudgens, Miranda Hart, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, and the beginning of the careers of Jenna Ortega and Joey King. In 2015, Justin Bieber called Gomez an inspiration and muse of his songwriting at the time. His album Purpose was inspired by Gomez; he also wrote songs about her such as "What Do You Mean?", "Sorry", "Mark My Words", "All That Matters", and "Beauty and a Beat". Britney Spears also named Gomez the main muse of her album, Glory.
The Latin Recording Academy honored Gomez as
one of the Leading Ladies of Entertainment for her "tremendous commercial success as a singer, actress and producer". In October 2024, the Government of France granted Gomez the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des arts et des lettres for "significant contribution to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance". The Hollywood Reporter awarded her the Equity in Entertainment Award that December, with Molly Shannon noting that she had used her voice to "change the world for the better" and "changed the entertainment landscape". Shannon called her "a role model, not just because of her immense talent and success, but because of the way she uses her influence to empower others. She challenges the status quo and creates a more inclusive, compassionate world for all."
Achievements
Gomez has won various awards including: an American Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, a Cannes Film Festival, 16 Guinness World Records, three iHeartRadio Music Awards, six Latin American Music Awards (she is the fourth most-awarded female artist), three MTV Movie & TV Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and five People's Choice Awards. For her music work, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards (including Album of the Year as featuring artist) and a Latin Grammy Award. For her acting work, she won a Satellite Award, and was nominated for three Critics' Choice Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, three NAACP Image Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. As a producer, she was nominated for six Emmy Awards including: three times as producer for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, marking her the most-nominated Latina producer in the category's history. With 18 wins, Gomez is the fourth-most awarded solo artist at the Teen Choice Awards. She currently holds the record for the most Kids' Choice Awards wins (12) for an individual. In addition, she has also won numerous awards for her philanthropic, charity work and mental health advocacy, including the McLean Award, the Stanford Healthcare Innovation Lab Award, the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion from the Ruderman Family Foundation, and the Art Award from Hispanic Heritage Foundation for her impact on global culture via her music, filmography and advocacy.
Having amassed 45 billion streams globally as of 2022, She was the eight-most streamed and one of the most-streamed female artist of 2010s decade on both Spotify and Apple Music. In 2017, she was third most streamed female artist on Spotify. In November 2018, Gomez surpassed Drake and became Spotify's most-streamed artist with 46 million monthly listeners while not releasing new album since 2015 (Ariana Grande later surpassed this record).
Gomez has been included in many prestigious lists and has been awarded by prestigious publications and magazines. In 2015, Gomez was honored with the Chart-Topper Award at the Billboard Women in Music event. The following year, she was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the music category, and again in 2020 in its "All-Star Alumni" category. Billboard named Gomez the Woman of the Year in 2017, included her in its list of Greatest of All Time Pop Songs Artists in 2018 (at number 31), and named her one of the 100 most successful artist of the 2010s in 2019, ranking her at number 38. She was also ranked at number 30 on the magazine's 2025 "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list. Time included her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2020.
"Calm Down", Gomez's collaboration with Rema, has been described as the most successful Afrobeats song of all time. The song broke the records as the highest- and longest-charting African artist-led song on the Hot 100, the longest-running number-one of all time on the Billboard US Afrobeats Songs chart, with 58 weeks at the summit, the longest-charting song in the top 10 and overall on the Pop Airplay chart, with 45 and 71 weeks respectively, the first African artist-led track to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify, and 1 billion on-demand streams in the US; its music video became the most-viewed Afrobeats song on YouTube. Gomez is one of six woman to score at least three number-one singles on the Pop Airplay chart from a single set. With her EP Revelación and her single "Baila Conmigo", she became the first female act to top the US Latin Albums and Latin Airplay charts simultaneously in over a decade. Gomez is the longest active run of any artist with 16 consecutive top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. She broke the record with the song "Ice Cream" with Blackpink as the third-highest 24-hour debut for a music video on YouTube at the time, with over 79 million views, and the highest for female artist and female collaboration. Gomez was the second woman to become Spotify's most-streamed artist in November 2018, with 46 million monthly listeners.
Gomez has broken many variety of world records. Gomez has topped the Billboard 200 three consecutive times, and the Billboard Hot 100 once, and Billboard Artist 100. As of May 2017, she had sold 24.3 million songs in the United States, and as of August 2023, she has sold 3.6 million albums in the US, and shifted more than 11.5 million album-equivalent units. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she has 63 million certified units in the US. Seven of Gomez's songs have reached over one billion streams on Spotify, and two of her music videos have reached over two billion views on YouTube.
Personal life
Property
Gomez owned a $6.6 million home in Calabasas, California. In 2014, she sold her mansion in Tarzana, Los Angeles, for $3.5 million. In 2015, she purchased a mansion in Fort Worth, Texas, for $3.5 million, and in October 2018 the house was sold. In 2020, Gomez moved to a $5 million mansion in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Encino. In the same year, she sold her house in Studio City, Los Angeles, for $2.3 million.
Beliefs
Gomez was raised Catholic. In 2005, at age 13, she wanted a purity ring, and her father went to the church and had it blessed. She has said, "He actually used me as an example for other kids: I'm going to keep my promise to myself, to my family and to God." Gomez stopped wearing the ring in 2010. In 2014, Gomez said that she listened to "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" by Hillsong United before performing at the 2014 American Music Awards. In 2016, she appeared at a Hillsong Young & Free concert in Los Angeles, leading worship by singing her song "Nobody". When a fan on Twitter asked her who the lyrics to "Nobody" refer to, Gomez replied that they refer to God. She also covered Hillsong Worship's song "Transfiguration", a reference to the Christian doctrine of the Transfiguration of Jesus, during her Revival Tour.
In June 2017, she expressed discomfort with the term "religion", stating that "It freaks me out". Gomez also said "I don't know if it's necessarily that I believe in religion as much as I believe in faith and a relationship with God." Gomez, with Justin Bieber, started worshiping at the Pentecostal Hillsong Church in Los Angeles in 2017. In 2021, she remarked that she maintained her Christian faith and had read The Purpose Driven Life by Baptist pastor Rick Warren three times.
Health
Gomez was diagnosed with a form of lupus erythematosus sometime between 2012 and early 2014. In September 2017, she revealed on Instagram that she had withdrawn from public events during the previous few months because she had received a kidney transplant from actress and friend Francia Raisa. During the transplant, one of her arteries ruptured, requiring emergency autotransplantation of a femoral vein to replace the artery.
Gomez has been open about her struggles with both anxiety and depression. She began psychotherapy in her early twenties and spent time in treatment facilities. When she reached 100 million Instagram followers, Gomez said she "sort of freaked out" and has since taken several extended breaks from social media, partly due to negative comments. In April 2020, she revealed she has bipolar disorder. In November 2022, she revealed that she had an episode of psychosis in 2018.
In October 2022, Gomez canceled an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon after testing positive for COVID-19. In September 2024, Gomez revealed her inability to have children naturally due to her health issues, and mentioned wanting to explore either surrogacy or adoption in the future. In November 2024, she disclosed a prior diagnosis of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
Relationships
Gomez dated singer Nick Jonas in 2008. She appeared in the music video for his band's song "Burnin' Up". From December 2010 to March 2018, Gomez was in an on-again, off-again relationship with Canadian singer Justin Bieber. During their breakups, Gomez dated Russian-German disc jockey Zedd and Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd.
Gomez began dating record producer Benny Blanco in June 2023. She formally announced their engagement on December 11, 2024, following a period of media rumors. The couple were married on September 27, 2025, at the Sea Crest Nursery in Santa Barbara, California.
Filmography
According to the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Gomez's television and film projects include The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2006), Hannah Montana (2007), Wizards of Waverly Place (2007–2012), Another Cinderella Story (2008), Princess Protection Program (2009), Ramona and Beezus (2010), The Muppets (2011), Spring Breakers (2012), Hotel Transylvania (2012–2022), Girl Rising (2013), The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex (2013), Rudderless (2014), The Fundamentals of Caring (2016), Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), The Dead Don't Die (2019), A Rainy Day in New York (2019), Selena + Chef (2020–2023), Only Murders in the Building (2021–present), Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me (2022), Emilia Pérez (2024), and Wizards Beyond Waverly Place (2024–present). Gomez also executive produced the television series 13 Reasons Why (2017–2020) and Living Undocumented (2019).
Discography
Selena Gomez & the Scene studio albums
Kiss & Tell (2009)
A Year Without Rain (2010)
When the Sun Goes Down (2011)
Solo studio albums
Stars Dance (2013)
Revival (2015)
Rare (2020)
Collaborative studio albums
I Said I Love You First (with Benny Blanco) (2025)
Tours
Selena Gomez & the Scene tours
Live in Concert (2009–2010)
A Year Without Rain Tour (2010–2011)
We Own the Night Tour (2011–2012)
Solo tours
Stars Dance Tour (2013–2014)
Revival Tour (2016)
See also
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Pop Airplay chart
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart
List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
History of Mexican Americans in Dallas–Fort Worth
Footnotes
Explanations
References
External links
Official website
Selena Gomez discography at Discogs
Selena Gomez at IMDb
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Selena Marie Gomez ( sə-LEE-nə GOH-mez; born July 22, 1992) is an American actress and singer. Gomez began her career as a child actress, appearing on the children's television series Barney & Friends (2002–2004), and emerged as a teen idol for her leading role as Alex Russo on the Disney Channel sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place (2007–2012). She signed with Hollywood Records in 2008 and formed the band Selena Gomez & the Scene, which released three albums: Kiss & Tell (2009), A Year Without Rain (2010), and When the Sun Goes Down (2011).
Gomez has released three solo studio albums, starting with the EDM-infused debut, Stars Dance (2013), which featured the top-ten single "Come & Get It". She followed with Revival (2015), which included "Good for You", "Same Old Love", and "Hands to Myself". Her third album, Rare (2020), produced her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Lose You to Love Me". She also released the Spanish EP Revelación (2021) and her fourth album I Said I Love You First (2025), with her husband Benny Blanco. Gomez has collaborated on various singles, including "We Don't Talk Anymore", "It Ain't Me", "Wolves", "Taki Taki", and "Calm Down (Remix)", the last of which is widely regarded as the most successful Afrobeats song of all time.
Gomez has starred in films such as Another Cinderella Story (2008), Monte Carlo (2011), Spring Breakers (2012), The Fundamentals of Caring (2016), The Dead Don't Die (2019), and Emilia Pérez (2024). She also voiced Mavis in the Hotel Transylvania film franchise (2012–2022). Gomez has produced series such as 13 Reasons Why (2017–2020), Living Undocumented (2019) and Selena + Chef (2020–2023), and has played a lead role in Only Murders in the Building since 2021. Her accolades include an American Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, two MTV Video Music Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and 16 Guinness World Records.
Gomez has worked with charitable organizations. She advocates for mental health, and gender, racial, and LGBT equality, and has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2009. She founded the cosmetic company Rare Beauty in 2020, valued at $2 billion in 2024, and non-profit Rare Impact Fund. She has appeared in listicles such as the Time 100 (2020) and Forbes 30 Under 30 (2016 and 2020), was named Billboard's Woman of the Year (2017), and Latin Women of the Year (2025), and was made a member of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Government of France (2024). She is the most-followed woman on Instagram, and among the wealthiest musicians.
Early life
Selena Marie Gomez was born on July 22, 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas, to Ricardo Joel Gomez and Texas-born former stage actress Amanda Dawn "Mandy" (née Cornett) Teefey. She was named after Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla. Her father is of Mexican descent, while her mother, who was adopted, has Italian ancestry. Gomez's paternal grandparents emigrated to Texas from Monterrey, Mexico in the 1970s. She has called herself "a proud third-generation American-Mexican" and once said "My family does have quinceañeras, and we go to the communion church. We do everything that's Catholic, but we don't really have anything traditional except go to the park and have barbecues on Sundays after church." Gomez's Spanish fluency waned after age seven, when she began working on television.
Her parents divorced when she was five years old, and she remained with her mother. Gomez's mother and her second husband, Brian Teefey, had a daughter, Gracie Elliot Teefey, born in 2013. Through her father and his second wife, Sara, she has a half-sister, Victoria "Tori" Gomez, and a step-brother named Marcus. For most of her childhood, she was homeschooled, save for a brief period when she attended a traditional school as a young girl. She earned her high-school diploma through homeschooling in May 2010.
Gomez was born when her mother was 16 years old. The family had financial troubles throughout Gomez's childhood, with her mother struggling to provide for the pair. At one point, Gomez recalls that they had to search for quarters to buy gas for their car. Her mother later recalled that the two would frequently walk to their local dollar store to buy spaghetti for dinner.
Gomez has said, "I was frustrated that my parents weren't together, and never saw the light at the end of the tunnel where my mom was working hard to provide a better life for me. I'm terrified of what I would have become if I'd stayed [in Texas]." She later added that her mother "was really strong around me. Having me at 16 had to have been a big responsibility. She gave up everything for me, had three jobs, supported me, sacrificed her life for me." Gomez had a close relationship with her grandparents as a child and appeared in various pageants. Her grandparents often took care of her while her parents finished their schooling, and she has said they "raised her" until she found success in show business.
Career
2002–2006: Career beginnings
Gomez first gained an interest in pursuing a career in entertainment watching her mother prepare for stage productions. In 2002, she began her acting career on the children's television series Barney & Friends, portraying the character Gianna. The show was her first acting gig. Gomez recalled of the experience, "I was very shy when I was little [...] I didn't know what 'camera right' was. I didn't know what blocking was. I learned everything from Barney." Gomez appeared in thirteen episodes of the show between 2002 and 2004, as well as in two direct-to-video films; the show's producers released her "when she became too old" for the series. While working on Barney & Friends, Gomez had bit part roles in the film Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003) and the made-for-television film Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire (2005). She guest starred in a 2006 episode of the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
2007–2012: Breakthrough with Disney and Selena Gomez & the Scene
Gomez was given a recurring role on the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana in 2007 as pop star Mikayla. During this time, Gomez filmed pilot episodes for two potential Disney Channel series; the first was a Suite Life spin-off titled Arwin!, and the second was a Lizzie McGuire spin-off titled What's Stevie Thinking? She later auditioned for a role in the network's series Wizards of Waverly Place, ultimately winning the lead role of Alex Russo. Gomez and her mother subsequently moved to Los Angeles.
In Wizards of Waverly Place, Gomez played a teenage girl in a family of wizards who own a restaurant in New York City. It quickly became a success for the Disney Channel and marked Gomez's breakthrough into the mainstream. The role brought Gomez "teen idol" status, and she became one of the ten highest-paid children's TV stars of all time. The series received numerous awards and nominations, and won the Outstanding Children's Program at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. It garnered positive reviews and particular praise for Gomez's comic timing and sarcastic delivery.
In 2008, while working on the second season of Wizards of Waverly Place, Gomez voiced Helga in the animated film Horton Hears a Who! The film became a commercial and critical success, grossing over US$300 million worldwide. That same year, she starred as an aspiring dancer Mary Santiago in the teen musical comedy film Another Cinderella Story, the second installment of the A Cinderella Story series, released on direct-to-video. This role earned her a Young Artist Award. She contributed three songs to the soundtrack, including the single "Tell Me Something I Don't Know", which became her first entry on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. She also recorded the song "Fly to Your Heart" for the soundtrack of the animated film Tinker Bell.
At age 16, Gomez signed with Hollywood Records, and formed her own production company, July Moon Production. Gomez was slated to release two films under the company. The first, titled What Boys Want, would feature Gomez as a girl who could hear the thoughts of men. She later announced a film adaptation of the novel Thirteen Reasons Why, in which she was to play a young girl who commits suicide; ultimately, neither film was made. Gomez later produced a television adaptation of the novel.
Gomez continued to enjoy mainstream success throughout the following year, appearing as Alex Russo in a crossover episode of the Disney Channel series The Suite Life on Deck in 2009. She made a guest appearance on the Disney Channel series Sonny with a Chance. She appeared in a remix of the Forever the Sickest Kids' single "Whoa Oh! (Me vs. Everyone)" in April of that year. Gomez, along with Demi Lovato, starred in the Disney Channel film Princess Protection Program, which aired in June 2009. The film had a total of 8.5 million viewers during its premiere. The pair recorded the song "One and the Same" for the film's soundtrack. She next starred in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, a television film based on the series. The film premiered in August to an audience of 11.4 million viewers, becoming cable's number-one scripted telecast of the year and was the second-most watched TV movie on cable, behind High School Musical 2. Roxana Hadadi of The Washington Post credited all three performers—Gomez, David Henrie and Jake T. Austin—for their "acting skills that carry the film". The film won the series its second consecutive Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards. Gomez recorded three songs on the television series and film's soundtrack, including the single "Magic". She later provided the voice of Princess Selenia in the English-language version of the French animated/live-action film Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard.
Hoping to cross over into the music industry, Gomez formed the pop rock band Selena Gomez & the Scene under her deal with Hollywood Records. The name of the band is an "ironic jab" at the people who called Gomez a "wannabe scene". The group's debut studio album, Kiss & Tell, influenced by pop rock and electronic rock, was released in September 2009. It debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the U.S. with first-week sales of 66,000 copies. The album received mixed reviews, with some critics praising its "fun" nature and others criticizing Gomez's vocal performance. Although the lead single was not commercially successful, the second single, "Naturally", became a breakthrough hit, reaching number twenty-nine in the U.S. and number seven in the United Kingdom.
In 2010, Gomez starred alongside Joey King in Ramona and Beezus, a film adaptation of the children's novel series by Beverly Cleary, in which she portrayed Beezus Quimby. The film was well received by critics; Roger Ebert described it as "a sweet salute", and found both actresses "appealing". Additionally, Gomez reprised the voice role of Princess Selenia in Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds. That same year, Selena Gomez & the Scene released their second studio album A Year Without Rain, which debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 at number four with sales of over 66,000. The album received mixed to positive reviews, where some critics reacting negatively to Gomez's Auto-Tuned vocals. Both of the record's singles, "Round & Round" and "A Year Without Rain", achieved moderate success. The band was awarded Favorite Breakout Artist at the 37th People's Choice Awards.
The band's third and final studio album, When the Sun Goes Down, was released the following year, to mixed reviews. It debuted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 78,000 copies, and peaked at number three the following week. The album's lead single, "Who Says", was the band's highest charting effort, peaking at number twenty-one in the U.S. Its second single, "Love You like a Love Song", went on to become the band's highest performing single in the U.S. to date, peaking at number twenty-two on the Billboard Hot 100, where it spent 38 weeks, and reached the top ten in Canada, topping the chart in Russia. Alex Frank from Pitchfork called the song "a cult karaoke classic". In 2022, Billboard ranked the song as the biggest song that peaked at number twenty-two. Billboard featured Gomez on their 21 Under 21 list in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Gomez starred in the comedy film Monte Carlo (2011), with Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy; she played the lead role of Grace, a teenager "mistaken for a socialite" named Cordelia, also portrayed by Gomez, "while on a trip to Paris". In preparation for the role, she learned to play polo and received dialect coaching to speak in two different British accents; Gomez's accent was described as "unconvincing". The film received mixed reviews from critics. Nick Schager from Slant Magazine found Gomez "cute, but too bland to lend the proceedings any vivid character, except for the few scenes that allow her to indulge her cold, sarcastic, nasty side as Cordelia". Gomez appeared in a cameo role in the film The Muppets. She also hosted in June the MuchMusic Video Awards, and in November the MTV Europe Music Awards.
2012–2014: Stars Dance and films
Gomez confirmed in January 2012 that she would be taking a break from music, placing Selena Gomez & the Scene on hiatus. The hiatus eventually became a permanent split. Gomez described her time with the band as an "exploratory period" as a musician, after which she decided to pursue a solo music career: "And there was a moment when I felt like I could do it and I wanted to try it on my own". That year, Wizards of Waverly Place officially ended its run on the Disney Channel after four seasons.
Gomez starred in the exploitation film Spring Breakers (2012), alongside James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine. It was directed by Harmony Korine. The film premiered in September at the 69th Venice International Film Festival, and was released the following year. The story followed four college-aged girls who decide to rob a fast food restaurant in order to pay for their spring break. Gomez played a more mature character than she had previously and reportedly had a "bit of a meltdown on set". Spring Breakers received generally positive reviews from critics. Some described it as a potential cult classic. The film entered various retrospective "best of" lists, including the BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century. Manohla Dargis from The New York Times wrote that this role gave her "the chance to simulate the behavior that feeds the tabloids without the humiliations and career-crushing price paid".
Gomez played the voice role of Mavis Dracula in the animated film Hotel Transylvania, which premiered in September at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released in theaters the same month to mixed reviews. Hotel Transylvania was commercially successful, grossing US$358 million worldwide. In 2013, Gomez starred alongside Ethan Hawke in the action thriller film Getaway, in which she played a young hacker. The film was a critical and commercial failure, and earned Gomez a nomination for Worst Actress at the 34th Golden Raspberry Awards. Christopher Orr of The Atlantic described her as "a kid trying desperately to act like a grownup, but with no real idea what that might entail". She also served as executive producer and starred in the television special The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex on the Disney Channel.
Despite earlier claims that she would be taking a break from music, Gomez released "Come & Get It" in April 2013; it served as the lead single of her solo debut album. It became Gomez's first top-ten entry on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, reaching number six, and also reached the top-ten in Canada and the U.K. Stars Dance was released in July. The record is musically rooted in EDM and electropop. It became her first album to debut at number one in the U.S., selling 97,000 copies in its first week, and also reached number one in Canada. It received mixed reviews from music critics, with some noticing her inability to create her own musical identity and panning her vocal abilities. The album's second single, "Slow Down", achieved moderate success. Gomez incorporated choreographed dance routines into the album's music videos and her promotional live performances, having been inspired by artists such as Janet Jackson and Britney Spears. The video of "Come & Get It" won the Best Pop Video at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.
Gomez embarked on her Stars Dance Tour in August 2013. After performing in North America and Europe, Gomez canceled the Australian and Asian legs of the tour in December 2013, claiming that she would be taking a hiatus to spend time with her family. In January 2014, it was reported that Gomez had spent two weeks at Dawn at The Meadows, which is a treatment center in Wickenburg, Arizona, that specializes in treating addiction and trauma in young people. Her representative stated that she had spent time there "voluntarily [...] but not for substance abuse". Gomez confirmed in 2015 that she had been diagnosed with lupus and that after canceling the tour she entered rehab to undergo chemotherapy. Gomez played Nina Pennington, an innocent straight-A student, in Behaving Badly (2014). The project, filmed prior to Gomez's stint in rehab, was released in August to a generally negative critical and commercial reception. However, critics deemed Gomez's performance superior to the film. Gomez also had a supporting role in the drama Rudderless (2014), the directorial debut of William H. Macy. The independent film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and received a mixed reception from critics. At the 2014 Teen Choice Awards, Gomez was honored with the Ultimate Choice Award for her "contributions to the entertainment world".
In April 2014, Gomez had fired her mother and stepfather as her managers, who had served in those roles since her career at Disney. Gomez later signed with the WMA and Brillstein companies to manage her career. The Hollywood Reporter informed: "Selena's desire to find fresh handlers is part of a strategy to "move on into more adult-oriented fare in film and music"", and finally get rid of the image of the "Disney's Teen Idol". This change fueled rumors that her contract with Hollywood Records was coming to an end. In November 2014, Gomez surprise-released her new single "The Heart Wants What It Wants", and confirmed after months of speculation that she would be releasing a compilation album to complete her contract with her label. The single became her second top-ten hit in the U.S., and reached the top-ten in Canada. That same month, Gomez released her first greatest hits album, For You. The compilation album debuted at number twenty-four on the U.S. Billboard 200, earning 35,506 album-equivalent units in its first week. Gomez officially parted ways with Hollywood Records and later signed with Interscope Records in December 2014.
2015–2016: Revival
While working on her second studio album, Gomez collaborated with German DJ Zedd on "I Want You to Know", released in February 2015, and debuted at number-seventeen in the U.S. In May, she appeared in Taylor Swift's music video for "Bad Blood". Gomez released "Good for You" featuring rapper ASAP Rocky as the lead single from her second studio album, in June. The song debuted at number-one on the Digital Song Sales chart with first-week sales of 179,000 copies—the best sales week in Gomez's career for a single. "Good for You" became Gomez's first top-five single on the Billboard Hot 100, and her first single to top the Pop Airplay chart. It also reached the top-ten on charts in Australia and Canada. Gomez later reprised the voice role of Mavis in Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015); the film was met with a positive critical reception and commercial success upon release, grossing US$474 million worldwide. She was awarded Favorite Animated Movie Voice at the 42nd People's Choice Awards.
Gomez released her second studio album, Revival, in October 2015. It is primarily a dance-pop and electropop record with R&B vibes. The album was reviewed positively by critics, who praised its production and lyrical content. Writing for Rolling Stone, Brittany Spanos stated that "Revival is an audacious name for a 23-year-old singer's second album, but from start to finish, Gomez earns it," noting that "[t]his is the sound of a newly empowered pop artist growing into her strengths like never before." Kristen S.Hé of Billboard called it "one of the most influential pop albums of the late 2010s." Rob Sheffileld from Rolling Stone Australia called it "one of the past decade's most influential pop albums". The album debuted at number-one on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 117,000 album units, and was certified platinum by the RIAA. "Same Old Love" was released as the album's second single and topped the Pop Airplay chart. It also peaked at number-five in the U.S., tying with "Good for You" as Gomez's highest-charting single at the time, and reached the top-ten in Canada. "Hands to Myself" served as the album's third single and became her third consecutive number-one on the Pop Airplay, making Gomez the sixth woman to score at least three number-one singles on the Pop Airplay chart from a single set. The single also peaked within the top-ten in the U.S., and the top-five in Canada. "Kill Em with Kindness" was released as the Revival's fourth and final single four months later. For her performance on Billboard's music charts, Gomez received the Chart-Topper Award at the 2015 Billboard Women in Music event.
Gomez was a key advisor during the ninth season of the reality singing competition The Voice. She made a cameo appearance in Adam McKay's film The Big Short (2015). In 2016, Gomez starred as Dot, a young runaway hitchhiker, in the comedy-drama The Fundamentals of Caring with Paul Rudd, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and was released on Netflix five months later. The film received a positive critical response; Tristram Fane Saunders of The Daily Telegraph described Gomez's performance as "impressive" and "mature". Gomez performed as the musical guest on an episode of the NBC late-night sketch comedy Saturday Night Live in January 2016. Gomez played the president of a sorority in the comedy Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016); the film grossed US$108 million worldwide, and received mixed to positive reviews.
Gomez embarked on her worldwide Revival Tour in May 2016. She claimed that the tour would focus solely on her as an artist and would feature less choreography and fewer effects than her previous tour. Gomez began working on her third studio album while touring and added a new song titled "Feel Me" to the setlist of her Revival Tour. The song was later released in February 2020, due to high demand from fans. After touring in North America, Asia and Oceania, she canceled the European and South America legs in August 2016 due to anxiety, panic attacks and depression caused by her lupus.
Gomez featured on Charlie Puth's single, "We Don't Talk Anymore". The song was an international success, and reached the top-ten in the U.S., Australia, France, Spain, and topped the charts in Italy; and was certified 5× platinum by the RIAA. The music video went on to surpass 3 billion views on YouTube. Gomez had a supporting role in In Dubious Battle (2016) starring and directed by James Franco. The film had its world premiere at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, and was met with underwhelming reviews. She also guest starred in the Comedy Central variety sketch series Inside Amy Schumer. Gomez and Canadian singer Tory Lanez were featured on Norwegian DJ Cashmere Cat's single, "Trust Nobody".
Following the cancelation of her tour, Gomez rechecked into rehab to focus on her mental health and was noticeably absent from social media. At that time, she was the most followed person on Instagram, and became the first person to reach 100 million followers on the platform. In February 2023, she regained her status as the most-followed woman on the platform, and became the first woman to reach 400 million followers the following month. Gomez made her first public appearance since entering rehab at the 2016 American Music Awards, where she was nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Artist of the Year, the first of which she won. At the 2016 iHeartRadio Music Awards, Gomez won Biggest Triple Threat, and at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards, she was nominated for two awards including Top Female Artist. In the same year, she was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in the music category, and again in 2020 in its "All-Star Alumni" category.
2017–2019: Standalone releases and 13 Reasons Why
Gomez and the Norwegian DJ Kygo released a single together, "It Ain't Me", in February 2017. The collaboration reached top ten of most major music charts worldwide, including the U.S. and the U.K., and attained top five peaks in Australia, Canada, Germany and many European countries. The song received nominations at major awards around the world, including Top Dance/Electronic Song at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards, and it also her best-selling song in the UK, selling over 1.4 million chart units.
Gomez served as executive producer for the series adaptation of the novel Thirteen Reasons Why. The show premiered on Netflix in March 2017. The series drew backlash from various mental health charities and suicide prevention communities over "dangerous content", with some people feeling the show glamorized suicide. Gomez addressed the controversy, saying that "We stayed very true to the book and that's initially what [author] Jay Asher created was a beautifully tragic, complicated yet suspenseful story and I think that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to do it justice and, yeah, [the backlash is] gonna come no matter what. It's not an easy subject to talk about, but I'm very fortunate with how it's doing. Despite the controversy, the first season was a critical success. However, the other three seasons received generally negative reviews. 13 Reasons Why was the most tweeted about show of 2017, and the most-watched original streaming series of 2018. The series ended after four seasons in June 2020. Gomez recorded a cover version of the song "Only You" for the series' first season soundtrack.
In May 2017, Gomez released the single "Bad Liar", alongside a vertical music video which was available for streaming only through Spotify; it was the first-ever music video to premiere on Spotify. The song received universal acclaim from music critics, with some deeming it Gomez's best song to date; Billboard ranked it as the best song of 2017. Rolling Stone ranked "Bad Liar" at number 39 on its 2019 list of best songs of the 2010s. Winston Cook-Wilson of Spin magazine found Gomez's vocals pristine and the track "charmingly weird", calling its lyrics and sample usage "harebrained but ultimately brilliant". Gomez released the single "Fetish" featuring rapper Gucci Mane two month later. In October 2017, Gomez and EDM producer Marshmello released the single "Wolves". The song was a commercial success, and reached the top ten on charts in Australia, Canada, the U.K, and several European countries, peaking at number twenty in the U.S. Later that year, Gomez was named Billboard's Woman of the Year, in recognition of her influence and commercial success.
In May 2018, Gomez released the single "Back to You", from the 13 Reasons Why Season 2 Soundtrack. It reached the top-ten in a variety of charts in European countries, top-five in Australia and Canada, and reached top-twenty in the U.S. and the U.K. Gomez voiced Mavis again in Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, which was released in July. With box office earnings of US$528 million, the film was a commercial success, and received mixed to positive reviews. Gomez featured on DJ Snake's song "Taki Taki" alongside Ozuna and Cardi B, released in September. The single achieved global success, reaching the top-ten in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, topped the charts in Spain and several Latin American countries, and peaked at number eleven in the U.S. The song has received numerous awards and nominations including, nominations for the two Billboard Music Awards and, but ultimately won Song of the Year at the 2019 Latin American Music Awards. From 2011 to 2018, Gomez had a streak of 16 consecutive top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, which is the longest active run of any artist according to Billboard. Gomez also featured on Julia Michaels's song "Anxiety", released in January 2019, and the following month, her collaboration titled "I Can't Get Enough" with Benny Blanco, Tainy and J Balvin, was released.
Gomez appeared in Jim Jarmusch's comedy horror The Dead Don't Die (2019). The film had its world premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it generated mixed reviews. That year, she starred in Woody Allen's romantic comedy A Rainy Day in New York, with Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning. Due to a resurgence of the 1992 sexual abuse allegation against Allen prompted by the MeToo movement, Gomez made a donation of over $1 million, exceeding her salary from the film, to the Time's Up initiative. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but Gomez's performance was praised; Variety's Jessica Kiang wrote: "Gomez comes out the best of the younger cast, husking her way through some of the films better lines." Gomez served as an executive producer for the Netflix docuseries Living Undocumented, released in October 2019,
which follows eight undocumented families in America. The docuseries was a critical success, and was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy Award. In an op-ed for Time on October 1, 2019, Gomez wrote she was approached about the project in 2017 and decided to become involved after watching footage that captured "the shame, uncertainty, and fear I saw my own family struggle with. But it also captured the hope, optimism, and patriotism so many undocumented immigrants still hold in their hearts despite the hell they go through."
2020–2023: Rare, Revelación, and Only Murders in the Building
On October 23, 2019, Gomez released "Lose You to Love Me" as the lead single from her third studio album. The next day, she surprise-released the album's promotional single, "Look at Her Now". "Lose You to Love Me" became her first number-one song in the US and Canada, and reached the top five of various national charts worldwide, including Australia and the UK. Rare was released on January 10, 2020, and debuted atop the US Billboard 200, earning 112,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. It became her third consecutive number-one album in the US, and topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and several other territories, whilst peaking at number two in the UK. Primarily a dance-pop record, Rare features elements of R&B, electronic music, and alternative pop. The album received positive reviews from music critics, who praised its production and cohesiveness, with many calling it Gomez's best album to date; Jem Aswad of Variety labeled Rare "one of the best pop albums to be released in recent memory". Two other singles were released from the album: the title track, in conjunction with the album, and the third and final single "Boyfriend", released with the deluxe edition in April 2020.
In January 2020, Gomez voiced a giraffe in the adventure film Dolittle, directed by Stephen Gaghan. The film, starring Robert Downey Jr., was a box office disappointment, and received negative reviews from critics, who called it "too long [and] lifeless". Gomez hosted and executive produced the HBO Max cooking show Selena + Chef, which features her joined by a different chef each episode; this was initially implemented remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Each episode highlights a food-related charity. The show premiered in August 2020, and was well received by critics. It ran for four seasons till September 2022, and was nominated for Outstanding Culinary Series at the 50th Daytime Emmy Awards. Gomez won a Critics' Choice Real TV Award for her work on the program. In May 2023, Food Network ordered two projects to be hosted by Gomez. The first was Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays (2023), a four-part holiday special and extension of Selena + Chef, which was also nominated for Outstanding Culinary Series. The second became Selena + Restaurant, an interactive cooking series co-hosted with Raquelle Stevens; it premiered in May 2024. Gomez served as a producer for both programs.
In June 2020, Gomez featured in a remix of Trevor Daniel's song, "Past Life". Gomez executive produced two films that year; the romantic comedy The Broken Hearts Gallery, released in September 2020, to positive reviews, and the teen comedy-drama This Is the Year. In August, she collaborated with South Korean girl group Blackpink for "Ice Cream". The song peaked at number thirteen in the US, and achieved the third-highest 24-hour debut for a music video on YouTube at the time, with over 79 million views. That year, Gomez was honored by The Latin Recording Academy as one of the Leading Ladies of Entertainment. She was also named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Gomez released her first Spanish-language project, an EP titled Revelación, in March 2021. The record blends reggaeton, latin pop, R&B genres with urbano elements, marking a departure from the dance-pop sound of its predecessor, Rare. It debuted at number twenty-two in the US, shifting 23,000 equivalent album units in its first week of release, marking the largest sales week for a Latin album by a woman at the time, since Shakira's El Dorado in 2017. It also debuted atop the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, becoming the first album by a woman to do so, also since 2017's El Dorado. The EP received universal acclaim according to Metacritic, a website collecting reviews from professional music critics; it was nominated for Best Latin Pop Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. It also received Latin Pop Album of the Year nominations from the Billboard Latin Music, Latin American Music and Lo Nuestro award ceremonies. Gomez's expansion of her artistry was praised; Entertainment Weekly's Marcus Jones called her "a far more versatile musician than she's been given credit for". It spawned three singles: "De Una Vez", "Baila Conmigo" with Rauw Alejandro, and "Selfish Love" with DJ Snake. With this EP and the single "Baila Conmigo", she became the first female act to top the US Latin Albums and Latin Airplay charts simultaneously in over a decade. The music video for "De Una Vez" was nominated for Best Short Form Music Video at the 22nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards. Gomez performed at the 2021 UEFA Champions League final opening ceremony in May. In August, she collaborated with Colombian singer Camilo on a song titled "999".
Gomez starred in and executive produced the mystery-comedy series Only Murders in the Building alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short, which premiered on Hulu in August 2021, and set the record for the most-watched comedy premiere in the platform's history. Ahead of the official premiere of the series, Gomez revealed that she was happy to have played a character that matched her current actual age, saying that she "signed [her] life away" to The Walt Disney Company at the start of her career and that she "did not know what she was doing". As of August 2024, Only Murders in the Building is the most-watched original comedy series on Hulu. The series has received critical acclaim throughout its four-season run, and won numerous accolades. The performances and chemistry among the main trio were praised by critics; Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "Gomez is a true co-star in the series and does a superb job of meshing with Martin and Short to form one of the more entertaining albeit unlikely friendship trios in recent memory." Gomez won the Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series; she was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series, and thrice for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. Gomez received her first nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, marking the fourth time a Latina was a nominee for comedy series. With a third consecutive nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2024, Gomez became the most-nominated Latina producer in the category's history.
Gomez reprised the voice role of Mavis, and also served as an executive producer, for the fourth and final installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022). The film was released on Amazon Prime Video in January to mixed reviews. Gomez was nominated as executive producer for a Children's and Family Emmy Award. She collaborated with British band Coldplay on "Let Somebody Go", released as a single in February. For her work as a featured artist on Coldplay's ninth studio album, Music of the Spheres, she was nominated for Album of the Year at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. In May, Gomez hosted an episode of the NBC late-night sketch comedy Saturday Night Live. She later made a cameo appearance on the show in December. In July, Gomez executive produced the ViX+ docuseries Mi Vecino, El Cartel.
In August, Gomez was featured on the remix of Nigerian artist Rema's song, "Calm Down". An international success, it peaked at number three on the Billboard Global 200. The single became Gomez's ninth top-ten in the US, peaking at number three; and her second number-one in Canada, spending nine weeks atop the Canadian Hot 100. It topped the Global Excl. US, Pop Airplay, and Radio Songs charts for two, five, and 10 weeks, respectively, becoming Gomez's first leader on the former two. "Calm Down" became the highest- and longest-charting African artist-led song on the Hot 100; the longest-running number-one of all time on the Billboard US Afrobeats Songs chart, with 58 weeks at the summit; and the longest-charting song in the top 10 and overall on the Pop Airplay chart, with 45 and 71 weeks respectively. Billboard called it "Afrobeats' biggest crossover hit while Variety described it as the "song of two summers". At the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, the song was nominated for Song of the Year, and won Best Afrobeats; while it won Top Afrobeats Song at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards. It became the first African artist-led track to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify and 1 billion on-demand streams in the US; its music video became the most-viewed Afrobeats song on YouTube. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), "Calm Down" was the second best-selling song of 2023 globally. Billboard named it Gomez's biggest Hot 100 hit.
Gomez was the focus of the Alek Keshishian-directed "raw and intimate" documentary film, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me. The film premiered at the AFI Fest in November 2022, and was released two days after on Apple TV+ and in select movie theaters. It was met with a positive critical reception upon release; the documentary was praised for mental health transparency. Chris Azzopardi from The New York Times described it as an "honest portrait study of stardom and mental illness". The film was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Programming at the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, and won the MTV Movie & TV Award for Best Music Documentary. Gomez released the song "My Mind & Me" to coincide with the release of the documentary. The song received Variety's "Film Song of the Year" honor. In March 2023, Gomez appeared in the second-season finale of the Apple TV+ documentary television series Dear.... She released the standalone single "Single Soon" on August 25, 2023. It reached the top-twenty of the Billboard Global 200, and in the US and Canada.
2024–present: Continued acting and I Said I Love You First
In January 2024, Gomez stated that she prefers acting over music, and only has "one more album in me". She revealed that she "never really intended on being a singer full-time" but "that hobby" evolved into a career when she was working with Disney. Gomez later mentioned feeling "a little too old for the pop-star life", but has since retracted this and stated that "music isn't going away" and "I just set it down for a second". In February, she released the standalone single "Love On", which debuted within the top 60 in the US, and the top 70 on the Global 200 chart.
She played a supporting role as Jessi Del Monte, the title character's wife, in the Spanish-language musical crime film Emilia Pérez, directed by Jacques Audiard. She took Spanish lessons for the role, and performed two songs for the film's soundtrack. The film premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize Gomez's performance received praise; she was nominated for supporting actress categories at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards and the 78th British Academy Film Awards. She and the female ensemble of the film collectively won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, were nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards, and were honored, as chevaliers, with the Order of Arts and Letters by the government of France.
Gomez co-produced and appeared in the documentary Louder: The Soundtrack of Change, which was released on October 17 on Max. She guest-starred and reprised her role as Alex Russo in the pilot and season one-finale of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, the spin-off and sequel to Wizards of Waverly Place. The series, which she also executive produced, premiered on Disney Channel on October 29, 2024, and on Disney+ on October 30, 2024. Her performance, subtle comedic timing, and dynamic with co-star David Henrie was met with positive reception from critics.
Gomez and Benny Blanco released the collaborative album, and her fourth studio album, I Said I Love You First on March 21, 2025. A promotional single, titled "Scared of Loving You", was surprise released on February 13. It was followed by the lead single "Call Me When You Break Up", featuring Gracie Abrams, on February 21, and the second single "Sunset Blvd" on March 14. I Said I Love You First received positive reviews from music critics. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, with 120,000 units, marking Gomez's largest sales week to date, and her seventh top-ten release. I Said I Love You First also debuted within the top five in various countries, including Australia, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Gomez was named Billboard Latin Women of the Year.
Artistry
Musical style
Gomez is described as a pop artist. Her work is primarily characterized as dance-pop and EDM; however, she has experimented with different music genres. Her debut album with the Scene was influenced by electronic rock and pop rock, while her subsequent records with the band opted for a dance-pop sound. A Year Without Rain noted synth-pop characteristics, and When the Sun Goes Down featured a more electropop and electro-disco musical direction. Her debut solo album Stars Dance was rooted in the EDM-pop genre—Gomez herself described it as "baby dubstep"—drawing elements from electronic, disco, techno, and dancehall. Her songs "The Heart Wants What It Wants" and "Good for You" have been described as "minimalistic" and "grown-up", introducing a more adult pop sound into her repertoire.
Influences
Early in her career, Gomez cited Bruno Mars as an influence for "his style of music, his style in general, the way he performs, the way he carries himself". She has also named Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift as influences. Gomez's debut solo album Stars Dance (2013) was prominently influenced by Spears, Swift, and EDM producer Skrillex. Her second album, Revival, was mainly inspired by Aguilera's album Stripped (2002), as well as Janet Jackson and Spears.
Songwriting
In regard to Gomez's writing craft, co-writer Ali Tamposi revealed the following to Elle: "We actually started writing another song together while we were in the studio with Andrew Watt and I was really impressed by her collaboration, her ideas, how open she was and willing to tap into a place that is scary with having the power that she has over so many people—to really be honest with her lyrics," "She's extremely collaborative and she has great ideas. We'll just talk. I've only had the chance to get in with her once, [but] I'm sure we'll be working together, hopefully, in the future. But she comes up with tons of ideas and concepts, and she's a really great writer. It just flows naturally, and we just write on the guitar."
During a conversation with Amy Schumer for Interview, Gomez candidly opened up about the writing process for her hit song, "Lose You to Love Me". Gomez said: "I wrote it at the beginning of last year, and had just gotten out of treatment. It was a moment when I came back and I was like, "I'm ready to go into the studio with people I trust and start working on songs." There was an air around it where people were very happy, because it was like I was going to finally be me. But I didn't necessarily see it that way at the time. When I wrote the song, I was basically saying that I needed to hit rock-bottom to understand that there was this huge veil over my face."
On The Kelly Clarkson Show, Gomez opened up about of processing her own feelings through songwriting, calling it "the best therapy".
In a conversation with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Gomez was joined by Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter to talk about the creative process, incl. collaborative songwriting for her album, Rare. Gomez co-wrote every song on that album.
Philanthropy and advocacy
UNICEF
In October 2008, Gomez participated in St. Jude's Children's Hospital's "Runway For Life" by walking the runway as a model in Beverly Hills, where over $1 million was raised for the cause. That same month, Gomez was named UNICEF's spokesperson for the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign, which encouraged children to raise money on Halloween to help children around the world. In August 2009, Gomez, then 17 years old, became the youngest UNICEF ambassador (Millie Bobby Brown later surpassed this record). In her first official field mission, Gomez traveled to Ghana in September 2009 for one week to witness first-hand the stark conditions of vulnerable children that lack vital necessities such as clean water, nourishment, education and healthcare. Gomez explained in an interview with Associated Press correspondents that she wanted to use her star power to bring awareness to Ghana: "That's why I feel very honored to have a voice that kids listen to and take into consideration [...] I had people on my tour asking me where IS Ghana, and they Googled it [...] and because I went there, they now know where Ghana is. So it's pretty incredible." Gomez said, of her role as ambassador, that "Every day 25,000 children die from preventable causes. I stand with UNICEF in the belief that we can change that number from 25,000 to zero. I know we can achieve this because every moment, UNICEF is on the ground providing children with the lifesaving assistance needed to ensure zero becomes a reality."
Gomez was named spokesperson for UNICEF's 2009 Trick-or-Treat campaign for the second year in a row. She raised over $700,000 for the charity in 2008 and stated that she hopes to be able to raise US$1 million in 2009. Gomez participated in a celebrity auction and hosted a live web cast series on Facebook in support of the Trick-or-Treat campaign. She returned as the UNICEF spokesperson for the 60th anniversary of Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign in 2010. In celebration of the organization's 60th anniversary, Gomez and the Scene held a benefit concert, donating all proceeds to the campaign. Gomez also encouraged teenagers to donate via social media. She also auctioned personal items to CharityBuzz.com, designed a Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF t-shirt and participated in a small concert in Los Angeles. With Gomez's help, UNICEF raised $4 million.
In February 2011, Gomez traveled to Chile to meet with the families of the UNICEF-supported "Programa Puente", which helped families better understand and develop skills to deal with early childhood education, development, and other issues related to raising children. Gomez remarked that "UNICEF is helping Chilean families get out of poverty, prevent violence within the home and promote education. To witness first hand these families' struggles, and also their hope and perseverance, was truly inspiring". In March, Gomez participated in the UNICEF Tap Project's "Celebrity Tap Pack" which featured limited-edition, custom-made water bottles with tap water from the homes of each celebrity advocate to raise funds and increase profile for the clean water and sanitation programs. All the funds raised (the campaign raised $900,000) made it possible to provide clean, safe drinking water to children in Vietnam, Togo, Mauritania, and Cameroon- countries where it's desperately needed. She was also featured in videos that promoted the campaign. In April 2012, she advocated for the global "Sound the Alarm" campaign on Facebook and Twitter, and recorded a public announcement encouraging young people to donate $10 via text message to prevent the death of a million children from malnutrition in the Sahel Region of West and Central Africa.
Gomez has conducted and organized three charity concerts (2010–2013) to help UNICEF provide children around the world with life-saving therapeutic foods, medicines, clean water, education, and immunization. In total, Gomez's three charity concerts for UNICEF have raised nearly $400,000 for UNICEF programs worldwide. In 2014, Gomez visited Nepal to raise awareness for children in need. A UNICEF ambassador since 2009, Gomez has played an active role in advocating for the world's "most vulnerable children" by participating in several campaigns, events, and initiatives on behalf of the organization. In June 2021, Gomez signed a UNICEF open letter urging the G7 "to donate more coronavirus vaccines to the international COVAX initiative."
Other charity work
Gomez was involved in the UR Votes Count campaign, which encouraged teenagers to learn more about 2008 presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. The following year, Gomez became the ambassador of DoSomething after being involved with the charity Island Dog, which helped dogs in Puerto Rico. Gomez updated fans on her blog at MySpace: "We are spending the day feeding puppies, washing them and hanging out with them. After we spend the day with them we are sending these dogs to different places in the U.S the no-kill dog shelters so they can find a home [...]." She joined while filming Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie in Puerto Rico. In 2009, Gomez has been involved with the charity RAISE Hope For Congo, an initiative of the Enough Project, raising funds for war-torn African country, in order to raise awareness of conflict minerals and sexual crimes and violence committed against women and girls in the Congo, as well as to eliminate sexual violence, torture and other atrocities through the 4P method; Peace, Protection, Punishment and Prevention.
From 2009 to 2012, Gomez was involved in "Disney's Friends for Change", an organization which promoted "environmentally-friendly behavior", and appeared in its public service announcements. Gomez, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, and the Jonas Brothers recorded the charity single "Send It On" as the ad hoc musical team "Disney's Friends For Change", all of whose proceeds were donated into the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 20. Billboard included this song in their list of The 100 Greatest Disneyverse Songs of All Time (2023). In April 2012, Gomez was named ambassador to the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. The year before, Gomez made an appearance at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia during a Ryan Seacrest Foundation broadcast from the hospital's multimedia center. She was also a spokesperson for State Farm Insurance and appeared in numerous television commercials, which aired on the Disney Channel, to raise awareness of being a safe driver. Gomez provided the narration for Girl Rising (2013), a CNN documentary film, which focused on the power of female education as it followed seven girls around the world who sought to overcome obstacles and follow their dreams.
In 2017, during her partnership with Coach, Gomez participated in activities with Step Up, an organization that supports girls in under-resourced communities to pursue an education. Gomez attended Step Up events at two Los Angeles high schools. She conversed with the girls and gifted them new Coach bags. Gomez attended the We Day California youth empowerment event in Los Angeles in 2018 and 2019. During the 2018 event, Gomez introduced Nellie Mainor, a young fan who had a rare kidney disease. Her participation in We Day 2019 was her first appearance after an extended break from the spotlight. Gomez continued her partnership with WE Charity when she traveled to Kenya in December 2019 to meet the local community and visit schools built by the organization. During the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, Gomez donated US$3 million to fight Australia wildfires and urged followers to do the same.
In 2020, she created the Rare Impact Fund by Rare Beauty to help "young people gain access to mental health resources", which is committed to raise US$100 million over its first ten years since establishment. To achieve that goal, one percent of all sales of Rare Beauty products go toward the fund. In its first year, the Rare Impact Fund distributed $1.2 million in grants to support 8 organizations that work to expand mental health services in educational settings. For each episode of her HBO Max cooking show Selena + Chef (2020–2023), the show donated $10,000 to the charity of the chef's choice, often food related. In 2021, over the first two seasons of the show, $360,000 was raised for nonprofit organizations. Gomez donated 10 percent of the net proceeds from her cookware line with Our Place to the Rare Impact Fund, which focuses on mental health awareness. From 2023 to 2024, Gomez and Sephora donate all 100 percent of global Rare Beauty sales to the Rare Impact Fund in honor of World Mental Health Day. As of September 2024, the Rare Impact Fund has raised over $16 million since 2020, and distributed grants to support 26 mental health-focused organizations across five continents. Serendipity Brands—which Gomez is a co-owner and investor of—donated $1 from every ice cream pint and product sold in May 2022 to the Rare Impact Fund. In October, Gomez co-founded Wondermind, a mental health-focused digital platform. In December 2022, she donated exclusive items to the 2nd Annual ASCAP Foundation, which supports music education and talent development programs across the US.
In response to the Gaza war, Gomez and her cosmetics brand Rare Beauty issued a statement about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and donated funds to Magen David Adom in Israel and Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza and the West Bank, and also donated to UNICEF to help get urgent medical relief and resources to the children of Gaza. Both Gomez and Rare Beauty were heavily criticized for their misleading statement which implied solidarity with the people of Gaza, whilst they donated funds to Magen David Adom, which is an auxiliary service to the Israel Defense Forces. Gomez signed an Artist4Ceasefire letter in October 2023 calling on President Joe Biden and Congress to call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. The letter says: "We believe that all life is sacred, regardless of faith or ethnicity, and we condemn the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians". In December 2023, she attended Ramy Youssef's fundraiser for Gaza.
In January 2025, Gomez volunteered to help distribute basic necessities during the 2025 Southern California wildfires to those who were displaced by the tragedy, and also, together with her brand Rare Beauty, made donation to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and World Central Kitchen, who are on the ground providing immediate aid. During the pop-up of the fifth anniversary of her album, Rare, Gomez sent all proceeds from sales of all products to fight 2025 Southern California wildfires.
Advocacy
Gomez advocates for various causes. She is known for frequently raising awareness on mental health. In 2019, she received the McLean Award for mental health advocacy. The Stanford Healthcare Innovation Lab honored her with the first ever Mental Health Innovations Award for Excellence in Mental Health Advocacy in 2022. That year, she also received the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion by the Ruderman Family Foundation. Gomez has shown support for the LGBTQ community. She joined numerous celebrities to write a "love letter" during pride month, as a part of Billboard's 30 Days of Pride during the month of June 2016. She also collaborated with 23 other artists for the charity single "Hands", a tribute for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, to raise funds for Equality Florida's Pulse Victims Fund, GLAAD, and the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida. That year, she donated proceeds of her Revival Tour concert in North Carolina to fight the state's recent legislation known as the "bathroom law". The law, repealed in 2017, required people to use public restrooms in line with their birth gender unless they had fully transitioned.
In 2023, Gomez and her cosmetics brand Rare Beauty, participated in the 53rd annual Los Angeles Pride Parade, as well as her Rare Impact Fund has been donating funds since the foundation for The Trevor Project and in 2023 for Trans Lifeline who focus on LGBTQ+ youth. In April 2024, Gomez participated as one of the speakers at the Time 100 Summit, which brought together the Global TIME 100 community to discuss encouragement and solutions for actions that aim to improve the future by telling the stories go global personalities and ideas that shape our world. Gomez spoke about important issues related to mental health protection, social media and many others. On May 1, 2024, Gomez held a special event dedicated to mental health awareness Rare Beauty Summit, where she also offered resources to solve mental health problems, the U.S. Surgeon General Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy joined her at this event, he thanked Gomez for creating the Rare Impact Fund and for paving the way for self-acceptance, support and healing.
In 2014, Gomez spoke out about the 2014 Gaza War, posting a message on her social media in which she asked for help and prayers for Gaza, the message read: "It's About Humanity. Pray for Gaza"., "Please pray for those families and babies today. Please always remember what's important in life. It's not any of this. We are here to help, inspire and love. Be that change. #wearethenextgeneration," Gomez wrote in the caption. A few hours later, she added that: "And of course to be clear, I am not picking any sides. I am praying for peace and humanity for all!" Gomez wrote in her message. In the wake of the Alabama abortion ban in May 2019, Gomez spoke out on Instagram in favor of abortion rights in the United States. Amidst Roe v. Wade being overturned in June 2022, Gomez stated she is "not happy" and that "men need to stand up and also speak against this issue. It's also the amount of women that are hurting." Gomez is a critic of racism and supported the Black Lives Matter movement, lending her Instagram account to Alicia Garza, co-creator of Black Lives Matter and one of the founders of Black Futures Lab, in June 2020. In May 2021, Gomez participated in the VAX Live: The Concert to Reunite the World concert organized by Global Citizen to promote the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide through the COVAX program. The event urged people to ask their governments to pledge $22.1 billion in aid to the vaccine distribution. In May 2022, MTV partnered with Gomez and the Rare Impact Fund by Rare Beauty to host the Mental Health Youth Action Forum at the White House in coordination with the Biden-Harris Administration.
Business and ventures
Products and endorsements
In 2009, Gomez was part of Sears's back-to-school fashion campaign and featured in television commercials. She hosted the "Sears Arrive Air Band Casting Call" to select five winners for the first-ever "Sears Air Band" to perform at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. She also became the spokesperson for Borden Milk and starred in campaign's print ads and television commercials for the brand.
Having previously announced plans to launch a fashion line, Gomez released the Dream Out Loud collection in 2010. It consisted of bohemian dresses, floral tops, jeans, skirts, jackets, scarves and hats, all of which were made from recycled or eco-friendly materials. Gomez stated, "With my line, I really want to give the customer options on how they can put their own looks together [...] I want the pieces that can be easy to dress up or down, and the fabrics being eco-friendly and organic is super important [...] Also, the tags will all have some of my inspirational quotes on them. I'm just looking to send a good message." Gomez teamed up with designers Tony Melillo and Sandra Campos for the project, both of whom had previously worked with big-name fashion houses. Melillo and Campos teamed with New York-based Adjmi Apparel to manufacture the brand, which was formed by Adjmi CH Brands LLC, the holding company for the brand. From 2010 to 2014, Gomez worked with retailer Kmart to release the clothing line.
It was announced on July 14, 2011, that Gomez had signed a license agreement with Adrenalina, an extreme sports and adventure-themed lifestyle brand, to develop, manufacture, and distribute her own fragrance. Chairman and CEO of Adrenalina, Ilia Lekach, said, "We are incredibly enthused to be working with Ms. Gomez and will reveal more details pertaining to the fragrance as we get closer to the launch date." The perfume was released in May 2012. In 2013, she released her second fragrance, Vivamore by Selena Gomez. She also created her own collection of nail polish colors for Nicole by OPI.
From 2013 to 2015, Gomez was a spokesperson and partner for Neo by Adidas. In 2015, Gomez signed $3 million endorsement deal with Pantene. In 2016, Gomez appeared in a fashion campaign for luxury brand Louis Vuitton. She also appeared in ads for Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke" campaign, and advertisements for the campaign and lyrics from two of her songs were featured on Coca-Cola packaging nationwide. In 2017, Gomez confirmed her collaboration with Coach, beginning with their fall line, thereby becoming the new face of the brand. The limited-edition collection of handbags was called the "Selena Grace" line. Gomez's second collection and "first ever ready-to-wear collection for Coach", named Coach X Selena Gomez, included clothing, outerwear, and bags. That year, Gomez signed a $30 million contract with the athletic brand Puma as brand ambassador, appearing in campaigns such as those for the Phenom Lux sneakers released in March. Her collection with Puma, called SG x PUMA Strong Girl collection, launched on December 12 of that year and contained products from sneakers to athleisure attire. Since 2017, Gomez has been one of the highest-paid people on Instagram, becoming the highest paid-person on the platform of 2017. As of July 2023, Gomez earns $1.7 million per sponsored Instagram post.
In April 2020, Gomez became an owner and investor of the ice cream brand Serendipity. In July 2021, she released a swimwear line with La'Mariette. In November, Gomez co-founded the mental health media platform Wondermind. The following month, Gomez became an investor in the food delivery company Gopuff. In May 2022, she collaborated with Our Place on a cookware line, the Summer Collection. A second edition of the range was released in June 2023. In February 2025, Gomez and Benny Blanco's collaboration "Talk" was previewed as the soundtrack to an Apple advertisement for the IPhone 16e, before its release the following month.
Rare Beauty
In September 2020, Gomez launched her own makeup and cosmetics brand, Rare Beauty. The brand "[instead of selling an unattainable image] aims to help people feel good about themselves" by promoting inclusivity and mental health initiatives; it sells cruelty-free and vegan products packaged with recyclable materials certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Following its release on its official webstore and Sephora stores in the US, the brand was eventually made available in the Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia. It was named Startup of the Year at the 2020 WWD Beauty Inc Awards. Rare Beauty was named as Time's most influential company of 2024.
As of May 2024, the brand is valued at $2 billion. It is one of the best-selling brands at Sephora and the fastest-growing celebrity beauty brand on social media. Rare Beauty has already sold US$70 million worth of liquid blush (over 3.1 million units), in 2022 alone. In 2023, Rare Beauty emerged as the top index brand on TikTok and Instagram, with a combined media impact value of US$313,198,657 on the two platforms alone. That year, the estimated revenue for the line reached US$300 million, up approximately 50 percent from 2022. In September 2024, it was reported that Gomez had become a billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion; Bloomberg News estimated that roughly 81% of it originated from Rare Beauty. Bloomberg also stated that at age 32, she had become "one of the country's youngest female self-made billionaires".
Public image
Initially a teen idol, she has been referred to as a pop icon, as a "triple threat", owing to her successful singing, performing, and acting careers, and as one of the most influential Latina in entertainment. Gomez is one of the most successful child stars. Vulture ranked her third on its "Disney and Nickelodeon Stars Gone Pop" listicle, writing in 2021 that "Gomez is perhaps the most effortlessly likable star of her generation", and in the revision of this rating, named her as one of the few child stars with a successful music career as an adult. Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian called Gomez the "Tween Queen", and "the biggest star attached to the Walt Disney Company", describing the Gomez phenomenon as a key figure in the influence of "billions of kids and, through them, their parents' wallets", bringing billions to the company through "her image, TV series, movies, music records, perfume and clothing ranges" being in the spotlight "all this means that tweens can barely avoid her". Billboard ranked her number 38 on its Decade-End listicle of the most successful artists of the 2010s decade. With an estimated net worth of US$1.3 billion, Gomez is the first former Disney star to become a billionaire, being one of the wealthiest musicians and youngest self-made billionaires in the world.
With over 690 million followers across various platforms, Gomez is the most-followed woman globally on social media, as of September 2024. She is the most-followed woman on Instagram, as of 2025, and was the most-followed person on the platform from March 2016 to October 2018. She was the first person to surpass 100 million followers and the first woman to surpass 400 million followers on the platform. Gomez held the record for most-liked image on Instagram in 2016, and has 4 out of the 15 most-liked non-football related posts on the app, as of 2024. She is the seventh-most-followed woman on Twitter. The actress with the most likes on Facebook, she is also the third-most-followed woman on the platform.
Impact
She has had a huge impact on social media, with Hugh McIntyre from Forbes noting that "Gomez's posts, no matter what the image is actually of, are always liked by millions of people" and "in fact, the mere mention of Selena Gomez in a post by another star helps up the number of people who like it, proving her power". She was named as the number one positive influencer on social media in 2022. David Amsden from W named her "the most popular girl in America", writing that she "landed her first gig at 7, and by 14 was known to millions of prepubescent youths" and that "she embodies a particular strain of American fame: You know who she is without quite knowing who she is". Variety considers her a key personality in global media, owing to her "multi-hyphenate" presence incorporating music, films, television, cosmetics, and social activism.
In 2021, Rolling Stone India regarded her as one of the most influential pop culture icons of her time. In 2017, Time honored her as one of the "women who are changing the world" on its First Women Leaders list. Gomez was included in The Hollywood Reporter's Power 100 list, from 2022 to 2024 consecutively, as one of the most powerful women in entertainment, a rating based on achievements, overall authority within company and Hollywood, and its position in the industry, naming her "one of the most globally and culturally celebrated artists, actors, producers, entrepreneurs and philanthropists of her generation". People named Gomez as one of 15 women who are "changing the music industry today". Vogue India named her as one of the "women who has inspire this generation", calling her "newsmaker" of pop culture headlines. The Guardian credited her with popularizing "whisper pop", a style of pop music characterized by soft, hushed and breathy vocals.
A wax figure of Gomez has been exhibited at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums since 2010, in Hollywood, New York City, Washington, Berlin, and her wax figure was the first in Orlando. Gomez's work has inspired or influenced artists and entertainers such as Billie Eilish, Hailee Steinfeld, Vanessa Hudgens, Miranda Hart, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, and the beginning of the careers of Jenna Ortega and Joey King. In 2015, Justin Bieber called Gomez an inspiration and muse of his songwriting at the time. His album Purpose was inspired by Gomez; he also wrote songs about her such as "What Do You Mean?", "Sorry", "Mark My Words", "All That Matters", and "Beauty and a Beat". Britney Spears also named Gomez the main muse of her album, Glory.
The Latin Recording Academy honored Gomez as
one of the Leading Ladies of Entertainment for her "tremendous commercial success as a singer, actress and producer". In October 2024, the Government of France granted Gomez the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des arts et des lettres for "significant contribution to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance". The Hollywood Reporter awarded her the Equity in Entertainment Award that December, with Molly Shannon noting that she had used her voice to "change the world for the better" and "changed the entertainment landscape". Shannon called her "a role model, not just because of her immense talent and success, but because of the way she uses her influence to empower others. She challenges the status quo and creates a more inclusive, compassionate world for all."
Achievements
Gomez has won various awards including: an American Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, a Cannes Film Festival, 16 Guinness World Records, three iHeartRadio Music Awards, six Latin American Music Awards (she is the fourth most-awarded female artist), three MTV Movie & TV Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and five People's Choice Awards. For her music work, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards (including Album of the Year as featuring artist) and a Latin Grammy Award. For her acting work, she won a Satellite Award, and was nominated for three Critics' Choice Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, three NAACP Image Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. As a producer, she was nominated for six Emmy Awards including: three times as producer for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, marking her the most-nominated Latina producer in the category's history. With 18 wins, Gomez is the fourth-most awarded solo artist at the Teen Choice Awards. She currently holds the record for the most Kids' Choice Awards wins (12) for an individual. In addition, she has also won numerous awards for her philanthropic, charity work and mental health advocacy, including the McLean Award, the Stanford Healthcare Innovation Lab Award, the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion from the Ruderman Family Foundation, and the Art Award from Hispanic Heritage Foundation for her impact on global culture via her music, filmography and advocacy.
Having amassed 45 billion streams globally as of 2022, She was the eight-most streamed and one of the most-streamed female artist of 2010s decade on both Spotify and Apple Music. In 2017, she was third most streamed female artist on Spotify. In November 2018, Gomez surpassed Drake and became Spotify's most-streamed artist with 46 million monthly listeners while not releasing new album since 2015 (Ariana Grande later surpassed this record).
Gomez has been included in many prestigious lists and has been awarded by prestigious publications and magazines. In 2015, Gomez was honored with the Chart-Topper Award at the Billboard Women in Music event. The following year, she was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the music category, and again in 2020 in its "All-Star Alumni" category. Billboard named Gomez the Woman of the Year in 2017, included her in its list of Greatest of All Time Pop Songs Artists in 2018 (at number 31), and named her one of the 100 most successful artist of the 2010s in 2019, ranking her at number 38. She was also ranked at number 30 on the magazine's 2025 "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list. Time included her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2020.
"Calm Down", Gomez's collaboration with Rema, has been described as the most successful Afrobeats song of all time. The song broke the records as the highest- and longest-charting African artist-led song on the Hot 100, the longest-running number-one of all time on the Billboard US Afrobeats Songs chart, with 58 weeks at the summit, the longest-charting song in the top 10 and overall on the Pop Airplay chart, with 45 and 71 weeks respectively, the first African artist-led track to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify, and 1 billion on-demand streams in the US; its music video became the most-viewed Afrobeats song on YouTube. Gomez is one of six woman to score at least three number-one singles on the Pop Airplay chart from a single set. With her EP Revelación and her single "Baila Conmigo", she became the first female act to top the US Latin Albums and Latin Airplay charts simultaneously in over a decade. Gomez is the longest active run of any artist with 16 consecutive top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. She broke the record with the song "Ice Cream" with Blackpink as the third-highest 24-hour debut for a music video on YouTube at the time, with over 79 million views, and the highest for female artist and female collaboration. Gomez was the second woman to become Spotify's most-streamed artist in November 2018, with 46 million monthly listeners.
Gomez has broken many variety of world records. Gomez has topped the Billboard 200 three consecutive times, and the Billboard Hot 100 once, and Billboard Artist 100. As of May 2017, she had sold 24.3 million songs in the United States, and as of August 2023, she has sold 3.6 million albums in the US, and shifted more than 11.5 million album-equivalent units. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she has 63 million certified units in the US. Seven of Gomez's songs have reached over one billion streams on Spotify, and two of her music videos have reached over two billion views on YouTube.
Personal life
Property
Gomez owned a $6.6 million home in Calabasas, California. In 2014, she sold her mansion in Tarzana, Los Angeles, for $3.5 million. In 2015, she purchased a mansion in Fort Worth, Texas, for $3.5 million, and in October 2018 the house was sold. In 2020, Gomez moved to a $5 million mansion in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Encino. In the same year, she sold her house in Studio City, Los Angeles, for $2.3 million.
Beliefs
Gomez was raised Catholic. In 2005, at age 13, she wanted a purity ring, and her father went to the church and had it blessed. She has said, "He actually used me as an example for other kids: I'm going to keep my promise to myself, to my family and to God." Gomez stopped wearing the ring in 2010. In 2014, Gomez said that she listened to "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" by Hillsong United before performing at the 2014 American Music Awards. In 2016, she appeared at a Hillsong Young & Free concert in Los Angeles, leading worship by singing her song "Nobody". When a fan on Twitter asked her who the lyrics to "Nobody" refer to, Gomez replied that they refer to God. She also covered Hillsong Worship's song "Transfiguration", a reference to the Christian doctrine of the Transfiguration of Jesus, during her Revival Tour.
In June 2017, she expressed discomfort with the term "religion", stating that "It freaks me out". Gomez also said "I don't know if it's necessarily that I believe in religion as much as I believe in faith and a relationship with God." Gomez, with Justin Bieber, started worshiping at the Pentecostal Hillsong Church in Los Angeles in 2017. In 2021, she remarked that she maintained her Christian faith and had read The Purpose Driven Life by Baptist pastor Rick Warren three times.
Health
Gomez was diagnosed with a form of lupus erythematosus sometime between 2012 and early 2014. In September 2017, she revealed on Instagram that she had withdrawn from public events during the previous few months because she had received a kidney transplant from actress and friend Francia Raisa. During the transplant, one of her arteries ruptured, requiring emergency autotransplantation of a femoral vein to replace the artery.
Gomez has been open about her struggles with both anxiety and depression. She began psychotherapy in her early twenties and spent time in treatment facilities. When she reached 100 million Instagram followers, Gomez said she "sort of freaked out" and has since taken several extended breaks from social media, partly due to negative comments. In April 2020, she revealed she has bipolar disorder. In November 2022, she revealed that she had an episode of psychosis in 2018.
In October 2022, Gomez canceled an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon after testing positive for COVID-19. In September 2024, Gomez revealed her inability to have children naturally due to her health issues, and mentioned wanting to explore either surrogacy or adoption in the future. In November 2024, she disclosed a prior diagnosis of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
Relationships
Gomez dated singer Nick Jonas in 2008. She appeared in the music video for his band's song "Burnin' Up". From December 2010 to March 2018, Gomez was in an on-again, off-again relationship with Canadian singer Justin Bieber. During their breakups, Gomez dated Russian-German disc jockey Zedd and Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd.
Gomez began dating record producer Benny Blanco in June 2023. She formally announced their engagement on December 11, 2024, following a period of media rumors. The couple were married on September 27, 2025, at the Sea Crest Nursery in Santa Barbara, California.
Filmography
According to the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Gomez's television and film projects include The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2006), Hannah Montana (2007), Wizards of Waverly Place (2007–2012), Another Cinderella Story (2008), Princess Protection Program (2009), Ramona and Beezus (2010), The Muppets (2011), Spring Breakers (2012), Hotel Transylvania (2012–2022), Girl Rising (2013), The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex (2013), Rudderless (2014), The Fundamentals of Caring (2016), Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), The Dead Don't Die (2019), A Rainy Day in New York (2019), Selena + Chef (2020–2023), Only Murders in the Building (2021–present), Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me (2022), Emilia Pérez (2024), and Wizards Beyond Waverly Place (2024–present). Gomez also executive produced the television series 13 Reasons Why (2017–2020) and Living Undocumented (2019).
Discography
Selena Gomez & the Scene studio albums
Kiss & Tell (2009)
A Year Without Rain (2010)
When the Sun Goes Down (2011)
Solo studio albums
Stars Dance (2013)
Revival (2015)
Rare (2020)
Collaborative studio albums
I Said I Love You First (with Benny Blanco) (2025)
Tours
Selena Gomez & the Scene tours
Live in Concert (2009–2010)
A Year Without Rain Tour (2010–2011)
We Own the Night Tour (2011–2012)
Solo tours
Stars Dance Tour (2013–2014)
Revival Tour (2016)
See also
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Pop Airplay chart
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart
List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
History of Mexican Americans in Dallas–Fort Worth
Footnotes
Explanations
References
External links
Official website
Selena Gomez discography at Discogs
Selena Gomez at IMDb
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Kris Jenner
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Kristen Mary Jenner (née Houghton HOH-tən, formerly Kardashian; born November 5, 1955) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She rose to fame starring in the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007–2021) with her family. The success of their show led her and her family to star in multiple spin-off series, including Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami (2009), Kourtney and Kim Take New York (2011), Khloe & Lamar (2011), Rob & Chyna (2016) and Life of Kylie (2017). She acted as executive producer for most of her family's reality programs. In 2013, she hosted a six week long pop culture-driven daytime talk show, called Kris. Following her family's decision to sign off from E! in 2021, they then went on to star in The Kardashians on Hulu from 2022.
She has four children from her first marriage to lawyer Robert Kardashian: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Robert, and two children from her second marriage to television personality and retired Olympic Games medalist Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn): Kendall and Kylie. She has 13 grandchildren, including the musician North West.
Early life
Kristen Mary Houghton was born in San Diego, California, on November 5, 1955, the elder of two children born to Mary Jo "M. J." Shannon (née Campbell; born 1934), who owned a children's clothing store, and Robert True "Bob" Houghton (1931–1975), an engineer. When she was seven years old, M. J. and Bob divorced, and she and her younger sister, Karen Casey (née Houghton; 1958–2024), were raised by their mother. M. J. would eventually remarry to businessman Harry Shannon (1926–2003), who helped raise Jenner and her sister. By her mother's marriage to Harry, she gained a stepbrother, Steven "Steve" Shannon.
Three months after moving to Oxnard, California, Shannon's business partner allegedly left with all the company's capital, so the family moved back to San Diego. In San Diego, Jenner worked at Shannon & Company, a children's clothing store that belonged to her mother. Jenner attended Clairemont High School and graduated in 1973. In 1975, when Jenner was 19, her father died in a car crash in Mexico. She worked for American Airlines as a flight attendant for a year in 1976.
Career
Television
Jenner met with Ryan Seacrest in 2007 to pursue a reality television show based on her family. Seacrest, who had his own production company, decided to develop the idea, having the popular family-based show The Osbournes in his mind. Jenner further commented on the possible series:
Like, there's the little girls, and there's the older girls, and then there's my son. [...] Everybody thinks that they could create a bunch of drama in their lives, but it's something that I felt I didn't even have to think about. It would be natural.
The show eventually was picked up to air on the E! cable network, with Jenner acting as the executive producer. The series focused on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian–Jenner blended families. The series debuted on October 14, 2007, and became one of the longest-running reality television shows in the country.
The series was successful for its network, E!, and has resulted in the creation of numerous spin-offs, including Kourtney and Kim Take Miami (2009), in which Jenner has made multiple guest appearances. Jenner was also featured as a recurring cast member in Kourtney and Kim Take New York, which premiered in January 2011. Also in 2011, Jenner made an appearance in her daughter's show, Khloe & Lamar when it debuted, and the series focused on Khloe Kardashian and her then-husband Lamar Odom's personal life and relationship. On March 26, 2014, E! announced a Keeping Up with the Kardashians spin-off series titled Kourtney & Khloé Take the Hamptons. The Hamptons follows Kourtney, Khloé, and Scott Disick as they relocate to The Hamptons while the girls work on the New York Dash store plus open a pop-up store. The show also featured their family, including Jenner. In 2017, Jenner's youngest daughter Kylie, featured as the central cast member for the E! reality spin-off series Life of Kylie.
Jenner hosted a pop culture-driven daytime talk show, Kris. The series began its six-week trial summer run on several Fox-owned stations on July 15, 2013.Kanye West, her then-son-in-law through his marriage to Kim, revealed the first public picture of Jenner's granddaughter North West on the show. The show's six-week trial run was not extended.
In 2015, Jenner appeared as a recurring cast member in six episodes of the E! reality series I Am Cait. The show followed the journey of her ex-husband Caitlyn Jenner's (formerly Bruce) gender transition. Even after their 2015 divorce, they continued to co-star on Keeping Up with the Kardashians together with their children.
In 2021, Jenner and her family announced that their reality show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, would be ending after twenty seasons and almost 15 years on air. The final (twentieth) season premiered on March 18, 2021.
In April 2022, Jenner and her family returned to the television screens with their brand new reality television show, titled The Kardashians, after they left the E! Network to join Hulu. The show features Jenner, alongside her daughters Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie, it also features ex and current partners including Scott Disick, Travis Barker, Tristan Thompson, and Corey Gamble, with Kanye West making a guest appearance. The first season premiered on April 14, 2022, and its ten episodes can be streamed exclusively on Disney+. Later in 2022, the show was announced to be returning for a second season, which officially premiered on September 22, 2022. In late 2022, it was announced that the show had been officially renewed for a third season, set to premier in the first half of 2023. The third season officially aired on May 25, 2023.
In 2024, Jenner joined the production team of the forthcoming Hulu legal drama series All's Fair, serving as an executive producer. Her daughter Kim stars in the series.
Business
Jenner runs her own production company, Jenner Communications, which is based in Los Angeles. Since before the start of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, she has managed her daughters' Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Kendall, and Kylie's career. She also is involved with the business management of her other daughters and son. She has been involved in the launch and an instrumental guiding force of their successful family brands including Kylie Cosmetics, Kylie Skin, KKW Beauty, KKW Fragrance, Skims, Good American, 818 Tequila, SKKN by Kim and Arthur George.
Jenner opened a children's boutique in 2004 with her eldest daughter, Kourtney. The boutique was called "Smooch" and was open for almost six years before closing down in 2009. In 2011, Jenner launched a clothing line, Kris Jenner Kollection with QVC. Jenner had previously sold exercise equipment with QVC in the 1990s.
In 2014, Jenner and her youngest daughter Kylie founded a company called Kylie Lip Kits (now Kylie Cosmetics) and partnered with Seed Beauty, a retail and product development company co-founded by siblings, John and Laura Nelson. The company's first product Kylie Lip Kits, a liquid lipstick and lip liner, debuted on November 30, 2015. The first 15,000 lip kits were produced by Seed Beauty and funded by Kylie at a cost of $250,000 from her modelling earnings. The company was renamed to Kylie Cosmetics in February 2016, and production was increased to 500,000 kits. By the end of 2016, the company's total revenue was over $300 million. On May 9, 2018, Jenner and Kylie announced their collaboration called the Kris Kollection via Kylie's personal Instagram. The Mini Lip Set in the Kris Kollection, which includes eight mini liquid lipsticks, is aptly named "Momager", a title in which Jenner has personally taken on, and attempted to trademark, in recent years. In addition to the "Momager" Lip Kit, the Kris Kollection includes lip glosses and a four pan pressed powder highlight/blush palette, which has created much controversy online with both good and bad reviews. The collection was released just in time for Mother's Day.
In April 2020, Jenner teamed up with daughter Kim to launch a perfume collaboration titled KKW x Kris.
Writing
Jenner's autobiography, Kris Jenner... and All Things Kardashian, was released in November 2011. She later wrote a cookbook entitled In the Kitchen with Kris: A Kollection of Kardashian-Jenner Family Favorites, which was released in October 2014.
Public image
Jenner has often been referred to as the "matriarch" of the family. Dimitri Ehrlich of Interview magazine called her "the matriarch of the Kardashian-Jenner brood" and the "21st century's preeminent female pop-cultural brand-builder." Jenner explained her operations as a businesswoman in her memoir Kris Jenner... And All Things Kardashian: "I started to look at our careers like pieces on a chessboard...Every day, I woke up and walked into my office and asked myself, 'What move do you need to make today?' It was very calculated. My business decisions and strategies were very intentional, definite and planned to the nth degree."
Jenner has been featured on the covers of numerous lifestyle and fashion magazines, including CR Fashion Book, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, The Hollywood Reporter, Es Magazine, Variety, New You, Haute Living, WSJ. Magazine and Stellar.
In 2023, Jenner appeared in the music video for American singer Meghan Trainor's new song "Mother", with Trainor describing her as "the mother of all mothers".
Personal life
Marriages, relationships, and family
Jenner's first marriage was to lawyer Robert Kardashian (who later became widely known for his early legal representation of O. J. Simpson) on July 8, 1978. They have four children: daughters Kourtney (born 1979), Kim (born 1980), Khloé (born 1984), and son Rob (born 1987). Kardashian filed for divorce in 1990 after discovering Jenner's affair with former soccer player Todd Waterman. Their divorce was finalized in March 1991, but they remained friends until his death from esophageal cancer in 2003.
In April 1991, one month after her divorce from Kardashian, Jenner married her second spouse, retired Olympian Bruce Jenner, who publicly came out as a transgender woman in 2015, taking the name Caitlyn. They have two daughters together: Kendall (born 1995) and Kylie (born 1997); in her autobiography, Jenner explained that she named her daughter Kendall Nicole after the late Nicole Brown Simpson. By marriage to Bruce, Jenner also had four stepchildren: Burt, Cassandra "Casey", Brandon, and Brody.
The Jenners announced their separation in October 2013, and on September 22, 2014, Kris filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce became final on March 23, 2015, because of a six-month state legal requirement. Jenner described the breakup with Caitlyn as "the most passive-aggressive thing", saying that while she had known of Caitlyn's use of hormones in the 1980s, "there wasn't a gender issue. Nobody mentioned a gender issue."
Jenner found it progressively difficult to come to terms with Caitlyn's transition, which was fueled after comments Caitlyn made about her in a 2015 Vanity Fair article. She also publicly disapproved of Caitlyn's memoir The Secrets of My Life released in 2017, criticizing the comments she made about her, their family and their marriage.
As of 2025, Jenner has 14 grandchildren. She has been in a relationship with Corey Gamble since around 2014.
O. J. Simpson trial
Jenner and her family suffered emotional turmoil during the O. J. Simpson trial (1994–1995), later described as the "Trial of the Century." Jenner was a good friend of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and Jenner's first husband, Robert Kardashian, was one of O.J. Simpson's "Dream Team" of defense lawyers during the trial.
Jenner was portrayed by American actress Selma Blair in the FX limited series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, which premiered in February 2016.
California Community Church
Jenner and Pastor Brad Johnson founded the California Community Church in 2012. It originally was called the Life Change Community Church, located in Agoura Hills, California.
Filmography
As herself
As producer
In music videos
References
External links
Kris Jenner at IMDb
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Kristen Mary Jenner (née Houghton HOH-tən, formerly Kardashian; born November 5, 1955) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She rose to fame starring in the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007–2021) with her family. The success of their show led her and her family to star in multiple spin-off series, including Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami (2009), Kourtney and Kim Take New York (2011), Khloe & Lamar (2011), Rob & Chyna (2016) and Life of Kylie (2017). She acted as executive producer for most of her family's reality programs. In 2013, she hosted a six week long pop culture-driven daytime talk show, called Kris. Following her family's decision to sign off from E! in 2021, they then went on to star in The Kardashians on Hulu from 2022.
She has four children from her first marriage to lawyer Robert Kardashian: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Robert, and two children from her second marriage to television personality and retired Olympic Games medalist Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn): Kendall and Kylie. She has 13 grandchildren, including the musician North West.
Early life
Kristen Mary Houghton was born in San Diego, California, on November 5, 1955, the elder of two children born to Mary Jo "M. J." Shannon (née Campbell; born 1934), who owned a children's clothing store, and Robert True "Bob" Houghton (1931–1975), an engineer. When she was seven years old, M. J. and Bob divorced, and she and her younger sister, Karen Casey (née Houghton; 1958–2024), were raised by their mother. M. J. would eventually remarry to businessman Harry Shannon (1926–2003), who helped raise Jenner and her sister. By her mother's marriage to Harry, she gained a stepbrother, Steven "Steve" Shannon.
Three months after moving to Oxnard, California, Shannon's business partner allegedly left with all the company's capital, so the family moved back to San Diego. In San Diego, Jenner worked at Shannon & Company, a children's clothing store that belonged to her mother. Jenner attended Clairemont High School and graduated in 1973. In 1975, when Jenner was 19, her father died in a car crash in Mexico. She worked for American Airlines as a flight attendant for a year in 1976.
Career
Television
Jenner met with Ryan Seacrest in 2007 to pursue a reality television show based on her family. Seacrest, who had his own production company, decided to develop the idea, having the popular family-based show The Osbournes in his mind. Jenner further commented on the possible series:
Like, there's the little girls, and there's the older girls, and then there's my son. [...] Everybody thinks that they could create a bunch of drama in their lives, but it's something that I felt I didn't even have to think about. It would be natural.
The show eventually was picked up to air on the E! cable network, with Jenner acting as the executive producer. The series focused on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian–Jenner blended families. The series debuted on October 14, 2007, and became one of the longest-running reality television shows in the country.
The series was successful for its network, E!, and has resulted in the creation of numerous spin-offs, including Kourtney and Kim Take Miami (2009), in which Jenner has made multiple guest appearances. Jenner was also featured as a recurring cast member in Kourtney and Kim Take New York, which premiered in January 2011. Also in 2011, Jenner made an appearance in her daughter's show, Khloe & Lamar when it debuted, and the series focused on Khloe Kardashian and her then-husband Lamar Odom's personal life and relationship. On March 26, 2014, E! announced a Keeping Up with the Kardashians spin-off series titled Kourtney & Khloé Take the Hamptons. The Hamptons follows Kourtney, Khloé, and Scott Disick as they relocate to The Hamptons while the girls work on the New York Dash store plus open a pop-up store. The show also featured their family, including Jenner. In 2017, Jenner's youngest daughter Kylie, featured as the central cast member for the E! reality spin-off series Life of Kylie.
Jenner hosted a pop culture-driven daytime talk show, Kris. The series began its six-week trial summer run on several Fox-owned stations on July 15, 2013.Kanye West, her then-son-in-law through his marriage to Kim, revealed the first public picture of Jenner's granddaughter North West on the show. The show's six-week trial run was not extended.
In 2015, Jenner appeared as a recurring cast member in six episodes of the E! reality series I Am Cait. The show followed the journey of her ex-husband Caitlyn Jenner's (formerly Bruce) gender transition. Even after their 2015 divorce, they continued to co-star on Keeping Up with the Kardashians together with their children.
In 2021, Jenner and her family announced that their reality show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, would be ending after twenty seasons and almost 15 years on air. The final (twentieth) season premiered on March 18, 2021.
In April 2022, Jenner and her family returned to the television screens with their brand new reality television show, titled The Kardashians, after they left the E! Network to join Hulu. The show features Jenner, alongside her daughters Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie, it also features ex and current partners including Scott Disick, Travis Barker, Tristan Thompson, and Corey Gamble, with Kanye West making a guest appearance. The first season premiered on April 14, 2022, and its ten episodes can be streamed exclusively on Disney+. Later in 2022, the show was announced to be returning for a second season, which officially premiered on September 22, 2022. In late 2022, it was announced that the show had been officially renewed for a third season, set to premier in the first half of 2023. The third season officially aired on May 25, 2023.
In 2024, Jenner joined the production team of the forthcoming Hulu legal drama series All's Fair, serving as an executive producer. Her daughter Kim stars in the series.
Business
Jenner runs her own production company, Jenner Communications, which is based in Los Angeles. Since before the start of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, she has managed her daughters' Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Kendall, and Kylie's career. She also is involved with the business management of her other daughters and son. She has been involved in the launch and an instrumental guiding force of their successful family brands including Kylie Cosmetics, Kylie Skin, KKW Beauty, KKW Fragrance, Skims, Good American, 818 Tequila, SKKN by Kim and Arthur George.
Jenner opened a children's boutique in 2004 with her eldest daughter, Kourtney. The boutique was called "Smooch" and was open for almost six years before closing down in 2009. In 2011, Jenner launched a clothing line, Kris Jenner Kollection with QVC. Jenner had previously sold exercise equipment with QVC in the 1990s.
In 2014, Jenner and her youngest daughter Kylie founded a company called Kylie Lip Kits (now Kylie Cosmetics) and partnered with Seed Beauty, a retail and product development company co-founded by siblings, John and Laura Nelson. The company's first product Kylie Lip Kits, a liquid lipstick and lip liner, debuted on November 30, 2015. The first 15,000 lip kits were produced by Seed Beauty and funded by Kylie at a cost of $250,000 from her modelling earnings. The company was renamed to Kylie Cosmetics in February 2016, and production was increased to 500,000 kits. By the end of 2016, the company's total revenue was over $300 million. On May 9, 2018, Jenner and Kylie announced their collaboration called the Kris Kollection via Kylie's personal Instagram. The Mini Lip Set in the Kris Kollection, which includes eight mini liquid lipsticks, is aptly named "Momager", a title in which Jenner has personally taken on, and attempted to trademark, in recent years. In addition to the "Momager" Lip Kit, the Kris Kollection includes lip glosses and a four pan pressed powder highlight/blush palette, which has created much controversy online with both good and bad reviews. The collection was released just in time for Mother's Day.
In April 2020, Jenner teamed up with daughter Kim to launch a perfume collaboration titled KKW x Kris.
Writing
Jenner's autobiography, Kris Jenner... and All Things Kardashian, was released in November 2011. She later wrote a cookbook entitled In the Kitchen with Kris: A Kollection of Kardashian-Jenner Family Favorites, which was released in October 2014.
Public image
Jenner has often been referred to as the "matriarch" of the family. Dimitri Ehrlich of Interview magazine called her "the matriarch of the Kardashian-Jenner brood" and the "21st century's preeminent female pop-cultural brand-builder." Jenner explained her operations as a businesswoman in her memoir Kris Jenner... And All Things Kardashian: "I started to look at our careers like pieces on a chessboard...Every day, I woke up and walked into my office and asked myself, 'What move do you need to make today?' It was very calculated. My business decisions and strategies were very intentional, definite and planned to the nth degree."
Jenner has been featured on the covers of numerous lifestyle and fashion magazines, including CR Fashion Book, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, The Hollywood Reporter, Es Magazine, Variety, New You, Haute Living, WSJ. Magazine and Stellar.
In 2023, Jenner appeared in the music video for American singer Meghan Trainor's new song "Mother", with Trainor describing her as "the mother of all mothers".
Personal life
Marriages, relationships, and family
Jenner's first marriage was to lawyer Robert Kardashian (who later became widely known for his early legal representation of O. J. Simpson) on July 8, 1978. They have four children: daughters Kourtney (born 1979), Kim (born 1980), Khloé (born 1984), and son Rob (born 1987). Kardashian filed for divorce in 1990 after discovering Jenner's affair with former soccer player Todd Waterman. Their divorce was finalized in March 1991, but they remained friends until his death from esophageal cancer in 2003.
In April 1991, one month after her divorce from Kardashian, Jenner married her second spouse, retired Olympian Bruce Jenner, who publicly came out as a transgender woman in 2015, taking the name Caitlyn. They have two daughters together: Kendall (born 1995) and Kylie (born 1997); in her autobiography, Jenner explained that she named her daughter Kendall Nicole after the late Nicole Brown Simpson. By marriage to Bruce, Jenner also had four stepchildren: Burt, Cassandra "Casey", Brandon, and Brody.
The Jenners announced their separation in October 2013, and on September 22, 2014, Kris filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce became final on March 23, 2015, because of a six-month state legal requirement. Jenner described the breakup with Caitlyn as "the most passive-aggressive thing", saying that while she had known of Caitlyn's use of hormones in the 1980s, "there wasn't a gender issue. Nobody mentioned a gender issue."
Jenner found it progressively difficult to come to terms with Caitlyn's transition, which was fueled after comments Caitlyn made about her in a 2015 Vanity Fair article. She also publicly disapproved of Caitlyn's memoir The Secrets of My Life released in 2017, criticizing the comments she made about her, their family and their marriage.
As of 2025, Jenner has 14 grandchildren. She has been in a relationship with Corey Gamble since around 2014.
O. J. Simpson trial
Jenner and her family suffered emotional turmoil during the O. J. Simpson trial (1994–1995), later described as the "Trial of the Century." Jenner was a good friend of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and Jenner's first husband, Robert Kardashian, was one of O.J. Simpson's "Dream Team" of defense lawyers during the trial.
Jenner was portrayed by American actress Selma Blair in the FX limited series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, which premiered in February 2016.
California Community Church
Jenner and Pastor Brad Johnson founded the California Community Church in 2012. It originally was called the Life Change Community Church, located in Agoura Hills, California.
Filmography
As herself
As producer
In music videos
References
External links
Kris Jenner at IMDb
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Hugh Laurie
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James Hugh Calum Laurie (; born 11 June 1959) is an English actor, comedian, singer, musician, and writer.
Laurie first gained professional recognition as a member of the English comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry. Fry and Laurie acted together in a number of projects during the 1980s and 1990s, including the BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the P. G. Wodehouse adaptation Jeeves and Wooster. From 1986 to 1989, Laurie appeared in three series of the period comedy Blackadder.
From 2004 to 2012, Laurie starred as Dr. Gregory House on the Fox medical drama series House. He received two Golden Globe Awards and many other accolades for his work on House. He was listed in the 2011 Guinness World Records as the most-watched leading man on television and was one of the highest-paid actors in a television drama at the time. After House, Laurie won a Golden Globe for his starring role as arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper, the main antagonist in the miniseries The Night Manager (2016). He received his 10th Emmy Award nomination for his portrayal of Senator Tom James in the HBO sitcom Veep (2015–2019).
Laurie released the blues albums Let Them Talk (2011) and Didn't It Rain (2013), both to favourable reviews. Laurie also wrote the novel The Gun Seller (1996). He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2007 New Year Honours and CBE in the 2018 New Year Honours, both for services to drama.
Early life and education
Laurie was born on 11 June 1959, in the Blackbird Leys area of Oxford. He is the youngest of four children of Patricia (née Laidlaw) and William George Ranald Mundell "Ran" Laurie, who was a physician and winner of an Olympic gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games. He has an older brother, Charles Alexander Lyon Mundell Laurie, and two older sisters, Susan and Janet. Laurie had a strained relationship with his mother, whom he described as "Presbyterian by character, by mood". He later said, "I was frustration to her. She didn't like me."
Laurie's parents, who were both of Scottish descent, attended St Columba's Presbyterian Church (now United Reformed Church) in Oxford. He notes that "belief in God didn't play a large role" in his home, but "a certain attitude to life and the living of it did". He followed this by stating, "Pleasure was something that was treated with great suspicion, pleasure was something that... I was going to say it had to be earned but even the earning of it didn't really work. It was something to this day, I mean, I carry that with me. I find pleasure a difficult thing; I don't know what you do with it, I don't know where to put it." He later stated, "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted, he'd take it away."
Laurie was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School from seven to 13, later stating, "I was, in truth, a horrible child. Not much given to things of a 'bookey' nature, I spent a large part of my youth smoking Number Six and cheating in French vocabulary tests." He went on to Eton College, which he described as "the most private of private schools".
Laurie arrived at Selwyn College, Cambridge, in 1978, which he says he attended "as a result of family tradition" since his father went there. Like his father, Laurie rowed at school and university. He has noted that his father was a successful rower at Cambridge and that he was "trying to follow in [his] father's footsteps". In 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J.S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. He also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Cambridge lost that year by five feet. During this time, Laurie was training for up to eight hours a day and was on course to become an Olympic-standard rower. He is a member of the Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, and was a member of the Hermes Club and Hawks' Club. Laurie studied archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge, specialising in social anthropology. He graduated with third-class honours in 1981.
Career
Comedy and acting
Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of glandular fever, Laurie joined the Cambridge Footlights, a university dramatic club that has produced many well-known actors and comedians including members of the popular British surreal comedy group, Monty Python. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends. She introduced him to his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry. Laurie, Fry and Thompson later parodied themselves in the sitcom The Young Ones. In the episode "Bambi", they and the series' co-writer Ben Elton appear on University Challenge as representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge".
In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing Laurie was president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue, The Cellar Tapes, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won the first Perrier Comedy Award which was presented to them by Rowan Atkinson. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer. The Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for The Cellar Tapes and a television version of the revue, broadcast in May 1982. It resulted in Laurie, Fry and Thompson being selected, along with Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane and Siobhan Redmond, to write and appear in a new sketch comedy show for Granada Television, Alfresco, which ran for two series.
Fry and Laurie worked together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them was the sitcom Blackadder, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis and starring Rowan Atkinson. Laurie first appeared in the last two episodes of the second series, Blackadder II, debuting as Blackadder's drunken friend Simon Partridge in the episode "Beer", and then as the villainous Prince Ludwig the Indestructible in the episode "Chains". Laurie joined the main cast for the third series, Blackadder the Third, where he played Prince George, followed by the fourth and final series, Blackadder Goes Forth, where he played Lieutenant George. Other collaborations with Fry included their BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie, as well as Jeeves and Wooster, a television adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's stories, in which Laurie played Jeeves's employer, the amiable twit Bertie Wooster. He and Fry also participated in charity stage events, such as Hysteria! 1, 2 & 3, Amnesty International's The Secret Policeman's Third Ball, the Comic Relief TV shows, and the variety show Fry and Laurie Host a Christmas Night with the Stars. They collaborated again on the film Peter's Friends (1992) and came together for a retrospective show in 2010 titled Fry and Laurie Reunited.
Laurie starred in the Thames Television film Letters from a Bomber Pilot (1985) directed by David Hodgson. This was a serious acting role, the film being dramatised from the letters home of Pilot Officer J.R.A. "Bob" Hodgson, a pilot in RAF Bomber Command, who was killed in action in 1943.
Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "Experiment IV" by Kate Bush, and the 1992 Annie Lennox single "Walking on Broken Glass" in British Regency period costume alongside John Malkovich. Laurie appeared in the Spice Girls' film Spice World (1997) and had a brief guest-starring role on Friends in "The One with Ross's Wedding" (1998).
Laurie's later film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), adapted by and starring Emma Thompson; the Disney live-action film 101 Dalmatians (1996), where he played Jasper, one of the bumbling criminals hired to kidnap the puppies; Elton's adaptation of his novel Inconceivable, Maybe Baby (2000); Girl from Rio; the 2004 adaptation of The Flight of the Phoenix, and Stuart Little.
Since 2002, Laurie has appeared in a range of British television dramas, guest-starring that year in two episodes of the first season of the spy thriller series Spooks on BBC One. In 2003, he starred in and also directed ITV's comedy-drama series fortysomething (in one episode of which Stephen Fry appears). In 2001, he voiced the character of a bar patron in the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea". Laurie voiced the character of Mr. Wolf in the cartoon Preston Pig. He was a panellist on the first episode of QI, alongside Fry as host. In 2004, Laurie guest-starred as a professor in charge of a space probe called Beagle, on The Lenny Henry Show.
Between 2004 and 2012, Laurie starred as an acerbic physician specialising in diagnostic medicine, Dr. Gregory House, in the Fox medical drama House. For his portrayal, he assumed an American accent. He was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded his audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, as it was the only place he could get enough light. Jacob Vargas operated the camera for the audition tape. Laurie's American accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie was British, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of "compelling American actor" he had been looking for. Laurie also adopted the accent between takes on the set of House, as well as during script read-throughs, although he used his native accent when directing the episode "Lockdown". He also served as director for the episode "The C-Word".
Laurie was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in House in 2005. Although he did not win, he did receive a Golden Globe in both 2006 and 2007 for his work on the series and the Screen Actors Guild award in 2007 and 2009. Laurie was also awarded a large increase in salary, from what was rumoured to be a mid-range five-figure sum to $350,000 per episode. Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives, but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his House character by rapidly diagnosing host Conan O'Brien and then proceeding to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an Emmy with Dame Helen Mirren, and was since nominated in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.
Laurie was initially cast as Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, in Singer's film Superman Returns but had to bow out of the project because of his commitment to House. In 2006, Laurie appeared on Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", accompanying himself on the piano. He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in drag in a sketch about a man (Kenan Thompson) with a broken leg who accuses his doctor of being dishonest. Laurie played the man's wife.
In 2007, Laurie appeared on BBC Four's documentary Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry's 50th birthday. In 2008, he took part in Blackadder Rides Again which saw him reuniting with former Blackadder producer, John Lloyd who had travelled to the set of House MD in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California to interview Laurie who recalled his time working on the Blackadder series. Laurie also appeared as Captain James Biggs in Street Kings, opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. Herbert Cockroach, PhD in DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens. He also hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time on the Christmas show in which he sang a medley of three-second Christmas songs to close his monologue. In 2009, Laurie returned to guest star in another Family Guy episode, "Business Guy", parodying Gregory House. In 2010, Laurie guest starred in The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XXI" as Roger, a castaway who is planning a murder scheme on a ship during Homer and Marge's second honeymoon.
Laurie was listed in the 2011 Guinness World Records as the most-watched leading man on television and was one of the highest-paid actors in a television drama at the time.
House ended in 2012 after an eight-season run. That same year, the media announced that Laurie was in negotiations to play the villain in RoboCop, a remake of the original RoboCop film. These negotiations ultimately fell through and Laurie passed on the project. In 2012, Laurie starred in an independent feature called The Oranges that had a limited release. The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey thought that he was "particularly good". After the end of House, Laurie took a three-year hiatus from film and TV work.
Laurie was in negotiations to be cast in the role of Blackbeard for the 2014 series Crossbones. However, the role went to John Malkovich. In 2015 he returned to TV work with a recurring role on Veep as Tom James, a role written specifically for him after showrunner Armando Iannucci heard he was a fan of the show. Laurie continued to recur on the show until the final season in 2019. For his work on Veep, he received his 10th Emmy nomination in 2017.
Laurie played the villain David Nix in Brad Bird's 2015 film Tomorrowland.
Laurie played arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper in the BBC 1 miniseries The Night Manager. The series started filming in spring 2015 and aired first on the BBC. He was nominated for two Emmys for his work on the miniseries and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. In addition to being an executive producer on the show alongside Tom Hiddleston, it was also Laurie's first role on British TV in thirteen years.
Laurie starred as Dr Eldon Chance, a San Francisco-based forensic neuropsychiatrist in the Hulu thriller series Chance which lasted for two seasons from 2016 to 2017. In 2018, Laurie had a small role in the critically panned film Holmes & Watson.
In 2019, Laurie appeared in Veep creator Armando Iannucci's film The Personal History of David Copperfield, an adaptation of the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. That same year it was announced he would also work with Iannucci on the upcoming space comedy Avenue 5 for HBO. Season 2 of Avenue 5 was released on 10 October 2022, with Laurie reprising his role as Captain Ryan.
Laurie starred as Eric Peterson in the third season of Tehran in 2024.
Laurie is scheduled to headline a thriller drama called The Wanted Man for Apple TV+, portraying crime lord Felix Carmichael. Laurie was announced as the voice of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions from Audible and Pottermore Publishing, with the first audiobook set to be released on 4 November 2025.
Music
Laurie is an accomplished pianist who began taking piano lessons at the age of six. He sings and plays the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica, and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents throughout his acting career, such as on A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House, and his appearance as host of Saturday Night Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV.
Following Meat Loaf's appearance in the House episode "Simple Explanation", Laurie played piano as a special guest on the song "If I Can't Have You" from Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear. Laurie co-wrote and performed the humorous blues song, "Sperm Test in the Morning", in the film Maybe Baby.
On House Laurie played several classic rock 'n roll instruments including Gibson Flying V and Les Paul guitars, as well as piano and Hammond B-3 organ.
On 26 July 2010 it was announced that Laurie would be releasing a blues album after signing a contract with Warner Bros. Records. The album, called Let Them Talk, was released in France on 18 April 2011 and in Germany on 29 April. The album features collaborations from well-known artists such as Tom Jones, Irma Thomas and Dr. John.
On 1 May 2011 Laurie and a jazz quintet closed the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival to great acclaim. He followed that up as the subject of the 15 May 2011 episode of ITV's series Perspectives, explaining his love for the music of New Orleans and playing music, from his album Let Them Talk, at studios and live venues in the city itself. He was the subject of PBS Great Performances Let them Talk, also about New Orleans jazz, first broadcast on 30 September 2011.
His second album, Didn't It Rain, was released in the UK on 6 May 2013. In the same year he played at the RMS Queen Mary together with his band. This concert was filmed and later released as Live on the Queen Mary on DVD and Blu-ray.
Writing
In 1996 Laurie's first novel, The Gun Seller, an intricate thriller laced with Wodehouseian humour, was published and became a best-seller.
Personal life
Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green on 16 June 1989 in the Camden area of London. They have three children. Laurie's elder son played a small role as baby William in A Bit of Fry & Laurie, during a sketch titled "Special Squad". His daughter had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing. Stephen Fry, Laurie's best friend and long-time comedy partner, was the best man at his wedding and is the godfather of his children.
Laurie's mother died from motor neurone disease in 1989, at the age of 73. According to Laurie, she endured the disease for two years and suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he has called "the sweetest man in the whole world".
While appearing on Inside the Actors Studio in 2006, Laurie discussed his struggles with severe clinical depression. He told host James Lipton that he first concluded he had a problem while driving in a charity demolition derby, during which he realised that seeing two cars collide and explode made him feel bored rather than excited or frightened; he quipped that "boredom is not an appropriate response to exploding cars".
Laurie admires the writings of P. G. Wodehouse, explaining in a 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph that reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life. In an interview also in The Daily Telegraph, he confirmed that he is an atheist. He is an avid motorcycle enthusiast and has two motorbikes, one at his London home and one at his Los Angeles home. His bike in the U.S. is a Triumph Bonneville, his self-proclaimed "feeble attempt to fly the British flag".
In 2013, Laurie was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, where he chose tracks from Joe Cocker, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Randy Newman, Professor Longhair, Son House, Nina Simone, Lester Young–Buddy Rich Trio, and Van Morrison as his eight favourite discs. This was his second appearance on the show, having previously been on a 1996 episode, where he chose tracks by Muddy Waters, Max Bruch, the Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra with Count Basie, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Van Morrison and Dr. John.
Laurie is a supporter of Arsenal F.C.
Recognition
Laurie has won three Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and has been nominated for 10 Primetime Emmy Awards.
Laurie was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama in the 2007 New Year Honours. He was promoted to Commander of the same Order (CBE) for his services to drama in the 2018 New Year Honours.
In 2012, Laurie was made an Honorary Fellow of his alma mater Selwyn College, Cambridge.
In 2016, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Filmography
Live-action performances
Film
Television
Voice performances
Documentaries
Video games
Discography
Albums
Singles
Featured singles
Other charting songs
Music videos
DVDs/Blu-ray
Awards and honours
Commonwealth honours
Commonwealth honours
Scholastic
University degrees
Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships
References
External links
Media related to Hugh Laurie at Wikimedia Commons
Hugh Laurie on Facebook
Hugh Laurie at IMDb
Hugh Laurie at the BFI's Screenonline
Hugh Laurie | Culture The Guardian
Hugh Laurie interview The Daily Telegraph
|
James Hugh Calum Laurie (; born 11 June 1959) is an English actor, comedian, singer, musician, and writer.
Laurie first gained professional recognition as a member of the English comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry. Fry and Laurie acted together in a number of projects during the 1980s and 1990s, including the BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the P. G. Wodehouse adaptation Jeeves and Wooster. From 1986 to 1989, Laurie appeared in three series of the period comedy Blackadder.
From 2004 to 2012, Laurie starred as Dr. Gregory House on the Fox medical drama series House. He received two Golden Globe Awards and many other accolades for his work on House. He was listed in the 2011 Guinness World Records as the most-watched leading man on television and was one of the highest-paid actors in a television drama at the time. After House, Laurie won a Golden Globe for his starring role as arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper, the main antagonist in the miniseries The Night Manager (2016). He received his 10th Emmy Award nomination for his portrayal of Senator Tom James in the HBO sitcom Veep (2015–2019).
Laurie released the blues albums Let Them Talk (2011) and Didn't It Rain (2013), both to favourable reviews. Laurie also wrote the novel The Gun Seller (1996). He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2007 New Year Honours and CBE in the 2018 New Year Honours, both for services to drama.
Early life and education
Laurie was born on 11 June 1959, in the Blackbird Leys area of Oxford. He is the youngest of four children of Patricia (née Laidlaw) and William George Ranald Mundell "Ran" Laurie, who was a physician and winner of an Olympic gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games. He has an older brother, Charles Alexander Lyon Mundell Laurie, and two older sisters, Susan and Janet. Laurie had a strained relationship with his mother, whom he described as "Presbyterian by character, by mood". He later said, "I was frustration to her. She didn't like me."
Laurie's parents, who were both of Scottish descent, attended St Columba's Presbyterian Church (now United Reformed Church) in Oxford. He notes that "belief in God didn't play a large role" in his home, but "a certain attitude to life and the living of it did". He followed this by stating, "Pleasure was something that was treated with great suspicion, pleasure was something that... I was going to say it had to be earned but even the earning of it didn't really work. It was something to this day, I mean, I carry that with me. I find pleasure a difficult thing; I don't know what you do with it, I don't know where to put it." He later stated, "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted, he'd take it away."
Laurie was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School from seven to 13, later stating, "I was, in truth, a horrible child. Not much given to things of a 'bookey' nature, I spent a large part of my youth smoking Number Six and cheating in French vocabulary tests." He went on to Eton College, which he described as "the most private of private schools".
Laurie arrived at Selwyn College, Cambridge, in 1978, which he says he attended "as a result of family tradition" since his father went there. Like his father, Laurie rowed at school and university. He has noted that his father was a successful rower at Cambridge and that he was "trying to follow in [his] father's footsteps". In 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J.S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. He also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Cambridge lost that year by five feet. During this time, Laurie was training for up to eight hours a day and was on course to become an Olympic-standard rower. He is a member of the Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, and was a member of the Hermes Club and Hawks' Club. Laurie studied archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge, specialising in social anthropology. He graduated with third-class honours in 1981.
Career
Comedy and acting
Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of glandular fever, Laurie joined the Cambridge Footlights, a university dramatic club that has produced many well-known actors and comedians including members of the popular British surreal comedy group, Monty Python. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends. She introduced him to his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry. Laurie, Fry and Thompson later parodied themselves in the sitcom The Young Ones. In the episode "Bambi", they and the series' co-writer Ben Elton appear on University Challenge as representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge".
In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing Laurie was president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue, The Cellar Tapes, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won the first Perrier Comedy Award which was presented to them by Rowan Atkinson. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer. The Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for The Cellar Tapes and a television version of the revue, broadcast in May 1982. It resulted in Laurie, Fry and Thompson being selected, along with Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane and Siobhan Redmond, to write and appear in a new sketch comedy show for Granada Television, Alfresco, which ran for two series.
Fry and Laurie worked together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them was the sitcom Blackadder, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis and starring Rowan Atkinson. Laurie first appeared in the last two episodes of the second series, Blackadder II, debuting as Blackadder's drunken friend Simon Partridge in the episode "Beer", and then as the villainous Prince Ludwig the Indestructible in the episode "Chains". Laurie joined the main cast for the third series, Blackadder the Third, where he played Prince George, followed by the fourth and final series, Blackadder Goes Forth, where he played Lieutenant George. Other collaborations with Fry included their BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie, as well as Jeeves and Wooster, a television adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's stories, in which Laurie played Jeeves's employer, the amiable twit Bertie Wooster. He and Fry also participated in charity stage events, such as Hysteria! 1, 2 & 3, Amnesty International's The Secret Policeman's Third Ball, the Comic Relief TV shows, and the variety show Fry and Laurie Host a Christmas Night with the Stars. They collaborated again on the film Peter's Friends (1992) and came together for a retrospective show in 2010 titled Fry and Laurie Reunited.
Laurie starred in the Thames Television film Letters from a Bomber Pilot (1985) directed by David Hodgson. This was a serious acting role, the film being dramatised from the letters home of Pilot Officer J.R.A. "Bob" Hodgson, a pilot in RAF Bomber Command, who was killed in action in 1943.
Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "Experiment IV" by Kate Bush, and the 1992 Annie Lennox single "Walking on Broken Glass" in British Regency period costume alongside John Malkovich. Laurie appeared in the Spice Girls' film Spice World (1997) and had a brief guest-starring role on Friends in "The One with Ross's Wedding" (1998).
Laurie's later film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), adapted by and starring Emma Thompson; the Disney live-action film 101 Dalmatians (1996), where he played Jasper, one of the bumbling criminals hired to kidnap the puppies; Elton's adaptation of his novel Inconceivable, Maybe Baby (2000); Girl from Rio; the 2004 adaptation of The Flight of the Phoenix, and Stuart Little.
Since 2002, Laurie has appeared in a range of British television dramas, guest-starring that year in two episodes of the first season of the spy thriller series Spooks on BBC One. In 2003, he starred in and also directed ITV's comedy-drama series fortysomething (in one episode of which Stephen Fry appears). In 2001, he voiced the character of a bar patron in the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea". Laurie voiced the character of Mr. Wolf in the cartoon Preston Pig. He was a panellist on the first episode of QI, alongside Fry as host. In 2004, Laurie guest-starred as a professor in charge of a space probe called Beagle, on The Lenny Henry Show.
Between 2004 and 2012, Laurie starred as an acerbic physician specialising in diagnostic medicine, Dr. Gregory House, in the Fox medical drama House. For his portrayal, he assumed an American accent. He was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded his audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, as it was the only place he could get enough light. Jacob Vargas operated the camera for the audition tape. Laurie's American accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie was British, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of "compelling American actor" he had been looking for. Laurie also adopted the accent between takes on the set of House, as well as during script read-throughs, although he used his native accent when directing the episode "Lockdown". He also served as director for the episode "The C-Word".
Laurie was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in House in 2005. Although he did not win, he did receive a Golden Globe in both 2006 and 2007 for his work on the series and the Screen Actors Guild award in 2007 and 2009. Laurie was also awarded a large increase in salary, from what was rumoured to be a mid-range five-figure sum to $350,000 per episode. Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives, but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his House character by rapidly diagnosing host Conan O'Brien and then proceeding to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an Emmy with Dame Helen Mirren, and was since nominated in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.
Laurie was initially cast as Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, in Singer's film Superman Returns but had to bow out of the project because of his commitment to House. In 2006, Laurie appeared on Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", accompanying himself on the piano. He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in drag in a sketch about a man (Kenan Thompson) with a broken leg who accuses his doctor of being dishonest. Laurie played the man's wife.
In 2007, Laurie appeared on BBC Four's documentary Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry's 50th birthday. In 2008, he took part in Blackadder Rides Again which saw him reuniting with former Blackadder producer, John Lloyd who had travelled to the set of House MD in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California to interview Laurie who recalled his time working on the Blackadder series. Laurie also appeared as Captain James Biggs in Street Kings, opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. Herbert Cockroach, PhD in DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens. He also hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time on the Christmas show in which he sang a medley of three-second Christmas songs to close his monologue. In 2009, Laurie returned to guest star in another Family Guy episode, "Business Guy", parodying Gregory House. In 2010, Laurie guest starred in The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XXI" as Roger, a castaway who is planning a murder scheme on a ship during Homer and Marge's second honeymoon.
Laurie was listed in the 2011 Guinness World Records as the most-watched leading man on television and was one of the highest-paid actors in a television drama at the time.
House ended in 2012 after an eight-season run. That same year, the media announced that Laurie was in negotiations to play the villain in RoboCop, a remake of the original RoboCop film. These negotiations ultimately fell through and Laurie passed on the project. In 2012, Laurie starred in an independent feature called The Oranges that had a limited release. The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey thought that he was "particularly good". After the end of House, Laurie took a three-year hiatus from film and TV work.
Laurie was in negotiations to be cast in the role of Blackbeard for the 2014 series Crossbones. However, the role went to John Malkovich. In 2015 he returned to TV work with a recurring role on Veep as Tom James, a role written specifically for him after showrunner Armando Iannucci heard he was a fan of the show. Laurie continued to recur on the show until the final season in 2019. For his work on Veep, he received his 10th Emmy nomination in 2017.
Laurie played the villain David Nix in Brad Bird's 2015 film Tomorrowland.
Laurie played arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper in the BBC 1 miniseries The Night Manager. The series started filming in spring 2015 and aired first on the BBC. He was nominated for two Emmys for his work on the miniseries and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. In addition to being an executive producer on the show alongside Tom Hiddleston, it was also Laurie's first role on British TV in thirteen years.
Laurie starred as Dr Eldon Chance, a San Francisco-based forensic neuropsychiatrist in the Hulu thriller series Chance which lasted for two seasons from 2016 to 2017. In 2018, Laurie had a small role in the critically panned film Holmes & Watson.
In 2019, Laurie appeared in Veep creator Armando Iannucci's film The Personal History of David Copperfield, an adaptation of the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. That same year it was announced he would also work with Iannucci on the upcoming space comedy Avenue 5 for HBO. Season 2 of Avenue 5 was released on 10 October 2022, with Laurie reprising his role as Captain Ryan.
Laurie starred as Eric Peterson in the third season of Tehran in 2024.
Laurie is scheduled to headline a thriller drama called The Wanted Man for Apple TV+, portraying crime lord Felix Carmichael. Laurie was announced as the voice of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions from Audible and Pottermore Publishing, with the first audiobook set to be released on 4 November 2025.
Music
Laurie is an accomplished pianist who began taking piano lessons at the age of six. He sings and plays the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica, and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents throughout his acting career, such as on A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House, and his appearance as host of Saturday Night Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV.
Following Meat Loaf's appearance in the House episode "Simple Explanation", Laurie played piano as a special guest on the song "If I Can't Have You" from Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear. Laurie co-wrote and performed the humorous blues song, "Sperm Test in the Morning", in the film Maybe Baby.
On House Laurie played several classic rock 'n roll instruments including Gibson Flying V and Les Paul guitars, as well as piano and Hammond B-3 organ.
On 26 July 2010 it was announced that Laurie would be releasing a blues album after signing a contract with Warner Bros. Records. The album, called Let Them Talk, was released in France on 18 April 2011 and in Germany on 29 April. The album features collaborations from well-known artists such as Tom Jones, Irma Thomas and Dr. John.
On 1 May 2011 Laurie and a jazz quintet closed the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival to great acclaim. He followed that up as the subject of the 15 May 2011 episode of ITV's series Perspectives, explaining his love for the music of New Orleans and playing music, from his album Let Them Talk, at studios and live venues in the city itself. He was the subject of PBS Great Performances Let them Talk, also about New Orleans jazz, first broadcast on 30 September 2011.
His second album, Didn't It Rain, was released in the UK on 6 May 2013. In the same year he played at the RMS Queen Mary together with his band. This concert was filmed and later released as Live on the Queen Mary on DVD and Blu-ray.
Writing
In 1996 Laurie's first novel, The Gun Seller, an intricate thriller laced with Wodehouseian humour, was published and became a best-seller.
Personal life
Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green on 16 June 1989 in the Camden area of London. They have three children. Laurie's elder son played a small role as baby William in A Bit of Fry & Laurie, during a sketch titled "Special Squad". His daughter had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing. Stephen Fry, Laurie's best friend and long-time comedy partner, was the best man at his wedding and is the godfather of his children.
Laurie's mother died from motor neurone disease in 1989, at the age of 73. According to Laurie, she endured the disease for two years and suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he has called "the sweetest man in the whole world".
While appearing on Inside the Actors Studio in 2006, Laurie discussed his struggles with severe clinical depression. He told host James Lipton that he first concluded he had a problem while driving in a charity demolition derby, during which he realised that seeing two cars collide and explode made him feel bored rather than excited or frightened; he quipped that "boredom is not an appropriate response to exploding cars".
Laurie admires the writings of P. G. Wodehouse, explaining in a 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph that reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life. In an interview also in The Daily Telegraph, he confirmed that he is an atheist. He is an avid motorcycle enthusiast and has two motorbikes, one at his London home and one at his Los Angeles home. His bike in the U.S. is a Triumph Bonneville, his self-proclaimed "feeble attempt to fly the British flag".
In 2013, Laurie was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, where he chose tracks from Joe Cocker, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Randy Newman, Professor Longhair, Son House, Nina Simone, Lester Young–Buddy Rich Trio, and Van Morrison as his eight favourite discs. This was his second appearance on the show, having previously been on a 1996 episode, where he chose tracks by Muddy Waters, Max Bruch, the Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra with Count Basie, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Van Morrison and Dr. John.
Laurie is a supporter of Arsenal F.C.
Recognition
Laurie has won three Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and has been nominated for 10 Primetime Emmy Awards.
Laurie was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama in the 2007 New Year Honours. He was promoted to Commander of the same Order (CBE) for his services to drama in the 2018 New Year Honours.
In 2012, Laurie was made an Honorary Fellow of his alma mater Selwyn College, Cambridge.
In 2016, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Filmography
Live-action performances
Film
Television
Voice performances
Documentaries
Video games
Discography
Albums
Singles
Featured singles
Other charting songs
Music videos
DVDs/Blu-ray
Awards and honours
Commonwealth honours
Commonwealth honours
Scholastic
University degrees
Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships
References
External links
Media related to Hugh Laurie at Wikimedia Commons
Hugh Laurie on Facebook
Hugh Laurie at IMDb
Hugh Laurie at the BFI's Screenonline
Hugh Laurie | Culture The Guardian
Hugh Laurie interview The Daily Telegraph
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Tom Clancy
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Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels have been bestsellers and more than 100 million copies of his books have been sold. His name was also used on screenplays written by ghostwriters, nonfiction books on military subjects occasionally with co-authors, and video games. He was a part-owner of his hometown Major League Baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles, and vice-chairman of their community activities and public affairs committees.
Originally an insurance agent, Clancy launched his literary career in 1984 when his first military thriller novel The Hunt for Red October was published by the small academic Naval Institute Press of Annapolis, Maryland.
The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games (1987), Clear and Present Danger (1989), and The Sum of All Fears (1991) have been turned into commercially successful films. Tom Clancy's works also inspired games such as the Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell and The Division series. Since Clancy's death in 2013, his Ryanverse franchise has been continued by his family estate through a series of authors.
Early life and education
Clancy was born on April 12, 1947, at Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in the Northwood neighborhood in northeast Baltimore. The family was Irish-American. He was the second of three children to Thomas Leo Clancy (1918–1995), who worked for the United States Postal Service, and Catherine Mary Clancy (née Langan; 1918–2001), who worked in a store's credit department. He was a member of Troop 624 of the Boy Scouts of America. Clancy's siblings are Patrick and Margaret.
Clancy's mother worked to send him to Loyola High School in Towson, Maryland, a private Catholic secondary school taught by the Jesuit religious order (Society of Jesus). He graduated from Loyola High School in 1965. He then attended the associated Loyola College (now Loyola University Maryland) in Baltimore. Clancy began his college career as a physics major. Due to poor grades, he later changed his concentration to English since "it was an easy major." Despite the academic change, he continued to be an indifferent student spending a majority of his time reading books on military and naval history instead of tending to his studies. Clancy graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature in 1969 receiving a 1.9/4.0 GPA. While at Loyola College, he was president of the chess club. He joined the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps; however, he was ineligible to serve due to his myopia (nearsightedness), which required him to wear thick eyeglasses.
After graduating, Clancy earned certifications in business and insurance and worked for an insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut.
In 1973, Clancy joined the O. F. Bowen Agency, a small insurance agency based in Owings, Maryland, founded by his wife's grandfather. In 1980, he purchased the insurance agency from his wife's grandmother and wrote novels in his spare time. While working at the insurance agency, he wrote his debut novel, The Hunt for Red October (1984).
Career
Clancy's literary career began in 1982 when he started writing The Hunt for Red October, which in 1984 he sold for publishing to the Naval Institute Press for $5,000. The publisher was impressed with the work; Deborah Grosvenor, the Naval Institute Press editor who read through the book, said later that she convinced the publisher: "I think we have a potential best seller here, and if we don't grab this thing, somebody else would." She believed Clancy had an "innate storytelling ability, and his characters had this very witty dialogue". Clancy, who had hoped to sell 5,000 copies, ended up selling over 45,000. After publication, the book received praise from President Ronald Reagan, who called the work "the best yarn", subsequently boosting sales to 300,000 hardcover and two million paperback copies of the book, making it a national bestseller. The book was critically praised for its technical accuracy, which led to Clancy's meeting several high-ranking officers in the U.S. military, as well as Steve Pieczenik, and to inspiration for recurring characters in his works. Clancy's novels focus on the hero, most notably Jack Ryan and John Clark, both Irish Catholics like himself. He repeatedly uses the formula whereby the heroes are "highly skilled, disciplined, honest, thoroughly professional, and only lose their cool when incompetent politicians or bureaucrats get in their way. Their unambiguous triumphs over evil provide symbolic relief from the legacy of the Vietnam War."
The Cold War epic Red Storm Rising (1986) was co-written (according to Clancy in the book's foreword) with fellow military-oriented author Larry Bond. The book was published by Putnam and sold almost a million copies within its first year. Clancy became the cornerstone of a publishing list by Putnam, which emphasized authors like Clancy who would produce annually. His publisher, Phyllis E. Grann, called these "repeaters."
Finances
Clancy has author status on the cover of dozens of books. Seventeen of his novels made it to the top of the New York Times best seller list. He co-authored memoirs of top generals, and produced numerous guided tours of the elite aspects of the American military. Andrew Bacevich states:
Clancy did for military pop-lit what Starbucks did for the preparation of caffeinated beverages: he launched a sprawling, massively profitable industrial enterprise that simultaneously serves and cultivates an insatiable consumer base. Whether the item consumed provides much in terms of nourishment is utterly beside the point. That it tastes yummy going down more than suffices to keep customers coming back.
By 1988, Clancy had earned $1.3 million for The Hunt for Red October and had signed a $3 million contract for his next three books. In 1992, he sold North American rights to Without Remorse for $14 million, a record for a single book. By 1997, Penguin Putnam Inc. (part of Pearson Education) paid Clancy $50 million for world rights to two new books and another $25 million to Red Storm Entertainment for a four-year book/multimedia deal. Clancy followed this up with an agreement with Penguin's Berkley Books for 24 paperbacks to tie in with the ABC television miniseries Tom Clancy's Net Force, which aired in the fall/winter of 1998. The Op-Center universe has laid the ground for the series of books written by Jeff Rovin, which was in an agreement worth $22 million, bringing the total value of the package to $97 million.
In 1993, Clancy joined a group of investors that included Peter Angelos, and bought the Baltimore Orioles from Eli Jacobs. In 1998, he tentatively reached an agreement to purchase the Minnesota Vikings, but had to abandon the deal because of a divorce settlement cost.
The first NetForce novel, titled Net Force (1999), was adapted as a 1999 TV movie starring Scott Bakula and Joanna Going. The first Op-Center novel (Tom Clancy's Op-Center published in 1995) was released to coincide with a 1995 NBC television miniseries of the same name starring Harry Hamlin and a cast of stars. Though the miniseries did not continue, the book series did, but later had little in common with the first TV miniseries other than the title and the names of the main characters.
Clancy wrote several nonfiction books about various branches of the U.S. Armed Forces (see nonfiction listing, in the bibliography article). He also branded several lines of books and video games with his name that are written by other authors, following premises or storylines generally in keeping with Clancy's works.
With the release of The Teeth of the Tiger (2003), Clancy introduced Jack Ryan's son and two nephews as main characters; those characters continued in his last four novels, Dead or Alive (2010), Locked On (2011), Threat Vector (2012), and Command Authority (2013).
In 2008, the French video game manufacturer Ubisoft purchased the use of Clancy's name for an undisclosed sum. It has been used in conjunction with video games and related products such as movies and books. Based on his interest in private spaceflight and his US$1 million investment in the launch vehicle company Rotary Rocket,
Clancy was interviewed in 2007 for the documentary film Orphans of Apollo (2008).
Political views
Clancy was a conservative and Republican, and dedicated several of his books to American conservative political figures, including Ronald Reagan. Clancy supported the National Rifle Association and opposed abortion.
Clancy praised President George W. Bush as a "good guy"; however, he opposed the Iraq War and argued it lacked a casus belli. Clancy once clashed with Richard Perle, with Clancy stating he almost "came to blows" with Perle, after Perle criticized Colin Powell for being too concerned with the lives of American troops.
Ahead of the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Clancy said that voting for Democrat John Kerry would be "a stretch for me", while also declining to endorse Bush.
Numerous scholars have examined the political dimensions of Clancy's books, especially in the context of the Cold War. Historian Walter Hixson has argued that Clancy's novels, especially The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising, were "popular representations of Reagan-era Cold War values. They reflect both popular perceptions of Soviet behavior and the predominant national security values of the Reagan era."
September 11 attacks
On September 11, 2001, Clancy was interviewed by Judy Woodruff on CNN. During the interview, he noted that orthodox "Islam does not permit suicide." Among other observations during this interview, Clancy cited discussions he had with military experts on the lack of planning to deal with a hijacked plane being used in a suicide attack and criticized the news media's treatment of the United States Intelligence Community. Clancy appeared again on PBS's Charlie Rose, to discuss the implications of the day's events with Richard Holbrooke, New York Times journalist Judith Miller, and Senator John Edwards, among others. Clancy was interviewed on those shows because his book Debt of Honor (1994) included a scenario wherein a disgruntled Japanese airline pilot crashes a fueled Boeing 747 into the U.S. Capitol dome during an address by the President to a joint session of Congress, killing the President and most of Congress. In the book, Clancy also implies that Japan's prosperity is due primarily to unequal trading terms. In the book's sequel Executive Orders (1996), the president announces a new foreign policy doctrine, under which the United States will hold personally accountable any foreign leader who orders attacks on U.S. citizens, territory, or possessions in the future.
A week after the September 11 attacks, Clancy suggested on The O'Reilly Factor that American left-wing politicians were partly responsible for the failure to prevent the attacks due to their "gutting" of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Personal life
Clancy's first wife, Wanda Thomas King, was a nurse. They married in 1969 and had four children. The couple separated briefly in 1995, and they permanently separated in December 1996. Wanda Clancy filed for divorce in November 1997, which became final in January 1999. As part of the divorce, she and Clancy split his minority stake in the Baltimore Orioles.
On June 26, 1999, Clancy married freelance journalist Alexandra Marie Llewellyn, whom he had met in 1997. Llewellyn is the daughter of J. Bruce Llewellyn and a family friend of Colin Powell, who originally introduced the couple to each other. They remained together until Clancy's death in October 2013. They had one daughter.
Clancy was a Roman Catholic. The plot of his novel Red Rabbit revolves around John Paul II. In a June 27, 1993, interview with The Washington Post, he was quoted as saying, "I've had [sex scenes] in my books before, but you had to look real fast because, you know, I'm a married Catholic and I don't do that." In a 2002 interview with Lev Grossman for Time magazine, Clancy lamented what he perceived as society's double standard in the way Catholics are viewed by some people in society in relation to other demographic segments: "You can't hate black people any more, of course, and you can't hate homosexuals any more, but you can hate all the Catholics you want."
Property
Clancy's 80-acre estate, which was once a summer camp, is located in Calvert County, Maryland. It has a panoramic view of the Chesapeake Bay. The stone mansion, which cost $2 million, has 24 rooms and features a shooting range in the basement. The property also features a World War II–era M4 Sherman tank, a Christmas gift from his first wife.
Clancy also purchased a 17,000-square-foot penthouse condominium in the Ritz-Carlton, in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, for $16 million. Clancy and his wife combined four units to create the apartment.
His Chesapeake Bay estate sold for $4.9 million in 2020.
Death
Clancy died of heart failure on October 1, 2013, at Johns Hopkins Hospital, near his Baltimore home. John D. Gresham, a co-author and researcher with Clancy on several books, said Clancy had been suffering heart problems for some time prior: "Five or six years ago Tom suffered a heart attack and he went through bypass surgery. It wasn't that he had another heart attack, his heart just wore out."
The Chicago Tribune quoted Pulitzer Prize–winning film critic and author Stephen Hunter as saying, "When he published The Hunt for Red October, he redefined and expanded the genre, and as a consequence of that, many people were able to publish such books who had previously been unable to do so."
On March 31, 2014, the Orioles honored Clancy with a video tribute during their home opener, and the team wore a tribute patch on their jerseys through the season.
Achievements and awards
Clancy was one of only three authors to sell two million copies on a first printing in the 1990s (the others were John Grisham and J. K. Rowling). Clancy's novel Clear and Present Danger (1989) sold 1,625,544 hardcover copies, making it the #1 bestselling novel of the 1980s.
Clancy received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1988. Clancy was the Host of the 1995 Achievement Summit in Colonial Williamsburg and the 1997 Achievement Summit in Baltimore.
Clancy received an honorary doctorate in humane letters and delivered the commencement address at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1992, and had since worked a reference to the school into many of his main works.
Clancy was an honorary Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London and received the title "Supernumerary Yeoman"; he had been arrested for scaling the walls in his younger years.
Clancy received the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement from the Navy League of the United States in 1990.
Works
Fiction
The Hunt for Red October (1984)
Red Storm Rising (1986, with Larry Bond)
Patriot Games (1987)
The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988)
Clear and Present Danger (1989)
The Sum of All Fears (1991)
Without Remorse (1993)
Debt of Honor (1994)
Executive Orders (1996)
SSN (1996, with Martin Greenberg)
Rainbow Six (1998)
The Bear and the Dragon (2000)
Red Rabbit (2002)
The Teeth of the Tiger (2003)
Dead or Alive (2010, with Grant Blackwood)
Against All Enemies (2011, with Peter Telep)
Locked On (2011, with Mark Greaney)
Threat Vector (2012, with Mark Greaney)
Command Authority (2013, with Mark Greaney)
Non-fiction
Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship (1993)
Armored Cav: A Guided Tour of an Armored Cavalry Regiment (1994)
Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing (1995)
Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (1996)
Airborne: A Guided Tour of an Airborne Task Force (1997)
Into the Storm – On the Ground in Iraq (with Fred Franks) (1997)
Carrier: A Guided Tour of an Aircraft Carrier (1999)
Every Man a Tiger — the Gulf War Air Campaign (with Chuck Horner) (1999)
Special Forces: A Guided Tour of U.S. Army Special Forces (2001)
Shadow Warriors — Inside the Special Forces (with Carl Stiner) (2002)
Battle Ready (with Anthony Zinni) (2004)
Film, TV and video game adaptations
Films
Short films
Ghost Recon: Alpha (2012)
The Division: Agent Origins (2016)
Ghost Recon Wildlands: War Within the Cartel (2017)
Television series
Video games
Officially licensed games based on The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising were released in the late 1980s and early 1990s for various 8-bit home computers such as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. Those included a submarine combat simulation (based on the book) and an action game (based on the film).
More recently, Ubisoft has made many video game series based on Tom Clancy's books, or which were endorsed by Clancy and use his name in the series' titles.
References
Further reading
Baiocco, Richard ed. Readings on Tom Clancy (2003), a guide to Clancy
Greenberg, Martin. H. The Tom Clancy Companion (1992) excerpt; also online free to borrow
Keene, Ann T. "Clancy, Tom (12 April 1947–01 October 2013)" American National Biography (2015) online
Scholarly studies
Blouin, Michael J. Mass-Market Fiction and the Crisis of American Liberalism, 1972–2017 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), Chapter 5: "Tom Clancy and the Liberal Family Tree" pp. 147–175. argues that liberal critics misinterpret his "conservatism" excerpt
Gallagher, Mark. Action figures: Men, action films, and contemporary adventure narratives (Springer, 2006).
Garson, Helen S. Tom Clancy: A critical companion (1996) online free to borrow
Griffin, Benjamin. "The good guys win: Ronald Reagan, Tom Clancy, and the transformation of national security" (MA thesis, U of Texas, 2015). online
Hicks, Heather J. ""Sleeping Beauty": Corporate Culture, Race, and Reality in Michael Crichton's Rising Sun and Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor." in Hicks, The Culture of Soft Work (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) pp. 139–163. excerpt
Hixson, Walter L. "Red Storm Rising: Tom Clancy Novels and the Cult of National Security." Diplomatic History 17.4 (1993): 599–614. online
Outlaw, Leroy B. "Red Storm Rising-A Primer for a Future Conventional War in Central Europe"" (Army War College, 1988). online Archived July 6, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
Payne, Matthew Thomas. Playing war: Military video games after 9/11 (NYU Press, 2016).
Terdoslavich, William. The Jack Ryan Agenda: Policy and Politics in the Novels of Tom Clancy: An Unauthorized Analysis (Macmillan, 2005). excerpt
External links
Official website
Tom Clancy at IMDb
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels have been bestsellers and more than 100 million copies of his books have been sold. His name was also used on screenplays written by ghostwriters, nonfiction books on military subjects occasionally with co-authors, and video games. He was a part-owner of his hometown Major League Baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles, and vice-chairman of their community activities and public affairs committees.
Originally an insurance agent, Clancy launched his literary career in 1984 when his first military thriller novel The Hunt for Red October was published by the small academic Naval Institute Press of Annapolis, Maryland.
The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games (1987), Clear and Present Danger (1989), and The Sum of All Fears (1991) have been turned into commercially successful films. Tom Clancy's works also inspired games such as the Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell and The Division series. Since Clancy's death in 2013, his Ryanverse franchise has been continued by his family estate through a series of authors.
Early life and education
Clancy was born on April 12, 1947, at Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in the Northwood neighborhood in northeast Baltimore. The family was Irish-American. He was the second of three children to Thomas Leo Clancy (1918–1995), who worked for the United States Postal Service, and Catherine Mary Clancy (née Langan; 1918–2001), who worked in a store's credit department. He was a member of Troop 624 of the Boy Scouts of America. Clancy's siblings are Patrick and Margaret.
Clancy's mother worked to send him to Loyola High School in Towson, Maryland, a private Catholic secondary school taught by the Jesuit religious order (Society of Jesus). He graduated from Loyola High School in 1965. He then attended the associated Loyola College (now Loyola University Maryland) in Baltimore. Clancy began his college career as a physics major. Due to poor grades, he later changed his concentration to English since "it was an easy major." Despite the academic change, he continued to be an indifferent student spending a majority of his time reading books on military and naval history instead of tending to his studies. Clancy graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature in 1969 receiving a 1.9/4.0 GPA. While at Loyola College, he was president of the chess club. He joined the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps; however, he was ineligible to serve due to his myopia (nearsightedness), which required him to wear thick eyeglasses.
After graduating, Clancy earned certifications in business and insurance and worked for an insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut.
In 1973, Clancy joined the O. F. Bowen Agency, a small insurance agency based in Owings, Maryland, founded by his wife's grandfather. In 1980, he purchased the insurance agency from his wife's grandmother and wrote novels in his spare time. While working at the insurance agency, he wrote his debut novel, The Hunt for Red October (1984).
Career
Clancy's literary career began in 1982 when he started writing The Hunt for Red October, which in 1984 he sold for publishing to the Naval Institute Press for $5,000. The publisher was impressed with the work; Deborah Grosvenor, the Naval Institute Press editor who read through the book, said later that she convinced the publisher: "I think we have a potential best seller here, and if we don't grab this thing, somebody else would." She believed Clancy had an "innate storytelling ability, and his characters had this very witty dialogue". Clancy, who had hoped to sell 5,000 copies, ended up selling over 45,000. After publication, the book received praise from President Ronald Reagan, who called the work "the best yarn", subsequently boosting sales to 300,000 hardcover and two million paperback copies of the book, making it a national bestseller. The book was critically praised for its technical accuracy, which led to Clancy's meeting several high-ranking officers in the U.S. military, as well as Steve Pieczenik, and to inspiration for recurring characters in his works. Clancy's novels focus on the hero, most notably Jack Ryan and John Clark, both Irish Catholics like himself. He repeatedly uses the formula whereby the heroes are "highly skilled, disciplined, honest, thoroughly professional, and only lose their cool when incompetent politicians or bureaucrats get in their way. Their unambiguous triumphs over evil provide symbolic relief from the legacy of the Vietnam War."
The Cold War epic Red Storm Rising (1986) was co-written (according to Clancy in the book's foreword) with fellow military-oriented author Larry Bond. The book was published by Putnam and sold almost a million copies within its first year. Clancy became the cornerstone of a publishing list by Putnam, which emphasized authors like Clancy who would produce annually. His publisher, Phyllis E. Grann, called these "repeaters."
Finances
Clancy has author status on the cover of dozens of books. Seventeen of his novels made it to the top of the New York Times best seller list. He co-authored memoirs of top generals, and produced numerous guided tours of the elite aspects of the American military. Andrew Bacevich states:
Clancy did for military pop-lit what Starbucks did for the preparation of caffeinated beverages: he launched a sprawling, massively profitable industrial enterprise that simultaneously serves and cultivates an insatiable consumer base. Whether the item consumed provides much in terms of nourishment is utterly beside the point. That it tastes yummy going down more than suffices to keep customers coming back.
By 1988, Clancy had earned $1.3 million for The Hunt for Red October and had signed a $3 million contract for his next three books. In 1992, he sold North American rights to Without Remorse for $14 million, a record for a single book. By 1997, Penguin Putnam Inc. (part of Pearson Education) paid Clancy $50 million for world rights to two new books and another $25 million to Red Storm Entertainment for a four-year book/multimedia deal. Clancy followed this up with an agreement with Penguin's Berkley Books for 24 paperbacks to tie in with the ABC television miniseries Tom Clancy's Net Force, which aired in the fall/winter of 1998. The Op-Center universe has laid the ground for the series of books written by Jeff Rovin, which was in an agreement worth $22 million, bringing the total value of the package to $97 million.
In 1993, Clancy joined a group of investors that included Peter Angelos, and bought the Baltimore Orioles from Eli Jacobs. In 1998, he tentatively reached an agreement to purchase the Minnesota Vikings, but had to abandon the deal because of a divorce settlement cost.
The first NetForce novel, titled Net Force (1999), was adapted as a 1999 TV movie starring Scott Bakula and Joanna Going. The first Op-Center novel (Tom Clancy's Op-Center published in 1995) was released to coincide with a 1995 NBC television miniseries of the same name starring Harry Hamlin and a cast of stars. Though the miniseries did not continue, the book series did, but later had little in common with the first TV miniseries other than the title and the names of the main characters.
Clancy wrote several nonfiction books about various branches of the U.S. Armed Forces (see nonfiction listing, in the bibliography article). He also branded several lines of books and video games with his name that are written by other authors, following premises or storylines generally in keeping with Clancy's works.
With the release of The Teeth of the Tiger (2003), Clancy introduced Jack Ryan's son and two nephews as main characters; those characters continued in his last four novels, Dead or Alive (2010), Locked On (2011), Threat Vector (2012), and Command Authority (2013).
In 2008, the French video game manufacturer Ubisoft purchased the use of Clancy's name for an undisclosed sum. It has been used in conjunction with video games and related products such as movies and books. Based on his interest in private spaceflight and his US$1 million investment in the launch vehicle company Rotary Rocket,
Clancy was interviewed in 2007 for the documentary film Orphans of Apollo (2008).
Political views
Clancy was a conservative and Republican, and dedicated several of his books to American conservative political figures, including Ronald Reagan. Clancy supported the National Rifle Association and opposed abortion.
Clancy praised President George W. Bush as a "good guy"; however, he opposed the Iraq War and argued it lacked a casus belli. Clancy once clashed with Richard Perle, with Clancy stating he almost "came to blows" with Perle, after Perle criticized Colin Powell for being too concerned with the lives of American troops.
Ahead of the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Clancy said that voting for Democrat John Kerry would be "a stretch for me", while also declining to endorse Bush.
Numerous scholars have examined the political dimensions of Clancy's books, especially in the context of the Cold War. Historian Walter Hixson has argued that Clancy's novels, especially The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising, were "popular representations of Reagan-era Cold War values. They reflect both popular perceptions of Soviet behavior and the predominant national security values of the Reagan era."
September 11 attacks
On September 11, 2001, Clancy was interviewed by Judy Woodruff on CNN. During the interview, he noted that orthodox "Islam does not permit suicide." Among other observations during this interview, Clancy cited discussions he had with military experts on the lack of planning to deal with a hijacked plane being used in a suicide attack and criticized the news media's treatment of the United States Intelligence Community. Clancy appeared again on PBS's Charlie Rose, to discuss the implications of the day's events with Richard Holbrooke, New York Times journalist Judith Miller, and Senator John Edwards, among others. Clancy was interviewed on those shows because his book Debt of Honor (1994) included a scenario wherein a disgruntled Japanese airline pilot crashes a fueled Boeing 747 into the U.S. Capitol dome during an address by the President to a joint session of Congress, killing the President and most of Congress. In the book, Clancy also implies that Japan's prosperity is due primarily to unequal trading terms. In the book's sequel Executive Orders (1996), the president announces a new foreign policy doctrine, under which the United States will hold personally accountable any foreign leader who orders attacks on U.S. citizens, territory, or possessions in the future.
A week after the September 11 attacks, Clancy suggested on The O'Reilly Factor that American left-wing politicians were partly responsible for the failure to prevent the attacks due to their "gutting" of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Personal life
Clancy's first wife, Wanda Thomas King, was a nurse. They married in 1969 and had four children. The couple separated briefly in 1995, and they permanently separated in December 1996. Wanda Clancy filed for divorce in November 1997, which became final in January 1999. As part of the divorce, she and Clancy split his minority stake in the Baltimore Orioles.
On June 26, 1999, Clancy married freelance journalist Alexandra Marie Llewellyn, whom he had met in 1997. Llewellyn is the daughter of J. Bruce Llewellyn and a family friend of Colin Powell, who originally introduced the couple to each other. They remained together until Clancy's death in October 2013. They had one daughter.
Clancy was a Roman Catholic. The plot of his novel Red Rabbit revolves around John Paul II. In a June 27, 1993, interview with The Washington Post, he was quoted as saying, "I've had [sex scenes] in my books before, but you had to look real fast because, you know, I'm a married Catholic and I don't do that." In a 2002 interview with Lev Grossman for Time magazine, Clancy lamented what he perceived as society's double standard in the way Catholics are viewed by some people in society in relation to other demographic segments: "You can't hate black people any more, of course, and you can't hate homosexuals any more, but you can hate all the Catholics you want."
Property
Clancy's 80-acre estate, which was once a summer camp, is located in Calvert County, Maryland. It has a panoramic view of the Chesapeake Bay. The stone mansion, which cost $2 million, has 24 rooms and features a shooting range in the basement. The property also features a World War II–era M4 Sherman tank, a Christmas gift from his first wife.
Clancy also purchased a 17,000-square-foot penthouse condominium in the Ritz-Carlton, in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, for $16 million. Clancy and his wife combined four units to create the apartment.
His Chesapeake Bay estate sold for $4.9 million in 2020.
Death
Clancy died of heart failure on October 1, 2013, at Johns Hopkins Hospital, near his Baltimore home. John D. Gresham, a co-author and researcher with Clancy on several books, said Clancy had been suffering heart problems for some time prior: "Five or six years ago Tom suffered a heart attack and he went through bypass surgery. It wasn't that he had another heart attack, his heart just wore out."
The Chicago Tribune quoted Pulitzer Prize–winning film critic and author Stephen Hunter as saying, "When he published The Hunt for Red October, he redefined and expanded the genre, and as a consequence of that, many people were able to publish such books who had previously been unable to do so."
On March 31, 2014, the Orioles honored Clancy with a video tribute during their home opener, and the team wore a tribute patch on their jerseys through the season.
Achievements and awards
Clancy was one of only three authors to sell two million copies on a first printing in the 1990s (the others were John Grisham and J. K. Rowling). Clancy's novel Clear and Present Danger (1989) sold 1,625,544 hardcover copies, making it the #1 bestselling novel of the 1980s.
Clancy received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1988. Clancy was the Host of the 1995 Achievement Summit in Colonial Williamsburg and the 1997 Achievement Summit in Baltimore.
Clancy received an honorary doctorate in humane letters and delivered the commencement address at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1992, and had since worked a reference to the school into many of his main works.
Clancy was an honorary Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London and received the title "Supernumerary Yeoman"; he had been arrested for scaling the walls in his younger years.
Clancy received the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement from the Navy League of the United States in 1990.
Works
Fiction
The Hunt for Red October (1984)
Red Storm Rising (1986, with Larry Bond)
Patriot Games (1987)
The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988)
Clear and Present Danger (1989)
The Sum of All Fears (1991)
Without Remorse (1993)
Debt of Honor (1994)
Executive Orders (1996)
SSN (1996, with Martin Greenberg)
Rainbow Six (1998)
The Bear and the Dragon (2000)
Red Rabbit (2002)
The Teeth of the Tiger (2003)
Dead or Alive (2010, with Grant Blackwood)
Against All Enemies (2011, with Peter Telep)
Locked On (2011, with Mark Greaney)
Threat Vector (2012, with Mark Greaney)
Command Authority (2013, with Mark Greaney)
Non-fiction
Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship (1993)
Armored Cav: A Guided Tour of an Armored Cavalry Regiment (1994)
Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing (1995)
Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (1996)
Airborne: A Guided Tour of an Airborne Task Force (1997)
Into the Storm – On the Ground in Iraq (with Fred Franks) (1997)
Carrier: A Guided Tour of an Aircraft Carrier (1999)
Every Man a Tiger — the Gulf War Air Campaign (with Chuck Horner) (1999)
Special Forces: A Guided Tour of U.S. Army Special Forces (2001)
Shadow Warriors — Inside the Special Forces (with Carl Stiner) (2002)
Battle Ready (with Anthony Zinni) (2004)
Film, TV and video game adaptations
Films
Short films
Ghost Recon: Alpha (2012)
The Division: Agent Origins (2016)
Ghost Recon Wildlands: War Within the Cartel (2017)
Television series
Video games
Officially licensed games based on The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising were released in the late 1980s and early 1990s for various 8-bit home computers such as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. Those included a submarine combat simulation (based on the book) and an action game (based on the film).
More recently, Ubisoft has made many video game series based on Tom Clancy's books, or which were endorsed by Clancy and use his name in the series' titles.
References
Further reading
Baiocco, Richard ed. Readings on Tom Clancy (2003), a guide to Clancy
Greenberg, Martin. H. The Tom Clancy Companion (1992) excerpt; also online free to borrow
Keene, Ann T. "Clancy, Tom (12 April 1947–01 October 2013)" American National Biography (2015) online
Scholarly studies
Blouin, Michael J. Mass-Market Fiction and the Crisis of American Liberalism, 1972–2017 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), Chapter 5: "Tom Clancy and the Liberal Family Tree" pp. 147–175. argues that liberal critics misinterpret his "conservatism" excerpt
Gallagher, Mark. Action figures: Men, action films, and contemporary adventure narratives (Springer, 2006).
Garson, Helen S. Tom Clancy: A critical companion (1996) online free to borrow
Griffin, Benjamin. "The good guys win: Ronald Reagan, Tom Clancy, and the transformation of national security" (MA thesis, U of Texas, 2015). online
Hicks, Heather J. ""Sleeping Beauty": Corporate Culture, Race, and Reality in Michael Crichton's Rising Sun and Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor." in Hicks, The Culture of Soft Work (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) pp. 139–163. excerpt
Hixson, Walter L. "Red Storm Rising: Tom Clancy Novels and the Cult of National Security." Diplomatic History 17.4 (1993): 599–614. online
Outlaw, Leroy B. "Red Storm Rising-A Primer for a Future Conventional War in Central Europe"" (Army War College, 1988). online Archived July 6, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
Payne, Matthew Thomas. Playing war: Military video games after 9/11 (NYU Press, 2016).
Terdoslavich, William. The Jack Ryan Agenda: Policy and Politics in the Novels of Tom Clancy: An Unauthorized Analysis (Macmillan, 2005). excerpt
External links
Official website
Tom Clancy at IMDb
Appearances on C-SPAN
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John Candy
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John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian actor and comedian who is best known for his work in Hollywood films. Candy first rose to national prominence in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its SCTV sketch comedy series. He rose to international fame in the 1980s with his roles in comedy films such as Stripes (1981), Splash (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985), Armed and Dangerous (1986), Spaceballs (1987), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), Who's Harry Crumb? (1989), and Cool Runnings (1993). He also appeared in supporting roles in The Blues Brothers (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Home Alone (1990), Nothing but Trouble (1991), and Rookie of the Year (1993).
In addition to his work as an actor, Candy was a co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and the team won the 1991 Grey Cup under his ownership. He died of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 43; his final two film appearances, Wagons East (1994) and Canadian Bacon (1995), are dedicated to his memory.
Early life and education
John Franklin Candy was born on October 31, 1950, in Newmarket, and grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He was brought up in a working-class Catholic family. His childhood home was at 217 Woodville Avenue in Toronto, Ontario. Candy's father, Sidney James (1920–1955), was born to English parents who immigrated to Canada in 1913, and his mother, Evangeline Valeria (née Aker; 1916–2009), was of Polish descent. His father died of complications of heart disease at age 35 in 1955 on John’s fifth birthday.
Candy attended Neil McNeil Catholic High School where he was the treasurer of the student council and was a star offensive tackle on the school's football team and participated in drama club. Long before considering acting, Candy dreamed of becoming a professional football player but a knee injury during his high school football career prevented him from fulfilling his dream. He later enrolled in Centennial College to study journalism, and then went to McMaster University. He started acting while at college.
Career
1971–1978: Early career and SCTV
In 1971, Candy was cast in a small part as a Shriner in Creeps by David E. Freeman, a new Canadian play about cerebral palsy, in the inaugural season of the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. Candy guest-starred on a Canadian children's television series, Cucumber, and made a brief, uncredited appearance in Class of '44 (1973) as his feature film debut. He had a small part in The ABC Afternoon Playbreak ("Last Bride of Salem") and had a regular role on the TV series Dr. Zonk and the Zunkins (1974–75). He played the role of Wally Wypyzypywchuk in the CBC children's show Coming Up Rosie (1975).
Candy became a member of Toronto's branch of The Second City in 1972. He gained wide North American popularity when he became a cast member on the influential Edmonton and later Toronto-based comedy-variety show Second City Television (SCTV). NBC picked the show up in 1981 and quickly became a fan favorite. It won Emmy Awards for the show's writing in 1981 and 1982. Among Candy's SCTV characters were unscrupulous street-beat TV personality Johnny LaRue, 3-D horror auteur Doctor Tongue, sycophantic and easily amused talk-show sidekick William B. Williams, and Melonville's corrupt Mayor Tommy Shanks.
In 1974, Candy made his TV debut when he appeared on the Canadian TV show Police Surgeon, playing street gang and heist member Ramone in "Target: Ms. Blue", and in a later episode the same season as Richie, an accused killer, in the episode "Web of Guilt". He was in It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (1975), shot in Canada, as well as the children's sitcom Coming Up Rosie (1975–78) with Dan Aykroyd. Candy had a small role in Tunnel Vision (1976).
During the series' run he appeared in films such as The Clown Murders (1976) and had a lead in a low-budget comedy, Find the Lady (1976) (both co-starring fellow Canadian actor Lawrence Dane). In 1976, Candy played a supporting role (with Rick Moranis) on Peter Gzowski's short-lived late-night television talk show 90 Minutes Live. In 1978, Candy had a small role as a bank employee (with Christopher Plummer and Elliott Gould) in the Canadian thriller The Silent Partner. He guest starred on such shows as The David Steinberg Show and King of Kensington.
1979–1987: Hollywood breakthrough
In 1979, Candy took a brief hiatus from SCTV and began a more active film career, appearing in a minor role in Lost and Found (1979) and playing a U.S. Army soldier in Steven Spielberg's big-budget comedy 1941. He returned to Canada for roles in The Courage of Kavik, the Wolf Dog (1980) and the action thriller Double Negative (1980). He had a supporting role as easygoing parole officer Burton Mercer in The Blues Brothers (1980), starring Aykroyd, and did an episode of Tales of the Klondike (1981) for Canadian TV.
In 1980, Candy hosted a short-lived NBC television program, Roadshow, described by The Washington Post as "improvisational journalism".
Candy played the lovable, mild-mannered Army recruit Dewey Oxberger in Stripes (1981), directed by Canadian Ivan Reitman, which was one of the most successful films of the year. He provided voices for multiple characters in the animated film Heavy Metal (1981), most notably as the title character in the "Den" segment, which was well-received, including by the character's creator, Richard Corben, who singled out Candy's humorously lighthearted interpretation of the title character as excellent.
From 1981 to 1983, Candy appeared in SCTV Network on television. He made a cameo appearance in Harold Ramis' National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), his first collaboration with John Hughes, who wrote the script. Candy appeared on Saturday Night Live twice (hosting in 1983) while still appearing on SCTV. According to writer-comedian Bob Odenkirk, Candy was reputedly the "most-burned potential host" of SNL, in that he was asked to host many times, only for plans to be changed by the SNL staff at the last minute. Candy headlined in the Canadian film Going Berserk (1983). He was approached to play the character of accountant Louis Tully in Ghostbusters (1984), starring Aykroyd and directed by Reitman, but ultimately did not get the role because of his conflicting ideas of how to play the character; the part went instead to SCTV colleague Rick Moranis, whose ideas were better received. However, Candy did make a contribution to the franchise, as one of the many people chanting "Ghostbusters" in the video for Ray Parker Jr.'s hit single for the film.
Candy played Tom Hanks's womanizing brother in the hit romantic comedy Splash, generally considered his break-out role. After the success of the film, he had signed a three-picture development and producing deal with Walt Disney Pictures, and he would develop and executive produce various theatricals as planned starring vehicles for himself.
Candy went back to Canada to star in The Last Polka (1985), which he also wrote with co-star Eugene Levy. He was Richard Pryor's best friend in Brewster's Millions (1985) and had a cameo in the Sesame Street film Follow That Bird (1985). Candy's first lead role in a Hollywood film came with Summer Rental (1985), directed by Carl Reiner. He was reunited with Hanks in Volunteers (1985), though the film did not do as well as Splash. He had a cameo in The Canadian Conspiracy (1985) and appeared alongside Martin Short in Dave Thomas: The Incredible Time Travels of Henry Osgood (1985) in Canada. Candy's next starring role in a Hollywood film was the box office disappointment Armed and Dangerous (1986) with Levy and Meg Ryan. He had a cameo in Little Shop of Horrors (1986) and appeared in Really Weird Tales (1987). He also had a supporting role in Mel Brooks's Spaceballs (1987).
1987–1994: John Hughes films and final roles
In 1987, Candy co-starred in Planes, Trains & Automobiles with Steve Martin, written and directed by John Hughes. The film had positive reviews. The film grossed $49,530,280 at the US box office. He appeared in a cameo role in Hughes's She's Having a Baby (1988) and then starred in a film written by Hughes, The Great Outdoors (1988) which co-starred Aykroyd.
Candy provided the voice for Don the Horse in Hot to Trot (1988) and starred in a flop comedy, considered by some to be a cult classic, Who's Harry Crumb? (1989), which he also produced. He was also in the box office flop Speed Zone aka Cannonball Fever (1989), however, he had another hit film with Hughes as writer and director in Uncle Buck (1989). Candy also produced and starred in a Saturday-morning animated series on NBC titled Camp Candy in 1989. The show was set in a fictional summer camp run by Candy, featuring his two children in supporting roles, and also spawned a brief comic book series published by Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint. During this time, he also made the television film The Rocket Boy (1989) in Canada.
Candy also provided the voice of Wilbur the Albatross in Disney's animated film The Rescuers Down Under (1990) and had cameos in two more films written by Hughes, the blockbuster hit film Home Alone (1990) and the box office flop Career Opportunities (1991). According to Candy's biography, he was in talks to play Bette Midler's working-class husband in the 1990 film Stella. However, when he was informed that Midler demanded he do a screen test, Candy became incredulous proclaiming "Who the (expletive) does she think she is?!" and declined. John Goodman was eventually cast in the role. From 1988 to 1990, Candy hosted "Radio Kandy", a hot adult contemporary radio music countdown syndicated by Premiere Networks.
In 1991, Chris Columbus wrote and directed Only the Lonely with John Hughes serving as co-producer, and starring Candy and Maureen O'Hara; it was well reviewed but not a big hit. Candy also had a supporting role in Nothing But Trouble (1991), Dan Aykroyd's notorious box office flop. Also unsuccessful were the comedies Delirious (1991) and Once Upon a Crime... (1992). During this time, Candy played a small dramatic role as Dean Andrews Jr., a shady Southern lawyer in Oliver Stone's JFK (1991), and had a cameo in the television film Boris and Natasha: The Movie (1992). Candy starred in his first comedic hit in a number of years with Cool Runnings (1993), a story of the first Jamaican national bobsleigh team attempting to make it to the 1988 Winter Olympics. He also had a cameo in the successful Rookie of the Year (1993). He made his directorial debut in the 1994 comedy television film Hostage for a Day. His last appearances were in Wagons East (1994) and Canadian Bacon (1995).
Unfinished projects
Candy was in talks to portray Ignatius J. Reilly in a now-shelved film adaptation of John Kennedy Toole's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel A Confederacy of Dunces. He had also expressed interest in portraying Atuk in a film adaptation of Mordecai Richler's The Incomparable Atuk and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in a biopic based on the silent film comedian's life. These three shelved projects have been alleged as cursed because Candy, John Belushi, Sam Kinison, and Chris Farley were each attached to all three films; they all died before they could make any of these movies. Candy was originally considered to play Alec Guinness' role in the remake of the 1950 film Last Holiday, with Carl Reiner directing. Eventually the role was played by Queen Latifah in a loose remake released in 2006. Candy was also slated to collaborate with John Hughes again in a comedy opposite Sylvester Stallone, titled Bartholomew vs. Neff. Candy and Stallone were to have portrayed feuding neighbors. In the animated Disney film Pocahontas, the role of Redfeather the Turkey was written for him, but was subsequently cut from the film after his death. Stephen King reportedly wanted Candy to portray Billy Halleck in the film adaptation of his novel Thinner.
Personal life
Candy and his wife Rosemary Hobor had two children, Christopher Michael and Jennifer Anne. He was a Roman Catholic.
Candy was a longtime resident of Brentwood, Los Angeles.
Sports
In 1991, Bruce McNall, Wayne Gretzky, and Candy became owners of the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts. The celebrity ownership group attracted attention in Canada, and the team spent a significant amount of money, even signing some highly touted National Football League prospects such as wide receiver Raghib Ismail. The Argonauts took home the 1991 Grey Cup, beating Calgary 36–21 in the final. Only McNall's name was originally etched onto the Grey Cup trophy as an owner of the team, but in 2007, Candy's and Gretzky's names were added as well.
Health problems and death
Candy publicly shared his experiences of living with severe anxiety and panic attacks.
Candy died in his sleep at the age of 43, on March 4, 1994, in Durango, Mexico, while filming Wagons East; a spokeswoman said that Candy's cause of death was a heart attack. He struggled with obesity and weighed more than 375 pounds (170 kg) at some points in his life. Candy had a number of risk factors for heart attack, including strong family history (his father had died prematurely of a heart attack, although his children say he was unaware of his genetic risk), smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, obesity, alcohol abuse, and cocaine use. However, Candy was concerned about his weight. He once lost 100 pounds (45 kg) over a summer while preparing to film Planes, Trains and Automobiles. He frequently dieted and exercised with trainers because of his family history.
Legacy
Candy's funeral was held at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Los Angeles. Candy was entombed in the mausoleum at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City. His crypt lies just above that of a fellow actor, Fred MacMurray. On March 18, 1994, a special memorial service for Candy, produced by his former improvisation troupe the Second City, was broadcast across Canada.
Wagons East was completed using a stunt double and special effects and released five months after Candy's death. His final completed film was Canadian Bacon, a satirical comedy by Michael Moore released a year after Candy's death. Candy played American sheriff Bud Boomer, who led an "invasion" of Canada. Candy recorded a voice for the TV film The Magic 7 in the early 1990s. The film remained in production for years owing to animation difficulties and production delays, and it was eventually shelved.
Candy was posthumously inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 1998. In May 2006, Candy became one of the first four entertainers ever honoured by Canada Post by being featured on a postage stamp. On October 31, 2020, Toronto Mayor John Tory proclaimed "John Candy Day" in honour of what would have been John Candy's 70th birthday.
Blues Brothers 2000 is dedicated to three people, including Candy, who played a supporting role in the original Blues Brothers. A tribute to Candy was hosted by Dan Aykroyd at the 2007 Grey Cup festivities in Toronto in November 2007.
Experimental rock band Ween's album Chocolate and Cheese, released in 1994, is "dedicated in loving memory to John Candy (1950–1994)". At the time lead singer Gene Ween remarked, "There was so much going on about [the suicide of] Kurt Cobain, and nobody mentioned John Candy at all. I have a special little spot in my heart for him."
After his death, the John Candy Visual Arts Studio at Neil McNeil Catholic High School in Toronto was dedicated in his honour. Candy, one of the school's most famous alumni, said during one of his annual visits to the school, "My success is simply rooted in the values and discipline and respect for others that I was taught at Neil McNeil." It has been suggested, among others, that the Canadian Screen Awards be given the official nickname "The Candys", both in honour of the actor and because the name suggests Canada.
American comedian Conan O'Brien credits Candy as giving him advice that led to his career in comedy. O'Brien met Candy while at Harvard and said, "Mr. Candy... I'm thinking I might try comedy." To this, Candy replied very seriously: "You don't try comedy. You do it or you don't do it."
John Candy: I Like Me, a documentary film about Candy's life and career, was directed by Colin Hanks and produced by Ryan Reynolds. It premiered on September 4, 2025, as the opening film of the Toronto International Film Festival. Some archival footage of Candy was also seen in the documentary film You Had To Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way), which premiered at the same festival two days later.
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
Accolades
References
External links
JohnCandy.com – The home of everything John Candy
John Candy at IMDb
John Candy at the TCM Movie Database
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John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian actor and comedian who is best known for his work in Hollywood films. Candy first rose to national prominence in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its SCTV sketch comedy series. He rose to international fame in the 1980s with his roles in comedy films such as Stripes (1981), Splash (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985), Armed and Dangerous (1986), Spaceballs (1987), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), Who's Harry Crumb? (1989), and Cool Runnings (1993). He also appeared in supporting roles in The Blues Brothers (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Home Alone (1990), Nothing but Trouble (1991), and Rookie of the Year (1993).
In addition to his work as an actor, Candy was a co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and the team won the 1991 Grey Cup under his ownership. He died of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 43; his final two film appearances, Wagons East (1994) and Canadian Bacon (1995), are dedicated to his memory.
Early life and education
John Franklin Candy was born on October 31, 1950, in Newmarket, and grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He was brought up in a working-class Catholic family. His childhood home was at 217 Woodville Avenue in Toronto, Ontario. Candy's father, Sidney James (1920–1955), was born to English parents who immigrated to Canada in 1913, and his mother, Evangeline Valeria (née Aker; 1916–2009), was of Polish descent. His father died of complications of heart disease at age 35 in 1955 on John’s fifth birthday.
Candy attended Neil McNeil Catholic High School where he was the treasurer of the student council and was a star offensive tackle on the school's football team and participated in drama club. Long before considering acting, Candy dreamed of becoming a professional football player but a knee injury during his high school football career prevented him from fulfilling his dream. He later enrolled in Centennial College to study journalism, and then went to McMaster University. He started acting while at college.
Career
1971–1978: Early career and SCTV
In 1971, Candy was cast in a small part as a Shriner in Creeps by David E. Freeman, a new Canadian play about cerebral palsy, in the inaugural season of the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. Candy guest-starred on a Canadian children's television series, Cucumber, and made a brief, uncredited appearance in Class of '44 (1973) as his feature film debut. He had a small part in The ABC Afternoon Playbreak ("Last Bride of Salem") and had a regular role on the TV series Dr. Zonk and the Zunkins (1974–75). He played the role of Wally Wypyzypywchuk in the CBC children's show Coming Up Rosie (1975).
Candy became a member of Toronto's branch of The Second City in 1972. He gained wide North American popularity when he became a cast member on the influential Edmonton and later Toronto-based comedy-variety show Second City Television (SCTV). NBC picked the show up in 1981 and quickly became a fan favorite. It won Emmy Awards for the show's writing in 1981 and 1982. Among Candy's SCTV characters were unscrupulous street-beat TV personality Johnny LaRue, 3-D horror auteur Doctor Tongue, sycophantic and easily amused talk-show sidekick William B. Williams, and Melonville's corrupt Mayor Tommy Shanks.
In 1974, Candy made his TV debut when he appeared on the Canadian TV show Police Surgeon, playing street gang and heist member Ramone in "Target: Ms. Blue", and in a later episode the same season as Richie, an accused killer, in the episode "Web of Guilt". He was in It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (1975), shot in Canada, as well as the children's sitcom Coming Up Rosie (1975–78) with Dan Aykroyd. Candy had a small role in Tunnel Vision (1976).
During the series' run he appeared in films such as The Clown Murders (1976) and had a lead in a low-budget comedy, Find the Lady (1976) (both co-starring fellow Canadian actor Lawrence Dane). In 1976, Candy played a supporting role (with Rick Moranis) on Peter Gzowski's short-lived late-night television talk show 90 Minutes Live. In 1978, Candy had a small role as a bank employee (with Christopher Plummer and Elliott Gould) in the Canadian thriller The Silent Partner. He guest starred on such shows as The David Steinberg Show and King of Kensington.
1979–1987: Hollywood breakthrough
In 1979, Candy took a brief hiatus from SCTV and began a more active film career, appearing in a minor role in Lost and Found (1979) and playing a U.S. Army soldier in Steven Spielberg's big-budget comedy 1941. He returned to Canada for roles in The Courage of Kavik, the Wolf Dog (1980) and the action thriller Double Negative (1980). He had a supporting role as easygoing parole officer Burton Mercer in The Blues Brothers (1980), starring Aykroyd, and did an episode of Tales of the Klondike (1981) for Canadian TV.
In 1980, Candy hosted a short-lived NBC television program, Roadshow, described by The Washington Post as "improvisational journalism".
Candy played the lovable, mild-mannered Army recruit Dewey Oxberger in Stripes (1981), directed by Canadian Ivan Reitman, which was one of the most successful films of the year. He provided voices for multiple characters in the animated film Heavy Metal (1981), most notably as the title character in the "Den" segment, which was well-received, including by the character's creator, Richard Corben, who singled out Candy's humorously lighthearted interpretation of the title character as excellent.
From 1981 to 1983, Candy appeared in SCTV Network on television. He made a cameo appearance in Harold Ramis' National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), his first collaboration with John Hughes, who wrote the script. Candy appeared on Saturday Night Live twice (hosting in 1983) while still appearing on SCTV. According to writer-comedian Bob Odenkirk, Candy was reputedly the "most-burned potential host" of SNL, in that he was asked to host many times, only for plans to be changed by the SNL staff at the last minute. Candy headlined in the Canadian film Going Berserk (1983). He was approached to play the character of accountant Louis Tully in Ghostbusters (1984), starring Aykroyd and directed by Reitman, but ultimately did not get the role because of his conflicting ideas of how to play the character; the part went instead to SCTV colleague Rick Moranis, whose ideas were better received. However, Candy did make a contribution to the franchise, as one of the many people chanting "Ghostbusters" in the video for Ray Parker Jr.'s hit single for the film.
Candy played Tom Hanks's womanizing brother in the hit romantic comedy Splash, generally considered his break-out role. After the success of the film, he had signed a three-picture development and producing deal with Walt Disney Pictures, and he would develop and executive produce various theatricals as planned starring vehicles for himself.
Candy went back to Canada to star in The Last Polka (1985), which he also wrote with co-star Eugene Levy. He was Richard Pryor's best friend in Brewster's Millions (1985) and had a cameo in the Sesame Street film Follow That Bird (1985). Candy's first lead role in a Hollywood film came with Summer Rental (1985), directed by Carl Reiner. He was reunited with Hanks in Volunteers (1985), though the film did not do as well as Splash. He had a cameo in The Canadian Conspiracy (1985) and appeared alongside Martin Short in Dave Thomas: The Incredible Time Travels of Henry Osgood (1985) in Canada. Candy's next starring role in a Hollywood film was the box office disappointment Armed and Dangerous (1986) with Levy and Meg Ryan. He had a cameo in Little Shop of Horrors (1986) and appeared in Really Weird Tales (1987). He also had a supporting role in Mel Brooks's Spaceballs (1987).
1987–1994: John Hughes films and final roles
In 1987, Candy co-starred in Planes, Trains & Automobiles with Steve Martin, written and directed by John Hughes. The film had positive reviews. The film grossed $49,530,280 at the US box office. He appeared in a cameo role in Hughes's She's Having a Baby (1988) and then starred in a film written by Hughes, The Great Outdoors (1988) which co-starred Aykroyd.
Candy provided the voice for Don the Horse in Hot to Trot (1988) and starred in a flop comedy, considered by some to be a cult classic, Who's Harry Crumb? (1989), which he also produced. He was also in the box office flop Speed Zone aka Cannonball Fever (1989), however, he had another hit film with Hughes as writer and director in Uncle Buck (1989). Candy also produced and starred in a Saturday-morning animated series on NBC titled Camp Candy in 1989. The show was set in a fictional summer camp run by Candy, featuring his two children in supporting roles, and also spawned a brief comic book series published by Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint. During this time, he also made the television film The Rocket Boy (1989) in Canada.
Candy also provided the voice of Wilbur the Albatross in Disney's animated film The Rescuers Down Under (1990) and had cameos in two more films written by Hughes, the blockbuster hit film Home Alone (1990) and the box office flop Career Opportunities (1991). According to Candy's biography, he was in talks to play Bette Midler's working-class husband in the 1990 film Stella. However, when he was informed that Midler demanded he do a screen test, Candy became incredulous proclaiming "Who the (expletive) does she think she is?!" and declined. John Goodman was eventually cast in the role. From 1988 to 1990, Candy hosted "Radio Kandy", a hot adult contemporary radio music countdown syndicated by Premiere Networks.
In 1991, Chris Columbus wrote and directed Only the Lonely with John Hughes serving as co-producer, and starring Candy and Maureen O'Hara; it was well reviewed but not a big hit. Candy also had a supporting role in Nothing But Trouble (1991), Dan Aykroyd's notorious box office flop. Also unsuccessful were the comedies Delirious (1991) and Once Upon a Crime... (1992). During this time, Candy played a small dramatic role as Dean Andrews Jr., a shady Southern lawyer in Oliver Stone's JFK (1991), and had a cameo in the television film Boris and Natasha: The Movie (1992). Candy starred in his first comedic hit in a number of years with Cool Runnings (1993), a story of the first Jamaican national bobsleigh team attempting to make it to the 1988 Winter Olympics. He also had a cameo in the successful Rookie of the Year (1993). He made his directorial debut in the 1994 comedy television film Hostage for a Day. His last appearances were in Wagons East (1994) and Canadian Bacon (1995).
Unfinished projects
Candy was in talks to portray Ignatius J. Reilly in a now-shelved film adaptation of John Kennedy Toole's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel A Confederacy of Dunces. He had also expressed interest in portraying Atuk in a film adaptation of Mordecai Richler's The Incomparable Atuk and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in a biopic based on the silent film comedian's life. These three shelved projects have been alleged as cursed because Candy, John Belushi, Sam Kinison, and Chris Farley were each attached to all three films; they all died before they could make any of these movies. Candy was originally considered to play Alec Guinness' role in the remake of the 1950 film Last Holiday, with Carl Reiner directing. Eventually the role was played by Queen Latifah in a loose remake released in 2006. Candy was also slated to collaborate with John Hughes again in a comedy opposite Sylvester Stallone, titled Bartholomew vs. Neff. Candy and Stallone were to have portrayed feuding neighbors. In the animated Disney film Pocahontas, the role of Redfeather the Turkey was written for him, but was subsequently cut from the film after his death. Stephen King reportedly wanted Candy to portray Billy Halleck in the film adaptation of his novel Thinner.
Personal life
Candy and his wife Rosemary Hobor had two children, Christopher Michael and Jennifer Anne. He was a Roman Catholic.
Candy was a longtime resident of Brentwood, Los Angeles.
Sports
In 1991, Bruce McNall, Wayne Gretzky, and Candy became owners of the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts. The celebrity ownership group attracted attention in Canada, and the team spent a significant amount of money, even signing some highly touted National Football League prospects such as wide receiver Raghib Ismail. The Argonauts took home the 1991 Grey Cup, beating Calgary 36–21 in the final. Only McNall's name was originally etched onto the Grey Cup trophy as an owner of the team, but in 2007, Candy's and Gretzky's names were added as well.
Health problems and death
Candy publicly shared his experiences of living with severe anxiety and panic attacks.
Candy died in his sleep at the age of 43, on March 4, 1994, in Durango, Mexico, while filming Wagons East; a spokeswoman said that Candy's cause of death was a heart attack. He struggled with obesity and weighed more than 375 pounds (170 kg) at some points in his life. Candy had a number of risk factors for heart attack, including strong family history (his father had died prematurely of a heart attack, although his children say he was unaware of his genetic risk), smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, obesity, alcohol abuse, and cocaine use. However, Candy was concerned about his weight. He once lost 100 pounds (45 kg) over a summer while preparing to film Planes, Trains and Automobiles. He frequently dieted and exercised with trainers because of his family history.
Legacy
Candy's funeral was held at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Los Angeles. Candy was entombed in the mausoleum at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City. His crypt lies just above that of a fellow actor, Fred MacMurray. On March 18, 1994, a special memorial service for Candy, produced by his former improvisation troupe the Second City, was broadcast across Canada.
Wagons East was completed using a stunt double and special effects and released five months after Candy's death. His final completed film was Canadian Bacon, a satirical comedy by Michael Moore released a year after Candy's death. Candy played American sheriff Bud Boomer, who led an "invasion" of Canada. Candy recorded a voice for the TV film The Magic 7 in the early 1990s. The film remained in production for years owing to animation difficulties and production delays, and it was eventually shelved.
Candy was posthumously inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 1998. In May 2006, Candy became one of the first four entertainers ever honoured by Canada Post by being featured on a postage stamp. On October 31, 2020, Toronto Mayor John Tory proclaimed "John Candy Day" in honour of what would have been John Candy's 70th birthday.
Blues Brothers 2000 is dedicated to three people, including Candy, who played a supporting role in the original Blues Brothers. A tribute to Candy was hosted by Dan Aykroyd at the 2007 Grey Cup festivities in Toronto in November 2007.
Experimental rock band Ween's album Chocolate and Cheese, released in 1994, is "dedicated in loving memory to John Candy (1950–1994)". At the time lead singer Gene Ween remarked, "There was so much going on about [the suicide of] Kurt Cobain, and nobody mentioned John Candy at all. I have a special little spot in my heart for him."
After his death, the John Candy Visual Arts Studio at Neil McNeil Catholic High School in Toronto was dedicated in his honour. Candy, one of the school's most famous alumni, said during one of his annual visits to the school, "My success is simply rooted in the values and discipline and respect for others that I was taught at Neil McNeil." It has been suggested, among others, that the Canadian Screen Awards be given the official nickname "The Candys", both in honour of the actor and because the name suggests Canada.
American comedian Conan O'Brien credits Candy as giving him advice that led to his career in comedy. O'Brien met Candy while at Harvard and said, "Mr. Candy... I'm thinking I might try comedy." To this, Candy replied very seriously: "You don't try comedy. You do it or you don't do it."
John Candy: I Like Me, a documentary film about Candy's life and career, was directed by Colin Hanks and produced by Ryan Reynolds. It premiered on September 4, 2025, as the opening film of the Toronto International Film Festival. Some archival footage of Candy was also seen in the documentary film You Had To Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way), which premiered at the same festival two days later.
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
Accolades
References
External links
JohnCandy.com – The home of everything John Candy
John Candy at IMDb
John Candy at the TCM Movie Database
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Vin Diesel
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Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor and film producer. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for portraying Dominic "Dom" Toretto in the Fast & Furious franchise.
Born in California, Diesel attended Hunter College in New York City, where studies in creative writing led him to begin screenwriting. He wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the short drama film Multi-Facial (1995) and his debut feature Strays (1997). He came to prominence in the late 1990s and first became known for appearing in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan in 1998. He followed up with commercially successful films such as Boiler Room (2000) and The Pacifier (2005). He gained stardom as a leading action star headlining numerous franchises, including Fast & Furious, XXX, and The Chronicles of Riddick.
His voice acting work includes The Iron Giant (1999), the video games The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004) and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (2009), and the voices of Groot I and Groot II in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU); he portrayed the characters in six superhero films, beginning with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Diesel has reprised his role as Groot for the Disney+ animated shorts series I Am Groot (2022–2023), the television special The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022), and the animated film Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).
He founded the production company One Race Films, where he has also served as a producer or executive producer for his star vehicles. Diesel also founded the record label Racetrack Records and video game developer Tigon Studios, providing his voice and motion capture for all of Tigon's releases.
Early life
Mark Sinclair was born on July 18, 1967, in Alameda County, California, where his mother was also born, though he later moved to New York City with his fraternal twin brother, Paul. His mother, Delora Sherleen Vincent (née Sinclair), is an astrologer. He was raised by his white mother and adoptive African-American father, Irving H. Vincent, an acting instructor and theater manager. Diesel has stated that he is "of ambiguous ethnicity." His mother has Scottish roots. He has never met his biological father, and has said that "all I know from my mother is that I have connections to many different cultures"; Diesel believes that his parents' relationship would have been illegal in parts of the United States due to anti-miscegenation laws.
Diesel made his stage debut at age seven when he appeared in the children's play Dinosaur Door, written by Barbara Garson. The play was produced at Theater for the New City in New York's Greenwich Village. His involvement in the play came about when he, his brother and some friends had broken into the Theater for the New City space on Jane Street with the intent to vandalize it. They were confronted by the theater's artistic director, Crystal Field, who offered them roles in the upcoming show instead of calling the police. Diesel remained involved with the theater throughout adolescence, going on to attend Hunter College in New York City, where studies in creative writing led him to begin screenwriting. He has identified himself as a "multi-faceted" actor.
Sinclair began going by his stage name "Vin Diesel" while working as a bouncer at the New York nightclub Tunnel, wanting a tougher sounding name for his occupation. Vin comes from his mother's married last name Vincent, while the surname Diesel came from his friends due to his tendency to be energetic.
Career
1990-1999: Early struggle and debut
Diesel's first film role was as an uncredited extra in the drama film Awakenings in 1990. After several years of struggle to gain acting roles, Diesel decided to make his own short film to secure funds for his feature film debut. In 1994, he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the short drama film Multi-Facial, a semi-autobiographical film which follows a struggling multiracial actor stuck in the audition process. The film was selected for screening at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. As well as acting, Vin Diesel supported himself by working as a bouncer and telemarketer selling lightbulbs.
In 1997, Diesel secured funds to make his first feature-length film, Strays, an urban drama in which he played a gang leader whose love for a woman inspires him to try to change his ways. Written, directed, and produced by Diesel, the film was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival, leading to an MTV deal to turn it into a series which never came to fruition. Director Steven Spielberg took notice of Diesel after seeing him in Multi-Facial and cast him in a small role as a soldier in his 1998 Oscar-winning war film Saving Private Ryan. This marked Diesel's first major Hollywood film role. In 1999, he provided the voice of the title character in the animated film The Iron Giant.
2000-2008: Breakthrough and setbacks
In 2000, Diesel had a supporting role in the drama thriller Boiler Room, where he appeared alongside Giovanni Ribisi and Ben Affleck. He got his breakthrough leading role as the anti-hero Riddick in the science-fiction film Pitch Black later that year.
Diesel attained action hero stardom with his portrayal of Dominic Toretto in the street racing action film The Fast and the Furious (2001) and as Xander Cage in the action thriller XXX (2002). He turned down the chance to reprise his roles in the sequels 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and XXX: State of the Union (2005). Instead he chose to reprise his role as Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), which was a box office failure considering the large budget. He also voiced the character in two spin-off video games and the anime film The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury.
In a departure from his previous tough guy action hero persona, in 2005, he played a lighthearted role in the action comedy film The Pacifier, which was a box office success.
In 2006, he chose a dramatic role playing real-life mobster Jack DiNorscio in Find Me Guilty. Although he received critical acclaim for his performance, the film did poorly at the box office grossing only $2 million against a budget of $13 million. Later that year, Diesel made a cameo appearance in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, reprising his role from The Fast and the Furious.
In 2007, Diesel was set to produce and star as Agent 47 in the film adaptation of the video game Hitman, but eventually pulled back and served as executive producer on the film instead. In 2008, he starred in the science-fiction action thriller Babylon A.D. which was a critical and box office failure.
2009-present: Franchise films
Diesel returned to the Fast & Furious series, alongside most of the principal cast from the original 2001 film, in Fast & Furious, which was released in April 2009.
Diesel reprised his role as Dominic Toretto in later installments of the Fast & Furious franchise, Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021) and the most recent entry, Fast X (2023). He reprised his role as Riddick in the third film of The Chronicles of Riddick series, simply titled Riddick (2013). In August 2013, Diesel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He voiced Groot in the 2014 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy.
In 2015, he starred in the supernatural action film The Last Witch Hunter. In 2016, Diesel appeared as a supporting character in Ang Lee's war drama Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.
In 2017, Diesel also reprised his roles as Xander Cage in XXX: Return of Xander Cage, and Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Over the course of several years, Diesel has discussed playing two separate roles within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In November 2016 director of Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn, confirmed that Diesel had been in talks to play Blackagar Boltagon / Black Bolt for the planned Inhumans film, but it was turned into a television series instead without Diesel involved.
Diesel reprised his role of Groot once again in the crossover films Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) which combined the superhero teams of Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers. He has said, "[I] think there's gonna be a moment that we're all waiting for, and whether you know it or not, you are waiting to see [Groot] and [the Hulk] get down."
Diesel portrayed Valiant Comics character Bloodshot in the film of the same name which released in March 2020.
In September 2020, Diesel announced his venture into music, with the release of the song "Feel Like I Do", produced by Kygo. He debuted the song on The Kelly Clarkson Show on September 24, stating: "I am blessed that on a year that I would normally be on a movie set — and as you know, that's not possible — I've had another creative outlet. Another way to show you, or share with you, my heart."
Diesel will star in Riddick: Furya, the fourth installment of The Chronicles of Riddick franchise, announced in February 2023.
Personal life
Diesel has said he prefers to maintain his privacy regarding his personal life, stating: "I'm not gonna put it out there on a magazine cover like some other actors. I come from the Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino code of silence."
Diesel is noted for his distinctive deep voice. He said his voice broke around age 15, giving him a mature-sounding voice on the telephone, which he often uses for his acting performances.
Diesel is a longtime Dungeons & Dragons fan, and wrote the foreword for 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons (2004). Canadian video game designer and developer merritt k created the 2015 ASMR game Vin Diesel DMing a Game of D&D Just for You for him. He has expressed his love for the Dominican Republic and how he relates to its multicultural facets. He is acquainted with its former president, Leonel Fernández, and appeared in one of Fernández's earlier campaign advertisements. He later secured film production in the country for Los Bandoleros and Fast & Furious (both 2009).
Relationships
Sometime around 2001, Diesel dated his Fast & Furious co-star Michelle Rodriguez. Since 2007, he has been in a relationship with Mexican model Paloma Jimenez; the couple have three children, two daughters born in April 2008 and March 2015, and a son born 2010. The younger daughter is named in honor of his co-star and close friend Paul Walker, who died in November 2013. He is also the godfather of Walker's daughter, Meadow. Diesel also shares a close friendship with Fast & Furious co-star Tyrese Gibson.
Legal issues
In December 2023, former assistant Asta Jonasson sued Diesel for sexual battery and retaliation. The lawsuit alleges that, in 2010 during the filming of Fast Five in Atlanta, he brought her to his suite at the St. Regis Hotel and forced her onto his bed. Jonasson accuses him of "forcibly grabbing [her] and groping her breasts, and kissing her chest... and trying to pull down her underwear". She further accused him of pressing her against the wall and forcing her to touch his erect penis, and then he began to masturbate. She was fired a few days later which she believes was retaliatory with the suit reading, "It was clear to her that she was being fired because she was no longer useful—Vin Diesel had used her to fulfill his sexual desires and she had resisted his sexual assaults". The lawsuit also names Diesel's sister and production company as defendants for allegedly creating a hostile work environment and wrongfully terminating her, among other complaints.
On June 3, 2025, the four claims against Diesel filed under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) were dismissed due to the plaintiff missing an administrative deadline. The remaining claims were set to move forward to a jury trial in August.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Other
Discography
Singles
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Vin Diesel at IMDb
Vin Diesel at Rotten Tomatoes
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Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor and film producer. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for portraying Dominic "Dom" Toretto in the Fast & Furious franchise.
Born in California, Diesel attended Hunter College in New York City, where studies in creative writing led him to begin screenwriting. He wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the short drama film Multi-Facial (1995) and his debut feature Strays (1997). He came to prominence in the late 1990s and first became known for appearing in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan in 1998. He followed up with commercially successful films such as Boiler Room (2000) and The Pacifier (2005). He gained stardom as a leading action star headlining numerous franchises, including Fast & Furious, XXX, and The Chronicles of Riddick.
His voice acting work includes The Iron Giant (1999), the video games The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004) and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (2009), and the voices of Groot I and Groot II in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU); he portrayed the characters in six superhero films, beginning with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Diesel has reprised his role as Groot for the Disney+ animated shorts series I Am Groot (2022–2023), the television special The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022), and the animated film Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).
He founded the production company One Race Films, where he has also served as a producer or executive producer for his star vehicles. Diesel also founded the record label Racetrack Records and video game developer Tigon Studios, providing his voice and motion capture for all of Tigon's releases.
Early life
Mark Sinclair was born on July 18, 1967, in Alameda County, California, where his mother was also born, though he later moved to New York City with his fraternal twin brother, Paul. His mother, Delora Sherleen Vincent (née Sinclair), is an astrologer. He was raised by his white mother and adoptive African-American father, Irving H. Vincent, an acting instructor and theater manager. Diesel has stated that he is "of ambiguous ethnicity." His mother has Scottish roots. He has never met his biological father, and has said that "all I know from my mother is that I have connections to many different cultures"; Diesel believes that his parents' relationship would have been illegal in parts of the United States due to anti-miscegenation laws.
Diesel made his stage debut at age seven when he appeared in the children's play Dinosaur Door, written by Barbara Garson. The play was produced at Theater for the New City in New York's Greenwich Village. His involvement in the play came about when he, his brother and some friends had broken into the Theater for the New City space on Jane Street with the intent to vandalize it. They were confronted by the theater's artistic director, Crystal Field, who offered them roles in the upcoming show instead of calling the police. Diesel remained involved with the theater throughout adolescence, going on to attend Hunter College in New York City, where studies in creative writing led him to begin screenwriting. He has identified himself as a "multi-faceted" actor.
Sinclair began going by his stage name "Vin Diesel" while working as a bouncer at the New York nightclub Tunnel, wanting a tougher sounding name for his occupation. Vin comes from his mother's married last name Vincent, while the surname Diesel came from his friends due to his tendency to be energetic.
Career
1990-1999: Early struggle and debut
Diesel's first film role was as an uncredited extra in the drama film Awakenings in 1990. After several years of struggle to gain acting roles, Diesel decided to make his own short film to secure funds for his feature film debut. In 1994, he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the short drama film Multi-Facial, a semi-autobiographical film which follows a struggling multiracial actor stuck in the audition process. The film was selected for screening at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. As well as acting, Vin Diesel supported himself by working as a bouncer and telemarketer selling lightbulbs.
In 1997, Diesel secured funds to make his first feature-length film, Strays, an urban drama in which he played a gang leader whose love for a woman inspires him to try to change his ways. Written, directed, and produced by Diesel, the film was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival, leading to an MTV deal to turn it into a series which never came to fruition. Director Steven Spielberg took notice of Diesel after seeing him in Multi-Facial and cast him in a small role as a soldier in his 1998 Oscar-winning war film Saving Private Ryan. This marked Diesel's first major Hollywood film role. In 1999, he provided the voice of the title character in the animated film The Iron Giant.
2000-2008: Breakthrough and setbacks
In 2000, Diesel had a supporting role in the drama thriller Boiler Room, where he appeared alongside Giovanni Ribisi and Ben Affleck. He got his breakthrough leading role as the anti-hero Riddick in the science-fiction film Pitch Black later that year.
Diesel attained action hero stardom with his portrayal of Dominic Toretto in the street racing action film The Fast and the Furious (2001) and as Xander Cage in the action thriller XXX (2002). He turned down the chance to reprise his roles in the sequels 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and XXX: State of the Union (2005). Instead he chose to reprise his role as Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), which was a box office failure considering the large budget. He also voiced the character in two spin-off video games and the anime film The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury.
In a departure from his previous tough guy action hero persona, in 2005, he played a lighthearted role in the action comedy film The Pacifier, which was a box office success.
In 2006, he chose a dramatic role playing real-life mobster Jack DiNorscio in Find Me Guilty. Although he received critical acclaim for his performance, the film did poorly at the box office grossing only $2 million against a budget of $13 million. Later that year, Diesel made a cameo appearance in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, reprising his role from The Fast and the Furious.
In 2007, Diesel was set to produce and star as Agent 47 in the film adaptation of the video game Hitman, but eventually pulled back and served as executive producer on the film instead. In 2008, he starred in the science-fiction action thriller Babylon A.D. which was a critical and box office failure.
2009-present: Franchise films
Diesel returned to the Fast & Furious series, alongside most of the principal cast from the original 2001 film, in Fast & Furious, which was released in April 2009.
Diesel reprised his role as Dominic Toretto in later installments of the Fast & Furious franchise, Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021) and the most recent entry, Fast X (2023). He reprised his role as Riddick in the third film of The Chronicles of Riddick series, simply titled Riddick (2013). In August 2013, Diesel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He voiced Groot in the 2014 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy.
In 2015, he starred in the supernatural action film The Last Witch Hunter. In 2016, Diesel appeared as a supporting character in Ang Lee's war drama Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.
In 2017, Diesel also reprised his roles as Xander Cage in XXX: Return of Xander Cage, and Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Over the course of several years, Diesel has discussed playing two separate roles within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In November 2016 director of Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn, confirmed that Diesel had been in talks to play Blackagar Boltagon / Black Bolt for the planned Inhumans film, but it was turned into a television series instead without Diesel involved.
Diesel reprised his role of Groot once again in the crossover films Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) which combined the superhero teams of Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers. He has said, "[I] think there's gonna be a moment that we're all waiting for, and whether you know it or not, you are waiting to see [Groot] and [the Hulk] get down."
Diesel portrayed Valiant Comics character Bloodshot in the film of the same name which released in March 2020.
In September 2020, Diesel announced his venture into music, with the release of the song "Feel Like I Do", produced by Kygo. He debuted the song on The Kelly Clarkson Show on September 24, stating: "I am blessed that on a year that I would normally be on a movie set — and as you know, that's not possible — I've had another creative outlet. Another way to show you, or share with you, my heart."
Diesel will star in Riddick: Furya, the fourth installment of The Chronicles of Riddick franchise, announced in February 2023.
Personal life
Diesel has said he prefers to maintain his privacy regarding his personal life, stating: "I'm not gonna put it out there on a magazine cover like some other actors. I come from the Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino code of silence."
Diesel is noted for his distinctive deep voice. He said his voice broke around age 15, giving him a mature-sounding voice on the telephone, which he often uses for his acting performances.
Diesel is a longtime Dungeons & Dragons fan, and wrote the foreword for 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons (2004). Canadian video game designer and developer merritt k created the 2015 ASMR game Vin Diesel DMing a Game of D&D Just for You for him. He has expressed his love for the Dominican Republic and how he relates to its multicultural facets. He is acquainted with its former president, Leonel Fernández, and appeared in one of Fernández's earlier campaign advertisements. He later secured film production in the country for Los Bandoleros and Fast & Furious (both 2009).
Relationships
Sometime around 2001, Diesel dated his Fast & Furious co-star Michelle Rodriguez. Since 2007, he has been in a relationship with Mexican model Paloma Jimenez; the couple have three children, two daughters born in April 2008 and March 2015, and a son born 2010. The younger daughter is named in honor of his co-star and close friend Paul Walker, who died in November 2013. He is also the godfather of Walker's daughter, Meadow. Diesel also shares a close friendship with Fast & Furious co-star Tyrese Gibson.
Legal issues
In December 2023, former assistant Asta Jonasson sued Diesel for sexual battery and retaliation. The lawsuit alleges that, in 2010 during the filming of Fast Five in Atlanta, he brought her to his suite at the St. Regis Hotel and forced her onto his bed. Jonasson accuses him of "forcibly grabbing [her] and groping her breasts, and kissing her chest... and trying to pull down her underwear". She further accused him of pressing her against the wall and forcing her to touch his erect penis, and then he began to masturbate. She was fired a few days later which she believes was retaliatory with the suit reading, "It was clear to her that she was being fired because she was no longer useful—Vin Diesel had used her to fulfill his sexual desires and she had resisted his sexual assaults". The lawsuit also names Diesel's sister and production company as defendants for allegedly creating a hostile work environment and wrongfully terminating her, among other complaints.
On June 3, 2025, the four claims against Diesel filed under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) were dismissed due to the plaintiff missing an administrative deadline. The remaining claims were set to move forward to a jury trial in August.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Other
Discography
Singles
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Vin Diesel at IMDb
Vin Diesel at Rotten Tomatoes
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Dakota Fanning
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Hannah Dakota Fanning (born February 23, 1994) is an American actress. Fanning is known for her roles in blockbuster films and independent features, both as a child actor and as an adult. Her accolades include nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Fanning received recognition at the age of seven for starring in the drama film I Am Sam (2001), being nominated for the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role and becoming the youngest nominee in SAG history. She then starred in the miniseries Taken (2002), and in the films Uptown Girls (2003), Man on Fire (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), Charlotte's Web (2006) and The Secret Life of Bees (2008). She transitioned to mature roles with The Twilight Saga (2009–2012) and the independent films The Runaways (2010) and a co-starring role in Night Moves (2013).
Fanning has appeared in films such as Ocean's 8 (2018), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), and The Equalizer 3 (2023). Since 2018, she has starred in television series The Alienist (2018), The First Lady (2022) and The Perfect Couple (2024). She has also had a starring role in The Watchers (2024) and received renewed critical recognition for the miniseries Ripley in the same year, earning nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie nomination.
Early life
Hannah Dakota Fanning was born in Conyers, Georgia. She attended a Montessori School in Covington. Her mother, Heather Joy (née Arrington), played tennis professionally and her father, Steven J. Fanning, played minor league baseball and later worked as an electronics salesman in Los Angeles. Her maternal grandfather was former American football player Rick Arrington, and her aunt is former ESPN reporter Jill Arrington. Her ancestors include William Farrar. Dakota is the elder sister of actress Elle Fanning; both of them use their middle names as their given names due to family tradition. They grew up as Southern Baptists.
Career
1990s
Fanning first acted at the Towne Lake Arts Center in Woodstock, Georgia, starring in small plays at the age of five. In 1999, she began her professional acting career, appearing in a Tide television commercial. Her first significant acting job was a guest role in the NBC prime-time drama ER. Fanning then had several guest roles on television series including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Practice, and Spin City. She also portrayed the title characters of Ally McBeal and The Ellen Show as adolescents.
2000s
In 2001, Fanning was chosen to star opposite Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer in the film I Am Sam, as the daughter of a mentally challenged man who is fighting for child custody. Her role in the film made Fanning the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, being seven years of age at the time. She also won the Best Young Actor/Actress award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association for her performance. Fanning's performance would later be incorporated into the music video for Rufus Wainwright's cover of the Beatles' "Across the Universe"; the song itself was included in I Am Sam.
In 2002, director Steven Spielberg cast Fanning in the lead child role of Allison "Allie" Clarke/Keys in the science fiction miniseries Taken. By this time, she had received positive notices from several film critics, including Tom Shales of The Washington Post, who wrote that Fanning "has the perfect sort of otherworldly look about her, an enchanting young actress called upon ... to carry a great weight." In the same year, Fanning appeared in three films: as a kidnapping victim who proves to be more than her abductors bargained for in Trapped, as the young version of Reese Witherspoon's character in Sweet Home Alabama, and as Katie in the film Hansel and Gretel. A year later, she starred in two prominent films: playing the uptight child to an immature nanny played by Brittany Murphy in Uptown Girls, and as Sally in The Cat in the Hat. In addition, Fanning did voice-over work for four animated projects during this period, including voicing Satsuki in Disney's English language release of My Neighbor Totoro, starring alongside her younger sister Elle Fanning, who voiced Mei; a little girl in the Fox series Family Guy; and a young Wonder Woman in the episode "Kids Stuff" from Cartoon Network's Justice League Unlimited.
In 2004, Fanning appeared in Man on Fire as Pita, a nine-year-old who wins over the heart of a retired mercenary (Denzel Washington) hired to protect her from kidnappers. Roger Ebert wrote that Fanning "is a pro at only ten years old, and creates a heart-winning character." In 2004, she made an appearance on season ten of the television series Friends, playing the role of Mackenzie, a young girl who is moving out of the house Monica and Chandler are buying. Hide and Seek was her first release in 2005, opposite Robert De Niro. The film was generally panned, but critic Chuck Wilson called it "a fascinating meeting of equals – if the child star [Fanning] challenged the master [De Niro] to a game of stare-down, the legend might very well blink first."
Fanning voiced Lilo Pelekai (taking over for Daveigh Chase) in the direct-to-video film Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch. She also had a small part in the Rodrigo García film Nine Lives (released in October 2005), in which she shared an unbroken nine-minute scene with actress Glenn Close, who had her own praise for Fanning: "She's definitely an old soul. She's one of those gifted people that come along every now and then." Fanning also recorded her lead role in Coraline during this time. Fanning completed filming on Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story (opposite Kurt Russell) in late October 2004. Kris Kristofferson, who plays her character's grandfather in the film, said that she is like Bette Davis reincarnated. While promoting her role in Dreamer, Fanning became a registered member of Girl Scouts of the USA at a special ceremony, which was followed by a screening of the film for members of the Girl Scouts of the San Fernando Valley Council.
Fanning then went on to star in War of the Worlds, starring alongside Tom Cruise. Released in reverse order (War in June 2005 and Dreamer in the following October), both films were a critical success. War director Steven Spielberg praised "how quickly she understands the situation in a sequence, how quickly she sizes it up, measures it up and how she would really react in a real situation." Fanning moved to another film without a break: Charlotte's Web, which she finished filming in May 2005 in Australia, and premiered on December 15, 2006. During the summer of 2006, Fanning worked on the film Hounddog, described in press reports as a "dark story of abuse, violence, and Elvis Presley adulation in the rural South." Fanning's parents have been criticized for allowing her to film a scene in which her character is raped. However, Fanning defended the film by saying to Reuters, "It's not really happening. It's a movie, and it's called acting." Although the film was a failure both at the box office and with critics, Roger Ebert praised Fanning's performance, comparing her to Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver. In the same year, at the age of twelve, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, becoming the youngest member in the academy's history. Later that year, she was ranked 4th in Forbes list of "Top-Earning Stars Aged Under 21", having earned an estimated $4 million in 2006.
In the spring of 2007, she filmed Fragments – Winged Creatures alongside Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce, Josh Hutcherson, and Academy Award winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson. She plays Anne Hagen, a girl who witnesses her father's murder and who turns to religion in the aftermath. In July, Fanning appeared on a short film titled Cutlass, one of Glamour's "Reel Moments" based on readers' personal essays. Cutlass was directed by Kate Hudson. From September to the end of the year, Fanning filmed Push, which centers on a group of young American expatriates with telekinetic and clairvoyant abilities who hide from the Division (a U.S. government agency) in Hong Kong and band together to try to escape the control of the division. Fanning played Cassie Holmes, a 13-year-old psychic.
In January 2008, Fanning began filming the film adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees, a novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Set in South Carolina in 1964, the story centers on Lily Owens (Fanning), who escapes her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father by running away with her caregiver and only friend (played by Jennifer Hudson) to a South Carolina town where they are taken in by an eccentric trio of beekeeping sisters (played by Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, and Alicia Keys).
Her films, horror animation Coraline and science fiction thriller Push, were released on the same day, February 6, 2009. In March 2008, upon the original creation of the film adaptation Dakota and Elle Fanning were cast to play Kate and Anna respectively in the film My Sister's Keeper. However, when Dakota heard that she would be required to shave her head for the role, she dropped out of the film as then did Elle. The two sisters were replaced; Abigail Breslin took on the lead role as Anna Fitzgerald, and Sofia Vassilieva was cast as Kate Fitzgerald. Fanning played Jane, a member of the Volturi Guard, in New Moon and reprised the role in Eclipse, based on novels by Stephenie Meyer. New Moon was released on November 20, 2009, and Eclipse was released on the following June. On in March 2009, she was ranked number three on the list of Forbes' Most Valuable Young Stars after having earned an estimated $14 million.
2010s
In 2010, Fanning starred in the film The Runaways, alongside Kristen Stewart, Stella Maeve, and Scout Taylor-Compton. She played Cherie Currie, the lead singer of the band. From then until the end of early 2011, Fanning filmed Breaking Dawn, reprising the role of Jane. Fanning provided voice acting in Rise, a documentary film commissioned by U.S. Figure Skating to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the crash of Sabena Flight 548 which resulted in the loss of the entire American team and subsequent cancellation of the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships. She read a poem written by U.S. national champion Laurence Owen (who died in the crash) that was said to be an eerie premonition of the afterlife.
During the summer of 2011, Fanning played Tessa in Now Is Good and also became the face of Marc Jacobs' Oh, Lola! perfume campaign. The ad was banned in the UK as the Advertising Standards Authority judged that "the ad could be seen to sexualize a child." In 2011, Fanning played Annie James in The Motel Life, released in November of 2013. That fall, Fanning had a co-starring role in Effie Gray, directed by Richard Laxton and written and starring Emma Thompson.
In August 2012, she played the lead role of a wealthy financial eco-terrorist Dena Brauer, in a thriller film Night Moves opposite actors Jesse Eisenberg and Peter Sarsgaard. The film was directed by Kelly Reichardt. Night Moves tells the story of three eco-terrorists who work at an organic farm and collaborate on a plot to blow up a hydroelectric dam.
In January 2013, she was cast as Beverly Aadland in the Errol Flynn biopic The Last of Robin Hood. Later that year in September, Fanning was cast as Olivia in Franny. In November, she was cast in Viena and the Fantomes as Viena; about a roadie traveling across America with a punk rock band in the 1980s. The film was originally set to be released in 2015, but later released digitally on June 30, 2020.
In February 2014, she recorded a voice role for the animated film Yellowbird. In May 2015, Every Secret Thing, based on the 2004 novel by Laura Lippman, co-starring Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, Danielle Macdonald, Colin Donnell and Nate Parker was released in the U.S. Also in 2015, Martin Koolhoven confirmed that Jack Roth joined the cast of the film Brimstone. In June 2015, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Fanning and Kit Harington had replaced Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson in the film, respectively. The set of primary recording began June 15 and will be held in Romania, Spain, and Germany.
In July 2016, it was announced Fanning was cast in a film adaptation of The Bell Jar as Esther Greenwood. However, in 2019 it was reported that Kirsten Dunst was no longer involved with directing the project. In a 2023 update, 'The Bell Jar' was being considered being adapted into a TV series instead, though development has remained on hold. In 2017, Fanning starred in Neill Blomkamp's Zygote as part of Blomkamp's series of experimental short films released through Oats Studios. Fanning had a cameo role in the heist comedy Ocean's 8, which was released in 2018. The same year starred as Sara Howard in the TNT historical television series The Alienist based on novel of the same name. In August 2018, TNT ordered a sequel series based upon the follow-up novel The Angel of Darkness, with Fanning set to return to reprise the role of Sara Howard. In 2019, Fanning played Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme in Quentin Tarantino's comedy-drama Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, for which she and the cast of the film were nominated for the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
2020s
In 2023, Fanning had a starring role in The Watchers, a supernatural film set in Ireland. In December 2019, it had been announced that Fanning and her sister Elle Fanning would star together in an adaption of Kristin Hannah's 2015 novel, The Nightingale, which is set to be directed by Mélanie Laurent. In March 2021, the sisters announced the formation of a production company, Lewellen Pictures. Their company has a first-look deal with MRC Television/Civic Center Media. In March 2023, Fanning was cast to star in the Netflix miniseries The Perfect Couple. Fanning starred in The Equalizer 3, reuniting with Denzel Washington. In 2025, Fanning was nominated for a Golden Globes and Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the Netflix series Ripley as Marge Sherwood.
Personal life
In June 2011, Fanning graduated from Campbell Hall School in Studio City, California, where she participated on the varsity spirit cheerleading squad and was twice voted homecoming queen. From 2011 to 2014, she attended the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University majoring in women's studies, with a focus on the portrayal of women in film and culture.
Filmography and accolades
References
External links
Dakota Fanning at IMDb
Dakota Fanning at the TCM Movie Database
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Hannah Dakota Fanning (born February 23, 1994) is an American actress. Fanning is known for her roles in blockbuster films and independent features, both as a child actor and as an adult. Her accolades include nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Fanning received recognition at the age of seven for starring in the drama film I Am Sam (2001), being nominated for the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role and becoming the youngest nominee in SAG history. She then starred in the miniseries Taken (2002), and in the films Uptown Girls (2003), Man on Fire (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), Charlotte's Web (2006) and The Secret Life of Bees (2008). She transitioned to mature roles with The Twilight Saga (2009–2012) and the independent films The Runaways (2010) and a co-starring role in Night Moves (2013).
Fanning has appeared in films such as Ocean's 8 (2018), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), and The Equalizer 3 (2023). Since 2018, she has starred in television series The Alienist (2018), The First Lady (2022) and The Perfect Couple (2024). She has also had a starring role in The Watchers (2024) and received renewed critical recognition for the miniseries Ripley in the same year, earning nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie nomination.
Early life
Hannah Dakota Fanning was born in Conyers, Georgia. She attended a Montessori School in Covington. Her mother, Heather Joy (née Arrington), played tennis professionally and her father, Steven J. Fanning, played minor league baseball and later worked as an electronics salesman in Los Angeles. Her maternal grandfather was former American football player Rick Arrington, and her aunt is former ESPN reporter Jill Arrington. Her ancestors include William Farrar. Dakota is the elder sister of actress Elle Fanning; both of them use their middle names as their given names due to family tradition. They grew up as Southern Baptists.
Career
1990s
Fanning first acted at the Towne Lake Arts Center in Woodstock, Georgia, starring in small plays at the age of five. In 1999, she began her professional acting career, appearing in a Tide television commercial. Her first significant acting job was a guest role in the NBC prime-time drama ER. Fanning then had several guest roles on television series including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Practice, and Spin City. She also portrayed the title characters of Ally McBeal and The Ellen Show as adolescents.
2000s
In 2001, Fanning was chosen to star opposite Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer in the film I Am Sam, as the daughter of a mentally challenged man who is fighting for child custody. Her role in the film made Fanning the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, being seven years of age at the time. She also won the Best Young Actor/Actress award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association for her performance. Fanning's performance would later be incorporated into the music video for Rufus Wainwright's cover of the Beatles' "Across the Universe"; the song itself was included in I Am Sam.
In 2002, director Steven Spielberg cast Fanning in the lead child role of Allison "Allie" Clarke/Keys in the science fiction miniseries Taken. By this time, she had received positive notices from several film critics, including Tom Shales of The Washington Post, who wrote that Fanning "has the perfect sort of otherworldly look about her, an enchanting young actress called upon ... to carry a great weight." In the same year, Fanning appeared in three films: as a kidnapping victim who proves to be more than her abductors bargained for in Trapped, as the young version of Reese Witherspoon's character in Sweet Home Alabama, and as Katie in the film Hansel and Gretel. A year later, she starred in two prominent films: playing the uptight child to an immature nanny played by Brittany Murphy in Uptown Girls, and as Sally in The Cat in the Hat. In addition, Fanning did voice-over work for four animated projects during this period, including voicing Satsuki in Disney's English language release of My Neighbor Totoro, starring alongside her younger sister Elle Fanning, who voiced Mei; a little girl in the Fox series Family Guy; and a young Wonder Woman in the episode "Kids Stuff" from Cartoon Network's Justice League Unlimited.
In 2004, Fanning appeared in Man on Fire as Pita, a nine-year-old who wins over the heart of a retired mercenary (Denzel Washington) hired to protect her from kidnappers. Roger Ebert wrote that Fanning "is a pro at only ten years old, and creates a heart-winning character." In 2004, she made an appearance on season ten of the television series Friends, playing the role of Mackenzie, a young girl who is moving out of the house Monica and Chandler are buying. Hide and Seek was her first release in 2005, opposite Robert De Niro. The film was generally panned, but critic Chuck Wilson called it "a fascinating meeting of equals – if the child star [Fanning] challenged the master [De Niro] to a game of stare-down, the legend might very well blink first."
Fanning voiced Lilo Pelekai (taking over for Daveigh Chase) in the direct-to-video film Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch. She also had a small part in the Rodrigo García film Nine Lives (released in October 2005), in which she shared an unbroken nine-minute scene with actress Glenn Close, who had her own praise for Fanning: "She's definitely an old soul. She's one of those gifted people that come along every now and then." Fanning also recorded her lead role in Coraline during this time. Fanning completed filming on Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story (opposite Kurt Russell) in late October 2004. Kris Kristofferson, who plays her character's grandfather in the film, said that she is like Bette Davis reincarnated. While promoting her role in Dreamer, Fanning became a registered member of Girl Scouts of the USA at a special ceremony, which was followed by a screening of the film for members of the Girl Scouts of the San Fernando Valley Council.
Fanning then went on to star in War of the Worlds, starring alongside Tom Cruise. Released in reverse order (War in June 2005 and Dreamer in the following October), both films were a critical success. War director Steven Spielberg praised "how quickly she understands the situation in a sequence, how quickly she sizes it up, measures it up and how she would really react in a real situation." Fanning moved to another film without a break: Charlotte's Web, which she finished filming in May 2005 in Australia, and premiered on December 15, 2006. During the summer of 2006, Fanning worked on the film Hounddog, described in press reports as a "dark story of abuse, violence, and Elvis Presley adulation in the rural South." Fanning's parents have been criticized for allowing her to film a scene in which her character is raped. However, Fanning defended the film by saying to Reuters, "It's not really happening. It's a movie, and it's called acting." Although the film was a failure both at the box office and with critics, Roger Ebert praised Fanning's performance, comparing her to Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver. In the same year, at the age of twelve, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, becoming the youngest member in the academy's history. Later that year, she was ranked 4th in Forbes list of "Top-Earning Stars Aged Under 21", having earned an estimated $4 million in 2006.
In the spring of 2007, she filmed Fragments – Winged Creatures alongside Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce, Josh Hutcherson, and Academy Award winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson. She plays Anne Hagen, a girl who witnesses her father's murder and who turns to religion in the aftermath. In July, Fanning appeared on a short film titled Cutlass, one of Glamour's "Reel Moments" based on readers' personal essays. Cutlass was directed by Kate Hudson. From September to the end of the year, Fanning filmed Push, which centers on a group of young American expatriates with telekinetic and clairvoyant abilities who hide from the Division (a U.S. government agency) in Hong Kong and band together to try to escape the control of the division. Fanning played Cassie Holmes, a 13-year-old psychic.
In January 2008, Fanning began filming the film adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees, a novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Set in South Carolina in 1964, the story centers on Lily Owens (Fanning), who escapes her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father by running away with her caregiver and only friend (played by Jennifer Hudson) to a South Carolina town where they are taken in by an eccentric trio of beekeeping sisters (played by Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, and Alicia Keys).
Her films, horror animation Coraline and science fiction thriller Push, were released on the same day, February 6, 2009. In March 2008, upon the original creation of the film adaptation Dakota and Elle Fanning were cast to play Kate and Anna respectively in the film My Sister's Keeper. However, when Dakota heard that she would be required to shave her head for the role, she dropped out of the film as then did Elle. The two sisters were replaced; Abigail Breslin took on the lead role as Anna Fitzgerald, and Sofia Vassilieva was cast as Kate Fitzgerald. Fanning played Jane, a member of the Volturi Guard, in New Moon and reprised the role in Eclipse, based on novels by Stephenie Meyer. New Moon was released on November 20, 2009, and Eclipse was released on the following June. On in March 2009, she was ranked number three on the list of Forbes' Most Valuable Young Stars after having earned an estimated $14 million.
2010s
In 2010, Fanning starred in the film The Runaways, alongside Kristen Stewart, Stella Maeve, and Scout Taylor-Compton. She played Cherie Currie, the lead singer of the band. From then until the end of early 2011, Fanning filmed Breaking Dawn, reprising the role of Jane. Fanning provided voice acting in Rise, a documentary film commissioned by U.S. Figure Skating to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the crash of Sabena Flight 548 which resulted in the loss of the entire American team and subsequent cancellation of the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships. She read a poem written by U.S. national champion Laurence Owen (who died in the crash) that was said to be an eerie premonition of the afterlife.
During the summer of 2011, Fanning played Tessa in Now Is Good and also became the face of Marc Jacobs' Oh, Lola! perfume campaign. The ad was banned in the UK as the Advertising Standards Authority judged that "the ad could be seen to sexualize a child." In 2011, Fanning played Annie James in The Motel Life, released in November of 2013. That fall, Fanning had a co-starring role in Effie Gray, directed by Richard Laxton and written and starring Emma Thompson.
In August 2012, she played the lead role of a wealthy financial eco-terrorist Dena Brauer, in a thriller film Night Moves opposite actors Jesse Eisenberg and Peter Sarsgaard. The film was directed by Kelly Reichardt. Night Moves tells the story of three eco-terrorists who work at an organic farm and collaborate on a plot to blow up a hydroelectric dam.
In January 2013, she was cast as Beverly Aadland in the Errol Flynn biopic The Last of Robin Hood. Later that year in September, Fanning was cast as Olivia in Franny. In November, she was cast in Viena and the Fantomes as Viena; about a roadie traveling across America with a punk rock band in the 1980s. The film was originally set to be released in 2015, but later released digitally on June 30, 2020.
In February 2014, she recorded a voice role for the animated film Yellowbird. In May 2015, Every Secret Thing, based on the 2004 novel by Laura Lippman, co-starring Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, Danielle Macdonald, Colin Donnell and Nate Parker was released in the U.S. Also in 2015, Martin Koolhoven confirmed that Jack Roth joined the cast of the film Brimstone. In June 2015, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Fanning and Kit Harington had replaced Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson in the film, respectively. The set of primary recording began June 15 and will be held in Romania, Spain, and Germany.
In July 2016, it was announced Fanning was cast in a film adaptation of The Bell Jar as Esther Greenwood. However, in 2019 it was reported that Kirsten Dunst was no longer involved with directing the project. In a 2023 update, 'The Bell Jar' was being considered being adapted into a TV series instead, though development has remained on hold. In 2017, Fanning starred in Neill Blomkamp's Zygote as part of Blomkamp's series of experimental short films released through Oats Studios. Fanning had a cameo role in the heist comedy Ocean's 8, which was released in 2018. The same year starred as Sara Howard in the TNT historical television series The Alienist based on novel of the same name. In August 2018, TNT ordered a sequel series based upon the follow-up novel The Angel of Darkness, with Fanning set to return to reprise the role of Sara Howard. In 2019, Fanning played Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme in Quentin Tarantino's comedy-drama Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, for which she and the cast of the film were nominated for the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
2020s
In 2023, Fanning had a starring role in The Watchers, a supernatural film set in Ireland. In December 2019, it had been announced that Fanning and her sister Elle Fanning would star together in an adaption of Kristin Hannah's 2015 novel, The Nightingale, which is set to be directed by Mélanie Laurent. In March 2021, the sisters announced the formation of a production company, Lewellen Pictures. Their company has a first-look deal with MRC Television/Civic Center Media. In March 2023, Fanning was cast to star in the Netflix miniseries The Perfect Couple. Fanning starred in The Equalizer 3, reuniting with Denzel Washington. In 2025, Fanning was nominated for a Golden Globes and Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the Netflix series Ripley as Marge Sherwood.
Personal life
In June 2011, Fanning graduated from Campbell Hall School in Studio City, California, where she participated on the varsity spirit cheerleading squad and was twice voted homecoming queen. From 2011 to 2014, she attended the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University majoring in women's studies, with a focus on the portrayal of women in film and culture.
Filmography and accolades
References
External links
Dakota Fanning at IMDb
Dakota Fanning at the TCM Movie Database
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R. Kelly
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Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American former singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is credited with prolific commercial success in R&B, hip hop, and pop music recordings, earning nicknames such as "the King of R&B", "the King of Pop-Soul", and "the Pied Piper of R&B". In 2025, Billboard ranked him 9th on their list of the "Best R&B Artists of All Time". In 2021 and 2022, Kelly was convicted of multiple charges of child sexual abuse, and was sentenced to 31 years in prison, effectively ending his career.
Born on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, Kelly began performing in the subway under the Chicago "L" tracks, and regularly busked at the "L" stop on the Red Line's Jackson station in the Loop. During his recording career, Kelly released 18 studio albums which yielded a number of hit singles, including "I Believe I Can Fly", "Bump N' Grind", "Your Body's Callin'", "Fiesta (Remix)", "Ignition (Remix)", "Step in the Name of Love (Remix)", "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time", "The World's Greatest", "I'm a Flirt (Remix)", and the hip hopera Trapped in the Closet. In 1998, he won three Grammy Awards for "I Believe I Can Fly". Alongside his recording career, Kelly's songwriting and production work was credited on albums by Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Justin Bieber, Janet Jackson, Chris Brown, Aaliyah, Usher, Ciara, Toni Braxton, Luther Vandross, and Mary J. Blige. Kelly received a Grammy Award nomination for his contributions to Jackson's 1995 single, "You Are Not Alone", which earned a Guinness World Record as the first song to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100 in the chart's history. Kelly's 1998 collaboration with Dion, "I'm Your Angel", did so once more.
Kelly sold over 75 million albums and singles worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and the most successful R&B male artist of the 1990s. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has recognized Kelly as one of the best-selling artists in the United States with 40 million albums sold. In 2011, Kelly was named the most successful R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard. Kelly won Grammy Awards, BET Awards, Soul Train Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, NAACP Image Awards, and American Music Awards.
Kelly had long been the subject of accusations of sexual abuse, including that of minors, dating back to the 1990s. Following leaked video recordings, Kelly was prosecuted on child pornography charges in 2002, leading to a controversial trial that ended with his acquittal in 2008 on all charges. The 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly re-examined Kelly's alleged sexual misconduct with minors, prompting RCA Records to terminate his contract. Renewed interest in the allegations resulted in additional investigations by law enforcement beginning in 2019, which led to multiple indictments and Kelly's arrest. In 2021 and 2022, he was convicted on multiple charges involving child sexual abuse. As of 2025, he is serving a 31-year combined sentence at FCI Butner Medium I in North Carolina.
Early life
Robert Sylvester Kelly was born on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, on January 8, 1967, at Chicago Lying-In Hospital (now University of Chicago Medical Center) in the city's Hyde Park neighborhood. He has five siblings (three of whom are half): two older sisters and brother, along with a younger brother and sister. His mother, Joanne, was a schoolteacher and devout Baptist. She was born in Arkansas. The identity of his father, who was absent from Kelly's life and later raised two children, is not known. His family lived in the Ida B. Wells Homes public housing project in the Black Metropolis–Bronzeville District of Chicago's Douglas neighborhood, also on the city's south side. Around the time he was five years old, Kelly's mother married his stepfather, Lucious, who reportedly worked for an airline. Kelly began singing in the church choir at age eight.
Trauma and abuse
Kelly described having a girlfriend, Lulu, at age eight, in his 2012 autobiography Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me. He stated that their last play date turned tragic when, after fighting with older children over a play area by a creek, she was pushed into the water, swept downstream by a fast-moving current, and drowned. Kelly called Lulu his first musical inspiration.
Kelly said members of his household would act differently when his mother and grandparents were not home. This included highly provocative dress and behavior. Kelly stated that when he was eight, an adult woman in the household coerced him into photographing her while having intercourse with an adult male partner.
From age 8 to 14, he was often sexually abused by an older female family member. Kelly's younger brother, Carey, stated that he suffered from years of sexual abuse at the hands of their older sister, Theresa, who was entrusted with babysitting the siblings. Carey stated that although their older brother, Bruce, was spared and allowed to play outside, both he and Kelly were punished at separate times indoors by Theresa, who refused to acknowledge the abuse when confronted years later.
Explaining why he never told anyone, Kelly wrote in his autobiography that he was "too afraid and too ashamed". Around age 10, Kelly was also sexually abused by an older male who was a friend of the family. In his autobiography, Kelly describes being shot in the shoulder at age 13 by boys who were attempting to steal his bike, although a family friend claims his mother disputed this, stating that the gunshot was self-inflicted during a suicide attempt.
Turn toward music
In September 1980, Kelly entered Kenwood Academy in the city's Hyde Park-Kenwood district, where he met music teacher Lena McLin, who encouraged Kelly to perform Stevie Wonder's "Ribbon in the Sky" in the high school talent show. A shy Kelly put on sunglasses, was escorted onto the stage, performed the song, and was awarded first prize. McLin encouraged Kelly to leave the high school basketball team and concentrate on music. She said he was furious at first, but after his performance in the talent show, he changed his mind. Kelly was diagnosed with dyslexia, which left him unable to read or write. Kelly dropped out of high school after attending Kenwood Academy for one year. He began performing in the subway under the Chicago "L" tracks. He regularly busked at the "L" stop on the Red Line's Jackson station in the Loop.
In his youth, Kelly played basketball with Illinois state champion basketball player Ben Wilson and later sang "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" at Wilson's funeral.
Career
During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwide, making him the most commercially successful male R&B artist of the 1990s and one of the world's best-selling music artists. He won three Grammys for his song "I Believe I Can Fly", and was also nominated for his song "You Are Not Alone" recorded by Michael Jackson. Critics dubbed him "the King of R&B" while he billed himself the "Pied Piper of R&B".
1989–1994: Born into the 90's and 12 Play
MGM (Musically Gifted Men or Mentally Gifted Men) was formed in 1989 with Robert Kelly, Marc McWilliams, Vincent Walker and Shawn Brooks. In 1990, MGM were offered a contract with an independent label, Tavdash Records. Shortly after, they recorded and released one single, "Why You Wanna Play Me". Kelly gained national recognition when MGM participated on the talent TV show Big Break, hosted by Natalie Cole. MGM performed "All My Love", which would become a demo for Kelly's song "She's Got That Vibe". The group went on to win the $100,000 grand prize in 1991 before they disbanded.
In 1991, Kelly signed with Jive Records. Kelly's debut album, Born into the 90's, was released in early 1992 (credited as R. Kelly and Public Announcement). The album, released during the new jack swing period of the early 1990s, yielded the R&B hits "She's Got That Vibe", "Honey Love", "Dedicated", and "Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ)", with Kelly singing lead vocals. During late 1992, Kelly and Public Announcement embarked on a tour entitled "60653" after the zip code of their Chicago neighborhood. This would be the only album co-credited with Public Announcement. Kelly separated from the group in 1993.
Kelly's first solo album, 12 Play, was released on November 9, 1993, and yielded the singer's first number-one hit, "Bump N' Grind", which spent a record-breaking 12 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart. Subsequent hit singles: "Your Body's Callin'" (U.S. Hot 100: No. 13, U.S. R&B: No. 2) and "Sex Me" (U.S. Hot 100: No. 20, U.S. R&B: No. 8). Both singles sold 500,000 copies in the United States and were certified Gold by the RIAA. In 1994, 12 Play was certified Gold by the RIAA, eventually going six times platinum.
In 1994, Kelly established himself as a leading producer by producing songs for various artists, including Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, and Changing Faces. He co-headlined a tour with Salt-N-Pepa and headlined the Budweiser Superfest tour.
1995–1996 R. Kelly and "I Believe I Can Fly"
In 1995, Kelly garnered his first Grammy nominations; two for writing, producing, and composing Michael Jackson's last number-one hit, "You Are Not Alone".
Kelly's success continued with the November 14, 1995, release of R. Kelly, his eponymous second studio album. Critics praised him for his departure from salacious bedroom songs to embracing vulnerability. New York Times contributor Stephen Holden described Kelly as "The reigning king of pop-soul sex talks a lot tougher than Barry White, the father of such fluffed-up pillow talks and along with Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway, [both] major influences for Kelly." In December 1995, Professor Michael Eric Dyson critiqued Kelly's self-titled album "R. Kelly" for VIBE. Dyson described Kelly's growth from the 12 Play album: "Kelly reshapes his personal turmoil to artistic benefit" and noted that Kelly is "reborn before our very own ears".
The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming Kelly's first number one album on the chart, and reached number one on the R&B album charts; his second. The R. Kelly album spawned three platinum hit singles: "You Remind Me of Something" (U.S. Hot 100: No. 4, U.S. R&B: No. 1), "I Can't Sleep Baby (If I)" (U.S. Hot 100: No. 5, U.S. R&B: No. 1), and "Down Low (Nobody Has To Know)" (U.S. Hot 100: No. 4, U.S. R&B: No. 1); a duet with Ronald Isley. Kelly's self-titled album sold four million copies, receiving 4× platinum certification from the RIAA. He promoted the album with a 50-city "Down Low Top Secret Tour" with LL Cool J, Xscape, and Solo.
On November 26, 1996, Kelly released "I Believe I Can Fly", an inspirational song originally released on the soundtrack for the film Space Jam. "I Believe I Can Fly" reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 1 on the UK charts for three weeks and won three Grammy Awards in 1998. In that same year, he contributed to "Freak Tonight" for the A Thin Line Between Love and Hate soundtrack.
1997–2001: Basketball, R., TP-2.com, and Rockland Records
In 1997, Kelly signed a contract to play professional basketball with the Atlantic City Seagulls of the USBL. He wore the number 12 in honor of his album 12 Play. Kelly said "I love basketball enough to not totally let go of my music, but just put it to the side for a minute and fulfill some dreams of mine that I've had for a long time." Kelly's USBL contract contained a clause that would allow him to fulfill a music obligation when necessary. "If Whitney Houston needs a song written", said Ken Gross, the Seagulls owner who signed Kelly, "he would be able to leave the team to do that and come back". "It wasn't a gimmick", Gross continued, "he's a ballplayer. He can play."
In the same year, Kelly collaborated with American rapper The Notorious B.I.G. for the song "Fuck You Tonight" on the posthumous album Life After Death.
