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Background:
"Los Angeles is a great place to be when your movie is No 1, or you're nominated
for an Oscar, or you have just landed the lead in a new Scorsese film. But you
feel that way maybe one month in every five years. For the rest of the time when
I'm there I feel like a loser. I feel like I'm surrounded by reminders that I'm
not, you know, at the top. Not at the top, top of the top." Kevin Bacon
American musician, director, producer and actor Kevin Bacon gained acclaim for
his portrayal of sympathetic detective Sean Devine, playing pitch perfect
opposite a grief-stricken performance by Sean Penn, in director Clint Eastwood’s
film version Mystic River (2003), in which he netted a Boston Society of Film
Critics Award. In 2000, he won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award after playing
nasty genius Sebastian Caine in the 2000 Sci-fi hit Hollow Man (2000).
Bacon had already cemented his position as a film star with his former
impressive accomplishments. In the drama film Digging to China (1998), his
bright portrayal of Ricky Schroth, opposite Evan Rachel Wood, handed him a
Giffoni Film Festival Award. He gained even more recognition in 1995 with his
starring role of cynical Alcatraz prisoner Henri Young in Murder in the First,
costarring Christian Slater and Gary Oldman. Due to his bravura acting, Bacon
took home such awards as a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and a BFCA
Award. The same year, he netted a 1995 Screen Actor Guild Award for his
brilliant portrayal of astronaut Jack Swigert in director Ron Howard’s acclaimed
film Apollo 13. Additionally, Bacon was well-received for playing roles in such
films as Barry Levinson's Diner (1982), Herbert Ross’s smash hit Footloose
(1984), Oliver Stone's JFK (1991), Rob Reiner's A Few Good Man (1992), The River
Wild (1994), Barry Levinson's Sleepers (1996) and the thriller Stir of Echoes
(1999).
Bacon’s admirers can also watch him in the recent The Woodsman (2004), Lover boy
(2005), the comedy Beauty Shop (2005) and Atom Egoyan’s drama Where the Truth
Lies (2005).
On stage, the Philadelphia native actor drew the attention of the public when he
was cast as young hustler Rickey in the off-Broadway production of Forty Deuce
(1982). With Alan Brown in the director’s chair, Bacon’s stunning performance
nabbed the prestigious Obie Award that same year.
Off screen, the 61st of Empire magazine’s “100 Sexiest Stars in Film History”
(1995), Bacon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the Ivar/Cinespace
Nightclubs on September 30, 2003, for his great contribution to the showbiz
industry. The owner of a dog named Paulie, Bacon spends his life outside the
limelight with his wife of seventeen years, actress Kyra Sedgwick, and their two
lovely children, son Travis Bacon (born in 1989) and daughter Sosie Ruth Bacon
(born in 1992).
Philadelphia’s Son
Childhood and Family:
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kevin Bacon was born on July 8, 1958. Alongside
his five older siblings, Kevin was raised under the guidance of a renowned
Philadelphia city planner father, Edmund Bacon, and a schoolteacher, liberal
political activist and Park Avenue debutante mother, Ruth Bacon (now deceased).
At age 18, however, he decided to leave home to study acting at the Circle in
the Square Theater in New York and the Manning Street Actor's Theatre. He was
also educated at the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts and once
attended the prestigious Julia Reynolds Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration
School in Philadelphia, with his brother Michael.
"Kyra is a woman who made all the wrong choices when it comes to being an
actress. She got married too young, had a kid and then had another kid." Kevin
Bacon on his wife Kyra Sedgwick
Kevin Bacon met and subsequently fell for actress Kyra Sedgwick while they were
on the set of the American Playhouse production of Lemon Sky (1987). On
September 13, 1988, the couple decided to tie the knot in Conneticut, and they
soon welcomed their first child, a son named Travis Bacon, born in 1989. Their
daughter, Sosie Ruth Bacon, was born three years later, in March 1992. The
family currently resides in Manhattan, where both Bacon and Sedgwick are
actively involved in numerous charity and environmental projects.
Footloose
Career:
Departing from his family at age 18, Kevin Bacon began acting lessons before
professionally pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. Two years later,
he got his first start as a stage actor when he landed a role in his
off-Broadway debut titled "Getting Out" by Marsha Norman. Bacon also kicked off
his film career when he was cast as the sycophantic Chip Diller in director John
Landis' beloved frat-house epic National Lampoon's Animal House, that same year.
That was followed by a tiny role in Starting Over (1979), a television movie
debut in The Gift (1979) and a television series debut as a regular in the
daytime soap "Search for Tomorrow" (1979).
Bacon reappeared on stage in 1980 with his off-Broadway performance in director
Joan Micklin Silver’s "Album," (1980), but it was his off-Broadway role of
teenage hustler Rickey in Alan Brown's Forty Deuce (1982) that earned him praise
and critical appreciation, as well as a 1982 Obie. Shortly after the Obie
victory, Bacon made his Broadway debut in the John Byrne production of "The Slab
Boys" (1983, costarring Sean Pean and Val Kilmer).
