Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American film actor and director who has often produced his own films.
Born in Lynwood, California to William Costner (an electrician of German and 1/4 Native American descent) and Sharon Tedrick (of Irish Baptist descent). Costner spent his teenage years and pre-actor adulthood in Orange County, California, graduating from Villa Park High School in Villa Park, California in 1973, and earning a B.A. in business from California State University, Fullerton in 1978, where he was a member of the Delta Chi Fraternity. He became interested in acting while still in college, and began taking acting lessons five nights a week. Costner later worked briefly with a California marketing firm, after a chance encounter with actor Richard Burton, who struck up a conversation with him. Burton had advised the young man that if he wanted to pursue acting, he should give everything up completely and go after it with both hands. Costner married a Portuguese-American by the name of Cindy Silva. With his wife behind him, Costner worked on fishing boats and as a truck driver, and gave tours of stars' Hollywood homes to support the two while he

the audition rounds. He booked one of his first leading roles in the softcore sex comedy Sizzle Beach U.S.A., a film which prompted the actor to swear off doing that kind of film to wait for a proper break which came years later with Silverado.
Costner's most popular success was the epic Dances with Wolves. He directed and starred in the film and served as one of two producers. The film was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won seven, including two for him personally (Best Picture and Best Director). Almost all of his subsequent film efforts have been criticized for being too long and overly serious, and for squandering financial resources. The science-fiction epics Waterworld and The Postman were both initially considered major disappointments at the box office. However, Waterworld grossed $264 million worldwide from a $175 million