In 1998, he launched his own label, Rockland Records, in a distribution deal with Jimmy Iovine's Interscope Records. The label's roster included artists Sparkle, Boo & Gotti, Talent, Vegas Cats, Lady, Frankie, Secret Weapon, and Rebecca F. That May, Sparkle, Rockland's first signed artist, released her eponymous debut album. In addition to producing and writing the project, Kelly made vocal contribution to the hit duet "Be Careful", which became a serious factor as to why the album was certified platinum in December 2000.
On November 17, 1998, Kelly released his fourth studio and first double album, R. Musically, the album spans different genres from pop (Celine Dion), street rap (Nas and Jay-Z) to Blues ("Suicide"). Dave Hoekstra of the Los Angeles Times described the album as "easily the most ambitious project of his career". In the summer of 1999, he wrote and produced a majority of the soundtrack to the Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy film, Life, which features tracks from K-Ci & JoJo, Maxwell, Mýa, and Destiny's Child, among others. The soundtrack was also released on the Rockland imprint.
In early 2000, Kelly received multiple awards reflecting his status as an established R&B superstar. In January 2000, he won Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist at the American Music Awards and, in February, was nominated for several Grammy Awards, including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ("When a Woman's Fed Up"), Best R&B Album (R.), and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group ("Satisfy You") with P. Diddy.
On November 7, 2000, he released his fifth studio album, TP-2.com, a project aligned with his breakthrough album, 12 Play. Unlike R., all songs on TP-2.com were written, arranged, and produced by Kelly. AllMusic's Jason Birchmeier gave TP-2.com 4 stars and stated: "Kelly knows how to take proven formulas and funnel them through his own stylistic aesthetic, which usually means slowing down the tempo, laying on lush choruses of strings and background vocals, taming down the lyrics for radio, and catering his pitch primarily to wistful women.
In 2001, Kelly won the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Music of Black Origin or MOBO Awards and Billboard magazine ranked TP-2.com number 94 on the magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade. Kelly's song, "The World's Greatest", from the soundtrack to the 2001 autobiographical film, Ali, was a hit.
2002–2003: The Best of Both Worlds and Chocolate Factory
On January 24, 2002, at a press conference announcing the completion of Kelly and Jay-Z's first collaborative album, The Best of Both Worlds, celebrities such as Johnnie Cochran, Russell Simmons, Luther Vandross, and Sean Combs praised the album, with Jay-Z stating that he hoped the collaboration represents "more unity for black people on a whole". MTV's Shaheem Reid wrote: "And if Jay and Kelly can put their egos to the side long enough to wrap up and promote their album, then their labels—Def Jam and Jive, respectively—can surely figure out a way to join forces and make cheddar together."
On February 8, 2002, Kelly performed at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics, a week after a news scandal broke of a sex tape that appeared to show Kelly with an underage girl.
Following a leak of the joint album on February 22, 2002, Roc-A-Fella and Jive moved the release date one week earlier in an effort to curtail piracy. Jay-Z expressed frustration about the album leak to MTV News, describing the event as both a "gift" and a "curse." Upon release on March 19, 2002, The Best of Both Worlds sold 285,000 copies in its opening week and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. It was a critical and commercial disappointment.
In May 2002, six months prior to the scheduled release of Kelly's sixth studio album, Loveland, a bootleg copy containing 15 tracks had been leaked. In response, Kelly began work on the album now known as Chocolate Factory, opting to release Loveland as a deluxe edition bonus disc. In October of that year, Kelly released "Ignition (Remix)", the lead single from the album. It would spend 42 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number two.
On February 18, 2003, Kelly released Chocolate Factory, which debuted as the number-one album on the Billboard 200. It sold 532,000 copies in its first week. The album was met with critical acclaim, and supported by two more singles. "Snake", the album's second single, was followed by "Step in the Name of Love (Remix)", which charted for 70 weeks, reaching number one on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Later that year, in September, Kelly's first greatest hits album, The R. in R&B Collection, Vol. 1, was released which included "Thoia Thoing" and two other previously unreleased songs.
2004–2005: Unfinished Business, Happy People/U Saved Me and TP.3 Reloaded
Between mid-2003 and early 2004, Kelly began work on a double CD album, one with "happy" tracks and another with "inspirational" tracks. The double album, Happy People/U Saved Me, was released on August 24, 2004. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, with first week sales of 264,000 copies. Both of the album's title tracks respectively performed underwhelmingly; "Happy People" charted at number twenty-nine on the Adult R&B Songs chart while "U Saved Me" peaked at number fifty-two on the Billboard Hot 100.
Two months later, Kelly and Jay-Z reunited to release their second collaborative album, Unfinished Business. The album received criticism and, as with the pair's previous collaboration, it was also a commercial failure, despite debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. Album promotion and its Best of Both Worlds tour were both plagued by tension between the stars, with Kelly reportedly showing up late or not at all to gigs. Kelly complained that the touring lights were not directed towards him and allegedly assaulted the tour's lighting director.
Jay-Z eventually removed Kelly halfway through the tour, after a member of Jay-Z's entourage pepper sprayed Kelly on October 29, 2004. Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith was charged with assault, but took a plea deal for disorderly conduct. Kelly bounced back commercially after appearing on Ja Rule's single, "Wonderful" alongside Ashanti. In November 2004, "Wonderful" charted at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the UK Singles Chart. The single was certified gold by the RIAA in May 2005.
After finishing Happy People/U Saved Me and Unfinished Business in 2004, Kelly released TP.3 Reloaded in July 2005. It became Kelly's fifth consecutive number-one album in his career. TP.3 Reloaded was heavily cross-promoted alongside the first five chapters of Kelly's musical serial, the "hip hopera" Trapped in the Closet.
2006–2009: Double Up and Untitled, Africa
In December 2006, Kelly built momentum for his eighth solo studio album, Double Up, after guest-appearing on Bow Wow's "I'm a Flirt". Three months later, Kelly's remix of "I'm a Flirt" was released, but instead of Bow Wow, it featured T.I. and T-Pain. On May 29, 2007, the album was released. It became Kelly's sixth and final album in his career to chart at number one on the Billboard 200. Kelly's other singles from Double Up titled "Same Girl" was a duet of Kelly and Usher, while "Rise Up" was a tribute to the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting that occurred earlier that year in April, a month before the album was released. The song was previously released as a digital download on May 15, 2007. Proceeds were donated to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to help family members of the victims of the shootings.
Kelly began his Double Up tour with Ne-Yo, Keyshia Cole and J. Holiday opening for him. One week into the tour, promoter Leonard Rowe had Ne-Yo removed from the tour because of a contract dispute. However, Ne-Yo alleges that the reason for the dropout was because Ne-Yo believes he received a better response from critics and fans. Ne-Yo won a lawsuit that he filed against Rowe Entertainment in 2008. Kelly was not mentioned in the lawsuit. In December 2007, Kelly failed to appear at another preliminary court hearing on his case due to his tour bus being held up in Utah. The judge threatened to revoke Kelly's bond, but eventually decided against it. In 2008, Kelly released a rap track titled "I'm a Beast" in which he coarsely attacked his detractors, yet did not name the subjects of the song.
In 2008, before and after being acquitted on charges of producing child sexual abuse material, Billboard reported that Kelly had plans to release his newest album titled 12 Play: Fourth Quarter in the summer of that year but the album was postponed. Billboard named Kelly among the most successful artists ever for its 50th Anniversary List. In the spring, the promotional single "Hair Braider", peaked at No. 56 on Billboard's R&B chart. On July 28, the entire album leaked online, causing the title to be scrapped.
In February 2009, Kelly announced that he was working on a new album called Untitled with a projected release date of September 29, but it had been delayed to December. In June 2009, he released his first mixtape, The "Demo" Tape, presented by DJ Skee and DJ Drama.
Kelly headlined the Arise African Fashion Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 20, 2009. He performed in Cape Town, followed by Nigeria as part of the annual ThisDay music and fashion festival in July. That same month, he released "Number One", featuring singer-songwriter Keri Hilson. Then, on December 1, Kelly's untitled ninth solo album was released. It charted on the Billboard 200 at number four. More singles from the album include "Echo", "Supaman High" and "Be My No. 2". In January 2010, Kelly performed in Kampala, Uganda. "I'm very excited about my first visit to Africa, I've dreamed about this for a long time and it's finally here", Kelly said in a statement. "It will be one of the highlights of not only my career but my life. I can't wait to perform in front of my fans in Africa—who have been some of the best in the world."
2010–2012: Epic, Love Letter, throat surgery, and Write Me Back
Kelly performed at the 2010 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony on June 11, 2010. In an interview in the September 2010 issue of XXL magazine, Kelly said he was working on three new albums (Epic, Love Letter, and Zodiac) which he described as "remixing himself". Epic, a compilation filled with powerful ballads including "The World's Greatest" and "Sign of a Victory", only saw a European release on September 21, 2010. However, it is also available for streaming worldwide.
In November 2010, Kelly collaborated with several African musicians forming a supergroup known as One8. The group featured 2Face from Nigeria, Ali Kiba from Tanzania, Congolese singer Fally Ipupa, 4X4 from Ghana, hip-hop artist Movaizhaleine from Gabon, Zambia's JK, Ugandan hip-hop star Navio and Kenya's Amani, the only female in the group. The first release from the group was "Hands Across the World" written and produced by Kelly.
Kelly's tenth album Love Letter, released on December 14, 2010, included 15 songs, one of which was Kelly singing "You Are Not Alone", a track Kelly originally wrote for Michael Jackson. The first single "When a Woman Loves" was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.
At the 2011 Pre-Grammy Gala in Los Angeles, Kelly performed a medley of hits, and, in March 2011, Kelly was named the No. 1 R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard.
On July 19, 2011, Kelly was admitted to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago to undergo emergency throat surgery to drain an abscess on one of his tonsils, and was released on July 21, 2011. He canceled his performance at the Reggae Sumfest in Jamaica that was scheduled for the following Friday. Johnny Gourzong, Sumfest Productions executive director, commented, "We are truly going to miss his presence on the festival." On September 23, 2011, Variety confirmed that Kelly had signed on to write original music for the Sparkle soundtrack.
In 2011, Kelly worked with writer David Ritz on an autobiography entitled Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me, which was later released in the summer of 2012.
On October 7, 2011, after Sony's RCA Music Group announced the consolidation of Jive, Arista and J Records into RCA Records, Kelly was set to release music under the RCA brand.
Following his throat surgery, Kelly released "Shut Up" to generally favorable reviews: Spin magazine said, "Kelly taking aim at the haters who said "he's washed up, he's lost it." He hasn't. Dude's voice is in prime smooth R&B form". On December 21, 2011, Kelly made a live appearance on The X Factor and gave his first performance after the surgery. Kelly revealed to Rolling Stone that he felt like he was "just starting out" and how the performance was a "wake up call" for him.
In 2012, Kelly made a series of announcements including a follow-up to the Love Letter album titled Write Me Back, which was released on June 26 to little fanfare, as well as a third installment of Trapped in the Closet and The Single Ladies Tour featuring R&B singer, Tamia. In February 2012, Kelly performed "I Look to You", a song he wrote for Whitney Houston, at Houston's homegoing.
2013–2017: Black Panties, The Buffet, and 12 Nights of Christmas
During 2013, Kelly continued his "The Single Ladies Tour". He performed at music festivals across North America, including Bonnaroo, Pitchfork, and Macy's Music Festival. On June 30, 2013, R. Kelly performed live at the BET Awards Show singing hits as well as his new track "My Story" featuring Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz. The song was the lead single for Kelly's twelfth studio album Black Panties. released on December 10, 2013. Writing for New York magazine, David Marchese stated that Black Panties "was like a dare to the world: After all that he'd been accused of, after avoiding conviction, could R. Kelly still get away with making sex-obsessed music?"
In 2013, Kelly collaborated with several artists including Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Jennifer Hudson. In an interview with Global Grind in November, he described follow up work with Celine Dion after their number-one single "I'm Your Angel" from 1998. Kelly worked with singer Mariah Carey for her album Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse.
Kelly co-wrote and sang on Lady Gaga's song "Do What U Want" from her 2013 album Artpop, performing the duet with her on Saturday Night Live on November 16, 2013, and at the 2013 American Music Awards. "Do What U Want" was later removed from streaming services and re-releases of Gaga's Artpop album following sexual misconduct allegations against Kelly in early 2019. He also collaborated with Birdman and Lil Wayne on "We Been On", a single from the Cash Money Records compilation, Rich Gang. He also appeared on Twista's first single on his ninth album, Dark Horse. On November 17, 2013, Kelly and Justin Bieber debuted a collaboration titled "PYD".
Kelly was featured on the soundtrack album of the film The Best Man Holiday with his song "Christmas, I'll Be Steppin'". Kelly stated his intention to tour with R&B singer Mary J. Blige on "The King & Queen Tour" prior to the Black Panties Tour while continuing to create segments of the hip hopera Trapped in the Closet. In July 2014, Kelly announced that he was working on a house music album.
In November 2015, Kelly released "Switch Up" featuring fellow Chicagoan Jeremih and Lil Wayne, followed by "Wake Up Everybody", "Marching Band" and "Backyard Party". The following month, the album containing those singles, The Buffet, was released. It charted poorly on the Billboard 200 at number sixteen with first-week sales of 39,000 album-equivalent copies. During November 2015, R. Kelly released a song with Ty Dolla Sign called "Actress" off the album Free TC. The following year, after a two-and-a-half-year delay, Kelly presented his only Christmas album, also his fourteenth and final studio album in his career thus far, 12 Nights of Christmas, which was released on October 21, 2016.
2017–2022: Guest appearances, "I Admit"
On March 17, 2017, Pitbull released the song "Dedicated" off his album Climate Change featuring guest appearances from Kelly and Austin Mahone.
Kelly released the 19-minute-long "I Admit" on SoundCloud on July 23, 2018, as a response to his accusers. The song does not contain any criminal admissions despite its title and chorus, which repeats the lyric "I admit it, I did it". In "I Admit", Kelly denies allegations of domestic violence and pedophilia, asserting that they are matters of opinion. Kelly also denounces Jim DeRogatis and repudiates his investigative report's claim of Kelly operating a "sex cult". Addressing the Mute R. Kelly social media campaign, Kelly sings, "only God can mute me".
The song was criticized by reviewers, who described it as an act of trolling. Many outlets compared the song to that of his "Heaven I Need a Hug" extended version, Trapped in the Closet opera, "I Believe I Can Fly" concert remix, and O. J. Simpson's autobiographical novel If I Did It. Andrea Kelly and Carey Killa Kelly (R. Kelly's ex-wife and brother, respectively) responded to "I Admit" with songs that contain additional allegations against R. Kelly.
An album credited to Kelly titled I Admit It after and including the 19-minute song from 2018 was released on streaming services on December 9, 2022, but was taken down after it was not approved by Sony or R. Kelly's team. The album was credited to Sony's Legacy Recordings but actually uploaded by Real Talk Entertainment, who had released the album through a sub-label also named Legacy Recordings. This resulted in the credited distributor, Universal Music Group–owned Ingrooves, cutting ties with Real Talk Entertainment.
Artistry
Musical style and influences
Kelly's music took root in R&B, hip hop and soul. He was influenced by listening to his mother, Joanne Kelly, sing. She played records by Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye, inspirations for Kelly. In reference to Hathaway, Kelly stated: "A guy like Donny Hathaway had a focused, sexual texture in his voice that I always wanted in mine. He had smooth, soulful tones, but he was spiritual at the same time. In his autobiography, Kelly stated that he was heavily influenced by Marvin Gaye's R&B Lothario image. "I had to make a 'baby-makin'' album. If Marvin Gaye did it, I wanted to do it", Kelly said.
While Kelly created a smooth, professional mixture of hip-hop beats, soulman crooning and funk, the most distinctive element of his music is its explicit sensuality. "Sex Me", "Bump n' Grind", "Your Body's Callin'", and "Feelin' on Yo Booty" are considered to be examples, as their productions were seductive enough to sell such blatant come-ons. Kelly's crossover appeal was also sustained by his development of a flair for pop balladry.
Vocal style and lyrical themes
Writing for the New York Daily News in 1997, Nunyo Demasio stated "With a voice that easily shifts from booming baritone to seductive alto, Kelly has gained international celebrity by combining streetwise rhythms with sexually explicit lyrics." Love and sex are the topics of the majority of Kelly's lyrical content, although he has written about a wide variety of themes such as inspiration and spirituality. Chicago Sun-Times reporters Jim DeRogatis and Abdon Pallasch observed about the contrasting themes: "... the image he liked to project was that of the "R&B Thug"... bringing the streetwise persona of the gangsta rapper into the more polite world of R&B."
Kelly expressed that he writes from everyday experiences and prides himself on being versatile. Larry Khan, senior vice president of Jive's urban marketing and promotion, said that Kelly's musical compass is second to none. DeRogatis and Pallasch reported that at concerts where Kelly would go from singing "Like a Real Freak" to "I Wish": "Many fans found these abrupt shifts between the transcendent and the venal, the inspirational and the X-rated jarring."
Influence
Kelly is considered to be one of the most successful R&B artists since the mid-1980s. He is also one of the bestselling music artists in the United States, with over 30 million albums sold, as well as only the fifth black artist to enter the top 50 of the same list. Rolling Stone magazine called him "arguably the most important R&B figure of the 1990s and 2000s". Billboard, ranking him the 9th greatest R&B artist of all time, said "from a purely musical perspective, there’s no denying that Kelly is one of the best contemporary R&B artists to ever pick up a microphone." Music executive Barry Weiss described Kelly as "the modern-day Prince, although there's a bit of Marvin Gaye in him, and a bit of Irving Berlin". R. Kelly has also been compared to artists like Sam Cooke and Bobby Brown.
In addition to his solo and collaboration success, Kelly has also written and produced several hit songs, such as "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number" for Aaliyah, "Fortunate" for Maxwell, "You Are Not Alone" for Michael Jackson, "G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T." for Changing Faces, "Bump, Bump, Bump" for B2K, and many more.
Honors and awards
Kelly has received and been nominated for multiple awards, as a songwriter, producer, and singer. He won three Grammy Awards for his song "I Believe I Can Fly": Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Best Rhythm and Blues Song, and Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television. After Kelly's federal conviction in New York, The Recording Academy stated in 2021 they wouldn't strip Kelly of his awards despite his "disturbing" actions.
Kelly was given a key to the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2013 as "an artist whose music brings generations together". On September 30, 2021, following his New York conviction of multiple sex crimes, the key was rescinded.
Legal issues
Kelly has faced repeated accusations of sexual abuse for incidents dating from 1991 to 2018 and has been the subject of a long-term investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times since August 2000. He has been tried in multiple civil suits and criminal trials, starting in 1996 when Tiffany Hawkins alleged that, starting in 1991 when she was age 15, Kelly, aged 24, had sexual relations with her and encouraged her to entice underaged friends. Following leaked video recordings, Kelly was prosecuted on child pornography charges in 2002, leading to a controversial trial that ended with his acquittal in 2008 on all charges. The 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly reexamined Kelly's alleged sexual misconduct with minors, prompting RCA Records to terminate his contract and resulted in additional investigations by law enforcement beginning in 2019. This culminated in a 2021 conviction for violations of the Mann Act and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and a 2022 conviction for production of child pornography. As of 2023, he is serving a 31-year combined sentence at FCI Butner Medium I. On July 30, 2024, multiple news outlets reported that Kelly, alongside his lawyer Jennifer Bonjean, had asked the Supreme Court to review his child pornography case, which could potentially drop 20 years off his sentence. On June 13, 2025, Kelly was hospitalized following an apparent overdose while incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institute in North Carolina. His attorneys allege that after being placed in solitary confinement on June 10, he was initially given anxiety medication, followed by an increased dosage on June 12. They claim this led to dizziness and vision loss before he collapsed. He was transported to Duke University Hospital, where medical evaluations reportedly revealed blood clots in his lungs and legs. Despite these concerns, Kelly remained under medical observation for two days before being discharged and returned to prison on June 15 against medical advice. His attorneys subsequently filed an emergency motion for release, citing mistreatment and concerns over his safety in custody.
Other court cases
Other than the federal sex abuse cases, Kelly has been involved in several high-profile criminal cases and lawsuits.
Criminal
August 13, 1997: Kelly was found guilty of battery and placed on unsupervised probation for one year in Lafayette, Louisiana, as a result of a July 1996 brawl which involved the singer and his entourage. One of the victims needed a total of 110 facial stitches.
April 8, 1998: Kelly was arrested in Chicago on three misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, including one charge of violating noise ordinance for playing his music extremely loud from his car, during a test run. He was allegedly confrontational as he was arrested and placed into custody. The vehicle he was testing audio in was impounded and placed on a $500 daily recovery fee. Prosecutors from the district attorney's office dropped the first two charges on May 7, and the noise charge on July 22 that year.
March 6, 2019: Kelly was taken to the Cook County Jail after failing to pay child support in the amount of $161,633 to his former wife, Andrea. Three days later, he was released after someone, whose identity was withheld, paid off the child support on his behalf. His lawyer says he could not discuss the payment due to a gag order.
Civil suits
November 1, 2004: Kelly launched a $75 million lawsuit against former friend Jay-Z and several concert organizers and/or promoters for removing him from the Best of Both Worlds tour. The lawsuit for breach of contract, which sought $75 million in damages ($60 million in punitive damages and $15 million for lost income) was a result of not being able to tour.
January 2005: Jay-Z countersued the singer, claiming Kelly showed erratic behavior including being late or absent attendances, vacating deadlines, and continued demands or requests that led to several cancellations and resulted in loss of gross. Kelly's lawyers challenged it as "inaccurate smears of [Mr. Kelly] that are utterly irrelevant to the issues of the case" but confirmed the rapper's refusal to continue work with Kelly after the Madison Square Garden incident and thus broke the contract. Jay-Z's counter suit was dismissed by a judge that May.
November 2005: Kelly sued Jay-Z again, claiming that now Roc Nation executive Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith was awarded with the position of vice president at the artist and repertoire department of Def Jam Recordings (which Jay was president of at the time), as a result of the latter pepper-spraying Kelly on October 29, 2004.
Personal life
Kelly's mother, Joanne, died from cancer in 1993. He has given conflicting accounts of where he was during his mother's death. His oldest daughter, JoAnn (b. 1998), was named after the singer's mother, but is also known as Buku Abi.
In 1996, Kelly married Andrea Kelly (née Lee), his former backup dancer and mother of his three children, the aforementioned JoAnn, as well as Jaah (b. 2000), and Robert Jr. (b. 2002). Andrea filed a restraining order against Kelly in September 2005 after a physical altercation, ultimately filing for divorce in 2006. In January 2009, their divorce was finalized after 13 years of marriage. In later years, Andrea accused Kelly of physical, verbal, and mental abuse, including in Surviving R. Kelly (2019).
Kelly reportedly had a long relationship with gospel singer Deleon Richards in the 1990s. In 2005, a Chicago man was charged for attempting to extort Richards' husband, Gary Sheffield, by allegedly threatening to release a sex tape of Richards with an ex-boyfriend, reportedly Kelly. In January 2006, the man was sentenced to 27 months in prison.
Philanthropy
In April 2007, Kelly released the song "Rise Up" for Virginia Tech after the 2007 school shooting and donated the net proceeds to the families of the victims. In 2010, he penned the song "Sign of a Victory" for the FIFA World Cup, with all proceeds benefiting African charities. On April 6, 2011, he performed at a charity event in Chicago benefiting Clara's House, a facility designed to build employment, housing, health care, and education in the projects of Chicago. In 2016, Kelly donated cases of water to the Flint water crisis.
Discography
Solo studio albums
Collaborative studio albums
Born into the 90's (with Public Announcement) (1992)
The Best of Both Worlds (with Jay-Z) (2002)
Unfinished Business (with Jay-Z) (2004)
Tours
Kelly toured extensively as a live musician. His concert tours included:
Books
Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me (2012, autobiography)
See also
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of Billboard number-one singles
List of highest-certified music artists in the United States
List of songs recorded by R. Kelly
List of songs written and produced by R. Kelly
List of unreleased songs recorded by R. Kelly
Shaggy defense
References
Notes
External links
"R. Kelly's official website". Archived from the original on September 28, 2021.
R. Kelly at AllMusic
R. Kelly at IMDb
R. Kelly: Sex, Girls and Videotapes, BBC documentary, March 28, 2018
Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator, Inmate 09627-035
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Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American former singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is credited with prolific commercial success in R&B, hip hop, and pop music recordings, earning nicknames such as "the King of R&B", "the King of Pop-Soul", and "the Pied Piper of R&B". In 2025, Billboard ranked him 9th on their list of the "Best R&B Artists of All Time". In 2021 and 2022, Kelly was convicted of multiple charges of child sexual abuse, and was sentenced to 31 years in prison, effectively ending his career.
Born on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, Kelly began performing in the subway under the Chicago "L" tracks, and regularly busked at the "L" stop on the Red Line's Jackson station in the Loop. During his recording career, Kelly released 18 studio albums which yielded a number of hit singles, including "I Believe I Can Fly", "Bump N' Grind", "Your Body's Callin'", "Fiesta (Remix)", "Ignition (Remix)", "Step in the Name of Love (Remix)", "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time", "The World's Greatest", "I'm a Flirt (Remix)", and the hip hopera Trapped in the Closet. In 1998, he won three Grammy Awards for "I Believe I Can Fly". Alongside his recording career, Kelly's songwriting and production work was credited on albums by Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Justin Bieber, Janet Jackson, Chris Brown, Aaliyah, Usher, Ciara, Toni Braxton, Luther Vandross, and Mary J. Blige. Kelly received a Grammy Award nomination for his contributions to Jackson's 1995 single, "You Are Not Alone", which earned a Guinness World Record as the first song to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100 in the chart's history. Kelly's 1998 collaboration with Dion, "I'm Your Angel", did so once more.
Kelly sold over 75 million albums and singles worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and the most successful R&B male artist of the 1990s. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has recognized Kelly as one of the best-selling artists in the United States with 40 million albums sold. In 2011, Kelly was named the most successful R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard. Kelly won Grammy Awards, BET Awards, Soul Train Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, NAACP Image Awards, and American Music Awards.
Kelly had long been the subject of accusations of sexual abuse, including that of minors, dating back to the 1990s. Following leaked video recordings, Kelly was prosecuted on child pornography charges in 2002, leading to a controversial trial that ended with his acquittal in 2008 on all charges. The 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly re-examined Kelly's alleged sexual misconduct with minors, prompting RCA Records to terminate his contract. Renewed interest in the allegations resulted in additional investigations by law enforcement beginning in 2019, which led to multiple indictments and Kelly's arrest. In 2021 and 2022, he was convicted on multiple charges involving child sexual abuse. As of 2025, he is serving a 31-year combined sentence at FCI Butner Medium I in North Carolina.
Early life
Robert Sylvester Kelly was born on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, on January 8, 1967, at Chicago Lying-In Hospital (now University of Chicago Medical Center) in the city's Hyde Park neighborhood. He has five siblings (three of whom are half): two older sisters and brother, along with a younger brother and sister. His mother, Joanne, was a schoolteacher and devout Baptist. She was born in Arkansas. The identity of his father, who was absent from Kelly's life and later raised two children, is not known. His family lived in the Ida B. Wells Homes public housing project in the Black Metropolis–Bronzeville District of Chicago's Douglas neighborhood, also on the city's south side. Around the time he was five years old, Kelly's mother married his stepfather, Lucious, who reportedly worked for an airline. Kelly began singing in the church choir at age eight.
Trauma and abuse
Kelly described having a girlfriend, Lulu, at age eight, in his 2012 autobiography Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me. He stated that their last play date turned tragic when, after fighting with older children over a play area by a creek, she was pushed into the water, swept downstream by a fast-moving current, and drowned. Kelly called Lulu his first musical inspiration.
Kelly said members of his household would act differently when his mother and grandparents were not home. This included highly provocative dress and behavior. Kelly stated that when he was eight, an adult woman in the household coerced him into photographing her while having intercourse with an adult male partner.
From age 8 to 14, he was often sexually abused by an older female family member. Kelly's younger brother, Carey, stated that he suffered from years of sexual abuse at the hands of their older sister, Theresa, who was entrusted with babysitting the siblings. Carey stated that although their older brother, Bruce, was spared and allowed to play outside, both he and Kelly were punished at separate times indoors by Theresa, who refused to acknowledge the abuse when confronted years later.
Explaining why he never told anyone, Kelly wrote in his autobiography that he was "too afraid and too ashamed". Around age 10, Kelly was also sexually abused by an older male who was a friend of the family. In his autobiography, Kelly describes being shot in the shoulder at age 13 by boys who were attempting to steal his bike, although a family friend claims his mother disputed this, stating that the gunshot was self-inflicted during a suicide attempt.
Turn toward music
In September 1980, Kelly entered Kenwood Academy in the city's Hyde Park-Kenwood district, where he met music teacher Lena McLin, who encouraged Kelly to perform Stevie Wonder's "Ribbon in the Sky" in the high school talent show. A shy Kelly put on sunglasses, was escorted onto the stage, performed the song, and was awarded first prize. McLin encouraged Kelly to leave the high school basketball team and concentrate on music. She said he was furious at first, but after his performance in the talent show, he changed his mind. Kelly was diagnosed with dyslexia, which left him unable to read or write. Kelly dropped out of high school after attending Kenwood Academy for one year. He began performing in the subway under the Chicago "L" tracks. He regularly busked at the "L" stop on the Red Line's Jackson station in the Loop.
In his youth, Kelly played basketball with Illinois state champion basketball player Ben Wilson and later sang "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" at Wilson's funeral.
Career
During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwide, making him the most commercially successful male R&B artist of the 1990s and one of the world's best-selling music artists. He won three Grammys for his song "I Believe I Can Fly", and was also nominated for his song "You Are Not Alone" recorded by Michael Jackson. Critics dubbed him "the King of R&B" while he billed himself the "Pied Piper of R&B".
1989–1994: Born into the 90's and 12 Play
MGM (Musically Gifted Men or Mentally Gifted Men) was formed in 1989 with Robert Kelly, Marc McWilliams, Vincent Walker and Shawn Brooks. In 1990, MGM were offered a contract with an independent label, Tavdash Records. Shortly after, they recorded and released one single, "Why You Wanna Play Me". Kelly gained national recognition when MGM participated on the talent TV show Big Break, hosted by Natalie Cole. MGM performed "All My Love", which would become a demo for Kelly's song "She's Got That Vibe". The group went on to win the $100,000 grand prize in 1991 before they disbanded.
In 1991, Kelly signed with Jive Records. Kelly's debut album, Born into the 90's, was released in early 1992 (credited as R. Kelly and Public Announcement). The album, released during the new jack swing period of the early 1990s, yielded the R&B hits "She's Got That Vibe", "Honey Love", "Dedicated", and "Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ)", with Kelly singing lead vocals. During late 1992, Kelly and Public Announcement embarked on a tour entitled "60653" after the zip code of their Chicago neighborhood. This would be the only album co-credited with Public Announcement. Kelly separated from the group in 1993.
Kelly's first solo album, 12 Play, was released on November 9, 1993, and yielded the singer's first number-one hit, "Bump N' Grind", which spent a record-breaking 12 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart. Subsequent hit singles: "Your Body's Callin'" (U.S. Hot 100: No. 13, U.S. R&B: No. 2) and "Sex Me" (U.S. Hot 100: No. 20, U.S. R&B: No. 8). Both singles sold 500,000 copies in the United States and were certified Gold by the RIAA. In 1994, 12 Play was certified Gold by the RIAA, eventually going six times platinum.
In 1994, Kelly established himself as a leading producer by producing songs for various artists, including Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, and Changing Faces. He co-headlined a tour with Salt-N-Pepa and headlined the Budweiser Superfest tour.
1995–1996 R. Kelly and "I Believe I Can Fly"
In 1995, Kelly garnered his first Grammy nominations; two for writing, producing, and composing Michael Jackson's last number-one hit, "You Are Not Alone".
Kelly's success continued with the November 14, 1995, release of R. Kelly, his eponymous second studio album. Critics praised him for his departure from salacious bedroom songs to embracing vulnerability. New York Times contributor Stephen Holden described Kelly as "The reigning king of pop-soul sex talks a lot tougher than Barry White, the father of such fluffed-up pillow talks and along with Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway, [both] major influences for Kelly." In December 1995, Professor Michael Eric Dyson critiqued Kelly's self-titled album "R. Kelly" for VIBE. Dyson described Kelly's growth from the 12 Play album: "Kelly reshapes his personal turmoil to artistic benefit" and noted that Kelly is "reborn before our very own ears".
The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming Kelly's first number one album on the chart, and reached number one on the R&B album charts; his second. The R. Kelly album spawned three platinum hit singles: "You Remind Me of Something" (U.S. Hot 100: No. 4, U.S. R&B: No. 1), "I Can't Sleep Baby (If I)" (U.S. Hot 100: No. 5, U.S. R&B: No. 1), and "Down Low (Nobody Has To Know)" (U.S. Hot 100: No. 4, U.S. R&B: No. 1); a duet with Ronald Isley. Kelly's self-titled album sold four million copies, receiving 4× platinum certification from the RIAA. He promoted the album with a 50-city "Down Low Top Secret Tour" with LL Cool J, Xscape, and Solo.
On November 26, 1996, Kelly released "I Believe I Can Fly", an inspirational song originally released on the soundtrack for the film Space Jam. "I Believe I Can Fly" reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 1 on the UK charts for three weeks and won three Grammy Awards in 1998. In that same year, he contributed to "Freak Tonight" for the A Thin Line Between Love and Hate soundtrack.
1997–2001: Basketball, R., TP-2.com, and Rockland Records
In 1997, Kelly signed a contract to play professional basketball with the Atlantic City Seagulls of the USBL. He wore the number 12 in honor of his album 12 Play. Kelly said "I love basketball enough to not totally let go of my music, but just put it to the side for a minute and fulfill some dreams of mine that I've had for a long time." Kelly's USBL contract contained a clause that would allow him to fulfill a music obligation when necessary. "If Whitney Houston needs a song written", said Ken Gross, the Seagulls owner who signed Kelly, "he would be able to leave the team to do that and come back". "It wasn't a gimmick", Gross continued, "he's a ballplayer. He can play."
In the same year, Kelly collaborated with American rapper The Notorious B.I.G. for the song "Fuck You Tonight" on the posthumous album Life After Death.
In 1998, he launched his own label, Rockland Records, in a distribution deal with Jimmy Iovine's Interscope Records. The label's roster included artists Sparkle, Boo & Gotti, Talent, Vegas Cats, Lady, Frankie, Secret Weapon, and Rebecca F. That May, Sparkle, Rockland's first signed artist, released her eponymous debut album. In addition to producing and writing the project, Kelly made vocal contribution to the hit duet "Be Careful", which became a serious factor as to why the album was certified platinum in December 2000.
On November 17, 1998, Kelly released his fourth studio and first double album, R. Musically, the album spans different genres from pop (Celine Dion), street rap (Nas and Jay-Z) to Blues ("Suicide"). Dave Hoekstra of the Los Angeles Times described the album as "easily the most ambitious project of his career". In the summer of 1999, he wrote and produced a majority of the soundtrack to the Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy film, Life, which features tracks from K-Ci & JoJo, Maxwell, Mýa, and Destiny's Child, among others. The soundtrack was also released on the Rockland imprint.
In early 2000, Kelly received multiple awards reflecting his status as an established R&B superstar. In January 2000, he won Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist at the American Music Awards and, in February, was nominated for several Grammy Awards, including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ("When a Woman's Fed Up"), Best R&B Album (R.), and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group ("Satisfy You") with P. Diddy.
On November 7, 2000, he released his fifth studio album, TP-2.com, a project aligned with his breakthrough album, 12 Play. Unlike R., all songs on TP-2.com were written, arranged, and produced by Kelly. AllMusic's Jason Birchmeier gave TP-2.com 4 stars and stated: "Kelly knows how to take proven formulas and funnel them through his own stylistic aesthetic, which usually means slowing down the tempo, laying on lush choruses of strings and background vocals, taming down the lyrics for radio, and catering his pitch primarily to wistful women.
In 2001, Kelly won the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Music of Black Origin or MOBO Awards and Billboard magazine ranked TP-2.com number 94 on the magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade. Kelly's song, "The World's Greatest", from the soundtrack to the 2001 autobiographical film, Ali, was a hit.
2002–2003: The Best of Both Worlds and Chocolate Factory
On January 24, 2002, at a press conference announcing the completion of Kelly and Jay-Z's first collaborative album, The Best of Both Worlds, celebrities such as Johnnie Cochran, Russell Simmons, Luther Vandross, and Sean Combs praised the album, with Jay-Z stating that he hoped the collaboration represents "more unity for black people on a whole". MTV's Shaheem Reid wrote: "And if Jay and Kelly can put their egos to the side long enough to wrap up and promote their album, then their labels—Def Jam and Jive, respectively—can surely figure out a way to join forces and make cheddar together."
On February 8, 2002, Kelly performed at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics, a week after a news scandal broke of a sex tape that appeared to show Kelly with an underage girl.
Following a leak of the joint album on February 22, 2002, Roc-A-Fella and Jive moved the release date one week earlier in an effort to curtail piracy. Jay-Z expressed frustration about the album leak to MTV News, describing the event as both a "gift" and a "curse." Upon release on March 19, 2002, The Best of Both Worlds sold 285,000 copies in its opening week and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. It was a critical and commercial disappointment.
In May 2002, six months prior to the scheduled release of Kelly's sixth studio album, Loveland, a bootleg copy containing 15 tracks had been leaked. In response, Kelly began work on the album now known as Chocolate Factory, opting to release Loveland as a deluxe edition bonus disc. In October of that year, Kelly released "Ignition (Remix)", the lead single from the album. It would spend 42 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number two.
On February 18, 2003, Kelly released Chocolate Factory, which debuted as the number-one album on the Billboard 200. It sold 532,000 copies in its first week. The album was met with critical acclaim, and supported by two more singles. "Snake", the album's second single, was followed by "Step in the Name of Love (Remix)", which charted for 70 weeks, reaching number one on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Later that year, in September, Kelly's first greatest hits album, The R. in R&B Collection, Vol. 1, was released which included "Thoia Thoing" and two other previously unreleased songs.
2004–2005: Unfinished Business, Happy People/U Saved Me and TP.3 Reloaded
Between mid-2003 and early 2004, Kelly began work on a double CD album, one with "happy" tracks and another with "inspirational" tracks. The double album, Happy People/U Saved Me, was released on August 24, 2004. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, with first week sales of 264,000 copies. Both of the album's title tracks respectively performed underwhelmingly; "Happy People" charted at number twenty-nine on the Adult R&B Songs chart while "U Saved Me" peaked at number fifty-two on the Billboard Hot 100.
Two months later, Kelly and Jay-Z reunited to release their second collaborative album, Unfinished Business. The album received criticism and, as with the pair's previous collaboration, it was also a commercial failure, despite debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. Album promotion and its Best of Both Worlds tour were both plagued by tension between the stars, with Kelly reportedly showing up late or not at all to gigs. Kelly complained that the touring lights were not directed towards him and allegedly assaulted the tour's lighting director.
Jay-Z eventually removed Kelly halfway through the tour, after a member of Jay-Z's entourage pepper sprayed Kelly on October 29, 2004. Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith was charged with assault, but took a plea deal for disorderly conduct. Kelly bounced back commercially after appearing on Ja Rule's single, "Wonderful" alongside Ashanti. In November 2004, "Wonderful" charted at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the UK Singles Chart. The single was certified gold by the RIAA in May 2005.
After finishing Happy People/U Saved Me and Unfinished Business in 2004, Kelly released TP.3 Reloaded in July 2005. It became Kelly's fifth consecutive number-one album in his career. TP.3 Reloaded was heavily cross-promoted alongside the first five chapters of Kelly's musical serial, the "hip hopera" Trapped in the Closet.
2006–2009: Double Up and Untitled, Africa
In December 2006, Kelly built momentum for his eighth solo studio album, Double Up, after guest-appearing on Bow Wow's "I'm a Flirt". Three months later, Kelly's remix of "I'm a Flirt" was released, but instead of Bow Wow, it featured T.I. and T-Pain. On May 29, 2007, the album was released. It became Kelly's sixth and final album in his career to chart at number one on the Billboard 200. Kelly's other singles from Double Up titled "Same Girl" was a duet of Kelly and Usher, while "Rise Up" was a tribute to the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting that occurred earlier that year in April, a month before the album was released. The song was previously released as a digital download on May 15, 2007. Proceeds were donated to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to help family members of the victims of the shootings.
Kelly began his Double Up tour with Ne-Yo, Keyshia Cole and J. Holiday opening for him. One week into the tour, promoter Leonard Rowe had Ne-Yo removed from the tour because of a contract dispute. However, Ne-Yo alleges that the reason for the dropout was because Ne-Yo believes he received a better response from critics and fans. Ne-Yo won a lawsuit that he filed against Rowe Entertainment in 2008. Kelly was not mentioned in the lawsuit. In December 2007, Kelly failed to appear at another preliminary court hearing on his case due to his tour bus being held up in Utah. The judge threatened to revoke Kelly's bond, but eventually decided against it. In 2008, Kelly released a rap track titled "I'm a Beast" in which he coarsely attacked his detractors, yet did not name the subjects of the song.
In 2008, before and after being acquitted on charges of producing child sexual abuse material, Billboard reported that Kelly had plans to release his newest album titled 12 Play: Fourth Quarter in the summer of that year but the album was postponed. Billboard named Kelly among the most successful artists ever for its 50th Anniversary List. In the spring, the promotional single "Hair Braider", peaked at No. 56 on Billboard's R&B chart. On July 28, the entire album leaked online, causing the title to be scrapped.
In February 2009, Kelly announced that he was working on a new album called Untitled with a projected release date of September 29, but it had been delayed to December. In June 2009, he released his first mixtape, The "Demo" Tape, presented by DJ Skee and DJ Drama.
Kelly headlined the Arise African Fashion Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 20, 2009. He performed in Cape Town, followed by Nigeria as part of the annual ThisDay music and fashion festival in July. That same month, he released "Number One", featuring singer-songwriter Keri Hilson. Then, on December 1, Kelly's untitled ninth solo album was released. It charted on the Billboard 200 at number four. More singles from the album include "Echo", "Supaman High" and "Be My No. 2". In January 2010, Kelly performed in Kampala, Uganda. "I'm very excited about my first visit to Africa, I've dreamed about this for a long time and it's finally here", Kelly said in a statement. "It will be one of the highlights of not only my career but my life. I can't wait to perform in front of my fans in Africa—who have been some of the best in the world."
2010–2012: Epic, Love Letter, throat surgery, and Write Me Back
Kelly performed at the 2010 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony on June 11, 2010. In an interview in the September 2010 issue of XXL magazine, Kelly said he was working on three new albums (Epic, Love Letter, and Zodiac) which he described as "remixing himself". Epic, a compilation filled with powerful ballads including "The World's Greatest" and "Sign of a Victory", only saw a European release on September 21, 2010. However, it is also available for streaming worldwide.
In November 2010, Kelly collaborated with several African musicians forming a supergroup known as One8. The group featured 2Face from Nigeria, Ali Kiba from Tanzania, Congolese singer Fally Ipupa, 4X4 from Ghana, hip-hop artist Movaizhaleine from Gabon, Zambia's JK, Ugandan hip-hop star Navio and Kenya's Amani, the only female in the group. The first release from the group was "Hands Across the World" written and produced by Kelly.
Kelly's tenth album Love Letter, released on December 14, 2010, included 15 songs, one of which was Kelly singing "You Are Not Alone", a track Kelly originally wrote for Michael Jackson. The first single "When a Woman Loves" was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.
At the 2011 Pre-Grammy Gala in Los Angeles, Kelly performed a medley of hits, and, in March 2011, Kelly was named the No. 1 R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard.
On July 19, 2011, Kelly was admitted to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago to undergo emergency throat surgery to drain an abscess on one of his tonsils, and was released on July 21, 2011. He canceled his performance at the Reggae Sumfest in Jamaica that was scheduled for the following Friday. Johnny Gourzong, Sumfest Productions executive director, commented, "We are truly going to miss his presence on the festival." On September 23, 2011, Variety confirmed that Kelly had signed on to write original music for the Sparkle soundtrack.
In 2011, Kelly worked with writer David Ritz on an autobiography entitled Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me, which was later released in the summer of 2012.
On October 7, 2011, after Sony's RCA Music Group announced the consolidation of Jive, Arista and J Records into RCA Records, Kelly was set to release music under the RCA brand.
Following his throat surgery, Kelly released "Shut Up" to generally favorable reviews: Spin magazine said, "Kelly taking aim at the haters who said "he's washed up, he's lost it." He hasn't. Dude's voice is in prime smooth R&B form". On December 21, 2011, Kelly made a live appearance on The X Factor and gave his first performance after the surgery. Kelly revealed to Rolling Stone that he felt like he was "just starting out" and how the performance was a "wake up call" for him.
In 2012, Kelly made a series of announcements including a follow-up to the Love Letter album titled Write Me Back, which was released on June 26 to little fanfare, as well as a third installment of Trapped in the Closet and The Single Ladies Tour featuring R&B singer, Tamia. In February 2012, Kelly performed "I Look to You", a song he wrote for Whitney Houston, at Houston's homegoing.
2013–2017: Black Panties, The Buffet, and 12 Nights of Christmas
During 2013, Kelly continued his "The Single Ladies Tour". He performed at music festivals across North America, including Bonnaroo, Pitchfork, and Macy's Music Festival. On June 30, 2013, R. Kelly performed live at the BET Awards Show singing hits as well as his new track "My Story" featuring Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz. The song was the lead single for Kelly's twelfth studio album Black Panties. released on December 10, 2013. Writing for New York magazine, David Marchese stated that Black Panties "was like a dare to the world: After all that he'd been accused of, after avoiding conviction, could R. Kelly still get away with making sex-obsessed music?"
In 2013, Kelly collaborated with several artists including Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Jennifer Hudson. In an interview with Global Grind in November, he described follow up work with Celine Dion after their number-one single "I'm Your Angel" from 1998. Kelly worked with singer Mariah Carey for her album Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse.
Kelly co-wrote and sang on Lady Gaga's song "Do What U Want" from her 2013 album Artpop, performing the duet with her on Saturday Night Live on November 16, 2013, and at the 2013 American Music Awards. "Do What U Want" was later removed from streaming services and re-releases of Gaga's Artpop album following sexual misconduct allegations against Kelly in early 2019. He also collaborated with Birdman and Lil Wayne on "We Been On", a single from the Cash Money Records compilation, Rich Gang. He also appeared on Twista's first single on his ninth album, Dark Horse. On November 17, 2013, Kelly and Justin Bieber debuted a collaboration titled "PYD".
Kelly was featured on the soundtrack album of the film The Best Man Holiday with his song "Christmas, I'll Be Steppin'". Kelly stated his intention to tour with R&B singer Mary J. Blige on "The King & Queen Tour" prior to the Black Panties Tour while continuing to create segments of the hip hopera Trapped in the Closet. In July 2014, Kelly announced that he was working on a house music album.
In November 2015, Kelly released "Switch Up" featuring fellow Chicagoan Jeremih and Lil Wayne, followed by "Wake Up Everybody", "Marching Band" and "Backyard Party". The following month, the album containing those singles, The Buffet, was released. It charted poorly on the Billboard 200 at number sixteen with first-week sales of 39,000 album-equivalent copies. During November 2015, R. Kelly released a song with Ty Dolla Sign called "Actress" off the album Free TC. The following year, after a two-and-a-half-year delay, Kelly presented his only Christmas album, also his fourteenth and final studio album in his career thus far, 12 Nights of Christmas, which was released on October 21, 2016.
2017–2022: Guest appearances, "I Admit"
On March 17, 2017, Pitbull released the song "Dedicated" off his album Climate Change featuring guest appearances from Kelly and Austin Mahone.
Kelly released the 19-minute-long "I Admit" on SoundCloud on July 23, 2018, as a response to his accusers. The song does not contain any criminal admissions despite its title and chorus, which repeats the lyric "I admit it, I did it". In "I Admit", Kelly denies allegations of domestic violence and pedophilia, asserting that they are matters of opinion. Kelly also denounces Jim DeRogatis and repudiates his investigative report's claim of Kelly operating a "sex cult". Addressing the Mute R. Kelly social media campaign, Kelly sings, "only God can mute me".
The song was criticized by reviewers, who described it as an act of trolling. Many outlets compared the song to that of his "Heaven I Need a Hug" extended version, Trapped in the Closet opera, "I Believe I Can Fly" concert remix, and O. J. Simpson's autobiographical novel If I Did It. Andrea Kelly and Carey Killa Kelly (R. Kelly's ex-wife and brother, respectively) responded to "I Admit" with songs that contain additional allegations against R. Kelly.
An album credited to Kelly titled I Admit It after and including the 19-minute song from 2018 was released on streaming services on December 9, 2022, but was taken down after it was not approved by Sony or R. Kelly's team. The album was credited to Sony's Legacy Recordings but actually uploaded by Real Talk Entertainment, who had released the album through a sub-label also named Legacy Recordings. This resulted in the credited distributor, Universal Music Group–owned Ingrooves, cutting ties with Real Talk Entertainment.
Artistry
Musical style and influences
Kelly's music took root in R&B, hip hop and soul. He was influenced by listening to his mother, Joanne Kelly, sing. She played records by Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye, inspirations for Kelly. In reference to Hathaway, Kelly stated: "A guy like Donny Hathaway had a focused, sexual texture in his voice that I always wanted in mine. He had smooth, soulful tones, but he was spiritual at the same time. In his autobiography, Kelly stated that he was heavily influenced by Marvin Gaye's R&B Lothario image. "I had to make a 'baby-makin'' album. If Marvin Gaye did it, I wanted to do it", Kelly said.
While Kelly created a smooth, professional mixture of hip-hop beats, soulman crooning and funk, the most distinctive element of his music is its explicit sensuality. "Sex Me", "Bump n' Grind", "Your Body's Callin'", and "Feelin' on Yo Booty" are considered to be examples, as their productions were seductive enough to sell such blatant come-ons. Kelly's crossover appeal was also sustained by his development of a flair for pop balladry.
Vocal style and lyrical themes
Writing for the New York Daily News in 1997, Nunyo Demasio stated "With a voice that easily shifts from booming baritone to seductive alto, Kelly has gained international celebrity by combining streetwise rhythms with sexually explicit lyrics." Love and sex are the topics of the majority of Kelly's lyrical content, although he has written about a wide variety of themes such as inspiration and spirituality. Chicago Sun-Times reporters Jim DeRogatis and Abdon Pallasch observed about the contrasting themes: "... the image he liked to project was that of the "R&B Thug"... bringing the streetwise persona of the gangsta rapper into the more polite world of R&B."
Kelly expressed that he writes from everyday experiences and prides himself on being versatile. Larry Khan, senior vice president of Jive's urban marketing and promotion, said that Kelly's musical compass is second to none. DeRogatis and Pallasch reported that at concerts where Kelly would go from singing "Like a Real Freak" to "I Wish": "Many fans found these abrupt shifts between the transcendent and the venal, the inspirational and the X-rated jarring."
Influence
Kelly is considered to be one of the most successful R&B artists since the mid-1980s. He is also one of the bestselling music artists in the United States, with over 30 million albums sold, as well as only the fifth black artist to enter the top 50 of the same list. Rolling Stone magazine called him "arguably the most important R&B figure of the 1990s and 2000s". Billboard, ranking him the 9th greatest R&B artist of all time, said "from a purely musical perspective, there’s no denying that Kelly is one of the best contemporary R&B artists to ever pick up a microphone." Music executive Barry Weiss described Kelly as "the modern-day Prince, although there's a bit of Marvin Gaye in him, and a bit of Irving Berlin". R. Kelly has also been compared to artists like Sam Cooke and Bobby Brown.
In addition to his solo and collaboration success, Kelly has also written and produced several hit songs, such as "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number" for Aaliyah, "Fortunate" for Maxwell, "You Are Not Alone" for Michael Jackson, "G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T." for Changing Faces, "Bump, Bump, Bump" for B2K, and many more.
Honors and awards
Kelly has received and been nominated for multiple awards, as a songwriter, producer, and singer. He won three Grammy Awards for his song "I Believe I Can Fly": Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Best Rhythm and Blues Song, and Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television. After Kelly's federal conviction in New York, The Recording Academy stated in 2021 they wouldn't strip Kelly of his awards despite his "disturbing" actions.
Kelly was given a key to the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2013 as "an artist whose music brings generations together". On September 30, 2021, following his New York conviction of multiple sex crimes, the key was rescinded.
Legal issues
Kelly has faced repeated accusations of sexual abuse for incidents dating from 1991 to 2018 and has been the subject of a long-term investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times since August 2000. He has been tried in multiple civil suits and criminal trials, starting in 1996 when Tiffany Hawkins alleged that, starting in 1991 when she was age 15, Kelly, aged 24, had sexual relations with her and encouraged her to entice underaged friends. Following leaked video recordings, Kelly was prosecuted on child pornography charges in 2002, leading to a controversial trial that ended with his acquittal in 2008 on all charges. The 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly reexamined Kelly's alleged sexual misconduct with minors, prompting RCA Records to terminate his contract and resulted in additional investigations by law enforcement beginning in 2019. This culminated in a 2021 conviction for violations of the Mann Act and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and a 2022 conviction for production of child pornography. As of 2023, he is serving a 31-year combined sentence at FCI Butner Medium I. On July 30, 2024, multiple news outlets reported that Kelly, alongside his lawyer Jennifer Bonjean, had asked the Supreme Court to review his child pornography case, which could potentially drop 20 years off his sentence. On June 13, 2025, Kelly was hospitalized following an apparent overdose while incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institute in North Carolina. His attorneys allege that after being placed in solitary confinement on June 10, he was initially given anxiety medication, followed by an increased dosage on June 12. They claim this led to dizziness and vision loss before he collapsed. He was transported to Duke University Hospital, where medical evaluations reportedly revealed blood clots in his lungs and legs. Despite these concerns, Kelly remained under medical observation for two days before being discharged and returned to prison on June 15 against medical advice. His attorneys subsequently filed an emergency motion for release, citing mistreatment and concerns over his safety in custody.
Other court cases
Other than the federal sex abuse cases, Kelly has been involved in several high-profile criminal cases and lawsuits.
Criminal
August 13, 1997: Kelly was found guilty of battery and placed on unsupervised probation for one year in Lafayette, Louisiana, as a result of a July 1996 brawl which involved the singer and his entourage. One of the victims needed a total of 110 facial stitches.
April 8, 1998: Kelly was arrested in Chicago on three misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, including one charge of violating noise ordinance for playing his music extremely loud from his car, during a test run. He was allegedly confrontational as he was arrested and placed into custody. The vehicle he was testing audio in was impounded and placed on a $500 daily recovery fee. Prosecutors from the district attorney's office dropped the first two charges on May 7, and the noise charge on July 22 that year.
March 6, 2019: Kelly was taken to the Cook County Jail after failing to pay child support in the amount of $161,633 to his former wife, Andrea. Three days later, he was released after someone, whose identity was withheld, paid off the child support on his behalf. His lawyer says he could not discuss the payment due to a gag order.
Civil suits
November 1, 2004: Kelly launched a $75 million lawsuit against former friend Jay-Z and several concert organizers and/or promoters for removing him from the Best of Both Worlds tour. The lawsuit for breach of contract, which sought $75 million in damages ($60 million in punitive damages and $15 million for lost income) was a result of not being able to tour.
January 2005: Jay-Z countersued the singer, claiming Kelly showed erratic behavior including being late or absent attendances, vacating deadlines, and continued demands or requests that led to several cancellations and resulted in loss of gross. Kelly's lawyers challenged it as "inaccurate smears of [Mr. Kelly] that are utterly irrelevant to the issues of the case" but confirmed the rapper's refusal to continue work with Kelly after the Madison Square Garden incident and thus broke the contract. Jay-Z's counter suit was dismissed by a judge that May.
November 2005: Kelly sued Jay-Z again, claiming that now Roc Nation executive Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith was awarded with the position of vice president at the artist and repertoire department of Def Jam Recordings (which Jay was president of at the time), as a result of the latter pepper-spraying Kelly on October 29, 2004.
Personal life
Kelly's mother, Joanne, died from cancer in 1993. He has given conflicting accounts of where he was during his mother's death. His oldest daughter, JoAnn (b. 1998), was named after the singer's mother, but is also known as Buku Abi.
In 1996, Kelly married Andrea Kelly (née Lee), his former backup dancer and mother of his three children, the aforementioned JoAnn, as well as Jaah (b. 2000), and Robert Jr. (b. 2002). Andrea filed a restraining order against Kelly in September 2005 after a physical altercation, ultimately filing for divorce in 2006. In January 2009, their divorce was finalized after 13 years of marriage. In later years, Andrea accused Kelly of physical, verbal, and mental abuse, including in Surviving R. Kelly (2019).
Kelly reportedly had a long relationship with gospel singer Deleon Richards in the 1990s. In 2005, a Chicago man was charged for attempting to extort Richards' husband, Gary Sheffield, by allegedly threatening to release a sex tape of Richards with an ex-boyfriend, reportedly Kelly. In January 2006, the man was sentenced to 27 months in prison.
Philanthropy
In April 2007, Kelly released the song "Rise Up" for Virginia Tech after the 2007 school shooting and donated the net proceeds to the families of the victims. In 2010, he penned the song "Sign of a Victory" for the FIFA World Cup, with all proceeds benefiting African charities. On April 6, 2011, he performed at a charity event in Chicago benefiting Clara's House, a facility designed to build employment, housing, health care, and education in the projects of Chicago. In 2016, Kelly donated cases of water to the Flint water crisis.
Discography
Solo studio albums
Collaborative studio albums
Born into the 90's (with Public Announcement) (1992)
The Best of Both Worlds (with Jay-Z) (2002)
Unfinished Business (with Jay-Z) (2004)
Tours
Kelly toured extensively as a live musician. His concert tours included:
Books
Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me (2012, autobiography)
See also
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of Billboard number-one singles
List of highest-certified music artists in the United States
List of songs recorded by R. Kelly
List of songs written and produced by R. Kelly
List of unreleased songs recorded by R. Kelly
Shaggy defense
References
Notes
External links
"R. Kelly's official website". Archived from the original on September 28, 2021.
R. Kelly at AllMusic
R. Kelly at IMDb
R. Kelly: Sex, Girls and Videotapes, BBC documentary, March 28, 2018
Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator, Inmate 09627-035
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Emilio Estevez
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Emilio Estevez (; born May 12, 1962) is an American actor and filmmaker. The son of actor Martin Sheen and the older brother of Charlie Sheen, he made his film debut with an uncredited role in Badlands (1973). He later received his first credited appearance with a supporting role in the coming-of-age film Tex (1982).
Estevez gained mainstream recognition with a starring role in the drama film The Outsiders (1983), leading him to be associated with a group of young actors known as the "Brat Pack." After starring in the films Nightmares (1983) and Repo Man (1984), Estevez had his breakout with starring roles in the commercially successful Brat Pack films The Breakfast Club (1985) and St. Elmo's Fire (1985). Following his breakout, he starred in the films Maximum Overdrive (1986), Stakeout (1987), Young Guns (1988), and Young Guns II (1990). In the 1990s, Estevez played the lead role of Gordon Bombay in the film series The Mighty Ducks (1992–1996). He also starred in the films Freejack (1992), Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), Another Stakeout (1993), and Judgment Night (1993).
Estevez made his directorial debut with the crime film Wisdom (1986), which he also starred in. He later directed and starred in the films Men at Work (1990) and The War at Home (1996), and following the final film in the Mighty Ducks series, Estevez primarily focused on directorial work. He directed and starred in the drama film Bobby (2006), which was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and also earned Estevez a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. He also directed and starred in the films The Way (2010) and The Public (2018).
Outside of directing in recent years, Estevez had a starring voice role in the English dub of the fantasy film Arthur and the Invisibles (2006) and reprised his role as Gordan Bombay in a regular capacity on the Disney+ television series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (2021–2022).
Early life
Estevez was born in the Bronx, the eldest child of artist Janet Sheen and actor Martin Sheen (legally Ramón Estévez). His siblings are Ramon Estevez, Charlie Sheen (born Carlos Estévez), and Renée Estevez. Estevez's paternal grandparents were Irish and Spanish immigrants. His father is a "devout Catholic" and his mother is a "strict Southern Baptist".
Estevez initially attended school in the New York City public school system but transferred to a private academy once his father's career took off. He lived on Manhattan's Upper West Side until his family moved west in 1968 when his father was cast in Catch-22. Growing up in Malibu, California, Estevez attended Santa Monica High School.
When Estevez was 11 years old, his father bought the family a portable movie camera. Estevez also appeared in Meet Mr. Bomb, a short anti-nuclear power film produced at his high school. Estevez was 14 when he accompanied his father to the Philippines, where Sheen was shooting Apocalypse Now. Estevez had a role as an extra in Apocalypse Now, but his scenes were deleted.
When they returned to Los Angeles, Estevez co-wrote and starred in a high school play about Vietnam veterans called Echoes of an Era and invited his parents to watch it. Sheen recalls being astonished by his son's performance, and "began to realize: my God, he's one of us." After graduating from Santa Monica High School in 1980, he refused to go to college and instead went into acting. Unlike his brother Charlie, Estevez and his other siblings did not adopt their father's stage name. Emilio reportedly liked the alliteration of the double 'E' initials, and "didn't want to ride into the business as 'Martin Sheen's son'." Upon his brother's using his birth name Carlos Estevez for the film Machete Kills, Estevez mentioned that he was proud of his Spanish heritage and was glad that he never adopted a stage name, taking advice from his father who regretted adopting the name Martin Sheen as opposed to using his birth name, Ramón Estévez.
Career
His first role was in a drama produced by the Catholic Paulist order. Soon after, he made his stage debut with his father in Mister Roberts at Burt Reynolds' dinner theater in Jupiter, Florida (this was the only job his father ever placed him in). Later, father and son worked together in the 1982 ABC-TV film about juveniles in jail, In the Custody of Strangers, in which Estevez did the casting.
Brat Pack years
Estevez received much attention during the 1980s for being a member of the Brat Pack and was credited as the leader of the group of young actors. One of his first major roles was as Keith "Two-Bit" Mathews in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 cinematic adaptation of S. E. Hinton's novel, The Outsiders, where he shared the screen with an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Leif Garrett, C. Thomas Howell, Diane Lane, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, and Patrick Swayze. Besides his roles in In the Custody of Strangers and The Outsiders, his credits include NBC-TV's thrillers Nightmares and Tex, the 1982 film version of another S.E. Hinton story. He bought the movie rights to a third Hinton book, That Was Then, This Is Now, and wrote the screenplay. His father predicted he would have to direct to feel the full extent of his talents, describing him as "an officer, not a soldier."
After The Outsiders, Estevez appeared as the punk-rocker turned car-repossessor Otto Maddox in the film Repo Man before co-starring in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire. Following the success of these back-to-back Brat Pack films, he starred in That Was Then, This Is Now (which he co-wrote), the horror film Maximum Overdrive (for which he was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award), and the crime drama Wisdom (with fellow Brat Packer Demi Moore). Estevez was originally cast in Platoon to be Private Chris Taylor but was forced to drop out after production was delayed for two years; the role eventually went to his younger brother Charlie Sheen. He went on to lead roles in the comedy/action film Stakeout and the westerns Young Guns and Young Guns II.
1990–present
In the early 1990s, Estevez directed, wrote, and starred with his brother Charlie in a comedy about garbagemen, Men at Work. Estevez later stated, "People come up to me on the street and say, Men at Work is the funniest movie I ever saw in my life. But, you know, I do have to question how many movies these people have seen."
In 1992, he found the career longevity that escaped other Brat Packers by starring in The Mighty Ducks as Coach Gordon Bombay, a lawyer and former pee wee star and minor hockey prodigy looking to forget the past, forced into coaching a pee wee hockey team as a form of community service. The film turned out to be one of Disney's most successful franchises. It was followed by two sequels. The following year Estevez starred in three films: the dark thriller Judgment Night, the spoof comedy Loaded Weapon 1 in which his brother Charlie Sheen has a cameo, and comedy/action film Another Stakeout, which was the sequel to his earlier film Stakeout.
Estevez has acted alongside his father several times. He starred in (and directed) the 1996 The War at Home in which he played a Vietnam War veteran dealing with posttraumatic stress disorder, while Martin Sheen played his unsympathetic father.
Estevez appeared in an uncredited role in the feature film Mission: Impossible. From 1998 to 1999, he appeared in three television films: the spaghetti Western Dollar for the Dead (1998), the comedy Late Last Night (1999), and Rated X (2000), which he directed. In 2000, Estevez starred in the Moxie! Award-winning thriller Sand as part of an ensemble cast that also included Denis Leary, Jon Lovitz, Harry Dean Stanton, and Julie Delpy.
In 2003, he made his voice acting debut when he helped create the English dubbed version of The 3 Wise Men with his father. Later, Estevez starred in The L.A. Riot Spectacular and voiced the English version of the film Arthur and the Invisibles. In 2008, he guest-starred on his brother's sitcom Two and a Half Men as an old friend of Charlie Sheen's character. (His father Martin Sheen had also guest-starred in 2005.)
In an interview a month after the 2010 Oscar tribute to John Hughes he explained his absence as publicity shyness: "I've never been a guy that went out there to get publicity on myself. I never saw the value in it."
In 2017, his appearance in films was found to generate the highest return on investment (ROI) on average of all Hollywood actors.
Estevez reprised his role as Coach Gordon Bombay in the 2021 Disney+ TV series, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. It was reported in November 2021 that Estevez would not return in the show's second season due to a contract dispute and creative differences.
Directing career
Aside from acting, Estevez has also directed television shows and motion pictures. He made his directorial debut with the 1986 film Wisdom, which made Estevez the youngest actor ever to write, direct, and star in a single major motion picture. Most recently he has directed episodes of the television series Cold Case, Close to Home, The Guardian, CSI: NY, and Numb3rs. The films he has directed include Men at Work and The War at Home.
He directed the 2006 film Bobby, which took over six years to write. Producing the film nearly bankrupted him as the domestic box office gross was not able to cover production costs. The movie gained him fans outside the US, mainly in Europe. He won a Hollywood Film Award and received a seven-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.
In 2010, Estevez filmed a new project, The Way, in Spain where he directed his father in a story about a man who decides to make the Camino de Santiago after the death of his son in the French Pyrénées. It was released in the United States on October 7, 2011.
In 2018, Estevez released The Public, a film featuring Estevez himself as writer, director, and cast member. The film, also starring Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater, and Jena Malone, premiered worldwide at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Music videos
Estevez appeared in John Parr's "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" music video, from the soundtrack of his film with the same name, where he played Kirby Keger. The music video featured all seven of the main cast members of the film, looking sadly through the foggy windows of a run-down and fire-damaged version of the St. Elmo's Bar set.
Estevez is a close friend of Jon Bon Jovi. He appeared in Bon Jovi's music video "Blaze of Glory" as Billy the Kid. In turn, Bon Jovi made a cameo appearance in Young Guns II. "Blaze of Glory" was in the Young Guns II soundtrack and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 2000, Estevez made an appearance in another Bon Jovi video, "Say It Isn't So", along with Matt LeBlanc, Claudia Schiffer, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Personal life
In the early 1980s, Estevez dated actress Mimi Rogers. He was involved off and on with Carey Salley, a Wilhelmina model. They have a son and a daughter. Their relationship overlapped with Estevez's high-profile engagement to Demi Moore, with whom he was intermittently involved from 1984 to 1986. In 1986, Salley filed a $2 million paternity suit against Estevez. Estevez acknowledged paternity of Salley's children on June 1, 1987.
On April 29, 1992, Estevez married singer-choreographer Paula Abdul. They filed for divorce in May 1994. Abdul later stated that the reason for the divorce was that she wanted children, while Estevez--who already had two children--did not.
In 2011, Estevez stated that his religion was a "work in progress". In 2023, he said, "Film is an illusion, fame is ephemeral, faith and family are what will endure".
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
See also
List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
References
External links
Emilio Estevez at IMDb
Emilio Estevez on Instagram
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Emilio Estevez (; born May 12, 1962) is an American actor and filmmaker. The son of actor Martin Sheen and the older brother of Charlie Sheen, he made his film debut with an uncredited role in Badlands (1973). He later received his first credited appearance with a supporting role in the coming-of-age film Tex (1982).
Estevez gained mainstream recognition with a starring role in the drama film The Outsiders (1983), leading him to be associated with a group of young actors known as the "Brat Pack." After starring in the films Nightmares (1983) and Repo Man (1984), Estevez had his breakout with starring roles in the commercially successful Brat Pack films The Breakfast Club (1985) and St. Elmo's Fire (1985). Following his breakout, he starred in the films Maximum Overdrive (1986), Stakeout (1987), Young Guns (1988), and Young Guns II (1990). In the 1990s, Estevez played the lead role of Gordon Bombay in the film series The Mighty Ducks (1992–1996). He also starred in the films Freejack (1992), Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), Another Stakeout (1993), and Judgment Night (1993).
Estevez made his directorial debut with the crime film Wisdom (1986), which he also starred in. He later directed and starred in the films Men at Work (1990) and The War at Home (1996), and following the final film in the Mighty Ducks series, Estevez primarily focused on directorial work. He directed and starred in the drama film Bobby (2006), which was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and also earned Estevez a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. He also directed and starred in the films The Way (2010) and The Public (2018).
Outside of directing in recent years, Estevez had a starring voice role in the English dub of the fantasy film Arthur and the Invisibles (2006) and reprised his role as Gordan Bombay in a regular capacity on the Disney+ television series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (2021–2022).
Early life
Estevez was born in the Bronx, the eldest child of artist Janet Sheen and actor Martin Sheen (legally Ramón Estévez). His siblings are Ramon Estevez, Charlie Sheen (born Carlos Estévez), and Renée Estevez. Estevez's paternal grandparents were Irish and Spanish immigrants. His father is a "devout Catholic" and his mother is a "strict Southern Baptist".
Estevez initially attended school in the New York City public school system but transferred to a private academy once his father's career took off. He lived on Manhattan's Upper West Side until his family moved west in 1968 when his father was cast in Catch-22. Growing up in Malibu, California, Estevez attended Santa Monica High School.
When Estevez was 11 years old, his father bought the family a portable movie camera. Estevez also appeared in Meet Mr. Bomb, a short anti-nuclear power film produced at his high school. Estevez was 14 when he accompanied his father to the Philippines, where Sheen was shooting Apocalypse Now. Estevez had a role as an extra in Apocalypse Now, but his scenes were deleted.
When they returned to Los Angeles, Estevez co-wrote and starred in a high school play about Vietnam veterans called Echoes of an Era and invited his parents to watch it. Sheen recalls being astonished by his son's performance, and "began to realize: my God, he's one of us." After graduating from Santa Monica High School in 1980, he refused to go to college and instead went into acting. Unlike his brother Charlie, Estevez and his other siblings did not adopt their father's stage name. Emilio reportedly liked the alliteration of the double 'E' initials, and "didn't want to ride into the business as 'Martin Sheen's son'." Upon his brother's using his birth name Carlos Estevez for the film Machete Kills, Estevez mentioned that he was proud of his Spanish heritage and was glad that he never adopted a stage name, taking advice from his father who regretted adopting the name Martin Sheen as opposed to using his birth name, Ramón Estévez.
Career
His first role was in a drama produced by the Catholic Paulist order. Soon after, he made his stage debut with his father in Mister Roberts at Burt Reynolds' dinner theater in Jupiter, Florida (this was the only job his father ever placed him in). Later, father and son worked together in the 1982 ABC-TV film about juveniles in jail, In the Custody of Strangers, in which Estevez did the casting.
Brat Pack years
Estevez received much attention during the 1980s for being a member of the Brat Pack and was credited as the leader of the group of young actors. One of his first major roles was as Keith "Two-Bit" Mathews in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 cinematic adaptation of S. E. Hinton's novel, The Outsiders, where he shared the screen with an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Leif Garrett, C. Thomas Howell, Diane Lane, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, and Patrick Swayze. Besides his roles in In the Custody of Strangers and The Outsiders, his credits include NBC-TV's thrillers Nightmares and Tex, the 1982 film version of another S.E. Hinton story. He bought the movie rights to a third Hinton book, That Was Then, This Is Now, and wrote the screenplay. His father predicted he would have to direct to feel the full extent of his talents, describing him as "an officer, not a soldier."
After The Outsiders, Estevez appeared as the punk-rocker turned car-repossessor Otto Maddox in the film Repo Man before co-starring in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire. Following the success of these back-to-back Brat Pack films, he starred in That Was Then, This Is Now (which he co-wrote), the horror film Maximum Overdrive (for which he was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award), and the crime drama Wisdom (with fellow Brat Packer Demi Moore). Estevez was originally cast in Platoon to be Private Chris Taylor but was forced to drop out after production was delayed for two years; the role eventually went to his younger brother Charlie Sheen. He went on to lead roles in the comedy/action film Stakeout and the westerns Young Guns and Young Guns II.
1990–present
In the early 1990s, Estevez directed, wrote, and starred with his brother Charlie in a comedy about garbagemen, Men at Work. Estevez later stated, "People come up to me on the street and say, Men at Work is the funniest movie I ever saw in my life. But, you know, I do have to question how many movies these people have seen."
In 1992, he found the career longevity that escaped other Brat Packers by starring in The Mighty Ducks as Coach Gordon Bombay, a lawyer and former pee wee star and minor hockey prodigy looking to forget the past, forced into coaching a pee wee hockey team as a form of community service. The film turned out to be one of Disney's most successful franchises. It was followed by two sequels. The following year Estevez starred in three films: the dark thriller Judgment Night, the spoof comedy Loaded Weapon 1 in which his brother Charlie Sheen has a cameo, and comedy/action film Another Stakeout, which was the sequel to his earlier film Stakeout.
Estevez has acted alongside his father several times. He starred in (and directed) the 1996 The War at Home in which he played a Vietnam War veteran dealing with posttraumatic stress disorder, while Martin Sheen played his unsympathetic father.
Estevez appeared in an uncredited role in the feature film Mission: Impossible. From 1998 to 1999, he appeared in three television films: the spaghetti Western Dollar for the Dead (1998), the comedy Late Last Night (1999), and Rated X (2000), which he directed. In 2000, Estevez starred in the Moxie! Award-winning thriller Sand as part of an ensemble cast that also included Denis Leary, Jon Lovitz, Harry Dean Stanton, and Julie Delpy.
In 2003, he made his voice acting debut when he helped create the English dubbed version of The 3 Wise Men with his father. Later, Estevez starred in The L.A. Riot Spectacular and voiced the English version of the film Arthur and the Invisibles. In 2008, he guest-starred on his brother's sitcom Two and a Half Men as an old friend of Charlie Sheen's character. (His father Martin Sheen had also guest-starred in 2005.)
In an interview a month after the 2010 Oscar tribute to John Hughes he explained his absence as publicity shyness: "I've never been a guy that went out there to get publicity on myself. I never saw the value in it."
In 2017, his appearance in films was found to generate the highest return on investment (ROI) on average of all Hollywood actors.
Estevez reprised his role as Coach Gordon Bombay in the 2021 Disney+ TV series, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. It was reported in November 2021 that Estevez would not return in the show's second season due to a contract dispute and creative differences.
Directing career
Aside from acting, Estevez has also directed television shows and motion pictures. He made his directorial debut with the 1986 film Wisdom, which made Estevez the youngest actor ever to write, direct, and star in a single major motion picture. Most recently he has directed episodes of the television series Cold Case, Close to Home, The Guardian, CSI: NY, and Numb3rs. The films he has directed include Men at Work and The War at Home.
He directed the 2006 film Bobby, which took over six years to write. Producing the film nearly bankrupted him as the domestic box office gross was not able to cover production costs. The movie gained him fans outside the US, mainly in Europe. He won a Hollywood Film Award and received a seven-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.
In 2010, Estevez filmed a new project, The Way, in Spain where he directed his father in a story about a man who decides to make the Camino de Santiago after the death of his son in the French Pyrénées. It was released in the United States on October 7, 2011.
In 2018, Estevez released The Public, a film featuring Estevez himself as writer, director, and cast member. The film, also starring Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater, and Jena Malone, premiered worldwide at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Music videos
Estevez appeared in John Parr's "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" music video, from the soundtrack of his film with the same name, where he played Kirby Keger. The music video featured all seven of the main cast members of the film, looking sadly through the foggy windows of a run-down and fire-damaged version of the St. Elmo's Bar set.
Estevez is a close friend of Jon Bon Jovi. He appeared in Bon Jovi's music video "Blaze of Glory" as Billy the Kid. In turn, Bon Jovi made a cameo appearance in Young Guns II. "Blaze of Glory" was in the Young Guns II soundtrack and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 2000, Estevez made an appearance in another Bon Jovi video, "Say It Isn't So", along with Matt LeBlanc, Claudia Schiffer, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Personal life
In the early 1980s, Estevez dated actress Mimi Rogers. He was involved off and on with Carey Salley, a Wilhelmina model. They have a son and a daughter. Their relationship overlapped with Estevez's high-profile engagement to Demi Moore, with whom he was intermittently involved from 1984 to 1986. In 1986, Salley filed a $2 million paternity suit against Estevez. Estevez acknowledged paternity of Salley's children on June 1, 1987.
On April 29, 1992, Estevez married singer-choreographer Paula Abdul. They filed for divorce in May 1994. Abdul later stated that the reason for the divorce was that she wanted children, while Estevez--who already had two children--did not.
In 2011, Estevez stated that his religion was a "work in progress". In 2023, he said, "Film is an illusion, fame is ephemeral, faith and family are what will endure".
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
See also
List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
References
External links
Emilio Estevez at IMDb
Emilio Estevez on Instagram
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Socrates
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Socrates (; Ancient Greek: Σωκράτης, romanized: Sōkrátēs; c. 470 – 399 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no texts and is known mainly through the posthumous accounts of classical writers, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon. These accounts are written as dialogues, in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine a subject in the style of question and answer; they gave rise to the Socratic dialogue literary genre. Contradictory accounts of Socrates make a reconstruction of his philosophy nearly impossible, a situation known as the Socratic problem. Socrates was a polarizing figure in Athenian society. In 399 BC, he was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth. After a trial that lasted a day, he was sentenced to death. He spent his last day in prison, refusing offers to help him escape.
Plato's dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity. They demonstrate the Socratic approach to areas of philosophy including epistemology and ethics. The Platonic Socrates lends his name to the concept of the Socratic method, and also to Socratic irony. The Socratic method of questioning, or elenchus, takes shape in dialogue using short questions and answers, epitomized by those Platonic texts in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine various aspects of an issue or an abstract meaning, usually relating to one of the virtues, and find themselves at an impasse, completely unable to define what they thought they understood. Socrates is known for proclaiming his total ignorance; he used to say that the only thing he was aware of was his ignorance, seeking to imply that the realization of one's ignorance is the first step in philosophizing.
Socrates exerted a strong influence on philosophers in later antiquity and has continued to do so in the modern era. He was studied by medieval and Islamic scholars and played an important role in the thought of the Italian Renaissance, particularly within the humanist movement. Interest in him continued unabated, as reflected in the works of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. Depictions of Socrates in art, literature, and popular culture have made him a widely known figure in the Western philosophical tradition.
Sources and the Socratic problem
Socrates did not document his teachings. All that is known about him comes from the accounts of others: mainly the philosopher Plato and the historian Xenophon, who were both his pupils; the Athenian comic dramatist Aristophanes (Socrates's contemporary); and Plato's pupil Aristotle, who was born after Socrates's death. The often contradictory stories from these ancient accounts only serve to complicate scholars' ability to reconstruct Socrates's true thoughts reliably, a predicament known as the Socratic problem. The works of Plato, Xenophon, and other authors who use the character of Socrates as an investigative tool, are written in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and his interlocutors and provide the main source of information on Socrates's life and thought. Socratic dialogues (logos sokratikos) was a term coined by Aristotle to describe this newly formed literary genre. While the exact dates of their composition are unknown, some were probably written after Socrates's death. As Aristotle first noted, the extent to which the dialogues portray Socrates authentically is a matter of some debate.
Plato and Xenophon
An honest man, Xenophon was no trained philosopher. He could neither fully conceptualize nor articulate Socrates's arguments. He admired Socrates for his intelligence, patriotism, and courage on the battlefield. He discusses Socrates in four works: the Memorabilia, the Oeconomicus, the Symposium, and the Apology of Socrates. He also mentions a story featuring Socrates in his Anabasis. Oeconomicus recounts a discussion on practical household management. Like Plato's Apology, Xenophon's Apologia describes the trial of Socrates, but the works diverge substantially and, according to W. K. C. Guthrie, Xenophon's account portrays a Socrates of "intolerable smugness and complacency". Symposium is a dialogue of Socrates with other prominent Athenians during an after-dinner discussion, but is quite different from Plato's Symposium: there is no overlap in the guest list. In Memorabilia, he defends Socrates from the accusations of corrupting the youth and being against the gods; essentially, it is a collection of various stories gathered together to construct a new apology for Socrates.
Plato's representation of Socrates is not straightforward. Plato was a pupil of Socrates and outlived him by five decades. How trustworthy Plato is in representing the attributes of Socrates is a matter of debate; the view that he did not represent views other than Socrates's own is not shared by many contemporary scholars. A driver of this doubt is the inconsistency of the character of Socrates that he presents. One common explanation of this inconsistency is that Plato initially tried to accurately represent the historical Socrates, while later in his writings he was happy to insert his own views into Socrates's words. Under this understanding, there is a distinction between the Socratic Socrates of Plato's earlier works and the Platonic Socrates of Plato's later writings, although the boundary between the two seems blurred.
Xenophon's and Plato's accounts differ in their presentations of Socrates as a person. Xenophon's Socrates is duller, less humorous and less ironic than Plato's. Xenophon's Socrates also lacks the philosophical features of Plato's Socrates—ignorance, the Socratic method or elenchus—and thinks enkrateia (self-control) is of pivotal importance, which is not the case with Plato's Socrates. Generally, logoi Sokratikoi cannot help us to reconstruct the historical Socrates even in cases where their narratives overlap, as authors may have influenced each other's accounts.
Aristophanes and other sources
Writers of Athenian comedy, including Aristophanes, also commented on Socrates. Aristophanes's most important comedy with respect to Socrates is The Clouds, in which Socrates is a central character. In this drama, Aristophanes presents a caricature of Socrates that leans towards sophism, ridiculing Socrates as an absurd atheist. Socrates in Clouds is interested in natural philosophy, which conforms to Plato's depiction of him in Phaedo. What is certain is that by the age of 45, Socrates had already captured the interest of Athenians as a philosopher. It is not clear whether Aristophanes's work is useful in reconstructing the historical Socrates.
Other ancient authors who wrote about Socrates were Aeschines of Sphettus, Antisthenes, Aristippus, Bryson, Cebes, Crito, Euclid of Megara, Phaedo and Aristotle, all of whom wrote after Socrates's death. Aristotle was not a contemporary of Socrates; he studied under Plato at the latter's Academy for twenty years. Aristotle treats Socrates without the bias of Xenophon and Plato, who had an emotional tie with Socrates, and he scrutinizes Socrates's doctrines as a philosopher. Aristotle was familiar with the various written and unwritten stories of Socrates. His role in understanding Socrates is limited. He does not write extensively on Socrates; and, when he does, he is mainly preoccupied with the early dialogues of Plato. There are also general doubts on his reliability on the history of philosophy. Still, his testimony is vital in understanding Socrates.
The Socratic problem
In a seminal work titled "The Worth of Socrates as a Philosopher" (1818), the philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher attacked Xenophon's accounts; his attack was widely accepted. Schleiermacher criticized Xenophon for his naïve representation of Socrates. Xenophon was a soldier, argued Schleiermacher, and was therefore not well placed to articulate Socratic ideas. Furthermore, Xenophon was biased in his depiction of his former friend and teacher: he believed Socrates was treated unfairly by Athens, and sought to prove his point of view rather than to provide an impartial account. The result, said Schleiermacher, was that Xenophon portrayed Socrates as an uninspiring philosopher. By the early twentieth century, Xenophon's account was largely rejected.
The philosopher Karl Joel, basing his arguments on Aristotle's interpretation of logos sokratikos, suggested that the Socratic dialogues are mostly fictional: according to Joel, the dialogues' authors were just mimicking some Socratic traits of dialogue. In the mid-twentieth century, philosophers such as Olof Gigon and Eugène Dupréel, based on Joel's arguments, proposed that the study of Socrates should focus on the various versions of his character and beliefs rather than aiming to reconstruct a historical Socrates. Later, ancient philosophy scholar Gregory Vlastos suggested that the early Socratic dialogues of Plato were more compatible with other evidence for a historical Socrates than his later writings, an argument that is based on inconsistencies in Plato's own evolving depiction of Socrates. Vlastos totally disregarded Xenophon's account except when it agreed with Plato's. More recently, Charles H. Kahn has reinforced the skeptical stance on the unsolvable Socratic problem, suggesting that only Plato's Apology has any historical significance.
Biography
Socrates was born in 470 or 469 BC to Sophroniscus and Phaenarete, a stoneworker and a midwife, respectively, in the Athenian deme of Alopece; therefore, he was an Athenian citizen, having been born to relatively affluent Athenians. He lived close to his father's relatives and inherited, as was customary, part of his father's estate, securing a life reasonably free of financial concerns. His education followed the laws and customs of Athens. He learned the basic skills of reading and writing and, like most wealthy Athenians, received extra lessons in various other fields such as gymnastics, poetry and music. He was married twice (which came first is not clear): his marriage to Xanthippe took place when Socrates was in his fifties, and another marriage was with a daughter of Aristides, an Athenian statesman. He had three sons with Xanthippe. Socrates fulfilled his military service during the Peloponnesian War and distinguished himself in three campaigns, according to Plato.
Another incident that reflects Socrates's respect for the law is the arrest of Leon the Salaminian. As Plato describes in his Apology, Socrates and four others were summoned to the Tholos and told by representatives of the Thirty Tyrants (which began ruling in 404 BC) to arrest Leon for execution. Again Socrates was the sole abstainer, choosing to risk the tyrants' wrath and retribution rather than to participate in what he considered to be a crime.
Socrates attracted great interest from the Athenian public and especially the Athenian youth. He was notoriously ugly, having a flat turned-up nose, bulging eyes and a large belly; his friends joked about his appearance. Socrates was indifferent to material pleasures, including his own appearance and personal comfort. He neglected personal hygiene, bathed rarely, walked barefoot, and owned only one ragged coat. He moderated his eating, drinking, and sex, although he did not practice full abstention. Although Socrates was attracted to youth, he resisted his passion for them because, as Plato describes, he was more interested in educating their souls and did not seek sex from his disciples. Politically, he did not take sides in the rivalry between the democrats and the oligarchs in Athens; he criticized both. The character of Socrates as exhibited in Apology, Crito, Phaedo and Symposium concurs with other sources to an extent that gives confidence in Plato's depiction of Socrates in these works as being representative of the real Socrates.
Socrates died in Athens in 399 BC after a trial for impiety (asebeia) and the corruption of the young. He spent his last day in prison among friends and followers who offered him a route to escape, which he refused. He died the next morning, in accordance with his sentence, after drinking poison hemlock. According to the Phaedo, his last words were: “Crito, we owe a rooster to Asclepius. Don't forget to pay the debt.”
Trial of Socrates
In 399 BC, Socrates was formally accused of corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens, and for asebeia (impiety), i.e. worshipping false gods and failing to worship the gods of Athens. At the trial, Socrates defended himself unsuccessfully. He was found guilty by a majority vote cast by a jury of hundreds of male Athenian citizens and, according to the custom, proposed his own penalty: that he should be given free food and housing by the state for the services he rendered to the city, or alternatively, that he be fined one mina of silver (according to him, all he had). The jurors declined his offer and ordered the death penalty.
Of all the works written about Socrates' trial, only three survive: Plato's Apology, Xenophon's Apology, and Xenophon's Memorabilia.
Socrates was charged in a politically tense climate. In 404 BC, the Athenians had been crushed by Spartans at the decisive naval Battle of Aegospotami, and subsequently, the Spartans laid siege to Athens. They replaced the democratic government with a new, pro-oligarchic government, named the Thirty Tyrants. Because of their tyrannical measures, some Athenians organized to overthrow the Tyrants—and, indeed, they managed to do so briefly—until a Spartan request for aid from the Thirty arrived and a compromise was sought. When the Spartans left again, however, democrats seized the opportunity to kill the oligarchs and reclaim the government of Athens.
The accusations against Socrates were initiated by a poet, Meletus, who asked for the death penalty in accordance with the charge of asebeia. Other accusers were Anytus and Lycon. After a month or two, in late spring or early summer, the trial started and likely went on for most of one day. There were two main sources for the religion-based accusations. First, Socrates had rejected the anthropomorphism of traditional Greek religion by denying that the gods did bad things like humans do. Second, he seemed to believe in a daimonion—an inner voice with, as his accusers suggested, divine origin.
Plato's Apology starts with Socrates answering the various rumours against him that have given rise to the indictment. First, Socrates defends himself against the rumour that he is an atheist naturalist philosopher, as portrayed in Aristophanes's The Clouds; or a sophist. Against the allegations of corrupting the youth, Socrates answers that he has never corrupted anyone intentionally, since corrupting someone would carry the risk of being corrupted back in return, and that would be illogical, since corruption is undesirable. On the second charge, Socrates asks for clarification. Meletus responds by repeating the accusation that Socrates is an atheist. Socrates notes the contradiction between atheism and worshipping false gods. He then claims that he is "God's gift" to the Athenians, since his activities ultimately benefit Athens; thus, in condemning him to death, Athens itself will be the greatest loser. After that, he says that even though no human can reach wisdom, seeking it is the best thing someone can do, implying money and prestige are not as precious as commonly thought.
Socrates was given the chance to offer alternative punishments for himself after being found guilty. He could have requested permission to flee Athens and live in exile, but he did not do so. According to Xenophon, Socrates made no proposals, while according to Plato he suggested free meals should be provided for him daily in recognition of his worth to Athens or, more in earnest, that a fine should be imposed on him. The jurors favoured the death penalty by making him drink a cup of hemlock (a poisonous liquid). In return, Socrates warned jurors and Athenians that criticism of them by his many disciples was inescapable, unless they became good men. After a delay caused by Athenian religious ceremonies, Socrates spent his last day in prison. His friends visited him and offered him an opportunity to escape, which he declined.
The question of what motivated Athenians to convict Socrates remains controversial among scholars. There are two theories. The first is that Socrates was convicted on religious grounds; the second, that he was accused and convicted for political reasons. Another, more recent, interpretation synthesizes the religious and political theories, arguing that religion and state were not separate in ancient Athens.
The argument for religious persecution is supported by the fact that Plato's and Xenophon's accounts of the trial mostly focus on the charges of impiety. In those accounts, Socrates is portrayed as making no effort to dispute the fact that he did not believe in the Athenian gods. Against this argument stands the fact that many skeptics and atheist philosophers during this time were not prosecuted. According to the argument for political persecution, Socrates was targeted because he was perceived as a threat to democracy. It was true that Socrates did not stand for democracy during the reign of the Thirty Tyrants and that most of his pupils were against the democrats. The case for it being a political persecution is usually challenged by the existence of an amnesty that was granted to Athenian citizens in 403 BC to prevent escalation to civil war after the fall of the Thirty. However, as the text from Socrates's trial and other texts reveal, the accusers could have fuelled their rhetoric using events prior to 403 BC.
Philosophy
Socratic method
A fundamental characteristic of Plato's Socrates is the Socratic method, or the method of refutation (elenchus). It is most prominent in the early works of Plato, such as Apology, Crito, Gorgias, Republic I, and others. The typical elenchus proceeds as follows. Socrates initiates a discussion about a topic with a known expert on the subject, usually in the company of some young men and boys, and by dialogue proves the expert's beliefs and arguments to be contradictory. Socrates initiates the dialogue by asking his interlocutor for a definition of the subject. As he asks more questions, the interlocutor's answers eventually contradict the first definition. The conclusion is that the expert did not really know the definition in the first place. The interlocutor may come up with a different definition. That new definition, in turn, comes under the scrutiny of Socratic questioning. With each round of question and answer, Socrates and his interlocutor hope to approach the truth. More often, they continue to reveal their ignorance. Since the interlocutors' definitions most commonly represent the mainstream opinion on a matter, the discussion places doubt on the common opinion.
Socrates also tests his own opinions through the Socratic method. Thus Socrates does not teach a fixed philosophical doctrine. Rather, he acknowledges his own ignorance while searching for truth with his pupils and interlocutors.
Scholars have questioned the validity and the exact nature of the Socratic method, or indeed if there even was a Socratic method. In 1982, the scholar of ancient philosophy Gregory Vlastos claimed that the Socratic method could not be used to establish the truth or falsehood of a proposition. Rather, Vlastos argued, it was a way to show that an interlocutor's beliefs were inconsistent. There have been two main lines of thought regarding this view, depending on whether it is accepted that Socrates is seeking to prove a claim wrong. According to the first line of thought, known as the constructivist approach, Socrates indeed seeks to refute a claim by this method, and the method helps in reaching affirmative statements. The non-constructivist approach holds that Socrates merely wants to establish the inconsistency between the premises and the conclusion of the initial argument.
Socratic priority of definition
Socrates starts his discussions by prioritizing the search for definitions. In most cases, Socrates initiates his discourse with an expert on a subject by seeking a definition—by asking, for example, what virtue, goodness, justice, or courage is. To establish a definition, Socrates first gathers clear examples of a virtue and then seeks to establish what they had in common. According to Guthrie, Socrates lived in an era when sophists had challenged the meaning of various virtues, questioning their substance; Socrates's quest for a definition was an attempt to clear the atmosphere from their radical skepticism.
Some scholars have argued that Socrates does not endorse the priority of definition as a principle, because they have identified cases where he does not do so. Some have argued that this priority of definition comes from Plato rather than Socrates. Philosopher Peter Geach, accepting that Socrates endorses the priority of definition, finds the technique fallacious. Αccording to Geach, one may know a proposition even if one cannot define the terms in which the proposition is stated.
Socratic ignorance
Plato's Socrates often claims that he is aware of his own lack of knowledge, especially when discussing ethical concepts such as arete (i.e., goodness, courage) since he does not know the nature of such concepts. For example, during his trial, with his life at stake, Socrates says: "I thought Evenus a happy man, if he really possesses this art (technē), and teaches for so moderate a fee. Certainly I would pride and preen myself if I knew (epistamai) these things, but I do not know (epistamai) them, gentlemen". In some of Plato's dialogues, Socrates appears to credit himself with some knowledge, and can even seem strongly opinionated for a man who professes his own ignorance.
There are varying explanations of the Socratic inconsistency (other than that Socrates is simply being inconsistent). One explanation is that Socrates is being either ironic or modest for pedagogical purposes: he aims to let his interlocutor to think for himself rather than guide him to a prefixed answer to his philosophical questions. Another explanation is that Socrates holds different interpretations of the meaning of "knowledge". Knowledge, for him, might mean systematic understanding of an ethical subject, on which Socrates firmly rejects any kind of mastery; or might refer to lower-level cognition, which Socrates may accept that he possesses. In any case, there is a consensus that Socrates accepts that acknowledging one's lack of knowledge is the first step towards wisdom.
Socrates is known for disavowing knowledge, a claim encapsulated in the saying "I know that I know nothing". This is often attributed to Socrates on the basis of a statement in Plato's Apology, though the same view is repeatedly found elsewhere in Plato's early writings on Socrates. In other statements, though, he implies or even claims that he does have knowledge. For example, in Plato's Apology Socrates says: "...but that to do injustice and disobey my superior, god or man, this I know to be evil and base..." (Apology, 29b6–7). In his debate with Callicles, he says: "...I know well that if you will agree with me on those things which my soul believes, those things will be the very truth..."
Whether Socrates genuinely thought he lacked knowledge or merely feigned a belief in his own ignorance remains a matter of debate. A common interpretation is that he was indeed feigning modesty. According to Norman Gulley, Socrates did this to entice his interlocutors to speak with him. On the other hand, Terence Irwin claims that Socrates's words should be taken literally.
Gregory Vlastos argues that there is enough evidence to refute both claims. In his view, for Socrates, there are two separate meanings of "knowledge": Knowledge-C and Knowledge-E (C stands for "certain", and E stands for elenchus, i.e. the Socratic method). Knowledge-C is something unquestionable whereas Knowledge-E is the knowledge derived from Socrates's elenchus. Thus, Socrates speaks the truth when he says he knows-C something, and he is also truthful when saying he knows-E, for example, that it is evil for someone to disobey his superiors, as he claims in Apology. Not all scholars have agreed with this semantic dualism. James H. Lesher has argued that Socrates claimed in various dialogues that one word is linked to one meaning (i.e. in Hippias Major, Meno, and Laches). Lesher suggests that although Socrates claimed that he had no knowledge about the nature of virtues, he thought that in some cases, people can know some ethical propositions.
Socratic irony
There is a widespread assumption that Socrates was an ironist, mostly based on the depiction of Socrates by Plato and Aristotle. Socrates's irony is so subtle and slightly humorous that it often leaves the reader wondering if Socrates is making an intentional pun. Plato's Euthyphro is filled with Socratic irony. The story begins when Socrates is meeting with Euthyphro, a man who has accused his own father of murder. When Socrates first hears the details of the story, he comments, "It is not, I think, any random person who could do this [prosecute one's father] correctly, but surely one who is already far progressed in wisdom". When Euthyphro boasts about his understanding of divinity, Socrates responds that it is "most important that I become your student". Socrates is commonly seen as ironic when using praise to flatter or when addressing his interlocutors.
Scholars are divided on why Socrates uses irony. According to an opinion advanced since the Hellenistic period, Socratic irony is a playful way to get the audience's attention. Another line of thought holds that Socrates conceals his philosophical message with irony, making it accessible only to those who can separate the parts of his statements which are ironic from those which are not. Gregory Vlastos has identified a more complex pattern of irony in Socrates. In Vlastos's view, Socrates's words have a double meaning, both ironic and not. One example is when he denies having knowledge. Vlastos suggests that Socrates is being ironic when he says he has no knowledge (where "knowledge" means a lower form of cognition); while, according to another sense of "knowledge", Socrates is serious when he says he has no knowledge of ethical matters. This opinion is not shared by many other scholars.
Socratic eudaimonism and intellectualism
For Socrates, the pursuit of eudaimonia motivates all human action, directly or indirectly. Virtue and knowledge are linked, in Socrates's view, to eudaimonia, but how closely he considered them to be connected is still debated. Some argue that Socrates thought that virtue and eudaimonia are identical. According to another view, virtue serves as a means to eudaimonia (the "identical" and "sufficiency" theses, respectively). Another point of debate is whether, according to Socrates, people desire what is in fact good—or, rather, simply what they perceive as good.
Moral intellectualism refers to the prominent role Socrates gave to knowledge. He believed that all virtue was based on knowledge (hence Socrates is characterized as a virtue intellectualist). He also believed that humans were guided by the cognitive power to comprehend what they desire, while diminishing the role of impulses (a view termed motivational intellectualism). In Plato's Protagoras (345c4–e6), Socrates implies that "no one errs willingly", which has become the hallmark of Socratic virtue intellectualism. In Socratic moral philosophy, priority is given to the intellect as being the way to live a good life; Socrates deemphasizes irrational beliefs or passions. Plato's dialogues that support Socrates's intellectual motivism—as this thesis is named—are mainly the Gorgias (467c–8e, where Socrates discusses the actions of a tyrant that do not benefit him) and Meno (77d–8b, where Socrates explains to Meno his view that no one wants bad things, unless they do not know what is good and bad in the first place). Scholars have been puzzled by Socrates's view that akrasia (acting because of one's irrational passions, contrary to one's knowledge or beliefs) is impossible. Most believe that Socrates left no space for irrational desires, although some claim that Socrates acknowledged the existence of irrational motivations, but denied they play a primary role in decision-making.
Religion
Socrates's religious nonconformity challenged the views of his times and his critique reshaped religious discourse for the coming centuries. In Ancient Greece, organized religion was fragmented, celebrated in a number of festivals for specific gods, such as the City Dionysia, or in domestic rituals, and there were no sacred texts. Religion intermingled with the daily life of citizens, who performed their personal religious duties mainly with sacrifices to various gods. Whether Socrates was a practicing man of religion or a 'provocateur atheist' has been a point of debate since ancient times; his trial included impiety accusations, and the controversy has not yet ceased.
Socrates discusses divinity and the soul mostly in Alcibiades, Euthyphro, and Apology. In Alcibiades Socrates links the human soul to divinity, concluding "Then this part of her resembles God, and whoever looks at this, and comes to know all that is divine, will gain thereby the best knowledge of himself." His discussions on religion always fall under the lens of his rationalism. Socrates, in Euthyphro, reaches a conclusion which takes him far from the age's usual practice: he considers sacrifices to the gods to be useless, especially when they are driven by the hope of receiving a reward in return. Instead, he calls for philosophy and the pursuit of knowledge to be the principal way of worshipping the gods. His rejection of traditional forms of piety, connecting them to self-interest, implied that Athenians should seek religious experience by self-examination.
Socrates argued that the gods were inherently wise and just, a perception far from traditional religion at that time. In Euthyphro, the Euthyphro dilemma arises. Socrates questions his interlocutor about the relationship between piety and the will of a powerful god: Is something good because it is the will of this god, or is it the will of this god because it is good? In other words, does piety follow the good, or the god? The trajectory of Socratic thought contrasts with traditional Greek theology, which took lex talionis (the eye for an eye principle) for granted. Socrates thought that goodness is independent from gods, and gods must themselves be pious.
Socrates affirms a belief in gods in Plato's Apology, where he says to the jurors that he acknowledges gods more than his accusers. For Plato's Socrates, the existence of gods is taken for granted; in none of his dialogues does he probe whether gods exist or not. In Apology, a case for Socrates being agnostic can be made, based on his discussion of the great unknown after death, and in Phaedo (the dialogue with his students in his last day) Socrates gives expression to a clear belief in the immortality of the soul. He also believed in oracles, divinations and other messages from gods. These signs did not offer him any positive belief on moral issues; rather, they were predictions of unfavorable future events.
In Xenophon's Memorabilia, Socrates constructs an argument close to the contemporary teleological intelligent-design argument. He claims that since there are many features in the universe that exhibit "signs of forethought" (e.g., eyelids), a divine creator must have created the universe. He then deduces that the creator should be omniscient and omnipotent and also that it created the universe for the advance of humankind, since humans naturally have many abilities that other animals do not. At times, Socrates speaks of a single deity, while at other times he refers to plural "gods". This has been interpreted to mean that he either believed that a supreme deity commanded other gods, or that various gods were parts, or manifestations, of this single deity.
The relationship of Socrates's religious beliefs with his strict adherence to rationalism has been subject to debate. Philosophy professor Mark McPherran suggests that Socrates interpreted every divine sign through secular rationality for confirmation. Professor of ancient philosophy A. A. Long suggests that it is anachronistic to suppose that Socrates believed the religious and rational realms were separate.
Socratic daimonion
In several texts (e.g., Plato's Euthyphro 3b5; Apology 31c–d; Xenophon's Memorabilia 1.1.2) Socrates claims he hears a daimōnic sign—an inner voice heard usually when he was about to make a mistake. Socrates gave a brief description of this daimonion at his trial (Apology 31c–d): "...The reason for this is something you have heard me frequently mention in different places—namely, the fact that I experience something divine and daimonic, as Meletus has inscribed in his indictment, by way of mockery. It started in my childhood, the occurrence of a particular voice. Whenever it occurs, it always deters me from the course of action I was intending to engage in, but it never gives me positive advice. It is this that has opposed my practicing politics, and I think its doing so has been absolutely fine." Modern scholarship has variously interpreted this Socratic daimōnion as a rational source of knowledge, an impulse, a dream or even a paranormal experience felt by an ascetic Socrates.
Virtue and knowledge
Socrates's theory of virtue states that all virtues are essentially one, since they are a form of knowledge. For Socrates, the reason a person is not good is because they lack knowledge. Since knowledge is united, virtues are united as well. Another famous dictum—"no one errs willingly"—also derives from this theory. In Protagoras, Socrates argues for the unity of virtues using the example of courage: if someone knows what the relevant danger is, they can undertake a risk. Aristotle comments: " ... Socrates the elder thought that the end of life was knowledge of virtue, and he used to seek for the definition of justice, courage, and each of the parts of virtue, and this was a reasonable approach, since he thought that all virtues were sciences, and that as soon as one knew [for example] justice, he would be just..."
Love
Some texts suggest that Socrates had love affairs with Alcibiades and other young persons; others suggest that Socrates's friendship with young boys sought only to improve them and were not sexual. In Gorgias, Socrates claims he was a dual lover of Alcibiades and philosophy, and his flirtatiousness is evident in Protagoras, Meno (76a–c) and Phaedrus (227c–d). However, the exact nature of his relationship with Alcibiades is not clear; Socrates was known for his self-restraint, while Alcibiades admits in the Symposium that he had tried to seduce Socrates but failed.
The Socratic theory of love is mostly deduced from Lysis, where Socrates discusses love at a wrestling school in the company of Lysis and his friends. They start their dialogue by investigating parental love and how it manifests with respect to the freedom and boundaries that parents set for their children. Socrates concludes that if Lysis is utterly useless, nobody will love him—not even his parents. While most scholars believe this text was intended to be humorous, it has also been suggested that Lysis shows Socrates held an egoistic view of love, according to which we only love people who are useful to us in some way. Other scholars disagree with this view, arguing that Socrates's doctrine leaves room for non-egoistic love for a spouse; still others deny that Socrates suggests any egoistic motivation at all. In Symposium, Socrates argues that children offer the false impression of immortality to their parents, and this misconception yields a form of unity among them. Scholars also note that for Socrates, love is rational.
Socrates, who claims to know only that he does not know, makes an exception (in Plato's Symposium), where he says he will tell the truth about Love, which he learned from a 'clever woman'. Classicist Armand D'Angour has made the case that Socrates was in his youth close to Aspasia, and that Diotima, to whom Socrates attributes his understanding of love in Symposium, is based on her; however, it is also possible that Diotima really existed.
Socratic philosophy of politics
While Socrates was involved in public political and cultural debates, it is hard to define his exact political philosophy. In Plato's Gorgias, he tells Callicles: "I believe that I'm one of a few Athenians—so as not to say I'm the only one, but the only one among our contemporaries—to take up the true political craft and practice the true politics. This is because the speeches I make on each occasion do not aim at gratification but at what's best." His claim illustrates his aversion for the established democratic assemblies and procedures such as voting—since Socrates saw politicians and rhetoricians as using tricks to mislead the public. He never ran for office or suggested any legislation. Rather, he aimed to help the city flourish by "improving" its citizens. As a citizen, he abided by the law. He obeyed the rules and carried out his military duty by fighting wars abroad. His dialogues, however, make little mention of contemporary political decisions, such as the Sicilian Expedition.
Socrates spent his time conversing with citizens, among them powerful members of Athenian society, scrutinizing their beliefs and bringing the contradictions of their ideas to light. Socrates believed he was doing them a favor since, for him, politics was about shaping the moral landscape of the city through philosophy rather than electoral procedures. There is a debate over where Socrates stood in the polarized Athenian political climate, which was divided between oligarchs and democrats. While there is no clear textual evidence, one widely held theory holds that Socrates leaned towards democracy: he disobeyed the one order that the oligarchic government of the Thirty Tyrants gave him; he respected the laws and political system of Athens (which were formulated by democrats); and, according to this argument, his affinity for the ideals of democratic Athens was a reason why he did not want to escape prison and the death penalty. On the other hand, there is some evidence that Socrates leaned towards oligarchy: most of his friends supported oligarchy, he was contemptuous of the opinion of the many and was critical of the democratic process, and Protagoras shows some anti-democratic elements. A less mainstream argument suggests that Socrates favoured democratic republicanism, a theory that prioritizes active participation in public life and concern for the city.
Yet another suggestion is that Socrates endorsed views in line with liberalism, a political ideology formed in the Age of Enlightenment. This argument is mostly based on Crito and Apology, where Socrates talks about the mutually beneficial relationship between the city and its citizens. According to Socrates, citizens are morally autonomous and free to leave the city if they wish—but, by staying within the city, they also accept the laws and the city's authority over them. On the other hand, Socrates has been seen as the first proponent of civil disobedience. Socrates's strong objection to injustice, along with his refusal to serve the Thirty Tyrants' order to arrest Leon, are suggestive of this line. As he says in Critias, "One ought never act unjustly, even to repay a wrong that has been done to oneself." Ιn the broader picture, Socrates's advice would be for citizens to follow the orders of the state, unless, after much reflection, they deem them to be unjust.
Legacy
Classical antiquity
Socrates's impact was immense in philosophy after his death. With the exception of the Epicureans and the Pyrrhonists, almost all philosophical currents after Socrates traced their roots to him: Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, the Cynics, and the Stoics. Interest in Socrates kept increasing until the third century AD. The various schools differed in response to fundamental questions such as the purpose of life or the nature of arete (virtue), since Socrates had not handed them an answer, and therefore, philosophical schools subsequently diverged greatly in their interpretation of his thought. He was considered to have shifted the focus of philosophy from a study of the natural world, as was the case for pre-Socratic philosophers, to a study of human affairs.
Immediate followers of Socrates were his pupils, Euclid of Megara, Aristippus, and Antisthenes, who drew differing conclusions among themselves and followed independent trajectories. The full doctrines of Socrates's pupils are difficult to reconstruct. Antisthenes had a profound contempt of material goods. According to him, virtue was all that mattered. Diogenes and the Cynics continued this line of thought. On the opposite end, Aristippus endorsed the accumulation of wealth and lived a luxurious life. After leaving Athens and returning to his home city of Cyrene, he founded the Cyrenaic philosophical school which was based on hedonism, and endorsing living an easy life with physical pleasures. His school passed to his grandson, bearing the same name. There is a dialogue in Xenophon's work in which Aristippus claims he wants to live without wishing to rule or be ruled by others. In addition, Aristippus maintained a skeptical stance on epistemology, claiming that we can be certain only of our own feelings. This view resonates with the Socratic understanding of ignorance. Euclid was a contemporary of Socrates. After Socrates's trial and death, he left Athens for the nearby town of Megara, where he founded a school, named the Megarians. His theory was built on the pre-Socratic monism of Parmenides. Euclid continued Socrates's thought, focusing on the nature of virtue.
The Stoics relied heavily on Socrates. They applied the Socratic method as a tool to avoid inconsistencies. Their moral doctrines focused on how to live a smooth life through wisdom and virtue. The Stoics assigned virtue a crucial role in attaining happiness and also prioritized the relation between goodness and ethical excellence, all of which echoed Socratic thought. At the same time, the philosophical current of Platonism claimed Socrates as its predecessor, in ethics and in its theory of knowledge. Arcesilaus, who became the head of the Academy about 80 years after its founding by Plato, radically changed the Academy's doctrine to what is now known as Academic Skepticism, centered on the Socratic philosophy of ignorance. The Academic Skeptics competed with the Stoics over who was Socrates's true heir with regard to ethics. While the Stoics insisted on knowledge-based ethics, Arcesilaus relied on Socratic ignorance. The Stoics' reply to Arcesilaus was that Socratic ignorance was part of Socratic irony (they themselves disapproved the use of irony), an argument that ultimately became the dominant narrative of Socrates in later antiquity.
While Aristotle considered Socrates an important philosopher, Socrates was not a central figure in Aristotelian thought. One of Aristotle's pupils, Aristoxenus even authored a book detailing Socrates's scandals.
The Epicureans were antagonistic to Socrates. They attacked him for superstition, criticizing his belief in his daimonion and his regard for the oracle at Delphi. They also criticized Socrates for his character and various faults, and focusing mostly on his irony, which was deemed inappropriate for a philosopher and unseemly for a teacher.
The Pyrrhonists were also antagonistic to Socrates, accusing him of being a prater about ethics, who engaged in mock humility, and who sneered at and mocked people.
Medieval world
Socratic thought found its way to the Islamic Middle East alongside that of Aristotle and the Stoics. Plato's works on Socrates, as well as other ancient Greek literature, were translated into Arabic by early Muslim scholars such as Al-Kindi, Jabir ibn Hayyan, and the Muʿtazila. For Muslim scholars, Socrates was hailed and admired for combining his ethics with his lifestyle, perhaps because of the resemblance in this regard with Muhammad's personality. Socratic doctrines were altered to match Islamic faith: according to Muslim scholars, Socrates made arguments for monotheism and for the temporality of this world and rewards in the next life. His influence in the Arabic-speaking world continues to the present day.
In medieval times, little of Socrates's thought survived in the Christian world as a whole; however, works on Socrates from Christian scholars such as Lactantius, Eusebius and Augustine were maintained in the Byzantine Empire, where Socrates was studied under a Christian lens. After the fall of Constantinople, many of the texts were brought back into the world of Roman Christianity, where they were translated into Latin. Overall, ancient Socratic philosophy, like the rest of classical literature before the Renaissance, was addressed with skepticism in the Christian world at first.
During the early Italian Renaissance, two different narratives of Socrates developed. On the one hand, the humanist movement revived interest in classical authors. Leonardo Bruni translated many of Plato's Socratic dialogues, while his pupil Giannozzo Manetti authored a well-circulated book, a Life of Socrates. They both presented a civic version of Socrates, according to which Socrates was a humanist and a supporter of republicanism. Bruni and Manetti were interested in defending secularism as a non-sinful way of life; presenting a view of Socrates that was aligned with Christian morality assisted their cause. In doing so, they had to censor parts of his dialogues, especially those which appeared to promote homosexuality or any possibility of pederasty (with Alcibiades), or which suggested that the Socratic daimon was a god. On the other hand, a different picture of Socrates was presented by Italian Neoplatonists, led by the philosopher and priest Marsilio Ficino. Ficino was impressed by Socrates's un-hierarchical and informal way teaching, which he tried to replicate. Ficino portrayed a holy picture of Socrates, finding parallels with the life of Jesus Christ. For Ficino and his followers, Socratic ignorance signified his acknowledgement that all wisdom is God-given (through the Socratic daimon).
Modern times
In early modern France, Socrates's image was dominated by features of his private life rather than his philosophical thought, in various novels and satirical plays. Some thinkers used Socrates to highlight and comment upon controversies of their own era, like Théophile de Viau who portrayed a Christianized Socrates accused of atheism, while for Voltaire, the figure of Socrates represented a reason-based theist. Michel de Montaigne wrote extensively on Socrates, linking him to rationalism as a counterweight to contemporary religious fanatics.
In the 18th century, German idealism revived philosophical interest in Socrates, mainly through Hegel's work. For Hegel, Socrates marked a turning point in the history of humankind by the introduction of the principle of free subjectivity or self-determination. While Hegel hails Socrates for his contribution, he nonetheless justifies the Athenian court, for Socrates's insistence upon self-determination would be destructive of the Sittlichkeit (a Hegelian term signifying the way of life as shaped by the institutions and laws of the State). Also, Hegel sees the Socratic use of rationalism as a continuation of Protagoras' focus on human reasoning (as encapsulated in the motto homo mensura: "man is the measure of all things"), but modified: it is our reasoning that can help us reach objective conclusions about reality. Also, Hegel considered Socrates as a predecessor of later ancient skeptic philosophers, even though he never clearly explained why.
Søren Kierkegaard considered Socrates his teacher, and authored his master's thesis on him, The Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates. There he argues that Socrates is not a moral philosopher but is purely an ironist. He also focused on Socrates's avoidance of writing: for Kierkegaard, this avoidance was a sign of humility, deriving from Socrates's acceptance of his ignorance. Not only did Socrates not write anything down, according to Kierkegaard, but his contemporaries misconstrued and misunderstood him as a philosopher, leaving us with an almost impossible task in comprehending Socratic thought. Only Plato's Apology was close to the real Socrates, in Kierkegaard's view. In his writings, he revisited Socrates quite frequently; in his later work, Kierkegaard found ethical elements in Socratic thought. Socrates was not only a subject of study for Kierkegaard, he was a model as well: Kierkegaard paralleled his task as a philosopher to Socrates. He writes, "The only analogy I have before me is Socrates; my task is a Socratic task, to audit the definition of what it is to be a Christian", with his aim being to bring society closer to the Christian ideal, since he believed that Christianity had become a formality, void of any Christian essence. Kierkegaard denied being a Christian, as Socrates denied possessing any knowledge.
Friedrich Nietzsche resented Socrates's contributions to Western culture. In his first book, The Birth of Tragedy (1872), Nietzsche held Socrates responsible for what he saw as the deterioration of ancient Greek civilization during the 4th century BC and after. For Nietzsche, Socrates turned the scope of philosophy from pre-Socratic naturalism to rationalism and intellectualism. He writes: "I conceive of [the Presocratics] as precursors to a reformation of the Greeks: but not of Socrates"; "with Empedocles and Democritus the Greeks were well on their way towards taking the correct measure of human existence, its unreason, its suffering; they never reached this goal, thanks to Socrates". The effect, Nietzsche proposed, was a perverse situation that had continued down to his day: our culture is a Socratic culture, he believed. In a later publication, The Twilight of the Idols (1887), Nietzsche continued his offensive against Socrates, focusing on the arbitrary linking of reason to virtue and happiness in Socratic thinking. He writes: "I try to understand from what partial and idiosyncratic states the Socratic problem is to be derived: his equation of reason = virtue = happiness. It was with this absurdity of a doctrine of identity that he fascinated: ancient philosophy never again freed itself [from this fascination]". From the late 19th century until the early 20th, the most common explanation of Nietzsche's hostility towards Socrates was his anti-rationalism; he considered Socrates the father of European rationalism. In the mid-20th century, philosopher Walter Kaufmann published an article arguing that Nietzsche admired Socrates. Current mainstream opinion is that Nietzsche was ambivalent towards Socrates.
Hannah Arendt, Leo Strauss and Karl Popper, after experiencing the horrors of World War II, amidst the rise of totalitarian regimes, saw Socrates as an icon of individual conscience. Arendt, in Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963), suggests that Socrates's constant questioning and self-reflection could prevent the banality of evil. Strauss considers Socrates's political thought as paralleling Plato's. He sees an elitist Socrates in Plato's Republic as exemplifying why the polis is not, and could not be, an ideal way of organizing life, since philosophical truths cannot be digested by the masses. Popper takes the opposite view: he argues that Socrates opposes Plato's totalitarian ideas. For Popper, Socratic individualism, along with Athenian democracy, imply Popper's concept of the "open society" as described in his Open Society and Its Enemies (1945).
See also
Codex Vaticanus Graecus 64 – Socratic Letters
De genio Socratis
List of cultural depictions of Socrates
List of barefooters
List of speakers in Plato's dialogues
Notes
Sources
Further reading
Brun, Jean (1978). Socrate (in French) (6th ed.). Presses universitaires de France. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-2-13-035620-2.
Benson, Hugh (1992). Essays on the philosophy of Socrates. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-506757-6. OCLC 23179683.
Rudebusch, George (2009). Socrates. Chichester, UK; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-5085-9. OCLC 476311710.
Taylor, C. C. W. (1998). Socrates. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-287601-0.
Taylor, C. C. W. (2019). Socrates: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-883598-1.
Vlastos, Gregory (1994). Socratic Studies. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-44735-5.
External links
Socrates at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project
The Dialogues of Plato at Project Gutenberg
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Socrates (; Ancient Greek: Σωκράτης, romanized: Sōkrátēs; c. 470 – 399 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no texts and is known mainly through the posthumous accounts of classical writers, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon. These accounts are written as dialogues, in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine a subject in the style of question and answer; they gave rise to the Socratic dialogue literary genre. Contradictory accounts of Socrates make a reconstruction of his philosophy nearly impossible, a situation known as the Socratic problem. Socrates was a polarizing figure in Athenian society. In 399 BC, he was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth. After a trial that lasted a day, he was sentenced to death. He spent his last day in prison, refusing offers to help him escape.
Plato's dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity. They demonstrate the Socratic approach to areas of philosophy including epistemology and ethics. The Platonic Socrates lends his name to the concept of the Socratic method, and also to Socratic irony. The Socratic method of questioning, or elenchus, takes shape in dialogue using short questions and answers, epitomized by those Platonic texts in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine various aspects of an issue or an abstract meaning, usually relating to one of the virtues, and find themselves at an impasse, completely unable to define what they thought they understood. Socrates is known for proclaiming his total ignorance; he used to say that the only thing he was aware of was his ignorance, seeking to imply that the realization of one's ignorance is the first step in philosophizing.
Socrates exerted a strong influence on philosophers in later antiquity and has continued to do so in the modern era. He was studied by medieval and Islamic scholars and played an important role in the thought of the Italian Renaissance, particularly within the humanist movement. Interest in him continued unabated, as reflected in the works of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. Depictions of Socrates in art, literature, and popular culture have made him a widely known figure in the Western philosophical tradition.
Sources and the Socratic problem
Socrates did not document his teachings. All that is known about him comes from the accounts of others: mainly the philosopher Plato and the historian Xenophon, who were both his pupils; the Athenian comic dramatist Aristophanes (Socrates's contemporary); and Plato's pupil Aristotle, who was born after Socrates's death. The often contradictory stories from these ancient accounts only serve to complicate scholars' ability to reconstruct Socrates's true thoughts reliably, a predicament known as the Socratic problem. The works of Plato, Xenophon, and other authors who use the character of Socrates as an investigative tool, are written in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and his interlocutors and provide the main source of information on Socrates's life and thought. Socratic dialogues (logos sokratikos) was a term coined by Aristotle to describe this newly formed literary genre. While the exact dates of their composition are unknown, some were probably written after Socrates's death. As Aristotle first noted, the extent to which the dialogues portray Socrates authentically is a matter of some debate.
Plato and Xenophon
An honest man, Xenophon was no trained philosopher. He could neither fully conceptualize nor articulate Socrates's arguments. He admired Socrates for his intelligence, patriotism, and courage on the battlefield. He discusses Socrates in four works: the Memorabilia, the Oeconomicus, the Symposium, and the Apology of Socrates. He also mentions a story featuring Socrates in his Anabasis. Oeconomicus recounts a discussion on practical household management. Like Plato's Apology, Xenophon's Apologia describes the trial of Socrates, but the works diverge substantially and, according to W. K. C. Guthrie, Xenophon's account portrays a Socrates of "intolerable smugness and complacency". Symposium is a dialogue of Socrates with other prominent Athenians during an after-dinner discussion, but is quite different from Plato's Symposium: there is no overlap in the guest list. In Memorabilia, he defends Socrates from the accusations of corrupting the youth and being against the gods; essentially, it is a collection of various stories gathered together to construct a new apology for Socrates.
Plato's representation of Socrates is not straightforward. Plato was a pupil of Socrates and outlived him by five decades. How trustworthy Plato is in representing the attributes of Socrates is a matter of debate; the view that he did not represent views other than Socrates's own is not shared by many contemporary scholars. A driver of this doubt is the inconsistency of the character of Socrates that he presents. One common explanation of this inconsistency is that Plato initially tried to accurately represent the historical Socrates, while later in his writings he was happy to insert his own views into Socrates's words. Under this understanding, there is a distinction between the Socratic Socrates of Plato's earlier works and the Platonic Socrates of Plato's later writings, although the boundary between the two seems blurred.
Xenophon's and Plato's accounts differ in their presentations of Socrates as a person. Xenophon's Socrates is duller, less humorous and less ironic than Plato's. Xenophon's Socrates also lacks the philosophical features of Plato's Socrates—ignorance, the Socratic method or elenchus—and thinks enkrateia (self-control) is of pivotal importance, which is not the case with Plato's Socrates. Generally, logoi Sokratikoi cannot help us to reconstruct the historical Socrates even in cases where their narratives overlap, as authors may have influenced each other's accounts.
Aristophanes and other sources
Writers of Athenian comedy, including Aristophanes, also commented on Socrates. Aristophanes's most important comedy with respect to Socrates is The Clouds, in which Socrates is a central character. In this drama, Aristophanes presents a caricature of Socrates that leans towards sophism, ridiculing Socrates as an absurd atheist. Socrates in Clouds is interested in natural philosophy, which conforms to Plato's depiction of him in Phaedo. What is certain is that by the age of 45, Socrates had already captured the interest of Athenians as a philosopher. It is not clear whether Aristophanes's work is useful in reconstructing the historical Socrates.
Other ancient authors who wrote about Socrates were Aeschines of Sphettus, Antisthenes, Aristippus, Bryson, Cebes, Crito, Euclid of Megara, Phaedo and Aristotle, all of whom wrote after Socrates's death. Aristotle was not a contemporary of Socrates; he studied under Plato at the latter's Academy for twenty years. Aristotle treats Socrates without the bias of Xenophon and Plato, who had an emotional tie with Socrates, and he scrutinizes Socrates's doctrines as a philosopher. Aristotle was familiar with the various written and unwritten stories of Socrates. His role in understanding Socrates is limited. He does not write extensively on Socrates; and, when he does, he is mainly preoccupied with the early dialogues of Plato. There are also general doubts on his reliability on the history of philosophy. Still, his testimony is vital in understanding Socrates.
The Socratic problem
In a seminal work titled "The Worth of Socrates as a Philosopher" (1818), the philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher attacked Xenophon's accounts; his attack was widely accepted. Schleiermacher criticized Xenophon for his naïve representation of Socrates. Xenophon was a soldier, argued Schleiermacher, and was therefore not well placed to articulate Socratic ideas. Furthermore, Xenophon was biased in his depiction of his former friend and teacher: he believed Socrates was treated unfairly by Athens, and sought to prove his point of view rather than to provide an impartial account. The result, said Schleiermacher, was that Xenophon portrayed Socrates as an uninspiring philosopher. By the early twentieth century, Xenophon's account was largely rejected.
The philosopher Karl Joel, basing his arguments on Aristotle's interpretation of logos sokratikos, suggested that the Socratic dialogues are mostly fictional: according to Joel, the dialogues' authors were just mimicking some Socratic traits of dialogue. In the mid-twentieth century, philosophers such as Olof Gigon and Eugène Dupréel, based on Joel's arguments, proposed that the study of Socrates should focus on the various versions of his character and beliefs rather than aiming to reconstruct a historical Socrates. Later, ancient philosophy scholar Gregory Vlastos suggested that the early Socratic dialogues of Plato were more compatible with other evidence for a historical Socrates than his later writings, an argument that is based on inconsistencies in Plato's own evolving depiction of Socrates. Vlastos totally disregarded Xenophon's account except when it agreed with Plato's. More recently, Charles H. Kahn has reinforced the skeptical stance on the unsolvable Socratic problem, suggesting that only Plato's Apology has any historical significance.
Biography
Socrates was born in 470 or 469 BC to Sophroniscus and Phaenarete, a stoneworker and a midwife, respectively, in the Athenian deme of Alopece; therefore, he was an Athenian citizen, having been born to relatively affluent Athenians. He lived close to his father's relatives and inherited, as was customary, part of his father's estate, securing a life reasonably free of financial concerns. His education followed the laws and customs of Athens. He learned the basic skills of reading and writing and, like most wealthy Athenians, received extra lessons in various other fields such as gymnastics, poetry and music. He was married twice (which came first is not clear): his marriage to Xanthippe took place when Socrates was in his fifties, and another marriage was with a daughter of Aristides, an Athenian statesman. He had three sons with Xanthippe. Socrates fulfilled his military service during the Peloponnesian War and distinguished himself in three campaigns, according to Plato.
Another incident that reflects Socrates's respect for the law is the arrest of Leon the Salaminian. As Plato describes in his Apology, Socrates and four others were summoned to the Tholos and told by representatives of the Thirty Tyrants (which began ruling in 404 BC) to arrest Leon for execution. Again Socrates was the sole abstainer, choosing to risk the tyrants' wrath and retribution rather than to participate in what he considered to be a crime.
Socrates attracted great interest from the Athenian public and especially the Athenian youth. He was notoriously ugly, having a flat turned-up nose, bulging eyes and a large belly; his friends joked about his appearance. Socrates was indifferent to material pleasures, including his own appearance and personal comfort. He neglected personal hygiene, bathed rarely, walked barefoot, and owned only one ragged coat. He moderated his eating, drinking, and sex, although he did not practice full abstention. Although Socrates was attracted to youth, he resisted his passion for them because, as Plato describes, he was more interested in educating their souls and did not seek sex from his disciples. Politically, he did not take sides in the rivalry between the democrats and the oligarchs in Athens; he criticized both. The character of Socrates as exhibited in Apology, Crito, Phaedo and Symposium concurs with other sources to an extent that gives confidence in Plato's depiction of Socrates in these works as being representative of the real Socrates.
Socrates died in Athens in 399 BC after a trial for impiety (asebeia) and the corruption of the young. He spent his last day in prison among friends and followers who offered him a route to escape, which he refused. He died the next morning, in accordance with his sentence, after drinking poison hemlock. According to the Phaedo, his last words were: “Crito, we owe a rooster to Asclepius. Don't forget to pay the debt.”
Trial of Socrates
In 399 BC, Socrates was formally accused of corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens, and for asebeia (impiety), i.e. worshipping false gods and failing to worship the gods of Athens. At the trial, Socrates defended himself unsuccessfully. He was found guilty by a majority vote cast by a jury of hundreds of male Athenian citizens and, according to the custom, proposed his own penalty: that he should be given free food and housing by the state for the services he rendered to the city, or alternatively, that he be fined one mina of silver (according to him, all he had). The jurors declined his offer and ordered the death penalty.
Of all the works written about Socrates' trial, only three survive: Plato's Apology, Xenophon's Apology, and Xenophon's Memorabilia.
Socrates was charged in a politically tense climate. In 404 BC, the Athenians had been crushed by Spartans at the decisive naval Battle of Aegospotami, and subsequently, the Spartans laid siege to Athens. They replaced the democratic government with a new, pro-oligarchic government, named the Thirty Tyrants. Because of their tyrannical measures, some Athenians organized to overthrow the Tyrants—and, indeed, they managed to do so briefly—until a Spartan request for aid from the Thirty arrived and a compromise was sought. When the Spartans left again, however, democrats seized the opportunity to kill the oligarchs and reclaim the government of Athens.
The accusations against Socrates were initiated by a poet, Meletus, who asked for the death penalty in accordance with the charge of asebeia. Other accusers were Anytus and Lycon. After a month or two, in late spring or early summer, the trial started and likely went on for most of one day. There were two main sources for the religion-based accusations. First, Socrates had rejected the anthropomorphism of traditional Greek religion by denying that the gods did bad things like humans do. Second, he seemed to believe in a daimonion—an inner voice with, as his accusers suggested, divine origin.
Plato's Apology starts with Socrates answering the various rumours against him that have given rise to the indictment. First, Socrates defends himself against the rumour that he is an atheist naturalist philosopher, as portrayed in Aristophanes's The Clouds; or a sophist. Against the allegations of corrupting the youth, Socrates answers that he has never corrupted anyone intentionally, since corrupting someone would carry the risk of being corrupted back in return, and that would be illogical, since corruption is undesirable. On the second charge, Socrates asks for clarification. Meletus responds by repeating the accusation that Socrates is an atheist. Socrates notes the contradiction between atheism and worshipping false gods. He then claims that he is "God's gift" to the Athenians, since his activities ultimately benefit Athens; thus, in condemning him to death, Athens itself will be the greatest loser. After that, he says that even though no human can reach wisdom, seeking it is the best thing someone can do, implying money and prestige are not as precious as commonly thought.
Socrates was given the chance to offer alternative punishments for himself after being found guilty. He could have requested permission to flee Athens and live in exile, but he did not do so. According to Xenophon, Socrates made no proposals, while according to Plato he suggested free meals should be provided for him daily in recognition of his worth to Athens or, more in earnest, that a fine should be imposed on him. The jurors favoured the death penalty by making him drink a cup of hemlock (a poisonous liquid). In return, Socrates warned jurors and Athenians that criticism of them by his many disciples was inescapable, unless they became good men. After a delay caused by Athenian religious ceremonies, Socrates spent his last day in prison. His friends visited him and offered him an opportunity to escape, which he declined.
The question of what motivated Athenians to convict Socrates remains controversial among scholars. There are two theories. The first is that Socrates was convicted on religious grounds; the second, that he was accused and convicted for political reasons. Another, more recent, interpretation synthesizes the religious and political theories, arguing that religion and state were not separate in ancient Athens.
The argument for religious persecution is supported by the fact that Plato's and Xenophon's accounts of the trial mostly focus on the charges of impiety. In those accounts, Socrates is portrayed as making no effort to dispute the fact that he did not believe in the Athenian gods. Against this argument stands the fact that many skeptics and atheist philosophers during this time were not prosecuted. According to the argument for political persecution, Socrates was targeted because he was perceived as a threat to democracy. It was true that Socrates did not stand for democracy during the reign of the Thirty Tyrants and that most of his pupils were against the democrats. The case for it being a political persecution is usually challenged by the existence of an amnesty that was granted to Athenian citizens in 403 BC to prevent escalation to civil war after the fall of the Thirty. However, as the text from Socrates's trial and other texts reveal, the accusers could have fuelled their rhetoric using events prior to 403 BC.
Philosophy
Socratic method
A fundamental characteristic of Plato's Socrates is the Socratic method, or the method of refutation (elenchus). It is most prominent in the early works of Plato, such as Apology, Crito, Gorgias, Republic I, and others. The typical elenchus proceeds as follows. Socrates initiates a discussion about a topic with a known expert on the subject, usually in the company of some young men and boys, and by dialogue proves the expert's beliefs and arguments to be contradictory. Socrates initiates the dialogue by asking his interlocutor for a definition of the subject. As he asks more questions, the interlocutor's answers eventually contradict the first definition. The conclusion is that the expert did not really know the definition in the first place. The interlocutor may come up with a different definition. That new definition, in turn, comes under the scrutiny of Socratic questioning. With each round of question and answer, Socrates and his interlocutor hope to approach the truth. More often, they continue to reveal their ignorance. Since the interlocutors' definitions most commonly represent the mainstream opinion on a matter, the discussion places doubt on the common opinion.
Socrates also tests his own opinions through the Socratic method. Thus Socrates does not teach a fixed philosophical doctrine. Rather, he acknowledges his own ignorance while searching for truth with his pupils and interlocutors.
Scholars have questioned the validity and the exact nature of the Socratic method, or indeed if there even was a Socratic method. In 1982, the scholar of ancient philosophy Gregory Vlastos claimed that the Socratic method could not be used to establish the truth or falsehood of a proposition. Rather, Vlastos argued, it was a way to show that an interlocutor's beliefs were inconsistent. There have been two main lines of thought regarding this view, depending on whether it is accepted that Socrates is seeking to prove a claim wrong. According to the first line of thought, known as the constructivist approach, Socrates indeed seeks to refute a claim by this method, and the method helps in reaching affirmative statements. The non-constructivist approach holds that Socrates merely wants to establish the inconsistency between the premises and the conclusion of the initial argument.
Socratic priority of definition
Socrates starts his discussions by prioritizing the search for definitions. In most cases, Socrates initiates his discourse with an expert on a subject by seeking a definition—by asking, for example, what virtue, goodness, justice, or courage is. To establish a definition, Socrates first gathers clear examples of a virtue and then seeks to establish what they had in common. According to Guthrie, Socrates lived in an era when sophists had challenged the meaning of various virtues, questioning their substance; Socrates's quest for a definition was an attempt to clear the atmosphere from their radical skepticism.
Some scholars have argued that Socrates does not endorse the priority of definition as a principle, because they have identified cases where he does not do so. Some have argued that this priority of definition comes from Plato rather than Socrates. Philosopher Peter Geach, accepting that Socrates endorses the priority of definition, finds the technique fallacious. Αccording to Geach, one may know a proposition even if one cannot define the terms in which the proposition is stated.
Socratic ignorance
Plato's Socrates often claims that he is aware of his own lack of knowledge, especially when discussing ethical concepts such as arete (i.e., goodness, courage) since he does not know the nature of such concepts. For example, during his trial, with his life at stake, Socrates says: "I thought Evenus a happy man, if he really possesses this art (technē), and teaches for so moderate a fee. Certainly I would pride and preen myself if I knew (epistamai) these things, but I do not know (epistamai) them, gentlemen". In some of Plato's dialogues, Socrates appears to credit himself with some knowledge, and can even seem strongly opinionated for a man who professes his own ignorance.
There are varying explanations of the Socratic inconsistency (other than that Socrates is simply being inconsistent). One explanation is that Socrates is being either ironic or modest for pedagogical purposes: he aims to let his interlocutor to think for himself rather than guide him to a prefixed answer to his philosophical questions. Another explanation is that Socrates holds different interpretations of the meaning of "knowledge". Knowledge, for him, might mean systematic understanding of an ethical subject, on which Socrates firmly rejects any kind of mastery; or might refer to lower-level cognition, which Socrates may accept that he possesses. In any case, there is a consensus that Socrates accepts that acknowledging one's lack of knowledge is the first step towards wisdom.
Socrates is known for disavowing knowledge, a claim encapsulated in the saying "I know that I know nothing". This is often attributed to Socrates on the basis of a statement in Plato's Apology, though the same view is repeatedly found elsewhere in Plato's early writings on Socrates. In other statements, though, he implies or even claims that he does have knowledge. For example, in Plato's Apology Socrates says: "...but that to do injustice and disobey my superior, god or man, this I know to be evil and base..." (Apology, 29b6–7). In his debate with Callicles, he says: "...I know well that if you will agree with me on those things which my soul believes, those things will be the very truth..."
Whether Socrates genuinely thought he lacked knowledge or merely feigned a belief in his own ignorance remains a matter of debate. A common interpretation is that he was indeed feigning modesty. According to Norman Gulley, Socrates did this to entice his interlocutors to speak with him. On the other hand, Terence Irwin claims that Socrates's words should be taken literally.
Gregory Vlastos argues that there is enough evidence to refute both claims. In his view, for Socrates, there are two separate meanings of "knowledge": Knowledge-C and Knowledge-E (C stands for "certain", and E stands for elenchus, i.e. the Socratic method). Knowledge-C is something unquestionable whereas Knowledge-E is the knowledge derived from Socrates's elenchus. Thus, Socrates speaks the truth when he says he knows-C something, and he is also truthful when saying he knows-E, for example, that it is evil for someone to disobey his superiors, as he claims in Apology. Not all scholars have agreed with this semantic dualism. James H. Lesher has argued that Socrates claimed in various dialogues that one word is linked to one meaning (i.e. in Hippias Major, Meno, and Laches). Lesher suggests that although Socrates claimed that he had no knowledge about the nature of virtues, he thought that in some cases, people can know some ethical propositions.
Socratic irony
There is a widespread assumption that Socrates was an ironist, mostly based on the depiction of Socrates by Plato and Aristotle. Socrates's irony is so subtle and slightly humorous that it often leaves the reader wondering if Socrates is making an intentional pun. Plato's Euthyphro is filled with Socratic irony. The story begins when Socrates is meeting with Euthyphro, a man who has accused his own father of murder. When Socrates first hears the details of the story, he comments, "It is not, I think, any random person who could do this [prosecute one's father] correctly, but surely one who is already far progressed in wisdom". When Euthyphro boasts about his understanding of divinity, Socrates responds that it is "most important that I become your student". Socrates is commonly seen as ironic when using praise to flatter or when addressing his interlocutors.
Scholars are divided on why Socrates uses irony. According to an opinion advanced since the Hellenistic period, Socratic irony is a playful way to get the audience's attention. Another line of thought holds that Socrates conceals his philosophical message with irony, making it accessible only to those who can separate the parts of his statements which are ironic from those which are not. Gregory Vlastos has identified a more complex pattern of irony in Socrates. In Vlastos's view, Socrates's words have a double meaning, both ironic and not. One example is when he denies having knowledge. Vlastos suggests that Socrates is being ironic when he says he has no knowledge (where "knowledge" means a lower form of cognition); while, according to another sense of "knowledge", Socrates is serious when he says he has no knowledge of ethical matters. This opinion is not shared by many other scholars.
Socratic eudaimonism and intellectualism
For Socrates, the pursuit of eudaimonia motivates all human action, directly or indirectly. Virtue and knowledge are linked, in Socrates's view, to eudaimonia, but how closely he considered them to be connected is still debated. Some argue that Socrates thought that virtue and eudaimonia are identical. According to another view, virtue serves as a means to eudaimonia (the "identical" and "sufficiency" theses, respectively). Another point of debate is whether, according to Socrates, people desire what is in fact good—or, rather, simply what they perceive as good.
Moral intellectualism refers to the prominent role Socrates gave to knowledge. He believed that all virtue was based on knowledge (hence Socrates is characterized as a virtue intellectualist). He also believed that humans were guided by the cognitive power to comprehend what they desire, while diminishing the role of impulses (a view termed motivational intellectualism). In Plato's Protagoras (345c4–e6), Socrates implies that "no one errs willingly", which has become the hallmark of Socratic virtue intellectualism. In Socratic moral philosophy, priority is given to the intellect as being the way to live a good life; Socrates deemphasizes irrational beliefs or passions. Plato's dialogues that support Socrates's intellectual motivism—as this thesis is named—are mainly the Gorgias (467c–8e, where Socrates discusses the actions of a tyrant that do not benefit him) and Meno (77d–8b, where Socrates explains to Meno his view that no one wants bad things, unless they do not know what is good and bad in the first place). Scholars have been puzzled by Socrates's view that akrasia (acting because of one's irrational passions, contrary to one's knowledge or beliefs) is impossible. Most believe that Socrates left no space for irrational desires, although some claim that Socrates acknowledged the existence of irrational motivations, but denied they play a primary role in decision-making.
Religion
Socrates's religious nonconformity challenged the views of his times and his critique reshaped religious discourse for the coming centuries. In Ancient Greece, organized religion was fragmented, celebrated in a number of festivals for specific gods, such as the City Dionysia, or in domestic rituals, and there were no sacred texts. Religion intermingled with the daily life of citizens, who performed their personal religious duties mainly with sacrifices to various gods. Whether Socrates was a practicing man of religion or a 'provocateur atheist' has been a point of debate since ancient times; his trial included impiety accusations, and the controversy has not yet ceased.
Socrates discusses divinity and the soul mostly in Alcibiades, Euthyphro, and Apology. In Alcibiades Socrates links the human soul to divinity, concluding "Then this part of her resembles God, and whoever looks at this, and comes to know all that is divine, will gain thereby the best knowledge of himself." His discussions on religion always fall under the lens of his rationalism. Socrates, in Euthyphro, reaches a conclusion which takes him far from the age's usual practice: he considers sacrifices to the gods to be useless, especially when they are driven by the hope of receiving a reward in return. Instead, he calls for philosophy and the pursuit of knowledge to be the principal way of worshipping the gods. His rejection of traditional forms of piety, connecting them to self-interest, implied that Athenians should seek religious experience by self-examination.
Socrates argued that the gods were inherently wise and just, a perception far from traditional religion at that time. In Euthyphro, the Euthyphro dilemma arises. Socrates questions his interlocutor about the relationship between piety and the will of a powerful god: Is something good because it is the will of this god, or is it the will of this god because it is good? In other words, does piety follow the good, or the god? The trajectory of Socratic thought contrasts with traditional Greek theology, which took lex talionis (the eye for an eye principle) for granted. Socrates thought that goodness is independent from gods, and gods must themselves be pious.
Socrates affirms a belief in gods in Plato's Apology, where he says to the jurors that he acknowledges gods more than his accusers. For Plato's Socrates, the existence of gods is taken for granted; in none of his dialogues does he probe whether gods exist or not. In Apology, a case for Socrates being agnostic can be made, based on his discussion of the great unknown after death, and in Phaedo (the dialogue with his students in his last day) Socrates gives expression to a clear belief in the immortality of the soul. He also believed in oracles, divinations and other messages from gods. These signs did not offer him any positive belief on moral issues; rather, they were predictions of unfavorable future events.
In Xenophon's Memorabilia, Socrates constructs an argument close to the contemporary teleological intelligent-design argument. He claims that since there are many features in the universe that exhibit "signs of forethought" (e.g., eyelids), a divine creator must have created the universe. He then deduces that the creator should be omniscient and omnipotent and also that it created the universe for the advance of humankind, since humans naturally have many abilities that other animals do not. At times, Socrates speaks of a single deity, while at other times he refers to plural "gods". This has been interpreted to mean that he either believed that a supreme deity commanded other gods, or that various gods were parts, or manifestations, of this single deity.
The relationship of Socrates's religious beliefs with his strict adherence to rationalism has been subject to debate. Philosophy professor Mark McPherran suggests that Socrates interpreted every divine sign through secular rationality for confirmation. Professor of ancient philosophy A. A. Long suggests that it is anachronistic to suppose that Socrates believed the religious and rational realms were separate.
Socratic daimonion
In several texts (e.g., Plato's Euthyphro 3b5; Apology 31c–d; Xenophon's Memorabilia 1.1.2) Socrates claims he hears a daimōnic sign—an inner voice heard usually when he was about to make a mistake. Socrates gave a brief description of this daimonion at his trial (Apology 31c–d): "...The reason for this is something you have heard me frequently mention in different places—namely, the fact that I experience something divine and daimonic, as Meletus has inscribed in his indictment, by way of mockery. It started in my childhood, the occurrence of a particular voice. Whenever it occurs, it always deters me from the course of action I was intending to engage in, but it never gives me positive advice. It is this that has opposed my practicing politics, and I think its doing so has been absolutely fine." Modern scholarship has variously interpreted this Socratic daimōnion as a rational source of knowledge, an impulse, a dream or even a paranormal experience felt by an ascetic Socrates.
Virtue and knowledge
Socrates's theory of virtue states that all virtues are essentially one, since they are a form of knowledge. For Socrates, the reason a person is not good is because they lack knowledge. Since knowledge is united, virtues are united as well. Another famous dictum—"no one errs willingly"—also derives from this theory. In Protagoras, Socrates argues for the unity of virtues using the example of courage: if someone knows what the relevant danger is, they can undertake a risk. Aristotle comments: " ... Socrates the elder thought that the end of life was knowledge of virtue, and he used to seek for the definition of justice, courage, and each of the parts of virtue, and this was a reasonable approach, since he thought that all virtues were sciences, and that as soon as one knew [for example] justice, he would be just..."
Love
Some texts suggest that Socrates had love affairs with Alcibiades and other young persons; others suggest that Socrates's friendship with young boys sought only to improve them and were not sexual. In Gorgias, Socrates claims he was a dual lover of Alcibiades and philosophy, and his flirtatiousness is evident in Protagoras, Meno (76a–c) and Phaedrus (227c–d). However, the exact nature of his relationship with Alcibiades is not clear; Socrates was known for his self-restraint, while Alcibiades admits in the Symposium that he had tried to seduce Socrates but failed.
The Socratic theory of love is mostly deduced from Lysis, where Socrates discusses love at a wrestling school in the company of Lysis and his friends. They start their dialogue by investigating parental love and how it manifests with respect to the freedom and boundaries that parents set for their children. Socrates concludes that if Lysis is utterly useless, nobody will love him—not even his parents. While most scholars believe this text was intended to be humorous, it has also been suggested that Lysis shows Socrates held an egoistic view of love, according to which we only love people who are useful to us in some way. Other scholars disagree with this view, arguing that Socrates's doctrine leaves room for non-egoistic love for a spouse; still others deny that Socrates suggests any egoistic motivation at all. In Symposium, Socrates argues that children offer the false impression of immortality to their parents, and this misconception yields a form of unity among them. Scholars also note that for Socrates, love is rational.
Socrates, who claims to know only that he does not know, makes an exception (in Plato's Symposium), where he says he will tell the truth about Love, which he learned from a 'clever woman'. Classicist Armand D'Angour has made the case that Socrates was in his youth close to Aspasia, and that Diotima, to whom Socrates attributes his understanding of love in Symposium, is based on her; however, it is also possible that Diotima really existed.
Socratic philosophy of politics
While Socrates was involved in public political and cultural debates, it is hard to define his exact political philosophy. In Plato's Gorgias, he tells Callicles: "I believe that I'm one of a few Athenians—so as not to say I'm the only one, but the only one among our contemporaries—to take up the true political craft and practice the true politics. This is because the speeches I make on each occasion do not aim at gratification but at what's best." His claim illustrates his aversion for the established democratic assemblies and procedures such as voting—since Socrates saw politicians and rhetoricians as using tricks to mislead the public. He never ran for office or suggested any legislation. Rather, he aimed to help the city flourish by "improving" its citizens. As a citizen, he abided by the law. He obeyed the rules and carried out his military duty by fighting wars abroad. His dialogues, however, make little mention of contemporary political decisions, such as the Sicilian Expedition.
Socrates spent his time conversing with citizens, among them powerful members of Athenian society, scrutinizing their beliefs and bringing the contradictions of their ideas to light. Socrates believed he was doing them a favor since, for him, politics was about shaping the moral landscape of the city through philosophy rather than electoral procedures. There is a debate over where Socrates stood in the polarized Athenian political climate, which was divided between oligarchs and democrats. While there is no clear textual evidence, one widely held theory holds that Socrates leaned towards democracy: he disobeyed the one order that the oligarchic government of the Thirty Tyrants gave him; he respected the laws and political system of Athens (which were formulated by democrats); and, according to this argument, his affinity for the ideals of democratic Athens was a reason why he did not want to escape prison and the death penalty. On the other hand, there is some evidence that Socrates leaned towards oligarchy: most of his friends supported oligarchy, he was contemptuous of the opinion of the many and was critical of the democratic process, and Protagoras shows some anti-democratic elements. A less mainstream argument suggests that Socrates favoured democratic republicanism, a theory that prioritizes active participation in public life and concern for the city.
Yet another suggestion is that Socrates endorsed views in line with liberalism, a political ideology formed in the Age of Enlightenment. This argument is mostly based on Crito and Apology, where Socrates talks about the mutually beneficial relationship between the city and its citizens. According to Socrates, citizens are morally autonomous and free to leave the city if they wish—but, by staying within the city, they also accept the laws and the city's authority over them. On the other hand, Socrates has been seen as the first proponent of civil disobedience. Socrates's strong objection to injustice, along with his refusal to serve the Thirty Tyrants' order to arrest Leon, are suggestive of this line. As he says in Critias, "One ought never act unjustly, even to repay a wrong that has been done to oneself." Ιn the broader picture, Socrates's advice would be for citizens to follow the orders of the state, unless, after much reflection, they deem them to be unjust.
Legacy
Classical antiquity
Socrates's impact was immense in philosophy after his death. With the exception of the Epicureans and the Pyrrhonists, almost all philosophical currents after Socrates traced their roots to him: Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, the Cynics, and the Stoics. Interest in Socrates kept increasing until the third century AD. The various schools differed in response to fundamental questions such as the purpose of life or the nature of arete (virtue), since Socrates had not handed them an answer, and therefore, philosophical schools subsequently diverged greatly in their interpretation of his thought. He was considered to have shifted the focus of philosophy from a study of the natural world, as was the case for pre-Socratic philosophers, to a study of human affairs.
Immediate followers of Socrates were his pupils, Euclid of Megara, Aristippus, and Antisthenes, who drew differing conclusions among themselves and followed independent trajectories. The full doctrines of Socrates's pupils are difficult to reconstruct. Antisthenes had a profound contempt of material goods. According to him, virtue was all that mattered. Diogenes and the Cynics continued this line of thought. On the opposite end, Aristippus endorsed the accumulation of wealth and lived a luxurious life. After leaving Athens and returning to his home city of Cyrene, he founded the Cyrenaic philosophical school which was based on hedonism, and endorsing living an easy life with physical pleasures. His school passed to his grandson, bearing the same name. There is a dialogue in Xenophon's work in which Aristippus claims he wants to live without wishing to rule or be ruled by others. In addition, Aristippus maintained a skeptical stance on epistemology, claiming that we can be certain only of our own feelings. This view resonates with the Socratic understanding of ignorance. Euclid was a contemporary of Socrates. After Socrates's trial and death, he left Athens for the nearby town of Megara, where he founded a school, named the Megarians. His theory was built on the pre-Socratic monism of Parmenides. Euclid continued Socrates's thought, focusing on the nature of virtue.
The Stoics relied heavily on Socrates. They applied the Socratic method as a tool to avoid inconsistencies. Their moral doctrines focused on how to live a smooth life through wisdom and virtue. The Stoics assigned virtue a crucial role in attaining happiness and also prioritized the relation between goodness and ethical excellence, all of which echoed Socratic thought. At the same time, the philosophical current of Platonism claimed Socrates as its predecessor, in ethics and in its theory of knowledge. Arcesilaus, who became the head of the Academy about 80 years after its founding by Plato, radically changed the Academy's doctrine to what is now known as Academic Skepticism, centered on the Socratic philosophy of ignorance. The Academic Skeptics competed with the Stoics over who was Socrates's true heir with regard to ethics. While the Stoics insisted on knowledge-based ethics, Arcesilaus relied on Socratic ignorance. The Stoics' reply to Arcesilaus was that Socratic ignorance was part of Socratic irony (they themselves disapproved the use of irony), an argument that ultimately became the dominant narrative of Socrates in later antiquity.
While Aristotle considered Socrates an important philosopher, Socrates was not a central figure in Aristotelian thought. One of Aristotle's pupils, Aristoxenus even authored a book detailing Socrates's scandals.
The Epicureans were antagonistic to Socrates. They attacked him for superstition, criticizing his belief in his daimonion and his regard for the oracle at Delphi. They also criticized Socrates for his character and various faults, and focusing mostly on his irony, which was deemed inappropriate for a philosopher and unseemly for a teacher.
The Pyrrhonists were also antagonistic to Socrates, accusing him of being a prater about ethics, who engaged in mock humility, and who sneered at and mocked people.
Medieval world
Socratic thought found its way to the Islamic Middle East alongside that of Aristotle and the Stoics. Plato's works on Socrates, as well as other ancient Greek literature, were translated into Arabic by early Muslim scholars such as Al-Kindi, Jabir ibn Hayyan, and the Muʿtazila. For Muslim scholars, Socrates was hailed and admired for combining his ethics with his lifestyle, perhaps because of the resemblance in this regard with Muhammad's personality. Socratic doctrines were altered to match Islamic faith: according to Muslim scholars, Socrates made arguments for monotheism and for the temporality of this world and rewards in the next life. His influence in the Arabic-speaking world continues to the present day.
In medieval times, little of Socrates's thought survived in the Christian world as a whole; however, works on Socrates from Christian scholars such as Lactantius, Eusebius and Augustine were maintained in the Byzantine Empire, where Socrates was studied under a Christian lens. After the fall of Constantinople, many of the texts were brought back into the world of Roman Christianity, where they were translated into Latin. Overall, ancient Socratic philosophy, like the rest of classical literature before the Renaissance, was addressed with skepticism in the Christian world at first.
During the early Italian Renaissance, two different narratives of Socrates developed. On the one hand, the humanist movement revived interest in classical authors. Leonardo Bruni translated many of Plato's Socratic dialogues, while his pupil Giannozzo Manetti authored a well-circulated book, a Life of Socrates. They both presented a civic version of Socrates, according to which Socrates was a humanist and a supporter of republicanism. Bruni and Manetti were interested in defending secularism as a non-sinful way of life; presenting a view of Socrates that was aligned with Christian morality assisted their cause. In doing so, they had to censor parts of his dialogues, especially those which appeared to promote homosexuality or any possibility of pederasty (with Alcibiades), or which suggested that the Socratic daimon was a god. On the other hand, a different picture of Socrates was presented by Italian Neoplatonists, led by the philosopher and priest Marsilio Ficino. Ficino was impressed by Socrates's un-hierarchical and informal way teaching, which he tried to replicate. Ficino portrayed a holy picture of Socrates, finding parallels with the life of Jesus Christ. For Ficino and his followers, Socratic ignorance signified his acknowledgement that all wisdom is God-given (through the Socratic daimon).
Modern times
In early modern France, Socrates's image was dominated by features of his private life rather than his philosophical thought, in various novels and satirical plays. Some thinkers used Socrates to highlight and comment upon controversies of their own era, like Théophile de Viau who portrayed a Christianized Socrates accused of atheism, while for Voltaire, the figure of Socrates represented a reason-based theist. Michel de Montaigne wrote extensively on Socrates, linking him to rationalism as a counterweight to contemporary religious fanatics.
In the 18th century, German idealism revived philosophical interest in Socrates, mainly through Hegel's work. For Hegel, Socrates marked a turning point in the history of humankind by the introduction of the principle of free subjectivity or self-determination. While Hegel hails Socrates for his contribution, he nonetheless justifies the Athenian court, for Socrates's insistence upon self-determination would be destructive of the Sittlichkeit (a Hegelian term signifying the way of life as shaped by the institutions and laws of the State). Also, Hegel sees the Socratic use of rationalism as a continuation of Protagoras' focus on human reasoning (as encapsulated in the motto homo mensura: "man is the measure of all things"), but modified: it is our reasoning that can help us reach objective conclusions about reality. Also, Hegel considered Socrates as a predecessor of later ancient skeptic philosophers, even though he never clearly explained why.
Søren Kierkegaard considered Socrates his teacher, and authored his master's thesis on him, The Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates. There he argues that Socrates is not a moral philosopher but is purely an ironist. He also focused on Socrates's avoidance of writing: for Kierkegaard, this avoidance was a sign of humility, deriving from Socrates's acceptance of his ignorance. Not only did Socrates not write anything down, according to Kierkegaard, but his contemporaries misconstrued and misunderstood him as a philosopher, leaving us with an almost impossible task in comprehending Socratic thought. Only Plato's Apology was close to the real Socrates, in Kierkegaard's view. In his writings, he revisited Socrates quite frequently; in his later work, Kierkegaard found ethical elements in Socratic thought. Socrates was not only a subject of study for Kierkegaard, he was a model as well: Kierkegaard paralleled his task as a philosopher to Socrates. He writes, "The only analogy I have before me is Socrates; my task is a Socratic task, to audit the definition of what it is to be a Christian", with his aim being to bring society closer to the Christian ideal, since he believed that Christianity had become a formality, void of any Christian essence. Kierkegaard denied being a Christian, as Socrates denied possessing any knowledge.
Friedrich Nietzsche resented Socrates's contributions to Western culture. In his first book, The Birth of Tragedy (1872), Nietzsche held Socrates responsible for what he saw as the deterioration of ancient Greek civilization during the 4th century BC and after. For Nietzsche, Socrates turned the scope of philosophy from pre-Socratic naturalism to rationalism and intellectualism. He writes: "I conceive of [the Presocratics] as precursors to a reformation of the Greeks: but not of Socrates"; "with Empedocles and Democritus the Greeks were well on their way towards taking the correct measure of human existence, its unreason, its suffering; they never reached this goal, thanks to Socrates". The effect, Nietzsche proposed, was a perverse situation that had continued down to his day: our culture is a Socratic culture, he believed. In a later publication, The Twilight of the Idols (1887), Nietzsche continued his offensive against Socrates, focusing on the arbitrary linking of reason to virtue and happiness in Socratic thinking. He writes: "I try to understand from what partial and idiosyncratic states the Socratic problem is to be derived: his equation of reason = virtue = happiness. It was with this absurdity of a doctrine of identity that he fascinated: ancient philosophy never again freed itself [from this fascination]". From the late 19th century until the early 20th, the most common explanation of Nietzsche's hostility towards Socrates was his anti-rationalism; he considered Socrates the father of European rationalism. In the mid-20th century, philosopher Walter Kaufmann published an article arguing that Nietzsche admired Socrates. Current mainstream opinion is that Nietzsche was ambivalent towards Socrates.
Hannah Arendt, Leo Strauss and Karl Popper, after experiencing the horrors of World War II, amidst the rise of totalitarian regimes, saw Socrates as an icon of individual conscience. Arendt, in Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963), suggests that Socrates's constant questioning and self-reflection could prevent the banality of evil. Strauss considers Socrates's political thought as paralleling Plato's. He sees an elitist Socrates in Plato's Republic as exemplifying why the polis is not, and could not be, an ideal way of organizing life, since philosophical truths cannot be digested by the masses. Popper takes the opposite view: he argues that Socrates opposes Plato's totalitarian ideas. For Popper, Socratic individualism, along with Athenian democracy, imply Popper's concept of the "open society" as described in his Open Society and Its Enemies (1945).
See also
Codex Vaticanus Graecus 64 – Socratic Letters
De genio Socratis
List of cultural depictions of Socrates
List of barefooters
List of speakers in Plato's dialogues
Notes
Sources
Further reading
Brun, Jean (1978). Socrate (in French) (6th ed.). Presses universitaires de France. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-2-13-035620-2.
Benson, Hugh (1992). Essays on the philosophy of Socrates. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-506757-6. OCLC 23179683.
Rudebusch, George (2009). Socrates. Chichester, UK; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-5085-9. OCLC 476311710.
Taylor, C. C. W. (1998). Socrates. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-287601-0.
Taylor, C. C. W. (2019). Socrates: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-883598-1.
Vlastos, Gregory (1994). Socratic Studies. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-44735-5.
External links
Socrates at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project
The Dialogues of Plato at Project Gutenberg
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Brooke Shields
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Brooke Christa Shields (born May 31, 1965) is an American actress. A child model starting at the age of 11 months, Shields gained widespread notoriety for her leading role in Louis Malle's film Pretty Baby (1978), in which she appeared in nude scenes shot when she was 11 years old. She continued to model into her late teenage years and starred in several dramas in the 1980s, including The Blue Lagoon (1980), and Franco Zeffirelli's Endless Love (1981).
In 1983, Shields suspended her modeling career to attend Princeton University, where she subsequently graduated with a bachelor's degree in Romance languages. In the 1990s, Shields returned to acting and appeared in minor roles in films. She also starred in the NBC sitcoms Suddenly Susan (1996–2000), for which she received two Golden Globe nominations, and Lipstick Jungle (2008–2009).
In 2017, Shields returned to NBC with a major recurring role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in the show's 19th season. Shields voiced Beverly Goodman in the Adult Swim animated series Mr. Pickles (2014–2019) and its spin-off Momma Named Me Sheriff.
Early life and ancestry
Shields was born in Manhattan, New York City, on May 31, 1965, the daughter of actress and model Teri Shields (née Schmon) and businessman Francis Alexander Shields. Her mother was of English, German, Scotch-Irish, and Welsh descent, while her father had English, French, Irish, and Italian ancestry.
According to research by William Addams Reitwiesner, Shields has ancestral links with a number of noble families from Italy, in particular from Genoa and Rome. These are namely (in chronological order of descent from 1355 to 1965) the Gattilusi-Palaiologos-Savoy, Grimaldi, Imperiali, Carafa, Doria, Doria-Pamphili-Landi, Chigi-Albani, and Torlonia dynasties. Her paternal grandmother was Italian noblewoman Marina Torlonia di Civitella-Cesi, who was the daughter of an Italian prince and an American socialite. Her great-uncle was the Italian Prince Alessandro Torlonia, the husband of Infanta Beatriz of Spain. In a 2010 episode of the genealogy documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?, Shields discovered she is a descendant of Victor Amadeus I of Savoy and his wife Christine of France (a daughter of King Henry IV of France and Maria de' Medici) through the Torlonia dynasty.
When Teri announced that she was pregnant, Francis's family paid her a sum to terminate the pregnancy. Teri took the money, but violated the agreement and gave birth to Brooke. Francis married Teri, but they were divorced when Shields was only five months old. She has two stepbrothers and three half-sisters. When Shields was only five days old, her mother openly stated she wanted her to be active in show business, saying: "She's the most beautiful child and I'm going to help her with her career." Growing up, Shields took piano, ballet, and horse-riding lessons.
Shields was raised in the Roman Catholic faith. For her confirmation at age 10, she took the name Camille, after Camillus de Lellis. While attending high school, she resided in Haworth, New Jersey. Shields has stated that her first encounter with the paparazzi was in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria New York at the age of 12, stating that she "stood like a statue wondering why they were all hired to photograph me" and that she "debuted at the Waldorf."
Shields attended the New Lincoln School in New York City until eighth grade. She graduated from the Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey, in 1983.
Career
1966–1977: Modeling and career beginnings
Shields began her career as a model when she was 11 months old in 1966. Her first job was for Ivory Soap, when she was photographed by Francesco Scavullo. She continued as a successful child model with model agent Eileen Ford, who, in her Lifetime biography, stated that she started her children's division just for Shields. Ford said of her: "She is a professional child and unique. She looks like an adult and thinks like one."
After appearing in the 1974 TV adaptation of Arthur Miller's play After the Fall, Shields made her feature film debut in the New Jersey-shot horror film Alice, Sweet Alice (1976), portraying a young girl who is murdered during her first communion. She was cast in the part after director Alfred Sole had seen her in a print advertisement for Vogue magazine. The film was later re-released in 1981, capitalizing on Shields's rising fame at the time. Next, Shields worked with director Woody Allen in his 1977 film Annie Hall, but her role was cut out of the final edit of the film.
Shields and her mother Teri appeared on the cover of the September 26, 1977 issue of New York Magazine, in a cover story about her modeling career. The main headline on the cover read: "Meet Teri and Brooke Shields" while the subtitle read, Brooke is twelve. She poses nude. Teri is her mother. She thinks it's swell.
Although the September 26, 1977 issue was listed in a 2008 collection of classic covers on the New York Magazine website for its 40th anniversary, unlike the other listed issues, there is no link to the cover story about Shields' career as a nude model.
1978–1979: Breakthrough film work
The 11-year-old Shields was cast as the lead in French director Louis Malle's Pretty Baby (1978), in which she played a child named Violet who lived in a brothel, the daughter of a prostitute played by Susan Sarandon. There were numerous nude scenes in the film, including those in which Shields appeared naked. Her appearance in the film spurred significant controversy, as public worry regarding child sexual abuse had begun to rise at the time of its release. Gossip columnist Rona Barrett called the film "child pornography", and director Malle was described as a "combination of Humbert Humbert and Roman Polanski". Her scenes in the nude also caused the film to be banned in Argentina, South Africa, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Saskatchewan. The film's ban in Ontario was lifted in 1995.
She appeared on the cover of the May 29, 1978 issue of People, which bore the headline "Brooke Shields, 12, stirs furor over child porn in films."
She or her body double also appeared in a dorsal nude scene in the 1979 release Just You and Me, Kid, which co-starred George Burns. In the movie, Shields also appeared in a scene where she apparently is naked, covered only by a deflated car tire inner tube while lying in the trunk of Burns' vintage automobile. Shields also was portrayed as nude in a third scene where she was being held hostage. For her work in the movie, she was paid a fee of $250,000 (equivalent to $940,000 in 2024 dollars), plus six percent of the profits.
Just You and Me, Kid received poor reviews. Critic Roger Ebert, in his Chicago Sun-Times newspaper review, gave the film two out of four stars, calling the film "a charming disappointment." On his Sneak Previews TV show with Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel, both Ebert and Siskel gave the film a thumbs down. Siskel said, "Brooke Shields is not very interesting when she's on the screen," and called her a model "who just can't act." Siskel's newspaper review further stated that her part in the film had "no substance, and she is incapable of appearing fresh. It's a stilted, nervous performance from a teen-ager who has not had a single acting lesson and could use a dozen."
Other movies Shields appeared in, in the wake of Pretty Baby, were Wanda Nevada and Tilt, both of which were released in 1979.
1980–1981: Modeling and more movies
In 1980, 14-year-old Shields was the youngest fashion model ever to appear on the cover of Vogue. Later that same year, Shields appeared in controversial print and TV ads for Calvin Klein jeans. The TV ad included her saying the famous tagline: "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." Brooke Shields ads would help catapult Klein's career to superstar status.
She next appeared as a lead in The Blue Lagoon (1980), which included nude scenes between teenage lovers stranded on a tropical island (Shields later testified before a U.S. Congressional inquiry that older body doubles were used in some of them). The same year, she was the youngest guest star to ever appear on The Muppet Show, in which she and the Muppets put on their own version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She was also the youngest person to host ABC's Fridays, a Saturday Night Live-like sketch comedy show, in 1981.
Her next major film role was in Franco Zeffirelli's drama Endless Love (1981). The MPAA initially rated Endless Love with an X rating. The film was re-edited to earn an R rating. For her performance in the film, she received her first Razzie Award nomination for worst actress.
She won the People's Choice Award in the category of Favorite Young Performer in four consecutive years from 1981 to 1984. During this same period, she starred in the USPHS PSA sponsored by the American Lung Association as an initiative that VIPs should become examples and advocates of non-smoking.
By the age of 16, Shields had become one of the most recognizable faces in the United States, because of her dual career as a provocative fashion model and child actress. Time magazine reported in its February 9, 1981, cover story that her day rate as a model was $10,000 (equivalent to $29,000 in 2024). In 1983, Shields appeared on the cover of the September issue of Paris Vogue, the October and November issues of American Vogue and the December edition of Italian Vogue. During that period Shields became a regular at New York City's nightclub Studio 54.
In the mid-1980s, Shields began her support of the USO by touring with Bob Hope.
1981–1983: Legal battle over nude photos
From 1981 to 1983, Shields, her mother, photographer Garry Gross, and Playboy Press were involved in litigation in the New York City Courts over the rights to photographs her mother had signed away to Gross (when dealing with models who are minors, a parent or legal guardian must sign such a release form while other agreements are subject to negotiation). Gross was the photographer of a controversial set of nude images taken in 1975 of a then ten-year-old Brooke Shields with the consent of her mother, Teri Shields, for the Playboy Press publication Sugar 'n' Spice. The images portray Shields nude, standing and sitting in a bathtub, wearing makeup and covered in oil. The courts ruled in favor of the photographer due to wordings in New York law. The ruling would have been decided otherwise if Shields had been considered a child "performer" rather than a model.
Richard Prince "Spiritual America"
In 1983, in the wake of the legal battle over ownership of the photos, artist Richard Prince photographed one of Gross' photos of the 10-year-old Shields standing naked in a bathtub. He developed it, put it in a gilding frame and, displayed it without labelling or explanation, in a shopfront in a then rundown street in Lower East Side of Manhattan.
In 2005, Prince released a work titled Spiritual America IV. It was photographed in collaboration with Shields when she was 40 years old. It depicts the actor in a near-identical pose as the original Spiritual America, but wearing jewellery and a bronze bikini, while leaning against a Vengeance chopper motorbike.
1983: Sahara and Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
Shields played a romantic lead in Sahara (1983) for a fee variously reported as $1 million or $1.5 million. Her mother Teri Shields was executive producer of the picture, with a fee of $25,000. The movie was a critical and financial failure, released only in the Western United States after poor previews and grossing $1.2 million against a budget of $15 million (equivalent to $3.2 million and $41 million, respectively, in 2024).
For Sahara, Shields earned the distinction of being the only actress ever to win the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor. At the 1984 Razzies, she was nominated for both the Worst Actress Award and Worst Supporting Actor, as "Brooke Shields (with a moustache)".
1983–1987: Hiatus and academic studies
After making a minor appearance in The Muppets Take Manhattan, Shields took a career hiatus to focus on her academic studies. She enrolled at Princeton University in the fall of 1983 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in French literature in 1987. She was a member of the Princeton Triangle Club and the Cap and Gown Club. Her autobiography, On Your Own, was published in 1985. Her 1987 senior thesis was titled "The Initiation: From Innocence to Experience: The Pre-Adolescent/Adolescent Journey in the Films of Louis Malle, Pretty Baby and Lacombe Lucien."
1988–1999: Film, stage, and television roles
Shields played the eponymous lead in the 1989 movie Brenda Starr, which had been shot in 1986 for an intended 1987 release but was held up for years over legal problems due to the rights to the comic strip and demands from Shields' mother that she receive top-billing in the picture, which co-starred Timothy Dalton. When the film was finally released in 1993, it was roasted by critics and bombed at the box office.
Kevin Thomas in the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Brenda Starr (citywide) arrives after some five years of legal disputes over distribution rights. It would have been an act of kindness for all concerned, including the paying customer, to have left it on the shelf where it belongs."
Peter Travers, writing for Rolling Stone, gave the film a negative review, writing, "There's been so much negative insider buzz about Brooke's 'Brenda' that you might be harboring a hope that the damned thing turned out all right. Get over it. Brenda Starr is not as bad as the also-rans that Hollywood traditionally dumps on us before Labor Day... it's a heap worse."
Entertainment Weekly would later place the film on its list of "21 Worst Comic-Book Movies Ever".
In 1993, Shields made a guest appearance in a fourth-season episode of The Simpsons, called "The Front". The following year, she starred as Rizzo in the 1994 Broadway revival of Grease.
In a 1996 episode of the popular comedy sitcom Friends, Shields played Joey Tribbiani's stalker. This role led directly to her being cast in the title role of the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan, in which she starred from 1996 until 2000, and which earned a People's Choice Award in the category of Favorite Female Performer in a New Television Series for her, in 1997, and two Golden Globe nominations.
In 1998, she played a lesbian, Lily, in The Misadventures of Margaret.
2000–2010: Further television and film work
In 2001, Lifetime aired the film What Makes a Family, starring Shields and Cherry Jones in a true story of a lesbian couple who fought the adoption laws of Florida. For four months, beginning July 2001, Shields portrayed Sally Bowles in the long-running Broadway revival of Cabaret.
In 2004, Shields made several recurring guest appearances on That '70s Show playing Pam Burkhart, Jackie's (Mila Kunis) mother, who later was briefly involved with Donna's (Laura Prepon) father (Don Stark). Shields left That '70s Show when her character was written out.
In September 2004, she replaced Donna Murphy in the role of Ruth Sherwood in the 2003 revival of Wonderful Town until the show closed four months later. Her performance was widely praised. Ben Brantley of The New York Times praised the "goofy sweetness" she brought to her interpretation of the role, but wrote that she fell short of Donna Murphy's "perfection." In April 2005, Shields played Roxie Hart in a long-running production of Chicago at the Adelphi Theatre in London's West End. Later the same year, she reprised the role in the Broadway revival, from September 9 to October 30. This made her the first performer to have starred in Chicago, Cabaret, and Grease on Broadway, three long-running revivals noted for "stunt casting" of celebrities not known for musical theatre.
Shields recorded the narration for the Sony/BMG recording of The Runaway Bunny, a concerto for violin, orchestra, and reader, by Glen Roven. It was performed by the Royal Philharmonic and Ittai Shapira.
In the late 2000s, Shields guest-starred on shows like FX's Nip/Tuck and CBS's Two and a Half Men. In 2005, Shields appeared in a second-season episode of HBO's Entourage, entitled "Blue Balls Lagoon". In 2007, she made a guest appearance on Disney's Hannah Montana, playing Susan Stewart, protagonist Miley Stewart's (Miley Cyrus) mother, who died in 2004. In 2008, she returned in the prime time drama Lipstick Jungle. The series ended a year later.
Starting in 2010, she made guest appearances on The Middle as the mother of a brood of terror-inducing children and the nemesis of Frankie Heck (Patricia Heaton). She also appeared as a featured celebrity in NBC's genealogy documentary reality series, Who Do You Think You Are?, where it was revealed that, through her father's ancestry, she is the distant cousin (many generations removed) of King Louis XIV of France, and thus a descendant of both Saint Louis and Henry IV of France.
2011–present: Television hosting; documentary
Shields took over the role of Morticia Addams in the Broadway musical The Addams Family beginning on June 28, 2011.
Starting in 2013, Shields has been an occasional guest co-host in the 9:00 hour of Today on NBC. She also recurred during Season Nineteen of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Sheila Porter, the maternal grandmother of Olivia Benson's (Mariska Hargitay) adopted son, Noah Porter.
Shields is the subject of the 2023 documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, directed by Lana Wilson, who also directed the Taylor Swift documentary, Miss Americana. The two-part series, which aired on Hulu on 3 April 2023, is "A look at actor, model and icon Brooke Shields as she transforms from a sexualized young girl to a woman discovering her power."
In 2024, Shields was elected the president of the Actors' Equity Association and starred in the Netflix film Mother of the Bride opposite Miranda Cosgrove.
Other media
Shields is the author of three books. In 2006, she penned the memoir Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression, in 2015 she published There Was a Little Girl about the relationship she had with her mother, who suffered from alcoholism throughout Shields's life, and in 2025 she published Brooke Shields is not Allowed to Get Old about aging as a woman.
In 2022, she launched a podcast called Now What? focusing on how people respond to adversity.
Personal life
As a child, Shields lived with her mother on Manhattan's Upper East Side. In 1990, she purchased a ranch near Big Timber, Montana. She also maintained a home in Los Angeles, which she purchased in 1998 and sold in 2022.
In the 1990s, Shields promoted physical fitness as an extension of femininity, maintaining that femininity and athletics are compatible.
Despite coming out against the fur industry in 1989, Shields later went on to create her own mink fur coat at Kopenhagen Fur. She dated actor Dean Cain while studying at Princeton University.
Shields has been married twice. In 1993, she began a relationship with Andre Agassi; the couple married in 1997 and divorced in 1999.
In 1999, she met television writer Chris Henchy through common friends. The pair wed in 2001. They have two daughters, Rowan Francis Henchy, born May 15, 2003, and Grier Hammond Henchy, born April 18, 2006. As of 2012, they were living in Greenwich Village, New York City.
Postpartum depression
Between April and May 2005, Shields spoke to magazines (such as Guideposts) and appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to publicize her battle with postpartum depression, an experience that included depression, thoughts of suicide, an inability to respond to her baby's needs and delayed maternal bonding. Her book, Down Came the Rain, discusses her experience, contributing to a greater public awareness of postpartum depression.
In May 2005, actor Tom Cruise—a Scientologist whose beliefs frown upon psychiatry—condemned Shields, both personally and professionally, for using and speaking in favor of the antidepressant drug Paxil. As Cruise said, "Here is a woman and I care about Brooke Shields, because I think she is an incredibly talented woman, you look at [and think], where has her career gone?" Shields responded that Cruise's remarks on antidepressants were "irresponsible" and "dangerous". She also argued that he should "stick to fighting aliens" (a reference to Cruise's role in War of the Worlds as well as some of the more esoteric aspects of Scientology doctrine and teachings), "and let mothers decide the best way to treat postpartum depression." Shields responded to a further attack by Cruise with an op-ed titled "War of Words", published in The New York Times on July 1, 2005, in which she made an individual case for the medication and stated: "In a strange way, it was comforting to me when my obstetrician told me that my feelings of extreme despair and my suicidal thoughts were directly tied to a biochemical shift in my body. Once we admit that postpartum is a serious medical condition, then the treatment becomes more available and socially acceptable. With a doctor's care, I have since tapered off the medication but, without it, I wouldn't have become the loving parent I am today." On August 31, 2006, according to USA Today, Cruise apologized in person to Shields for the incident; she accepted the apology, saying it was "heartfelt". That November, she and her husband attended Cruise's wedding to Katie Holmes.
Relationship with Michael Jackson
On July 7, 2009, Shields spoke at the memorial service for Michael Jackson. She stated in that speech that she first met Jackson when she was 13 years old, and the two instantly became friends. Shields said:
Thinking back to when we met and the many times that we spent together and whenever we were out together, there would be a caption of some kind, and the caption usually said something like 'an odd couple' or 'an unlikely pair,' but to us it was the most natural and easiest of friendships... Michael always knew he could count on me to support him or be his date and that we would have fun no matter where we were. We had a bond... Both of us needed to be adults very early, but when we were together, we were two little kids having fun.
In her eulogy, she shared anecdotes, including an occasion in which she was his date for one of Elizabeth Taylor's weddings, and the pair sneaked into Taylor's room to get the first look at her dress, only to discover Taylor asleep in the bed. Shields gave a tearful speech, referring to the many memories she and Jackson shared and briefly joked about his famous sequin glove. She also mentioned Jackson's favorite song, "Smile" by Charlie Chaplin, which was later sung in the memorial service by Jermaine Jackson.
Jackson stated in his 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey that he was dating Shields at the time. Shields has stated that Jackson asked her to marry him numerous times and to adopt a child together.
In a conversation with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach in 2001, Jackson said of Shields:
That was one of the loves of my life. I think she loved me as much as I loved her, you know? We dated a lot. We, we went out a lot. Her pictures were all over my wall, my mirror, everything. And I went to the Academy Awards with Diana Ross and this girl walks up to me and says 'Hi, I'm Brooke Shields.' Then she goes, 'Are you going to the after-party?' I go, 'Yeah.' 'Good, I'll see you at the party.' I'm going, 'Oh my God, does she know she's all over my room?' So we go to the after-party. She comes up to me she goes, 'Will you dance with me?' I went, 'Yes. I will dance with you.' Man, we exchanged numbers and I was up all night, singing, spinning around my room, just so happy. It was great.
Relationship with mass media
Shortly after Shields graduated from Princeton University, her four-year transcript was published in the July 1987 edition of Life magazine. Based on that transcript, The New York Times published a light-hearted op-ed piece intended to tweak the claim that Princeton produced superior, well-rounded graduates. Noting that Shields "got all As and Bs, and obviously paid attention to her school work", it claimed she "got cheated" because Princeton did not require her to take any classical studies, medieval, modern or American history, or any course in mathematics, philosophy, economics, political science, world literature, or science with laboratory experience. "[I]f that adds up to a liberal arts education from a place like Princeton, there is no longer any danger that our society will ever suffer from elitism in any form."
The article was indicative of the intense media scrutiny faced by Shields after the release of the 1978 film Pretty Baby, in which she, as a child actor, was filmed nude and in sexual situations. In a March 2023 Vogue profile of Shields, Chloe Malle, the daughter of the film's director, discussed the film as well as the January 2023 documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields that it inspired:
The media loved her, but they also pilloried her. Like Framing Britney Spears, the documentary clarifies—with the benefit of time and perspective—the role of the media as the relentless villain in Shields's story. Reporters' lack of tenderness toward a preteen girl and demands that she answer for the way that she was sexualized onscreen are perhaps the most gasp-inducing parts of the film. "They're shocking," agrees Shields, recalling an interview with Barbara Walters in which the journalist asked Shields to stand up and compare her measurements to Walters's own. "I felt more objectified and abused by [that]," says Shields. "The irony is I didn't have that discomfort or shame in the one nude scene in Pretty Baby."
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Published works
Shields, Brooke (1978). The Brooke Book. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-671-79018-9.
Shields, Brooke (1985). On Your Own. Villard. ISBN 978-0-394-54460-1.
Shields, Brooke (2006). Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression. Hyperion. ISBN 978-1-61553-007-6.
Shields, Brooke (2009). It's the Best Day Ever, Dad!. Illustrated by Cori Doerrfeld. Middle Grade. ISBN 978-0-06-172445-9.
Shields, Brooke (2014). There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me. Dutton Adult. ISBN 978-0-525-95484-2.
References
External links
Brooke Shields at IMDb
Brooke Shields at the TCM Movie Database
Brooke Shields at the Internet Broadway Database
Brooke Shields at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
WebMD article on Brooke Shields and Postpartum Depression (2005)
Brooke Shields on The Barbara Walters Summer Special (1981)
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Brooke Christa Shields (born May 31, 1965) is an American actress. A child model starting at the age of 11 months, Shields gained widespread notoriety for her leading role in Louis Malle's film Pretty Baby (1978), in which she appeared in nude scenes shot when she was 11 years old. She continued to model into her late teenage years and starred in several dramas in the 1980s, including The Blue Lagoon (1980), and Franco Zeffirelli's Endless Love (1981).
In 1983, Shields suspended her modeling career to attend Princeton University, where she subsequently graduated with a bachelor's degree in Romance languages. In the 1990s, Shields returned to acting and appeared in minor roles in films. She also starred in the NBC sitcoms Suddenly Susan (1996–2000), for which she received two Golden Globe nominations, and Lipstick Jungle (2008–2009).
In 2017, Shields returned to NBC with a major recurring role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in the show's 19th season. Shields voiced Beverly Goodman in the Adult Swim animated series Mr. Pickles (2014–2019) and its spin-off Momma Named Me Sheriff.
Early life and ancestry
Shields was born in Manhattan, New York City, on May 31, 1965, the daughter of actress and model Teri Shields (née Schmon) and businessman Francis Alexander Shields. Her mother was of English, German, Scotch-Irish, and Welsh descent, while her father had English, French, Irish, and Italian ancestry.
According to research by William Addams Reitwiesner, Shields has ancestral links with a number of noble families from Italy, in particular from Genoa and Rome. These are namely (in chronological order of descent from 1355 to 1965) the Gattilusi-Palaiologos-Savoy, Grimaldi, Imperiali, Carafa, Doria, Doria-Pamphili-Landi, Chigi-Albani, and Torlonia dynasties. Her paternal grandmother was Italian noblewoman Marina Torlonia di Civitella-Cesi, who was the daughter of an Italian prince and an American socialite. Her great-uncle was the Italian Prince Alessandro Torlonia, the husband of Infanta Beatriz of Spain. In a 2010 episode of the genealogy documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?, Shields discovered she is a descendant of Victor Amadeus I of Savoy and his wife Christine of France (a daughter of King Henry IV of France and Maria de' Medici) through the Torlonia dynasty.
When Teri announced that she was pregnant, Francis's family paid her a sum to terminate the pregnancy. Teri took the money, but violated the agreement and gave birth to Brooke. Francis married Teri, but they were divorced when Shields was only five months old. She has two stepbrothers and three half-sisters. When Shields was only five days old, her mother openly stated she wanted her to be active in show business, saying: "She's the most beautiful child and I'm going to help her with her career." Growing up, Shields took piano, ballet, and horse-riding lessons.
Shields was raised in the Roman Catholic faith. For her confirmation at age 10, she took the name Camille, after Camillus de Lellis. While attending high school, she resided in Haworth, New Jersey. Shields has stated that her first encounter with the paparazzi was in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria New York at the age of 12, stating that she "stood like a statue wondering why they were all hired to photograph me" and that she "debuted at the Waldorf."
Shields attended the New Lincoln School in New York City until eighth grade. She graduated from the Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey, in 1983.
Career
1966–1977: Modeling and career beginnings
Shields began her career as a model when she was 11 months old in 1966. Her first job was for Ivory Soap, when she was photographed by Francesco Scavullo. She continued as a successful child model with model agent Eileen Ford, who, in her Lifetime biography, stated that she started her children's division just for Shields. Ford said of her: "She is a professional child and unique. She looks like an adult and thinks like one."
After appearing in the 1974 TV adaptation of Arthur Miller's play After the Fall, Shields made her feature film debut in the New Jersey-shot horror film Alice, Sweet Alice (1976), portraying a young girl who is murdered during her first communion. She was cast in the part after director Alfred Sole had seen her in a print advertisement for Vogue magazine. The film was later re-released in 1981, capitalizing on Shields's rising fame at the time. Next, Shields worked with director Woody Allen in his 1977 film Annie Hall, but her role was cut out of the final edit of the film.
Shields and her mother Teri appeared on the cover of the September 26, 1977 issue of New York Magazine, in a cover story about her modeling career. The main headline on the cover read: "Meet Teri and Brooke Shields" while the subtitle read, Brooke is twelve. She poses nude. Teri is her mother. She thinks it's swell.
Although the September 26, 1977 issue was listed in a 2008 collection of classic covers on the New York Magazine website for its 40th anniversary, unlike the other listed issues, there is no link to the cover story about Shields' career as a nude model.
1978–1979: Breakthrough film work
The 11-year-old Shields was cast as the lead in French director Louis Malle's Pretty Baby (1978), in which she played a child named Violet who lived in a brothel, the daughter of a prostitute played by Susan Sarandon. There were numerous nude scenes in the film, including those in which Shields appeared naked. Her appearance in the film spurred significant controversy, as public worry regarding child sexual abuse had begun to rise at the time of its release. Gossip columnist Rona Barrett called the film "child pornography", and director Malle was described as a "combination of Humbert Humbert and Roman Polanski". Her scenes in the nude also caused the film to be banned in Argentina, South Africa, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Saskatchewan. The film's ban in Ontario was lifted in 1995.
She appeared on the cover of the May 29, 1978 issue of People, which bore the headline "Brooke Shields, 12, stirs furor over child porn in films."
She or her body double also appeared in a dorsal nude scene in the 1979 release Just You and Me, Kid, which co-starred George Burns. In the movie, Shields also appeared in a scene where she apparently is naked, covered only by a deflated car tire inner tube while lying in the trunk of Burns' vintage automobile. Shields also was portrayed as nude in a third scene where she was being held hostage. For her work in the movie, she was paid a fee of $250,000 (equivalent to $940,000 in 2024 dollars), plus six percent of the profits.
Just You and Me, Kid received poor reviews. Critic Roger Ebert, in his Chicago Sun-Times newspaper review, gave the film two out of four stars, calling the film "a charming disappointment." On his Sneak Previews TV show with Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel, both Ebert and Siskel gave the film a thumbs down. Siskel said, "Brooke Shields is not very interesting when she's on the screen," and called her a model "who just can't act." Siskel's newspaper review further stated that her part in the film had "no substance, and she is incapable of appearing fresh. It's a stilted, nervous performance from a teen-ager who has not had a single acting lesson and could use a dozen."
Other movies Shields appeared in, in the wake of Pretty Baby, were Wanda Nevada and Tilt, both of which were released in 1979.
1980–1981: Modeling and more movies
In 1980, 14-year-old Shields was the youngest fashion model ever to appear on the cover of Vogue. Later that same year, Shields appeared in controversial print and TV ads for Calvin Klein jeans. The TV ad included her saying the famous tagline: "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." Brooke Shields ads would help catapult Klein's career to superstar status.
She next appeared as a lead in The Blue Lagoon (1980), which included nude scenes between teenage lovers stranded on a tropical island (Shields later testified before a U.S. Congressional inquiry that older body doubles were used in some of them). The same year, she was the youngest guest star to ever appear on The Muppet Show, in which she and the Muppets put on their own version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She was also the youngest person to host ABC's Fridays, a Saturday Night Live-like sketch comedy show, in 1981.
Her next major film role was in Franco Zeffirelli's drama Endless Love (1981). The MPAA initially rated Endless Love with an X rating. The film was re-edited to earn an R rating. For her performance in the film, she received her first Razzie Award nomination for worst actress.
She won the People's Choice Award in the category of Favorite Young Performer in four consecutive years from 1981 to 1984. During this same period, she starred in the USPHS PSA sponsored by the American Lung Association as an initiative that VIPs should become examples and advocates of non-smoking.
By the age of 16, Shields had become one of the most recognizable faces in the United States, because of her dual career as a provocative fashion model and child actress. Time magazine reported in its February 9, 1981, cover story that her day rate as a model was $10,000 (equivalent to $29,000 in 2024). In 1983, Shields appeared on the cover of the September issue of Paris Vogue, the October and November issues of American Vogue and the December edition of Italian Vogue. During that period Shields became a regular at New York City's nightclub Studio 54.
In the mid-1980s, Shields began her support of the USO by touring with Bob Hope.
1981–1983: Legal battle over nude photos
From 1981 to 1983, Shields, her mother, photographer Garry Gross, and Playboy Press were involved in litigation in the New York City Courts over the rights to photographs her mother had signed away to Gross (when dealing with models who are minors, a parent or legal guardian must sign such a release form while other agreements are subject to negotiation). Gross was the photographer of a controversial set of nude images taken in 1975 of a then ten-year-old Brooke Shields with the consent of her mother, Teri Shields, for the Playboy Press publication Sugar 'n' Spice. The images portray Shields nude, standing and sitting in a bathtub, wearing makeup and covered in oil. The courts ruled in favor of the photographer due to wordings in New York law. The ruling would have been decided otherwise if Shields had been considered a child "performer" rather than a model.
Richard Prince "Spiritual America"
In 1983, in the wake of the legal battle over ownership of the photos, artist Richard Prince photographed one of Gross' photos of the 10-year-old Shields standing naked in a bathtub. He developed it, put it in a gilding frame and, displayed it without labelling or explanation, in a shopfront in a then rundown street in Lower East Side of Manhattan.
In 2005, Prince released a work titled Spiritual America IV. It was photographed in collaboration with Shields when she was 40 years old. It depicts the actor in a near-identical pose as the original Spiritual America, but wearing jewellery and a bronze bikini, while leaning against a Vengeance chopper motorbike.
1983: Sahara and Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
Shields played a romantic lead in Sahara (1983) for a fee variously reported as $1 million or $1.5 million. Her mother Teri Shields was executive producer of the picture, with a fee of $25,000. The movie was a critical and financial failure, released only in the Western United States after poor previews and grossing $1.2 million against a budget of $15 million (equivalent to $3.2 million and $41 million, respectively, in 2024).
For Sahara, Shields earned the distinction of being the only actress ever to win the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor. At the 1984 Razzies, she was nominated for both the Worst Actress Award and Worst Supporting Actor, as "Brooke Shields (with a moustache)".
1983–1987: Hiatus and academic studies
After making a minor appearance in The Muppets Take Manhattan, Shields took a career hiatus to focus on her academic studies. She enrolled at Princeton University in the fall of 1983 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in French literature in 1987. She was a member of the Princeton Triangle Club and the Cap and Gown Club. Her autobiography, On Your Own, was published in 1985. Her 1987 senior thesis was titled "The Initiation: From Innocence to Experience: The Pre-Adolescent/Adolescent Journey in the Films of Louis Malle, Pretty Baby and Lacombe Lucien."
1988–1999: Film, stage, and television roles
Shields played the eponymous lead in the 1989 movie Brenda Starr, which had been shot in 1986 for an intended 1987 release but was held up for years over legal problems due to the rights to the comic strip and demands from Shields' mother that she receive top-billing in the picture, which co-starred Timothy Dalton. When the film was finally released in 1993, it was roasted by critics and bombed at the box office.
Kevin Thomas in the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Brenda Starr (citywide) arrives after some five years of legal disputes over distribution rights. It would have been an act of kindness for all concerned, including the paying customer, to have left it on the shelf where it belongs."
Peter Travers, writing for Rolling Stone, gave the film a negative review, writing, "There's been so much negative insider buzz about Brooke's 'Brenda' that you might be harboring a hope that the damned thing turned out all right. Get over it. Brenda Starr is not as bad as the also-rans that Hollywood traditionally dumps on us before Labor Day... it's a heap worse."
Entertainment Weekly would later place the film on its list of "21 Worst Comic-Book Movies Ever".
In 1993, Shields made a guest appearance in a fourth-season episode of The Simpsons, called "The Front". The following year, she starred as Rizzo in the 1994 Broadway revival of Grease.
In a 1996 episode of the popular comedy sitcom Friends, Shields played Joey Tribbiani's stalker. This role led directly to her being cast in the title role of the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan, in which she starred from 1996 until 2000, and which earned a People's Choice Award in the category of Favorite Female Performer in a New Television Series for her, in 1997, and two Golden Globe nominations.
In 1998, she played a lesbian, Lily, in The Misadventures of Margaret.
2000–2010: Further television and film work
In 2001, Lifetime aired the film What Makes a Family, starring Shields and Cherry Jones in a true story of a lesbian couple who fought the adoption laws of Florida. For four months, beginning July 2001, Shields portrayed Sally Bowles in the long-running Broadway revival of Cabaret.
In 2004, Shields made several recurring guest appearances on That '70s Show playing Pam Burkhart, Jackie's (Mila Kunis) mother, who later was briefly involved with Donna's (Laura Prepon) father (Don Stark). Shields left That '70s Show when her character was written out.
In September 2004, she replaced Donna Murphy in the role of Ruth Sherwood in the 2003 revival of Wonderful Town until the show closed four months later. Her performance was widely praised. Ben Brantley of The New York Times praised the "goofy sweetness" she brought to her interpretation of the role, but wrote that she fell short of Donna Murphy's "perfection." In April 2005, Shields played Roxie Hart in a long-running production of Chicago at the Adelphi Theatre in London's West End. Later the same year, she reprised the role in the Broadway revival, from September 9 to October 30. This made her the first performer to have starred in Chicago, Cabaret, and Grease on Broadway, three long-running revivals noted for "stunt casting" of celebrities not known for musical theatre.
Shields recorded the narration for the Sony/BMG recording of The Runaway Bunny, a concerto for violin, orchestra, and reader, by Glen Roven. It was performed by the Royal Philharmonic and Ittai Shapira.
In the late 2000s, Shields guest-starred on shows like FX's Nip/Tuck and CBS's Two and a Half Men. In 2005, Shields appeared in a second-season episode of HBO's Entourage, entitled "Blue Balls Lagoon". In 2007, she made a guest appearance on Disney's Hannah Montana, playing Susan Stewart, protagonist Miley Stewart's (Miley Cyrus) mother, who died in 2004. In 2008, she returned in the prime time drama Lipstick Jungle. The series ended a year later.
Starting in 2010, she made guest appearances on The Middle as the mother of a brood of terror-inducing children and the nemesis of Frankie Heck (Patricia Heaton). She also appeared as a featured celebrity in NBC's genealogy documentary reality series, Who Do You Think You Are?, where it was revealed that, through her father's ancestry, she is the distant cousin (many generations removed) of King Louis XIV of France, and thus a descendant of both Saint Louis and Henry IV of France.
2011–present: Television hosting; documentary
Shields took over the role of Morticia Addams in the Broadway musical The Addams Family beginning on June 28, 2011.
Starting in 2013, Shields has been an occasional guest co-host in the 9:00 hour of Today on NBC. She also recurred during Season Nineteen of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Sheila Porter, the maternal grandmother of Olivia Benson's (Mariska Hargitay) adopted son, Noah Porter.
Shields is the subject of the 2023 documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, directed by Lana Wilson, who also directed the Taylor Swift documentary, Miss Americana. The two-part series, which aired on Hulu on 3 April 2023, is "A look at actor, model and icon Brooke Shields as she transforms from a sexualized young girl to a woman discovering her power."
In 2024, Shields was elected the president of the Actors' Equity Association and starred in the Netflix film Mother of the Bride opposite Miranda Cosgrove.
Other media
Shields is the author of three books. In 2006, she penned the memoir Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression, in 2015 she published There Was a Little Girl about the relationship she had with her mother, who suffered from alcoholism throughout Shields's life, and in 2025 she published Brooke Shields is not Allowed to Get Old about aging as a woman.
In 2022, she launched a podcast called Now What? focusing on how people respond to adversity.
Personal life
As a child, Shields lived with her mother on Manhattan's Upper East Side. In 1990, she purchased a ranch near Big Timber, Montana. She also maintained a home in Los Angeles, which she purchased in 1998 and sold in 2022.
In the 1990s, Shields promoted physical fitness as an extension of femininity, maintaining that femininity and athletics are compatible.
Despite coming out against the fur industry in 1989, Shields later went on to create her own mink fur coat at Kopenhagen Fur. She dated actor Dean Cain while studying at Princeton University.
Shields has been married twice. In 1993, she began a relationship with Andre Agassi; the couple married in 1997 and divorced in 1999.
In 1999, she met television writer Chris Henchy through common friends. The pair wed in 2001. They have two daughters, Rowan Francis Henchy, born May 15, 2003, and Grier Hammond Henchy, born April 18, 2006. As of 2012, they were living in Greenwich Village, New York City.
Postpartum depression
Between April and May 2005, Shields spoke to magazines (such as Guideposts) and appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to publicize her battle with postpartum depression, an experience that included depression, thoughts of suicide, an inability to respond to her baby's needs and delayed maternal bonding. Her book, Down Came the Rain, discusses her experience, contributing to a greater public awareness of postpartum depression.
In May 2005, actor Tom Cruise—a Scientologist whose beliefs frown upon psychiatry—condemned Shields, both personally and professionally, for using and speaking in favor of the antidepressant drug Paxil. As Cruise said, "Here is a woman and I care about Brooke Shields, because I think she is an incredibly talented woman, you look at [and think], where has her career gone?" Shields responded that Cruise's remarks on antidepressants were "irresponsible" and "dangerous". She also argued that he should "stick to fighting aliens" (a reference to Cruise's role in War of the Worlds as well as some of the more esoteric aspects of Scientology doctrine and teachings), "and let mothers decide the best way to treat postpartum depression." Shields responded to a further attack by Cruise with an op-ed titled "War of Words", published in The New York Times on July 1, 2005, in which she made an individual case for the medication and stated: "In a strange way, it was comforting to me when my obstetrician told me that my feelings of extreme despair and my suicidal thoughts were directly tied to a biochemical shift in my body. Once we admit that postpartum is a serious medical condition, then the treatment becomes more available and socially acceptable. With a doctor's care, I have since tapered off the medication but, without it, I wouldn't have become the loving parent I am today." On August 31, 2006, according to USA Today, Cruise apologized in person to Shields for the incident; she accepted the apology, saying it was "heartfelt". That November, she and her husband attended Cruise's wedding to Katie Holmes.
Relationship with Michael Jackson
On July 7, 2009, Shields spoke at the memorial service for Michael Jackson. She stated in that speech that she first met Jackson when she was 13 years old, and the two instantly became friends. Shields said:
Thinking back to when we met and the many times that we spent together and whenever we were out together, there would be a caption of some kind, and the caption usually said something like 'an odd couple' or 'an unlikely pair,' but to us it was the most natural and easiest of friendships... Michael always knew he could count on me to support him or be his date and that we would have fun no matter where we were. We had a bond... Both of us needed to be adults very early, but when we were together, we were two little kids having fun.
In her eulogy, she shared anecdotes, including an occasion in which she was his date for one of Elizabeth Taylor's weddings, and the pair sneaked into Taylor's room to get the first look at her dress, only to discover Taylor asleep in the bed. Shields gave a tearful speech, referring to the many memories she and Jackson shared and briefly joked about his famous sequin glove. She also mentioned Jackson's favorite song, "Smile" by Charlie Chaplin, which was later sung in the memorial service by Jermaine Jackson.
Jackson stated in his 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey that he was dating Shields at the time. Shields has stated that Jackson asked her to marry him numerous times and to adopt a child together.
In a conversation with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach in 2001, Jackson said of Shields:
That was one of the loves of my life. I think she loved me as much as I loved her, you know? We dated a lot. We, we went out a lot. Her pictures were all over my wall, my mirror, everything. And I went to the Academy Awards with Diana Ross and this girl walks up to me and says 'Hi, I'm Brooke Shields.' Then she goes, 'Are you going to the after-party?' I go, 'Yeah.' 'Good, I'll see you at the party.' I'm going, 'Oh my God, does she know she's all over my room?' So we go to the after-party. She comes up to me she goes, 'Will you dance with me?' I went, 'Yes. I will dance with you.' Man, we exchanged numbers and I was up all night, singing, spinning around my room, just so happy. It was great.
Relationship with mass media
Shortly after Shields graduated from Princeton University, her four-year transcript was published in the July 1987 edition of Life magazine. Based on that transcript, The New York Times published a light-hearted op-ed piece intended to tweak the claim that Princeton produced superior, well-rounded graduates. Noting that Shields "got all As and Bs, and obviously paid attention to her school work", it claimed she "got cheated" because Princeton did not require her to take any classical studies, medieval, modern or American history, or any course in mathematics, philosophy, economics, political science, world literature, or science with laboratory experience. "[I]f that adds up to a liberal arts education from a place like Princeton, there is no longer any danger that our society will ever suffer from elitism in any form."
The article was indicative of the intense media scrutiny faced by Shields after the release of the 1978 film Pretty Baby, in which she, as a child actor, was filmed nude and in sexual situations. In a March 2023 Vogue profile of Shields, Chloe Malle, the daughter of the film's director, discussed the film as well as the January 2023 documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields that it inspired:
The media loved her, but they also pilloried her. Like Framing Britney Spears, the documentary clarifies—with the benefit of time and perspective—the role of the media as the relentless villain in Shields's story. Reporters' lack of tenderness toward a preteen girl and demands that she answer for the way that she was sexualized onscreen are perhaps the most gasp-inducing parts of the film. "They're shocking," agrees Shields, recalling an interview with Barbara Walters in which the journalist asked Shields to stand up and compare her measurements to Walters's own. "I felt more objectified and abused by [that]," says Shields. "The irony is I didn't have that discomfort or shame in the one nude scene in Pretty Baby."
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Published works
Shields, Brooke (1978). The Brooke Book. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-671-79018-9.
Shields, Brooke (1985). On Your Own. Villard. ISBN 978-0-394-54460-1.
Shields, Brooke (2006). Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression. Hyperion. ISBN 978-1-61553-007-6.
Shields, Brooke (2009). It's the Best Day Ever, Dad!. Illustrated by Cori Doerrfeld. Middle Grade. ISBN 978-0-06-172445-9.
Shields, Brooke (2014). There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me. Dutton Adult. ISBN 978-0-525-95484-2.
References
External links
Brooke Shields at IMDb
Brooke Shields at the TCM Movie Database
Brooke Shields at the Internet Broadway Database
Brooke Shields at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
WebMD article on Brooke Shields and Postpartum Depression (2005)
Brooke Shields on The Barbara Walters Summer Special (1981)
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Bob Barker
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Robert William Barker (December 12, 1923 – August 26, 2023) was an American media personality, game show host, and animal rights advocate. He hosted CBS's The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in North American television history, from 1972 to 2007. Barker also hosted Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.
Born in Darrington, Washington, in modest circumstances, Barker spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation and was a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Barker joined the United States Navy Reserve during World War II. He worked part-time in radio while attending college. In 1950, Barker moved to California to pursue a broadcasting career. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for six years. Barker began his game show career in 1956, hosting Truth or Consequences.
Barker began hosting The Price Is Right in 1972. He became an advocate for animal rights and of animal rights activism, supporting groups such as the United Activists for Animal Rights, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In 2007, Barker retired from hosting The Price Is Right after celebrating his 50-year career on television. Regarded as a pop culture icon, Barker continued to make occasional appearances for several years into his retirement until 2015.
Early life
Robert William Barker was born on December 12, 1923, in Darrington, Washington, and spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota. The U.S. Indian Census Rolls, 1885–1940, list Barker as a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, which the tribe publicly confirmed. His mother, Matilda ("Tillie") Valandra (née Matilda Kent Tarleton), was a schoolteacher; his father, Byron John Barker, was the foreman on the electrical high line through the state of Washington. As Barker's father was one-quarter Sioux, and his mother non-Native, Barker was one-eighth Sioux. Barker attended the grade school on the Rosebud Reservation where his mother was a teacher. Barker once said, "I've always bragged about being part Indian, because they are a people to be proud of. And the Sioux were the greatest warriors of them all."
Barker met his future wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon, at an Ella Fitzgerald concert while he was attending high school in Missouri; they began dating when he was 15. Barker attended Drury College (now Drury University) in Springfield, Missouri, on a basketball athletic scholarship. He was a member of the Epsilon Beta chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity at Drury. Barker joined the United States Navy Reserve in 1943 during World War II to train as a fighter pilot but did not serve in combat. On January 12, 1945, while on leave from the military, Barker married Dorothy Jo. After the war, he returned to Drury to finish his education, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in economics.
Career
Broadcasting
While attending college in Drury, Barker worked his first media job at KTTS-FM Radio in Springfield. He and his wife left Springfield and moved to Lake Worth Beach, Florida, and Barker was news editor and announcer at nearby WWPG 1340 AM in Palm Beach (now WPBR in Lantana). In 1950, he moved to California to advance his broadcasting career. Barker was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for the next six years from Burbank. He was hosting an audience-participation radio show on KNX (AM) in Los Angeles when game show producer Ralph Edwards, who was looking for a new host to replace Jack Bailey on the daytime-television version of his long-running show, Truth or Consequences, happened to be listening and liked Barker's voice and style.
Game shows
Truth or Consequences (1956–1975)
Barker started hosting Truth or Consequences on December 31, 1956, and continued with the program until 1975.
The Price Is Right (1972–2007)
In early 1972, Mark Goodson and Bill Todman began shopping a modernized revival of The Price Is Right, with Dennis James as host. NBC bought the syndicated nighttime version of the Show first with James at the helm. CBS expressed interest in the series. Due to a contractual obligation and the fact that James was already viewed as the "NBC" Host, CBS wanted Bob Barker as the daytime host. After some initial resistance, Barker instead offered to host another upcoming CBS game show, Jack Barry's The Joker's Wild (which had difficulty finding a host and was scheduled to debut the same day as Price) to allow James to host Price, but CBS rejected this proposal. In December 1974, James stepped in to host the daytime The Price Is Right for a week when Barker was ill. James was the only person to substitute on the daytime version of the show while Barker was hosting. In 1977, James' contract was not renewed, and Barker took over as host of the nighttime edition of The Price Is Right until its cancellation in 1980.
On September 4, 1972, Barker began hosting the CBS revival of The Price Is Right.
On October 15, 1987, Barker did what other MCs almost never did then: he stopped using hair dye and let his hair go gray, its natural color by that time.
On October 31, 2006, Barker announced that he would retire from The Price Is Right in June 2007. Barker taped his final episode on June 6, 2007, with the show airing twice on June 15; once in Daytime and once on Primetime. On October 15, 2007, Drew Carey took over hosting duties on the show.
After his retirement, Barker made three return appearances to The Price is Right. He first appeared on the episode that aired on April 16, 2009, to promote his new autobiography, Priceless Memories. Barker appeared in the Showcase round at the end of the show. Barker made another guest appearance on the show to celebrate his 90th birthday, which aired on December 12, 2013. Barker announced a contestant for the first time ever on the show, along with one showcase. Barker's last appearance was a surprise appearance on April 1, 2015, for an April Fools' Day switch where he took Carey's place at the show's intro. Barker hosted the first bid and pricing game of that day before handing the hosting duties back to Carey; Barker later appeared during the showcase.
Film and other TV appearances
In addition to the game shows for which he became famous, Barker also hosted the annual/biennial Pillsbury Bake-Off (the bake-off occurred every two years starting in 1976). In 1978, he was the first host to have a male category champ. For several years during the 1970s and 1980s, he also co-hosted CBS's coverage of the Rose Parade from Pasadena, California. On September 7, 2009, Barker was a special guest host for WWE Raw (called "The Price is Raw") in Rosemont, Illinois. Aired during a period when nearly every episode of the weekly wrestling show featured a celebrity guest host, with mixed results, Barker's appearance has been ranked the best of nearly 80 hosts. Barker also agreed to be a rotating guest co-host on The Huckabee Show, a daily TV talk show hosted by Mike Huckabee. Barker first appeared on the show on July 29, 2010.
Barker's fame from his television hosting roles also saw him become a popular guest on other shows, including as a semi-regular panelist on the game shows Tattletales (1975–1976, with wife Dorothy Jo) and Match Game (1973–1980). Barker sat in Richard Dawson's former place during the first week after Dawson permanently left Match Game. Barker also made appearances on various talk shows such as: Dinah!, Larry King Live, The Arsenio Hall Show, Crook & Chase, Donny & Marie, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Wayne Brady Show, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
Barker often appeared in fiction as himself, usually in a cameo appearance, in shows including The Nanny, The Bold and the Beautiful Futurama, and How I Met Your Mother. In 1996, Barker played himself in the Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore. In one scene, Barker beats up Gilmore after an altercation arising from their teaming up in a Pro-Am Golf Tournament. According to Sandler, the original choice for that scene was Ed McMahon, but Sandler said that McMahon was not fond of the script and they got Barker because of Chuck Norris training Barker in the martial arts. In 2007, during a CBS prime-time special commemorating Barker's career, the fight scene from Happy Gilmore was shown, after which Sandler made a surprise appearance on stage to read a poem paying tribute to Barker. In 2015, during Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars" benefit show to battle autism, Barker and Sandler reunited for a video featuring the two of them in a follow-up fight at the hospital, which ends with both of them dying and going to heaven.
However, Barker did play characters apart from himself in Bonanza, as a character named Mort in the 1960 episode "Denver McKee", and as a small business owner named Bob Barnacle in "Sanctuary!", an episode of the Nickelodeon animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.
About one year after his retirement from The Price Is Right, Barker appeared in a public service announcement promoting the transition to digital television in the United States. The advertisement was produced under the first proposed date of February 16, 2009, for the transition. He later appeared in a commercial for State Farm Insurance's "Magic Jingle" campaign, where he made "a new car!" appear for a woman whose previous car was totaled by a giant concrete cylinder. In another TV advertisement, Barker endorsed David Jolly, a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for the 2014 Florida's 13th congressional district special election. Jolly won the nomination and ultimately won the seat.
Barker was honored after his death with an hour-long TV special celebrating his life. It aired on August 31, 2023.
Personal life
Barker was married to Dorothy Jo Gideon from 1945 until her death from lung cancer at age 57 in 1981.
From 1983 until his death, Barker was in a long-term relationship with Nancy Burnet, a self-described "radical" animal rights activist nearly 20 years younger than Barker. By mutual decision, Barker and Burnet were never married and lived in separate residences throughout their relationship. Barker had no children with either woman, stating that he had seen friends who had poor relationships with their children and felt like he was too busy to properly raise a child; as of 2007, Barker stated that he had no regrets about his decision.
From the late 2000s onward, Burnet described the relationship as a platonic friendship, even as Barker had become more interested in remarrying; she recalled a 2011 incident where Barker drafted a prenuptial agreement for Burnet's lawyer to review and revise as she felt fit, which she refused. Burnet managed Barker's health and diet in retirement.
Animal rights
Barker was a vegetarian. In 1982, Barker began ending The Price Is Right episodes with the phrase: "This is Bob Barker reminding you to help control the pet population – have your pets spayed or neutered." Though Barker had already been dabbling in animal rights before meeting Burnet, his efforts became more aggressive during his relationship with her.
In 1987, Barker requested the removal of fur prizes for the Miss USA pageant and stepped down as host when the producers refused. In 1989, Barker and United Activists for Animal Rights publicly accused several media projects and the American Humane Association of animal mistreatment and condoning animal mistreatment, a tactic which resulted in a $10 million suit against him and the UAAR for libel, slander, and invasion of privacy. The suit was finally settled by the insurer in 1994.
Barker founded DJ&T Foundation in 1994, named after his late wife and mother, which has contributed millions of dollars to animal-neutering programs and funded animal rescue and park facilities all over the United States. In 2004, Barker donated $1 million (equivalent to $1.7 million in 2024) to Columbia Law School to support the study of animal rights.
In 2009, Barker wrote a letter about three businesses in Cherokee, North Carolina, asking them to close their bear exhibits. He threatened to not attend the 2009 Game Show Awards, where Barker was to receive a lifetime achievement award, because Betty White would be attending. Although Barker had previously worked with White, he was feuding with her over the treatment of an elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo. White instead did not attend and pre-recorded her comments that she was scheduled to make about another awardee, Mark Goodson. That same year, Barker donated $1 million (equivalent to $1.4 million in 2021) to the University of Virginia Law School to support the study of animal rights. He made similar donations to Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Duke University School of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, and University of California, Los Angeles.
In 2010, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society announced that it had purchased and outfitted a ship to interdict Japanese whaling operations in the Southern Ocean using $5 million (equivalent to $7.2 million in 2024) provided by Barker. The ship was then named the MY Bob Barker, and its existence was first revealed when it helped discover the location of the Japanese whaling fleet.
Barker participated in several PETA public service announcements over the years, including one that claimed that vegan diets prevent Alzheimer's disease. In 2010, he donated $2.5 million (equivalent to $3.6 million in 2024) toward the purchase of office space for the organization in Los Angeles. The Bob Barker Building opened in 2012.
Lawsuits
In the late 1980s, Barker accused the American Humane Society and the United Activists for Animal Rights of condoning animal cruelty on the set of Project X and in several other media projects on the basis of allowing a cattle prod and a gun on set, and a rumored beating of a chimpanzee on set. American Humane responded by suing Barker for $10 million, citing libel, slander and invasion of privacy. American Humane claimed that there had been a two-year "vendetta" against them behind the accusations. In a series of public advertisements along with the lawsuit, American Humane responded to Barker's claims that his allegations were made based on insufficient and misleading information. The suit was eventually settled by Barker's insurance company, which paid American Humane $300,000.
In 1994, former model Dian Parkinson filed a lawsuit against Barker alleging sexual harassment following a three-year affair while working on The Price Is Right. Parkinson, who alleged that she was extorted by threats of firing, later dropped her lawsuit, claiming the stress from the ordeal was damaging her health.
In 1995, model Holly Hallstrom left The Price Is Right and later filed suit against Barker, alleging that the reason she was fired was not so much because of her 14-pound (6.4 kg) medication-mediated weight gain (as documented) but because, to Barker's displeasure, she refused to give false information to the media regarding Parkinson's suit, as she alleges Barker had requested she do. Barker countersued for slander, but Hallstrom prevailed, receiving a settlement in 2005.
In October 2007, Deborah Curling, a CBS employee assigned to The Price Is Right, filed a lawsuit against CBS, Bob Barker, and The Price Is Right producers, claiming that she was forced to quit her job after testifying against Barker in a wrongful-termination lawsuit brought by a previous show producer. Curling claimed that she was demoted to an "intolerable work environment" backstage, which caused her to leave the job. Curling, who is black, also alleged that the show's producers, including Barker, created a hostile work environment in which black employees and contestants were discriminated against. A few months later, Barker was removed from the lawsuit, and in September 2009, the lawsuit was dismissed. Curling's attorney stated that he planned to appeal the dismissal of the lawsuit. In January 2012, the California Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal.
Health and death
On September 16, 1999, Barker was in Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress regarding proposed legislation that would ban captive elephants from traveling shows, such as circuses. While preparing for the presentation, Barker experienced what he called clumsiness in his right hand. Barker was admitted to George Washington University Hospital and diagnosed with a partially blocked left carotid artery. He underwent carotid endarterectomy to remove the blockage. The procedure went well enough that Barker was able to return to work within the month.
Three years later, Barker had two additional health crises after taping the 30th-season finale of The Price is Right. While lying in the sun on May 30, 2002, he experienced a stroke and was hospitalized; six weeks later, on July 11, Barker underwent prostate surgery. Both hospitalizations occurred at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. and both surgeries were successful.
Barker had several mild bouts with skin cancer, a result of his frequent tanning. Barker consulted a dermatologist regularly to make sure any cancers were caught and removed before they spread; they did not pose a threat to his life. During a televised interview, Barker told viewers, "I urge anyone who has spent some time in the sun, whether you're doing it now or not, go to a dermatologist once a year."
On October 20, 2015, two police officers passing Barker's Los Angeles-area home saw him trip and fall on a sidewalk. They called an ambulance which took him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where Barker received stitches for an injured forehead and was released; he also hurt his left knee.
Barker slipped and hit his head at home on June 19, 2017. His maid drove him to the emergency room, where Barker was checked and released. His representative said it was not as serious as his earlier fall. In October and November 2018, Barker was rushed to the hospital for severe back pain. Barker suffered another fall in January 2019, but he was not hospitalized.
Barker's last public interview was with People in August 2021, in which he discussed The Price Is Right's upcoming 50th season on air.
As of 2022, Burnet stated that, other than some non-prescription supplements such as collagen and a meal replacement drink to replenish nutrients not found naturally in Barker's vegetarian diet, he took only one prescription medication for hypothyroidism.
On August 26, 2023, Barker died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 99 following several years with Alzheimer's disease, a condition that Burnet and Barker's publicity team had kept hidden from the public. Hypertension, hyperlipidemia and hypothyroidism were listed as secondary causes of death. Barker was interred alongside his wife at Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills.
Awards and honors
Daytime Emmy Awards
Overall 19-time winner:
14-time winner of Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host, as host of The Price Is Right
4-time winner of Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show, as executive producer of The Price Is Right
Lifetime Achievement Award, presented at the 1999 Daytime Emmy Awards
WWE
2009 Slammy Award for Best Guest Host.
Media
Bob Barker Studio at CBS Television City named in his honor.
Time magazine's Greatest Game Show Host of All-Time
GSN Lifetime Achievement Award
Halls of Fame
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Television Hall of Fame (class of 2004).
NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame (class of 2008).
Autobiography
Barker's autobiography, Priceless Memories, written with former Los Angeles Times book review editor Digby Diehl, was published on April 6, 2009.
See also
List of animal rights advocates
Notes
References
External links
Bob Barker at IMDb
Bob Barker at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Bob Barker discography at Discogs
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Robert William Barker (December 12, 1923 – August 26, 2023) was an American media personality, game show host, and animal rights advocate. He hosted CBS's The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in North American television history, from 1972 to 2007. Barker also hosted Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.
Born in Darrington, Washington, in modest circumstances, Barker spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation and was a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Barker joined the United States Navy Reserve during World War II. He worked part-time in radio while attending college. In 1950, Barker moved to California to pursue a broadcasting career. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for six years. Barker began his game show career in 1956, hosting Truth or Consequences.
Barker began hosting The Price Is Right in 1972. He became an advocate for animal rights and of animal rights activism, supporting groups such as the United Activists for Animal Rights, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In 2007, Barker retired from hosting The Price Is Right after celebrating his 50-year career on television. Regarded as a pop culture icon, Barker continued to make occasional appearances for several years into his retirement until 2015.
Early life
Robert William Barker was born on December 12, 1923, in Darrington, Washington, and spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota. The U.S. Indian Census Rolls, 1885–1940, list Barker as a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, which the tribe publicly confirmed. His mother, Matilda ("Tillie") Valandra (née Matilda Kent Tarleton), was a schoolteacher; his father, Byron John Barker, was the foreman on the electrical high line through the state of Washington. As Barker's father was one-quarter Sioux, and his mother non-Native, Barker was one-eighth Sioux. Barker attended the grade school on the Rosebud Reservation where his mother was a teacher. Barker once said, "I've always bragged about being part Indian, because they are a people to be proud of. And the Sioux were the greatest warriors of them all."
Barker met his future wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon, at an Ella Fitzgerald concert while he was attending high school in Missouri; they began dating when he was 15. Barker attended Drury College (now Drury University) in Springfield, Missouri, on a basketball athletic scholarship. He was a member of the Epsilon Beta chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity at Drury. Barker joined the United States Navy Reserve in 1943 during World War II to train as a fighter pilot but did not serve in combat. On January 12, 1945, while on leave from the military, Barker married Dorothy Jo. After the war, he returned to Drury to finish his education, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in economics.
Career
Broadcasting
While attending college in Drury, Barker worked his first media job at KTTS-FM Radio in Springfield. He and his wife left Springfield and moved to Lake Worth Beach, Florida, and Barker was news editor and announcer at nearby WWPG 1340 AM in Palm Beach (now WPBR in Lantana). In 1950, he moved to California to advance his broadcasting career. Barker was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for the next six years from Burbank. He was hosting an audience-participation radio show on KNX (AM) in Los Angeles when game show producer Ralph Edwards, who was looking for a new host to replace Jack Bailey on the daytime-television version of his long-running show, Truth or Consequences, happened to be listening and liked Barker's voice and style.
Game shows
Truth or Consequences (1956–1975)
Barker started hosting Truth or Consequences on December 31, 1956, and continued with the program until 1975.
The Price Is Right (1972–2007)
In early 1972, Mark Goodson and Bill Todman began shopping a modernized revival of The Price Is Right, with Dennis James as host. NBC bought the syndicated nighttime version of the Show first with James at the helm. CBS expressed interest in the series. Due to a contractual obligation and the fact that James was already viewed as the "NBC" Host, CBS wanted Bob Barker as the daytime host. After some initial resistance, Barker instead offered to host another upcoming CBS game show, Jack Barry's The Joker's Wild (which had difficulty finding a host and was scheduled to debut the same day as Price) to allow James to host Price, but CBS rejected this proposal. In December 1974, James stepped in to host the daytime The Price Is Right for a week when Barker was ill. James was the only person to substitute on the daytime version of the show while Barker was hosting. In 1977, James' contract was not renewed, and Barker took over as host of the nighttime edition of The Price Is Right until its cancellation in 1980.
On September 4, 1972, Barker began hosting the CBS revival of The Price Is Right.
On October 15, 1987, Barker did what other MCs almost never did then: he stopped using hair dye and let his hair go gray, its natural color by that time.
On October 31, 2006, Barker announced that he would retire from The Price Is Right in June 2007. Barker taped his final episode on June 6, 2007, with the show airing twice on June 15; once in Daytime and once on Primetime. On October 15, 2007, Drew Carey took over hosting duties on the show.
After his retirement, Barker made three return appearances to The Price is Right. He first appeared on the episode that aired on April 16, 2009, to promote his new autobiography, Priceless Memories. Barker appeared in the Showcase round at the end of the show. Barker made another guest appearance on the show to celebrate his 90th birthday, which aired on December 12, 2013. Barker announced a contestant for the first time ever on the show, along with one showcase. Barker's last appearance was a surprise appearance on April 1, 2015, for an April Fools' Day switch where he took Carey's place at the show's intro. Barker hosted the first bid and pricing game of that day before handing the hosting duties back to Carey; Barker later appeared during the showcase.
Film and other TV appearances
In addition to the game shows for which he became famous, Barker also hosted the annual/biennial Pillsbury Bake-Off (the bake-off occurred every two years starting in 1976). In 1978, he was the first host to have a male category champ. For several years during the 1970s and 1980s, he also co-hosted CBS's coverage of the Rose Parade from Pasadena, California. On September 7, 2009, Barker was a special guest host for WWE Raw (called "The Price is Raw") in Rosemont, Illinois. Aired during a period when nearly every episode of the weekly wrestling show featured a celebrity guest host, with mixed results, Barker's appearance has been ranked the best of nearly 80 hosts. Barker also agreed to be a rotating guest co-host on The Huckabee Show, a daily TV talk show hosted by Mike Huckabee. Barker first appeared on the show on July 29, 2010.
Barker's fame from his television hosting roles also saw him become a popular guest on other shows, including as a semi-regular panelist on the game shows Tattletales (1975–1976, with wife Dorothy Jo) and Match Game (1973–1980). Barker sat in Richard Dawson's former place during the first week after Dawson permanently left Match Game. Barker also made appearances on various talk shows such as: Dinah!, Larry King Live, The Arsenio Hall Show, Crook & Chase, Donny & Marie, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Wayne Brady Show, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
Barker often appeared in fiction as himself, usually in a cameo appearance, in shows including The Nanny, The Bold and the Beautiful Futurama, and How I Met Your Mother. In 1996, Barker played himself in the Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore. In one scene, Barker beats up Gilmore after an altercation arising from their teaming up in a Pro-Am Golf Tournament. According to Sandler, the original choice for that scene was Ed McMahon, but Sandler said that McMahon was not fond of the script and they got Barker because of Chuck Norris training Barker in the martial arts. In 2007, during a CBS prime-time special commemorating Barker's career, the fight scene from Happy Gilmore was shown, after which Sandler made a surprise appearance on stage to read a poem paying tribute to Barker. In 2015, during Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars" benefit show to battle autism, Barker and Sandler reunited for a video featuring the two of them in a follow-up fight at the hospital, which ends with both of them dying and going to heaven.
However, Barker did play characters apart from himself in Bonanza, as a character named Mort in the 1960 episode "Denver McKee", and as a small business owner named Bob Barnacle in "Sanctuary!", an episode of the Nickelodeon animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.
About one year after his retirement from The Price Is Right, Barker appeared in a public service announcement promoting the transition to digital television in the United States. The advertisement was produced under the first proposed date of February 16, 2009, for the transition. He later appeared in a commercial for State Farm Insurance's "Magic Jingle" campaign, where he made "a new car!" appear for a woman whose previous car was totaled by a giant concrete cylinder. In another TV advertisement, Barker endorsed David Jolly, a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for the 2014 Florida's 13th congressional district special election. Jolly won the nomination and ultimately won the seat.
Barker was honored after his death with an hour-long TV special celebrating his life. It aired on August 31, 2023.
Personal life
Barker was married to Dorothy Jo Gideon from 1945 until her death from lung cancer at age 57 in 1981.
From 1983 until his death, Barker was in a long-term relationship with Nancy Burnet, a self-described "radical" animal rights activist nearly 20 years younger than Barker. By mutual decision, Barker and Burnet were never married and lived in separate residences throughout their relationship. Barker had no children with either woman, stating that he had seen friends who had poor relationships with their children and felt like he was too busy to properly raise a child; as of 2007, Barker stated that he had no regrets about his decision.
From the late 2000s onward, Burnet described the relationship as a platonic friendship, even as Barker had become more interested in remarrying; she recalled a 2011 incident where Barker drafted a prenuptial agreement for Burnet's lawyer to review and revise as she felt fit, which she refused. Burnet managed Barker's health and diet in retirement.
Animal rights
Barker was a vegetarian. In 1982, Barker began ending The Price Is Right episodes with the phrase: "This is Bob Barker reminding you to help control the pet population – have your pets spayed or neutered." Though Barker had already been dabbling in animal rights before meeting Burnet, his efforts became more aggressive during his relationship with her.
In 1987, Barker requested the removal of fur prizes for the Miss USA pageant and stepped down as host when the producers refused. In 1989, Barker and United Activists for Animal Rights publicly accused several media projects and the American Humane Association of animal mistreatment and condoning animal mistreatment, a tactic which resulted in a $10 million suit against him and the UAAR for libel, slander, and invasion of privacy. The suit was finally settled by the insurer in 1994.
Barker founded DJ&T Foundation in 1994, named after his late wife and mother, which has contributed millions of dollars to animal-neutering programs and funded animal rescue and park facilities all over the United States. In 2004, Barker donated $1 million (equivalent to $1.7 million in 2024) to Columbia Law School to support the study of animal rights.
In 2009, Barker wrote a letter about three businesses in Cherokee, North Carolina, asking them to close their bear exhibits. He threatened to not attend the 2009 Game Show Awards, where Barker was to receive a lifetime achievement award, because Betty White would be attending. Although Barker had previously worked with White, he was feuding with her over the treatment of an elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo. White instead did not attend and pre-recorded her comments that she was scheduled to make about another awardee, Mark Goodson. That same year, Barker donated $1 million (equivalent to $1.4 million in 2021) to the University of Virginia Law School to support the study of animal rights. He made similar donations to Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Duke University School of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, and University of California, Los Angeles.
