Michael Douglas

Michael Kirk Douglas, born on September 25, 1944, is a renowned American actor and film producer who has left an indelible mark in the world of cinema. The son of legendary actor Kirk Douglas and Diana Dill, he followed his father's footsteps to pursue a career in drama, earning a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Early in his career, Michael took on various roles in film, stage, and television productions before achieving prominence as Steve Keller in the ABC police procedural series "The Streets of San Francisco." His outstanding performance earned him three consecutive Emmy Award nominations, solidifying his place in Hollywood.

In 1975, Michael's career took an unprecedented turn when he produced one of the most successful films of all time, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Acquiring the rights to Ken Kesey's novel from his father, Douglas played a pivotal role in creating this masterpiece, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and secured him his first Oscar as one of the film's producers.

Michael continued to produce critically acclaimed films such as "The China Syndrome" (1979) and "Romancing the Stone" (1984), winning a Golden Globe Award in the process. His transformative performance as Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" (1987) earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor, a role he reprised in the 2010 sequel "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps."

Douglas has captivated audiences with other notable roles in films such as "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, his portrayal of Liberace in the HBO film "Behind the Candelabra" garnered him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie. Michael later starred as an aging acting coach in the Netflix comedy series "The Kominsky Method" (2018-2021), which earned him another Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy.

In addition to his illustrious career in film, Douglas has made significant strides as a humanitarian and political activist. He serves on the board of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, is an honorary board member of Ploughshares Fund, and was appointed a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 1998. Michael married actress Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2000 and has made numerous contributions to charity organizations throughout his life.

In July 2025, Douglas announced that he had largely retired from acting at the age of 80, stating, "I realized I had to stop [...] I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set." While still attached to one additional project, he has no plans to work regularly again but remains open to special opportunities.