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Kurt Russell: Biography, Facts and Career

Who is Kurt Russell? An evergreen, sourced profile: biography, key facts and career.

By the Pop Culture Files editorial team4 min read✓ Fact-checked
Kurt Russell
Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor before transitioning to leading roles as an adult in various genres such as action adventures, science-fiction, westerns, romance films, comedic films, and family dramas. He is known for collaborating with filmmakers such as John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino, and has received a Critics' Choice Super Award as well as various award nominations, including for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. At the age of 12, he began acting in the Western TV series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963–1964). In the late 1960s, he signed a ten-year contract with the Walt Disney Company starring in films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975). For his portrayal of rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley in the television film Elvis (1979), he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. Russell was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for his role in Mike Nichols's Silkwood (1983). He collaborated with director John Carpenter playing antiheroes in the action films Escape from New York (1981) and its sequel Escape from L.A. (1996), the horror film The Thing (1982), and the comedy action film Big Trouble in Little China (1986). Russell also acted in Used Cars (1980), The Fox and the Hound (1981), The Best of Times (1986), Overboard (1987), Backdraft (1991), Tombstone (1993), Stargate (1994), Vanilla Sky (2001), Miracle (2004), Dreamer, Sky High (both 2005), Death Proof (2007), The Hateful Eight (2015), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). Russell has also acted in several franchises, portraying Mr. Nobody in three films of the Fast & Furious franchise from 2015 to 2021, Ego in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) installments Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and What If...? (2021), and Santa Claus in the Netflix films The Christmas Chronicles (2018) and The Christmas Chronicles 2 (2020).

Quick facts about Kurt Russell

  • Full name: Kurt Russell
  • Born: 1951-03-17
  • Nationality: United States
  • Known as: Musician
  • Wikidata ID: Q103157

Profile compiled from public Wikipedia and Wikidata data. Details can change over time.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Kurt Russell?

Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor.

What nationality is Kurt Russell?

Kurt Russell is United States.

When was Kurt Russell born?

Kurt Russell was born on 1951-03-17.

Sources

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