In 2010, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society announced that it had purchased and outfitted a ship to interdict Japanese whaling operations in the Southern Ocean using $5 million (equivalent to $7.2 million in 2024) provided by Barker. The ship was then named the MY Bob Barker, and its existence was first revealed when it helped discover the location of the Japanese whaling fleet.
Barker participated in several PETA public service announcements over the years, including one that claimed that vegan diets prevent Alzheimer's disease. In 2010, he donated $2.5 million (equivalent to $3.6 million in 2024) toward the purchase of office space for the organization in Los Angeles. The Bob Barker Building opened in 2012.
Lawsuits
In the late 1980s, Barker accused the American Humane Society and the United Activists for Animal Rights of condoning animal cruelty on the set of Project X and in several other media projects on the basis of allowing a cattle prod and a gun on set, and a rumored beating of a chimpanzee on set. American Humane responded by suing Barker for $10 million, citing libel, slander and invasion of privacy. American Humane claimed that there had been a two-year "vendetta" against them behind the accusations. In a series of public advertisements along with the lawsuit, American Humane responded to Barker's claims that his allegations were made based on insufficient and misleading information. The suit was eventually settled by Barker's insurance company, which paid American Humane $300,000.
In 1994, former model Dian Parkinson filed a lawsuit against Barker alleging sexual harassment following a three-year affair while working on The Price Is Right. Parkinson, who alleged that she was extorted by threats of firing, later dropped her lawsuit, claiming the stress from the ordeal was damaging her health.
In 1995, model Holly Hallstrom left The Price Is Right and later filed suit against Barker, alleging that the reason she was fired was not so much because of her 14-pound (6.4 kg) medication-mediated weight gain (as documented) but because, to Barker's displeasure, she refused to give false information to the media regarding Parkinson's suit, as she alleges Barker had requested she do. Barker countersued for slander, but Hallstrom prevailed, receiving a settlement in 2005.
In October 2007, Deborah Curling, a CBS employee assigned to The Price Is Right, filed a lawsuit against CBS, Bob Barker, and The Price Is Right producers, claiming that she was forced to quit her job after testifying against Barker in a wrongful-termination lawsuit brought by a previous show producer. Curling claimed that she was demoted to an "intolerable work environment" backstage, which caused her to leave the job. Curling, who is black, also alleged that the show's producers, including Barker, created a hostile work environment in which black employees and contestants were discriminated against. A few months later, Barker was removed from the lawsuit, and in September 2009, the lawsuit was dismissed. Curling's attorney stated that he planned to appeal the dismissal of the lawsuit. In January 2012, the California Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal.
Health and death
On September 16, 1999, Barker was in Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress regarding proposed legislation that would ban captive elephants from traveling shows, such as circuses. While preparing for the presentation, Barker experienced what he called clumsiness in his right hand. Barker was admitted to George Washington University Hospital and diagnosed with a partially blocked left carotid artery. He underwent carotid endarterectomy to remove the blockage. The procedure went well enough that Barker was able to return to work within the month.
Three years later, Barker had two additional health crises after taping the 30th-season finale of The Price is Right. While lying in the sun on May 30, 2002, he experienced a stroke and was hospitalized; six weeks later, on July 11, Barker underwent prostate surgery. Both hospitalizations occurred at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. and both surgeries were successful.
Barker had several mild bouts with skin cancer, a result of his frequent tanning. Barker consulted a dermatologist regularly to make sure any cancers were caught and removed before they spread; they did not pose a threat to his life. During a televised interview, Barker told viewers, "I urge anyone who has spent some time in the sun, whether you're doing it now or not, go to a dermatologist once a year."
On October 20, 2015, two police officers passing Barker's Los Angeles-area home saw him trip and fall on a sidewalk. They called an ambulance which took him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where Barker received stitches for an injured forehead and was released; he also hurt his left knee.
Barker slipped and hit his head at home on June 19, 2017. His maid drove him to the emergency room, where Barker was checked and released. His representative said it was not as serious as his earlier fall. In October and November 2018, Barker was rushed to the hospital for severe back pain. Barker suffered another fall in January 2019, but he was not hospitalized.
Barker's last public interview was with People in August 2021, in which he discussed The Price Is Right's upcoming 50th season on air.
As of 2022, Burnet stated that, other than some non-prescription supplements such as collagen and a meal replacement drink to replenish nutrients not found naturally in Barker's vegetarian diet, he took only one prescription medication for hypothyroidism.
On August 26, 2023, Barker died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 99 following several years with Alzheimer's disease, a condition that Burnet and Barker's publicity team had kept hidden from the public. Hypertension, hyperlipidemia and hypothyroidism were listed as secondary causes of death. Barker was interred alongside his wife at Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills.
Awards and honors
Daytime Emmy Awards
Overall 19-time winner:
14-time winner of Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host, as host of The Price Is Right
4-time winner of Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show, as executive producer of The Price Is Right
Lifetime Achievement Award, presented at the 1999 Daytime Emmy Awards
WWE
2009 Slammy Award for Best Guest Host.
Media
Bob Barker Studio at CBS Television City named in his honor.
Time magazine's Greatest Game Show Host of All-Time
GSN Lifetime Achievement Award
Halls of Fame
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Television Hall of Fame (class of 2004).
NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame (class of 2008).
Autobiography
Barker's autobiography, Priceless Memories, written with former Los Angeles Times book review editor Digby Diehl, was published on April 6, 2009.
See also
List of animal rights advocates
Notes
References
External links
Bob Barker at IMDb
Bob Barker at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Bob Barker discography at Discogs
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Val Kilmer
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Val Edward Kilmer (December 31, 1959 – April 1, 2025) was an American actor. Initially a stage actor, he later found fame as a leading man in films in a wide variety of genres, including comedies, dramas, action adventures, westerns, historical films, crime dramas, science fiction films, and fantasy films. Films in which Kilmer appeared grossed more than $3.85 billion worldwide. In 1992, film critic Roger Ebert remarked, "if there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it".
Kilmer started his film career in the comedy films Top Secret! (1984) and Real Genius (1985), before transitioning to dramatic films. He rose to prominence for playing Iceman in Top Gun (1986), Madmartigan in Willow (1988), Jim Morrison in The Doors (1991), Elvis Presley in True Romance (1993), Doc Holliday in Tombstone (1993), Batman / Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever (1995), Chris Shiherlis in Heat (1995), Colonel John Henry Patterson in The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), Simon Templar in The Saint (1997), and the voice of Moses in The Prince of Egypt (1998). Kilmer made his final film appearance in Top Gun: Maverick (2022), reprising his role from the original film.
On stage, Kilmer made his Broadway theatre debut acting in the John Byrne working class play The Slab Boys (1983). He also acted in productions of William Shakespeare's history play Henry IV, Part 1 (1981) and in the John Ford tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1992) both at The Public Theater. He portrayed Mark Twain in a one-man show he had written titled Citizen Twain in a 2012 production in Los Angeles.
In 2015, Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer. He subsequently underwent a tracheal procedure that damaged his vocal cords, leaving him with severe difficulty speaking. He also underwent chemotherapy and two tracheotomies, and released his memoir, I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir (2020), and the documentary Val (2021), both of which detail his career and health struggles. He died of pneumonia on April 1, 2025 at the age of 65.
Early life, family and education
Val Edward Kilmer was born on December 31, 1959, in Los Angeles, California, the second of three sons to Gladys Swanette (née Ekstadt; 1928–2019) and industrialist and developer Eugene Dorris Kilmer (1921–1993). His mother was of Swedish descent, and his father's ancestry included Irish, German, and Cherokee roots. His parents divorced in 1968 when he was 8 years old and in 1970, his mother married William Bernard Leach.
Kilmer was raised with Christian Science beliefs, which he maintained for most of his life. In 1977, Kilmer's younger brother Wesley (1961–1977), who had epilepsy, drowned in a hot tub at age 16.
Kilmer attended Chatsworth High School where he was friends with actors Kevin Spacey and Mare Winningham, whom Kilmer dated. He became the youngest person at the time to be accepted into the Juilliard School's Drama Division, where he was a member of Group 10. At Juilliard, Kilmer and Spacey's friendship ended over a financial matter.
Career
Early roles and comedy films
Kilmer declined a role in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 film The Outsiders because he had prior theater commitments. In 1983, he appeared off Broadway in The Slab Boys with Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn, and Jackie Earle Haley. That same year, his first off-stage acting role (excluding television commercials) came in the form of an episode of ABC Afterschool Special called One Too Many, although it did not air until 1985. It was an educational drama on drinking and driving, and co-starred a young Michelle Pfeiffer. Also in 1983, Kilmer self-published a collection of his own poetry entitled My Edens After Burns, that included poems inspired by his time with Pfeiffer. This book of poems is difficult to obtain and expensive; known second-hand copies cost $300 and up.
His big break came when he received top billing in the comedy spoof of spy movies Top Secret!, in which he played an American rock and roll star. Kilmer sang all the songs in the film and released an album under the film character's name, "Nick Rivers".
During a brief hiatus, Kilmer backpacked throughout Europe before going on to play the lead character in the 1985 comedy Real Genius. He turned down a role in David Lynch's Blue Velvet before being cast as naval aviator Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in the action film Top Gun alongside Tom Cruise. Top Gun grossed a total of over $344 million worldwide and made Kilmer a major star. Following roles in the television films The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, Kilmer portrayed Madmartigan in the fantasy Willow; he met his future wife, co-star Joanne Whalley, on the film's set. Kilmer starred in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival production of Hamlet in 1988. In 1989, Kilmer played the lead in Kill Me Again, again opposite Whalley, and played William H. "Billy the Kid" Bonney in Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid.
1990–1995: Stardom with The Doors and Batman
After several delays, director Oliver Stone finally started production on the film The Doors, based on the story of the band of the same name. Kilmer spoke with Oliver Stone early on, concerned about what he might want to do with the story because Kilmer did not believe in or want to promote substance abuse. Kilmer saw Jim Morrison as having picked the wrong heroes, who had different issues, which were not part of the creativity or inspiration. Kilmer saw Morrison's story as one that could be told "a thousand different ways" and did not want to tell it by playing the role in the style of drugs, with which Oliver Stone agreed. Kilmer memorized the lyrics to all of lead singer Morrison's songs prior to his audition and sent a video of himself performing some Doors songs to director Stone. Stone was not impressed with the tape, but Paul A. Rothchild (the original producer of the Doors) said "I was shaken by it" and suggested they record Kilmer in the studio. After Kilmer was cast as Morrison, he prepared for the role by attending Doors tribute concerts and reading Morrison's poetry.
He spent close to a year before production dressing in Morrison-like clothes and spent time at Morrison's old hangouts along the Sunset Strip. His portrayal of Morrison was praised and members of the Doors noted that Kilmer did such a convincing job that they had trouble distinguishing his voice from Morrison's. Paul Rothchild played Kilmer's version of "The End" for the band's guitarist, Robby Krieger, who told him, "I'm really glad they got 'The End'. We never got a recording of that live with Jim and now we've got it." However, Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek was less than enthusiastic with how Morrison was portrayed in Stone's interpretation.
In the early 1990s, Kilmer starred in the mystery thriller Thunderheart, the action comedy The Real McCoy, and again teamed with Top Gun director Tony Scott to play Elvis Presley in True Romance, which was written by Quentin Tarantino. In 1993, Kilmer played Doc Holliday in the western Tombstone alongside Kurt Russell. In the film, Doc Holliday performs Chopin's Nocturne in E minor, Op.72, No. 1; however, Kilmer did not play the piano and he practiced that one piece for months in preparation. In 1995, Kilmer starred in Wings of Courage, a 3D IMAX film, and that same year, he starred opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat, which is now considered one of the best crime/drama films of the 1990s.
In December 1993 Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher had seen Tombstone and was most impressed with Kilmer's performance as Doc Holliday. Schumacher felt him to be perfect for the role of Batman, though at the time, the role was still Michael Keaton's. In July 1994, Keaton decided not to return for a third Batman film after 1992's Batman Returns, due to "creative differences". William Baldwin (who previously worked with Schumacher on Flatliners) was reported to be a top contender, though just days after Keaton dropped out, Kilmer was cast. Kilmer took the role without even knowing who the new director was and without reading the script.
Released in June 1995, Batman Forever was a success at the box office, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics. There was debate about Kilmer's performance: some critics, such as The New York Times' Janet Maslin, thought Kilmer was a poor successor to Keaton in the part; while others, such as Roger Ebert, had kind words for Kilmer. Batman co-creator Bob Kane said in a Cinescape interview that of all the actors to have played Batman up to that point, he felt Kilmer had given the best interpretation. Film critic Leonard Maltin (who criticized the dark tone contained in Batman Returns) complimented Kilmer's portrayal when he reviewed the film in his 2009 movie guide.
In February 1996, Kilmer decided not to return for another Batman feature film, feeling that Batman was being marginalized in favor of the villains, as well as his scheduling problems with The Saint, and George Clooney replaced him as Batman in 1997's Batman & Robin. There were also reports that Kilmer had a bad working relationship with Schumacher, as another reason for not reprising the role.
1996–2009: Further career
In 1996 he appeared in a largely unknown film, Dead Girl, and starred alongside Marlon Brando in the poorly received The Island of Dr. Moreau. That year, Kilmer starred alongside Michael Douglas in the thriller The Ghost and the Darkness. In 1997 he played Simon Templar in the popular action film The Saint. Kilmer looked forward to the title role as a change toward a more fun, less serious action thriller, while enjoying the "master of disguise" chameleon characters including a mad artist, a nerdy British scientist, a cleaner, and a Russian mob boss. Kilmer also wrote the poetry in the film. He received a salary of $6 million for the movie. The Saint was a financial success, grossing $169.4 million worldwide. In 1998, he voiced both Moses and God in the animated film The Prince of Egypt, before starring in the independent film Joe the King (1999). Also in 1999, he played a blind man in the drama/romance At First Sight, which he described as being, as of then, the hardest role he had ever had.
Kilmer's first role in 2000 was in the big budget Warner Bros. box office disaster Red Planet. That same year, he had a supporting role as the Dutch-born American abstract expressionist painter Willem DeKooning in the film Pollock and hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time. In 2002, he starred in the thriller The Salton Sea, which was generally well-reviewed, but received only a limited release. The same year, he teamed with his True Romance co-star, Christian Slater, to appear in the low-budget film Hard Cash, also known as Run for the Money.
In 2003, Kilmer starred alongside Kate Bosworth in the drama/thriller Wonderland, portraying porn star John Holmes. He also appeared in The Missing, where he again worked with Willow director Ron Howard. The next year, he starred in David Mamet's Spartan, where he played a United States government secret agent who is assigned the task of rescuing the kidnapped daughter of the president. He received Delta Force-like training in preparation for the role. Subsequently, he had a role in the drama Stateside, and starred (again with Slater) in the thriller Mindhunters, which was filmed in 2003 but not released until 2005. Kilmer next appeared in the big budget Oliver Stone production Alexander, which received poor reviews.
Also in 2004, Kilmer returned to the theater to play Moses in a Los Angeles musical production of The Ten Commandments: The Musical, produced by BCBG founder Max Azria. The production played at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and also featured Adam Lambert. This same year, Kilmer appeared in an episode of Entourage, where he played a Sherpa whose primary source of income was growing, harvesting, and distributing high-quality cannabis, all under a guise of metaphysical insights.
Kilmer was in negotiations with Richard Dutcher (a leading director of Mormon-related films) to play the lead role in a film entitled Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith, although the project never materialized. Kilmer performed in The Postman Always Rings Twice on the London stage from June to September 2005. In 2005, he co-starred with Robert Downey, Jr. in the action-comedy film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. His performance was praised and the film was well reviewed, but it received only a limited release. It later won the award for "Overlooked Film of the Year" from the Phoenix Film Critics Society.
Filmink argued "we're really surprised Kilmer could not make more of a comeback in the 2000s. Was he too chubby? Had he burned too many bridges? Another '90s movie star who hit a cold streak and got jowly Alec Baldwin came back in a big way via 30 Rock, but for whatever reason, Kilmer could never come close to his old glory."
In 2006, Kilmer reunited with director Tony Scott for a third time for a supporting role opposite Denzel Washington in the box-office hit Déjà Vu. The song "Val Kilmer" was named after him on Bowling for Soup's 2006 album The Great Burrito Extortion Case. The song was later used for a Ford Motors commercial on season 10 of American Idol in 2011. In 2007, he guest-starred on the hit TV series Numb3rs in the episode "Trust Metric", portraying torture expert Mason Lancer. That same year, he released a CD, proceeds of which went to his charity interests. In 2008, Kilmer starred alongside Stephen Dorff in the Sony and Stage 6 film Felon. The film was given only a limited theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles in 2008, but it developed into a success secondary to positive word of mouth. Kilmer was the voice of the car KITT for the 2008 Knight Rider TV pilot film and the following television series. He replaced Will Arnett, who had to step down from the role due to contractual conflict with General Motors. In keeping with tradition established by the original Knight Rider series and original KITT actor William Daniels, Kilmer was uncredited for the role on-screen. He next starred alongside Nicolas Cage in the Werner Herzog film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, and alongside Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson in Streets of Blood. Both were released in 2009. He appeared as the main antagonist "Mongoose" in a live TV series adaptation of the comic/video game of XIII on NBC in 2009.
2010–2025: Later work and final projects
In 2010, Kilmer starred in Michael Oblowitz's horror film The Traveler, in which he played the vengeful spirit of a man who had been tortured and murdered while in police custody. In November 2010, Kilmer was filming in Kelseyville, California. He was finally able to work with his lifelong friend Francis Ford Coppola and star in the film Twixt. The film was filmed mostly on Coppola's estate in Napa County. The filming was expected to take five weeks and was being independently funded by Coppola. In 2010, Kilmer appeared as the villain Dieter Von Cunth in MacGruber and had a small cameo role in the music video for Tenacious D's "To Be the Best". Kilmer spoke at the May 5, 2010, commencement ceremonies of William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri. During his week-long visit on campus, he also performed his one-man play, Citizen Twain. He received an honorary doctorate "in recognition of his creative abilities and his contributions to art and theater".
In 2012, Kilmer received a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word. He also starred in Harmony Korine's short film The Lotus Community Workshop, part of the collaborative film The Fourth Dimension. He plays a version of himself from an alternate reality: a former actor turned self-help guru. The Fourth Dimension is a collection of three standalone short films about parallel universes produced by Vice Films in collaboration with Grolsch Film Works, a new division of the namesake beer company. Kilmer noted that his addition to the list of actors, including John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich) and Al Pacino (Jack and Jill), that mock their real-life persona in fictional movies was an accident and said that, "I still love saying the premise because it makes me laugh every time."
In 2002, Kilmer worked on a film about the life of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science church, and Mark Twain, one of her most famous critics. The film is about the lives and relationship of Eddy and Twain as "a quirky, tender, tragicomic portrait of two contrasting lives, set against the backdrop of the United States during the Gilded Age." Citizen Twain was initially performed as a one-man show Hollywood workshop in April 2012; it then became the basis of Kilmer's film project, his directorial debut. The 90-minute film version of his one-man stage show was released as Cinema Twain. In 2013, he reunited with his Top Gun co-star Anthony Edwards in the Disney animated movie Planes. Kilmer voiced the character Bravo, while Edwards supplied Echo. Kilmer also played the role of Detective Dobson in the series finale of the television show Psych.
In 2017, Kilmer appeared in Song to Song opposite Rooney Mara and Ryan Gosling and directed by Terrence Malick. Kilmer also appeared in the 2017 film The Snowman, opposite Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson and directed by Tomas Alfredson. In August 2020, Kilmer shared the screen with his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, for the first time in Paydirt. Kilmer reprised his role as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky for the Top Gun sequel Top Gun: Maverick (2022). The 2021 documentary film Val, which chronicles his health struggles and career, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim and later earned two Critics' Choice Documentary Awards.
As Kilmer's throat problems affected his vocal abilities, technology solutions were sought. In 2021, he collaborated with Sonantic, a London-based software company, to digitally recreate his voice using AI and archived recordings. More than 40 vocal models were created to find the closest match for future projects. For the 2022 film Top Gun: Maverick, director Joseph Kosinski stated that, despite reports to the contrary, they did not use Sonantic's AI technology in the film. Instead, Kilmer's actual voice was digitally altered for clarity.
Kilmer had been set to make an appearance at the Beverly Hills Film Festival in Beverly Hills, California on April 1, 2025, hours before his death.
Personal life
Relationships and family
Over the years, Kilmer dated Cher, Lesley Ann Warren, Cindy Crawford, Angelina Jolie, Daryl Hannah and Ellen Barkin.
Kilmer was married to actress Joanne Whalley from March 1988 to February 1996. The two met while working together on the 1988 film Willow. They had two children: a daughter, Mercedes, born in 1991, and a son, actor Jack Kilmer, born in 1995.
Residences and activities
Kilmer owned a 6,000-acre (2,400 ha) ranch in New Mexico, where he would trek, hike, fish, and raise bison. He sold it in 2011.
Kilmer was an avid musician; he released a demo album, Sessions with Mick, in 2007. He was also a painter and photographer.
Reputation
Kilmer had a reputation for being difficult to work with and having feuds with some of the actors with whom he worked, notably The Island of Dr. Moreau co-star Marlon Brando and Red Planet and Heat co-star Tom Sizemore. Kilmer's Tombstone co-star, Michael Biehn, said: "People ask me what it's like to work with Val Kilmer. I don't know. Never met him. Never shook his hand. I know Doc Holliday, but I don't know [Kilmer]."
Richard Stanley, who directed Kilmer for three days in The Island of Dr. Moreau before being fired, recalled, "Val would arrive, and an argument would happen." John Frankenheimer, who replaced Stanley, said, "I don't like Val Kilmer, I don't like his work ethic, and I don't want to be associated with him ever again." Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher called Kilmer "childish and impossible".
When Kilmer's At First Sight co-star Mira Sorvino was asked about his reputation as "difficult to work with", she responded: "You know what, he was real easy to work with. I just hate furthering rumours about people being difficult, because it can do such enormous damage to their careers. My experience with him was nothing but positive. He was really professional and gentlemanly, and a terrific actor." Kurt Russell, Kilmer's co-star in Tombstone, said of working with him: "If you're asking me if it was great working with Val Kilmer, who played Doc Holliday on Tombstone, the answer is absolutely." Drew Barrymore, who costarred with Kilmer in Batman Forever, said of her experience with the actor: "Val Kilmer was so nice to me. He was so nurturing and kind and safe, which was a very important thing for me."
Hilarie Burton, Kilmer's co-star in Bloodworth, called him "the sweetest man" and said he cut a gratuitous sex scene between them in the film because "it didn't service the story or the character", instead changing it to a scene in which their characters are enjoying barbecued ribs. "I felt so safe and cared for by that man.... He made the scene about us instead of using me as a prop. That one day at work rewired my brain. Val was kind to me. A thoughtful artist. I bought some of his paintings a few years back. I hope every young actor has a Val in their life. That movie was a magical experience," she said. David Thewlis, Kilmer's co-star in The Island of Dr. Moreau said of working with him; "I spent the most bizarre 5 months of my entire life with Val Kilmer, out in the Australian rainforest, on the ill fated Island of Dr Moreau. It was so spectacularly bleak and awful it was almost wonderful. Look it up sometime. As Val wrote in his final mail to me: 'What an incredible story we lived, you and I. One of the greatest.'"
Political views and charity work
In 1998, Kilmer traveled to Iraq with AmeriCares to deliver humanitarian aid, the first US humanitarian airlift to Iraq since 1990. Kilmer made several trips to New Orleans to help in the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster relief. He was a supporter of Native American affairs and an advocate of environmental protection. Kilmer briefly considered running for Governor of New Mexico in 2010 but decided against it.
In May 2013, Kilmer lobbied Congress on behalf of the Equitable Access to Care and Health Act, or EACH Act (H.R. 1814), a bill "to provide an additional religious exemption from the individual health coverage mandate" of Obamacare.
Health
In 2014, Kilmer was forced to cancel a Citizen Twain show after losing his voice. He noticed a lump in his throat but did not seek medical care until he started vomiting blood. In January 2015, aged 55, he was hospitalized for what his representative said were tests for a possible tumor. Kilmer stated on social media, "I have not had a tumor, or tumor operations [sic], or any operation. I had a complication where the best way to receive care was to stay under the watchful eye of the UCLA ICU." Kilmer was a lifelong Christian Scientist, and upon his throat cancer diagnosis referred to it in the press as "the suggestion of throat cancer", opting not to explicitly associate himself with such a diagnosis. He underwent recommended chemotherapy following his children's request despite it being conventionally against his religion.
After previously denying persistent rumors that he had been diagnosed with cancer, Kilmer said in April 2017 that he had experienced a "healing of cancer". In December 2017, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Kilmer had endured a "two-year battle with throat cancer" and that "a procedure on his trachea has reduced his voice to a rasp and rendered him short of breath." To speak, Kilmer plugged an electric voice box into his trachea.
He ultimately underwent chemotherapy and two tracheotomies. Kilmer reported in 2020 that he had been cancer-free for four years but continued to struggle with medical treatments, including the use of a feeding tube.
Death and tributes
Kilmer died of pneumonia in Los Angeles on April 1, 2025, aged 65. Other contributing underlying factors towards his death included acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, chronic respiratory failure, squamous cell carcinoma on the base of his tongue, malnutrition and tracheocutaneous fistula. Kilmer was cremated on April 7.
Upon his death, filmmaker Michael Mann wrote, "While working with Val on Heat, I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val's possessing and expressing character. After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news." Director Francis Ford Coppola wrote, "He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know — I will always remember him." Tom Cruise honored his Top Gun co-star at CinemaCon asking for a moment of silence saying, "I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us." Director Oliver Stone wrote: "Val Kilmer was brilliant, both as Jim Morrison in The Doors and in Alexander as King Philip of Macedon. His approach and attitude significantly changed between 1990 and Alexander in 2004. The results satisfied me on both occasions. To call Val turbulent, contradictory, and tortured is an understatement. But the result was he was exciting on film, always exciting, and fresh. We need more Vals. He was an iconoclast and rebel in his acting, and always kept it exciting in either supporting or main roles. The movies will miss him." The Doors' drummer John Densmore wrote: "As an actor, Val's channeling of Jim (Morrison) was so close, he gave me the creeps on the set of Oliver Stone's biopic. He should have been nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor."
Filmography
Film
Television
Theatre
Video games
Music videos
Awards and nominations
Bibliography
Memoir
Kilmer, Val (2020). I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-9821-4489-0.
Poetry
Kilmer, Val (1987). My Edens After Burns. Blue Feather. ISBN 978-0-9324-8220-4.
Kilmer, Val (2021). Cowboy Poet Madman Outlaw: Selected Poems 1987-2020. A24. ISBN 978-1-7339-9206-0.
References
External links
Official website
Val Kilmer at the Internet Broadway Database
Val Kilmer at IMDb
Val Kilmer at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
Val Kilmer at the TCM Movie Database
Val Kilmer discography at Discogs
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Val Edward Kilmer (December 31, 1959 – April 1, 2025) was an American actor. Initially a stage actor, he later found fame as a leading man in films in a wide variety of genres, including comedies, dramas, action adventures, westerns, historical films, crime dramas, science fiction films, and fantasy films. Films in which Kilmer appeared grossed more than $3.85 billion worldwide. In 1992, film critic Roger Ebert remarked, "if there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it".
Kilmer started his film career in the comedy films Top Secret! (1984) and Real Genius (1985), before transitioning to dramatic films. He rose to prominence for playing Iceman in Top Gun (1986), Madmartigan in Willow (1988), Jim Morrison in The Doors (1991), Elvis Presley in True Romance (1993), Doc Holliday in Tombstone (1993), Batman / Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever (1995), Chris Shiherlis in Heat (1995), Colonel John Henry Patterson in The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), Simon Templar in The Saint (1997), and the voice of Moses in The Prince of Egypt (1998). Kilmer made his final film appearance in Top Gun: Maverick (2022), reprising his role from the original film.
On stage, Kilmer made his Broadway theatre debut acting in the John Byrne working class play The Slab Boys (1983). He also acted in productions of William Shakespeare's history play Henry IV, Part 1 (1981) and in the John Ford tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1992) both at The Public Theater. He portrayed Mark Twain in a one-man show he had written titled Citizen Twain in a 2012 production in Los Angeles.
In 2015, Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer. He subsequently underwent a tracheal procedure that damaged his vocal cords, leaving him with severe difficulty speaking. He also underwent chemotherapy and two tracheotomies, and released his memoir, I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir (2020), and the documentary Val (2021), both of which detail his career and health struggles. He died of pneumonia on April 1, 2025 at the age of 65.
Early life, family and education
Val Edward Kilmer was born on December 31, 1959, in Los Angeles, California, the second of three sons to Gladys Swanette (née Ekstadt; 1928–2019) and industrialist and developer Eugene Dorris Kilmer (1921–1993). His mother was of Swedish descent, and his father's ancestry included Irish, German, and Cherokee roots. His parents divorced in 1968 when he was 8 years old and in 1970, his mother married William Bernard Leach.
Kilmer was raised with Christian Science beliefs, which he maintained for most of his life. In 1977, Kilmer's younger brother Wesley (1961–1977), who had epilepsy, drowned in a hot tub at age 16.
Kilmer attended Chatsworth High School where he was friends with actors Kevin Spacey and Mare Winningham, whom Kilmer dated. He became the youngest person at the time to be accepted into the Juilliard School's Drama Division, where he was a member of Group 10. At Juilliard, Kilmer and Spacey's friendship ended over a financial matter.
Career
Early roles and comedy films
Kilmer declined a role in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 film The Outsiders because he had prior theater commitments. In 1983, he appeared off Broadway in The Slab Boys with Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn, and Jackie Earle Haley. That same year, his first off-stage acting role (excluding television commercials) came in the form of an episode of ABC Afterschool Special called One Too Many, although it did not air until 1985. It was an educational drama on drinking and driving, and co-starred a young Michelle Pfeiffer. Also in 1983, Kilmer self-published a collection of his own poetry entitled My Edens After Burns, that included poems inspired by his time with Pfeiffer. This book of poems is difficult to obtain and expensive; known second-hand copies cost $300 and up.
His big break came when he received top billing in the comedy spoof of spy movies Top Secret!, in which he played an American rock and roll star. Kilmer sang all the songs in the film and released an album under the film character's name, "Nick Rivers".
During a brief hiatus, Kilmer backpacked throughout Europe before going on to play the lead character in the 1985 comedy Real Genius. He turned down a role in David Lynch's Blue Velvet before being cast as naval aviator Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in the action film Top Gun alongside Tom Cruise. Top Gun grossed a total of over $344 million worldwide and made Kilmer a major star. Following roles in the television films The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, Kilmer portrayed Madmartigan in the fantasy Willow; he met his future wife, co-star Joanne Whalley, on the film's set. Kilmer starred in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival production of Hamlet in 1988. In 1989, Kilmer played the lead in Kill Me Again, again opposite Whalley, and played William H. "Billy the Kid" Bonney in Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid.
1990–1995: Stardom with The Doors and Batman
After several delays, director Oliver Stone finally started production on the film The Doors, based on the story of the band of the same name. Kilmer spoke with Oliver Stone early on, concerned about what he might want to do with the story because Kilmer did not believe in or want to promote substance abuse. Kilmer saw Jim Morrison as having picked the wrong heroes, who had different issues, which were not part of the creativity or inspiration. Kilmer saw Morrison's story as one that could be told "a thousand different ways" and did not want to tell it by playing the role in the style of drugs, with which Oliver Stone agreed. Kilmer memorized the lyrics to all of lead singer Morrison's songs prior to his audition and sent a video of himself performing some Doors songs to director Stone. Stone was not impressed with the tape, but Paul A. Rothchild (the original producer of the Doors) said "I was shaken by it" and suggested they record Kilmer in the studio. After Kilmer was cast as Morrison, he prepared for the role by attending Doors tribute concerts and reading Morrison's poetry.
He spent close to a year before production dressing in Morrison-like clothes and spent time at Morrison's old hangouts along the Sunset Strip. His portrayal of Morrison was praised and members of the Doors noted that Kilmer did such a convincing job that they had trouble distinguishing his voice from Morrison's. Paul Rothchild played Kilmer's version of "The End" for the band's guitarist, Robby Krieger, who told him, "I'm really glad they got 'The End'. We never got a recording of that live with Jim and now we've got it." However, Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek was less than enthusiastic with how Morrison was portrayed in Stone's interpretation.
In the early 1990s, Kilmer starred in the mystery thriller Thunderheart, the action comedy The Real McCoy, and again teamed with Top Gun director Tony Scott to play Elvis Presley in True Romance, which was written by Quentin Tarantino. In 1993, Kilmer played Doc Holliday in the western Tombstone alongside Kurt Russell. In the film, Doc Holliday performs Chopin's Nocturne in E minor, Op.72, No. 1; however, Kilmer did not play the piano and he practiced that one piece for months in preparation. In 1995, Kilmer starred in Wings of Courage, a 3D IMAX film, and that same year, he starred opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat, which is now considered one of the best crime/drama films of the 1990s.
In December 1993 Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher had seen Tombstone and was most impressed with Kilmer's performance as Doc Holliday. Schumacher felt him to be perfect for the role of Batman, though at the time, the role was still Michael Keaton's. In July 1994, Keaton decided not to return for a third Batman film after 1992's Batman Returns, due to "creative differences". William Baldwin (who previously worked with Schumacher on Flatliners) was reported to be a top contender, though just days after Keaton dropped out, Kilmer was cast. Kilmer took the role without even knowing who the new director was and without reading the script.
Released in June 1995, Batman Forever was a success at the box office, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics. There was debate about Kilmer's performance: some critics, such as The New York Times' Janet Maslin, thought Kilmer was a poor successor to Keaton in the part; while others, such as Roger Ebert, had kind words for Kilmer. Batman co-creator Bob Kane said in a Cinescape interview that of all the actors to have played Batman up to that point, he felt Kilmer had given the best interpretation. Film critic Leonard Maltin (who criticized the dark tone contained in Batman Returns) complimented Kilmer's portrayal when he reviewed the film in his 2009 movie guide.
In February 1996, Kilmer decided not to return for another Batman feature film, feeling that Batman was being marginalized in favor of the villains, as well as his scheduling problems with The Saint, and George Clooney replaced him as Batman in 1997's Batman & Robin. There were also reports that Kilmer had a bad working relationship with Schumacher, as another reason for not reprising the role.
1996–2009: Further career
In 1996 he appeared in a largely unknown film, Dead Girl, and starred alongside Marlon Brando in the poorly received The Island of Dr. Moreau. That year, Kilmer starred alongside Michael Douglas in the thriller The Ghost and the Darkness. In 1997 he played Simon Templar in the popular action film The Saint. Kilmer looked forward to the title role as a change toward a more fun, less serious action thriller, while enjoying the "master of disguise" chameleon characters including a mad artist, a nerdy British scientist, a cleaner, and a Russian mob boss. Kilmer also wrote the poetry in the film. He received a salary of $6 million for the movie. The Saint was a financial success, grossing $169.4 million worldwide. In 1998, he voiced both Moses and God in the animated film The Prince of Egypt, before starring in the independent film Joe the King (1999). Also in 1999, he played a blind man in the drama/romance At First Sight, which he described as being, as of then, the hardest role he had ever had.
Kilmer's first role in 2000 was in the big budget Warner Bros. box office disaster Red Planet. That same year, he had a supporting role as the Dutch-born American abstract expressionist painter Willem DeKooning in the film Pollock and hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time. In 2002, he starred in the thriller The Salton Sea, which was generally well-reviewed, but received only a limited release. The same year, he teamed with his True Romance co-star, Christian Slater, to appear in the low-budget film Hard Cash, also known as Run for the Money.
In 2003, Kilmer starred alongside Kate Bosworth in the drama/thriller Wonderland, portraying porn star John Holmes. He also appeared in The Missing, where he again worked with Willow director Ron Howard. The next year, he starred in David Mamet's Spartan, where he played a United States government secret agent who is assigned the task of rescuing the kidnapped daughter of the president. He received Delta Force-like training in preparation for the role. Subsequently, he had a role in the drama Stateside, and starred (again with Slater) in the thriller Mindhunters, which was filmed in 2003 but not released until 2005. Kilmer next appeared in the big budget Oliver Stone production Alexander, which received poor reviews.
Also in 2004, Kilmer returned to the theater to play Moses in a Los Angeles musical production of The Ten Commandments: The Musical, produced by BCBG founder Max Azria. The production played at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and also featured Adam Lambert. This same year, Kilmer appeared in an episode of Entourage, where he played a Sherpa whose primary source of income was growing, harvesting, and distributing high-quality cannabis, all under a guise of metaphysical insights.
Kilmer was in negotiations with Richard Dutcher (a leading director of Mormon-related films) to play the lead role in a film entitled Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith, although the project never materialized. Kilmer performed in The Postman Always Rings Twice on the London stage from June to September 2005. In 2005, he co-starred with Robert Downey, Jr. in the action-comedy film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. His performance was praised and the film was well reviewed, but it received only a limited release. It later won the award for "Overlooked Film of the Year" from the Phoenix Film Critics Society.
Filmink argued "we're really surprised Kilmer could not make more of a comeback in the 2000s. Was he too chubby? Had he burned too many bridges? Another '90s movie star who hit a cold streak and got jowly Alec Baldwin came back in a big way via 30 Rock, but for whatever reason, Kilmer could never come close to his old glory."
In 2006, Kilmer reunited with director Tony Scott for a third time for a supporting role opposite Denzel Washington in the box-office hit Déjà Vu. The song "Val Kilmer" was named after him on Bowling for Soup's 2006 album The Great Burrito Extortion Case. The song was later used for a Ford Motors commercial on season 10 of American Idol in 2011. In 2007, he guest-starred on the hit TV series Numb3rs in the episode "Trust Metric", portraying torture expert Mason Lancer. That same year, he released a CD, proceeds of which went to his charity interests. In 2008, Kilmer starred alongside Stephen Dorff in the Sony and Stage 6 film Felon. The film was given only a limited theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles in 2008, but it developed into a success secondary to positive word of mouth. Kilmer was the voice of the car KITT for the 2008 Knight Rider TV pilot film and the following television series. He replaced Will Arnett, who had to step down from the role due to contractual conflict with General Motors. In keeping with tradition established by the original Knight Rider series and original KITT actor William Daniels, Kilmer was uncredited for the role on-screen. He next starred alongside Nicolas Cage in the Werner Herzog film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, and alongside Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson in Streets of Blood. Both were released in 2009. He appeared as the main antagonist "Mongoose" in a live TV series adaptation of the comic/video game of XIII on NBC in 2009.
2010–2025: Later work and final projects
In 2010, Kilmer starred in Michael Oblowitz's horror film The Traveler, in which he played the vengeful spirit of a man who had been tortured and murdered while in police custody. In November 2010, Kilmer was filming in Kelseyville, California. He was finally able to work with his lifelong friend Francis Ford Coppola and star in the film Twixt. The film was filmed mostly on Coppola's estate in Napa County. The filming was expected to take five weeks and was being independently funded by Coppola. In 2010, Kilmer appeared as the villain Dieter Von Cunth in MacGruber and had a small cameo role in the music video for Tenacious D's "To Be the Best". Kilmer spoke at the May 5, 2010, commencement ceremonies of William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri. During his week-long visit on campus, he also performed his one-man play, Citizen Twain. He received an honorary doctorate "in recognition of his creative abilities and his contributions to art and theater".
In 2012, Kilmer received a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word. He also starred in Harmony Korine's short film The Lotus Community Workshop, part of the collaborative film The Fourth Dimension. He plays a version of himself from an alternate reality: a former actor turned self-help guru. The Fourth Dimension is a collection of three standalone short films about parallel universes produced by Vice Films in collaboration with Grolsch Film Works, a new division of the namesake beer company. Kilmer noted that his addition to the list of actors, including John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich) and Al Pacino (Jack and Jill), that mock their real-life persona in fictional movies was an accident and said that, "I still love saying the premise because it makes me laugh every time."
In 2002, Kilmer worked on a film about the life of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science church, and Mark Twain, one of her most famous critics. The film is about the lives and relationship of Eddy and Twain as "a quirky, tender, tragicomic portrait of two contrasting lives, set against the backdrop of the United States during the Gilded Age." Citizen Twain was initially performed as a one-man show Hollywood workshop in April 2012; it then became the basis of Kilmer's film project, his directorial debut. The 90-minute film version of his one-man stage show was released as Cinema Twain. In 2013, he reunited with his Top Gun co-star Anthony Edwards in the Disney animated movie Planes. Kilmer voiced the character Bravo, while Edwards supplied Echo. Kilmer also played the role of Detective Dobson in the series finale of the television show Psych.
In 2017, Kilmer appeared in Song to Song opposite Rooney Mara and Ryan Gosling and directed by Terrence Malick. Kilmer also appeared in the 2017 film The Snowman, opposite Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson and directed by Tomas Alfredson. In August 2020, Kilmer shared the screen with his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, for the first time in Paydirt. Kilmer reprised his role as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky for the Top Gun sequel Top Gun: Maverick (2022). The 2021 documentary film Val, which chronicles his health struggles and career, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim and later earned two Critics' Choice Documentary Awards.
As Kilmer's throat problems affected his vocal abilities, technology solutions were sought. In 2021, he collaborated with Sonantic, a London-based software company, to digitally recreate his voice using AI and archived recordings. More than 40 vocal models were created to find the closest match for future projects. For the 2022 film Top Gun: Maverick, director Joseph Kosinski stated that, despite reports to the contrary, they did not use Sonantic's AI technology in the film. Instead, Kilmer's actual voice was digitally altered for clarity.
Kilmer had been set to make an appearance at the Beverly Hills Film Festival in Beverly Hills, California on April 1, 2025, hours before his death.
Personal life
Relationships and family
Over the years, Kilmer dated Cher, Lesley Ann Warren, Cindy Crawford, Angelina Jolie, Daryl Hannah and Ellen Barkin.
Kilmer was married to actress Joanne Whalley from March 1988 to February 1996. The two met while working together on the 1988 film Willow. They had two children: a daughter, Mercedes, born in 1991, and a son, actor Jack Kilmer, born in 1995.
Residences and activities
Kilmer owned a 6,000-acre (2,400 ha) ranch in New Mexico, where he would trek, hike, fish, and raise bison. He sold it in 2011.
Kilmer was an avid musician; he released a demo album, Sessions with Mick, in 2007. He was also a painter and photographer.
Reputation
Kilmer had a reputation for being difficult to work with and having feuds with some of the actors with whom he worked, notably The Island of Dr. Moreau co-star Marlon Brando and Red Planet and Heat co-star Tom Sizemore. Kilmer's Tombstone co-star, Michael Biehn, said: "People ask me what it's like to work with Val Kilmer. I don't know. Never met him. Never shook his hand. I know Doc Holliday, but I don't know [Kilmer]."
Richard Stanley, who directed Kilmer for three days in The Island of Dr. Moreau before being fired, recalled, "Val would arrive, and an argument would happen." John Frankenheimer, who replaced Stanley, said, "I don't like Val Kilmer, I don't like his work ethic, and I don't want to be associated with him ever again." Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher called Kilmer "childish and impossible".
When Kilmer's At First Sight co-star Mira Sorvino was asked about his reputation as "difficult to work with", she responded: "You know what, he was real easy to work with. I just hate furthering rumours about people being difficult, because it can do such enormous damage to their careers. My experience with him was nothing but positive. He was really professional and gentlemanly, and a terrific actor." Kurt Russell, Kilmer's co-star in Tombstone, said of working with him: "If you're asking me if it was great working with Val Kilmer, who played Doc Holliday on Tombstone, the answer is absolutely." Drew Barrymore, who costarred with Kilmer in Batman Forever, said of her experience with the actor: "Val Kilmer was so nice to me. He was so nurturing and kind and safe, which was a very important thing for me."
Hilarie Burton, Kilmer's co-star in Bloodworth, called him "the sweetest man" and said he cut a gratuitous sex scene between them in the film because "it didn't service the story or the character", instead changing it to a scene in which their characters are enjoying barbecued ribs. "I felt so safe and cared for by that man.... He made the scene about us instead of using me as a prop. That one day at work rewired my brain. Val was kind to me. A thoughtful artist. I bought some of his paintings a few years back. I hope every young actor has a Val in their life. That movie was a magical experience," she said. David Thewlis, Kilmer's co-star in The Island of Dr. Moreau said of working with him; "I spent the most bizarre 5 months of my entire life with Val Kilmer, out in the Australian rainforest, on the ill fated Island of Dr Moreau. It was so spectacularly bleak and awful it was almost wonderful. Look it up sometime. As Val wrote in his final mail to me: 'What an incredible story we lived, you and I. One of the greatest.'"
Political views and charity work
In 1998, Kilmer traveled to Iraq with AmeriCares to deliver humanitarian aid, the first US humanitarian airlift to Iraq since 1990. Kilmer made several trips to New Orleans to help in the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster relief. He was a supporter of Native American affairs and an advocate of environmental protection. Kilmer briefly considered running for Governor of New Mexico in 2010 but decided against it.
In May 2013, Kilmer lobbied Congress on behalf of the Equitable Access to Care and Health Act, or EACH Act (H.R. 1814), a bill "to provide an additional religious exemption from the individual health coverage mandate" of Obamacare.
Health
In 2014, Kilmer was forced to cancel a Citizen Twain show after losing his voice. He noticed a lump in his throat but did not seek medical care until he started vomiting blood. In January 2015, aged 55, he was hospitalized for what his representative said were tests for a possible tumor. Kilmer stated on social media, "I have not had a tumor, or tumor operations [sic], or any operation. I had a complication where the best way to receive care was to stay under the watchful eye of the UCLA ICU." Kilmer was a lifelong Christian Scientist, and upon his throat cancer diagnosis referred to it in the press as "the suggestion of throat cancer", opting not to explicitly associate himself with such a diagnosis. He underwent recommended chemotherapy following his children's request despite it being conventionally against his religion.
After previously denying persistent rumors that he had been diagnosed with cancer, Kilmer said in April 2017 that he had experienced a "healing of cancer". In December 2017, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Kilmer had endured a "two-year battle with throat cancer" and that "a procedure on his trachea has reduced his voice to a rasp and rendered him short of breath." To speak, Kilmer plugged an electric voice box into his trachea.
He ultimately underwent chemotherapy and two tracheotomies. Kilmer reported in 2020 that he had been cancer-free for four years but continued to struggle with medical treatments, including the use of a feeding tube.
Death and tributes
Kilmer died of pneumonia in Los Angeles on April 1, 2025, aged 65. Other contributing underlying factors towards his death included acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, chronic respiratory failure, squamous cell carcinoma on the base of his tongue, malnutrition and tracheocutaneous fistula. Kilmer was cremated on April 7.
Upon his death, filmmaker Michael Mann wrote, "While working with Val on Heat, I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val's possessing and expressing character. After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news." Director Francis Ford Coppola wrote, "He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know — I will always remember him." Tom Cruise honored his Top Gun co-star at CinemaCon asking for a moment of silence saying, "I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us." Director Oliver Stone wrote: "Val Kilmer was brilliant, both as Jim Morrison in The Doors and in Alexander as King Philip of Macedon. His approach and attitude significantly changed between 1990 and Alexander in 2004. The results satisfied me on both occasions. To call Val turbulent, contradictory, and tortured is an understatement. But the result was he was exciting on film, always exciting, and fresh. We need more Vals. He was an iconoclast and rebel in his acting, and always kept it exciting in either supporting or main roles. The movies will miss him." The Doors' drummer John Densmore wrote: "As an actor, Val's channeling of Jim (Morrison) was so close, he gave me the creeps on the set of Oliver Stone's biopic. He should have been nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor."
Filmography
Film
Television
Theatre
Video games
Music videos
Awards and nominations
Bibliography
Memoir
Kilmer, Val (2020). I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-9821-4489-0.
Poetry
Kilmer, Val (1987). My Edens After Burns. Blue Feather. ISBN 978-0-9324-8220-4.
Kilmer, Val (2021). Cowboy Poet Madman Outlaw: Selected Poems 1987-2020. A24. ISBN 978-1-7339-9206-0.
References
External links
Official website
Val Kilmer at the Internet Broadway Database
Val Kilmer at IMDb
Val Kilmer at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
Val Kilmer at the TCM Movie Database
Val Kilmer discography at Discogs
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Jennifer Lopez
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Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking barriers for Latino Americans in Hollywood and helping propel the Latin pop movement in music. She is also known for her cultural impact through fashion, branding, and shifting mainstream beauty standards.
After appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy series In Living Color (1991–1993), Lopez rose to wider fame as an actress with leading film roles in Selena (1997), Anaconda (1997), Out of Sight (1998), and The Cell (2000). She successfully ventured into music with her debut album, On the 6 (1999), which spawned the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "If You Had My Love". With her second album J.Lo and the romantic comedy The Wedding Planner (both 2001), she became the first woman to simultaneously have the number-one album and film in the United States. Her musical success continued with J to tha L–O! The Remixes—the first remix album to top the US Billboard 200—and This Is Me... Then (both 2002). These projects included the US number-one singles "I'm Real", "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)", and "All I Have".
Lopez established herself as one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses with her roles in romantic comedies, including Maid in Manhattan (2002), Shall We Dance? (2004), and Monster-in-Law (2005). Subsequent albums included Como Ama una Mujer (2007), which broke first-week sales records for a debut Spanish album. After a career decline, Lopez returned to prominence as a judge on American Idol (2011–2016) and released her comeback single, "On the Floor", from the album Love? (2011). She later starred in the police drama series Shades of Blue (2016–2018) and served as a judge on World of Dance (2017–2020). Her film career saw an upturn with her critically praised performance in the crime drama Hustlers (2019). She has since starred in Marry Me (2022), The Mother (2023), This Is Me... Now: A Love Story and Atlas (both 2024), while receiving praise for her supporting roles in Unstoppable (2024) and Kiss of the Spider Woman (2025).
Lopez has sold over 80 million records worldwide, while her films have cumulatively grossed over US$3.1 billion. Her accolades include a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Billboard Icon Award, three American Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award), and six Guinness World Records. She has been ranked among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time (2018) and the World's 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes (2012). Lopez has a large social media following, being one of the most-followed individuals on Instagram. Her other ventures include a lifestyle brand, beauty and fashion lines, fragrances, a production company, and a charitable foundation.
Early life
Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24, 1969, in the Bronx, one of the boroughs of New York City, and raised in its Castle Hill neighborhood. Her parents, Guadalupe Rodríguez and David Lopez, were born in Puerto Rico and met in New York City. After serving in the Army, David worked as a computer technician at Guardian Insurance Company. Guadalupe was a homemaker for the first ten years of Lopez's life, later working as a Tupperware salesperson and a kindergarten and gym teacher. They divorced in the 1990s after 33 years of marriage.
Lopez is a middle child; she has an older sister, Leslie, and a younger sister, Lynda. The three shared a bed. Lopez has described her upbringing as "strict". She was raised in a Catholic family; she attended Mass every Sunday and received a Catholic education, attending Holy Family School and the all-girls Preston High School, a private school. In school, Lopez ran track on a national level, participated in gymnastics, and was on the softball team. She danced in school musicals and played a lead role in a production of Godspell. She described herself as a "tomboy" and "very athletic".
There was "lots of music" in the typically Puerto Rican household, and Lopez and her sisters were encouraged to sing, dance, and create their own plays for family events. West Side Story made a particular impression on the young Lopez, who wanted to be an entertainer from an early age. As a teenager, Lopez became "obsessive" about dance, stating that "I practiced until my legs and feet ached". She learned flamenco, jazz, and ballet at the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club and taught dance to younger students, including Kerry Washington. After graduating from high school, she had a part-time secretarial job at a law firm and studied business at New York's Baruch College for one semester. At age 18, she enrolled as a full-time student at Manhattan's Phil Black Dance Studio, where she had already taken night classes in jazz and tap dance. Her parents were unhappy with her decision to leave college to pursue a dance career. According to Lopez, her parents felt it was "foolish" because "no Latinas did that". Her mother asked her to move out of the family home, and they stopped speaking for eight months. Lopez moved to Manhattan, sleeping in the dance studio's office for the first few months.
Career
1989–1996: Professional dancing and early acting roles
Lopez's first professional job came in 1989 when she spent five months touring Europe with the musical revue show Golden Musicals of Broadway. She was upset at being the only member of the chorus not to have a solo, and later characterized it as a pivotal moment where she had to "try harder and become that much more committed". In 1990, she danced alongside MC Hammer in an episode of Yo! MTV Raps, and traveled around Japan for four months as a chorus member in Synchronicity. When she returned to the United States, she was hired as a backup dancer for New Kids on the Block's performance of "Games" at the 1991 American Music Awards. She also traveled around America with regional productions of the musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and Oklahoma!. During this period, Lopez also danced in music videos including Doug E. Fresh's "Summertime", Richard Rogers' "Can't Stop Loving You", EPMD's "Rampage", and Samantha Fox's "(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On". Lopez stated: "I'd dance in a piece-of-garbage rap or pop video for 50 bucks and make the money last a whole month."
Her most high-profile job as a professional dancer was as a Fly Girl jazz-funk dancer on the sketch comedy television series In Living Color. The show's choreographer, Rosie Perez said she chose Lopez because "she had that look that I knew the audience would tune in to". Lopez moved to Los Angeles in late 1991 for the job; she filmed In Living Color during the day and attended acting classes taught by Aaron Speiser at night. Lopez felt ostracized by the other Fly Girls because of her "voluptuous figure", and also clashed with Perez. The head of Virgin Records considered signing The Fly Girls as a girl group to rival the Spice Girls, but the deal fell apart. After appearing as a Fly Girl in seasons three and four of In Living Color, Lopez left to work as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, and appeared in the music video for "That's the Way Love Goes". She was scheduled to tour with Jackson on her Janet World Tour in late 1993 but opted to pursue an acting career instead. Music industry executives expressed interest in giving Lopez a record deal, but she chose to focus on acting. She hired In Living Color producer Eric Gold as her manager. He advised Lopez to lose weight if she wanted to succeed as an actress.
Lopez's first professional acting job was a small recurring role on the television show South Central (1994). She was invited to audition for the pilot by a casting director who had seen her speak to camera during a behind-the-scenes In Living Color segment. She then acquired an agent and was cast in the CBS show Second Chances; the series was quickly cancelled, but her popularity with viewers led to her being cast in its spin-off Hotel Malibu. She subsequently appeared in the television film Lost in the Wild (1993). For her first major movie role, in Gregory Nava's 1995 drama Mi Familia, Lopez received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress. She then starred in the action comedy Money Train (1995). The film was not a box office success, though her performance was reviewed positively, which led to her being further noticed in Hollywood. In 1996, Lopez had a supporting role opposite Robin Williams in the comedy Jack, which director Francis Ford Coppola cast her in after seeing her performance in Mi Familia. She next starred opposite Jack Nicholson as a "calculating Cuban maid" in the neo-noir thriller Blood and Wine (1996), where David Rooney of Variety felt she delivered in "juggling" the "smoldering and soulful sides" of the character.
1997–1999: Breakthrough with Selena and On the 6
With her casting as the singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez in the biopic Selena (1997), Lopez became the first Latina actress to earn $1 million. She described her salary for the film as a "statement to the world", but expressed disappointment that other Latina actors were not being afforded the same opportunities. Despite having previously worked with the film's director Gregory Nava on Mi Familia, Lopez participated in an intense auditioning process and spent time with the late singer's family in Corpus Christi, Texas before filming began. Selena was a box office hit, and Lopez's performance received critical acclaim. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times described it as "a star-making performance" and wrote: "She has the star presence to look convincing in front of 100,000 fans." Lopez received her first Golden Globe nomination for the performance. Nava asked the heads of Warner Bros. to fund an Academy Award campaign for Lopez but was told the Academy would "never nominate a Latina." Later in 1997, Lopez starred opposite Ice Cube in the horror film Anaconda, which received negative reviews from critics but was a box office success. Joe Leydon of Variety found the film "silly" but said it deserved "a little credit" for being "the first movie of its kind to have a Latina and an African-American" as its stars. In the crime film U Turn (1997), Lopez appeared topless in a sex scene that was added by director Oliver Stone during filming. Speaking in 2003, Lopez said it was not something "I would have chosen to do" and that she and Stone fought over it: "It's hard being the only woman on a set."
Lopez starred opposite George Clooney in the crime caper Out of Sight (1998), Steven Soderbergh's adaptation of the Elmore Leonard 1996 novel. Cast as a deputy federal marshal who falls for a charming criminal, she won rave reviews for her performance. Janet Maslin of The New York Times described it as her "best movie role thus far, and she brings it both seductiveness and grit; if it was hard to imagine a hard-working, pistol-packing bombshell on the page, it couldn't be easier here." Turan of the Los Angeles Times described Lopez as "an actress who can be convincingly tough and devastatingly erotic" and said the film solidified "her position as a woman you can confidently build a film around." In 2021, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian named Lopez and Clooney's partnership as one of the best examples of on-screen chemistry in cinema history. Also in 1998, Lopez provided the voice of Azteca in the animated film Antz.
Lopez decided to pursue a music career after working on Selena, realizing that she had missed "the excitement of the stage". Her new manager Benny Medina sought to position her as "a brand name that will cross over into all media." Lopez, who was "really feeling [her] Latin roots", recorded a Spanish-language demo for circulation among prospective labels. With Lopez being a high-profile personality, a bidding war ensued. Tommy Mottola, the head of Sony Music's Work Group, signed her but suggested that she sing in English instead. Her record deal with Sony was described as "lucrative", having outbid other offers from Capitol Records and EMI Latin. While Lopez worked on her debut album, Sony "began a major push" to feature her with other high-profile entertainers, leading her to appear in the Sean Combs music video "Been Around the World" (1997).
Her debut album, On the 6 (1999), named after the 6 Subway line which connected her childhood home in the Bronx to Manhattan, was met with positive reviews and further propelled her public profile. The album was a success and Lopez's debut single, "If You Had My Love", topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks, with another single, "Waiting for Tonight", reaching number eight and becoming a celebratory anthem for the new millennium. Other singles from the album included "Let's Get Loud", which became one of Lopez's signature songs, and "No Me Ames", a duet with future husband Marc Anthony. In July 1999, she performed "If You Had My Love" and "Let's Get Loud" at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup closing ceremony. It was watched by over one billion viewers worldwide, exposing Lopez's music career to a larger international audience.
2000–2002: Box office success, J.Lo and This Is Me... Then
In February 2000, Lopez and then-boyfriend Sean Combs attended the Grammy Awards, with Lopez wearing a plunging green Versace silk chiffon dress. The dress generated worldwide attention and became the most popular search query in Google's history, leading to the creation of Google Images, while boosting Lopez's album and movie ticket sales. Later that year, Lopez starred in the psychological thriller The Cell, for which she received a $4 million salary. The film, where Lopez played a psychologist who uses radical experimental therapy to enter the mind of a killer, received mixed reviews but was a box office success. David Edelstein of Slate remarked that the "imperious" Lopez was "trying to look waifishly expectant" while Amy Taubin of The Village Voice noted that she appeared to be engaged "in some kind of pouting competition" "in lieu of acting."
In January 2001, Lopez became the first woman to have a number-one film and album simultaneously in the United States, with the release of her second album, J.Lo, and her first romantic comedy The Wedding Planner, which co-starred Matthew McConaughey. Lopez had been searching for a romantic comedy role for several years; she wanted to show that she could be "every girl", stating: "I felt like all the women in romantic comedies always looked the same way, they were always white." Despite negative reviews, the film opened at number one at the box office and solidified her place in Hollywood. At the same time, J.Lo debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200; she was the first female solo recording artist under Epic Records to do so since the label's inception in 1953. J.Lo was titled after the nickname she had been given by her fans, with Lopez also adopting J.Lo as her stagename. The album received mixed critical reviews but became the most successful of her career, selling 12 million copies worldwide. It produced four singles: "Love Don't Cost a Thing", which reached number one in various countries, "Play", "I'm Real", and "Ain't It Funny". A remix of "I'm Real" featuring rapper Ja Rule propelled that song to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
In September 2001, Lopez performed a two-concert residency in Puerto Rico, which marked her first concerts. It was broadcast that November as an NBC special, Jennifer Lopez in Concert, and became one of the most-watched concert specials of the year, with a US audience of almost 12 million. Also in 2001, Lopez founded her production company, Nuyorican Productions, with manager Benny Medina, and starred in the romantic drama, Angel Eyes, opposite Jim Caviezel. Lopez's performance was well-reviewed, though the film was a critical and commercial disappointment. She was slated to star alongside Ricky Martin in a remake of Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas, but this did not eventuate.
Lopez released two albums in 2002. The first was J to tha L–O! The Remixes, which became the first remix album in history to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. Its singles included "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)" and "I'm Gonna Be Alright", which reached number one and ten on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Lopez's third studio album, This Is Me... Then, was released in late 2002, and was heavily influenced by her relationship with then-fiancé Ben Affleck. It received mixed critical reviews; Billboard's Michael Paoletta noted the "considerable growth she reveals as a performer and tunesmith" on the album, while Jon Caramanica called it "the least interesting music on the pop charts today." The album became a commercial success, achieving the highest opening sales week of her career. The album's lead single, "Jenny from the Block", which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, was viewed as a response to the notion that Lopez had alienated her "core fan base: the black and Hispanic hip-hop community." The album also spawned the US number-one single "All I Have".
Lopez starred as an abused wife who fights back in the thriller Enough (2002), a role which required her to learn Krav Maga. An overworked Lopez suffered a nervous breakdown in 2001 while filming it. The film received negative reviews; Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times felt it was "tacky material" and was surprised to see "an actress like Jennifer Lopez" involved with the project. Her next film was the romantic comedy, Maid in Manhattan (2002), in which Lopez starred opposite Ralph Fiennes as a maid and single mother from the Bronx. It became the highest-grossing film of her career at the time. Reviewing Maid in Manhattan, A. O. Scott of The New York Times enjoyed Lopez as a romantic lead and said "her greatest skill as an actress" was "her ability to melt without cracking the hard shell of composure she wears." Lopez was ranked among the top ten highest-paid actresses in Hollywood in 2002, earning $8 million per feature.
2003–2006: Media scrutiny
Lopez became the subject of widespread media criticism in 2003 due to her public relationship with Ben Affleck and the tabloid depiction of her as a demanding diva. She fired both her personal manager Benny Medina and her publicist in mid-2003; The New York Times reported that movie executives had become frustrated by having their communications with Lopez "largely filtered" through Medina. That year, Lopez starred opposite Affleck in the romantic comedy Gigli, which was a box-office bomb and is considered one of the worst films of all time. Rex Reed of The Observer criticized the lead actors, calling them "pathetically incompetent" in both "craft and talent". Roger Ebert agreed that the movie "doesn't quite work", but found Lopez and Affleck "appealing in their performances" and noted the couple's chemistry.
Lopez had a minor role opposite Affleck in the film Jersey Girl (2004). Following test audiences' negative reactions to the onscreen couple, her screen time was halved. While she remained one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood during this period, Lopez later described this as the lowest point of her career and admitted she felt "eviscerated" by the media coverage surrounding Gigli: "I lost my sense of self, questioned if I belonged in this business, thought maybe I did suck at everything. And my relationship self-destructed in front of the entire world. It was a two-year thing for me until I picked myself up again." Months later, she starred opposite Richard Gere in the romantic comedy-drama Shall We Dance?, which was a box-office success.
She released her fourth studio album, Rebirth, in early 2005. Its title was symbolic of Lopez's hopes for "a new professional beginning". It was recorded during a period where Lopez felt "a little bit lost, trying to get my footing in a new life", "I had just gotten married [to singer Marc Anthony] ... I wasn't with Benny [Medina]." In a review of Rebirth, journalist Alexis Petridis remarked that the title "suggests even Lopez has realised that something is amiss with her career ... Despite the highlights, you're still left pondering the question: what happened to Jennifer Lopez?" The album reached number two on the Billboard 200, but failed to replicate the sales of her previous albums. Its lead single, "Get Right", however, reached number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming one of her most successful songs.
The marketing for the romantic comedy Monster-in-Law (2005), in which Lopez starred opposite Jane Fonda, played up her "Gigli-and-tabloid tarnished image", and it became a box office success. She next starred alongside Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman in the drama An Unfinished Life (2005), which received mixed reviews. Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times predicted that the typical review would be unkind: "It will have no respect for Jennifer Lopez, because she is going through a period right now when nobody is satisfied with anything she does ... Give Lopez your permission to be good again; she is the same actress now as when we thought her so new and fine."
The next year, she returned to the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 as a featured artist on "Control Myself", the lead single from LL Cool J's twelfth studio album. In 2006, she reunited with director Gregory Nava to star in the crime drama Bordertown as a journalist investigating female homicides in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The film was negatively reviewed and received a direct-to-video release. David D'Arcy of Screen Daily found Lopez "unconvincing" as a journalist.
2007–2010: Career downturn
By the late 2000s, Lopez's commercial success had declined. Her music career "entered a plateau", while "her film career entered a period of some disappointing-to-middling successes". In 2007, she starred opposite her then-husband Marc Anthony in the music biopic El Cantante, which told the story of Puerto Rican salsa singer Héctor Lavoe and his wife Puchi. It did not perform well at the box office and received mixed reviews from film critics; Lopez's performance, which she expressed pride in, drew both praise and criticism.
Lopez released two studio albums in 2007. Her fifth album, Como Ama una Mujer, was her first to be recorded entirely in Spanish. Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly acknowledged that the album offered "fairly persuasive proof" that Lopez can sing, but was unimpressed by the "flaccid torch songs." It became the fifth Spanish album to debut in the top ten of the Billboard 200, and achieved the highest first-week sales for an artist's debut Spanish album at the time. The lead single, "Qué Hiciste", reached number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 while the second single, "Me Haces Falta", failed to chart. Lopez's sixth studio album, Brave, released later that year, was her lowest-charting album worldwide. Jonathan Bernstein of Entertainment Weekly was disappointed that Lopez had returned to "listless vocals" for her "back-to-the-dance-floor album." The album debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200 and produced two singles, "Do It Well" and "Hold It Don't Drop It". The first peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the latter failed to chart. While pregnant with twins, Lopez embarked upon her first ever concert tour, a show co-headlined by Anthony, in September 2007; the tour was well received. She also created, produced and was featured in the MTV show DanceLife, which she described as a "passion project".
After giving birth to twins in February 2008, Lopez took a career break. She described the next few years as a "strange time" as she primarily focused on family and travelling with Anthony while he toured. After rehiring former manager Medina, Lopez released two songs in late 2009, "Louboutins" and "Fresh Out of the Oven". The songs were intended for her seventh studio album but failed to make an appearance on the Billboard charts, leading to her departure from Sony Music and Epic Records. Lopez's first theatrical role in three years was in the romantic comedy The Back-up Plan (2010). Manohla Dargis of The New York Times was unimpressed by the movie and described Lopez as "an appealing screen presence with a disappointing big-screen track record. That's probably not all her fault: romantic roles for women often are the provenance of the bland or the blonde."
2011–2015: American Idol and career revival
A "big turning point" in Lopez's career came when she joined the judging panel of the singing competition series American Idol for its tenth season, replacing Simon Cowell. Despite being advised that it was a "huge gamble", she accepted the job, as she was "not getting offered a whole bunch of movies". Lopez's appearance on American Idol in 2011 returned her to prominence. Hannah Elliot of Forbes described it as "a remarkable comeback", writing: "Idol humanized her. Viewers who knew only an attention-grabbing siren met a hardworking, self-made, empathetic single mother, who got emotional when contestants did well and when they failed."
Lopez's exposure on American Idol resulted in what Billboard called "the most impressive reality-TV-based rejuvenation of a music career ever." After signing a new recording contract with Island Records, her seventh studio album, Love?, was released in early 2011. While the album itself was a moderate commercial success, the single "On the Floor" was the year's highest-selling single by a female artist, and ultimately became the best-selling single of her career. It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her highest-charting song as a lead artist since "All I Have". The album produced two more singles, "I'm Into You" and "Papi", which did not achieve similar success. By the end of 2011, Lopez was deemed the "world's greatest musical comeback act", based on a study which analysed over one billion Google searches since 2004.
Lopez returned as a judge for American Idol's eleventh season in 2012, earning a reported $20 million. That year, she released her greatest hits album, Dance Again... the Hits, to fulfil her contractual obligations with her former label Epic Records. Lopez, who was divorcing Anthony and navigating the "breakup of a family", felt as if the album's sole single, "Dance Again", had come to her at the "perfect moment". "Dance Again" reached number 17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Lopez launched the Dance Again World Tour, her first headlining concert tour, in mid-2012. It grossed over $1 million per show.
Lopez returned to the big screen in 2012, starring alongside an ensemble cast in the film What to Expect When You're Expecting, which is based on the 1984 book What to Expect When You're Expecting. Lopez voiced Shira, a saber tooth tiger, in the animated film, Ice Age: Continental Drift, the fourth film in the Ice Age franchise. Also in 2012, a talent show, ¡Q'Viva! The Chosen followed Lopez, Anthony, and director-choreographer Jamie King as they travelled across 21 countries in Latin America to find new talent for a Las Vegas show. In 2013, Lopez starred alongside Jason Statham in the crime thriller Parker, in which she played Leslie. Her performance earned positive reviews, with the Chicago Tribune commending the role for giving Lopez "an opportunity to be dramatic, romantic, funny, depressed, euphoric and violent. The audience stays with her all the way". That year, Lopez released the single "Live It Up", and was named chief creative officer of NuvoTV. She also served as an executive producer of the television series The Fosters (2013–2018), a show about a lesbian couple raising a family. Lopez's desire to work on the series was driven by her late aunt, who was gay.
After a one-season absence, Lopez returned to American Idol for its thirteenth season, earning a reported $17.5 million. Her eighth studio album, A.K.A., was released in mid-2014 through Capitol Records, experiencing lacklustre sales, becoming her lowest-selling album in the U.S. The album produced three singles: "I Luh Ya Papi", featuring French Montana, "First Love", and "Booty", featuring Iggy Azalea. They reached 77, 87 and 18 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100. Also that year, Lopez released "We Are One (Ole Ola)", the official song for the 2014 FIFA World Cup along with Pitbull and Claudia Leitte. Lopez released a book, True Love, which became a New York Times best-seller.
2015 saw the release of The Boy Next Door, an erotic thriller that Lopez both co-produced and starred in as a high school teacher who becomes involved with a student, which eventually leads to his dangerous obsession with her. The film received negative reviews from critics. Despite this, it became her most successful opening at the box office for a live action film since Monster-in-Law. Lopez had a voice role in the animated feature Home and contributed the single "Feel the Light" to the film's official soundtrack. She also starred in the independent drama film Lila & Eve, alongside Viola Davis.
2016–2021: Television work, Hustlers and Super Bowl LIV
In January 2016, Lopez commenced a concert residency show, All I Have, at Planet Hollywood's Zappos Theater in Las Vegas. She performed 120 shows during the three-year run, grossing over $100 million in ticket sales. At the beginning of the residency, Lopez signed a multi-album deal with her former label Epic Records—though she would depart the label before releasing any albums—and released "Ain't Your Mama", one of her most successful singles during the 2010s. Also in 2016, she began starring in NBC's crime drama series Shades of Blue, which she also executive produced. She played Harlee Santos, a single mother and police detective who goes undercover for the FBI to investigate her own squad. The series' premiere brought NBC its most-watched Thursday debut in seven years. Starring alongside Ray Liotta, Lopez's performance received critical praise. That year, she reprised her voice role as Shira in the animated film Ice Age: Collision Course (2016).
Lopez was executive producer and judge on NBC's dance competition series World of Dance, which was a ratings success upon its May 2017 premiere. That year, Lopez released the singles "Ni Tú Ni Yo" and "Amor, Amor, Amor", which were intended to be included on her second Spanish-language album, Por Primera Vez, which was ultimately shelved.
In 2018, Lopez released a string of Spanish and Spanglish singles: "Se Acabó el Amor", "El Anillo", "Dinero" featuring DJ Khaled and Cardi B, and "Te Guste" with Bad Bunny. Forbes noted that the songs were unable to "completely connect on a crossover, mainstream level", but were more successful on US-based Latin charts, nearly all of them reaching number one on the Billboard Latin Airplay chart. She later starred in and executive produced the comedy film Second Act (2018), directed by Peter Segal; she also recorded the single "Limitless" for its soundtrack. Second Act earned mixed reviews from critics, but performed well at the box office, grossing over $72 million on a $16 million budget.
In the first half of 2019, Lopez embarked on an international concert tour, It's My Party, to celebrate her 50th birthday. The tour grossed an estimated $54.7 million from thirty-eight shows. Variety reported that most shows were sold out. She also signed with new label Hitco Entertainment and released the single "Medicine" featuring French Montana. She also became executive producer of two television series, Good Trouble and Thanks a Million.
Lopez executive produced and starred in the crime drama film Hustlers (2019). Directed by Lorene Scafaria, the film is inspired by a true story, following a group of Manhattan strippers who con wealthy male Wall Street clientele. Lopez's portrayal of a veteran stripper in Hustlers garnered acclaim from critics, with some deeming it the best performance of her acting career. The film also gave Lopez her highest opening weekend at the box office for a live action film, grossing $33.2 million. Her performance received nominations for Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Critics' Choice Movie Awards and Independent Spirit Awards. The success of Hustlers was regarded by various media outlets as a comeback as an actress for Lopez. Her perceived Academy Award snub for Hustlers (2019) was referenced by Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti when announcing a new initiative for Latino representation in Hollywood.
In February 2020, Lopez co-headlined the Super Bowl LIV halftime show in Miami, Florida alongside Shakira; the performance included an appearance by her child Emme Muñiz. The performance was widely praised and became the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show to date. Later that year, Lopez released the singles "Pa' Ti" with Maluma―which became her most successful song since 2017―and "In the Morning", before headlining the 2021 Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest special live from Times Square on ABC.
In January 2021, she performed at the 2021 inauguration of President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C. In mid-2021, she signed a multi-year deal with Netflix to produce a range of films and television shows through her own Nuyorican Productions, and released the reggaeton Spanish single "Cambia el Paso" with Rauw Alejandro.
2022–present: Focus on film and This Is Me... Now
In January 2022, Lopez appeared as a guest on the fourteenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race in the episode titled "She's a Super Tease". She co-produced and starred opposite Owen Wilson and Maluma in the romantic comedy Marry Me (2022). The film grossed over $50 million at the box office while becoming the most-streamed day-and-date film on Peacock, and received generally mixed reviews from critics. Lopez and Maluma released a soundtrack for the film, which generated the singles "On My Way" and "Marry Me". Her next project was the documentary Jennifer Lopez: Halftime (2022), which focuses on her life following the release of Hustlers and in preparation for her Super Bowl performance. Released on Netflix following its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, it garnered positive reviews from film critics. The following month, Jimmy Fallon and Lopez released a children's book, Con Pollo: A Bilingual Playtime Adventure, which became a New York Times best-seller.
Lopez co-produced and starred opposite Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Coolidge in the action-comedy Shotgun Wedding (2023). It became one of the top-streamed films on Amazon Prime Video that year. She also led and co-produced the action thriller film The Mother (2023). The film received mixed reviews, but became the most-watched film on Netflix in 2023, and at one point, was one of the most-watched original films of all time on the platform.
After marrying Ben Affleck and entering a publishing partnership with BMG Rights Management, Lopez released her ninth studio album, This Is Me... Now, in February 2024. A sequel to This Is Me... Then (2002), the album spawned two singles: "Can't Get Enough", and "Rebound" featuring rapper Anuel AA. Lopez promoted the album with an exclusive concert at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, which was recorded as a concert film and released by Apple TV+ on February 21, 2024.
This Is Me... Now formed part of a "three-part multimedia project" which included a companion musical film, This Is Me... Now: A Love Story directed by Dave Meyers, and a documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told. Lopez plays a fictionalized version of herself in A Love Story, which was described as an "autobiographical musical rom-com action sci-fi" inspired by her own "tumultuous dating history". After potential partners backed out, Lopez financed the film herself for $20 million before it was purchased by Amazon. While A Love Story received positive reviews from critics and became a success on Prime Video, the film and its accompanying documentary also divided audiences, due in part to the overexposure of her relationship with Affleck. Lopez was set to embark on the This Is Me... Live North American tour, but cancelled it in order to spend more time with her family. Shortly after, it was announced that she and Affleck were divorcing. She would later state that "it was like my whole f***ing world exploded" amid the public scrutiny surrounding her personal and professional life in 2024.
Despite facing public scrutiny throughout 2024, Lopez's films continued to achieve success; Collider and Deadline Hollywood noted her to be among the most successful actors of the streaming era. She co-produced and starred in the sci-fi thriller Atlas (2024), the third project under her Netflix deal. Atlas received negative reviews from critics but became a success on the platform. In a positive review of the film, The New York Times praised Lopez's performance and called the film "an intriguing concept." Her next role was in the biographical sports drama Unstoppable (2024), in which she plays the mother of wrestler Anthony Robles. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and received limited theatrical release before debuting on Prime Video. Lopez received praise for her work in the film, which Owen Gleiberman of Variety called "the fullest screen performance she has ever given". She was presented with Variety's "Legend & Groundbreaker Award" at the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival in honor of Unstoppable and her overall career.
Lopez returned to touring with Up All Night: Live in 2025, which consisted of twenty dates across Africa, Asia and Europe. On July 24, 2025, Lopez's 56th birthday, she released the single "Birthday". She co-executive produced and starred in the Bill Condon-directed musical drama Kiss of the Spider Woman (2025), a film adaption of the Broadway 1993 musical of the same name. Her first role in a full-fledged musical, Condon wrote the part with Lopez in mind. The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where Lopez's performance received positive reviews.
Upcoming projects
In late 2025/early 2026, she will play a multi-night residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Lopez will co-produce and star opposite Brett Goldstein in Netflix's Office Romance. She will also co-produce a series adaptation of Emily Henry's 2023 novel Happy Place for Netflix. She has also committed to lead and co-produce Netflix's film adaptation of the bestselling novel, The Cipher. Lopez has several projects in the works as a producer. Through her continued partnership with Netflix, she will also star in an adaption of the novel The Last Mrs. Parrish, directed by Robert Zemeckis.
Personal life
Lopez was in a nearly decade-long relationship with David Cruz, her high-school boyfriend, until the mid-1990s. They were engaged at one point, and Cruz relocated to Los Angeles to be with her when she began pursuing her career. She later said of Cruz, "You get lucky, you have a first love like that." She was married to Cuban waiter Ojani Noa from February 1997 to January 1998. In subsequent court cases, Noa was prevented from publishing a book about their marriage and from using private honeymoon footage of Lopez in a documentary.
Lopez was in an on-again, off-again relationship with record producer and rapper Sean Combs (then known as "Puff Daddy") from 1999 to early 2001. On the night of December 27, 1999, Lopez, Combs and rapper Shyne were arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon and possession of stolen property, after leaving the scene of a shooting at a Times Square nightclub. Charges against Lopez were dropped within an hour while Combs was acquitted of all charges at trial in March 2001. They broke up shortly thereafter. Shyne was sentenced to ten years in prison. Lopez later said that, while she had "cared very much" about Combs, their "crazy, tumultuous" relationship "was always something I knew would end." She was married to Cris Judd, her former backup dancer, from September 2001 to January 2003.
Before her divorce with Judd was finalized, Lopez was in a relationship with actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck from mid-2002 to early 2004. Although they had crossed paths several times before (including at the 70th Academy Awards and at the premiere of Armageddon, both in 1998), their first major meeting was on the set of Gigli (2003) in December 2001. They later worked together on the music video for "Jenny from the Block" and the film Jersey Girl (2004). Her album This Is Me... Then was dedicated to and inspired by Affleck. Their relationship was extensively publicized. Tabloids referred to the couple as "Bennifer", a portmanteau Vanity Fair described as "the first of that sort of tabloid branding". They became engaged in November 2002, but their planned wedding on September 14, 2003, was postponed with four days' notice because of "excessive media attention". They ended their engagement in January 2004. Years later, Lopez said Affleck's discomfort with media scrutiny was one reason for their split and described it as her "first real heartbreak": "I think different time, different thing, who knows what could've happened, but there was a genuine love there."
After her relationship with Affleck, Lopez stopped discussing her personal life in interviews. She was married to singer Marc Anthony from June 2004 to June 2014; they had previously worked together and dated for a few months in the late 1990s. Their wedding took place five months after the end of her relationship with Affleck. During their marriage, they collaborated on music and performed together, as well as co-starring in El Cantante (2006). Lopez gave birth to fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, on Long Island in February 2008. People magazine paid a reported US$6 million for the first photographs of the twins, making them the most expensive celebrity pictures ever taken at the time. In 2009, Anthony and Lopez purchased a stake in the Miami Dolphins. They announced their separation in July 2011. Anthony filed for divorce in April 2012 and it was finalized in June 2014. Lopez retained primary physical custody of the two children. Lopez occasionally performs with her daughter.
Lopez had an on-again, off-again relationship with her former backup dancer Casper Smart from October 2011 to August 2016. She dated New York Yankees baseball player Alex Rodriguez from February 2017 to early 2021. They became engaged in March 2019 but postponed their wedding twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to tabloid speculation about the state of their relationship, they released a statement in March 2021, saying they were "working through some things". They announced the end of their relationship in April 2021.
In April 2021, Lopez and Affleck were reported to be dating again, with Lopez publicly confirming their rekindled relationship that July. In April 2022, Lopez announced their second engagement, 20 years after the first proposal. They were married in Las Vegas on July 16, 2022, and held a wedding celebration for family and friends the following month. On August 20, 2024, Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck, citing April 26, 2024, as the date of their separation. She also requested that her legal name be changed back to Jennifer Lynn Lopez. On January 6, 2025, the divorce was finalized.
Other activities
Business ventures and endorsements
Lopez first ventured into product endorsement in 1998, becoming a national spokesperson for Coca-Cola and L'Oréal. In 2001, Lopez launched her first business venture, the lifestyle brand J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez. It included a clothing line which catered to women of all sizes, as Lopez felt "the voluptuous woman [was] almost ignored" in the fashion industry. The following year, she opened Madre's, a Los Angeles restaurant serving Latin cuisine, and released her first fragrance, Glow by JLo, through a partnership with Coty, Inc.; it became the top-selling fragrance in the U.S. In 2003, she released a second fragrance, Still Jennifer Lopez, and became the face of Louis Vuitton's fall advertising campaign. Lopez has since released 30 fragrances as of 2020. Her clothing lines and two fragrances generated over $300 million in revenue throughout 2004.
In 2005, Lopez launched her second fashion label, Sweetface, which was geared towards "high fashion" in comparison to her previous fashion line. She also appeared in a Kill Bill-inspired Pepsi commercial with Beyoncé and David Beckham. In the late 2000s, her restaurant Madre's closed permanently, as did her two fashion lines. In 2011, in the midst of her career resurgence, Lopez became brand ambassador for various brands including L'Oréal, Gilette Venus, Tous and Fiat. She also launched the Jennifer Lopez Collection, a clothing and homeware line with Tommy Hilfiger for Kohl's; the collection generated an estimated $3 billion in sales during its first year. The following year, she launched Teeology, a luxury T-shirt brand. In 2013, she founded the phone retail brand Viva Móvil, which caters specifically to Latinos.
In 2014, Lopez released a range of jewelry, designed in partnership with Endless Jewelry. In 2016, she designed a capsule collection of shoes and jewelry in collaboration with Giuseppe Zanotti. The following year, she was announced as the new face of clothing company Guess, becoming the oldest spokeswoman in the company's history. In collaboration with Inglot Cosmetics, Lopez launched a limited-edition makeup collection in 2018. In 2019, she became the global face of the Coach brand, and launched a collection of sunglasses with the brand Quay Australia. In 2020, after modelling an updated version of her iconic Green Versace "jungle" dress at Milan Fashion Week the previous year, Lopez was the face of the brand's Spring/Summer 2020 campaign, which featured other pieces based on the same jungle print.
Throughout 2021, Lopez focused on investments and creating her own brands. She launched her skin care company, JLo Beauty, released a shoe collection in partnership with DSW, and invested in companies including Hims & Hers Health, Bodyarmor SuperDrink, Goli nutritional supplements and meal delivery service Wonder. In March 2022, she was appointed as the chief "entertainment and lifestyle" officer of the cruise line, Virgin Voyages. That September, she became the global ambassador of Italian lingerie label Intimissimi. In 2023, Lopez launched a spritz brand named Delola in collaboration with mixologist Lynnette Marrero. That year, she partnered with fashion retailer Revolve to design a footwear line, JLO Jennifer Lopez, which was released as three collections in March, May, and June. In 2024, she released a lingerie collection with Intimissimi inspired by her album This Is Me... Now.
Philanthropy
Lopez was heavily involved in charitable activities following the September 11 attacks. Joining other artists, she was featured on charitable singles such as "What's Going On" and "El Ultimo Adios (The Last Goodbye)", which benefited people affected by the tragedy. In February 2007, Lopez was honored with the Artists for Amnesty prize by Amnesty International for her work in Bordertown, which shed light on the hundreds of feminicides in Ciudad Juárez. Lopez described it as "one of the world's most shocking and disturbing, underreported crimes against humanity". That year, part of the proceeds from Lopez and Anthony's co-headlining North American concert tour was donated to the Run for Something Better program, which fights childhood obesity.
Lopez has been a long-time supporter of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Her album Rebirth (2005) is dedicated to Paige Peterson, an eleven-year-old cancer patient she befriended at the hospital who died in 2004. Lopez stated that "[she doesn't] like to do [her] charity work in public. That's not what you do it for." In 2009, Lopez launched the Lopez Family Foundation alongside her sister, Lynda. The organization works to increase healthcare access for underprivileged women and children, including through a telemedicine program in partnership with the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The foundation has facilitated the expansion of medical facilities in Panama and Puerto Rico, and created the Center for a Healthy Childhood at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
In December 2012, Lopez held a charity drive to benefit her three favorite charities: the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, the Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the American Red Cross, mainly benefiting victims of Hurricane Sandy. In 2015, she became the first celebrity spokesperson for the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and the BC Children's Hospital Foundation (BCCHF). She also became the first Global Advocate for Girls and Women at the United Nations Foundation, working on issues including maternal health care, education, and violence.
In September 2017, following Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria, Lopez donated $1 million from the proceeds of her Las Vegas residency to humanitarian aid for Puerto Rico. Along with Marc Anthony, she launched a humanitarian relief campaign entitled Somos Una Voz (English: We Are One Voice), an effort to rush supplies to areas affected by Hurricane Maria. Lopez and Anthony presented a concert and telethon for disaster relief, "One Voice: Somos Live!", which raised over $35 million. She was also among various artists featured on Lin-Manuel Miranda's charity single "Almost Like Praying", which benefits Puerto Rico.
As of 2021, Lopez continues to regularly donate to and support charities. In September 2021, she launched a philanthropic organization, Limitless Labs, which supports and empowers Latina entrepreneurs and business owners. Limitless Labs has entered partnerships with the 10,000 Small Businesses initiative and Grameen America, the latter being an effort to empower Latina businesses with $14 million in business loans and "6 million hours of financial education and training by 2030." Lopez headlined the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation's Blue Diamond Gala in 2022, which raised $3.6 million for education, health care, homelessness and social justice causes.
Political views and activism
A supporter of the Democratic Party, Lopez has a long history of backing Democratic candidates for public office. She endorsed President Barack Obama in his 2012 presidential campaign, speaking in television advertisements and attending fundraising events for Obama. She endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, headlining a free concert in Florida in support of her that October.
Lopez has been critical of President Donald Trump. During her Super Bowl halftime show performance in 2020, she performed her song "Let's Get Loud" while cloaked in a large Puerto Rican flag, with children in metal cages displayed on the field. It was interpreted as a statement about the Mexico–United States border crisis and Trump's immigration policy. The NFL attempted to remove the cages from the performance but Lopez refused. She endorsed President Joe Biden in his 2020 presidential campaign. She later performed at Biden's 2021 inauguration, where she sang "This Land Is Your Land" and "America the Beautiful", while reciting the last phrase of the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish. She also worked "Let's Get Loud" into the performance as a "reprise" to her political message at the Super Bowl. Lopez endorsed Kamala Harris during her 2024 presidential campaign. She spoke at a Las Vegas rally for Harris that November, pushing back on remarks made at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden which were deemed offensive to Puerto Ricans.
Lopez is an avid supporter of LGBTQ rights, and has raised millions of dollars for HIV/AIDS research. In June 2013, amfAR presented her with its humanitarian award for her philanthropic work. That September, she was awarded the Ally for Equality award presented by the Human Rights Campaign, for her support of the LGBTQ community. The following year, she received the GLAAD Vanguard Award. In July 2016, Lopez released a single entitled "Love Make the World Go Round", a collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda, which benefits victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. She was also featured on the song "Hands" along with numerous other artists, also benefiting those affected by the Orlando shooting. Lopez signed an open letter from Billboard magazine to the United States Congress in 2016, which demanded action on gun control.
In June 2020, Lopez attended a Black Lives Matter movement protest in Los Angeles, in connection with the broader George Floyd protests. Lopez has also been an active advocate for the Time's Up movement. In January 2022, she became one of the co-chairs for Michelle Obama's When We All Vote. She expressed solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war. As part of a group called Artists4Ceasefire, she signed a letter urging President Joe Biden to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Artistry
Influences
Lopez credited Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno's performance in the musical film West Side Story (1961) as the major influence on her career path and artistry. Moreno was the only performer Lopez was able to identify with, at a time when Latinos were rarely on television. She was also inspired by Barbara Streisand's career as a singer, director and actress. Growing up, she was influenced by Latin music styles ranging from salsa to bachata, and artists including Celia Cruz and Tito Puente, though it was the hip hop song "Rapper's Delight" (1979) by The Sugarhill Gang that she said changed her life.
Lopez has cited Madonna as her "first big musical influence", explaining "It was all about Madonna for me. She inspired me to want to sing, to dance, to work hard." Her other major influences include Tina Turner, James Brown, and Michael Jackson. Lopez has cited Janet Jackson as a major inspiration for her own dance and music videos, stating that she "probably started dancing" because of Jackson's music video for "The Pleasure Principle". She also looked to the careers of Cher, Bette Middler and Diana Ross, and has been inspired by younger artists such as Lady Gaga.
Musical style
Musically, Lopez is described as a "chameleon" by outlets like Variety and Forbes, having been known to experiment and jump between genres. Her music strongly identifies with hip hop while exploring the "romantic innocence" of Latin music. Billboard observed that she has "never been one to downplay her Latinidad, and always makes sure to display it" in her music, "regardless of genre". On the 6 and J.Lo, described by Lopez as Latin soul, fuse a wide range of Latin genres with R&B and hip hop, while also containing dance-pop. While mostly English, the albums include some Spanish and bilingual songs such as "Cariño", with Lopez also speaking in Spanish and asserting her Latin identity on songs like "Let's Get Loud". A departure from her previous work, This Is Me... Then blends 1970s soul with "streetwise" hip hop. Rebirth was noted for its "relaxing" atmosphere, while Como Ama una Mujer was characterized as "silkily sedate Spanish Sade worship". Brave and Love? delved further into dance-pop, while A.K.A. and This Is Me... Now saw her return to her R&B roots, though the latter eschews Latin influences.
Described as autobiographical, most of Lopez's music has centered around the "ups and downs" of love, often inspired by her own love life. Lyrically, This Is Me... Then is largely focused on her relationship with Ben Affleck; the song "Dear Ben" was described as the album's "glowing centerpiece". Its sequel album, This Is Me... Now, was informed by her marriage to Affleck, and Lopez's "psychological journey of the past two decade". Como Ama una Mujer features introspective lyrics about romance, heartache and self-loathing. Regarding Love?, Lopez stated: "There's still so much to learn and that's why the question mark." Other recurrent themes in Lopez's music have included her upbringing in the Bronx, social class and women's empowerment.
Lopez has received mixed reviews for her "light" soubrette voice, which critics have described as thin, and overshadowed by her music's production. With On the 6, critics described Lopez's voice as a "sultry purr" and "breathy"; Rob Sheffield remarked: "Lopez sticks to the understated R&B murmur of a round-the-way superstar who doesn't need to belt because she knows you're already paying attention ... She makes a little va-va and a whole lot of voom go a long way." Lopez, who often worried about her singing "not being as strong" as her other attributes, would later credit ex-husband Marc Anthony for helping her find her "best singing voice". Pitchfork described her voice as being "stronger than ever" on This Is Me... Now, while opining that "the thinness of the voice has often been beside the point, if not a boon to her early career", which was marked by "Bronx regularness".
Lopez has been criticized for her use of background vocals from demo singers, prompting rumors of ghost singers' vocals being used in place of her own. The rumors have been debunked by writers and background singers who worked with Lopez, including Christina Milian ("Play"), who called the controversy "funny" and said: "It's no different than Michael Jackson having background singers on songs or Britney Spears. This is what music is made of."
Dance, videos and stage
Considered one of dance's "greatest success stories", Lopez has received praise for her highly choreographed dancing, and is noted for her technical skill. She has been trained in a range of dance styles, including ballet, jazz, flamenco, ballroom, pole dancing, breakdancing, street dance, and hip hop. Her signature movements include "clock-wise pivoting with salsa hip circles and sequential torso undulations". Described by MTV's Madeline Roth as "some of the most memorable visuals of the 21st century", Lopez's music videos made her a dominant figure on MTV, and helped influence 2000s fashion trends. Her music videos are known for showcasing her ability as a dancer, which CNN's Holly Thomas said gave her a "captivating, commanding presence", as well as themes of surveillance and fame. Her videography and dancing have also been criticized for their provocative nature, with Lopez being described as one of the Latin performers whose work "racialized and sexualized their bodies".
On stage, Lopez is recognized for her showmanship, sex appeal, and glamorous costumes, which often include bodysuits. Journalists have described her as the "ultimate showgirl". While being noted to lip sync in the early stages of career, Lopez's Dance Again World Tour was praised for showcasing live vocals and choreography synchronously. In a review of her Las Vegas residency All I Have, Los Angeles Times writer Nolan Feeney remarked that her dancing is "undoubtedly the centerpiece of the show".
Her provocative stage performances and costumes have also drawn scrutiny. Robin Givhan of The Daily Beast criticized the nude bodysuit Lopez wore during her performance at the 2011 American Music Awards, calling it "banal exhibitionism" which "cried out for attention in all the wrong ways". A number of her performances have been deemed inappropriate for television, including her controversial appearance at the Moroccan musical festival, Mawazine, in 2015. Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane called it "disgraceful" and demanded that legal measures be taken, while an education group claimed that she "disturbed public order and tarnished women's honor and respect".
Acting and screen
Lopez's films often see her playing "relatable everywomen", with Cady Lang of Time writing: "A longtime hallmark of Lopez's filmography is her penchant for stories about survivors. Her characters are never shrinking violets." Discussing the roles she is drawn to, Lopez said in 1998: "I don't think of them as strong women ... I like characters that are really part of the story as opposed to window dressing, but I think the interesting thing is that they are real people. Nobody walks around being strong all the time." Like her music, a number of her film roles explore class consciousness, including Maid in Manhattan (2002) and Second Act (2018).
Film critic Stephanie Zacharek described Lopez as "one of the most gifted and appealing performers of the past two decades ... and yet the movies have rarely known what to do with her and her significant gifts as an actor." While Lopez received acclaim for her early film work, The New York Times writer Kyle Buchanan noted that her tendency to star in romantic comedies, and her pop music career, "lowered her critical bona fides". Taylor Hackford, who directed Lopez in Parker, said she "can really act": "She knows how to transmit nuances, to make the subtlest of shifts. Does she have humor? Yes. But at the same time she can get into the deepest dramatic areas." Lopez, who identifies the romantic comedy as her favorite film genre, has been referred to as the "Patron Saint of Romantic Comedies" and the "Queen of Romantic Comedies".
In her early films, Lopez played stereotypical roles which signified her as a "racialized, exoticized" other. In films such as Blood and Wine and U Turn, her body is fetishized "through extreme close-ups" and "framed as animalistic, primitive, and irresistibly dangerous to the Anglo American male characters." This shifted with her role in Selena, which "affirmed her Latinx identity, and won her the loyalty of that significant section of the U.S. and global audience." She has also been criticized for playing ethnically ambiguous parts and tapping into "the ability to perform a panethnic other" to commodify herself. Her role as an Italian woman in The Wedding Planner has been described as "a case of classic Hollywood whitewashing."
Public image
Lopez has been a polarizing figure in popular culture. Andrew Barker of Variety writes that she "exhibits a plethora of contradictions", observing: "Despite a carefully cultivated image as an imperious pop empress in ludicrously expensive outfits, her signature hits bear the titles 'I'm Real' and 'Jenny From the Block'." In 2002, Lynette Holloway of The New York Times described Lopez's image as including "a dash of ghetto fabulousness" and "middle-class respectability" for mass appeal. The media discerned a shift in her public image upon joining American Idol in 2011, with Entertainment Weekly writing: "Gone was her old cut-a-bitch swagger; J. Lo 2.0 is an all-embracing, Oprahfied earth madre." People editor Peter Castro said American Idol made Lopez "a celebrity of the people" whereas before, "there was a huge distance with the American public."
Lopez is widely celebrated for her curvaceous hourglass figure, which earned her the nickname La Guitarra (the guitar). Vanity Fair described her buttocks as "in and of themselves, a cultural icon". Recounting her experience on early films, Lopez stated: "I've always had costume people looking at me a little weary and immediately fitting me out with things to hide my bottom." She often wears revealing outfits to accentuate her curves. Author Mary Beltrán opined that for Lopez to "unashamedly display her well-endowed posterior during this time period" could be viewed as "a revolutionary act with respect to Anglo beauty ideals". However, she was also criticized for perceived changes in her image upon launching her music career, which included "weight loss and lightening her hair".
Considered a fashion icon, Lopez is known for her sense of style and "breaking fashion rules". She is recognized for both her "bold" red carpet fashion, including fourteen appearances at the haute couture Met Gala in New York City, and her everyday street style, which is "discussed ad infinitum by the fashion press." British Vogue said she "added megawatt glamour to every outfit she wore", with Billboard describing her style as "scantily clad". Lopez's style has been influenced by "women who epitomize old Hollywood glamour like Rita Hayworth", as well as her Bronx upbringing and Nuyorican identity. Described as the "ultimate sex symbol" of the early 21st century, various publications have ranked her as the most beautiful or sexiest woman in the world, including People, People en Español, Vibe, Details, and FHM, with Lopez topping the latter's 100 Sexiest Women list twice. Lopez has criticized "this funny notion in America that you can't be a mom and be sexy", stating: "The truth is that women can be sexy until the day they die."
She has a large following on social media, being the 14th most-followed individual on Instagram and having one of the 50 most-followed accounts on Twitter. On the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)'s "Music Fuels" ranking, Lopez is the eighth-most-followed musician across Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. She is the richest Latin actress, with an estimated net worth of US$400 million.
Described as "one of the most photographed women in the world", Lopez has long been a tabloid fixture, and admits to having a "less-than-perfect" public image. Frances Negrón-Muntaner wrote that by 1999, "Internet chat rooms exploded with anti-Lopez babble" and she became "one of the easiest moving targets for cheap laughs as well as anxieties about working-class 'loud' sexuality and specifically Latino visibility." Much of the media coverage surrounding Lopez in the 2000s "focused on her dramatic private life", with several writers describing her as overexposed at the time, despite her continued success. Media outlets often liken her to actress Elizabeth Taylor, due to her numerous failed relationships and glamorous public persona. Her high-profile relationship with Combs was described as having "defined an age", with Vanity Fair writing that they entered "the pantheon of slightly notorious celebrity couples: Liz and Dick, Frank and Ava."
Throughout her career, she has also received a bad reputation as being a demanding and outspoken "diva", something which she denies, stating: "I've always been fascinated by how much more well-behaved we have to be than men." Some of the backlash and fabricated tabloid stories surrounding Lopez have been attributed to her 1998 interview with Movieline, in which she was quoted as criticizing various actors and directors. Lopez, who "cried for hours" after the article was published, said the comments were made in jest and she was "so misquoted and so taken out of context". In 2003, Lawrence Donegan of The Guardian posited that "indefensible" misogyny and racism were to blame for her position as "the most vilified woman in modern popular culture". In 2021, Ben Affleck said: "People were so fucking mean about her; sexist, racist, ugly vicious shit was written about her in ways that if you wrote it now, you would literally be fired for saying some of the things you said."
Legacy and cultural impact
Entertainment industry
Regarded as one of the most influential performers of her time, Lopez is often cited by journalists and academics as the most influential entertainer of Latin descent, credited with breaking racial barriers in the entertainment industry. She was described as "the first Latina superstar" by writer Ned Zeman, and the "embodiment of the American Dream" by Robert C. Cottrell in Icons of American Popular Culture (2009). Often dubbed the "Queen of Dance", she is considered a triple threat performer, and was one of few actors to successfully cross over into music. Rachel Sklar of The Huffington Post called Lopez a trailblazer, writing: "Beyoncé, Miley, Gaga, any actress who's ever released an album — they are all standing on the shoulders of J.Lo. She was a true triple threat — actress, singer, dancer ... and packaged it sometimes outrageously but always sexily." Lopez is considered a pop icon, with VH1 ranking her at number 15 on their list of 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons, number 16 on 100 Greatest Women In Music, and number 21 on 50 Greatest Women of the Video Era.
The highest-paid Latina actress in history, Lopez's film career has been credited with paving the way for greater representation of Latino Americans in Hollywood, a historically white space. Biographer Kathleen Tracy opined that "Lopez blazed a trail no openly Latin actress had gone before", noting that previous Latina stars cosmetically downplayed their ethnicity and changed their names. Lopez, who achieved "ethnic 'blind' casting" with Out of Sight (1998), is noted by biographer James Robert Parish to have "helped minimize racial boundaries in show business" by deliberately avoiding stereotypical roles.
With her musical debut, Lopez helped influence the Latin pop movement in American music, often dubbed the "Latin explosion" of the 1990s. The Recording Academy called her the "breakout female star" of the Latin pop movement, with historian Roger Bruns describing her as "an influential force in driving a growing Latin cultural influence in popular music" at the time. Ella Cerón of Teen Vogue wrote: "In an era of blonde, bubblegum pop, there was only one J.Lo." She has been credited with paving the way for U.S.-born Latina artists including Selena Gomez, Becky G, and Cardi B, and for Latin American artists to venture into English pop music, including Shakira, Thalía and Paulina Rubio. Along with Ricky Martin, she helped increase the visibility of Latin music in international markets including East Asia and Canada. Due to her "multi-tasking career", she has been described as "the next-generation Madonna", and "the first woman to demonstrate that a Madonna could be a Latina".
Lopez's music has been credited with helping influence the trajectory of 2000s music, including dance music, Latin music, R&B, and pop rap collaborations. Billboard magazine described her as having "helped define an era where hip-hop, R&B and pop all got more cuddly together than ever before". Scholar Miriam Jiménez Román suggested that Lopez, who represents the "often-suppressed" history of Puerto Ricans in hip hop culture, was "able to traverse the difficult racial boundaries". In July 2023, Madame Tussauds New York unveiled a wax figure of Lopez inspired by her performance at the Super Bowl LIV halftime show.
Cultural influence
In 2012, Forbes ranked Lopez as the world's most powerful celebrity and the 38th most powerful woman. She was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2018. Lopez's influence has been attributed to her bicultural identity and ability to code-switch. According to Latina magazine founder Christy Haubegger, Lopez was "the first icon that generationally fits" young Latino Americans who followed celebrity culture. Lopez was featured on the first cover of Latina in 1996, with editor Galina Espinoza writing in 2011 that there is "no recounting of modern Latina history without Jennifer".
Jonathan Van Meter of Vogue described Lopez as having "changed the face of modern celebrity." Her ability to start trends has prompted the usage of the phrase "the J.Lo effect" in popular culture, which has been used in various different contexts, including the trend of networks hiring "big name" judges for reality competition programs after Lopez's successful casting on American Idol. With her moniker J.Lo, Lopez started a trend of celebrities being given abbreviated nicknames, while "Bennifer" began the convention of celebrity couple name blending.
Described by scholar Helene A. Shugart of the University of Utah as "arguably the most visible Latina in contemporary mainstream popular culture", Lopez has been the subject of considerable academic analysis, including in relation to ethnicity, class, "body politics", race, Latin culture, and gender. While credited with opening "the door to [Latino culture having a] broader appeal", Lopez has also been a polarizing figure, generating "often vehement disagreement about what is and isn't Latino." According to journalist Jesús Triviño Alarcón, Lopez "widened the scope of what it means to be Latina by simply being her. You don’t have to speak perfect Spanish, or Spanish at all, to be proud of your roots."
As a result of the public emphasis on her curvaceous figure, Lopez has been credited with influencing a shift in cultural beauty standards. The surge in popularity of buttock augmentation surgery in the early 2000s was attributed to Lopez. In Latin Sensations (2001), Herón Marquez wrote: "Because she wasn't rail thin, Lopez had broken the mold ... Suddenly, it was okay for women to have hips, curves, and a big backside." This has been considered a sign of Lopez's social power in "changing cultural standards within the mainstream media as a whole".
In 2014, scientists named a species of aquatic mite found in Puerto Rico, Litarachna lopezae, after Lopez. In Tok Pisin, a language spoken in Papua New Guinea, the term palopa is used to describe non-heteronormative people whose identities may correlate with those who, in Western contexts, identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019, she was presented with keys to the city of Miami Beach, where July 24 was declared "Jennifer Lopez Day".
Fashion and branding
The Council of Fashion Designers of America presented Lopez with its Fashion Icon Award in 2019 for her "long-standing and global impact on fashion". Her green Versace "Jungle Dress" was voted the fifth most iconic red carpet dress of all time in a poll run by The Daily Telegraph. The dress had a significant impact on the fashion industry, celebrity endorsements, and the evolution of red carpet fashion. The images of Lopez wearing the dress became the most popular search query of all time at that point, and subsequently led to the creation of Google's image search. Lopez has been credited with popularizing various fashion and beauty trends throughout her career. In 2003, she inspired a trend of curvier mannequins being designed, which fuelled a rise in sales for manufacturers and retailers. Lopez's personal style and brand deals have had a considerable effect on sales in the fashion industry. The success of Louis Vuitton's fall 2003 campaign, for which Lopez was the brand's model, led to more Hollywood stars "becoming image models of fashion and cosmetic labels". In 2021, The Daily Telegraph reported that she was among ten celebrities whose personal style choices drove the greatest spikes in searches and news coverage for brands. Her appearance at Milan Fashion Week in 2019 generated over $31.8 million in total media impact value.
Described as a "branding pioneer", Lopez has been credited with ushering in a new era of celebrity branding. Her first fragrance, Glow by JLo, influenced the rise of celebrity fragrances in the 2000s. Her fragrance line became the most successful celebrity line in the world, with sales exceeding $2 billion as of 2012. Lopez's clothing brand was one of the first celebrity fashion lines; scholars have credited her with redefining "how fashion is produced and entwined with other artistic endeavors", and popularizing a trend of utilizing racial ambiguity for branding purposes in fashion and cosmetics. As of 2022, her business ventures have cumulatively earned over US$5 billion in sales globally.
Achievements
As of 2022, Lopez has sold more than 80 million records worldwide and amassed over 15 billion streams; her films have grossed a cumulative total of US$3.1 billion while her business ventures have cumulatively made over US$5 billion in consumer sales. She remains the only female entertainer to have a number-one album and film simultaneously in the United States. The Guinness World Records acknowledged J to tha L–O! The Remixes (2002) as the first number-one remix album on the U.S. Billboard 200, and recognized "On the Floor" as the "Highest Viewed Female Music Video of All Time" in 2012. Billboard named Lopez the top Hot 100 female artist and the Greatest Pop Star of 2001. Billboard ranked her as the ninth-greatest dance club artist of all time in 2016, having scored 18 number-one songs on its Dance Club Songs chart. The magazine also ranked her at number 22 on its "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list (2025). She was named the top Latin touring artist of the decade by Pollstar in 2021.
For her contributions to the music industry, Lopez was honored by the World Music Awards with the Legend Award in 2010, and was presented with the prestigious landmark 2,500th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013. At the 2014 Billboard Music Awards, she became the first female recipient of the Billboard Icon Award. In 2017, she was awarded the Telemundo Star Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards. Lopez received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award during the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, making her the first Latin performer to receive the honor. She later received the Icon Award at the iHeart Radio Music Awards in 2022. Outside of music, Univision presented her with the World Icon Award in its Premios Juventud in 2013. She received the Generation Award at the MTV Movie & TV Awards for her contributions to film and television in 2022.
Discography
Filmography
Films starred
Bibliography
Lopez has written a memoir and co-written a children's book.
Lopez, Jennifer. True Love. Celebra, 2014. ISBN 9780451468680.
Lopez, Jennifer and Jimmy Fallon (authors). Con Pollo: A Bilingual Playtime Adventure. Feiwel & Friends, 2022. ISBN 9781250876362.
Tours and residencies
Headlining tours
Dance Again World Tour (2012)
It's My Party Tour (2019)
Up All Night: Live in 2025 (2025)
Co-headlining tours
Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony en Concierto (2007)
Enrique Iglesias & Jennifer Lopez Tour (2012)
Residencies
Jennifer Lopez: All I Have (2016–2018)
Jennifer Lopez: Up All Night Live in Las Vegas (2025-2026)
Cancelled tours
This Is Me... Live (2024)
See also
History of women in Puerto Rico
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of dancers
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
List of Puerto Ricans
Mami (hip hop) – Term for an attractive Latina womanPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Nuyorican – Puerto Rican located in or around New York City
Explanatory notes
References
Sources
External links
Jennifer Lopez – official site
JLo Beauty – official beauty site
Jennifer Lopez at AllMusic
Jennifer Lopez discography at Discogs
Jennifer Lopez at IMDb
Jennifer Lopez at Rotten Tomatoes
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking barriers for Latino Americans in Hollywood and helping propel the Latin pop movement in music. She is also known for her cultural impact through fashion, branding, and shifting mainstream beauty standards.
After appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy series In Living Color (1991–1993), Lopez rose to wider fame as an actress with leading film roles in Selena (1997), Anaconda (1997), Out of Sight (1998), and The Cell (2000). She successfully ventured into music with her debut album, On the 6 (1999), which spawned the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "If You Had My Love". With her second album J.Lo and the romantic comedy The Wedding Planner (both 2001), she became the first woman to simultaneously have the number-one album and film in the United States. Her musical success continued with J to tha L–O! The Remixes—the first remix album to top the US Billboard 200—and This Is Me... Then (both 2002). These projects included the US number-one singles "I'm Real", "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)", and "All I Have".
Lopez established herself as one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses with her roles in romantic comedies, including Maid in Manhattan (2002), Shall We Dance? (2004), and Monster-in-Law (2005). Subsequent albums included Como Ama una Mujer (2007), which broke first-week sales records for a debut Spanish album. After a career decline, Lopez returned to prominence as a judge on American Idol (2011–2016) and released her comeback single, "On the Floor", from the album Love? (2011). She later starred in the police drama series Shades of Blue (2016–2018) and served as a judge on World of Dance (2017–2020). Her film career saw an upturn with her critically praised performance in the crime drama Hustlers (2019). She has since starred in Marry Me (2022), The Mother (2023), This Is Me... Now: A Love Story and Atlas (both 2024), while receiving praise for her supporting roles in Unstoppable (2024) and Kiss of the Spider Woman (2025).
Lopez has sold over 80 million records worldwide, while her films have cumulatively grossed over US$3.1 billion. Her accolades include a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Billboard Icon Award, three American Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award), and six Guinness World Records. She has been ranked among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time (2018) and the World's 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes (2012). Lopez has a large social media following, being one of the most-followed individuals on Instagram. Her other ventures include a lifestyle brand, beauty and fashion lines, fragrances, a production company, and a charitable foundation.
Early life
Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24, 1969, in the Bronx, one of the boroughs of New York City, and raised in its Castle Hill neighborhood. Her parents, Guadalupe Rodríguez and David Lopez, were born in Puerto Rico and met in New York City. After serving in the Army, David worked as a computer technician at Guardian Insurance Company. Guadalupe was a homemaker for the first ten years of Lopez's life, later working as a Tupperware salesperson and a kindergarten and gym teacher. They divorced in the 1990s after 33 years of marriage.
Lopez is a middle child; she has an older sister, Leslie, and a younger sister, Lynda. The three shared a bed. Lopez has described her upbringing as "strict". She was raised in a Catholic family; she attended Mass every Sunday and received a Catholic education, attending Holy Family School and the all-girls Preston High School, a private school. In school, Lopez ran track on a national level, participated in gymnastics, and was on the softball team. She danced in school musicals and played a lead role in a production of Godspell. She described herself as a "tomboy" and "very athletic".
There was "lots of music" in the typically Puerto Rican household, and Lopez and her sisters were encouraged to sing, dance, and create their own plays for family events. West Side Story made a particular impression on the young Lopez, who wanted to be an entertainer from an early age. As a teenager, Lopez became "obsessive" about dance, stating that "I practiced until my legs and feet ached". She learned flamenco, jazz, and ballet at the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club and taught dance to younger students, including Kerry Washington. After graduating from high school, she had a part-time secretarial job at a law firm and studied business at New York's Baruch College for one semester. At age 18, she enrolled as a full-time student at Manhattan's Phil Black Dance Studio, where she had already taken night classes in jazz and tap dance. Her parents were unhappy with her decision to leave college to pursue a dance career. According to Lopez, her parents felt it was "foolish" because "no Latinas did that". Her mother asked her to move out of the family home, and they stopped speaking for eight months. Lopez moved to Manhattan, sleeping in the dance studio's office for the first few months.
Career
1989–1996: Professional dancing and early acting roles
Lopez's first professional job came in 1989 when she spent five months touring Europe with the musical revue show Golden Musicals of Broadway. She was upset at being the only member of the chorus not to have a solo, and later characterized it as a pivotal moment where she had to "try harder and become that much more committed". In 1990, she danced alongside MC Hammer in an episode of Yo! MTV Raps, and traveled around Japan for four months as a chorus member in Synchronicity. When she returned to the United States, she was hired as a backup dancer for New Kids on the Block's performance of "Games" at the 1991 American Music Awards. She also traveled around America with regional productions of the musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and Oklahoma!. During this period, Lopez also danced in music videos including Doug E. Fresh's "Summertime", Richard Rogers' "Can't Stop Loving You", EPMD's "Rampage", and Samantha Fox's "(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On". Lopez stated: "I'd dance in a piece-of-garbage rap or pop video for 50 bucks and make the money last a whole month."
Her most high-profile job as a professional dancer was as a Fly Girl jazz-funk dancer on the sketch comedy television series In Living Color. The show's choreographer, Rosie Perez said she chose Lopez because "she had that look that I knew the audience would tune in to". Lopez moved to Los Angeles in late 1991 for the job; she filmed In Living Color during the day and attended acting classes taught by Aaron Speiser at night. Lopez felt ostracized by the other Fly Girls because of her "voluptuous figure", and also clashed with Perez. The head of Virgin Records considered signing The Fly Girls as a girl group to rival the Spice Girls, but the deal fell apart. After appearing as a Fly Girl in seasons three and four of In Living Color, Lopez left to work as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, and appeared in the music video for "That's the Way Love Goes". She was scheduled to tour with Jackson on her Janet World Tour in late 1993 but opted to pursue an acting career instead. Music industry executives expressed interest in giving Lopez a record deal, but she chose to focus on acting. She hired In Living Color producer Eric Gold as her manager. He advised Lopez to lose weight if she wanted to succeed as an actress.
Lopez's first professional acting job was a small recurring role on the television show South Central (1994). She was invited to audition for the pilot by a casting director who had seen her speak to camera during a behind-the-scenes In Living Color segment. She then acquired an agent and was cast in the CBS show Second Chances; the series was quickly cancelled, but her popularity with viewers led to her being cast in its spin-off Hotel Malibu. She subsequently appeared in the television film Lost in the Wild (1993). For her first major movie role, in Gregory Nava's 1995 drama Mi Familia, Lopez received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress. She then starred in the action comedy Money Train (1995). The film was not a box office success, though her performance was reviewed positively, which led to her being further noticed in Hollywood. In 1996, Lopez had a supporting role opposite Robin Williams in the comedy Jack, which director Francis Ford Coppola cast her in after seeing her performance in Mi Familia. She next starred opposite Jack Nicholson as a "calculating Cuban maid" in the neo-noir thriller Blood and Wine (1996), where David Rooney of Variety felt she delivered in "juggling" the "smoldering and soulful sides" of the character.
1997–1999: Breakthrough with Selena and On the 6
With her casting as the singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez in the biopic Selena (1997), Lopez became the first Latina actress to earn $1 million. She described her salary for the film as a "statement to the world", but expressed disappointment that other Latina actors were not being afforded the same opportunities. Despite having previously worked with the film's director Gregory Nava on Mi Familia, Lopez participated in an intense auditioning process and spent time with the late singer's family in Corpus Christi, Texas before filming began. Selena was a box office hit, and Lopez's performance received critical acclaim. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times described it as "a star-making performance" and wrote: "She has the star presence to look convincing in front of 100,000 fans." Lopez received her first Golden Globe nomination for the performance. Nava asked the heads of Warner Bros. to fund an Academy Award campaign for Lopez but was told the Academy would "never nominate a Latina." Later in 1997, Lopez starred opposite Ice Cube in the horror film Anaconda, which received negative reviews from critics but was a box office success. Joe Leydon of Variety found the film "silly" but said it deserved "a little credit" for being "the first movie of its kind to have a Latina and an African-American" as its stars. In the crime film U Turn (1997), Lopez appeared topless in a sex scene that was added by director Oliver Stone during filming. Speaking in 2003, Lopez said it was not something "I would have chosen to do" and that she and Stone fought over it: "It's hard being the only woman on a set."
Lopez starred opposite George Clooney in the crime caper Out of Sight (1998), Steven Soderbergh's adaptation of the Elmore Leonard 1996 novel. Cast as a deputy federal marshal who falls for a charming criminal, she won rave reviews for her performance. Janet Maslin of The New York Times described it as her "best movie role thus far, and she brings it both seductiveness and grit; if it was hard to imagine a hard-working, pistol-packing bombshell on the page, it couldn't be easier here." Turan of the Los Angeles Times described Lopez as "an actress who can be convincingly tough and devastatingly erotic" and said the film solidified "her position as a woman you can confidently build a film around." In 2021, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian named Lopez and Clooney's partnership as one of the best examples of on-screen chemistry in cinema history. Also in 1998, Lopez provided the voice of Azteca in the animated film Antz.
Lopez decided to pursue a music career after working on Selena, realizing that she had missed "the excitement of the stage". Her new manager Benny Medina sought to position her as "a brand name that will cross over into all media." Lopez, who was "really feeling [her] Latin roots", recorded a Spanish-language demo for circulation among prospective labels. With Lopez being a high-profile personality, a bidding war ensued. Tommy Mottola, the head of Sony Music's Work Group, signed her but suggested that she sing in English instead. Her record deal with Sony was described as "lucrative", having outbid other offers from Capitol Records and EMI Latin. While Lopez worked on her debut album, Sony "began a major push" to feature her with other high-profile entertainers, leading her to appear in the Sean Combs music video "Been Around the World" (1997).
Her debut album, On the 6 (1999), named after the 6 Subway line which connected her childhood home in the Bronx to Manhattan, was met with positive reviews and further propelled her public profile. The album was a success and Lopez's debut single, "If You Had My Love", topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks, with another single, "Waiting for Tonight", reaching number eight and becoming a celebratory anthem for the new millennium. Other singles from the album included "Let's Get Loud", which became one of Lopez's signature songs, and "No Me Ames", a duet with future husband Marc Anthony. In July 1999, she performed "If You Had My Love" and "Let's Get Loud" at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup closing ceremony. It was watched by over one billion viewers worldwide, exposing Lopez's music career to a larger international audience.
2000–2002: Box office success, J.Lo and This Is Me... Then
In February 2000, Lopez and then-boyfriend Sean Combs attended the Grammy Awards, with Lopez wearing a plunging green Versace silk chiffon dress. The dress generated worldwide attention and became the most popular search query in Google's history, leading to the creation of Google Images, while boosting Lopez's album and movie ticket sales. Later that year, Lopez starred in the psychological thriller The Cell, for which she received a $4 million salary. The film, where Lopez played a psychologist who uses radical experimental therapy to enter the mind of a killer, received mixed reviews but was a box office success. David Edelstein of Slate remarked that the "imperious" Lopez was "trying to look waifishly expectant" while Amy Taubin of The Village Voice noted that she appeared to be engaged "in some kind of pouting competition" "in lieu of acting."
In January 2001, Lopez became the first woman to have a number-one film and album simultaneously in the United States, with the release of her second album, J.Lo, and her first romantic comedy The Wedding Planner, which co-starred Matthew McConaughey. Lopez had been searching for a romantic comedy role for several years; she wanted to show that she could be "every girl", stating: "I felt like all the women in romantic comedies always looked the same way, they were always white." Despite negative reviews, the film opened at number one at the box office and solidified her place in Hollywood. At the same time, J.Lo debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200; she was the first female solo recording artist under Epic Records to do so since the label's inception in 1953. J.Lo was titled after the nickname she had been given by her fans, with Lopez also adopting J.Lo as her stagename. The album received mixed critical reviews but became the most successful of her career, selling 12 million copies worldwide. It produced four singles: "Love Don't Cost a Thing", which reached number one in various countries, "Play", "I'm Real", and "Ain't It Funny". A remix of "I'm Real" featuring rapper Ja Rule propelled that song to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
In September 2001, Lopez performed a two-concert residency in Puerto Rico, which marked her first concerts. It was broadcast that November as an NBC special, Jennifer Lopez in Concert, and became one of the most-watched concert specials of the year, with a US audience of almost 12 million. Also in 2001, Lopez founded her production company, Nuyorican Productions, with manager Benny Medina, and starred in the romantic drama, Angel Eyes, opposite Jim Caviezel. Lopez's performance was well-reviewed, though the film was a critical and commercial disappointment. She was slated to star alongside Ricky Martin in a remake of Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas, but this did not eventuate.
Lopez released two albums in 2002. The first was J to tha L–O! The Remixes, which became the first remix album in history to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. Its singles included "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)" and "I'm Gonna Be Alright", which reached number one and ten on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Lopez's third studio album, This Is Me... Then, was released in late 2002, and was heavily influenced by her relationship with then-fiancé Ben Affleck. It received mixed critical reviews; Billboard's Michael Paoletta noted the "considerable growth she reveals as a performer and tunesmith" on the album, while Jon Caramanica called it "the least interesting music on the pop charts today." The album became a commercial success, achieving the highest opening sales week of her career. The album's lead single, "Jenny from the Block", which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, was viewed as a response to the notion that Lopez had alienated her "core fan base: the black and Hispanic hip-hop community." The album also spawned the US number-one single "All I Have".
Lopez starred as an abused wife who fights back in the thriller Enough (2002), a role which required her to learn Krav Maga. An overworked Lopez suffered a nervous breakdown in 2001 while filming it. The film received negative reviews; Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times felt it was "tacky material" and was surprised to see "an actress like Jennifer Lopez" involved with the project. Her next film was the romantic comedy, Maid in Manhattan (2002), in which Lopez starred opposite Ralph Fiennes as a maid and single mother from the Bronx. It became the highest-grossing film of her career at the time. Reviewing Maid in Manhattan, A. O. Scott of The New York Times enjoyed Lopez as a romantic lead and said "her greatest skill as an actress" was "her ability to melt without cracking the hard shell of composure she wears." Lopez was ranked among the top ten highest-paid actresses in Hollywood in 2002, earning $8 million per feature.
2003–2006: Media scrutiny
Lopez became the subject of widespread media criticism in 2003 due to her public relationship with Ben Affleck and the tabloid depiction of her as a demanding diva. She fired both her personal manager Benny Medina and her publicist in mid-2003; The New York Times reported that movie executives had become frustrated by having their communications with Lopez "largely filtered" through Medina. That year, Lopez starred opposite Affleck in the romantic comedy Gigli, which was a box-office bomb and is considered one of the worst films of all time. Rex Reed of The Observer criticized the lead actors, calling them "pathetically incompetent" in both "craft and talent". Roger Ebert agreed that the movie "doesn't quite work", but found Lopez and Affleck "appealing in their performances" and noted the couple's chemistry.
Lopez had a minor role opposite Affleck in the film Jersey Girl (2004). Following test audiences' negative reactions to the onscreen couple, her screen time was halved. While she remained one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood during this period, Lopez later described this as the lowest point of her career and admitted she felt "eviscerated" by the media coverage surrounding Gigli: "I lost my sense of self, questioned if I belonged in this business, thought maybe I did suck at everything. And my relationship self-destructed in front of the entire world. It was a two-year thing for me until I picked myself up again." Months later, she starred opposite Richard Gere in the romantic comedy-drama Shall We Dance?, which was a box-office success.
She released her fourth studio album, Rebirth, in early 2005. Its title was symbolic of Lopez's hopes for "a new professional beginning". It was recorded during a period where Lopez felt "a little bit lost, trying to get my footing in a new life", "I had just gotten married [to singer Marc Anthony] ... I wasn't with Benny [Medina]." In a review of Rebirth, journalist Alexis Petridis remarked that the title "suggests even Lopez has realised that something is amiss with her career ... Despite the highlights, you're still left pondering the question: what happened to Jennifer Lopez?" The album reached number two on the Billboard 200, but failed to replicate the sales of her previous albums. Its lead single, "Get Right", however, reached number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming one of her most successful songs.
The marketing for the romantic comedy Monster-in-Law (2005), in which Lopez starred opposite Jane Fonda, played up her "Gigli-and-tabloid tarnished image", and it became a box office success. She next starred alongside Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman in the drama An Unfinished Life (2005), which received mixed reviews. Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times predicted that the typical review would be unkind: "It will have no respect for Jennifer Lopez, because she is going through a period right now when nobody is satisfied with anything she does ... Give Lopez your permission to be good again; she is the same actress now as when we thought her so new and fine."
The next year, she returned to the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 as a featured artist on "Control Myself", the lead single from LL Cool J's twelfth studio album. In 2006, she reunited with director Gregory Nava to star in the crime drama Bordertown as a journalist investigating female homicides in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The film was negatively reviewed and received a direct-to-video release. David D'Arcy of Screen Daily found Lopez "unconvincing" as a journalist.
2007–2010: Career downturn
By the late 2000s, Lopez's commercial success had declined. Her music career "entered a plateau", while "her film career entered a period of some disappointing-to-middling successes". In 2007, she starred opposite her then-husband Marc Anthony in the music biopic El Cantante, which told the story of Puerto Rican salsa singer Héctor Lavoe and his wife Puchi. It did not perform well at the box office and received mixed reviews from film critics; Lopez's performance, which she expressed pride in, drew both praise and criticism.
Lopez released two studio albums in 2007. Her fifth album, Como Ama una Mujer, was her first to be recorded entirely in Spanish. Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly acknowledged that the album offered "fairly persuasive proof" that Lopez can sing, but was unimpressed by the "flaccid torch songs." It became the fifth Spanish album to debut in the top ten of the Billboard 200, and achieved the highest first-week sales for an artist's debut Spanish album at the time. The lead single, "Qué Hiciste", reached number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 while the second single, "Me Haces Falta", failed to chart. Lopez's sixth studio album, Brave, released later that year, was her lowest-charting album worldwide. Jonathan Bernstein of Entertainment Weekly was disappointed that Lopez had returned to "listless vocals" for her "back-to-the-dance-floor album." The album debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200 and produced two singles, "Do It Well" and "Hold It Don't Drop It". The first peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the latter failed to chart. While pregnant with twins, Lopez embarked upon her first ever concert tour, a show co-headlined by Anthony, in September 2007; the tour was well received. She also created, produced and was featured in the MTV show DanceLife, which she described as a "passion project".
After giving birth to twins in February 2008, Lopez took a career break. She described the next few years as a "strange time" as she primarily focused on family and travelling with Anthony while he toured. After rehiring former manager Medina, Lopez released two songs in late 2009, "Louboutins" and "Fresh Out of the Oven". The songs were intended for her seventh studio album but failed to make an appearance on the Billboard charts, leading to her departure from Sony Music and Epic Records. Lopez's first theatrical role in three years was in the romantic comedy The Back-up Plan (2010). Manohla Dargis of The New York Times was unimpressed by the movie and described Lopez as "an appealing screen presence with a disappointing big-screen track record. That's probably not all her fault: romantic roles for women often are the provenance of the bland or the blonde."
2011–2015: American Idol and career revival
A "big turning point" in Lopez's career came when she joined the judging panel of the singing competition series American Idol for its tenth season, replacing Simon Cowell. Despite being advised that it was a "huge gamble", she accepted the job, as she was "not getting offered a whole bunch of movies". Lopez's appearance on American Idol in 2011 returned her to prominence. Hannah Elliot of Forbes described it as "a remarkable comeback", writing: "Idol humanized her. Viewers who knew only an attention-grabbing siren met a hardworking, self-made, empathetic single mother, who got emotional when contestants did well and when they failed."
Lopez's exposure on American Idol resulted in what Billboard called "the most impressive reality-TV-based rejuvenation of a music career ever." After signing a new recording contract with Island Records, her seventh studio album, Love?, was released in early 2011. While the album itself was a moderate commercial success, the single "On the Floor" was the year's highest-selling single by a female artist, and ultimately became the best-selling single of her career. It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her highest-charting song as a lead artist since "All I Have". The album produced two more singles, "I'm Into You" and "Papi", which did not achieve similar success. By the end of 2011, Lopez was deemed the "world's greatest musical comeback act", based on a study which analysed over one billion Google searches since 2004.
Lopez returned as a judge for American Idol's eleventh season in 2012, earning a reported $20 million. That year, she released her greatest hits album, Dance Again... the Hits, to fulfil her contractual obligations with her former label Epic Records. Lopez, who was divorcing Anthony and navigating the "breakup of a family", felt as if the album's sole single, "Dance Again", had come to her at the "perfect moment". "Dance Again" reached number 17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Lopez launched the Dance Again World Tour, her first headlining concert tour, in mid-2012. It grossed over $1 million per show.
Lopez returned to the big screen in 2012, starring alongside an ensemble cast in the film What to Expect When You're Expecting, which is based on the 1984 book What to Expect When You're Expecting. Lopez voiced Shira, a saber tooth tiger, in the animated film, Ice Age: Continental Drift, the fourth film in the Ice Age franchise. Also in 2012, a talent show, ¡Q'Viva! The Chosen followed Lopez, Anthony, and director-choreographer Jamie King as they travelled across 21 countries in Latin America to find new talent for a Las Vegas show. In 2013, Lopez starred alongside Jason Statham in the crime thriller Parker, in which she played Leslie. Her performance earned positive reviews, with the Chicago Tribune commending the role for giving Lopez "an opportunity to be dramatic, romantic, funny, depressed, euphoric and violent. The audience stays with her all the way". That year, Lopez released the single "Live It Up", and was named chief creative officer of NuvoTV. She also served as an executive producer of the television series The Fosters (2013–2018), a show about a lesbian couple raising a family. Lopez's desire to work on the series was driven by her late aunt, who was gay.
After a one-season absence, Lopez returned to American Idol for its thirteenth season, earning a reported $17.5 million. Her eighth studio album, A.K.A., was released in mid-2014 through Capitol Records, experiencing lacklustre sales, becoming her lowest-selling album in the U.S. The album produced three singles: "I Luh Ya Papi", featuring French Montana, "First Love", and "Booty", featuring Iggy Azalea. They reached 77, 87 and 18 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100. Also that year, Lopez released "We Are One (Ole Ola)", the official song for the 2014 FIFA World Cup along with Pitbull and Claudia Leitte. Lopez released a book, True Love, which became a New York Times best-seller.
2015 saw the release of The Boy Next Door, an erotic thriller that Lopez both co-produced and starred in as a high school teacher who becomes involved with a student, which eventually leads to his dangerous obsession with her. The film received negative reviews from critics. Despite this, it became her most successful opening at the box office for a live action film since Monster-in-Law. Lopez had a voice role in the animated feature Home and contributed the single "Feel the Light" to the film's official soundtrack. She also starred in the independent drama film Lila & Eve, alongside Viola Davis.
2016–2021: Television work, Hustlers and Super Bowl LIV
In January 2016, Lopez commenced a concert residency show, All I Have, at Planet Hollywood's Zappos Theater in Las Vegas. She performed 120 shows during the three-year run, grossing over $100 million in ticket sales. At the beginning of the residency, Lopez signed a multi-album deal with her former label Epic Records—though she would depart the label before releasing any albums—and released "Ain't Your Mama", one of her most successful singles during the 2010s. Also in 2016, she began starring in NBC's crime drama series Shades of Blue, which she also executive produced. She played Harlee Santos, a single mother and police detective who goes undercover for the FBI to investigate her own squad. The series' premiere brought NBC its most-watched Thursday debut in seven years. Starring alongside Ray Liotta, Lopez's performance received critical praise. That year, she reprised her voice role as Shira in the animated film Ice Age: Collision Course (2016).
Lopez was executive producer and judge on NBC's dance competition series World of Dance, which was a ratings success upon its May 2017 premiere. That year, Lopez released the singles "Ni Tú Ni Yo" and "Amor, Amor, Amor", which were intended to be included on her second Spanish-language album, Por Primera Vez, which was ultimately shelved.
In 2018, Lopez released a string of Spanish and Spanglish singles: "Se Acabó el Amor", "El Anillo", "Dinero" featuring DJ Khaled and Cardi B, and "Te Guste" with Bad Bunny. Forbes noted that the songs were unable to "completely connect on a crossover, mainstream level", but were more successful on US-based Latin charts, nearly all of them reaching number one on the Billboard Latin Airplay chart. She later starred in and executive produced the comedy film Second Act (2018), directed by Peter Segal; she also recorded the single "Limitless" for its soundtrack. Second Act earned mixed reviews from critics, but performed well at the box office, grossing over $72 million on a $16 million budget.
In the first half of 2019, Lopez embarked on an international concert tour, It's My Party, to celebrate her 50th birthday. The tour grossed an estimated $54.7 million from thirty-eight shows. Variety reported that most shows were sold out. She also signed with new label Hitco Entertainment and released the single "Medicine" featuring French Montana. She also became executive producer of two television series, Good Trouble and Thanks a Million.
Lopez executive produced and starred in the crime drama film Hustlers (2019). Directed by Lorene Scafaria, the film is inspired by a true story, following a group of Manhattan strippers who con wealthy male Wall Street clientele. Lopez's portrayal of a veteran stripper in Hustlers garnered acclaim from critics, with some deeming it the best performance of her acting career. The film also gave Lopez her highest opening weekend at the box office for a live action film, grossing $33.2 million. Her performance received nominations for Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Critics' Choice Movie Awards and Independent Spirit Awards. The success of Hustlers was regarded by various media outlets as a comeback as an actress for Lopez. Her perceived Academy Award snub for Hustlers (2019) was referenced by Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti when announcing a new initiative for Latino representation in Hollywood.
In February 2020, Lopez co-headlined the Super Bowl LIV halftime show in Miami, Florida alongside Shakira; the performance included an appearance by her child Emme Muñiz. The performance was widely praised and became the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show to date. Later that year, Lopez released the singles "Pa' Ti" with Maluma―which became her most successful song since 2017―and "In the Morning", before headlining the 2021 Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest special live from Times Square on ABC.
In January 2021, she performed at the 2021 inauguration of President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C. In mid-2021, she signed a multi-year deal with Netflix to produce a range of films and television shows through her own Nuyorican Productions, and released the reggaeton Spanish single "Cambia el Paso" with Rauw Alejandro.
2022–present: Focus on film and This Is Me... Now
In January 2022, Lopez appeared as a guest on the fourteenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race in the episode titled "She's a Super Tease". She co-produced and starred opposite Owen Wilson and Maluma in the romantic comedy Marry Me (2022). The film grossed over $50 million at the box office while becoming the most-streamed day-and-date film on Peacock, and received generally mixed reviews from critics. Lopez and Maluma released a soundtrack for the film, which generated the singles "On My Way" and "Marry Me". Her next project was the documentary Jennifer Lopez: Halftime (2022), which focuses on her life following the release of Hustlers and in preparation for her Super Bowl performance. Released on Netflix following its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, it garnered positive reviews from film critics. The following month, Jimmy Fallon and Lopez released a children's book, Con Pollo: A Bilingual Playtime Adventure, which became a New York Times best-seller.
Lopez co-produced and starred opposite Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Coolidge in the action-comedy Shotgun Wedding (2023). It became one of the top-streamed films on Amazon Prime Video that year. She also led and co-produced the action thriller film The Mother (2023). The film received mixed reviews, but became the most-watched film on Netflix in 2023, and at one point, was one of the most-watched original films of all time on the platform.
After marrying Ben Affleck and entering a publishing partnership with BMG Rights Management, Lopez released her ninth studio album, This Is Me... Now, in February 2024. A sequel to This Is Me... Then (2002), the album spawned two singles: "Can't Get Enough", and "Rebound" featuring rapper Anuel AA. Lopez promoted the album with an exclusive concert at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, which was recorded as a concert film and released by Apple TV+ on February 21, 2024.
This Is Me... Now formed part of a "three-part multimedia project" which included a companion musical film, This Is Me... Now: A Love Story directed by Dave Meyers, and a documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told. Lopez plays a fictionalized version of herself in A Love Story, which was described as an "autobiographical musical rom-com action sci-fi" inspired by her own "tumultuous dating history". After potential partners backed out, Lopez financed the film herself for $20 million before it was purchased by Amazon. While A Love Story received positive reviews from critics and became a success on Prime Video, the film and its accompanying documentary also divided audiences, due in part to the overexposure of her relationship with Affleck. Lopez was set to embark on the This Is Me... Live North American tour, but cancelled it in order to spend more time with her family. Shortly after, it was announced that she and Affleck were divorcing. She would later state that "it was like my whole f***ing world exploded" amid the public scrutiny surrounding her personal and professional life in 2024.
Despite facing public scrutiny throughout 2024, Lopez's films continued to achieve success; Collider and Deadline Hollywood noted her to be among the most successful actors of the streaming era. She co-produced and starred in the sci-fi thriller Atlas (2024), the third project under her Netflix deal. Atlas received negative reviews from critics but became a success on the platform. In a positive review of the film, The New York Times praised Lopez's performance and called the film "an intriguing concept." Her next role was in the biographical sports drama Unstoppable (2024), in which she plays the mother of wrestler Anthony Robles. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and received limited theatrical release before debuting on Prime Video. Lopez received praise for her work in the film, which Owen Gleiberman of Variety called "the fullest screen performance she has ever given". She was presented with Variety's "Legend & Groundbreaker Award" at the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival in honor of Unstoppable and her overall career.
Lopez returned to touring with Up All Night: Live in 2025, which consisted of twenty dates across Africa, Asia and Europe. On July 24, 2025, Lopez's 56th birthday, she released the single "Birthday". She co-executive produced and starred in the Bill Condon-directed musical drama Kiss of the Spider Woman (2025), a film adaption of the Broadway 1993 musical of the same name. Her first role in a full-fledged musical, Condon wrote the part with Lopez in mind. The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where Lopez's performance received positive reviews.
Upcoming projects
In late 2025/early 2026, she will play a multi-night residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Lopez will co-produce and star opposite Brett Goldstein in Netflix's Office Romance. She will also co-produce a series adaptation of Emily Henry's 2023 novel Happy Place for Netflix. She has also committed to lead and co-produce Netflix's film adaptation of the bestselling novel, The Cipher. Lopez has several projects in the works as a producer. Through her continued partnership with Netflix, she will also star in an adaption of the novel The Last Mrs. Parrish, directed by Robert Zemeckis.
Personal life
Lopez was in a nearly decade-long relationship with David Cruz, her high-school boyfriend, until the mid-1990s. They were engaged at one point, and Cruz relocated to Los Angeles to be with her when she began pursuing her career. She later said of Cruz, "You get lucky, you have a first love like that." She was married to Cuban waiter Ojani Noa from February 1997 to January 1998. In subsequent court cases, Noa was prevented from publishing a book about their marriage and from using private honeymoon footage of Lopez in a documentary.
Lopez was in an on-again, off-again relationship with record producer and rapper Sean Combs (then known as "Puff Daddy") from 1999 to early 2001. On the night of December 27, 1999, Lopez, Combs and rapper Shyne were arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon and possession of stolen property, after leaving the scene of a shooting at a Times Square nightclub. Charges against Lopez were dropped within an hour while Combs was acquitted of all charges at trial in March 2001. They broke up shortly thereafter. Shyne was sentenced to ten years in prison. Lopez later said that, while she had "cared very much" about Combs, their "crazy, tumultuous" relationship "was always something I knew would end." She was married to Cris Judd, her former backup dancer, from September 2001 to January 2003.
Before her divorce with Judd was finalized, Lopez was in a relationship with actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck from mid-2002 to early 2004. Although they had crossed paths several times before (including at the 70th Academy Awards and at the premiere of Armageddon, both in 1998), their first major meeting was on the set of Gigli (2003) in December 2001. They later worked together on the music video for "Jenny from the Block" and the film Jersey Girl (2004). Her album This Is Me... Then was dedicated to and inspired by Affleck. Their relationship was extensively publicized. Tabloids referred to the couple as "Bennifer", a portmanteau Vanity Fair described as "the first of that sort of tabloid branding". They became engaged in November 2002, but their planned wedding on September 14, 2003, was postponed with four days' notice because of "excessive media attention". They ended their engagement in January 2004. Years later, Lopez said Affleck's discomfort with media scrutiny was one reason for their split and described it as her "first real heartbreak": "I think different time, different thing, who knows what could've happened, but there was a genuine love there."
After her relationship with Affleck, Lopez stopped discussing her personal life in interviews. She was married to singer Marc Anthony from June 2004 to June 2014; they had previously worked together and dated for a few months in the late 1990s. Their wedding took place five months after the end of her relationship with Affleck. During their marriage, they collaborated on music and performed together, as well as co-starring in El Cantante (2006). Lopez gave birth to fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, on Long Island in February 2008. People magazine paid a reported US$6 million for the first photographs of the twins, making them the most expensive celebrity pictures ever taken at the time. In 2009, Anthony and Lopez purchased a stake in the Miami Dolphins. They announced their separation in July 2011. Anthony filed for divorce in April 2012 and it was finalized in June 2014. Lopez retained primary physical custody of the two children. Lopez occasionally performs with her daughter.
Lopez had an on-again, off-again relationship with her former backup dancer Casper Smart from October 2011 to August 2016. She dated New York Yankees baseball player Alex Rodriguez from February 2017 to early 2021. They became engaged in March 2019 but postponed their wedding twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to tabloid speculation about the state of their relationship, they released a statement in March 2021, saying they were "working through some things". They announced the end of their relationship in April 2021.
In April 2021, Lopez and Affleck were reported to be dating again, with Lopez publicly confirming their rekindled relationship that July. In April 2022, Lopez announced their second engagement, 20 years after the first proposal. They were married in Las Vegas on July 16, 2022, and held a wedding celebration for family and friends the following month. On August 20, 2024, Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck, citing April 26, 2024, as the date of their separation. She also requested that her legal name be changed back to Jennifer Lynn Lopez. On January 6, 2025, the divorce was finalized.
Other activities
Business ventures and endorsements
Lopez first ventured into product endorsement in 1998, becoming a national spokesperson for Coca-Cola and L'Oréal. In 2001, Lopez launched her first business venture, the lifestyle brand J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez. It included a clothing line which catered to women of all sizes, as Lopez felt "the voluptuous woman [was] almost ignored" in the fashion industry. The following year, she opened Madre's, a Los Angeles restaurant serving Latin cuisine, and released her first fragrance, Glow by JLo, through a partnership with Coty, Inc.; it became the top-selling fragrance in the U.S. In 2003, she released a second fragrance, Still Jennifer Lopez, and became the face of Louis Vuitton's fall advertising campaign. Lopez has since released 30 fragrances as of 2020. Her clothing lines and two fragrances generated over $300 million in revenue throughout 2004.
In 2005, Lopez launched her second fashion label, Sweetface, which was geared towards "high fashion" in comparison to her previous fashion line. She also appeared in a Kill Bill-inspired Pepsi commercial with Beyoncé and David Beckham. In the late 2000s, her restaurant Madre's closed permanently, as did her two fashion lines. In 2011, in the midst of her career resurgence, Lopez became brand ambassador for various brands including L'Oréal, Gilette Venus, Tous and Fiat. She also launched the Jennifer Lopez Collection, a clothing and homeware line with Tommy Hilfiger for Kohl's; the collection generated an estimated $3 billion in sales during its first year. The following year, she launched Teeology, a luxury T-shirt brand. In 2013, she founded the phone retail brand Viva Móvil, which caters specifically to Latinos.
In 2014, Lopez released a range of jewelry, designed in partnership with Endless Jewelry. In 2016, she designed a capsule collection of shoes and jewelry in collaboration with Giuseppe Zanotti. The following year, she was announced as the new face of clothing company Guess, becoming the oldest spokeswoman in the company's history. In collaboration with Inglot Cosmetics, Lopez launched a limited-edition makeup collection in 2018. In 2019, she became the global face of the Coach brand, and launched a collection of sunglasses with the brand Quay Australia. In 2020, after modelling an updated version of her iconic Green Versace "jungle" dress at Milan Fashion Week the previous year, Lopez was the face of the brand's Spring/Summer 2020 campaign, which featured other pieces based on the same jungle print.
Throughout 2021, Lopez focused on investments and creating her own brands. She launched her skin care company, JLo Beauty, released a shoe collection in partnership with DSW, and invested in companies including Hims & Hers Health, Bodyarmor SuperDrink, Goli nutritional supplements and meal delivery service Wonder. In March 2022, she was appointed as the chief "entertainment and lifestyle" officer of the cruise line, Virgin Voyages. That September, she became the global ambassador of Italian lingerie label Intimissimi. In 2023, Lopez launched a spritz brand named Delola in collaboration with mixologist Lynnette Marrero. That year, she partnered with fashion retailer Revolve to design a footwear line, JLO Jennifer Lopez, which was released as three collections in March, May, and June. In 2024, she released a lingerie collection with Intimissimi inspired by her album This Is Me... Now.
Philanthropy
Lopez was heavily involved in charitable activities following the September 11 attacks. Joining other artists, she was featured on charitable singles such as "What's Going On" and "El Ultimo Adios (The Last Goodbye)", which benefited people affected by the tragedy. In February 2007, Lopez was honored with the Artists for Amnesty prize by Amnesty International for her work in Bordertown, which shed light on the hundreds of feminicides in Ciudad Juárez. Lopez described it as "one of the world's most shocking and disturbing, underreported crimes against humanity". That year, part of the proceeds from Lopez and Anthony's co-headlining North American concert tour was donated to the Run for Something Better program, which fights childhood obesity.
Lopez has been a long-time supporter of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Her album Rebirth (2005) is dedicated to Paige Peterson, an eleven-year-old cancer patient she befriended at the hospital who died in 2004. Lopez stated that "[she doesn't] like to do [her] charity work in public. That's not what you do it for." In 2009, Lopez launched the Lopez Family Foundation alongside her sister, Lynda. The organization works to increase healthcare access for underprivileged women and children, including through a telemedicine program in partnership with the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The foundation has facilitated the expansion of medical facilities in Panama and Puerto Rico, and created the Center for a Healthy Childhood at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
In December 2012, Lopez held a charity drive to benefit her three favorite charities: the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, the Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the American Red Cross, mainly benefiting victims of Hurricane Sandy. In 2015, she became the first celebrity spokesperson for the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and the BC Children's Hospital Foundation (BCCHF). She also became the first Global Advocate for Girls and Women at the United Nations Foundation, working on issues including maternal health care, education, and violence.
In September 2017, following Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria, Lopez donated $1 million from the proceeds of her Las Vegas residency to humanitarian aid for Puerto Rico. Along with Marc Anthony, she launched a humanitarian relief campaign entitled Somos Una Voz (English: We Are One Voice), an effort to rush supplies to areas affected by Hurricane Maria. Lopez and Anthony presented a concert and telethon for disaster relief, "One Voice: Somos Live!", which raised over $35 million. She was also among various artists featured on Lin-Manuel Miranda's charity single "Almost Like Praying", which benefits Puerto Rico.
As of 2021, Lopez continues to regularly donate to and support charities. In September 2021, she launched a philanthropic organization, Limitless Labs, which supports and empowers Latina entrepreneurs and business owners. Limitless Labs has entered partnerships with the 10,000 Small Businesses initiative and Grameen America, the latter being an effort to empower Latina businesses with $14 million in business loans and "6 million hours of financial education and training by 2030." Lopez headlined the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation's Blue Diamond Gala in 2022, which raised $3.6 million for education, health care, homelessness and social justice causes.
Political views and activism
A supporter of the Democratic Party, Lopez has a long history of backing Democratic candidates for public office. She endorsed President Barack Obama in his 2012 presidential campaign, speaking in television advertisements and attending fundraising events for Obama. She endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, headlining a free concert in Florida in support of her that October.
Lopez has been critical of President Donald Trump. During her Super Bowl halftime show performance in 2020, she performed her song "Let's Get Loud" while cloaked in a large Puerto Rican flag, with children in metal cages displayed on the field. It was interpreted as a statement about the Mexico–United States border crisis and Trump's immigration policy. The NFL attempted to remove the cages from the performance but Lopez refused. She endorsed President Joe Biden in his 2020 presidential campaign. She later performed at Biden's 2021 inauguration, where she sang "This Land Is Your Land" and "America the Beautiful", while reciting the last phrase of the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish. She also worked "Let's Get Loud" into the performance as a "reprise" to her political message at the Super Bowl. Lopez endorsed Kamala Harris during her 2024 presidential campaign. She spoke at a Las Vegas rally for Harris that November, pushing back on remarks made at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden which were deemed offensive to Puerto Ricans.
Lopez is an avid supporter of LGBTQ rights, and has raised millions of dollars for HIV/AIDS research. In June 2013, amfAR presented her with its humanitarian award for her philanthropic work. That September, she was awarded the Ally for Equality award presented by the Human Rights Campaign, for her support of the LGBTQ community. The following year, she received the GLAAD Vanguard Award. In July 2016, Lopez released a single entitled "Love Make the World Go Round", a collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda, which benefits victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. She was also featured on the song "Hands" along with numerous other artists, also benefiting those affected by the Orlando shooting. Lopez signed an open letter from Billboard magazine to the United States Congress in 2016, which demanded action on gun control.
In June 2020, Lopez attended a Black Lives Matter movement protest in Los Angeles, in connection with the broader George Floyd protests. Lopez has also been an active advocate for the Time's Up movement. In January 2022, she became one of the co-chairs for Michelle Obama's When We All Vote. She expressed solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war. As part of a group called Artists4Ceasefire, she signed a letter urging President Joe Biden to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Artistry
Influences
Lopez credited Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno's performance in the musical film West Side Story (1961) as the major influence on her career path and artistry. Moreno was the only performer Lopez was able to identify with, at a time when Latinos were rarely on television. She was also inspired by Barbara Streisand's career as a singer, director and actress. Growing up, she was influenced by Latin music styles ranging from salsa to bachata, and artists including Celia Cruz and Tito Puente, though it was the hip hop song "Rapper's Delight" (1979) by The Sugarhill Gang that she said changed her life.
Lopez has cited Madonna as her "first big musical influence", explaining "It was all about Madonna for me. She inspired me to want to sing, to dance, to work hard." Her other major influences include Tina Turner, James Brown, and Michael Jackson. Lopez has cited Janet Jackson as a major inspiration for her own dance and music videos, stating that she "probably started dancing" because of Jackson's music video for "The Pleasure Principle". She also looked to the careers of Cher, Bette Middler and Diana Ross, and has been inspired by younger artists such as Lady Gaga.
Musical style
Musically, Lopez is described as a "chameleon" by outlets like Variety and Forbes, having been known to experiment and jump between genres. Her music strongly identifies with hip hop while exploring the "romantic innocence" of Latin music. Billboard observed that she has "never been one to downplay her Latinidad, and always makes sure to display it" in her music, "regardless of genre". On the 6 and J.Lo, described by Lopez as Latin soul, fuse a wide range of Latin genres with R&B and hip hop, while also containing dance-pop. While mostly English, the albums include some Spanish and bilingual songs such as "Cariño", with Lopez also speaking in Spanish and asserting her Latin identity on songs like "Let's Get Loud". A departure from her previous work, This Is Me... Then blends 1970s soul with "streetwise" hip hop. Rebirth was noted for its "relaxing" atmosphere, while Como Ama una Mujer was characterized as "silkily sedate Spanish Sade worship". Brave and Love? delved further into dance-pop, while A.K.A. and This Is Me... Now saw her return to her R&B roots, though the latter eschews Latin influences.
Described as autobiographical, most of Lopez's music has centered around the "ups and downs" of love, often inspired by her own love life. Lyrically, This Is Me... Then is largely focused on her relationship with Ben Affleck; the song "Dear Ben" was described as the album's "glowing centerpiece". Its sequel album, This Is Me... Now, was informed by her marriage to Affleck, and Lopez's "psychological journey of the past two decade". Como Ama una Mujer features introspective lyrics about romance, heartache and self-loathing. Regarding Love?, Lopez stated: "There's still so much to learn and that's why the question mark." Other recurrent themes in Lopez's music have included her upbringing in the Bronx, social class and women's empowerment.
Lopez has received mixed reviews for her "light" soubrette voice, which critics have described as thin, and overshadowed by her music's production. With On the 6, critics described Lopez's voice as a "sultry purr" and "breathy"; Rob Sheffield remarked: "Lopez sticks to the understated R&B murmur of a round-the-way superstar who doesn't need to belt because she knows you're already paying attention ... She makes a little va-va and a whole lot of voom go a long way." Lopez, who often worried about her singing "not being as strong" as her other attributes, would later credit ex-husband Marc Anthony for helping her find her "best singing voice". Pitchfork described her voice as being "stronger than ever" on This Is Me... Now, while opining that "the thinness of the voice has often been beside the point, if not a boon to her early career", which was marked by "Bronx regularness".
Lopez has been criticized for her use of background vocals from demo singers, prompting rumors of ghost singers' vocals being used in place of her own. The rumors have been debunked by writers and background singers who worked with Lopez, including Christina Milian ("Play"), who called the controversy "funny" and said: "It's no different than Michael Jackson having background singers on songs or Britney Spears. This is what music is made of."
Dance, videos and stage
Considered one of dance's "greatest success stories", Lopez has received praise for her highly choreographed dancing, and is noted for her technical skill. She has been trained in a range of dance styles, including ballet, jazz, flamenco, ballroom, pole dancing, breakdancing, street dance, and hip hop. Her signature movements include "clock-wise pivoting with salsa hip circles and sequential torso undulations". Described by MTV's Madeline Roth as "some of the most memorable visuals of the 21st century", Lopez's music videos made her a dominant figure on MTV, and helped influence 2000s fashion trends. Her music videos are known for showcasing her ability as a dancer, which CNN's Holly Thomas said gave her a "captivating, commanding presence", as well as themes of surveillance and fame. Her videography and dancing have also been criticized for their provocative nature, with Lopez being described as one of the Latin performers whose work "racialized and sexualized their bodies".
On stage, Lopez is recognized for her showmanship, sex appeal, and glamorous costumes, which often include bodysuits. Journalists have described her as the "ultimate showgirl". While being noted to lip sync in the early stages of career, Lopez's Dance Again World Tour was praised for showcasing live vocals and choreography synchronously. In a review of her Las Vegas residency All I Have, Los Angeles Times writer Nolan Feeney remarked that her dancing is "undoubtedly the centerpiece of the show".
Her provocative stage performances and costumes have also drawn scrutiny. Robin Givhan of The Daily Beast criticized the nude bodysuit Lopez wore during her performance at the 2011 American Music Awards, calling it "banal exhibitionism" which "cried out for attention in all the wrong ways". A number of her performances have been deemed inappropriate for television, including her controversial appearance at the Moroccan musical festival, Mawazine, in 2015. Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane called it "disgraceful" and demanded that legal measures be taken, while an education group claimed that she "disturbed public order and tarnished women's honor and respect".
Acting and screen
Lopez's films often see her playing "relatable everywomen", with Cady Lang of Time writing: "A longtime hallmark of Lopez's filmography is her penchant for stories about survivors. Her characters are never shrinking violets." Discussing the roles she is drawn to, Lopez said in 1998: "I don't think of them as strong women ... I like characters that are really part of the story as opposed to window dressing, but I think the interesting thing is that they are real people. Nobody walks around being strong all the time." Like her music, a number of her film roles explore class consciousness, including Maid in Manhattan (2002) and Second Act (2018).
Film critic Stephanie Zacharek described Lopez as "one of the most gifted and appealing performers of the past two decades ... and yet the movies have rarely known what to do with her and her significant gifts as an actor." While Lopez received acclaim for her early film work, The New York Times writer Kyle Buchanan noted that her tendency to star in romantic comedies, and her pop music career, "lowered her critical bona fides". Taylor Hackford, who directed Lopez in Parker, said she "can really act": "She knows how to transmit nuances, to make the subtlest of shifts. Does she have humor? Yes. But at the same time she can get into the deepest dramatic areas." Lopez, who identifies the romantic comedy as her favorite film genre, has been referred to as the "Patron Saint of Romantic Comedies" and the "Queen of Romantic Comedies".
In her early films, Lopez played stereotypical roles which signified her as a "racialized, exoticized" other. In films such as Blood and Wine and U Turn, her body is fetishized "through extreme close-ups" and "framed as animalistic, primitive, and irresistibly dangerous to the Anglo American male characters." This shifted with her role in Selena, which "affirmed her Latinx identity, and won her the loyalty of that significant section of the U.S. and global audience." She has also been criticized for playing ethnically ambiguous parts and tapping into "the ability to perform a panethnic other" to commodify herself. Her role as an Italian woman in The Wedding Planner has been described as "a case of classic Hollywood whitewashing."
Public image
Lopez has been a polarizing figure in popular culture. Andrew Barker of Variety writes that she "exhibits a plethora of contradictions", observing: "Despite a carefully cultivated image as an imperious pop empress in ludicrously expensive outfits, her signature hits bear the titles 'I'm Real' and 'Jenny From the Block'." In 2002, Lynette Holloway of The New York Times described Lopez's image as including "a dash of ghetto fabulousness" and "middle-class respectability" for mass appeal. The media discerned a shift in her public image upon joining American Idol in 2011, with Entertainment Weekly writing: "Gone was her old cut-a-bitch swagger; J. Lo 2.0 is an all-embracing, Oprahfied earth madre." People editor Peter Castro said American Idol made Lopez "a celebrity of the people" whereas before, "there was a huge distance with the American public."
Lopez is widely celebrated for her curvaceous hourglass figure, which earned her the nickname La Guitarra (the guitar). Vanity Fair described her buttocks as "in and of themselves, a cultural icon". Recounting her experience on early films, Lopez stated: "I've always had costume people looking at me a little weary and immediately fitting me out with things to hide my bottom." She often wears revealing outfits to accentuate her curves. Author Mary Beltrán opined that for Lopez to "unashamedly display her well-endowed posterior during this time period" could be viewed as "a revolutionary act with respect to Anglo beauty ideals". However, she was also criticized for perceived changes in her image upon launching her music career, which included "weight loss and lightening her hair".
Considered a fashion icon, Lopez is known for her sense of style and "breaking fashion rules". She is recognized for both her "bold" red carpet fashion, including fourteen appearances at the haute couture Met Gala in New York City, and her everyday street style, which is "discussed ad infinitum by the fashion press." British Vogue said she "added megawatt glamour to every outfit she wore", with Billboard describing her style as "scantily clad". Lopez's style has been influenced by "women who epitomize old Hollywood glamour like Rita Hayworth", as well as her Bronx upbringing and Nuyorican identity. Described as the "ultimate sex symbol" of the early 21st century, various publications have ranked her as the most beautiful or sexiest woman in the world, including People, People en Español, Vibe, Details, and FHM, with Lopez topping the latter's 100 Sexiest Women list twice. Lopez has criticized "this funny notion in America that you can't be a mom and be sexy", stating: "The truth is that women can be sexy until the day they die."
She has a large following on social media, being the 14th most-followed individual on Instagram and having one of the 50 most-followed accounts on Twitter. On the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)'s "Music Fuels" ranking, Lopez is the eighth-most-followed musician across Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. She is the richest Latin actress, with an estimated net worth of US$400 million.
Described as "one of the most photographed women in the world", Lopez has long been a tabloid fixture, and admits to having a "less-than-perfect" public image. Frances Negrón-Muntaner wrote that by 1999, "Internet chat rooms exploded with anti-Lopez babble" and she became "one of the easiest moving targets for cheap laughs as well as anxieties about working-class 'loud' sexuality and specifically Latino visibility." Much of the media coverage surrounding Lopez in the 2000s "focused on her dramatic private life", with several writers describing her as overexposed at the time, despite her continued success. Media outlets often liken her to actress Elizabeth Taylor, due to her numerous failed relationships and glamorous public persona. Her high-profile relationship with Combs was described as having "defined an age", with Vanity Fair writing that they entered "the pantheon of slightly notorious celebrity couples: Liz and Dick, Frank and Ava."
Throughout her career, she has also received a bad reputation as being a demanding and outspoken "diva", something which she denies, stating: "I've always been fascinated by how much more well-behaved we have to be than men." Some of the backlash and fabricated tabloid stories surrounding Lopez have been attributed to her 1998 interview with Movieline, in which she was quoted as criticizing various actors and directors. Lopez, who "cried for hours" after the article was published, said the comments were made in jest and she was "so misquoted and so taken out of context". In 2003, Lawrence Donegan of The Guardian posited that "indefensible" misogyny and racism were to blame for her position as "the most vilified woman in modern popular culture". In 2021, Ben Affleck said: "People were so fucking mean about her; sexist, racist, ugly vicious shit was written about her in ways that if you wrote it now, you would literally be fired for saying some of the things you said."
Legacy and cultural impact
Entertainment industry
Regarded as one of the most influential performers of her time, Lopez is often cited by journalists and academics as the most influential entertainer of Latin descent, credited with breaking racial barriers in the entertainment industry. She was described as "the first Latina superstar" by writer Ned Zeman, and the "embodiment of the American Dream" by Robert C. Cottrell in Icons of American Popular Culture (2009). Often dubbed the "Queen of Dance", she is considered a triple threat performer, and was one of few actors to successfully cross over into music. Rachel Sklar of The Huffington Post called Lopez a trailblazer, writing: "Beyoncé, Miley, Gaga, any actress who's ever released an album — they are all standing on the shoulders of J.Lo. She was a true triple threat — actress, singer, dancer ... and packaged it sometimes outrageously but always sexily." Lopez is considered a pop icon, with VH1 ranking her at number 15 on their list of 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons, number 16 on 100 Greatest Women In Music, and number 21 on 50 Greatest Women of the Video Era.
The highest-paid Latina actress in history, Lopez's film career has been credited with paving the way for greater representation of Latino Americans in Hollywood, a historically white space. Biographer Kathleen Tracy opined that "Lopez blazed a trail no openly Latin actress had gone before", noting that previous Latina stars cosmetically downplayed their ethnicity and changed their names. Lopez, who achieved "ethnic 'blind' casting" with Out of Sight (1998), is noted by biographer James Robert Parish to have "helped minimize racial boundaries in show business" by deliberately avoiding stereotypical roles.
With her musical debut, Lopez helped influence the Latin pop movement in American music, often dubbed the "Latin explosion" of the 1990s. The Recording Academy called her the "breakout female star" of the Latin pop movement, with historian Roger Bruns describing her as "an influential force in driving a growing Latin cultural influence in popular music" at the time. Ella Cerón of Teen Vogue wrote: "In an era of blonde, bubblegum pop, there was only one J.Lo." She has been credited with paving the way for U.S.-born Latina artists including Selena Gomez, Becky G, and Cardi B, and for Latin American artists to venture into English pop music, including Shakira, Thalía and Paulina Rubio. Along with Ricky Martin, she helped increase the visibility of Latin music in international markets including East Asia and Canada. Due to her "multi-tasking career", she has been described as "the next-generation Madonna", and "the first woman to demonstrate that a Madonna could be a Latina".
Lopez's music has been credited with helping influence the trajectory of 2000s music, including dance music, Latin music, R&B, and pop rap collaborations. Billboard magazine described her as having "helped define an era where hip-hop, R&B and pop all got more cuddly together than ever before". Scholar Miriam Jiménez Román suggested that Lopez, who represents the "often-suppressed" history of Puerto Ricans in hip hop culture, was "able to traverse the difficult racial boundaries". In July 2023, Madame Tussauds New York unveiled a wax figure of Lopez inspired by her performance at the Super Bowl LIV halftime show.
Cultural influence
In 2012, Forbes ranked Lopez as the world's most powerful celebrity and the 38th most powerful woman. She was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2018. Lopez's influence has been attributed to her bicultural identity and ability to code-switch. According to Latina magazine founder Christy Haubegger, Lopez was "the first icon that generationally fits" young Latino Americans who followed celebrity culture. Lopez was featured on the first cover of Latina in 1996, with editor Galina Espinoza writing in 2011 that there is "no recounting of modern Latina history without Jennifer".
Jonathan Van Meter of Vogue described Lopez as having "changed the face of modern celebrity." Her ability to start trends has prompted the usage of the phrase "the J.Lo effect" in popular culture, which has been used in various different contexts, including the trend of networks hiring "big name" judges for reality competition programs after Lopez's successful casting on American Idol. With her moniker J.Lo, Lopez started a trend of celebrities being given abbreviated nicknames, while "Bennifer" began the convention of celebrity couple name blending.
Described by scholar Helene A. Shugart of the University of Utah as "arguably the most visible Latina in contemporary mainstream popular culture", Lopez has been the subject of considerable academic analysis, including in relation to ethnicity, class, "body politics", race, Latin culture, and gender. While credited with opening "the door to [Latino culture having a] broader appeal", Lopez has also been a polarizing figure, generating "often vehement disagreement about what is and isn't Latino." According to journalist Jesús Triviño Alarcón, Lopez "widened the scope of what it means to be Latina by simply being her. You don’t have to speak perfect Spanish, or Spanish at all, to be proud of your roots."
As a result of the public emphasis on her curvaceous figure, Lopez has been credited with influencing a shift in cultural beauty standards. The surge in popularity of buttock augmentation surgery in the early 2000s was attributed to Lopez. In Latin Sensations (2001), Herón Marquez wrote: "Because she wasn't rail thin, Lopez had broken the mold ... Suddenly, it was okay for women to have hips, curves, and a big backside." This has been considered a sign of Lopez's social power in "changing cultural standards within the mainstream media as a whole".
In 2014, scientists named a species of aquatic mite found in Puerto Rico, Litarachna lopezae, after Lopez. In Tok Pisin, a language spoken in Papua New Guinea, the term palopa is used to describe non-heteronormative people whose identities may correlate with those who, in Western contexts, identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019, she was presented with keys to the city of Miami Beach, where July 24 was declared "Jennifer Lopez Day".
Fashion and branding
The Council of Fashion Designers of America presented Lopez with its Fashion Icon Award in 2019 for her "long-standing and global impact on fashion". Her green Versace "Jungle Dress" was voted the fifth most iconic red carpet dress of all time in a poll run by The Daily Telegraph. The dress had a significant impact on the fashion industry, celebrity endorsements, and the evolution of red carpet fashion. The images of Lopez wearing the dress became the most popular search query of all time at that point, and subsequently led to the creation of Google's image search. Lopez has been credited with popularizing various fashion and beauty trends throughout her career. In 2003, she inspired a trend of curvier mannequins being designed, which fuelled a rise in sales for manufacturers and retailers. Lopez's personal style and brand deals have had a considerable effect on sales in the fashion industry. The success of Louis Vuitton's fall 2003 campaign, for which Lopez was the brand's model, led to more Hollywood stars "becoming image models of fashion and cosmetic labels". In 2021, The Daily Telegraph reported that she was among ten celebrities whose personal style choices drove the greatest spikes in searches and news coverage for brands. Her appearance at Milan Fashion Week in 2019 generated over $31.8 million in total media impact value.
Described as a "branding pioneer", Lopez has been credited with ushering in a new era of celebrity branding. Her first fragrance, Glow by JLo, influenced the rise of celebrity fragrances in the 2000s. Her fragrance line became the most successful celebrity line in the world, with sales exceeding $2 billion as of 2012. Lopez's clothing brand was one of the first celebrity fashion lines; scholars have credited her with redefining "how fashion is produced and entwined with other artistic endeavors", and popularizing a trend of utilizing racial ambiguity for branding purposes in fashion and cosmetics. As of 2022, her business ventures have cumulatively earned over US$5 billion in sales globally.
Achievements
As of 2022, Lopez has sold more than 80 million records worldwide and amassed over 15 billion streams; her films have grossed a cumulative total of US$3.1 billion while her business ventures have cumulatively made over US$5 billion in consumer sales. She remains the only female entertainer to have a number-one album and film simultaneously in the United States. The Guinness World Records acknowledged J to tha L–O! The Remixes (2002) as the first number-one remix album on the U.S. Billboard 200, and recognized "On the Floor" as the "Highest Viewed Female Music Video of All Time" in 2012. Billboard named Lopez the top Hot 100 female artist and the Greatest Pop Star of 2001. Billboard ranked her as the ninth-greatest dance club artist of all time in 2016, having scored 18 number-one songs on its Dance Club Songs chart. The magazine also ranked her at number 22 on its "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list (2025). She was named the top Latin touring artist of the decade by Pollstar in 2021.
For her contributions to the music industry, Lopez was honored by the World Music Awards with the Legend Award in 2010, and was presented with the prestigious landmark 2,500th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013. At the 2014 Billboard Music Awards, she became the first female recipient of the Billboard Icon Award. In 2017, she was awarded the Telemundo Star Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards. Lopez received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award during the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, making her the first Latin performer to receive the honor. She later received the Icon Award at the iHeart Radio Music Awards in 2022. Outside of music, Univision presented her with the World Icon Award in its Premios Juventud in 2013. She received the Generation Award at the MTV Movie & TV Awards for her contributions to film and television in 2022.
Discography
Filmography
Films starred
Bibliography
Lopez has written a memoir and co-written a children's book.
Lopez, Jennifer. True Love. Celebra, 2014. ISBN 9780451468680.
Lopez, Jennifer and Jimmy Fallon (authors). Con Pollo: A Bilingual Playtime Adventure. Feiwel & Friends, 2022. ISBN 9781250876362.
Tours and residencies
Headlining tours
Dance Again World Tour (2012)
It's My Party Tour (2019)
Up All Night: Live in 2025 (2025)
Co-headlining tours
Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony en Concierto (2007)
Enrique Iglesias & Jennifer Lopez Tour (2012)
Residencies
Jennifer Lopez: All I Have (2016–2018)
Jennifer Lopez: Up All Night Live in Las Vegas (2025-2026)
Cancelled tours
This Is Me... Live (2024)
See also
History of women in Puerto Rico
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of dancers
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
List of Puerto Ricans
Mami (hip hop) – Term for an attractive Latina womanPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Nuyorican – Puerto Rican located in or around New York City
Explanatory notes
References
Sources
External links
Jennifer Lopez – official site
JLo Beauty – official beauty site
Jennifer Lopez at AllMusic
Jennifer Lopez discography at Discogs
Jennifer Lopez at IMDb
Jennifer Lopez at Rotten Tomatoes
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Pamela Anderson
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Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress, model and media personality. She rose to prominence after being selected as the February 1990 Playboy Playmate of the Month. She went on to obtain the record for the most Playboy cover appearances. Anderson began her acting career on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement (1991–1993, 1997), before receiving international recognition for starring as "C.J." Parker in the drama series Baywatch (1992–1997), which cemented her status as a sex symbol. In 1995, home videos of Anderson with her then-husband, Tommy Lee, were stolen, spliced together, and sold as a sex tape, which resulted in a legal fight and made her the subject of controversy.
Anderson starred as Vallery Irons in the syndicated series V.I.P. (1998–2002) and as Skyler Dayton in the Fox sitcom Stacked (2005–2006). Her film credits include Barb Wire (1996), Scary Movie 3 (2003), Borat (2006), Baywatch (2017), and City Hunter (2018). She starred in the reality series Pam: Girl on the Loose (2008) and appeared as a contestant on the Dancing with the Stars franchise (2010–2012, 2018). She saw a career resurgence in the 2020s after her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago (2022) and the 2023 releases of the Netflix documentary Pamela, a Love Story and her autobiography, Love, Pamela. For starring in the independent drama film The Last Showgirl (2024), she received nominations for the Golden Globe Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress. She then starred in the comedy film The Naked Gun (2025).
Anderson has supported various charitable causes, particularly animal rights and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and endorses plant-based cooking. She hosts Flavour Network's plant-based cooking show Pamela's Cooking with Love (2025–present), and released a plant-based cookbook I Love You: Recipes from the Heart, which was nominated for a 2025 James Beard Award, for the work of her photographer, Ditte Isager.
Early life and education
Anderson was born in Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada, the daughter of Barry W. Anderson, a furnace repairman, and Carol (née Cawthorpe), a waitress. Her great-grandfather, Juho Hyytiäinen, was a Finnish native of Saarijärvi, and left the Grand Duchy of Finland (which was an autonomous state within the Russian Empire at the time) for Canada in 1908. He changed his name to Anderson when he arrived as an immigrant. Anderson also has Volga German ancestry on her mother's side; her grandmother, Rose Friesen, ethnically German, was born in Russia in a Mennonite village and immigrated to Canada in 1901. Anderson received press coverage right after her birth as a "Centennial Baby", having been born on July 1, 1967, the 100th anniversary of Canada's official founding via the Constitution Act, 1867. She has a younger brother, Gerry (born 1971), an actor and producer who worked in some of her films and television shows.
When she was in grade 8, Anderson was a "scat soloist" for her middle school jazz band, where she played the saxophone. Decades later, she would draw on this talent for a solo in The Naked Gun. Anderson attended Highland Secondary School in Comox, British Columbia. In high school, she played on the volleyball team, and graduated in 1985.
In 2014, Anderson discussed suffering sexual abuse as a child. She mentioned being molested by a female babysitter from ages 6 to 10, raped by a 25-year-old man when she was age 12, and gang-raped by her boyfriend and six of his friends when she was 14.
Career
1988–1999: Modelling and acting breakthrough
In 1988, Anderson moved to Vancouver and worked as a fitness instructor. The next year, she attended a BC Lions Canadian Football League game at the BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, where she was featured on the jumbotron while wearing a Labatt's Beer T-shirt. The brewing company hired Anderson briefly as a spokesmodel. Inspired by the event, her then-boyfriend Dan Ilicic produced a poster of her image, entitled the Blue Zone Girl.
Anderson was flown to Los Angeles for a photo shoot; she appeared as the cover girl on Playboy magazine's October 1989 issue. She subsequently moved to the United States, settling in LA to further pursue a modelling career. Playboy subsequently chose her as Playmate of the Month in their February 1990 issue, in which she appeared in the centrefold portrait. Anderson then elected to have breast implant surgery, increasing her bust size to 34D. She increased her bust size again, to 34DD, several years later. Her Playboy career spans 22 years, and she has appeared on more Playboy covers than any other model. She has also made numerous appearances in the publication's newsstand specials. Anderson wrote the foreword to the Playboy coffee table book Playboy's Greatest Covers. After Anderson moved to Los Angeles, she won a minor role as Lisa, the original "Tool Time Girl", on the ABC comedy series Home Improvement.
Her breakthrough role was as C.J. Parker on Baywatch, which she played for five seasons between 1992 and 1997, making her one of the longest-serving cast members. The series has gained her popularity from international viewers and the character of Parker became one of her best-known roles, having been reenacted by multiple high-profile people since. Anderson was paid US$1,500 per episode during the first season. She reprised her role in a reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003), and also appeared in commercials for DirecTV in 2007. Anderson was still modelling for Outdoor Life and appearing on the cover of the magazine each year. In 1993, Anderson appeared in a music video "Can't Have Your Cake" by Vince Neil to promote his first solo album, Exposed.
In 1994, she was cast in her first starring film role, in Raw Justice, also known as Good Cop, Bad Cop, co-starring with Stacy Keach, David Keith, and Robert Hays. Under the alternate title, the film won the Bronze Award at the Worldfest-Charleston in the category for dramatic theatrical films. In 1996, she played Barbara Rose Kopetski in the film Barb Wire. The movie, a thinly veiled futuristic remake of Casablanca, was not a commercial success. During filming, she had barbed wire tattooed on her left upper arm instead of having it painted on by make-up artists every day, but she had it removed in 2016. In April 1997, she guest-hosted Saturday Night Live. She appeared on one of two covers for the September issue of Playboy. In September 1998, Anderson starred as Vallery Irons in the Sony Pictures Television syndicated action/comedy-drama series V.I.P. created by J. F. Lawton. The series had a successful four-year run. In 1999, she appeared as a man-eating giantess in the music video for "Miserable" by California alternative rock band Lit. She appeared on The Nanny as Fran Fine's rival, Heather Biblow.
2000–2009: Rise to media prominence
Sam Newman House, a pop architecture building constructed in 2001 in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia, has a large image of Anderson's face. Sam Newman commissioned local architect Cassandra Fahey to design the building, and used the image with Anderson's permission. Permits were issued retroactively when it became a major local landmark and won the award for Best New Residential Building in the RAIA Victorian Architecture Awards. Later that year, Anderson played herself in the Miller Lite TV commercial "Pillow Fight", the sequel to the brand's earlier commercial "Catfight", with models Tanya Ballinger and Kitana Baker reprising their roles.
In May 2004, Anderson appeared nude on the cover of Playboy magazine. Later, she posed naked for Stuff and GQ magazines. Anderson was also featured on the cover of the fashion magazines W, British Marie Claire, Flare, and Elle Canada and in editorials for Russian Elle and V.
In 2004, she released the book Star, co-written by Eric Shaw Quinn, about a teenager trying to become famous. After this, she began touring the United States, signing autographs for fans nationwide. Her second book, Star Struck, released in 2005, is a thinly veiled look at her life with Tommy Lee and the trials of celebrity life. In 2005, Anderson starred in a new Fox comedy series Stacked as Skyler Dayton, a party girl who works at a book store. It was cancelled on May 18, 2006, after two seasons. On August 14, 2005, Comedy Central aired the Roast of Pamela Anderson.
In December 2005, NBC cut a video of Anderson pole dancing to Elton John's "The Red Piano", saying that the footage was inappropriate for prime time. The video was shown on huge screens during the event, while John played "The Bitch is Back".
In March 2006, Anderson received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame. In April 2006, she hosted Canada's Juno Awards, becoming the first non-singer and model to do so. She also appeared in the 2006 mockumentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, in which the title character becomes obsessed with her and plans to abduct and marry her. She appears as herself at a book-signing at the end of the film, confronted by Borat in a staged botched abduction.
Anderson performed on February 13–14, 2008, in a Valentine's Day strip-tease act at the Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris. Anderson then starred in the reality series Pam: Girl on the Loose.
In December 2009, Anderson guest-starred as Genie of the Lamp in the pantomime Aladdin at the New Wimbledon Theatre in Wimbledon, in southwest London. Anderson took over the role from comedian Ruby Wax, with former EastEnders actress Anita Dobson and comedian Paul O'Grady also booked for the role.
2010–2021: Shift to reality television
In 2010, she appeared in the short film The Commuter directed by the McHenry Brothers and shot entirely on the Nokia N8 smartphone as promotion for the phone in the UK. Anderson was featured in a beach-themed editorial, shot by Mario Testino for Brazilian Vogue's June 2013 "Body Issue".
In November 2010, Anderson appeared on season 4 of Bigg Boss, the Indian version of the Big Brother television franchise. She stayed as a guest in the house for three days for a reported sum of Rs. 2.5 crores (approx US$550,000). Furthering her involvement in the franchise, Anderson took part in the 12th season of Big Brother in the United Kingdom in 2011. In 2012, she appeared as a Special Houseguest on the fourth season of VIP Brother, the celebrity spin-off of Big Brother in Bulgaria.
On Day 12 of the first season of Promi Big Brother in Germany, she entered the house, as a Special Guest Star on the final day. David Hasselhoff, a former Baywatch co-star, was a contestant on Days 1 to 5.
Anderson was a contestant on the tenth season of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with professional dancer Damian Whitewood. The season premiered on March 22, 2010. Anderson was eliminated after seven weeks. She also took part in the 15th season all-star edition in 2012 with Tristan MacManus. Anderson and MacManus were eliminated in the first week of competition.
In May 2011, she was a contestant on the Bailando 2011 (Argentina), partnered with professional dancer Damian Whitewood. She left the competition after 4 weeks.
In 2013, Anderson appeared on the eighth series of the British reality TV show Dancing on Ice, partnered with former winner Matt Evers.
In 2018, she was a contestant on the ninth season of French Dancing with the Stars. The season premiered on September 29, 2018. Anderson was eliminated on November 8, 2018.
2022–present: Return to acting and critical acclaim
Anderson made her Broadway debut playing Roxie Hart in the Broadway production of Chicago for eight weeks from April 12, 2022 to June 5, 2022 (her first time performing since 2019). A few months later in 2023, Netflix released a documentary directed by Ryan White on her life from childhood to the 2022 appearance in Chicago, called Pamela, a Love Story. It was also produced by her son Brandon Thomas Lee, who received his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination as a producer in the 2023 Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special category for his work on the film. Its release coincided with Anderson's autobiography, Love, Pamela, which debuted at number two on The New York Times Best Seller list within its first week of release.
After watching Pamela, a Love Story, Gia Coppola wanted to cast Anderson as Shelly in the 2024 drama film The Last Showgirl. She sent the script to Anderson's then-agent who turned it down within the hour without letting Anderson know about it. Coppola then reached out to Anderson's son Brandon through mutual friends, who passed it along to his mother. While Anderson had given up on acting by this point, she accepted the role. She was officially cast in February 2024, starring alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka and Billie Lourd. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024, with Anderson calling it "the role I have been waiting for my entire career". Caryn James of the BBC called Anderson "a revelation" and wrote: "The low-key devastation Anderson has captured is the real acting triumph." David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter said Anderson's "transformative performance is undeniably affecting, offering illuminating insights into both the character and the actress playing her, who has had to struggle to be taken seriously. This role should mark a turning point on that front." Anderson received a nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her performance in the film, marking her first Golden Globe Award nomination and the first major industry acting nomination in her career. She was also nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.
Anderson appeared in the November 12, 2024 episode of the Criterion Closet, where she discussed her lifelong interest in cinema. The films she selected included Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, David Lynch's Blue Velvet, Federico Fellini's La Strada, and David Lean's Summertime. In 2025, Anderson appeared in the Williamstown Theatre Festival's production of Camino Real (Tennessee Williams), and is slated to appear in Karim Aïnouz's Rosebush Pruning.
In the early 1990s, Anderson was offered the role of Tanya Peters in the 1994 film, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts (the role eventually went to Anna Nicole Smith). Over thirty years later, Anderson co-starred in the 2025 legacy sequel, The Naked Gun (Beth Davenport) with Liam Neeson (Lt. Frank Drebin Jr.)
Plant-based cooking
Anderson became a vegetarian in her early teens after her father went hunting and brought home a "bloodied deer." She eventually transitioned to a vegan diet in her twenties, and promotes the benefits of a plant-based diet. She served as an executive producer for the 2018 plant-based documentary, The Game Changers, along with James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jackie Chan.
Pamela's Cooking with Love (Anderson's plant-based cooking show) was greenlit in February 2023, and debuted on Canada's Flavour Network in February 2025. In addition, Anderson's 2024 plant-based cookbook I Love You: Recipes From the Heart, was nominated for a 2025 James Beard Award. The work of her photographer, Ditte Isager, was recognized in the "Media: Visuals" category. Actress and talk show host Drew Barrymore has noted that "literally as a cookbook collector" she finds I Love You: Recipes From the Heart to be "the most beautiful cookbook I've ever seen - it is stunning."
VegNews describes I Love You: Recipes From the Heart as one of "The Best Vegan Cookbooks of 2024," Chowhound calls it one of the "15 Best Vegetarian Cookbooks Of 2024," and SHE Media lists Anderson as one of "22 Celebrity Moms Whose Cookbooks Will Solve Your Dinner Problems." During her interview with Anderson for Elle, Martha Stewart stated that I Love You: Recipes From the Heart is "very nicely done," and that Anderson drew from French cuisine "in the most simple, beautiful way." She also told Anderson that her Pierogi recipe "came out beautifully." In addition, after testing a salad recipe in the book, Jessica Wrubel states in Parade magazine that she is "completely smitten with I Love You as a whole. Pamela's journey into this softer, more personal territory—whether through her recipes or her stories—makes the book feel like an extension of her heart. If you've ever doubted the staying power of Pamela Anderson's influence, let this cookbook—and this salad—prove you wrong."
Activism
Animal rights
Anderson advocates for animal rights, and is an active member of the animal protection organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
She became the center of controversy when she posed for a PETA ad wearing a bikini with sections drawn on her body dividing it into ribs, rump, shoulder, etc., like a diagram of meat cuts; the ad's tagline was "All Animals Have the Same Parts". The ad was banned in Montreal, Quebec on grounds that it was sexist. Anderson retorted, "In a city that is known for its exotic dancing and for being progressive and edgy, how sad that a woman would be banned from using her own body in a political protest over the suffering of cows and chickens. In some parts of the world, women are forced to cover their whole bodies with burqas – is that next? I didn't think that Canada would be so puritanical."
She became a company spokesperson for FrogAds, Inc. in March 2012, a company that used her as part of a media campaign in a pool operation of which she was unaware. In February 2014, she stripped for a Valentine's Day-themed ad for PETA, urging dog lovers to cuddle up with their pets during winter.
On July 8, 2015, Anderson wrote to Vladimir Putin to save whales. On December 15, 2015, Anderson, representing the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), met with top Kremlin officials regarding animals rights in Russia. On December 15, 2016, Anderson and IFAW officials met with Kremlin officials to discuss animal welfare and conservation.
In December 2015, Anderson, a close friend of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson and a long-time supporter and advisory board member, became a full board member in order to further its efforts in opposing the hunting of whales.
Anti-pornography
Anderson has been critical of pornography. In 2016, she co-authored a viral opinion article in The Wall Street Journal with Orthodox rabbi Shmuley Boteach, in which they called online pornography a "public hazard of unprecedented seriousness." The two called for a "sensual revolution" to replace "pornography with eroticism, the alloying of sex with love, of physicality with personality, of the body's mechanics with imagination, of orgasmic release with binding relationships." They later gave a joint lecture at Oxford University to over 1,000 people. Boteach observed: "It can be intimidating to talk about pornography and eroticism alongside an international sex symbol, but I think Pamela has handled it extremely well." The two also wrote a book together, Lust for Love (2018), about how meaningful, passionate sex has been declining, and called for a new sensual revolution that emphasizes partners connecting in the bedroom. However, in a 2008 interview with The Guardian, Anderson said that because she is aware of her Finnish ancestry, she considered moving to Finland and opening a strip club called "Lapland".
Julian Assange
In December 2016, in a statement to People magazine, Anderson called WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a "hero". She stated that he had done everyone "a great service" and that "[e]veryone in the world has benefited because of WikiLeaks," while decrying how "elaborate plots against him and made up sexual allegations could result in him being extradited to the US – where he would not be treated fairly – because of his exposure of truths." In April 2019, Anderson expressed anger on Twitter at Assange's expulsion from Ecuador's London embassy. In May 2019, Anderson visited Assange in Belmarsh prison with Kristinn Hrafnsson, and said she believed Assange to be innocent, saying, "He is a good man, he is an incredible person. I love him, I can't imagine what he has been going through."
In October 2019, Anderson announced she would be travelling to Australia in November 2019 to challenge Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to stand up for Assange. In her announcement, she referenced the 'disparaging remarks' he made about her in 2018 and challenged him to debate the matter "in front of the Australian people." She also wrote another letter to Morrison asking him to use his influence to secure Assange's release. Morrison replied with a letter, saying that his government would respect Britain's judicial process and Assange would not receive any special help. In the text of a speech she had intended to give at Parliament House, Canberra, Anderson said that Assange was suffering "psychological torture" in jail and that "every moment he is in there, he is in danger".
On January 18, 2021, Anderson spoke on the Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight, asking President Donald Trump to pardon Assange.
Additional activism
In March 2005, Anderson became a spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics's MAC AIDS Fund, which helped people affected by AIDS and HIV. After becoming the official spokesmodel, Anderson raised money during Toronto, Tokyo, Dublin, and Athens events. Anderson became the celebrity spokesperson for the American Liver Foundation and served as the Grand Marshal of the SOS motorcycle ride fundraiser.
In 2009, Anderson wrote an open letter to President Barack Obama urging the legalization of cannabis.
In November 2016, Anderson starred in a video public service announcement produced by the National Limousine Association and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center as part of the Ride Responsibly initiative, titled The Driving Game, which aimed to shed light on the lack of universal driver regulations in the private ground transportation industry.
Anderson once again starred in a video public service announcement produced by the National Limousine Association in January 2018, this time in partnership with Promoting Awareness | Victim Empowerment (PAVE), as part of the Ride Responsibly initiative. The video titled The Signs pushes for passenger safety and universal driver regulations in the private ground transportation industry.
In the 2019 Canadian federal election, she endorsed the Green Party of Canada.
After supporting the yellow vests movement, Anderson attended a meeting of the European Spring with Yanis Varoufakis and Benoît Hamon. She appeared as a supporter on election posters of the German DiEM25 campaign in the run-up to the 2019 European Parliament elections.
Personal life
Homes and family
Anderson has two sons from her first marriage to Tommy Lee, Brandon Thomas (born in 1996) and Dylan Jagger (born in 1997). She became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 2004 while retaining her Canadian citizenship. After moving to California in 1989, Anderson felt that it was important to become an American citizen in order to vote and one day petition to bring her parents to the U.S. and care for them when they were older.
Anderson purchased a beach home in Malibu, California for $1.8 million in 2001 and attempted to sell it in 2013 for $7.75 million, but later took it off the market. She previously lived in a mansion in Cassis, in the commune of Marseille, France.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, her childhood home in Canada became her permanent residence, and she sold her Malibu home. As of 2024 she lives with her dogs in Ladysmith on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and has a vegetable farm, Arcady.
Marriages and relationships
Anderson has been married five times. She married her first husband, Tommy Lee, drummer of Mötley Crüe, on February 19, 1995, after knowing him for only four days. They married on a beach, with Anderson in a white bikini and Lee in boardshorts. Lee was later sentenced to six months in the Los Angeles County Jail for spousal abuse after assaulting Anderson, and they divorced in 1998. A long custody dispute over their sons followed, and was finalized when they were granted joint custody in October 2002. In March 2002, Anderson publicly stated that she had contracted hepatitis C by sharing tattoo needles with Lee, and began writing a regular column for Jane magazine. In October 2003, Anderson jokingly said on Howard Stern's radio show that she did not expect to live more than 10 or 15 years, but this was taken seriously by many websites and tabloids. By 2015 Anderson had been cured of hepatitis C.
Anderson later married Kid Rock, but after a miscarriage while in Vancouver shooting a new film, Blonde and Blonder, Anderson filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences.
In September 2007, Anderson stated on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she was engaged, and on September 29, Anderson and Rick Salomon applied for a marriage license in Las Vegas. On October 6, 2007, Anderson married Salomon in a small wedding ceremony at The Mirage, between her two nightly appearances at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Hans Klok's magic show. The couple separated on December 13, and on February 22, 2008, Anderson requested through the courts that the marriage be annulled, citing fraud. In October 2013, Anderson stated on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she and Salomon were "friends with benefits". In January 2014, she announced that she had remarried Salomon on an unspecified date. Anderson filed for divorce from Salomon in February 2015. The divorce was finalized on April 29, 2015.
She was in a relationship with French soccer player Adil Rami from 2017 to 2019.
On December 24, 2020, Anderson married Dan Hayhurst, her bodyguard. On January 21, 2022, Anderson announced that she had filed for divorce and split with Hayhurst.
Stolen home videos
In 1995, personal home videos of Anderson with her then-husband Tommy Lee recorded on a houseboat on Lake Mead were stolen and spliced together. They were then sold as a sex tape, which resulted in a legal fight and made her the subject of controversy. Anderson sued the video distribution company, Internet Entertainment Group, who posted the video on their website ClubLove in November 1997. Anderson was pregnant during the trial and, fearful of the extreme stress causing harm to her pregnancy, dismissed the case. The company began making the tape available to subscribers to its websites again, resulting in triple the normal traffic on the sites. In the 2023 Netflix documentary Pamela, a Love Story, Anderson said there was no confidential agreement over releasing rights to the video, and that she chose not to monetize it.
The story of the tape was portrayed in the Hulu 2022 miniseries Pam & Tommy. In Pamela, a Love Story, Anderson said that she was not consulted about the production of the series. Critics, journalists, and academics posited that the series was profiting from Anderson's trauma and likely doing further harm to her. Pamela, a Love Story verified those claims, in Anderson's own words. Producers of the series were able to develop the series without her participation, permission, or consent by optioning the rights to an article published by Rolling Stone in 2014. Some critics felt that this was a similar violation of privacy that mirrored the tape originally being stolen and distributed without Anderson's and Lee's consent.
Filmography
Film
Television
Theatre
Music videos
Documentary
Honours and awards
Bibliography
Anderson, Pamela (2004). Star: A Novel. Atria Books. ISBN 9780743493727.
Anderson, Pamela (2005). Star Struck. Atria Books. ISBN 9780743492836.
Anderson, Pamela (2023). Love, Pamela. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-322658-6.
Anderson, Pamela (2024). I Love You: Recipes from the Heart (A Cookbook). Voracious. ISBN 978-0316573481.
Co-authored
Ali, Tariq; Kunstler, Margaret, eds. (October 2019). In Defense of Julian Assange. OR Books, LLC. ISBN 978-1-68219-221-4.
Contributors: Pamela Anderson, Julian Assange, Renata Avila, Katrin Axelsson, Franco "Bifo" Berardi, Sally Burch, Noam Chomsky, Patrick Cockburn, Naomi Colvin, The Courage Foundation, Mark Curtis, Daniel Ellsberg, Teresa Forcades i Vila, Charles Glass, Kevin Gosztola, Serge Halimi, Nozomi Hayase, Chris Hedges, Srećko Horvat, Caitlin Johnstone, Margaret Kimberley, Geoffroy de Lagasnerie, Lisa Longstaff, Alan MacLeod, Stefania Maurizi, Craig Murray, Fidel Narváez, John C. O'Day, John Pilger, Jesselyn Radack, Michael Ratner, Angela Richter, Geoffrey Robertson, Jennifer Robinson, Matt Taibbi, Natalia Viana, Ai Weiwei, Vivienne Westwood and Slavoj Žižek.
Lust for Love: Rekindling Intimacy and Passion in Your Relationship (co-writer with Shmuley Boteach) (2018)
Anderson, Pamela; Dunlavey, Emma; Mazzucco, Raphael (September 2015). Raw. BenBella Books. ISBN 978-1-942952-07-7.
Lee, Pamela A.; Gold, Todd (June 1998). Pamdemonium. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-446-60668-4.
See also
List of Flavour Network personalities
List of programs broadcast by Flavour Network
List of vegan and plant-based media
Notes
References
External links
Official website
Pamela Anderson biography - Hachette Book Group
Pamela Anderson at IMDb
"Mom, This Is A Cookbook" - Why Pamela Anderson's Sons Insisted She Publish Her Recipes - The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, October, 2024.
Pamela Anderson's had an 'amazing, wild, messy life' — and she's still reinventing - Fresh Air (NPR), January 22, 2025
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Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress, model and media personality. She rose to prominence after being selected as the February 1990 Playboy Playmate of the Month. She went on to obtain the record for the most Playboy cover appearances. Anderson began her acting career on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement (1991–1993, 1997), before receiving international recognition for starring as "C.J." Parker in the drama series Baywatch (1992–1997), which cemented her status as a sex symbol. In 1995, home videos of Anderson with her then-husband, Tommy Lee, were stolen, spliced together, and sold as a sex tape, which resulted in a legal fight and made her the subject of controversy.
Anderson starred as Vallery Irons in the syndicated series V.I.P. (1998–2002) and as Skyler Dayton in the Fox sitcom Stacked (2005–2006). Her film credits include Barb Wire (1996), Scary Movie 3 (2003), Borat (2006), Baywatch (2017), and City Hunter (2018). She starred in the reality series Pam: Girl on the Loose (2008) and appeared as a contestant on the Dancing with the Stars franchise (2010–2012, 2018). She saw a career resurgence in the 2020s after her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago (2022) and the 2023 releases of the Netflix documentary Pamela, a Love Story and her autobiography, Love, Pamela. For starring in the independent drama film The Last Showgirl (2024), she received nominations for the Golden Globe Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress. She then starred in the comedy film The Naked Gun (2025).
Anderson has supported various charitable causes, particularly animal rights and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and endorses plant-based cooking. She hosts Flavour Network's plant-based cooking show Pamela's Cooking with Love (2025–present), and released a plant-based cookbook I Love You: Recipes from the Heart, which was nominated for a 2025 James Beard Award, for the work of her photographer, Ditte Isager.
Early life and education
Anderson was born in Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada, the daughter of Barry W. Anderson, a furnace repairman, and Carol (née Cawthorpe), a waitress. Her great-grandfather, Juho Hyytiäinen, was a Finnish native of Saarijärvi, and left the Grand Duchy of Finland (which was an autonomous state within the Russian Empire at the time) for Canada in 1908. He changed his name to Anderson when he arrived as an immigrant. Anderson also has Volga German ancestry on her mother's side; her grandmother, Rose Friesen, ethnically German, was born in Russia in a Mennonite village and immigrated to Canada in 1901. Anderson received press coverage right after her birth as a "Centennial Baby", having been born on July 1, 1967, the 100th anniversary of Canada's official founding via the Constitution Act, 1867. She has a younger brother, Gerry (born 1971), an actor and producer who worked in some of her films and television shows.
When she was in grade 8, Anderson was a "scat soloist" for her middle school jazz band, where she played the saxophone. Decades later, she would draw on this talent for a solo in The Naked Gun. Anderson attended Highland Secondary School in Comox, British Columbia. In high school, she played on the volleyball team, and graduated in 1985.
In 2014, Anderson discussed suffering sexual abuse as a child. She mentioned being molested by a female babysitter from ages 6 to 10, raped by a 25-year-old man when she was age 12, and gang-raped by her boyfriend and six of his friends when she was 14.
Career
1988–1999: Modelling and acting breakthrough
In 1988, Anderson moved to Vancouver and worked as a fitness instructor. The next year, she attended a BC Lions Canadian Football League game at the BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, where she was featured on the jumbotron while wearing a Labatt's Beer T-shirt. The brewing company hired Anderson briefly as a spokesmodel. Inspired by the event, her then-boyfriend Dan Ilicic produced a poster of her image, entitled the Blue Zone Girl.
Anderson was flown to Los Angeles for a photo shoot; she appeared as the cover girl on Playboy magazine's October 1989 issue. She subsequently moved to the United States, settling in LA to further pursue a modelling career. Playboy subsequently chose her as Playmate of the Month in their February 1990 issue, in which she appeared in the centrefold portrait. Anderson then elected to have breast implant surgery, increasing her bust size to 34D. She increased her bust size again, to 34DD, several years later. Her Playboy career spans 22 years, and she has appeared on more Playboy covers than any other model. She has also made numerous appearances in the publication's newsstand specials. Anderson wrote the foreword to the Playboy coffee table book Playboy's Greatest Covers. After Anderson moved to Los Angeles, she won a minor role as Lisa, the original "Tool Time Girl", on the ABC comedy series Home Improvement.
Her breakthrough role was as C.J. Parker on Baywatch, which she played for five seasons between 1992 and 1997, making her one of the longest-serving cast members. The series has gained her popularity from international viewers and the character of Parker became one of her best-known roles, having been reenacted by multiple high-profile people since. Anderson was paid US$1,500 per episode during the first season. She reprised her role in a reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003), and also appeared in commercials for DirecTV in 2007. Anderson was still modelling for Outdoor Life and appearing on the cover of the magazine each year. In 1993, Anderson appeared in a music video "Can't Have Your Cake" by Vince Neil to promote his first solo album, Exposed.
In 1994, she was cast in her first starring film role, in Raw Justice, also known as Good Cop, Bad Cop, co-starring with Stacy Keach, David Keith, and Robert Hays. Under the alternate title, the film won the Bronze Award at the Worldfest-Charleston in the category for dramatic theatrical films. In 1996, she played Barbara Rose Kopetski in the film Barb Wire. The movie, a thinly veiled futuristic remake of Casablanca, was not a commercial success. During filming, she had barbed wire tattooed on her left upper arm instead of having it painted on by make-up artists every day, but she had it removed in 2016. In April 1997, she guest-hosted Saturday Night Live. She appeared on one of two covers for the September issue of Playboy. In September 1998, Anderson starred as Vallery Irons in the Sony Pictures Television syndicated action/comedy-drama series V.I.P. created by J. F. Lawton. The series had a successful four-year run. In 1999, she appeared as a man-eating giantess in the music video for "Miserable" by California alternative rock band Lit. She appeared on The Nanny as Fran Fine's rival, Heather Biblow.
2000–2009: Rise to media prominence
Sam Newman House, a pop architecture building constructed in 2001 in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia, has a large image of Anderson's face. Sam Newman commissioned local architect Cassandra Fahey to design the building, and used the image with Anderson's permission. Permits were issued retroactively when it became a major local landmark and won the award for Best New Residential Building in the RAIA Victorian Architecture Awards. Later that year, Anderson played herself in the Miller Lite TV commercial "Pillow Fight", the sequel to the brand's earlier commercial "Catfight", with models Tanya Ballinger and Kitana Baker reprising their roles.
In May 2004, Anderson appeared nude on the cover of Playboy magazine. Later, she posed naked for Stuff and GQ magazines. Anderson was also featured on the cover of the fashion magazines W, British Marie Claire, Flare, and Elle Canada and in editorials for Russian Elle and V.
In 2004, she released the book Star, co-written by Eric Shaw Quinn, about a teenager trying to become famous. After this, she began touring the United States, signing autographs for fans nationwide. Her second book, Star Struck, released in 2005, is a thinly veiled look at her life with Tommy Lee and the trials of celebrity life. In 2005, Anderson starred in a new Fox comedy series Stacked as Skyler Dayton, a party girl who works at a book store. It was cancelled on May 18, 2006, after two seasons. On August 14, 2005, Comedy Central aired the Roast of Pamela Anderson.
In December 2005, NBC cut a video of Anderson pole dancing to Elton John's "The Red Piano", saying that the footage was inappropriate for prime time. The video was shown on huge screens during the event, while John played "The Bitch is Back".
In March 2006, Anderson received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame. In April 2006, she hosted Canada's Juno Awards, becoming the first non-singer and model to do so. She also appeared in the 2006 mockumentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, in which the title character becomes obsessed with her and plans to abduct and marry her. She appears as herself at a book-signing at the end of the film, confronted by Borat in a staged botched abduction.
Anderson performed on February 13–14, 2008, in a Valentine's Day strip-tease act at the Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris. Anderson then starred in the reality series Pam: Girl on the Loose.
In December 2009, Anderson guest-starred as Genie of the Lamp in the pantomime Aladdin at the New Wimbledon Theatre in Wimbledon, in southwest London. Anderson took over the role from comedian Ruby Wax, with former EastEnders actress Anita Dobson and comedian Paul O'Grady also booked for the role.
2010–2021: Shift to reality television
In 2010, she appeared in the short film The Commuter directed by the McHenry Brothers and shot entirely on the Nokia N8 smartphone as promotion for the phone in the UK. Anderson was featured in a beach-themed editorial, shot by Mario Testino for Brazilian Vogue's June 2013 "Body Issue".
In November 2010, Anderson appeared on season 4 of Bigg Boss, the Indian version of the Big Brother television franchise. She stayed as a guest in the house for three days for a reported sum of Rs. 2.5 crores (approx US$550,000). Furthering her involvement in the franchise, Anderson took part in the 12th season of Big Brother in the United Kingdom in 2011. In 2012, she appeared as a Special Houseguest on the fourth season of VIP Brother, the celebrity spin-off of Big Brother in Bulgaria.
On Day 12 of the first season of Promi Big Brother in Germany, she entered the house, as a Special Guest Star on the final day. David Hasselhoff, a former Baywatch co-star, was a contestant on Days 1 to 5.
Anderson was a contestant on the tenth season of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with professional dancer Damian Whitewood. The season premiered on March 22, 2010. Anderson was eliminated after seven weeks. She also took part in the 15th season all-star edition in 2012 with Tristan MacManus. Anderson and MacManus were eliminated in the first week of competition.
In May 2011, she was a contestant on the Bailando 2011 (Argentina), partnered with professional dancer Damian Whitewood. She left the competition after 4 weeks.
In 2013, Anderson appeared on the eighth series of the British reality TV show Dancing on Ice, partnered with former winner Matt Evers.
In 2018, she was a contestant on the ninth season of French Dancing with the Stars. The season premiered on September 29, 2018. Anderson was eliminated on November 8, 2018.
2022–present: Return to acting and critical acclaim
Anderson made her Broadway debut playing Roxie Hart in the Broadway production of Chicago for eight weeks from April 12, 2022 to June 5, 2022 (her first time performing since 2019). A few months later in 2023, Netflix released a documentary directed by Ryan White on her life from childhood to the 2022 appearance in Chicago, called Pamela, a Love Story. It was also produced by her son Brandon Thomas Lee, who received his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination as a producer in the 2023 Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special category for his work on the film. Its release coincided with Anderson's autobiography, Love, Pamela, which debuted at number two on The New York Times Best Seller list within its first week of release.
After watching Pamela, a Love Story, Gia Coppola wanted to cast Anderson as Shelly in the 2024 drama film The Last Showgirl. She sent the script to Anderson's then-agent who turned it down within the hour without letting Anderson know about it. Coppola then reached out to Anderson's son Brandon through mutual friends, who passed it along to his mother. While Anderson had given up on acting by this point, she accepted the role. She was officially cast in February 2024, starring alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka and Billie Lourd. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024, with Anderson calling it "the role I have been waiting for my entire career". Caryn James of the BBC called Anderson "a revelation" and wrote: "The low-key devastation Anderson has captured is the real acting triumph." David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter said Anderson's "transformative performance is undeniably affecting, offering illuminating insights into both the character and the actress playing her, who has had to struggle to be taken seriously. This role should mark a turning point on that front." Anderson received a nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her performance in the film, marking her first Golden Globe Award nomination and the first major industry acting nomination in her career. She was also nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.
Anderson appeared in the November 12, 2024 episode of the Criterion Closet, where she discussed her lifelong interest in cinema. The films she selected included Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, David Lynch's Blue Velvet, Federico Fellini's La Strada, and David Lean's Summertime. In 2025, Anderson appeared in the Williamstown Theatre Festival's production of Camino Real (Tennessee Williams), and is slated to appear in Karim Aïnouz's Rosebush Pruning.
In the early 1990s, Anderson was offered the role of Tanya Peters in the 1994 film, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts (the role eventually went to Anna Nicole Smith). Over thirty years later, Anderson co-starred in the 2025 legacy sequel, The Naked Gun (Beth Davenport) with Liam Neeson (Lt. Frank Drebin Jr.)
Plant-based cooking
Anderson became a vegetarian in her early teens after her father went hunting and brought home a "bloodied deer." She eventually transitioned to a vegan diet in her twenties, and promotes the benefits of a plant-based diet. She served as an executive producer for the 2018 plant-based documentary, The Game Changers, along with James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jackie Chan.
Pamela's Cooking with Love (Anderson's plant-based cooking show) was greenlit in February 2023, and debuted on Canada's Flavour Network in February 2025. In addition, Anderson's 2024 plant-based cookbook I Love You: Recipes From the Heart, was nominated for a 2025 James Beard Award. The work of her photographer, Ditte Isager, was recognized in the "Media: Visuals" category. Actress and talk show host Drew Barrymore has noted that "literally as a cookbook collector" she finds I Love You: Recipes From the Heart to be "the most beautiful cookbook I've ever seen - it is stunning."
VegNews describes I Love You: Recipes From the Heart as one of "The Best Vegan Cookbooks of 2024," Chowhound calls it one of the "15 Best Vegetarian Cookbooks Of 2024," and SHE Media lists Anderson as one of "22 Celebrity Moms Whose Cookbooks Will Solve Your Dinner Problems." During her interview with Anderson for Elle, Martha Stewart stated that I Love You: Recipes From the Heart is "very nicely done," and that Anderson drew from French cuisine "in the most simple, beautiful way." She also told Anderson that her Pierogi recipe "came out beautifully." In addition, after testing a salad recipe in the book, Jessica Wrubel states in Parade magazine that she is "completely smitten with I Love You as a whole. Pamela's journey into this softer, more personal territory—whether through her recipes or her stories—makes the book feel like an extension of her heart. If you've ever doubted the staying power of Pamela Anderson's influence, let this cookbook—and this salad—prove you wrong."
Activism
Animal rights
Anderson advocates for animal rights, and is an active member of the animal protection organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
She became the center of controversy when she posed for a PETA ad wearing a bikini with sections drawn on her body dividing it into ribs, rump, shoulder, etc., like a diagram of meat cuts; the ad's tagline was "All Animals Have the Same Parts". The ad was banned in Montreal, Quebec on grounds that it was sexist. Anderson retorted, "In a city that is known for its exotic dancing and for being progressive and edgy, how sad that a woman would be banned from using her own body in a political protest over the suffering of cows and chickens. In some parts of the world, women are forced to cover their whole bodies with burqas – is that next? I didn't think that Canada would be so puritanical."
She became a company spokesperson for FrogAds, Inc. in March 2012, a company that used her as part of a media campaign in a pool operation of which she was unaware. In February 2014, she stripped for a Valentine's Day-themed ad for PETA, urging dog lovers to cuddle up with their pets during winter.
On July 8, 2015, Anderson wrote to Vladimir Putin to save whales. On December 15, 2015, Anderson, representing the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), met with top Kremlin officials regarding animals rights in Russia. On December 15, 2016, Anderson and IFAW officials met with Kremlin officials to discuss animal welfare and conservation.
In December 2015, Anderson, a close friend of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson and a long-time supporter and advisory board member, became a full board member in order to further its efforts in opposing the hunting of whales.
Anti-pornography
Anderson has been critical of pornography. In 2016, she co-authored a viral opinion article in The Wall Street Journal with Orthodox rabbi Shmuley Boteach, in which they called online pornography a "public hazard of unprecedented seriousness." The two called for a "sensual revolution" to replace "pornography with eroticism, the alloying of sex with love, of physicality with personality, of the body's mechanics with imagination, of orgasmic release with binding relationships." They later gave a joint lecture at Oxford University to over 1,000 people. Boteach observed: "It can be intimidating to talk about pornography and eroticism alongside an international sex symbol, but I think Pamela has handled it extremely well." The two also wrote a book together, Lust for Love (2018), about how meaningful, passionate sex has been declining, and called for a new sensual revolution that emphasizes partners connecting in the bedroom. However, in a 2008 interview with The Guardian, Anderson said that because she is aware of her Finnish ancestry, she considered moving to Finland and opening a strip club called "Lapland".
Julian Assange
In December 2016, in a statement to People magazine, Anderson called WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a "hero". She stated that he had done everyone "a great service" and that "[e]veryone in the world has benefited because of WikiLeaks," while decrying how "elaborate plots against him and made up sexual allegations could result in him being extradited to the US – where he would not be treated fairly – because of his exposure of truths." In April 2019, Anderson expressed anger on Twitter at Assange's expulsion from Ecuador's London embassy. In May 2019, Anderson visited Assange in Belmarsh prison with Kristinn Hrafnsson, and said she believed Assange to be innocent, saying, "He is a good man, he is an incredible person. I love him, I can't imagine what he has been going through."
In October 2019, Anderson announced she would be travelling to Australia in November 2019 to challenge Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to stand up for Assange. In her announcement, she referenced the 'disparaging remarks' he made about her in 2018 and challenged him to debate the matter "in front of the Australian people." She also wrote another letter to Morrison asking him to use his influence to secure Assange's release. Morrison replied with a letter, saying that his government would respect Britain's judicial process and Assange would not receive any special help. In the text of a speech she had intended to give at Parliament House, Canberra, Anderson said that Assange was suffering "psychological torture" in jail and that "every moment he is in there, he is in danger".
On January 18, 2021, Anderson spoke on the Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight, asking President Donald Trump to pardon Assange.
Additional activism
In March 2005, Anderson became a spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics's MAC AIDS Fund, which helped people affected by AIDS and HIV. After becoming the official spokesmodel, Anderson raised money during Toronto, Tokyo, Dublin, and Athens events. Anderson became the celebrity spokesperson for the American Liver Foundation and served as the Grand Marshal of the SOS motorcycle ride fundraiser.
In 2009, Anderson wrote an open letter to President Barack Obama urging the legalization of cannabis.
In November 2016, Anderson starred in a video public service announcement produced by the National Limousine Association and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center as part of the Ride Responsibly initiative, titled The Driving Game, which aimed to shed light on the lack of universal driver regulations in the private ground transportation industry.
Anderson once again starred in a video public service announcement produced by the National Limousine Association in January 2018, this time in partnership with Promoting Awareness | Victim Empowerment (PAVE), as part of the Ride Responsibly initiative. The video titled The Signs pushes for passenger safety and universal driver regulations in the private ground transportation industry.
In the 2019 Canadian federal election, she endorsed the Green Party of Canada.
After supporting the yellow vests movement, Anderson attended a meeting of the European Spring with Yanis Varoufakis and Benoît Hamon. She appeared as a supporter on election posters of the German DiEM25 campaign in the run-up to the 2019 European Parliament elections.
Personal life
Homes and family
Anderson has two sons from her first marriage to Tommy Lee, Brandon Thomas (born in 1996) and Dylan Jagger (born in 1997). She became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 2004 while retaining her Canadian citizenship. After moving to California in 1989, Anderson felt that it was important to become an American citizen in order to vote and one day petition to bring her parents to the U.S. and care for them when they were older.
Anderson purchased a beach home in Malibu, California for $1.8 million in 2001 and attempted to sell it in 2013 for $7.75 million, but later took it off the market. She previously lived in a mansion in Cassis, in the commune of Marseille, France.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, her childhood home in Canada became her permanent residence, and she sold her Malibu home. As of 2024 she lives with her dogs in Ladysmith on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and has a vegetable farm, Arcady.
Marriages and relationships
Anderson has been married five times. She married her first husband, Tommy Lee, drummer of Mötley Crüe, on February 19, 1995, after knowing him for only four days. They married on a beach, with Anderson in a white bikini and Lee in boardshorts. Lee was later sentenced to six months in the Los Angeles County Jail for spousal abuse after assaulting Anderson, and they divorced in 1998. A long custody dispute over their sons followed, and was finalized when they were granted joint custody in October 2002. In March 2002, Anderson publicly stated that she had contracted hepatitis C by sharing tattoo needles with Lee, and began writing a regular column for Jane magazine. In October 2003, Anderson jokingly said on Howard Stern's radio show that she did not expect to live more than 10 or 15 years, but this was taken seriously by many websites and tabloids. By 2015 Anderson had been cured of hepatitis C.
Anderson later married Kid Rock, but after a miscarriage while in Vancouver shooting a new film, Blonde and Blonder, Anderson filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences.
In September 2007, Anderson stated on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she was engaged, and on September 29, Anderson and Rick Salomon applied for a marriage license in Las Vegas. On October 6, 2007, Anderson married Salomon in a small wedding ceremony at The Mirage, between her two nightly appearances at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Hans Klok's magic show. The couple separated on December 13, and on February 22, 2008, Anderson requested through the courts that the marriage be annulled, citing fraud. In October 2013, Anderson stated on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she and Salomon were "friends with benefits". In January 2014, she announced that she had remarried Salomon on an unspecified date. Anderson filed for divorce from Salomon in February 2015. The divorce was finalized on April 29, 2015.
She was in a relationship with French soccer player Adil Rami from 2017 to 2019.
On December 24, 2020, Anderson married Dan Hayhurst, her bodyguard. On January 21, 2022, Anderson announced that she had filed for divorce and split with Hayhurst.
Stolen home videos
In 1995, personal home videos of Anderson with her then-husband Tommy Lee recorded on a houseboat on Lake Mead were stolen and spliced together. They were then sold as a sex tape, which resulted in a legal fight and made her the subject of controversy. Anderson sued the video distribution company, Internet Entertainment Group, who posted the video on their website ClubLove in November 1997. Anderson was pregnant during the trial and, fearful of the extreme stress causing harm to her pregnancy, dismissed the case. The company began making the tape available to subscribers to its websites again, resulting in triple the normal traffic on the sites. In the 2023 Netflix documentary Pamela, a Love Story, Anderson said there was no confidential agreement over releasing rights to the video, and that she chose not to monetize it.
The story of the tape was portrayed in the Hulu 2022 miniseries Pam & Tommy. In Pamela, a Love Story, Anderson said that she was not consulted about the production of the series. Critics, journalists, and academics posited that the series was profiting from Anderson's trauma and likely doing further harm to her. Pamela, a Love Story verified those claims, in Anderson's own words. Producers of the series were able to develop the series without her participation, permission, or consent by optioning the rights to an article published by Rolling Stone in 2014. Some critics felt that this was a similar violation of privacy that mirrored the tape originally being stolen and distributed without Anderson's and Lee's consent.
Filmography
Film
Television
Theatre
Music videos
Documentary
Honours and awards
Bibliography
Anderson, Pamela (2004). Star: A Novel. Atria Books. ISBN 9780743493727.
Anderson, Pamela (2005). Star Struck. Atria Books. ISBN 9780743492836.
Anderson, Pamela (2023). Love, Pamela. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-322658-6.
Anderson, Pamela (2024). I Love You: Recipes from the Heart (A Cookbook). Voracious. ISBN 978-0316573481.
Co-authored
Ali, Tariq; Kunstler, Margaret, eds. (October 2019). In Defense of Julian Assange. OR Books, LLC. ISBN 978-1-68219-221-4.
Contributors: Pamela Anderson, Julian Assange, Renata Avila, Katrin Axelsson, Franco "Bifo" Berardi, Sally Burch, Noam Chomsky, Patrick Cockburn, Naomi Colvin, The Courage Foundation, Mark Curtis, Daniel Ellsberg, Teresa Forcades i Vila, Charles Glass, Kevin Gosztola, Serge Halimi, Nozomi Hayase, Chris Hedges, Srećko Horvat, Caitlin Johnstone, Margaret Kimberley, Geoffroy de Lagasnerie, Lisa Longstaff, Alan MacLeod, Stefania Maurizi, Craig Murray, Fidel Narváez, John C. O'Day, John Pilger, Jesselyn Radack, Michael Ratner, Angela Richter, Geoffrey Robertson, Jennifer Robinson, Matt Taibbi, Natalia Viana, Ai Weiwei, Vivienne Westwood and Slavoj Žižek.
Lust for Love: Rekindling Intimacy and Passion in Your Relationship (co-writer with Shmuley Boteach) (2018)
Anderson, Pamela; Dunlavey, Emma; Mazzucco, Raphael (September 2015). Raw. BenBella Books. ISBN 978-1-942952-07-7.
Lee, Pamela A.; Gold, Todd (June 1998). Pamdemonium. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-446-60668-4.
See also
List of Flavour Network personalities
List of programs broadcast by Flavour Network
List of vegan and plant-based media
Notes
References
External links
Official website
Pamela Anderson biography - Hachette Book Group
Pamela Anderson at IMDb
"Mom, This Is A Cookbook" - Why Pamela Anderson's Sons Insisted She Publish Her Recipes - The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, October, 2024.
Pamela Anderson's had an 'amazing, wild, messy life' — and she's still reinventing - Fresh Air (NPR), January 22, 2025
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Tony Blair
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Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007, and was special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. He is the second-longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories. Blair founded the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in 2016, and currently serves as its Executive Chairman.
Blair attended the independent school Fettes College, studied law at St John's College, Oxford, and qualified as a barrister. He became involved in the Labour Party and was elected to the House of Commons in 1983 for the Sedgefield constituency in County Durham. As a backbencher, Blair supported moving the party to the political centre of British politics. He was appointed to Neil Kinnock's shadow cabinet in 1988 and was appointed shadow home secretary by John Smith in 1992. Following Smith's death in 1994, Blair won a leadership election to succeed him. As leader, Blair began a historic rebranding of the party, which became known as "New Labour". Blair became the youngest prime minister of the 20th century after his party won a landslide victory of 418 seats (the largest in its history) in the 1997 general election, bringing an end to 18 years in the opposition. It was the first victory for the Labour Party in nearly 23 years, the last one being in October 1974.
During his first term, Blair enacted constitutional reforms and significantly increased public spending on healthcare and education while also introducing controversial market-based reforms in these areas. In addition, Blair saw the introduction of a minimum wage, tuition fees for higher education, constitutional reform such as devolution in Scotland and Wales, an extensive expansion of LGBT+ rights in the UK, and significant progress in the Northern Ireland peace process with the passing of the landmark Good Friday Agreement. On foreign policy, Blair oversaw British interventions in Kosovo in 1999 and Sierra Leone in 2000, which were generally perceived to be successful.
Blair won a second term after Labour won a second landslide victory in the 2001 general election. Three months into his second term, Blair's premiership was shaped by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, resulting in the start of the war on terror. Blair supported the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration by ensuring that the British Armed Forces participated in the War in Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, destroy al-Qaeda, and capture Osama bin Laden. Blair supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and had the British Armed Forces participate in the Iraq War, on the false beliefs that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction and developed ties with al-Qaeda. The invasion of Iraq was particularly controversial, as it attracted widespread public opposition and 139 of Blair's own MPs opposed it. As a result, he faced criticism over the policy itself and the circumstances of the decision. The Iraq Inquiry report of 2016 gave a damning assessment of Blair's role in the Iraq War. As the casualties of the Iraq War mounted, Blair was accused of misleading Parliament, and his popularity dropped dramatically.
Blair won a third term after Labour won a third election victory in 2005, in part thanks to the UK's strong economic performance, but with a substantially reduced majority, due to the UK's involvement in the Iraq War. During his third term, Blair pushed for more systemic public sector reform and brokered a settlement to restore powersharing to Northern Ireland. He had a surge in popularity at the time of terrorist bombings of London of July 2005, but by the Spring of 2006 faced significant difficulties, most notably with scandals over failures by the Home Office to deport illegal immigrants. Amid the Cash-for-Honours scandal, Blair was interviewed three times as prime minister, though only as a witness and not under caution. The Afghanistan and Iraq wars continued, and in 2006, Blair announced he would resign within a year. He resigned the party leadership on 24 June 2007 and as prime minister on 27 June, and was succeeded by Gordon Brown, his chancellor.
After leaving office, Blair gave up his seat and was appointed special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, a diplomatic post he held until 2015. He has been the executive chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change since 2016 and has made occasional political interventions, and has been a key influence on Keir Starmer. In 2009, Blair was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush. He was made a Knight Companion of the Garter by Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. At various points in his premiership, Blair was among both the most popular and most unpopular politicians in British history. As prime minister, he achieved the highest recorded approval ratings during his first few years in office but also one of the lowest ratings during and after the Iraq War. Blair is usually rated as above average in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers.
Early years
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born on 6 May 1953 at Queen Mary Maternity Home in Lauriston, Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the second son of Leo and Hazel (née Corscadden) Blair. Leo Blair was the illegitimate son of two entertainers and was adopted as a baby by the Glasgow shipyard worker James Blair and his wife, Mary. Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher and Orangeman who moved to Glasgow in 1916. In 1923, he returned to (and later died in) Ballyshannon, County Donegal, in Ireland. In Ballyshannon, Corscadden's wife, Sarah Margaret (née Lipsett), gave birth above the family's grocery shop to Blair's mother, Hazel.
Blair has an elder brother, William, and a younger sister, Sarah. Blair's first home was with his family at Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of Edinburgh. During this period, his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst studying for a law degree from the University of Edinburgh.
Blair's first relocation was when he was nineteen months old. At the end of 1954, Blair's parents and their two sons moved from Paisley Terrace to Adelaide, South Australia. His father lectured in law at the University of Adelaide. In Australia, Blair's sister, Sarah, was born. The Blairs lived in the suburb of Dulwich close to the university. The family returned to the United Kingdom in mid-1958. They lived for a time with Hazel's mother and stepfather (William McClay) at their home in Stepps on the outskirts of north-east Glasgow. Blair's father accepted a job as a lecturer at Durham University, and moved the family to Durham when Blair was five. It was the beginning of a long association Blair was to have with Durham.
Since childhood, Blair has been a fan of Newcastle United Football Club.
Education and legal career
With his parents basing their family in Durham, Blair attended the Chorister School from 1961 to 1966. Aged 13, he was sent to boarding at Fettes College in Edinburgh from 1966 to 1971. According to Blair, he hated his time at Fettes. His teachers were unimpressed with him; his biographer, John Rentoul, reported that "[a]ll the teachers I spoke to when researching the book said he was a complete pain in the backside and they were very glad to see the back of him." Blair reportedly modelled himself on Mick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones. Leaving Fettes College at the age of 18, Blair next spent a gap year in London working as a rock music promoter.
In 1972, at the age of 19, Blair matriculated at St John's College, Oxford, reading jurisprudence for three years. As a student, he played guitar and sang in a rock band called Ugly Rumours, and performed stand-up comedy. He was influenced by fellow student and Anglican priest Peter Thomson, who awakened his religious faith and left-wing politics. While at Oxford, Blair has stated that he was briefly a Trotskyist, after reading the first volume of Isaac Deutscher's biography of Leon Trotsky, which was "like a light going on". He graduated from Oxford at the age of 22 in 1975 with a second-class Honours B.A. in jurisprudence.
In 1975, while Blair was at Oxford, his mother Hazel died aged 52 of thyroid cancer, which greatly affected him. After Oxford, Blair trained at the Inns of Court School of Law, later part of The City Law School and served his barrister pupillage at Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the Bar. He met his future wife, Cherie Booth, at the chambers founded by Derry Irvine, who was to be Blair's first lord chancellor.
Early political career
Blair joined the Labour Party shortly after graduating from Oxford in 1975. In the early 1980s, he was involved in Labour politics in Hackney South and Shoreditch, where he aligned himself with the "soft left" of the party. He stood as a candidate for the Hackney council elections of 1982 in Queensbridge ward, a safe Labour area, but was not selected.
In 1982, Blair was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the safe Conservative seat of Beaconsfield, where there was a forthcoming by-election. Although Blair lost the Beaconsfield by-election and Labour's share of the vote fell by ten percentage points, he acquired a profile within the party. Despite his defeat, William Russell, political correspondent for The Glasgow Herald, described Blair as "a very good candidate", while acknowledging that the result was "a disaster" for the Labour Party. In contrast to his later centrism, Blair made it clear in a letter he wrote to Labour leader Michael Foot in July 1982 (published in 2006) that he had "come to Socialism through Marxism" and considered himself on the left. Like Tony Benn, Blair believed that the "Labour right" was bankrupt, saying "[s]ocialism ultimately must appeal to the better minds of the people. You cannot do that if you are tainted overmuch with a pragmatic period in power." Yet, he saw the hard left as no better, saying:
There is an arrogance and self-righteousness about many of the groups on the far left which is deeply unattractive to the ordinary would-be member ... There's too much mixing only with people [with] whom they agree.
With a general election due, Blair had not been selected as a candidate anywhere. He was invited to stand again in Beaconsfield, and was initially inclined to agree but was advised by his head of chambers Derry Irvine to find somewhere else which might be winnable. The situation was complicated by the fact that Labour was fighting a legal action against planned boundary changes, and had selected candidates on the basis of previous boundaries. When the legal challenge failed, the party had to rerun all selections on the new boundaries; most were based on existing seats, but unusually in County Durham a new Sedgefield constituency had been created out of Labour-voting areas which had no obvious predecessor seat.
The selection for Sedgefield did not begin until after the 1983 general election was called. Blair's initial inquiries discovered that the left was trying to arrange the selection for Les Huckfield, sitting MP for Nuneaton, who was trying elsewhere; several sitting MPs displaced by boundary changes were also interested in it. When he discovered the Trimdon branch had not yet made a nomination, Blair visited them and won the support of the branch secretary John Burton, and with Burton's help was nominated by the branch. At the last minute, he was added to the shortlist and won the selection over Huckfield. It was the last candidate selection made by Labour before the election, and was made after the Labour Party had issued biographies of all its candidates ("Labour's Election Who's Who").
John Burton became Blair's election agent and one of his most trusted and longest-standing allies. Blair's election literature in the 1983 general election endorsed left-wing policies that Labour advocated in the early 1980s. He called for Britain to leave the EEC as early as the 1970s, though he had told his selection conference that he personally favoured continuing membership and voted "Yes" in the 1975 referendum on the subject. He opposed the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in 1986 but supported the ERM by 1989. He was a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, despite never strongly being in favour of unilateral nuclear disarmament. Blair was helped on the campaign trail by soap opera actress Pat Phoenix, his father-in-law's girlfriend. At the age of thirty, he was elected as MP for Sedgefield in 1983; despite the party's landslide defeat at the general election.