In the early 1980s, he also landed small parts in such unremarkable films as
Friday the 13th (1980) and Hero at Large (1980), was cast as series’ regular Tim
Werner in on the CBS daytime drama "The Guiding Light" (1980) and appeared as
Don in Only When I Laugh (1981). In the following year, audiences began to
notice Bacon’s potential for his good portrayal of the hotheaded alcoholic
Timothy Fenwick in Barry Levinson's feature directorial debut Diner (1982). Also
in 1982, Bacon reprised his stage role of drug-addicted male prostitute Rickey
in director Paul Morissey’s Forty Deuce.
After Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1983), Bacon’s breakthrough role
arrived when director Herbert Ross cast him in the lead role of dancing rebel
Ren McCormack in his popular musical movie Footloose (1984). As soon as the film
became a hit, the actor made a reputation for himself as a teen icon and became
a household name.
More roles in films knocked on his door in the following years, but fortune was
not in his hands as Bacon struggled with several big screen duds during the end
of the 1980s, including Quicksilver (1986), White Water Summer (1987), End of
the Line (1987), She's Having a Baby (1988), Tremors (1989) and Flatliners
(1990). In 1991, Bacon reached celebrity status again with his role in Oliver
Stone's JFK and then continued with his notable role as down-to-earth Marine
lawyer Capt. Jack Ross in Rob Reiner's A Few Good Man (1992, opposite Jack
Nicholson and Tom Cruise). Bacon nabbed a Golden Globe nomination for his
ominous role in 1994’s The River Wild, with Meryl Streep.
The performer gained even more recognition when he played the role of embittered
and broken Alcatraz prisoner Henri Young in Marc Rocco's Murder in the First
(1995, costarring with Christian Slater and Gary Oldman). His bravura acting
handed him a 1995 Broadcast Film Critics Association and a 1996 BFCA for Best
Actor. Bacon turned the heads of film critics once more with his work in
director Ron Howard’s widely praise film Apollo 13 (1995). Portraying one of the
Apollo 13 lunar mission team members, Jack Swigert, he took home a Screen Actor
Guild for Outstanding Ensemble Performance in a Motion Picture in 1995.
From 1996 -1999, Bacon added six wide screen films to his resume. He first
delivered a good performance as Sean Nokes in Barry Levinson's Sleepers (1996),
costarred with Jennifer Anniston in the comedy-romance Picture Perfect (1997)
and played disc jockey Billy Magic in Telling Lies in America (1997). In 1998,
Bacon won a Bronze Gryphon for Best Actor at the Giffoni Film Festival due to
his bright portrayal of Ricky Schroth in Timothy Hutton’s drama Digging to
China, alongside Evan Rachel Wood. He then played a cop in director John
McNaughton's raunchy sex-thriller Wild Things (1998, also served as an executive
producer) and received critical raves after portraying sympathetic father Tom in
the horror film Stir of Echoes (1999).
Bacon kept busy with his film projects in the new millennium. He portrayed the
father of Frankie Muniz’ character in the family-fare hit My Dog Skip (2000)
before scoring a blockbuster hit with Paul Verhoeven's sadistic Hollow Man
(2000). Portraying megalomaniacal scientist Sebastian Caine, Bacon picked up a
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor - Science Fiction in 2001.
Afterwards, he made a cameo appearance in the thriller Novocaine (2001, starring
Helena Bonham Carter and Steve Martin), and portrayed hijacker Joe Hickey in
Luis Mandoki’s thriller Trapped (2002).
In 2003, Bacon teamed up with Sean Pean for Clint Eastwood’s big screen
adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s novel, Mystic River. Delivering an impressive turn
as compassionate detective Sean Devine, Bacon again added to his accomplishments
a Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Ensemble Cast in 2003. Following
his success, he had an unaccredited part in Jane Campion thriller In the Cut
(2003) before starring in the emotional drama The Woodsman (2004, costarring
with his wife). He was again seen with actress-wife Sedgwick in Anne
Meredith-scripted Cavedweller (2004), as well as directed and starred in the
drama/romance Lover boy (2005). Also in 2005, Bacon was featured as Jorge in
Bille Woodruff’s comedy Beauty Shop (2005, starring Queen Latifah and Alicia
Silverstone) and starred with Colin Firth in director Atom Egoyan’s drama Where
the Truth Lies (2005).
Already an accomplished star, Bacon broke into the music industry with the Bacon
Brothers, a rhythm and blues band formed in 1994 with his brother Michael. The
group performed in New York coffee houses and clubs, and on a number of
television shows like The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
and at Elizabeth Taylor's 65th birthday celebration. Additionally, The Bacon
Brothers launched the albums Forosoco (1997), Getting There (1999), Can't
Complain (2001) and Live (2003)
Awards:
- Boston Society of Film Critics: Best Ensemble Cast, Mystic River, 2003
- Blockbuster Entertainment: Favorite Actor - Science Fiction, Hollow Man,
2001
- Giffoni Film Festival: Bronze Gryphon for Best Actor, Digging to China,
1997
- BFCA: Best Actor, Murder in the First, 1996
- Broadcast Film Critics Association: Best Actor, Murder in the First,
1995
- Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Ensemble Performance in a Motion
Picture, Apollo 13, 1995
- Obie: Performance, Forty Deuce and Poor Little Lambs, 1982
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