Michael Douglas

1 title

Date of Birth: 1944-09-25 (age 82)
Nationality: United States·United Kingdom
Place of birth: New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Mini Bio

Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is a retired American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AFI Life Achievement Award. The elder son of Kirk Douglas and Diana Dill, Douglas earned his Bachelor of Arts in drama from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His early acting roles included film, stage, and television productions. Douglas first achieved prominence for his performance in the ABC police procedural television series The Streets of San Francisco, for which he received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations. In 1975, Douglas produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, having acquired the rights to the Ken Kesey novel from his father. The film received critical and popular acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Picture, earning Douglas his first Oscar as one of the film's producers. Douglas went on to produce films including The China Syndrome (1979) and Romancing the Stone (1984), for which he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy, and The Jewel of the Nile (1985). Douglas received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor (a role he reprised in the sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps in 2010). Other notable roles include in Fatal Attraction (1987), The War of the Roses (1989), Basic Instinct (1992), Falling Down (1993), The American President (1995), The Game (1997), Traffic (2000), and Wonder Boys (2000). In 2013, for his portrayal of Liberace in the HBO film Behind the Candelabra, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. Douglas starred as an ageing acting coach in the Netflix comedy series The Kominsky Method (2018–2021), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best ctor—television series musical or omedy. He has portrayed Hank Pym in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Ant-Man (2015). Douglas has received notice for his humanitarian and political activism. He sits on the board of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, is an honorary board member of the anti-war grant-making foundation Ploughshares Fund, and he was appointed as a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 1998. He has been married to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones since 2000. In July 2025, Douglas said that he was largely retired from acting, saying "I realized I had to stop [...] I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set". He added that while he was attached to one additional project and did not fully rule out future projects "if something special came up", he had no plans to work regularly again.

Backstage

Was roommates with Danny DeVito in a $150-a-month New York City apartment when Michael first began his career in the late 1960s.
In 1975, he quit the television series The Streets of San Francisco (1972) to produce the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), which garnered him an Academy Award.
On August 16, 2010, he was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer on his tongue, and underwent weeks of radiation and chemotherapy. He made a full recovery. For reasons of his own he announced on Late Show with David Letterman (1993) that his treatment was for throat cancer.
Michael is exactly twenty-five years older than his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones. The two of them share a birthday: September 25th.
Brazilian soccer star Maicon was supposed to be named after Michael Douglas. His father was a huge fan of Kirk Douglas and wanted to name his own son after Kirk's son. However, he could not read or write and a clerk spelled Michael as Maicon. His full name is Maicon Douglas Sisenando.
In 1980, he was involved in a serious skiing accident, which sidelined his acting career for three years.
In the late 1960s, Michael shared a New York apartment with fellow actor Danny DeVito at 338 West 89th Street in Manhattan where the rent was $75 each per month.
On July 20, 2009, he wrote the obituary tribute for friend, mentor, and The Streets of San Francisco (1972) co-star Karl Malden in Time magazine's "Milestones" section.
Initially turned down the role of Judge Wakefield in Traffic (2000). He later accepted only after the script underwent extensive rewrites.
As of 2021, he, George Clooney and Sir Laurence Olivier are the only three people in history to win Academy Awards for both Best Picture and Best Actor (although Olivier won them simultaneously for the same film). Frances McDormand has won Best Picture and Best Actress.
Is fourteen years older than his first wife Diandra. He was 33 and she was 19 when they married.
The Sunday Times estimated his and wife Catherine Zeta-Jones' net worth at $278 million (2009).
Has 3 children: son, Cameron Douglas (b. December 13, 1978) with ex-wife, Diandra Luker and son, Dylan Douglas (b. August 8, 2000) & daughter, Carys Douglas (b. April 20, 2003) with wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Underwent treatment for alcohol and substance abuse at Sierra Tucson Center. (September 1992)
Once said in an interview that he preferred to make films for adult audiences because he felt couples, particularly parents with kids, deserved to have a night out.
His performance as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987) is ranked #25 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6259 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on November 6, 2018.
Has been active in handgun control since John Lennon's murder on December 8, 1980.
Turned down the role of Oliver Barrett in Love Story (1970) despite being offered 10% of the gross. The role went to Ryan O'Neal.
His paternal grandparents, Herschel Danielovitch and Bryna Sanglel, were Jewish emigrants from Belarus, who moved to the United States c. 1912. His mother, who was born in Devonshire, Bermuda, was of English, French, Irish, Welsh, Dutch, Scottish and Belgian ancestry.
Resided with actress Brenda Vaccaro for several years in the 1970s after meeting on the set of Summertree (1971).
On December 11, 2003, he was host, together with wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, at the 2003 Annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo Spectrum in Oslo, Norway.
In 2016, he visited three college campuses in the United States to speak to students about Israel and modern anti-Semitism.
Five days after completing Black Rain (1989), he started filming The War of the Roses (1989).
Reason for being born in New Brunswick, New Jersey: His parents (who had a small apartment in Greenwich Village, New York) were visiting his mother's sister (who was married to one of the founders of Johnson & Johnson which is headquartered in New Bruswick) when he arrived prematurely.
He has two grandchildren through his son Cameron, granddaughter, Lua Izzy Douglas (b. December 18, 2017) & grandson, Ryder T. Douglas (b. December 22, 2020).
Was named to Quigley Publications' Top 10 Poll of Money-Making Stars six times between 1985 and 1995, hitting a high of #2 in 1987. Surprising, despite a career that has spanned seven decades, his father, Kirk Douglas, never made the list, the annual poll of movie exhibitors that ranks the top stars in terms of box-office drawing power.
Named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. His mission: to focus worldwide attention on nuclear disarmament and human rights (1998).
Son of Kirk Douglas and Diana Douglas. Stepson of Anne Douglas.

Awards

He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B.Douglas first achieved prominence for his performance in the ABC police procedural television series The Streets of San Francisco, for which he received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations.The film received critical and popular acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Picture, earning Douglas his first Oscar as one of the film's producers.Douglas went on to produce films including The China Syndrome (1979) and Romancing the Stone (1984), for which he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy, and The Jewel of the Nile (1985).Douglas received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor (a role he reprised in the sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps in 2010).In 2013, for his portrayal of Liberace in the HBO film Behind the Candelabra, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.Douglas starred as an ageing acting coach in the Netflix comedy series The Kominsky Method (2018–2021), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best ctor—television series musical or omedy.

Movies

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