In his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 6 July 1983, Blair stated, "I am a socialist not through reading a textbook that has caught my intellectual fancy, nor through unthinking tradition, but because I believe that, at its best, socialism corresponds most closely to an existence that is both rational and moral. It stands for cooperation, not confrontation; for fellowship, not fear. It stands for equality."
Once elected, Blair's political ascent was rapid. Neil Kinnock appointed him in 1984 as assistant Treasury spokesman under Roy Hattersley who was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. In May 1985, he appeared on the BBC's Question Time, arguing that the Conservative Government's Public Order White Paper was a threat to civil liberties.
Blair demanded an inquiry into the Bank of England's decision to rescue the collapsed Johnson Matthey bank in October 1985. By this time, Blair was aligned with the reforming tendencies in the party and in 1988 was promoted to the shadow Trade and Industry team as spokesman on the City of London.
Leadership roles
In 1987, he stood for election to the Shadow Cabinet, receiving 71 votes. When Kinnock resigned after a fourth consecutive Conservative victory in the 1992 general election, Blair became shadow home secretary under John Smith. The old guard argued that trends showed they were regaining strength under Smith's strong leadership. Meanwhile, the breakaway SDP faction had merged with the Liberal Party; the resulting Liberal Democrats seemed to pose a major threat to the Labour base. Blair, the leader of the modernising faction, had an entirely different vision, arguing that the long-term trends had to be reversed. The Labour Party was too locked into a base that was shrinking, since it was based on the working-class, on trade unions, and on residents of subsidised council housing. The rapidly growing middle-class was largely ignored, especially the more ambitious working-class families. They aspired to middle-class status but accepted the Conservative argument that Labour was holding ambitious people back with its levelling-down policies. They increasingly saw Labour in terms defined by the opposition, regarding higher taxes and higher interest rates. The steps towards what would become New Labour were procedural but essential. Calling on the slogan "One member, one vote", John Smith, with limited input from Blair, secured an end to the trade union block vote for Westminster candidate selection at the 1993 conference. But Blair and the modernisers wanted Smith to go further still, and called for radical adjustment of Party goals by repealing "Clause IV", the historic commitment to nationalisation of industry. This would be achieved in 1995.
Leader of the Opposition
John Smith unexpectedly died of a heart attack on 12 May 1994, which led to a leadership election within the party. Blair defeated John Prescott and Margaret Beckett in the subsequent leadership election and became Leader of the Opposition. As is customary for the holder of that office, Blair was appointed a Privy Counsellor. It has long been rumoured a deal was struck between Blair and Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown at the former Granita restaurant in Islington, in which Blair promised to give Brown control of economic policy in return for Brown not standing against him in the leadership election. Whether this is true or not, the relationship between Blair and Brown was central to the fortunes of New Labour, and they mostly remained united in public, despite reported serious private rifts.
During his speech at the 1994 Labour Party conference, Blair announced a forthcoming proposal to update the party's objects and objectives, which was widely interpreted to relate to replacing Clause IV of the party's constitution with a new statement of aims and values. This involved the deletion of the party's stated commitment to "the common ownership of the means of production and exchange", which was generally understood to mean wholesale nationalisation of major industries. At a special conference in April 1995, the clause was replaced by a statement that the party is "democratic socialist", and Blair also claimed to be a "democratic socialist" himself in the same year. However, the move away from nationalisation in the old Clause IV made many on the left wing of the Labour Party feel that Labour was moving away from traditional socialist principles of nationalisation set out in 1918, and was seen by them as part of a shift of the party towards "New Labour".
Blair inherited the Labour leadership at a time when the party was ascendant over the Conservatives in the opinion polls, since the Conservative government's reputation in monetary policy declined as a result of the Black Wednesday economic disaster of September 1992. Blair's election as leader saw Labour support surge higher still in spite of the continuing economic recovery and fall in unemployment that John Major's Conservative government, had overseen since the end of the 1990–92 recession. At the 1996 Labour Party conference, Blair stated that his three top priorities on coming to office were "education, education, and education".
Aided by the unpopularity of John Major's Conservative government, which was deeply divided over the European Union, Blair won a landslide victory for Labour at the 1997 general election, ending eighteen years of Conservative Party government, with the heaviest Conservative defeat since 1906. In 1996, the manifesto New Labour, New Life for Britain was published, which set out the party's new "Third Way" centrist approach to policy, and was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics. In May 1995, Labour had achieved considerable success in the local and European elections and had won four by-elections. For Blair, these achievements were a source of optimism, as they indicated that the Conservatives were in decline. Virtually every opinion poll since late-1992 put Labour ahead of the Conservatives with enough support to form an overall majority.
Prime Minister (1997–2007)
Blair became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 2 May 1997; aged 43, he was the youngest person to reach that office since Lord Liverpool became prime minister aged 42 in 1812. He was also the first prime minister born after the Second World War and the accession of Elizabeth II to the throne. With victories in 1997, 2001, and 2005, Blair was the Labour Party's longest-serving prime minister, and the first person to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories.
Northern Ireland
His contribution towards assisting the Northern Ireland peace process by helping to negotiate the Good Friday Agreement was widely recognised. Following the Omagh bombing on 15 August 1998, by members of the Real IRA opposed to the peace process, which killed 29 people and wounded hundreds, Blair visited the County Tyrone town and met with victims at Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.
Military intervention and the War on Terror
In his first six years in office, Blair ordered British troops into combat five times, more than any other prime minister in British history. This included Iraq in both 1998 and 2003, Kosovo (1999), Sierra Leone (2000) and Afghanistan (2001).
The Kosovo War, which Blair had advocated on moral grounds, was initially a failure when it relied solely on air strikes; the threat of a ground offensive convinced Serbia's Slobodan Milošević to withdraw. Blair had been a major advocate for a ground offensive, which US President Bill Clinton was reluctant to do, and ordered that 50,000 soldiers – most of the available British Army – should be made ready for action. The following year, the limited Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone swiftly swung the tide against the rebel forces; before deployment, the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone had been on the verge of collapse. Palliser had been intended as an evacuation mission but Brigadier David Richards was able to convince Blair to allow him to expand the role; at the time, Richards' action was not known and Blair was assumed to be behind it.
Blair ordered Operation Barras, a highly successful SAS/Parachute Regiment strike to rescue hostages from a Sierra Leone rebel group. Journalist Andrew Marr has argued that the success of ground attacks, real and threatened, over air strikes alone was influential on how Blair planned the Iraq War, and that the success of the first three wars Blair fought "played to his sense of himself as a moral war leader". When asked in 2010 if the success of Palliser may have "embolden[ed] British politicians" to think of military action as a policy option, General Sir David Richards admitted there "might be something in that".
From the start of the War on Terror in 2001, Blair strongly supported the foreign policy of George W. Bush, participating in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq. The invasion of Iraq was particularly controversial, as it attracted widespread public opposition and 139 of Blair's own MPs opposed it. As a result, he faced criticism over the policy itself and the circumstances of the decision. Alastair Campbell described Blair's statement that the intelligence on WMDs was "beyond doubt" as his "assessment of the assessment that was given to him." In 2009, Blair stated that he would have supported removing Saddam Hussein from power even in the face of proof that he had no such weapons. Playwright Harold Pinter and former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad accused Blair of war crimes.
Testifying before the Iraq Inquiry on 29 January 2010, Blair said Saddam Hussein was a "monster and I believe he threatened not just the region but the world." Blair said that British and American attitude towards Hussein had "changed dramatically" after the September 11 attacks. Blair denied that he would have supported the invasion of Iraq even if he had thought Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. He said he believed the world was safer as a result of the invasion. He said there was "no real difference between wanting regime change and wanting Iraq to disarm: regime change was US policy because Iraq was in breach of its UN obligations."
In an October 2015 CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria, Blair apologised for his "mistakes" over the Iraq War and admitted there were "elements of truth" to the view that the invasion helped promote the rise of ISIS. The Chilcot Inquiry report of 2016 gave a damning assessment of Blair's role in the Iraq War, though the former prime minister again refused to apologise for his decision to back the US-led invasion.
Relationship with Parliament
One of Blair's first acts as prime minister was to replace the then twice-weekly 15-minute sessions of Prime Minister's Questions held on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a single 30-minute session on Wednesdays. In addition to PMQs, Blair held monthly press conferences at which he fielded questions from journalists and, from 2002, broke precedent by agreeing to give evidence twice yearly before the most senior Commons select committee, the Liaison Committee. Blair was sometimes perceived as paying insufficient attention both to the views of his own Cabinet colleagues and to those of the House of Commons. His style was sometimes criticised as not that of a prime minister and head of government, which he was, but of a president and head of state, which he was not. Blair was accused of excessive reliance on spin. He was the first UK prime minister to have been formally questioned by police, though not under caution, while still in office.
Events before resignation
As the casualties of the Iraq War mounted, Blair was accused of misleading Parliament, and his popularity dropped as a result, with Labour's overall majority at the 2005 election reduced from 167 to 66 seats. As a combined result of the Blair–Brown pact, the Iraq War and low approval ratings, pressure built up within the Labour Party for Blair to resign. Over the summer of 2006, many MPs criticised Blair for not calling for a ceasefire in the Israel–Lebanon conflict. On 7 September 2006, Blair publicly stated he would step down as leader by the time of the Trades Union Congress conference held from 10 to 13 September 2007, despite promising to serve a full term during the previous general election campaign. On 10 May 2007, during a speech at the Trimdon Labour Club, Blair announced his intention to resign as both Labour leader and prime minister, triggering a leadership election in which Brown was the only candidate.
At a special party conference in Manchester on 24 June 2007, Blair formally handed over the leadership of the Labour Party to Brown, who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer in Blair's three ministries. Blair tendered his resignation as prime minister on 27 June and Brown assumed office the same afternoon. Blair resigned from his Sedgefield seat in the traditional form of accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds, to which he was appointed by Brown in one of the latter's last acts as chancellor; the resulting by-election was won by Labour candidate Phil Wilson. Blair decided not to issue a list of Resignation Honours, making him the first prime minister of the modern era not to do so.
Policies
In 2001, Blair said, "We are a left of centre party, pursuing economic prosperity and social justice as partners and not as opposites." Blair rarely applies such labels to himself; he promised before the 1997 election that New Labour would govern "from the radical centre", and according to one lifelong Labour Party member always described himself as a social democrat. In a 2007 opinion piece in The Guardian, left-wing commentator Neil Lawson described Blair as to the right of centre. A YouGov opinion poll in 2005 found that a small majority of British voters, including many New Labour supporters, placed Blair on the right of the political spectrum. The Financial Times argued that Blair is not conservative but instead a populist.
Critics and admirers tend to agree that Blair's electoral success was based on his ability to occupy the centre ground and appeal to voters across the political spectrum, to the extent that he has been fundamentally at odds with traditional Labour Party values. Some left-wing critics, such as Mike Marqusee in 2001, argued that Blair oversaw the final stage of a long term shift of the Labour Party to the right.
There is some evidence that Blair's long term dominance of the centre forced his Conservative opponents to shift a long distance to the left to challenge his hegemony there. Leading Conservatives of the post-New Labour era hold Blair in high regard: George Osborne describes him as "the master", Michael Gove thought he had an "entitlement to conservative respect" in February 2003, while David Cameron reportedly maintained Blair as an informal adviser. Former Conservative Party Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared Blair and New Labour to be her greatest achievement.
Social reforms
Blair introduced significant constitutional reforms; promoted new rights for gay people; and signed treaties integrating Britain more closely with the EU. With specific regards to Blair's LGBTQ+ reforms, Blair introduced the Civil Partnership Act 2004 which granted civil partners rights and responsibilities similar to those in civil marriages, equalised the age of consent between straight and gay couples, ended the ban on gay people serving in the British military, introduced the Gender Recognition Act 2004 which allows those with gender dysphoria to legally change their gender, repealed Section 28, gave gay couples the right to adopt and enacted several anti-discrimination policies into law. In 2014 he was proclaimed a "gay icon" by the Gay Times.
The New Labour government increased police powers by adding to the number of arrestable offences, compulsory DNA recording and the use of dispersal orders. Under Blair's government the amount of new legislation increased which attracted criticism. He also introduced tough anti-terrorism and identity card legislation.
Economic policies
Blair has been credited with overseeing a strong economy, with real incomes of British citizens growing 18% between 1997 and 2006. Britain saw rapid productivity growth and significant GDP growth, as well as falling poverty rates and inequality which, despite stubbornly failing to fall, stalled thanks to New Labour's economic policies (such as tax credits). Despite the financial bubble developing in the property markets, studies have credited the growth to investments in education and the maintenance of fiscal responsibility, rather than a financial sugar-high.
During his time as prime minister, Blair kept direct taxes low, while raising indirect taxation; invested a significant amount in Human capital; introduced a National Minimum Wage and some new employment rights (while keeping Margaret Thatcher's trade union reforms). He introduced substantial market-based reforms in the education and health sectors; introduced student tuition fees; introduced a welfare to work scheme and sought to reduce certain categories of welfare payments. He did not reverse the privatisation of the railways enacted by his predecessor John Major and instead strengthened regulation (by creating the Office of Rail Regulation) and limited fare rises to inflation +1%.
Blair and Brown raised spending on the NHS and other public services, increasing spending from 39.9% of GDP to 48.1% in 2010–11. They pledged in 2001 to bring NHS spending to the levels of other European countries, and doubled spending in real terms to over £100 billion in England alone.
Immigration
Non-European immigration rose significantly during the period from 1997, not least because of the government's abolition of the primary purpose rule in June 1997. This change made it easier for UK residents to bring foreign spouses into the country. The former government advisor Andrew Neather in the Evening Standard stated that the deliberate policy of ministers from late 2000 until early 2008 was to open up the UK to mass migration. Neather later stated that his words had been twisted, saying: "The main goal was to allow in more migrant workers at a point when – hard as it is to imagine now – the booming economy was running up against skills shortages.... Somehow this has become distorted by excitable Right-wing newspaper columnists into being a 'plot' to make Britain multicultural. There was no plot."
Environmental record
Blair criticised other governments for not doing enough to solve global climate change. In a 1997 visit to the United States, he made a comment on "great industrialised nations" that fail to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Again in 2003, Blair went before the United States Congress and said that climate change "cannot be ignored", insisting "we need to go beyond even Kyoto." Blair and his party promised a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide. The Labour Party also claimed that by 2010 10% of the energy would come from renewable resources; however, it only reached 7% by that point.
In 2000, Blair "flagged up" 100 million euros for green policies and urged environmentalists and businesses to work together.
Foreign policy
Blair built his foreign policy on basic principles (close ties with the United States and European Union) and added a new activist philosophy of "interventionism". In 2001, Britain joined the U.S. in the global war on terror.
Blair forged friendships with several European leaders, including Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Angela Merkel of Germany and later Nicolas Sarkozy of France.
Along with enjoying a close relationship with Bill Clinton, Blair formed a strong political alliance with George W. Bush, particularly in the area of foreign policy. For his part, Bush lauded Blair and the UK. In his post-9/11 speech, for example, he stated that "America has no truer friend than Great Britain".
The alliance between Bush and Blair seriously damaged Blair's standing in the eyes of Britons angry at American influence; a 2002 poll revealed that a large amount of Britons viewed Blair as a "lapdog" of Bush. Blair argued it was in Britain's interest to "protect and strengthen the bond" with the United States regardless of who was in the White House.
However, a perception of one-sided compromising personal and political closeness led to discussion of the term "Poodle-ism" in the UK media, to describe the "Special Relationship" of the UK government and prime minister with the US White House and president. A revealing conversation between Bush and Blair, with the former addressing the latter as "Yo [or Yeah], Blair" was recorded when they did not know a microphone was live at the G8 summit in Saint Petersburg in 2006.
Middle East policy
On 30 January 2003, Blair signed The letter of the eight supporting U.S. policy on Iraq.
Blair showed a deep feeling for Israel, born in part from his faith. Blair has been a longtime member of the pro-Israel lobby group Labour Friends of Israel.
In 1994, Blair forged close ties with Michael Levy, a leader of the Jewish Leadership Council. Levy ran the Labour Leader's Office Fund to finance Blair's campaign before the 1997 election and raised £12 million towards Labour's landslide victory, Levy was rewarded with a peerage, and in 2002, Blair appointed Lord Levy as his personal envoy to the Middle East. Levy praised Blair for his "solid and committed support of the State of Israel". Tam Dalyell, while Father of the House of Commons, suggested in 2003 that Blair's foreign policy decisions were unduly influenced by a "cabal" of Jewish advisers, including Levy, Peter Mandelson and Jack Straw (the last two are not Jewish but have some Jewish ancestry).
Blair, on coming to office, had been "cool towards the right-wing Netanyahu government". During his first visit to Israel, Blair thought the Israelis bugged him in his car. After the election in 1999 of Ehud Barak, with whom Blair forged a close relationship, he became much more sympathetic to Israel. From 2001, Blair built up a relationship with Barak's successor, Ariel Sharon, and responded positively to Yasser Arafat, whom he had met thirteen times since becoming prime minister and regarded as essential to future negotiations. In 2004, 50 former diplomats, including ambassadors to Baghdad and Tel Aviv, stated they had "watched with deepening concern" at Britain following the US into war in Iraq in 2003. They criticised Blair's support for the road map for peace which included the retaining of Israeli settlements on the West Bank.
In 2006 Blair was criticised for his failure to immediately call for a ceasefire in the 2006 Lebanon War. The Observer newspaper claimed that at a cabinet meeting before Blair left for a summit with Bush on 28 July 2006, a significant number of ministers pressured Blair to publicly criticise Israel over the scale of deaths and destruction in Lebanon. Blair was criticised for his solid stance alongside US president George W. Bush on Middle East policy.
Syria and Libya
A Freedom of Information request by The Sunday Times in 2012 revealed that Blair's government considered knighting Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. The documents showed Blair was willing to appear alongside Assad at a joint press conference even though the Syrians would probably have settled for a farewell handshake for the cameras; British officials sought to manipulate the media to portray Assad in a favourable light; and Blair's aides tried to help Assad's "photogenic" wife Asma al-Assad boost her profile. The newspaper noted:
The Arab leader was granted audiences with the Queen and the Prince of Wales, lunch with Blair at Downing Street, a platform in parliament and many other privileges ... The red carpet treatment he and his entourage received is embarrassing given the bloodbath that has since taken place under his rule in Syria ... The courtship has parallels with Blair's friendly relations with Muammar Gaddafi.
Blair had been on friendly terms with Colonel Gaddafi, the leader of Libya, when sanctions imposed on the country were lifted by the US and the UK.
Even after the Libyan Civil War in 2011, he said he had no regrets about his close relationship with the late Libyan leader. During Blair's premiership, MI6 rendered Abdelhakim Belhaj to the Gaddafi regime in 2004, though Blair later claimed he had "no recollection" of the incident.
Zimbabwe
Blair had an antagonistic relationship with Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and allegedly planned regime change against Mugabe in the early 2000s. Zimbabwe had embarked on a program of uncompensated land redistribution from the country's white commercial farmers to the black population, a policy that disrupted agricultural production and threw Zimbabwe's economy into chaos. General Charles Guthrie, the Chief of the Defence Staff, revealed in 2007 that he and Blair had discussed the invasion of Zimbabwe. Guthrie advised against military action: "Hold hard, you'll make it worse." In 2013, South African president Thabo Mbeki said that Blair had pressured South Africa to join in a "regime change scheme, even to the point of using military force" in Zimbabwe. Mbeki refused because he felt that "Mugabe is part of the solution to this problem." However, a spokesman for Blair said that "he never asked anyone to plan or take part in any such military intervention."
Russia
In 2000, Blair went on a trip to Moscow to watch a performance of the War and Peace opera with Vladimir Putin, while he was the acting president of Russia. This meeting was criticised by groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. In 2018, Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of MI6, said there was "significant regret" over this trip, which helped Putin rise to power. Dearlove also alleged that in 2000, a KGB officer approached him, seeking Britain's help in boosting Putin's political profile, and this was why Blair met Putin in Russia.
Blair also hosted Putin in London in April 2000, despite hesitation towards Putin from other world leaders, and opposition from human rights groups over atrocities committed in Chechnya. Blair told Jim Hoagland of The Washington Post that "[Putin's] vision of the future is one that we would feel comfortable with. Putin has a very clear agenda of modernizing Russia. When he talks of a strong Russia, he means strength not in a threatening way but in a way that means the country economically and politically is capable of standing up for itself, which is a perfectly good aim to have". During the meeting, Blair acknowledged and discussed "concerns about Chechnya", but described Putin as a political reformer "who is ready to embrace a new relationship with the European Union and the United States, who wants a strong and modern Russia and a strong relationship with the West".
Relationship with media
Rupert Murdoch
Blair was reported by The Guardian in 2006 to have been supported politically by Rupert Murdoch, the founder of the News Corporation organisation. In 2011, Blair became godfather to one of Rupert Murdoch's children with Wendi Deng, but he and Murdoch later ended their friendship, in 2014, after Murdoch suspected him of having an affair with Deng while they were still married, according to The Economist magazine.
Contacts with UK media proprietors
A Cabinet Office freedom of information response, released the day after Blair handed over power to Gordon Brown, documents Blair having various official phone calls and meetings with Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation and Richard Desmond of Northern and Shell Media.
The response includes contacts "clearly of an official nature" in the specified period, but excludes contacts "not clearly of an official nature." No details were given of the subjects discussed. In the period between September 2002 and April 2005, Blair and Murdoch are documented speaking six times; three times in the nine days before the Iraq War, including the eve of the 20 March US and UK invasion, and on 29 January, 25 April, and 3 October 2004. Between January 2003 and February 2004, Blair had three meetings with Richard Desmond; on 29 January and 3 September 2003, and 23 February 2004.
The information was disclosed after a 3+1⁄2-year battle by the Liberal Democrats' Lord Avebury. Lord Avebury's initial October 2003 information request was dismissed by then leader of the Lords, Baroness Amos. A following complaint was rejected, with Downing Street claiming the information compromised "free and frank discussions", while Cabinet Office claimed releasing the timing of the PM's contacts with individuals is "undesirable", as it might lead to the content of the discussions being disclosed. While awaiting a following appeal from Lord Avebury, the cabinet office announced that it would release the information. Lord Avebury said: "The public can now scrutinise the timing of his (Murdoch's) contacts with the former prime minister, to see whether they can be linked to events in the outside world."
Blair appeared before the Leveson Inquiry on Monday 28 May 2012. During his appearance, a protester, later named as David Lawley-Wakelin, got into the court-room and claimed he was guilty of war crimes before being dragged out.
Media portrayal
Blair has been noted as a charismatic, articulate speaker with an informal style. Film and theatre director Richard Eyre opined that "Blair had a very considerable skill as a performer". A few months after becoming prime minister Blair gave a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, on the morning of her death in August 1997, in which he famously described her as "the People's Princess".
After taking office in 1997, Blair gave particular prominence to his press secretary, who became known as the prime minister's official spokesman (the two roles have since been separated). Blair's first PMOS was Alastair Campbell, who served in that role from May 1997 to 8 June 2001, after which he served as the prime minister's director of communications and strategy until his resignation on 29 August 2003 in the aftermath of the Hutton Inquiry.
Blair had close relationships with the Clinton family. The strong partnership with Bill Clinton was made into the film The Special Relationship in 2010.
Relationship with Labour Party
Blair's apparent refusal to set a date for his departure was criticised by the British press and Members of Parliament. It has been reported that a number of cabinet ministers believed that Blair's timely departure from office would be required to be able to win a fourth election. Some ministers viewed Blair's announcement of policy initiatives in September 2006 as an attempt to draw attention away from these issues.
Gordon Brown
After the death of John Smith in 1994, Blair and his close colleague Gordon Brown (they shared an office at the House of Commons) were both seen as possible candidates for the party leadership. They agreed not to stand against each other, it is said, as part of a supposed Blair–Brown pact. Brown, who considered himself the senior of the two, understood that Blair would give way to him: opinion polls soon indicated, however, that Blair appeared to enjoy greater support among voters. Their relationship in power became so turbulent that it was reported the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, often had to act as "marriage guidance counsellor".
During the 2010 election campaign Blair publicly endorsed Brown's leadership, praising the way he had handled the financial crisis.
Post-premiership (2007–present)
Diplomacy
On 27 June 2007, Blair officially resigned as prime minister after ten years in office, and he was officially confirmed as Middle East envoy for the United Nations, European Union, United States, and Russia. Blair originally indicated that he would retain his parliamentary seat after his resignation as prime minister came into effect; however, on being confirmed for the Middle East role he resigned from the Commons by taking up an office of profit. President George W. Bush had preliminary talks with Blair to ask him to take up the envoy role. White House sources stated that "both Israel and the Palestinians had signed up to the proposal". In May 2008 Blair announced a new plan for peace and for Palestinian rights, based heavily on the ideas of the Peace Valley plan. Blair resigned as envoy in May 2015.
Gaza
Donald Trump's September 2025 Gaza Strip proposal includes a Gaza International Transitional Authority which will be supervised by a "Board of Peace" which will be headed and chaired by Trump and include Blair.
Private sector
In January 2008, it was confirmed that Blair would be joining investment bank JPMorgan Chase in a "senior advisory capacity" and that he would advise Zurich Financial Services on climate change. His salary for this work is unknown, although it has been claimed it may be in excess of £500,000 per year. Blair also gives lectures, earning up to US$250,000 for a 90-minute speech, and in 2008 he was said to be the highest paid speaker in the world.
Blair taught a course on issues of faith and globalisation at the Yale University Schools of Management and Divinity as a Howland distinguished fellow during the 2008–09 academic year. In July 2009, this accomplishment was followed by the launching of the Faith and Globalisation Initiative with Yale University in the US, Durham University in the UK, and the National University of Singapore in Asia, to deliver a postgraduate programme in partnership with the Foundation.
Blair's links with, and receipt of an undisclosed sum from, UI Energy Corporation, have also been subject to media comment in the UK.
In July 2010 it was reported that his personal security guards claimed £250,000 a year in expenses from the taxpayer. Foreign Secretary William Hague said; "we have to make sure that [Blair's security] is as cost-effective as possible, that it doesn't cost any more to the taxpayer than is absolutely necessary".
Tony Blair Associates
Blair established Tony Blair Associates to "allow him to provide, in partnership with others, strategic advice on a commercial and pro bono basis, on political and economic trends and governmental reform". The profits from the firm go towards supporting Blair's "work on faith, Africa and climate change".
Blair has been subject to criticism for potential conflicts of interest between his diplomatic role as a Middle East envoy, and his work with Tony Blair Associates, and a number of prominent critics have even called for him to be sacked. Blair has used his Quartet Tony Blair Associates works with the Kazakhstan government, advising the regime on judicial, economic and political reforms, but has been subject to criticism after accusations of "whitewashing" the image and human rights record of the regime.
Blair responded to such criticism by saying his choice to advise the country is an example of how he can "nudge controversial figures on a progressive path of reform", and has stated that he receives no personal profit from this advisory role. The Kazakhstan foreign minister said that the country was "honoured and privileged" to be receiving advice from Blair. A letter obtained by The Daily Telegraph in August 2014 revealed Blair had given damage-limitation advice to Nursultan Nazarbayev after the December 2011 Zhanaozen massacre. Blair was reported to have accepted a business advisory role with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, a situation deemed incompatible with his role as Middle East envoy. Blair described the report as "nonsense".
Charity and non-profits
In November 2007 Blair launched the Tony Blair Sports Foundation, which aims to "increase childhood participation in sports activities, especially in the North East of England, where a larger proportion of children are socially excluded, and to promote overall health and prevent childhood obesity." On 30 May 2008, Blair launched the Tony Blair Faith Foundation as a vehicle for encouraging different faiths to join in promoting respect and understanding, as well as working to tackle poverty. Reflecting Blair's own faith but not dedicated to any particular religion, the Foundation aims to "show how faith is a powerful force for good in the modern world". "The Foundation will use its profile and resources to encourage people of faith to work together more closely to tackle global poverty and conflict", says its mission statement.
In February 2009 he applied to set up a charity called the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative: the application was approved in November 2009. Blair's foundation hit controversy in October 2012, when news emerged that it was taking on unpaid interns.
In December 2016, Blair created the Tony Blair Institute to promote global outlooks by governments and organisations. In September 2023 former Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin joined him as a strategic adviser on political leaders' reform programmes in the institute.
Books
A Journey
In March 2010, it was reported that Blair's memoirs, titled The Journey, would be published in September 2010. In July 2010 it was announced the memoirs would be retitled A Journey. The memoirs were seen by many as controversial and a further attempt to profit from his office and from acts related to overseas wars that were widely seen as wrong, leading to anger and suspicion prior to launch.
On 16 August 2010 it was announced that Blair would give the £4.6 million advance and all royalties from his memoirs to the Royal British Legion – the charity's largest ever single donation.
Media analysis of the sudden announcement was wide-ranging, describing it as an act of "desperation" to obtain a better launch reception of a humiliating "publishing flop" that had languished in the ratings, "blood money" for the lives lost in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, an act with a "hidden motive" or an expression of "guilt", a "genius move" to address the problem that "Tony Blair ha[d] one of the most toxic brands around" from a PR perspective, and a "cynical stunt to wipe the slate", but also as an attempt to make amends. Friends had said that the act was partly motivated by the wish to "repair his reputation".
The book was published on 1 September and within hours of its launch had become the fastest-selling autobiography of all time. On 3 September Blair gave his first live interview since publication on The Late Late Show in Ireland, with protesters lying in wait there for him. On 4 September, Blair was confronted by 200 anti-war and hardline Irish nationalist demonstrators before the first book signing of his memoirs at Eason's bookstore on O'Connell Street in Dublin, with angry activists chanting "war criminal" and that he had "blood on his hands", and clashing with Irish Police (Garda Síochána) as they tried to break through a security cordon outside the Eason's store. Blair was pelted with eggs and shoes, and encountered an attempted citizen's arrest for war crimes.
On Leadership
Published in 2024, and described by George Osborne as "the most practically useful guide to politics I have ever read."
Accusations of war crimes
Since the Iraq War, Blair has been the subject of war crimes accusations. Critics of his actions, including Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harold Pinter and Arundhati Roy have called for his trial at the International Criminal Court.
In November 2011, a war crimes tribunal of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission, established by Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, reached a unanimous conclusion that Blair was guilty of crimes against peace, as a result of his role in the Iraq War. The proceedings lasted for four days, and consisted of five judges of judicial and academic backgrounds, a tribunal-appointed defence team in lieu of the defendants or representatives, and a prosecution team including international law professor Francis Boyle.
In September 2012, Desmond Tutu suggested that Blair should follow the path of former African leaders who had been brought before the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The human rights lawyer Geoffrey Bindman concurred with Tutu's suggestion that there should be a war crimes trial. In a statement made in response to Tutu's comments, Blair defended his actions. He was supported by Lord Falconer, who stated that the war had been authorised by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441.
In July 2017, former Iraqi general Abdulwaheed al-Rabbat launched a private war crimes prosecution in the High Court in London, asking for Blair, former foreign secretary Jack Straw and former attorney general Lord Goldsmith to be prosecuted for "the crime of aggression" for their role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The High Court ruled that, although the crime of aggression was recognised in international law, it was not an offence under UK law, and therefore the prosecution could not proceed.
Blair defended
Some, such as John Rentoul, John McTernan, Geoffrey Robertson and Iain Dale, have countered accusations that Blair committed war crimes during his premiership, often highlighting how no case against Blair has ever made it to trial, suggesting that Blair broke no laws.
Blair himself has defended his involvement in the Iraq War by highlighting the findings of the Iraq Survey Group, which found that Saddam had attempted to get sanctions lifted by undermining them, which would have enabled him to restart his WMD program.
Political interventions and views
Response to the Iraq Inquiry
The Chilcot report issued after the conclusion of the Iraq Inquiry was published on 6 July 2016; it criticised Blair for joining the US in the war in Iraq in 2003. Afterward, Blair issued a statement and held a two-hour press conference to apologise, to justify the decisions he had made in 2003 "in good faith" and to deny allegations that the war had led to a significant increase in terrorism. He acknowledged that the report made "real and material criticisms of preparation, planning, process and of the relationship with the United States" but cited sections of the report that he said "should lay to rest allegations of bad faith, lies or deceit". He stated: "whether people agree or disagree with my decision to take military action against Saddam Hussein; I took it in good faith and in what I believed to be the best interests of the country. ... I will take full responsibility for any mistakes without exception or excuse. I will at the same time say why, nonetheless, I believe that it was better to remove Saddam Hussein and why I do not believe this is the cause of the terrorism we see today whether in the Middle East or elsewhere in the world".
Iran–West tensions
In an op-ed published by The Washington Post on 8 February 2019, Blair said: "Where Iran is exercising military interference, it should be strongly pushed back. Where it is seeking influence, it should be countered. Where its proxies operate, it should be held responsible. Where its networks exist, they should be disrupted. Where its leaders are saying what is unacceptable, they should be exposed. Where the Iranian people — highly educated and connected, despite their government — are protesting for freedom, they should be supported." The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change warned of a growing Iranian threat. The Tony Blair Institute confirmed that it has received donations from the U.S. State Department and Saudi Arabia.
European Union
Blair did not want the UK to leave the EU and called for a referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. Blair also maintained that once the terms deciding how the UK leaves the EU were known, the people should be able to vote again on those terms. Blair stated, "We know the options for Brexit. Parliament will have to decide on one of them. If Parliament can't then it should decide to go back to the people."
However, after the 2019 general election in which the pro-withdrawal Conservative party won a sizeable majority of seats, Blair argued that remain supporters should "face up to one simple point: we lost" and "pivot to a completely new position...We're going to have to be constructive about it and see how Britain develops a constructive relationship with Europe and finds its new niche in the world."
American power
Blair was interviewed in June 2020 for an article in the American magazine The Atlantic on European views of U.S. foreign policy concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession, the rise of China, and the George Floyd protests. He affirmed his belief in the continued strength of American soft power and the need to address Iranian military aggression, European military underinvestment, and illicit Chinese trade practices. He said, however, "I think it's fair to say a lot of political leaders in Europe are dismayed by what they see as the isolationism growing in America and the seeming indifference to alliances. But I think there will come a time when America decides in its own interest to reengage, so I'm optimistic that America will in the end understand that this is not about relegating your self-interest behind the common interest; it's an understanding that by acting collectively in alliance with others you promote your own interests." Blair warned that structural issues plaguing American domestic policy needed to be addressed imminently.
In August 2021, Blair criticised the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan, saying that it was "in obedience to an imbecilic slogan about ending 'the forever wars'". Blair admitted mistakes in the management of the war but warned that "the reaction to our mistakes has been, unfortunately, further mistakes".
Labour Party
Jeremy Corbyn
Blair was a critic of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party, seeing it as too left-wing. He wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian during the party's 2015 leadership election that if the party elected Corbyn, it would face a "rout, possibly annihilation" at the next election. After the 2019 general election, Blair accused Corbyn of turning the party into a "glorified protest movement" and in a May 2021 New Statesman article, Blair suggested that the party needed to undergo a programme of "total deconstruction and reconstruction" and also said the party needed to shift to the centre on social issues in order to survive. Blair touched on controversial topics such as transgender rights, the Black Lives Matter movement and climate change.
Keir Starmer
Keir Starmer's leadership of the party has been widely compared to Blair's leadership and New Labour, having taken the party rightward to gain electability. Initially saying in 2021 that Starmer lacked a compelling message, Blair has since reacted more positively towards Starmer's leadership of the party, telling him he's "done a great job" in reforming the party during a Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's Future of Britain conference in 2023. Blair's continued influence on the party, and on Starmer led him to be ranked sixteenth in the New Statesman's Left Power List 2023, described by the paper as electorally an "incomparable authority on how to win". After Labour won the 2024 general election and Starmer became prime minister, Blair congratulated him on his victory, saying Starmer was "determined and ruthlessly effective" and appointed "exceptional talent to conduct the change and put the most capable frontbenchers in the most important positions for future government." He also offered Starmer advice, recommending he controls immigration amid the rise of the Reform UK party led by Nigel Farage, saying that the party poses a threat to Labour and not just the Conservatives.
Personal life
Family
Blair married Cherie Booth on 29 March 1980. They have four children: Euan, Nicky, Kathryn, and Leo. Leo was the first legitimate child born to a serving prime minister in over 150 years – since Francis Russell was born to Lord John Russell on 11 July 1849. All four children have Irish passports, by virtue of Blair's mother, Hazel Elizabeth Rosaleen Corscadden (12 June 1923 – 28 June 1975). The family's primary residence is in Connaught Square; the Blairs own eight residences in total. His first grandchild, a girl, was born in October 2016.
Wealth
Blair's financial assets are structured in an opaque manner, and estimates of their extent vary widely. These include figures of up to £100 million. Blair stated in 2014 that he was worth "less than £20 million". A 2015 assertion, by Francis Beckett, David Hencke and Nick Kochan, concluded that Blair had acquired $90 million and a property portfolio worth $37.5 million in the eight years since he had left office.
In October 2021, Blair was named in the Pandora Papers.
Religious faith
In 2006, Blair referred to the role of his Christian faith in his decision to go to war in Iraq, stating that he had prayed about the issue, and saying that God would judge him for his decision: "I think if you have faith about these things, you realise that judgement is made by other people ... and if you believe in God, it's made by God as well."
According to Press Secretary Alastair Campbell's diary, Blair often read the Bible before taking any important decisions. He states that Blair had a "wobble" and considered changing his mind on the eve of the bombing of Iraq in 1998.
A longer exploration of his faith can be found in an interview with Third Way Magazine. There he says that "I was brought up as [a Christian], but I was not in any real sense a practising one until I went to Oxford. There was an Australian priest at the same college as me who got me interested again. In a sense, it was a rediscovery of religion as something living, that was about the world around me rather than some sort of special one-to-one relationship with a remote Being on high. Suddenly I began to see its social relevance. I began to make sense of the world".
At one point Alastair Campbell intervened in an interview, preventing Blair from answering a question about his Christianity, explaining, "We don't do God." Campbell later said that he had intervened only to end the interview because the journalist had been taking an excessive time, and that the comment had just been a throwaway line.
Cherie Blair's friend and "spiritual guru" Carole Caplin is credited with introducing her and her husband to various New Age symbols and beliefs, including "magic pendants" known as "BioElectric Shields". The most controversial of the Blairs' New Age practices occurred when on holiday in Mexico. The couple, wearing only bathing costumes, took part in a rebirthing procedure, which involved smearing mud and fruit over each other's bodies while sitting in a steam bath.
In 1996, Blair, then an Anglican, was reprimanded by Cardinal Basil Hume for receiving Holy Communion while attending Mass at Cherie Blair's Catholic church, in contravention of canon law. On 22 December 2007, it was disclosed that Blair had joined the Catholic Church. The move was described as "a private matter". He had informed Pope Benedict XVI on 23 June 2007 — four days before he stepped down as Prime Minister — that he wanted to become a Catholic. The Pope and his advisors criticised some of Blair's political actions, but followed up with a reportedly unprecedented red carpet welcome, which included the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, who would be responsible for Blair's Catholic instruction. In 2009, Blair questioned the Pope's attitude towards homosexuality, arguing that religious leaders must start "rethinking" the issue. In 2010, The Tablet named him as one of Britain's most influential Catholics.
Honours
United Kingdom: Privy Counsellor (1994)
United States: Congressional Gold Medal (2003)
United Kingdom: Honorary Doctor of Law (LLD) from Queen's University Belfast (2008)
United States: Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009)
Dan David Prize (2009)
United States: Liberty Medal (2010)
Kosovo: Order of Freedom (2010)
United Kingdom: Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (2022)
In May 2007, Blair was invested as a paramount chief by the chiefs and people of the village of Mahera in Sierra Leone. The honour was bestowed upon him in recognition of the role played by his government in the Sierra Leone Civil War.
On 22 May 2008, Blair received an honorary law doctorate from Queen's University Belfast, alongside Bertie Ahern, for distinction in public service and roles in the Northern Ireland peace process.
On 13 January 2009, Blair was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. Bush stated that Blair was given the award "in recognition of exemplary achievement and to convey the utmost esteem of the American people" and cited Blair's support for the War on Terror and his role in achieving peace in Northern Ireland as two reasons for justifying his being presented with the award.
On 16 February 2009, Blair was awarded the Dan David Prize by Tel Aviv University for "exceptional leadership and steadfast determination in helping to engineer agreements and forge lasting solutions to areas in conflict". He was awarded the prize in May 2009.
On 8 July 2010, Blair was awarded the Order of Freedom by President Fatmir Sejdiu of Kosovo. As Blair is considered to have been instrumental in ending the conflict in Kosovo, some boys born in the country following the war have been given the name Toni or Tonibler.
On 13 September 2010, Blair was awarded the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was presented by former president Bill Clinton, and is awarded annually to "men and women of courage and conviction who strive to secure the blessings of liberty to people around the globe".
On 31 December 2021, it was announced that Queen Elizabeth II had appointed Blair a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter (KG). Blair had reportedly indicated when he left office that he did not want the traditional knighthood or peerage bestowed on former prime ministers. A petition cited his role in the Iraq War as a reason to remove the knighthood and garnered more than one million signatures. He received his Garter insignia on 10 June 2022 from the Queen during an audience at Windsor Castle.
Works
Blair, Tony (2024). On Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century. London: Hutchinson Heinemann. ISBN 9781529151510.
Blair, Tony (2010). A Journey. London: Random House. ISBN 0-09-192555-X. OCLC 657172683.
Blair, Tony (2002). The Courage of Our Convictions. London: Fabian Society. ISBN 0-7163-0603-4.
Blair, Tony (2000). Superpower: Not Superstate? (Federal Trust European Essays). London: Federal Trust for Education & Research. ISBN 1-903403-25-1.
Blair, Tony (1998). The Third Way: New Politics for the New Century. London: Fabian Society. ISBN 0-7163-0588-7.
Blair, Tony (1998). Leading the Way: New Vision for Local Government. London: Institute for Public Policy Research. ISBN 1-86030-075-8.
Blair, Tony (1997). New Britain: My Vision of a Young Country. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-8133-3338-5.
Blair, Tony (1995). Let Us Face the Future. London: Fabian Society. ISBN 0-7163-0571-2.
Blair, Tony (1994). What Price a Safe Society?. London: Fabian Society. ISBN 0-7163-0562-3.
Blair, Tony (1994). Socialism. London: Fabian Society. ISBN 0-7163-0565-8.
See also
Blatcherism – Portmanteau of the names of two British politicians
Bush–Blair 2003 Iraq memo – Secret US/UK memo relating to Iraq invasion (2003)
Cash-for-Honours scandal – Political scandal in the United Kingdom
Cultural depictions of Tony Blair
Parliamentary motion to impeach Tony Blair – Efforts to impeach the UK Prime Minister
Halsbury's Laws of England (2004) – Reference to impeachment in volume on Constitutional Law and Human Rights, paragraph 416
Taking Liberties (film) – 2007 British documentary film
Notes and references
NotesReferences
Sources
Further reading
External links
The Office of Tony Blair Archived 17 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine – Official website
Tony Blair Faith Foundation Archived 10 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
Tony Blair collected news and commentary at The Guardian
Tony Blair collected news and commentary at The New York Times
The Blair Years – Timeline at BBC News
Tony Blair at IMDb
Appearances on C-SPAN
Portraits of Tony Blair at the National Portrait Gallery, London
The Prime Minister Tony Charles Lynton Blair at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 June 2007) at www.pm.gov.uk
Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
Voting record at Public Whip
Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
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Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007, and was special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. He is the second-longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories. Blair founded the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in 2016, and currently serves as its Executive Chairman.
Blair attended the independent school Fettes College, studied law at St John's College, Oxford, and qualified as a barrister. He became involved in the Labour Party and was elected to the House of Commons in 1983 for the Sedgefield constituency in County Durham. As a backbencher, Blair supported moving the party to the political centre of British politics. He was appointed to Neil Kinnock's shadow cabinet in 1988 and was appointed shadow home secretary by John Smith in 1992. Following Smith's death in 1994, Blair won a leadership election to succeed him. As leader, Blair began a historic rebranding of the party, which became known as "New Labour". Blair became the youngest prime minister of the 20th century after his party won a landslide victory of 418 seats (the largest in its history) in the 1997 general election, bringing an end to 18 years in the opposition. It was the first victory for the Labour Party in nearly 23 years, the last one being in October 1974.
During his first term, Blair enacted constitutional reforms and significantly increased public spending on healthcare and education while also introducing controversial market-based reforms in these areas. In addition, Blair saw the introduction of a minimum wage, tuition fees for higher education, constitutional reform such as devolution in Scotland and Wales, an extensive expansion of LGBT+ rights in the UK, and significant progress in the Northern Ireland peace process with the passing of the landmark Good Friday Agreement. On foreign policy, Blair oversaw British interventions in Kosovo in 1999 and Sierra Leone in 2000, which were generally perceived to be successful.
Blair won a second term after Labour won a second landslide victory in the 2001 general election. Three months into his second term, Blair's premiership was shaped by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, resulting in the start of the war on terror. Blair supported the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration by ensuring that the British Armed Forces participated in the War in Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, destroy al-Qaeda, and capture Osama bin Laden. Blair supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and had the British Armed Forces participate in the Iraq War, on the false beliefs that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction and developed ties with al-Qaeda. The invasion of Iraq was particularly controversial, as it attracted widespread public opposition and 139 of Blair's own MPs opposed it. As a result, he faced criticism over the policy itself and the circumstances of the decision. The Iraq Inquiry report of 2016 gave a damning assessment of Blair's role in the Iraq War. As the casualties of the Iraq War mounted, Blair was accused of misleading Parliament, and his popularity dropped dramatically.
Blair won a third term after Labour won a third election victory in 2005, in part thanks to the UK's strong economic performance, but with a substantially reduced majority, due to the UK's involvement in the Iraq War. During his third term, Blair pushed for more systemic public sector reform and brokered a settlement to restore powersharing to Northern Ireland. He had a surge in popularity at the time of terrorist bombings of London of July 2005, but by the Spring of 2006 faced significant difficulties, most notably with scandals over failures by the Home Office to deport illegal immigrants. Amid the Cash-for-Honours scandal, Blair was interviewed three times as prime minister, though only as a witness and not under caution. The Afghanistan and Iraq wars continued, and in 2006, Blair announced he would resign within a year. He resigned the party leadership on 24 June 2007 and as prime minister on 27 June, and was succeeded by Gordon Brown, his chancellor.
After leaving office, Blair gave up his seat and was appointed special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, a diplomatic post he held until 2015. He has been the executive chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change since 2016 and has made occasional political interventions, and has been a key influence on Keir Starmer. In 2009, Blair was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush. He was made a Knight Companion of the Garter by Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. At various points in his premiership, Blair was among both the most popular and most unpopular politicians in British history. As prime minister, he achieved the highest recorded approval ratings during his first few years in office but also one of the lowest ratings during and after the Iraq War. Blair is usually rated as above average in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers.
Early years
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born on 6 May 1953 at Queen Mary Maternity Home in Lauriston, Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the second son of Leo and Hazel (née Corscadden) Blair. Leo Blair was the illegitimate son of two entertainers and was adopted as a baby by the Glasgow shipyard worker James Blair and his wife, Mary. Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher and Orangeman who moved to Glasgow in 1916. In 1923, he returned to (and later died in) Ballyshannon, County Donegal, in Ireland. In Ballyshannon, Corscadden's wife, Sarah Margaret (née Lipsett), gave birth above the family's grocery shop to Blair's mother, Hazel.
Blair has an elder brother, William, and a younger sister, Sarah. Blair's first home was with his family at Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of Edinburgh. During this period, his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst studying for a law degree from the University of Edinburgh.
Blair's first relocation was when he was nineteen months old. At the end of 1954, Blair's parents and their two sons moved from Paisley Terrace to Adelaide, South Australia. His father lectured in law at the University of Adelaide. In Australia, Blair's sister, Sarah, was born. The Blairs lived in the suburb of Dulwich close to the university. The family returned to the United Kingdom in mid-1958. They lived for a time with Hazel's mother and stepfather (William McClay) at their home in Stepps on the outskirts of north-east Glasgow. Blair's father accepted a job as a lecturer at Durham University, and moved the family to Durham when Blair was five. It was the beginning of a long association Blair was to have with Durham.
Since childhood, Blair has been a fan of Newcastle United Football Club.
Education and legal career
With his parents basing their family in Durham, Blair attended the Chorister School from 1961 to 1966. Aged 13, he was sent to boarding at Fettes College in Edinburgh from 1966 to 1971. According to Blair, he hated his time at Fettes. His teachers were unimpressed with him; his biographer, John Rentoul, reported that "[a]ll the teachers I spoke to when researching the book said he was a complete pain in the backside and they were very glad to see the back of him." Blair reportedly modelled himself on Mick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones. Leaving Fettes College at the age of 18, Blair next spent a gap year in London working as a rock music promoter.
In 1972, at the age of 19, Blair matriculated at St John's College, Oxford, reading jurisprudence for three years. As a student, he played guitar and sang in a rock band called Ugly Rumours, and performed stand-up comedy. He was influenced by fellow student and Anglican priest Peter Thomson, who awakened his religious faith and left-wing politics. While at Oxford, Blair has stated that he was briefly a Trotskyist, after reading the first volume of Isaac Deutscher's biography of Leon Trotsky, which was "like a light going on". He graduated from Oxford at the age of 22 in 1975 with a second-class Honours B.A. in jurisprudence.
In 1975, while Blair was at Oxford, his mother Hazel died aged 52 of thyroid cancer, which greatly affected him. After Oxford, Blair trained at the Inns of Court School of Law, later part of The City Law School and served his barrister pupillage at Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the Bar. He met his future wife, Cherie Booth, at the chambers founded by Derry Irvine, who was to be Blair's first lord chancellor.
Early political career
Blair joined the Labour Party shortly after graduating from Oxford in 1975. In the early 1980s, he was involved in Labour politics in Hackney South and Shoreditch, where he aligned himself with the "soft left" of the party. He stood as a candidate for the Hackney council elections of 1982 in Queensbridge ward, a safe Labour area, but was not selected.
In 1982, Blair was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the safe Conservative seat of Beaconsfield, where there was a forthcoming by-election. Although Blair lost the Beaconsfield by-election and Labour's share of the vote fell by ten percentage points, he acquired a profile within the party. Despite his defeat, William Russell, political correspondent for The Glasgow Herald, described Blair as "a very good candidate", while acknowledging that the result was "a disaster" for the Labour Party. In contrast to his later centrism, Blair made it clear in a letter he wrote to Labour leader Michael Foot in July 1982 (published in 2006) that he had "come to Socialism through Marxism" and considered himself on the left. Like Tony Benn, Blair believed that the "Labour right" was bankrupt, saying "[s]ocialism ultimately must appeal to the better minds of the people. You cannot do that if you are tainted overmuch with a pragmatic period in power." Yet, he saw the hard left as no better, saying:
There is an arrogance and self-righteousness about many of the groups on the far left which is deeply unattractive to the ordinary would-be member ... There's too much mixing only with people [with] whom they agree.
With a general election due, Blair had not been selected as a candidate anywhere. He was invited to stand again in Beaconsfield, and was initially inclined to agree but was advised by his head of chambers Derry Irvine to find somewhere else which might be winnable. The situation was complicated by the fact that Labour was fighting a legal action against planned boundary changes, and had selected candidates on the basis of previous boundaries. When the legal challenge failed, the party had to rerun all selections on the new boundaries; most were based on existing seats, but unusually in County Durham a new Sedgefield constituency had been created out of Labour-voting areas which had no obvious predecessor seat.
The selection for Sedgefield did not begin until after the 1983 general election was called. Blair's initial inquiries discovered that the left was trying to arrange the selection for Les Huckfield, sitting MP for Nuneaton, who was trying elsewhere; several sitting MPs displaced by boundary changes were also interested in it. When he discovered the Trimdon branch had not yet made a nomination, Blair visited them and won the support of the branch secretary John Burton, and with Burton's help was nominated by the branch. At the last minute, he was added to the shortlist and won the selection over Huckfield. It was the last candidate selection made by Labour before the election, and was made after the Labour Party had issued biographies of all its candidates ("Labour's Election Who's Who").
John Burton became Blair's election agent and one of his most trusted and longest-standing allies. Blair's election literature in the 1983 general election endorsed left-wing policies that Labour advocated in the early 1980s. He called for Britain to leave the EEC as early as the 1970s, though he had told his selection conference that he personally favoured continuing membership and voted "Yes" in the 1975 referendum on the subject. He opposed the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in 1986 but supported the ERM by 1989. He was a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, despite never strongly being in favour of unilateral nuclear disarmament. Blair was helped on the campaign trail by soap opera actress Pat Phoenix, his father-in-law's girlfriend. At the age of thirty, he was elected as MP for Sedgefield in 1983; despite the party's landslide defeat at the general election.
In his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 6 July 1983, Blair stated, "I am a socialist not through reading a textbook that has caught my intellectual fancy, nor through unthinking tradition, but because I believe that, at its best, socialism corresponds most closely to an existence that is both rational and moral. It stands for cooperation, not confrontation; for fellowship, not fear. It stands for equality."
Once elected, Blair's political ascent was rapid. Neil Kinnock appointed him in 1984 as assistant Treasury spokesman under Roy Hattersley who was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. In May 1985, he appeared on the BBC's Question Time, arguing that the Conservative Government's Public Order White Paper was a threat to civil liberties.
Blair demanded an inquiry into the Bank of England's decision to rescue the collapsed Johnson Matthey bank in October 1985. By this time, Blair was aligned with the reforming tendencies in the party and in 1988 was promoted to the shadow Trade and Industry team as spokesman on the City of London.
Leadership roles
In 1987, he stood for election to the Shadow Cabinet, receiving 71 votes. When Kinnock resigned after a fourth consecutive Conservative victory in the 1992 general election, Blair became shadow home secretary under John Smith. The old guard argued that trends showed they were regaining strength under Smith's strong leadership. Meanwhile, the breakaway SDP faction had merged with the Liberal Party; the resulting Liberal Democrats seemed to pose a major threat to the Labour base. Blair, the leader of the modernising faction, had an entirely different vision, arguing that the long-term trends had to be reversed. The Labour Party was too locked into a base that was shrinking, since it was based on the working-class, on trade unions, and on residents of subsidised council housing. The rapidly growing middle-class was largely ignored, especially the more ambitious working-class families. They aspired to middle-class status but accepted the Conservative argument that Labour was holding ambitious people back with its levelling-down policies. They increasingly saw Labour in terms defined by the opposition, regarding higher taxes and higher interest rates. The steps towards what would become New Labour were procedural but essential. Calling on the slogan "One member, one vote", John Smith, with limited input from Blair, secured an end to the trade union block vote for Westminster candidate selection at the 1993 conference. But Blair and the modernisers wanted Smith to go further still, and called for radical adjustment of Party goals by repealing "Clause IV", the historic commitment to nationalisation of industry. This would be achieved in 1995.
Leader of the Opposition
John Smith unexpectedly died of a heart attack on 12 May 1994, which led to a leadership election within the party. Blair defeated John Prescott and Margaret Beckett in the subsequent leadership election and became Leader of the Opposition. As is customary for the holder of that office, Blair was appointed a Privy Counsellor. It has long been rumoured a deal was struck between Blair and Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown at the former Granita restaurant in Islington, in which Blair promised to give Brown control of economic policy in return for Brown not standing against him in the leadership election. Whether this is true or not, the relationship between Blair and Brown was central to the fortunes of New Labour, and they mostly remained united in public, despite reported serious private rifts.
During his speech at the 1994 Labour Party conference, Blair announced a forthcoming proposal to update the party's objects and objectives, which was widely interpreted to relate to replacing Clause IV of the party's constitution with a new statement of aims and values. This involved the deletion of the party's stated commitment to "the common ownership of the means of production and exchange", which was generally understood to mean wholesale nationalisation of major industries. At a special conference in April 1995, the clause was replaced by a statement that the party is "democratic socialist", and Blair also claimed to be a "democratic socialist" himself in the same year. However, the move away from nationalisation in the old Clause IV made many on the left wing of the Labour Party feel that Labour was moving away from traditional socialist principles of nationalisation set out in 1918, and was seen by them as part of a shift of the party towards "New Labour".
Blair inherited the Labour leadership at a time when the party was ascendant over the Conservatives in the opinion polls, since the Conservative government's reputation in monetary policy declined as a result of the Black Wednesday economic disaster of September 1992. Blair's election as leader saw Labour support surge higher still in spite of the continuing economic recovery and fall in unemployment that John Major's Conservative government, had overseen since the end of the 1990–92 recession. At the 1996 Labour Party conference, Blair stated that his three top priorities on coming to office were "education, education, and education".
Aided by the unpopularity of John Major's Conservative government, which was deeply divided over the European Union, Blair won a landslide victory for Labour at the 1997 general election, ending eighteen years of Conservative Party government, with the heaviest Conservative defeat since 1906. In 1996, the manifesto New Labour, New Life for Britain was published, which set out the party's new "Third Way" centrist approach to policy, and was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics. In May 1995, Labour had achieved considerable success in the local and European elections and had won four by-elections. For Blair, these achievements were a source of optimism, as they indicated that the Conservatives were in decline. Virtually every opinion poll since late-1992 put Labour ahead of the Conservatives with enough support to form an overall majority.
Prime Minister (1997–2007)
Blair became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 2 May 1997; aged 43, he was the youngest person to reach that office since Lord Liverpool became prime minister aged 42 in 1812. He was also the first prime minister born after the Second World War and the accession of Elizabeth II to the throne. With victories in 1997, 2001, and 2005, Blair was the Labour Party's longest-serving prime minister, and the first person to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories.
Northern Ireland
His contribution towards assisting the Northern Ireland peace process by helping to negotiate the Good Friday Agreement was widely recognised. Following the Omagh bombing on 15 August 1998, by members of the Real IRA opposed to the peace process, which killed 29 people and wounded hundreds, Blair visited the County Tyrone town and met with victims at Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.
Military intervention and the War on Terror
In his first six years in office, Blair ordered British troops into combat five times, more than any other prime minister in British history. This included Iraq in both 1998 and 2003, Kosovo (1999), Sierra Leone (2000) and Afghanistan (2001).
The Kosovo War, which Blair had advocated on moral grounds, was initially a failure when it relied solely on air strikes; the threat of a ground offensive convinced Serbia's Slobodan Milošević to withdraw. Blair had been a major advocate for a ground offensive, which US President Bill Clinton was reluctant to do, and ordered that 50,000 soldiers – most of the available British Army – should be made ready for action. The following year, the limited Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone swiftly swung the tide against the rebel forces; before deployment, the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone had been on the verge of collapse. Palliser had been intended as an evacuation mission but Brigadier David Richards was able to convince Blair to allow him to expand the role; at the time, Richards' action was not known and Blair was assumed to be behind it.
Blair ordered Operation Barras, a highly successful SAS/Parachute Regiment strike to rescue hostages from a Sierra Leone rebel group. Journalist Andrew Marr has argued that the success of ground attacks, real and threatened, over air strikes alone was influential on how Blair planned the Iraq War, and that the success of the first three wars Blair fought "played to his sense of himself as a moral war leader". When asked in 2010 if the success of Palliser may have "embolden[ed] British politicians" to think of military action as a policy option, General Sir David Richards admitted there "might be something in that".
From the start of the War on Terror in 2001, Blair strongly supported the foreign policy of George W. Bush, participating in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq. The invasion of Iraq was particularly controversial, as it attracted widespread public opposition and 139 of Blair's own MPs opposed it. As a result, he faced criticism over the policy itself and the circumstances of the decision. Alastair Campbell described Blair's statement that the intelligence on WMDs was "beyond doubt" as his "assessment of the assessment that was given to him." In 2009, Blair stated that he would have supported removing Saddam Hussein from power even in the face of proof that he had no such weapons. Playwright Harold Pinter and former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad accused Blair of war crimes.
Testifying before the Iraq Inquiry on 29 January 2010, Blair said Saddam Hussein was a "monster and I believe he threatened not just the region but the world." Blair said that British and American attitude towards Hussein had "changed dramatically" after the September 11 attacks. Blair denied that he would have supported the invasion of Iraq even if he had thought Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. He said he believed the world was safer as a result of the invasion. He said there was "no real difference between wanting regime change and wanting Iraq to disarm: regime change was US policy because Iraq was in breach of its UN obligations."
In an October 2015 CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria, Blair apologised for his "mistakes" over the Iraq War and admitted there were "elements of truth" to the view that the invasion helped promote the rise of ISIS. The Chilcot Inquiry report of 2016 gave a damning assessment of Blair's role in the Iraq War, though the former prime minister again refused to apologise for his decision to back the US-led invasion.
Relationship with Parliament
One of Blair's first acts as prime minister was to replace the then twice-weekly 15-minute sessions of Prime Minister's Questions held on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a single 30-minute session on Wednesdays. In addition to PMQs, Blair held monthly press conferences at which he fielded questions from journalists and, from 2002, broke precedent by agreeing to give evidence twice yearly before the most senior Commons select committee, the Liaison Committee. Blair was sometimes perceived as paying insufficient attention both to the views of his own Cabinet colleagues and to those of the House of Commons. His style was sometimes criticised as not that of a prime minister and head of government, which he was, but of a president and head of state, which he was not. Blair was accused of excessive reliance on spin. He was the first UK prime minister to have been formally questioned by police, though not under caution, while still in office.
Events before resignation
As the casualties of the Iraq War mounted, Blair was accused of misleading Parliament, and his popularity dropped as a result, with Labour's overall majority at the 2005 election reduced from 167 to 66 seats. As a combined result of the Blair–Brown pact, the Iraq War and low approval ratings, pressure built up within the Labour Party for Blair to resign. Over the summer of 2006, many MPs criticised Blair for not calling for a ceasefire in the Israel–Lebanon conflict. On 7 September 2006, Blair publicly stated he would step down as leader by the time of the Trades Union Congress conference held from 10 to 13 September 2007, despite promising to serve a full term during the previous general election campaign. On 10 May 2007, during a speech at the Trimdon Labour Club, Blair announced his intention to resign as both Labour leader and prime minister, triggering a leadership election in which Brown was the only candidate.
At a special party conference in Manchester on 24 June 2007, Blair formally handed over the leadership of the Labour Party to Brown, who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer in Blair's three ministries. Blair tendered his resignation as prime minister on 27 June and Brown assumed office the same afternoon. Blair resigned from his Sedgefield seat in the traditional form of accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds, to which he was appointed by Brown in one of the latter's last acts as chancellor; the resulting by-election was won by Labour candidate Phil Wilson. Blair decided not to issue a list of Resignation Honours, making him the first prime minister of the modern era not to do so.
Policies
In 2001, Blair said, "We are a left of centre party, pursuing economic prosperity and social justice as partners and not as opposites." Blair rarely applies such labels to himself; he promised before the 1997 election that New Labour would govern "from the radical centre", and according to one lifelong Labour Party member always described himself as a social democrat. In a 2007 opinion piece in The Guardian, left-wing commentator Neil Lawson described Blair as to the right of centre. A YouGov opinion poll in 2005 found that a small majority of British voters, including many New Labour supporters, placed Blair on the right of the political spectrum. The Financial Times argued that Blair is not conservative but instead a populist.
Critics and admirers tend to agree that Blair's electoral success was based on his ability to occupy the centre ground and appeal to voters across the political spectrum, to the extent that he has been fundamentally at odds with traditional Labour Party values. Some left-wing critics, such as Mike Marqusee in 2001, argued that Blair oversaw the final stage of a long term shift of the Labour Party to the right.
There is some evidence that Blair's long term dominance of the centre forced his Conservative opponents to shift a long distance to the left to challenge his hegemony there. Leading Conservatives of the post-New Labour era hold Blair in high regard: George Osborne describes him as "the master", Michael Gove thought he had an "entitlement to conservative respect" in February 2003, while David Cameron reportedly maintained Blair as an informal adviser. Former Conservative Party Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared Blair and New Labour to be her greatest achievement.
Social reforms
Blair introduced significant constitutional reforms; promoted new rights for gay people; and signed treaties integrating Britain more closely with the EU. With specific regards to Blair's LGBTQ+ reforms, Blair introduced the Civil Partnership Act 2004 which granted civil partners rights and responsibilities similar to those in civil marriages, equalised the age of consent between straight and gay couples, ended the ban on gay people serving in the British military, introduced the Gender Recognition Act 2004 which allows those with gender dysphoria to legally change their gender, repealed Section 28, gave gay couples the right to adopt and enacted several anti-discrimination policies into law. In 2014 he was proclaimed a "gay icon" by the Gay Times.
The New Labour government increased police powers by adding to the number of arrestable offences, compulsory DNA recording and the use of dispersal orders. Under Blair's government the amount of new legislation increased which attracted criticism. He also introduced tough anti-terrorism and identity card legislation.
Economic policies
Blair has been credited with overseeing a strong economy, with real incomes of British citizens growing 18% between 1997 and 2006. Britain saw rapid productivity growth and significant GDP growth, as well as falling poverty rates and inequality which, despite stubbornly failing to fall, stalled thanks to New Labour's economic policies (such as tax credits). Despite the financial bubble developing in the property markets, studies have credited the growth to investments in education and the maintenance of fiscal responsibility, rather than a financial sugar-high.
During his time as prime minister, Blair kept direct taxes low, while raising indirect taxation; invested a significant amount in Human capital; introduced a National Minimum Wage and some new employment rights (while keeping Margaret Thatcher's trade union reforms). He introduced substantial market-based reforms in the education and health sectors; introduced student tuition fees; introduced a welfare to work scheme and sought to reduce certain categories of welfare payments. He did not reverse the privatisation of the railways enacted by his predecessor John Major and instead strengthened regulation (by creating the Office of Rail Regulation) and limited fare rises to inflation +1%.
Blair and Brown raised spending on the NHS and other public services, increasing spending from 39.9% of GDP to 48.1% in 2010–11. They pledged in 2001 to bring NHS spending to the levels of other European countries, and doubled spending in real terms to over £100 billion in England alone.
Immigration
Non-European immigration rose significantly during the period from 1997, not least because of the government's abolition of the primary purpose rule in June 1997. This change made it easier for UK residents to bring foreign spouses into the country. The former government advisor Andrew Neather in the Evening Standard stated that the deliberate policy of ministers from late 2000 until early 2008 was to open up the UK to mass migration. Neather later stated that his words had been twisted, saying: "The main goal was to allow in more migrant workers at a point when – hard as it is to imagine now – the booming economy was running up against skills shortages.... Somehow this has become distorted by excitable Right-wing newspaper columnists into being a 'plot' to make Britain multicultural. There was no plot."
Environmental record
Blair criticised other governments for not doing enough to solve global climate change. In a 1997 visit to the United States, he made a comment on "great industrialised nations" that fail to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Again in 2003, Blair went before the United States Congress and said that climate change "cannot be ignored", insisting "we need to go beyond even Kyoto." Blair and his party promised a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide. The Labour Party also claimed that by 2010 10% of the energy would come from renewable resources; however, it only reached 7% by that point.
In 2000, Blair "flagged up" 100 million euros for green policies and urged environmentalists and businesses to work together.
Foreign policy
Blair built his foreign policy on basic principles (close ties with the United States and European Union) and added a new activist philosophy of "interventionism". In 2001, Britain joined the U.S. in the global war on terror.
Blair forged friendships with several European leaders, including Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Angela Merkel of Germany and later Nicolas Sarkozy of France.
Along with enjoying a close relationship with Bill Clinton, Blair formed a strong political alliance with George W. Bush, particularly in the area of foreign policy. For his part, Bush lauded Blair and the UK. In his post-9/11 speech, for example, he stated that "America has no truer friend than Great Britain".
The alliance between Bush and Blair seriously damaged Blair's standing in the eyes of Britons angry at American influence; a 2002 poll revealed that a large amount of Britons viewed Blair as a "lapdog" of Bush. Blair argued it was in Britain's interest to "protect and strengthen the bond" with the United States regardless of who was in the White House.
However, a perception of one-sided compromising personal and political closeness led to discussion of the term "Poodle-ism" in the UK media, to describe the "Special Relationship" of the UK government and prime minister with the US White House and president. A revealing conversation between Bush and Blair, with the former addressing the latter as "Yo [or Yeah], Blair" was recorded when they did not know a microphone was live at the G8 summit in Saint Petersburg in 2006.
Middle East policy
On 30 January 2003, Blair signed The letter of the eight supporting U.S. policy on Iraq.
Blair showed a deep feeling for Israel, born in part from his faith. Blair has been a longtime member of the pro-Israel lobby group Labour Friends of Israel.
In 1994, Blair forged close ties with Michael Levy, a leader of the Jewish Leadership Council. Levy ran the Labour Leader's Office Fund to finance Blair's campaign before the 1997 election and raised £12 million towards Labour's landslide victory, Levy was rewarded with a peerage, and in 2002, Blair appointed Lord Levy as his personal envoy to the Middle East. Levy praised Blair for his "solid and committed support of the State of Israel". Tam Dalyell, while Father of the House of Commons, suggested in 2003 that Blair's foreign policy decisions were unduly influenced by a "cabal" of Jewish advisers, including Levy, Peter Mandelson and Jack Straw (the last two are not Jewish but have some Jewish ancestry).
Blair, on coming to office, had been "cool towards the right-wing Netanyahu government". During his first visit to Israel, Blair thought the Israelis bugged him in his car. After the election in 1999 of Ehud Barak, with whom Blair forged a close relationship, he became much more sympathetic to Israel. From 2001, Blair built up a relationship with Barak's successor, Ariel Sharon, and responded positively to Yasser Arafat, whom he had met thirteen times since becoming prime minister and regarded as essential to future negotiations. In 2004, 50 former diplomats, including ambassadors to Baghdad and Tel Aviv, stated they had "watched with deepening concern" at Britain following the US into war in Iraq in 2003. They criticised Blair's support for the road map for peace which included the retaining of Israeli settlements on the West Bank.
In 2006 Blair was criticised for his failure to immediately call for a ceasefire in the 2006 Lebanon War. The Observer newspaper claimed that at a cabinet meeting before Blair left for a summit with Bush on 28 July 2006, a significant number of ministers pressured Blair to publicly criticise Israel over the scale of deaths and destruction in Lebanon. Blair was criticised for his solid stance alongside US president George W. Bush on Middle East policy.
Syria and Libya
A Freedom of Information request by The Sunday Times in 2012 revealed that Blair's government considered knighting Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. The documents showed Blair was willing to appear alongside Assad at a joint press conference even though the Syrians would probably have settled for a farewell handshake for the cameras; British officials sought to manipulate the media to portray Assad in a favourable light; and Blair's aides tried to help Assad's "photogenic" wife Asma al-Assad boost her profile. The newspaper noted:
The Arab leader was granted audiences with the Queen and the Prince of Wales, lunch with Blair at Downing Street, a platform in parliament and many other privileges ... The red carpet treatment he and his entourage received is embarrassing given the bloodbath that has since taken place under his rule in Syria ... The courtship has parallels with Blair's friendly relations with Muammar Gaddafi.
Blair had been on friendly terms with Colonel Gaddafi, the leader of Libya, when sanctions imposed on the country were lifted by the US and the UK.
Even after the Libyan Civil War in 2011, he said he had no regrets about his close relationship with the late Libyan leader. During Blair's premiership, MI6 rendered Abdelhakim Belhaj to the Gaddafi regime in 2004, though Blair later claimed he had "no recollection" of the incident.
Zimbabwe
Blair had an antagonistic relationship with Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and allegedly planned regime change against Mugabe in the early 2000s. Zimbabwe had embarked on a program of uncompensated land redistribution from the country's white commercial farmers to the black population, a policy that disrupted agricultural production and threw Zimbabwe's economy into chaos. General Charles Guthrie, the Chief of the Defence Staff, revealed in 2007 that he and Blair had discussed the invasion of Zimbabwe. Guthrie advised against military action: "Hold hard, you'll make it worse." In 2013, South African president Thabo Mbeki said that Blair had pressured South Africa to join in a "regime change scheme, even to the point of using military force" in Zimbabwe. Mbeki refused because he felt that "Mugabe is part of the solution to this problem." However, a spokesman for Blair said that "he never asked anyone to plan or take part in any such military intervention."
Russia
In 2000, Blair went on a trip to Moscow to watch a performance of the War and Peace opera with Vladimir Putin, while he was the acting president of Russia. This meeting was criticised by groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. In 2018, Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of MI6, said there was "significant regret" over this trip, which helped Putin rise to power. Dearlove also alleged that in 2000, a KGB officer approached him, seeking Britain's help in boosting Putin's political profile, and this was why Blair met Putin in Russia.
Blair also hosted Putin in London in April 2000, despite hesitation towards Putin from other world leaders, and opposition from human rights groups over atrocities committed in Chechnya. Blair told Jim Hoagland of The Washington Post that "[Putin's] vision of the future is one that we would feel comfortable with. Putin has a very clear agenda of modernizing Russia. When he talks of a strong Russia, he means strength not in a threatening way but in a way that means the country economically and politically is capable of standing up for itself, which is a perfectly good aim to have". During the meeting, Blair acknowledged and discussed "concerns about Chechnya", but described Putin as a political reformer "who is ready to embrace a new relationship with the European Union and the United States, who wants a strong and modern Russia and a strong relationship with the West".
Relationship with media
Rupert Murdoch
Blair was reported by The Guardian in 2006 to have been supported politically by Rupert Murdoch, the founder of the News Corporation organisation. In 2011, Blair became godfather to one of Rupert Murdoch's children with Wendi Deng, but he and Murdoch later ended their friendship, in 2014, after Murdoch suspected him of having an affair with Deng while they were still married, according to The Economist magazine.
Contacts with UK media proprietors
A Cabinet Office freedom of information response, released the day after Blair handed over power to Gordon Brown, documents Blair having various official phone calls and meetings with Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation and Richard Desmond of Northern and Shell Media.
The response includes contacts "clearly of an official nature" in the specified period, but excludes contacts "not clearly of an official nature." No details were given of the subjects discussed. In the period between September 2002 and April 2005, Blair and Murdoch are documented speaking six times; three times in the nine days before the Iraq War, including the eve of the 20 March US and UK invasion, and on 29 January, 25 April, and 3 October 2004. Between January 2003 and February 2004, Blair had three meetings with Richard Desmond; on 29 January and 3 September 2003, and 23 February 2004.
The information was disclosed after a 3+1⁄2-year battle by the Liberal Democrats' Lord Avebury. Lord Avebury's initial October 2003 information request was dismissed by then leader of the Lords, Baroness Amos. A following complaint was rejected, with Downing Street claiming the information compromised "free and frank discussions", while Cabinet Office claimed releasing the timing of the PM's contacts with individuals is "undesirable", as it might lead to the content of the discussions being disclosed. While awaiting a following appeal from Lord Avebury, the cabinet office announced that it would release the information. Lord Avebury said: "The public can now scrutinise the timing of his (Murdoch's) contacts with the former prime minister, to see whether they can be linked to events in the outside world."
Blair appeared before the Leveson Inquiry on Monday 28 May 2012. During his appearance, a protester, later named as David Lawley-Wakelin, got into the court-room and claimed he was guilty of war crimes before being dragged out.
Media portrayal
Blair has been noted as a charismatic, articulate speaker with an informal style. Film and theatre director Richard Eyre opined that "Blair had a very considerable skill as a performer". A few months after becoming prime minister Blair gave a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, on the morning of her death in August 1997, in which he famously described her as "the People's Princess".
After taking office in 1997, Blair gave particular prominence to his press secretary, who became known as the prime minister's official spokesman (the two roles have since been separated). Blair's first PMOS was Alastair Campbell, who served in that role from May 1997 to 8 June 2001, after which he served as the prime minister's director of communications and strategy until his resignation on 29 August 2003 in the aftermath of the Hutton Inquiry.
Blair had close relationships with the Clinton family. The strong partnership with Bill Clinton was made into the film The Special Relationship in 2010.
Relationship with Labour Party
Blair's apparent refusal to set a date for his departure was criticised by the British press and Members of Parliament. It has been reported that a number of cabinet ministers believed that Blair's timely departure from office would be required to be able to win a fourth election. Some ministers viewed Blair's announcement of policy initiatives in September 2006 as an attempt to draw attention away from these issues.
Gordon Brown
After the death of John Smith in 1994, Blair and his close colleague Gordon Brown (they shared an office at the House of Commons) were both seen as possible candidates for the party leadership. They agreed not to stand against each other, it is said, as part of a supposed Blair–Brown pact. Brown, who considered himself the senior of the two, understood that Blair would give way to him: opinion polls soon indicated, however, that Blair appeared to enjoy greater support among voters. Their relationship in power became so turbulent that it was reported the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, often had to act as "marriage guidance counsellor".
During the 2010 election campaign Blair publicly endorsed Brown's leadership, praising the way he had handled the financial crisis.
Post-premiership (2007–present)
Diplomacy
On 27 June 2007, Blair officially resigned as prime minister after ten years in office, and he was officially confirmed as Middle East envoy for the United Nations, European Union, United States, and Russia. Blair originally indicated that he would retain his parliamentary seat after his resignation as prime minister came into effect; however, on being confirmed for the Middle East role he resigned from the Commons by taking up an office of profit. President George W. Bush had preliminary talks with Blair to ask him to take up the envoy role. White House sources stated that "both Israel and the Palestinians had signed up to the proposal". In May 2008 Blair announced a new plan for peace and for Palestinian rights, based heavily on the ideas of the Peace Valley plan. Blair resigned as envoy in May 2015.
Gaza
Donald Trump's September 2025 Gaza Strip proposal includes a Gaza International Transitional Authority which will be supervised by a "Board of Peace" which will be headed and chaired by Trump and include Blair.
Private sector
In January 2008, it was confirmed that Blair would be joining investment bank JPMorgan Chase in a "senior advisory capacity" and that he would advise Zurich Financial Services on climate change. His salary for this work is unknown, although it has been claimed it may be in excess of £500,000 per year. Blair also gives lectures, earning up to US$250,000 for a 90-minute speech, and in 2008 he was said to be the highest paid speaker in the world.
Blair taught a course on issues of faith and globalisation at the Yale University Schools of Management and Divinity as a Howland distinguished fellow during the 2008–09 academic year. In July 2009, this accomplishment was followed by the launching of the Faith and Globalisation Initiative with Yale University in the US, Durham University in the UK, and the National University of Singapore in Asia, to deliver a postgraduate programme in partnership with the Foundation.
Blair's links with, and receipt of an undisclosed sum from, UI Energy Corporation, have also been subject to media comment in the UK.
In July 2010 it was reported that his personal security guards claimed £250,000 a year in expenses from the taxpayer. Foreign Secretary William Hague said; "we have to make sure that [Blair's security] is as cost-effective as possible, that it doesn't cost any more to the taxpayer than is absolutely necessary".
Tony Blair Associates
Blair established Tony Blair Associates to "allow him to provide, in partnership with others, strategic advice on a commercial and pro bono basis, on political and economic trends and governmental reform". The profits from the firm go towards supporting Blair's "work on faith, Africa and climate change".
Blair has been subject to criticism for potential conflicts of interest between his diplomatic role as a Middle East envoy, and his work with Tony Blair Associates, and a number of prominent critics have even called for him to be sacked. Blair has used his Quartet Tony Blair Associates works with the Kazakhstan government, advising the regime on judicial, economic and political reforms, but has been subject to criticism after accusations of "whitewashing" the image and human rights record of the regime.
Blair responded to such criticism by saying his choice to advise the country is an example of how he can "nudge controversial figures on a progressive path of reform", and has stated that he receives no personal profit from this advisory role. The Kazakhstan foreign minister said that the country was "honoured and privileged" to be receiving advice from Blair. A letter obtained by The Daily Telegraph in August 2014 revealed Blair had given damage-limitation advice to Nursultan Nazarbayev after the December 2011 Zhanaozen massacre. Blair was reported to have accepted a business advisory role with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, a situation deemed incompatible with his role as Middle East envoy. Blair described the report as "nonsense".
Charity and non-profits
In November 2007 Blair launched the Tony Blair Sports Foundation, which aims to "increase childhood participation in sports activities, especially in the North East of England, where a larger proportion of children are socially excluded, and to promote overall health and prevent childhood obesity." On 30 May 2008, Blair launched the Tony Blair Faith Foundation as a vehicle for encouraging different faiths to join in promoting respect and understanding, as well as working to tackle poverty. Reflecting Blair's own faith but not dedicated to any particular religion, the Foundation aims to "show how faith is a powerful force for good in the modern world". "The Foundation will use its profile and resources to encourage people of faith to work together more closely to tackle global poverty and conflict", says its mission statement.
In February 2009 he applied to set up a charity called the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative: the application was approved in November 2009. Blair's foundation hit controversy in October 2012, when news emerged that it was taking on unpaid interns.
In December 2016, Blair created the Tony Blair Institute to promote global outlooks by governments and organisations. In September 2023 former Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin joined him as a strategic adviser on political leaders' reform programmes in the institute.
Books
A Journey
In March 2010, it was reported that Blair's memoirs, titled The Journey, would be published in September 2010. In July 2010 it was announced the memoirs would be retitled A Journey. The memoirs were seen by many as controversial and a further attempt to profit from his office and from acts related to overseas wars that were widely seen as wrong, leading to anger and suspicion prior to launch.
On 16 August 2010 it was announced that Blair would give the £4.6 million advance and all royalties from his memoirs to the Royal British Legion – the charity's largest ever single donation.
Media analysis of the sudden announcement was wide-ranging, describing it as an act of "desperation" to obtain a better launch reception of a humiliating "publishing flop" that had languished in the ratings, "blood money" for the lives lost in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, an act with a "hidden motive" or an expression of "guilt", a "genius move" to address the problem that "Tony Blair ha[d] one of the most toxic brands around" from a PR perspective, and a "cynical stunt to wipe the slate", but also as an attempt to make amends. Friends had said that the act was partly motivated by the wish to "repair his reputation".
The book was published on 1 September and within hours of its launch had become the fastest-selling autobiography of all time. On 3 September Blair gave his first live interview since publication on The Late Late Show in Ireland, with protesters lying in wait there for him. On 4 September, Blair was confronted by 200 anti-war and hardline Irish nationalist demonstrators before the first book signing of his memoirs at Eason's bookstore on O'Connell Street in Dublin, with angry activists chanting "war criminal" and that he had "blood on his hands", and clashing with Irish Police (Garda Síochána) as they tried to break through a security cordon outside the Eason's store. Blair was pelted with eggs and shoes, and encountered an attempted citizen's arrest for war crimes.
On Leadership
Published in 2024, and described by George Osborne as "the most practically useful guide to politics I have ever read."
Accusations of war crimes
Since the Iraq War, Blair has been the subject of war crimes accusations. Critics of his actions, including Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harold Pinter and Arundhati Roy have called for his trial at the International Criminal Court.
In November 2011, a war crimes tribunal of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission, established by Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, reached a unanimous conclusion that Blair was guilty of crimes against peace, as a result of his role in the Iraq War. The proceedings lasted for four days, and consisted of five judges of judicial and academic backgrounds, a tribunal-appointed defence team in lieu of the defendants or representatives, and a prosecution team including international law professor Francis Boyle.
In September 2012, Desmond Tutu suggested that Blair should follow the path of former African leaders who had been brought before the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The human rights lawyer Geoffrey Bindman concurred with Tutu's suggestion that there should be a war crimes trial. In a statement made in response to Tutu's comments, Blair defended his actions. He was supported by Lord Falconer, who stated that the war had been authorised by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441.
In July 2017, former Iraqi general Abdulwaheed al-Rabbat launched a private war crimes prosecution in the High Court in London, asking for Blair, former foreign secretary Jack Straw and former attorney general Lord Goldsmith to be prosecuted for "the crime of aggression" for their role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The High Court ruled that, although the crime of aggression was recognised in international law, it was not an offence under UK law, and therefore the prosecution could not proceed.
Blair defended
Some, such as John Rentoul, John McTernan, Geoffrey Robertson and Iain Dale, have countered accusations that Blair committed war crimes during his premiership, often highlighting how no case against Blair has ever made it to trial, suggesting that Blair broke no laws.
Blair himself has defended his involvement in the Iraq War by highlighting the findings of the Iraq Survey Group, which found that Saddam had attempted to get sanctions lifted by undermining them, which would have enabled him to restart his WMD program.
Political interventions and views
Response to the Iraq Inquiry
The Chilcot report issued after the conclusion of the Iraq Inquiry was published on 6 July 2016; it criticised Blair for joining the US in the war in Iraq in 2003. Afterward, Blair issued a statement and held a two-hour press conference to apologise, to justify the decisions he had made in 2003 "in good faith" and to deny allegations that the war had led to a significant increase in terrorism. He acknowledged that the report made "real and material criticisms of preparation, planning, process and of the relationship with the United States" but cited sections of the report that he said "should lay to rest allegations of bad faith, lies or deceit". He stated: "whether people agree or disagree with my decision to take military action against Saddam Hussein; I took it in good faith and in what I believed to be the best interests of the country. ... I will take full responsibility for any mistakes without exception or excuse. I will at the same time say why, nonetheless, I believe that it was better to remove Saddam Hussein and why I do not believe this is the cause of the terrorism we see today whether in the Middle East or elsewhere in the world".
Iran–West tensions
In an op-ed published by The Washington Post on 8 February 2019, Blair said: "Where Iran is exercising military interference, it should be strongly pushed back. Where it is seeking influence, it should be countered. Where its proxies operate, it should be held responsible. Where its networks exist, they should be disrupted. Where its leaders are saying what is unacceptable, they should be exposed. Where the Iranian people — highly educated and connected, despite their government — are protesting for freedom, they should be supported." The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change warned of a growing Iranian threat. The Tony Blair Institute confirmed that it has received donations from the U.S. State Department and Saudi Arabia.
European Union
Blair did not want the UK to leave the EU and called for a referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. Blair also maintained that once the terms deciding how the UK leaves the EU were known, the people should be able to vote again on those terms. Blair stated, "We know the options for Brexit. Parliament will have to decide on one of them. If Parliament can't then it should decide to go back to the people."
However, after the 2019 general election in which the pro-withdrawal Conservative party won a sizeable majority of seats, Blair argued that remain supporters should "face up to one simple point: we lost" and "pivot to a completely new position...We're going to have to be constructive about it and see how Britain develops a constructive relationship with Europe and finds its new niche in the world."
American power
Blair was interviewed in June 2020 for an article in the American magazine The Atlantic on European views of U.S. foreign policy concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession, the rise of China, and the George Floyd protests. He affirmed his belief in the continued strength of American soft power and the need to address Iranian military aggression, European military underinvestment, and illicit Chinese trade practices. He said, however, "I think it's fair to say a lot of political leaders in Europe are dismayed by what they see as the isolationism growing in America and the seeming indifference to alliances. But I think there will come a time when America decides in its own interest to reengage, so I'm optimistic that America will in the end understand that this is not about relegating your self-interest behind the common interest; it's an understanding that by acting collectively in alliance with others you promote your own interests." Blair warned that structural issues plaguing American domestic policy needed to be addressed imminently.
In August 2021, Blair criticised the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan, saying that it was "in obedience to an imbecilic slogan about ending 'the forever wars'". Blair admitted mistakes in the management of the war but warned that "the reaction to our mistakes has been, unfortunately, further mistakes".
Labour Party
Jeremy Corbyn
Blair was a critic of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party, seeing it as too left-wing. He wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian during the party's 2015 leadership election that if the party elected Corbyn, it would face a "rout, possibly annihilation" at the next election. After the 2019 general election, Blair accused Corbyn of turning the party into a "glorified protest movement" and in a May 2021 New Statesman article, Blair suggested that the party needed to undergo a programme of "total deconstruction and reconstruction" and also said the party needed to shift to the centre on social issues in order to survive. Blair touched on controversial topics such as transgender rights, the Black Lives Matter movement and climate change.
Keir Starmer
Keir Starmer's leadership of the party has been widely compared to Blair's leadership and New Labour, having taken the party rightward to gain electability. Initially saying in 2021 that Starmer lacked a compelling message, Blair has since reacted more positively towards Starmer's leadership of the party, telling him he's "done a great job" in reforming the party during a Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's Future of Britain conference in 2023. Blair's continued influence on the party, and on Starmer led him to be ranked sixteenth in the New Statesman's Left Power List 2023, described by the paper as electorally an "incomparable authority on how to win". After Labour won the 2024 general election and Starmer became prime minister, Blair congratulated him on his victory, saying Starmer was "determined and ruthlessly effective" and appointed "exceptional talent to conduct the change and put the most capable frontbenchers in the most important positions for future government." He also offered Starmer advice, recommending he controls immigration amid the rise of the Reform UK party led by Nigel Farage, saying that the party poses a threat to Labour and not just the Conservatives.
Personal life
Family
Blair married Cherie Booth on 29 March 1980. They have four children: Euan, Nicky, Kathryn, and Leo. Leo was the first legitimate child born to a serving prime minister in over 150 years – since Francis Russell was born to Lord John Russell on 11 July 1849. All four children have Irish passports, by virtue of Blair's mother, Hazel Elizabeth Rosaleen Corscadden (12 June 1923 – 28 June 1975). The family's primary residence is in Connaught Square; the Blairs own eight residences in total. His first grandchild, a girl, was born in October 2016.
Wealth
Blair's financial assets are structured in an opaque manner, and estimates of their extent vary widely. These include figures of up to £100 million. Blair stated in 2014 that he was worth "less than £20 million". A 2015 assertion, by Francis Beckett, David Hencke and Nick Kochan, concluded that Blair had acquired $90 million and a property portfolio worth $37.5 million in the eight years since he had left office.
In October 2021, Blair was named in the Pandora Papers.
Religious faith
In 2006, Blair referred to the role of his Christian faith in his decision to go to war in Iraq, stating that he had prayed about the issue, and saying that God would judge him for his decision: "I think if you have faith about these things, you realise that judgement is made by other people ... and if you believe in God, it's made by God as well."
According to Press Secretary Alastair Campbell's diary, Blair often read the Bible before taking any important decisions. He states that Blair had a "wobble" and considered changing his mind on the eve of the bombing of Iraq in 1998.
A longer exploration of his faith can be found in an interview with Third Way Magazine. There he says that "I was brought up as [a Christian], but I was not in any real sense a practising one until I went to Oxford. There was an Australian priest at the same college as me who got me interested again. In a sense, it was a rediscovery of religion as something living, that was about the world around me rather than some sort of special one-to-one relationship with a remote Being on high. Suddenly I began to see its social relevance. I began to make sense of the world".
At one point Alastair Campbell intervened in an interview, preventing Blair from answering a question about his Christianity, explaining, "We don't do God." Campbell later said that he had intervened only to end the interview because the journalist had been taking an excessive time, and that the comment had just been a throwaway line.
Cherie Blair's friend and "spiritual guru" Carole Caplin is credited with introducing her and her husband to various New Age symbols and beliefs, including "magic pendants" known as "BioElectric Shields". The most controversial of the Blairs' New Age practices occurred when on holiday in Mexico. The couple, wearing only bathing costumes, took part in a rebirthing procedure, which involved smearing mud and fruit over each other's bodies while sitting in a steam bath.
In 1996, Blair, then an Anglican, was reprimanded by Cardinal Basil Hume for receiving Holy Communion while attending Mass at Cherie Blair's Catholic church, in contravention of canon law. On 22 December 2007, it was disclosed that Blair had joined the Catholic Church. The move was described as "a private matter". He had informed Pope Benedict XVI on 23 June 2007 — four days before he stepped down as Prime Minister — that he wanted to become a Catholic. The Pope and his advisors criticised some of Blair's political actions, but followed up with a reportedly unprecedented red carpet welcome, which included the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, who would be responsible for Blair's Catholic instruction. In 2009, Blair questioned the Pope's attitude towards homosexuality, arguing that religious leaders must start "rethinking" the issue. In 2010, The Tablet named him as one of Britain's most influential Catholics.
Honours
United Kingdom: Privy Counsellor (1994)
United States: Congressional Gold Medal (2003)
United Kingdom: Honorary Doctor of Law (LLD) from Queen's University Belfast (2008)
United States: Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009)
Dan David Prize (2009)
United States: Liberty Medal (2010)
Kosovo: Order of Freedom (2010)
United Kingdom: Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (2022)
In May 2007, Blair was invested as a paramount chief by the chiefs and people of the village of Mahera in Sierra Leone. The honour was bestowed upon him in recognition of the role played by his government in the Sierra Leone Civil War.
On 22 May 2008, Blair received an honorary law doctorate from Queen's University Belfast, alongside Bertie Ahern, for distinction in public service and roles in the Northern Ireland peace process.
On 13 January 2009, Blair was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. Bush stated that Blair was given the award "in recognition of exemplary achievement and to convey the utmost esteem of the American people" and cited Blair's support for the War on Terror and his role in achieving peace in Northern Ireland as two reasons for justifying his being presented with the award.
On 16 February 2009, Blair was awarded the Dan David Prize by Tel Aviv University for "exceptional leadership and steadfast determination in helping to engineer agreements and forge lasting solutions to areas in conflict". He was awarded the prize in May 2009.
On 8 July 2010, Blair was awarded the Order of Freedom by President Fatmir Sejdiu of Kosovo. As Blair is considered to have been instrumental in ending the conflict in Kosovo, some boys born in the country following the war have been given the name Toni or Tonibler.
On 13 September 2010, Blair was awarded the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was presented by former president Bill Clinton, and is awarded annually to "men and women of courage and conviction who strive to secure the blessings of liberty to people around the globe".
On 31 December 2021, it was announced that Queen Elizabeth II had appointed Blair a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter (KG). Blair had reportedly indicated when he left office that he did not want the traditional knighthood or peerage bestowed on former prime ministers. A petition cited his role in the Iraq War as a reason to remove the knighthood and garnered more than one million signatures. He received his Garter insignia on 10 June 2022 from the Queen during an audience at Windsor Castle.
Works
Blair, Tony (2024). On Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century. London: Hutchinson Heinemann. ISBN 9781529151510.
Blair, Tony (2010). A Journey. London: Random House. ISBN 0-09-192555-X. OCLC 657172683.
Blair, Tony (2002). The Courage of Our Convictions. London: Fabian Society. ISBN 0-7163-0603-4.
Blair, Tony (2000). Superpower: Not Superstate? (Federal Trust European Essays). London: Federal Trust for Education & Research. ISBN 1-903403-25-1.
Blair, Tony (1998). The Third Way: New Politics for the New Century. London: Fabian Society. ISBN 0-7163-0588-7.
Blair, Tony (1998). Leading the Way: New Vision for Local Government. London: Institute for Public Policy Research. ISBN 1-86030-075-8.
Blair, Tony (1997). New Britain: My Vision of a Young Country. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-8133-3338-5.
Blair, Tony (1995). Let Us Face the Future. London: Fabian Society. ISBN 0-7163-0571-2.
Blair, Tony (1994). What Price a Safe Society?. London: Fabian Society. ISBN 0-7163-0562-3.
Blair, Tony (1994). Socialism. London: Fabian Society. ISBN 0-7163-0565-8.
See also
Blatcherism – Portmanteau of the names of two British politicians
Bush–Blair 2003 Iraq memo – Secret US/UK memo relating to Iraq invasion (2003)
Cash-for-Honours scandal – Political scandal in the United Kingdom
Cultural depictions of Tony Blair
Parliamentary motion to impeach Tony Blair – Efforts to impeach the UK Prime Minister
Halsbury's Laws of England (2004) – Reference to impeachment in volume on Constitutional Law and Human Rights, paragraph 416
Taking Liberties (film) – 2007 British documentary film
Notes and references
NotesReferences
Sources
Further reading
External links
The Office of Tony Blair Archived 17 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine – Official website
Tony Blair Faith Foundation Archived 10 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
Tony Blair collected news and commentary at The Guardian
Tony Blair collected news and commentary at The New York Times
The Blair Years – Timeline at BBC News
Tony Blair at IMDb
Appearances on C-SPAN
Portraits of Tony Blair at the National Portrait Gallery, London
The Prime Minister Tony Charles Lynton Blair at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 June 2007) at www.pm.gov.uk
Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
Voting record at Public Whip
Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
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Vincent van Gogh
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Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [ˈvɪnsɛnt ˈʋɪləɱ vɑŋ ˈɣɔx] ; 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. His oeuvre includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, most of which are characterised by bold colours and dramatic brushwork that contributed to the rise of expressionism in modern art. Van Gogh's work was only beginning to gain critical attention before his death from suicide at age 37. During his lifetime, only one of Van Gogh's paintings, The Red Vineyard, was sold.
Born into an upper-middle-class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet and thoughtful, but showed signs of mental instability. As a young man, he worked as an art dealer, often travelling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. He turned to religion and spent time as a missionary in southern Belgium. Later he drifted into ill-health and solitude. He was keenly aware of modernist trends in art and, while back with his parents, took up painting in 1881. His younger brother, Theo, supported him financially, and the two of them maintained a long correspondence.
Van Gogh's early works consist of mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers. In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he met members of the artistic avant-garde, including Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were seeking new paths beyond Impressionism. Frustrated in Paris and inspired by a growing spirit of artistic change and collaboration, in February 1888 Van Gogh moved to Arles in southern France to establish an artistic retreat and commune. Once there, his paintings grew brighter and he turned his attention to the natural world, depicting local olive groves, wheat fields and sunflowers. Van Gogh invited Gauguin to join him in Arles and eagerly anticipated Gauguin's arrival in late 1888.
Van Gogh suffered from psychotic episodes and delusions. He worried about his mental stability, and often neglected his physical health, did not eat properly and drank heavily. His friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation with a razor when, in a rage, he mutilated his left ear. Van Gogh spent time in psychiatric hospitals, including a period at Saint-Rémy. After he discharged himself and moved to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, he came under the care of the homeopathic doctor Paul Gachet. His depression persisted, and on 29 July 1890 Van Gogh died from his injuries after shooting himself in the chest with a revolver.
Van Gogh's work began to attract critical artistic attention in the last year of his life. After his death, his art and life story captured public imagination as an emblem of misunderstood genius, due in large part to the efforts of his widowed sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh-Bonger. His bold use of colour, expressive line and thick application of paint inspired avant-garde artistic groups like the Fauves and German Expressionists in the early 20th century. Van Gogh's work gained widespread critical and commercial success in the following decades, and he has become a lasting icon of the romantic ideal of the tortured artist. Today, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings ever sold. His legacy is celebrated by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds the world's largest collection of his paintings and drawings.
Letters
The most comprehensive primary source on Van Gogh is his correspondence with his younger brother, Theo. Their lifelong friendship, and most of what is known of Vincent's thoughts and theories of art, are recorded in the hundreds of letters they exchanged from 1872 until 1890. Theo van Gogh was an art dealer and provided his brother with financial and emotional support as well as access to influential people on the contemporary art scene.
Theo kept all of Vincent's letters to him, but Vincent kept only a few of the letters he received. After both had died, Theo's widow Jo Bonger-van Gogh arranged for the publication of some of their letters. A few appeared in 1906 and 1913; the majority were published in 1914. Vincent's letters are eloquent and expressive, have been described as having a "diary-like intimacy", and read in parts like autobiography. Translator Arnold Pomerans wrote that their publication adds a "fresh dimension to the understanding of Van Gogh's artistic achievement, an understanding granted to us by virtually no other painter."
There are more than 600 letters from Vincent to Theo and around 40 from Theo to Vincent. There are 22 to his sister Wil, 58 to the painter Anthon van Rappard, 22 to Émile Bernard as well as individual letters to Paul Signac, Paul Gauguin, and the critic Albert Aurier. Some are illustrated with sketches. Many are undated, but art historians have been able to place most in chronological order. Problems in transcription and dating remain, mainly with those posted from Arles. While there, Vincent wrote around 200 letters in Dutch, French, and English. There is a gap in the record when he lived in Paris as the brothers lived together and had no need to correspond.
The highly paid contemporary artist Jules Breton was frequently mentioned in Vincent's letters. In 1875 letters to Theo, Vincent mentions he saw Breton, discusses the Breton paintings he saw at a Salon, and discusses sending one of Breton's books but only on condition that it be returned. In a March 1884 letter to Rappard he discusses one of Breton's poems that had inspired one of his paintings. In 1885 he describes Breton's famous work The Song of the Lark as being "fine". In March 1880, roughly midway between these letters, Van Gogh set out on an 80-kilometre trip on foot to meet Breton in the village of Courrières; he was intimidated by Breton's success and the high wall around his estate, and returned without making his presence known. It appears Breton was unaware of Van Gogh or his attempted visit. There are no known letters between the two artists and Van Gogh is not one of the contemporary artists discussed by Breton in his 1891 autobiography Life of an Artist.
Life
Early years
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 in Groot-Zundert, in the predominantly Catholic province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. He was the oldest surviving child of Theodorus van Gogh (1822–1885), a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and his wife, Anna Cornelia Carbentus (1819–1907). Van Gogh was given the name of his grandfather and of a brother stillborn exactly a year before his birth. His grandfather, Vincent (1789–1874), was a prominent art dealer and a theology graduate from the University of Leiden in 1811. This Vincent had six sons, three of whom became art dealers, and may have been named after his great-uncle, a sculptor (1729–1802).
Van Gogh's mother came from a prosperous family in The Hague. His father was the youngest son of a minister. The two met when Anna's younger sister, Cornelia, married Theodorus's older brother Vincent (Cent). Van Gogh's parents married in May 1851 and moved to Zundert. His brother Theo was born on 1 May 1857. There was another brother, Cornelis (known as "Cor"), and three sisters: Elisabeth, Anna, and Wil. In later life, Van Gogh remained in touch only with Wil and Theo. Theodorus's salary as a minister was modest, but the Church also supplied the family with a house, a maid, two cooks, a gardener, a carriage and horse; his mother Anna instilled in the children a duty to uphold the family's high social position.
Van Gogh was a serious and thoughtful child. He was taught at home by his mother and a governess, and in 1860, was sent to the village school. In 1864, he was placed in a boarding school at Zevenbergen, where he felt abandoned, and he campaigned to come home. Instead, in 1866, his parents sent him to the middle school in Tilburg, where he was also deeply unhappy. His interest in art began at a young age. He was encouraged to draw as a child by his mother, and his early drawings are expressive, but do not approach the intensity of his later work. Constant Cornelis Huijsmans, who had been a successful artist in Paris, taught the students at Tilburg. His philosophy was to reject technique in favour of capturing the impressions of things, particularly nature or common objects. Van Gogh's profound unhappiness seems to have overshadowed the lessons, which had little effect. In March 1868, he abruptly returned home. He later wrote that his youth was "austere and cold, and sterile."
In July 1869, Van Gogh's uncle Cent obtained a position for him at the art dealers Goupil & Cie in The Hague. After completing his training in 1873, he was transferred to Goupil's London branch on Southampton Street, and took lodgings at 87 Hackford Road, Stockwell. This was a happy time for Van Gogh; he was successful at work and, at 20, was earning more than his father. Theo's wife, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, later remarked that this was the best year of Vincent's life. He became infatuated with his landlady's daughter, Eugénie Loyer, but she rejected him after he confessed his feelings; she was secretly engaged to a former lodger. He grew more isolated and religiously fervent. His father and uncle arranged a transfer to Paris in 1875, where he became resentful of issues such as the degree to which the art dealers commodified art, and he was dismissed a year later.
In April 1876, he returned to England to take unpaid work as a supply teacher in a small boarding school in Ramsgate. When the proprietor moved to Isleworth in Middlesex, Van Gogh went with him. The arrangement was not successful; he left to become a Methodist minister's assistant. His parents had meanwhile moved to Etten; in 1876 he returned home at Christmas for six months and took work at a bookshop in Dordrecht. He was unhappy in the position, and spent his time doodling or translating passages from the Bible into English, French, and German. He immersed himself in Christianity and became increasingly pious and monastic. According to his flatmate of the time, Paulus van Görlitz, Van Gogh ate frugally, avoiding meat.
To support his religious conviction and his desire to become a pastor, in 1877, the family sent him to live with his uncle Johannes Stricker, a respected theologian, in Amsterdam. Van Gogh prepared for the University of Amsterdam theology entrance examination; he failed the exam and left his uncle's house in July 1878. He undertook, but also failed, a three-month course at a Protestant missionary school in Laken, near Brussels.
In January 1879, he took up a post as a missionary at Petit-Wasmes in the working class, coal-mining district of Borinage in Belgium. To show support for his impoverished congregation, he gave up his comfortable lodgings at a bakery to a homeless person and moved to a small hut, where he slept on straw. His humble living conditions did not endear him to church authorities, who dismissed him for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood." He then walked the 75 kilometres (47 mi) to Brussels, returned briefly to Cuesmes in the Borinage, but he gave in to pressure from his parents to return home to Etten. He stayed there until around March 1880, which caused concern and frustration for his parents. His father was especially frustrated and advised that his son be committed to the lunatic asylum in Geel.
Van Gogh returned to Cuesmes in August 1880, where he lodged with a miner until October. He became interested in the people and scenes around him, and he recorded them in drawings after Theo's suggestion that he take up art in earnest. He travelled to Brussels later in the year, to follow Theo's recommendation that he study with the Dutch artist Willem Roelofs, who persuaded him – in spite of his dislike of formal schools of art – to attend the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts. He registered at the Académie in November 1880, where he studied anatomy and the standard rules of modelling and perspective.
Etten, Drenthe and The Hague
Van Gogh returned to Etten in April 1881 for an extended stay with his parents. He continued to draw, often using his neighbours as subjects. In August 1881, his recently widowed cousin, Cornelia "Kee" Vos-Stricker, daughter of his mother's older sister Wil and Johannes Stricker, arrived for a visit. He was thrilled and took long walks with her. Kee was seven years older than he was and had an eight-year-old son. Van Gogh surprised everyone by declaring his love to her and proposing marriage. She refused with the words "No, nay, never" ("nooit, neen, nimmer"). After Kee returned to Amsterdam, Van Gogh went to The Hague to try to sell paintings and to meet with his second cousin, Anton Mauve. Mauve was the successful artist Van Gogh longed to be. Mauve invited him to return in a few months and suggested he spend the intervening time working in charcoal and pastels; Van Gogh returned to Etten and followed this advice.
Late in November 1881, Van Gogh wrote a letter to Johannes Stricker, one which he described to Theo as an attack. Within days he left for Amsterdam. Kee would not meet him, and her parents wrote that his "persistence is disgusting." In despair, he held his left hand in the flame of a lamp, with the words: "Let me see her for as long as I can keep my hand in the flame." He did not recall the event well, but later assumed that his uncle had blown out the flame. Kee's father made it clear that her refusal should be heeded and that the two would not marry, largely because of Van Gogh's inability to support himself.
Mauve took Van Gogh on as a student and introduced him to watercolour, which he worked on for the next month before returning home for Christmas. He quarrelled with his father, refusing to attend church, and left for The Hague. In January 1882, Mauve introduced him to painting in oil and lent him money to set up a studio. Within a month Van Gogh and Mauve fell out, possibly over the viability of drawing from plaster casts. Van Gogh could only afford to hire people from the street as models, a practice of which Mauve seems to have disapproved. In June, Van Gogh suffered a bout of gonorrhoea and spent three weeks in hospital. Soon after, he first painted in oils, bought with money borrowed from Theo. He liked the medium, and he spread the paint liberally, scraping from the canvas and working back with the brush. He wrote that he was surprised at how good the results were.
By March 1882, Mauve appeared to have gone cold towards Van Gogh, and stopped replying to his letters. He had learned of Van Gogh's new domestic arrangement with an alcoholic prostitute, Clasina Maria "Sien" Hoornik (1850–1904), and her young daughter. Van Gogh had met Sien towards the end of January 1882, when she had a five-year-old daughter and was pregnant. She had previously borne two children who died, but Van Gogh was unaware of this. On 2 July, she gave birth to a baby boy, Willem. When Van Gogh's father discovered the details of their relationship, he put pressure on his son to abandon Sien and her two children. Vincent at first defied him, and considered moving the family out of the city, but in late 1883, he left Sien and the children.
Poverty may have pushed Sien back into prostitution; the home became less happy and Van Gogh may have felt family life was irreconcilable with his artistic development. Sien gave her daughter to her mother and baby Willem to her brother. Willem remembered visiting Rotterdam when he was about 12, when an uncle tried to persuade Sien to marry to legitimise the child. He believed Van Gogh was his father, but the timing of his birth makes this unlikely. Sien drowned herself in the River Scheldt in 1904.
In September 1883, Van Gogh moved to Drenthe in the northern Netherlands. In December, driven by loneliness, he went to live with his parents, then in Nuenen, North Brabant.
Emerging artist
Nuenen and Antwerp (1883–1886)
In Nuenen, Van Gogh focused on painting and drawing. Working outside and very quickly, he completed sketches and paintings of weavers and their cottages. Van Gogh also completed The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen, which was stolen from the Singer Laren in March 2020. From August 1884, Margot Begemann, a neighbour's daughter ten years his senior, joined him on his forays; she fell in love and he reciprocated, though less enthusiastically. They wanted to marry, but neither side of their families approved. Margot was distraught and took an overdose of strychnine, but survived after Van Gogh rushed her to a nearby hospital. On 26 March 1885, his father died of a heart attack.
Van Gogh painted several groups of still lifes in 1885. During his two-year stay in Nuenen, he completed numerous drawings and watercolours and nearly 200 oil paintings. His palette consisted mainly of sombre earth tones, particularly dark brown, and showed no sign of the vivid colours that distinguished his later work.
There was interest from a dealer in Paris early in 1885. Theo asked Vincent if he had paintings ready to exhibit. In May, Van Gogh responded with his first major work, The Potato Eaters, and a series of "peasant character studies" which were the culmination of several years of work. When he complained that Theo was not making enough effort to sell his paintings in Paris, his brother responded that they were too dark and not in keeping with the bright style of Impressionism. In August his work was publicly exhibited for the first time, in the shop windows of the dealer Leurs in The Hague. One of his young peasant sitters became pregnant in September 1885; Van Gogh was accused of forcing himself upon her, and the village priest forbade parishioners to model for him.
He moved to Antwerp that November and rented a room above a paint dealer's shop in the rue des Images (Lange Beeldekensstraat). He lived in poverty and ate poorly, preferring to spend the money Theo sent on painting materials and models. Bread, coffee and tobacco became his staple diet. In February 1886, he wrote to Theo that he could only remember eating six hot meals since the previous May. His teeth became loose and painful. In Antwerp he applied himself to the study of colour theory and spent time in museums—particularly studying the work of Peter Paul Rubens—and broadened his palette to include carmine, cobalt blue and emerald green. Van Gogh bought Japanese ukiyo-e woodcuts in the docklands, later incorporating elements of their style into the background of some of his paintings. He was drinking heavily again, and was hospitalised between February and March 1886, when he was possibly also treated for syphilis.
After his recovery, despite his antipathy towards academic teaching, he took the higher-level admission exams at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and, in January 1886, matriculated in painting and drawing. He became ill and run down by overwork, poor diet and excessive smoking. He started to attend drawing classes after plaster models at the Antwerp Academy on 18 January 1886. He quickly got into trouble with Charles Verlat, the director of the academy and teacher of a painting class, because of his unconventional painting style. Van Gogh had also clashed with the instructor of the drawing class Franz Vinck. Van Gogh finally started to attend the drawing classes after antique plaster models given by Eugène Siberdt. Soon Siberdt and Van Gogh came into conflict when the latter did not comply with Siberdt's requirement that drawings express the contour and concentrate on the line. When Van Gogh was required to draw the Venus de Milo during a drawing class, he produced the limbless, naked torso of a Flemish peasant woman. Siberdt regarded this as defiance against his artistic guidance and made corrections to Van Gogh's drawing with his crayon so vigorously that he tore the paper. Van Gogh then flew into a violent rage and shouted at Siberdt: 'You clearly do not know what a young woman is like, God damn it! A woman must have hips, buttocks, a pelvis in which she can carry a baby!' According to some accounts, this was the last time Van Gogh attended classes at the academy and he left later for Paris. On 31 March 1886, which was about a month after the confrontation with Siberdt, the teachers of the academy decided that 17 students, including Van Gogh, had to repeat a year. The story that Van Gogh was expelled from the academy by Siberdt is therefore unfounded.
Paris (1886–1888)
Van Gogh moved to Paris in March 1886 where he shared Theo's rue Laval apartment in Montmartre and studied at Fernand Cormon's studio. In June the brothers took a larger flat at 54 rue Lepic. In Paris, Vincent painted portraits of friends and acquaintances, still life paintings, views of Le Moulin de la Galette, scenes in Montmartre, Asnières and along the Seine. In 1885 in Antwerp he had become interested in Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints and had used them to decorate the walls of his studio; while in Paris he collected hundreds of them. He tried his hand at Japonaiserie, tracing a figure from a reproduction on the cover of the magazine Paris Illustre, The Courtesan or Oiran (1887), after Keisai Eisen, which he then graphically enlarged in a painting.
After seeing the portrait of Adolphe Monticelli at the Galerie Delareybarette, Van Gogh adopted a brighter palette and a bolder attack, particularly in paintings such as his Seascape at Saintes-Maries (1888). Two years later, Vincent and Theo paid for the publication of a book on Monticelli paintings, and Vincent bought some of Monticelli's works to add to his collection.
Van Gogh learned about Fernand Cormon's atelier from Theo. He worked at the studio in April and May 1886, where he frequented the circle of the Australian artist John Russell, who painted his portrait in 1886. Van Gogh also met fellow students Émile Bernard, Louis Anquetin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec – who painted a portrait of him in pastel. They met at Julien "Père" Tanguy's paint shop, (which was, at that time, the only place where Paul Cézanne's paintings were displayed). In 1886, two large exhibitions were staged there, showing Pointillism and Neo-impressionism for the first time and bringing attention to Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. Theo kept a stock of Impressionist paintings in his gallery on boulevard Montmartre, but Van Gogh was slow to acknowledge the new developments in art.
Conflicts arose between the brothers. At the end of 1886 Theo found living with Vincent to be "almost unbearable." By early 1887, they were again at peace, and Vincent had moved to Asnières, a northwestern suburb of Paris, where he got to know Signac. He adopted elements of Pointillism, a technique in which a multitude of small coloured dots are applied to the canvas so that when seen from a distance they create an optical blend of hues. The style stresses the ability of complementary colours – including blue and orange – to form vibrant contrasts.
While in Asnières Van Gogh painted parks, restaurants and the Seine, including Bridges across the Seine at Asnières. In November 1887, Theo and Vincent befriended Paul Gauguin who had just arrived in Paris. Towards the end of the year, Vincent arranged an exhibition alongside Bernard, Anquetin, and probably Toulouse-Lautrec, at the Grand-Bouillon Restaurant du Chalet, 43 avenue de Clichy, Montmartre. In a contemporary account, Bernard wrote that the exhibition was ahead of anything else in Paris. There, Bernard and Anquetin sold their first paintings, and Van Gogh exchanged work with Gauguin. Discussions on art, artists, and their social situations started during this exhibition, continued and expanded to include visitors to the show, like Camille Pissarro and his son Lucien, Signac and Seurat. In February 1888, feeling worn out from life in Paris, Van Gogh left, having painted more than 200 paintings during his two years there. Hours before his departure, accompanied by Theo, he paid his only visit to Seurat in his studio.
Artistic breakthrough
Arles (1888–89)
Ill from drink and suffering from smoker's cough, in February 1888, Van Gogh sought refuge in Arles. He seemed to have moved with thoughts of founding an art colony. The Danish artist Christian Mourier-Petersen was his companion for two months and at first, Arles appeared exotic to Van Gogh. In a letter, he described it as a foreign country: "The Zouaves, the brothels, the adorable little Arlésienne going to her First Communion, the priest in his surplice, who looks like a dangerous rhinoceros, the people drinking absinthe, all seem to me creatures from another world."
The time in Arles was one of Van Gogh's more prolific periods: he completed 200 paintings and more than 100 drawings and watercolours. He was energised by the local countryside and light; his works from this period are rich in yellow, ultramarine and mauve. They include harvests, wheat fields and general rural landmarks from the area, including The Old Mill (1888), one of seven canvases sent to Pont-Aven on 4 October 1888 in an exchange of works with Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard, Charles Laval and others.
In March 1888, Van Gogh created landscapes using a gridded "perspective frame" and three of those works were shown at the annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. In April, he was visited by the American artist Dodge MacKnight, who was living nearby at Fontvieille.
On 1 May 1888, Van Gogh signed a lease for four rooms at 2 Place Lamartine, Arles, which he later painted in The Yellow House. The rooms cost 15 francs per month, unfurnished; they had been uninhabited for months. Because the Yellow House had to be furnished before he could fully move in, Van Gogh moved from the Hôtel Carrel to the Café de la Gare on 7 May 1888. He had befriended the Yellow House's proprietors, Joseph and Marie Ginoux, and was able to use it as a studio. Van Gogh wanted a gallery to display his work and started a series of paintings that eventually included Van Gogh's Chair (1888), Bedroom in Arles (1888), The Night Café (1888), Café Terrace at Night (September 1888), Starry Night Over the Rhone (1888), and Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers (1888), all intended for the decoration for the Yellow House.
Van Gogh wrote that with The Night Café he tried "to express the idea that the café is a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad, or commit a crime". When he visited Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in June, he gave lessons to a Zouave second lieutenant – Paul-Eugène Milliet – and painted boats on the sea and the village. MacKnight introduced Van Gogh to Eugène Boch, a Belgian painter who sometimes stayed in Fontvieille, and the two exchanged visits in July.
Gauguin's visit (1888)
When Gauguin agreed to visit Arles in 1888, Van Gogh hoped for friendship and to realise his idea of an artists' collective. Van Gogh prepared for Gauguin's arrival by painting four versions of Sunflowers in one week. "In the hope of living in a studio of our own with Gauguin," he wrote in a letter to Theo, "I'd like to do a decoration for the studio. Nothing but large Sunflowers."
When Boch visited again, Van Gogh painted a portrait of him, as well as the study The Poet Against a Starry Sky.
In preparation for Gauguin's visit, Van Gogh bought two beds on advice from the station's postal supervisor Joseph Roulin, whose portrait he painted. On 17 September, he spent his first night in the still sparsely furnished Yellow House. When Gauguin consented to work and live in Arles with him, Van Gogh started to work on the Décoration for the Yellow House, probably the most ambitious effort he ever undertook. He completed two chair paintings: Van Gogh's Chair and Gauguin's Chair.
After much pleading from Van Gogh, Gauguin arrived in Arles on 23 October and, in November, the two painted together. Gauguin depicted Van Gogh in his The Painter of Sunflowers; Van Gogh painted pictures from memory, following Gauguin's suggestion. Among these "imaginative" paintings is Memory of the Garden at Etten. Their first joint outdoor venture was at the Alyscamps, when they produced the pendants Les Alyscamps. The single painting Gauguin completed during his visit was his portrait of Van Gogh.
Van Gogh and Gauguin visited Montpellier in December 1888, where they saw works by Courbet and Delacroix in the Musée Fabre. Their relationship began to deteriorate; Van Gogh admired Gauguin and wanted to be treated as his equal, but Gauguin was arrogant and domineering, which frustrated Van Gogh. They often quarrelled; Van Gogh increasingly feared that Gauguin was going to desert him, and the situation, which Van Gogh described as one of "excessive tension", rapidly headed towards crisis point.
Hospital in Arles (December 1888)
The exact sequence that led to the mutilation of Van Gogh's ear is not known. Gauguin said, fifteen years later, that the night followed several instances of physically threatening behaviour. Their relationship was complex and Theo may have owed money to Gauguin, who suspected the brothers were exploiting him financially. It seems likely that Vincent realised that Gauguin was planning to leave. The following days saw heavy rain, leading to the two men being shut in the Yellow House. Gauguin recalled that Van Gogh followed him after he left for a walk and "rushed towards me, an open razor in his hand". This account is uncorroborated; Gauguin was almost certainly absent from the Yellow House that night, most likely staying in a hotel.
After an altercation on the evening of 23 December 1888, Van Gogh returned to his room where he seemingly heard voices and either wholly or in part severed his left ear with a razor causing severe bleeding. He bandaged the wound, wrapped the ear in paper and delivered the package to a woman at a brothel Van Gogh and Gauguin both frequented. Van Gogh was found unconscious the next morning by a policeman and taken to hospital, where he was treated by Félix Rey, a young doctor still in training. The ear was brought to the hospital, but Rey did not attempt to reattach it as too much time had passed. Van Gogh researcher and art historian Bernadette Murphy discovered the true identity of the woman named Gabrielle Berlatier, who died in Arles at the age of 80 in 1952, and whose descendants still lived (as of 2020) just outside Arles. Gabrielle, known in her youth as "Gaby", was a 17-year-old cleaning girl at the brothel and other local establishments at the time Van Gogh presented her with his ear.
Van Gogh had no recollection of the event, suggesting that he may have suffered an acute mental breakdown. The hospital diagnosis was "acute mania with generalised delirium", and within a few days, the local police ordered that he be placed in hospital care. Gauguin immediately notified Theo, who, on 24 December, had proposed marriage to his old friend Andries Bonger's sister Jo. That evening, Theo rushed to the station to board a night train to Arles. He arrived on Christmas Day and comforted Vincent, who seemed to be semi-lucid. That evening, he left Arles for the return trip to Paris.
During the first days of his treatment, Van Gogh repeatedly and unsuccessfully asked for Gauguin, who asked a policeman attending the case to "be kind enough, Monsieur, to awaken this man with great care, and if he asks for me tell him I have left for Paris; the sight of me might prove fatal for him." Gauguin fled Arles, never to see Van Gogh again. They continued to correspond, and in 1890, Gauguin proposed they form a studio in Antwerp. Meanwhile, other visitors to the hospital included Marie Ginoux and Roulin.
Despite a pessimistic diagnosis, Van Gogh recovered and returned to the Yellow House on 7 January 1889. He spent the following month between hospital and home, suffering from hallucinations and delusions of poisoning. In March, the police closed his house after a petition by 30 townspeople (including the Ginoux family) who described him as le fou roux "the redheaded madman"; Van Gogh returned to hospital. Paul Signac visited him twice in March; in April, Van Gogh moved into rooms owned by Rey after floods damaged paintings in his own home. Two months later, he left Arles and voluntarily entered an asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Around this time, he wrote, "Sometimes moods of indescribable anguish, sometimes moments when the veil of time and fatality of circumstances seemed to be torn apart for an instant."
Van Gogh gave his 1889 Portrait of Doctor Rey to Rey. The doctor was not fond of the painting and used it to repair a chicken coop, then gave it away. In 2016, the portrait was housed at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and estimated to be worth over $50 million.
Saint-Rémy (May 1889 – May 1890)
Van Gogh entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum on 8 May 1889, accompanied by his caregiver, Frédéric Salles, a Protestant clergyman. Saint-Paul was a former monastery in Saint-Rémy, located less than 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Arles, and it was run by a former naval doctor, Théophile Peyron. Van Gogh had two cells with barred windows, one of which he used as a studio. The clinic and its garden became the main subjects of his paintings. He made several studies of the hospital's interiors, such as Vestibule of the Asylum and Saint-Rémy (September 1889), and its gardens, such as Lilacs (May 1889). Some of his works from this time are characterised by swirls, such as The Starry Night. He was allowed short supervised walks, during which time he painted cypresses and olive trees, including Valley with Ploughman Seen from Above, Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background 1889, Cypresses 1889, Cornfield with Cypresses (1889), Country road in Provence by Night (1890). In September 1889, he produced two further versions of Bedroom in Arles and The Gardener.
Limited access to life outside the clinic resulted in a shortage of subject matter. Van Gogh instead worked on interpretations of other artist's paintings, such as Millet's The Sower and Noonday Rest, and variations on his own earlier work. Van Gogh was an admirer of the Realism of Jules Breton, Gustave Courbet and Millet, and he compared his copies to a musician's interpreting Beethoven.
His Prisoners' Round (after Gustave Doré) (1890) was painted after an engraving by Gustave Doré (1832–1883). Tralbaut suggests that the face of the prisoner in the centre of the painting looking towards the viewer is Van Gogh himself; Jan Hulsker discounts this.
Between February and April 1890, Van Gogh suffered a severe relapse. Depressed and unable to bring himself to write, he was still able to paint and draw a little during this time, and he later wrote to Theo that he had made a few small canvases "from memory ... reminisces of the North". Among these was Two Peasant Women Digging in a Snow-Covered Field at Sunset. Hulsker believes that this small group of paintings formed the nucleus of many drawings and study sheets depicting landscapes and figures that Van Gogh worked on during this time. He comments that this short period was the only time that Van Gogh's illness had a significant effect on his work. Van Gogh asked his mother and his brother to send him drawings and rough work he had done in the early 1880s so he could work on new paintings from his old sketches. Belonging to this period is Sorrowing Old Man ("At Eternity's Gate"), a colour study Hulsker describes as "another unmistakable remembrance of times long past". His late paintings show an artist at the height of his abilities, according to the art critic Robert Hughes, "longing for concision and grace".
After the birth of his nephew, Van Gogh wrote, "I started right away to make a picture for him, to hang in their bedroom, branches of white almond blossom against a blue sky."
1890 Exhibitions and recognition
Albert Aurier praised his work in the Mercure de France in January 1890 and described him as "a genius". In February, Van Gogh painted five versions of L'Arlésienne (Madame Ginoux), based on a charcoal sketch Gauguin had produced when she sat for both artists in November 1888. Also in February, Van Gogh was invited by Les XX, a society of avant-garde painters in Brussels, to participate in their annual exhibition. At the opening dinner a Les XX member, Henry de Groux, insulted Van Gogh's work. Toulouse-Lautrec demanded satisfaction, and Signac declared he would continue to fight for Van Gogh's honour if Lautrec surrendered. De Groux apologised for the slight and left the group.
From 20 March to 27 April 1890, Van Gogh was included in the sixth exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants in the Pavillon de la Ville de Paris on the Champs-Elysées. Van Gogh exhibited ten paintings. While the exhibition was on display with the Artistes Indépendants in Paris, Claude Monet said that Van Gogh's work was the best in the show.
Auvers-sur-Oise (May–July 1890)
In May 1890, Van Gogh left the clinic in Saint-Rémy to move nearer to both Dr Paul Gachet in the Paris suburb of Auvers-sur-Oise and to Theo. Gachet was an amateur painter and had treated several other artists – Camille Pissarro had recommended him. Van Gogh's first impression was that Gachet was "iller than I am, it seemed to me, or let's say just as much."
The painter Charles Daubigny moved to Auvers in 1861 and in turn drew other artists there, including Camille Corot and Honoré Daumier. In July 1890, Van Gogh completed two paintings of Daubigny's Garden, one of which is likely his final work.
During his last weeks at Saint-Rémy, his thoughts returned to "memories of the North", and several of the approximately 70 oils, painted during as many days in Auvers-sur-Oise, are reminiscent of northern scenes. In June 1890, he painted several portraits of his doctor, including Portrait of Dr Gachet, and his only etching. In each the emphasis is on Gachet's melancholic disposition. There are other paintings which are probably unfinished, including Thatched Cottages by a Hill.
In July, Van Gogh wrote that he had become absorbed "in the immense plain against the hills, boundless as the sea, delicate yellow". He had first become captivated by the fields in May, when the wheat was young and green. In July, he described to Theo "vast fields of wheat under turbulent skies".
He wrote that they represented his "sadness and extreme loneliness" and that the "canvases will tell you what I cannot say in words, that is, how healthy and invigorating I find the countryside". Wheatfield with Crows, although not his last oil work, is from July 1890 and Hulsker discusses it as being associated with "melancholy and extreme loneliness". Hulsker identifies seven oil paintings from Auvers that follow the completion of Wheatfield with Crows. Hulsker also expressed concern about the number of paintings attributed to Van Gogh from the period.
Death
On 27 July 1890 (Sunday), aged 37, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver. The shooting may have taken place in the wheat field in which he had been painting, or in a local barn. The bullet was deflected by a rib and passed through his chest without doing apparent damage to internal organs – possibly stopped by his spine. He was able to walk back to the Auberge Ravoux, where he was attended to by two doctors. One of them, Dr Gachet, had served as a war surgeon in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and had extensive knowledge of gunshots. Vincent was possibly attended to during the night by Dr Gachet's son Paul Louis Gachet and the innkeeper, Arthur Ravoux. The following morning, Theo rushed to his brother's side, finding him in good spirits but within hours Vincent's health began to fail, suffering from an infection resulting from the wound. He died in the early hours of Tuesday, 29 July. According to Theo, Vincent's last words were: "The sadness will last forever".
Van Gogh was buried on 30 July, in the municipal cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise. The funeral was attended by Theo van Gogh, Andries Bonger, Charles Laval, Lucien Pissarro, Émile Bernard, Julien Tanguy and Paul Gachet, among twenty family members, friends and locals. Theo suffered from syphilis, and his health began to decline further after his brother's death. Filled with grief after losing his brother, Theo only survived Vincent by six months, as he died on 25 January 1891 at Den Dolder and was buried in Utrecht. In 1914, Jo van Gogh-Bonger had Theo's body exhumed and moved from Utrecht to be re-buried alongside Vincent's at Auvers-sur-Oise.
There have been numerous debates as to the nature of Van Gogh's illness and its effect on his work, and many retrospective diagnoses have been proposed. The consensus is that Van Gogh had an episodic condition with periods of normal functioning. Perry was the first to suggest bipolar disorder in 1947, and this has been supported by the psychiatrists Hemphill and Blumer. Biochemist Wilfred Arnold has countered that the symptoms are more consistent with acute intermittent porphyria, noting that the popular link between bipolar disorder and creativity might be spurious. Temporal lobe epilepsy with bouts of depression has also been suggested. Whatever the diagnosis, his condition was likely worsened by malnutrition, overwork, insomnia and alcohol.
Style and works
Artistic development
Van Gogh drew and painted with watercolours while at school, but only a few examples survive and the authorship of some has been challenged. When he took up art as an adult, he began at an elementary level. In early 1882, his uncle, Cornelis Marinus, owner of a well-known gallery of contemporary art in Amsterdam, asked for drawings of The Hague. Van Gogh's work did not live up to expectations. Marinus offered a second commission, specifying the subject matter in detail, but was again disappointed with the result. Van Gogh persevered; he experimented with lighting in his studio using variable shutters and different drawing materials. For more than a year he worked on single figures – highly elaborate studies in black and white, which at the time gained him only criticism. Later, they were recognised as early masterpieces.
In August 1882, Theo gave Vincent money to buy materials for working en plein air. Vincent wrote that he could now "go on painting with new vigour". From early 1883, he worked on multi-figure compositions. He had some of them photographed, but when his brother remarked that they lacked liveliness and freshness, he destroyed them and turned to oil painting. Van Gogh turned to well-known Hague School artists like Weissenbruch and Blommers, and he received technical advice from them as well as from painters like De Bock and van der Weele, both of the Hague School's second generation. He moved to Nuenen after a short period in Drenthe and began work on several large paintings but destroyed most of them. The Potato Eaters and its companion pieces are the only ones to have survived. Following a visit to the Rijksmuseum Van Gogh wrote of his admiration for the quick, economical brushwork of the Dutch Masters, especially Rembrandt and Frans Hals. He was aware many of his faults were due to lack of experience and technical expertise, so in November 1885 he travelled to Antwerp and later Paris to learn and develop his skills.
Theo criticised The Potato Eaters for its dark palette, which he thought unsuitable for a modern style. During Van Gogh's stay in Paris between 1886 and 1887, he tried to master a new, lighter palette. His Portrait of Père Tanguy (1887) shows his success with the brighter palette and is evidence of an evolving personal style. Charles Blanc's treatise on colour interested him greatly and led him to work with complementary colours. Van Gogh came to believe that the effect of colour went beyond the descriptive; he said that "colour expresses something in itself". According to Hughes, Van Gogh perceived colour as having a "psychological and moral weight", as exemplified in the garish reds and greens of The Night Café, a work he wanted to "express the terrible passions of humanity". Yellow meant the most to him, because it symbolised emotional truth. He used yellow as a symbol for sunlight, life, and God.
Van Gogh strove to be a painter of rural life and nature; during his first summer in Arles he used his new palette to paint landscapes and traditional rural life. His belief that a power existed behind the natural led him to try to capture a sense of that power, or the essence of nature in his art, sometimes through the use of symbols. His renditions of the sower, at first copied from Jean-François Millet, reflect the influence of Thomas Carlyle and Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts on the heroism of physical labour, as well as Van Gogh's religious beliefs: the sower as Christ sowing life beneath the hot sun. These were themes and motifs he returned to often to rework and develop. His paintings of flowers are filled with symbolism, but rather than use traditional Christian iconography he made up his own, where life is lived under the sun and work is an allegory of life. In Arles, having gained confidence after painting spring blossoms and learning to capture bright sunlight, he was ready to paint The Sower.
Van Gogh stayed within what he called the "guise of reality" and was critical of overly stylised works. He wrote afterwards that the abstraction of Starry Night had gone too far and that reality had "receded too far in the background". Hughes describes it as a moment of extreme visionary ecstasy: the stars are in a great whirl, reminiscent of Hokusai's Great Wave, the movement in the heaven above is reflected by the movement of the cypress on the earth below, and the painter's vision is "translated into a thick, emphatic plasma of paint".
Between 1885 and his death in 1890, Van Gogh appears to have been building an oeuvre, a collection that reflected his personal vision and could be commercially successful. He was influenced by Blanc's definition of style, that a true painting required optimal use of colour, perspective and brushstrokes. Van Gogh applied the word "purposeful" to paintings he thought he had mastered, as opposed to those he thought of as studies. He painted many series of studies; most of which were still lifes, many executed as colour experiments or as gifts to friends. The work in Arles contributed considerably to his oeuvre: those he thought the most important from that time were The Sower, Night Cafe, Memory of the Garden in Etten and Starry Night. With their broad brushstrokes, inventive perspectives, colours, contours and designs, these paintings represent the style he sought.
Major series
Van Gogh's stylistic developments are usually linked to the periods he spent living in different places across Europe. He was inclined to immerse himself in local cultures and lighting conditions, although he maintained a highly individual visual outlook throughout. His evolution as an artist was slow and he was aware of his painterly limitations. Van Gogh moved home often, perhaps to expose himself to new visual stimuli, and through exposure develop his technical skill. Art historian Melissa McQuillan believes the moves also reflect later stylistic changes and that Van Gogh used the moves to avoid conflict, and as a coping mechanism for when the idealistic artist was faced with the realities of his then current situation.
Portraits
Van Gogh said portraiture was his greatest interest. "What I'm most passionate about, much much more than all the rest in my profession", he wrote in 1890, "is the portrait, the modern portrait." It is "the only thing in painting that moves me deeply and that gives me a sense of the infinite." He wrote to his sister that he wished to paint portraits that would endure, and that he would use colour to capture their emotions and character rather than aiming for photographic realism. Those closest to Van Gogh are mostly absent from his portraits; he rarely painted Theo, van Rappard or Bernard. The portraits of his mother were from photographs.
Van Gogh painted Arles' postmaster Joseph Roulin and his family repeatedly. In five versions of La Berceuse (The Lullaby), Van Gogh painted Augustine Roulin quietly holding a rope that rocks the unseen cradle of her infant daughter. Van Gogh had planned for it to be the central image of a triptych, flanked by paintings of sunflowers.
Self-portraits
Van Gogh created more than 43 self-portraits between 1885 and 1889. They were usually completed in series, such as those painted in Paris in mid-1887, and continued until shortly before his death. Generally the portraits were studies, created during periods when he was reluctant to mix with others or when he lacked models and painted himself.
Van Gogh's self-portraits reflect a high degree of self-scrutiny. Often they were intended to mark important periods in his life; for example, the mid-1887 Paris series were painted at the point where he became aware of Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Signac. In Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat, heavy strains of paint spread outwards across the canvas. It is one of his most renowned self-portraits of that period, "with its highly organised rhythmic brushstrokes, and the novel halo derived from the Neo-impressionist repertoire was what Van Gogh himself called a 'purposeful' canvas".
They contain a wide array of physiognomical representations. Van Gogh's mental and physical condition is usually apparent; he may appear unkempt, unshaven or with a neglected beard, with deeply sunken eyes, a weak jaw, or having lost teeth. Some show him with full lips, a long face or prominent skull, or sharpened, alert features. His hair is sometimes depicted in a vibrant reddish hue and at other times ash coloured.
Van Gogh's self-portraits vary stylistically. In those painted after December 1888, the strong contrast of vivid colours highlight the haggard pallor of his skin. Some depict the artist with a beard, others without. He can be seen with bandages in portraits executed just after he mutilated his ear. In only a few does he depict himself as a painter. Those painted in Saint-Rémy show the head from the right, the side opposite his damaged ear, as he painted himself reflected in his mirror.
Flowers
Van Gogh painted several landscapes with flowers, including roses, lilacs, irises, and sunflowers. Some reflect his interests in the language of colour, and also in Japanese ukiyo-e. There are two series of dying sunflowers. The first was painted in Paris in 1887 and shows flowers lying on the ground. The second set was completed a year later in Arles and is of bouquets in a vase positioned in early morning light. Both are built from thickly layered paintwork, which, according to the London National Gallery, evokes the "texture of the seed-heads".
In these series, Van Gogh was not preoccupied by his usual interest in filling his paintings with subjectivity and emotion; rather, the two series are intended to display his technical skill and working methods to Gauguin, who was about to visit. The 1888 paintings were created during a rare period of optimism for the artist. Vincent wrote to Theo in August 1888:
I'm painting with the gusto of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse, which won't surprise you when it's a question of painting large sunflowers ... If I carry out this plan there'll be a dozen or so panels. The whole thing will therefore be a symphony in blue and yellow. I work on it all these mornings, from sunrise. Because the flowers wilt quickly and it's a matter of doing the whole thing in one go.
The sunflowers were painted to decorate the walls in anticipation of Gauguin's visit, and Van Gogh placed individual works around the Yellow House's guest room in Arles. Gauguin was deeply impressed and later acquired two of the Paris versions. After Gauguin's departure, Van Gogh imagined the two major versions of the sunflowers as wings of the Berceuse Triptych, and included them in his Les XX in Brussels exhibit. Today the major pieces of the series are among his best known, celebrated for the sickly connotations of the colour yellow and its tie-in with the Yellow House, the expressionism of the brush strokes, and their contrast against often dark backgrounds.
Cypresses and olives
Fifteen canvases depict cypresses, a tree he became fascinated with in Arles. He brought life to the trees, which were traditionally seen as emblematic of death. The series of cypresses he began in Arles featured the trees in the distance, as windbreaks in fields; when he was at Saint-Rémy he brought them to the foreground. Vincent wrote to Theo in May 1889: "Cypresses still preoccupy me, I should like to do something with them like my canvases of sunflowers"; he went on to say, "They are beautiful in line and proportion like an Egyptian obelisk."
In mid-1889, and at his sister Wil's request, Van Gogh painted several smaller versions of Wheat Field with Cypresses. The works are characterised by swirls and densely painted impasto, and include The Starry Night, in which cypresses dominate the foreground. In addition to this, other notable works on cypresses include Cypresses (1889), Cypresses with Two Figures (1889–90), and Road with Cypress and Star (1890).
During the last six or seven months of the year 1889, he had also created at least fifteen paintings of olive trees, a subject which he considered as demanding and compelling. Among these works are Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background (1889), about which in a letter to his brother Van Gogh wrote, "At last I have a landscape with olives". While in Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh spent time outside the asylum, where he painted trees in the olive groves. In these works, natural life is rendered as gnarled and arthritic as if a personification of the natural world, which are, according to Hughes, filled with "a continuous field of energy of which nature is a manifestation".
Orchards
The Flowering Orchards (also the Orchards in Blossom) are among the first groups of work completed after Van Gogh's arrival in Arles in February 1888. The 14 paintings are optimistic, joyous and visually expressive of the burgeoning spring. They are delicately sensitive and unpopulated. He painted swiftly, and although he brought to this series a version of Impressionism, a strong sense of personal style began to emerge during this period. The transience of the blossoming trees, and the passing of the season, seemed to align with his sense of impermanence and belief in a new beginning in Arles. During the blossoming of the trees that spring, he found "a world of motifs that could not have been more Japanese". Vincent wrote to Theo on 21 April 1888 that he had 10 orchards and "one big [painting] of a cherry tree, which I've spoiled".
During this period Van Gogh mastered the use of light by subjugating shadows and painting the trees as if they are the source of light – almost in a sacred manner. Early the following year he painted another smaller group of orchards, including View of Arles, Flowering Orchards. Van Gogh was enthralled by the landscape and vegetation of the south of France, and often visited the farm gardens near Arles. In the vivid light of the Mediterranean climate his palette significantly brightened.
Wheat fields
Van Gogh made several painting excursions during visits to the landscape around Arles. He made paintings of harvests, wheat fields and other rural landmarks of the area, including The Old Mill (1888); a good example of a picturesque structure bordering the wheat fields beyond. At various points, Van Gogh painted the view from his window – at The Hague, Antwerp, and Paris. These works culminated in The Wheat Field series, which depicted the view from his cells in the asylum at Saint-Rémy.
Many of the late paintings are sombre but essentially optimistic and, right up to the time of Van Gogh's death, reflect his desire to return to lucid mental health. Yet some of his final works reflect his deepening concerns. Writing in July 1890, from Auvers, Van Gogh said that he had become absorbed "in the immense plain against the hills, boundless as the sea, delicate yellow".
Van Gogh was captivated by the fields in May when the wheat was young and green. His Wheatfields at Auvers with White House shows a more subdued palette of yellows and blues, which creates a sense of idyllic harmony.
About 10 July 1890, Van Gogh wrote to Theo of "vast fields of wheat under troubled skies". Wheatfield with Crows shows the artist's state of mind in his final days; Hulsker describes the work as a "doom-filled painting with threatening skies and ill-omened crows". Its dark palette and heavy brushstrokes convey a sense of menace.
Reputation and legacy
After Van Gogh's first exhibitions in the late 1880s, his reputation grew steadily among artists, art critics, dealers and collectors. In 1887, André Antoine hung Van Gogh's alongside works of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, at the Théâtre Libre in Paris; some were acquired by Julien Tanguy. In 1889, his work was described in the journal Le Moderniste Illustré by Albert Aurier as characterised by "fire, intensity, sunshine". Ten paintings were shown at the Société des Artistes Indépendants, in Brussels in January 1890. French president Marie François Sadi Carnot was said to have been impressed by Van Gogh's work.
After Van Gogh's death, memorial exhibitions were held in Brussels, Paris, The Hague and Antwerp. His work was shown in several high-profile exhibitions, including six works at Les XX; in 1891 there was a retrospective exhibition in Brussels. In 1892, Octave Mirbeau wrote that Van Gogh's suicide was an "infinitely sadder loss for art ... even though the populace has not crowded to a magnificent funeral, and poor Vincent van Gogh, whose demise means the extinction of a beautiful flame of genius, has gone to his death as obscure and neglected as he lived."
Theo died in January 1891, removing Vincent's most vocal and well-connected champion. Theo's widow Jo van Gogh-Bonger was a Dutchwoman in her twenties who had not known either her husband or her brother-in-law very long and who suddenly had to take care of several hundreds of paintings, letters and drawings, as well as her infant son, Vincent Willem van Gogh. Gauguin was not inclined to offer assistance in promoting Van Gogh's reputation, and Jo's brother Andries Bonger also seemed lukewarm about his work. Aurier, one of Van Gogh's earliest supporters among the critics, died of typhoid fever in 1892 at the age of 27.
In 1892, Émile Bernard organised a small solo show of Van Gogh's paintings in Paris, and Julien Tanguy exhibited his Van Gogh paintings with several consigned from Jo van Gogh-Bonger. In April 1894, the Durand-Ruel Gallery in Paris agreed to take 10 paintings on consignment from Van Gogh's estate. In 1896, the Fauvist painter Henri Matisse, then an unknown art student, visited John Russell on Belle Île off Brittany. Russell had been a close friend of Van Gogh; he introduced Matisse to the Dutchman's work, and gave him a Van Gogh drawing. Influenced by Van Gogh, Matisse abandoned his earth-coloured palette for bright colours.
In Paris in 1901, a large Van Gogh retrospective was held at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery, which excited André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck, and contributed to the emergence of Fauvism. Important group exhibitions took place with the Sonderbund artists in Cologne in 1912, the Armory Show, New York in 1913, and Berlin in 1914. Henk Bremmer was instrumental in teaching and talking about Van Gogh, and introduced Helene Kröller-Müller to Van Gogh's art; she became an avid collector of his work. The early figures in German Expressionism such as Emil Nolde acknowledged a debt to Van Gogh's work. Bremmer assisted Jacob Baart de la Faille, whose catalogue raisonné L'Oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh appeared in 1928. Van Gogh's fame reached its first peak in Austria and Germany before World War I, helped by the publication of his letters in three volumes in 1914. His letters are expressive and literate, and have been described as among the foremost 19th-century writings of their kind. These began a compelling mythology of Van Gogh as an intense and dedicated painter who suffered for his art and died young. In 1934, the novelist Irving Stone wrote a biographical novel of Van Gogh's life titled Lust for Life, based on Van Gogh's letters to Theo. This novel and the 1956 film further enhanced his fame, especially in the United States where Stone surmised only a few hundred people had heard of Van Gogh prior to his surprise best-selling book.
In 1957, Francis Bacon based a series of paintings on reproductions of Van Gogh's The Painter on the Road to Tarascon, the original of which was destroyed during the Second World War. Bacon was inspired by an image he described as "haunting", and regarded Van Gogh as an alienated outsider, a position which resonated with him. Bacon identified with Van Gogh's theories of art and quoted lines written to Theo: "[R]eal painters do not paint things as they are ... [T]hey paint them as they themselves feel them to be."
Don McLean composed a song, "Vincent", about Van Gogh after reading a biography of the artist. The 1971 song is also known by its opening line, "Starry, Starry Night".
Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings. Those sold for over US$100 million (today's equivalent) include Portrait of Dr Gachet, Portrait of Joseph Roulin and Irises. The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired a copy of Wheat Field with Cypresses in 1993 for $57 million by using funds donated by publisher, diplomat and philanthropist Walter Annenberg. In 2015, L'Allée des Alyscamps sold for $66.3 million at Sotheby's, New York, exceeding its reserve of $40 million.
Minor planet 4457 Van Gogh is named in his honour.
In October 2022, two Just Stop Oil activists protesting against the effects of the fossil fuel industry on climate change threw a can of tomato soup on Van Gogh's Sunflowers in the National Gallery, London, and then glued their hands to the gallery wall. As the painting was covered by glass it was not damaged.
On October 15, 2024, the Netherlands' State Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature, Jean Rummenie, granted national park status to Van Gogh National Park in North Brabant, the area Vincent van Gogh grew up in.
Van Gogh Museum
Van Gogh's nephew and namesake, Vincent Willem van Gogh (1890–1978), inherited the estate after his mother's death in 1925. During the early 1950s he arranged for the publication of a complete edition of the letters presented in four volumes and several languages. He then began negotiations with the Dutch government to subsidise a foundation to purchase and house the entire collection. Theo's son participated in planning the project in the hope that the works would be exhibited under the best possible conditions. The project began in 1963; architect Gerrit Rietveld was commissioned to design it, and after his death in 1964 Kisho Kurokawa took charge. Work progressed throughout the 1960s, with 1972 as the target for its grand opening.
The Van Gogh Museum opened in the Museumplein in Amsterdam in 1973. It became the second most popular museum in the Netherlands, after the Rijksmuseum, regularly receiving more than 1.5 million visitors a year. In 2015 it had a record 1.9 million. Eighty-five percent of the visitors come from other countries.
Nazi-looted art
During the Nazi period (1933–1945) a great number of artworks by Van Gogh changed hands, many of them looted from Jewish collectors who were forced into exile or murdered. Some of these works have disappeared into private collections. Others have since resurfaced in museums, or at auction, or have been reclaimed, often in high-profile lawsuits, by their former owners. The German Lost Art Foundation still lists dozens of missing Van Goghs and the American Alliance of Museums lists 73 Van Goghs on the Nazi Era Provenance Internet Portal.
Notes
References
Sources
External links
The Vincent van Gogh Gallery, the complete works and letters of Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh The letters, the complete letters of Van Gogh (translated into English and annotated)
Vincent van Gogh Archived 20 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, teaching resource on Van Gogh
Works by Vincent van Gogh at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Vincent van Gogh at the Internet Archive
Works by Vincent van Gogh at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Vincent van Gogh at IMDb
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Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [ˈvɪnsɛnt ˈʋɪləɱ vɑŋ ˈɣɔx] ; 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. His oeuvre includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, most of which are characterised by bold colours and dramatic brushwork that contributed to the rise of expressionism in modern art. Van Gogh's work was only beginning to gain critical attention before his death from suicide at age 37. During his lifetime, only one of Van Gogh's paintings, The Red Vineyard, was sold.
Born into an upper-middle-class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet and thoughtful, but showed signs of mental instability. As a young man, he worked as an art dealer, often travelling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. He turned to religion and spent time as a missionary in southern Belgium. Later he drifted into ill-health and solitude. He was keenly aware of modernist trends in art and, while back with his parents, took up painting in 1881. His younger brother, Theo, supported him financially, and the two of them maintained a long correspondence.
Van Gogh's early works consist of mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers. In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he met members of the artistic avant-garde, including Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were seeking new paths beyond Impressionism. Frustrated in Paris and inspired by a growing spirit of artistic change and collaboration, in February 1888 Van Gogh moved to Arles in southern France to establish an artistic retreat and commune. Once there, his paintings grew brighter and he turned his attention to the natural world, depicting local olive groves, wheat fields and sunflowers. Van Gogh invited Gauguin to join him in Arles and eagerly anticipated Gauguin's arrival in late 1888.
Van Gogh suffered from psychotic episodes and delusions. He worried about his mental stability, and often neglected his physical health, did not eat properly and drank heavily. His friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation with a razor when, in a rage, he mutilated his left ear. Van Gogh spent time in psychiatric hospitals, including a period at Saint-Rémy. After he discharged himself and moved to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, he came under the care of the homeopathic doctor Paul Gachet. His depression persisted, and on 29 July 1890 Van Gogh died from his injuries after shooting himself in the chest with a revolver.
Van Gogh's work began to attract critical artistic attention in the last year of his life. After his death, his art and life story captured public imagination as an emblem of misunderstood genius, due in large part to the efforts of his widowed sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh-Bonger. His bold use of colour, expressive line and thick application of paint inspired avant-garde artistic groups like the Fauves and German Expressionists in the early 20th century. Van Gogh's work gained widespread critical and commercial success in the following decades, and he has become a lasting icon of the romantic ideal of the tortured artist. Today, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings ever sold. His legacy is celebrated by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds the world's largest collection of his paintings and drawings.
Letters
The most comprehensive primary source on Van Gogh is his correspondence with his younger brother, Theo. Their lifelong friendship, and most of what is known of Vincent's thoughts and theories of art, are recorded in the hundreds of letters they exchanged from 1872 until 1890. Theo van Gogh was an art dealer and provided his brother with financial and emotional support as well as access to influential people on the contemporary art scene.
Theo kept all of Vincent's letters to him, but Vincent kept only a few of the letters he received. After both had died, Theo's widow Jo Bonger-van Gogh arranged for the publication of some of their letters. A few appeared in 1906 and 1913; the majority were published in 1914. Vincent's letters are eloquent and expressive, have been described as having a "diary-like intimacy", and read in parts like autobiography. Translator Arnold Pomerans wrote that their publication adds a "fresh dimension to the understanding of Van Gogh's artistic achievement, an understanding granted to us by virtually no other painter."
There are more than 600 letters from Vincent to Theo and around 40 from Theo to Vincent. There are 22 to his sister Wil, 58 to the painter Anthon van Rappard, 22 to Émile Bernard as well as individual letters to Paul Signac, Paul Gauguin, and the critic Albert Aurier. Some are illustrated with sketches. Many are undated, but art historians have been able to place most in chronological order. Problems in transcription and dating remain, mainly with those posted from Arles. While there, Vincent wrote around 200 letters in Dutch, French, and English. There is a gap in the record when he lived in Paris as the brothers lived together and had no need to correspond.
The highly paid contemporary artist Jules Breton was frequently mentioned in Vincent's letters. In 1875 letters to Theo, Vincent mentions he saw Breton, discusses the Breton paintings he saw at a Salon, and discusses sending one of Breton's books but only on condition that it be returned. In a March 1884 letter to Rappard he discusses one of Breton's poems that had inspired one of his paintings. In 1885 he describes Breton's famous work The Song of the Lark as being "fine". In March 1880, roughly midway between these letters, Van Gogh set out on an 80-kilometre trip on foot to meet Breton in the village of Courrières; he was intimidated by Breton's success and the high wall around his estate, and returned without making his presence known. It appears Breton was unaware of Van Gogh or his attempted visit. There are no known letters between the two artists and Van Gogh is not one of the contemporary artists discussed by Breton in his 1891 autobiography Life of an Artist.
Life
Early years
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 in Groot-Zundert, in the predominantly Catholic province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. He was the oldest surviving child of Theodorus van Gogh (1822–1885), a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and his wife, Anna Cornelia Carbentus (1819–1907). Van Gogh was given the name of his grandfather and of a brother stillborn exactly a year before his birth. His grandfather, Vincent (1789–1874), was a prominent art dealer and a theology graduate from the University of Leiden in 1811. This Vincent had six sons, three of whom became art dealers, and may have been named after his great-uncle, a sculptor (1729–1802).
Van Gogh's mother came from a prosperous family in The Hague. His father was the youngest son of a minister. The two met when Anna's younger sister, Cornelia, married Theodorus's older brother Vincent (Cent). Van Gogh's parents married in May 1851 and moved to Zundert. His brother Theo was born on 1 May 1857. There was another brother, Cornelis (known as "Cor"), and three sisters: Elisabeth, Anna, and Wil. In later life, Van Gogh remained in touch only with Wil and Theo. Theodorus's salary as a minister was modest, but the Church also supplied the family with a house, a maid, two cooks, a gardener, a carriage and horse; his mother Anna instilled in the children a duty to uphold the family's high social position.
Van Gogh was a serious and thoughtful child. He was taught at home by his mother and a governess, and in 1860, was sent to the village school. In 1864, he was placed in a boarding school at Zevenbergen, where he felt abandoned, and he campaigned to come home. Instead, in 1866, his parents sent him to the middle school in Tilburg, where he was also deeply unhappy. His interest in art began at a young age. He was encouraged to draw as a child by his mother, and his early drawings are expressive, but do not approach the intensity of his later work. Constant Cornelis Huijsmans, who had been a successful artist in Paris, taught the students at Tilburg. His philosophy was to reject technique in favour of capturing the impressions of things, particularly nature or common objects. Van Gogh's profound unhappiness seems to have overshadowed the lessons, which had little effect. In March 1868, he abruptly returned home. He later wrote that his youth was "austere and cold, and sterile."
In July 1869, Van Gogh's uncle Cent obtained a position for him at the art dealers Goupil & Cie in The Hague. After completing his training in 1873, he was transferred to Goupil's London branch on Southampton Street, and took lodgings at 87 Hackford Road, Stockwell. This was a happy time for Van Gogh; he was successful at work and, at 20, was earning more than his father. Theo's wife, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, later remarked that this was the best year of Vincent's life. He became infatuated with his landlady's daughter, Eugénie Loyer, but she rejected him after he confessed his feelings; she was secretly engaged to a former lodger. He grew more isolated and religiously fervent. His father and uncle arranged a transfer to Paris in 1875, where he became resentful of issues such as the degree to which the art dealers commodified art, and he was dismissed a year later.
In April 1876, he returned to England to take unpaid work as a supply teacher in a small boarding school in Ramsgate. When the proprietor moved to Isleworth in Middlesex, Van Gogh went with him. The arrangement was not successful; he left to become a Methodist minister's assistant. His parents had meanwhile moved to Etten; in 1876 he returned home at Christmas for six months and took work at a bookshop in Dordrecht. He was unhappy in the position, and spent his time doodling or translating passages from the Bible into English, French, and German. He immersed himself in Christianity and became increasingly pious and monastic. According to his flatmate of the time, Paulus van Görlitz, Van Gogh ate frugally, avoiding meat.
To support his religious conviction and his desire to become a pastor, in 1877, the family sent him to live with his uncle Johannes Stricker, a respected theologian, in Amsterdam. Van Gogh prepared for the University of Amsterdam theology entrance examination; he failed the exam and left his uncle's house in July 1878. He undertook, but also failed, a three-month course at a Protestant missionary school in Laken, near Brussels.
In January 1879, he took up a post as a missionary at Petit-Wasmes in the working class, coal-mining district of Borinage in Belgium. To show support for his impoverished congregation, he gave up his comfortable lodgings at a bakery to a homeless person and moved to a small hut, where he slept on straw. His humble living conditions did not endear him to church authorities, who dismissed him for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood." He then walked the 75 kilometres (47 mi) to Brussels, returned briefly to Cuesmes in the Borinage, but he gave in to pressure from his parents to return home to Etten. He stayed there until around March 1880, which caused concern and frustration for his parents. His father was especially frustrated and advised that his son be committed to the lunatic asylum in Geel.
Van Gogh returned to Cuesmes in August 1880, where he lodged with a miner until October. He became interested in the people and scenes around him, and he recorded them in drawings after Theo's suggestion that he take up art in earnest. He travelled to Brussels later in the year, to follow Theo's recommendation that he study with the Dutch artist Willem Roelofs, who persuaded him – in spite of his dislike of formal schools of art – to attend the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts. He registered at the Académie in November 1880, where he studied anatomy and the standard rules of modelling and perspective.
Etten, Drenthe and The Hague
Van Gogh returned to Etten in April 1881 for an extended stay with his parents. He continued to draw, often using his neighbours as subjects. In August 1881, his recently widowed cousin, Cornelia "Kee" Vos-Stricker, daughter of his mother's older sister Wil and Johannes Stricker, arrived for a visit. He was thrilled and took long walks with her. Kee was seven years older than he was and had an eight-year-old son. Van Gogh surprised everyone by declaring his love to her and proposing marriage. She refused with the words "No, nay, never" ("nooit, neen, nimmer"). After Kee returned to Amsterdam, Van Gogh went to The Hague to try to sell paintings and to meet with his second cousin, Anton Mauve. Mauve was the successful artist Van Gogh longed to be. Mauve invited him to return in a few months and suggested he spend the intervening time working in charcoal and pastels; Van Gogh returned to Etten and followed this advice.
Late in November 1881, Van Gogh wrote a letter to Johannes Stricker, one which he described to Theo as an attack. Within days he left for Amsterdam. Kee would not meet him, and her parents wrote that his "persistence is disgusting." In despair, he held his left hand in the flame of a lamp, with the words: "Let me see her for as long as I can keep my hand in the flame." He did not recall the event well, but later assumed that his uncle had blown out the flame. Kee's father made it clear that her refusal should be heeded and that the two would not marry, largely because of Van Gogh's inability to support himself.
Mauve took Van Gogh on as a student and introduced him to watercolour, which he worked on for the next month before returning home for Christmas. He quarrelled with his father, refusing to attend church, and left for The Hague. In January 1882, Mauve introduced him to painting in oil and lent him money to set up a studio. Within a month Van Gogh and Mauve fell out, possibly over the viability of drawing from plaster casts. Van Gogh could only afford to hire people from the street as models, a practice of which Mauve seems to have disapproved. In June, Van Gogh suffered a bout of gonorrhoea and spent three weeks in hospital. Soon after, he first painted in oils, bought with money borrowed from Theo. He liked the medium, and he spread the paint liberally, scraping from the canvas and working back with the brush. He wrote that he was surprised at how good the results were.
By March 1882, Mauve appeared to have gone cold towards Van Gogh, and stopped replying to his letters. He had learned of Van Gogh's new domestic arrangement with an alcoholic prostitute, Clasina Maria "Sien" Hoornik (1850–1904), and her young daughter. Van Gogh had met Sien towards the end of January 1882, when she had a five-year-old daughter and was pregnant. She had previously borne two children who died, but Van Gogh was unaware of this. On 2 July, she gave birth to a baby boy, Willem. When Van Gogh's father discovered the details of their relationship, he put pressure on his son to abandon Sien and her two children. Vincent at first defied him, and considered moving the family out of the city, but in late 1883, he left Sien and the children.
Poverty may have pushed Sien back into prostitution; the home became less happy and Van Gogh may have felt family life was irreconcilable with his artistic development. Sien gave her daughter to her mother and baby Willem to her brother. Willem remembered visiting Rotterdam when he was about 12, when an uncle tried to persuade Sien to marry to legitimise the child. He believed Van Gogh was his father, but the timing of his birth makes this unlikely. Sien drowned herself in the River Scheldt in 1904.
In September 1883, Van Gogh moved to Drenthe in the northern Netherlands. In December, driven by loneliness, he went to live with his parents, then in Nuenen, North Brabant.
Emerging artist
Nuenen and Antwerp (1883–1886)
In Nuenen, Van Gogh focused on painting and drawing. Working outside and very quickly, he completed sketches and paintings of weavers and their cottages. Van Gogh also completed The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen, which was stolen from the Singer Laren in March 2020. From August 1884, Margot Begemann, a neighbour's daughter ten years his senior, joined him on his forays; she fell in love and he reciprocated, though less enthusiastically. They wanted to marry, but neither side of their families approved. Margot was distraught and took an overdose of strychnine, but survived after Van Gogh rushed her to a nearby hospital. On 26 March 1885, his father died of a heart attack.
Van Gogh painted several groups of still lifes in 1885. During his two-year stay in Nuenen, he completed numerous drawings and watercolours and nearly 200 oil paintings. His palette consisted mainly of sombre earth tones, particularly dark brown, and showed no sign of the vivid colours that distinguished his later work.
There was interest from a dealer in Paris early in 1885. Theo asked Vincent if he had paintings ready to exhibit. In May, Van Gogh responded with his first major work, The Potato Eaters, and a series of "peasant character studies" which were the culmination of several years of work. When he complained that Theo was not making enough effort to sell his paintings in Paris, his brother responded that they were too dark and not in keeping with the bright style of Impressionism. In August his work was publicly exhibited for the first time, in the shop windows of the dealer Leurs in The Hague. One of his young peasant sitters became pregnant in September 1885; Van Gogh was accused of forcing himself upon her, and the village priest forbade parishioners to model for him.
He moved to Antwerp that November and rented a room above a paint dealer's shop in the rue des Images (Lange Beeldekensstraat). He lived in poverty and ate poorly, preferring to spend the money Theo sent on painting materials and models. Bread, coffee and tobacco became his staple diet. In February 1886, he wrote to Theo that he could only remember eating six hot meals since the previous May. His teeth became loose and painful. In Antwerp he applied himself to the study of colour theory and spent time in museums—particularly studying the work of Peter Paul Rubens—and broadened his palette to include carmine, cobalt blue and emerald green. Van Gogh bought Japanese ukiyo-e woodcuts in the docklands, later incorporating elements of their style into the background of some of his paintings. He was drinking heavily again, and was hospitalised between February and March 1886, when he was possibly also treated for syphilis.
After his recovery, despite his antipathy towards academic teaching, he took the higher-level admission exams at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and, in January 1886, matriculated in painting and drawing. He became ill and run down by overwork, poor diet and excessive smoking. He started to attend drawing classes after plaster models at the Antwerp Academy on 18 January 1886. He quickly got into trouble with Charles Verlat, the director of the academy and teacher of a painting class, because of his unconventional painting style. Van Gogh had also clashed with the instructor of the drawing class Franz Vinck. Van Gogh finally started to attend the drawing classes after antique plaster models given by Eugène Siberdt. Soon Siberdt and Van Gogh came into conflict when the latter did not comply with Siberdt's requirement that drawings express the contour and concentrate on the line. When Van Gogh was required to draw the Venus de Milo during a drawing class, he produced the limbless, naked torso of a Flemish peasant woman. Siberdt regarded this as defiance against his artistic guidance and made corrections to Van Gogh's drawing with his crayon so vigorously that he tore the paper. Van Gogh then flew into a violent rage and shouted at Siberdt: 'You clearly do not know what a young woman is like, God damn it! A woman must have hips, buttocks, a pelvis in which she can carry a baby!' According to some accounts, this was the last time Van Gogh attended classes at the academy and he left later for Paris. On 31 March 1886, which was about a month after the confrontation with Siberdt, the teachers of the academy decided that 17 students, including Van Gogh, had to repeat a year. The story that Van Gogh was expelled from the academy by Siberdt is therefore unfounded.
Paris (1886–1888)
Van Gogh moved to Paris in March 1886 where he shared Theo's rue Laval apartment in Montmartre and studied at Fernand Cormon's studio. In June the brothers took a larger flat at 54 rue Lepic. In Paris, Vincent painted portraits of friends and acquaintances, still life paintings, views of Le Moulin de la Galette, scenes in Montmartre, Asnières and along the Seine. In 1885 in Antwerp he had become interested in Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints and had used them to decorate the walls of his studio; while in Paris he collected hundreds of them. He tried his hand at Japonaiserie, tracing a figure from a reproduction on the cover of the magazine Paris Illustre, The Courtesan or Oiran (1887), after Keisai Eisen, which he then graphically enlarged in a painting.
After seeing the portrait of Adolphe Monticelli at the Galerie Delareybarette, Van Gogh adopted a brighter palette and a bolder attack, particularly in paintings such as his Seascape at Saintes-Maries (1888). Two years later, Vincent and Theo paid for the publication of a book on Monticelli paintings, and Vincent bought some of Monticelli's works to add to his collection.
Van Gogh learned about Fernand Cormon's atelier from Theo. He worked at the studio in April and May 1886, where he frequented the circle of the Australian artist John Russell, who painted his portrait in 1886. Van Gogh also met fellow students Émile Bernard, Louis Anquetin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec – who painted a portrait of him in pastel. They met at Julien "Père" Tanguy's paint shop, (which was, at that time, the only place where Paul Cézanne's paintings were displayed). In 1886, two large exhibitions were staged there, showing Pointillism and Neo-impressionism for the first time and bringing attention to Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. Theo kept a stock of Impressionist paintings in his gallery on boulevard Montmartre, but Van Gogh was slow to acknowledge the new developments in art.
Conflicts arose between the brothers. At the end of 1886 Theo found living with Vincent to be "almost unbearable." By early 1887, they were again at peace, and Vincent had moved to Asnières, a northwestern suburb of Paris, where he got to know Signac. He adopted elements of Pointillism, a technique in which a multitude of small coloured dots are applied to the canvas so that when seen from a distance they create an optical blend of hues. The style stresses the ability of complementary colours – including blue and orange – to form vibrant contrasts.
While in Asnières Van Gogh painted parks, restaurants and the Seine, including Bridges across the Seine at Asnières. In November 1887, Theo and Vincent befriended Paul Gauguin who had just arrived in Paris. Towards the end of the year, Vincent arranged an exhibition alongside Bernard, Anquetin, and probably Toulouse-Lautrec, at the Grand-Bouillon Restaurant du Chalet, 43 avenue de Clichy, Montmartre. In a contemporary account, Bernard wrote that the exhibition was ahead of anything else in Paris. There, Bernard and Anquetin sold their first paintings, and Van Gogh exchanged work with Gauguin. Discussions on art, artists, and their social situations started during this exhibition, continued and expanded to include visitors to the show, like Camille Pissarro and his son Lucien, Signac and Seurat. In February 1888, feeling worn out from life in Paris, Van Gogh left, having painted more than 200 paintings during his two years there. Hours before his departure, accompanied by Theo, he paid his only visit to Seurat in his studio.
Artistic breakthrough
Arles (1888–89)
Ill from drink and suffering from smoker's cough, in February 1888, Van Gogh sought refuge in Arles. He seemed to have moved with thoughts of founding an art colony. The Danish artist Christian Mourier-Petersen was his companion for two months and at first, Arles appeared exotic to Van Gogh. In a letter, he described it as a foreign country: "The Zouaves, the brothels, the adorable little Arlésienne going to her First Communion, the priest in his surplice, who looks like a dangerous rhinoceros, the people drinking absinthe, all seem to me creatures from another world."
The time in Arles was one of Van Gogh's more prolific periods: he completed 200 paintings and more than 100 drawings and watercolours. He was energised by the local countryside and light; his works from this period are rich in yellow, ultramarine and mauve. They include harvests, wheat fields and general rural landmarks from the area, including The Old Mill (1888), one of seven canvases sent to Pont-Aven on 4 October 1888 in an exchange of works with Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard, Charles Laval and others.
In March 1888, Van Gogh created landscapes using a gridded "perspective frame" and three of those works were shown at the annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. In April, he was visited by the American artist Dodge MacKnight, who was living nearby at Fontvieille.
On 1 May 1888, Van Gogh signed a lease for four rooms at 2 Place Lamartine, Arles, which he later painted in The Yellow House. The rooms cost 15 francs per month, unfurnished; they had been uninhabited for months. Because the Yellow House had to be furnished before he could fully move in, Van Gogh moved from the Hôtel Carrel to the Café de la Gare on 7 May 1888. He had befriended the Yellow House's proprietors, Joseph and Marie Ginoux, and was able to use it as a studio. Van Gogh wanted a gallery to display his work and started a series of paintings that eventually included Van Gogh's Chair (1888), Bedroom in Arles (1888), The Night Café (1888), Café Terrace at Night (September 1888), Starry Night Over the Rhone (1888), and Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers (1888), all intended for the decoration for the Yellow House.
Van Gogh wrote that with The Night Café he tried "to express the idea that the café is a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad, or commit a crime". When he visited Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in June, he gave lessons to a Zouave second lieutenant – Paul-Eugène Milliet – and painted boats on the sea and the village. MacKnight introduced Van Gogh to Eugène Boch, a Belgian painter who sometimes stayed in Fontvieille, and the two exchanged visits in July.
Gauguin's visit (1888)
When Gauguin agreed to visit Arles in 1888, Van Gogh hoped for friendship and to realise his idea of an artists' collective. Van Gogh prepared for Gauguin's arrival by painting four versions of Sunflowers in one week. "In the hope of living in a studio of our own with Gauguin," he wrote in a letter to Theo, "I'd like to do a decoration for the studio. Nothing but large Sunflowers."
When Boch visited again, Van Gogh painted a portrait of him, as well as the study The Poet Against a Starry Sky.
In preparation for Gauguin's visit, Van Gogh bought two beds on advice from the station's postal supervisor Joseph Roulin, whose portrait he painted. On 17 September, he spent his first night in the still sparsely furnished Yellow House. When Gauguin consented to work and live in Arles with him, Van Gogh started to work on the Décoration for the Yellow House, probably the most ambitious effort he ever undertook. He completed two chair paintings: Van Gogh's Chair and Gauguin's Chair.
After much pleading from Van Gogh, Gauguin arrived in Arles on 23 October and, in November, the two painted together. Gauguin depicted Van Gogh in his The Painter of Sunflowers; Van Gogh painted pictures from memory, following Gauguin's suggestion. Among these "imaginative" paintings is Memory of the Garden at Etten. Their first joint outdoor venture was at the Alyscamps, when they produced the pendants Les Alyscamps. The single painting Gauguin completed during his visit was his portrait of Van Gogh.
Van Gogh and Gauguin visited Montpellier in December 1888, where they saw works by Courbet and Delacroix in the Musée Fabre. Their relationship began to deteriorate; Van Gogh admired Gauguin and wanted to be treated as his equal, but Gauguin was arrogant and domineering, which frustrated Van Gogh. They often quarrelled; Van Gogh increasingly feared that Gauguin was going to desert him, and the situation, which Van Gogh described as one of "excessive tension", rapidly headed towards crisis point.
Hospital in Arles (December 1888)
The exact sequence that led to the mutilation of Van Gogh's ear is not known. Gauguin said, fifteen years later, that the night followed several instances of physically threatening behaviour. Their relationship was complex and Theo may have owed money to Gauguin, who suspected the brothers were exploiting him financially. It seems likely that Vincent realised that Gauguin was planning to leave. The following days saw heavy rain, leading to the two men being shut in the Yellow House. Gauguin recalled that Van Gogh followed him after he left for a walk and "rushed towards me, an open razor in his hand". This account is uncorroborated; Gauguin was almost certainly absent from the Yellow House that night, most likely staying in a hotel.
After an altercation on the evening of 23 December 1888, Van Gogh returned to his room where he seemingly heard voices and either wholly or in part severed his left ear with a razor causing severe bleeding. He bandaged the wound, wrapped the ear in paper and delivered the package to a woman at a brothel Van Gogh and Gauguin both frequented. Van Gogh was found unconscious the next morning by a policeman and taken to hospital, where he was treated by Félix Rey, a young doctor still in training. The ear was brought to the hospital, but Rey did not attempt to reattach it as too much time had passed. Van Gogh researcher and art historian Bernadette Murphy discovered the true identity of the woman named Gabrielle Berlatier, who died in Arles at the age of 80 in 1952, and whose descendants still lived (as of 2020) just outside Arles. Gabrielle, known in her youth as "Gaby", was a 17-year-old cleaning girl at the brothel and other local establishments at the time Van Gogh presented her with his ear.
Van Gogh had no recollection of the event, suggesting that he may have suffered an acute mental breakdown. The hospital diagnosis was "acute mania with generalised delirium", and within a few days, the local police ordered that he be placed in hospital care. Gauguin immediately notified Theo, who, on 24 December, had proposed marriage to his old friend Andries Bonger's sister Jo. That evening, Theo rushed to the station to board a night train to Arles. He arrived on Christmas Day and comforted Vincent, who seemed to be semi-lucid. That evening, he left Arles for the return trip to Paris.
During the first days of his treatment, Van Gogh repeatedly and unsuccessfully asked for Gauguin, who asked a policeman attending the case to "be kind enough, Monsieur, to awaken this man with great care, and if he asks for me tell him I have left for Paris; the sight of me might prove fatal for him." Gauguin fled Arles, never to see Van Gogh again. They continued to correspond, and in 1890, Gauguin proposed they form a studio in Antwerp. Meanwhile, other visitors to the hospital included Marie Ginoux and Roulin.
Despite a pessimistic diagnosis, Van Gogh recovered and returned to the Yellow House on 7 January 1889. He spent the following month between hospital and home, suffering from hallucinations and delusions of poisoning. In March, the police closed his house after a petition by 30 townspeople (including the Ginoux family) who described him as le fou roux "the redheaded madman"; Van Gogh returned to hospital. Paul Signac visited him twice in March; in April, Van Gogh moved into rooms owned by Rey after floods damaged paintings in his own home. Two months later, he left Arles and voluntarily entered an asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Around this time, he wrote, "Sometimes moods of indescribable anguish, sometimes moments when the veil of time and fatality of circumstances seemed to be torn apart for an instant."
Van Gogh gave his 1889 Portrait of Doctor Rey to Rey. The doctor was not fond of the painting and used it to repair a chicken coop, then gave it away. In 2016, the portrait was housed at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and estimated to be worth over $50 million.
Saint-Rémy (May 1889 – May 1890)
Van Gogh entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum on 8 May 1889, accompanied by his caregiver, Frédéric Salles, a Protestant clergyman. Saint-Paul was a former monastery in Saint-Rémy, located less than 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Arles, and it was run by a former naval doctor, Théophile Peyron. Van Gogh had two cells with barred windows, one of which he used as a studio. The clinic and its garden became the main subjects of his paintings. He made several studies of the hospital's interiors, such as Vestibule of the Asylum and Saint-Rémy (September 1889), and its gardens, such as Lilacs (May 1889). Some of his works from this time are characterised by swirls, such as The Starry Night. He was allowed short supervised walks, during which time he painted cypresses and olive trees, including Valley with Ploughman Seen from Above, Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background 1889, Cypresses 1889, Cornfield with Cypresses (1889), Country road in Provence by Night (1890). In September 1889, he produced two further versions of Bedroom in Arles and The Gardener.
Limited access to life outside the clinic resulted in a shortage of subject matter. Van Gogh instead worked on interpretations of other artist's paintings, such as Millet's The Sower and Noonday Rest, and variations on his own earlier work. Van Gogh was an admirer of the Realism of Jules Breton, Gustave Courbet and Millet, and he compared his copies to a musician's interpreting Beethoven.
His Prisoners' Round (after Gustave Doré) (1890) was painted after an engraving by Gustave Doré (1832–1883). Tralbaut suggests that the face of the prisoner in the centre of the painting looking towards the viewer is Van Gogh himself; Jan Hulsker discounts this.
Between February and April 1890, Van Gogh suffered a severe relapse. Depressed and unable to bring himself to write, he was still able to paint and draw a little during this time, and he later wrote to Theo that he had made a few small canvases "from memory ... reminisces of the North". Among these was Two Peasant Women Digging in a Snow-Covered Field at Sunset. Hulsker believes that this small group of paintings formed the nucleus of many drawings and study sheets depicting landscapes and figures that Van Gogh worked on during this time. He comments that this short period was the only time that Van Gogh's illness had a significant effect on his work. Van Gogh asked his mother and his brother to send him drawings and rough work he had done in the early 1880s so he could work on new paintings from his old sketches. Belonging to this period is Sorrowing Old Man ("At Eternity's Gate"), a colour study Hulsker describes as "another unmistakable remembrance of times long past". His late paintings show an artist at the height of his abilities, according to the art critic Robert Hughes, "longing for concision and grace".
After the birth of his nephew, Van Gogh wrote, "I started right away to make a picture for him, to hang in their bedroom, branches of white almond blossom against a blue sky."
1890 Exhibitions and recognition
Albert Aurier praised his work in the Mercure de France in January 1890 and described him as "a genius". In February, Van Gogh painted five versions of L'Arlésienne (Madame Ginoux), based on a charcoal sketch Gauguin had produced when she sat for both artists in November 1888. Also in February, Van Gogh was invited by Les XX, a society of avant-garde painters in Brussels, to participate in their annual exhibition. At the opening dinner a Les XX member, Henry de Groux, insulted Van Gogh's work. Toulouse-Lautrec demanded satisfaction, and Signac declared he would continue to fight for Van Gogh's honour if Lautrec surrendered. De Groux apologised for the slight and left the group.
From 20 March to 27 April 1890, Van Gogh was included in the sixth exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants in the Pavillon de la Ville de Paris on the Champs-Elysées. Van Gogh exhibited ten paintings. While the exhibition was on display with the Artistes Indépendants in Paris, Claude Monet said that Van Gogh's work was the best in the show.
Auvers-sur-Oise (May–July 1890)
In May 1890, Van Gogh left the clinic in Saint-Rémy to move nearer to both Dr Paul Gachet in the Paris suburb of Auvers-sur-Oise and to Theo. Gachet was an amateur painter and had treated several other artists – Camille Pissarro had recommended him. Van Gogh's first impression was that Gachet was "iller than I am, it seemed to me, or let's say just as much."
The painter Charles Daubigny moved to Auvers in 1861 and in turn drew other artists there, including Camille Corot and Honoré Daumier. In July 1890, Van Gogh completed two paintings of Daubigny's Garden, one of which is likely his final work.
During his last weeks at Saint-Rémy, his thoughts returned to "memories of the North", and several of the approximately 70 oils, painted during as many days in Auvers-sur-Oise, are reminiscent of northern scenes. In June 1890, he painted several portraits of his doctor, including Portrait of Dr Gachet, and his only etching. In each the emphasis is on Gachet's melancholic disposition. There are other paintings which are probably unfinished, including Thatched Cottages by a Hill.
In July, Van Gogh wrote that he had become absorbed "in the immense plain against the hills, boundless as the sea, delicate yellow". He had first become captivated by the fields in May, when the wheat was young and green. In July, he described to Theo "vast fields of wheat under turbulent skies".
He wrote that they represented his "sadness and extreme loneliness" and that the "canvases will tell you what I cannot say in words, that is, how healthy and invigorating I find the countryside". Wheatfield with Crows, although not his last oil work, is from July 1890 and Hulsker discusses it as being associated with "melancholy and extreme loneliness". Hulsker identifies seven oil paintings from Auvers that follow the completion of Wheatfield with Crows. Hulsker also expressed concern about the number of paintings attributed to Van Gogh from the period.
Death
On 27 July 1890 (Sunday), aged 37, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver. The shooting may have taken place in the wheat field in which he had been painting, or in a local barn. The bullet was deflected by a rib and passed through his chest without doing apparent damage to internal organs – possibly stopped by his spine. He was able to walk back to the Auberge Ravoux, where he was attended to by two doctors. One of them, Dr Gachet, had served as a war surgeon in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and had extensive knowledge of gunshots. Vincent was possibly attended to during the night by Dr Gachet's son Paul Louis Gachet and the innkeeper, Arthur Ravoux. The following morning, Theo rushed to his brother's side, finding him in good spirits but within hours Vincent's health began to fail, suffering from an infection resulting from the wound. He died in the early hours of Tuesday, 29 July. According to Theo, Vincent's last words were: "The sadness will last forever".
Van Gogh was buried on 30 July, in the municipal cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise. The funeral was attended by Theo van Gogh, Andries Bonger, Charles Laval, Lucien Pissarro, Émile Bernard, Julien Tanguy and Paul Gachet, among twenty family members, friends and locals. Theo suffered from syphilis, and his health began to decline further after his brother's death. Filled with grief after losing his brother, Theo only survived Vincent by six months, as he died on 25 January 1891 at Den Dolder and was buried in Utrecht. In 1914, Jo van Gogh-Bonger had Theo's body exhumed and moved from Utrecht to be re-buried alongside Vincent's at Auvers-sur-Oise.
There have been numerous debates as to the nature of Van Gogh's illness and its effect on his work, and many retrospective diagnoses have been proposed. The consensus is that Van Gogh had an episodic condition with periods of normal functioning. Perry was the first to suggest bipolar disorder in 1947, and this has been supported by the psychiatrists Hemphill and Blumer. Biochemist Wilfred Arnold has countered that the symptoms are more consistent with acute intermittent porphyria, noting that the popular link between bipolar disorder and creativity might be spurious. Temporal lobe epilepsy with bouts of depression has also been suggested. Whatever the diagnosis, his condition was likely worsened by malnutrition, overwork, insomnia and alcohol.
Style and works
Artistic development
Van Gogh drew and painted with watercolours while at school, but only a few examples survive and the authorship of some has been challenged. When he took up art as an adult, he began at an elementary level. In early 1882, his uncle, Cornelis Marinus, owner of a well-known gallery of contemporary art in Amsterdam, asked for drawings of The Hague. Van Gogh's work did not live up to expectations. Marinus offered a second commission, specifying the subject matter in detail, but was again disappointed with the result. Van Gogh persevered; he experimented with lighting in his studio using variable shutters and different drawing materials. For more than a year he worked on single figures – highly elaborate studies in black and white, which at the time gained him only criticism. Later, they were recognised as early masterpieces.
In August 1882, Theo gave Vincent money to buy materials for working en plein air. Vincent wrote that he could now "go on painting with new vigour". From early 1883, he worked on multi-figure compositions. He had some of them photographed, but when his brother remarked that they lacked liveliness and freshness, he destroyed them and turned to oil painting. Van Gogh turned to well-known Hague School artists like Weissenbruch and Blommers, and he received technical advice from them as well as from painters like De Bock and van der Weele, both of the Hague School's second generation. He moved to Nuenen after a short period in Drenthe and began work on several large paintings but destroyed most of them. The Potato Eaters and its companion pieces are the only ones to have survived. Following a visit to the Rijksmuseum Van Gogh wrote of his admiration for the quick, economical brushwork of the Dutch Masters, especially Rembrandt and Frans Hals. He was aware many of his faults were due to lack of experience and technical expertise, so in November 1885 he travelled to Antwerp and later Paris to learn and develop his skills.
Theo criticised The Potato Eaters for its dark palette, which he thought unsuitable for a modern style. During Van Gogh's stay in Paris between 1886 and 1887, he tried to master a new, lighter palette. His Portrait of Père Tanguy (1887) shows his success with the brighter palette and is evidence of an evolving personal style. Charles Blanc's treatise on colour interested him greatly and led him to work with complementary colours. Van Gogh came to believe that the effect of colour went beyond the descriptive; he said that "colour expresses something in itself". According to Hughes, Van Gogh perceived colour as having a "psychological and moral weight", as exemplified in the garish reds and greens of The Night Café, a work he wanted to "express the terrible passions of humanity". Yellow meant the most to him, because it symbolised emotional truth. He used yellow as a symbol for sunlight, life, and God.
Van Gogh strove to be a painter of rural life and nature; during his first summer in Arles he used his new palette to paint landscapes and traditional rural life. His belief that a power existed behind the natural led him to try to capture a sense of that power, or the essence of nature in his art, sometimes through the use of symbols. His renditions of the sower, at first copied from Jean-François Millet, reflect the influence of Thomas Carlyle and Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts on the heroism of physical labour, as well as Van Gogh's religious beliefs: the sower as Christ sowing life beneath the hot sun. These were themes and motifs he returned to often to rework and develop. His paintings of flowers are filled with symbolism, but rather than use traditional Christian iconography he made up his own, where life is lived under the sun and work is an allegory of life. In Arles, having gained confidence after painting spring blossoms and learning to capture bright sunlight, he was ready to paint The Sower.
Van Gogh stayed within what he called the "guise of reality" and was critical of overly stylised works. He wrote afterwards that the abstraction of Starry Night had gone too far and that reality had "receded too far in the background". Hughes describes it as a moment of extreme visionary ecstasy: the stars are in a great whirl, reminiscent of Hokusai's Great Wave, the movement in the heaven above is reflected by the movement of the cypress on the earth below, and the painter's vision is "translated into a thick, emphatic plasma of paint".
Between 1885 and his death in 1890, Van Gogh appears to have been building an oeuvre, a collection that reflected his personal vision and could be commercially successful. He was influenced by Blanc's definition of style, that a true painting required optimal use of colour, perspective and brushstrokes. Van Gogh applied the word "purposeful" to paintings he thought he had mastered, as opposed to those he thought of as studies. He painted many series of studies; most of which were still lifes, many executed as colour experiments or as gifts to friends. The work in Arles contributed considerably to his oeuvre: those he thought the most important from that time were The Sower, Night Cafe, Memory of the Garden in Etten and Starry Night. With their broad brushstrokes, inventive perspectives, colours, contours and designs, these paintings represent the style he sought.
Major series
Van Gogh's stylistic developments are usually linked to the periods he spent living in different places across Europe. He was inclined to immerse himself in local cultures and lighting conditions, although he maintained a highly individual visual outlook throughout. His evolution as an artist was slow and he was aware of his painterly limitations. Van Gogh moved home often, perhaps to expose himself to new visual stimuli, and through exposure develop his technical skill. Art historian Melissa McQuillan believes the moves also reflect later stylistic changes and that Van Gogh used the moves to avoid conflict, and as a coping mechanism for when the idealistic artist was faced with the realities of his then current situation.
Portraits
Van Gogh said portraiture was his greatest interest. "What I'm most passionate about, much much more than all the rest in my profession", he wrote in 1890, "is the portrait, the modern portrait." It is "the only thing in painting that moves me deeply and that gives me a sense of the infinite." He wrote to his sister that he wished to paint portraits that would endure, and that he would use colour to capture their emotions and character rather than aiming for photographic realism. Those closest to Van Gogh are mostly absent from his portraits; he rarely painted Theo, van Rappard or Bernard. The portraits of his mother were from photographs.
Van Gogh painted Arles' postmaster Joseph Roulin and his family repeatedly. In five versions of La Berceuse (The Lullaby), Van Gogh painted Augustine Roulin quietly holding a rope that rocks the unseen cradle of her infant daughter. Van Gogh had planned for it to be the central image of a triptych, flanked by paintings of sunflowers.
Self-portraits
Van Gogh created more than 43 self-portraits between 1885 and 1889. They were usually completed in series, such as those painted in Paris in mid-1887, and continued until shortly before his death. Generally the portraits were studies, created during periods when he was reluctant to mix with others or when he lacked models and painted himself.
Van Gogh's self-portraits reflect a high degree of self-scrutiny. Often they were intended to mark important periods in his life; for example, the mid-1887 Paris series were painted at the point where he became aware of Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Signac. In Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat, heavy strains of paint spread outwards across the canvas. It is one of his most renowned self-portraits of that period, "with its highly organised rhythmic brushstrokes, and the novel halo derived from the Neo-impressionist repertoire was what Van Gogh himself called a 'purposeful' canvas".
They contain a wide array of physiognomical representations. Van Gogh's mental and physical condition is usually apparent; he may appear unkempt, unshaven or with a neglected beard, with deeply sunken eyes, a weak jaw, or having lost teeth. Some show him with full lips, a long face or prominent skull, or sharpened, alert features. His hair is sometimes depicted in a vibrant reddish hue and at other times ash coloured.
Van Gogh's self-portraits vary stylistically. In those painted after December 1888, the strong contrast of vivid colours highlight the haggard pallor of his skin. Some depict the artist with a beard, others without. He can be seen with bandages in portraits executed just after he mutilated his ear. In only a few does he depict himself as a painter. Those painted in Saint-Rémy show the head from the right, the side opposite his damaged ear, as he painted himself reflected in his mirror.
Flowers
Van Gogh painted several landscapes with flowers, including roses, lilacs, irises, and sunflowers. Some reflect his interests in the language of colour, and also in Japanese ukiyo-e. There are two series of dying sunflowers. The first was painted in Paris in 1887 and shows flowers lying on the ground. The second set was completed a year later in Arles and is of bouquets in a vase positioned in early morning light. Both are built from thickly layered paintwork, which, according to the London National Gallery, evokes the "texture of the seed-heads".
In these series, Van Gogh was not preoccupied by his usual interest in filling his paintings with subjectivity and emotion; rather, the two series are intended to display his technical skill and working methods to Gauguin, who was about to visit. The 1888 paintings were created during a rare period of optimism for the artist. Vincent wrote to Theo in August 1888:
I'm painting with the gusto of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse, which won't surprise you when it's a question of painting large sunflowers ... If I carry out this plan there'll be a dozen or so panels. The whole thing will therefore be a symphony in blue and yellow. I work on it all these mornings, from sunrise. Because the flowers wilt quickly and it's a matter of doing the whole thing in one go.
The sunflowers were painted to decorate the walls in anticipation of Gauguin's visit, and Van Gogh placed individual works around the Yellow House's guest room in Arles. Gauguin was deeply impressed and later acquired two of the Paris versions. After Gauguin's departure, Van Gogh imagined the two major versions of the sunflowers as wings of the Berceuse Triptych, and included them in his Les XX in Brussels exhibit. Today the major pieces of the series are among his best known, celebrated for the sickly connotations of the colour yellow and its tie-in with the Yellow House, the expressionism of the brush strokes, and their contrast against often dark backgrounds.
Cypresses and olives
Fifteen canvases depict cypresses, a tree he became fascinated with in Arles. He brought life to the trees, which were traditionally seen as emblematic of death. The series of cypresses he began in Arles featured the trees in the distance, as windbreaks in fields; when he was at Saint-Rémy he brought them to the foreground. Vincent wrote to Theo in May 1889: "Cypresses still preoccupy me, I should like to do something with them like my canvases of sunflowers"; he went on to say, "They are beautiful in line and proportion like an Egyptian obelisk."
In mid-1889, and at his sister Wil's request, Van Gogh painted several smaller versions of Wheat Field with Cypresses. The works are characterised by swirls and densely painted impasto, and include The Starry Night, in which cypresses dominate the foreground. In addition to this, other notable works on cypresses include Cypresses (1889), Cypresses with Two Figures (1889–90), and Road with Cypress and Star (1890).
During the last six or seven months of the year 1889, he had also created at least fifteen paintings of olive trees, a subject which he considered as demanding and compelling. Among these works are Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background (1889), about which in a letter to his brother Van Gogh wrote, "At last I have a landscape with olives". While in Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh spent time outside the asylum, where he painted trees in the olive groves. In these works, natural life is rendered as gnarled and arthritic as if a personification of the natural world, which are, according to Hughes, filled with "a continuous field of energy of which nature is a manifestation".
Orchards
The Flowering Orchards (also the Orchards in Blossom) are among the first groups of work completed after Van Gogh's arrival in Arles in February 1888. The 14 paintings are optimistic, joyous and visually expressive of the burgeoning spring. They are delicately sensitive and unpopulated. He painted swiftly, and although he brought to this series a version of Impressionism, a strong sense of personal style began to emerge during this period. The transience of the blossoming trees, and the passing of the season, seemed to align with his sense of impermanence and belief in a new beginning in Arles. During the blossoming of the trees that spring, he found "a world of motifs that could not have been more Japanese". Vincent wrote to Theo on 21 April 1888 that he had 10 orchards and "one big [painting] of a cherry tree, which I've spoiled".
During this period Van Gogh mastered the use of light by subjugating shadows and painting the trees as if they are the source of light – almost in a sacred manner. Early the following year he painted another smaller group of orchards, including View of Arles, Flowering Orchards. Van Gogh was enthralled by the landscape and vegetation of the south of France, and often visited the farm gardens near Arles. In the vivid light of the Mediterranean climate his palette significantly brightened.
Wheat fields
Van Gogh made several painting excursions during visits to the landscape around Arles. He made paintings of harvests, wheat fields and other rural landmarks of the area, including The Old Mill (1888); a good example of a picturesque structure bordering the wheat fields beyond. At various points, Van Gogh painted the view from his window – at The Hague, Antwerp, and Paris. These works culminated in The Wheat Field series, which depicted the view from his cells in the asylum at Saint-Rémy.
Many of the late paintings are sombre but essentially optimistic and, right up to the time of Van Gogh's death, reflect his desire to return to lucid mental health. Yet some of his final works reflect his deepening concerns. Writing in July 1890, from Auvers, Van Gogh said that he had become absorbed "in the immense plain against the hills, boundless as the sea, delicate yellow".
Van Gogh was captivated by the fields in May when the wheat was young and green. His Wheatfields at Auvers with White House shows a more subdued palette of yellows and blues, which creates a sense of idyllic harmony.
About 10 July 1890, Van Gogh wrote to Theo of "vast fields of wheat under troubled skies". Wheatfield with Crows shows the artist's state of mind in his final days; Hulsker describes the work as a "doom-filled painting with threatening skies and ill-omened crows". Its dark palette and heavy brushstrokes convey a sense of menace.
Reputation and legacy
After Van Gogh's first exhibitions in the late 1880s, his reputation grew steadily among artists, art critics, dealers and collectors. In 1887, André Antoine hung Van Gogh's alongside works of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, at the Théâtre Libre in Paris; some were acquired by Julien Tanguy. In 1889, his work was described in the journal Le Moderniste Illustré by Albert Aurier as characterised by "fire, intensity, sunshine". Ten paintings were shown at the Société des Artistes Indépendants, in Brussels in January 1890. French president Marie François Sadi Carnot was said to have been impressed by Van Gogh's work.
After Van Gogh's death, memorial exhibitions were held in Brussels, Paris, The Hague and Antwerp. His work was shown in several high-profile exhibitions, including six works at Les XX; in 1891 there was a retrospective exhibition in Brussels. In 1892, Octave Mirbeau wrote that Van Gogh's suicide was an "infinitely sadder loss for art ... even though the populace has not crowded to a magnificent funeral, and poor Vincent van Gogh, whose demise means the extinction of a beautiful flame of genius, has gone to his death as obscure and neglected as he lived."
Theo died in January 1891, removing Vincent's most vocal and well-connected champion. Theo's widow Jo van Gogh-Bonger was a Dutchwoman in her twenties who had not known either her husband or her brother-in-law very long and who suddenly had to take care of several hundreds of paintings, letters and drawings, as well as her infant son, Vincent Willem van Gogh. Gauguin was not inclined to offer assistance in promoting Van Gogh's reputation, and Jo's brother Andries Bonger also seemed lukewarm about his work. Aurier, one of Van Gogh's earliest supporters among the critics, died of typhoid fever in 1892 at the age of 27.
In 1892, Émile Bernard organised a small solo show of Van Gogh's paintings in Paris, and Julien Tanguy exhibited his Van Gogh paintings with several consigned from Jo van Gogh-Bonger. In April 1894, the Durand-Ruel Gallery in Paris agreed to take 10 paintings on consignment from Van Gogh's estate. In 1896, the Fauvist painter Henri Matisse, then an unknown art student, visited John Russell on Belle Île off Brittany. Russell had been a close friend of Van Gogh; he introduced Matisse to the Dutchman's work, and gave him a Van Gogh drawing. Influenced by Van Gogh, Matisse abandoned his earth-coloured palette for bright colours.
In Paris in 1901, a large Van Gogh retrospective was held at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery, which excited André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck, and contributed to the emergence of Fauvism. Important group exhibitions took place with the Sonderbund artists in Cologne in 1912, the Armory Show, New York in 1913, and Berlin in 1914. Henk Bremmer was instrumental in teaching and talking about Van Gogh, and introduced Helene Kröller-Müller to Van Gogh's art; she became an avid collector of his work. The early figures in German Expressionism such as Emil Nolde acknowledged a debt to Van Gogh's work. Bremmer assisted Jacob Baart de la Faille, whose catalogue raisonné L'Oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh appeared in 1928. Van Gogh's fame reached its first peak in Austria and Germany before World War I, helped by the publication of his letters in three volumes in 1914. His letters are expressive and literate, and have been described as among the foremost 19th-century writings of their kind. These began a compelling mythology of Van Gogh as an intense and dedicated painter who suffered for his art and died young. In 1934, the novelist Irving Stone wrote a biographical novel of Van Gogh's life titled Lust for Life, based on Van Gogh's letters to Theo. This novel and the 1956 film further enhanced his fame, especially in the United States where Stone surmised only a few hundred people had heard of Van Gogh prior to his surprise best-selling book.
In 1957, Francis Bacon based a series of paintings on reproductions of Van Gogh's The Painter on the Road to Tarascon, the original of which was destroyed during the Second World War. Bacon was inspired by an image he described as "haunting", and regarded Van Gogh as an alienated outsider, a position which resonated with him. Bacon identified with Van Gogh's theories of art and quoted lines written to Theo: "[R]eal painters do not paint things as they are ... [T]hey paint them as they themselves feel them to be."
Don McLean composed a song, "Vincent", about Van Gogh after reading a biography of the artist. The 1971 song is also known by its opening line, "Starry, Starry Night".
Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings. Those sold for over US$100 million (today's equivalent) include Portrait of Dr Gachet, Portrait of Joseph Roulin and Irises. The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired a copy of Wheat Field with Cypresses in 1993 for $57 million by using funds donated by publisher, diplomat and philanthropist Walter Annenberg. In 2015, L'Allée des Alyscamps sold for $66.3 million at Sotheby's, New York, exceeding its reserve of $40 million.
Minor planet 4457 Van Gogh is named in his honour.
In October 2022, two Just Stop Oil activists protesting against the effects of the fossil fuel industry on climate change threw a can of tomato soup on Van Gogh's Sunflowers in the National Gallery, London, and then glued their hands to the gallery wall. As the painting was covered by glass it was not damaged.
On October 15, 2024, the Netherlands' State Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature, Jean Rummenie, granted national park status to Van Gogh National Park in North Brabant, the area Vincent van Gogh grew up in.
Van Gogh Museum
Van Gogh's nephew and namesake, Vincent Willem van Gogh (1890–1978), inherited the estate after his mother's death in 1925. During the early 1950s he arranged for the publication of a complete edition of the letters presented in four volumes and several languages. He then began negotiations with the Dutch government to subsidise a foundation to purchase and house the entire collection. Theo's son participated in planning the project in the hope that the works would be exhibited under the best possible conditions. The project began in 1963; architect Gerrit Rietveld was commissioned to design it, and after his death in 1964 Kisho Kurokawa took charge. Work progressed throughout the 1960s, with 1972 as the target for its grand opening.
The Van Gogh Museum opened in the Museumplein in Amsterdam in 1973. It became the second most popular museum in the Netherlands, after the Rijksmuseum, regularly receiving more than 1.5 million visitors a year. In 2015 it had a record 1.9 million. Eighty-five percent of the visitors come from other countries.
Nazi-looted art
During the Nazi period (1933–1945) a great number of artworks by Van Gogh changed hands, many of them looted from Jewish collectors who were forced into exile or murdered. Some of these works have disappeared into private collections. Others have since resurfaced in museums, or at auction, or have been reclaimed, often in high-profile lawsuits, by their former owners. The German Lost Art Foundation still lists dozens of missing Van Goghs and the American Alliance of Museums lists 73 Van Goghs on the Nazi Era Provenance Internet Portal.
Notes
References
Sources
External links
The Vincent van Gogh Gallery, the complete works and letters of Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh The letters, the complete letters of Van Gogh (translated into English and annotated)
Vincent van Gogh Archived 20 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, teaching resource on Van Gogh
Works by Vincent van Gogh at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Vincent van Gogh at the Internet Archive
Works by Vincent van Gogh at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Vincent van Gogh at IMDb
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Lindsay Lohan
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Lindsay Dee Lohan ( LOH-ən; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress and singer. She was signed to Ford Models at the age of three, and gained early recognition as a child actress on the soap operas Guiding Light (1993) and Another World (1996–1997). Her breakthrough role came with the dual role of reunited identical twins in the Walt Disney comedy The Parent Trap (1998); its success led to subsequent roles in Life-Size (2000), Get a Clue (2002), Freaky Friday (2003) and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004). Her portrayal of Cady Heron in the teen comedy Mean Girls (2004) affirmed her status as a teen idol and established her as a prominent leading lady; The New Yorker later ranked it as the eleventh-best film performance of the 21st century.
Lohan signed with Casablanca Records and released two studio albums, the platinum-certified Speak (2004) and gold-certified A Little More Personal (Raw) (2005). She also starred in the comedies Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005) and Just My Luck (2006). To show her range, Lohan began choosing roles in independent films such as A Prairie Home Companion and Bobby (both 2006) and Chapter 27 (2007). Her behavior during the filming of the 2006 dramedy Georgia Rule marked the beginning of personal struggles that plagued her life and career for nearly a decade, making her a fixture in the tabloid press due to legal issues and rehabilitation stints. In an attempt to return to acting, she appeared in Machete (2010), Liz & Dick (2012) and The Canyons (2013).
Guided by Oprah Winfrey, Lohan was the subject of the docu-series Lindsay (2014). She made her stage debut in the London West End production of Speed-the-Plow (2014), and appeared in the comedy series Sick Note (2018). Lohan starred in the Netflix romantic comedies Falling for Christmas (2022), Irish Wish (2024) and Our Little Secret (2024), which she followed with Freakier Friday (2025).
Lohan's accolades include three MTV Movie & TV Awards, in addition to nominations for three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, a Saturn Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Outside entertainment, Lohan launched a clothing line in 2008, and several clubs in Greece between 2016 and 2018. She appeared on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list from 2004 to 2005. People has named her among the most beautiful women in the world four times, most recently in 2024. In 2007, Maxim ranked her number one on their annual ranking of the world's most desirable women. Lohan is married and has one son.
Early life
Lindsay Dee Lohan was born on July 2, 1986, in the Bronx, one of the five boroughs of New York City, and grew up in Merrick and Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island, New York. She is the eldest child of Dina (née Sullivan) and Michael Lohan. Her father, a former Wall Street trader, has been in trouble with the law on several occasions. Her mother is a former singer and dancer. Lohan has three younger siblings, all of whom have been models or actors: Michael Jr., who appeared with Lohan in The Parent Trap in 1998, Aliana, known as "Ali", and Dakota "Cody" Lohan. Lohan is of Irish and Italian heritage, and she was raised Catholic. Her maternal antecedents were "well known Irish Catholic stalwarts" and her great-grandfather, John L. Sullivan, was a co-founder of the Pro-life Party on Long Island. She began home-schooling in grade 11. Lohan's parents married in 1985, separated when Lindsay was three, and later reunited. They separated again in 2005 and finalized their divorce in 2007.
Career
Early career and breakthrough (1989–2002)
Lohan began her career as a child model with Ford Models at the age of three. She modeled for Calvin Klein Kids and Abercrombie, and appeared in over 60 television commercials for brands like Pizza Hut and Wendy's, as well as a Jell-O spot with Bill Cosby. By the age of 10, when Lohan played Alexandra "Alli" Fowler in the television soap opera Another World, Soap Opera Magazine said she was already considered a show-business veteran.
Lohan remained in her role on Another World for a year, before leaving to star in Disney's 1998 family comedy The Parent Trap, a remake of the 1961 movie. She played the dual roles of twins, separated in infancy, who try to reunite their long-divorced parents, played by Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson. The film earned $92 million worldwide and received largely positive reviews. Lohan received unanimous acclaim for her debut performance. Critic Kenneth Turan called Lohan "the soul of this film as much as Hayley Mills was of the original", going on to say that "she is more adept than her predecessor at creating two distinct personalities." The film won Lohan a Young Artist Award for best performance in a feature film as well as a three-film contract with Disney.
At the age of 14, Lohan played Bette Midler's daughter in the pilot episode of the short-lived series Bette, but she resigned her role when the production moved from New York to Los Angeles. Lohan starred in two made-for-TV movies: Life-Size alongside Tyra Banks in 2000, and Get a Clue in 2002. Emilio Estefan and his wife, Gloria Estefan, signed Lohan to a five-album production deal in September 2002.
Rise to prominence (2003–2005)
In 2003, Lohan starred alongside Jamie Lee Curtis in the remake of Disney's family comedy Freaky Friday, playing a mother and daughter who switch bodies and have to take on each other's roles. At Lohan's initiative, her character was rewritten and changed from a Goth style to be more mainstream. Her performance was met with significant praise. Critic Roger Ebert wrote that Lohan "has that Jodie Foster sort of seriousness and intent focus beneath her teenage persona." Freaky Friday earned Lohan the award for Breakthrough Performance at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards and, as of 2015, it remained her most commercially successful film, earning $160 million worldwide as well as an 87 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Her role required her to learn how to play the guitar and to sing. She recorded a song for the film, "Ultimate", which was released to Radio Disney to help promote the film.
In 2004, Lohan had lead roles in two major motion pictures. The first film, Disney's teen comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, earned a domestic box office total of $29 million, with Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo commenting that it was "well above expectations as it was strictly for young girls." But the film was not met with critical acclaim. Robert K. Elder of the Chicago Tribune wrote that "though still a promising star, Lohan will have to do a little penance before she's forgiven for Confessions." Her second lead role that year, in the teen comedy Mean Girls, marked Lohan's first movie independent of Disney. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $129 million worldwide and, according to Brandon Gray, "cementing her status as the new teen movie queen." Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that "Lohan is sensitive and appealing, a solid locus for audience sympathy." David Rooney from Variety said that "Lohan displays plenty of charm, verve and deft comic timing." Lohan received four awards at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards for Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, including Breakout Movie Star. Mean Girls also earned her two awards at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. In 2021, The New Yorker critic Richard Brody placed Lohan's performance in Mean Girls at number eleven in his list of "The Best Movie Performances of the Century So Far".
With Mean Girls, Lohan's public profile was raised significantly. Vanity Fair described how she became a household name. Paparazzi began following her, and her love life and partying became frequent targets of gossip sites and the tabloid media. Following the film, which was scripted by former Saturday Night Live writer-actress Tina Fey and featured several Saturday Night Live performers, Lohan hosted the show three times between 2004 and 2006. In 2004, when Lohan was 17, she became the youngest host of the MTV Movie Awards.
Lohan's debut album, Speak, was released in the United States on December 7, 2004. The album was the first high-seller from Casablanca Records in several years, selling 1 million units in the United States. The album received mostly negative reviews, with critics commenting that Lohan "isn't a bad singer, but not an extraordinary singer either." In the United States, the album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200, selling 261,762 copies in its first week. In Germany the album debuted at number 53 and took four weeks to complete its chart run. The first two singles from Speak, "Rumors" and "Over", were both successes, with "Over" topping the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, where it stayed for three weeks. The song also did well internationally in countries such as Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. "Rumors" peaked at number six on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and also did well in Australia and Germany, where it reached number 14. The music video for "Rumors" was nominated for Best Pop Video at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. Both songs received heavy airplay on MTV's Total Request Live.
Lohan returned to Disney in 2005, starring in the comedy Herbie: Fully Loaded, the fifth film in the series with the anthropomorphic Volkswagen Beetle Herbie; she played a college graduate who finds Herbie, the living car, at a junk yard. The film earned $144 million worldwide, but it received mixed reviews. Stephen Holden of The New York Times called Lohan "a genuine star who ... seems completely at home on the screen", while James Berardinelli wrote that "as bright a starlet as she may be, Lohan ends up playing second fiddle to the car." In 2005, Lohan became the first person to have a My Scene celebrity doll released by Mattel. She also voiced herself in the animated direct-to-DVD film My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie, based on the series of dolls.
Lohan's second album, A Little More Personal (Raw), was released in December 2005. It peaked at number 20 on the Billboard 200 chart, and was eventually certified Gold. Lohan co-wrote most of the songs on the album, which received a mixed critical response. Slant Magazine called it "contrived ... for all the so-called weighty subject matter, there's not much meat on these bones." Lohan herself directed the music video for the album's only single, "Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father)", which features her sister Aliana. The video is a dramatization of the pain Lohan said her family suffered at the hands of her father. It was her first song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 57.
Career setbacks and limited work (2006–2013)
Lohan's next widely released film, the romantic comedy Just My Luck, opened in May 2006 and, according to Variety, earned her over $7 million. The opening weekend box office takings of $5.7 million "broke lead actress Lindsay Lohan's winning streak" according to Brandon Gray. The film received poor reviews and earned Lohan her first Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Actress. Following Just My Luck, Lohan focused on smaller roles in more mature, independent movies. Robert Altman's ensemble comedy A Prairie Home Companion, based on humorist Garrison Keillor's works, in which Lohan co-stars with Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin, had a limited release in June 2006. Peter Travers wrote for Rolling Stone that "Lohan rises to the occasion, delivering a rock-the-house version of 'Frankie and Johnny.'" Co-star Streep said of Lohan's acting: "She's in command of the art form" and "completely, visibly living in front of the camera." The Emilio Estevez ensemble drama Bobby, about the hours leading up to the Robert F. Kennedy assassination, was released in theaters in November 2006. Lohan, who appeared as the character Diane, received favorable comments for her performance, particularly a scene alongside Sharon Stone. As part of the Bobby ensemble cast, Lohan was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Lohan's next appearance was in Chapter 27 as a John Lennon fan who befriends Mark David Chapman, played by Jared Leto, on the day he murders Lennon. Filming finished in early 2006, but the film was not released until March 2008 due to difficulties in finding a distributor. In May 2007, the drama Georgia Rule was released. In the film, Lohan portrays an out-of-control teenager whose mother (Felicity Huffman) brings her to the house of her own estranged mother (Jane Fonda). Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote that "Lohan hits a true note of spiteful princess narcissism." During filming in 2006, Lohan was hospitalized, her representative saying "she was overheated and dehydrated." In a letter that was made public, studio executive James G. Robinson called Lohan "irresponsible and unprofessional." He mentioned "various late arrivals and absences from the set" and said that "we are well aware that your ongoing all night heavy partying is the real reason for your so-called 'exhaustion.'" In 2007, Lohan was cast in the film Poor Things, however she would ultimately lose the role when she later entered rehab.
In January 2007, production on the film I Know Who Killed Me was put on hold when Lohan underwent appendix surgery. While Lohan was in rehab, she continued shooting the film, returning to the facility at night. Shortly thereafter, Lohan withdrew from a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance, her publicist stating that Lohan needed to "focus on getting better." Lohan was replaced in The Edge of Love in April 2007, shortly before filming was to begin, with the director citing "insurance reasons" and Lohan later explaining that she "was going through a really bad time then." Lohan withdrew from a scheduled appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in which she had been due to promote I Know Who Killed Me, a psychological horror-thriller in which she stars as a stripper with a dual personality. The film premiered in July 2007 to what Entertainment Weekly called "an abysmal $3.5 million." It earned Lohan dual Golden Raspberry awards for Worst Actress, with Lohan coming first and second, tying with herself. Hollywood executives and industry insiders commented that it would be difficult for Lohan to find employment until she could prove that she was sober and reliable, citing possible issues with securing insurance.
In May 2008, Lohan's single "Bossy" was released onto digital outlets, and reached number one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. That month, she made her first screen appearance since I Know Who Killed Me, on ABC's television series Ugly Betty. She guest starred in four episodes as Kimmie Keegan, an old schoolmate of the protagonist Betty Suarez. In the comedy Labor Pains, Lohan plays a woman who pretends to be pregnant. During the shoot, Lohan's manager worked with the paparazzi to encourage the media to show her work, as opposed to partying. It was originally planned for a theatrical release, but instead appeared as a TV movie on the ABC Family cable channel in July 2009, another "setback for the star" according to Variety. The premiere received 2.1 million viewers, "better-than-average" for the channel according to E! Online. Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times wrote that "this is not a triumphant return of a prodigal child star. ... [Labor Pains] never shakes free of the heavy baggage Ms. Lohan brings to the role." Lohan was a guest judge on US TV style contest Project Runway sixth-season premiere episode, which aired in August 2009.
Lohan narrated and presented the British television documentary Lindsay Lohan's Indian Journey, about human trafficking in India. It was filmed during a week in India in December 2009, and transmitted on BBC Three in April 2010. The BBC was criticized for having hired Lohan, and while reviewers called the documentary compelling, they also found Lohan's presence to be odd and distracting. Lohan said: "I hope my presence in India will bring awareness to the really important issues raised in making this film." In April 2010, Lohan was let go from the film The Other Side where she had been set to star, with the director saying she was "not bankable."
In June 2010, Lohan was the subject of a fashion shoot in the photographer docu-series Double Exposure on Bravo. Robert Rodriguez's action exploitation film Machete opened in September 2010. In the film, Lohan's character takes drugs, is naked in much of her appearance, and later dons a nun's habit while toting a machine gun. Its critical reviews were mixed. The Washington Post described her character as "a campier, trampier version of herself – or at least her tabloid image." Premiere.com said she was "terrible" while Variety called it "her best work in some time." Because of her rehabilitation and legal engagements, Lohan did not participate in promotion of the movie. Lohan filmed a sketch where she is dressed as Marilyn Monroe for Inappropriate Comedy in 2010. The film had issues finding a distributor and was not released until 2013, when it was met with poor box office and critical reception. Lohan appeared on the October 2010 cover of Vanity Fair. She told the magazine: "I want my career back" and "I know that I'm a damn good actress."
Lohan had not appeared on Saturday Night Live since 2006 until she hosted the show for the fourth time in March 2012. Her appearance received mixed to negative reviews. Critics appreciated the self-deprecating references to her personal troubles, but also commented that she largely played a supporting role. The episode had the second highest ratings of the season with 7.4 million viewers. In May 2012, Lohan appeared briefly, as a celebrity judge, on the television series Glee, in the episode "Nationals". Lohan stars as a surfer in the art film First Point by artist Richard Phillips. It debuted at Art Basel in June 2012 and features a score by Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk. Comments from critics on Lohan's work were mixed.
Lohan starred as Elizabeth Taylor in the biographical made-for-TV movie Liz & Dick, which premiered on the Lifetime cable channel in November 2012. Reviews of Lohan's performance were largely, but not unanimously, negative. The Hollywood Reporter said she was "woeful" while Variety called her "adequate." Entertainment Weekly described the premiere ratings of 3.5 millions as "a little soft." During the production, paramedics were called to Lohan's hotel room, treating her for exhaustion and dehydration. In April 2013, the horror comedy Scary Movie 5 was released, where Lohan appears as herself alongside Charlie Sheen in the opening sketch. While the movie itself was panned by critics, a few reviewers found Lohan's and Sheen's to be one of the better scenes. Lohan also guest-starred as herself in an April 2013 episode of Sheen's comedy series Anger Management.
In August 2013, The Canyons was released, an independent erotic thriller directed by Paul Schrader and written by Bret Easton Ellis. It was made on a low budget, most of which was gathered through online fund raiser Kickstarter. Lohan received $100 a day and a share of the profits, and she was also credited as a co-producer. The New York Times Magazine described Lohan as difficult to work with, and the shoot as fraught with conflict between Lohan and Schrader. Lohan and her co-star, adult-film actor James Deen, portray an actress and a producer in a volatile relationship. Reviews for the film were generally poor, but several critics praised Lohan's performance. The New Yorker said she was "overwrought and unfocused" while Variety called her "very affecting" and Salon described her as "almost incandescent." The same month Lohan filled in for Chelsea Handler as host of the cable talk show Chelsea Lately. She received mostly positive reviews for her appearance and the show garnered its best ratings of the year.
Focus on television and career expansion (2014–2020)
The 8-part docu-series Lindsay was transmitted in March and April 2014 on Oprah Winfrey's OWN cable network. The series followed Lohan's life and work as she moved to New York City after leaving rehab. In the final episode, Lohan said that she had had a miscarriage which had interrupted filming of the series. The premiere had 693,000 viewers, described as "so-so" by The Hollywood Reporter. The ratings then slipped and the finale only had 406,000 viewers. New York Daily News called the series "surprisingly routine", Variety described it as boring, while Liz Smith said it was "compelling" and "usually painful to watch." In December 2013, Lohan introduced Miley Cyrus before her set at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. In April 2014, Lohan guest-starred in an episode of the CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls. Around this time, Lohan had also announced and began promoting a film she was set to star in titled Inconceivable, which was never produced for unknown reasons.
Lohan made her stage debut in October 2014, starring in the London West End production of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, a satire about the movie business. She portrayed Karen, the secretary of a Hollywood executive, in a role originally played by Madonna. Reviews of Lohan's performance were mixed, with the Associated Press describing critical reception overall as "lukewarm." The Stage said she was "out of her league" while The Times wrote that she "can act a bit" and The Guardian said she "holds the stage with ease."
In 2015, English band Duran Duran announced that Lohan was featured on the song "Danceophobia" from their fourteenth studio album, Paper Gods. That year, she filmed an independent supernatural thriller, Among the Shadows, in Belgium. The project saw a series of delays with its release and was eventually listed for sale at the European Film Market at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2018. It was released on March 5, 2019, by Momentum Pictures. In July 2018, the second season of Sick Note —in which Lohan had a recurring role— premiered on Sky One. Lohan signed on to star in an MTV reality series, Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club (2019) focusing on her business ventures in Greece, which aired on MTV for one season. In July 2019, it was announced that Lohan would be one of the panelists on the Australian edition of Masked Singer. The reality singing competition series premiered in September 2019, and concluded in October that year. On July 7, 2020, it was revealed that Lohan would be unable to return to the judging panel for the second season, as she could not travel from Dubai to Melbourne due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of travel restrictions.
In June 2019, Lohan re-signed with Casablanca Records, a subsidiary of Republic Records, to release new music. On April 1, 2020, Lohan announced she would be releasing "Back to Me", her first single in twelve years. The song was released on April 3 and received positive reviews from critics.
Return to film and resurgence (2021–present)
In May 2021, Netflix announced that Lohan would return to acting by starring in a Christmas romantic comedy in which she would play a hotel heiress suffering from amnesia after a skiing accident. Falling for Christmas was released on November 10, 2022, marking her first role in a major production in over a decade. Lohan performed original songs for the film's soundtrack, as well as "Jingle Bell Rock", which was released as a promotional single. Falling for Christmas was the most-watched holiday movie released in 2022 in the United States. Lohan's performance in the film received generally positive reviews. In 2022, she also served as the narrator for Amazon Prime Video's reality dating show Lovestruck High.
In March 2022, Netflix revealed that Lohan had signed a deal to star in two more films for the streaming service. In September 2022, it was announced Lohan was set to star as a book editor in the romantic comedy Irish Wish, which was released in March 2024. Owen Gleiberman of Variety said that "Lohan hasn't lost her ability to light up a scene; she has a seasoned radiance." Stephanie Zacharek of Time agreed, and believed that "there's something both appealing and touching about this performance". The second film under the deal, Our Little Secret, began production in January 2024, and was released on November 27, 2024.
Lohan reunited with Jamie Lee Curtis for Freakier Friday (2025), in which she reprised her role as Anna Coleman. Her fifth feature-film with Walt Disney Pictures, it also marked her first theatrical release since The Canyons (2013), and her third highest-grossing film, with a global revenue of $135 million to date. She is set to star in and produce Hulu's drama series Count My Lies, her first starring role in a series.
Other ventures
Fashion
Lohan has been the face of Jill Stuart, Miu Miu, and the 2008 Visa Swap British fashion campaign. She was also the face of Italian clothing company Fornarina for its Spring–Summer 2009 campaign. Lohan has a fascination with Marilyn Monroe dating to when she saw Niagara during The Parent Trap shoot. In the 2008 Spring Fashion edition of New York magazine, Lohan re-created Monroe's final photo shoot, known as The Last Sitting, including nudity, and called the shoot "an honor".
In 2008, Lohan launched a clothing line, 6126, whose name represents Monroe's birthdate (June 1, 1926). The line started with leggings before expanding to a full collection, covering 280 pieces as of April 2010. In January 2009, Lohan appeared as a guest judge on Project Runway. In September 2009, she became an artistic adviser for the French fashion house Emanuel Ungaro. A collection by designer Estrella Archs with Lohan as adviser was presented in October, receiving a "disastrous" reception, according to Entertainment Weekly and New York. Lohan left the company in March 2010. She appeared in the January–February 2012 issue of Playboy magazine, in a shoot inspired by a nude pictorial of Marilyn Monroe from the magazine's first issue. Editor Hugh Hefner said Lohan's issue was "breaking sales records".
In 2020, Lohan designed and released a jewelry line in collaboration with UK-based boutique brand Lily Baker. In 2022, she launched a limited-edition sneaker collection in collaboration with activewear brand Allbirds. In 2023, Lohan designed a line of ocean-themed nursery accessories in collaboration with Nestig.
Hospitality
In 2016, in collaboration with Dennis Papageorgiou, Lohan opened her first nightclub, Lohan Nightclub, in Athens, Greece. In 2018, she opened a beach resort on the Greek island Mykonos and later her second resort in Ialisos Beach, Rhodes.
Digital
In 2014, the free-to-play video game app Lindsay Lohan's The Price of Fame was released for the iOS and Android operating systems. In 2017, Lohan launched a lifestyle site, Preemium, which subscribers could access for $2.99 a month.
In 2021, Red Arrow's Studio71 revealed it had signed Lohan to host and launch a new podcast. It was then announced the podcast would be titled The Lohdown with Lindsay Lohan. It premiered in April 2022 and ran until September of that year.
Personal life
Lohan's personal life has received much media attention since her teenage years, particularly after a series of legal problems and arrests, which continued until 2013. The year 2015 marked the first time she had been probation-free in over eight years. She had a turbulent childhood that she spoke about in 2007, the year her parents finalized their divorce: "I feel like a second parent in the sense that I helped raise my family ... I was put between my mother and father a lot". Despite the conflicts, Lohan spoke very fondly of her family. But in the late 2000s, she said she had cut off contact with her father, calling his behavior unpredictable and hard to deal with. In 2023, Lohan said she was on good terms with both her parents as the family gathered in April, which reportedly marked the first time they were all together in at least seven years.
Lohan has had many high-profile relationships, including with actor Wilmer Valderrama in 2004, Hard Rock Cafe heir Harry Morton in 2006, DJ Samantha Ronson in 2008, and London-based Russian business heir Egor Tarabasov in 2016. On November 28, 2021, Lohan announced her engagement to financier Bader Shammas after three years of dating. Bader Shammas is a Kuwaiti citizen and a member of the Shammas family, one of the twelve Kuwaiti Christian families. On July 2, 2022, a representative confirmed Lohan and Shammas were married after she called him her "husband" on her Instagram birthday post. Lohan later revealed they had wed on April 3, 2022. In July 2023, she gave birth to their son in Dubai, where she has resided since 2014.
Filmography
After beginning her acting career as a child actor in the early 1990s, Lohan, at age eleven, made her film debut in Disney's hugely successful remake of The Parent Trap (1998). Freaky Friday (2003) remains her highest-grossing film, while Mean Girls (2004), both a critical and commercial success, became a cult classic. Though her career was often interrupted by legal and personal troubles during the late 2000s and early 2010s, she has appeared in over 30 films and has multiple other acting credits as of 2025.
Discography
Speak (2004)
A Little More Personal (Raw) (2005)
See also
List of awards and nominations received by Lindsay Lohan
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart
Notes
References
Cited works
External links
Official website
Lindsay Lohan at IMDb
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Lindsay Dee Lohan ( LOH-ən; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress and singer. She was signed to Ford Models at the age of three, and gained early recognition as a child actress on the soap operas Guiding Light (1993) and Another World (1996–1997). Her breakthrough role came with the dual role of reunited identical twins in the Walt Disney comedy The Parent Trap (1998); its success led to subsequent roles in Life-Size (2000), Get a Clue (2002), Freaky Friday (2003) and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004). Her portrayal of Cady Heron in the teen comedy Mean Girls (2004) affirmed her status as a teen idol and established her as a prominent leading lady; The New Yorker later ranked it as the eleventh-best film performance of the 21st century.
Lohan signed with Casablanca Records and released two studio albums, the platinum-certified Speak (2004) and gold-certified A Little More Personal (Raw) (2005). She also starred in the comedies Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005) and Just My Luck (2006). To show her range, Lohan began choosing roles in independent films such as A Prairie Home Companion and Bobby (both 2006) and Chapter 27 (2007). Her behavior during the filming of the 2006 dramedy Georgia Rule marked the beginning of personal struggles that plagued her life and career for nearly a decade, making her a fixture in the tabloid press due to legal issues and rehabilitation stints. In an attempt to return to acting, she appeared in Machete (2010), Liz & Dick (2012) and The Canyons (2013).
Guided by Oprah Winfrey, Lohan was the subject of the docu-series Lindsay (2014). She made her stage debut in the London West End production of Speed-the-Plow (2014), and appeared in the comedy series Sick Note (2018). Lohan starred in the Netflix romantic comedies Falling for Christmas (2022), Irish Wish (2024) and Our Little Secret (2024), which she followed with Freakier Friday (2025).
Lohan's accolades include three MTV Movie & TV Awards, in addition to nominations for three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, a Saturn Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Outside entertainment, Lohan launched a clothing line in 2008, and several clubs in Greece between 2016 and 2018. She appeared on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list from 2004 to 2005. People has named her among the most beautiful women in the world four times, most recently in 2024. In 2007, Maxim ranked her number one on their annual ranking of the world's most desirable women. Lohan is married and has one son.
Early life
Lindsay Dee Lohan was born on July 2, 1986, in the Bronx, one of the five boroughs of New York City, and grew up in Merrick and Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island, New York. She is the eldest child of Dina (née Sullivan) and Michael Lohan. Her father, a former Wall Street trader, has been in trouble with the law on several occasions. Her mother is a former singer and dancer. Lohan has three younger siblings, all of whom have been models or actors: Michael Jr., who appeared with Lohan in The Parent Trap in 1998, Aliana, known as "Ali", and Dakota "Cody" Lohan. Lohan is of Irish and Italian heritage, and she was raised Catholic. Her maternal antecedents were "well known Irish Catholic stalwarts" and her great-grandfather, John L. Sullivan, was a co-founder of the Pro-life Party on Long Island. She began home-schooling in grade 11. Lohan's parents married in 1985, separated when Lindsay was three, and later reunited. They separated again in 2005 and finalized their divorce in 2007.
Career
Early career and breakthrough (1989–2002)
Lohan began her career as a child model with Ford Models at the age of three. She modeled for Calvin Klein Kids and Abercrombie, and appeared in over 60 television commercials for brands like Pizza Hut and Wendy's, as well as a Jell-O spot with Bill Cosby. By the age of 10, when Lohan played Alexandra "Alli" Fowler in the television soap opera Another World, Soap Opera Magazine said she was already considered a show-business veteran.
Lohan remained in her role on Another World for a year, before leaving to star in Disney's 1998 family comedy The Parent Trap, a remake of the 1961 movie. She played the dual roles of twins, separated in infancy, who try to reunite their long-divorced parents, played by Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson. The film earned $92 million worldwide and received largely positive reviews. Lohan received unanimous acclaim for her debut performance. Critic Kenneth Turan called Lohan "the soul of this film as much as Hayley Mills was of the original", going on to say that "she is more adept than her predecessor at creating two distinct personalities." The film won Lohan a Young Artist Award for best performance in a feature film as well as a three-film contract with Disney.
At the age of 14, Lohan played Bette Midler's daughter in the pilot episode of the short-lived series Bette, but she resigned her role when the production moved from New York to Los Angeles. Lohan starred in two made-for-TV movies: Life-Size alongside Tyra Banks in 2000, and Get a Clue in 2002. Emilio Estefan and his wife, Gloria Estefan, signed Lohan to a five-album production deal in September 2002.
Rise to prominence (2003–2005)
In 2003, Lohan starred alongside Jamie Lee Curtis in the remake of Disney's family comedy Freaky Friday, playing a mother and daughter who switch bodies and have to take on each other's roles. At Lohan's initiative, her character was rewritten and changed from a Goth style to be more mainstream. Her performance was met with significant praise. Critic Roger Ebert wrote that Lohan "has that Jodie Foster sort of seriousness and intent focus beneath her teenage persona." Freaky Friday earned Lohan the award for Breakthrough Performance at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards and, as of 2015, it remained her most commercially successful film, earning $160 million worldwide as well as an 87 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Her role required her to learn how to play the guitar and to sing. She recorded a song for the film, "Ultimate", which was released to Radio Disney to help promote the film.
In 2004, Lohan had lead roles in two major motion pictures. The first film, Disney's teen comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, earned a domestic box office total of $29 million, with Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo commenting that it was "well above expectations as it was strictly for young girls." But the film was not met with critical acclaim. Robert K. Elder of the Chicago Tribune wrote that "though still a promising star, Lohan will have to do a little penance before she's forgiven for Confessions." Her second lead role that year, in the teen comedy Mean Girls, marked Lohan's first movie independent of Disney. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $129 million worldwide and, according to Brandon Gray, "cementing her status as the new teen movie queen." Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that "Lohan is sensitive and appealing, a solid locus for audience sympathy." David Rooney from Variety said that "Lohan displays plenty of charm, verve and deft comic timing." Lohan received four awards at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards for Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, including Breakout Movie Star. Mean Girls also earned her two awards at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. In 2021, The New Yorker critic Richard Brody placed Lohan's performance in Mean Girls at number eleven in his list of "The Best Movie Performances of the Century So Far".
With Mean Girls, Lohan's public profile was raised significantly. Vanity Fair described how she became a household name. Paparazzi began following her, and her love life and partying became frequent targets of gossip sites and the tabloid media. Following the film, which was scripted by former Saturday Night Live writer-actress Tina Fey and featured several Saturday Night Live performers, Lohan hosted the show three times between 2004 and 2006. In 2004, when Lohan was 17, she became the youngest host of the MTV Movie Awards.
Lohan's debut album, Speak, was released in the United States on December 7, 2004. The album was the first high-seller from Casablanca Records in several years, selling 1 million units in the United States. The album received mostly negative reviews, with critics commenting that Lohan "isn't a bad singer, but not an extraordinary singer either." In the United States, the album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200, selling 261,762 copies in its first week. In Germany the album debuted at number 53 and took four weeks to complete its chart run. The first two singles from Speak, "Rumors" and "Over", were both successes, with "Over" topping the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, where it stayed for three weeks. The song also did well internationally in countries such as Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. "Rumors" peaked at number six on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and also did well in Australia and Germany, where it reached number 14. The music video for "Rumors" was nominated for Best Pop Video at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. Both songs received heavy airplay on MTV's Total Request Live.
Lohan returned to Disney in 2005, starring in the comedy Herbie: Fully Loaded, the fifth film in the series with the anthropomorphic Volkswagen Beetle Herbie; she played a college graduate who finds Herbie, the living car, at a junk yard. The film earned $144 million worldwide, but it received mixed reviews. Stephen Holden of The New York Times called Lohan "a genuine star who ... seems completely at home on the screen", while James Berardinelli wrote that "as bright a starlet as she may be, Lohan ends up playing second fiddle to the car." In 2005, Lohan became the first person to have a My Scene celebrity doll released by Mattel. She also voiced herself in the animated direct-to-DVD film My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie, based on the series of dolls.
Lohan's second album, A Little More Personal (Raw), was released in December 2005. It peaked at number 20 on the Billboard 200 chart, and was eventually certified Gold. Lohan co-wrote most of the songs on the album, which received a mixed critical response. Slant Magazine called it "contrived ... for all the so-called weighty subject matter, there's not much meat on these bones." Lohan herself directed the music video for the album's only single, "Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father)", which features her sister Aliana. The video is a dramatization of the pain Lohan said her family suffered at the hands of her father. It was her first song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 57.
Career setbacks and limited work (2006–2013)
Lohan's next widely released film, the romantic comedy Just My Luck, opened in May 2006 and, according to Variety, earned her over $7 million. The opening weekend box office takings of $5.7 million "broke lead actress Lindsay Lohan's winning streak" according to Brandon Gray. The film received poor reviews and earned Lohan her first Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Actress. Following Just My Luck, Lohan focused on smaller roles in more mature, independent movies. Robert Altman's ensemble comedy A Prairie Home Companion, based on humorist Garrison Keillor's works, in which Lohan co-stars with Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin, had a limited release in June 2006. Peter Travers wrote for Rolling Stone that "Lohan rises to the occasion, delivering a rock-the-house version of 'Frankie and Johnny.'" Co-star Streep said of Lohan's acting: "She's in command of the art form" and "completely, visibly living in front of the camera." The Emilio Estevez ensemble drama Bobby, about the hours leading up to the Robert F. Kennedy assassination, was released in theaters in November 2006. Lohan, who appeared as the character Diane, received favorable comments for her performance, particularly a scene alongside Sharon Stone. As part of the Bobby ensemble cast, Lohan was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Lohan's next appearance was in Chapter 27 as a John Lennon fan who befriends Mark David Chapman, played by Jared Leto, on the day he murders Lennon. Filming finished in early 2006, but the film was not released until March 2008 due to difficulties in finding a distributor. In May 2007, the drama Georgia Rule was released. In the film, Lohan portrays an out-of-control teenager whose mother (Felicity Huffman) brings her to the house of her own estranged mother (Jane Fonda). Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote that "Lohan hits a true note of spiteful princess narcissism." During filming in 2006, Lohan was hospitalized, her representative saying "she was overheated and dehydrated." In a letter that was made public, studio executive James G. Robinson called Lohan "irresponsible and unprofessional." He mentioned "various late arrivals and absences from the set" and said that "we are well aware that your ongoing all night heavy partying is the real reason for your so-called 'exhaustion.'" In 2007, Lohan was cast in the film Poor Things, however she would ultimately lose the role when she later entered rehab.
In January 2007, production on the film I Know Who Killed Me was put on hold when Lohan underwent appendix surgery. While Lohan was in rehab, she continued shooting the film, returning to the facility at night. Shortly thereafter, Lohan withdrew from a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance, her publicist stating that Lohan needed to "focus on getting better." Lohan was replaced in The Edge of Love in April 2007, shortly before filming was to begin, with the director citing "insurance reasons" and Lohan later explaining that she "was going through a really bad time then." Lohan withdrew from a scheduled appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in which she had been due to promote I Know Who Killed Me, a psychological horror-thriller in which she stars as a stripper with a dual personality. The film premiered in July 2007 to what Entertainment Weekly called "an abysmal $3.5 million." It earned Lohan dual Golden Raspberry awards for Worst Actress, with Lohan coming first and second, tying with herself. Hollywood executives and industry insiders commented that it would be difficult for Lohan to find employment until she could prove that she was sober and reliable, citing possible issues with securing insurance.
In May 2008, Lohan's single "Bossy" was released onto digital outlets, and reached number one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. That month, she made her first screen appearance since I Know Who Killed Me, on ABC's television series Ugly Betty. She guest starred in four episodes as Kimmie Keegan, an old schoolmate of the protagonist Betty Suarez. In the comedy Labor Pains, Lohan plays a woman who pretends to be pregnant. During the shoot, Lohan's manager worked with the paparazzi to encourage the media to show her work, as opposed to partying. It was originally planned for a theatrical release, but instead appeared as a TV movie on the ABC Family cable channel in July 2009, another "setback for the star" according to Variety. The premiere received 2.1 million viewers, "better-than-average" for the channel according to E! Online. Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times wrote that "this is not a triumphant return of a prodigal child star. ... [Labor Pains] never shakes free of the heavy baggage Ms. Lohan brings to the role." Lohan was a guest judge on US TV style contest Project Runway sixth-season premiere episode, which aired in August 2009.
Lohan narrated and presented the British television documentary Lindsay Lohan's Indian Journey, about human trafficking in India. It was filmed during a week in India in December 2009, and transmitted on BBC Three in April 2010. The BBC was criticized for having hired Lohan, and while reviewers called the documentary compelling, they also found Lohan's presence to be odd and distracting. Lohan said: "I hope my presence in India will bring awareness to the really important issues raised in making this film." In April 2010, Lohan was let go from the film The Other Side where she had been set to star, with the director saying she was "not bankable."
In June 2010, Lohan was the subject of a fashion shoot in the photographer docu-series Double Exposure on Bravo. Robert Rodriguez's action exploitation film Machete opened in September 2010. In the film, Lohan's character takes drugs, is naked in much of her appearance, and later dons a nun's habit while toting a machine gun. Its critical reviews were mixed. The Washington Post described her character as "a campier, trampier version of herself – or at least her tabloid image." Premiere.com said she was "terrible" while Variety called it "her best work in some time." Because of her rehabilitation and legal engagements, Lohan did not participate in promotion of the movie. Lohan filmed a sketch where she is dressed as Marilyn Monroe for Inappropriate Comedy in 2010. The film had issues finding a distributor and was not released until 2013, when it was met with poor box office and critical reception. Lohan appeared on the October 2010 cover of Vanity Fair. She told the magazine: "I want my career back" and "I know that I'm a damn good actress."
Lohan had not appeared on Saturday Night Live since 2006 until she hosted the show for the fourth time in March 2012. Her appearance received mixed to negative reviews. Critics appreciated the self-deprecating references to her personal troubles, but also commented that she largely played a supporting role. The episode had the second highest ratings of the season with 7.4 million viewers. In May 2012, Lohan appeared briefly, as a celebrity judge, on the television series Glee, in the episode "Nationals". Lohan stars as a surfer in the art film First Point by artist Richard Phillips. It debuted at Art Basel in June 2012 and features a score by Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk. Comments from critics on Lohan's work were mixed.
Lohan starred as Elizabeth Taylor in the biographical made-for-TV movie Liz & Dick, which premiered on the Lifetime cable channel in November 2012. Reviews of Lohan's performance were largely, but not unanimously, negative. The Hollywood Reporter said she was "woeful" while Variety called her "adequate." Entertainment Weekly described the premiere ratings of 3.5 millions as "a little soft." During the production, paramedics were called to Lohan's hotel room, treating her for exhaustion and dehydration. In April 2013, the horror comedy Scary Movie 5 was released, where Lohan appears as herself alongside Charlie Sheen in the opening sketch. While the movie itself was panned by critics, a few reviewers found Lohan's and Sheen's to be one of the better scenes. Lohan also guest-starred as herself in an April 2013 episode of Sheen's comedy series Anger Management.
In August 2013, The Canyons was released, an independent erotic thriller directed by Paul Schrader and written by Bret Easton Ellis. It was made on a low budget, most of which was gathered through online fund raiser Kickstarter. Lohan received $100 a day and a share of the profits, and she was also credited as a co-producer. The New York Times Magazine described Lohan as difficult to work with, and the shoot as fraught with conflict between Lohan and Schrader. Lohan and her co-star, adult-film actor James Deen, portray an actress and a producer in a volatile relationship. Reviews for the film were generally poor, but several critics praised Lohan's performance. The New Yorker said she was "overwrought and unfocused" while Variety called her "very affecting" and Salon described her as "almost incandescent." The same month Lohan filled in for Chelsea Handler as host of the cable talk show Chelsea Lately. She received mostly positive reviews for her appearance and the show garnered its best ratings of the year.
Focus on television and career expansion (2014–2020)
The 8-part docu-series Lindsay was transmitted in March and April 2014 on Oprah Winfrey's OWN cable network. The series followed Lohan's life and work as she moved to New York City after leaving rehab. In the final episode, Lohan said that she had had a miscarriage which had interrupted filming of the series. The premiere had 693,000 viewers, described as "so-so" by The Hollywood Reporter. The ratings then slipped and the finale only had 406,000 viewers. New York Daily News called the series "surprisingly routine", Variety described it as boring, while Liz Smith said it was "compelling" and "usually painful to watch." In December 2013, Lohan introduced Miley Cyrus before her set at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. In April 2014, Lohan guest-starred in an episode of the CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls. Around this time, Lohan had also announced and began promoting a film she was set to star in titled Inconceivable, which was never produced for unknown reasons.
Lohan made her stage debut in October 2014, starring in the London West End production of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, a satire about the movie business. She portrayed Karen, the secretary of a Hollywood executive, in a role originally played by Madonna. Reviews of Lohan's performance were mixed, with the Associated Press describing critical reception overall as "lukewarm." The Stage said she was "out of her league" while The Times wrote that she "can act a bit" and The Guardian said she "holds the stage with ease."
In 2015, English band Duran Duran announced that Lohan was featured on the song "Danceophobia" from their fourteenth studio album, Paper Gods. That year, she filmed an independent supernatural thriller, Among the Shadows, in Belgium. The project saw a series of delays with its release and was eventually listed for sale at the European Film Market at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2018. It was released on March 5, 2019, by Momentum Pictures. In July 2018, the second season of Sick Note —in which Lohan had a recurring role— premiered on Sky One. Lohan signed on to star in an MTV reality series, Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club (2019) focusing on her business ventures in Greece, which aired on MTV for one season. In July 2019, it was announced that Lohan would be one of the panelists on the Australian edition of Masked Singer. The reality singing competition series premiered in September 2019, and concluded in October that year. On July 7, 2020, it was revealed that Lohan would be unable to return to the judging panel for the second season, as she could not travel from Dubai to Melbourne due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of travel restrictions.
In June 2019, Lohan re-signed with Casablanca Records, a subsidiary of Republic Records, to release new music. On April 1, 2020, Lohan announced she would be releasing "Back to Me", her first single in twelve years. The song was released on April 3 and received positive reviews from critics.
Return to film and resurgence (2021–present)
In May 2021, Netflix announced that Lohan would return to acting by starring in a Christmas romantic comedy in which she would play a hotel heiress suffering from amnesia after a skiing accident. Falling for Christmas was released on November 10, 2022, marking her first role in a major production in over a decade. Lohan performed original songs for the film's soundtrack, as well as "Jingle Bell Rock", which was released as a promotional single. Falling for Christmas was the most-watched holiday movie released in 2022 in the United States. Lohan's performance in the film received generally positive reviews. In 2022, she also served as the narrator for Amazon Prime Video's reality dating show Lovestruck High.
In March 2022, Netflix revealed that Lohan had signed a deal to star in two more films for the streaming service. In September 2022, it was announced Lohan was set to star as a book editor in the romantic comedy Irish Wish, which was released in March 2024. Owen Gleiberman of Variety said that "Lohan hasn't lost her ability to light up a scene; she has a seasoned radiance." Stephanie Zacharek of Time agreed, and believed that "there's something both appealing and touching about this performance". The second film under the deal, Our Little Secret, began production in January 2024, and was released on November 27, 2024.
Lohan reunited with Jamie Lee Curtis for Freakier Friday (2025), in which she reprised her role as Anna Coleman. Her fifth feature-film with Walt Disney Pictures, it also marked her first theatrical release since The Canyons (2013), and her third highest-grossing film, with a global revenue of $135 million to date. She is set to star in and produce Hulu's drama series Count My Lies, her first starring role in a series.
Other ventures
Fashion
Lohan has been the face of Jill Stuart, Miu Miu, and the 2008 Visa Swap British fashion campaign. She was also the face of Italian clothing company Fornarina for its Spring–Summer 2009 campaign. Lohan has a fascination with Marilyn Monroe dating to when she saw Niagara during The Parent Trap shoot. In the 2008 Spring Fashion edition of New York magazine, Lohan re-created Monroe's final photo shoot, known as The Last Sitting, including nudity, and called the shoot "an honor".
In 2008, Lohan launched a clothing line, 6126, whose name represents Monroe's birthdate (June 1, 1926). The line started with leggings before expanding to a full collection, covering 280 pieces as of April 2010. In January 2009, Lohan appeared as a guest judge on Project Runway. In September 2009, she became an artistic adviser for the French fashion house Emanuel Ungaro. A collection by designer Estrella Archs with Lohan as adviser was presented in October, receiving a "disastrous" reception, according to Entertainment Weekly and New York. Lohan left the company in March 2010. She appeared in the January–February 2012 issue of Playboy magazine, in a shoot inspired by a nude pictorial of Marilyn Monroe from the magazine's first issue. Editor Hugh Hefner said Lohan's issue was "breaking sales records".
In 2020, Lohan designed and released a jewelry line in collaboration with UK-based boutique brand Lily Baker. In 2022, she launched a limited-edition sneaker collection in collaboration with activewear brand Allbirds. In 2023, Lohan designed a line of ocean-themed nursery accessories in collaboration with Nestig.
Hospitality
In 2016, in collaboration with Dennis Papageorgiou, Lohan opened her first nightclub, Lohan Nightclub, in Athens, Greece. In 2018, she opened a beach resort on the Greek island Mykonos and later her second resort in Ialisos Beach, Rhodes.
Digital
In 2014, the free-to-play video game app Lindsay Lohan's The Price of Fame was released for the iOS and Android operating systems. In 2017, Lohan launched a lifestyle site, Preemium, which subscribers could access for $2.99 a month.
In 2021, Red Arrow's Studio71 revealed it had signed Lohan to host and launch a new podcast. It was then announced the podcast would be titled The Lohdown with Lindsay Lohan. It premiered in April 2022 and ran until September of that year.
Personal life
Lohan's personal life has received much media attention since her teenage years, particularly after a series of legal problems and arrests, which continued until 2013. The year 2015 marked the first time she had been probation-free in over eight years. She had a turbulent childhood that she spoke about in 2007, the year her parents finalized their divorce: "I feel like a second parent in the sense that I helped raise my family ... I was put between my mother and father a lot". Despite the conflicts, Lohan spoke very fondly of her family. But in the late 2000s, she said she had cut off contact with her father, calling his behavior unpredictable and hard to deal with. In 2023, Lohan said she was on good terms with both her parents as the family gathered in April, which reportedly marked the first time they were all together in at least seven years.
Lohan has had many high-profile relationships, including with actor Wilmer Valderrama in 2004, Hard Rock Cafe heir Harry Morton in 2006, DJ Samantha Ronson in 2008, and London-based Russian business heir Egor Tarabasov in 2016. On November 28, 2021, Lohan announced her engagement to financier Bader Shammas after three years of dating. Bader Shammas is a Kuwaiti citizen and a member of the Shammas family, one of the twelve Kuwaiti Christian families. On July 2, 2022, a representative confirmed Lohan and Shammas were married after she called him her "husband" on her Instagram birthday post. Lohan later revealed they had wed on April 3, 2022. In July 2023, she gave birth to their son in Dubai, where she has resided since 2014.
Filmography
After beginning her acting career as a child actor in the early 1990s, Lohan, at age eleven, made her film debut in Disney's hugely successful remake of The Parent Trap (1998). Freaky Friday (2003) remains her highest-grossing film, while Mean Girls (2004), both a critical and commercial success, became a cult classic. Though her career was often interrupted by legal and personal troubles during the late 2000s and early 2010s, she has appeared in over 30 films and has multiple other acting credits as of 2025.
Discography
Speak (2004)
A Little More Personal (Raw) (2005)
See also
List of awards and nominations received by Lindsay Lohan
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart
Notes
References
Cited works
External links
Official website
Lindsay Lohan at IMDb
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Rebel Wilson
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Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson (born Melanie Elizabeth Bownds; 2 March 1980) is an Australian actress, comedian and producer. After graduating from the Australian Theatre for Young People in 2003, Wilson began appearing in the SBS comedy series Pizza (2003–2007) and later appeared in the sketch comedy show The Wedge (2006–2007). She wrote, produced and starred in the musical comedy series Bogan Pride (2008). Shortly after moving to the United States, Wilson appeared in the comedy films Bridesmaids and A Few Best Men, both in 2011.
In 2012, Wilson appeared in the comedy films What to Expect When You're Expecting, Struck by Lightning, and Bachelorette. Wilson wrote and starred in Super Fun Night (2013), a television sitcom that aired for one season on ABC. She gained wider recognition for her role in the musical comedy Pitch Perfect film series (2012–2017).
In 2019, Wilson had her first lead roles in the comedies Isn't It Romantic and The Hustle, and also had a supporting role in the comedy drama Jojo Rabbit. In 2022, she starred in the Netflix comedy film Senior Year, also serving as a producer.
Early life and education
Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson was born on 2 March 1980 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Her parents are professional dog handlers, dog show judges and breeders. Wilson grew up in the suburbs of Kenthurst, Parramatta and Castle Hill. She attended the independent Tara Anglican School for Girls as a boarder. She completed her Higher School Certificate in 1997, achieving a ranking of 99.3, including second place in the state in Food Technology. Wilson joined the debating team and a teacher encouraged her to enter Tournament of Minds, which she credits for helping her come out of her shell. Wilson worked at a cinema in Castle Hill in her younger years, but quit after patrons recognised her after the showing of her first movie, Fat Pizza.
Wilson is the eldest of four children, with sisters Liberty and Annaleise (who uses the name "Annachi") and a brother, who uses the name "Ryot". Liberty and Ryot appeared on the first season of The Amazing Race Australia in 2011, where they were the first team eliminated. Wilson has stated that, according to her grandmother, her great-aunt was Lillian Disney, who was married to Walt Disney until his death in 1966. Wilson stood by this belief in court, despite there being no evidence to support the claim; it continues to be disputed by genealogist Dale Sheridan.
Wilson's first career choice was mathematics. She told The Sydney Morning Herald, "I was very academic at high school and was always good with numbers." She attended the University of New South Wales, graduating in 2009 with Bachelor of Arts (Theatre and Performance Studies) and Bachelor of Laws degrees. She planned to be a lawyer, but decided against corporate life and went to the United States to act. A former Rotary International youth ambassador for Australia, she was based in South Africa for one year, where she contracted malaria. She has spoken of malaria-induced hallucinations, where she saw herself as an actress who had won an Oscar, convincing her to pursue an acting career.
Career
2002–2010: early work
Wilson studied at the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP). In 2003, she moved to New York after winning the ATYP International scholarship, which was funded by Nicole Kidman. While in New York, Wilson trained with The Second City. She appeared with the Sydney Theatre Company and performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. She first came to the public's attention in 2002 with her stage musical The Westie Monologues, which she wrote, starred in and produced in Sydney. Her follow-up stage productions, which she wrote, produced and starred in include Spunks and Confessions of an Exchange Student.
In Australia, Wilson is most known for her roles as Toula on the SBS comedy series Pizza and as various characters including Lucy, Fat Mandi and Karla Bangs on the sketch comedy series The Wedge. She played an Australian Idol mad schoolgirl in a series of Telstra advertisements shown during Australian Idol from 2004 to 2005. She also had roles in the feature films Fat Pizza (2003) and Ghost Rider (2007).
In 2008, Wilson created, wrote, produced and starred in the musical comedy series Bogan Pride on SBS One and also starred in the improvisational Nine Network series Monster House. In 2009 Wilson won the Tropfest Best Actress award for her role in the film Bargain. She has made appearances on the improvisational comedy show Thank God You're Here and the comedy game show Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation. She performed stand-up on the television special The Breast Darn Show In Town and guest starred in the Seven Network drama City Homicide and performed improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles.
2010–present: transition to Hollywood
Not content with her small role in Ghost Rider, Wilson moved to the United States in January 2010 and signed to talent and literary agents William Morris Endeavor. Wilson's next film role came in the Judd Apatow film, Bridesmaids, in which she played Brynn, the sister of Matt Lucas' character. The role was written especially for her. Wilson then appeared in the CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement and on the Comedy Central series, Workaholics. She co-hosted the 2010 ARIA Music Awards and performed at the inaugural Variety's Power of Comedy event in Los Angeles with Lucas and Russell Brand. In early 2011, Wilson filmed A Few Best Men at Fox Studios Australia. She also filmed a role in Small Apartments. Wilson was named one of Variety magazine's "Top Ten Comics to Watch for 2011". In 2012, Wilson had a role in the ensemble comedy What to Expect When You're Expecting, as Janice, and co-starred in the indie film Struck By Lightning.
On 19 August 2011, Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter reported that Wilson had replaced Casey Wilson in Bachelorette. In 2012, Wilson voiced a character in Ice Age: Continental Drift and played Fat Amy in Pitch Perfect. For the latter role, she received critical acclaim and earned various award nominations, including Best Supporting Actress from the San Diego Film Critics Society and Best Actress in a Comedy from the Broadcast Film Critics Association. She won the MTV Movie Award for Best Actor in a Movie and shared the Best Musical Moment award with her Pitch Perfect co-stars. Wilson was also nominated for MTV Movie Award for Best Performance. Wilson later won the Choice Movie Actress: Comedy award for Pitch Perfect at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards. She had also been nominated for Choice Comedian at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards.
In January 2012, Michael Ausiello of TVLine announced that Wilson would be writing and starring in Super Fun Night, a comedy that follows three friends on a quest to have fun every Friday night. The pilot was picked up by CBS and Conan O'Brien became one of the executive producers. The pilot was later turned down by CBS, but the ABC network picked up the project. A series was ordered and the show began broadcasting on 2 October 2013. The series was cancelled after one season. Wilson played Robin Peck in Michael Bay's Pain & Gain (2013). She hosted the 2013 MTV Movie Awards on 14 April 2013.
In March 2014, the American satellite television network Dish Network launched a marketing campaign for its Hopper DVR featuring Wilson as the voice of the eponymous animated kangaroo. Wilson reprised her role in the sequels Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) and Pitch Perfect 3 (2017). She also made a cameo in the television comedy Pompidou. Wilson joined the voice cast for Kung Fu Panda 3; however, in September 2015, she was replaced with Kate Hudson. Wilson next appeared in the ensemble comedy How to Be Single, released in February 2016. Nigel M. Smith of The Guardian wrote, "Wilson is the standout, nailing every pratfall she's dealt, but How to Be Single doesn't make strong use of her character." Wilson also appeared in the action comedy Grimsby. On 14 February 2016, Wilson presented the nominations for the Best Supporting Actor category at the 69th British Academy Film Awards. Wilson is one of sixty celebrities who make a cameo in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.
Wilson appeared as Ursula, the sea witch, in an all-star concert version of The Little Mermaid at the Hollywood Bowl on 3 June 4 June, and 6 June 2016. She made her West End debut in the musical Guys and Dolls in the role of Miss Adelaide from 28 June to 21 August 2016. She received positive reviews. In 2018, it was announced that Wilson was to produce and star in a feature film adaptation of the Image Comics comic book Crowded. Wilson played LeFou in a production of Beauty and the Beast: Live in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl on 25–26 May 2018. She also appeared on the cover of Vogue Australia for the first time.
Wilson starred in two 2019 comedies. The first, Isn't It Romantic, was released in February, and is about a woman (Wilson) who wakes up in a literal romantic comedy, despite the character's hate for the genre; the film is Wilson's first solo lead role and her first ever producer credit. In May, Wilson starred alongside Anne Hathaway in The Hustle, a female-centred remake of the 1988 comedy film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Wilson also co-produced the latter film. Wilson plays twins Doreen and Dolores Bognor in Australian drama series Les Norton. Towards the end of 2019, Wilson played Fraulein Rahm in Taika Waititi's dark comedy drama Jojo Rabbit, and Jennyanydots in the musical film Cats.
Wilson hosted the dog styling competition Pooch Perfect for Seven Network. The show features professional dog stylists competing over a number of challenges for a $100,000 prize. She also hosted the ABC's version of Pooch Perfect in the United States, which was cancelled after one season. Wilson stars in the Netflix comedy film Senior Year, released in May 2022. She plays a woman who, after waking from a 20-year coma, returns to high school to earn the prom queen crown she feels she deserves. Wilson will appear in her first non-comedy film role in The Almond and the Seahorse, which is an adaptation of Kaite O'Reilly's stage play of the same name. Wilson is making her directorial debut with The Deb, a musical comedy film set in the Australian outback. It is based on Hannah Reilly's 2022 theatre production, which sees "lovable farm girl and high school outcast" Taylah, who hopes the upcoming Debutante Ball will help change how her peers see her, but her plans are disrupted by the arrival of her cousin Maeve from the city. Production began in September 2023.
In September 2025, Wilson appeared in the Bi-ray music video "Butterfly (Narrative Version)" directed by Japanese rock star Yoshiki.
Personal life
In 2013, Wilson created a plus-size T-shirt collection named after her "Fat Mandi" character in The Wedge featuring images of donuts and cupcakes. In 2017, Wilson launched a plus-sized clothing range called Rebel Wilson x Angels on the heels of a collaboration with Torrid.
Wilson and her Bridesmaids co-star, British actor Matt Lucas, lived together in West Hollywood, from September 2012 until 2015.
In July 2015, Wilson stated her support for stricter American gun laws following the 2015 Lafayette shooting, stating, "I don't like getting political but America you really have to follow Australia's example in gun laws. I don't remember a mass shooting in Australia since they overhauled the gun laws. It seems like every week in America there's a shooting. I just want people to be safe, especially people that are doing one of my favorite things in the world—going out to the movies to have fun."
In 2014, Wilson paid $3.75 million for her Sydney harbourside home. The 1900s freestanding Victorian house underwent $900,000 of renovations. Wilson also settled on a Balmain investment apartment, a conversion of a historic mansion. The New York-inspired terrace home took three years to complete. Wilson paid $1.88 million off the plan in 2015 for the two-bedroom apartment.
Wilson is a fan of the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League.
As her 40th birthday approached, Wilson made the decision to freeze her eggs, which spurred on her effort to make healthy life changes. She has polycystic ovarian syndrome, and suffers from emotional eating due to pressures of fame. In November 2022, she announced on Instagram the birth of her first child, a daughter born via surrogacy.
Wilson publicly came out as being in a same-sex relationship on Instagram in June 2022, revealing her relationship with Ramona Agruma while posting on Instagram, "I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess." She chose to announce her relationship with Agruma to pre-empt an article by Andrew Hornery of The Sydney Morning Herald that would have outed her. While Herald editor Bevan Shields initially defended Hornery in the face of widespread backlash, denying they were outing her, Hornery later admitted to having made mistakes, and the original article was deleted. In a tweet on 19 February 2023, Wilson confirmed her engagement to Agruma. The couple married in Italy on 28 September 2024 and again in Australia on 29 December 2024.
Weight
An advocate for body positivity, Wilson has been a role model for larger women. "There's a lot of pressure on women, especially younger women, to conform to the thin body image," she told the Associated Press. "Not everyone can be that way and no one should be ashamed of how they look or suffer bullying and other forms of abuse because of their size and shape."
Throughout her career, Wilson has been known for her plus-sized figure and would often play to it in her acting work with characters such as "Fat Amy". In a 2013 interview with Hunger Magazine, Wilson stated: "As long as I look like this, I'm going to make fat jokes. All comedians have to use their physicality, so I use my size." Wilson said that her agency signed her almost on the spot because they had nobody on their books like her.
Wilson felt lucky to have her body type and stated that people in the industry would tell her not to lose weight. "For me, I think it's about being comfortable in your own skin. I never want to be too unhealthy, because that's bad. You just want to be comfortable with who you are at whatever size", she said. In 2016, Wilson said that she felt bigger girls did better in comedy because they are easier to laugh at and used that to her advantage.
In July 2011, Wilson became a spokesperson for weight loss and nutrition company Jenny Craig in Australia. In January 2012, Wilson told The Daily Telegraph that she had lost 10 kilograms (22 lb) since signing up to the program. In February 2013, she confirmed that she had ended her agreement with Jenny Craig the previous year.
Wilson asserted that the producers of Pitch Perfect had refused to let her lose any more weight during filming, as her contract stated that she must stay the same size. She said that once her film commitments were over, she would start her diet again to reach her target weight of 80 kilograms (180 lb).
In her 2020 "year of health", Wilson made it her mission to lose 60 pounds (27 kg) and did so by November 2020. Wilson stated that she has always been confident in how she looked, but now feels "super confident".
Public profile
Disputed biography
In May 2015, Australian magazine Woman's Day published a story claiming that Wilson had been misleading about her birth name, age, and upbringing. Wilson had previously said in interviews that she was raised by dog-training "bogan" parents in the ghetto of Sydney, spent a year in Zimbabwe, climbed into a cage with a leopard, and got caught in a shoot-out and then struck down by a severe strain of malaria from a mosquito in Mozambique where, from her intensive care bed, she envisioned herself winning an Oscar and rapping her acceptance speech. Her age was also incorrectly given as 29 (when it was actually 35), which she would later admit was something she chose not to correct. Woman's Day called all of this into question and claimed that Wilson had, on the contrary, a "very normal, upper-middle-class upbringing" and "added a touch of 'fantasy' to the life she led before becoming a household name". The story was picked up by several other publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, People magazine, the Chicago Tribune and The Huffington Post. Most notably, Wilson's true birth date was confirmed through business records filed with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, which were obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald, and her birth name of Melanie was confirmed. Following the appeal, Wilson continued to stand by her claim that she is related to Walt Disney by marriage, despite having no evidence to support this. Following this incident, Wilson was "sacked from two DreamWorks animations" and "missed out on movie roles during 2015 and 2016".
Memoir
Wilson's memoir, Rebel Rising, was published in April 2024. It garnered attention for her recounting of discomfort on the set of The Brothers Grimsby, including Sacha Baron Cohen's alleged requests for nudity and inappropriate behavior during a sex scene, which she refused. Baron Cohen has denied these claims through a spokesperson. Following this episode, publication was pushed back and significant portions of the chapter associated with this incident were redacted for the UK due to legislation regarding factual accuracy and libel.
Lawsuits
On 16 May 2016, Wilson said print and online articles in Woman's Day, the Australian Women's Weekly, NW and OK! magazines made her out to be a serial liar. According to a defamation writ filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Wilson said her reputation and credit had suffered and she had been humiliated and embarrassed. She also sued for special damages, claiming she missed out on roles and others were terminated because of the articles. Wilson was represented by Matthew Collins QC. On 15 June 2017, a six-person jury ruled in Wilson's favour, finding that publisher Bauer Media Group had indeed wrongly painted the actress as a serial liar, and that publishing the articles was likely to have caused harm to her career.
On 13 September 2017, Wilson was awarded A$4,500,000 in damages. Wilson's lawyer Richard Leder, said "Today's verdict is a significant record—it's about four times the highest previous verdict in a defamation case in Australia." In June 2017, Wilson tweeted "Any dollars I receive will go to charity, scholarships or invested into the Aussie film industry to provide jobs."
Bauer Media appealed the amount of the damages. On 14 June 2018, Bauer Media won its appeal and the damages were reduced to $600,000, meaning that she had to pay back A$4.1m and A$60,000 in interest. She also had to cover 80% of what Bauer spent on its appeal. Wilson announced her intention to appeal against the decision, and lodged an appeal with the High Court on 11 July 2018. The High Court refused the application on 16 November 2018.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Stage credits
Soundtrack appearances
Pitch Perfect (2012)
Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)
Isn't It Romantic (2019)
Cats: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack (2019)
Awards and nominations
The BBC included her on a list of "100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2021".
References
Notes
Citations
External links
Rebel Wilson at IMDb
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Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson (born Melanie Elizabeth Bownds; 2 March 1980) is an Australian actress, comedian and producer. After graduating from the Australian Theatre for Young People in 2003, Wilson began appearing in the SBS comedy series Pizza (2003–2007) and later appeared in the sketch comedy show The Wedge (2006–2007). She wrote, produced and starred in the musical comedy series Bogan Pride (2008). Shortly after moving to the United States, Wilson appeared in the comedy films Bridesmaids and A Few Best Men, both in 2011.
In 2012, Wilson appeared in the comedy films What to Expect When You're Expecting, Struck by Lightning, and Bachelorette. Wilson wrote and starred in Super Fun Night (2013), a television sitcom that aired for one season on ABC. She gained wider recognition for her role in the musical comedy Pitch Perfect film series (2012–2017).
In 2019, Wilson had her first lead roles in the comedies Isn't It Romantic and The Hustle, and also had a supporting role in the comedy drama Jojo Rabbit. In 2022, she starred in the Netflix comedy film Senior Year, also serving as a producer.
Early life and education
Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson was born on 2 March 1980 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Her parents are professional dog handlers, dog show judges and breeders. Wilson grew up in the suburbs of Kenthurst, Parramatta and Castle Hill. She attended the independent Tara Anglican School for Girls as a boarder. She completed her Higher School Certificate in 1997, achieving a ranking of 99.3, including second place in the state in Food Technology. Wilson joined the debating team and a teacher encouraged her to enter Tournament of Minds, which she credits for helping her come out of her shell. Wilson worked at a cinema in Castle Hill in her younger years, but quit after patrons recognised her after the showing of her first movie, Fat Pizza.
Wilson is the eldest of four children, with sisters Liberty and Annaleise (who uses the name "Annachi") and a brother, who uses the name "Ryot". Liberty and Ryot appeared on the first season of The Amazing Race Australia in 2011, where they were the first team eliminated. Wilson has stated that, according to her grandmother, her great-aunt was Lillian Disney, who was married to Walt Disney until his death in 1966. Wilson stood by this belief in court, despite there being no evidence to support the claim; it continues to be disputed by genealogist Dale Sheridan.
Wilson's first career choice was mathematics. She told The Sydney Morning Herald, "I was very academic at high school and was always good with numbers." She attended the University of New South Wales, graduating in 2009 with Bachelor of Arts (Theatre and Performance Studies) and Bachelor of Laws degrees. She planned to be a lawyer, but decided against corporate life and went to the United States to act. A former Rotary International youth ambassador for Australia, she was based in South Africa for one year, where she contracted malaria. She has spoken of malaria-induced hallucinations, where she saw herself as an actress who had won an Oscar, convincing her to pursue an acting career.
Career
2002–2010: early work
Wilson studied at the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP). In 2003, she moved to New York after winning the ATYP International scholarship, which was funded by Nicole Kidman. While in New York, Wilson trained with The Second City. She appeared with the Sydney Theatre Company and performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. She first came to the public's attention in 2002 with her stage musical The Westie Monologues, which she wrote, starred in and produced in Sydney. Her follow-up stage productions, which she wrote, produced and starred in include Spunks and Confessions of an Exchange Student.
In Australia, Wilson is most known for her roles as Toula on the SBS comedy series Pizza and as various characters including Lucy, Fat Mandi and Karla Bangs on the sketch comedy series The Wedge. She played an Australian Idol mad schoolgirl in a series of Telstra advertisements shown during Australian Idol from 2004 to 2005. She also had roles in the feature films Fat Pizza (2003) and Ghost Rider (2007).
In 2008, Wilson created, wrote, produced and starred in the musical comedy series Bogan Pride on SBS One and also starred in the improvisational Nine Network series Monster House. In 2009 Wilson won the Tropfest Best Actress award for her role in the film Bargain. She has made appearances on the improvisational comedy show Thank God You're Here and the comedy game show Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation. She performed stand-up on the television special The Breast Darn Show In Town and guest starred in the Seven Network drama City Homicide and performed improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles.
2010–present: transition to Hollywood
Not content with her small role in Ghost Rider, Wilson moved to the United States in January 2010 and signed to talent and literary agents William Morris Endeavor. Wilson's next film role came in the Judd Apatow film, Bridesmaids, in which she played Brynn, the sister of Matt Lucas' character. The role was written especially for her. Wilson then appeared in the CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement and on the Comedy Central series, Workaholics. She co-hosted the 2010 ARIA Music Awards and performed at the inaugural Variety's Power of Comedy event in Los Angeles with Lucas and Russell Brand. In early 2011, Wilson filmed A Few Best Men at Fox Studios Australia. She also filmed a role in Small Apartments. Wilson was named one of Variety magazine's "Top Ten Comics to Watch for 2011". In 2012, Wilson had a role in the ensemble comedy What to Expect When You're Expecting, as Janice, and co-starred in the indie film Struck By Lightning.
On 19 August 2011, Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter reported that Wilson had replaced Casey Wilson in Bachelorette. In 2012, Wilson voiced a character in Ice Age: Continental Drift and played Fat Amy in Pitch Perfect. For the latter role, she received critical acclaim and earned various award nominations, including Best Supporting Actress from the San Diego Film Critics Society and Best Actress in a Comedy from the Broadcast Film Critics Association. She won the MTV Movie Award for Best Actor in a Movie and shared the Best Musical Moment award with her Pitch Perfect co-stars. Wilson was also nominated for MTV Movie Award for Best Performance. Wilson later won the Choice Movie Actress: Comedy award for Pitch Perfect at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards. She had also been nominated for Choice Comedian at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards.
In January 2012, Michael Ausiello of TVLine announced that Wilson would be writing and starring in Super Fun Night, a comedy that follows three friends on a quest to have fun every Friday night. The pilot was picked up by CBS and Conan O'Brien became one of the executive producers. The pilot was later turned down by CBS, but the ABC network picked up the project. A series was ordered and the show began broadcasting on 2 October 2013. The series was cancelled after one season. Wilson played Robin Peck in Michael Bay's Pain & Gain (2013). She hosted the 2013 MTV Movie Awards on 14 April 2013.
In March 2014, the American satellite television network Dish Network launched a marketing campaign for its Hopper DVR featuring Wilson as the voice of the eponymous animated kangaroo. Wilson reprised her role in the sequels Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) and Pitch Perfect 3 (2017). She also made a cameo in the television comedy Pompidou. Wilson joined the voice cast for Kung Fu Panda 3; however, in September 2015, she was replaced with Kate Hudson. Wilson next appeared in the ensemble comedy How to Be Single, released in February 2016. Nigel M. Smith of The Guardian wrote, "Wilson is the standout, nailing every pratfall she's dealt, but How to Be Single doesn't make strong use of her character." Wilson also appeared in the action comedy Grimsby. On 14 February 2016, Wilson presented the nominations for the Best Supporting Actor category at the 69th British Academy Film Awards. Wilson is one of sixty celebrities who make a cameo in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.
Wilson appeared as Ursula, the sea witch, in an all-star concert version of The Little Mermaid at the Hollywood Bowl on 3 June 4 June, and 6 June 2016. She made her West End debut in the musical Guys and Dolls in the role of Miss Adelaide from 28 June to 21 August 2016. She received positive reviews. In 2018, it was announced that Wilson was to produce and star in a feature film adaptation of the Image Comics comic book Crowded. Wilson played LeFou in a production of Beauty and the Beast: Live in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl on 25–26 May 2018. She also appeared on the cover of Vogue Australia for the first time.
Wilson starred in two 2019 comedies. The first, Isn't It Romantic, was released in February, and is about a woman (Wilson) who wakes up in a literal romantic comedy, despite the character's hate for the genre; the film is Wilson's first solo lead role and her first ever producer credit. In May, Wilson starred alongside Anne Hathaway in The Hustle, a female-centred remake of the 1988 comedy film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Wilson also co-produced the latter film. Wilson plays twins Doreen and Dolores Bognor in Australian drama series Les Norton. Towards the end of 2019, Wilson played Fraulein Rahm in Taika Waititi's dark comedy drama Jojo Rabbit, and Jennyanydots in the musical film Cats.
Wilson hosted the dog styling competition Pooch Perfect for Seven Network. The show features professional dog stylists competing over a number of challenges for a $100,000 prize. She also hosted the ABC's version of Pooch Perfect in the United States, which was cancelled after one season. Wilson stars in the Netflix comedy film Senior Year, released in May 2022. She plays a woman who, after waking from a 20-year coma, returns to high school to earn the prom queen crown she feels she deserves. Wilson will appear in her first non-comedy film role in The Almond and the Seahorse, which is an adaptation of Kaite O'Reilly's stage play of the same name. Wilson is making her directorial debut with The Deb, a musical comedy film set in the Australian outback. It is based on Hannah Reilly's 2022 theatre production, which sees "lovable farm girl and high school outcast" Taylah, who hopes the upcoming Debutante Ball will help change how her peers see her, but her plans are disrupted by the arrival of her cousin Maeve from the city. Production began in September 2023.
In September 2025, Wilson appeared in the Bi-ray music video "Butterfly (Narrative Version)" directed by Japanese rock star Yoshiki.
Personal life
In 2013, Wilson created a plus-size T-shirt collection named after her "Fat Mandi" character in The Wedge featuring images of donuts and cupcakes. In 2017, Wilson launched a plus-sized clothing range called Rebel Wilson x Angels on the heels of a collaboration with Torrid.
Wilson and her Bridesmaids co-star, British actor Matt Lucas, lived together in West Hollywood, from September 2012 until 2015.
In July 2015, Wilson stated her support for stricter American gun laws following the 2015 Lafayette shooting, stating, "I don't like getting political but America you really have to follow Australia's example in gun laws. I don't remember a mass shooting in Australia since they overhauled the gun laws. It seems like every week in America there's a shooting. I just want people to be safe, especially people that are doing one of my favorite things in the world—going out to the movies to have fun."
In 2014, Wilson paid $3.75 million for her Sydney harbourside home. The 1900s freestanding Victorian house underwent $900,000 of renovations. Wilson also settled on a Balmain investment apartment, a conversion of a historic mansion. The New York-inspired terrace home took three years to complete. Wilson paid $1.88 million off the plan in 2015 for the two-bedroom apartment.
Wilson is a fan of the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League.
As her 40th birthday approached, Wilson made the decision to freeze her eggs, which spurred on her effort to make healthy life changes. She has polycystic ovarian syndrome, and suffers from emotional eating due to pressures of fame. In November 2022, she announced on Instagram the birth of her first child, a daughter born via surrogacy.
Wilson publicly came out as being in a same-sex relationship on Instagram in June 2022, revealing her relationship with Ramona Agruma while posting on Instagram, "I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess." She chose to announce her relationship with Agruma to pre-empt an article by Andrew Hornery of The Sydney Morning Herald that would have outed her. While Herald editor Bevan Shields initially defended Hornery in the face of widespread backlash, denying they were outing her, Hornery later admitted to having made mistakes, and the original article was deleted. In a tweet on 19 February 2023, Wilson confirmed her engagement to Agruma. The couple married in Italy on 28 September 2024 and again in Australia on 29 December 2024.
Weight
An advocate for body positivity, Wilson has been a role model for larger women. "There's a lot of pressure on women, especially younger women, to conform to the thin body image," she told the Associated Press. "Not everyone can be that way and no one should be ashamed of how they look or suffer bullying and other forms of abuse because of their size and shape."
Throughout her career, Wilson has been known for her plus-sized figure and would often play to it in her acting work with characters such as "Fat Amy". In a 2013 interview with Hunger Magazine, Wilson stated: "As long as I look like this, I'm going to make fat jokes. All comedians have to use their physicality, so I use my size." Wilson said that her agency signed her almost on the spot because they had nobody on their books like her.
Wilson felt lucky to have her body type and stated that people in the industry would tell her not to lose weight. "For me, I think it's about being comfortable in your own skin. I never want to be too unhealthy, because that's bad. You just want to be comfortable with who you are at whatever size", she said. In 2016, Wilson said that she felt bigger girls did better in comedy because they are easier to laugh at and used that to her advantage.
In July 2011, Wilson became a spokesperson for weight loss and nutrition company Jenny Craig in Australia. In January 2012, Wilson told The Daily Telegraph that she had lost 10 kilograms (22 lb) since signing up to the program. In February 2013, she confirmed that she had ended her agreement with Jenny Craig the previous year.
Wilson asserted that the producers of Pitch Perfect had refused to let her lose any more weight during filming, as her contract stated that she must stay the same size. She said that once her film commitments were over, she would start her diet again to reach her target weight of 80 kilograms (180 lb).
In her 2020 "year of health", Wilson made it her mission to lose 60 pounds (27 kg) and did so by November 2020. Wilson stated that she has always been confident in how she looked, but now feels "super confident".
Public profile
Disputed biography
In May 2015, Australian magazine Woman's Day published a story claiming that Wilson had been misleading about her birth name, age, and upbringing. Wilson had previously said in interviews that she was raised by dog-training "bogan" parents in the ghetto of Sydney, spent a year in Zimbabwe, climbed into a cage with a leopard, and got caught in a shoot-out and then struck down by a severe strain of malaria from a mosquito in Mozambique where, from her intensive care bed, she envisioned herself winning an Oscar and rapping her acceptance speech. Her age was also incorrectly given as 29 (when it was actually 35), which she would later admit was something she chose not to correct. Woman's Day called all of this into question and claimed that Wilson had, on the contrary, a "very normal, upper-middle-class upbringing" and "added a touch of 'fantasy' to the life she led before becoming a household name". The story was picked up by several other publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, People magazine, the Chicago Tribune and The Huffington Post. Most notably, Wilson's true birth date was confirmed through business records filed with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, which were obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald, and her birth name of Melanie was confirmed. Following the appeal, Wilson continued to stand by her claim that she is related to Walt Disney by marriage, despite having no evidence to support this. Following this incident, Wilson was "sacked from two DreamWorks animations" and "missed out on movie roles during 2015 and 2016".
Memoir
Wilson's memoir, Rebel Rising, was published in April 2024. It garnered attention for her recounting of discomfort on the set of The Brothers Grimsby, including Sacha Baron Cohen's alleged requests for nudity and inappropriate behavior during a sex scene, which she refused. Baron Cohen has denied these claims through a spokesperson. Following this episode, publication was pushed back and significant portions of the chapter associated with this incident were redacted for the UK due to legislation regarding factual accuracy and libel.
Lawsuits
On 16 May 2016, Wilson said print and online articles in Woman's Day, the Australian Women's Weekly, NW and OK! magazines made her out to be a serial liar. According to a defamation writ filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Wilson said her reputation and credit had suffered and she had been humiliated and embarrassed. She also sued for special damages, claiming she missed out on roles and others were terminated because of the articles. Wilson was represented by Matthew Collins QC. On 15 June 2017, a six-person jury ruled in Wilson's favour, finding that publisher Bauer Media Group had indeed wrongly painted the actress as a serial liar, and that publishing the articles was likely to have caused harm to her career.
On 13 September 2017, Wilson was awarded A$4,500,000 in damages. Wilson's lawyer Richard Leder, said "Today's verdict is a significant record—it's about four times the highest previous verdict in a defamation case in Australia." In June 2017, Wilson tweeted "Any dollars I receive will go to charity, scholarships or invested into the Aussie film industry to provide jobs."
Bauer Media appealed the amount of the damages. On 14 June 2018, Bauer Media won its appeal and the damages were reduced to $600,000, meaning that she had to pay back A$4.1m and A$60,000 in interest. She also had to cover 80% of what Bauer spent on its appeal. Wilson announced her intention to appeal against the decision, and lodged an appeal with the High Court on 11 July 2018. The High Court refused the application on 16 November 2018.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Stage credits
Soundtrack appearances
Pitch Perfect (2012)
Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)
Isn't It Romantic (2019)
Cats: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack (2019)
Awards and nominations
The BBC included her on a list of "100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2021".
References
Notes
Citations
External links
Rebel Wilson at IMDb
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Nicolas Cage
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Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two BAFTA Awards. Known for his versatility as an actor, Cage's work across diverse film genres has gained him a significant cult following.
Born into the Coppola family, Cage began his career in films such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and Valley Girl (1983), as well as various films by his uncle Francis Ford Coppola such as Rumble Fish (1983), The Cotton Club (1984), and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). He received critical success for his roles in Moonstruck and Raising Arizona (both 1987), before earning an Academy Award for Best Actor for the dramatic film Leaving Las Vegas (1995). He was Oscar-nominated for playing twins Charlie and Donald Kaufman in the comedy-drama film Adaptation (2002).
Cage established himself in mainstream action films, such as The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), Face/Off (1997), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), the National Treasure film series (2004–2007), the Ghost Rider film series (2007–2011), and Kick-Ass (2010). He also took on dramatic roles in City of Angels (1998), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), The Family Man (2000), Matchstick Men (2003), and The Wicker Man (2006). He has voiced characters in The Ant Bully (2006), Astro Boy (2009), The Croods film series (2013–2020), Teen Titans Go! To the Movies and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (both 2018). He earned renewed critical recognition for his starring roles in Mandy (2018), Pig (2021), The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022), Dream Scenario (2023) and Longlegs (2024).
Cage owns the production company Saturn Films and has produced films such as Shadow of the Vampire (2000) and The Life of David Gale (2003), and has directed Sonny (2002). For his contributions to the film industry, he was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998. He was ranked No. 40 in Empire magazine's The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list in 2007 and was placed No. 37 in Premiere's 100 Most Powerful People in Hollywood in 2008. Nicolas Cage was also voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time in a 2022 readers' poll by Empire magazine.
Early life and family
Cage was born in Long Beach, California, to August Coppola, a professor of literature, and Joy Vogelsang, a dancer and choreographer. He was raised in a Catholic family. His father was of Italian descent and his mother was of mainly German and Polish descent with some English and Scottish ancestry on her father's side. His paternal grandparents were composer Carmine Coppola and actress Italia Pennino, and his paternal great-grandparents were immigrants from Bernalda, Basilicata. Through his father, he is a nephew of both director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, and a cousin of directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola, film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola, and actors Robert and Jason Schwartzman.
Cage is the youngest of three sons. His two brothers are New York radio personality Marc "The Cope" Coppola and director Christopher Coppola. He attended Beverly Hills High School, which is known for its many alumni who became entertainers. He aspired to act from an early age and also attended UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. His first non-cinematic acting experience was in a school production of Golden Boy. He said he started acting because he "wanted to be James Dean. I saw him in Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden. Nothing affected me—no rock song, no classical music—the way Dean affected me in Eden. It blew my mind. I was like, 'That's what I want to do'."
At age 15, he tried to convince his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, to give him a screen test, telling him "I'll show you acting." His outburst was met with "silence in the car." By this stage of his career, Coppola had already directed Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman and Robert De Niro. Although early in his career Cage appeared in some of his uncle's films, he changed his name to Nicolas Cage to avoid the appearance of nepotism as Coppola's nephew. His choice of name was inspired by the Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage and composer John Cage.
Career
1981–1988: Early work and breakthrough
Cage made his acting debut in the 1981 television pilot The Best of Times, which was never picked up by ABC. His film debut followed in 1982, with a minor role as an unnamed co-worker of Judge Reinhold's character in the coming-of-age film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, having originally auditioned for Reinhold's part. His experience on the film was marred by cast members endlessly quoting his uncle's films, which inspired him to change his name. Cage's first starring role came opposite Deborah Foreman in the romantic comedy Valley Girl (1983), in which he played a punk who falls in love with the titular valley girl, a plot loosely inspired by Romeo and Juliet. The film was a modest box office success and has been branded a cult classic. He auditioned for the role of Dallas Winston in his uncle's film The Outsiders, based on S.E. Hinton's novel, but lost to Matt Dillon. Cage, however, would co-star in Coppola's adaptation of another Hinton novel, Rumble Fish, in that year.
In 1984, Cage appeared in three period films, none of which fared well at the box office. In the drama, Racing with the Moon (1984), Cage featured opposite Sean Penn as friends who are awaiting deployment to the United States Marine Corps. In Coppola's crime drama The Cotton Club he portrayed a fictionalized version of mob hitman Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, earning praise from critic Paul Attanasio for "artfully [using] his few moments to sketch a brawny, violent thug." His final release of the year was Alan Parker's drama Birdy, in which he starred with Matthew Modine. Cage lost weight for the role and had two of his front teeth pulled out to appear disfigured. Despite massively underperforming at the box office, the film, and Cage and Modine's performances, received positive reviews, with The New York Times critic Janet Maslin writing, "Mr. Cage very sympathetically captures Al's urgency and frustration. Together, these actors work miracles with what might have been unplayable."
In 1986, Cage starred in the little-seen Canadian sports drama The Boy in Blue and his uncle's fantasy comedy Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) as the husband to Kathleen Turner's character. He then starred in the Coen brothers' crime comedy Raising Arizona (1987) as a dim-witted ex-con. Cage's biggest breakthrough came in 1987 with the romantic comedy Moonstruck, in which he starred alongside Cher as a hot-tempered baker. The film was a hit with critics and audiences alike, earning Cage a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy In his retrospective review, Roger Ebert wrote that he felt Cage's performance was worthy of an Oscar.
1989–1994: Career slump
In 1989, Cage starred in the black comedy Vampire's Kiss as a man who falls in love with a vampire and soon begins to believe himself as a vampire. The film was a major box office flop but has developed a cult following largely due to Cage's surrealistic and over-the-top performance appearing in internet memes. Critic Vincent Canby felt the film was "dominated and destroyed by Mr. Cage's chaotic, self-indulgent performance." After filming the Italian drama Time to Kill (1989) in Zimbabwe, he starred in David Lynch's romantic crime film Wild at Heart (1990) with Laura Dern. Cage was drawn to the project because he was "always attracted to those passionate, almost unbridled romantic characters" and it allowed him to impersonate one of his heroes, Elvis Presley, in scenes in which he sang. Wild at Heart received mixed reviews upon release, despite controversially winning the Palme d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Cage would reunite with Lynch and Dern for the avant-garde concert performance Industrial Symphony No. 1.
Also in 1990, he starred as a helicopter pilot in the action film Fire Birds, which was panned by critics and negatively compared to Top Gun (1986). Cage's next film, the erotic thriller Zandalee (1991), was released direct-to-video in the United States, where it did not receive a theatrical release. His "goofy 'everyman'" performance in the romantic comedy Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) garnered some positive critical notices, including from Roger Ebert, who defended Cage amidst some critics finding his acting "excessive" and earned Cage his second Golden Globe nomination. He hosted an episode of the variety show Saturday Night Live to promote the film, his only time hosting the show.
None of Cage's three films in 1993—Deadfall (directed by his brother Christopher), Amos & Andrew and Red Rock West—performed well at the box office. The comedy Guarding Tess (1994) paired Cage with Shirley MacLaine as a Secret Service agent protecting a former First Lady; however, it was dismissed as being derivative by some critics. He next starred alongside Bridget Fonda in the romantic comedy It Could Happen to You as a cash-strapped police officer who offers to share his lottery winnings with a waitress and then the much-criticized box office flop Christmas comedy Trapped in Paradise with the Saturday Night Live actors Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey. According to Lovitz, Cage directed portions of the film because its director, George Gallo, offered little direction.
1995–2003: Critical success and action star
Cage's performance as a psychopathic criminal kingpin in the crime film Kiss of Death (1995) was seen by many critics as the film's strong point, but his most acclaimed performance yet came in the drama Leaving Las Vegas as an alcoholic screenwriter who falls in love with a prostitute in Las Vegas. The role won Cage the Academy Award for Best Actor and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. To prepare for the part, Cage binge drank for two weeks and studied footage of himself.
In 1996, he starred alongside Sean Connery and Ed Harris in Michael Bay's The Rock, the first of a string of action films for Cage. In the film, he played an FBI chemical weapons specialist breaking into Alcatraz federal prison. The Rock was a box office and critical success, with journalist Alexander Larman stating the film "launched Cage into an unexpected vocation as an offbeat action star." Next, he starred in Con Air and Face/Off, two commercially successful action thrillers that were both released in June 1997. Along with John Cusack and John Malkovich, Cage led an ensemble cast. Jerry Bruckheimer, Con Air's producer, offered the role to Cage after being impressed with his performances in Leaving Las Vegas and The Rock. Cage accepted despite disappointment at not being offered the villain role. Ebert felt Cage "[made] the wrong choice... by playing Cameron Poe as a slow-witted Elvis type who is very, very earnest and approaches every task with tunnel vision; it would have been more fun if he'd been less of a hayseed." John Woo's Face/Off saw Cage and John Travolta star in dual roles as sworn enemies—a terrorist and an FBI agent—who both undergo face transplants to impersonate each other, requiring Cage and Travolta to switch characters. Both performances were praised by critics, with the BBC writing in their review "Travolta and Cage invest their dual roles with physical subtleties that reflect the other actor's character."
After starring in these action films back-to-back, Cage decided to "return to more serious fare" in the romantic fantasy film City of Angels (1998), a loose remake of the German film Wings of Desire (1987). Critics were split on the film and Cage's performance, with reviews ranging from describing him as "endlessly resourceful" and "[resembling] a serial killer more than an angel." Brian De Palma's thriller Snake Eyes, his second film of 1998, starred Cage as a corrupt detective. The film was met with mixed reviews, which were largely critical of its screenplay. Cage starred in Martin Scorsese's 1999 New York City paramedic drama Bringing Out the Dead.
Most of Cage's movies that have achieved financial success were in the action/adventure genre. These include The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off, and Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), with Cage as a retired car thief. He took the lead role in the 2000 romantic comedy film The Family Man, in which he played a man forced to deal with an alternate life that had a plot similar to the Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life (1946), and the 2001 war film Captain Corelli's Mandolin where he learned to play the mandolin from scratch for the part. In 2002, he was again nominated for Oscar and Golden Globe best actor awards for his portrayal of real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and Kaufman's fictional twin Donald in Adaptation.
Cage made his directorial debut in 2002 with Sonny, a low-budget drama starring James Franco as a male prostitute whose mother (Brenda Blethyn) serves as his pimp. Cage had a small role in the film, which received poor reviews and a short run in a limited number of theaters. Cage's producing career includes Shadow of the Vampire (2000), the first effort from Saturn Films. He starred in Ridley Scott's 2003 black comedy crime film Matchstick Men, in which he played a con artist with obsessive–compulsive disorder.
2004–2011: Franchise films
In his second-highest-grossing film to date, National Treasure (2004), Cage played an eccentric historian who goes on a dangerous adventure to find treasure hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States. In 2005, two films he headlined, Lord of War and The Weather Man, failed to find a significant audience despite nationwide releases and good reviews for his performances. The 2006 remake of The Wicker Man was very poorly reviewed, and failed to make back its $40-million budget. In early December 2006, Cage announced at the Bahamas International Film Festival that he planned to curtail his future acting endeavors to pursue other interests. On The Dresden Files for the Sci-Fi Channel, Cage is listed as the executive producer. The much-criticized Ghost Rider (2007), based on the Marvel Comics character, fared better, earning more than $45 million (the top earner) during its opening weekend and over $208 million worldwide through the weekend ending on March 25, 2007. Also in 2007, he had a small but notable role as the Chinese criminal mastermind Dr. Fu Manchu in Rob Zombie's fake trailer Werewolf Women of the S.S. from the B-movie double feature Grindhouse, starred in Next, which shared the concept of a glimpse into an alternate timeline with Cage's previous film, The Family Man, and reprised his role as a treasure hunter in National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
In November 2007, Cage was spotted backstage at a Ring of Honor wrestling show in New York City researching for the lead role for The Wrestler. However, Cage dropped out of production shortly afterward because he felt that he did not have enough time to prepare for the role and director Darren Aronofsky preferred Mickey Rourke for the lead role. Rourke would go on to receive an Academy Award nomination for his performance. In an interview with /Film, Aronofsky said of Cage's decision to leave the film that "Nic was a complete gentleman, and he understood that my heart was with Mickey and he stepped aside. I have so much respect for Nic Cage as an actor and I think it really could have worked with Nic but ... you know, Nic was incredibly supportive of Mickey and he is old friends with Mickey and really wanted to help with this opportunity, so he pulled himself out of the race."
In 2008, Cage appeared as Joe, a contract killer who undergoes a change of heart while on a work outing in Bangkok, in the film Bangkok Dangerous. The film is shot by the Pang Brothers and has a distinctly South-East Asian flavor. In 2009, Cage starred in the science fiction thriller Knowing, directed by Alex Proyas. In the film, he plays an MIT professor who examines the contents of a time capsule unearthed at his son's elementary school. Startling predictions found inside the capsule that have already come true lead him to believe that the world is going to end at the close of the week and that he and his son are somehow involved in the destruction. The film received mixed reviews but was the box office winner on its opening weekend.
Also in 2009, Cage starred in the film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, directed by acclaimed German director Werner Herzog. He portrayed a corrupt police officer with gambling, drug and alcohol addictions. The film was very well received by critics, holding a rating of 87% positive reviews on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Cage was lauded for his performance, with Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune writing "Herzog has found his ideal interpreter, a performer whose truth lies deep in the artifice of performance: ladies and gentlemen, Nicolas Cage, at his finest." This film reunited Cage with Eva Mendes, who played his love interest in Ghost Rider. In 2010, Cage starred in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, in which he played the sorcerer, and the next year, headlined the period piece Season of the Witch, as a 14th-century knight transporting a woman accused of causing the Black Plague to a monastery. In 2011, Cage reprised his role in Ghost Rider's sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
2012–2017: Career setbacks
In 2013, Cage was involved in many projects. Notable films including animated film The Croods, in which he voiced a character named Grug Crood. The Croods received positive reviews from critics and was a box-office success grossing $585 million against a budget of $135 million. He starred as main character in The Frozen Ground, a thriller crime drama film directed and written by Scott Walker in his directorial debut, based on the crimes of real-life Alaskan serial killer Robert Hansen. The film, reunited him with Cusack, depicts an Alaskan State Trooper, played by Cage, seeking to apprehend Hansen, played by Cusack, by partnering with a young woman who escaped from Hansen's clutches. The film has received mixed reviews though Cage's performance was cited as a highlight and solid. He also starred in Joe, an independent crime drama film directed and co-produced by David Gordon Green, adaptation from Larry Brown's 1991 novel of the same name. In this film Nicolas Cage is a tormented man who hires a 15-year-old boy (played by Tye Sheridan) and protects him from his abusive father. The film premiered at the 70th Venice International Film Festival on August 30, 2013, with a subsequent screening at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. It was a box office flop, grossing only $2.36 million from a $4 million budget, but received critical acclaim from critics, who praised Cage's performance and Green's direction.
The 2016 black comedy Dog Eat Dog, Cage's second film with Paul Schrader, reunited him with Willem Dafoe (after Wild at Heart) as a pair of ex-convicts hired to kidnap a baby. The film had its premiere as the closing entry for the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2016. It was released on November 4, 2016, in the United States. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film four out of five stars, writing, "It's the right director for the right project and the result is Schrader's best for years: a lairy, nasty, tasty crime thriller built on black-comic chaos." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "A rare film to have been shot in Cleveland, Dog Eat Dog definitely looks like it was shot on the cheap but puts what it needs to up on the screen with vigor and wit."
Cage starred alongside Selma Blair and Anne Winters in Brian Taylor's horror comedy film, Mom and Dad, which premiered in the Midnight Madness section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in theaters on January 19, 2018, and received positive reviews from critics, with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes defining his performance as "over-the-top." Director John Waters appreciated the film, naming Mom and Dad as one of the best movies of 2018, placing it fourth on his personal top list.
2018–present: Critical resurgence
In 2018, Cage starred in the action thriller film Mandy, which premiered on January 19 at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com praised the movie, writing that "for all of the endless feral performances that Cage has given, in movies good, bad and forgettable, Cosmatos' style-driven, '80s-tastic passion for weird worlds and characters takes full advantage of Cage's greatness, and then some." In October, Mandy's producer Elijah Wood announced his intention to size up an Oscar campaign for Nicolas Cage and for composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (who died in February of that year) but the film was disqualified because it was also released on Video On Demand on September 14.
Later that year, Cage voiced Clark Kent / Superman in the animated film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. He had originally been slated to portray Superman in Tim Burton's canceled Superman film, Superman Lives, in the 1990s. He voiced an alternate monochromatic 1930s universe version of Peter Parker / Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Cage based his vocal performance on films of Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson. On January 28, 2019, Viktor and Irina Yelchin premiered a documentary about their son Anton Yelchin, Love, Antosha, at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary was directed by Garret Price and contains various interviews with some of Anton's friends and collaborators such as Kristen Stewart, J. J. Abrams, Chris Pine, Jennifer Lawrence, Jodie Foster, John Cho and Martin Landau. Cage starred as the Narrator of the film, reading various writings by Yelchin.
In December 2018, it was announced that Cage had signed to play the lead role for Richard Stanley's Color Out of Space, based on the short story "The Colour Out of Space" by H. P. Lovecraft. This was Stanley's first feature film directed since his firing from The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). Color Out of Space premiered on September 7, 2019, in the Midnight Madness portion of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, where Cage was awarded for his role with the Creative Coalition's Spotlight Initiative Award. Following select preview screenings on January 22, the film was released in 81 theaters in the United States on January 24, 2020.
In December 2018, it was announced that Sion Sono was working on his first overseas production and English-language debut, Prisoners of the Ghostland, starring Nicolas Cage. Cage said the film "might be the wildest movie I've ever made." Its plot revolves around a notorious criminal, Hero (played by Cage), who is sent to rescue the governor's adopted granddaughter, who has disappeared into a dark region called Ghostland. The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 31, 2021.
In May 2020, it was announced that Cage would be playing the role of Joe Exotic in a scripted eight-episode Tiger King series, written and executive produced by Dan Lagana. It was announced that the project was scrapped in July 2021. In 2013, it was confirmed that Nicolas Cage would reprise his role as Grug in The Croods: A New Age, which was released in 2020.
Cage produced and starred in the 2021 film Pig, where he plays Robin "Rob" Feld, a former chef turned reclusive truffle-forager who must return to his past in Portland in search of his beloved foraging pig after she is kidnapped. Cage received critical acclaim for his performance and earned a second nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor. He gained further acclaim for portraying a fictionalized version of himself in the 2022 action comedy film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent as well as for his portrayal of Paul, a professor who begins appearing in the dreams of others, in the 2023 Dream Scenario, resulting in his fifth Golden Globe nomination.
In the 2023 horror comedy film Renfield, inspired by the 1897 Bram Stoker novel Dracula, Cage portrays Dracula opposite Nicholas Hoult's Renfield. Also in 2023, Cage was included as a playable character in the horror video game Dead by Daylight. Cage reprised his role as Clark Kent / Superman in the 2023 film The Flash in a cameo appearance as an alternate version of the superhero. Cage shot his scenes through volumetric capture and CGI was used to de-age him.
In early 2023, it was announced Cage was set to play a live action version of Peter Parker / Spider-Man Noir on Amazon Prime Video. The show would take place in an alternate 1930s New York City. In July 2024, the show was confirmed to be titled Spider-Noir. Filming began in September 2024 in Los Angeles. Also in July, Cage starred as the titular serial killer in the horror thriller film Longlegs, which he produced. In August, Cage signed on to play legendary gridiron football coach and broadcaster John Madden in the Amazon MGM Studios film Madden.
Acting style and reception
Nouveau Shamanic
Nouveau Shamanic is a style of acting Cage developed. He has said it is to increase one's imagination without restraint, in avoidance of experiencing the sense of being ingenuous.
The process itself is about: How do you augment your imagination in a healthy way? So that you can believe you're these characters… You don't feel like you're acting, you feel like you're being.
In the film Vampire's Kiss Cage moved from method acting to "Nouveau Shamanic." The scene where Cage recites the alphabet to his psychiatrist was a result of acting out of impulse. Raising Arizona showcased the physicality of Nouveau Shamanic. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a display of how the method leads to impulse decisions fueled by an energy one could only garner naturally. Cage was asked if any of his numerous pets influence his acting, to which he replied "The cobras, definitely. They would try to hypnotize you by going side to side, and when I did Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, that's something my character does before he attacks. Animals are fun places to get inspiration."
Reception
According to The Guardian film critic Luke Buckmaster, "any casual observer can see that Cage is entertaining, charismatic and wildly flamboyant." Attributing it partly to the "well-cultured" background of Cage's family, Buckmaster said the actor "is clearly attracted to grotesque characters and is celebrated for his wild and unhinged approach to them. He has the presence of a leading man, and the eccentricities of a character actor." Actor Ethan Hawke stated in 2013 that Cage is "the only actor since Marlon Brando that's actually done anything new with the art", crediting him for taking film audiences "away from an obsession with naturalism into a kind of presentation style of acting that I imagine was popular with the old troubadours."
Film director David Lynch described him as "the jazz musician of American acting." Many critics have accused Cage of overacting. Others, including Cage himself, have described his intentionally extreme performances as "mega-acting." After the actor's series of mainstream-marketed thriller films during the late 1990s, Sean Penn told The New York Times in 1999 that Cage was "no longer an actor" but "more like a performer." Despite this, in his speech after winning the Oscar for his performance in Mystic River, Penn described Cage's performance in Matchstick Men as one of the best of 2003.
During the 2010s, a growing number of critics described Cage as one of the most underrated actors of his generation.
Acting credits and accolades
For his contributions to the film industry, Cage was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998 with a motion pictures star located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard. In May 2001, Cage was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, Fullerton. He spoke at the commencement ceremony. Cage has also been nominated for an Academy Award twice. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the film Leaving Las Vegas in 1995. He was nominated for a second one for his role in the film Adaptation in 2002.
He also won a Golden Globe award, Screen Actors Guild award, and many more awards for Leaving Las Vegas. He has received nominations by the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and BAFTA for his films Adaptation, Honeymoon in Vegas, and Moonstruck. He has also won and been nominated for many other awards.
Personal life
Relationships and family
In 1988, Cage began dating actress Christina Fulton, with whom he has a son, Weston Coppola Cage (born in 1990). Weston has been the vocalist of two symphonic black metal bands, Eyes of Noctrum and Arsh Anubis. Weston also appeared in his father's film Lord of War as a helicopter mechanic, and in the 2014 film Rage as Nicolas' character's younger self. Through Weston, Cage has two grandsons born in 2014 and 2016. In July 2024, Weston was arrested for assaulting numerous people with a deadly weapon, including his mother; he was released on a $150,000 bond.
Cage's first wife was actress Patricia Arquette, whom he married in April 1995 and divorced in 2001.
His second marriage was to singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. (Cage, an Elvis fan, used Elvis as the inspiration for his performance in Wild at Heart.) They married in Kamuela, Hawaii, on August 10, 2002, and filed for divorce 107 days later on November 25, 2002. The divorce was finalized on May 24, 2004.
Cage's third wife was Alice Kim. They were married at a private ranch in northern California on July 30, 2004. She gave birth to their son Kal-El in 2005. They divorced in January 2016.
In March 2019, Cage married Erika Koike in Las Vegas, only to file for annulment four days later, stating he was too intoxicated to understand his own actions and that Koike failed to disclose "the full nature and extent of her relationship with another person." He was granted a divorce from Koike three months later.
On February 16, 2021, Cage married Riko Shibata. Their daughter August was born in 2022.
Political views and religious beliefs
Cage grew up in a family of Catholic background, but does not talk about religion publicly and refuses to answer religion-connected questions in his interviews. When asked about whether he could relate to his character's lack of religious belief in Knowing, Cage replied, "You know, any of my personal beliefs or opinions run the risk of impinging on your own relationship with the movie. I think movies are best left enigmatic. Left raising more questions than answers. I don't want to ever preach, so that's what you get from a movie; that's far more interesting than anything I could offer."
During his visit to University of California, Santa Cruz, he stated that he is not a politically active actor and that he can do it in his work as he learned "more about nuclear power from the movie The China Syndrome." Cage endorsed Andrew Yang for president during the 2020 election.
At one point in his life, Cage had decided that he wanted to develop the philosophical aspect of his nature, and he went on a quest to find the Holy Grail. Cage traveled to England to look for it, but also looked at some areas of the United States.
Charitable activities
Cage has been called one of the most generous stars in Hollywood. He donated $2 million to Amnesty International for them to use to offer rehabilitation shelters, medical services and psychological and reintegration services to some of the 300,000 children forced to fight in conflicts across the world. He has also donated $1 million to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. He became the first artist to support ArtWorks, an artist engagement program to raise awareness of fundamental rights at work, including freedom from slavery and from child labor. During 2023, while filming The Surfer in Western Australia, Cage personally phoned in an AU$5,000 donation to the Channel Seven Perth Telethon.
Cage has also been honored with a Humanitarian award from the United Nations for his works and appointed as a UN ambassador for Global Justice in 2009 and again in 2013. He led a campaign around the film Lord of War to raise awareness about international arms control, supported "Heal the Bay", the United Negro College Fund efforts, and the Royal United Hospital's Forever Friends Appeal to build intensive care units for babies.
Interests
Cage, an avid comic book fan, auctioned a collection of 400 vintage comics through Heritage Auctions for over $1.6 million in 2002. In 2007, he created a comic book with his son Weston, called Voodoo Child, which was published by Virgin Comics. Cage is a fan and collector of painter and underground comic artist Robert Williams. He has written introductions for Juxtapoz magazine and purchased the painting Death on the Boards.
Saturn Films
Saturn Films is a production company referred to by one source as "the production shingle of Nicolas Cage" and often referred to as "Cage's Saturn Films". Michael Nilon has been referred to as Cage's "producing partner through" Saturn Films. Norm Golightly was president of the firm for twelve years, ending in 2009. In 2001, Saturn was referred to as "Intermedia-based", suggesting it was part of Intermedia, which was defunct as of 2006.
Real estate and tax problems
Cage was once considered one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors, earning $40 million in 2009 according to Forbes, although he failed to make Forbes' Top 10 List in 2014. In 2004 he bought a property on Paradise Island, Bahamas. In May 2006, he bought a 40-acre (16 ha) island in the Exuma archipelago, some 85 miles (137 km) southeast of Nassau and close to a similar island owned by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. He bought the medieval castle Schloss Neidstein in the Oberpfalz region in Germany in 2006 and sold it in 2009 for $2.5 million. His grandmother was German, living in Cochem an der Mosel.
In August 2007, Cage purchased "Grey Craig", a 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m2) brick-and-stone country manor in Middletown, Rhode Island. With an estate occupying 26 acres (11 ha), the home has 12 bedrooms and 10 full bathrooms and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. It borders the Norman Bird Sanctuary to the west. The sale ranked among the state of Rhode Island's most expensive residential purchases. Also in 2007, Cage purchased Midford Castle in Somerset, England. Shortly after selling his German castle, Cage also put his homes in Rhode Island, Louisiana, Nevada, and California, as well as a $7-million island in the Bahamas, on the market.
On July 14, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service filed documents in New Orleans in connection with a federal tax lien against property owned by Cage in Louisiana, concerning unpaid federal taxes. The IRS alleged that Cage failed to pay over $6.2 million in federal income tax for the year 2007. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service had another lien for more than $350,000 in unpaid taxes dating from 2002 to 2004. Cage filed a $20-million lawsuit on October 16, 2009, against his business manager, Samuel J. Levin, alleging negligence and fraud. The lawsuit stated that Levin "had failed to pay taxes when they were due and had placed [Cage] in speculative and risky real estate investments 'resulting in (the actor) suffering catastrophic losses.'" Cage also faced separate lawsuits from East West Bank and Red Curb Investments for unpaid, multi-million dollar loans.
Samuel Levin filed a counter-complaint and responded to the lawsuit in a filing stating that he warned Cage that he was living beyond his means and urged him to spend less. Levin's filing states that "instead of listening to Levin, cross-defendant Cage (Coppola) spent most of his free time shopping for high ticket purchases, and wound up with 15 personal residences." Levin's complaint continued: "Likewise, Levin advised Coppola against buying a Gulfstream jet, against buying and owning a flotilla of yachts, against buying and owning a squadron of Rolls Royces, against buying millions of dollars in jewelry and art."
In his filing, Levin said that in 2007, Cage's "shopping spree entailed the purchase of three additional residences at a total cost of more than $33 million; the purchase of 22 automobiles (including 9 Rolls Royces), 12 purchases of expensive jewelry, and 47 purchases of artwork and exotic items." One of those items was a dinosaur skull of a Tarbosaurus. After discovering that it was stolen, he returned it to the Mongolian authorities.
According to Cage, he owned the "Most Haunted House in America", a home located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Known as "The LaLaurie House" after its former owner Delphine LaLaurie, the house was foreclosed and sold at auction on November 12, 2009, along with another New Orleans property for a total of $5.5 million, in the wake of Cage's financial problems. His Bel Air home, which had six loans totaling $18 million on it, failed to sell at an April 2010 foreclosure auction despite an opening offer of $10.4 million, substantially less than the $35 million that Cage had originally tried to sell it for. The home, built in 1940 for $110,000 (equivalent to about $1.9 million in 2024), had been owned at different times by Dean Martin and singer Tom Jones.
The home eventually sold in November 2010 for $10.5 million. Another home in Nevada also faced foreclosure auction. In November 2011, Cage sold his Action Comics #1 in an online auction managed by Heritage Auctions for a record-breaking $2.16 million (the previous record being $1.5 million), to assist paying his tax liens and other debts. Cage purchased the comic in 1997 for $110,000. The comic had been stolen from him in 2000, and Cage had received an insurance payment on the item. In March 2011, it was found in a storage locker in the San Fernando Valley and was verified by ComicConnect.com to be the copy sold to Cage previously. Worth around $25 million by May 2017, Cage was reportedly "taking [film] roles left and right" in order to pay off his remaining debts. By 2022, Cage confirmed that he had finally paid off his debts and intended to be more selective with his film roles.
Legal issues
Kathleen Turner wrote in her 2008 memoir, Send Your Roses, that Cage had stolen a chihuahua and was arrested twice for driving drunk while they filmed Peggy Sue Got Married. Later she admitted Cage did not steal a chihuahua and she was sorry. Cage won a libel action against Turner, her publisher Headline Publishing Group, and Associated Newspapers (whose publication the Daily Mail had repeated the allegations when they published an excerpt from the book).
Christina Fulton sued Cage in December 2009 for $13 million and for the house in which she was living. The suit was in response to an order that she leave the dwelling; the order resulted from Cage's financial difficulties. The case was settled in June 2011.
Cage was arrested in New Orleans' French Quarter district on April 15, 2011, for suspicion of domestic abuse battery, disturbing the peace and public intoxication. A police officer was flagged down by onlookers after Cage allegedly grabbed his wife's upper arm while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol. Cage was held in police custody until a bail of $11,000 was posted by Duane "Dog" Chapman. He was later ordered to appear in court on May 31, 2011. The New Orleans District Attorney announced that the charges against Cage had been dropped on May 5, 2011.
See also
Coppola family tree
List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees
References
External links
Nicolas Cage at the American Film Institute Catalog
Nicolas Cage at IMDb
Nicolas Cage at the TCM Movie Database
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Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two BAFTA Awards. Known for his versatility as an actor, Cage's work across diverse film genres has gained him a significant cult following.
Born into the Coppola family, Cage began his career in films such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and Valley Girl (1983), as well as various films by his uncle Francis Ford Coppola such as Rumble Fish (1983), The Cotton Club (1984), and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). He received critical success for his roles in Moonstruck and Raising Arizona (both 1987), before earning an Academy Award for Best Actor for the dramatic film Leaving Las Vegas (1995). He was Oscar-nominated for playing twins Charlie and Donald Kaufman in the comedy-drama film Adaptation (2002).
Cage established himself in mainstream action films, such as The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), Face/Off (1997), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), the National Treasure film series (2004–2007), the Ghost Rider film series (2007–2011), and Kick-Ass (2010). He also took on dramatic roles in City of Angels (1998), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), The Family Man (2000), Matchstick Men (2003), and The Wicker Man (2006). He has voiced characters in The Ant Bully (2006), Astro Boy (2009), The Croods film series (2013–2020), Teen Titans Go! To the Movies and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (both 2018). He earned renewed critical recognition for his starring roles in Mandy (2018), Pig (2021), The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022), Dream Scenario (2023) and Longlegs (2024).
Cage owns the production company Saturn Films and has produced films such as Shadow of the Vampire (2000) and The Life of David Gale (2003), and has directed Sonny (2002). For his contributions to the film industry, he was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998. He was ranked No. 40 in Empire magazine's The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list in 2007 and was placed No. 37 in Premiere's 100 Most Powerful People in Hollywood in 2008. Nicolas Cage was also voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time in a 2022 readers' poll by Empire magazine.
Early life and family
Cage was born in Long Beach, California, to August Coppola, a professor of literature, and Joy Vogelsang, a dancer and choreographer. He was raised in a Catholic family. His father was of Italian descent and his mother was of mainly German and Polish descent with some English and Scottish ancestry on her father's side. His paternal grandparents were composer Carmine Coppola and actress Italia Pennino, and his paternal great-grandparents were immigrants from Bernalda, Basilicata. Through his father, he is a nephew of both director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, and a cousin of directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola, film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola, and actors Robert and Jason Schwartzman.
Cage is the youngest of three sons. His two brothers are New York radio personality Marc "The Cope" Coppola and director Christopher Coppola. He attended Beverly Hills High School, which is known for its many alumni who became entertainers. He aspired to act from an early age and also attended UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. His first non-cinematic acting experience was in a school production of Golden Boy. He said he started acting because he "wanted to be James Dean. I saw him in Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden. Nothing affected me—no rock song, no classical music—the way Dean affected me in Eden. It blew my mind. I was like, 'That's what I want to do'."
At age 15, he tried to convince his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, to give him a screen test, telling him "I'll show you acting." His outburst was met with "silence in the car." By this stage of his career, Coppola had already directed Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman and Robert De Niro. Although early in his career Cage appeared in some of his uncle's films, he changed his name to Nicolas Cage to avoid the appearance of nepotism as Coppola's nephew. His choice of name was inspired by the Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage and composer John Cage.
Career
1981–1988: Early work and breakthrough
Cage made his acting debut in the 1981 television pilot The Best of Times, which was never picked up by ABC. His film debut followed in 1982, with a minor role as an unnamed co-worker of Judge Reinhold's character in the coming-of-age film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, having originally auditioned for Reinhold's part. His experience on the film was marred by cast members endlessly quoting his uncle's films, which inspired him to change his name. Cage's first starring role came opposite Deborah Foreman in the romantic comedy Valley Girl (1983), in which he played a punk who falls in love with the titular valley girl, a plot loosely inspired by Romeo and Juliet. The film was a modest box office success and has been branded a cult classic. He auditioned for the role of Dallas Winston in his uncle's film The Outsiders, based on S.E. Hinton's novel, but lost to Matt Dillon. Cage, however, would co-star in Coppola's adaptation of another Hinton novel, Rumble Fish, in that year.
In 1984, Cage appeared in three period films, none of which fared well at the box office. In the drama, Racing with the Moon (1984), Cage featured opposite Sean Penn as friends who are awaiting deployment to the United States Marine Corps. In Coppola's crime drama The Cotton Club he portrayed a fictionalized version of mob hitman Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, earning praise from critic Paul Attanasio for "artfully [using] his few moments to sketch a brawny, violent thug." His final release of the year was Alan Parker's drama Birdy, in which he starred with Matthew Modine. Cage lost weight for the role and had two of his front teeth pulled out to appear disfigured. Despite massively underperforming at the box office, the film, and Cage and Modine's performances, received positive reviews, with The New York Times critic Janet Maslin writing, "Mr. Cage very sympathetically captures Al's urgency and frustration. Together, these actors work miracles with what might have been unplayable."
In 1986, Cage starred in the little-seen Canadian sports drama The Boy in Blue and his uncle's fantasy comedy Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) as the husband to Kathleen Turner's character. He then starred in the Coen brothers' crime comedy Raising Arizona (1987) as a dim-witted ex-con. Cage's biggest breakthrough came in 1987 with the romantic comedy Moonstruck, in which he starred alongside Cher as a hot-tempered baker. The film was a hit with critics and audiences alike, earning Cage a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy In his retrospective review, Roger Ebert wrote that he felt Cage's performance was worthy of an Oscar.
1989–1994: Career slump
In 1989, Cage starred in the black comedy Vampire's Kiss as a man who falls in love with a vampire and soon begins to believe himself as a vampire. The film was a major box office flop but has developed a cult following largely due to Cage's surrealistic and over-the-top performance appearing in internet memes. Critic Vincent Canby felt the film was "dominated and destroyed by Mr. Cage's chaotic, self-indulgent performance." After filming the Italian drama Time to Kill (1989) in Zimbabwe, he starred in David Lynch's romantic crime film Wild at Heart (1990) with Laura Dern. Cage was drawn to the project because he was "always attracted to those passionate, almost unbridled romantic characters" and it allowed him to impersonate one of his heroes, Elvis Presley, in scenes in which he sang. Wild at Heart received mixed reviews upon release, despite controversially winning the Palme d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Cage would reunite with Lynch and Dern for the avant-garde concert performance Industrial Symphony No. 1.
Also in 1990, he starred as a helicopter pilot in the action film Fire Birds, which was panned by critics and negatively compared to Top Gun (1986). Cage's next film, the erotic thriller Zandalee (1991), was released direct-to-video in the United States, where it did not receive a theatrical release. His "goofy 'everyman'" performance in the romantic comedy Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) garnered some positive critical notices, including from Roger Ebert, who defended Cage amidst some critics finding his acting "excessive" and earned Cage his second Golden Globe nomination. He hosted an episode of the variety show Saturday Night Live to promote the film, his only time hosting the show.
None of Cage's three films in 1993—Deadfall (directed by his brother Christopher), Amos & Andrew and Red Rock West—performed well at the box office. The comedy Guarding Tess (1994) paired Cage with Shirley MacLaine as a Secret Service agent protecting a former First Lady; however, it was dismissed as being derivative by some critics. He next starred alongside Bridget Fonda in the romantic comedy It Could Happen to You as a cash-strapped police officer who offers to share his lottery winnings with a waitress and then the much-criticized box office flop Christmas comedy Trapped in Paradise with the Saturday Night Live actors Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey. According to Lovitz, Cage directed portions of the film because its director, George Gallo, offered little direction.
1995–2003: Critical success and action star
Cage's performance as a psychopathic criminal kingpin in the crime film Kiss of Death (1995) was seen by many critics as the film's strong point, but his most acclaimed performance yet came in the drama Leaving Las Vegas as an alcoholic screenwriter who falls in love with a prostitute in Las Vegas. The role won Cage the Academy Award for Best Actor and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. To prepare for the part, Cage binge drank for two weeks and studied footage of himself.
In 1996, he starred alongside Sean Connery and Ed Harris in Michael Bay's The Rock, the first of a string of action films for Cage. In the film, he played an FBI chemical weapons specialist breaking into Alcatraz federal prison. The Rock was a box office and critical success, with journalist Alexander Larman stating the film "launched Cage into an unexpected vocation as an offbeat action star." Next, he starred in Con Air and Face/Off, two commercially successful action thrillers that were both released in June 1997. Along with John Cusack and John Malkovich, Cage led an ensemble cast. Jerry Bruckheimer, Con Air's producer, offered the role to Cage after being impressed with his performances in Leaving Las Vegas and The Rock. Cage accepted despite disappointment at not being offered the villain role. Ebert felt Cage "[made] the wrong choice... by playing Cameron Poe as a slow-witted Elvis type who is very, very earnest and approaches every task with tunnel vision; it would have been more fun if he'd been less of a hayseed." John Woo's Face/Off saw Cage and John Travolta star in dual roles as sworn enemies—a terrorist and an FBI agent—who both undergo face transplants to impersonate each other, requiring Cage and Travolta to switch characters. Both performances were praised by critics, with the BBC writing in their review "Travolta and Cage invest their dual roles with physical subtleties that reflect the other actor's character."
After starring in these action films back-to-back, Cage decided to "return to more serious fare" in the romantic fantasy film City of Angels (1998), a loose remake of the German film Wings of Desire (1987). Critics were split on the film and Cage's performance, with reviews ranging from describing him as "endlessly resourceful" and "[resembling] a serial killer more than an angel." Brian De Palma's thriller Snake Eyes, his second film of 1998, starred Cage as a corrupt detective. The film was met with mixed reviews, which were largely critical of its screenplay. Cage starred in Martin Scorsese's 1999 New York City paramedic drama Bringing Out the Dead.
Most of Cage's movies that have achieved financial success were in the action/adventure genre. These include The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off, and Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), with Cage as a retired car thief. He took the lead role in the 2000 romantic comedy film The Family Man, in which he played a man forced to deal with an alternate life that had a plot similar to the Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life (1946), and the 2001 war film Captain Corelli's Mandolin where he learned to play the mandolin from scratch for the part. In 2002, he was again nominated for Oscar and Golden Globe best actor awards for his portrayal of real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and Kaufman's fictional twin Donald in Adaptation.
Cage made his directorial debut in 2002 with Sonny, a low-budget drama starring James Franco as a male prostitute whose mother (Brenda Blethyn) serves as his pimp. Cage had a small role in the film, which received poor reviews and a short run in a limited number of theaters. Cage's producing career includes Shadow of the Vampire (2000), the first effort from Saturn Films. He starred in Ridley Scott's 2003 black comedy crime film Matchstick Men, in which he played a con artist with obsessive–compulsive disorder.
2004–2011: Franchise films
In his second-highest-grossing film to date, National Treasure (2004), Cage played an eccentric historian who goes on a dangerous adventure to find treasure hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States. In 2005, two films he headlined, Lord of War and The Weather Man, failed to find a significant audience despite nationwide releases and good reviews for his performances. The 2006 remake of The Wicker Man was very poorly reviewed, and failed to make back its $40-million budget. In early December 2006, Cage announced at the Bahamas International Film Festival that he planned to curtail his future acting endeavors to pursue other interests. On The Dresden Files for the Sci-Fi Channel, Cage is listed as the executive producer. The much-criticized Ghost Rider (2007), based on the Marvel Comics character, fared better, earning more than $45 million (the top earner) during its opening weekend and over $208 million worldwide through the weekend ending on March 25, 2007. Also in 2007, he had a small but notable role as the Chinese criminal mastermind Dr. Fu Manchu in Rob Zombie's fake trailer Werewolf Women of the S.S. from the B-movie double feature Grindhouse, starred in Next, which shared the concept of a glimpse into an alternate timeline with Cage's previous film, The Family Man, and reprised his role as a treasure hunter in National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
In November 2007, Cage was spotted backstage at a Ring of Honor wrestling show in New York City researching for the lead role for The Wrestler. However, Cage dropped out of production shortly afterward because he felt that he did not have enough time to prepare for the role and director Darren Aronofsky preferred Mickey Rourke for the lead role. Rourke would go on to receive an Academy Award nomination for his performance. In an interview with /Film, Aronofsky said of Cage's decision to leave the film that "Nic was a complete gentleman, and he understood that my heart was with Mickey and he stepped aside. I have so much respect for Nic Cage as an actor and I think it really could have worked with Nic but ... you know, Nic was incredibly supportive of Mickey and he is old friends with Mickey and really wanted to help with this opportunity, so he pulled himself out of the race."
In 2008, Cage appeared as Joe, a contract killer who undergoes a change of heart while on a work outing in Bangkok, in the film Bangkok Dangerous. The film is shot by the Pang Brothers and has a distinctly South-East Asian flavor. In 2009, Cage starred in the science fiction thriller Knowing, directed by Alex Proyas. In the film, he plays an MIT professor who examines the contents of a time capsule unearthed at his son's elementary school. Startling predictions found inside the capsule that have already come true lead him to believe that the world is going to end at the close of the week and that he and his son are somehow involved in the destruction. The film received mixed reviews but was the box office winner on its opening weekend.
Also in 2009, Cage starred in the film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, directed by acclaimed German director Werner Herzog. He portrayed a corrupt police officer with gambling, drug and alcohol addictions. The film was very well received by critics, holding a rating of 87% positive reviews on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Cage was lauded for his performance, with Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune writing "Herzog has found his ideal interpreter, a performer whose truth lies deep in the artifice of performance: ladies and gentlemen, Nicolas Cage, at his finest." This film reunited Cage with Eva Mendes, who played his love interest in Ghost Rider. In 2010, Cage starred in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, in which he played the sorcerer, and the next year, headlined the period piece Season of the Witch, as a 14th-century knight transporting a woman accused of causing the Black Plague to a monastery. In 2011, Cage reprised his role in Ghost Rider's sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
2012–2017: Career setbacks
In 2013, Cage was involved in many projects. Notable films including animated film The Croods, in which he voiced a character named Grug Crood. The Croods received positive reviews from critics and was a box-office success grossing $585 million against a budget of $135 million. He starred as main character in The Frozen Ground, a thriller crime drama film directed and written by Scott Walker in his directorial debut, based on the crimes of real-life Alaskan serial killer Robert Hansen. The film, reunited him with Cusack, depicts an Alaskan State Trooper, played by Cage, seeking to apprehend Hansen, played by Cusack, by partnering with a young woman who escaped from Hansen's clutches. The film has received mixed reviews though Cage's performance was cited as a highlight and solid. He also starred in Joe, an independent crime drama film directed and co-produced by David Gordon Green, adaptation from Larry Brown's 1991 novel of the same name. In this film Nicolas Cage is a tormented man who hires a 15-year-old boy (played by Tye Sheridan) and protects him from his abusive father. The film premiered at the 70th Venice International Film Festival on August 30, 2013, with a subsequent screening at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. It was a box office flop, grossing only $2.36 million from a $4 million budget, but received critical acclaim from critics, who praised Cage's performance and Green's direction.
The 2016 black comedy Dog Eat Dog, Cage's second film with Paul Schrader, reunited him with Willem Dafoe (after Wild at Heart) as a pair of ex-convicts hired to kidnap a baby. The film had its premiere as the closing entry for the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2016. It was released on November 4, 2016, in the United States. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film four out of five stars, writing, "It's the right director for the right project and the result is Schrader's best for years: a lairy, nasty, tasty crime thriller built on black-comic chaos." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "A rare film to have been shot in Cleveland, Dog Eat Dog definitely looks like it was shot on the cheap but puts what it needs to up on the screen with vigor and wit."
Cage starred alongside Selma Blair and Anne Winters in Brian Taylor's horror comedy film, Mom and Dad, which premiered in the Midnight Madness section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in theaters on January 19, 2018, and received positive reviews from critics, with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes defining his performance as "over-the-top." Director John Waters appreciated the film, naming Mom and Dad as one of the best movies of 2018, placing it fourth on his personal top list.
2018–present: Critical resurgence
In 2018, Cage starred in the action thriller film Mandy, which premiered on January 19 at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com praised the movie, writing that "for all of the endless feral performances that Cage has given, in movies good, bad and forgettable, Cosmatos' style-driven, '80s-tastic passion for weird worlds and characters takes full advantage of Cage's greatness, and then some." In October, Mandy's producer Elijah Wood announced his intention to size up an Oscar campaign for Nicolas Cage and for composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (who died in February of that year) but the film was disqualified because it was also released on Video On Demand on September 14.
Later that year, Cage voiced Clark Kent / Superman in the animated film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. He had originally been slated to portray Superman in Tim Burton's canceled Superman film, Superman Lives, in the 1990s. He voiced an alternate monochromatic 1930s universe version of Peter Parker / Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Cage based his vocal performance on films of Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson. On January 28, 2019, Viktor and Irina Yelchin premiered a documentary about their son Anton Yelchin, Love, Antosha, at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary was directed by Garret Price and contains various interviews with some of Anton's friends and collaborators such as Kristen Stewart, J. J. Abrams, Chris Pine, Jennifer Lawrence, Jodie Foster, John Cho and Martin Landau. Cage starred as the Narrator of the film, reading various writings by Yelchin.
In December 2018, it was announced that Cage had signed to play the lead role for Richard Stanley's Color Out of Space, based on the short story "The Colour Out of Space" by H. P. Lovecraft. This was Stanley's first feature film directed since his firing from The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). Color Out of Space premiered on September 7, 2019, in the Midnight Madness portion of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, where Cage was awarded for his role with the Creative Coalition's Spotlight Initiative Award. Following select preview screenings on January 22, the film was released in 81 theaters in the United States on January 24, 2020.
In December 2018, it was announced that Sion Sono was working on his first overseas production and English-language debut, Prisoners of the Ghostland, starring Nicolas Cage. Cage said the film "might be the wildest movie I've ever made." Its plot revolves around a notorious criminal, Hero (played by Cage), who is sent to rescue the governor's adopted granddaughter, who has disappeared into a dark region called Ghostland. The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 31, 2021.
In May 2020, it was announced that Cage would be playing the role of Joe Exotic in a scripted eight-episode Tiger King series, written and executive produced by Dan Lagana. It was announced that the project was scrapped in July 2021. In 2013, it was confirmed that Nicolas Cage would reprise his role as Grug in The Croods: A New Age, which was released in 2020.
Cage produced and starred in the 2021 film Pig, where he plays Robin "Rob" Feld, a former chef turned reclusive truffle-forager who must return to his past in Portland in search of his beloved foraging pig after she is kidnapped. Cage received critical acclaim for his performance and earned a second nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor. He gained further acclaim for portraying a fictionalized version of himself in the 2022 action comedy film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent as well as for his portrayal of Paul, a professor who begins appearing in the dreams of others, in the 2023 Dream Scenario, resulting in his fifth Golden Globe nomination.
In the 2023 horror comedy film Renfield, inspired by the 1897 Bram Stoker novel Dracula, Cage portrays Dracula opposite Nicholas Hoult's Renfield. Also in 2023, Cage was included as a playable character in the horror video game Dead by Daylight. Cage reprised his role as Clark Kent / Superman in the 2023 film The Flash in a cameo appearance as an alternate version of the superhero. Cage shot his scenes through volumetric capture and CGI was used to de-age him.
In early 2023, it was announced Cage was set to play a live action version of Peter Parker / Spider-Man Noir on Amazon Prime Video. The show would take place in an alternate 1930s New York City. In July 2024, the show was confirmed to be titled Spider-Noir. Filming began in September 2024 in Los Angeles. Also in July, Cage starred as the titular serial killer in the horror thriller film Longlegs, which he produced. In August, Cage signed on to play legendary gridiron football coach and broadcaster John Madden in the Amazon MGM Studios film Madden.
Acting style and reception
Nouveau Shamanic
Nouveau Shamanic is a style of acting Cage developed. He has said it is to increase one's imagination without restraint, in avoidance of experiencing the sense of being ingenuous.
The process itself is about: How do you augment your imagination in a healthy way? So that you can believe you're these characters… You don't feel like you're acting, you feel like you're being.
In the film Vampire's Kiss Cage moved from method acting to "Nouveau Shamanic." The scene where Cage recites the alphabet to his psychiatrist was a result of acting out of impulse. Raising Arizona showcased the physicality of Nouveau Shamanic. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a display of how the method leads to impulse decisions fueled by an energy one could only garner naturally. Cage was asked if any of his numerous pets influence his acting, to which he replied "The cobras, definitely. They would try to hypnotize you by going side to side, and when I did Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, that's something my character does before he attacks. Animals are fun places to get inspiration."
Reception
According to The Guardian film critic Luke Buckmaster, "any casual observer can see that Cage is entertaining, charismatic and wildly flamboyant." Attributing it partly to the "well-cultured" background of Cage's family, Buckmaster said the actor "is clearly attracted to grotesque characters and is celebrated for his wild and unhinged approach to them. He has the presence of a leading man, and the eccentricities of a character actor." Actor Ethan Hawke stated in 2013 that Cage is "the only actor since Marlon Brando that's actually done anything new with the art", crediting him for taking film audiences "away from an obsession with naturalism into a kind of presentation style of acting that I imagine was popular with the old troubadours."
Film director David Lynch described him as "the jazz musician of American acting." Many critics have accused Cage of overacting. Others, including Cage himself, have described his intentionally extreme performances as "mega-acting." After the actor's series of mainstream-marketed thriller films during the late 1990s, Sean Penn told The New York Times in 1999 that Cage was "no longer an actor" but "more like a performer." Despite this, in his speech after winning the Oscar for his performance in Mystic River, Penn described Cage's performance in Matchstick Men as one of the best of 2003.
During the 2010s, a growing number of critics described Cage as one of the most underrated actors of his generation.
Acting credits and accolades
For his contributions to the film industry, Cage was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998 with a motion pictures star located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard. In May 2001, Cage was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, Fullerton. He spoke at the commencement ceremony. Cage has also been nominated for an Academy Award twice. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the film Leaving Las Vegas in 1995. He was nominated for a second one for his role in the film Adaptation in 2002.
He also won a Golden Globe award, Screen Actors Guild award, and many more awards for Leaving Las Vegas. He has received nominations by the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and BAFTA for his films Adaptation, Honeymoon in Vegas, and Moonstruck. He has also won and been nominated for many other awards.
Personal life
Relationships and family
In 1988, Cage began dating actress Christina Fulton, with whom he has a son, Weston Coppola Cage (born in 1990). Weston has been the vocalist of two symphonic black metal bands, Eyes of Noctrum and Arsh Anubis. Weston also appeared in his father's film Lord of War as a helicopter mechanic, and in the 2014 film Rage as Nicolas' character's younger self. Through Weston, Cage has two grandsons born in 2014 and 2016. In July 2024, Weston was arrested for assaulting numerous people with a deadly weapon, including his mother; he was released on a $150,000 bond.
Cage's first wife was actress Patricia Arquette, whom he married in April 1995 and divorced in 2001.
His second marriage was to singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. (Cage, an Elvis fan, used Elvis as the inspiration for his performance in Wild at Heart.) They married in Kamuela, Hawaii, on August 10, 2002, and filed for divorce 107 days later on November 25, 2002. The divorce was finalized on May 24, 2004.
Cage's third wife was Alice Kim. They were married at a private ranch in northern California on July 30, 2004. She gave birth to their son Kal-El in 2005. They divorced in January 2016.
In March 2019, Cage married Erika Koike in Las Vegas, only to file for annulment four days later, stating he was too intoxicated to understand his own actions and that Koike failed to disclose "the full nature and extent of her relationship with another person." He was granted a divorce from Koike three months later.
On February 16, 2021, Cage married Riko Shibata. Their daughter August was born in 2022.
Political views and religious beliefs
Cage grew up in a family of Catholic background, but does not talk about religion publicly and refuses to answer religion-connected questions in his interviews. When asked about whether he could relate to his character's lack of religious belief in Knowing, Cage replied, "You know, any of my personal beliefs or opinions run the risk of impinging on your own relationship with the movie. I think movies are best left enigmatic. Left raising more questions than answers. I don't want to ever preach, so that's what you get from a movie; that's far more interesting than anything I could offer."
During his visit to University of California, Santa Cruz, he stated that he is not a politically active actor and that he can do it in his work as he learned "more about nuclear power from the movie The China Syndrome." Cage endorsed Andrew Yang for president during the 2020 election.
At one point in his life, Cage had decided that he wanted to develop the philosophical aspect of his nature, and he went on a quest to find the Holy Grail. Cage traveled to England to look for it, but also looked at some areas of the United States.
Charitable activities
Cage has been called one of the most generous stars in Hollywood. He donated $2 million to Amnesty International for them to use to offer rehabilitation shelters, medical services and psychological and reintegration services to some of the 300,000 children forced to fight in conflicts across the world. He has also donated $1 million to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. He became the first artist to support ArtWorks, an artist engagement program to raise awareness of fundamental rights at work, including freedom from slavery and from child labor. During 2023, while filming The Surfer in Western Australia, Cage personally phoned in an AU$5,000 donation to the Channel Seven Perth Telethon.
Cage has also been honored with a Humanitarian award from the United Nations for his works and appointed as a UN ambassador for Global Justice in 2009 and again in 2013. He led a campaign around the film Lord of War to raise awareness about international arms control, supported "Heal the Bay", the United Negro College Fund efforts, and the Royal United Hospital's Forever Friends Appeal to build intensive care units for babies.
Interests
Cage, an avid comic book fan, auctioned a collection of 400 vintage comics through Heritage Auctions for over $1.6 million in 2002. In 2007, he created a comic book with his son Weston, called Voodoo Child, which was published by Virgin Comics. Cage is a fan and collector of painter and underground comic artist Robert Williams. He has written introductions for Juxtapoz magazine and purchased the painting Death on the Boards.
Saturn Films
Saturn Films is a production company referred to by one source as "the production shingle of Nicolas Cage" and often referred to as "Cage's Saturn Films". Michael Nilon has been referred to as Cage's "producing partner through" Saturn Films. Norm Golightly was president of the firm for twelve years, ending in 2009. In 2001, Saturn was referred to as "Intermedia-based", suggesting it was part of Intermedia, which was defunct as of 2006.
Real estate and tax problems
Cage was once considered one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors, earning $40 million in 2009 according to Forbes, although he failed to make Forbes' Top 10 List in 2014. In 2004 he bought a property on Paradise Island, Bahamas. In May 2006, he bought a 40-acre (16 ha) island in the Exuma archipelago, some 85 miles (137 km) southeast of Nassau and close to a similar island owned by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. He bought the medieval castle Schloss Neidstein in the Oberpfalz region in Germany in 2006 and sold it in 2009 for $2.5 million. His grandmother was German, living in Cochem an der Mosel.
In August 2007, Cage purchased "Grey Craig", a 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m2) brick-and-stone country manor in Middletown, Rhode Island. With an estate occupying 26 acres (11 ha), the home has 12 bedrooms and 10 full bathrooms and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. It borders the Norman Bird Sanctuary to the west. The sale ranked among the state of Rhode Island's most expensive residential purchases. Also in 2007, Cage purchased Midford Castle in Somerset, England. Shortly after selling his German castle, Cage also put his homes in Rhode Island, Louisiana, Nevada, and California, as well as a $7-million island in the Bahamas, on the market.
On July 14, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service filed documents in New Orleans in connection with a federal tax lien against property owned by Cage in Louisiana, concerning unpaid federal taxes. The IRS alleged that Cage failed to pay over $6.2 million in federal income tax for the year 2007. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service had another lien for more than $350,000 in unpaid taxes dating from 2002 to 2004. Cage filed a $20-million lawsuit on October 16, 2009, against his business manager, Samuel J. Levin, alleging negligence and fraud. The lawsuit stated that Levin "had failed to pay taxes when they were due and had placed [Cage] in speculative and risky real estate investments 'resulting in (the actor) suffering catastrophic losses.'" Cage also faced separate lawsuits from East West Bank and Red Curb Investments for unpaid, multi-million dollar loans.
Samuel Levin filed a counter-complaint and responded to the lawsuit in a filing stating that he warned Cage that he was living beyond his means and urged him to spend less. Levin's filing states that "instead of listening to Levin, cross-defendant Cage (Coppola) spent most of his free time shopping for high ticket purchases, and wound up with 15 personal residences." Levin's complaint continued: "Likewise, Levin advised Coppola against buying a Gulfstream jet, against buying and owning a flotilla of yachts, against buying and owning a squadron of Rolls Royces, against buying millions of dollars in jewelry and art."
In his filing, Levin said that in 2007, Cage's "shopping spree entailed the purchase of three additional residences at a total cost of more than $33 million; the purchase of 22 automobiles (including 9 Rolls Royces), 12 purchases of expensive jewelry, and 47 purchases of artwork and exotic items." One of those items was a dinosaur skull of a Tarbosaurus. After discovering that it was stolen, he returned it to the Mongolian authorities.
According to Cage, he owned the "Most Haunted House in America", a home located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Known as "The LaLaurie House" after its former owner Delphine LaLaurie, the house was foreclosed and sold at auction on November 12, 2009, along with another New Orleans property for a total of $5.5 million, in the wake of Cage's financial problems. His Bel Air home, which had six loans totaling $18 million on it, failed to sell at an April 2010 foreclosure auction despite an opening offer of $10.4 million, substantially less than the $35 million that Cage had originally tried to sell it for. The home, built in 1940 for $110,000 (equivalent to about $1.9 million in 2024), had been owned at different times by Dean Martin and singer Tom Jones.
The home eventually sold in November 2010 for $10.5 million. Another home in Nevada also faced foreclosure auction. In November 2011, Cage sold his Action Comics #1 in an online auction managed by Heritage Auctions for a record-breaking $2.16 million (the previous record being $1.5 million), to assist paying his tax liens and other debts. Cage purchased the comic in 1997 for $110,000. The comic had been stolen from him in 2000, and Cage had received an insurance payment on the item. In March 2011, it was found in a storage locker in the San Fernando Valley and was verified by ComicConnect.com to be the copy sold to Cage previously. Worth around $25 million by May 2017, Cage was reportedly "taking [film] roles left and right" in order to pay off his remaining debts. By 2022, Cage confirmed that he had finally paid off his debts and intended to be more selective with his film roles.
Legal issues
Kathleen Turner wrote in her 2008 memoir, Send Your Roses, that Cage had stolen a chihuahua and was arrested twice for driving drunk while they filmed Peggy Sue Got Married. Later she admitted Cage did not steal a chihuahua and she was sorry. Cage won a libel action against Turner, her publisher Headline Publishing Group, and Associated Newspapers (whose publication the Daily Mail had repeated the allegations when they published an excerpt from the book).
Christina Fulton sued Cage in December 2009 for $13 million and for the house in which she was living. The suit was in response to an order that she leave the dwelling; the order resulted from Cage's financial difficulties. The case was settled in June 2011.
Cage was arrested in New Orleans' French Quarter district on April 15, 2011, for suspicion of domestic abuse battery, disturbing the peace and public intoxication. A police officer was flagged down by onlookers after Cage allegedly grabbed his wife's upper arm while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol. Cage was held in police custody until a bail of $11,000 was posted by Duane "Dog" Chapman. He was later ordered to appear in court on May 31, 2011. The New Orleans District Attorney announced that the charges against Cage had been dropped on May 5, 2011.
See also
Coppola family tree
List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees
References
External links
Nicolas Cage at the American Film Institute Catalog
Nicolas Cage at IMDb
Nicolas Cage at the TCM Movie Database
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Ted Danson
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Edward Bridge Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1982–1993), for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He was further Emmy-nominated for the FX legal drama Damages (2007–2010) and the NBC comedy The Good Place (2016–2020). He was the recipient of the 2025 Carol Burnett Award. Ted along with his wife Mary Steenburgen was awarded with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in 2025 at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Danson made his film debut in 1978 in the crime drama The Onion Field. His breakout film role was in the comedies Three Men and a Baby (1987) and Three Men and a Little Lady (1990). He also acted in Body Heat (1981), Creepshow (1982), Dad (1989) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).
Danson's other leading roles on television include the CBS sitcom Becker (1998–2004) and the CBS dramas CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2011–2015) and CSI: Cyber (2015–2016). In 2015, he starred in the second season of FX's anthology series Fargo. He has played roles in the HBO comedies Bored to Death (2009–2011) and Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000–2024), the NBC sitcom Mr. Mayor (2021–2022), and the Netflix comedy A Man on the Inside (2024–present).
Danson has been married to actress Mary Steenburgen since 1995. He is also known for his longtime activism in ocean conservation and wrote Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them (2011) with journalist Michael D'Orso.
Early life and education
On December 29, 1947, Danson was born in San Diego to Edward Bridge "Ned" Danson Jr., an archaeologist and curator of the Museum of Northern Arizona from 1959 to 1975, and Jessica Harriet (née MacMaster). He has an older sister, Jessica Ann "Jan" Haury. Danson was primarily raised in Flagstaff, Arizona. He has Scottish and English heritage. Their ancestors lived in colonial New England and are descended from historical figures such as Anne Hutchinson.
In 1961, at age 14, Danson enrolled at the Kent School, a university-preparatory school in Connecticut; he was a star player on the basketball team. He became interested in drama while later attending Stanford University. In search of a better acting program, he transferred to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated with a B.F.A. in Drama in 1972.
Career
1975–1981: Early roles
Danson began his television career as a contract player on the daytime soap opera Somerset. He played the role of Tom Conway from 1975 to 1976. In 1977, he played Dr. Mitchell Pierson on the daytime soap opera The Doctors, having also appeared earlier in 1975 as another character, Dr. Chuck Weldon. He was also in a number of commercials, most notably as the "Aramis man". His guest appearances on television in the late 1970s and early 1980s include being on Laverne & Shirley, B. J. and the Bear, Family, Benson, Taxi, Magnum, P.I., The Amazing Spider-Man, Tucker's Witch, and Mrs. Columbo. He also appeared in the films The Onion Field (1978, his first film, as the bagpipe-playing Officer Ian Campbell) and Body Heat (1981).
1982–1992: Cheers and stardom
In 1982, Danson was cast in the role of Sam Malone, a former local-legend baseball player and bartender, for the NBC sitcom Cheers. On the show, he has an on-again-off-again relationship with the college-educated, sophisticated Diane Chambers. Although the show finished last in ratings in its first season, it was well received by critics. Ratings gradually improved by 1983, and by 1986, Cheers was among the top ten most-viewed shows on television. The series ran for 11 seasons (1982–1993), with the series finale (May 20, 1993) being watched by 80 million people, the second-most watched series finale in television history (in 1993). Cheers won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, plus a Golden Globe for Best Series–Musical or Comedy. During his time on the show, Danson won two of his 11 consecutive Emmy nominations for the role of Sam Malone, and won two of his nine Golden Globe nominations. In 2002, TV Guide magazine named Cheers the 18th "Greatest Show of All Time". It was included in Time's "100 Greatest Shows of All Time". On December 15, 1988, Danson got into a minor car accident in which he got a bloody nose; he was in some pain, but his nose wasn't broken. The bloody nose was written into the Cheers episode "How to Win Friends and Electrocute People". Danson reprised the role of Sam Malone in a second-season episode of Frasier, and did the voiceover for his character in an episode of The Simpsons, "Fear of Flying".
Danson also appeared in numerous films during his time on the series. His most notable film appearances included Three Men and a Baby (1987) with Tom Selleck and Steve Guttenberg, its sequel Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), and Cousins (1989) with Isabella Rossellini. He also appeared in Creepshow (1982), Little Treasure (1985), Just Between Friends (1986) with Mary Tyler Moore, A Fine Mess (1986), and Dad (1989). Although he was best known for his work in comedy, he also appeared in a television drama, Something About Amelia (1984), about a family devastated by the repercussions of incest, which co-starred his later co-star on Damages, Glenn Close. He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie and was nominated for an Emmy Award.
1994–2014: Post-Cheers roles
After Cheers ended, Danson appeared in films such as Made in America (1993), Getting Even with Dad (1994), Loch Ness (1996), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Mad Money (2008), and Big Miracle (2012). In 1996, three years after Cheers concluded, Danson starred in the short-lived CBS sitcom Ink with his real-life wife Mary Steenburgen. In the same year, they starred as Lemuel Gulliver and his wife in an acclaimed television miniseries of Gulliver's Travels. Danson went on to play the title role in the successful CBS sitcom Becker (produced by Paramount Television which also produced Cheers), which ran from 1998 to 2004. Danson also played a fictionalized version of himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm from 2000 to 2024. In 1999, Danson was presented with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
Danson returned to series television in 2006, playing a psychiatrist in the ABC sitcom Help Me Help You, which was canceled at midseason due to low ratings. Also in 2006, Danson received a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries for his role in Knights of the South Bronx. In 2007, Danson starred in the FX Network drama Damages as a corrupt billionaire, Arthur Frobisher. The role earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, but he lost to co-star Željko Ivanek. During the second season Danson became a recurring character instead of one of the principal cast. He received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series but lost to Michael J. Fox for Fox's guest appearance in Rescue Me. In 2011, Danson appeared in the music video for "Make Some Noise" by the Beastie Boys. He is also mentioned in the song's lyrics.
From 2009 to 2011, Danson starred in the HBO sitcom Bored to Death as George Christopher, the laconic and sometime downright infantile editor of Edition magazine. Critics often praised Danson as being the highlight of the program, calling his character a "scene stealer." From 2011 to 2015, Danson starred in the CBS police drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He played D.B. Russell, a new graveyard-shift supervisor who previously headed a crime lab in Seattle. Tony Shalhoub, Robin Williams, and John Lithgow were also considered for the role. He reprised his role in the third CSI spin-off, CSI: Cyber, which was canceled after two seasons.
2015–present: The Good Place
In 2015, Danson appeared in the second season of the TV show Fargo, portraying Sheriff Hank Larsson. From 2016 to 2020 Danson appeared opposite Kristen Bell as the character Michael in the NBC sitcom The Good Place. He was nominated for and won numerous awards for his performance as Michael. Danson had the main role on the NBC sitcom Mr. Mayor (2021–2022), in which he plays a wealthy businessman who runs for mayor of Los Angeles for all the wrong reasons. Episode 109 of the Beef and Dairy Network Podcast, entitled "Ted Danson", features Danson playing an alternate version of himself (referred to as "The Actor Ted Danson") seeking to collect on a debt of 460 million tons of grain. In 2024, he starred as the leading role of Charles in the Netflix comedy series, A Man on the Inside, based on the 2020 Academy Award-nominee documentary The Mole Agent. As of 2024, Danson has appeared as a regular in twelve television shows, reportedly the most any actor has done historically. In 2024, he became the official spokesperson for Consumer Cellular, an MVNO ATT(reseller) telephone company. In 2024, Danson and Woody Harrelson started a podcast called Where Everybody Knows Your Name where they interview celebrities about their lives and careers.
Personal life
Marriages and relationships
Danson and his first wife, actress Randall "Randy" Gosch (known as Randy Danson), were married in 1970 and divorced in 1975.
Danson's second wife was producer Cassandra "Casey" Coates, whom he married in 1977. On December 24, 1979, while giving birth to their first daughter, Kate, Coates suffered a stroke. Danson spent several years caring for her and helping her recuperate. They later adopted a second daughter, Alexis. His affair with actress Whoopi Goldberg contributed to their divorce in 1993. At the time, it was known as one of Hollywood's costliest divorces and reportedly cost Danson $30 million.
Whoopi Goldberg
While a guest on The Arsenio Hall Show in late 1988, he met actress Whoopi Goldberg; he described her as "a sexy, funny woman". They became friends and were in Help Save Planet Earth in 1990 which is about saving the environment (Danson played himself, Goldberg portrayed Mother Earth). While making Made in America in April 1992, the two became romantically involved, a pairing that was heavily featured in gossip tabloids such as the National Enquirer. The couple also appeared on the Rock the Vote TV special in the same year; they were set to star in a Paramount-produced version of Neal Barrett Jr.'s Pink Vodka Blues, written by Marshall Brickman.
Danson received negative press attention October 8, 1993, after his appearance wearing blackface at a Friars Club comedy roast in honor of Goldberg, and for using many racist slurs. Later, Goldberg defended the sketch, explaining that she had helped write much of the material and referred Danson to the makeup artist who painted his face as a societal critique.
Mary Steenburgen
On October 7, 1995, Danson married actress Mary Steenburgen, whom he met on the set of Pontiac Moon in 1993, and became the stepfather to Steenburgen's children, Lilly and Charlie, from her previous marriage to actor Malcolm McDowell.
Danson has been on a plant-based diet multiple times, but as of 2016, he is on a pescetarian diet.
Danson is Episcopalian.
Environmentalism
Danson's interest in environmental concerns began when he was 12 years old. Bill Breed, then curator of geology at the Museum of Northern Arizona, introduced Danson and their friend Marc Gaede to a "game" he referred to as "billboarding". Armed with axes and saws, Breed, Gaede, and Danson destroyed over 500 outdoor advertising signs.
Danson's interest in environmentalism continued over the years, and he began to be concerned with the state of the world's oceans. He was a contributing founder of the American Oceans Campaigns in the 1980s; it merged with Oceana in 2001 and he is a board member. His commitment to the environment led him to host the A&E television series "Challenge of the Seas" in 1991, filming 26 one-hour episodes.
In March 2011, Danson published his first book, Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do To Save Them which was written with journalist Michael D'Orso. On October 25, 2019, Danson was arrested and charged along with actress Jane Fonda at a climate-change protest outside the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Political activism
Danson is a friend of former President Bill Clinton, who attended Danson and Steenburgen's wedding. Danson has donated over $177,000 as of June 2024 to Democratic candidates and PACs, including Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Al Gore, John Edwards, Barbara Boxer, Bill Clinton, Al Franken, John Kerry, and the Jane Fonda Climate PAC. He has also donated to the Democratic Party of Arkansas and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Danson and Steenburgen campaigned for Senator Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign. He and Steenburgen attended the wedding of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton's daughter Chelsea on July 31, 2010. He appeared with Steenburgen at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. On October 3, 2016, he attended the opening of Hillary Clinton's new campaign office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania at the old Queen Pharmacy on King Street.
Filmography
Film
Television
Theatre
Awards and nominations
Bibliography
Danson, Ted (with Michael D'Orso). (March 15, 2011) Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them. New York: Rodale Books. ISBN 978-1605292625
References
Further reading
Piccalo, Gina (October 18, 2009). "Ted Danson is hip again". Los Angeles Times.
Bianculli, David (September 17, 2009). "Ted Danson, On Life (And 'Death') After 'Cheers'". Fresh Air. NPR.
External links
Ted Danson at IMDb
Ted Danson at Rotten Tomatoes
Ted Danson at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
Ted Danson discography at Discogs
"Actor Ted Danson Headlines Prestigious Group of Alumni Award Winners". Carnegie Mellon University. 2003.
Bruni, Frank (March 19, 2010). "The Humble Egotist". The New York Times.
Virtel, Louis (July 22, 2014). "Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis: Broadway Rock Stars?". Uproxx. Archived from the original on July 26, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
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Edward Bridge Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1982–1993), for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He was further Emmy-nominated for the FX legal drama Damages (2007–2010) and the NBC comedy The Good Place (2016–2020). He was the recipient of the 2025 Carol Burnett Award. Ted along with his wife Mary Steenburgen was awarded with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in 2025 at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Danson made his film debut in 1978 in the crime drama The Onion Field. His breakout film role was in the comedies Three Men and a Baby (1987) and Three Men and a Little Lady (1990). He also acted in Body Heat (1981), Creepshow (1982), Dad (1989) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).
Danson's other leading roles on television include the CBS sitcom Becker (1998–2004) and the CBS dramas CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2011–2015) and CSI: Cyber (2015–2016). In 2015, he starred in the second season of FX's anthology series Fargo. He has played roles in the HBO comedies Bored to Death (2009–2011) and Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000–2024), the NBC sitcom Mr. Mayor (2021–2022), and the Netflix comedy A Man on the Inside (2024–present).
Danson has been married to actress Mary Steenburgen since 1995. He is also known for his longtime activism in ocean conservation and wrote Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them (2011) with journalist Michael D'Orso.
Early life and education
On December 29, 1947, Danson was born in San Diego to Edward Bridge "Ned" Danson Jr., an archaeologist and curator of the Museum of Northern Arizona from 1959 to 1975, and Jessica Harriet (née MacMaster). He has an older sister, Jessica Ann "Jan" Haury. Danson was primarily raised in Flagstaff, Arizona. He has Scottish and English heritage. Their ancestors lived in colonial New England and are descended from historical figures such as Anne Hutchinson.
In 1961, at age 14, Danson enrolled at the Kent School, a university-preparatory school in Connecticut; he was a star player on the basketball team. He became interested in drama while later attending Stanford University. In search of a better acting program, he transferred to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated with a B.F.A. in Drama in 1972.
Career
1975–1981: Early roles
Danson began his television career as a contract player on the daytime soap opera Somerset. He played the role of Tom Conway from 1975 to 1976. In 1977, he played Dr. Mitchell Pierson on the daytime soap opera The Doctors, having also appeared earlier in 1975 as another character, Dr. Chuck Weldon. He was also in a number of commercials, most notably as the "Aramis man". His guest appearances on television in the late 1970s and early 1980s include being on Laverne & Shirley, B. J. and the Bear, Family, Benson, Taxi, Magnum, P.I., The Amazing Spider-Man, Tucker's Witch, and Mrs. Columbo. He also appeared in the films The Onion Field (1978, his first film, as the bagpipe-playing Officer Ian Campbell) and Body Heat (1981).
1982–1992: Cheers and stardom
In 1982, Danson was cast in the role of Sam Malone, a former local-legend baseball player and bartender, for the NBC sitcom Cheers. On the show, he has an on-again-off-again relationship with the college-educated, sophisticated Diane Chambers. Although the show finished last in ratings in its first season, it was well received by critics. Ratings gradually improved by 1983, and by 1986, Cheers was among the top ten most-viewed shows on television. The series ran for 11 seasons (1982–1993), with the series finale (May 20, 1993) being watched by 80 million people, the second-most watched series finale in television history (in 1993). Cheers won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, plus a Golden Globe for Best Series–Musical or Comedy. During his time on the show, Danson won two of his 11 consecutive Emmy nominations for the role of Sam Malone, and won two of his nine Golden Globe nominations. In 2002, TV Guide magazine named Cheers the 18th "Greatest Show of All Time". It was included in Time's "100 Greatest Shows of All Time". On December 15, 1988, Danson got into a minor car accident in which he got a bloody nose; he was in some pain, but his nose wasn't broken. The bloody nose was written into the Cheers episode "How to Win Friends and Electrocute People". Danson reprised the role of Sam Malone in a second-season episode of Frasier, and did the voiceover for his character in an episode of The Simpsons, "Fear of Flying".
Danson also appeared in numerous films during his time on the series. His most notable film appearances included Three Men and a Baby (1987) with Tom Selleck and Steve Guttenberg, its sequel Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), and Cousins (1989) with Isabella Rossellini. He also appeared in Creepshow (1982), Little Treasure (1985), Just Between Friends (1986) with Mary Tyler Moore, A Fine Mess (1986), and Dad (1989). Although he was best known for his work in comedy, he also appeared in a television drama, Something About Amelia (1984), about a family devastated by the repercussions of incest, which co-starred his later co-star on Damages, Glenn Close. He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie and was nominated for an Emmy Award.
1994–2014: Post-Cheers roles
After Cheers ended, Danson appeared in films such as Made in America (1993), Getting Even with Dad (1994), Loch Ness (1996), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Mad Money (2008), and Big Miracle (2012). In 1996, three years after Cheers concluded, Danson starred in the short-lived CBS sitcom Ink with his real-life wife Mary Steenburgen. In the same year, they starred as Lemuel Gulliver and his wife in an acclaimed television miniseries of Gulliver's Travels. Danson went on to play the title role in the successful CBS sitcom Becker (produced by Paramount Television which also produced Cheers), which ran from 1998 to 2004. Danson also played a fictionalized version of himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm from 2000 to 2024. In 1999, Danson was presented with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
Danson returned to series television in 2006, playing a psychiatrist in the ABC sitcom Help Me Help You, which was canceled at midseason due to low ratings. Also in 2006, Danson received a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries for his role in Knights of the South Bronx. In 2007, Danson starred in the FX Network drama Damages as a corrupt billionaire, Arthur Frobisher. The role earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, but he lost to co-star Željko Ivanek. During the second season Danson became a recurring character instead of one of the principal cast. He received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series but lost to Michael J. Fox for Fox's guest appearance in Rescue Me. In 2011, Danson appeared in the music video for "Make Some Noise" by the Beastie Boys. He is also mentioned in the song's lyrics.
From 2009 to 2011, Danson starred in the HBO sitcom Bored to Death as George Christopher, the laconic and sometime downright infantile editor of Edition magazine. Critics often praised Danson as being the highlight of the program, calling his character a "scene stealer." From 2011 to 2015, Danson starred in the CBS police drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He played D.B. Russell, a new graveyard-shift supervisor who previously headed a crime lab in Seattle. Tony Shalhoub, Robin Williams, and John Lithgow were also considered for the role. He reprised his role in the third CSI spin-off, CSI: Cyber, which was canceled after two seasons.
2015–present: The Good Place
In 2015, Danson appeared in the second season of the TV show Fargo, portraying Sheriff Hank Larsson. From 2016 to 2020 Danson appeared opposite Kristen Bell as the character Michael in the NBC sitcom The Good Place. He was nominated for and won numerous awards for his performance as Michael. Danson had the main role on the NBC sitcom Mr. Mayor (2021–2022), in which he plays a wealthy businessman who runs for mayor of Los Angeles for all the wrong reasons. Episode 109 of the Beef and Dairy Network Podcast, entitled "Ted Danson", features Danson playing an alternate version of himself (referred to as "The Actor Ted Danson") seeking to collect on a debt of 460 million tons of grain. In 2024, he starred as the leading role of Charles in the Netflix comedy series, A Man on the Inside, based on the 2020 Academy Award-nominee documentary The Mole Agent. As of 2024, Danson has appeared as a regular in twelve television shows, reportedly the most any actor has done historically. In 2024, he became the official spokesperson for Consumer Cellular, an MVNO ATT(reseller) telephone company. In 2024, Danson and Woody Harrelson started a podcast called Where Everybody Knows Your Name where they interview celebrities about their lives and careers.
Personal life
Marriages and relationships
Danson and his first wife, actress Randall "Randy" Gosch (known as Randy Danson), were married in 1970 and divorced in 1975.
Danson's second wife was producer Cassandra "Casey" Coates, whom he married in 1977. On December 24, 1979, while giving birth to their first daughter, Kate, Coates suffered a stroke. Danson spent several years caring for her and helping her recuperate. They later adopted a second daughter, Alexis. His affair with actress Whoopi Goldberg contributed to their divorce in 1993. At the time, it was known as one of Hollywood's costliest divorces and reportedly cost Danson $30 million.
Whoopi Goldberg
While a guest on The Arsenio Hall Show in late 1988, he met actress Whoopi Goldberg; he described her as "a sexy, funny woman". They became friends and were in Help Save Planet Earth in 1990 which is about saving the environment (Danson played himself, Goldberg portrayed Mother Earth). While making Made in America in April 1992, the two became romantically involved, a pairing that was heavily featured in gossip tabloids such as the National Enquirer. The couple also appeared on the Rock the Vote TV special in the same year; they were set to star in a Paramount-produced version of Neal Barrett Jr.'s Pink Vodka Blues, written by Marshall Brickman.
Danson received negative press attention October 8, 1993, after his appearance wearing blackface at a Friars Club comedy roast in honor of Goldberg, and for using many racist slurs. Later, Goldberg defended the sketch, explaining that she had helped write much of the material and referred Danson to the makeup artist who painted his face as a societal critique.
Mary Steenburgen
On October 7, 1995, Danson married actress Mary Steenburgen, whom he met on the set of Pontiac Moon in 1993, and became the stepfather to Steenburgen's children, Lilly and Charlie, from her previous marriage to actor Malcolm McDowell.
Danson has been on a plant-based diet multiple times, but as of 2016, he is on a pescetarian diet.
Danson is Episcopalian.
Environmentalism
Danson's interest in environmental concerns began when he was 12 years old. Bill Breed, then curator of geology at the Museum of Northern Arizona, introduced Danson and their friend Marc Gaede to a "game" he referred to as "billboarding". Armed with axes and saws, Breed, Gaede, and Danson destroyed over 500 outdoor advertising signs.
Danson's interest in environmentalism continued over the years, and he began to be concerned with the state of the world's oceans. He was a contributing founder of the American Oceans Campaigns in the 1980s; it merged with Oceana in 2001 and he is a board member. His commitment to the environment led him to host the A&E television series "Challenge of the Seas" in 1991, filming 26 one-hour episodes.
In March 2011, Danson published his first book, Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do To Save Them which was written with journalist Michael D'Orso. On October 25, 2019, Danson was arrested and charged along with actress Jane Fonda at a climate-change protest outside the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Political activism
Danson is a friend of former President Bill Clinton, who attended Danson and Steenburgen's wedding. Danson has donated over $177,000 as of June 2024 to Democratic candidates and PACs, including Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Al Gore, John Edwards, Barbara Boxer, Bill Clinton, Al Franken, John Kerry, and the Jane Fonda Climate PAC. He has also donated to the Democratic Party of Arkansas and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Danson and Steenburgen campaigned for Senator Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign. He and Steenburgen attended the wedding of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton's daughter Chelsea on July 31, 2010. He appeared with Steenburgen at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. On October 3, 2016, he attended the opening of Hillary Clinton's new campaign office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania at the old Queen Pharmacy on King Street.
Filmography
Film
Television
Theatre
Awards and nominations
Bibliography
Danson, Ted (with Michael D'Orso). (March 15, 2011) Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them. New York: Rodale Books. ISBN 978-1605292625
References
Further reading
Piccalo, Gina (October 18, 2009). "Ted Danson is hip again". Los Angeles Times.
Bianculli, David (September 17, 2009). "Ted Danson, On Life (And 'Death') After 'Cheers'". Fresh Air. NPR.
External links
Ted Danson at IMDb
Ted Danson at Rotten Tomatoes
Ted Danson at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
Ted Danson discography at Discogs
"Actor Ted Danson Headlines Prestigious Group of Alumni Award Winners". Carnegie Mellon University. 2003.
Bruni, Frank (March 19, 2010). "The Humble Egotist". The New York Times.
Virtel, Louis (July 22, 2014). "Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis: Broadway Rock Stars?". Uproxx. Archived from the original on July 26, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
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John Travolta
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John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Travolta came to prominence starring in the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979), followed by a supporting performance in Carrie (1976) and then leading roles in Grease (1978), Urban Cowboy (1980), and Blow Out (1981). He earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Pulp Fiction (1994). His other notable films include Get Shorty (1995), Broken Arrow (1996), Michael (1996), Face/Off (1997), A Civil Action (1998), Primary Colors (1998), The General's Daughter (1999), The Punisher (2004), Wild Hogs (2007), Hairspray (2007), Bolt (2008), and Savages (2012).
Travolta returned to television portraying lawyer Robert Shapiro in the series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. He received an Emmy Award as a producer as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. He was also Emmy-nominated for his role in the action-comedy web series Die Hart (2021).
Outside of acting, Travolta has released nine albums, including four singles that have charted on the Billboard Hot 100's Top 40. His albums have typically accompanied films he has starred in, such as Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture (1978), which topped the Billboard 200. Travolta is also a private pilot.
Early life
The youngest of six children, Travolta was born and raised in Englewood, an inner-ring suburb of New York City in Bergen County, New Jersey.
His father, Salvatore "Sam" Travolta, was a semiprofessional American football player turned tire salesman and partner in a tire company, Travolta Tire Exchange. His mother, Helen Cecilia (née Burke), was an actress and singer who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama and English teacher. His siblings Joey, Ellen, Ann, Margaret, and Sam Travolta were all inspired by their mother's love of theater and drama and became actors. His father was a second-generation Italian American with roots in Godrano, Sicily, and his mother was Irish American.
He grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood and said that his household was predominantly Irish in culture. He was raised Catholic, but later converted to Scientology in 1975 at age 21. He converted after being given the book Dianetics from former actress Joan Prather. Travolta attended Dwight Morrow High School, but dropped out as a junior at age 17 in 1971.
Career
1970s
After dropping out of school, Travolta moved across the Hudson River to New York City and landed a role in the touring company of the musical Grease as Doody and on Broadway in Over Here!, singing the Sherman Brothers' song "Dream Drummin'". He then moved to Los Angeles for professional reasons. Travolta's first screen role in California was as a fall victim in Emergency! (Season 2, Episode 2) in September 1972, but his first significant movie role was as Billy Nolan, a bully who was goaded into playing a prank on Sissy Spacek's character in the horror film Carrie (1976) directed by Brian de Palma. Around that time, he landed his star-making role as Vinnie Barbarino in the ABC TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979), in which his sister, Ellen, also occasionally appeared (as Arnold Horshack's mother).
Travolta had a hit single titled "Let Her In", peaking at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in July 1976. In the next few years, he starred in the television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble and two of his most noted screen roles: Tony Manero in the dance drama Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Danny Zuko in the musical Grease (1978). The films were among the most commercially successful pictures of the decade and catapulted Travolta to international stardom. Saturday Night Fever earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor, making him, at age 24, one of the youngest performers ever nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. His mother and his sister Ann appeared very briefly in Saturday Night Fever and his sister Ellen played a waitress in Grease. Travolta performed on the Grease soundtrack album. After the failure of the romance Moment by Moment (1978), in which he starred with Lily Tomlin, Travolta rebounded in 1980, riding a nationwide country music craze that followed on the heels of his hit film Urban Cowboy, in which he starred with Debra Winger.
1980s
Travolta followed up Urban Cowboy with a starring role in Brian de Palma's 1981 film Blow Out, which was critically lauded but a box office disappointment, likely due to its bleak ending. After Blow Out came a series of commercial and critical failures which sidelined Travolta's acting career. These included Two of a Kind (1983), a romantic comedy reuniting him with Olivia Newton-John, and Perfect (1985), co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis. He also starred in Staying Alive, the 1983 sequel to Saturday Night Fever, for which he trained rigorously to portray a professional dancer and lost 20 pounds (9.1 kg); the film was a financial success, grossing over $65 million, though it, too, was scorned by critics.
During that time, Travolta was offered, but declined, lead roles in what would become box-office hits, including American Gigolo and An Officer and a Gentleman, both of which went to Richard Gere, as well as Splash, which went to Tom Hanks. In 1989, Travolta starred with Kirstie Alley in Look Who's Talking, which grossed $297 million, making it his most successful film since Grease.
1990s
Travolta subsequently starred in Look Who's Talking Too (1990) and Look Who's Talking Now (1993), but it was not until he played against type as Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino's hit Pulp Fiction (1994), with Samuel L. Jackson, for which he received an Academy Award nomination, that his career was revived. It was Travolta's third film alongside Bruce Willis. The movie shifted him back onto the A-list and notable roles that followed include a movie-buff loan shark in Get Shorty (1995), a factory worker in White Man's Burden (1995), a corrupt U.S. Air Force pilot in Broken Arrow (1996), an everyman with extraordinary powers in Phenomenon (1996), an archangel in Michael (1996), an FBI agent and terrorist in Face/Off (1997), a desperate attorney in A Civil Action (1998), a Bill Clinton–esque presidential candidate in Primary Colors (1998), and a military investigator in The General's Daughter (1999).
2000s
In 2000, Travolta starred in and co-produced the science fiction film Battlefield Earth, based on the novel of the same name by L. Ron Hubbard, in which he played the villainous leading role as a leader of a group of aliens that enslaves humanity on a bleak future Earth. The film was a dream project for Travolta since the book's release in 1982, when Hubbard wrote to him to try to help make a film adaptation. The film received almost universally negative reviews and did very poorly at the box office. Travolta's performance in Battlefield Earth also earned him two Razzie Awards.
Throughout the 2000s, Travolta remained busy as an actor, starring in Swordfish (2001); Lucky Numbers (2000); Domestic Disturbance (2001); Ladder 49 (2004); Be Cool (2005); Lonely Hearts (2006); Wild Hogs (2007); the Disney animated film Bolt (2008), in which Travolta voiced the title character; The Taking of Pelham 123; and Old Dogs (both 2009).
In 2007, Travolta played Edna Turnblad in the remake of Hairspray, his first musical since Grease.
2010s
Since 2010, Travolta has starred mostly in action films and thrillers, such as From Paris with Love (2010) and Savages (2012). In 2014, Travolta made headlines for mispronouncing the name of Idina Menzel by calling her "Adele Dazeem" during the live broadcast of the 86th Academy Awards; he subsequently apologized and expressed embarrassment for the error. The mispronunciation evolved into a popular internet meme which ultimately boosted Menzel's popularity, causing Menzel to remark that Travolta's error "was one of the best things that happened" in her career. In 2016, he returned to television in the first season of the anthology series American Crime Story, titled The People v. O. J. Simpson, in which he played lawyer Robert Shapiro. For his performance he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
2020s
Following the death of his wife Kelly Preston in July 2020, Travolta hinted on his Instagram account that he would be putting his career on hold, stating, "I will be taking some time to be there for my children who have lost their mother, so forgive me in advance if you don't hear from us for a while".
Other ventures
Aviation
Travolta is a pilot and rated to fly Boeing 707, 737, and 747 planes. He owns four aircraft. Travolta owned an ex-Qantas Boeing 707-138B (Ex-VH-EBM) which bears an old livery of Qantas, and Travolta acted as an official goodwill ambassador for the airline wherever he flew. Travolta named his 707 "Jett Clipper Ella", in honor of his children. The "Clipper" in the name refers to the use of that word by Pan Am as the company's call sign as well as in the names of their aircraft. In 2017, Travolta donated the Boeing 707 to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) near Wollongong, Australia. This was expected to be flown to Australia in November 2019, but was later delayed to sometime in 2020 due to condition of the aircraft. Travolta planned to be on board when the aircraft was to be flown to Illawarra Regional Airport, where HARS is based, but was not allowed to fly it, because it was to be registered as an Australian aircraft.
On November 24, 1992, Travolta was piloting his Gulfstream N728T at night above a solid undercast when he experienced a total electrical system failure while flying under instrument flight rules into Washington National Airport. During the emergency landing, he almost had a mid-air collision with a USAir Boeing 727, an event attributed to a risky decision by an air traffic controller.
In 1984, Travolta was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement and presented with the Golden Plate Award by Awards Council member General Chuck Yeager, USAF. Travolta was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation in 2007 and acts as the award show's official ambassador.
On September 13, 2010, during the first episode of the final season of her talk show, Oprah Winfrey announced that she would be taking her entire studio audience on an eight-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Australia, with Travolta serving as pilot for the trip. He had helped Winfrey plan the trip for more than a year.
He is the author of the book Propeller One-Way Night Coach, the story of a young boy's first flight.
His estate in Ocala, Florida, is situated at Jumbolair Airport with its own runway and taxiway right to his house, with two outbuildings for covered access to planes.
Philanthropy
After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, joining other celebrities in helping with the relief efforts, Travolta reportedly flew his Boeing 707 full of supplies, doctors, and Scientologist Volunteer Ministers into the disaster area.
Personal life
Relationships and family
Travolta was in a relationship with actress Diana Hyland, whom he met while filming The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976). They remained together until Hyland's death from breast cancer on March 27, 1977. In 1980, Travolta dated French actress Catherine Deneuve. Travolta also had an on-again/off-again relationship with actress Marilu Henner, which ended permanently in 1985. In 1988 while filming The Experts, Travolta met actress Kelly Preston, whom he married in Paris in 1991. They had three children: Jett (1992–2009), Ella Bleu (born 2000), and Benjamin (born 2010). They regularly attended marriage counseling and Travolta has stated that therapy helped the marriage. They lived near Ocala, Florida.
On January 2, 2009, Jett died at age sixteen while on a Christmas vacation in The Bahamas. A Bahamian death certificate was issued, attributing the cause of death to a seizure. Jett, who had a history of seizures, reportedly had Kawasaki disease since the age of two. Travolta confirmed that Jett was autistic and had regular seizures, and immediately made his public statements while giving testimony at the trial of two defendants (a paramedic and a former Bahamas senator) who Travolta alleged tried to blackmail him with a multimillion-dollar extortion plot involving private information in connection with the death of his son Jett. After a mistrial, Travolta dropped the charges and has credited his immediate family and Scientology with helping him to cope with Jett's death and move forward with his career. In memory of Jett, Travolta created the Jett Travolta Foundation, a nonprofit organization to help children with special needs. It has contributed to organizations such as the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, and Simon Wiesenthal Center.
On July 12, 2020, Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, died at the age of 57, at their home in Clearwater, Florida, two years after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Preston had undergone treatment at different hospitals, and at the time of her death, was receiving treatment at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
Travolta is "good friend[s]" with American rapper Pitbull. The two collaborated on Travolta's 2018 film Gotti, for which Pitbull scored and wrote the song "Amore". In 2019, Travolta debuted a new shaved head look after receiving advice from Pitbull to do so. Later that year, Travolta appeared in the music video for Pitbull's single "3 to Tango".
Legal issues
In May 2012, an anonymous masseur filed a lawsuit against Travolta, citing claims of sexual assault and battery. A lawyer for Travolta said that the allegations were "complete fiction and fabrication". Travolta's counsel also stated that his client would be able to prove that he was not in California on the day in question and asserted that Travolta would "sue the attorney and Plaintiff for malicious prosecution" after getting the case thrown out. A second masseur later joined the lawsuit, making similar claims. Both lawsuits were subsequently dropped by the complainants and dismissed without prejudice.
On September 27, 2012, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Travolta and his attorney Marty Singer by writer Robert Randolph because he found that a letter, written by Singer in response to allegations in a book by Randolph, was protected by free speech.
In July 2014, a California court allowed Travolta's former private pilot, Douglas Gotterba, to proceed with a lawsuit challenging the confidentiality and non-disclosure provisions of the termination agreement signed between Gotterba and Travolta years earlier. Travolta's lawyers served Gotterba with a cease and desist letter in 2012 after learning through a tip that Gotterba was planning to release a book about his time working for Travolta between 1981 and 1987, during which period Gotterba claims to have had a homosexual extramarital affair with Travolta. Travolta strongly denied the allegations.
Discography
Albums
Singles
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Travolta was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performances in Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction. He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his performance in Get Shorty and has received a total of six nominations, the most recent being in 2011. In 2014, he received the IIFA Award for Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema.
See also
List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees – Youngest Nominees for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Explanatory notes
References
Further reading
Tast, Brigitte, ed. (1978). John Travolta (in German). Hildesheim, Germany: Kulleraugen. ISBN 3-88842-103-9. Pamphlet.
Books by Travolta
Travolta, John (1984). John Travolta, Staying Fit!: His Complete Program for Reshaping Your Body Through Weight Resistance Training and Modern Dance Techniques. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-49798-9.
Travolta, John (1997). Propeller One-Way Night Coach: A Fable for All Ages. Warner Books. ISBN 978-0-44652-257-1.
External links
Official website
John Travolta at IMDb
John Travolta on Charlie Rose
John Travolta at the Internet Broadway Database
John Travolta at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
John Travolta collected news and commentary at The New York Times
John Travolta at Hollywood Walk of Fame
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John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Travolta came to prominence starring in the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979), followed by a supporting performance in Carrie (1976) and then leading roles in Grease (1978), Urban Cowboy (1980), and Blow Out (1981). He earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Pulp Fiction (1994). His other notable films include Get Shorty (1995), Broken Arrow (1996), Michael (1996), Face/Off (1997), A Civil Action (1998), Primary Colors (1998), The General's Daughter (1999), The Punisher (2004), Wild Hogs (2007), Hairspray (2007), Bolt (2008), and Savages (2012).
Travolta returned to television portraying lawyer Robert Shapiro in the series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. He received an Emmy Award as a producer as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. He was also Emmy-nominated for his role in the action-comedy web series Die Hart (2021).
Outside of acting, Travolta has released nine albums, including four singles that have charted on the Billboard Hot 100's Top 40. His albums have typically accompanied films he has starred in, such as Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture (1978), which topped the Billboard 200. Travolta is also a private pilot.
Early life
The youngest of six children, Travolta was born and raised in Englewood, an inner-ring suburb of New York City in Bergen County, New Jersey.
His father, Salvatore "Sam" Travolta, was a semiprofessional American football player turned tire salesman and partner in a tire company, Travolta Tire Exchange. His mother, Helen Cecilia (née Burke), was an actress and singer who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama and English teacher. His siblings Joey, Ellen, Ann, Margaret, and Sam Travolta were all inspired by their mother's love of theater and drama and became actors. His father was a second-generation Italian American with roots in Godrano, Sicily, and his mother was Irish American.
He grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood and said that his household was predominantly Irish in culture. He was raised Catholic, but later converted to Scientology in 1975 at age 21. He converted after being given the book Dianetics from former actress Joan Prather. Travolta attended Dwight Morrow High School, but dropped out as a junior at age 17 in 1971.
Career
1970s
After dropping out of school, Travolta moved across the Hudson River to New York City and landed a role in the touring company of the musical Grease as Doody and on Broadway in Over Here!, singing the Sherman Brothers' song "Dream Drummin'". He then moved to Los Angeles for professional reasons. Travolta's first screen role in California was as a fall victim in Emergency! (Season 2, Episode 2) in September 1972, but his first significant movie role was as Billy Nolan, a bully who was goaded into playing a prank on Sissy Spacek's character in the horror film Carrie (1976) directed by Brian de Palma. Around that time, he landed his star-making role as Vinnie Barbarino in the ABC TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979), in which his sister, Ellen, also occasionally appeared (as Arnold Horshack's mother).
Travolta had a hit single titled "Let Her In", peaking at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in July 1976. In the next few years, he starred in the television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble and two of his most noted screen roles: Tony Manero in the dance drama Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Danny Zuko in the musical Grease (1978). The films were among the most commercially successful pictures of the decade and catapulted Travolta to international stardom. Saturday Night Fever earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor, making him, at age 24, one of the youngest performers ever nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. His mother and his sister Ann appeared very briefly in Saturday Night Fever and his sister Ellen played a waitress in Grease. Travolta performed on the Grease soundtrack album. After the failure of the romance Moment by Moment (1978), in which he starred with Lily Tomlin, Travolta rebounded in 1980, riding a nationwide country music craze that followed on the heels of his hit film Urban Cowboy, in which he starred with Debra Winger.
1980s
Travolta followed up Urban Cowboy with a starring role in Brian de Palma's 1981 film Blow Out, which was critically lauded but a box office disappointment, likely due to its bleak ending. After Blow Out came a series of commercial and critical failures which sidelined Travolta's acting career. These included Two of a Kind (1983), a romantic comedy reuniting him with Olivia Newton-John, and Perfect (1985), co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis. He also starred in Staying Alive, the 1983 sequel to Saturday Night Fever, for which he trained rigorously to portray a professional dancer and lost 20 pounds (9.1 kg); the film was a financial success, grossing over $65 million, though it, too, was scorned by critics.
During that time, Travolta was offered, but declined, lead roles in what would become box-office hits, including American Gigolo and An Officer and a Gentleman, both of which went to Richard Gere, as well as Splash, which went to Tom Hanks. In 1989, Travolta starred with Kirstie Alley in Look Who's Talking, which grossed $297 million, making it his most successful film since Grease.
1990s
Travolta subsequently starred in Look Who's Talking Too (1990) and Look Who's Talking Now (1993), but it was not until he played against type as Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino's hit Pulp Fiction (1994), with Samuel L. Jackson, for which he received an Academy Award nomination, that his career was revived. It was Travolta's third film alongside Bruce Willis. The movie shifted him back onto the A-list and notable roles that followed include a movie-buff loan shark in Get Shorty (1995), a factory worker in White Man's Burden (1995), a corrupt U.S. Air Force pilot in Broken Arrow (1996), an everyman with extraordinary powers in Phenomenon (1996), an archangel in Michael (1996), an FBI agent and terrorist in Face/Off (1997), a desperate attorney in A Civil Action (1998), a Bill Clinton–esque presidential candidate in Primary Colors (1998), and a military investigator in The General's Daughter (1999).
2000s
In 2000, Travolta starred in and co-produced the science fiction film Battlefield Earth, based on the novel of the same name by L. Ron Hubbard, in which he played the villainous leading role as a leader of a group of aliens that enslaves humanity on a bleak future Earth. The film was a dream project for Travolta since the book's release in 1982, when Hubbard wrote to him to try to help make a film adaptation. The film received almost universally negative reviews and did very poorly at the box office. Travolta's performance in Battlefield Earth also earned him two Razzie Awards.
Throughout the 2000s, Travolta remained busy as an actor, starring in Swordfish (2001); Lucky Numbers (2000); Domestic Disturbance (2001); Ladder 49 (2004); Be Cool (2005); Lonely Hearts (2006); Wild Hogs (2007); the Disney animated film Bolt (2008), in which Travolta voiced the title character; The Taking of Pelham 123; and Old Dogs (both 2009).
In 2007, Travolta played Edna Turnblad in the remake of Hairspray, his first musical since Grease.
2010s
Since 2010, Travolta has starred mostly in action films and thrillers, such as From Paris with Love (2010) and Savages (2012). In 2014, Travolta made headlines for mispronouncing the name of Idina Menzel by calling her "Adele Dazeem" during the live broadcast of the 86th Academy Awards; he subsequently apologized and expressed embarrassment for the error. The mispronunciation evolved into a popular internet meme which ultimately boosted Menzel's popularity, causing Menzel to remark that Travolta's error "was one of the best things that happened" in her career. In 2016, he returned to television in the first season of the anthology series American Crime Story, titled The People v. O. J. Simpson, in which he played lawyer Robert Shapiro. For his performance he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
2020s
Following the death of his wife Kelly Preston in July 2020, Travolta hinted on his Instagram account that he would be putting his career on hold, stating, "I will be taking some time to be there for my children who have lost their mother, so forgive me in advance if you don't hear from us for a while".
Other ventures
Aviation
Travolta is a pilot and rated to fly Boeing 707, 737, and 747 planes. He owns four aircraft. Travolta owned an ex-Qantas Boeing 707-138B (Ex-VH-EBM) which bears an old livery of Qantas, and Travolta acted as an official goodwill ambassador for the airline wherever he flew. Travolta named his 707 "Jett Clipper Ella", in honor of his children. The "Clipper" in the name refers to the use of that word by Pan Am as the company's call sign as well as in the names of their aircraft. In 2017, Travolta donated the Boeing 707 to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) near Wollongong, Australia. This was expected to be flown to Australia in November 2019, but was later delayed to sometime in 2020 due to condition of the aircraft. Travolta planned to be on board when the aircraft was to be flown to Illawarra Regional Airport, where HARS is based, but was not allowed to fly it, because it was to be registered as an Australian aircraft.
On November 24, 1992, Travolta was piloting his Gulfstream N728T at night above a solid undercast when he experienced a total electrical system failure while flying under instrument flight rules into Washington National Airport. During the emergency landing, he almost had a mid-air collision with a USAir Boeing 727, an event attributed to a risky decision by an air traffic controller.
In 1984, Travolta was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement and presented with the Golden Plate Award by Awards Council member General Chuck Yeager, USAF. Travolta was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation in 2007 and acts as the award show's official ambassador.
On September 13, 2010, during the first episode of the final season of her talk show, Oprah Winfrey announced that she would be taking her entire studio audience on an eight-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Australia, with Travolta serving as pilot for the trip. He had helped Winfrey plan the trip for more than a year.
He is the author of the book Propeller One-Way Night Coach, the story of a young boy's first flight.
His estate in Ocala, Florida, is situated at Jumbolair Airport with its own runway and taxiway right to his house, with two outbuildings for covered access to planes.
Philanthropy
After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, joining other celebrities in helping with the relief efforts, Travolta reportedly flew his Boeing 707 full of supplies, doctors, and Scientologist Volunteer Ministers into the disaster area.
Personal life
Relationships and family
Travolta was in a relationship with actress Diana Hyland, whom he met while filming The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976). They remained together until Hyland's death from breast cancer on March 27, 1977. In 1980, Travolta dated French actress Catherine Deneuve. Travolta also had an on-again/off-again relationship with actress Marilu Henner, which ended permanently in 1985. In 1988 while filming The Experts, Travolta met actress Kelly Preston, whom he married in Paris in 1991. They had three children: Jett (1992–2009), Ella Bleu (born 2000), and Benjamin (born 2010). They regularly attended marriage counseling and Travolta has stated that therapy helped the marriage. They lived near Ocala, Florida.
On January 2, 2009, Jett died at age sixteen while on a Christmas vacation in The Bahamas. A Bahamian death certificate was issued, attributing the cause of death to a seizure. Jett, who had a history of seizures, reportedly had Kawasaki disease since the age of two. Travolta confirmed that Jett was autistic and had regular seizures, and immediately made his public statements while giving testimony at the trial of two defendants (a paramedic and a former Bahamas senator) who Travolta alleged tried to blackmail him with a multimillion-dollar extortion plot involving private information in connection with the death of his son Jett. After a mistrial, Travolta dropped the charges and has credited his immediate family and Scientology with helping him to cope with Jett's death and move forward with his career. In memory of Jett, Travolta created the Jett Travolta Foundation, a nonprofit organization to help children with special needs. It has contributed to organizations such as the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, and Simon Wiesenthal Center.
On July 12, 2020, Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, died at the age of 57, at their home in Clearwater, Florida, two years after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Preston had undergone treatment at different hospitals, and at the time of her death, was receiving treatment at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
Travolta is "good friend[s]" with American rapper Pitbull. The two collaborated on Travolta's 2018 film Gotti, for which Pitbull scored and wrote the song "Amore". In 2019, Travolta debuted a new shaved head look after receiving advice from Pitbull to do so. Later that year, Travolta appeared in the music video for Pitbull's single "3 to Tango".
Legal issues
In May 2012, an anonymous masseur filed a lawsuit against Travolta, citing claims of sexual assault and battery. A lawyer for Travolta said that the allegations were "complete fiction and fabrication". Travolta's counsel also stated that his client would be able to prove that he was not in California on the day in question and asserted that Travolta would "sue the attorney and Plaintiff for malicious prosecution" after getting the case thrown out. A second masseur later joined the lawsuit, making similar claims. Both lawsuits were subsequently dropped by the complainants and dismissed without prejudice.
On September 27, 2012, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Travolta and his attorney Marty Singer by writer Robert Randolph because he found that a letter, written by Singer in response to allegations in a book by Randolph, was protected by free speech.
In July 2014, a California court allowed Travolta's former private pilot, Douglas Gotterba, to proceed with a lawsuit challenging the confidentiality and non-disclosure provisions of the termination agreement signed between Gotterba and Travolta years earlier. Travolta's lawyers served Gotterba with a cease and desist letter in 2012 after learning through a tip that Gotterba was planning to release a book about his time working for Travolta between 1981 and 1987, during which period Gotterba claims to have had a homosexual extramarital affair with Travolta. Travolta strongly denied the allegations.
Discography
Albums
Singles
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Travolta was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performances in Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction. He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his performance in Get Shorty and has received a total of six nominations, the most recent being in 2011. In 2014, he received the IIFA Award for Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema.
See also
List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees – Youngest Nominees for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Explanatory notes
References
Further reading
Tast, Brigitte, ed. (1978). John Travolta (in German). Hildesheim, Germany: Kulleraugen. ISBN 3-88842-103-9. Pamphlet.
Books by Travolta
Travolta, John (1984). John Travolta, Staying Fit!: His Complete Program for Reshaping Your Body Through Weight Resistance Training and Modern Dance Techniques. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-49798-9.
Travolta, John (1997). Propeller One-Way Night Coach: A Fable for All Ages. Warner Books. ISBN 978-0-44652-257-1.
External links
Official website
John Travolta at IMDb
John Travolta on Charlie Rose
John Travolta at the Internet Broadway Database
John Travolta at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
John Travolta collected news and commentary at The New York Times
John Travolta at Hollywood Walk of Fame
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Robert Downey Jr.
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Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor. Known for his charismatic performances and versatility, he was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood annually from 2013 to 2015. Downey's films as a leading actor have grossed over $14.3 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing film stars of all time.
At the age of five, Downey made his acting debut in his father Robert Downey Sr.'s film Pound (1970). He rose to prominence by working with the Brat Pack for the teen films Weird Science (1985) and Less than Zero (1987). His portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in the biopic Chaplin (1992) earned him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination. After serving time at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges, Downey joined the television series Ally McBeal in 2000, earning a Golden Globe for his performance. In 2001, he was dismissed from the show following further drug-related arrests. He entered a court-ordered rehabilitation program and has remained sober since 2003.
After Mel Gibson paid his insurance bond, Downey made his film comeback with The Singing Detective (2003). He portrayed the titular character in Sherlock Holmes (2009)—which earned him a Golden Globe—and its sequel, subtitled A Game of Shadows (2011). Downey gained global recognition for starring as Iron Man in ten Marvel Cinematic Universe films, from Iron Man (2008) to Avengers: Endgame (2019). For his acclaimed portrayal of Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer (2023), he won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2024, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for the miniseries The Sympathizer and made his Broadway debut in the title role of Ayad Akhtar's McNeal.
In a career spanning more than five decades, Downey has won numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Daytime Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in 2008, and Forbes featured him on the Celebrity 100 in 2013 and 2014. Downey has pursued music, releasing the jazz-pop album The Futurist (2004), which charted on the US Billboard 200. Divorced from Deborah Falconer, he has been married to Susan Levin since 2005, with whom he co-founded the production company Team Downey. He has three children: one with Falconer and two with Levin.
Early life and acting background
Robert John Downey Jr. was born in Manhattan, New York City, on April 4, 1965. His father, Robert Downey Sr. (né Elias), was a filmmaker, while his mother, Elsie Ann (née Ford), was an actress who appeared in Downey Sr.'s films. His father was of one-half Lithuanian Jewish, one-quarter Hungarian Jewish, and one-quarter Irish, while his mother had Scottish, German, and Swiss ancestry. Downey's sister, Allyson, is two years older than him.
Due to his father's film projects, Downey moved frequently during his childhood, living in places such as Woodstock, New York, London, New Mexico, California, Connecticut, and Greenwich Village. From a young age, Downey was exposed to drugs: his father struggled with addiction, and his mother battled alcoholism. He has said that his father introduced him to marijuana at age eight, which he later expressed regret for. Downey mentioned that using drugs with his father created an emotional connection between them, explaining that, "When my dad and I used drugs together, it was his way of showing love for me in the only manner he knew." During his childhood, Downey appeared in small roles in his father's films. He made his acting debut at the age of five, portraying a sick puppy in the absurdist comedy Pound (1970), and at seven, he appeared in the surrealist Western Greaser's Palace (1972). Aged eleven and twelve, he attended Stagedoor Manor, a summer acting camp in upstate New York.
Downey was described as a hyperactive child who "tried to be cool", often teased by the older boys but popular with the girls. His parents divorced in 1977 when he was twelve; afterward, he lived with his mother in a fifth-floor apartment in New York, while his sister stayed with their father, who later took her to a boarding school. He attended Lincoln Junior High School for eighth grade and then Santa Monica High School for ninth and tenth grades, but dropped out in 1982. At age 17, he relocated to New York City to pursue acting full-time, working various jobs such as clearing tables at a Central Falls restaurant, working in a shoe store, and performing as "living art" at the nightclub Area to support himself during auditions. During this period, he also appeared in local theater and off-Broadway productions.
Career
1983–1995: Early work and critical acclaim
Downey made his stage debut in 1983 with a three-week run in Alms for the Middle Class at the Geva Theatre Center. He then appeared in the short-lived off-Broadway musical American Passion at the Joyce Theater, produced by Norman Lear. Downey's first credited film role was in Baby It's You (1983), though most of his scenes were cut. In his early film roles, he frequently portrayed misfit characters, and his portrayals of punk-like figures in several 1980s coming-of-age films led to his occasional association with the Brat Pack. In the drama film Firstborn (1984), he played a supporting role as the teenage friend of the protagonist. Downey then traveled to Los Angeles to film James Spader's Tuff Turf (1985), in which he played Spader's sidekick and a punk drummer. Later that year, his role as a bully in John Hughes's Weird Science (1985) marked his breakthrough. Downey starred as a more likeable radical socialist in the Alan Metter comedy film Back to School (1987).
In 1985, Downey joined the new, younger cast of Saturday Night Live, securing the audition with help from his Weird Science co-star and friend Anthony Michael Hall. After a season of poor ratings and criticism of the cast's comedic ability, he and most of the new members were dismissed. Downey's first leading role came in The Pick-up Artist (1987), which faced criticism for being "sexually irresponsible" because of its portrayal of promiscuous sex during a period of heightened AIDS awareness. He earned critical acclaim for his role as Julian Wells in the drama film Less than Zero (1987), the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's 1985 novel. For portraying a drug-addicted rich boy whose life rapidly spirals out of control, his performance was widely praised: Roger Ebert called it "so real, so subtle and so observant that it's scary", while Janet Maslin, writing for The New York Times, deemed it "desperately moving". Downey said that the role felt like "the ghost of Christmas Future" for him, as his drug habit led him to become an "exaggeration of the character" in real life.
Shortly after completing Less than Zero, he entered rehab for the first time, beginning a decade-long cycle of interventions and treatment stints that culminated in his 1996 arrest. Downey starred alongside Kiefer Sutherland and Winona Ryder in the teen drama 1969 (1988). The film saw mixed reviews, though his performance garnered good reviews from writers at Variety and Deseret News. Downey went on to star in the films Chances Are (1989) with Cybill Shepherd and Ryan O'Neal, Air America (1990) with Mel Gibson, and Soapdish (1991) with Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Cathy Moriarty, and Whoopi Goldberg; each saw varying critical success. To prepare for his portrayal of comic actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin in the biopic Chaplin (1992), Downey trained extensively, learning to play the violin and tennis left-handed, and working with a coach to replicate Chaplin's accent and mannerisms. Although the film was a box-office bomb, critics praised Downey's performance, for which he earned the BAFTA Award for Best Actor, as well as Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.
In 1993, Downey starred in Heart and Souls, playing a man possessed by multiple characters—a performance that Peter Travers praised as revealing his "explosive talent for physical comedy". In Only You (1994), co-starring Marisa Tomei and Billy Zane, Downey played Peter Wright, a professional dancer who poses as the soulmate Tomei's character Faith. Norman Jewison—the film's director—cast him because he reminded him of Tony Curtis: "charming with great comedic timing". In preparation for his role of reporter Wayne Gale in Natural Born Killers (1994), Downey shadowed Australian television shock journalist Steve Dunleavy, which helped him develop an Australian accent. The film proved successful at the box office, grossing $110 million on a $34 million budget. Throughout 1995, he took on a string of diverse roles, including the period drama Restoration, the Shakespearean adaptation Richard III, and the family ensemble Home for the Holidays.
1996–2001: Addiction-related setbacks and Ally McBeal
In early 1996, concerned for Downey's well-being, Sean Penn and Dennis Quaid went to his residence, took his keys, and brought him to a rehab center in Tucson; however, Downey left the facility and checked himself out a few days later. In June 1996, he was arrested for possession of heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and an unloaded .357 Magnum handgun while speeding down Sunset Boulevard. A month later, while on parole and under the influence of a controlled substance, he entered a neighbor's home through an unlocked front door and fell asleep in one of the beds. The family declined to press trespassing charges. The 911 call made by the neighbor was later circulated online and became known as the "Goldilocks incident". In November 1996, following a period in court-ordered rehab, Downey was sentenced to an additional six months of live-in rehabilitation, three years' probation, and compulsory drug testing. Downey starred in Two Girls and a Guy (1997), portraying a duplicitous man who convinces each of two women that she is his only love.
After missing a court-ordered drug test in 1997, Downey spent six months in Los Angeles County Jail. In January 1998, he was temporarily allowed out of jail to star in the U.S. Marshals. Upon his full release, he entered a court-mandated 120-day rehab program and then starred in Black and White (1999), playing Terry Donager, the gay husband of a documentary filmmaker. That year, after maintaining sobriety during the filming of Wonder Boys (2000), Downey relapsed. At the time, he was facing financial difficulties and had lost his house in Malibu. Later that year, after missing another court-ordered drug test, he was arrested again. Despite his lawyer, Robert Shapiro, assembling the same legal team that had successfully defended O. J. Simpson in his criminal trial, Downey was sentenced to a three-year prison term at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran. At the time of his arrest, all of Downey's film projects had been completed and were nearing release. He had also been hired to voice the devil in the NBC animated series God, the Devil and Bob, but was dismissed after failing to attend rehearsals.
After spending nearly a year in the Corcoran prison, Downey was unexpectedly released in 2000 on the condition of posting a $5,000 bail, when a judge ruled that his cumulative time in incarceration facilities—from his initial 1996 arrests—qualified him for early release. A week after his release, he joined the cast of the television series Ally McBeal as a new love interest. For his performance, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film. In retrospect, Downey described his performance as overrated, deeming it his "lowest point in terms of addictions". Before the end of his first season on Ally McBeal, Downey was arrested on Thanksgiving in 2000, after police responded to an anonymous 911 call and searched his room at Merv Griffin's Hotel and Givenchy Spa in Palm Springs, California. He was found under the influence of a controlled substance and in possession of cocaine and valium. Despite facing a potential prison sentence of up to four years and eight months if convicted, Downey committed to appear in at least eight additional episodes of Ally McBeal.
In April 2001, while on parole, Downey was found wandering barefoot in Culver City by a Los Angeles police officer. He was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs but was released a few hours later, even though tests confirmed the presence of cocaine in his system. After the arrest, the producers of Ally McBeal ordered last-minute rewrites and reshoots before dismissing him from the series, despite his character having boosted the show's ratings. In July 2001, Downey pleaded no contest to the Palm Springs charges, avoiding jail time. Instead, he was ordered into drug rehabilitation and sentenced to three years of probation under California Proposition 36, which had been enacted the previous year to direct nonviolent drug offenders toward treatment rather than prison. He spent a year in a court-mandated rehabilitation facility. By this time Downey was homeless, considered too great an insurance risk to be employable, and facing bankruptcy.
In a December 2000, Downey's stepmother, Rosemary, told author Alex Tresnlowski of People that Downey had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder "a few years ago", adding that this was "the reason he has a hard time staying sober. What hasn't been tried is medication and intensive psychotherapy". Los Angeles psychiatrist Dr. Manijeh Nikakhtar said she had received a letter from Downey in 1999 during his incarceration at Corcoran II, asking for advice regarding his condition. She stated that "no one had done a complete [psychiatric] evaluation [on him] [...] I asked him flat out if he thought he was bipolar, and he said, 'Oh yeah. There are times I spend a lot of money and I'm hyperactive, and there are other times I’m down.'"
2001–2007: Recovery and comeback
After five years of substance abuse, arrests, and relapse, Downey began working toward a full recovery in 2001. His first acting job after rehabilitation came in August, when he appeared lip-syncing in the music video for Elton John's single "I Want Love", directed by Sam Taylor-Wood. Two years later, he returned to film with The Singing Detective (2003), directed by his Back to School co-star Keith Gordon, after Gibson paid his insurance bond, allowing him to be cast. He played Dan Dark, a paralyzed, suffering pulp novelist who hallucinates and drifts between reality and fantasy. Although the film received mixed reviews, Downey regarded it as a personal achievement. For Gothika (2003), producer Joel Silver withheld 40 percent of Downey's salary until production was completed as protection against potential issues related to his addiction.
Silver secured him the lead role in Shane Black's directorial debut, the comedy thriller Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005). Downey received positive reviews for his performance: Mike Russell, writing in The Oregonian, deemed it "one of [his] most enjoyable performances", while a The Age writer deemed it a "terrific comic performance". Downey appeared in a range of leading and supporting roles, gaining particular recognition for his performances in several semi-independent films. In Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), he portrayed a CBS journalist and editor secretly married to a coworker, a relationship concealed due to the network's policy prohibiting employees from marrying one another. His role as a drug addict in Richard Linklater's dystopian, rotoscoped film A Scanner Darkly (2006) was praised: Travers called his performance "the film's flashiest and most ferociously entertaining", and J. Hoberman regarded it as "the performance to beat" that year. Downey's character in Steven Shainberg's fictional biographical drama Fur (2006) was a composite representing the two most significant influences on Diane Arbus's professional life, Lisette Model and Marvin Israel. Fur was poorly received by critics, who conversely lauded Downey's performance.
In 2005, Downey returned to television, providing voice work for an episode of Family Guy titled "The Fat Guy Strangler". The producers created the character Patrick Pewterschmidt—Lois Griffin's long-lost, mentally disturbed brother—specifically for him. That same year, Downey signed a deal with HarperCollins to publish a memoir, which he described as a candid account his life and career. In 2008, however, he returned his advance and canceled the project without explanation. In 2007, he appeared in David Fincher's mystery thriller Zodiac, based on true events, portraying San Francisco Chronicle journalist Paul Avery, who covered the Zodiac Killer case. Downey's performance was critically acclaimed: a Tuscaloosa News writer deemed it one of his best, and Manohla Dargis remarked that he was at the "top of [his] performance game".
2008–2019: Stardom with Iron Man
In 2006, Downey was cast as the titular character in the superhero film Iron Man. Director Jon Favreau explained that while Downey was not the most obvious choice, "he understood what makes the character tick. He found a lot of his own life experience in 'Tony Stark'." Favreau strongly advocated for Downey's casting, believing he could elevate the film's quality and generate widespread audience interest, much like Johnny Depp had done for the Pirates of the Caribbean series. To prepare for the role, Downey gained more than twenty pounds (nine kilograms) of muscle over five months to achieve the physicality required for the part. Iron Man was released on May 2, 2008, in the US. It became the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2008, earning more than $585 million worldwide against a production budget of $130 million.
In Iron Man, Downey portrayed Tony Stark, a wealthy industrialist who is kidnapped and forced to build a deadly missile, only to instead construct a suit of armor that transforms him into the superhero Iron Man. Both the film and Downey's performance were acclaimed by critics, many of whom considered his portrayal the standout element of Iron Man and credited it with catapulting him to global stardom. Ebert wrote that "it's Robert Downey Jr. who powers the lift-off separating this from most other superhero movies", while, in a retrospective Variety article, Zack Sharf credited Downey's charisma with making Iron Man both a critical and commercial success. By October 2008, Downey had signed on to reprise his role in two sequels to Iron Man and in The Avengers (2012), which featured the superhero team that Stark joins, based on Marvel's comic book series of the same name. He first reprised the role with a brief appearance as Stark in the film The Incredible Hulk (2008), as part of Marvel Studios' initiative to depict the same Marvel Universe on film by providing continuity among the films.
Downey starred alongside Ben Stiller, who also directed the film, and Jack Black in Tropic Thunder. The three actors portray exaggerated Hollywood archetypes, with Downey playing Kirk Lazarus, a self-absorbed, multi–Oscar-winning Australian method actor starring in an overblown Vietnam War film titled Tropic Thunder. To embody his character, African-American platoon sergeant Lincoln Osiris, Lazarus undergoes a controversial skin pigmentation procedure, requiring Downey to wear dark makeup and a wig. Released in August 2008, Tropic Thunder opened atop the American box office and retained the number-one position for three consecutive weeks, eventually grossing $195 million worldwide on a budget of about $90 million. For his portrayal of Lazarus, Downey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He then portrayed Steve Lopez in the biopic The Soloist (2009), a Los Angeles Times columnist who discovers a homeless man playing a violin with virtuoso skill.
Downey played the titular detective in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009). The Times praised the lead performances, describing Downey as "terrific" and commending Ritchie for eliciting "a career-best performance from [Jude] Law", though it noted that their double act struggled to sustain "an overlong film". Sherlock Holmes became the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2009 and won Downey the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Downey reprised his role as Stark in Iron Man 2, the first of two planned sequels to Iron Man. Released in May 2010 in the US, the film grossed over $623 million worldwide, ranking as the seventh highest-grossing film of the year. Set six months after Iron Man, the film follows Stark as he rejects government demands to share his technology, while facing the vengeful scientist Ivan Vanko. Ebert called Downey's performance "intriguing" and "unexpected", stating that "he doesn't behave like most superheroes: he lacks the psychic weight and gravitas".
Downey's other film role of 2010 was in Due Date, which was filmed across various locations in the US, including Georgia, New Mexico, Arizona, and Los Angeles. In it, he played an architect trying to get from Atlanta to Los Angeles in time for his wife's scheduled Caesarean section. The film was a box-office success, earning over $211 million on a budget of $65 million. That same year, Downey and his wife Susan opened their own production company called Team Downey. Downey reprised his role as Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), the sequel to the 2009 film. In A Game of Shadows, he investigates a conspiracy led by his nemesis, Professor Moriarty, and works to prevent an impending world war. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter lauded the film's "more mannered shenanigans", whose action-oriented antics "play straight to modern audiences' tastes".
Downey reprised the role of Stark in The Avengers (2012). In the film, the Avengers assemble to stop Loki from conquering Earth using the Tesseract to open a portal for an alien invasion. The film was both a critical and commercial success; grossing over $1.52 billion, it became the third-highest-grossing film of all time. In Iron Man 3 (2013), Stark faces threats from a terrorist known as the Mandarin while dealing with the aftermath of previous events and developing new technology to confront his enemies. Iron Man 3 grossed $1.215 billion, making it fifth-highest-grossing film of all time upon release. He played the role again in the MCU films Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Three of his scenes from The Avengers and Avengers: Endgame were used as archive footage in the first episode of the Disney+ series Loki.
2020–present: Oppenheimer and expansion
In 2020, Downey starred in Stephen Gaghan's Dolittle, portraying the titular 19th-century Welsh veterinarian who can communicate with animals. The film, the second produced by Team Downey, was a box-office disappointment and received largely negative reviews, with critics citing its excessive length and lackluster execution. In 2023, Downey portrayed the antagonistic bureaucrat Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. He accepted a pay cut for the role, earning $4 million instead of his usual $10–20 million upfront salary. Downey later called Oppenheimer "the best film" he had appeared in. Both the biopic and his performance received widespread critical acclaim. For his role, he won the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, Critics' Choice, and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. That same year, Downey hosted the television series Downey's Dream Cars, in which he and his team converted several of his vehicles from gas to electric. The show won Downey the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle Program.
Downey next starred in a 2024 television adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's historical satire novel The Sympathizer on HBO, portraying five supporting antagonistic roles representing the American establishment. His multi-role performance earned him an Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Downey made his Broadway debut in McNeal, from playwright Ayad Akhtar, playing Jacob McNeal, a gifted novelist with a difficult family life and a potentially problematic interest in artificial intelligence. Previews began on September 5, 2024, and opened on September 30 at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre, playing a strictly limited engagement through November 24. In July 2024 at San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Downey would return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom in the upcoming films Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).
Other ventures
Music
Downey has ventured into music. He has sung on several soundtracks for his films, including Chaplin, Too Much Sun, Two Girls and a Guy, Friends and Lovers, and The Singing Detective. On November 23, 2004, he released his only studio album, titled The Futurist. A jazz pop-infused record, The Futurist was produced by Jonathan Elias and Mark Hudson; Downey played the piano on some of the tracks. The album debuted at number 121 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 16,000 copies in its first week.
While promoting Tropic Thunder, Downey and his co-stars Ben Stiller and Jack Black were back-up singers for the Pips to Gladys Knight singing "Midnight Train to Georgia" for the season 7 finale of American Idol in 2008. Downey has repeatedly collaborated with English musician Sting. In addition to their 2001 duet of the the Police's "Every Breath You Take" on an episode of Ally McBeal, the two performed "Driven to Tears" together live at Sting's 60th birthday concert in October 2011. That same year, both appeared on Jonathan Elias's Prayer Cycle 2: Path to Zero, a benefit album supporting the anti-nuclear organization Global Zero.
Social activism
In a 2008 interview, Downey said that his time in prison had shifted his political perspective, explaining: "I have a really interesting political point of view, and it's not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you can't go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal. [...] [I]t was very, very, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics ever since". When asked about the quote in a 2015 interview to promote Avengers: Age of Ultron, he denied that his previous statement reflected any longstanding beliefs on his part, explaining that he does not identify as either a Republican, liberal, or Democrat.
Downey has expressed support for the Democratic Party throughout his career. He donated to Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign and, two years later, attended a Democratic Party fundraiser while contributing to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In 2016, he appeared in an online video encouraging Americans to vote against Donald Trump in the then-upcoming presidential election. Four years later, he joined fellow Avengers cast members and Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris for a virtual fundraiser supporting Joe Biden's 2020 campaign. In 2024, Downey and his Avengers castmates once again came together to endorse Harris in her presidential bid that year.
Downey serves on the board of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, a nonprofit organization that advocates for criminal justice reform to reduce incarceration, improve the outcomes of formerly incarcerated individuals, and build healthier communities. In 2020, he founded the organization Footprint Coalition, which aims to use advanced technologies like robotics and nanotechnology to help clean up and restore the environment.The coalition supports and promotes environmentally sustainable technologies, including the French insect-farming company Ÿnsect, bio-based plastic alternative manufacturer RWDC, and bamboo toilet paper producer Cloud Paper. Downey co-wrote the book Cool Food with climate advocate Thomas Kostigen providing guidance on making climate-friendly food choices.
Personal life
Downey started dating actress Sarah Jessica Parker in 1984 after meeting her on the set of Firstborn. They moved in together after eight weeks of dating. The couple separated eight years later, in 1991, due to his drug addiction. Downey married actress and singer Deborah Falconer on May 29, 1992, after a six-week courtship. Falconer gave birth to their only son in September 1993. However, Downey's repeated stints in rehab and jail placed significant strain on their marriage, and in 1996, Falconer left him. She filed for divorce in early 2001, citing "irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized in 2004, with Falconer receiving custody of their son.
In 2003, Downey met producer Susan Levin—then the executive vice president of production at Joel Silver's company, Silver Pictures—while filming Gothika. Although Levin was initially unsure about Downey, the two quietly began a relationship during production. Their relationship continued after Gothika's production ended, and Downey proposed the night before her thirtieth birthday. The couple married on August 27, 2005, in a Jewish ceremony in Amagansett, New York. They welcomed their first child, a son, in February 2012, followed by a daughter in November 2014. Downey has maintained a close friendship with Mel Gibson since they co-starred in Air America (1990). He publicly defended Gibson amidst the controversy surrounding his 2006 DUI, saying that he was "caught in the act of being an imperfect human being". Gibson, in turn, spoke fondly of Downey, recalling, "He was one of the first people to call and offer the hand of friendship. He just said, 'Hey, welcome to the club. Let's go see what we can do to work on ourselves.'"
Downey says he has been drug-free since July 2003 and credits his wife with helping him overcome his drug and alcohol habits, along with his family, therapy, meditation, twelve-step recovery programs, yoga, and the practice of Wing Chun kung fu. In December 2015, Downey was chosen as one of 91 people to be pardoned by the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, for his prior drug offenses. The pardon does not erase Downey's criminal record, but it does allow him to serve on a jury. Reflecting on his sobriety during an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Downey said, "It's really not that difficult to overcome these seemingly ghastly problems. What's hard is to decide to do it." In 2014, Downey described his religious beliefs as "Jewish Buddhist". Earlier in his life, he had also explored Christianity and the Hare Krishna movement. After initially adopting a vegan diet to address concerns about the climate crisis, Downey revealed in 2024 that he had transitioned to a pescetarian diet after experiencing low levels of vitamin B12, calcium, and iron.
Artistry and public image
Downey is known for taking on an eclectic range of roles spanning drama, comedy, and action, and has become one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. He typically plays characters who are intelligent, charismatic, complicated, and often flawed, such as geniuses and eccentrics. Critics have noted his ability to fully embody a role, making the character seem real. Early in his career, a Rolling Stone writer noted that Downey's acting style differed from many of his contemporaries, describing it as "not brooding or intolerably self-absorbed" but in "a semiconstant state of amusement". Analysing his roles in Mussolini (1985) and Less than Zero (1987) Stephen Schiff wrote that he managed to "shrug and bubble his way past every obstacle". He extensively rehearses and prepares for his film roles: for example, for his portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin (1992), he spent months training with experts to perfectly mimic Chaplin's movements, and he remained in character off set to portray Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder (2010). Keith Gordon, who directed Downey in The Singing Detective (2003), remarked that Downey could "take a two-minute scene and take you through five different arcs of emotion as he takes himself through that".
Downey is a self-described "incredibly gifted faker" who knows "very little about acting".. In a 2010 Rolling Stone article, Walter Kirn praised Downey's ability to "refuse to follow any kind of script, never quite coming into focus, always in thrall to another idea", describing it as the "essence of his mind and spirit, and, arguably, of his genius as an actor". He has described his approach to acting as intuitive and improvisational rather than methodical, stating that "the goal is to make a well-written scene seem like it's improvised" and "try to improve things as you go along". Downey's films as a leading actor have grossed over $14.3 billion worldwide, making him the third-highest-grossing actor of all time, according to The Numbers. He was named Hollywood's highest-paid actor by Forbes from 2013 to 2015. The publication has included him in its annual Celebrity 100 list, which ranks the most powerful people in the world, placing him twentieth in 2013 and tenth in 2014. Time magazine featured him on its list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008, honoring his talent as an actor and career resurgence as Iron Man.
Acting credits and accolades
According to Rotten Tomatoes, Downey's most critically acclaimed films include Tropic Thunder, Oppenheimer, the Sherlock Holmes film series, and several Marvel Studios films, including Captain America: Civil War and the Iron Man and Avengers series. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Daytime Emmy Award, as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards.
Discography
Studio album
The Futurist (2004)
Soundtrack appearances
References
Printed sources
Bystedt, Karen (1988). The New Breed. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-0774-9.
Darowski, Joseph J. (2015). The Ages of Iron Man. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1-4766-2074-9.
Duchovnay, Gerald (2012). Film Voices. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-8475-3.
Ellcessor, Elizabeth; Kirkpatrick, Bill; Kirkpatrick, Milton William (2017). Disability Media Studies. NYU Press. ISBN 978-1-4798-4938-3.
Falk, Ben (2014). Robert Downey Jr. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-1-910232-12-5.
Gates Jr., H. L. (2014). Finding Your Roots. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-4696-1801-2.
Grzymkowski, Eric (2011). The Quotable A**hole. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4405-2907-8.
Hennig-Thurau, Thorsten; Houston, Mark B. (2018). Entertainment Science. Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-3-319-89292-4.
MacDonald, Erin E. (2014). Robert Downey Jr. from Brat to Icon. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-7549-0.
Welsh, James M.; Whaley, Donald M. (2012). The Oliver Stone Encyclopedia. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8108-8353-6.
External links
Robert Downey Jr. at IMDb
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Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor. Known for his charismatic performances and versatility, he was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood annually from 2013 to 2015. Downey's films as a leading actor have grossed over $14.3 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing film stars of all time.
At the age of five, Downey made his acting debut in his father Robert Downey Sr.'s film Pound (1970). He rose to prominence by working with the Brat Pack for the teen films Weird Science (1985) and Less than Zero (1987). His portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in the biopic Chaplin (1992) earned him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination. After serving time at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges, Downey joined the television series Ally McBeal in 2000, earning a Golden Globe for his performance. In 2001, he was dismissed from the show following further drug-related arrests. He entered a court-ordered rehabilitation program and has remained sober since 2003.
After Mel Gibson paid his insurance bond, Downey made his film comeback with The Singing Detective (2003). He portrayed the titular character in Sherlock Holmes (2009)—which earned him a Golden Globe—and its sequel, subtitled A Game of Shadows (2011). Downey gained global recognition for starring as Iron Man in ten Marvel Cinematic Universe films, from Iron Man (2008) to Avengers: Endgame (2019). For his acclaimed portrayal of Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer (2023), he won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2024, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for the miniseries The Sympathizer and made his Broadway debut in the title role of Ayad Akhtar's McNeal.
In a career spanning more than five decades, Downey has won numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Daytime Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in 2008, and Forbes featured him on the Celebrity 100 in 2013 and 2014. Downey has pursued music, releasing the jazz-pop album The Futurist (2004), which charted on the US Billboard 200. Divorced from Deborah Falconer, he has been married to Susan Levin since 2005, with whom he co-founded the production company Team Downey. He has three children: one with Falconer and two with Levin.
Early life and acting background
Robert John Downey Jr. was born in Manhattan, New York City, on April 4, 1965. His father, Robert Downey Sr. (né Elias), was a filmmaker, while his mother, Elsie Ann (née Ford), was an actress who appeared in Downey Sr.'s films. His father was of one-half Lithuanian Jewish, one-quarter Hungarian Jewish, and one-quarter Irish, while his mother had Scottish, German, and Swiss ancestry. Downey's sister, Allyson, is two years older than him.
Due to his father's film projects, Downey moved frequently during his childhood, living in places such as Woodstock, New York, London, New Mexico, California, Connecticut, and Greenwich Village. From a young age, Downey was exposed to drugs: his father struggled with addiction, and his mother battled alcoholism. He has said that his father introduced him to marijuana at age eight, which he later expressed regret for. Downey mentioned that using drugs with his father created an emotional connection between them, explaining that, "When my dad and I used drugs together, it was his way of showing love for me in the only manner he knew." During his childhood, Downey appeared in small roles in his father's films. He made his acting debut at the age of five, portraying a sick puppy in the absurdist comedy Pound (1970), and at seven, he appeared in the surrealist Western Greaser's Palace (1972). Aged eleven and twelve, he attended Stagedoor Manor, a summer acting camp in upstate New York.
Downey was described as a hyperactive child who "tried to be cool", often teased by the older boys but popular with the girls. His parents divorced in 1977 when he was twelve; afterward, he lived with his mother in a fifth-floor apartment in New York, while his sister stayed with their father, who later took her to a boarding school. He attended Lincoln Junior High School for eighth grade and then Santa Monica High School for ninth and tenth grades, but dropped out in 1982. At age 17, he relocated to New York City to pursue acting full-time, working various jobs such as clearing tables at a Central Falls restaurant, working in a shoe store, and performing as "living art" at the nightclub Area to support himself during auditions. During this period, he also appeared in local theater and off-Broadway productions.
Career
1983–1995: Early work and critical acclaim
Downey made his stage debut in 1983 with a three-week run in Alms for the Middle Class at the Geva Theatre Center. He then appeared in the short-lived off-Broadway musical American Passion at the Joyce Theater, produced by Norman Lear. Downey's first credited film role was in Baby It's You (1983), though most of his scenes were cut. In his early film roles, he frequently portrayed misfit characters, and his portrayals of punk-like figures in several 1980s coming-of-age films led to his occasional association with the Brat Pack. In the drama film Firstborn (1984), he played a supporting role as the teenage friend of the protagonist. Downey then traveled to Los Angeles to film James Spader's Tuff Turf (1985), in which he played Spader's sidekick and a punk drummer. Later that year, his role as a bully in John Hughes's Weird Science (1985) marked his breakthrough. Downey starred as a more likeable radical socialist in the Alan Metter comedy film Back to School (1987).
In 1985, Downey joined the new, younger cast of Saturday Night Live, securing the audition with help from his Weird Science co-star and friend Anthony Michael Hall. After a season of poor ratings and criticism of the cast's comedic ability, he and most of the new members were dismissed. Downey's first leading role came in The Pick-up Artist (1987), which faced criticism for being "sexually irresponsible" because of its portrayal of promiscuous sex during a period of heightened AIDS awareness. He earned critical acclaim for his role as Julian Wells in the drama film Less than Zero (1987), the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's 1985 novel. For portraying a drug-addicted rich boy whose life rapidly spirals out of control, his performance was widely praised: Roger Ebert called it "so real, so subtle and so observant that it's scary", while Janet Maslin, writing for The New York Times, deemed it "desperately moving". Downey said that the role felt like "the ghost of Christmas Future" for him, as his drug habit led him to become an "exaggeration of the character" in real life.
Shortly after completing Less than Zero, he entered rehab for the first time, beginning a decade-long cycle of interventions and treatment stints that culminated in his 1996 arrest. Downey starred alongside Kiefer Sutherland and Winona Ryder in the teen drama 1969 (1988). The film saw mixed reviews, though his performance garnered good reviews from writers at Variety and Deseret News. Downey went on to star in the films Chances Are (1989) with Cybill Shepherd and Ryan O'Neal, Air America (1990) with Mel Gibson, and Soapdish (1991) with Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Cathy Moriarty, and Whoopi Goldberg; each saw varying critical success. To prepare for his portrayal of comic actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin in the biopic Chaplin (1992), Downey trained extensively, learning to play the violin and tennis left-handed, and working with a coach to replicate Chaplin's accent and mannerisms. Although the film was a box-office bomb, critics praised Downey's performance, for which he earned the BAFTA Award for Best Actor, as well as Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.
In 1993, Downey starred in Heart and Souls, playing a man possessed by multiple characters—a performance that Peter Travers praised as revealing his "explosive talent for physical comedy". In Only You (1994), co-starring Marisa Tomei and Billy Zane, Downey played Peter Wright, a professional dancer who poses as the soulmate Tomei's character Faith. Norman Jewison—the film's director—cast him because he reminded him of Tony Curtis: "charming with great comedic timing". In preparation for his role of reporter Wayne Gale in Natural Born Killers (1994), Downey shadowed Australian television shock journalist Steve Dunleavy, which helped him develop an Australian accent. The film proved successful at the box office, grossing $110 million on a $34 million budget. Throughout 1995, he took on a string of diverse roles, including the period drama Restoration, the Shakespearean adaptation Richard III, and the family ensemble Home for the Holidays.
1996–2001: Addiction-related setbacks and Ally McBeal
In early 1996, concerned for Downey's well-being, Sean Penn and Dennis Quaid went to his residence, took his keys, and brought him to a rehab center in Tucson; however, Downey left the facility and checked himself out a few days later. In June 1996, he was arrested for possession of heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and an unloaded .357 Magnum handgun while speeding down Sunset Boulevard. A month later, while on parole and under the influence of a controlled substance, he entered a neighbor's home through an unlocked front door and fell asleep in one of the beds. The family declined to press trespassing charges. The 911 call made by the neighbor was later circulated online and became known as the "Goldilocks incident". In November 1996, following a period in court-ordered rehab, Downey was sentenced to an additional six months of live-in rehabilitation, three years' probation, and compulsory drug testing. Downey starred in Two Girls and a Guy (1997), portraying a duplicitous man who convinces each of two women that she is his only love.
After missing a court-ordered drug test in 1997, Downey spent six months in Los Angeles County Jail. In January 1998, he was temporarily allowed out of jail to star in the U.S. Marshals. Upon his full release, he entered a court-mandated 120-day rehab program and then starred in Black and White (1999), playing Terry Donager, the gay husband of a documentary filmmaker. That year, after maintaining sobriety during the filming of Wonder Boys (2000), Downey relapsed. At the time, he was facing financial difficulties and had lost his house in Malibu. Later that year, after missing another court-ordered drug test, he was arrested again. Despite his lawyer, Robert Shapiro, assembling the same legal team that had successfully defended O. J. Simpson in his criminal trial, Downey was sentenced to a three-year prison term at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran. At the time of his arrest, all of Downey's film projects had been completed and were nearing release. He had also been hired to voice the devil in the NBC animated series God, the Devil and Bob, but was dismissed after failing to attend rehearsals.
After spending nearly a year in the Corcoran prison, Downey was unexpectedly released in 2000 on the condition of posting a $5,000 bail, when a judge ruled that his cumulative time in incarceration facilities—from his initial 1996 arrests—qualified him for early release. A week after his release, he joined the cast of the television series Ally McBeal as a new love interest. For his performance, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film. In retrospect, Downey described his performance as overrated, deeming it his "lowest point in terms of addictions". Before the end of his first season on Ally McBeal, Downey was arrested on Thanksgiving in 2000, after police responded to an anonymous 911 call and searched his room at Merv Griffin's Hotel and Givenchy Spa in Palm Springs, California. He was found under the influence of a controlled substance and in possession of cocaine and valium. Despite facing a potential prison sentence of up to four years and eight months if convicted, Downey committed to appear in at least eight additional episodes of Ally McBeal.
In April 2001, while on parole, Downey was found wandering barefoot in Culver City by a Los Angeles police officer. He was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs but was released a few hours later, even though tests confirmed the presence of cocaine in his system. After the arrest, the producers of Ally McBeal ordered last-minute rewrites and reshoots before dismissing him from the series, despite his character having boosted the show's ratings. In July 2001, Downey pleaded no contest to the Palm Springs charges, avoiding jail time. Instead, he was ordered into drug rehabilitation and sentenced to three years of probation under California Proposition 36, which had been enacted the previous year to direct nonviolent drug offenders toward treatment rather than prison. He spent a year in a court-mandated rehabilitation facility. By this time Downey was homeless, considered too great an insurance risk to be employable, and facing bankruptcy.
In a December 2000, Downey's stepmother, Rosemary, told author Alex Tresnlowski of People that Downey had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder "a few years ago", adding that this was "the reason he has a hard time staying sober. What hasn't been tried is medication and intensive psychotherapy". Los Angeles psychiatrist Dr. Manijeh Nikakhtar said she had received a letter from Downey in 1999 during his incarceration at Corcoran II, asking for advice regarding his condition. She stated that "no one had done a complete [psychiatric] evaluation [on him] [...] I asked him flat out if he thought he was bipolar, and he said, 'Oh yeah. There are times I spend a lot of money and I'm hyperactive, and there are other times I’m down.'"
2001–2007: Recovery and comeback
After five years of substance abuse, arrests, and relapse, Downey began working toward a full recovery in 2001. His first acting job after rehabilitation came in August, when he appeared lip-syncing in the music video for Elton John's single "I Want Love", directed by Sam Taylor-Wood. Two years later, he returned to film with The Singing Detective (2003), directed by his Back to School co-star Keith Gordon, after Gibson paid his insurance bond, allowing him to be cast. He played Dan Dark, a paralyzed, suffering pulp novelist who hallucinates and drifts between reality and fantasy. Although the film received mixed reviews, Downey regarded it as a personal achievement. For Gothika (2003), producer Joel Silver withheld 40 percent of Downey's salary until production was completed as protection against potential issues related to his addiction.
Silver secured him the lead role in Shane Black's directorial debut, the comedy thriller Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005). Downey received positive reviews for his performance: Mike Russell, writing in The Oregonian, deemed it "one of [his] most enjoyable performances", while a The Age writer deemed it a "terrific comic performance". Downey appeared in a range of leading and supporting roles, gaining particular recognition for his performances in several semi-independent films. In Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), he portrayed a CBS journalist and editor secretly married to a coworker, a relationship concealed due to the network's policy prohibiting employees from marrying one another. His role as a drug addict in Richard Linklater's dystopian, rotoscoped film A Scanner Darkly (2006) was praised: Travers called his performance "the film's flashiest and most ferociously entertaining", and J. Hoberman regarded it as "the performance to beat" that year. Downey's character in Steven Shainberg's fictional biographical drama Fur (2006) was a composite representing the two most significant influences on Diane Arbus's professional life, Lisette Model and Marvin Israel. Fur was poorly received by critics, who conversely lauded Downey's performance.
In 2005, Downey returned to television, providing voice work for an episode of Family Guy titled "The Fat Guy Strangler". The producers created the character Patrick Pewterschmidt—Lois Griffin's long-lost, mentally disturbed brother—specifically for him. That same year, Downey signed a deal with HarperCollins to publish a memoir, which he described as a candid account his life and career. In 2008, however, he returned his advance and canceled the project without explanation. In 2007, he appeared in David Fincher's mystery thriller Zodiac, based on true events, portraying San Francisco Chronicle journalist Paul Avery, who covered the Zodiac Killer case. Downey's performance was critically acclaimed: a Tuscaloosa News writer deemed it one of his best, and Manohla Dargis remarked that he was at the "top of [his] performance game".
2008–2019: Stardom with Iron Man
In 2006, Downey was cast as the titular character in the superhero film Iron Man. Director Jon Favreau explained that while Downey was not the most obvious choice, "he understood what makes the character tick. He found a lot of his own life experience in 'Tony Stark'." Favreau strongly advocated for Downey's casting, believing he could elevate the film's quality and generate widespread audience interest, much like Johnny Depp had done for the Pirates of the Caribbean series. To prepare for the role, Downey gained more than twenty pounds (nine kilograms) of muscle over five months to achieve the physicality required for the part. Iron Man was released on May 2, 2008, in the US. It became the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2008, earning more than $585 million worldwide against a production budget of $130 million.
In Iron Man, Downey portrayed Tony Stark, a wealthy industrialist who is kidnapped and forced to build a deadly missile, only to instead construct a suit of armor that transforms him into the superhero Iron Man. Both the film and Downey's performance were acclaimed by critics, many of whom considered his portrayal the standout element of Iron Man and credited it with catapulting him to global stardom. Ebert wrote that "it's Robert Downey Jr. who powers the lift-off separating this from most other superhero movies", while, in a retrospective Variety article, Zack Sharf credited Downey's charisma with making Iron Man both a critical and commercial success. By October 2008, Downey had signed on to reprise his role in two sequels to Iron Man and in The Avengers (2012), which featured the superhero team that Stark joins, based on Marvel's comic book series of the same name. He first reprised the role with a brief appearance as Stark in the film The Incredible Hulk (2008), as part of Marvel Studios' initiative to depict the same Marvel Universe on film by providing continuity among the films.
Downey starred alongside Ben Stiller, who also directed the film, and Jack Black in Tropic Thunder. The three actors portray exaggerated Hollywood archetypes, with Downey playing Kirk Lazarus, a self-absorbed, multi–Oscar-winning Australian method actor starring in an overblown Vietnam War film titled Tropic Thunder. To embody his character, African-American platoon sergeant Lincoln Osiris, Lazarus undergoes a controversial skin pigmentation procedure, requiring Downey to wear dark makeup and a wig. Released in August 2008, Tropic Thunder opened atop the American box office and retained the number-one position for three consecutive weeks, eventually grossing $195 million worldwide on a budget of about $90 million. For his portrayal of Lazarus, Downey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He then portrayed Steve Lopez in the biopic The Soloist (2009), a Los Angeles Times columnist who discovers a homeless man playing a violin with virtuoso skill.
Downey played the titular detective in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009). The Times praised the lead performances, describing Downey as "terrific" and commending Ritchie for eliciting "a career-best performance from [Jude] Law", though it noted that their double act struggled to sustain "an overlong film". Sherlock Holmes became the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2009 and won Downey the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Downey reprised his role as Stark in Iron Man 2, the first of two planned sequels to Iron Man. Released in May 2010 in the US, the film grossed over $623 million worldwide, ranking as the seventh highest-grossing film of the year. Set six months after Iron Man, the film follows Stark as he rejects government demands to share his technology, while facing the vengeful scientist Ivan Vanko. Ebert called Downey's performance "intriguing" and "unexpected", stating that "he doesn't behave like most superheroes: he lacks the psychic weight and gravitas".
Downey's other film role of 2010 was in Due Date, which was filmed across various locations in the US, including Georgia, New Mexico, Arizona, and Los Angeles. In it, he played an architect trying to get from Atlanta to Los Angeles in time for his wife's scheduled Caesarean section. The film was a box-office success, earning over $211 million on a budget of $65 million. That same year, Downey and his wife Susan opened their own production company called Team Downey. Downey reprised his role as Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), the sequel to the 2009 film. In A Game of Shadows, he investigates a conspiracy led by his nemesis, Professor Moriarty, and works to prevent an impending world war. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter lauded the film's "more mannered shenanigans", whose action-oriented antics "play straight to modern audiences' tastes".
Downey reprised the role of Stark in The Avengers (2012). In the film, the Avengers assemble to stop Loki from conquering Earth using the Tesseract to open a portal for an alien invasion. The film was both a critical and commercial success; grossing over $1.52 billion, it became the third-highest-grossing film of all time. In Iron Man 3 (2013), Stark faces threats from a terrorist known as the Mandarin while dealing with the aftermath of previous events and developing new technology to confront his enemies. Iron Man 3 grossed $1.215 billion, making it fifth-highest-grossing film of all time upon release. He played the role again in the MCU films Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Three of his scenes from The Avengers and Avengers: Endgame were used as archive footage in the first episode of the Disney+ series Loki.
2020–present: Oppenheimer and expansion
In 2020, Downey starred in Stephen Gaghan's Dolittle, portraying the titular 19th-century Welsh veterinarian who can communicate with animals. The film, the second produced by Team Downey, was a box-office disappointment and received largely negative reviews, with critics citing its excessive length and lackluster execution. In 2023, Downey portrayed the antagonistic bureaucrat Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. He accepted a pay cut for the role, earning $4 million instead of his usual $10–20 million upfront salary. Downey later called Oppenheimer "the best film" he had appeared in. Both the biopic and his performance received widespread critical acclaim. For his role, he won the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, Critics' Choice, and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. That same year, Downey hosted the television series Downey's Dream Cars, in which he and his team converted several of his vehicles from gas to electric. The show won Downey the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle Program.
Downey next starred in a 2024 television adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's historical satire novel The Sympathizer on HBO, portraying five supporting antagonistic roles representing the American establishment. His multi-role performance earned him an Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Downey made his Broadway debut in McNeal, from playwright Ayad Akhtar, playing Jacob McNeal, a gifted novelist with a difficult family life and a potentially problematic interest in artificial intelligence. Previews began on September 5, 2024, and opened on September 30 at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre, playing a strictly limited engagement through November 24. In July 2024 at San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Downey would return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom in the upcoming films Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).
Other ventures
Music
Downey has ventured into music. He has sung on several soundtracks for his films, including Chaplin, Too Much Sun, Two Girls and a Guy, Friends and Lovers, and The Singing Detective. On November 23, 2004, he released his only studio album, titled The Futurist. A jazz pop-infused record, The Futurist was produced by Jonathan Elias and Mark Hudson; Downey played the piano on some of the tracks. The album debuted at number 121 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 16,000 copies in its first week.
While promoting Tropic Thunder, Downey and his co-stars Ben Stiller and Jack Black were back-up singers for the Pips to Gladys Knight singing "Midnight Train to Georgia" for the season 7 finale of American Idol in 2008. Downey has repeatedly collaborated with English musician Sting. In addition to their 2001 duet of the the Police's "Every Breath You Take" on an episode of Ally McBeal, the two performed "Driven to Tears" together live at Sting's 60th birthday concert in October 2011. That same year, both appeared on Jonathan Elias's Prayer Cycle 2: Path to Zero, a benefit album supporting the anti-nuclear organization Global Zero.
Social activism
In a 2008 interview, Downey said that his time in prison had shifted his political perspective, explaining: "I have a really interesting political point of view, and it's not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you can't go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal. [...] [I]t was very, very, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics ever since". When asked about the quote in a 2015 interview to promote Avengers: Age of Ultron, he denied that his previous statement reflected any longstanding beliefs on his part, explaining that he does not identify as either a Republican, liberal, or Democrat.
Downey has expressed support for the Democratic Party throughout his career. He donated to Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign and, two years later, attended a Democratic Party fundraiser while contributing to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In 2016, he appeared in an online video encouraging Americans to vote against Donald Trump in the then-upcoming presidential election. Four years later, he joined fellow Avengers cast members and Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris for a virtual fundraiser supporting Joe Biden's 2020 campaign. In 2024, Downey and his Avengers castmates once again came together to endorse Harris in her presidential bid that year.
Downey serves on the board of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, a nonprofit organization that advocates for criminal justice reform to reduce incarceration, improve the outcomes of formerly incarcerated individuals, and build healthier communities. In 2020, he founded the organization Footprint Coalition, which aims to use advanced technologies like robotics and nanotechnology to help clean up and restore the environment.The coalition supports and promotes environmentally sustainable technologies, including the French insect-farming company Ÿnsect, bio-based plastic alternative manufacturer RWDC, and bamboo toilet paper producer Cloud Paper. Downey co-wrote the book Cool Food with climate advocate Thomas Kostigen providing guidance on making climate-friendly food choices.
Personal life
Downey started dating actress Sarah Jessica Parker in 1984 after meeting her on the set of Firstborn. They moved in together after eight weeks of dating. The couple separated eight years later, in 1991, due to his drug addiction. Downey married actress and singer Deborah Falconer on May 29, 1992, after a six-week courtship. Falconer gave birth to their only son in September 1993. However, Downey's repeated stints in rehab and jail placed significant strain on their marriage, and in 1996, Falconer left him. She filed for divorce in early 2001, citing "irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized in 2004, with Falconer receiving custody of their son.
In 2003, Downey met producer Susan Levin—then the executive vice president of production at Joel Silver's company, Silver Pictures—while filming Gothika. Although Levin was initially unsure about Downey, the two quietly began a relationship during production. Their relationship continued after Gothika's production ended, and Downey proposed the night before her thirtieth birthday. The couple married on August 27, 2005, in a Jewish ceremony in Amagansett, New York. They welcomed their first child, a son, in February 2012, followed by a daughter in November 2014. Downey has maintained a close friendship with Mel Gibson since they co-starred in Air America (1990). He publicly defended Gibson amidst the controversy surrounding his 2006 DUI, saying that he was "caught in the act of being an imperfect human being". Gibson, in turn, spoke fondly of Downey, recalling, "He was one of the first people to call and offer the hand of friendship. He just said, 'Hey, welcome to the club. Let's go see what we can do to work on ourselves.'"
Downey says he has been drug-free since July 2003 and credits his wife with helping him overcome his drug and alcohol habits, along with his family, therapy, meditation, twelve-step recovery programs, yoga, and the practice of Wing Chun kung fu. In December 2015, Downey was chosen as one of 91 people to be pardoned by the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, for his prior drug offenses. The pardon does not erase Downey's criminal record, but it does allow him to serve on a jury. Reflecting on his sobriety during an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Downey said, "It's really not that difficult to overcome these seemingly ghastly problems. What's hard is to decide to do it." In 2014, Downey described his religious beliefs as "Jewish Buddhist". Earlier in his life, he had also explored Christianity and the Hare Krishna movement. After initially adopting a vegan diet to address concerns about the climate crisis, Downey revealed in 2024 that he had transitioned to a pescetarian diet after experiencing low levels of vitamin B12, calcium, and iron.
Artistry and public image
Downey is known for taking on an eclectic range of roles spanning drama, comedy, and action, and has become one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. He typically plays characters who are intelligent, charismatic, complicated, and often flawed, such as geniuses and eccentrics. Critics have noted his ability to fully embody a role, making the character seem real. Early in his career, a Rolling Stone writer noted that Downey's acting style differed from many of his contemporaries, describing it as "not brooding or intolerably self-absorbed" but in "a semiconstant state of amusement". Analysing his roles in Mussolini (1985) and Less than Zero (1987) Stephen Schiff wrote that he managed to "shrug and bubble his way past every obstacle". He extensively rehearses and prepares for his film roles: for example, for his portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin (1992), he spent months training with experts to perfectly mimic Chaplin's movements, and he remained in character off set to portray Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder (2010). Keith Gordon, who directed Downey in The Singing Detective (2003), remarked that Downey could "take a two-minute scene and take you through five different arcs of emotion as he takes himself through that".
Downey is a self-described "incredibly gifted faker" who knows "very little about acting".. In a 2010 Rolling Stone article, Walter Kirn praised Downey's ability to "refuse to follow any kind of script, never quite coming into focus, always in thrall to another idea", describing it as the "essence of his mind and spirit, and, arguably, of his genius as an actor". He has described his approach to acting as intuitive and improvisational rather than methodical, stating that "the goal is to make a well-written scene seem like it's improvised" and "try to improve things as you go along". Downey's films as a leading actor have grossed over $14.3 billion worldwide, making him the third-highest-grossing actor of all time, according to The Numbers. He was named Hollywood's highest-paid actor by Forbes from 2013 to 2015. The publication has included him in its annual Celebrity 100 list, which ranks the most powerful people in the world, placing him twentieth in 2013 and tenth in 2014. Time magazine featured him on its list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008, honoring his talent as an actor and career resurgence as Iron Man.
Acting credits and accolades
According to Rotten Tomatoes, Downey's most critically acclaimed films include Tropic Thunder, Oppenheimer, the Sherlock Holmes film series, and several Marvel Studios films, including Captain America: Civil War and the Iron Man and Avengers series. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Daytime Emmy Award, as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards.
Discography
Studio album
The Futurist (2004)
Soundtrack appearances
References
Printed sources
Bystedt, Karen (1988). The New Breed. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-0774-9.
Darowski, Joseph J. (2015). The Ages of Iron Man. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1-4766-2074-9.
Duchovnay, Gerald (2012). Film Voices. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-8475-3.
Ellcessor, Elizabeth; Kirkpatrick, Bill; Kirkpatrick, Milton William (2017). Disability Media Studies. NYU Press. ISBN 978-1-4798-4938-3.
Falk, Ben (2014). Robert Downey Jr. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-1-910232-12-5.
Gates Jr., H. L. (2014). Finding Your Roots. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-4696-1801-2.
Grzymkowski, Eric (2011). The Quotable A**hole. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4405-2907-8.
Hennig-Thurau, Thorsten; Houston, Mark B. (2018). Entertainment Science. Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-3-319-89292-4.
MacDonald, Erin E. (2014). Robert Downey Jr. from Brat to Icon. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-7549-0.
Welsh, James M.; Whaley, Donald M. (2012). The Oliver Stone Encyclopedia. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8108-8353-6.
External links
Robert Downey Jr. at IMDb
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Jason Bateman
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Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Michael Bluth in the Fox / Netflix sitcom Arrested Development (2003–2019) and Marty Byrde in the Netflix crime drama series Ozark (2017–2022), as well as for his work in numerous comedy films. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Bateman began his career as a child actor, appearing on television in the early 1980s on shows such as the NBC drama series Little House on the Prairie from 1981 to 1982 and The Hogan Family from 1986 to 1991. Bateman's early film roles include Teen Wolf Too (1987) and Necessary Roughness (1991) before taking supporting roles in The Break-Up (2006), Juno (2007), Hancock (2008), and Up in the Air (2009).
He filled starring roles in the comedies The Switch (2010), The Change-Up (2011), Horrible Bosses (2011), Identity Thief (2013), This Is Where I Leave You (2014), Horrible Bosses 2 (2014), Office Christmas Party (2016), Zootopia (2016), and Game Night (2018). He also played dramatic roles in The Gift (2015), The Outsider (2020), Air (2023), and Carry-On (2024).
Bateman made his directorial debut with an episode of The Hogan Family, at the time setting the record for the youngest director in the Directors Guild of America. He has since directed and starred in The Family Fang (2015) and Ozark. Bateman was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series in 2019 for his direction on Ozark.
Early life
Bateman was born in Rye, New York, and was four years old when his family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and later to California. His mother, Victoria Elizabeth, was a flight attendant for Pan Am who was originally from Shrewsbury in the United Kingdom. His father, Kent Bateman, is an American actor, writer, and director of film and television. His older sister is actress Justine Bateman.
Bateman, like many child actors, attended Brighton Hall School, without graduating. In an interview with Wired Magazine, Bateman admitted that he never received his diploma due to not finishing his finals while filming Teen Wolf Too.
Bateman and Justine's earnings from their television shows were a significant income source for their parents, allowing the family to afford their home and other essentials. The reliance on a portion of Bateman's earnings from acting caused him to feel anxious and under pressure to keep roles and remain in the acting industry as a whole. As an actor, Bateman was managed by his father until he was 20, when the business relationship was dissolved.
Career
Television
Bateman first appeared in a cereal commercial for Golden Grahams in 1980 and began his television career on Little House on the Prairie as James Cooper, an orphaned boy who, along with his sister, is adopted by the Ingalls family. From 1982 to 1984, he was a supporting character on the television show Silver Spoons as Ricky Schroder's "bad boy" best friend Derek Taylor. He appeared in the Knight Rider third-season episode "Lost Knight" in 1984, and a number of other small television roles. In 1984, in response to his popularity on Silver Spoons, the show's producers gave Bateman his own starring role as Matthew Burton on the NBC sitcom It's Your Move, from September 1984 to February 1985. In 1987, he appeared with Burt Reynolds on the men's team in the inaugural week of game show Win, Lose or Draw.
Bateman earned the status of teen idol in the mid-1980s for his television work, most notably as David Hogan on The Hogan Family (originally titled Valerie and later, Valerie's Family, after Valerie Harper left the series). He became the Directors Guild of America's youngest-ever director when, at age 18, he directed three episodes of The Hogan Family. In 1987, he gained international recognition in the motion picture sequel Teen Wolf Too, which was a box office failure. In 1994 he played opposite Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Quinn in the television film This Can't Be Love. During this period, he had roles on four series – Simon, Chicago Sons, George & Leo, and Some of My Best Friends – none of which lasted longer than one season. He also directed an episode of Two of a Kind in 1999. In 2002, he played the frisky sibling of Thomas Jane's character in the feature film The Sweetest Thing.
In 2003, Bateman was cast as Michael Bluth in the comedy series Arrested Development. Although critically acclaimed, the series never achieved high ratings and ended on February 10, 2006. The show was revived in spring 2013. Bateman won several awards for his work on the series, including a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy. He was also nominated in 2005 for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series. New episodes of Arrested Development have been released on Netflix with the original cast, including Bateman. Bateman performed commentary on the 2004 Democratic National Convention for The Majority Report with Arrested Development co-star David Cross, and hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live on February 12, 2005. In 2006, he appeared as a guest star on the Scrubs episode "My Big Bird" as Mr. Sutton, a garbage man with a flock of vicious ostriches as pets. In 2009, Bateman became a regular voice actor for the short-lived Fox comedy series Sit Down, Shut Up. He voiced Larry Littlejunk, the gym teacher and only staff member who can teach.
In 2010, Bateman and Arrested Development co-star Will Arnett created "DumbDumb Productions", a production company focusing on digital content. Their first video was "Prom Date", the first in a series of "Dirty Shorts" for Orbit. In 2012, Bateman returned to his role of Michael Bluth for the revival of Arrested Development along with the rest of the original cast. The now-Netflix-sponsored series released season 4 on its Instant Watch website on May 26, 2013. The series was expected to continue its run as well as a potential feature film. For the new fourth season, Bateman was once again nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series. Netflix confirmed that the entire cast of the show would be returning for a fifth season, which premiered on May 29, 2018 and concluded on March 15, 2019.
In 2017, Bateman returned to television as both actor and director in the Netflix drama Ozark, in which he plays a financial advisor who must relocate his family to Missouri in order to launder money for a Mexican drug cartel. Bateman's performance as Marty Byrde has drawn positive comparisons to Bryan Cranston's portrayal of Walter White in AMC's Breaking Bad.
Bateman received praise for his acceptance speech after winning the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for Ozark. In it he states, "So I just want to say to the people that are at home and not working as frequently as they want, you're just one job away. You're plenty talented. Hang in there".
In 2021, Bateman played The Facts of Life's Tim Holifield in a reenactment of the third-season episode "Kids Can Be Cruel" for the third edition of Live in Front of a Studio Audience.
Film
In 2004, Bateman appeared in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story as ESPN 8 ("The Ocho") commentator Pepper Brooks, and in Starsky & Hutch as Kevin, Vince Vaughn's business partner. He reunited with Vaughn in 2006's The Break-Up. In 2007 he played former lawyer Rupert "Rip" Reed alongside Ben Affleck in Smokin' Aces, and also starred in The Kingdom, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, and Juno. In 2008 he co-starred with Will Smith and Charlize Theron in the superhero film Hancock. Bateman's 2009 films included Extract, written and directed by Mike Judge, and Couples Retreat, reuniting with Vaughn in a comedy chronicling four couples who partake in therapy sessions at a tropical island resort (Kristen Bell played his wife). In 2010 he starred in The Switch, a romantic comedy, with Jennifer Aniston. In 2011 he played the role of Special Agent Lorenzo Zoil in the comedy Paul, and starred in Horrible Bosses and The Change-Up.
In March 2012, Mansome, Bateman's first executive producer credit with Will Arnett, was announced as a Spotlight selection for the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary, directed by Morgan Spurlock, is a comedic look at male identity as it is defined through men's grooming habits, featuring celebrity and expert commentary. He made a dramatic turn in 2012 with the thriller film Disconnect, and starred in the 2013 comedy film Identity Thief and the 2014 comedies This Is Where I Leave You and Horrible Bosses 2. He also narrated the 2014 documentary Pump. In 2015 Bateman headlined Joel Edgerton's thriller film The Gift, opposite Rebecca Hall and Edgerton. His production company Aggregate Films extended its deal with Universal.
In 2013, Bateman made his feature film directorial debut with Bad Words, in which he also starred. He also directed and starred in an adaptation of The Family Fang. Bateman voiced Nick Wilde, the con artist fox in Zootopia. In 2018 he starred in and produced the action comedy film Game Night. His performance was widely praised and he received nominations for best performance by a comedic actor at the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards and the Critics' Choice Awards.
Bateman is in the video for the Mumford and Sons song "Hopeless Wanderer".
In 2020, Bateman was set to co-star and direct the Clue remake with Ryan Reynolds. He later had to back out, reportedly due to schedule conflicts with Ozark. In March 2022, Bateman signed on to direct the film Project Artemis, starring Scarlett Johansson, for Apple Studios, but departed the project in June due to creative differences; he was eventually replaced as director by Greg Berlanti. Announced in September 2022, Bateman is tapped to direct Netflix's Dark Wire, a film based on Joseph Cox's novel of the same name. In January 2023, Bateman signed on to direct The Pinkerton for Warner Bros. Pictures and Bad Robot, and will also serve as executive producer.
Bateman was an executive producer for Outlast, which premiered in 2023.
Podcast
In July 2020, Bateman, along with Will Arnett and Sean Hayes, created a comedy and talk podcast called SmartLess. In 2022, Bateman created a media company SmartLess Media in order to create four additional podcasts. In 2023, Apple revealed that SmartLess was #4 of the year's Top Shows.
Personal life
In 1987, Bateman won the celebrity portion of the Long Beach Grand Prix.
Bateman married actress Amanda Anka, daughter of Anne de Zogheb (1942–2017) and singer Paul Anka, on July 3, 2001. They have two daughters who were born in 2006 and 2012.
Throughout the 1990s, Bateman struggled with an addiction to alcohol and drugs; he stated in a 2009 interview, “I'd worked so hard that by the time I was 20, I wanted to play hard. And I did that really well ... it was like Risky Business for ten years."
Bateman, along with Arrested Development co-stars David Cross and Tony Hale, was criticized for seemingly defending Jeffrey Tambor's volatile behavior on the set of Arrested Development. During a May 2018 cast interview for The New York Times Bateman attempted to defuse the controversy. Within days after the interview, all three men issued apologies to Jessica Walter. Bateman retrospectively stated he had overreached in his attempt to analyze the cause of Tambor's behavior.
Bateman is a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
Further reading
Dye, David. Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914–1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, p. 13.
Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 373.
External links
Jason Bateman at IMDb
Jason Bateman at Emmys.com
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Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Michael Bluth in the Fox / Netflix sitcom Arrested Development (2003–2019) and Marty Byrde in the Netflix crime drama series Ozark (2017–2022), as well as for his work in numerous comedy films. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Bateman began his career as a child actor, appearing on television in the early 1980s on shows such as the NBC drama series Little House on the Prairie from 1981 to 1982 and The Hogan Family from 1986 to 1991. Bateman's early film roles include Teen Wolf Too (1987) and Necessary Roughness (1991) before taking supporting roles in The Break-Up (2006), Juno (2007), Hancock (2008), and Up in the Air (2009).
He filled starring roles in the comedies The Switch (2010), The Change-Up (2011), Horrible Bosses (2011), Identity Thief (2013), This Is Where I Leave You (2014), Horrible Bosses 2 (2014), Office Christmas Party (2016), Zootopia (2016), and Game Night (2018). He also played dramatic roles in The Gift (2015), The Outsider (2020), Air (2023), and Carry-On (2024).
Bateman made his directorial debut with an episode of The Hogan Family, at the time setting the record for the youngest director in the Directors Guild of America. He has since directed and starred in The Family Fang (2015) and Ozark. Bateman was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series in 2019 for his direction on Ozark.
Early life
Bateman was born in Rye, New York, and was four years old when his family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and later to California. His mother, Victoria Elizabeth, was a flight attendant for Pan Am who was originally from Shrewsbury in the United Kingdom. His father, Kent Bateman, is an American actor, writer, and director of film and television. His older sister is actress Justine Bateman.
Bateman, like many child actors, attended Brighton Hall School, without graduating. In an interview with Wired Magazine, Bateman admitted that he never received his diploma due to not finishing his finals while filming Teen Wolf Too.
Bateman and Justine's earnings from their television shows were a significant income source for their parents, allowing the family to afford their home and other essentials. The reliance on a portion of Bateman's earnings from acting caused him to feel anxious and under pressure to keep roles and remain in the acting industry as a whole. As an actor, Bateman was managed by his father until he was 20, when the business relationship was dissolved.
Career
Television
Bateman first appeared in a cereal commercial for Golden Grahams in 1980 and began his television career on Little House on the Prairie as James Cooper, an orphaned boy who, along with his sister, is adopted by the Ingalls family. From 1982 to 1984, he was a supporting character on the television show Silver Spoons as Ricky Schroder's "bad boy" best friend Derek Taylor. He appeared in the Knight Rider third-season episode "Lost Knight" in 1984, and a number of other small television roles. In 1984, in response to his popularity on Silver Spoons, the show's producers gave Bateman his own starring role as Matthew Burton on the NBC sitcom It's Your Move, from September 1984 to February 1985. In 1987, he appeared with Burt Reynolds on the men's team in the inaugural week of game show Win, Lose or Draw.
Bateman earned the status of teen idol in the mid-1980s for his television work, most notably as David Hogan on The Hogan Family (originally titled Valerie and later, Valerie's Family, after Valerie Harper left the series). He became the Directors Guild of America's youngest-ever director when, at age 18, he directed three episodes of The Hogan Family. In 1987, he gained international recognition in the motion picture sequel Teen Wolf Too, which was a box office failure. In 1994 he played opposite Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Quinn in the television film This Can't Be Love. During this period, he had roles on four series – Simon, Chicago Sons, George & Leo, and Some of My Best Friends – none of which lasted longer than one season. He also directed an episode of Two of a Kind in 1999. In 2002, he played the frisky sibling of Thomas Jane's character in the feature film The Sweetest Thing.
In 2003, Bateman was cast as Michael Bluth in the comedy series Arrested Development. Although critically acclaimed, the series never achieved high ratings and ended on February 10, 2006. The show was revived in spring 2013. Bateman won several awards for his work on the series, including a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy. He was also nominated in 2005 for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series. New episodes of Arrested Development have been released on Netflix with the original cast, including Bateman. Bateman performed commentary on the 2004 Democratic National Convention for The Majority Report with Arrested Development co-star David Cross, and hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live on February 12, 2005. In 2006, he appeared as a guest star on the Scrubs episode "My Big Bird" as Mr. Sutton, a garbage man with a flock of vicious ostriches as pets. In 2009, Bateman became a regular voice actor for the short-lived Fox comedy series Sit Down, Shut Up. He voiced Larry Littlejunk, the gym teacher and only staff member who can teach.
In 2010, Bateman and Arrested Development co-star Will Arnett created "DumbDumb Productions", a production company focusing on digital content. Their first video was "Prom Date", the first in a series of "Dirty Shorts" for Orbit. In 2012, Bateman returned to his role of Michael Bluth for the revival of Arrested Development along with the rest of the original cast. The now-Netflix-sponsored series released season 4 on its Instant Watch website on May 26, 2013. The series was expected to continue its run as well as a potential feature film. For the new fourth season, Bateman was once again nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series. Netflix confirmed that the entire cast of the show would be returning for a fifth season, which premiered on May 29, 2018 and concluded on March 15, 2019.
In 2017, Bateman returned to television as both actor and director in the Netflix drama Ozark, in which he plays a financial advisor who must relocate his family to Missouri in order to launder money for a Mexican drug cartel. Bateman's performance as Marty Byrde has drawn positive comparisons to Bryan Cranston's portrayal of Walter White in AMC's Breaking Bad.
Bateman received praise for his acceptance speech after winning the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for Ozark. In it he states, "So I just want to say to the people that are at home and not working as frequently as they want, you're just one job away. You're plenty talented. Hang in there".
In 2021, Bateman played The Facts of Life's Tim Holifield in a reenactment of the third-season episode "Kids Can Be Cruel" for the third edition of Live in Front of a Studio Audience.
Film
In 2004, Bateman appeared in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story as ESPN 8 ("The Ocho") commentator Pepper Brooks, and in Starsky & Hutch as Kevin, Vince Vaughn's business partner. He reunited with Vaughn in 2006's The Break-Up. In 2007 he played former lawyer Rupert "Rip" Reed alongside Ben Affleck in Smokin' Aces, and also starred in The Kingdom, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, and Juno. In 2008 he co-starred with Will Smith and Charlize Theron in the superhero film Hancock. Bateman's 2009 films included Extract, written and directed by Mike Judge, and Couples Retreat, reuniting with Vaughn in a comedy chronicling four couples who partake in therapy sessions at a tropical island resort (Kristen Bell played his wife). In 2010 he starred in The Switch, a romantic comedy, with Jennifer Aniston. In 2011 he played the role of Special Agent Lorenzo Zoil in the comedy Paul, and starred in Horrible Bosses and The Change-Up.
In March 2012, Mansome, Bateman's first executive producer credit with Will Arnett, was announced as a Spotlight selection for the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary, directed by Morgan Spurlock, is a comedic look at male identity as it is defined through men's grooming habits, featuring celebrity and expert commentary. He made a dramatic turn in 2012 with the thriller film Disconnect, and starred in the 2013 comedy film Identity Thief and the 2014 comedies This Is Where I Leave You and Horrible Bosses 2. He also narrated the 2014 documentary Pump. In 2015 Bateman headlined Joel Edgerton's thriller film The Gift, opposite Rebecca Hall and Edgerton. His production company Aggregate Films extended its deal with Universal.
In 2013, Bateman made his feature film directorial debut with Bad Words, in which he also starred. He also directed and starred in an adaptation of The Family Fang. Bateman voiced Nick Wilde, the con artist fox in Zootopia. In 2018 he starred in and produced the action comedy film Game Night. His performance was widely praised and he received nominations for best performance by a comedic actor at the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards and the Critics' Choice Awards.
Bateman is in the video for the Mumford and Sons song "Hopeless Wanderer".
In 2020, Bateman was set to co-star and direct the Clue remake with Ryan Reynolds. He later had to back out, reportedly due to schedule conflicts with Ozark. In March 2022, Bateman signed on to direct the film Project Artemis, starring Scarlett Johansson, for Apple Studios, but departed the project in June due to creative differences; he was eventually replaced as director by Greg Berlanti. Announced in September 2022, Bateman is tapped to direct Netflix's Dark Wire, a film based on Joseph Cox's novel of the same name. In January 2023, Bateman signed on to direct The Pinkerton for Warner Bros. Pictures and Bad Robot, and will also serve as executive producer.
Bateman was an executive producer for Outlast, which premiered in 2023.
Podcast
In July 2020, Bateman, along with Will Arnett and Sean Hayes, created a comedy and talk podcast called SmartLess. In 2022, Bateman created a media company SmartLess Media in order to create four additional podcasts. In 2023, Apple revealed that SmartLess was #4 of the year's Top Shows.
Personal life
In 1987, Bateman won the celebrity portion of the Long Beach Grand Prix.
Bateman married actress Amanda Anka, daughter of Anne de Zogheb (1942–2017) and singer Paul Anka, on July 3, 2001. They have two daughters who were born in 2006 and 2012.
Throughout the 1990s, Bateman struggled with an addiction to alcohol and drugs; he stated in a 2009 interview, “I'd worked so hard that by the time I was 20, I wanted to play hard. And I did that really well ... it was like Risky Business for ten years."
Bateman, along with Arrested Development co-stars David Cross and Tony Hale, was criticized for seemingly defending Jeffrey Tambor's volatile behavior on the set of Arrested Development. During a May 2018 cast interview for The New York Times Bateman attempted to defuse the controversy. Within days after the interview, all three men issued apologies to Jessica Walter. Bateman retrospectively stated he had overreached in his attempt to analyze the cause of Tambor's behavior.
Bateman is a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
Further reading
Dye, David. Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914–1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, p. 13.
Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 373.
External links
Jason Bateman at IMDb
Jason Bateman at Emmys.com
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Samuel L. Jackson
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Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed more than $27 billion worldwide, making him the highest-grossing actor of all time. In 2022, he received the Academy Honorary Award as "a cultural icon whose dynamic work has resonated across genres and generations and audiences worldwide".
Jackson made his professional theater debut in Mother Courage and Her Children in 1980 at The Public Theatre. From 1981 to 1983 he originated the role of Private Louis Henderson in A Soldier's Play off-Broadway. He also originated the role of Boy Willie in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson in 1987 at the Yale Repertory Theatre. He portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the Broadway play The Mountaintop (2011). He returned to Broadway in the 2022 revival of The Piano Lesson playing Doaker Charles, for which he received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play nomination.
Jackson's early film roles include Coming to America (1988), Juice (1992), True Romance (1993), Jurassic Park (1993), Menace II Society (1993), and Fresh (1994). His early collaborations with Spike Lee led to greater prominence with films such as School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), and Jungle Fever (1991). Jackson's breakout performance was as Jules Winnfield in Quentin Tarantino's crime drama Pulp Fiction (1994), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He has continued to collaborate with Lee (Oldboy in 2013 and Chi-Raq in 2015) and Tarantino, with the latter including prominent roles in Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004), Django Unchained (2012), and The Hateful Eight (2015).
He also gained widespread recognition as the Jedi Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), and Nick Fury in 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe films, beginning with Iron Man (2008), as well as in the Disney+ series Secret Invasion (2023) & What If...? (2021–2024) and guest-starring in the ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2014). Jackson has provided his voice for Lucius Best / Frozone in the Pixar films The Incredibles (2004) and Incredibles 2 (2018). He has also acted in a number of big-budget films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000) and its reboot (2019), XXX (2002), Coach Carter (2005), Snakes on a Plane (2006), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), and Glass (2019).
Early life, family and education
Jackson was born on December 21, 1948, in Washington, D.C., the only child of Elizabeth Harriett (née Montgomery) and Roy Henry Jackson. He grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His father lived away from the family in Kansas City, Missouri, and later died of alcoholism. Jackson met him only twice during his life. He was raised by his mother, a factory worker and later a supplies buyer for a mental institution; he was also raised by his maternal grandparents, Edgar and Pearl Montgomery, as well as extended family. According to DNA tests, Jackson partially descends from the Benga people of Gabon, and he became a naturalized citizen of Gabon in 2019. He developed a stutter during childhood and learned to "pretend to be other people who didn't stutter".
Jackson attended several segregated schools and graduated from Riverside High School in Chattanooga. He played the French horn, piccolo, trumpet, and flute in the school orchestra. Initially intent on pursuing a degree in marine biology, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was a cheerleader. After joining a local acting group to earn extra points in a class, he found an interest in acting and switched his major. Before graduating in 1972, he co-founded the Just Us Theatre.
After Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968, Jackson attended King's funeral in Atlanta as an usher. He then traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to join an equal rights protest march. In a 2005 Parade interview, he said, "I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn't shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different—not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence." In 1969, Jackson and several other students held hostage the members of the Morehouse College Board of Trustees (including Martin Luther King Sr.) on the campus, demanding reform in the school's curriculum and governance. The college eventually agreed to change its policy, but Jackson was charged with and eventually convicted of unlawful confinement, a second-degree felony. He was suspended for two years for his criminal record and his actions. He would later return to the college to earn a BA in drama in 1972.
While he was suspended, he worked as a social worker in Los Angeles. He decided to return to Atlanta, where he met with Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and others active in the Black Power movement. He began to feel empowered with his involvement in the movement, especially when the group began buying guns. However, before he could become involved with any significant armed confrontations, his mother sent him to Los Angeles after the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned her that he would die within a year if he remained with the group. In a 2018 interview with Vogue, he denied having been a member of the Black Panther Party.
Career
1972–1987: Early roles and theater work
Jackson initially majored in marine biology at Morehouse College before switching to architecture. He later settled on drama after taking a public speaking class and appearing in a version of The Threepenny Opera. Jackson began acting on the stage, including Home and A Soldier's Play, which was the inspiration for the 1984 film A Soldier's Story. He appeared in several television films, and made his feature film debut in the blaxploitation independent film Together for Days (1972). After these initial roles, Jackson moved from Atlanta to New York City in 1976, and spent the next decade appearing in stage plays, including the premieres of The Piano Lesson and Two Trains Running at the Yale Repertory Theater. To supplement his income while auditioning, he worked at the Manhattan Plaza apartment complex as an overnight security guard. Jackson developed addictions to alcohol and cocaine, which prevented him from proceeding with the two plays to Broadway (actors Charles S. Dutton and Anthony Chisholm took his place).
1988–1993: Rise to prominence
After a 1981 performance in the play A Soldier's Play, Jackson was introduced to director Spike Lee, who cast him for small roles in School Daze (1988) and Do the Right Thing (1989). He also worked for three years as a stand-in for Bill Cosby on The Cosby Show. Throughout his early film career, mainly in minimal roles in films such as Coming to America (1988) and various television films, Jackson was mentored by Morgan Freeman.
Jackson played a minor role in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas, as real-life Mafia associate Stacks Edwards. Having overdosed on heroin several times, he switched to cocaine. His family entered him into a New York rehabilitation clinic. After he completed rehabilitation, he appeared in Jungle Fever as a crack cocaine addict. Jackson said that the role was cathartic, commenting, "It was a funny kind of thing. By the time I was out of rehab, about a week or so later I was on set and we were ready to start shooting." His performance was so acclaimed that the jury of 1991 Cannes Film Festival added a special "Supporting Actor" award just for him. Following this role, Jackson became involved with the comedy Strictly Business and dramas Juice and Patriot Games. He then moved on to two other comedies: National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (his first starring role) and Amos & Andrew. Jackson worked with the director Steven Spielberg in 1993's Jurassic Park.
1994–1998: Career breakthrough
After a turn as the criminal Big Don in 1993's True Romance—written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott—Tarantino asked Jackson to play Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction (1994). Jackson was surprised to learn that the part had been specifically written for him: "To know that somebody had written something like Jules for me. I was overwhelmed, thankful, arrogant—this whole combination of things that you could be, knowing that somebody's going to give you an opportunity like that." Pulp Fiction, Jackson's thirtieth film, made him internationally recognized and he received praise from critics. Entertainment Weekly wrote: "As superb as Travolta, Willis, and Keitel are, the actor who reigns over Pulp Fiction is Samuel L. Jackson. He just about lights fires with his gremlin eyes and he transforms his speeches into hypnotic bebop soliloquies." For the Academy Awards, Miramax Films pushed for, and received, the Best Supporting Actor nomination for Jackson. He also received a Golden Globe nomination and won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Role.
After Pulp Fiction, Jackson received multiple scripts to review: "I could easily have made a career out of playing Jules over the years. Everybody's always sending me the script they think is the new Pulp Fiction." With a succession of poor-performing films such as Kiss of Death, The Great White Hype, and Losing Isaiah, Jackson began to receive poor reviews from critics who had praised his performance in Pulp Fiction. This ended with his involvement in two box-office successes: Die Hard with a Vengeance, in which he starred alongside Bruce Willis in the third installment of the Die Hard series; and A Time to Kill, where he played a father put on trial for killing two men who raped his daughter. For A Time to Kill, Jackson earned an NAACP Image for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture and a Golden Globe nomination for a Best Supporting Actor.
Quickly becoming a box office star, Jackson continued with three starring roles in 1997. In 187 he played a dedicated teacher striving to leave an impact on his students. He received an Independent Spirit award for Best First Feature alongside first-time writer/director Kasi Lemmons in the drama Eve's Bayou, for which he also served as executive producer. He worked again with Tarantino on Jackie Brown and received the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival and a fourth Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of the arms merchant Ordell Robbie. In 1998, he worked with established actors: Sharon Stone and Dustin Hoffman in Sphere; and Kevin Spacey in The Negotiator, playing a hostage negotiator who resorts to taking hostages himself when he is falsely accused of murder and embezzlement. In 1999, Jackson starred in the horror film Deep Blue Sea, and as Jedi Master Mace Windu in George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. In an interview, Jackson claimed that he did not have a chance to read the script for the film and did not learn he was playing the character Mace Windu until he was fitted for his costume (though he later said that he was eager to accept any role, just for the chance to be a part of the Star Wars saga).
1999–2007: Established actor
On June 13, 2000, Jackson was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Blvd. He began the next decade of his film career playing a Marine colonel put on trial in Rules of Engagement, co-starred with Bruce Willis for a third time in the supernatural thriller Unbreakable, and starred in the 2000 remake of the 1971 film Shaft. He reprised both of the latter roles in 2019, his Unbreakable character Mr. Glass in Glass and Shaft in another film titled Shaft. Jackson's sole film in 2001 was The Caveman's Valentine, a murder thriller directed by Lemmons in which he played a homeless musician. In 2002, he played a recovering alcoholic, attempting to keep custody of his kids while fighting a battle of wits in Changing Lanes, co-starring Ben Affleck. He returned for Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, seeing his minor supporting role develop into a major character. Mace Windu's purple lightsaber in the film was the result of Jackson's suggestion; he wanted to be sure that his character would stand out in a crowded battle scene. Jackson then acted as an NSA agent, alongside Vin Diesel in XXX, and as a kilt-wearing drug dealer in The 51st State. In 2003, Jackson again worked with John Travolta in Basic and then as a police sergeant alongside Colin Farrell in the television show remake S.W.A.T. A song within the soundtrack was named after him, entitled "Sammy L. Jackson" by Hot Action Cop. Jackson also appeared in HBO's documentary Unchained Memories, as a narrator along many other stars like Angela Bassett and Whoopi Goldberg.
Based on reviews gathered by Rotten Tomatoes, in 2004 Jackson starred in both his lowest and highest ranked films in his career. In the thriller Twisted, Jackson played a mentor to Ashley Judd. The film garnered a 2% approval rating on the website, with reviewers calling his performance "lackluster" and "wasted". He then lent his voice to the animated film The Incredibles as the superhero Frozone. The film received a 97% approval rating, and Jackson's performance earned him an Annie Award nomination for Best Voice Acting. He made a cameo in another Quentin Tarantino film, Kill Bill: Volume 2.
In 2005, he starred in the sports drama Coach Carter, where he played a coach (based on the actual coach Ken Carter) dedicated to teaching his players that education is more important than basketball. Although the film received mixed reviews, Jackson's performance was praised despite the film's storyline. Bob Townsend of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution commended Jackson's performance, "He takes what could have been a cardboard cliché role and puts flesh on it with his flamboyant intelligence." Jackson also returned for two sequels: XXX: State of the Union, this time commanding Ice Cube, and the final Star Wars prequel film, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. His last film for 2005 was The Man alongside comedian Eugene Levy. On November 4, 2005, he was presented with the Hawaii International Film Festival Achievement in Acting Award.
On January 30, 2006, Jackson was honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre; he is the seventh African American and 191st actor to be recognized in this manner. In an interview that year, he said that he chooses roles that are "exciting to watch" and have an "interesting character inside of a story", and that in his roles he wanted to "do things [he hasn't] done, things [he] saw as a kid and wanted to do and now [has] an opportunity to do". He next starred opposite actress Julianne Moore in the box-office bomb Freedomland, where he depicted a police detective attempting to help a mother find her abducted child while quelling a citywide race riot. Jackson's second film of the year, Snakes on a Plane, gained cult film status months before it was released based on its title and cast. Jackson's decision to star in the film was solely based on the title. To build anticipation for the film, he also cameoed in the 2006 music video "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" by Cobra Starship. On December 2, 2006, Jackson won the German Bambi Award for International Film, based on his many film contributions. In December 2006, Jackson starred in Home of the Brave, as a doctor returning home from the Iraq War.
On January 30, 2007, Jackson was featured as narrator in Bob Saget's direct-to-DVD Farce of the Penguins. The film was a spoof of the box office success March of the Penguins (which was narrated by Morgan Freeman). Also in 2007, he portrayed a blues player who imprisons a young woman (Christina Ricci) addicted to sex in Black Snake Moan, and the horror film 1408, an adaptation of the Stephen King short story. Later the same year, Jackson portrayed an athlete who impersonates former boxing heavyweight Bob Satterfield in director Rod Lurie's drama, Resurrecting the Champ. In 2008, Jackson reprised his role of Mace Windu in the CGI film, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, followed by Lakeview Terrace where he played a racist cop who terrorizes an interracial couple. In November of the same year, he starred along with Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes (who both died before the film's release) in Soul Men.
2008–2019: Career expansion
In 2008, he portrayed the villain in The Spirit, which was poorly received by critics and the box office. In 2009, he again worked with Quentin Tarantino when he narrated several scenes in the World War II film Inglourious Basterds.
In 2010, he starred in the drama Mother and Child and portrayed an interrogator who attempts to locate several nuclear weapons in the direct-to-video film Unthinkable. Alongside Dwayne Johnson, Jackson again portrayed a police officer in the opening scenes of the comedy The Other Guys. He also co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones for a film adaptation of The Sunset Limited.
Throughout Jackson's career, he has appeared in many films alongside mainstream rappers. These include Tupac Shakur (Juice), Queen Latifah (Juice/Sphere/Jungle Fever), Method Man (One Eight Seven), LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea/S.W.A.T.), Busta Rhymes (Shaft), Eve (xXx), Ice Cube (xXx: State of the Union), Xzibit (xXx: State of the Union), David Banner (Black Snake Moan), and 50 Cent (Home of the Brave). Additionally, Jackson has appeared in five films with actor Bruce Willis (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Unbreakable, and Glass) and the actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit before both dropped out.
In 2002, Marvel Comics designed their "Ultimate" version of the character Nick Fury after his likeness without his consent. Jackson, an active comic book reader, recognized his image in the comics and had his agents contact the publisher who pledged to cast him in future adaptations as Fury In the 2008 film Iron Man, he made a cameo as the character in a post-credit scene. In February 2009, Jackson signed on to a nine-picture deal with Marvel Studios which would see him appear as the character in Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers, as well as any other subsequent film they would produce. He reprised the role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). In 2018 and 2019, Jackson made cameo appearances as Fury in the Avengers sequels Infinity War and Endgame, and starred as a younger, de-aged Fury in Captain Marvel alongside Brie Larson.
Among his more recent film roles, Jackson appeared in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, which was released December 25, 2012, Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, which was released in 70mm on December 25, 2015, and Jordan Vogt-Roberts' Kong: Skull Island, which was released on March 10, 2017. In 2019, Jackson reprised his Unbreakable role as Mr. Glass in the film Glass, and his Shaft role in Shaft, both sequels to his 2000 films. Also in 2019, he appeared in the Brie Larson film Unicorn Store, and had a prominent role as Fury in the Marvel film Spider-Man: Far From Home. Additionally, he reprised his role as Fury in a cameo appearance on the ABC television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in 2013 and the season finale in 2014. In 2020, archival footage of Jackson from Revenge of the Sith was used in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode "Shattered".
2020–present: Return to theater
In 2020, he appeared in the television documentary series Enslaved, with investigative journalist Afua Hirsch as co-presenter. He also appeared in the 2021 movie Spiral: From the Book of Saw alongside Chris Rock. After an 11-year absence from the stage, Jackson returned to Broadway as Doaker Charles in a revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson, opposite John David Washington and Danielle Brooks. The 2022 production was directed by Jackson's wife, LaTanya Richardson Jackson. For his performance, he received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play nomination. He reprised his role as Nick Fury in the Disney+ series Secret Invasion, and in The Marvels, the sequel to Captain Marvel. The following year, Jackson had a minor role in the Matthew Vaughn-directed spy comedy Argylle (2024).
Upcoming projects
Jackson is set to produce a live-action film adaptation of Afro Samurai, and will play the role of Sho'nuff in a remake of The Last Dragon. He is also appeared opposite Pierce Brosnan in The Unholy Trinity.
Filming began for Last Meals in late November 2023.
On June 5, 2025 it was announced that NOLA King, a spin-off series of Tulsa King set in New Orleans, was in the works at Paramount+ and would star Jackson in a similar role as the mobster character Slyvester Stallone plays in Tulsa King. Jackson's character will be introduced in the upcoming 3rd season of Tulsa King which is currently in production.
Other appearances
Jackson is known for his extensive voice roles including Whiplash in Turbo (2013), the title character of the anime series Afro Samurai (2007), and Frank Tenpenny in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004). He also narrated the acclaimed documentary I Am Not Your Negro (2016).
In addition to films, Jackson also appeared in several television shows, a video game, music videos, as well as audiobooks. Jackson had a small part in the Public Enemy music video for "911 Is a Joke". Jackson voiced several television show characters, including the lead role in the anime series, Afro Samurai, in addition to a recurring part as the voice of Gin Rummy in several episodes of the animated series The Boondocks. He was in the pilot for Ghostwriter. He guest-starred as himself in an episode of the BBC/HBO sitcom Extras. He voiced the main antagonist, Officer Frank Tenpenny, in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Jackson also hosted a variety of awards shows. He has hosted the MTV Movie Awards (1998), the ESPYs (1999, 2001, 2002, and 2009), and the Spike TV Video Game Awards (2005, 2006, 2007, and 2012). In November 2006, he provided the voice of God for The Bible Experience, the New Testament audiobook version of the Bible. He was given the lead role because producers believed his deep, authoritative voice would best fit the role. He also recorded the Audible.com audiobook of Go the Fuck to Sleep. For the Atlanta Falcons' 2010 season, Jackson portrayed Rev. Sultan in the Falcons "Rise Up" commercial.
Jackson appeared in the Capital One cash-back credit card commercials, and he also appeared in a Sky Broadband Shield commercial, Sky UK's broadband service as Nick Fury to promote Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Additionally, he played Nick Fury in an ad for the video game Marvel Snap. Jackson released a song about social justice with KRS-One, Sticky Fingaz, Mad Lion and Talib Kweli about violence in America called "I Can't Breathe", which were the last words said by Eric Garner.
Jackson was a special guest in Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime show portraying "Uncle Sam".
Box-office performance
Throughout the 1990s, A.C. Neilson E.C.I., a box office–tracking company, determined that Jackson appeared in more films than any other actor who grossed $1.7 billion domestically. By 2011, the films that featured Jackson as a leading actor or supporting co-star had grossed a total of $2.81 to $4.91 billion at the North American box office. This placed him as the seventh-highest-grossing lead actor and the second-highest-grossing actor, behind only voice actor Frank Welker. The 2009 edition of The Guinness World Records, which uses a different calculation to determine film grosses, stated that Jackson is the world's highest-grossing actor, with $7.42 billion generated across 68 films. Subsequently, as of 2022, according to data calculated by the Golden Globes, this total has grown to more than $27 billion grossed across 152 movies, making him the highest-grossing actor, and second-highest grossing person in film in general behind Stan Lee, who was primarily known for his cameo work.
Audiobooks
2011: Adam Mansbach: Go the Fuck to Sleep, publisher: BRILLIANCE CORP, ISBN 978-1-4558-4165-3
2014: Chester Himes: A Rage in Harlem, publisher: BRILLIANCE CORP, ISBN 978-1-4915-1908-0
Personal life
In 1980, Jackson married actress and producer LaTanya Richardson, whom he met while attending Morehouse College. The couple have a daughter named Zoe (b. 1982). In 2009, they started their own charity to help support education. Jackson has said that he watches his own films in cinemas: "Even during my theater years, I wished I could watch the plays I was in—while I was in them! I dig watching myself work." He also enjoys collecting the action figures of the characters he portrays in his films, including Jules Winnfield, Shaft, Mace Windu, and Frozone.
Jackson is known for his use of the word motherfucker. He has explained he utilizes the word to get through a speech block as he still has days where he stutters. A fundraising campaign of his, Motherfunder, alludes to this reputation. Articles and references to Jackson acknowledge this speech connection.
He is bald but often wears wigs for his roles. He said about his decision to shave his head, "I keep ending up on those 'bald is beautiful' lists. It's cool. You know, when I started losing my hair, it was during the era when everybody had lots of hair. All of a sudden, I felt this big hole in the middle of my afro. I couldn't face having a comb over so I had to quickly figure what the haircut for me was." His first bald role was in The Great White Hype. He usually gets to pick his own hairstyles for each character he portrays. He poked fun at his baldness the first time he appeared bald on The Tonight Show, explaining that he had to shave his head for one role, but then kept receiving more and more bald roles and had to keep shaving his head so that wigs could be made for him. He joked that "the only way [he's] gonna have time to grow [his] hair back is if [he's] not working". He is noted for often wearing a Kangol hat in public.
Jackson is an avid golfer. He has a clause in his contracts that allows him to play golf during film shoots. He has played in the Gary Player Invitational charity golf tournament to assist Player in raising funds for children in South Africa. He is a keen basketball fan, supporting the Toronto Raptors and the Harlem Globetrotters. Jackson has supported English football team Liverpool FC since appearing in The 51st State, which was shot in Liverpool. He also supports Irish football team Bohemian FC. He is fan of the Atlanta Falcons.
He was granted Gabonese citizenship in 2019 after the results of a DNA test claimed to link him to the country's Benga ethnic group. Jackson stopped drinking alcohol after having problems with addiction.
Politics and activism
Jackson campaigned during the 2008 Democratic Primary for Barack Obama in Texarkana, Texas. He said, "Barack Obama represents everything I was told I could be growing up. I am a child of segregation. When I grew up and people told me I could be president, I knew it was a lie. But now we have a representative... the American Dream is a reality. Anyone can grow up to be a president." He also said, "I voted for Barack because he was black. That's why other folks vote for other people—because they look like them." In December 2012, he compared his Django Unchained character, a villainous house slave who sides with his white oppressors, to black conservative Justice Clarence Thomas and said that the character had "the same moral compass as Clarence Thomas does". Following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022, he again criticized Thomas, referring to him as "Uncle Clarence" and asking how Thomas—who is married to white attorney Ginni Thomas—feels about overturning Loving v. Virginia, a Supreme Court ruling that prohibited states from outlawing interracial marriages.
In June 2013, Jackson launched a joint campaign with Prizeo in an effort to raise money to fight Alzheimer's disease. As part of the campaign, he recited various fan-written monologues and a popular scene from the AMC series Breaking Bad. In August 2013, he started following a vegan diet for health reasons, explaining that he is "just trying to live forever". He attributed his 40 lb (18 kg) weight loss to the diet. He had largely abandoned the diet by March 2017, but still praised and recommended it. He launched a campaign called "One for the Boys", which teaches men about testicular cancer and urges them to "get themselves checked out".
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jackson encouraged people to wear face masks as part of California's "Your Actions Save Lives" campaign. Along with Dwayne Johnson, he also encouraged those who had recovered from COVID-19 to donate their blood to help others fighting the virus. He additionally appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to read a satirical book, Stay the Fuck at Home, which spread awareness of social distancing.
Jackson endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election and spoke at one of her campaign rallies on October 24, 2024.
Filmography
Awards and honors
Over the course of his career, Jackson has received various awards for his performances on film. At the 44th Cannes Film Festival he received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991). He received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for his performance in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994). He also received Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for the performance as well. At the 48th Berlin International Film Festival, he received Silver Bear for Best Actor for his leading performance in Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997). In 2021, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named Jackson as one of its Academy Honorary Award recipients as "A cultural icon whose dynamic work has resonated across genres and generations and audiences worldwide." At the 12th Annual Governors Awards in 2022, friend and actor Denzel Washington presented Jackson with his Oscar.
Notes
References
Further reading
Dils, Tracey E. (1999). Samuel L. Jackson. Black Americans of Achievement. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publications. ISBN 0-7910-5282-6. OCLC 41885637.
Hudson, Jeff (2004). Samuel L. Jackson: The Unauthorised Biography. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-024-1. OCLC 224038091.
Jordan, Pat (April 26, 2012). "How Samuel L. Jackson Became His Own Genre". The New York Times.
External links
Samuel L. Jackson at IMDb
Samuel L. Jackson at the Internet Broadway Database
Samuel L. Jackson at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
Samuel L. Jackson at the TCM Movie Database
Samuel L. Jackson at Rotten Tomatoes
Samuel L. Jackson collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Samuel L. Jackson collected news and commentary at The Guardian
Extensive biography of Samuel L. Jackson
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Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed more than $27 billion worldwide, making him the highest-grossing actor of all time. In 2022, he received the Academy Honorary Award as "a cultural icon whose dynamic work has resonated across genres and generations and audiences worldwide".
Jackson made his professional theater debut in Mother Courage and Her Children in 1980 at The Public Theatre. From 1981 to 1983 he originated the role of Private Louis Henderson in A Soldier's Play off-Broadway. He also originated the role of Boy Willie in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson in 1987 at the Yale Repertory Theatre. He portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the Broadway play The Mountaintop (2011). He returned to Broadway in the 2022 revival of The Piano Lesson playing Doaker Charles, for which he received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play nomination.
Jackson's early film roles include Coming to America (1988), Juice (1992), True Romance (1993), Jurassic Park (1993), Menace II Society (1993), and Fresh (1994). His early collaborations with Spike Lee led to greater prominence with films such as School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), and Jungle Fever (1991). Jackson's breakout performance was as Jules Winnfield in Quentin Tarantino's crime drama Pulp Fiction (1994), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He has continued to collaborate with Lee (Oldboy in 2013 and Chi-Raq in 2015) and Tarantino, with the latter including prominent roles in Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004), Django Unchained (2012), and The Hateful Eight (2015).
He also gained widespread recognition as the Jedi Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), and Nick Fury in 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe films, beginning with Iron Man (2008), as well as in the Disney+ series Secret Invasion (2023) & What If...? (2021–2024) and guest-starring in the ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2014). Jackson has provided his voice for Lucius Best / Frozone in the Pixar films The Incredibles (2004) and Incredibles 2 (2018). He has also acted in a number of big-budget films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000) and its reboot (2019), XXX (2002), Coach Carter (2005), Snakes on a Plane (2006), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), and Glass (2019).
Early life, family and education
Jackson was born on December 21, 1948, in Washington, D.C., the only child of Elizabeth Harriett (née Montgomery) and Roy Henry Jackson. He grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His father lived away from the family in Kansas City, Missouri, and later died of alcoholism. Jackson met him only twice during his life. He was raised by his mother, a factory worker and later a supplies buyer for a mental institution; he was also raised by his maternal grandparents, Edgar and Pearl Montgomery, as well as extended family. According to DNA tests, Jackson partially descends from the Benga people of Gabon, and he became a naturalized citizen of Gabon in 2019. He developed a stutter during childhood and learned to "pretend to be other people who didn't stutter".
Jackson attended several segregated schools and graduated from Riverside High School in Chattanooga. He played the French horn, piccolo, trumpet, and flute in the school orchestra. Initially intent on pursuing a degree in marine biology, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was a cheerleader. After joining a local acting group to earn extra points in a class, he found an interest in acting and switched his major. Before graduating in 1972, he co-founded the Just Us Theatre.
After Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968, Jackson attended King's funeral in Atlanta as an usher. He then traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to join an equal rights protest march. In a 2005 Parade interview, he said, "I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn't shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different—not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence." In 1969, Jackson and several other students held hostage the members of the Morehouse College Board of Trustees (including Martin Luther King Sr.) on the campus, demanding reform in the school's curriculum and governance. The college eventually agreed to change its policy, but Jackson was charged with and eventually convicted of unlawful confinement, a second-degree felony. He was suspended for two years for his criminal record and his actions. He would later return to the college to earn a BA in drama in 1972.
While he was suspended, he worked as a social worker in Los Angeles. He decided to return to Atlanta, where he met with Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and others active in the Black Power movement. He began to feel empowered with his involvement in the movement, especially when the group began buying guns. However, before he could become involved with any significant armed confrontations, his mother sent him to Los Angeles after the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned her that he would die within a year if he remained with the group. In a 2018 interview with Vogue, he denied having been a member of the Black Panther Party.
Career
1972–1987: Early roles and theater work
Jackson initially majored in marine biology at Morehouse College before switching to architecture. He later settled on drama after taking a public speaking class and appearing in a version of The Threepenny Opera. Jackson began acting on the stage, including Home and A Soldier's Play, which was the inspiration for the 1984 film A Soldier's Story. He appeared in several television films, and made his feature film debut in the blaxploitation independent film Together for Days (1972). After these initial roles, Jackson moved from Atlanta to New York City in 1976, and spent the next decade appearing in stage plays, including the premieres of The Piano Lesson and Two Trains Running at the Yale Repertory Theater. To supplement his income while auditioning, he worked at the Manhattan Plaza apartment complex as an overnight security guard. Jackson developed addictions to alcohol and cocaine, which prevented him from proceeding with the two plays to Broadway (actors Charles S. Dutton and Anthony Chisholm took his place).
1988–1993: Rise to prominence
After a 1981 performance in the play A Soldier's Play, Jackson was introduced to director Spike Lee, who cast him for small roles in School Daze (1988) and Do the Right Thing (1989). He also worked for three years as a stand-in for Bill Cosby on The Cosby Show. Throughout his early film career, mainly in minimal roles in films such as Coming to America (1988) and various television films, Jackson was mentored by Morgan Freeman.
Jackson played a minor role in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas, as real-life Mafia associate Stacks Edwards. Having overdosed on heroin several times, he switched to cocaine. His family entered him into a New York rehabilitation clinic. After he completed rehabilitation, he appeared in Jungle Fever as a crack cocaine addict. Jackson said that the role was cathartic, commenting, "It was a funny kind of thing. By the time I was out of rehab, about a week or so later I was on set and we were ready to start shooting." His performance was so acclaimed that the jury of 1991 Cannes Film Festival added a special "Supporting Actor" award just for him. Following this role, Jackson became involved with the comedy Strictly Business and dramas Juice and Patriot Games. He then moved on to two other comedies: National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (his first starring role) and Amos & Andrew. Jackson worked with the director Steven Spielberg in 1993's Jurassic Park.
1994–1998: Career breakthrough
After a turn as the criminal Big Don in 1993's True Romance—written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott—Tarantino asked Jackson to play Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction (1994). Jackson was surprised to learn that the part had been specifically written for him: "To know that somebody had written something like Jules for me. I was overwhelmed, thankful, arrogant—this whole combination of things that you could be, knowing that somebody's going to give you an opportunity like that." Pulp Fiction, Jackson's thirtieth film, made him internationally recognized and he received praise from critics. Entertainment Weekly wrote: "As superb as Travolta, Willis, and Keitel are, the actor who reigns over Pulp Fiction is Samuel L. Jackson. He just about lights fires with his gremlin eyes and he transforms his speeches into hypnotic bebop soliloquies." For the Academy Awards, Miramax Films pushed for, and received, the Best Supporting Actor nomination for Jackson. He also received a Golden Globe nomination and won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Role.
After Pulp Fiction, Jackson received multiple scripts to review: "I could easily have made a career out of playing Jules over the years. Everybody's always sending me the script they think is the new Pulp Fiction." With a succession of poor-performing films such as Kiss of Death, The Great White Hype, and Losing Isaiah, Jackson began to receive poor reviews from critics who had praised his performance in Pulp Fiction. This ended with his involvement in two box-office successes: Die Hard with a Vengeance, in which he starred alongside Bruce Willis in the third installment of the Die Hard series; and A Time to Kill, where he played a father put on trial for killing two men who raped his daughter. For A Time to Kill, Jackson earned an NAACP Image for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture and a Golden Globe nomination for a Best Supporting Actor.
Quickly becoming a box office star, Jackson continued with three starring roles in 1997. In 187 he played a dedicated teacher striving to leave an impact on his students. He received an Independent Spirit award for Best First Feature alongside first-time writer/director Kasi Lemmons in the drama Eve's Bayou, for which he also served as executive producer. He worked again with Tarantino on Jackie Brown and received the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival and a fourth Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of the arms merchant Ordell Robbie. In 1998, he worked with established actors: Sharon Stone and Dustin Hoffman in Sphere; and Kevin Spacey in The Negotiator, playing a hostage negotiator who resorts to taking hostages himself when he is falsely accused of murder and embezzlement. In 1999, Jackson starred in the horror film Deep Blue Sea, and as Jedi Master Mace Windu in George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. In an interview, Jackson claimed that he did not have a chance to read the script for the film and did not learn he was playing the character Mace Windu until he was fitted for his costume (though he later said that he was eager to accept any role, just for the chance to be a part of the Star Wars saga).
1999–2007: Established actor
On June 13, 2000, Jackson was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Blvd. He began the next decade of his film career playing a Marine colonel put on trial in Rules of Engagement, co-starred with Bruce Willis for a third time in the supernatural thriller Unbreakable, and starred in the 2000 remake of the 1971 film Shaft. He reprised both of the latter roles in 2019, his Unbreakable character Mr. Glass in Glass and Shaft in another film titled Shaft. Jackson's sole film in 2001 was The Caveman's Valentine, a murder thriller directed by Lemmons in which he played a homeless musician. In 2002, he played a recovering alcoholic, attempting to keep custody of his kids while fighting a battle of wits in Changing Lanes, co-starring Ben Affleck. He returned for Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, seeing his minor supporting role develop into a major character. Mace Windu's purple lightsaber in the film was the result of Jackson's suggestion; he wanted to be sure that his character would stand out in a crowded battle scene. Jackson then acted as an NSA agent, alongside Vin Diesel in XXX, and as a kilt-wearing drug dealer in The 51st State. In 2003, Jackson again worked with John Travolta in Basic and then as a police sergeant alongside Colin Farrell in the television show remake S.W.A.T. A song within the soundtrack was named after him, entitled "Sammy L. Jackson" by Hot Action Cop. Jackson also appeared in HBO's documentary Unchained Memories, as a narrator along many other stars like Angela Bassett and Whoopi Goldberg.
Based on reviews gathered by Rotten Tomatoes, in 2004 Jackson starred in both his lowest and highest ranked films in his career. In the thriller Twisted, Jackson played a mentor to Ashley Judd. The film garnered a 2% approval rating on the website, with reviewers calling his performance "lackluster" and "wasted". He then lent his voice to the animated film The Incredibles as the superhero Frozone. The film received a 97% approval rating, and Jackson's performance earned him an Annie Award nomination for Best Voice Acting. He made a cameo in another Quentin Tarantino film, Kill Bill: Volume 2.
In 2005, he starred in the sports drama Coach Carter, where he played a coach (based on the actual coach Ken Carter) dedicated to teaching his players that education is more important than basketball. Although the film received mixed reviews, Jackson's performance was praised despite the film's storyline. Bob Townsend of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution commended Jackson's performance, "He takes what could have been a cardboard cliché role and puts flesh on it with his flamboyant intelligence." Jackson also returned for two sequels: XXX: State of the Union, this time commanding Ice Cube, and the final Star Wars prequel film, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. His last film for 2005 was The Man alongside comedian Eugene Levy. On November 4, 2005, he was presented with the Hawaii International Film Festival Achievement in Acting Award.
On January 30, 2006, Jackson was honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre; he is the seventh African American and 191st actor to be recognized in this manner. In an interview that year, he said that he chooses roles that are "exciting to watch" and have an "interesting character inside of a story", and that in his roles he wanted to "do things [he hasn't] done, things [he] saw as a kid and wanted to do and now [has] an opportunity to do". He next starred opposite actress Julianne Moore in the box-office bomb Freedomland, where he depicted a police detective attempting to help a mother find her abducted child while quelling a citywide race riot. Jackson's second film of the year, Snakes on a Plane, gained cult film status months before it was released based on its title and cast. Jackson's decision to star in the film was solely based on the title. To build anticipation for the film, he also cameoed in the 2006 music video "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" by Cobra Starship. On December 2, 2006, Jackson won the German Bambi Award for International Film, based on his many film contributions. In December 2006, Jackson starred in Home of the Brave, as a doctor returning home from the Iraq War.
On January 30, 2007, Jackson was featured as narrator in Bob Saget's direct-to-DVD Farce of the Penguins. The film was a spoof of the box office success March of the Penguins (which was narrated by Morgan Freeman). Also in 2007, he portrayed a blues player who imprisons a young woman (Christina Ricci) addicted to sex in Black Snake Moan, and the horror film 1408, an adaptation of the Stephen King short story. Later the same year, Jackson portrayed an athlete who impersonates former boxing heavyweight Bob Satterfield in director Rod Lurie's drama, Resurrecting the Champ. In 2008, Jackson reprised his role of Mace Windu in the CGI film, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, followed by Lakeview Terrace where he played a racist cop who terrorizes an interracial couple. In November of the same year, he starred along with Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes (who both died before the film's release) in Soul Men.
2008–2019: Career expansion
In 2008, he portrayed the villain in The Spirit, which was poorly received by critics and the box office. In 2009, he again worked with Quentin Tarantino when he narrated several scenes in the World War II film Inglourious Basterds.
In 2010, he starred in the drama Mother and Child and portrayed an interrogator who attempts to locate several nuclear weapons in the direct-to-video film Unthinkable. Alongside Dwayne Johnson, Jackson again portrayed a police officer in the opening scenes of the comedy The Other Guys. He also co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones for a film adaptation of The Sunset Limited.
Throughout Jackson's career, he has appeared in many films alongside mainstream rappers. These include Tupac Shakur (Juice), Queen Latifah (Juice/Sphere/Jungle Fever), Method Man (One Eight Seven), LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea/S.W.A.T.), Busta Rhymes (Shaft), Eve (xXx), Ice Cube (xXx: State of the Union), Xzibit (xXx: State of the Union), David Banner (Black Snake Moan), and 50 Cent (Home of the Brave). Additionally, Jackson has appeared in five films with actor Bruce Willis (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Unbreakable, and Glass) and the actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit before both dropped out.
In 2002, Marvel Comics designed their "Ultimate" version of the character Nick Fury after his likeness without his consent. Jackson, an active comic book reader, recognized his image in the comics and had his agents contact the publisher who pledged to cast him in future adaptations as Fury In the 2008 film Iron Man, he made a cameo as the character in a post-credit scene. In February 2009, Jackson signed on to a nine-picture deal with Marvel Studios which would see him appear as the character in Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers, as well as any other subsequent film they would produce. He reprised the role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). In 2018 and 2019, Jackson made cameo appearances as Fury in the Avengers sequels Infinity War and Endgame, and starred as a younger, de-aged Fury in Captain Marvel alongside Brie Larson.
Among his more recent film roles, Jackson appeared in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, which was released December 25, 2012, Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, which was released in 70mm on December 25, 2015, and Jordan Vogt-Roberts' Kong: Skull Island, which was released on March 10, 2017. In 2019, Jackson reprised his Unbreakable role as Mr. Glass in the film Glass, and his Shaft role in Shaft, both sequels to his 2000 films. Also in 2019, he appeared in the Brie Larson film Unicorn Store, and had a prominent role as Fury in the Marvel film Spider-Man: Far From Home. Additionally, he reprised his role as Fury in a cameo appearance on the ABC television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in 2013 and the season finale in 2014. In 2020, archival footage of Jackson from Revenge of the Sith was used in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode "Shattered".
2020–present: Return to theater
In 2020, he appeared in the television documentary series Enslaved, with investigative journalist Afua Hirsch as co-presenter. He also appeared in the 2021 movie Spiral: From the Book of Saw alongside Chris Rock. After an 11-year absence from the stage, Jackson returned to Broadway as Doaker Charles in a revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson, opposite John David Washington and Danielle Brooks. The 2022 production was directed by Jackson's wife, LaTanya Richardson Jackson. For his performance, he received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play nomination. He reprised his role as Nick Fury in the Disney+ series Secret Invasion, and in The Marvels, the sequel to Captain Marvel. The following year, Jackson had a minor role in the Matthew Vaughn-directed spy comedy Argylle (2024).
Upcoming projects
Jackson is set to produce a live-action film adaptation of Afro Samurai, and will play the role of Sho'nuff in a remake of The Last Dragon. He is also appeared opposite Pierce Brosnan in The Unholy Trinity.
Filming began for Last Meals in late November 2023.
On June 5, 2025 it was announced that NOLA King, a spin-off series of Tulsa King set in New Orleans, was in the works at Paramount+ and would star Jackson in a similar role as the mobster character Slyvester Stallone plays in Tulsa King. Jackson's character will be introduced in the upcoming 3rd season of Tulsa King which is currently in production.
Other appearances
Jackson is known for his extensive voice roles including Whiplash in Turbo (2013), the title character of the anime series Afro Samurai (2007), and Frank Tenpenny in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004). He also narrated the acclaimed documentary I Am Not Your Negro (2016).
In addition to films, Jackson also appeared in several television shows, a video game, music videos, as well as audiobooks. Jackson had a small part in the Public Enemy music video for "911 Is a Joke". Jackson voiced several television show characters, including the lead role in the anime series, Afro Samurai, in addition to a recurring part as the voice of Gin Rummy in several episodes of the animated series The Boondocks. He was in the pilot for Ghostwriter. He guest-starred as himself in an episode of the BBC/HBO sitcom Extras. He voiced the main antagonist, Officer Frank Tenpenny, in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Jackson also hosted a variety of awards shows. He has hosted the MTV Movie Awards (1998), the ESPYs (1999, 2001, 2002, and 2009), and the Spike TV Video Game Awards (2005, 2006, 2007, and 2012). In November 2006, he provided the voice of God for The Bible Experience, the New Testament audiobook version of the Bible. He was given the lead role because producers believed his deep, authoritative voice would best fit the role. He also recorded the Audible.com audiobook of Go the Fuck to Sleep. For the Atlanta Falcons' 2010 season, Jackson portrayed Rev. Sultan in the Falcons "Rise Up" commercial.
Jackson appeared in the Capital One cash-back credit card commercials, and he also appeared in a Sky Broadband Shield commercial, Sky UK's broadband service as Nick Fury to promote Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Additionally, he played Nick Fury in an ad for the video game Marvel Snap. Jackson released a song about social justice with KRS-One, Sticky Fingaz, Mad Lion and Talib Kweli about violence in America called "I Can't Breathe", which were the last words said by Eric Garner.
Jackson was a special guest in Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime show portraying "Uncle Sam".
Box-office performance
Throughout the 1990s, A.C. Neilson E.C.I., a box office–tracking company, determined that Jackson appeared in more films than any other actor who grossed $1.7 billion domestically. By 2011, the films that featured Jackson as a leading actor or supporting co-star had grossed a total of $2.81 to $4.91 billion at the North American box office. This placed him as the seventh-highest-grossing lead actor and the second-highest-grossing actor, behind only voice actor Frank Welker. The 2009 edition of The Guinness World Records, which uses a different calculation to determine film grosses, stated that Jackson is the world's highest-grossing actor, with $7.42 billion generated across 68 films. Subsequently, as of 2022, according to data calculated by the Golden Globes, this total has grown to more than $27 billion grossed across 152 movies, making him the highest-grossing actor, and second-highest grossing person in film in general behind Stan Lee, who was primarily known for his cameo work.
Audiobooks
2011: Adam Mansbach: Go the Fuck to Sleep, publisher: BRILLIANCE CORP, ISBN 978-1-4558-4165-3
2014: Chester Himes: A Rage in Harlem, publisher: BRILLIANCE CORP, ISBN 978-1-4915-1908-0
Personal life
In 1980, Jackson married actress and producer LaTanya Richardson, whom he met while attending Morehouse College. The couple have a daughter named Zoe (b. 1982). In 2009, they started their own charity to help support education. Jackson has said that he watches his own films in cinemas: "Even during my theater years, I wished I could watch the plays I was in—while I was in them! I dig watching myself work." He also enjoys collecting the action figures of the characters he portrays in his films, including Jules Winnfield, Shaft, Mace Windu, and Frozone.
Jackson is known for his use of the word motherfucker. He has explained he utilizes the word to get through a speech block as he still has days where he stutters. A fundraising campaign of his, Motherfunder, alludes to this reputation. Articles and references to Jackson acknowledge this speech connection.
He is bald but often wears wigs for his roles. He said about his decision to shave his head, "I keep ending up on those 'bald is beautiful' lists. It's cool. You know, when I started losing my hair, it was during the era when everybody had lots of hair. All of a sudden, I felt this big hole in the middle of my afro. I couldn't face having a comb over so I had to quickly figure what the haircut for me was." His first bald role was in The Great White Hype. He usually gets to pick his own hairstyles for each character he portrays. He poked fun at his baldness the first time he appeared bald on The Tonight Show, explaining that he had to shave his head for one role, but then kept receiving more and more bald roles and had to keep shaving his head so that wigs could be made for him. He joked that "the only way [he's] gonna have time to grow [his] hair back is if [he's] not working". He is noted for often wearing a Kangol hat in public.
Jackson is an avid golfer. He has a clause in his contracts that allows him to play golf during film shoots. He has played in the Gary Player Invitational charity golf tournament to assist Player in raising funds for children in South Africa. He is a keen basketball fan, supporting the Toronto Raptors and the Harlem Globetrotters. Jackson has supported English football team Liverpool FC since appearing in The 51st State, which was shot in Liverpool. He also supports Irish football team Bohemian FC. He is fan of the Atlanta Falcons.
He was granted Gabonese citizenship in 2019 after the results of a DNA test claimed to link him to the country's Benga ethnic group. Jackson stopped drinking alcohol after having problems with addiction.
Politics and activism
Jackson campaigned during the 2008 Democratic Primary for Barack Obama in Texarkana, Texas. He said, "Barack Obama represents everything I was told I could be growing up. I am a child of segregation. When I grew up and people told me I could be president, I knew it was a lie. But now we have a representative... the American Dream is a reality. Anyone can grow up to be a president." He also said, "I voted for Barack because he was black. That's why other folks vote for other people—because they look like them." In December 2012, he compared his Django Unchained character, a villainous house slave who sides with his white oppressors, to black conservative Justice Clarence Thomas and said that the character had "the same moral compass as Clarence Thomas does". Following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022, he again criticized Thomas, referring to him as "Uncle Clarence" and asking how Thomas—who is married to white attorney Ginni Thomas—feels about overturning Loving v. Virginia, a Supreme Court ruling that prohibited states from outlawing interracial marriages.
In June 2013, Jackson launched a joint campaign with Prizeo in an effort to raise money to fight Alzheimer's disease. As part of the campaign, he recited various fan-written monologues and a popular scene from the AMC series Breaking Bad. In August 2013, he started following a vegan diet for health reasons, explaining that he is "just trying to live forever". He attributed his 40 lb (18 kg) weight loss to the diet. He had largely abandoned the diet by March 2017, but still praised and recommended it. He launched a campaign called "One for the Boys", which teaches men about testicular cancer and urges them to "get themselves checked out".
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jackson encouraged people to wear face masks as part of California's "Your Actions Save Lives" campaign. Along with Dwayne Johnson, he also encouraged those who had recovered from COVID-19 to donate their blood to help others fighting the virus. He additionally appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to read a satirical book, Stay the Fuck at Home, which spread awareness of social distancing.
Jackson endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election and spoke at one of her campaign rallies on October 24, 2024.
Filmography
Awards and honors
Over the course of his career, Jackson has received various awards for his performances on film. At the 44th Cannes Film Festival he received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991). He received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for his performance in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994). He also received Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for the performance as well. At the 48th Berlin International Film Festival, he received Silver Bear for Best Actor for his leading performance in Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997). In 2021, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named Jackson as one of its Academy Honorary Award recipients as "A cultural icon whose dynamic work has resonated across genres and generations and audiences worldwide." At the 12th Annual Governors Awards in 2022, friend and actor Denzel Washington presented Jackson with his Oscar.
Notes
References
Further reading
Dils, Tracey E. (1999). Samuel L. Jackson. Black Americans of Achievement. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publications. ISBN 0-7910-5282-6. OCLC 41885637.
Hudson, Jeff (2004). Samuel L. Jackson: The Unauthorised Biography. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-024-1. OCLC 224038091.
Jordan, Pat (April 26, 2012). "How Samuel L. Jackson Became His Own Genre". The New York Times.
External links
Samuel L. Jackson at IMDb
Samuel L. Jackson at the Internet Broadway Database
Samuel L. Jackson at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
Samuel L. Jackson at the TCM Movie Database
Samuel L. Jackson at Rotten Tomatoes
Samuel L. Jackson collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Samuel L. Jackson collected news and commentary at The Guardian
Extensive biography of Samuel L. Jackson
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Karl Marx
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Karl Marx (German: [ˈkaʁl ˈmaʁks]; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto (written with Friedrich Engels), and his three-volume Das Kapital (1867–1894), a critique of classical political economy which employs his theory of historical materialism in an analysis of capitalism, in the culmination of his life's work. Marx's ideas and their subsequent development, collectively known as Marxism, have had enormous influence.
Born in Trier in the Kingdom of Prussia, Marx studied at the University of Bonn and the University of Berlin, and received a doctoral degree in philosophy from the University of Jena in 1841. A Young Hegelian, he was influenced by the philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and both critiqued and developed Hegel's ideas in works such as The German Ideology (written 1846) and the Grundrisse (written 1857–1858). While in Paris, Marx wrote his Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and met Engels, who became his closest friend and collaborator. After moving to Brussels in 1845, they were active in the Communist League, and in 1848 they wrote The Communist Manifesto, which expresses Marx's ideas and lays out a programme for revolution. Marx was expelled from Belgium and Germany, and in 1849 moved to London, where he wrote The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852) and Das Kapital. From 1864, Marx was involved in the International Workingmen's Association (First International), in which he fought the influence of anarchists led by Mikhail Bakunin. In his Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875), Marx wrote on revolution, the state and the transition to communism. He died stateless in 1883 and was buried in Highgate Cemetery.
Marx's critiques of history, society and political economy hold that human societies develop through class conflict. In the capitalist mode of production, this manifests itself in the conflict between the ruling classes (the bourgeoisie) that control the means of production and the working classes (the proletariat) that enable these means by selling their labour power for wages. Employing his historical materialist approach, Marx predicted that capitalism produced internal tensions like previous socioeconomic systems and that these tensions would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system known as the socialist mode of production. For Marx, class antagonisms under capitalism—owing in part to its instability and crisis-prone nature—would eventuate the working class's development of class consciousness, leading to their conquest of political power and eventually the establishment of a classless, communist society constituted by a free association of producers. Marx actively pressed for its implementation, arguing that the working class should carry out organised proletarian revolutionary action to topple capitalism and bring about socio-economic emancipation.
Marx has been described as one of the most influential figures of the modern era, and his work has been both lauded and criticised. Marxism has exerted major influence on socialist thought and political movements, with Marxist schools of thought such as Marxism–Leninism and its offshoots becoming the guiding ideologies of revolutions that took power in many countries during the 20th century, forming communist states. Marx's work in economics has had a strong influence on modern heterodox theories of labour and capital, and he is often cited as one of the principal architects of modern sociology.
Biography
Childhood and early education: 1818–1836
Karl Marx was born on 5 May 1818 to Heinrich Marx and Henriette Pressburg, at Brückengasse 664 in Trier, then part of the Kingdom of Prussia. Marx's family was originally non-religious Jewish but had converted formally to Christianity before his birth. His maternal grandfather was a Dutch rabbi, while his paternal line had supplied Trier's rabbis since 1723, a role taken by his grandfather Meier Halevi Marx. His father was the first in the line to receive a secular education. He became a lawyer with a comfortably upper middle class income and the family owned a number of Moselle vineyards, in addition to his income as an attorney. After Prussia's annexation of the Rhineland in 1815 and the subsequent abrogation of Jewish emancipation, Heinrich converted from Judaism to the state Evangelical Church of Prussia in order to retain his career as a lawyer.
Largely non-religious, Heinrich was a man of the Enlightenment, interested in the ideas of the philosophers Immanuel Kant and Voltaire. A classical liberal, he took part in agitation for a constitution and reforms in Prussia, which was then an absolute monarchy. In 1815, Heinrich Marx began working as an attorney and in 1819 moved his family to a ten-room property near the Porta Nigra. His wife, Henriette Pressburg, was a Dutch Jew from a prosperous business family that later founded the company Philips Electronics. Her sister Sophie Pressburg married Lion Philips and was the grandmother of both Gerard and Anton Philips and great-grandmother to Frits Philips. Lion Philips was a wealthy Dutch tobacco manufacturer and industrialist, upon whom Karl and Jenny Marx would later often come to rely for loans while they were exiled in London.
Little is known of Marx's childhood. The third of nine children, he became the eldest son when his brother Moritz died in 1819. Marx and his surviving siblings were baptised into the Lutheran Church on 28 August 1824, and their mother in November 1825. Marx was privately educated by his father until 1830 when he entered Trier High School (Trier High School), whose headmaster, Hugo Wyttenbach, was a friend of his father. By employing many liberal humanists as teachers, Wyttenbach incurred the anger of the local conservative government. In 1832, police raided the school and discovered that literature promoting political liberalism was being distributed among the students. Viewing the distribution of such material as a seditious act, the authorities implemented reforms and replaced several members of the staff during Marx's time at the school.
In October 1835 at the age of 16, Marx travelled to the University of Bonn wishing to study philosophy and literature, but his father insisted on law as a more practical field. Due to a condition referred to as a "weak chest", Marx was excused from military duty when he turned 18. While at the University at Bonn, Marx joined the Poets' Club, a group containing political radicals that were monitored by the police. Marx also joined the Trier Tavern Club drinking society and at one point served as the club's co-president. In August 1836 he took part in a duel with a member of the university's Borussian Korps. Although his grades in the first term were good, they soon deteriorated, leading his father to force a transfer to the more serious and academic University of Berlin.
Hegelianism and early journalism: 1836–1843
Spending summer and autumn 1836 in Trier, Marx became more serious about his studies and his life. He became engaged to Jenny von Westphalen, an educated member of the petty nobility who had known Marx since childhood. As she had broken off her engagement with a young aristocrat to be with Marx, their relationship was socially controversial owing to the differences between their religious and class origins, but Marx befriended her father Ludwig von Westphalen (a liberal aristocrat) and later dedicated his doctoral thesis to him. Seven years after their engagement, on 19 June 1843, they married in a Protestant church in Kreuznach.
In October 1836, Marx arrived in Berlin, matriculating in the university's faculty of law and renting a room in the Mittelstrasse. During the first term, Marx attended lectures of Eduard Gans (who represented the progressive Hegelian standpoint, elaborated on rational development in history by emphasising particularly its libertarian aspects, and the importance of social question) and of Karl von Savigny (who represented the Historical School of Law). Although studying law, he was fascinated by philosophy and looked for a way to combine the two, believing that "without philosophy nothing could be accomplished". Marx became interested in the recently deceased German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, whose ideas were then widely debated among European philosophical circles. During a convalescence in Stralau, he joined the Doctors Club, a student group which discussed Hegelian ideas, and through them became involved with a group of radical thinkers known as the Young Hegelians in 1837. They gathered around Ludwig Feuerbach and Bruno Bauer, with Marx developing a particularly close friendship with Adolf Rutenberg. Like Marx, the Young Hegelians were critical of Hegel's metaphysical assumptions but adopted his dialectical method to criticise established society, politics and religion from a left-wing perspective. Marx's father died in May 1838, resulting in a diminished income for the family. Marx had been emotionally close to his father and treasured his memory after his death.
By 1837, Marx had completed a short novel, Scorpion and Felix; a drama, Oulanem; and a number of love poems dedicated to his wife. None of this early work was published during his lifetime. The love poems were published posthumously in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 1. Marx soon abandoned fiction for other pursuits, including the study of English and Italian, art history and the translation of Latin classics. He began co-operating with Bruno Bauer on editing Hegel's Philosophy of Religion in 1840. Marx was also engaged in writing his doctoral thesis, The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature, which he completed in 1841. It was described as "a daring and original piece of work in which Marx set out to show that theology must yield to the superior wisdom of philosophy". The essay was controversial, particularly among the conservative professors at the University of Berlin. Marx decided instead to submit his thesis to the more liberal University of Jena, whose faculty awarded him his Ph.D. in April 1841. As Marx and Bauer were both atheists, in March 1841 they began plans for a journal entitled Archiv des Atheismus (Atheistic Archives), but it never came to fruition. In July, Marx and Bauer took a trip to Bonn from Berlin. There they scandalised their class by getting drunk, laughing in church and galloping through the streets on donkeys.
Marx was considering an academic career, but this path was barred by the government's growing opposition to classical liberalism and the Young Hegelians. Marx moved to Cologne in 1842, where he became a journalist, writing for the radical newspaper Rheinische Zeitung (Rhineland News), expressing his early views on socialism and his developing interest in economics. Marx criticised right-wing European governments as well as figures in the liberal and socialist movements, whom he thought ineffective or counter-productive. The newspaper attracted the attention of the Prussian government censors, who checked every issue for seditious material before printing, which Marx lamented: "Our newspaper has to be presented to the police to be sniffed at, and if the police nose smells anything un-Christian or un-Prussian, the newspaper is not allowed to appear". After the Rheinische Zeitung published an article strongly criticising the Russian monarchy, Tsar Nicholas I requested it be banned, and Prussia's government complied in 1843.
Paris: 1843–1845
In 1843, Marx became co-editor of a new, radical left-wing Parisian newspaper, the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher (German-French Annals), then being set up by the German activist Arnold Ruge to bring together German and French radicals. Therefore Marx and his wife moved to Paris in October 1843. Initially living with Ruge and his wife communally at 23 Rue Vaneau, they found the living conditions difficult, so moved out following the birth of their daughter Jenny in 1844. Although intended to attract writers from both France and the German states, the Jahrbücher was dominated by the latter and the only non-German writer was the exiled Russian anarchist collectivist Mikhail Bakunin. Marx contributed two essays to the paper, "Introduction to a Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right" and "On the Jewish Question", the latter introducing his belief that the proletariat were a revolutionary force and marking his embrace of communism. Only one issue was published, but it was relatively successful, largely owing to the inclusion of Heinrich Heine's satirical odes on King Ludwig of Bavaria, leading the German states to ban it and seize imported copies (Ruge nevertheless refused to fund the publication of further issues and his friendship with Marx broke down).
After Jahrbücher's collapse, Marx began writing for Vorwärts! (Forwards!), the only remaining uncensored German-language radical newspaper. Based in Paris, the paper was connected to the League of the Just, a utopian socialist secret society of workers and artisans. Marx attended some of their meetings but did not join. In Vorwärts!, Marx refined his views on socialism based upon Hegelian and Feuerbachian ideas of dialectical materialism, at the same time criticising liberals and other socialists operating in Europe.
On 28 August 1844, Marx met the German socialist Friedrich Engels at the Café de la Régence, beginning a lifelong friendship. Engels showed Marx his recently published The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, convincing Marx that the working class would be the agent and instrument of the final revolution in history. Soon, Marx and Engels were collaborating on a criticism of the philosophical ideas of Marx's former friend, Bruno Bauer. This work was published in 1845 as The Holy Family. Although critical of Bauer, Marx was increasingly influenced by the ideas of the Young Hegelians Max Stirner and Ludwig Feuerbach, but eventually Marx and Engels abandoned Feuerbachian materialism as well.
During the time that he lived at 38 Rue Vaneau in Paris (from October 1843 until January 1845), Marx engaged in an intensive study of political economy (Adam Smith, David Ricardo, James Mill, etc.), the French socialists (especially Claude Henri St. Simon and Charles Fourier) and the history of France. The study of, and critique, of political economy is a project that Marx would pursue for the rest of his life and would result in his major economic work—the three-volume series called Das Kapital. Marxism is based in large part on three influences: Hegel's dialectics, French utopian socialism and British political economy. Together with his earlier study of Hegel's dialectics, the studying that Marx did during this time in Paris meant that all major components of "Marxism" were in place by the autumn of 1844. Marx was constantly being pulled away from his critique of political economy—not only by the usual daily demands of the time, but additionally by editing a radical newspaper and later by organising and directing the efforts of a political party during years of potentially revolutionary popular uprisings of the citizenry. Still, Marx was always drawn back to his studies where he sought "to understand the inner workings of capitalism".
An outline of "Marxism" had definitely formed in the mind of Karl Marx by late 1844. Indeed, many features of the Marxist view of the world had been worked out in great detail, but Marx needed to write down all of the details of his world view to further clarify the new critique of political economy in his own mind. Accordingly, Marx wrote The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts. These manuscripts covered numerous topics, detailing Marx's concept of alienated labour. By the spring of 1845, his continued study of political economy, capital and capitalism had led Marx to the belief that the new critique of political economy he was espousing—that of scientific socialism—needed to be built on the base of a thoroughly developed materialistic view of the world.
The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 had been written between April and August 1844, but soon Marx recognised that the Manuscripts had been influenced by some inconsistent ideas of Ludwig Feuerbach. Accordingly, Marx recognised the need to break with Feuerbach's philosophy in favour of historical materialism, thus a year later (in April 1845) after moving from Paris to Brussels, Marx wrote his eleven "Theses on Feuerbach". The "Theses on Feuerbach" are best known for Thesis 11, which states that "philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways, the point is to change it". This work contains Marx's criticism of materialism (for being contemplative), idealism (for reducing practice to theory), and, overall, philosophy (for putting abstract reality above the physical world). It thus introduced the first glimpse at Marx's historical materialism, an argument that the world is changed not by ideas but by actual, physical, material activity and practice. In 1845, after receiving a request from the Prussian king, the French government shut down Vorwärts!, with the interior minister, François Guizot, expelling Marx from France.
Brussels: 1845–1848
Unable either to stay in France or to move to Germany, Marx decided to emigrate to Brussels in Belgium in February 1845. However, to stay in Belgium he had to pledge not to publish anything on the subject of contemporary politics. In Brussels, Marx associated with other exiled socialists from across Europe, including Moses Hess, Karl Heinzen and Joseph Weydemeyer. In April 1845, Engels moved from Barmen in Germany to Brussels to join Marx and the growing cadre of members of the League of the Just now seeking home in Brussels. Later, Mary Burns, Engels' long-time companion, left Manchester, England to join Engels in Brussels.
In mid-July 1845, Marx and Engels left Brussels for England to visit the leaders of the Chartists, a working-class movement in Britain. This was Marx's first trip to England and Engels was an ideal guide for the trip. Engels had already spent two years living in Manchester from November 1842 to August 1844. Not only did Engels already know the English language, but he had also developed a close relationship with many Chartist leaders. Indeed, Engels was serving as a reporter for many Chartist and socialist English newspapers. Marx used the trip as an opportunity to examine the economic resources available for study in various libraries in London and Manchester.
In collaboration with Engels, Marx also set about writing a book which is often seen as his best treatment of the concept of historical materialism, The German Ideology. In this work, Marx broke with Ludwig Feuerbach, Bruno Bauer, Max Stirner and the rest of the Young Hegelians, while he also broke with Karl Grün and other "true socialists" whose philosophies were still based in part on "idealism". In German Ideology, Marx and Engels finally completed their philosophy, which was based solely on materialism as the sole motor force in history. German Ideology is written in a humorously satirical form, but even this satirical form did not save the work from censorship. Like so many other early writings of his, German Ideology would not be published in Marx's lifetime and was published only in 1932.
After completing German Ideology, Marx turned to a work that was intended to clarify his own position regarding "the theory and tactics" of a truly "revolutionary proletarian movement" operating from the standpoint of a truly "scientific materialist" philosophy. This work was intended to draw a distinction between the utopian socialists and Marx's own scientific socialist philosophy. Whereas the utopians believed that people must be persuaded one person at a time to join the socialist movement, the way a person must be persuaded to adopt any different belief, Marx knew that people would tend, on most occasions, to act in accordance with their own economic interests, thus appealing to an entire class (the working class in this case) with a broad appeal to the class's best material interest would be the best way to mobilise the broad mass of that class to make a revolution and change society. This was the intent of the new book that Marx was planning, but to get the manuscript past the government censors he called the book The Poverty of Philosophy (1847) and offered it as a response to the "petty-bourgeois philosophy" of the French anarchist socialist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon as expressed in his book The Philosophy of Poverty (1840).
These books laid the foundation for Marx and Engels's most famous work, a political pamphlet that has since come to be commonly known as The Communist Manifesto. While residing in Brussels in 1846, Marx continued his association with the secret radical organisation League of the Just. As noted above, Marx thought the League to be just the sort of radical organisation that was needed to spur the working class of Europe toward the mass movement that would bring about a working-class revolution. However, to organise the working class into a mass movement the League had to cease its "secret" or "underground" orientation and operate in the open as a political party. Members of the League eventually became persuaded in this regard. Accordingly, in June 1847 the League was reorganised by its membership into a new open "above ground" political society that appealed directly to the working classes. This new open political society was called the Communist League. Both Marx and Engels participated in drawing up the programme and organisational principles of the new Communist League.
In late 1847, Marx and Engels began writing what was to become their most famous work – a programme of action for the Communist League. Written jointly by Marx and Engels from December 1847 to January 1848, The Communist Manifesto was first published on 21 February 1848. The Communist Manifesto laid out the beliefs of the new Communist League. No longer a secret society, the Communist League wanted to make aims and intentions clear to the general public rather than hiding its beliefs as the League of the Just had been doing. The opening lines of the pamphlet set forth the principal basis of Marxism: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles". It goes on to examine the antagonisms that Marx claimed were arising in the clashes of interest between the bourgeoisie (the wealthy capitalist class) and the proletariat (the industrial working class). Proceeding on from this, the Manifesto presents the argument for why the Communist League, as opposed to other socialist and liberal political parties and groups at the time, was truly acting in the interests of the proletariat to overthrow capitalist society and to replace it with socialism.
Later that year, Europe experienced a series of protests, rebellions, and often violent upheavals that became known as the Revolutions of 1848. In France, a revolution led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the French Second Republic. Marx was supportive of such activity and having recently received a substantial inheritance from his father (withheld by his uncle Lionel Philips since his father's death in 1838) of either 6,000 or 5,000 francs he allegedly used a third of it to arm Belgian workers who were planning revolutionary action. Although the veracity of these allegations is disputed, the Belgian Ministry of Justice accused Marx of it, subsequently arresting him and he was forced to flee back to France, where with a new republican government in power he believed that he would be safe.
Cologne: 1848–1849
Temporarily settling down in Paris, Marx transferred the Communist League executive headquarters to the city and also set up a German Workers' Club with various German socialists living there. Hoping to see the revolution spread to Germany, in 1848 Marx moved back to Cologne where he began issuing a handbill entitled the Demands of the Communist Party in Germany, in which he argued for only four of the ten points of the Communist Manifesto, believing that in Germany at that time the bourgeoisie must overthrow the feudal monarchy and aristocracy before the proletariat could overthrow the bourgeoisie. On 1 June, Marx started the publication of a daily newspaper, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, which he helped to finance through his recent inheritance from his father. Designed to put forward news from across Europe with his own Marxist interpretation of events, the newspaper featured Marx as a primary writer and the dominant editorial influence. Despite contributions by fellow members of the Communist League, according to Friedrich Engels it remained "a simple dictatorship by Marx".
Whilst editor of the paper, Marx and the other revolutionary socialists were regularly harassed by the police and Marx was brought to trial on several occasions, facing various allegations including insulting the Chief Public Prosecutor, committing a press misdemeanor and inciting armed rebellion through tax boycotting, although each time he was acquitted. Meanwhile, the democratic parliament in Prussia collapsed and the king, Frederick William IV, introduced a new cabinet of his reactionary supporters, who implemented counterrevolutionary measures to expunge left-wing and other revolutionary elements from the country. Consequently, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung was soon suppressed, and Marx was ordered to leave the country on 16 May 1849. Marx returned to Paris, which was then under the grip of both a reactionary counterrevolution and a cholera epidemic, and was soon expelled by the city authorities, who considered him a political threat. With his wife Jenny expecting their fourth child and with Marx not able to move back to Germany or Belgium, in August 1849 he sought refuge in London.
Move to London and further writing: 1850–1860
Marx moved to London in early June 1849 and would remain based in the city for the rest of his life. The headquarters of the Communist League also moved to London. However, in the winter of 1849–1850, a split within the ranks of the Communist League occurred when a faction within it led by August Willich and Karl Schapper began agitating for an immediate uprising. Willich and Schapper believed that once the Communist League had initiated the uprising, the entire working class from across Europe would rise "spontaneously" to join it, thus creating revolution across Europe. Marx and Engels protested that such an unplanned uprising on the part of the Communist League was "adventuristic" and would be suicide for the Communist League. Such an uprising as that recommended by the Schapper/Willich group would easily be crushed by the police and the armed forces of the reactionary governments of Europe. Marx maintained that this would spell doom for the Communist League itself, arguing that changes in society are not achieved overnight through the efforts and will power of a handful of men. They are instead brought about through a scientific analysis of economic conditions of society and by moving toward revolution through different stages of social development. In the present stage of development (circa 1850), following the defeat of the uprisings across Europe in 1848 he felt that the Communist League should encourage the working class to unite with progressive elements of the rising bourgeoisie to defeat the feudal aristocracy on issues involving demands for governmental reforms, such as a constitutional republic with freely elected assemblies and universal (male) suffrage. In other words, the working class must join with bourgeois and democratic forces to bring about the successful conclusion of the bourgeois revolution before stressing the working-class agenda and a working-class revolution.
After a long struggle that threatened to ruin the Communist League, Marx's opinion prevailed and eventually, the Willich/Schapper group left the Communist League. Meanwhile, Marx also became heavily involved with the socialist German Workers' Educational Society. The Society held their meetings in Great Windmill Street, Soho, central London's entertainment district. This organisation was also racked by an internal struggle among its members, some of whom followed Marx while others followed the Schapper/Willich faction. The issues in this internal split were the same issues raised in the internal split within the Communist League, but Marx lost the fight with the Schapper/Willich faction within the German Workers' Educational Society and on 17 September 1850 resigned from the Society.
New-York Daily Tribune and journalism
In the early period in London, Marx committed himself almost exclusively to his studies, such that his family endured extreme poverty. His main source of income was Engels, whose own source was his wealthy industrialist father. In Prussia as editor of his own newspaper, and contributor to others ideologically aligned, Marx could reach his audience, the working classes. In London, without finances to run a newspaper themselves, he and Engels turned to international journalism. At one stage they were being published by six newspapers from England, the United States, Prussia, Austria, and South Africa. Marx's principal earnings came from his work as European correspondent, from 1852 to 1862, for the New-York Daily Tribune, and from also producing articles for more "bourgeois" newspapers. Marx had his articles translated from German by Wilhelm Pieper, until his proficiency in English had become adequate.
The New-York Daily Tribune had been founded in April 1841 by Horace Greeley. Its editorial board contained progressive bourgeois journalists and publishers, among them George Ripley and the journalist Charles Dana, who was editor-in-chief. Dana, a fourierist and an abolitionist, was Marx's contact. The Tribune was a vehicle for Marx to reach a transatlantic public, such as for his "hidden warfare" against Henry Charles Carey. The journal had wide working-class appeal from its foundation; at two cents, it was inexpensive; and, with about 50,000 copies per issue, its circulation was the widest in the United States. Its editorial ethos was progressive and its anti-slavery stance reflected Greeley's. Marx's first article for the paper, on the British parliamentary elections, was published on 21 August 1852.
On 21 March 1857, Dana informed Marx that due to the economic recession only one article a week would be paid for, published or not; the others would be paid for only if published. Marx had sent his articles on Tuesdays and Fridays, but, that October, the Tribune discharged all its correspondents in Europe except Marx and B. Taylor, and reduced Marx to a weekly article. Between September and November 1860, only five were published. After a six-month interval, Marx resumed contributions from September 1861 until March 1862, when Dana wrote to inform him that there was no longer space in the Tribune for reports from London, due to American domestic affairs. In 1868, Dana set up a rival newspaper, the New York Sun, at which he was editor-in-chief. In April 1857, Dana invited Marx to contribute articles, mainly on military history, to the New American Cyclopedia, an idea of George Ripley, Dana's friend and literary editor of the Tribune. In all, 67 Marx-Engels articles were published, of which 51 were written by Engels, although Marx did some research for them in the British Museum. By the late 1850s, American popular interest in European affairs waned and Marx's articles turned to topics such as the "slavery crisis" and the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 in the "War Between the States". Between December 1851 and March 1852, Marx worked on his theoretical work about the French Revolution of 1848, titled The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon. In this he explored concepts in historical materialism, class struggle, dictatorship of the proletariat, and victory of the proletariat over the bourgeois state.
The 1850s and 1860s may be said to mark a philosophical boundary distinguishing the young Marx's Hegelian idealism and the more mature Marx's scientific ideology associated with structural Marxism. However, not all scholars accept this distinction. For Marx and Engels, their experience of the Revolutions of 1848 to 1849 were formative in the development of their theory of economics and historical progression. After the "failures" of 1848, the revolutionary impetus appeared spent and not to be renewed without an economic recession. Contention arose between Marx and his fellow communists, whom he denounced as "adventurists". Marx deemed it fanciful to propose that "will power" could be sufficient to create the revolutionary conditions when in reality the economic component was the necessary requisite. The recession in the United States' economy in 1852 gave Marx and Engels grounds for optimism for revolutionary activity, yet this economy was seen as too immature for a capitalist revolution. Open territories on America's western frontier dissipated the forces of social unrest. Moreover, any economic crisis arising in the United States would not lead to revolutionary contagion of the older economies of individual European nations, which were closed systems bounded by their national borders. When the so-called Panic of 1857 in the United States spread globally, it broke all economic theory models, and was the first truly global economic crisis.
First International and Das Kapital
Marx continued to write articles for the New York Daily Tribune as long as he was sure that the Tribune's editorial policy was still progressive. However, the departure of Charles Dana from the paper in late 1861 and the resultant change in the editorial board brought about a new editorial policy. No longer was the Tribune to be a strong abolitionist paper dedicated to a complete Union victory. The new editorial board supported an immediate peace between the Union and the Confederacy in the Civil War in the United States with slavery left intact in the Confederacy. Marx strongly disagreed with this new political position and in 1863 was forced to withdraw as a writer for the Tribune.
In 1864, Marx became involved in the International Workingmen's Association (known as the First International), to whose General Council he was elected at its inception in 1864. In that organisation, Marx was involved in the struggle against the anarchist wing centred on Mikhail Bakunin. Although Marx won this contest, the transfer of the seat of the General Council from London to New York in 1872, which Marx supported, led to the decline of the International. The most important political event during the existence of the International was the Paris Commune of 1871 when the citizens of Paris rebelled against their government and held the city for two months. In response to the bloody suppression of this rebellion, Marx wrote one of his most famous pamphlets, "The Civil War in France", a defence of the Commune.
Given the repeated failures and frustrations of workers' revolutions and movements, Marx also sought to understand and provide a critique suitable for the capitalist mode of production, and hence spent a great deal of time in the reading room of the British Museum studying. By 1857, Marx had accumulated over 800 pages of notes and short essays on capital, landed property, wage labour, the state, and foreign trade, and the world market, though this work did not appear in print until 1939, under the title Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie (English: Outlines of the Critique of Political Economy).
In 1859, Marx published A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, his first serious critique of political economy. This work was intended merely as a preview of his three-volume Das Kapital (English title: Capital: Critique of Political Economy), which he intended to publish at a later date. In A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Marx began to critically examine axioms and categories of economic thinking. The work was enthusiastically received, and the edition sold out quickly.
The successful sales of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy stimulated Marx in the early 1860s to finish work on the three large volumes that would compose his major life's work – Das Kapital and the Theories of Surplus Value, which discussed and critiqued the theoreticians of political economy, particularly Adam Smith and David Ricardo. Theories of Surplus Value is often referred to as the fourth volume of Das Kapital and constitutes one of the first comprehensive treatises on the history of economic thought. In 1867, the first volume of Das Kapital was published, a work which critically analysed capital. Das Kapital proposes an explanation of the "laws of motion" of the mode of production from its origins to its future by describing the dynamics of the accumulation of capital, with topics such as the growth of wage labour, the transformation of the workplace, capital accumulation, competition, the banking system, the tendency of the rate of profit to fall and land-rents, as well as how waged labour continually reproduce the rule of capital. Marx proposes that the driving force of capital is in the exploitation of labour, whose unpaid work is the ultimate source of surplus value.
Demand for a Russian language edition of Das Kapital soon led to the printing of 3,000 copies of the book in the Russian language, which was published on 27 March 1872. By the autumn of 1871, the entire first edition of the German-language edition of Das Kapital had been sold out and a second edition was published.
Volumes II and III of Das Kapital remained mere manuscripts upon which Marx continued to work for the rest of his life. Both volumes were published by Engels after Marx's death. Volume II of Das Kapital was prepared and published by Engels in July 1893 under the name Capital II: The Process of Circulation of Capital. Volume III of Das Kapital was published a year later in October 1894 under the name Capital III: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole. Theories of Surplus Value derived from the sprawling Economic Manuscripts of 1861–1863, a second draft for Das Kapital, the latter spanning volumes 30–34 of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels. Specifically, Theories of Surplus Value runs from the latter part of the Collected Works' thirtieth volume through the end of their thirty-second volume; meanwhile, the larger Economic Manuscripts of 1861–1863 run from the start of the Collected Works' thirtieth volume through the first half of their thirty-fourth volume. The latter half of the Collected Works' thirty-fourth volume consists of the surviving fragments of the Economic Manuscripts of 1863–1864, which represented a third draft for Das Kapital, and a large portion of which is included as an appendix to the Penguin edition of Das Kapital, volume I. A German-language abridged edition of Theories of Surplus Value was published in 1905 and in 1910. This abridged edition was translated into English and published in 1951 in London, but the complete unabridged edition of Theories of Surplus Value was published as the "fourth volume" of Das Kapital in 1963 and 1971 in Moscow.
During the last decade of his life, Marx's health declined, and he became incapable of the sustained effort that had characterised his previous work. He did manage to comment substantially on contemporary politics, particularly in Germany and Russia. His Critique of the Gotha Programme opposed the tendency of his followers Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel to compromise with the state socialist ideas of Ferdinand Lassalle in the interests of a united socialist party. This work is also notable for another famous Marx quote: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need".
In a letter to Vera Zasulich dated 8 March 1881, Marx contemplated the possibility of Russia's bypassing the capitalist stage of development and building communism on the basis of the common ownership of land characteristic of the village mir. While admitting that Russia's rural "commune is the fulcrum of social regeneration in Russia", Marx also warned that in order for the mir to operate as a means for moving straight to the socialist stage without a preceding capitalist stage it "would first be necessary to eliminate the deleterious influences which are assailing it [the rural commune] from all sides". Given the elimination of these pernicious influences, Marx allowed that "normal conditions of spontaneous development" of the rural commune could exist. However, in the same letter to Vera Zasulich he points out that "at the core of the capitalist system ... lies the complete separation of the producer from the means of production". In one of the drafts of this letter, Marx reveals his growing passion for anthropology, motivated by his belief that future communism would be a return on a higher level to the communism of our prehistoric past. He wrote: the historical trend of our age is the fatal crisis which capitalist production has undergone in the European and American countries where it has reached its highest peak, a crisis that will end in its destruction, in the return of modern society to a higher form of the most archaic type – collective production and appropriation. He added that "the vitality of primitive communities was incomparably greater than that of Semitic, Greek, Roman, etc. societies, and, a fortiori, that of modern capitalist societies". Before he died, Marx asked Engels to write up these ideas, which were published in 1884 under the title The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.
Personal life
Family
Marx and von Westphalen had seven children together, but partly owing to the poor conditions in which they lived whilst in London, only three survived to adulthood. Their children were: Jenny Caroline (m. Longuet; 1844–1883); Jenny Laura (m. Lafargue; 1845–1911); Edgar (1847–1855); Henry Edward Guy ("Guido"; 1849–1850); Jenny Eveline Frances ("Franziska"; 1851–1852); Jenny Julia Eleanor (1855–1898) and one more who died before being named (July 1857). According to his son-in-law, Paul Lafargue, Marx was a loving father. In 1962, there were allegations that Marx fathered a son, Freddy, out of wedlock by his housekeeper, Helene Demuth, but the claim is disputed for lack of documented evidence.
Helene Demuth was also largely entrusted as a confidante. In her obituary, penned by Friedrich Engels, her role is revealed as: "Marx took counsel of Helena Demuth, not only in difficult and intricate party matters, but even in respect of his economical writings".
Marx frequently used pseudonyms, often when renting a house or flat, apparently to make it harder for the authorities to track him down. While in Paris, he used that of "Monsieur Ramboz", whilst in London, he signed off his letters as "A. Williams". His friends referred to him as "Moor", owing to his dark complexion and black curly hair, while he encouraged his children to call him "Old Nick" and "Charley". He also bestowed nicknames and pseudonyms on his friends and family, referring to Friedrich Engels as "General", his housekeeper Helene as "Lenchen" or "Nym", while one of his daughters, Jennychen, was referred to as "Qui Qui, Emperor of China" and another, Laura, was known as "Kakadou" or "the Hottentot".
Health
Marx drank heavily after joining the Trier Tavern Club drinking society in the 1830s, and continued to do so until his death.
Marx was afflicted by poor health, what he himself described as "the wretchedness of existence", and various authors have sought to describe and explain it. His biographer Werner Blumenberg attributed it to liver and gall problems which Marx had in 1849 and from which he was never afterward free, exacerbated by an unsuitable lifestyle. The attacks often came with headaches, eye inflammation, neuralgia in the head, and rheumatic pains. A serious nervous disorder appeared in 1877 and protracted insomnia was a consequence, which Marx fought with narcotics.
The illness was aggravated by excessive nocturnal work and faulty diet. Marx was fond of highly seasoned dishes, smoked fish, caviare, pickled cucumbers, "none of which are good for liver patients", but he also liked wine and liqueurs and smoked an enormous amount "and since he had no money, it was usually bad-quality cigars". From 1863, Marx complained a lot about boils: "These are very frequent with liver patients and may be due to the same causes". The abscesses were so bad that Marx could neither sit nor work upright. According to Blumenberg, Marx's irritability is often found in liver patients:
The illness emphasised certain traits in his character. He argued cuttingly, his biting satire did not shrink at insults, and his expressions could be rude and cruel. Though in general Marx had blind faith in his closest friends, nevertheless he himself complained that he was sometimes too mistrustful and unjust even to them. His verdicts, not only about enemies but even about friends, were sometimes so harsh that even less sensitive people would take offence ... There must have been few whom he did not criticize like this ... not even Engels was an exception.
According to Princeton historian Jerrold Seigel, in his late teens, Marx may have had pneumonia or pleurisy, the effects of which led to his being exempted from Prussian military service. In later life whilst working on Das Kapital (which he never completed), Marx suffered from a trio of afflictions. A liver ailment, probably hereditary, was aggravated by overwork, a bad diet, and lack of sleep. Inflammation of the eyes was induced by too much work at night. A third affliction, eruption of carbuncles or boils, "was probably brought on by general physical debility to which the various features of Marx's style of life – alcohol, tobacco, poor diet, and failure to sleep – all contributed. Engels often exhorted Marx to alter this dangerous regime". In Seigel's thesis, what lay behind this punishing sacrifice of his health may have been guilt about self-involvement and egoism, originally induced in Karl Marx by his father.
In 2007, a retrodiagnosis of Marx's skin disease was made by dermatologist Sam Shuster of Newcastle University. For Shuster, the most probable explanation was that Marx suffered not from liver problems, but from hidradenitis suppurativa, a recurring infective condition arising from blockage of apocrine ducts opening into hair follicles. Shuster went on to consider the potential psychosocial effects of the disease, noting that the skin is an organ of communication and that hidradenitis suppurativa produces much psychological distress, including loathing and disgust and depression of self-image, mood, and well-being, feelings for which Shuster found "much evidence" in the Marx correspondence. Professor Shuster went on to ask himself whether the mental effects of the disease affected Marx's work and even helped him to develop his theory of alienation.
Death
Following the death of his wife Jenny in December 1881, Marx developed a catarrh that kept him in ill health for the last 15 months of his life. It eventually brought on the bronchitis and pleurisy that killed him in London on 14 March 1883, when he died a stateless person at age 64. Family and friends in London buried his body in Highgate Cemetery (East), London, on 17 March 1883 in an area reserved for agnostics and atheists. According to Francis Wheen, there were between nine and eleven mourners at his funeral. Research from contemporary sources identifies thirteen named individuals attending the funeral: Friedrich Engels, Eleanor Marx, Edward Aveling, Paul Lafargue, Charles Longuet, Helene Demuth, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Gottlieb Lemke, Frederick Lessner, G Lochner, Sir Ray Lankester, Carl Schorlemmer and Ernest Radford. A contemporary newspaper account claims that twenty-five to thirty relatives and friends attended the funeral.
A writer in The Graphic noted: By a strange blunder ... his death was not announced for two days, and then as having taken place at Paris. The next day the correction came from Paris; and when his friends and followers hastened to his house in Haverstock Hill, to learn the time and place of burial, they learned that he was already in the cold ground. But for this secresy [sic] and haste, a great popular demonstration would undoubtedly have been held over his grave.
Several of his closest friends spoke at his funeral, including Wilhelm Liebknecht and Friedrich Engels. Engels' speech included the passage: On the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think. He had been left alone for scarcely two minutes, and when we came back we found him in his armchair, peacefully gone to sleep – but forever.
Marx's surviving daughters Eleanor and Laura, as well as Charles Longuet and Paul Lafargue, Marx's two French socialist sons-in-law, were also in attendance. He had been predeceased by his wife and his eldest daughter, the latter dying a few months earlier in January 1883. Liebknecht, a founder and leader of the German Social Democratic Party, gave a speech in German, and Longuet, a prominent figure in the French working-class movement, made a short statement in French. Two telegrams from workers' parties in France and Spain were also read out. Together with Engels's speech, this constituted the entire programme of the funeral. Non-relatives attending the funeral included three communist associates of Marx: Friedrich Lessner, imprisoned for three years after the Cologne Communist Trial of 1852; G. Lochner, whom Engels described as "an old member of the Communist League"; and Carl Schorlemmer, a professor of chemistry in Manchester, a member of the Royal Society, and a communist activist involved in the 1848 Baden revolution. Another attendee of the funeral was Ray Lankester, a British zoologist who would later become a prominent academic.
Marx left a personal estate valued for probate at £250, equivalent to £38,095 in 2024. Upon his own death in 1895, Engels left Marx's two surviving daughters a "significant portion" of his considerable estate, valued in 2024 at US$6.8 million.
Marx and his family were reburied on a new site nearby in November 1954. The tomb at the new site, unveiled on 14 March 1956, bears the carved message: "Workers of All Lands Unite", the final line of The Communist Manifesto; and, from the 11th "Thesis on Feuerbach" (as edited by Engels), "The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways—the point however is to change it". The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) had the monument with a portrait bust by Laurence Bradshaw erected and Marx's original tomb had only humble adornment.
The Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm remarked: "One cannot say Marx died a failure." Although he had not achieved a large following of disciples in Britain, his writings had already begun to make an impact on the left-wing movements in Germany and Russia. Within twenty-five years of his death, the continental European socialist parties that acknowledged Marx's influence on their politics had contributed to significant gains in their representative democratic elections.
Thought
Influences
Marx's thought demonstrates influence from many sources, including but not limited to:
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's philosophy
The classical political economy (economics) of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, as well as Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi's critique of laissez-faire economics and analysis of the precarious state of the proletariat
French socialist thought, in particular the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Henri de Saint-Simon, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Charles Fourier
Earlier German philosophical materialism among the Young Hegelians, particularly that of Ludwig Feuerbach and Bruno Bauer, as well as the French materialism of the late 18th century, including Diderot, Claude Adrien Helvétius and d'Holbach
Friedrich Engels' analysis of the working class, as well as the early descriptions of class provided by French liberals and Saint-Simonians such as François Guizot and Augustin Thierry
Marx's Judaic legacy has been identified as formative to both his moral outlook and his materialist philosophy.
Marx's view of history, which came to be called historical materialism (controversially adapted as the philosophy of dialectical materialism by Engels and Lenin), certainly shows the influence of Hegel's claim that one should view reality (and history) dialectically. However, whereas Hegel had thought in idealist terms, putting ideas in the forefront, Marx sought to conceptualise dialectics in materialist terms, arguing for the primacy of matter over idea.
Where Hegel saw the "spirit" as driving history, Marx saw this as an unnecessary mystification, obscuring the reality of humanity and its physical actions shaping the world. He wrote that Hegelianism stood the movement of reality on its head, and that one needed to set it upon its feet. Despite his dislike of mystical terms, Marx used Gothic language in several of his works: in The Communist Manifesto he proclaims "A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre", and in The Capital he refers to capital as "necromancy that surrounds the products of labour".
Though inspired by French socialist and sociological thought, Marx criticised utopian socialists, arguing that their favoured small-scale socialistic communities would be bound to marginalisation and poverty and that only a large-scale change in the economic system could bring about real change.
Other important contributions to Marx's revision of Hegelianism came from Engels's book, The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, which led Marx to conceive of the historical dialectic in terms of class conflict and to see the modern working class as the most progressive force for revolution, as well as from the social democrat Friedrich Wilhelm Schulz, who in Die Bewegung der Produktion described the movement of society as "flowing from the contradiction between the forces of production and the mode of production".
Marx believed that he could study history and society scientifically, discerning tendencies of history and thereby predicting the outcome of social conflicts. Some followers of Marx, therefore, concluded that a communist revolution would inevitably occur. However, Marx famously asserted in the eleventh of his "Theses on Feuerbach" that "philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point however is to change it" and he clearly dedicated himself to trying to alter the world.
Marx's theories inspired several theories and disciplines of future, including but not limited to:
Contemporary critique of political economy
Kondratiev wave and Kuznets swing
Theory of Underconsumption
Creative destruction
Crisis theory
Quantitative Economic History
World-systems theory
Philosophy and social thought
Marx has been called "the first great user of critical method in social sciences", a characterisation stemming from his frequent use of polemics throughout his work to effect critiques of other thinkers. He criticised speculative philosophy, equating metaphysics with ideology. By adopting this approach, Marx attempted to separate key findings from ideological biases. This set him apart from many contemporary philosophers.
Human nature
Like Tocqueville, who described a faceless and bureaucratic despotism with no identifiable despot, Marx also broke with classical thinkers who spoke of a single tyrant and with Montesquieu, who discussed the nature of the single despot. Instead, Marx set out to analyse "the despotism of capital". Fundamentally, Marx assumed that human history involves transforming human nature, which encompasses both human beings and material objects. Humans recognise that they possess both actual and potential selves.
For both Marx and Hegel, self-development begins with an experience of internal alienation stemming from this recognition, followed by a realisation that the actual self, as a subjective agent, renders its potential counterpart an object to be apprehended. Marx further argues that by moulding nature in desired ways the subject takes the object as its own and thus permits the individual to be actualised as fully human. For Marx, the human nature – Gattungswesen, or species-being – exists as a function of human labour.
Fundamental to Marx's idea of meaningful labour is the proposition that for a subject to come to terms with its alienated object it must first exert influence upon literal, material objects in the subject's world. Marx acknowledges that Hegel "grasps the nature of work and comprehends objective man, authentic because actual, as the result of his own work", but characterises Hegelian self-development as unduly "spiritual" and abstract.
Marx thus departs from Hegel by insisting that "the fact that man is a corporeal, actual, sentient, objective being with natural capacities means that he has actual, sensuous objects for his nature as objects of his life-expression, or that he can only express his life in actual sensuous objects". Consequently, Marx revises Hegelian "work" into material "labour" and in the context of human capacity to transform nature the term "labour power".
Labour, class struggle and false consciousness
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
Marx had a special concern with how people relate to their own labour power. He wrote extensively about this in terms of the problem of alienation. As with the dialectic, Marx began with a Hegelian notion of alienation but developed a more materialist conception. Capitalism mediates social relationships of production (such as among workers or between workers and capitalists) through commodities, including labour, that are bought and sold on the market. For Marx, the possibility that one may give up ownership of one's own labour – one's capacity to transform the world – is tantamount to being alienated from one's own nature and it is a spiritual loss. Marx described this loss as commodity fetishism, in which the things that people produce, commodities, appear to have a life and movement of their own to which humans and their behaviour merely adapt.
Commodity fetishism provides an example of what Engels called "false consciousness", which relates closely to the understanding of ideology. By "ideology", Marx and Engels meant ideas that reflect the interests of a particular class at a particular time in history, but which contemporaries see as universal and eternal. Marx and Engels's point was not only that such beliefs are at best half-truths, as they serve an important political function. Put another way, the control that one class exercises over the means of production include not only the production of food or manufactured goods but also the production of ideas (this provides one possible explanation for why members of a subordinate class may hold ideas contrary to their own interests).
Marx was an outspoken opponent of child labour, saying that British industries "could but live by sucking blood, and children's blood too", and that U.S. capital was financed by the "capitalized blood of children".
Religion
Marx agreed with Ludwig Feuerbach that religion is a human construct reflecting human conditions ("man creates religion, religion does not create man"), but analysed this in historical, not abstract terms. He saw religion as both an expression of suffering and a protest against it. In his 1843 essay Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, Marx sought to distance himself from Young Hegelians like Bruno Bauer, whose religion-focused critique, in his view, could not be a solution to human suffering without a transformative critique of society. Critique of religion would be ineffective without changing the real social conditions of which religion is only an expression.
According to Shlomo Avineri, the famous passage from the introduction to this essay is, though often only partially quoted, "both more complex and more profound" than would seem, and Marx here expressed "empathy, not scorn" for religious feelings:Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions.Similar to the later views of Max Weber, Marx believed that religion plays a legitimating function for the dominant classes by providing a divine sanction for inequality and existing social conditions, and that for subordinate classes religion offers an escape: like an opiate, alleviating pain but not offering a cure. Marx's gymnasium senior thesis at the Gymnasium zu Trier argued that religion had as its primary social aim the promotion of solidarity.
Critique of political economy, history and society
Marx's thoughts on labour and its function in reproducing capital were related to the primacy he gave to social relations in determining the society's past, present and future. Critics have called this economic determinism. Labour is the precondition for the existence of, and accumulation of capital, which both shape the social system. For Marx, social change was driven by conflict between opposing interests, by parties situated in the historical situation of their mode of production. This became the inspiration for the body of works known as the conflict theory.
In his evolutionary model of history, he argued that human history began with free, productive and creative activities that was over time coerced and dehumanised, a trend most apparent under capitalism. Marx noted that this was not an intentional process, but rather due to the immanent logic of the current mode of production which demands more human labour (abstract labour) to reproduce the social relationships of capital.
The organisation of society depends on means of production. The means of production are all things required to produce material goods, such as land, natural resources, and technology but not human labour. The relations of production are the social relationships people enter into as they acquire and use the means of production. Together, these compose the mode of production and Marx distinguished historical eras in terms of modes of production. Marx differentiated between base and superstructure, where the base (or substructure) is the economic system and superstructure is the cultural and political system. Marx regarded this mismatch between economic base and social superstructure as a major source of social conflict.
Despite Marx's stress on the critique of capitalism and discussion of the new communist society that should replace it, his explicit critique is guarded, as he saw it as an improved society compared to the past ones (slavery and feudalism). Marx never clearly discusses issues of morality and justice, but scholars agree that his work contained implicit discussion of those concepts.
Marx's view of capitalism was two-sided. On one hand, in the 19th century's deepest critique of the dehumanising aspects of this system he noted that defining features of capitalism include alienation, exploitation and recurring, cyclical depressions leading to mass unemployment. On the other hand, he characterised capitalism as "revolutionising, industrialising and universalising qualities of development, growth and progressivity" (by which Marx meant industrialisation, urbanisation, technological progress, increased productivity and growth, rationality, and scientific revolution) that are responsible for progress, at in contrast to earlier forms of societies.
Marx considered the capitalist class to be one of the most revolutionary in history because it constantly improved the means of production, more so than any other class in history and was responsible for the overthrow of feudalism. Capitalism can stimulate considerable growth because the capitalist has an incentive to reinvest profits in new technologies and capital equipment.
According to Marx, capitalists take advantage of the difference between the labour market and the market for whatever commodity the capitalist can produce. Marx observed that in practically every successful industry, input unit-costs are lower than output unit-prices. Marx called the difference "surplus value" and argued that it was based on surplus labour, the difference between what it costs to keep workers alive, and what they can produce. Although Marx describes capitalists as vampires sucking worker's blood, he notes that drawing profit is "by no means an injustice" since Marx, according to Allen W. Wood "excludes any trans-epochal standpoint from which one can comment" on the morals of such particular arrangements. Marx also noted that even the capitalists themselves cannot go against the system. The problem is the "cancerous cell" of capital, understood not as property or equipment, but the social relations between workers and owners, (the selling and purchasing of labour power) – the societal system, or rather mode of production, in general.
At the same time, Marx stressed that capitalism was unstable and prone to periodic crises. He suggested that over time capitalists would invest more and more in new technologies and less and less in labour. Since Marx believed that profit derived from surplus value appropriated from labour, he concluded that the rate of profit would fall as the economy grows. Marx believed that increasingly severe crises would punctuate this cycle of growth and collapse. Moreover, he believed that in the long-term, this process would enrich and empower the capitalist class and impoverish the proletariat. In section one of The Communist Manifesto, Marx describes feudalism, capitalism, and the role internal social contradictions play in the historical process:
We see then: the means of production and of exchange, on whose foundation the bourgeoisie built itself up, were generated in feudal society. At a certain stage in the development of these means of production and of exchange, the conditions under which feudal society produced and exchanged ... the feudal relations of property became no longer compatible with the already developed productive forces; they became so many fetters. They had to be burst asunder; they were burst asunder. Into their place stepped free competition, accompanied by a social and political constitution adapted in it, and the economic and political sway of the bourgeois class. A similar movement is going on before our own eyes ... The productive forces at the disposal of society no longer tend to further the development of the conditions of bourgeois property; on the contrary, they have become too powerful for these conditions, by which they are fettered, and so soon as they overcome these fetters, they bring order into the whole of bourgeois society, endanger the existence of bourgeois property.
Marx believed that those structural contradictions within capitalism necessitate its end, giving way to socialism, or a post-capitalistic, communist society:
The development of modern industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.
Thanks to various processes overseen by capitalism, such as urbanisation, the working class, the proletariat, should grow in numbers and develop class consciousness, in time realising that they can and must change the system. Marx believed that if the proletariat were to seize the means of production, they would encourage social relations that would benefit everyone equally, abolishing the exploiting class and introducing a system of production less vulnerable to cyclical crises. Marx argued in The German Ideology that capitalism will end through the organised actions of an international working class: Communism is for us not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality will have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the premises now in existence.
In this new society, the alienation would end and humans would be free to act without being bound by selling their labour. It would be a democratic society, enfranchising the entire population. In such a utopian world, there would also be little need for a state, whose goal was previously to enforce the alienation. Marx theorised that between capitalism and the establishment of a socialist/communist system, would exist a period of dictatorship of the proletariat – where the working class holds political power and forcibly socialises the means of production. As he wrote in his Critique of the Gotha Program, "between capitalist and communist society there lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. Corresponding to this is also a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat". While he allowed for the possibility of peaceful transition in some countries with strong democratic institutional structures (such as Britain, the United States, and the Netherlands), he suggested that in other countries in which workers cannot "attain their goal by peaceful means" the "lever of our revolution must be force".
International relations
Marx viewed Russian Tsarism as the main threat to European revolutions. During the Crimean War, Marx backed the Ottoman Empire and its allies Britain and France against Russia. He was absolutely opposed to Pan-Slavism, viewing it as an instrument of Russian foreign policy. Marx considered the Slavic nations except Poles as 'counter-revolutionary'. Marx and Engels published in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung in February 1849:
To the sentimental phrases about brotherhood which we are being offered here on behalf of the most counter-revolutionary nations of Europe, we reply that hatred of Russians was and still is the primary revolutionary passion among Germans; that since the revolution [of 1848] hatred of Czechs and Croats has been added, and that only by the most determined use of terror against these Slav peoples can we, jointly with the Poles and Magyars, safeguard the revolution. We know where the enemies of the revolution are concentrated, viz. in Russia and the Slav regions of Austria, and no fine phrases, no allusions to an undefined democratic future for these countries can deter us from treating our enemies as enemies. Then there will be a struggle, an "inexorable life-and-death struggle", against those Slavs who betray the revolution; an annihilating fight and ruthless terror – not in the interests of Germany, but in the interests of the revolution!"
Marx and Engels sympathised with the Narodnik revolutionaries of the 1860s and 1870s. When the Russian revolutionaries assassinated Tsar Alexander II of Russia, Marx expressed the hope that the assassination foreshadowed 'the formation of a Russian commune'. Marx supported the Polish uprisings against tsarist Russia. He said in a speech in London in 1867:
In the first place the policy of Russia is changeless... Its methods, its tactics, its manoeuvres may change, but the polar star of its policy – world domination – is a fixed star. In our times only a civilised government ruling over barbarian masses can hatch out such a plan and execute it. ... There is but one alternative for Europe. Either Asiatic barbarism, under Muscovite direction, will burst around its head like an avalanche, or else it must re-establish Poland, thus putting twenty million heroes between itself and Asia and gaining a breathing spell for the accomplishment of its social regeneration.
Marx supported the cause of Irish independence. In 1867, he wrote Engels: "I used to think the separation of Ireland from England impossible. I now think it inevitable. The English working class will never accomplish anything until it has got rid of Ireland. ... English reaction in England had its roots ... in the subjugation of Ireland."
Marx spent some time in French Algeria, which had been invaded and made a French colony in 1830, and had the opportunity to observe life in colonial North Africa. He wrote about the colonial justice system, in which "a form of torture has been used (and this happens 'regularly') to extract confessions from the Arabs; naturally it is done (like the English in India) by the 'police'; the judge is supposed to know nothing at all about it." Marx was surprised by the arrogance of many European settlers in Algiers and wrote in a letter: when a European colonist dwells among the 'lesser breeds,' either as a settler or even on business, he generally regards himself as even more inviolable than handsome William I [a Prussian king]. Still, when it comes to bare-faced arrogance and presumptuousness vis-à-vis the 'lesser breeds,' the British and Dutch outdo the French.
According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Marx's analysis of colonialism as a progressive force bringing modernization to a backward feudal society sounds like a transparent rationalization for foreign domination. His account of British domination, however, reflects the same ambivalence that he shows towards capitalism in Europe. In both cases, Marx recognizes the immense suffering brought about during the transition from feudal to bourgeois society while insisting that the transition is both necessary and ultimately progressive. He argues that the penetration of foreign commerce will cause a social revolution in India.
Marx discussed British colonial rule in India in the New York Herald Tribune in 1853:
There cannot remain any doubt but that the misery inflicted by the British on Hindostan [India] is of an essentially different and infinitely more intensive kind than all Hindostan had to suffer before. England has broken down the entire framework of Indian society, without any symptoms of reconstitution yet appearing... [however], we must not forget that these idyllic village communities, inoffensive though they may appear, had always been the solid foundation of Oriental despotism, that they restrained the human mind within the smallest possible compass, making it the unresisting tool of superstition.
Legacy
Marx's ideas have had a profound impact on world politics and intellectual thought, in particular in the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution. Followers of Marx have often debated among themselves over how to interpret Marx's writings and apply his concepts to the modern world. The legacy of Marx's thought has become contested between numerous tendencies, each of which sees itself as Marx's most accurate interpreter. In the political realm, these tendencies include political theories such as Leninism, Marxism–Leninism, Trotskyism, Maoism, Luxemburgism, libertarian Marxism, and Open Marxism. Various currents have also developed in academic Marxism, often under influence of other views, resulting in structuralist Marxism, historical materialism, phenomenological Marxism, analytical Marxism, and Hegelian Marxism.
From an academic perspective, Marx's work contributed to the birth of modern sociology. He has been cited as one of the 19th century's three masters of the "school of suspicion", and as one of the three principal architects of modern social science. In contrast to other philosophers, Marx offered theories that could often be tested with the scientific method.
Both Marx and Auguste Comte set out to develop scientifically justified ideologies in the wake of European secularisation and new developments in the philosophies of history and science. Working in the Hegelian tradition, Marx rejected Comtean sociological positivism in an attempt to develop a science of society. Karl Löwith considered Marx and Søren Kierkegaard to be the two greatest philosophical successors of Hegel.
In modern sociological theory, Marxist sociology is recognised as one of the main classical perspectives. Isaiah Berlin considers Marx the true founder of modern sociology "in so far as anyone can claim the title". Beyond social science, he has also had a lasting legacy in philosophy, literature, the arts, and the humanities.
Social theorists of the 20th and 21st centuries have pursued two main strategies in response to Marx. One move has been to reduce it to its analytical core, known as analytical Marxism. Another, more common move has been to dilute the explanatory claims of Marx's social theory and emphasise the "relative autonomy working-class agenda" of aspects of social and economic life not directly related to Marx's central narrative of interaction between the development of the "forces of production" and the succession of "modes of production". This has been the neo-Marxist theorising adopted by historians inspired by Marx's social theory such as E. P. Thompson and Eric Hobsbawm. It has also been a line of thinking pursued by thinkers and activists such as Antonio Gramsci who have sought to understand the opportunities and the difficulties of transformative political practice, seen in the light of Marxist social theory. Marx's ideas had a profound influence on subsequent artists and art history, with avant-garde movements across literature, visual art, music, film, and theatre.
Politically, Marx's legacy is more complex. Throughout the 20th century, revolutions in dozens of countries labelled themselves "Marxist"—most notably the Russian Revolution, which led to the founding of the Soviet Union. Major world leaders including Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Salvador Allende, Josip Broz Tito, Kwame Nkrumah, Jawaharlal Nehru, Nelson Mandela, Xi Jinping, Joseph Stalin and Thomas Sankara have all cited Marx as an influence. Beyond where Marxist revolutions took place, Marx's ideas have informed political parties worldwide. Many prominent communist revolutionaries and activists throughout the world such as Rosa Luxemburg, Bhagat Singh, Ernst Thälmann, Che Guevara, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Antonio Gramsci and Fred Hampton were deeply influenced by Marxist ideology.
In countries associated with Marxism, political opponents have blamed Marx for millions of deaths, while others argue for a distinction between the legacy and influence of Marx specifically, and the legacy and influence of those who have shaped his ideas for political purposes. Arthur Lipow describes Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels as "the founders of modern revolutionary democratic socialism."
The cities of Marks, Russia and Karl-Marx-Stadt, Germany, now known as Chemnitz, were named after Marx. In May 2018, to mark the bicentenary of his birth, a statue of him by leading Chinese sculptor Wu Weishan and donated by the Chinese government was unveiled in his birthplace of Trier, Germany. The then-European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker defended Marx's memory, saying that today Marx "stands for things which he is not responsible for and which he didn't cause because many of the things he wrote down were redrafted into the opposite". In 2013, UNESCO added two documents with Marx's handwriting to its Memory of the World International Register. These are his annotated first edition of Das Kapital Volume 1 and a manuscript page from The Communist Manifesto. These are held among more of Marx's papers at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam.
As well as influencing 20th century cinema, Marx's life and times and his principal works have all been represented in film as subjects in their own right. Films depicting Marx and his ideas range from documentary to fictional drama, art house and comedy. In 2017, The Young Karl Marx received good reviews for both its historical accuracy and its brio in dealing with intellectual life.
Selected bibliography
The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature (doctoral thesis), 1841
The Philosophical Manifesto of the Historical School of Law, 1842
Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, 1843
On the Jewish Question, 1843
Notes on James Mill, 1844
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, 1844
The Holy Family, 1845
Theses on Feuerbach, written 1845, first published posthumously 1888 by Engels.
The German Ideology, 1845
The Poverty of Philosophy, 1847
Wage Labour and Capital, 1847
Manifesto of the Communist Party, 1848
The Class Struggles in France, 1850
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon, 1852
Grundrisse (Foundations of a Critique of Political Economy), 1857
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, 1859
Writings on the U.S. Civil War, 1861
Theories of Surplus Value, (posthumously published by Kautsky) 3 volumes, 1862
Address of the International Working Men's Association to Abraham Lincoln, 1864
Value, Price and Profit, 1865
Capital. Volume I: A Critique of Political Economy The Process of Production of Capital (Das Kapital), 1867
The Civil War in France, 1871
Critique of the Gotha Programme, 1875
Notes on Adolph Wagner, 1883
Das Kapital, Volume II (posthumously published by Engels), 1885
Das Kapital, Volume III (posthumously published by Engels), 1894
See also
Notes
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Works by Karl Marx at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Karl Marx at the Internet Archive
Works by Karl Marx at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). "Karl Marx". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Karl Marx at the Marxists Internet Archive.
Marx and Engels (1973). Selected Works. Vol. 1. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Marx and Engels (1973). Selected Works. Vol. 2. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Marx and Engels (1973). Selected Works. Vol. 3. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Marx and Engels (1982). Selected Correspondence (3rd rev. ed.). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1989). Karl Marx: a Biography (4th ed.). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Krader, Lawrence, ed. (1974). The Ethnological Notebooks of Karl Marx (PDF) (2nd ed.). Assen: Van Gorcum. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
Archive of Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels Papers Archived 8 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine at the International Institute of Social History
The Collected Works of Marx and Engels, in English translation and in 50 volumes, are published in London by Lawrence & Wishart and in New York by International Publishers. (These volumes were at one time put online by the Marxists Internet Archive, until the original publishers objected on copyright grounds: "Marx/Engels Collected Works". Marxists Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2018.) They are available online and searchable, for purchase or through subscribing libraries, in the Social Theory (Archived 3 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine) collection published by Alexander Street Press in collaboration with the University of Chicago.
"Marx" Archived 5 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC Radio 4 discussion with Anthony Grayling, Francis Wheen & Gareth Stedman Jones (In Our Time, 14 July 2005)
The 1887 NY Times review of Das Kapital Archived 6 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine
Newspaper clippings about Karl Marx in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
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Karl Marx (German: [ˈkaʁl ˈmaʁks]; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto (written with Friedrich Engels), and his three-volume Das Kapital (1867–1894), a critique of classical political economy which employs his theory of historical materialism in an analysis of capitalism, in the culmination of his life's work. Marx's ideas and their subsequent development, collectively known as Marxism, have had enormous influence.
Born in Trier in the Kingdom of Prussia, Marx studied at the University of Bonn and the University of Berlin, and received a doctoral degree in philosophy from the University of Jena in 1841. A Young Hegelian, he was influenced by the philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and both critiqued and developed Hegel's ideas in works such as The German Ideology (written 1846) and the Grundrisse (written 1857–1858). While in Paris, Marx wrote his Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and met Engels, who became his closest friend and collaborator. After moving to Brussels in 1845, they were active in the Communist League, and in 1848 they wrote The Communist Manifesto, which expresses Marx's ideas and lays out a programme for revolution. Marx was expelled from Belgium and Germany, and in 1849 moved to London, where he wrote The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852) and Das Kapital. From 1864, Marx was involved in the International Workingmen's Association (First International), in which he fought the influence of anarchists led by Mikhail Bakunin. In his Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875), Marx wrote on revolution, the state and the transition to communism. He died stateless in 1883 and was buried in Highgate Cemetery.
Marx's critiques of history, society and political economy hold that human societies develop through class conflict. In the capitalist mode of production, this manifests itself in the conflict between the ruling classes (the bourgeoisie) that control the means of production and the working classes (the proletariat) that enable these means by selling their labour power for wages. Employing his historical materialist approach, Marx predicted that capitalism produced internal tensions like previous socioeconomic systems and that these tensions would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system known as the socialist mode of production. For Marx, class antagonisms under capitalism—owing in part to its instability and crisis-prone nature—would eventuate the working class's development of class consciousness, leading to their conquest of political power and eventually the establishment of a classless, communist society constituted by a free association of producers. Marx actively pressed for its implementation, arguing that the working class should carry out organised proletarian revolutionary action to topple capitalism and bring about socio-economic emancipation.
Marx has been described as one of the most influential figures of the modern era, and his work has been both lauded and criticised. Marxism has exerted major influence on socialist thought and political movements, with Marxist schools of thought such as Marxism–Leninism and its offshoots becoming the guiding ideologies of revolutions that took power in many countries during the 20th century, forming communist states. Marx's work in economics has had a strong influence on modern heterodox theories of labour and capital, and he is often cited as one of the principal architects of modern sociology.
Biography
Childhood and early education: 1818–1836
Karl Marx was born on 5 May 1818 to Heinrich Marx and Henriette Pressburg, at Brückengasse 664 in Trier, then part of the Kingdom of Prussia. Marx's family was originally non-religious Jewish but had converted formally to Christianity before his birth. His maternal grandfather was a Dutch rabbi, while his paternal line had supplied Trier's rabbis since 1723, a role taken by his grandfather Meier Halevi Marx. His father was the first in the line to receive a secular education. He became a lawyer with a comfortably upper middle class income and the family owned a number of Moselle vineyards, in addition to his income as an attorney. After Prussia's annexation of the Rhineland in 1815 and the subsequent abrogation of Jewish emancipation, Heinrich converted from Judaism to the state Evangelical Church of Prussia in order to retain his career as a lawyer.
Largely non-religious, Heinrich was a man of the Enlightenment, interested in the ideas of the philosophers Immanuel Kant and Voltaire. A classical liberal, he took part in agitation for a constitution and reforms in Prussia, which was then an absolute monarchy. In 1815, Heinrich Marx began working as an attorney and in 1819 moved his family to a ten-room property near the Porta Nigra. His wife, Henriette Pressburg, was a Dutch Jew from a prosperous business family that later founded the company Philips Electronics. Her sister Sophie Pressburg married Lion Philips and was the grandmother of both Gerard and Anton Philips and great-grandmother to Frits Philips. Lion Philips was a wealthy Dutch tobacco manufacturer and industrialist, upon whom Karl and Jenny Marx would later often come to rely for loans while they were exiled in London.
Little is known of Marx's childhood. The third of nine children, he became the eldest son when his brother Moritz died in 1819. Marx and his surviving siblings were baptised into the Lutheran Church on 28 August 1824, and their mother in November 1825. Marx was privately educated by his father until 1830 when he entered Trier High School (Trier High School), whose headmaster, Hugo Wyttenbach, was a friend of his father. By employing many liberal humanists as teachers, Wyttenbach incurred the anger of the local conservative government. In 1832, police raided the school and discovered that literature promoting political liberalism was being distributed among the students. Viewing the distribution of such material as a seditious act, the authorities implemented reforms and replaced several members of the staff during Marx's time at the school.
In October 1835 at the age of 16, Marx travelled to the University of Bonn wishing to study philosophy and literature, but his father insisted on law as a more practical field. Due to a condition referred to as a "weak chest", Marx was excused from military duty when he turned 18. While at the University at Bonn, Marx joined the Poets' Club, a group containing political radicals that were monitored by the police. Marx also joined the Trier Tavern Club drinking society and at one point served as the club's co-president. In August 1836 he took part in a duel with a member of the university's Borussian Korps. Although his grades in the first term were good, they soon deteriorated, leading his father to force a transfer to the more serious and academic University of Berlin.
Hegelianism and early journalism: 1836–1843
Spending summer and autumn 1836 in Trier, Marx became more serious about his studies and his life. He became engaged to Jenny von Westphalen, an educated member of the petty nobility who had known Marx since childhood. As she had broken off her engagement with a young aristocrat to be with Marx, their relationship was socially controversial owing to the differences between their religious and class origins, but Marx befriended her father Ludwig von Westphalen (a liberal aristocrat) and later dedicated his doctoral thesis to him. Seven years after their engagement, on 19 June 1843, they married in a Protestant church in Kreuznach.
In October 1836, Marx arrived in Berlin, matriculating in the university's faculty of law and renting a room in the Mittelstrasse. During the first term, Marx attended lectures of Eduard Gans (who represented the progressive Hegelian standpoint, elaborated on rational development in history by emphasising particularly its libertarian aspects, and the importance of social question) and of Karl von Savigny (who represented the Historical School of Law). Although studying law, he was fascinated by philosophy and looked for a way to combine the two, believing that "without philosophy nothing could be accomplished". Marx became interested in the recently deceased German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, whose ideas were then widely debated among European philosophical circles. During a convalescence in Stralau, he joined the Doctors Club, a student group which discussed Hegelian ideas, and through them became involved with a group of radical thinkers known as the Young Hegelians in 1837. They gathered around Ludwig Feuerbach and Bruno Bauer, with Marx developing a particularly close friendship with Adolf Rutenberg. Like Marx, the Young Hegelians were critical of Hegel's metaphysical assumptions but adopted his dialectical method to criticise established society, politics and religion from a left-wing perspective. Marx's father died in May 1838, resulting in a diminished income for the family. Marx had been emotionally close to his father and treasured his memory after his death.
By 1837, Marx had completed a short novel, Scorpion and Felix; a drama, Oulanem; and a number of love poems dedicated to his wife. None of this early work was published during his lifetime. The love poems were published posthumously in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 1. Marx soon abandoned fiction for other pursuits, including the study of English and Italian, art history and the translation of Latin classics. He began co-operating with Bruno Bauer on editing Hegel's Philosophy of Religion in 1840. Marx was also engaged in writing his doctoral thesis, The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature, which he completed in 1841. It was described as "a daring and original piece of work in which Marx set out to show that theology must yield to the superior wisdom of philosophy". The essay was controversial, particularly among the conservative professors at the University of Berlin. Marx decided instead to submit his thesis to the more liberal University of Jena, whose faculty awarded him his Ph.D. in April 1841. As Marx and Bauer were both atheists, in March 1841 they began plans for a journal entitled Archiv des Atheismus (Atheistic Archives), but it never came to fruition. In July, Marx and Bauer took a trip to Bonn from Berlin. There they scandalised their class by getting drunk, laughing in church and galloping through the streets on donkeys.
Marx was considering an academic career, but this path was barred by the government's growing opposition to classical liberalism and the Young Hegelians. Marx moved to Cologne in 1842, where he became a journalist, writing for the radical newspaper Rheinische Zeitung (Rhineland News), expressing his early views on socialism and his developing interest in economics. Marx criticised right-wing European governments as well as figures in the liberal and socialist movements, whom he thought ineffective or counter-productive. The newspaper attracted the attention of the Prussian government censors, who checked every issue for seditious material before printing, which Marx lamented: "Our newspaper has to be presented to the police to be sniffed at, and if the police nose smells anything un-Christian or un-Prussian, the newspaper is not allowed to appear". After the Rheinische Zeitung published an article strongly criticising the Russian monarchy, Tsar Nicholas I requested it be banned, and Prussia's government complied in 1843.
Paris: 1843–1845
In 1843, Marx became co-editor of a new, radical left-wing Parisian newspaper, the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher (German-French Annals), then being set up by the German activist Arnold Ruge to bring together German and French radicals. Therefore Marx and his wife moved to Paris in October 1843. Initially living with Ruge and his wife communally at 23 Rue Vaneau, they found the living conditions difficult, so moved out following the birth of their daughter Jenny in 1844. Although intended to attract writers from both France and the German states, the Jahrbücher was dominated by the latter and the only non-German writer was the exiled Russian anarchist collectivist Mikhail Bakunin. Marx contributed two essays to the paper, "Introduction to a Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right" and "On the Jewish Question", the latter introducing his belief that the proletariat were a revolutionary force and marking his embrace of communism. Only one issue was published, but it was relatively successful, largely owing to the inclusion of Heinrich Heine's satirical odes on King Ludwig of Bavaria, leading the German states to ban it and seize imported copies (Ruge nevertheless refused to fund the publication of further issues and his friendship with Marx broke down).
After Jahrbücher's collapse, Marx began writing for Vorwärts! (Forwards!), the only remaining uncensored German-language radical newspaper. Based in Paris, the paper was connected to the League of the Just, a utopian socialist secret society of workers and artisans. Marx attended some of their meetings but did not join. In Vorwärts!, Marx refined his views on socialism based upon Hegelian and Feuerbachian ideas of dialectical materialism, at the same time criticising liberals and other socialists operating in Europe.
On 28 August 1844, Marx met the German socialist Friedrich Engels at the Café de la Régence, beginning a lifelong friendship. Engels showed Marx his recently published The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, convincing Marx that the working class would be the agent and instrument of the final revolution in history. Soon, Marx and Engels were collaborating on a criticism of the philosophical ideas of Marx's former friend, Bruno Bauer. This work was published in 1845 as The Holy Family. Although critical of Bauer, Marx was increasingly influenced by the ideas of the Young Hegelians Max Stirner and Ludwig Feuerbach, but eventually Marx and Engels abandoned Feuerbachian materialism as well.
During the time that he lived at 38 Rue Vaneau in Paris (from October 1843 until January 1845), Marx engaged in an intensive study of political economy (Adam Smith, David Ricardo, James Mill, etc.), the French socialists (especially Claude Henri St. Simon and Charles Fourier) and the history of France. The study of, and critique, of political economy is a project that Marx would pursue for the rest of his life and would result in his major economic work—the three-volume series called Das Kapital. Marxism is based in large part on three influences: Hegel's dialectics, French utopian socialism and British political economy. Together with his earlier study of Hegel's dialectics, the studying that Marx did during this time in Paris meant that all major components of "Marxism" were in place by the autumn of 1844. Marx was constantly being pulled away from his critique of political economy—not only by the usual daily demands of the time, but additionally by editing a radical newspaper and later by organising and directing the efforts of a political party during years of potentially revolutionary popular uprisings of the citizenry. Still, Marx was always drawn back to his studies where he sought "to understand the inner workings of capitalism".
An outline of "Marxism" had definitely formed in the mind of Karl Marx by late 1844. Indeed, many features of the Marxist view of the world had been worked out in great detail, but Marx needed to write down all of the details of his world view to further clarify the new critique of political economy in his own mind. Accordingly, Marx wrote The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts. These manuscripts covered numerous topics, detailing Marx's concept of alienated labour. By the spring of 1845, his continued study of political economy, capital and capitalism had led Marx to the belief that the new critique of political economy he was espousing—that of scientific socialism—needed to be built on the base of a thoroughly developed materialistic view of the world.
The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 had been written between April and August 1844, but soon Marx recognised that the Manuscripts had been influenced by some inconsistent ideas of Ludwig Feuerbach. Accordingly, Marx recognised the need to break with Feuerbach's philosophy in favour of historical materialism, thus a year later (in April 1845) after moving from Paris to Brussels, Marx wrote his eleven "Theses on Feuerbach". The "Theses on Feuerbach" are best known for Thesis 11, which states that "philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways, the point is to change it". This work contains Marx's criticism of materialism (for being contemplative), idealism (for reducing practice to theory), and, overall, philosophy (for putting abstract reality above the physical world). It thus introduced the first glimpse at Marx's historical materialism, an argument that the world is changed not by ideas but by actual, physical, material activity and practice. In 1845, after receiving a request from the Prussian king, the French government shut down Vorwärts!, with the interior minister, François Guizot, expelling Marx from France.
Brussels: 1845–1848
Unable either to stay in France or to move to Germany, Marx decided to emigrate to Brussels in Belgium in February 1845. However, to stay in Belgium he had to pledge not to publish anything on the subject of contemporary politics. In Brussels, Marx associated with other exiled socialists from across Europe, including Moses Hess, Karl Heinzen and Joseph Weydemeyer. In April 1845, Engels moved from Barmen in Germany to Brussels to join Marx and the growing cadre of members of the League of the Just now seeking home in Brussels. Later, Mary Burns, Engels' long-time companion, left Manchester, England to join Engels in Brussels.
In mid-July 1845, Marx and Engels left Brussels for England to visit the leaders of the Chartists, a working-class movement in Britain. This was Marx's first trip to England and Engels was an ideal guide for the trip. Engels had already spent two years living in Manchester from November 1842 to August 1844. Not only did Engels already know the English language, but he had also developed a close relationship with many Chartist leaders. Indeed, Engels was serving as a reporter for many Chartist and socialist English newspapers. Marx used the trip as an opportunity to examine the economic resources available for study in various libraries in London and Manchester.
In collaboration with Engels, Marx also set about writing a book which is often seen as his best treatment of the concept of historical materialism, The German Ideology. In this work, Marx broke with Ludwig Feuerbach, Bruno Bauer, Max Stirner and the rest of the Young Hegelians, while he also broke with Karl Grün and other "true socialists" whose philosophies were still based in part on "idealism". In German Ideology, Marx and Engels finally completed their philosophy, which was based solely on materialism as the sole motor force in history. German Ideology is written in a humorously satirical form, but even this satirical form did not save the work from censorship. Like so many other early writings of his, German Ideology would not be published in Marx's lifetime and was published only in 1932.
After completing German Ideology, Marx turned to a work that was intended to clarify his own position regarding "the theory and tactics" of a truly "revolutionary proletarian movement" operating from the standpoint of a truly "scientific materialist" philosophy. This work was intended to draw a distinction between the utopian socialists and Marx's own scientific socialist philosophy. Whereas the utopians believed that people must be persuaded one person at a time to join the socialist movement, the way a person must be persuaded to adopt any different belief, Marx knew that people would tend, on most occasions, to act in accordance with their own economic interests, thus appealing to an entire class (the working class in this case) with a broad appeal to the class's best material interest would be the best way to mobilise the broad mass of that class to make a revolution and change society. This was the intent of the new book that Marx was planning, but to get the manuscript past the government censors he called the book The Poverty of Philosophy (1847) and offered it as a response to the "petty-bourgeois philosophy" of the French anarchist socialist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon as expressed in his book The Philosophy of Poverty (1840).
These books laid the foundation for Marx and Engels's most famous work, a political pamphlet that has since come to be commonly known as The Communist Manifesto. While residing in Brussels in 1846, Marx continued his association with the secret radical organisation League of the Just. As noted above, Marx thought the League to be just the sort of radical organisation that was needed to spur the working class of Europe toward the mass movement that would bring about a working-class revolution. However, to organise the working class into a mass movement the League had to cease its "secret" or "underground" orientation and operate in the open as a political party. Members of the League eventually became persuaded in this regard. Accordingly, in June 1847 the League was reorganised by its membership into a new open "above ground" political society that appealed directly to the working classes. This new open political society was called the Communist League. Both Marx and Engels participated in drawing up the programme and organisational principles of the new Communist League.
In late 1847, Marx and Engels began writing what was to become their most famous work – a programme of action for the Communist League. Written jointly by Marx and Engels from December 1847 to January 1848, The Communist Manifesto was first published on 21 February 1848. The Communist Manifesto laid out the beliefs of the new Communist League. No longer a secret society, the Communist League wanted to make aims and intentions clear to the general public rather than hiding its beliefs as the League of the Just had been doing. The opening lines of the pamphlet set forth the principal basis of Marxism: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles". It goes on to examine the antagonisms that Marx claimed were arising in the clashes of interest between the bourgeoisie (the wealthy capitalist class) and the proletariat (the industrial working class). Proceeding on from this, the Manifesto presents the argument for why the Communist League, as opposed to other socialist and liberal political parties and groups at the time, was truly acting in the interests of the proletariat to overthrow capitalist society and to replace it with socialism.
Later that year, Europe experienced a series of protests, rebellions, and often violent upheavals that became known as the Revolutions of 1848. In France, a revolution led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the French Second Republic. Marx was supportive of such activity and having recently received a substantial inheritance from his father (withheld by his uncle Lionel Philips since his father's death in 1838) of either 6,000 or 5,000 francs he allegedly used a third of it to arm Belgian workers who were planning revolutionary action. Although the veracity of these allegations is disputed, the Belgian Ministry of Justice accused Marx of it, subsequently arresting him and he was forced to flee back to France, where with a new republican government in power he believed that he would be safe.
Cologne: 1848–1849
Temporarily settling down in Paris, Marx transferred the Communist League executive headquarters to the city and also set up a German Workers' Club with various German socialists living there. Hoping to see the revolution spread to Germany, in 1848 Marx moved back to Cologne where he began issuing a handbill entitled the Demands of the Communist Party in Germany, in which he argued for only four of the ten points of the Communist Manifesto, believing that in Germany at that time the bourgeoisie must overthrow the feudal monarchy and aristocracy before the proletariat could overthrow the bourgeoisie. On 1 June, Marx started the publication of a daily newspaper, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, which he helped to finance through his recent inheritance from his father. Designed to put forward news from across Europe with his own Marxist interpretation of events, the newspaper featured Marx as a primary writer and the dominant editorial influence. Despite contributions by fellow members of the Communist League, according to Friedrich Engels it remained "a simple dictatorship by Marx".
Whilst editor of the paper, Marx and the other revolutionary socialists were regularly harassed by the police and Marx was brought to trial on several occasions, facing various allegations including insulting the Chief Public Prosecutor, committing a press misdemeanor and inciting armed rebellion through tax boycotting, although each time he was acquitted. Meanwhile, the democratic parliament in Prussia collapsed and the king, Frederick William IV, introduced a new cabinet of his reactionary supporters, who implemented counterrevolutionary measures to expunge left-wing and other revolutionary elements from the country. Consequently, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung was soon suppressed, and Marx was ordered to leave the country on 16 May 1849. Marx returned to Paris, which was then under the grip of both a reactionary counterrevolution and a cholera epidemic, and was soon expelled by the city authorities, who considered him a political threat. With his wife Jenny expecting their fourth child and with Marx not able to move back to Germany or Belgium, in August 1849 he sought refuge in London.
Move to London and further writing: 1850–1860
Marx moved to London in early June 1849 and would remain based in the city for the rest of his life. The headquarters of the Communist League also moved to London. However, in the winter of 1849–1850, a split within the ranks of the Communist League occurred when a faction within it led by August Willich and Karl Schapper began agitating for an immediate uprising. Willich and Schapper believed that once the Communist League had initiated the uprising, the entire working class from across Europe would rise "spontaneously" to join it, thus creating revolution across Europe. Marx and Engels protested that such an unplanned uprising on the part of the Communist League was "adventuristic" and would be suicide for the Communist League. Such an uprising as that recommended by the Schapper/Willich group would easily be crushed by the police and the armed forces of the reactionary governments of Europe. Marx maintained that this would spell doom for the Communist League itself, arguing that changes in society are not achieved overnight through the efforts and will power of a handful of men. They are instead brought about through a scientific analysis of economic conditions of society and by moving toward revolution through different stages of social development. In the present stage of development (circa 1850), following the defeat of the uprisings across Europe in 1848 he felt that the Communist League should encourage the working class to unite with progressive elements of the rising bourgeoisie to defeat the feudal aristocracy on issues involving demands for governmental reforms, such as a constitutional republic with freely elected assemblies and universal (male) suffrage. In other words, the working class must join with bourgeois and democratic forces to bring about the successful conclusion of the bourgeois revolution before stressing the working-class agenda and a working-class revolution.
After a long struggle that threatened to ruin the Communist League, Marx's opinion prevailed and eventually, the Willich/Schapper group left the Communist League. Meanwhile, Marx also became heavily involved with the socialist German Workers' Educational Society. The Society held their meetings in Great Windmill Street, Soho, central London's entertainment district. This organisation was also racked by an internal struggle among its members, some of whom followed Marx while others followed the Schapper/Willich faction. The issues in this internal split were the same issues raised in the internal split within the Communist League, but Marx lost the fight with the Schapper/Willich faction within the German Workers' Educational Society and on 17 September 1850 resigned from the Society.
New-York Daily Tribune and journalism
In the early period in London, Marx committed himself almost exclusively to his studies, such that his family endured extreme poverty. His main source of income was Engels, whose own source was his wealthy industrialist father. In Prussia as editor of his own newspaper, and contributor to others ideologically aligned, Marx could reach his audience, the working classes. In London, without finances to run a newspaper themselves, he and Engels turned to international journalism. At one stage they were being published by six newspapers from England, the United States, Prussia, Austria, and South Africa. Marx's principal earnings came from his work as European correspondent, from 1852 to 1862, for the New-York Daily Tribune, and from also producing articles for more "bourgeois" newspapers. Marx had his articles translated from German by Wilhelm Pieper, until his proficiency in English had become adequate.
The New-York Daily Tribune had been founded in April 1841 by Horace Greeley. Its editorial board contained progressive bourgeois journalists and publishers, among them George Ripley and the journalist Charles Dana, who was editor-in-chief. Dana, a fourierist and an abolitionist, was Marx's contact. The Tribune was a vehicle for Marx to reach a transatlantic public, such as for his "hidden warfare" against Henry Charles Carey. The journal had wide working-class appeal from its foundation; at two cents, it was inexpensive; and, with about 50,000 copies per issue, its circulation was the widest in the United States. Its editorial ethos was progressive and its anti-slavery stance reflected Greeley's. Marx's first article for the paper, on the British parliamentary elections, was published on 21 August 1852.
On 21 March 1857, Dana informed Marx that due to the economic recession only one article a week would be paid for, published or not; the others would be paid for only if published. Marx had sent his articles on Tuesdays and Fridays, but, that October, the Tribune discharged all its correspondents in Europe except Marx and B. Taylor, and reduced Marx to a weekly article. Between September and November 1860, only five were published. After a six-month interval, Marx resumed contributions from September 1861 until March 1862, when Dana wrote to inform him that there was no longer space in the Tribune for reports from London, due to American domestic affairs. In 1868, Dana set up a rival newspaper, the New York Sun, at which he was editor-in-chief. In April 1857, Dana invited Marx to contribute articles, mainly on military history, to the New American Cyclopedia, an idea of George Ripley, Dana's friend and literary editor of the Tribune. In all, 67 Marx-Engels articles were published, of which 51 were written by Engels, although Marx did some research for them in the British Museum. By the late 1850s, American popular interest in European affairs waned and Marx's articles turned to topics such as the "slavery crisis" and the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 in the "War Between the States". Between December 1851 and March 1852, Marx worked on his theoretical work about the French Revolution of 1848, titled The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon. In this he explored concepts in historical materialism, class struggle, dictatorship of the proletariat, and victory of the proletariat over the bourgeois state.
The 1850s and 1860s may be said to mark a philosophical boundary distinguishing the young Marx's Hegelian idealism and the more mature Marx's scientific ideology associated with structural Marxism. However, not all scholars accept this distinction. For Marx and Engels, their experience of the Revolutions of 1848 to 1849 were formative in the development of their theory of economics and historical progression. After the "failures" of 1848, the revolutionary impetus appeared spent and not to be renewed without an economic recession. Contention arose between Marx and his fellow communists, whom he denounced as "adventurists". Marx deemed it fanciful to propose that "will power" could be sufficient to create the revolutionary conditions when in reality the economic component was the necessary requisite. The recession in the United States' economy in 1852 gave Marx and Engels grounds for optimism for revolutionary activity, yet this economy was seen as too immature for a capitalist revolution. Open territories on America's western frontier dissipated the forces of social unrest. Moreover, any economic crisis arising in the United States would not lead to revolutionary contagion of the older economies of individual European nations, which were closed systems bounded by their national borders. When the so-called Panic of 1857 in the United States spread globally, it broke all economic theory models, and was the first truly global economic crisis.
First International and Das Kapital
Marx continued to write articles for the New York Daily Tribune as long as he was sure that the Tribune's editorial policy was still progressive. However, the departure of Charles Dana from the paper in late 1861 and the resultant change in the editorial board brought about a new editorial policy. No longer was the Tribune to be a strong abolitionist paper dedicated to a complete Union victory. The new editorial board supported an immediate peace between the Union and the Confederacy in the Civil War in the United States with slavery left intact in the Confederacy. Marx strongly disagreed with this new political position and in 1863 was forced to withdraw as a writer for the Tribune.
In 1864, Marx became involved in the International Workingmen's Association (known as the First International), to whose General Council he was elected at its inception in 1864. In that organisation, Marx was involved in the struggle against the anarchist wing centred on Mikhail Bakunin. Although Marx won this contest, the transfer of the seat of the General Council from London to New York in 1872, which Marx supported, led to the decline of the International. The most important political event during the existence of the International was the Paris Commune of 1871 when the citizens of Paris rebelled against their government and held the city for two months. In response to the bloody suppression of this rebellion, Marx wrote one of his most famous pamphlets, "The Civil War in France", a defence of the Commune.
Given the repeated failures and frustrations of workers' revolutions and movements, Marx also sought to understand and provide a critique suitable for the capitalist mode of production, and hence spent a great deal of time in the reading room of the British Museum studying. By 1857, Marx had accumulated over 800 pages of notes and short essays on capital, landed property, wage labour, the state, and foreign trade, and the world market, though this work did not appear in print until 1939, under the title Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie (English: Outlines of the Critique of Political Economy).
In 1859, Marx published A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, his first serious critique of political economy. This work was intended merely as a preview of his three-volume Das Kapital (English title: Capital: Critique of Political Economy), which he intended to publish at a later date. In A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Marx began to critically examine axioms and categories of economic thinking. The work was enthusiastically received, and the edition sold out quickly.
The successful sales of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy stimulated Marx in the early 1860s to finish work on the three large volumes that would compose his major life's work – Das Kapital and the Theories of Surplus Value, which discussed and critiqued the theoreticians of political economy, particularly Adam Smith and David Ricardo. Theories of Surplus Value is often referred to as the fourth volume of Das Kapital and constitutes one of the first comprehensive treatises on the history of economic thought. In 1867, the first volume of Das Kapital was published, a work which critically analysed capital. Das Kapital proposes an explanation of the "laws of motion" of the mode of production from its origins to its future by describing the dynamics of the accumulation of capital, with topics such as the growth of wage labour, the transformation of the workplace, capital accumulation, competition, the banking system, the tendency of the rate of profit to fall and land-rents, as well as how waged labour continually reproduce the rule of capital. Marx proposes that the driving force of capital is in the exploitation of labour, whose unpaid work is the ultimate source of surplus value.
Demand for a Russian language edition of Das Kapital soon led to the printing of 3,000 copies of the book in the Russian language, which was published on 27 March 1872. By the autumn of 1871, the entire first edition of the German-language edition of Das Kapital had been sold out and a second edition was published.
Volumes II and III of Das Kapital remained mere manuscripts upon which Marx continued to work for the rest of his life. Both volumes were published by Engels after Marx's death. Volume II of Das Kapital was prepared and published by Engels in July 1893 under the name Capital II: The Process of Circulation of Capital. Volume III of Das Kapital was published a year later in October 1894 under the name Capital III: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole. Theories of Surplus Value derived from the sprawling Economic Manuscripts of 1861–1863, a second draft for Das Kapital, the latter spanning volumes 30–34 of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels. Specifically, Theories of Surplus Value runs from the latter part of the Collected Works' thirtieth volume through the end of their thirty-second volume; meanwhile, the larger Economic Manuscripts of 1861–1863 run from the start of the Collected Works' thirtieth volume through the first half of their thirty-fourth volume. The latter half of the Collected Works' thirty-fourth volume consists of the surviving fragments of the Economic Manuscripts of 1863–1864, which represented a third draft for Das Kapital, and a large portion of which is included as an appendix to the Penguin edition of Das Kapital, volume I. A German-language abridged edition of Theories of Surplus Value was published in 1905 and in 1910. This abridged edition was translated into English and published in 1951 in London, but the complete unabridged edition of Theories of Surplus Value was published as the "fourth volume" of Das Kapital in 1963 and 1971 in Moscow.
During the last decade of his life, Marx's health declined, and he became incapable of the sustained effort that had characterised his previous work. He did manage to comment substantially on contemporary politics, particularly in Germany and Russia. His Critique of the Gotha Programme opposed the tendency of his followers Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel to compromise with the state socialist ideas of Ferdinand Lassalle in the interests of a united socialist party. This work is also notable for another famous Marx quote: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need".
In a letter to Vera Zasulich dated 8 March 1881, Marx contemplated the possibility of Russia's bypassing the capitalist stage of development and building communism on the basis of the common ownership of land characteristic of the village mir. While admitting that Russia's rural "commune is the fulcrum of social regeneration in Russia", Marx also warned that in order for the mir to operate as a means for moving straight to the socialist stage without a preceding capitalist stage it "would first be necessary to eliminate the deleterious influences which are assailing it [the rural commune] from all sides". Given the elimination of these pernicious influences, Marx allowed that "normal conditions of spontaneous development" of the rural commune could exist. However, in the same letter to Vera Zasulich he points out that "at the core of the capitalist system ... lies the complete separation of the producer from the means of production". In one of the drafts of this letter, Marx reveals his growing passion for anthropology, motivated by his belief that future communism would be a return on a higher level to the communism of our prehistoric past. He wrote: the historical trend of our age is the fatal crisis which capitalist production has undergone in the European and American countries where it has reached its highest peak, a crisis that will end in its destruction, in the return of modern society to a higher form of the most archaic type – collective production and appropriation. He added that "the vitality of primitive communities was incomparably greater than that of Semitic, Greek, Roman, etc. societies, and, a fortiori, that of modern capitalist societies". Before he died, Marx asked Engels to write up these ideas, which were published in 1884 under the title The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.
Personal life
Family
Marx and von Westphalen had seven children together, but partly owing to the poor conditions in which they lived whilst in London, only three survived to adulthood. Their children were: Jenny Caroline (m. Longuet; 1844–1883); Jenny Laura (m. Lafargue; 1845–1911); Edgar (1847–1855); Henry Edward Guy ("Guido"; 1849–1850); Jenny Eveline Frances ("Franziska"; 1851–1852); Jenny Julia Eleanor (1855–1898) and one more who died before being named (July 1857). According to his son-in-law, Paul Lafargue, Marx was a loving father. In 1962, there were allegations that Marx fathered a son, Freddy, out of wedlock by his housekeeper, Helene Demuth, but the claim is disputed for lack of documented evidence.
Helene Demuth was also largely entrusted as a confidante. In her obituary, penned by Friedrich Engels, her role is revealed as: "Marx took counsel of Helena Demuth, not only in difficult and intricate party matters, but even in respect of his economical writings".
Marx frequently used pseudonyms, often when renting a house or flat, apparently to make it harder for the authorities to track him down. While in Paris, he used that of "Monsieur Ramboz", whilst in London, he signed off his letters as "A. Williams". His friends referred to him as "Moor", owing to his dark complexion and black curly hair, while he encouraged his children to call him "Old Nick" and "Charley". He also bestowed nicknames and pseudonyms on his friends and family, referring to Friedrich Engels as "General", his housekeeper Helene as "Lenchen" or "Nym", while one of his daughters, Jennychen, was referred to as "Qui Qui, Emperor of China" and another, Laura, was known as "Kakadou" or "the Hottentot".
Health
Marx drank heavily after joining the Trier Tavern Club drinking society in the 1830s, and continued to do so until his death.
Marx was afflicted by poor health, what he himself described as "the wretchedness of existence", and various authors have sought to describe and explain it. His biographer Werner Blumenberg attributed it to liver and gall problems which Marx had in 1849 and from which he was never afterward free, exacerbated by an unsuitable lifestyle. The attacks often came with headaches, eye inflammation, neuralgia in the head, and rheumatic pains. A serious nervous disorder appeared in 1877 and protracted insomnia was a consequence, which Marx fought with narcotics.
The illness was aggravated by excessive nocturnal work and faulty diet. Marx was fond of highly seasoned dishes, smoked fish, caviare, pickled cucumbers, "none of which are good for liver patients", but he also liked wine and liqueurs and smoked an enormous amount "and since he had no money, it was usually bad-quality cigars". From 1863, Marx complained a lot about boils: "These are very frequent with liver patients and may be due to the same causes". The abscesses were so bad that Marx could neither sit nor work upright. According to Blumenberg, Marx's irritability is often found in liver patients:
The illness emphasised certain traits in his character. He argued cuttingly, his biting satire did not shrink at insults, and his expressions could be rude and cruel. Though in general Marx had blind faith in his closest friends, nevertheless he himself complained that he was sometimes too mistrustful and unjust even to them. His verdicts, not only about enemies but even about friends, were sometimes so harsh that even less sensitive people would take offence ... There must have been few whom he did not criticize like this ... not even Engels was an exception.
According to Princeton historian Jerrold Seigel, in his late teens, Marx may have had pneumonia or pleurisy, the effects of which led to his being exempted from Prussian military service. In later life whilst working on Das Kapital (which he never completed), Marx suffered from a trio of afflictions. A liver ailment, probably hereditary, was aggravated by overwork, a bad diet, and lack of sleep. Inflammation of the eyes was induced by too much work at night. A third affliction, eruption of carbuncles or boils, "was probably brought on by general physical debility to which the various features of Marx's style of life – alcohol, tobacco, poor diet, and failure to sleep – all contributed. Engels often exhorted Marx to alter this dangerous regime". In Seigel's thesis, what lay behind this punishing sacrifice of his health may have been guilt about self-involvement and egoism, originally induced in Karl Marx by his father.
In 2007, a retrodiagnosis of Marx's skin disease was made by dermatologist Sam Shuster of Newcastle University. For Shuster, the most probable explanation was that Marx suffered not from liver problems, but from hidradenitis suppurativa, a recurring infective condition arising from blockage of apocrine ducts opening into hair follicles. Shuster went on to consider the potential psychosocial effects of the disease, noting that the skin is an organ of communication and that hidradenitis suppurativa produces much psychological distress, including loathing and disgust and depression of self-image, mood, and well-being, feelings for which Shuster found "much evidence" in the Marx correspondence. Professor Shuster went on to ask himself whether the mental effects of the disease affected Marx's work and even helped him to develop his theory of alienation.
Death
Following the death of his wife Jenny in December 1881, Marx developed a catarrh that kept him in ill health for the last 15 months of his life. It eventually brought on the bronchitis and pleurisy that killed him in London on 14 March 1883, when he died a stateless person at age 64. Family and friends in London buried his body in Highgate Cemetery (East), London, on 17 March 1883 in an area reserved for agnostics and atheists. According to Francis Wheen, there were between nine and eleven mourners at his funeral. Research from contemporary sources identifies thirteen named individuals attending the funeral: Friedrich Engels, Eleanor Marx, Edward Aveling, Paul Lafargue, Charles Longuet, Helene Demuth, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Gottlieb Lemke, Frederick Lessner, G Lochner, Sir Ray Lankester, Carl Schorlemmer and Ernest Radford. A contemporary newspaper account claims that twenty-five to thirty relatives and friends attended the funeral.
A writer in The Graphic noted: By a strange blunder ... his death was not announced for two days, and then as having taken place at Paris. The next day the correction came from Paris; and when his friends and followers hastened to his house in Haverstock Hill, to learn the time and place of burial, they learned that he was already in the cold ground. But for this secresy [sic] and haste, a great popular demonstration would undoubtedly have been held over his grave.
Several of his closest friends spoke at his funeral, including Wilhelm Liebknecht and Friedrich Engels. Engels' speech included the passage: On the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think. He had been left alone for scarcely two minutes, and when we came back we found him in his armchair, peacefully gone to sleep – but forever.
Marx's surviving daughters Eleanor and Laura, as well as Charles Longuet and Paul Lafargue, Marx's two French socialist sons-in-law, were also in attendance. He had been predeceased by his wife and his eldest daughter, the latter dying a few months earlier in January 1883. Liebknecht, a founder and leader of the German Social Democratic Party, gave a speech in German, and Longuet, a prominent figure in the French working-class movement, made a short statement in French. Two telegrams from workers' parties in France and Spain were also read out. Together with Engels's speech, this constituted the entire programme of the funeral. Non-relatives attending the funeral included three communist associates of Marx: Friedrich Lessner, imprisoned for three years after the Cologne Communist Trial of 1852; G. Lochner, whom Engels described as "an old member of the Communist League"; and Carl Schorlemmer, a professor of chemistry in Manchester, a member of the Royal Society, and a communist activist involved in the 1848 Baden revolution. Another attendee of the funeral was Ray Lankester, a British zoologist who would later become a prominent academic.
Marx left a personal estate valued for probate at £250, equivalent to £38,095 in 2024. Upon his own death in 1895, Engels left Marx's two surviving daughters a "significant portion" of his considerable estate, valued in 2024 at US$6.8 million.
Marx and his family were reburied on a new site nearby in November 1954. The tomb at the new site, unveiled on 14 March 1956, bears the carved message: "Workers of All Lands Unite", the final line of The Communist Manifesto; and, from the 11th "Thesis on Feuerbach" (as edited by Engels), "The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways—the point however is to change it". The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) had the monument with a portrait bust by Laurence Bradshaw erected and Marx's original tomb had only humble adornment.
The Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm remarked: "One cannot say Marx died a failure." Although he had not achieved a large following of disciples in Britain, his writings had already begun to make an impact on the left-wing movements in Germany and Russia. Within twenty-five years of his death, the continental European socialist parties that acknowledged Marx's influence on their politics had contributed to significant gains in their representative democratic elections.
Thought
Influences
Marx's thought demonstrates influence from many sources, including but not limited to:
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's philosophy
The classical political economy (economics) of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, as well as Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi's critique of laissez-faire economics and analysis of the precarious state of the proletariat
French socialist thought, in particular the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Henri de Saint-Simon, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Charles Fourier
Earlier German philosophical materialism among the Young Hegelians, particularly that of Ludwig Feuerbach and Bruno Bauer, as well as the French materialism of the late 18th century, including Diderot, Claude Adrien Helvétius and d'Holbach
Friedrich Engels' analysis of the working class, as well as the early descriptions of class provided by French liberals and Saint-Simonians such as François Guizot and Augustin Thierry
Marx's Judaic legacy has been identified as formative to both his moral outlook and his materialist philosophy.
Marx's view of history, which came to be called historical materialism (controversially adapted as the philosophy of dialectical materialism by Engels and Lenin), certainly shows the influence of Hegel's claim that one should view reality (and history) dialectically. However, whereas Hegel had thought in idealist terms, putting ideas in the forefront, Marx sought to conceptualise dialectics in materialist terms, arguing for the primacy of matter over idea.
Where Hegel saw the "spirit" as driving history, Marx saw this as an unnecessary mystification, obscuring the reality of humanity and its physical actions shaping the world. He wrote that Hegelianism stood the movement of reality on its head, and that one needed to set it upon its feet. Despite his dislike of mystical terms, Marx used Gothic language in several of his works: in The Communist Manifesto he proclaims "A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre", and in The Capital he refers to capital as "necromancy that surrounds the products of labour".
Though inspired by French socialist and sociological thought, Marx criticised utopian socialists, arguing that their favoured small-scale socialistic communities would be bound to marginalisation and poverty and that only a large-scale change in the economic system could bring about real change.
Other important contributions to Marx's revision of Hegelianism came from Engels's book, The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, which led Marx to conceive of the historical dialectic in terms of class conflict and to see the modern working class as the most progressive force for revolution, as well as from the social democrat Friedrich Wilhelm Schulz, who in Die Bewegung der Produktion described the movement of society as "flowing from the contradiction between the forces of production and the mode of production".
Marx believed that he could study history and society scientifically, discerning tendencies of history and thereby predicting the outcome of social conflicts. Some followers of Marx, therefore, concluded that a communist revolution would inevitably occur. However, Marx famously asserted in the eleventh of his "Theses on Feuerbach" that "philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point however is to change it" and he clearly dedicated himself to trying to alter the world.
Marx's theories inspired several theories and disciplines of future, including but not limited to:
Contemporary critique of political economy
Kondratiev wave and Kuznets swing
Theory of Underconsumption
Creative destruction
Crisis theory
Quantitative Economic History
World-systems theory
Philosophy and social thought
Marx has been called "the first great user of critical method in social sciences", a characterisation stemming from his frequent use of polemics throughout his work to effect critiques of other thinkers. He criticised speculative philosophy, equating metaphysics with ideology. By adopting this approach, Marx attempted to separate key findings from ideological biases. This set him apart from many contemporary philosophers.
Human nature
Like Tocqueville, who described a faceless and bureaucratic despotism with no identifiable despot, Marx also broke with classical thinkers who spoke of a single tyrant and with Montesquieu, who discussed the nature of the single despot. Instead, Marx set out to analyse "the despotism of capital". Fundamentally, Marx assumed that human history involves transforming human nature, which encompasses both human beings and material objects. Humans recognise that they possess both actual and potential selves.
For both Marx and Hegel, self-development begins with an experience of internal alienation stemming from this recognition, followed by a realisation that the actual self, as a subjective agent, renders its potential counterpart an object to be apprehended. Marx further argues that by moulding nature in desired ways the subject takes the object as its own and thus permits the individual to be actualised as fully human. For Marx, the human nature – Gattungswesen, or species-being – exists as a function of human labour.
Fundamental to Marx's idea of meaningful labour is the proposition that for a subject to come to terms with its alienated object it must first exert influence upon literal, material objects in the subject's world. Marx acknowledges that Hegel "grasps the nature of work and comprehends objective man, authentic because actual, as the result of his own work", but characterises Hegelian self-development as unduly "spiritual" and abstract.
Marx thus departs from Hegel by insisting that "the fact that man is a corporeal, actual, sentient, objective being with natural capacities means that he has actual, sensuous objects for his nature as objects of his life-expression, or that he can only express his life in actual sensuous objects". Consequently, Marx revises Hegelian "work" into material "labour" and in the context of human capacity to transform nature the term "labour power".
Labour, class struggle and false consciousness
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
Marx had a special concern with how people relate to their own labour power. He wrote extensively about this in terms of the problem of alienation. As with the dialectic, Marx began with a Hegelian notion of alienation but developed a more materialist conception. Capitalism mediates social relationships of production (such as among workers or between workers and capitalists) through commodities, including labour, that are bought and sold on the market. For Marx, the possibility that one may give up ownership of one's own labour – one's capacity to transform the world – is tantamount to being alienated from one's own nature and it is a spiritual loss. Marx described this loss as commodity fetishism, in which the things that people produce, commodities, appear to have a life and movement of their own to which humans and their behaviour merely adapt.
Commodity fetishism provides an example of what Engels called "false consciousness", which relates closely to the understanding of ideology. By "ideology", Marx and Engels meant ideas that reflect the interests of a particular class at a particular time in history, but which contemporaries see as universal and eternal. Marx and Engels's point was not only that such beliefs are at best half-truths, as they serve an important political function. Put another way, the control that one class exercises over the means of production include not only the production of food or manufactured goods but also the production of ideas (this provides one possible explanation for why members of a subordinate class may hold ideas contrary to their own interests).
Marx was an outspoken opponent of child labour, saying that British industries "could but live by sucking blood, and children's blood too", and that U.S. capital was financed by the "capitalized blood of children".
Religion
Marx agreed with Ludwig Feuerbach that religion is a human construct reflecting human conditions ("man creates religion, religion does not create man"), but analysed this in historical, not abstract terms. He saw religion as both an expression of suffering and a protest against it. In his 1843 essay Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, Marx sought to distance himself from Young Hegelians like Bruno Bauer, whose religion-focused critique, in his view, could not be a solution to human suffering without a transformative critique of society. Critique of religion would be ineffective without changing the real social conditions of which religion is only an expression.
According to Shlomo Avineri, the famous passage from the introduction to this essay is, though often only partially quoted, "both more complex and more profound" than would seem, and Marx here expressed "empathy, not scorn" for religious feelings:Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions.Similar to the later views of Max Weber, Marx believed that religion plays a legitimating function for the dominant classes by providing a divine sanction for inequality and existing social conditions, and that for subordinate classes religion offers an escape: like an opiate, alleviating pain but not offering a cure. Marx's gymnasium senior thesis at the Gymnasium zu Trier argued that religion had as its primary social aim the promotion of solidarity.
Critique of political economy, history and society
Marx's thoughts on labour and its function in reproducing capital were related to the primacy he gave to social relations in determining the society's past, present and future. Critics have called this economic determinism. Labour is the precondition for the existence of, and accumulation of capital, which both shape the social system. For Marx, social change was driven by conflict between opposing interests, by parties situated in the historical situation of their mode of production. This became the inspiration for the body of works known as the conflict theory.
In his evolutionary model of history, he argued that human history began with free, productive and creative activities that was over time coerced and dehumanised, a trend most apparent under capitalism. Marx noted that this was not an intentional process, but rather due to the immanent logic of the current mode of production which demands more human labour (abstract labour) to reproduce the social relationships of capital.
The organisation of society depends on means of production. The means of production are all things required to produce material goods, such as land, natural resources, and technology but not human labour. The relations of production are the social relationships people enter into as they acquire and use the means of production. Together, these compose the mode of production and Marx distinguished historical eras in terms of modes of production. Marx differentiated between base and superstructure, where the base (or substructure) is the economic system and superstructure is the cultural and political system. Marx regarded this mismatch between economic base and social superstructure as a major source of social conflict.
Despite Marx's stress on the critique of capitalism and discussion of the new communist society that should replace it, his explicit critique is guarded, as he saw it as an improved society compared to the past ones (slavery and feudalism). Marx never clearly discusses issues of morality and justice, but scholars agree that his work contained implicit discussion of those concepts.
Marx's view of capitalism was two-sided. On one hand, in the 19th century's deepest critique of the dehumanising aspects of this system he noted that defining features of capitalism include alienation, exploitation and recurring, cyclical depressions leading to mass unemployment. On the other hand, he characterised capitalism as "revolutionising, industrialising and universalising qualities of development, growth and progressivity" (by which Marx meant industrialisation, urbanisation, technological progress, increased productivity and growth, rationality, and scientific revolution) that are responsible for progress, at in contrast to earlier forms of societies.
Marx considered the capitalist class to be one of the most revolutionary in history because it constantly improved the means of production, more so than any other class in history and was responsible for the overthrow of feudalism. Capitalism can stimulate considerable growth because the capitalist has an incentive to reinvest profits in new technologies and capital equipment.
According to Marx, capitalists take advantage of the difference between the labour market and the market for whatever commodity the capitalist can produce. Marx observed that in practically every successful industry, input unit-costs are lower than output unit-prices. Marx called the difference "surplus value" and argued that it was based on surplus labour, the difference between what it costs to keep workers alive, and what they can produce. Although Marx describes capitalists as vampires sucking worker's blood, he notes that drawing profit is "by no means an injustice" since Marx, according to Allen W. Wood "excludes any trans-epochal standpoint from which one can comment" on the morals of such particular arrangements. Marx also noted that even the capitalists themselves cannot go against the system. The problem is the "cancerous cell" of capital, understood not as property or equipment, but the social relations between workers and owners, (the selling and purchasing of labour power) – the societal system, or rather mode of production, in general.
At the same time, Marx stressed that capitalism was unstable and prone to periodic crises. He suggested that over time capitalists would invest more and more in new technologies and less and less in labour. Since Marx believed that profit derived from surplus value appropriated from labour, he concluded that the rate of profit would fall as the economy grows. Marx believed that increasingly severe crises would punctuate this cycle of growth and collapse. Moreover, he believed that in the long-term, this process would enrich and empower the capitalist class and impoverish the proletariat. In section one of The Communist Manifesto, Marx describes feudalism, capitalism, and the role internal social contradictions play in the historical process:
We see then: the means of production and of exchange, on whose foundation the bourgeoisie built itself up, were generated in feudal society. At a certain stage in the development of these means of production and of exchange, the conditions under which feudal society produced and exchanged ... the feudal relations of property became no longer compatible with the already developed productive forces; they became so many fetters. They had to be burst asunder; they were burst asunder. Into their place stepped free competition, accompanied by a social and political constitution adapted in it, and the economic and political sway of the bourgeois class. A similar movement is going on before our own eyes ... The productive forces at the disposal of society no longer tend to further the development of the conditions of bourgeois property; on the contrary, they have become too powerful for these conditions, by which they are fettered, and so soon as they overcome these fetters, they bring order into the whole of bourgeois society, endanger the existence of bourgeois property.
Marx believed that those structural contradictions within capitalism necessitate its end, giving way to socialism, or a post-capitalistic, communist society:
The development of modern industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.
Thanks to various processes overseen by capitalism, such as urbanisation, the working class, the proletariat, should grow in numbers and develop class consciousness, in time realising that they can and must change the system. Marx believed that if the proletariat were to seize the means of production, they would encourage social relations that would benefit everyone equally, abolishing the exploiting class and introducing a system of production less vulnerable to cyclical crises. Marx argued in The German Ideology that capitalism will end through the organised actions of an international working class: Communism is for us not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality will have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the premises now in existence.
In this new society, the alienation would end and humans would be free to act without being bound by selling their labour. It would be a democratic society, enfranchising the entire population. In such a utopian world, there would also be little need for a state, whose goal was previously to enforce the alienation. Marx theorised that between capitalism and the establishment of a socialist/communist system, would exist a period of dictatorship of the proletariat – where the working class holds political power and forcibly socialises the means of production. As he wrote in his Critique of the Gotha Program, "between capitalist and communist society there lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. Corresponding to this is also a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat". While he allowed for the possibility of peaceful transition in some countries with strong democratic institutional structures (such as Britain, the United States, and the Netherlands), he suggested that in other countries in which workers cannot "attain their goal by peaceful means" the "lever of our revolution must be force".
International relations
Marx viewed Russian Tsarism as the main threat to European revolutions. During the Crimean War, Marx backed the Ottoman Empire and its allies Britain and France against Russia. He was absolutely opposed to Pan-Slavism, viewing it as an instrument of Russian foreign policy. Marx considered the Slavic nations except Poles as 'counter-revolutionary'. Marx and Engels published in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung in February 1849:
To the sentimental phrases about brotherhood which we are being offered here on behalf of the most counter-revolutionary nations of Europe, we reply that hatred of Russians was and still is the primary revolutionary passion among Germans; that since the revolution [of 1848] hatred of Czechs and Croats has been added, and that only by the most determined use of terror against these Slav peoples can we, jointly with the Poles and Magyars, safeguard the revolution. We know where the enemies of the revolution are concentrated, viz. in Russia and the Slav regions of Austria, and no fine phrases, no allusions to an undefined democratic future for these countries can deter us from treating our enemies as enemies. Then there will be a struggle, an "inexorable life-and-death struggle", against those Slavs who betray the revolution; an annihilating fight and ruthless terror – not in the interests of Germany, but in the interests of the revolution!"
Marx and Engels sympathised with the Narodnik revolutionaries of the 1860s and 1870s. When the Russian revolutionaries assassinated Tsar Alexander II of Russia, Marx expressed the hope that the assassination foreshadowed 'the formation of a Russian commune'. Marx supported the Polish uprisings against tsarist Russia. He said in a speech in London in 1867:
In the first place the policy of Russia is changeless... Its methods, its tactics, its manoeuvres may change, but the polar star of its policy – world domination – is a fixed star. In our times only a civilised government ruling over barbarian masses can hatch out such a plan and execute it. ... There is but one alternative for Europe. Either Asiatic barbarism, under Muscovite direction, will burst around its head like an avalanche, or else it must re-establish Poland, thus putting twenty million heroes between itself and Asia and gaining a breathing spell for the accomplishment of its social regeneration.
Marx supported the cause of Irish independence. In 1867, he wrote Engels: "I used to think the separation of Ireland from England impossible. I now think it inevitable. The English working class will never accomplish anything until it has got rid of Ireland. ... English reaction in England had its roots ... in the subjugation of Ireland."
Marx spent some time in French Algeria, which had been invaded and made a French colony in 1830, and had the opportunity to observe life in colonial North Africa. He wrote about the colonial justice system, in which "a form of torture has been used (and this happens 'regularly') to extract confessions from the Arabs; naturally it is done (like the English in India) by the 'police'; the judge is supposed to know nothing at all about it." Marx was surprised by the arrogance of many European settlers in Algiers and wrote in a letter: when a European colonist dwells among the 'lesser breeds,' either as a settler or even on business, he generally regards himself as even more inviolable than handsome William I [a Prussian king]. Still, when it comes to bare-faced arrogance and presumptuousness vis-à-vis the 'lesser breeds,' the British and Dutch outdo the French.
According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Marx's analysis of colonialism as a progressive force bringing modernization to a backward feudal society sounds like a transparent rationalization for foreign domination. His account of British domination, however, reflects the same ambivalence that he shows towards capitalism in Europe. In both cases, Marx recognizes the immense suffering brought about during the transition from feudal to bourgeois society while insisting that the transition is both necessary and ultimately progressive. He argues that the penetration of foreign commerce will cause a social revolution in India.
Marx discussed British colonial rule in India in the New York Herald Tribune in 1853:
There cannot remain any doubt but that the misery inflicted by the British on Hindostan [India] is of an essentially different and infinitely more intensive kind than all Hindostan had to suffer before. England has broken down the entire framework of Indian society, without any symptoms of reconstitution yet appearing... [however], we must not forget that these idyllic village communities, inoffensive though they may appear, had always been the solid foundation of Oriental despotism, that they restrained the human mind within the smallest possible compass, making it the unresisting tool of superstition.
Legacy
Marx's ideas have had a profound impact on world politics and intellectual thought, in particular in the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution. Followers of Marx have often debated among themselves over how to interpret Marx's writings and apply his concepts to the modern world. The legacy of Marx's thought has become contested between numerous tendencies, each of which sees itself as Marx's most accurate interpreter. In the political realm, these tendencies include political theories such as Leninism, Marxism–Leninism, Trotskyism, Maoism, Luxemburgism, libertarian Marxism, and Open Marxism. Various currents have also developed in academic Marxism, often under influence of other views, resulting in structuralist Marxism, historical materialism, phenomenological Marxism, analytical Marxism, and Hegelian Marxism.
From an academic perspective, Marx's work contributed to the birth of modern sociology. He has been cited as one of the 19th century's three masters of the "school of suspicion", and as one of the three principal architects of modern social science. In contrast to other philosophers, Marx offered theories that could often be tested with the scientific method.
Both Marx and Auguste Comte set out to develop scientifically justified ideologies in the wake of European secularisation and new developments in the philosophies of history and science. Working in the Hegelian tradition, Marx rejected Comtean sociological positivism in an attempt to develop a science of society. Karl Löwith considered Marx and Søren Kierkegaard to be the two greatest philosophical successors of Hegel.
In modern sociological theory, Marxist sociology is recognised as one of the main classical perspectives. Isaiah Berlin considers Marx the true founder of modern sociology "in so far as anyone can claim the title". Beyond social science, he has also had a lasting legacy in philosophy, literature, the arts, and the humanities.
Social theorists of the 20th and 21st centuries have pursued two main strategies in response to Marx. One move has been to reduce it to its analytical core, known as analytical Marxism. Another, more common move has been to dilute the explanatory claims of Marx's social theory and emphasise the "relative autonomy working-class agenda" of aspects of social and economic life not directly related to Marx's central narrative of interaction between the development of the "forces of production" and the succession of "modes of production". This has been the neo-Marxist theorising adopted by historians inspired by Marx's social theory such as E. P. Thompson and Eric Hobsbawm. It has also been a line of thinking pursued by thinkers and activists such as Antonio Gramsci who have sought to understand the opportunities and the difficulties of transformative political practice, seen in the light of Marxist social theory. Marx's ideas had a profound influence on subsequent artists and art history, with avant-garde movements across literature, visual art, music, film, and theatre.
Politically, Marx's legacy is more complex. Throughout the 20th century, revolutions in dozens of countries labelled themselves "Marxist"—most notably the Russian Revolution, which led to the founding of the Soviet Union. Major world leaders including Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Salvador Allende, Josip Broz Tito, Kwame Nkrumah, Jawaharlal Nehru, Nelson Mandela, Xi Jinping, Joseph Stalin and Thomas Sankara have all cited Marx as an influence. Beyond where Marxist revolutions took place, Marx's ideas have informed political parties worldwide. Many prominent communist revolutionaries and activists throughout the world such as Rosa Luxemburg, Bhagat Singh, Ernst Thälmann, Che Guevara, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Antonio Gramsci and Fred Hampton were deeply influenced by Marxist ideology.
In countries associated with Marxism, political opponents have blamed Marx for millions of deaths, while others argue for a distinction between the legacy and influence of Marx specifically, and the legacy and influence of those who have shaped his ideas for political purposes. Arthur Lipow describes Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels as "the founders of modern revolutionary democratic socialism."
The cities of Marks, Russia and Karl-Marx-Stadt, Germany, now known as Chemnitz, were named after Marx. In May 2018, to mark the bicentenary of his birth, a statue of him by leading Chinese sculptor Wu Weishan and donated by the Chinese government was unveiled in his birthplace of Trier, Germany. The then-European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker defended Marx's memory, saying that today Marx "stands for things which he is not responsible for and which he didn't cause because many of the things he wrote down were redrafted into the opposite". In 2013, UNESCO added two documents with Marx's handwriting to its Memory of the World International Register. These are his annotated first edition of Das Kapital Volume 1 and a manuscript page from The Communist Manifesto. These are held among more of Marx's papers at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam.
As well as influencing 20th century cinema, Marx's life and times and his principal works have all been represented in film as subjects in their own right. Films depicting Marx and his ideas range from documentary to fictional drama, art house and comedy. In 2017, The Young Karl Marx received good reviews for both its historical accuracy and its brio in dealing with intellectual life.
Selected bibliography
The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature (doctoral thesis), 1841
The Philosophical Manifesto of the Historical School of Law, 1842
Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, 1843
On the Jewish Question, 1843
Notes on James Mill, 1844
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, 1844
The Holy Family, 1845
Theses on Feuerbach, written 1845, first published posthumously 1888 by Engels.
The German Ideology, 1845
The Poverty of Philosophy, 1847
Wage Labour and Capital, 1847
Manifesto of the Communist Party, 1848
The Class Struggles in France, 1850
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon, 1852
Grundrisse (Foundations of a Critique of Political Economy), 1857
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, 1859
Writings on the U.S. Civil War, 1861
Theories of Surplus Value, (posthumously published by Kautsky) 3 volumes, 1862
Address of the International Working Men's Association to Abraham Lincoln, 1864
Value, Price and Profit, 1865
Capital. Volume I: A Critique of Political Economy The Process of Production of Capital (Das Kapital), 1867
The Civil War in France, 1871
Critique of the Gotha Programme, 1875
Notes on Adolph Wagner, 1883
Das Kapital, Volume II (posthumously published by Engels), 1885
Das Kapital, Volume III (posthumously published by Engels), 1894
See also
Notes
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Works by Karl Marx at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Karl Marx at the Internet Archive
Works by Karl Marx at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). "Karl Marx". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Karl Marx at the Marxists Internet Archive.
Marx and Engels (1973). Selected Works. Vol. 1. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Marx and Engels (1973). Selected Works. Vol. 2. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Marx and Engels (1973). Selected Works. Vol. 3. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Marx and Engels (1982). Selected Correspondence (3rd rev. ed.). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1989). Karl Marx: a Biography (4th ed.). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Krader, Lawrence, ed. (1974). The Ethnological Notebooks of Karl Marx (PDF) (2nd ed.). Assen: Van Gorcum. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
Archive of Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels Papers Archived 8 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine at the International Institute of Social History
The Collected Works of Marx and Engels, in English translation and in 50 volumes, are published in London by Lawrence & Wishart and in New York by International Publishers. (These volumes were at one time put online by the Marxists Internet Archive, until the original publishers objected on copyright grounds: "Marx/Engels Collected Works". Marxists Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2018.) They are available online and searchable, for purchase or through subscribing libraries, in the Social Theory (Archived 3 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine) collection published by Alexander Street Press in collaboration with the University of Chicago.
"Marx" Archived 5 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC Radio 4 discussion with Anthony Grayling, Francis Wheen & Gareth Stedman Jones (In Our Time, 14 July 2005)
The 1887 NY Times review of Das Kapital Archived 6 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine
Newspaper clippings about Karl Marx in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
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Halle Berry
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Halle Maria Berry ( HAL-ee; born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress. She began her career as a model and entered several beauty contests, becoming Miss Ohio in 1986 and finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant of 1986 and also placing sixth in Miss World 1986. Her breakthrough film role was in the romantic comedy Boomerang (1992), alongside Eddie Murphy, which led to roles in The Flintstones (1994) and Bulworth (1998) as well as the television film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
Berry established herself as one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood during the 2000s. For her performance of a struggling widow in the romantic drama Monster's Ball (2001), Berry became the only African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the first woman of color. Berry took on high-profile roles such as Storm in four installments of the X-Men film series (2000–2014), the henchwoman of a robber in the thriller Swordfish (2001), Bond girl Jinx in Die Another Day (2002), and the title role in the much-derided Catwoman (2004).
A varying critical and commercial reception followed in subsequent years, with Perfect Stranger (2007), Cloud Atlas (2012) and The Call (2013) being among her notable film releases in that period. Berry launched a production company, 606 Films, in 2014 and has been involved in the production of a number of projects in which she performed, such as the CBS science fiction series Extant (2014–2015). She appeared in the action films Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) and made her directorial debut with the Netflix drama Bruised (2020).
Berry has been a Revlon spokesmodel since 1996. She was formerly married to baseball player David Justice, singer-songwriter Eric Benét, and actor Olivier Martinez. Berry has two children. She shares her first child with her former partner Gabriel Aubry, a model, and she shares her second child with Martinez.
Early life
Berry was born Maria Halle Berry in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 14, 1966, to Judith Ann (née Hawkins), a first generation American whose mother, Nelle Hawkins (née Dicken), came from Liverpool, and Jerome Jesse Berry, an African-American man. Her name was legally changed to Halle Maria Berry at the age of five. Her parents selected her middle name from Halle's Department Store, which was then a local landmark in Cleveland. Berry's mother worked as a psychiatric nurse, and her father worked in the same hospital as an attendant in the psychiatric ward; he later became a bus driver. They divorced when Berry was four years old, and she and her older sister Heidi Berry-Henderson were raised exclusively by their mother. She has been estranged from her father since childhood, noting in 1992 that she did not even know if he was still alive. Her father was abusive to her mother, and Berry has recalled witnessing her mother being beaten daily, kicked down stairs, and hit in the head with a wine bottle. Berry has also said that she was bullied as a child and, as a result, learned how to fight and protect herself.
Berry grew up in Oakwood, Ohio, and graduated from Bedford High School, where she was a cheerleader, honor student, editor of the school newspaper, and prom queen. She worked in the children's department of Higbee's department store. She then continued her studies at Cuyahoga Community College. In the 1980s, she entered several beauty contests, winning Miss Teen All American 1985 and Miss Ohio USA 1986. She was the 1986 Miss USA first runner-up, with Christy Fichtner of Texas taking home the crown. In the Miss USA 1986 pageant interview competition, Berry said she hoped to become an entertainer or do some kind of work in media. Her interview was awarded the highest score by the judges. In 1986, Berry became the first African-American to represent the United States at the Miss World beauty pageant. She placed sixth, with Trinidad and Tobago's Giselle Laronde being crowned Miss World.
Career
Early work and breakthrough (1989–1999)
In 1989, Berry moved to New York City to pursue her acting ambitions. During her early time there, she ran out of money and briefly lived in a homeless shelter and a YMCA. Her situation improved by the end of that year, and she was cast in the role of model Emily Franklin in the short-lived ABC television series Living Dolls, which was shot in New York and was a spin-off of the hit series Who's the Boss?. During the taping of Living Dolls, she lapsed into a coma and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. After the cancellation of Living Dolls, she moved to Los Angeles.
Berry's film debut was in a small role for Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991), in which she played Vivian, a drug addict. That same year, Berry had her first co-starring role in Strictly Business. In 1992, Berry portrayed a career woman who falls for the lead character played by Eddie Murphy in the romantic comedy Boomerang. The following year, she caught the public's attention as a headstrong biracial slave in the TV adaptation of Queen: The Story of an American Family, based on the book by Alex Haley. Berry was also in the live-action Flintstones film as Sharon Stone, a sultry secretary who attempts to seduce Fred Flintstone.
Berry tackled a more serious role, playing a former drug addict struggling to regain custody of her son in Losing Isaiah (1995), starring opposite Jessica Lange. She portrayed Sandra Beecher in Race the Sun (1996), which was based on a true story, shot in Australia, and co-starred alongside Kurt Russell in Executive Decision. Beginning in 1996, she was a Revlon spokeswoman for seven years and renewed her contract in 2004.
She starred alongside Natalie Deselle Reid in the 1997 comedy film B*A*P*S. In 1998, Berry received praise for her role in Bulworth as an intelligent woman raised by activists who gives a politician (Warren Beatty) a new lease on life. The same year, she played the singer Zola Taylor, one of the three wives of pop singer Frankie Lymon, in the biopic Why Do Fools Fall in Love.
In the 1999 HBO biopic Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, she portrayed Dorothy Dandridge, the first African American woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. It was to Berry a heartfelt project that she introduced, co-produced and fought intensely for it to come through. Berry won awards including a Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award.
Worldwide recognition (2000–2004)
Berry portrayed the mutant superhero Storm in the film adaptation of the comic book series X-Men (2000) and its sequels, X2 (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). In 2001, Berry appeared in the film Swordfish, which featured her first topless scene. At first, she was opposed to a sunbathing scene in the film in which she would appear topless, but Berry eventually agreed. Some people attributed her change of heart to a substantial increase in the amount Warner Bros. offered her; she was reportedly paid an additional $500,000 for the short scene. Berry denied these stories, telling one interviewer that they amused her and "made for great publicity for the movie." After turning down numerous roles that required nudity, she said she decided to make Swordfish because her then-husband, Eric Benét, supported her and encouraged her to take risks.
Berry appeared as Leticia Musgrove, the troubled wife of an executed murderer (Sean Combs), in the 2001 feature film Monster's Ball. Her performance was awarded the National Board of Review and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress. She became the only African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. The NAACP issued the statement: "Congratulations to Halle Berry and Denzel Washington for giving us hope and making us proud. If this is a sign that Hollywood is finally ready to give opportunity and judge performance based on skill and not on skin color then it is a good thing." This role generated controversy. Her graphic nude love scene with a racist character played by co-star Billy Bob Thornton was the subject of much media chatter and discussion among African Americans. Many in the African-American community were critical of Berry for taking the part. Berry responded: "I don't really see a reason to ever go that far again. That was a unique movie. That scene was special and pivotal and needed to be there, and it would be a really special script that would require something like that again."
Berry asked for a higher fee for Revlon advertisements after winning the Oscar. Ron Perelman, the cosmetics firm's chief, congratulated her, saying how happy he was that she modeled for his company. She replied, "Of course, you'll have to pay me more." Perelman stalked off in a rage. In accepting her award, she gave an acceptance speech honoring previous black actresses who had never had the opportunity. She said, "This moment is so much bigger than me. This is for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance tonight because this door has been opened."
As Bond girl Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson in the 2002 Die Another Day, Berry filmed a homage to Dr. No, emerging from the surf to be greeted by James Bond as Ursula Andress had 40 years earlier. Lindy Hemming, costume designer on Die Another Day, had insisted that Berry wear a bikini and knife as a homage. Berry has said of the scene: "It's splashy," "exciting," "sexy," "provocative" and "it will keep me still out there after winning an Oscar." According to an ITV news poll, Jinx was voted the fourth toughest girl on screen of all time. Berry was hurt during filming when debris from a smoke grenade flew into her eye. It was removed in a 30-minute operation. After Berry won the Academy Award, rewrites were commissioned to give her more screentime for X2.
She starred in the psychological thriller Gothika opposite Robert Downey, Jr. in November 2003, during which she broke her arm in a scene with Downey, who twisted her arm too hard. Production was halted for eight weeks. It was a moderate hit at the United States box office, taking in $60 million; it earned another $80 million abroad. Berry appeared in the nu metal band Limp Bizkit's music video for "Behind Blue Eyes" for the motion picture soundtrack for the film. The same year, she was named No. 1 in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the World poll.
Berry starred as the title role in the film Catwoman, for which she received US$12.5 million. It is widely regarded by critics as one of the worst films ever made. She was awarded the Worst Actress Razzie Award for her performance; she appeared at the ceremony to accept the award in person (while holding her Oscar from Monster's Ball) with a sense of humor, considering it an experience of the "rock bottom" in order to be "at the top." Holding the Academy Award in one hand and the Razzie in the other she said, "I never in my life thought that I would be up here, winning a Razzie! It's not like I ever aspired to be here, but thank you. When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there's no way you could be a good winner."
Established actress and career fluctuations (2005–2013)
Her next film appearance was in the Oprah Winfrey-produced ABC television film Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005), an adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's novel, with Berry portraying a free-spirited woman whose unconventional sexual mores upset her 1920s contemporaries in a small community. She received her second Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her role. Also in 2005, she served as an executive producer in Lackawanna Blues, and landed her voice for the character of Cappy, one of the many mechanical beings in the animated feature Robots.
In the thriller Perfect Stranger (2007), Berry starred with Bruce Willis, playing a reporter who goes undercover to uncover the killer of her childhood friend. The film grossed a modest US$73 million worldwide, and received lukewarm reviews from critics, who felt that despite the presence of Berry and Willis, it is "too convoluted to work, and features a twist ending that's irritating and superfluous." Her next 2007 film release was the drama Things We Lost in the Fire, co-starring Benicio del Toro, where she took on the role of a recent widow befriending the troubled friend of her late husband. The film was the first time in which she worked with a female director, Danish Susanne Bier, giving her a new feeling of "thinking the same way," which she appreciated. While the film made US$8.6 million in its global theatrical run, it garnered positive reviews from writers; The Austin Chronicle found the film to be "an impeccably constructed and perfectly paced drama of domestic and internal volatility" and felt that "Berry is brilliant here, as good as she's ever been."
In April 2007, Berry was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the Kodak Theatre at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to the film industry, and by the end of the decade, she established herself as one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, earning an estimated $10 million per film.
In the independent drama Frankie and Alice (2010), Berry played the leading role of a young multiracial American woman with dissociative identity disorder struggling against her alter personality to retain her true self. The film received a limited theatrical release, to a mixed critical response. The Hollywood Reporter nevertheless described the film as "a well-wrought psychological drama that delves into the dark side of one woman's psyche" and found Berry to be "spellbinding" in it. She earned the African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. She next made part of a large ensemble cast in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy New Year's Eve (2011), with Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Biel, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Sofía Vergara, among many others. In the film, she took on the supporting role of a nurse befriending a man in the final stages (De Niro). While the film was panned by critics, it made US$142 million worldwide.
In 2012, Berry starred as an expert diver tutor alongside then-husband Olivier Martinez in the little-seen thriller Dark Tide, and led an ensemble cast opposite Tom Hanks and Jim Broadbent in The Wachowskis's epic science fiction film Cloud Atlas (2012), with each of the actors playing six different characters across a period of five centuries. Budgeted at US$128.8 million, Cloud Atlas made US$130.4 million worldwide, and garnered polarized reactions from both critics and audiences.
Berry appeared in a segment of the independent anthology comedy Movie 43 (2013), which the Chicago Sun-Times called "the Citizen Kane of awful." Berry found greater success with her next performance, as a 9-1-1 operator receiving a call from a girl kidnapped by a serial killer, in the crime thriller The Call (2013). Berry was drawn to "the idea of being a part of a movie that was so empowering for women. We don't often get to play roles like this, where ordinary people become heroic and do something extraordinary." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times found the film to be "an effectively creepy thriller," while reviewer Dwight Brown felt that "the script gives Berry a blue-collar character she can make accessible, vulnerable and gutsy[...]." The Call was a sleeper hit, grossing US$68.6 million around the globe.
Continued film and television work (2014–present)
In 2014, Berry signed on to star and serve as a co-executive producer in CBS drama series Extant, where she took on the role of Molly Woods, an astronaut who struggles to reconnect with her husband and android son after spending 13 months in space. The show ran for two seasons until 2015, receiving largely positive reviews from critics. USA Today remarked: "She [Halle Berry] brings a dignity and gravity to Molly, a projected intelligence that allows you to buy her as an astronaut and to see what has happened to her as frightening rather than ridiculous. Berry's all in, and you float along." Also in 2014, Berry launched a new production company, 606 Films, with producing partner Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas. It is named after the Anti-Paparazzi Bill, SB 606, that the actress pushed for and which was signed into law by California Governor Jerry Brown in the fall of 2013. The new company emerged as part of a deal for Berry to work in Extant.
In the stand-up comedy concert film Kevin Hart: What Now? (2016), Berry appeared as herself, opposite Kevin Hart, attending a poker game event that goes horribly wrong. She provided uncredited vocals to the song "Calling All My Lovelies" by Bruno Mars from his third studio album, 24K Magic (2016). Kidnap, an abduction thriller Berry filmed in 2014, was released in 2017. In the film, she starred as a diner waitress tailing a vehicle when her son is kidnapped by its occupants. Kidnap grossed US$34 million and garnered mixed reviews from writers, who felt that it "strays into poorly scripted exploitation too often to take advantage of its pulpy premise — or the still-impressive talents of [Berry]." She next played an agent employed by a secret American spy organisation in the action comedy sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), as part of an ensemble cast, consisting of Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Julianne Moore, and Elton John. While critical response towards the film was mixed, it made US$414 million worldwide.
Alongside Daniel Craig, Berry starred as a working-class mother during the 1992 Los Angeles riots in Deniz Gamze Ergüven's drama Kings (2017). The film found a limited theatrical release following its initial screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, and as part of an overall lukewarm reception, Variety noted: "It should be said that Berry has given some of the best and worst performances of the past quarter-century, but this is perhaps the only one that swings to both extremes in the same movie." Berry competed against James Corden in the first rap battle on the first episode of TBS's Drop the Mic, originally aired on October 24, 2017.
She played Sofia, an assassin, in the film John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, which was released on May 17, 2019, by Lionsgate. She is, as of February 2019, executive producer of the BET television series Boomerang, based on the film in which she starred. The series premiered February 12, 2019.
Berry made her directorial debut with the feature Bruised in which she plays a disgraced MMA fighter named Jackie Justice, who reconnects with her estranged son. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2020 and was released on Netflix in November 2021. Berry received a positive review from Deadline for her performance.
In January 2023, Berry signed with Range Media Partners as a producer and director.
In April 2025, Berry was announced as a member of the jury for Main Competition section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
Media image
Berry was ranked No. 1 on People's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" list in 2003 after making the top ten seven times and appeared No. 1 on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" the same year. She was named Esquire magazine's "Sexiest Woman Alive" in October 2008, about which she stated: "I don't know exactly what it means, but being 42 and having just had a baby, I think I'll take it." Men's Health ranked her at No. 35 on their "100 Hottest Women of All-Time" list. In 2009, she was voted #23 on Empire's 100 Sexiest Film Stars. The same year, rapper Hurricane Chris released a song titled "Halle Berry (She's Fine)" extolling Berry's beauty and sex appeal. At the age of 42 (in 2008), she was named the "Sexiest Black Woman" by Access Hollywood's "TV One Access" survey. Born to an African-American father and a white mother, Berry has stated that her biracial background was "painful and confusing" when she was a young woman, and she made the decision early on to identify as a black woman because she knew that was how she would be perceived.
Personal life
Berry dated Chicago dentist John Ronan from March 1989 to October 1991. In November 1993, Ronan sued Berry for $80,000 in what he claimed were unpaid loans to help launch her career. Berry contended that the money was a gift, and a judge dismissed the case because Ronan did not list Berry as a debtor when he filed for bankruptcy in 1992.
According to Berry, a beating from a former abusive boyfriend during the filming of The Last Boy Scout in 1991 punctured her eardrum and caused her to lose 80% of her hearing in her left ear. She has never named the abuser, but she said that he was someone "well known in Hollywood". In 2004, her former boyfriend Christopher Williams accused Wesley Snipes of being responsible for the incident, saying, "I'm so tired of people thinking I'm the guy [who did it]. Wesley Snipes busted her eardrum, not me."
Berry first saw baseball player David Justice on TV playing in an MTV celebrity baseball game in February 1992. When a reporter from Justice's hometown of Cincinnati told her that Justice was a fan, Berry gave her phone number to the reporter to give to Justice. Berry married Justice shortly after midnight on January 1, 1993. Following their separation in February 1996, Berry stated publicly that she was so depressed that she had considered taking her own life. Berry and Justice were divorced on June 20, 1997.
In May 2000, Berry pleaded no contest to a charge of leaving the scene of a car accident; she was sentenced to three years' probation, fined $13,500, and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.
Berry married her second husband, singer-songwriter Eric Benét, on January 24, 2001, following a two-year courtship. Benét underwent treatment for sex addiction in 2002. By early October 2003, they had separated, and their divorce was finalized on January 3, 2005.
In November 2005, Berry began dating French-Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, whom she had met at a Versace photoshoot. Berry gave birth to their daughter in March 2008. On April 30, 2010, Berry and Aubry announced that their relationship had ended some months earlier. In January 2011, Berry and Aubry became involved in a highly publicized custody battle, centered primarily on Berry's desire to move with their daughter from Los Angeles, where Berry and Aubry resided, to France, the home of French actor Olivier Martinez, whom Berry had started dating in 2010, having met him while filming Dark Tide in South Africa. Aubry objected to the move on the ground that it would interfere with their joint custody arrangement. In November 2012, a judge denied Berry's request to move the couple's daughter to France. Less than two weeks later, on November 22, 2012, Aubry and Martinez were both treated at a hospital for injuries after engaging in a physical altercation at Berry's residence. Martinez performed a citizen's arrest on Aubry and, because it was considered a domestic violence incident, was granted a temporary emergency protective order preventing Aubry from coming within 100 yards of Berry, Martinez, and the child with whom he shares custody with Berry, until November 29, 2012. In turn, Aubry obtained a temporary restraining order against Martinez on November 26, 2012, asserting that the fight had begun when Martinez had threatened to kill Aubry if he did not allow the couple to move to France. Leaked court documents included photos showing significant injuries to Aubry's face, which were widely displayed in the media. On November 29, 2012, Berry's lawyer announced that Berry and Aubry had reached an amicable custody agreement in court. In June 2014, a Superior Court ruling called for Berry to pay Aubry $16,000 a month in child support as well as a retroactive payment of $115,000 and $300,000 for Aubry's attorney fees.
Berry and Martinez confirmed their engagement in March 2012, and married in France on July 13, 2013. In October 2013, Berry gave birth to their son. In 2015, after two years of marriage, the couple announced they were divorcing. The divorce was finalized in December 2016. In August 2023, issues dealing with custody and child support were settled.
Berry started dating American musician Van Hunt in 2020, which was revealed through her Instagram.
Activism
Along with Pierce Brosnan, Cindy Crawford, Jane Seymour, Dick Van Dyke, Téa Leoni, and Daryl Hannah, Berry successfully fought in 2006 against the Cabrillo Port Liquefied Natural Gas facility that was proposed off the coast of Malibu. Berry said, "I care about the air we breathe, I care about the marine life and the ecosystem of the ocean." In May 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the facility. Hasty Pudding Theatricals gave her its 2006 Woman of The Year award. Berry took part in a nearly 2,000-house cellphone-bank campaign for Barack Obama in February 2008. In April 2013, she appeared in a video clip for Gucci's "Chime for Change" campaign that aims to raise funds and awareness of women's issues in terms of education, health, and justice. In August 2013, Berry testified alongside Jennifer Garner before the California State Assembly's Judiciary Committee in support of a bill that would protect celebrities' children from harassment by photographers. The bill passed in September.
In May 2024, Berry advocated for more research and education on menopause by supporting a bill introduced by Senators Patty Murray and Lisa Murkowski. Berry said, "I'm in menopause, OK?... The shame has to be taken out of menopause. We have to talk about this very normal part of our life that happens. Our doctors can't even say the word to us, let alone walk us through the journey."
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Music videos
Awards and nominations
See also
List of African American firsts
List of female film and television directors
List of LGBT-related films directed by women
References
General bibliography
Banting, Erinn. Halle Berry, Weigl Publishers, 2005. ISBN 1-59036-333-7.
Gogerly, Liz. Halle Berry, Raintree, 2005. ISBN 1-4109-1085-7.
Naden, Corinne J. Halle Berry, Sagebrush Education Resources, 2001. ISBN 0-613-86157-4.
O'Brien, Daniel. Halle Berry, Reynolds & Hearn, 2003. ISBN 1-903111-38-2.
Sanello, Frank. Halle Berry: A Stormy Life, Virgin Books, 2003. ISBN 1-85227-092-6.
Schuman, Michael A. Halle Berry: Beauty Is Not Just Physical, Enslow, 2006. ISBN 0-7660-2467-9.
External links
Halle Berry on Facebook
Halle Berry at IMDb
Halle Berry at People.com
Halle Berry at TV Guide
Halle Berry at the TCM Movie Database
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Halle Maria Berry ( HAL-ee; born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress. She began her career as a model and entered several beauty contests, becoming Miss Ohio in 1986 and finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant of 1986 and also placing sixth in Miss World 1986. Her breakthrough film role was in the romantic comedy Boomerang (1992), alongside Eddie Murphy, which led to roles in The Flintstones (1994) and Bulworth (1998) as well as the television film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
Berry established herself as one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood during the 2000s. For her performance of a struggling widow in the romantic drama Monster's Ball (2001), Berry became the only African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the first woman of color. Berry took on high-profile roles such as Storm in four installments of the X-Men film series (2000–2014), the henchwoman of a robber in the thriller Swordfish (2001), Bond girl Jinx in Die Another Day (2002), and the title role in the much-derided Catwoman (2004).
A varying critical and commercial reception followed in subsequent years, with Perfect Stranger (2007), Cloud Atlas (2012) and The Call (2013) being among her notable film releases in that period. Berry launched a production company, 606 Films, in 2014 and has been involved in the production of a number of projects in which she performed, such as the CBS science fiction series Extant (2014–2015). She appeared in the action films Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) and made her directorial debut with the Netflix drama Bruised (2020).
Berry has been a Revlon spokesmodel since 1996. She was formerly married to baseball player David Justice, singer-songwriter Eric Benét, and actor Olivier Martinez. Berry has two children. She shares her first child with her former partner Gabriel Aubry, a model, and she shares her second child with Martinez.
Early life
Berry was born Maria Halle Berry in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 14, 1966, to Judith Ann (née Hawkins), a first generation American whose mother, Nelle Hawkins (née Dicken), came from Liverpool, and Jerome Jesse Berry, an African-American man. Her name was legally changed to Halle Maria Berry at the age of five. Her parents selected her middle name from Halle's Department Store, which was then a local landmark in Cleveland. Berry's mother worked as a psychiatric nurse, and her father worked in the same hospital as an attendant in the psychiatric ward; he later became a bus driver. They divorced when Berry was four years old, and she and her older sister Heidi Berry-Henderson were raised exclusively by their mother. She has been estranged from her father since childhood, noting in 1992 that she did not even know if he was still alive. Her father was abusive to her mother, and Berry has recalled witnessing her mother being beaten daily, kicked down stairs, and hit in the head with a wine bottle. Berry has also said that she was bullied as a child and, as a result, learned how to fight and protect herself.
Berry grew up in Oakwood, Ohio, and graduated from Bedford High School, where she was a cheerleader, honor student, editor of the school newspaper, and prom queen. She worked in the children's department of Higbee's department store. She then continued her studies at Cuyahoga Community College. In the 1980s, she entered several beauty contests, winning Miss Teen All American 1985 and Miss Ohio USA 1986. She was the 1986 Miss USA first runner-up, with Christy Fichtner of Texas taking home the crown. In the Miss USA 1986 pageant interview competition, Berry said she hoped to become an entertainer or do some kind of work in media. Her interview was awarded the highest score by the judges. In 1986, Berry became the first African-American to represent the United States at the Miss World beauty pageant. She placed sixth, with Trinidad and Tobago's Giselle Laronde being crowned Miss World.
Career
Early work and breakthrough (1989–1999)
In 1989, Berry moved to New York City to pursue her acting ambitions. During her early time there, she ran out of money and briefly lived in a homeless shelter and a YMCA. Her situation improved by the end of that year, and she was cast in the role of model Emily Franklin in the short-lived ABC television series Living Dolls, which was shot in New York and was a spin-off of the hit series Who's the Boss?. During the taping of Living Dolls, she lapsed into a coma and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. After the cancellation of Living Dolls, she moved to Los Angeles.
Berry's film debut was in a small role for Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991), in which she played Vivian, a drug addict. That same year, Berry had her first co-starring role in Strictly Business. In 1992, Berry portrayed a career woman who falls for the lead character played by Eddie Murphy in the romantic comedy Boomerang. The following year, she caught the public's attention as a headstrong biracial slave in the TV adaptation of Queen: The Story of an American Family, based on the book by Alex Haley. Berry was also in the live-action Flintstones film as Sharon Stone, a sultry secretary who attempts to seduce Fred Flintstone.
Berry tackled a more serious role, playing a former drug addict struggling to regain custody of her son in Losing Isaiah (1995), starring opposite Jessica Lange. She portrayed Sandra Beecher in Race the Sun (1996), which was based on a true story, shot in Australia, and co-starred alongside Kurt Russell in Executive Decision. Beginning in 1996, she was a Revlon spokeswoman for seven years and renewed her contract in 2004.
She starred alongside Natalie Deselle Reid in the 1997 comedy film B*A*P*S. In 1998, Berry received praise for her role in Bulworth as an intelligent woman raised by activists who gives a politician (Warren Beatty) a new lease on life. The same year, she played the singer Zola Taylor, one of the three wives of pop singer Frankie Lymon, in the biopic Why Do Fools Fall in Love.
In the 1999 HBO biopic Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, she portrayed Dorothy Dandridge, the first African American woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. It was to Berry a heartfelt project that she introduced, co-produced and fought intensely for it to come through. Berry won awards including a Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award.
Worldwide recognition (2000–2004)
Berry portrayed the mutant superhero Storm in the film adaptation of the comic book series X-Men (2000) and its sequels, X2 (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). In 2001, Berry appeared in the film Swordfish, which featured her first topless scene. At first, she was opposed to a sunbathing scene in the film in which she would appear topless, but Berry eventually agreed. Some people attributed her change of heart to a substantial increase in the amount Warner Bros. offered her; she was reportedly paid an additional $500,000 for the short scene. Berry denied these stories, telling one interviewer that they amused her and "made for great publicity for the movie." After turning down numerous roles that required nudity, she said she decided to make Swordfish because her then-husband, Eric Benét, supported her and encouraged her to take risks.
Berry appeared as Leticia Musgrove, the troubled wife of an executed murderer (Sean Combs), in the 2001 feature film Monster's Ball. Her performance was awarded the National Board of Review and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress. She became the only African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. The NAACP issued the statement: "Congratulations to Halle Berry and Denzel Washington for giving us hope and making us proud. If this is a sign that Hollywood is finally ready to give opportunity and judge performance based on skill and not on skin color then it is a good thing." This role generated controversy. Her graphic nude love scene with a racist character played by co-star Billy Bob Thornton was the subject of much media chatter and discussion among African Americans. Many in the African-American community were critical of Berry for taking the part. Berry responded: "I don't really see a reason to ever go that far again. That was a unique movie. That scene was special and pivotal and needed to be there, and it would be a really special script that would require something like that again."
Berry asked for a higher fee for Revlon advertisements after winning the Oscar. Ron Perelman, the cosmetics firm's chief, congratulated her, saying how happy he was that she modeled for his company. She replied, "Of course, you'll have to pay me more." Perelman stalked off in a rage. In accepting her award, she gave an acceptance speech honoring previous black actresses who had never had the opportunity. She said, "This moment is so much bigger than me. This is for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance tonight because this door has been opened."
As Bond girl Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson in the 2002 Die Another Day, Berry filmed a homage to Dr. No, emerging from the surf to be greeted by James Bond as Ursula Andress had 40 years earlier. Lindy Hemming, costume designer on Die Another Day, had insisted that Berry wear a bikini and knife as a homage. Berry has said of the scene: "It's splashy," "exciting," "sexy," "provocative" and "it will keep me still out there after winning an Oscar." According to an ITV news poll, Jinx was voted the fourth toughest girl on screen of all time. Berry was hurt during filming when debris from a smoke grenade flew into her eye. It was removed in a 30-minute operation. After Berry won the Academy Award, rewrites were commissioned to give her more screentime for X2.
She starred in the psychological thriller Gothika opposite Robert Downey, Jr. in November 2003, during which she broke her arm in a scene with Downey, who twisted her arm too hard. Production was halted for eight weeks. It was a moderate hit at the United States box office, taking in $60 million; it earned another $80 million abroad. Berry appeared in the nu metal band Limp Bizkit's music video for "Behind Blue Eyes" for the motion picture soundtrack for the film. The same year, she was named No. 1 in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the World poll.
Berry starred as the title role in the film Catwoman, for which she received US$12.5 million. It is widely regarded by critics as one of the worst films ever made. She was awarded the Worst Actress Razzie Award for her performance; she appeared at the ceremony to accept the award in person (while holding her Oscar from Monster's Ball) with a sense of humor, considering it an experience of the "rock bottom" in order to be "at the top." Holding the Academy Award in one hand and the Razzie in the other she said, "I never in my life thought that I would be up here, winning a Razzie! It's not like I ever aspired to be here, but thank you. When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there's no way you could be a good winner."
Established actress and career fluctuations (2005–2013)
Her next film appearance was in the Oprah Winfrey-produced ABC television film Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005), an adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's novel, with Berry portraying a free-spirited woman whose unconventional sexual mores upset her 1920s contemporaries in a small community. She received her second Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her role. Also in 2005, she served as an executive producer in Lackawanna Blues, and landed her voice for the character of Cappy, one of the many mechanical beings in the animated feature Robots.
In the thriller Perfect Stranger (2007), Berry starred with Bruce Willis, playing a reporter who goes undercover to uncover the killer of her childhood friend. The film grossed a modest US$73 million worldwide, and received lukewarm reviews from critics, who felt that despite the presence of Berry and Willis, it is "too convoluted to work, and features a twist ending that's irritating and superfluous." Her next 2007 film release was the drama Things We Lost in the Fire, co-starring Benicio del Toro, where she took on the role of a recent widow befriending the troubled friend of her late husband. The film was the first time in which she worked with a female director, Danish Susanne Bier, giving her a new feeling of "thinking the same way," which she appreciated. While the film made US$8.6 million in its global theatrical run, it garnered positive reviews from writers; The Austin Chronicle found the film to be "an impeccably constructed and perfectly paced drama of domestic and internal volatility" and felt that "Berry is brilliant here, as good as she's ever been."
In April 2007, Berry was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the Kodak Theatre at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to the film industry, and by the end of the decade, she established herself as one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, earning an estimated $10 million per film.
In the independent drama Frankie and Alice (2010), Berry played the leading role of a young multiracial American woman with dissociative identity disorder struggling against her alter personality to retain her true self. The film received a limited theatrical release, to a mixed critical response. The Hollywood Reporter nevertheless described the film as "a well-wrought psychological drama that delves into the dark side of one woman's psyche" and found Berry to be "spellbinding" in it. She earned the African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. She next made part of a large ensemble cast in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy New Year's Eve (2011), with Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Biel, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Sofía Vergara, among many others. In the film, she took on the supporting role of a nurse befriending a man in the final stages (De Niro). While the film was panned by critics, it made US$142 million worldwide.
In 2012, Berry starred as an expert diver tutor alongside then-husband Olivier Martinez in the little-seen thriller Dark Tide, and led an ensemble cast opposite Tom Hanks and Jim Broadbent in The Wachowskis's epic science fiction film Cloud Atlas (2012), with each of the actors playing six different characters across a period of five centuries. Budgeted at US$128.8 million, Cloud Atlas made US$130.4 million worldwide, and garnered polarized reactions from both critics and audiences.
Berry appeared in a segment of the independent anthology comedy Movie 43 (2013), which the Chicago Sun-Times called "the Citizen Kane of awful." Berry found greater success with her next performance, as a 9-1-1 operator receiving a call from a girl kidnapped by a serial killer, in the crime thriller The Call (2013). Berry was drawn to "the idea of being a part of a movie that was so empowering for women. We don't often get to play roles like this, where ordinary people become heroic and do something extraordinary." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times found the film to be "an effectively creepy thriller," while reviewer Dwight Brown felt that "the script gives Berry a blue-collar character she can make accessible, vulnerable and gutsy[...]." The Call was a sleeper hit, grossing US$68.6 million around the globe.
Continued film and television work (2014–present)
In 2014, Berry signed on to star and serve as a co-executive producer in CBS drama series Extant, where she took on the role of Molly Woods, an astronaut who struggles to reconnect with her husband and android son after spending 13 months in space. The show ran for two seasons until 2015, receiving largely positive reviews from critics. USA Today remarked: "She [Halle Berry] brings a dignity and gravity to Molly, a projected intelligence that allows you to buy her as an astronaut and to see what has happened to her as frightening rather than ridiculous. Berry's all in, and you float along." Also in 2014, Berry launched a new production company, 606 Films, with producing partner Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas. It is named after the Anti-Paparazzi Bill, SB 606, that the actress pushed for and which was signed into law by California Governor Jerry Brown in the fall of 2013. The new company emerged as part of a deal for Berry to work in Extant.
In the stand-up comedy concert film Kevin Hart: What Now? (2016), Berry appeared as herself, opposite Kevin Hart, attending a poker game event that goes horribly wrong. She provided uncredited vocals to the song "Calling All My Lovelies" by Bruno Mars from his third studio album, 24K Magic (2016). Kidnap, an abduction thriller Berry filmed in 2014, was released in 2017. In the film, she starred as a diner waitress tailing a vehicle when her son is kidnapped by its occupants. Kidnap grossed US$34 million and garnered mixed reviews from writers, who felt that it "strays into poorly scripted exploitation too often to take advantage of its pulpy premise — or the still-impressive talents of [Berry]." She next played an agent employed by a secret American spy organisation in the action comedy sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), as part of an ensemble cast, consisting of Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Julianne Moore, and Elton John. While critical response towards the film was mixed, it made US$414 million worldwide.
Alongside Daniel Craig, Berry starred as a working-class mother during the 1992 Los Angeles riots in Deniz Gamze Ergüven's drama Kings (2017). The film found a limited theatrical release following its initial screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, and as part of an overall lukewarm reception, Variety noted: "It should be said that Berry has given some of the best and worst performances of the past quarter-century, but this is perhaps the only one that swings to both extremes in the same movie." Berry competed against James Corden in the first rap battle on the first episode of TBS's Drop the Mic, originally aired on October 24, 2017.
She played Sofia, an assassin, in the film John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, which was released on May 17, 2019, by Lionsgate. She is, as of February 2019, executive producer of the BET television series Boomerang, based on the film in which she starred. The series premiered February 12, 2019.
Berry made her directorial debut with the feature Bruised in which she plays a disgraced MMA fighter named Jackie Justice, who reconnects with her estranged son. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2020 and was released on Netflix in November 2021. Berry received a positive review from Deadline for her performance.
In January 2023, Berry signed with Range Media Partners as a producer and director.
In April 2025, Berry was announced as a member of the jury for Main Competition section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
Media image
Berry was ranked No. 1 on People's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" list in 2003 after making the top ten seven times and appeared No. 1 on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" the same year. She was named Esquire magazine's "Sexiest Woman Alive" in October 2008, about which she stated: "I don't know exactly what it means, but being 42 and having just had a baby, I think I'll take it." Men's Health ranked her at No. 35 on their "100 Hottest Women of All-Time" list. In 2009, she was voted #23 on Empire's 100 Sexiest Film Stars. The same year, rapper Hurricane Chris released a song titled "Halle Berry (She's Fine)" extolling Berry's beauty and sex appeal. At the age of 42 (in 2008), she was named the "Sexiest Black Woman" by Access Hollywood's "TV One Access" survey. Born to an African-American father and a white mother, Berry has stated that her biracial background was "painful and confusing" when she was a young woman, and she made the decision early on to identify as a black woman because she knew that was how she would be perceived.
Personal life
Berry dated Chicago dentist John Ronan from March 1989 to October 1991. In November 1993, Ronan sued Berry for $80,000 in what he claimed were unpaid loans to help launch her career. Berry contended that the money was a gift, and a judge dismissed the case because Ronan did not list Berry as a debtor when he filed for bankruptcy in 1992.
According to Berry, a beating from a former abusive boyfriend during the filming of The Last Boy Scout in 1991 punctured her eardrum and caused her to lose 80% of her hearing in her left ear. She has never named the abuser, but she said that he was someone "well known in Hollywood". In 2004, her former boyfriend Christopher Williams accused Wesley Snipes of being responsible for the incident, saying, "I'm so tired of people thinking I'm the guy [who did it]. Wesley Snipes busted her eardrum, not me."
Berry first saw baseball player David Justice on TV playing in an MTV celebrity baseball game in February 1992. When a reporter from Justice's hometown of Cincinnati told her that Justice was a fan, Berry gave her phone number to the reporter to give to Justice. Berry married Justice shortly after midnight on January 1, 1993. Following their separation in February 1996, Berry stated publicly that she was so depressed that she had considered taking her own life. Berry and Justice were divorced on June 20, 1997.
In May 2000, Berry pleaded no contest to a charge of leaving the scene of a car accident; she was sentenced to three years' probation, fined $13,500, and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.
Berry married her second husband, singer-songwriter Eric Benét, on January 24, 2001, following a two-year courtship. Benét underwent treatment for sex addiction in 2002. By early October 2003, they had separated, and their divorce was finalized on January 3, 2005.
In November 2005, Berry began dating French-Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, whom she had met at a Versace photoshoot. Berry gave birth to their daughter in March 2008. On April 30, 2010, Berry and Aubry announced that their relationship had ended some months earlier. In January 2011, Berry and Aubry became involved in a highly publicized custody battle, centered primarily on Berry's desire to move with their daughter from Los Angeles, where Berry and Aubry resided, to France, the home of French actor Olivier Martinez, whom Berry had started dating in 2010, having met him while filming Dark Tide in South Africa. Aubry objected to the move on the ground that it would interfere with their joint custody arrangement. In November 2012, a judge denied Berry's request to move the couple's daughter to France. Less than two weeks later, on November 22, 2012, Aubry and Martinez were both treated at a hospital for injuries after engaging in a physical altercation at Berry's residence. Martinez performed a citizen's arrest on Aubry and, because it was considered a domestic violence incident, was granted a temporary emergency protective order preventing Aubry from coming within 100 yards of Berry, Martinez, and the child with whom he shares custody with Berry, until November 29, 2012. In turn, Aubry obtained a temporary restraining order against Martinez on November 26, 2012, asserting that the fight had begun when Martinez had threatened to kill Aubry if he did not allow the couple to move to France. Leaked court documents included photos showing significant injuries to Aubry's face, which were widely displayed in the media. On November 29, 2012, Berry's lawyer announced that Berry and Aubry had reached an amicable custody agreement in court. In June 2014, a Superior Court ruling called for Berry to pay Aubry $16,000 a month in child support as well as a retroactive payment of $115,000 and $300,000 for Aubry's attorney fees.
Berry and Martinez confirmed their engagement in March 2012, and married in France on July 13, 2013. In October 2013, Berry gave birth to their son. In 2015, after two years of marriage, the couple announced they were divorcing. The divorce was finalized in December 2016. In August 2023, issues dealing with custody and child support were settled.
Berry started dating American musician Van Hunt in 2020, which was revealed through her Instagram.
Activism
Along with Pierce Brosnan, Cindy Crawford, Jane Seymour, Dick Van Dyke, Téa Leoni, and Daryl Hannah, Berry successfully fought in 2006 against the Cabrillo Port Liquefied Natural Gas facility that was proposed off the coast of Malibu. Berry said, "I care about the air we breathe, I care about the marine life and the ecosystem of the ocean." In May 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the facility. Hasty Pudding Theatricals gave her its 2006 Woman of The Year award. Berry took part in a nearly 2,000-house cellphone-bank campaign for Barack Obama in February 2008. In April 2013, she appeared in a video clip for Gucci's "Chime for Change" campaign that aims to raise funds and awareness of women's issues in terms of education, health, and justice. In August 2013, Berry testified alongside Jennifer Garner before the California State Assembly's Judiciary Committee in support of a bill that would protect celebrities' children from harassment by photographers. The bill passed in September.
In May 2024, Berry advocated for more research and education on menopause by supporting a bill introduced by Senators Patty Murray and Lisa Murkowski. Berry said, "I'm in menopause, OK?... The shame has to be taken out of menopause. We have to talk about this very normal part of our life that happens. Our doctors can't even say the word to us, let alone walk us through the journey."
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Music videos
Awards and nominations
See also
List of African American firsts
List of female film and television directors
List of LGBT-related films directed by women
References
General bibliography
Banting, Erinn. Halle Berry, Weigl Publishers, 2005. ISBN 1-59036-333-7.
Gogerly, Liz. Halle Berry, Raintree, 2005. ISBN 1-4109-1085-7.
Naden, Corinne J. Halle Berry, Sagebrush Education Resources, 2001. ISBN 0-613-86157-4.
O'Brien, Daniel. Halle Berry, Reynolds & Hearn, 2003. ISBN 1-903111-38-2.
Sanello, Frank. Halle Berry: A Stormy Life, Virgin Books, 2003. ISBN 1-85227-092-6.
Schuman, Michael A. Halle Berry: Beauty Is Not Just Physical, Enslow, 2006. ISBN 0-7660-2467-9.
External links
Halle Berry on Facebook
Halle Berry at IMDb
Halle Berry at People.com
Halle Berry at TV Guide
Halle Berry at the TCM Movie Database
Appearances on C-SPAN
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Larry Bird
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Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Hick from French Lick" and "Larry Legend" Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He is the only person in NBA history to be named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.
Growing up in French Lick, Indiana, Bird was a local basketball star. Highly recruited, he initially signed to play college basketball for coach Bob Knight of the Indiana Hoosiers. However, Bird dropped out after one month and returned to French Lick and attended a local college. The next year, he attended Indiana State University, ultimately playing three years for the Sycamores. Selected by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft after his second year at Indiana State, Bird elected to stay in college and returned for the 1978–79 season. He then led his team to an undefeated regular season. The season finished with a national championship game match-up of Indiana State against Michigan State and featured a highly anticipated match-up of Bird against Michigan State great Magic Johnson, thus beginning a career-long rivalry that the two shared for over a decade. Michigan State won, ending the Sycamores' undefeated streak.
Bird entered the NBA for the 1979–80 season, where he made an immediate impact, starting at power forward and leading the Celtics to a 32-win improvement over the previous season before being eliminated from the playoffs in the conference finals. Bird played for the Celtics during his entire professional career (13 seasons), leading them to five NBA Finals appearances and three NBA championships. Bird played most of his career with forward Kevin McHale and center Robert Parish, considered by some to be the greatest front court in NBA history. Bird was a 12-time NBA All-Star, won two NBA Finals MVP awards and received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award three consecutive times (1984–1986), making him the only forward in league history to do so. Bird was also a member of the gold medal-winning 1992 U.S. Olympic basketball team, known as the "Dream Team". He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame twice as a player—first in 1998 as an individual, and again in 2010 as a member of the "Dream Team." Bird was voted onto the NBA's 50 Greatest Players in NBA History list in 1996, and subsequently the 75th Anniversary Team list in 2021. A versatile player at both forward positions, Bird could play both inside and outside, being one of the first players in the league to take advantage of the newly adopted three-point line. He was rated the greatest NBA small forward of all time by Fox Sports in 2016.
After retiring as a player, Bird served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. He was named NBA Coach of the Year for the 1997–98 season and later led the Pacers to a berth in the 2000 NBA Finals. In 2003, Bird was named president of basketball operations for the Pacers, holding the position until retiring in 2012. He was named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2012 season. Bird returned to the Pacers as president of basketball operations in 2013, and remained in that role until 2017. Bird continued with the Pacers as an advisor until July 2022, then after nearly a year's break returned to the organization in the role of consultant.
Early life
Bird was born December 7, 1956, in West Baden Springs, Indiana, to Georgia Marie (née Kerns; 1930–1996) and Claude Joseph "Joe" Bird (1926–1975), a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. His parents were of Irish, Scottish and Native American descent. Bird has four brothers and a sister.
Bird was raised in nearby French Lick, where his mother worked two jobs to support Larry and his five siblings. Bird has said that being poor as a child still motivates him "to this day." Georgia and Joe divorced when Larry was in high school, and Joe committed suicide in February 1975.
Bird used basketball as an escape from his family troubles, starring for Springs Valley High School (Class of 1974) and averaging 31 points, 21 rebounds, and 4.0 assists as a senior on his way to becoming the school's all-time scoring leader. Bird wore the jersey number 33 in high school because his brother Mark had previously had it; he kept that number through his college and professional career. According to Bird, he grew up as a huge fan of the Indiana Pacers in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the 6'9 center Mel Daniels, who represented his first exposure to professional basketball. Bird's youngest brother, Eddie, also played basketball at Indiana State University, where Daniels would coincidentally become an assistant coach to the young Larry once he played there.
College career
Bird received a scholarship to play college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers under head coach Bob Knight in 1974. After less than a month on the Indiana University campus, Bird dropped out of school, finding the adjustment between his small hometown and the large student population of Bloomington to be overwhelming. Bird returned to French Lick, enrolling at Northwood Institute (now Northwood University) in nearby West Baden, and working municipal jobs for a year before enrolling at Indiana State University in Terre Haute in 1975. He had a successful three-year career with the Sycamores, helping them reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history with a 33–0 record where they played the 1979 championship game against Michigan State. Indiana State lost the game 75–64, with Bird scoring 19 points but making only 7 of 21 shots.
The game achieved the highest-ever television rating for a college basketball game, in large part because of the matchup between Bird and Spartans' point guard Earvin "Magic" Johnson, a rivalry that lasted throughout their professional careers. Despite failing to win the championship, Bird earned numerous year-end awards and honors for his outstanding play, including the Naismith College Player of the Year Award. For his college career, Bird averaged 30.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game, leading the Sycamores to an 81–13 record during his tenure. Bird also appeared in one game for the baseball team, going 1-for-2 with 2 RBI. He graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education.
Professional career
Boston Celtics (1979–1992)
Joining the Celtics (1978–1979)
Bird was selected by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft. He did not sign with the Celtics immediately; instead, Bird played out his final season at Indiana State and led the Sycamores to the NCAA title game. Celtics general manager Red Auerbach publicly stated that he would not pay Bird more than any Celtic on the current roster, but Bird's agent Bob Woolf told Auerbach that Bird would reject any sub-market offers and simply enter the 1979 draft instead, where Boston's rights would expire when the draft began on June 25, and Bird would have been the likely top pick. After protracted negotiations, he signed a five-year, $3.25 million contract with the team on June 8, making Bird the highest-paid rookie in sports history. Shortly afterwards, NBA draft eligibility rules were changed to prevent teams from drafting players before they were ready to sign, a rule known as the Bird Collegiate Rule.
Early success (1979–1983)
In his rookie season (1979–80), Bird immediately transformed the Celtics into a title contender. The team improved its win total by 32 games from the year before he was drafted and finished first in the Eastern Conference. In his career debut, Bird recorded 14 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists in a 114–106 victory over the Houston Rockets. On November 14, 1979, he recorded his first career triple-double with 23 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists in a 115–111 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Nine days later, Bird recorded his first 30-point scoring game (along with 11 rebounds and 3 assists) in a 118–103 victory over the Indiana Pacers. With averages of 21.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.7 steals per game for the season, he was selected to the All-Star Team and named Rookie of the Year. In the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston was eliminated by the Philadelphia 76ers.
Before the 1980–81 season, the Celtics selected forward Kevin McHale in the draft and acquired center Robert Parish from the Golden State Warriors, forming a Hall of Fame trio for years to come; the front-court of Bird, McHale, and Parish is regarded as one of the greatest front-courts in NBA history. Behind Bird's leadership and Boston's upgraded roster, the Celtics again advanced to the Conference Finals for a rematch with the 76ers. Boston fell behind 3–1 to start the series but won the next three games to advance to the Finals against the Houston Rockets, winning in six games and earning Bird his first championship. Bird averaged 21.9 points, 14 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 2.3 steals per game for the postseason and 15.3 points, 15.3 rebounds, and 7 assists per game for the Finals.
At the 1982 All-Star Game, Bird scored 19 points en route to winning the All-Star Game MVP Award. At the end of the season, he earned his first All-Defensive Team selection. Bird eventually finished runner-up in Most Valuable Player Award voting to Moses Malone. In the Conference Finals, the Celtics faced the 76ers for the third consecutive year, losing in seven games. Boston's misfortunes continued into the next season, with Bird again finishing second in MVP voting to Malone and the team losing in the conference semifinals to the Milwaukee Bucks.
MVP threepeat (1983–1986)
Bird was slated to become a free agent after the 1983–84 season. In 1983, as part of a collective bargaining agreement, the NBA initially implemented a "hard" salary cap (meaning total player salaries could not exceed a certain limit) which would not go into effect until the 1984–85 season. The NBA quickly modified this to a "soft cap", meaning the cap could be exceeded in order for a team re-sign its own free agents. This came to be erroneously known as the "Larry Bird Rule"; the Celtics didn't actually invoke the exception to specifically re-sign Bird, as the cap wasn't in effect. Bird signed his seven-year, $12.6 million extension in 1983, before the cap came into effect and the Celtics were actually over the cap in total player salaries (including Bird's extension) at the time the cap was implemented.
Bird was named MVP of the 1983–84 season with averages of 24.2 points, 10.1 rebounds, 6.6 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. In the playoffs, the Celtics avenged their loss from the year before to the Bucks, winning in five games in the Conference Finals to advance to the Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. In Game 4, the Lakers—led by Bird's college rival Magic Johnson—were on the verge of taking a commanding 3–1 series lead before a flagrant foul was committed on Kurt Rambis that resulted in a brawl and caused the Lakers to lose their composure. Boston came back to win that game and eventually won the series in seven games. Bird was named Finals MVP behind 27.4 points, 14 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game.
On December 9, 1984, Bird recorded 48 points to go along with 14 rebounds and 5 assists in a narrow 128–127 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. On March 12 of the 1984–85 season, Bird scored a career-high and franchise record 60 points in a game against the Atlanta Hawks. The performance came just nine days after Kevin McHale set the previous Celtics record for points in a game with 56. At the end of the year, Bird was named MVP for the second consecutive season, behind averages of 28.7 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game. Boston advanced through the playoffs to earn a rematch with the Lakers, this time losing in six games.
During the 1985 offseason, Bird injured his back shoveling crushed rock to create a driveway at his mother's house. At least partially as a result of this, Bird experienced back problems for the rest of his career.
Before the start of the 1985–86 season, the Celtics made a daring trade for Bill Walton, an All-Star center with a history of injury. The risk paid off; Walton's acquisition helped Boston win a league best 67 games. One of Bird's career highlights occurred at the 1986 NBA All-Star Weekend when he walked into the locker room at the inaugural Three-Point Shootout and asked who was going to finish second before winning the shootout.
On November 27, 1985, Bird recorded 47 points to go along with 12 rebounds, two assists, and two steals in a 132–124 victory over the Detroit Pistons. On March 10, 1986, he scored 50 points to go along with 11 rebounds and five assists in a narrow 116–115 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
With averages of 25.8 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 6.8 assists, and 2.0 steals per game, Bird became just the third player in NBA history to win three consecutive MVP Awards. In the playoffs, the Celtics lost only one game through the first three rounds en route to a match-up against the Rockets in the Finals. In Game 6 of the Finals against the Rockets, Bird recorded a triple-double of 29 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists as the Celtics won the Finals in six games. He averaged 24 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 9.5 assists per game for the championship round.
The 1985–86 Celtics are commonly ranked as one of the greatest basketball teams of all time, with the Boston Globe's Peter May and Grantland's Bill Simmons listing them at number one.
Falling short (1986–1988)
In 1987, the Celtics made their last Finals appearance of Bird's career, fighting through difficult series against the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons. In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons, with five seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and Boston trailing the Pistons 107–106, Bird stole an inbound pass. Falling out of bounds, Bird turned and passed the ball to teammate Dennis Johnson, who converted a game-winning layup with less than a second left. The dramatic play saved the series for the Celtics. When they reached the NBA Finals, the Celtics lost to a dominant Lakers team that had won 65 games during the season. The Celtics ended up losing to the Lakers in six games, with Bird averaging 24.2 points on .445 shooting, 10 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game. The Celtics fell short in 1988 losing to the Detroit Pistons in six games in the Eastern Conference finals as the Pistons made up from the heartbreak the previous season. Between them, Bird and Johnson captured eight NBA championships during the 1980s, with Magic getting five and Bird three. During the 1980s, either Boston or Los Angeles appeared in every NBA Finals.
Late career (1988–1992)
The 1987–88 season was the highest-scoring season of Bird's career. In Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks, Bird shot 9-of-10 from the floor in the fourth quarter, scoring 20 points in that quarter and lifting the Celtics to a series-clinching victory. Bird finished with 34 points. His effort helped to overcome a 47-point performance by Atlanta's Dominique Wilkins. Wilkins remarked, "The basket was like a well. I couldn't miss. He couldn't miss. And it went down to the last shot of the game. Who was going to make the last shot? That's the greatest game I've ever played in or seen played." The Celtics failed to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in five years, losing to the Pistons in six games during the Eastern Conference Finals.
Bird's 1988–89 season ended after six games when he had bone spurs surgically removed from both of his heels. Bird returned to the Celtics in 1989, but debilitating back problems and an aging Celtic roster prevented him from regaining his prime form. Nonetheless, during the final years of his career, Bird maintained his status as one of the premier players in the game. In his final three seasons with the Celtics, Bird averaged over 20 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists per game, shot better than 45% from the field, and led the Celtics to playoff appearances.
After leading the Celtics to a 29–5 start to the 1990–91 season, Bird missed 22 games due to a compressed nerve root in his back, a condition that eventually led to his retirement. Bird had off-season surgery to remove a disc from his back, but his back problems continued and Bird missed 37 games during the 1991–92 season. During the 1992 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Bird missed four of the seven games due to recurring back problems.
During Bird's final two seasons when he had serious back problems, the Celtics went 71–28 when he played. Without Bird, they had a 30–29 record, further demonstrating his importance and game-changing ability while on the court.
On August 18, 1992, Bird announced his retirement from the NBA. Following Bird's departure, the Celtics promptly retired his jersey number 33.
Rivalry with Magic Johnson
Larry Bird and Magic Johnson are known to be "one of the greatest rivalries in sports." Their rivalry began in college, when Bird and Indiana State lost to Johnson and Michigan State in the NCAA Championship game. Their rivalry continued on in the revived Celtics–Lakers rivalry in the NBA. Either the Celtics, led by Bird, or the Lakers, led by Magic, were present in every NBA Finals series in the '80s, with Bird and Magic meeting thrice. Magic got the upper hand against Bird, beating him in 1985 and 1987, while Bird beat Magic in 1984.
Throughout the 1980s, contests between the Celtics and the Lakers—both during the regular season and in the Finals—attracted enormous television audiences. The first regular-season game between the Celtics and the Lakers in the 1987–88 season proved to be a classic with Magic Johnson banking in an off-balance shot from near the three-point line at the buzzer for a narrow 115–114 Lakers victory at Boston Garden. The historical rift between the teams, which faced each other several times in championship series of the 1960s, fueled fan interest in the rivalry. Bird and Magic's presence on the court was only a small part of their contribution to basketball, as their rivalry changed the landscape of the NBA, transforming it from a "struggling, barely profitable league into a highly visible, financial and marketing dream for teams and players alike." Many people realized that the emergence of these two stars was linked with the rise in popularity of the NBA, as the NBA started to market towards these two stars.
The apparent contrast between the two players and their respective teams seemed scripted for television, as they were polar opposites in nearly every way conceivable. Bird was White, Johnson was Black; Bird was an introvert from a small town playing in blue-collar Boston, while Johnson was the gregarious personification of the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles; Bird's Celtics played gritty, physical, defence-first basketball, whereas Johnson ran the Lakers' fast-paced Showtime offense. A 1980s Converse commercial for its "Weapon" line of basketball shoes (endorsed by both Bird and Johnson) reflected the perceived dichotomy between the two players. In the commercial, Bird is practicing alone on a rural basketball court (in reality the court was one Bird had made on the property in French Lick that he had purchased for his mother), when Johnson pulls up in a sleek limousine and challenges him to a one-on-one match.
Journalists speculated that Bird and Magic represented different contrasts, such as clashes between Celtics and Lakers, between East and West, and between Blacks and Whites. But, as one journalist would say, "They looked different, perhaps, but take a chainsaw to their souls and they were fraternal, if not identical, friends." Watching Bird play was like watching Magic play, as they both shared this talent that the league had never seen before. They each had charisma, deft shooting touch, extraordinary passing skills, and team-oriented mindset that ignited their team and the crowd. This style of play was starting to influence a new horde of fans as they would sit and "marvel at what they [Bird and Magic] can do" while giving younger kids "a different perspective of the game."
Despite the intensity of their rivalry, Bird and Johnson became friends off the court. Their friendship blossomed when the two players worked together to film the Converse commercial, which depicted them as archenemies. Johnson appeared at Bird's retirement ceremony on February 4, 1993, and emotionally described Bird as a "friend forever."
National team career
During the summer of 1992, Bird joined Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and other NBA stars to play for the United States men's national basketball team in that year's Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. It was the first time in the United States' Olympic history that the country sent NBA players to compete. Although head coach Chuck Daly initially suggested that Jordan captain the team, he declined and so Bird and Magic Johnson held the co-captainship of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team.
The "Dream Team" won the men's basketball gold medal. In eight games, Bird averaged 8.4 points. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame called the team "the greatest collection of basketball talent on the planet."
Player profile
Bird has been described as one of the greatest basketball players and greatest shooters of all time. He was selected to 12 NBA All-Star teams. Bird won three NBA championships (in 1981, 1984, and 1986) with the Celtics and won two NBA Finals MVP Awards. He won three consecutive regular season MVP awards; as of 2020, the only other players to accomplish this feat are Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Bird was also a four-time regular season MVP runner-up in 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1988.
Bird scored 24.3 points per game in his career on a .496 field goal percentage, an .886 free throw percentage, and a .376 percentage on three-point shots. Bird had an average of 10.0 rebounds per game for his career and 6.3 assists. Bird was the first player in NBA history to shoot 50% or better on field goals, 40% on three-pointers, and 90% on free-throws in a single NBA season while achieving the league minimum for makes in each category. He accomplished this feat twice. Bird won NBA three-point-shooting contests in three consecutive years. He sometimes practiced shooting three-point shots with his eyes closed.
Bird is remembered as one of the foremost clutch performers in the history of the NBA; Bird was known for his excellent play in high-stakes, high-pressure situations. Pat Riley (who had coached the LA Lakers featuring Magic Johnson against Bird's Celtics in three NBA Finals), when asked about his opinion of the best clutch performer, said "If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save a game, I'd choose Michael Jordan. If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save my life, I'd take Larry Bird."
Bird is also remembered as an excellent passer and defender. While he was relatively slow, Bird displayed a knack for anticipating the moves of his opponent, making Bird a strong team defender. He had 1,556 career steals. In recognition of his defensive abilities, Bird was named to three All-Defensive Second Teams.
Bird was known for his trash-talking on the court and is remembered as one of the most notable trash-talkers of his era. Bird was known for telling his opponents how and where in the court he would score against them; Xavier McDaniel recounted that Bird predicted a game-winning shot against him, then "shot a shot right in my face and was like 'Damn, I didn't mean to leave two seconds on the clock.'" When playing against Dennis Rodman, a player known for his defensive abilities, in the 1987 Eastern Conference finals, Bird continually belittled Rodman's ability, at one point asking Chuck Daly, Detroit's head coach, to send in someone up to the task of guarding him. Knowing that Bird used such chirping to raise his own game, Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan discouraged his rookie teammate B.J. Armstrong not to respond to Bird, saying "Not a single person. Not one word. No one talk to Larry Bird". Jordan has since dubbed "Larry Bird is the greatest trash-talker and mind-game player of all time. He taught me everything I know about getting in folks' heads".
Bird was widely considered one of Red Auerbach's favorite players as he considered Bird to be the greatest basketball player of all time. Bird's humble roots were the source of his most frequently used moniker, "The Hick from French Lick." Bird was also referred to as "Larry Legend." Michael Jordan himself considers the description 'God disguised as Michael Jordan' as his favorite complement since it came from Bird (after Game 2 of the Celtics' first-round series against the Bulls during the 1986 playoffs when Jordan scored 63 points in a 135-131 Celtics win). Jordan has since said "Larry Bird's comments gave me credibility. Up to that point I was still perceived as a hotshot rookie, not a real player. When Bird acknowledged my performance, I became a player. I still wasn't up to his level, but I was now a player who was marked as a star, a potential Hall of Famer depending upon how I took those comments. Off the court, Larry Bird intimidated me because of who he was, what he had accomplished. And the fact that he was Larry Legend". In another example of how Bird was respected as one of the NBA's all-time greats, Jordan deferred to Bird and Magic Johnson for co-captainship of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team.
Legacy
Bird was voted onto the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team list in 1996, and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame again in 2010, as a member of the "Dream Team." In 1999, Bird ranked No. 30 on ESPN SportsCentury's list of 50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th century. Bird also ranked No. 24 on the Associated Press's list of the 100 Greatest Athletes of the 20th century in 1999. He played both the small forward and power forward positions. Universally recognized as an all-time great player, Bird was placed at the power forward position on an NBA all-time starting five roster with fellow superstars Magic Johnson (point guard), Michael Jordan (shooting guard), LeBron James (small forward), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (center) in 2020.
In 2011, Bird was honored with a lifetime achievement award at The Sports Museum's 10th annual The Tradition event (celebrating New England athletes) held at TD Garden.
There is a street named in Bird's honor on the campus of Indiana State University. In 2013, the university unveiled a bronze statue of Bird (wearing his Sycamores jersey, in mid-jump-shot pose) in front of the Hulman Center. In addition, Bird's former teammate Bob Heaton, then serving in the Indiana House of Representatives, read a proclamation from Indiana Gov. Mike Pence proclaiming Nov. 9th as Larry Bird Day in the state of Indiana.
At the 2019 NBA Awards, Bird received the NBA Lifetime Achievement Award (shared with Magic Johnson). Since 2022, the NBA will award the MVPs for the conference finals; the Eastern Conference Finals MVP trophy is named in Bird's honor, while the Western Conference trophy is named after Johnson.
In October 2021, as part of the NBA's 75th Anniversary, Bird was honored as one of the 75 greatest players of all time, by being named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team. To commemorate the NBA's 75th Anniversary, The Athletic ranked their top 75 players of all time, and named Bird as the seventh greatest player in NBA history.
In May 2024, the Larry Bird Museum was opened in Terre Haute, Indiana. The museum contains memorabilia from Bird's high school, college and NBA career along with interactive exhibits and interviews with coaches, teammates and rivals.
Coaching and executive careers
The Celtics employed Bird as a special assistant in the team's front office from 1992 until 1997.
In 1997, Bird accepted the position of head coach of the Indiana Pacers. Bird said that he would be on the job for no more than three years. Despite having no previous coaching experience, Bird led the Pacers to a 58–24 record—the franchise's best as an NBA team at the time—in the 1997–98 season, and pushed the eventual champions Chicago Bulls (led by superstar Michael Jordan and head coach Phil Jackson) to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals. The 1997–98 team is considered one of the best in Pacers' franchise history, and Bird was named the NBA Coach of the Year for his efforts. Bird then led the Pacers to consecutive Central Division titles in 1999 and 2000, and a berth in the 2000 NBA Finals where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers (coached by Phil Jackson) in six games. Bird resigned his head coaching position shortly after the end of the 1999–2000 season, following through on his initial promise to coach for only three years. He was succeeded in that capacity by Isiah Thomas.
In 2003, Bird was hired as the Indiana Pacers' president of basketball operations. One of Bird's first acts as Pacers president was to replace Isiah Thomas with Rick Carlisle as head coach, due to the team's underachievement under Thomas. From 2006 onwards, Bird overhauled the roster by trading away veterans while making savvy draft picks, since the Pacers were a small-market team that could not chase expensive free agents. After the 2011–2012 NBA season, when the Pacers secured the No. 3 seed in the East and had the fifth-best record (42–24) in the league, Bird was named NBA Executive of the Year, becoming the only man in NBA history to win the NBA MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year. On the day before the 2012 NBA draft, Bird and the Pacers announced that they would be parting ways; he said that health issues were among the reasons for his departure. Bird returned to the Pacers as president of basketball operations in 2013. He stepped down again in 2017, but stayed with the team in an advisory capacity. Bird continued to serve as an advisor until July 2022, when he "stepped back from maintaining an active role with the Indiana Pacers." Nearly a year later in June 2023, it was announced that the Pacers re-hired Bird to serve as a consultant. As of 2025, Larry Bird still holds his position as a consultant for the Indiana Pacers. Larry has recently been noted as "disappearing" from the sport. One reason according to him, is not being in a front-facing role such as a head coach, means that he doesn't have to face public scrutiny, something he has noted before. He stated in 2016, "Sometimes my job really sucks."
Awards and honors
NBA
3× NBA champion (1981, 1984, 1986)
2× NBA Finals MVP (1984, 1986)
3× NBA Most Valuable Player (1984–1986)
12× NBA All-Star (1980–1988, 1990–1992)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (1982)
9× All-NBA First Team (1980–1988)
All-NBA Second Team (1990)
3× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1982–1984)
NBA Rookie of the Year (1980)
NBA All-Rookie First Team (1980)
3× NBA Three-Point Contest Champion (1986–1988)
2× NBA Three-Point Scoring Leader (1986, 1987)
4× NBA Free-Throw Percentage Leader (1984, 1986, 1987, 1990)
2× 50–40–90 club (1987, 1988)
7× NBA Player of the Month
15× NBA Player of the Week
Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996
Selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021
No. 33 retired by Boston Celtics
Trophy named in Bird's honor (Larry Bird Trophy) awarded to Eastern Conference Finals MVP (established in 2022)
NBA All-Star Game head coach (1998)
NBA Coach of the Year (1998)
NBA Executive of the Year (2012)
NBA Lifetime Achievement Award (2019)
USA Basketball
1977 World University Games gold medal
1992 FIBA Americas Championship gold medal
1992 Olympic gold medal
NCAA
1979 MVC Regular Season Champion
1979 MVC Tournament Champion
Consensus National Player of the Year (1979)
John R. Wooden Award (1979)
Naismith College Player of the Year (1979)
Oscar Robertson Trophy (1979)
Adolph Rupp Trophy (1979)
AP College Basketball Player of the Year (1979)
Sporting News College Basketball Player of the Year (1979)
UPI College Basketball Player of the Year (1979)
NABC Player of the Year (1979)
2× MVC Player of the Year (1978, 1979)
2× Consensus first team All-American (1978, 1979)
2× AP first team All-American (1978, 1979)
2× NABC first team All-American (1978, 1979)
2× UPI first team All-American (1978, 1979)
USBWA first team All-American (1979)
USBWA second team All-American (1978)
NABC third team All-American (1977)
UPI third team All-American (1977)
2× first team All-MVC (1978, 1979)
NCAA total points leader (1979)
No. 33 retired by Indiana State Sycamores
Media
Associated Press Athlete of the Year (1986)
Sporting News Athlete of the Year (1986)
2× Sporting News NBA MVP (1985, 1986)
Sporting News Rookie of the Year (1980)
Sporting News NBA 1980s All-Decade First Team
AP NBA 1980s All-Decade First Team
Halls of Fame
Two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee:
1998 – individual
2010 – member of "The Dream Team"
National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inaugural class of 2006)
U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame (class of 2009 as a member of "The Dream Team")
FIBA Hall of Fame (class of 2017 as a member of "The Dream Team")
Indiana Sports Hall of Fame (inaugural class of 2020)
Indiana State University Athletics Hall of Fame (class of 2000)
Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame (class of 2000)
Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame (inaugural class of 1997)
National High School Hall of Fame (class of 1995)
In popular culture
Bird has appeared in three movies, each time playing himself: Blue Chips with Nick Nolte, released in 1994 by Paramount; the Warner Brothers film Space Jam with Michael Jordan and Bill Murray, in 1996; and Celtic Pride with Dan Aykroyd, Daniel Stern, and Damon Wayans, which was also released in 1996.
A fictionalized version of Bird appears in the DIC Entertainment animated series Captain N: The Game Master episode "Pursuit of the Magic Hoop", voiced by Canadian actor Garry Chalk.
Bird's likeness has appeared in several video games. In One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, Bird plays opposite Julius Erving in a game of one-on-one. A sequel, Jordan vs Bird: One on One, was a 1988 basketball video game. In 2011, Bird was featured on the cover of NBA 2K12, alongside Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. Bird is also a playable character in the revamped NBA Jam.
In a McDonald's commercial from 1991 (first aired during the Super Bowl), Bird and Michael Jordan have a trick shot contest, in which the winner got Jordan's lunch and the loser had to watch the winner eat. In a commercial during Super Bowl XLIV, Dwight Howard and LeBron James challenge each other at trick shots for a McDonald's lunch. After they finish, clapping is heard, then the camera pans to the crowd, and Bird says "Great show, guys. Thanks for lunch." Howard and James share a confused look. Howard asks, "Who was that?" James replies, "I have no idea."
In 2013 Bird voiced himself in an episode of Futurama titled "Saturday Morning Fun Pit"; however, Bird did not want anything to do with the role so his only line is a voicemail of him telling the showrunners that he wanted no part in the episode.
Bird has been referenced and parodied in the animated series Family Guy multiple times. In the 2016 episode Peter, Chris, & Brian where Peter Griffin sets up a cutaway when he claims he never did anything important expect beating Larry Bird. In a parody of commercials Bird has done over making outrageous shots in the wager for a McDonald's Big Mac. He physically appears in the 2017 episode "Peter's Def Jam" where Peter and friends observe one of Birds interviews.
Until July 2023, Twitter's logo was named Larry in honor of Larry Bird.
Bird is portrayed by Sean Patrick Small in the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.
Personal life
In 1975, Bird married Janet Condra. They remained married for less than a year. Following an attempted reconciliation, Bird and Condra had a daughter, Corrie, in 1977.
Bird married Dinah Mattingly in 1989. They have two adopted children: Conner and Mariah. That same year, Bird released his autobiography Drive: The Story of My Life, which he co-wrote alongside Bob Ryan. The book recounts his life up until that point, touching upon his childhood, his father's alcoholism and suicide, his first marriage along with his triumph's on the court and stories about teammates.
During his professional career with the Celtics, Bird lived in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts.
Bird is an active philanthropist, especially through the Boys & Girls Clubs of America along with health-related charitable efforts. However, Bird has kept most of his efforts out of the press, seeking no publicity for his efforts. Bird once stated "All of my donations are sort of made under the table," "I don't need the publicity. I'm not doing it for the publicity. But I do care. And that's what matters most."
Bird is known to live a low-key lifestyle, in his spare time his enjoys engaging in hands-on activities. He is an avid fisherman and enjoys playing golf.
Career statistics
NBA statistics
Regular season
Playoff statistics
Career-highs in regular season
Career-highs in playoffs
College statistics
Head coaching record
Publications
Bird, Larry; Bischoff, John (1986). Bird On Basketball: How-to Strategies From The Great Celtics Champion. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0201106671.
Bird, Larry; Ryan, Bob (1989). Drive: The Story of My Life. Bantam. ISBN 978-0553287585.
Bird, Larry; Jackie, MacMullan (1999). Bird Watching: On Playing and Coaching the Game I Love. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0446524643.
Bird, Larry; Johnson, Earvin; MacMullan, Jackie (2009). When the Game Was Ours. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0547225470.
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
See also
Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame
List of NBA career scoring leaders
List of NBA franchise career scoring leaders
List of NBA career assists leaders
List of NBA career steals leaders
List of NBA career turnovers leaders
List of NBA career free throw percentage leaders
List of NBA career triple-double leaders
List of NBA career playoff scoring leaders
List of NBA career playoff assists leaders
List of NBA career playoff rebounding leaders
List of NBA career playoff steals leaders
List of NBA career playoff turnovers leaders
List of NBA career playoff free throw scoring leaders
List of NBA career playoff triple-double leaders
List of NBA single-game scoring leaders
List of NBA single-game steals leaders
List of NBA annual minutes leaders
List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 2000 points and 1000 rebounds
"Saturday Morning Fun Pit", a 2013 episode of Futurama featuring Bird voice acting as a cartoon clone version of himself
References
Further reading
MacCambridge, Michael, ed. (1999). "Larry Bird: Bird of Prey". ESPN SportsCentury. New York: Hyperion-ESPN Books. pp. 253–254. ISBN 978-0786864713.
May, Peter (2007) [1994]. The Big Three: Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish: The Best Frontcourt in the History of Basketball. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-5207-9. OCLC 86221987. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
External links
Career statistics from NBA.com · Basketball Reference
Basketball Hall of Fame profile
NBA profile
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Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Hick from French Lick" and "Larry Legend" Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He is the only person in NBA history to be named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.
Growing up in French Lick, Indiana, Bird was a local basketball star. Highly recruited, he initially signed to play college basketball for coach Bob Knight of the Indiana Hoosiers. However, Bird dropped out after one month and returned to French Lick and attended a local college. The next year, he attended Indiana State University, ultimately playing three years for the Sycamores. Selected by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft after his second year at Indiana State, Bird elected to stay in college and returned for the 1978–79 season. He then led his team to an undefeated regular season. The season finished with a national championship game match-up of Indiana State against Michigan State and featured a highly anticipated match-up of Bird against Michigan State great Magic Johnson, thus beginning a career-long rivalry that the two shared for over a decade. Michigan State won, ending the Sycamores' undefeated streak.
Bird entered the NBA for the 1979–80 season, where he made an immediate impact, starting at power forward and leading the Celtics to a 32-win improvement over the previous season before being eliminated from the playoffs in the conference finals. Bird played for the Celtics during his entire professional career (13 seasons), leading them to five NBA Finals appearances and three NBA championships. Bird played most of his career with forward Kevin McHale and center Robert Parish, considered by some to be the greatest front court in NBA history. Bird was a 12-time NBA All-Star, won two NBA Finals MVP awards and received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award three consecutive times (1984–1986), making him the only forward in league history to do so. Bird was also a member of the gold medal-winning 1992 U.S. Olympic basketball team, known as the "Dream Team". He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame twice as a player—first in 1998 as an individual, and again in 2010 as a member of the "Dream Team." Bird was voted onto the NBA's 50 Greatest Players in NBA History list in 1996, and subsequently the 75th Anniversary Team list in 2021. A versatile player at both forward positions, Bird could play both inside and outside, being one of the first players in the league to take advantage of the newly adopted three-point line. He was rated the greatest NBA small forward of all time by Fox Sports in 2016.
After retiring as a player, Bird served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. He was named NBA Coach of the Year for the 1997–98 season and later led the Pacers to a berth in the 2000 NBA Finals. In 2003, Bird was named president of basketball operations for the Pacers, holding the position until retiring in 2012. He was named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2012 season. Bird returned to the Pacers as president of basketball operations in 2013, and remained in that role until 2017. Bird continued with the Pacers as an advisor until July 2022, then after nearly a year's break returned to the organization in the role of consultant.
Early life
Bird was born December 7, 1956, in West Baden Springs, Indiana, to Georgia Marie (née Kerns; 1930–1996) and Claude Joseph "Joe" Bird (1926–1975), a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. His parents were of Irish, Scottish and Native American descent. Bird has four brothers and a sister.
Bird was raised in nearby French Lick, where his mother worked two jobs to support Larry and his five siblings. Bird has said that being poor as a child still motivates him "to this day." Georgia and Joe divorced when Larry was in high school, and Joe committed suicide in February 1975.
Bird used basketball as an escape from his family troubles, starring for Springs Valley High School (Class of 1974) and averaging 31 points, 21 rebounds, and 4.0 assists as a senior on his way to becoming the school's all-time scoring leader. Bird wore the jersey number 33 in high school because his brother Mark had previously had it; he kept that number through his college and professional career. According to Bird, he grew up as a huge fan of the Indiana Pacers in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the 6'9 center Mel Daniels, who represented his first exposure to professional basketball. Bird's youngest brother, Eddie, also played basketball at Indiana State University, where Daniels would coincidentally become an assistant coach to the young Larry once he played there.
College career
Bird received a scholarship to play college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers under head coach Bob Knight in 1974. After less than a month on the Indiana University campus, Bird dropped out of school, finding the adjustment between his small hometown and the large student population of Bloomington to be overwhelming. Bird returned to French Lick, enrolling at Northwood Institute (now Northwood University) in nearby West Baden, and working municipal jobs for a year before enrolling at Indiana State University in Terre Haute in 1975. He had a successful three-year career with the Sycamores, helping them reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history with a 33–0 record where they played the 1979 championship game against Michigan State. Indiana State lost the game 75–64, with Bird scoring 19 points but making only 7 of 21 shots.
The game achieved the highest-ever television rating for a college basketball game, in large part because of the matchup between Bird and Spartans' point guard Earvin "Magic" Johnson, a rivalry that lasted throughout their professional careers. Despite failing to win the championship, Bird earned numerous year-end awards and honors for his outstanding play, including the Naismith College Player of the Year Award. For his college career, Bird averaged 30.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game, leading the Sycamores to an 81–13 record during his tenure. Bird also appeared in one game for the baseball team, going 1-for-2 with 2 RBI. He graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education.
Professional career
Boston Celtics (1979–1992)
Joining the Celtics (1978–1979)
Bird was selected by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft. He did not sign with the Celtics immediately; instead, Bird played out his final season at Indiana State and led the Sycamores to the NCAA title game. Celtics general manager Red Auerbach publicly stated that he would not pay Bird more than any Celtic on the current roster, but Bird's agent Bob Woolf told Auerbach that Bird would reject any sub-market offers and simply enter the 1979 draft instead, where Boston's rights would expire when the draft began on June 25, and Bird would have been the likely top pick. After protracted negotiations, he signed a five-year, $3.25 million contract with the team on June 8, making Bird the highest-paid rookie in sports history. Shortly afterwards, NBA draft eligibility rules were changed to prevent teams from drafting players before they were ready to sign, a rule known as the Bird Collegiate Rule.
Early success (1979–1983)
In his rookie season (1979–80), Bird immediately transformed the Celtics into a title contender. The team improved its win total by 32 games from the year before he was drafted and finished first in the Eastern Conference. In his career debut, Bird recorded 14 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists in a 114–106 victory over the Houston Rockets. On November 14, 1979, he recorded his first career triple-double with 23 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists in a 115–111 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Nine days later, Bird recorded his first 30-point scoring game (along with 11 rebounds and 3 assists) in a 118–103 victory over the Indiana Pacers. With averages of 21.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.7 steals per game for the season, he was selected to the All-Star Team and named Rookie of the Year. In the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston was eliminated by the Philadelphia 76ers.
Before the 1980–81 season, the Celtics selected forward Kevin McHale in the draft and acquired center Robert Parish from the Golden State Warriors, forming a Hall of Fame trio for years to come; the front-court of Bird, McHale, and Parish is regarded as one of the greatest front-courts in NBA history. Behind Bird's leadership and Boston's upgraded roster, the Celtics again advanced to the Conference Finals for a rematch with the 76ers. Boston fell behind 3–1 to start the series but won the next three games to advance to the Finals against the Houston Rockets, winning in six games and earning Bird his first championship. Bird averaged 21.9 points, 14 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 2.3 steals per game for the postseason and 15.3 points, 15.3 rebounds, and 7 assists per game for the Finals.
At the 1982 All-Star Game, Bird scored 19 points en route to winning the All-Star Game MVP Award. At the end of the season, he earned his first All-Defensive Team selection. Bird eventually finished runner-up in Most Valuable Player Award voting to Moses Malone. In the Conference Finals, the Celtics faced the 76ers for the third consecutive year, losing in seven games. Boston's misfortunes continued into the next season, with Bird again finishing second in MVP voting to Malone and the team losing in the conference semifinals to the Milwaukee Bucks.
MVP threepeat (1983–1986)
Bird was slated to become a free agent after the 1983–84 season. In 1983, as part of a collective bargaining agreement, the NBA initially implemented a "hard" salary cap (meaning total player salaries could not exceed a certain limit) which would not go into effect until the 1984–85 season. The NBA quickly modified this to a "soft cap", meaning the cap could be exceeded in order for a team re-sign its own free agents. This came to be erroneously known as the "Larry Bird Rule"; the Celtics didn't actually invoke the exception to specifically re-sign Bird, as the cap wasn't in effect. Bird signed his seven-year, $12.6 million extension in 1983, before the cap came into effect and the Celtics were actually over the cap in total player salaries (including Bird's extension) at the time the cap was implemented.
Bird was named MVP of the 1983–84 season with averages of 24.2 points, 10.1 rebounds, 6.6 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. In the playoffs, the Celtics avenged their loss from the year before to the Bucks, winning in five games in the Conference Finals to advance to the Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. In Game 4, the Lakers—led by Bird's college rival Magic Johnson—were on the verge of taking a commanding 3–1 series lead before a flagrant foul was committed on Kurt Rambis that resulted in a brawl and caused the Lakers to lose their composure. Boston came back to win that game and eventually won the series in seven games. Bird was named Finals MVP behind 27.4 points, 14 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game.
On December 9, 1984, Bird recorded 48 points to go along with 14 rebounds and 5 assists in a narrow 128–127 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. On March 12 of the 1984–85 season, Bird scored a career-high and franchise record 60 points in a game against the Atlanta Hawks. The performance came just nine days after Kevin McHale set the previous Celtics record for points in a game with 56. At the end of the year, Bird was named MVP for the second consecutive season, behind averages of 28.7 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game. Boston advanced through the playoffs to earn a rematch with the Lakers, this time losing in six games.
During the 1985 offseason, Bird injured his back shoveling crushed rock to create a driveway at his mother's house. At least partially as a result of this, Bird experienced back problems for the rest of his career.
Before the start of the 1985–86 season, the Celtics made a daring trade for Bill Walton, an All-Star center with a history of injury. The risk paid off; Walton's acquisition helped Boston win a league best 67 games. One of Bird's career highlights occurred at the 1986 NBA All-Star Weekend when he walked into the locker room at the inaugural Three-Point Shootout and asked who was going to finish second before winning the shootout.
On November 27, 1985, Bird recorded 47 points to go along with 12 rebounds, two assists, and two steals in a 132–124 victory over the Detroit Pistons. On March 10, 1986, he scored 50 points to go along with 11 rebounds and five assists in a narrow 116–115 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
With averages of 25.8 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 6.8 assists, and 2.0 steals per game, Bird became just the third player in NBA history to win three consecutive MVP Awards. In the playoffs, the Celtics lost only one game through the first three rounds en route to a match-up against the Rockets in the Finals. In Game 6 of the Finals against the Rockets, Bird recorded a triple-double of 29 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists as the Celtics won the Finals in six games. He averaged 24 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 9.5 assists per game for the championship round.
The 1985–86 Celtics are commonly ranked as one of the greatest basketball teams of all time, with the Boston Globe's Peter May and Grantland's Bill Simmons listing them at number one.
Falling short (1986–1988)
In 1987, the Celtics made their last Finals appearance of Bird's career, fighting through difficult series against the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons. In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons, with five seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and Boston trailing the Pistons 107–106, Bird stole an inbound pass. Falling out of bounds, Bird turned and passed the ball to teammate Dennis Johnson, who converted a game-winning layup with less than a second left. The dramatic play saved the series for the Celtics. When they reached the NBA Finals, the Celtics lost to a dominant Lakers team that had won 65 games during the season. The Celtics ended up losing to the Lakers in six games, with Bird averaging 24.2 points on .445 shooting, 10 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game. The Celtics fell short in 1988 losing to the Detroit Pistons in six games in the Eastern Conference finals as the Pistons made up from the heartbreak the previous season. Between them, Bird and Johnson captured eight NBA championships during the 1980s, with Magic getting five and Bird three. During the 1980s, either Boston or Los Angeles appeared in every NBA Finals.
Late career (1988–1992)
The 1987–88 season was the highest-scoring season of Bird's career. In Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks, Bird shot 9-of-10 from the floor in the fourth quarter, scoring 20 points in that quarter and lifting the Celtics to a series-clinching victory. Bird finished with 34 points. His effort helped to overcome a 47-point performance by Atlanta's Dominique Wilkins. Wilkins remarked, "The basket was like a well. I couldn't miss. He couldn't miss. And it went down to the last shot of the game. Who was going to make the last shot? That's the greatest game I've ever played in or seen played." The Celtics failed to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in five years, losing to the Pistons in six games during the Eastern Conference Finals.
Bird's 1988–89 season ended after six games when he had bone spurs surgically removed from both of his heels. Bird returned to the Celtics in 1989, but debilitating back problems and an aging Celtic roster prevented him from regaining his prime form. Nonetheless, during the final years of his career, Bird maintained his status as one of the premier players in the game. In his final three seasons with the Celtics, Bird averaged over 20 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists per game, shot better than 45% from the field, and led the Celtics to playoff appearances.
After leading the Celtics to a 29–5 start to the 1990–91 season, Bird missed 22 games due to a compressed nerve root in his back, a condition that eventually led to his retirement. Bird had off-season surgery to remove a disc from his back, but his back problems continued and Bird missed 37 games during the 1991–92 season. During the 1992 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Bird missed four of the seven games due to recurring back problems.
During Bird's final two seasons when he had serious back problems, the Celtics went 71–28 when he played. Without Bird, they had a 30–29 record, further demonstrating his importance and game-changing ability while on the court.
On August 18, 1992, Bird announced his retirement from the NBA. Following Bird's departure, the Celtics promptly retired his jersey number 33.
Rivalry with Magic Johnson
Larry Bird and Magic Johnson are known to be "one of the greatest rivalries in sports." Their rivalry began in college, when Bird and Indiana State lost to Johnson and Michigan State in the NCAA Championship game. Their rivalry continued on in the revived Celtics–Lakers rivalry in the NBA. Either the Celtics, led by Bird, or the Lakers, led by Magic, were present in every NBA Finals series in the '80s, with Bird and Magic meeting thrice. Magic got the upper hand against Bird, beating him in 1985 and 1987, while Bird beat Magic in 1984.
Throughout the 1980s, contests between the Celtics and the Lakers—both during the regular season and in the Finals—attracted enormous television audiences. The first regular-season game between the Celtics and the Lakers in the 1987–88 season proved to be a classic with Magic Johnson banking in an off-balance shot from near the three-point line at the buzzer for a narrow 115–114 Lakers victory at Boston Garden. The historical rift between the teams, which faced each other several times in championship series of the 1960s, fueled fan interest in the rivalry. Bird and Magic's presence on the court was only a small part of their contribution to basketball, as their rivalry changed the landscape of the NBA, transforming it from a "struggling, barely profitable league into a highly visible, financial and marketing dream for teams and players alike." Many people realized that the emergence of these two stars was linked with the rise in popularity of the NBA, as the NBA started to market towards these two stars.
The apparent contrast between the two players and their respective teams seemed scripted for television, as they were polar opposites in nearly every way conceivable. Bird was White, Johnson was Black; Bird was an introvert from a small town playing in blue-collar Boston, while Johnson was the gregarious personification of the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles; Bird's Celtics played gritty, physical, defence-first basketball, whereas Johnson ran the Lakers' fast-paced Showtime offense. A 1980s Converse commercial for its "Weapon" line of basketball shoes (endorsed by both Bird and Johnson) reflected the perceived dichotomy between the two players. In the commercial, Bird is practicing alone on a rural basketball court (in reality the court was one Bird had made on the property in French Lick that he had purchased for his mother), when Johnson pulls up in a sleek limousine and challenges him to a one-on-one match.
Journalists speculated that Bird and Magic represented different contrasts, such as clashes between Celtics and Lakers, between East and West, and between Blacks and Whites. But, as one journalist would say, "They looked different, perhaps, but take a chainsaw to their souls and they were fraternal, if not identical, friends." Watching Bird play was like watching Magic play, as they both shared this talent that the league had never seen before. They each had charisma, deft shooting touch, extraordinary passing skills, and team-oriented mindset that ignited their team and the crowd. This style of play was starting to influence a new horde of fans as they would sit and "marvel at what they [Bird and Magic] can do" while giving younger kids "a different perspective of the game."
Despite the intensity of their rivalry, Bird and Johnson became friends off the court. Their friendship blossomed when the two players worked together to film the Converse commercial, which depicted them as archenemies. Johnson appeared at Bird's retirement ceremony on February 4, 1993, and emotionally described Bird as a "friend forever."
National team career
During the summer of 1992, Bird joined Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and other NBA stars to play for the United States men's national basketball team in that year's Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. It was the first time in the United States' Olympic history that the country sent NBA players to compete. Although head coach Chuck Daly initially suggested that Jordan captain the team, he declined and so Bird and Magic Johnson held the co-captainship of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team.
The "Dream Team" won the men's basketball gold medal. In eight games, Bird averaged 8.4 points. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame called the team "the greatest collection of basketball talent on the planet."
Player profile
Bird has been described as one of the greatest basketball players and greatest shooters of all time. He was selected to 12 NBA All-Star teams. Bird won three NBA championships (in 1981, 1984, and 1986) with the Celtics and won two NBA Finals MVP Awards. He won three consecutive regular season MVP awards; as of 2020, the only other players to accomplish this feat are Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Bird was also a four-time regular season MVP runner-up in 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1988.
Bird scored 24.3 points per game in his career on a .496 field goal percentage, an .886 free throw percentage, and a .376 percentage on three-point shots. Bird had an average of 10.0 rebounds per game for his career and 6.3 assists. Bird was the first player in NBA history to shoot 50% or better on field goals, 40% on three-pointers, and 90% on free-throws in a single NBA season while achieving the league minimum for makes in each category. He accomplished this feat twice. Bird won NBA three-point-shooting contests in three consecutive years. He sometimes practiced shooting three-point shots with his eyes closed.
Bird is remembered as one of the foremost clutch performers in the history of the NBA; Bird was known for his excellent play in high-stakes, high-pressure situations. Pat Riley (who had coached the LA Lakers featuring Magic Johnson against Bird's Celtics in three NBA Finals), when asked about his opinion of the best clutch performer, said "If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save a game, I'd choose Michael Jordan. If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save my life, I'd take Larry Bird."
Bird is also remembered as an excellent passer and defender. While he was relatively slow, Bird displayed a knack for anticipating the moves of his opponent, making Bird a strong team defender. He had 1,556 career steals. In recognition of his defensive abilities, Bird was named to three All-Defensive Second Teams.
Bird was known for his trash-talking on the court and is remembered as one of the most notable trash-talkers of his era. Bird was known for telling his opponents how and where in the court he would score against them; Xavier McDaniel recounted that Bird predicted a game-winning shot against him, then "shot a shot right in my face and was like 'Damn, I didn't mean to leave two seconds on the clock.'" When playing against Dennis Rodman, a player known for his defensive abilities, in the 1987 Eastern Conference finals, Bird continually belittled Rodman's ability, at one point asking Chuck Daly, Detroit's head coach, to send in someone up to the task of guarding him. Knowing that Bird used such chirping to raise his own game, Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan discouraged his rookie teammate B.J. Armstrong not to respond to Bird, saying "Not a single person. Not one word. No one talk to Larry Bird". Jordan has since dubbed "Larry Bird is the greatest trash-talker and mind-game player of all time. He taught me everything I know about getting in folks' heads".
Bird was widely considered one of Red Auerbach's favorite players as he considered Bird to be the greatest basketball player of all time. Bird's humble roots were the source of his most frequently used moniker, "The Hick from French Lick." Bird was also referred to as "Larry Legend." Michael Jordan himself considers the description 'God disguised as Michael Jordan' as his favorite complement since it came from Bird (after Game 2 of the Celtics' first-round series against the Bulls during the 1986 playoffs when Jordan scored 63 points in a 135-131 Celtics win). Jordan has since said "Larry Bird's comments gave me credibility. Up to that point I was still perceived as a hotshot rookie, not a real player. When Bird acknowledged my performance, I became a player. I still wasn't up to his level, but I was now a player who was marked as a star, a potential Hall of Famer depending upon how I took those comments. Off the court, Larry Bird intimidated me because of who he was, what he had accomplished. And the fact that he was Larry Legend". In another example of how Bird was respected as one of the NBA's all-time greats, Jordan deferred to Bird and Magic Johnson for co-captainship of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team.
Legacy
Bird was voted onto the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team list in 1996, and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame again in 2010, as a member of the "Dream Team." In 1999, Bird ranked No. 30 on ESPN SportsCentury's list of 50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th century. Bird also ranked No. 24 on the Associated Press's list of the 100 Greatest Athletes of the 20th century in 1999. He played both the small forward and power forward positions. Universally recognized as an all-time great player, Bird was placed at the power forward position on an NBA all-time starting five roster with fellow superstars Magic Johnson (point guard), Michael Jordan (shooting guard), LeBron James (small forward), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (center) in 2020.
In 2011, Bird was honored with a lifetime achievement award at The Sports Museum's 10th annual The Tradition event (celebrating New England athletes) held at TD Garden.
There is a street named in Bird's honor on the campus of Indiana State University. In 2013, the university unveiled a bronze statue of Bird (wearing his Sycamores jersey, in mid-jump-shot pose) in front of the Hulman Center. In addition, Bird's former teammate Bob Heaton, then serving in the Indiana House of Representatives, read a proclamation from Indiana Gov. Mike Pence proclaiming Nov. 9th as Larry Bird Day in the state of Indiana.
At the 2019 NBA Awards, Bird received the NBA Lifetime Achievement Award (shared with Magic Johnson). Since 2022, the NBA will award the MVPs for the conference finals; the Eastern Conference Finals MVP trophy is named in Bird's honor, while the Western Conference trophy is named after Johnson.
In October 2021, as part of the NBA's 75th Anniversary, Bird was honored as one of the 75 greatest players of all time, by being named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team. To commemorate the NBA's 75th Anniversary, The Athletic ranked their top 75 players of all time, and named Bird as the seventh greatest player in NBA history.
In May 2024, the Larry Bird Museum was opened in Terre Haute, Indiana. The museum contains memorabilia from Bird's high school, college and NBA career along with interactive exhibits and interviews with coaches, teammates and rivals.
Coaching and executive careers
The Celtics employed Bird as a special assistant in the team's front office from 1992 until 1997.
In 1997, Bird accepted the position of head coach of the Indiana Pacers. Bird said that he would be on the job for no more than three years. Despite having no previous coaching experience, Bird led the Pacers to a 58–24 record—the franchise's best as an NBA team at the time—in the 1997–98 season, and pushed the eventual champions Chicago Bulls (led by superstar Michael Jordan and head coach Phil Jackson) to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals. The 1997–98 team is considered one of the best in Pacers' franchise history, and Bird was named the NBA Coach of the Year for his efforts. Bird then led the Pacers to consecutive Central Division titles in 1999 and 2000, and a berth in the 2000 NBA Finals where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers (coached by Phil Jackson) in six games. Bird resigned his head coaching position shortly after the end of the 1999–2000 season, following through on his initial promise to coach for only three years. He was succeeded in that capacity by Isiah Thomas.
In 2003, Bird was hired as the Indiana Pacers' president of basketball operations. One of Bird's first acts as Pacers president was to replace Isiah Thomas with Rick Carlisle as head coach, due to the team's underachievement under Thomas. From 2006 onwards, Bird overhauled the roster by trading away veterans while making savvy draft picks, since the Pacers were a small-market team that could not chase expensive free agents. After the 2011–2012 NBA season, when the Pacers secured the No. 3 seed in the East and had the fifth-best record (42–24) in the league, Bird was named NBA Executive of the Year, becoming the only man in NBA history to win the NBA MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year. On the day before the 2012 NBA draft, Bird and the Pacers announced that they would be parting ways; he said that health issues were among the reasons for his departure. Bird returned to the Pacers as president of basketball operations in 2013. He stepped down again in 2017, but stayed with the team in an advisory capacity. Bird continued to serve as an advisor until July 2022, when he "stepped back from maintaining an active role with the Indiana Pacers." Nearly a year later in June 2023, it was announced that the Pacers re-hired Bird to serve as a consultant. As of 2025, Larry Bird still holds his position as a consultant for the Indiana Pacers. Larry has recently been noted as "disappearing" from the sport. One reason according to him, is not being in a front-facing role such as a head coach, means that he doesn't have to face public scrutiny, something he has noted before. He stated in 2016, "Sometimes my job really sucks."
Awards and honors
NBA
3× NBA champion (1981, 1984, 1986)
2× NBA Finals MVP (1984, 1986)
3× NBA Most Valuable Player (1984–1986)
12× NBA All-Star (1980–1988, 1990–1992)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (1982)
9× All-NBA First Team (1980–1988)
All-NBA Second Team (1990)
3× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1982–1984)
NBA Rookie of the Year (1980)
NBA All-Rookie First Team (1980)
3× NBA Three-Point Contest Champion (1986–1988)
2× NBA Three-Point Scoring Leader (1986, 1987)
4× NBA Free-Throw Percentage Leader (1984, 1986, 1987, 1990)
2× 50–40–90 club (1987, 1988)
7× NBA Player of the Month
15× NBA Player of the Week
Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996
Selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021
No. 33 retired by Boston Celtics
Trophy named in Bird's honor (Larry Bird Trophy) awarded to Eastern Conference Finals MVP (established in 2022)
NBA All-Star Game head coach (1998)
NBA Coach of the Year (1998)
NBA Executive of the Year (2012)
NBA Lifetime Achievement Award (2019)
USA Basketball
1977 World University Games gold medal
1992 FIBA Americas Championship gold medal
1992 Olympic gold medal
NCAA
1979 MVC Regular Season Champion
1979 MVC Tournament Champion
Consensus National Player of the Year (1979)
John R. Wooden Award (1979)
Naismith College Player of the Year (1979)
Oscar Robertson Trophy (1979)
Adolph Rupp Trophy (1979)
AP College Basketball Player of the Year (1979)
Sporting News College Basketball Player of the Year (1979)
UPI College Basketball Player of the Year (1979)
NABC Player of the Year (1979)
2× MVC Player of the Year (1978, 1979)
2× Consensus first team All-American (1978, 1979)
2× AP first team All-American (1978, 1979)
2× NABC first team All-American (1978, 1979)
2× UPI first team All-American (1978, 1979)
USBWA first team All-American (1979)
USBWA second team All-American (1978)
NABC third team All-American (1977)
UPI third team All-American (1977)
2× first team All-MVC (1978, 1979)
NCAA total points leader (1979)
No. 33 retired by Indiana State Sycamores
Media
Associated Press Athlete of the Year (1986)
Sporting News Athlete of the Year (1986)
2× Sporting News NBA MVP (1985, 1986)
Sporting News Rookie of the Year (1980)
Sporting News NBA 1980s All-Decade First Team
AP NBA 1980s All-Decade First Team
Halls of Fame
Two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee:
1998 – individual
2010 – member of "The Dream Team"
National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inaugural class of 2006)
U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame (class of 2009 as a member of "The Dream Team")
FIBA Hall of Fame (class of 2017 as a member of "The Dream Team")
Indiana Sports Hall of Fame (inaugural class of 2020)
Indiana State University Athletics Hall of Fame (class of 2000)
Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame (class of 2000)
Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame (inaugural class of 1997)
National High School Hall of Fame (class of 1995)
In popular culture
Bird has appeared in three movies, each time playing himself: Blue Chips with Nick Nolte, released in 1994 by Paramount; the Warner Brothers film Space Jam with Michael Jordan and Bill Murray, in 1996; and Celtic Pride with Dan Aykroyd, Daniel Stern, and Damon Wayans, which was also released in 1996.
A fictionalized version of Bird appears in the DIC Entertainment animated series Captain N: The Game Master episode "Pursuit of the Magic Hoop", voiced by Canadian actor Garry Chalk.
Bird's likeness has appeared in several video games. In One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, Bird plays opposite Julius Erving in a game of one-on-one. A sequel, Jordan vs Bird: One on One, was a 1988 basketball video game. In 2011, Bird was featured on the cover of NBA 2K12, alongside Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. Bird is also a playable character in the revamped NBA Jam.
In a McDonald's commercial from 1991 (first aired during the Super Bowl), Bird and Michael Jordan have a trick shot contest, in which the winner got Jordan's lunch and the loser had to watch the winner eat. In a commercial during Super Bowl XLIV, Dwight Howard and LeBron James challenge each other at trick shots for a McDonald's lunch. After they finish, clapping is heard, then the camera pans to the crowd, and Bird says "Great show, guys. Thanks for lunch." Howard and James share a confused look. Howard asks, "Who was that?" James replies, "I have no idea."
In 2013 Bird voiced himself in an episode of Futurama titled "Saturday Morning Fun Pit"; however, Bird did not want anything to do with the role so his only line is a voicemail of him telling the showrunners that he wanted no part in the episode.
Bird has been referenced and parodied in the animated series Family Guy multiple times. In the 2016 episode Peter, Chris, & Brian where Peter Griffin sets up a cutaway when he claims he never did anything important expect beating Larry Bird. In a parody of commercials Bird has done over making outrageous shots in the wager for a McDonald's Big Mac. He physically appears in the 2017 episode "Peter's Def Jam" where Peter and friends observe one of Birds interviews.
Until July 2023, Twitter's logo was named Larry in honor of Larry Bird.
Bird is portrayed by Sean Patrick Small in the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.
Personal life
In 1975, Bird married Janet Condra. They remained married for less than a year. Following an attempted reconciliation, Bird and Condra had a daughter, Corrie, in 1977.
Bird married Dinah Mattingly in 1989. They have two adopted children: Conner and Mariah. That same year, Bird released his autobiography Drive: The Story of My Life, which he co-wrote alongside Bob Ryan. The book recounts his life up until that point, touching upon his childhood, his father's alcoholism and suicide, his first marriage along with his triumph's on the court and stories about teammates.
During his professional career with the Celtics, Bird lived in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts.
Bird is an active philanthropist, especially through the Boys & Girls Clubs of America along with health-related charitable efforts. However, Bird has kept most of his efforts out of the press, seeking no publicity for his efforts. Bird once stated "All of my donations are sort of made under the table," "I don't need the publicity. I'm not doing it for the publicity. But I do care. And that's what matters most."
Bird is known to live a low-key lifestyle, in his spare time his enjoys engaging in hands-on activities. He is an avid fisherman and enjoys playing golf.
Career statistics
NBA statistics
Regular season
Playoff statistics
Career-highs in regular season
Career-highs in playoffs
College statistics
Head coaching record
Publications
Bird, Larry; Bischoff, John (1986). Bird On Basketball: How-to Strategies From The Great Celtics Champion. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0201106671.
Bird, Larry; Ryan, Bob (1989). Drive: The Story of My Life. Bantam. ISBN 978-0553287585.
Bird, Larry; Jackie, MacMullan (1999). Bird Watching: On Playing and Coaching the Game I Love. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0446524643.
Bird, Larry; Johnson, Earvin; MacMullan, Jackie (2009). When the Game Was Ours. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0547225470.
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
See also
Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame
List of NBA career scoring leaders
List of NBA franchise career scoring leaders
List of NBA career assists leaders
List of NBA career steals leaders
List of NBA career turnovers leaders
List of NBA career free throw percentage leaders
List of NBA career triple-double leaders
List of NBA career playoff scoring leaders
List of NBA career playoff assists leaders
List of NBA career playoff rebounding leaders
List of NBA career playoff steals leaders
List of NBA career playoff turnovers leaders
List of NBA career playoff free throw scoring leaders
List of NBA career playoff triple-double leaders
List of NBA single-game scoring leaders
List of NBA single-game steals leaders
List of NBA annual minutes leaders
List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 2000 points and 1000 rebounds
"Saturday Morning Fun Pit", a 2013 episode of Futurama featuring Bird voice acting as a cartoon clone version of himself
References
Further reading
MacCambridge, Michael, ed. (1999). "Larry Bird: Bird of Prey". ESPN SportsCentury. New York: Hyperion-ESPN Books. pp. 253–254. ISBN 978-0786864713.
May, Peter (2007) [1994]. The Big Three: Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish: The Best Frontcourt in the History of Basketball. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-5207-9. OCLC 86221987. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
External links
Career statistics from NBA.com · Basketball Reference
Basketball Hall of Fame profile
NBA profile
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Johnny Cash
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John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. He was known for his deep, calm, bass-baritone voice, the distinctive sound of his backing band, the Tennessee Three, that was characterized by its train-like chugging guitar rhythms, a rebelliousness coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor, and his free prison concerts. Cash wore a trademark all-black stage wardrobe, which earned him the nickname "Man in Black".
Born to poor cotton farmers in Kingsland, Arkansas, Cash grew up on gospel music and played on a local radio station in high school. He served four years in the Air Force, much of it in West Germany. After his return to the United States, he rose to fame during the mid-1950s in the burgeoning rockabilly scene in Memphis, Tennessee. He traditionally began his concerts by introducing himself with "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash". He began to follow that by "Folsom Prison Blues", one of his signature songs. His other signature songs include "I Walk the Line", "Ring of Fire", "Get Rhythm", and "Man in Black". He also recorded humorous numbers like "One Piece at a Time" and "A Boy Named Sue", a duet with his future wife June called "Jackson" (followed by many further duets after they married), and railroad songs such as "Hey, Porter", "Orange Blossom Special", and "Rock Island Line". During his final years, Cash covered songs by contemporary rock artists; among his most notable covers were "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails, "Rusty Cage" by Soundgarden, and "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode.
Cash is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. His genre-spanning music embraced country, rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel sounds. This crossover appeal earned him the rare honor of being inducted into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame. His life and career were dramatized in the 2005 biopic Walk the Line.
Early life
Cash was born J. R. Cash in Kingsland, Arkansas, on February 26, 1932, to Carrie Cloveree (née Rivers) and Ray Cash. He had three older siblings, Roy, Margaret Louise, and Jack, and three younger siblings, Reba, Joanne, and Tommy (who also became a successful country artist). He was primarily of English and Scottish descent. His paternal grandmother claimed Cherokee ancestry, but a DNA test of Cash's daughter Rosanne in 2021 on Finding Your Roots, hosted by historian Henry Louis Gates Jr, found she has no known Native American markers. The researchers found Rosanne Cash has 3.3% Sub-Saharan African DNA, and they found the Sub-Saharan African DNA comes from both maternal and paternal sides of Cash's family. Researchers traced the Sub-Saharan African DNA to Rosanne's enslaved maternal African ancestors: her "third great-grand-mother" Sarah A. Shields and Shields' mother, who could have been of "full African descent". Gates also informed Cash that the researchers traced Sub-Saharan African DNA to "an unknown African ancestor on your father's [Johnny's] side".
After meeting with the then-laird of Falkland in Fife, Major Michael Crichton-Stuart, Cash became interested in his Scots ancestry. He traced his Scottish surname to 11th-century Fife. Cash Loch and other locations in Fife bear the surname of his father. He is a distant cousin of British Conservative politician Sir William Cash. He also had English ancestry. Because his mother wanted to name him John and his father preferred to name him Ray when he was born, they compromised on the initials "J. R." But when Cash enlisted in the Air Force after high school, he was not permitted to use initials as a first name. He adopted the name "John R. Cash". In 1955, when signing with Sun Records, he started using the name "Johnny Cash".
In March 1935, when Cash was three years old, the family settled in Dyess, Arkansas, a New Deal colony established during the Great Depression under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was intended to give poor families the opportunity to work land that they might later own. From the age of five, Cash worked in cotton fields with his family, singing with them as they worked. Dyess and the Cash farm suffered a flood during his childhood. Later he wrote the song "Five Feet High and Rising". His family's economic and personal struggles during the Great Depression gave him a lifelong sympathy for the poor and working class, and inspired many of his songs.
In 1944, Cash's older brother Jack, with whom he was close, was cut almost in two by an unguarded table saw at work. He died of his wounds a week later. According to Cash's autobiography, he, his mother, and Jack all had a sense of foreboding about that day; his mother urged Jack to skip work and go fishing with Cash, but Jack insisted on working as the family needed the money. Cash often spoke of the guilt he felt over the incident. He would say that he looked forward to "meeting [his] brother in Heaven".
Cash's early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Taught guitar by his mother and a childhood friend, Cash began playing and writing songs at the age of 12. When young, Cash had a high-tenor voice, before becoming a bass-baritone after his voice changed. In high school, he sang on a local Arkansas radio station. Decades later, he released an album of traditional gospel songs called My Mother's Hymn Book. He was also strongly influenced by traditional Irish music, which he heard performed weekly by Dennis Day on the Jack Benny radio program.
Cash enlisted in the Air Force on July 7, 1950, shortly after the start of the Korean War. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to the 12th Radio Squadron Mobile of the U.S. Air Force Security Service at Landsberg, West Germany. While in San Antonio, he met Vivian Liberto, a woman of Sicilian, Irish and German ancestry. They dated briefly before his departure. During the years he served overseas, they exchanged thousands of letters. He worked in West Germany as a Morse code operator, intercepting Soviet Army transmissions. While working this job, Cash was said to be the first American to be given the news of Joseph Stalin's death (supplied via Morse code). His daughter, Rosanne, said that Cash had recounted the story many times over the years. While at Landsberg, he created his first band, "The Landsberg Barbarians". On July 3, 1954, he was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant, and he returned to Texas. During his military service, he acquired a distinctive scar on the right side of his jaw as a result of surgery to remove a cyst. Soon after his return, Cash married Vivian Liberto in San Antonio. She had grown up Catholic and was married in the church by her paternal uncle, Father Franco Liberto.
Career
Early career
In 1954, Cash and his first wife Vivian moved to Memphis, Tennessee. He sold appliances while studying to be a radio announcer. At night, he played with guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant. Perkins and Grant were known as the Tennessee Two. Cash worked up the courage to visit the Sun Records studio, hoping to get a recording contract. He auditioned for Sam Phillips by singing mostly gospel songs, only to learn from the producer that he no longer recorded gospel music. Phillips was rumored to have told Cash to "go home and sin, then come back with a song I can sell". In a 2002 interview, Cash denied that Phillips made any such comment. Cash eventually won over the producer with new songs delivered in his early rockabilly style. In 1955, Cash made his first recordings at Sun, "Hey Porter" and "Cry! Cry! Cry!", which were released in late June and met with success on the country hit parade.
On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley dropped in on Phillips while Carl Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks, with Jerry Lee Lewis backing him on piano. Cash was also in the studio, and the four started an impromptu jam session. Phillips left the tapes running and the recordings, almost half of which were gospel songs, survived. They have since been released under the title Million Dollar Quartet. In Cash: the Autobiography, Cash wrote that he was the farthest from the microphone and sang in a higher pitch to blend in with Presley.
Cash's next record, "Folsom Prison Blues", made the country top five. His "I Walk the Line" became number one on the country charts and entered the pop charts top 20. "Home of the Blues" followed, recorded in July 1957. That same year, Cash became the first Sun artist to release a long-playing album. Although he was Sun's most consistently selling and prolific artist at that time, Cash felt constrained by his contract with the small label. Phillips did not want Cash to record gospel and was paying him a 3% royalty rather than the standard rate of 5%. Presley had already left Sun, and Cash felt that Phillips was focusing most of his attention and promotion on Lewis.
In 1958, Cash left Phillips to sign a lucrative offer with Columbia Records. His single "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" became one of his biggest hits. He recorded a collection of gospel songs for his second album for Columbia. However, Cash left behind such a backlog of recordings with Sun that Phillips continued to release new singles and albums featuring previously unreleased material until as late as 1964. Cash was in the unusual position of having new releases out on two labels concurrently. Sun's 1960 release, a cover of "Oh Lonesome Me", made it to number 13 on the C&W charts.
Early in his career, Cash was given the teasing nickname "the Undertaker" by fellow artists because of his habit of wearing black clothes. He said he chose them because they were easier to keep looking clean on long tours.
In the early 1960s, Cash toured with the Carter Family, which by this time regularly included Mother Maybelle's daughters, Anita, June, and Helen. June later recalled admiring him from afar during these tours. In the 1960s, he appeared on Pete Seeger's short-lived television series Rainbow Quest. He also acted in, and wrote and sang the opening theme for, a 1961 film entitled Five Minutes to Live. It was later re-released as Door-to-door Maniac.
Cash's career was handled by Saul Holiff, a London, Ontario, promoter. Their relationship was the subject of Holiff's son's biopic My Father and the Man in Black.
Outlaw image
As his career was taking off in the late 1950s, Cash started drinking heavily and became addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates. For a brief time, he shared an apartment in Nashville with Waylon Jennings, who was deeply addicted to amphetamines. Cash would use the stimulants to stay awake during tours. Friends joked about his "nervousness" and erratic behavior, many ignoring the warning signs of his worsening drug addiction.
Although he was in many ways spiraling out of control, Cash could still deliver hits due to his frenetic creativity. His rendition of "Ring of Fire" was a crossover hit, reaching number one on the country charts and entering the top 20 on the pop charts. It was originally performed by June Carter's sister, but the signature mariachi-style horn arrangement was provided by Cash. He said that it had come to him in a dream.
His first wife Vivian (Liberto) Cash claimed a different version of the origins of "Ring of Fire". In her book, I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny (2007), Liberto says that Cash gave Carter half the songwriting credit for monetary reasons.
In June 1965, Cash's camper caught fire during a fishing trip with his nephew Damon Fielder in Los Padres National Forest in California. It set off a forest fire that burned several hundred acres and nearly caused his death. Cash claimed that the fire was caused by sparks from a defective exhaust system on his camper, but Fielder thought that Cash started a fire to stay warm and, under the influence of drugs, failed to notice the fire getting out of control. When the judge asked Cash why he did it, Cash said, "I didn't do it, my truck did, and it's dead, so you can't question it."
The fire destroyed 508 acres (206 ha), burned the foliage off three mountains and drove off 49 of the refuge's 53 endangered California condors. Cash was unrepentant and said, "I don't care about your damn yellow buzzards." The federal government sued him and was awarded $125,172. Cash eventually settled the case and paid $82,001.
Although Cash cultivated a romantic outlaw image, he never served a prison sentence. Despite landing in jail seven times for misdemeanors, he was held only one night each time. On May 11, 1965, he was arrested in Starkville, Mississippi, for trespassing late at night onto private property to pick flowers. (He used this incident as the basis for the song "Starkville City Jail". He discussed this on his live At San Quentin album.)
While on tour later that year, he was arrested October 4 in El Paso, Texas, by a narcotics squad. The officers suspected he was smuggling heroin from Mexico, but found instead 688 Dexedrine capsules (amphetamines) and 475 Equanil (sedatives or tranquilizers) tablets hidden inside his guitar case. Because the pills were prescription drugs rather than illegal narcotics, Cash received a suspended sentence. He posted a $1,500 bond and was released until his arraignment.
In this period of the mid-1960s, Cash released a number of concept albums. His Bitter Tears (1964) was devoted to spoken word and songs addressing the plight of Native Americans and mistreatment by the government. While initially reaching charts, this album met with resistance from some fans and radio stations, which rejected its controversial take on social issues.
In 2011, a book was published about it, leading to a re-recording of the songs by contemporary artists and the making of a documentary film about Cash's efforts with the album. This film was aired on PBS in February and November 2016. His Sings the Ballads of the True West (1965) was an experimental double record, mixing authentic frontier songs with Cash's spoken narration.
Reaching a low with his severe drug addiction and destructive behavior, Cash and his first wife divorced after having separated in 1962. Some venues cancelled his performances, but he continued to find success. In 1967, Cash's duet with June Carter, "Jackson", won a Grammy Award.
Cash was last arrested in 1967 in Walker County, Georgia, after police found he was carrying a bag of prescription pills when in a car accident. Cash attempted to bribe a local deputy, who turned the money down. He was jailed for the night in LaFayette, Georgia. Sheriff Ralph Jones released him after giving him a long talk, warning him about the danger of his behavior and wasted potential. Cash credited that experience with helping him turn around and save his life. He later returned to LaFayette to play a benefit concert; it attracted 12,000 people (the city population was less than 9,000 at the time) and raised $75,000 for the high school.
Reflecting on his past in a 1997 interview, Cash noted: "I was taking the pills for awhile, and then the pills started taking me." June, Maybelle, and Ezra Carter moved into Cash's mansion for a month to help him get off drugs. Cash proposed onstage to June on February 22, 1968, at a concert at the London Gardens in London, Ontario, Canada. The couple married a week later (on March 1) in Franklin, Kentucky. She had agreed to marry Cash after he had "cleaned up."
Cash's journey included rediscovery of his Christian faith. He took an "altar call" in Evangel Temple, a small church in the Nashville area, pastored by Reverend Jimmie Rodgers Snow, son of country music legend Hank Snow. According to Marshall Grant, though, Cash did not completely stop using amphetamines in 1968; and did not fully end drug use for another two years. He was drug-free for a period of seven years. In his memoir about time with Cash, Grant said that the birth of Cash's son, John Carter Cash, inspired the singer to end his dependence.
Cash began using amphetamines again in 1977. By 1983, he was deeply addicted again. He entered rehab at the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage for treatment. He stayed off drugs for several years, but relapsed.
In 1989, he entered Nashville's Cumberland Heights Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center. In 1992, he started care at the Loma Linda Behavioral Medicine Center in Loma Linda, California, for his final rehabilitation treatment. (Several months later, his son followed him into this facility for treatment.)
Folsom and other prison concerts
In the late 1950s Cash began performing concerts at prisons. He played his first notable prison concert on January 1, 1958, at San Quentin State Prison in California. These performances were recorded live, and released on highly successful albums: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969). Both live albums reached number one on Billboard country album music and the latter crossed over to reach the top of the Billboard pop album chart. In 1969, Cash became an international hit when he eclipsed even the Beatles by selling 6.5 million albums. In comparison, the prison concerts were much more successful than his later live albums such as Strawberry Cake recorded in London and Live at Madison Square Garden, which peaked at numbers 33 and 39 on the album charts, respectively.
The Folsom Prison record was introduced by a rendition of his "Folsom Prison Blues", while the San Quentin record included the crossover hit single "A Boy Named Sue", a Shel Silverstein novelty song that reached number one on the country charts and number two on the U.S. top-10 pop charts.
In 1972 Cash performed at the Österåker Prison in Sweden. The live album På Österåker (At Österåker) was released in 1973. "San Quentin" was recorded with Cash replacing "San Quentin" with "Österåker". In 1976, a concert at Tennessee State Prison was videotaped for TV broadcast. It was posthumously released after Cash's death as a CD entitled A Concert Behind Prison Walls.
Cash placed great value upon patriotism and national service. Given his own service, Cash also supported his nephew, Captain Roy "Outlaw" Cash, Jr., USN. On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1975, Cash diverted between scheduled performances to play a special concert along with The Tennessee Three for a military audience at the Naval War College in Rhode Island. June Carter Cash and Carl Lee Perkins joined Cash and the Tennessee Three for the show. Before taking the stage, Cash warmed up with June and Perkins under the historic rotunda in Mahan Hall at the Naval War College. The recording of this "lost concert" of Cash show was donated by Captain Roy Cash, Jr., who later collaborated with Naval War College historian, David Kohnen, to write the account of the performance, which had previously remained undocumented in the official chronology of performances by Cash.
Activism for Native Americans
Cash used his stardom and economic status to bring awareness to the issues surrounding the Native American people. Cash sang songs about indigenous humanity in an effort to confront the U.S. government. Many non-Native Americans did not address those topics in their music. In 1965, Cash and June Carter appeared on Pete Seeger's TV show, Rainbow Quest, on which Cash explained his start as an activist for Native Americans:
In '57, I wrote a song called "Old Apache Squaw" and then forgot the so-called Indian protest for a while, but nobody else seemed to speak up with any volume of voice.
Columbia Music, the label for which Cash was recording then, was opposed to putting the song on his next album, considering it "too radical for the public". Cash singing songs of Indian tragedy and settler violence went radically against the mainstream of country music in the 1950s, which was dominated by the image of the righteous cowboy who makes the native's soil his own.
In 1964, coming off the chart success of his previous album I Walk the Line, he recorded the aforementioned album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian.
The album featured stories of a multitude of Indigenous peoples, emphasizing their violent oppression by white settlers: the Pima people ("The Ballad of Ira Hayes"), Navajo ("Navajo"), Apache ("Apache Tears"), Lakota ("Big Foot"), Seneca ("As Long as the Grass Shall Grow"), and Cherokee ("The Talking Leaves"). Cash wrote three of the songs himself and one with the help of Johnny Horton.
The majority of these protest songs were written by folk artist Peter La Farge (son of Oliver La Farge, an activist and Pulitzer prizewinner). Cash met the younger La Farge in New York in the 1960s and admired him for his activism. The album's single, "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" was generally not played by commercial radio. (Ira Hayes was a Native American who was one of the six soldiers featured in a photo raising the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima during World War II.)
The record label denied it promotion due to what it considered a provocative and "unappealing" nature. Cash faced resistance and was urged by an editor of a country music magazine to leave the Country Music Association, who said: "You and your crowd are just too intelligent to associate with plain country folks, country artists, and country DJs."
In reaction, on August 22, 1964, Cash posted a letter as an advertisement in Billboard, calling the record industry cowardly: "D.J.s – station managers – owners [...] where are your guts? I had to fight back when I realized that so many stations are afraid of Ira Hayes. Just one question: WHY??? Ira Hayes is strong medicine [...] So is Rochester, Harlem, Birmingham and Vietnam." Cash kept promoting the song and persuaded disc jockeys he knew to play it. The song eventually reached number three on the country charts, and the album rose to number two on the album charts.
Later, on The Johnny Cash Show, he continued telling stories of Native-American plight, both in song and through short films, such as the history of the Trail of Tears.
In 1966, in recognition of his activism, Cash was adopted by the Seneca Nation's Turtle Clan. He performed benefits in 1968 at the Rosebud Reservation, close to the historical landmark of the massacre at Wounded Knee, to raise money to help build a school. He also played at the D-Q University in the 1980s.
In 1970, Cash recorded a reading of John G. Burnett's 1890, 80th-birthday essay on Cherokee removal for the Historical Landmarks Association (Nashville).
The Johnny Cash Show
From June 1969 to March 1971, Cash starred in his own television show, The Johnny Cash Show, on the ABC network. Produced by Screen Gems, the show was performed at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The Statler Brothers opened for him in every episode; the Carter Family and rockabilly legend Carl Perkins were also part of the regular show entourage. Cash also enjoyed booking mainstream performers as guests; including Linda Ronstadt in her first TV appearance, Neil Young, Louis Armstrong, Neil Diamond, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition (who appeared four times), James Taylor, Ray Charles, Roger Miller, Roy Orbison, Derek and the Dominos, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan.
From September 15–18, 1969, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Cash performed a series of four concerts at the New Mexico State Fair to promote the first season of The Johnny Cash Show. These live shows were produced with help from ABC and local concert producer Bennie Sanchez; during these sets, Johnny Cash and Al Hurricane performed together. Also during The Johnny Cash Show era, he contributed the title song and other songs to the film Little Fauss and Big Halsy, which starred Robert Redford, Michael J. Pollard, and Lauren Hutton. The title song, "The Ballad of Little Fauss and Big Halsy", written by Carl Perkins, was nominated for a Golden Globe award in 1971.
Cash had first met with Dylan in the mid-1960s and became neighbors in the late 1960s in Woodstock, New York. Cash was enthusiastic about reintroducing the reclusive Dylan to his audience. Cash sang a duet with Dylan, "Girl from the North Country", on Dylan's country album Nashville Skyline and also wrote the album's Grammy-winning liner notes.
Another artist who received a major career boost from The Johnny Cash Show was Kris Kristofferson, who was beginning to make a name for himself as a singer-songwriter. During a live performance of Kristofferson's "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", Cash refused to change the lyrics to suit network executives, singing the song with its references to marijuana intact:
The closing program of The Johnny Cash Show was a gospel music special. Guests included the Blackwood Brothers, Mahalia Jackson, Stuart Hamblen, and Billy Graham.
The "Man in Black"
By the early 1970s, Cash had established his public image as the "Man in Black". He regularly performed in entirely black suits with a long, black, knee-length coat. This outfit stood in contrast to the rhinestone suits and cowboy boots worn by most of the major country acts of his day.
Cash said he wore all black on behalf of the poor and hungry, the "prisoner who has long paid for his crime", and those who have been betrayed by age or drugs. He added, "With the Vietnam War as painful in my mind as it was in most other Americans, I wore it 'in mourning' for the lives that could have been' ... Apart from the Vietnam War being over, I don't see much reason to change my position ... The old are still neglected, the poor are still poor, the young are still dying before their time, and we're not making many moves to make things right. There's still plenty of darkness to carry off."
Initially, he and his band had worn black shirts because that was the only matching color they had among their various outfits. He wore other colors on stage early in his career, but he claimed to like wearing black both on and off stage. He stated that political reasons aside, he simply liked black as his on-stage color. The outdated US Navy's winter blue uniform used to be referred to by sailors as "Johnny Cashes", as the uniform's shirt, tie, and trousers are solid black.
In the mid-1970s, Cash's popularity and number of hit songs began to decline. He made commercials for Amoco and STP, an unpopular enterprise at the time of the 1970s energy crisis. In 1976, he made commercials for Lionel Trains, for which he also wrote the music. However, his first autobiography, Man in Black, was published in 1975 and sold 1.3 million copies. A second, Cash: The Autobiography, appeared in 1997.
Cash's friendship with Billy Graham led to his production of a film about the life of Jesus, Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus, which Cash co-wrote and narrated. It was released in 1973. Cash viewed the film as a statement of his personal faith rather than a means of proselytizing.
Cash and June Carter Cash appeared several times on the Billy Graham Crusade TV specials, and Cash continued to include gospel and religious songs on many of his albums, though Columbia declined to release A Believer Sings the Truth, a gospel double-LP Cash recorded in 1979 and which ended up being released on an independent label even with Cash still under contract to Columbia. On November 22, 1974, CBS ran his one-hour TV special entitled Riding The Rails, a musical history of trains.
He continued to appear on television, hosting Christmas specials on CBS in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Later television appearances included a starring role in an episode of Columbo, entitled "Swan Song". June and he appeared in an episode of Little House on the Prairie, entitled "The Collection". He gave a performance as abolitionist John Brown in the 1985 American Civil War television miniseries North and South. In the 1990s, Johnny and June appeared in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman in recurring roles.
He was friendly with every US president, starting with Richard Nixon. He was closest to Jimmy Carter, with whom he became close friends and who was a distant cousin of his wife, June.
When invited to perform at the White House for the first time in 1970, Richard Nixon's office requested that he play "Okie from Muskogee" (a satirical Merle Haggard song about people who despised hippies, young drug users and Vietnam war protesters), "Welfare Cadillac" (a Guy Drake song which chastises the integrity of welfare recipients), and "A Boy Named Sue". Cash declined to play the first two and instead selected other songs, including "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" and his own compositions, "What Is Truth" and "Man in Black". Cash wrote that the reasons for denying Nixon's song choices were not knowing them and having fairly short notice to rehearse them, rather than any political reason. However, Cash added, even if Nixon's office had given Cash enough time to learn and rehearse the songs, their choice of pieces that conveyed "antihippie and antiblack" sentiments might have backfired. In his remarks when introducing Cash, Nixon joked that one thing he had learned about him was one did not tell him what to sing.
Johnny Cash was the grand marshal of the United States Bicentennial parade. He wore a shirt from Nudie Cohn which sold for $25,000 in auction in 2010. After the parade he gave a concert at the Washington Monument.
Highwaymen and departure from Columbia Records
In 1980, Cash became the Country Music Hall of Fame's youngest living inductee at age 48, but during the 1980s, his records failed to make a major impact on the country charts, although he continued to tour successfully. In the mid-1980s, he recorded and toured with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson as the Highwaymen, making three hit albums, which were released beginning with the originally titled Highwayman in 1985, followed by Highwaymen 2 in 1990, and concluding with Highwaymen – The Road Goes On Forever in 1995.
During that period, Cash appeared in a number of television films. In 1981, he starred in The Pride of Jesse Hallam, winning fine reviews for a film that called attention to adult illiteracy. In 1983, he appeared as a heroic sheriff in Murder in Coweta County, based on a real-life Georgia murder case, which co-starred Andy Griffith as his nemesis.
Cash relapsed into addiction after being administered painkillers for a serious abdominal injury in 1983 caused by an incident in which he was kicked and wounded by an ostrich on his farm.
At a hospital visit in 1988, this time to watch over Waylon Jennings (who was recovering from a heart attack), Jennings suggested that Cash have himself checked into the hospital for his own heart condition. Doctors recommended preventive heart surgery, and Cash underwent double bypass surgery in the same hospital. Both recovered, although Cash refused to use any prescription painkillers, fearing a relapse into dependency. Cash later claimed that during his operation, he had what is called a "near-death experience".
In 1984, Cash released a self-parody recording titled "The Chicken in Black" about Cash's brain being transplanted into a chicken and Cash receiving a bank robber's brain in return. Biographer Robert Hilburn, in his 2013 book Johnny Cash: The Life, disputes the claim made that Cash chose to record an intentionally poor song in protest of Columbia's treatment of him. On the contrary, Hilburn writes, it was Columbia that presented Cash with the song, which Cash – who had previously scored major chart hits with comedic material such as "A Boy Named Sue" and "One Piece at a Time" – accepted enthusiastically, performing the song live on stage and filming a comedic music video in which he dresses up in a superhero-like bank-robber costume. According to Hilburn, Cash's enthusiasm for the song waned after Waylon Jennings told Cash he looked "like a buffoon" in the music video (which was showcased during Cash's 1984 Christmas TV special), and Cash subsequently demanded that Columbia withdraw the music video from broadcast and recall the single from stores—interrupting its bona fide chart success—and termed the venture "a fiasco".
Between 1981 and 1984, he recorded several sessions with famed countrypolitan producer Billy Sherrill (who also produced "The Chicken in Black"), which were shelved; they would be released by Columbia's sister label, Legacy Recordings, in 2014 as Out Among the Stars. Around this time, Cash also recorded an album of gospel recordings that ended up being released by another label around the time of his departure from Columbia (this due to Columbia closing down its Priority Records division that was to have released the recordings).
After more unsuccessful recordings were released between 1984 and 1985, Cash left Columbia.
In 1986, Cash returned to Sun Studios in Memphis to team up with Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins to create the album Class of '55; according to Hilburn, Columbia still had Cash under contract at the time, so special arrangements had to be made to allow him to participate. Also in 1986, Cash published his only novel, Man in White, a book about Saul and his conversion to become the Apostle Paul. He recorded Johnny Cash Reads The Complete New Testament in 1990.
American Recordings
After Columbia Records dropped Cash from his recording contract, he had a short and unsuccessful stint with Mercury Records from 1987 to 1991. During this time, he recorded an album of new versions of some of his best-known Sun and Columbia hits, as well as Water from the Wells of Home, a duets album that paired him with, among others, his children Rosanne Cash and John Carter Cash, as well as Paul McCartney. A one-off Christmas album recorded for Delta Records followed his Mercury contract.
Though Cash would never have another chart hit from 1991 until his death, his career was rejuvenated in the 1990s, leading to popularity with an audience which was not traditionally considered interested in country music. In 1988, British post-punk musicians Marc Riley (formerly of the Fall) and Jon Langford (the Mekons) put together 'Til Things Are Brighter, a tribute album featuring mostly British-based indie-rock acts' interpretations of Cash's songs. Cash was enthusiastic about the project, telling Langford that it was a "morale booster"; Rosanne Cash later said "he felt a real connection with those musicians and very validated ... It was very good for him: he was in his element. He absolutely understood what they were tapping into, and loved it". The album attracted press attention on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1991, he sang a version of "Man in Black" for the Christian punk band One Bad Pig's album I Scream Sunday. In 1993, he sang "The Wanderer", the closing track of U2's album Zooropa.
According to Rolling Stone writer Adam Gold, "The Wanderer", written for Cash by Bono, "defies both the U2 and Cash canons, combining rhythmic and textural elements of Nineties synth-pop with a Countrypolitan lament fit for the closing credits of a Seventies western."
No longer sought after by major labels, he was offered a contract with producer Rick Rubin's American Recordings label, which had recently been rebranded from Def American, under which name it was better known for rap and hard rock. Under Rubin's supervision, he recorded American Recordings (1994) in his living room, accompanied only by his Martin Dreadnought guitar – one of many Cash played throughout his career. The album featured covers of contemporary artists selected by Rubin. The album had a great deal of critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Cash wrote that his reception at the 1994 Glastonbury Festival was one of the highlights of his career. This was the beginning of a decade of music industry accolades and commercial success. He teamed up with Brooks & Dunn to contribute "Folsom Prison Blues" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. On the same album, he performed Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" as track number eight on the CD release.
Cash and his wife appeared on a number of episodes of the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. He also lent his voice for a cameo role in The Simpsons episode "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)", as the "Space Coyote" that guides Homer Simpson on a spiritual quest. In the 2015 toys-to-life video game Lego Dimensions, Cash posthumously reprised his role as the "Space Coyote" in the exclusive level for Homer, "The Mysterious Voyage of Homer" (a remake of the episode) via archival audio recordings from the original episode.
Cash was joined by guitarist Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, bassist Krist Novoselic of Nirvana, and drummer Sean Kinney of Alice in Chains for a cover of Willie Nelson's "Time of the Preacher", featured on the tribute album Twisted Willie, released in January 1996.
In 1996, Cash collaborated with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on Unchained (also known as American Recordings II), which won the Best Country Album Grammy in 1998. The album was produced by Rick Rubin with Sylvia Massy engineering and mixing. A majority of Unchained was recorded at Sound City Studios and featured guest appearances by Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, and Marty Stuart. Believing he did not explain enough of himself in his 1975 autobiography Man in Black, he wrote Cash: The Autobiography in 1997.
Later years
In 1997, during a trip to New York City, Cash was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease Shy–Drager syndrome, a form of multiple system atrophy. According to biographer Robert Hilburn, the disease was originally misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease, and Cash even announced to his audience that he had Parkinson's after nearly collapsing on stage in Flint, Michigan, on October 25, 1997. Soon afterwards, his diagnosis was changed to Shy–Drager, and Cash was told he had about 18 months to live. The diagnosis was later again altered to autonomic neuropathy associated with diabetes. The illness forced Cash to curtail his touring. He was hospitalized in 1998 with severe pneumonia, which damaged his lungs.
During the last stage of his career, Cash released the albums American III: Solitary Man (2000) and American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002). American IV included cover songs from several late 20th-century rock artists, notably "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails and "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails commented that he was initially skeptical about Cash's plan to cover "Hurt", but was later impressed and moved by the rendition. The video for "Hurt" received critical and popular acclaim, including a Grammy Award.
June Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003, aged 73. June had told Cash to keep working, so he continued to record, completing 60 songs in the last four months of his life. He even performed surprise shows at the Carter Family Fold outside Bristol, Virginia. At the July 5, 2003, concert (his last public performance), before singing "Ring of Fire", Cash read a statement that he had written shortly before taking the stage:
The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and Heaven. She came down for a short visit, I guess, from Heaven to visit with me tonight to give me courage and inspiration like she always has. She's never been one for me except courage and inspiration. I thank God for June Carter. I love her with all my heart.
Cash continued to record until shortly before his death. "When June died, it tore him up", Rick Rubin recalled. "He said to me, 'You have to keep me working because I will die if I don't have something to do.' He was in a wheelchair by then and we set him up at his home in Virginia... I couldn't listen to those recordings for two years after he died and it was heartbreaking when he died." Cash's final recordings were made on August 21, 2003, and consisted of "Like the 309", which appeared on American V: A Hundred Highways in 2006, and the final song he completed, "Engine 143", recorded for his son John Carter Cash's planned Carter Family tribute album.
Death
On September 12, 2003, at approximately 2am Central Time, while hospitalized at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, Cash died of complications from diabetes, at age 71. His death came less than four months after his wife's.
Public funeral services were held at the First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee. He was buried next to her at Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Personal life
On July 18, 1951, while in Air Force basic training, Cash met 17-year-old Italian-American Vivian Liberto at a roller skating rink in San Antonio, Texas. They dated for three weeks until Cash was deployed to West Germany for a three-year tour. During that time, the couple exchanged hundreds of love letters. On August 7, 1954, one month after his discharge, they were married at St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church in San Antonio. They had four daughters: Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy, and Tara. In 1961, Cash moved his family to a hilltop home overlooking Casitas Springs, California. He had previously moved his parents to the area to run a small trailer park called the Johnny Cash Trailer Park. His drinking led to several run-ins with local law enforcement. Liberto later said that she had filed for divorce in 1966 because of Cash's severe abuse of alcohol and other drugs, as well as his constant touring, his repeated acts of adultery with other women, and his close relationship with singer June Carter. Their four daughters were then raised by their mother.
Cash met June of the famed Carter Family while on tour, and the two became infatuated with each other. In 1968, 13 years after they first met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, Cash proposed to June, during a live performance in London, Ontario. The couple married on March 1, 1968, in Franklin, Kentucky. They had one child together, John Carter Cash, born March 3, 1970. He was the only son for both Johnny and June. In addition to having his four daughters and John Carter, Cash also became stepfather to Carlene and Rosie, June's daughters from her first two marriages, to, respectively, honky-tonk singer Carl Smith, and former police officer, football player, and race-car driver Edwin "Rip" Nix. Cash and Carter continued to work, raise their child, create music, and tour together for 35 years until June's death in May 2003. Throughout their marriage, June attempted to keep Cash off amphetamines, often taking his drugs and flushing them down the toilet. June remained with him even throughout his multiple admissions for rehabilitation treatment and decades of drug addiction. After June's death in May 2003, Cash believed that his only reason for living was his music; he died only four months later.
Religious beliefs
Cash was raised by his parents in the Christian faith. In 1944, he became a Christian at the Central Baptist Church in Dyess, Arkansas, affiliated to the Southern Baptist Convention, and began singing publicly there. He was baptized shortly after in the Tyronza River.
A troubled but devout Christian, Cash has been characterized as a "lens through which to view American contradictions and challenges." On May 9, 1971, he answered the altar call at Evangel Temple in Nashville, an Assemblies of God congregation pastored by Jimmie R. Snow, with outreach to people in the music world.
Cash penned a Christian novel, Man in White, in 1986, and in the introduction writes about a reporter who, interested in Cash's religious beliefs, questioned whether the book is written from a Baptist, Catholic, or Jewish perspective. Cash replied, "I'm a Christian. Don't put me in another box."
In the mid-1970s, Cash and his wife, June, completed a course of study in the Bible through Christian International Bible College, culminating in a pilgrimage to Israel in November 1978. Around that time, he was ordained as a minister, and officiated at his daughter's wedding. He often performed at Billy Graham Crusades. At a Tallahassee Crusade in 1986, June and Johnny sang his song "One of These Days I'm Gonna Sit Down and Talk to Paul". At a performance in Arkansas in 1989, Johnny Cash spoke to attendees of his commitment to the salvation of drug dealers and alcoholics. He then sang "Family Bible".
He recorded several gospel albums and made a spoken-word recording of the entire New King James Version of the New Testament. Cash declared he was "the biggest sinner of them all", and viewed himself overall as a complicated and contradictory man. Accordingly, Cash is said to have "contained multitudes", and has been deemed "the philosopher-prince of American country music."
Cash is credited with having converted actor and singer John Schneider to Christianity.
Towards the end of his life, he and his wife attended the First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Legacy
Cash nurtured and defended artists such as Bob Dylan on the fringes of what was acceptable in country music even while serving as the country music establishment's most visible symbol. At an all-star concert which aired in 1999 on TNT, a diverse group of artists paid him tribute, including Dylan, Chris Isaak, Wyclef Jean, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Dom DeLuise, and U2. Cash himself appeared at the end and performed for the first time in more than a year. Two tribute albums were released shortly before his death; Kindred Spirits contains works from established artists, while Dressed in Black contains works from many lesser-known musicians. Cash served as a major influence on Dylan's desire to transition to an electric guitar, which was notably shown during his performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, and use of less traditional protest themed folk music. In addition to his use of an electric guitar at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, a letter which Cash wrote to the editor of Broadside which called for the people at the festival to "shut up and let me sing" shortly before the 1964 festival had major influence on Dylan's shift in the direction for his musical career as well.
In total, he wrote over 1,000 songs and released dozens of albums. A box set titled Unearthed was issued posthumously. It included four CDs of unreleased material recorded with Rubin, as well as a Best of Cash on American retrospective CD. The set also includes a 104-page book that discusses each track and features one of Cash's final interviews.
In 1999, Cash received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Cash number 31 on their "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list and No. 21 on their "100 Greatest Singers" list in 2010. In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked Cash's 1968 live album At Folsom Prison and 1994 studio album American Recordings at No. 88 and No. 366 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
In recognition of his lifelong support of SOS Children's Villages, his family invited friends and fans to donate to the Johnny Cash Memorial Fund in his memory. He had a personal link with the SOS village in Dießen, at the Ammersee Lake in Bavaria, near where he was stationed as a GI, and with the SOS village in Barrett Town, by Montego Bay, near his holiday home in Jamaica.
In January 2006, Cash's lakeside home on Caudill Drive in Hendersonville was sold to Bee Gees vocalist Barry Gibb and wife Linda for $2.3 million. On April 10, 2007, during major renovation works carried out for Gibb, a fire broke out at the house, spreading quickly due to a flammable wood preservative that had been used. The building was completely destroyed.
One of Cash's final collaborations with producer Rick Rubin, American V: A Hundred Highways, was released posthumously on July 4, 2006. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for the week ending July 22, 2006. On February 23, 2010, three days before what would have been Cash's 78th birthday, the Cash Family, Rick Rubin, and Lost Highway Records released his second posthumous record, titled American VI: Ain't No Grave.
The main street in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Highway 31E, is known as "Johnny Cash Parkway". The Johnny Cash Museum, located in one of Cash's properties in Hendersonville until 2006, dubbed the House of Cash, was sold based on Cash's will. Prior to this, having been closed for a number of years, the museum had been featured in Cash's music video for "Hurt". The house subsequently burned down during the renovation by the new owner. A new museum, founded by Shannon and Bill Miller, opened April 26, 2013, in downtown Nashville.
On November 2–4, 2007, the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival was held in Starkville, Mississippi, where Cash had been arrested more than 40 years earlier and held overnight at the city jail on May 11, 1965. The incident inspired Cash to write the song "Starkville City Jail". The festival, where he was offered a symbolic posthumous pardon, honored Cash's life and music, and was expected to become an annual event.
JC Unit One, Johnny Cash's private tour bus from 1980 until 2003, was put on exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2007. The museum offers public tours of the bus on a seasonal basis (it is stored during the winter and not exhibited during those times).
A limited-edition Forever stamp honoring Cash went on sale June 5, 2013. The stamp features a promotional picture of Cash taken around the 1963 release of Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash.
On October 14, 2014, the City of Folsom unveiled phase 1 of the Johnny Cash Trail to the public with a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Rosanne Cash. Along the trail, eight larger-than-life public art pieces will tell the story of Johnny Cash, his connection to Folsom Prison, and his epic musical career. The Johnny Cash Trail features art selected by a committee that included Cindy Cash, a 2-acre (0.81 ha) Legacy Park, and over 3 miles (4.8 km) of multi-use class-I bike trail. The artists responsible for the sculptures are Sacramento-based Romo Studios, LLC and the Fine Art Studio of Rotblatt Amrany, from Illinois.
In 2015, a new species of black tarantula was identified near Folsom Prison and named Aphonopelma johnnycashi in his honor.
In 2016, the Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team added the "Country Legends Race" to its between-innings entertainment. At the middle of the fifth inning, people in oversized foam caricature costumes depicting Cash, as well as George Jones, Reba McEntire, and Dolly Parton, race around the warning track at First Horizon Park from center field to the home plate side of the first base dugout.
On February 8, 2018, the album Forever Words was announced, putting music to poems that Cash had written and which were published in book form in 2016.
Johnny Cash's boyhood home in Dyess was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 2018, as "Farm No. 266, Johnny Cash Boyhood Home."
The Arkansas Country Music Awards honored Johnny Cash's legacy with the Lifetime Achievement award on June 3, 2018. The ceremony was held that same date, which was a Monday night at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in Little Rock, Arkansas. The nominations took place in early 2018.
In 2019, Sheryl Crow released a duet with Cash on her song "Redemption Day" for her album Threads. Crow, who had originally written and recorded the song in 1996, recorded new vocals and added them to those of Cash, who recorded the song for his American VI: Ain't No Grave album.
In April 2019, it was announced that the state of Arkansas would place a statue of Cash in the National Statuary Hall in an effort to represent the modern history of Arkansas. The Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, stated that Cash's contributions to music made him an appropriate figure to tell the story of the state.
In April 2024, unfinished and unreleased demos recorded by Cash were announced to be released in a new compilation album, Songwriter. The album – co-produced by Cash's son, John Carter Cash – contains eleven songs, recorded in 1993 with guest artists including Vince Gill and the Black Keys. Songwriter's release date was announced as June 28, 2024.
Portrayals
Country singer Mark Collie portrayed Cash in John Lloyd Miller's award-winning 1999 short film I Still Miss Someone.
In November 2005, Walk the Line, a biographical film about Cash's life, was released in the United States to considerable commercial success and critical acclaim. The film featured Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor) and Reese Witherspoon as June (for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress). Phoenix and Witherspoon also won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, respectively. They both performed their own vocals in the film (with their version of "Jackson" being released as a single), and Phoenix learned to play guitar for the role. Phoenix received a Grammy Award for his contributions to the soundtrack. John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny and June, served as an executive producer.
On March 12, 2006, Ring of Fire, a jukebox musical of the Cash oeuvre, debuted on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, but closed due to harsh reviews and disappointing sales on April 30. Million Dollar Quartet, a musical portraying the early Sun recording sessions involving Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, debuted on Broadway on April 11, 2010. Actor Lance Guest portrayed Cash. The musical was nominated for three awards at the 2010 Tony Awards and won one.
In the 2024 film A Complete Unknown, about the early career of Bob Dylan, Cash is portrayed by actor Boyd Holbrook.
Awards and honors
Cash received multiple Country Music Association Awards, Grammys, and other awards, in categories ranging from vocal and spoken performances to album notes and videos. In a career that spanned almost five decades, Cash was the personification of country music to many people around the world. Cash was a musician who was not defined by a single genre. He recorded songs that could be considered rock and roll, blues, rockabilly, folk, and gospel, and exerted an influence on each of those genres.
His diversity was evidenced by his presence in five major music halls of fame: the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1980), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1992), GMA's Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2010). and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame (2013). Marking his death in 2003, Rolling Stone stated other than Elvis Presley Cash was the only artist inducted as a performer into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
His contributions to the genre have been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Cash received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1996 and stated that his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 was his greatest professional achievement. In 2001, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. "Hurt" was nominated for six VMAs at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. The only VMA the video won was that for Best Cinematography. With the video, Johnny Cash became the oldest artist ever nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. Justin Timberlake, who won Best Video that year for "Cry Me a River", said in his acceptance speech: "This is a travesty! I demand a recount. My grandfather raised me on Johnny Cash, and I think he deserves this more than any of us in here tonight."
Discography
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Published works
Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words, Zondervan, 1975; ISBN 99924-31-58-X
Man in White, a novel about the Apostle Paul, HarperCollins, 1986; ISBN 0-06-250132-1
Cash: The Autobiography, with Patrick Carr, HarperCollins, 1997; ISBN 978-0-06-101357-7
Johnny Cash Reads the New Testament, Thomas Nelson, 2011; ISBN 978-1-4185-4883-4
Recollections by Johnny Cash, edited by daughter Tara, 2014; ISBN 978-0-930677-03-9
The Man Who Carried Cash: Saul Holiff, Johnny Cash, and the Making of an American Icon by Julie Chadwick, Dundurn Press, 2017; ISBN 978-1-459737-23-5
Cash, Johnny; Mark Stielper; John Carter Cash (November 14, 2023). Johnny Cash: The Life in Lyrics. New York: Voracious; Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316503105. OCLC 1407575187.
Notes
References
Bibliography
Further reading
Antonio D'Ambrosio, A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears, New York/New York, Perseus Books/Nation Books, 2009, ISBN 978-1-56858-637-3 (pb)
Robert Hilburn, Johnny Cash: The Life, Back Bay Books, New York: Little Brown and Company, 2013, ISBN 978-0-316-19474-7 (pb)
Jonathan Silverman, Nine Choices: Johnny Cash and American Culture, Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 2010, ISBN 1-55849-826-5
Graeme Thomson, The Resurrection of Johnny Cash: Hurt, Redemption, and American Recordings, Jawbone Press, ISBN 978-1-906002-36-7
Christopher S. Wren, Johnny Cash: Winners Got Scars, Too, Abacus Editions, ISBN 0-349-13740-4
External links
Official website
Sony Music's Johnny Cash website
"Candidates – Inductee Johnny Cash". Hit Parade Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on January 6, 2008..
Johnny Cash at AllMusic
Johnny Cash at IMDb
Johnny Cash profile at martinguitar.com
Holiff Family fonds / Johnny Cash collection University of Victoria Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives
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John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. He was known for his deep, calm, bass-baritone voice, the distinctive sound of his backing band, the Tennessee Three, that was characterized by its train-like chugging guitar rhythms, a rebelliousness coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor, and his free prison concerts. Cash wore a trademark all-black stage wardrobe, which earned him the nickname "Man in Black".
Born to poor cotton farmers in Kingsland, Arkansas, Cash grew up on gospel music and played on a local radio station in high school. He served four years in the Air Force, much of it in West Germany. After his return to the United States, he rose to fame during the mid-1950s in the burgeoning rockabilly scene in Memphis, Tennessee. He traditionally began his concerts by introducing himself with "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash". He began to follow that by "Folsom Prison Blues", one of his signature songs. His other signature songs include "I Walk the Line", "Ring of Fire", "Get Rhythm", and "Man in Black". He also recorded humorous numbers like "One Piece at a Time" and "A Boy Named Sue", a duet with his future wife June called "Jackson" (followed by many further duets after they married), and railroad songs such as "Hey, Porter", "Orange Blossom Special", and "Rock Island Line". During his final years, Cash covered songs by contemporary rock artists; among his most notable covers were "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails, "Rusty Cage" by Soundgarden, and "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode.
Cash is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. His genre-spanning music embraced country, rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel sounds. This crossover appeal earned him the rare honor of being inducted into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame. His life and career were dramatized in the 2005 biopic Walk the Line.
Early life
Cash was born J. R. Cash in Kingsland, Arkansas, on February 26, 1932, to Carrie Cloveree (née Rivers) and Ray Cash. He had three older siblings, Roy, Margaret Louise, and Jack, and three younger siblings, Reba, Joanne, and Tommy (who also became a successful country artist). He was primarily of English and Scottish descent. His paternal grandmother claimed Cherokee ancestry, but a DNA test of Cash's daughter Rosanne in 2021 on Finding Your Roots, hosted by historian Henry Louis Gates Jr, found she has no known Native American markers. The researchers found Rosanne Cash has 3.3% Sub-Saharan African DNA, and they found the Sub-Saharan African DNA comes from both maternal and paternal sides of Cash's family. Researchers traced the Sub-Saharan African DNA to Rosanne's enslaved maternal African ancestors: her "third great-grand-mother" Sarah A. Shields and Shields' mother, who could have been of "full African descent". Gates also informed Cash that the researchers traced Sub-Saharan African DNA to "an unknown African ancestor on your father's [Johnny's] side".
After meeting with the then-laird of Falkland in Fife, Major Michael Crichton-Stuart, Cash became interested in his Scots ancestry. He traced his Scottish surname to 11th-century Fife. Cash Loch and other locations in Fife bear the surname of his father. He is a distant cousin of British Conservative politician Sir William Cash. He also had English ancestry. Because his mother wanted to name him John and his father preferred to name him Ray when he was born, they compromised on the initials "J. R." But when Cash enlisted in the Air Force after high school, he was not permitted to use initials as a first name. He adopted the name "John R. Cash". In 1955, when signing with Sun Records, he started using the name "Johnny Cash".
In March 1935, when Cash was three years old, the family settled in Dyess, Arkansas, a New Deal colony established during the Great Depression under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was intended to give poor families the opportunity to work land that they might later own. From the age of five, Cash worked in cotton fields with his family, singing with them as they worked. Dyess and the Cash farm suffered a flood during his childhood. Later he wrote the song "Five Feet High and Rising". His family's economic and personal struggles during the Great Depression gave him a lifelong sympathy for the poor and working class, and inspired many of his songs.
In 1944, Cash's older brother Jack, with whom he was close, was cut almost in two by an unguarded table saw at work. He died of his wounds a week later. According to Cash's autobiography, he, his mother, and Jack all had a sense of foreboding about that day; his mother urged Jack to skip work and go fishing with Cash, but Jack insisted on working as the family needed the money. Cash often spoke of the guilt he felt over the incident. He would say that he looked forward to "meeting [his] brother in Heaven".
Cash's early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Taught guitar by his mother and a childhood friend, Cash began playing and writing songs at the age of 12. When young, Cash had a high-tenor voice, before becoming a bass-baritone after his voice changed. In high school, he sang on a local Arkansas radio station. Decades later, he released an album of traditional gospel songs called My Mother's Hymn Book. He was also strongly influenced by traditional Irish music, which he heard performed weekly by Dennis Day on the Jack Benny radio program.
Cash enlisted in the Air Force on July 7, 1950, shortly after the start of the Korean War. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to the 12th Radio Squadron Mobile of the U.S. Air Force Security Service at Landsberg, West Germany. While in San Antonio, he met Vivian Liberto, a woman of Sicilian, Irish and German ancestry. They dated briefly before his departure. During the years he served overseas, they exchanged thousands of letters. He worked in West Germany as a Morse code operator, intercepting Soviet Army transmissions. While working this job, Cash was said to be the first American to be given the news of Joseph Stalin's death (supplied via Morse code). His daughter, Rosanne, said that Cash had recounted the story many times over the years. While at Landsberg, he created his first band, "The Landsberg Barbarians". On July 3, 1954, he was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant, and he returned to Texas. During his military service, he acquired a distinctive scar on the right side of his jaw as a result of surgery to remove a cyst. Soon after his return, Cash married Vivian Liberto in San Antonio. She had grown up Catholic and was married in the church by her paternal uncle, Father Franco Liberto.
Career
Early career
In 1954, Cash and his first wife Vivian moved to Memphis, Tennessee. He sold appliances while studying to be a radio announcer. At night, he played with guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant. Perkins and Grant were known as the Tennessee Two. Cash worked up the courage to visit the Sun Records studio, hoping to get a recording contract. He auditioned for Sam Phillips by singing mostly gospel songs, only to learn from the producer that he no longer recorded gospel music. Phillips was rumored to have told Cash to "go home and sin, then come back with a song I can sell". In a 2002 interview, Cash denied that Phillips made any such comment. Cash eventually won over the producer with new songs delivered in his early rockabilly style. In 1955, Cash made his first recordings at Sun, "Hey Porter" and "Cry! Cry! Cry!", which were released in late June and met with success on the country hit parade.
On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley dropped in on Phillips while Carl Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks, with Jerry Lee Lewis backing him on piano. Cash was also in the studio, and the four started an impromptu jam session. Phillips left the tapes running and the recordings, almost half of which were gospel songs, survived. They have since been released under the title Million Dollar Quartet. In Cash: the Autobiography, Cash wrote that he was the farthest from the microphone and sang in a higher pitch to blend in with Presley.
Cash's next record, "Folsom Prison Blues", made the country top five. His "I Walk the Line" became number one on the country charts and entered the pop charts top 20. "Home of the Blues" followed, recorded in July 1957. That same year, Cash became the first Sun artist to release a long-playing album. Although he was Sun's most consistently selling and prolific artist at that time, Cash felt constrained by his contract with the small label. Phillips did not want Cash to record gospel and was paying him a 3% royalty rather than the standard rate of 5%. Presley had already left Sun, and Cash felt that Phillips was focusing most of his attention and promotion on Lewis.
In 1958, Cash left Phillips to sign a lucrative offer with Columbia Records. His single "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" became one of his biggest hits. He recorded a collection of gospel songs for his second album for Columbia. However, Cash left behind such a backlog of recordings with Sun that Phillips continued to release new singles and albums featuring previously unreleased material until as late as 1964. Cash was in the unusual position of having new releases out on two labels concurrently. Sun's 1960 release, a cover of "Oh Lonesome Me", made it to number 13 on the C&W charts.
Early in his career, Cash was given the teasing nickname "the Undertaker" by fellow artists because of his habit of wearing black clothes. He said he chose them because they were easier to keep looking clean on long tours.
In the early 1960s, Cash toured with the Carter Family, which by this time regularly included Mother Maybelle's daughters, Anita, June, and Helen. June later recalled admiring him from afar during these tours. In the 1960s, he appeared on Pete Seeger's short-lived television series Rainbow Quest. He also acted in, and wrote and sang the opening theme for, a 1961 film entitled Five Minutes to Live. It was later re-released as Door-to-door Maniac.
Cash's career was handled by Saul Holiff, a London, Ontario, promoter. Their relationship was the subject of Holiff's son's biopic My Father and the Man in Black.
Outlaw image
As his career was taking off in the late 1950s, Cash started drinking heavily and became addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates. For a brief time, he shared an apartment in Nashville with Waylon Jennings, who was deeply addicted to amphetamines. Cash would use the stimulants to stay awake during tours. Friends joked about his "nervousness" and erratic behavior, many ignoring the warning signs of his worsening drug addiction.
Although he was in many ways spiraling out of control, Cash could still deliver hits due to his frenetic creativity. His rendition of "Ring of Fire" was a crossover hit, reaching number one on the country charts and entering the top 20 on the pop charts. It was originally performed by June Carter's sister, but the signature mariachi-style horn arrangement was provided by Cash. He said that it had come to him in a dream.
His first wife Vivian (Liberto) Cash claimed a different version of the origins of "Ring of Fire". In her book, I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny (2007), Liberto says that Cash gave Carter half the songwriting credit for monetary reasons.
In June 1965, Cash's camper caught fire during a fishing trip with his nephew Damon Fielder in Los Padres National Forest in California. It set off a forest fire that burned several hundred acres and nearly caused his death. Cash claimed that the fire was caused by sparks from a defective exhaust system on his camper, but Fielder thought that Cash started a fire to stay warm and, under the influence of drugs, failed to notice the fire getting out of control. When the judge asked Cash why he did it, Cash said, "I didn't do it, my truck did, and it's dead, so you can't question it."
The fire destroyed 508 acres (206 ha), burned the foliage off three mountains and drove off 49 of the refuge's 53 endangered California condors. Cash was unrepentant and said, "I don't care about your damn yellow buzzards." The federal government sued him and was awarded $125,172. Cash eventually settled the case and paid $82,001.
Although Cash cultivated a romantic outlaw image, he never served a prison sentence. Despite landing in jail seven times for misdemeanors, he was held only one night each time. On May 11, 1965, he was arrested in Starkville, Mississippi, for trespassing late at night onto private property to pick flowers. (He used this incident as the basis for the song "Starkville City Jail". He discussed this on his live At San Quentin album.)
While on tour later that year, he was arrested October 4 in El Paso, Texas, by a narcotics squad. The officers suspected he was smuggling heroin from Mexico, but found instead 688 Dexedrine capsules (amphetamines) and 475 Equanil (sedatives or tranquilizers) tablets hidden inside his guitar case. Because the pills were prescription drugs rather than illegal narcotics, Cash received a suspended sentence. He posted a $1,500 bond and was released until his arraignment.
In this period of the mid-1960s, Cash released a number of concept albums. His Bitter Tears (1964) was devoted to spoken word and songs addressing the plight of Native Americans and mistreatment by the government. While initially reaching charts, this album met with resistance from some fans and radio stations, which rejected its controversial take on social issues.
In 2011, a book was published about it, leading to a re-recording of the songs by contemporary artists and the making of a documentary film about Cash's efforts with the album. This film was aired on PBS in February and November 2016. His Sings the Ballads of the True West (1965) was an experimental double record, mixing authentic frontier songs with Cash's spoken narration.
Reaching a low with his severe drug addiction and destructive behavior, Cash and his first wife divorced after having separated in 1962. Some venues cancelled his performances, but he continued to find success. In 1967, Cash's duet with June Carter, "Jackson", won a Grammy Award.
Cash was last arrested in 1967 in Walker County, Georgia, after police found he was carrying a bag of prescription pills when in a car accident. Cash attempted to bribe a local deputy, who turned the money down. He was jailed for the night in LaFayette, Georgia. Sheriff Ralph Jones released him after giving him a long talk, warning him about the danger of his behavior and wasted potential. Cash credited that experience with helping him turn around and save his life. He later returned to LaFayette to play a benefit concert; it attracted 12,000 people (the city population was less than 9,000 at the time) and raised $75,000 for the high school.
Reflecting on his past in a 1997 interview, Cash noted: "I was taking the pills for awhile, and then the pills started taking me." June, Maybelle, and Ezra Carter moved into Cash's mansion for a month to help him get off drugs. Cash proposed onstage to June on February 22, 1968, at a concert at the London Gardens in London, Ontario, Canada. The couple married a week later (on March 1) in Franklin, Kentucky. She had agreed to marry Cash after he had "cleaned up."
Cash's journey included rediscovery of his Christian faith. He took an "altar call" in Evangel Temple, a small church in the Nashville area, pastored by Reverend Jimmie Rodgers Snow, son of country music legend Hank Snow. According to Marshall Grant, though, Cash did not completely stop using amphetamines in 1968; and did not fully end drug use for another two years. He was drug-free for a period of seven years. In his memoir about time with Cash, Grant said that the birth of Cash's son, John Carter Cash, inspired the singer to end his dependence.
Cash began using amphetamines again in 1977. By 1983, he was deeply addicted again. He entered rehab at the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage for treatment. He stayed off drugs for several years, but relapsed.
In 1989, he entered Nashville's Cumberland Heights Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center. In 1992, he started care at the Loma Linda Behavioral Medicine Center in Loma Linda, California, for his final rehabilitation treatment. (Several months later, his son followed him into this facility for treatment.)
Folsom and other prison concerts
In the late 1950s Cash began performing concerts at prisons. He played his first notable prison concert on January 1, 1958, at San Quentin State Prison in California. These performances were recorded live, and released on highly successful albums: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969). Both live albums reached number one on Billboard country album music and the latter crossed over to reach the top of the Billboard pop album chart. In 1969, Cash became an international hit when he eclipsed even the Beatles by selling 6.5 million albums. In comparison, the prison concerts were much more successful than his later live albums such as Strawberry Cake recorded in London and Live at Madison Square Garden, which peaked at numbers 33 and 39 on the album charts, respectively.
The Folsom Prison record was introduced by a rendition of his "Folsom Prison Blues", while the San Quentin record included the crossover hit single "A Boy Named Sue", a Shel Silverstein novelty song that reached number one on the country charts and number two on the U.S. top-10 pop charts.
In 1972 Cash performed at the Österåker Prison in Sweden. The live album På Österåker (At Österåker) was released in 1973. "San Quentin" was recorded with Cash replacing "San Quentin" with "Österåker". In 1976, a concert at Tennessee State Prison was videotaped for TV broadcast. It was posthumously released after Cash's death as a CD entitled A Concert Behind Prison Walls.
Cash placed great value upon patriotism and national service. Given his own service, Cash also supported his nephew, Captain Roy "Outlaw" Cash, Jr., USN. On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1975, Cash diverted between scheduled performances to play a special concert along with The Tennessee Three for a military audience at the Naval War College in Rhode Island. June Carter Cash and Carl Lee Perkins joined Cash and the Tennessee Three for the show. Before taking the stage, Cash warmed up with June and Perkins under the historic rotunda in Mahan Hall at the Naval War College. The recording of this "lost concert" of Cash show was donated by Captain Roy Cash, Jr., who later collaborated with Naval War College historian, David Kohnen, to write the account of the performance, which had previously remained undocumented in the official chronology of performances by Cash.
Activism for Native Americans
Cash used his stardom and economic status to bring awareness to the issues surrounding the Native American people. Cash sang songs about indigenous humanity in an effort to confront the U.S. government. Many non-Native Americans did not address those topics in their music. In 1965, Cash and June Carter appeared on Pete Seeger's TV show, Rainbow Quest, on which Cash explained his start as an activist for Native Americans:
In '57, I wrote a song called "Old Apache Squaw" and then forgot the so-called Indian protest for a while, but nobody else seemed to speak up with any volume of voice.
Columbia Music, the label for which Cash was recording then, was opposed to putting the song on his next album, considering it "too radical for the public". Cash singing songs of Indian tragedy and settler violence went radically against the mainstream of country music in the 1950s, which was dominated by the image of the righteous cowboy who makes the native's soil his own.
In 1964, coming off the chart success of his previous album I Walk the Line, he recorded the aforementioned album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian.
The album featured stories of a multitude of Indigenous peoples, emphasizing their violent oppression by white settlers: the Pima people ("The Ballad of Ira Hayes"), Navajo ("Navajo"), Apache ("Apache Tears"), Lakota ("Big Foot"), Seneca ("As Long as the Grass Shall Grow"), and Cherokee ("The Talking Leaves"). Cash wrote three of the songs himself and one with the help of Johnny Horton.
The majority of these protest songs were written by folk artist Peter La Farge (son of Oliver La Farge, an activist and Pulitzer prizewinner). Cash met the younger La Farge in New York in the 1960s and admired him for his activism. The album's single, "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" was generally not played by commercial radio. (Ira Hayes was a Native American who was one of the six soldiers featured in a photo raising the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima during World War II.)
The record label denied it promotion due to what it considered a provocative and "unappealing" nature. Cash faced resistance and was urged by an editor of a country music magazine to leave the Country Music Association, who said: "You and your crowd are just too intelligent to associate with plain country folks, country artists, and country DJs."
In reaction, on August 22, 1964, Cash posted a letter as an advertisement in Billboard, calling the record industry cowardly: "D.J.s – station managers – owners [...] where are your guts? I had to fight back when I realized that so many stations are afraid of Ira Hayes. Just one question: WHY??? Ira Hayes is strong medicine [...] So is Rochester, Harlem, Birmingham and Vietnam." Cash kept promoting the song and persuaded disc jockeys he knew to play it. The song eventually reached number three on the country charts, and the album rose to number two on the album charts.
Later, on The Johnny Cash Show, he continued telling stories of Native-American plight, both in song and through short films, such as the history of the Trail of Tears.
In 1966, in recognition of his activism, Cash was adopted by the Seneca Nation's Turtle Clan. He performed benefits in 1968 at the Rosebud Reservation, close to the historical landmark of the massacre at Wounded Knee, to raise money to help build a school. He also played at the D-Q University in the 1980s.
In 1970, Cash recorded a reading of John G. Burnett's 1890, 80th-birthday essay on Cherokee removal for the Historical Landmarks Association (Nashville).
The Johnny Cash Show
From June 1969 to March 1971, Cash starred in his own television show, The Johnny Cash Show, on the ABC network. Produced by Screen Gems, the show was performed at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The Statler Brothers opened for him in every episode; the Carter Family and rockabilly legend Carl Perkins were also part of the regular show entourage. Cash also enjoyed booking mainstream performers as guests; including Linda Ronstadt in her first TV appearance, Neil Young, Louis Armstrong, Neil Diamond, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition (who appeared four times), James Taylor, Ray Charles, Roger Miller, Roy Orbison, Derek and the Dominos, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan.
From September 15–18, 1969, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Cash performed a series of four concerts at the New Mexico State Fair to promote the first season of The Johnny Cash Show. These live shows were produced with help from ABC and local concert producer Bennie Sanchez; during these sets, Johnny Cash and Al Hurricane performed together. Also during The Johnny Cash Show era, he contributed the title song and other songs to the film Little Fauss and Big Halsy, which starred Robert Redford, Michael J. Pollard, and Lauren Hutton. The title song, "The Ballad of Little Fauss and Big Halsy", written by Carl Perkins, was nominated for a Golden Globe award in 1971.
Cash had first met with Dylan in the mid-1960s and became neighbors in the late 1960s in Woodstock, New York. Cash was enthusiastic about reintroducing the reclusive Dylan to his audience. Cash sang a duet with Dylan, "Girl from the North Country", on Dylan's country album Nashville Skyline and also wrote the album's Grammy-winning liner notes.
Another artist who received a major career boost from The Johnny Cash Show was Kris Kristofferson, who was beginning to make a name for himself as a singer-songwriter. During a live performance of Kristofferson's "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", Cash refused to change the lyrics to suit network executives, singing the song with its references to marijuana intact:
The closing program of The Johnny Cash Show was a gospel music special. Guests included the Blackwood Brothers, Mahalia Jackson, Stuart Hamblen, and Billy Graham.
The "Man in Black"
By the early 1970s, Cash had established his public image as the "Man in Black". He regularly performed in entirely black suits with a long, black, knee-length coat. This outfit stood in contrast to the rhinestone suits and cowboy boots worn by most of the major country acts of his day.
Cash said he wore all black on behalf of the poor and hungry, the "prisoner who has long paid for his crime", and those who have been betrayed by age or drugs. He added, "With the Vietnam War as painful in my mind as it was in most other Americans, I wore it 'in mourning' for the lives that could have been' ... Apart from the Vietnam War being over, I don't see much reason to change my position ... The old are still neglected, the poor are still poor, the young are still dying before their time, and we're not making many moves to make things right. There's still plenty of darkness to carry off."
Initially, he and his band had worn black shirts because that was the only matching color they had among their various outfits. He wore other colors on stage early in his career, but he claimed to like wearing black both on and off stage. He stated that political reasons aside, he simply liked black as his on-stage color. The outdated US Navy's winter blue uniform used to be referred to by sailors as "Johnny Cashes", as the uniform's shirt, tie, and trousers are solid black.
In the mid-1970s, Cash's popularity and number of hit songs began to decline. He made commercials for Amoco and STP, an unpopular enterprise at the time of the 1970s energy crisis. In 1976, he made commercials for Lionel Trains, for which he also wrote the music. However, his first autobiography, Man in Black, was published in 1975 and sold 1.3 million copies. A second, Cash: The Autobiography, appeared in 1997.
Cash's friendship with Billy Graham led to his production of a film about the life of Jesus, Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus, which Cash co-wrote and narrated. It was released in 1973. Cash viewed the film as a statement of his personal faith rather than a means of proselytizing.
Cash and June Carter Cash appeared several times on the Billy Graham Crusade TV specials, and Cash continued to include gospel and religious songs on many of his albums, though Columbia declined to release A Believer Sings the Truth, a gospel double-LP Cash recorded in 1979 and which ended up being released on an independent label even with Cash still under contract to Columbia. On November 22, 1974, CBS ran his one-hour TV special entitled Riding The Rails, a musical history of trains.
He continued to appear on television, hosting Christmas specials on CBS in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Later television appearances included a starring role in an episode of Columbo, entitled "Swan Song". June and he appeared in an episode of Little House on the Prairie, entitled "The Collection". He gave a performance as abolitionist John Brown in the 1985 American Civil War television miniseries North and South. In the 1990s, Johnny and June appeared in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman in recurring roles.
He was friendly with every US president, starting with Richard Nixon. He was closest to Jimmy Carter, with whom he became close friends and who was a distant cousin of his wife, June.
When invited to perform at the White House for the first time in 1970, Richard Nixon's office requested that he play "Okie from Muskogee" (a satirical Merle Haggard song about people who despised hippies, young drug users and Vietnam war protesters), "Welfare Cadillac" (a Guy Drake song which chastises the integrity of welfare recipients), and "A Boy Named Sue". Cash declined to play the first two and instead selected other songs, including "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" and his own compositions, "What Is Truth" and "Man in Black". Cash wrote that the reasons for denying Nixon's song choices were not knowing them and having fairly short notice to rehearse them, rather than any political reason. However, Cash added, even if Nixon's office had given Cash enough time to learn and rehearse the songs, their choice of pieces that conveyed "antihippie and antiblack" sentiments might have backfired. In his remarks when introducing Cash, Nixon joked that one thing he had learned about him was one did not tell him what to sing.
Johnny Cash was the grand marshal of the United States Bicentennial parade. He wore a shirt from Nudie Cohn which sold for $25,000 in auction in 2010. After the parade he gave a concert at the Washington Monument.
Highwaymen and departure from Columbia Records
In 1980, Cash became the Country Music Hall of Fame's youngest living inductee at age 48, but during the 1980s, his records failed to make a major impact on the country charts, although he continued to tour successfully. In the mid-1980s, he recorded and toured with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson as the Highwaymen, making three hit albums, which were released beginning with the originally titled Highwayman in 1985, followed by Highwaymen 2 in 1990, and concluding with Highwaymen – The Road Goes On Forever in 1995.
During that period, Cash appeared in a number of television films. In 1981, he starred in The Pride of Jesse Hallam, winning fine reviews for a film that called attention to adult illiteracy. In 1983, he appeared as a heroic sheriff in Murder in Coweta County, based on a real-life Georgia murder case, which co-starred Andy Griffith as his nemesis.
Cash relapsed into addiction after being administered painkillers for a serious abdominal injury in 1983 caused by an incident in which he was kicked and wounded by an ostrich on his farm.
At a hospital visit in 1988, this time to watch over Waylon Jennings (who was recovering from a heart attack), Jennings suggested that Cash have himself checked into the hospital for his own heart condition. Doctors recommended preventive heart surgery, and Cash underwent double bypass surgery in the same hospital. Both recovered, although Cash refused to use any prescription painkillers, fearing a relapse into dependency. Cash later claimed that during his operation, he had what is called a "near-death experience".
In 1984, Cash released a self-parody recording titled "The Chicken in Black" about Cash's brain being transplanted into a chicken and Cash receiving a bank robber's brain in return. Biographer Robert Hilburn, in his 2013 book Johnny Cash: The Life, disputes the claim made that Cash chose to record an intentionally poor song in protest of Columbia's treatment of him. On the contrary, Hilburn writes, it was Columbia that presented Cash with the song, which Cash – who had previously scored major chart hits with comedic material such as "A Boy Named Sue" and "One Piece at a Time" – accepted enthusiastically, performing the song live on stage and filming a comedic music video in which he dresses up in a superhero-like bank-robber costume. According to Hilburn, Cash's enthusiasm for the song waned after Waylon Jennings told Cash he looked "like a buffoon" in the music video (which was showcased during Cash's 1984 Christmas TV special), and Cash subsequently demanded that Columbia withdraw the music video from broadcast and recall the single from stores—interrupting its bona fide chart success—and termed the venture "a fiasco".
Between 1981 and 1984, he recorded several sessions with famed countrypolitan producer Billy Sherrill (who also produced "The Chicken in Black"), which were shelved; they would be released by Columbia's sister label, Legacy Recordings, in 2014 as Out Among the Stars. Around this time, Cash also recorded an album of gospel recordings that ended up being released by another label around the time of his departure from Columbia (this due to Columbia closing down its Priority Records division that was to have released the recordings).
After more unsuccessful recordings were released between 1984 and 1985, Cash left Columbia.
In 1986, Cash returned to Sun Studios in Memphis to team up with Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins to create the album Class of '55; according to Hilburn, Columbia still had Cash under contract at the time, so special arrangements had to be made to allow him to participate. Also in 1986, Cash published his only novel, Man in White, a book about Saul and his conversion to become the Apostle Paul. He recorded Johnny Cash Reads The Complete New Testament in 1990.
American Recordings
After Columbia Records dropped Cash from his recording contract, he had a short and unsuccessful stint with Mercury Records from 1987 to 1991. During this time, he recorded an album of new versions of some of his best-known Sun and Columbia hits, as well as Water from the Wells of Home, a duets album that paired him with, among others, his children Rosanne Cash and John Carter Cash, as well as Paul McCartney. A one-off Christmas album recorded for Delta Records followed his Mercury contract.
Though Cash would never have another chart hit from 1991 until his death, his career was rejuvenated in the 1990s, leading to popularity with an audience which was not traditionally considered interested in country music. In 1988, British post-punk musicians Marc Riley (formerly of the Fall) and Jon Langford (the Mekons) put together 'Til Things Are Brighter, a tribute album featuring mostly British-based indie-rock acts' interpretations of Cash's songs. Cash was enthusiastic about the project, telling Langford that it was a "morale booster"; Rosanne Cash later said "he felt a real connection with those musicians and very validated ... It was very good for him: he was in his element. He absolutely understood what they were tapping into, and loved it". The album attracted press attention on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1991, he sang a version of "Man in Black" for the Christian punk band One Bad Pig's album I Scream Sunday. In 1993, he sang "The Wanderer", the closing track of U2's album Zooropa.
According to Rolling Stone writer Adam Gold, "The Wanderer", written for Cash by Bono, "defies both the U2 and Cash canons, combining rhythmic and textural elements of Nineties synth-pop with a Countrypolitan lament fit for the closing credits of a Seventies western."
No longer sought after by major labels, he was offered a contract with producer Rick Rubin's American Recordings label, which had recently been rebranded from Def American, under which name it was better known for rap and hard rock. Under Rubin's supervision, he recorded American Recordings (1994) in his living room, accompanied only by his Martin Dreadnought guitar – one of many Cash played throughout his career. The album featured covers of contemporary artists selected by Rubin. The album had a great deal of critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Cash wrote that his reception at the 1994 Glastonbury Festival was one of the highlights of his career. This was the beginning of a decade of music industry accolades and commercial success. He teamed up with Brooks & Dunn to contribute "Folsom Prison Blues" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. On the same album, he performed Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" as track number eight on the CD release.
Cash and his wife appeared on a number of episodes of the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. He also lent his voice for a cameo role in The Simpsons episode "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)", as the "Space Coyote" that guides Homer Simpson on a spiritual quest. In the 2015 toys-to-life video game Lego Dimensions, Cash posthumously reprised his role as the "Space Coyote" in the exclusive level for Homer, "The Mysterious Voyage of Homer" (a remake of the episode) via archival audio recordings from the original episode.
Cash was joined by guitarist Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, bassist Krist Novoselic of Nirvana, and drummer Sean Kinney of Alice in Chains for a cover of Willie Nelson's "Time of the Preacher", featured on the tribute album Twisted Willie, released in January 1996.
In 1996, Cash collaborated with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on Unchained (also known as American Recordings II), which won the Best Country Album Grammy in 1998. The album was produced by Rick Rubin with Sylvia Massy engineering and mixing. A majority of Unchained was recorded at Sound City Studios and featured guest appearances by Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, and Marty Stuart. Believing he did not explain enough of himself in his 1975 autobiography Man in Black, he wrote Cash: The Autobiography in 1997.
Later years
In 1997, during a trip to New York City, Cash was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease Shy–Drager syndrome, a form of multiple system atrophy. According to biographer Robert Hilburn, the disease was originally misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease, and Cash even announced to his audience that he had Parkinson's after nearly collapsing on stage in Flint, Michigan, on October 25, 1997. Soon afterwards, his diagnosis was changed to Shy–Drager, and Cash was told he had about 18 months to live. The diagnosis was later again altered to autonomic neuropathy associated with diabetes. The illness forced Cash to curtail his touring. He was hospitalized in 1998 with severe pneumonia, which damaged his lungs.
During the last stage of his career, Cash released the albums American III: Solitary Man (2000) and American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002). American IV included cover songs from several late 20th-century rock artists, notably "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails and "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails commented that he was initially skeptical about Cash's plan to cover "Hurt", but was later impressed and moved by the rendition. The video for "Hurt" received critical and popular acclaim, including a Grammy Award.
June Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003, aged 73. June had told Cash to keep working, so he continued to record, completing 60 songs in the last four months of his life. He even performed surprise shows at the Carter Family Fold outside Bristol, Virginia. At the July 5, 2003, concert (his last public performance), before singing "Ring of Fire", Cash read a statement that he had written shortly before taking the stage:
The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and Heaven. She came down for a short visit, I guess, from Heaven to visit with me tonight to give me courage and inspiration like she always has. She's never been one for me except courage and inspiration. I thank God for June Carter. I love her with all my heart.
Cash continued to record until shortly before his death. "When June died, it tore him up", Rick Rubin recalled. "He said to me, 'You have to keep me working because I will die if I don't have something to do.' He was in a wheelchair by then and we set him up at his home in Virginia... I couldn't listen to those recordings for two years after he died and it was heartbreaking when he died." Cash's final recordings were made on August 21, 2003, and consisted of "Like the 309", which appeared on American V: A Hundred Highways in 2006, and the final song he completed, "Engine 143", recorded for his son John Carter Cash's planned Carter Family tribute album.
Death
On September 12, 2003, at approximately 2am Central Time, while hospitalized at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, Cash died of complications from diabetes, at age 71. His death came less than four months after his wife's.
Public funeral services were held at the First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee. He was buried next to her at Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Personal life
On July 18, 1951, while in Air Force basic training, Cash met 17-year-old Italian-American Vivian Liberto at a roller skating rink in San Antonio, Texas. They dated for three weeks until Cash was deployed to West Germany for a three-year tour. During that time, the couple exchanged hundreds of love letters. On August 7, 1954, one month after his discharge, they were married at St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church in San Antonio. They had four daughters: Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy, and Tara. In 1961, Cash moved his family to a hilltop home overlooking Casitas Springs, California. He had previously moved his parents to the area to run a small trailer park called the Johnny Cash Trailer Park. His drinking led to several run-ins with local law enforcement. Liberto later said that she had filed for divorce in 1966 because of Cash's severe abuse of alcohol and other drugs, as well as his constant touring, his repeated acts of adultery with other women, and his close relationship with singer June Carter. Their four daughters were then raised by their mother.
Cash met June of the famed Carter Family while on tour, and the two became infatuated with each other. In 1968, 13 years after they first met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, Cash proposed to June, during a live performance in London, Ontario. The couple married on March 1, 1968, in Franklin, Kentucky. They had one child together, John Carter Cash, born March 3, 1970. He was the only son for both Johnny and June. In addition to having his four daughters and John Carter, Cash also became stepfather to Carlene and Rosie, June's daughters from her first two marriages, to, respectively, honky-tonk singer Carl Smith, and former police officer, football player, and race-car driver Edwin "Rip" Nix. Cash and Carter continued to work, raise their child, create music, and tour together for 35 years until June's death in May 2003. Throughout their marriage, June attempted to keep Cash off amphetamines, often taking his drugs and flushing them down the toilet. June remained with him even throughout his multiple admissions for rehabilitation treatment and decades of drug addiction. After June's death in May 2003, Cash believed that his only reason for living was his music; he died only four months later.
Religious beliefs
Cash was raised by his parents in the Christian faith. In 1944, he became a Christian at the Central Baptist Church in Dyess, Arkansas, affiliated to the Southern Baptist Convention, and began singing publicly there. He was baptized shortly after in the Tyronza River.
A troubled but devout Christian, Cash has been characterized as a "lens through which to view American contradictions and challenges." On May 9, 1971, he answered the altar call at Evangel Temple in Nashville, an Assemblies of God congregation pastored by Jimmie R. Snow, with outreach to people in the music world.
Cash penned a Christian novel, Man in White, in 1986, and in the introduction writes about a reporter who, interested in Cash's religious beliefs, questioned whether the book is written from a Baptist, Catholic, or Jewish perspective. Cash replied, "I'm a Christian. Don't put me in another box."
In the mid-1970s, Cash and his wife, June, completed a course of study in the Bible through Christian International Bible College, culminating in a pilgrimage to Israel in November 1978. Around that time, he was ordained as a minister, and officiated at his daughter's wedding. He often performed at Billy Graham Crusades. At a Tallahassee Crusade in 1986, June and Johnny sang his song "One of These Days I'm Gonna Sit Down and Talk to Paul". At a performance in Arkansas in 1989, Johnny Cash spoke to attendees of his commitment to the salvation of drug dealers and alcoholics. He then sang "Family Bible".
He recorded several gospel albums and made a spoken-word recording of the entire New King James Version of the New Testament. Cash declared he was "the biggest sinner of them all", and viewed himself overall as a complicated and contradictory man. Accordingly, Cash is said to have "contained multitudes", and has been deemed "the philosopher-prince of American country music."
Cash is credited with having converted actor and singer John Schneider to Christianity.
Towards the end of his life, he and his wife attended the First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Legacy
Cash nurtured and defended artists such as Bob Dylan on the fringes of what was acceptable in country music even while serving as the country music establishment's most visible symbol. At an all-star concert which aired in 1999 on TNT, a diverse group of artists paid him tribute, including Dylan, Chris Isaak, Wyclef Jean, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Dom DeLuise, and U2. Cash himself appeared at the end and performed for the first time in more than a year. Two tribute albums were released shortly before his death; Kindred Spirits contains works from established artists, while Dressed in Black contains works from many lesser-known musicians. Cash served as a major influence on Dylan's desire to transition to an electric guitar, which was notably shown during his performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, and use of less traditional protest themed folk music. In addition to his use of an electric guitar at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, a letter which Cash wrote to the editor of Broadside which called for the people at the festival to "shut up and let me sing" shortly before the 1964 festival had major influence on Dylan's shift in the direction for his musical career as well.
In total, he wrote over 1,000 songs and released dozens of albums. A box set titled Unearthed was issued posthumously. It included four CDs of unreleased material recorded with Rubin, as well as a Best of Cash on American retrospective CD. The set also includes a 104-page book that discusses each track and features one of Cash's final interviews.
In 1999, Cash received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Cash number 31 on their "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list and No. 21 on their "100 Greatest Singers" list in 2010. In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked Cash's 1968 live album At Folsom Prison and 1994 studio album American Recordings at No. 88 and No. 366 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
In recognition of his lifelong support of SOS Children's Villages, his family invited friends and fans to donate to the Johnny Cash Memorial Fund in his memory. He had a personal link with the SOS village in Dießen, at the Ammersee Lake in Bavaria, near where he was stationed as a GI, and with the SOS village in Barrett Town, by Montego Bay, near his holiday home in Jamaica.
In January 2006, Cash's lakeside home on Caudill Drive in Hendersonville was sold to Bee Gees vocalist Barry Gibb and wife Linda for $2.3 million. On April 10, 2007, during major renovation works carried out for Gibb, a fire broke out at the house, spreading quickly due to a flammable wood preservative that had been used. The building was completely destroyed.
One of Cash's final collaborations with producer Rick Rubin, American V: A Hundred Highways, was released posthumously on July 4, 2006. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for the week ending July 22, 2006. On February 23, 2010, three days before what would have been Cash's 78th birthday, the Cash Family, Rick Rubin, and Lost Highway Records released his second posthumous record, titled American VI: Ain't No Grave.
The main street in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Highway 31E, is known as "Johnny Cash Parkway". The Johnny Cash Museum, located in one of Cash's properties in Hendersonville until 2006, dubbed the House of Cash, was sold based on Cash's will. Prior to this, having been closed for a number of years, the museum had been featured in Cash's music video for "Hurt". The house subsequently burned down during the renovation by the new owner. A new museum, founded by Shannon and Bill Miller, opened April 26, 2013, in downtown Nashville.
On November 2–4, 2007, the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival was held in Starkville, Mississippi, where Cash had been arrested more than 40 years earlier and held overnight at the city jail on May 11, 1965. The incident inspired Cash to write the song "Starkville City Jail". The festival, where he was offered a symbolic posthumous pardon, honored Cash's life and music, and was expected to become an annual event.
JC Unit One, Johnny Cash's private tour bus from 1980 until 2003, was put on exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2007. The museum offers public tours of the bus on a seasonal basis (it is stored during the winter and not exhibited during those times).
A limited-edition Forever stamp honoring Cash went on sale June 5, 2013. The stamp features a promotional picture of Cash taken around the 1963 release of Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash.
On October 14, 2014, the City of Folsom unveiled phase 1 of the Johnny Cash Trail to the public with a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Rosanne Cash. Along the trail, eight larger-than-life public art pieces will tell the story of Johnny Cash, his connection to Folsom Prison, and his epic musical career. The Johnny Cash Trail features art selected by a committee that included Cindy Cash, a 2-acre (0.81 ha) Legacy Park, and over 3 miles (4.8 km) of multi-use class-I bike trail. The artists responsible for the sculptures are Sacramento-based Romo Studios, LLC and the Fine Art Studio of Rotblatt Amrany, from Illinois.
In 2015, a new species of black tarantula was identified near Folsom Prison and named Aphonopelma johnnycashi in his honor.
In 2016, the Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team added the "Country Legends Race" to its between-innings entertainment. At the middle of the fifth inning, people in oversized foam caricature costumes depicting Cash, as well as George Jones, Reba McEntire, and Dolly Parton, race around the warning track at First Horizon Park from center field to the home plate side of the first base dugout.
On February 8, 2018, the album Forever Words was announced, putting music to poems that Cash had written and which were published in book form in 2016.
Johnny Cash's boyhood home in Dyess was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 2018, as "Farm No. 266, Johnny Cash Boyhood Home."
The Arkansas Country Music Awards honored Johnny Cash's legacy with the Lifetime Achievement award on June 3, 2018. The ceremony was held that same date, which was a Monday night at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in Little Rock, Arkansas. The nominations took place in early 2018.
In 2019, Sheryl Crow released a duet with Cash on her song "Redemption Day" for her album Threads. Crow, who had originally written and recorded the song in 1996, recorded new vocals and added them to those of Cash, who recorded the song for his American VI: Ain't No Grave album.
In April 2019, it was announced that the state of Arkansas would place a statue of Cash in the National Statuary Hall in an effort to represent the modern history of Arkansas. The Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, stated that Cash's contributions to music made him an appropriate figure to tell the story of the state.
In April 2024, unfinished and unreleased demos recorded by Cash were announced to be released in a new compilation album, Songwriter. The album – co-produced by Cash's son, John Carter Cash – contains eleven songs, recorded in 1993 with guest artists including Vince Gill and the Black Keys. Songwriter's release date was announced as June 28, 2024.
Portrayals
Country singer Mark Collie portrayed Cash in John Lloyd Miller's award-winning 1999 short film I Still Miss Someone.
In November 2005, Walk the Line, a biographical film about Cash's life, was released in the United States to considerable commercial success and critical acclaim. The film featured Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor) and Reese Witherspoon as June (for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress). Phoenix and Witherspoon also won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, respectively. They both performed their own vocals in the film (with their version of "Jackson" being released as a single), and Phoenix learned to play guitar for the role. Phoenix received a Grammy Award for his contributions to the soundtrack. John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny and June, served as an executive producer.
On March 12, 2006, Ring of Fire, a jukebox musical of the Cash oeuvre, debuted on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, but closed due to harsh reviews and disappointing sales on April 30. Million Dollar Quartet, a musical portraying the early Sun recording sessions involving Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, debuted on Broadway on April 11, 2010. Actor Lance Guest portrayed Cash. The musical was nominated for three awards at the 2010 Tony Awards and won one.
In the 2024 film A Complete Unknown, about the early career of Bob Dylan, Cash is portrayed by actor Boyd Holbrook.
Awards and honors
Cash received multiple Country Music Association Awards, Grammys, and other awards, in categories ranging from vocal and spoken performances to album notes and videos. In a career that spanned almost five decades, Cash was the personification of country music to many people around the world. Cash was a musician who was not defined by a single genre. He recorded songs that could be considered rock and roll, blues, rockabilly, folk, and gospel, and exerted an influence on each of those genres.
His diversity was evidenced by his presence in five major music halls of fame: the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1980), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1992), GMA's Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2010). and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame (2013). Marking his death in 2003, Rolling Stone stated other than Elvis Presley Cash was the only artist inducted as a performer into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
His contributions to the genre have been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Cash received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1996 and stated that his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 was his greatest professional achievement. In 2001, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. "Hurt" was nominated for six VMAs at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. The only VMA the video won was that for Best Cinematography. With the video, Johnny Cash became the oldest artist ever nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. Justin Timberlake, who won Best Video that year for "Cry Me a River", said in his acceptance speech: "This is a travesty! I demand a recount. My grandfather raised me on Johnny Cash, and I think he deserves this more than any of us in here tonight."
Discography
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Published works
Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words, Zondervan, 1975; ISBN 99924-31-58-X
Man in White, a novel about the Apostle Paul, HarperCollins, 1986; ISBN 0-06-250132-1
Cash: The Autobiography, with Patrick Carr, HarperCollins, 1997; ISBN 978-0-06-101357-7
Johnny Cash Reads the New Testament, Thomas Nelson, 2011; ISBN 978-1-4185-4883-4
Recollections by Johnny Cash, edited by daughter Tara, 2014; ISBN 978-0-930677-03-9
The Man Who Carried Cash: Saul Holiff, Johnny Cash, and the Making of an American Icon by Julie Chadwick, Dundurn Press, 2017; ISBN 978-1-459737-23-5
Cash, Johnny; Mark Stielper; John Carter Cash (November 14, 2023). Johnny Cash: The Life in Lyrics. New York: Voracious; Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316503105. OCLC 1407575187.
Notes
References
Bibliography
Further reading
Antonio D'Ambrosio, A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears, New York/New York, Perseus Books/Nation Books, 2009, ISBN 978-1-56858-637-3 (pb)
Robert Hilburn, Johnny Cash: The Life, Back Bay Books, New York: Little Brown and Company, 2013, ISBN 978-0-316-19474-7 (pb)
Jonathan Silverman, Nine Choices: Johnny Cash and American Culture, Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 2010, ISBN 1-55849-826-5
Graeme Thomson, The Resurrection of Johnny Cash: Hurt, Redemption, and American Recordings, Jawbone Press, ISBN 978-1-906002-36-7
Christopher S. Wren, Johnny Cash: Winners Got Scars, Too, Abacus Editions, ISBN 0-349-13740-4
External links
Official website
Sony Music's Johnny Cash website
"Candidates – Inductee Johnny Cash". Hit Parade Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on January 6, 2008..
Johnny Cash at AllMusic
Johnny Cash at IMDb
Johnny Cash profile at martinguitar.com
Holiff Family fonds / Johnny Cash collection University of Victoria Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives
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Chevy Chase
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Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase ( ; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of Saturday Night Live (1975–1976), where his recurring Weekend Update segment became a staple of the show. As both a performer and a writer on the series, he earned two Primetime Emmy Awards out of four nominations.
After leaving Saturday Night Live early in its second season, he established himself as a leading man, starring in some of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s, starting with his Golden Globe-nominated role in the romantic comedy Foul Play (1978). Most famously, he portrayed Ty Webb in Caddyshack (1980), Clark Griswold in five National Lampoon's Vacation films, and Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher in Fletch (1985) and Fletch Lives (1989). He also starred in Seems Like Old Times (1980), Spies Like Us (1985), ¡Three Amigos! (1986), and Funny Farm (1989).
He has hosted the Academy Awards twice (1987 and 1988) and briefly had his own late-night talk show, The Chevy Chase Show (1993). Chase had a popularity resurgence with his role as Pierce Hawthorne on the NBC sitcom Community (2009–2014).
Early life and education
Family
Cornelius Crane Chase was born in Lower Manhattan on October 8, 1943, and grew up in Woodstock, New York. He has an older brother, Ned Jr.
His father, Edward Tinsley "Ned" Chase (1919–2005), was a Princeton-educated Manhattan book editor and magazine writer. Chase's paternal grandfather was artist and illustrator Edward Leigh Chase, and his great-uncle was painter and teacher Frank Swift Chase. His mother, Cathalene Parker (née Browning; 1923–2005), was a concert pianist and librettist, whose father, Rear Admiral Miles Browning, served as Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's Chief of Staff on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise at the Battle of Midway in World War II. Cathalene was adopted as a child by her stepfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane, heir to The Crane Company, and took the name Catherine Crane. Her mother, also named Cathalene, was an opera singer who performed several times at Carnegie Hall.
Chase was named for his adoptive grandfather, Cornelius, while the nickname "Chevy" was bestowed by his grandmother from the medieval English ballad "The Ballad of Chevy Chase". As a descendant of the Scottish Clan Douglas, she thought the name appropriate.
According to his step-brother John:
[Chevy] once told me that people who defined themselves in terms of their ancestry were like potatoes—the best parts of them were underground. He disdained the pretension of his mother's side of the family, as embodied by her mother, Cattie.
Early life
As a child, Chase vacationed at Castle Hill, the Cranes' summer estate in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Chase's parents divorced when he was four; his father remarried into the Folgers coffee family, and his mother remarried twice. He has stated that he grew up in an upper middle class environment and that his adoptive maternal grandfather did not bequeath any assets to Chase's mother when he died. In a 2007 biography, Chase stated that he was physically and psychologically abused as a child by his mother and stepfather, Dr. John Cederquist, a psychoanalyst. In that biography, he said, "I lived in fear all the time, deathly fear." Abuse he was subjected to as a child included being awakened in the middle of the night by his mother to be slapped repeatedly across the face, lashes to the backs of his legs, punches to the head by his stepfather, and being locked in a bedroom closet for hours. As a punishment for being suspended from school at the age of 14, Chase was locked in a basement for several days. Both of his parents died in 2005.
Chase was educated at Riverdale Country School, an independent day school in the Riverdale neighborhood of The Bronx, New York City, before being expelled. He ultimately graduated as valedictorian in 1962 from the Stockbridge School, an independent boarding school in the town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. At Stockbridge, he was known as a practical joker with an occasional mean streak. He attended Haverford College during the 1962–1963 term, where he was noted for slapstick comedy and an absurd sense of physical humor, including his signature pratfalls and "sticking forks into his orifices". During a 2009 interview on the Today show, he ostensibly verified the oft-publicized urban legend that he was expelled for harboring a cow in his fourth floor room, although his former roommate David Felsen asserted in a 2003 interview that Chase left for academic reasons. Chase transferred to Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where he studied a pre-med curriculum and graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
Chase did not enter medical school, which meant he was subject to the military draft. Chase was not drafted, and when he appeared in January 1989 as the first guest of the just-launched late-night The Pat Sajak Show, he said he had tricked his draft board into believing he deserved a 4-F classification by falsely claiming that he had "homosexual tendencies".
While at Bard, Chase played drums in a band called The Leather Canary. The other two members, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, went on to found Steely Dan. He also played drums and keyboards for a band called Chamaeleon Church, which recorded one album for MGM Records before disbanding.
Career
1967–1974: Early career
Chase was a member of an early underground comedy ensemble called Channel One, which he co-founded in 1967. He also wrote a one-page spoof of Mission: Impossible for Mad magazine in 1970 and was a writer for the short-lived Smothers Brothers TV show comeback in the spring of 1975. Chase made the move to comedy as a full-time career by 1973, when he became a writer and cast member of The National Lampoon Radio Hour, a syndicated satirical radio series. The National Lampoon Radio Hour also featured John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray, all of whom later became the "Not-Ready-For-Prime Time Players" on NBC Saturday Night (later re-titled NBC's Saturday Night and finally Saturday Night Live). Chase and Belushi also appeared in National Lampoon's off-Broadway revue Lemmings, a sketch and musical send-up of popular youth culture, in which Chase also played the drums and piano during the musical numbers. He appeared in the movie The Groove Tube (1974), which was directed by another co-founder of Channel One, Ken Shapiro, featuring several Channel One sketches.
1975–1976: Saturday Night Live
Chase was one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live (SNL), NBC's late-night comedy television show, beginning in October 1975. During the first season, he introduced every show except two, with "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" The remark was often preceded by a pratfall, known as "The Fall of the Week". Chase became known for his skill at physical comedy. In one comedy sketch, he mimicked a real-life incident in which President Gerald Ford accidentally tripped while disembarking from Air Force One in Salzburg, Austria. This portrayal of President Ford as a bumbling klutz became a favorite device of Chase's, and helped form the popular concept of Ford as being a clumsy man despite Ford having been a "star athlete" during his university years. In later years, Chase met and became friendly with President Ford.
Chase was the original anchor for the Weekend Update segment of SNL, and his catchphrase introduction, "I'm Chevy Chase… and you're not" became well known. His trademark conclusion, "Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow" was later resurrected by Jane Curtin and Tina Fey. Chase also wrote comedy material for Weekend Update. For example, he wrote and performed "The News for the Hard of Hearing". In this skit, Chase read the top story of the day, aided by Garrett Morris, who repeated the story by loudly shouting it. Chase claimed that his version of Weekend Update was the inspiration for later news satire shows such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Weekend Update was later revived as a segment on The Chevy Chase Show, a short-lived late-night talk show produced by Chase and broadcast by Fox Broadcasting Company.
Chase was committed contractually to SNL for only one year as a writer and became a cast member during rehearsals just before the show's premiere. He received two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for his comedy writing and live comic acting on the show. In Rolling Stone's February 2015 appraisal of all 141 SNL cast members to date, Chase was ranked tenth in overall importance. "Strange as it sounds, Chase might be the most under-rated SNL player," they wrote. "It took him only one season to define the franchise…without that deadpan arrogance, the whole SNL style of humor would fall flat."
In a 1975 New York magazine cover story, which called him "The funniest man in America", NBC executives referred to Chase as "The first real potential successor to Johnny Carson" and claimed he would begin guest-hosting The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson within six months of the article. Chase dismissed rumors that he could be the next Carson by telling New York, "I'd never be tied down for five years interviewing TV personalities." Chase did not appear on the program until May 4, 1977, when he was promoting a prime-time special for NBC. Carson (who was never a fan of SNL) later said of Chase: "He couldn't ad-lib a fart after a baked-bean dinner."
Chase acknowledged Ernie Kovacs's influence on his work in Saturday Night Live, and he thanked Kovacs during his acceptance speech for his Emmy Award. In addition, Chase spoke of Kovacs's influence on his work in an appearance in the 1982 documentary called Ernie Kovacs: Television's Original Genius.
1976–1989: Film stardom and acclaim
In late 1976, in the middle of SNL's second season, Chase became the second member of the original cast to leave the show (after George Coe during the first season). While he landed starring roles in several films on the strength of his SNL fame, he asserted that the principal reason for his departure was the reluctance of his girlfriend, Jacqueline Carlin, to move to New York. Chase moved to Los Angeles, married Carlin, and was replaced by Bill Murray, although he made a few cameo appearances on the show during the second season.
Chase hosted SNL eight times from 1978 to 1997. In regard to Chase's 1997 appearance as a host, SNL creator and show-runner Lorne Michaels disputed reports that he was shocked by Chase's behavior or had banned him as a result, claims which he calls "idiotic". While Chase has not returned to SNL to host since 1997, he appeared on the show's 25th anniversary special in 1999 and was interviewed for a 2005 NBC special on the first five years of SNL. Later appearances included a Caddyshack skit featuring Bill Murray, a 1997 episode with guest host Chris Farley, as the Land Shark in a Weekend Update segment in 2001, another Weekend Update segment in 2007, and in Justin Timberlake's monologue in 2013 as a member of the Five-Timers Club, where he was reunited with his Three Amigos co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short. He also participated in the 40th anniversary special in February 2015.
Chase's early film roles included Tunnel Vision (1976); Foul Play (1978, a box-office hit that made more than $44 million and earned Chase a Golden Globe nomination); and Oh! Heavenly Dog (1980). The role of Eric "Otter" Stratton in National Lampoon's Animal House was written with Chase in mind, but he turned the role down to work on Foul Play. The role went to Tim Matheson instead. Chase said in an interview that he chose to do Foul Play so he could do "real acting" for the first time in his career instead of just "schtick".
Chase followed Foul Play in 1980 by portraying Ty Webb in the Harold Ramis comedy Caddyshack. A major box office success that pulled in $39 million off a $6 million budget, the movie has become a classic. It reached a 73% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics saying: "Though unabashedly crude and juvenile, Caddyshack nevertheless scores with its classic slapstick, unforgettable characters, and endlessly quotable dialogue". That same year, he reunited with Foul Play co-star Goldie Hawn for Neil Simon's Seems Like Old Times, a box-office success that earned more than $43 million. He then released a self-titled record album, co-produced by Chase and Tom Scott, with novelty and cover versions of songs by Randy Newman, Barry White, Bob Marley, the Beatles, Donna Summer, Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Troggs, and The Sugarhill Gang.
Chase narrowly escaped death by electrocution during the filming of Modern Problems in 1980. During a sequence in which Chase's character wears "landing lights" as he dreams that he is an airplane, the lights malfunctioned and an electric current passed through Chase's arm, back, and neck muscles. The near-death experience followed the end of his marriage to Carlin, and Chase experienced a period of deep depression. He married Jayni Luke in 1982. Chase continued his film career by playing Clark Griswold in 1983's National Lampoon's Vacation. Directed by Ramis and written by John Hughes, the movie grossed $61 million on a $15 million budget—his most successful movie at the time.
In 1985, Chase played Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher in Fletch, based on Gregory Mcdonald's Fletch books, which grossed more than $50 million off an $8 million budget. That same year, he appeared in a sequel to Vacation, National Lampoon's European Vacation, which pulled in just shy of $50 million at the box office, and co-starred with fellow SNL alum Dan Aykroyd in Spies Like Us, which made $60 million. In 1986, Chase joined SNL veterans Steve Martin and Martin Short in the Lorne Michaels–produced comedy ¡Three Amigos! that made nearly $40 million, with Chase declaring in an interview that making Three Amigos was the most fun he had making a film. He also appeared alongside Paul Simon, one of his best friends, in Simon's 1986 second video for "You Can Call Me Al", in which he lip-syncs all of Simon's lyrics.
In 1987, his Cornelius Productions company signed a non-exclusive, first-refusal deal to develop four feature projects at the Warner Bros. studio, and set up a fifth project at Universal Pictures. Chase hosted the Academy Awards in 1987 and 1988, opening the telecast in 1988 with the quip, "Good evening, Hollywood phonies!" In 1988, he starred alongside Madolyn Smith in Funny Farm, a sizeable hit at $25 million that reached 64% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes. That same year, he appeared (albeit via a glorified cameo) in a sequel to Caddyshack, Caddyshack II, which made less than $12 million, becoming one of his few flops at the time.
In 1989, Chase starred in a sequel to Fletch, Fletch Lives, which went on to gross more than $35 million, and made a third Vacation film, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, which pulled in $71 million and, thanks to its holiday theme, has become one of his more durable films. At the height of his career in the late 1980s, Chase earned around US$7 million per film and was a highly visible celebrity.
1990–2009: Career fluctuations
Chase played saxophone onstage at Simon's free concert at the Great Lawn in Central Park in the summer of 1991. Later in 1991, he helped record and appeared in the music video "Voices That Care" to entertain and support U.S. troops involved in Operation Desert Storm, and supported the International Red Cross. Chase had three consecutive film flops: Razzie Award-nominated Nothing but Trouble (1991), Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), and Cops & Robbersons (1994). The three releases had a combined gross of $34 million in the United States.
In September 1993, Chase hosted The Chevy Chase Show, a weeknight talk show, for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Although it had high commercial expectations, the show was cancelled by Fox after five weeks. Chase later appeared in a commercial for Doritos, airing during the Super Bowl, in which he made humorous reference to the show's failure.
Chase found success with some of his subsequent movies. Man of the House (1995), co-starring Farrah Fawcett, was relatively successful, grossing $40 million, and Vegas Vacation (1997, his fourth Vacation film) was a box office success, grossing $36.4 million. Snow Day (2000), in which Chase appeared, was also successful grossing over $60 million, as well as Orange County (2002), grossing more than $40 million. Chase was Hasty Pudding's 1993 Man of the Year, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in that same year. He also received The Harvard Lampoon's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.
He was roasted by the New York Friars Club for a Comedy Central television special in 2002. This roast was noted for being unusually vitriolic, even by the standards of a roast. Some of the more recent films starring Chase (e.g., Vacuums, Rent-a-Husband, Goose!) have not been widely released in the United States. He returned to mainstream movie-making in 2006, co-starring with Tim Allen and Courteney Cox in the comedy Zoom, though it was both a critical and commercial failure. Chase guest-starred as an anti-Semitic murder suspect in "In Vino Veritas", the November 3, 2006, episode of Law & Order. He also guest-starred in the ABC drama series Brothers & Sisters in two episodes as a former love interest of Sally Field's character. Chase appeared in a prominent recurring role as villainous software magnate Ted Roark on the NBC spy-comedy Chuck. In 2009, Chase and Dan Aykroyd voiced themselves in the Family Guy episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us".
2009–2014: Return to television
Starting in 2009, Chase returned to NBC in the sitcom Community, as aging moist-towelette tycoon Pierce Hawthorne. The show was created by Dan Harmon and starred Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Donald Glover, Danny Pudi, and Yvette Nicole Brown. The series received critical acclaim for its acting and writing, appeared on numerous critics' year-end "best-of" lists and developed a cult following. The New York Times critic Alessandra Stanley praised the casting of Chase writing, "Jeff has the kind of sardonic repartee and slapdash nonchalance that the comedian Chevy Chase had when he was the young star of the Fletch movies", while adding, "Even that is an inside casting joke: Mr. Chase, who is farcically loopy and delightful in the pilot."
In 2010, Chase appeared in an online Vacation short film Hotel Hell Vacation, featuring the Griswold parents, and in the Funny or Die original comedy sketch "Presidential Reunion", where he played President Ford alongside other current and former SNL president impersonators. That same year, Chase appeared in the film Hot Tub Time Machine which received some praise, and a sequel.
Throughout the filming of Community, Chase became increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of Pierce's character arc. It was reported that in 2012 Chase had an outburst on set yelling if it continued he may be asked to call either Donald Glover or Yvette Nicole Brown's character the N-word. Chase later apologized for the outburst. Soon after his apology, Chase left the show due to increasing disagreements with his character and the show's creator Dan Harmon. After a mutual agreement with the network, his character was abruptly written out of the fourth season of Community. Chase later claimed that his exit was due to his personal opinions of the show rather than the outburst, claiming that it "wasn't funny enough". His departure was cemented by the writers, who killed off Pierce in the third episode of Community's fifth season.
2015–present
In 2015, Chase reprised his role as Clark Griswold in the fifth Vacation installment, titled Vacation. Unlike the previous four films in which Clark is the main protagonist, he only has a brief though pivotal cameo appearance. In spite of largely negative critical reception, the film proved to be a financial success, grossing over $107 million worldwide.
In 2019, Chase was in the Netflix movie The Last Laugh where he starred alongside Richard Dreyfuss.
In 2024, he starred in the film The Christmas Letter with Randy Quaid and Brian Doyle-Murray.
Personal life
Marriage and family
Chase married Susan Hewitt in New York City on February 23, 1973. They divorced on February 1, 1976. His second marriage, to Jacqueline Carlin, was formalized on December 4, 1976, and ended in divorce on November 14, 1980; they had no children.
Chase resided in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles from 1980 until 1995 in a Tudor-style home. He was the Honorary Mayor of Pacific Palisades between 1986 and 1988.
He married his third wife, Jayni Luke, in Pacific Palisades on June 19, 1982. They have three daughters: Cydney, Caley, and Emily. The couple reside in Bedford, New York.
Substance abuse
In 1986, Chase was admitted to the Betty Ford Center for treatment of a prescription painkiller addiction. His use began after he experienced ongoing back pain related to the pratfalls he took during his Saturday Night Live appearances. In 2010, he said that his drug abuse had been "low level."
He entered the Hazelden Clinic in September 2016 to receive treatment for alcoholism.
Political views
An active environmentalist and philanthropist, Chase is a political liberal. He campaigned for Democratic presidential nominees Bill Clinton in the 1990s, and John Kerry in 2004.
In 2004, during a speech at a People for the American Way benefit at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts he mocked Republican President George W. Bush, Kerry's opponent in the 2004 election, referring to Bush as an "uneducated, real lying schmuck" and a "dumb fuck". His comments upset both the organizers and the crowd.
He endorsed Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.
Fight with Bill Murray
While filming an episode of Saturday Night Live in 1978, Chase got into a fistfight with Bill Murray in John Belushi's dressing room. Murray and Chase's backstage brawl took place when Chase returned to host the show after his exit as a full-time cast member in 1976. Murray had reportedly made a derogatory comment about Chase's troubled marriage to Jacqueline Carlin, leading Chase to criticize Murray's physical appearance. The fight was witnessed by cast members Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner.
In a talk show appearance in 2021, Newman noted of the altercation, "it was very sad and painful and awful". She went on to say, "I think they both knew the one thing that they could say to one another that would hurt the most and that's what I think incited it." Chase and Murray would later reconcile to star together in Caddyshack in 1980.
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
In 1976, he was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Awards for "Writing for a Variety Series" as part of The Smothers Brothers Show's writers room. Also in 1976 he was nominated at the Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on the first season of Saturday Night Live. He won both nominations.
On September 23, 1993, Chase received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.
Notes
References
Further reading
I'm Chevy Chase...and You're Not (The Authorized Biography) by Rena Fruchter. Virgin Books, 2007. ISBN 1-85227-346-1.
Who's Who in Comedy by Ronald L. Smith. Pp. 102–103. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0-8160-2338-7.
Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. Back Bay Books.
External links
Chevy Chase at IMDb
Interview with Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Martin Short about The Three Amigos in 1986 from Texas Archive of the Moving Image
Chevy Chase at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
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Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase ( ; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of Saturday Night Live (1975–1976), where his recurring Weekend Update segment became a staple of the show. As both a performer and a writer on the series, he earned two Primetime Emmy Awards out of four nominations.
After leaving Saturday Night Live early in its second season, he established himself as a leading man, starring in some of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s, starting with his Golden Globe-nominated role in the romantic comedy Foul Play (1978). Most famously, he portrayed Ty Webb in Caddyshack (1980), Clark Griswold in five National Lampoon's Vacation films, and Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher in Fletch (1985) and Fletch Lives (1989). He also starred in Seems Like Old Times (1980), Spies Like Us (1985), ¡Three Amigos! (1986), and Funny Farm (1989).
He has hosted the Academy Awards twice (1987 and 1988) and briefly had his own late-night talk show, The Chevy Chase Show (1993). Chase had a popularity resurgence with his role as Pierce Hawthorne on the NBC sitcom Community (2009–2014).
Early life and education
Family
Cornelius Crane Chase was born in Lower Manhattan on October 8, 1943, and grew up in Woodstock, New York. He has an older brother, Ned Jr.
His father, Edward Tinsley "Ned" Chase (1919–2005), was a Princeton-educated Manhattan book editor and magazine writer. Chase's paternal grandfather was artist and illustrator Edward Leigh Chase, and his great-uncle was painter and teacher Frank Swift Chase. His mother, Cathalene Parker (née Browning; 1923–2005), was a concert pianist and librettist, whose father, Rear Admiral Miles Browning, served as Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's Chief of Staff on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise at the Battle of Midway in World War II. Cathalene was adopted as a child by her stepfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane, heir to The Crane Company, and took the name Catherine Crane. Her mother, also named Cathalene, was an opera singer who performed several times at Carnegie Hall.
Chase was named for his adoptive grandfather, Cornelius, while the nickname "Chevy" was bestowed by his grandmother from the medieval English ballad "The Ballad of Chevy Chase". As a descendant of the Scottish Clan Douglas, she thought the name appropriate.
According to his step-brother John:
[Chevy] once told me that people who defined themselves in terms of their ancestry were like potatoes—the best parts of them were underground. He disdained the pretension of his mother's side of the family, as embodied by her mother, Cattie.
Early life
As a child, Chase vacationed at Castle Hill, the Cranes' summer estate in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Chase's parents divorced when he was four; his father remarried into the Folgers coffee family, and his mother remarried twice. He has stated that he grew up in an upper middle class environment and that his adoptive maternal grandfather did not bequeath any assets to Chase's mother when he died. In a 2007 biography, Chase stated that he was physically and psychologically abused as a child by his mother and stepfather, Dr. John Cederquist, a psychoanalyst. In that biography, he said, "I lived in fear all the time, deathly fear." Abuse he was subjected to as a child included being awakened in the middle of the night by his mother to be slapped repeatedly across the face, lashes to the backs of his legs, punches to the head by his stepfather, and being locked in a bedroom closet for hours. As a punishment for being suspended from school at the age of 14, Chase was locked in a basement for several days. Both of his parents died in 2005.
Chase was educated at Riverdale Country School, an independent day school in the Riverdale neighborhood of The Bronx, New York City, before being expelled. He ultimately graduated as valedictorian in 1962 from the Stockbridge School, an independent boarding school in the town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. At Stockbridge, he was known as a practical joker with an occasional mean streak. He attended Haverford College during the 1962–1963 term, where he was noted for slapstick comedy and an absurd sense of physical humor, including his signature pratfalls and "sticking forks into his orifices". During a 2009 interview on the Today show, he ostensibly verified the oft-publicized urban legend that he was expelled for harboring a cow in his fourth floor room, although his former roommate David Felsen asserted in a 2003 interview that Chase left for academic reasons. Chase transferred to Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where he studied a pre-med curriculum and graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
Chase did not enter medical school, which meant he was subject to the military draft. Chase was not drafted, and when he appeared in January 1989 as the first guest of the just-launched late-night The Pat Sajak Show, he said he had tricked his draft board into believing he deserved a 4-F classification by falsely claiming that he had "homosexual tendencies".
While at Bard, Chase played drums in a band called The Leather Canary. The other two members, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, went on to found Steely Dan. He also played drums and keyboards for a band called Chamaeleon Church, which recorded one album for MGM Records before disbanding.
Career
1967–1974: Early career
Chase was a member of an early underground comedy ensemble called Channel One, which he co-founded in 1967. He also wrote a one-page spoof of Mission: Impossible for Mad magazine in 1970 and was a writer for the short-lived Smothers Brothers TV show comeback in the spring of 1975. Chase made the move to comedy as a full-time career by 1973, when he became a writer and cast member of The National Lampoon Radio Hour, a syndicated satirical radio series. The National Lampoon Radio Hour also featured John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray, all of whom later became the "Not-Ready-For-Prime Time Players" on NBC Saturday Night (later re-titled NBC's Saturday Night and finally Saturday Night Live). Chase and Belushi also appeared in National Lampoon's off-Broadway revue Lemmings, a sketch and musical send-up of popular youth culture, in which Chase also played the drums and piano during the musical numbers. He appeared in the movie The Groove Tube (1974), which was directed by another co-founder of Channel One, Ken Shapiro, featuring several Channel One sketches.
1975–1976: Saturday Night Live
Chase was one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live (SNL), NBC's late-night comedy television show, beginning in October 1975. During the first season, he introduced every show except two, with "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" The remark was often preceded by a pratfall, known as "The Fall of the Week". Chase became known for his skill at physical comedy. In one comedy sketch, he mimicked a real-life incident in which President Gerald Ford accidentally tripped while disembarking from Air Force One in Salzburg, Austria. This portrayal of President Ford as a bumbling klutz became a favorite device of Chase's, and helped form the popular concept of Ford as being a clumsy man despite Ford having been a "star athlete" during his university years. In later years, Chase met and became friendly with President Ford.
Chase was the original anchor for the Weekend Update segment of SNL, and his catchphrase introduction, "I'm Chevy Chase… and you're not" became well known. His trademark conclusion, "Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow" was later resurrected by Jane Curtin and Tina Fey. Chase also wrote comedy material for Weekend Update. For example, he wrote and performed "The News for the Hard of Hearing". In this skit, Chase read the top story of the day, aided by Garrett Morris, who repeated the story by loudly shouting it. Chase claimed that his version of Weekend Update was the inspiration for later news satire shows such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Weekend Update was later revived as a segment on The Chevy Chase Show, a short-lived late-night talk show produced by Chase and broadcast by Fox Broadcasting Company.
Chase was committed contractually to SNL for only one year as a writer and became a cast member during rehearsals just before the show's premiere. He received two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for his comedy writing and live comic acting on the show. In Rolling Stone's February 2015 appraisal of all 141 SNL cast members to date, Chase was ranked tenth in overall importance. "Strange as it sounds, Chase might be the most under-rated SNL player," they wrote. "It took him only one season to define the franchise…without that deadpan arrogance, the whole SNL style of humor would fall flat."
In a 1975 New York magazine cover story, which called him "The funniest man in America", NBC executives referred to Chase as "The first real potential successor to Johnny Carson" and claimed he would begin guest-hosting The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson within six months of the article. Chase dismissed rumors that he could be the next Carson by telling New York, "I'd never be tied down for five years interviewing TV personalities." Chase did not appear on the program until May 4, 1977, when he was promoting a prime-time special for NBC. Carson (who was never a fan of SNL) later said of Chase: "He couldn't ad-lib a fart after a baked-bean dinner."
Chase acknowledged Ernie Kovacs's influence on his work in Saturday Night Live, and he thanked Kovacs during his acceptance speech for his Emmy Award. In addition, Chase spoke of Kovacs's influence on his work in an appearance in the 1982 documentary called Ernie Kovacs: Television's Original Genius.
1976–1989: Film stardom and acclaim
In late 1976, in the middle of SNL's second season, Chase became the second member of the original cast to leave the show (after George Coe during the first season). While he landed starring roles in several films on the strength of his SNL fame, he asserted that the principal reason for his departure was the reluctance of his girlfriend, Jacqueline Carlin, to move to New York. Chase moved to Los Angeles, married Carlin, and was replaced by Bill Murray, although he made a few cameo appearances on the show during the second season.
Chase hosted SNL eight times from 1978 to 1997. In regard to Chase's 1997 appearance as a host, SNL creator and show-runner Lorne Michaels disputed reports that he was shocked by Chase's behavior or had banned him as a result, claims which he calls "idiotic". While Chase has not returned to SNL to host since 1997, he appeared on the show's 25th anniversary special in 1999 and was interviewed for a 2005 NBC special on the first five years of SNL. Later appearances included a Caddyshack skit featuring Bill Murray, a 1997 episode with guest host Chris Farley, as the Land Shark in a Weekend Update segment in 2001, another Weekend Update segment in 2007, and in Justin Timberlake's monologue in 2013 as a member of the Five-Timers Club, where he was reunited with his Three Amigos co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short. He also participated in the 40th anniversary special in February 2015.
Chase's early film roles included Tunnel Vision (1976); Foul Play (1978, a box-office hit that made more than $44 million and earned Chase a Golden Globe nomination); and Oh! Heavenly Dog (1980). The role of Eric "Otter" Stratton in National Lampoon's Animal House was written with Chase in mind, but he turned the role down to work on Foul Play. The role went to Tim Matheson instead. Chase said in an interview that he chose to do Foul Play so he could do "real acting" for the first time in his career instead of just "schtick".
Chase followed Foul Play in 1980 by portraying Ty Webb in the Harold Ramis comedy Caddyshack. A major box office success that pulled in $39 million off a $6 million budget, the movie has become a classic. It reached a 73% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics saying: "Though unabashedly crude and juvenile, Caddyshack nevertheless scores with its classic slapstick, unforgettable characters, and endlessly quotable dialogue". That same year, he reunited with Foul Play co-star Goldie Hawn for Neil Simon's Seems Like Old Times, a box-office success that earned more than $43 million. He then released a self-titled record album, co-produced by Chase and Tom Scott, with novelty and cover versions of songs by Randy Newman, Barry White, Bob Marley, the Beatles, Donna Summer, Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Troggs, and The Sugarhill Gang.
Chase narrowly escaped death by electrocution during the filming of Modern Problems in 1980. During a sequence in which Chase's character wears "landing lights" as he dreams that he is an airplane, the lights malfunctioned and an electric current passed through Chase's arm, back, and neck muscles. The near-death experience followed the end of his marriage to Carlin, and Chase experienced a period of deep depression. He married Jayni Luke in 1982. Chase continued his film career by playing Clark Griswold in 1983's National Lampoon's Vacation. Directed by Ramis and written by John Hughes, the movie grossed $61 million on a $15 million budget—his most successful movie at the time.
In 1985, Chase played Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher in Fletch, based on Gregory Mcdonald's Fletch books, which grossed more than $50 million off an $8 million budget. That same year, he appeared in a sequel to Vacation, National Lampoon's European Vacation, which pulled in just shy of $50 million at the box office, and co-starred with fellow SNL alum Dan Aykroyd in Spies Like Us, which made $60 million. In 1986, Chase joined SNL veterans Steve Martin and Martin Short in the Lorne Michaels–produced comedy ¡Three Amigos! that made nearly $40 million, with Chase declaring in an interview that making Three Amigos was the most fun he had making a film. He also appeared alongside Paul Simon, one of his best friends, in Simon's 1986 second video for "You Can Call Me Al", in which he lip-syncs all of Simon's lyrics.
In 1987, his Cornelius Productions company signed a non-exclusive, first-refusal deal to develop four feature projects at the Warner Bros. studio, and set up a fifth project at Universal Pictures. Chase hosted the Academy Awards in 1987 and 1988, opening the telecast in 1988 with the quip, "Good evening, Hollywood phonies!" In 1988, he starred alongside Madolyn Smith in Funny Farm, a sizeable hit at $25 million that reached 64% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes. That same year, he appeared (albeit via a glorified cameo) in a sequel to Caddyshack, Caddyshack II, which made less than $12 million, becoming one of his few flops at the time.
In 1989, Chase starred in a sequel to Fletch, Fletch Lives, which went on to gross more than $35 million, and made a third Vacation film, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, which pulled in $71 million and, thanks to its holiday theme, has become one of his more durable films. At the height of his career in the late 1980s, Chase earned around US$7 million per film and was a highly visible celebrity.
1990–2009: Career fluctuations
Chase played saxophone onstage at Simon's free concert at the Great Lawn in Central Park in the summer of 1991. Later in 1991, he helped record and appeared in the music video "Voices That Care" to entertain and support U.S. troops involved in Operation Desert Storm, and supported the International Red Cross. Chase had three consecutive film flops: Razzie Award-nominated Nothing but Trouble (1991), Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), and Cops & Robbersons (1994). The three releases had a combined gross of $34 million in the United States.
In September 1993, Chase hosted The Chevy Chase Show, a weeknight talk show, for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Although it had high commercial expectations, the show was cancelled by Fox after five weeks. Chase later appeared in a commercial for Doritos, airing during the Super Bowl, in which he made humorous reference to the show's failure.
Chase found success with some of his subsequent movies. Man of the House (1995), co-starring Farrah Fawcett, was relatively successful, grossing $40 million, and Vegas Vacation (1997, his fourth Vacation film) was a box office success, grossing $36.4 million. Snow Day (2000), in which Chase appeared, was also successful grossing over $60 million, as well as Orange County (2002), grossing more than $40 million. Chase was Hasty Pudding's 1993 Man of the Year, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in that same year. He also received The Harvard Lampoon's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.
He was roasted by the New York Friars Club for a Comedy Central television special in 2002. This roast was noted for being unusually vitriolic, even by the standards of a roast. Some of the more recent films starring Chase (e.g., Vacuums, Rent-a-Husband, Goose!) have not been widely released in the United States. He returned to mainstream movie-making in 2006, co-starring with Tim Allen and Courteney Cox in the comedy Zoom, though it was both a critical and commercial failure. Chase guest-starred as an anti-Semitic murder suspect in "In Vino Veritas", the November 3, 2006, episode of Law & Order. He also guest-starred in the ABC drama series Brothers & Sisters in two episodes as a former love interest of Sally Field's character. Chase appeared in a prominent recurring role as villainous software magnate Ted Roark on the NBC spy-comedy Chuck. In 2009, Chase and Dan Aykroyd voiced themselves in the Family Guy episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us".
2009–2014: Return to television
Starting in 2009, Chase returned to NBC in the sitcom Community, as aging moist-towelette tycoon Pierce Hawthorne. The show was created by Dan Harmon and starred Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Donald Glover, Danny Pudi, and Yvette Nicole Brown. The series received critical acclaim for its acting and writing, appeared on numerous critics' year-end "best-of" lists and developed a cult following. The New York Times critic Alessandra Stanley praised the casting of Chase writing, "Jeff has the kind of sardonic repartee and slapdash nonchalance that the comedian Chevy Chase had when he was the young star of the Fletch movies", while adding, "Even that is an inside casting joke: Mr. Chase, who is farcically loopy and delightful in the pilot."
In 2010, Chase appeared in an online Vacation short film Hotel Hell Vacation, featuring the Griswold parents, and in the Funny or Die original comedy sketch "Presidential Reunion", where he played President Ford alongside other current and former SNL president impersonators. That same year, Chase appeared in the film Hot Tub Time Machine which received some praise, and a sequel.
Throughout the filming of Community, Chase became increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of Pierce's character arc. It was reported that in 2012 Chase had an outburst on set yelling if it continued he may be asked to call either Donald Glover or Yvette Nicole Brown's character the N-word. Chase later apologized for the outburst. Soon after his apology, Chase left the show due to increasing disagreements with his character and the show's creator Dan Harmon. After a mutual agreement with the network, his character was abruptly written out of the fourth season of Community. Chase later claimed that his exit was due to his personal opinions of the show rather than the outburst, claiming that it "wasn't funny enough". His departure was cemented by the writers, who killed off Pierce in the third episode of Community's fifth season.
2015–present
In 2015, Chase reprised his role as Clark Griswold in the fifth Vacation installment, titled Vacation. Unlike the previous four films in which Clark is the main protagonist, he only has a brief though pivotal cameo appearance. In spite of largely negative critical reception, the film proved to be a financial success, grossing over $107 million worldwide.
In 2019, Chase was in the Netflix movie The Last Laugh where he starred alongside Richard Dreyfuss.
In 2024, he starred in the film The Christmas Letter with Randy Quaid and Brian Doyle-Murray.
Personal life
Marriage and family
Chase married Susan Hewitt in New York City on February 23, 1973. They divorced on February 1, 1976. His second marriage, to Jacqueline Carlin, was formalized on December 4, 1976, and ended in divorce on November 14, 1980; they had no children.
Chase resided in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles from 1980 until 1995 in a Tudor-style home. He was the Honorary Mayor of Pacific Palisades between 1986 and 1988.
He married his third wife, Jayni Luke, in Pacific Palisades on June 19, 1982. They have three daughters: Cydney, Caley, and Emily. The couple reside in Bedford, New York.
Substance abuse
In 1986, Chase was admitted to the Betty Ford Center for treatment of a prescription painkiller addiction. His use began after he experienced ongoing back pain related to the pratfalls he took during his Saturday Night Live appearances. In 2010, he said that his drug abuse had been "low level."
He entered the Hazelden Clinic in September 2016 to receive treatment for alcoholism.
Political views
An active environmentalist and philanthropist, Chase is a political liberal. He campaigned for Democratic presidential nominees Bill Clinton in the 1990s, and John Kerry in 2004.
In 2004, during a speech at a People for the American Way benefit at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts he mocked Republican President George W. Bush, Kerry's opponent in the 2004 election, referring to Bush as an "uneducated, real lying schmuck" and a "dumb fuck". His comments upset both the organizers and the crowd.
He endorsed Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.
Fight with Bill Murray
While filming an episode of Saturday Night Live in 1978, Chase got into a fistfight with Bill Murray in John Belushi's dressing room. Murray and Chase's backstage brawl took place when Chase returned to host the show after his exit as a full-time cast member in 1976. Murray had reportedly made a derogatory comment about Chase's troubled marriage to Jacqueline Carlin, leading Chase to criticize Murray's physical appearance. The fight was witnessed by cast members Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner.
In a talk show appearance in 2021, Newman noted of the altercation, "it was very sad and painful and awful". She went on to say, "I think they both knew the one thing that they could say to one another that would hurt the most and that's what I think incited it." Chase and Murray would later reconcile to star together in Caddyshack in 1980.
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
In 1976, he was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Awards for "Writing for a Variety Series" as part of The Smothers Brothers Show's writers room. Also in 1976 he was nominated at the Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on the first season of Saturday Night Live. He won both nominations.
On September 23, 1993, Chase received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.
Notes
References
Further reading
I'm Chevy Chase...and You're Not (The Authorized Biography) by Rena Fruchter. Virgin Books, 2007. ISBN 1-85227-346-1.
Who's Who in Comedy by Ronald L. Smith. Pp. 102–103. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0-8160-2338-7.
Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. Back Bay Books.
External links
Chevy Chase at IMDb
Interview with Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Martin Short about The Three Amigos in 1986 from Texas Archive of the Moving Image
Chevy Chase at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
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Bill Paxton
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William Paxton (May 17, 1955 – February 25, 2017) was an American actor, filmmaker and musician. A versatile character actor known for his distinctive Texan drawl and everyman screen persona, he was a four-time Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award nominee, among other accolades.
Paxton starred in films Near Dark (1987), Tombstone (1993), Apollo 13 (1995), Twister (1996), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and A Simple Plan (1998), and played supporting roles in Weird Science (1985), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and Nightcrawler (2014). He was a close collaborator of director James Cameron, appearing in his films The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), True Lies (1994), and Titanic (1997). He made his directorial debut with the 2001 horror film Frailty, in which he also starred, earning him Saturn Award nominations for Best Director and Best Horror Film.
On television, Paxton starred as Bill Henrickson on the HBO drama series Big Love (2006–2011), for which he earned three Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor – Television Series Drama during the show's run. He was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for portraying Randall McCoy in the History Channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys (2012).
Early life
William Paxton was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 17, 1955, the son of Mary Lou (née Gray; 1926–2016) and John Lane Paxton (1920–2011). His mother was a Catholic who raised him and his siblings in her faith. His father was a businessman, lumber wholesaler, museum executive, and (during his son's career) an occasional actor, notably appearing in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films as Bernard Houseman and alongside Paxton in A Simple Plan (1998). His great-great-grandfather was Elisha Franklin Paxton (1828–1863), a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War who was killed commanding the Stonewall Brigade at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
Paxton is distantly related to actress Sara Paxton and was the great-nephew of Mary Paxton Keeley, a prominent journalist and close friend of Bess Truman. At the age of eight, he was in the crowd when President John F. Kennedy emerged from the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth on the morning of his assassination on November 22, 1963. Photographs of Paxton being lifted above the crowd are on display at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. He later co-produced the film Parkland about the assassination. He graduated from Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth in 1973, after which he studied at Richmond College in London, alongside his old high-school friend Danny Martin. There, they met fellow Texas native Tom Huckabee, with whom they made Super 8 short films for which they built their own sets. One of Paxton's first lead roles was in Huckabee's experimental film Taking Tiger Mountain. Paxton subsequently moved to Los Angeles, where he worked in props and art departments and as a parking valet at the Beverly Hills Hotel. After being rejected by film schools in Southern California, he switched his ambitions from directing to acting.
Career
Acting and filmmaking
Among Paxton's earliest roles were as a mortuary assistant in Mortuary (1983), a minor role as a punk in The Terminator (1984), a minor role as a bartender in Streets of Fire, a supporting role as the lead protagonist's bullying older brother Chet Donnelly in John Hughes's Weird Science (1985), and Private William Hudson in Aliens (1986).
He directed several short films, including the music video for Barnes & Barnes's novelty song "Fish Heads", which aired during Saturday Night Live's low-rated 1980–81 season and was in heavy rotation during the early days of Canadian music channel MuchMusic. He was cast in a music video for the 1982 Pat Benatar song "Shadows of the Night" in which he appeared as a Nazi radio officer.
In 1981, Paxton worked in the movie Stripes as a soldier, in the bar scene with John Candy and Bill Murray.
He worked alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator (1984) and in Commando (1985), as well as in True Lies (1994), which reunited him with James Cameron. He reunited with Cameron on Aliens (1986). His performance in the latter film as Private Hudson earned him the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.
He also appeared in Weird Science (1985). In 1987, Paxton played the most psychotic of the vampires, Severen, in Kathryn Bigelow's critically acclaimed neo-Western horror film Near Dark.
In 1990, Paxton appeared in Predator 2 (1990). He collaborated with James Cameron again on Titanic (1997), which was the highest-grossing film of all time at its release. In his other roles, Paxton played Morgan Earp in Tombstone (1993), Fred Haise in Apollo 13 (1995), Bill Harding in Twister (1996), and lead roles in dark dramas such as One False Move (1992) and A Simple Plan (1998). In 1990, he co-starred with Charlie Sheen and Michael Biehn in Navy Seals.
Paxton also appeared in Indian Summer (1993) and Mighty Joe Young (1998). After 2000, he appeared in U-571 (2000), Vertical Limit (2000), Frailty (2001), Broken Lizard's Club Dread (2004), Thunderbirds (2004), Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and Nightcrawler (2014).
Paxton directed the feature films Frailty (2001), in which he also starred, and The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005). Four years after appearing in Titanic, he joined Cameron on an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic. A film about this trip, Ghosts of the Abyss, was released in 2003. He also appeared in the music video for Limp Bizkit's 2003 song "Eat You Alive" as a sheriff. In addition, Paxton also played a character in both Spy Kids 2 and Spy Kids 3-D.
Paxton starred in "A Bright Shining Lie" (HBO 1998), an American war drama television film written and directed by Terry George, based on Neil Sheehan's 1988 book of the same name and the true story of John Paul Vann's experience in the Vietnam War.
His highest-profile television performances received much positive attention, including his lead role in HBO's Big Love (2006–2011), for which Paxton received three Golden Globe Award nominations. He also received positive reviews for his performance in the History Channel's miniseries Hatfields & McCoys (2012), for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award alongside co-star Kevin Costner.
In 2014, he played the role of the villainous John Garrett in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and a supporting role in Edge of Tomorrow (2014). He starred alongside Jon Bernthal, Rose McGowan and John Malkovich as a playable character in the 2014 video game Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (downloadable "Exo Zombies" mode). Paxton starred as General Sam Houston in the Western miniseries Texas Rising for The History Channel in 2015.
In February 2016, Paxton was cast as Detective Frank Rourke for Training Day, a crime-thriller television series set 15 years after the events of the eponymous 2001 movie. It premiered a year later. His final film appearance was in The Circle (2017), released two months after his death.
Music
In 1982, Paxton and his friend Andrew Todd Rosenthal formed a new wave musical band called Martini Ranch. The band released its only full-length album, Holy Cow, in 1988 on Sire Records. The album was produced by Devo member Bob Casale, and featured guest appearances by two other members of that band. The music video for the band's single "Reach" was directed by James Cameron. In 2018, his performances as Peter "Coconut Pete" Wabash in Broken Lizard's Club Dread were released posthumously on the album Take Another Hit: The Best of Coconut Pete.
Personal life
Paxton married Kelly Rowan in 1979 and they divorced a year later. He later met Louise Newbury on the Number 37 bus in Twickenham, London, where she was a student, and they were married in 1987. They lived in Ojai, California, and had two children: son James (b. 1994), who also became an actor, and daughter Lydia (b. 1997).
Death and lawsuit
In early 2017, Paxton stated in an interview on WTF with Marc Maron that he had a damaged aortic heart valve, resulting from rheumatic fever that he contracted as a child. On February 14, 2017, he underwent open-heart surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to repair the damaged valve and correct an aortic aneurysm. He died of a stroke 11 days later on February 25 at the age of 61. He was cremated and his ashes were buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park of Hollywood Hills.
In 2018, the estate of actor Bill Paxton filed a lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and surgeon Khoynezhad for a Bentall operation performed on February 14th, 2017 for congenital bicuspid aortic valve disease and an ascending aortic aneurysm. The late actor developed a hemorrhagic stroke on hospital day 11 and died. Khoynezhad was comfortable with his care and denied any wrongdoing; however, the hospital decided to settle the lawsuit due to publicity reasons. During the course of the lawsuit, the plaintiff attorneys started an aggressive online campaign aimed at damaging Khoynezhad’s reputation. They described Paxton’s operation as “maverick, high-risk, and unconventional,” although Bentall is a half-century-old cardiac operation. Furthermore, and without any evidence, Khoynezhad was accused of not being at Paxton’s bedside when the complication happened. Finally, there were online rumors that Khoynezhad left Cedars-Sinai Medical Center because of Paxton’s operation. However, Khoynezhad gave his six-month notice of resignation in December 2016, three months prior to Paxton’s operation. Reflecting on the ordeal in an interview, Khoynezhad stated that the plaintiff's attorneys seemed determined to discredit him without any evidence. He affirmed that the primary focus of his 30-year career has always been to take good care of his patients and save lives. While he acknowledged the significant personal "wear and tear" this lawsuit caused him and his family, he refused to let the tactics interfere with his profession. Invoking the foundational legal philosophy of John Locke, he concluded, "basic rules of law apply and just because someone says so it does not mean you are guilty.”
Tributes
Public figures
Many dozens of filmmakers and actors across the entertainment spectrum paid tribute to Paxton in the aftermath of his death.
On February 26, 2017, while introducing the annual In Memoriam segment at the 89th Academy Awards the day after Paxton's death, a visibly emotional Jennifer Aniston paid tribute to him. His Big Love co-star Chloë Sevigny remembered him as "one of the less cynical, jaded people [she'd] ever met in the business" and said, "He believed in entertainment being transportive and transformative. He believed in the magic of what we can bring to people. That was really a gift that he gave to me." The television show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. paid tribute at the end of its season-four episode "What If...", and a number of storm chasers paid tribute to his role in Twister by spelling out his initials "BP" via the Spotter Network.
Films
The 2017 film Call Me by Your Name was dedicated to Paxton's memory. The film's producer, Peter Spears, explained that his husband Brian Swardstrom, who was also Paxton's best friend and agent, once visited the set with Paxton during filming and befriended the film's director Luca Guadagnino, who ultimately decided to dedicate the film "in loving memory of Bill Paxton". Close friend and frequent collaborator James Cameron wrote a tribute in an article for Vanity Fair, detailing their 36-year friendship and expressing regret over the projects they would not be able to make together. The 2019 John Travolta film The Fanatic, which co-starred Paxton's son James, was dedicated to Paxton. James would later play a younger version of Paxton's S.H.I.E.L.D. character in the final season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which served as a tribute to his role in the show. Cameron's 2022 film, Avatar: The Way of Water was dedicated to the memory of Paxton as well as to James Horner, who previously worked with Cameron on Aliens, Titanic and the first Avatar. Paxton worked with both Cameron and Horner on the former two films. Cameron had hoped to cast Paxton in the Avatar sequels before his death.
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
Video games
Theme park attractions
Production work
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Bill Paxton at IMDb
Bill Paxton and Bill Paxton – Movie Director at The Numbers
Bill Paxton discography at Discogs
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William Paxton (May 17, 1955 – February 25, 2017) was an American actor, filmmaker and musician. A versatile character actor known for his distinctive Texan drawl and everyman screen persona, he was a four-time Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award nominee, among other accolades.
Paxton starred in films Near Dark (1987), Tombstone (1993), Apollo 13 (1995), Twister (1996), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and A Simple Plan (1998), and played supporting roles in Weird Science (1985), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and Nightcrawler (2014). He was a close collaborator of director James Cameron, appearing in his films The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), True Lies (1994), and Titanic (1997). He made his directorial debut with the 2001 horror film Frailty, in which he also starred, earning him Saturn Award nominations for Best Director and Best Horror Film.
On television, Paxton starred as Bill Henrickson on the HBO drama series Big Love (2006–2011), for which he earned three Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor – Television Series Drama during the show's run. He was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for portraying Randall McCoy in the History Channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys (2012).
Early life
William Paxton was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 17, 1955, the son of Mary Lou (née Gray; 1926–2016) and John Lane Paxton (1920–2011). His mother was a Catholic who raised him and his siblings in her faith. His father was a businessman, lumber wholesaler, museum executive, and (during his son's career) an occasional actor, notably appearing in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films as Bernard Houseman and alongside Paxton in A Simple Plan (1998). His great-great-grandfather was Elisha Franklin Paxton (1828–1863), a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War who was killed commanding the Stonewall Brigade at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
Paxton is distantly related to actress Sara Paxton and was the great-nephew of Mary Paxton Keeley, a prominent journalist and close friend of Bess Truman. At the age of eight, he was in the crowd when President John F. Kennedy emerged from the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth on the morning of his assassination on November 22, 1963. Photographs of Paxton being lifted above the crowd are on display at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. He later co-produced the film Parkland about the assassination. He graduated from Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth in 1973, after which he studied at Richmond College in London, alongside his old high-school friend Danny Martin. There, they met fellow Texas native Tom Huckabee, with whom they made Super 8 short films for which they built their own sets. One of Paxton's first lead roles was in Huckabee's experimental film Taking Tiger Mountain. Paxton subsequently moved to Los Angeles, where he worked in props and art departments and as a parking valet at the Beverly Hills Hotel. After being rejected by film schools in Southern California, he switched his ambitions from directing to acting.
Career
Acting and filmmaking
Among Paxton's earliest roles were as a mortuary assistant in Mortuary (1983), a minor role as a punk in The Terminator (1984), a minor role as a bartender in Streets of Fire, a supporting role as the lead protagonist's bullying older brother Chet Donnelly in John Hughes's Weird Science (1985), and Private William Hudson in Aliens (1986).
He directed several short films, including the music video for Barnes & Barnes's novelty song "Fish Heads", which aired during Saturday Night Live's low-rated 1980–81 season and was in heavy rotation during the early days of Canadian music channel MuchMusic. He was cast in a music video for the 1982 Pat Benatar song "Shadows of the Night" in which he appeared as a Nazi radio officer.
In 1981, Paxton worked in the movie Stripes as a soldier, in the bar scene with John Candy and Bill Murray.
He worked alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator (1984) and in Commando (1985), as well as in True Lies (1994), which reunited him with James Cameron. He reunited with Cameron on Aliens (1986). His performance in the latter film as Private Hudson earned him the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.
He also appeared in Weird Science (1985). In 1987, Paxton played the most psychotic of the vampires, Severen, in Kathryn Bigelow's critically acclaimed neo-Western horror film Near Dark.
In 1990, Paxton appeared in Predator 2 (1990). He collaborated with James Cameron again on Titanic (1997), which was the highest-grossing film of all time at its release. In his other roles, Paxton played Morgan Earp in Tombstone (1993), Fred Haise in Apollo 13 (1995), Bill Harding in Twister (1996), and lead roles in dark dramas such as One False Move (1992) and A Simple Plan (1998). In 1990, he co-starred with Charlie Sheen and Michael Biehn in Navy Seals.
Paxton also appeared in Indian Summer (1993) and Mighty Joe Young (1998). After 2000, he appeared in U-571 (2000), Vertical Limit (2000), Frailty (2001), Broken Lizard's Club Dread (2004), Thunderbirds (2004), Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and Nightcrawler (2014).
Paxton directed the feature films Frailty (2001), in which he also starred, and The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005). Four years after appearing in Titanic, he joined Cameron on an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic. A film about this trip, Ghosts of the Abyss, was released in 2003. He also appeared in the music video for Limp Bizkit's 2003 song "Eat You Alive" as a sheriff. In addition, Paxton also played a character in both Spy Kids 2 and Spy Kids 3-D.
Paxton starred in "A Bright Shining Lie" (HBO 1998), an American war drama television film written and directed by Terry George, based on Neil Sheehan's 1988 book of the same name and the true story of John Paul Vann's experience in the Vietnam War.
His highest-profile television performances received much positive attention, including his lead role in HBO's Big Love (2006–2011), for which Paxton received three Golden Globe Award nominations. He also received positive reviews for his performance in the History Channel's miniseries Hatfields & McCoys (2012), for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award alongside co-star Kevin Costner.
In 2014, he played the role of the villainous John Garrett in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and a supporting role in Edge of Tomorrow (2014). He starred alongside Jon Bernthal, Rose McGowan and John Malkovich as a playable character in the 2014 video game Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (downloadable "Exo Zombies" mode). Paxton starred as General Sam Houston in the Western miniseries Texas Rising for The History Channel in 2015.
In February 2016, Paxton was cast as Detective Frank Rourke for Training Day, a crime-thriller television series set 15 years after the events of the eponymous 2001 movie. It premiered a year later. His final film appearance was in The Circle (2017), released two months after his death.
Music
In 1982, Paxton and his friend Andrew Todd Rosenthal formed a new wave musical band called Martini Ranch. The band released its only full-length album, Holy Cow, in 1988 on Sire Records. The album was produced by Devo member Bob Casale, and featured guest appearances by two other members of that band. The music video for the band's single "Reach" was directed by James Cameron. In 2018, his performances as Peter "Coconut Pete" Wabash in Broken Lizard's Club Dread were released posthumously on the album Take Another Hit: The Best of Coconut Pete.
Personal life
Paxton married Kelly Rowan in 1979 and they divorced a year later. He later met Louise Newbury on the Number 37 bus in Twickenham, London, where she was a student, and they were married in 1987. They lived in Ojai, California, and had two children: son James (b. 1994), who also became an actor, and daughter Lydia (b. 1997).
Death and lawsuit
In early 2017, Paxton stated in an interview on WTF with Marc Maron that he had a damaged aortic heart valve, resulting from rheumatic fever that he contracted as a child. On February 14, 2017, he underwent open-heart surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to repair the damaged valve and correct an aortic aneurysm. He died of a stroke 11 days later on February 25 at the age of 61. He was cremated and his ashes were buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park of Hollywood Hills.
In 2018, the estate of actor Bill Paxton filed a lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and surgeon Khoynezhad for a Bentall operation performed on February 14th, 2017 for congenital bicuspid aortic valve disease and an ascending aortic aneurysm. The late actor developed a hemorrhagic stroke on hospital day 11 and died. Khoynezhad was comfortable with his care and denied any wrongdoing; however, the hospital decided to settle the lawsuit due to publicity reasons. During the course of the lawsuit, the plaintiff attorneys started an aggressive online campaign aimed at damaging Khoynezhad’s reputation. They described Paxton’s operation as “maverick, high-risk, and unconventional,” although Bentall is a half-century-old cardiac operation. Furthermore, and without any evidence, Khoynezhad was accused of not being at Paxton’s bedside when the complication happened. Finally, there were online rumors that Khoynezhad left Cedars-Sinai Medical Center because of Paxton’s operation. However, Khoynezhad gave his six-month notice of resignation in December 2016, three months prior to Paxton’s operation. Reflecting on the ordeal in an interview, Khoynezhad stated that the plaintiff's attorneys seemed determined to discredit him without any evidence. He affirmed that the primary focus of his 30-year career has always been to take good care of his patients and save lives. While he acknowledged the significant personal "wear and tear" this lawsuit caused him and his family, he refused to let the tactics interfere with his profession. Invoking the foundational legal philosophy of John Locke, he concluded, "basic rules of law apply and just because someone says so it does not mean you are guilty.”
Tributes
Public figures
Many dozens of filmmakers and actors across the entertainment spectrum paid tribute to Paxton in the aftermath of his death.
On February 26, 2017, while introducing the annual In Memoriam segment at the 89th Academy Awards the day after Paxton's death, a visibly emotional Jennifer Aniston paid tribute to him. His Big Love co-star Chloë Sevigny remembered him as "one of the less cynical, jaded people [she'd] ever met in the business" and said, "He believed in entertainment being transportive and transformative. He believed in the magic of what we can bring to people. That was really a gift that he gave to me." The television show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. paid tribute at the end of its season-four episode "What If...", and a number of storm chasers paid tribute to his role in Twister by spelling out his initials "BP" via the Spotter Network.
Films
The 2017 film Call Me by Your Name was dedicated to Paxton's memory. The film's producer, Peter Spears, explained that his husband Brian Swardstrom, who was also Paxton's best friend and agent, once visited the set with Paxton during filming and befriended the film's director Luca Guadagnino, who ultimately decided to dedicate the film "in loving memory of Bill Paxton". Close friend and frequent collaborator James Cameron wrote a tribute in an article for Vanity Fair, detailing their 36-year friendship and expressing regret over the projects they would not be able to make together. The 2019 John Travolta film The Fanatic, which co-starred Paxton's son James, was dedicated to Paxton. James would later play a younger version of Paxton's S.H.I.E.L.D. character in the final season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which served as a tribute to his role in the show. Cameron's 2022 film, Avatar: The Way of Water was dedicated to the memory of Paxton as well as to James Horner, who previously worked with Cameron on Aliens, Titanic and the first Avatar. Paxton worked with both Cameron and Horner on the former two films. Cameron had hoped to cast Paxton in the Avatar sequels before his death.
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
Video games
Theme park attractions
Production work
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Bill Paxton at IMDb
Bill Paxton and Bill Paxton – Movie Director at The Numbers
Bill Paxton discography at Discogs
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Ice Cube
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O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His efforts on N.W.A's 1989 album Straight Outta Compton contributed to gangsta rap's popularity, and his political rap solo albums AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990), Death Certificate (1991), and The Predator (1992) were all critically and commercially successful. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of N.W.A in 2016.
A native of Los Angeles, Ice Cube formed his first rap group called C.I.A. in 1986. In 1987, with Eazy-E and Dr. Dre, he formed the gangsta rap group N.W.A. As its lead rapper, Ice Cube also wrote most of the lyrics on Straight Outta Compton, a landmark album that shaped West Coast hip hop's early violent and controversial identity and helped differentiate it from East Coast rap. After a monetary dispute over the group's management by Eazy-E and Jerry Heller, Ice Cube left N.W.A in late 1989 and embarked on a solo career, releasing eleven albums, with seven charting within the top-10 on the U.S. Billboard 200. His singles "Straight Outta Compton", "It Was a Good Day", "Check Yo Self", "You Know How We Do It", "Bop Gun (One Nation)", "Pushin' Weight", and "You Can Do It" all charted in the top-40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Ice Cube has also had an active film career since the early 1990s. His first acting role was in the hood film Boyz n the Hood (1991), named after a 1987 N.W.A. song he wrote. He also co-wrote and starred in the 1995 comedy film Friday, which spawned a franchise and reshaped his public image into an actor. He made his directorial debut with the 1998 film The Players Club, and also produced and curated the film's accompanying soundtrack. His film credits including the comedies Three Kings (1999), the Barbershop and Are We There Yet? franchises, 21 Jump Street (2012), 22 Jump Street, Ride Along (both 2014) and Ride Along 2 (2016). He has also appeared in the XXX franchise, the crime drama Rampart (2012), the animated fantasy The Book of Life (2014), and the thriller War of the Worlds (2025). Ice Cube has also acted as executive producer, including for the 2015 biopic Straight Outta Compton.
Early life
O'Shea Jackson was born in Los Angeles on June 15, 1969, to hospital clerk and custodian Doris and machinist and UCLA groundskeeper Hosea Jackson. He has an older brother, and they had a half-sister who was murdered when Cube was 12. He is a cousin of fellow rappers Del tha Funky Homosapien and Kam. He grew up on Van Wick Street in the Westmont section of South Los Angeles. In ninth grade at George Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles, Cube began writing raps after being challenged by his friend "Kiddo" in typewriting class. Kiddo lost. He has said that his stage name came from his older brother, who "threatened to slam [him] into a freezer and pull [him] out when [he] was an ice cube".
Cube also attended William Howard Taft High School in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles. He was bused 40 miles (64 km) to the suburban school from his home in a high-crime neighborhood. In Q3 of 1987, soon after he wrote and recorded a few locally successful rap songs with N.W.A, he enrolled at the Phoenix Institute of Technology Phoenix, Arizona. In 1988, with a diploma in architectural drafting, he returned to Los Angeles and rejoined N.W.A, but kept a career in architecture drafting as a backup plan.
Music career
Early work
In 1986, at the age of 16, Ice Cube began rapping in the trio C.I.A. but soon joined the newly formed rap group N.W.A. He was N.W.A's lead rapper and main ghostwriter on its official debut album, 1989's Straight Outta Compton. Due to a financial dispute, he left the group by the start of 1990. During 1990, his debut solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, found him also leading a featured rap group, Da Lench Mob. Meanwhile, he helped develop the rapper Yo Yo.
1986: C.I.A.
With friend Sir Jinx, Ice Cube formed the rap group C.I.A., and performed at parties hosted by Dr. Dre. Since 1984, Dre had been a member of a popular DJ crew, the World Class Wreckin' Cru, which by 1985 was also performing and recording electro rap. Dre had Cube help write the Wreckin Cru's hit song "Cabbage Patch". Dre also joined Cube on a side project, a duo called Stereo Crew, which made a 12-inch record, "She's a Skag", released on Epic Records in 1986.
In 1987, C.I.A. released the Dr. Dre-produced single "My Posse". Meanwhile, the Wreckin' Cru's home base was the Eve After Dark nightclub, about a quarter of a mile outside of the city of Compton in Los Angeles County. While Dre was on the turntable, Ice Cube would rap, often parodying other artists' songs. In one instance, Cube's rendition was "My Penis", parodying Run-DMC's "My Adidas". In 2015, the nightclub's co-owner and Wreckin' leader Alonzo Williams would recall feeling his reputation damaged by this and asking it not to be repeated.
1986–1989: N.W.A.
At 16, Cube sold his first song to Eric Wright, soon dubbed Eazy-E, who was forming Ruthless Records and the musical team N.W.A, based in Compton, California. Himself from South Central Los Angeles, Cube would be N.W.A's only core member not born in Compton.
Upon the success of the song "Boyz-n-the-Hood"—written by Cube, produced by Dre, and rapped by Eazy-E, helping establish gangsta rap in California—Eazy focused on developing N.W.A, which soon gained MC Ren. Cube wrote some of Dre's and nearly all of Eazy's lyrics on N.W.A's official debut album, Straight Outta Compton, released in January 1989. Yet by the end of the year, Cube questioned his compensation and N.W.A's management by Jerry Heller.
Cube also wrote most of Eazy-E's debut album Eazy-Duz-It. He received a total pay of $32,000, and the contract that Heller presented in 1989 did not confirm that he was officially an N.W.A member. After leaving the group and its label in December, Cube sued Heller, and the lawsuit was later settled out of court. In response, N.W.A members attacked Cube on the 1990 EP 100 Miles and Runnin', and on N.W.A's next and final album, Niggaz4Life, in 1991.
1989–1993: Early solo career, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Death Certificate, and The Predator
In early 1990, Ice Cube recorded his debut solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, in New York with iconic rap group Public Enemy's production team, the Bomb Squad. Arriving in May 1990, it was an instant hit, further swelling rap's mainstream integration. Controversial nonetheless, it drew accusations of misogyny and racism. The album introduces Ice Cube's affirmation of black nationalism and ideology of black struggle.
Cube appointed Yo-Yo, a female rapper and guest on the album, to be the head of his record label, and helped produce her debut album, Make Way for the Motherlode. Also in 1990, Cube followed up with an EP—Kill At Will—critically acclaimed, and rap's first EP certified Platinum.
His second album Death Certificate was released in 1991. The album was thought to be more focused, yet even more controversial, triggering accusations of anti-white, antisemitic, and misogynistic content. The album was split into two themes: the Death Side, "a vision of where we are today", and the Life Side, "a vision of where we need to go". The track "No Vaseline" scathingly retorts insults directed at him by N.W.A's 1990 EP and 1991 album, which call him a traitor. Besides calling for hanging Eazy-E as a "house nigga", the track blames N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller for exploiting the group, mentions that he is a Jew, and calls for his murder. Ice Cube contended that he mentioned Heller's ethnicity merely incidentally, not to premise attack, but as news media mention nonwhite assailants' races. The track "Black Korea", also deemed racist, was also thought as foreseeing the 1992 Los Angeles riots. While controversial, Death Certificate broadened his audience; he toured with Lollapalooza in 1992.
Cube's third album, The Predator, was released in November 1992. Referring to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the song "Wicked" opens, "April 29 was power to the people, and we might just see a sequel." The Predator was the first album ever to debut at No. 1 on both the R&B/hip-hop and pop charts. Singles include "It Was a Good Day" and "Check Yo Self", songs having a "two-part" music video. Generally drawing critical praise, the album is his most successful commercially, over three million copies sold in the US. After this album, Cube's rap audience severely diminished, and never regained the prominence of his first three albums.
During this time, Cube began to have numerous features on other artists' songs. In 1992, Cube appeared on Del the Funky Homosapien's debut album I Wish My Brother George Was Here, on Da Lench Mob's debut Guerillas in tha Mist, which he also produced, and on the Kool G Rap and DJ Polo song "Two to the Head". In 1993, he worked on Kam's debut album, and collaborated with Ice-T on the track "Last Wordz" on 2Pac's album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z..
1993–1998: Lethal Injection and forming Westside Connection
Cube's fourth album, Lethal Injection, came out in late 1993. Here, Cube borrowed from the then-popular G-funk popularized by Dr. Dre. Although not received well by critics, the album brought successful singles, including "Really Doe", "Bop Gun (One Nation)", "You Know How We Do It", and "What Can I Do?" After this album, Ice Cube effectively lost his rap audience.
Following Lethal Injection, Cube focused on films and producing albums of other rappers, including Da Lench Mob, Mack 10, Mr. Short Khop, and Kausion. In 1994, Cube teamed with onetime N.W.A groupmate Dr. Dre, who was then leading rap's G-funk subgenre, for the first time since Cube had left the group, and which had disbanded upon Dre's 1991 departure. The result was the Cube and Dre song "Natural Born Killaz", on the Murder Was The Case soundtrack, released by Dre's then-new label, Death Row Records.
In 1995, Cube joined Mack 10 and WC in forming a side trio, the Westside Connection. Feeling neglected by East Coast media, a longstanding issue in rap's bicoastal rivalry, the group aimed to reinforce West pride and resonate with the undervalued. The Westside Connection's first album, Bow Down (1996), featured tracks like "Bow Down" and "Gangstas Make the World Go 'Round" that reflected the group's objectives. The album was certified Platinum by year's end. Interpreting rapper Common's song "I Used to Love H.E.R." as a diss of West Coast rap, Cube and the Westside Connection briefly feuded with him, but they resolved amicably in 1997.
It was also at this time that Cube began collaborating outside the rap genre. In 1997, he worked with David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails singer Trent Reznor on a remix of Bowie's "I'm Afraid of Americans". In 1998, Cube was featured on the band Korn's song "Children of the Korn", and joined them on their Family Values Tour 1998.
1998–2006: War & Peace Vol. 1 & 2 and Westside Connection reunion
In November 1998, Cube released his long-awaited fifth solo album War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc). The delayed sixth album, Volume 2, arrived in 2000. These albums feature the Westside Connection and a reunion with his old N.W.A members Dr. Dre and MC Ren. Cube also received a return favor from Korn, as they appeared on his song "Fuck Dying" from Vol. 1. Many fans maintained that these two albums, especially the second, were lesser in quality to his earlier work. In 2000, Cube also joined Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Snoop Dogg for the Up in Smoke Tour.
In 2002, Cube appeared on British DJ Paul Oakenfold's solo debut album, Bunkka, on the track "Get Em Up".
Released in 2003, Westside Connection's second album, Terrorist Threats, fared well critically, but saw lesser sales. "Gangsta Nation" (featuring Nate Dogg), the only single released, was a radio hit. After a rift between Cube and Mack 10 about Cube's film work minimizing the group's touring, the Westside Connection disbanded in 2005.
In 2004, Cube featured on the song "Real Nigga Roll Call" by Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, the then leaders of rap's crunk subgenre.
2006–2012: Laugh Now, Cry Later, Raw Footage, and I Am the West
In 2006, Cube released his seventh solo album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, selling 144,000 units in the first week. Lil Jon and Scott Storch produced the lead single, "Why We Thugs". In October, Ice Cube was honored at VH1's Annual Hip Hop Honors, and performed it and also the track "Go to Church". Cube soon toured globally in the Straight Outta Compton Tour—accompanied by rapper WC from the Westside Connection—playing in America, Europe, Australia, and Japan.
Amid Cube's many features and brief collaborations, September 2007 brought In the Movies, a compilation album of Ice Cube songs on soundtracks.
Cube's eighth studio album, Raw Footage, arrived on August 19, 2008, yielding the singles "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It" and "Do Ya Thang". Also in 2008, Cube helped on Tech N9ne's song "Blackboy", and was featured on The Game's song "State of Emergency".
As a fan of the NFL football team the Raiders, Cube released in October 2009 a tribute song, "Raider Nation". In 2009, Ice Cube performed at the Gathering of the Juggalos, and returned to perform at the 2011 festival.
On September 28, 2010, his ninth solo album, I Am the West, arrived with, Cube says, a direction different from any one of his other albums. Its producers include West Coast veterans like DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, E-A-Ski, and, after nearly 20 years, again Cube's onetime C.I.A groupmate Sir Jinx. Offering the single "I Rep That West", the album debuted at No. 22 on the Billboard 200 and sold 22,000 copies in its first week. Also in 2010, Cube signed up-and-coming recording artist named 7Tre The Ghost, deemed likely to be either skipped or given the cookie-cutter treatment by most record companies.
In 2011, Cube featured on Daz Dillinger's song "Iz You Ready to Die" and on DJ Quik's song "Boogie Till You Conk Out".
In 2012, Ice Cube recorded a verse for a remix of the Insane Clown Posse song "Chris Benoit", from ICP's The Mighty Death Pop! album, appearing on the album Mike E. Clark's Extra Pop Emporium.
In September 2012, during Pepsi's NFL Anthems campaign, Cube released his second Raiders anthem "Come and Get It".
2012–present: Everythang's Corrupt, Mount Westmore, Man Down and Man Up
In November 2012, Cube released more details on his forthcoming, tenth studio album, Everythang's Corrupt. Releasing its title track near the 2012 elections, he added, "You know, this record is for the political heads." But the album's release was delayed. On February 10, 2014, iTunes brought another single from it, "Sic Them Youngins on 'Em", and a music video followed the next day. Despite a couple of more song releases, the album's release was delayed even beyond Cube's work on the 2015 film Straight Outta Compton. After a statement setting release to 2017, the album finally arrived on December 7, 2018.
In 2014, Cube appeared on MC Ren's remix "Rebel Music", their first collaboration since the N.W.A reunion in 2000.
In 2020, Cube joined rappers Snoop Dogg, E-40, Too Short and formed the supergroup Mount Westmore. The group's debut album was released on June 7, 2022.
Throughout early 2024, Ice Cube toured across Canada as part of his Straight Into Canada tour.
Ice Cube's eleventh studio album and his first new album in six years, Man Down, was released on November 22, 2024. The album was preceded by the singles "It's My Ego", "Ego Maniacs (featuring Busta Rhymes and Killer Mike)" and "So Sensitive". On August 29, 2025, Ice Cube announced that his twelfth studio album, Man Up, would be released in 2025 and will be preceded by the first single "Before Hip Hop" on September 5, 2025.
Film and television career
Since 1991, Ice Cube has acted in nearly 40 films, several of which are highly regarded. Some of them, such as the 1992 thriller Trespass and the 1999 war comedy Three Kings, highlight action. Yet most are comedies, including a few adult-oriented ones, like the Friday franchise, whereas most of these are family-friendly, like the Barbershop franchise.
Narrative
John Singleton's seminal film Boyz n the Hood, released in July 1991, debuted the actor Ice Cube playing Doughboy, a persona that Cube played convincingly. Later, Cube starred with Ice-T and Bill Paxton in Walter Hill's 1992 thriller film Trespass, and in Charles Burnett's 1995 film The Glass Shield. Meanwhile, Cube declined to costar with Janet Jackson in Singleton's 1993 romance Poetic Justice, a role that Tupac Shakur then played.
Cube starred as the university student Fudge in Singleton's 1995 film Higher Learning. Singleton, encouraging Cube, had reportedly told him, "If you can write a record, you can write a movie." Cube cowrote the screenplay for the 1995 comedy Friday, based on adult themes, and starred in it with comedian Chris Tucker. Made with $3.5 million, Friday drew $28 million worldwide. Two sequels, Next Friday and Friday After Next, were respectively released in 2000 and 2002.
In 1997, playing a South African exiled to America who returns 15 years later, Cube starred in the action thriller Dangerous Ground, and had a supporting role in Anaconda. In 1998, writing again, the director Ice Cube debuted in The Players Club. In 1999, he starred alongside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg as a staff sergeant in Three Kings, set in the immediate aftermath of the Gulf War, whereby the United States attacked Iraq in 1990, an "intelligent" war comedy critically acclaimed. In 2002, Cube starred in Kevin Bray's All About the Benjamins, and in Tim Story's comedy film Barbershop.
In 2004, Cube played in Barbershop 2 and Torque. The next year, he replaced Vin Diesel in the second installment of the XXX film series, XXX: State of the Union, as the main protagonist, which he reprises the character in the third installment and reunited with Diesel 12 years later, XXX: Return of Xander Cage. He also appeared in the family comedy Are We There Yet?, which premised his role in its 2007 sequel Are We Done Yet?. In 2012, Cube appeared in 21 Jump Street. He also appeared in its sequel, 22 Jump Street, in 2014. That year, and then to return in 2016, he played alongside comedian Kevin Hart in two more Tim Story films, Ride Along and Ride Along 2. Also in 2016, Cube returned for the third entry in the Barbershop series. And in 2017, Cube starred with Charlie Day in the comedy Fist Fight.
In October 2021, Ice Cube was set to star in the comedy film Oh Hell No (now titled Stepdude) alongside Jack Black, but left the project after refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19. The project would have paid him $9 million.
Documentary
In late 2005, Ice Cube and R. J. Cutler co-created the six-part documentary series Black. White., carried by cable network FX.
Ice Cube and basketball star LeBron James paired up to pitch a one-hour special to ABC based on James's life.
On May 11, 2010, ESPN aired Cube's directed documentary Straight Outta L.A., examining the interplay of Los Angeles sociopolitics, hip hop, and the Raiders during the 1980s into the 1990s.
Serial television
Ice Cube's Are We There Yet? series premiered on TBS on June 2, 2010. It revolves around a family adjusting to the matriarch's new husband, played by Terry Crews. On August 16, the show was renewed for 90 more episodes, amounting to six seasons. Cube also credits Tyler Perry for his entrée to TBS. In front of the television cameras, rather, Cube appeared with Elmo as a 2014 guest on the PBS children's show Sesame Street.
Personal life
In 1990, a musical associate in the rap group Public Enemy introduced Cube to the Nation of Islam (NOI). He converted to Islam, though he denied membership in the NOI, whose ideology against white people and especially Jews led to its categorization as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. However, he readily adopted the group's ideology of black nationalism, a concept familiar to the hip hop community. He nevertheless has claimed to listen to his own conscience as a "natural Muslim", claiming to do so because "it's just [him] and God". In 2012, he expressed support for same-sex marriage. In 2017, he said that he thinks "religion is stupid" in part and explained, "I'm gonna live a long life, and I might change religions three or four times before I die. I'm on the Islam tip—but I'm on the Christian tip, too. I'm on the Buddhist tip as well. Everyone has something to offer to the world."
Ice Cube has been married to Kimberly Woodruff since April 26, 1992. They have four children together; their oldest son O'Shea Jackson Jr. (born 1991) portrayed him in the film Straight Outta Compton. When asked about the balance between his music and parenting in 2005, Cube discussed teaching his children to question the value of violence depicted in all media, not just song lyrics. Through his son O'Shea Jackson Jr., Ice Cube became a grandfather in August 2017.
In 2017, he launched Big3, a 3-on-3 basketball league starring former NBA players. Ice Cube is a notable fan of the Las Vegas Raiders, originally supporting the team during their tenure in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994. NWA's use of Raiders' memorabilia in conjunction with the team's historically intimidating presence, helped to further popularized an image for the team in hip-hop culture for years to come. Ice Cube is also a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers of MLB, performing a pregame show before game 2 of the 2024 World Series and later at the team's World Series win celebration at Dodger Stadium, and has equally been a devout fan of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Conspiracy theories and antisemitism
At a 1991 press conference promoting his album Death Certificate, Cube endorsed the Nation of Islam's pseudo-scholarly book The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, which falsely claims that European Jews dominated the Atlantic slave trade. Death Certificate also contains the song "No Vaseline", which uses racial slurs against the other former members of N.W.A and refers to the group's manager Jerry Heller as "white man", "white boy", "Jew", "white Jew", "devil" and "cracker".
In response to accusations of racism and anti-Semitism, Cube said in 2008, "I ain't got time to be fuckin' anti-Semitic, anti-this, anti-that, anti-Korean. I ain't got time for that shit. I'm too busy bein' pro-black, you know what I'm saying?" In 2015, Cube expressed regret at including the word "Jew" in the lyrics of "No Vaseline" and explained that he intended to attack only Heller and not "the whole Jewish race".
In 2020, Marlow Stern wrote an article in the Daily Beast addressing Cube's "long, disturbing history" of anti-Semitism. The article was a response to Cube's day-long Twitter posting spree the day before, during which he promoted Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. He also shared various disproven anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Again calling himself "just pro-black" and not "anti-anybody", he dismissed "the hype" and professed that he was just "telling [his] truth".
Discography
Solo studio albums
AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990)
Death Certificate (1991)
The Predator (1992)
Lethal Injection (1993)
War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc) (1998)
War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) (2000)
Laugh Now, Cry Later (2006)
Raw Footage (2008)
I Am the West (2010)
Everythang's Corrupt (2018)
Man Down (2024)
Man Up (2025)
Extended plays
Kill at Will (1990)
Collaborative studio albums
Straight Outta Compton (with N.W.A) (1989)
Bow Down (with Westside Connection) (1996)
Terrorist Threats (with Westside Connection) (2003)
Snoop Cube 40 $hort (with Mount Westmore) (2022)
Filmography
Films
Television
Video games
Tours
Steady Mobbin' Tour (1992)
The Predator Tour (1993)
Family Values Tour 1998 (1998)
Up in Smoke Tour (2000)
Raw Footage Tour (2008)
I Am the West Tour (2011)
Truth to Power: 4 Decades of Attitude Tour (2025)
Awards and nominations
Film awards
Ice Cube has received nominations for several films in the past. To date, he has won two awards:
2000: Blockbuster Entertainment Award: Favorite Action Team (for Three Kings)
2002: MECCA Movie Award: Acting Award
Music awards
VH1 Hip Hop Honors
BET Hip-Hop Awards
The BET Honors
Grammy Awards
Other
Hollywood Walk of Fame Star 2017
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Member of N.W.A. 2016
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Ice Cube Impact Award 2023
References
External links
Official website
Ice Cube at AllMusic
Ice Cube at IMDb
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O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His efforts on N.W.A's 1989 album Straight Outta Compton contributed to gangsta rap's popularity, and his political rap solo albums AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990), Death Certificate (1991), and The Predator (1992) were all critically and commercially successful. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of N.W.A in 2016.
A native of Los Angeles, Ice Cube formed his first rap group called C.I.A. in 1986. In 1987, with Eazy-E and Dr. Dre, he formed the gangsta rap group N.W.A. As its lead rapper, Ice Cube also wrote most of the lyrics on Straight Outta Compton, a landmark album that shaped West Coast hip hop's early violent and controversial identity and helped differentiate it from East Coast rap. After a monetary dispute over the group's management by Eazy-E and Jerry Heller, Ice Cube left N.W.A in late 1989 and embarked on a solo career, releasing eleven albums, with seven charting within the top-10 on the U.S. Billboard 200. His singles "Straight Outta Compton", "It Was a Good Day", "Check Yo Self", "You Know How We Do It", "Bop Gun (One Nation)", "Pushin' Weight", and "You Can Do It" all charted in the top-40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Ice Cube has also had an active film career since the early 1990s. His first acting role was in the hood film Boyz n the Hood (1991), named after a 1987 N.W.A. song he wrote. He also co-wrote and starred in the 1995 comedy film Friday, which spawned a franchise and reshaped his public image into an actor. He made his directorial debut with the 1998 film The Players Club, and also produced and curated the film's accompanying soundtrack. His film credits including the comedies Three Kings (1999), the Barbershop and Are We There Yet? franchises, 21 Jump Street (2012), 22 Jump Street, Ride Along (both 2014) and Ride Along 2 (2016). He has also appeared in the XXX franchise, the crime drama Rampart (2012), the animated fantasy The Book of Life (2014), and the thriller War of the Worlds (2025). Ice Cube has also acted as executive producer, including for the 2015 biopic Straight Outta Compton.
Early life
O'Shea Jackson was born in Los Angeles on June 15, 1969, to hospital clerk and custodian Doris and machinist and UCLA groundskeeper Hosea Jackson. He has an older brother, and they had a half-sister who was murdered when Cube was 12. He is a cousin of fellow rappers Del tha Funky Homosapien and Kam. He grew up on Van Wick Street in the Westmont section of South Los Angeles. In ninth grade at George Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles, Cube began writing raps after being challenged by his friend "Kiddo" in typewriting class. Kiddo lost. He has said that his stage name came from his older brother, who "threatened to slam [him] into a freezer and pull [him] out when [he] was an ice cube".
Cube also attended William Howard Taft High School in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles. He was bused 40 miles (64 km) to the suburban school from his home in a high-crime neighborhood. In Q3 of 1987, soon after he wrote and recorded a few locally successful rap songs with N.W.A, he enrolled at the Phoenix Institute of Technology Phoenix, Arizona. In 1988, with a diploma in architectural drafting, he returned to Los Angeles and rejoined N.W.A, but kept a career in architecture drafting as a backup plan.
Music career
Early work
In 1986, at the age of 16, Ice Cube began rapping in the trio C.I.A. but soon joined the newly formed rap group N.W.A. He was N.W.A's lead rapper and main ghostwriter on its official debut album, 1989's Straight Outta Compton. Due to a financial dispute, he left the group by the start of 1990. During 1990, his debut solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, found him also leading a featured rap group, Da Lench Mob. Meanwhile, he helped develop the rapper Yo Yo.
1986: C.I.A.
With friend Sir Jinx, Ice Cube formed the rap group C.I.A., and performed at parties hosted by Dr. Dre. Since 1984, Dre had been a member of a popular DJ crew, the World Class Wreckin' Cru, which by 1985 was also performing and recording electro rap. Dre had Cube help write the Wreckin Cru's hit song "Cabbage Patch". Dre also joined Cube on a side project, a duo called Stereo Crew, which made a 12-inch record, "She's a Skag", released on Epic Records in 1986.
In 1987, C.I.A. released the Dr. Dre-produced single "My Posse". Meanwhile, the Wreckin' Cru's home base was the Eve After Dark nightclub, about a quarter of a mile outside of the city of Compton in Los Angeles County. While Dre was on the turntable, Ice Cube would rap, often parodying other artists' songs. In one instance, Cube's rendition was "My Penis", parodying Run-DMC's "My Adidas". In 2015, the nightclub's co-owner and Wreckin' leader Alonzo Williams would recall feeling his reputation damaged by this and asking it not to be repeated.
1986–1989: N.W.A.
At 16, Cube sold his first song to Eric Wright, soon dubbed Eazy-E, who was forming Ruthless Records and the musical team N.W.A, based in Compton, California. Himself from South Central Los Angeles, Cube would be N.W.A's only core member not born in Compton.
Upon the success of the song "Boyz-n-the-Hood"—written by Cube, produced by Dre, and rapped by Eazy-E, helping establish gangsta rap in California—Eazy focused on developing N.W.A, which soon gained MC Ren. Cube wrote some of Dre's and nearly all of Eazy's lyrics on N.W.A's official debut album, Straight Outta Compton, released in January 1989. Yet by the end of the year, Cube questioned his compensation and N.W.A's management by Jerry Heller.
Cube also wrote most of Eazy-E's debut album Eazy-Duz-It. He received a total pay of $32,000, and the contract that Heller presented in 1989 did not confirm that he was officially an N.W.A member. After leaving the group and its label in December, Cube sued Heller, and the lawsuit was later settled out of court. In response, N.W.A members attacked Cube on the 1990 EP 100 Miles and Runnin', and on N.W.A's next and final album, Niggaz4Life, in 1991.
1989–1993: Early solo career, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Death Certificate, and The Predator
In early 1990, Ice Cube recorded his debut solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, in New York with iconic rap group Public Enemy's production team, the Bomb Squad. Arriving in May 1990, it was an instant hit, further swelling rap's mainstream integration. Controversial nonetheless, it drew accusations of misogyny and racism. The album introduces Ice Cube's affirmation of black nationalism and ideology of black struggle.
Cube appointed Yo-Yo, a female rapper and guest on the album, to be the head of his record label, and helped produce her debut album, Make Way for the Motherlode. Also in 1990, Cube followed up with an EP—Kill At Will—critically acclaimed, and rap's first EP certified Platinum.
His second album Death Certificate was released in 1991. The album was thought to be more focused, yet even more controversial, triggering accusations of anti-white, antisemitic, and misogynistic content. The album was split into two themes: the Death Side, "a vision of where we are today", and the Life Side, "a vision of where we need to go". The track "No Vaseline" scathingly retorts insults directed at him by N.W.A's 1990 EP and 1991 album, which call him a traitor. Besides calling for hanging Eazy-E as a "house nigga", the track blames N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller for exploiting the group, mentions that he is a Jew, and calls for his murder. Ice Cube contended that he mentioned Heller's ethnicity merely incidentally, not to premise attack, but as news media mention nonwhite assailants' races. The track "Black Korea", also deemed racist, was also thought as foreseeing the 1992 Los Angeles riots. While controversial, Death Certificate broadened his audience; he toured with Lollapalooza in 1992.
Cube's third album, The Predator, was released in November 1992. Referring to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the song "Wicked" opens, "April 29 was power to the people, and we might just see a sequel." The Predator was the first album ever to debut at No. 1 on both the R&B/hip-hop and pop charts. Singles include "It Was a Good Day" and "Check Yo Self", songs having a "two-part" music video. Generally drawing critical praise, the album is his most successful commercially, over three million copies sold in the US. After this album, Cube's rap audience severely diminished, and never regained the prominence of his first three albums.
During this time, Cube began to have numerous features on other artists' songs. In 1992, Cube appeared on Del the Funky Homosapien's debut album I Wish My Brother George Was Here, on Da Lench Mob's debut Guerillas in tha Mist, which he also produced, and on the Kool G Rap and DJ Polo song "Two to the Head". In 1993, he worked on Kam's debut album, and collaborated with Ice-T on the track "Last Wordz" on 2Pac's album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z..
1993–1998: Lethal Injection and forming Westside Connection
Cube's fourth album, Lethal Injection, came out in late 1993. Here, Cube borrowed from the then-popular G-funk popularized by Dr. Dre. Although not received well by critics, the album brought successful singles, including "Really Doe", "Bop Gun (One Nation)", "You Know How We Do It", and "What Can I Do?" After this album, Ice Cube effectively lost his rap audience.
Following Lethal Injection, Cube focused on films and producing albums of other rappers, including Da Lench Mob, Mack 10, Mr. Short Khop, and Kausion. In 1994, Cube teamed with onetime N.W.A groupmate Dr. Dre, who was then leading rap's G-funk subgenre, for the first time since Cube had left the group, and which had disbanded upon Dre's 1991 departure. The result was the Cube and Dre song "Natural Born Killaz", on the Murder Was The Case soundtrack, released by Dre's then-new label, Death Row Records.
In 1995, Cube joined Mack 10 and WC in forming a side trio, the Westside Connection. Feeling neglected by East Coast media, a longstanding issue in rap's bicoastal rivalry, the group aimed to reinforce West pride and resonate with the undervalued. The Westside Connection's first album, Bow Down (1996), featured tracks like "Bow Down" and "Gangstas Make the World Go 'Round" that reflected the group's objectives. The album was certified Platinum by year's end. Interpreting rapper Common's song "I Used to Love H.E.R." as a diss of West Coast rap, Cube and the Westside Connection briefly feuded with him, but they resolved amicably in 1997.
It was also at this time that Cube began collaborating outside the rap genre. In 1997, he worked with David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails singer Trent Reznor on a remix of Bowie's "I'm Afraid of Americans". In 1998, Cube was featured on the band Korn's song "Children of the Korn", and joined them on their Family Values Tour 1998.
1998–2006: War & Peace Vol. 1 & 2 and Westside Connection reunion
In November 1998, Cube released his long-awaited fifth solo album War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc). The delayed sixth album, Volume 2, arrived in 2000. These albums feature the Westside Connection and a reunion with his old N.W.A members Dr. Dre and MC Ren. Cube also received a return favor from Korn, as they appeared on his song "Fuck Dying" from Vol. 1. Many fans maintained that these two albums, especially the second, were lesser in quality to his earlier work. In 2000, Cube also joined Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Snoop Dogg for the Up in Smoke Tour.
In 2002, Cube appeared on British DJ Paul Oakenfold's solo debut album, Bunkka, on the track "Get Em Up".
Released in 2003, Westside Connection's second album, Terrorist Threats, fared well critically, but saw lesser sales. "Gangsta Nation" (featuring Nate Dogg), the only single released, was a radio hit. After a rift between Cube and Mack 10 about Cube's film work minimizing the group's touring, the Westside Connection disbanded in 2005.
In 2004, Cube featured on the song "Real Nigga Roll Call" by Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, the then leaders of rap's crunk subgenre.
2006–2012: Laugh Now, Cry Later, Raw Footage, and I Am the West
In 2006, Cube released his seventh solo album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, selling 144,000 units in the first week. Lil Jon and Scott Storch produced the lead single, "Why We Thugs". In October, Ice Cube was honored at VH1's Annual Hip Hop Honors, and performed it and also the track "Go to Church". Cube soon toured globally in the Straight Outta Compton Tour—accompanied by rapper WC from the Westside Connection—playing in America, Europe, Australia, and Japan.
Amid Cube's many features and brief collaborations, September 2007 brought In the Movies, a compilation album of Ice Cube songs on soundtracks.
Cube's eighth studio album, Raw Footage, arrived on August 19, 2008, yielding the singles "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It" and "Do Ya Thang". Also in 2008, Cube helped on Tech N9ne's song "Blackboy", and was featured on The Game's song "State of Emergency".
As a fan of the NFL football team the Raiders, Cube released in October 2009 a tribute song, "Raider Nation". In 2009, Ice Cube performed at the Gathering of the Juggalos, and returned to perform at the 2011 festival.
On September 28, 2010, his ninth solo album, I Am the West, arrived with, Cube says, a direction different from any one of his other albums. Its producers include West Coast veterans like DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, E-A-Ski, and, after nearly 20 years, again Cube's onetime C.I.A groupmate Sir Jinx. Offering the single "I Rep That West", the album debuted at No. 22 on the Billboard 200 and sold 22,000 copies in its first week. Also in 2010, Cube signed up-and-coming recording artist named 7Tre The Ghost, deemed likely to be either skipped or given the cookie-cutter treatment by most record companies.
In 2011, Cube featured on Daz Dillinger's song "Iz You Ready to Die" and on DJ Quik's song "Boogie Till You Conk Out".
In 2012, Ice Cube recorded a verse for a remix of the Insane Clown Posse song "Chris Benoit", from ICP's The Mighty Death Pop! album, appearing on the album Mike E. Clark's Extra Pop Emporium.
In September 2012, during Pepsi's NFL Anthems campaign, Cube released his second Raiders anthem "Come and Get It".
2012–present: Everythang's Corrupt, Mount Westmore, Man Down and Man Up
In November 2012, Cube released more details on his forthcoming, tenth studio album, Everythang's Corrupt. Releasing its title track near the 2012 elections, he added, "You know, this record is for the political heads." But the album's release was delayed. On February 10, 2014, iTunes brought another single from it, "Sic Them Youngins on 'Em", and a music video followed the next day. Despite a couple of more song releases, the album's release was delayed even beyond Cube's work on the 2015 film Straight Outta Compton. After a statement setting release to 2017, the album finally arrived on December 7, 2018.
In 2014, Cube appeared on MC Ren's remix "Rebel Music", their first collaboration since the N.W.A reunion in 2000.
In 2020, Cube joined rappers Snoop Dogg, E-40, Too Short and formed the supergroup Mount Westmore. The group's debut album was released on June 7, 2022.
Throughout early 2024, Ice Cube toured across Canada as part of his Straight Into Canada tour.
Ice Cube's eleventh studio album and his first new album in six years, Man Down, was released on November 22, 2024. The album was preceded by the singles "It's My Ego", "Ego Maniacs (featuring Busta Rhymes and Killer Mike)" and "So Sensitive". On August 29, 2025, Ice Cube announced that his twelfth studio album, Man Up, would be released in 2025 and will be preceded by the first single "Before Hip Hop" on September 5, 2025.
Film and television career
Since 1991, Ice Cube has acted in nearly 40 films, several of which are highly regarded. Some of them, such as the 1992 thriller Trespass and the 1999 war comedy Three Kings, highlight action. Yet most are comedies, including a few adult-oriented ones, like the Friday franchise, whereas most of these are family-friendly, like the Barbershop franchise.
Narrative
John Singleton's seminal film Boyz n the Hood, released in July 1991, debuted the actor Ice Cube playing Doughboy, a persona that Cube played convincingly. Later, Cube starred with Ice-T and Bill Paxton in Walter Hill's 1992 thriller film Trespass, and in Charles Burnett's 1995 film The Glass Shield. Meanwhile, Cube declined to costar with Janet Jackson in Singleton's 1993 romance Poetic Justice, a role that Tupac Shakur then played.
Cube starred as the university student Fudge in Singleton's 1995 film Higher Learning. Singleton, encouraging Cube, had reportedly told him, "If you can write a record, you can write a movie." Cube cowrote the screenplay for the 1995 comedy Friday, based on adult themes, and starred in it with comedian Chris Tucker. Made with $3.5 million, Friday drew $28 million worldwide. Two sequels, Next Friday and Friday After Next, were respectively released in 2000 and 2002.
In 1997, playing a South African exiled to America who returns 15 years later, Cube starred in the action thriller Dangerous Ground, and had a supporting role in Anaconda. In 1998, writing again, the director Ice Cube debuted in The Players Club. In 1999, he starred alongside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg as a staff sergeant in Three Kings, set in the immediate aftermath of the Gulf War, whereby the United States attacked Iraq in 1990, an "intelligent" war comedy critically acclaimed. In 2002, Cube starred in Kevin Bray's All About the Benjamins, and in Tim Story's comedy film Barbershop.
In 2004, Cube played in Barbershop 2 and Torque. The next year, he replaced Vin Diesel in the second installment of the XXX film series, XXX: State of the Union, as the main protagonist, which he reprises the character in the third installment and reunited with Diesel 12 years later, XXX: Return of Xander Cage. He also appeared in the family comedy Are We There Yet?, which premised his role in its 2007 sequel Are We Done Yet?. In 2012, Cube appeared in 21 Jump Street. He also appeared in its sequel, 22 Jump Street, in 2014. That year, and then to return in 2016, he played alongside comedian Kevin Hart in two more Tim Story films, Ride Along and Ride Along 2. Also in 2016, Cube returned for the third entry in the Barbershop series. And in 2017, Cube starred with Charlie Day in the comedy Fist Fight.
In October 2021, Ice Cube was set to star in the comedy film Oh Hell No (now titled Stepdude) alongside Jack Black, but left the project after refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19. The project would have paid him $9 million.
Documentary
In late 2005, Ice Cube and R. J. Cutler co-created the six-part documentary series Black. White., carried by cable network FX.
Ice Cube and basketball star LeBron James paired up to pitch a one-hour special to ABC based on James's life.
On May 11, 2010, ESPN aired Cube's directed documentary Straight Outta L.A., examining the interplay of Los Angeles sociopolitics, hip hop, and the Raiders during the 1980s into the 1990s.
Serial television
Ice Cube's Are We There Yet? series premiered on TBS on June 2, 2010. It revolves around a family adjusting to the matriarch's new husband, played by Terry Crews. On August 16, the show was renewed for 90 more episodes, amounting to six seasons. Cube also credits Tyler Perry for his entrée to TBS. In front of the television cameras, rather, Cube appeared with Elmo as a 2014 guest on the PBS children's show Sesame Street.
Personal life
In 1990, a musical associate in the rap group Public Enemy introduced Cube to the Nation of Islam (NOI). He converted to Islam, though he denied membership in the NOI, whose ideology against white people and especially Jews led to its categorization as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. However, he readily adopted the group's ideology of black nationalism, a concept familiar to the hip hop community. He nevertheless has claimed to listen to his own conscience as a "natural Muslim", claiming to do so because "it's just [him] and God". In 2012, he expressed support for same-sex marriage. In 2017, he said that he thinks "religion is stupid" in part and explained, "I'm gonna live a long life, and I might change religions three or four times before I die. I'm on the Islam tip—but I'm on the Christian tip, too. I'm on the Buddhist tip as well. Everyone has something to offer to the world."
Ice Cube has been married to Kimberly Woodruff since April 26, 1992. They have four children together; their oldest son O'Shea Jackson Jr. (born 1991) portrayed him in the film Straight Outta Compton. When asked about the balance between his music and parenting in 2005, Cube discussed teaching his children to question the value of violence depicted in all media, not just song lyrics. Through his son O'Shea Jackson Jr., Ice Cube became a grandfather in August 2017.
In 2017, he launched Big3, a 3-on-3 basketball league starring former NBA players. Ice Cube is a notable fan of the Las Vegas Raiders, originally supporting the team during their tenure in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994. NWA's use of Raiders' memorabilia in conjunction with the team's historically intimidating presence, helped to further popularized an image for the team in hip-hop culture for years to come. Ice Cube is also a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers of MLB, performing a pregame show before game 2 of the 2024 World Series and later at the team's World Series win celebration at Dodger Stadium, and has equally been a devout fan of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Conspiracy theories and antisemitism
At a 1991 press conference promoting his album Death Certificate, Cube endorsed the Nation of Islam's pseudo-scholarly book The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, which falsely claims that European Jews dominated the Atlantic slave trade. Death Certificate also contains the song "No Vaseline", which uses racial slurs against the other former members of N.W.A and refers to the group's manager Jerry Heller as "white man", "white boy", "Jew", "white Jew", "devil" and "cracker".
In response to accusations of racism and anti-Semitism, Cube said in 2008, "I ain't got time to be fuckin' anti-Semitic, anti-this, anti-that, anti-Korean. I ain't got time for that shit. I'm too busy bein' pro-black, you know what I'm saying?" In 2015, Cube expressed regret at including the word "Jew" in the lyrics of "No Vaseline" and explained that he intended to attack only Heller and not "the whole Jewish race".
In 2020, Marlow Stern wrote an article in the Daily Beast addressing Cube's "long, disturbing history" of anti-Semitism. The article was a response to Cube's day-long Twitter posting spree the day before, during which he promoted Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. He also shared various disproven anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Again calling himself "just pro-black" and not "anti-anybody", he dismissed "the hype" and professed that he was just "telling [his] truth".
Discography
Solo studio albums
AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990)
Death Certificate (1991)
The Predator (1992)
Lethal Injection (1993)
War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc) (1998)
War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) (2000)
Laugh Now, Cry Later (2006)
Raw Footage (2008)
I Am the West (2010)
Everythang's Corrupt (2018)
Man Down (2024)
Man Up (2025)
Extended plays
Kill at Will (1990)
Collaborative studio albums
Straight Outta Compton (with N.W.A) (1989)
Bow Down (with Westside Connection) (1996)
Terrorist Threats (with Westside Connection) (2003)
Snoop Cube 40 $hort (with Mount Westmore) (2022)
Filmography
Films
Television
Video games
Tours
Steady Mobbin' Tour (1992)
The Predator Tour (1993)
Family Values Tour 1998 (1998)
Up in Smoke Tour (2000)
Raw Footage Tour (2008)
I Am the West Tour (2011)
Truth to Power: 4 Decades of Attitude Tour (2025)
Awards and nominations
Film awards
Ice Cube has received nominations for several films in the past. To date, he has won two awards:
2000: Blockbuster Entertainment Award: Favorite Action Team (for Three Kings)
2002: MECCA Movie Award: Acting Award
Music awards
VH1 Hip Hop Honors
BET Hip-Hop Awards
The BET Honors
Grammy Awards
Other
Hollywood Walk of Fame Star 2017
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Member of N.W.A. 2016
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Ice Cube Impact Award 2023
References
External links
Official website
Ice Cube at AllMusic
Ice Cube at IMDb
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Don Johnson
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Don Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor and singer-songwriter. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series Miami Vice, for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. He also played the titular character in the 1990s series Nash Bridges. Johnson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996.
Johnson has appeared in films such as A Boy and His Dog (1975), Tin Cup (1996), Machete (2010), Django Unchained (2012) and Knives Out (2019). He released the albums Heartbeat (1986) and Let It Roll (1989) as a singer. His cover version of "Heartbeat" peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Early life
Johnson was born on December 15, 1949, in his grandmother's house in Flat Creek, Missouri. His mother, Nell (née Wilson), was a beautician. His father, Fredie Wayne Johnson, was a farmer. At the time of his birth, Johnson's mother and father were 16 and 19 years old, respectively. Johnson was raised in Wichita, Kansas, where his parents relocated when he was five years old and where his father worked for Boeing Aircraft. He has described his childhood as "incredibly dysfunctional and abusive" as his parents were both frequently absent and stressed. His father subjected the children to corporal punishment. According to Johnson, he was 12 years old when he lost his virginity to his 16-year-old babysitter. Johnson's parents divorced when he was 12. He continued to live with his mother, younger sister and two younger brothers until he was 13, at which time he ended up in juvenile court and was sent to live with his father in Missouri.
He moved back home to Wichita for his senior year of high school, working part-time as a butcher's apprentice and ladies' shoe salesman. He attended Wichita South High School, from which he graduated in 1967. When he was kicked off the school's football team, Johnson enrolled in a drama class to earn enough credits to graduate. Encouraged by his teacher, he played the lead role of Tony in West Side Story. He was also exposed to the plays of Molière, Tennessee Williams and Shakespeare. During his last semester, he auditioned for the summer repertory program at the University of Kansas and won a partial scholarship. He was subsequently awarded a full scholarship to attend as a drama major. There, Johnson, 18, dated his 29-year-old acting teacher. In his sophomore year, he left to San Francisco after passing an audition for the American Conservatory Theater.
Acting career
Early years
Johnson's first major role was in the 1969 stage production of Fortune and Men's Eyes, in which he played the lead role of Smitty. The play was produced and directed by Sal Mineo at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles. It included a "shockingly realistic prison rape" scene portrayed by Johnson. This exposure led to the quickly forgotten film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970). Johnson continued to work on stage, film and television without breaking into stardom. His notable films from this period were Zachariah (1971), Lollipop and Roses (1971), The Harrad Experiment (1973) (a film in which Johnson displayed frontal nudity) and A Boy and His Dog (1975). In 1976, Johnson was the roommate of Sal Mineo at the time Mineo was murdered.
Miami Vice and stardom
In 1984, after years of struggling to establish himself as a TV actor, Johnson landed a starring role as undercover police detective Sonny Crockett in the Michael Mann/Universal Television cop series, Miami Vice. The show ran from 1984 to 1990. Miami Vice made Johnson "a major international star". According to Rolling Stone, "No one had more swagger in the Reagan era than Don Johnson. As Miami Vice's Sonny Crockett, the undercover detective and professional stubble-cultivator who lived on a houseboat with his pet alligator Elvis, he embodied masculine cool in the era of coke binges and Lamborghinis". The Sonny Crockett character typically wore thousand-dollar Versace and Armani suits over pastel cotton T-shirts, drove a Ferrari, wore expensive timepieces by Rolex and Ebel, and lived on an Endeavour yacht. Miami Vice was noted for its revolutionary use of music and cinematography, and for its glitzy take on the police drama genre. In the show, Crockett's partner was Ricardo Tubbs, played by Philip Michael Thomas.
Johnson's work on Miami Vice earned him a Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama, in 1986. He was nominated for the same award in 1987. He was also nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1985.
Between seasons on Miami Vice, Johnson gained further renown through the TV miniseries The Long Hot Summer (1985), a remake of the 1958 film. During the time he was on Miami Vice, he had set up an hour-long music video/pay cable program with videocassette versions of the programs Johnson had hosted being handled by distributor CBS/Fox Video. The project was a tie-in to his first album Heartbeat, which was released by CBS/Epic Records in 1986.
In 1988, he starred in the romantic comedy Sweet Hearts Dance, alongside Susan Sarandon, Jeff Daniels and Elizabeth Perkins. In 1989 he played the sheriff of Los Angeles County Jerry Beck in John Frankenheimer's film Dead Bang.
In the early 1990s, Johnson played a variety of roles in well-produced films, including the role of drifter and car salesman Harry Maddox in Dennis Hopper's The Hot Spot (1990) opposite Jennifer Connelly and Virginia Madsen. He worked on two films with his wife Melanie Griffith, Paradise (1991) and Born Yesterday (1993). He appeared alongside Mickey Rourke in Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991), and in Sidney Lumet's thriller Guilty as Sin (1993), opposite Rebecca De Mornay.
Nash Bridges
Johnson later starred in the 1996–2001 CBS-TV police drama Nash Bridges with Cheech Marin, Jeff Perry, Jaime P. Gomez, Kelly Hu, Wendy Moniz, Annette O'Toole, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as his daughter Cassidy, and James Gammon as his father Nick. Johnson portrayed the title role, an inspector (later promoted to captain) for the San Francisco Police Department. In Nash Bridges, Johnson was again paired with a flashy convertible car, a yellow 1971 Plymouth Barracuda.
2001–2010
In the fall of 2005, Johnson briefly starred in The WB courtroom television drama show Just Legal as a jaded lawyer with a young and idealistic protégé/partner (Jay Baruchel); the show was canceled in October 2005 after just three of the eight produced episodes aired. In January 2007, Johnson began a run in the West End of London production of Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit.
Johnson also had a role in the Norwegian comedy Lange Flate Ballær 2 ("Long Flat Balls II"), directed by Johnson's friend Harald Zwart. Johnson did the movie as a favor to Zwart. The movie was launched on March 14, 2008, in Norway, with Johnson making an appearance at the premiere. He next appeared in When in Rome with Danny DeVito, Anjelica Huston and Kristen Bell.
Johnson had a supporting role in Robert Rodriguez's film Machete. Johnson played Von Jackson, "a twisted border vigilante leading a small army". The film was released on September 3, 2010. In October 2010, he began appearing on the HBO series Eastbound & Down, playing Kenny Powers' long-lost father, going by the alias "Eduardo Sanchez". He also reprised his role as Sonny Crockett for a Nike commercial with LeBron James in which the NBA player contemplates acting and appears alongside Johnson on Miami Vice.
2011–present
In September 2011, Johnson had a cameo in the comedy A Good Old Fashioned Orgy with Jason Sudeikis. Johnson had a supporting role in the 2012 Quentin Tarantino film Django Unchained, playing a southern plantation owner named Spencer 'Big Daddy' Bennett. In 2014, Johnson starred as the character "Jim Bob" opposite Sam Shepard and Michael C. Hall in Jim Mickle's critically acclaimed crime film, Cold in July. In 2015, Johnson began starring in the ABC prime time soap opera Blood & Oil.
In 2018, he starred as the character of Arthur, the love interest of Vivian, played by Jane Fonda in Bill Holderman's romantic-comedy Book Club. In 2019, Johnson played the role of Richard Drysdale in Rian Johnson's murder-mystery Knives Out; and starred as Police Chief Judd Crawford in the HBO series Watchmen.
In 2021, Johnson co-starred on Kenan until its cancellation in May 2022. He also appeared in a Nash Bridges television film with co-star Cheech Marin on the USA Network in 2021.
In April 2024, it was announced that Johnson would be starring in the Ryan Murphy drama television series, Doctor Odyssey, which premiered on ABC and Hulu on September 26, 2024. On June 27, 2025, the series was canceled by default after one season after the main cast's options expired.
Music career
Johnson released two albums of pop music in the 1980s. Heartbeat was released in 1986. Let it Roll was released in 1989. His single "Heartbeat" reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
"Till I Loved You", a duet with then-girlfriend Barbra Streisand, was a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It was released on the Columbia Records studio album Till I Loved You on October 25, 1988. The song was re-released on the Streisand album Duets in 2002.
Personal life
Reputation
Outside his acting career, Johnson developed a reputation for leading a luxurious and hedonistic lifestyle. He was known for his hard-partying and having a large number of romantic relationships. At the height of his Miami Vice fame in the 1980s, he was a frequent drug user, including alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine, as well as Quaaludes. Johnson has described hosting parties where he and friends would invite numerous models through local modeling agencies. He was also a regular at "super-exclusive" parties in Florida attended by politicians, police, drug dealers, and "the best-looking hookers in the business".
Relationships and family
In 1968, at the age of 18, Johnson married a dancer; the marriage was annulled around two months later. Her name has not been made public.
Circa 1971, Johnson lived with self-described "groupie" Pamela Des Barres.
In 1973, Johnson married his second wife, but the marriage was annulled days later. Her name has also not been made public, though he has called her a "rich bimbo".
During the first half of 1972, Johnson met Melanie Griffith, the 14-year-old daughter of his Harrad Experiment co-star Tippi Hedren. The pair moved in together when Griffith was 15 and Johnson was 23. On her 18th birthday they became engaged, and were married in January 1976; they separated that July and divorced in November.
Johnson dated country music singer Tanya Tucker after the two worked together on the 1979 TV movies Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill and The Rebels.
In 1980, Johnson dated Sally Adams, mother of actress Nicollette Sheridan.
In January 1981, he split from Tucker after meeting Warhol model Patti D'Arbanville at a Los Angeles restaurant. The pair lived together from 1981 to 1985 but never married. Johnson and D'Arbanville have a son, Jesse Wayne Johnson (born December 7, 1982).
In the early 1980s, Johnson dated model Donya Fiorentino after he moved in next door to her family in Florida. Fiorentino broke up with Johnson but reunited with him in 1986 after she broke up with Andrew Ridgeley.
In her 2000 autobiography Cybill Disobedience, Cybill Shepherd wrote of a liaison with Johnson during the making of the television miniseries The Long Hot Summer (1985).
Johnson next had a relationship with Barbra Streisand, lasting into at least September 1988.
He was briefly involved with his Dead Bang (1989) co-star Penelope Ann Miller.
Just days after breaking up with Streisand, Johnson, then 38, was linked to 18-year-old Uma Thurman.
Johnson then reunited with Griffith, who conceived his child close to the start of 1989, Dakota Johnson (born October 4, 1989), and were married again from June of that year until 1996.
In 1995, Johnson was romantically linked to model Kari Whitman.
In 1996–1997, Johnson dated Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, who played his daughter on Nash Bridges.
On April 29, 1999, Johnson married San Francisco socialite and Montessori nursery school teacher Kelley Phleger, former longtime girlfriend of Governor Gavin Newsom, at the Pacific Heights mansion of Ann and Gordon Getty. Actor Robert Wagner served as best man, and Mayor Willie Brown presided over the civil ceremony. Johnson and Phleger have three children together: a daughter, Atherton Grace (born December 28, 1999), and two sons, Jasper Breckinridge (born June 6, 2002), and Deacon (born April 29, 2006).
Johnson was "best friends" with journalist Hunter S. Thompson, who wrote for Nash Bridges, and his daughter Dakota saw Thompson as a "godfather figure." Johnson is also a friend of socialite Denise Hale, the former wife of director Vincente Minnelli. The two were once the subject of reports alleging a romantic relationship, which both denied, stating they were merely friends.
Powerboat racing
Johnson entered powerboat racing and sometimes raced with Kurt Russell and Chuck Norris. In 1986, Johnson achieved his first motor sport victory. He won a 1,100-mile (1,800 km) powerboat race up the Mississippi River from New Orleans to St. Louis. Characterized by shipmates as an aggressive, fearless pilot who did not make mistakes, Johnson became American Power Boat Association's World Champion of the Offshore World Cup in 1988.
Legal matters
In April 1997, Johnson was sued by his former chauffeur and a former production assistant for Nash Bridges, both of whom accused him of sexual harassment. Johnson accused them of defamation and alleged they had conspired to extort $1.5 million from him. In January 1998, Johnson and the two women dropped civil charges against each other in a confidential settlement.
In July 2001, a woman sued Johnson, alleging that he grabbed her inappropriately at a sushi bar in San Francisco. The district attorney reviewed the evidence and declined to file criminal charges. Johnson's representatives maintained the accusations were meritless.
In November 2002, German customs officers at the Swiss–German border performed a routine search of Johnson's car. Bank statements evidencing US$8 billion in transactions were found in the trunk of his car. He was accompanied in his black Mercedes-Benz by three men: an investment adviser, a personal assistant, and a third unknown individual who could not be identified. Initially it was thought Johnson was involved in money laundering, but he was cleared of wrongdoing.
In May 2008, within hours of losing his Woody Creek, Colorado, home to foreclosure, Johnson paid off his $14.5 million debt.
In July 2010, a Los Angeles jury awarded Johnson $23.2 million in a lawsuit against production company Rysher Entertainment, from whom Johnson sought a share of profits commensurate with his ownership of half the copyright of Nash Bridges. Rysher announced it would appeal the verdict. In January 2013, Rysher settled the suit with a $19 million payment.
Filmography
Film
Television
Discography
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Singles
Featured singles
Videography
1987: Heartbeat - Full Length Video (VHS) - (Release date: May 10, 1987)
Awards and recognition
References
Further reading
Hershkovits, David. Don Johnson, in series, 2M Communications Production[s]. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986. ISBN 0-312-90165-8
Latham, Caroline. Miami Magic: Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, the Inside Story of the Stars of 'Miami Vice' [and of their other television and film work]. New York: Zebra Books, 1985. N.B.: The subtitle given, lacking on the t.p., is from the pbk. book's front cover. ISBN 0-8217-1800-2
External links
Don Johnson at IMDb
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Don Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor and singer-songwriter. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series Miami Vice, for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. He also played the titular character in the 1990s series Nash Bridges. Johnson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996.
Johnson has appeared in films such as A Boy and His Dog (1975), Tin Cup (1996), Machete (2010), Django Unchained (2012) and Knives Out (2019). He released the albums Heartbeat (1986) and Let It Roll (1989) as a singer. His cover version of "Heartbeat" peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Early life
Johnson was born on December 15, 1949, in his grandmother's house in Flat Creek, Missouri. His mother, Nell (née Wilson), was a beautician. His father, Fredie Wayne Johnson, was a farmer. At the time of his birth, Johnson's mother and father were 16 and 19 years old, respectively. Johnson was raised in Wichita, Kansas, where his parents relocated when he was five years old and where his father worked for Boeing Aircraft. He has described his childhood as "incredibly dysfunctional and abusive" as his parents were both frequently absent and stressed. His father subjected the children to corporal punishment. According to Johnson, he was 12 years old when he lost his virginity to his 16-year-old babysitter. Johnson's parents divorced when he was 12. He continued to live with his mother, younger sister and two younger brothers until he was 13, at which time he ended up in juvenile court and was sent to live with his father in Missouri.
He moved back home to Wichita for his senior year of high school, working part-time as a butcher's apprentice and ladies' shoe salesman. He attended Wichita South High School, from which he graduated in 1967. When he was kicked off the school's football team, Johnson enrolled in a drama class to earn enough credits to graduate. Encouraged by his teacher, he played the lead role of Tony in West Side Story. He was also exposed to the plays of Molière, Tennessee Williams and Shakespeare. During his last semester, he auditioned for the summer repertory program at the University of Kansas and won a partial scholarship. He was subsequently awarded a full scholarship to attend as a drama major. There, Johnson, 18, dated his 29-year-old acting teacher. In his sophomore year, he left to San Francisco after passing an audition for the American Conservatory Theater.
Acting career
Early years
Johnson's first major role was in the 1969 stage production of Fortune and Men's Eyes, in which he played the lead role of Smitty. The play was produced and directed by Sal Mineo at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles. It included a "shockingly realistic prison rape" scene portrayed by Johnson. This exposure led to the quickly forgotten film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970). Johnson continued to work on stage, film and television without breaking into stardom. His notable films from this period were Zachariah (1971), Lollipop and Roses (1971), The Harrad Experiment (1973) (a film in which Johnson displayed frontal nudity) and A Boy and His Dog (1975). In 1976, Johnson was the roommate of Sal Mineo at the time Mineo was murdered.
Miami Vice and stardom
In 1984, after years of struggling to establish himself as a TV actor, Johnson landed a starring role as undercover police detective Sonny Crockett in the Michael Mann/Universal Television cop series, Miami Vice. The show ran from 1984 to 1990. Miami Vice made Johnson "a major international star". According to Rolling Stone, "No one had more swagger in the Reagan era than Don Johnson. As Miami Vice's Sonny Crockett, the undercover detective and professional stubble-cultivator who lived on a houseboat with his pet alligator Elvis, he embodied masculine cool in the era of coke binges and Lamborghinis". The Sonny Crockett character typically wore thousand-dollar Versace and Armani suits over pastel cotton T-shirts, drove a Ferrari, wore expensive timepieces by Rolex and Ebel, and lived on an Endeavour yacht. Miami Vice was noted for its revolutionary use of music and cinematography, and for its glitzy take on the police drama genre. In the show, Crockett's partner was Ricardo Tubbs, played by Philip Michael Thomas.
Johnson's work on Miami Vice earned him a Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama, in 1986. He was nominated for the same award in 1987. He was also nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1985.
Between seasons on Miami Vice, Johnson gained further renown through the TV miniseries The Long Hot Summer (1985), a remake of the 1958 film. During the time he was on Miami Vice, he had set up an hour-long music video/pay cable program with videocassette versions of the programs Johnson had hosted being handled by distributor CBS/Fox Video. The project was a tie-in to his first album Heartbeat, which was released by CBS/Epic Records in 1986.
In 1988, he starred in the romantic comedy Sweet Hearts Dance, alongside Susan Sarandon, Jeff Daniels and Elizabeth Perkins. In 1989 he played the sheriff of Los Angeles County Jerry Beck in John Frankenheimer's film Dead Bang.
In the early 1990s, Johnson played a variety of roles in well-produced films, including the role of drifter and car salesman Harry Maddox in Dennis Hopper's The Hot Spot (1990) opposite Jennifer Connelly and Virginia Madsen. He worked on two films with his wife Melanie Griffith, Paradise (1991) and Born Yesterday (1993). He appeared alongside Mickey Rourke in Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991), and in Sidney Lumet's thriller Guilty as Sin (1993), opposite Rebecca De Mornay.
Nash Bridges
Johnson later starred in the 1996–2001 CBS-TV police drama Nash Bridges with Cheech Marin, Jeff Perry, Jaime P. Gomez, Kelly Hu, Wendy Moniz, Annette O'Toole, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as his daughter Cassidy, and James Gammon as his father Nick. Johnson portrayed the title role, an inspector (later promoted to captain) for the San Francisco Police Department. In Nash Bridges, Johnson was again paired with a flashy convertible car, a yellow 1971 Plymouth Barracuda.
2001–2010
In the fall of 2005, Johnson briefly starred in The WB courtroom television drama show Just Legal as a jaded lawyer with a young and idealistic protégé/partner (Jay Baruchel); the show was canceled in October 2005 after just three of the eight produced episodes aired. In January 2007, Johnson began a run in the West End of London production of Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit.
Johnson also had a role in the Norwegian comedy Lange Flate Ballær 2 ("Long Flat Balls II"), directed by Johnson's friend Harald Zwart. Johnson did the movie as a favor to Zwart. The movie was launched on March 14, 2008, in Norway, with Johnson making an appearance at the premiere. He next appeared in When in Rome with Danny DeVito, Anjelica Huston and Kristen Bell.
Johnson had a supporting role in Robert Rodriguez's film Machete. Johnson played Von Jackson, "a twisted border vigilante leading a small army". The film was released on September 3, 2010. In October 2010, he began appearing on the HBO series Eastbound & Down, playing Kenny Powers' long-lost father, going by the alias "Eduardo Sanchez". He also reprised his role as Sonny Crockett for a Nike commercial with LeBron James in which the NBA player contemplates acting and appears alongside Johnson on Miami Vice.
2011–present
In September 2011, Johnson had a cameo in the comedy A Good Old Fashioned Orgy with Jason Sudeikis. Johnson had a supporting role in the 2012 Quentin Tarantino film Django Unchained, playing a southern plantation owner named Spencer 'Big Daddy' Bennett. In 2014, Johnson starred as the character "Jim Bob" opposite Sam Shepard and Michael C. Hall in Jim Mickle's critically acclaimed crime film, Cold in July. In 2015, Johnson began starring in the ABC prime time soap opera Blood & Oil.
In 2018, he starred as the character of Arthur, the love interest of Vivian, played by Jane Fonda in Bill Holderman's romantic-comedy Book Club. In 2019, Johnson played the role of Richard Drysdale in Rian Johnson's murder-mystery Knives Out; and starred as Police Chief Judd Crawford in the HBO series Watchmen.
In 2021, Johnson co-starred on Kenan until its cancellation in May 2022. He also appeared in a Nash Bridges television film with co-star Cheech Marin on the USA Network in 2021.
In April 2024, it was announced that Johnson would be starring in the Ryan Murphy drama television series, Doctor Odyssey, which premiered on ABC and Hulu on September 26, 2024. On June 27, 2025, the series was canceled by default after one season after the main cast's options expired.
Music career
Johnson released two albums of pop music in the 1980s. Heartbeat was released in 1986. Let it Roll was released in 1989. His single "Heartbeat" reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
"Till I Loved You", a duet with then-girlfriend Barbra Streisand, was a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It was released on the Columbia Records studio album Till I Loved You on October 25, 1988. The song was re-released on the Streisand album Duets in 2002.
Personal life
Reputation
Outside his acting career, Johnson developed a reputation for leading a luxurious and hedonistic lifestyle. He was known for his hard-partying and having a large number of romantic relationships. At the height of his Miami Vice fame in the 1980s, he was a frequent drug user, including alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine, as well as Quaaludes. Johnson has described hosting parties where he and friends would invite numerous models through local modeling agencies. He was also a regular at "super-exclusive" parties in Florida attended by politicians, police, drug dealers, and "the best-looking hookers in the business".
Relationships and family
In 1968, at the age of 18, Johnson married a dancer; the marriage was annulled around two months later. Her name has not been made public.
Circa 1971, Johnson lived with self-described "groupie" Pamela Des Barres.
In 1973, Johnson married his second wife, but the marriage was annulled days later. Her name has also not been made public, though he has called her a "rich bimbo".
During the first half of 1972, Johnson met Melanie Griffith, the 14-year-old daughter of his Harrad Experiment co-star Tippi Hedren. The pair moved in together when Griffith was 15 and Johnson was 23. On her 18th birthday they became engaged, and were married in January 1976; they separated that July and divorced in November.
Johnson dated country music singer Tanya Tucker after the two worked together on the 1979 TV movies Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill and The Rebels.
In 1980, Johnson dated Sally Adams, mother of actress Nicollette Sheridan.
In January 1981, he split from Tucker after meeting Warhol model Patti D'Arbanville at a Los Angeles restaurant. The pair lived together from 1981 to 1985 but never married. Johnson and D'Arbanville have a son, Jesse Wayne Johnson (born December 7, 1982).
In the early 1980s, Johnson dated model Donya Fiorentino after he moved in next door to her family in Florida. Fiorentino broke up with Johnson but reunited with him in 1986 after she broke up with Andrew Ridgeley.
In her 2000 autobiography Cybill Disobedience, Cybill Shepherd wrote of a liaison with Johnson during the making of the television miniseries The Long Hot Summer (1985).
Johnson next had a relationship with Barbra Streisand, lasting into at least September 1988.
He was briefly involved with his Dead Bang (1989) co-star Penelope Ann Miller.
Just days after breaking up with Streisand, Johnson, then 38, was linked to 18-year-old Uma Thurman.
Johnson then reunited with Griffith, who conceived his child close to the start of 1989, Dakota Johnson (born October 4, 1989), and were married again from June of that year until 1996.
In 1995, Johnson was romantically linked to model Kari Whitman.
In 1996–1997, Johnson dated Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, who played his daughter on Nash Bridges.
On April 29, 1999, Johnson married San Francisco socialite and Montessori nursery school teacher Kelley Phleger, former longtime girlfriend of Governor Gavin Newsom, at the Pacific Heights mansion of Ann and Gordon Getty. Actor Robert Wagner served as best man, and Mayor Willie Brown presided over the civil ceremony. Johnson and Phleger have three children together: a daughter, Atherton Grace (born December 28, 1999), and two sons, Jasper Breckinridge (born June 6, 2002), and Deacon (born April 29, 2006).
Johnson was "best friends" with journalist Hunter S. Thompson, who wrote for Nash Bridges, and his daughter Dakota saw Thompson as a "godfather figure." Johnson is also a friend of socialite Denise Hale, the former wife of director Vincente Minnelli. The two were once the subject of reports alleging a romantic relationship, which both denied, stating they were merely friends.
Powerboat racing
Johnson entered powerboat racing and sometimes raced with Kurt Russell and Chuck Norris. In 1986, Johnson achieved his first motor sport victory. He won a 1,100-mile (1,800 km) powerboat race up the Mississippi River from New Orleans to St. Louis. Characterized by shipmates as an aggressive, fearless pilot who did not make mistakes, Johnson became American Power Boat Association's World Champion of the Offshore World Cup in 1988.
Legal matters
In April 1997, Johnson was sued by his former chauffeur and a former production assistant for Nash Bridges, both of whom accused him of sexual harassment. Johnson accused them of defamation and alleged they had conspired to extort $1.5 million from him. In January 1998, Johnson and the two women dropped civil charges against each other in a confidential settlement.
In July 2001, a woman sued Johnson, alleging that he grabbed her inappropriately at a sushi bar in San Francisco. The district attorney reviewed the evidence and declined to file criminal charges. Johnson's representatives maintained the accusations were meritless.
In November 2002, German customs officers at the Swiss–German border performed a routine search of Johnson's car. Bank statements evidencing US$8 billion in transactions were found in the trunk of his car. He was accompanied in his black Mercedes-Benz by three men: an investment adviser, a personal assistant, and a third unknown individual who could not be identified. Initially it was thought Johnson was involved in money laundering, but he was cleared of wrongdoing.
In May 2008, within hours of losing his Woody Creek, Colorado, home to foreclosure, Johnson paid off his $14.5 million debt.
In July 2010, a Los Angeles jury awarded Johnson $23.2 million in a lawsuit against production company Rysher Entertainment, from whom Johnson sought a share of profits commensurate with his ownership of half the copyright of Nash Bridges. Rysher announced it would appeal the verdict. In January 2013, Rysher settled the suit with a $19 million payment.
Filmography
Film
Television
Discography
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Singles
Featured singles
Videography
1987: Heartbeat - Full Length Video (VHS) - (Release date: May 10, 1987)
Awards and recognition
References
Further reading
Hershkovits, David. Don Johnson, in series, 2M Communications Production[s]. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986. ISBN 0-312-90165-8
Latham, Caroline. Miami Magic: Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, the Inside Story of the Stars of 'Miami Vice' [and of their other television and film work]. New York: Zebra Books, 1985. N.B.: The subtitle given, lacking on the t.p., is from the pbk. book's front cover. ISBN 0-8217-1800-2
External links
Don Johnson at IMDb
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Dwayne Johnson
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Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name the Rock, is an American actor, producer and professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on a part-time basis. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Johnson was integral to the development and success of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) during the Attitude Era. He wrestled for the WWF full-time for eight years before pursuing an acting career. His films have grossed over $14.9 billion worldwide, making him one of the world's highest-grossing and highest-paid actors. He is a co-owner of the United Football League, a member of the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings—the parent company of UFC and WWE—and co-founder of Seven Bucks Productions.
After accepting an athletic scholarship to play football at the University of Miami, Johnson was a member of the 1991 national championship team but was largely a backup player. Despite aspirations to play professional football, he went undrafted in the 1995 NFL draft, and briefly signed with the Calgary Stampeders before being cut in his first season. In 1996, his father assisted in helping him secure a contract with the WWF. Johnson quickly rose to global prominence, aided by a gimmick he employed as a charismatic trash talker. Johnson left the WWE in 2004; he returned in 2011 as a part-time performer until 2013 and made sporadic appearances from thereon until his retirement in 2019; in 2023, he returned once again on a part-time basis. A 10-time world champion—including the promotion's first of African-American descent—he is also a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time Tag Team Champion, the 2000 Royal Rumble winner, and WWE's sixth Triple Crown champion. Johnson headlined multiple pay-per-view events, including WWE's flagship event WrestleMania six times (15, 16, 17, 28, 29, and 40 – Night 1) which includes the most-bought professional wrestling pay-per-view (WrestleMania 28) and main evented the most-watched episodes of WWE's flagship television series (Raw and SmackDown).
Johnson's first film role was in The Mummy Returns (2001). The next year, he played his first leading role in the action fantasy film The Scorpion King. He has since starred in family films The Game Plan (2007), Race to Witch Mountain (2009), Tooth Fairy (2010), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), and Jungle Cruise (2021), and the action films Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), Hercules (2014), Skyscraper (2018), San Andreas (2015) and Rampage (2018). He also starred in the action comedy films Get Smart (2008), Central Intelligence (2016), Baywatch (2017), and Red Notice (2021). His role as Luke Hobbs in the Fast & Furious films, beginning with Fast Five (2011), helped the franchise become one of the highest-grossing in film. He joined the DC Extended Universe by playing the title role in Black Adam (2022). He has also voiced Maui in the Disney animated film Moana (2016), and its sequel Moana 2 (2024), and will reprise the role in the 2026 live-action remake.
Johnson produced and starred in the HBO comedy-drama series Ballers (2015–2019) and the autobiographical sitcom Young Rock (2021–2023). His autobiography, The Rock Says, was released in 2000 and was a New York Times bestseller. In 2016 and 2019, Time named him as one of the world's most influential people.
Early life and education
Johnson was born in Hayward, California, on May 2, 1972, the son of former professional wrestler Rocky Johnson (born Wayde Douglas Bowles) and Mataniufeagaimaleata "Ata" Fitisemanu (née Maivia). Growing up, he briefly lived in Grey Lynn in Auckland, New Zealand, with his mother's family, where he played rugby and attended Richmond Road Primary School before returning to the U.S.
Johnson's father was a Black Nova Scotian with a small amount of Irish ancestry and his mother is Samoan. His father and Tony Atlas were the first black tag team champions in WWE history, in 1983. Johnson's uncle Ricky was also a wrestler. His mother is the adopted daughter of Peter Maivia, who was also a professional wrestler. Johnson's maternal grandmother Lia was one of the first female pro wrestling promoters, taking over Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling after her husband's death in 1982 and managing it until 1988. Through his maternal grandfather Maivia, Johnson is a non-blood relative of the Anoaʻi wrestling family. In 2008, he inducted his father and grandfather into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Johnson attended Montclaire Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina, and then moved to Hamden, Connecticut, where he attended Shepherd Glen Elementary School and then Hamden Middle School. He attended President William McKinley High School in Honolulu and then Glencliff High School and McGavock High School, both in Nashville, Tennessee, and then Freedom High School in Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the state, where he graduated in 1990.
At Freedom High School, Johnson initially struggled and was drawn into a culture of conflict and petty crime. By age 17, he had been arrested several times for fighting, theft, and cheque fraud, and was suspended two weeks for fighting. An article in the local newspaper labeled him "a troubled teenager with a history of run-ins with police". But Freedom High School football coach Jody Cwik saw athletic potential in Johnson, and recruited him to join the school's football team, where he played defensive tackle, an experience that proved to be a significant personal transformation for Johnson. "My thought process started to change. That's when I started thinking about goals and what I wanted to accomplish", he has since said about his high school football experience. In addition to playing football, Johnson also was a member of Freedom High School's track and field and wrestling teams.
By his senior year at Freedom High School, Johnson had played only two years of football, but was offered a full athletic scholarship offer from the University of Miami, whose football program was beginning to emerge as one of the nation's top-level NCAA Division 1 teams.
Football career
College career
As he did in high school, Johnson continued to play defensive tackle at the University of Miami, where he was a member of the Miami Hurricanes 1991 team, which won that year's national championship. Despite playing four years there, however, Johnson found himself behind elite players on the depth chart, including future NFL star and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Warren Sapp, and appeared mostly in backup roles. In his time at Miami, Johnson played in 39 games with one start. He recorded 4.5 sacks and 77 tackles.
In 1995, Johnson graduated with a Bachelor of General Studies and a dual major in criminology and physiology. He was also one of the university's most prolific student speakers in the Miami-area community, frequently delivering positive messages about his own struggles and encouraging students to remain in school and avoid the dangers of drug use.
Canadian Football League
After graduating, Johnson was signed by the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. Calgary moved him from defensive tackle to linebacker. He was assigned to Calgary's practice roster, but was cut two months into Calgary's 1995 season.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1996)
After being cut by Calgary, Johnson began his professional wrestling career the next year, in 1996. Veteran wrestler Pat Patterson secured several tryout matches for Johnson with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1996. Wrestling at first under his real name, Johnson defeated The Brooklyn Brawler at a house show on March 10 and lost matches to Chris Candido and Owen Hart. After wrestling at Jerry Lawler's United States Wrestling Association under the name Flex Kavana and winning the USWA tag team championship twice with his partner Bart Sawyer in the summer of 1996, Johnson was signed to a WWF contract. He received additional training from Tom Prichard, alongside Achim Albrecht and Mark Henry.
World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment
Intercontinental Champion (1996–1997)
Johnson made his WWF debut as Rocky Maivia, a combination of his father and grandfather's ring names, although announcers acknowledged his real name. He was initially reluctant to take this ring name but was persuaded by Vince McMahon and Jim Ross. He was given the nickname "The Blue Chipper", and to play up his lineage, he was hyped as the WWF's first third-generation wrestler. A clean-cut face character, Maivia was pushed heavily from the start despite his wrestling inexperience. He debuted on Monday Night Raw as a member of Marc Mero's entourage on November 4, 1996. His first match came at Survivor Series on November 17, in an eight-man elimination tag match; he was the sole survivor and eliminated the final two members of the opposing team, Crush and Goldust. On February 13, 1997, he won the Intercontinental Championship from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on a Thursday edition of Monday Night Raw. Maivia then successfully defended the title against Helmsley at In Your House 13: Final Four on February 16.
Johnson's first WrestleMania match came at WrestleMania 13 on March 23, where he was victorious in his Intercontinental Championship defense against The Sultan. WWF fans started to reject his character and push from the company. He defeated Bret Hart by disqualification in a title defense on the March 31 episode of Raw is War. Behind the scenes, Hart mentored Johnson for his first year in WWF and refused to be booked to take the title from him. On April 20, at In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker, he lost to Savio Vega by countout but retained the title. Audiences became increasingly hostile toward Maivia, with chants of "die, Rocky, die" and "Rocky sucks" being heard during his matches.
After losing the Intercontinental Championship to Owen Hart on the April 28 episode of Raw Is War, Maivia suffered a legitimate knee injury in a match against Mankind in June and spent several months recovering.
Nation of Domination (1997–1998)
Upon returning in August, Maivia turned heel by lashing out at fans who had been booing him and joining Faarooq, D'Lo Brown and Kama in the stable called the Nation of Domination. He then refused to acknowledge the Rocky Maivia name, instead referring to himself in the third person as the Rock, though he would still be billed as "the Rock" Rocky Maivia until 1998. The Rock would then regularly insult the audience, WWF performers, and interviewers in his promos.
At D-Generation X: In Your House on December 7, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated the Rock in under six minutes to retain the Intercontinental Championship. The next night on Raw Is War, Austin was ordered by Mr. McMahon to defend the title in a rematch, but forfeited it to the Rock instead, handing him the title belt before hitting him with the Stone Cold Stunner. The Rock feuded with Austin and Ken Shamrock through the end of 1997 and beginning of 1998. On January 19, 1998, at the Royal Rumble, the Rock defeated Shamrock by disqualification to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Later that night, he entered the Royal Rumble match and lasted until the final two before he was eliminated by Stone Cold Steve Austin. On March 29, at WrestleMania XIV, he defeated Shamrock by disqualification once again to retain the title. The next night, on Raw is War, the Rock debuted a new Intercontinental Championship design and would later overthrow Faarooq as leader of the Nation of Domination to spark a feud between the two. He then successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Faarooq at Over the Edge: In Your House on May 31. The stable would then refer to themselves as simply "The Nation".
The Rock and the Nation then feuded with Triple H and D-Generation X (DX), with the two stable leaders first meeting in the quarter-final of the 1998 King of the Ring tournament, which the Rock won. At King of the Ring on June 28, the Rock defeated Dan Severn in the semi-final match and lost to rival Ken Shamrock in the final. The Rock then resumed his feud with Triple H, as the two had a two out of three falls match at Fully Loaded: In Your House on July 26 for the Intercontinental Championship, which the Rock retained in controversial fashion. This led to a ladder match at SummerSlam on August 30, where the Rock lost the title to Triple H.
In the latter half of 1998, the Rock saw a big uptick in fan support. He also started consolidating his famous persona during this time, which would last until 2000. His popularity caused him to be booked in a feud with fellow Nation members Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown, turning babyface in the process. Henry defeated the Rock at Judgment Day: In Your House on October 18 after interference from Brown, effectively breaking up the stable.
WWF Champion and rise to superstardom (1998–2000)
The Rock was then entered into the "Deadly Game" tournament for the vacant WWF Championship. The finals occurred at Survivor Series on November 15, where the Rock defeated Vince McMahon's associate, Mankind, to win his first WWF Championship. A "double turn" then occurred as the Rock turned heel again after allying with Vince and Shane McMahon as the crown jewel of their stable, The Corporation, after the McMahons betrayed Mankind. On December 13, at the pay-per-view named after him, Rock Bottom: In Your House, the Rock had a rematch with Mankind for the WWF Championship. Mankind appeared to win the match when the Rock passed out to the Mandible Claw submission move, but Vince McMahon ruled that since the Rock did not tap out, he retained his title.
In the main event of the January 4, 1999, episode of Raw Is War, Mankind defeated the Rock for the championship after interference from Stone Cold Steve Austin. Then at the Royal Rumble on January 24, the Rock regained the title in an "I Quit" match, a type of submission match that only ends if one of the combatants says "I quit" on a microphone. Intended to show a vicious streak in the Rock's character, the Rock hit Mankind in the head with a steel chair 11 times instead of the scripted five, five shots already being risky (most wrestling matches in the Attitude Era involving steel chairs had at most 2 or 3 shots to the head). After the fifth shot, Mankind was still ringside instead of two-thirds up the entrance ramp where he was supposed to be, and after the eleventh shot, which knocked Mankind out, a recording of Mankind saying "I Quit" from an earlier interview was played over the public address system. On January 31, during an episode of Sunday Night Heat, the Rock and Mankind participated in an Empty Arena match, a match that took place in an arena with 22,000 empty seats where any part of the facility could be used to contest the match. After 20 minutes of chaotic brawling in the ring, the stands, a kitchen, the catering area, an office, the arena corridors and finally a basement loading area, Mankind pinned the Rock using a forklift truck to win the WWF Championship. The two faced off again, at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House on February 14, in a Last Man Standing match which ended in a draw, meaning Mankind retained the title. Their feud ended on the February 15 Raw Is War, when the Rock won his third WWF Championship in a Ladder Match after a debuting Big Show interfered on his behalf. The Rock then lost the WWF Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XV on March 28.
The Rock's popularity continued to grow and audiences still cheered for him even though he was a heel. He then lost the title rematch against Stone Cold Steve Austin at Backlash: In Your House on April 25. The next night on Raw is War, the Rock was fired from The Corporation after he was betrayed by Shane McMahon, turning him face again and starting a feud with Triple H, The Undertaker and The Corporate Ministry. On April 29, 1999, WWF aired the pilot episode of SmackDown!, a term derived from one of the Rock's catchphrases. In the episode, the Rock continued his feud with The Corporate Ministry. This led to a match with Triple H, at Over the Edge on May 23, which the Rock won, and a match for the WWF Championship against The Undertaker, at King of the Ring on June 27, which the Rock lost. The Rock then lost a number one contender's match to Triple H, at Fully Loaded on July 25, after interference from "Mr. Ass" Billy Gunn. The Rock then defeated Gunn in a Kiss My Ass match at SummerSlam on August 22. The Rock was also given the privilege of having his own signature match, like The Undertaker with the Buried Alive match, Kane with the Inferno Match and Mankind with the Boiler Room Brawl: the Brahma Bullrope match, a variant of a strap match was a normal singles match where the components are tied together with a rope used for cattle farming, and the rope and its attached cowbell could both be used as weapons. The Rock contested this match twice, both times in Texas (vs Triple H in Dallas, and vs Al Snow in Houston).
Shortly after SummerSlam, the Rock began teaming with former opponent Mankind and the two became known as the Rock 'n' Sock Connection. They became WWF Tag Team Champions for the first time after defeating The Undertaker and Big Show for the titles on the August 30 episode of Raw is War. The two performed a number of critically acclaimed comedic skits together, including one called "This Is Your Life", which saw Mankind bring parody versions of people from the Rock's past on television, such as his high school girlfriend and his high school football coach, only to have the Rock insult them. The segment earned an 8.4 Nielsen rating, one of the highest ratings ever for a Raw segment. The two lost the titles back to Undertaker and Big Show on the September 9 episode of SmackDown! and won them back from them on the September 20 episode of Raw is War. The Rock and Mankind then lost the titles to The New Age Outlaws on the very next episode of SmackDown!. The Rock and Mankind would win the tag titles for the third and final time after beating the New Age Outlaws on the October 14 episode of SmackDown! before losing the titles to The Holly Cousins on the October 18 episode of Raw is War.
At the Royal Rumble on January 23, 2000, the Rock entered the Royal Rumble match and was one of the final two remaining, along with Big Show. In an attempt at a "false finish", Big Show intended to throw the Rock over the top rope in a running powerslam-like position, before the Rock countered the move on the ring apron, sending Big Show to the floor before reentering the ring as the winner. But the Rock's feet accidentally hit the floor during the reversal attempt, though those watching the event on television did not see that. This was played up in the storyline as Big Show provided additional video footage showing it and claimed to be the rightful winner. The Rock's number one contendership for the WWF Championship was then put on the line against Big Show at No Way Out on February 27, which Big Show won after Shane McMahon interfered. The Rock then defeated Big Show on the March 13 episode of Raw Is War, to regain the right to face the WWF Champion, Triple H, at WrestleMania 2000 on April 2, in a Fatal Four-way elimination match, also including Big Show and Mick Foley. Each wrestler had a McMahon in his corner: Triple H had his wife, Stephanie, Foley had Linda, the Rock had Vince and Big Show had Shane. The Rock lasted until the final two but was eliminated by Triple H after Vince betrayed him by hitting him with a chair.
Due to his image at the time, a Magic: The Gathering deck archetype was named after him.
Record-breaking world champion (2000–2002)
In the following weeks, the Rock continued his feud with Triple H and eventually won his fourth WWF Championship, which he won on April 30, at Backlash, after Stone Cold Steve Austin intervened on his behalf. The following night on Raw is War, the Rock successfully defended his title against Shane McMahon in a Steel Cage match. On May 21, at Judgment Day, the Rock faced Triple H in an Iron Man match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. With the score tied at five falls each, and with seconds left on the time limit, the Rock was disqualified when The Undertaker attacked Triple H, thus giving Triple H the 6–5 win and the title. The Rock won the WWF Championship for a fifth time at King of the Ring on June 25 by scoring the winning pin in a six-man tag team match, teaming with Kane and The Undertaker against Shane McMahon, Triple H and Vince McMahon, whom he pinned. The Rock successfully defended the championship against Chris Benoit on July 23 at Fully Loaded. The next month, he successfully defended his title against Kurt Angle and Triple H at SummerSlam on August 27. The Rock had another successful title defense against Benoit, Kane and The Undertaker on September 24 at Unforgiven.
The Rock then lost the WWF Championship to Kurt Angle at No Mercy on October 22, 2000. The next month, The Rock feuded with Rikishi and defeated him at Survivor Series on November 19. The Rock wrestled a six-man Hell in a Cell match for the WWF Championship at Armageddon on December 10, which Angle won to retain the title. On the December 18 episode of Raw is War, the Rock won the WWF Tag Team Championship with The Undertaker, defeating Edge and Christian, before losing the titles back to Edge and Christian the next night at a SmackDown! taping. The Rock continued to feud with Angle over the WWF Championship, culminating at No Way Out on February 25, 2001, where he pinned Angle to win the WWF Championship for a sixth time. The Rock then feuded with the Royal Rumble winner, Stone Cold Steve Austin, whom he lost the title to at WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1 after Austin allied with Vince McMahon, who interfered on his behalf. On the next night's Raw is War, during a steel cage title rematch, Triple H attacked the Rock, allying with McMahon and Austin and helping Austin retain the championship. Austin and Triple H then formed a tag team called The Power Trip, while the Rock was indefinitely suspended in storyline. Johnson used this time off to act in The Scorpion King.
The Rock returned in late July when the WWF was feuding with rival promotions World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) during what is known as The Invasion storyline. In reality, WCW was purchased by Vince McMahon and the WWF, and ECW had gone out of business in early 2001. Many former WCW and ECW wrestlers were then brought onto WWF television and formed The Alliance to compete with the WWF in storyline. The Alliance and Vince McMahon then both attempted to persuade the Rock to join their team. The Rock then aligned with McMahon and the WWF. The next month, the Rock defeated Booker T at SummerSlam on August 19 to win the WCW Championship for the first time. He later lost the title to Chris Jericho at No Mercy on October 21. The next night on Raw, he teamed with Jericho to win the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Dudley Boyz. The two then lost the tag titles to Booker T and Test on the November 1, 2001, episode of SmackDown!. The Rock defeated Jericho on the November 5 episode of Raw for his second WCW Championship.
As part of the WWF's battle against The Alliance, the Rock wrestled in a "winner takes all" five-on-five elimination tag team match at Survivor Series on November 18 where the losing team's company would be dissolved in storyline. He was a member of Team WWF along with Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kane, and Big Show. The Alliance's team consisted of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Shane McMahon. In the end, it came down to a one-on-one between the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock seemed to have the upper hand, until his teammate Jericho entered the ring and attacked the Rock. Austin tried to capitalize on this by pinning the Rock, but Kurt Angle revealed his true allegiance by attacking Austin. The Rock then pinned Austin, giving Team WWF the victory and forcing The Alliance to disband. The Rock's WCW Championship was renamed the unbranded "World Championship" following the Alliance's loss. At the next pay-per-view, Vengeance on December 9, The Rock lost the World Championship to Jericho, who would then unify the WWF and World titles later that night. The Rock then unsuccessfully challenged Jericho for the now Undisputed WWF Championship at Royal Rumble on January 20, 2002.
At the next pay-per-view, No Way Out on February 17, the Rock defeated The Undertaker in a singles match. The event also saw the WWF debut of the famed WCW faction New World Order (nWo), which at the time consisted of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall. This later led to a match between the Rock and Hogan at WrestleMania X8 on March 17. The match was billed as "icon versus icon", with both men representing the top tier of two generations of wrestling; ultimately the Rock pinned Hogan at WrestleMania X8 to win the match. Despite the Rock portraying a heroic character and Hogan a villain, a portion of the crowd attending the SkyDome was rooting heavily for Hogan. In an interview in 2013, Hogan said he and the Rock changed the style of the match on the fly based on the crowd's response. After the introduction of the first-ever brand extension, the WWF held a "draft lottery" on the March 25, 2002, episode of Raw. The Rock was the number one overall pick, going to the SmackDown! brand before taking a sabbatical from wrestling.
The Rock made a surprise return on a June episode of Raw before going to his assigned brand of SmackDown!. There, he was named the number one contender for the WWE Undisputed Championship, which he won for a record-setting seventh time at Vengeance on July 21, by defeating Kurt Angle and then-champion The Undertaker in a Triple Threat match. The Rock successfully defended the title at the Global Warning event on August 10 against Triple H and Brock Lesnar after pinning Triple H. On August 25, at SummerSlam, the Rock lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to Lesnar along with the record for the youngest WWE Champion, which he had set in 1998. In 2018, writing for ESPN.com, Sean Coyle noted in a retrospective review of the event, that following his victory over Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8, The Rock "started to see a dip in fan support" and "that dip turned into a plunge" by the time the Rock had his match with Lesnar at SummerSlam because fans knew he was leaving WWE to pursue an acting career, as evidenced by the negative crowd response during his match with Lesnar. After SummerSlam ended, the Rock was visibly angry at the crowd reaction. When he tried to do a post-show speech for the crowd, the fans booed him. He eventually cut a short promo, declaring that "sing-along with the Rock is over!" The Rock then took time off to kickstart his acting career.
Hollywood Rock (2003)
The Rock returned on the January 30, 2003, episode of SmackDown! to set up another match with Hulk Hogan at No Way Out on February 23. Because of negative fan reaction during previous matches as a result of his budding acting career, the Rock turned heel. He also started a new persona that has been called Hollywood Rock, with a new look and a shaved head. The Rock defeated Hogan at No Way Out before moving to the Raw brand. There, he had various small feuds, including one with The Hurricane. He also began performing "Rock Concerts", segments in which he played the guitar and mocked WWE performers and fans in song.
After failing to win a number one contendership for the World Heavyweight Championship, the Rock went into another program with Stone Cold Steve Austin. This led to a match at WrestleMania XIX on March 30, which called back to their previous two WrestleMania encounters, both of which Austin had won. The Rock won after delivering three consecutive Rock Bottoms, ending their long-running rivalry in what turned out to be Austin's final match, until WrestleMania 38. The next night, Raw was billed as "the Rock Appreciation Night", in honor of his victory over Austin. That night, he was attacked by a debuting Goldberg. At Backlash on April 27, Goldberg defeated the Rock, who then briefly left WWE to film Walking Tall.
Final feuds and departure (2003–2004)
On the June 2 episode of Raw, the Rock joined the Highlight Reel and attacked Christian and Chris Jericho with Booker T, turning face once again. He would later return on the December 8 episode of Raw to help Mick Foley against La Résistance. In 2004, the Rock aided Mick Foley in his feud against Evolution, leading to a reunion of the Rock 'n' Sock Connection. They lost against Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and Batista in a handicap match at WrestleMania XX on March 14, 2004, when Orton pinned Foley after an RKO. This was Johnson's final wrestling match until November 2011. The Rock appeared in WWE sporadically following WrestleMania XX. He made returns to provide support for Eugene against Jonathan Coachman and made a cameo in his hometown of Miami, where he confronted Randy Orton. On the August 23 episode of Raw, he hosted a pie-eating contest, as part of the WWE Diva Search, and ended the segment by giving Coachman a People's Elbow. The Rock's contract with WWE then ended and he started his full-time acting career.
Non-wrestling appearances (2007–2009)
On March 12, 2007, the Rock appeared on a WWE show after nearly three years, via a pre-taped promo shown during Raw. He correctly predicted that Bobby Lashley would defeat Umaga at WrestleMania 23 in Donald Trump's and Vince McMahon's "Battle of the Billionaires" Hair vs. Hair match. On March 29, 2008, Johnson inducted his father Rocky Johnson and grandfather Peter Maivia into the WWE Hall of Fame. His next appearance was through a pre-taped promo on October 2, 2009, during the Decade of SmackDown.
Independent circuit (2009)
On September 30, 2009, the Rock appeared at a World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) show to support the professional wrestling debut of Sarona Snuka, the daughter of his longtime friend and mentor Jimmy Snuka.
Return to WWE
Feud with John Cena (2011–2013)
On February 14, 2011, the Rock was announced as the host of WrestleMania XXVII on April 3, 2011, appearing live on Raw. During a lengthy promo, he addressed the fans and started a feud with John Cena. After numerous appearances via satellite, the Rock appeared live on the Raw before WrestleMania XXVII to confront Cena. After he and Cena exchanged insults, The Miz and Alex Riley appeared and attacked the Rock; he fended off Miz and Riley, only for Cena to blindside him with an Attitude Adjustment.
On April 3, at WrestleMania XXVII, the Rock opened the show by cutting a promo. After appearing in numerous backstage segments, the Rock came to ringside to restart the main event between Cena and the Miz as a No Disqualification match, after it had ended in a double countout. As revenge for the Attitude Adjustment Cena had given him on Raw, the Rock hit Cena with the Rock Bottom, allowing the Miz to pin him and retain the WWE Championship. After the match, the Rock attacked the Miz and hit him with the People's Elbow. The next night on Raw, the Rock and Cena agreed to a match at WrestleMania XXVIII the next year. They then worked together to fend off an attack by The Corre, which at the time consisted of Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, and Ezekiel Jackson.
The Rock appeared live on Raw in his hometown of Miami to celebrate his 39th birthday. On September 16, WWE announced the Rock would wrestle in a traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series tag team match, teaming with Cena at Survivor Series in November. But on the October 24 episode of Raw SuperShow, Cena instead suggested the Rock be his partner in a standard tag team match against The Miz and R-Truth, a team called Awesome Truth, which Rock agreed to the next week. On November 14, during the special Raw Gets Rocked, the Rock appeared live, delivering Rock Bottoms to Mick Foley, who had been hosting a "This Is Your Life"-style segment for Cena, and later both members of Awesome Truth. The Rock and Cena defeated Awesome Truth on November 20 at Survivor Series, when the Rock pinned The Miz. After the match, the Rock gave Cena a Rock Bottom.
Leading up to WrestleMania, the Rock and Cena had several verbal confrontations on Raw SuperShow. On the March 12, 2012, episode of Raw SuperShow, the Rock hosted his first "Rock Concert" segment since 2004, mocking Cena in his songs. On April 1, at WrestleMania XXVIII, the Rock defeated Cena in the main event after countering Cena's attempt at a People's Elbow into a Rock Bottom and pinning Cena. This event broke the record for biggest professional wrestling pay-per-view buyrate. The following night on Raw SuperShow, the Rock praised Cena, calling their match "an honor". He then vowed to once again become WWE Champion.
On July 23, at Raw 1000, the Rock announced he would wrestle for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. During the show, he encountered then-reigning WWE Champion CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and John Cena, all of whom expressed a desire to face him. The Rock later saved Cena from an assault by Big Show, only to be laid out by CM Punk. On the January 7, 2013, episode of Raw, the Rock returned to confront his Royal Rumble opponent CM Punk. On January 11, he made his first SmackDown appearance in ten years, getting into an altercation with Team Rhodes Scholars, resulting in him delivering a Rock Bottom to Damien Sandow and a People's Elbow to Cody Rhodes. The Rock closed out the 20th-anniversary episode of Raw, on January 14, with one of his "Rock Concerts", leading to a brawl with CM Punk. The following week on Raw, the Rock was attacked by The Shield. Vince McMahon then asserted that if The Shield attacked the Rock in his title match with CM Punk, Punk would be stripped of the WWE Championship.
On January 27, at the Royal Rumble, CM Punk would seemingly defeat the Rock after the arena lights went out and someone attacked the Rock. Vince McMahon then came out and was about to strip Punk of the championship, however, at the Rock's request, he instead restarted the match. This culminated in the Rock defeating Punk to win his eighth WWE Championship. Punk received a title rematch with the Rock, at Elimination Chamber on February 17, 2013, with the added stipulation that if the Rock was disqualified or counted out, he would still lose the WWE Championship. The Rock would pin Punk to defeat him and retain the championship. The following night on Raw, the Rock unveiled a new WWE Championship design, with a different center plate and removable customizable side-plates which had his "Brahma Bull" logo. The Rock then resumed his rivalry with John Cena, who won that year's Royal Rumble to set up a rematch of the previous WrestleMania match between the two at WrestleMania 29, only this time with the WWE Championship on the line.
On April 7, at WrestleMania 29, the Rock lost the WWE Championship to Cena, ending his reign at 70 days. Despite being advertised for Raw after WrestleMania, where it was stated that the Rock was still entitled a rematch for the WWE Championship, The Rock did not appear because of a real injury sustained during his match with Cena, in which his abdominal and adductor tendons tore from his pelvis. Johnson underwent surgery on April 23 to reattach the torn tendons. Post surgery, it made his abdomen look far less muscular than the rest of his body, notably his arms.
Part-time appearances (2014–2023)
In April 2014, the Rock appeared in the opening segment of WrestleMania XXX along with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan. On the October 6 episode of Raw, the Rock made a surprise appearance to confront Rusev and Lana; this resulted in the Rock clearing Rusev from the ring. On the 15th Anniversary of SmackDown on October 10, the Rock would make an appearance in a backstage segment, where he and Triple H would reminisce on their past feud.
The Rock appeared at the 2015 Royal Rumble event on January 25, 2015, during the main event match, where he helped his relative Roman Reigns fend off Big Show and Kane after Reigns eliminated them from the match. Reigns then won the match and the Rock endorsed him in the ring. The Rock appeared at WrestleMania 31 on March 29, 2015, alongside Ronda Rousey, getting into an in-ring altercation with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Rock and Rousey prevailed after he attacked Triple H and she overpowered McMahon. On June 27, the Rock appeared at a live event in Boston, where he confronted Bo Dallas and gave him a Rock Bottom.
On the January 25, 2016, episode of Raw, the Rock was in a segment that saw him converse with the Miz, Big Show, Lana and Rusev before he and his relatives, the Usos, got into an altercation with then-WWE Tag Team Champions, the New Day. The Rock appeared at WrestleMania 32 on April 3, 2016, where he announced that WWE had broken the all-time WrestleMania attendance record before being interrupted by The Wyatt Family. The Rock got into a verbal back-and-forth with Bray Wyatt before having an impromptu match with Wyatt Family member Erick Rowan. The Rock won after giving Rowan a Rock Bottom and pinning him in six seconds, which set the record for the fastest win in WrestleMania history. The Rock was then aided by a returning John Cena to fend off Wyatt, Rowan and Braun Strowman.
On the February 20, 2017, episode of Raw, the Rock made an untelevised appearance after the broadcast had gone off the air, where he promoted and filmed a scene for his then-upcoming film Fighting with My Family. On August 3, 2019, the Rock officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling. On September 30, 2019, after weeks of speculation, the Rock announced that he would appear on SmackDown's 20th Anniversary on October 4, 2019, marking his first appearance on SmackDown since October 2014 and his first televised appearance since April 2016. At the event, he cut a promo with Becky Lynch before they were interrupted by King Corbin. After attacking Corbin, the Rock and Lynch celebrated in the ring.
On September 15, 2023, the Rock made a surprise return to SmackDown, in a segment with Pat McAfee and Austin Theory, who Rock took out within the segment. This marked his first televised appearance in WWE since October 4, 2019.
The Final Boss (2024–present)
It was teased that a former WWE Champion would be appearing on the Day 1 edition of Raw on January 1, 2024; the unidentified champion was at first revealed to be Jinder Mahal, who insulted the crowd before being interrupted by the Rock in his first live appearance on Raw since 2016. The two brawled and the Rock emerged victorious, after which he asked the crowd if he should sit at "the head of the table" in a direct reference to Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, his relative whose nickname is "The Head of the Table". The Rock also appeared on the February 2 episode of SmackDown, where he confronted Reigns after Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes decided against choosing Reigns as his WrestleMania 40 opponent to allow the Rock to face Reigns. This was met by intense backlash from fans who wanted Rhodes to face Reigns; the WrestleMania XL media event on February 8 thus saw The Rock align himself with Reigns, chastise Rhodes for reversing his decision not to choose Reigns as his WrestleMania opponent, and slap Rhodes for speaking out against the Anoaʻi family (of which the Rock and Reigns are both members). As WWE's chief creative officer Triple H was being interviewed backstage over what had just transpired, the Rock and Reigns walked by and told him to "fix it" or they would, though Triple H would later appear on SmackDown to stand by Rhodes' decision.
On the February 16 episode of SmackDown, the Rock officially joined Reigns' faction The Bloodline; he also debuted a new persona that incorporated facets of his arrogant "Hollywood Rock" incarnation from 2003, such as insulting the audience, wearing gaudy expensive clothes, and entering the arena to a new entrance theme that began with his heroic character's music before transitioning into his "Hollywood Rock" music. He then appeared on the March 1 episode of SmackDown, where he gave his new character the nickname of "The Final Boss" and issued a challenge to Rhodes and Seth "Freakin" Rollins: if they beat him and Reigns in a tag team match at WrestleMania Night 1, Rhodes' championship match against Reigns on Night 2 would be free of interference from The Bloodline, but if Rhodes and Rollins lost, the championship match would be contested under "Bloodline Rules". Rhodes and Rollins accepted the challenge the following week. On the March 25 episode of Raw, the Rock attacked Rhodes backstage, leaving him beaten and bloody in the parking lot. During the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame, the Rock received a "People's Championship" from Muhammad Ali's wife Lonnie, which he would begin carrying over his shoulder whenever he appeared onscreen. In the Night 1 main event of WrestleMania XL, The Rock and Reigns defeated Rhodes and Rollins. During the Night 2 main event between Reigns and Rhodes, multiple people interfered on behalf of both men; the Rock appeared and hit John Cena with a Rock Bottom after the two stared each other down, but The Undertaker then appeared and chokeslammed the Rock. Rhodes went on to defeat Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Championship. The following night on Raw, the Rock interrupted Rhodes' celebration to congratulate him and reveal that he would be leaving for a while, but would be coming after Rhodes when he returns; this allowed Johnson time off to film the biopic The Smashing Machine. During his hiatus, Solo Sikoa became the new leader of The Bloodline, starting the Bloodline Civil War.
Six months later, in the main event of Bad Blood on October 5, Rhodes and Reigns teamed up to face members of The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu) from which Reigns had been ousted, defeating Sikoa and Fatu with the help of a returning Jimmy Uso. Following the match, the Rock returned and stood at the top of the entrance ramp, where he silently counted to three and made a throat slashing gesture to Reigns, Rhodes, and Uso before leaving. The Rock returned on the Raw premiere on Netflix on January 6, 2025, thanking Rhodes for all his work as the face of the company and hugging him. Later that night, the Rock embraced Reigns after the latter defeated Sikoa to reclaim his Ula Fala and Tribal Chief title. The next night at New Year's Evil, the Rock made his first appearance on the NXT brand. He sought advice from his daughter, NXT general manager Ava, and spoke to Ethan Page. In a promo that closed out the television special, he addressed criticism towards his actions the night before on Raw. On the February 21 episode of SmackDown, the Rock made an appearance to announce that WrestleMania 42 would take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, where SmackDown was being taped. The Rock also called out Cody Rhodes, where he offered to elevate Rhodes as a star in exchange for Rhodes' loyalty and cryptically stated that he wanted Rhodes' soul. On March 1 at Elimination Chamber: Toronto, Rhodes refused the Rock's offer, who responded by signalling Elimination Chamber match winner John Cena to attack Rhodes, leaving him beaten and bloodied in the assault.
Mainstream crossover
The Rock appeared on Wyclef Jean's 2000 single "It Doesn't Matter" and in its music video. He also recorded "Pie" with Slick Rick for WWF The Music, Vol. 5. In 1999, Johnson appeared on That '70s Show as his father Rocky Johnson. The next year, he was on Star Trek: Voyager as an alien wrestler who used the Rock's moves. In 2000, he hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL) for the first time. Fellow wrestlers Triple H, Big Show, and Mick Foley also appeared on the show. Johnson has said the success of that episode is the reason he began receiving offers from Hollywood studios. He has since hosted SNL four more times.
In 1999, the Rock was listed No. 1 on Entertainment Weekly's Top 12 Entertainers of the Year. In 2000, Access Hollywood ranked him No. 1 in their list of the Top 10 Celebrities of 2000. That year, Rock was also listed in the Forbes Celebrity 100 and People Magazine's 25 Most Intriguing People. The Rock was listed on Entertainment Weekly's 101 Most Influential People in both 2000 and 2001. In 2001, he was also listed on E!'s 20 Top Entertainers. In 2002, the Rock was listed on E!'s 25 Toughest Stars. In 2003, he was listed in VH1's 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons and was No. 7 in People Magazine's 50 Favorite TV Stars.
The Rock made a surprise appearance at the official Xbox unveiling during Bill Gates's keynote speech at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show in 2001. Johnson's motion picture debut was as The Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns (2001). The movie broke a two-year record for the highest-grossing single day in film history by earning $28,594,667. The movie's financial success led to Johnson's first leading role in the spin-off The Scorpion King (2002). He received $5.5 million for the role and Guinness World Records named him the record-holder for highest-paid actor in their first leading role.
The Rock has appeared on the covers of many magazines, including Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and TV Guide. He has also appeared in, and been the cover athlete for, several video games. As of October 2024, his Instagram account is the sixth most-followed in the world, with over 395 million followers.
Legacy in professional wrestling
The Rock has been listed as one of the all-time greatest professional wrestlers, as well as one of the top draws in wrestling history. Many have placed the Rock on their "Mount Rushmore of Pro Wrestling", including Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and John Cena. In Cable Visions: Television Beyond Broadcasting, the Rock was described as "for a long time, the WWE's biggest star and probably held the greatest international appeal". R. D. Reynolds stated in his book The WrestleCrap Book of Lists that the Rock was "the biggest star for WWE from 1999 until 2004". The Rock's "I quit" match with Mankind at the 1999 Royal Rumble event is infamous for its brutality and one of the most popular "I quit" match of all times.
The Rock main-evented the most bought pay-per-view worldwide in WWE history (WrestleMania XXVIII), the most bought pay-per-view domestically in WWE history (WrestleMania X-Seven), the highest rated Raw in history, the highest rated SmackDown in history, and was part of the highest rated cable segment in WWE history with Mankind entitled "This is Your Life", in which Mankind would honor the Rock with various gifts and reunions. His return in 2001 had a 7.1 rating, the highest-rated segment of the year. The Rock was also part of the highest-rated match of the 21st century when his WWF Championship defense against Shane McMahon, on May 1, 2000, got an 8.3 rating, making it the highest-rated segment of all time, behind "This Is Your Life". In 2011, the Rock's return to an episode of Raw generated an average of 4.7 million viewers in the United States, with 7.4 million tuning in during his promo. Raw 1000 was the highest rated Raw episode of 2012 and his segment with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan was the highest rated segment of the show. In 2013, the night after the Rock won the WWE Championship, at Royal Rumble, Raw got its highest rating of that year.
Derived from one of his catchphrases "lay the smackdown", WWE introduced in 1999 its second flagship program, WWE SmackDown, which became television's second longest-running weekly episodic program in history. The term "smackdown" was included in Merriam-Webster dictionaries in 2007. He is also known for popularizing the term "jabroni", derived from "jobber", although it was originally introduced by The Iron Sheik. The Rock holds the record for most Raw shows main-evented in one year (38 in 2000), most SmackDown shows main-evented in one year (36 in 2000), and is tied with Stone Cold Steve Austin (in 2001) for most PPV shows main evented in one year (12 in 2000). The Rock is also one of two wrestlers (the other being The Undertaker) to main event WrestleMania in four different decades: 1990s: XV (1999); 2000s: WrestleMania 2000 (2000), X-Seven (2001); 2010s: XXVIII (2012), 29 (2013); 2020s: XL (2024).
At the 2021 Survivor Series, WWE held a 25-man Battle Royal to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Rock's WWE debut. The match was won by Omos.
Acting career
Johnson entered Hollywood and had early success due to his wrestling popularity and noted work ethic. Over his acting career, he became one of the highest-paid and most successful actors in Hollywood.
Career beginnings (1999–2010)
He began his acting career on television while wrestling. In his first television acting job, in 1999, he portrayed his father Rocky Johnson in an episode of That '70s Show called "That Wrestling Show". Nearly a year later, he appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Tsunkatse" as an alien wrestler who fought against Seven of Nine. While Johnson was away from WWE, the company continued to sell "the Rock" merchandise, and he continued to be featured prominently in the opening montages of their television shows.
Johnson made his theatrical debut in The Mummy Returns (2001), playing the antagonist Mathayus "The Scorpion King". He reprised this role in the spin-off film The Scorpion King (2002), where he starred as the titular character. Johnson was paid $5.5 million for his leading role, putting him in the Guinness World Records for the highest salary for a first-time leading man. The film was a commercial success and despite mixed reception, Johnson's acting was praised. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote, "I expect him to become a durable action star".
In the following years, he worked in action films The Rundown (2003), and Walking Tall (2004), but these films failed to gain success. He had a supporting role in the comedy Be Cool (2005) as a homosexual bodyguard hoping to become an actor, and was the primary antagonist in the horror film Doom (2005). He also worked in the sports drama Gridiron Gang (2006), comedy Reno 911!: Miami (2007), and thriller Southland Tales (2006). He had further success by playing an arrogant famous American football player in the sports family comedy The Game Plan (2007), Agent 23 in spy action comedy Get Smart (2008), a cab driver in the science fiction film Race to Witch Mountain (2009), the title character in the fantasy comedy Tooth Fairy (2010) and a police officer in buddy cop comedy The Other Guys (2010). Johnson returned to action genre in the unsuccessful Faster (2010).
Johnson made his voice acting debut in the 2006 video game Spyhunter: Nowhere to Run, originally intended as a tie-in for an unproduced film. He also voiced NASA astronaut Chuck in the 2009 animated sci-fi comedy Planet 51. He presented the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 80th Academy Awards.
Commercial success (2011–2020)
Johnson's first big box-office success came in 2011, portraying Luke Hobbs in Fast Five (2011); the film became the seventh highest-grossing film of 2011. Following this, all of Johnson's projects in the 2010s decade achieved major success and established him as a bankable actor. He next starred in the box office hit Journey 2: The Mysterious Island in 2012. He became known for reinvigorating film franchises after portraying Marvin F. Hinton / Roadblock in G.I. Joe: Retaliation and reprising his role as Luke Hobbs in Fast & Furious 6 (2013), while also starring in true-story films Pain & Gain (2013) and Empire State (2013). That same year, he hosted and produced the TNT reality competition series The Hero, and won the Favorite Male Buttkicker Award at the 2013 Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards. In May 2013, it was announced that he would executive produce and star in Ballers, an HBO comedy-drama series about NFL players living in Miami. By December of that year, Forbes named him the top-grossing actor of 2013, with his films bringing in $1.3 billion worldwide for the year. Forbes credited the success of Fast & Furious 6, which grossed $789 million globally, and his frequent acting work as primary reasons for topping the list.
Johnson starred as the title character in Hercules in 2014 and hosted another reality series for TNT that same year, entitled Wake Up Call, which saw him "lending a helping hand to everyday people who were facing enormous challenges in their lives" alongside guest experts such as Rocco DiSpirito, Jillian Michaels, and Josh Shipp. In 2015, Johnson reprised his role as Luke Hobbs in Furious 7 and starred in the disaster film San Andreas. In 2016, he co-starred with Kevin Hart in the action-comedy Central Intelligence and had a lead voice role in the Disney animated film Moana, in which he voiced Maui. He reprised his role as Luke Hobbs in The Fate of the Furious, which was released in 2017. Johnson starred in two other blockbuster movies that year, Baywatch and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle as Mitchell "Mitch" Buchannon and Dr. Smolder Bravestone, respectively. In 2018, he starred in two solo box office hits Rampage and Skyscraper.
Johnson's role within the Fast & Furious franchise continued with Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, starring alongside co-star Jason Statham. David Leitch directed the project from a script co-written by franchise-writer Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce. The film began principal photography in September 2018, and was released on July 26, 2019. Johnson reprised his role as Bravestone, in Jumanji: The Next Level. With the critical and financial success of Welcome to the Jungle, production of the movie began in early 2019, and it was released on December 13, 2019.
Johnson's films grossed $10.6 billion in the 2010s, making him the decade's sixth-highest-grossing actor and the highest-grossing actor outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Career fluctuations (2021–2024)
In 2021, after a year long hiatus, Johnson co-starred with Emily Blunt in Disney's Jungle Cruise as Frank Wolff. The film is based on the theme-park ride of the same name. Jaume Collet-Serra directed, with a script by Michael Green from a previous one by J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay. In addition to his work on the film, Johnson assisted with re-designing the titular ride for all Disney theme parks. Jungle Cruise was released on July 30, 2021. On March 16, 2021, he appeared for the first time as the video game character, The Foundation, in Fortnite Battle Royale. Johnson was initially uncredited in his role, yet hinted at his involvement through a series of Instagram posts. His involvement was finally confirmed during the Chapter 2 End Event on December 4, 2021, with The Foundation removing his helmet to reveal that he shared Johnson's voice and likeness. Also in 2021, Johnson starred in Netflix's film Red Notice, written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. It is the third time that the two collaborated, after Central Intelligence and Skyscraper. It co-stars Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds. It is the most watched film on Netflix of all time.
Johnson voiced Krypto the Superdog in the animated feature DC League of Super Pets (2022), which was released theatrically in July and emerged as a success. On November 14, 2019, he had announced a late 2021 release date for the superhero Black Adam film. Production on Black Adam began filming in April 2021 and was released on October 21, 2022. He earned $22.5 million to star in the film and received millions more for producing and promoting it on social media. However, the anticipated film received mixed to negative reviews and turned out to be a box office disappointment. Following the failure of Black Adam, Johnson's star power came under scrutiny, and his involvement in creative decisions faced criticism.
In 2023, Johnson voiced his Moana character Maui in Disney crossover short film Once Upon a Studio. In May 2023, Johnson reprised his role as Luke Hobbs in a cameo appearance during the mid-credits scene of Fast X. By the early 2020s, Johnson faced increasing criticism for consistently portraying similar characters, often described as charismatic, larger-than-life figures who are both physically imposing and possess a dry wit. These roles frequently involve action or adventure elements, and the characters tend to be heroic, if sometimes reluctant, protagonists.
Johnson has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Actor's Branch since 2017, in 2024, he presented an award alongside Bad Bunny. In November 2024, Johnson reunited with director Jake Kasdan to star alongside Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and J. K. Simmons, in the Christmas themed action comedy Red One, which didn't fare well both critically and financially. However, it became one of the top streamed movies of 2024 after its release on Amazon Prime. In the same month, he reprised his voice role of Maui from Moana (2016), in its sequel Moana 2. Despite receiving mixed reception, the film opened strongly and set several box office records. It eventually emerged as the third highest-grossing film of 2024.
Diversification (2025–present)
He was next seen portraying former MMA fighter Mark Kerr in Benny Safdie's biographical sports drama The Smashing Machine (2025). Full facial prosthetics and a wig were used to transform Johnson's appearance to resemble Kerr. When asked about taking on a serious, intimate drama after years of big-budget action and comedy films, Johnson expressed excitement about finally exploring personal struggles on-screen that he had never before addressed. He described the process as both frightening and liberating. Critics noted that he used the opportunity to pivot his brand and persona toward that of a serious actor. The film premiered at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2025. It received a standing ovation and a Golden Lion award nomination. The film garnered positive reviews, with Nicholas Barber of the BBC describing Johnson's portrayal as "impressively vulnerable." The performance sparked discussions about a potential Oscar nomination for the actor. It had its wide release on October 3, 2025, but was met with a poor theatrical response, and is understood to be Johnson's lowest grossing opening ever.
In 2026, he will portray Maui again in the live action adaptation Moana (2026). In February 2025, Johnson was cast in a crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt. The film will depict the mafia's influence in Hawaii, with Johnson portraying an aspiring mob boss's rise within the criminal underworld. He will reteam with Safdie for the film Lizard Music, based on the Daniel Pinkwater teen novel of the same name.
Producing
In 2012, Johnson founded his production company Seven Bucks Productions. Though originally attached as producer and star, Johnson will now serve solely as the former on a film adaptation of The Janson Directive. John Cena will fill the leading role, with Akiva Goldsman attached as screenwriter. Additionally, he will produce and star in a Netflix exclusive film titled John Henry & The Statesmen, as the titular folklore hero. The film will be directed by Jake Kasdan, from a script by Kasdan and Tom Wheeler. With the first official teaser trailer released in October 2018, the project marks Kasdan's and Johnson's third collaboration, after Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level.
In 2019, Johnson produced and appeared as himself in Fighting with My Family, a comedy drama about Saraya Bevis and her family, who are also professional wrestlers. Johnson will co-produce and star in The King, a film about king Kamehameha Kūnuiākea, founder and first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. The project will be directed by Robert Zemeckis from a script by Randall Wallace. The movie will be comparable to Braveheart in tone, given Wallace's work on both films, and will depict the king's role in resolving the wars among the islands of Hawaiʻi. The King was scheduled to begin production in 2020, but was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson is also attached to produce/star in a sequel to Big Trouble in Little China, as well as project under development with Shane Black focusing on a new interpretation of Doc Savage.
In 2021, his biographical comedy-drama series Young Rock began airing on NBC. A film centered around Teth-Adam/Black Adam, a part of the DC Extended Universe, was announced to be in development in January 2017. Originally cast in the role as early as September 2014 as the antagonist, in a film centered around the superhero Billy Batson/Shazam, his villainous role for Shazam! was reworked into two separate films. Johnson did not appear in Shazam!, but he served as a producer and his likeness was used through special effects in flashback scenes.
Business career
In March 2020, Johnson launched Teremana Tequila, which sold 600,000 nine-litre cases in its first year and is valued at approximately $3.5 billion.
In August 2020, Johnson along with several partners and investors—including RedBird Capital Partners—purchased the XFL for $15 million. Within months, Johnson announced plans for the relaunch of the league in spring 2022. While the launch was delayed a year, the first games of 2023 kicked off on time. After a successful 2023 season, the XFL and United States Football League announced their intent to merge into a single league. On December 31, 2023, it was announced that the new merged league would be called the United Football League (UFL). The league would feature 8 teams and start on March 30, 2024. Johnson, along with Dany Garcia, and RedBird Capital Partners own 50% of the UFL together under XFL Properties LLC.
On January 23, 2024, Johnson joined the TKO Group Holdings board of directors. In the process, he obtained full ownership over his trademarked name "The Rock", which was owned by WWE. As part of the settlement, Johnson signed a new services and merchandising agreement with WWE.
Other work
In 2000, Johnson published his autobiography, The Rock Says..., co-written with Joe Layden. It debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list and remained on the list for several weeks. In 2013, Johnson hosted and produced the TNT reality competition series The Hero. In 2014, he hosted another TNT reality series, Wake Up Call. In 2019, Johnson started hosting the NBC competition series The Titan Games.
In March 2016, Johnson partnered with American fitness apparel manufacturer Under Armour to release "Project Rock". The first item in his partnership with Under Armour, a gym bag, sold out in a couple of days. His second item, a black T-shirt sporting his signature "Brahma bull", sold out after being worn at WrestleMania 32. Johnson also released an alarm clock app as part of "Project Rock" that received more than one million downloads in its first week of release. Since then, they have released sneakers, headphones, and other apparel.
In 2016, Johnson started his YouTube channel. His first video, The YouTube Factory, featured online personality Lilly Singh and several other internet stars. In 2019, Johnson announced he would launch a competitive bodybuilding show, "Athleticon", with his business partner and ex-wife, Dany Garcia. It is set to rival other long-standing bodybuilding shows such as The Arnold Classic and Joe Weider's Mr. Olympia. The show was set to debut in October 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia, but plans were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A fan of the rapper Tech N9ne, Johnson is featured on the song "Face Off" from the rapper's 2021 album Asin9ne.
Activism and philanthropy
Politics
As part of WWE's non-partisan "Smackdown Your Vote" campaign aiming to encourage young people to vote, Johnson had a speaking role at the 2000 Republican National Convention and attended the 2000 Democratic National Convention less than two weeks later.
Johnson voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, but did not vote in 2016, and was an independent voter as of 2017. He endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, but told Fox News in an April 2024 interview that he regretted the decision due to it causing "division" and refused to endorse anyone in 2024.
Johnson has expressed interest in running for president, telling USA Today in February 2021 that he would "consider a presidential run in the future if that's what the people wanted". Following an online poll which found that 46% of Americans would consider voting for Johnson in an election, he told Today in April 2021, "I do have that goal to unite our country and I also feel that if this is what the people want, then I will do that".
Charity
Johnson has worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation on a number of occasions. In 2021, Johnson dedicated his People’s Choice Award to an Armenian cancer survivor.
In 2006, Johnson founded the Dwayne Johnson Rock Foundation, a charity working with at-risk and terminally ill children. In 2007, he and his then-wife, Dany Garcia, donated $1 million to the University of Miami to support the renovation of its football facilities; the university renamed the Miami Hurricanes' locker room in his honor.
In 2015, actress Michelle Trachtenberg tagged Johnson in a tweet about an abandoned dog that her local shelter had rescued and named after him, prompting him to donate $1,500 to the GoFundMe for the dog's lifesaving surgery. In 2017, he donated $25,000 to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. In 2018, he donated a gym to a military base in Oahu, Hawaii. After the 2018 Hawaii floods, he worked with the nonprofit organization Malama Kauai to help repair flood damage.
Johnson made a seven-figure donation to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, which foundation president Courtney B. Vance cited as the largest single donation that the foundation had ever received from one individual at one time. The following month, Johnson and Oprah Winfrey announced the creation of the People's Fund of Maui in response to the 2023 Hawaii wildfires and asked people to donate. They also donated $5 million each to it. The announcement received backlash from fans, who criticized Johnson and Oprah for requesting donations while having net worths of $800 million and $2.5 billion respectively; Johnson apologized in October.
Personal life
In 2009, Johnson obtained Canadian citizenship through his father's birth and citizenship there. In 2017, he had the small "Brahma bull" tattoo on his right arm covered with a larger half-sleeve tattoo of a bull's skull.
Johnson is a supporter of the Samoa national rugby league team, and publicly pledged his support to the team during the 2021 Rugby League World Cup when the team made the finals for the first time.
Johnson has experienced multiple episodes of depression, beginning in his college years. He has spoken publicly about the importance of seeking help and being open about mental health struggles, advocating for increased awareness and support.
Relationships
Johnson first met Dany Garcia when they were both University of Miami students in the early 1990s. They married on May 3, 1997. She is a businesswoman, International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation professional bodybuilder, and producer. They have one child, Simone, a daughter, who was born August 14, 2001, in Davie, Florida.
In 2003, Johnson got a partial Samoan Peʻa tattoo on his left side. In August 2004, in recognition of his service to the Samoan people, and because he is a descendant of Samoan chiefs, Johnson was given the noble title Seiuli, meaning the son of Malietoa [Alo o Malietoa], by Malietoa Tanumafili II during his visit there.
On June 1, 2007, Johnson and Garcia announced they were separating amicably. The divorce was finalized in May 2008.
In 2007, Johnson began dating Lauren Hashian, the daughter of Sib Hashian, the drummer for the band Boston. They met in 2006 while Johnson was filming The Game Plan. On August 18, 2019, Johnson and Hashian married in Hawaii. They have two daughters, Jasmine and Tiana, and live in Los Angeles. They also maintain a farm in Virginia and a home in Southwest Ranches, Florida. Jasmine and Tiana provided voices for Johnson's 2024 film Moana 2.
In February 2020, WWE announced that Johnson's daughter Simone had started training at the WWE Performance Center, making her the first fourth-generation WWE wrestler. On May 16, Johnson announced she had signed a contract with WWE, and announced in May 2022 that her ring name would be Ava Raine. She has since been appearing on the NXT brand.
Discography
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
Championships and accomplishments
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Match of the Year (1999) vs. Mankind in an "I Quit" match at Royal Rumble
Match of the Year (2002) vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1999, 2000)
Wrestler of the Year (2000)
Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2000
Sports Illustrated
Ranked No. 3 of the 20 Greatest WWE Wrestlers Of All Time
United States Wrestling Association
USWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Bart Sawyer
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Best Box Office Draw (2000, 2011, 2012)
Best Gimmick (1999)
Best on Interviews (1999, 2000)
Most Charismatic (1999–2002, 2011, 2012, 2024)
Most Improved (1998)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2007)
WWE/World Wrestling Entertainment/Federation
WWE Championship (8 times)
WCW Championship (2 times)
WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
WWF Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Mankind (3), The Undertaker (1), and Chris Jericho (1)
Royal Rumble (2000)
Sixth Triple Crown Champion
Deadly Games WWF Championship Tournament (1998)
Slammy Award (10 times)
Best Actor (2014)
Game Changer of the Year (2011) – with John Cena
Guess Who's Back or: Return of the Year (2011)
LOL! Moment of the Year (2012, 2013) – insulting John Cena using the history of Boston, Massachusetts, Rock Concert on the 20th anniversary episode of Raw
Match of the Year (2013) – vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 29
New Sensation (1997)
"Tell Me You Didn't Just Say That" Insult of the Year (2014) – insulting Rusev and Lana
"This is Awesome" Moment of the Year (2015) – with Ronda Rousey
Trash Talker of the Year (2024)
Awards and honors
Notes
References
External links
Dwayne Johnson at IMDb
Dwayne Johnson on Instagram
Dwayne Johnson's profile at WWE , Cagematch , Wrestlingdata , Internet Wrestling Database
Dwayne Johnson profile at Miami Hurricanes football
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Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name the Rock, is an American actor, producer and professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on a part-time basis. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Johnson was integral to the development and success of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) during the Attitude Era. He wrestled for the WWF full-time for eight years before pursuing an acting career. His films have grossed over $14.9 billion worldwide, making him one of the world's highest-grossing and highest-paid actors. He is a co-owner of the United Football League, a member of the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings—the parent company of UFC and WWE—and co-founder of Seven Bucks Productions.
After accepting an athletic scholarship to play football at the University of Miami, Johnson was a member of the 1991 national championship team but was largely a backup player. Despite aspirations to play professional football, he went undrafted in the 1995 NFL draft, and briefly signed with the Calgary Stampeders before being cut in his first season. In 1996, his father assisted in helping him secure a contract with the WWF. Johnson quickly rose to global prominence, aided by a gimmick he employed as a charismatic trash talker. Johnson left the WWE in 2004; he returned in 2011 as a part-time performer until 2013 and made sporadic appearances from thereon until his retirement in 2019; in 2023, he returned once again on a part-time basis. A 10-time world champion—including the promotion's first of African-American descent—he is also a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time Tag Team Champion, the 2000 Royal Rumble winner, and WWE's sixth Triple Crown champion. Johnson headlined multiple pay-per-view events, including WWE's flagship event WrestleMania six times (15, 16, 17, 28, 29, and 40 – Night 1) which includes the most-bought professional wrestling pay-per-view (WrestleMania 28) and main evented the most-watched episodes of WWE's flagship television series (Raw and SmackDown).
Johnson's first film role was in The Mummy Returns (2001). The next year, he played his first leading role in the action fantasy film The Scorpion King. He has since starred in family films The Game Plan (2007), Race to Witch Mountain (2009), Tooth Fairy (2010), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), and Jungle Cruise (2021), and the action films Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), Hercules (2014), Skyscraper (2018), San Andreas (2015) and Rampage (2018). He also starred in the action comedy films Get Smart (2008), Central Intelligence (2016), Baywatch (2017), and Red Notice (2021). His role as Luke Hobbs in the Fast & Furious films, beginning with Fast Five (2011), helped the franchise become one of the highest-grossing in film. He joined the DC Extended Universe by playing the title role in Black Adam (2022). He has also voiced Maui in the Disney animated film Moana (2016), and its sequel Moana 2 (2024), and will reprise the role in the 2026 live-action remake.
Johnson produced and starred in the HBO comedy-drama series Ballers (2015–2019) and the autobiographical sitcom Young Rock (2021–2023). His autobiography, The Rock Says, was released in 2000 and was a New York Times bestseller. In 2016 and 2019, Time named him as one of the world's most influential people.
Early life and education
Johnson was born in Hayward, California, on May 2, 1972, the son of former professional wrestler Rocky Johnson (born Wayde Douglas Bowles) and Mataniufeagaimaleata "Ata" Fitisemanu (née Maivia). Growing up, he briefly lived in Grey Lynn in Auckland, New Zealand, with his mother's family, where he played rugby and attended Richmond Road Primary School before returning to the U.S.
Johnson's father was a Black Nova Scotian with a small amount of Irish ancestry and his mother is Samoan. His father and Tony Atlas were the first black tag team champions in WWE history, in 1983. Johnson's uncle Ricky was also a wrestler. His mother is the adopted daughter of Peter Maivia, who was also a professional wrestler. Johnson's maternal grandmother Lia was one of the first female pro wrestling promoters, taking over Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling after her husband's death in 1982 and managing it until 1988. Through his maternal grandfather Maivia, Johnson is a non-blood relative of the Anoaʻi wrestling family. In 2008, he inducted his father and grandfather into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Johnson attended Montclaire Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina, and then moved to Hamden, Connecticut, where he attended Shepherd Glen Elementary School and then Hamden Middle School. He attended President William McKinley High School in Honolulu and then Glencliff High School and McGavock High School, both in Nashville, Tennessee, and then Freedom High School in Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the state, where he graduated in 1990.
At Freedom High School, Johnson initially struggled and was drawn into a culture of conflict and petty crime. By age 17, he had been arrested several times for fighting, theft, and cheque fraud, and was suspended two weeks for fighting. An article in the local newspaper labeled him "a troubled teenager with a history of run-ins with police". But Freedom High School football coach Jody Cwik saw athletic potential in Johnson, and recruited him to join the school's football team, where he played defensive tackle, an experience that proved to be a significant personal transformation for Johnson. "My thought process started to change. That's when I started thinking about goals and what I wanted to accomplish", he has since said about his high school football experience. In addition to playing football, Johnson also was a member of Freedom High School's track and field and wrestling teams.
By his senior year at Freedom High School, Johnson had played only two years of football, but was offered a full athletic scholarship offer from the University of Miami, whose football program was beginning to emerge as one of the nation's top-level NCAA Division 1 teams.
Football career
College career
As he did in high school, Johnson continued to play defensive tackle at the University of Miami, where he was a member of the Miami Hurricanes 1991 team, which won that year's national championship. Despite playing four years there, however, Johnson found himself behind elite players on the depth chart, including future NFL star and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Warren Sapp, and appeared mostly in backup roles. In his time at Miami, Johnson played in 39 games with one start. He recorded 4.5 sacks and 77 tackles.
In 1995, Johnson graduated with a Bachelor of General Studies and a dual major in criminology and physiology. He was also one of the university's most prolific student speakers in the Miami-area community, frequently delivering positive messages about his own struggles and encouraging students to remain in school and avoid the dangers of drug use.
Canadian Football League
After graduating, Johnson was signed by the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. Calgary moved him from defensive tackle to linebacker. He was assigned to Calgary's practice roster, but was cut two months into Calgary's 1995 season.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1996)
After being cut by Calgary, Johnson began his professional wrestling career the next year, in 1996. Veteran wrestler Pat Patterson secured several tryout matches for Johnson with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1996. Wrestling at first under his real name, Johnson defeated The Brooklyn Brawler at a house show on March 10 and lost matches to Chris Candido and Owen Hart. After wrestling at Jerry Lawler's United States Wrestling Association under the name Flex Kavana and winning the USWA tag team championship twice with his partner Bart Sawyer in the summer of 1996, Johnson was signed to a WWF contract. He received additional training from Tom Prichard, alongside Achim Albrecht and Mark Henry.
World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment
Intercontinental Champion (1996–1997)
Johnson made his WWF debut as Rocky Maivia, a combination of his father and grandfather's ring names, although announcers acknowledged his real name. He was initially reluctant to take this ring name but was persuaded by Vince McMahon and Jim Ross. He was given the nickname "The Blue Chipper", and to play up his lineage, he was hyped as the WWF's first third-generation wrestler. A clean-cut face character, Maivia was pushed heavily from the start despite his wrestling inexperience. He debuted on Monday Night Raw as a member of Marc Mero's entourage on November 4, 1996. His first match came at Survivor Series on November 17, in an eight-man elimination tag match; he was the sole survivor and eliminated the final two members of the opposing team, Crush and Goldust. On February 13, 1997, he won the Intercontinental Championship from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on a Thursday edition of Monday Night Raw. Maivia then successfully defended the title against Helmsley at In Your House 13: Final Four on February 16.
Johnson's first WrestleMania match came at WrestleMania 13 on March 23, where he was victorious in his Intercontinental Championship defense against The Sultan. WWF fans started to reject his character and push from the company. He defeated Bret Hart by disqualification in a title defense on the March 31 episode of Raw is War. Behind the scenes, Hart mentored Johnson for his first year in WWF and refused to be booked to take the title from him. On April 20, at In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker, he lost to Savio Vega by countout but retained the title. Audiences became increasingly hostile toward Maivia, with chants of "die, Rocky, die" and "Rocky sucks" being heard during his matches.
After losing the Intercontinental Championship to Owen Hart on the April 28 episode of Raw Is War, Maivia suffered a legitimate knee injury in a match against Mankind in June and spent several months recovering.
Nation of Domination (1997–1998)
Upon returning in August, Maivia turned heel by lashing out at fans who had been booing him and joining Faarooq, D'Lo Brown and Kama in the stable called the Nation of Domination. He then refused to acknowledge the Rocky Maivia name, instead referring to himself in the third person as the Rock, though he would still be billed as "the Rock" Rocky Maivia until 1998. The Rock would then regularly insult the audience, WWF performers, and interviewers in his promos.
At D-Generation X: In Your House on December 7, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated the Rock in under six minutes to retain the Intercontinental Championship. The next night on Raw Is War, Austin was ordered by Mr. McMahon to defend the title in a rematch, but forfeited it to the Rock instead, handing him the title belt before hitting him with the Stone Cold Stunner. The Rock feuded with Austin and Ken Shamrock through the end of 1997 and beginning of 1998. On January 19, 1998, at the Royal Rumble, the Rock defeated Shamrock by disqualification to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Later that night, he entered the Royal Rumble match and lasted until the final two before he was eliminated by Stone Cold Steve Austin. On March 29, at WrestleMania XIV, he defeated Shamrock by disqualification once again to retain the title. The next night, on Raw is War, the Rock debuted a new Intercontinental Championship design and would later overthrow Faarooq as leader of the Nation of Domination to spark a feud between the two. He then successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Faarooq at Over the Edge: In Your House on May 31. The stable would then refer to themselves as simply "The Nation".
The Rock and the Nation then feuded with Triple H and D-Generation X (DX), with the two stable leaders first meeting in the quarter-final of the 1998 King of the Ring tournament, which the Rock won. At King of the Ring on June 28, the Rock defeated Dan Severn in the semi-final match and lost to rival Ken Shamrock in the final. The Rock then resumed his feud with Triple H, as the two had a two out of three falls match at Fully Loaded: In Your House on July 26 for the Intercontinental Championship, which the Rock retained in controversial fashion. This led to a ladder match at SummerSlam on August 30, where the Rock lost the title to Triple H.
In the latter half of 1998, the Rock saw a big uptick in fan support. He also started consolidating his famous persona during this time, which would last until 2000. His popularity caused him to be booked in a feud with fellow Nation members Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown, turning babyface in the process. Henry defeated the Rock at Judgment Day: In Your House on October 18 after interference from Brown, effectively breaking up the stable.
WWF Champion and rise to superstardom (1998–2000)
The Rock was then entered into the "Deadly Game" tournament for the vacant WWF Championship. The finals occurred at Survivor Series on November 15, where the Rock defeated Vince McMahon's associate, Mankind, to win his first WWF Championship. A "double turn" then occurred as the Rock turned heel again after allying with Vince and Shane McMahon as the crown jewel of their stable, The Corporation, after the McMahons betrayed Mankind. On December 13, at the pay-per-view named after him, Rock Bottom: In Your House, the Rock had a rematch with Mankind for the WWF Championship. Mankind appeared to win the match when the Rock passed out to the Mandible Claw submission move, but Vince McMahon ruled that since the Rock did not tap out, he retained his title.
In the main event of the January 4, 1999, episode of Raw Is War, Mankind defeated the Rock for the championship after interference from Stone Cold Steve Austin. Then at the Royal Rumble on January 24, the Rock regained the title in an "I Quit" match, a type of submission match that only ends if one of the combatants says "I quit" on a microphone. Intended to show a vicious streak in the Rock's character, the Rock hit Mankind in the head with a steel chair 11 times instead of the scripted five, five shots already being risky (most wrestling matches in the Attitude Era involving steel chairs had at most 2 or 3 shots to the head). After the fifth shot, Mankind was still ringside instead of two-thirds up the entrance ramp where he was supposed to be, and after the eleventh shot, which knocked Mankind out, a recording of Mankind saying "I Quit" from an earlier interview was played over the public address system. On January 31, during an episode of Sunday Night Heat, the Rock and Mankind participated in an Empty Arena match, a match that took place in an arena with 22,000 empty seats where any part of the facility could be used to contest the match. After 20 minutes of chaotic brawling in the ring, the stands, a kitchen, the catering area, an office, the arena corridors and finally a basement loading area, Mankind pinned the Rock using a forklift truck to win the WWF Championship. The two faced off again, at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House on February 14, in a Last Man Standing match which ended in a draw, meaning Mankind retained the title. Their feud ended on the February 15 Raw Is War, when the Rock won his third WWF Championship in a Ladder Match after a debuting Big Show interfered on his behalf. The Rock then lost the WWF Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XV on March 28.
The Rock's popularity continued to grow and audiences still cheered for him even though he was a heel. He then lost the title rematch against Stone Cold Steve Austin at Backlash: In Your House on April 25. The next night on Raw is War, the Rock was fired from The Corporation after he was betrayed by Shane McMahon, turning him face again and starting a feud with Triple H, The Undertaker and The Corporate Ministry. On April 29, 1999, WWF aired the pilot episode of SmackDown!, a term derived from one of the Rock's catchphrases. In the episode, the Rock continued his feud with The Corporate Ministry. This led to a match with Triple H, at Over the Edge on May 23, which the Rock won, and a match for the WWF Championship against The Undertaker, at King of the Ring on June 27, which the Rock lost. The Rock then lost a number one contender's match to Triple H, at Fully Loaded on July 25, after interference from "Mr. Ass" Billy Gunn. The Rock then defeated Gunn in a Kiss My Ass match at SummerSlam on August 22. The Rock was also given the privilege of having his own signature match, like The Undertaker with the Buried Alive match, Kane with the Inferno Match and Mankind with the Boiler Room Brawl: the Brahma Bullrope match, a variant of a strap match was a normal singles match where the components are tied together with a rope used for cattle farming, and the rope and its attached cowbell could both be used as weapons. The Rock contested this match twice, both times in Texas (vs Triple H in Dallas, and vs Al Snow in Houston).
Shortly after SummerSlam, the Rock began teaming with former opponent Mankind and the two became known as the Rock 'n' Sock Connection. They became WWF Tag Team Champions for the first time after defeating The Undertaker and Big Show for the titles on the August 30 episode of Raw is War. The two performed a number of critically acclaimed comedic skits together, including one called "This Is Your Life", which saw Mankind bring parody versions of people from the Rock's past on television, such as his high school girlfriend and his high school football coach, only to have the Rock insult them. The segment earned an 8.4 Nielsen rating, one of the highest ratings ever for a Raw segment. The two lost the titles back to Undertaker and Big Show on the September 9 episode of SmackDown! and won them back from them on the September 20 episode of Raw is War. The Rock and Mankind then lost the titles to The New Age Outlaws on the very next episode of SmackDown!. The Rock and Mankind would win the tag titles for the third and final time after beating the New Age Outlaws on the October 14 episode of SmackDown! before losing the titles to The Holly Cousins on the October 18 episode of Raw is War.
At the Royal Rumble on January 23, 2000, the Rock entered the Royal Rumble match and was one of the final two remaining, along with Big Show. In an attempt at a "false finish", Big Show intended to throw the Rock over the top rope in a running powerslam-like position, before the Rock countered the move on the ring apron, sending Big Show to the floor before reentering the ring as the winner. But the Rock's feet accidentally hit the floor during the reversal attempt, though those watching the event on television did not see that. This was played up in the storyline as Big Show provided additional video footage showing it and claimed to be the rightful winner. The Rock's number one contendership for the WWF Championship was then put on the line against Big Show at No Way Out on February 27, which Big Show won after Shane McMahon interfered. The Rock then defeated Big Show on the March 13 episode of Raw Is War, to regain the right to face the WWF Champion, Triple H, at WrestleMania 2000 on April 2, in a Fatal Four-way elimination match, also including Big Show and Mick Foley. Each wrestler had a McMahon in his corner: Triple H had his wife, Stephanie, Foley had Linda, the Rock had Vince and Big Show had Shane. The Rock lasted until the final two but was eliminated by Triple H after Vince betrayed him by hitting him with a chair.
Due to his image at the time, a Magic: The Gathering deck archetype was named after him.
Record-breaking world champion (2000–2002)
In the following weeks, the Rock continued his feud with Triple H and eventually won his fourth WWF Championship, which he won on April 30, at Backlash, after Stone Cold Steve Austin intervened on his behalf. The following night on Raw is War, the Rock successfully defended his title against Shane McMahon in a Steel Cage match. On May 21, at Judgment Day, the Rock faced Triple H in an Iron Man match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. With the score tied at five falls each, and with seconds left on the time limit, the Rock was disqualified when The Undertaker attacked Triple H, thus giving Triple H the 6–5 win and the title. The Rock won the WWF Championship for a fifth time at King of the Ring on June 25 by scoring the winning pin in a six-man tag team match, teaming with Kane and The Undertaker against Shane McMahon, Triple H and Vince McMahon, whom he pinned. The Rock successfully defended the championship against Chris Benoit on July 23 at Fully Loaded. The next month, he successfully defended his title against Kurt Angle and Triple H at SummerSlam on August 27. The Rock had another successful title defense against Benoit, Kane and The Undertaker on September 24 at Unforgiven.
The Rock then lost the WWF Championship to Kurt Angle at No Mercy on October 22, 2000. The next month, The Rock feuded with Rikishi and defeated him at Survivor Series on November 19. The Rock wrestled a six-man Hell in a Cell match for the WWF Championship at Armageddon on December 10, which Angle won to retain the title. On the December 18 episode of Raw is War, the Rock won the WWF Tag Team Championship with The Undertaker, defeating Edge and Christian, before losing the titles back to Edge and Christian the next night at a SmackDown! taping. The Rock continued to feud with Angle over the WWF Championship, culminating at No Way Out on February 25, 2001, where he pinned Angle to win the WWF Championship for a sixth time. The Rock then feuded with the Royal Rumble winner, Stone Cold Steve Austin, whom he lost the title to at WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1 after Austin allied with Vince McMahon, who interfered on his behalf. On the next night's Raw is War, during a steel cage title rematch, Triple H attacked the Rock, allying with McMahon and Austin and helping Austin retain the championship. Austin and Triple H then formed a tag team called The Power Trip, while the Rock was indefinitely suspended in storyline. Johnson used this time off to act in The Scorpion King.
The Rock returned in late July when the WWF was feuding with rival promotions World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) during what is known as The Invasion storyline. In reality, WCW was purchased by Vince McMahon and the WWF, and ECW had gone out of business in early 2001. Many former WCW and ECW wrestlers were then brought onto WWF television and formed The Alliance to compete with the WWF in storyline. The Alliance and Vince McMahon then both attempted to persuade the Rock to join their team. The Rock then aligned with McMahon and the WWF. The next month, the Rock defeated Booker T at SummerSlam on August 19 to win the WCW Championship for the first time. He later lost the title to Chris Jericho at No Mercy on October 21. The next night on Raw, he teamed with Jericho to win the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Dudley Boyz. The two then lost the tag titles to Booker T and Test on the November 1, 2001, episode of SmackDown!. The Rock defeated Jericho on the November 5 episode of Raw for his second WCW Championship.
As part of the WWF's battle against The Alliance, the Rock wrestled in a "winner takes all" five-on-five elimination tag team match at Survivor Series on November 18 where the losing team's company would be dissolved in storyline. He was a member of Team WWF along with Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kane, and Big Show. The Alliance's team consisted of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Shane McMahon. In the end, it came down to a one-on-one between the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock seemed to have the upper hand, until his teammate Jericho entered the ring and attacked the Rock. Austin tried to capitalize on this by pinning the Rock, but Kurt Angle revealed his true allegiance by attacking Austin. The Rock then pinned Austin, giving Team WWF the victory and forcing The Alliance to disband. The Rock's WCW Championship was renamed the unbranded "World Championship" following the Alliance's loss. At the next pay-per-view, Vengeance on December 9, The Rock lost the World Championship to Jericho, who would then unify the WWF and World titles later that night. The Rock then unsuccessfully challenged Jericho for the now Undisputed WWF Championship at Royal Rumble on January 20, 2002.
At the next pay-per-view, No Way Out on February 17, the Rock defeated The Undertaker in a singles match. The event also saw the WWF debut of the famed WCW faction New World Order (nWo), which at the time consisted of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall. This later led to a match between the Rock and Hogan at WrestleMania X8 on March 17. The match was billed as "icon versus icon", with both men representing the top tier of two generations of wrestling; ultimately the Rock pinned Hogan at WrestleMania X8 to win the match. Despite the Rock portraying a heroic character and Hogan a villain, a portion of the crowd attending the SkyDome was rooting heavily for Hogan. In an interview in 2013, Hogan said he and the Rock changed the style of the match on the fly based on the crowd's response. After the introduction of the first-ever brand extension, the WWF held a "draft lottery" on the March 25, 2002, episode of Raw. The Rock was the number one overall pick, going to the SmackDown! brand before taking a sabbatical from wrestling.
The Rock made a surprise return on a June episode of Raw before going to his assigned brand of SmackDown!. There, he was named the number one contender for the WWE Undisputed Championship, which he won for a record-setting seventh time at Vengeance on July 21, by defeating Kurt Angle and then-champion The Undertaker in a Triple Threat match. The Rock successfully defended the title at the Global Warning event on August 10 against Triple H and Brock Lesnar after pinning Triple H. On August 25, at SummerSlam, the Rock lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to Lesnar along with the record for the youngest WWE Champion, which he had set in 1998. In 2018, writing for ESPN.com, Sean Coyle noted in a retrospective review of the event, that following his victory over Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8, The Rock "started to see a dip in fan support" and "that dip turned into a plunge" by the time the Rock had his match with Lesnar at SummerSlam because fans knew he was leaving WWE to pursue an acting career, as evidenced by the negative crowd response during his match with Lesnar. After SummerSlam ended, the Rock was visibly angry at the crowd reaction. When he tried to do a post-show speech for the crowd, the fans booed him. He eventually cut a short promo, declaring that "sing-along with the Rock is over!" The Rock then took time off to kickstart his acting career.
Hollywood Rock (2003)
The Rock returned on the January 30, 2003, episode of SmackDown! to set up another match with Hulk Hogan at No Way Out on February 23. Because of negative fan reaction during previous matches as a result of his budding acting career, the Rock turned heel. He also started a new persona that has been called Hollywood Rock, with a new look and a shaved head. The Rock defeated Hogan at No Way Out before moving to the Raw brand. There, he had various small feuds, including one with The Hurricane. He also began performing "Rock Concerts", segments in which he played the guitar and mocked WWE performers and fans in song.
After failing to win a number one contendership for the World Heavyweight Championship, the Rock went into another program with Stone Cold Steve Austin. This led to a match at WrestleMania XIX on March 30, which called back to their previous two WrestleMania encounters, both of which Austin had won. The Rock won after delivering three consecutive Rock Bottoms, ending their long-running rivalry in what turned out to be Austin's final match, until WrestleMania 38. The next night, Raw was billed as "the Rock Appreciation Night", in honor of his victory over Austin. That night, he was attacked by a debuting Goldberg. At Backlash on April 27, Goldberg defeated the Rock, who then briefly left WWE to film Walking Tall.
Final feuds and departure (2003–2004)
On the June 2 episode of Raw, the Rock joined the Highlight Reel and attacked Christian and Chris Jericho with Booker T, turning face once again. He would later return on the December 8 episode of Raw to help Mick Foley against La Résistance. In 2004, the Rock aided Mick Foley in his feud against Evolution, leading to a reunion of the Rock 'n' Sock Connection. They lost against Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and Batista in a handicap match at WrestleMania XX on March 14, 2004, when Orton pinned Foley after an RKO. This was Johnson's final wrestling match until November 2011. The Rock appeared in WWE sporadically following WrestleMania XX. He made returns to provide support for Eugene against Jonathan Coachman and made a cameo in his hometown of Miami, where he confronted Randy Orton. On the August 23 episode of Raw, he hosted a pie-eating contest, as part of the WWE Diva Search, and ended the segment by giving Coachman a People's Elbow. The Rock's contract with WWE then ended and he started his full-time acting career.
Non-wrestling appearances (2007–2009)
On March 12, 2007, the Rock appeared on a WWE show after nearly three years, via a pre-taped promo shown during Raw. He correctly predicted that Bobby Lashley would defeat Umaga at WrestleMania 23 in Donald Trump's and Vince McMahon's "Battle of the Billionaires" Hair vs. Hair match. On March 29, 2008, Johnson inducted his father Rocky Johnson and grandfather Peter Maivia into the WWE Hall of Fame. His next appearance was through a pre-taped promo on October 2, 2009, during the Decade of SmackDown.
Independent circuit (2009)
On September 30, 2009, the Rock appeared at a World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) show to support the professional wrestling debut of Sarona Snuka, the daughter of his longtime friend and mentor Jimmy Snuka.
Return to WWE
Feud with John Cena (2011–2013)
On February 14, 2011, the Rock was announced as the host of WrestleMania XXVII on April 3, 2011, appearing live on Raw. During a lengthy promo, he addressed the fans and started a feud with John Cena. After numerous appearances via satellite, the Rock appeared live on the Raw before WrestleMania XXVII to confront Cena. After he and Cena exchanged insults, The Miz and Alex Riley appeared and attacked the Rock; he fended off Miz and Riley, only for Cena to blindside him with an Attitude Adjustment.
On April 3, at WrestleMania XXVII, the Rock opened the show by cutting a promo. After appearing in numerous backstage segments, the Rock came to ringside to restart the main event between Cena and the Miz as a No Disqualification match, after it had ended in a double countout. As revenge for the Attitude Adjustment Cena had given him on Raw, the Rock hit Cena with the Rock Bottom, allowing the Miz to pin him and retain the WWE Championship. After the match, the Rock attacked the Miz and hit him with the People's Elbow. The next night on Raw, the Rock and Cena agreed to a match at WrestleMania XXVIII the next year. They then worked together to fend off an attack by The Corre, which at the time consisted of Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, and Ezekiel Jackson.
The Rock appeared live on Raw in his hometown of Miami to celebrate his 39th birthday. On September 16, WWE announced the Rock would wrestle in a traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series tag team match, teaming with Cena at Survivor Series in November. But on the October 24 episode of Raw SuperShow, Cena instead suggested the Rock be his partner in a standard tag team match against The Miz and R-Truth, a team called Awesome Truth, which Rock agreed to the next week. On November 14, during the special Raw Gets Rocked, the Rock appeared live, delivering Rock Bottoms to Mick Foley, who had been hosting a "This Is Your Life"-style segment for Cena, and later both members of Awesome Truth. The Rock and Cena defeated Awesome Truth on November 20 at Survivor Series, when the Rock pinned The Miz. After the match, the Rock gave Cena a Rock Bottom.
Leading up to WrestleMania, the Rock and Cena had several verbal confrontations on Raw SuperShow. On the March 12, 2012, episode of Raw SuperShow, the Rock hosted his first "Rock Concert" segment since 2004, mocking Cena in his songs. On April 1, at WrestleMania XXVIII, the Rock defeated Cena in the main event after countering Cena's attempt at a People's Elbow into a Rock Bottom and pinning Cena. This event broke the record for biggest professional wrestling pay-per-view buyrate. The following night on Raw SuperShow, the Rock praised Cena, calling their match "an honor". He then vowed to once again become WWE Champion.
On July 23, at Raw 1000, the Rock announced he would wrestle for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. During the show, he encountered then-reigning WWE Champion CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and John Cena, all of whom expressed a desire to face him. The Rock later saved Cena from an assault by Big Show, only to be laid out by CM Punk. On the January 7, 2013, episode of Raw, the Rock returned to confront his Royal Rumble opponent CM Punk. On January 11, he made his first SmackDown appearance in ten years, getting into an altercation with Team Rhodes Scholars, resulting in him delivering a Rock Bottom to Damien Sandow and a People's Elbow to Cody Rhodes. The Rock closed out the 20th-anniversary episode of Raw, on January 14, with one of his "Rock Concerts", leading to a brawl with CM Punk. The following week on Raw, the Rock was attacked by The Shield. Vince McMahon then asserted that if The Shield attacked the Rock in his title match with CM Punk, Punk would be stripped of the WWE Championship.
On January 27, at the Royal Rumble, CM Punk would seemingly defeat the Rock after the arena lights went out and someone attacked the Rock. Vince McMahon then came out and was about to strip Punk of the championship, however, at the Rock's request, he instead restarted the match. This culminated in the Rock defeating Punk to win his eighth WWE Championship. Punk received a title rematch with the Rock, at Elimination Chamber on February 17, 2013, with the added stipulation that if the Rock was disqualified or counted out, he would still lose the WWE Championship. The Rock would pin Punk to defeat him and retain the championship. The following night on Raw, the Rock unveiled a new WWE Championship design, with a different center plate and removable customizable side-plates which had his "Brahma Bull" logo. The Rock then resumed his rivalry with John Cena, who won that year's Royal Rumble to set up a rematch of the previous WrestleMania match between the two at WrestleMania 29, only this time with the WWE Championship on the line.
On April 7, at WrestleMania 29, the Rock lost the WWE Championship to Cena, ending his reign at 70 days. Despite being advertised for Raw after WrestleMania, where it was stated that the Rock was still entitled a rematch for the WWE Championship, The Rock did not appear because of a real injury sustained during his match with Cena, in which his abdominal and adductor tendons tore from his pelvis. Johnson underwent surgery on April 23 to reattach the torn tendons. Post surgery, it made his abdomen look far less muscular than the rest of his body, notably his arms.
Part-time appearances (2014–2023)
In April 2014, the Rock appeared in the opening segment of WrestleMania XXX along with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan. On the October 6 episode of Raw, the Rock made a surprise appearance to confront Rusev and Lana; this resulted in the Rock clearing Rusev from the ring. On the 15th Anniversary of SmackDown on October 10, the Rock would make an appearance in a backstage segment, where he and Triple H would reminisce on their past feud.
The Rock appeared at the 2015 Royal Rumble event on January 25, 2015, during the main event match, where he helped his relative Roman Reigns fend off Big Show and Kane after Reigns eliminated them from the match. Reigns then won the match and the Rock endorsed him in the ring. The Rock appeared at WrestleMania 31 on March 29, 2015, alongside Ronda Rousey, getting into an in-ring altercation with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Rock and Rousey prevailed after he attacked Triple H and she overpowered McMahon. On June 27, the Rock appeared at a live event in Boston, where he confronted Bo Dallas and gave him a Rock Bottom.
On the January 25, 2016, episode of Raw, the Rock was in a segment that saw him converse with the Miz, Big Show, Lana and Rusev before he and his relatives, the Usos, got into an altercation with then-WWE Tag Team Champions, the New Day. The Rock appeared at WrestleMania 32 on April 3, 2016, where he announced that WWE had broken the all-time WrestleMania attendance record before being interrupted by The Wyatt Family. The Rock got into a verbal back-and-forth with Bray Wyatt before having an impromptu match with Wyatt Family member Erick Rowan. The Rock won after giving Rowan a Rock Bottom and pinning him in six seconds, which set the record for the fastest win in WrestleMania history. The Rock was then aided by a returning John Cena to fend off Wyatt, Rowan and Braun Strowman.
On the February 20, 2017, episode of Raw, the Rock made an untelevised appearance after the broadcast had gone off the air, where he promoted and filmed a scene for his then-upcoming film Fighting with My Family. On August 3, 2019, the Rock officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling. On September 30, 2019, after weeks of speculation, the Rock announced that he would appear on SmackDown's 20th Anniversary on October 4, 2019, marking his first appearance on SmackDown since October 2014 and his first televised appearance since April 2016. At the event, he cut a promo with Becky Lynch before they were interrupted by King Corbin. After attacking Corbin, the Rock and Lynch celebrated in the ring.
On September 15, 2023, the Rock made a surprise return to SmackDown, in a segment with Pat McAfee and Austin Theory, who Rock took out within the segment. This marked his first televised appearance in WWE since October 4, 2019.
The Final Boss (2024–present)
It was teased that a former WWE Champion would be appearing on the Day 1 edition of Raw on January 1, 2024; the unidentified champion was at first revealed to be Jinder Mahal, who insulted the crowd before being interrupted by the Rock in his first live appearance on Raw since 2016. The two brawled and the Rock emerged victorious, after which he asked the crowd if he should sit at "the head of the table" in a direct reference to Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, his relative whose nickname is "The Head of the Table". The Rock also appeared on the February 2 episode of SmackDown, where he confronted Reigns after Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes decided against choosing Reigns as his WrestleMania 40 opponent to allow the Rock to face Reigns. This was met by intense backlash from fans who wanted Rhodes to face Reigns; the WrestleMania XL media event on February 8 thus saw The Rock align himself with Reigns, chastise Rhodes for reversing his decision not to choose Reigns as his WrestleMania opponent, and slap Rhodes for speaking out against the Anoaʻi family (of which the Rock and Reigns are both members). As WWE's chief creative officer Triple H was being interviewed backstage over what had just transpired, the Rock and Reigns walked by and told him to "fix it" or they would, though Triple H would later appear on SmackDown to stand by Rhodes' decision.
On the February 16 episode of SmackDown, the Rock officially joined Reigns' faction The Bloodline; he also debuted a new persona that incorporated facets of his arrogant "Hollywood Rock" incarnation from 2003, such as insulting the audience, wearing gaudy expensive clothes, and entering the arena to a new entrance theme that began with his heroic character's music before transitioning into his "Hollywood Rock" music. He then appeared on the March 1 episode of SmackDown, where he gave his new character the nickname of "The Final Boss" and issued a challenge to Rhodes and Seth "Freakin" Rollins: if they beat him and Reigns in a tag team match at WrestleMania Night 1, Rhodes' championship match against Reigns on Night 2 would be free of interference from The Bloodline, but if Rhodes and Rollins lost, the championship match would be contested under "Bloodline Rules". Rhodes and Rollins accepted the challenge the following week. On the March 25 episode of Raw, the Rock attacked Rhodes backstage, leaving him beaten and bloody in the parking lot. During the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame, the Rock received a "People's Championship" from Muhammad Ali's wife Lonnie, which he would begin carrying over his shoulder whenever he appeared onscreen. In the Night 1 main event of WrestleMania XL, The Rock and Reigns defeated Rhodes and Rollins. During the Night 2 main event between Reigns and Rhodes, multiple people interfered on behalf of both men; the Rock appeared and hit John Cena with a Rock Bottom after the two stared each other down, but The Undertaker then appeared and chokeslammed the Rock. Rhodes went on to defeat Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Championship. The following night on Raw, the Rock interrupted Rhodes' celebration to congratulate him and reveal that he would be leaving for a while, but would be coming after Rhodes when he returns; this allowed Johnson time off to film the biopic The Smashing Machine. During his hiatus, Solo Sikoa became the new leader of The Bloodline, starting the Bloodline Civil War.
Six months later, in the main event of Bad Blood on October 5, Rhodes and Reigns teamed up to face members of The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu) from which Reigns had been ousted, defeating Sikoa and Fatu with the help of a returning Jimmy Uso. Following the match, the Rock returned and stood at the top of the entrance ramp, where he silently counted to three and made a throat slashing gesture to Reigns, Rhodes, and Uso before leaving. The Rock returned on the Raw premiere on Netflix on January 6, 2025, thanking Rhodes for all his work as the face of the company and hugging him. Later that night, the Rock embraced Reigns after the latter defeated Sikoa to reclaim his Ula Fala and Tribal Chief title. The next night at New Year's Evil, the Rock made his first appearance on the NXT brand. He sought advice from his daughter, NXT general manager Ava, and spoke to Ethan Page. In a promo that closed out the television special, he addressed criticism towards his actions the night before on Raw. On the February 21 episode of SmackDown, the Rock made an appearance to announce that WrestleMania 42 would take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, where SmackDown was being taped. The Rock also called out Cody Rhodes, where he offered to elevate Rhodes as a star in exchange for Rhodes' loyalty and cryptically stated that he wanted Rhodes' soul. On March 1 at Elimination Chamber: Toronto, Rhodes refused the Rock's offer, who responded by signalling Elimination Chamber match winner John Cena to attack Rhodes, leaving him beaten and bloodied in the assault.
Mainstream crossover
The Rock appeared on Wyclef Jean's 2000 single "It Doesn't Matter" and in its music video. He also recorded "Pie" with Slick Rick for WWF The Music, Vol. 5. In 1999, Johnson appeared on That '70s Show as his father Rocky Johnson. The next year, he was on Star Trek: Voyager as an alien wrestler who used the Rock's moves. In 2000, he hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL) for the first time. Fellow wrestlers Triple H, Big Show, and Mick Foley also appeared on the show. Johnson has said the success of that episode is the reason he began receiving offers from Hollywood studios. He has since hosted SNL four more times.
In 1999, the Rock was listed No. 1 on Entertainment Weekly's Top 12 Entertainers of the Year. In 2000, Access Hollywood ranked him No. 1 in their list of the Top 10 Celebrities of 2000. That year, Rock was also listed in the Forbes Celebrity 100 and People Magazine's 25 Most Intriguing People. The Rock was listed on Entertainment Weekly's 101 Most Influential People in both 2000 and 2001. In 2001, he was also listed on E!'s 20 Top Entertainers. In 2002, the Rock was listed on E!'s 25 Toughest Stars. In 2003, he was listed in VH1's 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons and was No. 7 in People Magazine's 50 Favorite TV Stars.
The Rock made a surprise appearance at the official Xbox unveiling during Bill Gates's keynote speech at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show in 2001. Johnson's motion picture debut was as The Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns (2001). The movie broke a two-year record for the highest-grossing single day in film history by earning $28,594,667. The movie's financial success led to Johnson's first leading role in the spin-off The Scorpion King (2002). He received $5.5 million for the role and Guinness World Records named him the record-holder for highest-paid actor in their first leading role.
The Rock has appeared on the covers of many magazines, including Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and TV Guide. He has also appeared in, and been the cover athlete for, several video games. As of October 2024, his Instagram account is the sixth most-followed in the world, with over 395 million followers.
Legacy in professional wrestling
The Rock has been listed as one of the all-time greatest professional wrestlers, as well as one of the top draws in wrestling history. Many have placed the Rock on their "Mount Rushmore of Pro Wrestling", including Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and John Cena. In Cable Visions: Television Beyond Broadcasting, the Rock was described as "for a long time, the WWE's biggest star and probably held the greatest international appeal". R. D. Reynolds stated in his book The WrestleCrap Book of Lists that the Rock was "the biggest star for WWE from 1999 until 2004". The Rock's "I quit" match with Mankind at the 1999 Royal Rumble event is infamous for its brutality and one of the most popular "I quit" match of all times.
The Rock main-evented the most bought pay-per-view worldwide in WWE history (WrestleMania XXVIII), the most bought pay-per-view domestically in WWE history (WrestleMania X-Seven), the highest rated Raw in history, the highest rated SmackDown in history, and was part of the highest rated cable segment in WWE history with Mankind entitled "This is Your Life", in which Mankind would honor the Rock with various gifts and reunions. His return in 2001 had a 7.1 rating, the highest-rated segment of the year. The Rock was also part of the highest-rated match of the 21st century when his WWF Championship defense against Shane McMahon, on May 1, 2000, got an 8.3 rating, making it the highest-rated segment of all time, behind "This Is Your Life". In 2011, the Rock's return to an episode of Raw generated an average of 4.7 million viewers in the United States, with 7.4 million tuning in during his promo. Raw 1000 was the highest rated Raw episode of 2012 and his segment with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan was the highest rated segment of the show. In 2013, the night after the Rock won the WWE Championship, at Royal Rumble, Raw got its highest rating of that year.
Derived from one of his catchphrases "lay the smackdown", WWE introduced in 1999 its second flagship program, WWE SmackDown, which became television's second longest-running weekly episodic program in history. The term "smackdown" was included in Merriam-Webster dictionaries in 2007. He is also known for popularizing the term "jabroni", derived from "jobber", although it was originally introduced by The Iron Sheik. The Rock holds the record for most Raw shows main-evented in one year (38 in 2000), most SmackDown shows main-evented in one year (36 in 2000), and is tied with Stone Cold Steve Austin (in 2001) for most PPV shows main evented in one year (12 in 2000). The Rock is also one of two wrestlers (the other being The Undertaker) to main event WrestleMania in four different decades: 1990s: XV (1999); 2000s: WrestleMania 2000 (2000), X-Seven (2001); 2010s: XXVIII (2012), 29 (2013); 2020s: XL (2024).
At the 2021 Survivor Series, WWE held a 25-man Battle Royal to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Rock's WWE debut. The match was won by Omos.
Acting career
Johnson entered Hollywood and had early success due to his wrestling popularity and noted work ethic. Over his acting career, he became one of the highest-paid and most successful actors in Hollywood.
Career beginnings (1999–2010)
He began his acting career on television while wrestling. In his first television acting job, in 1999, he portrayed his father Rocky Johnson in an episode of That '70s Show called "That Wrestling Show". Nearly a year later, he appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Tsunkatse" as an alien wrestler who fought against Seven of Nine. While Johnson was away from WWE, the company continued to sell "the Rock" merchandise, and he continued to be featured prominently in the opening montages of their television shows.
Johnson made his theatrical debut in The Mummy Returns (2001), playing the antagonist Mathayus "The Scorpion King". He reprised this role in the spin-off film The Scorpion King (2002), where he starred as the titular character. Johnson was paid $5.5 million for his leading role, putting him in the Guinness World Records for the highest salary for a first-time leading man. The film was a commercial success and despite mixed reception, Johnson's acting was praised. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote, "I expect him to become a durable action star".
In the following years, he worked in action films The Rundown (2003), and Walking Tall (2004), but these films failed to gain success. He had a supporting role in the comedy Be Cool (2005) as a homosexual bodyguard hoping to become an actor, and was the primary antagonist in the horror film Doom (2005). He also worked in the sports drama Gridiron Gang (2006), comedy Reno 911!: Miami (2007), and thriller Southland Tales (2006). He had further success by playing an arrogant famous American football player in the sports family comedy The Game Plan (2007), Agent 23 in spy action comedy Get Smart (2008), a cab driver in the science fiction film Race to Witch Mountain (2009), the title character in the fantasy comedy Tooth Fairy (2010) and a police officer in buddy cop comedy The Other Guys (2010). Johnson returned to action genre in the unsuccessful Faster (2010).
Johnson made his voice acting debut in the 2006 video game Spyhunter: Nowhere to Run, originally intended as a tie-in for an unproduced film. He also voiced NASA astronaut Chuck in the 2009 animated sci-fi comedy Planet 51. He presented the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 80th Academy Awards.
Commercial success (2011–2020)
Johnson's first big box-office success came in 2011, portraying Luke Hobbs in Fast Five (2011); the film became the seventh highest-grossing film of 2011. Following this, all of Johnson's projects in the 2010s decade achieved major success and established him as a bankable actor. He next starred in the box office hit Journey 2: The Mysterious Island in 2012. He became known for reinvigorating film franchises after portraying Marvin F. Hinton / Roadblock in G.I. Joe: Retaliation and reprising his role as Luke Hobbs in Fast & Furious 6 (2013), while also starring in true-story films Pain & Gain (2013) and Empire State (2013). That same year, he hosted and produced the TNT reality competition series The Hero, and won the Favorite Male Buttkicker Award at the 2013 Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards. In May 2013, it was announced that he would executive produce and star in Ballers, an HBO comedy-drama series about NFL players living in Miami. By December of that year, Forbes named him the top-grossing actor of 2013, with his films bringing in $1.3 billion worldwide for the year. Forbes credited the success of Fast & Furious 6, which grossed $789 million globally, and his frequent acting work as primary reasons for topping the list.
Johnson starred as the title character in Hercules in 2014 and hosted another reality series for TNT that same year, entitled Wake Up Call, which saw him "lending a helping hand to everyday people who were facing enormous challenges in their lives" alongside guest experts such as Rocco DiSpirito, Jillian Michaels, and Josh Shipp. In 2015, Johnson reprised his role as Luke Hobbs in Furious 7 and starred in the disaster film San Andreas. In 2016, he co-starred with Kevin Hart in the action-comedy Central Intelligence and had a lead voice role in the Disney animated film Moana, in which he voiced Maui. He reprised his role as Luke Hobbs in The Fate of the Furious, which was released in 2017. Johnson starred in two other blockbuster movies that year, Baywatch and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle as Mitchell "Mitch" Buchannon and Dr. Smolder Bravestone, respectively. In 2018, he starred in two solo box office hits Rampage and Skyscraper.
Johnson's role within the Fast & Furious franchise continued with Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, starring alongside co-star Jason Statham. David Leitch directed the project from a script co-written by franchise-writer Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce. The film began principal photography in September 2018, and was released on July 26, 2019. Johnson reprised his role as Bravestone, in Jumanji: The Next Level. With the critical and financial success of Welcome to the Jungle, production of the movie began in early 2019, and it was released on December 13, 2019.
Johnson's films grossed $10.6 billion in the 2010s, making him the decade's sixth-highest-grossing actor and the highest-grossing actor outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Career fluctuations (2021–2024)
In 2021, after a year long hiatus, Johnson co-starred with Emily Blunt in Disney's Jungle Cruise as Frank Wolff. The film is based on the theme-park ride of the same name. Jaume Collet-Serra directed, with a script by Michael Green from a previous one by J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay. In addition to his work on the film, Johnson assisted with re-designing the titular ride for all Disney theme parks. Jungle Cruise was released on July 30, 2021. On March 16, 2021, he appeared for the first time as the video game character, The Foundation, in Fortnite Battle Royale. Johnson was initially uncredited in his role, yet hinted at his involvement through a series of Instagram posts. His involvement was finally confirmed during the Chapter 2 End Event on December 4, 2021, with The Foundation removing his helmet to reveal that he shared Johnson's voice and likeness. Also in 2021, Johnson starred in Netflix's film Red Notice, written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. It is the third time that the two collaborated, after Central Intelligence and Skyscraper. It co-stars Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds. It is the most watched film on Netflix of all time.
Johnson voiced Krypto the Superdog in the animated feature DC League of Super Pets (2022), which was released theatrically in July and emerged as a success. On November 14, 2019, he had announced a late 2021 release date for the superhero Black Adam film. Production on Black Adam began filming in April 2021 and was released on October 21, 2022. He earned $22.5 million to star in the film and received millions more for producing and promoting it on social media. However, the anticipated film received mixed to negative reviews and turned out to be a box office disappointment. Following the failure of Black Adam, Johnson's star power came under scrutiny, and his involvement in creative decisions faced criticism.
In 2023, Johnson voiced his Moana character Maui in Disney crossover short film Once Upon a Studio. In May 2023, Johnson reprised his role as Luke Hobbs in a cameo appearance during the mid-credits scene of Fast X. By the early 2020s, Johnson faced increasing criticism for consistently portraying similar characters, often described as charismatic, larger-than-life figures who are both physically imposing and possess a dry wit. These roles frequently involve action or adventure elements, and the characters tend to be heroic, if sometimes reluctant, protagonists.
Johnson has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Actor's Branch since 2017, in 2024, he presented an award alongside Bad Bunny. In November 2024, Johnson reunited with director Jake Kasdan to star alongside Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and J. K. Simmons, in the Christmas themed action comedy Red One, which didn't fare well both critically and financially. However, it became one of the top streamed movies of 2024 after its release on Amazon Prime. In the same month, he reprised his voice role of Maui from Moana (2016), in its sequel Moana 2. Despite receiving mixed reception, the film opened strongly and set several box office records. It eventually emerged as the third highest-grossing film of 2024.
Diversification (2025–present)
He was next seen portraying former MMA fighter Mark Kerr in Benny Safdie's biographical sports drama The Smashing Machine (2025). Full facial prosthetics and a wig were used to transform Johnson's appearance to resemble Kerr. When asked about taking on a serious, intimate drama after years of big-budget action and comedy films, Johnson expressed excitement about finally exploring personal struggles on-screen that he had never before addressed. He described the process as both frightening and liberating. Critics noted that he used the opportunity to pivot his brand and persona toward that of a serious actor. The film premiered at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2025. It received a standing ovation and a Golden Lion award nomination. The film garnered positive reviews, with Nicholas Barber of the BBC describing Johnson's portrayal as "impressively vulnerable." The performance sparked discussions about a potential Oscar nomination for the actor. It had its wide release on October 3, 2025, but was met with a poor theatrical response, and is understood to be Johnson's lowest grossing opening ever.
In 2026, he will portray Maui again in the live action adaptation Moana (2026). In February 2025, Johnson was cast in a crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt. The film will depict the mafia's influence in Hawaii, with Johnson portraying an aspiring mob boss's rise within the criminal underworld. He will reteam with Safdie for the film Lizard Music, based on the Daniel Pinkwater teen novel of the same name.
Producing
In 2012, Johnson founded his production company Seven Bucks Productions. Though originally attached as producer and star, Johnson will now serve solely as the former on a film adaptation of The Janson Directive. John Cena will fill the leading role, with Akiva Goldsman attached as screenwriter. Additionally, he will produce and star in a Netflix exclusive film titled John Henry & The Statesmen, as the titular folklore hero. The film will be directed by Jake Kasdan, from a script by Kasdan and Tom Wheeler. With the first official teaser trailer released in October 2018, the project marks Kasdan's and Johnson's third collaboration, after Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level.
In 2019, Johnson produced and appeared as himself in Fighting with My Family, a comedy drama about Saraya Bevis and her family, who are also professional wrestlers. Johnson will co-produce and star in The King, a film about king Kamehameha Kūnuiākea, founder and first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. The project will be directed by Robert Zemeckis from a script by Randall Wallace. The movie will be comparable to Braveheart in tone, given Wallace's work on both films, and will depict the king's role in resolving the wars among the islands of Hawaiʻi. The King was scheduled to begin production in 2020, but was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson is also attached to produce/star in a sequel to Big Trouble in Little China, as well as project under development with Shane Black focusing on a new interpretation of Doc Savage.
In 2021, his biographical comedy-drama series Young Rock began airing on NBC. A film centered around Teth-Adam/Black Adam, a part of the DC Extended Universe, was announced to be in development in January 2017. Originally cast in the role as early as September 2014 as the antagonist, in a film centered around the superhero Billy Batson/Shazam, his villainous role for Shazam! was reworked into two separate films. Johnson did not appear in Shazam!, but he served as a producer and his likeness was used through special effects in flashback scenes.
Business career
In March 2020, Johnson launched Teremana Tequila, which sold 600,000 nine-litre cases in its first year and is valued at approximately $3.5 billion.
In August 2020, Johnson along with several partners and investors—including RedBird Capital Partners—purchased the XFL for $15 million. Within months, Johnson announced plans for the relaunch of the league in spring 2022. While the launch was delayed a year, the first games of 2023 kicked off on time. After a successful 2023 season, the XFL and United States Football League announced their intent to merge into a single league. On December 31, 2023, it was announced that the new merged league would be called the United Football League (UFL). The league would feature 8 teams and start on March 30, 2024. Johnson, along with Dany Garcia, and RedBird Capital Partners own 50% of the UFL together under XFL Properties LLC.
On January 23, 2024, Johnson joined the TKO Group Holdings board of directors. In the process, he obtained full ownership over his trademarked name "The Rock", which was owned by WWE. As part of the settlement, Johnson signed a new services and merchandising agreement with WWE.
Other work
In 2000, Johnson published his autobiography, The Rock Says..., co-written with Joe Layden. It debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list and remained on the list for several weeks. In 2013, Johnson hosted and produced the TNT reality competition series The Hero. In 2014, he hosted another TNT reality series, Wake Up Call. In 2019, Johnson started hosting the NBC competition series The Titan Games.
In March 2016, Johnson partnered with American fitness apparel manufacturer Under Armour to release "Project Rock". The first item in his partnership with Under Armour, a gym bag, sold out in a couple of days. His second item, a black T-shirt sporting his signature "Brahma bull", sold out after being worn at WrestleMania 32. Johnson also released an alarm clock app as part of "Project Rock" that received more than one million downloads in its first week of release. Since then, they have released sneakers, headphones, and other apparel.
In 2016, Johnson started his YouTube channel. His first video, The YouTube Factory, featured online personality Lilly Singh and several other internet stars. In 2019, Johnson announced he would launch a competitive bodybuilding show, "Athleticon", with his business partner and ex-wife, Dany Garcia. It is set to rival other long-standing bodybuilding shows such as The Arnold Classic and Joe Weider's Mr. Olympia. The show was set to debut in October 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia, but plans were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A fan of the rapper Tech N9ne, Johnson is featured on the song "Face Off" from the rapper's 2021 album Asin9ne.
Activism and philanthropy
Politics
As part of WWE's non-partisan "Smackdown Your Vote" campaign aiming to encourage young people to vote, Johnson had a speaking role at the 2000 Republican National Convention and attended the 2000 Democratic National Convention less than two weeks later.
Johnson voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, but did not vote in 2016, and was an independent voter as of 2017. He endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, but told Fox News in an April 2024 interview that he regretted the decision due to it causing "division" and refused to endorse anyone in 2024.
Johnson has expressed interest in running for president, telling USA Today in February 2021 that he would "consider a presidential run in the future if that's what the people wanted". Following an online poll which found that 46% of Americans would consider voting for Johnson in an election, he told Today in April 2021, "I do have that goal to unite our country and I also feel that if this is what the people want, then I will do that".
Charity
Johnson has worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation on a number of occasions. In 2021, Johnson dedicated his People’s Choice Award to an Armenian cancer survivor.
In 2006, Johnson founded the Dwayne Johnson Rock Foundation, a charity working with at-risk and terminally ill children. In 2007, he and his then-wife, Dany Garcia, donated $1 million to the University of Miami to support the renovation of its football facilities; the university renamed the Miami Hurricanes' locker room in his honor.
In 2015, actress Michelle Trachtenberg tagged Johnson in a tweet about an abandoned dog that her local shelter had rescued and named after him, prompting him to donate $1,500 to the GoFundMe for the dog's lifesaving surgery. In 2017, he donated $25,000 to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. In 2018, he donated a gym to a military base in Oahu, Hawaii. After the 2018 Hawaii floods, he worked with the nonprofit organization Malama Kauai to help repair flood damage.
Johnson made a seven-figure donation to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, which foundation president Courtney B. Vance cited as the largest single donation that the foundation had ever received from one individual at one time. The following month, Johnson and Oprah Winfrey announced the creation of the People's Fund of Maui in response to the 2023 Hawaii wildfires and asked people to donate. They also donated $5 million each to it. The announcement received backlash from fans, who criticized Johnson and Oprah for requesting donations while having net worths of $800 million and $2.5 billion respectively; Johnson apologized in October.
Personal life
In 2009, Johnson obtained Canadian citizenship through his father's birth and citizenship there. In 2017, he had the small "Brahma bull" tattoo on his right arm covered with a larger half-sleeve tattoo of a bull's skull.
Johnson is a supporter of the Samoa national rugby league team, and publicly pledged his support to the team during the 2021 Rugby League World Cup when the team made the finals for the first time.
Johnson has experienced multiple episodes of depression, beginning in his college years. He has spoken publicly about the importance of seeking help and being open about mental health struggles, advocating for increased awareness and support.
Relationships
Johnson first met Dany Garcia when they were both University of Miami students in the early 1990s. They married on May 3, 1997. She is a businesswoman, International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation professional bodybuilder, and producer. They have one child, Simone, a daughter, who was born August 14, 2001, in Davie, Florida.
In 2003, Johnson got a partial Samoan Peʻa tattoo on his left side. In August 2004, in recognition of his service to the Samoan people, and because he is a descendant of Samoan chiefs, Johnson was given the noble title Seiuli, meaning the son of Malietoa [Alo o Malietoa], by Malietoa Tanumafili II during his visit there.
On June 1, 2007, Johnson and Garcia announced they were separating amicably. The divorce was finalized in May 2008.
In 2007, Johnson began dating Lauren Hashian, the daughter of Sib Hashian, the drummer for the band Boston. They met in 2006 while Johnson was filming The Game Plan. On August 18, 2019, Johnson and Hashian married in Hawaii. They have two daughters, Jasmine and Tiana, and live in Los Angeles. They also maintain a farm in Virginia and a home in Southwest Ranches, Florida. Jasmine and Tiana provided voices for Johnson's 2024 film Moana 2.
In February 2020, WWE announced that Johnson's daughter Simone had started training at the WWE Performance Center, making her the first fourth-generation WWE wrestler. On May 16, Johnson announced she had signed a contract with WWE, and announced in May 2022 that her ring name would be Ava Raine. She has since been appearing on the NXT brand.
Discography
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
Championships and accomplishments
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Match of the Year (1999) vs. Mankind in an "I Quit" match at Royal Rumble
Match of the Year (2002) vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1999, 2000)
Wrestler of the Year (2000)
Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2000
Sports Illustrated
Ranked No. 3 of the 20 Greatest WWE Wrestlers Of All Time
United States Wrestling Association
USWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Bart Sawyer
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Best Box Office Draw (2000, 2011, 2012)
Best Gimmick (1999)
Best on Interviews (1999, 2000)
Most Charismatic (1999–2002, 2011, 2012, 2024)
Most Improved (1998)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2007)
WWE/World Wrestling Entertainment/Federation
WWE Championship (8 times)
WCW Championship (2 times)
WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
WWF Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Mankind (3), The Undertaker (1), and Chris Jericho (1)
Royal Rumble (2000)
Sixth Triple Crown Champion
Deadly Games WWF Championship Tournament (1998)
Slammy Award (10 times)
Best Actor (2014)
Game Changer of the Year (2011) – with John Cena
Guess Who's Back or: Return of the Year (2011)
LOL! Moment of the Year (2012, 2013) – insulting John Cena using the history of Boston, Massachusetts, Rock Concert on the 20th anniversary episode of Raw
Match of the Year (2013) – vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 29
New Sensation (1997)
"Tell Me You Didn't Just Say That" Insult of the Year (2014) – insulting Rusev and Lana
"This is Awesome" Moment of the Year (2015) – with Ronda Rousey
Trash Talker of the Year (2024)
Awards and honors
Notes
References
External links
Dwayne Johnson at IMDb
Dwayne Johnson on Instagram
Dwayne Johnson's profile at WWE , Cagematch , Wrestlingdata , Internet Wrestling Database
Dwayne Johnson profile at Miami Hurricanes football
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RuPaul
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RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race and has received several accolades, including 14 Primetime Emmy Awards, three GLAAD Media Awards, a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Billboard Music Awards, a Tony Award, and a Guinness World Records title. He has been dubbed the "Queen of Drag" and is considered the most commercially successful drag queen in the United States, with Fortune saying that he is "easily the world's most famous drag queen." In 2017, RuPaul was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
Born and raised in San Diego, California, RuPaul studied performing arts in Atlanta, Georgia, before relocating to New York City, where he became a popular fixture on the LGBTQ nightclub scene. He achieved international fame as a drag queen with the release of his debut single, "Supermodel (You Better Work)" (1993). RuPaul was a spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics in 1994, raising money for the Mac AIDS Fund and becoming the first drag queen to land a major cosmetics campaign.
RuPaul's Drag Race was created in 2009 and has gone on to produce seventeen seasons in the United States. The show has also seen success internationally and there are several international variants of the show, including RuPaul's Drag Race UK (2019–present) and Canada's Drag Race (2020–present). There are also several spin-offs of the main show, such as RuPaul's Drag U (2010–2012), RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, (2012–present), and RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race (2020–2022). His other television work includes The RuPaul Show (1996–1998), Skin Wars (2014–2016), Good Work (2015), Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul (2016–2017), and RuPaul (2019). In 2018, RuPaul received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the television industry.
RuPaul has made appearances in films, including Crooklyn (1994), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), and But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), as well as television series, including Girlboss and Broad City (both 2017). He created and starred in the Netflix original series AJ and the Queen (2020). As a recording artist, RuPaul has released fifteen studio albums. He has also published four books: Lettin' It All Hang Out (1995), Workin' It! RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style (2010), GuRu (2018), and The House of Hidden Meanings (2024).
Early life
RuPaul was born in San Diego on November 17, 1960, the son of Ernestine "Toni" (née Fontenette) and Irving Andrew Charles. His parents were both from Louisiana. He was named by his mother; "Ru" came from roux, the French term for the base of gumbo and other creole stews and soups. According to DNA analysis by Finding Your Roots staff, his ancestry is 70% African and 30% European.
RuPaul was raised in a Catholic household and grew up poor in a "broken home" with an absent father and volatile mother. After his mother discovered his father was having an affair, she poured gasoline on his car and attempted to set the house on fire. He described this traumatic event as a "pivotal moment" which caused him to dissociate from his body and deeply impacted him. After his parents divorced in 1967, he and his three sisters lived with their mother. He attended Patrick Henry High School but dropped out in 10th grade. At 15, RuPaul and his sister Renetta moved to Atlanta, where they studied performing arts.
Career
1980–1995: Beginnings and Supermodel of the World
RuPaul struggled as a musician and filmmaker during the 1980s, working at Atlanta's Plaza Theatre. In 1982, he debuted on an Atlanta public access variety show called The American Music Show, and went on to appear on the show frequently. He also took part in underground cinema, helping create the low-budget film Star Booty and an album of the same name. In Atlanta he often performed at the Celebrity Club, managed by Larry Tee, as a bar dancer or with his band, Wee Wee Pole. RuPaul also performed as a backup singer to Glen Meadmore along with drag queen Vaginal Davis. His first prominent national exposure came in 1989, when he danced as an extra in the video for The B-52s' "Love Shack", and also appeared in Tom Rubnitz's video "Pickle Surprise".
In the early 1990s, RuPaul worked the Georgia club scene and was known by his full birth name. Initially participating in gender bender-style performances, he performed solo and in collaboration with other bands at several New York City nightclubs, most notably the Pyramid Club. He played opposite New York City drag performer Mona Foot (Nashom Benjamin) in the one-act science-fiction parody "My Pet Homo", written and directed by Jon Michael Johnson for Cooper Square Productions. He performed for many years at the annual Wigstock drag festival and appeared in the documentary Wigstock: The Movie. In the 1990s, RuPaul appeared on the UK Channel 4 series Manhattan Cable, a weekly series produced by World of Wonder and presented by American Laurie Pike about New York's public-access television system.
In 1993, RuPaul recorded the dance/house album Supermodel of the World. It was released through the rap label Tommy Boy, spawning the dance track hit "Supermodel (You Better Work)". The song peaked at 45 on the Billboard Hot 100. It charted on the UK Singles Chart, peaking on the top 40 at 39. The song found the most success on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, where it peaked at 2. Radio airplay, heavy rotation of the music video on MTV, and television appearances on popular programs like The Arsenio Hall Show popularized the song. His next two singles/videos, "Back to My Roots" and "A Shade Shady (Now Prance)", both went to the top spot on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. His following release "House of Love" failed to place on any U.S. charts but peaked at 68 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1994, he released "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", a duet with Elton John.
RuPaul was signed to a modeling contract for MAC Cosmetics. Various billboards featured him in full drag, often with the text "I am the MAC girl". He also released his autobiography, Lettin' It All Hang Out. He promoted the book in part with a 1995 guest appearance on ABC's All My Children, in a storyline that put it on the set of Erica Kane's talk show "The Cutting Edge". The same year, he was featured in his first of two appearances in the Brady Bunch movies, in which he played Jan's female guidance counselor.
In 1994 he had a duet with Elton John who was of the superguests of the Sanremo Festival in Italy as superguests, one of the main festivals worldwide; the permance generated both positive and concerned reactions from the public.
1996–2007: Foxy Lady and Red Hot
In 1996, he landed a talk show of his own on VH1, called The RuPaul Show interviewing celebrity guests and musical acts. Cher, Diana Ross, Nirvana, Duran Duran, Pat Benatar, Mary J. Blige, Bea Arthur, Dionne Warwick, Cyndi Lauper, Olivia Newton-John, Beenie Man, Pete Burns, Bow Wow Wow, and the Backstreet Boys were notable guests. His co-host was Michelle Visage with whom he also co-hosted on WKTU radio. On one episode, RuPaul featured guests Chi Chi LaRue and Tom Chase speaking about the gay porn industry.
Later in the year he released his second album, Foxy Lady, this time on the L.A.-based Rhino Records label. The album failed to chart on the Billboard 200. However, its first single "Snapshot" went to number four on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. It also enjoyed limited mainstream success, charting at 95 on the Billboard Hot 100, which was his second and final solo Hot 100 entry to date. The album's second single "A Little Bit of Love" was not as successful, peaking at 28 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. During this time, RuPaul hosted a morning radio show at WKTU radio in New York City and would serve as host until 1998.
In 1997, he released his third album, the Christmas-themed Ho Ho Ho. That year, RuPaul teamed with Martha Wash to remake the classic disco anthem, "It's Raining Men". The song was included on the 1998 compilation CD RuPaul's Go Go Box Classics. During this time, he appeared in Webex TV commercials and magazine ads. In 2002, he was featured on the Eurodance track "You're No Lady" alongside Brigitte Nielsen.
In 2004, RuPaul released his fourth album, Red Hot on his own RuCo Inc. music label. It received dance radio and club play, but very little press coverage. RuPaul later noted, "I don't know what happened. It seemed I couldn't get press on my album unless I was willing to play into the role that the mainstream press has assigned to gay people, which is as servants of straight ideals." Red Hot's lead single "Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous" peaked at number two on the dance chart. The second, "WorkOut", peaked at number five. The third and final single from the album "People Are People" a duet with Tom Trujillo, peaked at number 10. The album itself only charted on the Top Electronic Albums chart, where it hit number nine. In September, he was hired at WNEW.
On June 13, 2006, RuPaul released ReWorked, his first remix album. The only single released from the album was a re-recording of "Supermodel (You Better Work)", which reached number 21 on the U.S. dance chart. June 20, 2007, saw the release of Starrbooty: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack in the United States. The single "Call Me Starrbooty" was digitally released in 2007. The album contains new tracks as well as interludes with dialogue from the movie. The film was released on DVD in October 2007.
2008–2013: RuPaul's Drag Race, Champion, and Glamazon
In mid-2008, RuPaul began producing RuPaul's Drag Race, a reality television game show which aired on Logo in February 2009. On the program drag queens compete to be selected by RuPaul and a panel of judges as "America's next drag superstar". The first season's winner was BeBe Zahara Benet, and first runner-up Nina Flowers was chosen by fans as "Miss Congeniality" through voting via the show's official website. To publicize the new show, RuPaul appeared on several other shows in 2008, including Project Runway, as guest judge, and on Paula's Party as a guest "chef".
In March 2009, RuPaul released the album Champion. The album spawned four singles "Cover Girl", "Jealous of My Boogie", "Devil Made Me Do It", and "Tranny Chaser". The album peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums as well as 26 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart. Logo's second annual NewNowNext Awards in 2009 were hosted by RuPaul. There he performed "Jealous of My Boogie (Gomi & RasJek Edit)". In March 2010, RuPaul released his second remix album, Drag Race, the album features remixes of songs from the 2009 album Champion.
In April 2011, coinciding with the finale of season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race, RuPaul released his sixth studio album Glamazon, produced by Revolucian. The album charted on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums and the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart at 11 and 8 respectively. In July 2011, he released another remix EP entitled SuperGlam DQ which features remixes of tracks from Glamazon, remixes of the "Drag U Theme Song", and a new song, "Sexy Drag Queen". The second season of RuPaul's Drag U began in June 2011. In late 2011, RuPaul made appearances on The Rosie Show and The Chew, and also attended a Drag Race NY Premiere party at Patricia Field's store in New York. Season 4 of RuPaul's Drag Race premiered on Logo on January 30, 2012, with RuPaul returning as the main host and judge. In the fall of 2012, the spin-off RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars premiered and featured past contestants of the previous four seasons. Season 5 of RuPaul's Drag Race premiered on January 28, 2013. On April 30, 2013, he released "Lick It Lollipop" featuring Lady Bunny.
In fall of 2013, RuPaul joined forces with cosmetic manufacturers Colorevolution to launch his debut make-up line featuring ultra-rich pigment cosmetics and a beauty collection. Released alongside the line was a unisex perfume entitled "Glamazon". Talking to World of Wonder he said: "Glamazon is for women and men of all ages and preferences who share one thing in common: They are not afraid to be fierce. For me, glamour should be accessible to all, and I am committed to helping the world look and smell more beautiful." The line was exclusively sold on the Colorevolution website in various gift sets.
2014–2016: Born Naked, Realness, Butch Queen, and television expansion
On January 28, 2014, RuPaul released RuPaul Presents The CoverGurlz, a collaborative album featuring new versions of RuPaul songs from 2009 to 2013. His seventh studio album, Born Naked, was released on February 24, 2014, to coincide with the premiere of the 6th season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Born Naked placed at number 4 on the US Billboard dance chart and 85 on the Billboard 200 chart. On April 9, 2014, RuPaul and Michelle Visage released the first episode of their podcast, RuPaul: What's the Tee? with Michelle Visage. In August, he joined the reality competition show Skin Wars acting as a judge.
On March 2, 2015, RuPaul released his eighth studio album, Realness. The release coincided with the premiere of the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race. In April, he launched and began hosting a new show, Good Work, a plastic surgery-themed talk show for E!. In October he released his second Christmas album, and ninth studio album, Slay Belles. The album contains ten original Christmas-themed songs and features collaborations with Michelle Visage, Siedah Garrett, Todrick Hall, and Big Freedia. The album charted at 21 on the US Billboard Dance chart.
In January 2016, it was announced RuPaul would present a new game show for Logo TV called Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul which premiered on April 11, 2016, after RuPaul's Drag Race. In March 2016, he released his tenth album, Butch Queen, just prior to the premiere of the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. A song from the album, "U Wear It Well" was featured in the teaser campaigns for the season and was released as its first single. The album charted at number 3 on the US Billboard Dance chart. "'Be Someone" featuring American singer Taylor Dayne was released as the album's second and final single. Additionally, Butch Queen: The Ru-Mixes was released.
In July 2016, it was announced that RuPaul was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program. He was presented the award at the September Creative Arts Emmy Awards Ceremony. 2016 also saw the release of the single "Read U Wrote U" that features rap parts by the RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 2 finalists Roxxxy Andrews, Katya Zamolodchikova, Alaska Thunderfuck, and Detox Icunt with production by Ellis Miah.
2017–present: Further album releases, Drag Race UK, AJ and the Queen, and further TV shows
On February 3, 2017, RuPaul released the album Remember Me: Essential, Vol. 1. It is a collection of new songs and remakes of RuPaul hits that feature new artists. Two singles were released from the album: "Rock It (To The Moon)", and an updated version of RuPaul's 1996 single "Snapshot" from Foxy Lady. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard Dance Albums Sales Chart in the United States and at number eleven on the UK Dance Albums Chart. On March 24, 2017, RuPaul released his eleventh studio album, American. On the same day, the ninth regular season of RuPaul's Drag Race debuted on basic cable channel VH1. It moved from the expanded cable channel Logo TV which aired all previous seasons of the show. The season 9 premiere featured singer Lady Gaga as its guest judge and was a success, with ratings of nearly 1,000,000 viewers, making it the series' most viewed episode.
On June 9, 2017, Essential, Vol. 2 was released. It was preceded by the single "Crying on the Dance Floor", a re-recording of the 2010 single "Main Event" from Champion. On March 16, 2018, RuPaul received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the television industry. He was the first drag queen to be given the award. RuPaul released his third Christmas album in October 2018.
In June 2019, the daytime talk show RuPaul premiered. It was cancelled after a three-week test run. He also appeared in Taylor Swift's "You Need to Calm Down" music video. In late 2019, the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race UK was released on BBC3. It was renewed for a second season which was released in 2021. RuPaul also created and starred in the Netflix drama-comedy show AJ and the Queen, which was released on January 10, 2020. On March 6, 2020, Netflix announced that the series had been cancelled. RuPaul hosted Saturday Night Live on February 8, 2020. On May 11, RuPaul made an appearance on The Price Is Right at Night. He also made an appearance in the premiere episode of Canada's Drag Race.
In August 2021, RuPaul guest hosted two episodes of the talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He did voice work in Amphibia portraying the FBI agent Mr. X. He won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2022 as a producer of the Broadway musical A Strange Loop. He also voices himself as the announcer on The Tiny Chef Show. He began hosting a revival of the game show Lingo for CBS in 2023, as well as Celebrity Lingo, a spinoff of the UK series of the same name on ITV.
HarperCollins published the RuPaul memoir The House of Hidden Meanings in March 2024.
Other ventures
Podcasting
The podcast RuPaul: What's the Tee? With Michelle Visage debuted on April 6, 2014. Ru-Paul co-hosts with longtime friend and fellow RuPaul's Drag Race judge Michelle Visage. The weekly show features their thoughts on topics including behind-the-scenes of RuPaul's Drag Race, life advice, beauty tips, and conversations with featured guests from the entertainment world.
Audiobooks
In 2018, RuPaul was one of the actors who voiced the audiobook A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo.
Drag conventions
Launched through production company World of Wonder, RuPaul's DragCon LA is an annual drag-themed convention held in Los Angeles which started in 2015, followed by RuPaul's DragCon NYC. It began in 2017 in New York City; the public is able to meet with RuPaul, former RuPaul's Drag Race contestants, and other drag queens. The conventions feature performances, meet-and-greet booths, merchandise sales and panel discussions.
Activism
RuPaul has been an active supporter of voter registration, producing a public service announcement supporting National Voter Registration Day and urging everyone to register. As RuPaul said voter ID laws vary from state to state; the details of the voter ID required in each state are provided by HeadCount and VoteRiders. As one in five LGBTQ adults are not registered to vote, voter registration efforts have expanded recently. Several stars from RuPaul's Drag Race act as Ambassadors for Drag Out the Vote.
In March 2023, in response to the Tennessee Adult Entertainment Act, RuPaul, World of Wonder producers Randy Barbarto and Fenton Bailey, and MTV began a fund to fight anti-drag initiatives. The ACLU maintains the fund, which received donations from efforts at DragCon LA 2023, the "Drag Isn't Dangerous" livestream telethon, "Can't Hold us Down", "Born This Way", and "God Save the Queens", as well as a small donation from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets.
The Instagram post RuPaul made prior to the establishment of the fund called on followers to vote, saying, "Register to vote so we can get those stunt queens out of office." The video ends with the statement, "By the way, a social media post has never been as powerful as a registered vote."
Impact
Lauren Herold of Mic.com deemed RuPaul "arguably the most commercially successful drag queen in America." Sami Main of Adweek credited him with creating wider exposure for drag queens from LGBTQ culture into mainstream society, thanks to his early-career chart success, and later, the successive climb in viewership of RuPaul's Drag Race. His talk show The RuPaul Show was the first-ever national talk show to have a drag queen as a host. Along with his partner Michelle Visage, he welcomed an array of high-profile guests such as Cher, Lil Kim, and Diana Ross over the show's 100-episode span. As well as having a variety of comedy skits, the show was noted for discussing topics such as black empowerment, female empowerment, misogyny, and liberal politics that were otherwise unheard of in 1990s television at the time. In 1999, RuPaul was awarded the Vito Russo Award at the GLAAD Media Awards for work in promoting equality in the LGBTQ community.
RuPaul has also been noted as having a large part in RuPaul's Drag Race's continuous television success. By pioneering queer representation on television, many believe RuPaul to have essentially revolutionised the portrayal of the LGBTQ+ community on screen. He first won an Emmy for his work on the show in 2016, and one year later the show garnered eight nominations, including Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Competition Program for the first time in its 11-season run, and a second consecutive win for RuPaul in the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program. In 2017, he was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In 2019, Fortune noted RuPaul as "easily the world's most famous" drag queen.
Relationship with transgender community
RuPaul has been the subject of multiple controversies regarding his comments and actions towards the transgender community. According to Vox, he has a complicated relationship with this community, in part due to differing philosophies: through drag he seeks to mock gender and identity stereotypes, while in his view the trans community takes identity seriously. Nevertheless, RuPaul's Drag Race has featured a number of contestants who are trans women, including Kylie "Sonique" Love, Carmen Carrera, Jiggly Caliente, Monica Beverly Hillz, Kenya Michaels, and Gia Gunn, some of whom made their identity public while competing on the show. Later seasons of the show have included contestants who had already disclosed their trans identity prior to their season beginning. In 2017, Peppermint became the first contestant to compete throughout her season as an openly trans woman and in 2021 Gottmik was the first to compete as an openly trans man. Other non-conforming gender identities expressed by former contestants include both non-binary (Jinkx Monsoon, Aja, Valentina, Divina de Campo, Ginny Lemon, Violet Chachki, and Sasha Velour) and genderfluid (Courtney Act and Kelly Mantle) persons.
In 2014, trans activists and former contestants Carmen Carrera and Monica Beverly Hillz criticized the show's use of words such as tranny and shemale, including the main challenge announcement phrase up to season 6, "You've got she-mail", which they described as transphobic. That year's season also included a "Female or She-male" segment that required contestants to guess whether various photographs featured cisgender "biological women" or "psychological women" (drag queens), causing further criticism. RuPaul and the producers issued a statement promising "to help spread love, acceptance and understanding" and Logo TV removed the "You've got she-mail" phrase from subsequent broadcasts, replacing it instead with the phrase "She done already done had herses." RuPaul criticized those attempting to police his language in bad faith and noted that tranny referred to transvestites and drag queens, not just trans women.
In 2018, RuPaul gave an interview to The Guardian in which he stated that a post-transition trans woman would "probably not" be accepted onto the show, noting that at the time of competition Peppermint had not yet had breast implants. After facing criticism on social media and from former contestants for his remarks, RuPaul compared trans drag queens who had transitioned to athletes who had taken performance-enhancing drugs. He subsequently expressed regret for the hurt caused by his remarks, and that the only screening criteria for contestants were "charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent." Since RuPaul made these statements, multiple transgender contestants have competed and won on the show.
Personal life
RuPaul met painter Georges LeBar in 1994 at the Limelight nightclub in New York City. They married in January 2017. They have an open marriage; RuPaul has said he would not want to "put restraints" on the person he loves. The two split their time between a home in Los Angeles and a 60,000-acre (24,000 ha) ranch in Wyoming. Environmentalists criticized them in 2020 after RuPaul revealed that they lease mineral rights and sell water to oil companies on their ranch, and allow fracking there. According to public maps, the ranch has at least 35 active wells. RuPaul previously held a climate-themed ball on his show to raise environmental awareness, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.
RuPaul publicly endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 United States presidential election. He expressed dismay at Clinton's defeat by Republican nominee Donald Trump, saying, "The America that we have all fought so hard for, the narrative of love and peace and liberty and equality, it feels like it is dead." He has described doing drag as a "very, very political" act because it "challenges the status quo" by rejecting fixed identities: "Drag says 'I'm a shapeshifter, I do whatever the hell I want at any given time'."
RuPaul started smoking cannabis at age 10 or 11. Since 1999, he has been sober and has not had alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. In 2020, he found out while appearing on the TV show Finding Your Roots that he and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker are "DNA cousins." In a 2013 interview, RuPaul said, "I'm not religious, but I do have spiritual practices like yoga and meditation and I do pray."
Discography
Studio albums
Filmography
Film
Short films
Television
Music videos
Awards and nominations
RuPaul has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for which he was inducted in 2018. In 2019 he became the first drag queen inducted into the California Hall of Fame. He has also won 14 Primetime Emmy Awards, including 8 for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition program. This makes him the most awarded in the category as well as the most-awarded person of color in Emmy history. His other notable accolades include a Tony Award, two Billboard Music Awards, four Canadian Screen Awards, ten Critics' Choice Real TV Awards, a Critics' Choice Award, four GLAAD Media Awards including the GLAAD Vito Russo Award in 1999, five Producers Guild of America Awards, and a Guinness World Records title.
In 2020, a species of Australian soldier fly was named Opaluma rupaul. The name was chosen in reference to the fly's "costume of shiny metallic rainbow colours." Other species described in the same article were named O. ednae (after fellow drag queen Dame Edna Everage) and O. fabulosa.
Books
Lettin' It All Hang Out: An Autobiography. New York: Hyperion Books. June 1, 1995. ISBN 0-7868-6156-8. OCLC 31657240.
Workin' It! RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style. New York: It Books. January 1, 2010. ISBN 9780061985836. OCLC 435421683.
GuRu. New York: Dey Street Books. January 1, 2018. ISBN 9780751573831. OCLC 1076520397.
The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir. New York: Dey St. March 5, 2024. ISBN 9780063263901. OCLC 1388319009.
See also
LGBTQ culture in New York City
List of LGBTQ people from New York City
List of number-one dance hits (United States)
List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
NYC Pride March
Explanatory notes
References
External links
Official website
RuPaul at IMDb
RuPaul at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
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RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race and has received several accolades, including 14 Primetime Emmy Awards, three GLAAD Media Awards, a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Billboard Music Awards, a Tony Award, and a Guinness World Records title. He has been dubbed the "Queen of Drag" and is considered the most commercially successful drag queen in the United States, with Fortune saying that he is "easily the world's most famous drag queen." In 2017, RuPaul was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
Born and raised in San Diego, California, RuPaul studied performing arts in Atlanta, Georgia, before relocating to New York City, where he became a popular fixture on the LGBTQ nightclub scene. He achieved international fame as a drag queen with the release of his debut single, "Supermodel (You Better Work)" (1993). RuPaul was a spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics in 1994, raising money for the Mac AIDS Fund and becoming the first drag queen to land a major cosmetics campaign.
RuPaul's Drag Race was created in 2009 and has gone on to produce seventeen seasons in the United States. The show has also seen success internationally and there are several international variants of the show, including RuPaul's Drag Race UK (2019–present) and Canada's Drag Race (2020–present). There are also several spin-offs of the main show, such as RuPaul's Drag U (2010–2012), RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, (2012–present), and RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race (2020–2022). His other television work includes The RuPaul Show (1996–1998), Skin Wars (2014–2016), Good Work (2015), Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul (2016–2017), and RuPaul (2019). In 2018, RuPaul received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the television industry.
RuPaul has made appearances in films, including Crooklyn (1994), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), and But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), as well as television series, including Girlboss and Broad City (both 2017). He created and starred in the Netflix original series AJ and the Queen (2020). As a recording artist, RuPaul has released fifteen studio albums. He has also published four books: Lettin' It All Hang Out (1995), Workin' It! RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style (2010), GuRu (2018), and The House of Hidden Meanings (2024).
Early life
RuPaul was born in San Diego on November 17, 1960, the son of Ernestine "Toni" (née Fontenette) and Irving Andrew Charles. His parents were both from Louisiana. He was named by his mother; "Ru" came from roux, the French term for the base of gumbo and other creole stews and soups. According to DNA analysis by Finding Your Roots staff, his ancestry is 70% African and 30% European.
RuPaul was raised in a Catholic household and grew up poor in a "broken home" with an absent father and volatile mother. After his mother discovered his father was having an affair, she poured gasoline on his car and attempted to set the house on fire. He described this traumatic event as a "pivotal moment" which caused him to dissociate from his body and deeply impacted him. After his parents divorced in 1967, he and his three sisters lived with their mother. He attended Patrick Henry High School but dropped out in 10th grade. At 15, RuPaul and his sister Renetta moved to Atlanta, where they studied performing arts.
Career
1980–1995: Beginnings and Supermodel of the World
RuPaul struggled as a musician and filmmaker during the 1980s, working at Atlanta's Plaza Theatre. In 1982, he debuted on an Atlanta public access variety show called The American Music Show, and went on to appear on the show frequently. He also took part in underground cinema, helping create the low-budget film Star Booty and an album of the same name. In Atlanta he often performed at the Celebrity Club, managed by Larry Tee, as a bar dancer or with his band, Wee Wee Pole. RuPaul also performed as a backup singer to Glen Meadmore along with drag queen Vaginal Davis. His first prominent national exposure came in 1989, when he danced as an extra in the video for The B-52s' "Love Shack", and also appeared in Tom Rubnitz's video "Pickle Surprise".
In the early 1990s, RuPaul worked the Georgia club scene and was known by his full birth name. Initially participating in gender bender-style performances, he performed solo and in collaboration with other bands at several New York City nightclubs, most notably the Pyramid Club. He played opposite New York City drag performer Mona Foot (Nashom Benjamin) in the one-act science-fiction parody "My Pet Homo", written and directed by Jon Michael Johnson for Cooper Square Productions. He performed for many years at the annual Wigstock drag festival and appeared in the documentary Wigstock: The Movie. In the 1990s, RuPaul appeared on the UK Channel 4 series Manhattan Cable, a weekly series produced by World of Wonder and presented by American Laurie Pike about New York's public-access television system.
In 1993, RuPaul recorded the dance/house album Supermodel of the World. It was released through the rap label Tommy Boy, spawning the dance track hit "Supermodel (You Better Work)". The song peaked at 45 on the Billboard Hot 100. It charted on the UK Singles Chart, peaking on the top 40 at 39. The song found the most success on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, where it peaked at 2. Radio airplay, heavy rotation of the music video on MTV, and television appearances on popular programs like The Arsenio Hall Show popularized the song. His next two singles/videos, "Back to My Roots" and "A Shade Shady (Now Prance)", both went to the top spot on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. His following release "House of Love" failed to place on any U.S. charts but peaked at 68 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1994, he released "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", a duet with Elton John.
RuPaul was signed to a modeling contract for MAC Cosmetics. Various billboards featured him in full drag, often with the text "I am the MAC girl". He also released his autobiography, Lettin' It All Hang Out. He promoted the book in part with a 1995 guest appearance on ABC's All My Children, in a storyline that put it on the set of Erica Kane's talk show "The Cutting Edge". The same year, he was featured in his first of two appearances in the Brady Bunch movies, in which he played Jan's female guidance counselor.
In 1994 he had a duet with Elton John who was of the superguests of the Sanremo Festival in Italy as superguests, one of the main festivals worldwide; the permance generated both positive and concerned reactions from the public.
1996–2007: Foxy Lady and Red Hot
In 1996, he landed a talk show of his own on VH1, called The RuPaul Show interviewing celebrity guests and musical acts. Cher, Diana Ross, Nirvana, Duran Duran, Pat Benatar, Mary J. Blige, Bea Arthur, Dionne Warwick, Cyndi Lauper, Olivia Newton-John, Beenie Man, Pete Burns, Bow Wow Wow, and the Backstreet Boys were notable guests. His co-host was Michelle Visage with whom he also co-hosted on WKTU radio. On one episode, RuPaul featured guests Chi Chi LaRue and Tom Chase speaking about the gay porn industry.
Later in the year he released his second album, Foxy Lady, this time on the L.A.-based Rhino Records label. The album failed to chart on the Billboard 200. However, its first single "Snapshot" went to number four on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. It also enjoyed limited mainstream success, charting at 95 on the Billboard Hot 100, which was his second and final solo Hot 100 entry to date. The album's second single "A Little Bit of Love" was not as successful, peaking at 28 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. During this time, RuPaul hosted a morning radio show at WKTU radio in New York City and would serve as host until 1998.
In 1997, he released his third album, the Christmas-themed Ho Ho Ho. That year, RuPaul teamed with Martha Wash to remake the classic disco anthem, "It's Raining Men". The song was included on the 1998 compilation CD RuPaul's Go Go Box Classics. During this time, he appeared in Webex TV commercials and magazine ads. In 2002, he was featured on the Eurodance track "You're No Lady" alongside Brigitte Nielsen.
In 2004, RuPaul released his fourth album, Red Hot on his own RuCo Inc. music label. It received dance radio and club play, but very little press coverage. RuPaul later noted, "I don't know what happened. It seemed I couldn't get press on my album unless I was willing to play into the role that the mainstream press has assigned to gay people, which is as servants of straight ideals." Red Hot's lead single "Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous" peaked at number two on the dance chart. The second, "WorkOut", peaked at number five. The third and final single from the album "People Are People" a duet with Tom Trujillo, peaked at number 10. The album itself only charted on the Top Electronic Albums chart, where it hit number nine. In September, he was hired at WNEW.
On June 13, 2006, RuPaul released ReWorked, his first remix album. The only single released from the album was a re-recording of "Supermodel (You Better Work)", which reached number 21 on the U.S. dance chart. June 20, 2007, saw the release of Starrbooty: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack in the United States. The single "Call Me Starrbooty" was digitally released in 2007. The album contains new tracks as well as interludes with dialogue from the movie. The film was released on DVD in October 2007.
2008–2013: RuPaul's Drag Race, Champion, and Glamazon
In mid-2008, RuPaul began producing RuPaul's Drag Race, a reality television game show which aired on Logo in February 2009. On the program drag queens compete to be selected by RuPaul and a panel of judges as "America's next drag superstar". The first season's winner was BeBe Zahara Benet, and first runner-up Nina Flowers was chosen by fans as "Miss Congeniality" through voting via the show's official website. To publicize the new show, RuPaul appeared on several other shows in 2008, including Project Runway, as guest judge, and on Paula's Party as a guest "chef".
In March 2009, RuPaul released the album Champion. The album spawned four singles "Cover Girl", "Jealous of My Boogie", "Devil Made Me Do It", and "Tranny Chaser". The album peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums as well as 26 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart. Logo's second annual NewNowNext Awards in 2009 were hosted by RuPaul. There he performed "Jealous of My Boogie (Gomi & RasJek Edit)". In March 2010, RuPaul released his second remix album, Drag Race, the album features remixes of songs from the 2009 album Champion.
In April 2011, coinciding with the finale of season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race, RuPaul released his sixth studio album Glamazon, produced by Revolucian. The album charted on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums and the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart at 11 and 8 respectively. In July 2011, he released another remix EP entitled SuperGlam DQ which features remixes of tracks from Glamazon, remixes of the "Drag U Theme Song", and a new song, "Sexy Drag Queen". The second season of RuPaul's Drag U began in June 2011. In late 2011, RuPaul made appearances on The Rosie Show and The Chew, and also attended a Drag Race NY Premiere party at Patricia Field's store in New York. Season 4 of RuPaul's Drag Race premiered on Logo on January 30, 2012, with RuPaul returning as the main host and judge. In the fall of 2012, the spin-off RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars premiered and featured past contestants of the previous four seasons. Season 5 of RuPaul's Drag Race premiered on January 28, 2013. On April 30, 2013, he released "Lick It Lollipop" featuring Lady Bunny.
In fall of 2013, RuPaul joined forces with cosmetic manufacturers Colorevolution to launch his debut make-up line featuring ultra-rich pigment cosmetics and a beauty collection. Released alongside the line was a unisex perfume entitled "Glamazon". Talking to World of Wonder he said: "Glamazon is for women and men of all ages and preferences who share one thing in common: They are not afraid to be fierce. For me, glamour should be accessible to all, and I am committed to helping the world look and smell more beautiful." The line was exclusively sold on the Colorevolution website in various gift sets.
2014–2016: Born Naked, Realness, Butch Queen, and television expansion
On January 28, 2014, RuPaul released RuPaul Presents The CoverGurlz, a collaborative album featuring new versions of RuPaul songs from 2009 to 2013. His seventh studio album, Born Naked, was released on February 24, 2014, to coincide with the premiere of the 6th season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Born Naked placed at number 4 on the US Billboard dance chart and 85 on the Billboard 200 chart. On April 9, 2014, RuPaul and Michelle Visage released the first episode of their podcast, RuPaul: What's the Tee? with Michelle Visage. In August, he joined the reality competition show Skin Wars acting as a judge.
On March 2, 2015, RuPaul released his eighth studio album, Realness. The release coincided with the premiere of the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race. In April, he launched and began hosting a new show, Good Work, a plastic surgery-themed talk show for E!. In October he released his second Christmas album, and ninth studio album, Slay Belles. The album contains ten original Christmas-themed songs and features collaborations with Michelle Visage, Siedah Garrett, Todrick Hall, and Big Freedia. The album charted at 21 on the US Billboard Dance chart.
In January 2016, it was announced RuPaul would present a new game show for Logo TV called Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul which premiered on April 11, 2016, after RuPaul's Drag Race. In March 2016, he released his tenth album, Butch Queen, just prior to the premiere of the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. A song from the album, "U Wear It Well" was featured in the teaser campaigns for the season and was released as its first single. The album charted at number 3 on the US Billboard Dance chart. "'Be Someone" featuring American singer Taylor Dayne was released as the album's second and final single. Additionally, Butch Queen: The Ru-Mixes was released.
In July 2016, it was announced that RuPaul was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program. He was presented the award at the September Creative Arts Emmy Awards Ceremony. 2016 also saw the release of the single "Read U Wrote U" that features rap parts by the RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 2 finalists Roxxxy Andrews, Katya Zamolodchikova, Alaska Thunderfuck, and Detox Icunt with production by Ellis Miah.
2017–present: Further album releases, Drag Race UK, AJ and the Queen, and further TV shows
On February 3, 2017, RuPaul released the album Remember Me: Essential, Vol. 1. It is a collection of new songs and remakes of RuPaul hits that feature new artists. Two singles were released from the album: "Rock It (To The Moon)", and an updated version of RuPaul's 1996 single "Snapshot" from Foxy Lady. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard Dance Albums Sales Chart in the United States and at number eleven on the UK Dance Albums Chart. On March 24, 2017, RuPaul released his eleventh studio album, American. On the same day, the ninth regular season of RuPaul's Drag Race debuted on basic cable channel VH1. It moved from the expanded cable channel Logo TV which aired all previous seasons of the show. The season 9 premiere featured singer Lady Gaga as its guest judge and was a success, with ratings of nearly 1,000,000 viewers, making it the series' most viewed episode.
On June 9, 2017, Essential, Vol. 2 was released. It was preceded by the single "Crying on the Dance Floor", a re-recording of the 2010 single "Main Event" from Champion. On March 16, 2018, RuPaul received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the television industry. He was the first drag queen to be given the award. RuPaul released his third Christmas album in October 2018.
In June 2019, the daytime talk show RuPaul premiered. It was cancelled after a three-week test run. He also appeared in Taylor Swift's "You Need to Calm Down" music video. In late 2019, the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race UK was released on BBC3. It was renewed for a second season which was released in 2021. RuPaul also created and starred in the Netflix drama-comedy show AJ and the Queen, which was released on January 10, 2020. On March 6, 2020, Netflix announced that the series had been cancelled. RuPaul hosted Saturday Night Live on February 8, 2020. On May 11, RuPaul made an appearance on The Price Is Right at Night. He also made an appearance in the premiere episode of Canada's Drag Race.
In August 2021, RuPaul guest hosted two episodes of the talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He did voice work in Amphibia portraying the FBI agent Mr. X. He won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2022 as a producer of the Broadway musical A Strange Loop. He also voices himself as the announcer on The Tiny Chef Show. He began hosting a revival of the game show Lingo for CBS in 2023, as well as Celebrity Lingo, a spinoff of the UK series of the same name on ITV.
HarperCollins published the RuPaul memoir The House of Hidden Meanings in March 2024.
Other ventures
Podcasting
The podcast RuPaul: What's the Tee? With Michelle Visage debuted on April 6, 2014. Ru-Paul co-hosts with longtime friend and fellow RuPaul's Drag Race judge Michelle Visage. The weekly show features their thoughts on topics including behind-the-scenes of RuPaul's Drag Race, life advice, beauty tips, and conversations with featured guests from the entertainment world.
Audiobooks
In 2018, RuPaul was one of the actors who voiced the audiobook A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo.
Drag conventions
Launched through production company World of Wonder, RuPaul's DragCon LA is an annual drag-themed convention held in Los Angeles which started in 2015, followed by RuPaul's DragCon NYC. It began in 2017 in New York City; the public is able to meet with RuPaul, former RuPaul's Drag Race contestants, and other drag queens. The conventions feature performances, meet-and-greet booths, merchandise sales and panel discussions.
Activism
RuPaul has been an active supporter of voter registration, producing a public service announcement supporting National Voter Registration Day and urging everyone to register. As RuPaul said voter ID laws vary from state to state; the details of the voter ID required in each state are provided by HeadCount and VoteRiders. As one in five LGBTQ adults are not registered to vote, voter registration efforts have expanded recently. Several stars from RuPaul's Drag Race act as Ambassadors for Drag Out the Vote.
In March 2023, in response to the Tennessee Adult Entertainment Act, RuPaul, World of Wonder producers Randy Barbarto and Fenton Bailey, and MTV began a fund to fight anti-drag initiatives. The ACLU maintains the fund, which received donations from efforts at DragCon LA 2023, the "Drag Isn't Dangerous" livestream telethon, "Can't Hold us Down", "Born This Way", and "God Save the Queens", as well as a small donation from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets.
The Instagram post RuPaul made prior to the establishment of the fund called on followers to vote, saying, "Register to vote so we can get those stunt queens out of office." The video ends with the statement, "By the way, a social media post has never been as powerful as a registered vote."
Impact
Lauren Herold of Mic.com deemed RuPaul "arguably the most commercially successful drag queen in America." Sami Main of Adweek credited him with creating wider exposure for drag queens from LGBTQ culture into mainstream society, thanks to his early-career chart success, and later, the successive climb in viewership of RuPaul's Drag Race. His talk show The RuPaul Show was the first-ever national talk show to have a drag queen as a host. Along with his partner Michelle Visage, he welcomed an array of high-profile guests such as Cher, Lil Kim, and Diana Ross over the show's 100-episode span. As well as having a variety of comedy skits, the show was noted for discussing topics such as black empowerment, female empowerment, misogyny, and liberal politics that were otherwise unheard of in 1990s television at the time. In 1999, RuPaul was awarded the Vito Russo Award at the GLAAD Media Awards for work in promoting equality in the LGBTQ community.
RuPaul has also been noted as having a large part in RuPaul's Drag Race's continuous television success. By pioneering queer representation on television, many believe RuPaul to have essentially revolutionised the portrayal of the LGBTQ+ community on screen. He first won an Emmy for his work on the show in 2016, and one year later the show garnered eight nominations, including Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Competition Program for the first time in its 11-season run, and a second consecutive win for RuPaul in the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program. In 2017, he was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In 2019, Fortune noted RuPaul as "easily the world's most famous" drag queen.
Relationship with transgender community
RuPaul has been the subject of multiple controversies regarding his comments and actions towards the transgender community. According to Vox, he has a complicated relationship with this community, in part due to differing philosophies: through drag he seeks to mock gender and identity stereotypes, while in his view the trans community takes identity seriously. Nevertheless, RuPaul's Drag Race has featured a number of contestants who are trans women, including Kylie "Sonique" Love, Carmen Carrera, Jiggly Caliente, Monica Beverly Hillz, Kenya Michaels, and Gia Gunn, some of whom made their identity public while competing on the show. Later seasons of the show have included contestants who had already disclosed their trans identity prior to their season beginning. In 2017, Peppermint became the first contestant to compete throughout her season as an openly trans woman and in 2021 Gottmik was the first to compete as an openly trans man. Other non-conforming gender identities expressed by former contestants include both non-binary (Jinkx Monsoon, Aja, Valentina, Divina de Campo, Ginny Lemon, Violet Chachki, and Sasha Velour) and genderfluid (Courtney Act and Kelly Mantle) persons.
In 2014, trans activists and former contestants Carmen Carrera and Monica Beverly Hillz criticized the show's use of words such as tranny and shemale, including the main challenge announcement phrase up to season 6, "You've got she-mail", which they described as transphobic. That year's season also included a "Female or She-male" segment that required contestants to guess whether various photographs featured cisgender "biological women" or "psychological women" (drag queens), causing further criticism. RuPaul and the producers issued a statement promising "to help spread love, acceptance and understanding" and Logo TV removed the "You've got she-mail" phrase from subsequent broadcasts, replacing it instead with the phrase "She done already done had herses." RuPaul criticized those attempting to police his language in bad faith and noted that tranny referred to transvestites and drag queens, not just trans women.
In 2018, RuPaul gave an interview to The Guardian in which he stated that a post-transition trans woman would "probably not" be accepted onto the show, noting that at the time of competition Peppermint had not yet had breast implants. After facing criticism on social media and from former contestants for his remarks, RuPaul compared trans drag queens who had transitioned to athletes who had taken performance-enhancing drugs. He subsequently expressed regret for the hurt caused by his remarks, and that the only screening criteria for contestants were "charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent." Since RuPaul made these statements, multiple transgender contestants have competed and won on the show.
Personal life
RuPaul met painter Georges LeBar in 1994 at the Limelight nightclub in New York City. They married in January 2017. They have an open marriage; RuPaul has said he would not want to "put restraints" on the person he loves. The two split their time between a home in Los Angeles and a 60,000-acre (24,000 ha) ranch in Wyoming. Environmentalists criticized them in 2020 after RuPaul revealed that they lease mineral rights and sell water to oil companies on their ranch, and allow fracking there. According to public maps, the ranch has at least 35 active wells. RuPaul previously held a climate-themed ball on his show to raise environmental awareness, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.
RuPaul publicly endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 United States presidential election. He expressed dismay at Clinton's defeat by Republican nominee Donald Trump, saying, "The America that we have all fought so hard for, the narrative of love and peace and liberty and equality, it feels like it is dead." He has described doing drag as a "very, very political" act because it "challenges the status quo" by rejecting fixed identities: "Drag says 'I'm a shapeshifter, I do whatever the hell I want at any given time'."
RuPaul started smoking cannabis at age 10 or 11. Since 1999, he has been sober and has not had alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. In 2020, he found out while appearing on the TV show Finding Your Roots that he and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker are "DNA cousins." In a 2013 interview, RuPaul said, "I'm not religious, but I do have spiritual practices like yoga and meditation and I do pray."
Discography
Studio albums
Filmography
Film
Short films
Television
Music videos
Awards and nominations
RuPaul has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for which he was inducted in 2018. In 2019 he became the first drag queen inducted into the California Hall of Fame. He has also won 14 Primetime Emmy Awards, including 8 for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition program. This makes him the most awarded in the category as well as the most-awarded person of color in Emmy history. His other notable accolades include a Tony Award, two Billboard Music Awards, four Canadian Screen Awards, ten Critics' Choice Real TV Awards, a Critics' Choice Award, four GLAAD Media Awards including the GLAAD Vito Russo Award in 1999, five Producers Guild of America Awards, and a Guinness World Records title.
In 2020, a species of Australian soldier fly was named Opaluma rupaul. The name was chosen in reference to the fly's "costume of shiny metallic rainbow colours." Other species described in the same article were named O. ednae (after fellow drag queen Dame Edna Everage) and O. fabulosa.
Books
Lettin' It All Hang Out: An Autobiography. New York: Hyperion Books. June 1, 1995. ISBN 0-7868-6156-8. OCLC 31657240.
Workin' It! RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style. New York: It Books. January 1, 2010. ISBN 9780061985836. OCLC 435421683.
GuRu. New York: Dey Street Books. January 1, 2018. ISBN 9780751573831. OCLC 1076520397.
The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir. New York: Dey St. March 5, 2024. ISBN 9780063263901. OCLC 1388319009.
See also
LGBTQ culture in New York City
List of LGBTQ people from New York City
List of number-one dance hits (United States)
List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
NYC Pride March
Explanatory notes
References
External links
Official website
RuPaul at IMDb
RuPaul at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
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Matthew Perry
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Matthew Langford Perry (August 19, 1969 – October 28, 2023) was an American and Canadian actor and comedian. He gained international fame for starring as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom Friends (1994–2004). Perry also appeared on Ally McBeal (2002) and received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performances in The West Wing (2003) and The Ron Clark Story (2006). He played a leading role in the NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–2007), and also became known for his leading film roles in Fools Rush In (1997), Almost Heroes (1998), Three to Tango (1999), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), Serving Sara (2002), The Whole Ten Yards (2004), and 17 Again (2009).
Perry was the co-creator, co-writer, executive producer, and star of the ABC sitcom Mr. Sunshine, which ran from February to April 2011. In August 2012, he starred as sportscaster Ryan King on the NBC sitcom Go On. He co-developed and starred in a revival of the CBS sitcom The Odd Couple portraying Oscar Madison from 2015 to 2017. He had recurring roles in the legal dramas The Good Wife (2012–2013), and The Good Fight (2017). Perry portrayed Ted Kennedy in The Kennedys: After Camelot (2017) and appeared as himself in his final television appearance, Friends: The Reunion (2021). He voiced Benny in the video game Fallout: New Vegas (2010).
For most of his life, Perry suffered from severe addictions to drugs and alcohol. Through his recovery, he became an advocate for rehabilitation and a spokesperson for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. In 2013, Perry received the Champion of Recovery Award from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. In 2022, he released his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
He died on October 28, 2023, at age 54, from accidental drowning caused by the acute effects of ketamine use. Five people were charged in connection with helping him acquire lethal doses of the drug. All five pleaded guilty.
Early life and education
Matthew Langford Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on August 19, 1969. His mother, Suzanne Marie Morrison (née Langford, born 1948), is a Canadian journalist who was press secretary to Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. His father, John Bennett Perry (born 1941), is an American actor and former model.
Perry's parents separated when he was a year old and his mother married Canadian broadcast journalist Keith Morrison. Perry was mostly raised by his mother in Ottawa, Ontario, but he also lived briefly in Toronto and Montreal. He attended Rockcliffe Park Public School and Ashbury College, a boarding school in Ottawa. He had four younger maternal half-siblings—Caitlin, Emily, Will, and Madeline—as well as a younger paternal half-sister named Maria. His siblings "would stand and applaud" him for early performances.
By the age of 10, Perry started misbehaving. He stole money, smoked, let his grades slip and beat up fellow student and future Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. Perry later attributed his behavior to his feeling like a family outsider who no longer belonged once his mother began having children with Morrison. He wrote, "I was so often on the outside looking in, still that kid up in the clouds on a flight to somewhere else, unaccompanied." At age 14, Perry began consuming alcohol, and was drinking every day by his 18th birthday. He practiced tennis, often for 10 hours per day, and became a top-ranked junior player in Canada with the possibility of a tennis career. However, his prospects diminished when he moved from Ottawa, at age 15, to live with his father in Los Angeles, where competition was much tougher.
At 15, Perry began studying acting at the Buckley School, a college-preparatory school in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, from which he graduated in 1987. While in high school, he took improvisational comedy classes at L.A. Connection in Sherman Oaks.
Career
1979–1993: Early roles
Perry's first credited role was a small part in 240-Robert in 1979 as a child actor. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Perry started auditioning for roles. Perry made guest appearances on Not Necessarily the News in 1983, Charles in Charge in 1985, and Silver Spoons in 1986. In 1987 and 1988, he played Chazz Russell in the television series Second Chance (later called Boys Will Be Boys). Perry made his film debut in 1988 with A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon. In 1989, he had a three-episode arc on Growing Pains, portraying Carol Seaver's boyfriend Sandy, who dies in a drunk driving incident.
Perry was cast as a regular on the 1990 CBS sitcom Sydney, playing the younger brother of Valerie Bertinelli's character. In 1991, he made a guest appearance on Beverly Hills, 90210 as Roger Azarian. Perry played the starring role in the ABC sitcom Home Free, which aired in 1993.
1994–2004: Breakthrough with Friends
Perry's commitment to a pilot for a sitcom called LAX 2194, set in the baggage handling department of Los Angeles Airport 200 years in the future, initially made him unavailable for a role in another pilot, Six of One, later called Friends. After the LAX 2194 pilot fell through, he had the opportunity to read for a part in Six of One and was cast as Chandler Bing. At age 24, he was the youngest member of the main cast. After making the pilot and while waiting for the show to air, Perry spent the summer of 1993 performing at the Williamstown Theater Festival alongside Gwyneth Paltrow.
Friends was hugely successful, and it made Perry an international celebrity. By 2002, he and his co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer were making $1 million per episode. The program earned him an Emmy nomination in 2002 for the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series award. Perry appeared in films such as Fools Rush In, Almost Heroes, Three to Tango, The Whole Nine Yards and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards, and Serving Sara. In 1995, he and Jennifer Aniston appeared in a 60-minute-long promotional video for Microsoft's Windows 95, released on VHS on August 1.
For his performance as Joe Quincy in The West Wing, Perry received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2003 and 2004. He appeared as attorney Todd Merrick in two episodes of Ally McBeal. In 2004, he made his directorial debut and acted in an episode of the fourth season of the comedy-drama Scrubs, an episode which included his father.
2005–2022: Later work
Perry starred in the TNT movie The Ron Clark Story, which premiered August 13, 2006, and received a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination for his performance. From 2006 to 2007, he appeared in Aaron Sorkin's drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Perry played Matt Albie alongside Bradley Whitford's Danny Tripp, a writer-director duo brought in to help save a failing sketch show.
In 2006, Perry began filming Numb, a film based on a man suffering from depersonalization disorder. The release was postponed several times, but it was finally released on DVD on May 13, 2008. Perry also appeared on stage in London in David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago. In 2008, Perry starred in the independent film Birds of America. Showtime passed on a pilot called The End of Steve, a dark comedy starring, written, and produced by Perry and Peter Tolan.
In 2009, Perry starred in the film 17 Again playing a 37-year-old man who transforms into his 17-year-old self (Zac Efron) after an accident. The film received mixed reviews and was a box-office success. A review on WRC-TV found Perry miscast in his role, emphasizing the disbelief in Efron growing up to resemble Perry, both physically and behaviorally — a sentiment echoed by other critics.
In 2009, Perry was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, when he presented Ellen DeGeneres with an Xbox 360 video game console and a copy of the game Fallout 3. The gesture led to game studio Obsidian Entertainment casting him in Fallout: New Vegas as the voice of Benny.
Perry's new comedy pilot, Mr. Sunshine, based on his original idea for the show, was bought by ABC. He played the lead role as a middle-aged man with an identity crisis. ABC canceled the series after nine episodes in 2011.
In 2012, Perry starred in the NBC comedy series Go On, written and produced by former Friends writer/producer Scott Silveri. Perry portrayed Ryan King, a sportscaster who tries to move on after the death of his wife through the help of mandatory therapy sessions. In the same year, he guest-starred on the CBS drama The Good Wife as attorney Mike Kresteva. He reprised his role in the fourth season in 2013.
In 2014, Perry made his British television debut in the one-off comedy program The Dog Thrower, which aired on May 1 as part of Sky Arts' Playhouse Presents. He portrayed "a charismatic man" who enchanted onlookers by throwing his dog in the air. From 2015 to 2017, Perry starred in, co-wrote, and served as executive producer of a reboot of the sitcom The Odd Couple on CBS. He played Oscar Madison opposite Thomas Lennon as Felix Unger.
Perry played the lead role in the world premiere production of his play The End of Longing, which opened on February 11, 2016, at the Playhouse Theatre in London. Its limited run proved successful despite mixed reviews. Perry restructured the play and appeared alongside Jennifer Morrison in its second off-Broadway production, which opened at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on June 5, 2017. It closed on July 1 after receiving poor reviews. Years later Perry described the play as "a personal message to the world, an exaggerated form of me as a drunk. I had something important to say to people like me, and to people who love people like me."
In March 2017, Perry again reprised his role as attorney Mike Kresteva in The Good Fight, a sequel show to the CBS drama The Good Wife. Later that year, he starred as Ted Kennedy in the mini-series The Kennedys: After Camelot.
In May 2021, he participated in the special episode Friends: The Reunion. He was meant to have a role in Don't Look Up, but withdrew in 2020 because of CPR-induced broken ribs. Perry published a memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, in October 2022. It became a bestseller on both Amazon and The New York Times charts.
Personal life
Perry held American citizenship by birth and Canadian citizenship through his Canadian-born mother. He dated Yasmine Bleeth in 1995, Julia Roberts from 1995 to 1996, and Lizzy Caplan from 2006 to 2012. In November 2020, Perry became engaged to literary manager Molly Hurwitz. Their engagement ended in 2021.
Residences owned at some point by Perry included a condo in Sierra Towers purchased from Elton John, a house in Hollywood Hills, a house in Malibu, and a cottage in Pacific Palisades. In 2017, Perry purchased a condo occupying the top floor of The Century in Los Angeles for $20 million, selling it to Nick Molnar for $21.6 million in 2021. In June 2023, Perry purchased a mid-century modern house in Hollywood Hills.
Perry had a perfectionist and obsessive personality, spending many hours perfecting his answering machine message. He also believed in God, with whom he had "a very close relationship", calling himself "a seeker".
Health and addiction
In his memoirs, Perry wrote that by age 14, he had become an alcoholic. He became addicted to Vicodin after a jet ski accident in 1997 and completed a 28-day rehab program at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation that year. His weight dropped to 128 pounds (58 kg) as he took as many as 55 Vicodin pills per day. In May 2000, he was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with alcohol-induced pancreatitis.
Perry said in 2002 that he made an effort not to drink on the set of Friends but did arrive with extreme hangovers and sometimes would shake or sweat excessively. During the later seasons of the series, he was frequently drunk or high on set. His castmates made efforts to help him, and staged an intervention, but were unsuccessful.
In February 2001, Perry paused productions of Friends and Serving Sara for two months so that he could enter in-patient rehabilitation for his addictions to Vicodin, methadone, amphetamines, and alcohol. He said later that, due to his substance use disorder, he had no memory of three years of his work on Friends.
In 2018, Perry spent five months in a hospital for a gastrointestinal perforation. During the hospital stay, Perry nearly died after his colon burst from opioid abuse. He spent two weeks in a coma and used a colostomy bag for nine months. Upon being admitted to the hospital, doctors told his family that Perry had a 2% chance of survival. He was connected to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine.
Perry faked pain to get a prescription for 1,800 milligrams of hydrocodone per day and was having daily ketamine infusions. He was given propofol in conjunction with a surgery, which stopped his heart for five minutes. The resulting cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) resulted in eight broken ribs. He paid $175,000 for a private jet to take him to Los Angeles to get more drugs. When doctors there refused, he booked another $175,000 private flight to fly back to Switzerland that night. In 2022, he estimated that he had spent $9 million on his addiction, including 14 stomach surgeries, 15 stays in rehab and therapy twice a week for 30 years and had attended approximately 6,000 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Philanthropy and advocacy
In July 2011, Perry lobbied the United States Congress as a celebrity spokesperson for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals in support of funding for drug courts. He received a Champion of Recovery award in May 2013 from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for opening Perry House, a rehab center in his former mansion in Malibu. In 2015, Perry sold the mansion and relocated its services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he launched an apparel line inspired by Friends, with proceeds donated to the World Health Organization's COVID-19 relief fund.
Death and funeral
On October 28, 2023, Perry was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. He was pronounced dead at 4:17 pm the same day. He was 54 years old.
On November 3, 2023, Perry's funeral was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles where he was buried. His father, mother and stepfather attended, as did his five Friends co-stars. The Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush song "Don't Give Up" was played; Perry was enamored with the song and referenced it in signed copies of his autobiography, released in part to help people suffering from depression or addiction issues. Following Perry's death, the National Philanthropic Trust established the Matthew Perry Foundation to support people suffering from addiction.
On December 15, 2023, Perry's death was revealed to have occurred due to acute effects of ketamine. Other circumstances that contributed to his death included the effects of buprenorphine, drowning, and coronary artery disease. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner said in a statement that
...at the high levels of ketamine found in his post-mortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression... ...drowning contributes due to the likelihood of submersion into the pool as he lapsed into unconsciousness; coronary artery disease contributes due to exacerbation of ketamine induced myocardial effects on the heart. The ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine's half-life is 3 to 4 hours, or less.
Perry had been receiving ketamine-assisted psychotherapy sessions to treat anxiety at the time of his death, his last known session of which having been the week prior to his death. However, the report stated that the therapy could not have resulted in his death.
Investigation and guilty pleas
In May 2024, an investigation was opened by the Los Angeles Police Department to determine how Perry obtained the high dose of ketamine that caused his death. On August 15, 2024, indictments and charges were filed against five people: Perry's personal assistant, two doctors, and two drug dealers (including TV director Erik Fleming), alleging involvement in the distribution of ketamine that caused the death of Perry and one other person.
Three of the accused agreed to plead guilty, with two, Fleming and Perry's former assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, having their guilty pleas entered into court soon after being charged; Iwamasa pleaded guilty on August 7, 2024, as did Fleming the following day. During a court hearing on August 30, 2024, it was agreed that former doctor Mark Chavez, who had signed a plea agreement but had not yet officially entered it into court, would have his guilty plea accepted, though he would still not officially plead guilty until a later court appearance. Chavez would have his medical license suspended the next month and would officially plead guilty at a court hearing held on October 2, 2024. The second doctor, Salvador Plasencia, agreed to plead guilty on June 17, 2025. Plasencia, who was initially scheduled to be tried in August 2025, would then officially plead guilty in court to four counts of ketamine distribution on July 23, 2025.
According to U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, Perry paid the two doctors $55,000 in cash for ketamine in the two months before his death. Iwamasa admitted to obtaining ketamine for Perry and injecting him with the drug, while Fleming admitted to obtaining the ketamine from the supplier and giving it to Iwamasa for Perry to use. Text messages also revealed that Plasencia would purchase the ketamine he supplied Perry with from Chavez. However, the main supplier of the ketamine Perry used at the time of his death was believed to be Jasveen Sangha, who served a major drug dealer to "high end and celebs" and whose North Hollywood home, which was raided by U.S. DEA authorities in March 2024, was described a "drug-selling emporium." In his guilty plea, Erik Fleming admitted that he obtained 71 vials ketamine from Sangha which would be sold to Perry. Plasencia, who was initially Perry's main ketamine supplier, and Sangha, who became Perry's main ketamine supplier after Plasencia limited his ketamine supply, were regarded as the primary targets in the case regarding Perry's death.
On August 18, 2025, Sangha, the final defendant in the case involving Perry's death, had her guilty plea, which was signed on August 14, 2025, officially filed in court. Sangha, also known as the "Ketamine Queen," pled guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury. Sangha would agree to a plead guilty to these charges shortly before her trial was set to begin in September 2025. At the time of her plea deal, Sangha, who also admitted to selling ketamine which at least one other person overdosed on before their death, had been jailed in federal custody since her arrest in August 2024. Sangha would officially plead guilty to all five counts she was charged with while appearing before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on September 3, 2025.
Sangha faces up to 45 years in prison. Of the other defendants, Plasencia, who remains free on bond until sentencing, faces up to 10 years for each of the four charges he pled guilty to, totaling a possible 40 years. Fleming, who pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine, resulting in death faces up to 25 years in prison. However, Iwamasa, who pled guilty to only one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, faces a maximum of 15 years, while Chavez, who pled guilty to only one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, faces up to 10 years.
Legacy
Perry’s portrayal of Chandler Bing on Friends (1994–2004) became one of television’s most recognizable comic performances. Critics noted his precision timing and a distinctive “could I be any more…?” cadence that was widely imitated and quoted, and that he brought a rare strain of vulnerability to the sitcom archetype.
Beyond acting, Perry advocated for addiction recovery. In 2013 he met with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to support drug courts, and that year opened Perry House, a men’s sober-living facility in his former Malibu home, which operated from 2013 to 2015. He said he hoped to be remembered more for helping people achieve sobriety than for his acting career, a mission continued by the Matthew Perry Foundation, launched days after his death. Tributes reflected that impact: the main Friends cast issued a joint statement, and Max added an on-screen memorial card to the series; on August 19, 2025, Perry’s Fools Rush In co-star Salma Hayek marked what would have been his 56th birthday with an Instagram tribute.
Acting credits
Film
Television
Theater
Video games
Specials
Awards and nominations
Publications
Perry, Matthew (November 1, 2022). Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir. Foreword: Lisa Kudrow. New York: Flatiron Books. ISBN 978-1-250-86644-8. OCLC 1338841699.
Notes
References
External links
Matthew Perry at IMDb
Matthew Perry at Rotten Tomatoes
Matthew Perry discography at Discogs
Interviewed on "Q with Tom Power", CBC, November 22, 2022, audio
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Matthew Langford Perry (August 19, 1969 – October 28, 2023) was an American and Canadian actor and comedian. He gained international fame for starring as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom Friends (1994–2004). Perry also appeared on Ally McBeal (2002) and received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performances in The West Wing (2003) and The Ron Clark Story (2006). He played a leading role in the NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–2007), and also became known for his leading film roles in Fools Rush In (1997), Almost Heroes (1998), Three to Tango (1999), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), Serving Sara (2002), The Whole Ten Yards (2004), and 17 Again (2009).
Perry was the co-creator, co-writer, executive producer, and star of the ABC sitcom Mr. Sunshine, which ran from February to April 2011. In August 2012, he starred as sportscaster Ryan King on the NBC sitcom Go On. He co-developed and starred in a revival of the CBS sitcom The Odd Couple portraying Oscar Madison from 2015 to 2017. He had recurring roles in the legal dramas The Good Wife (2012–2013), and The Good Fight (2017). Perry portrayed Ted Kennedy in The Kennedys: After Camelot (2017) and appeared as himself in his final television appearance, Friends: The Reunion (2021). He voiced Benny in the video game Fallout: New Vegas (2010).
For most of his life, Perry suffered from severe addictions to drugs and alcohol. Through his recovery, he became an advocate for rehabilitation and a spokesperson for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. In 2013, Perry received the Champion of Recovery Award from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. In 2022, he released his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
He died on October 28, 2023, at age 54, from accidental drowning caused by the acute effects of ketamine use. Five people were charged in connection with helping him acquire lethal doses of the drug. All five pleaded guilty.
Early life and education
Matthew Langford Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on August 19, 1969. His mother, Suzanne Marie Morrison (née Langford, born 1948), is a Canadian journalist who was press secretary to Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. His father, John Bennett Perry (born 1941), is an American actor and former model.
Perry's parents separated when he was a year old and his mother married Canadian broadcast journalist Keith Morrison. Perry was mostly raised by his mother in Ottawa, Ontario, but he also lived briefly in Toronto and Montreal. He attended Rockcliffe Park Public School and Ashbury College, a boarding school in Ottawa. He had four younger maternal half-siblings—Caitlin, Emily, Will, and Madeline—as well as a younger paternal half-sister named Maria. His siblings "would stand and applaud" him for early performances.
By the age of 10, Perry started misbehaving. He stole money, smoked, let his grades slip and beat up fellow student and future Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. Perry later attributed his behavior to his feeling like a family outsider who no longer belonged once his mother began having children with Morrison. He wrote, "I was so often on the outside looking in, still that kid up in the clouds on a flight to somewhere else, unaccompanied." At age 14, Perry began consuming alcohol, and was drinking every day by his 18th birthday. He practiced tennis, often for 10 hours per day, and became a top-ranked junior player in Canada with the possibility of a tennis career. However, his prospects diminished when he moved from Ottawa, at age 15, to live with his father in Los Angeles, where competition was much tougher.
At 15, Perry began studying acting at the Buckley School, a college-preparatory school in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, from which he graduated in 1987. While in high school, he took improvisational comedy classes at L.A. Connection in Sherman Oaks.
Career
1979–1993: Early roles
Perry's first credited role was a small part in 240-Robert in 1979 as a child actor. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Perry started auditioning for roles. Perry made guest appearances on Not Necessarily the News in 1983, Charles in Charge in 1985, and Silver Spoons in 1986. In 1987 and 1988, he played Chazz Russell in the television series Second Chance (later called Boys Will Be Boys). Perry made his film debut in 1988 with A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon. In 1989, he had a three-episode arc on Growing Pains, portraying Carol Seaver's boyfriend Sandy, who dies in a drunk driving incident.
Perry was cast as a regular on the 1990 CBS sitcom Sydney, playing the younger brother of Valerie Bertinelli's character. In 1991, he made a guest appearance on Beverly Hills, 90210 as Roger Azarian. Perry played the starring role in the ABC sitcom Home Free, which aired in 1993.
1994–2004: Breakthrough with Friends
Perry's commitment to a pilot for a sitcom called LAX 2194, set in the baggage handling department of Los Angeles Airport 200 years in the future, initially made him unavailable for a role in another pilot, Six of One, later called Friends. After the LAX 2194 pilot fell through, he had the opportunity to read for a part in Six of One and was cast as Chandler Bing. At age 24, he was the youngest member of the main cast. After making the pilot and while waiting for the show to air, Perry spent the summer of 1993 performing at the Williamstown Theater Festival alongside Gwyneth Paltrow.
Friends was hugely successful, and it made Perry an international celebrity. By 2002, he and his co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer were making $1 million per episode. The program earned him an Emmy nomination in 2002 for the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series award. Perry appeared in films such as Fools Rush In, Almost Heroes, Three to Tango, The Whole Nine Yards and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards, and Serving Sara. In 1995, he and Jennifer Aniston appeared in a 60-minute-long promotional video for Microsoft's Windows 95, released on VHS on August 1.
For his performance as Joe Quincy in The West Wing, Perry received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2003 and 2004. He appeared as attorney Todd Merrick in two episodes of Ally McBeal. In 2004, he made his directorial debut and acted in an episode of the fourth season of the comedy-drama Scrubs, an episode which included his father.
2005–2022: Later work
Perry starred in the TNT movie The Ron Clark Story, which premiered August 13, 2006, and received a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination for his performance. From 2006 to 2007, he appeared in Aaron Sorkin's drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Perry played Matt Albie alongside Bradley Whitford's Danny Tripp, a writer-director duo brought in to help save a failing sketch show.
In 2006, Perry began filming Numb, a film based on a man suffering from depersonalization disorder. The release was postponed several times, but it was finally released on DVD on May 13, 2008. Perry also appeared on stage in London in David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago. In 2008, Perry starred in the independent film Birds of America. Showtime passed on a pilot called The End of Steve, a dark comedy starring, written, and produced by Perry and Peter Tolan.
In 2009, Perry starred in the film 17 Again playing a 37-year-old man who transforms into his 17-year-old self (Zac Efron) after an accident. The film received mixed reviews and was a box-office success. A review on WRC-TV found Perry miscast in his role, emphasizing the disbelief in Efron growing up to resemble Perry, both physically and behaviorally — a sentiment echoed by other critics.
In 2009, Perry was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, when he presented Ellen DeGeneres with an Xbox 360 video game console and a copy of the game Fallout 3. The gesture led to game studio Obsidian Entertainment casting him in Fallout: New Vegas as the voice of Benny.
Perry's new comedy pilot, Mr. Sunshine, based on his original idea for the show, was bought by ABC. He played the lead role as a middle-aged man with an identity crisis. ABC canceled the series after nine episodes in 2011.
In 2012, Perry starred in the NBC comedy series Go On, written and produced by former Friends writer/producer Scott Silveri. Perry portrayed Ryan King, a sportscaster who tries to move on after the death of his wife through the help of mandatory therapy sessions. In the same year, he guest-starred on the CBS drama The Good Wife as attorney Mike Kresteva. He reprised his role in the fourth season in 2013.
In 2014, Perry made his British television debut in the one-off comedy program The Dog Thrower, which aired on May 1 as part of Sky Arts' Playhouse Presents. He portrayed "a charismatic man" who enchanted onlookers by throwing his dog in the air. From 2015 to 2017, Perry starred in, co-wrote, and served as executive producer of a reboot of the sitcom The Odd Couple on CBS. He played Oscar Madison opposite Thomas Lennon as Felix Unger.
Perry played the lead role in the world premiere production of his play The End of Longing, which opened on February 11, 2016, at the Playhouse Theatre in London. Its limited run proved successful despite mixed reviews. Perry restructured the play and appeared alongside Jennifer Morrison in its second off-Broadway production, which opened at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on June 5, 2017. It closed on July 1 after receiving poor reviews. Years later Perry described the play as "a personal message to the world, an exaggerated form of me as a drunk. I had something important to say to people like me, and to people who love people like me."
In March 2017, Perry again reprised his role as attorney Mike Kresteva in The Good Fight, a sequel show to the CBS drama The Good Wife. Later that year, he starred as Ted Kennedy in the mini-series The Kennedys: After Camelot.
In May 2021, he participated in the special episode Friends: The Reunion. He was meant to have a role in Don't Look Up, but withdrew in 2020 because of CPR-induced broken ribs. Perry published a memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, in October 2022. It became a bestseller on both Amazon and The New York Times charts.
Personal life
Perry held American citizenship by birth and Canadian citizenship through his Canadian-born mother. He dated Yasmine Bleeth in 1995, Julia Roberts from 1995 to 1996, and Lizzy Caplan from 2006 to 2012. In November 2020, Perry became engaged to literary manager Molly Hurwitz. Their engagement ended in 2021.
Residences owned at some point by Perry included a condo in Sierra Towers purchased from Elton John, a house in Hollywood Hills, a house in Malibu, and a cottage in Pacific Palisades. In 2017, Perry purchased a condo occupying the top floor of The Century in Los Angeles for $20 million, selling it to Nick Molnar for $21.6 million in 2021. In June 2023, Perry purchased a mid-century modern house in Hollywood Hills.
Perry had a perfectionist and obsessive personality, spending many hours perfecting his answering machine message. He also believed in God, with whom he had "a very close relationship", calling himself "a seeker".
Health and addiction
In his memoirs, Perry wrote that by age 14, he had become an alcoholic. He became addicted to Vicodin after a jet ski accident in 1997 and completed a 28-day rehab program at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation that year. His weight dropped to 128 pounds (58 kg) as he took as many as 55 Vicodin pills per day. In May 2000, he was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with alcohol-induced pancreatitis.
Perry said in 2002 that he made an effort not to drink on the set of Friends but did arrive with extreme hangovers and sometimes would shake or sweat excessively. During the later seasons of the series, he was frequently drunk or high on set. His castmates made efforts to help him, and staged an intervention, but were unsuccessful.
In February 2001, Perry paused productions of Friends and Serving Sara for two months so that he could enter in-patient rehabilitation for his addictions to Vicodin, methadone, amphetamines, and alcohol. He said later that, due to his substance use disorder, he had no memory of three years of his work on Friends.
In 2018, Perry spent five months in a hospital for a gastrointestinal perforation. During the hospital stay, Perry nearly died after his colon burst from opioid abuse. He spent two weeks in a coma and used a colostomy bag for nine months. Upon being admitted to the hospital, doctors told his family that Perry had a 2% chance of survival. He was connected to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine.
Perry faked pain to get a prescription for 1,800 milligrams of hydrocodone per day and was having daily ketamine infusions. He was given propofol in conjunction with a surgery, which stopped his heart for five minutes. The resulting cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) resulted in eight broken ribs. He paid $175,000 for a private jet to take him to Los Angeles to get more drugs. When doctors there refused, he booked another $175,000 private flight to fly back to Switzerland that night. In 2022, he estimated that he had spent $9 million on his addiction, including 14 stomach surgeries, 15 stays in rehab and therapy twice a week for 30 years and had attended approximately 6,000 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Philanthropy and advocacy
In July 2011, Perry lobbied the United States Congress as a celebrity spokesperson for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals in support of funding for drug courts. He received a Champion of Recovery award in May 2013 from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for opening Perry House, a rehab center in his former mansion in Malibu. In 2015, Perry sold the mansion and relocated its services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he launched an apparel line inspired by Friends, with proceeds donated to the World Health Organization's COVID-19 relief fund.
Death and funeral
On October 28, 2023, Perry was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. He was pronounced dead at 4:17 pm the same day. He was 54 years old.
On November 3, 2023, Perry's funeral was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles where he was buried. His father, mother and stepfather attended, as did his five Friends co-stars. The Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush song "Don't Give Up" was played; Perry was enamored with the song and referenced it in signed copies of his autobiography, released in part to help people suffering from depression or addiction issues. Following Perry's death, the National Philanthropic Trust established the Matthew Perry Foundation to support people suffering from addiction.
On December 15, 2023, Perry's death was revealed to have occurred due to acute effects of ketamine. Other circumstances that contributed to his death included the effects of buprenorphine, drowning, and coronary artery disease. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner said in a statement that
...at the high levels of ketamine found in his post-mortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression... ...drowning contributes due to the likelihood of submersion into the pool as he lapsed into unconsciousness; coronary artery disease contributes due to exacerbation of ketamine induced myocardial effects on the heart. The ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine's half-life is 3 to 4 hours, or less.
Perry had been receiving ketamine-assisted psychotherapy sessions to treat anxiety at the time of his death, his last known session of which having been the week prior to his death. However, the report stated that the therapy could not have resulted in his death.
Investigation and guilty pleas
In May 2024, an investigation was opened by the Los Angeles Police Department to determine how Perry obtained the high dose of ketamine that caused his death. On August 15, 2024, indictments and charges were filed against five people: Perry's personal assistant, two doctors, and two drug dealers (including TV director Erik Fleming), alleging involvement in the distribution of ketamine that caused the death of Perry and one other person.
Three of the accused agreed to plead guilty, with two, Fleming and Perry's former assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, having their guilty pleas entered into court soon after being charged; Iwamasa pleaded guilty on August 7, 2024, as did Fleming the following day. During a court hearing on August 30, 2024, it was agreed that former doctor Mark Chavez, who had signed a plea agreement but had not yet officially entered it into court, would have his guilty plea accepted, though he would still not officially plead guilty until a later court appearance. Chavez would have his medical license suspended the next month and would officially plead guilty at a court hearing held on October 2, 2024. The second doctor, Salvador Plasencia, agreed to plead guilty on June 17, 2025. Plasencia, who was initially scheduled to be tried in August 2025, would then officially plead guilty in court to four counts of ketamine distribution on July 23, 2025.
According to U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, Perry paid the two doctors $55,000 in cash for ketamine in the two months before his death. Iwamasa admitted to obtaining ketamine for Perry and injecting him with the drug, while Fleming admitted to obtaining the ketamine from the supplier and giving it to Iwamasa for Perry to use. Text messages also revealed that Plasencia would purchase the ketamine he supplied Perry with from Chavez. However, the main supplier of the ketamine Perry used at the time of his death was believed to be Jasveen Sangha, who served a major drug dealer to "high end and celebs" and whose North Hollywood home, which was raided by U.S. DEA authorities in March 2024, was described a "drug-selling emporium." In his guilty plea, Erik Fleming admitted that he obtained 71 vials ketamine from Sangha which would be sold to Perry. Plasencia, who was initially Perry's main ketamine supplier, and Sangha, who became Perry's main ketamine supplier after Plasencia limited his ketamine supply, were regarded as the primary targets in the case regarding Perry's death.
On August 18, 2025, Sangha, the final defendant in the case involving Perry's death, had her guilty plea, which was signed on August 14, 2025, officially filed in court. Sangha, also known as the "Ketamine Queen," pled guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury. Sangha would agree to a plead guilty to these charges shortly before her trial was set to begin in September 2025. At the time of her plea deal, Sangha, who also admitted to selling ketamine which at least one other person overdosed on before their death, had been jailed in federal custody since her arrest in August 2024. Sangha would officially plead guilty to all five counts she was charged with while appearing before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on September 3, 2025.
Sangha faces up to 45 years in prison. Of the other defendants, Plasencia, who remains free on bond until sentencing, faces up to 10 years for each of the four charges he pled guilty to, totaling a possible 40 years. Fleming, who pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine, resulting in death faces up to 25 years in prison. However, Iwamasa, who pled guilty to only one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, faces a maximum of 15 years, while Chavez, who pled guilty to only one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, faces up to 10 years.
Legacy
Perry’s portrayal of Chandler Bing on Friends (1994–2004) became one of television’s most recognizable comic performances. Critics noted his precision timing and a distinctive “could I be any more…?” cadence that was widely imitated and quoted, and that he brought a rare strain of vulnerability to the sitcom archetype.
Beyond acting, Perry advocated for addiction recovery. In 2013 he met with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to support drug courts, and that year opened Perry House, a men’s sober-living facility in his former Malibu home, which operated from 2013 to 2015. He said he hoped to be remembered more for helping people achieve sobriety than for his acting career, a mission continued by the Matthew Perry Foundation, launched days after his death. Tributes reflected that impact: the main Friends cast issued a joint statement, and Max added an on-screen memorial card to the series; on August 19, 2025, Perry’s Fools Rush In co-star Salma Hayek marked what would have been his 56th birthday with an Instagram tribute.
Acting credits
Film
Television
Theater
Video games
Specials
Awards and nominations
Publications
Perry, Matthew (November 1, 2022). Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir. Foreword: Lisa Kudrow. New York: Flatiron Books. ISBN 978-1-250-86644-8. OCLC 1338841699.
Notes
References
External links
Matthew Perry at IMDb
Matthew Perry at Rotten Tomatoes
Matthew Perry discography at Discogs
Interviewed on "Q with Tom Power", CBC, November 22, 2022, audio
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